#and so many of these games run on potato computers too which is such a w for indie games honestly

[insane-control-room]

Some things are meant to be remembered; for the right reasons.

i've posted this review on steam, but i think that i want to say it here, too.

Here is my review of the 'promotional' material (according to steam) Secrets of the Machine

What I liked: the art appeared to be a true return to form; the style had its original charm with updated lighting techniques and slightly better optimization than previous games in the Bendy series. The audio design was also nice, with good ambiance and nice composition.

And now, the jank.

The game handles reasonably well; but it is clearly slapdashed together and is missing important components. There is no starting menu. There are no loading screens; and it is very jarring. There are no options in the game menu - you cannot minimize the game, you cannot brighten the game, you cannot make the game run any better on your computer, and it is incredibly laggy. If you have a potato laptop? Nah, get out. No game for you. There are no subtitles that you can enable, and voices are very muffled. Additionally, the game is very dark, and as mentioned, you cannot adjust that in the settings of the game, nor in steam settings. You have to do so from your computer.

Controls are extremely janky, as you cannot run, you cannot jump, and there is no indication for interaction with any objects. There are no control settings for remapping, and you cannot even see which keys do what.

Puzzles are boring and confusing; with no guidance. There were no hints, no rhyme or reason. There was more puzzle in the BATIM chapter 1 demo release. This thing is very confusing, especially when you cannot see anything at all. You will spend a long time walking back and forth between two rooms, wondering how you can progress, because you've done everything you could: you smashed cutouts; you hit targets; you opened and closed hands; you found posters for future games, but nothing that could move forward the one you were playing at the time. If you look at the community page, you will see that most people simply spent their time clicking on the soup can dispenser to see how many cans they could get.

If you have epilepsy, nah get out. Oh? I didn't mention the flashing lights? Well the developers did not either. Not only did they not mention the flashing lights, not in the game nor in steam, but they included TWO car crashes without warning - one audio based, and another that was directed at players. This is not only rude, but it is dangerous. Warnings exist so that people can make educated choices whether or not to interact with content that may be sensitive to them. Warn people appropriately. This 'game' did not take any measure to protect its players. There are many instances of sudden loud noises, flashing lights, and jarring location switches (not to mention the car crashes).

The story was lacking, and has nothing to do with the puzzles that a player is faced with. It feels like three disjointed tracks, and none of them align, all of them crashing together in a discordant, unsatisfying, confusing mess. It brought in more new characters that had nothing to do with the original story nor interested players, and had content that went against previously established material. It was (as you can tell, from a writer's perspective) a bad story.

It was less of a demo, less of a playable trailer, more like a tech demo with a few morsels for fans to pick apart and wish there was more of, wish there was more effort put into, wish there was more love and care for them, the players who arguably were the foundation of this game. There were teasers for games that, honestly, lacked the soul that the very first game had, and here's a point to prove it: there was an easter egg that if you clicked something 414 times (very funny.) it would rise in the air and then fall down without further ado. In the game files, the name for that sound effect? Sting. Yeah. It did. Games are a collaborative work; between the creators and the players. Blatant disregard and flippancy towards half of the collaboration is not acceptable behavior. This is a development team that mocks those who once loved them most, those who poured over their coding and carefully crafted world to marvel at what they had made, and coaxed in others with the rich promise of a delightful story that anyone could engage with on any level. The spite the creators have shown for the individuals who, essentially, had given rise to their stature in the first place, is painful.

Finally, by the time that I got a chance to sit down and actually play the game- I personally could not. The developers, by constantly updating a clearly unfinished game, had made their final update - that of a wood board blocking the actual place where gameplay takes place. You cannot go to any of the places shown in the screenshots, because the game is locked on the opening area. I've seen many people complaining of it; hoping that they can play the game.

Now, in the fashion we've seen common of JDS, they have rescinded their terrible design choice - but without notifying players that it is now possible to play the game; without telling players that this was purposeful; without telling players anything aside from a big old screw you. It is entirely possible that the only reason they put the game back into a playable state was the torrent of negative reviews that spawned after their. interesting. choice. regardless, those who care about their playerbase would have informed those who complained that it was a temporary gesture for storytelling reasons. They, however, did not, and there are a multitude of reviews marking the game as unplayable.

No matter what, the bottom line is this: This is not okay.

I'm not sure how much more eloquently I can put the fact that I'm heartbroken. This game, unlike any other, shows how much scorn that a developer can have for their own fans and playerbase. I am glad that there are people who enjoyed it, but I wonder - what did you really like about it?

Is it the memories?

[floralcrematorium]

Organizing Hetalia Characters Into Arbitrary Categories: Games In My Steam Library

Italy: Placid Plastic Duck Simulator Cute plastic ducks that you can name???? He's sold, even if they don't do anything Germany: Cities Skylines He owns all of the DLC and miraculously doesn't run into traffic issues like every other player does. With how organized this man is you CANNOT convince me that this dream isn't a dream come true for him. He will spend over an hour going through and making sure all of the traffic light nodes are correct and he spends time thinking about optimization. He might be a little overly invested in his city, though Japan: Plants vs. Zombies or Undertale Japan gives me completionist kinda vibes and I think he would like games that have multiple routes you can take. I thought Plants vs. Zombies because you have to play through the main story several times if you want to get all of the achievements and that's on top of the series of mini-games that exist. As for Undertale, I think having the three different game modes would be fun for him, on top of the millions of easter eggs Toby Fox has hidden throughout the game. I could also see him really liking Portal, but I've already given that to someone else America: Outlast I don't know what you want me to say, I think this one speaks for itself. He's also giving me Portal vibes but I don't think he has the patience for some of the puzzles England: Overcooked! 2 Man can't cook in real life. This also translates to video games. I would like to think that he's gotten decently far into the game, but I'm gonna say he's stuck at level 4-3 because so far that level seem impossible in single player France: Unpacking This man is canonically afraid of computers. I don't know what he would play, so he gets Unpacking. I think he would like the sentimentality of the narrative at least Russia: The Sims 3 or Unturned Sims 3 because I see this man spending far too long planning out families and being devastated when they die. He also refused to upgrade to The Sims 4 when it came out and still holds this grudge (and because I have TS4 on origin not steam lol). Unturned for so many reasons. I think he likes a healthy balance between calmer games and combat games; Unturned isn't a combat game per say, but playing in PVE servers in like 2018 was a nightmare. Man has no fear either, so he's much more willing to take on the roblox-reject looking mega zombies than I ever will be China: Stardew Valley There's so much you can do in this game and I think the variety in content and the art style are what appeal to him most. I think he would like caring for the animals most of all, which couldn't be me, so kudos to him. Don't ask me who his choice in bachelor/bachelorette is because I don't know. I'm not even sure if he would care to befriend many of the NPCs save for Shane for the blue chickens Prussia: Star Wars: Battlefront II I don't have a real reason for this other than Prussia's simultaneously a huge dork and also one of the worst people to be in VC with. He thinks the desktop version of this game sucks, though, and misses the PS2 version (me too) Canada: Portal You can't change my mind on this one. GLaDOS is his favorite once she gets turned into a potato. Also he deserves to have a companion cube plush (it's very fun to throw at people, speaking from experience). He has the patience for puzzle games and I think it's more suited for him than America

[proxyedgy]

Thoughts on uni two

It's UNIB... two!! (complimentary) (can't ever have enough of a good thing)

Unfortunately my pc is a potato, it only runs on my partner's computer so I haven't played it much. But I'm enjoying it a lot, it's smooth and fun and I'm glad they added the dodge mechanic! Also Carmine got to keep his grab at the end of his Medium>Medium>Medium combo like he had on Cross Tag Battle which is just wonderful thank you to all devs involved in this decision <3

Can't believe they fixed the sound mixing though! Shame (joking) (although I find that UNIB's weird sound mixing has its charm)

Also I convinced my partner (who didn't like UNIB) to play a few matches with me today because he owned me playtime and the moment he saw Tsurugi he exclaimed "BIG SHIELD! This is the best!" and proceeded to add "This is the best game ever also I should be allowed to negate chip damage when I'm defending because Big Shield" as we played. and I think that's beautiful.

As for now I've finished Byakuya, Londrekia and Carmine's arcades (gotta prioritize my faves) and they're okay. I wished we got more interactions, though. It's just two meetings and then the final boss, that's not nearly enough text for me to chew on. We don't even get post-fight cutscenes it's so sad (maybe Blazblue just spoiled me too much I know there weren't post-fight cutscenes in the original UNIB either)

Also something I found just oh so neat is how we can unlock the winning quotes and rewatch them on the gallery? And not only it shows the ones how many are still locked (and there are so many wow!) but for the character-specific ones the game even tells you which characters you have to fight to unlock it. It's such a small thing but I really liked it. Like, some of them have very random groups of characters and it really makes me wanna find out what the hell Carmine would say that applies to all of them (yes this is all about him Mine-chan is the only one there is I love love love him, my beautiful rambunctious young man boy)

Thank you for asking <3

[vespertine-legacy]

16, 18, 20 and 22 from SWTOR player asks? (I wanted to send those days ago, but my evil brain forgot to do the thing)

No worries. Thank you for the ask, Pauletta <3

16. Do you have a favorite Flashpoint or operation? A least favorite?

I enjoy Cademimu (especially on stealth with the appropriate crew skills to do the shortcuts and stuff), mostly for mocking the boss - “I fought in the war you piece of trash!” ok, and? I think Athiss and Red Reaper are pretty fun, not too difficult, more fun for me on a stealther. It's actually been a while since I've done too many flashpoints, because I've had some less-than-stellar groupfinder groups, but I'd love to get back into them if my computer can behave.

As far as operations, I’m always a slut for Dread Fortress/Dread Palace. Not just because of my unhealthy obsession with the Dread Masters, but also because I like the fights. They’re fun for me to heal (either HM, or if I’m solohealing SM with my guildmates and we do stupid shit), and I like dps-ing because I actually feel useful on all of the fights since I know them well and there aren’t places I get lost/confused (and because if we're doing a guild funrun, I get to do absolutely stupid shit and give the healer a heart attack). One day I’ll get my nim Brontes clears.

18. Which achievement(s) are you most proud of?

I was really proud of each of my HM Gods clears, even though I didn’t get to clear Izax with the rest of my team (the night before 7.0 dropped and I had to work the next morning, so I couldn’t stay on late to pull with them). I'm pretty proud of getting through the Tineback Tamer one on Ruhnuk today, even though it's a silly one, and relatively easy to do, since everything was conspiring against me to not get it lol.

20. What do you most often do while playing? (ex. PVP, FPs, quests, crafting, RP, etc.)

I mostly do dailies or catch some of my toons up on content. I’ve got a few baby toons that I can replay class stories on as well. I used to mostly do operations, but while my computer is being a potato, I'm not as comfortable joining pugs that I might suddenly disconnect from (and they'll think I ragequit) or being active on my prog team and holding them back while they wait for my computer to behave.

22. Of all the in-game events (Relics of the Gree, Rakghoul, Life Day, so on) which do you like the most, and which do you dislike?

Life Day is nice because you get to get hugs. I like Gree because Ilum is pretty (screw the Ilum pvp though, it brings out the worst toxicity in some players for some reason), and the Grey Secant stuff is fun - my guild used to do marathon runs of HM Xeno to try for the Red Sphere mount, but hasn't done it as much post-7.0. I dislike Rakghoul Week just because people are so annoying about it on Fleet sometimes, even though the event itself can be fun, and the dailies are easy enough (even if some of them are broken as hell).

[tau1tvec]

hi! i love your blog so much and all the games you play always look so fun through your pictures! i wanted to buy cyberpunk 2077 but i'm hesitant because i've heard mixed reviews on it and it's pretty expensive. i would like to know your thoughts on it if you don't mind sharing them since i really respect you as a gamer! <3

Oh wow, ty.

I'm kinda finicky about which games I play tho, mostly bc I'm limited on time these days, but also bc they are indeed way to expensive, esp in this economy.

So I find I tend to play games that are more... versatile? Like, I can get plenty of hours, and uses out of it I guess, and luckily Cyberpunk 2077 mostly scratches that itch, and by mostly I mean... eh, it has it's downsides, so I'll go through those below.

Quality

Well it's gorgeous, so it will require a pretty beefy computer to run it, but I was able to play it with a 1060 GTX pretty okay, using the AMD Fidelity thingy in the settings helped a lot with keeping it playable, without losing quality.

Otherwise, as for the quality of the game, and gameplay itself, it has improved drastically since it first launched. The bugs are pretty far and few for me now, even before I got my RTX card, and CDPR has done a pretty swell job adding a lot of the features fans asked for, which is cool.

I still highly suggest that if you do get it, get it on a PC... it's alright to play without Mods, but Mods in general just add much longer life to games, the modding community is also pretty active rn, and so many mods have truly managed to make it the game people wanted it to be from the start.

Gameplay

There are plenty of difficulty options, if this is a concern, and I'm pretty sure you can change the difficulty while playing. The gameplay is simple enough otherwise, as it's FPP at all times, even in cutscenes, so you never see your V, unless you're in Photomode, but there are mods out there to allow you to see your V in third person as well.

I personally enjoy using AMM and a camera mod.

Otherwise the gun combat is stellar, I rather enjoy it, and the stealth is pretty fun esp with the use of your hacking abilities. Learning it all was pretty easy... mostly, it took me some time to figure out how the skill tree worked, but much of it is certainly a lot more straightforward than CDPR's previous titles imo.

Melee combat on the other hand... is... meh, but first person and melee is kind of a tough concept for me to wrap my head around sometimes, lol.

Missions, are a give and take depending which mission it is. The main story missions are gr8, lots of cutscenes, lots of action, lots of twists, but the further you get down the ladder, they tend to get repetitive don't involve a lotta story, or cutscenes, and the characters you meet during them aren't all too memorable, unless you loot the reading material you run across while doing them. Leveling is based on how much you do combat, or hack, so... there are times where I felt like I was just killing random gang members for money and points, then emptying out my inventory... wash, rinse, repeat.

Now as for the other aspects of gameplay, the character creation is okay... like it isn't the best, you can't do much with your V beyond choosing from a set of presets Potato Head Style, but similar to The Sims 4 it's quite easy to make a very pretty V with little to no effort... though it's likely they'll still end up looking like everyone else's. For a more unique looking V however, mods would help.

The world isn't as interactive as it should be either, which in a way I can understand bc it's a pretty big, densely populated, and highly detailed open world, but idk... perhaps Bethesda has spoiled me.

I rather enjoy breaking into people's houses CDPR, tyvm.

Dialogue options are... limited, but it is a voiced protag... the voices are well done tho, and depending on the path you chose at the beginning ( street kid, corpo, etc. ), you will occasionally get options that differ from the others, so this does help a bit with replayability.

Replayability

Now speaking of replayability, I weirdly don't find it as replay friendly as other games, like Skyrim, I guess bc it's a bit more linear, and although you can change how you play, what you say, and how you build your character, the story kinda still pans out the same way really... it's also super short. The main story is anyway, I've literally just been spamming side missions with my Corpo V, bc I'm just not "emotionally" ready to play the final mission, but even though I felt I kinda paced myself, I still somehow got to the end mission waaayyy too quickly, and now I'm running outta side missions to do.

Some of them... luckily, are pretty interesting, and will string you through three or four more missions to complete their own little story, but idk... some felt a bit underwhelming in the end.

Romances

They're cute, but there could've been more. I've romanced Panam and Kerry, and I enjoyed both, and they offered some fun missions leading up to the romantic portion as well so it doesn't feel rushed... sadly not all of the romances are like this. They've got preferences as well, so depending on your V's gender and path, some you'll find are able to be approached, but might not be interested.

There are plenty of other really amazing relationships in the game that aren't romantic too, and that's honestly where this game truly excels. Despite what's going on, it's obvious the core focus of the story is more about the people you meet, and connections you make along the way, so it was really cute watching my Corpo V's interactions with Judy blossom into a very sweet brother/sister type relationship.

Final Word

Honestly if you enjoy roleplaying games, it's a pretty good one, you assume a role, you play it... it's a game ??? Sadly, again, due to the relatively linear story, it still doesn't feel as much like an RPG as it should, esp if your idea of an RPG is more Bethesda or BioWare, and less Final Fantasy.

Now if you've got an imagination however, and plenty of time to download mods it can absolutely scratch that roleplaying itch, but much if it will be in your head, if what the game offers isn't doing it for you.

My suggestion... wait until Black Friday rolls around, and get it on sale.

[soft-boi-eli]

Hello Hello!

I just wanted to say I love your fics!

ALSO!

Could I request a CC!SBI X Gn! Insomniac Reader! Where the reader is an insomniac (Obviously-) but is somehow a pro at MC!

Like they are basically god at the game! They also REALLY enjoy horror games! They don’t get scared easily and LOVE horror movies! They basically love anything horror/creepy-

ANYWAYS!!

The reader lives off of ramen and Monster energy drinks (For fun-)! They have a Twitch (Which has about 18 mil followers and 14 mil subs!) and a YouTube channel (Which has 20 mil followers!)

They mainly play horror games (Obviously-) and MC!

You can do headcanons or scenarios/images with the SBI! Maybe like playing a horror game together or MC? OR! Maybe some things they do together? Or when they meet up? Or-to many ideas Nightmare-

ANYWAYS!

I don’t really care! And don’t worry about taking too long on it!

ALSO!

Maybe we could be friends? Only if you want too!

Remember to eat, drink, and get enough sleep!

<3

Yes. I lovesthese ideas and I'm gonna choose headcannons due to they are a bit easierfor me to write.

And yes I'm perfectly fine with being your friend! I'm actually happy to make friends on this app so yeah!

Pronouns:nonbinary

Tw: cussing. Insomia, mentions of horror movies. Mention of horror games. Fluff.

SBI with a horror streamer friend head cannons.

*Ahem* tommy wanted to paly a game with you so you choose a game that didn't look like horror until the middle. He screamed at the jump scare and it made both of your chats so happy.

When phil decides to play with you there is literally a silence after a jump scare. Everyone thought he had a heart attack and honestly so did you until he spoke up about accidently hitting his mute button when he jumped.

Wilbur. He's a bit better then tommy but more scared then phil would be. Any little noise won't get him but when it starts to get noticeable the noiseless to him. The jump scare, he'd fall out of his seat and stay on the ground for a bit. You ask if he's good and he literally doesn't answer. He's dead. You killed him. Congrats.

Techno. He'd handle them a bit better then everyone else. Not as good as you but heisnt very paranoid. He literally runs at the noises trying to get jumpscared. While you run after him telling him to stop because if he doesn't then you'd lose and die. And technoblade never dies.

If you all play together both tommy and wilbur pussy out. Techno last the longest and phil the second longest. While you remain the ruler of horror games.

Now how you all met was dream invited you to the dream smp to add to the chaos. Needless to say it got extremely chaotic due to you being on almost 24 hours. You first ran into techno. He seemed confused and skeptical.

You both found eachothers love for potatoes. You set up camp quote close to techno but not too close.

Phil popped in when he needed something for a build and noticed a new name. Talked to you in chat and asked to join your VC. You both found each other talking for a bit.

Wilbur was next. Wilbur got curious over the new person and just hoppedinto the same VC as you techno and phil. He was quick to realize that you were a famous youtuber. Mainly for your horror videos and your extreme Parkcore skills.

In minecraft that is.

Tommy noticing that all of you were in the same VC joined in with shouting. He was low key jealous that everyone was obsessed with you. Then he saw why.

You literally cracked jokes at his shouting.

"Is that an angry pomeranian? Nah nah. It's an angry child. Even better an angry blonde!" - you.

He was shocked and immediately started joking and laughing with you. He wasn't fully angry for long.

Now about your diet. When they heard that you had only eaten ramen and drank angry drinks they were concerned. You lived quite close to techno so when you guys met up he was shocked that you looked as healthy as you did.

He hated the fact that you literally didn't eat anything else.

You told him occasionally you have something other then ramen but you were just too lazy to really cook anything and that you didn't feel like burning the house down.

One month phil, tommy, wilbur, and techno decided to organize a month long sleep over so that they could celebrate your birthday. Phil being quote the father figure cooked different, but easy dinners every night just so you didn't eat only ramen that day.

When they actually arrived though you got a text from Phil asking about your address in your dms. Not think much of it you just sent him your location.

You were going to take a small nap. Just to bost your energy before you went and streamed later that night.

As you were sleeping there was a car heading to your house.

Phil, wilbur, tommy, and techno were all just existing in the car. And when they arrived to your house they didn't expect to actually see a clean house.

You woke to a loud knock.

When you opened the door in your half dazed state you expected a package. But to see four people standing on your porch.

You nearly jumped out of your skin.

You were stuck there blinking at them.

Finally snapping out of it you let them in. Confused on why in the ever loving fuck they were here.

Phil explained they were here to celebrate your 21st birthday and they were here for a month.

You stared at them for a while. Confused on what to do since you haven't had people over in almost 2 years.

But you got use to it.

So when you got done streaming and smelled something other then ramen you were thrown off guard. Like what was that. I haven't smelled that in years.

But after the second day you got use to it too.

For your birthday phil literally made a feast.

Like he found your favorite food other then ramen and cooked it. With that he prepared everything you could dream of.

Your sleeping habits. Let's dig into those.

I'm in no place to talk as right now it's 3:05 in the morning. And here I am.

But when they are over they don't let you stay up till no 3-4 in the morning. They all know the importance of sleep.

But there are those nights where no once can sleep and it results in a late night stream. And streaming for hours none the less.

The amount of accidental all nighters everyone has pulled was immense. But that's what happens with jet lag, adhd, and insomnia.

Literally you get tired randomly. Sleep for only 3 hours. Wake up. Drink coffee, energy drinks, highly caffeinated tea. And don't sleep till late at night.

Pillow forts.

It's a must and it happens. Horror movies, pillow forts, and snacks. Like you all are in this massive fort, watching horror movies, one by one you all are falling asleep. You and techno were the last up due to technos active mind and your body not letting you sleep.

You two literally just vide there, changing the movies from horror to some silly animated movies, like how to train your dragon, frozen, Luca, and many others.

You two pull an all nighter and it's actually a bet to see how long anyone else takes to notice.

You bet an hour. Techno says all day.

You won. Philza notices the worse eye bags under both you and technos eyes and immediately starts scolding.

He is papa bird and he won't let anyone of his children neglect their needs.

"Did you even drink water at all? You guys should of been sleeping not binge watching horror movies all night!" -philza

You could only offer a smirk, along with a laugh.

"I think we did I just can't fully remember. Also we were watching animated films. Not horror. Surprised you didn't wake up to let it go." - you.

You turn to techno.

"You owe me 15 bucks pig boy!"-you again.

Handing you the money he rolls his eyes. "Yeha yeah. Rub it in." -techno.

Ah yeah they found a horror game that you were scared of surprisingly. It was actually surprisingly you hadn't played it yet.

Outlast.

You had been holding off that game until you finished your other one but here you were. Bored out of your mind.

So you decided fuck it.

That game teriffed the shit out of you. It was so good though.

When you screamed they all came rushing up due to the fact that you never scream.

They say you out of your chair, on the floor, blinking. They thought you were hurt.

But you sat up and looked at your computer.

"Damn. That was actually really good." When you looked behind you and found the boys all staring you smiled and waved.

"You need something?"-you

"You screamed. We heard a thud. We thought you fuckin died!" -tommy.

"No I'm alive. My soul almost divorced my body but it's still quite here."-you

That day made highlights.

The popular y/n actually got jump scared. The one person who never screamed at horror games screamed.

When they left you were sad yes but they were still your best friends. Ready to talk when ever you want.

Sometimes I think that you guys talk all through out the night. Them forgetting that you were actually in a different time zone.

Sometimes they pop into your streams, be it MC, horror, you just talking to your fans, or even the once in the blue moon, cheerful games.

They just pop in and start talking to you. And you talk back like they were there since the beginning.

Phil is now one of your moderators too. Along with tommy, wilbur, and techno. When they pop in they make sure no one picks on you.

And since you are now close to the SBI. You are now part of it.

You didn't choose the fans did. But they are your new family. No matter what.

Even if they disagree with your eating habit.

Or energy drink addiction.

Or insomnia.

Or you mainly playing horror games.

Or you basically living in your streaming room.

Or even the nearly 24 hour streams.

I could go on but I'm not gonna.

I'm tired. But I can sleep. 2 days and I get to have a tour of my new school.

And it took so long to finally get into it.

We have been going through a huge hassle even before school started to get me enrolled.

And then we had to get me into this program.

But now on Monday I get to go in. Get a tour. Then start either Tuesday or Wednesday.

Anyway hope you liked. It's now 3:50 and it's no proof read I'm sorry

[tothemeadow]

A New Year’s gift from me to you!

~*ᑕᕼᗩᑭTEᖇ TᗯO*~

warnings: NSFW, semi-public sex

words: 5.1 k

Prologue | Chapter One

-

“Not interested.”

All it takes is those two words, two dreadful words, and Kyojuro’s groaning in disappointment. Tapping his fingers against the chair’s arms, he pushes his lips out in a pout. Giyuu merely rolls his eyes at him, gaze flicking back to whatever is displayed on the computer’s screen.

It had only been a mere suggestion, nothing more. Go out, get some drinks, maybe find someone to take home. Lord knows how much Giyuu needs to get laid; the guy’s stress is palpable, and Kyojuro wants to help his friends however he can. Maybe all it takes is to get his dick sucked, nice and fucking hard. And, if he plays his cards right, have someone clinging onto his arm by the end of the night.

Kyojuro isn’t an idiot, nor is he blind. Giyuu is beautiful, looking like he stepped right out of the pages of some goddamn fairy tale. Hell, even his bank account is real pretty, every single zero making it even more dazzling. What he means is that Giyuu can have anybody if he truly wanted to. The problem is, however, is that a sack of potatoes has more charisma than the poor man. Giyuu isn’t much of a social butterfly, unlike Kyojuro.

It kind of sucks.

“Aw, come on, man,” Kyojuro groans, “let me take you for a night out. You need some time to sit back and relax. Let someone else take care of you.”

“You’re being awfully persistent about this.”

“That’s because I want what’s best for you, duh. You run some bigshot company and need me to explain that to you? What was the point of you traveling overseas for university if you don’t put that knowledge to use?”

With a sigh, Giyuu turns away from his computer and rests his elbows on his desk. Like the rest of his office, it’s a solid piece of modern, expensive style. The wood gleams with the rays of sunlight pouring in through the windows, looking almost too neat to be believable. There’s not a speck of dust in sight. It’s not the first time Kyojuro’s visited Giyuu’s office, but it always amazes him just how clean and immaculate the space is. It really reflects its owner, his simple yet sleek style.

“Kyojuro,” Giyuu starts, threading his fingers together, “you literally told me you wanted me to take someone home.”

At that, Kyojuro smiles. “And what’s your point? You go to some Ivy League school and not partake in some parties? No keg stands? Beer pong? Fucking the brains out of some busty blonde?”

“Not everyone is a certified sex symbol,” Giyuu states coolly. “You don’t see my face on the cover of magazines advertising an article about some upcoming film where I blow everyone to bits and take a dame to bed.”

“Ohohoho, somebody’s getting frisky, I see. That is a sign, my dear friend. You need to get your dick wet and pronto.”

“Don’t belittle me.”

Raising his hands in mock self-defense, Kyojuro flashes Giyuu a knowing smirk. “You’re only proving my point. And if you don’t want to meet somebody random, why not let me hit up someone I know? I can set you up.”

Giyuu scoffs. “No thanks.”

“Oooo, what about Mitsuri or Shinobu-“

“Don’t ever suggest that,” Giyuu hisses. His entire face scrunches, much like he just tasted something incredibly sour.

Bursting into a fit of laughter, Kyojuro leans forward in his seat, hands gripping onto his sides. “Shit, man, I forget how funny you can be sometimes!” Wiping away at his eyes, he sits back, a spare giggle or two escaping from his lips. “Speaking of Mitsuri… I guess she really hit it off with Idris’ girl’s friend.”

Instead of saying anything, Giyuu merely raises an eyebrow. However, he still looks incredibly disinterested.

“Oh, you remember her, don’t you? The one from the party last week? Long legs, nice ass? I think her name was (y/n)?”

At the mention of your name, Giyuu visibly perks up. Heh. Hook, line, and sinker.

“It’s a damn shame, don’t you think? Somebody so fine got nabbed before I even had the chance to make a move,” Kyojuro continues, willing his voice to take on a wistful tone. He sends Giyuu a wink. “She’s a solid ten, don’t you think?”

The movement is so, so subtle, but Kyojuro knows he’s got Giyuu right where he wants him. Giyuu clears his throat, then – a poor attempt at trying to come off as disinterested. “It’s a good thing Mitsuri found someone she likes so much,” he says, completely bypassing the question.

“Mitsuri likes her, alright; likes her even better in bed.”

It takes all of Kyojuro’s willpower not to laugh, it really does. He can practically see the gears turning in Giyuu’s head, the slight tinge of red blooming on the tips of his ears. Jeez, if it takes this much to get Giyuu flustered, then he’d pay to see what would happen if he took Giyuu to a strip club.

“And I’ll tell you what,” he continues, crossing his legs and cocking his head. “Mitsuri’s willing to share her with the rest of us, but only if she wants it.”

“What… What are you talking about? What do you mean by sharing?”

Clicking his tongue in amusement, Kyojuro uncrosses his legs and shuffles forward, just barely sitting on the edge of the chair. “Exactly what it sounds like, Giyuu. Doesn’t that sound nice? Imagine having a pretty thing like that sitting on your lap.”

Again, Giyuu scoffs. “You’re starting to sound like Tengen.”

“But you didn’t say no to what I just put in your head.”

Giyuu grumbles something under his breath, but it’s too low for Kyojuro to understand. No matter; there’s a knock at the door, then, and in pops Giyuu’s personal secretary’s head. A cute boy – Kamado Tanjiro – with honest eyes and a genuine smile. The earrings he wears swings in his lobes. “Tomioka-san, you’re three o’clock appointment is here. Shall I tell them you’re busy?”

“Don’t worry about it, Tanjiro,” Kyojuro says. Drawing himself up to a stand, he smooths out the wrinkles in his pants and salutes Giyuu with two fingers. “Think about what I said, Giyuu. There’s fun to be had.” With a final smirk, he brushes past Tanjiro and leaves.

-

It’s only been a few days since that experience with Mitsuri, but you can already tell that something’s changed. Granted, you still feel a bit odd about the whole situation, but another, darker side of you is pleased. Daki is more than ecstatic to have you as a sugar sister; before, whenever you’d go shopping with her, you’d only help pick out clothing for her since everything was way too damn expensive. Now, though… Now things are different.

“I still can’t believe this is happening,” Daki gushes from where she sits. Perched on a fluffy stool in front of her vanity, she carefully applies a set of false eyelashes. “Like, think of all the fun things we get to do together! Don’t get me wrong, Idris is great, but some of those parties he drags me to can be an absolute bore. If you’re there, well, it’s bound to be more fun! Besides, think of all the yummy treats you’ll get to have…”

From your spot on the couch, you guffaw at your friend’s attempt to hype you up. Carefully, you dip the brush back into the bottle; the nail polish Daki picked out is a shade of pastel pink with pearl undertones. She said Mitsuri really had a thing for pretty pink things, so it was only natural for you to fit that bill, obviously.

“Yes, because stuffing my face with macarons and bubbly is how I want to spend my time,” you say, sarcasm dripping heavily from your words.

“Oh, like you wouldn’t love that,” Daki throws right back at you. “Besides, you wanna be extra sweet for Mitsuri, don’t you? Don’t act like Mitsuri didn’t already have her head stuffed between your legs.”

“Daki!” you shriek. You scramble to catch the bottle of nail polish before it spills all over the place. “Don’t say things like that!”

“Pffft, what for? It’s true, you sneaky bitch! You’ve been glowing ever since your date with her! Did I not tell you that sex with Misturi is the bomb?”

“Okay, okay! You were right!” you exclaim, bursting into round of giggles.

Putting her mascara away, Daki gets up from her spot and moves to where you sit on the couch. Lifting your legs, she slithers in next to you and props your feet on her lap. “Give me that,” she says, taking the nail polish away from you. “Are you and Mitsuri going on a date anytime soon?”

As you nod, a sheepish smile grows on your face. “Yeah – she’s taking me to a theatre tonight, actually. I guess there’s some play she wanted to watch with me.”

“Aww, well isn’t that cute!” Daki chirps, not looking away from the task at hand. “Wait,” she says, suddenly looking up at you, “that means I get to play dress up, right?”

Since being Idris’ sugar baby and all, Daki is no stranger to the luxurious lifestyle and the vast amount of clothes and accessories that comes with. Furthermore, Idris even bought her some swanky apartment, filled with top notch appliances, spacious rooms, and yes, you guessed it – a walk in closet. It’s where you sit now, gazing at the numerous wracks of clothing, the shelves of shoes and purses. It put you in mind of Barbie’s closet, actually, with just how many articles of clothing Daki owns.

You guess you could consider yourself lucky that you and your best friend are the same size. Sure, you’ve shared clothes with each other throughout the years, but once she started her “collection” of designer products, it was game over. You became her personal doll, then, and Daki loved every second of it.

The smile on your face grows at Daki’s excitement. “Who else would I have to pick me out the perfect outfit?” you coo. Daki giggles, then, her green eyes sparkling with mirth.

“Chop, chop,” she says, pushing your feet away and standing up. You take a moment to admire the neatly applied nail polish adorning your toes. “I have the perfect outfit in mind for you, and it’s bound to have Mitsuri drooling all over you!”

“Are you sure about that?” you tease, lolling your head to the side.

Scurrying over to a wrack of dresses (all of which are designer, you’re sure of it), Daki pushes some to the side and grabs one that has you gasping. Powder blue in color, the bustier top and layered tulle skirt almost seem more befitting of a princess rather than yourself. Standing up from the couch, you walk over to her, eager to get a better closer. Lacey pastel flower decorate the top layer of tulle and travel up the bustier, all looking so delicate and sweet. It’s a beautiful dress, that much is for sure.

“I’ll do your hair and makeup, too, okay!” Daki exclaims. She really is too sweet for her own good sometimes.

Later that very evening, you’re sitting in the back of a sleek, luxurious car. Mitsuri sits next to you, looking as perfect as always; with her curled hair pinned high on her head, you’re graced with the elegant slope of her neck, the diamond choker wrapped around her throat. A few curly wisps of pink and green hair frame her face, give her a youthful look. She’s so breathtakingly stunning that it’s leaving your throat dry.

Mitsuri busies herself with messaging someone on her phone – she’s already apologized for letting her work get in the way of your date tonight – but you don’t mind, not when you get to gaze at her lovely being. You’ve already began to familiarize yourself with her brand and the creative looks she specializes in: sultry, elegant, and enough to bring a person to their knees. Perhaps that’s what you tell yourself as your eyes scan over her bare skin; it’s for fashion, of course, not because you’re a shameless pervert.

Still, the choker adorning her throat is a bit too enticing, especially with its delicate chain hanging from its center, nestled between the valley of her voluptuous breasts. Why does she always have to have her cleavage on full display around you? Doesn’t she have any idea how much it makes your brain melt?

“You’re staring,” Mitsuri murmurs, her attention still on her phone. The corners of her mouth curl into a smile. “You’re not distracted, are you, sweets?”

“I’m sorry, Mommy,” you whisper. “It’s not my fault that you’re too pretty.”

A pleasant blush blooms on her face. Sparing a moment to glance at the chauffeur, Mitsuri clicks her screen off and puts her phone back into her purse. “Come here,” she says, her voice dripping with honey. Wrapping an arm around your waist, she pulls you closer, barely brushes her glossed lips against your ear. “You don’t want to start something like that, do you? I don’t want to be rude and ruin the back of this car.”

The giggle in your ear is enough to send shivers down your spine. “What do you mean?”

“What I mean, sweets, is that I don’t want to have someone clean your cum off of this leather.”

You gasp as a wave of heat strikes your very core, wraps around your insides and gives them a good squeeze. “Mommy,” you plead, keeping your voice quiet.

“And your hair and makeup look so nice,” Mitsuri continues. “It’d be a shame to ruin it before you get to show it off.”

Shit, Daki was right. Turns out she knew exactly what she was doing.

“All that matters is that Mommy got to see it,” you purr, leaning more into her warm body. Your eyelashes flutter when her soft breast makes contact with your arm. “It doesn’t matter who else gets to see it.”

The grip around your waist tightens. “(y/n)…”

“Kanroji-san, we’re here,” the chauffeur’s voice suddenly cuts in. It’s enough to snap you back to reality; glancing out the window, you’re greeted with the sight of a brightly lit theatre and a line of patrons waiting at the ticket booth.

“My, my,” Mitsuri says, “looks like it’s going to be a packed house tonight. It’s a good thing I booked some tickets ahead of time, huh?” Turning back to you, she flashes a lovely smile and caresses your cheek. “Have you ever sat in a balcony seat before, darling? You’re going to have a great view.”

“Wait, seriously? Aren’t those super… expensive…?” as you trail off, realization dawns upon you. Of course Mitsuri would buy out some of the most expensive seats in the house – it’s only natural of her to do so. Still, the mere idea of how much they even spent throws your mind in for a loop.

“And your reaction makes it even more special,” Mitsuri purrs. “Come on, let’s go get seated while there’s still time.”

Opening the car door, Mitsuri steps out, and then she promptly turns back to you to help. Linking her arm around yours, she leads you inside the theatre; taking some twists and turns, she leads you up a secluded staircase that, in turn, takes you to the proper balcony. A gasp escapes from your mouth before you can stop it. It’s utterly breathtaking from where you are, the large stage set below you, the sea of people swarming to find their own seats.

“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Mitsuri asks you as she joins you by the ledge. Setting her elbows on the wall, she looks around the theatre, a thoughtful hum vibrating in her throat. “And just think, sweets, that this is all for you.” Turning to you, she perches her chin in a hand. “I’ll show you so many things that you’ll love, darling. It’s the least I can do.”

“Mitsuri,” you murmur. Swallowing thickly, you push back the creeping urge to cry. How did you get so lucky meeting someone so genuinely sweet?

“Hey now,” Mitsuri continues, still using that honeyed tone, “don’t get sappy. If you start to cry, then I’ll start crying as well!”

Beckoning you over, she takes her seat and watches as you take the one next to hers. The balcony itself is small, with enough room only for three seats. And, as far as it seems, you’ll get to spend the entirety of the play alone with Mitsuri, away from wandering eyes. Hands intertwined with hers, the two of you fall into easy conversation and mild flirting to pass the time. Both of you are practically petting each other’s thighs through your dresses when the door opens; snapping hands away from each other, you turn to see who the unexpected newcomer is.

“Giyuu?”

Coming to an abrupt stop at the sound of his name, Giyuu’s eyes widen. Once he sees it’s only you and Mitsuri, he visibly relaxes, his shoulders slumping. “Um… Hello, ladies. I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” Drawing around the corner, he stands awkwardly before the empty seat. He offers a polite bow, but you notice right away that his eyes refuse to meet yours.

“This is certainly a pleasant surprise!” Mitsuri chirps, a dazzling smile spreading on her features.

“Tomioka-san,” you say, trying to put his nerves at ease, “please, sit down. I don’t bite.”

Still, Giyuu refuses to meet your eyes, but he does as you say and takes the seat next to you. It may be the dim light of the theatre, but you swear there’s a faint blush on his cheeks.

Okay, time to try this again. “Tomioka-san… I wanted to thank you for last time. For trying to comfort me when I was so obviously out of place at that party.”

At that, Giyuu clears his throat, and then he finally looks at you. Instead of saying anything, though, he merely grunts and nods his head. You offer him a small smile.

Just as you remember, he’s devastatingly handsome, his gaze a cold, steely blade. On the outside, he seems incredibly intimidating; dark hair, black getup, sharp eyes. You know there’s more than what meets the eye, and Giyuu is the epitome of that very concept. The aura surrounding him is calming, reassuring. You barely know the guy, only met him once, but you already like him.

“My, Giyuu,” Mitsuri speaks up, leaning forward in her seat so she can look around you, “don’t you look nice! I always told you that you would look great in black on black, but you never listen to me! Now look at you! You look like you just came straight off a runway! Don’t you think so, (y/n)?”

Mitsuri has a point, of course. Dressed in a black suit, black button up, and black shoes, Giyuu is the textbook definition of tall, dark, and handsome. He almost seems flustered by Mitsuri’s comment; he looks to you, an unreadable glint in his eyes. Slowly, you nod, humming your agreement.

“I think he looks absolutely dashing,” you say, a small giggle following afterwards.

Giyuu’s eyes drift down, skim across your pretty dress, but you notice the way they linger over the bits of your bare skin. Hastily clearing his throat, his eyes flicker back up, the blush on his cheeks darkening the slightest bit. “You look beautiful,” he murmurs. “That color really suits you.”

With a smile, you look away, trying to ignore the excited thumping of your heart. Unbeknownst to you, Mitsuri sends Giyuu a glare, but then it melts away into a knowing look. Giyuu catches her eyes, and a silent conversation passes between the two of them.

Perhaps you should’ve paid more attention to them. You should’ve noticed Giyuu’s lingering stares, the way Mitsuri’s hand stayed on your thigh the entire time. But no, you were so enraptured by the play on the stage, stuck in a state of constant awe by the performer’s exquisite ways.

It’s about three fourths of the way through when Mitsuri finally places her lips against your ear, her warm breath fanning across the delicate skin. “Sweets, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed, hmm? You’re ruining the experience for Giyuu.” Confused by what she meant, you begin to turn your head to her, but she quickly stops you in your place. “Now, now, don’t make it so obvious. Instead of watching the show, he’s been watching you. I wonder why that is?” She breaks into a low, sultry laugh. You’ve only seen her act this one once, and that was when the two of you…. Well, you know…

“I noticed the way you were looking at him earlier,” Mitsuri continues. “He really is such a pretty man, isn’t he? Especially dressed in all black like that… It’s almost kind of exciting, isn’t it?” Again, she chuckles. “Now, this is entirely up to you, sweets, but I don’t have a problem sharing.”

What? What was that supposed to mean?

“I know, I know, this is all too sudden, but think about it. He’s a pretty man, wouldn’t you agree? I’m not saying you have to, but wouldn’t it be nice to see him in between your legs?”

This time, you snap your head to her. “Mitsuri!” you whisper-yell, “What the hell are you trying to do?!”

“Don’t act so prudish, sweets,” she purrs, her fingers trailing over your jaw. “Just look at him.” Taking your chin in hand, she directs you to look at Giyuu instead. Only one half of his face is illuminated from the light coming from the stage, but you can see the hungry glint in his eyes. “He’s practically undressing you with his eyes, sweets. How does that make you feel?”

“Tomioka-san…”

“Please don’t consider me lewd,” Giyuu starts, his voice just above a raspy grumble. “But I… I’ve been thinking about you a lot,” he confesses. “It isn’t fair to you of me thinking that way.”

Swallowing thickly, you release a shaky breath. “And what were you thinking, exactly…?”

Closing his eyes, Giyuu takes a moment to collect himself. “I want what you and Mitsuri have.”

On your other side, Mitsuri giggles. “Hear that, darling? Isn’t that so endearing? Giyuu practically just confessed to you!” Leaning in close, she presses her soft breasts against you. “And I’m perfectly okay if you want to say yes. Everyone deserves some happiness, hmm? Don’t be shy, now. Neither of us are foolish.”

This really is all too sudden. You never your night to head in this direction, nevertheless hear Giyuu tell you that he wants what you and Mitsuri have. Does that mean he also wanted to have a certain arrangement between the two of you? It’s not like you’re against it – Giyuu is certainly handsome, after all – but wouldn’t that make you seem desperate?

“If you’re on the fence about it, why don’t you give a go, just for tonight?” Mitsuri suggests. “We can forget all about it if you want. And if you don’t, well… Things should be fun, shouldn’t they?”

“I… I guess.”

“Wonderful. Giyuu, I give you my blessing to make an impression on our sweet little darling here,” Mitsuri purrs. “Don’t mess it up for yourself.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Giyuu grunts. He holds out a hand, then, a silent question displayed on his face. You glance between his face and his hand; your mind is rapidly going in loops, wondering just what he had in mind exactly. Gingerly, you place your hand in his, gasping when he suddenly yanks you up as he stands. “We won’t be gone for long,” he mutters at Mitsuri.

Mitsuri waves a dismissive hand, an uncharacteristic smirk playing on her pretty face. “Take your time. I know that you’ll need it.”

Giyuu pulls you away, leaving a giggling Mitsuri in your wake. The door to the balcony closes with a click that echoes down the silent hallway. Now that you’re completely alone with him, the realization of what this whole ordeal means comes crashing into you. Giyuu is being dead serious about this, and, well, you are too, apparently.

The two of you remain quiet as he pulls you down the hallway, his grip on your hand both gentle yet strong. He stops outside of a bathroom door, glancing both ways before dragging you in; after he’s checked for any potential bystanders in the bathroom, he locks the door. It’s then that you realize that this is the first time seeing him in bright lighting, but damn he looks just as fine. This is the first time that you’ve also stood directly next to him as well. He’s a lot broader than you anticipated, his shoulders tapering into slim hips.

“I meant it when I said it,” he tells you. The sheer sincerity of his voice strikes something deep within you, leaves you rooted to the spot. “This isn’t the way I wanted things to play out, but I uh, had someone put this little idea in the back of my head and it won’t go away.”

“You… really couldn’t stop thinking about me? I’m flattered, Tomioka-san. I didn’t know I left such an impression on you.”

“Heh. You’d be surprised.” Your breath catches in your throat as takes both of your hands in his, his thumbs drawing soothing circles into the skin. “Listen… I’m not… I’m not really good at this thing,” he says, voice low. “Relationships have never really been my forte.”

Ah, so that explains a lot.

“I don’t want to do anything that makes you uncomfortable.”

“I never pegged you for the sweet type,” you tell him.

“It’s called being considerate. I know plenty of people who wouldn’t hesitate to screw someone over.”

“You’re so serious, Tomioka-san. I can… Let me help you relax. That’s what you wanted, right?”

Giyuu hums, pulls you closer. “It’s not too late to turn back, but I really want this,” he murmurs. “Humor me?”

Before you know it, you’re backing up, the back of your thighs colliding with the counter; Giyuu lifts you with ease, setting your ass on the counter, and slipping between your legs. His mouth descends upon yours, touch almost featherlight as he kisses you. You urge him to press harder, your hands abandoning his hold and grabbing onto the lapels of his jacket instead. Giyuu grunts as you pull him even closer; sinking your teeth into his bottom lip, you pull it outward, relishing in the hiss that escapes him.

You shouldn’t be surprised with the way things go; time blurs, yet the moments seem so sharp. The pretty tulle of your skirt gathers around your hips, Giyuu’s strong hands gripping onto your thighs in such a way that it seems like he’s afraid to let you go. His mouth bleeds gold as you take kiss after kiss away from him, tongue sweeping into his mouth and licking away at the insides.

Things only grow more intimate from there; soon enough, you’re unbuttoning his shirt, hands pressing in and drifting across his skin. He’s surprisingly fit, but then again, it only adds to his godly visage. He’s openly moaning into your mouth at this point, hips bucking forward and seeking out that delicious friction. You choke on a moan as his clothed cock drags across your slit. Your panties are beyond ruined at this point, soaked all the way through and leaving a mess on the front of his slacks.

“Mmph – I bet you feel even better inside,” Giyuu breathes. “I want to… I want to see you wrapped around my cock.”

“Yes, Giyuu, yes,” you plead. Frantically, you undo the pants of his slacks, slip your hand inside his boxers.

“Ah, fuck,” he hisses. His hips absentmindedly buck into your touch, a groan rumbling deep in his chest. His voice is so low, so fucking gravelly – it’s wonderful, and fuck if you wouldn’t want to listen to it on loop.

Your insides tighten at the schlick, schlick, schlick noise that fills the bathroom, echoing all around you. Your pussy clenches around nothing, another drop of arousal seeping through your panties. “You said you wanted what I have with Mitsuri, right?” you purr. “Let me… Let me call you Daddy.”

It’s clear that the name causes something to snap inside of him; a growl rips itself from his throat, and his eyes flash with a darker, more animalistic gleam. Urging your hand off of him, he promptly pushes your panties to the side; your body tenses with excitement, your teeth sinking into your lower lip. Giyuu moans as he sheathes his cock inside of you, his hands gripping onto your legs and wrapping them around his slim hips.

“Oh, baby,” he purrs, his hands slamming down on the counter either side of you, effectively caging you in. “Feels so good… so tight…”

“Daddy, come on,” you whine, “we don’t have all night. You wanted this, remember? So fuck me, already. Fuck me like you mean it.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Giyuu murmurs into your ear. Sliding his hips away, he snaps his cock right back in, your velvety walls eagerly sucking him in. “I plan on doing so much more. You won’t regret it, baby. Not on my watch.”

“Just don’t ruin the dress,” you mutter, placing your lips against the pounding vein in his neck. “It’s not mine and I really don’t feel removing your cum from it.”

Giyuu sucks a breath in through his teeth as you suck a mark into his flesh. “Then I guess I’ll just have to cum inside, huh…?”

“I fucking dare you.”

“That sounds like a challenge, baby. Don’t mind if I do…”

-

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, they’ve been gone for a while, now,” Mitsuri says quietly into her phone. “Giyuu really needed to let loose, huh?”

“That sneaky little bastard,” Kyojuro says. He sighs. “And I invited for a night out, too. Dammit. Why does everyone else get to have fun while I don’t?”

Mitsuri giggles. “You’re really that jealous of Giyuu, huh? It’s actually really funny. Maybe I should tell Tengen, just to see what his reaction is like!”

“What, so he can join in on your little ‘arrangement’ you’ve got going on? What about me, huh? I thought we were friends!”

“And we are! If (y/n) wants anything to do with you, that’s entirely up to her. Wait, hold on – the door just opened. Talk to you later, Kyojuro!”

“Wait, Mitsuri-“

Click.

[keitthen]

- the dorm heads with a significant other who boops their nose and runs away soon after.

─ first work for twst! i hope you like these!

this is a really cute idea, and please note that the reader is gender-neutral. please enjoy!

He's flustered and dumbstruck. Oh my, just what did you do?

He's not very used to acts of affection, so he is extremely flustered when you are affectionate with him.

When he heard you call out to him, he thought that you needed something, but is extremely surprised when you boop his nose and run away.

It takes a while for it to sink in, but he'll grow as red as the roses he grows, and will definitely yell after you.

It's quite endearing, and the next time you find him, he'll pout cutely at you and boop your nose back.

It's just really adorable.

“Riddle!” he hears your voice call out to him. He was just thinking of coming to you, but you appeared in front of him. Not wanting to waste the chance of spending time with you, he turns around, wondering what you required of him, and opens his mouth to ask you whether you would like to spend some time with him, when he finds your face right in front of his. He is very startled at the sight, and he moves back in surprise, and you take it as the chance to carry out your task. Quickly booping him on the nose, you let out a string of giggles and run away from him. He stands there, frozen in his place, mouth open, when realization finally hits him. His face grows scarlet, and you hear his scream even down the corner of the hallway, laughing even harder.

“(NAME)! COME BACK HERE!”

He thinks of it as a game.

When you first do it, he's visibly confused, but comes to the conclusion that it's just a way you show your affection.

The next time you try to do it, he'll do it to you.

The few times you do boop his nose before he can boop yours, he will chase you around the dorm, playing around with you.

He finds it really adorable, and gives you a kiss after it.

“Leona~” you sing to yourself. Quietly tip toeing, you make your way to the sleeping dorm leader, who's currently having his nap while basking in the gentle sunshine. He looks so peaceful, and you almost don't want to do this, but the word to press emphasis here is almost. You are going to do it, and you will succeed. His face comes closer and clearer in view, and your grin grows wider. Feeling a shadow blocking his sun, the boy stirs from his slumber, and you take it as your opportunity to strike. Quickly booping his nose, you make a run for it, with laughter echoing from behind you and footsteps following soon after. His amusement is contagious, infecting you with his liveliness, as you begin to laugh along with him. Strong arms wrap around your waist, and pull you closer as he boops you in revenge, and your laughter grows. Smiling gently at your enthusiasm, he places a soft kiss on the crown of your head, feeling you relax in his embrace.

Azul is very confused.

Is this a good thing? Were you teasing him? What are you doing?

He just doesn't get it. So, he asks you about it.

When you tell him that it's a way people show affection to each other, he grows very flustered, but is also very thankful.

Does it back to you when you aren't paying attention, and gives you a sweet smile.

Azul was working and looking at a few brand new contracts that the tweels had gotten him, and being completely unaware of your presence. You had been waiting for him to notice you, but it had already been half an hour and he had not yet glanced even once in your way. Puffing your cheeks out, you had enough of him being drowned in his work that he didn't even notice you, and decided to take matters into your own hands. You walked up to his desk, and stood in front of it. “Azul,” you called. The third year looked at you surprised at your sudden appearance (actually, not-so-sudden, it's just that he didn't notice), when you leaned in. His face grew red at the close proximity, screwing his eyes shut, when he felt a light touch on his nose. His eyes open, and he finds you grinning at him. “What are you doing, (Name)?” he asks you, confused. Hearing you chuckle it grows even more. “It's a way to show affection~,” you tell him. Oh, he thinks. He grows red again, but this time he gives you a sincere and loving smile.

Kalim doesn't understand it at first, but giggles soon after.

How could he not, when you're being so adorable?

He immediately boops your nose back, giggling right after. Jamil only sighs at your cute behaviour, but you're blinded by Kalim's smile because it's so bright and brilliant.

It becomes a regular thing between the two of you. He does it to you all the time, so do you.

The two of you were studying together in the Scarabia dorm (more like you tutoring Kalim in the various subjects Night Raven College specialised in), when the thought struck you. You look at him, and seeing Kalim being engrossed in his studies made him only more adorable in your eyes. His tongue stuck out the corner of his mouth, as he concentrated on solving the problems and questions you had given him. Waiting patiently until he had finished his worksheet, you sat in your seat, watching him with a mischievous smile. He turned towards you, and handed you his worksheet to evaluate. Quickly finishing the corrections, you called him. “Kalim,” you began. “Please come here.” The dorm leader, although confused, came towards you as you had requested, when you did it. His ruby eyes widened in momentary surprise, after which he began to laugh. Finding his happiness infectious, you laughed along with him, when you felt him boop your nose. “I've got you too!” he giggled, pulling you into a bear hug.

Vil is taken aback, but then immediately asks you what you were doing.

When you tell him, he smiles at you.

Then while you're blinded by his beauty, boops you back!

Secretly films you doing it, and when he uploaded it to Magicam, he started a trend for couples, for which he gave you a soft and sweet kiss.

Now does it on a regular basis because he finds your laughter adorable.

“Vil~” you draw out the syllables of his name, promptly taking his attention away from whatever you were doing. “What does my dear potato require of me today?” he gives you a lazy grin. You only smile with a glint in your eyes, one that he immediately picks upon, having seen it in the tweels' eyes many times when they were upto something mischievous. He slowly backs away, only resulting in you widening your grin. “Potato, what are you doing?” he asks you, fake fear in his expression while his voice holds an undertone of his own mischief. Giving him a bright grin, you quickly lean in, and boop his nose. He's taken aback, not expecting it, but quickly regains his composure. When he sees you running away, he chases after you, laughing along. And when he catches you, he boops your nose in retaliation, reveling in your joy as he places a few kisses all over your face.

Now, Idia is a otaku, so he probably knows it.

But doesn't expect anyone to do it to him, other than Ortho.

So when you do boop his nose, he's very surprised.

But quickly recovers, and then blushes and turns away from you. Sometimes, he does boop you back, but most of the time he just pulls you into a hug to hide his blazing face.

Probably wonders how he can surprise you with nose boops, and does it at the most random of times.

But he really loves it though.

You watch as Idia clicks away on the keyboard, random numbers appearing on the screen that don't make sense to you, but definitely do make sense to him. “Idia~” you say, momentarily drawing his attention away from the screen. He looks at you, his eyebrow quirked up, silently questioning you. “Pay attention to me~” you whine, to which he just shakes his head. “Give me a few minutes,” is all he says to you. You wait for him to finish, and when he finally shuts down the computer, you throw your hands around him, pulling him into a tight hug. “What are you doing, (Name)?” he asks you. “Hugging you,” comes your reply. Exhaling softly, he pulls you closer, when the idea hits you. “Idia,” you call. The boy looks at you, when you boop his nose. He sits there, silent as one can be, after which his face explodes into a bright red. “H-hey! G-give me a-a w-warning befor-re you d-do that!” he exclaims. You laugh at him, and he buries his face in the crook of your neck, only pulling your frame as close as he can, giving you a thankful squeeze.

If you thought the others were confused, he's even more so!

Was his little human trying to tell him something? Did they need something? Did they require affection? What's happening?

The confusion is visible as day on his face, and it makes you laugh, which confuses him even more.

After you calm down, you explain to him that it's a way of showing affection, he finally understands.

Then immediately boops you back, sending you into another fit of laughter, this time with him joining you.

Does it whenever he finds you especially cute, and Lilia always gushes over it, while Sebek always yells at you when you boop him back.

Now wonders if there are other ways that his little human shows affection with.

“Malleus!” he hears your voice from behind him. He turns around, watching as you run up to him, and place your hands on your knees as you catch your breath. “Do you have something that you require, child of man?” he questions you. Seeing you nod, he wonders what it could be that you require from him. You gesture at him, asking him to bend down to your height, seeing as he was much taller than you were. The fae lowers himself to your height, as Sebek and Silver gasp and Lilia laughs in the background. You look at him seriously, and just as he was about to ask you about what you had needed, you boop his nose. He just stands there, and when you immediately run away, he looks towards Lilia, who's bent in half laughing until there's tears in his eyes. He tilts his head in confusion, which Lilia catches onto, and gestures him to go after you. He quickly catches up to you, and pulls you into his larger frame. “What is that, child of man?” he asks you. “It's a little way to show affection!” you reply. He softens at the answer, lifting you up with much ease, and pulls you as close as possible. He leans in, and then, boops you back! You're taken aback, but then burst into laughter, which he soon joins. Keeping a tight hold on you, he walks back to the Diasomnia dorm, your mixed laughter echoing in the hallway.

─ and that's it! thank you for reading, and requests are open, even if I will be a little slow in completing them!

love,

ria.

[yoongi-sugaglider]

Daegu Quarantine

Jungkook x reader

Gang/ zombie apocalypse au

Warnings:

Gore, violence, zombies, mention of drugs and drug dealing, weapons discharge in self defense, main character death, zombies, course language, zombies, drinking, did I mention zombies?

Summary:

They were the top of their game, known throughout the city as the smartest and most dangerous crew to ever hit the Daegu streets. But what’s going to happen when this group of young men encounter something right out of a horror film?

Word count: 2640

Part 15===Part 16===Part 17

The next handful of days became a blur of activity. Well, more so for the others than for me.

Hoseok and I had been ordered to strict bedrest, which only one of us actually took seriously. While I sat in bed most of the day, watching movies on my laptop or vegging out on as many snacks as I could convince Jeanette to bring me, Hoseok on the other hand snuck by Jimin as often as possible to help the boys with various projects around the house.

The only reason I even found out is because every few hours I’d hear Jimin fussing at him all the way up the stairs and back to the bodyguard’s bedroom.

I sat with Jeanette, Rose, and Jimin one afternoon, chatting away with them while Jimin checked my leg wound when Jungkook wandered into the bedroom, a stoic look on his face as he sat at his computer desk and turned to stare blankly at my injured leg.

“Something on your mind boss?” Jimin asked as he cinched the bandage tight and turned to begin putting his tools away in his bag.

“Mmm…” 

The noncommittal sound drew my attention and I frowned at him, worry creasing my forehead as I reached my hand over to the small throw pillow I’d been using to prop up my injured leg.

“Oi! Earth to Jeon!” I yelled, tossing the pillow overhand at him. He caught it midair, never breaking eye contact with my leg as he tossed it onto the floor beside him.

“We can’t let Eun Kwang get away with this…” He muttered, the stoic look dissolving into a frown when he finally met my eyes.

“We’ve talked about this Kookie. There’s no point to trying to retaliate. We have no idea where they’re holed up. Nor how many of them there are or what kind of fire power they’re packing.” I leaned forward, pulling my pajama pant leg down and leaning back into the headboard.

“If we had even a sliver of that information…”

“Jungkook please…” I whispered, eyes pleading with him to drop it.

He growled, shoving his way out of the chair and to his feet. Fists clenched at his sides he glared at me, though the moment didn’t last long as his gaze softened.

I shook my head, nodding to Jeanette and Rose. “We have far too much on the line to risk even one of us getting dropped because of some half thought out revenge scheme. Jungkook, going out there would be suicide.”

“You wouldn’t leave a girl widowed before you’ve even gotten a chance to marry her boss, would ya?” Jimin’s quiet words seemed to do the trick.

Jungkook stared at him with wide eyes, mouth slightly agape as if he’d had half a mind to argue with the words from the wise doctor. But after a moment of fish bowling he shut his mouth, shaking his head with a resigned sigh.

“No...you’re both right. It’s hot headed and foolishness that’d get me killed before I even made it halfway there.” He bowed his head for a moment, eyes closed as he inhaled slowly.

“See, Tae said you were a smart man.” Rose grinned at him, standing from the bed and patting him on his arm. “Come on bud, let’s get some food in ya. I bet you haven’t eaten all day have ya?”

I snorted at the two, waving them off and thanking Jimin for his hard work. The room quickly cleared out, leaving just me and Jeanette to ruminate in our thoughts for a bit while I shifted around in bed trying to find a comfortable spot to mope in.

“Hey y/n?” Came the whispered voice of Jeanette, causing me to pause in my movements.

“What’s up?” A smile came to my lips as I watched the timid woman worrying at the hem of her shirt.

“Well umm… I was talking to Jin this morning while we worked on breakfast...about the pantry and stuff?”

I nodded as she paused, motioning for her to continue when she glanced over to me with a look of worry.

“Well, it’s just that… Yes, we have an amazing pantry. MRE’s keep for ages and so do canned goods. But like...wouldn’t it be nice to have fresh produce?” When I remained silent and smiling at her words her face lit up.

She began talking faster, turning in place to sit cross legged before me. She pulled the pillow I’d discarded earlier into her lap to protect the tiny protrusion of her belly as she spoke at length about her plans.

“Since there aren’t that many of us it wouldn’t have to be that big at first. And of course it would take a while for anything to grow. But just imagine, come fall we could have all kinds of amazing fresh veggies. Corn, carrots, tomatoes and potatoes. I could even manage cucumbers and watermelon if we could find things for the vines to climb.”

I leaned forward, taking her hands in mine and running my thumbs reassuringly across the ridges of her knuckles as she spoke, watching the idea grow bigger and bigger within her. The passion in her voice alone had me picturing the enclosed area, teaming with life and greenery and her tiny plump form tending to the plants as she coo’d at them as if they were her own children.

As she began outlining plans for bird proof netting she paused though, mouth curved into a gentle O of surprise and if I didn’t know any better, fear as her head whipped to the door to stare at Yoongi who’d been watching us...well her, talk this whole time.

“Oh...Yoongi I…” She bowed her head, seeming to shrink in on herself as if seeing the man had taken the wind out of her sails.

“Go on…” He whispered, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorframe with an encouraging smile.

“It’s just….Jin told me to ask Hoseok, who pointed me to Jungkook, who told me to ask you...and well.”

“Jeanette…” My smile only grew when her gaze finally mine. Hope began shining in her eyes and it seemed that the entirety of her frame lit up with our shared excitement.

“I love the idea. Honestly. We can get Namjoon to draw up your plans. He’s basically a genius so I’m sure he could engineer it to be the second safest place in Daegu. And since we’ve been having issues with Hoseok sitting still for long enough, he can be on duty for helping you till the soil or anything else that you might need.”

“I’ll be there to help as well…”

I glanced over to Yoongi and he grinned at the shocked look on my face.

“All of my end of things is done. You can’t exactly expect me to sit on my thumbs while cleaning my weapons all day now can you?”

Jeanette giggled at his words, gingerly lifting herself from the bed and smoothing out the black YG shirt that drowned her figure, another of Yoongi’s favorite shirts.

“Thank you y/n. Really I mean it. I was worried that I wasn’t able to contribute enough to everything that was going on and well...with this…”

“Hey now, we talked about this.” Yoongi walked over, wrapping her in a side hug and tracing his fingers down the bare skin of her arm. “You’re doing plenty enough. Between laundry and helping Jin cook all the meals?”

“Exactly.” I chimed in, shifting to my side a bit so I could send her a less pained smile. “Nobody in this house thinks you’re a burden in any way. And if they even think it I’ll tell Jungkook to beat them up on the spot.”

Yoongi snickered, sending me another grin. “He’d do it too, no questions asked. So don’t worry your pretty little head about it, yeah?”

She nodded after a moment’s hesitation.

“Well, alright then. It’s settled.” He began steering her towards the door, shooting me one last grateful smile. “Let’s get those plans started on. Let the boss lady get herself some rest.

As my bedroom door shut behind them, I couldn’t help but to wonder when and how they’d gotten so close.

***

By dinner time I’d managed to convince Jimin to let me down to the basement. Everyone was off doing their own thing and frankly sitting alone to eat in the bedroom again had made me so nauseous just thinking about it that I’d almost opted to skip dinner all together. But he’d seen the desperate plea in my eyes and relented, barring that I allowed Jungkook to carry me down there.

I sat with Taehyung and Rose, munching away at my meal as I watched them giggle over stories they shared of when they’d first met.

“It was a coding nightmare. I’d only been working for the main office for two months when they put his case in my lap. Some young kid that’d managed to bully his way into the Seoul Police department’s criminal database and posted all of the corrupt politicians with arrest warrants and speeding ticket fees to every news site that he could get his grubby little hands on.” Rose cackled, throwing her head back as her entire body shook with the force of her laugh.

“Hey! That was some of my best work!” Taehyung pouted, tossing a wayward green bean in her direction and causing her to snort harder.

“Best work? You had everything so scrambled from that little backdoor snipe that it took their tech department 2 years to set everything straight.” She shook her head, popping the betrayed green bean in her mouth before tossing one of her own in his direction.

He caught it in his mouth easily, smirking all the while before continuing his rant. “It was the art job that did me in.”

“Art job?” I leaned forward, almost instantly regretting the movement when a rib shifted and sent a spike of pain shooting through my chest.

“Shit, you good?” Tae asked, looking as if he was half way to dropping everything to come to my rescue.

I waved him off, shoving a hand over the cursed injury and grinning despite the pain.

“I’m fine. Now come on, tell me about the art job!”

Rose snorted, placing her plate beside her and leaning back on her hands to give Tae a coy smile. “It was why I call him Art Nerd. He decided it would be a good idea to hack into the archives of one of the biggest art museums in the world.”

“You wouldn’t believe it!” Tae tossed up his hands, all angst and agitation as he stood abruptly and began pacing the room. “Of all the places you would think that would be trustworthy about their pieces and whether they were authentic or not. The Louvre!!” He paused in his pacing, pointing angrily to his computer before spinning on his heels to scowl at me when I began snickering.

“Did you know…” He paused, stalking closer and bending forward to glare in my face, “that 87% of all the art in the Louvre is fake?”

I gasped, feigning shock at the revelation.

“That’s right! It’s a travesty! They spit on the names of the greatest artists to have ever walked the face of this planet!” He growled, turning from me to begin pacing again. “The nerve of those imbeciles. Displaying Van Gogh forgeries as if they were the real deal.”

“Needless to say when he tried to tell the world what he found out he got caught.” Rose shook her head, picking at the last of her mashed potatoes with her fork.

She glanced over at me, sly smile broadening into a full grin.

“Did you know he was wanted in 27 countries for that little debacle?”

“Tae!!!” I gasped, eyes wide as I stared at him in awe.

He shrugged, literally beaming at this point with pride though he tried to play it off as bashfulness.

Rose pointed behind me and I shifted around to stare.

“Wait…” My eyes widened with equal parts horror and pride as I whipped my head around to glare at Taehyung. “Tae...you didn’t!!”

This time he couldn’t disguise the pride. He bounded around the sofa, skidding to a stop before what I had previously thought was just a bunch of band posters. There, hanging on the wall was what Tae had told us long ago was a quilt that his grandmother had given him.

He’d sworn that he’d remove the hands of anyone who ever dared touch it. Hell he’d chased Jungkook halfway to downtown Daegu once for nudging it with his shoulder during one of the boy’s many playful basement wrestling matches. But as he slowly and reverently lifted the blanket I quickly realized the real reason why he treasured it so much. Right there on the wall, hanging between two trashy band posters was…

“Tae is that Starry Night?? Like… the actual real fucking deal Starry Night?????” I screeched.

“I couldn’t help it. When I found out they’d hung it between two forgeries I just knew I had to save it.” He lovingly traced his fingers above the protective glass, never actually touching it but making the motions nonetheless.

Rose muttered behind me, snickering into her hand as Tae dropped the quilt back into place and turned to frown at her.

“What was that Jangmi?” he growled, his already baritone voice dropping as he walked back to stand over her.

She squeaked, shrinking back as he crouched down and lifted her chin with a single finger so that she was forced to look him in the eyes.

“I said...I...hnnggg…” The brilliant blush rushing to her cheeks had me bursting with laughter, gripping my sides as I pressed myself into the sofa.

“Damn you two are adorable.” I wheezed, wiping at my tears as I watched the two hackers spring apart as if they’d forgotten I was there.

Tae gathered up our dishes, muttering to himself all the while as he disappeared upstairs. But not before I spotted his own crimson cheeked grin.

“Huh…” Rose muttered. I returned my attention to her, realizing quickly that she was now staring at the security feed pulled up on the tv before us.

“What’s up?” I asked, eyes darting over the various live images before settling on one that showed Jeanette and Seokjin talking in the area they’d decided would be the future garden.

“I thought I saw something.” Came Rose’s absent minded reply. She clicked on the video I’d been watching, bringing it up to fill the screen and squinting at a corner of the shed beside the unaware pair.

“Are you sure?” I whispered, straining to make anything out in the depths of the shadows.

“Maybe not… Tae’s better at security monitoring than I am… Let me just…”

She began typing rapidly, a series of commands appearing on screen before a top down view of the area appeared.

“Is that…”

“A live satellite view, yeah. I figured, I’ve got access to them, why not use them…” She clicked again, zooming in rapidly before suddenly screaming. “Oh shit! There’s chatterers outside the fucking gates!”

“The fuck did you just say!?”

We both screamed as Jungkook charged around the sofa, appearing as if from nowhere and grabbing Rose’s arm in a death grip.

“What do you mean there’s chatterers outside the gates?” Jungkook glared at Rose, the hardened criminal in him causing her to cower as far back as his grip would allow her.

“Kook…”

“I’m sorry okay! I was wondering what it was that I’d seen in the backyard, and when I switched to the satellite feed I saw them. It’s at least 30 of them. Jungkook, we’re surrounded!”

[guqin-and-flute]

I've got this very important question, because you are making the best ratings I've ever seen. 10/10 So... Who sings/plays the best lullabies?

[Ahh, thank you! OH!! LOVE THIS IDEA YES this is very important. I’m going to add in what their voices are like because I’m a singer and I want to. This is less from the kids POV and just how I headcanon it, though the kids help with the scoring]

[More Than Just] Uncle Rankings

Jin Zixuan: His family wasn’t...big on lullabies. Or music. Or bedtime routines. Or creating memories together. He got a few songs from various nannies, but it was never anything super consistent that got carried over for him to use in fatherhood. It makes him very...uncomfortable to sing and he can’t quite put his finger on why. Would be a salvageable, mellow tenor if he tried--which he doesn’t. It doesn’t bother the Jin kids at all, they’ve got lots of other musical relatives! Their dad tells the best stories anyway.  0/10 Does Not Compute

Jiang Yanli: She likes to hum idly when cooking or playing with the kids, knows little Teaching Songs for different lessons and animal songs. Sings happily to any of the permutation of children are currently under her roof--niblings and all. She has a vast library of songs that she knows and they’re different from the ones that the nannies or the Lan might sing because she’s from Yunmeng. Sometimes, she gets choked up in the middle of one and has to stop (and maybe not sing it again) because it was one of Wuxian’s childhood favorites. Soft, gentle 1st soprano, not a lot of vibrato. Sings from the heart and is very comfortable with it. 10/10 Songbird Extraordinaire, Makes Up For Unmusical Husband

Jin Guangyao: Will hum or half sing under his breath when he braids his loved ones’ hair, when he’s not really thinking about it. Strangely reticent to sing if people are just looking at him; it feels too honest and vulnerable. If the lamps are dim or if A-Fu is tucked to his chest or the boys have their eyes closed, he will do it. Knows some of the same songs that Yanli does, though many seem to be more melancholic and about longing. One song is the boy’s favorite, because he can fit their names into it--a song about being brave and being smart and becoming all you’re meant to be. A-Fu ponders as he grows older and learns more about music, that the lines don’t quite rhyme like they’re supposed to--almost like there’s a different name that’s supposed to be there. Melodic, clear tenor, refined and controlled. 10/10 A Mother’s Musical Legacy Lovingly Passed On

Lan Xichen: Will use music as a way to soothe, entertain, educate, focus, you name it. Sings, hums, plays the flute and guqin. Set out to learn a few of those Teaching Songs from Yanli once he became a parent, knows quite a few lullabies from his mother, and has a practically perfect memory for songs--if he hears them once or twice, he now knows them forever. Will sing for any of the children when they ask, but is humble as a good Lan is about actually Performing for anyone outside his family. Many an evening ended with a pile of children being carefully divvied out to their guardians from his lap, sides and general vicinity after he patiently sang them to sleep. Warm, husky baritone, genuine and quietly captivating. 10/10 Melatonin In Musical Form

Lan Wangji: Everyone knows about the musical proficiency of the Lan and of the Twin Jades in particular. What everyone might not know is that Lan Wangji will sing his son to bed every night in a soft, low baritone/upper bass. It’s one of the things that begins to set A-Fu at ease with him early on when he starts to stay the night, occasionally, because he can hear the affection in his voice that his face doesn’t quite convey. He will hum as he rocks them if they are upset or scared from a nightmare and frequently plays the guqin as a backdrop to their play times. Both A-Fu and A-Yuan can hum Inquiry long before they know its name. Also has a nearly perfect audio memory. 9/10 Musical Messages On Demand

Lan Qiren: Does not know the same lullabies as his nephews--they came from their mother. Does NOT sing. This makes A-Fu disgruntled, though he accepts gentle, traditional Gusu songs from the guqin in the next room as a substitute to fall asleep to whenever he has to stay over. 3/10 That’s Not What I Asked For But Fine, I Guess

Nie Mingjue: More of a hummer than a singer, a little tone deaf if you ask him to sing with an instrument, but his voice is not bad, just unpracticed. Bass, kind of gravelly. Tends to make up repetitive little runs that are more of a soothing distraction than a song he knows, as he doesn’t have an ear for them. Game to make up nonsense songs when A-Fu was younger and wanted a lullaby about rabbits when he was at the Unclean Realm--as he didn’t actually know a song like that, he made it up on the spot. It was basically just speaking rhythmically with very imaginative words; ‘Rabbit, rabbit, ra-ra-rabbit, rabbit, rabbit, hop hop hop.’ Hey, the kid fell asleep, so it couldn’t have been that bad. 4/10 A Valiant Attempt Was Made

Nie Huaisang: Loves singing! The only drawback is that he wants to sing what he wants and when it’s vetoed, doesn’t really have the patience to argue, just says, ‘Okay! Good night, then!’ Usually likes ballads or tragic love songs that A-Fu and A-Ling are bored stiff by. A-Yuan, on the other hand, listens intently and asks questions about them after, like, ‘Did they ever see each other again?’ And that’s the story of how Huaisang made him cry at bedtime because, no, she stayed a statue for the rest of time and he wept on her every day until her face was worn off from the river of his tears. Oops. Respectable tenor with reasonable vibrato, sounds much like his speaking voice. 5.5/10 Fun and Educational, If You Like That Sort of Thing

Jiang Cheng: Nope. He does not sing. Will not do it. Ever. Could be a strong, driven tenor. But aggressively isn’t. 0/10 You Didn’t Even Try

MianMian: Knows songs from all over, but not many lullabies. Sings story songs sort of like Huaisang but they tend to be more energetic and less melancholy and so are overall received much more enthusiastically. She rarely is around for bedtime, even when she visits, but she can be coaxed into a song or two before the bedtime routine is started with parents/aunts/uncles. Strong mezzo-soprano, energetic and without frills. 7/10 Now That’s A Story I Can Get Into!

Wei Wuxian: Comes in kind of late for the kids wanting lullabies from him, but he knows a few drinking songs he can share and definitely knows a few rude songs that he is happy to sing for them--maybe a little sooner than their parents might appreciate. Is also the type to sing little nonsense songs about things that are happening around them, whether it’s teasing someone or just because he’s bored and wants the world to know he is chopping up potatoes. Is actually pretty skilled at just playing Chenqing like a regular flute as well and has started impromptu child dance parties on more than one occasion. His voice is solid, lower range tenor that likes to belt instead of croon. 8/10 Music Man--76 Chenqings Led The Big Parade

Wen Ning: Like Wei Wuxian, comes in too late for comforting songs and isn’t honestly that much of a singer. Will hum under his breath absentmindedly as he does things with his hands, but they aren’t really songs as much as random bunches of notes and jumps if anyone catches him doing it. The kids don’t really need him to be a good singer--they like him for other things! Like how he can crush rocks with his bare hands or toss them really high in the air! Mid-range tenor, not too confident or supported but not unpleasant. 3/10 It’s Just Not His Thing, And That’s Okay

[bansheeoftheforest]

*kisses you* /p

As per my headcanon, Jekyll owns a garden. And I like to imagine that he experiments a bit on some of the plants, ranging from "more colors" "Stonger smell" To "This snapdragon could swallow you whole, but would rather eat raspberries out of your hand like some weird horse"

Jekyll should also own a horse, at the very least every stable in London should know him by name since hes probably too busy to actually take care of a horse 😔. I was about to ask what name Jekyll would give a horse but then I realized he would probably name it after some alchemy person

*slams hands on table* ZOMBIE HORSE. Or ohhhh! Skeleton horse >:3. What would a chuch grim horse look like? Like shadowmere from Skyrim? In fact if shadowmere wasn't made from Sithis Juice™ I'd bet he's a church grim. Theres a stong chance she still could be actually. Shadowmere my beloved <3 hey have you ever played Oblivion? The Khajiits look like the cheeto mascot and being a vampire sucks. But its v fun and I love destroying everyone with that one powerful staff

I think Jekyll would like spiders. They're v cute ::::)

Speaking of, moths are grand and I adore them. I think Luna moths and Comet moths should know each other

Do you like mushrooms/fungi? Do you have a favorite, I adore all mushrooms but I think the Barbie Pagoda, the "Toadstool" Mushroom, and whatever the heck the one that zombifies bugs is called, are my favorites

Favorite video game 🔫

Oh wow I'm really going to try to reply to all of this on my phone Huh.

Anyways! I love that HC and I accept it wholeheartedly, I feel like it would make a lot of sense for him to have a lot of plants bc so many of them can be used in alchemy. Plants are so lovely and I'd like to say that I have a lot but the plants my family have are all like 15 years old and also half dead BC all of us forgot to take care of them. I spontaneously bought a Bride orchid a few months back. It's very dead </3 I'd like to imagine that he has a sun/plantroom in his house and that he would have a lot in the society too, if not for the fact that he doesn't really have time to tend to them, but my version of Jekyll definitely has a lot of plants<3

He definitely should own a horse and that horse is a Clydesdale named Mayhem /j but I like the thought of him having horses. Specifically either those really ragged horses that only farmers use BC they have no better BC he thinks they deserve a good life (and very much will be offended if anyone dares to try to suggest he buys a new horse) or he would have those really, really fancy white purebreeds. Either way he would definitely be a horse girl and one of those that would be obsessed with buying accessories for them. All his horses, tended to by stable boys, hired or otherwise, would all be spoiled rotten <3 (new drinking game; take a shot everytime I use a <3)

I remember watching videos about commanding in skeleton and zombie horses into minecraft and i thought it was THE SHIT when I was a kid! Skeleton horses my beloved!! Henry can have a zombie horse, as a treat. You know Henry with Shadowmare would be absolutely terrifying and so cool... Although I will probably spoil your fun by saying that, at least in folklore, a church grim (of any race or species) would probably just be a black-coloured, ragged looking animal with a slightly ghostly... Vibe to it? Nothing completely demonic about them, they just have That Wrong Vibe and look like a stray/neglected most of the time, I think that’s v fun <3

I’m a fake Elder scrolls fan bc I have only played Skyrim, sadly. I have watched some videos about Oblivion but it was mostly “trying to beat Oblivion with only X” videos and stuff, but I HAVE Seen the khajiits from there and just... Im glad that I’m used to how they look in Skyrim XD

Jekyll would be someone to like spiders and his lab would probably be covered in spiderwebs, not bc he doesn’t clean but bc he would feel bad destroying the beautiful webs. Maybe he would try to genetically enhance a spider to be the size of a puppy? I feel like spiders would be much cuter if they were larger, at least the thicc hairy ones. The spinely ones still freaks me out tho XD

Moths are so fucking beautiful but they are dumb as bricks. A few months ago a moth accidentally came into my room, scared the shit out of me, and then got stuck in the blinds and went back and forth with the length of one of the... Blades of the blinds? Strips? Sounding like a fucking jet engine until my sister caught it and put it outside again. The most common moths I have seen are emperor moths and I think blood vein moths? Very cute when they don’t scare the shit out of me <3

I’m not an expert on them but I think they are cool, as long as I don’t have to touch them most of the time-- fungi, at least, actual edible mushrooms are fine tho. I remember when I was in like... First grade, my class went on a field trip with a lady who owned a funky bus that she used to teach kids about nature and shit, and she taught us a lot about mushrooms and the parts of mushrooms, I think she talked about toadstolls a lot and did the classic “don’t eat the red mushrooms, you will die” speech, and she also gave us speeches about how everything in Australia (which is fun, since we are on the other side of the world) is out to kill you. It was fun <3 ANyways I’m a basic bitch, so I’m going to say that chanterelles and champignon are my favourite mushrooms bc those are some of the only ones I know and they taste v good. I think we are entering chanterelle season here so I’m going to try to convince my parents to buy some to make a stew out off <3<3

It will come as no surprise when I say Skyrim, right? Skyrim and Assassin’s creed Origins/Syndicate. I absolutely love Skyrim and I love AC, I forced my sister to buy Origins bc it was the first AC game I got interested in bc I was in the middle of an Ancient Egypt phase and I fell in love with the franchise. I bought Syndicate premium edition (with all DLCs and extras) for 75sek/7$ bc it was on sale bc it’s such an old game and I absolutely love it, I have been so tempted to make a Syndicate / TGS crossover bc it is basically in the same time period and I would very much like Henry to be the frye twins secret poison supplier. My bff bought me Odyssey when it was on sale for my birthday but I haven’t gotten around to play it yet bc I’m still not finished with Syndicate, and my sister bought me Valhalla for my birthday last year but our computer is a potato and can’t run it. I ruined my Skyrim with too many mods and I haven’t had time to play a lot of games lately, sadly </3

[veebs-hates-video-games]

I don't know why, but I also grabbed Torchlight 2 while it was on sale, even though I already played part of it on my computer a while ago and quit like halfway through act 2 because I wasn't having fun.

I played the first game a while ago on my potato of a MacBook, and it was pretty decent but not amazing. The most impressive thing was how well it ran on such bad hardware, especially considering that Apple didn't (and still doesn't) give two shits about games. Ok that's not fair, they don't even give half a shit. Probably around that time someone I knew at school found a reproducible crash bug in Apple's OpenGL driver, like one that actually affected commercially released games on the platform. Not only did he file a bug report, he tracked down the patch that fixed it in Intel's open source Linux driver and included that too. They never fixed it in the next few years, and probably it was still broken by the time they dropped OpenGL entirely. I could go on for a while about how poorly they supported stuff like that or how many decisions they've made that hurt game devs, especially indie ones, but...

Anyway, TL1 was kinda fun, but also it was extremely easy with the class/skill I ended up using. Based on that I defaulted to the highest difficulty on the second game, and at some point I just gave up because it apparently doesn't change anything at all beyond making enemies have tons of health and do more damage, so it was taking forever to kill things without a super optimized build.

This time around I just left it on normal so I could do my usual thing of messing around with weird combinations of things because they're silly, and it's much better. I have two characters further than I ever got before, and they're both much more fun.

The story and writing are incredibly uninspiring, to the degree that it's one of those rare games where I'm barely paying attention to the dialogue and just skim it and skip past. I just completely do not care about anything at all that's going on.

The art style generally works well though. I prefer it to the grimdark stuff that plagues the ARPG genre because of the first two Diablo games (which I just can't get into at all). It's cartoony and colorful, with flashy effects all over when you use your fancy skills.

And it's just fairly satisfying, in a brainless sort of way, to run around murdering endless hordes of whatever it is I'm fighting.

I do still have some issues with it though. Let me respec everything whenever I want, and make it free or very cheap. Don't force me to commit to stuff when I can't tell if it's going to suck or not in such a long game. Magic find is still a terrible stat, and Diablo is terrible for inflicting it on the genre. Needing to identify items before using them adds zero interesting decision-making and is a relic of the past.

(The only game I can think of off the top of my head where unidentified items genuinely created interesting situations was Nethack, which I don't particularly like playing but which has really fascinating system interactions. It has tons of really powerful items you can stumble across early if you're lucky, but also some (literally) cursed ones that can ruin your day...and you're allowed to use unidentified items. In a game with permadeath that can get really interesting. If you're stuck and don't think you can make it past where you are you can just try your best and hope you can work something out, or you can try out one of those items you haven't been able to identify yet and hope putting on that ring or drinking that potion doesn't just straight up kill you...and that you can figure out what it does do in time to take advantage of it. See, that is interesting gameplay decisions resulting from a system like that. "Oops you ran out of identify scrolls and have to wait until you're back in town to see what this does and then wear or sell it" is just extra busywork and extremely uninteresting in comparison.)

Uh, anyway...Torchlight 2 is alright. I might even finish it this time if I haven't burned myself out on it playing so much the past few days while I've been feeling crummy and needed something relatively brainless to pass the time. And maybe some day I'll get around to talking about Grim Dawn, which I find aesthetically less appealing but which does nearly everything else so much better. I'm pretty sure I've spent more time theorycrafting for that game than I've spent playing most other games...

[omedapixel]

Hi Emma! I have a question regarding the computer you are using. Recently I found myself enjoying building lots, therefore I downloaded tens of GB’s of cc and my laptop is not doing great so I decided to buy a new one. But I’m completely lost which laptop to choose and was hoping for your advice because you know exactly what it takes to create a decent lot and how satisfying is that you don’t need to wait 30 min to open “decor” section. I’m sorry if this question is kinda annoying. Thank you!

hi there!! i hope you don’t mind me writing a novel-length response lol 😅 and please know i’m not a super computer expert! this is just what i know from my experience. i also only have 10GB of cc (which surprised me ha!)

i’ve had so many issues running sims 3 on a laptop that i actually bought a desktop computer specifically for it! but i think laptops can work too, you just need to be aware of overheating (which is what cause all my past laptops to die)

the computer i have now is a medion pc with 16gb of ram, and the graphics card is a nvidia gtx 1070. even though this computer is pretty good at keeping cool, i obsessively monitor the temperature and don’t let it get over 50 degrees C (but i’m probably being over cautious!)

if you want to get a laptop i would recommend one that has good cooling capabilities and a fairly new graphics card. also if it has ssd, you can install the sims on there and that will make your game run faster! so probably some sort of gaming laptop (maybe like one of these? - https://www.reinisfischer.com/top-20-gaming-laptops-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1060-6gb-graphics-card )

but also aside from the computer itself, i swear by fps limiters!! i use this one for ts3 and it works amazing for me - http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,15585.0.html

this post by @potato-ballad-sims might also help you - https://potato-ballad-sims.tumblr.com/post/138757612807/yes-thats-right-there-is-a-way-to-make-the-sims

now i’m probably imagining things but i’ve also found that my game seems to run a lot faster after i installed this mod - https://modthesims.info/d/630199/hide-game-icons-in-cas-buy-amp-build-mode.html

ok that’s all i’ve got, hopefully you found at least some of this helpful! let me know if you have any other questions :)

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #425

“evolution repressed by our backwards contest  /  breeding our torrential demise as we come to this edge”

Serious question, peanut butter or nutella? I think Nutella is a godsend, but I use peanut butter waaaaay more often. We don't even really buy Nutella because I will destroy the jar. Do you prefer baked potatoes or mashed potatoes? Baked. What is your oldest sibling’s middle name? Kathryn. I think. Do you like breadsticks? I just like bread, man. What are your favorite things to spend money on? Tattoos, uuuuugggghhhhh <3 Which would you rather have a new puppy or kitten? Neither, really. Most puppies drive me insane (even though they're cute as everliving fuck), and I don't want another cat. Mom actually talked about getting another, but I really just want my one boy. Roman would get SO jealous, anyway. I enjoy just having my baby. How old will you be on your next birthday? 26. Yikes. Do you ever feel self-conscious when you eat around other people? As "the fat one," I can be sometimes. I would say though that more often than not, it's sort of whatever to me because I'm a human that has to eat. When you opened your eyes this morning, what were your first thoughts? I thought I slept way later than I actually did. What is one thing in the room you’re in that reminds you of somebody? My stuffed meerkat Rebel. Jason got it for me for my first birthday that we were together. Could you ever be friends with somebody who was homophobic? Never again. I was once able to think "agree to disagree," but sometimes by doing so, you're siding with evil by not enforcing what is more than just a belief. It should come with being a human. Also given my own sexuality, it would be a slap in the face to me. Would you ever want to be a supermodel, or date one? Hell no. I'd date one though, if they were modest about their position. Honestly, have you ever made fun of somebody so bad they cried? Wow, no. Honestly, would you rather be complimented on your looks or intelligence? Quite frankly, nowadays, my appearance. I need it. My self-confidence is so far below "shit." Have you ever purchased a pregnancy test, for yourself or otherwise? Nope. You can get one thing, anything, for free right now. What do you pick? Why? Hm. I know I talk about it a lot, but it would still probably be a 40 gallon terrarium for Venus. She needs - and deserves - it. Honestly, have you ever danced naked? NOOOOOOOO. What was the first illegal thing that you did? Did you get caught? Downloaded music. My mom eventually found out, but didn't care much. What is the home page on the computer you’re on? Google. Do you like to write poetry? I do, but I haven't done it in a while. :/ Are your ears pierced? Yes. If so, were they pierced with a piercing gun, or with a sterile needle? Piercing gun. Which, by the way, do not do. There are many more risks with a piercing gun versus a needle by a professional. Do you wear makeup regularly? I never do. Did you eat cereal for breakfast today? No. I've been on a bagel kick lately. When was the last time you tripped over something? Last night, actually. The rug in the living room was slightly turned up, and I tripped in the dark. I didn't actually fall, thankfully. Any obsessive-compulsive tendencies? I'm diagnosed with OCD. I experience more ruminations and intrusive thoughts more than obsessive behaviors, though. Who was the last person you yelled at? Probably Mom. Why did you yell at them? I don't remember. Favorite type of apple? I like pink lady apples. I really enjoy any, so long as they're crisp. Ever seen live horse racing? No. To be totally honest, I don't really like the concept of it. Motivating a horse to run by hurting it doesn't exactly seem moral... How about live greyhound racing? No. What’s one thing, besides the obvious, that you couldn’t live without? The Internet, haha. Have you ever touched a giraffe? No. What does your mom call you? Britt. What stresses you out the most in life? I really don't think I could pick a top one. There are so many. Do you play any PC games? What is your favorite? Yeah. Y'all probably know WoW is my favorite. If you were pregnant, how would you tell the father? Well, that would depend on the circumstances. Did we want a baby? Was it a bad surprise, a happy surprise? I can't answer this with just one idea. What’s the hardest level you can play on Guitar Hero? I used to be able to slam out Expert easily with only very few songs I had to play on Hard, but now it's been YEARS. I've played less than once in a blue moon, and my skill's definitely faded some. It really depends on the song. What ever happened with you and your first boyfriend? He couldn't handle my depression anymore. What’s your favorite country song? "When The Stars Go Blue" by Tim McGraw, probably. What is the worst thing a former boyfriend/girlfriend has done to you? Fail to communicate what he was feeling with me and then make a dashing break for it very, very abruptly after three and a half years. It put me past a state of shock, but trauma with how no less than obsessed I was with him. What were you for Halloween last year? I didn't dress up. :/ I wish I had the money and motivation alike to. Are you feeling guilty for something? I always will. Are you usually quiet or loud? Quiet. How many hours do you spend on the computer a day? Like... uh... all of them, oof. What is the show that you watched when you were little, and you still do? Meerkat Manor. Do your siblings text you? Not really. Do you want a small or big wedding? Small. Have you ever searched for your own house on Google Earth? Not the house I currently live in, but I have before. Who is your ex dating/talking to? I don't know. Ever kissed someone who smokes? No. Does it take a lot for someone to annoy you? Frankly, no. Do you own your own computer? This laptop, anyway. Did you ever have to share a room with one of your siblings? Yes, with my younger sister as a kid and pre-teen. What noises in the room you’re in, do you hear at the moment? I hear the video I'm watching, as well as my fan. Have you ever dated someone with longer hair than yours? Yes. What’s the biggest upcoming event for you? Nothing. Not like that's a surprise. What do you typically order from Wendy’s? Son of the Baconator. @_@ Have you ever been given a lapdance by an actual stripper? No. Those are so awkward to me. What do you love most about yourself? I don't know these days. Have you ever received a hickey from the last person you kissed? No. What are you doing right now? This survey and re-watching John Wolfe play Outlast 2. What’s bothering you right now? I'm immensely nervous about tomorrow. I have my first (and I pray the fuck to God not only) session with my new personal trainer then, and I'm terrified by how my body and my mental fortitude is going to react. Y'all have no fucking idea JUST how out of shape I am, and the muscles in my legs seem basically non-existent by now. I have to do something about my health, though, and I'm determined to make this shit work. More than determined. I know the first day is going to be hard, but I need to do this more than I can explain. What was the last thing you drank? ... What great fucking timing, I have a can of Mountain Dew, lol... That's another thing that needs to change. I've gotta stop the emotional and boredom-eating and chill the fuck out with soda. Be honest, do you like people in general? Quite frankly, no. There are plenty of people I love and think are amazing, of course, but I think I lean towards humanity being too shitty to like "in general." Do you want your tongue pierced? I miss my snake eyes. :/ That was suuuuch a cute piercing. I just had to take it out for the safety of my teeth. I kept accidentally clamping down on one of the balls when eating, and it would cause tiny fractures. Do you change your phone background a lot? No. Have you ever made someone so mad that they broke something? No. Have you ever been strip searched? No. Do you have a funny last name? Does anyone make fun of it? It's not funny-sounding, no, I just think it's too manly for me to enjoy as part of my name. Ever have a drug overdose? What did you OD on exactly? Yes. Oddly enough, I don't remember what I OD'd on now... You'd think I would, given how extreme the situation was. It was some cold medicine. Do you get sick of people who call themselves bipolar all the time? I absolutely do. It's extremely insensitive to people like myself who legitimately suffer - and I do mean "suffer" - from the disorder. Describe your day so far in three words: Dull. Lazy. Anxious. What was the most stressful project you had so far/while in school? Probably my senior project and the presentation I had to do for it. I taught about the fallacies and misconceptions of snakes, and I made a PowerPoint and some drawings to color and crosswords for the special ed children. I was so, so very nervous, but I got through it fine and the kids seemed to enjoy it. I actually still have the recording. Choose one- Butterfinger, Milky Way, Snickers: MILKY WAY. FUCK I love those. Have you ever stepped in dog poop? UGH yes. What was the last thing you spent money on? My niece's birthday present. Have you ever slept in the same bed with the last person you kissed? Yeah. Is there a guy that knows a lot about you? I almost said "yes," but then I realized he doesn't know me at all anymore. I've changed so much, hopefully mostly for the better. He hasn't "known" me in many years. Is there someone you just can’t imagine your life without? It's terrifying to imagine my life without Mom; Sara, too. Do you prefer Starbucks coffee or small cafe coffee? I prefer no coffee. Would you ever consider getting a piercing in your septum? Nah. Do you enjoy being outdoors? If it's cool outside and I have somewhere to sit that's not the ground, yes. Do people tell you that you have an accent? Sometimes. Do you enjoy watching fireworks on the 4th of July? They're pretty, but I don't support their usage by this point in my life. They're a fire hazard, triggering to some vets with PTSD, and beyond terrifying for animals. What’re some unspeakable subjects for you? I get most heated about child molestation. You do not fucking touch a child like that. I don't even write any of my bajillion evil guys committing it in RP because I just can't stomach it. Even when my little sister (a children's social worker) is telling Mom about some stuff she sees at work, I have to not be present, 'cuz that shit isn't rare. It's nauseating. Is there anyone you would take a bullet for? A good number of people, honestly. Do you enjoy tanning? Hell no, I avoid the sun and heat at like all costs. Are you a virgin? This is going to sound weird, but I actually don't know, but I lean towards no. Who’s your celebrity crush? mARK EDWARD FISCHFUCK Did or do you get good grades in English class? I was always excellent in English. What part of your body are you self-conscious about? My stomach. But I'm self-conscious about everything else, too. Are you expected to help fix Thanksgiving dinner? No. Everyone knows I can't cook worth a damn. Have you ever lost anyone close to cancer? Truly close, no. Unless you include pets, actually. Then a few. :/ Do you personally know anyone who is transgender? Yep. When was the last time you got a shot? Earlier this year for Covid. Get your fucking vaccine, btw. :^)

[nalgenewhore]

A rogue storm had her presumed dead and stranded on the red planet. Left on her own, astronaut Aelin Galathynius has four years to make it to the next drop-site, some two thousand miles. Armed with her smarts and dwindling supplies, Aelin attempts to survive on an inhospitable planet, when the nearest help is only millions of miles away.

masterlist - ao3 - last chapter - next chapter 

+*+*+*+*+*+*

Aelin carefully filled a container of water and walked it to her garden, pouring it over the crops and repeating the process until each little plant had been watered.

A camera had been set up in her garden so she spoke to it, still speaking as though TNSB couldn’t hear her or see her every move. “Now that everyone can talk to me, they never want to shut up.” She kissed the leaf of the smallest plant, smiling down at it and whispering a soft word of encouragement.

“They’ve even got a whole team micromanaging my crops. Which is just great,” she added sarcastically. Aelin and the botany team were not on the best of terms. “I don’t mean to sound arrogant,” she spread her arms, as if to say look at all of this, “but I am the best botanist on this planet.”

Aelin put the container down and dusted her hands, “In other news, they want me to pose for a picture. I’m debating between ‘High School Prom’,”’ she posed with her hands elbows bent and hands clasped over her stomach, “or ‘Happy College Student On A Pamphlet’,” she hooked her thumbs through imaginary backpack straps, pasting on a gloriously fake grin. “I’m not sure how it’ll all convey with my spacesuit on, but we’ll figure it out.”

Aelin laughed to herself and walked out to the kitchen area, now addressing the camera by the microwave, “Another cool thing about this communication business: email! I get a big data dump, like when I was on The Lani and stuff. Athletes, academics, musicians and even the prime minister too. But the coolest, the single coolest email I got was from my alma mater, the University of Orynth. They tell me that once you’ve grown crops somewhere, you’ve officially ‘colonized’ it.” A cocky grin overtook her features, “So I colonized Farnor. Suck it, TNSB botany team,” she stuck her tongue out before fetching her suit to take her photo.

 +*+*+*+*+*+*

Asterin was in stitches as she looked at the picture Aelin had sent. The golden-haired astronaut was mid-jump, her legs bent and her arms stretched up to the sky and she could make out the huge grin splitting the woman’s face. “Oh, this is so like her,” she murmured, tracing an iron nail over the photo. “This – I can use.”

“Good,” Weylan said, already on to the next topic. He addressed Sartaq and Gavriel on the screen, “Sartaq, is your team still on schedule.”

The man looked beat, a certain bleakness in his eyes, “It’ll be tight, but we’ll make it.”

“Make sure you do.” He tapped the table, “Nine-month flight puts us at day 868. Did we get the Botany Team’s assessment?”

Gavriel nodded, “They estimate her crops will last her until day 900. They resentfully admit Aelin’s doing a remarkable job.”

“Resentfully?” Manon questioned, arching a manicured brow.

“Yes, um, Aelin has a tendency to tell them to go have sex with themselves whenever they disagree with her or question her method. Either that or she tells them she’s the best botanist on Farnor and therefore she doesn’t have to listen to mediocre scientists,” Gavriel told them, a slight wince on his face.

The director of TNSB just shook his head, “Get her in line. We can’t have any miscommunications.” He turned to Manon and Asterin, who were both badly hiding their amused grins. “Food gets there at 868, hers lasts until 900…I hate this margin.”

“And that’s assuming nothing goes wrong,” commented Manon, ever-so helpfully.

+*+*+*+*+*+*

Aelin grabbed her toolkit and wedged it under her arm as she walked to the airlock, going out to do some late-night modifications on the rover.

Something was niggling in the back of her mind, but she paid it no heed, just wanting to do her work and sleep like the dead after whatever meager dinner she could scrounge up. She was running out of ketchup and she dreaded the day that she was forced to eat plain cooked potatoes.

A yawn grew in her and her eyes watered, gods above, she just wanted to sleep.

When one was stranded on a desolate, slumber was a fickle thing. Aelin’s eyes grew heavy as she pulled the airlock handle down.

All she heard was a ripping sound going along the canvas of the airlock before she was airborne, an explosion catapulting her and the tunnel far far away.

A strangled, panicked cry escaped her as she was battered and flung around the airlock as it flew through the air and crashed, her helmet crashing into something and she heard a cracking sound, closing her eyes on instinct.

The canvas tube rolled too many times for her to count until eventually it stopped and Aelin sat up, alarms blaring in her helmet.

It was cracked.

Fuck, it was cracked, a little hole where the polycarbonate-plexiglass had been chipped free. The beeping didn’t stop and Aelin fought to keep her breathing under control as she scrambled to her feet and wrenched the duct tape free, ripping off a length and taping it across the longest crack and then another across it.

Her toolkit had spilled everywhere and she grabbed a sharp screwdriver, stabbed it into the fabric of the airlock and yanked it down, creating a big enough rip for her to stumble out of.

Aelin could hardly see past the duct tape and she spun around, desperately looking for the hab and then sprinting, tripping countless times in her mad dash.

She stepped foot in and saw… her crops, destroyed beyond recognition.

Her lifeline was destroyed and Aelin gasped, her throat tight as she staggered out. She couldn’t stay here tonight and no good would come if she attempted to fix anything now.

Making her way to the rover, tears dripped down her cheeks until violent sobs were ripping from her throat and chest. She stumbled over a pile of rocks and fell to her knees, her gloves digging into the red dirt. There was no other answer; Aelin was going to die here alone.

A scream tore from her and soon enough, she was cursing the gods, “Where are you?! Why do you fail me time and time again?!” Her throat was raw and on fire. Her voice cracked, “Somebody save me.”

But no one answered her calls, not as she stayed there, kneeling in the sand, the reality of everything crashing down on her. There was no hope left, no bright and beautiful feeling.

The gods had never been there for her. Never.

Not when her parents died in that car wreck, not when she had to protect little Elide when she herself needed protecting, not when they made her fall for a heartless and cruel bastard, who carried a chip on his shoulder, going through life thinking no one had it as hard as he did.

It was stupid and childish to think they would save her now.

 +*+*+*+*+*+*

The mood in Mission Control was somber, nobody daring to speak as Nox read off the message Aelin had sent. “…crops are dead. Complete loss of pressure sterilized the soil and boiled off whatever was left in the water reclaimer…”

The only upside was that Aelin had managed to store away buckets of water and didn’t have to worry about that. “How long does she have,” Asterin asked.

“Well, she can still eat the potatoes she has. We estimate about two-hundred days.”

“Rations get her to what? Day four-ten?”

“Yes, so with potatoes, she can stretch to six-ten.”

“Prelim calculations call for a four-hundred-day round trip.”

 “By day 868 she’ll be long dead,” said Manon, her face emotionless. Her eyes narrowed and she sucked on her teeth, “It’s day one-thirty-five right now, we need thirteen to mount the boosters and do inspections… which give RPL forty-seven days to make the probe. Darkness above, gods damn it.”

“How long does it usually take?”

Gavriel answered Nox, his voice defeated, “Six months.”

Weylan spoke to Gavriel, already standing and doing his suit jacket up, “I’ll let you tell Sartaq and his team.”

 +*+*+*+*+*+*

Fenrys was sitting in front of The Lani’s communications computer, typing an email to Aelin. TNSB had finally given them the ok to speak with her and only Fenrys had been up to the task.

Dearest G-Money, he wrote, laughing quietly to himself, Apparently, TNSB deemed it appropriate for us to talk to you and I drew the short straw. Sorry we left you on Farnor, we don’t like you very much and we were all tired of you hogging shower times. The downside is we have to rotate through your tasks, but it’s only dirt (not real science). How’s Farnor?

 +*+*+*+*+*+*

Aelin was crying as she read Fenrys’ email. Oh, how she missed them, so terribly. The day had been a long one, one where it seemed she couldn’t stop the tears even as she fixed the mess that had been made.

She didn’t think she’d ever been as heartbroken as when she was clearing out her ruined garden and dumping the dead plants outside. After she spent a few minutes mourning all her work, thinking to herself that the botany team would be thrilled she had finally failed, she got busy – covering the hole made in the hab by taping over a plastic tarp she would no longer need now that the greenhouse was useless.

The wind was making it flutter and flap, but it would hold as she replied to her friend.

My most beloved Fenny,

Farnor is fine. How’s The Lani? Cramped, with those two broody men? I accidentally blew up the hab, but fortunately, all your movies were spared which means tonight I’m going to eat plain potatoes and watch Mulan.

Everyday I go outside and look at the vast horizon, just because I can and guess what, I officially colonized Farnor.

I hope the girls are going easy on you poor boys, I know they can be rather ruthless when it comes to board and card games.

Say hello to the others and tell Lorcan that I’m gonna beat his ass if he’s still blaming himself.

After a few minutes, she read his typed reply, just two words, Will do.

Aelin did indeed watch Mulan as she ate her dinner and then, she got up, licking her plate clean and walking it to the sink before she sat down in front of her laptop once more, opening the video journal.

She wished so badly that she could be doing anything other than this, but enough was enough. She wasn’t a child and could no longer put this off. She owed it to herself and to her crew.

“Manon, it’s currently day one-thirty-six, around nine PM. I have a favour to ask of you, and I’m sending these to you, only you, because you’re the only one who will understand. Thank you for everything you did and thank you-“ her voice broke, “thank you for being my friend.”

Aelin took a second, her eyes shut as tears slipped past her lashes, “I want you to send these to the crew in case I don’t make it, ok?”

It took a lot to decide to send these, but Aelin pushed through, addressing the first one to Nesryn.

“Faliq… thank you for being you. Every day spent with you is one I cherish, because I love you so much. Thank you for getting me hooked on The Anatolia Story; it’s addictive. I’ve read fourteen out of twenty-eight volumes and I can’t wait to finish it, but I’m trying to ration them. I won’t forgive you for liking Twilight. Take good care of my goddaughter and your wife. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you guys. Every day I miss you.”

The rest of the letters went the same way, with her saying her last goodbye to her family. Every word had her throat growing tighter and tighter, until only Elide and Rowan were left. She didn’t know what to say to him, how to tell him she loved him so when she would be dead too soon.

Hot tears were streaming down her face and she looked crazy as she spoke to Elide.

“Ellie-Boo. I-“ she sobbed once and covered her mouth, “I love you so so much. To infinity and beyond,” referencing the movie that had their obsession with outer-space beginning, Toy Story. “There’s too much to say to you. You’re my person, baby girl. Without you, I would’ve probably wound up in a ditch somewhere. I want you to have the biggest wedding and a dress with enough sequins so that I can see it in the Afterworld. You are not allowed to be sad, no tears, Elide. I mean it. My funeral better be so much better than the one TNSB had – boooring!” Aelin smiled cheekily and then grew serious, the redness from her crying making the turquoise of her eyes pop. “Be happy, my darling sister. Because guess what, you and me? More than anything, we deserve to know happiness and you’re going to have to take my happy too. I love you, to infinity and beyond.” She pressed a kiss to her fingertips and touched the screen.

The letter she dreaded having to dictate was staring her in the face and Aelin stood up, walking around in circles as she attempted to order her thoughts. Eventually, she sat down, “…Rowan. I… there’s a lot to say, but I won’t ever be able to stop crying if I say everything. Basically, I love you. I don’t know how or when or even why, but I do. I’m completely in love with you, buzzard. And I wish I hadn’t been such a coward to keep it all to myself all this time. I wish that we could’ve been together and in the next life, I will find you and I will not be scared of it, ok? I will find you again and I will not be afraid.” 

She couldn’t say another thing and ended the video, sitting and staring at the wall until she finally fell asleep.

+*+*+*+*+*+*

an: that wasn’t a very nice chapter huh....anyhoo! comment/send me an ask to be added or removed from the tag list! thank you for reading darlings 

@mythicaitt @kandasboi @schmlip-scribble @the-regal-warrior @westofmoon @empire-of-wildfire @rhysands-highlady @city-of-fae @shyvioletcat @alifletcher2012 @tangledraysofsunshine @ttakeitbacknoww @tswaney17 @ourbooksuniverse @flora-and-fae @thesirenwashere​ @queenofxhearts​ @that-other-pineapple​ @sleeping-and-books​ @superspiritfestival​ @faerie-queen-fireheart​ @chemicha​ @rowaelin-cressworth​ @mynewdreamwasyou​ @candid-confetti​ @bat-wing-rhys​ @the-reading-obsessed-stitchbear​ @feyrethedarklady​ @booklover41802​ @rowaelinforeverworld​ @jamesxdaisy​ @julemmaes​ @hellas-himself​ 

[gumnut-logic]

The Fight (Bit 13)

Bit 1 | Bit 2 | Bit 3 | Bit 4 | Bit 5 | Bit 6 | Bit 7 | Bit 8 | Bit 9 | Bit 10 | Bit 11a | Bit 11b | Bit 12 | Bit 13

Hmmm, supposed to writing Kermadec fic but got distracted socialising this morning. So here we have the next bit of The Fight :D

Thank you for all your wonderful comments yesterday. I was caught at work an hour over time and then got angry at work. Your words kept me going. I crashed and burned last night, hence the lack of more.

Warnings: Little bit of violence, but nothing graphic. Just passionate on a teacher’s part. This story is fiction, but it is true that some teachers give more than we ever realise. I know I have some teachers in my childhood who I can never thank enough for all their support during some very difficult times in my life. Value the people who guide our children and appreciate that they offer a piece of themselves to every student so they can learn and grow.

-o-o-o-

It took calm. Or as close as she could get.

Alan lay there unconscious. Rory was tied up and terrified.

She had a responsibility to her students. Hell, she had a responsibility as an adult to two young children.

Hurt, young children.

Her heart broke even more.

But now was not the time for hysterics.

Lip still trembling, she forced herself to focus.

She had played enough strategic computer games, read enough books, watched enough movies and even worse, seen enough newscasts to know escape would be a good idea.

There was, of course, the ‘do what they say’ option, but one key bit of information terrified her more than anything.

Rory knew the person responsible. She now knew the person responsible.

Rory may be a relative to that person, but she was not. The motivation behind this attack was unknown, but considering their assailant’s identity, she could make several guesses, none of which were on the positive outcome side of things.

And Alan...member of a billionaire family...the possibilities just multiplied into the dark dank depths of human ugliness.

Her bonds were tight and refused to give no matter how she wriggled to the point of pain. Even her attempt to get her hands around to the front of her body failed.

She was no movie heroine.

The room held a cupboard and a tall set of drawers as well as the bed. The building was old. The damaged plasterboard walls were a dirty grey colour. There were paler patches where furniture had been removed. The only light came from a partially boarded up window coated in cobwebs.

“Rory, have they spoken to you?”

“Uncle James told me to shut up and to...to grow up and stop crying like a baby.” Which hadn’t worked because Rory started crying again.

“Hey, honey...” God, she wished she had her hands. So much relied on her being able to reach out and hug him. “Come here. Edge your way over and sit next to me.”

He stared at her a moment, a tear still running down his face. She wondered how many people in his life he had been able to trust. How many times he had taken the chance and been hurt because of it.

She cursed Joe MacIntyre to hell.

But his son tried again and with the smallest hint of vulnerability in his eyes, he inched his way across the smelly carpet to her side where she was leaning against the bed between Alan and the door.

“Lean on me, honey.”

One tousled head dropped gently against her shoulder and she lowered her cheek to rest on top. Neither of them said anything, but she hoped that her presence would be enough.

After all, she couldn’t promise him anything.

Just a moment and then she would start investigating the cupboards and drawers and looking for a way out.

Just a moment...

Her eyes closed.

Her head hurt so much.

Consciousness left her for felt like just a second, but suddenly she was being yanked so hard her head snapped back on her neck.

It hurt and she cried out, her eyes opening to find a smelly bearded man far too close to her face and with such disdain in his eye it curdled her stomach.

“Take care of it.” The words came from a second man. Grey suit, dark eyes. But then her sight was obscured by never-had-a-bath and an eager chuckle.

He began dragging her from the room.

Away from Rory and Alan.

No!

Rory let out a yell and was backhanded for it by grey suit. “I told you to shut up!”

NO!

Goddamnit! NO! An arm came within reach and she sunk her teeth it to it.

Stinky let out an awful screech and dropped her like a sack of potatoes. Her feet were still tied together, but she had thighs and thank god for solid shoes. She kicked out hard and there was a crunch as Doc Marten sole hit shinbone. Stinky hit the floor with a wail.

She shuffled away as fast as she could.

A gun appeared in front of her face. It was attached to a grey sleeve and those cold, uncaring eyes.

“I had planned to do this out of the sight of the children, but if you insist.”

This was her life.

This was it, all twenty-eight years of it.

The darkness of the barrel leached out her soul.

The man smiled.

A flicker of red light.

And the room exploded.

-o-o-o-

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