#you still bought the game you are still playing the game

[marlynnofmany]

Predator Games

Our spaceship is generally pretty clean, with everything put where it belongs, so I carried the tall armload of supplies without worrying about where I put my feet. But just as I reached the open door of the main storage hold, something under my shoe squeaked.

I jumped back, managing not to drop anything as I whipped the stack sideways to get a look at whatever it was. My ears and foot had already decided that it was a dog toy, and my eyes agreed. Small, fuzzy and red, vaguely squirrel-shaped. Crinkly. With a squeaker inside.

I nudged it to the side of the passageway, wondering. We didn’t have a dog onboard. We did have a cat — my cat, technically — but I’d never bought her this. Did it get sent to us accidentally, stuck to the side of a box or something? Or did one of my alien crewmates buy it without telling me?

At any rate, my arms were too full to risk bending over now. I’d give the thing a closer inspection after I put away the spare bandages and soap, or whatever else was in here. I headed into the storage hold, expecting to find someone else unpacking the other boxes from the supply run.

Instead I found the pile of boxes unattended except for Telly the cat, who was mid butt-wiggle and ready to pounce. Since the door was already open, I didn’t make any noise loud enough to disturb her — she just flicked an ear in my direction and stayed focused on her quarry: something black that was sticking out from behind the largest crate.

In the time it took me to recognize that as the foot of one of my more insectlike crewmates, Telly sprang at it.

I made a garbled warning: That’s not a toy, that’s a foot, TRRILI’S foot; do not startle her; she’ll eat you!

But the foot zipped out of sight before Telly landed, leaving her to peer around the crate to see where it had gone. Before I could put down my armload and scoop her up, something unfolded from the shadows between two crates: a shiny black pincher arm that reached out stealthily to tap her on the hindquarters.

Telly jumped in feline surprise, then bolted at the hissing laughter that filled the air. She zipped out the door; I heard someone nearly trip over her in the hall. Still clutching my armload of supplies, I watched as my tallest and scariest crewmate got to her feet from what must have been an awkward position behind the boxes, still laughing.

I asked, “Were you playing with her?”

Trrili angled her antenna in disapproval, regarding me with large faceted eyes. “Predator games,” she informed me. “As is only proper.”

I set the boxes down on the floor. “Right. Of course. So did you buy her the dog toy?” I grabbed it from outside.

“That is a model fursqueak,” Trrili corrected me. “For hatchling warrior training.”

“I see,” I said, squeaking it experimentally. It still looked like a dog toy. Under Trrili’s glare, I considered my words carefully. “You know, if you roll something small across the floor, she’ll probably chase it.”

“Excellent,” Trrili said with dignity. “That will be the next game.”

I was going to ask something else, then I noticed a trio of parallel scrapes on Trrili’s left pincher arm, faint against the black exoskeleton. “Did she scratch you??”

Trrili lifted the arm with what looked like pride. “It was a magnificent jump. She is a mighty warrior.”

I had to agree. “Yes she is. You should see her chase a laser pointer.”

Trrili looked extremely interested. “Do tell.”

I described the time-honored cat enrichment device, made sure Trrili’s tiny wrist fingers were up to manipulating the human tool, then trotted off to get the one I had in my quarters. I made a mental note to buy another one before we left the station; there had been a couple shops likely to carry them. And Trrili would probably want to keep this one.

Maybe they even sell catnip, I thought. Though that’s a bit too lackadaisical for predator games. Wonder if I can find a remote-control mouse … but that would give Paint a heart attack if she ran into it. Crinkly toys, though; those could be the way to go.

This was only a minor detour from loading the supplies. Everyone knew it was important to keep the various predators entertained. I was looking forward to watching Telly chase things too.

~~~

These are the ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book.

Shared early on Patreon! There’s even a free tier to get them on the same day as the rest of the world.

The sequel novel is in progress (and will include characters from these stories. I hadn’t thought all of them up when I wrote the first book, but they’re too much fun to leave out of the second).

[dramionestills]

Dramione month days 17-21

The Hunger Games/Pride and Prejudice/Hogwarts a History/Twilight/Hermione’s Birthday/and Free

“Open your eyes.” He whispered in her ear

She removed her hands from her face and blinked. She couldn’t hold in her gasp of delight at the sight before her.

They had moved in together a few months ago and to say it had been chaotic was an understatement.

There were still boxes of unpacked stuff all over the cottage they had bought together, as work and other events had not allowed them the time and energy to fully settle in.

Hermione had worried, and still did to some extent, that moving to a smaller place than the Manor would be difficult for Draco. Not only was the space so different but also she worried about how much he was straying from traditions for her and whether that may put a strain on their relationship. But Draco could not be happier to leave the bad memories and restrictive expectations that the Manor represented behind and start a new chapter with the love of his life.

So, while Hermione had been too busy the past month with a new piece of werewolf legislation that demanded she put longer hours than usual, Draco had been coming to the cottage during the work day (with permission and even help from his boss, Head Auror Harry Potter) to set up one single room.

On the west side of the cottage, there was a room that had initially been too small to be anything but storage. Obtaining the extension charm permit had been an annoying process but well worth it, as was adding a bay window to the wall that now let the most beautiful sunsets play out. He had installed handmade cedar bookshelves on most of the available wall space, including below the window seat.

And he had organized all of their books alphabetically by author’s last name, which was their (Hermione’s, but he went with it) preferred method, combining their collections in a perfect mirror of how their lives were now intertwined. Hermione’s collection of rare Jane Austen books displayed beautifully with Pride and Prejudice (her favorite) front and center next to the first edition of Hogwarts a History that Draco had also procured from the Manor. He had brought in several that were too valuable and useful to leave behind. He had even gone to a muggle bookstore and bought some new titles for them to enjoy together once they had more time. They had recommended a few series, including The Hunger Games and Twilight, and he couldn’t wait to discuss them with his beloved while drinking the perfect cuppa.

He had chosen (with help from Ginny and Pansy) a warm color scheme and furniture that looked perfectly cozy and inviting, with luxurious velvet cushions on two large armchairs, some fluffy alpaca and cashmere throws and an ornate walnut coffee table already equipped with aromatic candles and coasters and tissues and a carafe.

It was the library of her dreams and Draco had made it a reality.

She turned to him after taking it all in, adoring the way the golden hour glow fell on not only the room but his alabaster skin and blond hair.

“Draco, this is…” she was starting to tear up, overwhelmed by emotion. “It’s perfect! When? How?”

“Happy birthday, my love” He replied, “I wanted to surprise you with something useful, especially now that the werewolf bill has passed and you will have so much more free time to enjoy your books”

He had walked closer to her and was now wrapping his arms around her waist, leaning his forehead to hers. “We can also do research here, and hopefully we can make good use of that window seat” he smirked slightly.

Hermione let out a watery chuckle. “I love it, so so much. No one has ever done anything this thoughtful for me before”

“You deserve it.”

“And I do think I’ll make good use of it for the next few months before my next project, because that will take up so much of my time.”

“You already got a new project deadline? I thought Kingsley was going to let you have a bit of a break after this one. When do you start?”

“Well,” she looked up mischievously at him. “There will be a preparatory period and then the real thing begins in, oh, approximately 7 months.”

“Huh, oddly specific amount of time but at least you do get quite a bit of time beforehand. And as I said, this library is yours to use as you please; you could use it to complete some of the work here if necessary.”

“I guess we could add a cot between the armchairs…”

“A cot? What? Wait. wait.” She could see him finally catching on and seeing the smile grow on his face as he realized it was the best birthday gift she could have gotten.

[the-nerdler]

Unsubscribing to gamer youtubers that post lets plays or "critique" (praise) videos of That Wizard Game 😌

[front-facing-pokemon]

[souenkun]

Pokémon Masters EX spoilers ahead!

Kabu likes to play TAG with his pokemon... and he's shown to have a much softer side beneath his strictness in pokemas too... he's so grandpa-shaped to me 😭💖

[lyriumsings]

love and deepspace is so wild i went in expecting minimal fan service, a blank slate mc, lots of stuff it wanted me to buy what i got was an insanely fun combat system, tons of ways to earn currency, an MC with: a traumatic backstory, PTSD, heart problems and not one but TWO glocks!?! and yeah the men are there too and are absolutely down bad for the mc LMAOO SKAJSJ

[skydreamplayzz]

Don't mind a small furry drawing.. 🧍‍♂️

I always drawed stuff Like this before i started drawing undertale stuff. So wanted to try That again.

[sonknuxadow]

i know i complained about it a lot already but im actually sooo annoyed about the apple arcade thing like most sonic mobile games are like. just running with no plot or anything. fun way to pass time and they occasionally have cute alternate costumes or bring back characters that havent been around for a while but youre not really missing much by not playing them. that or theyre just mobile ports of already existing games. but now theyre making a mobile game that seems to have an actual story and is introducing a new character and also just looks really cute and fun in general and also they brought back cream as a main character for the first time in like 50 years and theyre not only making it exclusive to apple devices but also locking it behind a subscription service. go to hell like actually

[grimcatician]

Yoooo Happy Birthday to Kingdom Hearts and to the sweetest silliest goodest boy 🥺💖

Still a WIP but I really wanted to get something out for him! He deserves the world!!!

I only recently began playing KH. It was always on the list of “Things I Know I’ll LOVE to Bits Because It’s Got Everything I Love But I Am Putting Off Until I’m Ready To Commit™️” but thanks to needing to clean my room and some certain YouTube videos a couple weeks ago I finally started playing and I have noooooot stoped thinking about it!

[oh-meow-swirls]

it's kind of weird to me that they didn't bother releasing sushi and tempura internationally at all but at the same time i'm kinda glad they didn't cuz like. yo-kai watch was financially failing in the west by the time 3 released. i feel like if they had released sushi and tempura the franchise would've completely tanked before we got sukiyaki which would've sucked. honestly if anything i feel like it's more surprising that we got all three versions of 2 instead of them just releasing psychic specters but tbf i think yo-kai watch was doing well in the west when 2 released. 2 is just inexplicably what killed the franchise despite being a masterpiece-

[shiroselia]

Me and the bad bitches I pulled by having questionable at best taste in horse breeds and playing this game for so long that I've gone through multiple changes in personal gameplay philosophy

[ceaselxss]

//i want to play XV again*

*they will not play XV, the most they will do is reply episode ardyn and maaaaybe episode Gilgamesh and cry about ardyn

[fingertipsmp3]

I love the sims 2 because it will completely wreck your shit right when you’re least expecting it

[samarecharm]

I know that peach game is like. For kids. Im SO aware of it. But its. So fucking cheap???? This is like the bloatware of nintendo games. What is going on here ???? Not to give nintendo even an ounce of credit…but they generally treat their main characters better than this. And especially after seeing mario wonder, its really obvious how poorly put together and boring this game is. Which is such a shame. Bc Super Princess Peach is right there. Go play that instead.

[reverieofreveria]

Seeing my dash full of a wonderful life and specifically rock content is making me really tempted to buy it just so i can marry him and name our kid pebble.

[zeynatura]

In other news i caved in and started playing Fields of Mistria

i cannot with how cute the game is!

but actually the reason i started playing is because i saw a post of someone saying you can romance the dragon *eyes emoji*

so because the game is in early access that may not be possible right now... but if they don't add it i'm gonna riot >:c