#but yea even like just a quest you remember that someone might have said something maybe is good enough

[lillybean730]

hey any ffxiv fans wanna help me with something? im trying to figure out if anyone in-game ever acknowledges the fae folks lack of gender outside of their pronouns. like a quick mention of "oh they have no gender btw" or something.

to be clear im not asking this for transphobic reasons or looking for someone to prove that they're nonbinary, im nb and just want to know if any characters give an in-universe perspective on it

[missdrarrydawn]

------------ Occupy My Heart ------------

Draco Malfoy x fem!Reader

warning: implied smut, brief mentions of drinking

~~~

written for the lovely @leydileyla who offered me this absolute gem of a prompt that I simply couldn't pass up

hope you enjoy hon :DD

~~~

You were really starting to feel the buzz of the Butterbeers a few hours into the Interhouse party that was thrown for all the returning eighth years. You're such a horrible lightweight, Butterbeer is just vaguely alcoholic, if at all. It warmed you up and left a pleasant tingle in its wake. Just enough to let the music and lights around you blur and blend, to ripple against your skin and soothe. The smell of the ale cookies served at various tables scattered around the one conjoined common room for all the Houses now wafted through the thick, cloying air, between meandering bodies of various dancing students, all the scents making your head spin from where you were sitting at the little makeshift bar.

The party's been wilding on way past curfew but no teachers arrived to interrupt you yet so it was fair game. Everything felt so liquid and pleasant, the atmosphere sticking to your slick skin, the warmth and haze prickling at the back of your neck.

Gods you needed a shower. Perhaps you might sneak away to have a quick one? The party showed no signs of slowing down and you were drained.

As you pushed away from the bar, colors still swimming before your eyes from all the sparkle and decorative banners strung up everywhere, you felt a shiver run down your spine.

You felt eyes on you.

Turning about to find the possible culprit, you registered a flash of platinum blonde hair in a darkened corner and the piercing glow of silver eyes lingering on you.

Draco.

A chuckle rumbled from your chest as you allowed yourself a moment to revel in his gaze before melding into the throng of people, sliding between them, trying to remember whether your dorm was the door on the left or the right upstairs. It wouldn't do to barge into someone else's dormroom.

As you made your way along you still felt pins and needles in your back, as if someone was keeping pace with you. Goodness, that was incredibly paranoid, wasn't it? You vowed to yourself to never drink Butterbeer again. Even slightly tipsy you were a disaster.

Finally you got through everyone and into the quieter part of the room, where all the dorms were. There were only a few people milling about there, stumbling off to their rooms with whoever they pulled or to retch or simply pass out.

The beat of the music was muffled here, no longer a steady, beating ebb flowing through your skull, now more resembling a foggy memory. It was easier to think, to breathe. You've never been much of a party animal, but this one was important. It celebrated unity and the war being over, it celebrated those who lived and fought. It mattered to attend. After Hogwarts rebuilt and reopened, the first thing that changed was the system of the four houses, headmistress McGonagall had dismantled it entirely after witnessing how horrific segregation could be.

Everyone was thrown in one mixing pot, which had been strange at first, but throwing a party like this really helped scrub out the imaginary lines in the sand everyone had drawn between themselves.

Speaking of scrubbing, you finally arrived to your dorm and basically collapsed through the door in your quest for a shower. Where was the bathroom door again? Ah right, over there, of course.

You slipped through, the bright Lumos having you squint for a second while your eyes adjusted from the dim haze of downstairs to the sparkling clean of tile.

Right. You closed the door behind you and began to undress, your clothes peeling away from the sweat plastered all over you from all the vigorous dancing you'd done.

As you kicked off your shoes and set your bare feet on the cold floor, a distinct icy chill ran up your legs and through the rest of you, shivering away the brittle buzz you'd worked up, cooling you down.

Once your clothes were a discarded pile on the floor, you stepped into the shower and pulled the fogged glass door shut, fiddling with the taps before a spray of warm water finally hit your face and shoulders.

What a relief.

You began to scrub and lather yourself up, cleaning off the night with the water sluicing down your skin, your mind starting to wander as you relaxed into the moment more. Warm showers were a treasure.

Draco was staring at you back there. For a brief second you made eye contact before you left. Did that mean something? You felt silly for wanting to know but that boy has occupied the vacant spaces of your heart for far too long now, and you couldn't help but hope that his intense, focused gaze meant something more.

As you began washing your hair, a knock on the door startled you out of your skin. You almost poured shampoo into your eyes for heaven's sake!

"Um—occupied?" you yelled out, hoping to be heard over the gush of water. If someone needed the bathroom urgently then they could come in to use it, it's not as if anyone would see you in your birthday suit, but if it wasn't urgent then they could find another one.

"Ahh, Y/N, it's—uh, it's me! I was just wondering if you were okay?" a familiar voice from the other side of the door spoke up.

You knew that voice. It was so familiar. Who—

You felt every bit of you freeze as your brain spat out the answer for you.

Draco. It was Draco.

Checking up on you.

What should you do now? Your heart began hammering away quicker, this was hardly the time or place to flirt or attempt seduction and—

Well. As you considered the statement that just flittered through your mind you found it not entirely true.

You were naked after all, naked and wet. What more perfect scenario for seduction did there exist?

"I'm okay Draco, um—you can come in?" you yelled back, lips stretching into a smile. Technically he shouldn't be here at all, seeing as these were girls quarters and all, but if he's been invited it shouldn't be too much of an issue. If he accepted, that was.

There was silence for a few beats, the moment dragging on, you almost thought you'd scared him off, but then—

The soft, distinct click of the door being opened and shut.

Bingo.

Now, how exactly would you do this? You supposed you could ask him to get you a towel when you were done, and let him have a glimpse.

Merlin it sounded corny as all fuck, but you were prepared to do what it takes.

Until then though, you supposed you should talk about anything, keep the atmosphere up.

You could just barely make out his tall, foggy outline through the sliding glass of the shower, and you watched him move to sit down on the toilet seat.

Wait a second—if you could partly see him, did that mean he could partly see you too?

That was even more perfect.

"Hi Draco, you like the party?" you threw out the question casually, hoping to lessen the strangeness of the situation. You and him were friends, well, acquaintances more so, so it's not as if you've never spoken berore, but still. This was way different from any interaction youve had prior. "Thank you for checking up on me."

"Ahh ahem—no problem Y/N, you seemed a little tipsy back there so I uh—I thought you might—Well yea." he stumbled through his words, hardly even finishing the sentence properly.

That was—quite uncharacteristic of Draco Malfoy. He was always the one with the silver tongue, the sharp remark, had a comment to spare for anything, and to hear him stutter and hiccup his way through speaking as if he were a nervous school girl talking to her crush was very new and strange.

You'd be lying if you said it wasn't endearing as all hell though.

You could have a lot of fun with this.

"I see I see. I did build a bit of a buzz but nowhere near as bad as some of the other characters around this place. I mean, did you see Zabini strip his shirt off and then dance on the tables? Goodness." you simply continued along, as if this were a casual conversation and you weren't naked and washing out your hair.

"Haha, yeah, yes, Blaise will have one hell of a hangover tomorrow." Draco chuckled, though it sounded breathy and rough, somehow.

You were almost done now.

"Parvati will too, say, could you brew a vial of that potion of yours, for hangovers, for her? She's my roommate and I loathe to hear her whining tomorrow. You're the best at it, after all." You let your voice linger above the spray.

This time, Draco audibly spluttered and you saw a flurry of blurred movement, which eased a laugh past your lips.

"Um—yea, of—of course. I can do that. Um, Y/N isn't this—I don't know, a little strange?"

He sounded so thoroughly flustered, which really got you hoping. The stares, checking up on you, doing you favors, getting flustered by the situation, hm.

Hm.

It was worth a shot anyhow, right?

Time for a new plan.

Another chuckle rattled through your ribs. This was insane.

You grabbed the handle of the door and slid it open just enough to lean your head through. You could finally get a good look at him. He was sitting on the toilet seet, his entire face splotched and flushed all down his neck, wringing his hands and bouncing his leg.

When he heard you slide the door open he turned his head abruptly and you heard his breath hitch as he got a look at your face and shoulder sticking out, his eyes sliding from your eyes to your lips, lower still, to your neck and collarbones and—then he remembered himself and turned away abruptly.

"I'm sorry! Oh Merlin, are you—are you done? Do you uh—need a towel or—?" He began to ramble all in one breath and you just continued smiling fondly at his turned back.

"Oh Draco, won't you come in here with me already?"

You held out your hand and patiently waited. You could imagine this would be quite a fallout.

Draco stood completely still when the words left your mouth. One minute, two minutes, three—

The water drying on your skin while more sprayed down had gooseflesh rising all over you. Still, you waited.

"Um—what?" Draco whimpered eventually, voice giving out on him at the end there.

"You heard me." you assurred him.

The hum of running water was the only sound bouncing off the walls again, the very faintest echo of music from downstairs lilting through the closed door.

Draco turned to face you again, he looked wrecked. Eyes wide and dark, his pupils basically swallowing the silver irises, hair disheveled, breath coming in gentle pants.

"You want—?" he mumbled, his voice betraying his own hope and eagerness.

"Yes. For a while." your own smile widened, and for a second a pang of anxiety struck you as you realized he was about to see you naked, but it all dissipated into pooling heat and want as you watched him slowly reach for the first button of his mint green button up shirt and slide it loose. His wide eyes never left yours and you watched the slight tremor in his fingertips as he freed every button, one by one, until his shirt opened and slid off his shoulders, fluttering to the floor.

God he's delicious. All lean, well defined Seeker's physique, the pale marble of his skin an endless expanse. You let your eyes wander, drink in the sight, slide across his chest and lower, over his taut abdomen, hanging up on the waistband of his pants. An outline pushed against the seams there, your mouth watering at the visible bulge.

"Me too." he mumbled, as if you needed any more proof or reassurance of his desire, his hand slowly reaching for his zipper now.

Oh what a lovely party it's been indeed and it was about to get so much better.

~~~

Fin.

[chirons-tail-curlers]

sorting pjo characters into hogwarts houses

okay so i haven’t been posting lately so i’m gonna do this lol

percy- i don’t freaking know, he’s like literally every houses traits, but based on one post i saw somewhere where it talked about how your house isn’t what you are, but rather what you value. like neville may not have been the bravest person in 1st year, but he valued it. so with this logic, i’m putting our boy in hufflepuff

annabeth-queen is literally salazar slytherin reincarnated. yea she’s smart, but she’s the most ambitious and cunning person you’ll ever meet. she’s constantly trying to go above and beyond, and her goal was always to make something permanent, pretty slytherin to me

hazel- gryffindor. she literally raised a giant then killed it despite the price of her life, and faced said giant (and more) again and was a badass the whole time. not to mention she canonically swears. and is just like brave, yk?

leo- oooh this is a hard one but i’m gonna say ravenclaw. my boy was doing complex math at like 8 years old and designing battle winning ships at 5 with crayons. also ravenclaws are me and therefor so is leo valdez cause i said so

frank- gryffindor (like his best friend hazel). he slowly overcame his issues and grew into a leader. also screw mars and his bitch ass “blessing” frank is brave without that crap and went on a quest with his best friend and some kind of water god type guy to alaska where he was doomed to fail and is the kind guy to tell someone “you’ll have to get through me first” then destroy said person before turning to smile at the other person and being like “you wanna bake cookies with me?”

jason- uhhh gryffindor in the main character type of way (like @hufflepuff-apollo-kid said [x]) he was trained into being the guy that everyone naturally follows into battle, and i think had he had a different upbringing he’d be a ravenclaw

piper- slytherin. mean bitch vibes and she gets shit done. you go to HER when you need something

drew- also a slytherin. very similar to piper, but she’s even meaner and she’s the sibling you go to when you want someone gone. she could kill with looks (and her nails)

nico- literally a hufflepuff. this boy spent his time travelling making friends with deities so forgotten only the ancient ancient greeks might remember hearing of them. (ie-hestia, bob, at least a few gods from other pantheons, and everyone we haven’t heard about [yet])

thalia- okay so i think all children of zeus have this natural gryffindor instinct, where they feel like they have to prove themselves, and this is seen by them always being in leaders positions. *ahem daddy issues ahem* if she fought that urge i’d say a cross of slytherin and gryffindor

will- the kinda hufflepuff that’d name your bones as he broke them if you hurt someone he loved. also i feel like he has slight ravenclaw hints, but i haven’t finished toa yet

meg- somewhere between slytherin and gryffindor and possibly some hufflepuff

okay so that’s all i can think of rn lol

[tigerseye46]

Hi, love the prompt you wrote you truly capture the happy moments and sad moments! I was thinking of a sequel from I don't want to lose you for prompt #148, Thank you.

Prompt List

Thanks! Also that's a perfect name for it! Here you go!

148. “Is this really the time for jokes?” “You always do this.” “Wake me up when it’s over.” “You look happy.” “I’m sorry, do I know you?” “Why can’t I get you out of my head?” Sequel to the “I don’t want to lose you.”

  His boyfriend was free, Wukong was free, finally. From what he heard from some demons he had beat up, his boyfriend had been freed by some monk and forced to go on some quest, ew. Macaque needed to save his boyfriend, obviously he was being forced to do this whole thing, who knows what suffering Wukong might have gone through? It was hard work tracking his boyfriend down especially since he heard they were going west to retrieve some scriptures, again ew.

  Macaque searched for years then he finally found him. It was in a bustling market place full of disgusting humans. He was currently in disguise while looking at (stealing) the wares and then, he saw him. His boyfriend in all his glory, he was eagerly talking to someone, the monk Macaque guessed, a bright smile on his face. Wukong was wearing different clothes from the last time he saw him and a golden circlet was around his head, he was gorgeous.

  Macaque didn’t transform back right away. It would draw too much attention so he quietly stepped towards the other monkey, trying to maintain a neutral face even as the excitement built up in him. His boyfriend had stopped talking to the monk before Macaque tapped his shoulder.

  The other monkey turned toward him with an eyebrow raised and asked, “Hm?”

  “Wukong! Can’t believe you’re finally out! I’ve been looking all over for you!”

  Wukong tilted his head. “I’m sorry, do I know you?” The six eared monkey wanted to facepalm, his boyfriend had special eyes yet he couldn’t use them to spot his own boyfriend.

  “Peaches… it’s me…” he muttered.

  Wukong gasped and briefly activated his special eyes. The glow quickly disappeared as he whispered, “Ma-Macaque? It is you… I…”

  Macaque smiled. “Nice to see you, Peaches.”

  “Li-likewise, give me a second.” Wukong gave him a reassuring glance and then gazed at the monk beside him. He asked the monk, “Master, is it okay if I walk around for a bit?” Master? His boyfriend “Great Sage Equal to Heaven” calling someone master?

  The “master” didn’t look up at Wukong as he was too busy examining some vegetables. “Okay, Wukong but please do not draw attention to yourself or cause trouble.”

  “Ya sure ya should let him go? He is him after all.” Macaque found the source of the voice and it was a pig demon smirking at his boyfriend.

  Wukong scoffed. “Wow, very descriptive, Bajie.”

  “Hey! I’m just sayin’ ya might cause trouble.”

  “I would never!” Wukong winked.

  “I think oldest brother should be fine,” another demon said.

  The master spoke up, “I think Wukong will be fine. Please be careful.”

  “Of course, master!” He shouted, Wukong made sure the group wasn’t looking at him then he pulled Macaque away into a forest nearby. Macaque transformed back and analyzed his boyfriend.

  “Peaches… it’s great to... you know. I tried searching for you, couldn’t find you before.”

  Wukong hugged him. “I… I missed you, Mango.”

  Macaque hugged back as he took in the scent of the monkey king. They gave each other a soft and slow kiss on the lips. “Missed you too, Peaches. You look… happy.”

  Wukong gave his love a peck on the cheek and exclaimed, “Yes I am! I’ve been traveling all over the place, fighting demons and with the gang! It’s awesome!”

  “Glad you’ve been having fun,” he muttered. “So are we going now?”

  “Going?”

  “Yea, to carry out our plan against Heaven and what not. To rule, obviously…”

  His boyfriend frowned. “Well the plan has changed…”

  Macaque raised his eyebrow. “How so? I know you’ve been forced to help these guys. You don’t have to stay here any longer. I’m saving you from whatever it is.”

  “That’s just it…”

  “Hm? What is?”

  “I want to stay here. I need to stay here. I have to protect the others.”

  Macaque stared at his boyfriend wide eyed then brought a hand to his forehead and laughed. “Wow, for a second you really got me. Is this really the time for jokes?”

  Wukong glared at him. “I’m not joking. I’m staying with them.”

  “WHAT? Are you out of your mind? They forced you under a dang mountain then onto whatever this is! And now you want to stay?”

  The monkey king sighed. “Look, I was angry especially after they put this crown thing to make sure I listen.” He gestured to the circlet. “But it’s not so bad. I have a responsibility to protect them now. I’ve accepted that. You could come with us!”

  Was Wukong serious? They put that crown on his head to control him? How could he still want to stay after that? “What about our plan to take over Heaven? Don't you want revenge?”

  “I did…” he shook his head. “Not anymore. I’ve changed. Come with us, Macaque! I’m sure master wouldn’t mind!”

  Was his boyfriend being forced to say this? Macaque scowled, “That monk must have you under some spell, don’t worry, Peaches, I’ll get rid of that monk and the rest of them..”

  At those words, the king held up his staff and against his boyfriend’s chest. He yelled “DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH THEM!”

  Macaque laughed and placed a hand on his face. “Is this some sick dream? Gods, wake me up when it’s over.”

  “This is no dream, Mango.”

  “Don’t you want revenge?”

  “Revenge isn’t important to me anymore! I’ve grown. I don’t need you to rescue me! You mess with them, you mess with me.”

  His boyfriend glared at him. “So you want to waste time following some human around?”

  “Yes! Because I believe in our cause!”

  “Do you realize how stupid that sounds?”

  “Stupid to you but not to me! If you’re going to threaten my friends then this is goodbye, Mango.” Wukong lowered his staff and started walking away from his boyfriend. Macaque’s face being a face of disbelief and anger.

  “DON’T WALK AWAY FROM ME, WUKONG! You always do this! You always do something selfish and leave me to pick the mess up! Just like when you got trapped under that mountain!” Macaque yelled and stomped his feet.

  Wukong looked back at him. “Goodbye, Mango,” he repeated. “We’re through.” Then he left.

  Macaque wanted to grab his boyfriend, scream at him to come back. He had remembered what he said to Wukong before he left, he had lost him, he had lost his boyfriend and it stung. He sobbed as he fell to his knees. He whispered, “Why can’t I get you out of my head?” The only other thought going through his mind was “revenge.” If Wukong thought this journey was fun then how fun would it be if Macaque impersonated him and ruined him? He would take the credit for his ex boyfriend’s journey and ruin him. That was a guarantee.

[meigh-day]

Obligation (Tendou x Reader) - Part 3

-----------------------------------------------------------

Title: Obligation

Pairing: Mafia AU Tendou x F!Reader

Characters: Includes characters from both Shiratorizawa and Seijoh/Some OC background characters

Includes: Swearing, Mentions of Guns/Knives and Violence

Status: Complete

Word Count: 1.6k

Previous Next

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The remainder of your night had been quiet after Yua, the sweet elderly woman who'd escorted you around, had dropped you back off at your room with a promise to visit again soon.

Once you had been left to your own devices you found yourself a little unsure of what to do. They had more or less given you free reign to do what you wanted around the house and if you wanted to leave, they were happy to arrange a driver and someone to accompany you, a.k.a. a bodyguard. It was a little too late to just wander the house aimlessly so you'd opted to sprawl out on your bed and swap between the various apps on your phone. At some point your eyes had closed while your phone had teetered out of your hand and onto the bed as sleep suddenly took you. You hadn't even managed to change out of the clothes you'd arrived it. The last 24 hours had been very demanding and your mind and body had decided they'd had enough.

Sleep had taken hold of you so soundly that you didn't stir in the slightest as soft footsteps crossed your room, stopping at the edge of your bed. Deep red eyes gazed down at your sleeping form, watching your chest rise and fall, admiring how cute you looked as you lay curled up in the middle of the bed like a cat. He leaned over the bed, just far enough to reach a hand out, his fingers ever so gently pushing your displaced hair away from your face.

"Sweet dreams, pretty girl."

.

..

.

The following morning you found yourself standing in the middle of a hallway, confused. The mansion was certainly huge, and you'd just been given a very lovely tour just the night before. Yet here you were, glancing around the long corridor, hoping to find something that struck you as familiar. Honestly, you felt embarrassed as you shuffled along, first time out on your own and you'd already gotten lost. When you had woken up your found yourself sprawled out across the middle of your bed, still fully dressed, covered in a soft black blanket. You didn't remember it being in your room at all so you were a little unsure how it had appeared. Though as you had laid there pondering over it's appearance, you inhaled deeply and let out a happy sigh, whatever the had used to wash this smelled heavenly.

A quick shower and a change of clothes had you feeling more awake but your alertness hadn't kept you from getting all turned around. Yua had shown you around the home, and was sure to mention little tidbits of information that she had gleaned over her years of working in the house. It was interesting, truly, but you had still found yourself distracted, thoughts wandering to a certain red-head. The memory of his teasing the night before still made you feel giddy and embarrassed. A few pretty words and a smile and you were ready to agree to whatever he asked. He'd been teasing you, a favorite past time of his and you were eternally grateful to whoever's laugh had helped clear your mind, otherwise, you were almost certain you would have said yes. Then Tendou would have had a real good laugh at your expense.

Truth be told, if you had said yes, Satori wasn't so sure he would have had the strength to turn you down. Of course he had been teasing you, no one else in the house was nearly as fun to toy with, but if you had even nodded at his hollow proposal, there would have been no power on this earth to stop him from scooping you up and escaping back to the confines of his room.

With a grumble of annoyance at yourself you turn a corner in time to see a door swing open as Tendou emerged. He was dressed in all black once more, it was honestly the only color he really ever wore, and he wore it well. You quietly watched him as he emerged, his hand running through his straight red hair, his foot pushing back against the door too close it as he lifted his eyes to you.

"Good morning." A smile spreads onto your lips as you greet him.

"Morning." His greeting seemed almost hesitant as he glances around the hallway briefly before he settles back on you. "What are you doing here?" He questions you, curious why you were wandering around in such a weird place. Unbeknownst to you, you had gotten lost in the part of the house with all the offices and meet rooms. Not really a place he thought he'd find you strolling thrugh..

"Am, am I not allowed here?" You ask, eyes wide as you wonder if you had wandered into some forbidden part of the house that Yua had likely warned you about, too distracted by Tendou's pretty face to listen.

"Shit, I'm really sorry. I guess I got a little turned around. If you could just, uh, point me in the direction of coffee I'll be on my way." You didn't even wait for him to answer as you sputter out an apology, hoping wherever it was you were wasn't so off limits that you were going to have to be made an example of. Hadn't even been here 24 hours and you were already causing trouble, Kimura would be so disappointed if he found out. Tendou shook his head, laughing as he watched your hands flit about nervously.

"You can come here if you want. Just a bunch of offices and stuff."

"Offices? Oh, is that one yours?" He glanced back at the door you were pointing at behind him and nodded.

"Mhm. Say, I was on my way to the kitchen anyway. If you don't mind tagging along, I'll show you the way."

"That would be great."

.

..

.

A few short minutes later you and Tendou had arrived.

"Oh wow, I was on the wrong side of the house completely..." You chuckled as you shook your head in shame. The kitchen was clean and spacious, stocked with pretty much anything you could need. Currently all you wanted was coffee, and with that goal in mind, you start to poke around the kitchen on your quest to find a mug. Tendou crossed his arm as he leaned back into the counter, his eyes on you.

"So, how was the tour?"

"It was good." You answer, pulling open the nearest cupboard only to find the shelves lined with cans of vegetables, not mugs.

"Just good?" He presses as he watches you open another door only to find boxes of tea, not mugs.

"Uh, yea."

"Did something happen?" Something was off. Normally your answers were much more colorful, so to hear these non-committal, bland, answers had him wondering.

"No, nothing happened. Yua showed me around and told me a lot about the house." You glanced over your shoulder at him as you opened yet another cupboard. Soup, not mugs. He seemed to be fairly interested in your answer, almost as if he knew what had been on your mind and could tell you were trying avoid telling him the truth.

"Hm." After watching you open a few more door, fruitless in your pursuit of a mug, he dives into action. Tendou turns in place and opens the door that had been directly behind his lanky form, retrieving two mugs along with a container of sugar. You turn, hearing the soft clicking of glasses, and see him settling them down onto the counter. So, he'd been standing in front of them this whole time. You purse your lips in slight annoyance as you watched him gather up a few other supplies. Soon all manner of coffee related items were piled on the counter before you, including several varieties of creamer. You take action now and start to pour coffee into the two mugs.

"Are you sure nothing happened?" He questioned again, this time from much closer. Tendou stood directly behind you, leaning back against the counter while you worked at the island. You could feel him there, his eyes regarding you almost passively.

"Mhm."

"Then you do you look so disappointed?" He could come up with a thousand reasons why you might be feeling that way you were and he was at the center of them all. Ironically he wasn't wrong, though not in the way he was thinking. In his mind, it was plain that you were disappointed and, what else could there be to be disappointed about in this house except him? This heavenly creature before him was destined to spend the rest of her days united with him and he couldn't blame her for feeling distressed at the situation.

You slow your actions, the spoon lazily cutting through the coffee as you spare him a glance. He was being so damned persistent and, while part of you was a little annoyed, a much bigger part thought it was very sweet. Whether or not he intended it to come off this way, he was making it rather evident that he cared about you. So with a soft sigh you turn, pressing back into the counter and peering up at him.

"Yua is really sweet and all but..." You pause, shifting your eyes down to the side. "I kinda thought you were going to show me around..."

Of all the things he thought you might say, that wasn't even in his radar. If you hadn't been looking away like the shy dweeb that you were, you could have seen a genuine look of surprise on his face.

"Oh." He takes a long drink on his coffee, meeting your gaze when you chance to look back up. Could there be a chance, even a small one, that you could be happy with him? It didn't have to be love, that was an impossible idea for someone like him to long for, but maybe he could be someone special to you. Someone you trusted and confided in. Someone you could laugh with and rely on. That would be enough.

"Well, I have a little spare time right now."

[mischiefandi]

A Shitty Love Song (Part 4) - Stiles Stilinski

Cheap Thrills

A/N: hey everyone! part 4 is where things start to change a little for y/n, and im really excited for u guys to read it! I work really really hard on this series so it means a lot to see you guys enjoy it <3

Summary: Y/N is a 17 year old girl who struggles in an epic battle against herself. Whether it is amor’s icy grasp or life’s unexpected course that forces her to open up, only one thing is certain. The truth cannot long be hidden.

Warnings: light cursing i think and mentions of panic (nothing severe)

Word Count: 5.3 K

Pairing: Stiles Stilinski x Reader (Y/N)

Series Masterlist

(picture is not mine -> credits to @ clemono on unsplash)

The school doors opened, thus concluding winter break and the holidays, the thrilling sound of students’ footsteps echoing throughout the halls. It had only been two weeks since they had last seen each other, but the ecstatic teenagers greeted each other with wide smiles and warm hugs, their excited voices overlapping as they recounted the tales of their winter shenanigans.

Y/N burst through the large metallic school doors, her brown suede bag hooked over her right shoulder, and she sighed happily as her eyes scanned the crowd, searching desperately for her friends, the people she had missed so much. Most of the group had gone away during winter break. They had all kept in touch, but Y/N had found it quite difficult being alone in Beacon Hills, stowed away in her dark room, anxiously waiting for her busy friends’ texts. Being away from them had been harder than she had thought it would be.

So she walked past the cafeteria and turned a left, almost sprinting through the corridors as her quest continued. The bell was going to ring soon and she frowned, impatiently tapping her fingers against her side. Maybe they were all late. Or maybe they just hadn’t thought of saying hi before going to class. Y/N winced a little at the idea. She stopped mid-step and looked down at the floor, her eyes vaguely stinging when her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the feeling of warm hands clapping on her shoulders. She whirled around and her lips curled into a large smile when her eyes rested on Scott and Kira.

“Scott!” she exclaimed, wrapping him in a tight hug he happily returned.

“I was beginning to think you were avoiding us,” he joked, holding her tightly before letting her go.

“Har-har,” she said, hugging Kira next.

“How was your trip to Boston! You guys have to tell me everything!” Y/N couldn’t help the high pitch of her voice, her excitement difficult to contain as she breathed in Kira’s familiar cherry perfume and Scott’s musky cologne.

“It was amazing. We spent the whole week sight-seeing and I even managed to convince someone to ice skate with me,” Scott replied cheekily, hooking his arm around Kira’s waist and she scoffed with a smile.

“Everything was going great right up until that moment,” she whined and Y/N couldn’t help but giggle. “Everyone knows I’m the clumsiest person on Earth.”

“If you want my opinion, I think he took you there to act like the perfect gentleman when you fell,” Y/N whispered conspiratorially in Kira’s ear.

“I heard that.”

Kira grinned widely, her eyes fixated on her boyfriend’s goofy smile.

“It was definitely worth it then.”

The trio talked some more until the bell interrupted their conversation. Groans and whines echoed throughout the halls, clanging against the lockers as the students slowly started to shuffle into the classrooms.

“Ugh, already?”

“I’m gonna be honest, definitely have not missed this part.”

“Before you go, have you seen the others?” Y/N inquired, tightening her grip on her bag.

“No, not yet. I have class with Isaac and Stiles right now though.”

“Meet up for lunch at the cafeteria?” Kira asked with a soft smile.

“Yeah, definitely. See you then!”

Y/N waved goodbye to the couple and sighed softly. Seeing them had done her a world of good. She walked away from the lockers and into her classroom for math.

Words could not describe how badly she hated this class. Whether it was the teacher or the actual course in itself, Y/N couldn’t bear it. She had always been terrible at it. Abstract notions had always been excruciatingly difficult for her to grasp. They just didn’t make any sense to her, they never had. Even at her previous schools, math was the only class she constantly failed, no matter how much she studied and tried. Math wasn’t just something she disliked. It was something she feared - because it meant failure.

Y/N groaned in the palm of her hand as she scribbled the rapid-fire explanations her teacher was giving into her notebook, her thoughts desperately trying to catch up with his messy rambling. Her fingers curled around her pencil and she winced, a small wave of stress passing over her. Her foot tapped furiously against the floor, the blunt sound echoing in her ears, resonating as loudly as the lockers being slammed in the school halls. Y/N closed her eyes, inhaling as deeply as possible, hoping with every inch of her body that her spasms would cease soon. She focused all of her thoughts on calming down, breathing steadily, her eyes still shut tight.

She wondered why she was so easily affected by the stupidest things. Who freaks out over algebra?

The sound of her phone vibrating in her bag made her snap out of her funk, and she immediately reached for it, sending a glance at the teacher still busy lecturing about equations before checking the screen.

Stiles: where are you hiding?

Y/N’s lips instantly curled into a wide smile as she read the text, a wave of relief washing over her. He hadn’t forgotten about her.

Y/N: math class :(((

Y/N: where were u hiding?? couldn’t find u guys this morning

His reply was immediate, the phone vibrating in her hand almost as soon as she had sent her message.

Stiles: jeep trouble again

Y/N: do i need to get u a new roll of tape?

Stiles: do i sense mockery?

Y/N: ding ding ding

Stiles: oh i see how it is

Stiles: how’s math going

Y/N: it’s hell on earth lmao

Stiles: anything a genius like me could help you with

Y/N: genius huh?

Stiles: yea, i’ve got a certificate and everything

Y/N: u should get it framed

Stiles: oh i did, not to worry

Y/N: niiiice

Stiles: seriously though, if u ever need any math assistance

Stiles: i’m your guy

Y/N’s heart radiated warmth as his words engraved themselves in her mind. He truly was such a good friend, and it was a nice feeling knowing she could count on him to help her out with stuff like this. In the past, always being the new kid in school meant she rarely made meaningful relationships with people, so she wasn’t used to asking for help, especially not with something as basic as math.

Y/N: i might take you up on that

Shutting off her phone and slipping it back into her bag, Y/N straightened her shoulders and breathed slowly, embracing the feeling of air slowly filling her lungs. With a newfound confidence and motivation, she sat up straight and went back to taking notes.

🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙

At 1 pm, the bell rang, and Y/N grinned from ear to ear, thrilled about having lunch with the gang. It had been a while since the last lunchtime they’d all shared in the cafeteria, and she had missed them a lot. Packing up her things and exiting her history classroom, she held onto her bag and walked past the people casually chatting in the hall.

The cafeteria was filled with noise and chatter, the sound of loud reunions and fits of laughter exploding all over the room. People bustled round with their trays of food, jumping from one conversation to the next. Y/N’s eyes zoomed in on her friends’ table, the familiar faces sending a jolt of joy straight to her heart. She ran over to them and their faces lit up at the sight of her.

Allison jumped out of her seat, immediately throwing her arms around her friend, and Lydia quickly followed suit, smiling widely. Isaac then bumped her fist and she laughed as Lydia rolled her eyes. Finally, Y/N’s eyes rested on Stiles who had gotten up, patiently waiting for his turn to greet her. His eyes lit up when they met hers and he rushed forward to hug her. Though the moment ended fast, it was lovely to be reunited.

“I was beginning to think you were avoiding us,” he joked and she scoffed.

“Duh, I’ve been trying to get away for months.”

The group chatted about winter break and everyone’s holidays, exploding into fits of giggles and chuckles, occasionally teasing each other as anecdotes were spilled over the table. Everyone was there: Scott, Kira, Allison, Isaac, Lydia, and Stiles. And it felt good.

As lunch started to come to an end, the hands on the clock announcing the impending return to class, Y/N was laughing with Stiles, ranting about Han Solo’s character arc in Star Wars, when Lydia interrupted the conversation, eyes staring at something in the distance.

“Hey, Y/N?”

“Yeah?”

“Isn’t that the guy from Danny’s party?”

“What?” Y/N asked, turning her eyes to where Lydia was pointing. Her jaw dropped, completely dumbstruck.

Sitting just a few feet away from her table, surrounded by Beacon Hills High students, was the tall blond boy from the Halloween rave, the one who had so meticulously painted her body.

She gasped. It was really him.

“Who’s that?” asked Stiles, intently watching the chivelled blond shake his head with a laugh at one of his friends.

“Y/N’s blast from the past…”

The girl’s cheeks warmed up instantly as she remembered the rave, purple lights once again making an appearance in her mind. She still didn’t know who she had kissed that night, but she did know the boy she was busy ogling was really cute.

“His name is Jeremy, and don’t call him that, Ali,” she laughed, eyes still fixated on him.

Stiles raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything, taking a bite out of his sandwich.

One of the guys sitting across from Jeremy suddenly seemed to notice how curious the table adjacent them seemed to be at the sight of them. With a smirk, he pointed at Y/N and told his friend to look.

Jeremy turned around in the direction of his friend’s nonchalantly pointed finger, and his lips curled into a smile as his eyes met Y/N’s. He had recognised her.

Y/N felt herself shrink as he stood up, signalling to his friends he would just be gone for a minute, before walking over to the table. The pack grew silent as they all watched him, anxiously waiting for the scene to unravel.

“Hey, you’re the girl from Halloween, right?” His warm voice made her shiver as she gazed into his deep blue eyes, and she smiled shyly, tucking a strand of stray hair behind her ear.

“Yeah, you’re Jeremy,” she replied, flabbergasted.

“That’s me.”

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

He laughed, passing a hand through his hair, eyes never leaving hers.

“I-uh, I transferred over the winter break. My parents moved closer to here.”

Y/N nodded swiftly, taking in the information.

Jeremy, the boy from Halloween, the boy she’d spent hours thinking about after the party, was here, attending her school. What kind of trick was the universe playing on her now?

“By the way, hi, everyone, I’m Jeremy!” he exclaimed, suddenly realising he and Y/N weren’t alone.

“Hi, nice to meet you!”

“Yeah, welcome to Beacon Hills High,” Scott said, friendly as always, sending the blond a warm smile. He was immediately met with one in return.

“Thanks, man.”

Y/N couldn’t keep her eyes off of Jeremy, still not over the initial shock of finding out he was here.

“By the way, I still don’t know your name,” he laughed, sending her a look that made her heart melt right in her chest.

“Right, I’m Y/N.”

“Nice to officially meet you, Y/N. I missed you on the dance floor.”

Y/N’s heart stopped, his words echoing in her ears. So, he wasn’t the one she had danced with that night? Hundreds of thoughts clouded her mind. Who had she kissed if not him? Had it really been Stiles? Or had it been someone else entirely?

The entire pack stayed silent as they watched her watch Jeremy. The tension in the air was so tangible, you could cut it with a knife. Thankfully, the bell suddenly rang, snapping everyone out of the moment, the people surrounding them getting up and gathering their things to go back to class.

“We have to get to class, I’m sorry,” Y/N said, so nervous she could feel her heart beat out of her chest.

“-Yeah, so do I,” he said, anxiously shaking his head with a smile.

Y/N’s friends slowly got up from their seats, eyes still fixated on the pair of teenagers, intent on watching the whole scene. She smiled at him and pulled her bag over her shoulder, finally breaking their staring match.

“-Wait!” she heard him say, and she looked back at him, lips slightly parted in anticipation.

“Yeah?” she asked.

“Would you wanna hang out tonight? There’s a restaurant not far from here I really wanted to check out.”

“Are you asking me out to dinner?” she asked, practically wheezing as the reality of the situation settled in.

“Uh, yeah, I am. Is that okay?”

Y/N suddenly giggled, her smile widening slowly as her eyes twinkled with excitement.

“Yes, it’s okay.”

“So you’re down?”

“Yeah, that’d be great!”

He sighed with relief, before handing her his phone in order for her to type in her number. The pack stayed completely silent as the other students shuffled out of the cafeteria.

“Here you go,” Y/N said before handing the phone back to him.

“Thanks. I’ll text you the details after school, okay?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Great. Anyway, I should get to class. It was nice meeting you all!” Jeremy said as he started to walk away, sending Y/N a small wave along with a grin, one she happily returned before letting out a sigh.

“Y/N, what was that?” exclaimed Allison, jumping up and down with a shriek once Jeremy had left.

Y/N couldn’t believe what had just transpired. She had just been asked out. On a date. By Jeremy.

“I don’t know, but apparently, I’m going out tonight,” she replied, giddy with excitement.

“Congrats!” Scott said warmly.

“I expect a full report when you get home. And he better behave like a gentleman or he’ll have us to deal with,” Lydia added, tone dead serious.

“Absolutely,” Isaac agreed.

“You guys are dorks. But thank you, I’m excited!” she said.

As the group started to leave the table, Y/N looked around, trying to find her best friend and her eyes landed on Stiles’ back, the spiky-haired teenager swiftly walking out of the cafeteria.

“What’s that about?” she thought to herself before grabbing the last of her things and leaving as well.

🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙

Hours later, Y/N stood in her bedroom, the sun outside setting slowly. She stood in front of her full-length mirror, eyeing her outfit. She had chosen to wear a v-neck dark red sweater and black skinny jeans along with her favourite pair of black boots. Her look was okay, but she couldn’t figure out how to wear her hair.

Wrapping the long strands around her hand, she thought to herself, biting her lip with uncertainty.

“Updo or no?” she asked herself, tilting her head to the side to get a better look.

Y/N was so confused and anxious. Seeing Jeremy in school had answered one of her questions, but now she had so many more. Plus, she had never been on a date before. No one had ever taken an interest in her like Jeremy seemed to. In fact, it baffled her how this fun, friendly, and albeit seductive guy could even look twice at a girl like her.

“Half-bun it is.”

As she pulled her hair back and made her bun, she watched herself, thoughts still running wild with every passing second.

“What do people even talk about on dates? What if it gets awkward?”

She unfortunately had no answers for those questions, though she did know someone who definitely would.

Rushing over to her messy desk, she shoved piles of books and stray sheets of paper out of the way, scrambling to find her cellphone. She grabbed it as soon as she found it, hurriedly dialing Lydia’s number. A couple rings later, her friend’s voice echoed through the speaker.

“Y/N?”

“Hi! Lyds, are you busy right now?”

“Not at the moment, no. Why, what’s going on?” Lydia replied, confused.

“You’re kind of the relationship expert of the group, right?”

“Obviously, continue.”

“Well, Jeremy’s picking me up in like 10 minutes and I’m freaking out. I’m really nervous!” Y/N exclaimed in her phone.

“Don’t be. Just enjoy the ride,” Lydia said, the words rolling off her tongue so nonchalantly Y/N could almost laugh.

“It’s not that easy. What do I say? What if I get something stuck in my teeth?”

“Y/N, he asked you out. That means he likes you. So just talk to him like you did at Danny’s party and everything will be fine. Besides, he’s probably just as nervous as you are.”

“I highly doubt that.”

“Are you more anxious than excited?”

Y/N paused, thinking deeply. Was she excited? Earlier that day, she had felt weak in the knees at the idea of going out with Jeremy. But right then, all she could feel was her heart beating abnormally fast. She was scared, scared he’d be put off by her, scared he’d want her to do something she wasn’t necessarily prepared to do. And something else was bothering her, but she couldn’t quite pinpoint it.

“I’m excited,” she finally answered, brow furrowed as she stared straight at her reflection in the mirror.

“Okay. Then go kick some ass. And by kick some ass, I mean be charming and blow his mind.”

“Thanks, Lyds. I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.”

“I don’t expect any less,” the strawberry blonde quipped and Y/N snorted.

She hung up and walked over to her dresser, placing various rings on her fingers, eyes just staring into the void. It was an odd feeling, getting ready for a date she was apprehending so much. Something just didn’t sit right with her, but she just couldn’t figure out exactly what it was.

As she passed her earrings through her lobes, she thought back on her lunch break from earlier that day and a pang of guilt suddenly hit her in the gut as she remembered Stiles walking out of the cafeteria, alone and not bothering to signal his departure. It had confused her, how he had just left without saying a word, especially after they’d had such a fun conversation all through the break.

Shaking the disruptive thoughts from her mind, she finally grabbed a small bag filled to the brim with her wallet, phone, keys, and makeup in case of an emergency touch-up.

The sound of her phone buzzing sent her heart into a frenzy and she read the words carefully, slowly breathing in and out to calm herself.

Jeremy: hey, i’m in front of your place :)

Y/N took one last look at herself in the mirror, admiring the dark shade of red lipstick she’d carefully applied to her lips, before nodding with resolve and leaving her room.

Sure enough, there he was, sitting in the driver’s seat of his grey Prius, and his eyes lit up when they met hers, a warm and inviting smile drawing on his face.

Y/N smiled back at him, ignoring the slight throb of her heart as she walked closer to the car, making her way around. Much to her surprise, he immediately jumped out of the car, stumbling over to the other side of the vehicle in order to open the door for her.

“Hi,” he said sweetly, eyes not leaving hers.

“Hey, thanks for picking me up,” she murmured, cheeks turning to a deep crimson.

“My pleasure. You look really beautiful,” he said and Y/N suddenly felt strange, a distant sense of uncertainty filling her mind.

“What’s wrong with you? He’s being really sweet.” She thought to herself.

She smiled through it, trying desperately not to show how scared she felt before slipping inside the car and into the passenger's seat. He soon joined her side at the wheel and turned on the ignition, pulling onto the road and driving away from her dimly-lit house. The sun had almost disappeared beneath the horizon, leaving the sky a deep blue. Y/N gazed at it, embracing the peace that came with admiring the first visible stars of the evening. She took a mental note, memorising the view for later. She couldn’t wait to paint this.

“So, did you have a nice day?” She heard Jeremy say, and her head snapped in his direction.

“Yeah, it was great seeing my friends. What about you, how was your first day?”

Jeremy laughed, eyes fixated on the road.

“It went pretty well. I already knew a couple guys from Beacon Hills so I hung out with their group. I gotta say your school’s bigger than my old one,” he answered with a warm chuckle.

“I’m actually new- I mean new is a relative term cause I’ve been going there since September.”

“Oh really? You don’t seem new.”

“What do you mean?” Y/N asked, a confused but playful grin on her lips.

“I don’t know, you just seem like you’re exactly where you’re meant to be, like you’ve got it all figured out.”

Y/N laughed, unsure of how to answer. She had never been told she seemed confident, so this was quite a foreign concept to her.

“Thanks? I guess,” she said in between soft giggles.

“You’re welcome, I guess,” the boy next to her replied, flashing her a wide grin.

Not too long after having picked her up, Jeremy pulled into a small parking lot next to the restaurant he had picked out for them, cutting off the engine with a twist of his car keys. 

“I hope you like Italian cause this place serves the best pasta in Beacon Hills.”

“Wow, the highest of praise!”

The teenagers walked into the little bistrot, and a waiter soon sat them down at a small round table by the front door. The room was dimly lit, though a rather large candle stood on the shelf behind Jeremy, illuminating the corner in which he and Y/N were seated. The sound of chatter and chaos in the kitchen filled the restaurant along with the divine smell of tomato sauce and smoked meat.

The pair carefully read the menu and ordered two bowls of pasta carbonara along with bruschetta and a bottle of water. As soon as the waiter had gone, Jeremy started up a new conversation.

“Wanna play a game?”

“Sure, what’s the game?” Y/N asked, unbelievably nervous on the inside but curious.

“It’s called 21 questions. We each ask each other 1 question after the other, you know, to get to know each other.”

“And let me guess, we stop at the 21st question?”

“Wow, you’re catching on real fast,” Jeremy joked.

“Yeah, well, I’m really smart so…”

“Okay, first question. How old are you?”

“17, how old are you?”

“I’m actually 24.”

“You’re what?” Y/N exclaimed, earning herself a couple of narrow side-eyes.

Jeremy snorted which sent Y/N into a fit of giggles.

“I’m just messing you, oh my god!”

“It’s not my fault if I was fooled by your terrific acting skills,” she replied, still laughing.

“My deepest apologies. My turn again. What’s your favourite color?” he asked.

“The color of my sweater.”

“It’s a really nice sweater.”

Y/N felt her cheeks fill with red at his remark, and she smiled shyly before clearing her throat.

“Would you say you’re a good student?”

“I’d say I’m not a bad one. Do you have any hobbies?”

“I love to paint. I actually picked it up again this year.”

“That’s really cool. What do you usually paint?”

“Nuh-uh, it’s my turn to ask a question!”

Jeremy laughed, throwing his head back.

“My bad.”

“What’s your favourite band?”

“I’m not really into bands, I like Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Rocky, stuff like that.”

“Oh okay. I don’t really listen to them. I mostly listen to rock music, so like Nirvana, Led Zeppelin.”

The food finally arrived, and the pair dug in, the delicious pasta invading Y/N’s senses with every bite.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding. Best pasta in Beacon Hills.”

“Right? It’s so good.”

Y/N almost moaned as she took another forkful of spaghetti and Jeremy stifled a chuckle.

“I see you’re really enjoying it.”

“It’s your fault for bringing me to such a nice restaurant,” she teased.

“That reminds me. Next question. Favourite season?”

“Summer! Favourite Star Wars movie?”

“Easy, none of them.”

“I’m sorry what?” Y/N almost choked on her food, sending him a wild look. “You don’t like Star Wars?”

“Uh-oh, did I poke the dragon?”

“How can you not like Star Wars?” she exclaimed, flabbergasted. “It’s iconic!”

“I don’t know, it’s just kind of repetitive. And also it doesn’t make any sense. Like, how is it that they all just perfectly understand the big bear when he makes those sounds.”

“It’s his language! And how dare you, they are not repetitive,” she half-whispered, trying to calm down before anyone could ask her to quiet down.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. I take it all back!”

“Thank you!”

The pair laughed and kept playing their game of 21 questions until they finished their dinner, happy, full, and content. The food had been delicious, and Y/N was actually having a very nice time, though still, a strange feeling loomed in the back of her mind, preventing her from completely enjoying the moment.

However, he was a very nice guy, he even offered to pay for dinner, telling her he had it covered. He was sweet and he seemed genuinely interested in everything she had told him that evening. So she tried to ignore her doubts, laughing at Jeremy’s jokes and smiling sweetly.

When the evening came to an end, Jeremy and her walked back to the car and headed straight to her house. The moment where they’d part was impending, Y/N couldn’t help but think about what was going to happen next. Was he going to try to kiss her? Was he expecting more? She felt her heart beat faster with every mile travelled, and she bit her lip in anticipation.

After what seemed like an eternity, the car finally came to a stop in front of Y/N’s house. All the lights seemed to be turned off, meaning her parents were probably asleep. She let out a shaky breath, placing her hand on the handle of the car door.

“Let me walk you back,” Jeremy said, shuffling out of the car. She appreciated the gesture, though she felt more and nervous by the second.

The walk up to her front porch was silent, the only sound perceivable being the chirping of small crickets gently making music with their wings.

Y/N stopped as she got to her front door, and she sighed softly.

“Well, this is me. Thank you for tonight. I had a great time,” she said.

Jeremy’s eyes bore straight into hers and he smiled.

“I’m glad you had fun. By the way, I still have one question left?”

“You do?” Y/N felt herself shrink as he took a step closer to her, his piercing blue eyes still looking deep into hers, her heart thundering in her chest.

“Yeah. Can I kiss you?” he asked gently, and Y/N paused, mind going blank.

She had known this moment would come eventually, but actually hearing the words slip from his lips made her freeze in place. Did she want him to kiss her? He had been extremely sweet and gentlemanly. He was nice and quite fun, and he even seemed to like her, unlike most of the guys she’d had her sights on in the past. But something just didn’t seem right. And much to Y/N’s dismay, she still couldn’t understand what that something was.

All she knew was that she couldn’t lead him on. He didn’t deserve that. This wasn’t amor.

Taking in a deep breath, she shook her head softly, looking him straight in the eyes.

“I’m really sorry, I don’t know why-”

“-But you don’t want to.”

“I’m sorry,” she repeated gently, concern clouding her features.

Jeremy’s smile slipped but he sent her a warm look despite his obvious disappointment.

“Is it because I don’t like Star Wars?” he teased and Y/N couldn’t help but laugh, a small wave of relief washing over her. Even after being turned down, he was nice to her. She truly didn’t deserve him.

“No! I know it’s super cliché to say but honestly, it’s not you. It’s just-” she paused, coming to terms with the fact that there was no reason for her hesitance other than a feeling.

It was so ridiculous of her.

“-I just can’t,” she finally breathed and Jeremy nodded.

“It’s really okay. Friends?” he asked, a hint of hope in his voice as he put out his hand.

Y/N shook it warmly and beamed at him, relieved that he still wanted to stay in touch.

“Definitely. I’ll see you at school?”

“Yeah, see ya!” he said before winking at her and walking back to his car.

Y/N watched the car drive off and she sighed. It had been an eventful night but a good one, and she truly was happy they could stay friends. Unlocking her front door and sending Allison and Lydia a brief text to say she was home, she walked into her bedroom and closed the curtains above her bed.

She plugged in her phone and shut it off, before slipping out of her clothes and into her pyjamas. After brushing her teeth, she climbed into bed and turned off her bedroom lights, though it took her a while to fall asleep. She couldn’t help but think about the events of the day.

Stiles walking away without saying a word really had struck a chord with her, especially since they hadn’t talked since then. She replayed the scene over and over in her head, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for why he had done that.

Perhaps the most obvious one should have come to mind immediately, but she didn’t dare think of it, pushing it as far away from her mind as possible. He had most probably realised he was late for class, or he’d forgotten something in his locker. Maybe. Whatever it was, Y/N felt her eyes grow heavy, and eventually, she fell asleep.

🌙🌙🌙🌙🌙

The next day, Y/N walked to school, fresh air invading her lungs with every inhalation. She couldn’t wait to see her friends so she could explain what had happened the night before. Even though she hadn’t kissed Jeremy, she still had a lot to tell Allison and Lydia.

She walked into school and headed to her locker, putting in her combination before taking out the books she needed for class, when a sudden clang erupted next to her. She jumped with a gasp and whirled round, her wide eyes landing on Allison.

“Y/N! You’re not gonna believe this!” The brunette exclaimed.

“Dude, you almost gave me a heart-attack! What’s going on?” Y/N asked with a laugh.

“It’s Stiles,” Allison said, voice so serious Y/N started to feel anxious, worried something might’ve happened to him.

“What, what is it?” she pressed, eyes wide.

“He broke up with Malia.”

A/N: thank you for reading! i hope you enjoyed it! if you liked it, please please please reblog this, it would mean the world to me. it really helps us writers out and i work super hard on this series which unfortunately is flopping lol, so if u like it - reblog <3 thank you guys

if you would like to be added to this series’ taglist, please send me an ask :)

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[cmescapade]

my long overview/review of ‘Star Wars: Journey to Batuu’ after forcing myself to play it almost nonstop

so i said i was going to amend what i said in response to this ask after playing to min/max shit so here is a tldr version of my opinion after playing:

I consider this pack to be a 2/10; It's enough to kill time as a temporary distraction, but not for long. There’s absolutely no replay value after going through all those missions as each outcome is ultimately the same by faction. There also doesn’t seem to be any negative outcomes for each prompt in the little “choose your adventure” pop ups--And if there is, it is extremely low since I have never gotten a negative outcome. 

The aspirations are fair, and are the only things I found in this pack that’s anyway redeemable since I believe the rewards can be used well in conjunction with general solo/super-sim gameplay.

kinda sat on this for a while bc i wasn’t sure if i should post something so lengthy but then i remembered this is my blog n i can post my left toe if i wanted to

even tho i would never post a pic of my left toe anyway

.......at least for free. With the right price, however....

anyway more details under the cut if you’re interested bc i like to ramble :))

I decided to split this into 5 sections to organize my thoughts a little better. I’ll be separating my thoughts on each faction, the ships as a rabbit hole, the faction missions, the star wars aspirations, and then the breakdown of my 2/10 rating. 

1. Factions

When you travel to Batuu, the game gives you a starting “mission” or quest to get you acclimated to the areas, and each area has a specific Faction associated with it.

And yes, you cannot live anywhere, nor are there any lots, as was already stated.

Every area has a similar makeup which has:

Control Panels

Supply Crates

1 non-rabbit hole area

1 interactable ship

The Black Spire Outpost is the biggest area and has:

Two places to grab food, three if you count the Cantina

Aside from the Cantina, the other areas are rabbit holes

The two eateries are:

Docking Bay 7

this one has the most food options

you’ll never go hungry in batuu because the cheapest items on the menu are Outpost Popcorn Mix and Water at 0 credits lmao

the other two foods not shown in the screenshot above are Yobshrimp Noodle Salad and Braised Shaak Roast

Ronto Roasters

This food place has two of the same options Docking Bay 7 has as well as two additional food items

Oga’s Cantina

The only area that you see the inside of

yea the bar serves batuu-only drinks too

also where you find the guy who would give you Scoundrel missions, Hondo Ohnaka.

You can essentially max your Scoundrel reputation without it hindering whichever side you wanna take, and you can keep it when you essentially max out your rep on either the Resistance or the First Order.

There aren’t any real pros to being a Scoundrel aside from some socialization interactions. It doesn’t do anything for initial Batuu gameplay aside from unlocking Scoundrel outfits in CAS and some upgrades for your droids, but this goes for all of your options (Resistance, First Order, & Scoundrel).

The Dwelling

This is a rabbit hole where your sim goes to sleep, pee, or shower… If not the closest bench. 

It’s located opposite to the Cantina. 

If you’re ever lost, there’s a spire you can sit/nap on right in front of it–or you can just wait till your sim wants to pee. 

they’ll automatically run there 

that’s… how i found it, tbh

Dok Ondar’s Den of Antiquities

Another rabbithole

This place sells items you can use to complete missions, like Dataspikes and a couple of Lightsaber parts

Majority of the inventory are decorative stuff to bring back with you

Savi’s Workshop

Right behind the antique shop is the lightsaber place where you can find more hilts, kyber crystals, and display cases for your lightsabers.

You can also click on the shop to start a lightsaber challenge.

Outside this area, you have the First Order District which has more supply crates and control panels than the other two neighborhoods, and a lot more activity–Makes sense since this is basically the hub for the First Order in general. 

There’s only the Droid Depot in this area, and the only real shop that has use for credits. Food wise, there’s a food stall, and if your sim is stinky or tired, they’d basically disappear for a few minutes to recharge and come back. 

Droid Depot

Each faction has specific Droid personality traits

Aside from “voices,” these personalities don’t do much

I guess the First Order one is a lot more zap-happy though

The Resistance Camp is even smaller. Like the other areas, it’s littered with supply crates, but only has one control panel and no shops. However, there’s a rabbit hole toward the back in the Caves.

This doesn’t lead you to anywhere interesting, and it’s just another ‘choose your own adventure’ kind of thing. 

2. Ships

In the Black Spire Outpost, you’ll find the iconic Millennium Falcon. You can do kessel runs and explore in the Millennium Falcon with Chewbacca if you have a high Scoundrel reputation. 

However, although I said you get to ride with Chewbacca, you don’t ever see him come out 

He just kinda……………..stays there

and the prompts tell u he’s there

n ur gonna have to go with it and use the power of your imagination to believe he really do be there

In the First Order District, there’s the TIE Echelon, which functions the same way as the Millennium Falcon… But, you can’t do anything outside of exploring or using it for missions. This is how the X-Wing Starfighter in the Resistance Camp functions as well. 

It’s all pretty copy and paste, but w/e, that’s how EA does it  

 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

3. Missions

There may be several different missions per faction, but to no one’s surprise, they’re all literally the same one but worded differently.

Regular missions only have one plus (+) and one negative (-) icon

Regular Scoundrel missions only have one plus icon and no negatives since they don’t impact other factions

Each faction has a regular mission that pertains to:

Obtaining information

Exploring with the faction’s designated ship

Stealing from Supply Crates

Hacking a Control Panel

Yes………………….They’re very repetitive

You don’t have to do all of them though

You can spam the same one over and over as long as it fits the time slot

For example, the Resistance’s ship exploration mission is limited to only the day time and seems to disappear when it gets late in game

also there’s an error with the TIE Echelon where it’s missing a whole ass prompt

……As you can see, the options make no sense because the prompt is the same one that came before it 🥴

anyway…

Story Missions are the only missions that seem to differentiate from each faction.

All missions that pertain to the “story” are indicated with prerequisites of higher ranks within the faction

All of them give a double boost toward your faction

If it’s a Resistance story quest, it’ll always increase hostility from First Order members

Vice versa for the First Order faction

The Scoundrels are neutral, and do not impact any faction 

It’s only the Resistance and First Order factions that have very similar plot lines

but I’m guessing it’s only like that since they’re supposed to follow the vague cause/effect the two of them have?

4. Aspirations

The initial Aspiration you get when you pick the Star Wars umbrella in CAS (or in game) is “Hope VS Order.” After completing this one aspiration, you unlock the 3 that pertain to each faction.

Paragon of Hope

Resistance aspiration

Reward trait gives a boost to Charisma skill building

This is probably nice for those careers that need Charisma to be high, like the Political and Business branches

Enforcer of Order

First Order aspiration

Lowers chances of “Death from Anger”

Since I like killing my sims, I think this aspiration is pointless lmao

Galactic Privateer

Scoundrel aspiration

“Sleight of Hand” reward trait

Unlocks pickpocketing outside of Criminal branch usage

Best one here tbh

Works outside of Batuu, you’ll steal simoleons instead of credits

Also you can cheat whenever u play Sabaac and no one will notice

5. Reevaluation of Initial Opinions

I’ll be going through my initial list from my Response to the Ask I got before. I originally stated that it seemed promising and it was a 3.5~4/10.

Aesthetics/Visual: my opinion is unchanged, it still made me sad i can’t have a little shanty house out there or rent a garbo lot, 0.5/5

The longer I played, the more I didn’t find any new animations

The lightsaber sparring slowly began to look like a mash between GF and RoM duels after a while

I still hate that the areas were beautiful (+0.5) but the interactive places forced cutaway

why do you wanna ruin my screenshots like this, man

CAS/BB still is hard to integrate–Unless your sim is a geek with figurines, the ship models might be nice to add to their collections

Otherwise……

….

I don’t have a follow up for that, sry

Gameplay: uhhh at least i found something i could use outside of Batuu, 1.5/5

I think that playing 3984729847 repetitive missions for a long period time really orientated me to the whole map

…but the fact that i had trouble the first time around still makes it not-user friendly

the issue I had with the resistance members not having an icon? It’s a thing, I guess

The resistance quests take you on a weird trip to “prove” yourself so i guess the icons are supposed to show that they’re “not” resistance members or something idk

they’re supposed to be the sneaky underdogs who wanna do good or w/e

I guess that’s immersive…….. +0.5

sry im first order trash

they also have “Ignite the Spark” and “Ask about Missions” both leading to the same mission screen……………….

convenience?? i guess??

missions are still confusing, made worse when the game itself glitches up a storm

there was one mission where i had to go to the cantina to find someone

and they wouldn’t spawn within the time frame………….

i had to go in and out for like 3 days until they actually spawned

i only knew this bc i arrested half the people in the cantina while i was bored

so anyone without a red bar was probably them lmfaoo

also, as i stated above……. there’s some mission errors in the prompts 

Currency is still worthless.

Everything can be done by purely stealing from supply crates

Credits are only worth to blow it off on sabaac! 

The only real need for credits is to have 1,000 so u can buy a droid

Then slam the rest of those credits on the table to bet bajillions on a game of sabaac!

Aspirations………. Useful +1

Despite them being sorta niche, they’re pretty decent

Can abuse the rewards for optimal gameplay for a super sim

Honestly i just love the pickpocketing reward off the Scoundrel aspiration, just because it works outside of Batuu (and that he didn’t have to be in the Criminal career for it either)

In total, my personal rating for this pack is 2/10.

It was nice, but I don’t really see this pack being replayable, considering that i did everything there was to do on Batuu in a single trip. Sure I could’ve taken my time, but since everything would end up the same anyway, it felt like it was set up to be a one-time gig. 

At least with JA you’re moderately forced to return so you can collect treasures that are RNG–In JtB, you can snatch up all that you need on Batuu from grinding everything like a nutcase. There’s also chances of failure in JA, but on Batuu that percentage is almost little to none. The most you’ll ever get is a dazed moodlet that barely lasts, a negative relationship, and being escorted to a loading screen.  

I feel like this pack could be a little better if there were more risks involved, but there are barely any that I encountered. It’s just another weird, rehashed cash grab by EA.

[collecting-stories]

Velvet Elvis - Dean Winchester

A/N: Trying my hand at some Supernatural💕

Soft to the touch, feels like love, knew it as soon as I felt it. - Velvet Elvis, Kacey Musgraves

\\\

He said it enough times that it should’ve been true. And maybe he could fool other people into thinking that it was. Thinking that this wasn’t the kind of life that he wanted to live. That getting a case was arguably the best moment of his day. He couldn’t do ‘days off’ and he got antsy sitting around and there were only so many times he could take Baby apart and put her back together. He’d tried the so-called ‘apple pie life’ with Lisa and Ben and it was alright and he was kind of happy but he always felt like there was something missing. Always looking over his shoulder waiting for the other shoe to drop. He kind of hoped that it would.  

But he talked about his dream life all the time, just to convince himself that he didn’t want to die alone hunting some monster or demon. That he wanted kids, a family, all the stuff you were supposed to have. The kind of relationship his parents had, or didn’t get the chance to really have. He told himself he wanted that. And there were parts that were true. He wanted the companionship, someone that wasn’t just Sam. Someone who loved him the way his mom loved his dad. Someone he could come home to. And kids, he wasn’t sure what kind of a parent he would be but he wanted the chance to find out. But the other stuff he didn’t care about. The house with the white picket fence and the steady 9-5 and the typical happy suburban family. None of that actually mattered. But he was convinced it mattered to other people.  

“You think we’ll ever have that?” Sam had asked, sitting in the war room after a particularly nasty hunt. They’d leaned on an old friend for help, one who was retired now, with all those things that Sam and Dean constantly talked about wanting and it had gotten them both thinking.  

As the newest edition in their never-ending quest you were mortally aware of the invisible but still painfully obvious wall between you and them. You were just research, a helping hand around the bunker to pay off a favor you couldn’t remember owing. And they were alright and Sam was always trying to include you in their ‘woe is me’ discussions but you usually just ignored them. Tonight was no different, Sam posed the question to the room but really the question was for his brother.  

You looked up from the book you were reading and over to Dean. He was stretched out, with his feet propped on the edge of the table and a beer in his hand, trying to look more relaxed than he felt. Sam was nice to you but Dean was nice to look at. The flirtatious comments were shallow and any conversation was kept above a certain level of seriousness. Dean was quite ready to let himself be friends with you. And you’d heard rumours from other hunters about the Winchester’s. Hanging with them was like signing your own death certificate. The people closest to them always bit the bullet and they never looked out for anyone but themselves.  

You figured that’s what it was. That was the invisible wall you couldn’t quite scale. Dean thought, or knew, you would die just like Kevin and everyone else and he was avoiding the loss by not getting close to begin with. Or he just didn’t like you. Which you would rather not consider.  

“Maybe, someday.” Dean finally replied, feet landing on the ground, “who knows though, we’re not getting younger.”  

“What do you think?” Sam looked over and it took a moment to realize he was addressing you.  

“Me?” You asked, just to be sure.  

“No one else in here sweetheart,” Dean cut in.  

Raised in the life, with only an ounce more stability than they had, your own father was never looking for anything in particular. And your mom wasn’t dead. She was somewhere, probably a beach, but not dead. You liked the road and the living in different places and the learning about monsters. You never had any illusions about this life, never even considered getting out of it.  

“I don’t know,” you shrugged, you didn’t talk much to them about your own life. You weren’t interested in manoeuvring around their preconceived ideas about this life and the one they said they wanted. Hunters didn’t always make the best companions and explaining hunting to non-hunters usually sent them running so it had been a while since you’d bothered with any real relationship. The most interaction you had with others since your dad died was these two and Castiel on occasion. That was really the only thing holding you back from the parts of normalcy that you were truly interested in.  

“Yeah me either.” Sam mused.  

Dean was staring at you as you resumed reading, jotting down notes every couple of paragraphs. You had expressed interest in a ‘more concise and chronological’ history of the Men of Letters and their legacy and Sam had been more than willing to allow you the opportunity to go through the records. You’d been pouring yourself into it for a couple of months now and playing research point for them whenever they were away on a case. Both of them liked having you around the bunker and while Sam had an easier time of it Dean wasn’t adverse to getting to know you. He just didn’t know where to start. It was easy with Charlie, there was no attraction there so she just became another ‘one of the guys’ in his brain but he had trouble separating you into that category.  

He wasn’t sure there was any attraction on your side, you didn’t seem remotely interested in either of them, but he was most definitely attracted to you. He’d tried all his usual lines and none of them seemed to even register with you. Sam has suggested the obvious route, just talking to you and letting things work out on their own but Dean was more results oriented. He wanted things to happen immediately so he could gauge the outcome better. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to put in the work but he was reluctant to when he suspected there might be no positive result.  

“I’m heading to bed,” Sam announced, setting his beer on the table as he stood up, “I wanna run into town tomorrow morning.”  

That left you and Dean. He was still leaning back in his chair, his eyes straying to you once more. Fully engrossed in your book, there was something unexplainably calming about you like this. Sometimes when you were in the library or the war room working Dean would just sit there, fully relaxed by your presence. His favorite was when you called him over in passing. He’d be on the way to the kitchen or his room and you’d lean back in your chair, spitting him and smiling and you’d wave him over with an excited ‘listen to this’.  

“How’s it coming along?” He asked, testing out the room now that Sam was gone.  

“There’s just so much information, it’s fascinating though.” You replied, “if this is all I do for the rest of my life I’ll be happy.”  

“So that’s a no to the white picket fence then?” He laughed, tipping back his beer and taking a sip. He had his suspicions that you were just like him, disinterested in retirement and settling down and working regular jobs.  

“I guess so,” you shrugged, an uneasy laugh escaping.  

The two of you never had this kind of conversation.  

“I don’t think I’d want it either,” Dean finally said. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot and I just, I think I’d get bored.”  

“It’s not for everyone, but everyone says that it should be.” You replied, “I think I want parts of it ya know, the partner, maybe a kid or two.”  

“A nice even number.” Dean joked.  

“But I mean, I don’t need the house and all the hubbub. Not that I’ll live here forever but this is just as nice as any house to raise a kid in. Don’t you think?”  

“Yea,” Dean looked over at you as you focused on your book once more, jotting down a note and marking the page with a tab. “You could stay here.” He said offhandedly before his brain could catch up with his mouth.  

“I can stay?”  You asked, smiling at him, your tone playful.  

He smiled back at you, taking another sip of his beer as he watched you. He could laugh and play it all off as some half-way to drunk joke or he could be more than honest with you. Tell you he really was starting to care about you, far more than he had shown you in the couple of months that you had been living with them. Or he could kick back and let things happen the way they would, following fate or something like that. “I wouldn’t hate it.” Dean finally said.  

-

Here’s me indulging in how much I love Dean. 

[jflashandclash]

Tales From Mount Othrys

Axel: Say “No” to Cruise Ships II

           “Everyone has to do something to prove their commitment to the cause,” Chris Rodriguez said. His Spanish accent was raspy, almost nasally, pronouncing every “s” like mispronunciation meant a whipping. Axel guessed his family was from Northern Mexico. The neutrality of Chris’ English made Axel also guess that Chris had lived in the States for most of his life.

         Axel was relieved that Chris didn’t ask about his or Ajax’s accent.

Chris towered over Ajax and was about level with Axel’s height. His dark eyes looked nervous. Sweat shined his brow in the backstage’s dim lighting. His hands shook as he sorted through a weapons rack.

         The roar of a distant crowd made Chris flinch.

This was their “techie.” Other monsters and humans that they had passed referred to Chris as the “backstage guard.”

         Axel wasn’t sure exactly what Chris’ job description was, but one thing was clear: Chris wanted to be here as little as the Pax brothers.

         They had passed too many people and were too deep in the ship to make a successful break. From what Axel could tell, this backstage was for one of the ship’s biggest stages. The audience’s engaged screams made it sound like there were at least a hundred people—creatures?—out there.

         “It used to be easier. I got grandfathered in back when all you needed to do was recruit another person,” as Chris spoke, he sifted through a pile of miscellaneous armor. Most of it looked like something from Ancient Europe—like from that Xena show. “Then, they would send new campers on quests, but most of the quests available now are on permanent hard mode and they can’t afford to send newbies out.”

         Axel turned down a bronze breastplate that Chris tried to hand him and opted for a leather one. The armor and weapons weren’t props. A sickening twist in Axel’s stomach hinted at what was about to happen.

         “I didn’t realize we had to prove ourselves to be safe here,” Ajax said, his voice trembling. When Axel refused to take Ajax’s hand during the walk with Morpheus, Ajax had hugged himself.  He perked up upon seeing the backstage, somewhere that felt familiar to both of them.

         Axel had to remind himself this wasn’t going to be a fun experience. There were so many happy memories associated with the stage. Normally, the giddiness of being backstage would make Axel squirm with anticipation. He remembered how Uncle Frasco would poke Axel to mess up whatever paint or costume he wore while Nilley, his mother, tried to fix them. She would shot Frasco death glares and he’d wink at her. The nostalgia made Axel’s nausea worse.

Those days were gone, forever.

         “Safe…” Chris echoed Ajax’s word. “Yea. Well, you came in just in time for the new experiment: fighting.”

         Ajax puffed up his cheeks and popped them.

         Axel resisted the urge to do the same. The entire Pax family tended to do that when nervous.

         This could be good news. Their dad had been forcing them to train for the last few months. Axel and his little sister, Lapis, had particularly excelled. “What kind of fighting?” he asked. Axel picked up a sword, testing its balance.

         His father didn’t like swords. It made Axel like them even more and think of them as a hero’s weapon.

         “Uh, to the death,” Chris said.

         Axel knew it was coming, but he still puffed up his cheeks and popped them at the same time as Ajax.

         His little brother’s breath became tight. “Mom didn’t mention that,” he squeaked.

         “They just implemented it. This is kind of an experimental round to see what kind of ratings it gets,” Chris explained. He handed Ajax a javelin that was several feet taller than him.

         Axel did not like the word “ratings.”

         Chris paused, frowning. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Had you come in earlier, it might not have been so bad. Just a centaur or something. But…” He swallowed. “You might want to say your goodbyes now. You’re going to die.”

         The regret on Chris’ face told Axel something very useful. There was some hope. Chris didn’t want to be here. He didn’t want Axel and Ajax to die. Maybe, Chris could help them get out.

         “And if we refuse to get on the stage?” Axel asked. He pulled his shoulders back to stand as tall as he could.

         “Then I will eat you.”

         Axel would never admit that he jumped, but the bear man startled him. Agrius stepped out from the stage’s back entrance, where Morpheus had left them with Chris and where Chris confiscated Axel’s gun.

“You’re either with the cause, or you’re monster feed.” Agrius seemed to be reconsidering his opinions on jalapeños. There was a line of drool sliding out of his snout.

         “How generous,” Axel said, trying to keep his expression neutral. His little brother might get hysterical if he thought Axel was afraid.

         Chris took a step away from Agrius, eyeing him. When his gaze returned to Axel, he shrugged apologetically. “Normally, it isn’t this bad. You just got really unlucky. Like, mother-load unlucky. We were running out of expendable monsters to throw at this guy.”

         Someone poked their head around a burgundy curtain hanging against the wall. Even in the dim, backstage lighting, Axel could tell the older boy had brilliant red hair that dangled a little too long against the boy’s long, pale nose and freckles. He flashed them a charming smile. From the dart of his eyes and the quiver of his hand on the curtain, he looked nervous.

         “Are you up next?” the boy asked.

         Chris answered for them. “Yea, they’re up next—”

         “No,” Axel cut him off. He hefted up his sword, hoping the stage props he’d handled in the past would give him some familiarity with the real thing. “Ajax stays here. I’m going out on my own.”

         “Uh…” Chris said skeptically.

         At the same time, the redhead hopped once. “Oh! You must be good. What’s your name?”

         Axel glanced down to where Ajax had burrowed against Axel’s back again. His little brother peeked curiously around to see the newcomer.

Agrius stepped uncomfortably close, licking the drool off his teeth.

         Axel didn’t know if he was or wasn’t good. All he knew was that he had to be good to get Ajax out of here. There wasn’t an option. “Axel. Axel Pax,” he said, puffing up his chest to look confident.

         “No, like, your stage name,” the boy said.

         Ajax leaned further around Axel’s elbow to ask, “What’s the scariest and biggest cat they have in Greece?”

         The redhead, Chris, and Agrius all glanced at each other.

         “Uh, a lion, I think?” the redhead said.

         The temptation to elbow Ajax in the head was fierce. When Axel glanced down at Ajax, he saw his little brother’s desperation. If Axel was going to be the big hero, he needed to do everything right, including have a cool moniker. Just like their old performances, he would have to go out with a bang.

         Axel swallowed. “So, this guy, the one I’m fighting, is a big deal,” he said, gesturing towards the curtain containing the stage. “When I defeat him, my brother will not need to prove his worth. When I beat him, it will be admittance for both of us.”

         If Axel kept saying “beat him,” he might start to believe it.          

         The redhead’s smile widened, turning goofy. “Yep. I can do that. I hope you win.”

         The older boy examined Axel and his little brother for a moment too long.

         Then he disappeared behind the curtain.

         Roaring erupted outside.

         Agrius shoved Axel forward, towards a different section of curtain.

         There was no time to prepare. Axel had meant to give Ajax a hug, or tell Ajax the best route to run if… if something… if he—

         Stage lights blinded him.

         The typical rush of going in front of a crowd made Axel’s heartbeat increase. Heat washed over him.

         One thing solidified: he wasn’t going to let Ajax lose another family member without getting to say goodbye. One more reason that Axel had to live.

         When Axel’s eyes adjusted to the brilliance of lighting, he jammed his feet into the floorboards. His breath became short.

         There was a massive, doomed cage encasing the center of the stage. It was igloo-shaped. The only tunneled entrance was the one Agrius shoved Axel through. The bars were spaced far enough that Ajax might be able to squeeze between them, but Axel couldn’t, even if he’d practiced more contortionism. The space was maybe thirty feet in diameter with the highest part of the cage ten feet off the ground. Ropes dangled from the rusted bars with swords, spears, and axes, if Axel wanted to reach up and change weapons.

         Axel hated cages.

         He tried to keep a rhythmic count in his head, to ease his breath and mimic the count. That was what his Uncle Frasco told him to do whenever something scared Axel.

         The cage is a backdrop, he thought. Focus on the main event. Focus on the main event or you’ll never make it through the show.

         He would have frozen up in fear if someone hadn’t moved in the center of the cage.

         The first thing Axel noticed was the armor. His opponent’s breastplate gleamed with pure gold. There were medals of honor decorating his chest. When the man rose to his feet, a tattered, reddish-purple cloak fluttered around his ankles. If Axel had to guess, the man was at least eighteen and six foot three. His chestnut skin glistened with sweat and blood. His dark eyes bore into Axel with the patience of someone who knew they had already won the fight.

         “What’s this?!” came a voice outside the cage. The stage extended a few more feet, allowing the redhead to walk along the edge like a show host. “Jak-Jak back here to say: we have a surprise last minute entry against Praetor Julian, son of Mars! Meet Axel the Lion!”

         The audience screamed.

         It almost drowned out the sound of a cage door slamming shut behind Axel and the way Ajax shrieked in panic, “B-but that guy is huge!”

         As Axel staggered forward, struggling with claustrophobia more than the fear of fighting this guy, all he could think was, That is a stupid stage name to die with.

 ***

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed :D

[theravencawsatmidnight]

Catnapped

Chapter 4. Ending

Kyra’s eyes fluttered open around night time . Her room was dark.. a dim light hanging from the ceiling , she did not recognize the scents and jumped up.

“SHINSO!!!!” She yelled. She looked all around trying to make out where she was . The room was cold and felt empty. Slowly she was remembering , her fur sticking up as she quickly felt her mouth. Her fangs were back… so it must of been a full day she was passed out.. she looked at her paws then up at the window . She raced over and quickly realized it was too high up for her… slowly she slid down against the wall breaking down.

“I can't get out.. why am I even here, what did I do ?” She quietly talked to herself , Kyra felt her neck flinching . It was burned and scratchy . Soft mews filled the empty room.

Shigaraki was with Kurogiri at the bar watching the little tv . The news was reporting on Kyra’s kidnapping. Some civilians were asked about it and it turned into a thing about her parents.

The camera went back to the reporters and Kurogiri turned the tv off.

“ what a special item. Villain parents. Isn't it great Kurogiri?”

The warp villain nodded in agreement.

They heard the door open and close and Dabi walked quietly into the room. He looked up seeing the two

“Is she awake yet?” He asked going to the bar to sit down. Shigaraki had sent him on a small mission after he had put Kyra in her cell, he was gone for about a day. Kurogiri looked at Shigaraki and the skinny man chuckled lightly. “ no one has gone to check. Toga wanted to but we cant have her ripping more teeth out”

Dabi rolled his eyes getting up. “ fine, ill go look.”

He made his way down the hall and unlocked the door going in,It locked automatically behind him. He heard a small gasp once he entered but his eyes had not adjusted to the dark yet. He lifted his right hand creating a palm size flame to light up some part of the room. The bed was empty but she was here, slowly he moved his hand around till he found her, under the window curled up.

Kyra knew it was Dabi who entered , he had a burning smell that followed him and her nose never made a mistake. Maybe he wouldn't see her? Her heart sank when she saw the flame, what could she do? Bite him? He would burn her …. he walked over and Kyra held herself helplessly .

Dabi made his way to her and Kyra looked up shaking , he took a step and pressed his foot on her chest pinning her , he kneeled down, the flame close to her face. “ so the fangs grew back hm?” He moved his hand closer looking them over. Kyra was shaking , he had all his weight in his leg and it hurt…

“ they grow.. bbbb ack in 24 hhhours..” she tried to speak. Dabi tilted his head at her and placed his finger under one fang pricking himself. Some blood started to flow and he watched it.

“Sharp little things. Tell me kitty…” he smiled moving his hand up to her forehead. Kyra felt her heart jump in her throat. Wa… wah?!? Kkkkitt… kitty???!?

“You were in the sports festival right?”

Kyra coughed trying to answer, she ended up just nodding instead . Dabi laid his leg on her stomach leaning over her, holding the flame close to her scarred face. “ you got really angry in it didn't you? Almost villain like . You looked just like your parents. “ he teased .

Kyra looked away trying not to cry , instead she quickly grabbed his arms digging her claws in , the flame went out and the two wrestled in the dark . Grunting and mewing , pulling and shoving . Kyra did not want to bite… it might kill him.. she did not want to kill.., but.. she didn't want to bite.. did not want… to..

Dabi pinned the girl down just under the dim light breathing hard , he dug his nails into her wrists and Kyra was staring at his side , her mouth open slightly and her eyes wide. He looked down to see his left side bleeding badly . Suddenly the pain registered and Dabi felt his body give out . He fell on Kyra, she struggled pushing him off and running to the door trying to open it . Dabi was gasping and holding his side , he felt two large holes .

“ you BIT me!!!” He yelled pulling himself up and stumbling his way to her. He fell into her back wrapping his arm around her waist lighting her shirt on fire. They both fell back and Kyra ripped her shirt off screaming .

She was in a panic but.. she needed to get out.. needed … Dabi held his grip on her tight, his side stinging from the pressure of the constant moving . He covered her mouth with his other hand and wrapped both her arms under his holding her securely in place.

“You… are a bad.. bad.. kitty..” he gasped for air.

He felt her heartbeat in his arm and her heavy staggered breathing. The two laid there for a few minutes trying to collect themselves.

“ you bit me. I should rip your teeth out .. one.. by .. one. “

Kyra tried to bite his hand but he kept igniting his flames when she struggled. “ you are going to be good.. or ill have Toga come in here.”

Kyra mewed hearing that trying to shake her head.

“ ready to listen?” He asked grabbing one of her fangs.

Kyra could not think straight, UA never prepared her for situations like this.. what could she do?!

Dabi felt himself starting to fade from the blood loss. He was getting dizzy. He heard a soft mumble and let go of her fang.

“...yes..” she said.

“ yes what” he grabbed her neck.

“ ill be good.. please don't send her here..”

Dabi pushed her off him and forced himself up, he limped to the door and looked back . She was curled up covering herself under the light. He went through the door slamming it.

Dabi walked sliding along the wall leaving a blood trail on it . He had to pass the bar to get to his room . The two villains were still there . Shigarashi looked up first and tensed up a tiny bit. Kurogiri watched Dabi closely as he passed them. He said nothing to the two. He slid along the wall again till he made it to his room closing the door. As quickly as he could Dabi pulled his coat and shirt off . He stumbled his way to his restroom looking at his side . Two large bite marks. Dabi pulled some medical bandages from his cabinet wrapping himself up tight . He passed out on his bed.

The two villains were talking .

“ so they grew back… a bonus level. This is quite the fun game Kurogiri! “ said Shigaraki excited

“ i agree.. Tomura Shigaraki…”

Sir Nighteye and the rest of the group were looking over the map of the town , one street was circled in red. “ so our best bet is here , its an old bar .. if we surround the area and rush it we can get in” Sir Nighteye said adjusting his glasses.

Everyone agreed on this plan once they discussed it further. Bakugou looked over at Shinso, he looked absolutely drained and tired. The bags under his eyes looked heavy and he looked like he was not eating much. He would get Kyra out, not purple boy.. he was useless. Bakugou left the room after Aizawa looked over at him. Shinso held his stomach , all he could think about was if Kyra was okay.

“ lets go get ready.” Aizawa said looking at Shinso. He only nodded following his old tutor .

“ so what should we do to ensure Kyra’s and Shinso’s safety…” Dragon asked.

“We just need to restrain the league .. and we can get everyone out safely” Sir Nighteye said.

Dragon looked off at the room, as if she was unsure of the plan..

Everyone was ready , they made their way to the bar keeping a close watch on the surroundings . It was coming into view and so were the police , All Might must have asked for their help. The head of police nodded at the pros. Now they waited…

Meanwhile inside the hideout an hour or so earlier . The villains were at the bar discussing their hostage. Dabi had bandaged himself up the night before and was starting to feel better. The holes though were still in his side. The blood was still on the walls. Toga begged him for more information but he just ignored her.

“ cmon Dabi!!! It looks like she coulda bit a chunk outta you!!!!” She begged, trying to touch his bandages. Dabi rolled his eyes and just let her do what she wanted finally giving in to her antics. The girl grinned touching all over feeling the large holes in his skin.

“ like a knife through butter!!!!” She said.

Shigaraki got up looking down the hallway.

“ I think I will go check on our special item.”

“ her neck is getting worse. She might die” Dabi said

“ well whose fault is that ? “ Shigaraki said before walking down the hallway.

“ yea you show off!!! Right Kurogiri!!!“ Toga said.

The warp villain only nodded in agreement and Dabi looked at his bandages.

Shigaraki opened the door going in to see Kyra panting on the bed , she had found her burned shirt and was wearing it again. The burn on her neck looked infected and was spreading. She looked up from her paws to see the skinny man walking towards her. She flinched backing into the bed till she hit the wall.

Shigaraki tilted his head kneeling down by the bed. He did not have a hand over his face , he looked unhealthy , his lips chapped and his eyes heavy and empty…

“ hello” he said

Kyra coughed and heaved before saying hello back.

Shigarashi fiddled with his pocket taking out a small container . “ I'm sure that hurts , want some healing cream?” He asked

Kyra got on all fours crawling over with a paw out begging. “ yes.. yes please i!!!” She coughed again and the man moved his hand away quickly.

“I have some questions for you first. A side quest” he said .

Kyra was in tears, she could barely talk right now .

“You can nod or shake your head to answer, see? I'm nice right? The boss of the game has to be nice”

Kyra was still on all fours, the slight elevation made her neck hurt not as much…

“First question. You bit Dabi?”

She nodded slowly looking at his face, he seemed to be hiding something. Or wanting to say something.

“Have you ever bitten someone ?”

Kyra thought on it and sat down gently.

“ ….” she coughed “ yes.. the Sports Festival…”

Shigarashi smiled unscrewing the lid of the can.

“ what did you feel when you bit Dabi? Anger? Regret? Happiness? Revenge?”

Kyra looked at her paws, her eyes hurt and so did her neck. Her mouth was still sore from… the teeth pulling.

“ first i just wanted to escape.. i.. I meant to only nip him but….” she looked away “i had a clear opening and i….just went for it. It felt .. …. good… biting him . So easy.. “ she heaved holding her neck and saw the container drop on her free paw. She looked up after grabbing it and Shigarashi was standing now .

“ oh Saber. That's villain talk ... What a special little item you are. “ he left for the door and Kyra quickly applied the medicine to her burns . She whined from the sting as she talked.

“ .. im not a villain.”

“Think it over special item. This might be a party invitation…” he closed the door .

Shigarashi rejoined the villains explaining his interaction with Kyra. Kurogiri was cleaning a glass thinking on it and Toga was very excited. Dabi got up rolling his eyes .

“You sure she said that?” He asked

“ i am sure yes.”

“Pizza delivery!!!” Yelled a voice from the door. They all looked over and suddenly the door was kicked in and sent flying towards them. Aizawa ran in past All Might using his quirk and Bakugou ran in with Shinso both running down a hall checking every door till they found the locked one.

Kyra jumped from the noise getting off the bed .

“HELP!!! Please im here !!!!” She yelled

“I cant get it unlocked!” Yelled Shinso

Bakugou pushed him out of the way and started using his quirk on the door.

Aizawa had let his quirk end to, his eyes were straining. He fought trying to keep the villains at bay and so did Centipede and All might. Dabi slipped away in the confusion and was sneaking down the hall. Kurogiri had made an escape warp and everyone had gotten out except Dabi. The door was starting to give and Shinso rammed his shoulder into it a few times and fell through. He rushed up and saw her , Shinso ran to her wrapping his arms around her shaking body squeezing her very hard .

“ im here… im here kitten…” he assured her . “We cant stay here ok? We need to-” a blue flame just missed them hitting the bed. Shinso got in front of Kyra to see Dabi smiling at him. Bakugou was behind him on the ground pulling himself up slowly.

“ taking my kitty?” He taunted.

Shinso made a fist and threw his capture weapon at him , Dabi jumped back and was hit with an explosion from Bakugou who was up now and ready. Shinso sent the tape out again wrapping Dabi in it , he picked up Kyra and ran out of the hide out with Bakugou . The pros passed them to grab Dabi but he was pulled through a warp.

Everyone was outside and Shinso was holding Kyra still, the paramedics explained that they needed to treat her wounds and he set her down slowly. When they took her away he went to follow but Sir Nighteye stopped him, his hand was on his shoulder.

“ what is it? I need to be with her.” He said

“.... nothing. Just good job on the rescue”

Shinso nodded rushing to the ambulance getting in.

Bakugou was getting checked out by a nurse , Aizawa went over and congratulated him on the rescue. The blond scoffed watching the ambulance speed off.

Sir Nighteye pulled Aizawa away and looked to be telling him something. Bakugou decided he was not needed anymore and walked to his house.

The week at the hospital was hard on the couple, Kyra needed emergency care for the burns and was ordered not to talk for three days while her neck healed up. Shinso visited her everyday from 8 am to 2 pm . He came in after his patrols to . One day after Shinso had left . Her door had opened . Kyra was too tired to roll to her other side and see who it was . She did not smell anything so she figured it was a nurse. They were standing next to the bed , Kyra was looking out the window not bothering to turn.

“ ill take my pills in a minute…”

When she said that she felt something drop on the bed and the door open and close. Kyra jumped forcing herself to sit up. It was her Hero license and a card. She looked around fast and read the card.

“.... invitation to join.. the League….” she read. Kyra held the card close and her Hero license close mewing.

A hooded man was leaving the hospital. His blue hair falling in his face , he had a big smile on his face.

Kyra was cleared to leave a day later. She hid the card before Shinso took her home. Her neck was healed but it still had scars and burn marks. She hated it… she felt ugly.

Shinso and Kyra got home going right to bed to hold each other . She squeezed her boyfriend and Shinso held her close rubbing her little ear.

“ go to sleep…” he said exhausted

“ you too…” she hid her face in his chest going to sleep. Shinso laid his cheek on hers staying up.

( ending!!!! I hope you enjoyed! I can answer any questions you guys might have too! Thank you for reading . ♥️)

[a-baleful-howl]

7.07 Thoughts

First off - the leaked scripts were real. It was actually pretty annoying. I felt like I was watching the episode twice. I hope Season 8 doesnt have a lad leaker. I really do. I enjoy watching the episodes raw. And lets be completely, dead honest here - I would not have known about the leaks or seen them accidentally if I wasnt as active on Tumblr. At least on Reddit I can choose to avoid certain subreddits. On tumblr, if someone posts a spoiler there is absolutely no way of blocking it preemptively. I dont want to have to leave Tumblr next season... My sister (the family that is visiting right now, that I posted about not too long ago that we do not get along), doesnt watch GoT because she doesnt have HBO. She keeps up via snapchat and posts on Facebook. She thought that Longclaw blinking was super important, if that helps you understand how she keeps up with GoT. In gifs and screaming southerners on facebook. Anywho, when Jon said he pledged himself for D@ny, my sister leaned over and whispered "that made her super horny." Yes. I didn't see "horniness" in Danish Pastries eyes, but that was literally what was written in the leaked script - so obviously it translated to a very VERY casual viewer. So I asked her it she thought Jon was in love with D@ny and she acted like I was crazy for even asking. Obviously he likes her. Like a boy is mean to his crush on the playground, she said. That didn't make me feel much better. Honestly, I dont think Emilia is a bad actress. I think she plays stern, cold boss bitch very well. Or screaming entitled delusional girl. (which I honestly mean because Emilia is such the opposite in real life) And when directors told her to play heart eyes, she did heart eyes. I dont think shes a bad actress. I just find D@ny as a character boring now. Up until saving the Wight Hunters, she hadnt done anything redeemable or "good" since maybe Season 2-3. Anywho- off track. All this talk about honor and keeping his word and being Ned Starks "son" really struck me. He promised to fight for the north no matter the odds. So him pledging to D@ny is his own way of protecting the north. Protecting his family. But how can he talk about honor and keeping his word if he's secretly undercover? I really think he's being sacrificial. Thats something Jon would do. Give up his dreams and personal gain to save everyone. When Cersei, the coldest, baddest, most heartless bitch in all of Westeros, talks about how seeing just ONE wight made her fear for the ones she loves - imagine how JON FEELS seeing thousands of them. He is AFRAID for his family. He will so whatever it takes to protect Sansa, Arya, Bran and the North who chose him as their leader. I dont know if Jon realized immediately, that once Viserion died the NK had him. If Jon did, then that absolutely would have put him on express mode. Now - one big thing when Jon was with Ygritte and the Wildlings, is that they ALWAYS said "burn my body so I dont end up like them." I can just imagine Jon remembering those words every time he thinks of Sansa, Arya and Bran or the coming walkers. That he doesnt want his loved ones to turn into wights - because it was even what the wildlings feared most. Its a fate worse than death. He burned Ygritte. He's burned so many people so they dont turn into wights. He is trying to save his family from that morbid fate. Then we have Theon and Jon talking. So - I think Jon's "it might look that way on the outside" is a hint at his undercover/sacrificial ways. But, whats also really interesting to me, is that Theon brings up RAMSAY. And Jon narrows his eyes like "yea, tell me more about that monster who hurt my Sansa." As if he wants to hear about Ramsay and what Theon went through - as if to understand Sansa more. To get more insight on what happened to her. Theon bringing up Ramsay would make Jon think about Sansa here. And they're talking about THEON saving his SISTER. And Jons response is "why are you talking instead of doing? What are you waiting for?" YES. YES. YES. Jon is so sure that the right thing to do is to put yourself in danger to save your family - your sister. He doesn't think about it. His answer is instinctual. Because thats what hes doing now. JUST DO - dont think. His answer is everything to me. SO MUCH. SO MUCH. Sansa didnt seem that upset when Petyr suggested Jon wants to marry D@ny. Which to me says Sansa has NOT considered a romantic relationship with Jon - YET. And what usually happens in romantic plots, is that theres an awakening moment that brings one of the interests to realize what they want. Maybe this is Sansas wake up call. That the idea of Jon marrying another leaves a bitter taste in her mouth. But we dont see full on jealously in this episode, really. At least I didnt. Okay - now to boatsex. We have a brief moment of Jon standing in front of her door before knocking. He goes TO HER. Which bothers me. I just cant imagine canon!Jon initiating sex with anyone. Hes too noble and honorable. Sex outside of marriage? Possible bastard babies? Reading signs wrong? But this could be a moment where hes deciding - welp, I have to do this to earn her undying loyalty for good. Im not completely sold on ignoring my "he'll fuck the first girl who isnt his sister" or "he has to prove something" headcanons either. I mean, I believe he is giving into D@nys affections because he has nothing else to lose. Sansa is his sister. D@ny is beautiful. And Jon might see something good in her, especially after she has postponed her quest for the throne to save mankind - but deep down their characters are so different that HOW could he really be in love with her? And the fact that their sex scene is over cut with exposition and dialogue means that this scene is more than just a romance. Its a plot point. It has to be spelled out. Its still mysterious. D@ny is in love, but Jon? Jon searches into her eyes as if he has to convince himself to stay hard. I think Jonsa is endgame - but the real question here is, does he love Sansa or D@ny? Will he love both? Or does he love neither? I have more posts about the other characters this episode, the writing, and the problems soon. This is just my quick post episode Jonsa reaction. My phone is at 4% so I will have to come back later. (OMG PLEASE DONT DIE ON ME) Lets just say that I think JonxD@ny is fanservice, and that we shouldnt trust D&DBs writing completely or write any possible outcome and plot turn off. And love each other, we have fanfiction and remember they are fiction. (but Jonsa is endgame ;) ) OH- And "the dragon and the wolf"? The writers obviously thought they were being clever to get a double meaning out of a title, about Rheagar and Lyanna and Jon and D@ny. Doesnt mean theyre a couple - theyre just the most important plot reveal this episode. :p

[bedlamgames]

Q&A #68

Today among others image sourcing, decidedly rare text events, words that may or may not be words, and when the next update is coming out. 

Anonymous: Typo with advanced lesbian trained slave message. >Your convent slave Gigi slithered her well trained well trained naughty tongue down Carmen's crotch and lapped at their fancy slit. The slaver basked in the sensations, idly twisting and pulling on Gigi's nipples whenever they felt that she could be licking more diligently

Cheers for the spot and will sort. 

Anonymous: Hi, I have a question, I've searched every possible setting in art source info and couldn't find any mention of this action - I am trying to find the source of the left human futanari oral/fuck performance on a slave and failed, google search on image also didn't help. Can you help with finding source or you aren't helping ith this kind of question (I can perfectly understand why). picture with hentai futa succubus sitting on a throne and slave under her, right is lucien's futa succ fucking elf

Nah, that’s an entirely reasonable ask. The art sources is something I’m committed to getting done, but I’ll also more than admit that it’s slow going so it’s something I’ve very happy to take questions on. First SourceNAO is an incredible resource that’s been superb for me being able to back track to where I found stuff in the first place. As for that source it’s ‘member.php?id=15603′ on Pixiv or usatarou if you’d prefer to search on one of the ‘boorus. 

Anonymous: Bug Report: I have a slave who is hungover, and the status never seems to go away, so she can't be trained. Order of events was she was a slaver, got sent on quick as you like and failed. I planted a couple hypnotic triggers and then turned her into a slave. She'd still show up in the summary of slaver activities at the end of a day before getting hungover, but now she doesn't show up in either the slave or slaver section of the report. 

First how could you enslave a lass when she’s still the worse for wear from the previous night? C’mon that’s just evil :D

Seriously thanks for the spot and will correct the oversight that made that possible. 

Anonymous: In the future, will we be able to pick what race our slavers will be on startup? Yea there's Harmony and Shun others, but like if I want to play a human female "Goblin Queen" and have a full team of goblin slavers or something like that. Maybe just a way to pick a prefered race as "higher chance of starting slaver being X race", with your leader's race picked by default.

That shouldn’t be an issue to implement if you want it. Will see if I can include it for the upcoming update.

Anonymous: The latest hotfix had this line. >-Additional text for getting a tattoo while having either of the biomancy senses upgrades. < Ho can you get those upgrades on yourself? You can't use biomancy on slavers, can you? Is it a failure state, like growing your own ass/breasts or losing positive traits? If so, that's kind of a pain in the ass. Deliberately failing biomancy attempts and save-scumming until you get the 'correct' failure is going to be a real waste of time.

It’s really not something that’s vital to see, and really not something I’d expect people to go out of their way to see via saving and reloading. Someone suggested it as something they’d like to see added and it was quick to implement so I figured why not. 

Anyway if we’re taking obscure text it’s got nothing on a part to take account of changing outfits involving a very unlikely outcome of the Wrapped in Webs assignments. There was a bug report that really amused me by it being so unbelievably out there that I just had to give it some love :)

The joy of the game I’ve always aimed for number one is replayability so I’m really not expecting everything in the game to be seen in one playthrough or even ten or twenty. 

Anonymous: Sometimes an assignment result have the image replaced with a video player. I can't make the video to play and theres no result text so I'm wondering if this is a bug. This just happened on a critical success recapture mission and I know the same thing happened on a mission in the plains. Cant remember which one though. Maybe Scavange Unattended.

That sounds like a definite bug where RAGS doesn’t recognise the image being requested. Any assignment you spot this on please can you let me know about so I can sort them out. 

Anonymous: I asked a slave to become a camp bitch and got this text "...Of course with their training they were never going to say no, IRREGARDLESS of what you might have suggested. Most of your text is right on track! But if irregardless were a word, it would mean ir(not)-regard(related to)-less(not). Is my slave not going to say no, not not regarding what I suggest? Help me stamp out this abomination unto English and keep up the good work! =)

Cheers and will sort. 

Anonymous: I recently did the sissy farm quest and crit it and got the keldan but when i went to estimate value it didn't have a + value for the breasts despite the description listing her as truly titanic tits, I then did some biomancy on her and reduced her breasts and it still said it was truly titanic, but started showing up as the +40 value, not exactly sure how that works unless the game tried to spawn her with tits a size larger than truly titanic and the game then didn't count it as having a +value

My guess would be it sounds like you have the right of it. Will sort it out. 

Anonymous: Have a bug with a slave-turned-slaver through the training route with version 0.7802. When I examine her, it displays her description (looks, manners, etc., both paragraphs) twice. If it matters, she's a Wood Elf, got her from a crit on the Everwood caravan assignment.

Huh, not one I’ve heard of before so that is very odd. Will see if I can work how that happened. 

Anonymous: eta. on the next build? if it's out only like 2 weeks I'd skip this one.

I’m aiming for by the end of next week though that might slip as I’m going to be away for the holidays from the weekend. 

ultrabloed: Hey there! Two questions that came up when I revisited your two most recent builds. 1: Any plan on finally getting importing old savegames to work? 2: Mind spilling the beans on what hypnosis can do by now? Remember ages ago it was essentially a weaker dominate without any actual features outside mission success. Has that changed? I tried looking into some changelogs, but didn't realy found out much at all.

I feel that’s always going to have issues given RAGS being RAGS but when I’ve got the base functionality completely nailed it should be a lot safer. 

Hypnosis you can use now to implant triggers in your slavers to get them to be more likely to agree during respect checks. I’m planning to use it later to implant hypnotic mantras in slaves and also to deal with some annoying mental traits like unruly and poor morale. 

[no-white-knights-blog]

Halo - An Etrian Odyssey Novel (Chapter 9/50)

“Who the fuck’s this guy?” Iliad asked, as was expected, pointing an accusing finger at Nirim when he entered the room behind Vien, who was all too happy to answer the question.

“This is Nirim, he’s our new ronin!”

Iliad’s eye gave a sudden tic before he held his hands up, “He… what?”

“Yea! The request Sage and I grabbed from the bar required we have a ronin in our party, but we didn’t have a ronin, so we asked Nirim to join us!” Vien looked incredibly proud of himself, but Iliad’s face was slowly turning red from strain.

“I’m sorry,” he laughed harshly, “But am I the only one who remembers that whole us against the world pact we made?! Why are we bringing in new people?! We don’t need anyone else in the guild!” he threw an arm in Sage’s direction, “The only reason I’m tolerating this guy is because he agreed to train me!” he pointed at Nirim, “What’s this guy going to do for us?!”

“You know, that is really shallow and selfish, and Nirim here does not deserve that,” Vien said, holding a finger up, “Iliad, I think you need to calm down and think logically about this situation. Certain requests require certain classes of explorer. This particular request called for a ronin, and now we have a ronin. You need to thank Nirim for joining Halo.”

“Thank him?!”

“Alright,” Dyria dropped a hand onto Iliad’s head, squeezing and pushing his brother forward into a bow, his other hand propped on his hip, “I’m about as happy with this arrangement as you are, but there’s no need to be a jerk,” he looked directly at Nirim, who tensed up, “I’ll start off by apologizing for Vien dragging you into this, he kind of has a bad habit of getting in other people’s business without asking.”

“Hey I’m right here you know!”

“You don’t have to come with us if you don’t want to, I won’t force you, that wouldn’t be right,” Dyria forced a smile onto his face, “Though Vien is correct, we do need the help of a ronin for this quick request. Evidently, we’re supposed to be hiking the first floor for a mining spot, and there are monster’s there who are weak to elemental attacks, but no one in this group currently is very skilled with that. So, we would be humbled if you would in fact join us, at least for this one quest. Afterwards you’re free to go on your way, but if you do want to stay on with our guild, you’re welcome to.”

Nirim watched Dyria for a moment before lowering his eyes, his face growing somewhat dark and haunted as his gaze shifted to Vien for half a second before he bowed at his waist, “If you’ll have me, I would be honored to join Halo officially.”

Vien looked at Dyria expectantly, and Dyria sighed a little, nodding, “Then welcome,” he turned, smiling a little more genuinely at the rest of his guild, hand still squeezing Iliad’s head, “If we’re all ready, we have a mining spot to get to.”

Most of them seemed enthusiastic enough as they stepped onto the floor of the Labyrinth, looking around the area curiously as Vien shot forward in excitement, pivoting on his heel to look back at his guild, beaming.

“Awesome! Let’s get going! Iliad, you got the directions, yea?!”

“Yea,” Iliad mumbled, shuffling forward and pulling out their map, pointing ahead, “There’s a kind of ragged outcrop of hills off that way, the mining spot is on the other side. It’s really small, probably picked clean by now, but thankfully all this person wants is some samples of what they do have.”

“Seems simple enough,” Emery hummed with a smile, striding after the two youngest with Nirim at the back.

Dyria was about to join them, taking a step forward and feeling a sudden spike of panic when he realized something or someone was holding the back of his shirt. At first, he figured maybe he got stuck on something or a foe had grabbed him, but when he looked over his shoulder he was both relieved and concerned to see Sage was the one clinging to him.

He looked… admittedly scared, even though he was clad in protective gear, bow on his back and quiver hanging at his side. His eyes were filled with hesitance and panic, his hair braided and hanging over his shoulder, one hand grasping Dyria’s shirt while the other was clutching at his own chest, eyes shifting around frantically.

“Hey,” Dyria turned to the side and reached out, taking Sage’s shoulder and tugging him closer, “It’s okay. Nothing will happen, I promise,” he offered Sage a warm smile, “I’ll protect you, alright?”

Sage stared at him with wide eyes before he seemed to relax considerably and pressed himself against Dyria’s side, wrapping his arms around the protector’s waist, not even caring about the bulky armor, “Thank you.”

Dyria was frozen in shock for a moment before he wrapped an arm around Sage’s slim shoulders, squeezing him against his side and daring to bow his head to place his lips softly against the scar across Sage’s forehead. He flinched a little but eventually settled back against Dyria, red crossing his cheeks.

The moment was interrupted when Emery called back to them, “Is our quest getting in the way of your date?!”

Sage jerked away from Dyria, entire face burning red, and Dyria glared heatedly at Emery, who was grinning, as Sage grabbed onto the strap across his chest and skittered forward, “W-we should join the others.”

“Hm…”

Iliad appeared to be blatantly ignoring what had happened, essentially holding the map against his face as he continued forward on the path towards the distant hills, though Vien was watching Sage and Dyria with a curious, rather terrifying look of curiosity in his silver eyes. He was distracted quite quickly, however, when Emery pointed towards the hills.

“Are you okay hiking?” he asked, and Vien snorted, punching his chest with a fist and grinning.

“You kidding me? I have lungs of steel! I’ll race anyone who wants to and beat you all to the top!”

“Wait!” Emery held his hand out as Vien bolted forward while laughing, then covered his eyes with a sigh.

Sage found himself tilting his head in curiosity, “Is Vien not physically fit enough to climb a hill? It isn’t that tall, really, there are just a lot of loose rocks.”

“Ah, well,” Emery dropped his hand to hold his chin, watching after the overly excited troubadour as he barreled into Iliad’s back and started to drag the stunned survivalist behind him, “How do I put this...? Vien has some respiratory issues.”

“Asthma?” Sage questioned, and Emery shook his head.

“I honestly don’t know a lot about it. Just that doing too much physically strenuous activity can sometimes make him pass out or have an attack. I suppose it’s like asthma, but it’s nothing he was born with.”

“How did it happen?” Sage asked, and Dyria was the one to answer.

“Fire. Maybe,” he tapped his left shoulder, “He has old burn scars here, and on his back, so Emery thinks he was in a fire and breathed in too much smoke. It weakened his lungs substantially.”

Sage looked pained, “You can’t do anything to help him?” he asked, wincing at his own words when Emery tensed up and quickened his pace to walk ahead of them, “S-sorry, I… forgot…”

“It’s not your fault,” Dyria set a hand on Sage’s shoulder and squeezed it, “Come on, let’s catch up to them before Iliad snaps and tries to kill Vien.”

Sage laughed softly and nodded. It was actually a lovely day, there was a sweet scent on the wind, and the sound of rustling leaves was peaceful. Their trek towards the foot of the hills was uneventful, but Sage was keeping one eye on Vien, wanting to make sure he could spot any signs of the young man struggling to breathe. For the longest time, nothing much seemed to be bothering him.

Even when they encountered their first monster, a pretty butterfly with blue wings, Vien didn’t seem to feel very out of breath, instead opting to try and catch the creature.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Emery stated, holding a hand up, and Sage hummed.

“No, I think he’ll be alright. It’s a woodfly, they’re essentially harmless as long as you avoid its binding attack.”

“You remembered that?” Emery smiled, and Sage blushed a little.

“Ah, I guess I did.”

“He looks like an idiot,” Iliad noted as Vien stopped under a tree and pushed himself onto his toes to reach the pretty creature sitting on a leaf above his head.

“It’s a bit unusual to only see one,” Sage admitted, looking around the area, “Very unusual, actually.”

“I heard from that stupid Gunner that there was a major venomfly pandemic at the hospital a while back,” Iliad said, “Maybe the guards have been literally cutting down on them to avoid another incident.”

Sage nodded slowly, “That would make sense, and some people don’t really know the difference between the two, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the guards were getting rid of woodflies along with the venomlies.”

“That’s a bit sad, actually,” Emery frowned, “They haven’t done anything wrong, have they?” he held his hands up as the blue butterfly fluttered towards him and settled down in the palms of his hands, “They don’t mean to hurt anyone, I’m sure. They’re just misunderstood because of a few accidents.”

Sage stared at Emery, biting his lip and looking over at Dyria, who had a similar expression of pain in his eyes, though he didn’t bother to speak, and a moment later the woodfly fluttered back out of the medic’s hands. Vien lunged to catch it, but the insect flew in a half circle, easily avoiding him.

Sage held a hand out, “Ah, you should stop. If you aggravate it anymore it could use Whirr on you.”

“What’s bad about that?” Iliad asked, and Sage slowly pulled his hand back towards his chest.

“Well normally nothing, but if Vien has trouble with his lungs it might be really bad. Whirr is a simple defensive attack that binds an explorers head, blinding them, and keeping them from using magic. It could essentially block his airways.”

“So, you are useful then,” Iliad responded, and Sage pouted a bit.

“I’ve recovered my memories of being a survivalist, I can remember if a monster is dangerous or not, thank you very much.”

“We should move on then,” Emery hummed, and Vien laughed.

“Guys, quit worrying! I can breathe fine, and I almost caught it! It’s so cute, I kind of want one as a pet!” the butterfly swooped at him, a low glow around its wings, and Vien leaned away to avoid it, his eyes wide, “Whoa!”

Nirim reacted the quickest, drawing his blade and cutting it through the air swiftly, and the two wings of the butterfly fluttered in the air, tiny sparks of fire burning them into nothing before they could even touch the ground.

The other five members of Halo stared at the empty air where the woodfly had been a second before, then looked at Nirim, who sheathed his katana, “We should continue forward,” he said, turning, and Iliad squinted.

“Is that why we needed a ronin?”

Sage shrugged as Vien mumbled about how unfair that was and followed Nirim. He shook his head after the troubadour and turned to Emery, his heart skipping a beat at the expression Emery had on his face. His eyes were wide, face pale, hand holding his chest. He looked… afraid?

“Emery?” Sage reached out, but Emery snapped his head to the side, appearing surprised.

“Hn, sorry,” he offered Sage a smile, “Let’s keep going.”

Sage watched him run after the three other explorers, then pressed his lips into a thin line and looked over at Dyria, who looked as helpless as Sage felt, “He’ll be fine,” he said, but he sounded uncertain, “He just… needs to focus on something else.”

He said that, but it was easy to tell the protector was worried about his friend, so Sage held his hand out, smiling warmly as Dyria looked down at the offered hand, “Yea. Come on.”

After a solid minute, Dyria set his hand in Sage’s, and the survivalist tugged on his hand as he followed the other members of Halo towards the hills.

[zdbztumble]

“I’m Not That Girl”

Decided to take a stab at my own prompt. First piece of fan fiction I’ve written since the teenage years.

To get our canon straight: everything happened just as it did in the show through the end of XY/Z, except that they age. One year per region, and if you count the Battle Frontier, that’d make Ash and Misty 17 going on 18.

"Pikachu is unable to battle! Gyarados is the winner!"

The great fish let out a mighty roar. Louder and fiercer than usual, or called for in this situation in Misty's opinion.

He must be proud, she thought as she recalled him. Not many Water Pokémon could take down two Electric challengers in a row without breaking a sweat. They weren't the biggest or strongest Electric-types in the world, but that wouldn't matter to Gyarados.

She felt a bit of pride herself. It was her best match in two weeks. Ever since the call, she'd been distracted and unsure, had messed up in pitched fights and blown some easy wins. Today, her mind was clear and focused, and she'd led her team to a flawless victory.

Even if it hadn't been much of a challenge. A low-level Magnemite and a freshly-caught Pikachu might damage some Water teams, but not one as well-trained and powerful as Misty's. And the trainer at the other end of the pool - Ken - couldn't have been more than twelve, and had just started his Pokémon journey.

He wasn't taking the loss well. He held his unconscious Pikachu tightly in his arms, and even with his eyes covered by the brim of his blue Kanto League hat, he looked as if he were about to cry. Misty sighed at the sight; competitive as she was, winning was the best part of being a gym leader, but facing up against as many rookies as she did, hurting their spirits when she won was the worst part. And this little kid was clearly hurt.

"Poor guy," Misty said softly. She took a step toward the edge of her platform.

"Hold on, Misty."

"Huh?" She looked over at her sister. What's wrong, Daisy?" She probably wants another breakdown. Her oldest sister had taken to serving as a battle judge to try and learn more about Pokémon training, and she had a list of questions as long as her make-up bill after every match. It was good that she wanted to learn, but right now, it could wait.

But that's not what Daisy had in mind. "I think you might, like, wanna skip the pep talk this time."

"What? Why? I always talk to trainers after a match, win or lose."

"Yeah, but usually you haven't, like, totally destroyed the trainer's team."

"I didn't destroy his team!"

Daisy just pointed in response. Misty followed her finger back over to Ken. His Pikachu still hadn't come to, and now that Misty really stopped to look, it did seem to be in rough shape. Its fur had been crisped black from ear tips to tail tips by Gyarados's Flamethrower attack. Both his Flamethrower attacks, and the second one hadn't been necessary. That Bite really did a number on Magnemite too. And I didn't need to swap Gyarados in at all; Milotic was doing just fine on her own.

And before she could even ask herself the question, Misty realized why she'd been so brutal. The League cap; the Pikachu; he even had the same sort of messy hair and big brown eyes. She'd noticed all of this when he came in, but she'd forgotten about it right away...she thought.

Daisy had come over to her. "I'll, like, talk to him. But I don't think he needs us."

"What do you mean?"

Daisy pointed over towards Ken again. He had been joined by his travelling partner, who Misty had barely noticed when they first came in. She was around the same age as he was, if a little taller, with red hair kept in a long braid. She knelt by Ken's side, but while Misty couldn't hear what she was saying, it was clear that she wasn't giving a typical consoling speech. There was a frown on her face and she was shaking her finger at Ken. But her methods had gotten him out of his funk; he seemed much more focused on bickering with her now, even as their hands latched together.

Hands touch, eyes meet

Sudden silence, sudden heat

Hearts leap in a giddy whirl...

A hand fell on Misty's shoulder. Daisy was looking at her with a sad smile. "I think we should close the gym for the day after they leave. We don't need you taking it out on more challengers, right?"

When she was Ken's age, Misty would've blushed and vehemently denied what her sister had just implied. Now, she simply nodded. Without another look at her challenger and his friend, she stepped off her platform and slipped down the hall leading from the battle arena to the main lobby.

Her bike was there, right outside the glass doors, chained to one of the pillars. What started it all. Beyond the bike was the path that led away from the gym, away from Cerulean. Not a day had passed since she'd taken up the role of gym leader where Misty hadn't thought at least once about striking out on that path again. She'd been needed - was still needed - here at home, and she was happy and proud of the work she'd done. But something inside her still longed to roam. And would roam again, someday - someday soon, if Daisy kept up with her lessons.

And if she hadn't dreamt of going down the path, she'd dreamt of someone coming up it to see her.

Don't dream too far

Don't lose sight of who you are

Don't remember that rush of joy

He could be that boy...

While never as prim and proper as her sisters, Misty did like to keep a clean bedroom. It was anything but right now. Her busy schedule didn't leave her much time clean as it was, but she'd been in no state of mind to care about appearances since the call. Her sheets were ruffled, papers and books lay scattered everywhere, and the garbage bin was overstuffed with containers from all the cheap take-out places she'd ordered her meals from.

At least it's no messier than I am, Misty thought as she caught herself in the mirror. She'd been swimming laps for almost an hour when Ken had turned up, and she'd had no time to change or shower off before the match. She was sticky with dried sweat and pool water, her hair was fried from the chlorine, and she could still taste the salt of the sea water pool on her lips.

"Psy?"

Psyduck waddled over to her from the bed, carrying a light blue swimming jacket and dark blue short shorts in his flippers. The dope had popped out of his pokéball during the call and had refused to go back in since. Misty had stopped trying to return him; she was glad for the company.

"Thanks, Psyduck." She slipped into the shorts first, then tossed the jacket over her white bathing suit. Her bed was what she came up here for, but it didn't seem worth the effort to cross the room, so she fell into the chair at her desk instead. It was covered, as it had been for two weeks, with photos. Photos she'd taken, photos she'd had taken, photos she'd been sent. The common figure linking them all wasn't her; it was a Murcrow-haired trainer with chocolate eyes and a great big smile. Misty was with him in some of the pictures, but not in any on top of the pile. Those were the ones Ash had sent from Kalos.

"Sent" was being generous. He'd dropped Misty a line a few times during his latest League quest, but most of the pictures, and most of her news of him, came from Mrs. Ketchum. She'd made sure to keep Misty even more in the loop for Kalos, not only to keep the girl up-to-date on Ash's journey, but because she knew how much a romantic like Misty loved Kalos culture. The photo nearest to her was taken at the base of Prism Tower in Lumiose City, the one place in the world Misty most wanted to visit before she died. When she and Ash were travelling together, she used to fantasize that they'd take on the Kalos League after Johto and spend plenty of time in the city. And while Brock was distracted by the local Joys and Jennys, she and Ash could slip off to the tower...

Every so often we long to steal

To the land of what-might-have-been

But that doesn't soften the ache we feel

When reality sets back in...

With Ash at Prism Tower were his Kalosian friends; a roly-poly boy with glasses, a little blonde instantly recognizable as the boy's sister, and a beautiful girl. Misty knew all their names, had even talked to them the two or three times Ash had called her. Serena was soft-voiced and a little shy on the phone, but she had been perfectly sweet and charming when they talked. Ash and Mrs. Ketchum had nothing but nice things to say about the girl. Misty had really liked Serena, and had no reason to be upset with her.

Except the way she looked at Ash. And talked to him. And talked about him. And how, when their time as travel companions came to an end, she'd said good-bye to him.

Mrs. Ketchum always called when Ash came home from a League. When she'd called after Kalos, Tracey had happened to ring at the same time, so they'd made it a conference call. Both of them had seemed a little nervous, but Misty couldn't imagine why. Until, while talking about Ash's flight, Tracey had let the news slip. News that they clearly hadn't wanted to break to her, but aside from one good scream, Misty felt she'd taken it well. After all, it wasn't the first time. And at least Serena was a nice girl, not some hot-stuff festival maiden looking to show off. Jealousy was much easier to keep under control when the one stealing a kiss from Ash was a sweetheart half a world away.

Still, once the cat was out of the bag, she couldn't help but ask questions, and she wouldn't let her callers dodge them. It seemed that Ash hadn't been himself since he'd told his mother about that kiss. He'd taken to that most un-Ash of activities: brooding. And, when he'd paid a visit to Oak Ranch, Tracey had walked in on him making a phone call to Brock, asking for girl advice.

A call he'd immediately come to regret, from what Tracey had heard, but that didn't change the facts. Ash Ketchum; the boy Misty had followed all over the continent for three years and met up with as often as she could for another two; the young man whose exploits she'd followed for the three years since meeting up stopped being an option; the reason every stab she made at dating fell apart; direction-challenged, thick-headed, Pokémon-obsessed, big-hearted, hero-playing Ash Ketchum had finally been turned on to girls by a kiss.

And it wasn't Misty's.

Blithe smile, lithe limb

She who's winsome...she wins him

Gold hair with a gentle curl

That's the girl he chose

And Heaven knows

I'm not that girl...

She'd made it through the rest of the call well enough. She'd even managed to smile and change the subject. Only after Mrs. Ketchum and Tracey had let her go had the tears started. Only then had the rage kicked in as she lashed out at Psyduck, screaming at her poor Pokémon all the things she wanted to scream at Ash. When her anger was spent, the tears got worse, and she'd pulled the duck into a tight hug, crying into his feathers for the rest of the night.

She hadn't cried since. That had to be a good thing, right? That when it's obvious that your childhood crush turned much, much more is in love with someone else, you only let the water works flow once?

Of course, she'd been crying inside for the two weeks after the call, so that didn't help her argument.

"Psy."

Psyduck had taken hold of her legs. The look in his eyes as he stared up at her was as uncomprehending as ever, but his feathers felt warm.

"Well," she smiled, reaching down to pat the water fowl's head, "at least I'll always have one dopey man in my life, right?"

"Psy." She assumed that meant yes.

"YOU!"

Daisy might have been in the room for how loud her voice was. From shock Misty kicked out, sending Psyduck crashing into the book case.

"Oh! I'm sorry, Psyduck!" She started over towards him.

"YOU'VE GOT SOME NERVE SHOWING UP HERE, KID!"

"Wha - what did I do?"

Ash.

Psyduck would be fine, she decided - the dumb duck crashed himself into at least three things a day. She bolted out the door, following the sound of her sister's screaming.

"DON'T YOU PLAY DUMB WITH ME, MISTER! YOU'RE LUCKY I ANSWERED THE DOOR, OR ELSE YOU'D, LIKE, TOTALLY HAVE GYARADOS IN YOUR FACE RIGHT NOW!"

"Huh? Why would Gyarados -"

"YOU'RE NOT EVEN HERE FOR HER, ARE YOU? YOU JUST WANT A BATTLE OR A TRADE, OR SOME ADVICE ON HOW TO EVOLVE YOUR FROAKIE OR WHATEVER!"

"Actually, he already evolved, but -"

"WHERE'S YOUR FLOOZY, ANYWAY?"

"My what? Look, is Misty -"

"IF YOU THINK I'M LETTING YOU ANYWHERE NEAR MY SISTER, THEN YOU'VE GOT ANOTHER THING -"

"Daisy!"

Misty practically slid into the lobby. Her sister was flush with rage, and her fists were trembling. Ash stood back by the doors, looking utterly lost. So did Pikachu, though he perked up as soon as he saw Misty. With a happy "Pikachupi!" he leapt from Ash's shoulder, bounded across the room, and jumped into Misty's arms.

"It's OK, Daisy," Misty said, smiling in spite of herself as Pikachu cuddled against her. "I can handle this."

Daisy looked as if she wanted to say are you sure, but she nodded and walked back toward the battle area, stopping to give Ash the death glare and the "I'm watching you" sign with her fingers.

"What's her problem?" Ash asked as soon as the blonde Waterflower was out of earshot.

"Nothing." She's just learned to be a good sister. Misty hadn't exactly told Daisy and the others what had upset her so much, so they'd guessed. They hit close to the mark, but their imaginations had also invented a whole mess of shady details that weren't true and weren't fair, to Ash or Serena. Misty hadn't been in the mood to correct them, but as much as part of her loved seeing Daisy cow Ash like that, she couldn't let him suffer.

"It's been a long time, Ash." Her standard greeting.

"Yeah." His standard reply. He'd grown since they met last. He was taller than her now, with a lanky build, and he'd started to grow some side burns. She stayed at the mouth of the hallway, and he stayed over by the doors. Pikachu climbed from her arms to her shoulder, his little paws digging into her hair.

"I saw your final match in the Kalos League. I'm really proud of you, Ash. That was an amazing battle."

"Oh..." Ash's hand went to the back of his head as he gave her an almost sheepish grin. "You saw that?"

"Uh-huh. And I was with your mom watching the news when Team Flare attacked. You really had us worried." Not that they ever weren't worried about him. He doesn't have me to pull him out of the water anymore. She wondered if Serena was a strong enough swimmer to save him, because knowing Ash, it was a miracle he hadn't been in a near-drowning situation in Kalos.

"Yeah - it was amazing, Misty!" And he was off, regaling her with a cliff notes version of all his exploits since his last message. His storytelling had improved over the years, and if he still bragged a little, Misty didn't mind. He asked after the gym too, and she did her best to make it sound more exciting than it was. There were some pointed barbs and shots thrown back and forth, but that was just how they were. It was nice. It was as if she'd never had to leave him.

And never had she more wished she hadn't had to than now.

"So what's next, Ash?" she finally asked him. "Are you going to try re-challenging one of the Leagues you've already faced?"

"Actually, we're going on vacation!"

"Pika!"

"Yeah, Mr. Mime won us a trip to Alola. We're leaving from Vermillion City in two days!"

"That's amazing! I wish I could go!" If Lumiose City was first on her bucket list, Alola was second. The Orange Islands had been nice, but Alola had all those Water Pokémon she'd never seen. The island trials were fascinating. And the beaches...she could just imagine walking along one at sunset as the tide came in, hand in hand with...

Don't wish. Don't start

Wishing only wounds the heart...

"Ahem."

She'd been staring off into space, she realized. She turned back to Ash. He was standing up tall, and he looked more mature, and more serious, than she'd ever seen him.

"I'm glad I caught you before I left, Misty. There's something I need to tell you."

"Oh?"

He nodded. Some of the maturity left him as he looked away nervously, hand back behind his head. Pikachu hopped from Misty's shoulder and ran back to his master to give his leg an encouraging pat. Ash smiled down at his starter before looking back up at Misty.

"See, when I left Kalos, Serena... it shouldn't have been a big deal. I mean, I was surprised, but it's not like girls haven't kissed me before. Or Pokémon. The name of her flight was even Latias, if you can..."

He stopped; something on Misty's face must have tipped him off how little she liked where he was going with that. "Anyway - I didn't really think about it 'til I got home, but after I told Mom about it...I knew it wasn't the same kind of kiss. I know I've never been good with all this love junk, but...well, it made a lot of funny stuff she did around me make a lot more sense..."

Misty wasn't sure where Ash was going with this. If he was just embarrassed to tell his best friend that he was in love, if he was planning to follow Serena to Hoenn once he got back from vacation, or if his sudden revelations about girls included finally realizing how she felt and he was trying to let her down gently. And she wasn't sure how she'd react when it came time to answer him. Even after all these years, anger was still her go-to cloak for grief, and she lashed out the worst at those she loved most.

What Misty was sure of was that she could never truly give Ash up, and if that meant they would only ever be best friends and that she was doomed to an empty love life, then she'd just have to find a way through this and save the tears for later. She drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes, steeling herself for what she was sure was coming.

I wasn't born for the rose and the pearl

There's a girl I know

He loves her so...

"Yeah..." she opened her eyes. He'd come much, much closer. "And it made a lot of funny stuff that you - that we - always do around each other make sense too..."

...I am that girl?

Lest there be any confusion - yes. Yes she is. And presumably, it never occurred to Ash to tell his mother or Tracey or anyone else just who he was brooding over, hence the confusion. Sudden epiphany  ≠ cure for lifelong denseness.

[cloudtgfreewritingblog]

What makes a video game intimidating? Why is it important?

So obviously I haven’t posted here... in quite some time. Well, that’s okay. There won’t be any talk about justice. However, I was thinking I’m not really into video games as much lately.... But I also realized today that I fear socializing with people because I want to avoid trouble.... So it’s basically a fear of mine. Therefore, I came up with this grand idea to research online for the most intimidating video games so that I can practice mentally preparing myself for such situations....

However, I immediately ran into problems IMMEDIATELY. The first results that show up on a typical google search is, indeed, one link to a potential answer (a review of their top intimidating video games). However, most of these games are multiplayer games, and they don’t seem that intimidating to me. Any other links on the first few pages of the search just referred to top intimidating bosses, creatures, monsters.... you get the idea. There’s so many intimidating enemies in video games that the video game industry should realize that fighting enemies do not intimidate its audience anymore.

Let’s just review: what is intimidation? “The act of intimidating someone, or being intimidated by someone”.... Way to go Google Home... Okay, intimidate... “Frighten or overawe (impressing so much that they become silent or inhibited) someone, especially in order to make them do what one wants”... Alright that’s a pretty good definition. The idea of being intimidated is that one will not act against the will of the “intimidator”. In video games, especially for me, it’s pretty hard for me to feel intimidated when we feel like we are in control, or will not get into trouble. Yes, I would say there’s a correlation between wanting to stay out of trouble and giving in to the will of the “intimidator”.

So, typically a good video game with an “intimidating” genre would be one in which players are strongly encouraged to stay away from completing the game objectives so that they stay away from trouble. So, in order to figure out what good intimidating video games are, we need to define the qualities of them are.

The first value that I can immediately think of is feeling underpowered. By underpowered, I mean VERY underpowered. Powerless. Everyone is more powerful than you, and your stats seem so low. A good example of a game series with overpowered enemies is Dark Souls. I’m assuming we’ve all heard about this series by this point. I only played the first game a little bit, so I’ll explain what I can. The enemies are strong, and can usually kill you within 1-3 hits. Even if you kill off some enemies, they immediately respawn with full health every time you rest at one of a select number of bonfires, which is a healing point and a save point. So unless you become a really skilled player, traversing through this game would be difficult. It just saves the time and trouble if you just don’t play this game. It’s too tough.

Another value that can prove to be essential to feeling intimidated is having limited saves. In other words, limiting the player’s power to save. Don’t misunderstand me - I understand the absolute importance of saving, especially if the game suddenly crashes and you want to load where you left off. However, having only one save file that autosaves after key points in the game could make players fear if they make a wrong decision. Forcing the player to make a decision between 2-3 choices, and forcing an autosave on the game file right after the decision is made... Maybe even add a quick timer to that... They might be helpless to choose, which might lead them the game to choose for them - no choices chosen and the player reaches game over from guilt. The game hopefully would have a little replay of that scene so that players will have another chance, but idk what the best way to use this mechanic would be.

I’m not sure about any more values, but I think that the best sort of intimidating game is one in which the game constantly reminds you and warns you that either (a) it’s too dangerous to continue to complete a game objective OR (b) trying to complete a game objective will you leave you worse off

Imagine this - you’re a hero who completes quest objectives, and now you got to defeat a big boss. As you journey there, the npcs keep talking about this boss about how he’s invincible, lived forever, no weaknesses. And indeed, the game decides to give you a first encounter with the boss. However, you’re easily defeated with one blow by the boss, and the he decides to let you live, because the hero is an insect whom he can squash easily. Try to challenge him, and he’ll definitely release his army on you and destroy you in an instant. It might even be so difficult that it’s just easier to give up and hope that someone else can save the day instead. 

I’ve decided that I’m done thinking about this subject for now, but I think I’ve made my point. We need more intimidating video games. I get that it doesn’t sound rewarding, but remember when I said I like to avoid trouble? I think the biggest problem with video games is that, as they tend to be targeted towards a more general audience, they tend to be easier. I understand the need for that in terms of marketing a game, but unfortunately it feels like they promote wreckless behavior. Because players just want to play straight through the game. They don’t want to feel restricted.

I don’t want to feel restricted either... but I don’t think players should just be “free”. Kinda like real life. There’s so much intimidation in real life to not cause any sort of problems just so that you stay out of trouble. Yea, if you put a lot of effort out there, you could get that freedom that you wanted and do what you want. I want that same idea applied to video games. Not just in terms of “in-game-currency”... I’m talking about unlockable content after progressing through the game.

For mods in games like skyrim, it’s just as simple as download, find it in game, and boom you’re set. That’s kinda why I hate it. It isn’t rewarding, it isn’t normal to easily obtain something, and you would expect obstacles that make it REALLY difficult to get the item... like being unable to get an item even when you’re exploiting in-game mechanics (e.g. cliff climb-jumping up to the exit so you can immediately reach the treasure room). Yea, it’s good that I got it, but it definitely doesn’t feel fulfilling.

I wouldn’t say I want changes for all mods, but for some mods with big rewards or awesome equipment, try intimidating us. Use whatever methods you can. Maybe even try to frustrate us (because mods can overpower us, it’s hard to kill us). It should be natural for there to be barriers that prevent us from getting what we want. We’ve probably heard about the pyramids of Egypt and how there were several treasure rooms, and so many traps within. One mistake and one would be dead. I’d rather never go into a pyramid with active traps because it sounds way too dangerous.

So that’s the idea. We the players need to feel the risk of being endangered in order to be intimidated. I would say a game like Undertale has the potential, especially when there’s actually a time that it boots you out of the game, and then when it starts up to the main menu... It’s different... I’d definitely feel fear in moments like that. I just don’t want to spoil the game.

Anyways, I’m done with that. If you feel like that there’s a real intimidating game out there, just reply the name of the game to this post so that others can find it and get it so that they have a chance to feel intimidation. 

[terezisexbuttpyrope]

loose ends

“You know what I still can’t figure out?” Shiro asked Sarah as he, his wife, his sister-in-law, and Allura attempted yoga on the training deck. Kayla held her poses like a pro and led the group, being very patient as her wobbly pupils kept losing their balance. 

“What’s that?” Sarah asked, ignoring Kayla shushing them. 

“What happened on that gem planet? It just started like...self-destructing almost, completely out of nowhere.” 

“It what?” Allura asked, alarmed. 

“White was confused by that, too. Her theory is that Hagger’s presence disrupted the harmony of the planet, so it started trying to readjust and bring it back to a harmonious state.” Sarah answered, arms flailing slightly as she tried to stand on only one foot and failing. 

“Almost like antibodies fighting off an infection?” Shiro asked, also failing the pose. 

“Yea! Black Magic has a heaviness to it, that's how it could detect its presence. And how I can, too, usually.”

“That’s fascinating, now shut up and move into this pose.” Kayla said curtly, earning a giggle from Sarah and a chuckle from Allura and Shiro. 

“You know what I can’t figure out?” Allura began, causing Kayla to groan. “We’ve had a lot of easy, clean escapes lately. It always seems too good to be true, but we make it.”

“Oh, I’m glad someone brought that up, I was afraid I’d jinx it or something.” Sarah said with a nod. 

“Yea, I can’t think what it could be either. Keith and I met no resistance escaping. I was so concerned with....other things, I didn’t really think about it till now.” Shiro added with a nod, cringing slightly at the memory. 

“Krisox had a theory.” Kayla sighed, giving up and joining the conversation. “You know those who control the internet?” 

“Yes.” Sarah said as Shiro and Allura said “No.”

“Krisox thinks it’s them.” 

“I’m sorry, what?” Allura asked, confused. “Who controls the internet? I thought it just....was.” 

“No,” Sarah giggled. “There are these....beings who control and monitor it. I could tell you the simplified way it all works, but honestly, most of it is a mystery.”

“Okay what would they have to do with helping us escape?” Shiro asked. 

“Oh, they’re also the Guardians of the Universe.” Sarah said matter-of-factly. 

“What?!” Shiro and Allura asked at the same time, dumbfounded.  

“Yea they’re like....godlike, and along with making sure everyone’s connected, they make sure the fabric of the universe remains un...uhm....unfucked with, basically.” Sarah answered, pausing a moment to try and find the right word to use before giving up. 

“Krisox thinks that Hagger and Zarkon are really fucking with the universe, and even though the Guardians can’t directly interfere, they can indirectly like....nudge things the way they want em to go.” Kayla continued with a nod. 

“So....gods of the universe have been helping us escape.” Allura stated in disbelief. 

“Yea, that sounds a bit difficult to believe.” Shiro said, slightly unsure. 

“Believe it or not, that's up to you, but that doesn’t change the fact that they exist and this is very in character for them.” Sarah said with a shrug before sliding into the next pose Kayla was demonstrating. 

“How can you be so sure?” Allura asked, skeptical now. 

“Cause they personally reached out to us and allowed us to connect to Earth’s internet. See, they are of the opinion that Earth isn’t ready to join the universal community yet, so all things Earth-related are monitored heavily. But since we’re humans, they gave us and our parents access, under the condition that we do not reveal the universe at large to anyone.”

Allura and Shiro stared wide eyed at her, not sure what to make of the development. 

“I also have a feeling they’re the ones responsible for you going into that other universe for a bit. With the Sarah that went over the edge and started using Black Magic.” 

“What?!” Allura asked in shock as she lost her balance and dropped her pose.

“The fuck?!” Kayla almost shouted, dropping yoga for the moment and facing her sister. 

“Oh...um...shit did we not tell you about that...?” Sarah asked meekly as Shiro scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. 

“That might be my bad.” he said with a nervous chuckle. 

“I’m just as at fault as you are.” Sarah said with a shy smile. 

“You wanna fill us in?” Kayla asked sharply. 

“Oh yea. I don’t know how I got there, but in that universe, I....that Shiro...died fighting Zarkon one on one. And that Sarah...something broke inside her and she became very angry. Revenge became her sole focus, her only motivation. It was hinted that she was tearing the universe apart in her quest.” Shiro explained, grimacing at the memory. 

“What happened then? How’d you get back?” 

“We went to Zarkon’s central command, to use Hagger’s circle, but something went wrong. She....ah....she died, but not before sending me back, I think. Cause next thing I knew, I was in bed in this universe with my Sarah.” he finished, wrapping his arm around Sarah and pulling her to him. Looking down, he found her staring off pensively. “Hey, what’s up?” 

“It’s just...we got to that moment, that pivotal point....I did almost give in to Black Magic, I knew I was dying and it could save me....but then I remembered the promise I made to you...”  She paused frowning. “But...it was a trick, it was Hagger’s trick, you hadn’t actually died....” She shook her head before wiping her eyes.

“What is it?” he asked softly, gently raising her chin so their eyes could meet.

“What if....that’s how it was over there, too.....and she broke and went over the edge and died for nothing....” she murmured, her eyes glistening. 

Shiro froze. He hadn’t thought about that. It was very likely what had actually happened. 

“Well, hey, you guys avoided that outcome in this universe, and everything was fine in the end....?” Kayla said, trying to cheer her sister up. 

“Why....why do you think your Guardians were responsible for Shiro going there?” Allura asked cautiously. 

“That Sarah was destroying that universe. They didn’t want it to happen here.” Sarah said simply, as if it were obvious. 

“They can communicate between universes?” 

“No one knows the full scope of their power.” Kayla said, jumping in so Sarah wouldn’t have to go more in depth. She was thankful; she had become exhausted and was now resting her head against Shiro’s chest. “But I wouldn’t put it past them.” 

The group stood in a heavy silence for a moment, each of the four lost in their own thoughts. 

“Well,” Allura began after a while. “at least they’re on our side?” she asked, smiling tentatively and visibly relaxing when Sarah returned the smile.