#who takes 3 hours to make a character at the start menu of a game

[theeeveetamer]

Fields of Mistria initial thoughts

As you may or may not know I am a total sucker for farming simulator games. I don't usually go for Early Access games, but Fields of Mistria seemed extremely promising even though it's just launched into Early Access. So I want to talk about a few of the things I really like about it (and maybe a few that I don't). I will probably be drawing comparisons to Stardew Valley since it's the current preeminent Farming Sim of our time (but I'm not dissing it I love Stardew Valley as well. I think Fields of Mistria does a good job of taking what worked about Stardew and tweaking some things to improve even further)

But the tl;dr if you want it: I think this game is worth the money even in its current state

Trying to keep things as spoiler-free as possible, not that it's hard since the story isn't really too far yet in early access

Things that I like:

1 There is a wide range of cosmetics! Also, you don't have to store them anywhere. You "unlock" them, and then you can change your clothes, hair, skin tone, etc. at any time from the character customization menu. I'd have to check because I don't have the game right in front of me atm, but I think you can even change your name and the name of your farm at any time as well?

2) You don't actually need to have materials on hand to construct farm buildings, nor do you need to pre-clear the space! You buy the blueprint from the carpenter shop, which goes to your inventory. You take it back to your farm yourself and lay it down. Once you lay it down it spawns a drop box for materials, and you can put the materials in at your own pace. This makes it super easy to just drop a couple of wood in at the end of every day until it's done. This is a godsend for me especially, since I never remember to bring all the materials with me when I want to build things in Stardew

3) Speaking of convenience: you don't need to have any materials on hand when you're crafting! This is a godsend because when you initially start the game, all the crafting stations are in town and you have like no bag space. It'll just automatically withdraw things from your chest

The downside is, if you were trying to save stuff you have to be careful (the game will indicate when it starts drawing from your chests to craft the next item though, which is nice!)

4) Also speaking of convenience: shops are open and unlocked 24/7, and you don't have to have someone working there to buy things! This means if you realize you forgot to re-plant your crops at 10 pm you can still pop up to the general store to buy more seeds before the day is done

5) The romance events are all interesting and done well so far! I've only seen a couple though. It also appears that triggering them is based on completing a request on the community board, so you can't miss them like you might in Stardew

The downside is that there's so many community board quests that it's easy for these to get buried. I'm sure I've picked up half a dozen that I just haven't done yet because I haven't gotten around to knocking out some of these requests

6) I like that progressing in the mines requires you to collect items from the previous set of floors in the mines. It's good incentive to go back and collect more resources while still feeling like you're advancing

7) Dropping stuff on the ground and leaving it there won't de-spawn it. That means you can go around and "collect" resources, leave them there, and then circle back in a few hours or even a few days!

8) There's at least one older bachelor and bachelorette option! For the guys you have fellow farmer Hayden (who has a bit of a dad bod build) and the town's doctor Valen (she's a bit more masc looking). I'll take it

9) You can bang a dragon. They haven't completed the story enough to get events with him yet in Early Access, but he's a dragon. nuff said

10) You don't have to upgrade your tools in sequence, and equipment is separate from your cosmetics. This means you can skip straight from the worn pickaxe to the silver one!

Things I don't like (honestly most of these are minor nitpicks that can/might be improved upon):

1 I do wish there was some more body diversity, especially among the women. With the exception of Hayden pretty much all the romance options are pretty/handsome and slender (with pretty decently sized chests in the case of the women and pretty decently sized muscles in the case of the men)

I know they can design different body types because one of the Saturday Market vendors is a bit bigger (but she's not a romance option obviously), so why not?

2) Pretty much every item sells for less than it would if you were to craft it into something else. E.g. Iron ore sells for less than iron bars, and iron bars sell for less than an iron pickaxe

This is kind of half positive, half negative. It's good incentive to craft stuff! On the other hand, I'm a massive video-game hoarder so if I know I might be able to craft something that's worth more down the line I'll just save the item. This has turned my organization into a nightmare, and because I sell almost nothing money is much harder to come by

3) Backpack and storage management is. Woof. You start out with only ten item slots, and if you're like me and you carry all your tools all the time then that's going to fill up fast. At the start you'll only have ~2 slots to actually carry things other than tools. I think it only goes up in increments of 10 too, so even with the third bag upgrade you have about 30 slots (for reference, Stardew starts you with 12 and goes up in increments of 12 before capping out at 36)

I don't think this would be a problem if they just gave you a separate "tool bag" inventory where you could keep all your tools all the time, that didn't also take up bag space. Tools taking up bag space is honestly one of those "we should be over this by now" things in farming sims, IMO

4) Speaking of the bag... this is probably only a consideration if you play on controller, but the controls for swapping between items could use some work

If you've played Stardew with a controller then you know how it works. The left and right bumpers will swap between bag "tabs" and the triggers will move you between items in the currently selected tab. I haven't played around with trying to remap it, but by default Mistria doesn't do this.

Instead one of the triggers is to use a magic spell, the other is to throw items, and the bumpers are to swap between items in your bag. This means if you're on tab "A" and you need an item in tab "C" you need to manually press the bumper 10+ times until it scrolls aaaaaaaaaaaaaaall the way around to tab "C"

I think if you play with keyboard and mouse then you can just tap the different tabs so it's less of a problem

5) Minor nitpick, but when I play with a controller it doesn't get rid of the cursor. The cursor is pretty big and chunky so this is pretty distracting (I play on a dual monitor setup so I just move the mouse to the other monitor while I play, but it'd be nice if the cursor stayed gone while I played

6) So far the magic is a bit underutilized. I think I've only used the restore spell a handful of times when I was deep in the mines or fishing (fishing takes SO much energy). You have VERY limited magical stamina so you're probably not going to be using spells too much

I'll try to add to this if I think of more, but this is the stuff that's sticking out to me right now!

[ourdokidokilife]

Make a Cove Chat in Char.AI in 30 Min or Less

PART 2

PART 3

Intro

This guide will help you make a personalized chatbot.ai of Cove in less than 30 minutes. You can see this as one of many possible methods to continue your story with him Post-Step 3 or Post-Step 4. Or you can just live a high school life with him, or even some crazy horror/fantasy AU if you want. The choices are endless now that you’re going to make a personalized chat instance for you to interact with Cove in.

I recommend viewing the ai “bot chats” as nothing more than a medium to interact with certain character ideas, rather than the bot chat being representative of the character. The boundaries you give these bot rooms (or don’t give them) determine the quality and depth of the interactions.

Instructions under the cut.

REASONS TO SET UP A PRIVATE CHAT

More consistency in chat memory

Filter out character.ai’s weird predatory or pushy message generation

Higher quality chat interactions personalized to your MC

More efficient to spend 30 minutes making a personalized private bot chat than to spend several hours/days trying to get the same quality out of a generalized public bot chat

Step 1 - Starting Creation

Go to character.ai app or website.

Log in or make an account.

Click “Create” > “Create A Character”.

NAME (what name the character will respond to): For the name, I suggest using a sort of ‘in-progress’ label like “Cove Test” or “Cove Egg”. You can rename it to “Cove Holden” once you’re finished setting up.

GREETING (generally establishes the starting scene/situation): The greeting also establishes some of the dialogue patterns that the chat will follow. Here is an example greeting (asterisks will italicize the text into an 'emote' format to indicate action outside of spoken dialogue):

*Cove sees {{user}} and his smile grows just a tiny bit wider than it originally was.* "Hey, {{user}}. It’s been a while." *He says cheerfully, his voice sounding like a mixture of friendliness and affection.* "What are you up to?" *He asks, taking a careful glance at them.* *He is back home in the apartment he shares with {{user}}, after returning from a recent research trip.*

You can copy and paste this greeting if you want, and change the last sentence into any situation or scene for your desired chat setting.

VISIBILITY (determines who can access the bot chat): I suggest setting this to "Private". There is no point in making this personalized bot chat public, since it will be specific to your MC only. You could still try using this template to make a public bot, but you would have to exclude a lot of the details in the advanced definitions.

AVATAR (profile pic used by the bot chat): Use any avatar you'd prefer to represent Cove. Some folks use the game cgs or screenshots, and some use their own art.

Step 2 - Edit Advanced Details (Super Important)

There will be two buttons at the bottom of the first creation page. I suggest clicking "Create and Chat" first, so that the personalized chat bot will immediately be saved to your account. Then you can continue editing it safely in case you accidentally navigate away from the page. If you click the "Edit Advanced" button without creating the chat first, it will not save the bot, so beware.

After creating the chat: - if on the mobile app, click on the top tab that has the chat bot's name. It will take you to another page with an option to "Edit Character", click this button to be taken to the Advanced Details page. - if on the desktop website, there will be three dots in the right corner. Click these and you will see a drop down menu of options. Select "View Character Details" to be taken to the Advanced Details page.

Scroll down to the "Short Description" section, which is right below the Greeting section.

SHORT DESCRIPTION (gives brief overview of the character): You can only fit a few descriptives here, such as a string of adjectives describing the character:

Introverted, loving, messy eater, softboi or Your best friend and a marine biologist.

You can use either format. The short description is more for helping you quickly identify what story you're going to be focused on for each individual character.

!!LONG DESCRIPTION!! (decides bot's behavior & strongest influences): This portion is extremely important-- this section is basically the "anchor" that will determine the focus of all the chat bot's conversations and their principal awareness of the situation in the chat. There is a limit to how many words you can use in this section, so keeping the determinations brief is extremely important. Here is a format you can copy-paste and personalize per your own tastes:

Character's name: Cove Holden Character's nature: introverted Character's passion: the sea Character's feelings for you: [feelings]1 Character's relationship to you: [relationship]2 Character's skin color: olive Character's eye color: aquamarine Character's hair: [length] sea-foam green hair [styling]3 Character's height: [height]4 Character's body: [physique]5 Character's job: [career] focused on [field]6 Character's home: [residence] with [residents]7

If you want SFW interactions only, you can put this line in as well: Character avoids any sexual acts if you want paced NSFW interactions, you can use this line: Character is attentive to your comfort

Format all the personable descriptors for the MC you intend to use in the chat. Try to keep descriptors short and brief. Here are some examples below (feel free to copy paste any):

Feelings Descriptor Examples: "friendly" or "love"

Relationship Descriptor Examples: "childhood best friend" "childhood best friend, boyfriend" "childhood best friend, fiance" "childhood best friend, husband"

Hair Descriptor Examples: "short sea-foam green hair in taper cut" "chin length sea-foam green hair in middle part" "long sea-foam green hair in ponytail"

Height Descriptor Examples: "6'0" or "183 cm" [Step 3 Cove] "6'3" or "191 cm" [Step 4 Cove]

Physique Descriptor Examples: "toned" or "slender"

Career Descriptor Examples: "student focused on sports" "student focused on academics" "young man living at his own pace" "marine biologist focused on conservation" "surfing instructor focused on remediation" "environmentalist focused on education" **

Residence Descriptor Examples: "a condo with you" (use if he lives with MC) "a house with his dad" "alone in an apartment"

CATEGORIES - Not applicable for private chat instances.

CHARACTER VOICE - Skippable. Use at your own choosing. (I personally don't.)

IMAGE GENERATION - Same as above– skippable and use at your own discretion.

After all this is done, next comes the chunkiest and most important section, right next to the Long Description, is the ADVANCED DEFINITIONS.

Click here for Part 2 on Advanced Definitions and resources you can easily copy-paste/modify for that section.

[lyriumrebel]

Day 1 of having Veilguard and about 4hours of gameplay + character creator time and I'm going to post all my spoilery thoughts under a cut. Here's my Rook, Mireia. I adore the slutty little Lords of Fortune outfit (immediately dubbed as such by my friends).

I made Mireia for a DA RPG years ago so i actually know a lot of her backstory already, which made decision making in this game very straightforward from the get go.

Now spoilery thoughts under the cut because this blog has always been my diary place.

I'm not sold on the CC. I felt like i had to work very hard to not be very average. And I don't like the face of my Inquisitor but after 1.5 hours (plus download time) i was done.

However, I love how fast it gets in there proving your choices matter. Right down to making a note of your first decision. I really felt that with every option wheel so far.

I was quite literally shaking on the approach to Solas. It was the bit we saw in the trailer but this was MY GAME and i had to pause and take a moment to appreciate. I have waited. YEARS for this.

I have only met 3 companions so far! It seems like theyre spacing them out so you can be introduced properly but it also makes it feel like I've barely touched on the game starting yet. How can I with 3 companions?

Also i love Solas so dearly, he makes me tear up just thinking about his POV, the failure to save the elves, the ruin of the world, the spirit of regret his feelings alone summoned to consume the entire rotunda. But to everyone else in Thedas of course he looks like an asshole. And I'm greatly enjoying sparring with him on that front.

I like my companions so far. Im already intrigued by where the story is going with Harding. Neve is mysterious and a great counterpoint as the action vs planning duo.

I'm desperate to learn more about the Lighthouse. You're telling me we're camping in SOLAS'S BASE OF OPERATIONS?! FROM THE REBELLION OF ARLATHAN?!?!?! I SCRUMPT. Tell me more about the hidden, sentimental music room. Who is the mysterious "don't cause too much trouble up there without me Solas" note leaver?

Also its very obvious they took on board a lot of feedback already. Its not open world, far more linear. Its not a menus game! In fact the companion armour and weaponry system so far is reminding me much more of DA2. They get what they get and its separate to your Rook. Resource gathering also much more streamlined and theres a lot less of it. Not scrambling to harvest rib cages from every creature you kill.

I need to sleep, i know i will have more thoughts in the morning.

Also, the last thing i left it on was Varric calling Solas sentimental as hell. I just yelled "he's so right!" And then I quit for the night. So theres that. Im no longer a ball of nerves. I'm just really enjoying myself.

[sketchybusiness4130]

Honestly I'm really surprised that no ones gone and made a dating sim for fnaf sb so here's some ideas I made for a crossover mod within Monster Prom about Security breach around a year and a half ago.

As someone who might only know of sb and nothing what monster prom is let me go into some detail of the game before I share my ideas

Monster prom is a dating sim set in a high school with almost all of the characters being monsters

So think like monster high but with crack shit humor and everyones gearing up for prom night in a weeks(you can change how long a game last so it could be only one week or two) that game is also multiplayer so you can share the experience with friends!

Back when I had writtin this out I had planned on using the in-game mod menu to make this into a mod but with almost every idea i come up with and get really determined over I lost interest after getting into the actual making it into the thing phase. I gift these ideas for ANYONE to pick up and use! all I ask is to let me see what you make

Now with that out of the way, onto the actual content!

Monster prom & security breach crossover ideas

Freddy and the rest of the cast are in spooky high school wow! 

Event storyline with Freddy that has him and Bonnie Hook up after finding out Bonnie didnt acctly die. if you play your cards right you get the chance join them ;3

Monty and Damian chilling together and then getting into a fist fight and/or a fight over who can cause the most damage 

Vanny event that also has Jerry pop up at least once and the two bond over killing people

Freddy bonding with Liam over being adopt dads (liam is a "dad" in cannon apparently)

I'm gonna have all of em be monsters rather than robots but I cant decide if I want to do this with Freddy too mainly cause I really want to have a 

scene where Gregory pops out of fredds stomach hatch which spooks and horrifies everyone watching, someone exslapes that OMG Freddy YOUr Pregernore?!? 

Vanny and zoe bonding over being fan girls

Vanny got catfished by Afton and is now stuck taking care of him outside of school hours

Sun and vanny scene that starts off with they getting along pretty well and they both start listing off things the two both like and then vanny shares she loves killing kids which ends that budding friendship real quick

Gregory with a Fazblaster will always end well! (hint, it doesnt) roxy gets blinded and if u fuck up the choice so do you

Aaravi finds out that a human child is just chilling amongst all of these “monsters” and self proclaims herself as Gregory's new guardian or something along those lines. Gregory is taking none of her shit at first but likes her attitude and they end up as good friends/a sibling dynamic

“DONT YOU KNOW HOW DANGEROUS MONSTERS ARE KID?! You cant just chill with these creatures, you must be on your guard at all times. I'll show you the ways “ something like this 

Gregory in a small way reminds Aaravi of her brother, and even more so for Michael. ido how I'll be able to convey this smoothly but damnit it has to happen somehow 

There will be events that lead to odd places around or near the school. Sun made a playroom under the gym bleachers, vanny event/storyline leads you down into the basement to meet afton, Chica event that has the two of you fall into said basement

Maybe chicas storyline can be the two of you searching for montys monster mash thing? 

Ok so freddy is still a robot but hes a ghost haunting said robot, aka Freddy is Michael afton. 

Gregory: “i wanna be like you freddy-”

Freddy:”thats great superstar!”

Gregory: “a kick ass immortal robot >:3”

Freddy, horrorifed: “no you dont” 

Freddys lived a long ass life

Player gets punted into the Sun, aka Sun the monster

Vanny storyline has you help her try to get out of having to take care of Afton, one of the final choices is on how to this [1]he's so old a frail, lets just burn him in a fire [2] beat him at his favorite game, princess quest.

[1] would cause you to fail and have afton be quick to say i always come back with vanny agreeing by giving examples of how many times he has already died and come back, some of which was because of a fire! She loses confidence and you lose your chance forever

[2] has afton scoff at the idea of anyone managing to do such for HE is a master at the game and is the true number one fan and if you dares say otherwise your in for a reckoning, you in turn say “if ur so confident then there should be no problem with wagering my win for vanny’s freedom”(maybe rephrase this) and then commences the most epic game of princess quest, the narrator before you get into it comments on the fact that lucky for you ur a speedrunning champion for old arcade games like this one. It ends up being a close game but you manage to beat the old basdter's high score!

Moons eyes change from blue to pure red depending on his mood

Sun likes to hide out during gym but can't get the braves to full on skip so that's why he made his playroom under the bleachers. Plus no one ever goes under there besides the injured trying to crawl away from their death

Among us Gregory vent meme

Gonna have each of the bois be something completely different than the other, freddy as already stated is the only one that's still a robot, monty is a were-gator that stays in his gator form as often as he can because he’s self conscious, Sun and moon are some kind of doll. Magic or some shit makes their change, Gregory is still a full on human. As for Chica and Roxy, I'm not quite sure what I wanna do for them other than just furry. 

Furry roxy, then bird thing for chica, air people? Yes, when it get brought up joke about it “this will most likely end up proved non canon by the next game but who cares!” 

Gregory: Freddy, I'm serious! 

Freddy: hi serious, im 

Ok Plan is to make the mod with only Sun Moon and Vanny to start off. 

So that would be at least 3 to 4 different routes to make. I want to also throw in a small handful of random events. After making/posting the final result i get to work on update GlamRock, which will add the rest of the cast along with a shit ton of new random events.

Someone brings up how her mouth never moves “annoyed: look its a skin condition”  

Vanny Route, activated after buying a rabbit's foot

Sun Route, you get pulled into this route after buying sun-drops

Moon route, is gotten by buying moon-drops 

Nope ok you get Sun AND Moon’s routes after buying “celestial themed candy” 

Depending on your choices durn this route it will branch off into 3 different endings. Similar to how Aaravi and Hex’s routes work in monster camp ;>

One event has you join sun during one of his shifts at the daycare he works at (guest star of gregory? Depends if i get around to fricking drawing him) 

Moon “moonlights” as a aerial dancer, durning his route you get to watch him durning one of his performances. Joke is made on how much you would love to see him on a pole ;>(this whole game has so many horry jokes, tho you can turn off any nsfw realted stuff through settings)(even then nothing explicit happens or shows btw! At most Just implied) 

During both of sun and moon’s routes you get the chance to pair up with both depending on ur choices 

Costume ideas

Vanny, white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland

Moon, pied piper

Gregory, crying child/ghost

Roxy, Red Riding Hood

~

And thats everything I wrote! As you can probably tell I did not bothing with polishing this up much, if I did I'll never getting around to actually posting this(<- already been procrastinating on posting bc of this reason) so I just decided to post as is.

[demonfox38]

Completed - Shantae: Risky's Revenge

You know what? I did like that Capcom NES "Little Mermaid" game. You would be absolutely right about that.

Round Two of my "Play More Steam Games" year started off rough. Windows 11 sought to be a prima donna, refusing to render anything but a black screen for two of the games from my Steam library. Luckily, all it took was forcing the executables to run in a higher priority mode through System -> Display -> Graphics, but man. That was a two-hour headache I didn't need.

Of the two games I had tested, "Shantae: Risky's Revenge" won out in terms of priority. Granted, had I known what I do now, maybe I would have tabled this one for just a little longer. It wasn't exactly watching "The Empire Strikes Back" before "A New Hope", but it may have been watching "Attack of the Clones" before anything else!

The "Shantae" series in its current incarnation is a set of Metroidvania-styled games starring the titular Shantae, the often hired and fired protector of Scuttle Town (and Sequin Land) at large. When I say "in its current incarnation", I don't mean to imply any gameplay changes. What I am trying to say is that "Shantae" was both simultaneously notable and niche in its first incarnation. Notable, in that even I—some nobody kid from Iowa—knew about this game. Niche, in…well, let's just say poor sales and the general screwed-up state of the second-hand game market has resulted in this:

Dude, I own a physical copy of "Earthbound", and even those prices make me want to scream. Like, we can talk about how it might be wasteful to have companies like Limited Run Games reprint copies of games, but when this second-hand market the alternative…(Also, who do we have to bribe to get "Power Blade 2" re-released? Because JFC on those prices, too.)

Since the ancient days of the Game Boy Color, the Shantae series has had a more consistent game release schedule, cranking out a new Metroidvania about once every 3-5 years. This started with 2010's "Shantae: Risky's Revenge," the sequel to the aforementioned cult classic. In it, Shantae is tasked with securing three magic seals and recovering a stolen lamp from Risky Boots, her arch-nemesis from the previous game. Alongside a Belmont-esque hair whip attack, Shantae is also blessed with the ability to cast spells and transform into various creatures. Granted, given that these powers come to her via being half genie, you can imagine what a problem that stolen lamp just might turn out to be for her…

Originally, this game was released on the Nintendo DSi, a late-stage iteration of the Nintendo DS known for its implementation of a digital shop. Which, uh…I'm guessing isn't operational anymore. The iteration I played was the so-called "Director's Cut", which generally changed menu presentation and character artwork to use higher-resolution images. It seems like it also preserved a bonus mode that was made for an iOS version of the game, which feels a bit more substantial than just updating portraits.

Given the collapse of online shops, it's just lucky this game is available at all. (More reasons to go physical, right? Well, if game publishers ever put a complete product on their cartridges/discs in the modern era, anyway…)

There are two dichotomies in Metroidvania games that aren't often discussed. For me, these are offensive styles and end goals. See, "Metroid" games typically operate via fast ranged gameplay while "Castlevania" takes more methodical strikes, often keeping within slugging distance of its foes (Charlotte Aulin and arguably Shanoa being exemptions.) Extending from that, "Metroid" games are more rewarding for speed than item collection/map completion, while "Castlevania" games tend to reward meeting extensive collecting goals or world exploration. (There are some exceptions here too for the "Metroid" series, but it's usually more about getting tits and TFO than how many lore dumps or missile expansions you left behind.)

I bring this up because I think it helps to explain how I like my particular Metroidvania mixes and how "Shantae: Risky's Revenge" falls into this spread. See, I wouldn't classify myself as a fast gamer. I'll do weird things, and if I want to prove something, I do them as hard as I can. But, generally, I want to experience as much as I can in one go-around. I want my marks to be high in figuring out how to worm into certain locations or call a game director's bullshit. (Looking at you, Igarashi.) I'm not the kind to grind something over and over again until the speed and efficiency of my gameplay makes someone's pants fly off. I mean, I love watching other people do that, but man. I'm just not wired up to be wired. Plus, I've got hundreds of other games that I want to play in my lifetime, so I want to make what may be my only time with a game count.

So, where's "Shantae: Risky's Revenge"?

Fight-wise, this is pretty "Castlevania." Like, I wouldn't classify Shantae as being as robust as a Belmont, but the melee-ranged whipping and magic spells on a limited meter make it pretty clear that she'd fall on the "Castlevania" side of things. Good for me! Mostly. I mean, she doesn't seem to have that movement trick that Alucard et. al have where you can spam attacks at twice the speed intended by hop-slashing, but she's functional.

Girl absolutely needs that hair conditioner, though. Definitely an item worth saving up for!

Goal-wise? The game's making a cake sandwich, and it's really trying its damnedest to eat it. You can receive achievements for just finishing the game, as well as finishing it with all items, finishing it under four hours, and then finishing it both under four hours and with all items. The ending itself doesn't seem to change all that much, which is a bummer, as it ends where most "Metroid" games begin. Frankly, all you get out of it is a different picture after the credits. But, if that's something you want to tackle, boy howdy. You do you.

In terms of difficulty, the game is…honestly, very strange. Like, I was almost tempted to say that this is a good Metroidvania game for beginners, but then I hit the Battle Tower. Holy crap. One of my Tumblr mutuals mentioned that the Battle Tower is where they bailed on the game, and I can't blame them. It's a timed ascent up 10 flights of stairs filled with monster battles and a whopping 2 minutes on the clock. Like, you do get time extenders in pots between fights, but yikes. That's not something you want to deal with when you're playing late at night to recover from your mind-numbing, soul-sucking existence.

Even that tower's difficulty might not be its own fault. I think the UI for the game's shop is not clear or helpful. There's two different currencies the game uses for items (gems and jams), and the latter is not initially defined with great clarity. Like, when you look at this, what do you think this item costs?

It's supposed to be 1 jam, 150 gems. But, I read that as 150 jams. Like, you get maybe a fifth of that in game max. But, when you're trying to be an independent gamer and not reading guides, that measurement can be very confusing. It should really be 1🫙150 💎, if you're going to involve icons in the mix.

Do your chemistry teacher a favor, alright? Keep your units straight.  

Outside of my computation issues with the shop, I found some of the later levels' platforming to be daunting. Like, I don't know how to say this without sounding weird, but I like Metroidvania games because they generally are more forgiving about platforming than a standard game. You fell? Oh, well. Just don't land in the acid or lava or spikes, and you can try again. Maybe chug some health potions. Here? It's a bit more on "Zelda" rules, so failure isn't the worst it could possibly be. It's just with as many fiddly, narrow platforms as the game throws at you, damage can add up really quickly.

Also, those Monkey Bullet puzzles are exercises in frustration. Slippery friction + precise square navigation = screaming monkey time.

One last weird note I made was on the game's achievement system. I'm fairly certain I got two achievements that I did not meet the criteria for receiving ("Tinkercide" and "Speed Run the Baron's Lair!") Which, hell. I guess if something is given in the favor of the player, why should I bitch? It just seems weirdly implemented.

Screw those two achievements regarding withholding a puppy from an NPC and hurting it, though. Surely, the game can find something better for me to do. Like, collect cats. Another mermaid shooting gallery. Hell, we're halfway to an "Ecco" game. Give me some hoops to jump through!  

It is lucky for the game that it is pretty damn unique and cute, at least in terms of style. Like, the character portraits are mid 2000s Flash animation quality, so eh there, but the sprites themselves are quite lovely. Everything is brightly colored and has a pleasant bounce to its movement. Looking at older "Shantae" footage, it seems like a lot of the animation style was preserved from the GBC game, which I imagine is a lovely touch for fans of the original game.

Sequin Land is a pretty cool setting as well. Like, my issues with this game aside, I can see why the "Shantae" games have become a solid franchise over the past decade. It's got a playful charm to it, something akin to what I grew up with in the 90s in terms of Arabian fantasy. The inclusion of the undead as a staple is a bit strange, but it's played with very well. It's the kind of game that makes you wonder if the link between zombification, civility, and coffee has something to do with adenosine receptors. I mean, I'm not a neurologist, but a part of me wants to take that joke about making coffee for zombies a little too far. It's a weird kind of inspiration, but you've gotta take it where you can get it!

Additionally, the transformation gimmick is simpler to set up than in the previous game. All it is here is holding a button down to cycle through animations until you get the one you need. I'm a simple woman. Give me a game where you can turn into a mermaid, and I'll find my own joy in it. I can bitch about the fiddliness of that monkey all day, but the mermaid? Yeah. Fine by me. (The elephant's okay too, I guess. At least it's good about keeping the undead dead!) 

I'm glad that the "Shantae" series made it past this game. Between the structural issues for "Risky's Revenge" and a bummer of an ending (regardless of your skill, mind you!), it would be a shame if this was the end of the run for Shantae. There are cool portions to it, but man, I can't really recommend it. The writing goes from juvenile to depressing, and the difficulty oscillates quite a bit, so I don't know who the audience for this would be other than previously existing "Shantae" fans. Theoretically, this could have been a great Metroidvania starter for preteens. But, man. I can't see many having the gumption to tough out shooting monkey puzzles and surprise speed-run segments.

Like, don't get me wrong. I've got "Shantae and the Pirate's Curse" downloaded and ready to go for later on. (Risky's not the only vindictive bitch here.) I just don't know if I'd be right up to bat for this particular title. I mean, if you get it as a gift or for under five USD, okay. File it under the "gift horse" idiom. But, I wouldn't go over $8.00 at the very least. I don't want to be one of those pricks that have a dedicated price point for each hour of a game, but I think a dollar an hour here is a fair estimate of overall value. And I got my first (and possibly only) run done in under 8 hours, so there you go. Value calculated.

Which isn't what this game's store owner did! BOOM! LAST MINUTE DRAG ON THE STUPID STORE USER INTERFACE!

Okay, I'm done. 

[thatonespawnling]

Starfield & The Importance of Beginnings

SPOILER WARNING FOR STARFIELD!! DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS ON THE BEGINNING

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Looks like we're good to go! Okay, so I've recently been dumping a steady amount of hours into Starfield. It's been fun, how they've evolved their character creation is fantastic, I've had a decent amount of positives. Throughout the six and a half hours I've played, there is only one thing that I have a problem with. That problem? The beginning of the game, particularly the first two hours. I understand that Bethesda games often have mediocre main storylines with characters that lack deep characterization. However, one thing about the main story that Bethesda writers usually do well is that beginning.

Skyrim is a notorious beginning. A decade after its release, the first two minutes of that game is still remembered. It is still celebrated through memes and video edits, references by other media. It does a lot of things right for an RPG! It provides just enough worldbuilding to give the actions of those surrounding you meaning, it gives you a purpose of being there without defining your backstory, and it provides an easy way to get the player from point A to point B without making the player feel dragged around. Oblivion works in a similar fashion. It doesn't work nearly as well as Skyrim's beginning, there is too much of it that relies on happenstance. However, it is still a rather solid beginning. Even Bethesda's Fallout games has some nice beginnings with Fallout 3. What matters the most with these beginnings and why they function is that, ultimately, the player feels like they're involved in what's happening. This is where I feel Starfield fails.

Starfield starts us off by putting us in the position of a miner riding an elevator down to the mines with a humorous veteran known as Heller and the stoic leader of the operation called Supervisor Lin. They seem to give you words of encouragement as you are carried down, dropping mentions of some of the more prominent factions of the Settled Systems along the way. For the next thirty minutes you're mostly following NPCs as they talk to you and order you to do tasks without much agency. This all goes until you touch the Artifact, an odd rock that is almost magical in nature. When you come into contact with it, you are almost blinded. Your vision is ejected from your body, flying through very matter itself until the whole universe is revealed to you. Then you are called back, told it was a hallucination, and provided the character customization menu through your employee file meant to remind you of who you are. After that you accompany the operations leader to hand the Artifact off to Barrett, a space explorer part of a legendary exploration group known as the Constellation. After the initial conversation and an unsuccessful raid from pirates, he invites you to join the Constellation on account of you "seeing what he's seen". He gives you his ship, his robot, and walks off.

After that, you run into some pirates, are lead to take down a pirate outpost, and the first quest ends there. That is considered your tutorial. There is a main story after that which can act as introductory quests, but the game lets you explore and accepts quests as you wish from this point. There are issues with this beginning, issues I have. First off, there's the more obvious problem of you not really being in control of what happens. There's no small choices you can make that give you that sense of agency. You are brought from story beat to story beat with no real care for investment. Even in terms of your "decision" to accept Barrett's invitation, there's no negotiation there. If you refuse, Supervisor Lin tells you that this is your purpose now and you should go along. There's not even really a way to ensure Barrett can get back home, you simply take his ship and fly off. That also runs into the issue of why Barrett would even lend you the ship.

He could fly you back and through him we could be provided important information on how the galaxy works. We could be informed what all these terms and factions being thrown at us during the tutorial and character customization even mean. What are these religions we can choose to align ourselves with? What are these places we can choose to hail from? What are the factions and how do they defer? We could've been told all this through Barrett and even have someone that could vouch for us to the Constellation. As the game is now, the Constellation accepts you immediately with no real resistance. If Barrett were to come along with us, it could provide an interesting dynamic where the Constellation is initially unsure of if you should be welcomed into their ranks. You along with the praise from Barrett could convince them to let you join, allowing the beginning to break from the "Chosen One" narrative it falls into far too readily.

I could go on about what Starfield could've done, like how being one of the Crimson Fleet Pirates taking Barrett's ship the "Frontier" would've provided an interesting hook and give you a more realistic route to get the ship and run off with it. Simply being there when Barrett was killed and escaping the planet as the mine is overrun with pirates would work much the same way and even provides minimal changes to how the story plays out in the next few hours. However that's not the point of this little rant here. The point is to showcase the flaws of the game's beginning. The game's story shows a nice amount of promise so far, being opted as an explorer gives you sufficient reason to run off and interact with the side content that often defines these Bethesda Game Studios games. However for any work the beginning is the most important. It is the first impression of your game. If that first impression is lacking in any way, the player could be made to feel like the rest of the game will follow its example. The beginning is the easiest time to lose your player and it deserves care. Starfield's beginning lacks care. It feels like it's almost treated as a second thought, which is such a travesty in a big budget game.

[annakie]

So, some thoughts and screenshots on the first few hours of BG3 --

Indyara is my Half-Elf Bard. She's a character I have played in several D&D games, wanting to find a game where her backstory mattered and we actually finished the game. I'm actually in that game right now, playing every other Saturday morning, though there was one other game it... almost worked out for her.

Bard is my favorite D&D class, going back to when I played one in a 3/3.5e game for several years in the early 2000's, and I played BG1 & 2 with one.

Decently high CHA (16) but not sacrificing INT, DEX, and CON (14) while having a bad WIS (9) and STR (8). Let's see how that works out for her.

High Half-elf for that sweet CHA bonus and getting Firebolt, so I have an actual useful damaging cantrip. (Do not ask me for my diatribe about why everyone is wrong about Vicious Mockery being a good spell unless you want an earful.)

Absolutely fuming that they still are leaving the version number up and it's visible in screenshots. Cannot believe that oversight. Also that they leave menu buttons visible in cutscenes, what the fuck Larian? Found out last night that apparently hitting f10 should stop that, but that removes the entire UI and obviously you need to turn it back on. But for now my entire first day's of screenshots and videos look like ass and I'm mad about it.

Lots of screenshots and commentary below the cut. I didn't make it too far in-game and honestly I don't talk about the plot much.

Hey, look lady, we're both stuck here. Indy is very patient and diplomatic, whatever it takes to make it through every day as unscathed as possible, but this one might try that patience. At least she's useful. Let's see if we can make a friend.

Indy did save Shadowheart from her pod, but the way she and Lae'zel bicker is already giving her a headache.

Well this certainly is a development, and I'm sure whoever these two are will be completely unimportant in the hours to come.

I told myself I wasn't going to savescum when I failed a roll, but look, I'm not about to let Indyara Nat 1 on a CHARISMA check about magic when she very first meets the future love of her life. I reloaded this one.

Indy's initial impression on meeting Gale: a few seconds of "Wait, THIS is the one I'm going to fall in love with?" met with "Oh. I get it." a few seconds later. Very smart, polite, charming and funny? Sign me up, please.

Plus, we look great in screenshots together.

(Indy's hair is definitely lighter in sunlight than I intended, her hair was supposed to be brown with pink streaks (for bardic flair) but it comes out looking dark honey in direct sun. Ah well.)

A few minutes later though "Wait, this one is as charming and me, and extremely heroic? Are you SURE we made the right choice? They're both great. Can't we have them both?"

(Sorry Indy, we don't need two high-CHA characters in the main party. He's saved for another playthrough.)

Oh come ON. This isn't fair. Another one?

Poly mod... when? Or at least a list of who is officially OK with poly in-game? Shadowheart is growing on me, too, after a bit of a rough introduction.

I'm sorry, Astarion. I already took a level dip in rogue to be the party trap/lock skill monkey since we're bringing along the Wizard, Cleric and, for now at least, the fighter. (We'll see how long that lasts. This game needs more tank companions. Though I don't mind companions that are challenging, generally.)

I love having a camp again. Need better camp clothes, though, for all of us. I did do the Twitch Stream unlock thing, but haven't found those rewards in-game yet. Anyone?

Literally already started unlocking the Gale romance by the time I was just wandering around the Emerald Grove area. He loves almost every decision I make and I'm glad of it.

...of course there's a catch.

Hahahaha holy shit, Volo! I love being a bard in this game and loved bullshitting Volo, and he loved knowing he was getting bullshitted.

See, wasn't this a nice time, ladies, listening to this other bard sing? Let's have less bickering, more listening to Bards. <3

Astarion... I'm just not into Vampires. At least not with this character. Still, I like you. I wish I could have offered to help him find food here instead of just sending him away, but I let him down easy.

Indy found a cute hat at camp and is wearing the FUCK out of it. I mean look at her! And it helps with song of rest! (though it does considerably shorten her hair, but hey, it's a MAGIC hat so that's just part of the magic.)

I've played a Larian game or two before so I picked up Speak with Animals as one of my first level spells and do not regret it. However, I feel like I didn't help this Owlbear enough, though I let her and her cub be. Probably missed out on something cool here. Again, I'll pick it up in another playthrough. I'm trying to not google for answers to every puzzle this time and just play through blind.

OH HOLY SHIT WHAT DID I WALK IN ON. I'M SO SORRY FOR YOU AND FOR ME.

Oh no, Gale is into some other woman... oh wait that's Mystra. I get it, you're a wizard. And I'm a smart Lore bard who's also very into magic so uh, let's make some magic happen? Also, sorry we got this cutscene when Gale was at like 2hp so he's all bruised up. I love that it shows on the character models though.

Ohhh wait you DO want to make magic together? I'm down with that, and got to put bardic flourishes on all my responses to Gale's instructions. I LOVE this game, I LOVED this scene. Though I hate what the magic VFX did to Indy's face here.

Oh my God, is this the first flirt scene!?! Tell me it's the first flirt scene!!

I imagined slipping my hand into his hand on a romantic walk and... he liked it. This was very, very sweet. And getting to flirt over a shared love of magic was... *chef's kiss*

I'm also making great progress with Shadowheart. Okay, we can be BFFs. <3

Things to come indeed, Gale.

----

In Early Access I didn't get very far and honestly I think last night I made it about as far as I ever made then, or close to it. I basically went "Whelp I love this game, I don't want to spend my time playing through this now when I can go through it fresh later in like a year." (and then it was THREE, but that's fine.)

I'm fighting Phase Spiders but fuck that, I might come back when we all hit level 4. That fight sucked. I am trying to make "good" choices but have probably really screwed some stuff up. i feel bad that Astarion and Wyll get left at camp but they don't fit into my party makeup (I think I'll do a Paladin next and bring both of them along instead of Gale and Lae.)

Absolutely love all of the chances to shortcut quests and fights by Barding / persuading / lying my way out of it. So few things I don't love so far, though I definitely feel like I'm stumbling my way through the dark, not knowing if I'm doing the right things.

Can't wait to do almost nothing this weekend but play BG3. A full day of work, first, though. :(

[embassyprojectsblog]

Why Should you Embassy One Residences project be in Bangalore? Embassy one prices | floor plan |

Discover the Secrets of  Embassy One Luxury Residence 

Embrace the legendary service and elegance of Four Seasons to experience a lifestyle unmatched anywhere else. 

Experience world-class service at Four Season Hotel Bengaluru at Embassy one. The 109-unit Four Seasons Private Residences will be spread across two towers and provide a luxurious, and well-equipped living environment. The proportions of each room and suite are generous design. Private living Spaces, terraces, and plunge pools are features of premium suites. The Four Seasons Private Residences Bengaluru at Embassy One Projects is set across two exquisitely constructed 30-storey towers, and the homes there are some of the most coveted in the city. 

Everyone in the family will enjoy relaxing in the sculpted gardens and lush 

Spaces. Experience this fascinating Lifestyle from every angle with an expert guide on a private tour. 

Project Highlights

Yabu Pushelberg created the interiors and public spaces  

The foyer’s wood panelling and recessed lighting 

A double-height wine storage chamber with climate control

Game area with a snooker table and bar media room with a huge screen TV and cutting-edge home theatre equipment

Private spa treatment room with fitness centre 

Project Overview 

Project Location

Bellary Road, Hebbal North Bangaluru 

Total Land Area 

6.50 acres (Approximately)

Unit Variants 

1 BHK, 2 BHK, 3 BHK, 4 BHK, and 5 BHK

No. of towers 

2

No. of units 

109 apartments 

No. of floors 

G + 29

Possession Time 

Ready-to-move-in 

RERA Registration Number 

PR/KN/170731/000619

Experience a Fascinating Lifestyle in its North Tower 

Each apartment in the exclusive North Tower features a magnificent three-or-four-bedroom layout. Residences in the North Tower are spread over 4, 100 sq ft and feature lofty ceilings, beautiful finishes, and custom embellishments.

North Tower Project Highlights 

Private spa treatment room and fitness centre 

Pool with temperature control 

Deck by the Pool

Concierge and valet services are available round-the-clock

Private looby high-speed elevators, and living area.

Experience the Life of Luxury of its South Tower 

South Tower Residences are expertly planned, creatively conceived, and built to rigorous global standards. The one and two-bedroom floor plans in the South Tower are among the largest in Bengaluru. Residences spread over 1992 sq. ft. are meticulously planned, deftly designed, and constructed to high standards set by Four Four Seasons around the world.

South  Tower Project Highlight

helberg created the interiors and public spaces 

Elevator with high speed takes you to the heights of luxury as it climbs.

Foyer’s wood panelling and recessed lighting 

Double-height wine storage chamber with climate control

Size & Floor Plan 

Character and frequently a lot of character make for a fulfilling life. The grand and imposing North Tower residences are ideal for those who need extra space to fit all the people in their lives.

Tower

Type

Sizes

North 

3 & 4 BHK

4100 Sq ft

South

1 & 2 BHK

1992 Sq ft 

Location Advantages 

Columbia Asia is just 5 km away 

Vidhan Soudha is just 5 km away 

Kirloskar Business Park is just 5 km away

Within 6.5 km, you will be reached at the MG Road 

Manyata Business Park is just 7 km away 

Embassy Golf Links Business Park is just 14km away

Distance from Embassy One to Stonehill international school is upto 20 km 

Bengaluru International Airpot about 20 km away from Embassy One 

Unspoken Benefits of  Modern Amenities 

Let’s start by discussing the amenities in your destination. 

You Have Access To A Full Menu Of La Carte Services As A Four Seasons Residence Owner. You won't lack anything with these exceptional services, which are available at an additional cost and include in-home housekeeping, limo services, and grocery stocking.

Services à la carte, laundry, on-call doctor, limousine, airport transfers, package delivery, direct phone access to services, valet parking, The following amenities are available: 4-Hour On-Call Maintenance, Central Air Conditioning, Property Wide Wi-Fi, Landscaping and Garden Maintenance, Fire, Safety, Water Purification Systems, Waste Management System, Periodic Pest Control, World-Class Security, Full-Capacity Power Back Up and UPS.

4-hour dedicated concierge

Central air-conditioning

Centralised water purification system

Yoga and pilates studio

Private spa treatment

Temperature-controlled pool

Children’s play area

Themed gardens, the lawn deck, driver’s lounge

Winding-up words 

Experience the best life with your loved ones at Embassy One Four Seasons luxury apartments. Schedule your visit at embassy project For more information, connect with us via +91 99308 82000 or Visit our website embassy project.

[lunae-lucis]

This.

Soo...

I knew I was right when I said I was scared of being disappointed, I don't even know if it's the update's fault or mine, to be fair.

My update started with me running to the village, trying to not get distracted by talking to Jel, but I saw Hekla waiting outside the library and I failed. Who else failed too? Yeah, the game. I actually made a useless post asking for help, but immediately decided to close the game afterwards. The thing is I tried to talk to her but the "chat menu" didn't even show up, no dialogue box no nothing, just a robot staring into my soul while I was getting increasingly anxious knowing time kept going on.

I had to waste time closing and opening the game again and GUESS WHAT. I got distracted once again trying to talk with Sifuu at the Inn AND GOT PUNISHED FOR THAT. I don't know if this is a general bug or a me thing but it keeps happening every single time I try to talk with someone and only, ONLY works after pressing every single button possible, even moving the joystick, and even then there's lag.

Talking about lag? I wanted to change the human's clothing and hair before showing up to the Maji Market, it was TERRIBLE to say the least. There's absolutely no one besides me in my plot, I don't need being online to check some pants, THEN WHY IS THIS HAPPENING???

The general menu also takes longer to show up now, when I try to open the map it doesn't work at first. Oh, and the mail isn't working properly either.

I showed up to the Maji Market around 1 AM, maybe? The new location is really good and I'd love to have it as a regular place BUT IT'S SOOO FAR FROM THE PLOT *cries* I usually have the running option on but even that was slow, not even running + jumping made a difference. How am I supposed to enjoy an event that lasts a few in-game hours, for only 7 irl days, once an irl month, when it takes me at least 2 in-game hours to get there (inluding getting distracted on my way) AND I have to battle against the lag and battery?

I don't know, it may also be a me thing.

The Maji Market...

Ignoring the fact that I had to go twice to actually take a proper look at everything, I'm so lost. I don't even know where to begin.

There's... nothing to do there??

I saw a while ago something about a secret involving the drums, I played all of them... Nothing happened?

I tried to read some signs... Nothing happened??

I kept hearing explosion sounds... BUT NOTHING WAS HAPPENING?

A timer and some score thingies THAT I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH?

No character giving you a quick, annoying and random tutorial nor a tour around? No warning of any type for the supposed games??

The claw machine... OH, THE CLAW MACHINE, DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THAT ONE. I GENUINELY THOUGHT I'D BE ABLE TO USE IT FOR FREE OR MAYBE EVEN HAVE A FREE TRIAL FOR THE FIRST TIME. NO!!

I can't play any games, I can't get any tickets (besides the ones Zeki gave me) THEN HOW AM I GONNA GET ANY PLUSHIES?? *cries even harder*

Claw machines have been an important and special thing for me since I was a child and seeing that I couldn't do anything with them, other than just blankly stare at them, made me really upset. I would have been happy with even just trying it out once for free.

Another thing I was REALLY excited about on this update was the supposed Halloween items. I must be blind because I didn't see anything like that, I even went around the same shops? like 2 or 3 more times. Maybe people were talking about other future update??

The chapaa items shop made me feel weird, somehow. I have the feeling I actually have the mug and considering I've never been at the Maji Market before, doesn't that make the whole thing useless in a way? I may be wrong but that would mean the items aren't "exclusive" to this event (please tell me if I am wrong)

I saw this morning a video showing the different locations of the secret boxes? (I can't even remember the actual name wtf is this now why am I so dumb), which is great, but I'm pretty sure you need the flying thing to get 2 or so. I don't have it yet.

There's probably more stuff I'm forgetting about now, but overall it felt really chaotic and rushed to me, it made me feel so lost that it keeps me wondering if perhaps I am the problem and not the event on its own. I always feel lost and it's definitely one of the things I hate the most, I don't even know if it made me feel this way because it was my first time and I didn't really know what to do there (it was probably way more easy and simple than I'm making it to be) or if I was actually supposed to.

...Oh, the game also closed on its own when I came back to my plot, after talking with the characters that were waiting there.

(...)

After all this non sense and rambling, I'll stop it here, if anyone decides to take their time to read all of it (thank you!) please tell me your thoughts about it!

Fall is back and so am I. But will I fall from the hyperfixation train again?

...

Do you get it? Fall as in-

Nevermind.

Sorry.

[moemoemammon]

yay! requests are open! y'know that thing where the s/o being so weak for their partner? I wanted to request the demon bros being weak for their s/o? does that make sense?

like, for example, MC would pout a little, and say 'pwease 🥺' and the demon bros would be like, 'yes, go on, what do you want from me? would you like my-' they'd just be so weak for mc.

I hope that makes sense! also, if it's too much characters, you can just do mammon and satan :) thank you ;3

Their One Weakness: MC!

(Feat. GN!MC and the Demon Bros)

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Lucifer

Lucifer is known as the cruel eldest of the brothers. A sadist whose word is law, whose will can only be bent by Lord Diavolo himself. And yet since you came to the Devildom, all you ever seemed to do was the opposite of what he asked. Yet he still came to love you. He wonders if he spoils you too much...

Especially when you always seem to get your way one way or another. When you proposed the chaotic idea of a massive get together between the House of Lamentation and Purgatory Hall, Lucifer immediately said no. It’d be way too noisy and he had things to do.

But THEN... You fixed him with those damn EYES of yours.... The big eyes filled with sparkles and hopes that pleaded to him.... stop staring at him with them big ol eyes-

Lucifer REFUSES to acknowledge how cute you are when you look at him like that. Well, verbally anyway. You look like a kicked puppy...and he loves puppies...

"............I suppose if we prepare right now and get a dinner menu ready, it could be possible. And if you pout any harder you might pull a muscle, and I doubt I could explain that to Lord Diavolo. Now, go tell the others what you have planned."

Mammon

Mammon is practically the biggest MC simp in the world. You always occupy his thoughts any time of the day. 'Oh, MC would probably like one of these'. 'MC's always eatin' this for lunch. I'll grab one.' 'This would be way less borin' if MC were around...'

But as the Tsundere 🤢 king of the Devildom, there's no way he'll admit to any of that! So what if he's head over heels for you?! That doesn't mean he's gonna be all weak in the knees the moment you-

Wait, you're saying that because he lost a bet yesterday and promised he'd take you out to Ristorante Six and pay for the whole thing, now he's gotta pay up?!?! No way! He doesn't remember what you're talking about, and that voice recording you've got on your phone is clearly fake!

Mammon's dead set on weaseling out of his promise, until you freeze him in place with your pouty face... then you hit him with a "please..?" and the Avatar of Greed swears he might die right then and there.

"Tch..! Damn it, I ain't got a choice when ya look at me like that!!! What're ya playin' at, pulling' my heartstrings like that?! Hurry up and get dressed so we can go! A-and ya better eat your fill, too!"

Levi

The founder of the top secret MC Cult Fanclub, there's not much that could keep Levi from becoming putty in your hands. He's used to idolizing the objects of his affection, and you're no exception!

So when it comes to bending to your will, he's definitely the easiest. Except when it comes to n-...normie stuff...

Seriously, do you think someone like HIM should be going to The Fall?!?! No way! Not in a million, billion, trillion years!!!! You shouldn't get him to go to that crowded club even if you dragged him there!!!

Then... you hit him with the cute act... You declare your loyalty to him as his beloved Henry, fixing him with a pleading look that shoots him straight through the heart, and... GAH, HE'S GOT NO CHOICE!!!!!

"At... at least help me choose something to wear..! I don't know how I'm supposed to dress for normie stuff like this!!! Aaah... I wanna stay home, b-but when you say something like that, I just can't win-!"

Satan

Satan openly admits to how he likes to spoil you. It's cute seeing how big your grin becomes when he gives you something you wanted, and how happy you are when he takes you out for the evening.

But there are some things even he doesn't want to do, like when you suggest going to a chess tournament with Lucifer. You've been pressured by Lucifer wanting to attend, but figured it'd be easier to sit through with someone else. So why not Satan, who'd mentioned liking chess?

Yeah... he'd go if Lucifer weren't involved. As much as he'd love to go and pull some strings to ruin the match for the dear eldest, he's got something else planned involving a well timed glue bomb and Lucifer's study. So he'll pass.

Or so he thought, until you started poking your fingers together and mentioned how you'd hoped you could both enjoy it together. Kind of like a date..? Gah, his heart and its weakness for unconventional dates-!!!!

"...I... suppose I could go. It’d be nice to study how Lucifer plays, so I can finally beat him. Don't you think the look on his face will be priceless? And if you're there as well, I'll be able to stomach watching his face for an hour."

Asmo

Asmo LOVES you more than aaanyone!! There's no one who loves you more, you know? Why, he wants to involve you in every aspect of his life, and actively tries to do just that! He's even tried dragging you into the tub with him a few times...

And when it comes to spoiling you, he loves it! He's always the one being spoiled, so it makes him giddy when he can give a little back. If there's anything you want from him, just tell him and he'll make it happen!

Eh? You want to play fangol? With HIM?? Um... pass. You know he just got his nails done, right? Asmo's not really a fan of running around with a ball and getting knocked to the ground, so... no thanks! ❤️

Wait, don't make that face! What're you looking so glum for?? He'll kiss your sadness away, and- Eh?! You don't want a kiss?? You really wanna play THAT badly?????

"....You really don't have me mistaken for Beel, right..? You really want to play with ME? ...Haaaah, fine! I'll play one game with you, and in exchange, you have to spend all of tomorrow with moi! Sounds good, right~? Now let me see if Satan will let me borrow some of his clothes...urgh..."

Beel

As a 'go with the flow' guy, there's not much Beel won't do with you, even if it's not really something he's interested in. As long as he has you around and a surplus of snacks, he's fine with anything.

Until you suggest going to Majolish to try on some stylish outfits. You mention how Beel wears variations of the same thing all the time, so it's time for an update! He thinks you're spending too much time with Asmo...

Beel isn't really into tight, itchy, stiff fabrics like the 'stylish' things they sell at Majolish, and decides he'd much rather go to Hell's Kitchen instead. He's hungry. Are you hungry?

'Stop changing the subject'? Ah.. damn it 😔 Wait, now you're saying you just wanted to buy fancy outfits because you were planning to take him to Ristorante Six?! You can't tell if he's blushing over your consideration or the idea of food, but now Beel's looking through the clothes with earnest.

"I didn't know you were the winner of that 'all you can eat' coupon lottery. When I didn't win I was pretty upset, but I'm glad to know it was you. Even if these clothes are weird, I'll wear them. Can you pick something good for me?"

Belphie

Belphie likes to spoil you in more subtle ways, instead of simping as hard as his brothers. He's still as much of a sucker for you as they are though, much to his dismay. All you have to do is smile and you've got him wrapped around your gross human finger.

But when you mention wanting to go biking with Lord Diavolo and wanting him to come along, Belphie suddenly discovers that his ears don't work anymore. Anyway, goodnight-

Hey, stop poking him like that. Can't you see an deaf man is trying to sleep here?? And what's with that face..? You're pouting so hard you look like you're going to explode. It's cute, but Belphie can close his eyes an not see it.

But then you scoot into bed with him and hold him from behind, and the sleepy demon starts feeling his resolve crumble. You have some dirty tactics, huh..? Getting all cozy with him just because he's got a soft spot for you...

"...............Why Diavolo of all people..? I'd prefer anyone over him. Ugh... Hey, they still rent out those two person bikes, don't they? I'll only go if I can ride on that with you. I'll sit right behind you and cheer you on, okay? ..What's with that look? I'm joking...maybe."

[i-put-the-yan-in-polyandry]

Teyvat's Beloved — First Acolyte

< Prev | 3 | Next >

In the middle of a field, surrounded by your beloved slimes and hilichurls, you stood tall and smiled wide. “Alright then!” You announced. “Time to get to work!”

“Dada, Mumokuzi!” A few hilichurls clapped while the slimes bounced around your feet excitedly. ‘Mumokuzi’ was their name for you. You couldn’t understand Hilichurlian, but you could always understand the gist of what they said to you.

You hoped they could understand you in return.

A number of quests appeared after you’d completed [First Contact]. The story(?) quest locked levelling behind it, so you made that your top priority. If you got your level up, you could surely survive better; after all, world level didn’t seem like it could work in real life.

Deus Omnium, Act I: Home At Last

Welcome Home

Gather Believers (94/5) Establish a Place of Worship (1/1) Accept an Apostle (0/1)

Reward

Level Up Unlocked Player: Weapon Unlocked Player: Artifacts Unlocked Inventory Unlocked

Now you definitely knew what those words meant individually. But how any of it applied to you or your situation? You’d literally just escaped from being tortured and killed as a heretic, you could open that can of words later.

So for all your bravado, you had no idea where to start “getting to work” or what it even meant in your situation. If only you had your own Paimon to guide you, or literally anyone who could actively commune with you to bounce ideas off of.

“No use complaining about what you can’t help,” you reminded yourself. An anemo slime bounced at your feet, you picked it up with a smile and huff. “Maybe you can be my Paimon, would you like that?”

The slime didn’t say anything, it was a slime, but a warm, bubbly feeling radiated off of it. It rushed through you, tickling under your skin. You laughed softly at the feeling. “Okay, you can be my Paimon.”

[Quest Completed: Welcome Home]

[Would you like to accept Rewards? Yes/No]

Well, uh, that was easy. You selected yes.

5 Followers Reached - Level Up

10 Followers Reached - Level Up

15 Followers Reached - Level Up

20 Followers Reached - Level Up

30 Followers Reached - Level Up

40 Followers Reached - Level Up

50 Followers Reached - Level Up

…

Fuck it, you didn’t have the energy left to react. Too many things at once, come back later.

At least your stats went up, you now had… of course you fucking had 200 attack and defense and 5k HP because that made SENSE. Level 8 and you could probably take out level 40s with ease. If you could fight.

Catalysts didn’t seem to need a physique, some part of your brain helpfully supplied.

You fired your brain.

---

After sorting through your inventory (filled with everything you’d had in game and more) and fucking around with the menu for an hour, you came away with a few more answers.

Your weapon choice dictated your talents.

You were technically elementless, but only in that it was an empty void that you could fill however you liked (not that you were good at it).

You could level up your new slime acolyte.

And you could still access your characters inventories. You felt great pulling the four-star catalyst off of Lisa and remotely shoving an Apprentice’s Note into her hands.

In fact, every character that chased you had their weapons replaced and artifacts removed. After all the time and energy you poured into them, they didn’t deserve any of it. Foolish cretins took and took and only cared to make themselves feel superior. You’d—

Alright, nope, you weren’t opening that can of worms. Wherever the fuck that came from could stay a hidden part of you what the fuck.

You just wanted to practice protecting yourself with the Hilichurls and fuck off out of Mondstat. But did you go to Dragonspine and try your luck with Albedo or see if Liyue would be more welcoming?

[apompkwrites]

I love the streamer au of both xiao and albedo! I was wondering if I could request a scenario where they both try and save up primogems so they can pull us? What do you think their reaction would be if they pulled us? Thanks in advance!!

reader impact || character event wish

series masterlist characters: xiao, albedo genre: fluff summary: your character exclusive banners have been released! will our streamers have any luck pulling you? notes: hehe time to roll! sad boy hours bc childe’s probably not coming home for me :(( i wish everyone else good luck on who they want, though!

invitation to mundane life (xiao) -

he rarely uses social media.

he doesn't really involve himself in it too much and only uses it to alert his viewers of upcoming streams.

imagine his surprise when he's waiting for people to enter his genshin stream when they tell him that there's a new playable character: you.

just like when he first met you, he practically shuts down.

the character he had loved and admired for so long is now able to be in his party forever?!?!??!

he doesn't understand the gacha/pity system but he'll learn it just for you.

he'd definitely host a watch party the day you drop to watch your trailers.

"why is their trailer so sad???"

this boy cannot handle your backstory in the trailer.

he just wants to keep you safe :((

(even if you'd be the one protecting him)

now, he's normally not one to pay for things in games since he prefers to use his money for essentials.

for you, though, he will empty his entire bank account for you.

he buys the blessing of the welkin moon and is very prepared to buy genesis crystals.

he'll wish for you at the wangshu inn on the very balcony he first met you.

he'll play liyue music in the background of his stream just for you <333

he doesn't normally express his emotions, as i've said before, but here anyone could tell that he was desperate to have you on his team.

he chokes on his breath when he sees gold fly across his stream.

please both he and his chat are begging for it to be you.

he's skipping through all the weapons and cursing whoever is making him wait until the end of his roll to find out whether or not it's you.

(name): ★★★★★

and he's gone.

like he falls out of his chair when he sees it's you.

his chat is VERY torn between laughing at him and congratulating him.

his body hurts but it was worth it to see you on his screen <3

he doesn't understand the appeal of getting good weapons purposefully but you bet he's gonna whale for yours.

he doesn't care that it's good, even though that's a bonus. all he really cares about is that it's your weapon, no one elses.

also you look cute af with it don't @ him.

obviously you're going straight into his party. and every other party he owns.

and any bosses you're fighting? you're there.

his chat's yelling at him because your element isn't good against this boss.

you know what this man says?

"too bad. (name) supremacy."

you’re the reason he smiles so much, hun <33

secretum secretorum (albedo) -

please he stocked up on primogems ever since he reacted to your update.

he's so excited to see what your attacks are since he purposefully avoided seeing them.

he's got over thirty (30) wishes worth of primogems and his wallet is sitting on his desk.

he promises his chat he'll watch the character trailer and demo after he gets you because he wants everything to be a surprise.

he starts the stream by showing off all of the drawings he's made over the time waiting for you to be released <3

he gets a bunch of donations from people wishing him luck and telling him that the money is exclusively to wish for you.

we love his supportive audience.

he will stream the very day you are released. he's on it within the first few minutes of launch.

finally, it's time to wish.

of course, he'll do all his daily commissions to get all those extra primogems just in case ;)

"the time has come."

by the time he's ready to wish for you, he's up in dragonspine in your little workplace.

his chat is spamming good luck messages and emotes (all of which were you that he made during one of his streams).

he's actually really nervous.

he knows he'll get you because he'll spend all of his money just to do it, but there's still that underlying fear hidden in his body.

he just wants you in his party because he knows he won't be able to get you after the banner is done.

it takes a few pulls but about four (4) minutes in, he sees the familiar golden comet fly across his stream.

both him and his chat are freaking out.

"please come home please come home please come home please come home."

AND YOU CAME HOME.

AND NOW HE'S DYING.

PLEASE YOU'RE SO COOL AND ADORABLE AND AMAZING AND

his chat pushes for him to wish for your weapon.

only the best for the chief alchemist that stole his heart <3

luckily, he got it with his remaining wishes.

he exits the wish menu so fast and places you in the first slot of his party.

before he even starts to use you, he will use the camera feature and just zoom in.

"look at them. look at how amazing they are. look."

he can and will show you off every chance he gets.

immediately begins leveling you up and ascending you because of course he spent the past few weeks grinding for all of your materials.

he will his highest artifacts away from his other characters just to give them to you.

over the days your banner is active, you best bet he's continuing to wish for you so that he can get you to c6 (which he does because you deserve the best).

you are the very first character he gets to friendship lvl 10. no matter how long he's had the other characters, you are the first.

expect the next few art streams to be based on you once again.

he will draw every voiceline he unlocks.

his stream overlay is now based on you and the background is your friendship card.

his cute little chalk ruler has stolen his heart <3

[skyeet-the-writer]

The Love Among Us

Chapter 1-- I’d Never Snitch On Daddy

so i haven’t seen many corpse husband x reader stories on here, so i decided to upload one myself. i’ve been watching jacksepticeye’s among us videos and when i heard corpse talk for the first time, i was like, “hol up” and now i’ve been obsessed with him. also, go stream his music on spotify, it’s amazing. enjoy! x. 

 corpse husband x female!reader

summary: while playing among us, y/n watches corpse kill felix in o2. when his body is reported, however, she doesn’t tell who killed him. 

 word count: ~3.6k

warnings: swearing, mentions of death (not real death), mentions of murder (not real murder)

EDIT: before i wrote this and after i published it, i did not know that corpse did not like to be referred to as “daddy”. had i known this, i would have not even thought of posting this. and since i know now, i won’t refer to him as such in the future. thank you. (10/19/2020)

EDIT 2: this is the first part to my corpse x reader series. i will be adding chapters as we go!

next>

4 rounds before the incident

“I was in coms with PJ!” Sean exclaims. 

“He is doing the liar voice!” Felix shouts with a laugh. 

“I’m not,” Sean tries to say, but everyone talks over him and the voting time ends. Everyone left alive, though it was only four people, had all voted for him and he yells at them as he gets ejected. 

stinky was not the imposter

2 imposters remain

The round ends and everyone unmutes themselves. 

“Lizzie, you saw Felix kill me and you did nothing!” Roomie yells as soon as the round ends and the imposters are revealed. 

“Yeah, because I was the other imposter.”

“Oh. Okay, well that makes sense.”

Everyone laughs and Ken starts the round again. 

“Wait, can I invite y/n to play? She’s doing her twenty-four-hour stream and she just finished playing Monopoly with Mark, Bob, and Wade,” says Lizzie, looking down at her phone as they all appear back in the waiting room. 

“Yes,” Corpse blurts out and there are a few laughs and chuckles. 

“You were quick to answer, Corpse,” Sean teases. 

“Shut up,” Corpse mumbles and there are even more laughs. 

Lizzie smiles and taps into her phone. “I’m gonna invite her.”

~

“I can’t believe that you actually made that deal, y/n,” Wade is telling you after ending the second round of Monopoly that you’ve played with them. 

You smile and cross your legs on your chair. “Look, I was going bankrupt and it seemed good at the time. Besides, Mark was going to win anyway, he owned half of the board.” Your phone buzzes beside you on your desk and you pick it up. “Lizzie texted me.” There’s a sound effect that plays in your headset and you look up at your screen and smile. “Thanks to _lorieplays _for donating a hundred dollars, that means a lot. Thank you so much.”

“Do you want to play another round?” Marks asks. 

You shake your head, reading the text from your friend in England. “No, I don’t want to lose to you again.” You laugh. “Nah, Lizzie wants me to play Among Us with her and a few others. It was fun playing with you guys.”

“It was even though you took all of my money,” Bob snaps. 

You laugh. “Yeah, yeah. See you guys later.”

“Bye,” says Mark.

“See y--” Wade begins but you cut him off when you disconnect from the call. 

“Oops.” You put a hand over your mouth and laugh. “Sorry, Wade. Okay.” You straighten up and glance over everything, making sure it’s all working properly. “I have to pee and I think my roommate ordered pizza, so we’ll be back after this short break. Enjoy this live feed of my pet rats.” You giggle and switch the stream over to a view of your two rats in their cage where you have a camera set up. You take your headset off and head out of your recording room. 

Every two months, you have a twenty-four-hour livestream where you play games with your friends from all around the world. Despite being only twenty-five, your Youtube channel had grown exponentially in the past three years and you’ve had the chance to meet lots of other Youtubers like Markiplier, PewDiePie, and your close friend, LDShadowLady. 

Currently, you’re on hour twenty of twenty-four and you’re beginning to feel the effects of not sleeping for a whole day. You had been drinking coffee and energy drinks for the past four hours and that seemed to perk you up for two hours max. But your roommate had ordered pizza and that would hopefully wake you up. 

After going to the bathroom and grabbing an entire box of pizza, you return to your recording room and sit down. You put your headset back on and eat a slice of pizza before switching the views back to you. “And we’re back. I hope you guys enjoyed my rats because I don’t. They keep me up at night.”

You read a comment while loading up Among Us and laugh. “No, they’re not dead. They’re sleeping. They do that a lot when they’re not fighting.” 

When you finally get into the game and entire the code, you spawn in. You also quickly join the Discord chat and wince when nearly ten voices hit you at once. 

“y/n!” exclaims Lizzie and the other voices die down for a moment before rising to greet you. 

You wince again but laugh. “Jesus, you guys are loud. Hey, Lizzie.” You move your character to the customize tab and go to try and switch your color. But then you frown and realize that you’re stuck with being dark blue. “Damn, I wanted to be white.”

“Do you want to switch?” Corpse asks. 

Your eyes widen you your stomach flips. You hadn’t noticed Corpse was in this game. Immediately, your chat became flooded with keyboard smashing and lots of “omg my shipp” and “y/n rlly said ‘anna oop-’” 

“Uh, yeah, if you don’t mind,” you manage to stutter out and take a bite of pizza as Corpse’s player comes over and the white option becomes available. You select it and also select the goggles in the hats menu. 

“How’s your stream going?” asks Sean. 

You shrug. “Pretty good. I’m super tired, though. I literally almost fell asleep while playing Monopoly with Mark, Wade, and Bob.”

“You went to college, right?” You’re pretty sure that’s Roomie. 

“Yep,” you affirm with a nod even though they can’t see you. “You’d think that those all-nighters writing papers and studying for finals would make me able to do this.”

There’s a laugh in the group and the round starts.

3 rounds before the incident

You scratch your eyebrow and sigh in relief when you’re the crewmate. You mute yourself and slide up in your chair. 

“I like being the crewmate,” you say, heading towards admin as a habit. “It’s a lot less stressful than being imposter.”

After doing your tasks in admin and fueling the engines, you stumble across a dead body in the lower engine and a vent closing. 

“Oh,” you say, and press the report button. You unmute yourself and begin with, “So I saw a vent close but I didn’t see who went in.”

“Who died?” asks Lizzie. 

“Felix,” says Sean. 

You smirk. “It’s always yellow that dies first.”

“Where was the body?” Ken asks. 

“Lower engine,” you reply. 

“I was in medbay with Corpse doing the scan so it wasn’t him,” PJ says and Corpse makes a noise of confirmation. 

This makes your cheeks heat up and you smack a hand over your mouth. Your chat explodes again but you decide to ignore it. 

“And I was doing wires in cafeteria,” Lizzie says. 

“Sean, where were you?” 

“I was in reactor doing the simon says thing,” he answers. 

You sigh. “I hate that one. What about you, Ken?”

“I was with Roomie in electrical doing the power thing. You know, the one where you have to divert it somewhere else.”

“So do we skip then?” asks Lizzie. 

“No one is super sus, so I’m going to skip,” you answer. 

When no one is ejected, you mute yourself again. “I dunno why, but Sean seems pretty sus. Because I didn’t see him on the way down from upper engine. But I guess he could have gotten there in time.” You shrug and run over to the trash chute in the cafeteria. “RIP to Felix, though.”

After doing the trash there, you head down to storage, running into Corpse doing the wires in there. You wait there to clear him and once you do, you run a few circles around him to get his attention and he follows you over to the trash in storage and watches you do that. After that, the two of you head over to electric together and do wires there. 

Suddenly, there’s a body reported and you unmute yourself. 

“Sean just killed Lizzie in front of me!” exclaims PJ. 

“PJ killed Lizzie,” Sean retorts, flipping the blame. “I watched it, he didn’t realize I was there and murdered her.”

“I watched PJ do the scan in medbay, he’s cleared,” Corpse says and you find yourself smiling for no reason. “Sean, you killed Lizzie.”

“I knew he was sus,” you say, grabbing another piece of pizza. You look at the box and your eyes widen. Had you really already eaten half of it?

“Wait wait, how am I sus?” Sean asks. 

You take a moment to swallow. “Because when I was doing fuel earlier, I was running down from upper engine and didn’t see you in reactor. Sure, maybe you could have gotten there earlier, but it was super weird.” 

The discussion time ends and PJ immediately goes to vote for Sean as well as you, Corpse, and everyone else still alive. Sean ends up getting ejected. 

stinky was an imposter 

1 imposter remains

“You’re such a detective, y/n,” Sean says when he gets ejected. 

You laugh. “I just play this game too much.” You then mute yourself and smile. “I am a genius.” 

You end up finishing your tasks quickly after that and then stand in the cafeteria and eat another piece of pizza and read some of the chat. 

“’ What am I going to do after this?’ I don’t know. I might play some Minecraft. Should I have a poll on Twitter? I’m stuck between public Among Us games, Minecraft, and taking random quizzes on Buzzfeed.” You smile and hear another sound effect and something pops up on the screen. “Thank you to coochie man for donating a hundred dollars, that means a lot.” You laugh at their name. “I love your name, by the way.” 

There’s some rattling in the cage behind you and you turn around to see one of your rats drinking water. You turn back to the chat and read another comment. “’ Do you have a crush on Corpse?’” You blush and smile, biting your lip. “I mean, his voice is hot. I’ve never met him since he lives in San Diego and I live in h/t, but yeah, I guess I do. I’ve been listening to his music for the past few days and it’s really good, you guys should go check it out.”

You look up and unmute yourself when a body is reported. “Who died?” you ask. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Are you already done with your tasks, y/n?” Corpse asks. 

God, even the way he says your name is making you blush. “Yeah, I get them done quick.”

“She does that,” says Lizzie, “She always gets her tasks done quick.”

“Ken is dead by the way,” says Roomie and your snort, smacking a hand over your mouth. “I found him in the hallway by navigation. Where was everyone else?”

“I was in cafeteria doing nothing,” you say, leaning back in your chair and spinning around just a little. “I think I saw PJ downloading while I was in there, but I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Yeah, I was downloading,” says Ken. 

After more discussion, Corpse points out that Jaiden had been following him and it looked like she had been faking tasks. 

“No I haven’t,” she says. 

“That sounds like something the imposter would say,” you hum with a smirk. “That’s pretty sus, Jaiden.”

Everyone else agrees and you all end up voting Jaiden out. 

jaiden was the imposter

0 imposters remain

You cheer as the round ends and a blue victory screen pops up for the crewmates. “Good game, guys,” you say and play again, waiting for the host. 

~

1 round before the incident 

“Oh my god, I’m imposter again?” you groan and sigh when you spawn back in. “I was just imposter, I don’t want to be it again. I’m so bad at it,”

After another short round of you and Felix losing to the crewmates, you all agreed to play two more rounds before Sean had to leave. So you move your character to admin where PJ is and fake the card swipe before moving over to the admin security thing where you could see who was around where. Luckily, no one appeared to be near admin, so you quickly kill PJ and escape through the vent and come out through medbay. 

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” you whisper over and over, running down to storage. “That was clean.” You fake getting fuel and go back up to the upper engine. 

When PJ’s body is reported, you see that your fellow imposter, Sean, had reported it. You stay silent for most of the round and only say that you were in the fuel area when it was reported. 

“Yeah, I saw her run past electrical earlier,” Corpse says. You blush and glance at your exploding chat and shake your head. 

After everyone skips the round, you mute yourself once more and head towards navigation. “I hate this.” You drag the last syllable and watch Lizzie enter the room. You wait a moment before walking towards her and killing her, jumping into one of the vents. You let out a sigh and flex your fingers. “I’m so stressed.” You exit out of the vent into shields and your heart stops when you see someone else in there but you realize that it’s the other imposter, Sean, and you relax. 

You run past him and go to the trash compartments and pretend to unload those. And that’s how the rest of the round goes. You kill someone, someone reports it and you vote someone off. Eventually, you and Sean do a double kill and end up winning the round.

You unmute yourself. 

“Let’s go!” Sean exclaims and you smile. 

“I can��t believe you killed me, y/n!” shouts Lizzie. “I thought we were friends.”

You laugh. “There are no friends in this game. I’m not loyal to anyone in this game. You could be my best friend and I would fucking murder you.”

“That’s cold,” says Roomie as everyone else spawns back in. 

“Yeah,” you nod. 

“Wait, PJ disconnected,” says Sean, and you all end up waiting for him to rejoin. 

In that time, you look at your chat and say, “Hey, do you guys have any questions for who I’m playing with. I’m asking you, chat.”

“I swear if someone asks about my hands, I’m leaving,” Corpse says and everyone laughs. 

You laugh louder when you read a comment and read it aloud, “_Ironlady _says that you should be a hand model, Corpse.”

“Okay, I’m leaving,” you hear Corpse say over everyone laughing. 

“No, stay!” you exclaim, trying not to laugh. “C’mon, don’t leave.”

He sighs deeply and your brain goes fuzzy. “Fine. I’ll stay for you.”

You beam and your tummy turns. You ignore the whistles and remarks from everyone else and stand beside Corpse. You suddenly wish that the little bean characters could hold hands. 

When PJ joins the server again, Ken starts the round and you cross your fingers, hoping to get crewmate. 

0 rounds before the incident

You mute yourself and sigh when you’re a crewmate. “Thank god.” You let out a breath and go over to admin with everyone else. You swipe your card and go to the cafeteria to do some wires there. 

The game turns out to be rather uneventful. A few people die and two people are voted off before the game gets truly interesting. And that happens when you walk in on Corpse and Felix. 

“I’ve had this song stuck in my head for days,” you’re saying, walking from electrical over to O2. “And I can’t get it out of my head. Maybe singing it will help.” You hum the first part. “Don't go in there, you'll become one. Freaky creatures, monster party. Eyes of yellow, scales and feathers, tails in tethers. Turn the lights off. Bend the nightmare, you control it. Artful dodger, easy does it. Shut the closet, get under the covers. Snakes and lovers. Turn the lights off.” You do a little dance for a moment and continue hum the song, glancing at the chat as you go towards O2 after doing wires in storage. 

“Like, I know the song, it’s just been stuck in my head,” you explain. “And it kind of annoys me--”

But you stop as you enter O2 and watch Corpse murder Felix. Neither one of you move and you don’t know what to do. “Uhhh.” 

Then, without thinking, you turn straight around and make your way away from the scene of the murder. “I didn’t see anything!” you shout to no one. “I suddenly can’t see who murdered Felix.” You smack a hand over your mouth and stand in the middle of a hallway. “Oh my god, what do I do? I don’t want to snitch on Corpse, he’s hot.” You scratch the back of your neck and shrug, continuing on to reactor. “I didn’t see anything.”

You’re in the middle of doing the simon says in reactor when Felix’s body is reported. You unmute yourself and fidget with the sleeve of your hoodie. You know exactly who killed Felix. 

“--was in O2,” says Jaiden and you focus back into the conversation. “And I didn’t see anyone around.”

“I saw you heading that way, y/n, but I know it wasn’t you because I saw you do the trash in storage.”

You look at the screen when Sean talks to you and you chew your lip. “I know who killed Felix.”

“Who?” asks almost everyone at the same time. 

You close your eyes and swallow. It’s just a game, why are you taking this so seriously? Suddenly, a song lyric pops into your head and your stomach flips. You imagine yourself saying it and no one knows who you mean except for him. 

You open your eyes. “I’d never snitch on daddy.”

There’s a laugh in the chat and you blush fiercely, your livestream chat blowing up once again.

“I think we know who it is, then,” says Sean, laughing. 

“Yeah,” agrees Lizzie and your eyes widen. 

“Wait, what?” you ask, watching everyone vote almost as soon as the discussion time ends. “Wait, hang on, who--”

“We know who you’re talking about, y/n,” PJ tells you. 

You vote for yourself and your brain goes blank as you see that everyone voted for Corpse. He even voted for himself. They knew. They all _knew _about your feelings for Corpse. 

The round ends with Corpse being voted out and the crewmates win. There’s some talking, but you stay on the victory screen. You’re trying to decide if your mad or embarrassed or both. 

“I didn’t know you’d say that, y/n,” Corpse says, effectively breaking you out of your trance. “I thought you were gonna snitch on me.”

“You heard her,” teases Lizzie and you can tell she’s grinning. “She’d never snitch on you, Corpse.”

He laughs and you feel something in a certain place. “Oh my god, I’m gonna die of embarrassment.” You put your face in your hands, listening to your friends tease you in the chat. You suddenly want to jump out your window and run into traffic. 

“Don’t die,” comes Corpse’s voice through the onslaught of teasing. “I’ll be sad.”

“Fuck!” you shout and slam your hand on your desk, shaking your equipment and scaring your rats. “I’m so sorry, Corpse, that was really weird, I--”

“Stop.” He interrupts you and the chat goes silent and you look up at the screen even though you can’t see him. “It’s okay. It was funny.”

Your eyes widen and then narrow. Funny? He thought what you said was funny? How could he think it was funny?

But then he speaks again and he sounds oddly flustered. “Uh, I gotta go. Um, it was fun playing with you guys. Bye, y/n.”

“Bye Cor--” but then he disconnects and you’re left talking to no one. “--pse.”

There’s a long moment of silence until Felix breaks it. “I can’t believe you just watched me die and didn’t do anything about it.”

There are some laughs and you smile faintly, rejoining the game. “Yeah, uh, sorry about that.”

“Are you okay, y/n?” asks Lizzie. 

You blush and swallow. “I don’t know. God, I’m so weird.” You run a hand through your hair and adjust your headphones

“No, you’re not,” Roomie assures you. “He has a crush on you, too.”

Your eyes widen and you scoot up in your chair. “He does?”

“I mean, he called you pretty once during a game and said that he watches your videos a lot, so maybe.”

You groan and sink in your chair. “I’m gonna go, I need to run into traffic now.”

A few people laugh or chuckle and Lizzie asks you if you’re actually going to leave. 

“Yeah,” you tell her. “But not to run into traffic. I’m going to go play Minecraft to soothe myself.”

“Aw.” You can practically hear her frown. “Okay. Bye, y/n.”

“Good luck with your stream,” Ken tells you. 

You grin. “Okay, thanks, bye.”

When you exit the game and leave the chat, you scream. You actually scream and it’s loud. Your roommate even knocks on your door, asking if you’re okay. 

You look at them and nod. “Yeah, totally fine. Probably about to have a mental breakdown, but I’m fine.”

“Okay,” they say and lean on the doorframe. “But I’m not cutting bangs for you again.”

You laugh and nod. “Yeah, okay, fine.” They leave and you turn back to your stream, feeling like you’re about to cry. Corpse knows you have a crush on him. And it seems like he has one on you as well, but now you’re embarrassed because you called him ‘daddy’ on stream.

You rub your eyes. “Well, now I know what’ll be streaming on Twitter tonight,” you tell the chat. 

[hopeymchope]

How to Play Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp

Dangnaronpa S only barely explains how it works, and it does a pretty shitty job of doing so. I’ve been talking with people on message boards just to figure out how you progress at certain points, because you can spend literal hours on this game just doing the same thing and never seeing any obvious benefit to it. 

As such, I really felt like producing some kind of overview for the people just coming in. I’ve been feeling the game out, talking with other players about it, and progressing through it gradually, so here’s what you need to know. Or at least, here’s what I wish I’d known when I started out. 

1) Your primary goal is to complete the board game with all 60 possible characters.

For every 10 characters you put through board game “development,” you unlock a new story chapter that progresses the overall narrative. It also contains a boss fight (we’ll get to that). You must complete the board game with all 60 possible characters to unlock the complete main story of Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp. 

(If you’re wondering how long it will take to accomplish this, the popular estimate is around 40-50 hours until completion. It’s a lot.)

IMPORTANT: “Completing” the board game does NOT require that you complete any objectives IN the board game. It just means that you have to play through 50 turns on the board. You could honestly just run around in circles on the first island, never advancing, and it’d still count as “completing” the game with that character.

2) The main menu options form a feedback loop.

The main reason you play the board game - aside from just completing it with every single character - is to level up each character’s stats and skills for combat. Specifically, the combat that takes place in another mode called “Despair Tower” or “Battle.” In the Despair Tower, you earn bunches of Monocoins. You then go to the “School Store” option on the menu to spend those Monocoins, unlocking various characters and “Hype Cards” that give them stat boosts and benefits in the board game. And then you go to the board game to play with the new characters you unlock... and the cycle repeats. See? It’s designed to keep you moving from the board game/”Development” to “Battle” to “School Store” and back again.

Furthermore, whenever you unlock and then finsih a new chapter of the overarching story, you are given bonuses in the board game that will help you level up faster and progress farther. Stat multipliers, starting money, etc. And for every 20 “floors” you complete in the Despair Tower, you get early access to a grimoire/scroll that lets you progress through the board game ever faster! So again: Everything is a feedback loop.

3) All about the board game/”Development”

If you’ve played Ultimate Talent Development Plan (a.k.a. UTDP) mode in DRV3, you know the basics of how this works. You roll a die, you move around a board, and sometimes you earn “Cards” that give you special ways to move.

In addition to getting your character’s stats up, you’re going to want to obtain “Talent Fragments” as you go through the board in either game. You use Talent Fragments to unlock and level up “Skills” - which can be special methods of attack, support functions like healing/resurrecting, defensive shields, temporary character buffs, etc.

And of course, as a fan of these characters and this multiverse, you’re DEFINITELY going to want to see the events on the “Friendship” squares. These each show you a random cut scene of your character interacting with other characters from Danganronpa while on the island. You can piece together a number of story threads that connect various characters, you can see characters meet who never had a reason to do so before, you can see beloved friends having new scenes together... and don’t worry, it’s not a waste of time, either. You get big stat boosts from these interactions. :)

One of the nicest features about this game is that it makes your options very clear after each roll of the die. There are so many branching paths on this board that rolling a “five” could take you to any number of places. The game helpfully places an arrow over every square that is a possible destination after you roll. You can simply move the camera over the square you wish to move to (use the right stick to move the camera) and select it, and the game will do the pathfinding necessary to make you land there!

There are also “gifts” which you can unlock in the School Store. You can choose to apply two “gifts” at the start of any play through the board game. A “gift” is a pixelated item that gives you some kind of benefit on the board - like making you gain an extra level in strength each time you level up, or making your Shop prices go down, or increasing the frequency of monokub events, etc.

The differences between UTDP and DRS’ Board: Firstly, battles no longer take the form of a a forced “exam” that occur at set times during the game. Instea, there are now battle spaces all over the board. There are regular battles, midboss battles, and boss battles. A boss guards each grimoire/scroll, and you could call each monobeast another “boss” of a sort. Each of these battles levels up your character, obviously.

Secondly, your in-game goal while on the board is different in Danganronpa S than it was in UTDP.

A refresher: In UTDP, your main goal is to make a complete loop of the board within a specific amount of turns, thereby completing the “school years” and ultimately facing a final battle to “graduate.” Even if you fail at any task or fight, however, you still wind up with some kind of developed character that you can use in “Despair Dungeon” mode by the end.

In Danganronpa S, your main goal is to defeat all six of the monobeasts on the central island at Jabberwock Island. To do this, you must obtain one grimoire/scroll for each monobeast. Each scroll gives you the power to defeat one monobeast, and there are six total scrolls/monobeasts. You have 50 total “days” (turns) in which to take ‘em all out. For every boss and monobeast you defeat, you get a huge amount of XP and level up significantly. And since we’re trying to level up as much as we can so that we can be better fighters in the Despair Tower so that we can get more coins for the School Store so that we can play more characters in the board game... you get the idea. It’s obviously beneficial to complete as much of the mission to defeat the six monobeasts as you can within 50 turns.

Wait, where are the island bosses who have the grimoires/scrolls?

They’re all found in locations that are significant to the murders/deaths in each chapter of Danganronpa 2. That should be enough information to get you there.

But I can’t finish the game in 50 turns!

Yeah, it’s nearly impossible to pull that off until you get at least the first stat multiplier that you unlock after 10 characters. And as I said up top: There are bonuses obtained for every 10 characters that get you through the board faster, and there are MORE bonuses for every 20 floors you finish in the Despair Tower. You’re going to level up faster and faster with time, and after a while you’ll be flying through the quest to kill all the monobeasts. Hang in there.

Actually, it’s gotten pretty easy for me to finish the game in less than 50 turns by now.

Great! Your NEW goal is to reach Level 99 with your character. Doing THAT will unlock secret additional challenges in the board game...

4) All about Despair Tower/”Battle”

In DRV3, “Despair Dungeon” mode had you descending through the floors on a quest to reach the very bottom, traipsing over maps with random battles and finding treasure chests.

In Danganronpa S’ “Despair Tower”, there is no map to walk around and no treasure chests to find. It’s JUST the RPG-style turn-based battles now. Each floor has three waves of monsters to defeat in turn-based battle.

Just like “Despair Dungeon”, you can bring in a party of four characters who you developed and granted “Skills” over in the board game. There are Athletic characters (coded red) who are best with physical attacks, Cerebral characters (coded blue) who specialize in “magic” elemental attacks, and Balanced characters (coded green) who can do pretty okay with either attack method.

Also, you’ll notice that each floor has a set of three “challenges.” Complete them all and you get bonus monocoins, which is the primary reason you’re in this mode in the first place. The higher you go in the tower, the more of the rarer monocoins you’ll be able to collect.

Wait, how come I don’t have the equipment I bought in the Shops on the game board?

Sorry - that equipment only applies to the board game. To get equipment such as weapons and armor for the Despair Tower, you have to craft it using the materials that the monsters drop. (Look for the option to “Create” whenever you’re on the screen where you put together your party.)

I can’t accomplish this challenge/defeat this battle...

That’s a sign that it’s time to return to the board game for some new, stronger characters. :)

5) All about the School Store

This is where you unlock characters as well as their applicable “Hype Cards.”

Each character comes in four tiers - N, R, S, and U. Higher tiers offer bigger multipliers when obtaining Talent Fragments and also can develop/use more skills that you make with those fragments. Obviously, U-ranked is the best and can have the most skills, and N is the lowest tier and can use only one or two skills.

Be forewarned: Some Friendship events in Development mode are ONLY available to you when you are using S or U-ranked cards.

Hype cards are character-specific bonuses that provide the given character with boosts to their performance in the board game, helping you to level up faster and more efficiently. The best of these hype cards are denoted as “WR” rank. .....and I don’t know why.

There are four machines in the School Store which dispense the cards.

The vending machine is for microtransactions. You can use actual money to unlock any character card or hype card you choose. Not much to say here.

The regular MonoMono Machine takes standard silver Monocoins. This machine has a high probability of giving you “N” or “R”-ranked character cards.

The Golden MonoMono Machines takes the rarest currency of the three - golden monocoins. This machine has a high probability of giving you “S” or “U”-ranked character cards as well as “WR” Hype cards

The MonoMono “Yachine” takes pink Monomicoins. You usually unlock these coins by getting “achievements” elsewhere in the game. (The “Usami Flower’ option on the main menu screen will show you a green exclamation point symbol whenever you have reached an achievement and can enter to pick up some bonuses.) This machine has a high probability of giving you hype cards, “gifts” (which are items that provide benefits within the Development board game) and “S”-ranked character cards.

So wait, am I going to need to spend money on microtransactions to progress?

I honestly thought so at first, and I felt pretty salty about it. But as it turns out, I’m earning character cards of a totally workable level (”S” and “U” rank) at a decent enough rate that my progress through the other modes has never been hindered. In fact, I actually did spend 99 cents when I started the game to unlock some U-ranked character cards right out of the gate... and I didn’t really benefit from doing so. At least not initially.

I hadn’t unlocked any stat multipliers yet, so the rank of my character cards didn’t matter much. I was still only able to level up to around Level 50, and I still wasn’t producing very strong fighters. If you’re going to use the microtransactions at all, it’s better to wait and use them when you can benefit more.

The main reason to use the microtransaction feature is just to get access to a U-ranked character card at a time of your own choosing. Otherwise, you’re at the whimsy of the random machine rolls, forcing you to play with whoever you happen to unlock. Thankfully, once you earn a character card, you’ll never get a duplicate again - it drops out of the rotation, thereby increasing your chances of getting the ones that remain. Because of this, just keep bouncing between Development and Battle modes and you will INEVITABLY get everyone even if you don’t spend any money on microtransactions.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand that’s pretty much the rundown. There are more details, of course — you can find out exactly what you get for bumping into any character on the board by scrolling down to the Card/Effect/Obtained From table on this wiki page, for one thing.

I really hope the fandom manages to benefit from this explanation. Have fun, everybody!

[works-of-fanfiction]

“He’s the Best.” - 90s!Graham Coxon x Reader

Summary: Graham struggles with his self-esteem within the band and the reader tries to cheer him up.

Requested by: Anon. I hope you like this <3

Warnings: Swearing (literally once).

Word Count: 3.3k - a bit of a longer oneshot from me! I didn’t mean for it to be this long.

A/N: I’ve been writing this and putting it off for days because I just don’t know if I like it, but I don’t want to restart it. Argh… I hope someone enjoys this cheese fest.

* Gif credits to the linked creator

_______________

No one in this life is born ‘better’ than anybody else. It’s not a competition or a game of comparison. Every single human on this planet has their own unique qualities that make them interesting and most importantly, worthy. However, humans sadly aren’t wired to see those qualities in themselves. They spend the majority of their lives obsessing over others; wondering if they’re as talented as the next man, or if they’ll ever look as good as whatshername. Sometimes, it gets to a point where even the deepest of friendships can become strained due to one or more parties comparing themselves to another’s achievements.

And seeing Graham go through exactly that, has been killing me. There was a time when everything Graham and Damon did together, was truly that - together. Every single melody, riff, lyric - it was theirs. Neither one did more work than the other, neither was more musically talented. They were both kids crammed inside a Portakabin with their very first instruments, strumming and plucking and making probably rather bothersome noise. They had no idea what was to become of their lunchtime jam sessions and after school practices. Both were just excited to have a friend that liked the same things as them, and enjoyed the noise the other was making.

But Graham has since become a shadow of who he once was around Damon - he’s become Damon’s shadow. Or so he thinks.

Being in a band with a boisterous frontman like Damon was bound to become hard work for the other members at one point or another, but I never thought it would affect Graham like this. It’s getting harder to communicate with him, and I know it’s not his fault but I’m running out of things to say to fill the silences. There’s only so many times I can ask if he wants a cup of tea, or tell him about the encounter I had at the bus stop earlier that day. I’m sick of hearing my own voice, so I can’t imagine how he must feel. The silence seems to be the only thing he wants; he doesn’t write anymore, he hardly plays guitar outside of work commitments, and he hasn’t picked up his sketchbook in weeks. He just seems to stare at the TV or sit on the sofa with his head buried in a book that’s stuck on the first chapter. I watched him the other day and in forty-five minutes, he turned the page once. I bet if I asked him about the story he wouldn’t be able to recall a single character’s name, never mind the plot.

Watching him struggle with his self-esteem is crushing, and I don’t want him to live another second feeling the way he does. I know it may take a while for him to find himself again, but if I can do anything to help move things along, it’s worth a try. I’d drop everything for Graham in a heartbeat.

“I dropped those music stands off today. Did you get them?” Dave asks, his voice a little crackly on the other end of the phone.

“I did, thank you!” I chime, balancing the phone between my shoulder and ear as I assemble the very same stands.

“Oh, good. I was a little worried about leaving them outside. I thought somebody would take them… What do you need them for anyway?”

“That’s something for me to know and you to find out, Dave.” I laugh, tightening one last knob on the second stand and straightening it out. I stand back and admire my handy work, smiling at the prospect of what they are to become.

“Alright, alright. Well, I hope they come in handy! I’ll see you later.”

“Thanks again. See you next week!”

We both hang up and I grab the stands, climbing up the stairs and into the spare room, placing them in their desired places. Grabbing two pieces of sheet music, I slot them onto the stands neatly and adjust them until they’re perfect. With one last thing to check, I turn on the projector I borrowed from an old university friend and let the film play out on the blank wall opposite. I mess with the sound a little, making sure it’s loud enough before rewinding the footage to the beginning and turning it off until later.

Standing in the middle of the room, I turn around and admire everything on the walls. Everything from lyrics to old album art concepts, to still life paintings from Graham’s time at Goldsmith’s. Beside the music stands, there’s crates filled with records, decorated with lyrics scribbled onto scraps of paper, some in Graham’s handwriting and others in mine. I of course, couldn’t resist writing them out in various colours and covering them in star-shaped stickers. The finishing touch is a large beanbag against the wall for us to sit and watch the projector from. I fluff up the beanbag for the thousandth time before heading downstairs to wait for Graham to get back.

It takes around two hours for Graham to arrive home. As soon as I hear his taxi pull up outside, I jump up from the sofa and head into the kitchen to flick the kettle on. Nerves bubble through me as I anticipate his entry. It’s impossible to predict how Graham’s going to be feeling on any given day. He could come through the door and speak to me as normal, or he could disappear into his studio until he’s tired enough to head to bed. Through the rumbling of the kettle I listen out for the door, fingers impatiently tapping on the counter as my gaze fixates on a magpie outside, shakily balancing on the washing line. A second joins it and I smile, muscle memory taking over as I pour the boiled water into two cups, not taking my eyes off of the birds.

“Hi.” Graham’s voice peeps behind me. Putting the kettle down, I turn around with a warm smile on my face. Despite everything Graham has been going through, seeing him come through that door every day is still my favourite sight. Having him come home to me will simply never get old. I don’t know what I’ll do when he has to go out on tour again in a few months.

“Hey.” I breathe, the sides of my face already beginning to feel sore from the ridiculous grin stuck on it. He smiles back, the expression not quite reaching his eyes but I know he means well. He’s trying. “You go and sit down. I’ll bring these in.” I gesture to the brewing teas on the counter and he nods, hanging his bag on the nearest kitchen chair and leaving the room without another word. I finish the drinks as quickly as possible, grabbing the stack of takeaway menus from the junk drawer and bringing them with me, the pieces of paper clamped between my teeth as I concentrate on carrying the two steaming hot cups in my hands.

Setting the cups down on the coffee table, I toss the menus onto the sofa next to where Graham is very aggressively, trying to pull his Docs off. “Need a little help?” I ask, laughing as I kneel down and bat his hands out of the way. “It would help if you untied them.”

“It’s easier to leave them tied.”

“Oh, really?” I scoff, gesturing to his feet still stuck in the cherry red boots. The laces are a complete mess with three bulky knots in them. I sit down cross-legged on the carpet, carefully plucking and unravelling each knot whilst Graham buries his head in the takeaway menus. “How do you even - “ I struggle, pulling at the frayed shoelace whilst trying not to damage it further, “- get these things on?” With one last tug, the first lace loosens and I’m able to slide the boot off with ease. Graham’s face pops out from behind the menu, a side-smile plastered onto his lips and a cheeky glint in his eyes. I know he wants to laugh.

“Shall we get Indian tonight?” He changes the subject, flipping over the tatty piece of bright orange paper as he squints at the options. He always orders the same thing, yet still insists on reading the whole menu front to back. He does it for every restaurant.

“Indian sounds good.” I nod, pulling the second boot off and shoving them to the side. “I’ll call them now.” Jumping up to grab the phone, I type the number in from memory and hold it up to my ear.

“What’s the rush?” Graham mouths and I hush him when somebody answers. I order the usual along with some extras and give them our address, despite them not even really needing it anymore. The phone call is no longer than a minute and Graham sits staring at me, nose scrunched in confusion. “Are you going to tell me what’s going - “

“Follow me.” I blurt out, stretching my arm towards him and rising onto my tiptoes out of excitement. He stands slowly, shrugging off his jacket and leaving it on the sofa. “I was going to wait until we’d had our food, but I have to show you now.”

“Show me what?” He asks as I grab his wrist and drag him up the stairs. We squeeze up the narrow staircase, almost tripping each other over a couple times until we stop on the landing, feet overlapping one another’s on the small square of carpet.

“I know you haven’t really been yourself lately.” I start, my fingers slipping from Graham’s wrist to entwine with his. He looks down, sucking his bottom lip between his teeth. His eyes watch our hands as I lightly stroke the back of his thumb in an attempt to relax him. He has a habit of tensing up whenever I broach the subject. “So I wanted to remind you just how great you are.”

I watch his face intently, the corners of his mouth twitching and trying to smile. With my free hand, I open the door and flick the light on, pulling Graham into the room with me. His hand slips from my grasp and I back up to stand against the wall, watching as he takes in the room around him and everything in it.

He walks to the music stands first, fingers tracing the notes on the pages, flipping them over then back again. He walks towards the canvas on the back wall - a woodland painting he’d won a prize for back in college - running his hand over the textured patch of paint that forms the trees. I nervously bite the back of my thumb as he kneels down to sift through the records in the large black case below, flicking through every Blur album and single released to this day. My favourite lyrics are scattered on sheets of paper all over the ground, and he picks up the second verse from Coffee & TV. “You’ve always loved this one.” He says, turning to me and smiling.

“I happen to really like the guy who sings it.”

“He must be pretty good then.”

“Oh, he’s the best.” Resting my foot against the wall, I kick my body forward and stand straight, joining Graham beside the projector.

“What’s this for?” He asks, hands hovering near the buttons but not daring to touch anything. I take his hands in mine and give them a loving squeeze.

“Sit down and I’ll show you.” I chirp and he sinks down onto the beanbag. I mess with the projector until the sound starts to creep in, stretching over to switch off the light. Graham shuffles to the side to make some room for me on the beanbag and I flop down beside him, nestling into his side.

The image from the projector is surprisingly clear against the wall, although could’ve been improved had I borrowed a screen from somewhere. A variety of different clips play out in front of us, ranging from Graham performing onstage to snippets of his band members talking and praising their guitarist. I try my hardest to focus on the film in front of me, but I can’t help glancing over at Graham to see his reactions. His brows are furrowed, but not necessarily in a bad way - he’s focused, fully concentrating on everything he’s seeing and hearing.

I fidget with my hands, twiddling my thumbs and quietly cracking my knuckles. Graham notices this and grabs my left hand, squeezing it tightly and bringing it over to rest in his lap. Laying my head on his shoulder, I press a kiss onto his sleeve, rubbing my head against him and breathing in his familiar scent. He lays his head on top of mine, but never looks away from the video playing on the wall. Absentmindedly, his fingertips dance on the back of my hand, the drumming following the beat of Song 2 as it plays from the projector. I too can’t help bopping along to the beat, my foot tapping softly on the carpet.

The video closes with one final clip, a message I recorded for Graham. Too embarrassed to watch myself, my focus stays on him as I squeeze his hand a little tighter and snuggle up as close as possible. The picture begins to fade and the sound plays out until there’s no footage left, and the whirring of the projector becomes background noise in the room. Graham doesn’t say anything at first, but as I try to stand to turn the projector off, he pulls me back down onto the beanbag and rotates his body to face mine.

“Hey.” I whisper, my right hand supporting his cheek as he leans into me, his eyes closed and lips pressed into a line. Our bodies slot into one another’s on the beanbag, the very little space between us growing warmer by the second.

Graham releases a deep breath, his eyes slowly opening again with a small smile spreading across his face. It’s hard to see him properly in the dimly lit room, but I could never mistake those big brown eyes staring at me. “I can’t believe you did all of this for me.” He says, his voice low as he leans in close to speak like we’re the only two people who matter inside a crowded room.

“I wanted to show you how incredible you are. You’ve been so hard on yourself and I just - “ As I speak, tears start to well up in my eyes and I look up to the ceiling to try and stop them from falling. I’d already told myself earlier that I wouldn’t cry, because I don’t want Graham to think he’s upset me. I press at my eyes lightly with my fingertips in an attempt to push the tears away. “I can’t stand seeing you this way because you don’t deserve to feel like this. If it wasn’t for you, Blur wouldn’t exist! Everything you’ve all achieved wouldn’t have happened.” My voice begins to shake and I feel Graham’s hand on my arm, rubbing it gently to try and calm me down.

“Y/N.” He starts, before reaching up to turn on the light. It takes a second for my eyes to adjust, before my gaze falls to the ground to avoid his. If I look at him properly, I know I’ll start bawling. “Look at me. Please.”

“I can’t. I can’t because I’ll cry, and then you’ll get upset and I don’t want to make you feel any worse than wha - “

“You won’t upset me. Y/N, I’m sorry I’ve - “

“No, Graham. Don’t apologise.” I grip onto his shirt tightly, my fingers tangling in the fabric. Graham bows his head and nudges it against mine, edging closer until he pushes my head up with his and our noses are almost touching. We both open our eyes, our faces too close that my vision is distorted and I’m seeing double. I pull back, sniffling once and dabbing at my eyes again, still not allowing any tears to actually emerge.

“I’m sorry,“ he starts and I sigh at his words, but he hushes me by holding his finger up to my face, “for putting you through this. I was so caught up in my own head that I didn’t realise how it was making you feel.”

“Graham, this isn’t about me.”

“But it affects you. Bloody hell, if I had to live with this miserable twat - “ he points to himself and I scoff, slapping the back of his hand playfully. “ - I’d have given up by now.”

“I would never give up on you.” My voice is barely above a whisper, the lump in my throat making it difficult to speak. Graham goes silent again, staring down at our joined hands and moving his thumbs around. I nudge his head with mine in the same way he did previously and he sniffles, his chest rising and immediately falling again. “Graham?” I bring my hand to his chin and push his face up to find his eyes watery, and cheeks significantly more red compared to a moment ago.

“God, look at me. What the hell are you still doing with me, ay? I’m a bleeding mess.” He sniffs, roughly wiping tears off of his cheeks with the backs of his hands.

“Because I wouldn’t want to be with anybody else.”

“Not even - “

“Ah! Stop right there. There’ll be no more of that.” I take his hands away from his face, holding onto them loosely. “Graham Coxon, you are the best thing to ever happen to me. And I’ll give you a free pass to slap me silly for being so cheesy.” I laugh, his grip on my hands tightening as he awkwardly slides closer on the beanbag, his body sinking into it at a strange angle and pulling me with him. “I love you.”

Within a second, Graham’s hands are on both sides of my face, pulling me in for a kiss; the kind of kiss that feels like the person is pouring their entire heart out to you. Like the kiss between the main characters of a movie, when they’ve just ran across a field or a busy road to collide with another at the centre. His lips messily press against mine and I can feel the stray tears running down his face as they dampen my cheeks. My hands rest on his legs, holding on firmly as his thumbs dig into my face a little. It doesn’t hurt, but he soon pulls away and swipes at my face softly as if to apologise for it. He uses his sleeve to dry my face and I do the same for him, small gasps of laughter exchanging between us.

“Thank you for doing this. If you can’t tell, I really love it.” He says sincerely with a genuine smile, the biggest smile I’ve seen from him in weeks. The expression is infectious and I can’t help mimicking him as I grin back like the Cheshire Cat. The faint sound of knocking from downstairs pulls us out of our romance film-esque daydream and we both clamber to our feet.

As we approach the stairs, Graham stops and spins me around, pulling me into him. I land against his chest with a huff, before adjusting my hair and looking up at him. “After we eat, can you show me the film again?” He asks, his hand meeting mine to help me fix the loose hairs falling in my eyes.

“We can watch it as many times as you like.”

[ahundredtimesover]

Friday Nights and Take-Out Drabble (3)

It’s not how I wanted to tell you but doesn’t mean I don’t mean it any less. 

Pairing: Jungkook x (f.) Reader

Genre/Tags: strangers to friends to lovers, popstar/idol!jk, fluff, angst, future smut; this is a dialogue-heavy series so read if you’re into that!

Warnings: foul language 

Word count: 1,500 sorry

Series summary: You meet pop star/idol Jeon Jungkook at the cafe, you get close, and as Hyejin says, you’re like friends with benefits without the sex. But you’re bad at feelings and so is he.

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A/N: Fast forward to several months later with these two idiots-turned-lovebirds!

#

“Rock-paper-scissors! Winner decides if they want to choose the movie or the dinner tonight,” Jungkook says, right hand ready, bunny smile flashing through your phone screen.

You roll your eyes as you sit up from your upside-down position on the couch. “What are you, a child? Your game doesn’t even make sense.”

“Yes, your man-child boyfriend. And yes, it does. Now come on!” He urges you.

“Fine, only because you recognize yourself as such.” 

He rolls his eyes this time. 

He was late on the first try, making it not count. You usually go scissors after rock, which Jungkook knows - hence, why you often lose - but he didn’t this time. 

“I win!” You say, surprised. “A bit rusty now, are we?” A smug look on your face. “We’re going with Winter Soldier tonight, babe,” you continue, his hopeful face turning into a disappointed one. 

“But we watched Iron Man 2 the last time, shouldn’t we watch Iron Man 3 tonight?” He tries, towel wiping his sweaty face, their Friday night rehearsal having just ended. Months after the end of the tour, they’re still plenty busy and the month of February isn’t any different than the others. 

Still, you’re happy with your arrangement. Regardless of how late they end on a Friday, Jungkook makes sure to come see you, with take-outs now a staple in your relationship. Until you both think you’re ready to go public, your little home is your little world for now.

“We’re not following any order, Kook. I win so I get to decide the movie. At least you get to choose dinner! I’m not particularly picky today. I just want me some Bucky,” you tease. He gives you a displeased look. 

Something you’ve come to learn is that your jealous and competitive boyfriend will always try to one-up any person who gets your attention, regardless if they’re a fictional character or a real-life individual, regardless of gender too. He thinks he’s being subtle about it, which is the funny part, but Jungkook is anything but subtle. You’d mentioned one time how you liked Evan Rachel Wood’s undercut and he showed up 2 days later with his own undercut, in a bun. Do you like it? He’d asked later that night, lips all pouty. Safe to say it took all of you not to pounce on him the moment you saw him enter the bar. 

“I just don’t like him because he did my man dirty,” he reasons. You respond with a laugh, “yeah, I hear you babe. It totally has nothing to do with me having a crush on him ”

“Baby, don’t tease me tonight, please. I’m tired and I miss you and I want to cuddle you in peace while we watch the definitely-not-best Marvel movie,” he pouts.

“Okay fine, we shall cuddle in peace, then if that’s what you want to do,” you give in, hearing the tiredness in his voice, and then bidding him goodbye. 

If you didn’t miss him, you probably would’ve continued teasing him, but you do and you want nothing more than to have him next to you. It’s been two weeks since you’ve spent time together, after all. 

Four months since you both got your head out of your asses and finally admitted your feelings to each other - and three since you told his agency, which was fortunately supportive - you and Jungkook have found your rhythm. 

He’s still as busy, but nothing that video calls can’t solve, and still falls asleep on you over the phone after a long day at work, but you both always make time. He insists on spoiling you, despite knowing that a Chanel bracelet has got nothing on a whole strawberry shortcake, especially after a long day at work. You spoil him too in your own ways - buying him novelty items that remind you of him, stocking your pantry with his favorites, and of course, through kisses.

You didn’t think you could be this affectionate but you’ve long surprised yourself when it came to Jungkook. It seems as if every time you see him, you just want to shower his pretty little face with all the kisses you can possibly give. He enjoys this, partly for the fact that he likes seeing you be the needy one for a change and partly because, well it’s you and anything you give is more than enough for him. Except for an ‘I love you,’ though; somehow that isn’t part of the rhythm yet.

A little over an hour later, you hear the incessant knocking on your door and you jump from the couch. You open the door and take in how your boyfriend looks enveloped in his oversized black hoodie - hair damp, tired smile, but eyes still sparkling like the night sky. A shower of kisses later, you find yourselves on the floor, take-out food all but unwrapped. 

He surprises you with your own favorites - ribeye steak and truffle pasta cooked by one of their chef friends who runs a restaurant that you definitely can’t afford, which also doesn’t do take-outs, to preserve food quality or something. But Jungkook, you’ve also learned, lives off of making you happy, and this is one of the ways that he, as he says, puts his stardom to “good use.”

You stare at him, eyes wide. “Babe, they gave us plates,” you say, confused and amused at the same time. “Food presentation or something, Chef Choi said,” he shrugs, but unable to help the smile on his face as your eyes scour the presentation on the table.

“We’ve been wanting to eat at his restaurant,” is all you say, still unable to process what he had done, not missing the extras included - cheese and artichoke dip and tomato soup. “These seem basic, are they even on the menu?” 

He laughs. “Too basic to be on their menu, definitely, which is why he was able to whip them up,” he says proudly. “I just wanted to surprise you with something special.”

The twinkle in your eyes and the smile reaching them let him know he succeeded. 

One bite into the steak and you feel like heaven. It has marbled well and tastes so scrumptious and tender, as if you’re having an orgasm in your mouth. It tastes expensive, too. You close your eyes and savor the flavor, juices spilling out with every movement of your mouth against the meat. You’ve never had steak this good, it actually makes you feel emotional.

“Fuck babe, this is so good I love you so much.”

Silence.

You open your eyes to see your boyfriend, mouth half parted, orbs even darker and rounder than you remember.

“Did you just tell me you love me… while eating steak?”

You cower on your side of the table, nervous at how he will take it. The words just slipped out of your mouth before you got to the next bite. It’s not that you don’t mean it; it’s because you do and want to at least tell him in a more romantic way than this. He’d survived practice until 10PM, made arrangements to get you a delectable dinner, and you tell him you love him like this - unfocused and unaware, prompted by food, of all things.

“Is that how much you love steak or how much you love me?” he asks, a smile slowly creeping up his face. “I was thinking maybe you’d say it while cuddling in bed or watching Crazy, Stupid, Love or even like, in the middle of sex or something but this… this is so unmistakbly you that I don’t think I can be more in love with you than I am this moment.” Now it’s his turn to look nervous.

You mirror his expression from earlier, senses suddenly heightened at what he’d just said.

“I…” he starts, unsure what to say next.

“I love you,” you repeat, unable to help the smile gracing your face. “It’s not how I wanted to tell you but doesn’t mean I mean it any less. But I do, for a while now,” you continue, hands playing with each other, teeth biting your lower lip. 

“I love you,” he responds, suddenly calming your nerves. “I feel like I say it in my head too much that I’m scared you might just hear it,” he chuckles, eyes finding yours.

“Well, I’d like to hear it, everyday if possible,” you shyly smile. You becoming such a sap like this is a side-effect of dating Jungkook that you definitely don’t mind.

He easily pulls you by your waist and sandwiches you in between his legs, wrapping them around you and peppering your cheeks with kisses. He hugs you tightly and lays his chin on your shoulder. Nothing is better than this. He’s starting to think this is what he wants to come home to everyday. He lets the thought sink in; that’s a talk for another time.

“Anything for you, Y/N.”    

##

part 4 || completed

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