#Tripwire Presents

[sonsofks]

La Nueva Actualización de Convergencia de Espire 1: VR Operative Llega para Aumentar la Emoción, ¡Consíguela Ahora en Steam y Oculus Rift!

“Tripwire Presents y Digital Lode nos sorprenden con la actualización más grande de Espire 1, el éxito en realidad virtual.” Hoy, en un emocionante anuncio, Tripwire Presents y Digital Lode nos traen la actualización más grande hasta la fecha de la exitosa experiencia de sigilo en realidad virtual (VR), Espire 1. Bautizada como ‘Convergencia’, esta actualización gratuita trae consigo todo el…

[savingcontent]

Midsommer Event for Chivalry 2 is full of fisticuffs, helms, and throwables with a brawl mode where everything is a weapon

Midsommer Event for Chivalry 2 is full of fisticuffs, helms, and throwables with a brawl mode where everything is a weapon

(more…)

[ki-yomii]

two for the show | jjk

➥ pairing | jeon jungkook x f!reader

➥ word count | 2.1k

➥ warning(s) | 🔞 smut; dirty talk, established relationship, accidental voyeurism, masturbation (solo m), panty kink, implied choking kink

➥ summary | it’s unfair how pretty he is like this; so wanton and needy, half naked and stretched across the middle of your bed (aka the fic where you catch jk jerking off in your bed with a pair of your panties).

➥ notes | 🙃 this man straight up made me buy a keychain that says jk’s slut. i have no regrets.

🤎 series masterlist | masterlist | inbox | AO3 🤎

“I’m home!”

Pausing in the doorway, you listen as the barren sounds of your apartment echo back at you; the soft gurgle of the pipes, the metallic rumble of the dryer, the fan on your fridge kicking on with a dying sputter.

Everything’s as you left it, barring the notable absence of your boyfriend.

There’s no low-toned voice ringing out to greet you, no man-shaped golden retriever bouncing over to drape his arms over your shoulder and smother you in kisses.

It puts you ill at ease, a frown tugging at the corners of your mouth as you toss your keys on the side table and place your shoes next to his. Jungkook said he’d lounge around until you got back from your errands.

It couldn’t have been more than an hour, and as it was his first day off in forever, he’d wanted to spend it with you.

… Only instead, he’s nowhere to be found.

The couch is empty, the tv dark. No god awful clanking or boisterous humming, so that rules out him taking a shower. Did he get called away to the studio? Though if that was the case, he’d have texted.

Right?

Right - he knows how you feel about him disappearing without notice. So that can’t be it - plus his footwear is still on the rack. 

 Stepping into the kitchen

“Kook,” you call, peeking into the kitchen only to find it just as empty as the rest of the apartment, “you still here?”

There’s no answer.

But what sounds like a faint curse comes from somewhere near the bedrooms, so with a shrug you follow the noise only to freeze.

Your brows shoot up your forehead, and your gut clenches hotly.  A violent, visceral reaction that makes all the moisture flee your mouth.

Surely he’s not… No, there’s no way.

Except then a grunt breaks the tense quiet; smothered, breathless sounds that echo low and wounded into the hallway.

If you hadn’t been standing right outside the doorway, if you hadn’t been looking for Jungkook, the distant humdrum of everyday life would’ve otherwise disguised them.

A warm hush creeps up your neck and pools in your cheeks, leaving your skin altogether uncomfortable; itchy and tight like a nasty burn.

Every tentative step feels like walking on a tripwire, the slightest creak of the floorboards a gunshot. 

It’s a miracle you make it to the end of the hall, your door haphazardly cracked with slats of sunlight spilling across the floor. Seconds later, another grunt - this time louder and filthier. 

It’s impossible to resist the urge to peek around the doorjamb, to see how Jungkook’s pulling those kinds of sounds from his throat, to see what tempo he likes to stroke his cock to when he’s alone.

Mouth full of cotton, your heart lurches while you try to absorb the surreal image presented with difficulty.

With how he’s planted his feet and bent his legs, it’s difficult to get an unobstructed view of what his hand’s doing between his thighs but what you can see?

Well.

“…H-Haaah…ss-shit, that’s…”

It’s unfair how pretty he is like this; so wanton and needy, half naked and stretched across the middle of your bed. You only notice the scrap of fabric draped over his chest because of how bright and oddly familiar it is, but you’re too far away to identify it and you’ve got more important things to focus on.

He looks like some wild, half tamed creature come to steal you away; the briar of his hair a dark halo on the pillows, the short strands sticking to his sweat-slick forehead.

Eyes hooded and hazy, he watches as the pink tip of his cock appears through the circle of his fingers with every upwards rut. Mouth slack and rosy, his tongue glimmers like a tempting prize.

It sends you reeling, a gush of slick wetting your thighs the next time you squeeze them. You’re unbearably empty - desire hooked behind your navel. An unscratchable itch that’ll surely drive you mad.

Every time you blink, he’s there waiting behind your eyelids; his cock thick and heavy, curved towards his belly and throbbing with each measured stroke.

His thighs tremble, and his toes dig into the bed spread. “Fuhhhck, baby - baby please, let me…”

You bite the inside of your cheek. 

“Gonna cum, oh god. Yeah, that’s it just - hnggg - just like that. S’good for me.”

Tatted fingers tug at the hem of his shirt, rucking the fabric up and out of the way. It bunches under his armpits and exposes the cut of his chest, the valleys of his muscled frame.

The muscles bunch and strain with his movements, and you long to sink your teeth in.

“Right there - oh fuck - right there.” His abs clench and his hips flex. “Jus’ like that, come on, baby.”

Digging your nails into your thigh provides distraction - albeit temporarily as he pauses what he’s doing after a few more hurried strokes, the lines of frustration on his face deepening. The hand around his cock slows to an almost glacial pace.

Hooking a finger around whatever’s resting on his chest, Jungkook raises it up to dangle in front of his face - and shock lances through you, quickly followed by an ohmygod, are those… ?

Yes - yes, they are.

No wonder it looks familiar.

All thought processes grind to a halt, your pussy clenching and your knees nearly buckling once you recognize your favorite pair of panties hanging off your boyfriend’s finger.

Anticipation swells in the pit of your stomach, a ferocious heat bubbling to life behind your navel.

All corrupting, all consuming, until you’re shaking with longing.

You never thought seeing Jungkook like this would affect you so much - never even imagined a scenario in which you would, let alone with a pair of your underwear. Though, you also never imagined it would make you as hot and bothered as it does.

No way, no way, no way.

“Mm, so pretty, baby,” he murmurs, spreading his fingers to stretch out the fabric. “Jus’ for me.”

Eyes wide, you watch as he scrutinizes the whorls of delicate lace and sheer panels. He’s not really going to…is he?

Biting his lip, he spares your panties one more long look before working them down his body. His nipples stiffen when they trail down the valley of his pecs, his voice a breathy curse as they tickle the band of his hips, his skin pebbled with goosebumps. 

Holy shit, he is.

You choke on your own spit.

It’s almost impossible to believe that he’s about to jack off with a pair of your panties - that you get to witness it happen for yourself - but then he’s switching hands, and you see how pretty the fabric looks stretched out over the girth of his cock.

The texture must feel amazing because Jungkook full-body shudders, his eyes pinched shut and his brows furrowed like he’s in pain.

He lurches forward, catching himself before he folds in half and takes a shaky breath. His fingers flex, the fabric scraping over his sensitive shaft and teasing his swollen balls. 

He whines. “Oh my fuh - that feels so fucking good.”

What you wouldn’t give to know what he’s imagining right now. Every hitched whimper gets your ears ringing and your legs crossing, the drag of your shirt over your nipples uncomfortable with how hard they are.

Nevermind the state of your underwear - the slightest shift has your folds sticking together, a sticky wet gush you’d love to soak his cock with. 

You don’t even care that he’s getting a little too loud. So what if your crotchety ass neighbor files a complaint?

The sight alone more than makes up for the headache of dealing with management.

Though apparently, Jungkook’s got more consideration for prying ears because he stuffs the corner of his shirt into his mouth.

Stifling a gasp, he locks the desperate noises behind his teeth by biting down and using the fabric to muzzle himself.

His strong thighs tremble when the circle of his fingers meets the base, knuckles white as the crotch of your panties pulls taut over his swollen cockhead. The visual alone nearly ends you.

Why, you think, half-hysterical.

It’s becoming painful to watch and do nothing.

His choked little groan precedes the flex of his wrist - the apologetic glide of his palm as he staves off another orgasm, the angry tip of his erection leaking where it peeks out from the bright lace.

He’s been on the edge of coming for a while with how wet and swollen his cock his; veins thick and throbbing, balls taut and drawn up towards his body.

A punch of desire at imagining all the things he’s gotten up to while you were gone leaves you winded, and you’re barely able to swallow the moan creeping up from deep inside your chest.

It feels like someone sucker punched you full stop. And then replacing those fingers with your mouth - with your cunt - invades every thought until heat crackles down your spine.

Or maybe you should let this play out - have him stain your panties with cum and then put them on, wear them around the apartment until he fucks you over the counter.

It’s a win-win situation, no matter which scenario you pick.

A fresh wave of arousal pools between your thighs, honey thick every time your pussy clenches. Your clit aches for friction, swollen and raw, all while Jungkook continues to drive himself pleasure drunk.

Right now, the slightest touch could make you cry, you’re so turned on.

Keeping quiet as you shift closer to hear the slick, soppy sounds of him fucking up into the grip of his fist is almost impossible, but somehow you clear the doorjamb, the door itself a faint sensation at the back of your elbow.

And then you stop breathing.

Your heartbeat thuds in your ears, your blood rushing so fast you swear you hear it thundering through your veins. The air thickens with tension, the musk of fevered arousal heavy in your nose.

Only right as you’re about to crack, one of the sweetest moans you’ve ever heard breaks through his cotton gag. He must hear your stuttered inhale, the grit of your teeth because he freezes. His body becomes a rigid line of tension, muscles coiled.

And then those pretty doe eyes pop open.

Immediately seeking you out, Jungkook swallows and unhinges his jaw. The makeshift bit slips free from his mouth, his shirt fluttering back down to his chest.

A patch of damp sticks to his skin. 

“Baby…” he says, his voice thick with pleasure - low and rough like smoky whiskey - while a flush blooms across his cheeks, “You’re - You’re home…”

Without responding, you take a step into the room. 

The closer you get, the tenser Jungkook becomes - his breath locking in his throat and his eyes falling shut.

At some point, his hand pulls away and tries to tuck your panties off to the side. It’s too bad you’ve been watching the whole time, otherwise he might’ve gotten away with it.

Jungkook clears his throat and scratches at his jaw. “I was just - uh, y’know…”

He trails off, his hands fluttering around his hips. As if there’s a way to hide the excited twitch of his cock or the drool of pre-cum when you stop at the bedside. 

With a faint smile and a raised brow, you ask, “Having fun?”

“I - baby, I’m so…” A muscle in his jaw jumps. “‘m sorry.”

He refuses to look at you.

And that just won’t do.

“Shit!”

Jungkook jolts, a drawn-out moan full of heat ripped out of his mouth when you press your hand over the heated skin of his throat.

All the air whooshes from your lungs and you watch your thumb trace over the swell of his Adam’s apple, enchanted. His body strains up into your tender touch, every hard line demanding you finish what he started.

“Need some help?” you ask, feeling him gulp against your palm. “Sure looks like you do.”

It’s apparent he can barely think, those pretty eyes clouded over in a haze of desperation. Your nails dig into his oversensitive skin to see him flinch, to watch as a shudder rolls down his spine at the delicate bite of pain.

His cock bobs against his belly. 

“Come on, baby. Wouldn’t you like my hand or pussy better?”

“Shit, I -” he groans, tossing a forearm over his eyes. “Why are you like this? You’re gonna kill me one day.”

You chuckle, tracing the swell of his bottom lip, the metal of his lip ring. “That still doesn’t answer my question.”

Every pass of your hand works your fingers higher until the tips press in at the corners of his mouth.

You repeat yourself, “Do you need some help?”

At the taste of your skin, Jungkook groans; a soft, deep-throated thing that injects heat into your veins. His tongue is soft against the pads of your fingers, wet and cradling.

A lone eye peeks up at you from behind his wrist, hooded and burning.

“… Please.”

[elusivewildflower]

Do Be Careful | Astarion x Reader Drabble

Summary: Astarion saves you from a trap and scolds you afterwards. GN!Reader.

Word Count: 746

A/N: Based on my idea that I posted here. I might make this into a little series if I get inspired and come up with more scenarios.

“Heyy-o.” Came Karlach’s voice, capturing the attention of the entire party. “This place is rigged.” She continued, pointing out a tripwire that was a few paces ahead of her.

Astarion sighed heavily. “Everyone keep your eyes open and be careful. I don’t particularly feel like getting blown up today.” His vermillion eyes met yours and narrowed. “Especially you, darling.” 

You raised your hand to your chest, feigning hurt by his words. “I’m always careful!” 

The pale elf scoffed. “You’re about as careful as I am honest.” 

Brushing off Astarion’s words, you turned to the left and began walking. As the rest of your party split off into different directions, Astarion trailed behind you. It seemed as if every inch of the dimly lit cellar you were exploring was covered in dust. You felt as if you couldn’t breath already, and you had only been down here for twenty minutes. All you wanted was to find the amulet you came for and get the hell out. You certainly hoped the reward for this item was worth all of the trouble. As a sneeze sounded from the elf behind you, you smiled. At least you weren’t the only one suffering. 

As you wandered through the dank cellar, your thoughts were plagued by the man behind you. Ever since the night of the tiefling party, Astarion had become your shadow. Sure, you were the self-proclaimed leader of your group and everyone followed you, but not in the same way he did. Every move you made he copied, and he never strayed far from you in a fight. His trailing after you has only gotten worse since the time you unknowingly stepped on a live trap. It’s only happened two other times, but Astarion will never let you live it down. A part of you was endeared to know the elf must care for you, even if you often questioned that matter. After all, he hadn’t been fully present with you during the night you shared. Yet, here he was, always two steps behind you, ready to pounce in case you needed saving. A heavy sigh resounded in your chest. Your relationship with the vampire was confusing to say the least. 

Too swept up in your thoughts about the shadow behind you, you didn’t spot the trap you were walking into until it was too late. You sucked in a sharp breath as you felt a tripwire brush against your shin. It seems whomever rigged this cellar had a particular type of trap they favored.

 “Sh—“ 

You didn’t have time to finish your expletive before a strong arm wrapped around your waist from behind and yanked you out of harm’s way. As you tumbled to the ground, you watched an arrow shoot out from a dark corner and sail through the air right where you had been standing. A cool and lean body cushions your fall, the both of you letting out a grunt upon impact. 

After taking a moment to process what just happened, or rather, what almost happened, you rolled off of your savior. Embarrassment flooded through you as you shot him a bashful grin.

“What did I just say?!” Astarion scolded you exasperatedly. 

This was now the fourth time your resident vampire has saved your hind, and he didn’t look too pleased about it. Perhaps a compliment might distract him from his anger? You batted your eyelashes, feigning innocence. “You’re so pretty, Astarion.” 

“Flattery won’t get you anywhere right now, darling.” He chastised before heaving a sigh. You watched as his features contorted with a hint of concern. ”You could’ve, oh, I don’t know, died?!” 

Your shoulders slumped as you realized the truth of his statement. “I’m sorry….” 

“You should be!” He brushed himself off as the two of you got to your feet. “I’ve saved your life, yet again, and all I get are aches and bruises.” 

It was your turn to heave a sigh as you rolled your eyes. “You can feed on me tonight for your repayment.” 

Astarion grinned wickedly at the sound of that, his demeanor changing instantly. “Well, at least something good will come of this after all.” 

When you began to resume your, now-cleared, path, Astarion was quick to stop you. His arm splayed across your chest as he stepped in front of you. 

“Oh no, no, no. I am going to be leading us now. It’s clear that you cannot be trusted to actually use those pretty eyes of yours.” 

[tgcg]

we do a bit of trolling

CG: OKAY DAVE, I KNOW WE CAME TO A TRUCE ON THE WHOLE FOOD WARS SHTICK, I'M NOT ABOUT TO HURL TWENTY MORE INSULTS AT YOUR EARTH CUISINE, BUT.

CG: BUT WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT.

TG: man

TG: ok look i was kinda preoccupied with the seven minute voice message i left you about the infinite jump glitch in sonic 06 and it turns out i cant measure water and talk at the same time

CG: DON'T SLOSH IT!!! THAT'S DISGUSTING!!! IT LOOKS LIKE BILE!

TG: yeah well its the last pack of mac n sheese and im gonna eat it whatever viscosity it decides to have

TG: i can make this work

TG: is cheese soup a thing

TG: nah theres no way in hell

TG: k so what is your cooking proficiency like what are we dealing with here

CG: OH, I DON'T KNOW. I WOULD SAY I CAN PROBABLY FOLLOW BASIC INSTRUCTIONS, POSSIBLY LIKE THE ONES THAT WERE ON THE BACK OF YOUR SALIVATION-INDUCING SLOPFEST YOU'VE GOT GOING ON HERE.

TG: alright cool i got a pitch

TG: might work might dont

CG: THAT ISN'T SO MUCH INSPIRING CONFIDENCE IN ME AS IT IS TAKING WHAT MORSELS OF FAITH I HAD IN YOU OUT BACK AND THRASHING THEM IN A DARK ALLEYWAY.

TG: alright so im basing my operations on like the core features of water im talking the ten commandments of h2o-logy

TG: as the component responsible for the shlop of my shlock presented before you

TG: it can evaporate right

CG: … YEAH?

TG: ok but cheese doesnt evaporate does it you cant get a cheese mist

CG: OH NO.

TG: cheese doesnt evaporate it just like melts

TG: or dries

TG: so my theory is if i jam this shit in an oven or maybe the microwave

CG: NEITHER OF THOSE WERE IN THE INSTRUCTIONS AND YOU KNOW IT

TG: but the problem is the pasta is already cooked and all up in there so if i microwave it the pastas gonna go soggy and i cant have that

CG: DAVE.

TG: so microwave is out of the picture im assuming oven heat will keep the pasta dry while also evaporatin the water without removing the cheese

TG: that checks out doesnt it

CG: CUT THE BULLSHIT. STOP EMBARRASSING YOURSELF.

CG: YOUR INSISTENCE ON UPSTAGING YOUR OWN STUPIDITY IN FRONT OF ME ISN'T CUTE OR ENDEARING. I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO PULL AND I'M NOT FA--

CG:

CG: WAIT… NO… WOULD-- WOULD THAT…?

TG: real brain wrinkler huh

CG: OH SUCK MY FAT FUCKING SHAME GLOBES

TG: dude you even pointed out the tripwire and you still went ahead and threw yourself over it what kind of troll are you

CG: I DIDN'T FALL FOR SHIT! OBVIOUSLY MY ATTEMPT TO HUMOR YOUR RAPIDLY DETERIORATING SENSE OF "INTELLIGENCE" WENT CLEAN OVER YOUR NUGBONE! YOU'VE PROVEN YOUR POINT, MY FAITH IN YOU IS COMPLETELY MISPLACED.

CG: WOOPS! SILLY ME FOR BELIEVING IN YOU! WHY DO I EVEN BOTHER?

TG: hahahaha oh man

[fancifulplaguerat]

Particularly fascinated with Yulia this fine evening. How her character deals with applying logic to the illogical, and her “Tripwires of Fate” theory presents an almost rational counterpart to the Mistress’ prophetic abilities. @shriika said it best, that Yulia’s character poses the question, can you accept the existence of all the miraculous and unearthly and assign it reason and logic, which Imo first subtly appears in how Yulia treats twyre and disease. She claims that despite twyre’s supposed preternatural properties are “superstitions and remarkably little else. It has psychoactive properties, after a fashion, but then so does simple wormwood.” She likewise claims that the shabnak is no less a “real” than bacteria as a plague-source; that the shabnak and microbes are two understandings of reality. I.e. she says, “You amaze me, Bachelor. Did you not make fun of the shabnak rumours yesterday? […] Still, you don’t hesitate a moment to accept a rumour of an epidemic as veritable truth. Is the concept of the disease that much more familiar to you than that of a maneating abomination made of clay?” To me, these rationalizations introduce how she is a crossroads between the fantastical elements in the story, particularly how Patho Classic treats fate.

Yulia’s character concept best clarifies her Tripwires of Fate theory; that she kept a diary in Town which allowed her to recognize “a rather symmetrical conclusion about the reaction between the movements of those people in town and the seemingly random events happen afterwards. […] Now Yulia is preoccupied with the question whether these patterns are just a coincidence.” She herself says, “The world is defined by a plethora of causal relationships. These causalities, however, are located at different tiers of human perception.” This outlines the foundations of Yulia’s construction of fate, which leads directly into discussion of the Mistresses: “Take my own death, for instance. In our town, such coincidences have put together several women whose inexplicable aptitude allows them to see the whole chain of cause-effect connections. They also see where the chain would lead; which is to my death.” Daniil can then ask how Mistresses predict the future, or whether people can affect the “course of causes and consequences.” Yulia caveats her answer, but clarifies that a Mistress “would not hesitate to reveal the future” only if she “were to intuit that there is not man or woman capable of breaking—or mending—these kinds of connections.” This explanation is based in Yulia’s vocabulary: she uses these cause-and-effect chains of likelihood to foresee events, such as anticipating Clara’s visits. But Yulia’s explanation is one of the most explicit insights the game offers on the mechanisms of the Mistress’ clairvoyance, so I’m inclined to treat it as more than just Yulia applying her own vocabulary to the phenomenon. Rather, as one way the game might want us to see how foretelling works here; especially since this explanation is remarkably close to how Simon describes magic in some game material. 

Simon claims that he does not practice magic, but manipulates “an invisible combination of causes, leading to moderately predictable consequences.” He specifically claims, “To produce a magical construct sometimes requires tens of even hundreds of people. They must be close at hand, and they must be predictable. To take their life line, read them, learn to make a match: that’s an art that you call magic.” Simon’s ‘magic’ appears to parallel the Mistress’ clairvoyance, as it rests within predictable or assured cause-and-effect. It also apparently allows for human action alongside some kind of predetermination, because as the Mistress apparently only foretell futures that individuals’ actions will not change, human will and predetermination are put aside one another, but not apparently conflated. This also recalls Yulia to me in that Simon ‘explains’ his magic through patterns and order—constructs which can be placed on the irrational to rationalize it. With regards to Yulia, Simon’s statement is most similar to when Yulia explains her apparent loss of sense to Daniil in their first dialogue; that she has “lost [her] ability to make distinctive events coincide.”

Another parallel between Yulia and Simon/the Mistresses is their role in constructing the Town. Simon/the Mistresses are its metaphysical architects, while Yulia played a role in its construction or design, having come to town with an engineering team “when the town was being rebuilt.” Yulia also joins her understanding of fate to the Town proper, as her character concept contextualises her theory thus: “there are invisible strings that cross every road in town (collectively — a Path); cutting them will result in a series of harmful accidents.” So to me, Yulia ultimately offers a “rational” equivalent to the Mistresses and Simon in a way, where she helped design the Town and is capable of perceiving the connections between events which grant one the ability to prophesy in-universe. She is logical rather than in the fantastical domain of the Mistresses, characterizing her foretelling through the scientific. She states, “[…] I base my speculations on rigorous research, even though it may not look veritable enough to you. You see, in order to calculate the probability of either outcome, I had to extrapolate the two mathematical functions, which you may find to be somewhat... esoteric” or “Oh, the joy I feel when everything falls well in line with what I have predicated—by which I don’t mean the brute probabilism your mother would sort to, but a watertight, well-ground calculation of likelihood!”  

Yulia also poses an interesting counterpart to Daniil; both are rationalists with a tendency towards the fantastic, yet Yulia is a fatalist and Daniil consistently refutes fate’s existence. Both characters’ theories foreground imminence and inevitability—Yulia literally theorizes over inevitable fate, while Daniil’s fight against death is sometimes framed as one against inevitability. Daniil even tells her, “You wouldn’t believe it, but some of my theories are quire similar to yours” and “The story of my life, believe it or not. Trying desperately to draw their attention to what seems to be painfully obvious, offering any conceivable proof that these ‘coincidences’ must be studied! To no avail.” But what really makes me want to bury myself in the floorboards is Daniil’s claim that, “I would have told you that I’d been brought here by the hand of fate not so long ago, naïve man that I was…” That is. Both Yulia and Daniil appear as people who have, to an extent, distanced themselves in different ways from aspects of Utopian doctrine, but Daniil remains a Utopian while Yulia obviously does not, and instead founded the Humble ideology. Lara’s portrait quote address this somewhat: “This fatalism of hers is depressing and crushing, and it’s appalling to see a mind that bright base its theories upon a false foundation. I believe that any predetermination is an insult to the freedom of choice. I guess it all goes back to the past, when she worked with the Dream Party.” This is my speculation, but I think Yulia’s fatalism and according view of human nature explains her potential broken alignment with the Utopians, as it is incompatible with their ideology.

For one, Yulia’s theory is ultimately about the necessity of death, which is framed as her “crime.” When Clara claims that Yulia isn’t evil, Artemy rebuts her specifically by saying that “Yulia is the ideologist of humility. She came up with a scientific justification of necessary death.” Yulia says of herself, “I don’t qualify as wicked, but you can call me a criminal… in a way. Just don’t conflate the two. You see, I am of the opinion that it was your duty to end us.” Both dialogues suggest that Yulia believed—presumably on account of her dabbles in Fate—that the Plague could only end with Clara’s sacrifice, that the only way out was through death. Besides Yulia’s general we’re doomed talk, she tells Clara, “I get the feeling that every move you make may be reliable predicted. This is not an opportunity I would ever miss for it feeds remarkably well into one of my theories… perhaps, the most pessimistic of them all.” That latter sentence feels like proof, to me, that her theory of “necessary death” is about Clara’s ending. Yulia’s conclusions thus feel antithetical with the Utopians,’ not just narratively, but that the Utopians are all about possibility.

I also want to look at this dialogue between Yulia and Daniil:

Yulia Lyuricheva: Is this so? If I die, the universe would not notice my passing. But what if there are people who are the walking embodiment of the law by which events are connected to each other? What would happen to the universe if any one of these people were to die? Bachelor: Do you think you are such a person? Yulia Lyuricheva: When I was a child I took enormous pleasure in thinking I was one. Later in my life, as a student, I rather saw it as an honour of which I was not necessarily deserving. Today, however, I treat it as a somewhat scornful affliction. Bachelor: Why? Yulia Lyuricheva: People like these are a natural hazard. Their mission exists as long as they believe in it, and others suffer from its consequences.

The dialogue trees point to Yulia speaking about Simon here, and in that sense it provides more possible internal logic for why Yulia became disaffected with Utopianism. Yet Yulia’s portrayal of Simon feels very Clara-esque to me as well. As I have mentioned before, there is a consistent idea to Clara’s character that her faith in herself is what manifests her miracle-working abilities, as according to Rat Prophet, “everything she believes in comes true.” This dialogue with Daniil then seemingly underlies Yulia’s gradual disaffection with Utopian values and subtly introduces her dynamic and view of Clara. Yulia is certainly intrigued and fascinated by Clara, but not particularly warm or empathetic to her. When Clara speaks of being a saint, Yulia is fairly harsh with her, she says, “You? A saint? What kind of imbecile would call you that? Is there even a God that you believe in? You are a changeling, and your sainthood is the lamest kind of mimetic apery.” Yulia appears interested in Clara only insofar as she is convinced that Clara is destined to end her and others in the Town, and in doing prove Yulia’s theories. On the Clara note, I think another element to Yulia’s incompatibility with Utopianism is how Yulia views humanity, since she professes to believe that human nature is evil, telling Clara “Let me remind you how intrinsically evil people are.”

Of course, that might be an exception, but caveats aside: the Utopians believe emphatically in the “power of the human spirit and the infinitive scope of creativity,” a sentiment reinforced by Daniil’s “The point is that in this case, the winner will be […] mere humanity. Any kind of it—even malicious, and yet still a living one.” Humanity appears central to Utopian doctrine, and so someone who considers humanity evil feels necessarily opposed with this to me. I also have no conclusions to this, but cannot stop chewing on how in this game, which so heavily lambasts utopia, Yulia’s conviction in inevitable death is a wicked thing, particularly since she created the philosophy of the healer who manages to break free from fate. I *cannot* stop thinking of it in context of that Saburov quote, that, “A desire for miracles, an endeavour to achieve the impossible... are inherent to humans. However ugly the particular form they might take. Who can dare deprive humans of a dream?” Yet maybe Yulia has some lingering Utopian sentiments? Particularly in her affection for Eva, someone who Imo epitomizes Utopian ideology yet whom Victor describes as “enamored of death so bizarrely and persistently” and resolves her aspiration for the miraculous through her own death. There is just smth about Yulia being in love with someone who for better and worse seemingly embodies Yulia’s potential old ideals alongside her present conclusions about inevitable damning fate...

[rootsofdread]

Wowowo I'm on a roll, anyway this time is reader who steals metal scraps from different realms (maps) and builds small statues or machines with it, and maybe gifts them to that person? Platonically to Amanda (building buddies (⁠･⁠ω⁠･⁠)⁠つ⁠⊂⁠(⁠･⁠ω⁠･⁠)) and romantically to Leon, Ghostface, Jake and Trickster

Leon S. Kennedy:

Leon is not much of a creator himself, so he really loves sitting and watching you work with your fresh haul from Autohaven. It's amazing to watch someone as talented as you work, honestly. Sometimes he’ll sit with you to make his flashbangs, if he has the materials himself, because he thinks it’s a sweet thing to do with you.

He's delighted every time he receives something from you, turning it all over in his hands and pressing buttons to see what happens. He always asks what it does, how long it took to make. He's so curious.

You two have fun using them as a distraction for killers, tossing them out away from both of you so it can make noise and draw their attention. You two have completed several generators and escaped this way (much to the killers' dismay).

He enjoys helping you organize your blueprints and parts, he knows it can be frustrating when everything's a mess, and he just likes to help you.

Jake Park:

Jake has a more professional appreciation for your creations, since living in the wild, he's had to make some of his own contraptions. Having that talent in the realm is almost a necessary one. 

He loves learning more mechanical things from you, either by asking you about it or teaching himself by watching you work and by inspecting your machines. He enjoys teaching you more "practical" things, like tripwires and traps.

He adores receiving your creations as gifts. It makes him feel very special you're so willing to part with something that took so long to make to give it to him. He finds a use for everything.

He will frequently collect pieces of scrap he finds on his own when he's away from you, so he can give you something in return. He'd feel guilty if he didn't, plus, he just enjoys showing you that he loves you.

Amanda Young / The Pig:

Amanda loves having someone to work with again. She really misses the other Jigsaw Apprentices sometimes, and appreciates having another person who enjoys taking things that aren't theirs and using them to make something new.

She particularly loves sitting down in her workshop with you, both of you working on something different but still spending time together. She does get a little suspicious when you refuse to let her see what you're working on, but she understands wanting privacy.

She almost forgets about your refusal to show her until you come up to her with your hands behind your back a couple days later. She's suspicious.

…Until you present her with a small hand-made version of her reverse bear traps, that even functions, too. She's absolutely delighted, and hangs it on her hook immediately. She loves every little gift you give her.

Danny Johnson / The Ghostface:

Danny particularly loves seeing your blueprints and idea sketches. There's just something he loves about seeing others' journals and plans, it almost feels intimate.

He's always looming over your shoulder while you're either looking for parts or working. He doesn't mean to put pressure on you, he's just interested. He loves seeing someone in their element.

He always acts surprised when you give him your little creations as gifts, even though he literally watched you make it start to finish. He still appreciates them, and always asks when you'll make another for him.

Like Leon, he enjoys using them as a distraction for survivors so he can stalk them and get to them easier. He thinks it's pretty funny using them this way.

Ji-Woon Hak / The Trickster:

Another creator? Even if it's not in the same way, Ji-Woon is swooning. He loves being around his fellow creatives, he feels at home and seen by them.

He's always hovering around you asking about your projects: how they're going, if you need more supplies, if you need ideas. He has a lot of ideas. For…Contraptions. It's probably better that you tell him no thank you.

He always offers to paint them for you. Even though his forte is singing, he does enjoy a bit of painting. He always hopes you'll say yes.

When you let him keep it or give him a new one as a gift, he's utterly delighted. He can't contain his giggles. He keeps every single one, proudly displayed.

[itsscromp]

Reader and Rocket running away from the nova corps cause Rocket stole something and Reader ends up getting hurt.

Job gone haywire

Ahh some early-day stuff, I really like it anon. Poor guy, he would feel so guilty getting you hurt and would do anything to help you feel better :D. Word count:891

You and Rocket have been partners in crime for about 7 months now, Rags to riches, you two used your brains together to be able to pull off some amazing heists together. Today was no exception. You've heard that there was an ancient artifact being transported to the collector as you spoke, If it wasn't in his hands it would be worth 5 million units. Oh now this was something you needed to tell Rocket, Immediately running to him.

"Rocket, you are gonna love what I'm about to hear" You smirked.

"Lay it on me pal, what ya got ??" He turned his attention to you.

"So an artifact is about to be present at the collector's emporium, if we can pull it off correctly and quickly, we'll be 5 million units richer," You said eagerly.

His eyes and ears perked up. "5 Million units !!!!"

"Easy 2 and a half to each of us"

"Oh, I am down, when is it coming in ??" He was now super eager, you swore you saw his tail swish in excitement.

"If from what I heard, Later tonight it'll arrive"

"Ok, I think I have an idea"

You both agreed when the artifact arrived late into the night, you'd hack the cameras to make a repeat loop and then Rocket could sneak in and disable any other security measures. Easily pulling it off and sneaking in.

"Ok, so we need to be on the lookout for something that looks like this" You pulled out a drawing of the description of what it could look like.

"Gotcha, now come on, 5 million units await." He then began to look around the place as did you. Up and down, Left and right. You two worked tirelessly to find this flarking artifact.

"How ya looking y/n ??" Rocket spoke up after a little bit.

"Nothing on my side, Yours ??"

"No, goddamn why did they make it so flarking hard to find."

'Wait, hang on I think I got something" You then found a box and began to slowly open it, Rocket right onto it, climbed onto your back gently and looked over your shoulder to see it. Sure enough, this was the artifact.

"Wow... so shiny" He awed at it, making you chuckle.

"5 million unit's is ours" You smirked and raised his fist for a fist bump, which he gladly returned.

But the celebrations were short-lived as the alarms blared, You found that the box had its own tripwire if anyone were to lift the lid, the alarms would be set off.

"Scut, let's bolt it !!!" Rocket shouted and started running, you hot on his tail.

The two were quickly surrounded by Nova Corps officers, You then found a way out and began to bolt for it. "This way !!" You urged rocket.

But then you felt a sharp graze on your thigh as an officer shot your leg with his phaser, Rocket saw the injury and grew scared and angry, pulling out his own weapon and shooting back at the officers.

"Rocket no !!!"

"Go, Get outta here, I'll take care of them !!" He yelled.

You mustered through the pain and began to escape back to the ship, Rocket then threw a tazer bomb at them, which sent a huge electric shock wave throughout the building. He then caught up with you at the ship and immediately high-tailed it away from the planet. Once he was sure they were safe, he ran to your side, seeing you patch up your injury.

"Y/n... I'm so sorry, I did this... this is my fault" His ears drooped deeply.

You've never seen him so worried, so caring. You've always seen Rocket as this cocky lone wolf. But this was completely different.

"Rocket... it's not your fault"

He shook his head, he wasn't taking that for an answer. This was his fault, he wanted to make it right for you.

So later on, while you were changing the bandages, he brought in some coffee and food he coul make from whatever you two had left.

"Here... Your favourite" He gently rubbed his arm gently, looking down in guilt.

"Buddy, I'm not mad at you" You said softly. making him look up at you, ears still drooped.

"None of this was your fault, Absolutely none of it. This job comes with many risks, this is just one of them, ok ??"

He looked back down and gently nodded, without thinking, he jumped on the chair and hugged you tightly. You both were taken aback by what was happening, nevertheless, you gave the hug back. Rocket had a softer side to what you know.

"Hey, besides, How will I share the 5 million units with you ??" Letting go of the hug, smirking as you pulled out the artifact.

His eyes and ears perked up once again, a smile returning to him. "WOOHOO !!!!" He ran around the place, you two were rich !!!

"Oh, what should we do first ??" You offered.

"Drinks and lots of them, I know a really good bar, I'll punch in the coordinates." He ran off to the cockpit.

You smiled seeing him so happy, you would always help him, save him and protect him. No matter what.

Taglist: @callofdudes @fun-k-board

[admiral-mason]

You Reap What You Sow - Chapter 10

Genshin Impact SAGAU x Iron Harvest 1920+

Sights to Behold

As you and Childe walked side to side discussing his family, you took the time to point out how sunny the day was. "Man, it's quite sunny today. And here I thought Snezhnaya was known for its month-long blizzards..."

Childe's interest was piqued by your comment. "Now that you mention it, your grace, There hasn't been any blizzard ever since you arrived. One of the agents said that when you arrived and slept for the night, smaller blizzards across various towns stopped!"

Despite Childe having more experience than you at fishing (you never even really went fishing other than trying it out as a kid), you somehow caught more fish than he did. They kept swarming to your line even without bait. You filled your bucket within a few minutes, so much so that you decided to stop fishing because you didn't even know what to do.

"I guess Teyvat really does love you, comrade!" Childe exclaimed as you just looked at your giant stash of fish. "What are we going to do with all of this?" You asked.

"I'm taking my share home for my family. You can do what you want with yours, so see ya, your grace." Childe said, right before you heard the sounds of rapid gunfire close by. This slightly startled you as you ended up falling into the snow. Thankfully, you still had your coat on, so you didn't feel that cold from the impact as Childe helped you up. "Are you okay??" He asked.

"I'm fine, Childe." Suddenly, you heard the sound of a mechanism before an explosion followed it. "The sounds are coming from over there," you said. "I wonder what's going on," Childe responded. The two of you grabbed your fishing equipment and walked on over to the source of the sounds.

It turned out to be a bunch of Rusviet soldiers alongside Il Capitano and Lev Zubov testing equipment and mechs. You saw a heavy machine gun, SHM-60 Groza exosuits, and varying mechs. Lev Zubov was there as well.

The crew on the heavy machine gun fired another burst as they mowed down a group of training dummies. A Kolokol that was present then fired a bomb at the dummies, turning them into wooden bits. "...Impressive," Capitano remarked. Childe simply watched at his first glance at the technology of another world of yours, seemingly eager to fight them as you saw his smile.

"Our world's technology at its finest," Lev Zubov responded, "and more on the way shortly." The duo then noticed you and Childe before facing you two. "Your grace," they both responded before giving a quick bow. "...Uh- no need for that-" You responded as you awkwardly looked at the two men. You then went back to watching what seemed to be combat tests. "Do you mind I stay and watch?"

"Of course not, your grace!" Zubov said. "Come, watch along." He motioned for you to walk to an area with better viewing as Childe followed. "So these are the war machines in your world? Heh, let's see their performance." He spoke.

The Kolokol walked off the field by this point. The next mech, a PZM-7 Smialy, was the next to be tested. "That thing's darn skinny compared to Ruin Guards... and seemingly less destructive." Childe spoke. "The thing's fast though, Childe." You replied. "It's a scout, not a one-man-army."

"I bet I can literally set up a tripwire and the thing would tumble over." Childe said as the Smialy shot its cannon in the likeness of a rifle at the training dummies, blowing some of them up. It then charged at a larger dummy, impaling its head. The Smialy then walked off the field as the pilot exited, stretching his arms and legs while doing so.

"I would like whoever designed this seat have to sit in it," he said. He then noticed you and casually saluted. "Good day, your grace." He said before walking to a nearby bench and drinking a bit of water.

Capitano looked at the damage the Smialy could do and nodded. He then noticed an SHM-68 Nakovalnya nearby. "What is that thing?" He asked Zubov. "It... looks like a pipe organ." Zubov responded to Capitano's question with glee on his face. "That there, my friend, is a Nakovalnya. It's an artillery mech that fires a barrage of rockets at whatever needs to be destroyed." Capitano's interest piqued as he ordered for the Nakovalnya to be tested.

"Rockets? Now I'm interested," Childe said. The two of you watched as the Nakovalnya's single crew member got into its cockpit and moved the mech a fair distance away from the training area. "I suggest we all stand back. This thing's explosions can be quite indiscriminate." You lightly beckoned Childe to stand back as you and everyone else did the same.

"Rockets away!" The pilot exclaimed as twelve rockets were fired on the dummies, hitting their general vicinity. After the smoke cleared, nothing remained. Childe looked at the destruction with a bit of shock in his eyes. "...That thing just turned those dummies into nothing but splinters..."

"That's indiscriminate firing for ya." You responded back to Childe. Then, you picked up on metal footsteps in the distance. You turned towards the general direction of the sound and saw an SHM-70 Gulyay-Gorod slowly walking its way over here alongside Sandrone on its left. Childe also looked and looked at the towering mech.

"That right there, is Rusviet's largest and finest mech." Zubov said, looking over the huge mech's tall profile. "...I have no words to say to this thing." Childe bluntly replied. "Shocked?" The female pilot responded. "Watch what this thing can do." She walked her mech up to the training grounds before noticing that nothing was there for her to kill.

"Did you all have fun without me?" She asked, a bit of anger in her voice. "Get us some more targets," Capitano ordered to some Fatui soldiers. Soon, another set of targets was set up. Sandrone got a bit closer to the training grounds, eager to see the Gulyay-Gorod in action.

"Alright, watch this." The pilot said before firing three times from the mech's right-mounted main gun. Being an anti-mech gun, it didn't make large explosions. She then fired a devastator rocket from the left side's rocket launcher. This rocket, being more of an anti-infantry missile, blew a medium-sized crater into the fields and utterly turning the dummies to shreds.

"I honestly now feel bad for the dummies..." Childe said. "Yep, and to think that there's more of these things..." You responded back.

Genshin Impact is owned by miHoYo. Iron Harvest 1920+ is owned by Jakub Różalski and KING Art Games.

[prettyflyshyguy]

Happy April 1st, I have no new joke but here's a really good old one.

Buckle up.

Alright. Can't remember if I posted much about this before, but at my old job I produced this videogame. It was pretty cool!! It was set in the future, you're a super soldier who piloted remote robot drones called Espire.

(Violent little robot Sooty, my beloved. The shotgun pump in the trailer is still my favorite bit.)

I had my fingers in just about every pie that made up this game, and it was extremely cool getting to work with the team. April fools rolled around, game hadn't released just yet, we were finalising into the certification phase.

Every friday we had something called 'demo friday' where the team would show off something they worked on that week and we'd celebrate. It was charming to let everyone have a chance to show off their contributions, from every department in the company. I never really showed off anything because the spreadsheets I worked with, everyone already saw cause I would run around showing people every day as part of my job.

So on this fatefull, April 1st Friday, I asked to show the team something special. I pulled up a powerpoint presentation and add-libbed a new game concept pitch.

I pitched Espire to Love, a robot dating simulator, to a room full of 25 odd videogame developers.

Now as you may or may not have noticed, I don't often dabble in romance as a genre. I've barely touched dating sims and I'd never mentioned them before at work.

"From Dreamy daddies to anime girls, KFC's the colonel and even dinosaurs, there's an incredible range of options in the dating sim genre" I said with a straight face infront of a room full of people who were crying with laughter. I was barely holding myself together.

No one was prepared for the fake screenshots.

Still remember how hard some of them laughed when I pulled these slides up. I packed a lot of in-jokes into these that I won't explain - I wanted this to hit hard and hit home for the people I'd spent two + years working with.

People loved it, I made my friends laugh, it was good. And then upon being told "Hey you should send this to the publisher!"

That's exactly what I did.

The response from our assigned reps at Tripwire (YES, THAT TRIPWIRE) said they loved it, and they too were asking themselves the question "why not!" the whole way through.

But this story doesn't end there, oh no.

Fast forward a year. The game is released, we're hectic busy working on post release content, I'm cooking up the next stage of the joke.

Unfortunately, it never came to fruition due to time and stress. But here's what it was going to be:

We'd had our community clammoring for merch - so I wanted to pitch something bold, new and exciting, and the kind of thing that'd make us stand out.

Body pillows.

Would have been incredible. Might've made someone faint.

The robots were called Bean and Sooty during development so yes. I was going to deadass say "The bean bag and the sooty sack" (I mean what I say)

Unfortunately I didn't make it in time, and then double unfortunately, I lost my job when the studio had to significantly downsize.

But that never stops me from posting a good bit. You all know I'm a committed freak.

Fast forward a bit more and I'm trying to learn how to make my own games! So I download RenPy since it's a good starting point. It's designed more for VN's, so to find my feet I figured I should make as VN right?

I didn't want to make to make new assets, as the point was me learning to code. What to do..... what to do....

Full circle babeeeeyyyyy

And that's where we're at today! Long post I know, but I'm real proud of this joke. I love a good laugh that hits you at home, that's just honest fun. Huge shoutout to my old co-workers for listening to my original presentation, their laughter filled my heart and I was fucking terrified at the time, it was worth the joke.

It became a running gag in the office - we were playing Jackbox for a work party and it was one of those question and submitted answer games, and without any input from me the team had made the question "What would the for the sequel to Espire to Love be?"

and the options were "Espire to Live" and "Espire to death"

Anyway, I hope you only have charming and well considered April fools jokes today - designed for you to laugh at as much as the person making the joke. That's the best joke. Peace out.

[shadowbunnydragon]

To Eli: I heard that your Grandma Bonnie told you a funny story about your mom. She said that when Judy was little that she would try to stay up on Christmas Eve to arrest Santa for trespassing while delivering presents only to fall asleep on the couch.

Eli: "Actually, it was Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Stu who told me the story. Apparently one year she started setting traps, like in the Burrow Alone movie... though none lethal, in order to capture Santa to citizens' arrest him. And one year... she actually caught him."

Judy: "Oh cheese and crackers! Mom, Dad, you told my kit this story?!"

Bonnie: "How could we not? You were just so proud of yourself."

Stu: "It really was adorable... albeit troubling for me."

Nick: "You set up traps?"

Judy: "I was a little kit!"

Eli: "Anyways, Grandpa Stu would always dress up like Santa and go around the burrow, leaving presents on the night before Christmas under the various trees set up around the burrow... with over 300 kits, there have to be multiple rooms with trees to lay presents under in order to keep things manageable. Anyway, one year, one of Mom's traps actually worked, and Grandpa Stu found himself caught in a net."

Nick falls over, laughing. Judy blushed while Stu and Bonnie chuckle.

Eli: "And when she ripped the fake beard off of him, Grandpa managed to convince her that Santa employs parents each year to help with the setting up of the gifts, which actually convinced her that he wasn't breaking the law."

Stu: "I had to think quick on my feet. In addition to the net, there were also several alarms she had somehow managed to set up as well, and that woke up the whole burrow. It was either tell her something like that, or let a whole bunch of kits find out that Santa--"

Bonnie, clapping a paw to his mouth: "Is super busy each year and can't stop to meet every child on his list, hence why all good little kits are fast asleep when he comes." Looks pointedly over at the couch, where a few pairs of ears are sticking up.

Stu: "Oooh... uh, yup! That's right. Also, good little kits don't eavesdrop on adults discussing secret Santa information!"

There were a series of giggles, and the ears disappear amidst the sound of hasty footsteps.

Nick: "They don't know it yet, but this year, I'm gunna be Santa around the burrow."

Stu: "Keep an eye out for Louise's traps. She's started using tripwires and glue."

[jwonsociety]

fearless.

↳ sunghoon x fem!reader / est. relationship / 2.7k / profanity, one joke abt drowning

a/n: inspired by taylor swift's "fearless" !!

All throughout your life, you had never taken many risks.

Whether it be school or home or elsewhere, rules had always been presented to you and you had always obliged. You'd never really felt the urge to rebel. To you, there was no reason to rock the boat -- you just kept your head down, did as you were told, and maintained the peace. It was better that way. Safer.

Until Park Sunghoon came along and completely destroyed everything.

From the moment you first met him he completely enthralled you. At a mere first glance, he was gorgeous; keen eyes and a sharp jawline complimented by silky dark hair and a gleaming smile. Nevertheless, besides his external appearance, there was something else about him that pulled you in. Sunghoon seemed to challenge the world head-on, chasing adventure as if he depended on the exhilaration to survive. He was the polar opposite of the way you'd been taught to behave and you loved it.

Sunghoon entertained himself by getting into trouble and today was no different. It was Saturday night and you'd had the unfeigned intention of staying in and binging cooking shows. That was until your boyfriend showed up unannounced and whisked you away, insisting he had "something fun" to do. When it came to Sunghoon, the word "fun" could encompass a broad range of activities. You honestly didn't know what to expect. Scrapbooking could be fun. On the other hand, breaking and entering could be fun too. It soon became clear that the latter was what Sunghoon had in mind.

"Absolutely not."

"What do you mean?"

In front of you, Sunghoon gestured towards a chainlink fence with a human-sized whole as if it were the entrance to Disneyland. Behind it lay a swimming pool, which was currently closed due to it currently being nearly one in the morning. Sunghoon seemed genuinely confused by your disinclination.

"What if we get caught?" you asked.

Sunghoon smiled. "We won't, I promise. This isn't Buckingham Palace. No armed guards or tripwires or trapdoors."

"I can't believe this is why you made me leave the comfort of my own home," you huffed, crossing your arms like a disapproving mother.

"I think it'll be fun," he chuckled, placing a soft hand on the small of your back. "But I won't make you if you don't want to. We can go back to your apartment and watch The Great British Bake Off all night."

You couldn't help but smile at him. That was the thing about Sunghoon -- although he encouraged you to join him on his various questionable escapades, he never forced you to do anything. Making sure you were comfortable was his utmost priority. He may look mysterious and brooding to the naked eye, but you had delved deeper and discovered an adorable dork lying underneath the black band tees and ripped jeans.

You turned the idea around in your head for a moment. On one hand, sneaking into the pool could be pretty fun. Sunghoon was always fun to be with. On the other hand, though, the thought of getting caught made your stomach sink. You were such a coward when it came to defying authority.

Sunghoon was looking at you with that look in his eye. That look. The one where his lower lip jutted out every so slightly and his eyes twinkled with a heart-wrenching hopefulness as if he were a puppy being taunted by a bone. God, you really could be won over so easily.

"Fine," you conceded. "Let's do it, Hoonie."

With a silent celebratory fist pump, Sunghoon peeled back the chainlink fence in order to make more room for you to enter. "This way, madam."

"What a gentleman," you chuckled, ducking your head to crawl through the hole. You emerged on the other side with Sunghoon close behind you.

This pool wasn't your typical run-of-the-mill germ-filled public swimming pool; it belonged to one of the most expensive hotels in the entire city. The only people who stayed there were either billionaire businessmen, celebrities, or the spoiled children of the aforementioned. Naturally, the pool was extremely luxurious. Spotless white tile gleamed in the moonlight, an artificial waterfall cascaded down boulders nestled in the corner of the pool, and underwater lights emanated a soft blue glow. Technically, the pool was reserved for hotel guests -- it was also only open from 10am-10pm -- but Sunghoon obviously didn't care.

"Wait," you said, realization suddenly dawning on you. "I don't have a bathing suit."

Sunghoon was already taking his shoes and socks off. "Just go in your clothes, y/nnie. Water never killed anybody!"

"That's, like, completely false actually."

"Whatever!"

In the blink of an eye, Sunghoon jumped into the pool with a loud splash. He resurfaced and looked back at you with an expression of pure joy. Sunghoon looked so handsome like this -- water running down his face, his hair wet and messy and falling into his eyes. Your heart stuttered.

"You gonna join me?" he called, flicking a few droplets your way.

You dodged them with a squeak. You stuck your tongue in your cheek, anxious. Jumping in the pool would really be committing to the whole breaking and entering thing. Even so, the way Sunghoon looked at you was charming enough to make all of your worries disintegrate instantly. He was so beautiful. So carefree. He added excitement to your life that you couldn't dream of finding anywhere else. You removed your shoes, placed them besides you, and drew in a deep breath.

You took a running leap into the pool before you could change your mind.

A bitter cold greeted you the moment you broke the surface of the water. You opened your eyes but immediately regretted it, the chlorine stinging your eyes. You pushed off the bottom of the pool to take a breath.

"Fuck," you gasped and pushed your hair out of your face. Your t-shirt clung awkwardly to your body, the material now thoroughly drenched. "Aren't rich people's pools supposed to be heated?"

Sunghoon barked out a laugh. "You'll get used to it in a minute."

You splashed him and reveled in the way he yelped. As your body adjusted to the water's temperature, you began to enjoy yourself. The underwater lights created a dreamy atmosphere -- a sapphire glow illuminated the area and the reflection of the water danced across the light.

Suddenly, Sunghoon darted under the water, his silhouette obscured.

"What the--"

A pair of hands grabbed your leg and pulled you under the water. In a flurry of splashes and bubbles, you squirmed away from the assailant, kicking and flailing your limbs wildly.

"Oh, you're dead!" you yelled.

In one swift motion, you lept on your boyfriend's back. He squawked in protest, attempting to buck you off like a mechanical bull. You laughed maniacally, scooping up handfuls of water and flinging them into his face.

Sunghoon broke free after a significant struggle, spinning on you with an expression you could only describe as vengeful. A wall of water suddenly came crashing down on you, and you dove under in order to escape it. You resurfaced a few feet away and he continued the onslaught.

You and he continued like that for a while -- attacking each other with furious splashing, filling the quiet of the night with the sound of laughter. It vaguely reminded you of summer days spent as a child with your friends a long time ago. Eventually, you retreated to the opposite edge of the pool, laughing wildly.

"Holy shit, please stop," you laughed, voice breathless. "I think you're going to drown me."

"Hello? You literally almost crushed me just a little while ago," Sunghoon joked. He sank deeper into the water until only his head was visible. He pondered you silently for a moment, eyes softening. A small smile lay unmoving on his face. "Thanks for doing this with me, y/nnie."

You smiled back. "Of course, Hoonie. This is actually pretty fun."

"Yeah? Not too rebellious for you?"

"I think I can handle it."

He swam towards you until you stood only inches apart in the pool. Rising from his crouched position, your boyfriend snaked his arms around your waist, resting his fingertips delicately on your hips. Your heartbeat was deafening inside your chest.

"You're so beautiful," Sunghoon whispered. His voice was so quiet you almost didn't hear him. His hand cupped your cheek softly, the warmth of his skin contrasting the chilly water. He was looking at you so closely, almost as if he were analyzing you piece by piece. All you could do was stare back as your face succumbed to a fiery red blush.

"Seriously, I must have been a really fucking good person in my past life," he chuckled, not breaking his eye contact with you. "What did I do to deserve you?"

"Stop," you whined. Compliments had always made you flustered -- especially ones from Sunghoon. His voice was deep but edged with a fond softness that made your heart flutter.

"Aw, don't be shy," he cooed. His fingers slowly traced the curve of your cheek. "I just want you to know how much I love you."

A soft breeze stirred his hair. You reached over to brush his bangs away from his eyes and settled the hand on his shoulder. "I love you too, Sunghoon."

Sunghoon eyes became half-lidded as he leaned in, inviting you to close the distance between you and him. You happily accepted.

Yes, Sunghoon was trouble. Sunghoon was dangerous. Sunghoon was risky. But kissing him wasn't like any of those things.

Kissing Sunghoon was like coming home after a long time away. It was like finally feeling safe in a world filled with uncertainty. The soft sensation of his lips moving against yours was a feeling so incredible that it bordered on intoxicating. He tasted like chlorine, but at this moment, you couldn't possibly find it in yourself to care. You returned his kiss with sincerity, melting into his touch. You had always been impossibly stubborn, but with Sunghoon you gave in so easily. How could you not?

The hand he had on your waist tightened ever so slightly, drawing you in closer. The uncomfortable feeling of your wet clothes had long been forgotten now. He adjusted the angle of his head to intensify the kiss and your head began to spin. Everything about your boyfriend drove you crazy -- his cologne, his sharp teeth, his nonchalant attitude -- absolutely everything.

Sunghoon was a high that you wanted to chase for the rest of your life.

Much to your disappointment, you felt Sunghoon pull away. Still deep in a haze of exhilaration, you simply blinked at him, a soft smile ghosting your lips. A comfortable silence eased between you two before your boyfriend parted his lips to speak.

"So," he began cautiously, "would now be a bad time to ask if we can play mermaids?"

Amused laughter escaped you as you shoved his shoulder with your own. "You really know how to ruin a moment, huh?"

"I think I improved the moment, actually."

"Right, 'cause children's pool games really set the mood," you giggled.

Sunghoon raised his eyebrows, amused, hooking his fingers on the hem of your shirt. "Are you not feeling wooed right now?"

You smirked. "Maybe I am. But the mermaid game has nothing to do with it."

"What are you two doing here?"

The two of you flinched at the sudden voice cutting through the air. Sunghoon whirled around to locate its source.

"Fuck," he cursed under his breath. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck."

It was then that you spotted him -- a tall, burly man dressed in uniform standing a few meters away at the hotel's entrance. He looked properly annoyed, with his arms crossed and eyes narrowed like a stern teacher.

"The pool's closed for the night," the man said. His voice was gruff and echoed across the empty space. "You two need to go back to your hotel room."

Panic began to set in. "Sunghoon, what the fuck do we do?" you whisper-yelled.

"Don't worry, I got this," he murmured in response, before turning to the security guard.

"We're so sorry, sir," he said, voice confident and relaxed. "Our flight landed late and the two of us had been so excited to see the pool. We got a little ahead of ourselves. Just give us a moment and we'll head back to our rooms right away."

Wow, Sunghoon was a really good liar. You weren't sure if you should be amazed or worried. Although, even with Sunghoon's solid excuse, the man didn't look impressed at all.

"If you were so excited to see the pool, why didn't you bring bathing suits?"

Sunghoon froze. You glanced down and remembered that the two of you were in regular clothes. Definitely very suspicious.

The man's hand reached down to the walkie-talkie strapped into his utility belt. "Are you two even guests here?"

If you hadn't been freaking out before, you definitely were now. Scratch that -- you were on the verge of completely losing your shit. Sunghoon falling completely silent definitely wasn't helping either.

"Sunghoon?" you whispered again, a new sense of urgency now perturbing your voice.

"Run."

"What?"

"Run, y/n. Fucking run!"

With his hands pushing you in the opposite direction, you suddenly found yourself forcing your way through the water in a torrent of chaotic splashes. You hoisted yourself out of the pool with as much speed as you could muster and Sunghoon followed closely behind.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing? Come back here!" the man yelled from somewhere behind you. You could hear your heart pounding furiously in your ears. Your primal survival instinct was the only thing keeping you on your feet and propelling you to your escape.

"Go for the gap in the fence, y/n!" Sunghoon instructed over the commotion.

Breath heaving, you darted for the fence, ducking so that you could quickly crawl through the hole. The idea of being caught was so terrifying that you didn't want to pause for even a moment.

As soon as you stumbled out onto the street, Sunghoon grabbed you by the wrist and pulled you towards an alleyway. Too frightened to think, you followed him without question. He tugged you into the dark shadows of the passage, flattening himself against the wall and motioning for you to follow suit. You could still hear the frustrated shouting of the hotel guard nearby.

"Where the fuck did they..."

He seemed to linger for an eternity before his footsteps eventually receded. Too scared to risk anything, you remained completely silent. The only sound to be heard was labored breathing as the two of you struggled to catch your breaths. Heart still racing, you squeezed your eyes shut, shifting all your weight against the bricks behind you.

Once he deemed it safe, Sunghoon stepped back into the light. He turned to you with a shit-eating grin plastered across his face.

"Oh my God."

"Sunghoon," you panted, "you said we wouldn't get caught."

"Yeah, y/n," he said, smile widening. "We didn't."

You rolled your eyes, but the upturned corners of your lips betrayed your faux annoyance. "You are going to be the death of me, Park Sunghoon."

He interlaced his fingers with yours, pressing a small kiss to your cheek. "Y/nnie, you know I would never let that happen." Adrenaline still coursed through your veins, but his touch grounded you instantly.

You knocked your head against his shoulder gently and began to lead him back toward the direction of your apartment. "Is it too late to take you up on the cooking show binge offer?"

"It's never too late for that," he assured you.

With his hand in yours, the two of you set off back into the bustle of the city. You glanced over at your boyfriend and traced the outlines of his profile with your eyes. Sharp, yet gentle. Sunghoon was a perfect paradox.

Your whole life, you had been so scared. Scared of risks. Scared of authority. Scared of consequences. Sunghoon was the antithesis of all of that. With him, you dared to break the rules. He had the power to make the rest of the world seem so meaningless. He made you want to dance in the rain, cause a scene in public, scream your favorite song at the top of your lungs, and dive headfirst into something without even worrying if you were going to make it out unscathed.

Sunghoon made you fearless.

[monstersdownthepath]

Monster Spotlight: Gearghost

CR 5

Chaotic Evil Tiny Undead

Bestiary 4, pg. 123

Wickedly persistent Undead born from the souls of thieves and adventurers who’ve died to a hidden trap, a relatable death if there ever was one. I can think of several dungeons which must be positively chock-full of these things, each filled with hate and envy for the living and waiting so, so patiently for them to step on a tile, or over a tripwire, or onto a switch. Gearghosts make their living in the same dungeon that killed them, familiarizing themselves with every room and hallway and using their +17 in Craft (Traps) to reduce, reuse, recycle any material they get into parts for their vile machinations, slowly rigging their homes into... well, deathtraps in more ways than one.

Fun fact: The craft DC of a trap with a CR of 1 to 5 is a mere 20, so a Gearghost only needs a 4 or higher to succeed their arts & crafts project. Even going into CR 6 to 10 raises the DC to 25, so a Gearghost needs only an 9 or above to have one built. However, depending on the trap in question, that can cost quite a bit of money (ignore the official rules for trap prices please i’m begging you for the sake of your sanity ignore them), which is why most Gearghosts either repurpose materials they find from other hapless adventurers... or eschew the higher CR traps and Craft (Traps) in general in favor of twiddling their fingers and creating one.

Once per week, a lone Gearghost can create any trap with a CR of 4 or below without investing a single copper, their diabolic devices springing into existence fully loaded and seamlessly integrated into their surrounds. Even with the CR restriction, a Gearghost’s repertoire is quite intimidating; I recommend clicking that link to familiarize yourself with the lower CR traps, which nonetheless include heavy-hitters like the Acid Arrow trap (2d4/round for 4 rounds), the ever-reliable bear trap (2d6+3 plus bolting the victim to the surface the trap is on), the simple but effective spike pit (a 10ft pit that can deal up to 4d4+8 on first drop), or the electricity arc trap (4d6 Electricity damage in a 30ft line). By increasing the CR of an existing trap, the Gearghost can also add a poison to it just for some extra stat damage on top! There’s no limit to what kind of traps a Gearghost can magic up, and the DM is encouraged to create their own fabulous death devices so long as they fit inside the CR restriction! See this section to find out just what sorts of death can be doled out.

Side note: Two or more Gearghosts working in tandem become astronomically deadlier, as the CR limit for their traps raises by 2 per ghost involved!

With enough time to set up its gadgets, a party may be worn out or even half-dead before they even know the Gearghost is present, simply believing their rotten luck to be owed to a particularly sadistic trap-maker who inventions continue to work long past the time they’ve died. But unlike the trap-maker and their curious art, the efficacy of the Gearghost’s contraptions are very much witnessed by their creator. Gremlins in all but creature type, Gearghosts use their Tiny size and ability to fly to keep a close eye on any adventurers they detect coming into their hallways of pain (a Gearghost can add the Alarm spell to any trap it creates without adjusting its CR). Their +24 to Stealth checks is nearly impossible to overcome without serious Perception investment, so the little bastard could potentially trail the party for hours through a dungeon without any of them realizing it’s there... letting it perform its secondary and, arguably, far more dangerous function.

A Gearghost is an expert Resetter, amplifying its already Gremlin-like qualities tenfold. As a move action, the phantom can cause any trap with the “manual” or “repair” reset conditions to fold back into its ready position, and if the trap rearms itself over time, the Undead can make it spring back into function as a free action! The ability is loosely written with very little description, and so its functions are incredibly broad; as written it works on traps of any size or type (mechanical, magical, natural), it manifests new ammunition for any projectile trap, recharges expended magic in a trap, fixes any broken parts (like tripwires) and scenery back into place (eliminating any trace of its presence), and worse still there’s no listed range limit! Though, presumably, it must be within the ghost’s Telekinesis range, meaning it must be within LoS and 760ft, which is still considerably generous. Resetter works with ANY trap, not just a trap the Gearghost has conjured, so any traps native to the horror’s dungeons are fully within its power to repair and reset. Even smashing the traps to pieces won’t work, because they have Mending at-will and Make Whole 3/day, and Resetter has no limit to how often it can be used. Have you ever wondered just how traps inside of dungeons that no creature has entered in centuries stay functional? There may be one of these things lurking nearby, giggling to itself as your party Rogue fails their fifth Disable Device check in a row to shut off the arrow trap that somehow keeps going off.

Despite the unbelievable utility it offers to a dungeon’s ecosystem, a Gearghost caught in direct combat is basically helpless. Their AC and HP aren’t outstanding for their level, and though their 40ft Fly speed would normally confer a significant advantage to them, their choice of locale (dungeons) means their maneuverability doesn’t really matter. They have a pair of pathetically weak slam attacks (1d4-2) that are only really a threat to creatures who’ve been worn down by their traps, and the only offensive magic they have is... well, it’s Telekinesis at-will, which is by no means bad, but it’s not going to kill someone with any particular swiftness. Indeed, the primary purpose of their telekinetic prowess is to shove people into traps, or push them back into one they’ve just escaped. Because Resetter is, at its slowest, a move action, the Gearghost can re-arm a dangerous trap and then use its standard action mentally picking up and putting down the victim on the firing switch. Hell, in some cases, it may just trigger the trap itself with its telekinesis if the party is especially keen on avoiding the triggers.

With DR 5/-- and Undead immunities protecting it a Gearghost takes a while to go down, but go down it will, especially if the party can somehow grab it and drag it into its own maniacal devices for extra irony, as it possesses no innate immunity to traps and isn’t incorporeal despite its wispy appearance. However, this isn’t the end of things, because a phantom so sadistic isn’t easy to keep down forever. A Gearghost Rejuvenates in just 2d6 days unless holy water is poured over the tiny bits and pieces of rusted metal that made up its corporeal form WHILE the pile is within a Hallow spell... which, you may notice, is a little out of reach of a player party that’s within the Gearghost’s CR range. The best a party can do is haul its remains to a sanctified location and perform the destruction ritual there, and that’s probably what you need to do, because the wretched little thing will spring back to life from assorted scraps anyway unless you destroy every single trap within 100ft of its body. That’s every trap currently in range of its corpse, so taking its corpse out of the dungeon and into a Hallowed area negates that otherwise completely ridiculous resilience!

Still, though, the fact it requires a 5th level spell to permanently kill combined with the fact Resetter works with traps of any CR suggests to me that this little bastard is meant to be sent after much larger prey than a bunch of level 3s and 4s. Even in the 8, 9, or 10th level range, these monsters can punch above their weight class so long as they have an environment they can work with, keeping out of sight of the party and messing with them from a distance via Telekinesis, tripping traps the party thought they avoided while resetting every single one they manage to disable or move past unharmed, making the trek OUT just as painful as the trek IN.

You can read more about them here.

[saccho]

little thief | cypher x reader

(SACCHO'S DESIRES, MY CUTIES' DESIRES) PWP DUBCON (starts as noncon) NSFW BELOW THE CUT

You couldn’t stand it.

Trust and believe you’ve heard of Valorant agents, and for fucks sake you know too damn well about Protocol. No matter what guilt trippy, borderline threatening requests and pleas they’d send your way, you firstly weren’t joining that company and secondly you weren’t risking your life when there was already enough pretentious fuckers running around fighting whatever apocalyptic issue was going on, that, again, you had no plan on helping out with.

Sure, some would call you selfish for ignoring a world-threatening issue when you, as a radiant, have the ability to help. And sure, you are selfish. To the finest degree, to be perfectly honest. Which is exactly why you’re here to sabotage them.

You slapped the latex collar of your bodysuit against your neck, bringing yourself back to the present, no time to seethe over that shitty company now. You stuck to the shadows, eyebrows furrowed as you stealthily creeped across a musky, cruddy alleyway. Information brokers were all too willing to help with the prices you were offering, and you finally cracked down on where one of those dipshit’s bases were. 

Cypher… you knew him. Not in a nice way, of course. Didn’t have any pleasantries to share with the lot of them. 

What you did share in common, however, was your proficiency with technology. And sure, maybe his was more stalking practical skill and yours was more blessed by the first light to sense and corrupt connections anywhere, but hey, close enough!

You finally snuck up to the seemingly innocent door, and as you closed your eyes, you ran your hand against the wall, mind becoming privy to all of the mechanisms lying in wait for you. Channelling all your energy into your hands, the wall flushed an alarming red before quickly falling still, and the unlocking of multiple systems coerced a sly grin to tug at your lips, carefully hidden behind the mask you adorned.

Slipping on a latex glove, you opened the door before quickly disposing of it, tiptoeing into the building. Its layout was simple, and the lack of any response to your entry filled you with a confidence that you hoped wasn’t unfounded. 

You immediately spotted a computer system, multiple monitors decorating the walls and the place was littered with tech that was vaguely familiar. Certain you had disarmed the security system, you ventured further. You spotted a catching object, which you were almost completely sure was a spy camera. One of the many you had thrown a middle finger to before shutting down. That fucker had been planting them in and around your house, and you had to move multiple times to get him off your tail.

You shook your head to clear yourself of meaningless thoughts. Getting too caught up in being annoyed, as always. You crouched running your hand onto the floor. Closing your eyes, your mind lit up with red wires as usual. Your arm shook as you felt condensed spurts of energy travel from your fingertips into the floor, and as you heard sparks and creaking, telltale noises of malfunctioning, you snickered and stood up, striding to the entrance.

Yet all of a sudden, your foot snagged on something and you tripped, a sharp yelp escaping your mouth as you failed to catch yourself, body slamming onto the wooden planks. Your head whipped around wildly, mind racing to justify what happened, did you not just shut off everything, ruining it for good? Finally, your eyes caught on to a circular glowing device on the wall. Tripwire.

You fuddled around for your pocket knife to take care of it and get on your way, but you couldn’t reach it! You struggled against it, feeling the wire tug and rip parts of your bodysuit, small holes beginning to gape wider. 

You huffed indignantly, stress starting to accumulate as you continuously failed your attempts to escape. You reared back, arm positioned to throw your knife at the damned device, yet as you threw and the handle slipped from your grasp, you were hit by a heavy dizzy spell, and the knife clattered in front of you, the noise mocking your attempts. Your head hit the floor in a daze, struggling to recollect. 

Finally after a period of silence and gathering your senses, dreadful footsteps made their way to the building. And as the creaking of a door sounded out. You winced as you looked up, hands scrambling for your knife but it was all for nothing.

A gloved hand reached down and picked up your knife, before the figure stepped over you and towards the ruined room.

“Ah, so you’ve found me. And tinkered with my equipment?” The suave voice mumbled, taking a look at his sparking and rundown setup. You stifled a gleeful snicker, with whatever punishment they deal to you, you’ve done enough to satisfy your own ego.

Cypher began to walk back to you, and with that your heart rate picked up as you could only hear but not see as you were stuck. You muttered a curse, scrambling to stand up, yet the tripwire didn’t give in and you were sent to your hands and knees, the holes in your bodysuit widening and trickling, smaller splinters exposing more and more of your skin to the spy.

He chuckled, still approaching you. You turned your head scornfully, pulling your best threatening look you could muster.

That damned mask, it made you uneasy. No expression to read. His body language didn’t reveal much to you either. His hand slipped into his pocket and he retrieved a small cloth, and your struggle really began in earnest once you realised what was going on here.

“Fuck off! If you put that shit on me I’ll fucking destroy y-mmph!” Your raging tirade was cut off as Cypher grabbed you by your head and shoved the chloroform over your face. 

“Some quiet time would do you good.”

~~~

You were groggy as your eyes fluttered open. As your mouth moved to form its near permanent scowl, you found yourself unable to. A cloth had been wrapped around your head as a makeshift gag, and you felt your fingers flex anxiously. 

You took in your environment, calculating how best to escape from your predicament. Your arms were tied behind your back, so that ruled out fighting him. Your legs, surprisingly, were left untied. For what reason, you’d rather not know. Throwing caution to the wind, you slowly tried to stand up, proving mildly difficult without the use of your hands. 

Large hands settled you back down into the seat, and the life was nearly scared entirely out of your body at that, heart rate skyrocketing.

--

“Tch- You think I care? I mean, sure, that’s a sad story and all, but the fuck has it got to do with me?”

Cypher was unmoving, almost as if genuinely contemplating your rude question. Suddenly, he stood up, towering over you and his head lowered almost as if to look down at you. “I believe we are due for a break in interrogation. I think someone should be teaching this little thief some manners.”

You scoffed, going to stand up but no quicker than you could cry a word did Cypher make his way behind you and pushed you forward, your body colliding with the table, the legs skidding slightly at his rough-housing. You wheezed as the wind was knocked out of you, and quickly your tied wrists became all too much of a problem. You barely managed to turn your head sideways before your legs too became immobilised with the touch of a device in Cypher’s hand, wired cuffs keeping your spread legs grounded.

He was quick throughout it all, yet suddenly he seemed distracted.

The barely audible noise of tearing told you exactly why.

The holes in your bodysuit had stretched further, and the sudden cold breeze passing over your freshly bared pussy made your stomach drop and your face flush. “D-Don’t look! Dickhead!” You spluttered, wiggling to try to get out of your predicament, yet it only served to pull in Cypher’s lecturous gaze, which felt even more scandalous as you couldn’t tell for the life of you what was occurring in that man’s head.

Now, Cypher wasn’t one for lustful pursuits. And the mild bickering he’d had with you before when you’d taken up similar odd jobs with data and tech broking left him with a sour impression of your poor personality.

“Typically, I’d be fond of a woman with class.” 

You scoffed.

“Or, one of maturity and grace.”

You scoffed again.

“But someone has to dish out retribution, and I don’t particularly mind a fair exchange.” He growled, the most negative emotion you’ve ever heard from the man in your life, the consistent suave, smooth-talking tone discarded.

A sharp gasp slipped from your lips as large hands grabbed handfuls of your barely clothed ass cheeks, kneading, spreading, pressing. Cypher dug his fingers into the existing holes in your bodysuit, forcing them to spread wider and expose more of your already troubled state. His hands slid down further, from your inner thighs, to the plump of your ass, and as one moved to the small of your back to keep you down and to negate any thoughts of revolt, your heart plummeted. He was serious.

As the unoccupied hand made its way to your bare pussy, you stuttered out, “Y-You’re a pervert too, huh? Who- who would’ve guessed the stalker would-” Your sentence was cut off by a jolt of pleasure, Cypher’s index finger pressing down upon your clit. Your next breath was exhaled in a shudder, legs twitching. You bit your tongue, shutting your eyes.

“Quiet.”

A gloved finger ran slowly up and down the slick of your entrance, coaxing lewd fluid to coat his finger. It ran around the rim of your entrance, your hole fluttering in anticipation which you weren’t ready to address.

“What’s this? So very needy…” He mumbled, bending over to whisper in your ear, causing an all too pleasing shiver to run down your spine. He slipped his finger inside you, biting your lip at the sudden intrusion you flexed your fingers. The unfamiliar sensation of the texture of his glove made the pleasing feeling all the more sinful as he inserted a second, working his way to his knuckles. He thrusted his fingers in and out slowly, a torturous rhythm providing no real stimulation.

Still putting on a brave face, you snickered. “Wow, what an effective tacti-”

He swiftly withdrew his fingers and pressed himself flush against your ass, clothed erection rubbing against your twitching pussy, the embarrassing loss of fullness causing it to twitch momentarily. 

“Are you willing to speak? Or perhaps… I have to pry more information from you?”

Fuck. Both your brain and your body knew you can’t speak. To be fair, you can’t just give up information so easily, you’re entire job revolves around information so surely you can’t be a fucking pussy. And fuck, do you want his dick in you right now.

You clicked your tongue, spreading your legs to provide easier access.

A soft snicker.

“Oh, did you think that I was going to reward you by filling up that needy cunt of yours? Oho~ Why (Y/N)... you’re so very promiscuous,” He muttered, his fingers trailing meaningless patterns along your back, sending a guilty shiver travelling down your spine and a shameful flush to coat your cheeks. 

You went to speak, “I-” but you had no words for him. He was right.

He spoke again, “I’ll consider it…” 

His hands trailed down to your ass, cupping handfuls and playfully spreading them, the sudden breeze of cold air against your bare ass and pussy making you shudder. “If you beg.”

Your heart sunk, fuck. This damn prick.

You wouldn’t.

Not for the enemy.

You’re stronger than this.

But fuck, you weren’t.

“Please…” You gritted your teeth and closed your eyes. “Please fuck me.”

He hummed for a moment, as if pondering your request. He tapped his foot mockingly, running a sole finger up and down the small of your back. 

“I suppose I could do that.”

With the speed of a God, he unzipped his pants and tapped your pussy with his cock, anticipation swirling in your chest. He rubbed his dick up and down your slit, pushing forward slightly every few seconds, teasing you. 

“Once more, now ask nicely~”

You swallowed your pride.

“Please Cypher… I just-” Your breath caught in your throat. “I want it please- I want you inside me, I want you to fuck-” Your words were caught up with an abrupt gasp, his hips snapping forward, an audible clap of your skin meeting resounding around you.

“Good girl.”

He instantly set a brutal pace, your legs quivering violently as his dick repeatedly hit the hilt of your cunt, the tantalising pressure, an odd sensation of the tip of his dick meeting your cervix with each thrust. Your brain was scattered, unable to do anything but take the ravaging from the man behind you, and almost all of the bitterness, resentment and anger towards him dissolved with every melting. Each gasp you took as he thrusted forward kept you alive, everything else gone from your brain, only the feeling of Cypher’s dick filling you so perfectly.

Your clit ached as it rubbed against the cold surface of the table, an almost painful pleasure wracking your body coupled with the avid movement of Cypher’s hips sending you further forward and closer to the table. “Mh- n’ ah,” Incoherent mumbles left your mouth as a familiar coil began to wind in your nether, your brain barely registering how quickly you found yourself falling to him.

Every second felt like an hour of overwhelming feelings of pleasure, warmth, fullness, shock. You couldn’t recall when the coil snapped, but when it did, you felt it, and you felt it hard. Waves of pleasure traversed your body, shaking, shuddering. Your sudden climax alarmed the culprit himself, and you felt his dick twitch inside you as your walls clamped down on his dick.

“Just a little longer, little thief, hold out for me now-”

He was cut off by his own grunt, relishing in you. His thrusts grew erratic, chasing his own pleasure and with a sudden hitch of his breath, you felt hot cum fill your cunt, dribbling downwards.

Slowly, Cypher withdrew himself, and you felt the embarrassing dribble of cum following him, a thin string connecting himself to your pussy, now uselessly clenching around nothing.

The two of you took deep breaths for a second, before you strained yourself to glare at him. 

He produced a business card, patting your head. “So, little thief, would you consider joining Valorant?”

[astronaut-al]

Random Valorant Headcanons

-Brimstone’s ult is nicknamed “the democracy deliverer”

-Phoenix and Yoru call KAYO “siri” and “alexa” just to annoy him

-Yoru has tried to steal KAYO’s knife for his collection

-Astra and Raze are avid minecraft creative fans. For the opposite reasons.

-There is a shared Nintendo switch in HQ where Yoru establishes his Smash bros dominance.

-Cypher puts his tripwires throughout HQ, as well as a camera for each tripwire. Whenever someone trips over, he records their reaction and any subsequent cursing. Even Sage swears. He then stitches the clips together into a montage to present to everyone.

-Breach and Fade know more states and capitals than Brimstone and Viper.

--This is because Breach needs to keep track of where he is not legally allowed in, and Fade just knows for some reason

-Once on a mission, Chamber said “cheese!” instead of “freeze!” and nobody will let him forget it.

-Raze has a collection of grenade pins as well as selfies of the explosions

-Viper has a stress toy of Chamber that Raze helped make. She has a whole box of them because of how quickly she goes through them.

-KAYO speaks every language in the world fluently, and he uses this to mess with the other agents.

-Breach has a horde of gold somewhere.

-In the dropship, Jett will play “Boombayah” by blackpink to hype everyone else up

-Skye knows how to play guitar, and Omen can play a ukulele

-Fade, Viper, Sova, and Chamber have the best poker faces

-Brimstone has said to Breach under his breath “get a haircut, hippie.”

[dnangelic]

@espectres asked : i’m not stressed ,  okay ?  do i look fucking stressed ? // MEME.

' worse , you look like a liar . ' since when had things come to this ? there's grief in a phantom heart as they stand at opposite ends and seem to defy each other . he loves me , he loves me not . he should love me , but ... the thin , unhappy slits of dark's eyes narrow . tensions pull at every angle , though he nevertheless tries to avoid landing into the net and trigger of something nasty , like the explosive , tripwire wick of his own short temper --- flint to a tender and hidden hurt . he's always known that shou preferred to treat him an excess , tolerating him , perhaps , with some amount of reluctance and cruel , disparaging humors --- despite the pitch depths and hollows of a shared , inseparable longing . dark knows too of the other's vanishing independence ; the habits of an invisible boy who had been weaned off a particular poison , broken plates and split knuckles , violent just desserts that became part of the reason why those small , esper's fists might have curled in front of him --- even him , even now .

and yet , rather than roar or lunge , dark's entirety seems rebuked . his eyes gleam pitifully from behind the weightless strands of his bangs , the small frown on his features uncharacteristic of the hundreds of thousands of great phantom thieves flashing arrogant wink and grin from security camera footage and live , infinitely repeated broadcast . this was different . a lover should have been close , closer than anyone , so as to understand at least two hidden truths , but the glass wall so often effortlessly bridged by his other self has grown thicker into a castle-brick wedge , confusions turning the sword of the knight against what captive beast , red-eyed and black-winged dragon it might have otherwise sworn to protect , only when it had been mistaken for a prince . dark remains where he is , obedient and tender even while suffocating on his own frustrations .

' ... why won't you let me help you ? ' he's going to turn away from me , now . he's going to vanish from my sight . even if he screamed , he'd be left with nothing but an echo . yet even if there was nothing to be done between the two of them , then if nothing else --- ' can't i at least stay by your side ? ' silence and a touchless presence was fine , a fireplace smoulder for his wintry skin and the cavity in his chest that , like fast-cooling ashes , seemed to be growing only colder and colder with each passing second . i don't want to be alone --- but he doesn't know how to confess . wishing they could be weak together , wanting for a warmth in his arms that was presently razing him furiously at the fingertips ; even if it's shou's frustrations , it's surely his own fault too for being inept . ill-suited to anyone's happiness . company of a monster , meddling of a curse --- he suddenly stands , and the twin pair of black wings on his back flare open , a warning of his own leaving first .

' nevermind . forget it . ' if it was shou's wish , then he'd indulge it . if love , too , was letting go and leaving alone , then he would demonstrate absence , forgoing his own jealous-clinging desires . the sole mercy of a thief and a monster , he thinks . ' i didn't mean ... ' to make things worse by his own presence --- he should have known better . ' ... to make you upset , shou . ' even if it was an accident ; nothing more than a simple , innocent , wretched mistake --- there weren't any excuses . ' i'll give you space . ' because at least like this , he , and all his piercing gaze wouldn't look anymore ... and shou , trying to turn himself ; his truths and his feelings invisible if only by sheer intention of words alone , would no longer have to lie .