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o-pandora-o · 4 years ago

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Brothers in the Human Realm

No one was a demon to begin with (maybe luci though but-). You meet the brothers as human in the human realm. How would you meet them?

Lucifer:

Apparently some schoolmate of yours have done some violations in the school grounds and they used your name

You were sent to the Principal's office where you were questioned by Principal Diavolo about your wrong doings

You were trying to defend your innocence, but it was no avail

Coincidentally Lucifer was just dropping paperwork to Diavolo

Lucifer is your strict and scary and handsome college professor

He overheard the conversation and he defended you since he knew that you weren't lying

"Mr. Diavolo I must say, MC is one of my exceptional students, they would not do something as idiotic as that, and I clearly observe the behavior of my students"

Your H E R O

The next day, someone gave Principal Diavolo evidence of those who did wrong

Your name was cleared

Apparently you saw Lucifer giving those schoolmates detention, threat, and punishment. You may or may not seen a hint of killing intent in his eyes

You decided to thank Lucifer

"No worries, I just clearly observe the actions of what is mine"

H O L D U P

"Wha-" you replied

"Ah MC I have to go to my next class, take care"

Mammon:

Is a famous model, often the cover and centerfold of the monthly Majolish

For you Mammon was okay? I mean he is famous and many people likes his face

You were going to buy a limited edition sunglasses that have hint of yellow and orange

You went to a sunglass store and asked the attendant if they they still have it but apparently the one on the display is their only stock

You decided to buy it

Apparently, Mammon also came to that specific sunglasses store looking for sunglasses that is the same as the one you bought

"I'm sorry sir, but apparently it was already bought and we have no stock" the attendant said

"Who bought it?"

"They did, sir" the attendant said as they point to you

"Oi! Can I buy the sunglasses from you? I'll pay double, no one can refuse the great Mammon"

"I'm sorry but I have to refuse. I really wanted it." you said

"Don't you know who I am? I'm-"

"The Great MAMMON, who is a famous model and often seen on Majolish magazine" you cut him off. "R-right! Now can i buy-"

"Nope sorry" you replied as you rushed to the exit

"Oi! What's your name? And contact details" he asked

"the name is MC, thats all you can get from me" you said as you rushed to the crowd

He was swarmed by the number of fans who saw him

He managed to find you and he chats you "Can I buy the sunglasses now?"

In the end it wasn't just sunglasses you talked about, you also talked about his struggle of being a model and your life

Leviathan:

Your username DestructoSheep is well known in the realms of Obey them

You always rank 2nd in pop quizzes

However no matter what you try, you can never beat your enemy, L3v1

Today, you got a letter from obey them, acknowledging the top players and giving them limited edition items

Ofc you have to go (there are limited items after all)

So you arrived early at the meetup place, no one was there yet so you played some obey them

A purple haired male entered the room, he looked fidgety, nervous, and he was mumbling something about normies

Cue giving of merch

The purple haired male tripped on the tiles and he dropped his phone in front of you

You helped him up and picked up his phone only to see his player name is L3v1.

"You.... You are L3v1." you sai

"Y-Yeah?W-Why?" he said as he was going to grab his phone away from you

"Waaaah! I'm DestructoSheep nice to meet you, oh but you can call me MC" you said as you reached his hand for a handshake

"I-uhhh I'm sorry I'm not used to touching, thats very normie-ish" he said as he averted his eyes

"My name is Leviathan, levi for short"

"I've always thought that the top player is always prideful and such but here he is being shy" you said as you chuckled

"H-hey! I'm still the best one in obey them mind you! I got every event cards at lvl 150 and skill lvl 10 and-"

"Yeah yeah I know" you said

After both of you received the merch, you both talked nonstop about obey them, other games, and anime

It was more like Levi bragging the amount of games and anime he played and watched

It was almost dusk till both of you notice the time

"Ah i got to go early, need to cook dinner. Chat me sometime!!!" you said as you gave him your contact details

Expect no sleep cuz both of you kept chatting till dawn

Satan:

He saw a kitty in a box in an alleyway near his apartment

Everyday, he often stops by to give the kitty enough food for the day

Is often disgusted by the fact that most people dump their pets in trash because they don't have anything to feed it

Saw you going to the alleyway

He suspected the worst and he thought that you were gonna harm the kitty he was feeding

"Hey don't harm-" he stopped

He saw you feeding the kitty

"Ah I assume you thought that I was gonna harm it?" you asked

"Well I thought the worst, humans are naturally scum anyways, but even so I do apologize"

"Ah it's alright, it's not a big deal anyways" you replied

"You come here often? I mean to feed the kitten that is" he asked

"You can say that, but not as often as you do" you said

"How did you know?did you perhaps-"

"Ah I happened to saw you feeding the kitten, I was just shy to approach you" you said

"Well I come to believe that people who are close to cats are not necessarily bad"

"I have to say I have to agree" you replied

"Ah I have to go, let's chat here again next time" you added

The alleyway became your meeting place to chitchat about cats

Asmodeus:

The famous M.A.D. Company released a new and limited edition Devil Set makeup and you were dying to get a hold of one

You spent a day looking at different stores but it was either unavailable or sold out. However, you were lucky to find another store that has one last stock.

You didn't notice someone else was also going to get it and so both of you grabbed the last set

"Uh... I'm sorry I have been looking this for the whole day, may I have it?" you politely asked

"Awww sweetie, I have been doing the same thing! Can you be a dear and let go of it?" the male with champagne-colored hair replied

Cue 1 hour of both of you saying "let go" or "it's mine"

"I have an idea! Let's just buy the set and divide it" you said

"Ohh! Good thinking! I will take the lippies, Devil shadow palette and the foundation!"

"That's literally EVERYTHING IN THE SET"

Cue two more hours of bickering.

Both of you didn't notice someone took it while the two of you are bickering

You noticed that it was gone

"Um... Someone already bought it while you two were... fighting" the saleslady explained

Both of you left the store empty handed and sad and you decided to break the atmosphere

"Pffft I'm sorry for fighting because of a Makeup set, btw my name is MC" you said

"I'm also sorry dear, although I wanted it I still didn't get it. I even missed my appointment to the salon!"

"And my name is Asmodeus, perfect name for a perfect being!" Asmo added

"Alright Mr 'Perfect' " you rolled your eyes

Let's just say that both of you talked about makeups on your way home.

Beelzebub:

Beel is your classmate during Physical Education class at college

Is a famous football player in your campus and he is also known for his handsomeness

His practice hours were often morning to late lunch and late lunch til dusk

During late lunch you saw him in the cashier by the cafeteria, asking if they still have cheeseburger available

But to his dismay, the cashier said "I'm sorry you already bought the last cheeseburger, and that's the last quota for the day"

He seemed sad and still hungry

You still have a cheeseburger to eat, but when you saw the time you knew you weren't gonna make it on your next class

When no one was looking, you decided to approach Beel and gave him your cheeseburger

"Are you giving this to me?"

"Yeah, I was going to eat it but I don't have much time for my next class" you replied

"Thanks, I owe you one"

You saw how happy he was when he got the cheeseburger

You were shocked how fast he ate it

Did he like inhale it or something

After your class, you noticed that he texted you saying "Thanks for the cheeseburger, I'll repay you next time you get hungry"

Let's just say you both got closer after that

Belphie:

It's your first day of online class, and your first subject has a 4 hour lecture

You forgot to disconnect your meeting link and you didn't notice until you were about to do homework

As you were about to disconnect, you saw that you weren't alone and you're classmate is still connected

You didnt want to leave him so you tried your best for your classmate to notice you. You tried spamming and saying " hello"

After 1234 attempts he finally noticed you

"Ah I'm sorry I slept during the boring lecture, thanks for waking me up"

"Ah it's no problem" you replied

"My name is Belphegor as you can see, but you can call me Belphie"

"My name is MC" you replied

"Say... How are you still here after hours after the lecture?"

"I forgot to disconnect" you replied

"Uh idk if this is too much of a favor to ask, can you wake me up again next time? After lecture that is, I don't want to be late for other classes"

"Sure, I don't mind I guess" you replied

After that, both of you got to know each other and you forgot to do your homework and you became a personal alarm clock

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felassan · 4 years ago

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On MELE: This article is a good rundown of what to expect from MELE (better teeth for human squadmates in ME1 !) and here’s another one on the modding situation (more info on this subject here).

Mac Walters has also been posting lots of lil pieces of info on Twitter. Here they are collected together for simplicity and so as not to make a flood of separate posts (there are a few tweets from another dev too):

Difficulty level access restrictions have been removed. All difficulty levels will now be available to play from the outset (in the original MET you had to beat the game to unlock certain difficulty levels) [source]

They’ll show us a picture of how the original default ME1 & ME2 FemShep looks in the remaster soon (she’s still there!) [source]

All versions (console and PC) support HDR [source]

They’re still polishing the revamped ME1 HUD, but the final version will be very close to what they’ve shown so far [source]. Said new HUD was modelled after the best elements from ME2 & 3 so that all 3 games could feel cohesive as a trilogy [source]

Elanos Haliat was originally meant to be a turian and was accidentally given a human model in the original (see Trivia section). It sounds like this oversight may now have been fixed [source]

ME1 uniforms have been updated [source]

Limited Edition in-game bonus items like the N7 hoodie will still be available in the remaster as they were part of the N7 Collector’s Edition pack, which is included [source]

Q. Were the ME1 squad tweaked to look more like their later counterparts? A. Kinda, but not really. They often started with ME3 characters, as they were the highest fidelity. Then they improved further before bringing them back into ME1/2. But they were very careful to adapt for likeness. So, for example, ME1 Liara still looks like ME1 Liara, only better [source]

They did some things to make morality checks in ME2 a bit less frustrating/strict (context of tweet: tweet about the high/unforgiving requirements when it came to squadmate conflict resolution in ME2) [source]

There are improvements to weapon and Mako SFX in ME1 [source]

The Noveria and Ilos “black blob” glitch has been fixed [source]

You can jump directly into any of the 3 games from the new launcher [source]

They needed to stick with ISACT for ME1. This has brought its own challenges. ME2 & 3 are still with Wwise [source]. The ISACT decision ultimately came down to the time and resources that would be needed to rebuild everything in Wwise, or work to get the existing tools working for the purpose at hand [source]

On audio: The projects originally had different audio leads and team make-up, and you can feel their different preferences in each mix and development of the content. For the remaster they have weighed some of their own preferences against each and across the whole and tried to bring them closer together [source]

Q. Did they change, enhance, or add new sound effects? Were they able to use higher quality samples and use less compression? A. The short answer is “Yes” to much of that [source]

ME1 has overheat not thermal clips. Core mechanics were maintained. But camera, input/controls, aiming, AI, cover, weapon-balance, squad control, boss encounters, Mako handling & aiming are all much improved in ME1 [source]

The facecode importer has been added to ME1 and they’re working to make it as compatible as possible. Due to new options and improvements to the CC, some codes are currently working better than others [source]

The Genesis DLC is optional, we will be prompted if we want to skip it and can just start playing the game if we want [source]

MELE will be a completely new and separate install (i.e. nothing to do with the MET install/files) [source]

Elevator skipping is optional and done via pressing a button [source]

Music in the Samara vs Morinth scene has been fixed along with many other legacy bugs [source]

There’s controller support in the PC version [source]

#bioware #mass effect #video games #long post #longpost

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fandomscombine · 4 years ago

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Exploding Stink Bomb

Platonic!Weasley Twins x Reader

BG: Chaos ensues when the twins steal your latest prank invention. How much worse could it be when innocent people are caught in the mess?

WC:1744

Entry for @feetoffthetable 's 500 writing challenge. A week late I know-sorry! Cause I lost the initial draft. (Note: Do NOT trust auto save that much) So I had to rewrite it.

The prompts are taken from Random Prompts List No. 4 and No.11. (Are in bold in the text)

4. “…Are they dead?” “I don’t know! Why don’t you ask them!”

11. “You’re being remarkably calm about this.” “Thanks, it’s the shock. Give me fifteen minutes, the screaming will happen.”

>>>MASTERLIST<<<

Fred Weasley, George Weasley and Y/n L/n, also known as 'The Pranksters Trio' of modern day Hogwarts.

It is the winter of senior year, and your stress levels are increasing by the day. NEWTS are to be held in a couple of months and you have managed to procrastinate completing your mock papers. At this rate, you would get a passing grade but in all honesty you know that wouldn’t cut it, you know your abilities. If you actually put effort in your subjects you can bump a level up.

You've made a deal with your parents that if you had completed your practice papers, you could spend the last week of the Christmas holiday with the Weasleys.

Which you are; 3 days in, 4 days left till school.

'What your parents don't know won't hurt them...' You mumble to yourself as you stir the bubbling green mixture clockwise.

See you haven't finished the potions assignment yet. Your parents thought you did last week, but in reality what you were working on was a little fantastic smelling concoction that could contribute to the twins' upcoming new joke shop merchandise lineup!

During the journey to King’s Cross, Fred had come up to you and asked if you could help brainstorm a new product that would blow people's minds away. Of course you agreed, a multitude of ideas already brewing, you would do anything to help out your friends.

That night, it was all you could think about. Naturally you are itching to get started, before the thought flies away. Pushing your potions textbook aside, you got to work. It took 18 hours of no sleep but it paid off. The product was now in your hands.

A shiny burgundy shimmering marble-like sphere. The final product was smaller than the blueprint- the amount of ingredients you had on hand in your muggle household were limited- you do a mental note on raiding the potions supply closet once back in school for dragon hide.

But when you do finally have all the resources, the sphere should be the size of a baseball.

For now, at 30% of the ideal size, this mini test sphere could stink up a small bedroom. Which is enough to do damage but also has a small enough impact that you fix if anything were to go wrong.

BAM! You knew the quiet was too good to last.

“y/n/n, my dear!” Greeted Fred, waltzing into Ginny’s room.

“Are you--” George placed his hand on the door, stopping it from slamming back to his face. “Oi! Why’d you have to kick the door so hard? You could have ruined my handsome face!” He shouted to his twin.

Dropping your quill back into the ink bottle you sighed. “Nooo, how many times do I have to tell you? I’ll be finished when I’m finished. Most likely tomorrow, the earliest.”

“Why can’t you just let US test it though?” voiced George.

“Because I came up with it and it’s the only one we’ve got!” You reasoned. “I wanna see it when it explodes!”

Right then, the boys’ eyes lit up.

“IT EXPLODES?!?!?” They exclaimed in union.

“SHIT!” It was too late to cover it up. The secret is out.

The twins shared a look, you don’t really believe in twin telepathy but in the case of your 2 best friends and mischief, they almost always are on the same page.

You are sent flying sideways off your chair and hit the air mattress. “Offph! George! Let….me….go!” With all your might, you try to push George off you but to no avail. The muscles built up during quidditch training are to his advantage.

In the other side of the room, Fred is rummaging through your trunk, eagerly looking for the mysterious and highly sought after invention.

Although he may not know what it looks like, Fred is still one of your accomplices in sneaking prank items to school, meaning he and Geroge know all the secret compartments in your trunk. As do you with their trunks.

This setup made sense, it was a precautionary method devised so that in a matter of incoming danger or when suspected of something, the others could easily get rid of any incriminating evidence.

The system is perfect! Well expect now when it backfired on you.

“AHA GOT IT!”

Your face snaps to the direction of the voice. Cursing internally, right there, raised high above Fred’s head is the prized Exploding Stink Bomb.

“WICKED!” cried George. While the twins are reveling in their success, you took the chance to push George off you and launch towards Fred.

While George was caught off guard, Fred had the few seconds in which you got up to process what was happening and sprinted towards the door.

“IMMA GET YOU FRED!”

“LET’S SEE THAT SMALL LEGS!”

“GOT YA! AHHHHH--” One moment you had your hand on Fred’s shoulder, next you felt a tug on your waist. “GEORGE LET. ME. GO”

“No can do y/n/n.”

His hold wasn’t enough to hurt you, but it was certainly tighter. “Learned from your earlier mistake eh” You teased.

“Just caught me off guard” George reasoned.

Fred walking backwards, bids his farewell. “See you Suckers!” He shouted, taking a bow. With that he disappears round the corner.

A THUD.

“Ginny!”

You and George shared a look of confusion, what was going on?

Arriving at the scene, you are not surprised to see a sneering Ginny.

“That’s what you get for going in my room!”

What you’re more surprised to see is a frantic Fred. You knew that Ginny is fully capable of being terrifying but this was all in good fun right?

Slowly George walked up to his brother. “Freddie what’s wrong?”

“The ball… it slipped”

Eyes wide, your heart starts to beat faster. “Where…?”

You barely had gotten the question out, the answer is given.

As if on cue, you hear shouts coming from your right, Ron’s room.

Ginny being the closest, beats all of you to the door. When it opened, you catch the faint bit of purple smoke before it completely clears away, no other evidence of the stink ball in sight-you smile at the result, hard work does pay off.

‘Now is not a time to be happy y/n’ you told yourself. Your gaze reached the unconscious bodies on the two beds. “Well that’s…..uhh... new...”

Here are 4 guilty looking teenagers looking at the scene of the crime.

Ginny gingerly poked Ron’s side, keeping a fair distance away just in case he jolts back. “…Are they dead?” she asked, breaking the silence.

“I don’t know! Why don’t you ask them!” George paused his pacing to point his finger at both you and Fred.

“Hey! I am not the one you had thrown the stink bomb into the room!” You said defensively. “Besides I told you to test it when I’m ready! BUT NOOOO… you two wanted it now WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING IT’S FULL CAPACITY AND RESTRICTIONS!”

“I…..I…” When George couldn’t come up with a come back, he changed tactics. Turning to Fred he challenges. “You’re being remarkably calm about this.”

Fred, who was still standing rooted at the entryway, replied. “Thanks, it’s the shock. Give me fifteen minutes, the screaming will happen.”

“What the heck happened anyway?” asked Ginny.

“Yea, I thought it was just a stink bomb that could explode!” added George.

“It is just an exploding stink bomb!”

“Then why are they unconscious?” George’s panic becomes more evident as in addition to his pacing, his voice is now an octave higher.

“I think that the stink bomb was too powerful for such a small room.” Sighing, you gestured to the closed windows. “There’s no adequate ventilation too. Must have cause them to inhale a larger concentration”

“How long will they be out?”

“I don’t know Ginny…really.” You shrug. “It could be hours, one to two at best.”

“TWO HOURS?!?” The twins say in union despite one clearly in utter distress while the other scarily unmoving.

Fred gripped his hair, placed his head in between his thighs and let out a scream that could rival a lion.

George now having lost hope of his brother functioning, took charge. “Mum is gonna be back any second now. What are we gonna do?”

“Well, first…we’re gonna check the boy’s condition again for progress” You suggest, dragging Ginny to check on hair while you check on Ron.

“Then..we’re gonna say..”

“GOT YA!” You 4 shout, finger guns at the ready.

“Wait.. WHAT?!!?? WHAT’S HAPPENING?” George looks at Harry and Ron- who are surprisingly alright and laughing their heads off, to you and GInny looking very smug.

Fred tilts his red face up to the commotion.

“YOU JUST GOT PRANKED! SAY CHESSE!” You announced, indicating to Ginny with the camera.

“Cheeseee” murmured the twins in defeat.

“How’d you do it?”

You knew that they would be back with questions. You keep them on the edge as you finish up your potions essay.

"You lot are predictable."

"Predictable?" George scoffed.

Tidying up the study table you continue "Mhhhmmm hmmm. Predicted that you would test it out on Ron, knew that you would try to steal it from me cause you both are very impatient- especially you Fred."

"Heyy!"

"But how did you wake up Harry and Ron?" Piped George. "We shook them but they were still unconscious!"

"Ah George ever the curious. It's simple really." You lay on the bed with hands behind your head, enjoying this moment of outsmarted the boys. "Your siblings were all very tired of been pranked so when we saw an opportunity to have you taste of your own medicine we grab them chance."

You glance at them.

"The time of you setting off the stink bomb is unknown but we were ready. I've made a nose blocker chewing gum while I was tinkering with the foul smell of the stink bomb."

"No sense of smell, no effect." stated Fred.

"Exactly, the rest I'd just improv and acting! The boys weren't actually unconscious, just a temporary numbing spell which Ginny and I reversed when we checked on them."

Sitting back up, you continued.

"What I didn't predict was how crazy you with react. I've never seen you two gone off the rails scared shirtless like that before." You admitted. "Priceless."

"And now you have a photo of it" grumbled George.

"And video too!"

"WHAT?"

Taglist [All/General]: @gruffle1

HP Taglist: @onlyfreds

#fred weasley x reader #george weasley x reader #fred and george #fred weasley imagine #george weasley imagine #fred weasley #george weasley #weasley twins #harry potter x reader #feetofthetable500writingchallenge #fandomscombine writes #fred weasley fluff #george weasley fluff #harry potter imagine #weasley x reader #ron weasley #ginny weasley

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americasass81 · 4 years ago

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Make Her Mine - Chapter Four

{Warning: 18+, Dark theme, Non-Con, Violence, Mention of Breeding, Swearing, Smut}

Seriously do not read if any of this upsets you, the warnings are there for a reason.

A/N: Getting a bit darker here, this is also the first chapter with major smut so please be kind. Not to spoil it, but I’ve always wondered about the various things a certain item could be used for and have put that imagination to use a bit here. Hope you all enjoy it.

Word Count:- 3,117

Waking up with a mild headache, you looked around confused at your current location. Slowly as you checked yourself for injuries, the memory of Tony Stark walking into your hotel room came flooding back and you found your heart beating faster. While wondering what the sick fuck was up to, you at least calmed down a bit when you realized you and your clothes seemed to be intact. Foolishly looking around for your getaway bag, though you didn't expect to find it, you instead moved to the door to find it unlocked.

Poking your head outside and seeing nothing but a hallway with various doors, you quickly closed it and went to check out your surroundings. Survival 101 dictated that you first look for anything to use as a weapon before checking any and all means of escape. Entering through the only other available door, you were greeted by a reasonable bathroom that, while well furnished, held nothing of use but a roll of paper, a bar of soap and a washcloth. The window you noted was actually built into the ceiling with no possible way for you to reach it, so to save time, you abandoned this room in favor of the bedroom.

Quickly and quietly as possible, a thorough search here resulted in the same lack of viable options with a duplicate overhead window providing a glorious view of the clear blue sky you were currently a prisoner from. Taking a moment to think through the alternatives, and suspecting that Tony may have picked this place for a reason, you quickly got out of your head and made your way back to the bedroom door. Seeing a set of double doors at the end of the hall on your right, you assumed this was the master bedroom and so headed to the left. Had you taken the time, the two doors opposite yours would have revealed another bedroom and the main bathroom. As it was, the archway now in front of you opened up into a spacious kitchen and living room, with two doors, one of which you hoped led to freedom.

*************

Reaching for one, you stopped cold when you heard a dark chuckle behind you. Turning slowly, you pressed your back to the door when you saw Tony standing before you with a cup of coffee and a sinister smile.

"Good morning, darling. I see you've been exploring." As if by magic, a screen appeared showing your recent scavenger hunt through your rooms. Reaching for the door again while staring at him, Tony moved quicker than you thought possible and caged you between his powerful arms before bringing his lips to your ear. "Both those doors are locked Y/N, this time you're not going anywhere." With that a gloved hand came to rest just above your left breast where you felt a quick, sharp pick. Moving your top aside, you thought you saw movement under the skin before your eyes shot up to meet Tony's.

"Mr. Stark, what did you do?"

"Nanoparticles." he simply replied, stepping back to release you.

"Na-Nanoparticles?"

Taping the housing unit on his chest, you watched as a liquid-like material spread out over his body before becoming his suit of armor. The real horror hit you however, when you felt a mild pulse around the injection site. Placing your hand over the area, your eyes widened when another screen popped up with your employee picture and an unbelievable amount of information.

"Now thanks to my little friends, I not only know everything about you, but I can also track you anywhere. You will never be able to hide from me again." Seeing the realization dawn on your face, Tony flashed you his usual smirk before continuing. "They also tell me nifty little bits about what your body is up to. Which means right about now is when you might want to calm down." he said, concern clouding his features as he looked at the numbers on the screen.

"Calm down? How the fuck do you expect me to calm down? Not only have you kidnapped me, but you've just injected me with god-knows-what type of technology that allows you to track me and . . ." Beginning to have trouble breathing and feeling light-headed, anything else you wanted to say was cut off as you slid down the door.

Tony was back by your side in a split second and picking you up, sat both of you on the couch and held you as your breathing slowly returned to normal. "Feeling better darling? I tried to warn you."

Glaring at him now that you had calmed down, you tried to free yourself from his arms but his grip held firm. Resigning yourself to the fact that you were stuck, you looked at him and voiced another question on your mind. "Have you thought about what you're going to do when Miss Potts finds out what you've done? Not to mention the fact that I have pretty powerful friends."

"Ah Miss Potts? You know I just love the way company gossip has even reached the Accounting Department. Pepper and I have never, nor will ever be an item. Besides, I'd have thought office gossip was beneath you?" he questioned, arching a perfect eyebrow at you.

"Just because I never took any active part in it doesn't make me deaf or dumb. I still heard things." you pointed out while testing the hold he had on you.

"Fair point, my darling. As for your friends however . . . boy, that Sabrina is something else. Actually threatened the Avengers, she did. Still I dealt with her and her husband."

Fear and dread clutched at your heart like nothing you had ever felt before and it felt like Tony had physically stabbed you. Remembering your boxing and long ago self-defense classes, you head-butted him as hard as you could and used his confused state to scramble away. You only made it halfway between the two rooms however, when a sharp pain in your chest caused you to collapse on the floor.

Curled up and hugging yourself as the aftershocks slowly subsided, Tony reached out to soothe you as he knelt by your side. "Now why did you make me do that, darling? I never wanted you to find out what else those nanoparticles could do. Shush now, let me take care of you." Trying to move away from him, you couldn't help the tears from falling as you thought about what he had done to your friends or what he had planned for you.

*************

Picking you up eventually, this time he walked back to your room and placed you gently on the bed. Forcing yourself to look at him, you wiped away the tears as you found your voice. "What did you do to my friends?"

"Nothing, I promise. If possible, I can do without a war against the New York Mob. I don't know how much you know about your friend, but he can be quite ruthless. No, I simply created a false trail that has you currently being treated at a facility in Denmark."

"What's so special about Denmark? Surely you could have picked somewhere in the States?"

"I could have," he agreed, "but I figured there's less chance of them getting on a plane to visit you in Denmark."

"And the nanoparticles? What happened out there and what else can they do?"

"Aw Darling, I'd rather not answer that." he said, reaching out to move a stray strand of hair while you flinched back from him. Sighing deeply, his hand fell by his side as he gave in. "What happened in the other room was a minor pulse emitted by the nanoparticles, it can go a lot higher. But I'd rather that not happen." he quickly added, as you scrambled further away from him. "Still they also have the ability to repair a certain amount of tissue damage, so that's a plus."

"So what you're saying is you can pretty much control me now because of those nanoparticles. What do you have planned for me?" you demanded, fearing the answer but needing to know all the same.

Looking away from you, Tony seemed to think long and hard before rising from the bed and answering. "How about we park this conversation for now. You must be hungry."

"Fuck you Stark, I'm not hungry. Tell me what your sick mind has dreamed up."

"Y/N, we had this conversation back in my office." his tone indicating his patience was limited. "While I'd rather make things pleasant, I'm not above putting manners on you if I have to. Now, shall we?" he asked, holding out his hand to you.

Leaping off the bed however, you failed to make it to the door before Tony tackled you and held you down. Securing your hands above your head with more nanoparticles, he flipped you over before ripping your clothes from you. Then an unparalleled fear gripped you as he spread your legs before kneeling between them. Watching him undo his pants, you tried your best to get away from him but to no avail. Removing his cock, you stared in horror as he spit on his hand before running it up and down his length. Redoubling your efforts, all the fight died in you when he held your hips, lined himself up with your entrance and thrust into your dry pussy.

Releasing a scream that rose from the very depths of your soul, Tony was too busy using you to care, while you couldn't figure out how you didn't pass out already. "That's it darling, let it all out and scream for me. I didn't want our first time to be like this, but maybe this will teach you to be a bit more polite." he taunted, as he continued to plough into you in spite of your obvious distress.

"Tony please . . . fuck stop. It hurts so much." you cried as he pounded into you harder than you thought possible. Increasing his speed and pushing your knees forward so his hard shaft could reach deeper, you felt the coil tighten in your stomach, but before you could reach your climax Tony groaned above you as you felt him paint your walls with his seed.

Pulling out, he picked you up and placed your naked body on the bed before the nanoparticles secured your wrists to the headboard. Kissing you tenderly, he walked to the door before your cries forced him to turn around.

"Mr. Stark. Tony, you can't leave me like this. I'll do anything. You don't even need to release me, just make me come."

"No Y/N, this is what you get. I tried to be reasonable, but your attitude just won't change. So until you prove grateful for all I've given you the last three years, you can lie here and take what I give you." With that, he exited your room, leaving you naked, unsatisfied and completely at his mercy.

*************

Looking at the cameras installed throughout the property, he watched you trash about until you wore yourself out. While he hated himself for what he did, he couldn't reconcile the meek you that kept turning down his attention with the ungrateful brat before him. Even as you screamed and cried his name, you still refused to beg or apologize. He had to wonder if perhaps this situation just brought out the worst in you.

Watching you eventually drift towards an exhausted sleep, Tony was pissed to discover a missed voicemail on your phone from your friend Sabrina. It was bad enough that she couldn't give him time to convince you to be his, but upon playing the message, he discovered what she really thought about him. There and then, after phoning in a quick update on your location and condition to Mr. Stan, he decided he had to find a permanent way to keep your mob friends from you, lest they try to turn you against him. However a more important matter threatened to derail his whole plans when he discovered an email from your boss Melinda, informing him that you hadn't reported into work since Wednesday. Thankfully however, being who he was made this an easy problem to fix, though it did worry him as to whether he may have overlooked some other minor detail which might later come back to threaten the life he planned to build.

Setting aside your phone and watching you, he figured he should take his own advice and try to break you quickly so the two of you could become the couple he imagined. Making himself a quick meal, he then proceeded to deal with some urgent work stuff before checking back in with you. Seeing you finally stir, he decided to bite the bullet and see if your attitude had improved. Rising and heading to the fridge for a health smoothie which he hoped you'd drink, he headed off to your room to see if pleasure or pain was the order of the day.

Placing the glass on the bedside table, he released your hands from the bed and drew you onto his lap before bringing the glass up to your lips. "Y/N, darling, I need you to drink this. Can you do that?" Shaking your head, while unknowingly snuggling deeper into his warm body, your eyes widened in shock when you finally opened them to take in the scene before you.

"T-Tony, what the fuck? Let me go." you croaked out, trying futilely to pull away from him. He didn't let you go however, and before you could steel yourself, the nanoparticles emit the same pulse that floored you in the kitchen. This time however Tony's arm wraps around you as you hold on to steady yourself.

"Darling I'm sorry, but the sooner you learn the sooner I can actually disable that feature. You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Glaring at him while nodding your head, your eyes quickly fell to the glass now held in his other hand. "Is my girl finally ready for a drink?" he asked as he followed your gaze.

"Yes." you rasped and he brought the glass to your lips as you opened your mouth to accept the liquid. Drinking a bit too quickly, he had to remind you to take it easy so you didn't choke. When you had drank it all, he lay you back on the bed before returning the glass to the table. Then in a move that had you terrified, he took off his shoes before joining you on the bed and moving between your legs.

Scrambling backwards towards the head of the bed, he quickly and easily pulled you down, before placing his hands on your hips to keep you in place. "Y/N, I just need to check there's no lasting damage done, okay? Can you let me do that."

"No, don't fucking touch me. You can't do what you've done and then act all concerned. You're a monster, plain and simple." you screamed while thrashing as best you could against his hold.

"Fine you see a monster, so be it." With that he tapped his housing unit and you watched in horror as countless nanoparticles made their way down his arm, along the sheets and settled in to secure your arms and legs to the bed. Spread wide open for him, fear filled your eyes when Tony held up his palm as a penis shaped object took form. Moving forward towards your pussy, you found your voice and finally begged.

"Tony please, whatever you're planning, don't do it. I'll behave, I promise. Just please don't put that thing in me. I thought you said those things already in me could tell you what was going on inside me "

"They do darling, but this is simply a much quicker way to check there's no damage. I promise I'll be gentle, just don't move." Then moving his hand, he lined the object up with your entrance and gently pushed it in. Checking data on a screen, but hearing you wince from how tender you still were from not being wet enough, he slowed his movement slightly before looking up at you. "Breathe darling, I know it hurts but you're doing so well. It will be over shortly."

Pushing in the final few inches, he took a few minutes to lean forward and kiss you gently before going back to the screen to see what was going on. Seemingly happy with what he saw, he looked back to you with a grin that sent fear shooting down your spine, while somehow at the same time sending heat towards your core.

Pulling his palm away from you so only a small part of the object remained, he slid it back in just as gently as before. Continuing to thrust it in and out, it didn't take long for you to start moaning beneath him. While trying to move still proved impossible, the friction he created was doing amazing things to your pussy and this only moved up another notch when he again leaned forward and wrapped his lips around your left nipple. Sucking and nibbling until your nipple was erect, he bit down gently before furnishing your right nipple with the same treatment. Getting closer and closer to your peak as his hand began moving faster, the coil in your stomach snapped and you came when Tony moved his other hand down to pinch your clit.

Reducing the thickness of the makeshift cock to make its exit easier, he couldn't hide the smirk on his face as you sighed contentedly while trying to control your breathing. "Well Darling, it's safe to say there's no permanent damage done. Now, what do you say we see about putting a mini me in you?" With that, he quickly removed his clothes, returned between your spread legs and thrust in to the hilt before you even registered what he had said. Having just come, he had no trouble this time sliding in and out of your slick pussy and it wasn't long before he had you reaching for the edge once again. With just a few more thrusts and some well timed flicks to your clit both you and Tony cried out as you came around him while his cum shot out, drowning your cervix. Collapsing on top of you, he didn't stay there long before he pulled out and drew you back against his chest after the nanoparticles released your aching limbs. Placing soft kisses along your neck and shoulder it didn't take long for both your breathing to return to normal and you fell asleep in each other's arms.

Tagging:- @nsfwsebbie , @hoseokchild , @ironlady1993 , @floatingdaisy7 , @taintedgenre , @buttercandy16 , sorry if I missed anyone.

#dark!tony stark x reader

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halothenthehorns · 3 years ago

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All in the Family

Chapter 52: Trelawney's Prediction

The place reeked of alcohol worse than The Leaky Cauldron, and Remus had been in there recently enough to speak from experience. He groaned in disgust at the heavily ladened perfume trying to cover the smell, the stench of incense and the billowing smoke of a fireplace, none of which quite masked the smell of the rich wine.

"What's the matter Moony?" Sirius looked absolutely dapper in the environment, Remus choosing to watch him circle about the new room to focus on instead.

"The place reeks," he needlessly emphasized as his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. "Where the bloody hell are we?"

"I'd hazard a guess at Trelawney's office," Frank called, once again riffling through an available desk with abandon. "Judging by all the Divination homework in here, oh, and a few personal items. She was in Ravenclaw," he held up a bronze eagle embossed pin on a delicately wrapped blue shawl.

"I'm growing jealous by the moment we never had this teacher," James laughed as he found a door that would open and stepping through. Remus made to join him, but recoiled as the smell only increased. Prongs continued to call out as he traveled farther away, "she's practically got her own distillery in here beside her bed! There's another door that leads straight to her classroom! Blast, of course it won't let us go in farther down to the castle."

"I'm surprised it let you in there," Alice followed him, "considering we've already been in."

"Guess we get to revisit places, would have been bloody useful to know while in that cramped room in the Dursley's," Regulus muttered.

James didn't even seem to hear them, and neither did Remus. "For the love of Merlin open one of those windows," Remus called, going quickly after them now to do just this. He hardly glanced at the wine cabinet stacked to the ceiling or the messy bed behind him as he threw open the painted glass and greedily sucked in some fresh air.

The quad was visible below, looking strangely forlorn without a person in sight sneaking about in the dying sunlight. By the time he'd pulled his head back to bare the process again, the place had certainly aired out some he didn't feel like he was dying anymore, and Peter immediately shoved the book into his lap with a disgruntled expression.

"Everything alright Wormtail?" He asked in surprise, expecting to have found him as jubilant as most everyone else still seemed to be about the recent Quidditch victory. Even Alice and Frank looked in spirited moods for the event, chatting with James and Sirius more than ever before they were being so damned happy. Sirius' little brother was even eagerly joining in, if you didn't know they were all from different houses and never spoke before nobody would have batted an eye. Only Evans seemed bored waiting to get a move on things, he could see her at just the right angle back in Trelawney's office sitting on an available poof and looking bored up at the ceiling.

Peter appraised him for a moment, before muttering sullenly, "guess I forgot in those few weeks of silence just how loud James and Sirius could get."

Remus looked at him in surprise, before snorting with laughter. "Don't know how you could have forgotten! Did you manage to get even more thick recently?"

Instead of his usual laugh, Peter frowned a bit and started to walk off. Recalling Sirius' warning that in fact Peter might suspect what the two of them have been doing out of sight recently, he chose his next words carefully, "nothing's changed Peter, I hope this book's future isn't getting to you, we're still us."

"Yeah, I got that." Peter muttered before finally shuffling away to stand at James' elbow, but crossing his arms and watching him with an odd look, like a little kid waiting to get his parents attention. It was so bizarre Remus stood there a whole ten minutes watching and waiting for something to happen, and finally realizing it wasn't. Then Regulus of all people seemed to realize it and turned to include him. How often-

"Bloody hell Lupin, would you start already and end this madness," Evans shot at him from three rooms away, startling him so much he nearly dropped the book out the window. That wouldn't have been a fun experience. He likely could have just summoned it back, but what if he couldn't? Would they be trapped here forever, living off of wine because they couldn't move on? Could they summon things to them outside this room? Harry's Firebolt would be in this castle right now, wouldn't it? He ignored her and set the book down on the desk with a crystal ball waiting to be ignored and attempted this very thing, expecting the broom to come shooting up and exclamations of surprise and enjoyment from Sirius for finally getting his hands on this, but sadly nothing happened.

Lost now in a whole new round of questions about the logistics of this, they truly seemed limited to the environment they landed in and this bubble only, that he didn't even notice Evans coming up behind him and snatching the book away to read the chapter title until she was right behind him.

"Alright, already, I'll read," he pacified, holding his hand back out tentatively, afraid she'd take a bite out of it for as nasty a look as she gave him.

Her mood had only worsened at what was coming, Trelawney and predictions hadn't been a fun topic for them when it had come up before, and she slammed it back into his hand and stomped back off to glower in the corner.

He sighed as he began, wondering what miracle it was going to take for all of them to be in a good mood at once. The start to this certainly wasn't helping, Harry basking in his Championship winning only set the group's chattering even more boisterously and Lily to start rolling her eyes and muttering loud enough for anyone to hear what a waste that sport was. It was of some relief he got to change topics to the upcoming exams, even if none of them appreciated the reminder theirs was supposedly next week if they ever made it back to their time. Even the twins spotted buckling down reminded him he had a whole stack of Potion's notes to get through back in their dorm- ugh, he'd rather read this, even if this insane version of Sirius did make another appearance.

Hermione's oddities about her class he practically skipped right over, he really hadn't been paying enough attention to invest in this girl torturing herself for some classes. Of course the next bit with Buckbeak's execution was just as depressing as ever to think about, Remus in particular wishing to recoil and hide behind Sirius and James whenever this was mentioned. He could so easily imagine himself in Buckbeak's place, the Ministry coming up here like a kill squad the moment they found out a werewolf was present here. He tried his best to shake off that recurring nightmare as he kept going.

At least Harry's exams were interesting to find out about. Even if he was the only one paying the slightest bit of attention, the others were still dissecting the Quidditch match with no end in sight. He couldn't blame them, as none of this was anything new to them, until he got to his.

"An obstacle course? Moony that's brilliant!" Sirius called over, completely cutting off whatever Peter had been saying.

"Sounds like you would make a great teacher, always love the ones who do practical lessons and make them fun," James nodded along.

Remus flushed a bit as he smiled at them, adding a chancing glance over at Lily and watching her consider the idea at the way he handled all of the students. Even Sirius' little brother didn't seem to have a bad word to say about it, and for just a moment Remus thought he'd gotten his wish, until he caught sight of Peter, who was once again frowning at James. Remus felt bad he seemed to have once again pushed whatever his friend had been saying aside and meant to apologize, but he didn't want to call Peter out in front of everybody and swore he'd save this for later.

The book wasn't letting any other happier feelings linger, as the Minister himself appeared with the executioner right to Hogwarts front door. It was truly disgusting how blase' they were being about their own mistreatment of this case, something that deeply disturbed him. If they couldn't be bothered to think twice about the little things, how were other such instances in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures being handled?

Finally he got to the point of the chapter in Harry's last exam, Divination. Trelawney was as gormless as ever, in comparison Hagrid had made a better teacher this year with his flubberworms. Trying to cajole a student into imagining their friends pet with his head cut off was despicable, he had half a mind to toss all her sherry bottles out the window for the way she was acting, and that was before she scared them all heartless as he read out a real prophecy.

He swore his voice was as raspy as Trelawney's by the end, there was something so wrong with what he was reading he couldn't make sense of it if he was stuck in here for the rest of his life.

Sirius' breaths' began rattling out of him as if they were already being counted down. He staggered back, away from everyone, looking like he was going to be sick or worse any second as he mouthed it all again, though no one needed that repeated.

"Sirius!" Several people called in unison concern, but he didn't hear one. "No, no, I don't want, no, not that-" He hadn't realized his knees had given out on him, or that he'd backed all the way up into Trelawney's room again before they had. The sherry bottles glimmered above in the candle light from both adjacent rooms, in all sorts of tantalizing colors. He already knew before he bothered to reach for one though, he could drink every one of them and could never forget this horror.

The Marauder's didn't know what else to say, Peter didn't think he'd even bother anymore if he had an idea. It's not as if anyone listened to him anyways. James wished with everything he had they could just keep brushing this aside as nonsense, but at this point it didn't seem possible. Were they really going to have to travel through the next four years of Harry's school life listening to this madness? Remus wished he could bite his tongue off rather than having said that horrible prophecy, like he'd seared it into his own tongue. He didn't know what to believe anymore. Rash, impulsive Sirius Black could never have done such a horrible crime, but what had happened to their future to cause it?

Regulus looked from his brother to Sirius' friends with a calculating look in place, wondering if he was the only one to realize the prophecy had never said anyone by name. Even the two of them who believed the most in prophecy's had to have heard, made the same understandable path in logic this could still all be referring to someone else, right?

Evans' voice trickled in through his haze, she'd picked up the book at some point and continued, whether in callousness or pity he didn't know or care, he was grateful. It all happened in quick succession to him, Hagrid crying over the loss of his hippogriff, and yet Scabbers's miraculous return giving Ron his rat back. A pet and some brooms, those were his godsons biggest concerns this year, when he was now left a shell wondering when it was going to end for him. He just wanted this to be over.

#Reading the books #Harry Potter #fanfiction #PoA #prophecy #Marauders #Wolfstar #Jilly #Frank Longbottom #Alice Smith #Regulus Black #Lily Evans #James Potter #Remus Lupin #Sirius Black #Peter Pettigrew

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hilltopsunset · 3 years ago

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I Regret Buying Pokémon Shield

I told myself I wouldn’t do it. I’ve seen time and again the lack of innovation from main-series Pokémon games, and I insisted nothing would convince me to buy this latest atrocity. Yet here I am, reviewing the game I said I’d never purchase. I should have listened to myself. I KNEW BETTER! Strap in, ‘cause this one’s pretty long.

Pokémon has been around for a long time—like, a long, long time—and I’ve been around for every single new main-series game that’s been released since the franchise’s first arrival in North America back in 1996 with Red/Blue. I was not yet 10 years old, and I still remember the childlike excitement of finding rare, never-before seen creatures, the stress of trying to catch a wily Abra or elusive Pinsir, and the challenging first encounter with the Elite Four and the Champion, a 5-man gauntlet of trainers with powerful Pokémon rarely (if ever) seen in the game prior to that moment. It was exhilarating in a way that keeps me coming back for more, hoping to rekindle those same flames of wonder.

While the main gist of the games hasn’t changed much over the years, one of my favorite parts of playing a new Pokémon game is seeing the improvements each game brings to the series. Many of the initial sequels made huge leaps in progress: Gold/Silver introduced a plethora of new mechanics like held items and breeding; Ruby/Sapphire introduced passive abilities and was the first to include multi-battles in the form of double-battles; Diamond/Pearl was the first generation capable of trading and battling online and brought us the revolutionary physical/special split so elements were no longer locked into one or the other. These changes all had significant impacts on how players approached battles, formed their teams, and used each Pokémon.

Those changes, combined with the addition of new Pokémon to catch, regions to explore, and enemies to fight, were enough to keep me interested. But I know I wasn’t alone in imagining all the possibilities of taking the franchise off the handheld platforms and moving the main series games over to a more powerful home console. In the meantime, each generation that followed Gen IV highlighted a new, troubling pattern that became more and more prevalent with each addition to the series.

1. Gen V: Lack of meaningful gameplay innovation

By Generation V with Black/White, not only was Game Freak quickly running out of colors, they were quite obviously running out of ideas for significant gameplay innovation. The bulk of Black/White’s biggest changes were improvements on or adaptations to existing staples to the franchise: many new Pokémon, moves, and abilities were added, and the DS platform allowed for greater graphical quality where Pokémon could move around a bit more on-screen during battles, the camera wasn’t as rigid as it had to be in previous games due to machine limitations; perhaps most importantly, they FINALLY decided to make TMs infinite. Thank goodness. While the updates were nice, they were nowhere near as impactful on the game as previous generations’ changes were and served more as needed quality of life adjustments.

I would also argue Gen V also had the least inspired Pokémon designs (like Vanillux and Klinklang) with the worst starter choices of any Pokémon game, but that’s a discussion for another time. Excadrill and Volcarona were pretty cool, though.

2. Gen VI: Gimmicks as the main draw

Pokémon X/Y (See? They ran out of colors) continued this new downward trend in innovation. Mega-evolution—while admittedly pretty cool—wasn’t enough to carry the new generation into an era of meaningful improvement because it was equivalent to adding new Pokémon rather than developing innovative gameplay, ushering in a new era of gimmicks in lieu of substantial updates.

Though the gameplay innovation for X/Y was minimal, the graphic updates were substantial: Pokémon X/Y was the first generation to introduce the main series to a fully 3-dimensional world populated by 3D characters. However, since X/Y was on the 3DS, it was a ripe target for the 3D gimmick seen in almost all games on the console, which I personally used for all of 5 minutes before feeling nauseous and never using the function again.

Despite the fresh look of the new 3D models, the battle animations were, to be frank, incredibly disappointing. Pokémon still barely moved and never physically interacted with opponents, nor did they use moves in uniquely appropriate ways. To my point, for years now there’s been a meme about Blastoise opting to shoot water out of his face rather than his cannons. I was sad to see that they didn’t take the time to give each Pokémon’s animations a little more love. But I figured, in time, when or if the franchise ever moved to a more powerful machine, they would be better equipped to make it happen, right? I also convinced myself that the lack of refined animations were kind of charming, harkening back to the games’ original (terrible) animations.

3. Gen VII: Focus on Minigames

The main innovation (gimmick) that came with Generation VII, Sun/Moon, was the lack of HMs in lieu of riding certain Pokémon. Sun/Moon also added Ultra Beasts (essentially just new Pokémon) and Z-moves (just new moves) which only added to the number of gimmicks present in the games. These changes, which provide some mild adaptations to gameplay from previous generations, don’t fundamentally change the way players go through each game, the way that updates in the earlier generations did. I personally played through the entirety of Sun/Moon without using a single Z-move or seeing a single Ultra Beast outside the one you’re required to fight to progress the main story. Ultimately, these changes were not a significant enough experience to warrant an entirely new game that is otherwise full of more of the same stuff with slightly different creatures who have slightly different stats and occupy a slightly different world.

Though Sun/Moon was comfortably embracing the franchise’s affinity for gimmicks, it brought to the forefront yet another troubling trend: mini games. Between photography, the Festival Plaza, and Poké Pelago, the focus on and attention to detail toward mini games had grown considerably over the years. Pokémon games have always had minigames and other time-sinks—which is great! Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate having more to do than trudge through the main story. But it is apparent that, with each new generation, more time seems dedicated to development of these extras. Pokémon Contests, Secret Bases, Super Training, feeding/grooming; a lot of their larger innovations after Gen IV were centered on non-essential parts of the game, which results in diminished game and story quality overall.

Admittedly, Sun/Moon did have some of the best exploration moments of any of the Pokémon games, which I did very much appreciate. More on that later as it relates to Sword/Shield…

4. Generation VIII: You Can’t Be Serious

When Game Freak finally announced they were launching Generation VIII, Sword and Shield, on the Switch rather than a dedicated handheld console, I was beside myself with excitement.

And then I saw gameplay footage like this, and my heart sank.

What is the purpose of launching the game on a stronger console if they are going to continue copy/pasting their sprites and their animations? If they aren’t going to provide the Pokémon any unique flair or create more appropriate animations? It was disappointing enough seeing the same animations/models from X/Y for Sun/Moon, but that was sort of expected since the games were on the same console. But now that the game has moved to the Switch, this is unacceptable.

When I learned that they were significantly cutting the number of Pokémon available in the game, I thought for certain that would translate to more time dedicated to the ones that made the cut, to focus on adding animations and character to the critters to make them feel like real parts of the world, rather than avatars of a child’s imagination, unable to fully process how the world functions. Alas, what was I thinking?

I thought the Dynamax gimmick would be one of my biggest gripes because it’s so pointless, or maybe the Wild Area’s severe lack of organic belonging (all Pokémon are just wandering aimlessly, weather can change drastically after crossing an invisible line, trees look like they were cut and pasted out of Mario 64, you can’t even catch Pokémon if they’re too high a level) but honestly the most disappointing part of the game for me was the pitiful routes between towns/gyms. Previous installments of the game included routes full of trainers and puzzles you needed to defeat or solve before you could progress—in Sword/Shield, the only thing that ever prevents you from progressing are some Team Yell grunts barricading paths the game doesn’t want you to take yet, for literally no reason. It completely removes player autonomy and a sense of accomplishment earned through overcoming challenges—now instead of learning that you need to find an item that allows you to cut through certain trees to gain access to new areas, you simply follow the story beats and then, upon returning, the path will be open. It’s inorganic, it’s clunky, and it’s extremely lazy.

Speaking of lazy, the story itself was another massive disappointment for me. Pokémon games are not particularly known for having deep stories, but Sword/Shield takes it to a new low. Every NPC simply pushes you to battle in gyms, and every interesting story beat that occurs happens just outside the player-character’s reach. Any time something interesting happens, you are shooed away and told to let the grown-ups handle it while you just get your gym badges. There COULD have been some interesting story moments where your character gets more involved with helping fix the havoc occurring around the Galar Region, but instead we as the player are simply TOLD what happened, why it happened, and who fixed it (usually the champion, Leon).

I honestly think having the game focus on the story of Sonia, Bede, Marnie, or even Hop (was not a fan of this kid) would have been a much more interesting game, because those characters actually had some depth to them, some bigger reason for taking on the gym challenges than simply “I want to be the very best.” Albeit those stories would have required a tremendous amount of work to add depth and details, the potential for a better story is in those characters. There is just no story at all to the main character, who is ushered from gym to gym because…because? Because that’s what kids do? I’m not even really sure what the motivation is.

There are SO MANY exciting, interesting, innovative ways Game Freak could drive Pokémon into a new and exciting direction while still maintaining its charm and building on existing mechanics, but they instead choose to demonstrate their lack of interest in significant graphical and gameplay innovation. I imagine this is largely because the masses will eat up just about any Pokémon product produced so long as there’s a new bunny to catch, and Pikachu is still involved. I’m disappointed, and I wish the Galar region could meet the expectations of my 10-year old mind’s imagination.

When abilities were added, we suddenly had to consider whether our Earthquake could even hit the enemy Weezing and adapt to the tremendous changes the passive skills added, reconsidering how we faced each battle. When the physical/special split occurred, entirely new opportunities opened up and certain Pokémon who were banished to obscurity due to their poor typing and stat distribution, like Weavile, were suddenly viable. Some even became incredibly powerful, like Gyarados, who had been hit pretty hard by the Special attack/defense split. There were also already-powerful Pokémon (Gengar, Dragon-types) who became even more so through access to STAB moves that benefited off their strongest stats.

I want new games to include updates that feel as impactful as these changes. If you’re interested in how Game Freak can improve on the main gameplay, I have some fun ideas that will be fleshed out in another article: How to Breathe New Life into the Pokémon Franchise. That article will be dedicated to explaining what those changes are, why I want them, and how they can improve future games.

#pokemon #pokemon shield #pokemon sword/shield #game review #review #hilltop sunset #streamer #gamefreak #gen viii #gen 8

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adrenaline-roulette · 5 years ago

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Four Eighths

airing: Four x Eight (Reader) Word count: 4.5K + Warnings: Coarse Language, slight angst, character building (Four), he’s kinda redeemed for being such an ass in the last chapter! If this were a movie, there would be a shopping montage (Preferably with La Roux Bulletproof playing), also very reckless driving (Eight is a god damned bad ass!)

*Disclaimer, as promised this is a more lighthearted chapter, still with a slight bit of angst, but I feel like that’s just a given when it comes to 6 Underground fics!

Missed Chapters ONE, TWO and THREE.... Maybe read those first? Might help you understand what’s going on here!

Chapter Four: I'm having fun, don't put me down

The trailer door slammed shut behind you, as you stalked towards Five’s trailer, your wet hair being blown in all directions by the sudden gale which had picked up at base. You were mad, you were beyond mad, you were at the point of furious! “Who the fuck does Four think he is? He doesn’t have a fucking clue what I can do!” You snarl under your breath, not that it made any difference. You could’ve screamed the words from the top of your lungs, and you doubted anyone would hear you over the wind. As you rounded a corner, Five’s trailer came into view, her and Two sat on the steps leading inside, both looking up at you when your shadow cast across them. Your eyes were hidden behind a pair of heart shaped sunglasses, the cheerful eyewear masking the look of rage piercing your eyes. Plastering on a smile, you leant against the side of Five’s trailer, resting your clasped hands behind your back. “Sorry I took so long, sleep kinda happened.” You smirk.

Five waves you off, smiling softly. “No stress, if I were still a medical practitioner, I’d be yelling at you right now to go back to bed, and finish healing.”

“You do that anyway. Medical licence or no…” Two grins, earning a shove in the shoulder from Five.

“That’s beside the point! None of you actually have to listen to me when I tell you do something! When I wore a name badge and stethoscope, people would do exactly as I said!”

“Thanks Five, but really, I’m alright. I don’t need any more sleep. I feel fine.” You grin, feeling your anger slowly ebb away. Five eyes you from head to toe, as if she were expecting a mortal wound to appear somewhere on your person. “Seriously Five, it’s okay. I’m no more injured than I usually am after attacking the punching bag!”

At this, Five cracks a grin, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. “Two, you’ve turned her into you! Next thing we know, Eight’ll be running around with a gunshot wound in her back, telling us all that she’s fine!”

“How is that possibly a bad thing?” Two gasps, looking between Five and you, a tiny smirk working its way onto her lips. “We need more people like me in the world, and I’m honoured that Eight is just that!”

“Besides, eight is divisible by two! So of course we’re going to end up like each other!” You laugh, kicking one foot up behind you, planting it firmly on the side of the trailer.

“By that logic then, eight is also divisible by four, would that make you and Four similar too?” Five grins. Your breath hitches in your throat, the last thing you want it to think about that arrogant Brit. No, you were nothing alike. You would never question someone’s place on a team before they’d had the opportunity to prove themselves.

“Definitely not. He and I are two very different people.” You answer almost too quickly, both Five and Two noticing your sudden shift in posture. Your back had gone pin straight, and your hands had moved to rest in front of you, fingers locking then unlocking over and over.

Two stands up, stepping over Five who was on the step below her. “Well, I don’t know about you, Eight. But I know that after a good fight, I always like to get a big meal. There’s a diner in town that serves pretty decent food. Ready to head on in?”

Pushing away from the trailer, you nod twice, smiling gently at Two. “That’s sounds great.”

“I’ll get the keys from One, I’ll meet you both at the car.” Five offers, closing her trailer door, and heading towards a shipping container. You were still learning where everything at base was, but if you remembered correctly, the one Five entered was the communal rec room. It was often where One and Seven could be found, battling it out in a game of pool.

*****

The silver McLaren 570S sped down the highway, going well over the speed limit, though considering that you had only passed three other cars the whole time, it didn’t much matter how fast you went. Two had offered to drive, as she claimed to know a short cut to the small town you were visiting, and as it was your first time leaving the base in weeks, Five had offered you sit in the passenger seat to take in the scenery, which you would’ve done had it not been blurring past you at a rate of knots. Eventually, the car slowed down as you entered a small populated town, driving through the quiet street at an acceptable speed. “Where are we stopping first? Shopping or lunch?” Two asks, turning to face Five in the backseat.

Five gazes out the window for a moment, contemplating her answer. “Lunch makes the most sense, it’s the right time for it…”

“I was thinking shopping first. If we eat later in the day, then we’ll have an actual excuse to not have to eat whatever Three makes for dinner tonight.” You offer, tilting your head to the side as you wait for a response.

Two chuckles, nodding her head. “I may like Three, but his cooking is atrocious.”

“Shops first, it is then!” Five grins, as Two drives further down the street, until she pulls into a parking space. The three of you climbing out, before instantly being hit with a sticky, humid breeze, making you all wish you had remained in the air-conditioned car.

The two women lead you down the street, as you look at each of the shops you pass. A few small clothing stores, a grocer, chemist, realtor, arcade, cinema, three diners, one Italian restaurant, and finally you come to a home décor store. “They don’t have much, but it’s enough to make things a little more comfortable.” Five offers with a smile as she pushes the door open for you all.

Inside, the store was set up in multiple different sections. One for bathroom, another for children’s rooms, kitchens, lounge rooms, and of course master bedrooms. Moving further into the store, you leave Two and Five to look through the lounge section, as you make a beeline for the bedroom portion of the store. The store offered just about everything you could possibly need for a bedroom, though as you weren’t in the market for a new bed, or furniture at all for that matter, you were left with only a small portion of the display area to look through. There was a tall floor lamb which you select, along with a matching smaller lamp that you intended to use by your bed. Next came bed sheets, the ones you had been using since you arrived were clearly hand me downs, not that there was an issue with that, but you did want to new ones. Finding a few sets that you liked, and also hoped would fit your mattress, you move on to the more decorative side of things. A string of twinkling fairy lights was added to your basket, along with a cream coloured rectangular rug. As you looked further around, you came across decorative throw cushions, which you quickly snatched up five of, all in different colours and patterns, only to then find a throw blanket which matched one of the five, which you found yourself needing!

Making your way back to the front of the store, you found your travel companions causing a ruckus in the kids room section, where they were attempting to build a fort with the few items available to do so. The store clerk looked as if he was having an aneurism, though he was unable to say anything that would make the women stop. “If only One could see you both now.” You giggle, heading over with your arms and basket full of décor.

Two pokes her head up from behind their fort, smirking at you. “Why do you say that?”

“When he was telling me about all of you after we first met, he told me I had to behave well around you two, because you were the adults of the team.”

Five bursts into laughter, as Two joins in with her own giggles. “Fuck One, he sees what he wants to see when it comes to us! He wouldn’t notice if we walked around with fake moustaches drawn on!” Five gasps, shaking her head fondly.

“One time, during a briefing, Seven didn’t show up, but instead stuffed a jacket with paper, and blew up a balloon and put it under the jackets hood. He set it up perfectly, it actually looked like someone was asleep on the table! Unless you got too close, then it was obvious what was going on. One got through the whole meeting, and only when everyone stood to leave, and the fake Seven didn’t, did he notice something was wrong!” Two has a fond look in her eyes as she tells you her story. “If he thinks we’re the adults, then that’s fine, but we know the truth!”

A part of you longs to stay with the women, and help them build their fort, but the other part of you feels the urge to rescue the poor store clerk. Turning to face him, you smile kindly. “Hi there, could I grab these all please?”

The young boy blinks in shock, tearing his gaze away from the two grown women destroying the store. “Uh- sure! Just follow me.”

You do as he says and follow him to the register, he looks no older that fifteen or sixteen perhaps, and clearly has had no experience with dealing with a situation like this. As the youth reads out your total, you smile and pull out the credit card from your purse. Two had handed it to you before you left, saying that is was One’s card, and was only to be used for the essentials. When you had asked if shopping for your tailer counted as an essential, she had looked directly in your eyes and said, that home decorating was the only essential. “Can you add an extra 70 bucks to the total please?”

The boy blinks at you in surprise, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. “Why’d you wanna do that?”

You shrug lightly, twirling the card between your fingers. “Because I feel bad for the mess my friends have made. Figure this might make up for it a bit.”

He doesn’t question you again and does as told, presenting you with your new total, to which you happily pay. By the time the small items had been bagged up, you were left with two lamps in large boxes, and a rolled-up rug to try and figure out how to carry out to the car. “Oi ladies! Leave the poor shop alone and come gimme a hand here!” You yell across the store, hearing the giggling from the two women cease.

*****

Loading your purchases into the car had been one hell of a hassle, while the McLaren was built for speed, it was certainly not built with the intention of ever using the trunk! After much swearing, and the threat of returning the rug, the three of you had managed to get everything safely inside, slamming the trunk closed, with the vow to not open it again until you were back at base. Next, came a very late lunch. It was well after three when you entered the diner, only a handful of other patrons there at the odd time of your arrival. A middle aged woman with flaming red hair directed the three of you to a booth at the back of the diner, handing out plastic menu’s. You all placed your orders, heeding Five’s warning and staying well away from the nachos. “Four had them once, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone so unwell…” She had advised, to which although the thought of Four being sick did spark joy in you, you would rather not find out if it was a one-off thing or not.

Once your meals were handed out, conversation flowed freely between the three of you, no question was off limits now that you were away from the base and One’s prying eyes. “Alright Eight, I’ve been trying to figure it out all afternoon, but I just can’t. So you’re going have to answer it for me. What’s the go with Four? When we mentioned him back at base, I genuinely thought you were about to cry, or scream. Maybe even both…” Five begins, dabbing the corner of mouth with a napkin.

You pray that the ground will open up and swallow you whole, at least then you’d have an excuse for not answering. Of course, they had noticed your reaction earlier, you’d never been good at hiding your emotions, your dad used to warn you to never play poker! Both as an anti-gambling campaign, but also because he knew that if you did, everyone would know straight away if you were bluffing or not. You look across at Two, who although has her mouthful, looks just as curios as Five does. Sighing deeply, you rest your elbows on the table, hissing quietly as you press against a bruise you didn’t know you had. “I’m just tired of the way he’s been treating me is all.”

“Wow, that was so informative. I feel so enlightened! Thank you so much for sharing such a heart wrenching story with us, I know that must’ve been hard for you.” Two grumbles, glaring at you over her meal. You had hoped that maybe they would accept such a basic offer, but apparently that wasn’t the case.

“It’s just that he’s been ignoring me since I arrived! Every time I try to talk to him, he just pretends he can’t hear me, and then there’s the times when I’m talking to someone else! He walks right up to us, and just starts talking over the top of me, no apology or anything!”

Five clears her throat, looking at you softly. “I don’t think he means anything by it Eight. He was like that with all of us when we first met him, he just seems to take a while to warm up to new people is all.”

At that, you can’t help but laugh, causing the two women to look at you in surprise. Out of all the reactions you could’ve had to Five’s comment that was not one they had expected. “Is there more that you’re not telling us?” Two presses on, placing her fork down and giving you her full attention now.

Your fingers comb through your hair, pushing the sweaty strands away from your scalp. “I uh- overheard him talking, or rather shouting with One today.”

“Bloody hell, those two fight like cats and dogs sometimes, you’ll get used to it eventually.” Two shrugs, leaning back to press herself against the booth’s chair more comfortably

You shake your head, breathing out deeply. “No, it’s not that. Christ I couldn’t give a flying fuck whether they scream at each other all the time or not, what I do care about though, is the way he talks about me when I’m not around.” You take a sip of your ice water, the cool glass rather soothing against your palm. “He was questioning One as to why I’m here. He thinks that what I do is pointless, and that I shouldn’t be a part of the team. Apparently, you don’t need a hacker, and that having me around is a liability. Then he accused the fight today of being a fluke, basically saying the Three was an easy take down for me! Oh, and then there was this whole thing about you needing a driver instead of me, and when One said that the team would continue taking it in turns of being the getaway driver, he basically said that I wouldn’t be able to drive a getaway vehicle even if I wanted to!” By the time you finish you feel fresh tears clawing at the backs of your eyes. You squeeze your lids shut, until you feel the need to sob subside.

With your eyes shut, you don’t see the looks exchanged between Two and Five, who were conducting a silent conversation, with you none the wiser. “Eight, I’m not trying to excuse Four’s behaviour, or his comments. But there’s something you should know.” Five sighs, resting a comforting hand over your shoulder, smiling gently when you look at her beside you. “Four, well he’s been part of the team for a while, he joined well before I did, so he’s come to know a fair few people in his time with the Ghosts. By now, you’ve probably realised that there’s a number missing in our team, Six. He was with us for our first mission in Florence, but things didn’t end well, and he didn’t make it. Four and Six, they were practically joined at the hip, despite what One always told us, warning us to never get too close to each other, they did anyways. They were best friends! Six was our driver, and when he was with us, you could always find the two of them dicking around, going for joy rides, just being overall stupid young boys, but at least they were having fun. When Six died, it hit Four like a ton of bricks, for weeks he kept to himself, he disappeared for nearly two weeks, none of us had any idea where he went, we still don’t. But then, he suddenly returned, and begun acting as if nothing had changed. Even though, in his world, everything had.”

A crease forms between your brows as you watch Five, tears are brimming in her eyes, but just like you, she’s too stubborn to let them fall. “Since then, Four’s been, different. He puts on a brave face, but we all know that there’s something eating him from the inside out. But he refuses to talk about it, and we can’t force him to. One uses it to his advantage, reminding us that this is why we don’t form attachments, but we don’t listen to him. Forming attachments keeps us human, even if it hurts sometimes.”

You blink slowly, taking in Five’s words, a deep pang of sympathy pounding in your chest. All of what you had just been told, it made sense to why Four was so quick to defend Six when he was arguing with One earlier. “I get that he’s been hurt, and that maybe he doesn’t know how to deal with the loss of Six. But why is he taking it out on me?”

This time, it’s Two who answers you, drumming her long fingers on the table. “He’s doing exactly what One has been telling us to do for years, not making attachments. He would rather have you hate him, than to get close to you, and have something happen. He can’t do the same with the rest of us, he’s known us too long now. But you? You’re new, he doesn’t know anything about you, and if he can keep it that way, then neither of you will be hurt if another mission ends badly.”

“But that doesn’t explain why he was talking about me like that to One! If he was saying it directly to me, then sure, I’d understand because yeah, I really am close to hating him after those comments. But when he was talking to One, he didn’t know I was there!”

“You didn’t have to be there. Gossip travels quickly when there’s only seven of us around, secrets don’t stay secret for long. One way or another we all find everything out. Four knows this as well as the rest of us do. Anything that he says to One about you, will eventually get around base until it reaches you. This time, the process just skipped a step, and went straight to you, before the rest of us found out.” Two offers with a tired shrug.

You pick at the remainder of your meal, mulling over this new information, unsure of how to process all of it at once. The table grows quiet, the three of you all lost in your own thoughts. “So Four doesn’t hate me really…. And, he doesn’t think that I have no place in the team?”

“I can’t guarantee anything, but I’d bet you fifty bucks that that’s exactly right. He doesn’t know you; he can’t hate you.” Five laughs, and you feel some tension leave your shoulders, finally feeling somewhat relaxed for the first time in weeks.

Biting down on your bottom lip, you gaze across at Two, then at Five, both of whom raise their eyebrows, they could see the cogs in your mind turning, but they had no idea what plan you were formulating. “I may not be able to do much to change this situation. But the least I can do is prove him wrong.”

“What’ve you got in mind Eight?” Two smirks, sitting up straight and pushing her plate to the side of the table.

*****

If you thought the McLaren was travelling fast on your way into town, then the drive out meant you were practically flying! The leather steering wheel was soft against your hands as you swerved in between cars, paying little to no mind as to which lane of the freeway you were legally supposed to be driving on. “Jesus Christ Eight! Would you mind not killing us please?” Two gasped, as you narrowly avoided a head on collision with a semi as you overtook a Winnebago, despite her vocal protests at your erratic driving, the sparkle in her eyes proved that she was enjoying the ride just as much as you were.

Five however was not having a grand time, and looked to be on the verge of carsick. “Eight, there are breakable things in the back of this car! Please slow down! Think of the lamps!”

You look at Five through the rear-view mirror, raising your eyebrows behind you heart glasses. “Why have the speedometer go this high if you can’t drive that fast?” You challenge, pressing down on the accelerator further, the engine revving in a delicious purr.

Whereas on the way into town, even with Two speeding as she was, the trip had still taken forty-five minutes. This time around, you were easily halfway back to base, and had only been driving for fifteen minutes. “Fucking hell Eight, we’re supposed to be dead! What happens if the police pull you over? How do you explain that three dead women are currently driving at a highly illegal speed down a freeway?” Five tries again, though it only causes you to laugh, even Two was finding the whole ordeal rather humorous.

Watching Five in the mirror, you see her open her mouth, ready to ask you to slow down again. Before she has the chance, you flick the radio on, the opening psychedelic tune of Devin Townsend’s True North urging you to speed along further. The music soaks into your entire being, and as you drive, singing along, you find yourself not caring what anyone thought of you in this very moment. You were truly living your best life, and there were genuinely no consequences for doing so.

*****

Four had once again cornered One, or so he thought. Four was under the impression, that if he yelled loud enough, that One would listen to what he had to say and would kick you out of the team. For three weeks now, he’d been trying to think of different ways to prove that you weren’t a good fit with the rest of the Ghosts, but nothing he said seemed to deter One’s line of thought. None of them had a bloody clue what the next mission was, but according to One, you would be necessary. Four failed to see how, there was nothing you could do, that the others couldn’t. Sure, they would need a bit of training to get there, and to be able to get things done as quickly as you did, but he was positive that he could hack into a museum’s security cameras just as quickly as you supposedly had!

“I’m not having this discussion with you again Four.” One groaned, rubbing at his forehead with his thumb and index finger.

“But you’re not bloody listening! What if she double crosses us? Instead of breaking into a computer to steal the information we need, what if she sends it to someone else? Or gives away our location and plans?”

“Why? Why would she do that? Who would she send them to? According to all official documents, she’s dead. Just like the rest of us. There’s literally no one out there who would make a deal with a dead person, just on the off chance they actually delivered on their promises!”

Four frowned deeply, his brows furrowed and scar pulsing in his frustration. Why was this so difficult? Why couldn’t One just listen to him for once? All he wanted, truly, was for you to be safe, and to return to your old life! As glamourous as One had likely talked up the life of a Ghost, it truly wasn’t all it was cracked up to be! No one else should be subjected to this life, there was too much pain and death involved with this way of living, and you had no reason to experience it.

From behind the two men, a cloud of dust could be seen rapidly approaching, red clouds of dirt billowing around until they parted in lieu of the speeding McLaren. One moment it was miles away from the men, and the next, he could feel the heat radiating from the car as it breezed past him, before performing a donut, and coming to halt with the bonnet facing him. The tyre marks in the dirt showed just how perfect a stop the car had come to, there was no fishtailing, just clean tracks. Five was the first to emerge from the car, pressing a hand to cover her eyes, while the other rest atop the car door. Two pulled herself out next, grinning between him and One, before turning and popping the trunk. Finally, out you came, from the driver’s side no less, a cocky grin plastered to your lips as you waved at One, raising an arched eyebrow up at Four.

“Jesus Eight, I said you could drive home! Not warp us here!” Five groaned, as she helped you and Two collect things from the trunk of the car.

“Right, so who the fuck taught you to drive like that then?” One yelled out, earning a grin from you in his direction.

“When you run perpetually late like I do, and go to school on the opposite side of the city, you learn how to navigate traffic pretty damned quickly.” You quip back, slamming the trunk closed, and pocketing the keys. You, Two and Five all making your way towards your trailer.

“Don’t. Don’t fucking say it One.” Four warns, holding up a hand to the grinning man before him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about? I wasn’t going to say anything. Especially not anything about how impressive Eight’s driving skills are.” One shrugs, eyebrows raised in a look of utter innocence.

Four Eighths Taglist (If you want to be added just let me know) @not-the-cleavers @jinxfirebolt18902 @sj-thefan @softnorris

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Chapter Five out now

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foodbytesback · 4 years ago

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I Eat One of Everything on Shake Shack's Korean-inspired Menu Out of the Back of My Friend's Car

Yep, you’re probably wondering how I got here.

It all started a few months ago, when I was looking into all the different chicken sandwiches that fast food places were putting out to capitalize on the “chicken sandwich wars.” One of them happened to be Shake Shack, boasting a Korean-Fried Chicken (sorry, Chick’n) sandwich, as part of a limited-time Korean-themed menu, and I lamented not living near one. I considered taking a road trip out to a nearby one, but crossing state lines during a pandemic just for a bunch of fast food isn’t the best idea, so I put it out of my mind.

Or so I thought. In early March, a friend of mine asked me if I would accompany him and his sister (spoiler alert, literally any time I mention “my friends” on here I’m referring to these two) as they moved the last of his stuff out of his old apartment in Jersey City at the end of the month. I agreed on, more or less, one condition: we take a detour to one of the Shack Shakes in one of the strip malls littering our escape route out of New Jersey.

Once the loading of the U-Haul was complete, one friend took off with it back to Syracuse to try to get back in time to return the truck, while the rest of us abandoned him to eat fast food in a New Jersey strip mall parking lot. And if you would like to join us in such merrymaking, the Korean-inspired items will be available until April 5 (yes, I’m coming in a bit under the wire with this one).

Also, I thought I remembered seeing something about a burger joining this lineup, but if it ever was real, it is no longer with us.

Korean-Style Fried Chick’n Sandwich

The glaze on the chicken seemed to be a mix of gochujang and honey, it was very sticky and just slightly sweeter than it was spicy. It didn’t have much of the fermented funk I was expecting it to have, but in all honesty it’s been a while since I’ve had anything with gochujang in it so it’s possible my memory is playing tricks on me. Regardless, it made an excellent glaze for the sandwich, not overpowering any of the other ingredients.

I remember being skeptical of the “white kimchi slaw” when I first heard about it, assuming that it was some whitewashed version more akin to just a regular coleslaw, but some deeper digging found that white kimchi is a perfectly normal variety, popularly eaten in spring and summer. And, despite my skepticism, the kimchi did have a little bit of that kimchi funk to it, in addition to adding a much needed vegital crunch to the sandwich.

My sandwich was not-particularly-noticeably missing the dusting of sesame seeds directly on the chicken, something that I didn’t even notice until I was looking over the pictures the next day. That little extra touch of nuttiness would have been welcome, but I don’t think I can really say that I missed them.

My only complaint is that at $7.79, it was a little small for the price, but I’m willing to overlook that since again, Shake Shack is a once-in-a-while treat for me.

Korean Gochujang Chick’n Bites

The gochujang here comes in the form of a gochujang mayo, which honestly kind of tasted like pretty much any generic spicy mayo you can get anywhere. I will point out that there were some streaks of plain mayo running throughout it, so I’m willing to accept that the person who mixed it up (presumably fresh/in-store) wasn’t as thorough as they should have been, and there could have been someone that day that got served a cup that was extra heavy on the gochujang.

However, I gotta say, the chick’n bites themselves were a lot better than I was expecting them to be. The breading on them was light and irregularly coated the chicken, obviously just breaded as opposed to most pre-frozen fast food nuggets. If you find yourself near a Shake Shake sometime after the Korean menu is discontinued, you could probably get and order of the bites run to the nearest grocery store, get gochujang and mayo, sloppily mix them together in your car, and get a pretty good facsimile of this (and I mean that in a good way).

Korean Gochujang Fries

Surprisingly, the gochujang flavor seems to come out a little better when dipping fries in the gochujang mayo than with the bites. There really isn’t anything else I can say about this one, it’s fries and gochujang mayo. Would I have liked to see something more like a loaded fries, with drizzles of the gochujang mayo and the gochujang glaze from the sandwich, topped with the kimchi slaw? Sure, but I don’t think I’ve ever been in a Shake Shack where it wasn’t already incredibly busy, there’s no reason to make the employee’s lives hell even more than they already are.

Also, shoutout to Shake Shack for, when many of their competitors like Five Guys or In and Out are so obsessed with having “fresh” fries that just never get crispy, just giving us some crinkle cuts.

Black Sugar Vanilla Shake

Finally! Something that doesn’t need to arbitrarily advertise how Korean it is in the name! And furthermore, I have a slightly better idea of what black sugar tastes like, having had a black sugar latte a couple months or so ago (as opposed to maybe having had gochujang wings somewhere, like, pre-pandemic).

Maybe it’s just because the vanilla ice cream diluted it a bit, but I feel like some of the complexities of the black sugar syrup got a little lost here. It mostly tastes like a caramel shake, not that there’s anything wrong with that. I will also say, I’m not sure if it melted a little bit from just being the last thing I tasted or from the fact that they packaged it up in the same bag as the hot food, but the shake itself was a little on the thin side, which I actually kinda like as opposed to one so thick you hurt your jaw trying to suck it through a straw.

#food #Shake Shack #chicken sandwich #gochujang

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relenaonice · 4 years ago

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Ready Player One

Chu Wanning didn’t exactly know how he got into VR games, let alone ASMR ones.

Just, one day, after a bad break up, he saw a VR headset through a shop window, thought he could do with an outlet to vent about his actually-very-shitty life, and he bought it.

He had never been an impulse buyer but he hadn’t thought of asking the clerk for advice either, so after browsing fruitlessly through the online store, he still had no idea about which game would suit him the best.

He yielded and decided on playing soothing videos for the time being, at least VR should make the experience much more immersive. He had trouble sleeping, so he had recently gotten into ASMR videos: some days it was cooking videos, others guqin music or someone whispering as they read a book. As long as they let him relieve stress and distracted him from unpleasant thoughts, everything went.

It was then that he saw the ad for “Sisheng Peak’s Novelties”, the ‘best ASMR VR game out there’, according to the reviews on the net.

It was a Chinese online platform with a xianxia setting. People could choose between different routes, e.g. they could start out as disciples and grow into full-fledged cultivators as they unlocked all kinds of achievements in a highly relaxing haven. Everything was reworked so that each task and adventure was so very therapeutic and recreational. Chu Wanning looked at lots of walkthrough videos for this game and found it was simply perfect. Everything was neat, organized and thought for maximum enjoyment.

You could cook in Mengpo Hall, meditate in Yanluo Hall, plant flowers in the Red Lotus Pavillion, do some body training in the Mountain of Dagger and Sea of Flames or be rewarded for your accomplishments in the Platform of Sin and Virtue. Everything was accompanied by background music: every player could choose among a vast catalog and organize the songs in a playlist.It could be ASMR music, nature sounds or whatever they wanted to listen to at the moment.

If he had one complaint it was for the naming sense of the developers. Like, the Aaaaaaaaah peak (which, why? But you could learn to fly there, so… he guessed it made sense) or how some of the names didn’t exactly evoke peacefulness. But well, as long as it didn’t impede enjoyment, he didn’t really care. He could get used to the eccentricity of meditating in a place called ‘Yanluo Hall’, and exercising in a Mountain of Dagger and Sea of Flames.

He bought from the online store the starting package and set an account. He could choose his avatar appearance and his own name of course, but an option to randomize this features also existed, so to produce minimum stress in the account. He thought about it for a while, as he browsed through the options available. There were human avatars at every stage of life, creatures and even animals, or he could use a scan of his own face to customize his outward appearance.

In the end he settled for human form, adult stage of life, not customized after him. He chose long silky hair and white clothes and as a name, Yuheng. It wasn’t what he looked like but it was a good rendition of himself and his aloof character. As a matter of fact it would have been a waste of good looks on him to choose a lovable appearance if he couldn’t match it with a lovable character. He drove away the negative thoughts about himself and hurried to start the game.

He decided early on to avoid the disciple route and to become one of the elders. In order to play that route, he had to create a routine that encompassed teaching some classes (he just had to choose some subjects and the system would make it a viable choice for those who were on the disciple route), training, meditating, eating and occasionally repairing the barrier in the Ghost Zone behind the Mountain that hosted Sisheng Peak.

This way he wouldn’t need to leave Sisheng Peak for missions at all: he’d have all the time to explore the area as he hunted for relax. This sounded perfect for him.

—

In time Chu Wanning found a passion for what passed in the game as “mechanics”: there were sets he could put together that didn’t quite work as puzzles, they were more like sequences he had memorized that he could exercise everyday without thinking too much about them and worked well as a stress-relieving activity.

He also loved the Red Lotus Pavillion so much that he cleared all the missions related to it and moved inside a house he unlocked there on a lotus lake. He would mute the background music and listen to the sounds the wind and the rain made against the water. It was quiet and there were no disturbances, no noises and no one to answer to.

Eventually he got addicted to making some dish he could find on the menu in Mengpo Hall, a sweet variation on wontons that had haitang flowers as a filling (which he was not sure was edible at all, but he liked the ending result enough not to question things). The wontons had a rosy pink tint on them and they looked lovely on the plates.

As a plus, if you headed to Mengpo hall early enough in the morning there was also this snack item you could find in limited numbers that had the shape of a flower and it tasted really good. Everyday it would give the player different goods and he liked the element of surprise.

Chu Wanning liked indulging in all these little things.

Then, on a Sunday morning, as Chu Wanning logged expectantly into his account, everything suddenly changed.

—

Something was very wrong with his line of vision.

All around him other players were running around and Chu Wanning had to distressingly raise his chin to look at their faces. Some people were messily shouting something through the voice chat filters, superimposing each other. What even—

“We were hacked!”

Chu Wanning paled. He opened the settings in a hurry and had a quick look. All his progress on the game was still there, but he now had the appearance of a child and he couldn’t reverse the change!

He quickly changed passwords and logged out.

Not knowing what to do, he logged in again and tried changing the settings again to no avail, so he wrote to support and included some screenshots of everything that was altered without his consent. In the meantime he opened the general chat and tried fishing for information, which wasn’t helpful at all but at least calmed him down.

When the support’s answer came in, it was an automated message with a short notice added in, which said that they were aware of the hack, that the team was working on it, that the platform was now safe but it would take time to reverse some of the changes, so they advised to have patience and ignore the issue in the meantime.

Chu Wanning took a look at ‘Xia Sini’, five years old, and choked.

—

So, Xia Sini, ‘scare to death’. Ahah, the hackers were so NOT funny. Since there was no real damage done to the platform, then someone just thought it would be fun to make a mess of a place with people in search of a safe haven. So messed up.

He needed to unwind and since the platform was still functioning, why not use it? Xia Sini could still serve his purpose, there was no reason to make a fuss. He was set on the disciple route, so this was his opportunity to try something new.

He headed for Mengpo Hall hoping to find his favorite item of the day; there he saw some dog sniffing around the pantry but he gave it no mind as he reached for the last snack item available.

Just to have the dog bite into the packet at the same time as him.

Please no. Just let me have this. Chu Wanning pulled firmly on his side of the packet hoping to snatch it from the beast, which in turn growled and shook it vehemently with his fangs.

“Leave it!”

The dog—a husky, snarled. Chu Wanning was tiny in this form and the dog was almost as tall as him. Nevertheless, he had no intention to give up. This was not a real dog, this was a person that had no qualms stealing from children.

He had to do something.

Chu Wanning liked to think of himself as a man of integrity, even his real life appearance being one to elicit dread and respect in those who surrounded him. But in this place he could do as he pleased, appearances be damned. What lay behind the disguise didn’t matter, whatever mistakes he made because of his pride to end up here, didn’t matter.

So Chu Wanning, 35 yo, burst into tears.

The dog froze, the packet still half into his mouth, while the child in front of him started wailing very very loudly. Big fat tears were sliding down his face endlessly, like a downpour.

Chu Wanning didn’t remember ever crying like that, not even when his parents died. Maybe it’s that he needed to, that he unconsciously regrets not doing so. Maybe he was hurt more than he liked by the whole break up thing and that’s why he ended up here, broken, but still willing to heal.

The husky let go of the packet and inched closer, all the while emitting a low whine. They rubbed their muzzle against his cheeks and licked at his tears.

Chu Wanning broke into hiccups and raised a hand to rub that soft head. That caused the dog to rise up their ears, rear up on their hind legs and lean their front paws on the child’s shoulders while wagging their tail madly and licking his face.

“Stay down, down!”

A low whine followed as the dog let go of Chu Wanning, turned, took the snack and left it at his feet.

Chu Wanning turned a little red but he still picked it up in the end.

“You want half?”

The husky barked excitedly, so Chu Wanning opened the snack item, tore it into half and gave it to the dog, who ate it from his little hand.

“You’re a player character right?”

Another enthusiastic bark. Oh my, he really made a fool of himself in front of a stranger. And he was actually licked by this same person, yay.

“You’re like that because of the hack.”

A loud bark followed by a whine. That was a mortified ‘yes’ if he ever knew one.

“So you can’t talk at all? You’re going to bark until they reverse the changes?”

A whine. Wow, they sure got it way worse than him.

“Did you try looking into the forums? Maybe there’s an option buried somewhere.”

The husky raised their ears and twirled in excitement while panting. Seems like they didn’t think to check.

“Okay, I’ll help you sort through them, give me a minute. You’re new to the platform?”

One single decisive woof. New, then.

“I’ve got you. Wait here.”

Chu Wanning’s entire line of reasoning rested on the basis that barking all the time must be too stressful to the player for there not to be a way to communicate freely if they ever needed to. As it turned out, he was pretty spot on: there’s an option but it might not be selectable after the hacking. There was no alternative other than to try.

When he came to, the husky was sitting obediently wagging their tail and by their side lay the item of the day. They pushed it towards Chu Wanning with their snout, as a sign of gratitude. It was a mechanical piece, to go with the pieces he had already collected.

“Can I really have this?”

As an answer, the giant dog licked his face again.

“Stop it!”, exclaimed, while cleaning the drool off his face with a sleeve, “I found you a way to be able to speak, but it uses some kind of filter, so I warn you, it’s not ideal.”

But the husky erupted into a howl and started jumping and twirling around. Okay, it doesn’t matter then, it seemed. Chu Wanning promptly told them what to do and then waited for the dog to exit their suspension status.

When the dog opened their eyes, a distorted male voice coughed through and said:

“—I swear those hackers are dead meat. Wait, do you hear me now?”

Then, before Chu Wanning could answer, the voice filter kicked in: “…woof, woof!”

An absurdly cartoonish ‘woof’ by all standards too. That was like a chihuahua barking.

The husky looked at him with sheer horror in his eyes. Long seconds of silence stretched on and Chu Wanning… He couldn’t help but cover his face with both his hands and try to suppress the laughters.

“THE FUCK WAS THAT??? Woof, woof.”

The mortified dog kept howling and whining, probably too embarrassed to speak again if every sentence had to be followed by a woof. Chu Wanning couldn’t help but laugh. It wasn’t graceful and he felt shame in that. But behind Xia Sini’s appearance he felt safe to do as he wanted, so he had let it all out and that felt… liberating.

“I heard you, loud and clear.”

An offended bark made its way back to him.

“As I was saying the voice filter is annoying but it can’t be removed. At least you can talk now.”

The husky opened his jaws and closed them a few times, before steeling himself and replying sorrowfully under his breath:

“At what price though, woof, woof.”

—

In the end they stuck together. Taxian-jun, which was what the dog was randomly renamed to after the hacking, agreed on showing him the disciple route, that he never got to play since he started.

“The best missions are the ones you can find down to the city. Also, it’s best to stock up on your XPs before heading out. Is that okay for you? Woof, woof.”

Chu Wanning had never been outside Sisheng Peak. He emitted a low ‘mh’ while lost in thought. He was definitely interested, he really had wanted to try taking on a mission outside. Taxian-jun led him to the stairs and they started to go down by foot, since as a dog he couldn’t hold a sword and Xia Sini after a session of flying lessons on the Aaaaaaaaah peak decided it wasn’t for him.

“How do you replenish your XPs?”

“By eating, woof, woof.”

“We could have done that at Mengpo Hall.”

“There are better places. I have enough coins for two, let me treat you since this is a first for you, woof woof.”

Chu Wanning’s cheeks warmed up in embarrassment.

“Mh.”

The city was really lively. There were a lot of player characters but the background music had a soft and lively tone to it that ensured the crowding wouldn’t get too overwhelming. Taxian-jun dragged him to a food stall not far from the main square and there he ordered soup for two.

“Make it mild for me, I can’t stand spice.”

The husky’s gaze turned sharp for a moment, before saying so to the vendor. The soup was ready in a few minutes and it was really delicious, nothing to do with the austere version available for free at Mengpo Hall.

“It’s good.”

“Told you. Whoever came up with this game knew how to soothe even your taste buds, woof, woof.”

Taxian-jun had his own bowl placed on the ground and lapping at it, he made a mess of it. Chu Wanning turned up his nose at the sight and took a step back. Such a disgraceful way of eating, he hadn’t seen it in awhile. Some memories started flooding into his brain and he forcefully repressed them. It wasn’t the right timing to get depressed.

“Where are we getting our mission from?”

“In the main square there’s a board, you’ll see. There you can choose which one you like best and reserve it so that no one else can take it. There’s difficult and easy ones both, woof, woof.”

“Then I want to try one that’s difficult.”

The husky looked at him with disbelief.

“That depends on the amount of training you got done in Sisheng Peak, let me check, woof, woof.”

Taxian-jun put his muzzle against Chu Wanning’s raised palm and unlocked his stats.

“Wow, you mentioned that you were here much longer than me, woof, woof.”

The hackers had not erased the progress players had made in the game nor their stats but still his current height wasn’t ideal. He had no reach even with a weapon, so he could rely only on magic in case of emergency. He had a companion though: he had someone to watch his back, a giant dog at that, so yeah, that was nice.

On the board there were all kinds of missions, difficulty stated by the number of stars on the notice.

“What do you think about this one, woof woof.”

It was three stars out of five and they had to retrieve a magical flower from a cave. It was a good quest. But Chu Wanning snatched another one and showed it to the husky.

“This one.”

It had four stars and they had to search for a child. Her mother had lost sight of her in Butterfly Town and since then there had been no signs of her.

“You sure? For an ASMR VR game it’s pretty ruthless in how fast you can fail missions. Once failed it becomes available to other players and you have to spend some time training in Sisheng Peak before you can venture out again. Woof, woof.”

“I want to do it.”

After that Taxian-jun said nothing else. He reserved the mission and they were equipped by the system with all the necessary for the travel.

Luckily the town wasn’t as far away as he thought. In order to make the game realistic it could take a while to reach the outer regions but thankfully this wasn’t the case. Once there, they started asking around and unlocking achievements one after another, until they obtained a reliable info on where the lost girl could be. Apparently she was reported to be kidnapped by some forest spirits and locked up in the mountains. No one had been able to free her because the way up was riddled with traps.

They had been prepping for the hike when Taxian-jun stopped him.

“Are you okay? You’ve been kind of tense since you saw the notice for this mission, woof, woof.”

The husky was looking at him with a dark penetrating look, and Chu Wanning thought it was impressive how on the money his perceptions were. He knew of no one by his side that had ever been able to glean what’s under the surface. That’s how impassive he usually was.

Chu Wanning sighed. It was too late anyway to start on the next part of their quest; they had been gaming for the last several hours and it was time to stop. Tomorrow was a work day and he had to sleep at least a little. So he sat down and actually tried answering his question.

“It’s stupid, really. But if you want to know, my parents died when I was that girl’s age. I guess this tiny form is finally getting to me.”

“That’s tough, man. Is that why you’re playing this game? If I read you right, you’re not a gamer, you’re more the type that’s got a reason to be here, right? Woof, woof.”

“That’s not it.”

It came out bluntly, like a warning. Taxian-jun looked at him attentively, while staying a bit on the defense. He was sitting far away from him, watching his every move.

“You know, I asked because I’ve also got a reason to play this game. I just thought you were the same as me, woof, woof.”

Chu Wanning softened.

He really liked this person.

“Can you play tomorrow in the evening?”

“Yeah, I can make it. See you tomorrow then? Woof, woof”

“See you.”

Chu Wanning quickly disconnected the device and pulled his head out of the headset. He rested with his head on the chair looking at the ceiling for a long time, too many feelings in his chest to discern them all.

—

When Chu Wanning logged in again, Taxian-jun had already begun clearing the surrounding area of all the traps. Some of them must have got him and his fur was bloodied on his right side but that didn’t seem to deter him much.

“You should have waited for me”, reprimanded Chu Wanning, to which the dog replied under his breath: “Yeah, leave it all to the runt, what could go wrong, woof, woof.”

Annoyed, Chu Wanning whipped out Tianwen, his divine weapon, and got rid of some spirits about to ambush them.

“WHAT? Where the fuck did you find that now?! Woof, woof.”

“Some cultivators getting back to Sisheng Peak found it while on a mission but couldn’t get it to work. Apparently they didn’t have the right stats and the weapon deemed them unworthy.”

“You’ve got luck on your side, you know that, right? That’s rare. Woof, woof.”

“I know. There’s only another one like it, it’s red and no one has unearthed it yet.”

The husky grumbled something like ��That you know”, before getting back to clear out the area once again.

By the end of the gaming session, they had fought their way up to the top of the mountain and found the caged girl. The story behind it was actually impressive: as it turned out she had not been kidnapped at all, she had been locking herself up in a cage in order to protect her adoptive mother, since she discovered she was only half human and feared cultivators would go after her mother in order to imprison her. So, the girl had been pretending to have vanished into thin air, leaving no trace of her existence; she couldn’t imagine her mother would get indebted in order to publish a notice on the city board and hire actual cultivators in order to find her. All the other players attempting this mission had actually been terminated by her.

Chu Wanning had been tearing up a little and Taxian-jun had noticed this. But Chu Wanning didn’t care, he was just glad this had a happy ending. After fighting her, since she was a spirit, she entered a contract with them, so that she wouldn’t have to worry anymore about cultivators seeking after her mother. She was a powerful weapon, so she definitely was worth the trip and all the difficulties they had encountered on the way.

“Let’s do it again.”

Taxian-jun, who was just a step away from dying of blood loss, looked at Xia Sini like he had betrayed him.

“You’ve got no right to say that, half of these injuries were me trying to protect your sorry ass! Woof, woof.”

“Oh? Were they?”, he said, while coyly looking at him through lowered lashes.

That reaction must have taken him by surprise, because Taxian-jun stared at him a beat longer than what was appropriate. Embarrassed, Chu Wanning lowered his gaze, pretending to have not noticed, when he heard the giant dog talk as if lost in thought.

“You… really remind me of someone. But at the same time you don’t. And it’s painful to me when you do, but when you do resemble them, I’m really happy too. Woof, woof.”

Chu Wanning knew those feelings well. They threatened to swallow him up if he wasn’t careful, if the lid on the box wasn’t properly sealed shut. He couldn’t sleep anymore because they were always lurking in the shadows, ready to clasp him and drown him. It hurt.

“You know, it’s really hard taking you seriously when everything you say is followed by a woof.”

This seemed enough to spite Taxian-jun out of his trance.

“Remind me, why do I even bother with you? Woof, woof.”

“Oh wait, wait, now I get it, you were talking about your master just now!”

“You deserve nothing, man, nothing! Woof, woof.”

He turned around and made to leave, when Chu Wanning called out to him once again.

“You know, I get how you feel. I get it. I was abandoned too, so that’s why I ended up here, you were right to assume that.”

“But even if it hurts, I’m still happy I came here. That I feel I can open up to someone, that I’m on the same page with them, that I don’t have to feel inferior, all that is new to me. But it’s thanks to you that I can feel this way. It’s all you.”

“So, please, let’s do it again, gege.”

Taxian-jun didn’t say anything for a very long time. Then, he just walked towards Chu Wanning, put his muzzle on his shoulder and whined until he felt better. In return Chu Wanning hugged that soft head and pet it, again and again.

—

The next day, Chu Wanning was actually looking forward to meet again with the husky. At work he botched some of his tasks and then called it a day a little early: it had been months since the last time he had felt so alive.

On the way home he looked at the notifications on his smartphone and although he usually felt a pang in his heart at how barren it was now, today it didn’t matter. Sure, people still wrote to him but that wasn’t really the point. Since the break-up he had found himself empty and useless, like something worn and thrown away.

Today though, it felt different. He had expectations. He hurried through the entrance door, undressed, found something comfortable to wear and turned on the headset. They had decided on taking on another quest, so they had to wait for one another at the city board. Chu Wanning had wanted to arrive a little early to have the time to peruse through all the notices, curious about what Taxian-jun had to say about them.

He wanted to know more about him. He had an easygoing attitude that Chu Wanning really liked about him. But at the same time, he wasn’t cool in the slightest, all mopey as he was about someone leaving him behind. He was just like Chu Wanning, human.

His ex wasn’t like that. His ex was beautiful and perfect, and not the type of person one would want to break up with. Chu Wanning had always orbited around him like a moth to a very bright light: it was always bound to end and it was a given that his ex would be the one to do it. But when it finally happened, Chu Wanning had felt betrayed. One part of him had always hoped they could work it out.

But they couldn’t and soon his ex had had enough.

Chu Wanning hadn’t even thought of asking him why. His head had been empty and the only thought swirling in his mind was: ‘you knew this day would come to pass’. So in the end he had just asked him to leave him alone.

The notices present on the board were all very varied and Chu Wanning really liked one set in the outer regions, the poorest and the most dangerous. This game was at its core an ASMR experience but it was also a video game, so if the players wanted an adventure, that they would get.

Taxian-jun finally joined him and Chu Wanning immediately showed him the mission that caught his eye. They were discussing the merits of it when a red banner invaded their sight with the words:

【 System notice: the effects of the hack have been reversed, please log out to allow for the recovery of the account 】

Chu Wanning pressed ‘OK’ and looked in the direction of Taxian-jun.

“Well, it seems like neither of us will have to suffer my barking anymore, woof, woof.”

“It suited you. It wasn’t that annoying.”

“Well, same, you know? I can’t imagine you like an adult. All this cuteness wasted, what a pity. Woof, woof.”

Taxian-jun hadn’t even finished talking that Chu Wanning had already drawn Tianwen out, ready to strike.

“I’m joking, what the hell! Let’s log out, all right? Woof, woof.”

Saying that, he entered suspension mode and then vanished. Chu Wanning sighed and did the same. When he logged in again, he found his line of vision was turned to normal. He checked his settings and yeah, everything was exactly like he left it: dark long hair, phoenix eyes and white dress, the Yuheng elder was back at it again.

He quickly resumed the game and found a man standing in Taxian-jun’s place. He turned and saw a youth in a high ponytail, blue robes and…

“Mo Ran?”

Chu Wanning couldn’t breathe.

It was his ex. Taxian-jun was his ex. He must have customized the avatar on his physical appearance, because he was a perfect carbon copy.

“How do you know…”

The man was confused for a moment, then it seemed like he connected the dots because his expression changed to one of desolation as he murmured: “Wanning.”

“Chu Wanning.”, he corrected him. ‘Why do you always do this’, he told himself.

So unnecessary.

Chu Wanning couldn’t stay there. No wonder he had liked Taxian-jun so much, how could he have been so blind? No, he knew exactly why: he had wanted Mo Ran back by his side so badly, that he had chosen to ignore the obvious. That, and the avatar the hackers randomized for him had a voice filter on, or he would have noticed.

“Wait, let’s talk—”

Chu Wanning logged out and took his head out of the headset.

He couldn’t do this. To think he had started looking forward to this, that this game was really working miracles for his anxiety and now he had not many options left beside stopping using it.

Chu Wanning lay against the backrest of his chair.

Mo Ran had his heart broken by someone he loved that had rejected him. This knowledge both angered and surprised him. When did it happen? Is that why Mo Ran left? He had been cheating on him? Or maybe it was after. This embittered him even more, so quick to fall in love with the right person.

He couldn’t imagine anyone rejecting Mo Ran, he was perfect. Even the way he had left him was fitting, given the way their relationship developed. They had jumped into it without too much of a care and it had ended the same way.

His smartphone started ringing. Wary, Chu Wanning reached for it and, yeah, it was Mo Ran. Chu Wanning panicked and didn’t answer.

Half an hour later, it rang a second time. Mo Ran, again. Chu Wanning didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to talk about it, there was nothing to talk about! It was just an unfortunate coincidence, right? So in the end he answered.

“I am on the street outside your house.”

Chu Wanning threw himself against the windows and here he was. He was wearing such unflattering clothes, a stark contrast from the person he knew then. He must have rushed to take his car in order to be here so soon.

“I don’t… There’s nothing to talk about, just forget about it.”

He heard Mo Ran inhale sharply.

“So you weren’t talking about me in the game. I guess you can love and open up to anyone as long as that person isn’t me.”

Chu Wanning scoffed.

“What?”

“I didn’t even know your parents died!”

“What does that have to do with it? Why are you even talking about this now!”

“Wanning, who were you talking about in the game?”

He sounded angry.

“W-who were you talking about?”

“I was talking about you! Who else?!”

What?

“But you left me.”

Chu Wanning was dumbfounded.

“Hell yeah, I left you! You didn’t tell me anything, you were a wall and when I tried telling you I felt alone you even told me I was free to seek others!”

“I meant your friends! I thought you were asking me for some space! Also, I didn’t word it like that. I wasn’t asking you to break up!”

“Space? But we barely saw each other! What—Please, can we talk? Can you come down?”

Chu Wanning was frozen. Mo Ran was implying he loved him. This was absurd.

Mo Ran had really been talking about him all the while though.

“I… was talking about you too.”

Mo Ran let out a trembling breath.

“Wanning, you told me you felt you were inferior, that we weren’t on the same page. Is that true?”

“…”

“Wanning, please.”

“I’m coming down.”

“Good.”

Chu Wanning could feel the warmth in his voice. He liked that.

“You didn’t fall in love with someone else then.”

“How could I? Have you even seen yourself?”

Chu Wanning, that had just closed the entrance door and was heading down, tripped on his feet. At this pace, he wasn’t guaranteed to arrive safe and sound.

“But you’re beautiful.”

“So are you.”

“You’re easygoing.”

“Yes, but you’re kind.”

“…I’m going to miss you as a husky.”

Mo Ran laughed. What a nice sound.

“You tell me, Xia Sini was a cuteness overload. When you called me gege you nearly broke me.”

“I was supposed to be five.”

“You were not, though. And when you broke into tears after we fought for the snack, I was so agitated. To think you could cry like that. Unbelievable.”

“I’m human too.”

“Yeah, I noticed. You cried when we saved the girl too. You being so emotional while still reminding me so much of ‘you’ was painful but it gave me hope too. If you could open up to me, maybe it wasn’t me the reason the adult you couldn’t love me. That made me accept myself. It soothed me.”

Chu Wanning turned red. He hurt him so much. He was almost out in the street but he had no face to say as such to Mo Ran. He was afraid. Even if they got together again, all those months of pain and distrust would not be easy to overcome. His anxiety would project every sort of scenario where Mo Ran could leave him again and flare it up into blown-up terror and rejection.

Still, he liked him. He had loved him since the first time he had smiled at him. If Mo Ran came to hate him one day, he could always think back to this moment, when he thought he was hated but instead he was so loved.

He steeled his nerves and came out into the street.

“Wanning.”, he heard and for one moment he saw a very soft and good boy barreling into his arms. He was not so different from his furry companion, he thought. How did it miss that about Mo Ran? He was so much about a dog, so loyal, so hopelessly waiting for him to look and pet him. He wasn’t perfect at all.

Chu Wanning really really liked him.

—

“Cover me on that side!”

“There’s too many enemies, I can’t!”

“Don’t worry, just do it!”

Chu Wanning did as he was asked and saw Mo Ran summoning a new weapon.

It was a red Tianwen.

“Jiangui!” he called, and with a single lash he cleared his exposed side of all the enemies.

After the battle ended, Chu Wanning grabbed both Jiangui and Tianwen, freaked out of his mind about the unexpected development.

“How, when!”

Mo Ran was sheepishly scratching his head.

“I won it on a raffle when I first arrived. One chance in one thousand.”

What. He was gobsmacked.

“You were SO lucky.”

“Yeah, I was. But one chance in a thousand is still… roughly ten times the chance I had of running into you here. So, you see, I’m VERY lucky.”

Chu Wanning flushed red and lowered his lashes.

Smiling, Mo Ran took his face into his palms and kissed him silly, until he couldn’t take it anymore.

#source: relena #2ha #ranwan #modern au #gaming au #au #fic #prompt fic #crossposted to ao3

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aka217 · 4 years ago

Text

OK, SO 2020

Welp.

I’m certain I won’t have to come back to this post to remember what happened this year. This year the world shared one similar experience; a year that seemed to have sat still while also continuously rampaging tragic events one after the other. A catalyst in many ways. It stands no reason that my year has not aligned with the rest of the world, yet we’ve managed to make it even more interesting. This year will be transcribed countless times, so let me focus on the parts in which are uniquely mine:

Despite the world falling to a pandemic, lock downs and quarantines for most of the year, it amazes yet how much I’ve squeezed out of this year. First and foremost: we did it. We moved to the west coast. A long time coming, some delays, some uncertainties. But we prepared, we agreed, we wanted something new. Clearly nothing stood in our way this year, we were going to go. As much as a curveball a pandemic can through at us, we were resilient and making the move. It’s not all positives, as settling here is a mix bag: unable to fully experience the city, me not quite sure how I like this position, Ashley not able to secure her next career opportunity, not able to even visit back home. But look, we made the move, we are here, let it not go to waste, as there are experiences still available and unique that we should not take for granted.

Let’s map out what happened this year:

January. The year started with a visit from the Cabacoys to Disney and SeaWorld. Shortly after, in the most gratifying way, I used up most of my vacation for the year in a single trip. We traveled to the California, a kind of sneak peek at what’s to come. Knowing our financial situation would be up in the air very soon, it was our best option as we’d see a variety of friends, family, places, all the while having lodging mostly covered. Although sick in the beginning (hmm? Nah just congestion) San Fran consisted of me watching the Witcher and eating Popeyes chicken sandwiches among other SF delights. The drive down Highway 1 was spectacular, this time not as foggy, giving us great views of the ocean all the way through. We were able to take the scenic Monterey coastal drive, passing through pebble beach and the like. Stopping at our favorite little hotel in San Luis Obispo, we find ourselves in LA the next day hanging out with the newlyweds. After the trip, January rounds out with a nice Disney breakfast with my family.

February started with a quick trip to Playa Linda, wearing ski jackets to the beach. Valentines/birthday weekend was the long-awaited Vigo cruise to the Bahamas. There’s something so satisfactory about a trip where I don’t anticipate anything, and everything comes at a delight and surprise. Next up we have G-Ading’s wedding, being the only wedding we end up going to this year! Very memorable time, and the food, oh my jeez it just kept coming. And last, on the final day of February (jk leap year), was my last day with JBT AeroTech. 8ish years would come to a close. The first place to give me a chance at becoming an Engineer and letting me not only prove to myself I could, but to give me opportunities to fulfill dreams bigger than my own.

March. Whoa now. This is a sensitive month for many people. And while many may mask as March entirely being pandemic, that part didn’t quite start until March 14. Let’s not forget what I managed to pull off before then. First off, Science Night Live in Orlando, something we’ve been wanting to do but finally was able to go. Second, Conexpo Las Vegas. I had an inkling that I would not be going with JBT this time, and so I booked it with my own money and still went. This expo is so cool for someone in the industry, there’s so many great vehicles to check out. Plus I figured it would be a good place to be to meet with connections and find Cali opportunities. Strapped for cash I secured shared accommodations and dinners provided my business acquaintances, but quickly evaporated as many attendees pulled out due to the growing pandemic (not locally yet, but this was an international expo). I managed to scrap together living spaces, and find alternative free meals. And while the people I was supposed to hang out with did not show up, I stuck with now old coworkers and even ended up finding new acquaintances there, which culminated to the most lux Vegas party I can imagine in penthouse suites (plural), a wild night I won’t forget.

And that’s double true, because the next day the lockdowns started to occur. I come back home to quarantine, lock down, uncertainty. One day I’m dancing shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of people (which how lucky I didn’t catch anything then) to now not coming within 6 feet of anyone, stocking up on groceries and toilet paper. It was all so strange. We were afraid to hug my nephew, him being confused when he saw us, a confusing time of unknown. Initially I thought being out of work was going to be weird, maybe nice in some ways. And in a way it was; an unease of not having something to do, but all the while glad I didn’t have to work through this coping phase of the pandemic.

April was a weird time for me. What was supposed to be 2-week quarantine led to what we now know to be months. It still felt like more March, as nothing has progressed in the last weeks. Ask me now what happened and all I can remember is watering the grass everything, or waiting to water the grass every day. Nothing really else. Well, ok, maybe securing a job in Oakland (it really is about who you know), and slowly purging and moving out of our house. Towards the end of the month we went to Ocala to see Ashley’s parents once more, as it marked the start of our goodbyes.

May was wild and nonstop. While the world waited, we had to find a way to say goodbye to friends (heart breakingly distant), family, and our possessions. We had plans to seek out our favorite food spots and share final meals with people, but that was not possible. We made visits with family, while trying to figure out where to stash away the items we were not ready to give up on. I also said goodbye to my Miata. This car meant a lot to me, symbolized a lot, characterizes me in many ways. I always enjoyed driving it. And it if wasn’t raining, the top was down, and even sometimes when it was raining. It is a piece of me I had to let go. I have no regrets, I did not take it for granted, and I can only hope that I find another car that brings me as much joy each time.

And so, mid-May, we make the move. You can wait for the perfect moment, but as we see here there is no perfect moment, so my advice is this: now is probably the next best chance. We couldn’t wait any longer, and maybe regrets to go sooner can be argued, regrets of not going can be as well. And so we embarked on our journey to Oakland. I start my job to following week. It was a strange time as everything, and this time basically everything, was a strange new place to be. New city, new job, new world. But we did what we could. We have support here of friends and family, and we turned to them immediately. This month will start to shape the remainder of the year: food take out, video games, facetimes, picnics, cousins. We explored the Bay Area (by means to buying and selling Facebook marketplace items) just to get a feel of the surrounding areas and try to get our bearings.

June and July were much of the same. While Ashley took a trip back home, I stayed back, exploring the hills in a rental (more on that later). My Dad made a pitstop here as he finally managed a flight out of the Philippines. I had not seen him since December, and so much has happened since, so it was nice to see him just for a brief moment; because if not it would have been more than a year, because as I write this I have not seen him since. The rest of the months we try to explore various areas, including the Berkeley observatory, Golden Gate Park, Emeryville Marina, Ocean Beach.

August is much the same as you can expect, though we do see Ashley’s Cousins more, as well as my cousins and their daughters. Ashley hosts her birthday on our landlord’s porch, where we go through a makeshift game of “we are not really strangers,” a moving game much harder to play without the ability to hug at the end.

September picks up and gets more interesting as we start to explore further away from the city, including a nice relaxing day down at whale cove beach, as well as a relaxing vacation (away from the heat waves, smoke, and fires) down in Saratoga/Santa Cruz area.

October was another trip, this time all the way down to Paso Robles for a birthday celebration, exploring the vineyards and a bonus trip up highway 1. Although much different, it was nice to get a trip with a big group of friends. October we also saw a couple movies, including a private screening of Tenet (wut) and my first drive-in movie ever, Coco, and once more another drive-in for Hocus Pocus.

November was much of the usual, as we are limited in options (and a bit limited in finances) to try anything new. We made the very difficult choice not to travel back to Florida for thanksgiving, and instead spent thanksgiving with just the two of us, although we cooked for 8.

December is here, and we squeezed in a few interesting pieces. I took a drive out to some of the mountains towards San Jose in a newer Miata. Another weekend we spent in San Rafael, where we didn’t leave the hotel the entire time. A very welcoming weekend with no pressure, no rush, just stay in and play video games, watch movies, and eat in (room service and delivery to our door!). That was a nice weekend with the only expectation was that we were doing nothing. As Christmas approaches, we venture out into the city to look at some of the lights. We also manage the watch Elf at the drive-in (although the foggy night didn’t make that easy), and once more drive-in to see Wonder Woman 1984 before the new year.

Alright, quick tidbits:

Cars I’ve rented – BMW 330i, Hyundai Santa Fe, Nissan Altima, Fiat Abarth 124, Jeep Wrangler, Mazda Miata. A nice plethora of cars this year, and with the availability of mountains in the west coast, and the convenience of Turo, I have the opportunity to take nice day long drives through the windy roads. This was one of my goals for moving and I’m glad I’m still able to put that into fruition. It’s convenient to have nice back roads so close, and the beautiful highway 1 coastal road for longer trips. It was nice to rent a couple convertibles, including a few similar to my Miata. I hope next year brings some more interesting cars, and hopefully some off-roading fun as well. It’s hard to pick a favorite, as each ride held a unique experience. But I am thinking about getting a Jeep so…

Best Thing I Ate – man there’s so much to consider. G-Ading’s wedding was crazy delicious, the best wedding food ever no question. Having a mini Hot Ones episode at Ashley’s parents and at Kevin’s was delicious and the conversation meaningful. I started my goodbye food tour but didn’t see it through, but that came with some favorites from Gators Dockside, Pho Vinh, Gold China, Vicky’s Bakery. As far as the West Coast: Farmhouse Thai’s Lao platter is tray full of little wonders. And here in the Bay Burmese is plentiful (something that should definitely make its way into Orlando). Let’s not forget a couple homemade treats, such as Mia’s delicious Ube cookies and smore bites, and Ashley’s brownie muffins she considers was a mess up (I think they were perfect).

Between the pandemic lockdown and my new Xbox, I’ve played quite a few notable games. My favorites this year include Nier Automata, Jedi Fallen Order, and The Outer Worlds. Breath of the Wild also has now become a comfort food/ re-watch staple this year in Cali.

A couple movies/TV to note watching: Before Sunrise, Columbus, Westworld season 3, Mandalorian Season 2, Dash & Lily.

There’s a lot that can be said about 2020. There were big expectations, and life comforts, which were all stripped from us. And so while we made a big leap into the unknown, the rest of the world follow suit. But it’s hard to say if it was a bad choice or good, because I really don’t know what would happen if we stayed in Florida. Maybe things were more familiar and grounded, maybe see family a bit more. But what jobs would we have? Would we have been at higher risk of getting Covid? Who knows. But what I do know is that right now we are fine. We are healthy, we are financially stable, our family is healthy. And we may be limited in the interactions we can have, but that does not mean we can’t enjoy some of what this west coast adventure had in store for us. I think it was important that we experience the change, chaotic as it was.

We purged ourselves of the past: got rid of old clothes, old furniture, old junk of our college and early adult years. We carry with us only the essentials, and have a new outlook on what we acquire along the way. May would see us move out of our home, be in limbo back in Miami, and even once we got to Oakland, we would move just 2 weeks later (and move out again 3 months later, and we’ll be moving again this January). This is a year of being unsettled, which was to be expected with the move, but add a global pandemic, marches for equality, an uncertain presidential election, nothing was the same, everything has changed.

But honestly, since many of life’s grievances are a shared collective, my year relatively was ok. Pre-Covid was fantastic and jam packed with family and trips, par for the course of what I deem important to me. And even during the pandemic, my comforts are driven by much of the same elements: friends, family, and trips, albeit a bit differently. I have hopes for next year, I really do. I don’t think things will go back to normal, and for us there is no normal here. But I think things will settle and be grounded, and we can look forward to more of things that make us whole and human. Things that may have been missing this year are the grander friends vacation trips, and the live concerts and museums. I also hope to see my family soon, and get back to a place of comfort and familiarity, even for a brief moment. I hope to see more of that next year. But all I can ask is that our health and wellbeing stay intact.

2020, you were a nightmare. But catalysts are never calm, and the outcome is sure to be filled with great energy.

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four-loose-screws · 4 years ago

Note

What would you rank all the fire emblem games that you have played.

Thank you for waiting, anon! This essay is finally finished! XD I don’t know if either of us ever intended for this to end up so long, but it did.

It’s interesting to see how each person experiences each game, so I hope everyone enjoys reading this. If anyone wants to ask questions for more details or just for conversation, please do!

I did a tier grouping ranking as well as ordering from bottom -> top, because that helped explain my feelings a little better. This isn’t really reflecting my nostalgia or personal feelings for the characters/world quite as much as “how much fun I had in my initial playthrough(s).” Because I think that’s what these sorts of lists are generally asking for.

First, I’d like to make a general statement about why I love FE games so much: Well, most simply it’s because I have more fun playing FE than any other series. That much is obvious though, right? I also love them because they all stand out in their own way, with their own unique combination of features, and because they are all super ambitious titles. It may lead to some rushing and half-baked ideas, but ambition is what excites me the most in any series. Even if the creators are not able to fully realize the ideas they had, the hard work still wows me as I play, and I can see hints of the full vision they had in every nook and cranny. Even the lowest games on this list are pretty high up there for me in fun level. The “fun but flawed” games just had glaring issues that interrupted the fun from time to time.

...FEs 1 & 3 are overall exceptions to the “unique and standing out rule,” being early games in the series; and FE6 set up post-Famicom FE, so it’s pretty basic, too - but they still get their own awards for setting a solid foundation for a fun video game series that withstands the test of time.

I can’t fully explain it, why I attached to FE the most over all other game series out there. But when I play FE, I usually don’t think about what’s not so great about the games. I just have fun. The gameplay always has me thinking, and I get engrossed in the stories and unlocking convos and supports.

Basic Tier

These games are really hard to judge properly in the ranking system, because they are just so basic for the series.

FE1 / FE11

When FE11 came out, I remember it getting so much flack for being really, really boring. But I didn’t get that. I like FE gameplay and storytelling at its core, so I don’t need the bells and whistles to have a good time. I knew this is where the series started, and was surprised with what content there was considering this is a remake of a game on the Famicom (NES).

FE1 set a very solid foundation for what the core of the series would be. Load it up next to a modern game, and it feels so the same and different all at once. I’ve only played a little bit of FE1 itself. I just can’t get through it because FE11 is SO similar to FE1, so you really only have to play one to get the whole experience. I didn’t feel like playing the same game over again at the time, so FE1 is still on my unfinished list.

Basic, solid foundation for the ages / 10

FE3 / FE12

After FE11 played it “safe” and took an “upgraded graphics with a few new ideas tacked on” approach, I was blown away by how much FE12 did, even if it was more for worse than better sometimes. It added so many conversations, was the first to tinker with the idea of a more fleshed out Avatar, added more story… and so on.

From what I’ve read recently, the new story stuff isn’t that great, but I don’t remember now. I’ve only played this game once. Overall, despite some clunk with the giant maps and so on, this game really challenged itself to improve from FE11, and it’s how I learned to love remakes that aren’t afraid to deviate from and add a lot to the original!

Set the stage for what kind of fun and ambition an FE remake could have / 10

FE3 is way more of a classic than any of us in the West can truly understand. It sold insanely well (the best in the series until Awakening I believe?), challenged the programmers to put FE1 on the cart as well, long before re-releases were a thing in the industry, and the game even made it to the Super Famicom Mini! I haven’t played it yet because again, it’s hard to get the motivation to play through the slow speed and clunkiness when I’ve already experienced the remake, but I’m looking forward to it some day.

The good ol’ days of the Super Famicom & SNES / 10

FE6

This was the first game without Kaga (the series original creator), so it set the stage for a future without him. The series might have strayed far from his plans for story and such, but this game, while it was pretty basic, firmly established a new foundation for the series on a new system, and gave a glimpse of what greatness the future had in store.

Overall though, this game is harder to commit to memory than others, except for classic characteristics like how terrible Roy is until, finally, BAM he gets his sword in the final stretches of the game; and running in circles from Douglas so you can avoid fighting him and successfully recruit him after the chapter.

Awkward, but sets a solid foundation for post-Kaga and post-Famicom FE / 10

Fun But Flaws Distracted From The Fun A Lot Tier

FE16

I really, really hate to say it, because this game tries to mix up the FE formula with the school setting and other new features and changes, and brought in a good mix of old and new, just like all the other FE games. But this game left very little impact on me for such a big experience. And I’m leaving out the fact that trying to play all four routes is dull as heck when I place the game this low. I’m basing it off of just how much I enjoyed the first playthrough.

Overall, I was most turned off by the class system. Which is funny, because I’ve seen others praise this as FE’s best class system. Everyone’s different. Classic classes like troubadours are just gone. The top tier classes are super limiting. Of course, you can just stop one tier down, but that’s not emotionally satisfying to me - I want my characters to reach the top! Despite having such free choice, I feel more limited than anything. If they’d just stopped at 4 tiers and not tried to go to 5, I think that would have been best. They had to stretch out the available classes too much to get to 5. ...Although being able to have an army of dragon riders is awesome, I’ll give it that. Dragons are too cool.

I was also really disappointed by the story. Fire Emblem has established that it can write a really emotional plot, and not be afraid to pull punches, with games like 4 and 8. I was expecting a huge contrast between part 1, where everyone is friends and classmates, and part 2, where war rips them apart, transforms them into different people, and forces them to brutally slaughter each other.

But in reality…the hate between Dimitri and Edelgard has nothing to do with the school at all… That was jarring to me. Of course there is no one right direction to take a story in. But the worldbuilding and story writing… feels even less coherent than Fates. That’s an accomplishment.

This is the one time I say ambition was really just too much. The game didn’t get enough polish. A game about the seasons doesn’t even have seasonal differences...

While my friends who don’t usually play Fire Emblem have had a fantastic experience with this one, after all I’ve been through, I found that I liked other FE’s more.

I think the best part about this game is the characters and supports. After Fates had a ton of supports in it just because it had to have them, the creators of this game weren’t afraid to change up the support formula once more, so they could balance quality and quantity. ...And then, ironically, this game went for the (almost entirely) mute, personality-less avatar character. Funny how that works out. XD

Dragon Lord Army Go! / 10

FE14

I feel this game deserves way more credit than it gets, while also agreeing with the critiques. The ambition was as great as ever. But then it got stuck in development hell and we got what we got. (For those who don’t know, the team was divided in two - the team that wanted a more fanservic-y experience, and the one that wanted to make a standard FE.)

I think the gameplay is the best part of this game, Conquest is great, and the gimmicks are indeed gimmicks, but still fun. In offering three different experiences, the entire package will please few, but that was the point of the multiple routes, to give everyone one route they would like, not to please everyone with all three.

But beyond the gameplay, the story is all over the place, the multiple routes just create more questions than answers; and features like an increased number of support convos and children feel like they are there only because of a desire to bring back “popular” features. After multiple food/cooking supports in a row, I couldn’t take it any more. There was so little that the characters were actually talking about in their supports vs. Awakening. I generally feel that more supports = better, because character interaction through supports is of course a highlight of post-Famicom FE, but in this case, the numbers did not do any favors.

Bringing back weapons that don’t break didn’t feel well done, either. I just ended up using basic weapons the whole time because I didn’t want to deal with the drawbacks of the higher level weapons.

Back to a positive for me: The hub world was neat, though it needed some convoluted story writing to be included. I was amused by going through the different features and collecting the items. I agree with Nintendo of America taking out the “petting minigame,” but since I lived in Japan when Fates released, it was amusing to do on the train and weird out the bored Japanese people who peered over my shoulder.

Since all three routes were different, this game was fun enough until the end in comparison to Three Houses, of which I am STILL trying to slog through the last route one year after release. But Fates was made for every route to be different, whereas Three Houses was not, so it’s not surprising I feel like that.

But time for the real talk about this game… why is everyone’s HP so low??? What happened?????

Up and down and all around in quality from start to finish / 10

FE15

I really want to like this game more. Oh, do I. It’s absolutely GORGEOUS, the character art makes my heart skip a beat, the game proved that full voice acting does fit FE really well, it fleshed out things like the dungeon crawling & story, and added support conversations & skills, etc. while still staying kind of basic, retaining the feeling that the original was on the NES. The momentum for the fun and ambition that an FE remake could have transitioned well from FE12 to here and led to this being a stunningly presented game.

But the creators totally missed the point on what were the defining features of the game in my opinion, and that mismatch of vision ruined a lot for me. I loved the imbalance, struggling as I placed my units in corners of maps just to survive, until I obtained all those OP items, and my super soldiers marched into battle and did wild and amazing things. Valbar with +5 move and 40 speed with the Speed Ring is the one thing I remember the best of FE2 and oh man was it fun, and did I love it.

And I mean, I understand why the creators weren’t going to keep that imbalance, it doesn’t make the game good for everyone. It’s just something I found fun, and made the game stand out among the other FEs. But the developers really just replaced old imbalance with new imbalance, the dread fighters being the one thing I remember in particular.

And they defined FE2’s best defining features as “the maps and the terrain effects” and I just did not agree. That was the stuff I DISLIKED about FE2! And that’s what they wanted to keep most? The terrain that made battles one giant miss, and the gigantic maps where I’d spend half the time just getting to the enemies? No thanks.

Then the story only cranked up the horrible treatment of the women, with Faye… being Faye, and I hated the direction they went in with Celica’s story... Ugh.

For every step or two forward, there’s one back / 10

FE10

FE games are always ambitious, but this one cranked the dial up to 10 and tripped over itself a lot. Still, it provided (even if it is info dumped) an intense and satisfying ending to the Tellius saga, and is another classic for the ages. I found the pacing boring and slow until then, though.

I think now that I’m older I can appreciate the story much, much more - and how it shows the story and aftermath of the Mad King’s War from multiple points of view - but the lack of the support conversations, and too much going on for any aspect of this game to be properly refined, still make this one lower on my list.

If only I could have played it more than once, to really get a good memory of the events of the game. My Wii actually scratched up my disk (How this happened, I don’t know, and it’s the ONLY disk my Wii ever slaughtered). It only held out long enough for my sibling and I to enjoy one playthrough each. I’ll get to playing my Japanese copy eventually!

Part 4 = Laguz Royals Emblem / 10

Somewhere Inbetween Tier

FE5

The last of the Kaga games. Still clunky and difficult, but with it’s own super unique features in capturing, stamina, and stealing weapons.

The brokenness of staves is not at all a flaw, but a feature in my opinion. Encouraging bizarre thinking and finding new ways to plow through maps is fun. I would probably be critical if this was a modern game, but I think older games need these quirks to stand out among modern titles with better graphics and decades of gaming history behind them.

And you still can complete the maps in a more traditional manner if you are determined. I did even for Reinhardt’s map.

Also, I gotta say... I don’t agree that this is the most difficult FE overall… it just has the hardest individual maps. The difficulty spikes are all over the place. The game goes from bashing your head against a wall to snoozefest constantly.

Fog of war was a mistake though, if I was a time traveler, I’d go back and make sure the programmers never figured out how to include it. XD

Steal ALL the tomes! / 10

FE13

Experiencing this game and its release in real time was an experience. The fandom really, truly thought this game might not only be the last FE ever, but also that it might not get a localization. Thinking there would never be a localization, I spent a night of my first trip to Japan buying a Japanese 3DS and a copy of the game. I only had 2 weeks on that study tour, but I was so determined that I used some of my precious free time to go shopping for it. To afford it, I even used the money my college gave to me for food, then subsided off of cheap convenience store meals with what little I had left. I barely had any true understanding of Japanese at the time, but I wanted other fans to experience this game, so I worked as hard as I could to translate as many supports as I could. This game is why I got into translation, and was what I really thought might be the end, so it will always have a special place in my heart for that.

Now to actually talk about playing the game itself. I really enjoyed it the first couple of times. Who cares that pair-up and the kids were OP, you either blast through the game with them and have a good laugh, or ignore them, set some challenging rules, and enjoy having at least a little challenge. I didn’t care much that the supports were a little lower quality because of the sheer number of them, I eagerly awaited unlocking each one, and reading what the two characters would talk about. (We fans have fanfiction to turn to if we hunger for more development. :p) The bonus content was plentiful, and a great fanservice-y way to bring the series to a close.

After all is said and done though, the game left me feeling empty when I thought about replaying it any further. The maps and story felt empty in comparison to previous games. Now that it’s been 8 years since the initial release, I’d of course enjoy a replay or two, but after having played FEs7-9 5 or 6 times in a row before moving on to the next game… anything less than that level of excitement was surprising for me. I placed this game kinda high on the list because it’s fun when you play it. It’s just doesn’t have as much replay value, I feel.

Also, as a group, the children characters are my favorite in the series. They all come from deeply traumatic backgrounds, and the way they work through that trauma and navigate being given a second chance, but also not a true second chance because this timeline is different from their own, is endlessly fascinating for me. I don’t know if other fans give them enough credit, so I wanted to point them out in particular.

Would have been a fantastic way to send off the series, despite the flaws / 10

FE2

This game is flawed, imbalanced, makes me want to throw things, and it’s all, somehow, in a way that makes me LOVE IT. ...So long as I’m playing using an emulator with a speed up button.

This game is so hard, and the hit percentages are such garbage. But as I played, and unlocked more and more OP weapons and items, until I reached a point where the zombie dragons - what once took all my efforts - were an enemy that can easily be slaughtered in 1-on-1 combat... I felt so satisfied.

Old games need some kind of charm to make them still worth revisiting in a world of much better graphics and features that have now had decades to be refined. For me, this game has that perfect kind of quirky charm in spades.

The maps and terrain though… I have no words, just bash your head into the wall and you will understand how I feel.

Also, this game reminds me of Zelda 2 in it being a black sheep of its respective series… that’s a fun little nugget of info.

Duma’s sprite / 10

FE7

I don’t remember this game as well, despite it being one that I’ve played about 5 times? I don’t know why, it’s yet another fantastic Fire Emblem with its own ways that it stands out, managing not one, not two, but three lords, introducing the tactician, and so on. Guess time has just not been kind to my memory on this one.

I remember being really impressed with the length of this game back in the day, and Hector’s mode offering enough differences to make it totally fun to replay the main game again.

Lyn gets kind of pushed to the side (because that’s what generally happens to women main characters in Fire Emblem, if there’s a male lord around), but having the three lords was really fun. With three people, you get a great balance between all of their personalities, and they all play off of each other well.

Of course I loved Lyn and Hector, most everyone does, but I was always just as much of an Eliwood fan. His average stats pushed people away from liking him as much as the others, but I always looked up to his kindness. Eliwood / Ninian was an especially favorite pairing for my sappy teenage heart. Eliwood was just so romantic and sweet to me.

And though the game was made easier with international audiences in mind, the developers hadn’t invented all of the “easier/for convenience” features yet, so this is the last time we got to enjoy some “harder” features like needing to buy weapons during battles, and a convoy separate from the main lord. That’s cool if you like that stuff.

Unlocking the paralogues is hard though / 10

Favorites Tier

FE8

When it comes to FE8, while there’s plenty to like about the gameplay (despite the game being so easy, but again, like I said with Awakening, you can just set your own challenge rules), what I really love to ramble on about is the story and its emotional impact. Lyon is so precious and kind, but has so many inner conflicts stewing deep inside of him, leading him to elder magics, and… The Demon King is just ends up as a sideshow compared to Lyon coming face to face with his own demons. Both the characters - and many players, I’m sure - hope and hope to find a way to save him, but there just isn’t one. There are never any real leads. There’s nothing. Only the harrowing reality that some people cannot be saved, no, that some people do not want to be saved. The inevitability of Lyon’s demise, and seeing it all play out, packs a punch most plots can only dream of.

But it’s not like I won’t talk about the gameplay features either. Bringing back much of the best of FE2, the overworld map and everything to do really enhances the experience. I mean, yeah, I guess two side dungeons isn’t that much to get excited over, I can see that critique… but I didn’t care, it allowed me to easily chase support conversations, and (with some RNG abusing to obtain enough Boots and money to buy the stat-boosting items, but hey, whatever it takes) I could max out my characters’ stats and truly “complete” a Fire Emblem game.

Sacred Stones is so awesome.

Finally! A postgame! I sure hope the developers keep this up in all the future games… oh. / 10

FE9

This is the first FE game I ever played, so it will always occupy the most dear and special place in my heart, even if FE4 eventually won over as my favorite.

Do you believe in first sight? I do, and this is what taught me it’s real. From the first second of the first cutscene, I was enthralled. ...And that’s saying something, when the FE9 cutscenes are the kind of thing only a mother could love. But I just knew. I may have been a wee lass of 14, but I knew a love that would last a lifetime was being born. ...Or that would at least last 14 more years. I can’t predict the future. Maybe I’ll wake up tomorrow and hate Fire Emblem with a burning passion? 2020 has taught me that tomorrow is always a big fat question mark.

Fun fact: in case you are wondering exactly what inspired my very initial interest in this series, it was a TV commercial. Probably this one. I just remember Ike running, of all things. My sibling and I both thought FE9 looked interesting from this commercial, and sought out the game all on our own with zero private knowledge that anything FE even existed.

This is where obsessions are born. Or mine at least. / 10

FE4

As I’ve established, this is my favorite of favorites. The bizarre way money, arenas, items, and more were handled, actually made the game more and more fun for me. Big maps are just so fun. Gen 1’s story is a tale for the ages, and Gen 2’s story is… well, classic FE, which never gets old for me. It will never cease to amaze me even today what the SNES/S Famicom could handle.

All I’d want added is a “warp between conquered castles” feature. I’m completely neutral on a remake otherwise. Of course a lot more could be added and detailed upon that I’d be happy for, but that’s my one specific wish.

Calvary Emblem Forever / 10

Bonus:

FEH

I played this game every day for around 2 ½ years before I finally felt I had to break the habit, so I’m not leaving it out! This title got a lot of flack for simplifying FE gameplay, but… looking at it that way completely disregards the niche app games fill, and the interesting ways developers view what type of games app games should be, and how the developers work hard to both innovate for the format yet stay faithful to the source. It is surprisingly deep, and the maps + higher focus on unit skills make you think entirely differently about how to win in what is, in essence, the same gameplay as the main series.

Plus, what fan couldn’t get suckered into the fanservice of it? My best moments include attaining a +10 Nephenee while only spending money to get 2 of her, the other 9 were all F2P orbs; and becoming a Narcian/Valter shipper after supporting them on impulse because they were both on my flier team, and realizing the sick, twisted chemistry afterwards. Discovering rare-pairs is fun.

Also, finally, this game dared to nerf magic users a bit by making them RNG 2 only. If only the main series could do something like that.

I really enjoyed Heroes a lot, I just quit solely because it was a time drain. It was time to move on and play other things. And I’m glad I got out when I did. Seeing the game stoop to over-the-top powercreep (above and beyond what it was always implementing) and add the monthly service to keep the $$$$$ raking in was hard to watch.

Perfect app-style game gameplay-wise and fanservice-wise, but why aren’t gacha illegal yet / 10

FE Warriors

Oh yeah, this game exists too! It’s a Warriors game. If you like the formula and it never gets old for you, you’ll have fun with this game. If you don’t mind the limited game representation too much, you’ll have fun with this game. For me, the answers to those questions were a yes, so I enjoyed FE Warriors. Yay for wailing on hordes of enemies / 10

#fire emblem #favorites

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stellar-imagines · 5 years ago

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SCENARIO REQUEST: ❝malaise pt 2.❞

[ Fandom: Boku no Hero Academia ] [ Characters: Bakugou Katsuki ]

「 After supposedly leaving Bakugou alone in the apartment, you holed yourself up in your office. You distracted yourself by working instead of asking questions about whether what you did was right or wrong. On the other hand, Bakugou regrets everything and is too ashamed to even face you. Until an opportunity arises.」

Angst ahead!

[ Part 1 || Part 3 ]

BAKUGOU KATSUKI

"You know that eating all that isn't good for your health, right?"

There were boxes of takeout around your table, some still had its contents while the others were empty. Your colleague, Irino, bend down to pick up the plastic bags that had nothing but trash in them. The office had became your home now after running away from your shared apartment. Ever since you left, you made the office into your temporary home. It had a kitchen and to be honest, it was spacious enough since there were only a few people using the space. The girls you worked with didn't seem too bothered by it. In fact, they were really concerned when you greet them in the building in your pajamas. When you left the apartment, you considered crashing at one of your friend's place but you didn't want to bother anyone so you ended up at your office.

You had cried through the entire ride to the office. It was on a day off that you decided to leave and the office was vacant. There were already a lot of facilities available for you. And so, you spent an entire day buying the necessary items to make this place into a place you could live in. There was a couch that you could use, a clothes rack that you often use to hang random items. Not to mention, you have a coffee machine, water dispenser and a stove. It's also a plus for you because you don't have to worry about coming late to work.

"It's just temporary, Irino! There's a few things I need to fix and I need to get it done by tomorrow." you replied, putting aside the mochi you had been eating the entire time. The girl sighed, making her way over to her own work desk and began her own work of sorting files. The other employees were already present, busying themselves with their own task. She seemed a bit bothered by how you were living right now.

Now, Irino didn't know much about your relationship with Bakugou Katsuki, a well known Pro Hero. She has only seen him come by the office a couple of times and mostly saw him through the screen when the news was centered around him. From her observation, he was a guy who doesn't do well with the press and she highly doubted that he could properly stay in a relationship for a very long time. She wasn't one to judge people by their looks too. Seeing you always talked about him as if he was the best man on Earth, she could tell that he wasn't what she thought he was like. Then again, she still couldn't believe what happened between the two of you. For a few days, you looked pretty much like a zombie.

"You're so forgiving, [First Name]-chan."

"Well, if you've known Bakugou Katsuki for a long time you'd understand why I forgive him. Even though I said I forgive him, he completely lost my trust after what he did." you mumbled, lifting the mug of hot chocolate to your lips. Your eyes studied the liquid sitting in the mug. It was still warm, proven by the feeling it gave your fingers.

"If I were you, I wouldn't be able to forgive him."

"Yeah, yeah, never mind all that. Where are the blueprints that you wanted to give me, Irino-chan?" you extended your right hand while you munched on some mochi that you were holding onto with your left hand. Irino could never understand how you were feeling but she knew that she was in no position to tell you what she thinks. All she can do was support you.

"Once you're done, let's so eat some yakiniku together." she offered with a smile.

You nodded, giving your okay before going back to work. The television was on and there was news about the most recent villain attack. You turned your attention towards the television, stopping your work. There was Kirishima, Bakugou, Ashido and even Midoriya was there. Four of the former students of UA who you're acquainted with were in the news. You wonder what Bakugou could be doing at this time of day.

"Hey, Bakugou! How are you doing these days?"

"Shut up, Shitty Hair. I don't have time to fucking chat." Bakugou grumbled angrily, scribbling down a few things on the sheet he was given. Kirishima put down a cup of coffee in front of the ash blonde. He raised his head, eyes landing at the cup before grabbing the handle and taking a sip.

"I know that you got a lot in your mind and you know, I'm here if you need to talk about it." Kirishima's eyes soften a little. Bakugou frowns and it wasn't the usual frown, there was sadness behind it. The ash blonde had heard from Ashido who heard from you about what happened between the two of you. Kirishima strongly believed that Bakugou was a loyal man and a bit relieved when he didn't hear that they had an affair or actually had sex. But in the end, the damage is done and this was what the two of you settled with.

It was a few minutes after the two stopped talking that the phone rang. Being the closest to it, Bakugou picked it up.

"What?" he mumbled. His voice was hoarse and gruff, but the voice from the other side is clear and loud, accompanied by loud noises in the background which were akin to explosions.

"Ground Zero. We need you and Red Riot on the field right now. We've got 3 heroes on the field, there's civilians in the area that need to be evacuated."

"We're on our way."

When the two arrived the scene, everything seemed to be in chaos. A building was on fire and the civilians were panicking and making their escape. Sirens were heard in the distance, followed by the sounds of metal screeching and people screaming. Bakugou and Kirishima went further where the smoke was thicker. Both were used to the thick smell of ash from smoke but the limited visibility that comes with it always proved to be a hindrance. The two waved the smoke until they reached closer to the building. There stood the hero who had gave Bakugou a call.

It's when he saw you that he stopped.

The smoke made it hard for him to identify people but he can't really forget how you look and it only took a second for him to recognize you. After all, it isn't easy to forget the person you love. You were still oblivious to his presence, helping the injured civilians and providing them with breathing masks that were specially made for this very situation. You finally noticed him once the hero carried the people you were tending to away. Your eyes landed on Bakugou and your lips twitched a bit. You wondered what was the right thing to say now. It had been days since you last saw each other and it was a bit awkward to be meeting in such circumstances.

"Hey." you almost want to slap yourself but coming out with just that. No matter how many times you saw him appear in the television, it's nothing compared to seeing him in real life. He inhales, how long has it been since he heard your voice. Bakugou avoids your gaze, looking a bit ashamed after what he had done. He wanted to say that he was sorry again, tell you to come back but a loud explosion caught both your attention. It came from another building that was further away.

"I want to talk.....later." he mumbled.

"Just the two of us." he added.

"Yeah, I'll be waiting." you nod.

Throughout his entire battle with the villain and evacuating the civilians, all he could think was you. What should he say to you? Would you even come back to him if he asked?

"This is Alpha from Position 1, we've captured all villains and evacuated everyone. How's things in Position 2?" a nearby Hero spoke through the communicating device in their ear.

"The building is starting to crumble and we need more heroes to help the injured civilians. We need back up! As much as possible and as fast as possible!" Bakugou could pick of the conversation since he was also equipped with the device. He pressed a hand over the small earbud, picking up the conversation.

"Shit, we deployed a lot of heroes here since the villain appeared.....Who's doing the evacuation at the moment?"

"Most of them are already back except for [Last Name]-san! She went in to assist with evacuation and hasn't come back. We need someone to go—"

"This is Ground Zero. I'm on my fucking way." Bakugou rose to his feet and moved faster than anybody and used his quirk to get to the crumbling building.

The smoke had already cleared but the building had crumbled down. You did all you could to evacuate everyone and even went to do a check. But you got caught between the rubble. It crushed your legs and your body was bleeding from the sharp stones that pierced through your clothing. You could barely register the pain. There was no feeling in your legs and you didn't have energy to get out. Your communicating device had fallen out of your reach. And you were sure that you'd die alone.

His eyes grew wide and he makes his way over, pushing aside all the rubble and pulling you out. He laid your head on his lap and looked at your legs. Biting his lip and cursing out loud, he blamed himself for not coming faster.

"Katsuki.....?" your voice sounded strained and fragile as if you'd break.

"Fuck, your legs need to be tended to in a hospital....." Bakugou shrugged off the cloak that he had been given earlier, ripping the material carelessly. He was panicking. There was so much blood and you were breathing heavily.

"I feel sleepy." you muttered breathlessly.

"Shit, shit! You gotta fucking stay awake! You hear me!? Talk, say something!" Bakugou pleaded, seeing how the light was starting to face from your eyes. You gazed up at him, he looked desperate and scared. You had never seen such an expression before but when you recalled the day he left you—you thought to yourself, it was the same. He was scared of losing you.

"I missed you....."

"You know.....Even though I knew, I was a coward and didn't want to say anything......! Because even though you were with that woman, you still came back home so I clung onto that, thinking that you still love me. Did you stay with me because you pitied me?" your eyes were drooping and it was almost hard to focus on his face anymore. Bakugou who was supposed to do whatever he could to stop the bleeding, had stopped to listen. He shook his head, ripping parts of his cloak to cover your wounds.

"Anyway, I hope your life with her is good.....Well, I saw her picture when she messaged you by accident......She's really pretty, prettier than me, that's for cure. She makes you happier than I do right? Ah.....does she make your favorite food? I was always struggle—" you broke into a fits of coughs, blood spilling from your lips and coating your costume.

"Enough, stop talking already!" his lips trembled, watching as you wince in pain. He never contacted with that woman anymore, too busy wallowing in regret. Bakugou meant it when he was sorry. He was fucking asshole and he didn't deserve you but he wants you so desperately.

"You know, if you wanted someone else, you could've just ended our relationship."

His eyes sagged and he felt his heart clenching painfully. Bakugou cursed out loud, telling himself that he was so fucking stupid. He can feel the pain and betrayal in your words and seeing you in this state made him suffocate. He really didn't deserve you at all. Yes, he did miss you so fucking bad. Waking up alone on the king sized bed that the two of you had picked was so damn painful. Eating breakfast without hearing your excited chatter in the morning was just unbearable. Coming home to a pitch dark apartment with no warmth and no one there was just excruciating.

All of a sudden, he remembers all of it. How you praised him on the day he was accepted to dream agency, when he rose to the top. The way you kiss him, make his favorite dinner, massage his muscles after a long day at work. Every single time you cuddled him, listening to his angry rants about his annoying co-workers. He was blessed to have such a caring, patient person like who you put up with his bullshit.

"But if you're happy then it's okay. I want what's best for you. Even if it's a future without me in it, because you're actually a nice person."

"What are you saying!? I'm not a nice person and you can't fucking die before me! You're the nice one! I was a fucking asshole......! You're all I need!" he screamed.

"Tha....nk you.....Katsu....."

Your entire body relaxed and your eyes fell shut. It was as if your entire body shut down to get sleep. Tears streamed down his face, crying in anguish and screaming at the top of his lungs. Midoriya was first to find him, with a few doctors following him and running over towards where Bakugou was. The ash blonde kept his hold on you, being extremely protective and even refused to hand you over to the paramedics.

"Deku-san, do something about this! We need to get her to the machine to stabilize her heartbeat, there's a chance that she's still alive." one of the paramedics announced. Midoriya somehow managed to pry you off Bakugou's arms and hand you over to the paramedics.

"Kacchan, calm down!" Midoriya grabbed hold of the ash blonde's arms, making sure he wouldn't go on a rampage. Droplets of tears started to pour down onto the ground. Bakugou's vision was blurry with tears but he could see the lights of the ambulance and barely make out the figure of paramedics carrying your body into the car.

Once again, you slipped from his grasp. The first time you did, he wished he could pull you back, plead you to stay and not leave him behind. He regretted it so much. And so, just like the first time he saw you slip away from him, he could only cry in anguish.

Total: 2439 words Published: 12.11.2019

Thank you for requesting! *｡٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و*｡ Hello, please don’t kill us me for making it so angsty. Malaise is back by a popular demand! A lot of people actually replied saying if it was a part 2 and here ya go, our lovely, beautiful amazing and absolute beautiful reader! It’s just the beginning of my second year and honestly, it feels like the end of the year. (ᗒᗣᗕ)՞ We hope you enjoyed it! ― author Hibiki/LouThank you for requesting! So we didn’t really decide whether we wanted to end with angst or not? And honestly, it depends on the request and our mood. Lou was the one who originally wrote Malaise and this time I was in charge of Malaise pt 2. Lou was the one who made the ending and clearly, she’s stressed and overwhelmed. Because she texts me at 4am asking me if she could live with only 3 hours of sleep. Okay, let’s end the boring story about us. We hope you liked it. ― author Natsuki

Please do not mind the grammar mistakes and typos.

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lorei-writes · 5 years ago

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Sasuke x Witch! MC

Content Warnings:

Background: none

Sasuke x Witch!MC: fire

Background:

She was born and raised in XXI century Japan.

Her childhood was rather ordinary: she had both parents, went to kindergarten and then to school, had friends, studied - just in general, led her life like any other person would.

However, when still in primary school, she discovered she possessed a certain kind of ability.

One day, she spilled tea over the book from school library. The librarian being a strict person, she presumed that even if she had brought an exact copy of the book and apologized, she’d be in trouble for the reminder of the year.

Panicked, she tried to at the very least save the cover, wiping at it with tissues.

The paper tore, though, leaving her no hope left.

Unsure of what else she could do, she let head fall onto her desk, smacking the wet book in the process. She wished it had never happened - but what was that, if not just a inane thought?

However, to her surprise, when she stood up, it was perfectly fine, as if she had never spilled anything over it.

As she learnt in the years that followed, she could turn things - although she wasn’t sure what sort of things exactly - back in time.

Having a very vague understanding of how exactly time worked and whether it could cause any consequences to arise, she opted not to use her power too much.

The more questions she asked, the less answers she had - and so, her passion for science sparked.

Sasuke x Witch!MC:

Aiming to deepen her understanding of the world and possibly of her powers as well, she went on to study at the university.

She was in one group with a man she came to like - Sasuke was smart, always seemed to get her culture references, but most importantly, shared her interest in physics and history. More often than not, he was the highlight of her days.

They oftentimes studied together, especially before the exam sessions, when they’d go out to have some food and then lock themselves in the library.

To her delight, they were lab partners. Everything went well... Until it didn’t.

Sasuke had to leave the room for a moment - an urgent call? Oh, she didn’t even remember anymore, holding in her hands the broken piece of equipment.

She looked around, assessing that everybody was busy with their work - luckily, nobody paid her much mind. Instantly, she touched the thing and rewound it back in time.

As if nothing happened, she returned to work, Sasuke soon coming back as well. Little did she know, he saw exactly what she did.

The week being almost over, they walked together towards the train station. “ So, about earlier, in the lab... How did you repair it?” he asked, appearing to be somewhat distracted.

She almost jumped out of her shoes, startled by the question.

In the end, she couldn’t lie to him.

In the following weeks, they conducted a series of experiments to find the limitations of her ability. They weren’t able to discover the mechanism allowing for the phenomenon to occur, though.

As they found out, she couldn’t rewind anything by more no than 23 minutes, it was safe to turn living organisms back in time and, had she used her ability on herself, she did possess the notion of what was the last thing she had thought about before the change.

It appeared that her ability worked by replacing the thing (inanimate or animate) from the present with one from the past.

The months passed and the holidays began. To her surprise, Sasuke asked her to come with him to Kyoto - for research, he said, most possibly having also some other reasons in mind.

The lightning struck the temple, the wormhole sending them back to Sengoku.

She awoke there in the burning building. Somewhat confused, she looked around - an unconscious person was lying on the ground. Blinded by smoke, she pulled them out of the building, not quite sure as to what was happening.

Everything that happened later was unbelievable. One thing bothered her as well - what happened to Sasuke? They were there together, after all. Was he sent back in time? If so, then to what period? Was he somewhere around?

She acted based on the premise that he must have been somewhere around. As such, she accepted her position as princess and used her days to scout for information.

To surprise of the warlords, she was rather inventive, oftentimes going out of her way to help with fixing things, sometimes adding adjustments to the construction of said items or suggesting different design altogether.

It wasn’t that she loathed their company - no, pretty much the opposite. However, when she saw the ceiling panel move, Sasuke’s head peaking from the gap, she couldn’t think of staying in Azuchi anymore.

“You’re...” she started hesitantly. “ Your friendly neighbourhood ninja, exactly,” he answered, descending silently onto the floor. “ I just... I... I couldn’t find a... Where...” she stuttered. “ That story is longer than The Song of Ice and Fire. But that’s not important. You need to get out of here.”

She didn’t think twice of it and followed him, only later learning of his current job. Together, they decided to return to the future.

However, that didn’t go exactly as planned - in eyes of the public, she was a traitor to the Oda clan. Sasuke, on the other hand, abandoned his lord. They did not expect that other clans would go such lengths to try to exploit them.

They had just departed for Kyoto, when a group of armoured men started following them.

Initially, they pretended to be unaware of said fact, attempting to lose said tail. Yet, to no avail.

Time was slowly running out, the chase getting closer and closer. She could feel their breaths on her neck - and finally, they had to meet.

The men drew weapons, threatening to hurt them, had Sasuke not given the Oda princess to them.

They ran for their lives, the prospect of her being a prisoner terrifying them.

A day passed - and nothing had changed for the better. If anything, Sasuke realised they wouldn’t make it no matter what. They stopped for the night, too tired to move. Without a moment of hesitation, he asked her to trust him and do as he said.

His plan was for her to turn herself back, over and over again, until she was just a small child. Then, he’d try to bring her to the closest village, from where he’d try to escape.

“ I can’t do this. I can’t leave you like that,” she pleaded. “ Please.” “ You will die.” “ I may.” “ We will cause disturbance to time.” “ We don’t know that yet.” “ What do you mean?” “ I think your current self will end up starting another timeline. It will be identical, save you know what will happen. If you rewind yourself immediately, you should start another one. Do this until before you fled Azuchi.” “ Sasuke...” she started, but he cut her off: “ I can’t have you die here, but I can’t come up with different solution either.”

She clenched her jaw, silently agreeing to the plan. Before she began, he leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead. “ I will find you again. I promise.”

They changed their course, Sasuke hoping to hide in some village. His grip on the reins tightened, as with each second she grew younger - and so, by the end of the day, she was just a child.

To her, it felt as if three months ago were a single eternity away from her - yet, she reached it. The fire.

Days passed. Sasuke descended onto the floor of her room yet again. Tears in her eyes, she hugged him tight, just to explain what had happened.

“ Please, don’t make me leave you again,” she sobbed.

This time, they found another way - one which involved making more friends at that.

Tag list: @datenoriko , @nad-zeta , @tsubaki3192 , @choi-jiyu, @missjudge-me If you want to be tagged under my future works, let me know (any way works)!^^ Also, if you have some preferences (for example: you’d rather not be tagged under some series, etc.), please, tell me.

#sasuke sarutobi #ikesen sasuke #ikemen sengoku sasuke #ikemen series #ikesen #ikemen sengoku #my hc #my ff #oh gash i hope this makes sense #im so sorry not so fluffy #i tried

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