#we are all obsessed with the kingdom rush games...that month or so when we start a new one and play through the storyline together is so so

[sorrellegiance]

i did start a leaderboard on the kitchen whiteboard but then i got lazy and just started screenshotting my final scores and signing them off on the ipad...and now so have my parents :D

[ncitygirls]

only - changbin x f reader

angst, fluff, suggestive, royal!au, cw: war, 5.3k

you were barely eighteen when you accepted the hand in marriage of the son of the duke and duchess of levanter. seo changbin - an affluent heir to an impossible fortune - almost had you surprised when you found his interest in you was unlike that of your fellow bachelorettes. naturally, their interest was fuelled by an insatiable greed and a hot desire for financial prosperity. as should yours, as was yours. not changbin though. no, changbin prided himself on many things unfitting for a man of his status, even his age. he wondered not of your family’s alliances or existing trading partners, but of religion and upbringing. he tsked at mention of your international estates, unless in regard to your memories there. he was complimentary of your attire, less in expense but rather in beauty. changbin wanted to know of your favourite season, and your preferred time of day. who was your favourite poet, and from them your favourite poem. he was obsessed with your knowledge of the world, or rather your interest in it. you had been to neo, but did you really see it, really explore? and if not would you care to? did you prefer sugar or honey in your tea? your bread buttered or oiled? to sleep bare or in silk? he wanted to know what side of the bed you preferred to sleep on, if you were adverse to cuddling and if so, if you could be persuaded.

to be fair, he only spoke with you like this for two reasons. the first being your shared upbringing. after almost two decades of friendship, having you enter his home in the prospect of being his wife didn’t come as a surprise to the young bachelor, but rather a relief. he spent days in and days out discussing family politics, ancestry, and accounts. he chose to ignore the blatant issue there, sharing the intricacies of his family’s wealth and heritage with these ladies from kingdoms and countries he’d been too busy to pay any mind in schooling. he knew his ignorance could come back to bite him and it did, especially as you entered his home looking far prettier than he had ever recalled you looking. he held his tongue before he could whistle, but you could see his smirk all the same. it softened into a grin as he bowed, you returning the pleasantry with a lot less pleasantness than he offered you. he welcomed it all the same. it was why he could be free on this day. speak about the things that would effect you two as one another’s, not you two as one.

your presence also meant he didn’t have to pussyfoot around. he didn’t have to fear your hatred, nor your judgement. though your eyes rolled more than the actual number of potential brides he had become acquainted with. he let f bombs slip, and his guard down. he frolicked with you through the grounds you already knew so well, and guided you through the parts once forbidden to the rambunctious children you once were. he walked you to the kitchen and asked for bread, as opposed to stealing it like you both once would. he tried to describe the estate’s chambers as best he could, detailing the art a then prince hyunjin had gifted him and your childish scratchings still on his door frame.

‘you can see it one day,’ he had whispered under the willow tree on the grounds, watching the way your fingers clung loosely to the weeping leaves. ‘it’s still as it was when we were children.’

‘and how would i do that?’ the question is valid enough, though he frowns, tilting his head. ‘i did not realise i had uttered a riddle, my lord.’

‘well neither had i,’ he tutted, moving to latch onto the same branch you once held. ‘and here i was, assuming you to be the smart one.’

‘i am the smart one.’

‘then answer me this,’ he began, pausing to firmly elaborate, ‘plainly.’ your eyes roll for the umpteenth time at his silent warning before you concede with a nod. ‘how might you see my bed?’

with a sigh you deadpan, ‘if you were to make me your wife.’

‘so to see my bed, and your vandalism-’

‘scribbles.’

‘i must make you my wife.’

‘it seems quite the extreme just to see some old scribbles.’ if changbin senses the hidden meaning to your words, he gave nought away. ‘mightn’t someone just bring me a piece of the bed? i’m sure it’s almost past its use, just peel the pane off. and why still the same bed? you are a young lord of age now, don’t you think-’

‘you know you prattle when you’re nervous?’

‘i do no such thing-’

‘it’s cute.’

‘changbin! how are you so sure i want to be your wife, hm?’ you half questioned, moving away from his looming figure. ‘i only came because your parents asked me here.’

‘y/n, i have known you a long time,’ he punctuates his reminder by closing the distance you so bravely placed between you. ‘if you wished not to be here, you would have found no greater pleasure than to decline the invitation.’ that much is not only true but undeniable. the seo’s was your third courting invite this month alone. you knew, and worse, changbin knew. ‘is it so hard to admit that i might have soften that hardened heart of yours?’

‘i find no pleasure in your games, changbin.’

‘what game, y/n? can a man not just want you?’ your eyes betray you as you try to expel the softness conjured by his taunt. a taunt that is starting to sound less like a taunt, and more like a confession. ‘can i not just want you?’

‘how do i know you want me, bin?’ you pressed, pressing your back to the leaning trunk of the all encompassing tree. ‘how do i know you don’t just want a way out of this endless cycle of mindless heiresses?’

‘you said my parents asked you here?’ your head bobbed as he approached you, nodding in time with you before he stopped a foot before you, smiling eyes gazing right at you. ‘who do you think asked them?’

you were married that fall. under that same willow tree, in the presence of his royal highness and his kin, your family and the seos. the affair was small like you both wanted. small like your needs. you joked marrying you was a cop out, as he spun you around the gardens, escaping the intimate celebrations in the grand banquet hall to enjoy the breeze on your skin and feel the wind in your hair. it was the first time he held you since your dance lessons as kids. where you would lead and he would follow. he once swore he would follow you anywhere. both literally and figuratively. around the grounds of your childhood home, in all your beliefs and ideologies. he filled his mind and self with your gospel and truth, infatuated with your manner of thinking, how you arrived at conclusions. changbin spent his whole childhood falling in love with you.

‘you weren’t a cop out,’ he breathed into the shell of your ear, humming as you lay your head on his shoulder. pressing his lips to your temple he confessed, ‘you were my only choice.’

that night, the two of you consummated your marriage under that same willow tree. his hands clinging to your waist as he ground his hips into you. his tightened breaths filling the drum of your ear with every snap, his lips closing around the skin of your jaw, summoning the most satisfying whines he could draw from you. his lover. his friend. his lady.

in his absence, you remind him of this night. how biting the bark had been on your skin, the autumn air stinging your already teary eyes. his last letter arrived over a fortnight ago, it spoke of his fears at battle, the treacherous methods of his enemies. the only face he prays to see again and until that day, the only face he will dream of. you have sent a handful of letters since then, yet still sour as you awake another day to no news. you sigh as you grab your quill, letting the ink drip before signing off your letter.

‘my dearest, changbin. a season separates us, but only a season could.’

it isn’t long after you seal it that you are summoned to the hwang holiday estate. the royal family have a long history of retreating to the country when the weather is a touch higher than that of luke warm water, or near cool cinder. the seo’s residence is but a short carriage ride from the estate, though a tad longer walk. you often opt to walk as you do today, taking no larger than foot long strides between the cobbled paths. your guard walks in time with you, though no more than a few feet behind. he had never been one for small talk, you quickly came to realise. though, since neither is your husband, you feel an odd sense of relief, normality, even in his absence. you try and enjoy the song of the breeze through the willow, the scent of the king’s rose garden carried on its back. it’s hard over the creak of your guard’s hurried stomps, his pace doubling with every corner you take. you only verbalise your awareness of his impatience when he arrives beside you, hastened to strike the door to announce your arrival.

“master yang,” you call softly as you two await entry. “if i did not know any better, i would say you were rushing me.”

“apologies, my lady,” he confesses, stepping back at your side without any question. though, when he gulps, you eye him with a softened concern. “i was informed you were summoned due to a grave emergency.”

“worry not, jeongin.” you chide, recalling your highness’ idea of an emergency. “the king often calls when the queen is away and he is tasked with matters such as assigning dinner seating.” jeongin looks as if he is about to ask when you add, “she says his involvement humbles him.” when he nods, you straighten as the door swings open, a servant welcoming you in. “yes, there is nothing to fear, master yang.”

only, falser words had never been spoken.

you are quick to note the tremor in the king’s frame as he hurries to stand upon your arrival, rushing you through the official pleasantries of an official summoning. “lady seo.”

“your highness.” you reply, your knee bending as you politely lower your head. “how are you on this fine afternoon-”

“i apologise, y/n. but as you know, i didn’t call you hear on matters of leisure.” he politely interrupts, a flush of embarrassment flooding his cheeks as you frown. “when was last you heard from him?”

“heard from who?”

“from—” hyunjin’s confused gaze cuts to his informants, a few members of his court shying away from him before he marvels at them. “has lady seo not been informed?” when he receives no reply, you feel yourself shrink as the gentle king bellows, “why has lady seo not been informed?”

“informed of what—”

“the order of information begins with yourself sire, before reaching the court, the council, the lady and then the people.”

“i specifically requested she be kept informed. why has she not been kept informed?”

“well, your grace, the lady of a knight is only to be informed once official word is received from the battlefield and delivered to you sire.”

“official word of what—”

“which came through this morning and you are about to deliver the information to the lady.”

“king hyunjin!”

gasps fill the room from all but the king himself. he doesn’t falter, instead he turns to move towards you, his eyes growing more fearful, more earnest as he approaches. he shudders at the thought of delivering this message. he even scolds himself for attempting to delegate such responsibility. you are a friend. not only to the crown, but to the royal family itself. before heavy crowns kissed their heads. before rings ever kissed your knuckles. you were his friend. you had always been a friend to him, and the only time you had ever needed him was now and he had let you down.

“we received word that neo soldiers stormed our fortress in miroh. while we have received word from a few troops who were able to escape, we have yet to ascertain who of the full fleet have made it to safety.” when he pauses to gulp he sees your eyes gleam, breaths shallow. his hands then find yours, gripping your shaky, sweaty digits tightly. “we have received no word from changbin’s troop,” he stops when you gasp, your tears falling, cascading down and around your stained cheeks, your lip trembling. “but we have been able to track a number of our men back through the yellow wood, south of levanter.”

“i-is he there? is he okay?”

“we are yet to hear word,” the tears continue to fall, and he hates himself but all he can do is continue, divulge everything he knows. “they plan to set up camp on the edge of the wood, so i will make my way there now and have word sent back to you as soon as i find him.”

“no,” you refuse, snatching your hands away to drag them over your stained cheeks. “i cannot wait, i will join you.”

“as will i,” jeongin pipes up behind you, his voice an odd comfort once more. “your grace.”

“it is no place for a lady,” hyunjin tries, sighing when you just scowl, already mid curtsey as you preempt his agreement and dismissal. “i will have a carriage sent for you at once.”

“would taking just a horse quicken my arrival?”

“i-it would,” he discloses reluctantly, watching you ready yourself to decline the carriage. “for my sake though,” your scowl returns, ignoring the concern from the king. “i implore you to take the carriage. the yellow wood is far from kind..” you decode his meaning before he ever finishes speaking. the yellow wood is far from safe.

“but is this not the same wood my husband’s troop plans to take, sire?” hyunjin’s nod comes seconds later, shame tensing his jaw. hyunjin is visibly trying to appreciate your patience after having all this information dumped on you. but hyunjin also recalls the threats you readily made and followed through on in your younger years. so much so, he fears the worst of you when you bow before slowly approaching him, voice but a decibel higher than a nat’s buzz to threaten him. the king. before as many witnesses as it takes to have your head. “fine. i will take the carriage.

“but i regret to inform you i have fallen victim to the sick allure of hope. so if this carriage takes him from me? if i am too late? i will burn your kingdom to the ground, jinnie. mark my words.”

only once you leave does hyunjin breathe, noticably shaken by the violent rage existing within the women of his kingdom. “ready her carriage.” he suddenly commands, terrified of letting you down. “i want her there by nightfall.”

hyunjin had not embellished the treachery of this road. you had halted close to ten times in the first six hours of the journey. thanks to forewarning by the king and his council, your guards were prepared to be extra vigilant. weary from all sides of the carriage, bandits who fell from the trees and ambushed from the sides did not live long enough to prevail. from dawn til dusk, the wood falsified night with its woven rotted branches and the gradually setting sun, seeing was becoming more hopeless yet more crucial. without a maid for travelling company and jeongin busy guarding your personage, you were once again left with your thoughts. in times of dire woe, you called on memories of your love, though they read more like dreams. this dream is one that only longing for the man you prayed awaited you on the end of this perilous journey could conjure. because not only do you miss him, you fear for him. not much has changed.

‘you think i am going to get myself killed?’ he breathed, nipping at your clavicle as you rest in his lap. ‘have you no faith in me?’

‘of course i do,’ you defend, gasping as he clamps down, teeth rolling your skin. ‘i just-’

‘you just.. what?’ he doesn’t expect an answer. or so you suspect. especially following a slow drag of your thinly veiled heat over his firmed thigh. ‘you think i would ever abandon you?’

‘no, binnie,’ you start, rising from him with a sigh. ‘i just know you.’

‘you do?’ he ponders sweetly, gazing up at your shining eyes. ‘and what is it you know?’

‘you’re powerful, but far too stubborn.’

‘you know,’ he hums, crossing his thick arms as a small pout steals the lips of the strongest man in the kingdom. ‘for someone who claims to adore me, you tend to speak ill of me every chance you get, my lady.’

‘must the two be exclusive?’ when his frown only deepens, his folded arms tightening, you sigh once more. returning to his spread legs, you perch yourself on them, raising your steady fingers to the creases painting the forehead of the most stubborn man you’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. he softens only slightly, his pouted lip closing around yours when you lean in, silently asking his forgiveness. ‘for every ill spoken word, i make up for with countless good, bin.’

‘such as?’ he huffs, knowingly egging you on.

with a small smile, you offer a final peck to his lips before praising the knight beneath you. ‘i know you will fight valiantly.’ you admit, pride permeating right through you to the man you call yours. ‘you will bring honour to your family, to your country.’ with the pads of your fingers, you tuck his hair behind his ear, cooing as he relaxes at your touch. ‘you will be a hero, my love.’

‘and this all worries you?’

‘do you know who will keep your legacy alive, changbin?’ his frown returns at concern for your quivering lip, a sudden fear seeping into your tone. ‘me. your widow.’ he begins to shake his head, a half assed assurance on the tip of his prideful tongue when you remind, ‘it may vex you to hear this, but please remember your knighting was in part an award for your bravery, but also in large part to hyunjin’s love for you.’

‘how can you say that-’

‘since bang chan the brave, name a knight who lived to see his knighting. just one, bin. name one who knelt before their king and felt the sword atop their shoulders. name one who did not die in battle, leaving their grieving widow to accept a meaningless commendation of his honour?’

‘you call your father’s commendation meaningless?’

‘don’t make me laugh, bin.’ your scoff would wound him had you not uttered, ‘i would have rathered he be the one to walk me down the isle the day i married you. knowing my father loved me enough to protect his country is a nice sentiment, but don’t you dare assume i would take that honour over his life.’

‘hey,’ he calls, holding you in his lap as you try to move from him. ‘my love, i didn’t mean to offend.’

‘i know,’ in these seconds you see past the facade, the knight that your husband is. you only see what you fell in love with. you see the compassion, the understanding. ‘bin, i need you to understand. really understand.’ with his cheeks cradled in your palms, you plead with your love. ‘you mean everything to me, seo changbin. before i ever realised you did. i will not let this mindless war take you from me.

‘don’t be a hero, changbin. leave that to some village boy with a chip on his shoulder, with something to prove.’ he nuzzles into your palm as he listens to your plea, gazing into your warning eyes. ‘just come back to me, okay? don’t make me beg.’

‘what if it helped your case?’ he mumbled into your skin, his lips gently puckering as his palms glide up the side of your neck. his tongue slid betwixt your parted lips, trying to exorcise any and all tension from your trembling frame. with another soft pucker of his lips, a suck on your wet muscle has you loosening, falling into him as he moves to embrace you. ‘would you?’

‘do not mock me.’

‘i would never,’ you find this hard to believe as he smirks like a man with ten knives readied for your back. they come as kisses instead, they line the column of your neck, followed closely by his thumbs as he angles your head toward him. ‘you just seem ready to, so i would love to hear it.’

‘perhaps i will marry that lee boy, with the speckled cheeks. i hear the maids think he’s a descendant of fairies, born from the very stars that kiss his face-’ the words halt in your throat as he flips you, firmly pinning you to the goose down.

‘you seem to have thought this through..’

‘have i much choice?’ you huff, glaring at his thoughtful gaze. ‘one tends to ponder such things when faced with their husband’s imminent demise.’ he only sighs, eyes rolling skyward as he asks the gods, old and new, why they ever chose you for him. ‘i hear his line is filled only with beautiful men. who was his ancestor again? minho the something.’

‘you know,’ refusing to come to your aid, he gathering up the hem of your silks. ‘most men would have your head by now.’

‘-magnificent! it was minho the magnificent!’

‘maleficent.’

‘hm?’

‘his name,’ nipping at the exposed skin of your chest, his hand tugs at the starched fabric as he corrects you. ‘it was minho the maleficent.’

‘oh,’ you breathe, less in defeat but rather in sweet contentment. ‘and why is that?’

‘because, my sweet,’ he huffs into your chest, resting on the heels of his palms planted either side of your cushioned head. ‘he burned all of levanter to the ground when his queen died.’

‘yes, he did.’ changbin only strokes the skin of your cheek as you pout, his eyes rolling at your uncanny ability to bring everything back to his encroaching departure. ‘and my husband will not even skip one war for me.’

‘’one war’?’ he smirks, dropping his lips to your exposed breast, tongue sweeping over your teased nipples. ‘you speak as though war is like an evening in a tavern.’

‘both tend to end in regret,’ you jest, or attempt to. it is growing increasingly difficult to barter with him as he presses his lips to your stomach, his body lowering in kind with his touch. before he can disappear entirely from view, you rise. as he rises with you, you are stunned by his rosey cheeks, the flush journeying to his neck as you rest on your elbows. he sees your turmoil. your clear desire for him shadowed painfully by your love and fear. he drops a kiss to your hip, his knuckles dusting the veiled bead of your heat, eyes hard on you as you falter, head lolling to the side before you regain your strength. ‘bin?’

‘hm?’

‘stay.’ it’s faint. so faint he barely recognises it as a plea. he only sighs, his forehead pressed to your abdomen as he purges your wet eyes from his memory. ‘please say you will stay. i cannot bear the thought of a winter without you.’

‘my love,’ changbin speaks into your skin, lowly beseeching your understanding while praying for your peace. ‘a season might separate us,’ he hums, expertly parting your thighs as he offers a lone kiss to your mound. ‘but only a season could.’

“my lady?” jeongin’s voice is first to break you from your nostalgic nightmare. the second is the cries of injured men. “we have arrived.”

the edge of the wood is a wounded minefield. limbless soldiers, knights and footmen alike, are dotted around the dimly lit field. your eyes gloss over at the heaped bodies, and water at the stench. “how long have they been here?”

“just under a week,” jeongin recalls, holding his hand out to stop you as medics pass with a burnt body on a stretcher. “it is hard to believe this is the winning camp.”

“there are no winners in war, jeongin.” you whisper, watching a man close the eyes of his fallen comrade a pair approach to drop his body in a mass grave. a fight ensues. “only loss.”

“y/n?” you halt at the call, half sprinting at the sight of han jisung, wearing a smile warm enough to light the night. “i thought his highness was jesting when he said you’d be here.”

“han!” you cried, latching onto him with a grip that nearly winded him. “thank god, thank god.”

“more like thank changbin,” he wheezed, squeezing you back just as tight, lifting you a few feet off the ground. “had he not been here, i would have surely-”

“where is he?”

“-died.” he only grins as you stiffen, recognising his part in your terror a second too late. “oh! no! he isn’t dead! he is alive! very alive!” his eyes flicker to a scowling jeongin, gulping down an apology as he gestures to his left. “come.”

further from the wood and slowly decaying corpses are the tents. some somehow less grand than a teepee, some spacious enough for a few hours sleep. jisung guides you both up to the largest of the lot, where you find an ill tempered king hyunjin growing increasingly more so. “no, leave him be.”

“had we known you were coming your grace- we can have him moved immediately.”

“your king gave you an order, soldier.” jisung chimes in, tongue slotting into the swell of his cheek as he gestures to you over his shoulder. “now move out of the way or i’ll have you explain to lady seo why she can’t see her husband on account of your insubordinance.”

“yes, sir.”

hyunjin bristles at jisung’s ability to command his men with little effort before he softens at your restless gaze. “he’s been asking for you.”

the grandeur of the king’s tent suits changbin well, you think. a fire crackles at the furthest end, masked only by a large canopy where you know he rests. the four poster bed takes up most of the space, and around it lays tin bowls, rags, blankets and water. the room seems barely lived in bar the knight whose faint breaths float toward you through the warm air. you feel yourself stalling, too busy taking in the space to recognise your fear. what will you find when you pull the curtain away? what remains of your husband, your lover, your friend? will he still have the same warm eyes and full cheeks? will his hands still fit in yours? his feet still step in time with yours? will he look the same, sound the same even? you swallow down this fear, and instead bask in the joy that he’s alive. your husband is alive. and nothing separates you. not a season, nor a wood. not time or conflict. only your fears.

and then they don’t. when you pull back the veil, nothing separates you but air. a soft man made gust as you reveal the man you’d once called your friend, only to call your betrothed and then yours. the fire barely lights the room yet still he glows. he lies bare from the waist up, his abdomen bandaged in rolls of cotton, his chest exposed. you watch it, the slow rise and fall of the place you longed to rest your head, you dreamt of dreaming on. before you realise, you have lowered yourself beside him, careful not to disturb him, nor his wound. before you can call for him he smiles. even in his state of slumber, he leans into your touch. before you meet his eyes, you feel his on you.

“you came.” he whispers, a heavy breath of relief escaping him as your thumb dusts his cheek.

“of course,” you try, before taking your lip between your teeth, fearful your tears might dampen his skin. you kneel at his side, carefully ridding yourself of your outer garments, before returning your hand to his cheek. “how do you feel?”

“now?” he smirks, wincing as a laugh runs through him. “wonderful.”

“and before?”

“so, so.” he murmurs with a kiss to your palm. “a sword to the stomach will do that to you.”

“do i have han jisung to thank for that?”

“no,” he coughs, recalling his sacrifice. “only me.”

“well that’s good,” you hum, employing the upmost care when leaning over him. “because i would hate to think my knight was blindsided.”

“never,” his assurance fans your lips, as yours hover over his. “only by you.”

you almost forgot how it felt to kiss him. the feeling only coming in dreams. there was no memory strong enough to conjure the feeling of his lips pressed against yours. the slow melt of tender skin on skin, the warmth, his gentle caress. his kiss is slow, but even in his prime he took his time. his lips close around yours with such timing and precision, ushering a slow burn of desire from the heels of your feet all the way up to the crown of your head. he knew how to expunge pain and fear from you, to free you from your demons, to reinvigorate you. to love you.

he’s weak. in all the worst ways. his body, his will. he raises his hand to your neck, pulling you closer as he presses his tongue between your lips, connecting the muscles with little intent of parting. he swallows around you, drinking you in, keeping that same, slow and teasing pace. only to pull you closer.

“you need your rest,” you pant into his mouth, resting all your weight on your arms as he pulls you back down, pinning your forehead to his.

“no,” he refuses, sweeping his thumb along your jaw. “i need you.” his voice shakes then, unlike him. unlike the man you know. “only you.”

“is that why you called me here?” you tease, silently wiping his tears away, silently reading the fear in his eyes. he begs them away though warms at your easy dispelling. “to use me?”

“my love,” he laughs, ignoring the pain in favour of basking in your smile. “you know i did not call for you.” when you move to argue, he recalls, as if he were there, “‘would taking just a horse quicken my arrival?’”

“i might have been here sooner if-”

“this,” raising his other arm, he gathers your face in his palms, “is soon enough.”

safe.

“okay.” you agree, allowing him to tug you closer once more. you let him kiss you without restraint. you let him curl his fingers into your neck, ignoring his wincing and kiss him through it. you let his grunts mask his pain, his teeth rolling your lip between the rows, you let him share it. you let him have you, because despite the odds he stayed alive. he stayed alive for you. and that was enough. “i love you.”

he blinks up at your shining eyes, guiding your wet cheeks to his puckered lips. “i love you,” he whispers back against your lips, feeling himself heal at just the touch of your hand. “only you.”

because only a season separated you. but now, not even a season could.

[silverloreley]

I could have made a mistake when I decided to switch from "Maybe" (where the "steamy" stories were the only ones left and I don't like the genre. I was waiting for "Your Throne", which was announced months ago and still it's not playable so, fuck off!) to "Time Princess" because in less than ten days I fell in love with a song, got the butterflies for a character and ARE TOTALLY OUTRAGED AT HOW BAD THE "SWAN LAKE" PLOT WAS HANDLED!

I mean, the Barbie movie? Masterpiece. Black Swan? meh, passable but ultimately not to my taste. I saw several versions of the ballet (good ending, bad ending, mixed ending... all on recordings, obviously, I don't have that kind of money) and were all delightful. Oh, the "Swan Princess" movies too, those were basically one of the obsessions of my childhood, especially the second.

But this? UGH!

Okay, full rant under read more because I don't want to bother anyone, plus minor spoilers I guess. This is mostly a rant anyway, lol

The genderswap... It's okay, all the game's stories based on pre-existing ones are genderswap, it was fine, enjoyable even. The designs were sort of good, I actually like the clothes if not the faces.

But the story itself fell so flat! It's rushed, lacks details, I have to put so much effort into remembering the main character aka me has been friend with the Swan Prince for years because it doesn't feel like it at all, while the second male lead has such a tragic backstory and a very relatable case of depression and social issues and yet they didn't work with it nearly as much as they could??? Also, the Swan Prince has this delightful moment in which his inherent goodness turns into sacrificial stupidity for the greater good which is amazing because, oh! a good trait turning into a huge flaw? Damn yeah! If not that it gets undermined in the next episode which is also the final one and no? Hello? Where is the rest of the story? Why don't I have to go on a quest of sort to save Aldous from his own stupidity? Does it really end here?! How am I supposed to be fine not knowing what the hell happened to the old kingdom because sure as hell it wasn't Audwin to destroy it since he escaped while it was happening, so who did it? How did they find out about their relationship? WHEN? I want full disclosure on their backstory!!! And why did the stupid blockhead decide to attack but didn't remember shit? Was it really Audwin's doing? Was it not?! Why do we never get to see the other swan people? Where were they when the castle was attacked?!

I have so many questions and maybe "Magic Lamp" spoiled me because that was such a good story I can't even start to praise it, so who worked on Swan Lake could have put a bit more of a similar effort, maybe? If only they had given Aldous and Audwin more chances to undergo some growth the way we saw with Light and Kahir (although we can argue Kahir was pretty great to begin with) and to develop the relationship with the MC/player maybe the story would have been better.

Anyway, if I end up whipping out a fic out of it, you'll know you have to blame Maybe for not giving me "Your Throne" in decent time while showing me ads for the much better Time Princess.

[maluraunderchild]

What sisters are for

“Darsa we got a problem.”

Darsa is back at the safe house with the Black Knuckle gang around him. I froze time to have this talk. It’s easier right now to split my time with the things that need done up in the duchy, but be here with my brother in this hard time of grief. Walking around the room i notice the assortment of worgen and humans... probably afflicted using their human illusion.

My brother was in the middle of what was probably his lunch when I stopped time. He looked around as if amazed by the action. “They’ll kill you if they see you’re here.”

“They can’t see what is in-between moments.” I said taking a seat. “I tried to hit up Colton. He’s obsessed with Kat Dar. Like. royally obsessed. If you want me to break up the team... It’s going to be improbable.”

Darsa groaned shaking his head. “Great... I still need to separate them.”

“I’ll keep looking for a way. At worst I might try Crawford, he seems more volatile but can’t be nearly as creepy as Colton.” I shivered a bit at how the gang leader literally thought he was a good guy. That he believed everything he said though I had seen his handiwork already. “Colton isn’t a half ass void user. He can Gilded Cage people, but it looks like he needs to focus on it. So not like Teren who can lock someone up and throw away the key. Right now. I have an in as a contact for maybe engineers, but also in giving in information about Lord Carrington. I said I saw his face.”

Darsa’s eyes flashed up at me. He probably thinks I’m crazy for giving that bit of info, but it dawns on him as he grins. “You did it so we can keep ahold on what information he knows about me...”

“Couldn’t get he guy to flirt with me, so yep. Making myself valuable to still be in the game. I told Ma that I’m pretending to be living back at home soon. That’s where I told Colton to find me. But I’ll keep my eye out for other times I can bump into him. Now that I know where in time I can tail him that’s as simple as following his line through the sands of time.”

Tracking. I am a fucking amazing tracker. Met noticed it the first time I met him. I was able to pin the Summoner to the ground with it. I don’t toot my horn often, but yeah, tracking I got.

My brother nodded looking down at his meal. “He wants me to kidnap Kat in this month. I’m going to be taking her out of the Eastern Kingdoms. Just so I can have someone to be around while I... sort out my head.”

I can see what he’s doing, and I’m proud of him. In the past when girls left him Darsa would sulk for months mourning the losses. I only heard of how messed up he got when one of his ex’s died on him. He really does love in a way that should make women swoon... if those women could ever get around how broken he is half the time.

“This is good.” Is said as I take the seat across from him. “Take the time you need. At worst we can try to distract the gang for as long as possible.”

He looked up at me with a tired look. “Shadow... How long does it hurt?”

I don’t have a good answer for him. “I still hurt some days. Days where I felt like Arrel should have seen something. It’s better though. It is.”

Gods I hate seeing him like this. I know I’m the cause of so much of his pain right now. The guilt won’t eat me, but it will linger for a life time, Darsa’s life time. Reaching over I take his hand and squeeze it tight. “No matter what Dar. She’s found her rest. Maybe now she can think about you and not hurt anymore. So... she’s watching over you.”

He starts to break again. It doesn’t take much and I’m sorry for brining Lochlyn up so fast. Tears rim his eyes as he shakes his head. “She told me once... If she went first she wanted me to move on. I told her I didn’t want to. I wouldn’t want to. Now... I have to and, I don’t know if I can.”

“I tried to move on fast after Arrel.” I said quietly, maybe sharing my experience will help. “But it didn’t work out. Hell, even Cyn tried to flirt with me and I wasn’t interested... I ended up waiting until my heart said it was alright. Don’t rush it. And if you do end up falling in love faster than you thought, good... You deserve to be happy. She would have wanted you to be happy.”

Blinking away the tears I had caused he nodded. “It’s going to be a while till that happens Shadow... How did you fall in love again?”

I know the answer. I know the exact moment I knew I was in love with Met. And looking back maybe it wasn’t the best way to know you love someone. But I remember how I was trying to fight it. Knowing how bad it could end. Only i didn’t care...

“I fell... It was slow, but it happened. Took me by suprise. But, it’s worth it. It’s also going to take a long time, but I think I’m old enough to appreciate a slow thing like this.” I shrugged a little bit and got up from my seat. Looking around I made sure everything was back in place.

Darsa watched me with a small curious look. “You going to tell me if you’re into that Doyle guy?”

He’s got half of the equation down, but I want to wait a while longer until I tell him everything. Maybe this Years End party if all of us are invited. Maybe then I can explain it a bit more for him.

“I’ll tell you when I can tell you.” Looking around the room I nod. “I’m going to head out. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

He shot me a flat look. “Really?”

But I don’t answer instead I pull myself back to Kiden where I’ll be missed for all of two minutes as his time restarts and no one in the bunker would know wiser of me being there. I suspect my brother was probably not in the most chipper of moods when time restarted, but, that’s what sisters are for.

((Mentions: @kat-lockhart ((For the SL and for her toons)), @khan-of-the-ruruan ))

[jkottke]

My five favorite video games of all time

This tweet asking people to list their top five video games of all time is going a little viral. I am very much not a "gamer" -- mostly because if I were, I would never get anything else done -- so I can't produce anything like a These Are the Finest Games of the Early Age of Video Games list, but I can share the list of games that I've most enjoyed playing over the years.

1. Lode Runner (PC, 1983). Growing up, we didn't have a Pong console or an Atari like some of my friends and cousins did, but when my parents divorced, my dad bought the first IBM-compatible computer that came out. And one of the few games we had for it was Lode Runner. The game was a blast, but what really put it over the top was the ability to make your own levels. Now that I think about it, that the first video game I ever obsessed over included a built-in level designer maybe primed me for falling in love with the web at first sight. View source?! Uh, yes please.

2. The Legend of Zelda (NES, 1986). Legendary...it's right there in the name. I played this game so much. One of my finest video game achievements is finishing Zelda using only the wooden sword. Close runners-up: Super Mario Bros (NES) and Tetris on the Game Boy, which I played perhaps more than Zelda and SMB combined. So many batteries.

3. NHL '94 (Sega Genesis, 1993). Out of all the games I've ever played, I had the most fun playing NHL '94 with my friends and floormates in college. We'd play for hours on end, especially during the winter months, people drifting in and out to go to class. I don't know how I managed to not flunk out of school that year. Runner-up: Tecmo Super Bowl (NES). Everyone had their favorite teams/players, but I was almost unstoppable with Philadelphia and their quarterback, QB Eagles (they couldn't use Randall Cunningham's name due to licensing issues).

4. Mario Kart Wii (Wii, 2008). This was a tough one. Mario Kart Wii was not my first Kart nor the best I've played (Mario Kart 8 has superior gameplay IMO) and almost no game was more fun than playing 8-player Mario Kart Double Dash with two linked GameCubes in the same tiny NYC apartment. But the Wii version was the first one in which you used an actual freaking steering wheel to pilot your Kart around.

5. Alto's Adventure (iOS, 2015). I've written about Alto's Adventure before:

At first, I played because the game was fun and I wanted to beat it. But eventually, I started playing the game when I was stressed or anxious. It became a form of meditation for me; playing cleared my mind and refocused my attention on the present. Even the seemingly stressful elements in the game became calming. The Elders, who spring up to give chase every few minutes, I don't even notice anymore...which has become a metaphorical reminder for me to focus on my actions and what I can control and not worry about outside influences I can't control.

It's not an exaggeration to say that Alto's Adventure helped me work through some of my shit almost as much as seeing a therapist for almost 2 years. Runners-up: Kingdom Rush and Drop7, both of which I played a lot but neither saved my sanity, so...

A few honorable mentions: Quake 3, Bubble Bobble (which I never played in the arcade or on Nintendo but discovered later on MAME), Wii Sports, Metroid, Dune II, Minecraft (I haven't actually played it that much, but I love watching my kids play), SMB 2, SMB 3, Baseball Stars, and, uh, Cookie Clicker.

[thesffcorner]

March Reading Wrap-Up

March was not a great reading month for me. In addition to having a lot of things going on in my personal life, I also dove straight into a reading slump, courtesy of Miss Nora Sakavic and her All for the Game trilogy. Graphic novels were my savior for sure; I read 18 graphic novels, and 4 novels. In terms of genre, I read 3 contemporary books, and 1 fantasy, and overall, this was a pretty average month in terms of ratings as well. 

So without further ado, let’s dive in, starting with: 

Umbrella Academy Vol 2 by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba (3 stars):

The first thing I read in the month was Dallas, the second volume of the Umbrella Academy series. I read up to issue 5 of Hotel Oblivion, but seeing as that volume is not yet out, I will only count the 2 volumes that are out, which are Apocalypse Suite and Dallas.

This series follows a group of 7 super-powered kids, all born during a simultaneous event, adopted by a crazy billionaire, and raised them to be superheroes. After he dies, the 6 surviving kids go back to the Umbrella Academy mansion, not knowing that their reunification will bring about the apocalypse.

Volume 2 follows the kids as they all go on their separate ways, involving lot’s or time travel and time travel paradoxes. I did like it more than volume 1, mostly because it focused more on Diego and Allison, my 2 favorite characters.

Archie Vol. 1- 6 by Mark Waid, and many illustrators  (3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 4 stars):

I wanted to start the rebooted Archie for a while, and I was in the mood for some fluffy contemporaries so I decided to give it a go. I read all the 6 volumes that are out, and i have to say I was not impressed.

This series takes the classic Archie characters and plops them in modern day, and as an idea I think that was smart. The Archie characters and stories are timeless; they deal with all the things anyone deals with while at high school and growing up, like first loves, friendships, finances and generally entering the adult world. The series is meant to be a slice of life style exploration of Riverdale, but I feel like perhaps Waid didn’t know want to write it like that.

The first few issues were fine, if a bit underwhelming, but volume 4 was where the story really took an unnecessarily dark turn. Having finished the series, I’m still not sure why that was necessary or what was accomplished; I’m just left a bit confused as to who this was really for and what it set out to achieve. If there are more volumes in the future, I don’t think I’ll be reading them.

In the Vanisher’s Palace by Aliette de Bodard (3 stars):

This was the first book I read in March, and it’s a novella-retelling of Beauty and the Beast. There is a twist here, in that the romance is female-female, and it’s set in a fantastical land inspired by Vietnamese folklore and mythology, which was very cool.

It was a short read, which I feel was it’s biggest detriment, because the novella set up a pretty fascinating and rather complex world, which was barely touched on, in the 145 pages we got. The romance felt a bit rushed, though I actually enjoyed it a lot, especially with the examination of power dynamics and the focus on consent. De Bodard is an author I will definitely reading more of, and my next project will be her Xuya Universe series of novellas (who have some gorgeous covers).

Running with Lions by Julian Winters (4 stars):

The second book I read in March, was inspired by a disastrous Real Madrid game (also Chelseadollingreads’s channel), and it’s a book about football. We follow Sebastian, a senior in high school who is the goalie for his high school football team, and spends his last summer at football camp. However, his grand desire to have the best summer ever might becomes more complicated when his estranged childhood friend Emir comes back, and is now on the football team.

I really liked this book; it was very cute and fun, and it focuses on football. While the writing wasn’t the best ever, the characters Winters wrote were believable and very authentic, and it was refreshing to read about a male-male romance, actually written by a man. I recommend it, if you want a contemporary romance, and especially, if you, like me, love Bend It Like Beckham.

The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic (3 stars):

This is one of those OG YA books that when I joined Tumblr in the distant 2012, EVERYONE was talking about. It follows Neil Josten, a teenager on the run, who gets recruited into a D1 Exy team for Palmetto State, where all the demons that haunt him start catching up.

I have made a full, long review of this book, which I’ll link here. I go into a lot of detail there if you want to know my full thoughts; all I’ll say here, is that this is one of the most affecting books I’ve ever read, and I still think about it constantly, even though I did NOT love it.  

The Raven King by Nora Sakavic (3 stars):

This book threw me into a reading slump. Like the first one, it’s intense as hell, but it has both some major improvements and some MAJOR drawbacks. I have a review of it as well, which is here, where I go over details, but all I’ll say is that I have never needed trigger warnings more for a book, than I did for this one.

The Wicked + The Divine Vol. 1- 4 by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie (4, 4, 4, 4 stars):

The Wicked + The Divine is a series I had read before, but I had never finished or really remembered much about. So now, as this series is coming to a close, I decided to give it another try and finish it; and I really, really liked it.

The series follows a group of teenagers who are part of the Pantheon; a group of Gods reborn in the bodies of teens in 2014, UK. All the teens are superstars, but they will all be dead 2 years from the moment they become Gods. Laura, a teen who is obsessed with the Pantheon, gets involved in an epic conspiracy full of drugs, sex and murder; and possibly Godhood.

This series is a blast; the story is original, very captivating and revolves a lot around music, the cult of the superstar, love, and fandom. If you haven’t read this series yet I urge you too, especially if you are a fan of music and rock stars; it has a plethora of interesting, diverse characters, and the art is amazing: all volumes have been 4 stars for me so far, which I don’t think has ever happened in a series.

Shades of Magic: The Steel Prince by V E Schwab and Andrea Olimpieri (4 stars):

This is the first volume in an ongoing series written by V E Schwab and set in her Shades of Magic Universe. It mostly follows King Maxim Maresh, when he was much younger, before he became known as the Steel Prince, as he first arrives to the Iron Coast. This first volume has him go up against a Pirate Queen with bone-magic, which was pretty cool.

I think I liked this volume a bit more than I should’ve. I really liked the story, but I found that 4 issues were just too short to really develop all the things that happen in this volume. A lot happens, but it all happens so quickly, that I think concepts that could have been explored better, were over too quickly. I still thought this volume was a lot of fun, and I will definitely continue in the series.

Isola Vol. 1 by Brandon Fletcher and Karl Kerschl (4 stars):

Last month I started Fletcher’s other series, Motor Crush, and this month I decided to start his fantasy series, Isola. This series follows two characters; a Princess named Olwyn and a soldier named Rook, who set out on a journey to find the fabled island of Isola where they could turn Olwyn back into a human, after she’s cursed to be a tiger. On their journey they have to contend with forest spirits, animal gods and hunters, as well as a conspiracy to plunge the Kingdom into war.

I liked this first volume a lot; I found the start a bit confusing, but once I got into the story, I ended up really enjoying it. The art is gorgeous, and the setting is unique and beautiful; if you can handle the first 2 issues, and you like Studio Ghibli films, you will probably like this series.

Paper Girls Vol. 1- 2 by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang (3, 4 stars):

On my never ending quest to catch up with all the comic book series I have been reading, I started a reread of Paper Girls. This series follows 4 paper girls who get caught up in a conspiracy involving time travel, pterodactyls and possibly aliens while delivering papers the morning after Halloween.

This is a super fun series. I really liked the characters, the art is gorgeous, and I am interested to see where it will take the plot. Vaughan is great at creating characters that are complex, albeit not always likable, and that’s mostly what keeps me glued to his series.

Snotgirl Vol. 1- 2 by Brian Lee O’Malley and Leslie Hung (2, 3 stars):

I picked this up on a whim, as I was looking at my spreadsheet of comics I want to read/catch up on. It’s a strange little series; it follows Lottie, a fashion blogger, and her increasingly weird friendship with Caroline, another blogger who seems to attract death around her. It’s a series about pretty people being petty, awful and sometimes funny, and if you are not a fan of unlikable characters, and slice of life stories, I don’t think you will like this much.

[press-a-repeatedly]

Zul’s Top 9 Games of 2018

By Zul Edwards

Heyyy it’s me. I’m back! What a year! 2018 has come and gone and many awesome games have been played by everyone here at PAR. The votes were tallied, the results are in, and I am included in that bunch. However, some of the games I played and loved this year were no-shows on our list. Some AMAZING games that I think deserve a little love on our corner on the internet.  So, I thought, if you out there reading this were interested, (spoiler alert, nobody is) here is my OWN personal top nine games of 2018.

So, let’s get this thing started with my number 9!... oh yeah, I only played 9 games in 2018. heh.

9) No Man’s Sky – So I was one of those gamers who was excited for NMS when it was first announced a few years back. Thought the idea of exploring a quintillion planet was awesome. Then the game came out, I heard it sucked, and I ignored it. Enter a couple years later when it was on sale, had a ton of updates and new features: true online with friends, customizable characters, base building, and a brand-new story. However, it wasn’t enough to keep me hooked. Don’t get me wrong, I liked exploring the various galaxies and doing various side quests, engaging in dogfights with pirates and mining for space gold, but overall it just still felt so empty, so repetitious, and so… blah. I guess I still prefer quality over quantity, even if the quantity is in the quintillions.  

8) The Alliance Alive – The first on the list of “Games only Zul played this year”. The Alliance Alive is a 3DS game from the creators of the classic “Legend of Legacy”, literally a game I borrowed from Justin, played for all of 30 minutes, then promptly returned to Justin never to be spoken of again. So, to my surprise when he told me the same studio was making another game, The Alliance Alive, but it was helmed by one of the writers of the Suikoden franchise, I was cautiously optimistic. Much to my (pleasant) surprise, the game was good! A blend of classic JRPG turned based battles with flairs of modernization: skills learned through fighting, increased stats based on the location of fighters in battles, and a darker story not usually found in those classic SNES/PS1 RPGs this seems to emulate.  While the main characters fall into some pretty cliché tropes, the side characters really shine. From giant axe-wielding lizard men that remind me of my own D&D character, to a demon-dog-man butler, to a mad child genius scientist who rides a duck robot, this game has a lot of flavor. I really should go back and finish.

7) Chasm – While it’s no secret that I love Castlevania games, I think it’s fair to say I’m not really a giant fan of Metroidvania games. I prefer the simpler side-scrolling action of Castlevania, constantly moving forward towards a goal of smacking Drac in the face with a metal whip, to the backtracking and map completing chore of most Metroidvania games. With that said, something about the less intense and simpler format of Chasm kept me hooked till the end. I didn’t mind backtracking and completing the map in Chasm because it wasn’t as vast or complicated as other games in the genre. It was colorful, had great music, stellar pixel art and a fun yet challenging battle system and platforming. Overall it was a blast to play, but it just got overshadowed in a year filled with superior games.

6) God of War – “WHAT THE FUCK?” I hear you slam on your keyboards as I place the unrivaled GOTY in a paltry 6th place. Don’t get me wrong, this game is good. In fact, it’s VERY good. However, for whatever reason, I guess this game didn’t hook me like it did for everyone else. I only have a passing familiarity with the GoW series. Even though I’m a diehard SonyBoy, I only ever played GoW 1 and never beat it. Kratos and Atreus are some of the best written and best-acted characters to come out of a video game in this year or any year. Hell, if we had a “best new character” category again this year, I would struggle to not put Atreus in the top 3. The music is amazing, the writing is fantastic, the scope, cinematography and the constant one camera perspective were all stellar achievements in the medium of gaming, not to mention I’m pretty much obsessed with all things Norse… BUT. I dunno. Little things kept taking me out of it. Atreus’s sudden, jarring mood swings. The poor pacing in certain parts. The sudden introduction of major characters and/or story elements, that felt kind of brushed over and/or rushed. The lackluster side content, the padding and the empty worlds. The game is good. But it never felt great to me. Most games that I love, I think about when I’m not playing them, then I rush home from work to play them because I want to complete them, either for the story or because the gameplay is addicting, but this game felt more like a chore sometimes. I didn’t even buy it, I just borrowed it from Butch earlier in the year when it came out. I’m sorry Cory. I tried but I just didn’t love this game.

5) Moonlighter – Now here’s a game I absolutely adored. Flew under my radar and was recommended by Nick. By day you’re a humble shopkeeper, selling various wares and curios. By night, (by… MOONLIGHT) you explore dungeons ala Link to the Past style in a top-down view, into randomly generated maps. Each area has different items to collect & new materials to find, which you bring back to the shop to sell, which with the money you earn, can craft new weapons, which will get you further into dungeons, which will mean you find more items to sell which means you make more gold to spend on armor and weapons, which means you can get better materials to keep delving deeper, WHICH MEANS… ahem. Ah yes. That classic feedback loop. It sucked me in. It’s simple but effective in keeping me engaged. Coupled with a great art style, fluid beautiful pixel graphics and a surprisingly good amount of story for this type of game, Moonlighter took a nice chunk of my time early in the year.

4) Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom – Another entry in “Games only Zul played this year”, NNK2 was a surprise hit for me. I never played NNK1 and heard rather negative things about it from Nick over the years. I bought NNK2 on a whim months after it came out because it was on sale and I was craving a good JRPG, and it did not disappoint. I loved pretty much everything about this game. The music, the story, the beautiful not quite Ghibli, but practically Ghibli art style, the characters, the mechanics, the town building, the combat… it was everything I was looking for. There were certainly parts in the middle that lagged a bit, and the general “go to town > solve town’s problem > make an alliance with the town” could be considered cliché or predictable, but every town felt unique and its inhabitants all felt genuine. Recruiting citizens into your kingdom and assigning them all a role in your castle was a time sink I didn’t realize I would be so into, but I think I spent more hours on that than anything else in the game. And it also gets marks for being the other child in a video game besides Atreus, King Evan, that I didn’t want to strangle, and in fact by the time the credits rolled, he’d probably be #2 or 3 in Best Character of the Year for me.

3) Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Now as far as JRPGS go, Dragon Quest is the ultimate grand-daddy, even more so than Final Fantasy, but it was a series I never really got into. I played some previous games in the series and found passing enjoyment in a couple titles but never enough to ever want to complete a game or seek out other entries in the series. That all kind of changed when I played DQ 11. DQ has never really strayed too far from its classic turn-based JRPG roots. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” would be their mantra I assume, and I love it. In a time when the turn-based system is all but gone from genre giant Final Fantasy, DQ has instead chosen to stick with it, and fully master the dying style. It was hands down the best JRPG I’ve played all year, and probably one of the best I’ve played in several years. It has everything: a great story, compelling characters, awesome music, amazing art style, engaging combat, fun side quests, a challenging yet fair difficulty curve, and it’s actually, really funny on top of all that. While the length might scare people away, (I clocked in right around 120 hours after getting the platinum trophy for 100% completion of the game) it’s some of the best time I spent gaming in a long time. It’s a classic in a modern era. It’s weird, if you said to teenage Zul “one of your favorite JRPGs ever will be Dragon Quest 11, and one of your least favorite JRPGs will be Final Fantasy 15”, he would never have believed you… but here we are.

2) Monster Hunter World – Ah yes. The one oddball in my gaming repertoire. I think we all have one of these, right? That one game/series that for whatever reason, sits outside your normal gaming habits, yet you love it, nonetheless. Maybe you love Halo and FPS games, but you also really like Animal Crossing for some reason. Or maybe you’re a diehard Dark Souls series fan but just can’t get enough of Cooking Mama as well. Variety is the spice of life they say, and while I’m primarily a “character & story first, RPGs, video games are art” kind of dude, something about smashing Monsters in the face with a giant hammer has kept me hooked on the Monster Hunter series for nearly 10 years. I love the challenging but fair battles, the deep customization, the various weapons and armors for both male and female hunters, the varied and unique monsters that all have their own ecology, musical themes, and battle styles you must learn and adapt to if you want to survive. It’s also linking up with friends (or even strangers online) and tackling a beast as a team. For all these reasons and so much more, this series sunk its claws in me from the very first time I played it, and it hasn’t let go. Monster Hunter World is the next-gen, beautifully realized game I’ve wanted for years; and it took the story, art, gameplay, and fun I’ve come to expect from this series to another level.

1) Red Dead Redemption II – I honestly don’t know how to write about this game. I can say all the other things I’ve said up until now about how great the music is (it’s amazing), how varied and alive the characters feel (they’re amazing), how stunningly awe-inspiring the scenery is or how fluid and lifelike the character animations are (they’re amazing), how the story and personal journey of Arthur Morgan literally brought me to tears more than once (he’s #1 in Best Characters btw. And they’re amazing), how rich every side quest is, how fun the mini-games are, how great the dialogue is, or any of the other truly breath-taking aspects of the game, but I don’t think I could do them justice. Hell, I don’t even know how to put them into words myself inside my own head. To me, this is one of those games that surpasses all of that. Yea, it has flaws, every game does, everyTHING does, but to me, it’s perfect, warts and all.  I can’t give it much higher praise than that, and it is absolutely the best game I played in years. When a game can give me an extensional crisis during some of its final moments, I think it’s safe to say that It’ll stick with me and has undoubtedly set a very high bar for all future games. The team at Rockstar outdid themselves and have my thanks for bringing this game into the world.

PHEW. Well, that’s it. Top 9 games of 2018 according to Zully Boy. Another great year in gaming for me personally and here’s to another great year in 2019! Lots to look forward to, and hopefully some hidden gems that’ll surprise me along the way. Happy Gaming everyone!

[thekimmiandjackieshow]

A Magically Cheap Mickey Breakfast

My program was just a month away from being over. I wasn’t extending into the summer and I wasn’t planning on ever coming back to do another program. I had one month left to complete the bucket list that I had created almost a year before. It sat in a notebook that had remained untouched for the entirety of my program - something I had hoped was indicative of how much fun I was having around the parks. When I flipped through the list though, I realized there was so much I had planned out that I hadn’t done yet. While everything I did was fun and memorable, most of it wasn’t on my original list of things to do. Some things on the list no longer interested me. For example, I had “Meet every character” written down. I thought that maybe I’d become more of a character meeter during my program, despite never being interested in doing so at Disneyland. After meeting one or two characters towards the beginning, however, I realized nothing had changed and I still wasn’t as obsessed with meeting characters as some of my friends. It also meant that my new autograph book I bought at the beginning of my program was almost entirely empty. 

I crossed a few things off my bucket list that I had managed to do, colored over the ones I was no longer interested in, and focused on doing the last few on my list that I had considered “absolute must do’s” before I had gotten to Florida. One of them was having breakfast at Trail’s End. So, I texted Eduardo, made a reservation for the two of us plus his friend, and put it on the calendar. 

It was a gorgeous morning. Not too hot, not too humid, and plenty of breeze. We decided we’d go to Trail’s End to start the day, head over to Cast Connections, and finish the day at Animal Kingdom. 

Trail’s End was a popular breakfast spot at Walt Disney World. A buffet style breakfast conveniently located just a ferry ride away from Magic Kingdom (although not the easiest to get to from any other location), it was a favorite for many. For Cast Members, it was even more loved, especially during the holidays. During the holidays, dining discounts are raised to give Cast Members an extra percentage off, instead of their normal dining discounts. I don’t remember exact numbers but I’m fairly certain it was $14 for all-you-can-eat Mickey waffles and other breakfast options. I was excited.

I walked through the parking lot of The Commons, loving life. With perfect weather and a perfect day ahead, it was hard to not be happy. Days like those make me miss my program. I was so ready for the breakfast everybody had raved about and was excited about checking another thing off my bucket list. It turns out that Fort Wilderness is one of those “limited parking” situations, so Cast Members are often looking for proof that you have a reservation so you can park there. I imagine some people also try to park there for free and take the ferry to Magic Kingdom so that they don’t have to pay for parking at the TTC. Once my reservation was verified I parked near the bus depot. I had never visited the campgrounds at Fort Wilderness so I was a little surprised to see that there were more buses than just the ones to get to the parks. There were several different colored routes and then a bus dedicated to going back and forth from Settlement to Outpost. Trail’s End was located at Settlement, in the back corner of the campgrounds. We boarded the bus to Settlement and headed to the back of the campground.

The bus ride was interesting. Some families on the bus were headed to Magic Kingdom for the day and were going to Settlement so they could board the boat to Magic. Other guests were on board with a shower caddy and towels so they could take their showers for the day. Then, there were people like us, headed to Trail’s End for breakfast. It turns out that Settlement Depot is also where the infamous Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue was, a place I had never been to either despite hearing so much about it. Overall, Settlement Depot was a pretty place with horses and trails. It was hard to believe you were in Central Florida.

The adventure in getting there was most of the story, although it ended up being a common theme throughout the day - a story for a later time. We spent the morning laughing, talking, and catching up all while eating some of the best Disney breakfast I had ever had.

We paid our inexpensive bill and ducked out, ready to head out to our next adventure. It was honestly times like those where I took being a Cast Member for granted. We were surrounded by guests who were trying to squeeze in a breakfast at Trail’s End before racing around a park and hitting up their Fastpasses, yet we were in no rush. Families at nearby tables had maps of the parks and phones out, planning their day, but we had maps memorized and our game plan was much more relaxed. Even though my program was coming to a close, I still didn’t have the sense of urgency that a family has while visiting Walt Disney World for just a week. While other families paid their bills in a hurry and raced over to the boats to get to Magic Kingdom, we casually strolled back to our car before heading on to our next thing. We knew very well that if we didn’t do everything we wanted to do that day, another day would give us the chance to do so. It’s really remarkable how easy it was to lose sight of that magical ability that is truly only known by those living nearby, but that day we all felt really lucky. Our next stop for the day planned to take advantage of those Cast Member perks even more, and I was so excited.

[freelydifferentpoetry]

Fourth. Blog. Ever.

So, i kinda got a little side tracked from my original 30 day plan. Life gets in the way sometimes, if you can relate to that. So I’m starting over. And todays topic is 20 facts about myself. :) 

I love stuff like this because I can admit that I love talking about myself like most people do. And I love that every time I do one of these lists, it changes. Like 20 more things have become more relative to my life now than it was before. I think the last time I made one of these lists, I was probably around 23. I’m 26 now, so lets see if i’ve gotten any more mature. :D

1. I love getting my nails done, but hate it at the same time. I just paused in the middle of typing this to clip my nails because they were too long to type even though that was a terrible idea. One nail flew off and cut me in the cheek. I love having fresh pretty nails, but I am very impatient when it comes to sitting there to get them done. I feel good being pampered, but I also feel awkward just sitting there and letting this lady do my nails like this cool thing I saw on Pinterest or Instagram and she’s probably judging how long my nails have grown out since I last got them touched up. I should probably go do that. :P

2. I own 2 kitties, and a dog. Pets are children, if you disagree with that I can’t be friends with you. I spoil them with Christmas gifts every year, and love coming home and snuggling with them. I have Oreo, who is my oldest. Shes a tabby cat. I’ve had her since I was 10 years old, and shes been a great companion all these years. She may not be the most affectionate cat, but she’s never been mean and she always knows when I’m upset and will come lay by my side. I got through many break ups because of her. Tucker, is my crazy one. He’s bipolar, very independent like cats can be, but I wouldn’t change him for the world. He’s also the most affectionate towards me, and loves to jump on my lap and rub his face all over my face. But when he’s done, he’s done. He’ll bite me and run off. My dog is Nero. Hes got such a wonderful personality. He’s goofy and ditsy, but very smart at the same time. I love the expressions dogs make, the way they smell, and the way no matter what you do or any mistakes you make, they’re there to greet you with tail wags and lots of kisses. <3

3. Current Obsessions: Sloths, Disney, Tattoos, Rainbow/mermaid/unicorn hair, Spongebob, Vanilla Caramel Iced Coffee from Dunkin, Betsey Johnson, Game of thrones, Panic at the Disco, Stranger things, Rom Coms, and Makeup.

4. I already have my dream job at 26. I’m a hairstylist and I wouldn’t change that for the world. The only thing I would say is trust your stylist when she tells you you’re not going to be platinum blonde in one visit. Hair can only lift so many levels in one sitting without falling on the floor. At my salon we say you have to be a pumpkin before you can be a princess. :)

5. I already also own my dream car, a Suburu brz. But I got rearended 4 days after I bought it, and even though no damage happened I am now terrified every time I drive it.

6. On that note, I have HORRIBLE anxiety. I worry about everything. I try to talk myself out of it, but my mind doesn’t let me. Its awful. I can think about something I said to someone months ago and worry it came across wrong. I worry more about disappointing other people than I do disappointing myself. Its crippling, i’d love to see a psychiatrist but I can’t afford that.

7. I hate anything scary. Movies, haunted houses, shows, being scared...that adrenaline rush does nothing for me but make my anxiety worse. My boyfriend has American horror story on right now and i’ll prob be having nightmares tonight.

8. I like playing video games when I can find ones I really enjoy. Spyro, crash bandicoot, kingdom hearts, and alice: madness returns are a few faves. I also still really enjoy pokemon go, but because I have no one that will play it with me I don’t play often.

9.  I have a boyfriend of almost 6 years, and I bug him almost every day to propose. We are hopefully going to buy our first home within the next few months though, and that’s exciting.

10. Celeb crush is Jared Padalecki. Obsessed. 

11. I’m about to pay off my credit card debt which is super exciting, i’ve had that shit for like almost 2 years. Hallelujah!

12. I desperately want to be healthy but I cant find the motivation to do it.

13. I still sleep with a stuffed animal, solely because the shape of them are the perfect thing to hug when I fall asleep. Currently have thumper and I fall asleep holding his paw.

14. Fried okra is my favorite food. But i could also eat mexican or italian food every day.

15. I used to dominate at Guitar Hero, but I just played it a few weeks ago and I was terrible. It really upset me.

16. I think about my future wedding all the time even though i’m not engaged yet. I can’t wait for that day to come and to start a family. I feel like my life hasn’t begun until I’m a wife and a mom. 

17. I always have to have the latest smartphones, even though I really don’t use them to their full potential.

18. I really want to spend at least 2 months travelling Europe.

19. My little brothers are my favorite people in the world. 

20. I learned it was really hard to pick 20 things about myself :)