#well i already hide 90% of my life to them. so whats new

[v1rtualtrash]

Right as im fucking thinking of coming out to my parents they start going on about their shitty right wing politics i sweart to god im going to blow up the pentagon

[kanmom51]

Time to wrap up and close shop.

3 years.

That takes us back to when?

2020?

I guess it is time for me to say my goodbyes, accept that JM and JK are not together and that Tae and JK are married.

But...

Before I go, I guess I have a few questions...

Can't help but wonder when this happened and how exactly Tae agreed to marry JK after JK sucked on his soulmate's ear and tattooed his soulmate's name on his hand.

Was it before or after Tae's soulmate sucked on JK's neck and JK, his husband then already (?) paraded said hickey around for all to see, caressing it so lovingly and proudly?

Kind of wondering how this marriage is working back in 2020-21 with JK and JM living together.

So, Taekook married while JK is keeping on holding JM?

And bridal carrying JM in LV.

And telling JM he loves him out loud and the finger hearts.

Always the finger hearts.

Wow, what a show JK was putting on...

Talk about dedication.

Hiding out in a dark corner touching... JK probably knew the camera was coming, he had to. Same with his arm on JM's waist.

And talking about waists... was this really necessary?

And all these latest lives. It must have been Tae's way of supporting his soulmate. Must have been. No other explanation why his hubby would be acting like a love sick puppy every single time JM showed up in the comments, or dedicate a full 90 minute live to JM.

See that smile?

Definitely put on, and all for the love of his beloved husband, who, btw didn't publicly congratulate his soulmate himself for his first solo album, or for his record breaking achievements. Nope. He sent JK to do it for the two of them.

Ok, I guess the joke is over.

Because if I don't stop here there might just be some that will actually think I'm serious.

Taekookers are reeling. They are devastated and throwing punches in every direction possible.

This one, TKK being married for 3 years is a new one. Well, sorry, I lie. Not first time I've heard the marriage story. The 3 years is new. The level of delusion here is wow, hard to describe. The story I heard was of marriage in LV, adoption of 2 little American kids, living with Tae at home. Sorry, with Taekook at Tae's. These beautiful children they adopted in LV and are now raising together.

So yeah, there's that level of delusion.

Now with Taenni out and public we have new stories.

We have the denial, of course, with the stories about cosplayers, all disproven (these fuckers stooped so low they stole a woman's photos claiming her to be the Jenni cosplayer only for her to go public about it).

And then you have those that are still towing the line and claiming it's all a publicity stunt.

Cause yep, the 2 super popular idols in the 2 biggest Kpop bands in the world need to have a supposed relationship to boost either of their popularity and help their careers.

Fucking morons.

a. Seriously? These two need that to boost their publicity. These two rival companies working hand in hand to create this fake relationship going on for over 18 months to what? Have Tae go from 58.8 million followers to 58.9 million. Talk about a failure of such an elaborate plan... Lest we forget about the hate Jenni has been getting all this time from TKKs all this time. Definitley a publicity stunt.

b. I'm infuriated at how ignorant these people are. Because with even minimal understanding of Kpop culture they would know that for an idol to go public with a relationship there is a price to pay. Idols don't have the right to have private lives. They don't have the right to have relationships, especially not in the prime of their success. the very few who had gone public with their relationships in the past had done so before marriage. They apologised for having a personal life.

Moon Hee Jun, Taeyang, Chen, Bobby.

The fact that there are so few of them should be an indicator as how this really is not a career helping move.

Having a personal life, being in a relationship, being emotionally unavailable for your fans is not a publicity stunt in Kpop. It can be a career killer. And even if it doesn't kill the career, it definitley does not promote it, quite the opposite in the short run.

And Tae, well he's already paying a price. We already saw all the angry fan messages about how they were betrayed by him, about how he's supposed to be theirs. Putting him together with JK is an easy fix, it's not realistic, it keeps him available for them (well in their twisted minds).

So yeah, definitely not a publicity stunt.

And then you have those that are turning on him. Well on the whole maknae line, because why not? Why not bring JK and JM in on this if you can (especially JM, right)?

The ones that are mad that he is in an actual relationship with another woman, the scorned.

The ones that are now angry claiming the maknae line were queerbaiting.

Like wtf?

How in the fucking hell were TKK queerbaiting?

Real genuine affection for the others? Yes.

Fanservice? Heck yeah.

Tae is the king of fanservice and teasing and flirting with the members. He loooooves it. And some play along more than others. As a matter of fact JK is one of those that plays along the least. But again, TKKs lack the brain capacity to watch original content and see that.

The hugs and affection and closeness isn't put on. It's genuine.

As for JM and JK, well they aren't fucking queerbaiting. They are just literally f***ing.

When Taenni did this, went public (and again, this was their choice of doing, walking hand in hand by the Saines river, identifiable managers walking 5 steps behind, Tae stopping to give autographs to fans),

I knew this would come back to hit us too. But you know what? I don't mind it. I love Tae and Jenni for this. They are very brave, both could pay a price for it. Tae is literally telling us all, the industry and the fans, that his personal life takes precedent. I love him for that.

We talk about BTS being the trailblazers, and this is the start of it....I hope.

[colourstreakgryffin]

Yandere! Romantic! KNY Shinazugawa Sanemi Headcanons

(My apologises that the pic is bad. I had to cut out the background since spoilers and would prefer to be careful)

(Sixth posstttt, let’s go! Three more to go! This one’s scarier at least to me than Shinobu! Welcome the great lord of the winds, he’ll take your breath away!)

Sanemi as a romantic Yandere has the Yandere traits of; Delusional, Loving/Clingy, Murderous, Possessive, Overprotective, Scary, Devoted and Twisted

- A new Hashira you say? Well, that doesn’t really bother Sanemi at all. In-fact, he is secretly grateful that the Corps is getting more reliable firepower for this ongoing war. You’re strong, he likes you as a fellow but he’s not really a chatter. It’s you who has to start conversations

- Sanemi is actually one of the hardest Hashira or perhaps, the hardest to evolve into a Yandere for his love interest(beats Gyomei and Shinobu by a long shot). He is very closed-off and keeps his interactions with people, other than pleasantries with his fellow Hashira, to a minimum. Though, he is emotionally weak to a kind, gentle and warm-hearted person like you.

- You ripped his heart out and sent it away on powerful gushes of wind. Sanemi is originally conflicted about his growing feelings for you. Not because he hates you, but because getting too close to people always makes them disappear. He has, like Giyuu, dealt with a lot of loss in his life and would prefer to stay out of your life

- Though, he is losing his composure around you. He can’t stay his usual intimidating, unbothered self when you’re in the picture. His rapidly beating heart and screaming head is telling him to talk to you. And after quite a few months, he decides to try stir up a friendship

- A bare friendship is not what he wants though. You’re available and so is Sanemi. It’s so perfect that it seems to be fate. He already has the right method to swoop in and take your heart like you took his

- Sanemi, honestly, does take the longest to befriend and connect with but takes a bit less time to become a full-fledged Yandere, though, he is a very scary Yandere. Like Shinobu, Sanemi will have rising jealous anger over other people taking away your time

- That single mix of anger and jealousy forms his Yandere traits overtime with the more he sees you and those horrible thoughts attack his senses until they override his entire perception. His goal, no longer, is protecting humankind from demons, his goal now is to win your heart and make you his wife. And he will never have a issue with what he has to do to get it

- Sanemi has about NO limits, as mentioned in the Obanai post. He’ll do literally anything and everything he possibly can to make you love him back. He’ll hunt down his fellow Hashira, he’ll hunt down the Upper Moons, he’ll slit his own wrists. He takes the phrase “anything for you” to a extremely extreme

- Sanemi is delusional as f**k, and that delusion has gifted him a bit— just a LITTLE bit— of entitlement over you. He furiously demands that you stay at his Estate and blocks your every escape attempt until you’re forced to follow the Hashira’s request. His delusion makes him believe you have to leave for a important reason, not because you don’t wanna see him anymore. Though, he doesn’t accept that

- Sanemi will kill love rivals and he kills with literal pleasure. He is definitely more murderous than Shinobu, though, he sees a reason to hide it. Like Giyuu, he doesn’t want you to view him as a monster because he took a life or two or… maybe five. So, he keeps his murderous thoughts about the people he flirt with you a secret well until either he or you is away on Hashira duty to take care of the little issue

- Like about 90% of the Hashira, the all-so-feared Wind Hashira won’t lay his hands on you in the slightest, no matter how mad at you or mad in general he gets. He may verbally abuse you every once and a while but that’s mainly out of frustration. You’re not understanding his point of view, and you rejecting his statements without hearing any of them out is eating away at his patience

- Sanemi’s a ticking time bomb that will explode into one gigantic explosion once he’s pushed past his own limits but he’ll grow back as a calm, timid little fuse. He is a lot sweeter than he is horrible in all honesty, his temper tantrums are rare but they’re deadly

- Sanemi is quite possessive over you, rather this be before or after he has forced you into dating him. Stop smiling at that creep! Your super cool, strong, loving boyfriend is right here! Nobody else is like him, he is a Hashira and a powerful one too. There is no competition, those people don’t have anything on Sanemi but his confidence there doesn’t stop him from getting furious over people simply complimenting your appearance and makes him chase them away

- The only person Sanemi is soft and vulnerable with is you. He willingly shows his secret gentleness whilst he is clinging onto you and spitting out random compliments. You make him unbelievably happy and for that feat, he will treat you with the highest love and care possible. He apologises for his outbursts and makes it his mission to win back your smile

- “I’m sorry, okay… I just… I need you to listen to me more. I’m only trying to protect you, you know that I love you, right? Well, do I. I love you more than life, and your happiness is mine, your safety is mine. See? I don’t wanna hurt you and I’m sorry for snapping…”

- Sanemi, as mentioned before, has lost a lot throughout his entire life and that trauma caused him to cling onto you desperately. Just stay with him, don’t go outside or go over the rainbow bridge. Stay at the Wind Estate, it’s safe and it’s comfortable. Sanemi is attached to you to a extreme-extreme and will drown you in his overwhelming love

- Gifts, hugs, kisses, attention, fun events. All of these are fruitful attempts to keep you happy and also expressions of his love for you. You deserve the world in Sanemi’s mind and he’ll move the heavens and earth to give you what you deserve

- Shinazugawa— more like Overprotectzugawa as he will never let you go out alone without him and his trusty katana. No matter how peaceful the road may seem, anything could happen and his anxiety is also very extreme so he’ll force himself into whatever you wanted to do to ensure no demon dares to lay a hand on you. Your safety (with happiness) is his top priority and if being overprotective keeps that, he’ll do it

- His devotion to you is endless. He doesn’t even look at other girls anymore, why would he enjoy the sight of any of those disgusting sl*ts when the most beautiful angel ever is by his side. However, his devotion is almost psychotically intense as he obsesses over being able to bask in your looks, he has a entire notebook full of drawings of you and has even carved your full name into the pec over his heart

- Sanemi is the type of Yandere to have a powerful trait of twisted. He is the embodiment of a real threat in his Yandere mindset. He is very mentally unsound and it makes him a danger to everybody around you, and I mean EVERYBODY as not even the Hashira nor the Master have defence against Yandere Sanemi. He is extremely erratic, he raises his katana to attack in a split second, he has intense mood swings that go from calm to murder and worse, his obsession with you gets bigger till he starts stealing and/or going through your belongings to please himself

- Do you think about a married life and/or having children? Sanemi does. He wonders why he thinks about it so much, alongside you. Is it because he wants to make himself a new family? It must be. He won’t do anything right now, this world needs to recover from the Demon disaster but once the Demon King falls, Sanemi will work and work to create the best future for you

- Sanemi is, once again, conflicted. Should he kidnap you? It would solve all of the issues but it would further ruin your relationship with him! He doesn’t really know what to do but he does hate each time you finally leave his Estate. At the moment, Sanemi won’t take away your freedom but always be prepared, he’ll make up his mind any day now

- Sanemi is scary in the sense of his unhealthy obsession over you. He values learning about you, watching you sleep at night and getting to look after you very much and he proudly rants on every little detail about you he has till the point your horrified by how deranged he’s become. He is also scary in his anger towards others, he unleashes dangerous threats after death threats and the argument he started gets so bad that you’ll have to knock him out to prevent a murder escalation

- You’re his, his love now and beyond this life. Nobody else should be able to breathe the same air as you and you just having friends disgusts Sanemi. All you will ever need is with him! Those limbless pathetic pieces of s**t called people don’t know you and will devote their life to you in the same way Sanemi does!

- “Can’t you just stay here for more than a few hours? Like, what’s the problem? My Estate is just like yours. Am… am I scaring you or something? Me, scary? It’s because I like fighting demons, huh? Well. Stop being ridiculous and get rid of that thought, I love you and I want you to stay because I love you, isn’t that clear?”

[elvenbeard]

Basking in your warmth ~

Poses by @arcandoria Flower Props by @pinkyjulien

HHHHHHH ökajshdfasf ;___; ramblings incoming don't mind meeeee.

Okay listen like... everything about this has me on my hands and knees. The lotus as a symbol of rebirth fits both of them so well like, for obvious reasons. They're both getting another shot at life in their story and get to find each other and often understand each other better without words. Y'know, the kinda relationship where it's like "where have you been all my life" but also feeling like you've already known each other for ages. Johnny being stuck in Vince's head surely contributes a little bit to the kind of familarity, but it goes way beyond that. Both Vince and Kerry know what it's like to forge your own path, work your way up from the very bottom, even if they had different starting points. Vince knows what it's like to fall, and Kerry is so scared of it, I'd like to think he can easy many of his fears or at the very least understand them well and be supportive. Kinda like "I'll catch you if you fall".

Then the poses aösdhfasdfadsf first of all the love poured into making them, the love for detail in the placement of every finger ;__; I'm such a sucker for it. And this set in particular idk... It kinda gives off biiig "I love your body exactly how it is, with all its (perceived) imperfections" vibes, idek why... But like, both of them have been through a lot. Vince, even though he is very comfortable in his body at this point, still struggles with his body image and dysphoria sometimes. He does not hide his scars, but even though they are healed well by now, there's "imperfect" aspects about them he is insecure about. And in general, with every new guy he meets that he could imagine being with there's always the nagging feeling at the back of his head "am I going to be enough the way that I am?" And I think in a way that's something Kerry can understand only too well, even as a cis guy. He's been so in the public eye, so perceived constantly, probably underwent a lot of the treatments and operations to give him that kind of appearance and body as a nearly 90-year-old man... he also must've been standing in front of the mirror more often than not wondering "am I ever gonna be enough?" for anyone, at any point in time.

aösjhdfasfjasdf incoherent ramblings end! I just... love them so much okay ;_; Most unlikely of couples at first glance, but they have so much that connects them below the surface, and they deserve their cosy, peaceful happy ending with each other.

[goferwashere]

FELL FOR THE HYPNOSIS !

omg omg okay first question.. what was it like for Disco Kid being possessed / realizing he's possessed for the first time ? how did he feel, what was his reaction, was he scared ?? how does he come to terms with it and does it affect his day to day life ?

SECOND im soo curious as to how Tiger gets all this dirt on ppl . like is he a realllly good listener or is he just rlly sly ? or is it something more of him playing a clueless role so that the others that are monsters will trust him ? WHATS ALL THAT ABTT HES NOSEYYY

third i have no excuse for this one but im a big fan of Soda and Bull being fond of each other but if i remember correctly, in this AU Soda isn't so tolerant of monsters ... did that muddle their relationship ? does Soda know abt his close friend being a monster ? HOW DOES IT GOOOOO

I COULD COME UP WITH MORE BUT IM LITERALLY GOING CRAZY NOT KNOWING THE ANSWERS TO THESE ONES AND I DONT WANNA TAKE UP ALL YOUR TIME !! thanks 4 seeing this if u do and THANK U FOR GIVING US SUCH A SICK ASS AU !! 🩷

YAYYYYY ILY BUGGY YOU ALWAYS COME IN CLUTCH HELPING ME W MY BRAINROT

Okay I’ll go one at a time & sorry if they’re a bit long lol

1. Disco pulled up to the wrong address when going dancing, and didn’t know it until it was too late. He was going through his run down building expecting to find a race happening in one of the rooms, but this place was actually an abandoned WVBA building. They had a big dip in popularity in between the mid 90’s and the late 2000’s, and they had to get rid of a few of their properties. This place just so happened to be the building that Kid Quick died in. So obviously having his resting place disturbed ‘woke him up’, and he checked out the guy wandering around the building. He looked fit, and kinda reminded him of himself, so he just kinda… walked into his body. Quietly.

Disco felt a weird shiver, and definitely felt off when it happened, but nothing was obviously out of the ordinary so he brushed it off. He eventually found the right address and partied the rest of the night away.

Quick rode shotgun in Disco’s body for at least a few weeks without saying anything. He did feel kinda bad, and was definitely going to say something eventually (he was not.) so when Disco saw a translucent guy sitting on his couch trying to turn on his TV he almost passed out.

Quick freaked out and tried to wake him up, but only ended up possessing his body, which freaked both of them out further. (Okay well maybe Quick was excited to have a body again but Disco was NOT a happy camper.)

It was a miracle that Quick convinced Disco not to call an exorcist. But they sat down and had conversation about their lives, like old friends. When Quick told his story about dying in the ring, Disco offered to help him out. He seemed like a chill guy and as long he didn’t run away with Disco’s body he was okay with sharing.

The rest was history! (Again I am working on that oneshot where they’re the protags so I hope I can finish that soon 😋)

2. OKAYY so Tiger is all about playing dumb. He’ll intentionally act clueless about situations he already knows all about to see if he can get new info, or will see how the person he’s talking to feels about what’s going on.

Example if Aran and Macho Man were beefing, he’d *conveniently* pass by and go to both of them separately later, without telling them that they’d talked to the other person. He can get a read on their vibe yk?

He also uses his magic to hide himself when important conversations are being had, or will send a clone to gather info if he’s busy. He’s running a whole operation. He has to know about everything that’s happening, because how can he tease people with knowledge he shouldn’t know if he doesn’t know anything at all?

I do think some of the other boxers have just kinda accepted that nothing is a secret from him.

But I think the big mystery he’s really after is Sandman’s identity. Like he wants to know if he’s a human or monster SOOO BAD. He knows that would be world ending knowledge so that’s his ultimate goal. No luck so far though.

3. Soda and Bull were both initially on good terms and had a lot of respect for each other until their first fight. Bull saw how hard Soda was pushing to try and beat him, to the point where he thought Soda was going to die from over exerting himself. But in an effort to make a good impression with the other monsters (since he was still relatively new at the time), still beat Soda’s ass.

Soda had received word from Great Tiger beforehand that Bull was actually a monster. He thought that if he could beat him in this fight then somehow it would ‘make up’ for the fact that bull was a monster, and they could carry on with being friends despite their differences.

But Soda lost, and was pretty crushed by the defeat. Their relationship soured after this, though Bull never really knew why. He was upset about it, but some pep talk from the monsters saying that ‘he’s better off hanging out with them’ had bull turn his back on Soda.

ALSO WITH ALL THAT SAID PLEASE TAKE UP MORE MY TIME I LOVE ANSWERING THESE QUESTIONS IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY THAT SOMEONE ELSE IS INTERESTED IN MY AU 🧡

[crossroadsdimension]

Okay okay okay okay. I’ve had some time to go do irl stuff and just chew on this episode so I think I can come in swinging.

With how fast-paced Stampede is, Studio Orange did a really good job with holding Vash’s secrets over our heads, as well as establishing plot and the world.

This’ll get into Ep 7 spoilers (as well as Maximum and Trigun spoilers up to the point Ep 7 ends, along with some of the plot points Stampede covers already), so I’ll put all this under a readmore. That, and this got Very Long.

I’ll be referring to each source as:

Manga/Maximum

90s anime/Trigun

‘23 anime/Stampede

I think firstly, they’re treating this as a half-FMA Brotherhood, half-original work. I say that because it doesn’t entirely follow the original manga (or the 90s anime for obvious reasons), but it does seem to assume you’re coming in knowing these characters from somewhere first. My dad said the two shows “sharpen each other,” so if you approach Stampede knowing that it came from somewhere else and you have that knowledge, it’ll make Stampede all that more enjoyable.

Which is part of the reason why they make clear part of Vash’s origin -- that he was on the spaceships when they crashed -- and that he is a Plant that much sooner than the 90s anime did.

But to get back to Stampede’s episodes -- we have 12 episodes this season, and they wanted to get the groundwork of the plot done as quickly as possible to make sure we’re hooked for what’s coming. That means establishing setting, characters, conflicts, and all the good good world-building that makes people go nuts for characters.

So telling us right off the bat “hey, we’re on a desert world where colony ships crashed” makes sense for episode 1. Get that out of the way, establish setting. Get us introduced to Meryl and Roberto -- the eyes of the new and old fans respectively -- and get us introduced to Vash, in a new form but still the lovable pacifist gunslinger who uses his goofy side as a thin mask to hide his true, quiet, sad, serious self. This gives us most of our main characters for the season.

Then we get Vash’s philosophy in Episode 2 -- save everyone on the planet, no matter who they are or what they do, and no matter how difficult it is to do so.

Episode 3 introduces us to Knives and his cronies, even if we don’t get the name for the organization here. We have established conflict -- Vash’s fight against Knives, and his fight to figure out and hone his philosophy further, to establish the side he fights on.

Episode 4 gives us Wolfwood, and hints that “hey, he may not be here for entirely good reasons.” But it’s good to establish all the main characters early in the plot. That, and this is the start of Act 2 according to Studio Orange, which is a perfect time to bring in someone who represents Vash’s conflict with his philosophy and act as a foil for his character.

Episode 5 establishes the plant cult, their experimentation, and one of the larger hints about Vash and what he is. We had hints before, with the circuitry pattern on his child self in Ep 1-3, and his superhuman sight, excellent marksmanship, and superhuman hearing. But here, it shows us that he hasn’t physically aged in the last 20 years, and this is the first time Meryl and Roberto realize “Oh, we may be in over our heads.” Or, at least, Roberto does. Meryl just smells more of a story than what she’s been told or has heard.

Ep 5 also establishes the conflict between Vash and Wolfwood as foils -- whether or not you have to kill someone, or if you can let them live. This is what Wolfwood is here for. He is a kind man who doesn’t want to kill people, but sees that he has no choice. Vash, by contrast, is a kind man who doesn’t want to kill people, and thinks he has other options, doing everything he can to make them reality. Both are going to show that their outlooks on life are right and wrong, and they’re going to rub off on each other.

Ep 6 goes to establish further information about the plant cult (now given a name, the Eye of Michael), using the “monster of the week” (sorry Livio), and his connection to Wolfwood. More world-building, more fights, and a nice juicy amount of backstory about our traveling undertaker (including Legato’s first appearance!). Not to mention more establishment for Vash’s strange abilities -- I mean, you saw him punch Livio across the deck without winding up for the punch. Skinny plant boy is strong, stronger than the average human.

And then we get to Episode 7 this week, giving us more backstory for Wolfwood and Livio (hence the episode’s title), on the backdrop of the Bad Lads clamoring onto the ship for a robbery and safely bringing Meryl and Roberto on board. Which likely failed because 1) Vash came in and beat them all up in hand-to-hand and 2) they likely saw the ion cannon charging up and decided it was better to skadoodle. At least they have more of a desire to stay alive this time than in Trigun. All episode, we continue to get hints that Vash and Wolfwood are more than the sum of their parts -- pushing the ion cannon away from Hopeland, Vash’s knowledge of Lost Technology, and Vash’s acknowledgement of Wolfwood’s connection to Livio and his eagerness to help Wolfwood “wake Livio up.”

Oh, right. And more development for Legato, who decided he wanted to force Wolfwood to kill Livio and watch his home die because he wanted to make Wolfwood lose his ability to love others and decide that “my home is dead, might as well destroy everything around me and take the world down with me.” Trying to reel a loose cannon in line with that idea is only asking for trouble -- for the instigator. I see Legato getting his head blown open the first chance Wolfwood has.

And to wrap it all up, we end Episode 7 on the reveal that “Oh yeah, by the way, Vash is a Plant. We’ve been dropping hints about his inhuman nature, and it makes sense to confirm it here -- both for the newbies, and the old fans who already know. Time to wrap up this act and start a new one!”

Now, If you’ve read Maximum, they do show Vash talking with a Plant on the sandsteamer, like they did with Stampede’s episode this week. It even happens during a Bad Lads invasion of a sandsteamer, when it goes wild and is about to crash (except in Maximum and Trigun they’re sending it off a cliff). They don’t show this scene in Trigun, however, instead focusing on Kite as he’s using his dad’s plans to save the steamer, redeeming himself for his earlier actions. This artificially lengthens the amount of time folks have to question how Vash knows stuff -- like the robots in Trigun’s Ep 9, where he made a comment about them being well past their expiration date, and knew how to shut down the facility.

I think, when people complain about Stampede showing things “right away,” a lot of it comes from what they remember of the Trigun anime, rather than Maximum. We get larger hints in Maximum, so they give us larger hints in Stampede. Especially when you take into account the “hey, we’re remixing the plot of an old anime and an old manga that people already know.”

All in all, I think Orange is doing a very good job working with what they have, and that will only become more clear the more we move forward, and the more we have to look back on.

And I am very much looking forward to having more of the full picture.

[peterlorres21stcentury]

unpopular opinion: mods should enhance a game, not make it suck less

also sprach Lorrethustra, the endlessly reincarnated

And yet here I am, making some desperately needed improvements to a game that, while fun at first, needed some serious thought and maybe another year in development.

So far I have made the following changes to Starfield with the help of the amazing Bethesda modding community, because I don't have a fucking clue how to create my own mods so I offer naught in return. Notice how entirely simple these problems are:

-Doubled the experience gained from any action (thanks to a second mod, having the well-rested perk from sleeping will quadruple it!)

-Multiplied the amount of credits for each vendor by 10. Because enormous, interplanetary juggernaut corporations of the future only trust their vendors with 5k in virtual monies in a 48 hour period. 🙄 Seriously, it should be 100x that, but I'm trying to be reasonable here.

-Made it so that random quests are not shoved into my mission log just because some guard made a passing comment while I was near. I always hated this method of quest-giving. It felt invasive and annoying even in Skyrim, as it assumes that every character would be willing to delve in that cave or join the Thieves' Guild or make deals with a daedric prince or whatever, but in Starfield it is an absolute plague. If I want your quest I'll ask around for it!! Stop force-feeding your players this bullshit!!

-Furnished the Starborn ship with such extravagant luxuries as: a few chairs on the bridge, and one (1) bed. Because even though I don't use the ship that often, it's still part of my fleet, so I might as well make it a livable space instead of the iphone store-looking, sterile white void we got (seriously, the modder just added some decorative assets that were already present in the game files and intended to be used on the ship. Bethesda CHOSE NOT TO USE THEM WHYYYY

That's about all for now. I was thinking of finding something that increased the storage capacity for outpost containers from 600 units to... something a lot MORE THAN THAT. Why would you make outpost extraction rates so high if you can barely store it all? How can I realize my dreams of becoming an interstellar freight/resource tycoon if my base is nothing but walls of stupid shipping crates (which don't share inventory automatically and need to be connected through a mess of wires even when they, you know, snap together and ought to logically share inventory?? but that's a separate issue)? If the dev team understood their player base at all they'd understand that we are greedy rapacious loot goblins who need moooooooaaaaaaar, damn your hide 👿

I don't know if these decisions were intended as some kind of meta commentary on the nature of your character or what (the Starborn is reborn into new universes chasing their fruitless quest for some vaguely defined power, therefore the meaning of life is suffering and so the player gets diminishing returns on their repetitive journey? Is that what they meant?) but as *cough* deeeeeep and philosophical as that may be, good game design it ain't.

To think I wrote this much all because I wanted a way to level faster than the default pace of "not at all." Because despite the game having no level cap, the game literally does not offer you enough activities to grant the necessary ~500,000 cumulative xp points to reach level 100. Even going through a new game+ multiple times and repeating every single quest will not be enough unless you have literal days of free time. I never felt so starved for perks in Skyrim or Fallout 4, ever, despite the xp rewards being roughly similar. But you spend higher levels in Starfield so very hungry for xp because the curve of points earned per level is, as far as I can tell, near exponential. And the rewards do not scale with your level, nor with game difficulty. A level 90 enemy will always grant something like 120 xp, and you have tens of thousands of xp points to go.

Sorry, but this especially is truly boggling my tiny mind. Not to rant about something so trivial; I am only too keenly aware that this world is filled with actual pain and suffering, but I'd really love to know what they were thinking when they designed such an abominable leveling system. A grindy MMO this ain't, my friends. That next perk point should be a rewarding goal, not an impossible waste of time. It's like one team carried over the xp rewards that would be comparable to Fallout 4 (you get about the same per average enemy, anywhere from 50 to 200 points per kill, I think) and then a separate clueless team said "I mean, it's one level, Michael. What would it cost? A hundred thousand xp?"

I could go on, but I have other things to do today. I want to make it clear: I do not hate this game! A lot of it is incredibly absorbing, and I wish there was more to it (outpost building, crafting, surveying planets). But there should never be this many annoyances and pointless barriers to make these mods a necessity.

[violet-fire-cat]

So many Etho’s. Yes this is all Etho! Doesn’t really look like him in some of them does it, but it is! Vampire Etho is two hundred years old, he’s been around a while! And I wanted to play with designs a bit, figure out how he might have looked like over the years. And of course, how he looked when he was human!

These were a lot of fun and I’m really happy with them! And there’s some of my ramblings, info and stuff under the cut as well if you’re interested!

1820s - Growing up in a little rural town somewhere in Canada in the early 19th century, Etho, then known as Edward Stone, was set to live a pretty ordinary life. Until a stupid mistake and a bit of bad luck left him being attacked by a vampire. After fleeing his home town Etho was on his own, left to figure all of this out for himself. It was hard, and he spent much of his time as a fledgling half-starved and somewhat wild in the woods, only venturing near humans to hunt and feed. No longer effected by the cold, what he wore wasn’t much of an issue and running around barefoot was fine. New, less tattered clothes and a haircut would be nice though. Maybe a bath too. And a hug (but he might bite).

1880s - After sixty years Etho’s an experienced vampire who knows how to navigate the world. Still very solitary though, and mostly keeps to himself. Other vampires were usually dangerous so it was easier to be alone. A little bit wild even now, he’s not the tidiest guy around in how he dresses, but he doesn’t really care. It’s enough to allow him to move through towns without drawing unwanted attention to himself, and that’s all he needs most of the time.

1940s - Oh he looks quite smart here doesn’t he. Now living in the UK with Xisuma’s Court, it’s surprising what a bit of stability and support can do to a mans presentation. Life is definietly easier here, despite the less than ideal state much of the world is in right now. Etho’s happy though, he has friends here. Somewhere in the last sixty years he’s obtained those distinctive scars across his left eye, I wonder what happened there...

1980s - Now he’s starting to look a little more like the Etho we know! He’s left the Court by this point and is living on his own in the city, but he’s still friends with them and hangs out with them a lot like he does in the present. Fashions are changing rapidly, which opened a lot more opportunities for clothes, and he seems to have embraced that a bit! Grew his hair out for the first time, decided he liked it long and was never cutting it short again. The scarf would often get pulled up over his face as a makeshift mask and he realised it worked well for hiding his fangs and he kind of liked that. That coat has a maple leaf on the back as well.

1990s - Etho has discovered hair dye! He’s got a proper mask too! He also started going by the name ‘Etho’ at some point in the 90s, exactly how that happened though I’m not sure just yet. More than once he’s asked why he’s dying his hair blonde when he’s already blonde. He just shrugs and says he likes the brighter colour.

2020s - And here we are at the present. Etho as he is now, how we know him! Fluffy hooded coat, bleached white hair, and all! He’s definietly changed a lot over the years hasn’t he. But, two hundred years is a very long time, so there’s bound to be a lot of changes!

[daylightcommand3]

TMNT 2036

The King and The Hunter

I am currently working on the outline for season 1 of TMNT 2036. I've mentioned all of the characters appearing in the season, except for two. One can be discussed directly, the other must take a more... obscuring view. So without further ado, meet The King and The Hunter.

The King

Splinter finally looked behind himself. At the end of his tail was a knot. But, it was not only his tail. Another rat's tail, the same size, was intertwined with his. His eyes trailed up the tail. A grey body was at the end. It was a rat, a rat as big as him. Its bandages couldn't hide the exposed bloody bones and the rotting green flesh. The head held a glowing, piercing red eye.

Splinter gasped. He instinctively stepped away. His leg shattered. He screamed. A burning carved through his whole body. He collapsed to his good knee.

Between his choking and within the corner of his eye, Splinter saw the body start to stand. From the floor, it grabbed a long, black trench coat and matching wide-brimmed hat, and put them on.

"What's the matter Splinter?" The rat had a hollow, rattling voice. "Don't you recognize your future?" He laughed.

The Hunter

I was hesitant on including Leatherhead at first. He's been done so many different ways. I wasn't sure if I could bring anything new to the table.

However, I soon decided on making a merge between the 1987 and 2012 versions. I wanted this hunter style character to be a devoted ally of the turtles. I also took a smidge of inspiration from Mutant Mayhem and made my Leatherhead female.

Now, I'm about 90% sure on her origin. As stated before in the Bishop post, the X-Triad dumped mutagen on Earth. They did this for at least centuries. However, they eventually discovered that mutagen actually had an effect on the local wildlife, and soon realized this would reflect badly on their society. So, the Obscura Secreti (Mirage) was set up. This organization's goal was to remove all the mutagen and mutants from the planet, as well as cover up the existence of both. (Fun fact: Ch'rell was part of the Obscura Secreti. He considered it a waste of his abilities.) Most mutants were either demutated or killed, however there was one major exception. A mutant alligator possessed the ability to sense and track other mutants. Finding her sense more effective than any of their scanners, the Obscura Secreti used Leatherhead to find mutants, which resulted either the mutant's demutation, or Leatherhead having a nice meal.

Now, the Obscura Secreti would be attacked many times by humanity. Countless human civilizations (such as The Foot Clan) wanted the goo that creates powerful beasts and monsters which in turn could be used to destroy enemies and conquer others. Thus, throughout humanity's history, raid's were carried out on Obscura Secreti facilities in order to take mutagen. One of these raids caused the total destruction of the base, resulting in Leatherhead being let loose in the world.

Over her long life, Leatherhead explored the changing world. She's been across every square inch of the world, both land and sea. She even came across my version of The Hidden City (AKA Y'Lyntias). It's there she learned that she should not eat mutants that can talk.

An incident early into her travels was her encounter with a human hunter, Jack Marlin. Marlin was a fanatical big game hunter, with a focus on unique and real animals. He attempted to hunt Leatherhead.

She ate him.

Fortunately, Marlin tasted really bad, and so she hasn't tried to eat a human since. She did take his clothes and gun. His shotgun, Betsy (the name was etched into it), is Leatherhead's signature weapon. His vest and pants were the first ones she ever wore. She couldn't fit his shirt on (the vest was already being stretched), and before you ask, even as a mutant, she doesn't have breasts. To this day she still wears Marlin's hat, even though it has his name on it.

Eventually, she found herself in New York's sewers. There she found 4 mutant turtles and a mutant rat. She quickly endeared herself to the four young boys with her tales of the world above. The rat was not pleased. Regardless, she became enamored with the family, and began to make an effort to visit regularly between her travels. She saw them grow and their skills improve. Donnie often repaired and even upgraded Betsy. As she visited, their desire to see the surface only grew.

Leatherhead is an aunt/grandma to the turtles. Distinctly a extended relative. Leatherhead is an in-law for Splinter. And Splinter hasn't even been married.

Leatherhead's physical appearance is a mix between 2012 and 1987. Her body is very similar to 2012, though the limbs aren't strangely thin at some places (kinda like the LEGO figure). Her clothing is heavily based on the 1987 version.

(Images of Marlin for further outfit reference)

[claire-starsword]

Shining Force Pre Release Coverage

yes i have made a post about this before but i was a baby with one magazine. Now i’m a big 90s kid who has gone through the entirety of the Beep Megadrive archives from 1991-1994, as one does. Get ready for what might be my biggest post ever, I don’t wanna break it into parts for the timeline vibe.

To contextualize the following dates: the game came out in Japan on March 1992.

October 1991

More cool sword animations for Max. Also it took me way too long to realize this background is also not anywhere in the final game, though the final Gate of the Ancients bg does take a lot from it. Apparently it was once meant to be an indoor location with torches.

Here are screenshots of the map itself. Icons were completely different, and Gort and Mae are there. Obviously this could be just the use of debug features to test the characters, but I suspect their story roles were actually changed and they were meant to be starting characters. More on that later.

there’s also a screenshot of Guardiana with a slightly different layout. There are centaur NPCs in town as opposed to only in the castle, the old man sprite is different, and the little girls are normal as opposed to dragging cats around. In the final version, this little girl sprite is only for Karin, Krin and Koron, the important little girl trio. The bed sprites are also different and kinda failing at perspective.

Besides screenshots, we also get a synopsis.

Centuries before Mephisto’s uprising in Shining in the Darkness... In the continent of Rune, far to the east of Thornwood, many countries big and small lived in endless days of peace. However, the great nation of Rune Faust, wanting to take over all of Rune, plotted to get its hands on the “Legacy of the Gods” inherited by the country of Guardiana since ancient times.

The Legacy of the Gods is said to be both a superweapon and a frightening beast. Whoever attains it can become a god or a devil... But even though the Rune Faust army has invaded Guardiana and ravaged the country for its plans of domination, it hasn’t succeed in finding the legacy...

Meanwhile, the soldiers of Guardiana, forced into a life of wandering after the fall of their country, have risen to the task of defeating Rune Faust. And as they resist against the unknown evil power controlling Rune Faust, people have come to call them “the forces of light”, Shining Force...

The grassy plains of Guardiana, mountains full of precipices, jungles, deadly deserts, rivers where piranhas live, those and other stages await our heroes.

After all, who is the one controlling the powers of darkness? And what is the truth behind the Legacy of the Gods? Hiding many mysteries, a new legend begins now!!

Very basic stuff, but while it might just the drama vibes, it does feel that Guardiana was supposed to get more wrecked, or get wrecked earlier, which would explain Mae and Gort joining earlier as well. Simone narrating the king’s last wishes right in the intro supports that idea as well.

Lastly, we get some character art and info:

(i know it’s hard to see the og text with this resize but hey, that’s why I linked the magazine collection before)

These are the forces of light, “Shining Force”!

“I’m the swordsman protagonist, Max!”

The protagonist of this story, Max. He’s human, but is an expert with the sword and can also use magic. He roams across the continent, leading the Shining Force in its way to defeat Runefaust.

One more for the “Max was meant to have magic” pile.

Archer - Hans

An elf who used to work at Guardiana’s palace. His skill with the bow is first-class.

Very nitpicky detail: Hans’ class is written with kanji here, when it’s written in katakana in the final version.

Knight - Mae

A young centaur warrior. Daughter of the late Knight Captain.

Priest - Lowe

A dwarf who’s a great friend of Max. Currently training at magic.

Shining in the Darkness already had a hobbit priest so i wonder if there’s some miscommunication here. The hobbit discourse is even older than I’d imagined.

Warrior - Gort

A hotblooded dwarf old man and Mae’s servant.

Told you there were changes on these two. There’s no indication of any connection between the two in the final version, especially since centaurs tend to be arrogant towards other races, a fact that does not come up here at all, nor does Mae’s tough personality. Even more evidence will come up later that those things were added late in development.

Knight - Ken

A centaur in knight who admires Max.

The enemies don’t get descriptions and all have their final names except the Rune Knight, who is only Centaur Knight at this point.

November 1991

This is a big one. The beta title screen is the least interesting thing about it.

We see more of Guardiana, and the centaur NPC was actually Varios all along, meaning the intro was really different.

Max and Mae get to smile! Given the story is kinda obvious why this was changed, but I always did find it weird that their artwork had different expressions to begin with.

Plenty of screenshots of a field battle with completely different graphics. More on this later.

Also a different and apparently pretty big shop.

But now for the part that really rocked my socks, a whole beta map:

Here’s the final map so you can compare the geography yourself. This map doesn’t label pretty much any town and instead brings up a bunch of new names for the natural areas.

The Gate of the Ancients, or what I suppose is it, it’s not labelled, sits atop the Mountain of Guidance, which seems to be a single mountain as opposed to the big mass that stretches up to Rindo in the final version. The gate also seems drawn like a little castle, which would explain the indoor bgs shown so far.

Alterone is to the northwest of Guardiana as opposed to the northeast. It is also right next to the Beagle Mountain Mass, which, makes A Lot More Sense with how much we hear it is a mining town. I’ve been wondering where their mines were in the final map. They must have mined too much though, because in the final version this mountain mass is largely gone.

Further to the north is Rindo Harbor, and you, english speaker, might think, “oh yes Rindo that’s the final name” but nope, in the JP version the town’s name is Rindorindo, for some reason, so that’s a difference. A difference that matters to no one.

There’s no river near Rindo, and Manarina and Shade are not labelled, though its concepts seem to be around. Manarina also seems to be surrounded by a lot more forest than in the final version, which might explain its guide book entry.

The forest near Manarina has a name that deserves its own post, Kaien, in katakana so that it is harder to discerning its meaning of course (and intentionally allow double meanings). Possible interpretations are the start of a performance (開演), the opening of a park or garden or banquet (開園 and 開宴), a superb performance (快演), or an eerie yet fascinating performance (怪演). I’d say the last one is the most fitting for Manarina, but localizing it is still a pain in the ass, the english staff dodged a bullet here. Right now most I can think of is Enthralling Forest, but you still miss some charm.

I also have to wonder if Mishaela was conceived as a boss for this place. Puppet performance and all that. She also ends up having a forest stage in Shining Soul.

All the white mass on the north is Pao Plains, no sign of the bridge or the forests of Bustoke, although there is a town in the mountains. Was this a Shining Force without Zylo? Inconceivable. But might confirm something I’ve been suspecting due to my debug mode escapades. In the battle test mode, egress usually takes you to the last church you’re supposed to access in that chapter. Yet for chapter 2 battles, it takes you to Bustoke, which is on Chapter 3. The editor also shows Bustoke as one of the first map in the data, between Rindo and Shade. It is likely that Bustoke was meant for Chapter 2.

In fact the reasoning for going to Shade Abbey is very shaky, you can see in the final map that there’s a lot more mountains between Shade and Bustoke than from Manarina. I guess the point is that guides work there, but in that ase they should work somewhere else. I’m not complaining though since Shade Abbey is one of the most iconic parts of the game.

The Pao Plains are surrounded by the Boho Mountain Range. Boho is short for bohemian, the romanticized view of nomadic/alternative lifestyles, so it’s very fitting for Pao.

Waral was a single island instead of an archipelago, and the ocean between the two sides of Rune is Cypro Ocean, a name that eventually made its way to the guide book. The region in the center of East Rune is Conga Basin, which we’ve also seen in another book, and Dragonia is to the north already. Finally, the Crescent Mountain Range is the bunch of mountains to the east of Runefaust.

Note also the big isolated structure south of Runefaust. Perhaps the Castle of the Ancients has not always been under the ocean. I also see no sign of Prompt, while all other towns are in (except Waral but Waral isn’t even in the final map, it’s tiny). This might explain why Chapter 7 is cursed on debug mode, frequently failing to load an egress point.

All this rambling was just for the map itself. There’s more written about it, I’ll just translate things directly because I’m a bit tired of taking screenshots.

This is the Rune Continent where Shining Force will take place

There’s no comparison between the world of Shining Force with that of Shining in the Darkness, it is far larger. There are mountain ranges, towns, large coasts, and even islands as well. The adventure starts at Guardiana to the south of West Rune, and the you’ll move clockwise to north, and then to the eastern part of continent, shrouded in mystery. That region to the south of East Rune, could it be Runefaust...?

East Rune and West Rune

The two continents and the Cypro Ocean between them are all referred to as the Rune continent, and are far to the east of the land where one day Thornwood, the kingdom where SitD takes place, will be built.

Guardiana, where the journey begins, is on West Rune. West Rune, compared to the eastern side, is more developed, with many countries living in peace and abundance.

In the eastern side, it is said an ancient civilization once lived there, but currently there are no countries other than Runefaust, and a wide spread of steep mountains and eerie forests.

Because of that and Runefaust itself, the people of West Rune regard the east as a dark land full of mystery.

They’ve thankfully chilled a bit on the “light side versus dark side” in the final game, possibly because they needed churches/HQs/shops to welcome the heroes gameplay-wise. I do see something drawn in the map here where Rudo should be, so perhaps other settlements in the east were already in the cards, just not very developed.

The country of Alterone

A neighboring country of Guardiana. It was originally a mining town built to extract rare and magical minerals from the Beagle Mountain Range around it, and then developed into a country. With the minerals excavated, Alterone amassed a lot of money, which was used for its own development. The common citizens began to live in luxury, and even despite other countries. Of course the royal family too has filled the castle with loads of luxury items and art, and the army is small and lacks zeal despite its extravagant equipment. The cultural level of these people with not much history, is not very great. A rising rich country. One could argue it’s a bit like today’s Japan with its excessive liquidity, or maybe not?

oh i am unequipped in so many ways to understand that jab

The country of Guardiana

A country that prides itself in having the deepest history in all of West Rune. It is said this country was built by people who inherited the duty of protecting the “Legacy of the Gods”. Because of that they’ve grow a tradition of respect for the military arts, and the royal family believes in maintaining a humble lifestyle, so the castle has no ornaments or luxurious items. However the long time of peace has weakened these traditions and the people, and they could not defend themselves from Runefaust’s ambitions, being destroyed...

Being a small country, it has little stock of weapons and such, but it is blessed with fertile land and the agricultural production is plentiful. The story of the Shining Force will somehow begin around this country.

Nothing I hadn’t seen in guide books already, but I’m somewhat surprised the worldbuilding was all already there and not refined for the guide books only. I guess it just didn’t find its place in game.

Speaking of that, here’s a long interview with the devs and I don’t have the energy to translate it all. Here’s the summary:

Unsurprisingly, the game’s biggest challenge was data size. Without compression it was around 30MB, around 15x the size of its final ROM, and definitely not fitting a Mega Drive cartridge. The interview only talks about compression but I wouldn’t be surprised if they had to cut things as well.

It’s brought up that they could have solved that problem by making a CD game instead, but they wanted to reach a wider audience.

Lots of comparisons with SitD, how the game was bigger and more complex, requiring more work and graphics and maps and everything basically. Again it is said that the story happen centuries before SitD.

When asked if there's a connection with the SitD, Masaki Wachi (writer for SF and the GBA remake) enthusiastically replies “Yes! Oops, I said it (laughs)”. He then elaborates that there were big clues about it, but that he wouldn’t comment on the connection with Mephisto and the ending of SitD.

Kenji Orimo (director and writer) does add though that if it was meant to be a direct sequel, it would just be called Darkness II. He also mentions seeing more potential in expanding the Shining World from Force than from Darkness.

Yoshitaka Tamaki (character designer, art director) mentions SitD characters having more of a fairy tale vibe, while SF characters were more grounded, with some pretty scary enemies in the late game, with more of a “war spectacle” vibe.

Lots of hyping up the battle animations.

Also hyping up the unique spin on tactical games, where characters and enemies all have their own agility instead of just alternating between an ally and an enemy phase. I don’t know anything about tactical games to comment on this.

December 1991

We get a better scan of Mae’s old portrait :)

Max on the other hand has already changed to his final one. Character description are largely the same as October with a few more tidbits on personalities such as Ken being a super honest boy. Gort is still referred to as Mae’s old servant, Lowe is still listed as dwarf, and no mention of Mae’s tough personality yet. Max’s class is also listed as warrior, but he was mentioned as swordsman on October so I assume it’s just a mistake.

We do get more characters this time though.

Tao Class: Mage Species: Forest Elf

A mage in training, but her talent is huge. Has a close relationship with Anri, the princess of Guardiana.

The forest elf thing is very curious since Hans and Diane are not listed as such. I have seen the term float around for Nigel of Landstalker, but I didn’t play that yet so no comment.

Diane Class: Archer Species: Elf

A wild girl who lives in Bustoke. Being raised in the mountains, she’s vigorous in battle. Scary.

Zylo Class: Werewolf Species: Beastman

Leader of Bustoke, the mountain nation. Focused in hand-to-hand combat, he does not equip weapons, and instead fights with his sharp claws.

Guntz Class: Steam Knight Species: Beastman

A knight of heavy power who wears an armor powered by a steam engine. Well known through the world as a mercenary specialized in castle assaults.

Well, that’s not my chill guy. Seems his personality wasn’t nailed down yet, which surprises me as his artwork very much implies the gentle guy we know now. Worth mentioning though, Guntz does join the team right as you’re going to assault the fort, and the GBA version even elaborates a bit on that invasion by requiring you pick a bomb from Crock, though Guntz isn’t involved in any of that. Perhaps this sequence was intended to be a bit more elaborate from the start.

Khris Class: Priest Species: Cantaul

A priest who used to work in Alterone. Despite being both priests, she’s stronger than Lowe in battle. Let’s see who is the best at magic.

Kokichi Class: Wing Knight Species: Human

An old gramps from a noble lineage of knights. Entranced by the dream of flying, he spent fifty years researching flying machines.

We then get a bunch of monster art i won’t even try to fit in a screenshot, and more description than they ever got in guide books as far as I’ve seen.

Dwarves

Skilled at close combat due to their strong body, but has low defense. Their lethal axes are menacing.

Dark Priests

Runefaust priests, wearing white masks as per the army’s regulations. Working on an attack with focused magic.

rip dark priests you did not learn blast in time if that’s what they’re implying here

Also, they’re called Dark Priests here, Priests in the final game, and Dark Priests in the english localization. I don’t know why I bother paying attention to that.

Snipers

With superior footwork, they attack from a long range with bows. The double team kind, working as pairs with the Rune Knights.

Puppets

Evil marionettes, it’s unknown if they have consciousness. Part of the Monster Corps, they attack swinging swords.

Except they don’t in the final game. They don’t even have swords in the art either, so I’m unsure if that’s a change or an idea that never made it in.

Hell Pierrot

It seems they are not really pierrot, just disguise as such. Those who are fooled and approach them carelessly end up hurt.

That’s the final JP name for the Dire Clown as well.

Gargoyles

They are statues, but had temporary life breathed into them by magic. Seems not all of them turned into flesh, some parts remain stone.

Cerberos

Guard dogs of hell into a deep sleep in the caves under Alterone. Trained by the Runefaust army.

Worms

Giant mutant earthworms dozens of meters long. Don’t have any senses other than touch.

Dullahans

Headless ghost knights who used to be Rune Knights. No comparison between their power though.

And now a special boy that does get to be screenshotted:

Mimics

Transform immediately as you open them thinking it’s a chest. Their lids grow sharp fangs, and they sprout legs to move.

It’s worth noting that while these guys didn’t make it to any classic game, SF2 does have a mechanic of monsters spawning from chests, we just don’t get to see because the search in battle option was removed in the english version.

To finish the parade of weird creatures, Yogurt is here.

What is this Yogurt creature, after all?

Yogurt, a mysterious characters that shows up around Guardiana and toys with the enemies. No clue if he’s an enemy or an ally, but he certainly has a likeable vibe, you could even call him cute. He’s not docile enough to be raised as a pet, and seems prone to quick mood swings. Does a lot of weird things as he pops up in the adventure. You could say he’s kind of a versatile performer.

Yogurt’s Data

He’s 80 cm tall, weights 10 kg, walks on two feet, while the front paws have atrophied and become small. His main food seems to be berries, but he’s omnivorous. From what’s been observed, he can swim, is fast and has strong jumps. It’s unknown when he started wearing the helmet on his head. No one has seen him take it off either.

Insides:

Tail - Uses it to balance while walking in two feet.

Feet - Way better for jumping than for walking.

Head - On par with humans. Seems to be very intelligent.

Hands - Cannot use tools

Belly - Quite fat but he’s still agile.

There are also doodles of his secret appearances which I’m not gonna translate now. They’re very much just describing his antics.

January 1992

Pink haired Simone appears. Sadly there’s no dialogue screenshots.

Guardiana is already pretty much the final version, only the entrance still seems unfinished, some NPCs are different.

Remember that field battle with different graphics? There’s more of it here, including the map.

It’s horrifyingly large.

Finally, there’s some talk of critical hits being capable of special effects like one-hit KO, but it’s very vague so it might be the magazine staff not knowing this was attached to a specific weapon.

February 1992

Pink Simone is still around, and so are unfinished weapon animations and the old knight battle sprites. Max still shows up with zero MP. Guardiana and the starting maps seems mostly finished with a couple odd spots.

Guardiana castle is full of chickens, and has a gate.

The king’s room has a couple more flags in it.

The Gate of the Ancients now looks like the final version, though battle screenshots still show the indoor background. The starting team is also the final one, with Mae and Gort no longer there.

The Alterone battle shows enemies inside the shops.

The article ends with a recipe for yogurt.

March 1992

The game is released, and I too am released from this long ass post. From here on, every article, ad and official material I’ve seen uses only screenshots from the final version of the game. If that sounds obvious to you, wait for the SF2 post.

Update: ??? 1992 

Joke’s on me, I was not free from the post. I found some old footage, sadly i don’t know which date it is from, but it shouldn’t be too early in production. Simone already has brown hair, the Gate of the Ancients is already outdoors. 

There are still things to note though. Simone still talks of the king of Guardiana in her intro as opposed to the final one. The intro to Chapter 1 is a placeholder text.

Anri’s dad does not have a unique portrait and uses the default king one. Also, the castle still do not have centaur knights, even though their sprite already exists. In the place are not chickens though, and instead some weird placeholders you can see at the top right corner here.

Unlike every other battle scene in this post, the final sword sprites are in, but their animation for Max is still unfinished. Also, having footage we can hear some audio, and while Simone’s theme and the field map theme are in, the town and battle scenes use placeholders from SitD

More importantly,

cat.

Their sprite isn’t exactly the same as the unused ones in the ROM though, as those have the tail up like a properly happy cat. This means these sprites still got further polish before being ultimately scrapped anyway :(

[bunbeeplays]

The Lemon Legacy: Generation 1, Chapter 90 - The Babymoon Part 2

It's day two of the honeymoon and the newlyweds don't want to spend their entire vacation at the rental, so they hit the nearby beach for some fun... and a photoshoot courtesy of The Watcher!

There are a couple Aqua Zips in the water so they take advantage of them. Zip away, gang!

You certainly can't do THIS with a baby strapped to your back, so have fun while you can, Ophelia!

This screenshot does NOT capture the essence of how cool this looked in game but Ophelia did a dang flip! I wonder if it has to do with your fitness level because Xander never did a flip.

After their Aqua Zip escapades, Xander takes advantage of the bonfire. They may be in paradise but it IS winter, so it's not as hot as usual. Plus, bonfires are cool.

Besides, now Ophelia can do a fire dance! She's a pretty good dancer, so no fire hazards today!

Ophelia's fire dance draws a crowd when they realize who she is.

Lilliana: I see clips on FlipFlop of The Main Squeeze performing all the time! I've been begging my husband to see you live!

Ophelia: Well it was nice to meet you! I hope I see you at The Lemon Drop one day.

Lilliana: Is there any chance you could play some songs?

Ophelia: Well, I have some original stuff I've been working on but I don't know. I don't want to bother people.

Lilliana: It wouldn't be a bother! Sulani embraces the celebration of life, and isn't that what music is?

And so, that's how Ophelia finds herself performing a mini concert for the inhabitants of Sulani. Ophelia is getting closer and closer to becoming a 3 star celebrity every day, and this certainly gives her fame a boost!

As the sun begins to set, and before it's time to go back to the rental, Ophelia ends their time at the beach with a serenade for Xander.

These are the faces of two Sims who know they're getting laid tonight.

As Xander makes dinner for him and his wife, Ophelia checks in with Drew, who's housesitting for them.

Ophelia: Marshmallow's doing okay, right?

Drew: Yes, Ophelia. She's a cat. She doesn't do much.

Ophelia: Oh good. Help yourself to anything in the fridge!

Drew: Already did.

Ophelia: Were things okay at the bar tonight?

Drew: Yeah, Xander's assistant manager held down the fort pretty well. And the crowd seemed to like our set even without you. We just didn't have anyone fangirl and pass out.

Ophelia: It's not like I TRY to make people do that.

Drew: So did Xander preggo your eggo yet?

Ophelia: Shh!

Xander: You told them about that?

Drew: You're on speaker?

Ophelia: Well I wasn't expecting you to bring it up but I should have known better. And the answer is probably, but we'll have to wait and see!

Ophelia: Well, thank you for holding down the fort, and tell Moses thanks too. Love you!

Drew: Love you too, O. Don't you crazy kids do anything I wouldn't do.

Xander: Too late, we already know each other's names before we're sleeping together.

Drew: I heard that, dick!

Ophelia: After dinner, we should visit the waterfall! It's beautiful at night.

Xander: The waterfall you and Libby woohooed in?

Ophelia: I mean, yes, but it's a must-see when you're in Sulani.

Xander: Hey, sounds good to me.

Seeing the Mua Pel'am waterfalls brings back a lot of memories for Ophelia. Looking for frogs with her gran, her first woohoo. She doesn't regret her brief time with Libby, but she wants to make new memories with the love of her life.

Ophelia: You know, it really is something woohooing in a waterfall…

Xander: Do you have some kind of water fetish you've been hiding from me?

Ophelia: No! This is just my favorite place in all of Sulani, and I want to share it with you… Y'know, in a special way.

Ophelia: If last night didn't get me pregnant, I know we'll do it tonight, I just know it. This is going to be the start of something amazing, and I want our last night just the two of us to be really special. When I think of this waterfall, I want to think of you, and our baby.

Xander doesn't need much convincing. He pulls Ophelia close and kisses her before they wade closer to the bottom of the waterfall.

Ophelia: You ready?

Xander: More than ever.

Xander pulls her close and, with one final kiss, pulls her under the water for a woohoo to remember.

Ophelia: Dang! Did you see all those sparkles? Well done!

Xander: I aim to please.

They go back to their rental and cuddle up, exhausted from two nonstop days of adventure. Let's hope they're about to go on a new adventure together.

[mayasdeluca]

Both things exist in this situation: haters and biphobic people and some haters that are also biphobic. Yes, some people just have a different opinion but they usually just stay silent or ignore the matter (as we all should about their personal lives). I can assure than 90% of the tweets with "just diferent opinions" hide a lot of hate and often play the "she was never queer card".

I was this person who cared about my idol's personal life, when I was younger I would really know everything and have a opinion on their choices but the thing is: its unhealthy!! They are just humans who we should admire by their work and expect them to be decent people, nothing about their lives should affect us to the point we think we have a say. Because if you stan a real person you are gonna be dissapointed often.

Some months ago people were hating on S for some reasons and D was in a pedestal, now D is apparently the worst person and S is a saint. Let's just say that if you were here really early you know that S also faced some talks about her divorce timeline and her new relationship, but the fandom was small and people forgot about it. My point is: they aren't Maya and Carina, they aren't sims we can control and they don't own us anything more than what they already give us.

Sorry about ranting but i'm kinda tired of this "it's just my opinion" cover. No one is asking you to like or stan their choices but to be decent about it. You can mute, block, unfollow, ignore but if you are talking about it you do care!

Totally agree with you on this. There's a fine line between caring about the actresses' who play these characters and wanting to support them outside of the show without getting too invested in every single thing they do in their personal life or their relationships and it's a line that a lot of people in fandoms cross constantly and they mistake it as being supportive but the truth is, it's very unhealthy and these people aren't characters that you can analyze day by day. If what they're doing is really affecting your life on a daily basis, good or bad, to that extent then it's time to take a step back but some people don't realize this. And it's definitely hard and tough to balance at times and I'll admit that I used to be that person too who got really obsessed when I was younger too and I'm sure that's another reason, there's plenty of people in this fandom on the younger side so they think it's normal but it's really not. But I hope they will start to realize like most do that you don't need to know what your faves are doing every second of the day and obsess over every detail, it's just not good to be that attached and never ends well.

[myadhdsays]

So I’ve been doing this thing where I stop trying to be the initiator of plans with friends. Like yes I will occasionally have a small get together for some type of holiday or event but other than that I’ve mostly stopped asking people if they want to hang out with me. Well you know what happened? 99% of my friends (which is already a small circle) have not attempted to make plans with me. Like ok I know we are all busy, we are still in a pandemic, and I’m a depressed bitch who almost never leaves her house but DAMN I’d like to be invited to things! Like I get that I maybe won’t get along with your “group” because I am a neurodivergent weirdo who can read peoples intentions easily, but if you’re friends with me isn’t there a chance that I might be able to be friends with your friends??? I think for a while I convinced myself that it was me actively hiding but it’s not. It’s me not being the one to make the plans so no plans happen… I’ve been so fucking depressed and so fucking lonely. Talking with people online is fun and I do chat with these friends online too but it feels like no one wants to hang out with me. I see them posting all these lunches, meet ups, get togethers and I just don’t have a group like that I guess. Anyone who I would consider my friend group actually has their own friend group that I am not in. Another factor of course is that some of my friends live far away and I don’t expect to see them so it’s cool. But I do have some folks who are local or close to local yet still I only see them if I am the one to make the plans. I’m not saying I would actually attend all these lunches and events but fucking hell I wouldn’t mind being invited occasionally. And I’m sitting here like I think they know “invite your depressed friends even if they might not come” but none of them fucking do it for me and it hurts ngl. Maybe I’ve framed myself as the one on one friend because that’s my preference but just to be invited and have the option would mean so fucking much to me. Because i work from home I have very few reasons to leave my house and tbh I wouldn’t mind knowing there are other chances. Like even if on the day of or day before they were like “hey going to lunch today/tomorrow would you wanna meet up with me & with (insert name of person I don’t know but I know my friend is friends with)?” I might be busy or too depressed or too overwhelmed; but I might also be dying to get out of the house for a couple hours. So yea if I’m honest with myself my feelings are hurt and I feel like I don’t have friends like 90% of the time. My husband is my best friend and we hang out all the time which I adore. But he is literally the only person who makes plans with me and that’s just fucking sad. My friends who live near don’t even have kids (I don’t either) and they still don’t make time for me unless I’m the one asking them to. I’ll probably beat myself up about this later and tell myself not to act like a victim and I have to make my own life happen. But I’m in my feelings right now and thinking about this I’m just hurt. I have thought about making new friends but at this point I have to work more on my anxiety before I can make friends with a total stranger that I have no mutual friends with. I know I isolate myself but no one fucking tries to hang out with me so I also feel like I’m just being isolated by others. I’m 100% sure this is related to my adhd and my potential asd is some way and it fucking sucks.

[thenatvral]

FTR: For those who don’t know, who are The Natvral?

Kip: Oh, that’s me— Kip. I usually just write songs and play ‘em with my electric guitar. As my surname is Berman I didn’t want to be confused with the legendary David Berman of Silver Jews, and I didn’t think I’d be confused with Robert Redford playing a past-prime erstwhile baseball phenom with one last shot at redemption— but… maybe.

FTR: You’ve just released your second album, Summer of No Light, what can you tell me about recording the record?

Kip: We just went over to Andy Savours studio in Willesden (London) and banged out 9 songs, mostly live. I did blow out my voice at an ill-advised 90s hip hop night before we were going to do the vocals, so we were forced to use the scratch vocals (the ones you sing when you’re recording live so you don’t get lost), but it worked out alright.

Andy’s brilliant, and has been there with me at every step of this project (as well as 2 records with PAINS). I credit him with not letting us get up our own backsides. I think he does a lot of other groups that want to “use the studio as an instrument, man” – and “redefine what a G chord could sound like if played on Venus.” But I’m grateful he was pretty keen on us just using our instruments as an instrument and getting to the pub at a reasonable hour before making it home to do bedtime with his kid.

FTR: I was intrigued to read the album was inspired by the climate crisis of 1816, do you think there’s anything we can learn from that as we face our own crisis?

Kip: Hide? Get fucked up? Write Frankenstein to pass the time?

Nah, I’m not sure if it’s applicable. The one in 1816 wasn’t anyone’s fault – unless you blame the Volcano gods of the South Pacific. This one seems like everyone’s fault. Maybe there’s something to be said about harnessing crises for the sake of art – but I think most people would prefer to forego cataclysm where possible— or at least I would. Dying of plague while under siege during the Peloponnesian War wasn’t any more palatable cuz “Euripides was channeling this shit for the ages,” was it? That said, I suppose you gotta keep doing the non-essential things in life, because those are actually the essential things in life.

FTR: Much of the record was written at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Do you think the record would have turned out differently without it?

Kip: I am fully aware no one needs to hear another person’s account of “what it was like during lockdown” – as these experiences are sadly universal. Everyone dealt with the same shit. Some had it worse than others, and we can all laugh at the celebrities that sang “Imagine” by their swimming pools. But I don’t think it’s a huge departure to also mock “the guy who wrote an album in his basement” between bleaching milk cartons and reflecting upon a familiar world that vanished suddenly, exacerbating the isolation and alienation that was already rampant in modern life. Right?

That being said, it’s very easy to write songs that do not give a hoot about what anyone thinks when you are pretty sure there’s not going to be anyone to think anything of them. It’s freeing— that sense that, “well, this won’t matter to anyone but me.” I’ve never been able to fully escape vanity or a sense of expectation in my writing. I’m too petty or prickly to be that zen. But for a brief period in early 2020, I got about as close to writing without any corrupting consideration – and while the album doesn’t relate to what was happening in the world, its formation was born of that weird, dumb moment.

FTR: I was struck by the way the record feels at times very domesticated and others almost fantastical. Do you think there’s an element of escapism in the record? Was music an outlet when you were stuck at home?

Kip: Yes. But isn’t it just an outgrowth of a feeling one gets even without state mandated isolation? Like, Odysseus gets home – finally – and that homecoming was the thing that animated most of all his actions for a decade or so (except for chilling with that not-his-wife on that island for a long bit). And then almost as soon as he gets home, he’s all “gotta go.” I’m not quite that way, but there’s a continual desire to idealize domesticity when you’re away, and yearn for adventure when you’re home. I’m certain I’m not unique in that.

FTR: You’ve obviously been making music for quite some time now, how do you think the current climate for musicians compares to when you started making music?

Kip: To be fair, I think my old band could have only happened as it did in this strange in-between era when the old “major” system was crumbling and the internet briefly offered equal access to unsigned or indie artists to reach the same level of listeners that you would have once only seen by handing your demo tape to a smarmy A+R guy in LA with the hope that maybe you were deemed marketable. Sure, great indie bands existed in the 80s and 90s – but so many of them never got the chance to have the experiences we did, and for that I’m humbled and grateful. But Myspace and the mp3 blogosphere was essential in people discovering PAINS without having to “get signed.” We played to our 12 friends at Cakeshop – suddenly some guy in Sweden wanted us to play to his 12 friends, only he had more than 12 friends.

Now, it seems the mp3 blogs are gone – with For the Rabbits being a notable and wondrous exception. It’s harder to find ways to get your music out to people, whether it’s through recommendations at a local record store or people online saying what you’re up to is worthwhile. My record label Dirty Bingo is lovely and helpful, but it’s just a guy in London named Sasha who probably has some difficult conversations with his partner about why he’s doing what he’s doing and if he can “get those boxes out of the basement soon.” I am familiar. I think power has reformulated itself behind maybe 2 or 3 very for-profit oriented websites that prefer a celebrity gossip model (who someone is dating gets more clicks than what they’re making), and I’m pretty sure streaming services have monetized their “playlists and discovery” to cater to modern payola in a familiar pay-to-play model. Bandcamp is still relatively “noble” but an indie label told me that even their promotional/editorial consideration is weighted to their own manufacturing and distribution program.

But this system will be smashed too, someday. Even if I’m not a 17 year old kid, I know young people will consistently seek what is meaningful and real to them in ways that (briefly) escape the clutches of huge companies trying to exploit it. The exploitation will inevitably (or not?) follow, but for a few shining moments – that good stuff shines through. I think of Teenage Fanclub on SNL or Huggy Bear on The Word – and to paraphrase the latter, “this (will be) happening without your permission.”

FTR: If you were starting your career from scratch, do you think music would be a viable option as a career?

Kip: There’s a friend I have that runs a small label, and he only signs bands that are (usually) a certain age and able to tour constantly. Yes, he likes the music he puts out and much of it is good, but everything is through the lens of “is this a viable career.”

I have another friend who runs a label who just puts out music he likes. He’s constantly out of money, but seems not to mind. He works with all kinds of artists, and yes – some of them break through – but most of them are the kind of bands that play a DIY popfest here or there and exist far from the conversations about “relevant indie artists” that make year end lists.

I may be naive, but in my heart I know that the truest music often comes from less commercially viable people – people that don’t even care if their music is commercially viable – people who live on the margins, and may not be creating for the sake of money, but simply because they feel compelled in their heart to get something inside their bodies out there.

I know you can argue against this too, saying that creating without thought of anyone buying something is its own kind of privilege. But the tools to make music are so cheap now, you can make bedroom records that sound interesting and powerful. And if a music career is your goal, I think the surest way of not having a music career is to make the kind of music you think you “should” make, not the kind of music you want to make.

FTR: Are you going to be taking this record on the road? What can people expect from The Natvral live show?

Kip: I don’t know. I would like to. I’ve been playing mostly just on my own – which can seem like “less than ideal” – but for this music, it might actually be the ideal.

FTR: A lot of people will know you from The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. How do you think your songwriting now compares to writing for the band? Are you conscious of trying to do something different to what came before?

Kip: I stand by what I did in PAINS. I don’t want to put that part of my life down, just because I’m focussed on different ideas and different ideals now. In a way, I think what animates me about music is the same – immediacy and getting out the feelings that can’t be said, so they have to be sung. Just about everything about my life and how I record – even my voice itself – is different now, but I think there’s more similarities to these projects than might seem superficially apparent.

I sometimes wish I was notable enough only so someone insightful would write critically about my music and life, cuz I can never tell if I’m lying to myself— if I’m full of bullshit or not. I’ve recently been listening to biographical music podcasts (The History of Rock’n’roll in 500 songs by Andrew Hickey) while driving and love reading biographies (or autobiographies) of artists i love (Please Kill Me, Our Band Could Be Your Life, Chronicles, Meet Me In the Bathroom, Waging Heavy Peace, Coal Black Mornings and its follow up). So much of what people think they’re doing is wrong – or at least, there’s things you can’t see in yourself, even if your work is inward looking. Actually, maybe I don’t want to know – maybe it would be crushing. Delusion is a thing you both need and need to avoid in able to be foolish enough to write a song.

FTR: What’s next for The Natvral?

Kip: I have a bunch of songs that I wrote before this album came out that seem to bookend this period of The Natvral, tentatively titled “Love in Idleness.” I hope to track ‘em like I did the last 2 records with Andy Savours, and, knock wood, that will stand up as a cohesive 3 album run. It doesn’t mean the end, it’s just that these songs are all built in a similar way – a bit rough and ready and all-of-a-kind.

[silver-tongued-bby]

Discretion

Pairing: Dom!CEO!Loki x Reader

Summary: After dropping out of grad school and moving back home you expected very little of your summer. That is until you realise your neighbour, Mr. Laufeyson, has other plans. Set in the mid 90s!

Warnings: NSFW, 18+!!! This is a Dom!Loki fic - though it's not super bd/sm heavy, it explores themes of voyeurism, dub!con spanking, humiliation and degradation. Sexual acts are described including vaginal fingering, dirty talk, oral sex (f receiving) and sexual intercourse (f/m). Smoking is also described. Please read at your own discretion (hehe see what I did there?).

Words: 5,026

Author's Note: I'm excited to say that this is my first ever submission for a challenge! Specifically it's for @boxofbonesfic's Hot Girl Summer Challenge.

I chose prompt 12 (Home for the Summer) and a slightly edited version of quote 17 ("If I have to tell you again to take that off, you’re not gonna like me sweetheart darling.") then for kinks I chose voyeurism/exhibitionism and degradation though there's a sprinkling of praise kink in there too.

Not sure why when I think of summer I think of mid 90s summers but here we are. This kinda went places I didn't expect, nonetheless I hope you enjoy!

...

God you were bored.

Stretching out on the lounge chair you sighed, letting your shoulders droop with the long exhale.

“Oh honey, you can’t keep sitting out here in the sun.” Your eyes rolled behind your dark sunglasses, turning towards your stepmother as she came down the stairs from the deck of the house.

“It’ll give you wrinkles dear,” she was standing beside you now, hands on her hips as she stared down at you. She was wearing that ridiculous hat again- the one with the brim as wide as she was tall.

“Carla, darling, we can’t all hide away from life in hopes to look as good as you do.” You lazily gazed at her, sitting up to find your pack of cigarettes on the side table. Taking one out you brought it to your mouth and lit it with your gold plated zippo. You took a long inhale before exhaling right in her face, “when I tell people you’re 53 they can hardly believe it.” Her eyes widened- you’d found her drivers license months ago and held the knowledge of her true age over her since then. You continued, ”my compliments to your doctors. Oh and Botox, kudos to Botox.”

Her little hands formed fists, fake nails pressing tiny neon-pink crescents into her palm.

You laughed, lounging back in the chair as you leisurely took drags off your cigarette. Smiling to yourself as you counted- three, two, one, before Carla shrieked and turned.

“Arthur! Arthur!” She screeched, running back up the stairs to tell your father.

You were a little less bored now, but making Carla’s face turn red could only give you so much satisfaction. You knew your father could care less, they were both about to leave for the Côte D’Azur tomorrow for the rest of the summer, leaving you here alone to “consider the consequences of your actions.” Or however your father had put you dropping out of school after one year of graduate studies in Classics.

He couldn’t help himself from belittling your degree while you were studying, then once you’d decided it wasn’t for you his lectures changed to be about “never giving up” and “seeing something through.” You both knew he simply didn’t want you around- he just couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud.

“Now those will definitely give you wrinkles,” you heard a smooth, silky voice coming from behind you that made your heart race. Smiling, you swung your legs over the side of your chair, taking off your sunglasses and snuffing out your cigarette.

“Mr. Laufeyson,” you started, eyeing the lithe figure as he emerged from the shadows. He held his hands in his pockets, his crisp black trousers fit perfectly to his frame. The sleeves of his black dress shirt were rolled up to his elbows, exposing the pale skin of his toned forearms. You were well aware of the small scraps of white fabric covering your body, and you enjoyed watching his eyes trace over your skin. You’d lusted after him ever since your father had moved here during your first year of college. You’d met him at one of Carla’s Christmas parties- she invited everyone from the gated community over, including your neighbour, Loki Laufeyson.

“I’m so sorry if my stepmother’s incessant shrieking ruined your afternoon,” you grimaced, taking a sip of the ice cold vodka soda beside you. “Is there anything I can do to remedy the situation?” you asked, your eyes innocently meeting his.

He chuckled. “Oh I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve already thought of something,” he said under his breath loud enough for you to just make out. He strolled towards you and took a seat on the lounge chair beside yours. “I’m actually here to see your Father. He’s asked me to check in on things here while him and Carla are away.”

You rolled your eyes- of course he did. You caught Mr. Laufeyson staring at you as you did that, his expression darkening slightly and his eyebrow raising before he continued. “I am surprised to see you here- last I’d heard you were studying in Europe. Graduate studies in Classics, right?”

“Yeah. It didn’t exactly pan out.” You looked down, cursing yourself for feeling your face grow hot. The last thing you needed was your gorgeous neighbour feeling sorry for you.

“Laufeyson you bastard, you’re late!” Your Father was coming down the stairs, jovial with his greeting.

Loki got up from his seat to meet your father. “Arthur,” he said, shaking his hand. “My apologies, I got held up at the office. It’s been insanity since the new acquisition.”

You tuned out the rest of the business jargon and settled back into your seat, facing the other way. You put your sunglasses back on, wincing once your heard Carla’s shrill voice coming from above.

“Is that Loki Laufeyson? Oh it’s been ages!” she gushed.

“I suppose it has.” You could tell she’d pulled him in for a hug and a kiss on either cheek. You couldn’t help but smile to yourself at the clear discomfort in his voice.

“So I can trust you to keep an eye on the place?” your father chimed in.

“Certainly, although it seems your daughter is perfectly capable of doing so herself.” Mr. Laufeyson rightfully pointed out. You raised an eyebrow, wishing you could see the expression on your dear dad’s face from your position. Mr. Laufeyson was probably the only person in this community that could and would tell your Father that- his annual appearance in Forbes certainly cemented the position.

“You never know with kids, Laufeyson. No matter how old they get you can’t trust them to carry through with something. Just wait until you have one of your own- then you’ll know what I’m talking about." He laughed loudly. You scoffed. Fucking asshole.

“I see. I’ll keep an eye out then.” Mr. Laufeyson said cooly.

“Right well feel free to pop by anytime, we leave tomorrow morning. Here’s the number of my cellular telephone- I always have it on me you know.” Your father was obsessed with his clunky mass of plastic- he brought it everywhere he went, mostly to brag about it to strangers or talk obnoxiously on it to avoid conversations with you or Carla.

“He really does. Even in the bedroom!” Carla giggled, causing you to shudder in disgust.

“Of course, well I should be on my way.” He stepped back over to you. “I suppose I’ll be seeing you around. Here’s my information,” he placed a thick, black and white business card onto the small table beside you. “In case of emergency.”

You pulled your sunglasses down your nose and slid your eyes up his body, biting your lip as you met his stare. “I’ll be sure to remember. See you around, Mr. Laufeyson.”

He considered you for a moment and you thought he was about to say something else before he nodded and turned, heading for the gate.

You settled back in your seat and nestled the headphones of your discman over your ears. You pressed the play button, the beat of Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy” drowning out whatever Carla and your father were arguing about once their guest had left.

...

It was much later that evening that you finally slipped from your room to find some dinner. The house was dark- you knew your father and Carla had an early flight. Grabbing a wrapped plate from the fridge that the housekeeper had left you you headed to the back deck to eat. You kept the lights off as you watched the dim foamy white of the ocean’s waves hitting the rocks below, finding peace in the sound.

Finishing your meal you were about to head inside when you saw a light come on out of the corner of your eye. From where you were sitting you could see into a room on the top floor of Mr. Laufeyson’s house. Interesting- you’d never seen into this room before, the windows that faced your father’s house were usually shuttered. You laid back and lit a cigarette, choking on the inhale when you saw Mr. Laufeyson emerge, shirtless, his eyes dark and hungry. He was pulling a woman behind him, a blonde, her shirt unbuttoned to expose a lacy red bra. Once he stood at the edge of the bed he turned around to kiss her, his hands moving to the clasp of her bra. Undoing it, he pulled away to slide it down her arms before turning her around and unzipping her skirt, leaving her in just a high waisted red lace thong.

Your heart was hammering in your chest. You were transfixed by the scene unfolding in front of you. He flung her on the bed- from your position you could see it all as if it were happening in a room adjacent to yours. Climbing over her he dipped his head to capture her lips once more as he ground against her. Your legs clenched together as you continued to smoke your cigarette, the combined effect of the nicotine and the scene in front of you making your head spin.

His hand trailed down to the red lace covering her heat as he continued to kiss and grind against her. Slipping his fingers in you found you were doing the same to yourself, feeling the hot wet of your arousal. He had pulled away from her now, watching her face intently as her back arched up off of the mattress, her hands clutching his toned arms. He was saying something to her, his eyes going from her face to her heaving breasts as he continued to work his hand inside of her. A flush was blooming on her chest, her mouth open and her eyebrows drawn together. You were moving your hand in time with his, your arousal coating your fingers. His movements became faster as he continued to speak to her, smiling menacingly before her back arched fully off the bed, her hands grasping at him. Withdrawing from the dampened red lace his fingers glistened in the light, wet from her release.

He easily picked her up off the bed, carrying her to the window sill. He roughly pulled her panties down before he undid his trousers then lined himself up at her entrance. He pressed into her, her back flat against the glass and his face visible beside the back of her head, his eyes closed. You imagined how it’d feel, the cool glass against your back, his warm hand firmly gripping your thigh, his strong arms holding your legs open as he fucked you. He began to move inside of her then his eyes opened, staring straight at you in the darkness. Your heart beat faster as you felt yourself blush- surely he couldn’t see you out here, you were shrouded in the dark. You could barely see the outline of your hand as you brought it to your face for another puff. You froze- the cigarette.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” you hissed, quickly removing your hand from its position and shakily putting out the cigarette on your dinner plate. Sliding your chair out quietly you chanced one last look towards the window- he was smirking in your direction as he continued to move against the blonde. Your heart felt like it was going to beat out of your chest as you backed away towards the porch door. You could swear his eyes didn’t leave you once and it sent shudders through you. You made your way back to your room and lay awake for hours, each time you closed your eyes you saw his piercing blue-green stare and filthy smirk.

You must have drifted off at some point since you eventually awoke to silence- an anomaly. You’d usually wake to Carla’s screeching laugh as she spoke on the phone to her friends, or she’d send the housekeeper Marie to wake you. You checked the clock beside you- 9AM. Carla and your father were long gone by now.

You smiled at that, stretching lazily before cranking the radio and dancing around your room as you got ready, the sunlight beaming in through your window. Making your way to the main kitchen you froze, last night coming back to you. The way Mr. Laufeyson had looked out at you as if he were expecting you to be there. Did he leave the blinds open on purpose? You shook your head, no way he’d be that forward. Sure he flirted with you every now and then, but nothing beyond that. You pushed the thought from your mind for the rest of the day.

...

A week passed quickly, you spent a lot of time with your friends, going shopping, to the beach, or local restaurants. You didn’t spend much time around the house so you hadn’t seen Mr. Laufeyson since the “incident”. On Friday you met up with some friends midday and got a ride to one of their parents’ beach houses. You spent the day there, drinking and laughing as you enjoyed the sun. Your friends dropped you back off at your place at around 7pm, you were pleasantly buzzed but looking forward to a quiet night in.

It was so hot outside you decided to take a dip in the pool. Cranking the radio in the backyard you decided to skinny dip- no one was home anyways. You sighed as your heated skin met the water, cooling instantly. You did a few laps before lazily swimming a backstroke and humming the music on the radio when you saw something coming towards you out of the corner of your eye. Standing upright you saw Mr. Laufeyson walking towards you from the door to the backyard, a smirk playing at his lips. Your heart started beating quickly as you realised the position you were in, remembering his hungry stare from last week. You swam over to the side of the pool to meet him.

“Hi,” he smiled, looking down at you.

You bit your lip and innocently looked up at him. “Hello, Mr. Laufeyson.”

“I’m sorry to intrude.”

“No worries. Is there anything I can do for you, Mr. Laufeyson?” you asked, noticing his eyes taking in your body under the water. He definitely knew you were naked. Your thighs clenched together at the thought.

“I was coming to see you about something that happened last week that had me… concerned. I thought I saw someone out on the balcony, late at night. Was that you?”

You felt your cheeks grow hot, your heartbeat picking up to a mile a minute. “What day was this?”

“Last week Friday.” His face was serious as he strolled over to a pool chair, pulling it closer to the side and taking a seat.

“I’m not sure. I don’t think anyone was out there then.” The words came out a lot quicker than you’d meant. You were usually pretty good at lying but something in his voice made you want to tell him the truth, to please him.

He tsked. “I’ve seen you lie better than that. Try again darling.” He sounded bored as he reached for your pack of cigarettes on the side table. He raised an eyebrow in question as he drew out a cigarette. You nodded, nervously biting your lip as he lit it and crossed his legs, leisurely smoking while he stared you down.

“No words, little one?” he teased, smirking down at you. “Did you at least enjoy the show?”

You huffed- this was humiliating. How dare he? You found anger quickly overtaking your initial shock and embarrassment as you made your way to the pool stairs and got out. You raised an eyebrow at him and smiled when the smirk slid off his face at the sight of your naked, wet body. Two can play this game. Walking over to him you grabbed a towel off the chair and wrapped it around yourself.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to imply here,” you grabbed the cigarette from between his long, muscular fingers and took a long drag. “But I didn’t see you last Friday night. And I definitely didn’t see you fucking that blonde-” your eyes widened at your own confession.

He stood to his full height and stepped closer to you, looking down at you once more. You backed up a step, feeling the lounge chair behind you.

“Drop the towel,” he growled, the hungry look in his eyes fully directed at you this time.

“Listen-“ you started to explain yourself.

“Drop. The. Towel.” He enunciated each word with his crisp accent and perfect voice.

“I knew it- I knew you wanted to fuck me.” You smirked at him triumphantly as you took another drag.

“If I have to tell you again to take that off, you’re not gonna like me darling,” he threatened, stepping closer.

“Oh really?” You laughed, taunting him. “And what are you going to do, Mr. Laufeyson?” You blinked innocently at him, enjoying the way the muscles in his jaw clenched.

Suddenly he grabbed your jaw, firmly but not painfully as he brought his face inches from yours, your eyes locked.

“You fucking brat.” He roughly pulled the towel down, exposing your body to the warm air. He pinched the cigarette from your fingers, extinguishing it under his shoe on the concrete. “I’m going to have to teach you some manners, aren’t I?”

Before you could answer he spun you both around and sat on the lounge chair then pulled you over his lap, angling you so your top half rested on the chair, your hips over his. One hand firmly held your lower back in place, the other smoothed over the skin of your ass and you squirmed. His hand came down to spank you, hard. “First lesson- don’t fucking move until I tell you to.” You whined, your face burning.

His hand came down again in the same spot, causing you to hiss and grip the plastic of the chair in one hand and his thigh in the other. “Second lesson- always answer me.”

You were humiliated but you found yourself growing even more wet with each spank. First there was the pain, then a wave of pleasure that intensified when he smoothed his hand over the skin he’d hit.

He gave you another slap, “what did I just say?” He growled, his hand roughly gripping the skin this time.

“T-to always answer you.” Your voice was small as you stuttered, overwhelmed by the way he was making you feel.

“Good girl.” You'd felt a tiny swell of pride at that. “I’m going to spank you three more times. Count them for me.”

“Okay,” you nodded, worried if you didn’t answer he’d add more to the list. His hand came down on your other cheek, hard and fast.

“One,” you counted, taking a deep breath. Before you could forcibly relax your tense muscles his hand had struck your cheek once more, causing you to hiss.

Your finger tips were pressing into his thigh as you let out a breath, the sharp pain receding. “Two,” you licked your lips and tensed in anticipation of the third and final slap.

After a few seconds you relaxed then turned to catch his eye- he was darkly observing you with his jaw clenched. Suddenly he hit the skin once more, this time the hardest, causing you to cry out.

You composed yourself with a quick breath. “Three.”

“Well done, darling.” He was gently running over the sore skin with his large hands. You could feel his erection under you.

“I wish you could see how lovely you looked on my lap, taking your spanking so well.” He dipped his hand between your legs. You sucked in a breath when you felt his fingers brush along your wet slit causing you to writhe on his lap.

“My poor, little thing. You’re dripping,” his voice was pure sin as he brought his glistening fingers up to your face.

He shifted, his strong grip helping you off his lap so you stood before him on shaky legs. You bit your lip, face growing hot as suddenly became fascinated with your fingers, twisting them painfully.

He stood then, and brought his finger under your chin to guide your eyes to his. He wore a satisfied expression, a slight grin at his lips as he took in your naked form.

“Do you think you’ve learnt your lesson darling?” He asked, his eyes mocking yours.

You quickly nodded, feeling fully exposed in front of his fully clothed form.

He licked his lips. “Do you want to go upstairs so I can fuck you?”

Your cheeks burnt as you nodded quickly again.

“Answer me darling,” he dropped his hand from your chin.

“Yes, Mr. Laufeyson.”

A slow, filthy grin spread across his face. “Lead the way,” he motioned towards the stairs.

You bent to reach for your towel on the ground. “Ah, ah, no need for that darling.” His words stopped you. You shivered as you stood back up, another wave of heat pulsing through your core.

You tentatively walked up the steep stairs and he followed closely behind. You could feel his gaze on you with each step.

Once up on the patio you looked back at him, his eyes dark with hunger. You gave him a shy smile before leading him inside. You stopped- should you bring him to your bedroom?

Before you could finish your thought he slid up behind you, his hands coming to grip your waist. “Where shall I take you, darling?” He whispered in your ear, his breath making you shiver.

He let go of your waist to circle you, stopping before you. “Do you want me to ruin you on that god awful couch?” He looked over his shoulder to the gaudy floral couch Carla had ordered special from Italy. She wouldn’t let anyone who wasn’t company sit on it in fear of stains.

You smiled at the idea of ruining the couch with Mr. Laufeyson, knowing Carla would lose her mind- even more so if she found out how it got there. “Yes please.”

He pulled you towards it then gently guided you to sit at the edge of it, angling you so you were in one corner. His hands splayed over the skin of your legs, gently pushing them apart. The feeling of the cool air of the house on your slit gave you goosebumps.

He kept his eyes locked with yours as he knelt between your legs before he turned to press a kiss to your thigh close to your knee. He then bit the skin there, earning a sharp inhale from you before he soothed it with his warm tongue.

“Tell me, darling. Did you touch yourself? Did you play with yourself as you watched me?” His velvety voice sent an involuntary shudder through you, his eyes capturing yours.

He nipped at your thigh with his teeth, marring the skin. You yelped then swallowed. “Yes! Yes, I did.”

“Good girl.” He moved to repeat his actions further up the inside of your thigh while he gently ran his fingers up and down your other thigh.

You were trembling while you watched him, each bite a little harder than the last as he got closer to your wet core. His eyes met yours once more then he blew a stream of cold air over your slit, causing you to gasp sharply. He smirked before letting his lips barely graze over your clit, your hips moving slightly before he brought his arm down over them to hold you in place.

He ever so gently pressed a kiss to your clit before gently running his tongue over the sensitive flesh, pulling a moan from you. You could feel your wetness dripping down onto the couch below as he continued to delicately tease you.

“You taste divine, darling. Better than I’d imagined.” You whined at his words- the idea of him alone, picturing what your cunt tasted like brought you to the edge of an orgasm.

He smiled wickedly up at you. “So close already? Poor thing.” Bringing one long finger to your slit he gathered some wetness before pushing it fully within you, forcing a loud moan through your lips.

“It’s okay darling, let go. Give into me. I promise it’ll make you feel so much better,” he hummed against your clit before tenderly sucking on it. He bent his finger within you, hitting something deep that made you cry out. You quickly came, your release squirting around his finger and wetting the couch below.

He kept up his movements as you rode out your high. Once your breath returned to you he pulled away and removed his finger, licking his lips as he wiped your release off his chin.

“Third lesson- good girls always get to cum.” He winked at you with a grin before standing.

He leaned over you, caging you in on the couch before capturing your lips with his. You hummed at the taste of yourself on him, his tongue gliding against yours.

He straightened back up then pulled you up off the couch and guided you to face the other way. He led you so your knees were on the couch, your arms resting against the back of the upholstery. You heard the sound of a zipper before feeling the tip of his hard length slide against your folds. You instinctively arched your back at the feeling, pressing yourself up against him, causing him to groan.

“Such a greedy little brat,” he said, smoothing his hands over the skin of your ass. “You want me to fuck that pretty little cunt, hm?”

“Yes- yes please, Mr. Laufeyson. Please fuck me,” you begged, rubbing yourself on him once more.

With that he thrust into you, holding himself still once he was fully seated within you, giving you a chance to adjust. You’d gasped at the sensation- he was clearly well-endowed and you were thankful he gave you a moment. Willing your muscles to relax you looked back at him before grinding your hips against his.

His eyes were dark with lust, his jaw clenched in a way that made you involuntarily squeeze him as he started to move within you. You were panting as he set a pace, the angle of his thrusts hitting the same spot he’d found quickly before.

You’d turned back around and folded your forearms over the back of the couch, arching yourself against him even more. He growled and picked up his pace, his hand firmly gripping your hip. The angle had you moaning desperately, the feeling of him so deep within you making your fingers and toes numb.

“That’s it darling, take my cock within your needy little cunt. Fuck- I’ve wanted to ruin this tight little pussy for so long. I’ve wanted you for so long,” he rasped out between thrusts and your mind went blank, all you could respond with were desperate moans.

He stopped abruptly and pulled you up before sitting himself on the couch and pulling you over his lap so you were straddling him. He’d unbuttoned his shirt and your mouth went dry at the sight of the musculature under his pale skin. You slid your fingers under the fabric, gripping his firm shoulders as he positioned himself under you.

You moved your hips in a circle over him, enjoying the feel of the very tip of him swirling within you.

“You little tease,” he grinned darkly, running a hand through his hair. “Ride me, darling. Show me what you can do.”

Your cunt clenched at his words and his wicked smirk spread. You took the opportunity to bring yourself down to grind against him, wiping the smug look off his face.

You quickly set a pace as you rode him, his hands on your ass guiding your movements. You were panting as you continued your movements, the angle bringing you close to your finish.

“Are you going to cum, darling?” His voice vibrated through you, and you nodded.

“Yes- fuck, Mr. Laufeyson. You feel so good-“ he continued to guide your movements, moving his head closer to your breast. He brought his mouth around one of your nipples, gently sucking at the nub. You arched into him, moaning at the sensation.

His tongue ran against your skin in his mouth, bringing another moan from you before he sharply bit down on your nipple, pushing you over the edge into another orgasm. You moaned his name over and over as you rode out your high, your nails digging into the skin of his shoulder. As you came back to yourself you felt him twitch within you, filling you as he reached his own finish.

You watched him as he came, mesmerised with his blissful expression, his long eyelashes touching defined cheekbones. His eyes fluttered back open and he gave you a smirk- god help you he was fucking gorgeous.

He gave you a chaste kiss before helping you up, the combined fluids from your finish trickling down your thigh. You were happy to see some hit the couch as you moved off him.

You strolled to the bathroom to clean yourself up and throw on a t-shirt and panties, passing a damp cloth to him once you returned. You pulled a cigarette from the pack you had on the kitchen counter, then headed to the balcony as you lit it up.

You were leaning on the balcony, watching the now dark waves when he joined you. You smiled at him, offering him your cigarette. He took a long drag as you leant on the balcony’s edge.

“So,” you trailed off, not sure what to say.

“That was fun,” he exhaled then smiled at you, his expression mischievous.

“Yeah,” you agreed, relief filling your chest. “I’d love to do it again.”

“Of course darling, we have all summer.” He came behind you, pulling you against his chest as he ducked his head so his lips were beside your ear. ”And you have quite a bit to learn.”

End Notes: Want to read more Loki fics of mine? My masterlist is here.

[thefanbasewhore]

Can you do a soulmate Stucky x reader? I feel like you would write that so well, especially how you portrayed bucky in "are you mad at me" was so soft. The soulmate version would be so cute

Summary || Bucky and Steve meet their soulmate, which they had no idea existed.

Warning/content || fluff, a small explicit scene, fighting. Soulmate AU.

Paring || Bucky Barnes x reader x Steve rogers

I got a little carried away, but enjoy ❤️ not edited or beta read but I'm sleepy 😴

Bucky and Steve have had each other from the moment they have met. Imaging their surprise, being two little boys from Brooklyn seeing colors, something the two agreed to hide, pending the time period.

It was different now, a different time. They were accepted and while both of them loved each other, so very much, especially through the mind control, fighting each other, then for each other. They always knew something was missing.

A color, maybe even two, three. A part of them missing but they both collectively came to the conclusion that it was just that. Some missing colors, it happens sometimes.

It happens when they least expect it.

After Thanos, after Tony finally deciding to leave that kind of life behind, buying a small two bedroom house on the outskirts of the city. A home to grow old in, be together for the first time since before the war started but only one thing prevented that.

The house was a disaster, gutted to the foundations, no running water, green moss outside covered the whole house, the lawn completely out of control. For Bucky it was a hard no, it was a dump but the moment Steve fluttered those ridiculously long lashes, how could he say no?

So here they are, sweating on this 90 degree day, putting up new dry wall with no air-conditioning.

"What color should it be?" Steve asks, glancing to his dark haired lover, taking notice of his now shirtless appearance. Bucky let out a sigh, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Maybe we should get all of the walls up first."

Steve clicks his tongue, "I like the color green, like a nice pastel mint green."

"Whatever you want, honey." Bucky wasn't too picky, besides whatever made Steve happy, made him happy.

"Hello?" A sweet, feminine voice came from the kitchen. The doors left open because of the heat, there was nothing much in here anyways.

Steve pulls away from his task, pulling his shirt over his head to wipe his forehead with it. "Come in, we are in the kitchen."

Bucky wasn't too alarmed, Steve had told him previously that he hired a someone to make up the yard, nothing too fancy but the both of them were completely clueless when it came to plants, or gardens period.

"Quite a project you have going on here, Mr. Rogers." No doubt taking in the half gutted house along the way. While they have never met, they spoke on the phone briefly about his wants.

"You have no idea, Hun."

The woman looks around the kitchen first, noticing the freshly painted cabinet, the smell a dead giveaway, half eaten burgers thrown to the side on a small, make shift table with barely enough room to fit.

At first glance towards the man she notices the sharp jawline, defined but soft feature of the blonde as she greets him with a smile which soon drops in confusion as small dots of color appear. Stormy blue eyes with a full beard, Steve's mouth dropping agape as he notices the splirts of color - the missing colors for 106 years finally appear.

Bucky notices the tension in the room, shifting his attention from the wall to Steve, noticing how intensely he's staring, Bucky follows the line of vision and meets sweet eyes.

She's hit with another line of color, different from Steve's but now there's no more gray hue, bright yellows and blues. The outside is suddenly so bright and Bucky mouth drops.

This cannot be happening.

They sit there and stare for what seems like hours.

"I - ugh.." she starts, "What is happening?"

***

Sometimes life just throws curve balls, like finding out that your soulmate or in this cause soulmates are two, one hundred year old super soldiers who have already been in love with each other for over a decade.

The pull is already strong, nature intended for these souls to be together until death due part and honestly Bucky could feel it. With Steve he was used to the urge of wanting to have him close, kiss him every free minute he has but with the woman in front of him, it's new.

He doesn't even know her name, watches the way she nervously flickers from Steve's gaze to his own. She's beautiful.

Strong but delicate features, the curve of her nose is cute, cupid lips are so full... kissable. He can't stop staring, even with Steve and her in the mist of conversation. The make shift table cleared of all prior mess, Buck and Steve have to share a chair, which is quite comical, seeing two giant supersoldier try to share a small, old, dinning room seat.

Bucky's metal fingers twitch, metal plate click and whirl to life as he tights to urge to map her face out with his fingers. His heart is beating so fast, filled with so much... Love? Joy?

No matter how much Steve and Bucky try to hide it.. deep down they always knew, something was missing and in this case, someone.

"You're beautiful." The words catch both her and Steve off guard, Bucky blushes red something terrible but the sweet smile defuses the fire.

Well until she says something back, "You are too."

His whole face is hot and Steve reaches over to affectionately rub the back of his shoulder. Of course Steve was calm, he always is.

He handles things with lots of thought and understanding, while Buck is more hot headed, acts on the moment.

***

"It doesn't feel right." Bucky comments, watching from the window to insure she safely gets into the car. Steve sighs, by the time they're done talking darkness has filled the house. Steve affectionately squeezes the brunette's bicep, pressing a kiss to his hair.

"I know Bucky. This is a lot for her, for us. She needs to take time and reflect on this. She'll come to us when she's ready."

Bucky knows nothing then her name, and love for plants but chews at his bottom lip nervously. She's too far, the bond pulls at his heart strings. Now bonded forever. "What if she never comes back?"

"She will."

***

A few days pass, the kitchen is finally done, new appliances, new china and kitchen fully stocked. Steve is making something for Dinner - it smells amazing while Bucky starts painting the walls of the lifeless living room.

It's bare, not even something to sit on but no doubt with the stamina of two super soldiers it will be done by next week.

The knock on the front door is unexpected, but Bucky replies quickly. "I got it, Stevie!"

He expects some older, much wrinkly neighbor to be complaining about the noise of the nail gone or something this late at night. His mouth drops, a little shocked at the sight of her.

A very formal sitting dress, long and black, dips into a sweetheart neckline, the valley of her breasts easily visible. Hair is thrown into a neat updo, sexy and sleek.

Bucky clears his throat. "Hi." He squeaks out, feeling like a total idiot as he watches her nervously shift her weight from one heel to the other.

"Hi, I was in the area. A wedding for one my clients, thought I'd come say hello." Bucky wants to shake his head in disbelief that something so beautiful, just like Steve is made for him.

The universe sculpted and made two beautiful, breath taking human beings to be his and it's overwhelming. She's so pretty it's alarming.

It was a good excuse, the truth but not the real reason she stopped by. How could she tell them that they have been on her mind none stop? It physically hurts to be away for so long.

"Who is it, Buck?" Steve mumbles, interrupting the thick tension between the two.

"Come in, doll." Bucky's helps her with the jacket that lays over his shoulders, mentioning his head towards the direction of the kitchen, where his other lover is.

Steve is stunned none the less, he at least expected a few more days. Also, feeling much like Bucky, amazed by the radiating beauty.

He decides to play it cool, dimples forming with a breath taking smile. "Do you like spaghetti?"

Hours pass, time moves so fast with conversation, and adding wine to the mix surely didn't help.

The trio once again in the kitchen, but this time each have a chair, a new, more comfortable dinning set.

"You got this done fast. It's beautiful." She comments, "Colors are beautiful, I guess I have you two to thank for that."

Bucky shifts in his seat, the glass of wine is useless but still finds himself sipping from it. Her eyes are red, watery with a slight buzz.

"Do you feel it?" The question has both Bucky and Steve look at each other, watching her teary eyes as she presses a hand to sooth the ache in her chest. "It hurts, it hurts to be away. All week."

"It's normal." Steve answers just above a whisper, his next words make Bucky's bottom lip quiver. "I felt it every day for the last 5 years, Bucky was gone."

Bucky had never thought about it - there hasn't been enough time to. It's only been a month later since the return and it never occurred to him what Steve has gone through.

"Steve.." He starts, tears kiss his waterline as his fingers run through the blonde's hair. "I'm sorry sweetheart, I didn't know, I -."

"Couldn't prevent it Buck. It happened but you're here now and.." Steve turns his attention towards the girl, tears slip past her eyelids. It's for Steve, for Bucky.. all the pain and suffering they've been through. "Hey, don't cry, it's alright beautiful."

It's feels right, despite barely knowing the man, nothing feel more right then being pulled into his chest as a large metal hand comforts her in a different way, rubbing the loose strands of hair as he murmurs. "We've got you now, you're our other half."

***

Months have past from that day. The house is finally done, everything they could have imagined with the additional of an extra tooth brush in the cup that sits on the bathroom sink, a pile of fuzzy blankets at the bottom of the bed and a five year old chocolate lab. Steve didn't mind much, he's always loved dogs, Bucky on the other hand...

"Alright, alright, Maverick." Bucky huffs, grocery bags in hand as the dog excitedly nuzzles his legs, following him throughout the house like it wasn't only an hour ago he's seen him. Once putting the bags down, hears the whine, big brown eyes staring up at him. Bucky sighs, dropping to a knee before petting the pup's head. "Alright you mutt, don't tell anyone about this."

"Too late, pal." Bucky jumps, hearing the amusement in Steve's voice, followed by the giggle of the woman that peers out from behind him. Wrapping her arms around Steve before testing her head against his shoulder.

"Caught you red handed, you love Mav." Bucky grumbles at her words, feeling two smaller hands wrap around his waist as a head falls into his chest. He presses a soft kiss into her hair before taking in the blonde that barely fits through the doorway he leans against.

Bucky's free hand reaches out, mentioning him closer but as she's soon finds herself in the middle of a super soldier sandwich. "Hi, baby." Bucky presses a kiss to the blonde's lips.

"Hi, pal."

***

"It's only one mission. That's it, we will be in and out." Steve promises, not liking the way his girls face twist into a worried expression.

Heavy eyes, lower lip sticking out to pout. "What if something happens? If you get hurt? Or if they find you, Bucky?"

"I told you, Hydra is gone, honey." Bucky's large hands sooth over her tight shoulders, pressing soft kisses to the back of her upper traps.

"No. You still have nightmares at least three times a week. This can't be good for you. And you." She turns her attention back towards Steve, "Barely sleep four hours a night. You carry the fault on your shoulders, you don't need anymore. I don't want you two to go."

"We don't have a choice. They were my family once, I owe this to them." Steve didn't miss the way her lips moves to form a snarl, not sparing another glance as she makes a b-line for the stairs.

Bucky sighs, leaning against the wall. "She's going to be mad at us." Rubbing his chest with hopes to ease the burn.

The bond pulls at their hearts, a slow, painful punishment for their actions.

They return two weeks later, tired, just wanting to see their girl. The moment they walk into the house they look at each other with will wild eyes, heart pumping as they fear the worse. The dog, the annoying wiggling tail that would bark is one where to be found, something is wrong.

It's alarming. "Where is that freaking mutt?"

Steve calls her name, but there is no answer. Bucky and him are searching the house, ascending the stairs, opening the bedroom door with a deep sigh of relief.

The stupid dog takes up half of the bed, but is cuddled into his owner. Arm draped around the ball of fur, amount as long as her.

The dog lifts his head, a little tail waggle as Steve stretches his ears, lowering to his knees and laying his top half over the bed to press loud, audible kisses to his ears. "Good boy, protecting our girl while we are gone."

When morning comes she notices the dog is still pressed against her, licking small stripes against her cheeks. "Have to go out, buddy?"

She barely makes it five steps before tripping over two rather large bodies, sleeping on a makeshift bed on the floor. Bucky groans and Steve's eyes flicker open.

"Why are you on the floor?"

"Wanted you to sleep pretty girl. Mav was taking up all the room and you looked like an angel." Bucky hums in agreement despite his eyes being closed.

"Mmm, well it's all free now." It's short, simple but the sarcastic tone has Bucky's eyes flickering to meet his boyfriend's. They both sigh, staring up at the ceiling, knowing it's going to be a long day.

And it is. She's does whatever she can to get away from them, only answers with short replies to the point Bucky can't take it anymore.

"Sweetheart," Bucky tries again but she doesn't acknowledge him, eyes stayed glued to the book. He gets fed up, metal plates click as artificial appendages run over the binding and pull it from her grasp.

"Give it back, James."

He cringes at the name, a displeased frown wears his face. "No, you have to talk to us."

"No."

"You're bring a brat." Bucky starts, watching her expression change from annoyed to anger, wrinkles of frustration pinch between her eyebrows.

"Buck - don't say that to her." Steve comments, it's his fault, he's the one who said yes without confiding in her first.

"She is, it's over with now. She has no right to be this mad."

"No right?" Her chest fills with emotion as a humourless chuckle causes both men to stiffen. "No right? Huh Buck? I sat here for two full weeks, no communication, nothing while the two of you are out there fighting God knows what after you swore, promised you would always be with me. Don't promise me forever if you're just going to throw yourself in danger! You're going to die and leave me, or worse! Both of you will."

No one says a word, only watch as her chest rises and falls with deep, heavy pants despite the tears that rolls past her eyes lashes.

"Honey, I'm sorry -."

"I don't want to hear it James, and you." She turns towards Steve, fire in her soul. "I thought you would understand, more then him, considering it has happened to you."

She leaves the room without another word, Buck turns towards Steve, watching the way he fights the tears that gather. The pain of loosing Bucky is still so fresh, "She's right Buck, we fucked up."

"I know, I know." He mumbles into Steve's shoulder, pulling him close.

***

"You're so good to me, sweet girl." Bucky moans as she shifts her hips against him, the blunt end of his cock hitting the spot inside her that makes her squeal for more.

Large hands squeeze her hips as Steve leans over to find his boyfriend's lips, kissing him through the gasps and whines of their girl's name as she circles her hips around Bucky.

Steve's hands pull at his hair, lips trailing from his lips, down his cheeks before nipping at his jaw.

"How does he feel honey?"

"So good, Stevie." For a second he's in a trance, watching the way her face contours with pleasure and the pain of her third orgasm well on its way.

Steve lays next to Buck, hand wrapping around his own heaviness between his legs as he stokes it, switching between her face of pleasure to Bucky's, who bites his lip to suppress a moan.

It's short lived as hips stutter against her own, coating her walls with his warm cum.

Steve barely gives her time to recover, positioning her on his hands and knees before hovering over her ear and nibbling on it. "My turn, honey."

***

Her hands nervously shake, the kitchen table is all set up, dinner is ready but at the moment she doesn't have an appetite.

Between this morning sickness, the overall change her body is under going, food makes her sick. The opening of the front door makes her sit up straight, sucking in a deep breath.

Two voices conversationing in the hall, "I thought I said for you to lock the door when we leave." Buck is clearly annoyed, it's been a long day but Steve rubs his shoulders, mumbling something incoherent.

Upon entering the kitchen, they both grow worried. Face drained of color, red blotchy eyes with shaky hands.

"Hey, hey." Steve drops to his knees in front of her seat in an instant, hands curling around her wrist as worried steel blue eyes follow his stance, reaching over to stroke her cheek. "What is it? What happened?"

"I'm pregnant." She pauses, "I'm scared, I'm scared. What if someone comes for you? How are we supposed to raise a baby? What if it has the serum, will it ever be safe?"

The questions fill Bucky with dread, how much though put into every sentence, every word is like a new hit of pain to his body but he stays strong. For his girl, he leans forward, wiping the tears away from discolored cheeks. "Everything is going to be fine babydoll, you're going to be fine, our baby is going to be fine."