#threat level: pizza

[darlingghoulette]

blame the “hitting on your mom as a punishment” tiktok i just saw that literally blew my brain up. established because they’re disgustingly in love and because i say so

Eddie would normally consider himself pretty immune to the roar of arguing teenagers. Chaos surrounds their little Party. They’re not a quiet bunch when all together. It’s all shoving and yelling, giggling and roughhousing. Carpet-burned battle scars from the floor of Steve’s living room.

Lord knows Eddie himself wasn’t an inside-voice kind of person. He was certainly wont to standing on coffee tables and screeching demands for the remote when it was unjustly stolen away by villainous hands.

Eddie loved these people to death, and they were a lot of fucking fun to hang out with, it’s just this...this was an unreal level of noise. A normal sleepover night turned a little too rowdy, the adolescents celebrating the start of Summer with a bang.

Steve had already asked them to keep it down four times this evening. Nothing seemed to calm them. Not requests. Not threats of being sent home. Usually their Dungeon Master threatening their characters’ souls did the trick, but no go. 

Getting teenagers to listen? A feat more impossible than defeating creatures from an alternate universe. 

Dustin and Erica were in a bitching match about the best D&D class. Lucas and Mike had been fighting over movie choices for the last half hour. Eddie’s money was on the VHS player breaking before that, the constant mishandling and shoving of tapes had the poor thing practically smoking.

Will, ever the diplomat, was trying to be an impartial party when asked his movie opinions. Which, of course, caused more yelling. 

Max and El had been the only ones being semi-quiet, but that quickly ended when they followed through on their surprise attack pillow fight, pummeling the boys senseless and causing the already unbearable volume to kick into overdrive. Eddie could practically feel Steve’s migraine building, even from where the dude had retreated to the kitchen. Dinner had been pizza. Quick. Easy. Clean. Or, it would have been if it hadn’t had been for the food fight. Steve was still in there scrubbing cheese out of his parents’ tiled backsplash. Dishes clattered in the distance when the cacophony hit its crescendo. 

It was the proverbial straw. 

“Alright, that’s it! Hey. Come on, guys. Knock it off,”

Nothing. 

“HEY!”

He maybe overdid it that time, but the absolute ear-splitting boom of a yell he let out stopped the ruckus dead. 

Silence rang for a beat.

Huh. Maybe Eddie should try out incorporating that into his music. He honestly hadn’t known he could get to that range. 

The teenagers in the room stared at him, not cowed in the slightest, but curious enough to know what the hell Eddie’s problem was. Max was the first one to quirk an eyebrow at him.  “Geez, need attention much?” 

Eddie folded his arms to show he meant business. “Steve has asked you guys to tone it down. You’re waking the fucking dead. Why don’t you guys, like, actually go be good human beings and help him clean up your mess you all made in the kitchen, huh?” 

Lucas snorted. “Yeah, okay, mom. Why don’t you go help him, you guys will probably just make out in there, anyway.” 

It was a teasing comment. Meant to jokingly rib before getting back to doing whatever the hell they wanted to do.

But, see. That just gave him an idea. 

Never let it be said Eddie couldn’t be creative with his punishments. He was a DM after all. 

“Alllllllright. New plan. Listen up or suffer, ankle biters,” 

He really didn’t appreciate the snickers that brought about when he was trying to be intimidating. Rude. 

“You going to send us to our room or something? I’m real scared,” Erica’s scathing, dry wit was unparalleled, truly. 

“Nope. Better. It’s a new rule: You little shitheads give me attitude and don’t listen, I hit on your babysitter.”

It was silent for a minute, brains audibly computing that statement and coming up ERROR. Will hesitantly spoke up. 

“Uh, Eddie, I really don’t think that’s--”

“Yeah, what the fuck?” Mike interrupted. “Why would you beating up Steve hurt us? I mean, like, I guess it would emotionally, but that’s fucked up, man.” 

Eddie rolled his eyes, still smirking wickedly as his plan solidified.  “Oh, I don’t mean that kind of hitting, young Wheeler. Though, it may yet get physical--Hey, Steve?” He called out. The sink in the kitchen shut off after a second.

“Yeah?” 

“Can you come here?” 

The kids shuffled around on the floor warily as the other man walked into the living room. The energy had obviously shifted, it was probably an odd vibe to walk in to, but Eddie cut Steve off before he could ask any questions.

“You tired?”

“Uh, no. I’m fine--”

“It’s just you just keep on runnin’ through my mind constantly. I figured you’d be exhausted, sweetheart,” Eddie purred, the words cloyingly sweet and full of exaggerated charm. 

There was a countdown, three, two, one...

A collective groan let out. A few uncomfortable laughs.  “Dude, what the hell?” 

“You guys agreed not to be gross in front of us!”

“Oh, my god, can I actually get sick from how cheesy that was?” 

Eddie had to work at keeping in character when his very first line had pulled the intended reaction. He was already reaching forward to curl an arm around Steve, pulling him in in a slow, sultry attempt at being smooth. 

“What? Can’t I be sweet on my guy? You all will understand when you’re in love one day. Right, sugar?” 

Fake gags and retching sounds, too dramatic to be real protests, but still indignant and annoyed. Eddie was pretty sure Dustin slapped a hand over his eyes.

“Uh...yes?” Steve, who had previously looked like a car accident had happened directly in front of him, was catching on to the play. He eyed the disgruntled floor-children with a growing grin and let Eddie snuggle up to him.

God, his baby was so clever. He always knew what Eddie was thinking. 

Too busy having a non-verbal conversation with Steve on how to best annoy the kids, Eddie didn’t see Mike turning his attention back to the tv. He did, however, hear him telling the others to “Just ignore them, they’ll get all gushy and leave us alone.” 

Oh, Michael, Michael. Wrong move. 

“How you doing, babygirl?” Steve flushed, deep and red and--huh. Okay. Revisiting that one in the future. “You good? You need anything? Your head hurting, sweet thing? I can kiss it better,”  Eddie ducked forward to kiss Steve’s cheek. It was chaste, a sweet little thing...that Eddie made infinitely worse by the smacking, obnoxious kissy sounds he emulated there. The chorus of groans and protests started up again. He didn’t even pull his face away to call over to them. 

“I’m sorry, is that attitude? Am I hearing more attitude?”

“Dude, Eddie, noooo!” 

“Jesus, it’s like watching your parents make out, oh my god.” 

“You guys, let’s just go already,” 

“Yeah, I’ll take washing dishes over this,” 

The grossed out teenagers whooshed past them. Grumbling and glaring--except Eleven, who smiled up at them sweetly--leaving Steve and Eddie standing in the living room, still wrapped up together. 

It was too tempting then, with the kids safely out of range, for Eddie to resist the temptation to drop his kisses a little lower down Steve’s neck. To let them get a little less chaste. Just a little.

What can he say? He’s a weak man. 

“That was evil,” Steve hummed. His shoulders dropped, though, relaxing into Eddie’s hold, the closest thing they’ve had to quiet all night settling in. 

“Hey, I accomplished two things. Got them to chill out and I get the perk of feeling you up in the middle of sleepover night. It’s a win-win.” 

A crash and a muffled argument broke out in the kitchen before Steve could respond to that. 

The audible scuffling was cut off by Eddie calling out “Your ass looks great in these jeans tonight, Harrington!” 

The fierce whispers and shushing were enough to get both of the older boys cackling loudly. 

[ultimate-shipper-trash-blog]

Pt.5

"Disturbance on 4th and Walker."

Steve looks down at his ice cream cone and sighs.

"Boooo," Eddie yells. "We were just starting to have fun do you need to get that?"

"Eddie I'm Chief I have to get them all." He reaches for his radio. "Max how important is that call?"

Her voice comes through the speaker. "Not the greatest threat level. Get your knitting needles ready."

"Oh boy," he looks over at Eddie. "Wanna come with?"

He perks up, "really?!"

--

They're laughing as they walk down the alley. Holding hands.

"That was crazy Stevie. Is it always like this?"

"Do I normally have to break apart little old ladies threatening to stab each other with knitting needles? No."

They're still laughing. A little breathless now. They're leaning into each other. Eddie keeps staring at his lips. They're slowly moving closer.

"This shouldn't happen." Steve says, leaning in closer to Eddie. Eddie's hands are pulling the collar of his jacket until he's pressing Eddie into the wall. Leg between Eddie's. Steve's hand immediately going to Eddie's face while Eddie's hand moves to Steve's waist.

"Isn't that the fun part?" Eddie whispers. If he tilts his head a little up their lips would touch. "It doesn't matter if we should or shouldn't all that matters is that we want it. Do you want it Stevie? I do."

Steve can't take it any longer he rushes up and engulfs Eddie in a messy kiss. Their mouths move perfectly together and Steve can't get enough. He only pulls back a little when Eddie let's out a soft moan.

"No no no," he's trying to pull Steve back in. "Moan means continue not stoooop" he whines.

Steve laughs a little.

"It'd look bad for the chief to get caught doing public indecency."

"Oh baby," Eddie purrs, "you haven't even seen indecency."

A shiver runs down Steve's spine.

"Your house is closer let's go." He grabs Eddie's hand and runs down the street as fast as he can. Eddie cackling behind him.

"Eager huh?"

"For you? Always."

--

It goes on for two weeks. Steve is so in love it hurts.

He knows it has to end. He's doing what's best for Eddie. Eddie could be in danger. Eddie could get sick of waiting at home spending late nights waiting for Steve to come home. Eddie could get sick of Steve's constant need for reassurance. He could despise everything Steve's done for him and just be playing along.

A part of Steve knows he can't get hurt again. That he could spiral and put his job and his friendships in danger. A part of Steve is doing this for Steve.

He believes he's doing what's best for Eddie.

He stops by Eddie's on the way home. Steve sees him eating a pizza and laughing at the TV.

"Hey sweetheart what's up?"

Steve wants to cry. Eddie's pizza slice has pulled cheese everywhere. It's gross and Steve thinks he's adorable. Oh god. He is crying.

"Baby hey, what's going on honey?" Eddie scrambles over to him. Quickly wiping his face.

Steve tries to keep his composure. Tries to savor this moment as much as he can.

"I've been selfish Eddie."

"Oh? Good. You deserve to be selfish."

"No I, I've kept you for too long. I've been selfish with you."

"What? Baby I don't understand-"

"We need to end it Eddie. This is not safe for you. I shouldn't have done this."

"Steve." Eddie's voice is like steel. "Are you breaking up with me? I know we haven't even put a label on things but that's what this is right? A break up?"

"...yes."

"Fuck."

"I'm-"

"Why."

"You know why-"

"Obviously I don't. I thought things were good. I thought we were happy. What did I do?"

"Nothing. Never."

"So tell me Steve! Why!?"

"I-I can't-I'm sorry," he turns towards the door and tries to block out Eddie's screaming. Pleading. Asking him to come back.

[commsroom]

how would the characters do working in a public service job, such as retail? I'm particularly curious about hilbert, kepler, and minkowski.

you know, you can really tell that nobody in wolf 359 other than eiffel has ever worked retail. it explains a lot about them.

it's impossible to imagine hilbert working retail in any context that isn't just. a joke for how out of place he would be. everything hilbert does is for his research, and he considers anything else a pointless distraction. he thinks that "bedside manner is like anesthetic: it just gets in the way of what needs to be done." honestly, i wish i could make hilbert work customer service. it would be torture for him, and he would say the kinds of things to customers that most people can only fantasize about. if you put him in a retail job, somehow, he would still just disappear into a dark storage room to do god knows what. i think hilbert would let people shoplift. he doesn't care.

kepler... could thrive in retail, actually. that's really scary. not that he would like it, but that he's got that kind of personality type and work ethic. the version of kepler who hollowed himself to become the manager of a dick's sporting goods might be worse than regular kepler, for the limited power it would offer him. but stagnation would drive him crazy. kepler really values progress - always working harder, doing more. he doesn't mind being a cog in the corporate machine, but that would be a much less. complex machine, compared to his real ambitions. he would still tell the exact same stories.

minkowski would be very, very frustrated by a job like that, but she would take it very seriously. she would enforce every nonsensical, nit-picky little policy to the letter. she would want to run that place like the navy, for sure, but people wouldn't be scared of her the way they'd be scared of someone like kepler. she's a tryhard people pleaser, and she tries to come across as strict and no-nonsense, but i think minkowski really takes people at their word and it wouldn't be hard for both customers & her employees to walk all over her once they figured out how she operates, and which of her threats are empty. that's what eiffel did. if she wasn't in a management position, it would be even worse for her. she would grit her teeth, and try very, very hard, and she would hate every moment of it.

characters you didn't ask about, but i have to talk about anyway:

i think lovelace would be a relatively cool manager who would take your side if a customer was a jerk to you, and she wouldn't really care about the rules as long as things got done. but it would be difficult for her to hold a lower-level position, unless she had a cool manager.

eiffel is the only one of them who's canonically worked food service (and a whole assortment of dead-end jobs he got fired from within a few months) and he approaches his current job pretty much the same as i imagine he approached his job at pizza hut. he complains about his boss, zones out, maybe even falls asleep. if he could wander outside and smoke, he would. eiffel and hera are really the only two people here who don't have career ambitions. almost everyone else wants something more, in their own ways, but eiffel just wants to clock out, go home, and relax. doesn't really matter what the job is, he just doesn't want to be at work. respectable.

and hera is already doing the equivalent of putting on a customer service voice, seething with contempt, and then going to cry in the bathroom, like, every day of her life. so...

[f1nalboys]

Back To The Old House - Bo Sinclair

Bo Sinclair x Fem!GN!Reader

WORD COUNT: 2492

WARNINGS: this is a darker fic than i normally post. more accurate to canon bo and reader is not in a wanted position in the story. heed the warnings people, dead dove do not eat etc. pre-relationship, sorta stockholm syndrome-y, gore, violence, blood, wounds, threats of violence, medical stuff (mention of stitches and a scene of bo cleaning up your wounds, a mention of being strapped to the bed like trudy while you healed), bo calls reader ‘good girl’ multiple times, wrist and ankle cuts, mention of broken bones and last injuries and past threats of violence, mentions of the garage and being stuck in the chair, starvation/malnutrition, bo struggles to have normal relationships with people, bo refers to past victims as ‘bitches,’ reader is Stuck in Ambrose and has been there for 2 1/2 months or so, bo is really his own warning fr, not rlly a warning but reader eats pizza? idk just in case, proofread but could have missed some stuff, posting from my phone so sorry about any formatting mistakes!

Your body ached from the inside out. Your bones felt too big for your skin and your skin, in turn, felt stretched across your body, tension high, the slightest touch enough to snap it apart. The chair underneath you was cool against your skin which felt like it was on fire. The sound of footsteps above you no longer put even the smallest glimmer of hope in your chest; too many times it had been short lived, sometimes your possible saviors being led away and the other times it was just him.

The door unlocks and you keep your eyes closed, your breathing level even as he approaches you, boots that had once pressed on your chest until you heard a snap just a few months ago land soft on the concrete floor until he’s right beside you. You don’t flinch when his calloused hand drags down your arm; in fact, you almost involuntarily lean into it.

“Hey, sweetheart. How’re you feelin?” His voice seems to soothe an ache inside you, one closer to your heart than you’d like to admit, but you can’t talk. You hum and it’s low in your throat and you can’t see his face but you can see his frown deepen. “Gonna take you up to the house for the night, alright? Let me let ‘ya out.”

He works on your ankles first, the flick of his pocket knife causing you to move away from him ever so slightly despite the straps and tape digging further into your skin. “Why?” You croak and his movements pause. His hand, the one with the ring, lays gently on your calf as he works on cutting off the thick layer of duct tape and he slowly begins to peel them off, shushing your pained gasps and whimpers as they peel up your skin.

“Shh, I know. Did so good for me down here these last few days.”

“I…I did?”

“Mhm,” He confirms and you let out a content sigh. The pain was worth these small moments with him, however few and far between they were. They have been happening more and more recently, however. It was almost strange the kindness, if you could call it that, he had shown you these last few days. Or was it weeks? “Gotta reward you, don’t I? Unless you wanna stay down here?”

You shake your head, swallowing heavily. You didn’t want to stay down here. You hadn’t wanted to stay down here since the day he had dragged you kicking and screaming into the chair you were still sitting in without so much as a muscle twitch a few months prior, but he hadn’t offered you the chance in such a soft voice before. The times before he had asked if you wanted to leave it had been mean, taunting your own cries back to you. But now there was no hint of sick pleasure or lying in his voice.

“Good, good,” He says, finally taking the rest of the tape off of your ankles, undoing the leather straps and looking at the raw skin and thick scarring that had begun to warp your flesh like his own. He sounded almost relieved you didn’t want to stay down here, but that couldn’t be right. You were tired and hungry, hearing things in his voice to calm your nerves of having him near. “Gonna clean ‘ya up and feed ya, let you sleep in a bed.”

You finally open your eyes, blinking away the fuzz at the edges of your vision to make a point to look over at the dingy mattress thrown in the corner of the room. Bo notices and looks over his shoulder at it, turning back to your ankles with the tips of his ears tinged pink. “A real bed.” He corrects and you don’t bother fighting back your grin like you normally did around him and his shitty jokes. “With a headboard and sheets and shit. Gotta treat my girl right, you know?”

“Your girl?”

“Yeah.” He had begun to work on taking the tape on your wrists off at this point and at your question he pulls harder, ripping the tape - and a layer of skin - off in one fell swoop. You let out a pained groan, wrists pulling at your restraints without meaning too, and your eyes snap to his blue ones. His eyes are narrowed in an accusatory way that sends a shiver down your spine. “Ain’t you mine?”

“Yes, Bo.”

“So then you’re my girl. If you were just some random bitch I’d’ve left you to rot in this fuckin’ chair like the rest of ‘em. You want that?” You shake your head quickly, stuttering out an apology to him and that easy smile is back on his face just as quick. “Good girl, that’s better.” You stay silent, watching him as he carefully removes the other duct tape on your left hand, lips pressed together to keep back your winces of pain. When the leather straps are removed he looks over your wrists just as he had done to your ankles, tsking to himself.

Your wrists were the worst of it. Struggling when you’re strapped to a chair by a strange man was normal, and the first week that’s all you did, day and night until you’d pass out from exhaustion. You’d tug at your restraints, desperate to break free, hoping that somehow, someway, you’d snap them and be able to leave. But everyday when he’d come to visit you, he’d retighten them, add another layer of duct tape, even once held his own knife out over your wrists and told you the only way out was to saw off your fucking hand, that he’d wait and watch you do it.

After that, you only struggled when he was gone, ignoring the way the leather rubbed at your skin until you swore they hit muscle. He had put out a camera to watch you while he was away after he came in after being gone for two days straight and had seen the puddle of blood underneath you. He had to bring you to Vincent for him to stitch you up. That was the two weeks he had you strapped to the bed in the house, just like his mother, drugged to high heavens to keep you from moving around too much.

When he put you back in the chair later on, you hadn’t even begged him not to. You knew there was nothing you could do to leave. He’d have to kill you himself and with how gently he had positioned you back in the chair, you knew it wouldn’t be happening anytime soon.

“Not too bad.” He finally says, eyes flicking to yours. You nod; you believe him. “I’ll clean ‘em and wrap ‘em at the house. You like pizza?” You shrug and Bo grunts in annoyance, standing up. You weren’t trying to be difficult, you just couldn’t really remember if you did. The last few months had been filled with half-moldy bready and tap water in the same plastic cup and you weren’t sure what you’d do if you tasted anything with flavor at this point. “Well that’s what we’re eatin’.”

“Okay, that’s fine… Can I ask you something?” Bo hums and you chew at the side of your cheeks. He steps away from you slightly and stares down at you, waiting. “Why are you taking care of me?”

He doesn’t say anything for a second, just blinks down at you, before shrugging, turning away from you. “Just want to. Why? You don’t think I’m bein’ honest or somethin, Y/N?”

“No, no, I know you’re being honest, it’s not that…”

“Then what is it?”

“I guess…I guess it’s just confusing. For my brain, I mean.” He doesn’t turn around, doesn’t say anything, and suddenly you feel the need to fill the silence, scooting up in your seat despite the ache in your body. “I just mean that it’s hard going from how it was in the beginning to now, not that it’s bad or that I’m angry.” Still silent. You stare at his back as he busies himself fixing up his tool cart and you swallow down the bile rising in your throat. “I’m really happy things are changing between us.”

He turns around at this, eyebrows stitched together. “What makes you think anything’s changin’?” He asks, stalking over to you slowly and you can’t help but slink back into the chair. “What, you think you’re my girlfriend or some shit?” He shakes his head and you watch as he runs his hand through his sweaty hair roughly, as if he were berating himself, not you. “Just cause you’re mine don’t mean I’m yours, you got that?”

“Yes. I’m sorry, Bo.” That’s all you say and he visibly softens, nodding once more before holding his hand out for you to take. You’re weak, both from exhaustion and lack of food, and you heavily lean on him as he slowly walks you out of the room and up the small flight of stairs to the garage. Bo’s arm was wrapped around your waist and he seemed to relish the close contact, taking the time every few steps to plant a soft kiss to your cheek.

Even though it was him, you still find yourself enjoying the affection.

You weren't sure you’d be able to make it up to the house, already winded beyond belief from just the short walk out of the basement. “Stay here, sweetheart.” Bo whispers into your ear, breath hot against your skin, and he helps you lean against the counter top before heading out of the shop. The sound of his truck starting has you sighing in relief; he was going to drive you. The banged up blue pickup idles in front of the shop and in comes Bo, ever the gentleman, helping you out to the car, buckling you in and closing the door.

“Thank you, Bo.” You say when he hops inside and he nods, hand resting on your thigh, thumb brushing up and down as he drives off towards the house. Your eyes close and you focus on the sound of the cars engine, of his hands on you in such a gentle way, of the knowledge you were safe right now even with the person who had made you feel unsafe in the first place. The car rolls to a stop in front of the house and you open your eyes as Bo gets out, coming around to your side and opening your door.

His arm is around your waist again as you step out of the car and he brings you up the porch and into the house, not letting you stop moving until he’s placing you down onto the couch. “Stay there.” Bo says before disappearing down the hall and a small part of you, the little sliver left over from before Ambrose, wonders how long it would take you to run off, if you’d have the ability to, if he’d kill you when he caught you or if he would strap you to the chair again.

You don’t have the time to even daydream of the idea before he’s back, sitting down in front of you with a chair and hauling your feet up onto his lap for him to clean. “Shit,” You hiss as he wipes the cuts down with an alcohol wipe, trying your best not to flinch, though your hand digs into the worn leather of the couch underneath you.

“Good girl, there you go,” Bo praises, slathering on some ointment before wrapping it with gauze, and you lean your head back on the chair, trying to ignore the stirring deep in your stomach at his praise. You were used to the other Bo, the one that talked to you like you were nothing, who made sure to beat your spirit down and smash it into the concrete for good measure all while touching you, not the one who cooed at you like a child getting their skinned knee checked over. “Now your wrists.”

He carefully places your feet back down onto the ground and takes your hands in his own, kissing your knuckles. “Oh!” You aren’t able to hide the shocked noise you make at the gesture and Bo grins at you, repeating the action on the other hand. “Th-thanks,” You murmur when he finishes cleaning your wrists. His own wrists were visible to you in his shirt and he catches you staring at them.

“They stop hurting after a while,” He says quietly, beginning to wrap your wrist. “After the cuts and shit heal, they’ll itch. Sometimes they hurt if it’s too cold or too hot, or if your skins dry they’ll crack, but you just gotta keep ‘em moisturized or whatever and you’ll be fine.”

“How’d you get them?” Bo pauses mid wrap of your second wrist when you ask and you wonder for a split second if he’s going to hurt you. But instead he takes a deep breath and continues to wrap your wrists.

“Don’t matter.” You decide to leave it. You had pushed when you had asked anyways and he had granted you a second chance; he didn’t do that often. “There. All done. Let me get you a slice or two, we’ll eat, and then it’s off to bed.”

You nod, watching as he stands and walks off into the kitchen. The rustling sounds almost lull you to sleep but then he’s back, handing you a plate with two pieces of pizza, and he’s flopping down beside you on the couch with his own. You chew silently, salivating at the taste, as he grabs a remote and turns on the old tv, flicking through the channels. “Wait!” You say and he pauses, glancing at you. “Go back! That’s my favorite movie.”

Bo listens, flicking back until you grin at the movie that was on. Silently the two of you eat, watching the movie, and you laughed a few times, leaning further into Bo. He hadn’t heard your laugh before and he’d be lying if he said it wasn’t music to his ears. Eventually your pizza is done, plate abandoned onto the coffee table, your head on Bo’s shoulder.

He smiles slightly at the feeling of you beside him, cheek squished on his shoulder, and he knows you’ve fallen asleep. The movie ends and his plate is placed beside your own and instead of waking you, taking you into his bedroom and laying beside you like he had planned, he simply allows himself to drift off on the couch, arm loosely slung around you. He would just have to have you stay in the house another night, then, to make good on his promise of a restful sleep in a real bed.

You were Bo’s, that much was certain, and whether he wanted to admit it or not, he was yours.

[ernmark]

There's something so very satisfying about finding just the right word. One that works on so many levels that it feels a little bit like writing poetry.

Take synonyms for "cut", for example.

"Carve" is rough and deep. It brings to mind jagged lines, repeated motions-- sawing into a pumpkin, taking apart a turkey, forcing stone into unnatural shape, whittling wood away a splinter at a time. There's also the long "ah" like a grunt of effort, the similar sound to "curve", the R like tearing paper.

And then there's "slice"-- quick, clean, sharp. With food it is efficient-- a pizza that can be eaten without so much as a plate, peaches and apples devoid of their core and the threat of juice spilling down the chin. The sound begins and ends with sibilance-- as if the word is an onomatopeia, the beginning and end of a blade being drawn in the space of a single syllable. The emphasis on that S sound-- like sword, like snake, like slide, like strike.

And the real beauty is that most of the time, you're not even thinking about any of that-- the word's connotations, the music of its sounds, the suggestion of words that are just similar enough-- often for the writer, as for the reader, all those things are subconscious, the connections made in the blink of an eye, felt even when they're invisible.

And you don't know why. All you know is that they feel right.

[juicinmyjams]

You know the brain rot is bad when ur on holidays and ur walking around a city and can’t even enjoy it because your brains is just like… spy au this… historical au that…

Anyways, steddie Spy AU where Steve used to be a big shot spy, like top status, until he got critically injured in the field or compromised or something and now he works as a handler for this unit of young, promising spies called The Party. Maybe Steve’s spy exploits are only known under his code name? And the kids only know him as their handler and think he’s cool but not that cool. He earned their respect by stepping infront of that douchebag Hargrove during a brutal training session. Some of them, like Dustin and Lucas are convinced he's this rumored spy, while Mike is like, this guy??? The only ones who really know are Robin, who works on decoding who Steve used to work with, and Argyle, whose in research, who put it together through some seriously far fetched points. Steve thinks he’s gonna black mail him, but all it really is is pizza hang outs under threat of exposure.

Enter Eddie, who is either a low level tech guy or ex-con or just not involved at all, who runs DND out of a local games shop where the kids go to play. Steve comes around all the time to pick them up and Eddie is just like this guy is so lame, but the kids try to convince him that Steve is cool with out like, blowing cover or breaking any laws, which is impossible.

Until Eddie gets framed for something he had no hand in, either being a mole or just wrong place wrong time or whatever, and has to go on the run. The Party freaks because they know he’s clean, of course he is, they background checked him to birth but no one will believe them. But they maybe got compromised in a leak or something, so their hands are tied.

And Argyle is there, he just looks at Steve and is like “it’s time, bro.”

So Steve basically gets thrust back into the field to go hunt down Eddie, save his ass, and clear his name. Featuring gratuitous hand to hand combat, a rusty as hell Steve, a scene where someone is convinced Steve is going to die if he goes but then he just whips out the old moves, V.E.C.N.A tech run by Mr. Creel, somehow a dance at a gala, a counter intelligence only known as Eleven, and an increasingly competent Eddie, who finally has a good reason to crush on Steve and actually makes a hell of a field agent with all of his 'previously acquired skills'.

Anyways ??? Thanks for reading if you made it this far, I don't know what this is :))))))) but its haunting me :)))))) help :)))

[freckled-words]

Animal Transformation

This took way too long, but that tends to happen when you don't have a really strong idea for the plot. I'm also super rusty, but I think I got my swing back towards the end.

Hope you enjoy the read, and let me know if you spot any spelling mistakes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Turns out even frost giants have allergies, and it has the funniest effects on a certain trickster’s shapeshifting control.

Or

Darcy watches as Loki loses control of his shapeshifting magic, and she just can't resist a furry face.

“Community service” was the polite term used to describe Loki’s return to Earth.

“Doing whatever the Hell we say” is the more accurate description, as coined by Director Fury during the initial meeting.

Thanks to a curse/spell from Odin, Loki’s magic and strength was moderated by whichever task Loki was assigned to at the time.

When he was sent out to clean up trash in Central Park (disguised and under Natasha’s supervision) he was as strong as an average citizen.

If he went out with the Avengers to deal with a threat, he was allowed just enough magic and strength as was needed to defend himself.

In-between his assignments, and back in the Tower, he was set to about mid-level Godly might (just in case a Hulk suddenly appeared or an accidental arrow went flying his way.) 

The combination of ‘cursed weakness’ and menial labor, unsurprisingly, lead to a consistently pissy Loki. The closest thing Darcy had seen to a smile on him was the trademark smirk, right before he said something snarky.

Even though Darcy hated Loki’s guts for all the death and destruction he’d brought to New York, she also couldn’t stop herself from adding him onto her ‘Take Care List.’ Much to most everyone’s surprise (Jane had long since accepted that Darcy couldn’t help herself.)

She didn’t go out of her way to kneel and curtsey around him or anything, but she did make sure he got a mug of tea or coffee when she was doing the rounds in the morning. As well as a decent portion of food like the other bottomless pits that had to be fed (with Thor back on Earth, the grocery bills knocked up another couple hundred.)

Anytime Loki bothered to acknowledge Darcy, it was never in a polite fashion, and Darcy made sure to give just as good as she got.

“I see Midgardian cuisine is just as lacking as the people.”

“I see your manners didn’t make the trip from Asgard.”

“If you’re going to offer me food, at least make certain it's cooked.”

“Gee why didn’t I think of that? Oh right, dumpster fires don’t get a say in what they get.”

It became something of a routine for them to exchange barbs at least once or twice a day, and by Loki’s second month in residence, the other members in the Tower stopped bracing for Loki to lash out at Darcy.

Darcy just came to accept this as part of her new normal, and rolled with whatever weirdness that came along with it.

Right up until the weirdness took a detour into ‘omg wtf’ territory.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**********~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“...Avengers were seen fighting against what was described as a hoard of mutated bi-pedal flowers.”

Anytime the Avengers were called out for a mission Darcy kept the TV on in the background so she could get updates on what kind of mess she might be helping to clean up later. JARVIS was great for giving her updates on everyone’s physical well being, but he couldn’t necessarily predict how the team’s mood was going to be once they got home.(When there was a HYDRA mission, it was home-made pizza night. Apparently slamming around a massive ball of dough was very therapeutic for Bucky.)

The news being a bit slower than actual events, Darcy wasn’t surprised when JARVIS announced the team was returning in the next 10 minutes, along with a cryptic note of, “No major injuries to report, however Dr.Banner does advise no immediate physical contact.”

The last time JARVIS passed on this kind of note, the Avengers had gone up against a T-Rex made of enchanted septic waste (sometimes D&D nerds manage to get their hands on blackmarket magic, and it never ends well for anyone.)

Having (barely) survived Death-By-Foul-Poo-Stank, Darcy figured her nose could handle some overly strong floral perfume coming from the team’s gear. With Jane’s blessing, she was ready and waiting for them in the kitchen 20 minutes later. She’d brought out multiple boxes of kleenex, a handful of neti pots, and every brand of allergy medication in existence.

The first waft of thick flowery perfume drifted in with Steve, and nearly had her choking as her eyes watered, “Cripes Steve, how is this almost worse than the Fecal-Rex?!” Grabbing a handful of kleenex she blew her nose and dabbed at her eyes.

“Just be lucky you’re getting this, and not the full bouquet. There was every kind of flower there, and everyone but me, Bucky, and Bruce nearly dropped from an immediate allergic reaction.” Steve grabbed one of the neti pots and looked over the instruction card that came with it.

Darcy could just imagine Tony having to flip up his face visor to keep from coating it with his sneezes, while Clint cursed trying to zero in on his target with his eyes burning and watering.

“Wait so even Thor -”

What had to be the loudest sneeze in existence went off, followed by the lights flickering erratically throughout the room.

Thor entered a moment later blowing his nose into a wad of paper towels. The skin around his nose and eyes were bright red, evidence that he’d been rubbing at them for a while already.

“I didn’t think anything on Earth would be able to infect your whole Godly-Alien-Race?” She asked while pushing a box of lotioned kleenex towards him. 

Thor accepted the softer tissues and yanked out ten to hold in his hand, ready for the next sneeze, his voice was congested when he answered, “Nor did we. Banner believes their mutated state amplified their pollen’s properties.” He blew his nose again, and Darcy winced at the sound of his tortured sinuses.

“What about Loki? He’s not human or Asgardian, how is he faring?” Thor had explained his brother’s origins to everyone over drinks the night before Loki had been brought to the tower. A couple members of the team concluded that Loki’s destructive behavior must have been a kind of psychotic break, what with his whole life being flipped upside down and dipped in ice water.

Thor and Steve exchanged a look, one that nearly had them both coughing back a round of laughter.

Squinting Darcy pressed, “What happened to Frosty the Snow Giant? It was something good wasn’t it? Give me the deets ~” She crept closer to Thor, wiggling her fingers towards the box of kleenex as though she were going to snatch it back.

Thor grabbed the box and turned away, his smile spreading, “During the fray, Loki was met with the misfortune of having his entire head swallowed by one of the flowers.”

Steve’s smile curled towards ‘I enjoy trouble’ and added on, “Turns out getting a nose of the stuff is worse than just breathing it in.”

“So Loki is…?” She prompted already knowing the answer had to be good.

“Hiding in his room.” Natasha supplied, slipping around Thor to grab a box of lotioned kleenex herself. Unlike Steve and Thor, she’d gone straight to her room to shower and change into clean clothes.

Images of Loki with a purple rash all over his face, or icicle snot hanging out of his nose popped into Darcy’s mind. 

“Well if he’s feeling that rough, then I’m sure he’d appreciate some tissues and allergy meds. I’m just gonna…” Darcy grabbed the extra strength Benadryl, the last box of lotioned Kleenex and one of the Neti pots.

Her arms full she made a beeline for the elevator, and chose to ignore Steve’s question of, “Is she still safe?”

One quick elevator ride, and a hop-skip down the hallway had Darcy standing in front of Loki’s door. 

Since her hands were full, Darcy called out,“Loki, you in and decent? I’ve got a sniffles care package for you.”

“Go away, Serf.” 

Darcy rolled her eyes. ‘Serf’ was Loki’s default nickname when he couldn’t be bothered to think of a better insulting name. 

Even through the door she could hear the rapid fire sneezes that followed, as well as a muffled cough. 

“You can either let me in, and choose what state of dress you’re in, or JARVIS opens the door and I get to see just how much of a rash you have on your ass right now.” It was a shallow bluff at best, but she couldn’t just walk away without trying first.

The annoyed noise that traveled through the door sounded an awful lot like a growl, more so than the usual one she was able to get out of him when she pushed his buttons.

A second later the door opened.

Biting down on her lips to try and not smile too smugly Darcy marched in, “Good choice Frosty. You’ll thank me later when you’re not missing three layers of ski…nnnnyah?” 

With all the apartments in the tower having the same layout Darcy had gone straight for Loki’s small living room to place her bundle on the coffee table. 

She’d glimpsed Loki from the corner of her eye as she’d breezed into the room, and hadn’t spotted any bright red or pink on him. When she straightened and faced him properly, her brain and mouth had a disconnect. 

Loki still stood by the door, which he was still holding open, his battle gear was gone and his hair was damp from his shower. Like Thor the skin around his nose was chaffed from blowing, and his eyes slightly puffy, and for reasons that Darcy’s brain couldn’t fathom there were two black, white tipped fuzzy ears on his head and a twitching, fluffy, black, white tipped fox tail peeking out from his back. 

“Uhhhhhh….” 

“Make your jokes, then leave.” Even congested Loki’s tone was clear in his frustration.

Darcy held her hands up, “Hey there’s no shaming here, just confusion. Last time I checked, allergies didn’t turn people into furries.”

“I am not…” He broke into a fit of sneezes, “Whatever nonsense term that is. I’ve simply…” More sneezing, “Been struggling with my Seidr.”

Darcy hummed and nodded, not really understanding but didn’t think it smart to push him into a more in-depth explanation. His sneezes were so close together and harsh, she was getting worried about the amount of air he was getting into his lungs.

“Regardless, maybe some meds will help. I suggest taking like, 4 of the Benadryl. If it works it’ll knock you on your ass, but it’ll also stop the sneezing and congestion.” She was making her way towards the door as she spoke and stopped just by the opening, “Any chance I can-” She reached towards his twitching tail.

“Leave.”

“I’ll come check on ya in a couple hours!” As badly as Darcy wanted to touch the fluffy tail, she was not ready to die for the attempt.

~~~~ THREE HOURS LATER ~~~~~~~~

Darcy juggled the three tupperware containers of food in one arm while she did her best to knock with the other, “Loki you good? I’ve got food.”

She didn’t hear any approaching footsteps, and was startled when the door was opened.

Darcy barely got clear of the door before Loki shut it. Turning to face him, she just about dropped the food.

“I can’t tell if this means the Benadryl helped or not.” She offered as an opening for him to explain.

Loki still had the ears and tail, but now there was fur around the edges of his face, covering his hands and feet, his nails had blackened into claws, and there were definitely whiskers growing out of his cheeks.

Loki blinked down at her, his nose twitched (was he about to sneeze or was he testing her scent?) and she saw something shift in his mind as his pupils widened then shrank, he blinked and his usual scowl returned to his face, “How did you get in here?”

Darcy cocked her head to the side, “You let me in, just now, and almost hit me with the door. Did fur grow inside your brain too? Do I need to call Bruce?”

Her concern crossed from surface level to genuine as she watched Loki look down at his hands and wiggle his clawed fingers, his expression was hard to read with his eyebrows blending into his new furry hairline but she was certain he was looking confused himself. “Damn.” The word was uttered so quietly Darcy might have missed it if she weren’t standing so close.

“Loki, you’re seriously worrying me dude.” Again his ears twitched in her direction.

“I’m touched.” Darcy took the dry sarcasm as a good sign, “The only thing you should be concerned about is keeping your blithering trap shut. It was bad enough when it was just the ears and tail. If The Oaf hears of this, there will be no end to his ridicule.”

The more Loki said, the more Darcy relaxed. It was a sad reflection on her life when she was happy to have the mass murdering alien give her a hard time.

Opting to ignore his bluff (she’d long since realized that he could bark all he wanted, if he ever hurt her he’d immediately be kicked back to Asgard) Darcy went to his kitchen and put down the tupperware containers, “Don’t worry your fuzzy little head, I won’t tell anyone…” Faster than Loki could anticipate, she whipped up her phone and snapped a picture, “I will show everyone though, unless you let me touch your ears or tail.” She shoved her phone down the front of her shirt and between her boobs, uncaring of the extra cleavage she was flashing him in the process.

Loki’s upper lip drew back revealing some rather pointy canines, “Impudent wench.”

Darcy smirked as she rocked on her heels, “Oh come on Fuzz Butt, you can’t tell me no one’s ever wanted to see what your transformed fur feels like.”

“None have ever been so brazen or foolish to try.” Loki bit back. He was becoming so agitated his tail was swishing, and his ears had flattened on his head.

‘Dammit, now he’s just looking cute.’ 

He was also looking a little unsteady. With each swish of his tail, Loki wobbled the slightest bit, and his eyelids seemed to be struggling to stay open.

“How many of those Benadryl did you end up taking?” She hadn’t heard him sneeze once since she came in, and the skin around his nose and eyes had returned to normal.

“The four you recommended had no effect, so I added another five. The sneezing stopped just before…” Loki caught himself before he could finish outing himself. Shaking his head he staggered off towards the couch, “Leave Serf. I require rest.”

She really, really wanted to push her luck and remind him about the whole Fuzzy Picture threat, but it wasn’t as much fun if the other member of the party was spiraling towards a crash. Cause damn, NINE?! If one Benadryl was enough to turn a regular human into a zombie, then nine must be bordering on a coma.

“Fine, but don’t think this isn’t over. I’ll come back in an hour and make sure you’re still breathing.” 

She saw a feeble, black fuzzy hand lift up to acknowledge he’d heard her.

Darcy left but made sure to leave the door unlocked. Quietly she called out, “JARVIS keep an eye on his vitals and let Bruce or Thor know if his heart stops or something.”

“Of course Ms.Lewis…Shall I let you know when it’s been an hour?” 

Unsurprised that JARVIS had been listening in on the conversation in Loki’s room, Darcy gave a thumbs up to the nearest camera she could see, “That’d be great J.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 45 MINS LATER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ms.Lewis, I thought I should inform you that there has been a change in Prince Loki’s condition.” Darcy tried not to cringe too much from having JARVIS say this directly into her bluetooth headphones (a welcoming gift from Tony.)

Glancing over to where she could see Bruce working at his station she figured this wasn’t a life threatening change to Loki’s condition. Not many realized just how much intelligence Tony’s AI had, but Darcy was no fool. She grew up worshiping the internet, and treating ‘The Matrix’ and ‘The Terminator’ like prophecies. 

If JARVIS thought this was something only she needed to know about then she’d take it as the gift that it was.

A quick elevator ride later and she was back at his door.

She knocked lightly and let herself in, “Loki? JARVIS says you might need help.”

There came a slight whimper (or was that a whine?) from the living room.

This late in the afternoon the sunlight had moved away from Loki’s windows, and none of the lights had been turned on. Everything was cast in shadows and patches of darkness, making it hard to see anything.

“Loki?” 

Darcy hit the switch for the kitchen light so she didn’t accidentally blind/enrage the half-transformed frost giant.

Able to see Darcy watched as what she had initially thought to be a deep pocket of shadows uncurled from the bottom of the coffee table. 

A black fox the size of a St.Bernard stretched out like a cat as unfocused green eyes blinked in her direction.

“Oh my Gods.” 

She wanted to take all the pictures, but she also wanted to try touching him. When he was still humanoid the fur had looked silky, as a full fox it looked absolutely luxurious and Darcy just had to get her fingers into it.

She had never interacted with foxes before though, and didn’t know how unhinged Loki’s brain was going to be with all that Benadryl in his system.

Finished stretching he ventured a couple steps closer, his nose to the air to scent the new presence in his home. Some of Loki’s consciousness must have been working, cause the fox’ ears went down and it spun around to hop onto the couch.

‘I’ve just been brushed off by a fox.’ Loki could brush her off a million times and she wouldn’t bat an eye, but Fox-Loki showing her such little interest just felt like a bitch slap.

“Rude.” 

Going over to the couch she watched as Loki laid down with his head resting between his two front paws. His eyes closed and a rather un-fox like sigh came out through his nose. 

Darcy crouched down to eye level and told him, “You know you make a very pretty fox.” Other than his ear twitching Loki didn’t acknowledge her.

“May I please pet you, your Foxiness?” Murderous Asshole or not, Darcy wasn’t going to touch without consent. 

His eye cracked open, regarding her for a moment then closed and another long sigh was released. Darcy took it as one of resignation and beamed. Finally she could get this out of her system!

As gently as she could she placed her hand on his head; he didn’t move away or twist around to snap at her, confirming that he had given in. 

She stroked down along his spine, marveling at the feel of his thick, silky fur. Bringing her hand back to his head she lightly scratched around the base of his ears, the fur there was much softer and she had to bite her lip to keep from gushing out more praises to him. 

Her petting was kept strictly to his back and the top of his head, areas that most animals considered to be safe zones. As much as she wanted to touch his tail she didn’t know how sensitive it was and didn’t want to push it. 

Darcy cut herself off after about five minutes, plus her legs were screaming in protest from holding that crouched position so long. 

A woman of her word Darcy dug out her phone and deleted the picture of Loki the Were-Fox. Satisfied she whispered to Loki, “There now no one but me and JARVIS knows what a half fox, half Frost Giant looks like. I also won’t tell anyone that you totally lost control due to overdosing on allergy medicine. You’ll be back to your entitled asshole self by tomorrow morning.”

This got her a small indignant huff. 

Darcy let herself out and made sure the door locked behind her. 

It was only after the door’s lock had clicked that Loki released his animal shape. It took a bit slower than usual, but he wasn’t quite back in focus just yet. 

Back in his usual form he resettled on the couch. With not a single piece of clothing on his body, the material didn’t feel quite as comfortable as it had in his fox shape. 

The Midgardian medicine had thrown his control off balance, just not as much as he’d let Lewis believe. He could have reverted back to his proper state a half hour ago, and gone back to his bed for a proper rest. 

Instead he couldn’t resist seeing what the woman would do when faced with the full transformation. He’d been somewhat hoping she would startle or scream and flee, calling for Thor’s protection. Instead she’d looked at him like he was the most beautiful animal in existence. It was a delicious boost to his ego.

Loki chuckled to himself, picturing her face when she might learn that her ‘petting’ along his fur had translated to the feeling of a lover’s touch on his skin. 

There would be sputtering, possibly some shrieking and all the threats and profanities. 

The image was so entertaining he drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face. 

[nightshift-newbie-james]

An older boy entered the very run down pizza plex. He looked around hopping down to the floor a hop that would have damaged someone.

//@gregory-rp

[M.X.E.S. notices the boy and appears nearby to assess his threat level. His primary directive tells him to make sure that the guest is safe, and so he approaches.]

[A text box appears nearby, a product of the AR World bleeding over.]

[ARE YOU WELL, GUEST PROFILE - UNKNOWN?]

[ryuichirou]

Replies

A lot of NeigeVil today! Well we always get Neige-related asks when we post him; in-universe and in real life, Neige stans never miss 💪😔💕 I’m glad you enjoyed the sketch!

There are always some Azul and Jamil and some other stuff.

Anonymous asked:

Vils face simultaneously says ‘oh sweet seven he found me.’ And ‘seven above kill me now.’ And I’m living for it

Every time Neige is being friendly with him, Vil has to physically force himself to count to 10… But when Neige’s appearance is this sudden, he immediately gets both of these thoughts stuck in his head lol

Thank you so much!

blackbutlerfandomnerddomain asked:

Oh fan will go NUTS seeing Neige glomp Vim

Absolutely, magicam will crash because of everyone’s reactions lol

They’ll change their profile pics to this moment.

They’ll be spamming this clip everywhere for weeks.

They’ll write threads overanalyzing every little gesture that occurred during this 2 second long event.

It’s going to be bad lol

Anonymous asked:

NEIGEVIL I LOVE NEIGEVIL ♥️♥️♥️

Same same!! Thank you <3

Anonymous asked:

Ngl that art of Neige hugging Vil from.behind gives me some kind of unintentional (?) stalker Neige vibe and I'm here for it like it seems like he came out of nowhere and ambushed Vil

Maybe I just like the idea of Neige doing a bunch of questionable and problematic things because it's such a contrast

Yeah, I get it! With Neige, everything is innocent at first glance; on this particular sketch he just saw Vil at some event (maybe red carpet?) and got excited because he haven’t seen him for some time. But the moment when Neige notices Vil, he stops thinking about anything else, rushes through the crowd of people who are clearly busy doing their own celebrity thing, and just jumps on him, startling him and all. It’s serious tunnel vision lol And of course once he sees him, he won’t be able to look at anyone else for the entire event. Can’t blame him though…

Still, it’s kind of a mild thing. Neige deserves to do more suspicious and questionable things lol

hipsterteller asked:

okay...either the pineapple pizza ((its like stoner food for me)) made me hallucinate cause...why does Neige look like Pee-wee herman?

The resemblance is accidental – I don’t even know the guy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anonymous asked:

Has Azul everthought of kidnapping Jamil before? The tweels will likely be interested

Oh the tweels would cooperate happily, this sounds like a fun plan, especially if Azul has something interesting in mind for Jamil~ “Gentlemen, we’re going to kidnap Jamil-san”… quite intriguing, isn’t it??

In all seriousness, I don’t think Azul ever thought about it in details, but I also don’t think it’s out of the question for him. If he has a good reason (or just wants it very badly and comes up with an excuse), he definitely won’t hesitate. The idea of Jamil being trapped and unable to run away from his advances sounds wonderful, especially if Azul gives Jamil an ultimatum, i.e. if you cooperate with us, we’ll let you go. That way he could savour Jamil (wink wink) while he haggles with his own pride and considers Azul’s offer.

It won’t go as smoothly as Azul expects though lol

Anonymous asked:

How about Azul being jealous of Jamil being with Ruggie? Like I am sure at least he can take his opponent down easily since he isn't a higher class.

I think Azul doesn’t even realise that Ruggie could be a rival to him and doesn’t really consider him a threat, at least at the very beginning. But if they are put in a situation in which Jamil constantly chooses to partner with Ruggie, it’s definitely going to offend Azul. He knows that Ruggie has his strengths and a decent level of knowledge, since he helped out with the Lounge a couple of times, but he still thinks that he is better than him.

He won’t just jump straight to disposing of Ruggie though; he’ll try to win Jamil over at first. You know, trying to make Jamil see just how much better of a match they are compared to Jamil and Ruggie. But it’s Azul we’re talking about, and he can get quite petty lol

Anonymous asked:

Seeing this post (https://www.tumblr.com/ryuichirou/735069892134551552/just-be-grateful-he-doesnt-have-a-lower-half)

Made me think of a twst x monster high au with malleus x Rochelle Goyle (in gen 1 she has a boyfriend  but  for the sake of the au she doen't)

Don’t know anything about Monster High, but yeah I see, she is a gargoyle girl…

Well, someone might write a fic about it lol

Not us though, since we’re not really into Monster High or het ships.

[bios-hzrd]

Tension, Flow, and Mastery in Action Games

Anyway here's my massive rant on game design, guest starring Mario, Kirbo, Ms. Celeste, Mr. Hollow Knight, John Miami, White (Neon Walter), err shove all night, and WELLTARO FROM HIT GAME DOWNWELL!!!

And Pizza Tower.

>------------------------------------<

I think that tension is the majority of what makes action based gameplay fun. Tension is derived from the need to make a move, particularly in deciding which one. Action games create higher levels of tension by giving the player limited time to make a decision, making the correct move uncertain, and judging how well they performed their actions. To examine further, I’m going to break down gameplay into four primary states. I’ll call them safe, hold, anticipation and window. Or shaw. That's a fun word, apparently it's synonymous with thicket.

Safe is when the player is completely safe, no tension. They could put their controller down and nothing would happen. When you’re on safe ground in a platformer, or behind cover in a shooter.

Hold is the equivalent of treading water, you’re holding a position, but you can’t stay there forever. The game generally requires that you do some simple action, like holding the climb button to cling to a wall in Celeste, or pogoing in Hollow Knight. When games try to pull extended tense sections, they often use this as the baseline to give the player time to think and recuperate, while ensuring that they know they aren’t out of the woods yet. Further this state often provides some kind of threat if they don’t get a move on. In Celeste clinging to walls drains an invisible stamina bar, and when you run out you’ll fall off to your death. In Hollow Knight you can technically pogo off a sawblade forever, but there's the unspoken threat of you messing up the pogo, screwing up the repeated simple action,  and falling to your death, losing progress, so you better get to the next part before that happens.

The anticipation is defined by the player moving towards their next action. They can’t act yet, but sometimes the player is expected to line themselves up in preparation for when the anticipation state ends, which usually leads to the player finally having their window of opportunity to act, the time frame where they can actually perform their next action. Longer windows make pulling off the action easier.

For example a basic anticipation to window transition would be running up and jumping just before a ledge in Mario. If you jump too early you’ll fall into a pit, too late and the same will happen. If you pull it off during the window you’ll get across.

However anticipation does not always lead into window, for example when you’re descending from a jump onto a goomba, you use the anticipation to line yourself up, but there's no window. Once you land on him you’re set back to safe.

There’s many different ways action games use this kind of thing. It's fairly common for games that implement enemies as the primary hazard, like Kirby or Mario, to have the player turn the environment into safe zones as they go through. The player has to put themselves in anticipation and window as they say, dash towards an enemy to take them out, however they can do so whenever they please, because they’ve already cleared out all of the enemies behind them, and almost everything behind them is a safe zone.

On the other hand, some games space out their safe zones, giving the game most of the control over the pace. Thus the game can keep the pace cranked high to give the player less time to make decisions and make the gameplay more intense. Celeste and Downwell hold the implicit threat of falling to one's death over the player's head, having the player travel extended sections without being able to land on solid ground, increasing the tension by spacing out safe zones. Celeste allows the player to cling to walls for a decent bit of time, encouraging them to carefully plot out their actions but make a move before it's too late. In quite stark contrast Downwell gives gives the player a limited air stall ability, that can be used to hold them in place, allowing them to put themselves in hold temporarily, but the mechanic has many tertiary aspects in play to encourage the player to rely on it as little as possible, creating an intense adrenaline rush where you’re falling at max speed, pulsing the brake only as much as you need to steer.

Now, there's an interesting way this dynamic is changed when the player is forced to redo parts of a level. Maybe they got sent back to checkpoint, maybe they’re beating it again to satisfy a ranking system. Point is, when a player is made to repeat a level or part of a level they already beat, the way they approach it is different. I call it the flow to mastery transition.

The initial run is a pure flow run, what's important is that the player is unfamiliar with the path ahead of them, and they have to adapt on the fly. Their movement requires more care and planning. They make greater usage of the levels stills and holds to take everything in, and if they do not have control over the pace, then the tension spikes significantly such as in games like Downwell and Pizza Tower, as they have to use the few seconds the anticipation gives them to figure out their next move. The player's main focus is to avoid extrinsic flow breaks, which are factors outside of the core gameplay loop that serve as punishments for failure such as getting knocked back when you get hit and dying when that happens too many times, getting sent back to checkpoint, or the beginning of the level if you’re out of lives. The player needs to find a way through without dying.

The flow run begins a gradual transition to mastery the moment the player has to repeat an area, whenever they are sent back to checkpoint or the beginning of the level. The mastery is defined by the player using their preexisting knowledge of the level layout to try and find the most efficient route back to the new stuff. The player uses safe and hold zones much less, as they need to slow down less to take the level in, Safe and hold are treated as anticipation and window zones by the player, as they are much more likely to act as soon as the game lets them. Gameplay mainly centers around finding the perfect series of inputs to get through the set stage. The path to elucidating that series revolves around discovering the best route and picking out all of the little inefficiencies in gameplay.

The discovery is emphasized most when the player is uncertain of what the “correct” path, or the most efficient way through is meant to be. My mind flicks immediately to nonlinearity, more mazelike areas with many options, and we arrive at our first mastery case study, Hotline Miami. This game falls into the Celeste camp of 1 HP, checkpoints every five feet, trial and error your way through levels. As such the game puts all of its eggs into the mastery basket. The game is made up of a bunch of interconnected rooms, and you can hit up any adjacent one. Your goal is to hit up every room and kill everyone in it. Every death comes with the opportunity to either iterate on ones last strategy, or try a brand new one. If the player feels like they’ve hit a brick wall with their current strategy, they can choose to switch up the order in which they enter the rooms, and see if they can find a better one.

In addition to allowing the player to make their approach in any order they’d like, the game implements plenty of other tricks to increase the complexity and potential tension through new and uncertain choices of mastery development.

Guards are constantly on patrol, and if they stand beside a window or door you can get an immediate takedown. Should you wait for things to line up, barge in, or head for a different room. The important part is that the player has options, and that they are never forced to wait.

Further, the game implements what I’ll refer to as “soft blocks.” A hard block would be a wall, you can’t get through that. A soft block would be a long corridor with a guy wielding a shotgun at the end. You can’t get through there, with your fists at the least. You could go around and come in from behind, or if you grab a gun from another room you can blast him from the front.

The point is the player is provided with a number of complex choices they need to make, and a number of factors that make the optimal choice uncertain. They have many options, and all of them at least seem equally valuable.

The other interesting approach I’ve noted would be most prominent in Neon White. The game is a speedrun 3D platformer where you pick up guns represented by cards strewn across the level to shoot at stationary demons scattered everywhere, and once every demon is dead, get to the goal. Each level is designed for the player to initially blast through, then replay repeatedly to get a better time. Your first run will likely take you along the critical path. You see, the game takes place in a giant void, with a bunch of floating platforms everywhere. The player has many more options than just the ones that get them to the goal; they can get to any platform in jumping range, and many areas fill themselves with plenty of decorative platforms that seemingly only exist to make the place look nice. The critical path is communicated by the implied rules. The most famous example everyone likes to bring up is coins in Mario. They don’t do much, but the developer placed them in such a way that if you always follow them you should get to the end. Neon white uses demons and weapon cards in a similar fashion, where you’ll get to the goal with all demons defeated if you just follow.

Now, the reason this game is notable is because the critical path is rarely the fastest one. The game also throws in shortcuts. Shortcuts come from you defying the pointers outlining the critical path, and using the full extent of all options provided. You do not have to get every weapon, the only requirements for level completion are that you stand on the goal with all demons defeated. Further you do not have to get close to demons to defeat them, your guns are ranged weapons. The game just drills that mindset into you by placing cards and demons on the critical path. The player won’t have to go out of their way for extra weapons when they’re efficient with their ammo, and can skip parts of the critical path as long as their new route has line of sight with the demons.

The pointers give the level an immediate initial route, but with repeated attempts the player will gain greater understanding of all the options they have been given as their focus changes from simply getting through to getting through faster, and they will be able to discover the hidden shortcuts that rely on unused options placed throughout the level that the pointers constructing the critical path trained them to ignore.

In other words, to enhance the discovery of the mastery loop, you can either make your path an open maze, or a line with extra steps. As for the journey to perfection, to the perfect execution of inputs, there’s only one technique I know of to make that more interesting. I refer to it as intrinsic flow breaks.

Intrinsic flow breaks tend to be a short interruption worked into the core gameplay loop. They are less a failure on the players part as they are a measure of skill expression. While they have unique utility in individual games, they are generally used as something to minimize for speed incentivized players, but in both of these examples it comes packed with the bonus utility of making the game easier on your first try. They don’t necessarily have to stop the player, the main point is just that the player takes a small cut in speed.

Kirby makes for a pretty great example. In theory his ability to float over any obstacle should trivialize the majority of the game, however in practice the reduced speed from the float disincentivizes players from using it unless they absolutely need it. A metric defined by player skill where less confident players get an easy out of anything they can’t handle, while experienced ones use it as little as they can get away with so they can make good pace.

Pizza Tower shows what happens when you take a similar idea but crank the speed up to eleven. Peppino controls like a car with no brakes. Until you crash into a wall, you only ever go faster, so to help newer players get used to the games intense pace, intrinsic flow breaks are introduced. Moves where the player changes direction such as the turn around drift and super jump have Peppino pause for a moment before shiting direction, and allow newer players a second to get their bearings and break down the situation.

Pizza Tower likes to bake the intrinsic flow break into its catch all move for newer players, then add in more specific options that avoid the intrinsic flow break. For example you can avoid the pause during the super jump and turn around by choosing to climb walls instead of super jumping, or jumping off of them to turn around.

The way Pizza tower uses intrinsic flow breaks is especially notable because the methods to avoid them are context sensitive, they need a wall to pull off. They are not replacements, they are opportunities open to veteran players if they can spot them. They don’t change the gameplay, they build it up.

Other examples include having to punch enemies vs maintaining a toss combo in Gravity Circuit, bashing into enemies vs spinning through them in Anton Blast, whatever Plague of Shadows is doing. Made a whole video on that one.

Now, extrinsic flow breaks are what tie the flow and mastery together, so we’ll need to do a closer examination into extrinsic flow breaks in order to understand how flow and mastery play off each other. Just as a refresher, extrinsic flow breaks are the game's explicit failure conditions, such as getting hit and dying. They are what the player is primarily focused on doing during the flow run. Extrinsic flow breaks can be understood as two elements. The buffer, and the threat. The buffer is a degree of leniency the game extends to the player, allowing them to be inconsistent and still pass through. Most commonly expressed through health bars, their length is defined by the level of error and inconsistency the game is expecting and willing to let the player get away with. By allowing the player to slip up without losing progress, the constant introduction of unforeseen obstacles and by extension the flow run itself, is maintained. In addition, typically a degree of tension is added as their buffer shortens and they reach closer to the threat, which is of course what the game threatens to do if the player burns through their buffer. Usually sending the player back to checkpoint, it exists to demand a certain level of performance from the player. If the player's performance doesn’t match the difficulty curve, they’re made to repeat it until it does. The intention being that the increased skill from the practice will get them there, which develops mastery.

Now the following examples are just individual case studies. A small showing of games that use certain ratios of buffer to threat to accomplish a certain goal. They are in no way representative of the only thing that can be done with that arrangement.

Low health demands precision. In Mario games you have somewhat infrequent checkpoints, but also not terribly many hazards. The player has to be somewhat careful with their moves, but they aren’t expected to die terribly often, so the game doesn’t place checkpoints very often, as if the player does die they were likely either playing too risky, or had a simple mistake. Either way the player is unlikely to grind the level out, and the game focuses on easygoing flow. On the other hand Celeste only lets you get hit once and places spikes everywhere. As such it has to place a checkpoint down every couple of feet to ensure that the player keeps making progress. If the checkpoints were too far apart, then the player would surely master the first portion of the stage completely long before they even got close to the new stuff. The fun comes from the growth, but eventually the player is just grinding for a lucky run where they don’t screw anything up. The game ought to move the player along before that. Celeste can be a bit anxiety inducing at first, but when you repeat and practice the feeling transforms into a much more easygoing zen as the runs mesh together.

High health and somewhat frequent checkpoints brings to mind games like Shovel Knight and Hollow Knight, which have more focus on the player engaging the enemies with their combat mechanics as they traverse the world, and getting hit is a fairly expected part of the formula. Combat is a bit less precise compared to just platforming. Platforming tends to be about executing the correct path, while combat is more about avoiding and outputting damage. Platforming has very well defined anticipation and windows, whereas combat forces the player to constantly determine when it is safe to act through careful consideration of their current health, the enemies position relative to their own, lingering hazards, the opponents patterns, etc. The games have to place a fair number of checkpoints to catch the player if they fall in combat.

I can’t think of what high health infrequent checkpoints might represent from a general standpoint. Probably because the player would likely use the extra health to play riskier then die pretty far in and lose a bunch of progress, and that sounds very annoying.

The main issue I have with how extrinsic flow breaks are implemented with the traditional health and checkpoints system is that it’s rare that I find a game that can make both its initial flow and mastery development fun. Games that focus on flow often treat mastery as an obligation for players that can’t keep up. Without the considerations to extend mastery development, the player gets to perfection way too fast, and the mastery stops being fun. The mastery gets in the way of the flow.

On the other hand, games that put the development of mastery at the forefront lose the appeal of the flow by constantly interrupting the stream of new content with mastery development. I’d like a minute to take in all of the new stuff but the game keeps throwing me back to the start.

In search of a game that can pull off both, we come back to Kirby and Pizza Tower, as they both try to have their cake and eat it too. They try to make their flow accessible and easy to maintain and their mastery challenging with strong depth.

They put a lot of slack on the line, Kirby’s float will theoretically let you cheese anything as the player can just fly over any obstacle, ignoring the ability system will introduce a much simpler combat loop for boss fights, and the player is given a generous health bar. Peppino from Pizza Tower has infinite health, and can’t die until the escape sequence in every level, which does put the player on an explicit time limit, but gives them enough time to escape twice over. However, both of these games implement elements to incentivize experienced players to play faster, and tighten the restrictions for goals beyond completing the game.

Kirby goes the simple route and records the player's time. Oftentimes the game will implement side modes to show the player how fun it is to go fast. There will be obstacle courses and boss rushes that will give you medals if you can finish them under a certain time. The game knows it's more fun when you go fast, and tries to make sure the player gets that.

Pizza Tower has a more complex version achieved through its level rankings. In order to get the game's best rank, P, you need to meet a few requirements. You need to get a certain number of points by collecting objects throughout the level, complete all 3 secret rooms, grab the hidden treasure, complete a lap 2, and maintain a singular uninterrupted combo from the first room to the exit door. Your combo starts when you kill an enemy. It gives you seven seconds, and resets if you kill another. That means that you have to be constantly running as fast as you can to get to the next target before your combo runs out. On top of that, needing to do a lap 2 puts the excess time the game gives to newcomers to good use, significantly tightening the clock.

The most subtle mechanic however is likely the points dynamic. Points are received through killing enemies and collecting minor collectibles scattered through the level like coins in a Mario game. Smaller amounts are scattered in patterns to guide the player, but many more are hidden in big stashes throughout the level.

Because the smaller coin-like collectibles are intended to guide the player along the critical path, the player is going to miss plenty of them as they take shortcuts. This means that they’re already running tight on points, and if they need more they’ll need to find the stashes that can be collected most efficiently to make up for those lost points. 

Further, the player can lose points through taking damage, and if they do they will likely have to get some of the less easy point caches placed later in the level, that may require the player perform a stylish trick or the like. The tension and challenge is enhanced by the fact that they haven’t been practicing that specific trick as they repeatedly attempt the level, which brings it much closer to the flow than mastery as the player needs to adapt to their slip up.

These games give the player a lenient formula, but ratchet up the challenge by having the gameplay radically change when you try to appease conditions that only veteran players will care about. Level rankings are about giving the game a broader range of appeal, as the player will either care, and go for the best one, or they won’t and waltz on through content with what they got. Games can keep their flow separate from their mastery development by splitting them into two separate experiences. This not only maintains the sanctity of the flow run, but makes the mastery development optional for those who strongly resonated with the game.

One method to do this that I didn't mention would be the pseudo New Game Plus, where you replay the whole game, same levels, but with a new character designed to speed through them. I know of three examples, Meta Knight from Kirby Super Star Ultra, Plague Knight from Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, and The Noise from Pizza Tower.

To put it succinctly, Shovel Knight can jump 4.5 tiles horizontally and vertically; Plague Knight can fly. In fact all three of the mentioned characters are able to fly, in a platformer not designed around that. These games take characters with certain limits, design levels around those limits, then once you beat the game, let you replay those same levels as a character without those limits. This naturally increases the appeal of both the initial flow run and mastery development. The flow run is renewed as while you are somewhat familiar with the level layout, it’s been a while since you beat the first level, and further you don’t know how the new character navigates the first level. The mastery development is renewed because the level geometry has massively increased shortcut potential now that certain restrictions have been removed.

The new characters' much more expansive and freeing movement capabilities remove the emphasis of how the level wants you to navigate it, and places the emphasis on what your character can do.

[soniccrazygal]

Hello again. I'm just wondering how your rebiult au and my Impressioned!AU [which is the name of the AU yours inspired] would interact if they ever met so here's some info on my Impressioned!AU

William: He was a good father and husband up until his wife's death. Then he became more twisted. He first started killing to give his two youngest playmates in the afterlife but then discovered renment and it went further downhill from there. He really went from a kind and [mostly] patient man to a complete monster.

Mrs. Afton: The first he braught back and a former actress. While she still genuinely loves William, she's mortafied by his crimes but knows better then to let him see that. She acts how he wants/expects her to for her own safty and knows the man she married is gone forever.

Michael: The second one William braught back. His anamatronic body was made to resemble how he was when he was thirteen and has a function that prevents him from having memories William doesn't approve of so he actually 'behaves' except for the times he subconsciously goes aginst William without even realizing it so William has him monatered at all times. [He may forget but he still remembers lol and his 'monaters' are the 'friends' William gave him]

Chris [Cc]: The third braught back. He's forever the age he died [9] and is obedient to William out of fear. Since William doesn't see him as a threat at all, he has more freedom then Mike and even their mother.

Elizabeth: She has permission to freely roam over the whole Pizza Plex as not only is she no threat in William's eyes, she's the most obedient and doesn't question him. She's the only one happy about this situation [besides William] and doesn't know about any of William's crimes.

Gregory: Killed then forced into a anamatronic that forces him to obey, he's the most bothered by the whole thing. He's forved to be Chris' playmate and can only go where Chris is aloud to go. His only comfort is Mrs. Afton but Chris does try.

Cassie: The only alive one. She was saved be Elizabeth suddenly appering to ask William for something. And since his 'princess' wanted the child as her playmate the moment she saw her, William gave her what she wanted. Cassie is now forcably bouned to Elizabeth via a shock collar and she has no choice but to play with Elizabeth [the callar will activate if she's too far from Elizabeth and if she refuses to play with Elizabeth]

Charlie is in the AU too and she's really in the same position as Gregory and Cassie. She's also made to play with Chris and Elizabeth. [Also Elizabeth is 7 as she died at 7. Same with Charlie. And Gregory and Cassie are both 10].

Hope you like my AU ^^ [and sorry for the length]

All and all it probably wouldn’t go very well if they were ever to meet up. XD

Rebuilt William and his counterpart would get along the best, as they both had the same goal that ended up accomplishing. Rebuilt William would be impressed that the other already has his wife back and would suggest the shocking system if Impressioned William was looking for more ways to curb Michael’s behavior.

Rebuilt Michael would be very disturbed by his counterpart because on some levels he’s afraid that Rebuilt William will end up resorting to similar tactics if he got tired of trying to break him.

Rebuilt Elizabeth mostly feels indifferent towards her counterpart and maybe even a little pity as Impressioned Elizabeth is clearly still blinded by how ‘great’ their father is and doesn’t see what the monster is doing to their brothers.

Rebuilt Gregory is very conflicted on how to feel about his counterpart. On one hand Impressioned Gregory’s situation still sucks and he’s basically a slave, but on the other hand Impressioned Gregory is more valued than Rebuilt Gregory. Impressioned Gregory was killed with the purpose of becoming Chris’s friend whereas Rebuilt Gregory’s life was just a means to an end is very much hated by William and Mike is often punished just because Gregory continues to exist.

Evan mostly just feels pity for his counterpart. He’s still just a terrified kid in a bad situation whereas Evan has outgrown most of his fear over his years of being in Golden Freddy.

All the Rebuilt Afton siblings are extremely disturbed and disappointed at how their counterpart mother acts as there’s a part of them that hopes that their own mother would protect them rather than fall in line with William.

[unexpectedbrickattack]

sending this ask as an excuse for you to go hogwild with peppino/pizza tower chatter bc i like to read it lol

Using this as an opportunity to distract from comms bc im tired of looking at this screen 😭

I think despite the hell Peppino went through, there are some levels/places that he actually enjoyed. Or at the very least, wouldnt mind visiting again. Off the top of my head, i am thinking of the saloon and the beach levels, but also the mini golf area 🥺

While i was playing the game (completely blind), I just assumed the tower was comparable to a real life train hub area; portals just led to different areas and districts. As in, these would be places you could visit outside of the tower if u had the means to take urself there. Its why despite the collapse, in the pepperman comic i did, he still offers to take Peppino to his villa. It still exists, its just that the shortcut the tower provided is gone. (This is also why Peppino and Gustavo can still do deliveries in the forest)

So like, now that the threat of losing his restaurant is gone, hes like. Some of those places looked Okay i guess 😒……. And Gustavo is like (prodding) ‘which places caught ur eye, then?’

Without the towers (pizzaheads) influence spawning in monsters to fight, the mini golf course is very fun. He gets to run Very Fast (already the best thing in the world) for very long periods of time, and smash into things to score goals. And if he wants to be Normal about it, he can just. Play golf the normal way lol (golf is also just a very calm sport to watch. He watches that shit all the time when hes home, and then passes out in his chair without realizing it)

The saloon is always nice to visit. It did blip on his radar as a place to try out, but he wasnt really incentivized to do so until vigilante started inviting him out. He doesnt go out often, but it is nice to have a little friend circle again :)

And the beach is like. Its a beach! Its weird for him; he probably didnt have any time or money to waste on shit like ‘visiting the beach’ before, so he feels out of place w all these people running around and having fun. He just likes to lay down and be in the sun :) He stays late into the evening, and drives back home in his shitty car 🧡 Everyone knows when he does his beach visit bc he tans so easily 😭

[ilovejoll]

Vanny and her partner Teddy.

some info ab them and their behavior since I like lore dumping.

VANNY is usually the one who lures kids, TEDDY disposes of them.

VANNY: At some point, the three main protagonists (Greg, Mitsuki, and Riley) have to split up, which splits SB into 10 chapters or so. Mitsuki is a NPC so she usually stays with Greg (as a support/healer character) but in some chapters she isn’t present. (Cuz Greg and her have to split in some points) In Gregory’s chapters, he deals with Vanny the most. She’s fast, and stealthy, and Gregory starts to hyperventilate and his heart beat picks up when she’s near instead of that eye killing glitch effect that happens in game. Gregory physically CANNOT hide from Vanny, cuz she can see through walls and objects. So she’ll just beeline towards Gregory if she sees him hiding behind a pot, box, in a scroller ETC, however, you are safe within Freddy, but you won’t be able to abuse the mechanic lol you’re also semi safe if you stay FARR away from her, she’ll sense you if you’re too close, wait for her to turn a corner, she has paths. At times, Freddy will get hacked by Vanny’s influence, so he’ll become a threat temporarily until he’s far enough from Vannys signal to control himself. Vanny is sweet, but quick to anger (especially from Gregory cuz he’s a little shit /pos) and she becomes more aggressive over time. She’ll eventually start playing games while trying to catch Greg. Think of it like that one yandere girl from Saiko No Sutoka.

TEDDY: At some point, Riley has to split up from Gregory and Mitsuki. Teddy reveals herself later on in his chapter. It’s much much easier to stay hidden from her, as they cannot see through walls like Vanny can. So Riley is able to avoid her by hiding in/behind boxes and stuff. She is much faster than Vanny however, and Riley is slow, so he can’t outrun her (it’s best to just not get caught) her influence isn’t as strong as Vanny’s, and Annette will even attack her if she witnesses them trying to hurt Riley (which would result in her running off) also, Riley is smaller than Gregory, which gives him the advantage to hide in really tight vents, they’re spread out about his areas so he can go in them if Teddy starts chasing him. Since most of Riley’s levels take place in the sewers/deeper parts of the pizza plex, so Teddy has free roam, she doesn’t have any paths like Vanny, she kinda functions like inkBendy from the first BATIM, she wanders, while Vanny has somewhat scripted events (not always, but most) also, Teddy has a mimic ability, she can mimic the voice of a child she or Vanny has killed. although this ability may seem a little OP, there’s a flaw, her mimicking is slightly off, so if she mimics someone who Vanny or herself haven’t killed, (like Gregory, or Mitsuki) it’ll sound off, glitchy even.

that’s it I guess! I might change a few thingies….but so far this is all I’ve got! ^_^ hopefully you guys like it! I’m willing to take suggestions/criticisms also :3

[imagine-darksiders]

Y/N convinces the Horsemen to join them to hang out with one of their best friends, Y/N and said friend are jokingly insulting each other and friend joking responds to an insult with "I'm gonna kill you" and the Horseman thinks they mean it literally.

I have got scenarios for Strife, but I'm really sorry, I lost motivation for his. It just wasn't feeling right, but I hope the other three Horsemen make up for it :)

War:

“If you take that last slice of pizza, I'm going to kill you,” is perhaps not the most intelligent thing for your dear friend, John, to say within ear-shot of your equally dear friend, War.

Your mouth opens to laugh as you lean away from the pizza box and raise your hands in surrender, acquiescing easily. Far be it from you to risk having your fingers bitten off by your ravenous friend. But just as John's fingertips dip into the box to seek out his prize, he's suddenly torn from his seat on the sofa with a startled yelp and hoisted over the back of it, his legs paddling uselessly at several feet of empty air.

“The HELL!?” he bleats as you frantically leap from your own seat and whirl around to find War standing rigidly behind you, his metal gauntlet fisted into the back of John's collar.

With an indignant squawk of, “War!” you dart around the sofa and snag a handful of the Horseman's blood-red cloak, heaving back on it with all your strength whilst he only draws a hapless John closer to his hood, snarling at your fellow human with sharpened canines and a ferocious scowl that knits his brows together.

“What is the meaning of this slight!?” War bellows, giving John a rough jostle, “You dare to threaten an ally of mine?”

The man in his immoveable grasp wheezes, digging his fingers beneath his top button in an attempt to keep it from pressing so ardently into his throat. “Wh-at're you... talking about!?” he rasps, beyond bewildered - a feeling you concur with wholeheartedly.

“War – dammit, War!” Giving up on the cloak, you instead throw your arms around the immense Horseman's elbow and give his appendage an almighty wrench, but even throwing your weight back doesn't budge him an inch. “Put him down!”

Stiffly, War's head creaks around to peer at you from the corner of one, ice-blue eye. Peeling his lips back, he seethes, “I will not stand idly by while a threat is made against my charge.”

You're under no illusions. Historically, if War perceives a threat, he'll pursue it with dogged ambition until he's close enough to put his broadsword straight through its chest. John is in grave danger right now, and although the Horseman might have something of a soft spot for you, you're by no means influential enough to keep him restrained if he wants to run someone through with Chaoseater.

All you can do is try to reason with him.

“Y/n-!” John manages to squeak out, but he's silenced by a sudden, vicious shake.

Thinking fast, you duck beneath War's outstretched arm to stand in front of him, drawing yourself up as high as you can and reaching out a hand, placing a warm palm against the Horseman's chiselled jaw.

The move is so foreign, so unexpected, that War's glare bursts open to a look of shock and he swivels his eyes down to the tiny fingertips resting near the hollow of his cheek.

Something small and tentative ignites in the Horseman's chest, so different from the sparks of rage circling his heart. Outwardly, he rushes to drop his glower back into place, levelling a murderous glare at the human dangling from his grasp, but once again, you try to soothe his ire with your voice, murmuring softly, “War, it's okay. It was just a joke. Just a bad joke, like the ones Strife sometimes makes, yeah?”

“Strife would never threaten to kill you,” the Horseman points out darkly, never once taking his eyes off John.

“Think about it,” you plead, “Do you really believe John would actually threaten me while you're in the room?”

War blinks, and miraculously, the metal fingers around John's collar loosen ever so slightly. 'No,' the Nephilim supposes, 'No, probably not.'

The human, John, may be an imbecile, but he hasn't lost his mind... Not yet.

With little more than a dismissive grunt, War finally pries his hand apart and allows John to drop like a stone.

Needless to say, your friend isn't too keen on sticking around to risk incurring the wrath of War again, so he beats a hasty retreat through your door, tossing a quick, “Text me when he's gone!” by way of a few parting words.

Death:

You suppose you should be grateful that Death is the most shrewd of the Horsemen. He, at least, has learned that not everything humans say to one another needs to be taken so literally. However, when it comes to matters concerning your well-being, he's never been one to take any chances.

Your friend is sitting on your left, Death to your right, in a worn, old armchair he's long since staked a claim over.

“Y/n, give me the remote.”

“I am not watching another hour of Strictly,” you laugh, playfully holding the television remote far away from your friend's grasping hands, “I just can't do it!”

They make a calculated lunge, succeeding in grabbing your wrist and grinning wickedly as they shout, “Give it back!”

“No way!”

“Give it back, or I swear to god, I'm gonna kill you!”

No sooner have the words left your friend's mouth than the temperature in the living room plummets.

Immediately, the pair of you know that something is wrong. It's a dead giveaway when your breath suddenly starts billowing out in large, white puffs of air. A single creak of old springs is all that alerts you to the looming threat, one far greater to your friend than it is to you. Meeting their eye, you shoot them a pointed look and hope they catch the meaning behind your furrowed brow and wide, worried eyes. 'No sudden movements.'

Slowly, cautiously, you turn your head towards the Nephilim, hardly surprised to find that he's gone from sitting to standing with barely a sound to warn you. That dread-inducing bone mask stares hard at your friend, who snatches their hand from your wrist and cowers backwards against the sofa cushions, likely wondering what had gone wrong. You promised them they were in no danger from your ethereal friend.

You, on the other hand, know exactly what's provoked him, and as grateful as you are to have Death himself in your corner, there are a few instances where you wish he'd tone down his overbearing tendencies. 'Eldest sibling syndrome,' Strife had called it, 'He's a son of a bitch, but he's a protective son of a bitch.'

“Death...” you utter warily, shifting forwards to better cover your friend from the Horseman's piercing glare, “It was just a joke. This is my friend, they'd never hurt me.”

Spluttering, they whip their eyes dart frantically between you and the Horseman. “That's what he thinks I-...” Aghast, they lean around you to meet Death's stare, incessant apologies already babbling from their lips. “- I am so sorry, I didn't mean-! I wasn't being serious!? It was just a joke-”

“- Oh?” the Nephilim cuts in with a cool air of indifference that fools nobody, “Odd. I was under the impression that jokes are intended to be funny.”

“This coming from you,” you deadpan whilst your friend stares at you like you've lost your mind.

You haven't. You don't think you have anyway, though it may certainly seem that way, talking back to a being so powerful that he can alter physics with just a slight change in his mood. But Death revoked his status as the Universe's Scariest Bastard when he announced himself as your guardian.

“Stop trying to be intimidating,” you hiss at him, earning a flat look in response. Right... He's not the type of Horseman who has to try at intimidation. Instead, you roll your eyes at him and say, “Look, just sit down, please? You know it was a joke. I know it was a joke. I'm in no danger here.”

Death's poisonous glare continues eating into your friend's ducked head, but at last, the ancient Nephilim gives a grunt, settling back down into his seat and curling his long, sinewy fingers over the arms like a gargoyle perched watchfully on top of a spire.

At the Horseman's apparent withdrawal, your friend relaxes a little, slumping down into the cushions with a soft sigh. You however, have been around Death for far too long to be fooled by his nonchalant slouch and heavy-lidded gaze.

He may have sat back down, but the Horseman is far from appeased. You can still see little wisps of breath escape through your lips. Heaving a long-suffering sigh, you ease yourself back into your own seat on the sofa, keeping a wary eye on Death, not for your own sake, but for that of your friend. For all his scathing remarks and callous behaviour, Death has never taken threats against his family lightly, be they threats made in jest or not.

Fury:

Fury doesn't like this.

She really doesn't like this. So far, your friend has done nothing but monopolise your attention, and though it aggrieves her immensely to have to admit it, Fury misses those instances where it's just you and her.

What can she say? She's the jealous type. Envy had proven that tenfold during her time in Haven city.

She's stepped out into your garden, through the sliding glass doors, where she paces back and forth in the drizzling rain whilst you and your friend remain in the warm, dry kitchen, talking across the counter together about life before the Apocalypse.

'Catching up,' you'd called it.

The Horseman could only listen to your friend make you laugh for so long before she grew agitated by the fondness in your tone. She's never noticed it while you're speaking to her.

Having tuned out the conversation muffling along indoors, she almost misses the alarming words entirely.

“Ugh, Y/n, you're literally the worst,” followed swiftly by, “I'm gonna kill you!”

Context is never something Fury has been particularly concerned about. And in this instance, she couldn't care less for clarity.

Whether because she's already been aggravated by her own, foolish jealousy, or because she's become hard-wired to respond to threats made against you with all the ferocious power of a lioness protecting her cub, Fury finds she can't keep Havoc shackled, nor does she especially want to.

Without warning, an eruption of blackened flames rips across your garden, burning away the flowers you'd painstakingly planted along the wall of your home last month. Scorch marks lick dark shadows across the grass, and a thunderous boom shakes the house on its foundations as a veritable monster bursts through the supernatural flames in place of a Horseman.

Havoc – the terrifying beast that lurks deep within Fury's raging heart, biding its time until a threat arises that's too great for the Horseman to handle with weapons alone. White-hot fire rages through the cracks in her crimson armour, sending sparks flitting out to be doused by the falling rain.

She drops to a knee in front of the sliding door, where she can already hear her human calling out to her, asking if she's all right. The other human, the so-called friend, is too busy screaming about the beast that's just thrust it's colossal, clawed hand through the entrance to your home, grasping blindly for a moment before those armoured fingers make contact with something small and squishy.

The hand snaps shut like a trap, pulling a writhing human across the little kitchen and upskittling the furniture as it pulls its catch from the house.

Havoc's grasp relaxes almost urgently once she lays her burning eyes on her own human, thrusting your fists against the fingers she's wrapped you up in. “Fury!” you bark, suddenly and alarmingly frantic, “What the Hell!? What's happening? What's wrong!?”

Nothing. Nothing's wrong, she'd tell you, if Havoc possessed either a mouth or the ability to communicate at all in this form. Nothing's wrong now that you're safe in her hands, away from that other human who'd made such a foolish threat against you, obviously thinking they were safe from the Horseman's keen ears.

She'll deal with them later. For, now, Fury's immense brute of a form raises to her feet, tucking you into her chest to shelter you from the rain. She turns, ignoring her human's fists as they continue to beat fruitlessly at her unrelenting grip, demanding to know where she thinks she's going.

Havoc clears your garden fence with a single step, barely having to raise her leg. First, she'll be taking you somewhere safe – her own home, perhaps, in another realm far from Earth, far from the human who poses a risk to your safety. Then, she'll be paying said human a visit, perhaps even try asking them for some context to their claim that they'd 'kill you.'

And the Creator help them if they don't come up with something good...

[vertebreakher]

I think Pizza Tower probably has the best sense of ludonarrative harmony with what extreme amounts of anxiety actually feels like to live with out of any game I've played. Peppino is constantly panicked and upset and the environment and hazards of the tower are gross, uncomfortable, and hostile and continue to reinforce that feeling. The threat of his entire life being destroyed is exceptionally imminent and there is no break from the cartoon bullshit the tower is constantly subjecting him too. Annihilating levels at mach speed is a necessity of his mental state as much as it is a gameplay convention, and Peppino has to manifest a bizarre degree of competence and physical prowess because there is no clear difference between a mistake and complete failure. He is the epitome of "Do it scared."

[stardestroyer81]

Pizza Tower features a wide variety of foes for Peppino to plow his way through, though if I had to chose my ultimate favorite enemy in the entire game, I'd have to go with the Bad Rat. I love literally everything about their animations and I always get super excited whenever I come across one!

It was when I first attempted to draw a Bad Rat that I realized the potential of taking one and making it into my very own Pizza Tower OC... enter Brat the Rat, the punkish and portly rival to Gustavo's right-hand rodent, Brick the Rat!

(Check under the cut for some insight on Brat's character as well as concept art!)

We all know that Peppino Spaghetti has his fair share of rivals, and while it's unanimously agreed upon that his ultimate foe is the villainous Pizzaface, I've always thought that the Noise made for a better fit as the Italian's evil double. I mean, they do hate each other with a passion.

But how cool would it be if Brick the Rat had his own rival (Gustavo doesn't need a rival, he's too precious to have one)? There's a distinct difference between Brick and the Bad Rats (I.E. tail color, ear length, messier whiskers, etc.), and I thought it would serve as a neat basis for a Pizza Tower OC!

Brat the Rat is the commander of the Bat Rat brigade in the Pizza Tower, and sent Brick out to dispose of the intruders of their domain. However, after Gustavo and Brick's eventual friendship, Brat takes it upon himself to disregard the incompetence of his inferiors and go after the true threat to the tower, Peppino, personally.

He is best described as a conniving though lazy figure of authority, and spends most of his time snooping about The Pig City or at home in the fittingly named sewer level. In spite of his mean demeanor and meaner intentions, Brat also has a seldom-seen (At least to anyone besides the Bad Rats) gentler side, and can be a complete and total cuddle bug if he trusts you enough.

I find that Pizza Tower sprites are easiest to draw if you sketch them out beforehand, and that's just what I did with Brat! I wanted Brat to be larger than the standard Bad Rat by a longshot, and that he'd tower over Peppino when sitting upright, so I made conceptual sketches of the such before going into spriting.

Honestly, it took me a little while to figure out Brat's body shape when he isn't laying on his front, but I've since perfected it and can safely say he is easily one of the easiest and most fun of my OCS to draw! Seeing how big of a hit he was to some of my mutuals outside of tumblr, I figured I'd show him off to y'all on tumblr as well! ���✨