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#and it was easily the most rewarding thing i did in my entire time there
tc-doherty · 8 months
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TC's Practical Writing Tips
Like I said before, I'm not gonna sit here and pretend that I can teach anyone how to write – that's a level of hubris even I'm not capable of –but in honor of my rapidly approaching ~quarter century of writing original fiction anniversary~, I did figure I would share the tips that I live by when it comes to the act of writing.
So without further ado:
Write it now, fix it later
2. It is always permissible – and usually enjoyable – to write the stupidest possible version
3. "Inspiration" is great for poets, but poison for people who write prose
3.1: if you want to write often, you need to write often, and then you will find that you don't need to be "inspired" because you will have made a habit of it and it will come naturally 3.2: even one sentence a day is still one sentence a day. And even one sentence a week is still one sentence a week. It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop 3.3: believing in the concept that you need to be inspired to write will trap you into believing in the concept of writer's block 3.4: if you are having difficulty getting out words that satisfy you, lower your standards and keep writing (see point one)
4. A few months down the line you will not remember which words came easily and which words did not
5. It is always permissible to set a project aside for now, or forever, if you need a break
6. Read widely and often, both in your favorite genres and outside of them
6.1: pay special attention to both things that you love and things that you hate - study them, engage with them, learn what makes yourself tick and your writing can only get stronger
7. Never write for the lowest common denominator, via wise words I once heard: "if you open the window and make love to the world, your story will get pneumonia", have an audience in mind and the people who like what you write will find it
8. Never write for the bad faith critic, those people will always exist and you will need to deal with them at some point if you put your writing in the world, but they don't matter and you cannot live in fear of them
9. It's fine and normal to want engagement and praise, however you must find a way to make the act of writing joyful in and of itself – make the praise the cherry on top, not the entire sunday
9.1: writing is hard work, and it's a lot of work, if you lose the ability to enjoy the journey and are proceeding only for external rewards from others, you will gradually write less and less if the ratio of work to rewards is unsatisfying
10. For anything other than final copy editing, always write a new draft into a new document, or else the words you have already written will trap you from being able to make large, sweeping changes
10.1: any change you make will invariably snowball, and you must give space for that snowball to roll
11. If someone tells you that something doesn't work for them, believe them, because people know what they like. But if people try to tell you what to do to fix it, take that with an entire serving of salt because you are the author, not them
12. It is always morally correct to look at a critique that you received, even if you asked for opinions via beta reading, and decide that it's bullshit and doesn't apply to you
13. "write what you know" means "write what you're interested in"
14. "Show don't tell" applies to screenwriting, not novels. This is the thing that drives me the most insane every time I see it. Novels are words on a page, not images on a screen. They require a lot of telling. Not all telling, but a lot of telling. Become comfortable with that.
15. It is always, ALWAYS acceptable to use "said", do not listen to the lies of others
16. Have fun, do it out of love and you will never go astray
17. Become comfortable with who you are. Your work is always going to be yours and it is always going to sound like you wrote it, and this is a good thing! No one else is ever going to write exactly like you, and you should be proud of that
17.1: the concept of "originality" is vastly overrated, every culture has some version of Cinderella and we still love it. Your writing is yours because you wrote it, and it will always be unique because of that
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neptuneiris · 10 months
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Behind the Scenes (03/05)
Behind the Negotiation
pairing: actor!aemond × fem!reader
summary: knowing that you can't run away from your past forever, you receive unexpected visitors in your home that make you fear for your son's future.
word counter: 8.9k
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warnings: angst, arguments, language,mention of abortion.
guys, I'm sorry for the delay, with this chapter a lot of unexpected things came across my way, but I've finally finished it and I'm satisfied with the result, although I'm not sure if you will like it, it might bore you but I don't know, please let me know :)
without more to say, enjoy it and thanks for all the support, really! let me know your comments too, I'll be waiting for them!
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You still remember it all too well.
You remember how you accepted Aemond's terms, the terms of his agent Criston and also of his entire team.
You agreed to keep the existence of your child a secret, to hide in the shadows with him and to keep a low profile until it was "safe" for Aemond's career to publicly and legally acknowledge the baby.
But you only accepted to take that worry off everyone's mind and especially his, so you could run away. Although the reality is that you were scared.
At first, Aemond's power, influence and connections kept you paralyzed, thinking about the consequences of breaking all ties with him.
And running away from him, disappearing from his life along with your son was a decision you had to make carefully and then had to live with in fear and dread of being found someday.
And the fear of possible legal reprisals for your escape and uncertainty about the consequences were present at every turn. But you did everything to live in freedom, not to destroy Aemond's career and to protect your son from all public exposure.
You always knew that Aemond with his celebrity status possesses power, not only in the entertainment industry, but also in the media and social sphere, that was obvious, just like any other celebrity.
So finding you could be as easy as snapping his fingers.
So to prevent Aemond from tracking your movements so he could find you, you began by discarding any means of transportation that could be easily monitored or tracked.
You avoided airports and bus terminals, opting instead for small train stations and local buses, always paying with cash. You left King's Landing and the entire state, going all the way to the Iron Islands.
In Pike, with the money you had left over, you were able to rent a room to yourself in a cheap hotel, then quickly began to look around for a job in the surrounding area in search of an opportunity that could provide you with support and stability.
You knew you couldn't get a job like the one you had before, on a recording set with a big salary. So downtown, you found a job at a beauty salon.
Not only does she own a beauty salon, she also owns a few small apartments in the city and offered you one of them at a lower price, considering you were just starting out with a new job.
The owner of the place, Becca Waters, a kind and understanding woman, saw potential and also the need in you.
Knowing your condition and that you practically came to live in a place where you knew nothing and no one, she also offered you a place to live and be safe.
Mrs. Waters became a fundamental support for you, providing guidance, encouragement, flexibility and stability in your financial need and also in your pregnancy.
With her you felt completely safe and supported at a time when you needed it most. After all you had gone through to get here, leaving your life behind and pregnant, she was your reward.
But still nothing was easy after that.
Your pregnancy process was a roller coaster of emotions, challenges and moments. Facing motherhood as a single mom was an overwhelming reality.
On the one hand, even though the baby was unplanned, you were excited to know that you would soon be holding him in your arms, but on the other hand, you also felt fear and anxiety at the responsibility of raising a child alone with no knowledge of anything really.
The first few months of pregnancy were especially difficult.
You experienced pain, symptoms and discomforts that you had no idea about and had to endure, as well as a slight state of depression and anxiety about dealing with all of this on your own.
But through it all, Becca was your pillar of support at all times, who became your confidant, giving you comfort and encouragement in difficult times. And she was the one who helped you throughout your pregnancy and also the one who was by your side when you gave birth to your child.
And even though you didn't want to, being in a very vulnerable state, you couldn't help but feel lonely and miss Aemond, just as you missed everything you once used to be.
But remembering everything that happened the last time you saw him, even though the feeling disappeared, you also couldn't help but start crying.
And to protect yourself emotionally, you decided to stay away from news about Aemond.
You avoided social media and any content that could remind you of your past with him. Your determination was great to be able to raise your child alone, without relying on Aemond's presence or acknowledgement.
And the day your son finally came into the world, it was a moment of joy and wonder that could not be compared to any other moment in life, filling your heart with indescribable happiness.
However, the birth also brought with it a torrent of new worries and challenges.
Childbirth was exhausting and intense. Nothing you've ever experienced before. And in the days that followed, the constant care of the newborn, the lack of sleep and the adjustment to your new life were heavy challenges that pushed you to the limit many times.
But in spite of that, every smile, every little gesture of your son filled your world with immense love, as well as Mrs. James' help in guiding you in practical aspects of motherhood increased your unwavering determination to go forward for him, being your driving force.
Although also the arrival of your son into the world increased your fear in you.
The fear that Aemond and his team might find you and take your son away from you was a constant worry. But despite this, there were moments of uncertainty when you thought too much about it.
You wondered why Aemond would bother looking for you and your child. Clearly the baby was a risk to his career and he didn't even want to support you from the start, only accepting it later because that was your decision.
You knew he wouldn't but you were still afraid.
Would Aemond really seek you out after he initially supported the idea of abortion?
Would he really seek you out after he supported your decision even if he didn't want to but in the shadows, avoiding any public acknowledgement and hiding you and your son?
But just when you had gotten used to it, had found stability with a job and a permanent refuge in the beauty salon with Mrs. Waters, a few months after the birth of your son, Mrs. Waters was forced to close the salon due to unforeseen financial problems.
That place that had been your refuge and where you found support and friendship, suddenly disappeared, leaving you with a feeling of emptiness, uncertainty and nostalgia.
Mrs. Waters would have to leave town and although you didn't want to, you also decided to do the same, convinced that you would be safer with your son in a place you knew well, avoiding at all times the places you used to go with Aemond and where you knew you could meet him.
So after looking for a job, with your resume and previous excellent references, in the city where the entire film industry resides, you got a job as a makeup artist in a different recording studio than the one you had worked in before.
There was no way you could meet Aemond, or so you thought.
Previously the TV network was BBC, now it was HBO for whom you would be working on a new TV show, so you really had nothing to worry about, especially since the pay was very good and you could survive just fine on that for you and your child.
But right on your first day of work, life decided to surprise you.
And now you are here, in your new apartment where you were planning to live temporarily until you find a better one, but now with you running away on your first day it means definite dismissal for sure, so you have no idea how you are going to pay for a better one or how you are going to pay for this one next month so you won't get kicked to the street.
But you can't even think straight as you are still shaking, your emotions are running high, you have no idea what really happened, it was all very fast between talking and remembering the past.
And the only thing that gives you some peace in the midst of your own thoughts and everything you're feeling, are the sounds of Aenar's toys and babbling in the living room, playing on the floor and touching everything he can.
His silver hair shines from the sunlight coming through the windows and he giggles as his colorful toys bump into each other, showing a world of happiness and innocent curiosity, completely filling your heart but you still feel that sharp ache in your chest.
You move towards him with a soft sigh and take a seat next to him, keeping a small genuine smile on your lips but with some melancholy, when he starts showing you all his toys and asks you between babbling and giggles to play with him.
You move the toys back and forth, ask him questions in honeyed tones and he laughs, making you laugh too, but you continue with the tumult of your overwhelming thoughts.
You think about what you will do now, that you should probably look for a job at a new beauty salon, which is what you should have done as soon as you got back, find a subtle job instead of going back to what you were doing before so suddenly.
However the paycheck was what made you take it and you need it too much, so you'll have to look for other alternatives.
You find yourself thinking about it when you suddenly hear the sound of the door completely interrupting your thoughts and also your game with Aenar.
You look towards the entrance, confused, with a strange feeling growing in your chest, immediately giving you a bad feeling. For who would come knocking at your door?
No one knows you're back… except Aemond.
Oh Gods.
The thought makes you paralyzed, feeling your whole body tense up, your heart starts beating fast and fear invades you completely.
Could it be him?
You wonder, struggling to stay calm, even though there's no way he could have figured out so quickly where you're living.
Or has he?
The thought leaves you completely paralyzed, with a mixture of anxiety and fear flowing inside you.
The knocking on the door becomes more insistent and you carefully get up and leave Aenar still amused in his game on the floor, then walk towards the door feeling a lump in your throat and a growing uneasiness.
You reach for the doorknob and as you turn it to open, your heart skips a beat when you find Aemond's agent standing in front of you, Criston Cole.
A trace of surprise and confusion flashes across your face, feeling your body tighten further and the fear linger.
How did he know where you were?
What is he doing here?
Criston returns you a serious but understanding look, beginning to feel the tension between the two of you, while you feel the fear invade you again because of the old memories and being him one of the main reasons why you decided to run away.
His mere presence triggers a series of emotions that take you by surprise. With no trace of Aemond or anyone else around you, yet your mind races.
Nervousness invades every fiber of your being, while your heart beats faster and stronger than usual. A sense of discomfort invades you and you also feel alert, afraid, unable to control it.
"Y/N."
He pronounces your name with a slight nod. His tone tries to be reassuring, but confusion and bewilderment wash over you.
You say nothing for a few seconds, feeling unable to speak and unable to formulate any words, barely trying at that moment to process the situation. Anxiety creeps through your chest, as he gives you and respects your space, aware of your unease.
"I understand that you're surprised by my visit and I don't want to make you uncomfortable, I really don't. But we need to talk."
The confusion inside you increases and so does the fear, to watch him completely bewildered and on the verge of collapse.
"H-how—
You try to ask with your voice cracking in the midst of all your emotions, but he interrupts you in response, knowing what you're going to ask.
"My team," he lets you know, "They handled finding you."
He tells you seriously and with that touch of professionalism in his tone, but his response only surprises and puzzles you more, to which Criston notices.
You feel the questions pile up in your head, but you barely manage to articulate a word, besides all the emotions you're feeling, fear mainly.
"Aemond informed us of your return," he adds, "After he didn't find you again, he asked us to look for you," he tells you calmly, trying to make his eyes convey an attempt at empathy for you.
But you don't believe that one bit. Not after what happened the last time you saw him and his entire team.
You feel a surge of vulnerability wash over you, leaving you suddenly helpless before him. You don't have the slightest idea how you will be able to cope with that situation, how to get away from them again now that they have found you, especially him.
"What have you really come for?" you question, not hiding your distrust.
Criston keeps a serene attitude and look, seeking to soften the tension, but notices your demeanor and posture, of fear and alertness altogether.
"Just to talk," he tells you softly, "Believe me the last thing I want and Aemond too is to cause you trouble. We just want to talk and nothing more," he explains, but you are having none of it, "He was going to come himself, but he had to film some scenes. But he'll come as soon as he can."
This just adds more weight to the anxiety and nervousness you're already feeling, so it triggers an alert in you that makes you feel completely freaked out, definitely not wanting that.
"No," you try to retort with a firm tone, but your vulnerability shows in your trembling voice and nervous expression, "Please leave."
Concern flashes across Criston's face for an instant, unconsciously taking a step towards you.
"Y/N–
"Please," you plead, "Just go away and don't come back, none of you, not even him."
"Y/N, please, just let me—
"No," you interrupt him again, more desperate than before, "Please," you repeat.
The atmosphere is filled with a silence full of tension, where your words, full of desperation and longing to get away from the situation, float in the air, also asking for urgent distance and tranquility.
And Criston lets out a sigh.
"Just a few minutes," he says, struggling to find some control in the situation, "Just-let us talk to you, Aemond and me."
"If it's to talk about his career and his son, I'm not interested," you say firmly, but your trembling voice gives away your emotions, "We've talked about that before," you say with some bitterness and sadness in your tone, "You can go now. I don't plan on staying anyway."
Without having let go of the door frame, you try to close the door, ending all of this, but he instantly speaks again, stopping you.
"Please Y/N, Aemond is very worried and wishes to speak with you," he insists, "He hasn't been the same since you left, you should know that," he adds in a persuasive tone.
You let out a snort in disbelief and with some bitterness, as you look away from his gaze for a moment.
"I highly doubt that."
"Y/N—
The sound of Aenar's innocent laughter while playing with his toys catches Criston's attention, stopping his words, who unconsciously catches a glimpse inside your living room where Aenar is playing and also catches a glimpse of his small figure on the floor with his characteristic silver hair.
This immediately triggers your concern and increases your protective mode and you quickly close the door a little behind you, blocking his view, while your heart is pounding.
This is what you meant.
You don't want anything bad to happen to your son, in any way. And you will do anything to protect him, because they decided everything except to protect you and now you will not allow them to intervene in your son's life now that they know he is here.
"Y/N," he calls to you in a softer voice, watching you completely intently and desperately asking you with his gaze for a moment.
"Please don't," you plead with him, at the point of collapsing from worry and frustration.
Again you enter the apartment as you hold the door frame tightly to close it, but Criston stops you again.
"You must understand the gravity of what happened," he tells you seriously, "Your disappearance put Aemond's relationship with his son in danger. There are legal implications for you to consider, such as custody," he says and your heart flips, "I can explain all of this to you and resolve it in the best way possible," he looks at you in insistence, "But only if you let me in so we can talk."
And there they are again. Your greatest fears.
The word 'custody' repeats over and over in your mind, like a loop, causing you greater fear, worry and pressure than before, the gravity of the situation and the looming legal implications being clear.
The air weighs on you, heavy with uncertainty and intense tension, as well as you are overcome with the urge to cry because of your doubts and fear.
"Wh-what-" you try to speak in a whisper, your voice cracking and your heart in a fist, "Custody?" you repeat under your breath.
Criston watches you with some pity and understanding, then lowers his gaze, lets out a sigh and watches you with that sympathy and also a little expectant.
"May I come in?"
Try one more time and maybe it's because of his words that your mind is in a state of alarm that makes you recognize that you can't run away again or else things will get worse. And you don't want that. You are afraid for yourself and Aenar.
Feeling more of your anxiety, you finally allow him to enter and Criston at this thanks you with his gaze and moves carefully, noticing your visible discomfort and also your fear, not wanting to alter you any further with absolutely nothing.
And once the door closes, you immediately stand in front of Aenar with a weak and vulnerable posture trying to look strong, this catching his attention and feeling something warm in his chest at the presence of the little one.
But he also knows exactly why you react this way and he doesn't blame you for it, much less does it bother him because he understands you.
"I'm very honest when I tell you that we really don't want to create more trouble, Y/N," he tells you in a soft tone, "Aemond…. he really is very worried. And since he is my client, we don't want any legal implications or further conflict."
You try to keep your composure, but your thoughts are a storm of confused emotions. The very idea of dealing with legal issues, especially regarding your son, is overwhelming to you.
"Why now?" you ask in a trembling voice, your gaze searching for answers, "All this… why?"
Criston exhales slowly, trying to find the right words.
"The situation has changed, basically since you left. Aemond was wrong at the time and I admit I was too, so now he's willing to acknowledge your son, in every way possible."
You can't help but look incredulous and bitter once again.
"It's already too late for that, don't you think?" you ask him in a bitter tone.
Criston looks down for a moment, his expression one of compassion and understanding towards your perspective.
"Yes, we know," he nods to you, "And that's why we're here, trying to keep all this from becoming a bigger problem. But please Y/N, understand that Aemond doesn't want to hurt you or cause you any more trouble than he's already caused."
"And until now you say that?" you inquire sad, worried, fearful and indignant, "That's what I needed to hear before when I was scared, because I was scared too Criston, not just Aemond," you let him know, with tears in the corners of your eyes, "But you treated me like a problem you needed to get rid of, you and him."
Criston listens to your words with a gesture in his eyes that reflects the heaviness of the situation, just as you see shame and regret wash over him, suddenly seeing him as the vulnerable one and you as the strong one compared to years ago, the roles reversing for a moment.
"I'm sorry, Y/N. We didn't mean to make you feel that way," he says in a regret-laden tone.
"Sorry doesn't change anything," you say, fighting back tears.
You watch him with your hard stare and sad eyes, feeling several tears fall down your cheeks, making you remember once again.
And once again without letting it drown you, you force yourself to push those memories away, all your moments of uncertainty, fear and pain, to brush your tears away from your cheeks with a strong look of determination.
"I will accept any legal consequences if there are any," you say suddenly, trying to keep your composure, "If there are legal actions, I'm willing to face them. But for now, I just want to be left alone, please."
"Y/N," Criston calls you cautiously, "I just want you to understand that we want to do the right thing now. And what we want to do is find a solution that works for you and for Aemond regarding him," he points to Aenar with his gaze behind you, "Something that guarantees your privacy while not damaging his public image."
Then all the effect of his words completely disappear on you.
You feel a surge of frustration, annoyance and despair at the realization that still the main concern remains Aemond's career.
"Do you still think about his career?" you ask with disappointment and resentment in your tone.
"Y/N—
"The most important thing here is my son," you stand strong, "But he seems to be only one aspect of Aemond's image, doesn't he?"
"Even after all this time that has passed, Aemond's career is more successful and even promising than before, that is something that neither you, him nor I should forget, let alone ignore," he tries to explain to you, "Aemond wants to fix things but his career must also be contemplated, please understand this Y/N."
"Then why do you say you want to do things the right way now if that is not true?" you inquire.
"Yes it is true," he clarifies, "But within all of this, his career must still be contemplated."
You shake your head in disbelief, unable to believe it.
"You say a lot of things Criston, but it's clear what matters most to you," you say with no emotion in your voice, "And sure, why shouldn't his career matter most to you? After all… you don't know what it's like to get pregnant, without support and go through the whole process by yourself, and then raise a child on your own, without the support of his father."
"I don't mean to—
"Please go away," you plead once more and this again alerts him.
"Y/N—
He tries to speak but the sound of the door echoes throughout the living room, drawing your full attention and Criston's as well.
The atmosphere again becomes heavier than before, as well as all your confidence disappears, already knowing who it is and you are confirmed by the fact that the person behind the door knocks more insistently, sounding desperate.
With your fearful gaze and your whole body tense, you quickly move towards Aenar, who is still playing completely oblivious to everything that is happening on the floor and you take him in your arms with haste but also care.
You hold him tightly against your body, as a way to protect him from everything outside and also from all people especially while trying to contain all your emotions.
And Criston, who also knows who it is, rushes to the door to open it.
And there on the doorway, the figure of Aemond comes into view, with all the desperation and longing in his gaze, the worry and anguish too, as you muster the courage to be able to look him in the eye again, holding Aenar a little more firmly against your chest.
But your son's body is visible to the eye and that's what makes Aemond completely paralyzed at the sight of you with his son in your arms.
Surprise is completely reflected in his whole look, immediately followed by a bunch of emotions that start to pile up in his whole being and want to come out, as he feels his whole body tense up and a feeling in his stomach invades him.
This leaves him and you in a state of momentary restlessness, where time seems to stand still and the silence is too loud. You, with your gaze fixed on him, try to keep your composure with a mixture of fear, insecurity and some determination to protect your son at all costs.
It didn't take long for Aemond's surprise to turn into a moment of awe and a surge of overwhelming emotions. The mere sight of you with his child in your arms triggers disbelief, pent-up longing and a feeling of suppressed joy.
"Y/N," Aemond calls your name in a whisper, his tone laden with surprise and visible regret, where his gaze can't tear away from you and Aenar.
You say nothing, just watch him back without saying anything, with all your emotions reflecting in your eyes.
The moment is just the three of you, so Criston turns away completely, not interfering and saying absolutely nothing, while you continue in your protective mode and Aemond is still processing this whole moment.
With excitement clashing against the surprise in his eyes, he tries to process the reality of having his son before him for the first time.
He searches for the right words to speak, but his stuck mind won't let him, nor will the lump in his throat and stomach as he continues to watch the scene in front of him; you with his son in your arms.
He tries to say something, but his lips barely half open and the words won't come out, feeling his heart beating too fast and hard.
And you with your gaze full of expectation, fear and caution, Aemond finally looks at you again, aware of all the emotional charge you feel, just like him, as well as your fear and distrust after everything that happened.
"C-can… can I come closer?"
He finally asks cautiously, his voice with a tone of longing and nervousness barely contained.
You hesitate at that moment.
Feeling the weight of the situation and the emotions that are triggered at that moment, despite everything, you feel very vulnerable and you also feel his vulnerability, also that longing to touch Aenar and hold him.
And despite the way he acted with you almost two years ago and also the way Criston and all his team treated you, you don't feel able to be as cruel as they were with you back then.
You don't want to be like them and also aware that this day would come sooner or later, you watch Aenar for a moment, leave a soft kiss on his forehead and again watch Aemond, then nod in his direction with a barely perceptible gesture.
You allow Aemond your closeness and he with extreme care begins to approach you slowly, as if fearing that a sudden movement could fade the magical and longing moment.
Aemond's heartbeat echoes in your ears as he finally stands in front of your son.
Aenar, completely oblivious to everything, senses the nearness of someone else and raises his curious gaze to Aemond, watching him with those bright blue eyes.
And upon seeing that man with the same hair color as his own, his eyes light up with a gleam of curiosity, lightly waving his arms and also his body.
With his teary eye, he watches you for a moment, to again focus on Aenar and with a mixture of excitement and awe, he extends one of his trembling hands towards his small, delicate face.
And when the touch of his fingers against his soft skin of his cheek makes itself felt, Aemond feels an unfamiliar sensation invade him completely.
A sad but honest smile full of melancholy appears on his lips as he gently and carefully traces his face, running his hand up to his silver hair, gazing intently into those blue eyes just like his own as Aenar watches him with that playful innocence but also just as curious as his own.
You, unsure of exactly what to feel or think, watch as he carefully reaches out both arms and begins to hold his body, feeling the warmth and weight of his small body now resting in his arms.
That unfamiliar, overwhelming feeling from before comes over him even more strongly as he holds his son for the first time, when Aenar lifts one of his hands and touches his left cheek, where his scar is.
The emotion makes his breath hitch as he struggles to hold back the tears of restrained happiness that will come at any moment.
It was a moment he had imagined countless times, but had never believed possible until this instant.
Aenar, captivated by the newness and warmth in the arms of Aemond, his father, laughs innocently, his eyes dazzling a happiness as he notices the familiarity in that new face above him. And at his gesture, Aemond lets out a choked laugh, completely captivated by him.
And unable to contain himself any longer, the first sob escapes his throat and the tears fall, instantly pulling his son's face to his chest, embracing him with gentleness and that security that makes him feel so vulnerable when Aenar settles perfectly in his arms.
Guilt, sadness, joy, emotion, everything invades him in that moment.
And he lets out more tears for the comfort that Aenar gives him in his arms, that feeling of protection and even… love, that makes him feel even more vulnerable.
And you are still there, close to them but giving Aemond his space, watching everything attentively with your heart in a fist and feeling sensations you had not felt before at the scene, with tears also wanting to slide down your cheeks.
After a few more seconds, Aemond slurps his nose and looks over Aenar's small shoulder at you with all the vulnerability in his gaze.
"I-I know I don't deserve this," he says with his voice cracking, trying to control himself but he can't.
And he is about to say something else but you watching his expression, a mixture of regret and deep sadness, you step forward to speak.
"In spite of everything, he deserves to know his father," you murmur with your trembling voice and teary eyes, "Aenar deserves this," you assure him, accepting it as you watch the scene of the two of them.
Aemond nods, unable to articulate words, still feeling the lump in his throat, his face reflecting pain, regret and a sadness you have never seen in him before, as his tears continue to fall as he embraces his son.
"I'm sorry," he whispers, unable to contain the emotion, turning to him and to you. "I'm so sorry. I-I didn't know how to face it…how to be there."
Silence again settles throughout the apartment, only being filled by Aemond's soft crying, as you silently weep and continue to watch the two of them.
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A few minutes have passed since Aemond and your son met for the first time.
Aenar laughs with delight as Aemond plays with him with one of his toys. They are both immersed in a little world of fun where it's just the two of them, surrounded by Legos blocks, small plastic cars and puppets.
You watch everything, or almost everything, without interfering and giving them both their space, watching your son enjoy a special moment that on another occasion, could have been a daily routine with a different life.
Criston doesn't say or do anything either, he at all times stands in the corner watching the whole interaction, letting Aemond have his moment with his son, genuinely feeling happy for him.
And even though the scene makes you feel warm in your heart, being a scene you longed for before, you still still feel insecure, afraid and overwhelmed by this whole situation.
This doesn't really change anything. You have only given Aemond the opportunity to meet his son because your son deserves it, nothing more.
Inside you are still just as scared and in expectation that at any moment this whole 'beautiful' moment will fade away. And that's exactly what happens when you hear Criston's voice all over the living room.
"I wouldn't want to ruin the moment, truly," he says seriously and honestly, "But it's important that we talk about all this so we can resolve it properly."
This immediately catches your attention and also Aemond's, with whom you exchange a quick glance, again feeling your whole body tremble and out of the same nervousness you are overcome with the impulse to take your son in your arms to feel safe.
"It is important that we talk about the child, about what you are going to do now," he turns to Aemond, "Custody is important and all that goes with it."
"I don't understand why you keep talking about custody," you look at him nervously and annoyed, "I alone have cared for and raised Aenar all this time."
"I know this is complicated and sudden, Y/N," Criston tells you, "But we need to approach this whole thing responsibly."
"Responsibility?" you repeat incredulously, "What responsibility are you exactly talking about?"
"Y/N," Aemond immediately interjects, "Listen to me, please," he gets up from the floor leaving Aenar playing alone and walks towards you, "It's not my intention to take our son away from you, truly. But we must make sure we have legal rights to be in his life," he explains to you, "You were the one who ran away, who disappeared without a word. I didn't know what happened to you."
You look at him uncomprehendingly, with your hurt and desperate gaze.
"You talk about custody and rights when in the beginning that was the last thing on your mind, Aemond," you observe him incredulously, "And you keep reproaching me for running away when you know perfectly well that I did it so I could live and so I wouldn't ruin your career, which was all you were thinking about."
Regret again invades Aemond's face, as the atmosphere becomes denser, full of mixed emotions where fear and anger resurfaces with everything else.
Any trace of calm and peace, has ceased to exist, only being perceived by Aenar, who continues oblivious and innocent to all this in his games.
"I-I…" Aemond tries to speak, "I'm sorry for everything, Y/N. But back then...
His sentence hangs in suspense, not knowing what else to say, trying to find the right words without wanting to generate more tension, but that's what he involuntarily does.
"Back then," you repeat, your emotions running high, "Back then you were too busy taking care of your public image, supporting the idea of an abortion without consulting me, then supporting the idea of hiding me and my child as if we were a problem, which in fact we were and as if it was my only option, leaving me with no alternatives," you express with frustration and pain marked in every word.
Regret remains in Aemond's facial expressions, looking visibly affected by your words, grief-stricken and with a regret throughout his body that affirms to him that you are absolutely right, each word being like a dagger straight to his heart.
"Y-you don't know how much I regret and blame myself for all of that, Y/N," he tells you with vulnerability in his tone, "And I know I don't deserve it, any of this, not even that you allowed me to meet him and that I'm now in the same place as him," he says with regret, "But I want to find a solution that works for both of us," he whispers sadly.
The room is again consumed by silence, except for the sound of Aenar's toy movements, which is what catches Aemond's attention for a moment to smile a little more melancholy.
The situation becomes increasingly complex as your emotions continue to run high between anger and sadness, with the memory of past times still latent, but also with the uncertainty of the future.
And Criston, trying to keep calm, intervenes again.
"I understand that you both have different perspectives on what happened. But now we need to think about the future, of your son," he says seriously, "It's not just about custody, it's about finding a way to strike a fair balance, but… thinking about your career too, Aemond."
You let out a disbelieving, ironic snort again, shaking your head.
"His career,'" you repeat with a bitter tone, your voice a mixture of sarcasm and disappointment.
Aemond, watching you sadly and remorsefully, speaks in a calm but regret-laden voice.
"I don't want you to look at this that way, Y/N—
"That's just the way I see it," you interrupt him, serious and sad, "This is exactly why I left. This is why when I saw you again, I decided to run away again," you say hurt, "Now that you've met him, you want to be in his life, but you still prefer to hide us. This kind of life is the one you wanted to give us at the beginning and now you still do too."
Your revelations Aemond had already heard, but at that moment, again that sharp pain in his chest becomes present, as well as guilt, remorse and regret at seeing your sad face with such honest words.
"All I want is to come to an agreement, Y/N, please—
"You're not going to hide us," you interrupt him firmly.
"Aemond," he calls him seriously.
"No, that's not my intention—
He insists desperately but Criston intervenes.
"Don't," Aemond interrupts him instantly, turning serious and with an annoyed expression towards him, "We can't hide the truth anymore, Criston. Things must change."
"Look, I understand that this is difficult for you," he begins in a serious and cautious tone, "But still, we must consider the consequences. There's a lot at stake here, your career," he reminds him, "You have numerous job offers. Your show on HBO is the most famous show on the platform and the most watched show on television so far. How do you think people are going to react when they find out about your son?"
The room sinks into another silence, as you watch him with your hard, sad face, frustration, annoyance and irritation inside you, watching as Criston continues to treat your son like he's a problem.
And it hurts you.
Because Aemond doesn't even say anything.
"We can find a way to handle all this without putting at risk everything you have achieved, Aemond. And if you get a share of the custody, your son will be under your protection without harming your image," he proposes with an insistent look, seeking his approval.
You look away again, completely incredulous and with helplessness all over you.
It's not Aemond, it's Criston.
It is he who continues to manipulate Aemond to prioritize his career over his son, so that everything revolves around public image and fame, diverting attention from the well-being of your son.
And what can you really do there?
He is his agent, the person who has positioned him where he is now, making him famous, relevant, telling him what roles to take in movies or TV shows that are going to ensure one more success to his career.
"If you listen to him…" you begin to say in his direction with a trembling but firm tone, "If you do what he tells you, I swear I won't care what I have to do, even go into debt to get a good lawyer," you warn, "I will fight for the custody of Aenar and when I get it, I assure you that you will never see him again, ever."
Your words slip from your lips with a determination that completely surprises Aemond, surprise and concern visible on his face, watching you hurt for a moment, his mind a complete mess.
But it is not he who speaks, but Criston who takes the floor once more.
"If that's what you want, Y/N… that's fine," he tells you seriously, his gaze cold and calculating. "But let me warn you, we're trying to come to an agreement—
"The two of you or you specifically?" you snap at him.
"That doesn't matter, Aemond is my client and my job is to secure and protect his career," he tells you seriously, "And if you'd rather take this to fighting for full custody of Aenar, then so be it," he nods at you, "But I assure you, you're going to end up losing."
"That's enough."
Finally, Aemond's voice rises from where he stands, aimed directly at Criston, with a serious, hard stare that reveals a newfound determination.
"We are talking about our son, an issue that concerns her and me, this has nothing to do with you," he declares, his tone firm and his posture defiant.
"Your career has to do with me," he clarifies to her also serious, "You must think about what you are going to sacrifice. Your future, your career, the opportunities that await you-
"I said that's enough," he spits back at her, serious and annoyed, watching him with a hard stare, taking Criston by surprise.
And before he can say anything else, there is another knock on the door, drawing your full attention and making you feel completely alert, especially when Criston is the one who again goes to open the door, as if he knows exactly who it is.
And as you open the door, just like that day, Aemond's publicist, an assistant and the PR people enter your apartment.
Surprise flashes all over your face, watching with your eyes wide open the unexpected arrival of that group of people, whose intentions are not good.
"Thank you for coming," Criston tells them as he closes the door behind him.
"Of course."
Their eyes flick to you for a moment and then focus on Aenar, watching them back with curiosity in their gaze, while you feel confusion and fear completely take over you.
Despair, fear, your future, Aenar, everything mixes together in a horrible way that makes you want to vomit, letting out a couple of tears to quickly turn to your son and hold him in your arm, turning your back to them and starting to cry silently.
And Aemond, seeing your reaction, equally as surprised as you, quickly turns to Criston, his gaze full of confusion and annoyance.
"What is this? Why have you called them?" he inquires with his voice full of restrained anger.
And Criston, unabashed and uncaring of his actions, responds with a calm but calculated determination.
"We are not going before a jury to settle this, Aemond, it will be a waste of time and she will cause us more trouble," he says regardless, "This is necessary for your career, to address this whole issue strategically to protect your image, whether she likes it or not."
Aemond's expression transforms to one of frustration and helplessness.
But before he can intervene, his entire team begins to act.
"We need to establish an immediate plan, now," Criston says.
"Will the strategy be to minimize the impact on the media?" asks the publicity man.
"No, I want it hidden," Criston clarifies, "The approach must be careful and calculated. The priority is Aemond's reputation and career."
"I suggest we limit the exposure of Y/N and the child in public."
"We could create an alternative narrative to deflect attention by highlighting Aemond's professional accomplishments and minimizing the focus on his personal life."
"This must be handled with discretion. We cannot allow this situation to interfere with Aemond's career opportunities," Criston says firmly.
And so your entire living room fills with the sound of all those voices, each voice contributing ideas to control the situation, the problems, Aenar and you.
The tension intensifies, as everyone meticulously plans how to run the public narrative, completely ignoring Aemond's and your personal needs and concerns.
Tears slip down your cheeks silently as you hug Aenar tightly to your chest. This instantly catches the attention of Aemond, who steps worriedly towards you, placing his hand on your shoulder, positioning himself in front of you, but you abruptly pull away from him, watching him with an expression of pain and anguish amidst your tears and suffering face.
"Y/N—
"Why are you doing this? Why are you allowing this?" you ask in your broken, desperate voice.
"No, I swear to you I had no idea that he—
"I left, Aemond," you remind him with your voice cracking, "I left to save your career. And everything was fine, with you and me, our lives," you sob, "Why did you ask Criston to find me? Why do you care and insist on saying you want to be in our lives, when your career is still the most important thing?"
Pain and confusion echo in your words, lingering in the mind of Aemond, who in his gaze reflects a mixture of guilt, bewilderment, pain and sadness.
But everything hurts him more the moment you turn away from him, with a defeated gesture, turning your back to him and your whole body trembling in fear, Aenar in your arms being what gives you strength not to fall apart at that moment.
"We can prepare official statements to control the leaking information to minimize any negative impact on his public reputation."
"Rest assured that we need to maintain full control of this situation. We cannot allow any details to slip out," Aemond hears Criston's voice.
And that's when something snaps inside him.
Every repressed feeling bursts out in a whirlwind of emotions that were fighting to get out, your worry, the anger at himself and the guilt that invades him.
Everything explodes and ignites into a fury that he can no longer contain, seeing your state, causing him anger and feeling completely guilty.
Because everything is in fact his fault.
So without waiting a second longer, he walks to the center of the living room and with a hard, serious, completely annoyed look on his face and with his jaw clenched, he acts.
"Get out of here, all of you, now!" he exclaims, instantly drawing everyone's attention and yours as well.
For an instant everyone watches him and nothing else, slightly surprised and expectant, Criston too, unmoving and doing nothing, causing you a wave of despair.
"I said everyone out!" he exclaims in a firm voice and his gaze full of determination.
And it's only then that one by one the team finally leaves your apartment, except for Criston.
"What are you doing?" he inquires with a touch of disbelief in his tone, challenging Aemond.
"You get out of here too."
He orders him annoyed and with irritation, his voice charged with a frustration that has already reached its limit.
"Aemond, this is important, you can't just—
"I need to talk to Y/N alone," he interrupts her with his tone in a mixture of anger and determination, "I'm warning you, Criston. If you ever do anything else again without consulting me and interfering with this, I'm going to seriously consider firing you, which is what I should have done long ago," he shoots back at him with his defiant stare.
The pulse of the room beats with unbearable intensity as Aemond and Criston hold a duel of intense stares. However, in the face of Aemond's firmness, Criston finally resigns himself with a serious, annoyed look, full of frustration and resignation.
And finally he heads for the door, his footsteps sounding in the room as he leaves the apartment.
Aemond watches him leave with a mixture of relief and exhaustion, no longer feeling his shoulders tense. The silence expands once more as soon as the door closes and he turns to you with a gaze filled with a quiet, worried intensity.
The silence lingers for a few moments longer, a dense atmosphere charged with unspoken emotions. When he takes a step toward you, hesitantly.
"I'm sorry," he murmurs, his voice ringing with sincerity and regret, "What happened, my insistence… none of this was my intention, much less to cause you pain and hurt you," he admits with his vulnerability again reflected.
And even though it's just you and him in your apartment, your fear lingers.
"P-please don't take my son from me," you plead between sobs, your voice filled with anguish and fear.
Aemond's heart contracts in suffering and worry at your words, his gaze instantly reflecting it.
"What? No, no, Y/N… that is not what I want to do, it is not my intention to take our son from you."
He tells you instantly insistent but in a serene and sincere voice, taking a few more steps towards you, placing himself in front of you, trying to reassure you. But tears continue to slide down your cheeks.
"This is why I left, so I wouldn't cause you any more trouble, so I could live and keep our son safe," you repeat with your voice cracking.
"I know, Y/N, I know," he tells you sympathetically and with a soft tone, "And you don't know how much I hate myself for having been the cause of you deciding to leave, for having hurt you so much to the point of having made that decision," he says sincerely, his eye beginning to tear up, "And this is not just about him, about our son," he tries to explain, "Yes, it is important, but it is also about us," he speaks with a longing, "Since you left, I never stopped thinking about you, and I-I...
He hesitates, unable to fully express his feelings, as he stands in front of you and wants to hold you, you and your son, as he faces his deepest emotions, feeling a tear run down his cheek and looks at you with all the sincerity and pain in his gaze.
"I love you," he finally says, in a completely vulnerable whisper, trembling, lowering his gaze, unable to look you in the eye, "Despite everything, despite my mistakes, despite my work, despite everything that happened…. I-I still love you," he declares in a whisper laden with longing and regret, "And our son too."
His words get stuck in your mind.
With your heart clenched by the surge of emotions, your eyes watch him back with a mixture of surprise, pain and longing. Aemond's sincerity and vulnerability... it's all too much and makes you feel completely helpless, definitely not expecting that.
You can't speak, your words get stuck in your throat, your heart fluttering with the intensity of the moment, your surprise.
And Aemond completely understands your silence.
"I understand that you don't love me anymore and that you can't love me again, I also understand that things can't go back to the way they used to be because of my job. But please… don't keep running away," he pleads quietly, "We won't fight over custody, there will be no legal repercussions, I'm not going to do any of that," he assures you, "Just…" he lets out a long breath, "Just get back to work and let's face this together."
He proposes with his voice full of fragile but hopeful determination, unexpectedly causing you to feel a relief and a warm feeling in your chest.
"I just want Aenar to be okay and let's consider his well-being as the most important thing," you say quietly, while Aemond listens attentively with his face full of longing, regret and understanding, "But we need time and patience. Also that no one else interferes."
Aemond nods, with a slightly more relieved expression, but keeping in mind that there is much to resolve, to heal and to build.
"I understand that and… I'm willing to do whatever it takes… for him and for you," he says sincerely.
You nod too, as silence takes over again, but this time it is permeated with a shared understanding and a determination to face whatever is necessary for Aenar's well-being.
And finally after so much, you feel calm and fortunately, this time with the support of Aemond, who hesitantly leaves a gentle kiss on your forehead and another on Aenar's forehead, taking him back into his arms.
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jokeroutsubs · 3 months
Text
🎈🍰Nace Birthday Special🍰🎈
Nace Jordan's interview for Suzy magazine, published 14.06.2024. English translation by drumbeat and @beeoftheanxieties, proof read by TWT klamstrakur.
📝ENG Translation: Joker Out's Nace Jordan: 60 Kilograms to Happiness
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Twenty-nine-year-old Nace Jordan is considered one of the most emotional, thoughtful, and responsible Slovenian musicians.
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CAPTION: He’s spreading tolerance and respect to everyone.
He was the last one to join the group of four highly admired young men, but that doesn't mean he's the fifth or the spare wheel. His inspiring story makes him a great role model for teenagers, showing that working on yourself is worthwhile, because you never know when an extraordinary opportunity will come your way. After making a major change in his lifestyle, he got rid of past burdens to focus on a bright, melodic future. With the loving support of his girlfriend, the first signs of a family are already visible. They've been joined by Pino, an adorable dachshund, who brought new responsibilities and lots of joy.
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CAPTION: Joker Out gained a first-class member with Nace.
INTERVIEWER: How quickly did you feel accepted as fully fledged member, considering you were not a co-founder of Joker Out?
Nace: Initially it might have appeared as if I instantly took on the role of bass guitarist with confidence, although deep down I was quite confused. The guys already had their banter, even a kind of a jargon I didn't feel familiar with. They are after all five years younger than me, almost a different generation. But they have welcomed me in a very embracing way, we have started to develop a communal story and we have become a unit. Even after we had recorded 'Carpe Diem' and I was offered a permanent place in the band, I was still haunted by the feeling that I might not be perceived easily as a part of the band by the most devoted fans.
Was Eurovision your ultimate test?
Sort of. I was told I aced it, and as a fill-in member, it made me happy when the decision to welcome me into the family was final. The whole idea was to first try and see how compatible we were, without any pressure or expectations. On stage, it was obvious that we were a perfect match. But I tended to hold back when it came to the bigger decisions. Bojan is, after all, the frontman, the dominant one, so I didn't want to interfere with the pre-established dynamics. It was only after the Eurovision euphoria was over that a new era began and with it the most precious gift - the appreciation of the entire group. They are exceptional young individuals, extremely talented, and they wanted someone who could feel their vibe and bring them together, not tear them apart.
This opportunity has come as a reward for your challenging personal journey, a tremendous transformation of body and spirit. How has this affected your self-image?
I am still trying to work on myself. I have lost 60 kilos and broken free from the shackles of a troubled adolescence, when the slightest deviation from the average is frowned upon. It is unimaginable that you can lose so many kilograms, one whole person. It was gradual. After the first ten, you are overcome with excitement. Your reflection in the mirror gets nicer by the week, you gain confidence in yourself and see that it is not difficult to follow your goal. I gained an unstoppable will to keep going, and the most extraordinary things started to happen. I got to play in the backing band of the popular show ' V petek zvečer' ('Friday Night'), and then realised a childhood dream when I managed to join a band as skillful as the Jokers. A time came when I walked around with a huge smile on my face and I hoped that it would not fade from my face for a long time to come. At the same time, I was driven to give it my best shot, because I simply couldn't let this opportunity slip away.
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You have used the dark times of COVID for something bright, inspirational. When did you decide you were tired of living in a bigger body?
The stomach pains were the first indicator that I had to roll up my sleeves and work on myself. I had always been chubbier, but I got saved by my height because the kilograms were evenly spread. I was able to exercise, go hiking, [and] be active in water sports, particularly wakeboarding. I wasn't immune to the looks of naysayers, that someone with so much weight could move so capably. I had reached a point where I no longer felt comfortable. I didn't like myself, the walks were getting more and more exhausting, I didn't have a girlfriend for a while, which was a big motivation to change my lifestyle. At the beginning, I was embarrassed to work out in front of others. Would they be thinking, 'What is this fatso doing here now'? So at home I would climb up and down the stairs from the basement to the attic. For half a year, every evening. First for 15 minutes, then I progressed to 45. It seemed like a waste to ruin this effort with unhealthy food, so I changed my diet. I eliminated all the guilty pleasures and after the first 20 lost, I decided I was ready to train outdoors. By running. It might not have been the smartest idea because of my knees, but it all worked out well in the end. Something that I resented for a long time became my norm. To this day, I still enjoy putting on my running shoes to clear my mind. Whenever my mind is in a frenzy, running saves me.
Humans are really odd, shallow creatures. We can't see what's underneath the excess weight. It was only after you have transformed that the requests for more collaborations started coming in. How did you manage to heal these emotional scars from the entertainment business, where the physical appearance still takes precedence over the heart?
That's the hardest part, not to lose faith in yourself. You question your self worth because of the labels the public has stuck on you. Of course, the medical aspect of excess weight is the first signal for a radical change. The results would be significantly better, if people around us were more sparse with negative comments and dismissive attitudes towards anything that is not to their liking. I must confess that I have never felt better than I did after saying goodbye to cigarettes, alcohol, and, for a period, even meat. Imagine you are carrying a 60 kilogram backpack. And then you put it down. A different world opens up.
In all this, music has been your most faithful companion and supporter. Would it have been possible to go through all this without it?
The power of art is amazing. The bass guitar is my lifelong love. Even if I was a butcher or a carpenter, I would play and create for myself. We are used to these kind of stories in the movies, where after a difficult ordeal you find yourself in the midst of your teenage dreams. After the third concert with the Jokers, a girl came up to me and confided that she was contemplating suicide, but our songs had saved her. She thanked us for taking the time for our fans and talking to them. Their honesty is a sign that you are part of something great. The power of music goes beyond the limits of our imagination. There are countless similar confessions. This realisation is also therapeutic for us. You receive confirmation that you are doing something right.
Have you ever wondered why you play music at all?
Many times. The doubts of who will listen to my work, or now our work, are a constant in the career of a professional musician. But if you put your heart first, you quickly get the confirmation that we are not just pretty boys on stage, but individuals with depth and a message.
As a teenager, what motivated you to follow your aspirations?
I wanted to be like my cousin. He is five years older than me and he had his own band. He introduced me to foreign bands, like Led Zeppelin. It sounded rather innocent, but it was the start of a profound passion. Recently, Jan, the guitarist, and I were talking about the role models who have defined us. I told him that there must be an aspiring young teenager in Slovenia who looks up to him and has begun strumming the strings because of him. I am convinced that we have brought a breath of fresh air to the local scene and given a boost to young bands who are not yet established. It is very healthy to encourage others, to be each other's support and competition. I didn't feel that before.
When did you first feel that the stage was your everything?
We had a kind of talent show at the school camp. I wanted to sing the ballad 'Behind Blue Eyes' by The Who, but the teacher wouldn't let me because it wasn't an appropriate song. I cried with sadness, so she mellowed down. I took advantage of her faith, put on my sunglasses and a headscarf. That's when something stirred inside of me. Finally, now that we are touring Europe and are excited to discover how the power of music brings people together, I am calmed. Even as a kid I stood my ground and I am grateful to my stubbornness for getting me this far.
You have a strong bond with your mother. How does she keep track of your exceptional progress?
She is proud to say that she is my biggest 'fan'. She was happiest at Eurovision, which she has always followed. It was the first time she was able to experience it live, she and Bojan's mum cheered loudly and I have to admit that it's the greatest thing to be able to make the most important woman in your life happy. It has only strengthened our bond. We have a trusting, friend-like relationship, but first and foremost she is my mum, with all the worries and all the loving helpfulness. I was not a typical child and she had to endure all my whims. She was constantly encouraging me to take up a sport, but I preferred to stay at home and draw. She tolerated my struggles at school because she knew I wasn't like the others and allowed me to develop to my full potential. My younger sister is also responsible for making me who I am. Her kind words are a balm for a wounded soul.
Have you always wanted to be a musician?
As a child, I had two things in mind - to be a zoo manager, because I love animals, and to be a singer, even though I later swapped the microphone for a guitar. Sculpting fascinated me. In short, expression through art.
Your love for animals has lasted. You have a three-month-old dachshund named Pino in your lap.
Finally! I've been longing for a puppy for so many years, and dachshunds are one of my favourite breeds. If music hadn't drawn me in, I would certainly be a vet. One summer break I was helping out at a wildlife sanctuary instead of playing with my friends. It was a wonderful experience.
You are away from home a lot. How do you maintain your long-distance relationship with your girlfriend?
Some people reassure us that technology helps because we can see each other through the camera. But it is not the same. It's important that all my loved ones and dear ones, meaning my girlfriend, my mum, my family, and my friends, believe in our work and are willing to sacrifice time with me so that I can follow my dreams. But we are in constant contact with each other and we let each other know how much we love each other all the time.
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~ -~ - ~ - PLEASE DO NOT REPOST, AND IF YOU QUOTE, PLEASE LINK BACK TO THE ORIGINAL POST!
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translucent-sun · 9 months
Text
“Am I even allowed to be here?” Cody asked as they walked through the temple. The war room, other parts that were now used for military purposes, sure. But the depths of the temple, the Jedi´s home? 
“You´re here on my invite,” Obi-Wan chuckled. “But even if I hadn´t, you´re always welcome in the temple. You all are.” 
When they finally reached the door to Obi-Wan´s quarters and quick fingers flew over the datapad by the door, it opened with a quiet hiss. Cody waited until Obi-Wan had fully stepped into the room before carefully leaned forward, taking a look around what he could see of the room. He was waiting for Obi-Wan´s OK to step in, but instead was pulled inside by his arm. Now seeing the full extent of the quarters, his mouth almost fell open.
“This is nice,” he said. The room was bigger than any single person´s room he´d ever seen, with a big window spanning almost an entire wall. Which Obi-Wan now walked towards, shutting the blinds partly.
“Well, I suppose it is more room than I really need,” Obi-Wan said, something in his tone of voice almost apologetic. But it was probably true. There wasn´t much in the room. A simple table to work and to eat from. Two cushions in the middle of the room, likely for meditation or whatever Jedi did in their free time. A wardrobe. Cody couldn´t help but to wonder how many identical robes it housed, and the thought almost made him chuckle. 
The other side of the room held a small counter, though the only thing on it was a kettle and a handful of mismatched mugs. A narrow bed was standing against the wall, surrounded by wooden boards that served as shelves, overfilled with… Stuff. Most of it seemed so random. He looked at it all for a moment, unable to decide what to really look at first, fascinated. 
“What is all this?” Obi-Wan smiled, passing Cody to take a little wooden cube off one shelf. 
“Little trinkets from places, planets I´ve visited. Some I didn´t visit. A lot of them used to belong to my Master.” 
His small smile remained the same, but his eyes betrayed him. “This particular one was a gift from a little girl I met on a mission. Her name was Da’laa,” he said before placing the cube back in its place, already moving on to the next. Cody wanted to ask him about it, but he felt it wasn´t his place. He´d have to do that some other time, some day in the future when they´d gotten to know each other better. 
This time, he motioned for Cody to put out his hand, and Obi-Wan placed the next object inside. Cody almost jerked back when he felt its warmth, but Obi-Wan held his hand in place, closing Cody´s fingers around it.
“What is this?” Cody asked, aware that he wasn´t able to hide his surprise. Obi-Wan chuckled, letting go of his hand, allowing him to take a look at it. A small rock was lying in his palm, seemingly burning from the inside, its bright orange glow cracking through the otherwise dark surface. Cody had never seen anything like it.
“It´s a bahryn meteorite. Well, a small piece of one,” he explained, looking at it in Cody´s hand, smiling. “It´s like a tiny sun, isn´t it? Keeping you warm, lighting up the darkness. Quite ironically, it´s an ice moon they are found on.”
“It´s beautiful,” Cody said. He inspected it for a moment longer before he handed it back to Obi-Wan and watched him as he carefully put it back in its place. “Even on a moon made of ice there has to be some warmth. Almost like a reward. You probably appreciate it a lot more after almost freezing to death.” From the corner of his eye he saw Obi-Wan watching him curiously.
“I didn´t know you were so poetic,” Obi-Wan said, something that could so easily sound mocking. But it was genuine. Embarrassed, Cody turned.
“You know all there is to know about me,” he countered. Obi-Wan hummed, passing him to put on the kettle.
“I doubt that,” he said, and something about his certainty made Cody want to argue. Before he could, though, Obi-Wan continued. “What´s your favorite color?” The question took him aback. 
“What?” No one had ever asked him that, and yet he found that he didn´t have to think about the answer. Obi-Wan started to repeat the question, but Cody interrupted him. “Green.” Obi-Wan nodded.
“Why?” Cody hesitated. Obi-Wan poured two cups of tea, and even while setting them down, he never stopped looking at Cody for longer than a moment, expectantly. He gestured for him to sit.
“Thank you,” he took the cup Obi-Wan pushed towards him. He hesitated for a moment longer. “Growing up on Kamino…” he began, fumbling with the cup´s handle. “Well, you know what Kamino looks like. I´d never seen trees or grass or anything like that before we left to continue our training here. I´d heard descriptions, variations of what General Ti must have told some of my brothers when we were kids, and they modified it with each telling until it sounded mystical, with glowing leaves and shimmering meadows, whispering in the wind. So before I first saw any of that, I loved the idea of it.” Obi-Wan listened intently, a small smile on his lips.
“Did it look the way you expected it to?” he asked, and Cody huffed.
“Absolutely not. I was disappointed, to be honest. It was just green. But I think it was experiencing it for the first time that made me love the color anyway.” Obi-Wan smiled fondly.
“See? That´s two things I didn´t know about you.” Cody averted his gaze, trying to keep their eyes from meeting. He really hadn´t intended to discuss private matters like that with anyone, so why was it so easy with Obi-Wan? Something about his presence made him want to open up, tell him everything about his past, his thoughts and dreams. It sounded so good, so easy, that for a second, it outweighed the ridiculousness of it and he felt his heartrate rise, a strange feeling spreading through his stomach. 
“So what is yours, then?” he asked, ignoring the feeling. Obi-Wan smiled, closing his eyes for a moment.
“I love the colors of the sunrise. Its changing hues and the promise of a new day…” Cody smiled as he watched Obi-Wan get caught up in the thought.
“I didn´t know you were so poetic,” Cody said through a grin.
“Are you teasing me, Commander?” Obi-Wan asked, his tone serious, and Cody felt heat rise in his cheeks.
“I wouldn´t dare to.” There was that feeling in his stomach again. In his chest now, too. Obi-Wan´s serious face fell and his smile returned, growing bigger the longer he looked at Cody. And Cody´s heart was racing, the sound in his ears muffling everything around him. If he wasn´t already sitting, he´d be sure that he was going to faint. It would be so easy now to give in to his feelings, to lean across the table and kiss Obi-Wan. To walk him backwards towards his bed until they stumble onto it, to— Cody wrapped his fingers tightly around the hot mug in his hands, trying to ground himself in reality. It didn´t help much, though. He tried to force the thought out of his mind. Could Obi-Wan sense what he was feeling? Did the Force work like that? Cody hoped not. 
“So, Abrion Bridge,” he changed the topic, watching as the smile faded from Obi-Wan´s face. 
The next hour or so was a painful one, talking about their failure. It was hard to think of it as anything but. They´d gotten what they went there for, but at a cost so high that it felt pointless. They concluded that there was nothing they could´ve done to change a second of it. Obi-Wan gathered the papers that were spread over the entire desk between them. He´d insisted on making notes and drawing alternative plans on paper, saying that it would help them get a better overview rather than their datapads. And Cody had been amazed at the simple fact that he had paper. Though it made sense for the temple, for the Jedi. It almost had something spiritual, compared to the cold, soulless feeling of the technology and its cold, blue light. Obi-Wan rolled them up now and placed them in the bin, sighing. He headed towards his bed, sitting on the edge and letting himself fall back. Cody had risen too, and was now looking at him, unsure of what to do. Without looking up, Obi-Wan patted the empty space beside him, and Cody hesitated. Could he do that? His feet decided he could before his mind had processed the thought, and he was sitting on the edge beside him.
“I want this all to be over,” Obi-Wan suddenly said. “This war, the endless battles, being told that another person you grew up with has been killed. This endless pain.” Cody wasn´t sure what to say. He turned to him, but Obi-Wan still wasn´t looking.
“I never knew anything else,” he tried, carefully. Finally, Obi-Wan took a deep breath, turning his head to face him.
“But how do you take it? Those men are your brothers. How do you deal with losing hundreds, thousands of them at a time?” His voice sounded so close to breaking, desperate for answers. Answers Cody couldn´t give him. None that would change a thing.
“Well, we were trained from early on, to—we were taught that we were expendable. Where ten of us are killed, they will send ten new ones. They´ll send hundred new ones, a thousand if necessary. I´m not sure if we´re not physically capable of processing it too deeply or for too long, or if we were just trained to pretend that we are fine with it. It is painful every time. But there´s nothing we can do. If we don´t believe we´re expendable ourselves, we might just go insane realizing what´s happening.” Cody huffed, and Obi-Wan stared at him, eyes wide. Cody shrugged. “This is the only purpose we have. We were made for war. They would probably prefer if we couldn´t think on our own at all.”
“You´re awfully aware of something you say you´re not supposed to be aware of.” Obi-Wan´s voice was quiet, sad. “Why is that?” Cody had never thought about why. It just was.
“I´m not sure,” he admitted. “I have just always felt it. Deep down I always knew what was happening.” Obi-Wan hummed, turning back to stare at the ceiling once again, seemingly unsure of what to say.
“I wish we could´ve met under different circumstances.” Cody smiled.
“Under different circumstances, we wouldn´t have met at all,” Cody reminded him and Obi-Wan sighed.
“I know. I just wish we could have a normal friendship, one that isn´t centered around death and destruction and loss.” Cody´s breath stocked for a moment. Obi-Wan considered him a friend. Of course he knew they´d gotten close, but Obi-Wan calling him a friend? Cody knew brotherhood, he´d experienced it thousands of times, but friendship? Was this what friendship felt like? The tingling in his chest when he looked at Obi-Wan lying there, his face contorted in frustration, told him that what he felt was more, even with no prior experience to compare it to.
“It doesn´t have to be,” he said, feeling brave. Obi-Wan glanced at him from the corner of his eye. “It can also be moments like this. Quiet. Where you ask me to tell you things I´ve never told anyone before, and you show me things from all the places you´ve visited. You tell me about your life before this war started.” Obi-Wan smiled.
“I would like that very much.”
“Me too.” Cody´s heart was beating fast. It would´ve been so easy to lean down and kiss Obi-Wan. To caress his cheek, thread his fingers through his hair, and to kiss him. To be pulled against him and held on tightly. Sighing, Obi-Wan sat up straight, pulling Cody out of his thoughts.
“I suppose that will have to wait, though,” he said, mild annoyance in his voice. “I have a meeting with the council this evening.” 
“Anything important?” Cody chuckled at his exasperation, and Obi-Wan looked at him with something in his eyes that Cody couldn´t place, something that softened his entire face.
“Yes, quite so,” he sighed. “There have been talks about a mission, and this morning it has been assigned to Anakin and me. We haven´t gotten many details yet, I´m hoping that will change tonight. I´m not a big fan of this secrecy.” Cody smiled. He knew how much Obi-Wan liked to be prepared, they were so similar in that way. Being left without details for so long was excruciating.
“I should get going then,” Cody suggested. “Will you tell me about the plan and let me know before you leave?” Obi-Wan nodded.
“Of course I will,” he said. “I won´t go anywhere without telling you.” Obi-Wan sighed. “And you´re probably right, we don´t want your brothers to start worrying.” There was a twinkle in his eye as he said this, the slightest evidence of a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips, and Cody felt himself getting nervous again. 
“Alright.” Cody rose, almost frantically he realized. “I´ll see you then.” He could swear he felt Obi-Wan´s amused look at the back of his neck as he made for the door, desperate to hide the blush he knew Obi-Wan wouldn´t even see. The amusement was there in his voice when he spoke, too.
“I´ll see you, Commander.”
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juyeonszn · 1 year
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LIKE THAT
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PAIRING lee sangyeon x f!reader
WORD COUNT 1.40k
GENRES fluff ﹒smut
WARNINGS 18+ MINORS DO NOT INTERACT, mature language, being obsessed with sangyeon’s nose, in my head i was thinking about that interview where doja cat says she likes big noses bc u can sit on them, oral (f! receiving), face riding, cum eating 👀
SUMMARY what waxing poetry about your boyfriend’s nose in your head instead of paying attention to the tv rewards you with.
MORE HAHAHAHAAH happy day 1 of fawntober!! today is the start of my most insane idea yet tbh. this one is a little short but dw some will be longer!! shout out to my bestie baes for beta’ing and also reese for proofreading <3 and another shout out to doja cat for providing me inspiration once again!! pls reblog if u liked this 🫨
PERM TAGLIST @winterchimez @maessseongs @itsbeeble
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Look away, Y/N.
All you needed to do was look away and you could save yourself the embarrassment that you were sure was to come. But no, you didn’t care about your mental well-being all that much, so you do the opposite of that. In fact, you stare just a little harder, your magazine falling into your lap as your grip on it loosens.
Sangyeon wasn’t even doing anything. He was merely watching whatever movie was on the TV, paying you no mind as you practically eye-fucked the side of his head. God, you couldn’t help yourself, what with how attractive his side profile was. Especially that nose.
His fucking nose.
You could write poetry about the facial feature, drawling on and on with as many metaphors as the English lexicon could provide you. And despite being together nearly two years at this point, you still felt a bit shy when it came to intimacy. The thought of admitting your attraction to his nose was humiliating.
Yet, you couldn’t stop fucking staring.
“I can feel you burning holes into the side of my face, baby. What’s up?”
You blink, like a prey cornered by its predator. Now that you’d been caught red-handed, you didn’t know what to do. Your cheeks warm up, and so does the rest of your body when he slides a hand up your thigh, thumb rubbing a comforting circle into your plush skin. Here he was, being your sweet, doting boyfriend, and you were thinking about sitting on his face like a goddamn horndog.
“N-Nothing!” Nice going, Y/N. If he wasn’t that skeptical of you before, he certainly was now.
“You know I can see right through you,” he raises an eyebrow, finally turning his head to look at you and your comically wide eyes. “So tell me what’s bothering you.”
You shake your head. “I mean it! Nothing’s bothering me, I just…”
“‘You just’…?” He coaxes, scooting closer to you.
“I’m just feeling a little… hot… is all.” You settle on, dodging the bullet entirely. At least, you thought you did. But again, Sangyeon can read you like an open book. He wasn’t dropping it that easily.
“Yeah?” His fingers trail higher, slipping under the hem of your (his) t-shirt. He licks his lips upon the realization that you have no pants underneath the oversized top. “Why is that? You’re hardly wearing anything, baby.”
You shiver when his fingertips run along the waistband of your underwear, the blunt edges of his nails leaving goosebumps in their wake. Why did he have to be so attentive? By all means, it wasn’t a bad thing, but right now you were wishing he kept his focus on that stupid movie. “Sangyeon…”
He grins, a smile reserved specifically for times like these. Your legs rub together instinctively, also catching his eye in the process. You swallow thickly as he continues teasing you, touching you everywhere and nowhere all at once. It’s driving you insane, even more insane than you were just ogling at his nose.
“What do you want, sweetheart?” He makes no effort to move, glued to his spot on the center couch cushion. “What do you need?”
You bite your cheek. If only you could just move your lips and say the words. If only you could just tell him what you wanted without feeling so shameful about it. Maybe it was a bit of an odd request, but there really wasn’t much wrong with wanting your boyfriend to go down on you. Well, technically speaking, he’d be the one under you, so did that classify as going down on you? Going up on you?
Whatever it was, you weren’t getting it, because you were too chicken to ask.
Sangyeon dips his fingers into the band of your panties, dangerously close to where you want him most. That alone has you springing into action, completely disregarding your dignity and pride. You buck up your hips into his hand, forcing out a chuckle from the back of his throat.
“I need you to use your words, baby.” He tsks, using the heel of his palm to keep your hips pinned to the sofa beneath you. You whine, throwing an arm over your eyes.
“I want… to ride your face…” You half-whisper the last part under your breath, not sure if Sangyeon even heard you. He pries your arm away from your face, smushing your cheeks between his thumb and index.
“You what?”
You pout at him, because there’s a high possibility he’s having you repeat yourself for self-satisfaction. Then again, he did sometimes have trouble hearing. This truly was a hit-or-miss moment for you. “I want to ride your face, Sangyeon.”
He all but groans at that, pulling you into his lap and connecting your lips messily. You reciprocate immediately, a bit confused by his quickness. However, now you’re wishing you would’ve spoken up sooner had you known he’d react this way. You’d just been torturing yourself for far too long for absolutely no reason.
“Fuck baby, that’s so sexy,” he murmurs against your mouth. “You’re gonna look so pretty on top of me.”
You moan into the kiss, hands wandering up to his hair and tangling in the soft strands. With his encouragement, you felt so much better about fulfilling your biggest fantasy. Getting to experience this with Sangyeon was quite literally a dream come true, and you think you can die a happy woman after today.
He helps you pull your shirt over your head, moving to sit on the floor, his head laid back on the couch awaiting you. You nip at the inside of your lip, nervously placing each of your thighs on either side of him. Your hands find purchase on the backrest, your eyes squeezing shut when you feel him pull your panties down your legs, blowing cool air onto your warm and wet cunt. Another shiver skips down your spine, and you find yourself glancing down at where you hover over him.
His large hands wrap around your thighs to keep you in place, pressing an experimental kiss to your lower lips. The small whimper you give him is enough to kick him into high gear, attaching his mouth to your sensitive clit as if it depended on it.
The warmth of his tongue gliding between your folds has your back arching, sounds you’ve never made before filling both of your ears and bouncing off the walls of your shared living room. Sangyeon releases one of your thighs in favor of thrusting his ring and middle fingers into your pussy, sucking your clit simultaneously.
If you felt crazy earlier, that was nothing compared to how you feel now. It feels *so* good, the wet heat of his mouth on you, as if he was damn near making out with you. His nose nudges against your clit every now and then, further increasing the tightness of the knot in your stomach, clouding your head like a stormy day overpowering the sun.
You risk a second downward glance at Sangyeon between your legs, to find him already looking at you. His deep, dark brown eyes are full of lust as he mouth fucks your cunt, rocking your hips against his own face. You bite your arm to keep from actually screaming, the pleasure so immense you feel like you’re about to explode.
“Fuck, Sangyeon, I’m s-so close,” you mewl, nails digging into the cushions.
The sight of him so willing and so eager to please you, to bring you to the edge with his sinful mouth because that’s what his darling girlfriend wants, has stars forming behind your vision. And with one particular bump of the bridge of his nose on your clit, you let go, cumming all over his lips and tongue with a cry so voluminous, you’ll need to apologize to your neighbors.
Your breathing is heavy as Sangyeon helps you calm down, pecking your thighs and slowly pumping his fingers until your walls have ceased their spasming. He pulls them out gently, sucking them clean without hesitation. You whimper at the view in front of you, reaching out to bring him closer and kiss him once more, this time a little less hungry.
“I know you’re still really sensitive, but do you think you could keep going?” He asks between kisses. “I don’t think I’m finished with you just yet.”
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© juyeonszn. do not steal, claim, or repost.
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syndxlla · 1 year
Text
best friends don’t look at each other the way we do
A low stakes, high rewards and self-indulgent Zelink fanfic. Canon-compliant, takes place between BOTW and TOTK
chapter three: She is beautiful, I am a mess
Read chapter two here
My masterlist
Song: Lights are On by Tom Rosenthal
Summary: Link processes his destiny while Zelda slowly recovers. Link meets with an old friend, and realizes how much he wants to Zelda in his life.
Warnings: PTSD, implied self-harm, illness, trauma
Word Count: 3.3k words
Authors note: The last line of this? Scrumptious. I ate that up. Also I’m going to start doing different pieces of art/gifs at the start of each chapter mostly so I can see the differences in the notifications! Thanks for all the support! Everyone has been so kind this is easily the most supportive fan base I’ve ever written for.
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Link doesn’t leave her side the entire night, yet again. He sits on a stool pushed against the bed, and watches as she breathes in the sleep. He refuses to sleep, which means he’s gone about four days now with very little actual rest. This normally wouldn’t be a problem, but fighting Ganon on the second day of that no sleep schedule has really taken a toll on his physical health.
In his quiet contemplation as Zelda rested, the weight of what just happened set in. His heart rate rose as he remembered the sight of the Calamity, its spider-like body dripping with malice and disgust as it sneered at him. The stench is still pungent in his memory, his bad ear still beats with the blood that filled his body as he faced his destiny for a second time. He’s supposed to be courageous, unafraid and rarely daunted by his fate, but in reality he’s terrified.
Link doesn’t think he’ll ever forget the feeling in his bones as witnessed by the beast. How he felt paralyzed, how the night before he prayed to the Goddess that he wouldn’t wake up. Make someone else do it, please.
He could never admit this to anyone, and even struggles to admit it to himself. If he’s supposed to be the closest thing to the God of Bravery, why does he feel like such a pathetic coward most of the time? Maybe it was his reckless abandon that caused his status, or the fact that he’s so desensitized to the horrors of his knighthood. But those things do not equate to courage.
What even was courage, he asks himself.
He looks at Zelda. “She is beautiful”, he thinks “I am a mess”.
Link places a nervous thumb to her jaw with trepidation. He gently holds her face, soft enough that it wouldn’t wake her. Her skin is so soft, her eyelashes so gentle, her breathing even. Does she have any idea how beautiful she is when she sleeps?
When day finally breaks, Link realizes how cold it’s gotten in the house, and he takes the brave step of leaving the sleeping princess to build a fire in the hearth. He does so quickly, using a fire arrow. He pulls on a warm shirt, and quickly returns upstairs to Zelda.
She was awake, looking up at him.
“You should keep sleeping.” He whispers.
She groans, “Why did you leave?” She was aware enough to tell?
“I built a fire.” Link explains, "It's cold.”
“Oh.” Zelda whispers, “I am cold.”
Link crosses to his dresser and pulls out a woven blanket from the bottom drawer, draping it over her and the blanket she already had. She whispers thank you. ”Did you dream?” Link asks.
Zelda nods.
“It was me and my mom, we were eating and laughing together.” She describes and Link smiles. He places his hand against her forehead, and feels that she’s burning up. Of course she has a fever, that would cause her body to have the chills, that on top of a cold house wasn’t a good fit.
“How are you feeling?” He asks, vocalizing from a whisper for the first time.
Zelda thinks about it for a moment, she’s so snuggled up in the blankets all he can see is her face. “I’m not sick.” She states. Link is skeptical, but he nods.
“Go back to sleep.”
“Are you going to leave me again?” She asks.
“I might. I think I’ll go into town and get some things from the market, and I should probably send a message to Impa that we’re alive.” Link explains. Zelda frowns.
“I’m scared to be alone again.”
Link frowns, “You’ll be okay. But you need to sleep, your body is trying to recover from-“ He stops himself, he doesn't need to explain any further.
“You need sleep, too.” Zelda replies. She was right.
“I’ll be fine.” He shrugs it off. “But you need to promise me that you’ll be okay if I leave for a few hours, alright?”
Zelda groans, “You’ll come back, right?”
“Of course.”
It’s a few more hours before he leaves, he waits until Zelda falls back asleep, and it’s mid-morning when he finally does. He makes his way into Hateno Village, which is as lively as ever. He first stops in at the general store, buying a few essential items, and telling the store keeper about where he was last.
“You’re telling me you got rid of that thing at Hyrule Castle?” He asks, skeptical. Link just nods and shrugs as he examines a swift carrot. Like it was no big deal. The man laughs behind the counter, “And you lived to tell the tale? I don’t believe it.” He scoffs.
Link sets his items on the table between them, digging out a handful of rupees. “Well, I lived to tell the tale of Naydra last year, you all witnessed that, didn’t you?”
“I suppose… but that thing at the castle is a legend, I never even saw it. Just got told ghost stories of it as a boy.” His voice was gruff.
Link smiles, “whatever you want to believe, you don’t have to believe me.” Link sets to rupees down.
“That’s more than the cost.” The man states.
“Keep it.” Link pushes it towards him before putting his items in his pouch. “Use it to fix your roof, I saw it was leaking.”
The man smiles, “you’re always so good to us, Link. This village owes you.”
“You don’t owe me anything, except maybe your trust. The story will spread and rumors will, too.” Link turns to leave, but stops just outside of the door, speaking over his shoulder. “It wasn’t a ghost either, it was a spider-like thing that hatched out of a cocoon with giant axes and swords.” Link opens his arms up to show the size, “Probably at least the size of three oxen!” The shopkeeper's face goes pale, “But that wasn’t even the hard part!” Link starts to smile mischievously, “Then we took the battle onto Hyrule Field, and he turned into a massive pig. As big as a house, or bigger.”
The owner was dumbfounded, unable to reply at first, but then he shook his head, “You have quite the imagination, Link!” He chuckles and waves him off. Link just grins as he exits the shop.
He makes his way up the mountain to Purah and Symin’s, making a stop at the farm to pet the cows and help the owner with a broken fence post in trade for some milk. It was about noon now, and he wasn’t expecting to take as long to get to the Tech Lab, but the fence was absolutely destroyed. The farmer didn’t know what caused it, but it certainly wasn’t a cow…
The light on the Hateno valley is warm and inviting. It will be the harvest soon. Link had missed his days here. Early on after he woke up, he spent weeks at a time in this little village. Mostly because he was still too poor to afford sleeping anywhere other than his home. It was a safe home base for him when he was freeing the divine beasts. It wasn’t until he had laid his friends' spirits to rest that he became the wild child of the forest he was now. The last year or so he stopped spending more than a few days anywhere, it was the anxiety of the upcoming battle he kept avoiding that caused him to become such a nomad. He learned that it was always free to sleep in trees.
He gets to the lab, and before he can even open the door, Purah is swinging the door open. “Linky! You’re alive!” She cheers, looking up at him.
”I am,” Link replies with a smile, “and Zelda is, too.”
Purah smiles wide, her eyes becoming fiery, “Incredible. Is she okay!” She opens the door for Link, he enters the messy-as-usual lab, setting his sack of goodies down on the table.
“I don’t know…” Link shakes his head, “She’s very tired all the time, and she passed out quite unexpectedly last night.” He sighs. “I’m actually rather worried about her.” He admits. “It took me a long time to wake her up after she passed out, too. Longer than it should have.” Purah walks over to the table before climbing on top of it to Link’s eye-level.
“But she’s alive! And I’m assuming her body has been preserved, no?”
“It has, she doesn’t look a day over seventeen. But her spirit and her mind has changed, she’s tired.”
“Aren’t we all…” Purah shakes her head, “But no one as much as her.” She shrugs, “I would love to run some tests on you two, it might help me figure out my age issue.”
“More tests? I thought you said you were done with me?” Link groans.
“Nope, now that Zelda is here I want to take a sample of her DNA, too, and see if I can reverse-engineer it to cross with my DNA and get me back to my preferred physical age. I’m sick of this.” She gestures to her child-like state.
“When she’s feeling better I’ll ask her. I’m sure she’ll say yes, considering her love of science and all.”
“Alright Linky, what are you here for, I know you didn’t come to just talk, you always need something from me.” She teases.
“Alright Purah… don’t be mad.” He says as he reaches into his pouch to pull out a smashed and destroyed sheikah slate: the same one that got him through his quest.
Purah’s face goes white. “You did not just do that to an ancient piece of indestructible tech.” She reaches for it, taking the device in her hand and cringing.
“Well it wasn’t that indestructible, now was it?” Link asks with an awkward laugh.
“How?” Purah asks, traumatized.
“It happened while I fought Ganon, it kind of… exploded, and then he trampled it as a giant hog in Hyrule field.”
“That is…” She chooses her words carefully, “Epic, Linky.”
“You’re not mad?”
“No! But you’re gonna be when you can warp to sheikah hotspots. You’ll just have to go on foot like the rest of us. Speaking of, did you see what happened to the shrine in the ocean?”
“What?” He obviously didn’t.
“It sunk back into the ground, completely gone! Symin watched it happen! I’m curious about that happening to the other sheikah tech…” She gets lost in thought, and Link realizes that they all might disappear just as fast as they were found. “No one is gonna be more heartbroken about this than the Princess.” Purah finishes her thoughts.
“I’m hiding it from her. She can’t take a heart break in this state.” Link groans, sitting down in one of the chairs by the table. “Purah… I need you to send a message to Impa. I would go myself in person and be back by dinner but I can’t because the slate is gone. I know you sheikah have weird ways of communicating through distance, especially you sisters.” Link sighs.
“Oh she’ll beat you if you don’t go in person. You know how she is.”
“Yes. Which is why I am absolutely sick over this. But I can’t leave Zelda, she’s not okay, and I don’t know how long it’s going to be until she is.” He explains. “Impa can be mad at me all she wants, but she deserves to know that we are both alive and safe, and Ganon is not.”
Purah squints, “Fine. But you owe me.”
“As if saving the world wasn’t enough.” Link scoffs playfully.
“Hey! Don’t get cocky, no one likes a cocky hero. Besides, it’s not like you did it on your first try.” Purah jumps down from the table and Link’s entire body seizes. She freezes in her tracks when she realizes she said that out loud. She slowly turns around to see Link tense and unhappy. “Linky… I’m sorry I didn’t mean-“
He says nothing at first, “Is that what you guys say about me?”
“Link, we've always pushed each other's buttons like that.”
“It’s fine.” He sighs, it wasn’t fine. He signs, “I’m leaving. I don’t need anyone else’s shit.” He always signed when his emotions were at risk of betraying his words. He didn’t want to upset someone with his words. Purah isn’t very good at signs, but she gets the gist.
It was rare to see Link genuinely mad, especially at someone he cared about and knows is good. But that was out of line.
“Link…”
“Will you just tell Impa that we’re okay. Both of us. The calamity is gone and we’ll come visit as soon as we get our strength back.” He grabs his belongings and heads out.
“Wait-“ Purah tries to stop him but he leaves too fast. He takes a deep breath when he gets outside, looking out towards the sea. He walks towards the edge of the cliff, staring out at the horizon, letting the salty sea air blow on his skin. He looks where the shrine that lived in the water once was, and nothing was there but the original mound of island sand it sat on.
Back at home, Zelda is still in bed, and Link frowns when he sees her. He sits on his stool next to her, placing his hand against her forehead again. Her fever hasn’t broken.
“I’m home.” He whispers, and she stirs awake, her green eyes looking up at him. She smiles.
“I had the most wonderful dream.” She sighs. “We were at the beach, you and I, and Impa and Urbosa… and my mother.” Link worries that she dreams about those who have passed, he brushes some of her golden hair out of her face. “We looked at the water and listened to the seagulls. My mother was so beautiful and healthy, not like how she was when I remembered her.”
Zelda was very young when her mother died, and she was quite ill for the years leading up to her passing. Link remembered that, he remembered many of the things Zelda opened up to him about in their final days before The Calamity. “Do you want some water?” Link asks, she nods. He stands up, making his way to the well outside and scooping a bucket of it before coming back in. He finds her sitting up in bed.
“Did you get up all by yourself?” He asks with a smile. She nods, her face still pale and expression lost. She was much worse today. Link scoops some water out with a cup, and hands it to her. She shakily holds it in both hands, bringing the wooden mug up to her lips and sipping lightly. Link sits beside her this time, but he feels petrified.
In the last two days they've already crossed so many boundaries. He feels as though he has to be the stoic Knight from before, never looking at her for too long, not speaking unless spoken to, and especially not touching without explicit permission. That was a whole lifetime ago, however, and he’s barely the same person he was when those were the rules.
But even so, he can’t help but follow those roles that he keeps breaking. He shouldn’t see her in such a state: shirt too loose, eyes droopy, sighs so gentle and alluring it could tame a lynel.
He knows no one is watching them, no one is there to judge them, but he cannot bring himself to hold her hand as she shakes, even though he desperately wants to. Placing his hand on her head to check for temperature and burns in her hair from her face was already a serious breach of protocol, and yet when he did it, he felt so comfortable, so safe. He felt more like himself.
Maybe what’s holding him back is the knowledge that she didn’t lose her memories. To her, he is supposed to be that obedient servant.
He knows they got very close towards the end. Based on the memories he’s recollected, he knows they broke those rules far more than they should have. But it was always by Zelda’s instigation. She wanted him to place his hand on the small of her back as they walked, she asked him to lace up her goddess dress, she initiated the gentle touches and hugs of despair.
Now, he’s terrified of taking advantage of her in her sickly state, but he wants so badly to lie with her. To finally get some rest of his own, in his own bed, holding the girl he worked so tirelessly to rescue.
He wishes he could rest as a reward.
He reminds himself that her presence, safety and life is reward enough.
And goddess, is that a wonderful reward. Her weight sinking down the bed, her intoxicating smell, their shoulders just barely brushing. She was incredible, completing a feat that no one had ever come close to accomplishing, and here she was, in his home, in his bed, wearing his clothes.
Link's stomach flips, and he immediately forces himself to relax. Realizing how immature his though process was. This was a princess, not a girl in the Gerduo Brothel. He was confused.
“What are you thinking about?” She asks him, pulling him out of his rampant thoughts. He snaps back to reality.
“What?” He turns to see her looking up at him with her shiny eyes. “Oh…” He desperately wants to tell her, tell her that he’s thinking of her and only her. For three years he spent sleepless nights staring at the heavens and thinking about her. How he hungrily searched for every memory just to hear her voice, and how he took her diary out of the castle to read every page, even the ones that were scribbled with doodles and blacked-out poetry. He wanted to tell her that he fell for her the moment she told him to open-his-eyes, and when he finally remembered what she looked like, she was even prettier than what he imagined.
“…Horses.” He says, dumbfounded and foolish. She smiles.
“I’ve always admired how you loved them. You were the best rider in all of the guard, I fully believe it’s because of how gentle you were with them. They trusted you, which made them listen to you.”
The way she spoke was so thoughtful, so intelligent. Link catches himself accidentally looking at her lips, but yanks his eyes away.
“W-What were you thinking about?” He asks.
She looks off, swallowing thickly. Zelda then lifts her hand, holding it palm up, staring at it. Nothing happens.
“My gift isn’t working anymore.” She states. “I tried while you were getting the water, and look, nothing.” Zelda explains. Link looks at her hand, not knowing what he’s supposed to see.
Her hand is so soft, her fingers long and slender, her nails clean and rounded to perfection.
Her wrists are littered with old scars.
Link wants to take her hand. She sets it down in her lap, “I suppose that’s alright. I don’t need them anymore.”
“What was it like?” Link asks. “In that castle.” Zelda shudders. “You don’t have to say.” Link states.
Zelda carefully constructs her words, “Cold. All the time I was cold. I wasn’t conscious usually, but I wasn’t… unconscious either. I know it makes no sense. I was in a sort of trance. Time seemed to move at a rapid pace while also simultaneously standing still.” She looks at him, rotating her body to face him, he mirrors her.
“Did he ever… say anything?” Link asked.
Zelda nodded, “In the beginning he would whisper constantly, but it was an ancient language I didn’t understand. The longer time went on, the more tired he got, but the wiser I became. He spoke less, and I was able to pick up on certain words and phrases. He didn’t expect me to last as long as I did, that’s for certain.”
Link listens intently, “How did you do it, last so long?” He asks.
Zelda’s big, green eyes meet his. She takes his hand with hers.
“Because I knew one day you would wake up.”
Read Chapter four here
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deathmetalunicorn1 · 1 year
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I would like to request A gender neutral reader being a half titan (Greek myth titans) half mortal whose father is Oceanus (Because it only makes sense) and the ror universe greek gods being surprised about the fact that the reader is human looking and human sized despite their their father being a titan. Greek Gods Only please. (I.e. Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hermes And Ares and/or Heracles)
It would be fun to see their reactions.
And Crossover is Heavily Implied But No Crossover here, Please.
How They knew and met is entirely up to your choosing.
-When it was revealed that there was a child of a Titan still out there in the world, the gods, naturally, panicked!!!
-Zeus was immediately giving out orders for this Titan child to be found, worrying about another uprising, wanting this to be dealt with immediately!
-They were not expecting their target to be brought in by Aphrodite, walking alongside her, about the same height, and looked basically like a normal human, except you had blue hair that was dark in some spots and lighter in others, like the ocean.
-You weren’t really sure why you were being called by the gods, as you’ve spent most of your life lounging on a beautiful tropical island you had converted into a massive luxury resort.
-Zeus looked up at you, his eyes wide, “This is the child of Oceanus?!” you grinned warmly down at him, “Hi there! That’s right, he’s my dad! I’m Y/N!”
-You were totally not what they were expecting, even Aphrodite, who had found you on accident, was stunned that you looked so… unlike your Titan father.
-Hades then spoke to you, his tone even but not unkind, “If you’re Oceanus’ child, why are you normal sized like the rest of us?”
-You shrugged your shoulders, “Not completely sure myself- oh wait- I know why! It’s because I’m only a demi-god, mom was a human!”
-That wouldn’t completely explain things, but they weren’t going to bother with it at the moment.
-Poseidon was rather leery of you, worried you were going to try to take over the oceans to avenge your father.
-You were immediately laughing, holding your sides as he scowled, looking rather annoyed before you gave him a grin, “Why would I want to do that when I have my resort to keep me busy?”
-This…did make sense, and Zeus was the first to apologize to you but you weren’t bothered, actually extending an offer to them to visit your resort!
-Zeus- He was instantly like your best friend, he was so funny and enjoyed as many activities he could at the resort, from partaking at the different restaurants and bars, learning to dance, you taught him how to surf yourself, at least the simple stuff. You were definitely nothing like the other titans he faced in the past, you were so much fun! He quickly joined your rewards program and was at the resort at least once a month.
-Poseidon- Watched you the closest while at your resort, which was very beautiful and you took cleanliness very seriously, not allowing any pollution from your resort to taint the beaches or oceans, and you were a constant diver in the ocean around your island, making sure there was nothing bad to disturb the reef or the wildlife. He relaxed after a few days, enjoying hard liquor as he floated in the lazy river pool that wrapped around your whole island.
-Hades- Was annoyed that he spent most of his time at the resort asleep, sleeping in his bed, sleeping in a poolside cabana, sleeping on the warm sandy beaches. He felt like he didn’t get a chance to experience all your resort had to offer, but he did feel extremely relaxed. Hades booked his next vacation as they were getting ready to leave. You were no threat; he was quick to realize this.
-Hermes- The resort was so beautiful! Hermes spent days exploring, from the resort to the beaches, scuba diving with you to see the reefs, and even the jungle that had a footpath the whole way through. He had no idea this place was even here! It was so relaxing and peaceful, he could easily tell that you were nothing like other titans, you were way too chill. He did however, enjoying watching you teach Ares how to scuba dive while he sat on the beach with a massive fruity-boozy beverage.
-Ares- Was hesitant and rather distrustful of you, thinking you were an evil titan like all the others. You were very quick to prove him wrong, given them all free reign of the resort, they could eat, drink, and have as much fun as they wanted! Ares, after a bit of goading from Hermes and Zeus, managed to convince him to go scuba diving, but only if you taught him. Ares found the experience different but eye-opening, although he didn’t like his father and half-brother teasing him afterwards.
-Hercules- You two were like you had been separated at birth, almost constantly together, getting along so easily with each other. He loved your resort, especially the options of food available from the six restaurants and nine bars, all with vastly different menus. He also enjoyed exploring through your jungle, seeing the signs you had put out, showing different landmarks. It felt so good to just be able to lay down, bury his feet in the warm sand, and relax the days away.
-Aphrodite- Was in heaven at your resort, taking full advantage of the spas, pools, and drinks offered; she spent her whole time there being pampered and treated like the goddess she was. You were definitely not a threat, despite your lineage, and she will not hesitate to defend her new favorite resort owner from others.
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ganondoodle · 1 year
Text
i know i said i wouldnt be ranting about totk anymore, but i realized i didnt really count the sage dungeons as story (dont ask me why) so i thought im gonna write a better summarized version of my opinion about totk (i have around 60% of the game, all lightroots, not yet all shrines (missing like .. 20 or so, know the reward), not all krogs (dont know the reward), not all mayoi (half know the reward?) )
(in no particular order)
good stuff (in my opinion)
the. MUSIC! god the music is good, it was good in botw too but now with much more different bosses it really is probably one of my fav soundtracks of all time (most fav are all three phases of the end fight, the pre-fight to that, the build up one before all of those, Frosgeira (wind tempel boss) the glorious mASTER KOGA and more tbh)
the build up and end boss fight(s) are fantastic, i dont think im ever not gonna have my heart racing when approaching it (despite now skipping almost the entire way bc i set a teleport thing right before it) just bc the build up is so well made and the music(again) is such a banger and the fight(s) itself is so fun too, tbh i keep wanting to play it just bc its so fun
i LOVE how many themes play into the music (endfight alone had so many layers, fav probably is ganondorfs classic theme and calamity ganons both in the same piece among much more, and daruks theme in the fire temple)
(edit) YOU. CAN. TOUCH. DA. DRAGONS!!!!
ganondorf
ganondorfs design (x3)
ganondorfs weapon designs
ganondorfs voice (japanese)
everyone elses voice (japanese)
all voices (german)
thE YIGA!!! i love everythign about them and am so happy they got to be more than just some mini mission
(edit) also the fact that they get zonau tech to work without any special ghost powers is so ????
(edit) koga can summon and use zonau tech unlimited?? hes so cool
NO stealth mission!! (as far as im aware)
bosses are very different from each other
main dungeons are not too short and not too long and mostly fun (mostly bc i personally didnt like the gerudo one), i love that you can still somewhat cheese them and do them your way
sages felt like they got a bit more involved
(edit) you gotta do more stuff before getting to the actual dungeons and i really like that, feels less like a fetch quest but that you are actually helping
(edit) each sage is actually there in the dungeon and is required for it, which is great!
each settlement saw a much bigger danger/change (tho that has more impact if you have played botw) and its problems felt much more real
shrines are well varied tho i think overall a little easy (only got stuck on two so far and later solved them easily bc when i first started them i was tired and exhausted, no brain left lol)
NPCs felt less flat + more bigger sidequests that felt like they had more impact
cool new monsters + designs
the underground was pretty appropiately creepy
the sages abilities are neat
you can refight bosses!!
stable points system is a neat way to encourage you using them
weapon fusing is neat
(edit) the forest of the krogs being corrupted like that is both creepy and a neat nod to oot
(edit) the vai gerudo outfit being gone!! (one) evil has been defeated
(edit) the health bar going so far off the middle in ganondorfs second phase is honestly just funny hnjdfdjk unfortunate that you only need the master sword and with a few perfect dodges his health melts like butter in the summer
(edit) the music when dragondorf transforms sounds so sad .. its probably meant as a oh no world is actually ending sad but i like to think of it as a oh god what did he do to himself sad
the scene where rauru seals ganondorf kinda fruity
(graphic, animations and the overall world is still fantastic)
bad stuff (in my opinion)
everything zonau they feel forced into every bit of the world and its history (i know them being somewhat alien is intentional but not like that) it feels crammed into places they werent before and shouldnt be and it makes it all feel very artificial
the glyphs/dragon tears/memories really ruined alot for me, while it gave you insight as to what happened, it felt like it showed you too much and too little at the same time and i think it would have worked better if it was all in text for once if even at all, so the past stil stayed a mystery and youd be left wondering
timetravel .. really wasnt necessary and felt more like an excuse to get rid of zelda + make her the poor little sacrificial girl again + and to make her turning into a dragon as tragic as possible, like nothing but a stepping stone to the big reveal tm
shiekah tech being not just fully irrelevant but practically erased, wiped off the world (i know about the literally last guardian parts in hateno, it feels more like an oversight tbh, purah technically using it ... tho i dont think she ever calls it that, the purah pad is jsut the sheikah stone but worse), there being no good explanation, no remains, nothing as to why it would suddendly stop working and why even the titans and ESPEICALLY the shrine of life would be destroyed, if anything why wouldnt you enshrine it as a memento to history it was such a focus in botw and so well integrated into the world that it being fully gone, not even old overgrown, or visibly reused to build homes etc., or remains of how they built the og shrines in the underground feels like a HUGE missed opportunity (seriously it would have been so easy to make the ancient shiekah base their tech on old zonau tech, without stealign the gocus but buildign a connection)
all of the continuity problems, totk feels like botw didnt happen and the excuse of 'they didnt want to confuse new players' doesnt make a lick of sense in my eyes bc; its supposed to be a sequel, if you want it to be a standalone game then dont call it a sequel- if you start to play a game with the sequel instead of the first part its your own damn fault if you get confused; if anything, it would have been a good opportuntiy to make people interested in botw so theyd buy and play that one too
ganondorfs character is very flat, you basically get to know nothing about him (yuno even calls that out midgame but its never elaborated upon nhgfrdfhkk)
the zonau and their kingdom of hyrule is presented as this so perfectly good thing to such a degree it turns creepy, the end cutscene with mineru going poof was kinda uncomfy to watch tbh
the reward for all shrines being essentially a reveal as to who the hero in the tapestry was and it being, of course, some weird half zonau is the lamest answer to a mystery i didnt want an anwser too, it doesnt feel like it came naturally either (again my point of the zonau being forced into everything)
the shrines (zonau) feel so much more unnatural than the shiekah shrines, alien in a bad way and not in a good way + really are like a bad reskin of them, their sudden appearance and use is so much less logical
back in botw i was doubtful of if the shiekah tech wasnt going to far too modern tech and cause it all to feel like a bad mix of modern tech and medival fantasy, but they balanced it perfectly (tho the eponator zero was very much the limit imo) but the zonau tech .... oversteps that line i think, it really does feel, more than anything else, that it was just bc they wanted the stuff to be in there bc it might be fun to play around with, im not against that kind of stuff mind you im all for fun, but it feels a little like they thought of a box with endless stuff to play with first and a zelda game second (if you get what i mean)
quite a few quests or things in the game seem like they are more and then end in a dead end (the worst of all is impa saying she wants to go research what could help zelda turn back, and i was excited and convinced that shed give me a quest to find some mcguffin that would do that after i beat ganon but there wasnt anything you could actually do; less bad one but disappointing nonetheless the dongos were mentioned and treated like this big awesome thing from alot of NPCs all around the map and then when you find them they are bascially just gem vending maschines)
the way zelda turns back and link gets his arm back is incredibly unsatisfying, none of them even have something like a scar, or mark from it all, zelda spent thousands of years as a dragon (a transformation that was said to cost your soul but i guess that wasnt true) and link had his arm bascially eaten by miasma and he gets it back like it was never lost, zelda returns all intact as if nothing happened, getting blasted by some magic tm by two ghosts that were supposed to be long gone is the solution to all problems!!
(edit) link losing an arm wouldnt just be super intersting but also lend itself well to lead up into the next game where his prothesis is the focus and source of abilities
(edit) zelda got done so dirty, instead of her actual interests and character to shine she just gets shoved into yet another crisis surrounded by strangers in a world that looks like hers but isnt, and all she does is beg the ancient sages to swear to help link and sacrifice herself again (can you call that fridging? bc she sure feels like she got fridged) i like zelda and i dont like how much i didnt care about her and tbh im angry at the game for that
(edit) both link and zelda not even slightly changing in the years btween botw and totk kinda boring, like a haircut can only do so much
(edit) sonia really is the wife that dies to make husband sad thing isnt she? i get that gan had to get his hands on an enigma stone but i feel like there had been better ways to do that, the fact that she dies that easily is almost funny honestly, why does ganondorf even have weapons when he can just one punch people to death (tho i find it funny to imagine he can literally just kill people in one punch but hes too prideful to do it most of the time so he always uses weapons to look more cool)
(edit) so many new characters that you barely get to see or interact with, i really ... couldnt get myself to care much
(edit) zonau tech being so irrelevant to the games story while its also the focus is .. weird, its really just play doh for the players and nothing else honestly
(edit) monsters mining sonanium feels strange bc ... they dont do anything with it? the best thing i can think of is that they were told to do that so link cant .. upgrade his battery thignies? but then again you could just destroy the mines and remaining constructs to stop it .... also you really dont need anything zonau tech related to beat gan?
(edit) ganondorf beign so utterly uninterested in their tech is weird considering how he dealt with shiekah tech (and we KNOW it can get corrupted) he should be a tech nerd tbh
my twitch VoD of the first time beating the game getting muted at the credits despite me talking over it
nitpicks (in my opninion)
(edit) ganondorf should have a bit more of a boar inspired design, as treat, i think
(edit) the enigma stone wandering back to ganondorfs forehead even after transforming is? weird? i guess an excuse for da epic last stabby but still? (how cool would it have been to have to plunge into his mouth and break it there or something)
(edit) the underground gets a lil old after a while, the fact that its pretty much the same everywhere aside from some .. very strange flowing magma is a lil boring
(edit) ganondorf could have gone way more crazy with abilities and all that, imagine hed spwan multiple miasma arms on himself when you get him to a certain level of health
(edit) i miss unique weapons, there arent even normal axes around anymore, everything is about fusing really, i miss the cool shiekah tech weapons
(edit) the forest of the krogs being largely irrelevant is kinda weird
(edit) mineru being the sage of spirit still is kinda meh, the robot is neat but i thought tauro or purah would be the surprise sage tbh
(edit) the bosses were a little easy (i did boldo gohma rather early and did it without even getting hit)
you cant talk to koga normally :(
you cant find koga again after the last fight :(
you cant refight him (to my knowledge) :(
i find it very strange that yuno seemingly lost daruk shield, despite him having inhereted it in botw
the sage powers are not .. very great integrated, while its fun to haven them run around and help you fight, to actually use their powers you have to chase after them, something that in the heat of a battle is very annoying to do, constantly activating the wrong on or them losing their charge up when they get knocked over is like trying to herd a wild pack of geese while a three headed dragon is shotting laserbeams at you
some widlife just disappearing all of the sudden is very strange (like the rhino in hebra)
some new houses or settlements would have been cool, that the material things at the sides of roads are really only for you to play around with and not to build anything that lasts
you cant fight ganondorf (non dragon, even the dragon is locked to that evening sky) in the sunlight, night or rain, i would have loved to fight him at various times of day
their refusal to show any kind of blood is honestly turnign serious scenes into very awkward ones, sonia just getting punched and she dies with not even like, losing some spit from the force or something, or the fact when you defeat ganondorfs second phase he acts mortally wounded but doesnt even look scratched is just :/
amiibo stuff while neat being included its really mostly just bloating your inventory, if i wanted 5 vaguely different link outfits then i would have gotten the amiibo for it
why hide the -now-totally-not-phantom-ganon-armor- behind such a long questline and then .. have that NOT be upgradable
they put in a house building thingy and then not let you have a roof or a tree or something :(
at some point stable points jsut get you more and more of those free staying over night tickets that i maybe used .. once at the very start and now its just accumulating in my inventory
only one new horse coat pattern :(
satori now only being a thingy that shows you caves is kinda boring, i loved the mystery around it in botw (additionally, that it shows you caves you have completed already kinda sucks)
the end of the shrines isnt that cool anymore, speaking to a mummified monk that gives you essentially his last remains of life energy is so much cooler than a statue of the oh so awesome god king and his wife
the many references and reuse of old names is neat but together with timetravel etc. it easily leads to confusing and fighting among fans for who is more 'right' and its just .. tiring
(edit) considering how much of the advertising was about the sky islands i wished there were more and bigger ones, the underground (that was a little one sided after a while, it all looking the same rly) could have been alot smaller if the sky was bigger instead
(edit) i wished there was more of a sense of .. lost life in the ruins you find, from all races, the ancient ruins are jsut some bridged and ceremonial stuff and i wished there were more like .. houses, like people actually lived there and it not being all around beign a platform for you
(edit) the fact that the half zonau hero exists mean either rauru and sonia had kids but those were clearly not important enough to ever show nor mention, or there were other mixing of them before they all mysteriously died out the fact that the ancient hero was half zonau means their genes survided till then but somehow it never came up? the tapestry still exists and impa and purah say like its a well known fact that the hero looked like that (not at all close to any modern species) when you talk to them while wearing it (the fact that the hero armor thingy is very reminiscemt of ganondorf is like some backtreading bc we were theorizing about the hero having been ganondorf once and they wanted to stop that .. but the more funny thing is the HC of its a descdendet of rauru and ganondorf nhjdfknhdgkfnhkfd) (edit to add to the HC; the game being a big battle about child support is funnier than it should be idk if nintendo knew what they were doing adding details like that)
all in all it just feels like missed opportunities, lost potential, and more a game build around some game mechanics they really wanted to get into than telling a neat story, espeically so bc they called it a sequel, most of my complaints wouldnt be there if it was some alternate thing instead
i probably forgot stuff but if i think of more i will add them later with a little note that it was added in an edit (sidenote, i find it funny how much more nuance that whole conflict would get if rauru and ganondorf were bitter exes bfdrjfbdfndk)
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sleepyconfusedpotato · 11 months
Text
Just finished grinding Assassin's Creed Mirage! WOOHOO! ୧⁠(⁠ ⁠ಠ⁠ ⁠Д⁠ ⁠ಠ⁠ ⁠)⁠୨
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I think it's a deffo wonderful game and a refreshment after the RPG trilogy (it does have RPG elements to it, but still), and it also have some things that are lacking. It reminds me of the good 'ol days, but deffo not on par with the good 'ol days.
Here're some of my thoughts and reviews!
🕌 Sleepy's Assassin's Creed Mirage Review 🗡️
(Spoiler Warning ⚠️ Including the ending ⚠️)
Disclaimer, this is just my personal opinion. You may agree and disagree. I’m just gonna talk a lot because I LOVE Assassin’s Creed with all my heart. Here goes.
VISUALS
(+) Basim Ibn Ishaq, the handsome man that you are… HOLY SHIT (yes I’m adding him as the first plus point of this game what of it). Man's fine AF. 
(+) Baghdad’s really beautiful, nuff said. The color palette is PERFECT - displays the warmth of the atmosphere really well, but also just enough greens and many starking hues of flowers. 
(+) The waters and environment textures are CRISPY.  The detailed patterns on the clothes, the engravings and the state of the arts is really cool. I haven’t really looked a lot into the 800’ Baghdad arts, but I can see lots of good details and art styles. SHOUT OUT TO THE ARTISTS!!
GAMEPLAY - Now here’s what I have a lot to comment on.
(+) Stealth -> I think they did quite good with the stealth. One of the many complaints that I saw on the previous RPG trilogy games was the fact that the main characters/players had no reason to be stealthy, because they can just barge in and defeat the enemies easily. Ubi has marketed the game to be more stealth focused and intentionally made Basim a less of a fighter (make sense, since he came from a thief background, unlike Bayek, Kassandra, and Eivor who are actual trained warriors since they’re kids). However, this brings me to the first lacking point.
(-) Combat -> The combat feels janky. I feel like I’m really fucked up in combat situations if I don’t upgrade my sword and dagger. Like I get it, Basim is not meant to be much of a fighter, but in the beginning parts (or… even the middle parts of the game, let’s be real), I feel like combat is HELL. I forgot the Youtuber who said it, but he said something along the lines of “I’m an assassin, I want to feel like an assassin and want to feel like a badass and can take down many enemies with ease.” And that actually rings true with me. When I’m in combat and countless soldiers are fighting or following me (and I don’t have the smoke bomb with the forgetting effect), I’m most certainly FUCKED. 
(+) The fighting style is cool though, it's stylish and the finishing moves are sick af. It could deffo use some work. 
(-+) Parkour/Movements - It’s alright. It’s most certainly better than the previous RPG trilogy, but it’s definitely not Unity or Syndicate. Sometimes Basim can do something that I didn’t want and I’ve lost count on how many times I got caught and died just from a mis-movement. I literally don’t understand why they don’t use the Unity parkours and combat styles. Unity’s parkour is smooth, swift, and stylish. It feels GOOD. 
(+) Stealing - I’m a loot goblin in games, and believe me, I think I’ve spent like hours just stealing from the entire population of Baghdad that by the end of the game I’m probably richer than the Taxmaster and the whole entire Abbasid Caliphate. It’s fun, it’s easy, but it can sometimes be hard enough to miss. I just hope there’s more variety/difficulty in the stealings in different places – Like maybe in the Round City the diamond thingy is much smaller, or in like for stealing merchants (who has particular fashion/silhouette or have wallets/pouches with different colors) can be harder to steal from but have more rewards and money. 
(-+) Map - OKAY. I love the fact that Mirage has a significantly smaller map than that of Odyssey and Valhalla. It’s focused and it’s much more centered. HOWEVER. For a game this caliber, and with this good of a graphic? It’s much too small and it’s too divided between two parts. Hear me out – The graphics are really cool, but I feel like the map is too divided between – either a densely populated city, or just barren lands of desert. I think the map could be much much bigger with much more collectibles and much more variety in the terrains. Like, for example in Black Flag (The S tier game. Argue with a wall), there’re more than one major city, while in Mirage the map is so very centered (Yes I get it it’s the Round City), but I’d love it if there’s another major city that we can travel to, like Damascus, for instace. + I love the Tales of Baghdad. MORE TALES OF BAGHDAD PLEASE. 
STORY - nOW THIS… I never liked the stories post - Origins and here's why : 
(-) LET 👏 THE ACTORS 👏 DO 👏 MOTION 👏 CAPTURE 👏 - My biggest complaint for the RPG game styles is always about the facial and motion animation. The cutscenes feel DEAD. The eyes are DEAD. I almost can't feel anything. Ubi is rich af, why not use facial capturing? AC3 was the first AC game to use motion capture, and holy shit… it's one of my fave games. Yes. All games, not only AC series. The emotion in their faces, the gestures, the small glances, the little movements - they all decide every character's personality. The reason why I love every AC since AC3-ACOrigins is because the actors pour all their voices, faces, even body movements into the interactions between characters, because they make the stories feel alive. Let the actors be actors. I can rant more but this is already a long post so I'll stop. MOTION 👏 CAPTURE 👏.
(+) I love Basim's origin story. Dude's a 17 year old street thief who got a bit over his head and ended up becoming a fugitive because he killed the fucking caliph himself. That was crazy HAHAHAH anyway even though I think the beginning felt a bit rushed I love it. I just wish they could milk it more.
(+) I love the side characters! Especially Ali (I think he's hot 👉👈 and he's the absolute freedom fighter). Anyway, even though they don’t really do much, they all feel alive and do lots of things (except Roshan prolly HAHAHAH but there's a reason I guess)
(+) Roshan. Mentor and reminds me of Al-Mualim. I particularly love the fact that after all that wise words throughout the game, she literally threatened Basim if he actually went to the underground temple. And when she showed up covered in blood??? And THE TWIST AT THE END??? "Roshan bint La-Ahad". SHE'S ALTAIR'S ANCESTOR. THAT FUCKING SHOCKED ME YOOOO. She's just amazing. 
(-) Pacing - I feel like this is because they’re speeding things up (which is a good thing), the pacing is pretty standard in the beginning, but the ending is a bit too high of a rollercoaster mount. The ending went from 0-100 real quick. I feel like we need a more of a climbing storyline. This is why I kind of don’t agree with the ‘centering’ storyline instead of a linear story. Centering styles of story has no climb in the intensity, and because of that we can’t feel the character developments because he’s supposed to stay the same even though we’ve killed like 3 bosses already. And then when all the underlings are dead, finally the boss racks up Basim’s curiosity super duper high that it becomes too sudden.
(-) Weak Villains - The villains since Origins are always hidden and unknown, unlike the previous games where the Templars are literally KNOWN by the people. I want more villains like Haytham tbh, where he literally doesn’t care about the precusor sites and only wants stability in his reign as a Grandmaster. Or if the villains do care about the Pieces of Eden or have a prior interest of the First Civ, at least let them have an actual personality and character, let them be a menace and a threat since the beginning of the game instead of being the NPC’s we kill to finish the game. Let them challenge our beliefs as an Assassin/Hidden Ones. Let the villains actually have an impact to the main storyline. Imagine in the end Basim and Qabiha really went to the underground temple together, and got confronted by Roshan. That’s where the conflict in Basim climaxed! Imagine the emotion! The drama~! 
(+) How the stories interlinked with Valhalla. Basim is a sage, and host of Loki who sought revenge to Odin (who wronged him). So I don't think Basim nor Loki are evil per se. They're just gray. Now the stories aren't just about Templars vs Assassin, it's more focused towards the First Civilization. It's a bit hard to keep up but it's nothing a bit of reading/looking up some lore videos wouldn't solve.
MISC
We need more outfits! The outfits are far too few for us to choose from! 
Wonderful and mystifying music. Nuff said. Brendan Angelides and Layth Sidiq nailed it. One Republic and Mishaal Tamer’s “Mirage” in on repeat on my Spotify right now.
I love gear chests hunting and all the collectibles. I just wish the map is bigger and there’re more collectibles T_T I’M A LOOT GOBLIN OKAY.
I learn history of Baghdad LFG. I play largely for the stories and not the gameplays, so if there’s a codex entry or any new historical sites I always read it. Learning history doesn’t hurt! 
How I can really relate to the real world. I live in Indonesia where 90% of the people is Muslim (I’m a Christian), so when I here familiar words like Alhamdullilah, Assalam’ualaikum and Wa’alaikumsalam, or see the people praying, the Adzan sounds throughout the city, the people praying towards the Ka’bah, it kinda feels like home! Just hope that they add more funny shit to it though, like “Yaallah Basim! Istighfar!” Or “WALLAHI.” Or more Arabic sayings so we can immerse more to the world.
MAKE BASIM DO THE 5 PRAYERS (maybe when we pass time or after a big mission we come back to him finishing a prayer).
FINAL VERDICT - 7.8/10 -> It’s a focused game, and it really did come back to some of the original elements of AC before the RPG trilogy. It’s not too long and casuals can play it without feeling like we have to grind like Odyssey or Valhalla. Deffo would recommend playing it!
Once again, BRING BACK MOTION CAPTURE ‼️‼️‼️🗣️🗣️
If you did play it gimme some thoughts in the comments! Thank you for reading! (⁠人⁠*⁠´⁠∀⁠`⁠)⁠。⁠*゚⁠+
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popjunkie42 · 19 hours
Text
Painted Blind: Chapter Four
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Chapter Four: As admiration and worship for the hero of the human lands grows, Feyre chafes under the attention. At an unexpected announcement, she watches her future spiral out of her control.
Thank you to @witch-and-her-witcher and @rosanna-writer for beta reading!
Chapter Four under the cut.
Nesta slapped at my skirts for the third time since the speeches had begun. I was tugging at the lace collar on this fucking dress…
I dropped my hand and scowled.
The itch of the wool, the tightness of the collar that choked back every swallow…it was oppressive.
The afternoon sun was pale, as if sensing its power had fully waned on this, the longest night of the year. Standing uncomfortably on a wooden stage, my sisters on one hand, my father standing with the mayor and his family behind a podium, I did my best to ignore the crowd.
They stretched out before us, three times the number of people in our little village, most of them in fine hats and suits and rich winter dresses. All of them staring up at us. My skin was hot, even in the cold of the early evening.
The mayor had started droning on a while back, something I couldn’t pay much attention to. A jolly bustle of a man, he looked fat and happy with his wealth, his cheeks ruddy in the winter cold. He smiled easily, and the fit of his suit was immaculate. I wondered if what his family was wearing today cost more than my entire reward.
The speeches had begun after lunch, a picnic where my sisters and I had tried hard to pretend we weren’t hungry, that we saw this sort of lavish spread on the regular. Roasted chicken and small pheasants dressed with winter vegetables, glimmering slices of ham, golden rolls with pats of butter that glistened, spiced wine and candied winter berries for dessert. I watched Nesta swallow thickly as she spooned a moderate, polite amount of food on her plate. Next to me, Elain was licking the greasy chicken fat off of her dainty fingers and trying hard to hide it. Despite all our mother’s hissed lessons about small, dainty bites and demure ladylike appetites, we all ate until we groaned.
The entire town had gathered around, now staring rapt at me and the garrulous mayor, the breath of them all rising up in the cold like steam above their heads.
“Wipe that look off of your face,” Nesta hissed.
We had been taken to the town last night. Given rooms at the mayor’s house, each bedroom finer than our whole cottage. In the morning, I had been bathed and scrubbed and plucked until my skin burned. The maids tutted at my cracked nails and the dirt underneath they couldn’t quite scrub clean.
Afterwards, they had shoved me into a frilled woolen dress. A monstrous thing. Stockings and corsets and lace trim and shoes with heels so high my arches ached. I stumbled around the room like a newborn fawn, clasping and flexing my good hand into anxious fists. I had the overwhelming urge to rip the entire outfit off and run into the woods.
I swallowed the desire to tug at my collar again, the lace itching against my dry skin. It choked me, like a snare around my neck.
Clothing like this hadn’t been in our closets since I was a child. But the feeling was still familiar, my clumsy small hands ripping away my skirts and sleeves, rushing outside to climb the willow beside the manor, mother furious with me after all the dirt and ruin.
And now Nesta was here to take her place.
My sister wore the slightest of confident smiles, looking regally over her upturned nose at the crowd below. Elain beamed, her face full of joy and sunlight even in the pale wintery afternoon. Both of them looked aggravatingly at home in their new finery, warm in their spotless coats and scarves and soft leather gloves.
A terrible itch creeped up my neck, down my spine.
Standing there, I felt a nagging sensation, like I was in the woods and hadn’t yet spotted something that had spotted me.
Looking across the stage, I saw the Mayor’s son, glaring. As soon as my eyes met his, I swore he looked away with distaste.
He was young, probably about my age or just a year younger. Brown hair, pale skin, soft hands. His eyes were dark and his mouth was locked into a sullen pout.
I had no doubt he was the type to stay far from the forest. Probably had never skinned a rabbit, or felt hunger in his belly.
Apparently, I had offended him personally.
With a wistful smile, the mayor turned to me, and I wished I had been paying better attention. My heart thundered as all eyes in the crowd focused on me.
“We have lived in fear,” the mayor said, turning back to the gathered crowd. The people of Innisville, our old village, the ones that forgot me and my family so easily when the money slipped away. “Even though we live in freedom from faekind, even after five hundred years, we are still controlled by the wall and the terrible things that breach it. We have let ourselves be splintered by disagreements and differences, while the real enemy threatens us from beyond. Our true enemy takes advantage of the discord among us. It is only if we join together that we can push back the dangerous creatures waiting to descend upon us in the dark of night.”
A hearty cheer rose up, mist in the cold.
No wonder he was mayor.
But his words fell flat on my ears. I had suffered more under the hands of my fellow man than any fae or beast, the monster in the cave included.
“Sometimes,” he boomed, his magnanimous smile back on me like the sun, “it takes a great act of bravery and sacrifice to bring us together. It takes an extraordinary person to remind us that we are one. That we are powerful together.” Cheers and murmurs of ascent were bubbling up from the crowd, an echoing call.
I hated every moment of it.
I wasn’t brave, or selfless. I hated the grand sentiments, when all I had ever wanted was a full stomach and safety for my family. I hated the eyes on me, eyes that weeks ago would’ve scorned us. Fine boots that would have kicked at us, teeth that would have gnashed.
But Nesta’s hand was on my back, warm but unyielding, and she pushed me just a few steps forward towards the crowd, my feet stumbling.
“Our entire land has been blessed by this fearless and exceptional girl. Feyre Archeron, the hero of the human lands!” More cheers, and my name ringing across the crowd, from mouths that would have spit on me only weeks before. “Her talents were born out of hardship, but her undaunted spirit belongs to all of us living below the wall and the land of the fae. Although we will always remember those that we lost, we thank the girl who went out into the forest alone, and did what no one thought possible.”
The crowd erupted into applause. I balanced on the edge of the wooden stage, feeling like I might topple into the sea of bodies.
It was too much, too many adoring faces, people I had never met. They didn’t know me. My own story was being told in front of me, like I wasn’t even there to tell it myself. I was a hunter, and I needed those gold coins simply to gain a breath of air. These people in the crowd had been the ones to laugh and sneer at my misery, to ignore our hunger.
I hadn’t done it for a single one of them. Maybe that made me cruel, and heartless, but I knew it was the plain truth even as it hid in the dark shadows of my heart.
But the mayor wasn’t done. Once the cheers and applause had died down, his smile grew even wider, and he looked to my father.
“And, in a gesture we hope will inspire the land, my son Charles,” he motioned to the scowling boy, his face fierce and fixed on the ground in front of him, “is to be wed to our hero, Feyre Archeron. Our families will join together, uniting our villages. To remind us that heroes are among us, and we are stronger together. Feyre,” his eyes twinkling, “welcome to our family.”
The roar of the crowd was deafening, pounding in my skull and shaking my bones. Shock kept me frozen, and despite Nesta’s pinch at my hips, I knew my face was contorted in horror and shock.
My eyes found my father.
He had draped himself with the beast’s fur, like a cloak. Dressed in a dark, layered suit, he continued to smile blandly and ignore me completely.
No wonder Charles had looked murderous. I felt the same.
He was glowering on the edge of the stage, his mother whispering something into his ear with intensity. But he refused to smile.
The celebrating crowd in front of me was a mass of teeth and red cheeks. On the rising of their cheers, I felt my future slip out from under me completely.
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
Stumbling out of the mayor’s manor, I realized I was well and truly drunk.
It wasn’t for the first time in my short life, but it wasn’t exactly a state I was accustomed to.
Certainly not with such high quality wine, strong and dry slipping down my throat.
There’d been that one time when Isaac swiped a bottle being unloaded behind the tavern, and another when Elain shyly revealed a bottle of wine after we had gone to bed, refusing to share which of her admirers had gifted it to her. We had shared the bottle, taking indelicate swigs straight from the mouth until we giggled with mirth. Until the headaches and hunger hit and we had kicked each other in bed until my shins were bruised.
It hadn’t been like this, though.
The earth swayed under me. Warm light spilled from the side door of the manor, the party in full, brazen swing behind me. My skull felt like it was wobbling on my neck. My feet wouldn’t go where I wanted to put them. Swaying and stumbling, I braced myself still on a leafless tree in the garden.
Forcing my eyes to focus, I examined the bark, the bandaged hand splayed there, my middle finger still bent and unable to fully extend. A mangled claw, I thought. A promise of death and hunger to come.
Or, it had been. Now there was Charles. And a mayor’s manor, and a lifetime of servitude and lace dresses that would choke the life from me.
The thoughts rattled in my head, building and building, turning into something that felt like too much.
My hand grasped the collar of my dress, pulling the insufferable lace away with a loud rip.
Lace fell into dirty snow.
The tree was my lifeline, my body still swaying like I was nothing more than a branch in a heavy breeze. My thoughts went to the hard bark, to the deep roots beneath the frozen earth. I wished for roots to keep me steady. I wished to dig my toes into the ground and sprout branches and leaves. To transform into a peaceful and thoughtless tree, never hungry, never promised to anyone, only drinking rainwater and soaking up the sun.
But it was no good. Something acidic turned in my stomach, and I fell to my knees and retched onto the ground. It burned my throat as it came, wine as dark and red as it was going down. My sick steamed in the snow in front of my quivering arms, the smell bringing up more and more until only dark bile was left.
Behind me, a crunch of snow, a deep sigh. I tried to wipe my mouth clean.
“I see you took my advice to behave yourself very seriously.”
Nesta didn’t seem too shocked by my predicament.
It was hard to focus on her disapproval when my head pounded, and my throat was burning.
“Go fuck yourself,” I rasped, hoarse and slurring.
I expected her to leave. But in a moment, firm hands were on me, pulling me up from my own mess, shoving me back against the bark of my tree.
Tears were leaking out of the side of my eyes, and I groaned as my muscles shook, falling in between the roots. A knob dug into my back.
When I could lift my neck and my eyes finally focused, I saw Nesta perched on a rock in front of my feet. Her skirts were folded neatly in one gloved hand, keeping them smooth and straight from wrinkling or falling into the snow, her feet pressed rigidly together.
I wanted to laugh. I lay in front of her, sprawled on the ground, snow melting and seeping into my dress. My lips stained, the lace at my neck torn, my own sick beside me.
Perhaps Nesta wasn’t wrong, when she called me a feral beast.
We sat in silence for a moment as my breathing calmed, and the biting cold woke up some of my sleeping senses.
“At least he’s a mayor’s son,” Nesta finally said into the quiet, the din of the party seeming far away. “You’ll have a soft bed. Someone else will always chop your firewood. You’ll never be hungry again, Feyre.”
My sister’s coldness gave way slightly. She seemed almost wistful. Even in my drunken state, I could tell some of her fire had been tempered.
But I had none of this calm acceptance. Thinking of Charles again, of that childish pout…fire bloomed on my skin, acid dripped in my mouth.
I spit onto the dirty snow.
“I’d rather be dead,” I hissed out, my throat still burning. “I’d rather starve in the forest. I’d rather the wolves take me.”
Nesta only blinked. “You can’t mean that.”
I locked her with a gaze and hoped I was steadier than I felt.
Nesta didn’t balk at my anger, or my words. By now I should have known better than to try to fight her iciness with my fire. Instead, she watched me with head tilted, a look of pitying curiosity on her face.
“Daughters are to be wed, Feyre. Even ones who hunt in the forest. It was always our fate.” Her eyes shifted to the snow, kicking a toe of her new boot into the hard powder.
Even as I sat on the sopping snow, my skin was burning. I felt an unquenchable fire ignite within me, full of my rage.
“How could he do this to me?” I was angry, and I hated the sullen whine of the voice that came out of me. “I fed him. For five years I fed him. Put food on his own table. I sold my pelts to get his medicine. I rubbed his shoulders when his back seized up.” The words felt like ash in my mouth. Not even the cold of this solstice night could freeze them, stop them from spilling out. “And he…gave me away. Like it was his decision to make. He didn’t even tell me. He didn’t even ask.”
A shrug of Nesta’s shoulders. Infuriating, calculating. “At least Charles is young,” she said into the cold air. “Father just introduced me to Lord Rochester. He must be sixty if he’s a day. A widower, with bad breath and fat fingers and three children older than me.”
I regarded my sister. She had never told me anything like this before, with her voice sad and clear.
“I know it’s vain,” Nesta said, fisting her skirts tighter in her hand, “but I always wanted a handsome husband.” Her eyes seemed very far away. “Someone strong. Someone…worthy of me. Who could match me. That’s what mother used to say.”
I realized that as much as I had wanted peace and a family for both of my sisters, I had never really asked them what they wanted. And here was Nesta, raised to entice royal and rich men alike, now hoping for nothing more than some bare comforts and the dream of a dashing young husband she might never have.
She shrugged. “Maybe you’ll find some peace here, Feyre. Be safe, taken care of. Maybe even happy, some day.” I knew that Nesta spoke of her wishes for herself.
“And,” she said with another careless shrug, “if not, you can lure him out into the woods. Push him off a cliff. Just be smart, and make it look like an accident.”
A laugh punched out of me, quick and unexpected, Nesta raising an eyebrow at the sound.
Deep down, I knew my sister wasn’t joking.
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another-lost-mc · 4 months
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which of your OCs most likely to (accidentally) break the no kiss rule...? (If they’re in a fwb sort of relationship with mc but maybe secretly have feeling for them)
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I think demons and angels would be confused about such a rule. Kink and relationship negotiations? Sure, those make sense. But no kissing?
NSFW under the cut.
The angels who’ve never heard such a request before might want an explanation or reason for why such a simple act is disallowed. (Metatron is taking notes as if it’s some cultural revelation, by the way, so hopefully you can articulate the reasons in excruciating detail for him.)
The demons are just as baffled by the rule. Some of them are a bit more incredulous when they ask you about it.
“So, you want me to split you open with my cock or choke you with it on the regular, but kissing is where you draw the line? Really?”
Of course, they’re all horny and eager to get their hands on you so they’ll agree to your terms - even the stupid ones - and assume you'll change your mind eventually. Most of them don't think they'll break first (and of course, some of them are proven wrong).
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BREAKS THE RULE
AZRA: He’s passionate by nature and even with casual partners, he can’t stop himself from kissing them. The “no kiss rule” wasn’t his idea, but he agreed to it anyway. When his feelings deepen, he’s the first one tempted to break the rule — what kind of human nonsense is that, anyway?
TENEBRIS: Similar to Azra, physical intimacy is one of the main ways he expresses his romantic feelings and desire for someone. If he catches feels and finds himself tempted to break the rule, he’s more likely to call off the arrangement entirely than to torment himself with the hope of more if he’s not sure MC returns his feelings.
BELIAL: Acts like he doesn't care about the rule at all. That's perfectly fine with him - he’ll kiss you everywhere except your mouth. When his feelings grow more intense over time, so do the little kisses and nibbles and scrapes of teeth that he lavishes your body with, everywhere except those tempting lips of yours. If you ask him to kiss you properly, he’ll scold you - with the most insincere pout he can muster - and remind you that this was your one stipulation all along. He's just doing what you requested from the start. Perhaps if you’re brave enough to tell him why you changed your mind, he’ll reward you with the proper kiss you both want so desperately.
METATRON: He’s never had a partner that didn’t want to be kissed, and he is very affectionate. Not only is he tempted to break the rule almost from the start, he’s probably the first one to break it outright. He’ll feel bad if he does because the last thing he wants to do is make you think he doesn’t care about your wishes.
DOESN’T BREAK THE RULE
SERAPHIEL: He’s not as impulsive as Metatron or Azra. He’s disciplined and if he agrees to do something - or to not do something, in this case - he can easily oblige. If he finds himself struggling with the temptation to kiss you, he’ll bring it up and discuss whether that part of your arrangement is flexible.
WON’T AGREE TO A FWB ARRANGEMENT
ZEE: He doesn’t like mixing business and pleasure, especially not when the potential arrangement comes with all sorts of arbitrary rules or requests attached. He’s not so desperate that he would agree to something like that, not when he literally has his pick of any demon (or witch/sorcerer) that visits the club anytime he feels a little pent up. ***Pretending he did: he would not break the rule.
KARASU: He doesn’t engage in casual sex. It’s not something he likes or wants and it bothers him that someone would want his body or casual company but not want him for more than that. ***Pretending he did: he would probably break the rule fastest out of all the OCs.
GABRIEL & URIEL: They’re not interested in casual partners, whether they share someone together or see someone separately. ***Pretending they did: Neither of them would break the rule, but Uriel would struggle more than Gabriel.
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empressgeekt · 18 days
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I like JD in the JD Returns au. One big thing about how JD in the movie acted that always bothered me is that we're supposed to expect he believed Branch was dead this entire time and only learned he'd survived when he heard the news about the Rockapocalypse. Yet in the movie, he doesn't act at all like a person who is seeing a sibling they believed was dead for the first time. Branch, for his part, seems to forgive his brother's way too easily, considering a major part of his trauma stems from them abandoning him. I get that it's a cash grab franchise, but c'mon, at least put some effort into the main conflict you're advertising.
The way you describe him in JD Returns seems a lot more natural and more accurate. JD's change of heart comes from the result of a series of major wake-up calls, one after another. All of them centered around the brother who was hurt the most by them leaving. First he is hit by the fact that something bad had happened and his siblings were most likely dead, then he discovered one of them is alive but wants nothing to do with him and is a traumatized single parent that the village is treating as an outcast at that! Once he finally gets to the point, Branch isn't just shutting him out, he gets to see Branch nearly die on multiple occasions, one time leaving him permanently scarred and disabled with the loss of his eye. Basically, by the time TBT happens, JD hadn't been hit with the reality stick. He'd been completely pummeled by it on multiple occasions!
To the point that by the time he reunited with his other brothers, I'm almost certain he's a completely different troll than who he was before
Honestly my major issues with the movie is that, it felt a little rushed, and Branch did not get the apology he was owed, but Trolls is a franchise that is mostly for kids. Besides if they dug into all the dramatic stuff, fanfic writers wouldn't have a job!
I'm glad I make it realistic, I strive for good quality and character interactions. And you can only beat someone down so many times before they change. John Dory has changed Tactics and with Branch reciprocating his good behavior is rewarded.
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blazehedgehog · 1 month
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How is progress on your Ghostbusters RPG?
Almost dead, unfortunately. I think about it from time to time but I haven't done any meaningful code work since my Mom died. At some point in the last year I decided I'd write out the entire game script, since I was coalescing around a story idea.
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With making an RPG in Clickteam Fusion, planning ahead is your best friend, so knowing every story beat ahead of time would give me a clearer picture of what needed to be coded on the back end.
But naturally, the opening to the game is going to be the most text heavy, outside of the ending. I wrote about three chapters, encapsulating a teaser and a recap of how the original Ghostbusters ended, and have been too distracted with other things to write more.
The general gameplay flow I was gravitating towards was something like Metal Max. Not long after starting this GB fangame, I watched somebody stream all of Metal Max NES and the bounty system in that was really interesting. Basically, over the course of the story, you'll hear rumors about special creatures and bandits roaming around the overworld, and if you can kill them, you earn a big reward by turning in the bounty.
If you ignore bounties, it cuts the gameplay length in half and you lose out a lot of level ups and gear. Taking/ignoring bounties almost ends up being kind of a difficult selector. Like doing a three heart run in Zelda.
For a Ghostbusters RPG, all of this just made sense, and it'd make it easy to reuse areas. You get calls about ghosts to catch, and you can either go catch the ghost (your bounty) or you can follow the story. Maybe the bounty is along the way to the next story event, maybe it's in a previous dungeon. It's up to you where you go.
I dunno if the game will ever get finished, but I'll let you peek on what I'd decided story-wise:
So it bothers me that a lot of recent Ghostbusters movies are kind of hero worship. Ghostbusters Afterlife is all about how these four guys were total legends that saved the world, and what a tragedy it is that they've been forgotten. "omg you kids don't know who the ghostbusters were? let me, paul rudd, educate you on the coolest, strongest and most epic titans to ever dress like sweaty service industry workers."
That's dumb. The Ghostbusters are working joes. They stumbled into this job, and saved the world kind of by accident. They are barely heroes and could have ended all life on earth as we know it just as easily. They just wanted a paycheck and were looking for a niche to fill.
And in the wider view of producing the first Ghostbusters movie itself, that too was kind of an accident. The movie got rammed through production, the script was an unfinished mess so they adlibbed a lot of it, and basically nobody expected it to do as well as it did. It is the very definition of lightning in a bottle, and it hasn't really been replicated.
So I wanted to push in on that. These guys aren't looking to save the world. They aren't actually that strong or cool. They don't have a sense of duty. They're just regular people, and they can (and do) make mistakes.
When Egon says crossing the streams is like "all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light", I imagine that means it's more than just a really big explosion. Ray calls it "total protonic reversal", which makes it sound more like the creation of a black hole, or something.
When the Ghostbusters crossed the streams and directed that into the doorway to Gozer's world, in my story, they effectively collapsed an entire dimension. Erased it, and whatever it inhabited.
I wanted there to be consequences for that. It was an impulsive action they made out of desperation to save themselves, and though it worked in the short term (sealing the door, almost certainly killing Gozer) I wanted there to be much worse long term consequences. They more or less punched a hole in reality, and there's really only two things that happen with holes:
They get bigger and deeper
They get filled in with debris
Ultimately I wanted to say that when the Ghostbusters crossed the streams, it was a mistake. They didn't know any better. They were messing with forces vastly beyond their comprehension. And the thrust of the game would be them figuring out what they did wrong and trying to come up with a plan to do a better job at fixing it.
But they don't know if they can do it. What happened with Gozer was a happy accident (that turned out to be not so happy). The scale of this problem literally dwarfs them. They are so small that they are barely even specks of dust. This is a supernaturally cosmic issue.
To me, The Ghostbusters are screw-ups that were in the right place at the right time and did the wrong thing. But not maliciously, just ignorantly. And the decision to take responsibility for that mistake is the grease that turns the gears of the narrative.
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swashbucklery · 9 months
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For your fanfic writer asks! 1, 3, and 9. Because I like your squidgy heart!!
What’s something new that you tried in a fic this year? How did it turn out and would you do it again?
Hmm, I think the thing that I did the most for the first time this year was - how do you put it, playing with other people's toys. I've done writing collaborations and cowriting before, and with the right cowriter I find it a truly magical process every time, but it's usually come from a place of the two of us spitballing about a common universe or premise and generating it collaboratively. This year was the first time I tried writing in other people's worlds where the other writer had done the building and premise-setting and I was given kind permission to step in and riff on it or write a divergence from it.
I think I did this the most with your AU worlds, with my NCI tie-in fics ((307) temporary redirect and (208) already reported) , and obviously Kinkverse with The Pieces and The Discovery, as well as if this room was burning (i wouldn't even notice)
It was a tremendously fun thing to do, that was - like quite nerve-wracking, because it takes a lot of bravery to write an AU and then a lot of trust to let someone else play in that little private world, and I always worry about doing justice to that world and treating it kindly and respectfully. But the rewards were so, so lovely. With the right writing friends, absolutely I'd do it again.
2. What’s something you learned about yourself as a writer?
I think - I didn't learn a lot that was new about my writing process specifically, but this year was really about re-awakening and re-affirming things that I knew worked for me before, that I hadn't been able to access. I write best writing whatever my capricious little heart wants, and I write best and most happily leaning into the weird nooks and crannies of my creativity. Having creative spaces where indulging in this found me like-minded people and community was a beautiful gift, and that combined with dialing down on the work pressures of the pandemic helped my words to flow so much more easily.
3. What fic meant the most to you to write?
Oh, hands down hands down over salt sea and flowerdeep fields and the whole ensuing OT3verse.
So like. Not to get Too Real or Too Personal but also that's kind of the point, I was Essential, Like So Fucking Essential, from March 2020 to - like I'm still in that essential job and the pressures that existed in 2020-23 are ever-present so I don't want to use past tense but also if I mention my work people appear to like, complain about their own personal and entirely unrelated bugbears and I don't want that but basically: it sucked. I am sure many non-essential people also had shitty times but I had a shitty time that was quite specific and isolating and I hope that 2024 is the year society reckons with that. And I achieved new tiers of life stress, tiers I did not know existed. I felt stress and then unlocked the secret back door of stress, transcended into Ultra Stress and that's something that can't *not* be transformative, despite all the coping strategies in the universe.
Late 2022 for me was the year of finally having enough breathing room to be like, okay, how can I claw back my personhood from this weird merging of personhood and occupation and societal role obligation and isolation that has flattened my entire life. So there was a lot of life stuff that I did as part of that, but the one result was that I had brain space to actually consume pop culture again. I joke a lot that I'm still at 2020, pop culture wise, and I think I will be for a while still, but - I had time, and I watched Willow. And it was the perfect combination of like. Right show, right story, right characters, and my heart having room to love stories in the way I used to love stories, before all of that happened to me. And the thing that it unlocked, specifically, was - the idea of the grand quest, and the richness that would be in the journey home. The idea of a journey home as a way of giving these characters a soft ending, and having it parallel the soft ending that I was cultivating for myself, and suddenly having that burning need to write a big fucking story. But, more critically, having room in my life that I actually could put that big fucking story to words. I thought salt sea would be maybe 10k, and I was a little overwhelmed about whether I could write something that long after a long break in writing longfic, but I kept plotting, and I taught myself scrivener to organize my thoughts, and every day I wrote a little bit and every day I remembered how much I loved storytelling, and writing, and diving into fantasy worlds. And every day this story got bigger and more mine and more complex and I reached out to fandom friends to ask for cheerleading and they were wonderful and gracious to me and then when I finally posted it, new people were curious and interested and that felt like a miracle. That story is a little slice of my heart, and getting it out there and completed and going on that journey was I think the most important thing about it. But the fact that now I've written even more in that world, that other people are curious and excited and pleased to hear about that world with me, is a gift that I can hardly express all of my gratitude for.
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bumblebeehug · 1 year
Text
Endless Devotion
Ship: Natsu Dragneel x Lucy Heartfilia Summary: Natsu spends the morning preparing something important. Day 1 of Nalu Week 2023 - prompt: anniversary Ao3
***
The morning air was cool and tranquil as Natsu began his day. He was up early, tripping around carefully to not wake up Happy who still peacefully slept in his miniature hammock, like the one Natsu extensively used. Usually, they both slept in Lucy’s apartment, but since Lucy hosted girls’ night last night, Natsu had been temporarily kicked out. Girls’ night was no joke for the Fairy Tail girls; they planned elaborate games and picked food and movies as if their lives depended on it. Early in their relationship, Natsu and Happy had hung around on her roof (with Lucy’s permission of course, he didn’t really care about spying on a bunch of women gossiping for hours, but he liked staying close to her, and still do to be frank) and overheard the most elaborate, detailed discussion on whether the shop clerk two blocks over had finally gotten his hands on the gift to his wife, or if the nearby elementary school teacher had gotten a new haircut to impress the new substitute teacher. Really, he had found out that they could talk forever about anything and everything, and after that he figured that it was easier to just let them do their thing. He had always liked seeing Lucy have fun with her friends - especially when he knew that she still liked him the best.
The girls’ night might have been the cause of what made him sleep at home, alone, but today he would get to have Lucy completely for himself. It was their two-year anniversary, and Natsu had the entire day planned. Even though he hated to wake up early in the morning, he had already washed up and grabbed a cup of coffee. The day had to be perfect, especially since they hadn’t seen each other since yesterday morning, which was a longer time apart than they usually spent.
To start their anniversary, he wanted to cook Lucy some breakfast, cue his early morning. He knew what time Lucy usually got up, and since she’d no doubt been up late yesterday, there was no worries about her getting up earlier than usual to get ready for the day herself. That way he could easily sneak in and make her a hearty breakfast, and as she would get ready for the dates afterwards, he had plenty of time to prepare for the next part of his arrangements.
His train of thought got briefly interrupted as he heard Happy stir in his bed beside his own hammock. The poor exceed had been plagued for days with Natsu’s never-ending planning and had gotten his sleep schedule all messed up.
“What time is it?” He groggily asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“Sorry buddy, it’s still really early. Was just thinking I’d do some dishes while I wait for the coffee to brew. I’m not used to the slipperiness though…” Even while trying his best, Natsu struggled to keep his voice down. His heart was beating fast, and he looked forward to spending the day with his girlfriend. It was almost like he was reliving how things were two years back, when every day made him a nervous wreck before he saw Lucy’s face. Though now he wasn’t particularly nervous – just excited and giddy.
“Well hurry up and get used to it, I want my dream back,” the blue cat muttered.
“What did you dream about?”
“It was the best dream I’ve ever had,” Happy began, “I had just saved the kingdom from a huge, mean dog, and when I say it was huge, I mean gigantic, and so the princess, who actually was Carla and not Princess Hisui, gave me unlimited fish and her hand in marriage in reward.”
“Sounds like a pretty awesome dream,” Natsu smiled, giving his back a supportive pat. “I can’t promise Carla’s hand in marriage or unlimited fish, but I went by the market yesterday and picked up some fresh salmon if you’re hungry. I’m leaving in 10 minutes, and I probably won’t be back until tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I know, the date stuff. I’m sleeping over with Carla and Wendy tonight either way, they promised I get to choose which board games we play after dinner. Tell Lucy I said hi.”
“Sure will.”
Things had become different when Natsu and Lucy started dating. Of course, there was the obvious stuff – the kissing, the PDA, (the sex), but Natsu hadn’t anticipated how little time he would get with his other friends. He didn’t mind it of course, he was often the one who glued himself to Lucy’s side, so naturally there would be less one-on-one time with other members of the guild, but it was a change, nevertheless. Happy was the main guy who made him realise this change - see, before Natsu and Lucy got official, there was nothing stopping him from hanging around all the time. The three of them were as tight as any trio could be - they all had the same inside jokes, they shared every secret about themselves, embarrassing and emotional alike, and they always kept together. As soon as Natsu and Lucy’s relationship truly fell in place, however, they couldn’t share everything with each other anymore. Mainly because Happy was completely uninterested in what they were doing whenever he wasn’t there, (the deed, usually), but also because whether they liked it or not, a romantic relationship changed the dynamics in their friend group.
The teasing between the three of them never stopped, but it changed. Natsu no longer had the ability within himself to take jokes a notch too far - he simply didn’t like seeing Lucy getting more upset than necessary, and so it mellowed out.
For Natsu, the rest of his friendships changed as well, though mostly it was a better change. He had gotten closer to Gajeel and Gray, who he now could relate more to. Who knew endless hair shedding was universal? And for once he understood all the weird things Gildarts had been talking about (dirty old man).
Either way, life had gotten way more fun now that Lucy Heartfilia was in every part of it, and today he intended to show her just how much he appreciates her in his life. So, as previously mentioned, he had planned the perfect breakfast and chill morning. He knew how Lucy loved getting ready – she often preferred those times over the actual outing, since she gave herself all the love and attention she craved for a good day. Well, Natsu could easily do that himself, but he knew that she liked giving herself that time.
After she would be finished getting ready, she would probably wear way too uncomfortable shoes to walk any long distances, and given that most beautiful sceneries were quite far away (and Natsu refused to get motion sick on one of the best days of his life) he’d planned to first take her to a bookstore so she could browse the shelves, maybe she would overhear someone complimenting her book (“maybe” as in definitely – he had pulled some strings to make it happen), and as the time would go by she would find herself getting hungry. They’d then buy a simpler lunch and sit by the cherry blossom tree Natsu once dug up for her, and they’d just talk and have a nice time. Then the plan was to walk by the canal, still not exercising like crazy, and they’d stop buy some markets and Natsu could buy some small souvenirs or other types of jewellery, and then, after all that, they’d be just in time for Natsu’s restaurant reservation. It was one of those more expensive places – the type of place Natsu usually couldn’t stand being in due to the uncomfortable atmosphere. He had, however, been there recently to try out their food (planning ahead and all), and the waiters were surprisingly okay with his manners, or lack thereof. So, after a great dinner, he planned to give Lucy the anniversary gift he had bought; a necklace with a thin, golden chain, with two small charms, one being a star with a diamond in the middle, and the other being a small flame. From a distance it just looked like an ordinary cute necklace, but looking closer there would be proof that Lucy (who was symbolised by the star of course) and Natsu (the flame) belonged on Lucy’s neck, close to her heart. Then the night would end with stargazing and maybe sex if the stars were in his favour.
Well, that was the plan anyways. He knew that executing it would be a different story, since despite making them simple, plans never worked out as, well, planned. He could always try his best though, and he certainly intended to. He checked himself one last time in the dirty mirror by the front door. His clothes were clean and tidy, not a wrinkle in sight on his pants, his hair was as tamed as it could be, and he had a clean face. He made sure his gift laid safe and secure in his pocket, grabbed his bag with breakfast food, and headed out the door, heart beating rhythmically against his ribcage. He was so excited to give the love of his life the perfect date. Maybe next time, he’d have the courage to stand on one knee and ask her to marry him – but for now, what they had was perfect.
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Note
I can make a request where Jennie Kim and the reader of the neutral genre play video games together at night, so they make a bet of the winner wins a series of kisses (the reader and Jennie already date and the reader loses).
The bet
Blackpink scenario: Jennie and Reader making a bet while playing videogames
Requests are open
Hello Anon! This idea is so cute, thank you for sharing it with me and the readers. Have a great day and I hope you enjoy it ❤️
Blackpink Jennie X GN!Reader
Genre: fluff
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In our life we need an hobby to spend time and relax. Some people like to go fishing, other people prefer to read, ecc. Your passion was playing games, even better if the games are retrò. In fact you have in your house a room dedicated to the gaming, full of consoles, old and new. That was your oasis of peace.
Your girlfriend, Jennie, from the first time that came to visit you, was intrigued by that room. Maybe it was for the colors, maybe for the sounds, but there was something that make pleasant for her to spend time in that room, especially if you were with her, explaining the story of every games and console you had.
On other hand you were very enthusiastic that you girlfriend were really into your passion. In this way you could have spent many hours doing the thing you like the most with the person you love the most.
One night though Jennie was not very thrilled about spending her time in the games room, probably because she would have preferred to be cuddled in the bed with you. So, suddendly she had an idea: she would have obtained the love she wanted beating you in your own territory.
"Y/N, what are you doing?" "I'm finishing this mission, babe, why?" "Tsk, that's typical, you are good only playing solo"
She just threw down the gauntlet. How dare she challenge you in that way? You were the one who introduced her to this world. You were the one who taught her how to play. You were the one who make it possibile for her to play so many rare games. It was too much for your nerd honor.
"That's it! Choose the game and the mode! Even the reward if you want. I will kick you ass, babe" you said to her, ready to get ti action.
A devilish smirk appeared on her face. She knew that you just dug your own grave with those words. Maybe you were a player for the longest time, but she was an ace in one game. Even you must have remembered about this fact, because you were pale all of sudden.
"Good! So I choose Super Smash Bros. Best two games out of three. The winner gets a series of kisses. These are my conditions" she said With the face of one who had victory in her pocket.
Now you were sweating. She was excellent at that game. Probably she was at your same level, if not upon you. But your honor was at risk, you couldn't take it back. So you took a deep breath and went to turn on your switch.
You took as your PG Cloud, from the Final Fantasy saga, instead she took your nightmare... Pikachu. She was too damn good with that character. You began the first match and in two minutes you won. You rejoiced, but when you turn towards her, you saw her smiling peacefully.
"Can I start now, my love?" she asked you with a wry smile.
You thought about a bluff, but in after starting the second game, she has pulled out a combo and you were not ready. She got the win in few seconds.
You were petrified. She played you like you was a newbie. You knew that your girlfriend could have showed some surprises, but this was another level. However you were not defeated yet. You were the pro player in that room, and you wouldn't have been defeated so easily, or at least it's what you thought.
The last match was in progress for few minutes and slowly you were having the best of her, when she did a dirty move. You were attacking when she kissed you suddendly. The soft lips of Jennie and the tongue in your mouth made you lose concentration. That was the moment she won the game and the entire challenge.
"You! That's cheating, I want the remat-"
Your words were silenced by another kiss of Jennie. She straddled over you and looked straight in your eyes from close up.
"Y/N, now you have two choices: stay here alone and talking with the wall about your loss or follow me in the bedroom and give me the kisses I deserve. What do you choose, love?" she asked you and then started walking away.
You had no words, only flustered cheeks. You stayed still for a minute and then you rushed in the bedroom, where you find Jennie. Her smile showing her tongue between her teeth.
"Here you are, sweeti-" she tried to say.
But this time it was her time to be interrupted by your kisses. After all they were her recompense. And in fact she wasn't complaining, instead put her arms and legs around your body to stay more closer to you. And the night went on for hours between kisses and cuddle.
Never losing a bet felt so good.
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