#you should play the like a dragon games to tide yourself over

[isthereaxenobladexswitchportyet]

I should admit that once I setteled down and got a stable Internet connection (what was preventing me posting regularly), I got so deeply into the yakuza/rgg franchise I forgot to update this blog even once in the meantime...

It's been 7 months...I'm so sorry.

The news of a switch successor makes me think we likely aren't getting xenoblade x on this current Nintendo console, but I'll never give up the delusional fight! If not this console, hopefully the next! Thank you all for sticking by and clowning along for the ride!

[saphirered]

Hopefully, this is not too vague... I was wondering if you could do fluff with Molly; his nickname for the reader is 'princess'. (I have had a rough couple weeks, found out some bad news regarding my dad's health, and am just wanting a little pick-me-up. You are literally my favorite writer of the lavender tiefling trio.)

A load of fluff with some hinted spice coming right up. Sorry about your dad, sweetie and hope things take a more positive turn. Either way, I hope this is the pick-me-up you're looking for. 😘

-

You’re no stranger to waking up alone but never does it stop you from reaching out to the spot next to you. When you’re not met with a soft groan or arms wrapping around you, pulling you close begging for another five minutes of peace you know your lavender tiefling has begun his day before you. Rolling over onto your back you stretch taking in a deep breath. Time to get ready for the day, maybe find some breakfast? Breakfast sounds nice.

Mollymauk walks down the beaten path, a skip in his step and a small bouquet of wild roses clasped in his hand. He’s been up and about for a good hour now and like the good carney he is he’s working on quite the show in his mind; a show that requires the aid of a pretty face, charming smile and honeyed words he alone cannot provide. No he needs assistance and if he plans on getting this assistance he better work for it. Okay, maybe it’s not his plan. Maybe this is all just the result of a major fuck up on his end but still, it will make for some good fun… if all goes well… and you agree… The fact he gets to pamper you is a huge bonus. It’s been a while since he’s gotten the chance to show you just how much you mean to him.

Could Molly just ask for your help? Of course he could. And would you agree to join him on this endeavour? How could you refuse that devilishly handsome man? But where’s the fun in that. Let’s keep things interesting. Raise the stakes a little bit and see where his charm will get him. Or perhaps more, see how long it takes you to catch on tp the mess he made and pray to the Moonweaver you’ll be merciful. A test of his charm perhaps? Whatever excuse best justifies his actions and desires to spoil you rotten.

Stretching your arms with one final yawn you leave your tent. It’s too early to be up but you best keep an eye on your tiefling before he gets himself thrown into jail and you have to break him out… again. Wandering the camp the other members of the Fletching and Moondrop Carnival of Curiosities are waking up and going about their morning business at their own paces. You search for Molly but when you don’t find him you take to the road, following it towards the town. If he’s caused any trouble there you’d find out soon enough.

A lovely melody reaches Molly’s ears. He knows exactly who it belongs to and hears you before he sees you. All he needs to do is follow your song. Curving over the elevation of the path he spots you, lost in thought. Smile on his face he approaches you, flowers behind his back, and joins in whistling along to the melody. The way your eyes light up at the realisation of his presence are enough to make his heart melt knowing that one creature could look upon him with such unconditional love.

“Good morning, your royal highness.” Mollymauk takes a bow befitting of greeting royalty if not a little exaggerated and offers you the flowers. While he tries to keep his gaze on the ground you catch him peaking for your response as you take the flowers from his grasp breathing in their scent.

“Good morning to you too. And thank you, I should say? What’s the occasion?” You ask, not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth but you can’t help feel a little suspicious at Molly’s very deliberate theatrics.

“Can a most loyal servant not present his beloved princess with flowers?” Molly rises and you get the slightest flash of fang from the smile he offers you.

“You know I am never one to deny your gifts and gestures of affection. What I’m referring to are your apparent needs for theatrics.” You speak with eloquence feeling yourself slipping into the same act he’s putting on. Dammit Mollymauk, for playing into your actor side and letting you slip up into the role he’s setting you up for. You know damn well he’s aware of what he’s doing.

“I am merely your humble servant. A humble servant with impeccable manners.” You snort as Molly offers you his arm. You lace yours through his and he begins leading you back the way you came.

“Impeccable manners you say? Because I recall not but two nights ago copious amounts of drinks, illegal gambling and theft were involved. And let’s not even mention the… desecration of the fountain within the gaze of the Platinum Dragon’s statue.”

“You say that as if those of noble birth do not partake in such activities, princess.” Molly counters. Touché. As you’re about to take a step to the right fork of the road Molly gently pulls you into the left direction instead. Confused you give him another suspicious look but he hushes you leading you down the path.

You find yourself retreating within your thoughts trying to pinpoint whatever shenanigans Molly is up to, planning or has been up to and why the need to be secretive instead of just telling you. Molly couldn’t hope for a better moment for you to stop your interrogation for he fears any more prodding around for answers and he will spill the beans and come clean. He can’t hide a single thing from you when you’re determined and he knows it.

The path slowly turns from trodden earth to more fine sand until it fades into the beach. The sound of waves and a seagull or two make for a pleasant setting. You see just far enough away from the shoreline as to not become victim to the tides, is a basket set on top of a blanket. Molly leads you over, guides you to sit upon the blanket gracefully before plopping down himself with much less show. Within the basket you spot several packed goods. Molly takes a few out and sets them down upon the blanket, unwrapping them as he goes. Some bread, a selection of fine jams, some cheese and delicious sugary sweet pastries.

“Okay, time to drop the act. While I appreciate all this, what did you do and how bad is it?” Molly takes out a bottle of what looks like expensive champagne along with two glasses and pours them, handing one to you.

“What makes you say that?” Molly takes a sip playing it cool and innocent.

“The top shelf bottle of champagne that is very much above our collective pay grades. Where did you even get this?” You take a sip. It’s not bad but not the greatest you’ve ever had either. A weird taste that can only be suitable for some upscale party or the nobility passes out to their guests to impress them simply because of the associated name and or price tag. What can you say? Rich people.

Molly hesitates but drops the innocent act. Best he comes clean now. You’ve caught on fully. Game over. But that definitely doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy this delicious breakfast with him, can you? Mollymauk takes a slice of the fresh bread, adding a nice layer of strawberry jam and takes a bite. At least the expensive jam was worth the money. Then again, it wasn’t his money that paid for it. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t money well spent.

“Now, I need you to promise me one thing first, love. Promise me you’ll let me tell you the whole thing before you judge my poor decision making.”

“I can do that.” You lean back and relax taking one of the pastries and taking a bite. Bearclaws with cinnamon? Delicious. Let’s hope for Molly’s sake it will keep your judgement somewhat at bay.

“When we were doing our usual rounds and you were off on your own I may or may not have let it slip to someone who happens to be part of the local nobility, several someones to be more precise, that you may or may not be a princess in hiding. And I may or may not have played a little bit too deeply into the story…”

“Okay, that’s not actually that bad?” Just wait for the second part. It gets worse. On second thought. He may be regretting telling you and not just convincing you to hide away for the next few days in town until you’re back on the road.

“And these poor suckers may have fact checked it finding some evidence of a princess from another continent who supposedly is traveling in disguise. They came to see the show and I want you to remember they left a most generous donation along with an invitation for you to attend a ball held in your honour.” Molly awaits your response as you stop mid bite.

“So they left an invitation for a princess? What about it? Just don’t show up and done.”

“That would work if the local lord did not gently hinted at exposing said princess and sending the guards to return them to their family as they ran away and the good favour of either side of that royal family should greatly benefit this town. I’m sorry, princess but your presence has been demanded.”

Okay… This is bad. You do not feel like being hunted by the guards and it’s not like you can make an inconspicuous escape now people might look at you as royalty. You set down the pastry clasp your hands together closing your eyes. You inhale and exhale deeply as Molly briefly fears for his life.

“You… really need to learn to hold that tongue of yours, Molly. It’s getting you in all sorts of trouble.” He bites back a comment about using that tongue of his for plenty of other good things. He’s having trouble reading where you stand on this all and doesn’t know wether you’re upset with him or disappointed or if he has to be the one running for his life soon.

“Let’s talk to Orna and get some appropriate dress for the occasion ready and wearable even if that means she’ll have to sew us into our garments.” You sigh.

“Us?” He questions and he does not like the mischievous look on your face. Whatever you’re plotting, he hopes you have mercy on his soul.

“Oh, I will not be attending on my own. No, a princess does not go anywhere without their loyal servant. A princess needs their escort to attend to their every whim.” You hold your chin high as you move to sitting on your knees pushing your palm flush against his chest exercising a little pressure to push him to lean back onto his elbows.

“Every whim you say?” Molly asks with a devilish grin as you swing one leg over him gently keeping him in place with your body and wrapping your arms around his neck playing with the short hairs at the back of his neck. Maybe the turnout isn’t so bad.

“‘Every whim you say, princess’.” You correct mimicking his grin and leaning in closer. Molly goes to close the distance but you raise your index finger to his chin. “Ah-ah.”

“May I not kiss you now, ‘princess’?” He mocks and you give him a stern look.

“It’s unbecoming of a mere servant to make such a bold move.” You pull on his hair when Molly tries to land a kiss on your cheek rather enjoying the turn of events this morning.

“Yet you appear to be the one in full control.”

“He knows his place. Good boy.” You praise with a pat to his cheek and you guide his face to yours, your lips meeting in a deep kiss, the food forgotten. Molly’s hands dance over from your hips to your lower back pulling you closer to him. You earn an unsatisfied grumble when you pull away a moment too soon.

“Must you torture me so with your touch, princess?” Molly laughs fully aware what direction this is going, raising a hand to caress your cheek fondly.

“Will you finally learn how to behave?” You trace the peacock feathers curving up the side of his neck and jaw. You don’t get a verbal reply but instead Molly’s lips find their way to your neck leaving a trail of kisses and little bites as he goes enough to make you giggle and squeal in surprise whenever he finds just the right spot, taking your mind far away from the details of the fuck up that lead you here in the first place. Not that you mind anymore. If this is the treatment you get for being dragged into one of Mollymauk’s lies gone south you’ll gladly take it a thousand times over.

[maximelebled]

2019 & 2020

Hello everyone! So yeah, this yearly blog post is about three... four months late... it covers two years now.

I did have a lot of things written last year, last time, but the more things have changed, the more I’ve realized that a lot of things I talked about on here... were because I lacked enough of a social life to want to open up on here.

In a less awkwardly-phrased way, what I’m saying is, I was coping.

Not an easy thing to admit to in public by any means, but I reckon it’s the truth. Over the past two years, I’ve made more of an effort to build better & healthier friendships, dial back my social media usage a bit (number 1 coping strategy), not tie all my friendships to games I play, especially Dota (number 2 coping strategy), so that I could be more emotionally healthy overall. 

Pictured: me looking a whole lot like @dril on the outside, although not so much on the inside. (Photo by my lovely partner.)

To some degree, I believe it’s important to be able to talk about yourself a bit more openly in a way that is generally not encouraged nor made easy on other social networks (looking at you, Twitter). I know that 2010-me would be scared to approach 2020-me; and it’s my hope that what I am writing here would not help him with that, but also help him become less of an insecure dweeb faster. 😉

Not that recent accomplishments have stopped me from being any less professionally anxious. Sometimes the impostor syndrome just morphs into... something else.

Anyway, what I’m getting at is, the first reason it took me until this year to finish last year’s post is because, with my shift in perspective, and these realizations about myself, I do want to keep a lot more things private... or rather, it’s that I don’t feel the need to share them anymore? And that made figuring out what to write a fair bit harder.

The other reason I didn’t write sooner is because, in 2018, I wrote my "year in review” post right before I became able to talk about my then-latest cool thing (my work on Valve’s 2018 True Sight documentary). So I then knew I’d have to bring it up in the 2019 post. But then, I was asked to work on the 2019 True Sight documentary, and I know it was going to air in late January 2020, so I was like, “okay, well, whatever, it, I’ll just write this yearly recap after that, so I don’t miss the coach this time”. So I just ended up delaying it again until I was like... “okay, whatever, I’ll just do both 2019 and 2020 in a single post.”

I think I can say I’ve had the privilege of a pretty good 2019, all things considered. And also of a decent 2020, given the circumstances. Overall, 2019 was a year of professional fulfillment; here’s a photo taken of me while I was managing the augmented reality system at The International 2019! (The $35 million dollar Dota 2 tournament that was held, this that year, in Shanghai.)

If I’d shown this to myself 10 years ago it would’ve blown my mind, so I guess things aren’t all that bad...!

I’ve brought up two health topics in these posts before: weight & sleep.

As for the first, the situation is still stable. If it is improving, it is doing so at a snail’s pace. But quite frankly, I haven’t put in enough effort into it overall. Even though I know my diet is way better than it was five or six years ago, I’ve only just really caught up with the “how it should have been the entire time” stage. It is a milestone... but not necessarily an impressive one. Learning to cook better things for myself has been very rewarding and fulfilling, though. It’s definitely what I’d recommend if you need to find a place to start.

As for sleep, throughout 2019, I continued living 25-hour days for the most part. There were a few weeks during which I slowed down the process, but it continued on going. Then, in late December of 2019, motivated by the knowledge that sleep is such a foundational pillar of your health, I figured I really needed to take things seriously, and I managed to go on a three month streak of mostly-stable sleep! (See the data above.)

Part of what helped was willingly stopping to use my desktop computer once it got too late in the day, avoiding Dota at the end of the day as much as possible, and anything exciting for that matter... and, as much as that sounds like the worst possible stereotype, trying to “listen to my body” and recognizing when I was letting stress and anxiety build up inside me, and taking a break or trying to relax.

Also, a pill of melatonin before going to bed; but even though it’s allegedly not a problem to take melatonin, I figured I should try to rely on it as little as possible.

Unfortunately, that “good sleep” streak was abruptly stopped by a flu-like illness... it might have been Covid-19. The symptoms somewhat matched up, but I was lucky: they were very mild. I fully recovered in just over a week. I coughed a bit, but not that much. If it really was that disease, then I got very lucky.

(Pictured: another photo by my lovely SO, somewhere in Auvergne.)

My sleep continued to drift back to its 25-hour rhythm, and I only started resuming these efforts towards the fall... mostly because living during the night felt like a better option with the summer heat (no AC here). I thought about doing that the other way (getting up at 3am instead of going to bed at 7am), and while it’d make more sense temperature-wise, that would have kept me awake when there were practically no people online, and I was trying to have a better social life then, even if had to be purely online due to the coronavirus, so... yeah.

I’ve been working from home since 2012! I also lived alone for a number of years since then. For the most part, it hasn’t been a great thing for my mental health. Having had a taste of what being in an office was like thanks to a couple weeks in the Valve offices, I had the goal of beginning to apply at a few places here and there in March/April. Then the pandemic hit, so those plans are dead in the water. I wanted 2020 to be the year in which I’d finally stop being fully remote, but those plans are now dead in the water.

Now, at the end of the year, I don’t really know if I want to apply at any places. There’s a small handful of studios whose work really resonates with me, creatively speaking, and whose working conditions seem to be alright, at least from what I hear... but, and I swear I’m saying this in the least braggy way possible... there’s very little that beats having been able to work on what I want, when I want, and how much I want.

This kind of freelance status can be pretty terrifying sometimes, but I’ve managed (with some luck, of course) to reach a safe balance, a point at which I’ve effectively got this luxury of being able to only really work on what I want, and never truly overwork myself (at least by the standards of most of the gaming industry). It’s a big privilege and I feel like it’d take a lot to give it up.

Besides the things I mentioned before, one thing I did that drastically improved my mental health was being introduced to a new lovely group of friends by my partner! I started playing Dungeons & Dragons with them, every weekend or so! And in the spirit of a rising tide lifting all boats, I managed to also give back to our lovely DM, by being a sort of “AM” (audio manager)... It’s been great having something to look forward to every week.

Something to look forward to... I’ve heard about the concept of “temporal anchors”. I had heard about how the reason our adult years suddenly pass by in a blur is because we now have more “time” that’s already in our brains, but now I’m more convinced that it’s because we’re going from a very school routine such as the one schools impose upon us, to, well... practically nothing.

I thought most of my years since 2011 have been a blur, but none have whooshed by like 2020 has, and I reckon part of that is because I’ve (obviously) gone out far far less, and most importantly there wasn’t The Big Summer Event That The International Is, the biggest yearly “temporal anchor” at my disposal. The anticipation and release of those energies made summer feel a fair bit longer... and this year, summer was very much a blur for me. In and out like the wind.

I guess besides that, I haven’t really had that much trouble with being locked down. I had years of training for that, after all. Doesn’t feel like I can complain. 😛

(Pictured: trip to Chicago in January of 2019... right when the polar vortex hit!)

Work was good in 2019, and sparser in 2020. Working with Valve again after the 2018 True Sight was a very exciting opportunity. At the time, in February of 2019, I was out with my partner on little holiday trips around my region, and, after night fell, on the way back, we decided to stop in a wide open field, on a tiny countryside path, away from the cities, to try and do some star-gazing, without light pollution getting in the way.

And it’s there and then that I received their message, while looking at the stars with my SO! The timing and location turned that into a very vivid memory...

I then got to spend a couple weeks in their offices in late April / early May. I was able to bring my partner along with me to Washington State, and we did some sightseeing on the weekends.

(Pictured: part of a weekend trip in Washington. This was a dried up lakebed.)

After that, I worked on the Void Spirit trailer in the lead to The International. In August, those couple weeks in Shanghai were intense. Having peeked behind the curtain and seen everything that goes into production really does give me a much deeper appreciation for all the work that goes unseen. 

Then after that, in late 2019, there was my work on the yearly True Sight documentary, for the second time. In 2018, I’d been tasked with making just two animated sequences, and I was very nervous since that was my first time working directly with Valve; my work then was fairly “sober”, for lack of a better term.

(Pictured: view from my hotel room in Shanghai.)

For the 2019 edition, I had double the amount of sequences on my plate, and they were very trusting of me, which was very reassuring. I got to be more technically ambitious, I let my style shine through (you know... if it’s got all these gratuitous light beams, etc.), and it was real fun to work on.

At the premiere in Berlin, I was sitting in the middle of the room (in fact, you could spot me in the pre-show broadcast behind SirActionSlacks; unfortunately I had forgotten to bring textures for my shirt). Being in that spot when my shots started playing, and hearing people laughing and cheering at them... that’s an unforgettable memory. The last time I had experienced something like that was having my first Dota short film played at KeyArena in 2015, the laughter of the crowd echoing all around me... I was shaking in my seat. Just remembering it gets my heart pumping, man. It’s a really unique feeling.

So I’m pretty happy with how that work came out. I came out of it having learned quite a few new tricks too, born out of necessity from my technical ambitions. Stuff I intend to put to use again. I’m really glad that the team I worked with at Valve was so kind and great to work with. After the premiere, I received a few more compliments from them... and I did reply, “careful! You might give me enough confidence to apply!”, to which one of them replied, “you totally should, man.” But I still haven’t because I’m a massive idiot, haha. Well, I still haven’t because I don’t think I’m well-rounded enough yet. And also because, like I alluded to before, I think I’m in a pretty good situation as it is.

It’s not the first encouragements I had received from them, too; there had been a couple people from the Dota team who, at the end of my two week stay in the offices, while I was on my way out, told me I should try applying. But again, I didn’t apply because I’m a massive idiot.

(Pictured: view from the Valve offices.)

To be 200% frank, even though there’s been quite a few people who’ve followed my work throughout the years, comments on Reddit and YouTube, etc. who’ve all said things along the lines of “why aren’t you working for them ?”, well... it’s not something I ever really pursued. I know it’s a lot of people’s dream job, but I never saw it that way. I feel like, if it ever happened to me... sure, that could be cool! But I don’t know if it’s something I really want, or even that I should want?

And if you add “being unsure” to what I consider to be a lack of experience in certain things, well... I really don’t think I’d be a good candidate (yet?), and having seen how busy these people are on the inside, the last thing I want to do is waste their time with a bad application. That would be the most basic form of courtesy I can show to them.

Besides, Covid-19 makes applying to just about any job very hard, if not outright impossible right now. And for a while longer, I suspect.

(Pictured: the Tuilière & Sanadoire rocks.)

I’m still unhappy about the amount of “actual animation” I get to do overall since I like to work on just about every step of the process in my videos, but well. It’s getting better. One thing I am happy with though, is “solving problems”. And new challenges. Seeking the answers to them, and making myself be able to see those problems, alongside entire projects, from a more “holistic” way, that is to say, not missing the forest for the trees.

It’s hard to explain, and even just the use of the term “holistic” sounds like some kind of pompous cop-out... but looking back on how I handled projects 5 years ago vs. now, I see the differences in how I think about problems a lot. And to some extent I do have my time on Valve contracts to thank a LOT in helping me progress there.

Anyway, I’m currently working on a project that I’m very interested & creativefuly fulfilled by. But it has nothing to do with animation nor Dota, for a change! There are definitely at least two other Dota short films I want to make, though. We’ll see how that goes.

Happy new year & take care y’all.

[ksj-com]

There Is No Game Over-

To Kill An Empire

- Pairing: Taehyung x Reader

-Genre: Skyrim!AU, fantasy, action

-Warnings/Tags: lots of killing, blood, ominous environments, not a love story so don’t expect it, madman Taehyung, jester Taehyung, reader being up close to a corpse, killer reader, slightly detailed murder scenes

-Word Count: 6,298 words

- Summary: The feeling of the boat tipping was enough to make your head spin, ready to inhale water. Your eyes shoot open as you see nothing, but are being guided by two men with a firm grip on your arm. Walking through the rain, you hear it subside as the hood over your face is taken off and you’re being thrown into a shack in Skyrim. The Dark Brotherhood Assassin is giving you a choice: life or death.

- Written by: my bestfriend @pjm-com​ 

|| Masterlist ||

You feel the water subside as you’re picked up from the ground, spitting water from your mouth. 

“Get up,” You hear a man yell. It’s a little glitched, but your vision is cut off. There’s a blindfold over your face and your hands are tied, as you’re led to wherever the hell these idiots are taking you. You know you’ve left Resident Evil, the rain hard on your head while you try to figure out what other game you could possibly be in. Which others actually have a weather climate.

The first guy chuckles, followed by the second man. “Here boss.” He sounds a little more monotone as your feet hit the wooden plank of the building, making your knees buckle before you hit the middle of the floor. The rain hitting your face, ears perking at the boots hitting the floor.

“Whoever the fuck you guys are, you better tell me what the hell you want with me!”’

You’re shaking as you struggle to pick yourself up off the ground and move onto your knees, hearing another laugh that almost sounds scripted. Your head snaps towards the sound as someone cuts off your blindfold with a dagger that falls to the floor, an orcish dagger.

“Sleep well?”

Your eyes adjust towards the tall familiar figure of Astrid, the leader of the Dark Brotherhood. You’ve played this quest so many times before, but now you’re speechless as you sit on the floor with your limbs bound. You feel your stomach twist in anticipation as you clear your throat, but you don’t feel the need to run with the dialogue. You already know where you are, and who she was. So you decide to jump the gun. 

“You’re here because I killed Grelod the Kind, huh. The evil orphanage worker?” You hear yourself tremble, a little bit before you compose yourself. You’ve survived Resident Evil 7, and Skyrim wasn’t nearly as bad. As long as you avoided the dragons. She nods lightly, leg swinging as she pulls down the red mask that covers her face, twisted smile on her features.

Astrid cackles. “Grelod was, by all rights, a Dark Brotherhood contract. A Kill… that you stole.” 

She pauses, studying her Blade of Woe that holds ludicrous power. Almost every other stab paralyzes their target, a blade you needed while traveling through this game. One that was rewarded if you decided to stick with the dark brotherhood, or if you killed Astrid where she stood. Unsure of which you wanted to do, she goes on.

“A kill you must repay.”

“You want me to murder someone else?” You ask cautiously. “Who?”

She grins. “Well now, funny you should ask.”

The game lets you automatically free, letting you turn around to see the three captives in front of you. You’ve always just killed all of them in the game considering there isn’t a way for you to let them free if you only kill one of them. You listen to Astrid rant about the captives and how one has a contract. Only one of them has to die, and still to this day you had no idea who the hell it was. But you needed to figure it out fast. 

“Make your choice,” she continues. “Make your kill. I just want to observe… and admire.” 

She’s on about how you make your kill, and Astrid grants you the key to the shed if you kill them. You’re quick on your feet, pulling the glass sword from your back and taking a slice at the three captives. You watch the game splatter blood onto the floor, setting in the fear. The blood is real, and its sticking to your feet. And you just killed one guilty, two innocent. 

You turn to her, hearing her laugh behind you as she sits proudly. “Well, well. Aren’t we the overachiever. Three possibilities, three victims. Must have been one of them, right? So why take your chances?” She dodges the question of who was the real contract, and you decide to drop it. She drops the key in your hands, telling you it was important that you did as you were told. And if you decided to join them, she would welcome you with open arms. And then, she was gone. 

You turn to look at the bodies, guilt crawling up your spine before you shake your head. To finish this quest, you were going to have to kill many others, so you tried to push it to the back of your mind. Tell yourself that it was just a game, and be on your way. 

Looting the room for any valuables, you check how good your armor is. You see the old nordic armor and that’s when your realize you must be somewhat far in the game level wise. You push the key into the lock, opening the door as you step into the rain, washing your shoes of the blood as you watch it move into the soil. You’re unable to fast travel, so you start trekking your way through the land of Haafingar, where the capitol of Skyrim sits on the natural formed rock. 

You were getting out of this game one way or another.

Finally after what felt like years, you’ve mapped the terrain you’ve seen so far and finally have stepped foot in Falkreath; the town where the Dark Brotherhood keeps its sanctuary. It’s a little trickier to find, compared to the actual game, but you make your way into what seems like a caved in clearing and there it is. 

The huge black door sat right in front of your eyes, making you distracted from the pool of bubbling blood in the center of the crater in the earth. Taking timid steps, you admire how tall the door is, pressing your hand into the Dark Brotherhood’s logo and finally hear the door speak. 

“What is the music of life?” 

You breathe slowly, level head from the madness that is seeping through the cracks in the rocks. “Silence, my brother.”  You’re almost starting to think it’s not working considering nothing is happening, but sure enough the locks click. 

“Welcome home.”

You push open the concrete door, and shut it behind you before making your way down the cave before you see Astrid in the door way next to what seems like a desk. It was filled with lists and contracts, and sacks of gold. They meant business down here. You approach her slowly, her head turning as she wears a wicked grin. There’s fresh blood on her armor which makes you lean back a bit. 

“Ah, at last! I hope you found the place all right,” she hums proudly, happy that she has added another to her family. You nod answering her question, fighting the urge to fidget with your thumb knowing she’ll notice the weakness. 

“So… what happens now?”

Astrid circles you. “Well, what happens now is you start your new life in the Dark Brotherhood. You’re a part of the family, after all.” She says softly, voice thick and melodic almost like she was born to rule and lead. She picks at her nails uninterested in the conversation as she sits at her desk. 

“This, as you can see, is our Sanctuary. You won’t find a safer place in all of Skyrim,” she laughs, playing with the Blade of Woe carelessly in her hands. “So get comfortable.” You take a look around, eyes fixating on a Stone of Barenziah that is sitting perfectly on the dresser in the next room. It takes all your power not to stuff it in your pocket considering you never had the chance to collect all twenty four in the game. Astrid is waiting your answer, and you can either sound like you’re sucking up, or like you want to get the job done. 

You go with the ladder.

“When do I get to kill someone?” You ask blandly, and she kicks her feet onto her desk, smiling. 

“Soon, my dearest. Soon. I’m arranging a job for you, but I need some more time. For now, go talk to Nazir. He may have some smaller contracts to tide you over.” You nod, about to walk past her before she laughs. “Soon, the Night Mother will arrive. And things around here are sure to get even more interesting.”

You’re trying to decipher the words, wondering if she knew the Night Mother was against everything Astrid believed in. In the game, The Dark Brotherhood always followed The Five tenets, which are a set of rules the Dark Brotherhood followed up to and during the Oblivion crisis. Once Astrid became the leader, she dropped the old ways and you think anyone who wants to turn back to the old threaten her leadership… who knows. 

“Ah, but one last thing,” She starts again pushing clothes into your hands, making you wish you had just walked past her and into the sanctuary. “A welcome home present. The armor of the Dark Brotherhood. May it serve you well in all your… endeavors.” Finally you’re free and you notice the new armor in your hand, and you’re quick to change into it adding points to your protection. You feel more normal now wearing the amor, pulling the cowl over your head and emerging deeper into the ruins before seeing many others just like you. 

They’re all in a circle, starting with Babette telling a story about how she killed an old man preying on her, admiring the young Vampire. As much as you wanted to stay and listen, you push past the new members to find Nazir who is listening carefully to Babette. 

His voice booms low and smooth, like everyone here had an alluring voice. He’s a Redguard, a skilled fighter with curved swords and poisons. You’re glad you’re on the same side. 

“So you’re the newest member of our dwindling, dysfunctional little family. I’ve heard quite a bit about you.” Nazir said with a stone face, making you question what the hell he’s heard. You’ve been inside of the sanctuary for not even ten minutes. You’re ready to introduce yourself but he stops. “Save the niceties for now. I have no intention of getting invested in someone who may be dead tomorrow. If you’re still breathing in a few weeks, I’m sure we’ll be the best of friends.” Right.

You retrain your thoughts, crossing your arms as you look around. “Astrid said you’d have some work for me?”

Nazir scoffs. “Did she, now? Well, as it turns out, there are a few lingering contracts we haven’t had the chance to complete just yet. And more, dribbling in from time to time. I’ll assign them to you as they become available. To be completed at your leisure.” You always liked getting quests from him. They weren’t huge ones that demanded you go traveling through Dwarven ruins, they were small ones that weren’t time sensitive. “Sound’s easy enough.”

“It is,” he snorts. “These aren’t particularly glamorous assassinations, I’ll be honest. Don’t pay much, either.” He goes on about the price of the kills, and how you can ‘turn them in’. Either after you complete them, or all at once. The first three were going to be easy to kill, but they were all around the map of Skyrim so you figure it best that you turn them in all at once. It would save you the running back and forth. 

Once he hands you the three available kills, you’re pushing through the black door and into the wilderness of Falkreath. The little hold was secluded southwest of Whiterun, the biggest hold on the continent. Which basically means, you’re screwed if you wanted to get these kills done fast. 

Like you had thought before, they weren’t hard.

The first one you went for, the easiest one, was Narfi. He was a beggar that lived in an old abandoned house right on the waterfall in Ivarstead. You’ve been to that town many times to walk the seven thousand steps on your way to learn from the Greybeards. And hell, you’re happy you weren’t stuck doing that quest. Narfi is asleep, as always, and a simple arrow to the his back was easy to kill him quickly and be on your way to Windhelm. 

The aforementioned city was known for the water supply around it, the mills along the river were great places to find jobs if one was looking. Thats where the next target was. Ennodius. His kill was fairly easy as well, if you had the right angle. You snuck up behind him in the small tent he slept in outside of the mill. You used your dagger this time instead, pushing the blade deep into his back for an instant kill granted by the game. 

You oddly felt remorse for the fictional characters, wondering who on earth would want them dead. Either way, you had to pursue somehow to get the hell back to your home. 

Dawnstar wasn’t far from there, one of the snowiest provinces in Skyrim. It had mines there which were good for finding ebony and steel, and Betild was the one who owned the mine. She was a badass if you’ve ever seen one, showing the men who worked alongside her how it was done. You wouldn’t be surprised if it was one of her fellow employee’s who had dropped the hit. 

There was never a good way, from what you remember, to kill her silently as you watched her character haunched over the drawing table. You steadied your arrow on the base of your thumb, pulling it all the way back to your ear and closing one eye. You take a breath and let go of the line, watching the arrow fly down and hit Betild. Your eyes are wide, wondering if it was the armor that made you almost perfect, or if you’ve had a genuine knack for this thing. You make a mental note, that once you’re the hell out of this game, you’re going to try it. 

The guards hadn’t found you, and to your concern you were home free, jumping down from the roof and into the snow, hearing the fresh crunch under your feet. You make your way back towards the carriage, knowing it would take you to Falkreath as you jumped in the back. Planting forty gold inside the drivers hand, you settle yourself in, ready to get some shut eye for the long trip. 

Well, the trip to Falkreath felt like two minutes for you, seeing that if you took the carriage in the game, you automatically fast traveled. Oddly you felt tired, but maybe it would go away. You were still unsure the dynamics of this game. 

You stepped down from the wooden carriage and waited for the horseman to be far enough before you trailed back into the woods to the sanctuary, trying to be mindful that no one sees you. You’re dreading to turn in your contracts, knowing you would be sent on a wild chase to kill a bandit holed up in a Dwarven ruin. To your surprise, and relief, once you step inside, Astrid is nowhere to be seen. 

You’re thinking for a second maybe the game is glitched, but as you head into the heart of the sanctuary, one of the main characters of the Dark Brotherhood quest line is already there, meaning it had skipped the quest before. 

Not complaining, you quickly turn in your targets to Nazir, quick to greet the jester, Taehyung. 

“Another member of the family! Hello, hello. So very good to meet you!” 

The enthusiasm in his voice was comical, exactly what you expected from the video game jester. You try not to get too close to him considering that he was, fictional for one, but also potentially damaging to the dark brotherhood. 

“It’s good to meet you too, Taehyung!” You smile at him, in turn he does his little weird dance that always made you laugh as you played the regular game. He clicked his heels around before beaming back at you.

“So polite!” He yelled, teeth flashing at you. You felt almost calmed by him, even if he was a madman. “Taehyung likes you. The Night Mother is sure to like you too. Oh, we’re going to be fast friends. Fast friends!”

You decided to leave the charming jester to his duties to their night mother, but you look around. Everyone was greeting the jester who had brought the memories of old times back to the Dark Brotherhood. Astrid, who had a scowl on her face, was leaning against the wall as she watched them all interact. You could tell there was a hint of jealousy in her eyes, but you wanted to mind your business. 

Astrid does, indeed grant you to Mourning Never Comes quest, killing the bandit thug in the Dwarven ruins. You make it short, killing who you had to and nothing more, turning back towards the sanctuary to get ready for the start of another quest. 

The longest one in the game, and the last one.

Upon reentering the sanctuary, you’re stopped as you report. Something tells you Astrid is on edge, even in her voice she sounds a little scared. 

“I need your assistance with a matter of a more… personal nature.” Astrid says it quietly like she was trying to keep it from someone, in which you move closer to her to listen better. 

“Is something wrong?”

“It’s Taehyung.” She wasted no time in diving in. “Ever since he arrived, his behavior’s been.. well, erratic would be an understatement. I do believe he is truly mad.” Panic is relevant in her voice as she stabs her knife into the table, turning towards you. 

“But its worse than that.. He’s taken to locking himself in the Night Mother’s chamber, and talking. To someone. In hushed, but frantic tones.” You listen carefully, wondering if he was really as crazy as she said. He didn’t seem the type to want to overthrow the blonde leader. “Who is he speaking with? What are they planning? I fear treachery.” 

You remain silent, one of the safe options in the game. Astrid is unraveling piece by piece as she runs her hand through her hair. 

“You must understand,” she pleads, eyes wide and frantic. “If Taehyung is turning the others against me… against us… our family would not survive such division.” You blink in awe, not really thinking that he could be capable of that, considering he had no true motive to turn the brotherhood on each other. 

You tread lightly. “What do you want me to do?” 

“Dear sister,” she laughs. “I need you to steal into that chamber, and eavesdrop on their meeting. It’ll be no use clinging to the shadows. They’ll see you for sure. No, you need a hiding place. Somewhere they’d never think to look.” She takes a break, blue eyes crazy as they stare you down. You can tell her head is all over the place, even if her voice remains unwavered. 

“Like, inside the night mothers coffin.”

You can’t even believe your ears, eyes wide as you pull down the black mask covering your face. To hide in a coffin with their dead Dremora seemed outrageous. She was serious about Taehyung trying to take over, considering she started urging you towards the resting place. 

“But that seems so… disrespectful.” You don’t mean to come off so harsh but she shrugged off your words. 

“Be that as it may, we have no other choice. You need to remain unseen! Now go! Before they meet. And report back to me with whatever you learn.”

With that, she’s pushing you deeper into the cavern as you make your way to the coffin. You notice everyone turning in for the night, and you feel nerves crawling up your neck. You have to calm yourself down, creeping into the night mothers room, considering that you knew Taehyung would be frantic and crazy after he finds out you had been spying on him. 

Of course it’s locked as you reach the huge metal holder, taking a lock pick to the latch before it clicks open. You’re grossed out by the mummy like corpse in there, but the game drags you into the coffin anyways as the door locks behind you. You’re face to face with their dead god, while footsteps follow right in. You hear the wicked humming, hands caressing the outside of the coffin before Taehyung starts talking. 

“Are we alone? Yes… yes… alone. Sweet Solitude. No one will ever hear us, disturb us. Everything is going to according to plan.  The others… I’ve spoken to them. And they’re coming around, I know it. The wizard, Festus Krex… perhaps even the Argonian, and the un-child. What about you? Have you… have you spoken to anyone? No… of course not. I do the talking, the stalking, the seeing and the saying. And what do you do? Nothing! Not… not that I’m angry! No… never! Taehyung understands. Heh.. Taehyung always understands! And obeys!”

You cringe as you listen to him talking to himself, sighing in disgust at the corpse as he goes on. 

“You will talk when you’re ready, won’t you? Wont you… sweet night mother.”

You’re about ready to fall asleep before the night mother’s corpse glows, and you about shit your pants. 

“Poor Taehyung,” she croaks, her aura and spirit engulfing you enough to almost suffocate you. “Dear Taehyung.. Such a humble servant, but he will never hear my voice. For he is not the listener.”

Taehyung cuts in. “Oh, but how can I defend you? How can I exert your will? If you will not speak? To anyone?”

“Oh, but I will speak.” She continues. “I will speak to you, for you are the one. Yes, you. You, who shares my iron tomb, who warms my ancient bones, I give you this task; journey to Volunruud. Speak with Around Motierre.”

Her tomb goes black as you are turned in the coffin, Taehyung’s voice ringing in your ear.

“Poor Taehyung has failed you. Poor Taehyung is sorry, sweet mother. I’ve tried, so very hard. But I just can’t find the listener.”

The Night mother speaks again. “Tell Taehyung that the time has come. Tell him the words he has been waiting for, all these years.” As she whispers the sacred words, you’re pulled out of the coffin and onto your ass, Taehyung holding a knife to your throat. 

You have to admit, the crazy look in his eyes as he held your head back was probably the hottest thing you’ve seen all day. Until he started yelling. 

“What? What treachery! Defiler! Debaser and defiler! You have violated the sanctity of the Night Mother’s coffin. Explain yourself!”

You lay there out of breath, as he yells. “Speak worm!”

You push him off of you, the bells on his boots jingle as he falls back. “The night mother spoke to me! She said I am the one! She said to tell you, ‘Darkness rises when silence dies’.” 

He stopped in his tracks, knife long forgotten on the floor as he breathed. “Then it is true! She is back, our lady is back! She’s chosen a listener, she has chosen you!” He starts to click his heels, happy as he reveled in celebration, the sound of footsteps pausing the laughter as the doors to the night mothers chamber had been opened. 

Astrid stood at the door, panting as her face was drained of color. “By within, this ends now! Back away, fool. Whatever you’ve been planning is over!”

You listen to them go back and forth about the listener, before Astrid rushes into you, her face full of disbelief. 

“When I heard Taehyung screaming, I knew you had been discovered. I feared the worst. Are you all right?”

You nod as she checks over you. “Yes, I’m fine.”

She’s quick to cut you off. “Then what in within’ name is going on? Taehyung spoke to the night mother, but she spoke to you? Is this more of his rambling?” 

“It’s true,” you pant. “The night mother spoke to me, she said I was the one. She told me to meet with Amound Motierre in Volunruud.”

She seems surprised, and almost a little hurt as she retreats from the close proximity she had on you. 

“I have no idea who that is,” She admits.  “But Volunruud. I have heard of that, and I know where it is.”

You cautiously follow her as she almost storms off back to her office. “Should I go to Volunruud? I should talk to this man?”

Astrid stops in her tracks, turning on you as your eyes grow like saucers. 

“No,” she mumbles before yelling. “No! Listen, I don’t know what’s going on here, but you take your orders from me. Are we clear on that?” You can tell she’s losing a grip as she storms off towards the table. 

“Go see Nazir, do some work for him. I’ll find you when Im ready to discuss the matter further.” With that, she’s sending you off, and you’re dreading the next few contracts but at least it keeps you busy. Killing a vampire and an Orc isn’t easy, but they definitely pass the time. You were honestly a little scared. You’re curious if the game is going to stray from the storyline. Astrid was intimidating, yes, but you know that she’s actually on edge. From what you can tell, she’s a little skeptical of the jester and yourself. 

Not before long you’re back in front of Astrid, her office silent as she’s figuring out what to say. 

Finally, she speaks. “We need to talk.” The tone startles you as you nod for her to continue. “Something is happening here. I’m not sure entirely what that something is, but… well, we need to find out. If the night mother really did give you an order to talk to a contract, we’d be mad to ignore it. Having Taehyung here has caused enough madness, I think you’ll agree.”

You nod, ready to speak but she points to the door. “Go, sister. Go to Volunruud and find Amound Motierre and see where all this leads.” You get the notification that you have another quest as you move out of the stone iron door, and make your way to Volunruud. 

It’s past Whiterun and in the mountains. Once you finally get to the ruin, you open the double gate to the stone resting place of many Nords. Its eerily quiet, and you can almost hear your own heartbeat, but you aren’t worn out yet. Thanks to the fast travel. 

You delve deeper into the ruins, pulling out your dagger from its holder as a couple of skeletons approach you, the yellow torches lighting your way as you slice them into dust, stepping over their bodies before moving into the cavern. 

There he stood, past a dead drauger and past a hanging of vines, he stands proud with a bodyguard close behind him. 

“The night mother heard your pleas, Motierre.”

His bodyguard stands even closer as he nods frantically. “I’m so glad you’re here. Please, allow me to state my business. Surely your time is as valuable as my own. I would like to arrange a contract. Several, actually. I daresay, the most important work your organization has had in, well… centuries.”

“Go on,” You urge, watching the way he fiddled with an expensive looking amulet. 

“As I said, I want you to kill several people. You’ll find the targets, as well as their manners of elimination, quite varied. I’m sure someone of you disposition will probably even find it enjoyable. But you should know that these killings are but means to an end. For they pace the way to the most important target.”

Motierre seems almost bursting with excitement. “The real reason I’m speaking with a cutthroat in the bowels of this detestable crypt, for I seek the assassination of the emperor.”

You shrug, not even phased. “Leaders rise and fall. Business is business.”

He sighed in relief. “Here. Take these. They need to be delivered to your um.. superior.” His bodyguard. Rexus, delivers the items to you. The letter in detail is what needs to be done, while the amulet is for the payment. 

You take everything, asking no more questions, and getting the hell out of the little crypt as you scramble through the doors. You bound over to Astrid, almost knocking into her as you give her the information. 

“He wants us to kill the emperor!”

“You’re joking.” Her eyes widen as you hand her the amulet and the letter, eyes mulling over the items in her hand. “I guess we should follow the list and kill whoever is first huh?” Her eyes gleam with an almost sadistic glow. You gather things for your trip, moving past the huge stone door before meeting Taehyung at the entrance. He has a sack with him as well, much like yours and you’re confused. He never followed the listener in the game, so you’re wondering if this is just another glitch. 

He smiles like the dork he is, moving towards you as you both move towards the exit of the forest. 

“You okay if I come with you? Taehyung hasn’t had a good adventure in a while,” He hummed, making you laugh to yourself. He was funny. 

You shrug. “Sure I don’t see why not.. You’d just be sitting in the sanctuary tending to the night mother right?” Taehyung seems a little surprised, but he’s back on the beat as you guys make the way towards solitude. You weren’t gonna bother making the trip to and fro in between targets. You knew who you needed to kill and you’re hoping the end of this quest gets you the fuck out of here. 

“Yeah! Haha, funny thing is, that’s exactly what I would do. Have been doing it for years and years now.. I needed something different. Not sure what it is, but you seem like something I should follow.” Your eyebrow raises as Taehyung’s words but he quickly shakes his head, taking out a small bottle of Nord mead. “So, who are we killing first?”

“The emperor,” You say dryly, like it wasn’t this huge task. “We’re heading to solitude to kill his niece… at her wedding.” Taehyung laughs first and you follow suit, snickering behind your hand. It was twisted, and in any other situation you’d feel bad, but you knew in this game there would be minimal blood. Not like Resident Evil.

“That’s pretty funny, Y/N!” 

You smile but stay silent, trekking to Solitude as the night falls even darker. It was nice having Taehyung with you. The dark twisted joke he cracked on the way made the trip more bearable. Thanks to the game, you didn’t get anymore tired as you decided to fast travel the rest of the way to Skyrim’s capital. You felt a little nervous, even more so when Cicero mentioned that he was wanted in this town anyways. You snuck him in during the night, cowering by the walls as you climbed up to the security guard bridges, and waited on the ledge. You notice the loose gargoyle, and sit by it until the night slowly turned into the day. 

Taehyung sat close to you, a huge hood covering his features as he looked at you. You guess you kinda stared back at him for a moment, studying the soft features he had which was a deep contrast to his personality. 

“What?” You laugh, which makes Taehyung shrug. 

“Dunno,” he mumbles. He was fighting with the little bell on his jester outfit, moving to check to see Vitoria about to give her speech. You could sense he was going to say something, but Taehyung was up in seconds with his palms on the stone gargoyle hanging over her head. “Cmon! Quickly!”

You sprint up, hands helping his as you push the stone out of the holding, watching it fall a couple feet, before watching the bride herself fall to the floor. You and Taehyung are quick to make a getaway, almost tripping yourself as you escaped out of the side gates of the hold. It was fun, laughing with the brunette as you made it past the huge river, seeing the emperor’s huge ship. You and Taehyung take a double take at each other. 

“I’ve never seen his ship here this early?” You nod along with the jester, looking towards the huge wooden ship that was docking down at the East Empire Company. You’re wondering if you should cut the mission short. “You’re not supposed to be here are you?” Your eyes widen as you turn to him. You’re at a loss for words as you turn to him, crouching in the bushes just outside of the docs. 

“What do you mean?”

Taehyung shrugs. “Ever since I met you in the Sanctuary, I just knew that you weren’t supposed to be there. Even if you were special,” He laughed, face turning red before he looked to the ship. “Cmon.. You wanna take him out right here?” You look at him like a madman, cause he is.. but you were shocked. 

“You uh.. you don’t want to follow the plan?” You wondered if it would mess up the game for him, but it seemed Taehyung didn’t really care. He pulled your arm towards a huge bush, undergrowth and all as he crouched. 

“I mean.. I think after you leave, the world will return to how it was before I met you, and before I joined the dark brotherhood. I’ll be traveling with the night mother, and I won’t know Astrid. She plans to kill me, so. Once I get you out of here, I’ll be safe..” He looked a little sad, hand moving to hold yours. “Even if I really don’t want you to go.. If you were to stay and continue the quest, I know you would protect me from her, and soon I would be able to be your loyal father but.. Obviously you’re not supposed to be here..”

You smiled at him, holding his hand back. You wondered if you guys would really be here for a while, long enough to have a relationship, but that’s not where your head is. Your head is trying to get the hell out of here. 

“Yeah.. I should really get back.. even if I want to stay as well.”

Taehyung sighed. “Well.. let’s get a move on then.”

You guys trek through the shallow water before you’re swimming under the boat, pulling the chain that leads to the deepest part of the ship. You guys both start sneaking, your bow in hand while Taehyung had his dagger. You guys take turns silently killing people, your bow moving through the air to hit unsuspecting soldiers in the head, while Taehyung uses the backstab skill to kill others as well without alerting the whole ship. 

You’re moving past the Emperor’s guards like nothing, using the last couple of arrows as you finally reach the captain’s quarters, the emperor sitting in his chair. Emperor Titus Mede, sitting and waiting for your arrival. You and Taehyung share surprised looks that there’s no guards, and Titus Mede starts talking.

“And, Once more, I prove Commander Maro the fool. I told him you can’t stop the Dark Brotherhood. Never could.” You move forward in shock, before he starts talking directly to you. “Come now, don’t be shy. You haven’t come this far just to stand there gawking.”

“You were… expecting me?”

“You and I have a date with destiny, it would seem. But so it is with assassins and emperors, hmm? Yes, I must die. And you must deliver the blow. It is simply the way it is. But I wonder… would you suffer an old man a few more words, before the deed is done?” You remain silent, as if telling him to go on. “You will hear me out, then? Good.”

“You will kill me, and I have accepted that fate. But regardless of your path through life, I sense in you a certain… ambition. So I ask of you a favor. And Old man’s dying wish. While there are many who would see me dead, there is one who set the machine in motion. This person, whomever he or she may be, must be punished for their treachery. Once you have been rewarded for my assassination, I want you to kill the very person who ordered it. Would you do me this kindness?”

You sit and mull over the idea in your head, turning to Taheyung as you nod. 

“I’ll consider your request.”

The emperor smiles. “Now onto the business on hand…” he gets up and turn away from you, as he waits for the final blow. You waste no time in pulling back your bow, lodging the arrow right into the back of his head as he falls down to his doom, the dangerous music chanting in your ears finally coming to a rest as he dies. 

You and Taehyung stare at each other before he sighs, looking at you. “Now that’s no fun.. he didn’t even put up a fight.” The jester laughs, before crossing his arms. “I’ll make sure Amound Motierre dies, after you leave, Y/N.”

“Thank you,” you say quietly, eyes wide as you watch him pull out the blade he kept on him, pressing a kiss to your lips. One that was so soft and tender, you still felt it tingling as he knocked the living daylights out of you. 

The next scene that your eyes lay on, is a wooden door in the middle of a stone cold room. 

[wordynerdygurl]

Ties That Bind

Summary: You love the God of Mischief even when his hi-jinks push you beyond your comfort zone. But there worse things than being tied to Loki.

Warnings: dom/sub, light bondage in a committed relationship, SMUT!!!!

Waking up with the god of mischief was still surprising. Some mornings found him curled around you, possessive and raw in his sleepy need. Others would find you reaching for a body that wasn't there, disappointed at the distance between you and your god.

On those days, when you awoke deserted, you were never quite sure when or where Loki would pop up. Maybe he'd hop out from behind the pantry door when you were humming to yourself, sneaking some cookies. Or he might grab hold of your ankle from under your bed and then laugh at your surprised shrieks even as you cursed him out.

And Loki really loved putting his hands on you when you weren't paying attention. When you were tying your shoe, bent over your laces and you'd stand up right into his arms with a surprised yelp. Or loading the dishwasher, your earbuds in, bopping along to 80's pop and suddenly you'd feel his hands under your shirt and you'd squeal.

To him this game was splendid. For you, always a bit jumpy, his hijinks were a test of your neverending patience. The truly frustrating part was the relief you felt once Loki's magical form did manage to spring out of a closet door or stealthily slip a wandering hand around you without warning. After your heart started beating normally again, of course.

No matter how devious his plans, you really couldn't stay mad at Loki. The trickster was so many things. Awful prankster, avid reader, savage kisser and daringly dangerous. Loki had that tall, dark and brooding thing down pat, too.

You had figured out long ago that Loki wasn't just "bad" or "angry" or "trying to bring earth under his heel". Loki was all those things, certainly, but he was also very sweet when he thought no one would see. The little trinkets that showed up on your bedside table, the vases of fresh flowers that crowded your dresser, pieces of stone that were shaped like hearts that Loki found on distant planets... gifts from the heart of a lonely god. For you.

And there was a lot to love about the raven haired mischief maker. You had been impressed by him physically when you first met him. Tall and lean, tightly wound but dripping with sarcasm. Part punk rock and part poet. You had been powerless against Loki from the start.

It didn't take long for the affection between you to grow. And now there was a deep and abiding bond connecting you to Loki which distance, both physical and emotional, stretched to the limit without breaking. A cord that bound you, body and soul, one that you had willingly and wantonly woven around your heart when Loki kissed you gently for the first time months ago.

And even when he tried your patience with his jump scares, swapped your salt for sugar or ate all your doritos, you knew there was no one else you wanted. Not when Loki's silver tongue could talk you into or out of almost anything. Right now he was trying to talk you out of your clothes.

"Dearest, you must know that there is no other being on this planet, or any other that I desire. In fact, if I didn't know your father was a car salesman and your mother a nurse, I would swear you were a witch."

You chuckled softly at the way he wrinkled his nose at the very earthly professions of your parents. But you stopped laughing when he tugged you to his side, tipping your chin so that your eyes were locked on his twinkling blue ones. With a rough whisper grazing your ear the God of mischief added, "I am under your spell, you see." A shiver rolled over you that had nothing to do with room temperature.

"Please be gentle with me, goddess of my heart." You could almost taste the earnest plea of Loki's declaration, sweet and soft, as if the man before you was a marshmallow instead of Mischief incarnate. Was it real? Too often with Loki the truth was buried, hidden behind hurt, anger or willful wildness, and yet... here he was, eyes blazing, asking for your mercy.

You tilted your head teasingly and hummed, "I didn't think you liked my being gentle. In fact, on more than one occasion I believe you have begged for me to take a firmer hand with you."

Throwing his head back with a bark of laughter, dark hair falling past his shoulders Loki hugged you to him

"You're so right, my bewitching lady. Maybe I should clarify. Be gentle on my soul... but my body, do with as you wish."

Now you laughed. His smile was so wide and boyish that you couldn't help yourself. The pair of you were grinning like fools in love, which you were, when a knock on your bedroom door followed by the rough voice of Thor interrupted you.

"There you are brother! My lady!" Slightly sloshed, which was the God of Thunder's usual state on a free weekend, Thor quickly realized his presence wasn't necessarily welcome. "It seems as though I have intruded upon you... I didn't mean to interrupt... I just... well, you see, the gang and I were all 'where's Loki' and I thought... Good Question! So, I came to find you... and... here... you... are." Thor petered out with sagging hand gestures and a slipping smile.

"Yes, it is amazing how you found us right where we were supposed to be. In our room, in our home. You are so very clever, brother." Loki deadpanned, which made you poke him in the ribs. Tension between brothers be damned, you didn't like seeing them at odds.

Loki shot you a smoldering look for the jab but didn't get the chance to continue since you added "You did find us, Thor! And I see you found the craft beers too. Maybe more than one?" Looking at the empty bottle in his hand as if seeing it for the first time, Thor flashed you a small smile. "Maybe..."

You sat on your bed, Loki standing beside you, and asked The God of Thunder, "So, what are Korg and Meek up to tonight?"

"Oh, they're playing video games... eating pizza. Do... do you want to play?" He held his hand out welcomingly and for a minute you were tempted. They were a goofy bunch for sure, funny and sweet, and sometimes that was exactly the right thing to distract you from your own troublesome god.

Loki snatched your hand up and started for the door. "No brother, she can't. We can't. We are going out." And with that Loki was swiftly ushering you out into the autumnal evening but not before you called out to Thor, "Rain check? Ok?"

You never heard Thor's answer, if there even was one, because Loki's grip on you propelled you through the night. "Loki? Loki... where are we going? I didn't grab a jacket and it's freezing out here!"

Here was New Asgard which was beautiful in the day, all lush green hills and dark deep seawater. At night it was soft fog diffused lights, lingering laughter from warm pubs and gently lapping waves under a star studded sky. In short, paradise, with slightly cooler temperatures.

Loki wasn't taking in the scenery though. He set a brutal pace that had you struggling to keep up. His grip on your hand never broke as you were marched toward an unknown destination.

The journey, however, wasn't as troubling as Loki's silence. A quiet god of mischief was a scary thing. It meant his mind was working overtime, trapping him in a tangle of thoughts, scheming and plotting his next move.

You were sure that Thor and his intrusion were to blame. No matter how innocent the thunder god seemed, Loki took it all so personally. If only he'd realize that not every word and deed from his drunken brother was a dagger aimed at Loki's open heart.

Lost in your own thoughts about mythic family relationships you found yourself stumbling to a stop right into Loki's wide back. You couldn't help the groan that escaped on impact.

"Ugh! Loki... where are we?" The salty tang of crisp sea air swirled around you, stronger here than at the Odinson homestead. But the night was dark and there were no lights this far from the village's center. "Clearly we are at the dock. And before you ask, this is a boat. My boat."

You couldn't make it out at first, then a faint glow caught your eye, closer to the sky than the ground. Your mouth fell open. Boat? Not hardly. It was a yacht and you marveled at its size. Sleek, black and sinister it rolled gently on the tide. To you it looked like a fearsome leviathan floating out in the dense mist of a Norse myth, a sight both wonderful and terrifying. A lot like it's owner, actually.

Somehow Loki's boat was both old fashioned and incredibly modern. It's ebony lines and tinted windows merged towards the bow which was adorned with a carved dragon. But this was unlike any wood working you'd seen in a Norse museum. This dragon wore a helmet of curved horns.

Practically dancing out of excitement, Loki asked, "Well??" Cool air chapped your cheeks pink as you huffed, "Impressive! Does your ship have a name, captain?"

Deflated, Loki wouldn't meet your eye. "That's it? 'Impressive'?" He mimicked your voice perfectly. Clearly your answer was wrong, at least by Loki's standards.

Defending yourself you scoffed, "Well it is. And you are. And I will be more delighted when I'm not frozen solid!" Your hands were pulled into the sleeves of your sweater but your nose was numb. Moving into his warmth, eager to feel your nose again, you prompted, "So... the name?"

Blinking down at you hard he murmured, "Of course. Frigga, after my mother."

"I should have guessed that, I suppose." You answer with a shy smile, your cropped hair tousled by the windy night. "Loki, she really is beautiful."

Pulling you closer, his chin resting on your crown you hear, "Oh, she truly is..." and you know he is talking about you not his floating water palace.

Snuggling into his heat, you ask, "Do I have permission to come aboard, Captain?"

"Ug. Please, please do not call me captain."

"Oh... right." Avengers were a sore subject for your trouble maker. "Do I have permission to come aboard, Loki, God of Mischief, Lord of my heart, sir?!" You mock, throwing a salute his way.

Those words were the right ones. Wickedly smiling before biting his lip, Loki says, "You are most sincerely invited to come on board."

It's such a loaded sentence and coupled with his teasing grin you can't help but laugh because it's so cheesy, a god laying pick up lines on you. And terrible ones at that. When he pulls lightly on your hand you follow him closer to his new toy.

Once you step on board Loki is all over you. He pushes you in front of him, guiding you further into his ocean lair, while pressing hot kisses along your neck. His hands never stop moving. You feel him across your chest then over your tummy. He pulls you firmly to him, letting you feel just how much he wants you.

Lifting your arm to reach behind you, you pull his hot mouth to you, his hard body against yours. Loki's hands roam down your sides and over your denim clad thighs and you reward him with a deep purr. Then his magical hands are pulling you closer as he sucks your earlobe between his eager lips. Grinding against him, you moan tightly, "You're not playing fair!"

Panting himself, he answers, "Why would I ever play fair?" Under your sweater, a hand pushes on your lower back, drawing you deeper into the belly of his floating beast. When he gently tugs at your top's hem you lift your arms and hear your heavy wool sweater hit the polished floor.

Against the dark wooden wall of Loki's luxurious cabin his dexterous fingers wrap around your waist. Covering your meaty ribs, his hands hold you still as his thumbs brush under your bra band. Your tight grip of his forearms helps steady you as his tongue fights yours for submission.

Just being near Loki is enough to make your heart race. Whether it's the slight rocking of the water under your feet or the brisk fall night, you feel yourself wanting more of him than you thought possible.

With a throaty groan he pulls away from your bee stung lips to plant his left arm against the wall. His right slides down your soft belly to the buttons of your jeans. Pressing your foreheads together you feel the top rivet pop open. Exhaling a breath you didn't know you were holding, Loki's grin widens. "Don't tell me that you're already wet, darling. We've barely started!"

Snapping your head up defiantly, your eyes blazing, you challenge him. "Hardly." But your flushed chest and hardened nipples betray you, plus your mind reading man knows the truth.

Smirking Loki leans closer, asking, "So you're telling me that if I touch your quivering quim I won't find you dripping and ready for me?"

Your body flushes at the thought, proving Loki right. His vulgar words make you moan as you feel your jeans open further. Before you articulate an answer your head rolls back to rest on the posh wall behind you. "Loki..." It's meant as a warning but your need turns it into a plea.

"Yes, pet? Did you need something?" Exploring fingers move over your panties and across your hips before squeezing your bottom. Loki is an expert in touching you everywhere but the place where you need him most.

"Hmmm... yes... more of you!" Your fingers comb through Loki's locks, pulling him to you, eager to get his mouth on yours once again. Only the God of Mischief denies you. Instead he uses his left hand to gather your wrists above your head. "More? My my, little miss greedy is what I'm going to call you." He chides as his clever mouth kisses down your neck and licks across your collarbone.

Those long, searching fingers of his right hand crept under the waistband of your panties this time. Rubbing delicately against your mound Loki whispers, "I knew it."

Snapping at him you snark, "Shut up, Loki!"

"That's no way to talk to the man who holds your pleasure in his hands." And that's when his delicious game of denial begins in earnest. Your jeans bunch at your thighs but he has enough room to graze against your soaked skin, not entering you, just brushing his knuckles back and forth across your swollen lips. Goosebumps break out across your body as an aching groan tumbles from you. You arch away from the wall, from your trapped hands, chasing the friction of his touch. Chuckling at your eagerness, Loki brushes a lock your hair off your forehead, "See, isn't this better than video games?"

Your eyes widen. "I knew it! You know Thor was just being friendly! He wanted to spend ti..." Your words stall as Loki's hand wraps around your slender throat. His grip is firm and his index finger forces your head to tilt higher until you are nose to nose. "You're allowed to say one name tonight. Just one. Mine." He tips your head back one touch more before adding, "Or you'll regret it, my dear."

Your eyes locked on Loki's ice blue stare. "Do we understand each other?" You swallowed roughly and nod your assent, "Yes Loki..."

Power games were nothing new to you and Loki. So many times you were the one calling the shots in your intimate relationship, Loki enjoying the feeling of being bossed around by a midgardian full of fire like you. Tonight though Loki wasn't just taking the lead. He was going to drag you where he wanted, you just had to hold on.

"Hmm... compliant. I love that!" He rewarded your submission with a searing kiss that clicked your teeth together. Your mouth was invaded by his searching tongue, your lungs gasping to catch up as Loki ferociously fed on your lips. "Who do you worship?" He growled against you, hot and hard and punishingly close. "You... oh jesus christ, you!"

Pushing away from the wall, Loki peered down at you. It took you a moment to register the loss since your eyes were shut in ecstasy and that was one moment too long. "Loki?" You weren't panicked, not yet, but something was certainly wrong. "What?" Your eyes connected.

Shaking his head Loki said, "Jesus Christ, huh?" And he had the audacity to look slightly crestfallen, disappointed you, even. Releasing your wrists he held up his finger. "One name. One god. It's too bad you can't follow simple rules."

Your voice faltered, "Loki! Oh, come on... I mean..." "Yes... that's it. Convince me how you didn't speak another's name. Please enlighten me." Loki wore a smirk that showed just how much he was enjoying this game and also how serious. Raising an eyebrow as both of his hands circled your wide hips under your jeans, he was waiting for your words.

"Well...?" Your mouth started moving when the strangest thing happened. A garbled gasp left your now gagged mouth. Your eyes went wide with shock and you tried to raise your hands to remove the offending fabric but your wrists were bound together in front of you.

Struggling to make yourself heard you fought against the silken ropes, anger and fear bubbling up inside of you. How dare Loki limit you like this? And for what? If you could only get your hands free!

Eyeing you warily, Loki's smile dropped. "Don't be mad. I told you there would consequences dearest." Loki kissed your strained jaw and nuzzled into your neck. "Trust me, goddess of my heart and I will be merciful." His tender ministrations work, even though you were still upset and despite your initial fears, your body relaxed.

With little effort Loki picks you up and brings you into his luxurious cabin. A bed covered in deep green satin welcomes your bound form and you feel the cool liquid of the sheets against your hot skin.

Standing over you as he might a conquered people, Loki wastes no time with removing your clothes. Why bother taking them off when he knows a charm that strips you bare? But he takes his time undressing himself.

It's delicious torture watching Loki's body be revealed. His black sweater is tossed off first followed by a fitted tee. Pale skin, tight over the muscles in his arms and chest, is luminous in the dusky light of the boat's interior. Riding low, exposing the cut of his hips, Loki's black denim trousers are the next to go. "Caught you looking..." he teases then laughs softly at your wide eyed desire. It's clear that Loki is ready for you, his boxers can't hide his straining erection. If your mouth were free you'd be biting your lip in anticipation. Shimmying out of his undies, you can't help the clench of arousal that pulls at your core upon seeing Loki, perfect and naked and hard.

"Nothing to say, my dear?"

And when you try to form a word over the silken gag he smirks, "I am truly sorry but I couldn't quite make that out."

With you naked and at his mercy, Loki renews his sensual assault by lightly rubbing against your slit. He's looking at you the way you look at tacos, desperateand hungry. It turns you on even more knowing how much he wants you. "You are so ripe, darling. Is all of this for me?"

All you could manage was a nod before you shouted into your gag. Loki had plunged three fingers into your molten core, knowing you could take it. "Do you like that, little one? Stretching around my fingers to feel how tight you are? I do love how responsive your tasty cunt is... even now I can tell how close you are. Can you tell me? Tell me, baby, are you going to come on my fingers?..."

But of course you couldn't tell him how hard you were biting into the rope at your lips, desperately seeking relief from his delicious torture. You could grunt and groan which meant nothing to the god now working you over with two of his fingers buried inside you while his thumb strummed over your clit.

Your arms strained against the black silk ropes that held firm, struggling to participate in your own pleasure. Removing his hand from your fiery center, he licked his fingers savoring your flavor before leaning over you and whispering, "I know what you want. You want to touch me and rush me and greedily lap up your satisfaction. But not tonight, dear one. Tonight I will take what I want from you. Every moan, every yelp, every drop of you is mine. And only when I am satisfied that you are ruined for all others, then will I release you."

Emphasizing his point, Loki took your right nipple in his gentle mouth and sucked it rigid. You gasped into the gag when you felt his teeth pull the flesh tight. When Loki bit into your bud you were grateful the gag muted your scream.

Loki's hands were everywhere, over stimulating your senses. They squeezed your tender breasts, rough palms grating against your over sensitive nipples. They ghosted over your clit, never lingering long enough to release you. They brushed against your inner thighs, close to your slit but not close enough.

All you could do was moan softly at the denied pleasure you were feeling. Raising your hips when Loki's touch came nearer to your clit only to be refused your release.

Straddling you now, Loki's narrow hips stretched over your middle, his rigid cock grinding against your abdomen. Folded over you Loki mocked, "Doesn't that feel nice, love? I so wish you would tell me how this feels!"

His hands slip down your sides and you reach for him, failing to connect due to the bindings on your wrists. Lifting his eyebrows to you Loki questions innocently, "You want to touch me?" All you can do is nod. Yes, yes, yes your head bobs.

Loki slides down your body, his slim frame nestling between your thighs. Resting his chin on your belly it looks to you like he actually considers letting you join in the fun. Your hope dashes as he shakes his head sadly, "No, I don't think so."

That's when he lifts your hips off the bed, using his strong forearms to anchor your legs open wide. He is going to lick you, you know it and still you groan and grind onto his tongue which has found it's way into your liquid center. Desire in overdrive, your body starts to flood, readying itself for your lover. Loki hums his appreciation at your biology which makes you quake under his eager mouth.

Since you can't move away from Loki's oral attention and you can't shout his name everytime he does that thing where wraps his lips around your tender clit, you really have to lay back and just accept your fate. It's driving you crazy because Loki is pulling out every bedroom trick he knows.

Despite the torturous tongue lashing you were holding onto your sanity, barely. Yes, you wanted release, but you and Loki had always enjoyed sharing your climax, one of the many reasons you loved loving Loki. Drawing deep breaths around the gag you were struggling to hold back the rising tide.

"So, you aren't going to cum for me? Even after all that?" Loki's chin glistened from his hard work at your core. Again you started to speak as if the gag wasn't in your way, explaining your need to cum together.

"Hmm... it sounds like you want to tell me something... what is it darling?? Should I stop?" Your trussed arms raise again in frustration.

"So I'll continue, shall i?" You felt the fullness of two slender fingers inside of you curling against your most sensitive spot. Groaning an unheard curse into your gag you felt your hips buck for more friction from Loki's fingers. As you tried to coax him into giving you more pleasure Loki resumed his oral attention on your lower lips. Small bites, gentle sucking, tiny nips at your most intimate flesh had you sliding closer to the edge of your orgasm.

When Loki sucked your clit harder than ever, shaking his head back and forth like a dog with a bone, your body broke into a wave of pleasure that crashed onto Loki's shore. You screamed his name. Loki knew it and he never let go of you. Riding the swells of your post orgasmic trembling, Loki whispered sweet calming words, gently bringing you down from your cosmically elevated bliss.

"There there sweetest. Let's get rid of this..." and as fast as it came, your silken gag was gone.

Shuddery and shaking you whined, "Loki! Please..." You held your bound wrists out to him, eager for freedom and delirious in your desire to touch him, to return the pleasure he had forced on you tonight.

"First, something to drink." Hoping off the bed with a thump, Loki popped out of the room for an eternity, which was actually about 3 minutes. "You suck, Loki, you know that?!" Shouting at him made you forget about the bindings still holding your arms together. "You don't play fair!"

Leaning into the door frame, naked still, hard still, holding a frosted glass of water Loki bit his lip before starting, "it's not a game, love. You're mine... and I'm not nearly through with you yet."

Gulping you squeaked, "could you please untie these? Please? I... I need to touch you baby." Loki joins you on the bed, his arm under your shoulders so that you can sip at his water glass. Musing he asks, "Are you truly ruined for all others? Have I fulfilled my filthy promises for the evening?" Mewling you cry, "yes... yes! I could only ever want you!! Please...?"

Crashing his mouth to yours, Loki claimed you over and over again. He pulls your short hair back hard, baring your throat to his greedy lips. Your body responds so eagerly to his slightest touch that in moments your panting and needy once more. "Sorry love, the ropes stay on."

You could cry in frustration, the tears are there, hot and waiting. Instead it's a low moan that you release as Loki raises your legs up, bending your knees into your chest. Cool air caresses your pussy lips for a moment before Loki's erection teases you.

Your useless arms fall against your chest as Loki slowly fills you with his hard heat. You're spread wide by him, wanton and waiting for his movement to begin. Wrapping his hand around your bonds, Loki pulls you closer which pushes your hips open a fraction further and allows him to penetrate deeper inside you. "Loki!! Jesus Christ!!" The exclamation explodes from you at the contact.

"Language, dear, or I'll bring the gag back!" You shudder a groan at that. "Loki! Sorry! Shit!!" When Loki grinds deeper into your core instead of pulling out you grunt which makes him chuckle at you. "What was that, pet?"

"Happy sound... promise. You... you... you better not stop Loki!" You're stuttering out sentence fragments that you want to sound tough, unaffected by him, but it is not working.

"I wouldn't dream of it, dearest!" Thrusting into you now, Loki bites his bottom lip in concentration, focusing on the way your walls clench around him. The rhythm he starts is slow at first, pushing, grinding then retreating but soon he's driving into you furiously, seeking your combined climax.

You feel it first. That telltale fluttering, low in your belly, growing into ripples of electricity. "Loki... I'm close... I'm gonna cum!" You warn.

"Not. Yet. Not. Until. I. Say." Each word is punctuated by his piercing need.

Whimpering you nod, squeezing your eyes shut, focusing on not letting your body win. "Look at me, girl. LOOK AT ME!"

Snapping your eyes open at Loki's command, your trapped in his sweltering gaze. Dark hair hangs into his face, sweat has collected on his brow, but his smirk is still daisy fresh.

"Cum for me. Right now."

You do. You watch his eyes widen as your body collapses on his cock. It tears through you, hard, unraveling both you and Loki.  He's locked inside you by your orgasm, tripping his own climax, unable and unwilling to prevent it. Loki shouts in a language you don't know but the meaning is clear. God damn.

Waves of pleasure roll through you both as your body accepts everything Loki gives you. Still lost in each other's eyes, your breathing starts to slow, and you reach up, wrists still tied, to brush that stray lock of raven hair behind his ear.

"Wow." There's really nothing else you can manage to say. You're wrung out, legs limp even though Loki is still holding your calves open. A small aftershock rushes through you and Loki moans. "You can say that again...", he grins. "Wow."

Loki reaches for your bonds once more. You hear the metallic slink of his dagger as it extends from his hand by some form of magic. The cold blade shreds the black ropes in a flash.

"Look at that!" You softly exclaim. "Free at last!" You flex each wrist a little, letting the blood flow to your hands. And you can't stop yourself from reaching for your boy.

Still inside you, Loki leans down to capture a kiss. It's soft and sweet. "Thank you for trusting me. I know you were the one in ropes tonight but don't you see, I am the one bound to you?"

You flush pink at his sugared words. Loki, God of Mischief, ruiner of days and jump scare master, had let you capture his heart. He was a trickster, truly, and your love for each other was intense, testing and teasing but it was yours.

You roll your hips gently which earns you a shattered groan from Loki. "We are tied to each other, Loki. Let's make sure we don't cut that cord, ok?" Grinning down at you Loki answers, "Not a chance, queen of my heart. No way."

Sliding out of you, Loki lays on his side, toying with your nipple. "That tickles, Loki!" You laughingly push him away as he flops his right arm across your chest and says, "I think my ship is the quietest one to ever set sail."

Turning to face him you ask, "Have you already taken her out?" You're eager to hear about it when the sound of a horn honks through the night.

Raising his eyebrows with a wicked grin, "You could say that!" "Jesus Christ, Loki!" You shout your favorite curse word at him.

In a flash Loki pulls you on top of him, his hands firm on your forearms. Somehow he seems more lethal under you than over you. Loki growls, "One name. One god. Or have you already forgotten??"

"How could I forget?" It's your turn to smirk as you lean down to capture his full lips in yours. "I promised to go easy on your soul, but your body was another matter all together."

Loki groans out a curse in ancient words as your mouth finds his growing erection. "Bewitching... you truly are." Popping off of him you answer, "and totally yours." With a shaky swallow Loki whispers, "Yes... You're mine and we are bound together."

[aion-rsa]

Best Games to Play in 2021

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While 2020 was a landmark year for the gaming industry thanks to the release next-gen consoles and PC graphics cards, there are plenty of exciting new games coming in 2021. From highly-anticipated sequels like God of War: Ragnarok and Resident Evil Village to brand-new experiences such as Chorus and Deathloop, there’s plenty to look forward to this year.

We’ve curated a list of the 2021 games we’re most excited about, including big AAA blockbusters as well as imaginative indie titles. Keep in mind that we’ve only included games that at the very least have a vague “2021” release window attached, which is why we’re not including games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sequel, Elden Ring, or Final Fantasy XVI. We’ll of course update this article as new 2021 titles are announced.

Here’s what you have to look forward to this year:

The Ascent

TBA | Neon Games | XSX, XBO, PC

The Ascent was originally planned as an Xbox Series X launch title before it slipped into 2021. A twin stick shooter at its core, The Ascent features a cover system as well as the ability to target high and low points on enemies, all in a destructible, open world cyberpunk setting. You can also fully customize your character with a variety augments.

Though Neon Games is a small studio, Epic Games was so impressed with early work on the title, that Neon was awarded a grant to help cover development costs. We’re really looking forward to this smaller take on the cyberpunk genre.

Axiom Verge 2

TBA | Thomas Happ Games | Switch

Metroidvanias from indie developers are a dime a dozen nowadays, but the original Axiom Verge stood out thanks to its tight controls, varied weapons, and compelling story. Axiom Verge 2 looks to largely be more of the same, but with even better graphics and more complex enemy patterns. The game has been in development for the past four years, but should finally be out in early 2021.

Balan Wonderworld

March 26 | Balan Company and Arzest | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC, Switch

Balan Wonderworld is a modern take on classic platformers of the 32-bit era. You choose from one of two characters and explore a variety of worlds mixing reality and imagination, but the real hook is the 80 different costumes you can find that unlock new abilities for your characters.

The game was directed by Yuji Naka of Sonic the Hedgehog fame. Fans of the platformers of the early ’90s don’t want to miss this one.

Back 4 Blood

October 12 | Turtle Rock Studios | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC

Valve may not have been able to get its act together to make a new Left 4 Dead game, but the developer behind the best-selling franchise has a spiritual successor in the works. Just like in Left 4 Dead, you’ll team up with three other players to take on waves of the undead in missions that change every time you play. There will also be a competitive 4v4 mode with one team taking the role of the zombies.

We went hands-on with the Back 4 Blood alpha, and so far, it does play a lot like Left 4 Dead with updated graphics, which isn’t a bad thing at all if you miss the classic horde shooter. The card system, which bestows interesting perks (and buffs) to players and zombies, does add a bit of variety to the usual formula that make this one a sleeper hit in the streaming world.

Bravely Default II

February 26 | Claytechworks | Switch

The first two Bravely Default games released on the 3DS were typical fantasy RPGs bolstered by their unique risk-reward battle system. Players could use brave points to stack up attacks for big damage, or default to save them up and take less damage in a turn. It kept those games fresh, even if they sometimes dragged on for too long.

Bravely Default II brings the series’ unique combat exclusively to the Switch for the first time. And true to its Final Fantasy inspirations, the characters and story are completely original, so you don’t need any familiarity with the earlier games.

Chivalry 2

June 8 | Torn Banner Studios | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC

Chivalry: Medieval Warfare was a huge multiplayer hit on the PC when it was released in 2012. Unfortunately, with lagging developer support, most of the community moved on to other games long ago.

Now, Torn Banner is hoping to bring players back with the sequel, which boasts next-gen graphics, improved combat, and massive 64-player battles. Needless to say, Chivalry 2 could be the next big thing in multiplayer. The game is currently in Closed Alpha, so you might be able to check it out before release if you sign up here.

Chorus

TBA | Fishlabs | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC, Stadia

There’s been a serious lack of good third-person space combat shooters in recent years, but Chorus looks to rectify that. In this single-player game, you’ll play as Nara and her sentient ship Forsaken as they work together to track down the cult that created them in what Fishlabs is calling a “dark new universe.” It kind of looks like Goth Star Fox.

Unfortunately, we haven’t really seen anything more from Chorus since it was announced last summer. Hopefully, the radio silence ends soon.

CrossfireX

TBA | Smilegate Entertainment and Remedy Entertainment | XSX, XBO

CrossFire is a hugely popular tactical first-person shooter in China and South Korea, even though it’s barely made a mark in the West. Fortunately, Microsoft is bringing an updated version of the shooter exclusively to its consoles in hopes that it’ll catch on. Expect lots of tense, objective-based multiplayer action, and though the series isn’t known for its single-player, we’re looking forward to what Remedy can do with this mode hot on the heels of the excellent Control.

Like several of the titles on this list, CrossfireX was planned as a launch title for the Series X, but was delayed into 2021 due to development issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait that much longer for this one.

Deathloop

May 21 | Arkane Studios | PS5, PC

What if you could combine the movie Groundhog Day with the Hitman series? It’s likely that no one had actually asked that question before Deathloop. You play as Colt, an assassin stuck in a time loop on an island in the midst of a party that resets every day. You have to eliminate eight targets before midnight and avoid dying yourself, or you’ll end up at the beginning of the loop again.

Deathloop also features a multiplayer component that allows players to jump into your game as an assassin named Julianna, who is tasked with taking Colt down before he can complete his mission. This PvP aspect should result in some very interesting playthroughs.

While Microsoft now owns Arkane as part of its purchase of ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks, don’t expect Deathloop on the Xbox any time soon. It’s still launching exclusively on the PS5 and PC.

Diablo 2: Resurrected

TBA | Vicarious Visions | XSX, PS5, XBO, PS4, PC, Switch

While Diablo III’s reputation has improved substantially since its controversial 2012 launch, there’s still a vocal group of gamers who prefer the second game in Blizzard’s genre-defining action RPG series. Knowing how much this game means to a lot of people, Vicarious Visions has said it’s not out to reinvent the wheel for Resurrected. The updated 3D graphics will display in 4K, but you can switch back to the original graphics at any point with the press of a button.

And while there will be some quality of life improvements like a shared item stash and automatic gold pickup, don’t expect any revolutionary changes that will spoil the original experience. This should be exactly what we need to tide us over until Diablo IV hits.

Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny

June 29 | Nippon Ichi Software | Switch

After a couple of well-received remakes, the first new Disgaea title in more than five years should be out in 2021. This time around, the offbeat story focuses on Zed, a zombie who attempts to use something called “super reincarnation” to stop the seemingly invincible God of Destruction who is slowly destroying all worlds.

While both the PlayStation 4 and Switch are dialed in for Japanese releases in January, so far only a Switch version has been announced for the West.

Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance

June 22 | Tuque Games | XSX, PS5, XBO, PS4, PC

Baldur’s Gate isn’t the only Dungeons & Dragons video game series back from the dead. The cooperative action-adventure series Dark Alliance once again allows players to journey into the world of the Forgotten Realms with up to three other friends online. And unlike Baldur’s Gate 3, Dark Alliance is releasing in completed form, so you can expect a full campaign right out of the box.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood

June 1 | ZeniMax Online Studios | XSX, PS5, XBO, PS4, PC, Stadia

Last year’s Elder Scrolls Online expansion finally brought the world of Skyrim to the MMO, and ZeniMax is keeping the blasts from the past coming. This year’s expansion, Blackwood, brings back elements from Oblivion, with a whole new campaign that sees you face off against Daedric Prince Mehrunes Dagon 800 years before the events of The Elder Scrolls IV. It’s all part of the year’s big Gates of Oblivion storyline.

The expansion adds the Blackwood region to the game, which includes the Imperial city of Leyawiin from Oblivion, and also finally brings a Companion system to the game. Recruit an NPC to fight by your side and explore the land of Tamriel.

Evil Dead: The Game

TBA | Boss Team Games and Saber Interactive | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC, Switch

The Evil Dead movies are considered all-time horror classics, but success has always eluded the franchise in the world of video games. But that could be about to change. Announced at The Game Awards, Evil Dead: The Game sees Ash and friends taking on waves of Deadites on several maps, including the iconic cabin in the woods. Gameplay appears to be similar to Saber’s previous adaptation, World War Z, which was a solid title that never quite seemed to find an audience.

Far Cry 6

TBA | Ubisoft | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC, Stadia, Luna

By now we all know what to expect from Far Cry: hop into a tropical paradise, blow up a bunch of outposts, and methodically take back the land from the big bad guy. After a detour into the American wilderness with Far Cry 5, the next entry in the series heads to Yara, a fictional Caribbean country heavily based on Cuba. And with Giancarlo Esposito of Breaking Bad and The Mandalorian fame playing the big bad El Presidente, you know we’re in for some especially awesome villainy.

Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

TBA | Square Enix | PS5, PS4, PC

After one of the worst MMORPG launches ever, it’s a miracle that Final Fantasy XIV is still around a decade later. Not only did Square Enix turn things around, this game is now regarded as one of the very best in the genre.

Endwalker, the game’s fourth major expansion pack will conclude the story of the warring gods Hydaelyn and Zodiark, which has been running since the game’s 2013 relaunch. This won’t be the end of the MMO, though. Square still says it has several years worth of stories to tell.

Along with the obligatory new zones and quests, Square has promised two new classes. The first one shown so far, the sage, is a healer who battles with floating swords. 

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach 

TBA | Steel Wool Studios | PS5, PS4, PC

The Five Nights at Freddy’s series has been terrorizing gamers for more than a half decade now, and Steel Wool Studio is looking to up the scares with the power of next-generation graphics. We don’t know how exactly the game will play yet, but the announcement video showcased a very cool looking shopping mall with an ‘80s motif. On the PS5 and PC, Security Breach will support real-time raytracing, so Freddy and the gang should look better than ever.

Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection

February 25 | Capcom | Switch

After a lengthy absence, the crushingly difficult Ghosts ‘n Goblins series has been revived. Resurrection, which is a whole new installment and not just a remake, features the series’ classic 2D gameplay, with the knight Arthur fighting his way through hordes of monsters and environmental hazards. And of course, the new graphics look much better than the old NES and SNES games. Best (worst?) of all, this modern take is just as punishing as its predecessors so be prepared to die A LOT.

Ghostwire: Tokyo 

TBA | Tango Gameworks | PS5, PC

Tango Gameworks has only released two titles to date: The Evil Within and its sequel. Anyone who played those games can tell you, the developers know horror. With a variety of deformed enemies and a mind-bending plot, The Evil Within titles are two of the scariest games of the last decade.

Ghostwire: Tokyo is a brand new IP that moves the action to the third-person. Instead of the typical firearms, you’ll be dispatching ghosts with psychic powers. Expect an exceedingly creepy experience regardless.

God of War: Ragnarok 

TBA | SIE Santa Monica Studio | PS5

Sony has said almost nothing about the next God of War game except that it’s coming next year. One thing we do know is that Ragnarok is the mythical battle leading to the death of the Norse gods. With Kratos’ history of deicide, it only makes sense that he’ll be killing a whole lot of them in the next game. The previous title also hinted at a showdown with Thor, the god of thunder (no, not the Marvel guy), which should be pretty epic.

Guilty Gear Strive

June 11 | Arc System Works | PS5, PS4, PC

The latest in the long-running Guilty Gear franchise should be out early in 2021 with some interesting new fighters as well as exciting returning characters. There will be a dedicated dash button and a new feature will let opponents who are knocked into walls cling to them. If you can land enough attacks, you will break through the wall and initiate a stage transition.

Arc has promised “a completely new Guilty Gear” with Strive. We’re not sure about that, but the trailers showcasing the franchise’s trademark mix of 2D and 3D graphics look better than ever.

Halo Infinite

Fall | 343 Industries | XSX, XBO, PC

After a disappointing reveal last July, Halo Infinite was bumped from the Series X launch to Fall 2021. The game has been described as both a sequel and a “spiritual reboot” for the series, so it will be interesting to see how far 343 Industries handles Cortana’s heel turn after the fan backlash Halo 5: Guardians received.

Many fans weren’t happy to hear more microtransactions will be added to Infinite in the form of “coatings” (shaders) that can be purchased to customize Spartans in multiplayer. It doesn’t help that players have yet to even see any multiplayer gameplay from Infinite.

Hopefully, the delay will give 343 the time it needs to put out a game that lives up to the series’ reputation.

Hitman III

January 20 | IO Interactive | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC, Switch, Stadia

IO’s rebooted Hitman games are among the most underrated titles of the last few years, streamlining the series’ once finnicky systems and placing Agent 47 in huge sandbox levels with more ways than ever to eliminate his targets. If you own the previous two games, you can import maps and progress to take advantage of Hitman III’s improvements on any platform, but only the PS4 version will support the PSVR headset for the ultimate Hitman experience.

Horizon Forbidden West 

TBA | Guerilla Games | PS5, PS4

Thanks to its unique post-post-apocalyptic setting and fluid gameplay, Horizon Zero Dawn was one of the best open world games of the previous generation. The sequel looks to out do the original with even more varied environments like deserts, beaches, and the ruins of San Francisco. And there will of course be more mechanized prehistoric beasts than ever before.

While Forbidden West is coming to the PS4 as well, the PS5’s DualSense controller should provide the definitive experience thanks to its haptic feedback. You should finally be able to feel what it’s like for Aloy to pull back on her iconic bow.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD

July 16 | Nintendo | Switch

The Legend of Zelda series turned 35 this year and Nintendo is celebrating the milestone with an HD remaster of one of the most underrated installments in the long-running franchise. Skyward Sword takes things back all the way to the very beginning of the Zelda timeline, telling the story of how the mythical Master Sword was created. Along the way, players are in for a fun adventure including some interesting experiments with motion control.

While it’ll likely never be as beloved as the games before it or Breath of the Wild, this Wii installment is still worth experiencing, especially if you missed it back in 2011.

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

TBA | Traveller’s Tales | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC, Switch

There have been plenty of Lego Star Wars games, including one that already adapted the “complete” saga, but this will be the first to feature the entire Sequel Trilogy. Even if you’ve played through those other games, The Skywalker Saga will feature never-before-seen levels and gameplay.

Traveller’s Tales promises an absolutely massive game, too. Each of the nine films features five levels, and the movies can be played through in any order. Nearly 500 playable characters are expected to be included in the final game. We’d love it if Mando and Grogu make the final cut, too.

Mario Golf: Super Rush

June 25 | Nintendo | Switch

It’s been a while since Nintendo dropped a new Mario Golf game, but it’s finally happening on the Switch. While Super Rush offers up much of the same Mario Golf action you know and love, it does have an interesting new mode called Speed Golf, which pits competitors against each other as they race down the course in real time to see who scores first. It should add a bit of pep to the chill vibes of the series.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition 

May 14 | BioWare | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC

Nearly a decade since its conclusion, the Mass Effect trilogy remains a favorite among many gamers. BioWare hasn’t commented too much about what to expect from this remaster, but we know the visuals will be upgraded to 4K, and all of the excellent post-launch DLC will be included. The developer has also promised other upgrades to bring the titles up to modern standards, so maybe we’ll see some changes to the first game’s finicky combat. And if Bioware is feeling particularly ambitious, we might even get a few hints as to what they have planned for the upcoming sequel.

The Medium

January 28 | Bloober Team | XSX, PC

Originally announced way back in 2012 for the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii U, The Medium was shelved for years due to technological constraints before finally resurfacing in 2020. Gameplay focuses on a medium who can instantaneously travel between the real world and the spirit realm to solve puzzles, something that just wasn’t possible until the current crop of consoles adopted solid state drives.

Bloober Team has quietly built a reputation for itself with excellent single-player horror games like Observer and Layers of Fear, and The Medium is their most ambitious game yet.

Monster Hunter Rise

March 26 | Capcom | Switch

The excellent Monster Hunter: World helped the series find a large audience in the West, although the game’s more demanding performance requirements kept it off the Switch. Fortunately, Rise is built specifically for Nintendo’s portable-console hybrid. And rather than a watered down port of World, Capcom this is a full-featured sequel with a new, more vertical map and all 14 weapon types from Monster Hunter: World and Monster Hunter Generations. If you’ve been waiting to jump on the Monster Hunter craze on the Switch, now is the time!

New Pokemon Snap

April 30 | Nintendo | Switch

Nintendo is unleashing peak late ’90s nostalgia with this revival of the Pokemon Snap series for the Switch. Wrapped in a modern package, New Pokemon Snap is more of the on-rails photography game you loved when you were a kid. The game features over 200 Pokemon to capture with your trusty camera, which you can upload online to share with other players. And true to the Instagram era, you can now touch up your pictures, adding blur and filters, adjusting the zoom, and more. This is a must-buy for Nintendo fans.

New World

August 31 | Amazon Games | PC

Amazon has had its sights set on the gaming world for quite some time, quietly pumping money into a number of projects, and New World could be its breakthrough hit. In this MMORPG set on an unnamed land in the Atlantic Ocean in the 1600s, you’ll wield bows, hammers, hatchets, magical staffs, musket rifles, spears, and swords against a variety of fantastical creatures. There will also be plenty of opportunities to gather resources, craft and build settlements. Best of all, there’s no monthly fee to play.

Launching a new IP is always difficult, and MMOs are a particularly difficult genre to break into, but if any company has the resources to succeed, it’s Amazon. 

Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139…

April 23 | Square Enix | PS4, XBO, PC

Before Nier: Automata was hailed as one of the best games of the last generation, there was simply Nier, a quirky, slightly janky action RPG that nevertheless found a devoted fanbase on the PS3 and Xbox 360. Square Enix has been cagey on exactly what improvements we’ll see in Replicant, an updated version of the original, saying only that it’s somewhere between a remaster and a full remake. 

The screenshots we’ve seen so far look absolutely gorgeous, and the combat system will also be updated to more closely resemble Automata’s gameplay. Considering that Nier‘s graphics and combat were criticized at the time, Replicant could end up being the definitive version of the experience.

Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection

June 10 | Team Ninja | XBO, PS4, Switch, PC

Before there was Dark Souls, masochists flocked to the Ninja Gaiden series, which basically wrote the book on punishing action games. If you’ve been missing this franchise of late, Koei Tecmo is re-releasing three of the 3D installments in a sleek new collection for modern platforms. Included in the box are Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, plus most of the downloadable content released for these games.

No More Heroes III

August 27 | Grasshopper Manufacture | Switch

Another game that was bumped into 2021 at the last minute, we actually haven’t seen that much from this one, even though it should be out soon. Screenshots show Travis Touchdown wielding his trademark beam katana and performing pro wrestling moves on enemies. And everything looks much better on the Switch than the first two games originally released on the Wii.

As we’ve all come to expect from Suda51 and Grasshopper Manufacture by now, the story sounds absolutely bonkers, involving a weird parody of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and aliens posing as superheroes who Travis must now defeat to save the world. It doesn’t make a ton of sense, but No More Heroes fans wouldn’t have it any other way.

The Outlast Trials

TBA | Red Barrels | PC

While The Outlast Trials will be the third game in the Outlast series, it won’t follow the plot of the previous games and instead will focus on the subjects of some sort of Cold War experiment. Those earlier games didn’t feature any combat, instead forcing you to evade enemies to survive, and it’s a safe bet that The Outlast Trials will follow a similar gameplay structure. It’ll also feature four-player co-op, a first for the horror series. Knowing Red Barrels, you should expect something really scary.

Outriders

April 1 | People Can Fly | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC

Outriders combines the shooter and RPG genres in some unique and engaging ways. At the start of the game, you’ll pick from one of four classes: the time manipulating Trickster, fire-controlling Pyromancer, the seismic-powered Devastator, or the Technomancer, each of whom has a full-featured skill tree. Some have compared the title to live service games like Destiny and The Division, but Outriders also has a style of its own, presenting itself as a grittier alternative to those games.

Persona 5 Strikers

February 23 | Omega Force and P-Studio | PS4, PC, Switch

It’s a tradition at this point for Atlus to spin-off a Persona game into as many other titles as possible. We’ve already seen rhythm and dungeon crawler spin-offs of Persona 5 (and even a Super Smash Bros. cameo from Joker), but this is The Phantom Thieves’ first foray into the hack and slash genre. Gameplay is a mix of the usual Dynasty Warriors combo attacks, but there are also turn-based persona battles as well. And of course, expect plenty of Persona 5’s usual style and flare. 

Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis

TBA | Sega | XSX, XBO, PC

Wait, didn’t Phantasy Star Online 2 just come out? Well yes, but only in the West. Japan has been playing the game since 2012, which is why the MMORPG might feel a little dated. New Genesis is a half update-half sequel with updated combat, and for the first time in the series, open world areas. It’s more like the Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn update instead of a whole new game. The best part is that you’ll be able to transfer over your character from PSO 2 to New Genesis, and like its predecessor, it will be completely free-to-play.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake

TBA | Ubisoft | PS4, XBO, PC

The Sands of Time was arguably the best game of the PS2 era, which is why a remake is long overdue. Fan reception regarding the new art style has been mixed, though it certainly does look better than the original 2003 release. But how this remake plays remains to be seen.

While lauded for its tight platforming and time-bending mechanics, The Sands of Time always suffered from lackluster combat. Let’s hope Ubisoft has ironed out all of the kinks with this remake, though.

Originally planned for a January release, Ubisoft recently pushed the game back to March 18, so we’ll have to wait just a little bit longer for the return of the Prince.

Psychonauts 2 

TBA | Double Fine | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC

Fans have been waiting for a Psychonauts sequel for 15 years now. Fortunately, it looks like Double Fine’s follow up will finally see the light of day in 2021. The first game was praised for its varied levels and puzzles, and Psychonauts 2 will again see Raz delving into the psyches of other characters, with hilarious and frightening results. Raz won’t be completely alone for this journey as Double Fine has announced that he will be joined by a new glowing companion voiced by Jack Black.  

Rainbow Six Quarantine 

TBA | Ubisoft | XSX, PS5, PS4, XBO, PC

Rainbow Six Siege is still one of the most popular multiplayer games on the market years after its release, which is why Ubisoft isn’t looking to get in the way of its own success with Quarantine. While Siege focuses on PvP combat, Quarantine takes its inspiration from that game’s popular limited time Outbreak mode. In this spin-off, teams of three work together to eliminate an alien threat controlled by the AI in dynamic missions. The game won’t be completely independent from Siege though, with at least some of its roster of operators also being playable in Quarantine.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

June 11 | Insomniac games | PS5

There hasn’t been a bad Ratchet & Clank game yet, and Rift Apart seems poisted to continue that trend. The basic gameplay will be similar to the excellent 2016 reboot, but Insomniac is taking advantage of the power of the PS5’s SSD to introduce instant travel between completely different worlds. From what we’ve seen in gameplay trailer so far, the mechanic is very impressive in action. Equally stunning are the game’s visuals, which will support real-time raytracing and full 4K resolution.

Resident Evil Village 

May 7 | Capcom | XSX, PS5, PC

Resident Evil Village is a direct sequel to Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, but don’t call it Resident Evil 8, as Capcom is emphatic that the focus will be on the mysterious occurrences in a European village and not the larger Resi universe. From the one trailer we’ve seen, we know that Ethan Winters will be returning from the previous game, and this time around he’ll be joined by series regular Chris Redfield. 

Gameplay will again be in first-person, so you should notice quite a few similarities with Resi 7, but with improved graphics and much shorter load times since this will be one of the first major next-gen releases that won’t have a PS4 or Xbox One version.

Scorn

TBA | Ebb Software | XSX, PC

Scorn looks like an absolute nightmare, but in the best possible way. It is, after all, directly inspired by the art of H.R. Giger of Alien fame and Polish painter Zdzisław Beksiński. In Scorn, you play as a skinless humanoid searching for answers in a horrific techno-organic open world. At the very least, it promises to be the most disturbing title of the year.

Shin Megami Tensei V

2021 | Atlus | Switch

While the Persona spin-off series gets most of the attention nowadays, the original Shin Megami Tensei franchise is still going strong, and the latest title in the long-running series should be out worldwide next year.

This is the first Shin Megami Tensei developed using the Unreal Engine 4, so it should look fantastic, but expect similar gameplay to previous titles, including turn-based combat and lots of negotiating with demons to try to get them to join your party.

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury on Switch

February 12 | Nintendo | Switch

When it was released in 2013, Super Mario 3D World was easily one of the best Mario games in years, effortlessly combining the 3D movement of newer games in the series with the level design and multiple characters of the original NES games. You could play as Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, or Rosalina, and they could each don catsuits that opened up all sorts of new platforming opportunities. But maybe 10 people played it because no one bought the Wii U.

Fortunately, the game received the re-release it deserved this year. Plus you get a whole new campaign called Bowser’s Fury, an interesting twist on the usual Mario level structure that’s worth a playthrough.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2

TBA | GSC Game World | XSX, PC

The original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games were praised for their horrifying atmosphere, survival horror gameplay, and unique setting in the radioactive Chernobyl zone. Even now, almost 14 years after its release, Shadow of Chernobyl holds up pretty well, even if the graphics are dated.

At this point, we know more about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s troubled development than the game itself. The title was first announced in 2010, cancelled in 2012, and then revived in 2018. The trailer released in 2020 looks promising though, and Microsoft has announced that the game will be available via Game Pass on release day.

Valheim

February 2 | Iron Gate AB

Valheim came out of nowhere to become one of the big success stories of 2021, selling more than a million copies less than three weeks after its early access release. If you aren’t caught up on the latest Steam phenomenon, think of it as Minecraft mixed with Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. You and up to nine other friends are dropped off in the middle of a Viking afterlife to survive, craft, and battle mythical creatures.

Iron Gate AB has been vague about what exactly to expect from future updates, but the studio has teased future customization options for homes and ships, and eventually even a new biome to explore. 

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide 

TBA | Fatshark | XSX, PC

Fatshark’s previous Warhammer Vermintide games were among the best co-op titles of the last generation, featuring heart-pumping four-player multiplayer action against hordes of rat men. The latest installment, Darktide, has a lot in common with previous Vermintide games, except that the setting has moved to the sci-fi-heavy Warhammer 40,000 universe. Players will control members of the Inquisition, who are sent on a mission to exterminate a heretical cult known as The Admonition. The game will feature the same visceral melee combat as its predecessors, but this time all that killing is done for the glory of the God Emperor. 

Wrath: Aeon of Ruin

TBA | KillPixel

First-person shooters have come a long way in the last couple of decades, but some times you just want to run and gun in a dark fantasy setting as quickly as possible. And remarkably few modern games provide that experience. Enter Wrath: Aeon of Ruin, a spiritual successor to Quake, Doom, and Hexen, built on the 25-year-old Quake Engine.

Wrath has been in Early Access since November 2019, and what’s been released so far is very promising, looking and sounding like a lost PC shooter from the late ‘90s. The full game should be out later this year. 

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[treatian]

The Chronicles of the Dark One:  The Dark Curse

Chapter 123:  A Delicate Negotiation

Who did he know who had taught Regina to use black birds to carry messages? Who might Regina have accidentally told he had a maid around his castle? Who did he know who had a friend that might be able to easily obtain a sand dollar? Who knew a woman that might be able to force a shifter boy in animal form into his property to lure away a gullible woman? Who would have a bone to pick with him? Who knew magic and wouldn't mind torturing the Gauntlet out of the same young woman she'd kidnapped and would do something stupid like demand the Gauntlet in a half-assed ransom plan?

Maleficent.

Ursula.

Cruella.

He didn't particularly care for the situation they'd placed him in, Belle for the Gauntlet, but by the time he'd returned home and thought of an alternative plan, he was out of time to do anything more than execute that plan. He didn't like it, it was untested, and there was a very real chance that he might not succeed, but thinking of it as one great experiment helped. He wasn't going to pay a ransom for Belle, and he especially wasn't going because he "liked her", as Regina had so childishly accused him of. He was going in order to see an experiment through. If it worked, excellent. If it failed…well he'd only had the Gauntlet for a short time, and he couldn't even work the damn thing. He supposed he couldn't miss what he'd never had. Belle's tea cakes, on the other hand…he might miss those. Besides, though he could see the future, he didn't have time to sit down and meditate on it right now, which meant that for him, the outcome was uncertain. He was a smart man, an experienced dealmaker, trading the Gauntlet wasn't written in stone, for all he knew he could figure a way out of this that included Belle and the Gauntlet.

It wasn't midnight when he finally grabbed the Gauntlet and went to Demon's Bluff, but it was close enough. He couldn't have waited any longer even if he'd wanted to. The thought of Belle at the mercy of those three demons, and the potential to gain an advantage, was too much to resist.

Demon's Bluff was a rocky, dangerous place. It was almost always slippery. The rocks and their height in the sea depended upon the tides. He had a strong suspicion that when high tide came in, this part of the bluff would be underwater, but he couldn't be sure. He'd only ever been once before, and that was when he'd tried to con Ursula into taking him across realms and attempted to steal her trident. The tide had been lower then, but it had been just as dark. Now, he listened as waves crashed around him. To the naked eye, the area around him seemed empty and desolate, but he knew better. Magic was in the air, the kind of Dark Magic he'd encountered plenty of times when he came across Maleficent. Ahead of him was a cave. If he had to guess, they were hiding out, waiting for him. Had he been alone, he would have gone inside. But he wasn't sure where Belle was. He didn't know how they were holding her, her condition, if she'd be fit to move, or if they'd cast a spell that prevented him from taking her. He'd have to play by their rules. For now…

"I have what you want, dearie!" he cried at the top of his lungs. "Now, show yourself!"

He expected to see Maleficent, he figured they'd start with their strongest player and then bring the weakest out holding a knife or some other kind of weapon to Belle's throat. He didn't expect to see his maid come staggering out of the cave first, hands bound with rope so thick she couldn't move them. She looked fine. Perhaps a little upset, but there appeared to be no split lip, no cuts or blood, no black eyes. It was just the look on her face that held his concentration. He'd never seen her scared before.

"Rumple!" she called out. "Help!"

His breath caught, he was a step away from walking over, seizing her up, and carrying her off to the castle. But he was too slow. Before he could take that step and save her, he felt a burst of magic pulsing around her. There was a trap laid around her so that he couldn't do just that. And then…a voice.

"Yes, Rumpelstiltskin! You help her!"

Maleficent's voice carried around the rocks and over the crash of the waves. It was everywhere all at once, a simple, cheap spell. And then there they were an unkindness of black birds that he could see now, up close, were in fact ravens. They were where the voice had come from. Apparently, someone had been practicing a shapeshifting spell.

"Maleficent!" he yelled, a voice he'd only reserved for Baelfire when he was playing games and not being nearly as serious as he'd wanted him to be. She took it to heart; a moment later the ravens formed into the body of a woman and there she was, the dragon herself. He could kill her for all this. In fact, he still wasn't past killing her if necessary, it would certainly take whatever spell she'd placed on Belle away and allow him to leave with her. But he'd learned in his time not to be rash and considering he was certain there were still two more people about that he hadn't seen yet, a decision like that seemed the definition of "rash".

"Oh! I am impressed!" he smiled giddily, waving his hands in the air like a silly excited child. He loved putting people at ease before he killed them. "Didn't think you had it in you!"

"I'm not here for your praise," Maleficent stated coolly. "Give me the Gauntlet, and you can have your wench back."

Wench. Something about that word twisted his stomach. Maybe because it was what that sick sheriff had called Belle when he tried to make a deal as well, but he felt a bit of his control ebb at that word. She was not "his wench" not in any way Maleficent or the sheriff or even Regina thought! But, furthermore, the only one allowed to call her such things, would be him.

"Well…seeing as how you asked so nicely!" He let his magic loose and watched with delight as Maleficent was thrown into the night sky, hoisted higher and higher by her throat. He rejoiced with every last gag and choke that made it's way from her mouth to his ears. It was as sweet as a nightingale's song. "You think you can steal from the Dark One and live?" he questioned menacingly. "Fatal mistake, dearie! Any last words?"

There was a pause as the woman gathered her breath. "I'm…not…alone," she finally whispered, somehow managing a raspy and cold chuckle.

It was a good reminder. He'd never assumed she was alone, but if he'd gone much farther he might have forgotten. His back was to the ocean. Ordinarily that was a good thing, but considering one of her number was Ursula…

"The Sea Witch!"

And there she was, right on cue, not behind him, but in front of him. She walked out of the cave, but he could hardly focus on her as he watched one tentacle wrap around Belle's neck, instantly turning her face red. In another second, one encircled her waist as well. That was bad. Now not only was Maleficent's spell protecting her, so was Ursula. He felt dread wash over him as he fought to keep himself collected before their eyes, but he couldn't help but feel that he had lost his opportunity. He could have killed Maleficent and whisked Belle away in a flash before the duo knew what had happened. He should have done that. Now he could kill one, but she would still be trapped. He was trying to think of something, but Belle had gone silent as Ursula held her, and every second felt like he was closer to releasing the Gauntlet to them.

"Such a pretty thing! Seems a shame I'll have to crack her pipes!" Ursula taunted in a low, threatening voice.

"Harm one hair on her head…Maleficent burns!" he threatened right back. He was making a bet, a good bet, but a bet all the same. They'd stayed together after he'd brought them together he had to assume the pair meant something to one another. Or should he say the trio…

"Then Ursula will kill your maid and…and where will that leave us?" Cruella questioned, emerging from the darkness with a slow stagger so much different than Belle's powerless one.

"Cruella! Thought I caught a whiff of desperation and gin!" he squealed as if he were happy to see her when really she was the last person on earth he'd ever expected to come into contact with. Frankly, he was shocked to see any of them. He knew they'd survived Bald Mountain, but he'd thought his defenses were good enough he'd never have to endure something like this again. He hated to curse children, but if it weren't for that damn pup…!

"I must say I'm surprised to see you all here. Last time we crossed, it looked like things weren't going your way! And…unless you hand back my maid, they won't be this time either!"

"Shall I get you a step stool so you can look in my eyes when you threaten me?!" Cruella snapped with the look of a tiger about to pounce in her eyes. It was funny, she was the least magic out of the three, if she thought she could scare him, then she had another thing coming. He might have laughed, if Belle wasn't still so clearly struggling.

"I don't need to threaten you, dearie. It took three of you to get this far, and I promise it isn't far enough!"

"Have it your way!" Cruella commented with a small shrug. "Ursula, darling, crush the maid's heart!"

His eyes immediately went to Belle, and he felt a jolt rush through his body. He could see that Cruella wasn't bluffing and Ursula wasn't joking around. Her tentacles tightened over her waist as well as her neck. And Belle…she'd been struggling until now, twisting and turning her wrists as if she could loosen the knots, standing up straight as Ursula forced her to. He'd thought, up until that moment that her face had been red, now knew it was only pink. That color, right there, that was red. Red to purple, it was only a matter of time until it went blue. Blue was bad. After blue came white…and not the pale she usually was. The colors of her face reminded him of just how wrong Cruella had been. Ursula didn't need to crush her heart, just her windpipe.

Strangulation. That could be quick, but not very enjoyable. He should know, he'd done it to a number of his own victims, just as he was doing it now to Maleficent. For Belle to experience it…

Her eyes watched him. First, they were pleading, but he could see her begin to fade out. Soon her vision would bubble and then blacken and then she'd pass out and if the witch kept it up she'd never wake up again. He moved his eyes from her to Ursula to Cruella, hoping to see her watching her, hoping to see a bit of sympathy, to see that she was going to hold off and loosen her grip so she could make him another offer. But he saw none of that. Just determination in their eyes…and nearly nothing in Belle's.

It was up to him. He couldn't summon her away, and he couldn't kill Maleficent. In the time it took to remove the spell from Maleficent and kill Ursula, they'd have Belle again, and this time she'd be weak. They'd planned well, but not as well as him.

He didn't want to hand the Gauntlet over, he didn't want to be perceived as weak to them not even for the few hours he would be. But it was clear to him that he had no choice. Belle had maybe only a few seconds. He had a plan; he just needed to stick to it. He had to trust is magic. By the end of the night, the Gauntlet would be right back in his possession and hopefully, in a few seconds, so would Belle.

He grit his teeth together as he tossed the Gauntlet to Cruella as he released Maleficent from his death grip, giving in to their requests. He looked right away to Belle and immediately saw the Sea Witch loosen her grip on her neck. Her heard a choked gasp come from her, it was small, but enough to make him want to sigh with relief. She was getting air again. That was something.

He turned to the three women. When this was over, and he had the Gauntlet back, they were going to die. They knew him well enough to know that. Why they would even do try to make him angry…

"That was a risky endeavor for an old glove, dearies."

"Well, the risk was worth it…for too long we've lived in a world where the heroes always win!" Ursula declared.

"And the Gauntlet will reveal our enemy's weaknesses, and we will be the victors," Cruella added.

He wanted to roll his eyes. This old thing…that was the argument he'd used with them to get his curse. After he'd left them there for dead, they didn't still think he'd been serious, did they?

"Let her go!" Maleficent commanded before he could ask her.

One second Belle was far from him, struggling with her wrists and her breathing, the next moment Ursula had let her go and shoved her toward the cliff. She stumbled, losing her footing, she would have fallen had he not lunged forward and caught her.

They were clever, her captors. At that moment, when he was too busy getting Belle to stand, that was when Maleficent let her magic swell and carry the three of them away, back to her castle, if he had to guess. That was fine. He'd summon them back. But only once he was sure Belle was safe again.

He'd caught her, but she was still struggling. Her legs were shaking, they were so weak he could feel her faltering. Her hands were still bound and she leaned into him, into the hands that were keeping her propped up, to compensate. And her breathing...it was rough. She was inhaling, it was deep and fast, and if she didn't calm down soon, she was going to pass out from getting too much air.

"Wh-why would you do that?" she questioned, looking at him with bleary eyes. Talking. Her voice was breathless, no doubt her threat would soon swell from where she'd been strangled. She was still in danger, and she needed not to speak until he could heal her properly. "I…I mean with that object you…"

"They won't be able to harm you," he insisted. That was true whether he got the Gauntlet back or not. He was going to take her back home, heal her wounds, see her to sleep, and make sure nothing like this ever happened again. If that meant he needed to kill them, then so be it.

"Why do you care about me?"

Now it was him who didn't breathe. She was staring up at him, looking perhaps the most miserable and pathetic that he'd ever seen her look. The ocean was raging behind him, but for just a second, as he looked back into her gaze, the world went oddly quiet, as if it was waiting for an answer just as she was. Why did he care about her?

"I don't!" he stated, forcing himself to let go of her, though the second she began to stumble again he wanted only to grab her once more. It wasn't because he cared. It was instinct, something gentlemanly still left within him, something that he needed to squash. Promptly. And the idea that he cared about her was one that he needed to crush from her head right now. This hadn't been to save her. It was an experiment. He was just making sure that all his collection was in order. "But if anyone's going to crush your heart…it's gonna be me!"

"But you won't!" she shook her head. He could tell that she'd meant for the words to be nearly as insistent as his were, but instead they'd come out gravely, with only a breath. They'd done damage to her. If he didn't heal her soon then her throat might swell shut. "You won't…"

She made a move suddenly, as if to take a step closer to him, but she lost her footing again, her legs fell out from under her and she would have crashed to the ground if he hadn't reached out and caught her again. She was in bad shape, and she wanted to stand here and discuss his motivation for why he'd done this?! At this rate, he wouldn't need to crush her heart, she'd end up doing it all by herself.

He rolled his eyes and pulled her closer against his chest to stabilize her. "If you don't kill yourself first," he muttered as he let the magic take them home.

[early-sxnsets]

tag game(s)

anï (i’m too exhausted to do three separate posts but i was tagged in three tag games over the past few days and i’d forgotten to do the last few games i was tagged in and i feel super guilty so here they are in one go)

i don’t know who to tag to do these rn because my brain is dead i am emotionally exhausted and i’m writing a fic that’s about halfway done so i’m gonna say tag anyone who wants to be tagged for any of these. i’m so sorry that i’m dead, i will be back alive again after may 10th, which is my AP exam day

six questions challenge

tagged by @simon--speaks

rules: answer the questions, then tag 9 people you want to get to know better!

Q1: Relationship status?

single bby

Q2: Favorite color?

maroon !

Q3: Top 3 ships?

snowbaz (wow) and uh. wow. idk who else. i wanna say my own ocs matchstick and summer (is that allowed? i’m making it allowed)

Q4: Lipstick or chapstick?

whenever i get to this question in any ask i freeze up because i use a tinted chapstick so i don’t look dead but like. it can also be seen as a lipstick because it has pigment. but. chapstick.

Q5: Last song I listened to?

Run by Hozier

Q6: Last movie I watched?

uhhh i watched like. 5 minutes of the emperor’s new groove a few days ago, and watched a documentary about obscure houses like 10 minutes before that. so. i’m gonna say the house documentary.

21 questions

i was tagged by @simon--speaks, @angelsfalling16, @wo2ash, @alixanderthequeer, @sharkmartini and @bazypitchandsimonsnow

rules: answer 21 questions then tag 21 people

nickname: anï, munchkin, menina, and my hebrew name is elisheva

height: the doctor says i’m 5′3.5″, but they can’t put fractions on IDs so according to the state i’m 5′4″ and i cling to that

last movie i saw: see above (so like. funky houses)

last thing i googled: (next town over) movie tavern. i’m not saying where it is exactly bc hah i don’t wanna be stalked but. i was looking at movie times because they have $5 movies every tuesday

favorite musician: frank iero. love that funky rat man and his funky music too (i’m gonna see him for the second time next month because i made the executive adult decision to say fuck it to my seizures and go see him anyway)

song stuck in my head: i don’t have one rn but usually it’s a song by the killers (when you were young is a usual one)

other blogs: none, actually! i didn’t delete my old tumblr purely bc i’m a nostalgic dumbass, but it’s a completely different login and it’s inactive so i don’t count it.

followers: 1,666 (originally i wasn’t gonna share the number but it hit this last night and i was like heh. nice)

following: 231

amount of sleep: 8ish hours! (spring break bby)

lucky numbers: 7, multiples of 3 (only in cases of knocking), and multiples of 2 (only in cases like volume)

dream job: writing and illustrating books! i have a variety of dream jobs within art, and even within the subcategory of books, but my top dream job is creating inclusive/diverse children’s books that represent a variety different ethnicities/races, religions, abilities, and identities so that children can see themselves represented in media

what i’m wearing: a black turtleneck, a bra, and marvel boxers. that’s it.

favorite food: soup in general. i make a kick ass matzo ball soup

language: english, conversational portuguese, i know a small small bit of japanese (i should know more given i was raised being taught it but i always struggled with it), and i know some spanish. i also plan on teaching myself ASL.

can i play an instrument: yes! i’ve been playing violin since i was 2. i wanna play guitar and i know some chords but i have small hands so it’s hard to find one that’s the right size that isn’t a shitty children’s guitar, and i sing! i’m an alto

favorite song: hnnghg please don’t make me pick................ i’d have to say choke on one another by death spells

random fact: so like. if you didn’t know already, i’m an LGBTQ+ youth activist on a national scale. i disappear on occasion because i’m doing something or another, and sometimes i post about it on my blog (speaking of i have exciting news that i heard, but at the same time, i’m pretty much booked every weekend from middle of next month until middle of july), but........ i hate networking. i loathe it. if i never had to network again, i’d be thrilled. networking is my absolute least favorite thing because i struggle at everyday conversation, much less networking with people at least 10-20 years my senior. sure it’s usually free publicity and i get great connections, but god. at what cost? and like.... it’s always after a really emotionally taxing event, so i’m already drained and then wow here’s a room full of adults who want my 18 year old input. please. just let me steal a cupcake then leave.

describe yourself in aesthetic things: dye stained fingernails and necks. cranked open windows during a spring shower. dried tears and breaking laughs. coffee stains and milky tea splashes. trembling fingers, writing instead of speaking because you’re too afraid, and finally breaking free--running through the rain. scabbing blood, fresh piercings. knowing you’re loved and not saying it because it doesn’t need to be spoken. the smell of a new canvas, paint splattered jeans, and art school sweaters. black skirts with docs, then fairy lights and soft blankets hidden behind sharp profanities and harsh disgust. the unexpected. the unknown. the ever-changing, unstoppable force of the shifting tides. 

carry on questions

tagged by @goodbyedandelion, @isthisisagoodkiss @wo2ash, 

1- favorite type of scone? 

cranberry orange! one of the farms a county over has a market and they sell them there and they’re to die for (altho, i found a sour cherry scone recipe that i’ve perfected and my family loves them so they’re a close second now)

2- london or la?

i’ve never been to london, but i’m gonna have to go with london. i went to la last october to present in an awards show for my organization and i lowkey was underwhelmed. i’m very much a gloom and rain kinda person, and it was too dry and sunny there. although, i did think the huge succulents were sick as fuck. but yeah definitely london. i’m planning to spend a semester abroad there in a few years for an illustration program

3- kissing in a forest or holding hands under the stars?

i’m afraid of forests because we have a lot of wildlife and i don’t want to get mauled by a bear don’t mind me holding hands under the stars :)

4- jeans or suit?

suit suit suIT SUIT suit. i love wearing suits. my chest doesn’t cooperate and my hips always hate them but god i do love suits.

5- loose hair or pulled back hair?

mine looks better loose, and my sides/back are shaved but the top reaches my ears, so it gets annoying sometimes and i pull it up to keep it out of my face

6- vampires or dragons?

i wanna say both. i used to say “yknow a dragon but in human form would be hot” then i got called dragon fucker for like two years so out of pure spite i’m going with vampires.

7- what saying do you wish could be a spell?

(this one’s a very specific reference so hear me out) “i’ve got to go pee on her”  used to disorient and confuse the speech of the person casted upon. it’s one of my favorite quotes from scott pilgrim vs. the world (my favorite movie ngl) when scott’s brain can’t figure out two different sentences and he just says that. it’s so good and just fuckin weird that i love it.

8- which carry on character would you go on a coffee date with if you could?

depends tbh! if we’re talking date date, then penny because i would wife penny in 0.5 seconds, but if we’re talking friends getting coffee then 10000000% baz because i’d talk activism and identities with him

9- favorite carry on quote?

“he told me we would be stars” (i don’t have my book on me so i could be getting the line wrong), but it hit so hard for me. like it’s clear how davy manipulated lucy so much that she fell into it and couldn’t crawl out. it’s such a powerful message of control from those who are charismatic enough to hold it, and how sometimes we aren’t weak enough to let go.

10- how excited are you for wayward son?

lemme paint this picture: i started hyperventilating in the hallway when i found out, and then cried an hour or two later when my friend texted me that he preordered me a signed copy. like. i’ve been pre-planning how to get home from college to come and pick it up (okok the 24th is also my dad’s birthday so i’m. um. “coming home to visit him”, of course) because i’m just SO EXCITED to read them again in a canon way :’)

[3laxx]

3laxx Masterpost

This is a Masterpost for all my (reuploaded) fanfictions, art and photos that I took, with a link and short summaries!

Hope this helps to orientate over the name change from @awesomefreckledjesus to @3laxx that I made early in 2018!

My profiles if you want to check me out on other websites are counted up here:

Tumblr - 3laxx Twitter - ToniWorz Discord - 3laxx #9024 Archiveofourown - 3laxx Fanfiction - 3laxx Instagram - _3laxx_ DeviantArt - 3laxx

Everything you need to know, sorted and (re)uploaded, is under the cut!

Fanfictions (#freckles writes)

  OneShots:

Reckless Adrienette, post-reveal: When Marinette and Adrien get into a fight, everything turns out for the worst. Can Marinette convince him to think twice before he makes his final decision? Ao3 / FF.net

Escalation Adrienette, pre-reveal: One dumb action by Adrien, one boiling of anger Alya, one passed out Marinette and one laughing-his-ass-off Nino. That should be hilarious. NoMagic!AU tho. Slight Adrienette, hinting to more Ao3 / FF.net

Jealous Kitten Adrienette, jealous Adrien, pre-reveal: Jelly Adrien happens, Nathaniel's in the game, Marinette's confused, Alya threatens with killing. Just a normal day for our heroes, isn't it? Ao3 / FF.net

Just an ordinary day in Paris LoveSquare and slight DJWifi, reveal, Alya-centric: A reveal that's a little... Sudden. Not just for the superheroes but also and foremost for their friends. Ao3 / FF.net

Stargazing Marichat and Adrienette, pre-reveal, Secret Santa gift for @sweet-childhood-dreams: After a night of stargazing, Chat begins to see things in Marinette that he didn't think would be possible. His heart belongs to Ladybug... Right? Ao3 / FF.net

Aftermath Marichat, reveal, Server Secret Santa: After Marinette takes a hit that was meant for Chat Noir she gets patched up by him. Fluff ensues and a reveal is just around the corner. Ao3 / FF.net

Raging Flames DJWifi, Nino-centric: The raging flames come closing in on him as he spots her. And all she sees is his face, framed by heat and death. Ao3 / FF.net

  Prompt Collections:

My lovely DJ (#my lovely dj) Nino Appreciation week: A collection of prompts all around our favorite boy Nino! Ao3 / FF.net

Wintery Warm Drabbles (#wintery warm drabbles) 25 days of Christmas: Winter! Christmas! What's our Miraculous Squad up to? I found a prompt list for 25 days and spontaneously decided hey, why not, let's see if I'll make it? Ao3 / FF.net

My sweet reporter (#my sweet reporter) Alya Appreciation week: Since I already did Nino Appreciation Week in October I thought why not give it a try? Ao3 / FF.net

Miraculous Prompts (#prompt) Collection of all Prompts and ideas: It's just a list of prompts around ML that I came up with and I wanna share what I wrote so far. Ao3 / FF.net

  Multichaptered:

Nightmares (finished) 9/9 chapters, Adrienette and DJWifi, reveal: Adrien has terrible nightmares and slowly becomes desperate. Things escalate (I wonder why they always do in my fics... Meh, so many mysteries!) and he soon confuses his friends by acting really strange around a certain bluenette. Adrienette, slight DJWifi and rated M for language and serious injuries Ao3 / FF.net

Party Night (finished) 2/2 chapters, Adrienette and DJWifi, NonMagic!AU, slightly aged up: New Year's Eve! The old year ends with some new things to get used to for Marinette. But as the new year starts, there'll be something entirely different waiting for her. Ao3 / FF.net

Unfortunate Kitten (in progress) 6/? chapters, pure angst, Chat Noir side switch: The words play over and over in his head. "He’s-… Tall. And blonde, like you.", and every word feels like a punch. "Kind. Really kind.", and he feels jealousy as well as hopelessness bubbling up in his chest. But just as the tears stop spilling, someone makes him an offer which lets his loyality change sides... Ao3 / FF.net

Cola Date (in progress) 6/? chapters, pure fluff, DJWifi centric, NonMagic!AU, aged up and new meets: When Alya finds herself on a date with the wrong guy she searches for unconventional help to get her out of this. Luckily, the cute waiter doesn't mind to help her out with a favor. And just as the glass topples over, the date changes into a completely different direction. A direction she can definitely live with, Alya decides. Ao3 / FF.net

Breeze (#breeze) (finished) 54/54 chapters, Lovesquare and DJWifi, mature topics, slightly aged-up: Marinette sobbed into her hands as she recalled Chloé’s hurtful words, each and every one of them. “You’re nothing! You’re not even worth yourself, much less your so-called friends! Don’t you see they just hang out with you because they pity you?! You’re worth the dirt under my feet, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. And you have no right to speak to me like that, you pathetic little brat. You don’t even have the right to speak to anyone! Just keep your stupid thoughts and ideas to yourself because nobody wants to hear them!” After a big fight with Chloé, Marinette finds herself sobbing on her bed. The words hit her deep down. And before she knows it a dark Akuma comes fluttering in, ready to introduce her to Hawkmoth... Ao3 / FF.net

Wind (#wind) (in progress)

5/? chapters, Lovesquare and DJWifi, mature topics, slightly aged-up: After the fight against Hawkmoth - which ended completely not as planned - Marinette begins the way of healing. It's still a long path but her friends and family are on her side the entire way. Slowly, she finds back to her old self and despite a few backlashes, manages to get back onto her feet. Now that Ladybug is back she gets back to a balanced life, which is especially needed as finals come closer. Though, the evil does not sleep and so, Master Fu chooses anew... Ao3 / FF.net

 Tumblr Prompts:

Comic prompt suggestion from @shinrei261

DJWifi kiss on @orangebunnit‘s comic

Make-up Alya on @orangebunnit‘s doodles

ML Kittens!AU for @qookyquiche Part 1 / Part 2

DJWifi birthday gift for @tides-miraculous

 Headcanons:

Miraculous class headcanons

DJ Carapace Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

Art (#freckles draws)

  Unrelated drawings:

Kart gift (gift sketch) Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram

Self portrait (WiP) Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram / Twitter

@orangebunnit’s birthday gift Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram / Twitter

  Miraculous Ladybug fanart:

Sketches:

Harry Potter!AU (traditional art) Tumblr

Zorro!AU Tumblr

Miss Fortune Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram

DJWifi morning cuddles Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram / Twitter

All Time Low Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram / Twitter

“M’lady!” Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram / Twitter

ML Kittens!AU Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram / Twitter

 Full drawings:

Ladybug portrait (gift) Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram / Twitter

Fresh dad Nino (first finished digital) Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram

"Close your eyes, Alya” Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram / Twitter

Meet the Artist Tumblr / DeviantArt

Meet the Artist portrait Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram / Twitter

No more fear Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram / Twitter

Stargazing Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram

New haircut Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram / Twitter

Selfie Nino Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram

Nino in a suit Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram

SwappedMiraculous!AU Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram / Twitter

Dragon!Alya Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram / Twitter

Yarn troubles Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram / Twitter

DJ Carapace Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram / Twitter

Racer!Nino Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram / Twitter

Racer!Alya Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram / Twitter

Racer!Adrien Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram / Twitter

Racer!Mari Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram / Twitter

Luka Couffaine Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram / Twitter

Adrien Agreste Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram / Twitter

Waiting for you Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram / Twitter

Collabs:

“Nino, don’t!!!“ - with @orangebunnit Tumblr / DeviantArt / Instagram / Twitter

Nino Lahiffe - with @lily-codie19 Tumblr

Feel free to send me an art prompt! You can choose from this expression or this otp couples challenge or just anything you’d like!

Photography (#freckles photos)

  Space:

Moon by night:

1 / 2 / 3

Moon by day:

1 / 2 / 3

Moon comparison day and night

Stars:

1 / 2

  Sunset:

1 / 2

  Other:

Zoom:

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

Winter nature:

1 / 2

My beautiful dog

Nymphenburg castle in munich

Birbs:

1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Fireworks:

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

Feel free to send me a prompt! Own list, reblogged list or anything you’d like!

Wanna buy me a coffee?

[keytextsfromkh]

0.2 A Fragmentary Passage

- As I complete year 10 of my new life in the world of Darkness, I realise it's the little things I miss most. Dandelions, sunsets, the smell of bacon in the morning.

- (Why the Cinderella world fell) Because it gave into the most foulest of corruptions: A live action remake.

- So don't expect any of that time travel bullshit from the last game.

- Can I walk like five fucking feet without running into these cum stains of Darkness.

- I guess after 10 years, her mind has dulled to the point where all her memories are only viewable in 480p.

- Boy, that ice cream really was something special.

- (Regarding living in the past) Sure you can, it's what most people do, especially when it comes to video games.

- So much for that "Time has no hold in this realm" theory. Want to take another crack at it?

- I guess since Aqua is from an older generation, she really does believe in the "Hit it until it responds" method. She tried it on Ven a week after he arrived in the Land of Departure and let's just say she had her Keyblade privileges revoked for a month.

- (Not even memories are safe from the Darkness) Yeah, I call it Black Nostalgia.

- (Where do the people go when their world is destroyed) They go to a nice farm in South Dakota with a huge field they get to play around in all day.

- Wow, Ven's really putting on the ritz here. I mean a glass coffin, what's next, a large mausoleum in central Moscow where he can rise and re-establish Communism?

- Don't eat the fiberglass insulation. It wasn't cotton candy like Xehanort said.

- The mirrors are going to rumble tonight!

- I think Aqua was transported out of her own game and into the warp room of a Crash Bandicoot game.

- Yeah but you don't have your friends so you're kind of lacking power here.

- That's kind of a silly thing to say in this series. Most of the main villains are the main characters' own worst enemies. You're not special in that regard.

- So the Phantom is the Youtube comment section?

- And let's all give a big warm welcome to Depression. You're going to love it.

- Oh Jesus, she's talking to plants now. I didn't expect her to succumb to Mark Wahlberg syndrome.

- Ok, that is a pretty fucking metal image.

- So this is what a Dark Mega Flare would look like.

- Well, I could bring up how you bonked Ven over the head with your Keyblade that one time. He wouldn't stop bleeding and crying for hours.

- (Ven, please say something) Prepare for Unforseen Consequences

- I can't think of anything more rewarding than being able to express yourself to others through painting.

- Did you just forget the whole Xehanort thing at the end of Birth By Sleep, I mean it was pretty self-explanatory.

- These are the grunts that R rated fanfic are made of.

- And boy did he really screw that chance up. I mean not one thing he did was right.

- (In Mickey Voice) You have no idea how many babies I had to slaughter to get that portal open.

- Oh we found him, he's just scattered around the place. I mean one part of him is located through a portal in my castle and the less said about the logic regarding that one, the better.

- Yeah but he's fighting the wrong people, he keeps attacking us.

- (Destroyed!Destiny Islands) This isn't the Realm of Darkness, this is just Florida.

- Silas and Riley, those were the names.

- FUCK DEMON TIDE! FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK THIS DEMON TIDE, IN IT'S MOTHERFUCKING ASS!

- It's not Kingdom Hearts, it's Kingdom of Hearts. Sure the name might be a bit off but it's just as good as the original.

- And after 15 years, the long sought answer of why Mickey was shirtless in Kingdom Hearts 1 has finally been provided.

- Hear me roar!

- Who knew Mickey had a thing for dramatic flair.

- Looks like a typical cloudy day in Ireland to me.

- (May your Heart be your Guiding Key) What a load of crock!

- It's like waiting for a bus. Aqua goes 10 years without finding anyone else and then she meets two people almost back to back.

- Even today, on quiet nights, if you listen real hard, you can hear "I am Master Aqua" on the wind.

- And we all know what happened the last time he attempted that. Does "13th Vessel" ring a bell?

- No, remain the Riku I saw in 3D, he was much more enjoyable and snarkier too.

- Yeah, no I can't. I'm a woman and this is current year, the last thing I should be doing is trusting men.

- I hope you like plaid because it's all we had in stock. Oh and the largest size available was medium so better suck it in Riku.

- Did I miss the orgy again?

- Dude, they left 5 hours ago, you were just really slow.

- Maybe we should give Sora a phone rather than new clothes.

- (Sora in the Sleeping Worlds) And you failed spectacularly.

- I'm back to level 1 again. This is what, the 5th time this has happened?

- And maybe a few extras too. I mean if Axel can be popular enough to get a spot on the team, I sure as fuck think Roxas is eligible.

- I'm surprised Sora made it to 16 acting as he does. I mean there's being a dork and then there's being Sora.

- (Having Donald and Goofy join us) I would beg to have it another way.

- I don't know, Riku managed just fine without you.

- Well if that's the tone you're going to take, I can ship both your asses to the Land of Dragons and see how well you do being turned inside out and served with Cranberry sauce.

- (This whole scene is giving me diabetes) I want to puke.

- We'll have to take the backstreets. It might not be safe and we might have to sell Donald's bill for money but we'll make it.

[impossible-rat-babies]

Writing Snippet #13

—

Antiva City—9:33 Dragon

The musty air hung heavy with the smells of tobacco smoke and liquor, the smoke making lazy paths across the large wooden ceiling beams overhead. The only thing more dominating than that was the nearly unbearably loud combination of tavern music, drunken conversation and inevitable bellowing from the drunken patrons. All taverns were the same, no matter where one went. From Starkhaven to Ansburg—even places deep in the seedy parts of Antiva City—all had the same feel. The booze was cheap, the people numorous...and the perfect places to hide and make money. No one cared who you were in backwater places which made for easy money when it came to cheating at cards games and card tricks.

And Darva Lavellan was good at both.

He swung back another shot of some Antivan whiskey and he twitched his hands, his ears wiggling under his hood before he sneezed. The cinnamon always made his nose runny...

The bartender came up and looked between him and his cup before Darva shook his head. Two was enough for one night. He passed two silver off to the bartender with a flick of his wrist and the man expertly tucked the coins into a secret pouch inside his shirt before he slinked off to his paying customers. Not like Darva wasn’t paying for a room upstairs, but drinks got rid of their money faster and two was enough for Darva.

Darva cleared his throat, turning in his seat at the bar to look around at the tavern. A few bar maids passed between tables, refilling drinks for the men who seemed to frequent this place after their work. Many had strong arms and big booming laughs; ones that could shake the whole establishment. And a whole crowd of them to boot Dock workers or labors coming for a drink after work, Darva would’ve ventured a guess. He couldn’t see their hands from here, but he bet they were calloused.

Another group sat not too far away, keeping quietly to themselves; he hadn’t seen them in here before. By their cloaks and solidarity, they were probably a merc group stopped for the night. Would probably move on the in the morning to find work elsewhere. Darva couldn’t say who would be hiring mercs in the seedy underbelly of Antiva city. More likely to hire a thief than anything else.

Small groups and singles decorated the other old mismatched furniture, keeping to themselves or talking to each other. It only added to the loud din of the establishment. But next to the men was a minstrel not too far off; he had a lute strapped to his chest that he happily strummed upon and a small set of pan pipes dangled from a string upon his chest to play at will. He sang happily about something or another that the patrons nearest to him seeemed to be enjoying. It was pleasant enough from what Darva could hear over the other tavern sounds.

Another hoot and holler rose from the men as a tankcard slammed on the table, rattling the whole of ensemble of drinks and food atop the table. They were going to leave a mess, that was for sure.

One of them called for another round from a waitress and Darva watched her bring the drinks back around, setting each one down as she maneuvered from wandering hands. Smart girl...or perhaps more practical.

Called herself Talia if Darva remembered right. She’d asked him what he was looking for when he came downstairs and he’d playfully teased about looking for her. She’d blown him off with a roll of her eyes and a smile meaning she knew he wasn’t serious. He’d given her a grin back from under his hood; a kinship started, as one would say.

He still watched her and he paused tapping his foot to the rhythm of the music when one of the men grasped her wrist and held fast. He raised an eyebrow, but lowered it as she expertly twisted her grasp from his hold. He was getting too drunk to hold his liquor, much less anything else. He caught Talia’s gaze once she finished and she wandered over to him, ducking in and out of other bustling patrons. He turned as she tucked herself between him and the patron on the stool beside him. Her waist pressed against the sides of his knees tucked close to the bar and he could’ve easily reached out and touched her from their close proximity.

“You watching me now, elf?” Talia asked and he grinned from under the hood. At this vantage point, he sat higher than she stood, so she had full view under his hood at all the tattoos that decorated his face and the shape of his ears tucked back. But from this close he could see the sharp look to her golden brown eyes and the sharp turn of her nose that meant it had been broken before.

She could more than handle herself, that was for sure.That and the two knives tucked into her bra and along her bodice would do the trick.

“Would that be too presumptuous of me?” He asked and she laughed, the sound lost to anyone else in the bar but the two of them. The volume saw to that concern.

“Only if you were too drunk to defend my honor should it come to that.” She spoke in a mocking drawl and it was Darva’s turn to laugh.

“I am not too drunk to defend your honor, Talia. But it looks like you’re capable of taking care of yourself.” He told her with a genuine smile and her lips twisted into a smirk, her bright blue eyes searching his green ones inquisitively.

“I like you, boy.” She told him and he let out a soft chuckle.

“Most folks do. Now,” He waved his hand, “don’t hesistate if those men give you more trouble than they’re worth to you.” He told her before he sat back and she scooted away.

He returned his gaze to the bar, idly watching the patrons scurry in and out of each other’s way like some elaborate dance timed to the minstrels song. He watched and listened as the time wore on, groups and people moving like the tide through the tavern’s doors. The mercs moved upstairs, but were soon replaced by another group who looked much less shady. Merchants it would seem—local traders who had just enough coin for a drink each night. He spied several dwarves huddling in a corner at one point, whispering to each other. Some illegal matter, no doubt. Lyrium was to be traded or someone would die tonight; both not unusual. Darva swore he saw an escaped mage at one point if the bright purple and blue of the robe hidden under the cloak was any indication. But they didn’t stay for long; either a lack of money or something else threw them off. Probably the whispering dwarves.

Or more likely the laborers who showed no signs of leaving soon. They continued to get more and more drunk and continued to eat and eat. It must’ve been some sort of celebration if Darva could guess. He watched Talia serve them round after round, dodging each and every touch from the men each time. It seemed some were turning it into a game of sorts: who could catch the pretty bar maid. He watched her put on a smile as they grabbed for her, but Darva knew better. But, she never ventured a pleading gaze his way to say she needed help.

All until the next round she passed around the table.

She deposited the last tankard upon the table when she was snatched up around the waist and pulled into one of the men’s laps. She tried to slink out of his touch her own ways, but he still held fast. Darva could see her asking for him to let her go and it only made them laugh. He watched as the man held her close and even grossly snuggle against her, pulling her tight. He tapped his toes against the rung on his stool, watching carefully as she looked towards him.

It was brief, but he saw the flash for help in her eyes.

He quickly stood and snuck through the people, not taking long to reach the table.

“Excuse me, good sir.” He spoke clearly from under his hood and the man turned sharply to face him, raising one drunken eyebrow. “I am very sorry to disturb you, but it would seem you would be most interested in a card trick or two. I am quite gifted in such matters of fancy finger work and you seem like a man to fancy such things, hm?” Darva spoke quickly to the drunken man and he seemed to only be getting half of the words.

“Would anyone else be interested?” He asked the table and he received a few nods of confusion and agreement. He grinned from under his hood and pulled his cards from his pack.

“Now, these are card tricks and such they require a little...added fun. Money as one could say; betting as a fancy man would say.” Darva spoke as he brushed aside various tankards and plates to make room at the center of the table. Darva carefully, but quickly explained the rules of the game to the men, quickly gazing about the table to spy on Talia. The drunken man holding her seemed to grow more enraptured with each second he spoke to them, thus his grip on Talia loosened more and more. She would be able to get out on her own in no time.

He continued going, cajoling the men into opening their coin pouches to throw in for a game or two. Darva carefully watched the men and his own spread of cards, making sure each trick was working out as it should. It wasn’t hard to run cons on very drunk men and to milk their coin from them either. Blurry eyes made for simple hand work. Darva flipped and showed off his cards with a flourish over and over to reveal it was not the correct one each time. Each time the table protested as Darva collected their coins into his own pouch. Darva laughed as the men guessed and poked at what trick it could be and why they were losing so much, but they still kept playing.

Once the fun had worn out—and it never took long for it to run out on drunk men—Darva played the last hand that was once again a jest. The men yelled and protested, some calling for another round as he gathered up his cards and shuffled them, tucking the cards he’d be hiding and trading out in his shirt sleeves back into the deck where they belonged.

“Now, now settle down.” He spoke with a smile in his voice that seemed to calm the men. “You men still have a tab that needs paid; wouldn’t want to waste all of your money only to realize you’ll be paying off a debt to this tavern? What would your wives back home think of you?” He asked them, the astonishment in his tone enough to get their drunken minds thinking and talking amongst themselves. Darva took the chance and he slinked away from them and back to his seat....

Where Talia had planted herself, her arms crossed and shaking her head.

“You sure live up to the stereotype of a fast talking elf.” She spoke as he approached and he chuckled softly, pulling his hood back from his face completely. His ears wiggled a tiny bit and he ran his fingers through his hair.

“I have a standard to live up to, my dear.” He told her with a gracious wave of his hand and she giggled, turning the stool as he squeezed next to her.

“Oh, what prize does my dearest savior desire now?” She asked him expectantly and he scoffed.

“Now Talia....I only gave you the opportunity to slink away.” He spoke as he messed with the coin pouch out of sight of her. “But you made a good com possible. So....” Darva took Talia’s hand in his own, slipping half a dozen coins into her palm that he closed tightly. He gave her a brief smile and a nod of the head before he turned to slink into the crowd of the bar, disappear up the stairs.

Talia watched him go before she carefully looked down at the coins in her hand. Sure enough, seven good pieces were pressed into her hands. She clicked her tongue and tucked the coins into her shirt, adjusting herself. She raised an eyebrow as she felt something new pressing against the side of her breast. She carefully reached down, pulling a single playing card from her shirt.

A joker, in fact.

She flipped the card over, finding no other decerning marks upon the card. She snorted and shook her, but nonetheless tucked the card back where she had found it.

What a scoundrel.

[abhisheksingh098]

SAIYAN RAP CYPHER - Lyrics | FabvL

SAIYAN RAP CYPHER - Lyrics | FabvL

SAIYAN RAP CYPHER | FabvL ft. RUSTAGE, Daddyphatsnaps, Dan Bull, NerdOut & More [Dragon Ball] 

Joey Nato:- Ayo, you know what's crazy? I learned that me and that dude Gohan got a lot in common Nato, all the haters that tried me will be first to tell You that you won't get buy me with a perfect sell 'Cause I'm married to my goals like my goals Videl My father taught me how to win, but I learned to fail And pick a low in my life, any low I've had Was in the pickle low key, but the key was fight back Even when I was a teen, I would know I'm bad The way I killed a 16 would make Gohan snap Look, legend in the making, can't stop my story And if a Sensu bein' a little hostile towards mе I'm a power up quick and deliver that fast pain Thеy Saiyaman only as good as his last game I heard you pack a punch, but I guess none landed Dummy, you should know I'll beat you one handed And if you mess with family, take a guess what we'll do We won't wanna fight you, nah, we'll wanna kill you, Nato Dreaded Yasuke:- See me walking in the public Sporting the green and black armor on Bandana with the blood drip I was considered low budget Look at me now, fighting the crowd, take you all by the dozen Judging my exterior, I'm raising my thermals Thinking I'm inferior, making ya soul furlough Beat you down thorough Hoping you can manage my final spirit cannon and make ya blood curdle This the time to panic When you see the golden hair, even battle damaged I give you a thousanf-yard stare Not gonna be fair when I start feeling my rhythm You should be scared, ya blood staining your denim Standing there thinking how did I get my momentum? And will be passing down, cause of nepotism Super Saiyan ain't nothing to playing with Enemies don't gotta chance, even when I show them the tip Dan Bull:- Ay, what you bringing? What you saying? I'm the king of the Saiyans Someone from the southern U.S.A., would say I'm advanced Solving the toughest puzzles There must be tuffles living in my brain Still ruling my people, I don't really care what Frieza claims King Vegeta's staying, like a Fajita stain Firing execution beams and heaps of Ki in waves I've seen regimes and seasons change, how could it be the same? You keep on feeding the flames, you're going to free this ape Vegeta's ancestors stand the test of time I guess it's down to diet, genes and some exercise Best alive 'till my son took the crown Now I rest in the sky up above trunks looking down There's a bright future ahead of him, like every parent's hoping for I might have met my descendents if I never had that broken jaw There's so much lore that I could go through more Than even Goku could hope to when he grows new balls Shwabadi:- Yo, I see you thought it was over But then the fusion tango boosted power roasting opponents The coldest foes that I'm owning, the Ki is flowing an ocean You had the nuts to step to one of us, but now you're facing Bofa These thugs People that keep the beam tucked Lethal when thinking you'd of dreamed to beat us Fetal position, you can clear the tear ducts Crying to yourself 'cus you're weak and we're peerless I got twice the will in me, a Gemini man Don't need a smith, come with quickness when I jeopardise plans Double vision, they can't seem him, 'cus I'm fast with the hands Punisher drive, push 'em aside, now I'm sending 'em back This dual personality, you woulda thought'd be a mismatch Two beefy dudes sandwiched together, that's a Big Mac One man think tank, never skipped gym class Think fast, Kamehameha with a Big Bang Gameboy Jones:- Coming to you live, it's the man from the planet of the apes You don't want the smoke and I ain't talking 'bout a vape Tide pod ship, yeah my whip so clean I've been taking planets way before I even hit my teens Raditz stacking cabbage, I'm banking on being savage Heart is full of malice, unleash it by causing havoc You don't want the beef that's unfortunate, there's no salad If I see my brother, I'm snapping that little carrot No app, but I'm bringing in the discord I'm pedal to the metal, that's how opposition gets floored Microsoft, I'm about to give you one note Facing me is suicide, us Saiyans are to cutthroat Pride of a lion, check the mane But I go ape shit, me and you are not the same Compared to me, you ain't even looking half as nice If you wanna beat me, you'll sacrifice your life! None Like Joshua:- This is for Gohan, so long you robots Krillin's own thot, isn't even the most hot or that nice Like I am when it comes to tough fights Goku taking 20 episodes, I'm taking one slice More humble than any Saiyan here on the track 'Cause I know when to attack and when to hold it back Coming from the future, man, it's all out of whack 'Cause Goku's got to live, so don't shoot, he's not Goku Black Or Zamasu, what I've seen will haunt you Travel to the past seems too paradoxical But I've got to killin' villains, saving my fam Now my sword is shaving off years from your lifespan Simpin for Mai chick, she's searching for my Dragon Balls I don't need to make a wish, I can hurt the baddest gods Immortals underestimate me 'cause my dad's a loser Thia Mai is too young, so it's back to the future Zach Boucher:- They don't hold a single hope if they're alone Find a sacrifice against this elitist, you will need it That's my last advice I'll be undefeated and I mean it though, I pack a fight Handing eveybody, one way tickets to the after life Now they're coming at me assuming they're quick Nah, practically practice, they're done with, I'm over this shit Getting so impatient, God I hate how it's over so quick So I'll let you die for nothing, like the Namek, Tien, and his buddy did Say he's Super Saiyan, but I'm saying that he sucked at it You just need to find the little strength that you've been mustering While I keep it deep inside my veins until it clutters You're like Gohan, how you stuttered Killed your friends and all your brothers I was sick of living deep inside the dark But that's when I met Vegeta, he would teach me where to start They don't realize I'm still alive to tear you all apart You call it destruction, I call that a pockmark Connor Quest:- Goten since I was below ten, I've been hard as stone henge Enemies they curve me like a road bend Broke them limits, making grown men fidget When you see me up in GT, I'm the golden ticket Need a scope lens just to even see the height I'm hitting Deny the physics, these guys are tripping If they think that I could give in Collide the digits, call it popping the Trunks Because I'm riding with him, feel the burn As you get offed by the son Flip round turn the tension high No, these clowns ain't friends of mine Kamehameha drop a body to the floor Get a strike to a vital just to end your life Step with a rush on your neck, bust collarbones This is how you make a hero's son, fuck Boruto Ki on lock, you can fight with us You'll be sweeping up the pieces of your teeth after you bite the dust DizzyEight:- Looking for a hero? Then it's us Had to double up to maneuver when it's clutch Give him big rounds, know for the dough I go nuts Fella, sit down, it's known I bring thunder when I punch Ya'll talk too much, enemies do the most What I speak leave 'em toast, when I spit they go ghost You're not the real thing, I'm in a game full of clones They copy what I'm on, then hope that they explode You can't copy me If you do, you do it sloppily They're just throwing shots at me But I promise you never stopping me So much potential You can check my credentials You don't know that you in for Greatness what I'm meant for FabvL:- Hold up, I see 'em wanting the prince Throw your best punch, guarantee I won't even flinch I got the drip that'll turn your number 1 to a bitch Shoot this Galick gun unload it, yeah I'm draining the clip So call me sensei I've been healing the game, better than Dende Type a hero that the villains and their friends say Is truly worthy of the crown, never dead weight Hyperbolic rent payed the best way I got the baddest chick in the whole galaxy Used to say that Super Saiyans were a fallacy Now I've learned that evil deeds are just cowardly Richest man on Earth, so fuck your whole salary Really think you could hang with all the best? No way, royal blood, got it running through my chest Don't play, stupid villains, I could kill without regret All day, listen up, you will do whatever that I say! NerdOut:- Y'all done screwed up I acquired the jewels and now I'm fused up You about to get bruised up Best of both worlds, I use superior stragedy You're not even half the man that used to be half of me You choosing defeat If I wave my arm, the wind will put holes in you Now that's shooting the breeze Go ask Majin Buu, oops it's too late I'm out for 60 minutes, but for you? I only use 8 Laughing while I'm waiting for this union to dissolve 'Cause I don't think the ladies are approving a ménage But if Chichi and Bulma wanna cuddle tonight They better watch out 'cause now I got double the pipe And Gogeta's no match, he stay losing He had to do choreographed Tik Tok dances to make a fusion So which Super Saiyan are you choosing? These dim-witted half-pints or pinnacle of evolution Rustage:- Hit that, Wukong with the staff breaking bodies like a Kit Kat Rip your team in half like I'm moses when I split that Whiplash punches like it's gift wrapped, spit facts Treat you all like Frieza with a bitch-slap Saiyan from the planet of the apes, I'm not playing Best be praying to this God I'm raising stakes I ain't waiting, I be saving every person, every race Passion blazing 'cus I'm facing any aliens in my way Say my name, call me Goku Hanuman, stand my ground, yeah I won't move Chris Chan, when I'm loud with a blown fuse Understand, hear the sound of your bones bruise Go through faster than my flows do A monkey but better than Luffy, I'm king of the planets Ain't needing no piracy I'm stunning, just look at my moves, I'm top of the charts And I'm needing no rivalry And finally, they're fighting me bust in beats like it's Chichi Easy your characters tough, but can they beat me? Daddyphatsnaps:- So you made this far, huh? Now you and me Hahahahaha Somebody hold me back, I'm going berserk And at the rate I'm going, bro I'm 'bout to blow up the Earth It's lunch time, eat your every punch, I'm knowing it hurts your pride Legendary Saiyan, I was chosen at birth, I'm the truth 'Cus I always been the hardest, I'm a bad bitch You had to work to get to where I started so savage Had the Super Saiyan gods saying "oh damnit" He's so made bitch, he breaking up the whole planet Well, if it's gonna go, then I got something I should get off my chest And I ain't talkin' 'bout the X, see you sipping the flex I got these little green bitches out here gripping my pecs I'm ill turn you green bitches then your hitting the deck I'm a god damn God, are you out of your mind? It's strange, millions of scenarios, you die every time Murder you without a trace and 'geta brought me the lime You'll get bodied out your body if you rowdy with mine

https://img.youtube.com/vi/VigYo7W10Ik/maxresdefault.jpg from Blogger https://bit.ly/343heDB

[rinaris-skyrim]

3. Immersion Mods

Again, I wish I had a better category for these. These are mods that mostly add their own systems to the base game, to increase immersion. This is only a rough category, and of course they touch on the game in some way, but they aren’t a huge overhaul to the core gameplay or AI.

---

Alternate Start - Live Another Life

Tired of the long starting sequence? Don’t actually want to be a prisoner headed to the chopping block? This has you covered. The reason I prefer this over other alternate start mods, is the way it provides a jumping-off point for a character backstory, giving you appropriate weapons, armor, items, and a starting location. It also offers a nice segue into the main quest, with rumors of increased Legion patrols around the area you can investigate if you’re curious — and of course you arrive just in time to see the city sacked and the dragon taking flight towards Whiterun. [link]

Bathing in Skyrim

No one wants to talk to someone stinking of sweat and covered in blood and dirt and cobwebs from exploring some moldering ruin and fighting bandits. You’re also going to be carrying a bunch of germs around, if you do that. Keep yourself clean! This adds a passive effect based on your cleanliness, affecting mostly your speech skill and disease resistance, as well as craftable soaps and washrags. [link]

Campfire - Complete Camping System

Adds an excellent camping system to the game, with all the gear and items you’ll need. Build fires to roast food, pitch a tent if you need sleep, and just generally enjoy the Skyrim landscape with a touch of rugged living. Requirement for Frostfall, HearthCraft, and Tentapalooza. [link]

Carriage and Ferry Travel Overhaul (CFTO)

Extends the vanilla fast travel system in a lightweight and immersive way. You can now also ask to be “dropped off” at local villages “along the way,” and boatmen will take you to other stops along the same lake, river, or shoreline. Prices are also adjusted based on distance and danger. Just really nice and convenient if you want to travel somewhere, immersively. [link]

Diseased - Diseases System Overhaul

I like Realistic Needs’ diseases system, really, but it felt a bit too easy, especially once you learned the “cure disease” spell, or found a “cure disease” food. iNeed’s “Dangerous Diseases” felt far too punishing, on the other hand — requiring hard-to-find expensive potions or else you’d deteriorate and die pretty fast. This is just right. Diseases have stages, and after a certain period of time will either evolve or devolve. Rest, cleanliness, and good food will help you recover on your own. “Cure Disease” effects now increase your disease resistance, meaning that you’ll succeed the next “evolution check,” but won’t make anything magically go away. You can also craft simple recipes for specific diseases from common foods and items, which will also help you recover — but you still should rest! This is compatible with RND, just needs to be loaded after. [link] You’ll also want the patch for Droops medication, to deal with the disease added by Dragonborn. [link]

Dynamic Immersive Seriously Dark Dungeons

Wonder why fires are still burning in ancient Nord ruins, or torches are still lit in those abandoned mines? None of that will be an issue now! This also adds the ability to extinguish candles and firepits to make yourself harder to see if you’re the sneaky type, or re-light them (for whatever reason) if you have a torch or fire spells. Incredibly useful and atmospheric. [link]

Dynamic Things

Want to actually pick up wood from wood piles? Hack mammoth tusks off skulls? Look inside those strangely unopenable barrels? With this, you can! This expands the number of containers and resource sources available in the world, and allows you to interact more immersively with many elements. You’ll want both the original Dynamic Things [link] and then the Enhanced “patch”/update [here] installed over it.

Frostfall - Hypothermia Camping Survival

I really hope you didn’t think I’d omit this one, did you? Skyrim is a northern province, with driving wind and snow, and ice-caked seas. This mod makes it all feel real. If you don’t pay attention to the weather, bundle up, and build a fire during cold nights, you’re liable to freeze! [link]

Hunterborn

Another survival-geared mod that harmonizes well with Frostfall and your needs mod of choice. Skin, butcher, and harvest ingredients from animals, slowly gaining more as your skill and knowledge increases. Roleplay as a hunter surviving out on your own in the wild, or just bring down a few deer to tide you over until you reach the next town. Don’t forget to download the Campfire patch and the batch of other miscellaneous patches as well; you’ll need both. [link]

Hunterborn - Scrimshaw Expanded

This significantly adds to the capability of Hunterborn’s Scrimshaw, allowing you to craft a whole lot of gear, armor, weapons, and items from the bones and pelts you find in Hunterborn. Play as a Forsworn living completely off the land, or simply make several trinkets to exchange for a few drinks at the inn once you next get to town. More possibilities! [link]

Loot and Degradation

Your sword edge isn’t going to stay sharp forever, is it? Armor gets dents that need hammering out. This mod simulates that. Once you’ve tempered your gear, it will slowly “devolve” back to its “default” state through combat. NPCs will also have gear of varying states. Just a nice simulation tweak, and also provides more opportunities to hone your smithing skills. [link]

New Beginnings - Live Another Life Extension

Adds more options for your alternate game start, which I very much appreciate. [link]

Realistic Needs and Diseases (RND)

I know, this isn’t the snazziest or most compatible mod out there. I’ve tried other needs mods, I really have, but this is the one I keep coming back to. It’s just the one that feels the most immersive. Boil water to make it safe for consumption, or face the consequences. Soups, stews, and fresh fruits also help quench your thirst — but stay away from raw meat, as that can carry diseases. You need sleep, too — but a dirty bandit camp carries its own risks. You can also toggle food spoilage, and drink directly from a body of water if you’re severely dehydrated. It’s just an excellent needs mod. (There are two versions out there. 2.0, found [here] comes with some snazzier features, such as hotkeyed food categorization for new foodstuffs and a few other tweaks, but I’m not fond of the either its widgets nor its weight feature. I might try it again with those turned off... but for now 1.9, found [here], works perfectly well, too.)

Skyrim - Enhanced Camera

Allows you to actually see your body when you look down, and prevents forced switches to 3rd person. SKSE plugin, makes it all way more immersive. [link]

Spell Learning and Discovery

Instead of the vanilla face-smash-spell-learned-book-destroyed method, you now convert any new spell tomes you acquire into “spell notes,” which you study in the evening before you go to sleep, with a chance of then adding a spell to your repertoire (out of the list of spells you’re currently trying to learn). (This synchronizes well with a needs mod, too.) You now have the opportunity to talk with other mages about magic theory, take dubious memory-enhancing potions, summon an otherworldly magical tutor, and just generally feel like an actual student of magic! [link]

Spell Research

Man, I love this mod. It... can get tedious at times, I’ll admit, but I love it. It lets me feel like an actual magic researcher, and provides the opportunity to acquire spells through my own study, not just by buying a tome from someone else. Find cool artifacts! Translate ancient texts (or try to)! Read dangerous grimoires (at your own risk)! Dissolve potions! Analyze spells! Write theses on spell “types” and techniques to try to combine into new spells! (Fail sometimes, and try again!) Honestly, you won’t regret this mod — it’s also good for passing the time if you’re recovering from a disease or resting a broken limb (see some other mods on this list). I recommend version 2.1, however, instead of the newest 2.2, as 2.1 comes with all the patches for the major spell addition mods. [link]

Skyrim Reputation

The people of Skyrim now actually care about what you’ve done. Word spreads, and people will treat you accordingly. This mod adds three axes of “alignment,” Aedric vs. Daedric, Law-Abiding vs. Criminal, and Dependable vs. Power-Hungry, calculated according to the prevailing Nord culture. The effects of your reputation will also become more pronounced as your reknown spreads. Help out the law, do favors for people, and align yourself with the Divines, and reap the benefits. Being feared does come with its own perks, too, though, however dubious. [link]

Tentapalooza for Campfire

Adds more craftables to Campfire’s system, including themed tents and décor. Honestly, I mostly wanted the placeable washtubs, to be able to bathe in some places I wouldn’t otherwise be able to (e.g. a player house without a nearby water source or bathing room). The placeable containers are nice, too, though, as well as the craftable and placeable shrines. [link]

Wintersun - Faiths of Skyrim

The denizens of Tamriel are religious, and now you can be too! You’re offered a choice of deity at the start depending on your race; however, you can change allegiance later if you so desire, depending on what you’ve done and who you’ve encountered. Gain passive bonuses and active abilities based on favor with a particular deity... but take care to follow their tenets, as well. [link]

Wounds

I know the health bar is kind of a general abstraction of your bodily state, but do you ever find it... well, strange, that you never break bones or have any lasting wounds from combat? Welp, now you do! No extra visuals, just a simple mod that adds long-lasting consequences to combat. Craft medical supplies, brace fractured limbs, keep cuts clean or risk infection, and feel the effects of your bruises and concussions for a while. I’ve tried playing without this mod, and I honestly can’t anymore, even as annoying as it is to limp along on a broken leg for a while, or sew up my arm that sabre cat tore to shreds. [link]

---

As always, will likely be added to later.

[pandoraships]

Hello! I just read your Shards of Power ff on ao3, and I looooove it, but I gotta say, as someone who doesn't play WOD, it was rather confusing on understanding the system. I was wondering if you have any form of trivia or facts about the universe to understand it better? Thank you

Oh Geeze someone actually read it?! and you like it!? 

First off thank you! Secondly I am so sorry about the confusion! It’s hard to balance story telling with out having Bakugo recount an entire source book to get the information out.

So the world of Darkness is rather thick Lore wise, and, as with all good rpg systems it allows for “different” versions of lore for each type of game. So It can be massively confusing. For this story though we can focus on the “Mage Lore”.

Mages are, as a group, as varied and multifaceted as any human population. They don’t themselves know exactly why they got the power they have, but there are few things they all agree on: 

1. The world is broken into three parts:

The Supernal realms :  This is the world of Truth, and was at one point part of our own world. It is a realm where everything is as it should be. The trees are perfect trees, the mind is not separated form the form, sickness is only there to make you stronger etc. Think Heaven/Nirvana/the summer lands. This world is separated into smaller lands, about 365 of them, and each is ruled by a different truth. 

The Fallen world / The Lie / The Mundane world : This is our world, the one you and I live in every day, but with a twist. Behind the scenes monsters lurk. They have always been with us, and humans stay blissfully unaware. The mages call it the lie, a sort of dream forced on every human through the use of a “sleeping” curse buried in their souls. Soul focused mages call it a “Shard of the lie” because it’s a part of the soul that anchors the lie to a person. It makes them forget, rationalize and dismiss any idea of anything but what the lie wants them to believe. 

Mages are humans whose souls have, at a crucial moments rejected the lie, and rid themselves of the lie to have their eyes opened to their true potential.

The Abyss: If the two worlds were part of one whole the Abyss was never supposed to exist. It is both a force of nature and a sentient angry resentful representation of every reality that never came to be. Because of this it seeks only one thing: To destroy both worlds and place itself in it’s place. It is the antithesis of truth and the lie. It is simply oblivion. 

It was summoned into being when the Worlds split apart, like an infinite ocean between the two. 

2.   Magic comes from the Supernal realm, crosses the abyss and powers spells. 

All magic is from the Supernal realm end of story. When the world split magic left, and it was only through some miracle that a few people managed to shake off the fall out and adapt to pull the power down to them. So far 10 of the realms have been accessed by Mages, through 5 paths that bridge the Abyss. Those realms are 

The Aether: Realm of the Obrimos. 

Most often called “Heaven” by those who misunderstand the path, The Aether is a place of Order and Power. It gifts those who walk their paths to it access to Prime, the coding of magic and the truth of the world above, and Forces, the powers of the forces of the universe, such as gravity, heat, kinetic force, speed.  

It’s Watchtower, the guiding anchor point of a path, calls to those willing to see beyond their own needs to the needs of others, and as such it has gotten a reputation for attracting religious types, but really anyone who believes in something larger than themselves will awaken to the Truth of this realm. 

Izuku awakened here because he so desperately believed that someone had to make things right that it allowed him to reach out to it. 

Arcadia: Realm of the Acanthus.

 Arcadia is a place of Time and Fate, where everything is bound by oaths and the cycles of time. Closely associated with the Fae this is the world that King Uther Pendragon went to visit to get Excalibur. To those willing to bargain with it for power it gifts control over Time, allowing them to swim against the tides, and Fate, the ability to create, destroy or enforce the threads that guide every person through their life. 

It’s Watchtower calls to those who trust to fate, or struggle to fight against it. It has a reputation for calling to fools, people unwilling to take control of themselves and their fate. Yet more than most Acanthus are the hardest to fool, as they can see the past present a future. 

Bakugo awoke to this path in a moment of need, but he won’t speak to anyone about it. 

The Primal Wilds : Realm of the Thyrsus. 

The Primal Wilds is a place of ever expanding Life and the Spirit of the world. It is the world untouched by humans, where boars the size of mountains roam through trees the size of skyscrapers. Those who can survive it’s trials wrest from it control over Life and Spirit.  They can control, create, destroy, change and bind both. 

it’s watch tower summons those willing to forgo the mores of society, or those willing to do what it takes to survive. It has a reputation for calling people who are brutish or violent. It also tends to call those unwilling to follow the norms of society. That being said you can find those who passed their challanges anywhere, from the Woods to a dance floor and even a boardroom in a fortune 500 compant.

Kirishima awoke to this, along with another mage, during a struggle that made him question what society wanted him to do. 

The Underworld / Stygia : Realm of the Moros. 

This, out of all the Realms, is the closest you come to a true heaven. It’s a realm of vast material wealth and rest for the shades that wander it. Damaged during the split of the worlds it is also the closest to the Abyss. It is here that all souls eventually travel to, but for those who seek to return from death and succeed it grants it’s boon. For those it chose they stand with one foot in the grave, able to speak to Ghosts, revive the dead in a way, and grant ultimate death of oblivion to their enemies. At the same time it gives all that a living mortal would need to keep themselves alive, allowing them control over the Matter of the world. Stone to bread, lead to gold, glass to jewels, all simple tasks of rearranging the basics of the world. 

It’s watch tower calls to those who realize in their last moments what it means to be alive. It grants them a second chance, a reprieve from their rest, to will themselves back.  It has a reputation for making boring mages, those that would rather tinker with the worlds systems than make big changes. The thing is Moros know well that nothing is permanent, even the massive changes, so you want to make the process better.  

An unknown mage awoke to this path because he refused to leave someone alone to fight on his own. 

Pandemonium: The realm of the Mastigos 

If the Aether is “Heaven” than Pandemonium is “Hell, but only by the ill informed. Yes it is a realm of the human mind, where all our demons and ills lurk, but it is also a realm of ever shifting perspectives and intimacy untold. It is the realm where you know yourself truly, and either you accept it or you die. For those who drag themselves through the gauntlet that this path is it gives them all the tools needed to enforce their Will on the world. They come back able to command their lesser Minds with a simple word, and makes them like it. No thought, No action, is safe from them. They can be anywhere at any time, Space is nothing to them, no walls can keep them out. 

An unknown mage awoke to this when he decided enough was enough and sent a family members mind into the void. 

There are, according to legend, more but only these have been confirmed. 

3. Sleepers cannot know, or at least until the shed their lie. 

While opinions on Sleepers vary massively from mage to mage, it is a fact that Sleepers knowing is Bad News ™. The lie that infects them eats away at magic, and can, if the magic is flashy enough, cause the Abyss to notice the casting of a spell and mess with it.  There are stories of a Mage casting a spell in front of sleepers once and turning himself inside out. Little things cause less risk, but it’s always there.  Some sleepers can shed that lie slowly, but it can cause them to go mad if you force it. 

These are pretty much the only thing every mage agrees on. Everything else depends on what you choose to believe and the society you belong to. 

Mage Society : Origins

Almost every Mage is told this when they first awaken, but no one ever can agree on the specifics, or even if it’s a real thing. The only reason it’s told is because it explains the Social order now. 

Once long ago there was a shining city, built by dragons who called to the Dreamers, people from all across the world, from every tribe and continent. They came and found that the Dragons had left, only their bones lay sleeping in the caves below the city. 

The Dreamers found they were gifted with power by these bones, given strenght for having traveled to claim it. They made their homes there, and began to strengthen themselves.  They elected Mage kings, and for many centuries sought to seek enlightenment. 

But as with all power there are those who want it faster than it comes, and soon there was a split in the city, between those loyal to the dragon dream, and those who wanted to go straight to the source.  They wrested power from those loyal and set to building a great ladder to the source of truth. 

A great war broke out between them, and the Dreamers were winning. In desperation those who built the Ladder, Now known as the Exarchs, fled up the ladders, with the leaders of the Dreamers, known as the Oracles, in hot pursuit. They fought in the true world and   in the fight the Ladder fell, ripping the world apart below them, and summoning the abyss. 

In the ages that followed even the great mages were susceptible to the lie, and forgot their gifts. Yet the Oracles were not lost. They went and built watch towers in each of their realms, and called to the brethren to reclaim the dream.  

The Exarchs though fought to keep the lie in place, so they would not need to share their power. To this day they struggle, across the panes of Truth and in the Fallen world. 

Mage Society : A primer.

Again, Mages are as Diverse as they are numerous. Mages exist in every country, demographics group, and political movement you can think of. That being said there are 3 main groups that exist consistently across the spectrum. 

The Diamond Orders/ The Pentacle : 

Known as the “Inheritors of Atlantis” these are the people who want to reunite magic with the world. This is who our main cast belong to. Depending on a couple of factors they separate themselves into 4 or 5 main groups.  Those are: 

The Diamond Orders: 

Considered the Original orders, these four Orders fashion themselves off the Orders of the Dragons from the Supposed original mage city of Atlantis. When this city fell during the splitting of the worlds they reformed and attempted to hold the worlds together. 

The Adamantine Arrow: 

Also known as :  Talons of the Dragon. 

These are warrior mages, who believe that conflict is natural and place themselves in between the threats of the Lie and their comrades. They delicate themselves to keeping all in their range safe as the war rages. They reject high offices to instead serve. The pledge Oaths and are honor bound to keep them, and often will die in pursuit of them. 

The Silver Ladder : 

Also known as : The Voice of the Dragon 

The Ladder are the diplomats and law keepers of the Diamond orders. They form themselves into a sort of Meritocratic cooperation, where you work your way up into power.  They task themselves with keeping track of the Awakened and providing for what they need. They handle disputes and law breaking with in the Concillium, (a group of mages in any give area ) and advise the head of the government. They also work as go between for neighboring groups to make sure that if needed they can help against threats.  They hope one day if they can make everyone cooperate they might be able to charge the abyss and reclaim what they lost. 

The Guardians of the Veil : 

Also known as : The Eye of the Dragon 

The Gaurdians are the cover up agency, think men in black but for magic. They believe that unchecked magic is Dangerous ™  and who has access to it should be controlled carefully, until the world is back together that is. They fight against things that the Arrows can’t, like dangerous items, creatures from the abyss, and spies in the various orders ranks. They believe that if they get their hands dirty they will spare others from doing it. 

The Mysterium: 

Also known as : The Wings of the Dragon 

These are the closest to “Traditional” Mages your going to get. They thirst for Knowledge and attempt to find and catalog every magical thing they can find. Think Indiana Jones meets your local Librarian. They experiment and push the limits of magic, and hope that one day they can find the missing link to tie the world together. 

The Free Councils: 

Also known as : The Fire of the Dragon. 

While not technically incorporated into the Diamond there is a Fifth “Order” called the Free council. Having been brought in very late (like during the Enlightenment era) These are still considered outsiders in their Conciliation, and tend to try to distance themselves from the more traditional orders. Still when push comes to shove the Councils are counted as invaluable to the Traditional orders.  

They tend to be made up of who ever agrees on 3 key principals: 

1) Hierarchy enforces the Lie 

2) Every human is Magical already, it’s just about waking them up. 

3) Seers are evil and must be overthrown. 

The Councils are loosely connected world wide, and each adopts their own style of governance. Most likely this takes the form of a town hall meeting is a with elected officials being offered as “representatives” to the various Diamond orders so they can vote in the Larger Concillium. Sometimes if they are particularly in disagreement with the Diamond they task these representatives with driving the other orders insane. They also have developed and maintained as sort of “Free council” web which they use to keep in contact. 

When referring to the Orders they often use the term “Pentacle” to include themselves. 

The Nameless: 

Neutral Mages, people who don’t believe the world is broken, or who just wants to do their own thing. These are also those who aren’t fully awakened, called hedge mages. They are considered as people who come from mages who never involved themselves in the war. 

The Seers : 

If the Pentacle inherited Atlantis these are the servants of the people who built the ladder. Gifted power in a way different the the Pentacle they worship the Exarchs as gods. They want to enforce the status Quo for various reasons, both personal and greed based. They do not see those who are outside of their group as worthy of the blessings and have no qualms with using them to their ends. They are specifically very adverse to the Free Council and often fight them openly in the streets. 

Pentacle mages : Day to Day life. 

Mages in the Five Pentacle orders tend to group themselves into 3 main social groups. 

The Order: 

The Largest is that of their order, where they move up the ranks in the Specific group. This gains them access to secrets they would not normally have, and allows them to amass status they can use in other Concillium.  This works because most mages in an order agree on a basic understanding of the best way to enlightenment. 

Each order has their own structure, but it works a lot like a secret club, with ranks that decide on policy for the order. 

E.g. Suneater is Riot’s First Talon, he is the leader of his group of Arrows and makes plans for the group as a whole. 

The Path : 

Like an extended family the path is a group of people who all share the same basic powers. While you can gain some titles in a path it’s usually something akin to a chosen rep to the Pentacle as a whole than anything like true power. Here the Mages find those who can teach them how to use their power mechanically.  The two titles assigned  to paths are “councilor” who works as a Council member and represents the Path of the city, and Provost, who works as a Secretary to both the Council as a whole, but primarily to their singular councilor. 

E.g. Present Mic is the Provost to the Obrimos Councilor of the city Eraser-head. Their task together is to track the Obrimos of the city and keep them from trouble.  Present mic Techincally also has a section of smaller groups of mages in a specific area of the city that he is expected to represent to the council as a whole, like a provincial governor to the Larger government. 

The Cabal: 

The smallest group of Mages, these are chosen pact bound relationships that in theory are completely chosen by the mages in question. They tend to have 3-5 members, with the idea being 5 members, 1 from each path.  That doesn’t mean that single path cabals don’t exist, they just aren’t considered ideal. 

Cabals are supposed to be formed around an idea or goal all members have, though most do it for resources or companion ship. 

When formed a cabal pledge an oath towards each other to bind them together. It’s very much like a mutual adoption thing, or a forming of a pack. 

They have roles, like people who go out and get everyone fed, or the scribe of the group, or the tender of the magical items, but most modern day Cabals only assign them to give a sense of whose in charge in that area. They expect everyone in the cabal to pitch in if they can. 

This is seen as a family unit. That means nothing, not the Order or path, can ask you in good faith to betray them . Arrows will not be charged to attack their own, Guardians never are asked to report on them, etc. 

This also means that taking a lover in this group is at some very basic level, considered weird. It can, with some more traditional types, cause you to be looked down on, but It’s not something most younger mages bat an eyelash at. 

Facts and figures: 

1 in 100,000 people successfully awaken  to a watch tower or through the Exarchs

Of the three groups the lowest number of people are in the Pentacle, followed by the nameless, and then the Seers are the most. 

There are further subgroups with in the nameless, such as people who worship the Abyss, those who came back “wrong” and others who want to purge the world of all magic. 

If you have any clarifications I have missed @freezesunshinebreeze or even further questions please feel free to ask! 

[shardclan]

Clan Aphaster’s dragons were still awake late into the night recently. Many were at the peaks of House Betelgeuse, looking down into the valley from the lofty heights. Others were sitting atop hills near the site. There was an expectancy in the air. House Betelgeuse had happened suddenly, but through Metafalica, House Perihelion had turned into a community effort. So they waited each night in a hush, straining their eyes and ears and magical senses for evidence of the magics that would finally see their clan’s residential infrastructure completed.

Azricai too kept these late hours, perched atop a lone pillar of marble just past the wild section of the Summerlands. Here the grasses were short, and the centaur camps plentiful. Moyọ̀ was getting his beauty rest, but Eoria and her sisters were walking the foundation that had been laid. Her eyes weren’t so good that she could see them, but she could feel them out there.

Just as she could feel Arcanus approaching well before he came and sat next to her.

He was in plain clothes, but she didn’t catch the scent of wine or ale on him. His was heart too steady for alcohol to have touched him recently. Whatever he was feeling was smooth and glossy like still water, not yet ready to reveal itself to her. He didn’t look at her, and she kept her eyes steadily looking into the night to not betray her disquiet.

“That feeling is catching these days, it seems.”

“Is it?” he said distractedly.

“Telos came to me recently in a similar mood.” She thought she felt a ripple disturb that veneer of calm. “Where’s Carnelian tonight?”

“This isn’t something I should talk about with him. Though I think he knows already. I think he knew long before I did.”

“He’s the worldly type.”

“He is,” Arcanus agreed with wry but affectionate amusement. He leaned forward, dropping his chin into his hands. “I’m still surprised how much we’ve come to care for each other.”

“Attachment is mysterious.”

Arcanus gave an agreeing hum, and the conversation lapsed. The thinnest sliver of the waning moon hung in the sky, surrounded by stars. The breeze was still warm from the recent Rising of Fire, but the still air had a crispness to it that told of the coming autumn.

“You’ve grown boyish.” She gestured at his back. “You never slouched even on your off time.”

“I would have taken that as an offense only a little while ago. But I feel I’ve become boyish too. It’s brought me closer to others, but I feel it’s also brought foolishness I would have never tolerated in myself before.”

“Foolishness?” She leaned down to look him in the eye with a confused squint. “You have never been foolish a day in your life.”

Arcanus turned his face to her, and Azricai felt the stillness around his heart recede like the tide. Warmth flushed through her and she filled with rosiness she scarcely had the room for, until it left her in a wave of girlish, bubbling laughter. When it passed, she wiped her eyes and looked at him again. His eyes were innocent and embarrassed. She had never seen such a large man look so like a small boy.

“Your first love,” she said with motherly warmth that rapidly dissipated when she saw the way he grimaced. “It upsets you?”

Unease swept over Azricai like a shadow, and intensified until her antennae felt like twin pinpoints of shame and guilt. She swallowed the nausea caused by the intense shift in his emotions, but before it had even fully passed, she heard his grind out the truth between his clenched teeth.

“It’s Telos.”

“That...” She fumbled, still reeling to achieve equilibrium while sitting so close to him. Those two words had transformed his stillness into a storm and it was only growing more intense. “That is foolish,” she finally admitted. “Have you acted on your feelings?”

“I would die first,” he said grimly.

“Then from where does this overwhelming feeling of self-contempt come?”

“It comes from everything, Azricai. I’ve developed feelings for my charge who is my previous charge’s grieving widow still completely in love with her exalted husband.”

He turned away, but not soon enough to hide his frayed state.  “There is no room for me in her; I don’t want there to be room for me in her.” She could not see his face, but she could feel how deeply this tore at him and hear it in the almost panicked rawness of his voice. “To find myself feeling otherwise is not only asinine, but it is a betrayal of Fragment and my own purpose. And Telos most of all.”

Azricai let him regather himself. It would have been easy to say they were only feelings, that no blame could be on him so long as he kept them inside himself. But he took his guardianhood and his charge seriously. There was no world where she could convince him his feelings weren’t inherently sinful. Yet she felt frustrated with this reality.

“You are a loyal and honorable guardian,” she insisted. “That you have taken this as so serious an offense proves that. You don’t deserve to be punished–to be punishing yourself–so harshly for mere feelings.”

“I love her–” The words made him tremble, and he had to clench his eyes shut to push forward. “Her resolution in the face of pain, her refusal to yield, her loyalty to the clan, her ability to understand when she’s in over her head and to choose to become stronger by every means available to her. They’re all things I love about her. Things that only exist because of all the tragedy that befell us and how she rose to it. That only exists because she lost her husband and her children. How could I dare?”

“Shade take your decorum,” she hissed. “We don’t get to choose. A good and strong guardian who can’t back down, that is what attracts you. You disliked her when you met!”

“I disliked her because that scheming water seer was playing games with us and she was a rogue element in the situation who looked suspiciously similar to the Radiant.”

“My point,” she said sternly. “Is that you would never have loved Telos the Xannite Alchemist. She didn’t yet have the indomitable spirit that endears her to you. You didn’t ‘dare’, you had no schemes, you had no feelings for her at all until she fit your definition of admirable, and that she did so and stirred your heart is no more your fault than it is hers.”

“And clearly I’ve fantastic taste to be stirred by someone I watched become a widow. Whose grief I see closer and more frequently than anyone.” He clasped his hands over his eyes and laughed miserably. “I could talk myself out of this if I could just believe that I’m the kind of sleazy individual who falls in love with a woman’s sadness and imagines himself the hero knows how to make her happy. But her happy thoughts are exactly what I imagine them to be. Eleven save me, the other day she was laughing at herself for having daydreams of walking in the Summerlands with Fragment and Sliver and all of her children. She didn’t even cry, yet I thought I was going to fly apart.”

“You are beginning to understand why the scion was so susceptible to manipulation without ever meeting Opal,” she said sympathetically. “It’s hard to watch someone you love yearn strongly for someone they can no longer meet.”

“Telos chose this–chose us,” he murmured. “But it’s so clear to me every day that her heart is where they are. She trusts me, yet I cannot purge these feelings, nor can I do what would make her happiest. Something will have to give somewhere, someday. And I fear that when it does I will fail her.”

Distant song drifted up from the riverbend, high and delicate and intertwining with Eoria’s much lower, sturdier voice. Arcanus kept his face hidden, letting the cool air steal the heat from his cheeks. He wiped quickly and discretely at his eyes, and sniffed in what he probably thought was a casual manner. It didn’t do him very much good. The eyes he looked back to the moon with were bleary and reddened, and his face was creased with lines that hadn’t been there before.

Azricai rubbed her thumbs pensively in circles around themselves. His heart was emptied, and that alone would see him in control of himself through a few more eons. She felt for him. He had no delusions of romance, no desire for his feelings to be reciprocated or bear any fruit. Yet they persisted and worried him. It was a hard enough to be a guardian with an unhappy charge without love being a factor. She had never seen him cry--technically she still hadn’t, but he had and it told her far more than his words or even the jumble of things he’d felt as he confessed.

“In an ideal world,” she began. “Where it was possible do so without tragedy, without blasphemy…could you truly watch Telos be happy without you?”

“As opposed to what; her falling into my arms?” he scoffed. “That’s a daydream even I am not foolish enough to fall for. My charge would be happy and I would know peace. That matters much more than any daft feelings I might have about it.”

Noble words. Ones that he truly believed. And so straightforward that she knew immediately that he hadn’t once truly considered that his queen might also be aware that her heart was out among the stars.

She hoped, when the inevitable day came, that he would live those words as easily as he’d said them.

[mydeerhart]

Astraeus Playlist

Song titles, links, and a snip of lyrics below Also see: 

Hades [X] Alex [X] MC [X]  Astraeus [X]

Amanda Lee- Euterpe

“Wildflower Blossoming, what do you see when you look down on me?”

Amanda Lee- Courage

“I will call infinitely, screaming until they hear me”

Beth Crowley- Battle Cry

“So hear my battle cry, I’m out for blood to claim what’s mine!”

Beth Crowley- Warrior

“Teach me how to fight, I’ll show you how to win, you’re my mortal flaw, and I’m your fatal sin.”

Beth Crowley- Porcelain Heart

“I handed you my porcelain heart, Breakable but not yet broken”

Beth Crowley- The Dark

“ In my heart/You're a risk I'm willing to take/But my head/It's telling me there's too much at stake ”

Beth Crowley- Come Alive

“ You are a blinding light/A darkness courses through my veins/And somehow you chose me/ I refuse to let you down”

Beth Crowley- Reasons

If you stay we can stand at the edge of forever How it kills me to see you get hurt You have no idea how much you're worth I Would pay anything for the courage to say that I love you

  Paramore- Adore

If I let you love me, Be the one adored, Would you go all the way? Be the one I'm looking for?

  Maroon 5- She Will be Loved

It's not always rainbows and butterflies It's compromise that moves us along, yeah My heart is full and my door's always open You come anytime you want, yeah. I don't mind spending every day Out on your corner in the pouring rain Look for the girl with the broken smile Ask her if she wants to stay awhile And she will be loved 

  Timbelle- Apollo (replace Apollo with alex?)

But when the walls are caving in The world keeps turning We got the love We got the loveNo, I will never let you go All the words won’t make me fold It is never easy I follow you, Apollo

Taylor Swift- Eyes Open

So here you are, two steps ahead and staying on guard Every lesson forms a new scar They never thought you'd make it this far But turn around (turn around), oh they've surrounded you It's a showdown (showdown) and nobody comes to save you now But you've got something they don't Yeah you've got something they don't You've just gotta keep your eyes open 

  Taylor Swift- Safe and Sound

I remember tears streaming down your face When I said, "I'll never let you go." When all those shadows almost killed your light I remember you said, "Don't leave me here alone," But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight 

  Shawn Mendes- Treat You Better

I know I can treat you better than he can And any girl like you deserves a gentleman Tell me why are we wasting time On all your wasted crying When you should be with me instead I know I can treat you better Better than he can 

  Imagine Dragons- Warriors

Here we are, don't turn away now, We are the warriors that built this town. Here we are, don't turn away now, We are the warriors that built this town From dust.Will come When you'll have to rise Above the best and prove yourself, Your spirit never dies!Farewell, I've gone to take my throne above, But don't weep for me 'Cause this will be The labor of my love 

  Imagine Dragons- I Bet My Life

Don't tell me that I'm wrong I've walked that road before And left you on your own And please believe them when they say That it's left for yesterday And the records that I've played Please forgive me for all I've done 

  Fall Out Boy- Young Volcanoes

Tonight The foxes hunt the hounds It's all over now Before it has begun And we've already won Fall Out Boy- Just One Yesterday

If heaven's grief brings hell's rain Then I'd trade all my tomorrows for just one yesterday For just one yesterday Oh, I want to teach you a lesson in the worst kind of way Still I'd trade all my tomorrows for just one yesterday For just one yesterday 

  Fall Out Boy- Centuries 

And you're a cherry blossom You're about to bloom You look so pretty, but you're gone so soon Some legends are told Some turn to dust or to gold But you will remember me Remember me for centuries And just one mistake Is all it will take We'll go down in history Remember me for centuries 

  Christina Perri- Burning Gold

I've had enough I'm standing up I need, I need a change I've had enough of chasing luck I need, I need a change I'm setting fire to the life that I know Let's start a fire everywhere that we go We're starting fires, we're starting fires 'Til our lives are burning gold

  Christina Perri- I Believe

'Cause I have been where you are before And I have felt the pain of losing who you are And I have died so many times, but I am still alive

  Christina Perri- Arms

I never thought that you would be the one to hold my heart But you came around and you knocked me off the ground from the start You put your arms around me And I believe that it's easier for you to let me go You put your arms around me and I'm home How many times will you let me change my mind and turn around? I can't decide if I'll let you save my life or if I'll drown

  NateWTB- Kyouran Hey Kids 

“The frenzied kids that break The masks we wear on our face

Destruction, lies and hate Is what we face today The fumes intoxicate The taste It stimulates/I need that flavor, flavor, flavor”

Astraeus to Hades

100 Monkeys- Keep Awake

I will kill you in your sleep So you better keep your left eye open And your right toe twitchin Cause I’m in the kitchen With a knife that’s itchin For your red blood

MC to Hades (Astraeus route)

Beth Crowley- My Version of You

Who will I become If I give you up So even if it’s not true I want another moment With my version of you

  Beth Crowley- Nothing Left

“Forever’s what I promised you/ but forever’s meant for liars and fools”

Beth Crowley- Gone

But I have made a vow I won't live the life you made me choose We're players in a game that I don't intend to lose

  Beth Crowley- Here We Go Again

I reach out to touch the flame Cuz I refuse to think it burns Retreat and lick my wounds But of course I never learn

  Beth Crowley-My Forgiveness

So you can gnash your teeth and stomp your feet Say that I'll have hell to pay but this tapestry of hate you've woven has begun to fray because in the end words are only words yet you still hide behind them no matter who you hurt so forgive me if I do not follow suit then again who says my forgiveness lies with you Beth Crowley- Red

Cut me open and I still bleed red Do your best to get inside my head Cuz I'm gonna make you remember my name And I'll be the last one you ever betray Just wait You'll be seeing red

Paramore- Ignorance

The same tricks that, that once fooled me They won't get you anywhere I'm not the same kid from your memory Well, now I can fend for myself

  Paramore- Playing God

It's just my humble opinion But it's one that I believe in You don't deserve a point of view If the only thing you see is you

  Paramore- Feeling Sorry

 I feel no sympathy. You live inside a cave You barely get by, the rest of us are trying There's no need to apologize I've got no time for feeling sorry.

  Miia- Dynasty

And all I gave you is gold Tumbled like it was stone Thought we built a dynasty that heaven couldn't shake Thought we built a dynasty like nothing ever made Thought we built a dynasty forever couldn't break up 

  Ky0Umi- Glassy Sky

Sometimes I wonder what's beyond I tried many times to make it up to you Can somebody tell me what to do? Thought we're meant to be There's no going back Time has already come Sun is gone and no more shadows Can't give up I know and this life goes on I'll be strong I'll be strong 'til I see the end Glassy sky above As long as I survive You will be part of me Glassy sky the cold The broken pieces of me Glassy sky above Covers over me, over me 

  Taylor Swift- Bad Blood

Did you have to do this? I was thinking that you could be trusted Did you have to ruin what was shiny? Now it's all rusted Did you have to hit me where I'm weak? Baby, I couldn't breathe And rub it in so deep Salt in the wound like you're laughing right at meOh, it's so sad to Think about the good times You and I 

  Taylor Swift- Story of Us

I used to think one day we'd tell the story of us How we met and the sparks flew instantly People would say, "they're the lucky ones"I used to know my place was a spot next to you Now I'm searching the room for an empty seat 'Cause lately I don't even know what page you're on 

  Avril Lavigne- My Happy Ending

You were everything, everything that I wanted (that I wanted) We were meant to be, supposed to be, but we lost it (we lost it) And all of the memories, so close to me, just fade away All this time you were pretending So much for my happy ending 

  Avril Lavigne- Let Me Go

Love that once hung on the wall Used to mean something, but now it means nothing The echoes are gone in the hall But I still remember, the pain of DecemberOh, there isn't one thing left you could say I'm sorry it's too lateI'm breaking free from these memories Gotta let it go, just let it go I've said goodbye Set it all on fire Gotta let it go, just let it go

Pink- Blow Me (One last kiss)

I will do what I please, anything that I want I will breathe, I will breathe, I won't worry at all You will pay for your sins, you'll be sorry my dear All the lies, all the why's, will all be crystal clear I think I've finally had enough, I think I maybe think too much I think this might be it for us (blow me one last kiss) You think I'm just too serious, I think you're full of shit My head is spinning so (blow me one last kiss)

Fall Out Boy- Phoenix

Put on your war paintYou are a brick tied to me that’s dragging me down Strike a match and I’ll burn you to the ground We are the jack-o-lanterns in July Setting fire to the sky Here, here comes this rising tide so come on 

  Fall Out Boy- Miss Missing You

Baby, you were my picket fence I miss missing you now and then Chlorine kissed summer skin I miss missing you now and then Sometimes before it gets better The darkness gets bigger The person that you’d take a bullet for is behind the trigger Oh, we’re fading fast I miss missing you now and then

  Fall Out Boy- Irresistible

Count me in unannounced, drag my nails on the tile I just follow your scent You can't just follow my smile All of your flaws are aligned with this mood of mine Cutting me to the bone Nothing left to leave behind You ought to keep me concealed just like I was a weapon I didn't come for a fight but I will fight till the end This might be your battle, might not turn out okay 

  Fall Out Boy- Thnks Fr Th Mmrs

One night and one more time Thanks for the memories even though they weren't so great He tastes like you, only sweeter One night, yeah, and one more time Thanks for the memories, thanks for the memories See, he tastes like you, only sweeter, oh 

  Adele- Rolling the the Deep

The scars of your love remind me of us They keep me thinking that we almost had it all The scars of your love, they leave me breathless I can't help feeling We could have had it all Rolling in the deep You had my heart inside of your hand And you played it, to the beat

  Adele- Water Under the Bridge

If you're not the one for me Then I'll come back and bring you to your knees If you're not the one for me Why do I hate the idea of being free? And if I'm not the one for you You've gotta stop holding me the way you do Oh when you found that the one for you Why have we been through what we have been through 

  Adele- Set Fire to the Rain

But there's a side to you That I never knew, never knew All the things you'd say They were never true, never true And the games you play You would always win, always win