#Now that the sessions have all been posted

[felassan]

Notes from the June 14th 2024 Developer Q&A, from the official BioWare Discord

Under a cut due to length.

Please note that these notes are mostly not directly-transcribed quotes! It was a live session, so these were quickly-written cliff notes produced at pace. So if anything sounds weird or slightly off, it's almost certainly because of that and not because of anything a dev said. Corinne Busche, John Epler, Matt Rhodes and Community Manager Katey were the devs that were there.

Update: I have done another pass of this post to tidy up typos, grammar etc. :>

Update 2: If you would like to listen to the Q&A for yourself in video format, or listen to it again, Ghil Dirthalen recorded it and has now uploaded a video of it here. This blog post is linked in the description under the video. ( ˶´ ᵕ `˶ ) Also, I have done another pass of this post while listening back to the video, to tweak a few things and fill in a few lil gaps that there was. :>

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The session began. The first question was on which of the factions in the game the devs would like to belong to. The Antivan Crows have great fashion - Corinne said that we are going to love their threads. Corinne loves both them and the Mourn Watch. She said she would go with the Crows for fashion reasons, and her vibes-based answer is the Mourn Watch.

John's answer was the Veil Jumpers (for fashion + vibes both). “Who doesn’t like a walk in the forest, you know, even if that forest is filled with horrifying monsters and terrifying anomalies?”

Arlathan Forest is filled with horrifying monsters and terrifying anomalies.

The faction Matt would choose is the Lords of Fortune because "pirate-barbarian is just such a great combination of elements"; he likes that they are related to treasure-hunting, beaches, palm trees and everything like that. "It's a really good mix."

This game is a much more intimate experience, and in this regard the camera has been pulled in. The reason why is that the devs want us to feel like we actually are in this world, like we're walking these city streets of Minrathous, looking up, seeing the buildings all around you - "you're a part of this place". They believe that as the narrative unfolds, this creates a lot more immersion.

Since the question was about there being two companions, Corinne continued, "Now, how this relates to companions, we went back and forth on it a lot, but we actually found, with this perspective," having two companions really allows the companions to each have more visibility and presence. The companions are fully-realized, we will really see them shine. They did testing with their internal team and the Council of players as well [the Community Council] and found that when you’re playing in the combat system, when you’re planning strategies, two really felt like the right number to manage. Rook has a lot of different types of actions, abilities and individual attacks available to them as the PC - more than ever before - and the number of inputs we need to take when telling Rook and the companions what to do is also higher than ever before. Timing and position matter a lot in this game. With those things in mind, two companions in the field felt like the right balance.

Banter is still absolutely a core part of and big thing in DA:TV. There is global banter (the general stuff that we will get in all spaces) as well as mission-specific banter. If anything, this game has the most banter that they have ever done in terms of pairings of companions. They have added some interruptible and resumable banter too this time. John said, “You could not stop the writers from [writing banter] even if you tried”. Writing is one of the more light, fun things for the writers to do. They get to write little stories and arcs between different companions, and DA:TV is no different.

Corinne added: "John, listening to you speak, one thing that comes to mind, maybe people are wondering, with two companions in the field, do I get less interaction between them? Like, do I get to see my companions interacting in a broader group more often? And, the way you'll gather them around the kitchen table, there's just so many of those moments where they're all interacting with each other, those are some of my favorite parts."

They wanted to make sure that the companions had a life and relationships of their own outside of the times when we take them out into the field. "So we made sure that they had those interactions there as well."

They were asked about the customizability of Rook's backstory. Rook has 6 different backgrounds that you can choose from. Each of them is tied to one of the major factions in DA:TV. "Each one sets up who Rook was before they were recruited by Varric. Well that sets out the broad events. As you go through the game, as you have conversations, either with members of your faction, other characters, you can define not just what those events were but what they meant to you. What was your motivation, what was the kind of person you are as you build up Rook. Because again, we wanna make sure that roleplaying is at the heart of this experience, and taking Rook, giving them background to ground them in the world and then letting you decide what that means, what that says about you, is also a big part of it." "A lot of opportunities to really define who your Rook was and who they are now, so."

Q. Will crafting return? A. We can improve and customize our gear, that is a big part of RPG progression. "I will say though, it is different this time around, and it does get into spoiler territory so I'm gonna be a little bit cagey about it, but there might be a mysterious entity that assists you with that, that will be an important part of the narrative."

Emmrich’s skeleton Manfred is not "kissable" or romanceable, however, they added - “not that skeleton, but we’re not saying no skeletons”.

They have taken a different approach on how we import our decisions into the game this time around. This is now fully integrated into the character creator. The devs believe that this serves a dual purpose. Corinne said that she playfully thinks of it as ‘last time on Dragon Age’, though it isn't actually called this in the game. She noted that it has been ten years since the last Dragon Age game was released, so this aspect serves as a refresher on critical events as well as allowing us to remake those decisions that are critical to us. The system for doing this is very highly visual and uses the familiar tarot card aesthetic. "It’s a very visual and playful experience as you go through it." It was very important to them that this system was built into the client, so that you can play this game entirely offline. No online connection is required, no linking to EA accounts is required – this was a big fan request. Corinne added, “I don’t want to spoil anything by revealing what decisions you can import, but I will say that this [thinking about the decision import system and what decisions to include] has been a really interesting creative intersection for us, because on the one hand, this is a whole new adventure”. In this game we are in northern Thedas, in locations we have not been to before. This naturally affects "some of what will matter and what decisions they're not using this time around, as far as decisions. But obviously there are some very, very clear connections to existing characters." “It’s no secret that the Inquisitor is going to show up, so that’s a factor”.

The game only begins in Minrathous, it doesn’t stay there. “I don’t want to get into too much spoiler detail, but getting to go to and work with the art, narrative and design teams, to build out these locations that we've talked about", places in this game where characters in previous games came from and referred to in previous games has been really exciting for the dev team. We do start in Tevinter, but Minrathous is not the entire game by any stretch. "We've gone back to what we believe delivers the best, most curated, intense narratives." There is side content in the game, the locations can open up and we can go back and "solve mysteries" and things, but these are not fetch quests and they are not "grind content". The game is a very hand-crafted, mission-based, curated experience. The side content is really great. "The most important thing for us [on that], obviously we've talked about how narrative, story, characters are the most critical to us, and this has allowed us to build these experiences in a way that emphasizes that extremely well, tying into the story threads and the story beats."

Q. Will the companions have unique specializations? A. The "companions will have abilities that are truly unique to them, but also, they do fall into the archetypes of mage, rogue and warrior. For instance, because she has a bow, you might be surprised to hear that Bellara is in fact a mage, and I love that”. The bulk of the companions’ abilities are based on their own unique 'personality'. For example, Neve is the only mage that is an Ice Mage, so she has related abilities that are distinct to her, but because she is a mage she does have access to abilities that all of the mages share, like Time Slow. The devs are really happy with this balance, a good mix of representing their archtype, their class, and also their distinct "specialization or personality, whatever you wanna call it." “Each of these characters exists, each of these characters have a history, has a story of how they became who they were. Part of that was finding the intersection between narrative and gameplay”. They want to serve the needs of gameplay but also allow the characters to breathe as their own people both in conversations and out of conversation.

Healing spells return, and these are a part of the 'core mage kit'. "Your mages, you wanna make them a healer? Do that."

Q. Will DA:TV still have tactical combat? A. Yes, combat gets quite tactical. The combat system is an evolution of the previous combat system. The game has a robust difficulty system. Tactics are of increasing importance the higher up you go in the difficulty system. If you want a higher tactics experience, crank up the difficulty in particular. “I want to make sure I am super clear in my answer. Our pause-time tactical mode is not overhead. It stays close to Rook. It does allow you to cycle between targets both in and out of combat, there is a reason for that”. As the game progresses (we didn't see this in the gameplay reveal demo), it will display strategic information about enemies, such as what enhancements they have, what are they resistant to, what are their vulnerabilities, what are their elemental weaknesses. Our type of abilities, leaning into elemental gameplay, matters a lot. Also, tactical decision making also takes the form of coordinating abilities between Rook and the companions to create synergies or devastating (what they call) “detonation combos”. An example of this is that Bellara has an ability that is like a gravity well called Galvanized Tear. This pulls enemies together. You could use this to draw enemies in to one place. Then, Neve has a Slow Time ability. This affects the world around you but does not affect you. So you clump enemies up and then slow time. Then you could come in as Rook to do something like a devastating Area of Effect or Damage over Time spell or ability on the enemies that have been gathered up and slowed/frozen in place. The devs said that it is good to try and ensure that you have a few possible detonation combo synergies amongst your team that you choose to bring out into the field - so there is tactical gameplay while in combat, but also an element of pre-combat strategizing as you decide who to take. Also, the Wheel will tell you when there is a synergy combo available, remind you of those synergies between companions. You can queue both of those abilities up at the same time and when you pause out of the pause-time menu, they will both execute.

The enemies in Arlathan are “Fade-touched”, and they are vulnerable to lightning abilities.

Veil Ranger, one of the three rogue specializations, is one of Corinne’s favorites.

In CC, Rook’s pronouns can be chosen. You can select both pronouns AND gender, as as Corinne noted, these are related concepts, but actually not exactly the same thing. Rook can be non-binary. The pronouns available are she/her, they/them, and he/him. The Character Creator is very detailed and very deep. The team focused a lot on doing good hair and doing hair and skin tones respectfully. There is full body customization. They are going to show us a lot more on CC in the future, but at a time when they have the time and space to do so. The devs were asked about whether there will be a Photo Mode being in the game. They said that this is something that they are actively looking into. They know that there is a ton of interest in this. It is a feature that they like the idea of even just internally, as it is helpful for them to have this internally when they are building things out. They said that they will let us know about this when they can. "We are as geeked on that possibility as you all are."

On abilities: The Ability Wheel does have a capacity (as in number of abilities available on it). You have to choose which three abilities you want to bring for Rook, and what three for each of our two companions respectively. This creates emergent gameplay - you have to do that strategizing, building the combat kits before you go on a mission. The devs noted that while there are three ability slots for Rook, there is so much more than that on the Wheel. The Wheel has other things on it that we can perform directly from it. For example, on the Wheel Rook gets an "ultimate ability" that is associated with their class or their specialization. There is also a type of item we will get that will function like abilities, typically like buffs and enhancements, in the form of runes. These will be controlled for Rook and our companions from the Wheel.

We can choose what enemies our companions will target. Also, a lot of the companion gear really synergizes with that directing your companions. When you issue commands, that too will prock [sp?] based on the gear that they have equipped. "There is just so much from the Wheel, that once you get in and see everything working together, it becomes more and more apparent."

Fireball and Cone of Cold do not specifically return as spells in this game, but their successors do: Meteor and Frost Nova. These two abilities serve the exact same combat role and function as the previous two, only "with quite the glow-up", especially Meteor. It is “so satisfying nuking a group of darkspawn with a well-placed Meteor”.

On Accessibility features: They have spent a lot of time thinking about this topic so that we can play the game in a way that really works for us. They will go into this in more detail closer to launch when the time is right.

On the timeskip: John said “Anyone who's paid attention to Dragon Age, timelines are always a little iffy. They change and morph over development as we see how long events take. But for DA:TV we were actually pretty consistent since the start". It has been about ten years since the events of Trespasser transpired. "As you may have noticed, Varric has become a little bit of a silver fox." Solas’ Ritual has taken time to set up, and we are coming in at the end of that hunt [in the start of the game.]

They confirmed that Solas is still bald. Matt: “Solas is still Solas. I really like how Solas has turned out this time around."

In Thedas, ancient elves go bald when they’re like "millennia" old. So, Solas was not always bald. "So if you were to end up seeing what Solas looked like in the past, things might be a little different." What happened to Solas' wig from Tevinter Nights? John: "I'm sure he still has it somewhere. He's just taking care of it elsewhere, it's his most important possession."

On companions' appearances and outfits: The companions still have iconic color palettes and things like that, but they do have a wider range of appearances that we can find from them that they can have this time around (compare with Dragon Age II, where they always had the same armor and we could not choose how it looked). Some of the DA:TV companions' are just cool, but then there are some that are tied directly to their narrative and just kind've what's happening in their life. (In DAII, due to constraints, they had to keep the companions with just one basic outfit, and this was sad.)

Q. Will we see or go to Kal-Sharok? "I've been obsessed with it forever." A. Matt: "Yeah, me too. I will say, what's been really cool, so in previous games, we've kind've alluded to this before, it was a lot of fun to kind've hint at the locations that were off the map, the mysterious places that you weren't going, and so you could just kind've bring in some props, or some characters, a piece of art, things like that, you know, even Tevinter was only vaguely hinted at, and we would just add drips and bits and pieces. So that stuff was really fun. In DA:TV, we're actually getting to visit, like a whole lot of those locations that had only been hinted at for real, so you actually do run around Tevinter and a bunch of the other locations that we've revealed. But, this also means, like we're not completely throwing out the map, and so that there are actually new things that we can start hinting at, that we can start drip-feeding, and so, it's kinda fun. I'd say, yeah, for what we can show of Kal-Sharok, and other locations, there's more to do."

There are a number of different types of dialogue wheel in the game. All of the dialogue wheels are based off the same principle. In DA:TV, there are "tone wheels" (roleplaying your character and picking a consistent tone), "emotional wheels" (where you can pick specific emotional reactions), and "choice wheels" (which are, 'I don't have a strong emotional or tone tie here, but I do want to make a choice based on what I do'. The "Investigate" option also returns. They want players to understand as much as possible about what it is they are going to be picking on the wheel. "And understand, and again, choice and consequence is fun, we wanna make sure the choice is clear, even if, again, one of the best parts about consequence is making sure that's not entirely clear."

Q. How extensive are Rook's decision trees for companions and NPCs throughout the game going to be? A. "Huge. It's a Dragon Age game. We wanna make sure you have choices, we wanna make sure you can choose your roleplaying but also choose outcomes of conversations, choose how events unfold. We wanna make sure that we also react to decisions you've made. So, for example, you may be talking to a follower who is an elf, and if you yourself are an elf, obviously you're gonna have a different perspective on events than someone who is not an elf. Sometimes that means different conversation options. Sometimes that's going to mean entirely deep dialogue trees. As well as based off decisions you've made throughout the game, so. Again, making sure that the game feels like the it's noticing what you're doing is a huge part of how we've written out the dialogue trees in this game."

Each of the seven companions have full romance arcs and they are all romanceable by all genders. This does not mean that they are playersexual, and this fact is important to the team. The companions don't conform or twist their identities to who we as the player are, and they don’t suddenly have a preference for men or woman based on what we are playing. Instead, they have their own fully fleshed-out identities which they are true and authentic to. They are all pansexual in this game. They have their own histories of romance, and sometimes we will hear about their preferences and things of that nature from them. If you don’t romance them, they will actually build their own romances with each other. Taash and Lace is one of Corinne’s favorite companion relationships. She says that she has heard that the shipname in the community for this is "Laash". (Corinne pronounced "Taash" like "Tosh" or "Tawsh").

Q. What are the markings on the faces of Davrin and Bellara? A. "There are quite a few, easily more than we've done before I think, tattoos from various cultures. We're bringing the vallaslin back of course. There are a ton of different options, especially when we're going into all of these new regions. Each region has its own kinda visual language for that. But yeah, we are bringing the vallaslin back, and then a couple of the characters have them, but we've kinda customized them a little bit, they're a bit more specific to their personality."

"The depth and authenticity of the companions, journeying along with them on their arcs, learning about their hardships, what they care about, being by their side." Corinne said "they all feel like my dear friends".

Corinne's favorite thing other than the companions is the CC. "That CC, the makeup options, the range of sliders... I'm a qunari fan, so even just the way you customize the horns and combine that with the really great looking hair".

The art team worked very hard to make the story more visible around you in the game than ever. They really leaned into trying to make sure that every design, prop, characters, environment, VFX, that all these choices were putting the story on-screen. They wanted to put the story on the screen so that we can really see it all unfold. Matt, who has worked on all of the Dragon Age games, said that DA:TV represents one of the best attempts they have ever made at doing this.

This game contains "the deepest companion arcs" that they have ever done - not just in a Dragon Age game, but in a BioWare game in general. "Being able to work across all the disciplines, building characters who look and sound and behave in very specific and characterful ways." Each companion has their own story arc you can go through, decisions you can make. "They really do take center stage. As you play through them, you see the care and love that the team has put into each one."

There are moments in each companion arc that will make you cry, angry, excited.

John loves the way that the companion arcs integrate into the story as a whole. "Finding ways to bring these characters together. Finding ways to make this narrative, this story of, you need to put together a team and stop the end of the world, has just been absolutely exciting and thrilling, and again, you see the team's love in every single piece of it.”

DA:TV has been the highlight of John’s 17 year career in games. It has been part of his career and life for "literally the last decade and a half". He has worked on it since DA:O. "There's something about DA:TV that feels like an amazing mix of novelty but also familiarity, it's like coming home in a way that is going to be very exciting for people who are existing Dragon Age players. There's also so much here that's new and exciting for people, new players and old alike. Going to the parts of the world, seeing things we've never seen before, and just getting to take this amazing world and series and expand on it, and build on it in ways that, have just been honestly an absolute thrill."

There have been times in the companion arcs where, even knowing exactly what was going to happen, with some of these decisions, Corinne had to set down the controller, let out a heavy sigh and go, "oh my god, what am I going to do here?"

Corinne: “Can we just give a big shout out to the dev team? I am so proud of them. This team has poured their heart and soul into this. To anyone from BioWare who is listening in, thank you so much. Y'all are just the best”. John: "Absolutely. Here here."

Q. Why does Varric have dark hair now? A. Matt: "He has been adventuring for a while now." His hair is actually more gray than black, but he's been in very dark scenes so far. We will see him in more contexts.

The Inquisitor appears in the game in the flesh. The devs know how attached we all are to the Inquisitors and they have seen our love for our OCs. The Inquisitor can be customized, "include some of our new customization options". “Yeah, they’re gonna show up and they’re gonna be your Inquisitor.” John: “The story of Solas and the story of the Inquisitor obviously, are tied, they're tied together as much as any story, so it would have been strange for us not to bring them in for this one. They're gonna be a part of this story, so."

Right now, the team's focus is entirely on the quality of the game as it is so important at this stage – they are all-in, with all of their attention on finishing the game and on the quality of the game and the promise on it. They are 100% focused on making this being the most complete game that they can make it.

There are no microtransactions. There will be no battle-passes. You do not have to connect online to play. They want to make this "the most complete singleplayer game that they possibly can".

Armor transmog exists in the game. "Hell yeah." Corinne said that she is the kind of player that believes "fashion is the real end game". She said that there is a transmog system, and that it is sick.

Q. Are any of the characters explicitly ace, or on the ace spectrum? A. Corinne shared that she is gray-ace. “I will say though, that none of our companions this time around are explicitly ace. When we look at the characters, their motivations, who they are, we always assess, 'is this the right time?' This time it wasn’t. But what I will say for everyone on the ace spectrum out there, I would love to represent an ace relationship, some time in the future when it feels like the most authentic fit for a companion, when we can do it best."

Q. Can mage Rook do blood magic? A. “This gets a little spoiler-y, so let me just say, Rook has some pretty good reasons to avoid blood magic. Rook is not gonna wanna be interested in that. But I will say, the mage skill tree is packed with all kinds of spells, traits, and perks to give you a ton of flexibility in your magic."

One of the three mage specializations is "a necromancer one". Another was described as “an elemental one”. The third was described as being more like "a combat mage".

Davrin has already named the young griffon "Assan". "Assan is a very good boy." [Assan emojis flood the chat]

In Dragon Age: Inquisition, we had Skyhold. In this game our headquarters is called The Lighthouse. There will be more to be seen on this later. Narratively it serves kind of a different purpose to Skyhold and also the same purpose. The Lighthouse has elements that will change over time, and there are some things about it that we can adjust. “It definitely does start to feel very much like home over time”.

Q. Do pasta and noodles exist in Thedas? A. Matt replied by geeking out about worldbuilding. “DA:TV for us is a real dream opportunity to go places that we've only ever heard references to or seen hints at. And so, going through the worldbuilding process and trying to build these places out, not just as neat things from the IP, but also, if you've read about the stuff, if you've been following along, you've got your own version of it in your head, you've imagined what it might be like, and probably hoping for something spectacular, and our brains are always far better at creating this stuff than any game developer or any artist can really do justice to. So you really have to swing for the fences to make something very satisfying and exciting. That can be everything as big as architecture, landscape, biomes, ecosystems, but it does get into things like art, culture, costume design, and also food, and this time around we did, that was one of the many things that we did look into just to try and catch the character and the feel of a place, to make it feel believable and lived in. So, that's my really long answer for, yeah, I'm sure, at least one place does have pasta."

Mabari are not nearly as big of a thing in the north of Thedas as they are in the south. Sadly, in DA:TV we will not get a mabari (but to be fair, we have a griffon!!) And he can be PETTED! “I have actually hugged the griffon”. There is lots of opportunities to interact with the griffon. "Can we see Assan in chat if we wanna see him in The Lighthouse hanging out?" [Assan emojis flood the chat] "This was so important to the team, too, this is the team's, like, just huge support for this feature, so props to them."

We will get to see the Character Creator before launch. "They are laying out a roadmap for what we are going to show and when we are gonna talk about it. So, yes, you will see it, as we get a little bit closer to launch."

In CC, the body customization can be done for humans, elves, dwarves and qunari. Qunari hair options and horn options are rad. They acknowledged that it was hard to have nice-looking hair for qunari in DA:I.

"Related to this, your Lineage (human/elf/dwarf/qunari) gives you a lot of really unique dialogue options, so that's a really lovely aspect of choosing your lineage as well." "Each lineage, depending on the lineage you choose and the background you choose, there are some specific call outs to. For example, if it's the Mourn Watch, them being a faction from Nevarra of mages, obviously your experience as a dwarf there is going to be different than say a human or an elf, so, there are also specific callouts tailored to those combinations with again, the intention of giving each lineage their own little flavor as to how they fit into that faction as a whole."

Barkspawn/Dog is safely gnawing on a bone somewhere next to a fireplace in Ferelden! Don't worry, he is fine. Mabari live exactly as long as you need them to.

"Rook's last name is defined based on their faction, again, we wanted to tie that into your backstory, but also, there's a name generator that can give you a selection of first names. Obviously if you want to make your own first name, that's definitely something we support as well." But if you always struggle during CC and name all your characters like 'Bob' or something, you're gonna be okay thanks to the name generator.

The Voice Actor cast are very talented. They devs are super excited to talk about them more over the summer. They are not quite ready to announce their names yet.

Q. Will there be a Collector’s Edition? A. They will talk more about the different editions of the game that will be available soon.

Q. Will tavern songs return? A. There are tavern songs in the game, and they are pretty great. They said huge props to the audio and performance teams that made these.

There is a little tavern in Minrathous called The Swan. The song that you hear there is great, and is probably Corinne's favorite.

More information on the required PC specs will come soon.

They are not quite ready yet to talk in specifics about the music. But in broad-strokes the process of creating the music is always the same: working with the composer, figuring out what the themes are, working out what kinds of elements they want to keep, working out what specific elements they want to tie to specific characters. It is a really in-depth and collaborative process. The team have great audio and music people. They want to make sure that the music feels like a cohesive part of the game experience.

On the narrative themes of the game: “What you start with [when setting out to create/write a game] and where you end up aren’t always necessarily the same. Sometimes you start writing out a theme, you realize actually it's more interesting if we attack it from this angle or maybe if you twist it a bit." This has been true for all of the DA games. “For DA:TV, one of the biggest themes has been how regret shaped peoples' lives, how people deal with their regrets, how people maybe move past their regrets.” Each of the characters, the stories as a whole, have elements of this tied throughout. They really wanted to have this thematic cohesiveness to the game's story.

The world reacts to Rook’s lineage and backstory. There are unique dialogues or conversation options based on backstory and lineage.

There are glorious, fantastic dwarf beards. "I don't know what magic the character art team did with the beards", but they feel/look like how beards should.

"If you go against a companion’s wishes or make decisions that they don’t like, you can piss them off, they might not agree with you and they will take some time away. That said, this is the biggest threat to Thedas we've ever seen, so they, they're always gonna be willing to show up to defend Thedas, but yeah, you can piss them off and they'll leave for a minute. As it relates to them showing up to defend Thedas, well yeah, they will, unless..." John: "No spoilers Corinne."

“The things that we have enjoyed, the things that shaped us, show up in these characters”. "I don't think that any characters have what I would describe as, this [thing] was a direct reference."

Q. Why is Harding a companion? A. John: “It was impossible not to see the love that people had [in the Dragon Age: Inquisition era] for our murderous girl-next-door dwarf. She has always been a fan favorite. But I think beyond that, it's something that Harding's writer wanted to explore, there was more story to tell there, more perspective. And beyond that, Harding obviously has a strong connection to Solas, Varric and the events of the past ten years. I wouldn't say that it's always been, but I'd say that Harding's one of the first ones that we settled on, that this is a character that we want. And her writer had a story that they wanted to tell with her so, it just made sense." Matt: “It's not a huge part of her character but, she tends to be one of the people that have the most insight into Solas, who he was." John: "It also provides you with that little bit of perspective. Who was Solas, what kind of character was he? Using characters to provide windows onto the world is one of my favorite things.”

They want to make sure each quest provides a perspective on the world and the characters, and feels obviously and immediately relevant to what you are doing. "Narrative and narrative heft". We are trying to save the world. “We really wanted to make sure that these quests were something that you”, someone who is trying to save the world, would think is important or worthwhile to do when faced with the end of the world. Everything is hand-crafted and intentional. We aren’t going to be "gathering Shards in the Hinterlands"; everything is built with intention and a dev lovingly crafted the experience. They heard loud and clear previous feedback on this. There are quests of all sorts and sizes, but all of them share that kind of 'this is the kind of thing that The Veilguard would do', especially when faced with the end of the world. "We spent a lot of time listening to what y'all said."

Q. Are there any locations in the game that can only be accessed by making specific story choices? A. "This does start getting into spoiler detail. But I will say that" locations can fundamentally change based on decisions we make. For some of the parts of the world that we will go to, the choices that we make have an impact on how these spaces exist and develop. “Don't want to get to into story spoilers, but your decisions do impact how the world shows up”.

If Rook gets knocked out during combat, we will have to reload our saves unless we have invested in companions’ progression and what they can do (they can be specced out to be able to revive Rook, if you have invested in their progression and what they can do).

Q. “Will Solas still occasionally or dramatically speak in iambic pentamer?” John: “Massive kudos to Patrick who always writes Solas so well. Solas is a returning character, it’s the same Solas you know and love or hate depending on who you are, the same writer. So the answer is, yeah, it’s Solas”.

The decision of who was left behind in the Fade in Dragon Age: Inquisition does not show up in DA:TV. However, this does not mean that it will be a decision which will never be important in future. "Not for this one, though."

There are no mounts. “Mounts addressed a need in Inquisition that we don’t have in DA:TV. You’ll see why when you get to play”.

On sidequest design – they are all hand-crafted, all story-focused. “Narrative is so much at the core of DA:TV, and anything other than hand-crafted quests just felt like it would be a disservice to the game we were building”. There is no mechanic in DA:TV like Power in DA:I, there is no mechanic that blocks your progression until you fill a bar. “You have the autonomy to engage in these quests as you like, there is no 'grind-out gates' before you can progress”. “We want to make sure that doing this content feels as natural and part of the logical flow of the story as possible”. They acknowledged that Power was a divisive mechanic in DA:I.

Q. Are there War Table missions? A. “We haven’t talked much about the player’s base, The Lighthouse. We will save that for now. The Lighthouse, your headquarters so to speak, has its own unique purposes and functions this time. This is an area that we will leave for you when we talk more about The Lighthouse.”

Dual-wielding (they wanted to bring it back) is back as part of the rogue kit this time. Warriors are focused on mighty two-handed weapons which have a real heft to them when swung. (Warriors can also use sword and shield). The amount of hits rogues can get in in rapid succession is really satisfying – dual-wielding is the providence of rogues this time.

John: "The thing that keeps me sustained is just knowing that the game we are building is the right one, knowing the pieces are coming together." They mentioned “knowing just how much people care about this franchise, care about these games”. They are excited for when people can see the fantastic work the team has been doing, they think people will be excited when we get to see it. This game is huge. John gets pleasantly surprised on a daily basis even today and is always amazed by the awesome stuff the team has done, how good it looks etc. Sometimes he spends an hour late at night watching the work come in, watching the cutscenes come, watching the work coming together, it etc and is blown away by the work like 'holy smokes'. Corinne said “Speaking on behalf of the dev team, everyone is working so hard, putting so much passion and of themselves into it, this is a franchise the team really loves. Seeing everyone’s support, cheering us on, has meant a lot to the team, I want to say thank you to all of you.” They are working on a way for the Q&A to be immortalized somewhere for us so that the info does not disappear into the ether. "Stay tuned". John hopes this was the first of many of these opportunities to talk to us directly. He is really excited, and Corinne noted that how much Dragon Age means to us is wonderful. "It's wonderful to see you all excited and invested. Thank you again, truly."

Session ended.

[source: The dev BioWare Discord Q&A on June 14th]

Update: If you would like to listen to the Q&A for yourself in video format, or listen to it again, Ghil Dirthalen recorded it and has now uploaded a video of it here.

[seospicybin]

BAD IDEA, RIGHT?

Bangchan x reader. (s)

Synopsis: Your ex, Chan, makes a return to his social media with a thirst trap. Horny and bored, you decide to see him for the sole reason of getting your physical needs fulfilled. However, as the night goes, you start to wonder if seeing him tonight is a bad idea. (14,4k words)

Author's note: Yes, it's inspired by that one Olivia Rodrigo song.

Talking to your ex is a bad idea, right?

You've been considering whether to slide into his DM or not, commenting on his Instastory which is a video of him exercising half naked, exposing his toned upper half body in all its glory.

It's been two years after the breakup and he didn't post anything on his social media until today, it's like he knows you're bored and horny.

It's unclear whether it's him or it's your uterus talking, but he looks hotter, sexier, and bigger than the last time you saw him. Although you must admit that he's always been attractive to you, except that his attractiveness is on a whole 'nother level now and it makes you wonder why you let this man go in the first place.

In your defense, Chan is not a terrible ex, he decided to break up with you because he was leaving to study abroad and thought the long-distance relationship would be hard and mentally draining for both of you.

You acted like it didn't hurt you but when you came home that night, you cried so hard that your pillow got drenched in tears. You didn't want to break up with him because he's a great guy who happens to be great in bed too, not only because he has the most delicious cock you've ever had but he also knows how to put it to a good use. Simply put, you were so devastated thinking that you'd never find a man like him again.

And you know what? You were right. You tried dating a few times but nothing comes close to what you had with Chan. Also, can't two people reconnect?

Before you get to change your mind again, you decide to hit the like button and send a short message in his DM.

Hey, there. You type into the message box, adding a smiling emoji at the end to make it sound casual but friendly at the same time.

There's no reply or a sign that he's read your message, you figure he must be busy on a Saturday morning, he could be having another session at the gym or having breakfast, or... yeah, it could be him ignoring your messages.

Slightly hangover from hanging out with your friends last night, you slump down your bed and close your eyes to get another few minutes of sleep.

You wake up an hour later with more than a dozen notifications on your phone, they're mostly your friends sending photos they took of you last night. You groan when you see a couple of work emails and do not think twice to skip them. There are some texts from friends and then, there it is, a reply from Chan.

Well, hello, there!

It's been ages.

How are you?

You check the time and his replies came about fifteen minutes ago, there's a possibility that he's still on his phone and he'll respond faster this time.

Never been better.

How about you?

Looking fine as ever, I see.

You add the eyes emoji before hitting the send button and drop your phone onto the bed, it's a bit risky but a compliment never hurt. Besides, who doesn't like getting a compliment?

The thought that Chan is probably waiting for your reply in those fifteen minutes amuses you but pfft... that's just your wishful thinking.

As you wait for his response, you're checking the photos your friends sent you. You check them one by one, deleting the ones that you don't like and saving the good ones where you look flattering.

An idea pops into your head as you go through your gallery: a plan. First, you choose a photo of you that shows your whole look last night, dressed in a blue mini dress and strappy heels with your hair up, tied in a messy bun, in other words, you looked hot and you felt like it when your friend took the picture.

You upload it as your Instagram story and wait until it is successfully uploaded. You're sure as hell he'll see your new post, then he'll get curious and open it, and Wowza!

Chan thinks he can be the only one posting a thirst trap on a Saturday morning, huh?

It only takes a minute for the thirst trap to do its job, you smirk at the notifications and see Chan's username on the top.

Me? He adds three flustered emojis to it.

Nah. I'm not.

But you...

You look beautiful as always.

Is it even allowed to look that beautiful?

A year of being single makes you weak at the slightest chance of romance, you catch yourself smiling to yourself in the mirror. You slap yourself to get ahold of yourself, reminding yourself that he could say that just to—

A notification pops up and it shows that Chan liked and reacted to your Instagram story with the hearts eyes emoji. Fuck! You just caught yourself smiling again. but what can you do? You're just a girl who is lonely and in need of some loving touch.

You take a deep breath to calm yourself down and think about what to reply to him.

And you...

Is it even allowed to have that much of muscles?

Someone, please close the gym!

You look good nonetheless, Chris.

But seriously, close the gym! You add a laughing emoji to keep it playful.

You patiently wait for his reply but your patience only lasts for twenty minutes until he makes you wait longer for his reply and you slump on the bed again.

It's time for plan number two!

The thirst trap worked to pique his interest and you have to come up with something that shows you're a hot commodity, you don't waste your time chasing boys, they chase you. That way, Chan will respond to your message faster.

So here comes plan number two, you take another trip to your gallery, scrolling through photos from last night, and find the perfect photo. It's a picture of you and one of your male friends, you're standing side by side, holding your drinks together and smiling to the camera. There's enough friendliness in there to show that you're close with this guy but also, not that close. You don't know how to explain it, but you know it'll work.

You wait a few more minutes to add it to your Instagram story, not forgetting to tag your friend which is the best part of it. If anyone checks his account, they'll see a model with blue eyes, just the perfect guy to make certain someone is jealous.

You're devilishly laughing as you hit the post button and wait until it is successfully uploaded. You check to see the final result and smile in satisfaction.

Okay, maybe you were too haste and didn't do your calculation right because morning has turned into afternoon and Chan hasn't replied to you. Not only did he make you wait, but you also wasted three hours of your day staring at the ceiling with the phone resting on your chest.

At this point, you should've given up and maybe it's true, he only replied just to be friendly, nothing more. You fling your phone across the bed out of spite and get up, planning to wash him away from your head with a hot shower.

Against the loud sound of the hairdryer, you hear your phone chimes and you turn it off to check whether you're imagining it chimes or not.

You hate how quickly you forget how upset you were a while ago after seeing your phone light up with new notifications.

I'm sorry for replying late.

I was busy moving some stuff.

Do you have time?

And you hate it more that he can easily get your hopes up again. You figure it's time he tastes his own medicine, you put your phone away and leave him on read. You'll reply later when you feel like it, or never. Who knows?

You continue drying your hair but the constant hum of the hairdryer makes you unable to hear your thoughts, especially one that stops you from going to your phone again as it chimes with a new notification. It only takes twenty minutes for you to cave into the temptation.

I don't know about you but all these chats, they're not enough.

Can we video call instead?

It takes you not even a minute to say yes to him. You make a run to your closet and change your clothes, picking up a white top with a low neckline, ditching the bra, and pairing it with denim shorts.

Chan doesn't give you a minute to choose the setting of the video call, your phone rings as you try to make the bed as best as you can and sit with your back against the headboard of the bed.

The phone keeps ringing but you need to check your hair in the mirror again to finally accept the video call. A second later, Chan's face appears on your phone screen, and from his damp hair, it seems like he's just taken a shower too.

"Hey," he greets you as he brushes his curls with his hand.

"You look a little wet, Chris," you tease with a sly smile.

Chan moves, changing his sitting position and revealing himself in a bathrobe with his chest all exposed. Intentional or not, you must admit that's quite a show!

"I was feeling hot so I took a quick shower," he answers with a grin.

"Feeling hot, huh?" You tease again.

"I am now," he playfully responds, flashing you a sly smile and lip bite.

The two of you just stare at each other through the screen and it's getting too much for you with how intense his eyes are.

"So, where are you now?"

"I'm actually in the city," he shortly replies.

"Oh? You're back!" You gasp but hold yourself back from continuing the sentence and ask if he's back for good. The most important thing is he's confirmed his location, all you need to find out next is if he's up to do no good with you.

"Kind of," he vaguely answers.

"Kind of..." you teasingly repeat his words and then giggle.

Chan grins and rests his back against a pillow, it's unclear if he's sitting on the bed or the sofa, "Oh, how I missed that," he says.

You take a pillow and put it on your lap as something to hold on to, "Missed what?"

"Your sweet smiles and cute giggles," he shortly answers like he's been waiting for you to ask him that.

"Oh, stop it, Chris!" You respond, getting a little flustered that you melt onto your pillow. You may as well lie down on your stomach and put the pillow under your chest, "You're getting good at lying, huh?"

"Yeah. Nah. Just a little bit," he jokingly says, then bursts into laughter that his dimples sunken deep into his cheeks.

And oh, you missed his dimpled smiles and his sonorous laughter too, but you're not going to tell him that, maybe not now, or ever.

To avoid it escalating really quickly, you shift the conversation elsewhere. You prop a hand under your chin and tilt your head to the side while the other hand steadily holds your phone far enough from your face.

"So, what are you doing now?"

"Staring at your face," he answers, a half smirk decorating his rectangular face.

"Just my face?" You jokingly ask with a flirty lip bite.

"Everything else too," he adds, catching his eyes flicking down for a second then smirks.

You act oblivious to the fact that with the way you lie on your stomach, you're offering him a view of your cleavage and he would be stupid if he missed the sign.

"What I meant is what are you doing in the city? Is it for work or...?"

"I need to sort a few things," he vaguely explains.

It's obvious that he's keeping the details from you and you have to respect that, he's not your boyfriend and even if he is, he's not obligated to tell you everything. Including the possibility that he came here to see his new girlfriend, perhaps?

"Oh? So, all business, no pleasure?" You joke with a light chuckle, hiding your true intention to know whether he's seeing anyone or not.

"I'm free tonight and I was hoping that we could meet," He says, shattering the negative thoughts that rush through your head.

Now, that gets you thinking if he's coming here to see you and you get that fluttering feeling in your stomach, or it could be your uterus ovulating as you speak, either way, you like it.

"Tonight?" You ask, acting like you already have a plan for tonight.

"Yes. Or do you already have plans for tonight?"

The act always works, gosh, you should consider to start a career as an actor, "Not really, but uh... where do you want us to meet?"

"There's a nice bar in the hotel I'm staying in. We can have a drink or two," he replies, then licks his lips and makes them appear wet and fuller, tantalizing you to kiss them.

Despite you feeling like screaming and jumping on the bed, you remain coy about it, reminding yourself to not sound eager but show enough enthusiasm.

You pretend to consider it for a moment, tilting your head to the other way and saying, "Hotel bar has better drinks so... yeah, I'd love a drink or two."

A triumphant smile rises on his face and it's cute that he lets it show, making you feel a lot of things in a few seconds.

"I'll see you there, I mean, here at 8?"

You tug your middle finger between your teeth and flash him a seductive smile, "Okay."

"I'll DM you the address."

"Okay," you mutter again while staring at him through the screen on your phone.

"See you tonight then," he says, touching his lips and rubbing the lower lip with his long, dainty finger.

"Can't wait to meet you," he adds.

Instead of answering him, you let out a giggle and sit up on the bed. You flip your hair to the back and just stare at him for a minute without saying anything.

"See you tonight, Chris," you finally reply, making sure to call his name with a low, sultry voice and a sly smile.

Without hesitation, you hang up first and let out a long sigh after. It's just a video call but Gosh! It feels like a foreplay already.

You give yourself a moment to compose yourself before execute plan number three: Dressed to fucking impress. To be honest, you don't even bother with the 'impress' part, you just want to fuck.

See? Talking to him is not a bad idea after all.

-

The sound of your high heels constantly tapping the marble floor as you walk echoes in the hotel lobby, you're unsure of how to inform him that you've arrived just a few minutes late from the appointed time.

You take your phone out of your purse and are about to compose a message when you catch him holding his hand up at you from the second floor.

You wave your hand back at him and make your way to the stairs, climbing each step with caution because it would embarrassing if you tripped. But looking at Chan waiting for you at the top of the stairs makes it feel like you're living a scene out of a movie.

Even with his signature all-black look, it doesn't make him less princely. He looks dreamy with crinkles in his eyes and a charming smile on his face.

He offers his hand when you're only a couple of steps away from him. You take it and let him guide you on the last steps of the stairs. His grip is firm as you remember and he still has his favorite chain bracelet around his wrist.

"You look gorgeous," he doesn't say it in a dramatic, hyperbolic way but he softly whispers it to you before placing a sweet kiss on your cheek, so close to the corner of your mouth.

The night has just begun but he's already succeeded in making you quietly hold your breath. You put on a smile for him and coyly say, "You look stunning in black as... always."

He laughs and it feels like to see and hear it in person, like you can feel the warmth that his laughs emit.

"Want to have dinner first?" He asks.

"I've had dinner," you answer.

The truth is, you barely had dinner because you were too nervous to eat anything but you did eat a nutrition bar in the taxi.

"This way to the bar then?" He offers his arm at you like a true gentleman.

"Lead the way, sir!" You say as you link your arm around him.

It's only a short walk from the hotel lobby to the bar Chan mentioned, the interior is rather luxurious, leather seats with a live jazz performance. He mutters something to the hostess, probably where he prefers to sit and she nods in response.

"This way, please!" She says with a polite smile, walking like a feline creature in her tight skirt and silk blouse.

You glance to the side to see if Chan is looking at the pretty hostess in front of him, but you find him staring at you instead.

"Is there something on my face?" You ask in slight panic, afraid that you have something in your teeth but he feels bad to tell you.

"No," he simply answers.

"This way, sir, ma'am," the hostess says, gesturing to the booth she chooses for the two of you, a little hidden in the corner of the bar to provide some privacy.

Chan gently places his hand on the small of your back and lets you take a seat first. You have a seat in the middle of the curved sofa and he sits right next to you.

"Can we order drinks right away?" Chan asks as he puts his phone on the table.

"Sure," the hostess answers, slightly bending down to hear him talk clearly, "What would you like to have, sir?"

"I'll have the... Boulevardier," he eloquently says with a slight French accent.

"Excellent choice, sir!" She comments, she then turns her head at you to take your order, "How about you, ma'am?"

Things have been feeling a little surreal for these past few hours your brain is struggling to keep up, you want to be cool and confidently answer the fanciable hostess but it takes you a longer time to process a simple question like that.

"I'd love a daiquiri, please!" You answer, ignoring the fact that it takes you a minute to come up with it.

"Can I recommend you with the Hemingway special? It's a daiquiri with a splash of sweet grapefruit juice and Maraschino liqueur," she eloquently explains, proving that she's not only hired because of her look.

"That sounds amazing. I'd love that," you say with an impressed smile.

After confirming your orders, the hostess left the booth and it's just the two of you now in this nice yet slightly erotic setting of the bar.

"That's a nice dress," he suddenly compliments as he's looking at your face, not at your dress.

The dress goes to your midthigh, it's white and tight enough to showcase your curve. It's long-sleeved but the sweetheart neckline exposed just the right amount of skin. You've been saving it for a special occasion and considering that you haven't met him for two years, you reckon it's time to wear it.

"Just something I had, you know, lying around," you playfully answer.

The drinks come not long after and Chan waits until the server leaves to initiate a toast with you. Your drink is in a glass with a thin stem so you carefully lift it with your fingers.

"Cheers!" You mutter in unison and clink your glasses together.

The first round of drinks went with a conversation that consisted of basic questions. He asks you about work, family, life in general, and everything in between. You must admit that your life is kind of boring but it's nice to know that he wanted to catch up on your life updates.

It's a little disappointing though that he doesn't ask anything about your love life or whether you're seeing anyone or not.

When you deem that you're on the verge of oversharing, you stop talking and shift the focus to him.

"What about you? What are you working on at the moment?" You curiously ask, putting down your drink on the table and leaving one last sip on the fragile-looking glass.

"I'm working on a lot of things right now. From a lot of places too," he answers.

"So, you've been traveling a lot," you remark.

"Yes."

That says something about his relationship status and unless he has learned how to be in a long-distance relationship, then it means he's not seeing anyone right now. Even if he is, there's a big chance that it's noncommittal.

This calls for a celebration so you pick up your drink and drain every last drop of it, delightfully gasping once you swallow it.

"Round 2?" Chan offers.

"Yes."

Now that you've made up your mind about it and from the subtle signals he's sending you so far, it's safe to say that he's up to do no good with you. You smooth down the hem of your dress and flip your hair to the back, preparing yourself to execute plan number four: Make your intention known.

As much as you feel tempted to say 'Chris, let's fuck!' right to his face, you decide not to be haste and go with a more convenient, acceptable way. You plan to be forthright about your intention what you want and if he wanted the same too so the two of you can skip the formalities and go straight to the fucking.

"Chris, I have something to tell you," you say to him.

He positions his body slightly turns to the side to face you and softly smiles, "You can tell me."

You've mustered up the courage and have the words prepared in your head only for the moment to be ruined by your phone ringing in your purse.

"Fuck..." you quietly mutter to yourself, you could sense your courage shrinking inside you.

The phone has stopped ringing but you grab your purse on the space next to you and pull it out to check the caller. A new text message appears on your screen.

Call me. It's urgent. Your friend wrote in her text along with multiple red exclamation marks.

It seems rather urgent, you put on an apologetic smile at Chan and say, "I'm sorry but do you mind if I make a quick call?"

"Not at all," Chan says with an easy smile.

You take your phone with you as you get up from the sofa, leaving the booth at the same time the waiter comes with your second round of drinks.

Finding the way to the restroom, you hit the call button as you enter and stand in front of the sinks, waiting for your friend to pick up while checking for your hair and make-up in the mirror.

"What's the urgency?" You say the second you hear the call being picked up.

"I need to borrow your laptop. Mine is suddenly frozen and I can't reboot it," your friend answers in a rather distressed tone.

Knowing that it's not the kind of urgent you imagined in your head, you let out a sigh of relief and then say, "Yes, yes you can use my laptop."

"I'm already in the elevator to your floor."

"You have the code to my apartment and I'm sure you know where I put my laptop," you calmly tell her, putting the strands of hair to the side and carefully dabbing the skin under your eyes.

"Wait. You're not home?"

"I'm not and I'm not taking any more questions," you immediately stop her before she gets too nosy.

"Don't call me for the rest of the night. Bye!" You don't wait for a response and quickly hang up.

On the way back to your booth, you see Chan enjoying the jazz performance on the stage, tapping his foot against the floor. You didn't notice the way he sat until now, his legs spread open, he's slightly slumped and his long arm rests along the edge of the sofa, plus he left the top three buttons on his shirt open.

Chan looks so hot simply by sitting like that and you're sure you've seen much hotter men but you really can't remember when.

You take a deep breath to calm yourself down and slide into the booth again, then slowly sit on the sofa, leaving a gap between you and him.

"Here's your drink," he says, handing the glass to you with such caution.

"Thank you!" You mutter your gratitude.

You're glad that you're taking the recommendation because the Hemingway Daiquiri tastes so refreshing, it's sweet and sour, certainly an upscale from the classic daiquiri.

"I hope the call wasn't something bad," he says to you.

You lick your lips after taking a sip, "Oh, no. It was my friend. She needs to borrow something," you spare him from the details.

It takes a minute to remember where you left the conversation and when you finally recall, you need to take more time to prepare yourself again. You immediately take another sip to quicken the process of building up your courage.

"Can I tell you a secret?" He suddenly comes up with an unexpected request.

Your throat burns from accidentally swallowing your alcohol too fast and you can feel your eyes get teary as well.

"Sure," you manage to answer.

Somehow the gap you purposely put between you and him disappears, he sits so close to you that his knee bumps into yours.

"I've been stalking your Instagram page," he shares with a shy smile.

You snort because he makes it seem like it's an embarrassing thing to say, but you doubt if that's true, he could be saying that to make you feel flattered.

"As far as I can recall, you've been abandoning your account until today," you say, hardly believing his so-called secret.

"That's because I'm using a fake Instagram account," he simply answers.

You snort again and roll your eyes at him, "Yeah, sure."

Chan smirks and picks up his phone, he opens Instagram to show the fake Instagram account he made and it only has one following, you.

"Do you believe me now?"

It's hard to stay calm when you find out that the guy who broke your heart two years ago has secretly been keeping up with you through your social media. You're happy but a part of you is still in denial.

"I mean... why not use your own Instagram?" you ask out of pure curiosity because it's not like you'd mistake this as a sign that he wants to get back with you. You're not that naive nor delusional.

"Then you would know that I regret breaking up with you," he casually answers like he didn't just reveal something profound.

You look at him to check if he's just messing with you and you would know if he's lying cause he's bad at it, but nope, he's telling the truth.

"And you would know that I've been struggling to get over you," he continues with glints filling his doe eyes.

There's an alarm going off in your chest, it's coming from the heart and it's telling you to be cautious, potential heartbreak lies ahead. You get reminded that you came here not to confront your feelings, you came here to get fucked, hopefully hard.

"And I guess you posted your boxing video for a purpose?" You ask with your eyebrow raised at him.

"Well..." he shrugs and slyly grins, "it worked, didn't it?"

As expected, this man has so many tricks up his sleeves. Better be careful as he puts all of his attention on you, his arm slowly makes its way around your shoulder and his hand is playing with your hair.

"Are you seeing anyone?"

"No comment," You smirk and take a small sip of your drink.

Chan lets out a laugh, the sonorous one and the kind that makes his eyes form two crescents. He takes a sip of his Boulevardier which is an upscale version of negroni.

"I've been wondering why you stayed single for so long," he says with an underlying tone, implying that he's actually asking you the reason why. Also confirmed his secret stalking behavior.

"It's not that long," you reply, crossing your legs together as you flash him a sly smile.

"A year, isn't it?" He asks.

You groan and roll your eyes at him, "You really are a stalker."

"You can tell me," he playfully elbows your side.

"No. It's a secret," you refuse to share.

"I shared my secret with you and it's only fair if you share yours with me."

"First of all, I didn't ask for your secret," you defend yourself while holding your drink close to your mouth.

He leans to your side, offering his ear at you as he says, "You can whisper it to me."

He means to know the answer anyway so you lean into his ear and cover the side of your mouth, then whisper, "All the guys I've met, they don't have a big cock like yours."

That's a way to get his attention and escalate the tension between the two of you. You pull away with a devilish smirk dancing on your face.

You glance down at his crotch and ask, "Is it still as big as I remember?"

"If you're lucky, you'll get to find out," he plays coy about it and you find it extremely attractive.

Noticing that you've drained your drink, Chan waves his hand to get the two of you another round of drinks. Obviously, you don't want it to end when things have just started to warm up.

He looks at you and then glances down, showing his hand snaking its way to your thigh.

"Have I told you that it's a nice dress?"

"I don't mind hearing it one more time," you respond with a cheeky smile.

He shoots you a big grin while he's playing with the hem of your dress, feeling the fabric between his fingers.

"It's a nice dress," he compliments, then leans in close so that you can feel his warm breath brush your cheek as he adds, "And I want to take it off of you tonight."

You place your hand on his hand that rests on your thigh and play with his bracelet, "if you're lucky, you'll get to do it," you poke fun at him.

You can audibly hear his laugh in your ear as he leans in closer his nose pokes your cheek, "We're even now."

The third drinks bring the tension higher as the two of you relax from every sip and the gap between your bodies gradually disappears.

Chan has his eyes on you all the time, it's overwhelming at times but you like the way he looks at you like an animal who has his eyes on its prey and you like seeing the confliction in his eyes on whether he should eat you whole or play with his food first.

There's so much chemistry and tension here, plus the alcohol, you're only waiting for the light to turn bright green, really.

He gently brushes your hair to the side and keeps it there so he can plant a kiss on the skin behind your ear, knowing that it's your sensitive part of body.

"You change your perfume?"

"Yes," you manage to remain calm despite the proximity and the way he constantly rubs your thigh with his knuckle.

He drags his lips to your ear and asks, "What is it called?"

You lick your lips and make him wait for your answer, "I believe it's called Good Girl Gone Bad."

He tilts his head to the side and looks at you right in the eyes, wide and dark with lust, "How bad?"

You grab the collar of his shirt and tug at it, "If you're lucky, you'll get to find out," you get back at him again.

As he bursts out laughing with his eyes closed, you follow your intrusive thought to cup his jaw with your hand and laugh along.

"That's two to one," you remind him.

He stops laughing only to fondly smile at you, "Remind me how I broke up with you."

"For a start, you acted like an absolute jerk that day," you half-jokingly say.

The truth is it wasn't the breakup that hurt you the most, it's the post-break-up and his total absence from your life, he didn't call or text, or even send a pity email after that day. It felt as if he didn't want you in his life anymore.

Fuck. How did you get here again? Forced to face your feelings. Time to shift the talk.

"It's getting late, don't you think?"

Chan immediately reaches for his phone on the table to check the time, "It's 10.51."

"Oh," you plainly respond and finish you drink.

"Can I have your new numbers?" He suddenly asks.

You put down your glass on the table and answer, "I still have the same phone numbers."

"Yeah but I lost my phone at the airport and had to get a new one, lost all of my contacts," he explains like he knew you thought about how he didn't call you earlier.

Chan hands you his phone so you can enter your phone numbers and hand it back to him once you've finished. He hits the call button instead of saving it first and your phone rings a second later.

"Come on. Pick it up!" He tells you.

You obey him, accepting his phone call even though he's sitting next to you, "Hello?"

"Hi, it's future Chris calling," he says with a mix of foolish and sexy grin, you don't know how but he does it so well.

Curious to see where this talk is going, you decide to play along with him, "If you are really from the future, can you tell me the lottery numbers for this week?"

"I... can't tell you that."

"I'm hanging up," you joke.

"But I can tell you something else."

"Not interested," you put away your phone from your ear.

He glares at you, forcing you to continue playing along with him, "Hear me first!"

"Okay, I'm listening," you say with a dramatic eye roll.

"Future Chris says you need to go to hotel room number 103 tonight."

"Uhm... why?"

"You have to go there if you want to get lucky," he says with his tongue slightly poking out on one corner of his mouth.

"Still not interested," you poke fun, pretending to hang up the phone again.

"You'll regret it," he teases.

"I doubt that," you say with your nose scrunched at him.

Chan gets a little annoyed now, you can tell by the way he has his tongue poking his cheek and the fed-up grin on his face.

"Don't you want to get lucky tonight and find out about..." he pauses as he reaches for the pendant of your necklace and turns it over in his fingers, "the thing you're curious of."

This is it then, your intention matched his intention and the light has turned bright green. You take his hand and put it down onto your lap, then you slide your hand into his palm, "Okay."

"Okay," He says, holding your hand in his then brings it close to his mouth to place a soft kiss on the back of your hand.

-

As you're waiting for the elevator to arrive, Chan steadily places his hand on the arch of your back and lingers there until the elevator chimes open.

He lets you get in first and you choose to stand on the side, close to the panel full of numbers of the hotel floors and he reaches for it to push the number to his floor.

Should you consider yourself lucky that the elevator is empty? Should you be nervous because you're starting to feel like a prey being locked with its predator inside a small, enclosed space?

No words are being exchanged as the two of you locked in a gaze, but he speaks so much through his eyes, they're fiery, filled with so much want, so much need, and ultimately, desire.

After that much teasing, flirting, alcohol, chemistry, and tension, you've been wondering how the two of you managed to not kiss each other already.

It seems like he's about to make it happen as he comes closer to you, putting his hands on the handlebar and caging you in between. Slowly, he brings his hand close to your face and carefully puts away the strands of hair covering your face to the side, then tucks it behind your ear.

In this proximity, you can see how plush his lips are, how soft and full they are, and it's getting too hard to try to ignore. You look at him, telling him how much you want to kiss him through your eyes and deliberately blink to give him the unspoken permission to kiss you.

The heating moment gets interrupted by the sound of the elevator chimes open and a group of people gets in from the fourth floor.

"Excuse me," a man says as he reaches for the panel to press the number to his floor.

With his hand on your back again, Chan protectively guides you to take a step forward and stands behind you, he puts his arm around your waist with his hand resting on your abdomen.

There's a low chatter going on from the other corner of the elevator but the absence of silence doesn't make it less tense as Chan buries his nose in your hair, you can feel every breath he inhales on the nape of your neck. It feels hot and cold at the same time, making you tingling inside.

He then presses his mouth to your ear and softly whispers, "You're still using the same shampoo, mmh?" His lips graze your ear as he speaks.

Chan puts his other arm on you and quietly, pulls you closer until your back meets his chest, that way you can feel him behind you and his body heat that slowly melts you from the inside.

Quietly, he slides his hand down to the curve of your ass cheek and then gently squeezes the flesh.

"My God, this body..." he whispers with his breath tickles your body, "Makes me want to ruin you so much."

Is it wrong that you don't even want to hide it anymore? You want everyone in the elevator to hear what he just said to you and for a split second, you want Chan to fuck you right there and let everyone watches.

However, Chan suddenly lets go of you and you pout at the sudden loss of contact. Then you notice that the little screen above the panel shows that the elevator is about to stop on the 10th floor.

When it chimes open, you make your way out with Chan trails behind you. None of you look back but keep walking ahead with his hand resting on the arch of your back again, leading you to where his room is. His hand goes lower and lower the further you walk through the hotel corridor.

"This way," he says, guiding your body to take the left corridor.

Without warning, he grabs you by the waist and roughly pulls you with him until he hits his back against the wall, then crashes his mouth on you.

This is not your shared first kiss but this is somehow better than that. The feeling of your lips finally reunited in a rapturous kiss especially when you've been craving it oh, there's nothing like it!

Chan kisses you so hard, so deep, so passionately that you have a hard time returning it to him and breathing becomes a second priority to you.

"I've been wanting to do that all night," he mutters when he lets go of the kiss.

Still gasping for air, you nod and say, "Me too."

To your surprise, he turns you over and has you pinned against the wall this time, he pushes his body against yours as he seeks to be as close to you as possible until there's no inch of gap left between your bodies.

When he deems that you need to breathe, he lets go of your lips only to kiss you on your neck and you tip your head to the side to give him the free access. You let out a low moan as his teeth faintly scrape the skin.

His hands run amok, feeling you all over and touching you through your clothes, eventually his hand cups your breast in his. He kisses your lips again only to distract you from his hand trying to pull down the front of your dress and after a few tries, he manages to send your breast spilling which he wastes no time to take it in his mouth.

"Oh..." The moan just slipped out of your mouth and you hurriedly press your lips together to shut yourself up, aware that you're in a hotel corridor and the hotel guests might hear it, oh and also, someone may walk in on you making out in the hotel corridor.

He leaves your breast wet with his saliva when he lets go and goes straight to kiss you again, putting his weight against you and hoisting your leg around him.

It's getting hard to stay quiet as he starts to dry hump you, you can feel the friction of his clothed erection on you, big and bulging, highly arousing.

Hearing footsteps coming, he hurriedly fixes your dress and takes your hand, this time, leading you right to his hotel room. He swiftly unlocks the door with his keycard and pushes the door inward.

"Come in," he softly mutters, keeping the door open to let you in.

Once you're both inside, the obscenity continues. Nothing is stopping you from coming at each other and ripping each other's clothes. Your dress is the first to go then his shirts, they're lying on the carpeted floor now.

As you lips continuously latch with his, Chan swiftly unbuckles his belt and zips open his fly, he pulls his erection out of its confine.

Without breaking the kiss, he takes your hand and puts it around his hardening member. You gasp at how hot it feels in your hand, how hard it is that you can feel the veins coiling around his length.

He pulls away and looks down to see your hand holding his cock, "Is it as big as you remember?"

You suck air through your teeth and then say, "I'm not sure."

You start to slowly pump his length in your hand and look up at him, "but there's a way I can know for sure."

His eyebrow raised in question, "You do?"

"Uh-huh," you answer, leaning in to kiss him.

From his lips, you begin a trail of kisses to his neck and his chest next, then down to his sculpted abs until your knees hit the carpeted floor.

Something about kneeling in front of him and he's looking down on you with a mix of excitement and anticipation in his eyes arousing you in a whole new way.

In return, you look back at him, innocently blinking your eyes at him all the while your hand keeps stroking his cock in front of you.

"Can I?" You ask him with your thumb softly rubbing the tip of his cock.

He puts his hands in your hair, brushing your hair and gathering them in the back of your head, making a makeshift ponytail with his hand, "Yes."

Without looking away from him, you open your mouth and stick your tongue out, then slowly, you take him in your mouth. You take him little by little and give yourself time to adjust yourself to his size which you think is somewhat bigger than you remember.

Wanting to impress him, you push yourself to take more of him but you're too haste and his cock hits the back of your throat so fast, triggering your gag reflex. You immediately pull away before you embarrass yourself more and look away as you let out a cough.

"Still too big for me," You say with a shy chuckle.

Chan places his hand on your cheek and tenderly caresses it, "Too big for you, mmh?"

You nod with your puppy eyes at him.

"But you're taking it so well," he coos, now wiping your chin with his thumb.

You wrap your hand around his cock again and slowly pump it, "Yeah?"

"Yes," he mutters with a soft smile.

The truth is you're not a big fan of giving blow jobs and you're not very confident in your skill, but he remains sweet and patient with you and you believe it's because he knows.

Chan makes you feel safe and comfortable enough to make you want to do it again.

"Let me just..." you don't finish your sentence but do it all over again.

You remind yourself to take it slow, regulate your breathing, and keep calm, it's even better if you can try to enjoy doing it.

To compensate for the rest that you can't take in your mouth, you use your hand and alternate between sucking and licking.

"See? You're taking me so well," he softly mutters, delicately tucking your hair behind your ear.

It doesn't take long for you to find your rhythm and slowly enjoying yourself giving him head, you're even humming in pleasure with your mouth full of him.

Seeing his reactions and hearing the lewd noises coming out of your mouth, encourages you to keep going despite your jaws getting tired and your knees are hurting from kneeling too long.

In between his low moans, he manages to mutter sweet nothings to you.

"Oh, that pretty mouth!"

"You're just too good."

"Oh... Too good at this!"

After a few minutes though, you sense that you needed a break so you slowly pull out and replace your mouth with your hand.

"You like that?"

"Very much," he answers without a beat.

He offers his hand to help you get up from the floor and pulls you close, hoisting your body against him knowing that you're probably tired from kneeling too long.

"You're getting too good, it's dangerous," he whispers to you with both hands cupping your ass cheeks.

You giggle and let him have your lips in him again, you're opening your mouth for him so he can kiss you deeper while he hoists you higher until your feet are lifted off the floor.

Chan carries you to the bed and gently lays you down on the bed, he removes his jeans first before joining you, lying next to you on the bed.

He brushes your hair away from your face and presses a kiss on your lips, "So, is it as big as you remember?"

You tangle your hand in his soft curls, "Jury's still out," you answer with a sly smile.

Chan glares at you as a grin slowly blossoms on his face, he offers his arm as your pillow and then pulls you closer to him, that way, he can comfortably plant his lips on yours again.

As he keeps you busy with his kisses, his hand is making its way down south and not stopping until it lands on your clothed cunt. He smirks against your lips the second he slips his fingers under, meeting your wetness.

"That wet for me, mmh?" He murmurs.

You coyly shrug and shoot him a smirk just to provoke him.

"Well, I'm honored," he says with his fingers tracing your folds and running it up and down your slit.

When he starts playing with your clit, you know you no long can keep your cool anymore. The cold that comes from the metal of his chain bracelet adds a different sensation to the hot and wetness of your cunt.

"Goodness..." you breathlessly gasp as he inserts his finger into you.

"I know you can take one more," he mutters with his mouth pressed to your ear, then proceeds to add another digit.

His two long fingers are inside you now, pumping them in and out of you, and curls them to find that spot that makes you—

"Chris! Oh, fuck!" You curse and grip his shoulder hard enough your nails dug into the skin.

He's enjoying it from the way his head hovers above you and peacefully observing your face, wanting to see all of your reactions to his delightful assault.

He has his mouth sucking on your breast now and the other is being fondled by his other hand, the other hand is busy making a mess out of you.

You're squirming on the bed with your waist upheld in the air and shamelessly arching your back at him, seeking more of him inside you.

Chan knows when to stop, he teases you enough to prepare you for what comes next. He slows down his hand motions and slowly pulls them out. He doesn't let go yet but keeps his hand inside your underwear, playing with your clit.

A moment later, he draws his hand out of your underwear and rubs his fingers coated with your arousal on his lips, "Taste yourself on me," he says.

Seeing his lips wet with your essence is rather arousing and you don't hesitate at all to kiss him, tasting yourself on him. The kiss feels exceptionally kinky and you thought you couldn't be more aroused than this.

Without letting go of the kiss, he hovers above you and props his elbows against the mattress, "Are you still on the pills?"

You swallow air before answering, "Yeah."

He places a sweet peck on your lips then looks at you, "Is it okay if we do it without protection?"

Maybe deep down you know you can trust him and it wouldn't be the first time you're doing it with him without a layer of protection so you find it easy to agree to it and nod.

"Okay," you say, also providing him a verbal consent.

He smiles at you and lowers his mouth on you again, he continues the kisses down your front. His hands tugging at the elastic band of your underwear and pulling it down as he continues the kisses down to your legs.

The bed quakes as Chan gets off the bed and he's just standing there, looking at you and your naked body for his eyes to lust on. You catch him inhaling and exhaling air like he's overwhelmed by what he's seeing.

"You're so beautiful," he mutters with a delightful sigh.

It would be the only normal response to get flustered under his lustful eyes, you look away from him and say, "Just get in here, Chris!"

He surprises you by jumping onto the bed, making the bed quakes once more and he immediately puts his lips on yours again.

"Turn over for me," he softly whispers to you ear.

Without saying a word, you obey him, turning over on the bed and getting on your fours, kneeling with your hands propped against the mattress in front of you.

Chan positions himself behind you and then with so much care, he puts all of your hair away onto one shoulder so he can place kisses on your back. His hands freely roam around your body.

In your opinion, Chan has the most attractive pair of hands, it's warm and firm with veins snaking on the back of his hand, and of course, long fingers that know how to find your most sensitive spot. Now, they're on you, going all over you and feeling you all over.

"I almost forgot how soft you are," he murmurs.

He then brings his hands to your chest to play with your mounds, he hums in pleasure as he sees your breasts mold perfectly in his hands.

"Like they were made just for me," he sighs.

It's like his attractiveness and his big cock aren't enough, Chan has to have a smart mouth too, a mouth that knows what to say and how to say it.

Then again, you're just a girl and you're prone to sugary sweet words like that. You look over your shoulder and smile at him, not expecting that he's going to capture your lips in a kiss.

He slides one hand down to your throbbing cunt again, making sure it's wet enough for him to penetrate. He gently pushes you to the front so he can aim his cock at your entrance and then slowly, he guides you to take him in.

"Oh... ah..." you moan, crumpling the sheet underneath you.

And you almost forget how big he is until he's inside you and you get so high that you blank out, you're there on all fours and merely just a vessel.

Not giving you another minute to adjust, Chan moves back and pulls his cock out only to push it deeper inside you. He then wraps his arms around you and holds you tightly while you're flailing against him like a rag doll.

"You feel so good," he whispers, his breath is hot and heavy in your ear, "So fucking tight around me."

He brings his hand down to rub your clit, adding gentle pressure as he's circling on it.

"I'm going to move, okay?" He says to you with a slobbering kiss on your shoulder.

Unable to form a coherent answer, you repeatedly nod in answer.

The sploshing sound of his fingers incessantly rubbing your clit intensify along with the pace of his thrusting. Chan either has his lips on your lips or plants them on your shoulder, either way, he does it to muffle his groans.

This is what happens when his hand and his cock joint forces, you find yourself on the brink of orgasm when all you've been doing is filling the room with your high-pitched moans.

"Oh, I'm cumming," you whine, holding onto the sheet as waves of pleasure surging all over you.

Chan slows down but does not stop thrusting into you, he kisses your neck and shoulder as you relish your orgasm. He keeps you close with his slung across your chest.

"Chris?" You breathlessly call his name.

"Yes, baby?" He answers your call and you guess the pet name unintentionally slipped out of his mouth.

Not going to lie, it gets you fluttering to hear him call you baby. You curve your arm around his neck and bring his head close to kiss him.

After a while, you start to doubt that the fluttering feeling came from Chan calling you with a pet name. You think it's because you're getting your second orgasm.

"What should I do, Chris?" You whine against his mouth

He breaks the kiss and looks at you with a concerned look, "Huh?" Chan confusingly asks.

"I'm about to cum again," you shamelessly admit.

Chan lets out a low chuckle and presses a kiss on your lips, "Then let's cum together, yeah?" he simply resolves.

He draws you close to him until your back hits his chest, his strong arms wrapped around you to hold you steady as he adds more speed to his thrust.

"Chris, oh..." you moan while holding onto his forearm.

His hands slithering around, one hand squeezing on your breast and the other wrapped around your neck. His mouth nests in the crook of your neck, grunting in pleasure and at times, sucking on your skin to muffle his noises.

"Oh, you keep clenching, baby," he mutters, followed by a broken moan.

That is probably because his cock is deep inside you, it's engorging and pulsating, filling you whole and continuously rubbing against your velvety walls, making the knot in your stomach tighten with each passing second.

Getting weak on the knees, you collapse onto the bed and Chan hurriedly holds you by the waist as he maintains the pace.

"I'm close, I'm close," you tell him repeatedly with one side of your face pressed against the bed.

Chan groans as he pushes his cock as shallowly as possible inside you, "Almost there," he says through his gritted teeth.

The previous orgasm makes you more sensitive than before and you can't hold yourself back anymore so you slowly let go and let the pleasure take over you once more.

Meanwhile, Chan hovers behind you and takes your hands, he holds them by the wrists then pin them against the bed as he restlessly thrusts into you to chase his high.

"Want me to cum inside you?" He asks, still thoughtful as you remember

"Uh-huh, yeah," you manage to answer even with your brain close to short-circuit.

Getting the permission is all he needed to get to his release. Then moment he finally come undone, he lets out a hoarse yet the most beautiful moan you ever heard, then lets himself lay on top of you.

A moment passes in contented silence and Chan presses a long kiss on the nape of your neck, then softly asks, "Are you okay?"

Not getting an answer, he endearingly brushes your hair away from your face to check it himself, "Did I go too rough on you?" He asks again with a slight concern.

You allow yourself to take a few more seconds to gain your composure and instead of answering, you foolishly grin at him and say, "That was so fucking good."

In response, Chan brightly smiles then pecks your lips, "No, but seriously, are you okay?"

You nod at him, "I'm okay."

After hearing your confirmation, he lets out a sigh of relief and then kisses you again, longer than the previous one.

"Sweet break?"

You don't expect him to say that after a long time, you smile and nod, "Sweet break."

-

Sweet break is something you used to say to each other when you need to take a break from something by eating something sweet. Like now, for instance, you and him taking a break from sex to order something sweet from the room service.

"Bad news is the kitchen is closed" Chan announces the second you come out of the bathroom.

It would be bothersome to put on your dress so you put on Chan's shirt instead, buttoning it as you join him on the sofa, "And the good news?"

He opens the food cover to show you what he got from the room service, "They're still serving desserts," he says with a grin.

The two of you huddle together around the plates of desserts and eating them on the sofa, filling the room with the sounds of your chewing and the dessert spoon scraping the plate.

It's fascinating to watch Chan casually eat his chocolate cake like he didn't just fuck the brains out of you a while ago. You let out a low chuckle and get back to your crepes.

"What's so funny?" He asks, catching you quietly chuckling to yourself.

"Nothing," you answer with a shrug.

He glares at you and decides to invade your plate with his fork, stabbing at the sliced banana and then shoving it into his mouth.

"Hey, eat your own dessert," you scold him but let him collect more bananas from your plate.

"But you don't like bananas," he says in between his chews.

"I don't like bananas but that doesn't mean I can't eat them," you say, but proceed to put the bananas to the side of the plate.

"I'm eating it for you so you only eat what you like," he says with a proud grin.

It's endearing that he still remembers little things like this. The sweet break, your dislike toward a certain and even how many of his fingers you like to have inside you. You can't help but wonder if he remembers other things too. His feelings for you, perhaps?

"Want to order another one?"

The two of you shared and finished the last plate together, even though you feel like you can have another plate, you refuse the offer.

He puts the plates away to the side of the room and returns to the sofa, lifting your legs before he sits next to you and then puts your legs on his lap.

"What's that café with the salted caramel cookies?" He suddenly asks.

"The one with butternut latte?" You ask back to check.

He gently puts his hand on your shoulder and plays with your hair, "Is it still open?"

Damn. He even still remembers that one café you regularly visited when the two of you were still dating.

"Yes," you answer with a smile.

"Man. Those are the best cookies!" he sighs with his fingertips lightly rubbing your thigh.

"I mean, we can go there tomorrow if you want," you casually say or you hope it sounds casual, it's a friendly offer.

He stops playing with your hand and cups your jaw, "I would love to," he says.

From the way his smile slowly dims, you sense a 'but' coming. Oh no, you sense a regret coming. You shouldn't have offered it in the first place.

"But I have to leave tomorrow," he says.

"Oh?" You try to remain unbothered and keep your facial expression in check, "Tomorrow, huh?"

"Yeah. I have to take care of a few things back home," he explains.

By back home, he means Australia and he'll fly out tomorrow, and probably for good. You hate that you get sad like it would be the first he's done it to you.

He holds you by the chin and slowly brings your head close to place a chaste kiss on your lips, it's so tender that you feel a tug at your chest.

"Thank you for coming to see me," he sincerely says with his eyes wide and shining for you.

This is where you start losing the objective of why you're here, you came here to solely get fucked, not expecting anything but his cock inside you.

Time to put some sense into your head and laugh it off, "Oh, my God, Chris!" You gasp out loud.

His forehead wrinkles in question, "What?"

"Yes, we can fuck again, no need to try so hard," you say with a sassy eye roll.

Learning that he's being pranked, he squints his eyes at you with his tongue pokes his cheek. While clutching his chest, he says, "Gosh, I thought—"

Before he can finish his sentence, you shut him up with a kiss because you don't want to keep talking about your feelings or get reminded of how things were when you were still together. You kiss him because you want to forget.

"You thought what?" You ask as you sit on his lap.

He licks his lips and shakes his head, "Nothing."

He's more than glad to have you sitting on his lap as it allows him to hold you close. His hands trail the sides of your body until they eventually land on your ass and then eagerly fondle them in his hands. Catching you off guard, he lands a slap on your ass cheek.

"Chris!" You shriek, abruptly stop kissing him, "That stings!"

"Can't help it," he innocently says while laughing and then pulls you close to kiss you again before you scold him more.

As a safety measure, you take his hands from your ass and fold them together on his chest but he takes it to his advantage, he finds another playground for his lewd hands.

Doesn't want to waste time unbuttoning it, he slips his hand under your shirt to fondle your breast, circling his fingers around your nipple before pinching at it.

He then lifts your shirt, exposing your breasts to the cool night air, and wastes no time to bury his head in between your mounds. He then pulls the shirt down and hides himself in it, acting like a toddler by purposely placing ticklish kisses on you to make you laugh

"Stop playing," you scold him with your hand tangled in his curls, "Let's go to bed, mmh?"

Chan pops his head out through the opening of the shirt and looks at you, "Kiss me first," he demands.

How can you say no when he looks at you with fondness in his eyes and a smile on his face? You fulfill his wish and place a long, lingering kiss on his lips.

"Can we go now?" You say the second you pull away from the kiss.

"Okay," he obliges.

He gets out of your shirt first and you get off his lap next, then starts walking toward the bedroom when Chan suddenly comes from behind you and hoists you up, looking unbothered carrying you on his shoulder.

"To the bed!" He announces, then slaps the back of your thigh.

"Chris!" You scold again but you can't do anything about it as you hang upside-down on his back.

The bed is already a mess and it seems like it's going to get even messier with the way Chan constantly has you pinned under him. He kisses your lips, softly yet hungrily like devouring an ice cream.

Aware that he has taken his turn, Chan doesn't complain when you flip him over and take it over from him. You're straddling him, rubbing his cock between your slit while he's unbuttoning your shirt open.

You find yourself wet for him again in no time and his cock is as hard as you need it to be, maybe this is why sex with him feels exceptional, the two of you are always horny for each other.

You let out a low, long moan the whole time you lower yourself on him and a seductive chuckle slips out of your mouth the second he's fully buried inside you.

When you look down at him, you find him staring at you with his mouth agape. You slyly smile and place both of your hands on his glorious pecs, "Have you always been this big?"

Chan licks his lips and rests his hands on your thighs, "And have you always been this tight?" He asks back instead of answering.

Being on top gives you the freedom to set a pace you prefer and switch positions as you like, more importantly, you can fully enjoy every bit of it. But it's working because Chan is such a great partner, he lets you have full control and lets you take your time.

If not using his hands to touch you all over, he has his hands folded under his head and quietly enjoying watching you fucking him.

"If you keep clenching around me like that, I might cum too fast," he tells you.

"I'm okay with that," you calmly respond.

To tease him more, you purposely keep clenching around him and rolling your hips in circular motions. Somehow you stop focusing on getting your high and start thinking about how to please him more.

"Oh," he loudly groans and his hand grips at your waist, "You're bad!"

You giggle in response while continuing to roll your hips back and forth in painstakingly slow motion.

"Oh, you're really, really bad," he says with ragged breath.

The sex may not be as hard or as intense as the previous one but it's just as good, even better. Maybe it's the unwavering eye contact, maybe it's the way he hisses every time you tease him, or the way he trusts you to make him feel good.

Whatever it is, you feel like sharing an intimate moment with him and you can't lie, it feels special.

"Are you close?" You ask because you're very close to your climax.

"I've been waiting for you to ask me that," he hastily answers, still able to joke in a heating moment like this.

You take him along with you to the edge and not stopping until the two of you come to your release, you keep moving at a sloppy pace to ride out the high.

Chan pulls you close, forcing you to lower yourself onto his body and accidentally sending his cock to slip out. You don't mind it at first but you can feel his hot cum dripping out of you and onto his abdomen.

You break the kiss and mutter in panic, "It's dripping."

"I'll put it back in," he simply responds, reaching down for his cock and slowly pushes it back into you.

Now that it's resolved, he puts his arms around you again and pulls you even closer until your bodies mold into one another, then kisses you more.

Without looking and breaking the kiss, he pulls the duvet and covers both of your bodies with it, ready to end the night with your bodies still connected.

"Have I told you this?" He suddenly asks.

"What?"

He looks at you with his brown eyes that looks like a nice cup of cocoa, comforting and warm.

"I miss you," he ever softly says.

There he goes again, making you debate whether you came here for the sex or to try to rekindle old sparks with him. But in all honesty, it feels good to know that the yearning goes both ways.

For once, you let your heart answer it for you.

"I miss you too, Chris," you mutter back with a smile.

And now you start debating if seeing him tonight is indeed a bad idea.

-

There's a wet, squelching sound when you first come to your senses the next morning, you feel like sleeping for another hour or two but you also feel the urge to check what that noise is all about.

You force open your eyes and find out right away the source of that wet, squelching sound, it's coming from Chan and he has his mouth latched to your breast.

"Morning, Chris," you croak as you brush your hair away from your face.

He lets go of your breast with a loud pop and looks at you, "Did I wake you?"

"Not really," you answer, putting your hand in his fluffy bedhead.

"I'm sorry," he says but not looking like it.

"Are you? Sorry?" You jokingly say and lay back on your pillow.

He slyly grins and shifts his focus back to playing with your mounds. He holds your breast up and uses his slick tongue to tease your nipple, alternating between licking and sucking.

It's normal to feel horny in the morning and, you find yourself already wet under there, you guess Chan has been helping himself while you were still sleeping.

Chan's head hangs above your chest and you can see how much he's enjoying your breasts, playing with them like a toddler, he even makes noises as he fills his mouth with your ample flesh.

"Aren't you leaving today? Shouldn't we get up and shower?" You mutter, softly scratching his scalp as you talk.

He sucks at your breast so hard and pulls it before letting it go, grinning as he is satisfied with what he just did.

"My flight is in the afternoon," he says.

"And I'd better go so you can pack—"

"But I already ordered breakfast," he whines like a fussy child.

"Well, we can shower first."

"They'll send breakfast at 8," he shares with a wild grin.

You turn your head to check the time on the clock hanging on the wall, "But it's hardly 7."

"Exactly!" He exclaims.

"Exactly what?" You ask in genuine confusion.

He buries his head in your neck and whispers, "We have an hour before breakfast."

Despite catching on to his intention, you decide to act dumb, "And?"

"And..." he inhales your scent before hovering above you, "I'll have my breakfast first."

He winks at you then goes under the duvet, and settles himself between your legs to have his so-called breakfast and it only makes sense that it progresses to intercourse.

Morning sex offers different things, it's the quiet, the peace, the slivers of morning sun shining through the cracks of the curtains, doing it with a refreshed mind and body, it's also the best way to start the day.

It's even better when you get to be a pillow princess, you just lay back and let Chan do all the handwork. He has your legs locked around his waist as he thrusts into you at a slow yet steady pace and in every thrust, he makes you feel every inch of his length rubbing against your walls.

"This is just great," he says with his face pressed to the side of your head.

"Mmh, what?" You respond as best as you can.

"I don't have to do cardio today," he says with a low chuckle.

This is your favorite kind of sex, do it by not taking it too seriously. Because in your opinion, other than it should be comfortable for the individuals involved, sex should be fun.

You kiss his open mouth and drag your lips down to his neck, then plant your mouth on his skin, sucking at it hard enough to form a hickey on it.

"What's that about?" He's rather dumbfounded instead of annoyed.

"Just trying to make it fair," you coyly say as you point to the blossoming mark he made on your breast.

"Yeah, okay," he says in defeat.

As much as you don't want the sex to end, it eventually ends but in a rather explosive, euphoric way. You feel like you've just been given another chance at life after that last orgasm.

"Who needs coffee, huh?" You sigh as you blankly stare at the ceiling.

It's a rhetorical question but Chan decides to respond to it anyway, "Not me, apparently."

Then you remember that he indeed doesn't drink nor need coffee to function, "Not you, apparently," you correct your earlier remark.

Chan carefully lowers himself on top of you and hastily kisses you, both of your teeth almost colliding.

"Thought I was still dreaming when I woke up next to you," he says, coming with another sentimental remark that evokes something deep within you.

You decide to push it further down and keep it there by saying, "Ugh. It's too early for that," you groan.

Chan weakly chuckles with his head nestled in your neck and just like the universe knows you need the distraction, the knocking comes on the door and it must be the breakfast.

You gently pat his head and say, "Now, go get my coffee!"

The morning continues with a quiet breakfast, it's obvious the reason why, the two of you burnt so many calories last night and need a reload.

Then there's the shower and you strongly refuse to share with him or else, it'll take much time. But Chan has an even stronger will and joins you anyway.

This is another reason why sex with him feels exceptional, the two of you are the same insatiable creatures.

The two of you dressed in silence and at times, catch him watching you, instead of feeling shy, you give him a proper show, bending down and wriggling your ass as you put your underwear on.

Chan enjoys every bit of it, he grins and bites his lips, tempted to come up at you, and goes at it again, but sadly, time is running out.

It's here, this is where it's going to end and you never know when you'll see him again, and that's even if you're still able to. You can only hope that he doesn't see how much you want him to stay.

"This is it then," you say, standing right in front of him in the foyer.

He takes your hand, loosely lacing his fingers with yours, "Can I still text you?"

"Sure," you answer.

"How about phone calls?"

"Booty calls only," you jokingly say.

He smiles and takes a step closer to you, you can almost see every moment the two of you shared last night flashes in his eyes, and it's achingly beautiful.

"Can I kiss you before you leave?"

You plan to make the goodbye as brief and as painless as possible but you don't want to risk losing the opportunity to make it a not-so-sad ending. But if you have to be honest, you simply want to kiss him.

"Okay," you agree with a nod.

You put your arms around his shoulders and let your body molds into him as he holds you close, you tilt your head up and close your eyes.

The moment your lips make contact, your heart bursts open and there's no way of stopping your feelings flow out of it so you let them be. You let him feel your pain, your yearning, and ultimately, your feelings for him that you try so hard to conceal, and then slowly, you pull away from the kiss before they fight their way out of your heart.

It's possible that Chan feels it too, that the kiss feels intimate, the kiss feels emotional, and a little close to the heart. He pulls you into a hug that lasts for a long time as if he tries to convey some unspoken messages too.

"No need to send me off," you tell him, not wanting to make it sadder than it already is.

Chan walks you to the door with his hand on the small of your back and then keeps it open for the final goodbye. You stand facing him and say, "Goodb—"

He puts his finger on your lips to stop you from finishing your sentence, "I'll see you when I see you."

That sounds like he indirectly promises you that one day, he'll come and see you again, and surprisingly, it only makes you uneasy.

You put on a smile and try another way to say goodbye, "Have a safe flight, Chris."

As you get into the back of the taxi, you get these familiar feelings and unfortunately, they're not the good kind. You feel like you went through the same thing before, you feel angry, you feel sad, and lost, and you feel this tightness in your chest that makes it hard to breathe. Then it hits you that it feels exactly like that day he broke up with you, this is the feeling of heartbreak.

In the end, you got your physical needs at the price of having to face your feelings and it all comes down to one conclusion: seeing him was a bad idea.

-

ONE MONTH LATER

It's like you're trapped in an endless loop, it's the weekend and you're lying on your bed, horny and bored.

Your phone is blaring with notifications and messages, you check and skim through them, they're from your friends or some other miscellaneous, you couldn't care less.

In other words, they're not the notifications you've been anticipating.

Chan has been diligently contacting you, sometimes he texted and when he's not, he calls you late at night because apparently, he's always busy during the day. The point is he always contact you by any means of communication.

However, for these past few days, it's been total radio silence. He's not even looking at the pictures you specifically posted to thirst-trap him. If only he knows how much time and energy you've spent just to get a single flattering shot of yourself. Ugh!

As you're about to spiral down, your phone dings and you consider ignoring it to spare you from getting disappointed all over again.

After a moment though, you cave in. You unlock your phone and get greeted by the very notification you've been dying to get.

What you doin'?

Busy running around in my head? He wrote a corny message and added a crying laughing emoji.

A week of no contact and that's the first thing he said? You scoff in disbelief and just stare at the messages, you've learned to make him wait for your reply and use the time to think of witty, flirty answers to his messages.

Am I running with clothes on or naked? You playfully ask back, giggling as you type it.

I think you know the answer. He wrote back with a winking emoji.

Let's hope I don't catch a cold then. You jokingly write in response.

You should stop cause it does things to me.

One minute he's corny, one minute he's cute, and the rest of the time? Hot, confident, and flirty, and you eat those shit up.

Things like what? You reply.

Like this. He wrote along with a picture.

Intrigued, you hurriedly click open the attachment and it's a picture he took of him in the mirror, wearing nothing but his white underwear. Your eyes feast on his glorious Greek God body, his sculpted abs and broad shoulders, and eventually your eyes flick down to the bulge inside his underwear.

In all honestly, it's the first thing that catches your eye because it's so fucking big and the underwear does nothing but enhance the shape and the size.

All of a sudden, you feel thirsty, literally and figuratively, and Chan knows how to make you keep swallowing air by sending you another picture.

The picture is of the same setting but in a rather different position, he's sitting on a chair, slightly slumped with his legs spread wide open and his hand holding his bulge.

Wish it was your hand.

Did he take a class on how to take good thirst traps and nudes? Because damn! Two pictures are enough to make you feel like an animal in heat.

Can I have it in my mouth instead?

Want to have you in my mouth.

Being straightforward mixed with the drooling emoji always works but what really does it is the one magic word: Please?

A minute later, there's no reply from him but your phone rings, he's calling you and you scramble to sit on the bed. You take a deep breath first before hitting the accept call button.

"Hello?"

"Gosh, I want you so much," He suddenly says, no greetings or small talk first. He goes straight to what he wants and you kind of dig that.

You giggle into the phone and playfully ask, "How much?"

"So fucking much," he emphasizes every word and lets out a heavy sigh after.

"Come and maybe I'll give it to you," you seductively say while playing with the lint on your denim shorts, "Maybe."

He chuckles and then jokingly says, "I'm on my way."

"Don't make me wait long," you play along with him but secretly wish that it's true.

You hear rustles from his end of the phone call and think he's probably calling you while lying on his bed but then, you hear the sound of bustling streets and car horns and—

"You're not really on the way, right?" You nervously ask, twisting the loose thread around your index finger.

"I told you, I'm coming," he coyly says.

Your heart skips a beat but he could be anywhere, he could be driving to work or you know, in a taxi in... Australia. Right?

"Chris..." you meekly call him.

"Yes?"

"Are you in the city?" You ask to confirm his location.

"Suprise!" He exclaims followed by a series of giggles.

Yes, you secretly wish that he was coming, but not now but not now and maybe, not ever because the last time you saw each other, things didn't end well for you.

So seeing him tonight is a bad idea, right?

"Why didn't you—" You don't know how to word it without sounding like you're not grateful for his surprise.

"I want to see you," he says, cutting through your silence, "Do you want to see me too?"

What should you do? You don't want him to come but at the same time, you want him to come. Oh, God, this is so confusing!

You want to lie so badly but your heart won't let you, "I want to see you," you openly admit.

"I'm coming so wait for me, yeah?" He softly mutters.

"Okay," you weakly reply.

"I'll see you in a bit," he says with a smile that you can hear through the phone.

"See you."

The second you hang up the call, you start pacing back and forth in your room. He'll be here anytime soon and it'll be just like that night all over again.

You almost jump when the knock comes on the door and you slowly walk to the door, just standing there with your hand on the knob, debating if you should ignore him and pretend you're not home.

The knocks come again and reflexively, you turn the knob and pull the door open.

There he is in a white shirt and blue jeans, the simplest way of dressing yet somehow, it looks incredibly stunning on him.

"Hi," he says with a sweet grin on his face.

His hair is slightly tousled, he smells incredible and those dimples have the power to make you soften around him almost immediately, they're your kryptonite.

"Hi," you say back, lingering by the doorway.

"Brought you wine," he says, showing the bottle of red wine in his hand.

You tilt your head to the side and fight the urge to jump at him and climb him like a tree.

"That's so nice of you," you say with a smile.

"Can I come in?" He asks, gesturing his head toward the inside of your apartment.

But it's a bad idea, right?

However, you find yourself nodding and you step aside, "You may come in."

Chan steps inside and you close the door behind you after. The second you turn around, he pushes you to the wall and crashes his lips against yours.

And you know what? Fuck it! It's fine.

-

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[werecreature-addicted]

Birth Control Anon again (Gotta come up with another name for myself someday). Remember that post about how centaurs can't mastrubate that was circling Tumblr a little while ago? Just thinking about it about it and imagine; You work as something of a monster sexpert, you have a nice little business providing toys and gear for anyone and anything. Nice treated iron chains for a kinky elf looking for the right sort of sting during a BDSM session? You've done that. A suspension rig that can (safely) hold all 13 ft of a lamia and still be sexy? You can get one done in a few weeks. A cocksheathe for a werewolfs poor human boyfriend who can't really measure up to non-human dicks? Got it in a week and a pamphlet on how else you can please your partner to boost his confidence. You get the picture. You've made a name for yourself in certain circles.

When a shy centaur tip-toes his way into your workroom, you're almost surprised that you've yet to have one as a customer before today. He explains his perdicament, he simply cannot reach back there himself and he's broken too much furniture humping it trying to get off. Can you do anything to help him out? You ask him about his preferances, what he wants or needs and he shyly reveals just HOW inexperienced he is in all of this. Trying to vaguely explain such and such a thing he's seen in some centaur videos and you two end up watching it together--for research purposes, of course. You work on the fuck machine for him, it's a long process and you don't normally update a client as often as you do to him, but the few times you've been on a phone call, his excitement and anticipation is palpable over the phone and you can't help but think this is like edging for him. When it's done you ask him if he want's to try it out, he blanches a little. Right now? Infront of you? You tell him yes, it's a big rig and you want to make sure everything's a-okay. He's blushing and shaking with excitement as you help set him up and then...

i mean this is your first time making something like this and this is his first time fucking something like this you HAVE to be there to watch, just to make sure everything fits properly. maybe even lube up his cock and help him mount the toy before fucking the shit out of it. :3 all part of customer service baby.

[corvidcrossbow]

Daryl's into shibari but let me explain:

It's not even so much so in the kinky way for physical restraint and all that, but more in a sort of artistic or therapeutic way. Given his background in hunting, tracking and survival skills n whatnot, he already had talent in tying all sorts of knots – so it'd only make sense.

He played around with it when he was younger, and would sit with some yarn or other thin string, alone at whatever random shack he was currently crashing at, just practicing winding it around one of his hands, weaving over his wrist for a cuff, or incorporating his fingers and back of his hand into it – and as he grew more understanding of it, up his forearm, and maybe his thighs at some point too.

It's a sort of fidget for him. He's able to let his mind go and just focus on tying the knots in specific spots and creating intricate patterns and designs. It's relaxing, draws his thoughts into a craft and pushes back against all the intrusive ones. It quickly became something he could do subconsciously, so he uses it to help him think; clears his mind of everything else by keeping his hands busy so he can put attention to more important things.

Obviously he couldn't really do this once the apocalypse happened (he'd rather a walker bite him than someone catch him doing something viewed as taboo, plus you need to be able to up and move very suddenly) – so he swapped to tying and braiding large blades of grass & the young bark from trees.

He'd do a little at the prison during the timeskip, but wouldn't settle back into it till the post-Savior era. It took some readjusting because of all the times being tied up had been used against him in malicious manners post-apocalypse, but he worked to reclaim it and have it be something he could seek solace in again.

You'd learn about it eventually, once your friendship stretched to a relationship and was very deep and sturdy. He'd be so nervous and embarrassed to tell you since, again, it's a generally sexual thing, but it's not inherently like that for him and he didn't want you to think he was weird for it.

But when it came to involving you in it; that took even longer. He wouldn't be open to it at least until long after the Savior war – once things had kinda settled down: you had a secure place to live, a good network of people, and there wasn't a sense of an impending threat every day. You had some peace, and more importantly time.

Maybe it'd start with you two on a run together; you're in a hardware or outdoor supplies store, gathering bundles of rope and you'd make a joke about him tying you up, just to see how he gets flustered after picturing it.

But not long after, you two'd have a genuine conversation about it that'd end in sitting quietly on the edge of the bed together, Daryl loosely doing simple ties with some yarn around one of your hands. He felt very vulnerable, given he's essentially not only letting you into his therapy sessions, but incorporating you into it. Shibari became his scapegoat from his life and trauma-scarred psyche for years; it's something he treasures – and he treasures you the same way. It would always be very intimate.

So once you were both comfortable with it, he'd love it; just sitting together in the evenings and letting him create his little artistic nets of rope on your body, starting with just your hands then arms and simple knots that could be easily undone. Then as time passed, and a period of peace became more prevalent, he did more complex ones and covered more of your body.

Once you expanded, he went out on solo runs to find specific ropes he wanted, maybe swinging by adult stores if needed. The first time he did your torso, he was so utterly transfixed by it: kept breaking the silence every now and again to remark how beautiful you looked.

And then when you did your torso and all without a layer of clothes blocking your skin it pretty much broke him. He was instantly addicted to the way the color of the rope he chose complimented your skin tone, how it so perfectly curled around every curve of your body. Once he was done he just sat back and stared at you. With all the meaning behind it, it was one of the most gorgeous things he'd ever seen.

For the first long while, it was only designs on you, and they weren't physically retraining. He wanted both of you to have experience in it before coming to that. And then when you did, he bound your wrists together, constantly checking if you were okay with it, then undid it pretty quickly.

That's where it started to branch into more sexual territory. Some of it was the control aspect, but it was more so how trusting you were of him; letting him be in control like that – and again just how perfect you looked woven into his masterpieces. First he'd do it, drag eyes over your body, then undo them, toss it aside and kiss you to push you back to lay in the bed.

But then he started keeping them on – but not the more physically restraining ones at first, just the pretty decor ones. This is all a process of progression, so when you did get to more restraining, it was usually just binding your wrists, tying your limbs to the bed frame, or arms to your chest, once and a while a little more than that.

Shibari with him would never be like the more intense stuff you see in BDSM spaces n allat – he will not super roughly tie you up in some weird ass position where rope is digging into your skin and leaving burns behind. He is never one to completely immobilize you. You being super restrained would make him nervous even if you were okay with it. And he's not at all into suspension: he has the skills to set it up right but he doesn't trust it, and that's veering too much into deeper kinky territory for his taste. He doesn't want to ruin this for himself by making it so explicitly sexual.

Like I said, it's much more intimate and remedial. It's about appreciating your figure and including you in something so important to him. You with geometric shapes and knots of rope that he made delicately mapped around your body will always be one of his favoritest things.

And if you wanted to learn, he'd teach you. Knowing knots in general was important in the apocalypse, plus everything else about it. He'd let you restrain him to a further extent than he would you.

And him knelt in bed, rope around his upper thighs that circled his hips and waist, up his chest and around his torso, binding his arms behind his back with his red rag tied around his eyes like a blindfold quickly became one of your favoritest things too <3

And bunny would skyrocket as a petname for both of you cuz rope bunny, duh

Like c'mon that's my rope bunny rigger

[sequinsnstars]

okokok i have finally thought of something!!! it might be a shit idea bc it's just super self indulgent 🙃 but kareoke night at camp jupiter??? idk how u might incorporate jason grace x reader (but tbh u don't have to make it romantic idm) i have no ideas this is as far as my creativity goes 🫠🫠 anyways don't feel pressured to do this!!!! i just wanted to send in something for u 😚😚😚 love u mwah 💞💞💞💞

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ working late, cause i’m a singer ݁˖ ⊹ ‧₊˚

JASON GRACE .ᐟ

ingredients; jason grace and karaoke night

fyi; fem reader, reader is shorter than jason, hyperspecific outfit description LOL, demigods can use technology, jason is not praetor and is working on finding out who he really is bc he deserves it :) also if i had a nickel for every time i wrote a jason fic with something getting ruined because of liquid spillage, i’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice

notes; HANNAH MY LOVE HELLO! welcome back from ur break xx and i hope u like this one!! haven’t responded to notifs yet but i’m gonna log off for a while after posting this and check them when i come back 💘

wc; 1003 bc i cannot make these blurbs short for the life of me

food mood; cherry kool-aid. with triple the amount of sugar, just how a certain centurion likes it.

Karaoke night at Camp Jupiter was unexpected.

It didn’t fit their whole honoring-the-gods and following-the-rules vibe. So you weren’t really expecting anything at all when you came to the woods beyond the Field of Mars. You’d only heard about karaoke night from not-so-hushed whispers during training sessions. Michael Kahale and some of his cohort members had been talking about a meetup this evening, and when they’d left for sword fighting, you’d decided you wanted to join them – purely by coincidence, of course, and obviously not to eavesdrop.

Obviously.

Apparently, karaoke night was an annual event without any official promotion, but if anyone got to hear about it, they could come. After learning this from Michael, you told your boyfriend Jason, who’d actually never learned about the get-together but seemed willing enough to join you. You’d been dating him for a while, but you could never get over how open he was to doing something if he was doing it with you. He hadn’t shown up yet, but you didn’t think too much of it.

It seemed fun enough when you got there: some of the Apollo campers were singing “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter and effortlessly hitting the high notes in the last chorus. Everything was fine and dandy, and you were even planning to go to the front to sing a song yourself! You spotted Piper requesting “Naked in Manhattan” by Chappell Roan, and even Praetor Zhang asking for “Talk” by beabadoobee.

That feeling of initial contentment lasted approximately one minute, until Dakota, the centurion of the Fifth Cohort, decided to try and balance a cup filled with cherry Kool-Aid on his head while walking in your general direction. Naturally, this was a disaster, and by the time the cup fell, you were the unfortunate recipient of its mess. Your white babydoll dress was now soaked in the dark red concoction.

“Oh my gods, sorry about that,” Dakota slurred. “If you want new clothes, I can get you new clothes, we centurions always have backups for when we need them– uh, are you okay?”

You were speechless, mouth agape.

It took everything in you to not get annoyed with him, but you knew it wasn’t really his fault, so you let him off with a passive-aggressive It’s fine, just be careful next time. Plus, centurion’s extra clothes didn’t sound like they would be a cute outfit.

You didn’t want the spillage to affect the rest of your night too much, so you decided to head over to where you entered, willing Jason to come so you both could go onstage together (would it be too much to hope for him bringing along a warm, cozy jacket to cover your dress stains?).

Shivering, you watched the glowing full moon, surrounded by wispy clouds. Its light shined so bright that the clouds matched its color, making it seem as if there was too much moonwater inside that couldn’t help but overflow. You were reminded of the time you stayed up late with Jason to watch a meteor shower. The moon had illuminated his face wonderfully, making him look like he was unreal; from another planet.

Suddenly, you felt a tap on your shoulder.

“I’m so sorry I came late, angel, I ran into an injured sparrow on the way here so I took her to the infirmary–”

You turned around to see your boyfriend, dressed in a dark green leather jacket and light blue jeans, paired with white Converse and his Imperial gold glasses.

Jason’s expression dropped immediately after seeing your dress. “What the fuck happened here?” He dropped to his knees in front of you and held your hands in his, examining the stains.

You sighed. “It’s nothing. Dakota spilled cherry Kool-Aid on me, which is sad, but–”

“Thank the gods.”

Frowning, you replied, “What? I don’t think… oh.”

Jason stood up and chuckled. “Yeah, I thought there was something else on your dress. Don’t worry about it, you look as beautiful as ever. I promise.”

Your cheeks grew warm. Really, this man knew how to make a girl feel special. “Well, that’s very sweet of you to say. And thank you for being worried about me.” You got on your toes and kissed his jaw, not missing how the tips of his ears turned a little pink.

“Always, angel. Ready to head to karaoke night?” asked Jason, a little breathlessly.

You looked out at the Field of Mars. “Actually, do you want to maybe, like, have our own little karaoke night? There’s an extra speaker and microphone over there and no one’s on the field right now. Only if you want, of course–”

His smile grew as you spoke. “Um, spending alone time with the love of my life? Always.” He paused a little before adding, “The Field of Mars has always been, I don’t know, a kind of stressful place for me?” Jason cupped his hand over the nape of his neck. “But I think maybe just singing songs with you here, being a normal couple, can help with the way I view it. Honestly, I feel like you being here with me at Camp Jupiter has made a big difference by itself.”

You gently put your hands to his cheeks and brought your forehead to his. 

“Jason,” you whispered. “I don’t even have words for how meaningful that is to me. You’re my favorite person in the whole world, demigod and mortals included. I love you.”

“I love you most, princess.” He brought your lips to his, and you allowed yourself to fall right into his warm, soft touch – a dream you never wanted to wake up from.

When you both drew away, you grinned and said, “Okay, so we have to start with ‘Close To You.’ We just have to.”

“Agreed.”

Your boyfriend grabbed the mic and speaker and pulled up the karaoke audio. As he pressed play, you couldn’t help but think how lucky you were to be close to the gorgeous blonde lover boy that was Jason Grace.

hope you enjoyed the meal!

thank you for your order and your waitress siara hopes you come again soon 💌

[comic-sans-chan]

i need people to know that the entire plot of empok nor TO ME is literally just

garak: lmao ever since i started working for starfuck and dating julian everyone's been so nice to me it makes my ptsd all itchy

miles: hahahaha well don't worry just looking at you still gives me post-traumatic nausea like actually you're so gross I could vom so you don't have to worry about me being friendly any time soon

garak, who is under strict orders from julian to get on better terms with miles: lol uhhh good that's good totally suits me um uh so julian's pretty awesome huh we both think he's awesome I mean I thought he was awesome first and holosuites were kinda our thing but it's fine no hard feelings my boyfriend whom I fuck and you don't ever get to is just so great right so um since you're a bloodthirsty genocidal maniac with no rizz and we've established that about you based on your love of microsoft flight simulator do you wanna play checkers

miles:

*one drug-induced murder spree later*

julian: so that didn't go how I envisioned

garak: my bad

miles: hey it's chill tbh hunting you down like an animal and handing your ass to you has made me feel a lot better actually like lowkey I respect you now for reasons I will never explore wanna have a weirdly significant staring session real quick

garak: ok

garak and miles: stare of mutually understood fuckedupness

julian: oh thank christ now we can finally all hangout together as a group and it won't be weird at all

garak and miles: no

[blakeandaffairs]

The Big Bad Lore Discussion: JESUS

Justttt gonna step over the landmine that is the current situation of this tag, as today I'd like to discuss an important lore point in the game:

JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF.

I made a short little post asking about it, but the more I really thought about it, the more I realize how deep the rabbit hole goes. Jesus' existence itself is already an enigma, but it's even moreso in whb???

Let's discuss, and for context, was forced to take Salvation History and Creed in college, hold on tight, this is gonna be a yap session

The Plotholes

Several issues immediately arise because of the fact that...well, God disappeared shortly after Solomon.

Why is this a problem? Because Solomon is approximately 900 years before Christ, now I know the timeline is all screwed up as well in whb, but if I'm assuming the bible canon, then, none of the things past Solomon had happened, including the birth of Jesus.

This conflicts with the fact that Minhyeok briefly mentions his neighbor, who is a Christian, and the fact that Christmas exists. Meaning some form of Jesus DOES exist, but just in the written scripture.

Why is that?? Well I have several theories:

1. Jesus already exists

Not LITERALLY. Without God there then how was the miraculous conception was supposed to happen, but since Jesus is considered the Word of God, and the Word of God has existed ever since the creation of the world ("On the First day, God SAID let there be light"), and with those first words uttered, Jesus was made manifest in it. He just isn't able to manifest physically due to a lack of God.

2. Jesus is some form of copesona or propaganda of the angels

We know that, at least according to Ppyong, that the scriptures are apparently propaganda made by the angels to make devils look bad, if that's so, to what extent? I'll assume it's somewhat minimal, they just want to make the devils look bad, because in general, Solomon is painted in a pretty good light, which is uncharacteristic of them. But how do they come up with someone like Jesus? It seems strange of them

The answer: Gabriel

Since Gabriel is the one that announces the birth of Jesus, it's likely he knows that Jesus already existed, and was expected to be born, but with God's disappearance, Gabriel, the unhinged, likely more unhinged, probably started making up stories about the Son of God that was never to be.

3. Jesus the person, existed, but he was just an ordinary mortal

We already believe the Jesus Christ, or more specifically, Yehosua Messiah (original Hebrew name) existed historically, it's likely this is the case as well. He was probably mythologized with the inception of the new testament, it's not the first time this has happened (Gilgamesh the king became the legend he is with the Epic of Gilgamesh)

Why Jesus likely doesn't exist

1. Usually, people are normally referred to as Son/Daughters of God, but in Lucifer's selfie story, he doesn't call us that (calls us Son of Adam/Daughter of Eve), meaning the original sin that those two committed have not been cleansed. (Jesus' death would have cleansed everyone of it)

2. In the Gamigin Event, Lucifer is said to be second only to God, which is odd, that's Jesus' spot. ("he is seated at the Right Hand of the Father, he will come again to judge the living and the dead")

3. It's a bit iffy, but the Christmas Event was also termed 'X-mas', which usually excludes the celebration of the birth of Jesus.

4. Since Jesus is the Son of God, he would have inherited the throne of God as well, and it's likely he would stop the ongoing genocide of the devils

IN CONCLUSION:

It's likely that Jesus was something meant to exist, but with the disappearance of God, that never truly happened.

But these are my thoughts. If y'all managed to make it this far, then I thank you for listening. If this gets enough views, I'll probably make more (such as the Solomon and Lilith conundrum)

[nalyra-dreaming]

There's something about how we are collectively digesting the supposedly Armand messing with Louis and Daniel's memories reveal/confirmation that rubs me the wrong way. It's not that I'm not convinced that he was responsible for (at least) part of the tinkering (although I have the feeling that there was *someone else* who did it). It is that most of the discourse I see makes it sound as something kind of forced from Armand when imo the key to all of it it is precisely the fact that it is all a barter between Louis and Armand.

From Armand's traumatic past as a sex slave and his life with Marius to Armand letting Daniel live in exchange for Louis's companionship. Armand says to Daniel "Bartering with desire. Is that what makes you fascinating?" And that's exactly what his relationship with Louis is about cause this is the only way Armand understands love, as a transaction. And Louis happens to be an art dealer who's very good at running things.

Among all the relationships in the show, I think Loumand is probably the least wholesome (sorry Naomi but you were so wrong). And that's what makes it the most fascinating imo. Loumand is the most messed up relationship in the show not because of power imbalance like Armand Marius or Devil's Minion but because there is an agreement between them. I think that robbing Louis of his agency in the deal would be missing the point of both the novel and the show

Mhhhh. I know what you're getting at. I mean, you probably know I am of the opinion that Louis did invite Armand to secure Claudia's and his own safety (at first at least), and he certainly behaves as if this relationship protects him from the pressures of the rules (and coven).

So there is a certain level of... assumed control. But... There was this post a few days back, comparing Armand to a willingly leashed tiger, and I think that fits very well.

Because even though you know that I still think that there might be more to it all (especially wrt Daniel's memories if the 12 years DM truly happened), and though I do think that Louis might even have asked Armand for a reprieve... I do not think Louis would consent to an intrusion like this. Armand is still very much in control, and Assad put it very precisely I think, when he said that he just cannot relax with the truth... Armand is the only one who knows the truth, and who... has Louis under "maintenance". He "protects Louis from himself".

In fact I think this, and the missing pages, and a lot of other little things will come to a head now in Dubai. Probably will facilitate that "cataclysmic event" that I've been talking about...

I... do think there was a lot more to the relationship before San Francisco than there is after SF. Because Armand literally controls Louis after. He says that the name "Lestat" had not been uttered in their relationship for 23 years, but it's still a trigger for them both, leading to catastrophic results in a single session. Oh, the other "tri-annual" events and kills were bad enough, but this... this was new. And Armand went and made sure it wouldn't happen again.

You are right that Loumand is among the least healthy relationships... I would argue even canonically so, though of course the show has dialed it up to 99. (And god, I wished Naomi/her guest had never said that, the drama this statement caused, seriously). But I... I mean, it is more interesting in Paris and up to San Francisco, definitely. Or, at least in Paris. Because I think... I think whatever happens after the trial will already shift their relationship. Because why would Louis, this Louis stay with Armand? Why does he? What exactly makes him stay with Armand. (I think that will be a really interesting aspect in the show!)

For ME((!!!!))... that is why Loumand is not fascinating (Though I get it if it is for you^^💕). Because Louis is not well... and Armand... Armand tags along, they foreshadowed that on the walk along the Seine - and then Louis tags along, later. Or exists.

(*by a companion.)

Armand tries to salvage what he can while groveling for what he did in Paris. And that is precisely where their "agreement" stops, for me. Because if your mind is tinkered with... you cannot consent.

It's like being under drugs - you cannot consent.

And Armand has never been much about consent... unfortunately.

So yeah, that's ... my two cents on this^^.

It definitely is one of the most difficult relationships at this point.

We'll see in the next episodes where Louis' "agreement" with Armand stops, I think. Because if I'm right and Louis did not see this as part of the "agreement"? Then this will hit the fan in Dubai - and personally I expect it to (and I think, going by Jacob's statement - it will).

[haunted-hijinxer]

The Reality of Imperfections - Part 1 / 2 (CoC AO3 Update)

[BatIM Call of Cthulhu Masterpost]

Joey:@inkyvendingmachine GM: @haunted-hijinxer

The Reality of Imperfections - Part 1 / 2

The morning after the muses were finally freed from their mortal hosts, Joey has already had a stressful day… but there's a few things he wants to clear up with his Alice Angel, now that Susie is finally back to herself.

[hybbat]

"You saved me so I can kill you", "my wretch of a wife", and "30 seconds" all happened in this series, yet y'all cry divorce on the ranchers.

[i-am-beckyu]

Writing for me atm be like this:

and this

and also this

Oh and can't forget this!

Yeah writing has been going great recently......

[sarioh]

GOD ok so. in last life, the rules state that while you are boogeyman or red life, all prior alliances must be severed. which means that, by the Actual Rules of the game, etho and bdubs technically spent more sessions as "enemies" than they did as true allies: session 1 when bdubs was boogeyman, session 5 when etho was boogeyman and bdubs was red, session 6 when they were both boogeyman, and session 7 when bdubs went red. it genuinely feels like the game itself was taking every opportunity imaginable to force them to betray each other by inflicting them w the boogeyman curse far more than any other duo and they instead used every one of those instances to intentionally defy the rules of the game and further prove their loyalty instead. it still makes me insane to this day

[real-life-cloud]

im GOING to write today ........ i WILL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dannyric333]

INSANITY

[widevibratobitch]

.

[themidnightpanda]

and today in "why is fandom so antisemitic" just blocked two more followers in my sideblog, which makes it about 10 of what would have been almost 35 followers over a couple months. because the "all israelis are evil" bs is really big in mcyt circles.

also haven't watched the new season of hc because I don't want to touch the fandom anymore and enjoying things alone isn't as fun when you know there's a fandom. but also the fandom is full of people that wish I was dead so I dont want to be there either. which means right now the only things in my life are the jewish bloggers I follow (love yall) and doing daily challenges in microsoft solitaire. and university ig but it's the weekend and Im trying not to think about my homework rn

also gave up and made a "btw Im israeli plz stop following me if u want me dead" post on the sideblog. hope it works ig.