#whoops got the formating wrong

[batteryneutral]

Hey sorry your boyfriend's been defenestrated :(. Yeah, he started to develop a conscience so we had to do something :/ sorry

[azzibuckets]

i want the world to know

[paige bueckers]

paige bueckers x fem!reader

summary: 5 times you and paige accidentally expose your relationship to the world (aka when your love is so strong you guys can’t help but slip up) and the 1 time you make sure the world knows

a/n: Ok so i wrote the summary rly wrong cuz idk how to word it but yk how the format goes 😅

masterlist

#1

You lifted the Big East championship trophy in the air, grinning at the crowd of cameras. After getting into several different poses, you handed the trophy off to another teammate for their turn and rejoined the rest of the girls, who were packed into a tight circle, whooping and dancing as you all celebrated your tournament win.

You were all watching and hollering in support as KK did the griddy when Paige touched your upper arm.

“What’s up?” You yelled over the noise of the fans and the team celebrating, stepping aside so you could hear her.

She shook her head, eyes sparkling as she stepped closer to you. “Your hat,” she murmured, gently take your Big East champs hat off your head.

“Is there something wrong?” You reached up to mess with your hair, but Paige got to it first, softly pulling out strands from behind your ears and combing through your hair with her fingers. “Just a little messy,” she explained. Her nose scrunched and her tongue poked out in concentration as she carefully fixed your hair, then put the cap back on backwards.

“Paige,” you complained, but with a smile on your face.

“‘M sorry, you just look so cute and gangsta with it backwards,” Paige stifled a giggle, giving the brim of your cap a little flick.

You pouted. “P, put it back right.” You whined.

“Alright, alright.” Paige stopped teasing you and swung your hat around. You beamed at her as she straightened your cap, leaving her finishing touches. Stepping back, she observed you with a proud smile on her face.

The next morning, photos of Paige touching your hair were all over Twitter, and fans started suspecting you two were more than friends.

#2

Some of the girls were over at KK’s apartment. Being the mother that you were, you took charge of making dinner, getting started in the kitchen by chopping vegetables for your famous chicken noodle soup.

After some time, Paige ambled into the kitchen, bored with the live and already missing you.

“How’s the food going, baby?” Paige came up from behind you, sneaking her hands around your waist and resting her cheek against your head.

“Good, you wanna help?” You turned around to give Paige a soft kiss on the lips before focusing back on preparing dinner.

“I dunno,” Paige gently rocked back and forth with you, burrowing her face into the curve of your neck. “Your hair smells so good. Can I jus stay right here?”

“If you want,” you giggled.

You guys started fooling around like love birds, Paige grabbing random slices of vegetables off the cutting board and popping it into both of your mouths.

That’s when KK came in, still on live. She carefully maneuvered around you guys, trying not to get you on camera, as she grabbed a snack. But as she left the kitchen, she ripped open a bag of goldfish, causing her phone to shift and catch you two in the background.

3712 viewers saw Paige feeding you a slice of carrot from behind, one of her hands in the pocket of your jeans and the other reaching around your shoulder to put the food in your mouth, thumb resting on the corner of your lips as you chewed.

#3

During a game against Seton Hall, Paige got elbowed while on defense, the girl’s elbow flying up and smacking into her face.

Paige flew backwards, dropping to the ground, the pain taking away her breath. Still, she forced herself to get up and keep playing defense, sprinting to catch up and do her duty.

After that possession, as she got subbed out with blood dripping from her nose and down her mouth, she yelled angrily at the referee. One of the team’s physicians ran up to Paige with a napkin, trying to blot at her nose, but Paige’s mind was buzzing with an intense mixture of anger and pain, and she pushed away from the physician, brushing both her and Geno’s orders for her to calm down off as she tried to keep yelling at the ref.

Seeing the physician’s growing frustration at Paige refusing to let her clean up her nose, you got up from the bench and over to Paige. “Let me,” you told the physician, who gratefully handed you the napkin.

“Paige.” At your voice, Paige turned around.

“What the hell was that?” She demanded. “You saw that right? They didn’t even fucking call it-“

“Paige,” you reached out with the napkin. “I know. Let’s just get you cleaned up first, hm?”

Paige reluctantly nodded, leaning forward to let you wipe up her nose. You placed one hand under her chin to stabilize her. You didn’t even realize it, but your thumb instinctually stroked her cheek in an attempt to soothe her. She continued grumbling under her breath, but stayed still so you could make sure she was okay.

As soon as you wiped up the last of the blood, she started to walk off, but you called her back. “P, let them check to see if it’s broken.” You gestured at the physician waiting helplessly on the side.

Paige rolled her eyes but turned around to make her way back to the physician.

Later that night, the video of you cleaning up Paige’s bloody nose went viral on Tiktok, the comments going wild over how Paige seemingly refused to listen to anyone but you.

#4

You and Paige were attending the ESPY Awards. Paige was nominated for Female College Athlete of the Year and had invited you along as her plus one. When she won, you both stood up in excitement, and you couldn’t help but kiss her on the cheek before she went up on stage to accept her award.

All night you two had been a little bit more touchy than expected for friends. On the red carpet, her hand constantly rested on the small of your back. Even when she was getting interviewed and you were standing off to the side, some part of her body was always touching you.

Your table was in the very corner of the venue, so you decided it was safe to interlock your ankles. You two often did that as a way to reassurance each other of your presence when you couldn’t touch in more obvious ways. Her ankle wrapped around yours, and your calves pressed against each other.

Both of you failed to see that the table cloth only covered half of your legs, and so anyone who walked by and looked closely would see them intertwined. Which still would’ve been fine, since you guys were in the back of the room - the only reason you two were caught was because you were in a background of a picture of the couple at the table in front of you. In the background, you were staring at each other with fond smiles on your faces, and if you zoomed in, it was clear as day that your legs were interlocked.

Later that night, as you guys left the ceremony, throngs of sports fans waited outside, yelling at the athletes streaming out of venue in hopes of getting noticed. Paige shielded you from them, moving from your left to your right side so that her body blocked out all the fans reaching out and waving their posters in your faces. Her hand glanced over your waist, leading you through.

#5

You had Paige enfolded against the wall of the bedroom. She let out a guttural sound as you sucked her skin between your lips, rolling it between your teeth.

“Baby,” she breathed, fingers tracing down your spine. “Holy shit, this feels so good, but we really gotta go.”

You ignored her words, continuing to brush your lips over her skin, until she had to physically push you away. “I want you,” you complained, fisting the bottom of her shirt to attach your lips to hers.

Paige kissed you back, slow and steady, before gently grabbing your chin and pulling apart. “I know, baby, I promise we can continue this later. But Geno’s gonna kill us if we’re late.”

The whole team was supposed to go to a media event at Gampel to promote March Madness. You’d have to meet fans and also do interviews with the press, but right now you didn’t cary about any of that. All you wanted was Paige, now.

But your girlfriend was firm, leading you out the door. Right before you got to Gampel, you dropped her hand, and you both walked with your arms crossed, knowing that if either of you left your hands dangling, they’d end up intertwined.

As soon as you entered, Paige was pulled away for an interview. You had twenty minutes until yours, so in the mean time you hung out with Ice, talking to some fans.

“I like your lipstick,” one of the fans complimented you. You had put on bright maroon lipstick before leaving the house.

“Thank you!” you smiled, laughing and agreeing once the fan asked you to post your makeup routine and the brands of all your products later on Instagram.

Paige finished up her interview and came over to you and Ice. “Thank god,” she muttered, “that took forever. And it’s so hot in here.” She ran her hands through her hair, collecting it into a ponytail.

You froze when you saw smudges of maroon littering Paige’s neck. You had been careful not to leave hickeys, but in your rush to leave the apartment, you had forgotten to clean up your lipstick once Paige had let her hair down.

“What?” Paige cocked an eyebrow in confusion, but before you could say anything, a fan came and asked her for a picture.

“Hey, wait,” you interrupted, but the fan quickly snapped a photo and took off in her eagerness to find the rest of the team.

“Oh my god,” you muttered. “Paige, look.” You opened your camera on your phone, showing the crimson on her neck.

Paige gaped for a second before bursting out in laughter. “I’m not gonna lie, babe. This is kinda hot.” She examined her neck, trailing her fingers over the red marks.

You glared at her, completely unamused. “I’m literally wearing bright maroon lipstick, and that photo the girl took with you is gonna be all over the Internet within the next two hours.”

Paige adjusted her hair to cover her neck again. “Listen, baby, I’m not entirely opposed to people finding out. I want the world to know you’re my girl.”

You blushed, Paige’s possessiveness sending warm tingles throughout your body. You were her girl. “I know, but there were so many more ways we could’ve let people find out. So many more romantic ways.”

Paige grinned, hooking her fingers through the loops of your jeans and pulling you in. “I don’t know,” she teased. “This seems pretty romantic.”

“If we’re both being honest, almost the whole world already knows we’re dating. We’re not that sneaky,” you admitted.

A glint appeared in Paige’s eyes. “Well, then, we might as well show the ones who don’t.” She smirked at you before gathering her hair into a ponytail.

[s0ulryo]

König with a Medic S/O Scenario *:･ﾟ

[König x Reader] Synopsis: König getting patched up by his favorite medic —you. Tags: Soft, konig lovers we rise, established relationship (i forget to put this tag on a ton of things whoops), mentions of distress (?) Notes: Prolly ooc, not proofread, his voice is so mmmmm, also my brain blanked so many times while writing this so im vv sorry for the wonky formatting

Thank you @uselsshuman for letting me write about this!

(Reader is always gn unless specified otherwise.)

König dislikes a lot of things. He wouldn’t say he hates anything but the list of dislikes has grown over the years. For example, König dislikes crowded places, the smell of cigarettes, getting injured, having to go to a medic to treat his injury, having to see you — who is a medic to treat his injury, having to get chewed out by you for obtaining an injury — you get the point.

So here he sits, listening to you freak out about the injury he obtained while being deployed. He knows you don’t mean any harm by it; you’re just concerned for his safety — König appreciates it, he really does — but he’s also a little stressed out by your current commentary.

“Oh my God — König, how the hell did you manage to do this?”

He honestly doesn’t think it’s that bad; sure, the wound looks terrible — but it doesn’t feel too horrible, so it can’t be too bad, right?

Wrong.

“König, are you listening to me? König, are you alright?”

König’s very thankful for you. He thinks you’re awfully nice and very understanding about his feelings, and in all honesty, he’s not sure how he managed to get with someone like you, but he’s not going to question it — he’s just going to enjoy it.

“Sorry, could you repeat what you just said?” König mumbles out sheepishly.

He can’t help it. You’re exceptionally attractive, and König now realizes his arm is in an exceptional amount of pain — and bleeding tremendously. ‘Things like attractive S/O and immense amounts of pain due to physical injury usually make it difficult to focus,’ he reasons to himself.

Sighing, you shake your head. “König, please try to avoid getting injured — this is the second time this week….”

Nodding softly in acknowledgment, König continues to watch you gather the supplies you need to patch his arm up; his eyes flicker around in discomfort, bouncing his leg up and down to keep his mind occupied. Sure he’s sustained worse injuries than this, but getting patched up has always made him anxious.

Swallowing thickly, König tries to place himself out of this situation – somewhere nicer than your medical workspace that smells like antiseptic – anywhere else than here.

He watches you set to work, his eyes closely following the movement of your hands on his arm, cleaning the wound gently, trying to make the process quicker and easier on him.

He’s vaguely aware that his breathing got heavier or how he’s feeling light headed, heart in his throat – vaguely aware that you’re calling his name.

“…ig” “…önig”

He can see you talking, but he can’t hear you very well; bouncing his leg more rapidly, he tries to say anything to tell you how he feels, but he can’t get any words out.

“..ey…hey big guy – look, I’m here, you’re alright – okay?” You try to get him to focus on you, not necessarily your words but just on you.

"Try to take a big breath, big guy – yeah, just like that – breathe in, breathe out…You're doing great König.”

Following your instructions König (tries) to take a deep breath in and out, focusing on what you smell like and your voice. König feels a little stupid, he’s gotten shot – almost killed before, but he can’t take a little doctor's visit? So yeah, it's definitely a critical hit on his ego; he’s just glad it’s you with him.

After calming down a bit König bites the inside of his cheek, diverting his eyes to the door to the far left of the room. He considers bolting out of your office – he won’t have to get patched up, and he won't have to face you, so it’s a win-win situation—

“König dear, don’t try to run out of the room,” you tell him firmly, more so for you than for him – if he decides to make a hasty exit, you conclude that you would not be able to catch the injured man.

“…Am I that obvious [Name]?”

“Yes, dear…You are pretty obvious.”

The silence in the room was deafening, not super awkward – just a bit tense.

König sighs, visibly deflating in his chair; he mutters an apology, watching your figure look in the bottom drawer of your desk. He feels like he’s back in primary school when kids would make fun of him, leaving him all embarrassed.

Well, in this situation, he feels more ashamed than embarrassed.

He continues to watch you shuffle through the drawer until you find what you were looking for – suddenly, you turn to him, smiling triumphantly, motioning for him to stick out his hand to take what you were holding.

“What is it [Name]?” König asks, reaching out for the unknown object in your hand.

Upon further examination, König realizes the object is made of solid metal and cylindrical – resembling a car transmission.

“It’s a fidget toy! I like that one personally because I like the feeling of the transmission shifting gears – but I have some other ones if you would like.”

König stares at you dumbfounded. Diverting his eyes to the small toy in his hand, he starts to mess with it.

“König, I’m going to continue patching you up, alright? Please let me know if you need anything….”

Nodding, he continues to mess with the toy in his hand, gnawing at his bottom lip to suppress a smile.

König, a man that stands at six foot ten inches, just received a fidget toy from his medic S/O – how could he not smile?

“König, I’m done cleaning the wound, but you’ll need some stitches, alright? I’ll try to make this as quick as possible.”

König continues to watch you work while shifting the fidget toy from first gear to sixth gear, grateful for the newfound distraction from the distressing environment he’s currently in. He’s also immensely thankful that you are walking him through everything you do – even though he’s not entirely listening.

“Finished! All patched up, big guy – how are you feeling?” You say, tying off the final stitch on König’s arm.

“Better – I feel better,” König says, fumbling with his words, speaking with such haste, appearing as if you caught him off guard.

“Great, I’ll write down the care instructions for your stitches, so you don’t forget – come back here in two-ish weeks to remove the stitches, alright?

Standing up, he shyly extends his hand out to you, offering to return the toy you graciously lent him.

“Oh, you can keep that big guy – you seem to like it…So you can have it.”

König stares at you dumbfounded again, shifting his gaze from you to the small toy in his hand, back to you.

“…You sure?” König asks you quietly.

“Positive.” You respond, pushing his extended hand back towards him. “I want you to have it.”

König thinks he’s going to combust.

His awfully nice, exceptionally attractive S/O just watched him break down, patched him up, and gave him a gift. He’s not sure what he has ever done to be treated with such care, but if he thinks about it any longer, he might start to cry.

Bending down, he mutters a ‘thank you’ into your neck, tightly wrapping his arms around your shoulders.

“König..?” He hears you say softly, “Can we stay like this for a while..?”

Humming in approval, he pulls you closer to him, slightly swaying side to side, putting more of his weight on your body to keep you in place.

You don’t know what injuries König will acquire the next time he’s deployed, but for now, your mind is here – at this moment, with König holding you in his embrace and the steady beating of his heart proving that he’s alive and that he loves you.

[agried]

in the end, a ghost wants. is that your downfall, or his salvation?

process explanation under the cut

you might notice the lines for this are a little rough! in april, i drew the inks for the majority of this comic as my final for my comics class, where we had to draw a 8+ page comic and print it out in minicomic format. unfortunately i was in the middle of a depressive episode and couldn't manage to work on it slowly so i ended up drawing all inks in the four days before it was due and skipped the covers to finish the interior. printing was also a whole other terrible can of worms but i ended up being able to print up a whole booklet and turn it in.

after i turned in the inks, i intended to finish colors and covers in the week afterwards to hopefully boost my grade, but my professor graded it earlier than i expected so i kinda just. finished colors and then let the covers rot for four months whoops. until recently, when i got time and remembered i needed to do this before i went back to uni.

well! it's done! i don't have to worry about it anymore! all pages i intended to print are in this too, which includes the "wrong way" page i modeled off manga publications... despite this being digital and ordered in the correct manner. anyway, this comic was very much just for me, so it's a bit confusing, but i hope yall enjoy nonetheless. i think too much about himeru referring to himself as a ghost, and as a ghost enthusiast writing something based off that always takes a bit of an overly poetic turn lol

[transfemmesam]

supernatural fic rec list

(mostly for me to keep all my favorites together. all on ao3) (be nice, i’ve never made one of these and the format is new to me)

Try asking by @applecrumbledore

Wincest, 7k words, rated T. Outside POV.

“Jerry says he saw them going at it in the back of that car of theirs outside Atlanta last year, I swear to God.” “Listen, man, I don’t like them either, but that’s a low blow. Jerry’s a fucking pervert.”

The sound of dead leaves by clavicular and unhappy_ghost

John/Sam + wincest, 6k words, rated M. Sam POV.

John looks at Sam in a way no father should. Sam aches when Dean smiles. The shadows that loom over Sam Winchester are not just those of the monsters lurking in the night.

Echoes of Hell by The_Nightbreaker

Gen, 35k words, rated M. Sam POV.

It wasn't real. He wasn't in Hell anymore. That's what he tried to tell himself over and over. But two centuries of torture don't disappear in a day. Sam struggles with visions of Hell, fighting to maintain his grip on reality. Dean hates that he can't protect his brother from what isn't real—but curse him if he doesn't try. When the boys stumble on a case with ties to the Devil himself, will they be able to pull themselves together in time to stop the sacrifices? Or will the echoes of Hell finally overtake them? Aka, season 7, but the plot is Hell trauma, not leviathans.

Evening Shadows by withthekeyisking

Gen, 2k words, rated T. Outside POV.

Sam is hallucinating the monster who tortured him for nearly two centuries, Dean feels like he's failing his brother, and a diner waitress bears witness.

Lesser Evils by Dyed_Red

Wincest, 9k words, rated E. Dean POV.

“So you’re just gonna, what – torture us for an hour while your guys hightail it to Buffalo? That’s your master plan here?”  “Oh I can do a lot in an hour or two, Sammy. Like having your surrogate daddy here carve Dean a new face. Like backsliding you off your pretty bandwagon. Like…Seeing how far big brother will go for his sweet baby Sam.”

Prophecy of an Abomination by ashitanoyuki

Gen, 88k words, rated M. Sam POV.

Sam wants to be normal. Sometimes, it's harder than he'd like to keep faith in God. Or: a story of religious!Sam plus powers!Sam culminating in horrifying Sam whump (with eventual comfort to go with the hurt). A character study of the first two seasons that sharply diverges in season two.

he’ll follow me down every street, no matter what my crime by according2thelore

Wincest + Meg/Dean, 17k words, rated M. Dean POV.

“What do you want, Sam?” Sam stands up, so Dean is forced to look up into his face. Sam turns them slowly, so the small of Dean’s back bumps into the polished wood of the counter. “I want…” Sam says, eyes flicking down to Dean’s lips and Dean knows when something is too good to be true, knows that this can’t possibly be real, knows— “Christo.” Dean rasps, just before Sam’s lips land on his, eyes open wide. Sam’s eyes flash black. “Whoops,” Sam says casually. A thread of tension stretches between them, almost interminable, and then they both move at once. The demon in Sam’s body slams Dean back, and Dean crashes against the bar. ~~~ A rework of S2E14 "Born Under a Bad Sign" with Meg!Sam and Dean instead of Jo for WincestWednesday on tumblr's July Event, prompt "Favorite Episode" (with a cameo from the second prompt "Blood")

You’d Have Loved Her (But You Won’t) by punkrock101

Gen, 5k words, rated G. Sam POV. (compiler’s note: this is my personal favorite fic of all time)

Sam never got to tell him. Sam never got to tell anybody.

Flowers in the Impala by Evendar

Wincest, 2k words, rated M. Outside POV.

Kate wants them to be a family - really, she does - but there's something wrong with John's boys.

—-—-—

that’s long enough for now, i think. feel free to reblog with your favorite fics as well

[punsmaster69]

5/JAN/20XX

well. it's his, but somehow i woke up with that stuffed bear on my bed.

he must've forgotten to get it.

also on the end of my bed was papyrus, but he got up sometime before me.

last night he wanted me to read to him, but also wanted for me to rest.

so he ended up falling asleep on the end of my bed.

thought about waking him, but he looked peaceful. (at first.) ended up tossin' my blanket over him instead.

but. it's on me now, so i suppose it was returned before long.

——

papyrus looked out the window and slowly sipped from his cup. coffee, for once.

i'd have asked what changed, but he's not very good at pretending to sleep. his restless inability to stay still after waking up in the middle of the night told me all i needed to know.

won't tell him that he kept me up as well.

"mornin'."

i stepped up to the window beside him.

"GOOD MORNING."

he did a double take when he looked at me.

"ONE OF YOUR EYES ARE BACK ON!"

"oh. sick."

rain patters against the window.

i can't stop my attention from following one droplet in particular, comparing it to the speed of the others as if they were racing.

"IT FEELS LIKE..."

"EVERY TIME AFTER SOMETHING HAPPENS TO YOU, IT RAINS."

"just lucky, i guess."

"ARE WE SURE YOU'RE NOT ALLERGIC TO POOR ONCOMING WEATHER CONDITIONS?"

"that would be kinda rad."

"HOW IS THAT 'RAD'?"

"think about it."

"i'd make a killing as a weatherman."

"assuming the weather allergen didn't kill me first."

"YOU SUDDENLY COLLAPSE AND THEY JUST GO, 'OH, SANS IS DOWN. IT'S GONNA STORM TOMORROW.' "

"if it works it works."

i poured myself a coffee too, and pulled a chair up to the window. papyrus did the same, and we watched together as the rain took away what last bit of snow was still left.

"WE DIDN'T HAVE NEARLY ENOUGH TIME THIS YEAR."

"with the snow?"

"YEAH."

"at least it did snow at all."

"I MISS IT ALREADY."

"we can always revisit snowdin."

"IT'S DIFFERENT ON THE SURFACE."

"UP HERE IS SNOW THAT GLITTERS BEAUTIFULLY IN THE SUN; SNOW THAT VARIES IN CONSISTENCY FROM TIME TO TIME..."

"THAT'S THE KIND OF SNOW I WANT!!"

"i could point a flashlight at the at the stuff in snowdin. or throw some sparkles on it. might glitter then."

"NO..."

"and i could bring a hair dryer, to melt the snow a little of it so the texture's different."

"THAT'S JUST ENTIRELY WRONG."

"I DON'T WANT 𝙎𝙇𝙐𝙎𝙃."

"but it 𝘪𝘴 a different consistency."

"I DON'T WANT 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 KIND OF DIFFERENT."

"i don't 𝘴𝘯𝘰𝘸 what you mean then."

"DIFFERENT LIKE BETWEEN PACKING SNOW AND POWERED SNOW, I MEAN."

"......"

"wow. my brother is a snow expert."

"EXPERT??"

"snow 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳."

"HMMM..."

"I 𝘈𝘔 A CONNOISSEUR AT EVERYTHING, SO IT MUST BE TRUE."

"must be."

"DOES THIS MEAN I'LL HAVE TO START BEING PARTICULARLY PICKY ABOUT SNOW?"

"one is not given the connoisseur title for their accepting of just any old snow."

"THEN IN FUTURE, LEAVE IT TO MY DISCERNING EYESOCKETS TO IDENTIFY THE BEST SNOW!"

"i trust your sockets."

"....."

"with everything lately, i can't say i really trust my own."

"YOU'VE GOT A LIGHT BACK. THAT'S PROGRESS!"

"but i can't use powerful magic or i'll lose it again."

"THAT... IT'LL JUST TAKE TIME, I'M SURE."

"ONCE YOUR EYE HEALS, I'M CERTAIN IT'LL GO BACK EXACTLY TO THE WAY IT WAS!"

"and if it doesn't..."

"WE'LL JUST HAVE TO COME UP WITH REALLY COOL FORMATIONS FOR YOUR REGULAR ATTACKS!"

he gave a bright smile.

papyrus' optimism made me feel a little better.

"HOW IS YOUR VISION DOING?"

"could be better."

"could be worse."

"IS IT STILL FUZZY?"

"from a distance."

"CAN YOU SEE ME RIGHT NOW?"

"yep."

"i can see the whipped cream on your face too."

"AH-?"

"WHOOPS."

"DO YOU WANT SOME IN YOUR COFFEE, TOO?"

"ehhh.."

"sure."

"why not?"

whipped cream mustaches sounded fun.

[tjemegames]

HSR: 2.5.1 AS, 2.5.1 PF, & 2.5.2 MoC Recaps

Hello there, the time for yapping is here once again! Since only the same eight or so people tend to read these, I don't think we need a wall of disclaimers this time around. Going forward you should really only expect to see them when I’ve implemented formatting changes or have something important to mention that pertains to the entirety of the recap post.

2.4 turned me into a slightly casual gamer: dedicated subsections for my casual gaming activities have been added to minimize some of the reintroduction redundancy that was happening in the last recap.

As always, apologies for the image distortion: long photos and Tumblr do not mix well.

You know the drill, lengthy rambling about my endgame experience is under the cut!

2.5.1 Apocalyptic Shadow

Gamer's Instigation is probably my favorite endgame title out of all the ones we've had so far (let's go, gamers!) I'm a big fan of AS, as we know, and this cycle's challenge did not disappoint. I got my twelve stars within a total of four challenge waves!

I tried my hardest to avoid resetting in my first run of stage IV, but even after doing stage III and rereading the enemy details I still needed to feel out Phantylia's mechanics to get a better grasp on the best way to defeat her efficiently. Aventurine's battle was rather cut and dry, so his side only took one attempt.

Aventurines battle was also quite fun. Imagine if his normal boss mechanics allowed for a cumulative dice score across your teammates (the energy buff would probably have to be RNG-based or default to the teammate that contributed the most points in order to counterbalance that), but it would make for a much more enjoyable time when fighting him. It’s been months and I'm still salty about the White Night Chronicles MoC XII—there simply was no reason for that to have been as difficult as it was for me back then. I just…

Anyway, here are the builds I used for IV-I:

Phantylia's battle wasn’t hard, it just required a bit more focus and planning to complete. I did my run with a sustain because I misunderstood the HP situation for defeating the flowers; I interpreted it as the flowers would restore Phantylia’s HP after popping, rather than restoring my team’s HP. In hindsight I shouldn’t have understood it that way because that’s not how the flowers work in her Echo of War, but for some reason that didn’t click at the time. Either way, I got it done with relative ease which is all I’m really asking for these days.

These are the builds I used in IV-II:

Pretend you didn't see Aventurine's sphere—there simply was no better choice. It is what it is, and I will not be addressing it further.

The first 800 jades down (whoop whoop!) I desperately needed them because Feixiao bankrupted me on her way to my roster. It’s my penance for betraying Danny boy.

AS Casual Gaming

AS is way too fun for me not to drop back into it over the course of the patch. I tend to get inspired by runs that I’ve seen on Discord and end up motivated enough to try for better clears and/or test out different teams. This is where I’ll be dropping my ramblings about those attempts. Unfortunately, due to image limitations, I won’t be able to include any build showcases in this section. I did consider making a secondary post specifically for this reason but ultimately decided that it wasn’t a big enough deal to be necessary (if I’m wrong about that, please do let me know. I’m down to yap for as long as y’all are down to listen.)

Chasing a better clear with my original team lineup:

Popped back into the game about four hours after my first round of attempts to start the process of trying for a better clear. The last time I was score chasing in AS I kept a close track of my reset count since it was over the course of a few days, and I kept switching back and forth between my phone and pc. This time I stuck to one day and one device so the detailing is a bit less extensive.

Even though I’ve used DHIL in basically every endgame cycle, I still manage to fumble his gameplay from time to time, my first round of tries being a prime example of that. With that in mind, I figured that taking on Phantylia’s side would be my best shot at increasing my overall score. I set my sights on a 100 point increase and went to town.

First three resets: +66 points, bringing me up to 7260

Next two resets: +4 more points, bringing me up to 7264

Final five resets: no points, DHIL managed to die twice—don’t ask me how that happened because I genuinely do not know

70 points of improvement on the second side. I don’t know if 100 overall points is within reach, but I’ll refocus my efforts on Aventurine’s battle and see what, if anything, can be done there.

First and only three resets: no points, I was hoping that there was a work around with the weakness-locked dice but there wasn’t

Barring making my entire team even faster to get more turns, which I don’t have the relics to do at the moment, this appears to be the end of the line for this clear.

Not a bad set of attempts overall. I was able to get my score up to a grand total of 7264 points within thirteen resets. That’s 138 more points than last AS—didn’t see that happening if I’m being completely honest, some of my builds have actually gotten worse since then. Either way, I’m happy enough with this score to forgo attempting a sustainless clear. Let’s be so for real, my account is not currently in the place to even humor sustainless clears. I’ll file that thought away for later down the line.

Getting Jingliu's Revenge:

Remember a little earlier when I said I was still salty about my experience with White Night Chronicles? Well, since I wasn't having the best of days, I decided to head back into AS so I could feel vindication in the form of beating up Aventurine.

Now, you may be thinking, "TJ, you've already gotten your revenge on Aventurine with Boothill like three times since then." To which I would say yes. However, pew-pew gaming him to death just isn't enough to quell the insatiable beast that is my pettiness for this situation. That being said, I called upon my slightly benched, 35% crit rate having Jingliu to finally enact my revenge; the fact that it's been over five months and I still haven't been able to get Jingliu to 50% crate is actually so painful. I had a whole arc where I was farming wind set Pela and did not manage to get a single replacement piece for Jingliu that entire time. I hate that I love this game.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I regeared Jingliu, rallied the troops (Bronya, RM, & Natasha), and set out for battle:

Victory is MINE! 3608 points is pretty damn solid—my Boothill team only managed to get 73 more points during their run. I feel like I can finally move on from this without any lingering resentment or regrets (yippee!)

Closing Thoughts

That just about wraps up AS for this patch. I was wrong with my guess of having to beat up Yanqing this cycle (a well-deserved break after the 2.5 continuance) but I do hope to see him in this mode sometime in the future. I’m looking forward to seeing what all they manage to incorporate into AS after this patch because the new boss mechanics were both refreshing and interesting. I’m someone who actively likes this mode, so I can only imagine how much of an impact the new features had on those who don’t typically care for it. I hope that they continue to mix up more battles like this in the future.

2.5.1 Pure Fiction

No video for Volubility since I couldn't get past eleven stars: I recorded one but it's not worth posting since I didn't even come close to a full clear. I don't want to waste my time editing and making a thumbnail for content I'm not proud of. Additionally, since I wasn't able to finish and I've since done MoC in between my myriad of PF attempts, I lost the ability to save my build showcases for the aforementioned recording, meaning that I would've been missing an entire section of my video. Truly unfortunate, but it is what it is.

I genuinely had such a bad time trying to do this. I spent far more time than I would've liked trying to twelve star and it sucked just about every bit of enjoyment that it could've out of me. I thought I would have a better chance at beating it after a couple weeks away and doing some character upgrades but apparently it just wasn't in the cards this patch. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Closing Thoughts

720/800 jades is painful but I have no choice other than to accept it and move on. If I somehow manage a miracle before the 2.6.1 reset, I'll be sure to pop in here to provide an update. Otherwise, that's all from me on PF.

2.5.2 Memory of Chaos

No video for Scalegorge Tidalflow either. I did manage to get all twelve stars, but my mental health is currently kicking my ass, so I just don't have it in me to bother with it (or this post really) before the patch ends.

Quick summary off the dome since I didn't write any notes when I did my run; Boothill continues to pay his dues. Feixiao is fun to play with—I might need to pull Robin or build Moze though because I don’t have a proper third slot for her team. I thought I could clear floor XII quicker than seven cycles, but a few rounds of casual gaming did not yield better results. No showcases because I forgot to make them before giving PF another try and I'm drained.

Closing Thoughts

MoC was fine. The exo-toughness mechanic is interesting, and I hope I get a chance to explore it more when I'm feeling better. All 800 jades have been added to the savings for DHIL's cone.

Alrighty friends, that's it for this post. Sorry about the quality drop; my brain is being a nuisance and I'd prefer to put this out now while I have some motivation left to do it—there’s no guarantee that I would've finished it at all if I decided to delay it further. Not my best yap but it’ll do for archiving purposes.

I hope everyone enjoyed the 2.5 endgame cycle (to the best of their ability)! I'll be back in about six weeks when it's time for the next one of these.

[wheredidalltheusersgo]

The Stranded and The Scaly.

Chapter 12: The Boy who cried Gator.

Day 8

Scott tore though the woods, refusing to stop to catch his breath or look behind him. He didn't care where he was going, as long as it was away from that fucking monster in the woods.

The ginger boy gasped for air as he ran, stumbling as he shoved through low-hanging branches and bushes. How long had that thing been there, and why did it look so humanoid? Could it have been an unlucky intern? No, none of that mattered. Scott had to tell the others! That thing was big enough to pick them all off one by one and eat them!!

Scott emerged from the forest, covered in dirt and scratches. He saw his castmates standing near the dock and rushed over, but he tripped over a rock and landed flat on his face in front of them.

"False alarm, campers! Scott is NOT dead as we all thought! He's all gross-looking like a corpse, though." Chris cackled. "Anyways, let me finish explaining your challenge for today!"

"No, no, no!! Wait a second!!" Scott quickly got to his feet.

"I need to tell you guys something! We are all in DANGER."

"Scott, we've been in danger since we set foot on this island. Our situation can't get much worse." Mike rolled his eyes, clearly not amused by whatever prank Scott might be pulling.

"Please, this is serious!" Scott pleaded.

"Hey, maybe we should listen to dust bunny over here." Jo pointed out.

The campers turned their attention to Scott, waiting to hear what he had to say. Chris tapped his foot impatiently and scowled at the ginger.

"I saw something in the woods, it was a mutant!"

"Seriously, Scott? We KNOW there are mutants on this island. Seeing some weird critter in the woods is old news." Zoey looked a little annoyed.

"No, it was HUGE, and green, a-and scaly!!"

"Congrats, you saw a big, nasty swamp gator. Whoop whoop, everyone give Scott a round of applause for his excellent observations!" Chris spoke in a mocking tone, clapping his hands slowly.

Scott's face flushed bright red from embarrassment as he shoved his hands in his pockets and took his place in the line of campers. How stupid of him to think that the others would actually believe him, he was known for lying and scheming! Scott desperately looked at Jo and Lightning, they'd believe him, right? Maybe?

Wrong. Jo glared at him and shook her head, Lightning didn't even glance at him. Well, sucks to be them. If they went into the forest, they'd be toast. Scott had the upper hand here.

Geoff cautiously wandered the forest with the baby gopher in his arms. What did gophers eat, anyways? Were they herbivores or omnivores? He regretted not paying attention in biology class, he didn't know that info would actually come in handy! The gopher sniffled and squirmed in his arms, it was getting hard to hold on to that thing. Geoff knelt down and carefully placed the animal on the ground. The gopher immediately began to sniff the ground and waddle around. Did it know something he didn't? Geoff watched as the gopher stopped and started burrowing into the ground, it seemed to be searching for something. Geoff's questions were quickly answered when the gopher pulled a large, thick root out of the ground and immediately started chowing down. The little munchkin was a herbivore, noted.

Geoff knelt next to the gopher and pet it while it ate, humming a quiet tune. He'd have to go hunt for his own meal later.

Ezekiel was panicking. Geoff was gone, he left his stuff behind, and there were signs of a cave-in. He hoped the other boy hadn't been crushed. The small mutant charged through the vast tunnels and caverns, looking for any clue as to where Geoff had gone. Without looking where he was going, he ran right off a rocky ledge into a pool of clear, blue water. Ezekiel gasped and coughed as he waded to the surface and let his vision adjust to the cave's lighting. He hadn't been in this area before, it was beautiful....

The water glowed a faint blue, along with the crystal formations along the walls, illuminating the cave to an extent.

Ezekiel instantly knew he had to show Geoff this wondrous cave. Maybe they could have a party just for the two of them.

Zeke's thoughts were interrupted when his keen eyes spotted a long, blonde hair drifting on the surface of the water.

Geoff had been here.

He had to keep looking.

He scrambled out of the water and inspected the ground for more clues. His brief inspection revealed large claw marks in the stone, these had to belong to Geoff.

Okay, all he had to do was follow the claw marks in the stone, and then he'd be able to find Geoff. Simple, right?

Ezekiel knew Geoff's scent well, and these caverns carried the faintest trace of it. Not enough to follow, but enough to know Geoff had been here. The claw marks were his biggest lead, and he needed to keep following them.

Zeke would find Geoff one way or another, he knew the mutant boy was large and powerful enough to take down any possible predators, but he couldn't save himself from being crushed by rocks. If he was too late, and if Geoff had died in a cave-in, he'd never forgive himself. Ezekiel hated to imagine Geoff's possible final moments, alone and scared as his bones were crushed by the collapsing cave walls, unable to cry out as the darkness engulfed him.

Ezekiel growled.

No, he'd find Geoff, and he would be ALIVE. He'd bring Geoff back to their cozy little cave and curl up in his arms, relaxing as the sound of Geoff's heartbeat echoes through his ears.

-------

[hiddenbysuccubi]

Chapter 6 excerpt: the dance. Changed to 'you' format.

Everyone pitched in to set up and decorate camp for their gathering. A night of music, magic, drink, even debauchery. There were some who insisted on being moody, like Wyll and one of the Tieflings; Ikaron. No matter. You were going to enjoy yourself. You'd even borrowed a modest dress for the occasion from Bex, and were quickly downing a pint of ale as you watched and cheered on Rolan’s magic display. You hadn’t been to a party in… you couldn't remember how long. Damn. You'd been so young the last time, comparatively.

Refilling your mug you started on your second drink as you wandered around. Everyone was there, there were even children running around and playing games in the sand. Scratch, who you'd rescued just earlier, barked happily and wagged his tail as he jumped around the children. It was good that the Owlbear cub hadn’t joined your camp yet, the poor thing would be overwhelmed and run away. Then there was Halsin regaling Shadowheart with old stories while Lae’zel and Karlach compared battle techniques. You smiled, watching them all. Happy, too, to find that Gale was also occupied, entranced in a lyre performance given by Alfira. Volo was with them as well. And Astarion…. Astarion was on his own, getting drunk.

A little tipsy and fueled by alcohol, you decided to sidle up to the broody vampire. “So,” you drawl, “are you tired of being venerated yet?”

Astarian side-eyes you without lowering the bottle he has to his lips. “Yes.” he says as he finishes drinking. “It’s oh thank you Astarion for saving me, I’ll name my baby after you . How good and heroic you are- I can’t stand it! And you, you just keep offering to help! And I’m going along with it because!” at this he throws his hands up. “Because I don’t know why!” anymore, he laughs in a not so hinged way. Wobbling while setting down his bottle of Esmeltar Red, which immediately falls over onto the ground. Ignoring it in favor of wrapping his fingers around your wrist, Astarion leans in close, his gaze darkening. “I’ve had enough of being good, lover. Let’s get out of here~”

You can smell the wine on his breath, pulling yourself away with a cautious giggle. “Having fun?” you ask, nervous all of a sudden.

“I am, surprisingly.” Astarion answers. No deceit in his words. “It’s easy to. When I’m with you.”

“Uh." you squeaked, "huh.” fully turning the color of a ripe plum. “I’ve got to go check on… something.” you lie.

Astarion can hear the lie clear as day but he lets you go. Only stopping you to question, his tone betraying his vulnerability and hope, that “you will come to my bed.”

You nod before bolting. You figure you just need a moment to cool down by the waterfront, away from the crowd. Maybe you're not wrong that Astarion is warming up to you, but you can't afford to be fooled. This was still a man who would throw you to the wolves if it came down to it. This was still an Astarion who was sleeping with you, guarding your health, just to ensure his own skin would be protected. He used you to make you want to save him first, look out for him first. A ploy. An effective one, you could admit to yourself. Knowing that he needn't have bothered. You had just gotten too comfortable in this world, high on having successfully completed the game's first big quest. That was all.

---

You didn’t know how the lute had wound up in your hands. Finding yourself by the fire again, a small crowd amassing out of innate curiosity. Even Wyll had come closer to see what would happen. Suddenly not feeling the liquid courage which prodded you out, you swallowed hard as Alfira gave a confident nod in your direction, Karlach whooping. “Go on then, play it!”

You looked over and caught Astarion watching you. Could feel his suspicious yet amused gaze, hotter than the flames.

You stared right back, not breaking eye contact as you opened your mouth and began to strum. “Blood of my blood, dripping with love. I bring you a thing (that) you need most,” your voice gradually growing stronger, no longer wavering. Moving away from a head voice to your full bellied and more confident countertenor. You squint but can't tell if Astarion’s facial muscles are twitching at your words or if it's your imagination, so you close your eyes, focusing on the sway of the music and the anti gravity lightness fueled by the alcohol in your system. At some point, Alfira had begun to accompany your lute with a steady tapping on a nearby drum.

"You know I live to keep you safe, no better way that I can see, to, spend all the time while you're asleep." you implore Astarion to understand, with your words. "You know I live to be seen through.” Some of your audience begins to pair off, dancing slowly together. You note them and smile, before finding your way towards the elf. “I wanna be here and nowhere else. Rationing off bits of myself, so I can crumble at your side….”

“Lover, ah. Dear.” Astarion hisses awkwardly through his teeth. Keenly aware of every pair of eyes on them. “What are you doing?”

You roll your eyes at his drunken embarrassment, pushing your words mentally though the link you both share. 'They already know about us. I promise we’ll sneak away after, just dance with me?'

“Yes, yes,” he grits out, taking your elbow with one hand and twirling you with his other hand on your back, guiding you as your own hands are occupied with playing the lute. 'I’m going to fucking kill you.' he answers. At least you have a sense to look remorseful, he commiserates to himself as you continue playing and singing. As he holds your eyes, allowing you both to become lost in the moment. Far be it for him to stop a Bard from fucking Performing.

You barely hesitate before singing on, “Here is a heart, here is a heart. I made it for you so take it,” you croon, heartfelt, as you dance gracefully around each other. Your own steps obvious and unrehearsed, Astarion's effortlessly showing in his footwork that he had once been a noble. One who had danced at many balls, possessing a childhood of etiquette training. “Battered and braised, grilled and sautéed, just how you like it.” you breathe, ending the song "...like it". Bending at your waist in a small bow as the echo of the music drifted off. Unexpectedly, Astarion reciprocates. Dropping low into a sweeping bow himself, he takes your right hand from where it rests on the lute’s strings and presses a soft kiss to the back of it. Followed by turning your hand over to place another, more delicate, kiss to the inside of your wrist.

[insertsickusername13]

I couldn't not do the last richjake week prompt. should I have stayed up this late on the night of an ap exam? no. but it's called dedication.

prompt: home

word count: 2.3k. whoops.

sorry for any typos, i didn't reread it. i've got sleep to do

---

Jake was still awake. 

His birthday party had ended hours ago. Well, no, that was wrong. Technically speaking, it was still going on. Trevor, the one friend Jake had made in the week and a half he’d tried to convince himself to join a frat house freshman year before he’d decided the hazing was a little too intense and opted to instead just buy an apartment for him and Rich off campus, had convinced Jake to go out with him and a group of at least twenty people to go clubbing together. 

Jake had invited Rich. Rich had followed as he always did, much more hesitant than Jake was to enter a room full of dancing strangers and loud music. He’d been tense the entire time, watching every movement with unprecedented determination. He was partially convinced the robotic voices merged with the basic pop music was the SQUIP reaching out to him through his subconscious, and eventually it was enough for him to retreat to a bathroom stall and try to ignore the panic sliding through his veins. 

Jake found him half an hour later. He looked almost as bad as Rich, though he somehow had a smile on his face. 

He’d knelt in front of Rich and said, his hands running softly over Rich’s back both to comfort him and turn him on (because Jake was Jake), he’d whispered (with the music in the background, he’d really yelled it, but it sounded like whispering), “You wanna go home?”

Rich nodded desperately. 

They were back at their apartment by 10:30. 

They were in bed by 11. 

It was almost midnight now and Jake was writhing between the sheets. They’d started out cuddling, Jake’s arms wrapped comfortably around Rich’s middle as he quietly poked fun at their friends’ drunken dancing. 

“You should’ve seen them,” he said, his fingertips tracing circles over Rich’s hips. His lips were practically pressed against Rich’s neck, his words so quiet they were only audible because Rich could feel their formation on Jake’s mouth. “Kylie kept accidentally grinding on Javier—”

“Accidentally?”

“She pretended she thought he was some random guy. He kept apologizing.”

Rich’s laugh drifted off, just as light as his consciousness. He never fully fell asleep, though he was drifting so close to the darkness that he barely felt Jake extract himself from their position and move to the edge of the bed. He distantly saw the light of Jake’s phone. When he blinked, it was gone. 

He woke because Jake was writhing. Like he was sick, gripped by fever, on the verge of death. He tossed to the side too violently for someone who had just held Rich like he was made of glass, and when that didn’t seem like enough he turned again, this time taking half the blankets with him as he curled up on the edge of the bed. His phone was on again. 

Rich blinked against the sudden brightness of it, cold and disoriented by this unfamiliar territory. 

When he tried to speak, all his syllables came out slurred. Jake was well accustomed to discerning Rich’s language when he was like this—he’d spent all of sophomore year around Rich when he was so wasted he could barely keep himself upright, let alone talking—he barely needed a moment to translate what Rich was saying into normal English.  

“Bl’nke’s,” he breathed. Jake murmured an apology and surrendered all the blankets to Rich, leaving himself exposed and sitting up, his arms wrapped around himself and his phone sitting on the mattress in front of him. 

Rich was so close to falling back to sleep—whispers of dreams edged at the corners of his vision, creeping into reality and luring him back into the safety of unconscious—and quite honestly, he would’ve drifted off without a second thought had he not, in the very last minute before he was supposed to close his eyes, glimpsed the wetness of Jake’s eyes reflected by the light of his phone. 

Rich’s dreams plummeted out of existence.

“Jake? What’s wrong?”

Jake’s eyes flicked from his phone to Rich on autopilot. Upon seeing Rich’s expectant gaze, he blinked back whatever sorrow had suddenly struck and forced a half-hearted, purposefully tired-looking smile onto his face.

“Nothing, baby, you can go back to sleep.”

That shit was not going to work on Rich after three years together. He’d seen Jake try to hide his tears a million times before, whether they be caused by faux smoke or SAT results. He knew every sign of stress and had memorized the way Jake breathed when he was trying to stop himself from crying. 

“Bullshit,” Rich replied, propping himself up on his elbows. Jake was already distracted, his gaze pinned back on his phone's home screen. It was almost midnight. Rich frowned as he watched the clock hit 11:58. 

“It’s okay to grow up, you know,” Rich said. He was grasping for straws, making desperate guesses at what could possibly be wrong. Jake only hummed in response, a sign that Rich had guessed wrong.

“Exams will be fine?” Rich tried, “You’re smart and awesome and will pass no matter what?”

At that, Rich earned a small, forced laugh. 

“Nothing’s wrong,” Jake said, his eyes not leaving his phone but his tone taking on almost a teasing edge to it, “Seriously, you can go back to sleep.”

Rich wondered if Jake thought that was actually going to work. He couldn’t believe that now, after all this time together, Rich was going to just roll over and leave him there to cry alone. 

Unsure of what else to do, Rich sat up and scooted over to Jake, his movements slow and muddled just because it was nighttime and the darkness convinced him he had to be quiet. Once close enough, he wrapped his arms around Jake’s waist and leaned his head on his shoulder. He felt Jake let out a breath at the touch. 

“What’re we waiting for?” Rich whispered, kissing Jake’s shoulder. 

Jake shook his head ‘no’ as the clock hit 11:59. 

“Mk.”

The silence stretched. Rich pressed another kiss against Jake’s skin, then another. When that didn’t seem to do anything to alleviate Jake’s rapidly quickening heartbeat, Rich started tracing circles up his sides. Oblivious to what was the actual problem, his mouth remained clamped shut. He couldn’t say the wrong thing. Not when Jake stopped breathing, the oxygen he was supposed to inhale caught in his mouth like he was scared it’d poison him. His back was ramrod straight and every muscle poised to flee. 

His phone screen went black after minutes of idleness and when Jake reached out to turn it back on, it blinked awake with the numbers 12:00 written across it. 

Jake squeezed his eyes shut. He shook his head ‘no’ rapidly, his breaths suddenly coming in with barely a millisecond between each inhale and exhale. His lungs sounded wet, his throat clogged, and his face was coated with something that resembled tears.

“Rich,” he choked out. Rich could hear the agony in his voice, could audibly make out the struggle it was to get just that one simple word past the lump in Jake’s throat. 

“Yeah?”

“Something’s wrong.”

Rich knew. Rich knew, and he thought maybe the world was ending and his worst nightmares were crawling from his mind through his eyes and into the real world, but with Jake crying in his arms, all he could whisper was, “It’ll be okay,” as he reached out to wipe the tears off Jake’s cheeks. 

“No, it—no, no, no—”

Jake plunged into Rich like he was the ocean. He grasped for his shirt, for his body. He curled himself up in Rich’s arms, his face hidden in the space between his neck and shoulder. His hold was so tight he almost stole the breath from Rich’s lungs, but he was so fragile and fucking weak that Rich breathed right past his desperation. 

Rich was so stunned he couldn’t bring himself to consciously move. Instinct drove him to shield Jake against whatever invisible army was attacking them. He ran his hands up and down Jake’s spine even as Jake’s fingers dug into Rich’s ribs and back, surely leaving bruises that would purple. 

Some terrible, straggled noise slipped out of Jake’s mouth and against Rich’s chest. It was so animalistic, so broken that Rich thought Jake was choking. He almost wrenched himself away from Jake to give him the Heimlich, or call 911 but—

But he was just sobbing. Genuinely sobbing. Like the stars were falling from the sky, like love had just torn his heart in two and drowned it in acid, like his body was being crushed and shattered—or maybe that was the feeling that overwhelmed Rich at such a wretched sound. He couldn’t tell. Everything had gone blurry. 

“Baby,” Rich tried, “Baby, no, god, shit—”

He pulled Jake closer, his grip tightening as if he could protect Jake from this. There was this dread—this indescribable, painful, terrible dread—growing, infecting, destroying the whole of his body. This was wrong. No one could hurt Jake. This was just fundamentally wrong. It broke the laws of the universe, of religion. No. Jake wasn’t allowed to feel this. 

But Jake’s ragged, convulsive breathing was proof in and of itself that it was all real. Jake was breaking.

“It’s okay,” Rich said, his voice stable and calm as if his insides weren’t on fire with panic, “It’s okay.” Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay, please be okay.

“I wanna go home,” Jake sobbed, so watery and weak it bordered on wailing. “I wanna go home, I wanna go home, please—”

“You’re home,” Rich whispered. His hands ran through Jake’s hair with a feverish type of comfort. Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay. “Or do you want to go to New Jersey? We can go back. What do you need?”

Jake shook his head as he gasped in a wet, agonizing breath. He stuttered out nonsensical ramblings, their meaning lost in between every cry. All Rich managed to make out was a quiet, “I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay, don’t be, baby, please tell me what’s wrong.” Please, Rich didn’t say, please, I think I’m losing my mind. You’re going to kill me. I’m going to die. 

He held Jake tighter. 

Jake shook his head repeatedly even as he forced out an answer.

“They’re supposed to text,” he sobbed, his voice quavering with the effort it took to keep his waterfall of words from drying up, “They’re—they text me, they text me on my birthday and they never miss it even if it’s just from a throw away phone or someone stranger’s phone, they always do it and they’re supposed to text me every year and they’re dead, they’ve gotta be dead, and I want to—to go home.”

He pressed himself against Rich even harder, hiding the shame of his confession (because it was a confession, because Jake told Rich he hadn’t heard from his parents since they left. Rich didn’t have the capacity to be angry at the lie.). 

Rich looked at Jake’s phone for an answer. He looked for a late text, for an explanation. For an email from Jake’s mother telling him what to do, just something. 

He was met with an empty screen. With a crying twenty-two-year-old in his arms. With his own trembling hands, his mind trying to come up with an answer. He needed map to the home Jake wanted to get back to so badly. 

He couldn’t bring it back. Even if he hadn’t burnt down Jake’s house, even if they were sitting in his parents’ living room right now, their pictures on the walls and their history embedded in the hardwood floors, Rich couldn’t bring it back. He couldn’t suddenly construct family dinners. He could repeat I’m proud of you until his voice was cracked and broken and it’d be nothing compared to one smile from Jake’s dad. He couldn’t bring them back. He couldn’t make graduation a family event, couldn't bring the comfort they could, couldn’t wish Jake a happy birthday like they could. They had his childhood.

He could make a life for Jake, but he couldn’t bring him home. Only Jake's parents could do that, and they'd decided to fucking run.

“I love you,” was all he could think to say. “I love you so much. I love you.”

Jake squeezed him tight. Nothing about the hug convinced Rich that he’d done anything to help, but Jake’s violent sobs had subsided into quiet, graceful (because it’s Jake) weeping. He kept his face hidden against Rich’s shirt and though Rich wanted to kiss the tears off his face and the redness from his eyes, he let Jake stay where he was, sheltered from the worst of the world. 

“I”m sorry,” Jake said against Rich’s skin, his voice like the broken edges of a mirror.

“You’ve got nothing to be sorry for, love.”

Rich was sorry. He was sorry he couldn’t fix it, sorry every house they lived in would only be an echo of what Jake wanted. 

Jake pulled himself away from Rich hesitantly, each limb aching just from the act of crying so goddamn hard. He looked up at Rich with the rawest expression Rich had ever seen—it was like his skin had been torn off him, revealing a broken mess of terror underneath. 

“You’re not—you’re not gonna leave, right?” 

It was such a fucked up question to ask that Rich wanted to scream. No, he was not going to leave. He was never going to leave. He wasn’t like them, he was better, and even if he couldn’t build Jake a home, he could at the very least stick around. 

“No,” Rich responded, struggling to keep his voice from showing the anger building underneath his skin. Jake could cry for them, could yearn for their comfort, but Rich would spend the rest of his life hating them with every bit of his being. They did this. “I’m never leaving you, I swear it."

[parragone]

i guess this is a follow up to the rant I posted before, but-

TL;DR: Deimos looks great, but feels empty

even if this is a return to form for Rainbow, it's really, really bitter. Like... I don't know if I'm explaining this right, and please be aware English isn't my first language, but -

It's kind of like... slapping a band-aid over the awful narrative that revolved around Harry. Like 'look, we know you all hated what we did with him and his leadership so now he's dead!' sort of thing, mixed with sub-par writing in the comics and what feels like a rush job of conflict, all while still leaving the major reason for Rainbow's formation - the White Masks - again a loose end.

Like, yes, okay, return to form, but... I feel like there were better ways to pivot the narrative to begin with. The fact it got to this point in the first place with the excuse of better 'mirroring' the player experience feels gross and a little... cheap, to me. It's not a return to form if the form itself has been warped. The entire presentation of the lore is permanently tainted by the fact that nothing about these characters is secret anymore, everyone knows who they are. They can't actually return to secrecy. It went from 'less than one hundred people know who rainbow is' to 'wow, everyone knows who they are!' and nothing is going to change that except a retcon. And I guess we should've seen that coming when Harry mentioned a 'selection board' with Clash; like I said in my previous bitch about the narrative, the fewer people know about a secret, the easier it is to keep.

Deimos looks - besides making my love for masked villains go up a tick - well, fucking amazing, I'll be straight up. He looks and behaves very well, and I wouldn't be surprised if there's some tie in to previous Rainbow games. It this were done pre-Harry, with Arnot - or even post-Harry, but without the decimation of the pretense - maybe it would have been... better? I'm looking forward to seeing him again, but the narrative he's part of feels empty and ultimately not... engaging, I think the word is? I'm not sure.

And the squads feel weird. I'll admit it. It makes sense with a team this large, but at this point it feels kind of wrong? It feels somewhat haphazard, with certain people in weird places [ i've said it before, i'll say it again - why is Mute not with Ghosteyes when his whole deal is information control/codebreaking/signals intelligence? I get that he's a 'career soldier' but come on he's specialized ].

Ultimately, to me, this doesn't feel good, not in a narrative form, not for military fiction. It feels clunky, half-hearted, like a 'whoops, sorry, forgot what our baseline narrative was!' that wouldn't fly with other games. You could have retconned part of your lore, you do it kind of often. The fact we only get bits and pieces of lore than doesn't really flow together all that well only once every few months doesn't lend itself well to the situation, either. They're not even large bits, they're decently small and clunky pieces.

Maybe it's just me, but it feels like this new direction is empty. it lacks substance. It feels...

Well, it feels less-than.

[fascinationstreetmp3]

@animalscamo (this got longer than i intended it to and i’m too lazy to split it up properly for reply format whoops)

agh a lot of this i’m like. i don’t think they intended for anyone to ever think about it this too deeply LOL but i think we have to anyway… it’s vital information don’t they know

i agree that EVA wouldn’t have been useful when it came to info about the gru base or any internal workings, but like you said, maybe he would’ve been able to provide info about the surrounding areas; especially anything that may have also previously been under kgb control further down in the forests, like rassvet. it would’ve been too risky for ocelot himself to do any proper snooping around kgb facilities while stationed with volgin imo.

i’ve always wondered about that last part… to me it depends on how much contact either of them could have with the kgb/cia during the mission. every person in operation snake eater was on a time limit, under pressure from a foreign government with dire consequences if the mission failed or was even delayed in any way. ocelot was under three times that pressure, at risk of compromising his gru position the entire time and of failing both the kgb and cia if the whole thing didn’t go to plan. it’s possible any bumps in the plan were just meant to be “dealt with” and addressed later, and he may have had minimal/no contact with anyone during it.

also, as far as i know, only snake and his team explicitly know the “female spy” as “EVA” for a majority of the game. ocelot connects the dots between tatyana and the spy he encountered at rassvet later, but apparently still only knows her as ‘tatyana’ (and when volgin finally catches on, he calls her tatyana too.)

somehow ocelot (or the cia or kgb, or possibly even the boss told him in some form?) figures out she’s a chinese agent by the end of the game, but it’s possible he wasn’t 100% aware she was masquerading as EVA until a certain point. since we don’t know when exactly ocelot learned of “EVA”’s chinese affiliation, it’s kinda hard to tell when he also learned she had stolen the identity of his partner (and possibly killed him if he was ever physically present in tselinoyarsk). so really, that could’ve happened at any time and we just didn’t know. (just a note, i’m pretty sure the first and only time snake ever calls her ‘EVA’ in ocelot’s direct presence is in the WIG at the end of the game. i may be wrong)

you should definitely make another post if you want though, i always love reading them and would be interested to hear more of your thoughts!! we may never get to the bottom of this mystery but it’s still fun to think about

[buckhastwohands]

So lmaoooo one of my friends sent a quote from Tim’s interview tonight and in the initial message before editing like it is in the screenshot now, the formatting was a bit unclear without the italics. So I thought the line about Buck’s next storyline being “not not about Tommy” was from him, didn’t have time to click on the link and was just checking discord 😂

Two things I loooove about our group chat here, first how we call things “Timhatting” as shorthand for theorizing that is tongue-in-cheek and tin hat. A good self aware way to distinguish what’s a genuine theory and what’s fun.

Second, the fact my joking about factchecking and talking about hypothetically factchecking… truly self parody at this point and as this friend said it’s what to be expected lmao. I WOULD, I feel a few of you would know what I’m like lmao. But also more than that, our space is just the kind of environment where it’s normal to cite our sources even in the discord chat and include links. It’s normal to specify whether this is something we’ve seen someone say or heard about secondhand, it’s normal to ask about receipts, and just try to have less misinformation. And when we factcheck ourselves it can be as simple as a “whoops I got that quote wrong”.

And idk I just think this kind of thing is a good idea to normalize!!!

[the-firebird69]

This Is What It Means To Be True American 💯🔥

This is Trump and everybody knew it they thought he was one of his and then they find out it was him and they're saying what are you doing we're holding a protest against Biden and you're sticking your face in here like working for him as yourself people looked up the name and Trump and it's a trumpster and they said once again what are you doing he backed up a little Transit call our son he tries to call her son yeah son says the charges will be reversed and he goes what do you mean I guess you'll find out the hard way talking or not a little imp so he starts blabbing and blabbing and blabbing he's saying there's a device and he used the wrong word and yeah he is Bill from kill Bill and then he's the guy who shot the person on set Alec Baldwin one of his characters in the girl is going to kill him that's what that's about. Now this idiot is so stupid that he is willing to do anything just to get on the camera I mean he is a complete fool and things that he can act like anyone and do anything when he has basically the same act and he is a huge huge a****** that gives a massive a****** and we went after him and his Baldwin and he started falling over he says so you're doing that and he's falling over again is that a rally going to stare and he fell like 12 feet of concrete to get up right away and he's limping and he says so what and the bone is sticking out his leg and he said that's what you get and his mom says it's not my name I didn't know he was doing it and since it wasn't me someone else did any plans to me and I start to whoop his ass and take all the stuff in the face of all these stupid things in the face of all this stupid Satan said suck and are lame and this guy is giving me everything and I know about the max plan so I have to take it so the guy turns around and starts yelling there's no one there of course he starts saying I'm going to shoot you and our son says oh like in the western so he's screaming it too and the police came by and they said we actually heard what you're saying it was there's a man over there and I was trying to threaten him with what I supposedly did and they said that's interesting what man and the cops were within the earshot and saw him looking a different way but they said who you're talking to and they saw a woman off in the distance and they arrested him and he's going on trial now these people know what they're doing and they're going after this clan and taking their stuff and we know about it so our son told him that and he's freaking out in the car saying and they're saying so what you're shooting people and using dumb excuses that don't fly and now it's not flying so they got matter and matter and then they said this you're a f****** and we need you out says Joe watts and he's the one starting all this trouble and I'm going to be ready and you're not because of him and they start getting really angry and they said you know what you f****** did a piece of crap and they started getting really fierce went after his idiots and said we hear it from all of them his stinking hot freaking losers told him the plan and nothing's going to happen and they didn't say this if you have it on your person you're a stupid one any stop smiled and said what I do he said you're helping Dave run his plan but kind of lame then he said you're dead you piece of s*** you're helping the max and you're helping them and they said who else is going to knock those two big fellows out you should get them to Billy Hicks format and just beat him up every hour and it makes shift to rain in a room with no windows so they're trying to do that and they like the idea and they're going to constantly do it so they started to think of something this guy is such a loser he just shouldn't be there and it tried to get him out of here a lot but what he said was important so we're going to publish

Thor Freya

Olympus

Zues Hera

[onceandfutureoshainspector]

- sneaking my way through the Vault, picking off the resident Gunners as i go. there are a Lot of skeletons holding narcotics lying around...

- found a place called the Vault 95 Detox Facility, which was locked up tight enough that i think it might have been intended as the end of the Vault whoops (emphasis on "was"). this seems like such an unquestionably helpful thing that it's giving me a really nasty feeling...

---- revised theory: Vault-Tec was experimenting with something to do with drugs, and using the Detox Facility to bring people back from the brink.

-------- maybe this was like their test subject reset machine - load up a patient with experimental superdrugs, do a bunch of tests, then wring 'em out so you can try a different batch on them tomorrow? this would be uncharacteristically frugal of Vault-Tec, the company that tended to treat human lives like disposable napkins, but it's a possibility.

-------- maybe they were trying to create a cure-all for toxins, poison the shit out of people and then try to bring them back from the brink, like a mirror to Vault 81's disease-oriented line of inquiry?

-------- knowing Vault-Tec, maybe they were even trying to create the reverse, a drug so addictive that its effects couldn't be washed away even by the most space-age of technology. after all, if they were trying to make the perfect super soldiers, they'd need a way to control them.

- explored a bit more, found more skeletons who apparently died of drug use. the drugs all seem to be regular inhalers of Jet and shit, not superdrugs (or more super than regular drugs in this game).

---- maybe the test subjects got addicted to Super-*insert drug here*, but got hung out to dry when it ran out/got destroyed/whatever, and the regular stuff wasn't enough to keep them alive?

- this... looks unsettlingly familiar...

Vault 95 Overseer Manifest The Overseer of Vault 95 is an elected individual chosen to run the daily meetings and ensure the other residents adhere to the rules of the Vault-Tec Rehabilitation Program. This is not to be considered a position of power, but rather a position of support and servitude. Infractions are to be dealt with using positive reinforcement and encouragement. The residents of Vault 95 are family, and share the same path. The position of Overseer should not prevent a resident from continuing their own personal journey. An election will be held once a year on October 30th. Residents are encouraged to inform their decision based on awarded merit points as laid out in the program guidelines.

- what the fuck is going on here. this is way too above-board for Vault-Tec, even before considering all the bodies. there's another shoe here somewhere, and i don't think i'm gonna like it.

Meeting Date: 10/23/2082 Overseer/Facilitator: Jane Meyers Format: Guided Discussion Discussion Topic: The usefulness of continued meetings *Resident Michael has expressed his desire to reduce the amount of meetings. **He believes chem dependence is no longer an issue. *Resident Randall reminded the group that adherence to The Program was a condition of living in the Vault. *Resident Patricia wondered if Vault Tec even existed any more. *Resident Randall reminded the group that we are all addicts. **We may pick up unhealthy habits without the Program. *I expressed agreement with Randall's sentiments. *Issue was put to vote. Vote to continue the Program was unanimous.

- usually the Overseer's Terminal holds at least some kind of clue as to what the hell went wrong, but this sounds... honestly, pretty great, considering the circumstances. five years into the apocalypse, and the support structures were still holding up. which begs the question: what the hell went wrong so quickly that nobody even made a note of it?.

[theinsanecrayonbox]

Xmen Unlimited Infinity Comics #62-#67 “A World Without X” (aka Age of Apocalypse island of stupid edition)

heyhey, look who found a way to finally read this! so when this was announced, i was intrigued; AoA is my favorite Xmen story/setting, and to be fair the House of Stupid 90s edition wasn’t *that* terrible and it was fun to see how they could creatively mimic the island of stupid using only the 90s animated stock. so can the same be said for AoA?

this is long because i’m covering the whole story, so lets save some dash space with a cut huh

#62

so...Chuckie boy is annoyed that he’s over worked...or that no one cares about him/are too busy to care about him...idk, i have no sympathy for him to start with so i probably am missing the point. Logan tells him to suck it up while beating him up in a sparring match, so that’s nice. then him and Rachel are on the Astral Plane building something?? (why is the Astral PLANE now a physical dimension??) and Nightmare shows up to throw Chuck into AoA. 

so ok, this isn’t “what if Xavier had been killed off and Apocalypse rose to power” but “What a Wonderful Life”. i guess that can work, plus this is a short format so yeah that’s fine.

#63

Sinister just had Xavier clones...mk, and is surprised that this one’s awake because that’s the body Nightmare shoved Chuck into. ok, cool, that works. this Sinister is the more jokey one of the island though and not the AoA one, but alright... Chuck tries to call for Logan but...

uh yeah...Laura wasn’t in AoA. “but KP she didn’t exist when AoA came out so of course blahblahblah” haha i know that, but in the 2000s after she was created, there was an X-23 counterpart introduced in the anniversary stories, and she was not Laura. again, again, semantics i know, but like i said i like AoA. and again, this is the island of stupid doing AoA so they’ll use what pieces they have. plus...

i like how she looks very much like Kyle here

Havok shows up...i could’ve sworn Cannonball was on Gen-Next but maybe i’m misremembering (that was my least favorite part of the story after all)

yay Kyle!

even more yay at this panel!! Kyle, Laura, AND Victor! this was made for me ^^

hurray! it’s the correct AoA and not the terrible Battleworld one! this has just gotten SUPER good ^^

#64

i was going to make a joke about him eyeballing due to you not wearing a shirt, but then the rest of this dialog just slammed me in the feels. it’s official, i love this. also adorable to watch Kyle and Laura go play in the yard.

ok, so our X-team here is Rogue, iceman, and Sunspot as usual, so that’s good. Cypher and Proteus i can give them, because they’re island folks. idk who Tempus is, i thought that was Moira but...

Moira is Magneto???

so the explanation is a little weird but it works well enough i guess; plus it gives the baby Charles vibe without having it be Magneto and Rogue’s kid. anyways, Tempus is part of the Five i guess? and i just now realize that Chuck is Bishop in this, the guy that knows  the timeline is wrong and how to fix it. the good guys are then like “cool lets do the island of stupid here to fix everything” however...

Sinister says the same to Apocalypse with the added caveat of “hey let’s make a clone army to invade the multiverse”.

so the good guys are going to raid the pens for the missing Five members, the bad guys are planning to capture their members...

you are leaving Victor and Kyle out of this assault??? (Laura is on the Next panel and got cut off whoops). boo on you. you just lost your SUPER status. also where’s Blink???

#65

so fight time. Darkchylde (who i don’t believe was in the original, but island so hey) summons magic zombies of dead Xmen? fight time. Xavier waxing about being a teacher and how his Xmen are so much better because he taught them. blahblahblah

oh Victor and Kyle are here. good. the Pack is sticking together i guess

Moira gets a good line about not focusing on fixing the past or over thinking the future, just living in the now. so that’s a nice contrast to her murderbot normal self. i say they AoAed her well then.

Laura and Kyle take on Scott! yay!

lookit Victor being so proud of his pups with very fitting caption boxes across TWO panels! (have i finally found the person at marvel who follows me???)

so Chuck decides to take the fight to Apocalypse...and by fight i mean kaiju fight as they super-grow Krakoa into a big boy.

#66

kaiju smash! lol. has Holocaust been Nemesis for a while? or was that just changed for this? i’m not sure if that feels correct or not...

Chuck melts Sinister’s brain after Sinister beats him up. Apocalypse says he’s too smart for that...so Chuck manifests his wife and...blah. why is Genesis such a huge deal? if it was this easy to defeat Apocalypse all these decades, just gotta talk about his wife, why has he been so hard to stop. i know the answer is “magic of retcons” but still.

Chuck complains how mind wiping is totally a bad thing to do...despite the fact that he does that on the regular...the day is saved? Chuck seems to die (in a cliché La Pieta pose), so...happy ending?

#67

ah boo, there’s more. so Nightmare goes “haha that was round one of torture, lookit how evil and cool i am” and Chuck is all “nuuh looser i’m winning”

ok, i’ll give you that part of his argument, even though Moira seemed to have more lines, Victor kinda had more of the emotion even if it wasn’t the focus.

so blahblahblah, Nightmare trips an alarm and all the Grey-Summers ladies come in to save Chuck. Chuck talks about how the Xmen are an idea and will never die, because hope eternal even if he’s not there, blahblahblah.

so Logan takes him hot tubbing to unwind. ok...didn’t see this turning into a gay porno...

is that a nod to the AoA-esque 90s episode “One Man’s Worth”? because Logan was a main character of that

oh, oh great, he’s gonna try to invade other realities and convert them to his hivemind of terribleness. that, that’s just brilliant -.-

so we jump back to the AoA, which i guess is real and not just a vision created by Nightmare, cause their gang sets up an island seed? and is all “welp let’s wait for the real world to find us”. and Victor still refuses to wear a shirt XD

SO how did this stack up overall? you know, actually pretty good. it’s a super short read, and it’s own little pocket world, so it doesn’t affect anything in the grand scheme. it’s the stock Wonderful Life plot, and if it wasn’t done to rise up a character who’s so terrible, it’d’ve hit all the correct notes i’m sure. but it hit enough of the good ones. and it did a good job mimicking it’s inspiration using different pieces. if this story makes it to print like some of the other Xmen Unlimited ones have, i’d be willing to grab it. the art was good (turns out it was the same art team as the House of Stupid 90s edition, which i also really enjoyed the art on too), the writing was good. a very nice and quick one and done.