#and this way it was technically free and i won’t have to buy his version for way more than the others 😭 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gb-patch · 3 years

Text

Ask Answers: August 8th

Well, doing big posts all together worked for a while but lately I’ve been putting it off because it takes a long time to get them done. I think I’m gonna try switching back to answering asks whenever I can fit it in and posting them one at a time instead of waiting until I’ve filled out one of these major collections.

But for now, here’s more ask answers! Thank you for the questions and for all the kind words along with them ^^.

Hello!! I'm here to ask if its possible to get the game and its dlcs on steam and play it on android?

I’m afraid not. Steam doesn’t have Android builds on their own site and Steam is not cool with keys for other sites being given out for Steam purchases, so you don’t get the Itch version from buying on Steam.

Hello! Sorry to bother you but, I had a question, if we buy the Game on itchio do we get steam keys or would we need to purchase it twice?

You would have to buy it twice if you want it in both places, I’m sorry. To repeat myself a little, Steam doesn’t like the key trading thing. Itch may support giving keys for another site, but the reverse isn’t doable with Steam and Steam doesn’t even really want you to get a Steam key for buying somewhere else either. So we just don’t mess around with that.

hey, sorry if this is frequently asked, but is step 4 free dlc or paid for? some of your sources are contradicting each other.

It’s free! There’s a paid wedding DLC, but Step 4 itself is entirely unpaid.

Hello! I just had a quick question, for the Baxter and Derek DLC's will we be able to confess our feelings to them or let them confess to MC? or will it only be one way? (they confess to MC)

Both type of options will be available!

Hey there! I wanted to ask whether or not the Derek DLC is still on track to be released in August since on the steam discussion board it says it will be released mid 2021. I totally understand if it isn't, I'm just really looking forward to it! If you answer then ty! And keep up the amazing work :D

It’s not, aha. Unfortunately, 2021 wasn’t easier than 2020 as we hoped so things are still slower than planned. It’ll come out late 2021 or early 2022.

Hi! Firstly I just want to say that I LOVE Our Life. I have played a bit of similar games but this one instantly wins for the best one! Everything about it is amazing! I just wanted to ask if Derek would ever lose feelings for MC, like if they make the deal and then MC gets with Cove would he move on? and even if you don't, after "losing contact" would his feeling fade or would he still like MC?

If you don’t really keep in touch with him and clearly move on with your life, Derek will too and he’ll be over it. But if you are still close as best as you can be, he’ll still think the MC is special. Though, he’ll always support your relationship with someone else if that’s what’ll make you happy.

Hello! Sorry if you've answered this before but: 'How's Lee related to us? Though which momma? And does she share our player-chosen last names? Also, do you know if Noelani took Pam's last name or did it happen the other way round?

She’s related to Pamela and Pamela’s last name is the one they use, so the MC has the same last name as Lee.

Will we be able to choose which (they or he) we tend to call Qiu by more often, or will it randomly change depending on the moment?

Qiu knows which pronoun they’re comfortable with at a time and you’ll call them what they’re happy with. And it doesn’t change between lines, it takes multiple scenes or even full Steps for it to switch. So for extended periods Qiu will be totally a guy or fully agender.

Will Step 4 of OL2 have moments?

It’ll be an epilogue like it is in OL1, so it won’t have a bunch of different Moments.

Hello! Just a quick question, is Sunset bird from OL1 based on a real location? If so what's it called? I wanna visit it +_+

ps i love your games so much <3

It isn’t based on one specific town you can go to, but there are a lot of little coastal towns in Cali that have a similar vibe!

Heyaaa ( I hope you're all well ), umm… it might seem kinda stupid to ask but did Patreon members can have a key for the dlc's ( all the steps-released dlc ) even if they became a member this month or later ? (me? saying this cuz it's my case? maybe ;-;), and once again thanks for absolutely all the amazing works on all the games ! u-u

You wouldn’t get the DLCs for backing there. The Patreon is for extra bonus content/early access, rather than being a storefront to purchase the normal DLCs. Rarely we give them out as a side gift, but it hardly happens and if what you want is the DLCs it’s best to ignore the Patreon and buy keys for those directly from Itch or Steam. I’m sorry for the confusion.

Hey y'all, love what youre doing w/Terry. Trans rep outside of player customization is so rare and important to see more of so thank you so much. I do have a question and its that does he have a canon sexuality? I know Miranda was said to be straight ace but I dont believe anything was stated for Terry probably because he wasnt revealed to be a guy which changes things. Im also curious if well get answers on how long hes liked Miranda since he may have liked her in step 3 before she liked him

Terry likes women and Randy likes men! And he did like Miranda back in Step 3.

Will the Wedding Dlc release at the same time as Step 4?

They’ll come out separately with Step 4 releasing first.

I really love Our Life so much! I've spent over 20hours playing it even though I only got it a week ago! I was wondering if I could make a fangame for Our Life with a different love interest but same plot. Next-door neighbors romance, multiple steps, etc? I'll probably make it on Google Slides though-

Sure! I hope you have fun with it and I’m glad you love the game.

How does Cove feel about poly relationships?

He’s got nothing against them for the people they work for, but he’s 100% monogamous and would only be comfortable with a partner who was willing to be monogamous with him.

Idk if this has been answered before but will Step 4 include the option to advance your feelings towards Cove?

Yep, you’ll be able to determine your feelings and what your relationship is.

In step 4 will there be a chosen to say we live with Cove even as just friends?

Yeah, you can choose to live with Cove and that can be done when you’re friends.

I just played the game with the MC and Cove being best friends and omg it’s still so damn cute like the wholesomeness of it all is too much for my heart I swear ^.^ Now with that all said I was wondering can we still marry Cove? if we only love him as a friend like let’s say we’ve made deal with him similar to the one we can make with Derek because let’s real no one could compete with what the MC and Cove have even if they aren’t in love.

It’s great to hear you enjoyed the friendship story! You can live with Cove, but you can’t marry him platonically. Cove has familial affection for the MC if they’re best-est friends. He wouldn’t think to marry someone he loves like family and even grew up with as though they truly were siblings.

Are you still going to be making a DLC for XOBD? :]

Yes! We’re slowing adding voiced lines and fixing errors.

It makes me laugh that Shiloh's last name is Fields because that's what I put as my last name! So in Our Life when he talked about "Ms. Fields" picking him up I was extremely confused, lol. That dude mimics personalities so much that he stole my surname!

Oh, wow, that’s a very funny coincidence, haha.

hi !! i cant seem to be able to get the scene where mc is able to propose to cove despite being at the 'love' stage and telling him i'd want to get married, are there any other details that im missing out on? the options just dont appear at the end...

Maybe you missed telling Cove you were in love with him even if you mentioned wanting to get married or you might’ve accidentally said earlier in the game that you don’t want to progress your relationship further with Cove. We haven’t removed them, so you can get the scene again. It’s just kind of easy to miss since there’s multiple requirements. You can read a little guide in the FAQ.

wait what di you need to do to be able to propose to cove? I've been trying but haven't had much luck

You can check out the FAQ linked above!

does cove only develop a crush on the mc if the mc is also at crush/in love with him?

Technically, yes. We treat the non-romantic relationship options as truly non-romantic since we don’t want to bait and switch people. But there’s nothing wrong with headcanoning that Cove does have feelings developing for the MC even before the MC has.

Is there a way to make/allow Lee and Baxter to date?

No, they just don’t have enough time together.

We also got a group of asks related to Tamarack in OL2, but I’m afraid the way they talked about people with larger bodies made me not want to post their words, even if the person didn’t say they’re trying to be hurtful. I will separate out the core question and answer it though, so people can know that info.

Does Tamarack lose weight in later Steps?

No, she doesn’t. As for the other questions included, to be honest, I don’t have to explain/defend having romance options of different sizes. I’m sorry if you’re dealing with unhappiness that’s connected to body image, if that’s where the negative emotions are coming from, but even so I can’t meet you on that level and pretend it’s a problem that needs an answer. A girl who simply isn’t thin being a main love interest is just not an unreasonable concept. Also, Tamarack isn’t a lesbian. Yes, she can date a female MC, but that doesn’t undo her actual sexuality, so I’m not sure where that one part at the end was coming from.

I wonder... can we "fight" with Qiu over leader status? 👀

Not really, haha. No matter how cool your MC is, they’re never gonna replace Qiu for the other kids around. So you can either partner up with him, follow him too, or not be a part of all that group politics stuff.

So when I play the game, sometimes I mentally call Cove “Covie/Covey” and that made me wonder, how does Cove feel about being nicknamed? Not like Romeo/Space Cadet/etc. but like pet names relating to his actual name

It’d depend on his age, personality, and your relationship with him! When he’s younger he’d probably be embarrassed, when he was grown he’d probably be more casual or happy about it.

will you be able to date baxter in step 3 while at crush with cove (but not dating him ofc) sorry if this has been asked already. i really love baxters step 4 design btw!!

Yeah, you can be crushing on Cove and date Baxter if you weren’t already dating Cove. You just can’t be truly in love with Cove and then switch to Baxter.

I just got my friend into our life, and they adore shiloh and derek sooo will there be more of them in the second game?

I’m afraid not. But you can see plenty more of Shiloh in XOXO Droplets/XOXO Blood Droplets, haha.

I see you haven't gotten any xoxo droplets asks recently but I'm still obsessed with these boys!! I was just wondering if Nate would curse under any circumstance?

Yeah, Nate does use certain swear words (damn, hell, bastard) on very rare occasions.

Hi there! I have a question about the wedding dlc. Will we be able to plan a honeymoon during the planning stages of it or would it be something that Cove and the mc would rather plan later on? Thank you! Absolutly love the game by the way, definitely one of my favorite games!

The focus will be on the wedding day itself. The topic of the honeymoon might come up a bit, but there won’t be any choosing of the exact location and such.

Hi! I have two questions and it's completely understandable if you only answer one/neither and I'm sorry if you've already answered either before! First, is there a set year in which OL:B&A takes place (ex: Step 1 being set in 2010 & Step 2 being set in 2016, etc.) or is it simply up to interpretation? Second, have you guys thought about doing a coming-of-age game where the MC has a tough home life or upbringing? (like one of their parents is an addict, a parent being transphobic whilst the player has the option to be trans, or having friends that are influencing them to do drugs, etc.) That's all! Thanks for making beautiful games. <3

There is a set timeline!

Step 1: 2006 Step 2: 2011 Step 3: 2016 Step 4: 2021

And we don’t currently plan on making a game like that. The Our Life series exists to be a safer environment for people to play around in and if we did do a brand new series that was harsher edged it’d be something more fantastical and/or plot-driven instead of a different type of modern day slice-of-life growing up story. I’m sorry.

i don’t know if you’ve already answered this, but do you have a guess on when phase 4 will come out? as well as ol2? i’m so excited for both of them, the inclusivity in this game is amazing, you guys should be really proud of it!

Step 4 will be coming out very soon! OL2 is gonna take until 2023 to be anywhere near completion. But we might episodically release the Steps one at a time as they get done instead of waiting for three to be finished before launch like we did with the first game.

Hello, I was curious if there was an official or unofficial discord server for the game?

We do have a discord! You can join by clicking this link HERE.

how long do you plan to keep ol's patreon running?

Hopefully for at least a few more years.

Are you considering ever making merch?

Yeah, but I don’t know when it’ll happen or what exactly we’ll make, aha. It’s something we want do, just nothing is set.

hi! i just found out about your game a couple of days ago on tiktok (so sorry if you’ve already answered this question) and i was wondering if y’all are ever planning to release it on iOS?

I have no idea. It’s hard for a small group to get Apple approval and I honestly can’t say if it’ll ever happen or not. Maybe someday, though!

Hi, I love the art style of Our life and I would like to know if the artist has a Twitter? Also, could it be possible to fund more CGs for the game from him/her? So many times, I wish there was one like when the cutscene of the sunshower.

That’s nice of you to offer. He doesn’t have a Twitter, at least not one that’s public enough to be shared with me. And I’m afraid not. The issue is that the CGs take huge amounts of time rather than there not being a budget for it. He’s gotta make CGs for Step 4, the DLCs, and new character sprites, too. There isn’t space in the schedule for even more. Sorry for that.

Hi, how are you?!

Are you planning on accepting new writers or is it always the same people who write your stories??

Thanks!!

Our Life: Beginnings & Always won’t be getting new writers, but we will be hiring a new team of writers for Our Life: Now & Forever eventually!

perhaps this counts as nsfw and I'm sure it has been answered before but what does Cove prefer, chests/boobs or butts? or perhaps both :3c thank you for this wonderful game (and the patreon bonus moment, it was worth all the waiting and more ♥)

He’s a “chests of all shapes and sizes” kind of guy, haha.

i was wondering- did any of the writers actually grow up by the beach? as someone who's lived in a beach town all their life it really did feel nostalgic to play through our life 1

I was born and raised in Cali! Though, not right by the beach. We still had to make trips out, but the setting is based on my own childhood memories of small beach towns we went through.

In Derek’s upcoming DLC, will we be able to reference the pact we made as teens? (love olba and xod/xobd so much btw you’re literally amazing)

Yep, you will be able to talk about that!

Oh, sorry about the Cole being secretly L ask, then!

If you wanted context: Death Note is about this one guy who finds a notebook that kills anyone who you write the name of in there. The guy eventually develops a God Complex and starts mass killing criminals and stuff. L is the one trying to find out who is killing all these people.

Me and my sister first joked about it because I couldn't remember how to translate a word about the way Cove was sitting, so I just did the pose, and it looked a lot like how L himself sits! Then we just snowballed from there, with more and more nonsense connections.

That’s okay! Thanks for explaining. I’m sorry I didn’t know what you meant.

#our life #ask #gb patch #gb patch games

173 notes · View notes

soldmysoultootomeboys · 4 years

Text

Obey Me Brothers Wedding HCS

Just some wedding headcanons for the boys bcuz i’m soft for them, Gn MC

Thinks about marrying Asmo => 😡💕💕

Lucifer

I can not stress how much this man would be a bridezilla

He’s probably the MOST high maintenance demon when it comes to this, even over Asmo

He gets so stressed over it too and when he's stressed he gets extremely snippy

It takes you knocking a little sense into him to get him back on track

He just wants your day to be perfect and with his brothers causing trouble it's hard to really focus on choosing a tablecloth

He won’t be any nicer to his brothers but he will try to avoid causing fights at this time simply because it's really important to him that ALL of his family is there.

The night after proposing you find a beautiful envelope on white paper with gold trim in your room you realize it's a congratulation note from the celestial realm, presumably from the big man upstairs, it's still a heartstopping realization when you realize who your father in law technically is

Are you committing a sin marrying a fallen angel? Do you care?

It’s easier to ignore it than do anything else, although you do appreciate them registering for the coffee maker you had on your registry. You needed that. Mammon broke the last one.

Kindly begs asks you NOT to do anything crazy in the week leading up to it

Please MC his heart he's about to explode from stress please don't add to it, just for one week

Diavolo plans his bachelor party at the Fall with Barbatos. Invites you along and you have to explain how bachelor parties work

If it’s up to him the wedding will be all black with red accents eDgY mUcH?

At the altar he kisses you twice, first to show everyone that your his, the second time is just for you two, he hides you away from sight curling his black wings around you and holding you as close as he can bear

In the end it's a very happy celebration filled with good food, family, and friends

When you cut the cake feel free to smash a little bit in his face, this is your only chance, he'll be in too much of a good mood to retaliate...much

Mammon

Luxury luxury luxury

He wants solid gold altars, diamond encrusted bouquets, jewels imported from every corner of the world

He has so many plans (as well as a ridiculously long wedding registry)

But the moment you say you want anything he abandons them

Whatever you want he wants, but if you wanted some diamonds too that would be great

He absolutely would be down for a wedding bouncy castle

He gets you the biggest diamond ring ever that he buys with his own money from a lot of shifts at Hell's kitchen and modelling gigs

He totally believes in the tradition of not seeing you until your wedding day but he also forgets so he walks in and as soon as he realizes you're getting ready he shuts his eyes and tries to run out. He'll only talk to you from behind the door.

When he sees you walking down the aisle he falls in love all over again. And he feels like that a hundred different moments. It doesn't matter what you're doing, playing with your veil, wiping cake off the corner of your mouth, yawning, he loves you and loves that you’re his.

He could get married to you in a ditch and still be the happiest man in the world.

He's an absolute goofball and is smiling the entire time

The couple that during their wedding night end up jumping on the bed and having pillow fights while play wrestling

Levi

You really want to marry a gross otaku like him??? Why??

Not that he's complaining! He just doesn't get it. His brothers are so cool and Asmo is so much prettier than him and he doesn't have anything to offer.

It takes a lot of reassuring to convince that this is what you want to do

You two have this same conversation about a million times before the wedding. He just doesn't get why you actually like him. Once it finally sets in that this really is happening and it's not just some big joke he gets really into it and definitely puffs up around his brothers to show off

His first thought is a cosplay wedding and he'll beg for it to be Ruri-chan themed

Good luck getting Lucifer or any of his brothers to agree to dressing up, as funny as it may be

If you shoot that down it's pretty easy to convince him to do something else since mostly he's just excited to be with you

He still has a little Ruri pin on his suit collar and cufflinks

When you walk down the aisle he feels like he’s going to faint from nerves and when it’s time for vows he pulls out a huge list of all the reasons he loves you and why your his Henry, although about half of it compares things you’ve done to things in TSL

He only makes it through a quarter of the way before he gets embarrassed

When he lifts your veil he panics because your so pretty and he can’t handle it

You have to initiate the kiss and when you do he turns as red as a tomato

He tries to play it off but keep a strong arm around his waist unless he really does decide to pass out

He cools down once you guys are at the reception and gets especially excited the little custom made toppers of you two in cartoon form

Satan

He's a bridezilla but in the lightest sense of the word

He won't get upset over mix ups or even really wedding stuff like Asmo or Lucifer but his temper will be extremely fine during this time, especially when it comes to his brothers.

Throws an entire table through the window when Lucifer asks him if he knew where Mammon was

It’s a lot of stress to create the perfect wedding and he buries his nose in different books that can help him

He’s a bit of a perfectionist

The most classic and elegant wedding ever and he’d want to be involved in every step of the way

Very interested in your opinion and if it compares to human weddings

He flushes with pride whenever you compliment something he picked out

Includes casual literary references in his wedding but only so people who really know will realize

Wears a navy suit

Asmo

Also a bridezilla and a petty one at that

There will be drama, there will be tears, there will be a part where he cries off his mascara because Andrealphus of the damned brought the white bouquets and he wanted the PINK ones. This is HIS day why is she trying to ruin it.

It’s a lot of work trying to keep the damage to a minimal

Part of the reason he gets so upset is because this is your day too and he wants it to be perfect.

Prepare for a million dress rehearsals.

He wants to help pick out your outfit and makeup! But he also doesn't want to break human tradition...But he wants to help pick out your outfit and makeup so bad!!

If he manages to restrain himself he picks out the makeup artist and the stylizer because he knows what makeup you like and what looks best on your skin.

Most likely tho he'll want to see anyways and bugs you to let him in

You compromise by going shopping with him as he tries on a million dresses and suits

MC the suit on the right or the one on the left?

They both look exactly the same.

"...Left love." "That's exactly what I was thinking. I knew I could trust you to pick out the right answer!"

Even though he's very good at fashion your opinion matters a lot to him. Sure he could make himself look perfect but he wants to look perfect for YOU. He wants to be your version of perfect and if that means he picks the high cut dress instead of the low cut which flatters his waist better then he'll do it. For you.

He's the type to want to have all the spotlight on him so if you're walking down the aisle he's going to do it too! He does it first. HE says for the attention. In reality he wants to be able to see you the moment you step out the doors and down that hall.

Looks super perfect as he waits for you at the aisle but the moment you get married he starts ugly crying. He throws his veil back on so no one can see it but you just lift it up and kiss away his tears.

Even though it's a lot of work it's worth it to be with the demon you love...but if you shove cake in his face he'll seriously kill you, MC do you know how long this took?!!!!! :'(

Beel

He’s more than happy to do whatever you want

Whatever vision you have he's willing to make happen

He does his best but feels a little useless since keeps having to break for snacks

Wonders why you’d want to be with him when all he ever does it eat but he tries not to bring it up in case it would upset you

He honestly does have a lot of fun planning with you and his favorite part was when you got to taste test different cakes because he got to impress you by explaining all the little differences between each one

He ends up being in charge of everything food related and it helps him feel a bit better

Barbatos ends up cooking the dishes

During the rehearsal he falls in love with you all over again and doesn’t want to let you go the entire time

He gets especially nervous during the month of the wedding

He starts stress eating, going through even more food than normal, but then he gets worried about fitting into his suit and starts working out even more than normal, which makes him hungry again. It’s a terrible cycle

Belphie manages to break him out of it by reminding Beel that you love him more than anyone else

Even though its his wedding he starts setting up just to get out some of his nervous tension until the others shoo him back inside

A huge 20 layer cake each tier a different flavor

He has his own personal cake that's even bigger than the other cake but he’s more than willing to share with you

You two do the cute bit where you smash cake in each others faces

Beel still eats it tho

As much as he loves his family he's so happy to be able to steal you away at the end

Belphie

Planning a wedding is sooo much work

He lets you choose whatever you want as long as you let him sleep

if it was up to him he'd want a small informal celebration with his family but if you want something bigger than he guesses it's fine. As long as he doesn't have to talk to anyone like Diavolo

He uninvites Lucifer like three times, each time using extremely formal paper with beautiful cursive that must have taken hours. When Lucifer confronts him Belphie just says that it’s too late because he already gave away his seat.

He only brings him back when you make him

He sleeps more than usual in the weeks leading up to the wedding. You think it’s because of the stress but in actuality he’s trying to save up his sleep so he’s more awake for the ceremony

As much as he may act like he doesn’t care, he really does want to marry you and it makes him happy to think that you’re going to be all his

Beel is obviously his best man and while Belphie waits for you to come down the aisle he leans against him to take a small nap. Or that's what he had planned. The moment the music starts he perks up and finds himself unable to even close his eyes, too fixated on the doors about to open.

Feeds you the first bite of cake and then just...doesn't stop

He’s so in love with you all he can do is stare

Gives his slice of cake to Beel he'd much rather pay attention to you than eat

However he does smash a little in your face but it’s out of love <3

1K notes · View notes

deltas-writing-corner · 3 years

Text

Courtship (4): The Gargoyle Graveyard

Fandom: Twisted Wonderland (Malleus x GN!reader)

Author note: Again, thank you all for being patient with me and I apologize for having a very inconsistent writing schedule. I'm going to make it my goal to update on a bi weekly basis instead of leaving you all in silent limbo. Also a reminder I suck at figuring out which warnings to put so if there's something that needs to be forewarned that I failed to disclose please lmk!

Warnings: Mentions of heavy bodily injuries | childhood trauma/neglect | discussions/mentions of discrimination | mentions of virginity/sexual history

Previous chapter | Next Chapter

AO3 version

Clay. Stone. Porcelain. Plaster. Metal. There are even gargoyles carved entirely of wood! Some statues are stand-alone works of art while others are part of a clear collection or series of similar inspiration. They even come in all sorts of shapes and sizes; as small as an apple or a towering height to rival Malleus himself. No matter what, each grotesque has been crafted with the utmost consideration, by well seasoned and knowing hands. Even the ones that have clear defects and cannot serve their intended purpose are free of overabundant ivy, weeds, or dust. There’s a clear degree of love and care the family who makes these statues has for their craft that makes him feel less alone in his interest in an uncherished form of art.

“It should be around here somewhere,” you muse aloud. Ever since he expressed interest in seeing more sculptures made with non-traditional materials, you’ve been keeping your eye out for a particular one that would fulfill his yearning. You eventually find it and eagerly point to it. “There it is!”

Malleus watches as you approach a massive-sized statue covered with a thick and half-wet tarp. He helps you remove the cover, revealing a winged and slightly humanoid canine. There are many more grotesques with a similar design, but what makes this one stand out the most is the material it’s made out of.

“Amazing!” Malleus awes. “I’ve never seen a grotesque of this size made entirely of glass! They’ve even managed to maintain their attention to detail despite such an abnormal material choice.”

“You can even see the inner channel where the water would flow in and redirect out of its mouth,” you notice.

“They even went out of their way to make it functional despite it being unfit for actual installation?” Malleus inquires with disbelief. “Such a shame.”

“If you’re looking to buy anything here, I’m afraid it's a lost cause. One of the first warnings the grandfather gave me is that none of these are for sale.”

“What was his second warning?”

“If we damage anything, even as small as a scratch, he’ll kill us.”

“How charming,” he chuckles. “I cannot blame him. These statues must take weeks to complete. Time is a human’s greatest enemy.”

“For some, sure. But when I went to visit the family and talked to the old man, he was lunging around all this heavy equipment like he was still in his prime,” you recall. “He lives for his craft. If there’s anything humans are at risk of their entire lives, it’s a lack of motivation and reason to live.”

“I suppose that’s true, but the lifespan of humans and the inevitable effects of aging is difficult to live with, especially once it begins to hinder one’s ability to do what one could previously do without issue. ”

“You’re not wrong,” you acknowledge. “But I think I’d rather live a short life with fulfillment than a dull, long-as-shit life.”

To show that he’s entirely on your side, Gunter lets out a guttural bark while his tail rapidly wags and thumps the damp ground, coating the ends of his bushy tail in specs of dirt and dirtied, remnant snow of the north that has managed to stay frozen on the isles warmer south end.

“You’re only agreeing with them because you’ve been promised food,” Malleus chastises. “Don’t think I didn’t pick up on your grumbling stomach.”

“And don't think I didn't pick up on your stomach rumbling either your highness," you quip back at him. "The family has a small cottage nearby we can use. We'll settle down for a bit and eat before sightseeing some more."

Before you turn and walk in the direction towards the aforementioned lodgings, you reach your hand out for Malleus to take and he latches onto you with restrained enthusiasm. He's taller than you, but he takes care not to take his normal strides as to not leave you struggling to keep up with him. Gunter doesn't know the way, so he trots beside you every step of the way up until the destination is in plain view. The cottage is small but well-attended. There’s a rustic flair to its construction that makes it feel familiar and safe despite never stepping foot in it before.

"Those gargoyles were something, huh?" you remark to him while you tap and shake off the gunk wedged into the soles of your heavy boots against the frame of the door.

"Indeed," he nods, taking your cloak off for you and hanging it on the wooden rack nearby. "I don't think I've ever seen that many gargoyles in one day. Just when my eyes land upon an intriguing one, there's several more that catch my attention."

The way he gets all wide-eyed is outright adorable. It makes you grin just as enthusiastically too. "I bet your club is going to have a field day once you tell them about this!"

His child-like smile turns into one of disappointment. "I'm certain they would, if I wasn't the sole member that is."

Your hands halt from pulling out and setting down all the premade food out of your pack. "Seriously? You're the only one?"

When he nods his head, you feel a twinge of hurt in your heart. Poor guy. You can only imagine how disappointing it must be to go through all those lengths to start a club (you would know since you're technically a staff member of the school and have been given a rundown on some of the school's functions and regulations) only for no one to show interest. Of course, you completely understand that gargoyles aren't exactly all the rage within the minds of teenage boys. Still! He goes through so much effort to build relationships with his peers but they always cower away, either due to his status or even because of the way he looks. You won’t deny that he does come off as rather intimidating at first glance, but he's a sweet guy once you give him the chance to speak.

But to expect teenagers going through social pressures and demanding academics to be as understanding and willing to understand someone like Malleus is an impossible demand. Given that everyone in the school can be a bunch of self-centered and easily agitated bunch of pricks, it's understandable that most of the student body isn't keen on trying to take into consideration the proper etiquette one needs to consider in the presence of a young and noble fae. Deuce has met and talked briefly with Malleus on one occasion, but even he visibly shakes whenever his name is mentioned, even in casual passing.

Wait until they found out who you've gone and gotten buddy-buddy with behind their back. They probably think they're slick or that their intentions are well swept under the rug, but it's clear they feel some semblance of responsibility for your well-being, as both a magicless individual as well as a close, albeit older, friend. You dread the day people begin to make the connections between Malleus and you, but you still can’t help but wonder what their reactions might be. You also dread the high probability those two idiots are going to find out and embarrass the living hell out of you, which you know you do not have the patience or tolerance for.

Gunter jumps up and sits himself down in one of the wooden dining chairs, pushing the small ceramic plate towards you with his nose, as if telling you "Alright, I’ve done what I said I'd do, now feed me what I'm owed." You tell him that you'll give him what he's well earned after you get a small fire started in the brick fireplace. Just because it's warmer near the southern half of the island and not as heavily blanketed with snow, doesn't mean the cold has completely vanished, Winter is still winter after all.

"Where did these scars come from?"

Malleus' unexpected question and closeness nearly make you drop the iron rod you've been using to stoke the growing fire. You've since taken off your boots and rolled up the bottoms of your pants just above your knee as the room starts to warm up enough for a thin layer of perspiration to accumulate and roll down your skin. The scars he's referring to are the ones on your right leg, both side by side at an awkward angle and discolored. You have a lot more scars than these, some much more gruesome in appearance than these two. Malleus has never asked about your scars, but sometimes you catch him looking in the general area of some that peak through your clothes. He likely keeps quiet about their existence out of courtesy.

Yet out of all the markings on your body, why did these two stand out enough that he'd finally ask about them?

"It's a long story," you say in an effort to stall the topic. "Sit. I'll feed you two once the fire is stable."

He doesn’t push you for an answer, instead simply doing as you say and lets you poke at the burning logs until they're properly aflame on their own. You made mostly some of your morning favorites; Creamy and thick potato stew with diced carrots and peas and some eggs, ham, and crispy hash browns sandwich between homemade halved croissants. You teased him about having picky taste buds earlier, but Malleus is content to eat anything you serve him so long as it is not comparable to the likes of Lilia's atrocious cooking.

(Seriously, how does a man as old as Lilia not know the basic fundamentals of cooking? And why does everything he makes end up burnt and tasting like something rotten? You will never understand.)

"Don't eat too quickly," you warn Gunter as you pour a bit of light-colored soup onto his designated plate. Your words are ignored, as the equally marred wolf sloppily slurps and munches on the few bits of potatoes and vegetables you generously scraped out of the thermos. His food is gone as quickly as it’s put in front of him and he looks at you expecting more.

"No. The rest is mine," you scold. "And don't beg Malleus for some either! I know you do it behind my back, you little shit!"

He turns to look at Malleus with an accusatory glare, thinking that he ratted him out to you. Malleus’s response towards the silent imputation is to turn and look out the window as if something caught his interest all of a sudden, cup raised to his lips as he politely sips away at his meal without an air of calmness. You have to slap a hand over your mouth to hide the amusement that overtakes your senses.

"Malleus, stop that!"

"Stop what?" he innocently asks.

"Stop making me want to laugh!"

He sets his cup down onto its matching serving dish. "It's not my fault you have an easily satiable sense of humor."

"Wow!" you say incredulously and put your arms up in offense. "And here I was thinking we were friends!"

His distant demeanor breaks and you both devolve into a fit of laughter together. Gunter unfortunately takes advantage of your joint distraction and slips away with a warm sandwich between his jaw, your sandwich in particular.

"That damn wolf!" you curse. "I knew I should have trusted my gut and pack extras.”

Malleus pities your distress before moving over to sit closer. "Worry not. I'll split mine in half with you,” he reassures.

"No, it's fine," you immediately dismiss his offer. "Have it for yourself."

"I'm not taking no for an answer," he firmly states. “Don’t be stubborn. It’s far too early for that.”

"I thought you liked it when I was stubborn?” you pout.

He shakes his head with a smile. “I would be lying if I said I didn’t”

"At least someone likes my attitude,” you say after chewing and swallowing a mouthful of soup. “Sebek certainly doesn’t."

"The boy is stubborn as well. When two equally stubborn individuals cross paths, you will witness nothing but discord between the two."

"Add the fact I'm human into the mix, and we'll be exchanging fists instead of words sooner or later," you scoff. "I get that some faes don't like humans, but what's his deal with acting like he’s got a vendetta against me?"

"Sebek doesn't hate humans for the reasons you might think," Malleus admits. "It’s more like he finds them difficult to think that highly of. Did you know that he is half-human?"

You nearly choke on your own breath over the sudden revelation. "Really?"

"Indeed," Malleus finds amusement at your disbelief. "Have you ever wondered why his ears aren't pointed like Silver, but his eyes are like mine and Lilia’s?"

"Damn,” you scratch the back of your head with embarrassment. “Now I feel stupid.”

"You aren't. Given the way he speaks, not many would assume he had human blood in his veins. His mother was highly regarded within her social circle, but her marriage to a human man tarnished her reputation a great deal. She's happy and does not seem to care what others think of her these days. However, when Sebek set out to be a knight, his mother's marriage and his lineage were often brought up as a way to scrutinize his character and capabilities rather than any of his actual shortcomings as an individual."

"Poor kid," you sigh. "Lilia told me those sorts of things still happen in The Valley, but it sounds so outlandish that I couldn’t take it that seriously."

"Many faes hold old traditions above all else, to a degree that the purity of one's blood stands above all other merits." His eyebrows pressed together in annoyance. "Even my grandmother thinks it's archaic, but as the reigning queen she has to embody a persona of neutrality between the social divide."

"It sounds like you have your work cut out for you in the future," you say, almost apologetically. "What do you plan to do about it once you're the king?"

There's a brief flash of surprise over your question, but Malleus easily answers it as usual. "I think my first course of action as king would be to properly knight Sebek and Silver."

"Bet my rifle that Sebek is going to cry the entire ceremony!" you remark with certainty. "That's all he ever goes on about, being a knight and all."

"He's devoted countless hours and efforts since he was a child. If there's anyone who deserves to join the knighthood, it's him."

"Definitely," you nod to further cement your agreement with him. "He could stand to lower his voice a bit. He'll give you tinnitus before long.”

"At least we won't have to worry about losing him in a crowd," Malleus jests.

"That's to say we'll lose sight of him to begin with," you remark. "He'll gladly lose me in a crowd. You? You'd be lucky to get out of arm's length."

"You underestimate me, dearest," Malleus smirks. "Ever since I've met you, I've perfected the art of avoiding Sebek's insistent searches."

"Have you now?" you razz back. "Don't let him catch onto the fact. He'll have my head."

He reaches over and tucks a strand of hair behind your ear. Each second his skin touches yours makes you tingle. Time slows down ever so briefly if only to savor the small instance of physical connection for as long as possible. "What of your aunts?" he inquires. "Are they as overprotective of you as Sebek is of myself?"

"They’re a trio of mama bears," you proudly admit. "I'm old enough to drink and well equipped to fend for myself, but in their minds, I'll always be the little tyke that couldn't even eat their meals without looking at them for approval. Especially my aunt Gia."

You have three aunts. There's your aunt Marisol, the mother of most of your cousins and the main caretaker of the household. Your second aunt Lucia was well into her studies at university when you came to live with them, but her stress and long hours of mulling over her course materials paid off in the long run. Your gardening skills wouldn't be what they are now without her expertise in agricultural botany.

Then there's your aunt Gia. Oldest of the three. An absolute tank of a woman. No spouse. No kids of her own. She lived off the land like an absolute titan. The woman raised you as if she was the one that carried you for nine months and not your actual birth mother.

How would you describe your parents? If your parents were told to list out their priorities in life, their careers would be at the top of the list and you would be put at the very bottom. Why they carried you to term is beyond your understanding. You later learned that Gia had even offered to take you under her care well before your birth, knowing that your parents might not be well-suited to take care of you in the way she thinks would be beneficial for you. It was a convenient offer that would have saved everyone the trouble years down the line when you had your accident. They worked in a cutthroat industry and were constantly moving up the executive echelons. They had no time for you, yet their pride as a pair of young, successful business magnates made them incapable of seeing past the reality of the situation. That left you mostly in the care of last-minute caretakers and your aunts, but only if they had time from their own busy and preoccupied lives to come out into the city and visit.

You were eight years old when things started to get better, but it was upstarted in the worst possible way. Your parents had to go away for the upcoming weekend for work and left you in the care of a babysitter as per the norm. The babysitter never showed up however and your parents apparently couldn’t be bothered to check up on you even once the entire trip. Their silence wasn’t surprising. You just went on about your business for the next three days on your own like nothing was wrong. Your aunt Gia had even called at one point to check up on you, but you didn’t bother to tell her that your parents had left you to fend for yourself. She would have exploded if you did, but not as much as she did when you woke up in the hospital after falling down the stairs and lying helplessly on the ground for several hours with a dislocated shoulder and a compound-fractured leg. You were lulling in and out of consciousness due to all the medication pumped into you, but what little you do remember seeing and hearing when you regained consciousness will forever stick with you for the rest of your life.

If people think your level of swearing is bad, they should have heard your aunt that day. She swore so viciously that it could set an innocent bystander's eardrums on fire. What will forever stand out the most to you was the fact that your parents didn’t even look the least bit apologetic or regretful. They didn’t even approach you once your aunt was done giving them a piece of her mind to check up on you. They simply talked with the awaiting social worker and doctors and then left. It was for the better, but the small part of you that continued to hold onto the desperate belief that your parents would come around one day sent you into a thrashing frenzy and you had to be sedated before you could hurt yourself anymore.

The next year was spent recovering from your injuries, meeting regularly with your caseworker, and going through therapists like a pack of cigarettes. By the time you were back on your feet and the legal proceedings of your custody case were concluded, all you wanted was to move on with it all. Nearly a decade of neglect left you this unattentive, uncertain husk of a person who couldn’t take a single step forward without looking for some sort of guidance or assurance. Your family was exhausted by the entire ordeal and over speaking with third parties. Your aunts took it upon themselves to help you regain your sense of self in the comfort of your new home, no matter how difficult or demanding it was going to be.

“It took some time, but eventually it clicked in my mind that I was in a better place and I started to get better. As for my parents, I have no clue what they’re up to these days.” You lean back into your chair and let out a shaking yawn. “I like to think they’re getting on well like I am.”

“I don’t understand.” Malleus looks at you with unbelievable confusion. “Your parents treated you poorly, yet you don’t sound the least bit resentful. Why is that?”

You shrug your shoulders. “What’s the point? I'm in a better place now, so I've let bygones be bygones. 'Doesn't mean I don't harbor any anger against them anymore. I do, but getting upset won't change what's happened to me."

Gunter, having sensed your discomfort over the matter, trots over and rests his head on your lap. You gratefully rub the top of his head, carding your hands through his thick, coarse hair. "I'm just glad they let me go without a fuss. Family court was hell for my family.” Your eyebrows knit together. “Expensive too.”

Crackling wood fills the momentary silence that befalls the small cottage. What you've recollected to Malleus is a lot to take in, and if you're being quite honest you'd prefer if he just dropped the subject and talked about literally anything else right now. You hope he doesn't say he's sorry or any other type of apologetic comment. That's all you were ever told that entire year it all happened, during court proceedings, your rehabilitation, by both strangers and distant family members alike.

"I'm so sorry. What happened to you was unfortunate. You didn't deserve it."

No shit you didn't deserve any of that. You were a kid. You don’t need one pity party after another to realize that what took place then had fucked you forever. But as you said earlier, you're in a better place now, with a loving and supportive family that's moved on alongside you. A family you need to get back to as soon as possible.

"I love you."

Well, if he was hoping to take your mind off the past. that certainly did it. How can it not? It came out of nowhere and as good as you are at holding your composure when need be, you're sure you look no less like a gaping fish when warm and plush softness presses right against the corner of your lips. A kiss. His kiss.

"What's wrong?" Your voice sounds shaky. You’re nervous.

"Nothing," he smiles reassuringly. "I simply said what I felt needed to be said."

"Fair enough" you concede easily. He was going to say it sooner or later. He already has actually, now that you think about it. Yet here you are trying to process his words like it’s rocket science.

"Am I going about this too fast perhaps?" he genuinely asks. His hands that have been busy massaging your calves that have settled across his lap somewhere during your long retelling gradually slow down, but his hands never go completely still. "This is my first time experiencing something like this."

"What?" You sit up a bit straighter. "A relationship?"

"Yes."

Your head tilts to the side. "Really?"

He nods hesitantly "Yes?"

For a moment, you go completely quiet. "I don't believe you,” you doubtfully say, head shaking to further showcase your refusal to believe him.

He must not have liked your remark, frowning with clear offense in his eyes. When he dislikes something, the vertical slits in his eyes contract into a thin line. "I cannot lie, yet you still doubt me?"

"I know you can't lie, but I find it hard to believe you haven't been with anyone else before," you explain. Before you can consider the appropriateness that was your newfound curiosity about Malleus's apparently non-existent love life, you blurt out, "Are you still a virgin?"

You slap your hand over your mouth the moment those words come out of it. He's equally caught off guard and nearly drops his warm cup of coffee. Even Gunter is surprised by your question, olive-colored eyes looking at you as if you've lost your mind. It's an invasive question, inappropriate even. You and Malleus have been dating for a little over two days. A question like that is way too early to bring up just yet.

"You don't have to answer that," you tell him behind your palm. "I shouldn't have even asked it. Forget I ever brought it up-”

"I'm not," he interrupts you, leaving you even more shocked than you already are. You’re practically gaping like a fish by now. "I'm not a virgin,” he further insinuates.

A deafening silence, but it’s eventually broken by yourself. “I still don’t believe you.”

Malleus gets further annoyed at your refusal to accept his truth. "I'm not lying!" he insists.

"Bullshit!"

"Do you want me to recount my history to you?" he asks, exasperated as you are at the shift the conversation is taking. "Will that satisfy your doubts?"

"You know what? It will!" you loudly declare. "Who'd you sleep with?"

"He was a young page at the time,” he reminisced. “It happened before I was a century old.”

Your eyebrows raise with intrigue. "Was he cute?"

"Yes," he hushedly agrees. The disconcerting admittance paints his face a pinkish-red glow. "But that's not why I bedded him."

"But surely his looks are what made you interested in the first place?” you make blatant regard of the fact.

“You’re not wrong,” he acknowledges, expertly avoiding agreeing with you outright. “But his looks aren't the sole reason I was drawn to him. He was bright-eyed and ambitious, to the point you’d think him insane given his position in the court. It was also the first time I ever truly met with a group of humans, and my young mind was eager to get a more accurate perspective of humans that wasn’t through the lens of my tutors.”

“An ‘accurate perspective’?” You make playful air quotes, eyebrows wiggling because you know the fact that he knows what you’re implying. The playful comment is met with a sharp pinch on your leg that makes you jump and shriek out in pain. Did he have to dig his nails into you? Apparently so, and now you have small crescent indents on your skin. “I bet Lilia had a good laugh when he found out.”

“He doesn’t know, actually,” he admits to you with what is obviously a proud smile.

“Now I know you’re lying to me,” you scoff. “Nothing escapes the old man’s radar.”

His hands begin to rub out the marks he’s left on you as a form of apology. “Lilia is sharp, but he had lost most of his vigor by the time I was born.”

You go wide-eyed again. “You mean his hearing and eyesight was better than it is now?”

He nods affirmatively. “From what I’ve been told, terrifyingly so.”

Lilia is already frightening as is. His short stature and boyish looks make him perfectly unassuming to those who don’t know any better. You once watched him beat up a couple of bulky, twice-his-height students from Savanaclaw without breaking a sweat, yet moments before he was jokingly scolding himself for dozing off so easily. You never once thought he was ever out of his elements. A cold chill runs down your spine thinking how much more perceptive the older fae may have been back during his prime years.

“Wonder what Lilia’s gonna think,” you ponder out loud in a quick effort to banish out the skin-prickling mental imagery your mind was invoking. “About us, I mean.”

Malleus seems surprised that you would change the topic to that of all things, but his initial shock goes away as quickly as it came. “As you may have guessed, he’s an open-minded individual, but he’s also very realistic and unafraid to say what’s on his mind.”

“So what does that mean for you and me?” you question with a bit of hesitation.

“Well,” he trails off and ponders for a moment. “He’ll surely like the scandal our relationship would invoke. However, as my caretaker and mentor, he won’t hesitate to put an end to it if he feels it necessary.”

Had it been anyone else sitting beside you, you’d have found that comment way too extreme and outright ridiculous. However, you are not speaking to anyone ordinary. You are not sitting before someone normal. It doesn't matter how well you get along with him. It sure as hell doesn't matter how deeply in love you are with him, and him of you. The moment you have been deemed a shortcoming, the outings, the closeness, it all stops. All of it will come crashing down and both you and him will be left wondering what could have been done differently.

Malleus is truly your best friend, because already he can tell that your mind is beginning to spiral even when you go quiet. He calls for your attention by gripping his hand around your bare ankle and carefully tugging the end of your limb. “Don’t fret over it too much,” he soothes, yet also sounding like he’s scolding you for letting your mind wander off so negatively. “Lilia is an exceptional judge of character. From what I’ve gathered, you’ve well exceeded all his marks. He trusts you, and to gain such a thing from someone as old and wise as him is an extraordinary feat.”

You brew over the attempted compliment he tried to pay to you. Unfortunately, it doesn’t snub out all these festering thoughts in your head. It doesn’t even give you temporary relief. Perhaps it would have brought you a sense of peace a few months ago, but with everything that has happened thus far, you doubt even Malleus can alleviate the storm that rattles inside you, even if what he speaks is without a doubt nothing but the truth.

Surely he can see that you are still having some hangups. When you lift his hand and plant a chaste kiss on the back of his hand, you hope he can decipher the gesture as a pitiful request for his forgiveness for dampening the once energetic mood. He is not at fault for your loss and inability to think optimistically at the moment and you need to make sure he knows it.

Today is about him, not you. Even if it’s just for today, you’ll put on a pleasant facade and worry about the rest at a later date. It’s just you and him, and for now, that’s enough.

You do a mental countdown starting from three, before finally giving him a late response to the three words he uttered in confidence to you earlier. “I love you too, by the way.”

You love him. You love him. You love him. That’s all his mind can think of for the rest of the day. He replays your reciprocation over and over like it’s sacred and all-powerful.

He had planned to return to his dorm before the sun began to set, but he found the mere idea of detaching from you deeply unwanted and made the last-minute decision to spend the evening at the Ramshackle dorm. He already has a few articles of clothing and personal essentials set up in one of the many empty rooms, so neither Lilia nor you had any objections at his sudden request.

“Don’t worry!” You shout across the room so that Lilia can hear you over his phone. “I’ll make sure he gets to bed on time!”

“You have my gratitude!” Lilia’s muffled voice responds gratefully. “Don’t cause too much trouble now, you two.”

“No promises~” you sing in jest before Malleus hangs up. Once the call ends Johnny, Benji, Franky, and you turn their attention back to their ongoing game of poker. Malleus watches and occasionally laughs to himself over the friendly banter shared between the quartet. At the end of every round, the winner is assaulted with colorful profanities whilst they take their newly won gambling chips with ebullience. Yet with each new dealing of cards, the animosity goes away and they’re all back to being friendly. He finds your interactions with your incorporeal roommates more entertaining than the book he’s been reading to pass the time.

“Hey, fairy boy,” Franky informally calls out toward him. “Don’t be a stranger now. Play a few rounds with us.”

“I’m afraid I’m not well versed in card games,” he admits, yet he still finds himself setting his literature aside and moving over to join them.

“Don’t worry,” you give him a reassuring smile. “They’ll go easy on you.”

“For how long?” he knowingly asks.

You give him an impressed smirk at his quick uptake. “I give it three rounds before they start to pull back their sleeves.”

Malleus is well-adjusted to the need to quickly learn a new topic and the expectation for him to fully comprehend it in full. None of them are harsh on him for his minor mistakes like some of the tutors he’s had in the past. Answers that he believes may be obvious or not as complicated as he thinks they are being answered with enthusiastic patience. The smallest achievements he makes are met with a proud response. When he makes a surprise turnabout and wins his first game, he’s rewarded with an encouraging round of applause by everyone.

“Not bad,” Benji praises as he shuffles the deck of cards. “You’re a fast learner.”

“So I’ve been told,” he humbly replies. “Is this the part where you all stop going easy on me now?”

“Don’t provoke them,” you half-heartedly warn. “Otherwise we’ll be up all night duking it out otherwise.”

Franky sets his glass of iced liquor down on the edge of the table. “Don’t you little lovebirds worry. We won’t take up too much of your well-needed time together.”

Annoyed at the clear jab at his relationship with you, you throw one of your chips towards his head. It passes through his body and clatters on the floor behind him. Your fawn Blossom jumps down from their spot on the couch and goes to sniff it, thinking it to be food, but walks away with a disappointed strut when he realizes it isn’t anything edible.

“I didn’t tell them a damn thing,” you defensively clarify. “It was so obvious what was going on between us that they figured it all out before we made it official.”

He lets out a deep breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. “That’s...I can’t say I’m too pleased to hear about that.”

“We won’t say anything,” Franky reassures. “Just make sure to put a sock on the door whenever you guys want some alone time.”

“Franky!” you hiss at him. “What the hell?!”

“What?” he looks at you, unbothered by your clear embarrassment. “Do you honestly expect us to think you guys went out just to look at a bunch of statues?”

“Oh, I’m sure they were looking at something,” Johnny smirks. “It wasn’t made of stone though.”

“I hate you guys,” you growl out, arms crossing and leaning back into your seat with an angry huff. You don’t mean it. He can see the tremble of your lips as you try to contain the urge to grin. “Even if we did end up rolling around in the sheets, I wouldn’t be yapping about it for all to hear, much less you guys!”

“What happens in the gargoyle graveyard stays in the gargoyle graveyard, eh?” Franky winks at both Malleus and you, nudging you with his elbow.

“Exactly!” you affirm, batting the large ghost away from you for some much-needed distance. “Now stop being so damn nosy.”

They cackle one last time and everyone seamlessly goes back to their ongoing game. Conversations like the one that just concluded are commonplace in your dormitory. Even if he contributed next to nothing to the discussion, he enjoys watching them interact. You come from a world where ghosts are hardly as overt as the ones in this world. Ghosts are said to entertain themselves by picking on the living, to the point that it can be fatal. Your ability to come up with witticisms at a moment's notice is something he enjoys seeing in action. He feels great satisfaction not only knowing that he has secured your love but to also see you in a state of tranquility and within your elements.

As Benji and you have a hushed conversation on the sidelines, he reaches over and places his hand on your knee beneath the table. You quietly reach over and put your hand over his, stroking the back of his hand with your thumb like it’s instinctual. Unfortunately, the heart-fluttering moment is ruined by the sudden buzzing of his phone. He has half a mind to ignore it, but when he gives the screen a glance he realizes ignoring the caller is not an option.

“I’ll be out for a moment,” he excuses himself once he sets his hand down and stands himself upright. “This shouldn’t take that long, hopefully.”

They all stop to look up at him inquisitively for half a second. In unison, they ask, “Sebek?”

“Sebek,” he affirms.

There are simultaneous displays of annoyance, pity, and silent wishes of good luck directed at him. He’s tempted to ask where all this contempt for the boy comes from, but then he remembers the many times Sebek barges his way into their dorm at the worst possible moments. It is either when everyone is beginning to settle down after a long day or in the middle of an important house project, the former more so than the latter now that the dorm is much more stable and in need of less restoration. Malleus learned the hard way how ill you and the ghosts will react when your peace is unwantedly interrupted and your space invaded by an unwanted guest.

Sebek is also quick to scrutinize whatever he sees out loud without a filter. You never seem to mind half of the time, merely rolling your eyes and moving past Sebek’s ill-meaning remarks as if you never heard them. As you are someone Malleus highly regards and holds close to his bosom, he hopes Sebek can one day set aside his strife with humankind and give you the due diligence you deserve.

...Though, he completely understands that reaching that point will take time. While you can endure Sebek to a certain degree, there are times where he, unfortunately, pushes you past that threshold and, without flinching, you will tell him to “Shut the fuck up”. Your words, not his.

“Young master!” Sebek's transmitted voice peaks and he has to half pull it away to give his pained eardrums some relief. “I was informed by Lord Lilia that you will be spending the night over at the Human’s dorm. Have you all your accommodations at their estate? If not, I will swiftly-”

“That won’t be necessary,” he half laughs at his enthusiasm over such a small task. “I have enough to keep me comfortable and well for a few days. Your offer is still very much appreciated.”

“Y-Yes, of course,” he stutters. “If there’s anything you should ever find a need for, please inform me at once! I will fulfill your every wishes no matter the hour!”

He’s enthusiastic and ready to act at a moment’s notice, even during the middle of a cold and dark hour. Malleus doesn’t necessarily dislike this part of Sebek, but he’s starting to understand why someone like you would find such subservience difficult to deal with. At any moment, Malleus could ask Sebek to grab some insignificant item of his and tread through the thick snow to deliver it to him, and the boy would do so with jubilation and utmost timeliness. You on the other hand wouldn’t be caught dead ordering someone to do something on your behalf when you believe you are well and capable of doing it yourself.

You don’t put expectations onto the backs of others, choosing to trust yourself first before anyone else. He knows now that it’s a result of the one instance where you expected something from someone, only to be thoroughly let down and left wondering if it was you who did something wrong.

Malleus cannot make up for the pain you’ve been subjected to, but he hopes that he can become the outlier in your life that surpasses any preconceived notions you may hold onto others. He hopes...No, he absolutely will be the one who brings you your well-earned and deserved joy and repose, just as you have done for him and continue to do so.

You love him, and he will ensure he is worthy of every last drop of your fidelity.

#twisted wonderland #twst #twst x reader #twisted wonderland x reader #twisted wonderland imagines #malleus draconia #twst malleus #malleus x reader #malleus draconia x reader #twst writing #twst fanfic #fanfic: courtship #reader insert #reader insert fanfic #reader insert fanfiction #gender neutral reader #gender neutral pronouns #x reader

85 notes · View notes

wshyunsoo · 2 years

Text

( Hello, it’s Sera again and I would like to introduce you to the lead vocal of BLUE.M, Lee Hyunsoo! With him, I would love to fill in the gaps with people I have not yet gotten the chance to thread/plot with; especially if you think that he could have an interaction with your muse! He’s a bit of an interesting character with quite a few eccentricities, so please feel free to check out the TLDR about him underneath the cut! )

> 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒆 __ 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒓 __ 𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒔

BACKGROUND !!

Came into this cursed world October 1st, 2000.

Born in Honolulu, but moved to Incheon with his family when he was 6 years old.

His mother, Hwang Jiyoon, is a traditional Korean singer, and his father, Lee Minjae, is a renowned piano prodigy. He also has a few other family members who are very involved in music.

Has an older brother that’s a professional composer and violinist and a younger sister that’s studying fashion.

He is the forgotten middle child.

He initially wanted to be a computer science major but his parents pushed him to sing from a young age and he just ran with it after a while to passively please them.

Went to Hanlim out of obligation to his parents but ended up not minding it ( especially since he ended up meeting some friends there! ), and it was a lot better than just being forced to do piano recitals.

Somewhat neutral in his view of being an idol. Doesn’t mind Blue.M’s concept, doesn’t think it’s the best thing ever either. ( Though he has his own theories about the music videos thanks to his imagination concerning aliens. ( ie. The UFO in Bloom Bloom) and won’t shut up about it. )

Thinks he doesn't deserve to be an idol because he's convinced his parents used their money to help him debut. ( Despite it not being true. )

Major imposter syndrome alert.

Often buys things for his friends and members without much question; however, he keeps a very detailed list of those who owe him and how much.

Although he puts on more of an act on stage, he finds value in being sincere in who he is and not changing his personality, even if he comes across as a bit cold at first.

Diagnosed with a panic disorder and will often self-isolate when things are not going well for him.

Wears glasses and can’t see that well without them. He can technically afford Lasik but he thinks the glasses give him a certain charm.

Afraid of heights; will basically physically shut down and cry if he has to go up somewhere too high.

Uses alcohol to cope with his panic. We don’t talk about it.

CAREER & OTHER STUFF !!

When he’s not doing schedules, he’s playing games, especially on the computer he built and customized himself; and sometimes plays DnD with an online group who have no idea who he is.

If he wasn’t a singer, he would be in a field that deals with computer science and technology.

The song he auditioned with was a ballad version of Ladybug’s Every Night.

He did not know how to dance when he was accepted into the company.

A notable and open fan of multiple girl groups; especially Twice and Dandelion.

He often posts meme images he makes and saves online for fans to see.

Though one of the youngest in the group, he takes on a co-leader position sometimes by default, and he’s looked at as the “laissez-faire dad” of the group.

Already known for his ~real~ personality, giving very genuine reactions to things fans say that are unexpected of an idol.

Claims he intends to friend-zone his fans.

Fans often defend him by saying he’s “sassy” though he has already drawn netizen criticism for how he acts.

Obviously not comfortable with some of the stuff idols have to do. He doesn’t seem to like acting so close to actual strangers, and the crowding some fans do make him pretty anxious.

Believes aliens are real.

His favorite fanservice is making finger hearts in creative ways.

He hates doing aegyo and also doesn't like it when the others do it.

Obsessed ( and I mean obsessed ) with Soulsborne games and DOOM. Good luck trying to get him away from ER.

His behavior with some fans can be summed up in this video.

QUICK PLOT IDEAS !! ( while i come up with an actual plots page )

People that went to Hanlim from 2016 to 2019. He was a relatively quiet student that kept to himself. However, he often helped others do homework and made a small business for himself writing papers for people.

A fellow Gamer (tm). Hyunsoo is a bit pretentious when it comes to games, however, and exclusively plays certain games. Good luck getting him to play anything else other than Elden Ring right now without annoying complaint.

Trainees at Yuseong from 2017 - 2021. Again, he was pretty much always keeping to himself as a trainee and had trouble asking anyone else for help at all, even when he was obviously struggling with things like dance. Unfortunately, he doesn’t really look up to anyone.

Exes. Probably never ends well. One of which he definitely broke up with before Blue.M debuted because of “the rules”, at the very latest. Another he probably got broken up with because he is not overly attentive in relationships and tends to keep to himself too much because he’s shy and extremely introverted; either way, he lowkey hates you for it.

A rival. Playfully so. He’s competitive but doesn’t take himself too seriously. Someone in another idol group who is also a vocal or has a similar image to him. If the other person took it more seriously though, that would probably be most realistic!

Actual friends. People who are actually into who he is, despite him being a lowkey blunt jerk who spends most of his time in his room. Will be made with good chemistry. He’s really overly picky with friends, because he’s concerned people will use him or his money for some sort of gain.

Alternatively, someone actually trying to use him for his money by being his friend after he buys them a whole meal one day. But the only people he’ll ever be a glucose guardian to are Blue.M and his close good friends.

Someone who constantly has technical issues and he is always fixing it for them. Alternatively, someone who has “technical issues” as a bid to try and talk to him more.

#-ˋˏ ⚠ ㅡ ⟨ 𝙖𝙙𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣_ooc. ⟩#ws:intro

13 notes · View notes

queenofthefullmoon · 4 years

Text

An exhaustive list of Dark Souls 3 bosses I would or would not date

Iudex/Champion Gundyr

We’re starting off this list with a strong yes. Our boy Gundyr has had a hard, difficult life, and he deserves some good company. He’s tall, strong, and I trust him to protect us as we set a lovely camp site outside of the fire link shrine.

Vordt of the Boreal Valley

Vordt is big and he is feral which are truly the only two qualities I look for in a man. Together we’d be unstoppable. I mean, think about how easy it would be to go around with him: just climb on his back and let the rodeo begin, baby. This argument alone should be enough to convince you that Vordt is a suitable boyfriend, but here’s another one: if you get too hot in the summer, worry fucking not for your gigantic man can hold his equally gigantic hammer over you and cover you with snow like an italian man covering his pasta with parmesan.

Cursed Rotted Greatwood

Now while I’m certain it would be a perfect partner for some people, the Cursed Rotted Greatwood isn’t for me. For one, I am not fan of curses, or rot, or weird sticky balls, or strange orange acid, or pale white and slightly viscous hands bursting through a living tree. Secondly, I feel like the crowd of Hollows who group up around the tree would be a big impediment to our intimacy, and I’m not ready to be the mother of 20 Hollows.

Crystal Sage

No offense but you’d be an idiot for not wanting to date the Crystal Sage. All wrapped up in one package, you get a super competent sorcerer bf, who wears the coolest hat in the galaxy and an equally cool cape, and who overall looks like the upgraded version of a plague doctor. In addition to that he also has a pretty rapier so you can both engage in some sparring (which we all know is the most romantic couple activity).

Deacons of the Deep

Probably one of the worst options on the list, they’re all crusty, rotting men moaning around a biggass coffin. There are many technical questions. If I dated a deacon, would I have to date all of them? Can we go out on dates or are they obligated to stay next to the coffin at all times? Can I even date them at all?? Not that I would, because I have standards. The only pro to entering this relationship(s?) would be that I’d probably get one of their robes for free, but the cons are so numerous that I’d rather buy it myself.

Abyss Watchers

Let’s be real and honest even if it hurts. Would I date an Abyss Watcher? Yes. Maybe I’d even date two. However, would an Abyss Watcher date me? No, because they’re all in love with Artorias, and I can’t blame them for that.

Old Demon King

At first I considered dating the Old Demon King like a Russian Instagram model dates an old, rich American man: with a great deal of fake love but above all great patience in order to be the only person on the will. But then I thought about it more, and what does the Old Demon King have to offer, really? A big firework show that will leave him exhausted like the old creature he is, and maybe some pyromancies. Truly, it is not worth it, especially since I’d have to take residence where he lives, in a big old room filled with the corpses of his kin.

High Lord Wolnir

I’ve got nothing against Wolnir personally, but I have no interest in skeletons, nor in his army of skeleton children. As stated above I’m not ready to be a mother. I feel like if we got in an argument and he sighed, he would poison me with his awful breath and I would die a horrible death. Also, living on the brink of the Abyss doesn’t appeal to me that much. However I would like Wolnir to be a good friend I can talk jewelry with because let’s be honest, the man (skeleton?) is blinged the fuck out even in death and I respect that.

Yhorm the Giant

Yes, I would date Yhorm. He was nothing but a sweet, misunderstood giant who always tried to get people to trust him and he convinced me. I would put my life in his big hands. Think of the possibilities. Just like with Vordt he could carry you everywhere but in a less reckless way if you prefer proper manners. You’d never have to worry about not seeing anything at a concert. Also, may I add that waiting for you to show up while sitting on his biggass throne is an absolute power move? Yhorm is a Lord of Cinder, but above all, a Lord of this heart.

Pontiff Sulyvahn

Would I date him because of his appealing aesthetic? Yes. Would I date him for anything else? No. Sulyvahn is absolutely terrifying, completely unhinged in the most frightening way, which is that he doesn’t look bat shit crazy. I could be thinking that everything is going well in our relationship then suddenly he’d lock me in a dungeon then would feed me to his weird friend because I put a fork in the knife drawer. He could pretend to propose and give me a weird fucked up ring with his eye in it and the next thing I know I’d be running in a field on all fours. I don’t trust like that.

Aldritch, Devourer of Gods

I’m so sad about Aldritch because literally everything about him is completely unappealing, unacceptable, unnatural, unholy, abhorrent, but he has the delicate and beautiful face of Gwyndolin. While our lovely Gwyndolin looks gorgeous as ever it doesn’t make up for the fact that Aldritch devoured people and probably wouldn’t find love to be a good reason to not eat his partner. The only reason I can find to have a friendship (not even a romantic relationship) with him is if you really like experimenting with cooking and you really, really need someone to taste your inventions.

Dancer of the Boreal Valley

I feel attraction, which means that just like any other being who feels attraction, I would date the Dancer. She is beautiful, graceful, a bit feral, and would not hesitate to put a flaming knife to my throat, which is the description of my dream woman. Imagine walking the streets with her, trying to hold her hand while it dangles 3 feet above you and she insists on holding her sword, actually, so she might slay anyone who tries to approach you, which she communicates through icy breaths and murmurs. The date of a lifetime.

Oceiros, the Consumed King

Another awful choice on this list, Oceiros is RABID and also, as far as we know, still a married man. You really want to date a man that hasn’t even gone through his divorce but already looks like this? Me neither. I’m already not big on dragon fucking but the fact that he’s all viscous and has weird growths all over him is not helping. Also, he has children, and we know how I feel about that — although, given how he treats them, he probably won’t have kids very soon (too far?).

Ancient Wyvern

So I’ve stated that I’m not very big on dragon fucking. With that said, do I think the wyvern is sexy and beautiful? Absolutely so. You’re probably like « Blue you’re sending mixed signals, are you gonna date the lizard or not? » and to that I say, date? Perhaps not. I would however like to form a lifelong bond with this wonderful force of nature and fight by its side, live a long and fulfilling life travelling along with it, only to die at the same time atop the tallest mountain in the world, where our skeletons will be discovers hundreds of years in the future by brave explorers, who will confirm that the legendary songs that were written about us were in fact not just a myth.

Nameless King

You’ve just read what I said about the wyvern. I feel like the Nameless King really understands me and would respect me for that. We could bond over our love of dragons and other flying scaly beasts and perhaps share some chaste kisses while soaring the sky on our companions. It’s nice to date someone who loves pets as much as you. I feel like he would be a fun guy to hang around in general, maybe he’d let you braid his hair or try on his crown. He can arrange personalized fireworks shows for you with his lightning powers. I don’t think you’d ever be bored around him.

Dragonslayer Armor

Dating an empty suit of armor has never bothered me (see: ds2 Ruin Sentinels), however I have beef with the dragonslayer armor. Is it a beautiful armor? Perhaps a bit worn off, but the reply remains affirmative. However, it is controlled by Pilgrim Butterflies, which basically means I’m dating one to multiple of these things in the shape of an armor, and I’ve gotta confess that I’m not down for that.

Lorian Older Prince and Lothric Younger Prince

Here comes the delicate moment where we have to make a choice without offending anyone. I personally, speaking for myself, in my own opinion, would rather date Lorian. Reason: he is big, strong, and a bit rabid, which I’ve made very clear is my type. I don’t dislike Lothric, but I feel like we’d be better off as best friends who have a really snarky group chat where we shit talk the entire kingdom. That’s pretty good because if I even just slightly disliked Lothric I’m pretty sure Lorian would sense it and would not hesitate to murder me on sight.

Champion’s Gravetender and Champion Greatwolf

Well the full name is just a formality here, I’m not completely insane so I don’t want to date this rabid wolf. I feel like the Champion’s Gravetender is just a normal dude who’s a bit in over his head and it’s not his fault but he just seems a bit boring compared to all my other options. Instead of a date I think he’d be more of an awkward flirt I had when I was bored and then I came to my senses but didn’t know how to disengage, but in the end it worked out because he was more interested in his work anyway.

Sister Friede and Father Ariandel

Again a choice has to be made and I will have to be predictable and say I’d date Elfriede. Just like Dancer she’s what the woman of my dreams is made of. She’s graceful and could easily take my life and I think it’s awfully sexy of her to be like that. I think I’d be accepted into the family pretty easily, which is important since Father Ariandel cares about Friede so much. I’d go visit him sometimes, play chess with him, bring him his flail, normal interactions with your girlfriend’s dad.

Soul of Cinder

I’m gonna be a tiny bit freaky here and say I’d date the Soul of Cinder. Dating it is just like opening a Kinder Surprise egg, you never know what you’re gonna get (sorry Americans for excluding you here). That makes life exciting and doesn’t let routine stall your relationship. Every day you can wake up with the question « What weapon will my darling walk around with today? The flaming sword, or the sorcery staff? » and be surprised by the answer. Truly ideal, but I understand it’s not for the faint of heart.

Demon Prince

I’m gonna go with a maaaaaaybeeeee? leaning towards no. I mean yes, the Demon Prince is a weird fleshy flaming demon, and that may be a bit gross, but I’ve gotta admit I admire his style, the drama of it all. The care he puts into his entrance, the attitude in his moves. If we don’t date I’d at least want to be friends so he can teach me his ways.

Darkeater Midir

I have very intense and contradictory feelings towards Midir. In one hand, holy shit, absolutely epic dragon, the spirit of companionship is growing in me. On the other hand, this beast is RABID and pretending I could tame him is foolish, and pretentious. I guess in the end the answer remains that I don’t date dragons, I just want to adopt them as my extremely exotic pets.

Halflight, Spear of the Church

Yeah I’d date Halflight, I know it’s the easy answer but look at him. I mean shit he’s walking around like a little thotty with his shirt open and you mean to tell me I’m not supposed to wanna date him because he looks pretty much like a regular dude? My boy Halflight WANTS me to date him or else he would not show up with his tiddies out to a sword fight, which as an activity already has enough erotic implications on its own.

Slave Knight Gael

I’m gonna say it unashamedly and I’ll say it again: I would date Gael. He’s been nothing but helpful and when he tries to attack you it’s to help his little lady that he’s adopted as his niece. We love a chaotic parental figure. Maybe he’s a tad bit old and dirty but there’s nothing a good bath can’t fix and I’m sure he’d appreciate having someone taking care of him for once. Again, he’s got that slightly unhinged quality to him that makes him delightful. When I walk around with my partner I want us to instill both fear and fascination in people which we would be able to accomplish perfectly well.

Dark Souls 1: Remastered date list // Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin date list

710 notes · View notes

randomstarmuffin · 4 years

Photo

My @runefactorysecretsanta gift for ya_boi_nye is finally done!! Hope I did your favorite characters justice!! :)

Happy holidays!!!! I don’t want to take up too much room so I’m going to throw some rambling and extras under the cut lol

So I don’t think nye has a tumblr, but on their twitter i saw that they were into VTube and youtaite and i wanted to incorporate that in their gift somehow. Unfortunately.... the characters are kind of all already anime??? So drawing-wise, i figured it would be more fun to go with a more general YouTuber AU so I could put in some variety rather than just stills of singing or badly rendered 3D models (by which i am throwing shade on myself alone, VTube rigs are sick but i regrettably have no 3D skills lol)

I’ve actually,,, never played Frontier at all, so I apologize if anyone is wildly out of character!! The wiki is extremely sparse and I didn’t have time to watch too too much of the let’s play i found, so if they’re not right just chalk it up to the YouTuber ~performance~ aspect of this AU lmao.

Even though I’ve never played before and don’t know the characters Super well though, I still had a lot of fun thinking about this AU! If you want to know the specifics of everyone’s content:

Anette does parkour (fun facts, this particular move i drew is called a speed vault!) and a little bit of vlogging, and she’s friends with Erik (as in canon, if I did my research correctly lmao). She sometimes appears on his channel and vice versa, and he helps her film and edit and stuff sometimes. She lives and works with Mist and Rosetta and helps out with their online boutique. Mist is the idea woman who comes up with crazy stuff, Rosetta is the realist and bookkeeper who pulls those ideas together into something feasible and profitable, and Anette handles all the packaging and shipments and stuff! There’s always something weird going on in their apartment and everyone ends up there a lot, so some of Anette’s vlogs get really popular just because of how out there they are lmao. Oh, almost forgot, but her channel is “DeliveryIsFreestyle” bc... get it... free delivery... freestyle parkour / freerunning... Lol actually it was almost going to be “RunTheMail” because i couldn’t think of anything at first so i think this was the right move in the end :P

Erik has a gaming channel where he mostly plays farming and dating sims / otome, and we don’t read too far into whether or not RF exists in this universe for him to play even though I put the posters for frontier on his wall xD. The reason I picked Stardew for this thumbnail specifically is because A) I have it and could easily take screenshots and B) i read that he has a crush on Lara? And she’s like, kind of a nurse? And Maru is kind of a nurse? It’s a silly joke but I thought it would be funny to cockblock him from dating a nurse he has his eyes on even in video gaming with his friends lol. His channel is pretty self-explanatory (I was really hoping his farm would have a fun name when i was looking it up but it’s really just “Erik’s Farm” huh? ...but I probably shouldn’t judge, my dnd character’s wolf is named Wolf xD)

Lute paints!! I think he does a lot of speedpaints and mostly does traditional art, but I think he would have some digital skills hidden up his sleeve as well. And also I don’t know why at all bc I know the least about him out of all 4 of them, but I feel like he has done / does some of those like “how to draw anime” videos because I just think that’s funny. He has a bunch of really popular ones about overly complicated fantasy outfits. No this is not a callout for any series in particular why do you ask? Anyway, I’m not sure exactly how the line goes because I couldn’t find it, but the wiki mentions that he’ll say he’s not doing anything suspicious when he’s painting at the lake, so i thought it would be funny if there’s some kind of running gag with his subscribers where they point out suspicious things he does and he responds in the next video or whatever. The thumbnail I made definitely does just have a screenshot of rff that’s color-corrected and blurred, because I ran out of time but also wanted to differentiate the bg from the canvas ^^; His channel was originally just “lute” in all lowercase but then i got to the part of the let’s play where he was introduced and he calls himself a “fledgling painter” so i thought this was more fun.

And Eunice has a cooking channel!! She specializes in baking, but she also has a whole playlist along the lines of “Nutritious Food Can Still Taste Good!” where she talks about healthy eating habits but doesn’t buy into diet culture bc I personally HATE diet culture lmao. I think when that gets popular, she also maybe does a side thing about easily accessible workouts for all sorts of people who want to get into shape? But with a focus on getting stronger / being active and Not a focus on Losing Weight necessarily. Promoter of healthy and happy living! I know how her events / dialogue can go in the game, i just happen to have Opinions About Things, so, that’s how she is in my version. Also, unrelated, but she’s very cute. Even though her braids were a bitch to draw hahaha. And i did end up drawing her just in her actual outfit even though i gave everyone else different clothes bc idk it just felt like it fit the aesthetic of a cooking vlog well?? And it’s not a super complicated one unlike others i could mention. Her channel is “Charming Sweets” and her cooking series is “My Cooking” because those are the titles of the books she has on her bookshelf at the start of the game :)

But that’s just all of *my* headcanons for the AU! If anyone else who knows them all better has their own ideas, please be my guest and imagine it however you like!!

Oh, also, fun facts, this is partially a screenshot of my actual web browser, lol, so if y’all want to know what all I have saved on my bookmarks bar and what my google profile pic is, now you know. However, i would like to not downplay how long i spent editing this in what was possibly the least efficient way to put it together how i wanted, rip, which is entirely the reason i am posting this so late LOL. Apologies for the delay, but technically it’s still the 27th here, so! Victory!

(speaking of the layout, did anyone catch the url? I’m disproportionately proud of the url. though i won’t lie part of me really wanted to put the rick roll url there just for my own amusement hahaha)

And, yeah! That’s the end of my spiel. Happy end-of-2020 to all, and an extra helping of that sentiment to nye!!!

#rfss2020 #rune factory #rff #rune factory frontier #rf anette #rf erik #rf lute #rf eunice #my art

48 notes · View notes

katherinewilliams221b · 4 years

Text

A Very Walsh Christmas

Part 3/3

Summary: Charlie and Kate spend the day before Christmas at Kate’s grandfather’s house. Set in 1995 but I apologise if there’s some inaccuracies (Don’t think so but…)

Pairing: Charlie Weasley x ofc

You technically could read this as a one shot but you maybe miss out some things.

[Part 1] - [Part 2]

The day after the evening with the Walsh family, I woke up with a pleasant feeling in my body; the dim light coming in through the window, the warmth of the sheets and a sleeping Kate next to me made the world peaceful for a moment.

I did not recognise the room immediately, it took me several blinks to adjust my memories.

I stared at the ceiling for a while, concentrating on my breathing, and I smiled to myself remembering the Muggle story my father used to read to us. Or was it a song?

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

Not quite, I thought. The door was closed, but I have no qualms about boasting that my hearing was good enough to hear some faint music.

I got up very carefully, trying not to wake her up, although I started to shake so violently that I was afraid that the chattering of my teeth would ruin everything.

I immediately put on the jumper I had brought with me, and for the moment it was enough.

I heard a sound of sheets and turned to see Kate looking for me with one hand in her dreams. I couldn’t help smiling, and selfishly thought of coming closer and having her find me, but the day ahead would require at least one more hour of sleep for her.

I realised too late that I left the room in my pyjamas and contemplated my options; Kate’s parents had already left, and they were the ones who worried me the most, so without further thought I followed the Christmas music downstairs.

The dining room table had plates and spoons, it was almost ready for breakfast and only with that detail I understood Bernard’s need to keep us in his house as long as possible. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to go to Grimmauld Place.

A piano version of Gloria In Excelsis Deo came out of a record player in the dining room. I wondered why Mr Walsh hadn’t turned on the machine with the smaller discs, since he seemed so happy with it, so much so he convinced Kate to buy one. I didn’t think it was a bad idea, but we wouldn’t get anything from the Weird Sisters in a Muggle shop.

I found Bernard serving tea in a single cup. Although the slippers I was wearing were very quiet, he turned to see who was entering the kitchen.

“Merry Christmas, Charlie.” He commented with a small smile and continued to serve tea, “Katie told me you were an early bird.”

“Good morning, and Merry Christmas to you too. What time is it?” I sighed with relief when I saw the striped pyjamas he was wearing.

“It’ll be seven in a while. You can sleep a little longer if you like, Cornelia and her husband are still asleep...”

“Oh, no, I like this time of the day. Everything is silent, and the world seems to be in its place.” I laughed, “That’s what Kate says, but at three in the morning.” Bernard huffed a laugh and gave me a tray with glasses to take to the table.

“I’m with you on this. Things have to be done when there’s light. Tea?”

“Yes, please.”

Together we sat at the table while the song changed to a slow version of Oh Christmas Tree.

“How do you celebrate Christmas at home, son?”

Every Christmas at home went through my mind like a movie, all different and special in its own way.

“Well, they got more complicated with each new sibling.” We both laughed, and the complicity in his eyes for understanding me reached my heart. “There’s always a big banquet, Mom cooks for a battalion... but between you and me: there’s never much food left.”

He smiled, but I saw something strange in his eyes. He looked down, but I decided not to ask questions about it, I was afraid to remove delicate feelings. “This is the first year I’ve seen them at Christmas since I left for Romania,” I continued, but he interrupted me.

“Don’t tell me that! That can’t be, no.” He raised an accusing finger and pointed it at me to scold me like when Mum did it when I was a child. “Let me tell you something: some people don’t like Christmas. They don’t want to give presents, or have to prepare food, or see those pesky cousins,” he put his hand on my wrist and with a calmer tone he continued, “but the family, the family, Charlie, has to be taken care of and the perfect excuse is this season.”

He tapped my hand and nodded sharply, ending his speech. I sighed, knowing that he was right, but a dark part of me had enjoyed the holidays on my own in the reserve tent and the first Christmas alone with Kate.

I adored my family, of course, but I could not deny that particular and inexplicable fullness of those years.

“After this year, who knows if we will be able to get together again.” I took the cup to my mouth, the liquid comforted my throat but not so much that the words kept coming out.

“I know something is happening. The atmosphere in the chess club has changed, there are men working in the ministry, you know? And last night...”

I looked up, but I bit my tongue. It would be better if Kate explained everything when we got to Grimmauld Place.

“It’s a bit long to explain. When we’re in a safe place, you’ll know everything.”

Or not. In saying this, it occurred to me that perhaps Kate would not want to involve her grandfather in what the Order and Dumbledore were up to, yet she agreed when I proposed that he accompany us to Sirius’ house.

The record had stopped spinning as we spoke, allowing us to hear voices coming down the stairs. Kate’s uncle, Secondo, and her aunt, Cornelia, joined us in the dining room.

“Dad! Merry Christmas!” Cornelia threw herself into Bernard’s arms and he caught her in a warm embrace. I couldn’t wait to hug my father like that.

“Merry Christmas, A stóirín.” He chuckled, “I’ll start preparing breakfast.”

Cornelia wished me a Merry Christmas with a kiss on the cheek and went to the kitchen with Bernard. Secondo patted my shoulder and went after them.

“We’ll prepare everything and I’m sure Kate won’t be able to resist the smell of coffee.” Bernard announced.

Together we started to take out cups and plates, we went around carrying tea, biscuits, coffee cups, milk, toast... at some point Bernard turned the record around, playing The Holly and The Ivy. The domesticity of the moment relaxed me, and although I had been with Kate for many years, it was only at that moment that I began to be part of the family.

It was a strange situation, no doubt, that made me contemplate how Kate put down roots in our home, how mum and dad and all my brothers adopted her immediately, long before we became a couple and, I dare say, before we became friends. Bill had been the first to meet her and obviously spoke of her with great esteem and admiration, despite the fact that we were only children. Mum already adored her and had never even seen her.

I understood at that moment, with a jar of jam in my hand and with some slippers on that were not mine, that this was what she had lacked during her life and that she found behind the doors of the Burrow.

I prayed to some Muggle god I didn’t believe in so she could make up for lost time with her grandfather.

With the first notes of Sans Day Carol, Kate appeared through the kitchen door dishevelled and with her eyes almost closed, but with a big smile that made me breathe deeply.

Congratulations and hugs began immediately, followed by frantic and chaotic conversations of which I could only discern a few words. I didn’t mind staying out of the family moment, I just enjoyed watching Kate trying to act like a human being before breakfast.

When she came to me, I couldn’t resist planting a kiss in the square on her mouth; she accepted it in surprise and a laugh escaped on the way. She asked me with an eyebrow, but I only shook my head.

“Don’t move.” She listened to me (have someone write down the date on the calendar), and when she saw a finger approaching her face, she closed her eyes.

I carefully pulled out the sleepy dust that was stuck to her tear duct and she smiled at me in gratitude. I left her free, and she trotted to the table to proceed with her breakfast.

“We must leave in a while,” announced Cornelia, “Secondo’s parents are waiting for us.”

“Of course, of course...” agreed Bernard, but I noticed the sadness in his words. Home For The Holidays just added more melancholy to the moment, and I looked at the record player as if the object could understand what I was asking for.

It made a strange noise that startled me; I hadn’t done that. Do You Hear What I Hear replaced the previous tune. I looked at Kate, who already had her eyes on me, and she blinked very slowly behind the cup she had taken to her mouth.

Although I already knew this, every time something like this happened I was overcome with a deep admiration for being able to speak without words. I agreed with Ginny internally, for being the first to point it out.

If anyone at the table observed the exchange, no one made any comments about it.

After Kate’s aunt and uncle left, she, Bernard and I were left alone in the house.

“Is there anything you’d like to do today, Grandpa?” Kate asked after drying the last of the dishes.

Bernard took the pick out of the record player and turned his back on us while he put the vinyl away.

“I have some errands...”

“All right, we’ll go with you...”

“No, no, why don’t you go directly to that mysterious place of yours and I will join you later?”

“You don’t even know where it is, Grandpa.”

He remained sullen as he brushed the crumbs off the tablecloth with a kind of brush that I had never seen before.

“Do you want to go and see Grandma?” Kate suggested.

“Yes, but it’s unnecessary to go all together, really, it’s something very quick that...”

“I feel like it too.” She interrupted before addressing me, “Charlie, could you take our things to the house? I’ll accompany my grandfather to the cemetery.”

I nodded, this would give me time to explain to Mom that we would have one more guest.

“I’ll stop by the hospital first.”

“Really, you don’t have to do this.”

“But I want to!” She gave him a half hug, and a shy smile appeared under his moustache.

“It’s decided. See you in Gr...” Kate’s withering gaze silenced me and I raised my hands to declare my innocence.

“Let’s get our stuff together.”

From the cupboard under the stairs we took out the bags we had brought for my family. I was a little embarrassed to have gifts as simple as socks or candy, but it was what I could afford to have gifts for everyone.

“And if I’m not there, whose arm are you going to hold on to when you get dizzy from apparating?” I teased her when I handed her her coat.

“Very funny, my knight errant, but I can manage on my own.” The huff of false indignation blew a little curl from her forehead that had fallen when she bent over, and I had to laugh at her attitude.

“Remember that St Mungo’s is crowded at Christmas. If they make you wait too long to see your father, find Madame Louise and tell her I sent you.”

I nodded, memorising the name, and after checking the cupboard, we left all the things by the door and went upstairs to get dressed.

Either someone had lied to me or my father had vanished because no one knew where to find him.

With a thousand bags in each hand, I left St Mungo’s and walked into an alley.

It had taken us quite a while to leave the Walsh house, so I showed up at Grimmauld Place, hoping that Mum had taken him out of the hospital.

Pulling out my wand was quite a feat and opening the door was even more difficult, but in the end I managed to get in.

The painting of Sirius’ mother almost tore my ears with its rales and I had to throw away all the things I had in my hand to be able to cover the bloody woman with a bed sheet.

“But what is this scandal? Fred, George! What are you doing? Charlie, darling...” Mum appeared wiping her hands on her apron and when she saw me she rushed to receive me with open arms. “Oh, but what joy you have given me, son. But where is Kate, I thought she would come?”

“She’s with her grandfather now, she’ll come later.”

“Well, she’ll have a plate of food when she comes...” With a grip stronger than one would expect for a woman of her size, she dragged me through the corridor.

“I’ve invited her grandfather, Bernard, to join us, is that okay?”

“But of course, darling! I’m delighted to meet someone from her family. That girl is so reserved... Ginny, love, look who I’ve found!”

“Mom, there’s something I wanted to ask you...” As if a cannonball had hit me, my sister threw herself at me with all the strength she had.

“Charlie! I thought you weren’t coming!”

I caught her in the air and anchored her so she wouldn’t fall. At that moment I heard a couple of ‘pop’ sounds behind my back and two identical redheads surrounded me.

“Oh! The favourite brother has arrived!”

“It’s actually Bill, but since he’s not here, we’ll settle for you.” Fred and George hung on to my arms and my knees almost dropped me.

“Thanks a lot, boys, I love you too.”

“Let my poor boy breathe, we have no spare.” I blew Ginny’s hair out of my face as best I could, and over her shoulder I saw Dad leaning against the door. My heart turned over when I saw him in that state, but the relief I felt was greater than the fear of what almost happened to him.

I tried hard not to think about it, and after kissing Ginny on the forehead, I took her off my torso so I could say hello to him.

I tried not to press too hard on the hug, and I noticed that he was grateful. I felt a few taps on my shoulder and found Ron waiting to greet me.

I didn’t hold back from him; in this case, I held him as long as I could until he felt embarrassed or suffocated, whichever came first.

It was the embarrassment, of course, but I couldn’t care less.

I saw Sirius Black sitting in the kitchen and went over to squeeze his hand cordially and wish him a merry Christmas. He turned out to be a nice bloke, against all odds, and I made a mental note to thank him for what he was doing for the Order.

Ron’s friend, Hermione, came to the door and greeted me after whispering something in his ear. I returned the greeting and saw them marching up the stairs.

“They’re going to be with Harry, the poor angel’s having a hard time lately.” Mum explained. “He hardly says a word.”

Dad sat down on one of the chairs around the table and I put a hand on his shoulder. He patted it before drinking from his cup.

“Isn’t Kate with you?” I was surprised that it was Sirius who asked, but I shook my head with a question in my eyes. “Dumbledore has asked me to deliver a letter to her.”

“Hey, Charles, did you bring us any presents?” George asked.

“Oh, don’t be like that.” Mum said. I just laughed and pointed to the front door where I had thrown all the bags. They both stampeded out in that direction.

“I’ll take the one I like best!” announced Fred. My father and I laughed, and I sat down next to him for a chat.

Kate and Bernard didn’t show up until long after the meal. I looked for something in their expression that would tell me what had taken them so long, but I saved the questions for another time.

“Have you eaten anything?” I asked her as I hung up her coat.

“Yes, I’m sorry. We talked a lot and walked around. We ate in the street. And your father?”

“He’s here! They brought him from the hospital this morning.” I could not contain my enthusiasm when I revealed that the family was almost complete. I was saddened by the situation with Percy I felt like giving him a hug too.

“Another thing: Sirius has something from Dumbledore for you.” The surprise on her face was understandable.

“Do you have any idea what it is?”

“A letter. I don’t know more.”

Bernard came up to us and I reached out my hand for his scarf and hat.

“I think we need to make introductions, don’t you?”

“Yes, come on, my mother is looking forward to meeting you.”

My parents were delighted with Bernard Walsh, and George and Fred soon became friends with him; Kate’s grandfather matched the mischief of the twins and quickly made his way into the family.

When he was in good company, I left the kitchen to look for Kate, but I ran into Ginny in the hallway.

“You should talk to her, she seems worried.” She pointed to the stairs and went into the kitchen with the rest.

Upstairs I found Ron and Hermione on the landing, knocking on one of the doors where Harry Potter was probably hiding.

To my right, I saw part of Kate’s green dress on the other side of an ajar door. I met her and closed the door behind me.

“Read this.” She handed me a scroll, and I recognised Professor Dumbledore’s fancy calligraphy. I scanned the document and raised my eyebrows.

“Durmstrang?”

Kate mouthed a ‘yup’ and sat on a purple divan next to a really ugly lamp.

“A mission of the Order in a school. Can you believe it?”

I read the letter again, frantically searching for the date of departure, and I felt like collapsing when I saw that it was sooner than I would have liked.

“In less than two weeks! For how long?” She looked at her hands, afraid to tell me. I read the paper again and at the end of it all was the unfortunate word: ‘indefinitely’.

“You’d better get that thing sorted out as quickly as possible.” That was the only thing I could think of to say.

I sat down next to her and put a hand on her knee. She covered it with hers immediately and put the other hand around my arm, leaving me anchored to her leg.

We stayed like this for a while in silence until I suddenly stood up and extended my hand to her.

“Come on. Now is not the time.” She agreed, and we followed the voices, not to the kitchen but to a small living room.

Everyone was crowded around a table where two people were sitting. We approached Hermione, who was watching cross-armed from the door.

“What’s going on?”

“Well, Harry doesn’t want to talk to anyone.” She commented, raising her shoulder.

“I meant, what’s going on here?”

“Ron has decided to play chess with your grandfather, Kate.”

Her eyes widened, and she let go of my hand to join the group. I followed happily because something had managed to distract us.

Bernard and Ron looked at the board in silence, each one concentrating on their own strategy. I must admit that I’m not a bad player, but until now I didn’t know anyone who had beaten Ron, Harry perhaps.

However, Kate had told me that her grandfather was a fierce and ruthless player so I would not have bet my galleons on Ron.

My brother shook his head and toppled his queen, declaring his defeat.

“You beat me in three.” He stated.

Bernard smiled, and his eyes shone behind his glasses. He extended his hand to Ron, and he shook it, sealing the game. Bernard raised his index finger before moving one of my brother’s pawns to another square.

“Can’t you see? You could have blocked the knight.”

Ron put his hand to his head and let out a shy laugh before nodding.

“You’ve got talent, kid. You play better than some lads from the Club.”

“Oh, this was wonderful!” exclaimed Mom. “I didn’t understand a thing.”

“Another one?” Ron proposed and Bernard nodded. With a twist of the hand, the pieces flew across the board to opposite sides. Now Ron would play with white.

I left Kate and the others in the room watching the game, except for Dad, who came out into the hall with me.

“We forgot! We have presents for you too!” I hugged him by the shoulders and we went into the kitchen. “Somebody’s going to have to explain to that nice gentleman why we’re here.” He whispered.

“Kate may have already done that. Now let’s enjoy what’s left of Christmas and that you’re here with us.”

“Son, I couldn’t agree more.”

A/N It wasnt very christmas-y but it felt right writing all of that.

#charlie weasley #charlie weasley x mc #charlie weasley fanfiction #charlie weasley x ofc #charlie weasley x jacob's sibling #kate williams #order of the phoenix #harry potter #hphm

34 notes · View notes

kittybellestark · 4 years

Text

Valentine’s Day

This is soft boi Peter celebrating Valentine’s day the best way he knows how too.

I’m a little late with this I know. But but but I’m also right on time? Anyways please enjoy this. It’s really not angsty at all. There’s a lil bit of insecure Peter, and some miscommunication but this is some soft stuff okay?

Valentine’s Day was probably Peter’s favourite day of the year. He loved the pinks and reds and the extra excuse to cherish all the people he loved. It was cheesy and corny, but did Peter ever love the day. He never got to celebrate it for what it actually was-a romantic day- not with his short fling with Liz and not with MJ either. But that’s okay, Peter loved the day anyways.

He didn’t really understand people’s hatred for it. Yes, it was now mostly just a capitalist ploy to have everyone buy into, but it was more than that for Peter.

Valentine’s Day was an excuse Peter was able to use to show the few people he had left that he appreciated them. It was a day of celebrating love and a day to fall in love with yourself. Peter liked that.

He worked hard on finding what he could make that could fit into the Valentine’s theme without being too obvious. it often took months of work and crafting to make sure he was content with what he’d gift to everyone.

For Ned it was a portrait of the two but made of Lego. For MJ (despite the relationship ending they were still friends) sketchbooks where he made the paper and bounded it himself. For May a new throw blanket, made with the chunkiest yarn he could find at the discount store. For Happy a keychain with a little toy car attached, painted to say ‘Happy Taxi,’ on it. For Pepper a crocheted cardigan this time with crushed velvet and for Tony a painting of his mother.

He was good at making things for other people, to show them his appreciation and love. He worked tirelessly on them, letting it take up his free time. But it made him happy to know that he made something with his bare hands and was able to gift it to someone he loves.

No one really understood why he gave these gifts other than May. She would always give him a small smile and a hug and then the next day he’d get discounted chocolate. May was the only one who knew that Peter did all the work himself. Everyone else just thought he purchased them. Which was fine.

No one needed to know about the sleepless nights or bleeding fingertips. They didn’t need to know how long he spent working on each individual thing. And they most certainly didn’t need to know that Peter was selling some of his own possessions to be able to fund their gifts.

Peter didn’t really plan on telling any of them either. Why should he? He’s showing his appreciation to them, learning these new skills and then becoming good at them is just a way to learn and to show his love. Besides, he wants to show his appreciation, not force the people he loves to gift him something back.

Maybe the presents he gifts them end up shoved in the back of closets or tossed out after a month. That was fine. Just because he was showing his appreciation doesn’t mean they have to show theirs. Valentine’s Day is Peter’s favourite day, it doesn’t mean that the people in his life also need to like it.

But now it was nearing Valentine’s Day and Peter and Harley were kind of sort of maybe a thing. Honestly, Peter wasn’t very sure at this point. It wasn’t like Harley was one for talking about these things. But they had made out a few times and seemed to dance around any possibility of feelings.

Harley wouldn’t talk about his feelings, he was never very open about his emotions. Besides, Harley had a reputation at school for his relationships, if anyone could actually call a hook-up a relationship. Overall, Peter was very confused. Harley was sweet and kind. He made jokes that only Peter would get and casually sling his arm over Peter shoulders. Sometimes at the tower they’d find themselves cuddled on the couch when no one was around or sometimes Peter would find himself pressed against a wall as Harley tried to bruise his neck.

There weren’t officially together, due to the lack of communicating, which meant they technically weren’t exclusive. Peter wanted to be exclusive, but every time he tried to talk about it Harley would deflect and change the conversation. But now it’s coming close to Valentine’s Day and Peter doesn’t want it to be weird. Harley only started going to school with them this year, and while he’s been in the same friend group as Peter, it doesn’t mean he won’t look at the gift wrong. Most people think that Valentine’s Day is inherently romantic. And Peter really doesn’t want to freak Harley out, especially not when they’re still... enjoying each others company.

It’s not like Harley ever celebrated Valentine’s Day the way Peter does. No one really does. So this might scare Harley. He could think that Peter believes their exclusive and while that is what Peter wants, Peter is also very, very painfully aware that that the two of the just hook up.

Spotting Harley already at their lunch table, created the perfect opportunity for Peter to explain his version of the day. Ned and MJ would be there, which would let them serve as proof that Peter just likes Valentine’s Day. So Peter hurried over to their table and sat across from Harley. It didn’t take much longer for Ned and MJ to join them and everyone to fall into their easy banter.

“So! Valentine’s Day is next week.” Peter couldn’t help the little shoulder shimmy, showing his excitement.

“Yeah, loser, what’d you get us this year?” MJ snorted.

MJ thought Peter’s idea of Valentine’s Day was cute. She was morally against the Hallmark Holiday but she indulged Peter by always accepting his gift. MJ would always roll her eyes and make some remark of her not celebrating the day but would always thank Peter for the gift. She knew the day was important to him and wouldn’t ever flat out reject Peter’s way of showing he cares.

“I can’t ruin the surprise, you’ll just have to wait,” Peter rolled his eyes, bumping his shoulder against hers, “but Harley has never been here for a Valentine’s Day before.”

“Valentine’s Day is a romantic holiday to take advantage of susceptible couples what of it?”

“Peter doesn’t celebrate the day like that,” Ned explained. “He uses the day to show the people closest to him he cares. So he usually buys us all something he thinks we’ll appreciate.”

Harley raised his eyebrows surveying Peter like this was some sort of mystery when it was really simple.

“Yeah, I mean my family is like all dead, so I like to show the people that I have left that I appreciate them. Valentine’s Day is a good excuse. Also not tainted the way other holidays are with missing my family so...”

“Peter!” Ned scolded, “You can’t just drop the dead parents card, that makes people uncomfortable.”

Ned threw a pack of crackers at Peter in punishment, not that it actually ended up hitting Peter. Instead Peter caught it before cracking opening up with a cheeky grin, popping one of the crackers into his mouth.

“Listen, if I can’t talk about how my parents are dead because it makes other’s uncomfy then I don’t want other people talking about their alive parents because it makes me uncomfy.”

The group laughed before getting back onto track.

“Anyways, Harley, I’ve got everyone else a gift for Valentine’s Day, can I get you one or does that make you uncomfortable? I don’t mind either way, and you don’t have to get me anything back, I celebrate the day differently and I don’t expect anyone else to celebrate the way I do.”

Harley seemed to consider Peter’s words, his eyes squinting slightly and his head tilting to the side. There was an edge of discomfort and something else Peter couldn’t really identify painted onto Harley’s face. Peter bit onto his own lip waiting for Harley’s answer and really couldn’t help but notice how pretty the boy was.

“Peter buy’s the best gifts. Last year he bought me this quilt and I literally cannot sleep without it now.”

The amount of times Peter bled over that stupid quilt- it wasn’t a stupid quilt. It was actually really cool. Peter went from thrift store to thrift store finding cool t-shirts and fabric swatches. He found an old sewing machine- from the 50′s no less- that hardly worked and he fixed up the best he could. No one really made parts for a sewing machine that old anymore, not with them being antiques and everything. But because it was so badly damaged, he got it for next to nothing. Fixing the thing had taken what felt like a century, and the research behind it along with creating all the necessary parts was extremely painful. But the quilt was worth it, and Peter was able to get all the bloodstains out. Ned loved the thing. It was big enough to fit on a king bed, not that Ned had a king size bed now, but there was a possibility he’d get one in the future.

“It’s true, last year Peter got me this painting done of my Grandmother in Washington protesting. I still have no clue how he found that.”

Finding a picture of MJ’s grandmother was already very, very hard to do. But he managed to find a picture when he was over at MJ’s house once and cross referenced it from a textbook from the early 2000′s. From there he had the picture enhanced and expanded. Then it was just a matter of tracing the picture onto canvas, and learning how to paint. The whole thing was a wreck and Peter was positive that he was going to ruin the whole thing multiple times over, but eventually it resembled to actual photo and then started to look decent. By the time Valentine’s Day came around he only needed a frame, and Peter was okay with the idea of just purchasing a frame was more than enough.

“I do happen to know a lot of people, and they also know people. And a few of them owe me some favours.”

“Peter there’s no way you know enough people to find something like that.” MJ rolled her eyes.

“I personally know three, no five billionaires, but I only consistently talk to three, I know not one, not two but three groups of super heroes, then I also know a bunch of other vigilantes and not to mention I know so many small business owners. It’s called networking M, it’s an extremely important skill to have.”

MJ scoffed in response, now taking her turn to bump her shoulder into Peter’s.

“I don’t know why I ever broke up with you, you could have networked me into a world take over.”

“Maybe because we both realized we weren’t straight, I’m bi, you’re a lesbian? Wait no that was a power move, lesbian-bisexual solidarity. Honestly I’m not too sure anymore, might be the long distance thing we had going on, we used to sit kiddy-corner to each other at lunch. It was much to far to support our relationship.”

Ned pretended to gag, but in actuality was trying not to laugh.

“You guys were insufferable when you were dating but it’s marginally worse now.”

“It’s because we’re gay,” Peter answered.

“Bitches.”

“Say’s the token straight friend,” MJ quipped.

Ned stuck out his tongue, and crossed his arms over his chest.

“So am I buying you something or not Harls? Whatever you’re okay with, I don’t expect anything back.”

“I’m only sayin’ yes because of those wonderful testimonies. I better be dazzled Parker.”

The table cheered. Peter couldn’t help the pit of anxiety that started to form in his stomach. Now he had a week to make Harley the perfect gift and make sure that the message behind it didn’t lead to far on the romantic side. Up to this point Harley was clear about the one thing they’re not, which is the one thing Peter wants the most. So now this gift not only was going to be rushed, but not put any more pressure onto Harley then there already was.

This was going to be tricky.

The week went by faster then Peter was expecting. Valentine’s Day was the next day and Peter had just barely managed to pull together something, somewhat decent for Harley. Between his friends and the occasional make out session in the alley way behind the school, Peter was genuinely surprised he managed to make things work.

He scoured the internet and libraries looking for the perfect thing. Harley had been getting increasingly homesick, bringing up certain stores and area’s of Rosehill that he missed the most. So Peter found old pictures, many of them pre-dating Harley, and some from when the town was first established and he learned to stretch canvas and print the pictures onto it. Before printing the pictures Peter printed the headlines that the town had that really stood out to him, some from the city being founded, to others about Tony Stark making an appearance in town. With the pictures printed on top the headlines were only visible in certain lights.

Peter really hoped that this gift wasn’t too much.

“May?” Peter called from his room, each gift was laid out across his bed, except the one for May, ready for inspection.

He paced around his room, worried that nothing was good enough, that he had made a mistake somewhere. Maybe the cardigan was too loosely crocheted, or the painting of Maria wasn’t accurate. The sketchbooks not enough, the Lego portrait not the right colours. Maybe everything was completely wrong and now it was too late to restart them. This would be so much easier if Peter just purchased some gifts for everyone instead. God, what if he had over stepped with something.

May walked into his room, a smile forming on her face at each display of affection her kid created for the people he cared about. Peter taught himself new skills to try and create things people would love and he never, ever took any credit for his own work. All Peter ever wanted to do was show people that he cared and loved them.

“Peter these are beautiful. When are you going to be giving them out tomorrow?”

Peter shook his head.

“I’m going for brunch with Ned, MJ and Harley. Then after that Harley and I are going to the tower, so I’ll be able to give Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts their gifts. Then Happy will be driving me home so I can be here for when your shift ends, so he’ll get his then. And then you get yours tomorrow night,” he explained voice rushed, and face flushed. “I think I overstepped though, with Harley. Honestly probably Mr. Stark too. I don’t know. It’s not like they’ll be keeping this stuff long term anyways right? It’s not actual quality, they’ll keep it out of curtesy then toss it out when they no longer feel like I’ll be offended. I mean, Mr. Stark probably won’t because that’s a painting of his mom, so it’ll probably just end up in storage. But Harley will. May, he’s going to think I’m such a loser for getting him this, I don’t know what I’m doing.”

May hummed, pulling Peter in for a hug. The boy melted in her arms, hugging her back. Peter rested his head on her shoulder, and tried to calm his breathing. May could feel him trying to force himself to match her own.

“Baby, you made them all thoughtful gifts. You put your heart into this stuff. They’ve all been so good at accepting and appreciating the things you’ve given them. Now I don’t know how Harley will react to your gift, but I don’t think you over stepped. You’ve been pinning after that boy for months now and if he can’t see how much of a gem you are from this then he needs to open his eyes a little wider. Peter Benjamin Parker, you are a beautiful soul and these things you made for everyone reflects exactly who you are.”

“Okay. Sure, yeah. Alright. Tomorrow will be fine.”

It wasn’t fine.

Well, it was fine, it just didn’t go over the way Peter was hoping for. Brunch went pretty well. Peter and Ned sat next to each other in a both, with MJ directly across from Peter and Harley next to her. They all drank milkshakes and all got different breakfasts. Peter ate crepes, MJ ate waffles, Ned had pancakes and Harley had a typical eggs, sausage, bacon and toast. Their group was there for nearly there for two hours when they started to wrap things up. Which meant it was time for Peter to give them all his gifts.

“I think Harley should get his first, because it’s his first time being here for Peter’s version of Valentines Day.”

MJ winked at Peter after her suggestion. She knew about their complicated web of a relationship.

“Yeah!” Ned agreed, “we’ve all gotten years of this so Harley gets the honour of going first.”

Peter nodded in agreement and Harley smiled. All the gifts were in canvas bags, leaning against the window of their booth. It was best for proper protection, and also made carrying the canvases a lot easier.

“Show me whachu got darlin’. I’m sure you found somethin’ great.”

He pulled out the canvas with a picture printed of Rose Hill’s town square, from some time ago. A few of the businesses in the were shockingly still around, and there happened to be a festival going on at the time. Peter had tried his best to find out what festival could have been happening but unfortunately there wasn’t much information online.

“Alright, so I managed to find this, but if you don’t like it I can have it returned,” he couldn’t return it, but Harley doesn’t need to know that. Really, Peter would either put it in storage or he would burn it.

Peter handed it over with a smile, Ned nudging him just a little bit. Harley took it, and stared at it for much to long without a reaction. His face remained blank, jaw set and Peter felt his stomach drop. Peter had really believed this was something Harley would like, but maybe he misread what Harley meant by homesick.

Peter felt like an idiot.

“Okay well, MJ here’s yours.”

He pulled out the homemade sketchbooks, each in a different colour and tried not to look back at Harley. MJ took the notebooks, flipping through the pages a smile on her face. There was orange and red and blue and green, enough of a variety to give her a challenge when drawing, or to set the mood.

“They’re all 100% recycled paper. I know you were saying you were running low on sketchbooks and wanted to find some more ethically made ones so...”

“They’re wonderful Peter, thank you.”

She reached out and squeezed his hand. No sarcastic remarks this time, a clear sign that MJ didn’t approve of Harley’s lack of reaction. Peter shook his head and MJ frowned.

“Okay Ned, this one is for you, be careful it’s a little delicate, not that it can’t be fixed but if you drop it then that’s it.”

“Yeah, yeah just let me have it.”

Peter handed over the Lego portrait, it was large, to say the least, the background red and it was accurate as it could be for plastic blocks. Ned gasped, and his grip tightened on the portrait. Peter watched Ned put it down and was pulled into a quick side hug.

“Dude! This is so cool, this is us! I can’t wait to put this on display in my room. This is so cool, they better make us into a Lego movie now.”

Everyone except Harley laughed. MJ and Ned both gave Peter looks of confusion and he didn’t have a response other than a shrug. This wasn’t the reaction any of them were expecting Harley to have. Not this silence. But Harley just continued to sit there, looking tense, no longer looking at the picture gifted to him.

“Okay, well Mr. Stark is expecting us at the tower in the next hour and we’re an hour and a half away so Harley and I should probably get going.”

Alone time could help. Or it could make things worse. They only had to sit through a bus ride and a subway trip before the tower. Maybe then Harley will have something to say. Besides they both have to work with Tony together. It’s a lot of time to spend together.

The group of teens all walked out of the diner, saying goodbyes and as they separated, gifts in hand. Peter followed slightly behind Harley as the made their way to the bus, trying not to accidentally destroy Tony’s or Pepper’s gift by taking up too much room on the side walk. He couldn’t help but notice the tight grip Harley used to hold on the canvas and Peter was very worried that Harley was going to stretch it or break the thing.

Peter tried to start conversations with Harley. But every question ended with a shrug for an answer. It was clear to Peter that somehow, someway he royally screwed up. The bus ride was bad, the subway ride was awkward but the elevator ride up the tower was unbearable. Any reaction would have been better, in Peter’s eyes. He would take Harley screaming and tossing the canvas, never wanting to see him over this horrid silence. It was too tense, and Peter was genuinely worried that making any sort of sound or movement would make things crumble. At least he wouldn’t be at the tower for too long.

The elevator doors opened to the penthouse and both the boys exited. Harley stormed off to his room and Peter went to the kitchen. After hearing Harley’s door slam shut Peter put his bags down onto the island and checking to make sure that there’s no damage on either of the gifts.

Tony entered the area, a big smile on his face. He was dressed up a suit jacket being carried in his arms. Tony and Pepper were supposed to be going out on a date, apparently Valentine’s Day is a great excuse to leave work behind for a few hours.

“Hey Roo, thought you and Harley would be hanging out?”

“Yeah, we were supposed to but I’m gonna head home. I just wanted to make sure you and Ms. Potts got your gifts. Right, yes okay first of all happy Valentine’s Day second of all I have gifts.”

Tony rolled his eyes with a fond smile. He placed his jacket down on one of the stools, and jumped up onto the island counter. He was careful to not disturb the things that were already on the counter.

“Why is it that you get to buy Pepper and I gifts but then when I try to buy you something it becomes a whole thing?”

“Because when you buy me gifts it is typically something that is over the top. You tried buying a chocolate company because I was sad they were discontinuing my favourite kind. Our idea of gifts are very different.”

Peter stuck out his tongue and Tony flipped him off.

“Okay, fine whatever now gimmie. You bought me a gift that means you can’t just not give it.”

The teen laughed pulling the painting out from the canvas bag. He handed it over and Tony took it, flipping it around to see Maria. Tony’s one hand went and covered his mouth and Peter gave a small smile. Tony gave himself a minute to recompose himself before reaching out his hand to touch his mothers face.

“Pete... How did you find this?”

Peter shrugged. “I know some people, and they also happen to know some people. They happened to not know that this was your mom and were trying to sell it so I got it.”

Really Peter saw a picture of Maria in the Penthouse, took a picture of the picture, stretched canvas went to the art store bought supplies. Sketched out Maria, tried putting down a base coat, cried because it was ugly, Tried painting it again, cried a little more while repeating “trust the process,” and the eventually it started to look vaguely familiar. Peter hated the process from beginning to end, but the painting itself was goo enough to gift so that was great too.

Just then Pepper walked into the room, hair curled and in a beautiful dark blue dress. She smiled at Peter before taking notice of Tony and the painting in his hands. Pepper grabbed onto Tony’s leg with a soft sigh. Peter felt like he was infringing in their moment when Tony looked up and her and Pepper ran her fingers through his hair.

“I uh, I didn’t get it framed, I didn’t feel that was right to do. I thought you might like finding a frame that fits your moms personality or making one, I dunno.”

“No, no, no that’s perfect. Thank you, Peter, this was just- thank you.”

“Literally no problem, Mr. Stark. I also got one for you Miss. Potts, though it’s not like an emotion one, I just thought you might want something for comfort when at home.”

Pepper tilted her head, a smile playing on her lips, eyes crinkling just so. “Peter, you really didn’t have to buy me anything.”

I know,” Peter dragged out his words head bobbing back and forth as he reached into the bag to get the sweater.

Once it was out of the bag, Peter all but pushed it into Pepper’s arms. She unfolded the soft crushed-velvet cardigan. It was a deep purple colour, and used a simple enough pattern. There were a few golden buttons sewn on in case Pepper would want something that buttoned up. Getting Pepper’s measurements weren’t too hard for Peter, he just logged into FRIDAY’s servers, then went searching through things he doesn’t have access too and then wrote down everything he needed to know. Luckily for Peter, Pepper and May roughly were the same size, so May was his model in the end. The Cardigan should reach to just above Pepper’s knees and be slightly oversized on her. The entire process was painful, using a crushed velvet yarn was an ambitious move, especially considering that Peter’s crocheting skills are very basic. It was overall a success but a painful one.

“Oh wow, Peter this is really nice.”

She put on the sweater, lifting up one finger up before rushing to the bathroom to look in the mirror.

“Peter this is so nice? Where did you find this? The quality is incredible and you can tell this is handmade by someone who cares for their work. Also It’s soft and, oh my god there’s pockets. Tony, honey, look, pocket’s I’m just saying that there’s not enough pockets in the world. I think I could fit a book in these pockets.”

Pepper stepped out of the bathroom and Peter was very happy to see it fit her properly. Her hands were deep in the pockets lifting the two sides of the cardigan up to showcase that the pockets were in fact real. She dropped her arms to the side after a moment, taking her hands out of her pocket and giving a little twirl.

“This is probably my new favourite sweater, Peter. Thank you.”

“It’s no problem Miss. Potts. I’m going to head out now, happy Valentine’s Day.”

Both the adults wished Peter well and on his way out Peter had seen Happy and was able to let the man know not to pick him up later as well as give him the little keychain. Happy pretended to think the Happy Taxi keychain was very funny. Peter knew he did in fact enjoy the joke, as Happy had put it onto his keyring immediately. And Happy doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to- at least not when it comes to Peter.

The journey home from the tower was rough. Peter couldn’t help but thinking of Harley. By the time Peter got home he was consumed by everything he could have possibly done wrong. Maybe the gift was too much. Or not enough. Harley might actually hate the pictures that Peter picked out. Peter could have messed things up earlier and Harley just felt this was the right time to ice him out. Did Peter’s breath stink the last time they hooked up? Was he too clingy or just not good enough? Harley has a few people he hooks up with at school, which he’s stopped with everyone except Peter, so maybe Harley was upset with Peter.

Peter just wanted to scream. He tried his best to be what Harley wanted, to go with whatever flow was being set. Harley didn’t seem to want anything serious so Peter stopped trying to define what they were. They’re friends who kiss and that’s fine, except maybe Harley never wanted any of this and Peter pressured him into this. The entire thing was a mess, and Peter wished he knew what he did wrong.

Boys are complicated.

Harley is complicated.

It was March 1st before Harley started to talk to Peter again. Their group of friends had been tense, Ned and MJ did their best to keep things from getting awkward. None of it really worked. Harley would talk to everyone but Peter, and when Peter would try and talk he would be glared at instead. But finally after two weeks of nothing Peter got a text.

Come over now ?

Peter’s anxiety went through the roof, but this was good right? A step in the right direction? Peter wasn’t so sure what it could mean, but talking was definitely better than nothing. So Peter responded and made his way over.

This could be the end of their friendship. What if Harley friend-breaks up with Peter? That would be mortifying. To be called over just to be told that Harley no longer see’s Peter as a friend is nightmare. It could be a reality. Peter must have messed up badly if Harley was calling him up to friend breakup.

One Peter made it up to the pent house he was surprised to see Harley making popcorn in the kitchen. Peter had stepped out of the elevator, arms crossed over his chest, moving to sit at the kitchen island.

“I’m making popcorn. We’re watching a movie.”

Peter couldn’t help but nodding too fast too soon. He didn’t much like the way Harley was talking or Harley’s tense shoulders. It was too matter-of-fact. Harley didn’t have the emotion’s that usually filled his actions and move, not a single nickname or pushing his accent to sound stronger. This was just Harley without the usual charm and it worried Peter.

They both moved over to the living room once Harley was done with the popcorn. Peter sat down in his usual spot- on the left end of the couch and Harley, well Harley just a little bit farther away than usual. It wouldn’t have been too noticeable to Peter if Harley hadn’t shut him out.

But now Peter noticed everything.

He couldn’t help but notice the way Harley’s heart was beating just a little bit faster than it usually did. Peter noticed the way Harley would not relax, how each movement was carefully thought out. Harley wouldn’t let himself take full breaths, and Peter could feel the vibration on the floor from Harley bouncing his foot.

Peter was so focused on Harley, trying to find out Harley could possibly be thinking. He wasn’t paying any attention to the movie was playing, or even what Harley’s actions were. Peter was so focused on trying to understand everything about Harley that he missed it when Harley moved.

Well, Peter missed it up until there was lips on his neck.

Harley’s hands moved to Peter’s waist, trying to pull Peter up on top of himself without losing any contact. The tension in Harley’s muscles started to relax, and Peter couldn’t stop himself from melting into Harley.

This- Peter could be what Harley wanted like this. He can be pliable or rough. Whatever Harley needed, whatever Harley wanted, Peter could be it. It’s easy to be good and in the moment with Harley. There was no talking, sure, that wasn’t great. But kissing? Sitting on Harley’s lap? That was good.

Here, Peter can be whatever Harley wants him to be. No picture on a canvas or anger. The attention isn’t solely wrapped around the lack of talking between the two, but of them together. Peter can be what Harley wants, he really, can. He just need too-

No. Peter can’t be whatever Harley wants. Not without the communication. And definitely not with everything that’s happened in the last two weeks. Every day Peter has ran through what exactly went wrong on Valentine’s Day. Whether it was the gift, or the place, maybe it was some sort of unknown expectation Harley had. But it led to nothing. Peter felt like nothing. Peter doesn’t what to be nothing, not even if that’s what Harley wants him to be.

He can’t be here, not like this.

“Harley, Harley, stop.”

Tears burned in Peter’s eyes as he forced them shut and turned his head away. Harley pushed Peter off of his lap without a second thought, and Peter hated how that felt personal.

“Darling, what’s happening? Did I do something to upset you?”

Peter wanted to hate that honey-thick accent, but he also just wanted that concern to be real. Not that the concern was fake- Harley wasn’t the type to fake concern- but Peter wanted it to be more than just situational. He wanted things to be deeper, Peter wanted Harley to care about him the same way he cares about Harley. And if Peter couldn’t have that, then he wanted to hate Harley and his stupid accent, and southern charm, and blue eyes and not-quite-brown-but-not-really-blond-hair.

So he straightened his shoulders out, and took a deep breath in. Peter opened his eyes to Harley only being a few inches in front of him. Barely enough room to breathe, but also way too much room. Peter sat more up right and shook his head.

“I can’t do this Harley. I can’t be the person you call for a good time. You haven’t spoken a word to me since Valentine’s Day, and now this is it? We just make out for a little bit and I have to pretend like I never felt like I was the one to do something wrong? I can’t do that.”

Harley pulled himself backwards, his hands pressed into the couch. His head was tilted just a little bit the the side, eye’s flickering back and forth as he thought.

“You literally gave me a present for Valentine’s Day, Peter, I wasn’t okay with that.”

Peter wanted to pull his hair out- he really did. He stood up and walked around the coffee table one hand tugging lightly at his hair while the other stayed at his hip.

“Why would you tell me that you were okay with me getting you something for Valentine’s Day if you’re going to be uncomfortable then. I asked you so I could avoid this. You even saw me give MJ, who is my ex-girlfriend, a present and Ned one. If you were not okay with it then why did you tell me to dazzle you?”

“Because I thought you’d buy me something. But you didn’t. Nobody has ever heard of Rosehill let alone sold pictures of it with headlines from the town’s news paper. You made that. I don’t want you treating me like I’m special.”

Harley also moved to stand, making his way closer to Peter. With every word he jabbed a finger in Peter’s direction, his voice getting louder as he continued. His face was patchy-red and Harley’s jaw was set tight.

“I don’t buy shit for anyone on Valentine’s Day, Harley. I made the Lego portrait of Ned and I, and MJ’s notebooks, I also painted Mr. Stark’s Mom, and crocheted Pepper a sweater, and May a blanket. Also I made Happy a little Happy Taxi keychain with working headlights. I don’t claim to buy anyone’s gifts. I do it all myself. So my bad for making you feel special for doing a two minute Google search and printing something out I’d thought you’d like. I spent months making gifts for everyone, except yours because I just didn’t know you well enough. I did what I could, but everything I gave was made by me.”

The room fell silent again. The teens stood face to face, just a few feet away from each other. Harley’s blue eyes were filled with anger and disbelief and Peter couldn’t help but feel hurt. They stood there, starring at each other for too long, breathing too heavily. The movie continued to play, casting different lights across the room and they all just seemed to fit too well.

“Okay,” Peter finally broke the silence, his voice barely above a whisper, “okay. I’m going home. I really cannot do this anymore, Harley. The ball is in your court now. Just- if you decide that we’re not going to be friends or whatever can you please not just ignore me at lunch? It’s awkward. Also it’s not fair to MJ or Ned. And please don’t tell anyone I make their gifts, I don’t want them buying me something out of guilt. I do it because it’s important to me. Other than that, if you want to stay out of my life or whatever you decide it’s fine. I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable. I’m really sorry, Harley.”

With that Peter turned away from Harley. He hated that he was the one that was bringing things to an end. Is that even what this was? Peter gave Harley the choice, it doesn’t mean that Harley will choose to burn everything they’ve had to the ground, but he could. This could be it. No more friendship or laughing or kissing. It’d all be over. All because of a stupid picture and Peter’s need for attention.

That’s all it was ever about. Attention. It had to have been. If he was being rational, then Harley’s silence wouldn’t have bothered him. Peter wouldn’t have met with Harley after school or during lunch. This was all Peter’s fault. He just liked the attention.

No. No. That wasn’t it. It couldn’t be. Peter liked Harley. He wanted a relationship with Harley. It’s not like he didn’t try waiting for him or communicating what he wanted. Peter tried to give Harley all the time he needed. It just wasn’t enough and now Harley has a choice. This wasn’t over a picture, or attention, it’s about Harley.

So Peter walked away. He made his way to the elevator where FRIDAY already had the doors opened and waiting for him. Harley just needed time, to figure out what he wants. That’s all this is. Time. It’s not an ending. It just feels final.

Peter turns around and smiles at Harley, tipping his head forward. Harley is still all the way across the living room, just watching Peter walk out on him. The doors started to close when Harley finally, finally called out to him, making FRIDAY re-open the doors.

“I’m sorry for freaking out. I just thought you were trying to make me feel bad for not getting you anything.”

Peter sighed, “I don’t care if you get me anything, Harley. It’s my holiday, not yours. No one get me anything in return, it’s why I don’t say that I make the gifts. But I stand by what I said. I’m not doing this weird friends who make out thing anymore. I can’t be waiting around for weeks because you’re upset and wondering where things stand between us. You’re either in this or you aren’t. I can’t be another name on a list you work your way through because you’re bored.”

“Darling, you’ve never been another name on my list. I swear it.”

Harley made his way from around the couch and Peter stepped out of the elevator, but not enough to really be in the room. The both of them were saying their words a little too loudly, and it all felt like too much.

Peter could feel the heat burning his eyes as he tried his best to to cry in front of Harley. His jaw ached from the feeling and everything in him said he should just leave. Cut his loses and leave. But Harley was here, pretty as ever, with his splotchy-red face and freckles. Peter just couldn’t convince himself to leave.

“Cindy. Brad. Sarah. Ashley. Josh. Eric. Damion. Brittany. Jessica. Me. That’s a list, Harley. I tried to be okay with it, I swear. But there’s only so many times you can brush me off when I try to talk about it. You can’t tell me I’m more than just a name on a list when it’s all right there.”

Tears started to roll down Harley’s face first. Harley’s hands shook as he tried to wipe them away and Peter tried not to sob at the sight. Peter stayed where he stood and Harley moved forward into Peter’s space. He lifted his hands up to Peter’s face, thumbs on Peter’s cheeks and finger’s tangled in Peter’s hair. Harley cried as he held Peter, and Peter did his best not to lean into Harley.

“I’m so sorry, Peter. I’m sorry that I’m scared and that I wouldn’t listen to you. I like you so much, sweetheart. I’m so sorry that I made you feel like this. I’ll do better. Please, honey, I don’t want to lose you.”

Peter couldn’t stop himself from sobbing. Tears streamed down his face as he let himself fall into Harley. He wrapped his arms around the taller boy, and Harley had one arm wrapped around Peter’s back and the other holding onto the back of his head. Peter was relieved to hear that Harley wanted him to stay. He just couldn’t imagine a life without Harley.

“We can be boyfriends, if that is also what you want Peter. I know I’d like that a lot. Just the two of us, no one else. How’s that sound?”

“Yeah, I like that, just the two of us, no one else.”

Harley tried to laugh as he held Peter, but it didn’t work out well. Instead the two just held each other as they cried. Finally releasing the emotions they held in during their fight, and instead of being left alone they got the comfort of each other’s arms.

The elevator closed. The movie played on. Peter finally got the one.

taglist: send an ask/dm to be added.

@peter-is-a-bean @jean-and-diet-coke @dead-inside-pt2 @they-were-cloudsinmycoffee @parkersjiggle @7peternotparker7 @thatonecrackheadshipper @kevinthewoman @faline4you @lynxshinon @narutoyaoifan @pastelwheeler @thecrazymarvelfan @bonjour-gays @thebestqueenoftheworld

13 notes · View notes

re-scanningblue · 4 years

Text

DRAMAtical Murder Masterpost type thing (Links to buy things and a general introduction to what DMMd is)

So... since information on DRAMAtical Murder tends to be scattered and/or outdated, I'm making this. It's not necessarily needed, but hopefully it'll help someone, and it'll also satisfy my weird need to archive and compile things(?) lol. This will cover what DRAMAtical Murder even is, to how to play/purchase the game, to other links + resources for existing fans. This is mainly just… links to purchase things. So many links. If you have any suggestions, additions, or if something is incorrect, please let me know! If you have any questions at all, feel free to send me an ask or message- I will answer as best I can. A note about the links- links to sites where the item is unavailable are not included here. So there were other sites where things could be purchased, but are now not available, so I excluded them. I tried my best to check that all items were still available to purchase and that they were also official links (Although some of them I kind of couldn’t tell). If something becomes unavailable or a link doesn't work or etc, please let me know. Also, please be aware that as DMMd is an 18+ game, some links may contain adult content. Otherwise, is this post late by like 7 years? Yes. Moving on.

Firstly...

What is DRAMAtical Murder?

DRAMAtical Murder (DMMd) is an r18 Boys Love Visual novel created by Nitro+CHiRAL back in 2012. It has 4 character routes, with a 5th unlockable one. All the routes have 2 endings each, a good and bad ending- with the exception of 1 who has multiple bad endings (Noiz). There was a sequel/fandisc released in 2013 with DRAMAtical Murder re:connect, a SFW PS Vita port in 2014 with DRAMAtical Murder re:code (with the explicit content cut out and an extra route added), and an Anime adaptation in the same year. There was also a stage play adaptation in late 2019. There was a fanmade translation patch released for DMMd and DMMd re:connect on AarinFantasy forums, which is how many fans experienced the game in English. It was only in recent years that DMMd, and other Nitro+CHiRAL games would get an offical English translation by JAST BLUE. Nitro+CHiRAL has released other BL games, with Togainu no Chi, Lamento, and Sweet Pool. Their most recent release is Slow Damage, which will be getting an offical English release as well. I encourage you to support and purchase the official release if you are able to. As the game is now out officially in English, there will be no links or etc to the patch in this post.

Here is one plot summary (Technically from the Anime but the other ones I found were google translate quality); The story takes place many years in the future where the game "Rhyme," a virtual fighting game, is incredibly popular and people possess "AllMates," convenient AI computers. Aoba leads an ordinary life, working at a junk shop and living with his grandmother on the island of Midorijima. Unlike his friends, he doesn't participate in Rhyme, nor does he belong in a gang. However, when rumors of people disappearing spread, Aoba finds himself needing to unravel the mysteries behind the island in order to protect his everyday life. So, basically, DMMd is a BL Visual novel. Like all Nitro+CHiRAL games, DMMd contains content some may find triggering- just as a small warning. Otherwise, and this is coming from a huge fan- I personally think DMMd is amazing. The characters are wonderful, their backstories are unique and makes them feel fleshed out and give the DMMd world more life, in a way- the music is incredible and really… there is nothing quite like DMMd, it's so wonderfully strange and great. I promise you it's so much more than just the explicit stuff. ...But again that's just me. Not everyone will like it and even some fans will not see it the same way I do, but anyway.

How can I play the game?

For the Japanese version; There are two versions of DMMd; the original, and the Windows 10 version. The original isn't sold anymore to my knowledge, however that version should still work on Windows 10. Please note you will need to set your system Locale to Japanese or use something like Locale Emulator/NTLEA to play the game, or it will not work. Setting your actual system Locale to Japanese may cause problems, so keep this in mind. For the English version; Simply use the links provided below to purchase the official English release of the game! Here are the links to purchase the games, including physical and digital copies. Some links may not work for English users, a VPN may be needed. It may also be possible to use a Proxy/Package forwarding service depending. DRAMAtical Murder; (ENGLISH) (JAST USA, uncensored) https://jastusa.com/dramatical-murder (Steam, censored) https://store.steampowered.com/app/1481080/DRAMAtical_Murder/ (Uncensor patch for the Steam version) https://jastusa.com/dramatical-murder-dlc-steam (Note that this patch is NOT needed if you bought the game from the JAST USA store) (J-List, uncensored physical copy) https://www.jlist.com/category/games-computers/visual-novels/blue003le

(JAPANESE) (Nitroplus Store, digital) https://nitroplus.ecq.sc/np02077.html (DMM, digital) https://dlsoft.dmm.co.jp/detail/hobe_0436/ (DMM, digital (English)) https://dlsoft.dmm.co.jp/en/detail/hobe_0436 (DMM, physical) https://www.dmm.co.jp/mono/pcgame/-/detail/=/cid=1064apc12971/ (Amazon, physical) https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07S8BQ7KB (Stellaworth, digital) https://www.stellaworth.co.jp/shop/item.php?item_id=GcCnYq1PYdc Here is the page for DMMd on JAST BLUE's website, which has the same links to purchase it in English; https://jast.blue/dramaticalmurder.html

What about DRAMAtical Murder re:connect?

re:connect is the fandisc/sequel to the original. It has mainly the short stories that add to the original endings, both good and bad. It also has more stories that can be unlocked like Aoba’s backstory, and what happened afterwards with Mizuki. It also includes minigames and the April Fools jokes N+C did before re:connect was released. JAST BLUE has not confirmed a translation will happen for re:connect, but there is still the fan translation released on Aarinfantasy forums. If there is any news on JAST BLUE and re:connect, I will update this post. As said before, there is no Windows 10 version of re:connect, although it should work fine on Windows 10 regardless. Below are the links to purchase it. DRAMAtical Murder re:connect; (Nitroplus store, digital) https://nitroplus.ecq.sc/np00947.html (DMM, digital) https://www.dmm.co.jp/mono/pcgame/-/detail/=/cid=1064apc10368/ (Amazon, physical) https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00BB6X522 (Stellaworth, digital) https://www.stellaworth.co.jp/shop/item.php?item_id=zsKBDBKLWK0 (Stellaworth, digital (Comes with CD bonus(?)) https://www.stellaworth.co.jp/shop/item.php?item_id=KDaAgAaaDxK As before, please note you will need to set your system Locale to Japanese or use something like Locale Emulator/NTLEA to play the game, or it will not work. Setting your actual system Locale to Japanese may cause problems, so keep this in mind.

Then what about DRAMAtical Murder re:code?

re:code is the PS Vita port of the original PC release. It cuts out the explicit content, censors some CGs for a 15+ rating, adds new CGs and even some new scenes, and adds an entirely new route; the Morphine route, aka the Mizuki route. re:code also addressed some plot-holes that were in the original. Here are the links to purchase re:code; DRAMAtical Murder re:code; (Playstation store, digital) https://store.playstation.com/ja-jp/product/JP0169-PCSG00420_00-DRAMATICALMURDER (Amazon, physical) https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00LIQQAI6/ You can purchase and play the physical copy with no issues. For digital copies it’s a little trickier. Here is a guide to downloading Japanese games on your PS Vita; https://kotaku.com/how-to-play-games-from-the-japanese-psn-on-your-non-jap-5983578 ^ Note that this is not a problem with physical copies. re:code is not in English and hasn't been confirmed for an official English localization, but there is a fan translation of the Morphine/Mizuki route that's exclusive to re:code, by shinocchidesu. You can read it here; https://shinocchidesu.net/post/162356717914/dramatical-murder-recode-morphine-route They have also shown the main differences between the original and re:code routes. You can also watch the gameplays uploaded by FancyPotatoCake on YouTube here whilst using the fan translation if you want; https://www.youtube.com/user/SuRi00ReUp/playlists +For the Morphine/Mizuki route, the actual route starts on part 7, at around 21:00 onwards. It’s unlikely that re:code will get an official English translation, but then again- DMMd is, and it’s been like 7 years since that came out, so maybe. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The stage play

In late 2019, there was a stage play adaptation of DMMd, featuring all the routes as separate performances. You can purchase them on the following sites and stream it for up to 60 days before needing to purchase it again; https://www.dmm.com/digital/top/stage/dmmd/ https://mirail.video/title/3290017 The above sites won't let you purchase unless you use a VPN. If you cannot use the link, you can download recordings of the streams here; https://misaki01.tumblr.com/post/190765753950/dl-brain-crash-theater-dramatical-murder-all Please follow the rules listed on the post and read everything carefully. As for stage play translations, you can find more information on them here; https://hkdmmd.tumblr.com/post/622736646854574081/dmmd-stage-play-translations (Thank you again <3)

The drama CDs

There have been various drama CDs for DMMd. The drama CDs (or in this case, BLCD) is essentially the same as the Visual novel, except it’s purely audio. The same voice actors from the VN are in the drama CDs. The bonus CDs; Some of the CDs were included as a special pre-order bonus, with different CDs from different sites. I’m unsure if these are able to be purchased anymore, unless it’s second-hand. You can see various links for the CDs here; https://dmmdresources.tumblr.com/cds There were also a series of "after" drama CDs, which are set after re:connect. (And in my opinion, are extremely important for understanding the routes and their backstories better. I highly recommend listening to them!) The majority of the CDs can be found on YouTube, some also have English subtitles. Shibaface on Tumblr has translated all the main "after" CDs here; https://shibaface.tumblr.com/tagged/translation You can also view the same translations here as documents; https://1drv.ms/f/s!AqrTMWbLX7u5mANJd60_3W2WuK6g Below are links to purchase the "after" CDs. (Note there is no CD for Mizuki or Virus/Trip) Nitroplus store; Vol. 1 (Koujaku) https://nitroplus.ecq.sc/np01072.html Vol. 2 (Clear) https://nitroplus.ecq.sc/np01073.html Vol. 3 (Mink) https://nitroplus.ecq.sc/np01088.html Vol. 4 (Noiz) https://nitroplus.ecq.sc/np01092.html Vol. 5 (Ren) https://nitroplus.ecq.sc/np01117.html Stellaworth; Vol. 1 (Koujaku) https://www.stellaworth.co.jp/shop/item.php?item_id=9is2020Suus Vol. 2 (Clear) https://www.stellaworth.co.jp/shop/item.php?item_id=ymGUcUc6PPc Vol. 3 (Mink) https://www.stellaworth.co.jp/shop/item.php?item_id=kHl8O8OhTkh Vol. 4 (Noiz) https://www.stellaworth.co.jp/shop/item.php?item_id=NGI1C1CnCY1 Vol. 5 (Ren) https://www.stellaworth.co.jp/shop/item.php?item_id=pM94i4i9QZZ Animate shop; Vol. 1 (Koujaku) https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/pd/1277805/ Vol. 2 (Clear) https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/pd/1277806/ Vol. 3 (Mink) https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/pd/1300886/ Vol. 4 (Noiz) https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/pd/1302829/ Vol. 5 (Ren) https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/pd/1316647/ CDJapan; Vol. 1 (Koujaku) https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NCVC-3?s_ssid=e45cae5f00f7db5600 Vol. 2 (Clear) https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NCVC-5?s_ssid=e45cae5f00f7db5600 Vol. 3 (Mink) https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NCVC-7?s_ssid=e45cae5f00f7db5600 Vol. 4 (Noiz) https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NCVC-9?s_ssid=e45cae5f00f7db5600 Vol. 5 (Ren) https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NCVC-11?s_ssid=e45cae5f00f7db5600

The Side stories

There were various side stories as well, most of them being posted onto the Nitro+CHiRAL staff blog, but there was also a small book released. The main one released as a book, was the Summer Side Stories. It's set after the re:connect good ends. (As a side note, I believe the "after" drama CDs are set after these side stories, or all the side stories- sort of making those CDs the "final chapter" in the DMMd world but… I could be wrong lol) For buying the Summer Side Stories; https://nitroplus.ecq.sc/npo926.html https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00UPW8PXC Here is an English translation for the Summer Side Stories (In PDF format); https://dmmd-support.tumblr.com/post/106543447780/download-click-here-the-team-belatedly-wishes Birthday side stories; Noiz; (Original post) https://www.nitrochiral.com/staffblog/2012/1554.php (Translation by ancestralmask) https://ancestralmask.tumblr.com/post/27089560151/translation-noizs-birthday-2012 Mink; (Original post) https://www.nitrochiral.com/staffblog/2012/1582.php (Translation by memera) https://memera.tumblr.com/post/32354840550 Koujaku; (Original post) https://www.nitrochiral.com/staffblog/2012/1575.php (Translation by ancestralmask) https://ancestralmask.tumblr.com/post/29734654910/translation-koujakus-birthday-2012 Clear; (Original post) https://www.nitrochiral.com/staffblog/2013/1626.php (Translation by memera) https://memera.tumblr.com/post/45398166319 Ren (+ Aoba); (Original post) https://www.nitrochiral.com/staffblog/2013/1659.php (translation by ayuuria) https://ayuuria.tumblr.com/post/48594080767/422-short-story-aoba-and-rens-birthday Valentine Side stories; *The original posts were only up from the 14th to the 17th before being deleted. I was able to find them on the wayback machine however, so I linked those. Noiz; (Original post) https://web.archive.org/web/20130217035515/http://www.nitrochiral.com/staffblog/2013/02/130214_1620.php (Translation by Goldpanner) https://khenglish.wordpress.com/non-kh-translations-naruto-dmmd/dmmd-index/a-chocolate-for-you-noiz/ Mink; (Original post) https://web.archive.org/web/20130217035525/http://www.nitrochiral.com/staffblog/2013/02/130214_1622.php (Translation by memera) https://memera.tumblr.com/post/43304242958 (Translation by Goldpanner) https://khenglish.wordpress.com/non-kh-translations-naruto-dmmd/dmmd-index/a-chocolate-for-you-mink/ Koujaku; (Original post) https://web.archive.org/web/20130217035509/http://www.nitrochiral.com/staffblog/2013/02/130214_1619.php (Translation by daikonjou/Radish) https://daikonjou.tumblr.com/post/43299281733/koujakus-valentines-day-short-story-translation (Translation by Goldpanner) https://khenglish.wordpress.com/non-kh-translations-naruto-dmmd/dmmd-index/a-chocolate-for-you-kojaku/ Clear; (Original post) https://web.archive.org/web/20130217035519/http://www.nitrochiral.com/staffblog/2013/02/130214_1621.php (Translation by memera) https://memera.tumblr.com/post/43313231988 (Translation by Goldpanner) https://khenglish.wordpress.com/non-kh-translations-naruto-dmmd/dmmd-index/a-chocolate-for-you-clear/ Ren; (Original post) https://web.archive.org/web/20130217035534/https://www.nitrochiral.com/staffblog/2013/02/130214_1623.php (Translation by memera) https://memera.tumblr.com/post/43309191246 (Translation by Goldpanner) https://khenglish.wordpress.com/non-kh-translations-naruto-dmmd/dmmd-index/a-chocolate-for-you-ren/ Virus/Trip White Day story; (Original post) https://web.archive.org/web/20130315074127/https://www.nitrochiral.com/staffblog/2013/03/130314_1635.php (Translation by memera) https://memera.tumblr.com/post/45356275326

Soundtracks + music CDs

There were various soundtracks and music CDs released, I've linked the ones I could find still available down below. DMMd period. (re:connect soundtrack); https://nitroplus.ecq.sc/np00978.html https://www.stellaworth.co.jp/shop/item.php?item_id=6U1GnG117cG https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/pd/1205096/ https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/GRN-34?s_ssid=e4180f5f04cf223975 SLIP ON THE PUMPS (Anime opening song); https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/pd/1271072/ (Includes opening video) https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/pd/1271073/ https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/AVCA-74528?s_ssid=e417ce5f04cf43f261 https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/AVCA-74529?s_ssid=e417ce5f04cf43f261 (Includes opening video) Rasterize Memory (Anime ending songs); https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/pd/1277006/ https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/pd/1277005/ (Includes ending animation sequences) https://www.stellaworth.co.jp/shop/item.php?item_id=LWoxrxrxDLK https://www.stellaworth.co.jp/shop/item.php?item_id=QjZ3S3S3FQj (Includes ending animation sequences) https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/AVCA-74531?s_ssid=e417ce5f04cf43f261 https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/AVCA-74530?s_ssid=e417ce5f04cf43f261 (Includes ending animation sequences) engage+ment ("after" drama CDs ending songs); https://nitroplus.ecq.sc/np01118.html https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B01ABAPBLG *The re:code soundtrack, append music re:cord, was only sold with the limited edition version of re:code. *I can't seem to find shape.memory.music (the original game's soundtrack) being sold anymore. *retro.game.music (original soundtrack in 8-bit) isn't sold anymore.

General merch + Proxy/Forwarding services

I didn't list all the merch available, because… there's a lot. You can buy general (official) DMMd merch from these sites; (Nitroplus store) https://nitroplus.ecq.sc/work/dramatical-murder.html (Nitroplus Store (English)) https://nitroplus-global.ecq.sc/work/dramatical-murder.html ^ Note that the English version doesn't have all the items found in the Japanese site. (Animate shop) https://www.animate-onlineshop.jp/animetitle/?aid=2508 ^ This is where the stage play bromides are being sold, alongside some other DMMd things. (Bromides being pictures of the actors, basically) (CDJapan) https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/ ^ You can search for DRAMAtical Murder here. I don't see a lot of extra items still available though. *Just to mention, the r18 Morphine Aoba figure is now sold on J-List. That's the only DMMd merch on there currently (until DMMd releases in English I assume, as the physical copy will likely be sold on J-List too). You can of course also use stuff like Amazon and Ebay, but I believe the sites listed above are the only official sites. Some sites don't deliver outside of Japan. For stuff like that, you can use a Proxy or a Forwarding service. I won't go into detail about them here, but be sure to research them carefully (Especially since some countries won't allow some items and may add extra fees as well). You can also get a lot of merch second-hand too, of course. But beware of bootleg merchandise. It can be pretty easy to see when an item is a bootleg, but often bootlegs can look almost as good and official as the real thing. Below are some guides on how to spot a bootleg; https://solarisjapan.com/blogs/news/ultimate-guide-bootlegs-fake-anime-figures https://animegami.co.uk/blog/how-to-spot-a-bootleg-counterfeit-figure-by-animegami/ These mainly apply to figures, but still.

Extra stuff

A couple of extra miscellaneous links because why not. 100% save data for DRAMAtical Murder (Not re:connect); https://cadavaberry.tumblr.com/post/20877649750 ^ Useful for if you want to replay Ren's route, but don't want to replay all the other routes to unlock it since you keep losing your saves (aka me). *If you haven't played before, please play the routes and don't use this to skip any! You'd really be missing out in that case I feel. A generally amazing resource for so many different DMMd things; https://dmmdresources.tumblr.com/ (That's all I have for right now but I may add stuff later, oops.) I would like to say a huge thank you to all the translators and everyone who has contributed in one way or another to help with letting people like myself enjoy DMMd. This isn't exactly the post for thanks, but anyway. Thank you all. (｡’▽’｡)♡ I hope this helped at all!! If anyone would like any more information on anything else DMMd-related, you're more than welcome to send an ask or message. I won't be able to answer everything but I will certainly try, haha.

#dramatical murder #dmmd #nitro+chiral #nitropluschiral

117 notes · View notes

blazehedgehog · 3 years

Note

Thoughts on this current generation of consoles (PS5 and Series X/S)? How do you feel about them having SSDs? Do you think offering two versions of a console is a good business idea (physical/digital for Sony and Physical, more powerful/digital, less powerful for Microsoft)?

I mean, I don’t have either one, yet. I did not end up getting a stimulus payment like I was told that I would, and while I’m not exactly flat broke, I’m not in a position where I can drop $600 on a game console and feel comfortable about that.

SSDs are... whatever. It worries me that these consoles are always capturing video and what that’s arguably doing to hardware with a finite number of lifetime data reads and writes. Especially because, if I remember right, the PS5 SSD isn’t user servicable. If it dies, you have to pay a repair cost to send it to Sony. That’s aggravating.

I also still don’t really know if SSDs are so magical. I have a laptop with an SSD and it’s nice being able to turn the system on and have it booted in to Windows in under a minute flat, but it’s not, like, a hard-line requirement for operations, you know? Reducing loading times aren’t really something that’s high on my priority list.

Especially considering that, like... I play a lot of Fortnite. I play on PS4, and I occasionally play with a friend who plays it on PC, where he has it installed to an SSD. His load times... aren’t really that much faster than mine. They can be, depending on the context, but in the case of an online game like Fortnite, you’re often waiting for the server to respond and send data. He loads back out to the menu way faster than I do, but when we’re connecting to a match, I think he’s only faster than I am by 2-5 seconds. Which to me is... pretty insignificant. Making it seem important feels like marketing smoke and mirrors to me, like how they kept “inventing” shaving razors with more blades.

Like, my PC doesn’t have an SSD in it yet, and does it bother me? Nope! Because I never turn my PC on and then instantly sit down at it. I wake up, turn the system on, and then go make breakfast and whatever. It takes my PC about 2-3 minutes to boot up, and it takes me a good 15-20 minutes to make breakfast, so by the time I’m ready to sit down everything’s been warmed up and ready to go for a very, very long time. Getting a faster load with an SSD isn’t going to offer a meaningful benefit to that experience.

I’m sure I’ll have friends pitching an SSD at me after reading that for other reasons, but I just feel like those people got spoiled by something they don’t actually need and now they’ve tricked themselves in to thinking they can’t live without it. I don’t even bat an eyelash at PS4 games with 20 second load times. Who cares? You aren’t going to be getting anything meaningful done in 20 seconds. “But it adds up” yeah but so does everything. You spent longer pooping than you did looking at loading screens. You’re not going to die waiting 22.8 seconds for a level to start, and it costs a lot of money to fix that minor inconvenience.

I don’t like the idea that they made the disc-based versions more expensive. That’s a very marketing way to nudge fence-sitters to adopt digital, when we’re having more and more examples of what going all-digital is going to do to our libraries of content. We lost hundreds of WiiWare titles and are about to lose hundreds (possibly even thousands) more when Sony locks down the PS3, PSP and PS Vita servers.

I get it, digital is convenient and takes up less space, but you aren’t as protected digitally. Did you know that I lost my entire library of 25+ Google Movies because of a change Google made to “Brand Accounts”?

There’s very little I can do about it. Because ten years ago Google+ made me define my personal account as a “Brand Account,” now Google gets to take away every movie and TV show I own through them. I can still technically watch them if I switch to my “real name” (which is the same account, but also a different account, for some reason), but then I can’t access my subscriptions feed or favorites list.

And stupid garbage like this just happens with digital content, because there’s nothing you physically hold in your hands. You are at the whims of however they allow you to access what is ostensibly THEIR data, and that includes taking away your ability to access that data entirely. You can protest that, I guess, but that won’t change the fact that your ownership means very little to them.

And it’s only going to get worse from here. It won’t make them care any more than they already do. Just like charging for online features that are free on other platforms, they will find the minimum acceptable threshold for your frustration tolerance and they will still figure out how to make you do things their way. They will put you in a position where 99% of your library is digital and by the time there’s a problem you’re already too deep to back out. And then it just becomes “an unfortunate symptom of business” that people blindly swallow because they’ve never known anything better.

So when I say, “there is no way I feel comfortable dropping $600 on a game console right now”, that’s because I will only buy these things if they include the disc drive because I will hold on to that thing for as long as I humanly can.

By which I mean: in 2028, when the Playstation 6 arrives, it’s going to be a tiny little Chromecast puck you put behind your TV and I will be laughed out of the room for wanting a disc drive. That already happens whenever I tell people I still have a disc drive in my PC that I need to replace. Physical media?! Everything should be ephemeral!

Needless to say, I don’t like it, and I don’t feel like there’s anything that can be done about it. I’m only considering buying the new consoles because I kind of have to, to stay “relevant.”

#questions #youtube #playstation #xbox #digital #ssd #disc drive #physical media #Anonymous

9 notes · View notes

gb-patch · 4 years

Text

Ask Answers (February 22nd, 2021)

Hello! Here’s another collection of anon ask answers all put together in one big post.

This might be strange considering how upbeat yall are about the fandoms for your games in general, but is there any particular trope or ship you WOULDN'T want us writing/drawing/etc. in relation to your stuff? (IE, any canon you don't want us 'overwriting' or something like that?)

Of course we would want the fan content people make to not be racist, sexist, homophobic, bigoted, harmful, etc. But in terms of generally doing non-canon pairings or adding in headcanons or stuff, we really don’t mind that. People are welcome to have fun and explore their own ideas.

for the 1.2 Android update was it meant to download as a separate app? I really want to keep my previous save files but they don't show up (also thank u for the updates I'm really excited to get back into the game!!)

We had to change the name of the file and unfortunately for some phones that meant it’s treated as a brand new game. I’m sorry your saves didn’t transfer over to the new version. You can try to look up your specific phone and see if there’s a way to access save files for games on your device and then transfer those saves over to the new build manually. It may or may not be possible.

I'm having some trouble figuring out how to get the update from Itichio without losing my save files? Is it the same game or a folder I can put in the properties? Sorry if this question is not worded well or if this isn't the avenue you'd want to take technical questions on

Are you using Android? If so, the above answer may apply to you. If you’re on PC or Mac, the save files will automatically still be included.

Hey. I really loved playing our life. It was a fun experience and I never thought I would like it this much. I do have a question, I am currently replaying the game and I am choosing choices I never chose at first. In step 2 during the road trip arc, I decided to ask Cove about what he liked to see on people. One of his response was anklets and black eyes. My MC have just happens to have black eyes. Do Cove say black eyes cuz my mc have it or it was just a coincidently programmed into the game?

He uses your eye color intentionally! If you changed your eye color he’d change what he said.

Will step 4 have 10 moments like steps 1-3?

Step 4 is only an epilogue. It plays like the openings/endings of the earlier Steps where it’s a bunch of scenes all in a row, there aren’t any individual Moments.

hi! who was/were the artist(s) for our life?

who is the artist for Our Life: Beginning and Always?

Main Sprite and CG Artist: Addrossi

Main Background Artist: Vui Huynh

Main Interface Artist: Winter Slice

Other artists who helped out can be seen in the credits of the game.

In the new ol, there are two main love interests... Would it be possible to pair them together or is that weird?

You can’t stay single and pair them together. If we are going to add all the extra content to have a route where the two LIs get together, it’d be a full poly route where them and the MC were all dating. And that’s not a for sure option yet because it’d add a lot of extra complications. But either way, in OL the relationships all gotta be about the MC, haha.

In OL2, there will be extra LIs in form of DLCs? Like Dexter and Baxter.

Maybe! We’ll see how it goes.

Since Cove will have 2 diff body types in s4, will the storyline and dialogs reflect this? Or all of it will be the same? Btw love the game and sorry for bad english. Hope this doesn't sound rude 😅

Some descriptions and pieces of dialog will change, but it won’t impact the story really. And you don’t need to apologize! It’s all good.

Will you ever release the transparent sprites of the Our Life characters?

Probably not, I’m afraid. They’ve got a lot of pieces and it’d just be kind of hard to deal with, aha.

Something I was curious about, what was your inspiration for making a game with so much customization?

Initially, the idea was just about having a romance where you actually grew up with the LI. But it was pretty stressful to try deciding how fast the relationship would progress with it taking place over such a long period of time and with no real storyline carrying it. People might not wanna play a game where the characters don’t get along as kids, but other people might not bother with a game where kids immediately liked each other. So the obvious answer came, just let the player pick themselves how it goes. From there we simply continued to add more flexibly with the MC due to the same thought process of wanting to make sure people were onboard with how their life was going.

What made you decide to change the artstyle for ol 2 so much? I of course respect all your decisions and will buy the shit out of everything related to ol 2, but i love the original style and i m honestly not a fan of the styles shown on patreon, despite me liking the painterly style in general. (I don t mind the style being changed, just that the examples shown so far all feel like there s something wrong with them.)

We’ve always used different art styles for each of our projects. They all have distinct looks from each other. It’s just nice to do something new. I’m glad you really like how the first game looks, though. And those samples were only general concepts, rather than the exact options being decided between. We wanted to see reactions to different options. The art style we’re going with won’t be exactly like those, though I personally like all of them. I think players are gonna enjoy the style Our Life: Now & Forever when it’s revealed.

Hey! Is it ok to ask what gender ourlife2 protagonist will be and if we'll be given the same opportunity to customize an MC? Totally understand if you're keeping this under wraps for now if u don't wanna say!

OL2 will have the same type of MC customization as OL1, but even more refined! So their gender will be up to you.

Hi! I happened upon Our Life on Steam by pure chance. It is such a great game, I am super excited about the DLC, and I just want you all to know that you are awesome! :D I have a question, and I'm sorry if it's been asked before. Do you have plans of making more games similar to Our Life, with customizable player character? The customizable player character was probably the one thing I personally have been desperate for in romance VNs. So glad there finally is one and would love to see more.

Thank you! And yep, we do have plans for more games like Our Life, most notably is another game in the franchise- Our Life: Now & Forever. We’ll also likely have other, non-OL, games with customizable MCs, though we may still have some games with set MCs in the future as well.

On the patreon dlc just curious but is it possible to play it without actually sleeping together/getting the nsfw content? I just want to spend more time with Cove

Yeah, you can still choose not to go that far. Though the event is shorter if you pass on the 18+ stuff.

At the beginning of Step 2, did Cove end up accidentally falling asleep in your bed? Or did he fall asleep on the floor?

He fell asleep sitting on the floor with his body/head leaning against the side of the bed.

This may seem like a weird question, but what exactly is the difference between "direct" and "relaxed" on the comfort scale?

Direct is blunter and more teasing, relaxed is lighthearted and goes with the flow.

can the MC have tattoos in step 3?

Not in Step 3, but you can in Step 4.

how would Cove react if he visited somewhere like North Carolina in winter where it can get in the 20s(F) at night sometimes?

He would be shocked and unprepared for what serious coldness is really like, haha. The poor beach baby would wanna go home.

Hello! I just joined the PATREON!! It’s amazing! I love your games! I have a question, approximately how much after will the nsfw be out? After or before the dlc 3 and step four? Sorry my English isn’t the best!❤️❤️❤️

Thanks so much! The NSFW DLC will be out after the Step 3 DLC but before Step 4. And you don’t need to apologize for that ^^.

This might be obvious but, will step 4 have dlcs? Also, where will the nsfw dlc happen? Won't bother me at all if it s in in our or his house but i do think it d be moderately funny

Step 4 will have the Cove Wedding DLC and the Derek and Baxter romance DLCs each add a lot of new content to Step 4, though they’re also partially set in Step 2 and Step 3 respectively. The NSFW DLC happens in Cove’s room.

I keep wondering what would've happened if Mr. Holden met Lizzie first instead of the MC. I can't see that turning out well somehow lol.

It wouldn’t have made a difference. He met the MC’s parents first and they told him about their two kids. He wanted the MC specifically to be Cove’s friend because the two were the same age.

Even though we have a way to go I'm really excited for OL 2! I was curious though, is the next main character going to be adopted again? I thought it was really clever to make the first main character adopted so when players are customizing, they can make them look how ever they like without worrying about pesky genetics. Just wondering!

The OL2 MC is not adopted. We wanted to go for a new dynamic. Instead their parents are their biological single mother who is partially customizable and an off-screen sperm donor father. So the mom will look generally like the MC and any other traits not from her can be assumed to come from whoever the father was.

—– —– —–

Thank you so much for all the asks ^^

FAQ If you prefer to just see the main posts without all the asks/reblogs, feel free to follow our side account instead: GB Patch Updates Blog

#our life #Our Life Beginnings & Always #ourlifeba #ask #gb patch #gb patch games #Our Life: Now & Forever

171 notes · View notes

originalcontent · 4 years

Text

Oooookay. Welcome back. Posting about pathologic part 4 I think? Part 4. We just reached Act 4 too, so everything’s going according to schedule. This gaming session had some ups and downs. Ups: That good good lore, and a lot of quality time spent with my good pals Daniil and Changeling and also Clara apparently, although she might not be my good pal after all, but w/e. Downs: FUuuuUUUUCKkkk we are so bad at video games, and also the kin folk have become A Lot, holy shit. Where to start.

Okay so this time the game wasn’t actually super stressful for me personally bc this time I kind of just handed off the controls to my sister every time shit got dangerous. She’s a lot better at video games than me. Shoutout @akpaley for keeping me from dying from stress in real life.

The drawback of this is that since she’s a lot better at video games she’s also a lot more willing to actually take risks rather than just running away from literally everything. Which I won’t deny, has gotten us a lot of much-needed money and resources but also.

WELCOME TO THE FUCKING DEATH SPIRAL PART OF THE GAME. I guess it had to happen eventually, right? Fuuuuuuuck us, do you have any fucking idea how much shit you have to redo when you’re randomly shanked by some dude every fifteen minutes? And they’re harder to fight every time we come back, apparently, and also our health is like permanently half gone? Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck why are there not more clocks.

Victor Kain, you were the one who made the clocks?? I could fucking kiss you. I owe you my life. Or like, six hundred of my lives. Hhh.

Okay, seriously though, the clock lore is actually kind of sick. Victor told us that they’re smaller versions of the cathedral, and we were like “!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THaT’S WHerE wE RESET THE GaME IN THe PROLOGUE!!!!!!! METAPHYSICS!!!!!!!!!” The Kains are so cool.

(Maria Kaina got infected tho. Sorry, you. :( Although technically that happens later.)

Um, we gave the rest of our shmowder to Khan. We’re out now. We’ve been looking for more but haven’t found anything.

Also we made a random potion, and the plague showed up and was like “fuck you,” and I was like “damn, calm the hell down, you’re the one fucking killing people.”

Met with the Saburovs more. They were like “we have another suspect!” and I was like “yeah they probably don’t but w/e” and my sister was like “they’re in an infected land and we should probably save their lives” and I was like “why do we care about helping the Saburovs again, literally all they do is accuse random people of killing my dad, the Kains are obviously the best family, we should just be throwing in with them” and she was like “that’s not all they do, they also run the guards, you know those guys who patrol plague districts?” and I was like “okay fuck you’re right let’s visit them” and it turns out that that there was actually some super cool lore pertaining to the town’s mistresses. Also, god if they don’t have some cool reflections. I love everything about this town’s history.

Afterwards we randomly decided to visit Yulia for literally no reason, and she was like “I’m glad you’re here, I have a lot of super heavy important shit to discuss with you about the Inquisition that will be here tomorrow, it sure is convenient that you’re in my neighborhood for some reason even though I live in an incredibly inconvenient location?” Also she knows something about the nature of Artemy, Daniil, and Clara-or maybe the Changeling but she called her Clara? Oh yeah, Daniil was there too for some reason. Poor guy, I don’t think he’s okay. He cried on my shoulder a lot, he was endearingly open and earnest and for once I felt bad about the dialogue options wherein Artemy throws shade.

And then Clara happened to be standing outside literally right then? I wonder if that was going to be a big quest location and we just happened to arrive right before the game told us to go there anyway. I think that’s it actually. We’re so good, damn. Clara keeps pulling shit and then immediately trying to reconcile and asking for help. I really like her, but we really shouldn’t be trusting her right?

Oh Murky was also there and she set up a meeting between us and her “friend” and that night we went and Clara and Changeling were both there and I’m so confused???? What is her deal? But!! Changeling facilitated a deal between me and the plague! And Murky is now off the hit list!!!!!!!!!! Does this mean she’ll live? Anyway the plague started talking to us, and our infection rose a bit in an unhealable way, and, dumbasses that we were, said “wow this is probably all just the natural consequence of the bargain we made. Guess there’s literally nothing we can do to address this.” (Spoiler: That is not the case, the cost of the pact was literally just that we became infected and would have to cure it with fire before it killed us. We figured that out eventually, I promise.)

Fast forward to the next day after we finish the day’s entire fucking plotline, when we have done literally nothing so our infection’s increased a shit ton and it starts actually killing us. And since we only have like half our potential health bar from getting killed so much, we literally can’t survive long enough to treat it. We run around trying to cure ourselves and die like ten more times before we finally accept that we just have to go back in time to before the infection was this bad, try to get cured immediately, and redo the whole day. There’s a whole fucking skeleton out by the theatre by now btw. Fucking death spirals. This play session took a long fucking time okay?

Alright, flash backward again. After talking with Changeling, we visit Stakh because after rescuing him twice in a row he promised we could talk. We go to his house and he’s sleeping, or maybe just pretending to sleep, but either way Artemy has the absolute sweetest little monologue, just talking to him, and so much has happened but I can tell there’s still a lot of tenderness there between them even if it’s buried deep, and it’s just such a soft scene against such a harsh story.

Guess who’s dead by morning.

The next day Aglaya showed up and was like “see me immediately,” so obviously we visit Capella and then town hall first off. Daniil’s there, he bitches to me about Aglaya for a bit. So cute, we really are friends. I promise to help him with corpse duty bc Capella wanted me to visit Grace anyway. We talk to the official people at the official desks, one is collecting babies, one is giving me some lunch money as a very good reward for being a very good little surgeon, and one is telling me that actually money is illegal now but here are some free coupons that actually are too cheap to buy anything with.

Aglaya is the woman from the prologue! Hhhh things are really building to a point, aren’t they. I wonder how Yulia knows her. But damn, the whole village was out there waiting to meet with her weren’t they.

I made a deal with the rat prophet to clear some space in the graveyard so Grace would be okay. Dunno what will come of that. I’ve been seeing him everywhere lately though.

I met with Oyun and gave him my dad’s house. I met with Aspity and was like “did you kill Stakh” and she gave me some vague shit, and in general I am very upset at the kinfolk right now but I tried to save them anyway. Went to the termitary and did the whole termitary thing. Wow that sure is a place, right? God, have I ever mentioned how much I love all the screaming soundtracks in this game.

Damn, Taya’s whole child queen vibe is unsettling.

The whole termitary is horrible, and what the kin folk have been put through is horrible, but their obsession with blood and strength legit terrifies me. I’ve spent all my time until now trying to convince everyone that they aren’t bad, and that they aren’t to blame for the disease, but now they want to kill? And they really really really want me to be a killer too. And the whole thing with Taya is creepy as fuck too, she’s just a kid. Anyway, we’re sending Vlad the older to them, I don’t know whether he or his son deserves to be torn apart more, but Changeling was really upset at the idea of Vlad the younger going there, so I guess we’re backing her. We run all around town making sure the right Olgimsky is going, and then we realize we actually have a few hours left so we take a hospital shift too! And then we die of disease like six times.

Okay, flash forward again, we’ve gone back, gotten some guy to molotov cocktail us, redone the entire termitary thing, saved the game on Vlad’s clock after sending him to his doom (sorry dude). That’s where we’re at currently.

(Only it’s not actually, we went back and spent like an hour going back and forth between the termitary and Oyun again trying to deal with their shit, and everyone was like “murder all dissenters :D” and I was like “what the fuck” and the day was almost over but then a dude stabbed us and we randomly died, and none of these places had clocks, so at that point we were basically like “yeah it’s after midnight, let’s just call it quits.”)

Anything else......oh, the warehouses are at risk again. Notkin and Sticky, what would I do if anything happened to them. I hope my medicines are good enough, I gave some to Bad Grief too but now all there really is to do is wait. :(

Oh, I once again have thoughts on how fucking theatrical is it that everything in the game is simultaneously literal and metaphorical, it’s gorgeous, and have I mentioned the costuming choices for the Orderlies and the Plague, hhhhhhhh, not to say anything nice about Mark fucking Immortell, but he knows what he’s doing with this thing. Listen if this post weren’t already way too long I would just gush about the theatrical elements again, but sadly it is too long.

Okay, that was our latest session! We’ll be back either very soon or in like three weeks.

#kj plays pathologic #pathologic #pathologc 2 #this got so fucking long holy shit #also: can anyone tell me how old clara/changeling is?#teenager? twenties?#i initially guessed the latter but i'm growing unsure #theorizing that if clara's a teenager she might be the eighth? bc i still have no clue who that is and clara doesn't appear on the character #screen #but if she's an adult then that wouldn't make any sense

13 notes · View notes

doof-doofblog · 3 years

Text

"I Promised ... I Promised!"

Double Episode Post

Thursday 1st April 2021 - Friday 2nd April 2021

Hello everyone! Hope you've all had a brilliant Easter Weekend! Today is going to be another double episode post in an attempt to catch up! I know there's a lot to discuss, but first I want to give a shout out to @estimebongu98 for sending me some brilliant EastEnders related questions to answer over the weekend, can't thank you enough for reaching out and asking me some opinions on your favourite storyline! If anyone else feels happy enough to send me a message then please feel free!

Anyway back to the matter in hand, the first thing I want to mention is Iqra and Mila. Kim appears to be doing everything she can to get her new business aspect into the public eye. She is completely convinced that she's managed to get couples together, such as Peter & Ash and Iqra & Mila. After getting a photographer to the Prince Albert to take photos of her and hear her story, Kim calls Iqra over, claiming that she's needed urgently. Poor Iqra is clueless about Kim's actual actions. Iqra is understandably confused and a little irritated by Kim's actions when she arrives - technically Iqra and Mila aren't even a couple as of yet and Kim is claiming that she's brought them together!

After some persuasion, Iqra agrees to do an interview for Kim's business, and even happens to volunteer Mila so they end up doing it together, at first Mila isn't too keen but then agrees. What harm could it do it really? Well, as Iqra gets herself dolled up for the interview it seems that they'll also be getting their pictures taken also, getting in front of the camera, Kim instructs Iqra to do all these sorts of poses, but to no avail. As Mila enters, Iqra is visibly happy to see her appear, they both acknowledge how pretty the other one looks. But suddenly as the photographer takes pictures of them without their knowledge, Mila seems pretty adamant that he deletes the picture! Her attitude almost completely changes, much to Iqra's surprise! The photographer unfortunately refuses to delete it, claiming that the natural pictures are the best, but poor Mila almost demands him to get rid of the picture. This really intrigued me though, there's obviously a reason for her not wanting pictures taken, why does it bother her so much?! What is her story?!

Later, Iqra seems to think that it's her fault that Mila left so quickly! However Kim seems to put her at ease, if she's so eager to get to know Mila more and understand why she left, then she needs to reach out to her and call her. Kim insists that she can sense they have feelings for each other, and if there's any truth in it, she encourages Iqra to act on her feelings. Eventually Iqra catches up with Mila and to be fair, she's pretty straight with her from the beginning, she admits that she likes her but also claims that she's fearful of being in the same situation as she was with Ash, asking herself whether she had done anything wrong and informs Mila that she can't go back to being like that. It's then that Mila admits that Iqra has done nothing wrong and she actually happens to like her too - now this is where Mila finally opens up and we learn a lot more about her - she admits that Mila isn't in fact her real name. She explains that she first realised she was gay when she was a teenager but when she told her family about having feelings for a girl, they laughed in her face and ended up throwing her out - simply because her family didn't "believe" in it! It's sad to realise that Mila has basically disowned by her family simply because of her sexual orientation. Of course Iqra is deeply sympathetic and apologises for dragging her into the interview, but Mila claims it's not her fault - how could she have known?! But with Iqra appreciating Mila being open and honest with her, could this seriously be a new relationship on the cards for the two ladies?!

The next thing I have to mention is Bobby! After a horrendous first date a little while back, Bobby is determined to get himself back out there, unfortunately it is under a completely different name, considering he changed his name on his dating app, in fear of people finding out who he really is and finding out about his past. I love how dressed up he's gotten for the occasion, and it looks as if both Kathy and Kim try to give him some advice - which I have to say was a brilliant scene!

Going completely off track they begin to discuss men's flaws, just as Bobby is sitting there between them listening to everything they tell him. You just have to laugh and say "Poor Bobby!" as his Nan and neighbour discuss the different things that men do to women. Just to make him feel that little more awkward, Kathy urges him that if he's just meeting his date for sex then make sure she doesn't end up getting pregnant. Poor Bobby is traumatised and claims he hasn't even met the poor girl yet! In a way, I guess it was Kathy's version of the "Birds And The Bees" story for Bobby!

However, taking his Nan's advice, feeling a little insecure, Bobby visits the Minute Mart and purchases a packet of condoms - much to Suki's amusement, which of course leaves him feeling just a little bit more insecure as he rushes out of the shop. All I have to say about the matter is, why do men find it embarrassing for purchasing condoms? Buying condoms and sanitary products should not be embarrassing, they are a part of every day life and it should be normalised for people to buy the items without feeling any kind of awkwardness or embarrassment. Please tell me you guys agree?!

Eventually, Bobby makes it to his date and things appear to be going well. Only the first thing that grabbed my attention was that Dana admitted that she has no sense of taste or smell and that her Dad believed she may have caught Covid-19, but she never took a test to make sure. After all that Bobby has been through trying to make sure himself and his family are safe from the virus, would it be mad for me to suggest that Bobby could end up catching the virus from Dana?! I'm sure you'll remember he was almost religiously washing his hands and cleaning surfaces. What if after all that caution, he catches Coronavirus from his date?!

Also it appears that Dana is calling Bobby by the name "Rob" - of course this is the name he changed his profile to. Is this going to be some kind of alter ego for Bobby? Only because I happened to notice how confident he looked during his date, he didn't seem nervous as the previous one and he didn't stumble over his words. Could this give Bobby some kind of comfort blanket in a way? If he can't be Bobby for his date's, he could be "Rob" instead? It's an interesting thought - maybe I am getting a little carried away, but I think with his past it would make complete sense. What do you think?! It's fair to say that "Rob" has a successful date as reveals she likes him and would like to see him again!

The next thing I have to mention is Frankie and Mick! After the events of the previous day, she voices her concerns to Linda, claiming that it was a bad idea for her to move into the Vic. However, Linda insists that Mick needs her a lot more than they realise, she claims that once Mick has been to court and spoken out about his abuse, he'll be proud to call Frankie his daughter! Meanwhile Mick appears to have his meeting with his support worker and it's here that he's informed that 4 other men have come forward reporting that they are also victims of Katy.

Understandably, Mick is completely thrown back by this, he is completely stunned and overwhelmed by the news, especially after admitting that he's trying to make things work with Frankie, considering she's his daughter. It needs to be pointed out that it's not Frankie's fault what her Mother did, she is also a victim just like Mick. Why should Mick have to hide her identity, I mean I understand he doesn't feel ready for people and his neighbours to know about his abuse, but why should Frankie have to suffer?! He clearly wants to have a relationship with her, but he does appear to be finding it hard.

As he gets home he informs both Frankie and Linda about what he's learnt, devastatingly his concerns get the better of him and he admits he doesn't think he can stand up in court. Does Frankie maybe feel like she is in some way to blame? Is she the reason why he won't stand up in court? She eventually finds herself at McKlunky's and Stuart spots her from the other side of the room. In an attempt of giving her a peace offering, he places some chicken in front of her, Frankie is clearly spooked - especially after the way he treated her last time he approached her. But Stuart is calm, collected and kind and informs her that for a brief moment, the way she looked reminded him of how Mick looked as a kid. This seems to really move Frankie and she begins to listen to Stuart. He informs her that Mick is going through this court case simply for her, even though he's struggling. He tells her that she kind of needs to meet him in the middle and try and support him, do something in return for him to help him cope with the court case, gently placing a brown paper bag in front of her, he claims a nice sugary treat would help Mick.

It looks as if Stuart's words play on Frankie's mind, she returns home with the sugary treat from Stuart, placing it on a lovely tray with a cup of tea and portrays it in front of Mick. Of course it's a really sweet gesture - no pun intended - but what touches Mick more than anything is when Frankie reveals she'll go to the police and willingly give them a sample of her DNA, to prove that she is Mick's daughter, to also prove that he has been sexually abused by Katy, which would help his case! As much I am hoping this will help, I do fear that maybe the DNA test won't come back as the result we're all hoping for?! What do you guys think?!

The next subject on the cards is Sharon! So, we know she's eager to pursue a new business opportunity for the sake of her son, Albie. She wants something that she will be able to provide for him in the future. Now I know I previously asked the question regarding the building she's found once belonged to Ronnie?! (Considering the name on the front of the building!) - but I noticed that Sharon claims it's an unused gym, can anyone remind me when Ronnie ever ran a gym in Walford?! I simply have no recollection of that!

Anyway, she once again approaches Peter, suggesting that she wants to run a gym with him by her side. She would be the main manager and he could be the head coach or personal trainer for their clients. At first, Peter claims that he's a "Freelance" personal trainer and he's happy how things are for now. But as soon Sharon mentions that it must be nice to have a partner who's a doctor and pays all the bills, Peter seems to agree. Even for him, this could be a brilliant career opportunity?!

However, I have to admit this next section got me really confused. Ben and Kheerat appear to lingering as they're discussing where to melt the gold bars that Vinny got his hands on. Kheerat suggests it needs to be somewhere subtle, like the Arches, but Ben is insistent that Arches cannot be the place. From across the Square, he notices Sharon putting in an offer for the abandoned building, I guess it's fair to say that Ben isn't Sharon's biggest fan - but what is she wanting to buy a gym got anything to do with him?! Maybe it's just me but I don't understand why he's interfering, and what's even worse - it appears he's dragging Kheerat into it too!

Kheerat appears to be the friendly neighbour, almost fishing for information and what's she's up to, Sharon explains that she's moving on with life after a horrendous year but just after she's put in an offer for the building, an unknown source happens to make a bigger offer, it looks as if her new business aspect is crumbling to pieces before it's already begun, but interestingly Kheerat suggests she adds on another £500 to her offer which overrules the other offer being considered. Is Ben the one who made the offer, just to get more money out of Sharon? Do the Panesar's actually hold the lease of the building and is that why Kheerat and Ben want the building as a place to melt the gold?! I have no idea, but something just doesn't add up for me, something really suspicious is going on and I can't quite work out what yet!

Finally the final day of Stacey's freedom has come - the day that all the Slater family have been dreading. After Lily's fall down the stairs, obviously everyone seems to be concerned for the youngster as she appears unconscious at the bottom of the stairs, but when the paramedics suggest that taking her to the hospital might give them some idea as to what's happened, Lily jumps into action claiming that she's actually okay! As everyone realises that Lily is fine, her parents decide to take her to one side to try and understand why she threw herself down the stairs.

Both Martin and Stacey listen as the youngster claims that she was trying to save her family, save her Mum from going to prison and it was also an attempt to stop the arguing so everyone would get along, if she was to get badly injured, they would have to put aside their differences for her sake. Both Martin and Stacey are shocked to hear the lengths their daughter would go through just to keep her family together. Almost as a cry for help, she pleads her Dad to do something to help stop her Mum going to prison!

Trying to do the best for his children, Martin tries to have a word with Ruby to try and make her understand she needs to change her plea, but once again Ruby lies!!!! She even lies about lying - claiming that she already tried to speak to the police about changing her statement but she was too late. She's still lying about Stacey pushing her and causing the loss of their child and plus she's also lying about contacting the police - ooo Ruby truly is the Queen of Lies isn't she?! I really don't understand why, but as Stacey puts it perfectly, Ruby is terrified about that fact that Martin still actually loves her and will do anything to keep him, even if it means sending her to prison for something she hasn't. As much as this breaks Stacey, she admits the only reason she's pleading guilty is that she'll only receive 6 months in prison and the sooner she's done her sentence, the sooner she'll be out for her kids. Stacey's words seem to hit home to Martin, does he still love Stacey?! I truly think there's a part of him that always will - she is the Mother of his children at the end of the day!

As Stacey enjoys the last few hours with her children, watching them play about in the gardens, she informs her Mum about all their routines, what not to feed them and what appointments they have coming up in the week. Everything seems to become all to real for Jean, she stares at her daughter longing and informs her how amazing she is, being so brave for her children. Jean gives Stacey her word and promises to look after her children until she's back. As time goes on, it gets later and later and eventually Stacey's time with her children runs out, saying her last goodbyes, drawing hearts on her children's hands to show that they're all a team, Stacey says one last goodbye to Lily and her Mum. As both Martin and Ruby watch from across the Square, Stacey walks away in tears and heads for prison.

The following day, poor Jean is struggling to cope with all the young ones running about, trying to make them food which they are refusing to eat because it hasn't been prepared right. Lily keeps herself occupied by making a version of Ruby out of toast. I guess you could say that Lily sees Ruby as the "Wicked Step-Mum!", which you can perfectly understand! As Lily continues to keep herself to herself, later on in the day Jean notices her with a packet of biscuits and questions what she's doing with them, Lily then admits that she wanted to cheer her Nan up by making her an "Afternoon Tea", recalling that Stacey had one planned for her ages ago but she couldn't attend because she was ill, so she wanted to do one in the house for her instead.

Poor Jean is completely overwhelmed by her Grand-Daughter's kindness, excitedly she runs out to get sandwiches and cakes for the occasion, happily stating that they all make a really good team. As Jean hurries out, from under the kitchen table, Lily pulls out a huge luggage bag filled with clothes and discreetly packs the packet of biscuits. My first initial thought was "Oh god, Lily is going to run away!" - but of course Lily is much more smarter than that. Of course this idea of an Afternoon Tea was just to get her Nan out of the house while she put her plan into place.

After returning home from lunch, Martin and Ruby and shocked to find his 3 children standing outside their front door with a huge suitcase. Lily's acting suspiciously upset, informing her Dad that she misses her Mum and her Nan is getting stressed with everything and she pleaded if she could stay with her Daddy. At first Ruby tries to be polite, informing the children that they can come a visit anytime, considering that they are just across the road, but Martin realises he can't leave his children out on the street and invites them all in to stay. As little Hope and Arthur rush in with excitement, Lily's attitude completely changes towards Ruby, informing her that she didn't expect that reaction! Ruby is completely stunned by the girl's attitude, but I have to say I felt completely sorry for Jean as she came home, hands filled with party food and balloons to entertain the children, sadly she notices the note left on the kitchen table for her, at first she thinks it's all a joke, but when she realises the house is completely empty, she looks completely and utterly lost, I just wanted to hold her and give her the biggest hug I could and tell her everything is okay!

But I do also have to say - YES!!!!! GO LILY!!!! It looks as if Lily is going to make Ruby's life a nightmare for putting her Mum in prison, and honestly, I think Ruby knows it! But what is she going to do about it? She's not going to be able to convince Martin that Lily is trying to ruin her life, I doubt he'd even believe her, he'll end up using the excuse that Lily is simply missing her Mum and is lashing out. I am super excited to see what happens next. Thank you all for reading, I apologise this post being so late, but thank you all for your patience! Please feel free to leave me any messages or comments, I'll always reply! Thanks again everyone! Love you all xXx

3 notes · View notes