#how cool is it that there's so much centered around little robots

[crushmeeren]

༝ ᭝ ༝ ARRANGED MARRIAGE AU — PART TWO ༝ ᭝ ༝

⤷ ⋆ ft. itachi uchiha ⋆

⋆ note ; here is part two! this part is centered around the first time reader has sex with itachi (it’s mediocre, but 100% consensual) — which you can totally skip, a fluffy moment or two between pregnant reader and itachi, some reader and sasuke friendship, plus itachi’s perspective and an important convo with shisui!

⋆ note x 2 ; as always, credit for this idea goes to @majesticflyingwalrus !

‣ ‣ ‣ master list | PART ONE | | PART THREE |

Is sex supposed to be this dull?

Surely not.

Within your clan’s compound you recall sex often being spoken highly of. Giggles and hushed whispers surrounding a forbidden pleasure chased after by so many of the young men and woman living there. Even the ones you’d considered close friends.

It seems your hopes had been aimed too high. Or perhaps that’s too pessimistic. Maybe sex will improve, this is, after all, only the first time you’ve given yourself to Itachi.

Little foreplay was involved as you stripped bare and laid down on the bed. A few brief kisses in the beginning, Itachi’s mouth tasting of the matcha tea he’d drank before. Lips pressed along the line of your throat once or twice, coaxing your lower belly to burn, but it hadn’t progressed much past that. Itachi stroked himself to full hardness before you could get your hand on his cock, assuring you he preferred to do it.

That stung.

In the present, cool cotton sheets bunch up in your curled fingers, thighs spread open wide by Itachi’s palms. The push and pull of his cock stretches your pussy better than your fingers ever could, prickles of pleasure gathering in your pelvis, tickling the base of your spine.

But the atmosphere holds an awkward edge to it. Besides the occasional flickers of heat, the tension is all consuming.

Itachi downright refuses to look you in the eyes. Each time you lift your chin to peak at his face his gaze darts to the side, biting the tip of his tongue in what appears to be concentration. Or discomfort.

It’s hard to read your husband.

There’s no sweet words directed your way. No real passion in the way Itachi moves, thrusts remaining at a steady pace the entire time, somewhat robotic.

You give up trying to catch his eye, redirecting your attention to his stomach. The lean muscles flex and roll under the strain of his hips. It’s surprising how erotic the view is, catching you off guard, and hot desire forces your pussy to clench tight around Itachi. His breath hitches and a low moan spills out. You look up in time to watch his mouth part and a pink tongue dart out to lick across his upper lip.

“Itachi,” you breathe, his pleasure spurring on your own. You lock eyes and his lids are halfway shut, brows pinching together.

His pace slows. “Is everything alright? Have I hurt you?” His voice is rougher than usual.

“No.” You shake your head. “I just..” you trail off, unsure whether to spill your guts about how hot he sounded a moment ago. You opt to keep silent, refusing to make him uncomfortable with your desire. With the tension he’s been carrying since the start, it’s obvious he wants this to be over with as quick as possible. “It’s nothing, keep going.”

He doesn’t thrust any faster, considering your words. “Are you being honest with me?”

The question surprises you. “I’m being honest. Please Itachi, I don’t want you to stop.”

Itachi continues to see straight through you, like you’re made of glass.

“Okay,” he relents, tone conveying how little he believes you. “I’ll be swift, I don’t want you to be uncomfortable any longer.” It feels like an apology as one of his hands comes up to cradle the side of your face. You push into the touch, eager for a shred of his affection.

His palm is warm, and the lump in your throat is difficult to swallow, eyes squeezed shut in the face of his words. You’re the furthest thing from uncomfortable. You’re happy to get the chance to connect with him so intimately. His dick is incredible, and you wish he’d explore more with you to find what made you both dizzy with lust.

But he doesn’t want that.

Itachi is a gentleman through and through. After it’s over, he stays behind to help you relax. He brings back a warm wash cloth and draws you a bath, aware that you’d be sore after having sex for the first time. He guides you by the hand, allowing you to use him as leverage to step into the bath and sink into the water.

“I put some of my salts in the bath. It helps with soreness,” he explains, fingers untangling from yours as you find a comfortable position and sigh in relief.

You stare up at him, a grateful smile on your face. “Thank you, Itachi.” You chew on your bottom lip, heart skipping a beat as you consider your next question. “Would you care to join me?”

Itachi’s answering smile is so sweet it’s unfair, eyes soft and longing. “Perhaps another time, I’ve got some business to attend to.”

You choose to focus on the water, fingertips breaking the surface and diving below. You don’t want him to see your disappointment. “I understand. Another time, then.”

Itachi lingers but you refuse to look at him. His apologetic demeanor will just make it worse. He leaves things unsaid between you, and the pit in your stomach threatens to weigh you down until you’re dragged below the surface.

Things…change after you find out you’re pregnant. Not for worse, for the better, and it surprises the hell out of you. Itachi, who you assumed would keep his lukewarm attitude, becomes more intertwined in your life. Carrying out small gestures to show he cares and pays attention to your needs.

During the second trimester is when the worst of your cravings hit.

The little Uchiha baby in your belly is now the size of an avocado, the obvious bump making it known you’re carrying Itachi’s heir. She’s growing bigger by the day and you’re sure it’s her fault your sweet tooth is aching, begging for sugary treats.

Well, to be fair, you’re unable to prove she’s a she at this point, as Itachi has pointed out several times, but intuition promises otherwise.

Either way, full fledged dreams of warm, chewy chocolate chip cookies have plagued you all week. It’s driving you up the wall, and today not a single thing will get in the way of baking the perfect batch.

You’d ruined them the previous couple times, flour scattered all over the counters as if a tornado swept through. First, it was the wrong type of butter, then you set the timer wrong and they were a bit overbaked. Simple mistakes, but they change the entire outcome of the cookie. Itachi found you after the second time standing at the island, tears falling all over the ruined sweets.

Third times the charm, though.

The sound of soft slippers meeting hard wood fills the otherwise empty hallway, your palm lifting to rest at the top of your belly. Your hand follows the curve of it, ending at the underside as you journey slowly towards the kitchen.

Rounding the last corner, stepping into the kitchen with intention, you halt mid step when you notice you’re not alone. The outline of Itachi’s back greets you, long hair tied into a braid, flowing like a waterfall down to his waist. He’s standing at the counter fiddling with something you’re unable to see.

“So, you’ve escaped clan business for the afternoon?”

“Oh!” Itachi startles, jumping about a foot in the air. He whips around to face you, a mixing bowl cradled tight to his chest with one arm. “Goodness, you scared me!” Itachi places his free hand over his chest, settling his racing heart. “Yes, I’ve managed to excuse myself for the rest of the day,” he answers, glaring half heartedly.

You take a few steps closer, lips lifting in amusement. “That’s great, but what brings you to the kitchen?” You nod towards the mixing bowl in question. “It’s not often I find you here.”

His eyes flicker between you and the bowl. “I thought I’d attempt to bake cookies,” he explains, somewhat sheepish. “For you.”

Your eyebrows raise, cheeks heating up. “For me?”

Itachi nods, shifting to set the mixing bowl on the counter. “For you. For our baby,” he confirms. His expression is warm and words stick to the inside of your throat. “After the last time I’m convinced you’re in desperate need of my help.”

You ignore the insult to your baking skills, becoming a whirlwind of emotions as your eyes sting with oncoming tears. “Itachi!” You cry, surging forward to wind your arms around his waist, baby bump keeping you from fully connecting. “That’s so sweet!”

Your husband chuckles and hugs you in return, rubbing your upper back as he does. “I’m happy to do this for you. You’re growing our baby, you deserve to be waited on hand and foot.”

Itachi’s words continue to be confusing. They’re so sincere, so meaningful, and sometimes you convince yourself they’re could be more than friendship in your marriage. The threat of rejection, however, of crumbling your new life, squeezes your heart, and you stay silent instead of asking for more.

A moment passes before Itachi unravels from the hug, holding your shoulders and pushing you backwards, promising this time the cookies will be perfect.

And they are.

⇣ ༝ ⇣ ༝ ⇣

Fall has arrived in full force. With it comes gloomy skies, shorter days, and a sharp chill that bites at your cheeks and fingertips. Your hesitation to go on daily walks grows more powerful by the hour. Being six months pregnant takes it’s toll on your lower back and feet. The cold makes it a hundred times worse.

Sasuke’s been too busy to join you as of late. Itachi may be head of the clan but Sasuke is still saddled with his fair share of duties. So you’ve been going alone. The scenery is still beautiful, leaves coloring to burnt oranges and rustic reds — it’s just much more boring without your friend’s occasional commentary and snide remarks. Or the gossip he fills you in on.

Dusk is approaching within the next hour or so, and you’ve resigned yourself to the fact it’s better overall for your health and the baby’s if you don’t skip out on walking.

One more layer should suffice to fight off the chill, so you slip on an extra long sleeve underneath, finishing the outfit by zipping up a thick fluffy coat and adjusting a scarf around your neck.

The door slides shut behind you, feet guiding you in the direction of the well worn path you wander each day. Shivering, you stuff your hands in your pockets, taking only a handful of steps before a familiar voice calls out your name. Your head perks up, twisting left to see Itachi striding your way. His hair is windswept, a few strands whipping in front of his face, cheeks rosy from the cold.

He looks oh so handsome.

“Where are you off to?” Itachi asks when he gets close. The sweet smile he wears gives you the sensation that the clouds have parted and warm sun now shines on your face.

“I was just about to go for my walk.”

He hums, unable to hide the slight bitterness to his tone when he asks, “Without Sasuke?”

You laugh, amused, and nod. “Yes, he’s quite busy today.”

“I see.” He pauses. “Well, would you be opposed if I accompanied you and our baby girl instead? I am not fond of the idea of you two going alone,” he says, serious and steady.

“We’d love for you to join us.” It’s a conscious effort to speak through the butterflies in your belly. You turn and begin walking once more, Itachi falling in step beside you. “Besides, I believe Mio has missed you today, she settled down as soon as she heard your voice.”

“Just Mio? Nobody else?” Itachi teases, arm swaying with his footsteps, hand bumping against yours. Your heart thumps in your throat.

Glancing at him from the corner of your eye, you will your cheeks not to flush. “Maybe I have too,” you say softly, the koi pond you and Sasuke visit often coming into view.

“I’ve missed you both,” he admits. Itachi’s hand keeps touching yours, and the urge to lace your fingers together is so strong it aches.

So you change the subject. “Do you mind if we sit for a moment? My back is starting to hurt.” You gesture towards the bench near the pond, altering your pathway.

“Of course. Do we need to return home? Are you able to continue walking?” Itachi arrives at the bench first, rounding it and waiting to offer you an arm to sit you down with ease.

“No, no I’m alright, Itachi,” you reassure, leaning back with a sigh. “I appreciate your concern. She just seems to grow bigger by the day and continuously play kickball against my ribs.”

Itachi laughs, sitting down beside you. He leaves enough space between you to be courteous. You wish he’d get closer, help you fight off the chilly wind.

There’s idle chatter detailing your days, Itachi asking what he needs to do next to help get Mio’s room ready. You get caught up on boring clan business. Spending any sort of quality time with Itachi, listening to the smooth, low cadence of his voice, drains the tension from your shoulders and fills you with light.

Too soon you rise from the bench to finish your walk, the sunset bleeding into the sky.

The silence on the way home is comforting. You’re able to enjoy Itachi’s presence next to you with no interruptions. His hand, as if it never ceased, continues its pattern of knocking into yours. As you’re about to shove your hand in your pocket to stop the torture he breaks the quiet.

“I do not wish to make you uncomfortable, but I cannot stop myself from wanting to hold your hand. Is that alright?”

When you look at him he’s already staring, undivided attention settled entirely on you, and it sends a shock down your spine. “I — yes. You don’t have to ask, I’d never be uncomfortable with that.”

Itachi hits you with another warm grin and your insides melt under the pressure. Slender fingers lace through yours, gently squeezing, and you wonder if Itachi notices the heavy beat of your heart through your fingers.

Conversation flows between you once more on the way home, and it’s not until later that evening you realize holding Itachi’s hand had chased off the bitter chill of the wind. You hadn’t felt cold at all.

“Your brother drives me crazy.”

You sit down next to Sasuke with a huff, couch creaking as Mio squirms in your arms. She reaches her tiny, chubby arms out for her uncle the moment she sees him, cooing in delight.

Sasuke snorts, sparing you a glance as he accepts the seven month old baby with ease. “My brother drives me crazy.” The smile on his face is genuine, eyes soft and happy as he says something unintelligible to his niece. “What did the princess do this time?” He doesn’t look at you while he speaks, distracted by Mio smacking his cheek.

For a moment all you can do is rub your eyes with the heels of your palms and sigh. You lower them to your lap, scanning the living room and all the baby toys scattered about, just begging to be tripped on.

You shift your gaze back to the adorable sight of your daughter and Sasuke. “Does Itachi love me?”

“Yes,” Sauske answers, tone suggesting you’re an idiot for thinking otherwise.

You frown and shove his shoulder. “Don’t say it like I’m stupid. I know Itachi loves me, but I’m asking if he’s in love with me.”

Sasuke’s shoulders tense up, eyeing you from his peripheral. “Are you in love with him?” He fires back. Mio leans forward and rests her face in the crook of his neck, chunky little fingers fisting his shirt as her eyes start to slip shut. She missed her afternoon nap.

“Sasuke!” You throw your hands up in the air. “You already know I am! Why won’t you just tell me the truth?”

“How should I know? I’m not Itachi’s keeper.”

“You’re his little brother.”

“Way to point out the fuckin’ obvious.”

You let out a frustrated noise and relent trying to squeeze the answer from him. He does this every time. Instead, you rest your temple on his shoulder, head heavy with sudden fatigue. Mio sleeps soundly on Sasuke’s chest.

“Whatever, don’t tell me.”

Sasuke sighs as if this the most irritating conversation he’s ever had the misfortune of being apart of. “Why don’t you ask him?”

“I can’t just ask him,” you whine. “It’s so difficult to read him. His actions confuse me. Sometimes I swear he feels the same. Other times it’s as if we’ll never go further than friends, cursed to live as roommates.”

“Wow, you can’t read the queen of neutrality’s thoughts? I’m shocked. Truly.” Sasuke’s rolling his eyes, you’re sure of it.

“Remind me why we’re friends?”

A soft knock on the frame of the living room draws your attention, cutting off any snarky answer Sasuke could have replied with.

“Am I interrupting something?” Itachi asks, raising an eyebrow when you meet his sour gaze. He crosses his arms over his chest.

You lift your head off Sasuke’s shoulder with a yawn, shaking your head. “No,” you answer, pulling a leg up underneath you. “Sasuke’s being a dick, and Mio’s napping on said jerk’s chest because she missed her’s earlier.”

Itachi’s features smooth out, a hint of a teasing smile on his lips. “So everything is as usual then?”

“Hey!” Sasuke protests, loudly, and Mio stirs in his arms.

“Sasuke,” Itachi scolds, shooting him a stern look that he’s only putting on to get a rise out of his little brother. “Don’t wake my daughter, please.”

You join Itachi in picking on Sasuke. “Yeah Sasuke, quit being so loud. Haven’t you ever heard of an inside voice? You may be Mio’s favorite uncle now but you won’t be if you wake her up from her nap.”

Sasuke grinds his teeth together. He supports Mio’s bottom with one arm, hugs her tight to his chest with the other, and stands up. “Fuck off, I’m her only uncle. I’m taking your daughter and never coming back,” he threatens, striding forward and glaring at his brother as he passes him by.

You and Itachi share a grin. “Bring her back before her bedtime please!” Itachi calls out over his shoulder, the front door slamming shut after Sasuke. His pathetic threat is just an excuse to take Mio on a walk and show her the flowers once she wakes up, visit his Mother, and then return her before bedtime. It’s become a pattern.

Itachi steps closer and offers you a hand. You accept, letting him pull you to your feet. “Now that the little demon is occupied, interested in making dinner with me?” You start heading to the kitchen.

Itachi trails behind you. “Sasuke or Mio? They both share a demonic energy.”

You laugh, smiling at him over your shoulder. “I can’t argue with that. Although, I think Mio gets it from him.”

“I’m afraid you’re right.”

Itachi ends up cooking something while you watch. He told you he had a new recipe he wanted to try out and he looked so excited you couldn’t refuse.

Sasuke returns Mio, a little bundle of energy, back to you about an hour later.

Your husband joins you in giving her a bath and reading to her until she’s down for the night. Then the two of you linger in her doorway, your least favorite part of the evening upon you. The part that’s just past awkward as you trade goodnight’s with Itachi and retreat to separate bedrooms.

One day, you hope, Itachi will join you in your bed instead of leaving you to sleep alone.

It’s late in the afternoon on Mio’s first birthday when Shisui finds Itachi sulking.

The party is long over, sun shining bright in a blue, cloudless sky, and Itachi sits on the edge of his porch, feet tucked underneath himself. He watches his baby girl play with you and his little brother in the yard, careless and free. Mio squeals with laughter when a butterfly touches her hand, filling Itachi’s chest with affection.

Itachi notices Sasuke say something to you, making your head tilt back with a laugh. He’s out of earshot, unaware of what’s been said, but it brings a well known jealousy to the forefront. It’s become an old friend at this point.

Someone sits down beside Itachi with enough force that the wooden porch protests under them, a hand landing on his shoulder. Itachi holds in an exasperated sigh. He knows it’s Shisui without even looking.

“What’s with the kicked puppy expression? It’s unlike you to pout,” Shisui says, kicking his feet where they hang over the edge.

Itachi frowns and shakes Shisui’s hand from his shoulder. “That is not what I’m doing.”

“Okaayy,” he drags out the word. “So you’re jealous then, gotcha.” Shisui nods to himself.

Itachi’s eyebrow twitches. “Jealous of Sasuke? Why would I be jealous of my own little brother?”

Shisui snickers. “I didn’t even say his name, Itachi! And if you’re not, why are you staring at him with enough force to burn a hole into the side of his head?”

Itachi has no leg to stand on, caught red handed. “That’s, I’m not — I am not jealous of Sasuke, Shisui.”

“You’re lying Itachi. I know you too well, cousin,” Shisui teases, leaning in close to poke him in the cheek.

Itachi ignores the other man, staring without blinking as you stand up straight, Mio supported on your hip. You smile sweetly at him once he catches your gaze and his belly does flips. You whisper in your daughter’s ear and point at him. Mio grins, face lighting up, and reaches out for her daddy, oblivious to how far away he’s actually sitting.

Itachi’s breath catches, seeing the sun surround you with a warm glow, and he feels as though he’s never seen colors so vibrant and vivid before in his life. You hold the beauty of an Angel, and he’s so so lucky you’re his wife. The Mother of his child.

It doesn’t hit Itachi all at once. No, falling in love with you has crept up on Itachi over the past few years. Burrowing deep in his heart and growing like a well watered plant.

“Shisui,” he says softly, waiting for the other man to reply with a hum. “I’m in love with her.”

Shisui almost falls off the porch in shock. He knew Itachi was in love, he just never believed he’d confess to it out loud. “You haven’t been hiding that secret very well, cousin.” He bumps his shoulder playfully against Itachi’s. “What are you going to do about it?”

“What if it’s not reciprocated?”

Shisui’s laughter bursts from him. He holds his stomach and curls in half, creating such a spectacle that you and Sasuke look to them with concern. Itachi’s cheeks are surely flushed from embarrassment. He lifts one hand in a lame attempt to wave as Shisui sobers up.

You wave back, setting Mio in the ground. Sasuke holds one of her hands and you take the other, helping her walk across the grass to the porch. Itachi’s heart rate picks up, praying that Shisui doesn’t slip up and give him away.

As soon as you’re within reach Itachi slides off the porch and crouches down, arms open wide to accept Mio. She wiggles her hands free and reaches forward, closing the last tiny bit of distance with wobbly steps before falling into his chest. Itachi scoops her up with ease, rising to his full height.

“Hello my little cherry blossom,” he coos, resting his forehead on hers. She giggles and places her hands on his cheeks, squishy them together before she presses a kiss to his chin. Then Mio wraps her arms around his neck and pillows her cheek on his shoulder.

He loves her so much he could cry.

“She’s tired,” you comment, sending him warm smile. You place a hand on Itachi’s bicep and squeeze. “It’s been a long afternoon, I’m sure she’d benefit from a nap.”

“I could use a nap, I ate way too many sweets!” Shisui says, joining the small circle the four of you have formed.

“Like that’s a surprise,” Sasuke mumbles.

Shisui pouts. “Rude! Sasuke, you’re the one —,”

“Before this escalates further, I’m going to put Mio down for a nap,” Itachi cuts him off.

You crowd in close and kiss Mio on the forehead. “That’s a good idea, thank you. Sasuke is going to help me put away leftover food.” You grin at Itachi with mischief in your eye, grabbing Sasuke’s arm to tug him towards the sliding door, ignoring his complaints. Itachi laughs and watches with fondness as the two of you disappear inside.

“Don’t be so ignorant, Itachi.”

Itachi whips his head towards Shisui, eyebrows raised to his hairline. “Pardon me?”

Shisui rolls his eyes, tries to hold back a smile, but fails, and pats Itachi on the back. “I said, don’t be so ignorant. She loves you too, you’d be blind not to see it. You’ve been waiting all this time, struggling to come to terms with your feelings. Don’t you realize she’s been waiting just as long? Suffering just as long while you get your shit together?”

“I suppose the thought didn’t occur to me,” he answers lamely, shifting his weight and readjusting his grip on a sleeping one year old.

“Itachi I love you, but you’re so dense sometimes. Tell her the truth. You can spend the rest of your life making up for it.”

Itachi is unsure of what to say after that, leaving Shisui in the yard to retreat inside and put Mio down for her nap. Shisui’s right, and Itachi is overwhelmed with the urge to….to do something.

You‘ll be sharing a bed soon enough, he promises himself that.

what do we think?? part three will be the conclusion, so hope you all are excited as i am!

little taglist for all my peeps who commented on part one! if i did not tag you it’s because i could not verify that you were over 18 and this part has some 18+ stuff in it.

regardless, i want to thank everyone so much for your love and comments! (ˆ ̳ , ̫ , ̳ˆ)

⇣ ༝ ⇣ ༝ ⇣

| @biashellandflyashell | @misslovingpearl | @kurokawaia | @notgoodforlife | @lamplitesatnight | @mutsu422 | @melancholyshadow |

[i-am-hungry-24-7]

Since you open ask box and request, can I get TF141 men (or Ghost and Gaz if you don't feel like to write all of them) reacting to cool, rarely smile, intimidating and stoic reader finally smiling for the first time. Let's say reader has soft spot for certain things (cat, dog, book, flower etc) and they immediately smile when they see them without realize it. Boys just keep falling harder for reader and decide to make it their mission to make reader smiles more often.

I guess that's all for now. Thank you

🦈

hello🦈 anon!! Sorry I wasn't sure you want me to write them separately or together, so I chose the latter lmao. Hope you will like it (or don't hate it), TYSM for the request :) I love this request so much since I'm always a fan of cool reader. tf141*GN!Reader, Reader's kinda tsundere word count: 1.9k

Every member of Task Force 141 saw you as a capable teammate, you went through thick and thin with them, and always have their back. On the field, your shooting accuracy and excellent combat skills saved you and the team many times, quickly clearing any threat so the mission wouldn’t be compromised. You have rarely been scolded by Price, and always dealt with your paperwork impeccably. The only problem was that you’re too stoic, they never saw you smile from the first day you joined the task force. More like a robot than a human, this is how others evaluated you, and you had an aura that made recruits afraid to speak to you.

You even smiled less than Ghost, at least the man still got some dry humor and bad jokes to spit out, but you rarely reacted to greetings except a nod, less to say about Soap and Gaz joking with you, they were lucky if you spared them a crook of your eyebrows to their teasing that day. but this only made your teammates curious —especially Soap — eager to know the person under the facade, even if it was just a little. Soap wrote down what he discovered from you every day in his journal, from how you always have your tea, to trivial habits like you would frown nearly imperceptibly when you see the cafeteria is out of your favorite sandwich. Soap would tell other men about what he finds about you today, and they would keep those details in mind too. Until the day, Laswell brought a big cake which she was gifted by others but she was unable to finish it herself. They saw your eyes brighten instantly, and an expectant smile blooms on your face. Your eyes stuck on the exquisite big cake in front of you, not aware of Gaz gaping at your smile like he saw the sun rise from the west today, how Price immediately stopped his hand while smoking his cigar so he could take a good look, even Ghost’s eyes were wide like full moon behind his mask. It wasn't until Soap’s yelp that dragged you out of your trance, and you turned around just to find all your teammates staring at you like you were an alien. “Any issues, MacTavish?” Confused, you asked Soap who made you stop staring at the cake. “You- You can smile?” “Did I?” “Well, let’s finish this quickly so it won’t left over to tomorrow” Price raised his hand to interrupt the talk before Soap could say other things “The fridge has no place to put this bloody huge cake.” After Price’s command, all of you walked and took a plate and fork. Price sliced a medium size for him, Ghost did the same. Soap took the knife and sliced a slightly bigger one for him and Gaz, but when he was about to cut one for you, you reached out your hand to beckon a “give me” gesture, which Soap obliged and handed over the handle to you. Only for him to see you slice 1/3 of that damn enormous cake and put it on your plate. “Wha- ye sure ye can eat all of ‘em ?!” His jaw dropped at the huge slice of cake that made the center of your paper plate sink, but only received an “huh” face from you. Well, his concern was unneeded, because you devoured the whole thing in 5 minutes, faster than everyone else, and stood up to cut another piece. “you really like cake ain’t you.” Gaz chuckled at the scene where you almost bury your face in the plate. “No.” “Then why are you smiling like a kid who sees their favorite toy?” Frowning, you touched your cheek to check, and oh shit, you truly were. “I-“ your face changed from :D to :| while you tried to find an excuse “It’s just Captain said that don’t leave the cake overnight, so I’m eating this much, not that I love cake.”

Even though your poor excuse, all of them knew their new goal now: bringing you cakes so they could see the pretty smile enthralled them. The first who brought you cake is Ghost, he saw a strawberry shortcake on his way back to the base, he didn’t think twice before he told the staff to wrap the cake for him. and he was sure his decision was right when he showed it to you, and you two sat in the common area. He drank the tea you made for him as appreciation while watching that pretty smile reappear on your face again. “Look who said they don’t love cakes, and eatin’ like a man who haven’t eaten in days now.” He lifted his mask to his nose to drink the tea, so when you shot him a glare, you could see the smirk spreading on his lips. “You bought it and I don’t want to waste it, that’s it.” you stabbed the fork on the cake. Ghost huffed out a laugh at your answer, but when you went back to swallow a full spoon of whipped cream, he took note in his mind to buy you the chocolate mousse he saw at the store next time, so the precious expression.

Gaz bought you an Earl Grey mille crepe cake a few days after, which was the flavor of your favorite tea. “It’s it good?” He gave you a toothly grin that you thought was too dazzling when the “not bad” slipped out your lips whilst you were busy finishing the cake. He sat beside you and ate the slice you cut for him, and he rambled about what happened today to entertain you. You pretended you were not interested, eyes never left the cake, but you memorized everything he said clearly.

Of course, Soap wouldn’t forget to dig into this breakthrough of yours. A big ‘they love CAKES!’ was written in his journal, with 2 circles highlighting the words. He considered you have eaten crepe cake and shortcake from Ghost and Gaz, so he got you a basque cheesecake. “What is this?” You tilted your head when you opened the take-out box. “basque cheesecake. Heard it from the medics.” Soap watched you attentively take a little bite at the cake, and he laughed when your face beamed up in a second. “Not bad?” He knew you just refused to admit you love cakes. You answered with your cheeks stuffed with cheesecake. “NAOW BAA” After he waved goodbye to you, he came back to his barrack, he opened his journal. a big ‘Basque cheesecake ✔️’ had been added under the circles.

The captain hadn’t let the chances to see your face gleam with happiness slip by too. As usual, you came to his office with a flawless report, and for some debrief about the next mission. When it was over and you were about to leave, he called your name to stop you from exiting. “Is there anything I forgot to tell you, Captain?” Your face was serious, without any improper or unprofessional, but it didn’t last long because Price took out a fresh cream Swiss roll. “You’re going to drool all over your shirt, sergeant.” He teased and received a little scowl from you, but the harmless scowl was unable to stop him from fixating on and mesmerized by the satisfied grin that lingered on your face when you made both of you some tea and started consuming the whole roll.

You got pampered by all 4 men of your team for months. Thanks to the high amount of exercise, you didn’t gain belly fat, and getting lots of cakes from them had you started gifting them things too. You got Ghost some nice whiskey when you came back from leave, which he gladly accepted and invited you to drink together. You gave Soap some snacks from your hometown and stationeries for journaling, and almost get squished into a dough by his tight embrace. Gaz got some game cards from you, and when he surprisingly asked you why you knew he wanted those games for a while, you just shrugged and walked away, there was no chance that you were gonna tell him you had been listening to him and Soap chatting about them. Price entered his office one day morning, and saw his box of favorite cigars and tea being placed on his desk. He realized it was you in the blink of an eye, only you would choose to secretly put gifts and refuse to leave a note indicating who you were. He just patted your head and thanked you when he met you in the training room.

Times flew fast when your life was occupied with missions and training (and cakes). Tonight you went out for a while to buy something for your teammates, since they still insisted on feeding you cakes frequently, recompensing them with gifts they loved had become your habit too. but when you searched from the common room to Price’s office, you couldn’t find any of them. Odd, you thought, you hadn’t heard them leaving the base too, you even searched each of their room, which still lacked their figures. Furrowing your brows, you decided to go back to your room, maybe you could give them tomorrow. What you didn’t expect was when you opened the door of your room, you were welcomed by Soap and Gaz’s exciting voice. “Happy birthday!” “Jesus… I was searching for all of you…” Your eyes rounded “Wait… It’s my birthday today?” “Don’t tell me ye didn’ remember!” Soap, who standing closest to you and with a birthday cake, shoved you playfully with his elbow. “I…” You glanced at the calendar hanging on your wall, unable to form words when you realized it really was your birthday today. “Come take a seat, love.” Price’s words help you fill the silence. You slowly closed the door behind you, and your gaze traveled from the elegant cake, the flames dancing on the candle, to your teammates — the people you trusted with your life. “A cake makes you stupid, sergeant?” You heard Ghost chuckle at your reaction, but you didn’t glower at him this time, because you felt tears welled up in your eyes, uncontrollably. “Oh no, lovie’s going ta cry!” Gaz joked at you while he led you to your seat. You blinked away tears before they could escape, and smack at Gaz’s bicep. “Shut up, Garrick.” The laughs and jokes filled your little room with joy, you sat there listening to Gaz and Soap banter with Ghost about how he was so selective about the cake so they could give you the best one, and as Ghost retorted back, a plate was handed to you. The biggest slice among others, full of whipped cream and fruits decorating it. You picked up the fork and started eating, the sweetness spread inside your mouth, with the fruit neutralizing it and taking the taste to a whole other level. “Ye always smile when ye eatin’ cakes, you know? really like cakes don’t ye?” You raised your head from the plate, and finding everyone looking at you, with such softness you questioned yourself if you were able to reciprocate, and you touched your cheeks, you could feel the corner of your lips curling upwards. but this time, you deepened your grin, warm and fascinating, before you picked up your fork again. “Maybe I do.”

[kaibutsushidousha]

The Hundred Line character design team interview from Famitsu issue 1895

Hello, Mr. Komatsuzaki and Shimadrill. Tell us how you felt when you read the first project presentation for The Hundred Line.

Rui Komatsuzaki: The initial project proposal already had a pretty solid general idea of the plot, so I only needed to expand on that. The Hundred Line's key concept was 100 endings, so I could already predict that my usual amount of illustrations wouldn't cut it. The actual number went way above my already high expectations. I wasn't used to working this much (pained laughter).

Shimadrill: I joined Too Kyo Games because I was a fan of Kodaka's and Komatsuzaki's work, so I felt like I had to keep up no matter how tough it got. Kodaka and Komatsuzaki are particularly fast workers. I didn't even have time to complain without how much I needed to do.

What exactly was requested for the designs of the Special Defense Unit members?

Kazutaka Kodaka: I gave Komatsuzaki the story's script and a document listing characteristics and nicknames of each character (delinquent for Yakushiji, punk rock for Amemiya, and so on) and asked him to come up with the designs.

Komatsuzaki: The design workflow was the same it was in the previous games. Instead of nailing their characterization one-by-one, I started with a draft of the whole cast based only on the amount and general characteristics of them. I used that to fine-tune the collective balance of the cast, and only after that part was settled that I gave the characters individual attention.

Was the process smooth?

Komatsuzaki: Speaking of things being the same as usual, the first version of the mascot characters was never altered. SIREI got approved at the first try.

Kodaka: Back then, I still hadn't given SIREI's character much thought, so Komatsuzaki could go with whatever design he wanted. SIREI's quirks derived from the design rather than the other way around.

Was NIGOU just as easy?

Komatsuzaki: Yeah. I was told NIGOU could be just a palette swap of SIREI, but I wanted them to be a little different, resulting in the current design.

Any other important points?

Komatsuzaki: I really wanted SIREI and NIGOU to be transparent. After that, I exposed their brains and hearts.

Kodaka: I didn't know how to react when he drew a brain after I had already told him SIREI was a robot. I wasn't sure if it was okay for robots to have brains. But later I came to the conclusion that the best computer imaginable would be one capable of utilizing a live human brain. My final decision was that SIREI and NIGOU are equipped with advanced computers that only resemble human brains, but that's a lore tidbit that never gets said in-game.

Cool.

Komatsuzaki: Also, having read the story, I could imagine this game mascot would take some serious damage, so I thought it was better not to make them animal-themed like Monokuma was. I don't want to see an animal-like mascot being seriously harmed. So I tried to give him a design more tolerable to brutalize.

Changing the subject to the Special Defense Unit, who would you consider the most memorable student?

Komatsuzaki: Unlike my previous games, The Hundred Line has combat outfits, which are mostly uniform for every character. To make the characters easier to identify during combat, there was a greater need to give them diverse, distinct, and memorable body types and heads. This means their conceptualization had great emphasis on their heads and physiques. I'd say Amemiya is the most memorable character. She set the bar for how striking they should be. I tend to use muted colors a lot, but Amemiya's design was an attempt to use colors I normally don't. The cast was balanced with her at the center of the scale.

Speaking of characters, I noticed they have a lot of sprites, as usual. How many did you make per character?

Komatsuzaki: The plan was making about 20 per character, totaling around 300 sprites, but I was wrong in predicting the real number would be 3 digits. There are so many that I stopped counting along the way.

How many did you have counted by the time you gave up?

Komatsuzaki: The total of sprites about 1 year before the game was gold was 1368. I kept making more after that, but I can't give a general figure because I was too afraid to count them.

Drill: No estimates for the final number?

Kodaka: We have over 100 per character, with the biggest ones reaching 200, so… I guess over 2000 in total?

How did you get this many?

Komatsuzaki: Sprite production involves the following steps: 1. I draw drafts for the sprites based the expressions and scenes that pop up in my head while I'm reading the story. 2. I refine the drafts. 3. I put together the sprite list while examining which variations are essential and which are redundant. However, this time the story was too long and I could never be done reading all of it, and until I finish reading, the sprite list only keeps increasing. I had a lot more expressions than usual before the first selection.

Kodaka: We tried to lower the amount. But there's a good reason why the number spiralled out of control: in The Hundred Line, each writer did the screen composition for their own stories. One goes "Keep this one, I'll use it", another goes "Keep this one, I'll use it", and little by little we end up with less thing to cut off, and even more things to add (awkward laughs).

Komatsuzaki: I obviously didn't predict this bloat. Face portraits are far from the only thing I got the amount of digits wrong in THL. I never want to be in a game this overblown again…

Kodaka: But thanks to Komatsuzaki drawing full-body sprites, we could do things we couldn't in previous titles. In Danganronpa, the characters had fixed on-field portraits and only changed expressions when zoomed in for conversation. In The Hundred Line, their sprites can be placed with expressions that fit the situation right from the get-go, making this game feel more living and breathing than its predecessors.

How did the designs for the Class Weapons and Class Armors came to be?

Komatsuzaki: The initial plan was to get the Class Weapons designed by someone other than myself. I had to make The Hundred Line's concept art in a period where I was extremely busy with another game and didn't have much time to work on it. But, for reasons I cannot disclose, requesting the other person stopped being a viable possibility. In the end, I had to do everything myself. I chose the weapons for every student, but since that's very relevant for combat, I first asked Media Vision to give me a general idea of size and shape, then added the defining details based on that.

Kodaka: Amemiya's Class Weapon are kitchen knifes that float midair for no reason. That's something better conveyed by showing a mock-up than by describing verbally.

Some of the Class Weapons are very peculiar. Do they have a shared theme? If yes, what?

Komatsuzaki: The design idea was that they had to seem made of bone and blood, so many of the smaller details look fleshy.

Any favorite Class Weapon?

Komatsuzaki: The most costly ones to produce are the ones that occupy my mind the most. Specifically, Yakushiji's bike, Kawana's AC, and Ginzaki's robot. The robot in particular was hell for Media Vision. I'm truly sorry about that. Most weapons match their mock-ups in size, but the robot was the only one I had to make bigger than they wanted.

Why?

Komatsuzaki: A robot needs to be big enough to comfortably fit Ginzaki inside the cockpit (awkward laughs). Also, thanks to me inventing the whole gimmick of the robot transforming into a shield, Media Vision had loads of extra work for the transformation sequence. I'm very grateful to them for producing a functional transformation sequence despite how the concept art I gave them illustrating what part moves where was so full of errors.

Kodaka: We sorta went crazy with the amount of animations on the robot, but thanks to Media Vision, it looks awesome.

Next, I'd like to ask about Class Armor. What was the design process like?

Komatsuzaki: Like with Class Weapons, I remember producing them on my spare time from other work. First I produced Sumino's to be the base for the other suits, and I wanted them their outfits to look unkempt by default. I actually wanted them to run around in mantles, but since those are time-consuming to model in 3D, that idea was cut from the game. Class Armors are made from blood, so having mantles or not doesn't really matter… That said, the battle models were made by Media Vision's modeller and I had to be insistent to get him to make them the way I drew. I feel so sorry for the sheer amount of constraints he had to work through.

Kirifuji's suit really stands out.

Komatsuzaki: That was a high-effort design. Kirifuji's suit had to be different from everyone else's, for lore reasons.

Kodaka: I was okay with hers being just a palette swap of the others, but Komatsuzaki went with a design that much better reflects her lore.

Komatsuzaki: It's a great design that I came to regret once I had to make multiple sprites for it. It's not the easiest design to draw (pained laughs).

What exactly was requested for the monster designs with the School Invaders and their Commanders?

Kodaka: I told Drill to make the Invaders colorful and toy-like. The popness of the enemy designs contrasts against the overall seriousness of the story, making them more unsettling, in my opinion. It was also decided from the start that the enemies could take more vicious forms, so I believe starting colorful would add to the creepiness of the transformations.

Drill: This request from Kodaka was the basis of the Invader production, and I also took a page from Komatsuzaki's book, only finishing them individually after I had already figured out the balance of the whole group. I remember that, when lining up the full roster of Invaders, I focused on making their silhouettes resemble capsule toys.

Komatsuzaki: I remember you going out to check real figures.

Drill: I took a trip to Nakano Broadway to study soft vinyl kaiju figures.

They're so colorful that every battle had me wanting to eat them.

Kodaka: Did I ever say I wanted the Darumarrs to look like a mixed blob of jelly beans?

Drill: You did. Then I suggested that displaying them as flocks of 3 in one tile would highlight the mixed blob factor and give off the feeling of fighting against large numbers. The idea of placing multiple enemies in the same tile was inspired by Warhammer 4K, which I used to play a lot.

I can see that. Any other production secrets regarding the monsters?

Komatsuzaki: Their coloring was redone soooo many times.

Drill: Their original models were really well-made, but not as saturated as I wanted their colors to be. Changing the lighting wouldn't fix the saturation, so their coloring had to be adjusted by redrawing them. That's what gave them the vibrant candy colors you find so tasty.

Did Kodaka have specific requests for the Commanders design?

Kodaka: The fodder Invaders were colorful, so I asked for the Commanders to look monochrome and divine.

Drill: Those two were the only requests for the collective, but there were specific things he wanted for each individual Commander. For example, the prompt for the Squad 1 Commander was "I want him to look too strong to reasonably be the first boss".

Kodaka: I also told you to make him huge. The debate of "is making TRPG enemies big is a good thing?" is a can of worms I told Shimadrill to ignore and just make the first one you fight look big and strong (laughs).

He sure looked big and strong (laughs).

Drill: That's why I decided on the dragon theming for the Squad 1 Commander. I've seen some demo players reaction to sudden strong-looking boss appearing, so I'd say the design did exactly what Kodaka wanted it to.

The Commander also had a humanoid design. Who did this one?

Kodaka: Komatsuzaki.

Komatsuzaki: We initially wanted Shimadrill, the monster design expert, to do them, but he didn't have the time for it when he was simultaneously working on another game, so I did all of it on my own. The humanoid Commanders also had a major share of restrictions coming from lore and production cost reasons, but with enough attempts, I feel like I managed to make them reasonably distinct from one another, within the limitations. It's easy to tell from how they all have different masks.

Kodaka: When checking the pictures for approval, I thought the way the mask design resembled Skull Knight was so cool. We were almost behind the schedule at the time we assigned the humanoid designs to Komatsuzaki, and there are many of them, so I was expecting simpler designs. Him making their design with this much care and detail in so little time was a pleasant surprise.

Is it true that Shimadrill designed the school backgrounds?

Drill: Correct. I was in charge of the school's exterior and hallways, and drew them in great detail.

Kodaka: Komatsuzaki and I have something of a "When in need, ask Drill" mentality. He is often helping out with the most random situations. For example, we thought the design for the alarm speaker that rings when Invaders attack was lame. Worried that this wouldn't convey tension to the player, we called Drill to make a more striking speaker design.

Drill: If we're counting that, I also redesigned the weird wooden boxes (awkward laughs). That request came quite close to the deadline, and it was something I wouldn't think needed adjustments, but Kodaka is a director particular about the details.

Komatsuzaki: There were so many things we got Drill to redesign because they looked too normal.

What was the hardest part of the background designs?

Kodaka: The first thing to come to mind is the school's exterior. It's always visible during combat, so I asked Drill to draw something memorable. He came up with multiple variations, including more hawkish school illustrations. The Last Defense Academy lore back then wasn't the same it is now, and one of the ideas of having a cannon like the one from Battleship Yamato frequently shooting at the field.

Drill: We actually took reference sheets from Battleship Yamato.

I'd expected you take reference sheets from real schools. Were you avoiding that on purpose?

Drill: We were. For some reason, I had to study exclusively warships, tanks, and spaceships to draw a school (laughs). The Last Defense Academy is important enough to the game to be part of the title, and as someone with the mission to support Kodaka and Uchikoshi at Too Kyo Games, I couldn't afford to put out something uncreative. My job is to figure out what would be fun, and create the showy designs Kodaka and Uchikoshi love so much. I always try my best to be ahead of the game when it comes to their expectations.

I was impressed by how each floor look so different from another. Is that essential to the Shimadrill style?

Drill: No, it's essential to the Kodaka style. He requested every floor to be different, so the hallways wouldn't feel samey to the player.

Kodaka: I got him to come up with multiple hallway variations and chose which of them to use and what color they'd have. There are a lot of objects placed on the hallways, and all of them reflect elements of the Tokyo Residential Complex's culture and history that won't get fully elaborated in-game. Drill came up with lore reasons for the presence of each object in the academy, so you can theorize on how their inclusion makes sense.

There's some really… unique furniture in the background. Special mention to the cooking machine being a Thousand-Armed Kannon statue.

Drill: The robot Kannon was my idea. Kodaka asked me to come up with an automatic cooking machine, so I sought inspiration in pre-90s sci-fi art and Expo videos.

Kodaka: AI could never come up with a Thousand-Armed Kannon cooking machine (laughs).

Never (laughs). Next, tell us about the event CGs.

Kodaka: There are over 600 CG illustrations in The Hundred Line. Most of them are drawn by third-party workers, but Drill and Komatsuzaki finalize the art. They have a base standard of quality, but we do go harder on the more plot-significant ones.

Komatsuzaki: That's right, about 2 months before the game was gold, we were still working on improving the important ones.

Drill: I remember that.

Kodaka: Wasn't there a few that Drill made from scratch because there were too many for the third-party workers to keep up with the production pace?

Drill: I was called "just for a little finishing touches" and when I looked at it, I had to do even the lineart… Normal projects demand a lot less work than that when the game is just two months away from going gold (pained laughs).

I see you were in hell for as long as it could keep you there…

Kodaka: Checking if no CG illustration was contradicting the story was so much work. The most common mistakes were having the students dressed normal in scenes they were supposed to have their Class Armor, and randomly including students that would be absent at that point in time… This kind of verification is usually easy because it's done by the writer who knows everything about the story, but with the size of THL's story, the workload here had to be split between multiple people, plus my part was too big for me to remember all of it. In the end, I had to reread the entire story to see if any of the art had a mistake in it. That took forever.

Komatsuzaki: The Hundred Line is far from our only game conceived to be excessive in scope, but it is a league above the rest. We couldn't have completed it without help from a lot of people beyond just us of Too Kyo Games.

Kodaka: I'm the last person who should be saying this (awkward laughs), but this wasn't a project any normal person would consider realistic, and yet we completed it. I'm proud to say every detail is the way I wanted it to be, and that going into debt for it was the right call. In a choice between a life where I make The Hundred Line and a life where I don't, I'd pick the former without thinking twice. But if you asked me if I wanted to make a second The Hundred Line…

Komatsuzaki: No (pained laughs).

Kodaka: That's where I'm at right now, too. Do not say the word "sequel" in my presence (pained laughs).

(laughs) You heard Kodaka's feelings on it. If you're interested in knowing what kind of game could do this to him, please check out the demo.

Komatsuzaki: The demo currently available only shows the tip of the iceberg. The full game contains experiences you can't even imagine. Please play it for yourself, at least until you reach an ending.

Drill: I know I'm asking for too much, but if possible, I'd like you to play all endings instead of stopping at just one. I want as many people as possible taking a proper look at the CG illustrations I drew, if nothing else.

Kodaka: I feel that. In the writer team interview, I answered "You're free to stop playing whenever you're satisfied", but my honest opinion about it is "Play everything". 

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

Links:

Writing team interview

Music team interview

Special guest interview

[thewertsearch]

TG: oh so this is the trollplanet TG: pretty cool not really what i pictured AA: what did you picture […] TG: a bunch of trolls flying around in little grub pods constantly screaming at each other through bullhorns shaped like buckets AA: thats very silly and a little perverse […] AA: but actually that sounds like what it might have been like on some parts of the planet sooo

Aradia lived out in the boonies, so she's not much of an authority on cosmopolitan life in Alternia. Sollux is the city boy, and I wouldn't be surprised if this was what his area was like.

TG: so what am i supposed to do now that im dead […] TG: where are the fucking hauntoffs at is what im asking AA: i dont know about hauntoffs AA: but there is plenty of time to satisfy various curiosities you might have about existence and whatnot

I guess even this neighbourhood has a Janet.

... man, I miss The Good Place. I’ve been rewatching clips from the show this week, and it's actually got a lot in common with Homestuck. They're both character-driven stories with enormous scope, centered around a bizarre institution which governs all of reality.

AA: there are all sorts of friends to meet AA: ones you already know and ones you dont

Is Aradia referring to members of her own team, or are there ghosts from entirely different sessions floating around the Bubbles?

Feferi was prophesized to unite only two races, something she's achieved through the Horrorterrors. This implies we won't be seeing any other alien species, but we could see other human Players. Technically, it also means we could see other trolls, but that's pretty unlikely. As far as we're aware, Alternia only spawned a single session.

Anyway - the more I think about these Dream Bubbles, the more I'm starting to realize how much strategic potential they have. Affinity for the Furthest Ring is a genuine boon, and being a Derse Dreamer is more advantageous than I thought.

AA: time is like a game […] AA: and games are fun but sometimes you dont realize how much fun you were having until theyre all over AA: and sometimes you look back and realize for some stupid reason you werent having any fun at all!

What an interesting sentiment that I’m sure is not at all autobiographical.

Aradia spent the entire session as a robot with zero agency, and never got to use her powers for her sake, instead of the timeline's. It makes perfect sense that she didn't have fun with her Aspect.

Tavros! My man, Tavros!

Alright, this is actually fantastic. Tavros died before he could reveal Vriska's batshit plan to the team, but Aradia has handed him a second chance. All he has to d-

AT: lOOKS LIKE i FOUND ANOTHER POINT IN TIME TO BOTHER YOU, AT: wHEN, i GUESS, AT: yOU ARE MORE EMOTIONALLY SUSCEPTIBLE, […] TG: are those sick fires youre packing there TG: you best not be bringin that fire into my bubble less you plan on dropping that shit

-he's just here to rap, isn't he.

[graves-yard]

I was wondering if maybe Yew will make a reappearance on the story? Like, if he'll show up outside a flashback? I think it'd be really cool to see how he is like after Knuckles runs away from the arena, that is, if he doesn't die at some point of it?? 😰😰 well I'm hoping not! Lol

(I love your stories!l

I have played with the idea I’ll say that. I have two scenarios on the back burner for now. I’m waiting to see what would work best as the story develops.

I can show you this since it’s no longer canon!! This was before I had the story actually published and worked on. It’s not finished but it was playing on that idea. So if you want a little snippet thing that isn’t canon but still a thing then you can read that below.

Oh yeah and I forgot to mention it’s in Sonic’s POV

You’d think Sonic would get used to seeing random anthropomorphic aliens end up on Earth somehow, but he still wasn’t. It was still always a shock.

This time was new, however. Much different from the past few times with explosive fights and world ending events. No, this time Sonic wasn’t even in the center of it. He was sleeping happily in his bed, dreaming of happy dreams, maybe running in a field or up mountains. Definitely nothing horribly traumatic that he’ll have to talk to Tom about later. Preferably on a row boat.

But there wasn’t any explosions or robots or big doomsday canons to wake him up. Sonic may have not known if Knuckles didn’t slam the intruder into the dirt.

Sonic was out in the yard in a flash, sparking with the shot of adrenaline that rushed through him. He could hear Tails cry out and a second later the fluttering of his tail-copter right behind him. They made it to the scene before Knuckles had spoken.

“What are you doing here!?” The echidna shouted, fist drawn back and sparking as well. He was pinning the intruder into a crater in the ground. From the looks of it, it was made from the grand slam and not how the fox had arrived.

Oh yeah, the fox. Second alien fox Sonic’s ever seen on earth, and he didn’t look like a kid looking for guidance.

“Speak!” Knuckles demanded, bringing the fox up and slamming them down again. The fox’s paws were wrapped around Knuckles’ glove, trying to pry it off his throat.

“Woah, woah, Little Red Hulk. Sun’s getting low, or whatever the quote is,” Sonic stepped up into the view of his older brother, hands up to plead for the fox. “He can’t speak if you’re choking him out, so easy up on him, alright?”

Knuckles looked startled, eyes darting up to Sonic and then over to Tails, widening. He looked… scared? Of what?

His eyes harden again, scowling. “Leave. Now. This is none of your concern.”

“See, I would love to do that. It’s kinda chilly out and I was having some nice dreams in my warm little bed, but I can’t leave until you explain what’s going on. And let that guy go before you kill him.”

He emphasized by pointing down at the weak kicks the fox was digging into the grass, still trying to get his big paw off his neck. Knuckles’ nose twitched and he settled his glare on the fox, growling. But a second later, he did let go of his throat and stopped sparking, stepping back only an inch and no further. He didn’t let the intruder stand.

“State why you are here so you can leave and never return.”

The fox rubbed his throat and frowned. He looked annoyed and frustrated, but he didn’t look like he wanted Knuckles dead, or even that he wanted to fight. He didn’t even try to get up, just sit up onto his elbows in the dirt.

“Technology’s improved in the pit,” the old fox grunted out, voice scratchy. “We caught an energy signal from you once you exited Earth’s atmosphere. They wanted me to find you.”

Sonic gasped. “No way, he’s from your origins! Like from your cool space John Wick days!”

Knuckles growled again, low and definitely aimed at Sonic to tell him to shut up. He cringed and made a motion at his lips, zipping his mouth shut.

His brother addressed the fox again. “I will not go with you. I am stronger now than when we first met. I have a tribe to fight for and an emerald to protect now. And I will demolish you if you even think about taking the younger ones.”

The fox drew his lips, ears flicking back. “Don’t be foolish. I don’t take kids anymore.”

“I’m sorry, who are you exactly?” Sonic said in a serious tone. He was starting to get a queasy feeling in his stomach. The fact that they were actually meeting someone from Knuckles’ past just got very real as he remembered Knuckles didn’t have a lot of friendly friends during that time of his life.

Something shifted and Knuckles stepped in between the old fox and Sonic’s heated glare—which he wasn’t even aware of until now.

His brother spoke in that same controlled voice he spoke in when Sonic had challenged him for the emerald and he had backed down. “His name is Yew. He was my mentor when I was a gladiator. As well as my captor.”

Those last words were thrown back at Yew angrily.

“I’ve heard about that,” Tails had finally butted into the conversation, stepping up beside Sonic. “You were their champion for a long time before you left.” His namesakes twisted together and he pulled them close, looking nervous and saddened. “I heard they took prisoners for their fights, but I just assumed…”

He didn’t finish, but Sonic could guess what he was saying. Knuckles has always spoken proudly about his many battles won and time as the most powerful warrior in all the galaxies. It was easy to assume he had gone into fighting willingly. That might be why Tom and Maddie always had weird expressions on their faces when he told these stories. It took a more mature mind to understand that his battle-hungry nature was taught to him.

Sonic frowned, face pinched as he looked up at his brother. His face was still passive and focused; guarded. “How long did you fight like that?”

Knuckles deflated slightly, looking past them as he tried to think. The tough walls started to crack as he struggled to put those memories in a time frame.

“About five years.”

They all tensed and turned their attention away from the echidna. Yew the fox finally stood.

“I don’t know how old he was when I found him, but he couldn’t have been older than you, fox.” He nodded a scruffy chin at Tails. Both Sonic and Knuckles stepped in front of him protectively. Yew looked annoyed again. “I told you, I don’t take kids anymore. You were special.”

Sonic’s quills bristled and he felt the need to get in between these two. He shoved himself in front of Knuckles and jabbed a finger at the skinny fox.

“Back off, Creep,” he warned. “Knuckles isn’t going with you, so beat it!”

He let his eyes flash and a shock of energy jump through his quills to punctuate his threat. He watched that one dark blue eye study the lightning arches, intrigued by his power.

A large boxing glove shoved Sonic and Yew apart. Knuckles now stood on guard in front of the old fox. Sonic glared at him, offended, but didn’t tell him off once he saw his face.

He looked conflicted. Hurt, even. Knuckles wasn’t the type to wear his emotions on his sleeve, reading anything on his face was always difficult unless it was big. Like feelings you get when you’re suddenly reliving painful memories of your past.

Sonic felt selfish. He should’ve noticed that the “eager to fight” Knuckles himself wasn’t jumping at the chance to hurt this enemy. Something serious was preventing those types of feelings, but Sonic just wanted to protect him, save him from someone who had hurt him before. All he’s doing is stressing him out and hurting him more.

Sonic backed down, effectively shamed from fighting.

Now with his back towards him, Yew looked Knuckles over. “You have grown since I’ve last seen you.” Knuckles frowns and turns to face him. Yew snickers, he levels a paw just below patch of mangy fluff on his chest. “You barely reached my chest before. Now you’re taller. And sturdy. They’ve been feeding you.”

“Every day.” Knuckles mumbled, soft.

Yew laughs again. It sounds like a choking cat, but that doesn’t make it any less… fond. “Good. A nice family is a worthy reward for our best champion.”

He couldn’t understand what was happening. They were talking like old friends now, or like when Tom gets sappy. He can even remember his dad saying the same thing about him growing taller, hand gesture and everything. This fox had imprisoned Knuckles when he was barely hitting double digits, forced him to fight others for half a decade, and they were talking like family would. It was almost disturbing. Sonic could even see Knuckles relaxing the more they reminisced. He wanted to push them apart again, stop Yew from hurting Knuckles once more, but he couldn’t bring himself to move because his tough, hard-headed older brother was smiling and retelling the tale of how he came to find a home on Earth.

Sonic couldn’t take much more when Yew reached for one of Knuckles’ loc bands, asking about them.

“Hey, uh,” both of them stopped their conversation to face him. Yew’s paw dropped back to his side. “Not to interrupt this touching reunion or whatever, but it’s pretty late, and I think Tom and Maddie will have our heads if we stay out here all night talking to a new alien friend. I don’t think they wanna adopt an old man fox.”

He was not impressed with that joke. His ears flicked and his scraggly tail twitched in displeasure. Knuckles—in classic Knuckles fashion—completely misunderstood. “They won’t really have our heads. It is an Earth expression.”

Yew grunted his understanding. He seemed to understand what Sonic was trying to do too, if the glare he was receiving was anything.

“Fine, I better leave now anyway,” he faced Knuckles again. “I assume I can find you here now?”

The echidna furrowed his brow. “It’s best you do not come back here. I have young ones to protect. You say you do not collect children anymore, but I cannot trust the pit to follow the same path.”

The fox’s ears and tail twitched again, but he didn’t say anything. He crossed his arms in a very familiar way and stepped back from the band of brothers.

“Then this is goodbye, echidna.” Yew glanced back at Knuckles.

He gave a short nod. “It is goodbye, Yew. And if I find you breaking your promises, I will find you.”

Yew looked hurt for a moment, but he laughed a moment later. He pulled a ring out of his glove. It shined in the moonlight, glassy and glimmering like his one dead eye.

“I expect that, Knuckles. If you’re not the one to kill me, then who will be?”

He tossed the ring and stepped through it. And that was it. A terrible footnote in Knuckles past just disappeared behind flickering gold.

[somanyratsinthewalls]

Kinktober Special Part 2

Mo’s Kinktober Special

The Crew’s Whore (Part 2) (+18)

Summary: You are the former owner of the Grand Line’s most popular brothel. Your power fighting abilities got the attention of the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates. He had asked you to join their crew but what would you bring to the team? Your battle skills were hardly comparable to many of the other Straw Hats… but you actually had a great skill. Your years working as a high end escort had prepared you to become the private plaything for this pirate crew. You joined the Straw Hats as their personal sex toy. 

Pairing: Franky x afab!reader

WC: 3100 I'm so sorry

TW: IS THIS A SAFE SPACE?!?! Banging a robot, alcohol consumption oral sex (m receiving), vaginal sex, crying, forced orgasm? face shot, heavy use of pet names, cringe, his body is a sex toy idk, cringe, so much cringe, please forgive me I love him, idc

Chapter 1 Chapter 3

Robo-boning uder the cut:

Chapter 2: The Cyborg

It was a breezy evening aboard the Sunny as you sipped from your wine glass while leaning forward against the railing of the deck. Sanji had once again prepared the crew a fantastic meal and you felt full and comfortable with the cool sea wind blowing through your hair. It was late, most of the crew had returned to their quarters. Zoro was up in his crows nest dojo having a late night workout, Franky had returned to his workshop to fiddle with some new cannon technology, Luffy was in a food coma and snoring loudly laid up against the mast, and even Sanji had finished dishes with Robin’s help and excused himself to bed. Robin was always so helpful with the dishes with her Devil Fruit powers and all. 

You were alone out here with only the sounds of the waves crashing against the hull and your captain’s aggressive snoring. You thought about how you missed your old life, but also how happy you were with the Straw Hats. You loved your job at the brothel and it certainly was less dangerous… but this new life? It was… exhilarating. You loved it. 

*I think I need something stronger* you thought to yourself…

You looked at your empty wine glass and walked into the galley for something more exciting. It was spotlessly clean and empty. You opened up the liquor cabinet and perused your options. Vodka, tequila, gin, rum.. hmm… 

*It’s a pirate’s life for me, I guess.* You giggled and grabbed the bottle of spiced rum off the shelf. You realized that taking it straight from the bottle was a little barbaric for a late night solo cocktail and went to the fridge for a mixer. Orange juice, mineral water, nothing suitable to mix with rum. You wracked your brain, what would go well with rum?  A lightbulb went off in your brain, there’s an obvious choice. Cola! 

Rum and cola went together like peanut butter and jelly, like pancakes and syrup, like tea and honey. Your mouth watered at the prospect of a tasty drink… You knew there wasn’t any cola in the kitchen, but you knew exactly where it was. You filled a glass from the cabinet with ice and held it in one hand and the bottle of rum in the other. You pushed past the swinging galley door towards the hallway that went to the center of the ship. You skipped down a flight of stairs until you reached a wooden door marked with blue cartoonish stars. Blue lettering adorned the top of the doorway reading ‘Franky House.’ 

*So nostalgic of him* you chuckled to yourself before knocking twice. 

“What’s up?” You hear Franky’s booming voice from the other side of the door. You opened the door and sidled in with your glass and bottle in hand. 

“Oh heyyy pretty thing, what are you doing up at this hour?” Franky turned on his stool next to his workbench to look at you. 

“I could ask you the same thing.” You smiled at him as you strode confidently towards the fridge you spotted in the corner of his room. “Fancied myself a rum and cola, figured you’d be the guy to call about finding a bottle of cola around here.” 

“Yeah babe! Mi cola es su cola!” He flashed you a winning smile before he turned back towards his work bench and continued fiddling with whatever gadget he was working on before your intrusion. You grabbed a bottle of brown syrupy liquid from the fridge and brought it over to him. You said nothing, just pointed the head of the bottle in his direction. He barely looked up as he reached his large hard out and popped the cap off of the bottle for you. You smiled. 

“Thanks, handsome.” 

You returned to the desk in the middle of the room where you had set your rum and glass, setting the cola down. You picked up the rum and poured a GENEROUS amount over the ice. You topped it off with the freshly popped cola and brought the glass to your lips. Holy shit you over did it with the rum but damn, that’s good. You took a few more sips and let out a big sigh. 

“Rough day, sweet cheeks?” Franky laughed after hearing your exasperated sigh. 

“Hmm.. I guess. Just feeling a bit nostalgic is all.”

Franky’s hands continued to manipulate the mechanical item on his work bench.

“Yeah I get it. It happened to all of us, ya have this whole life and then all of a sudden you’re a pirate. It’s super weird. You’ll get used to it, y/n, we all do. We can talk about it, if ya like.” He doesn’t turn around. He had always been so good at expressing his emotions, such a tender and kind soul. He knew how you felt, and wanted you to feel heard. 

*Such a sweet heart for a robot* you thought to yourself. But he wasn’t a robot, he was still a man. Sure, his body was more metal than flesh at this point, but it didn’t take away from what a gentle spirit he had. You started to wonder what other human instincts he had left… 

“Honestly Frank? I’m kind of trying not to think about it. What are you working on?” You walk over to his work bench and lean up next to him, against the table backwards, able to see the item on the table but facing his body. 

“Oh this? Nothing totally crazy, just something I was thinking about for my forearm cannon. You see this part here…” He was excitedly telling you about his work, clearly passionate about his science. You nod and give him “hmm”’s here and there. You pour another strong drink and bring it back over to Franky’s work bench. You set the glass in front of him.

“I can’t be the only one indulging tonight, right?” You say seductively as you slide the glass towards his massive chest. 

“Well little lady, I’m usually a cola purist, but I guess one drink won’t hurt.” Franky grabs the glass in his large hand and slams the drink in one gulp. He hisses out, not prepared for how strong you made the cocktail. 

“My god girl, you’re trying to get me drunk?!”

You laugh out loud and pour yourself another drink. 

“No no, just trying to get more comfortable!” You laugh again. “Now tell me more about this hydraulic, fusion combustion, thingy again…” 

You say this as you set yourself down on Franky’s wide lap, drink in hand. 

“Okay so if you can see this piece right here…” Franky continued explaining his latest project to you as you became distracted by his handsome features. He had a strong, chilled jaw, defined abs, incredible thighs and you couldn’t help but let your eyes wander to his swim briefs. Was it still real? Did he have anything or was he like a doll?

You let your thoughts get the better of you and you set your glass down on the workbench. You slid to your knees in between Franky’s spread legs and let your head rest on his thigh. 

“WoAAhhh sweet thing, something else on your mind?” He dropped what he was working on and lifted his sunglasses onto his head as he looked down at you. He leaned back. You giggled up at him while stroking his crotch slowly. 

“mmmm yes. How could I not wonder? I’ve thought about it so much. Never had someone like you before…” You drew your face closer to the growing bulge in his swim briefs as you palm him. 

“Are you sure? How much do you want it? It might be too much for ya, doll face…” Franky puts his large palm on the side of your face, seemingly a bit concerned. 

“I want it. I can take it, please show me.” Your fingers worked at the hem of his tight black speedo before he helped you bring it down to his ankles. You pull them all the way off and return to your kneeled position between his legs. 

“Wow…” 

His cock was so gorgeous. It had to be real. It was so long, thinner than you’d like, but the length was truly impressive. The base was decorated with tufts of blue hair. 

“Is this good for ya, babe? Tell me what ya like and I can make it happen." Franky stroked your hair as you were staring at his cock from between his knees. 

“What?” You didn’t know what he was talking about. Was he that confident in his sexual abilities? You felt your cunt clench in anticipation. 

“No, this," He nods his head down at his erect cock. "I can make it anything you want. Too big?” You stared up at him with wide eyes. 

“Want bigger? Maybe you’re a little size queen?” Franky smirked at you with those last words. 

“No no,” You stuttered out. “Could you… could you maybe make it a little… thicker?” You were so embarrassed, you felt so silly asking for this man to change up his own cock for you. 

“Of course doll, if you want to be stretched out real good, who am I to deny you?” Franky smiled as he pressed his metal nose. 

You stared at his erect penis as it became girthier right before your eyes. 

“No way…” You gasped quietly to yourself. 

“Yes way baby! You really thought I would rebuild my own body and not give myself an incredible dick?” He grinned down at you between his legs. “Now… where were we?”

You felt his hand gently push the back of your head towards his newly engorged cock. You were snapped out of your stupor and grabbed the thick length with both hands and began to pump it slowly. 

“Perfect….” Franky cooed at you as you stroked him. 

You leaned forward and took his tip into your mouth. He groaned loudly. You knew he would be loud, he always is, why would now be any different?

You gradually took more and more of his cock into your mouth and bobbed your head up and down. With each pull backwards you slurped and dragged your tongue across the bulbous head of his dick. 

“Fuck, shit, just like that…” He tried so hard not to ram his hips into your face, knowing it would scare you off. His body was too strong. 

“Shit baby… You’re way too good at this… get up here and let me stuff you.” 

Once again your pussy squeezed around nothing, pushing out a drip of your arousal. Franky leaned down and grabbed your hips to pull you upward. 

In a moment you were on your back on Franky’s workbench, his projects swept to the the floor with one brush of his huge forearm. He was man handling your body to pull all your clothes off of you. You lay back down on the table, now fully bare in front of him.

“Franky, fuck me. Please. I want it.” 

He hovered over you, massive body eclipsing yours. 

“And you’re sure? I told you it might be too much… Once I start… well it can just be a lot for someone who isn't used to it.” Franky asked you for the last time, making sure you knew what you were getting into. 

“Yes, Frank. I’m so sure.” 

He pushed you down forcefully, but you protested by rising to your elbows and catching his lips in a wet kiss. He accepted your kiss and forced his tongue past your spit covered lips. You groaned at his dominance, such a change from how you were used to being with your other lovers. 

After making out for several moments, you whined a bit too loudly when he pinched at your nipple. 

“Okay okay needy girl, I’ll give you what you want now. But don’t say I didn’t warn you…” 

He pushes your thighs up with one hand as he lines his perfect cock up with your sopping hole with the other. He squeezes himself in slowly. 

“Holy FUCK, my GOD Franky…!” You shout out as he sinks balls deep inside of you, having you in a mating press with one hand due to his large stature. 

“Oh pretty lady, we haven’t even started.” He begin to pull out and shove himself back into your cunt, slick coating his cock more and more with each thrust. You slammed your eyes shut in pleasure, his dick was hitting all the perfect spots inside of you almost like it was made perfectly to fit your body… oh wait… it was. 

All of a sudden you felt a new sensation along with his heft length splitting you open. Was he… vibrating? Your neck snapped up and your eyes shot open to meet his above you. 

“Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that. Had to add something for the ladies pleasure, right?”

“FRANKY!” Your body lurched forward and grabbed his biceps. You had never felt anything like this before. It’s like your body was lit up by electricity. The smooth drag of his vibrating cock against your g-spot was complete sensory overload. 

Franky chuckled. He continued railing into your tiny body, chasing his own pleasure, not worried that you’d reach yours. 

“Frank I’m going to-!” You yelped as your body tumbled over the edge in pleasure. It was the most intense orgasm you’ve ever experienced. Your spasming cunt pushed out your release all over your lovers abdomen and legs.

“Wow doll face, I never thought you’d be a squirter!” Franky laughed over you as he drilled his hips into yours further, not concerned about your recovery from your intense orgasm. Your body was limp in his hold now, not able to produce any sort of coherent phrase. 

“Franky wait, I feel like-Ah!“ 

You were cumming again. It was only a few moments after your last orgasm and your center was  squeezing and creaming on Franky’s thick robotic cock again. You had lost full control over your body, it was like nothing you’d ever experienced. You screamed. You had no idea what words you were trying to scream, but you screamed. 

“You like that, huh baby? How about one more for me? I think you can do it, right?” Tears streamed down your face as you laid on his workbench, boneless. Your cunt was throbbing in both pain and pleasure. You were being thrust into so forcefully that your body slid back and forth on the table, your breasts basically hitting you in the chin as they bounced so aggressively. 

“Mmmm.. Hmm. FUCK! Yes I can do it, I can take it!” You felt drunk on pleasure, barely able to keep your eyes focused. The sensations in your pussy were unlike anything you’d ever experienced. As your cyborg lover pounded into you at an impossible speed, you felt the familiar wave of pressure bubble up from your center, but this time far more intense than the others. 

“There it is baby, I can feel it, I knew you could do it for me sweet thing.” He coaxed you into tipping over the edge. Your back arched and you shrieked up at him. You vision went completely white for a moment as you felt your massive release splattering against Franky’s thighs and cock. Wet, sloppy noises filled the room as you felt your cunt start to tingle with numbness and overstimulation, 

“Can’t… it’s too much!”  You whine loudly at him as you make a feeble attempt to push at his abs, not entirely sure what you wanted yet. 

“That’s just fine doll face, I’ve got something else in mind anyway.” He flashes you a huge grin before grabbing you around your ribs and setting you down on your knees on the floor in front of him.

“Open wide, pretty lady!” He held your hair in a makeshift ponytail with one hand and stroked his massive cock in front of your face with the other. 

Obviously after 3 earth-shattering orgasms you were putty in his large hands. You stick your tongue out and look up at him. After seeing the makeup smeared on your face from spit and sweat and tears, there was no way he could hold back any longer. 

“Fuuuuuuuck…!” He groaned out as he painted your eager, wrecked face with simply so much cum. It dripped off your cheeks and your chin as you happily kept your mouth open for him. He finally finishes his release and taps his cock on your tongue, so you can taste the last bit. 

“Shit you look so super like this!” Franky beamed down at you covered in his thick cum. You grin back up at him, delirious from exhaustion, cum dribbling down your neck. “But I guess I can’t leave ya like that huh?” He grabbed a clean rag from a drawer in his workbench and started wiping his seed off your face, you were so exhausted your eyes fell closed and you held your head in his free hand. 

“Hold on hold on doll, I’m almost done then I’ll put ya to bed.” Franky finished cleaning your face and picked up up off your knees and set you down on his bed. He tucked you in and went to put back on the little clothing he had on in the first place. He moved towards the door of his room. 

“Well thanks for the break, little lady! I have a repair I need to finish up on the deck tonight, but you get some rest.” Franky says from over his shoulder on the way out to the rest of the ship. You close your eyes and relax your bruised and exhausted body into Franky’s mattress. 

"Hey, if you’re feeling up to it when I get back, we can have a round 2! You haven’t even seen half the super stuff I can do, I just went easy on you!” He shouted as he left the room with his toolbox and the door closed behind him. 

Your eyes snapped open.

“WHAT?!”

---

a/n I again, am so sorry lol but Franky needs more love. Justice for Franky Fuckers.

[fayelero]

— NEKO’S NAME ! timeskip!kenma kozume

➥ syn : argue over a cat name? stupid!

➥ wc : 1.0k

➥ tw : none, just fluff

➥ a/n : lil drabble with my fav cat

The day was bright, the sun casting a warm glow over the city as you and Kenma walked hand in hand. Today was special; it was your two-year anniversary, and you both had decided to mark the occasion by adopting a cat. Kenma had always been a cat person, and you had fallen in love with the idea of having a little furball around the house.

As you entered the adoption center, a variety of cats greeted you with curious eyes and soft meows. Your heart swelled with excitement as you browsed the rows of cages, looking for the perfect companion. Kenma, with his typical calm demeanor, followed closely, his eyes scanning each cat thoughtfully.

After a while, you both spotted a small, fluffy kitten with bright green eyes. It was love at first sight. The kitten looked up at you both with a mix of curiosity and innocence that melted your hearts.

"This one," Kenma said softly, his voice filled with a rare enthusiasm. "What do you think, baby?"

You smiled and nodded, reaching out to gently stroke the kitten's head. "I love it. She's perfect."

The adoption process was quick, and soon you were on your way home with the newest member of your little family. The kitten, nestled comfortably in your lap, purred softly, already making herself at home.

As you both settled into the living room, you couldn't help but giggle at the sight of Kenma trying to coax the kitten out of her carrier with a toy. "She's already wrapped around your finger," you teased.

Kenma chuckled, giving the kitten a soft smile. "She's cute, isn't she?" He glanced at you, his eyes warm with affection. "So, what should we name her?"

You paused, considering. "How about Mochi? She's small and fluffy like a little mochi ball."

Kenma tilted his head, pondering the suggestion. "Mochi's cute, but… maybe something related to gaming?" He grinned, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "What about Zelda?"

You laughed, shaking your head. "Zelda's nice, but it's too… legendary. I want something softer. How about Luna?"

Kenma's brow furrowed as he thought. "Luna's not bad, but… I still think something gaming-related would be cooler." He looked at the kitten, who was now exploring the couch. "What about Neko? It means cat, but also sounds like a character from a game."

You sighed, crossing your arms playfully. "Neko is too obvious. Plus, it's just 'cat' in Japanese. Where's the creativity, baby?"

Kenma smiled, leaning closer to you. "Fine, fine. What about Pixel? It's cute, and it fits with both our interests."

You considered it for a moment, then shook your head. "Pixel? Really? That's not a name for a living creature, Kenma. It's like naming her 'Computer' or 'Keyboard'."

Kenma raised an eyebrow. "Oh, and Luna is so original? Half the cats in the world are named Luna."

"At least Luna is an actual name," you retorted, feeling your competitive spirit rise. "Pixel sounds like something you'd name a robot."

"Well, maybe I like robot names," Kenma shot back, a hint of amusement in his voice. "Besides, she's our cat. Why can't we give her a unique name?"

"Unique doesn't have to mean weird," you argued, reaching out to pet the kitten who was now watching your debate with curious eyes. "What about something like… Whiskers?"

Kenma snorted. "Whiskers? Now who's being unoriginal? We might as well call her 'Cat' and be done with it."

"Oh, so Neko was fine, but Whiskers is too much?" you challenged, your voice rising slightly.

"At least Neko sounds cool," Kenma defended, crossing his arms.

The kitten, seemingly confused by the sudden increase in volume, let out a tiny, high-pitched meow. The sound immediately caught both your attention, and you looked at each other, then at the kitten, then back at each other.

Suddenly, the absurdity of the situation hit you both. Here you were, on your anniversary, having a heated debate over what to name a cat who probably couldn't care less what you called her.

You burst into laughter, and Kenma followed suit, his usually quiet chuckle turning into a full-blown laugh.

"Oh my god," you managed between giggles, "are we really fighting over cat names?"

Kenma shook his head, still laughing. "We're ridiculous, baby. Look at us, getting all worked up over this."

You leaned against him, your laughter subsiding into small chuckles. "I guess it doesn't really matter what we name her, does it? She's perfect no matter what."

Kenma wrapped his arm around you, pulling you closer. "You're right. Although…" he paused, a mischievous glint in his eye, "I still think Pixel is a great name."

You playfully swatted his arm, but couldn't help smiling. "Fine, you win. Pixel it is."

"Really?" Kenma looked surprised, but pleased.

"Really," you confirmed, reaching out to pet the newly-named Pixel. "It's growing on me. Plus, it'll be a funny story to tell people when they ask about her name."

Kenma pressed a soft kiss to your temple. "Happy anniversary, baby. I love you, even when you have terrible taste in cat names."

You laughed, snuggling closer to him. "I love you too, you big nerd. Happy anniversary."

As Pixel curled up in Kenma's lap, purring contentedly, you felt a wave of happiness wash over you. This was perfect - just the three of you, celebrating love, laughter, and the little joys of life. And as you watched Kenma gently stroke Pixel's fur, you knew this was just the beginning of many more happy (and possibly ridiculous) anniversaries to come.

Ⓒkiesbrainjuice all rights reserved. please to not plagiarize, repost, or translate !

tag : @haechansbbg

[lizardanya]

i think the way totk references skyward sword only highlights the problems with totk and gets a little insulting at times.

this is mostly about ganondorf’s demon king form being highly reminiscent of demise. i get that it makes sense, since ganon’s power most likely comes from demise’s curse, so when it’s amplified it visually references that. that’s neat, and not an inherently bad idea, even a good one in some aspects.

however, all it does for me is highlight just how much of a non character ganondorf is. demise is, to an extent, also a non character: he isn’t deep nor extensively fleshed out, but the thing is, not all characters have to be. and him, he works. most of the game is spent with ghirahim, his much more expressive and motivated sidekick. he’s fun, intimidating when he has to be, and balances being silly and being an actual threat well. demise is the kicker, the final punch, when ghirahim spent the entire game building him up, we finally get to see him, he’s intimidating, he’s serious in contrast to ghirahim, he immediately shuts the villain we spent most of the game fighting up, and reduces him to an object to be used to fulfil his own goals. his boss fight is cool, and so is he.

demise is a god of destruction, he doesn’t have a motivation beyond the fact that he is a representation and wields power over evil. and that’s the point. skyward sword’s themes largely center humanity vs inhumanity, link spends a large portion of the game running around fulfilling a plan he doesn’t fully understand, being roped into this ordeal before he even finds out about it, not really comprehending what’s happening or why for a long time. so, it’s only natural the final force he has to face is an equally incomprehensible threat, and he defeats it not because he comprehends it more now, or understands the ancient conflict between gods or any of that. he does it because he wants to protect someone he loves, he does it because he forms a genuine bond with the robotic, originally emotionless guide who was made only for the purpose of aiding him in this godly plan. humanity triumphs over godhood. humanity triumphs over inhumanity.

in totk, however? there really isn’t much difference between ganondorf before and after he becomes the demon king. he has no particular motivation before or after, he is a king who wants to rule over hyrule with evil, and then he becomes a more powerful king who wants to rule over hyrule with evil. he looks more like the god of destruction now, but that signifies nothing other than he is more powerful now. ganon has always been associated with power, and the way power corrupts has always been a fitting theme for him. he could’ve had development throughout the game, and him becoming more like the literal godly representation of evil could’ve signified that development. maybe he was a king with an actual motivation, an actual in story reason to oppose hyrule, we could’ve been shown his human side, what he actually cares for and why he does the things he does, and then we could’ve seen that side of him dissolve as he taps more into his power, becomes more like a being of destruction that destroys simply because that’s what it has power over. him taking visual cues from demise could’ve actually meant something, could’ve been a visual representation of the way his power corrupts him. instead, we get nothing. there was no reason to bring ganondorf back, because he still acts like a motivationless monster, who is evil simply because he is. all talk of this being “his game” was a lie, considering he could easily be replaced by a generically evil monster and nothing would’ve changed.

ultimately, i still wouldn’t have been happy with this story because it would still lean heavily on the orientalist narratives still alive and present in zelda, but this would’ve been at least something. the way it is, the fact that he takes visual cues from demise pisses me off because it highlights just how one dimensional his character is, it makes me feel only cynicism because it makes it clear that ganondorf was only brought back because he’s a popular and iconic character and not because he had any purpose in the story or because the writers had anything interesting to do with him.

[dragonblobz]

The Desert Pt 11

He's just cradling me to his chin. Almost the same way I’d hold a puppy to my face if my intent were to blow raspberries on it’s tummy.

The mental imagery of him doing this to me makes me have to stifle laughter.

We’re walking down some sort of corridor. I couldn’t begin to describe it in my head because I’m not paying attention to it at all. Just gawping at my big yellow friend. Hands still splayed across his mouth. Unwilling to pull them away. I just can’t believe he’s being like this.

I watch the focus of his big blue eyes shift. I’m not sure what I’d call the glow within. Pupils? That’s the closest thing I can comprehend. He’s still smiling. But I can tell he’s looking beyond me. Watching where he’s going.

“How come you get to carry them?” I finally turn my head, giving Sideswipe just as big of a smile. His voice SOUNDS petulant, but he’s grinning at his brother.

“Because it’s my turn to carry them.” Sunstreaker is similar. Sounding annoyed but that warm smile moves under my hands as he speaks.

Sideswipe playfully rolls his eyes before he winks at me and holds my pack up, pinched in his huge fingers. I have no idea when I’d let it go.

“You forgot something, little buddy.”

I start to laugh.

“Thanks bro. And I don’t NEED to be carried, you know. I can walk.”

I’m so full of it. I mean, yeah I can walk. But why in the shit would I walk when…. THIS???

They appear to be quite aware that I’m full of it as well. Sunstreaker’s warm smile turns into a devilish smirk under my hands. And Sideswipe actually barks out a single loud laugh.

I don’t think I’ve seen a more cool pair of alien robots in my life. Which isn’t saying much. But still.

“No. You can’t walk.” That smirk makes Sunstreaker look downright handsome. All beautiful under my hands.

I play his game. Smirk right back.

“Oh? And why is that?”

“Because I’m carrying you.” That smirk melts into an absolutely deadpan expression. It catches me off guard. And I start to giggle.

“Okay, wise guy. And where are we going?”

“To our room!” Sideswipe sounds excited. “Dibs on recharging with the human!”

“Frag your dibs.” It’s a warm growl of air on my palms.

I’m blushing again. I don’t know why.

A whoosh of air distracts me from the intense consciousness of my hot cheeks. I turn my head, not wanting to.

A big door gliding open. And we’re going inside.

The room is enormous in comparison to any human room I’ve ever been in. And it’s purpose is obvious.

A very plain room, if size is discounted. A large table at its center. Huge to me. Two things that look like they might be beds. Very flat. Mattresses absent. Is this where they sleep? Do…. Do they….. sleep??

I notice the difference between them. And suddenly I feel a hurting emotion deep in my tummy. My first time in this room, and I can tell exactly whose “bed” is whose.

I lean forward, the curve of Sunstreaker’s lips on my scalp. My hands just splaying on his jaw at either side. I want to hug him. I want to hug both of them.

One “bed” is festooned with things. Looking almost comical. The other is completely naked. Spartan. Like it could belong to anyone or nobody at all.

One half of this enormous room looks lived in. Like it belongs. And the other is completely empty.

Sideswipe steps forward, sweeping his massive metal hands at that crowded half that looks alive. He looks so proud. My nails curve into Sunstreaker’s jaw. How I love them both so much.

“Welcome, little buddy! This is my berth!”

It’s comical. Lots of human objects strewn about. Nonsensical. There’s a huge street sign all lit up, dangling above his “berth”. And I realize that all the tiny lights around it are…..

“Are those….. Christmas lights??” I start to giggle at all the festoons and wires all around the frame of Sideswipe’s “berth”.

“I dunno!” He sounds so proud and uncaring as he flops himself on the large surface, crossing his arms under his big metal head and smirking at me as one of his big metal knees pulls up to rest his robot foot near his bottom. Just stretched out on his bed like a frat boy showing off his décor. And I’m giggling madly.

Before those giggles die away as my gaze sweeps over to the plain bed at the other side of the room. And I pull my face away. Turn my head. Just looking at this big wonderful grumpy face under my hands.

Or maybe I can’t claim grump. Sunstreaker is smiling at me with such open warmth. He looks….. like he’s happy and he doesn’t care who knows it.

“No…. No Christmas lights?” My voice sounds all quiet and dumb. I’m not sure HOW to talk to this face that SHOULD look grumpy because it’s looked grumpy every moment I’ve known him. I’m not sure how to react to this simple happy smile he’s showing to me now.

“No. No Christmas lights.” No further explanation. Just this big face smiling at me. So open. Unexpected.

“Well…. Where’s….. Where’s YOUR things…..” I feel silly.

“I’ve got things now.” He says my name. No anger at all. My tummy quivers. My name. His voice. I’m so happy that I’m glad he’s holding me. I’d probably flop onto my butt if he wasn’t. Wobbly just like when Optimus Prime had spoken my name.

He shifts, one big hand still holding me gently to his face. The other fans before me, displaying those stupid fucking fuzzy yellow dice that he’s been holding this whole time since Bumblebee had yanked them from his robot butt.

“See?”

My heart burns inside my chest as I watch that big metal hand reach forward to drape those dice over a metal portion above his “berth”. The sole object on his side of the room now.

“Oh gosh…” I turn my face and shove it right into his smile. My chest all burning and I feel such adoration. I just want to hug him. Feeling warm vented air from his mouth as he pulls his face away from me.

“Hey now. Don’t get all sappy on me.” It’s gruff, but when I turn my face, he’s still giving me that big open warm smile.

“What’d I do.” I sniffle, not meaning to. It’s just….. he’s always mad at me. Why isn’t he mad at me now??

Those big blue eyes widen in shock before they crinkle closed and he tilts his big face back to laugh. All open and so oddly vulnerable. I’ll just die if I can’t hug him. He’s so open and holy crap does he not realize how wonderful and beautiful he is when he’s not being a total asshole???

“Nothing. You didn’t do a single thing.” That alien laughter fades into deep chuckles as he moves me back to his face and nuzzles me JUST like I’d nuzzle a puppy. It’s absolutely perfect. I just close my eyes and concentrate on that big mouth rubbing on my hands and face.

“Now then, enough of this.” His mouth vents air along my body. He sounds rueful now. Like he feels foolish. His face looks that way too. The corners of his big mouth curling down.

I reach for him and he ignores me. Leaning down to deposit me right on the chest of Sideswipe. I can feel the red guy chuckling under me as I watch Sunstreaker turn away.

He goes to his big bed and sits on it. Those glowing eyes brushing across me. Across his brother. Expression now so unreadable. Leaning his crossed arms on his big knees for a moment. Just watching Sideswipe curl his hands over me, pressing me down onto his chest.

“You mean…. Really?? I can recharge with them?” Sideswipe sounds so surprised. I’m beginning to suspect that “recharge” must mean SLEEP. They’ve been awake the entire time I’ve been with them. Do they need to sleep too?

At Sides’ question, my big yellow robot grins again. It’s a relief, and actually kind of adorable. That sheepish smile.

“You DID call dibs. But…..” that grumpy face I’m so familiar with returns. Frowning and raising a single hand to point an accusing finger at my big red friend.

“…. I get them next recharge.”

“Deal!”

Wonderful thrumming chuckles under me. Those big hands pressing me. I can feel his thumb on my back again. Just rubbing on my spine. So gentle.

I relax again. Jelly. It feels lovely. Maybe pets have the right idea…. Because if this is what it feels like when I pet them???? Sign me UP.

Sideswipe shifts beneath me. Turning his face to look at me.

“So….”

He says my name. In that confident lovely voice. I smile stupidly.

“…..What’s your favorite color?”

…………………..

It had clung to him when Ironhide had transformed before it. When Bumblebee had arrived. Seeking him. Not Sideswipe, but HIM.

He thinks about this little thing pressing it’s face plate and soft servos against his paint. Clinging go him. Even as he watches his brother chuckle and talk to it. Cooing questions in contented curiosity. Feeling more complete than he’s felt in the longest time.

Happy and safe. That’s all he’s ever wanted for his brother, despite his inability to ever convey this sentiment in any meaningful way. Happy. And safe.

The human, he rolls the sound of it’s name thru his processor as it makes that happy bubbly sound and answers every single one of his brother’s inane questions. So foolish.

Sunstreaker lays back into his berth, crossing his arms behind his helm. Staring at the bland ceiling above. Basking in their happiness like it’s his own. Letting it lull him into his recharge. Feeling like he’s finally doing something RIGHT.

…………………….

“Chopped sausage???” Sideswipe sounds so disgusted.

“Hey. YOU asked about pizza.” I’m giggling madly. Starting to feel drowsy. This big red guy just pelting me with the very same questions I’d hear from a kid. My favorite color? Favorite sound? Favorite food?

“Im just imagining chopping turbofoxes up into tubes and it’s honestly AWFUL.”

“It’s just pepperoni.” I’m hiss giggling. “Well…. How do YOU eat your turbofoxes?”

“EAT them???” He sounds so horrified. Adorable.

“We don’t EAT like that.” His big warm body shudders beneath me.

“Well…. How DO you eat?” It’s slurred. I’m actually very comfy and sleepy now. That huge thumb just rolling up and down along my spine.

“We consume energon.” He sounds…. Sleepy….. too….

“I’m gonna have SO many questions tomorrow….” I slur this.

He chuckles. Its lazy and slow. He’s so WARM. And the air feels cold. I curl under his big hand. He’s still pressing along my spine. Lazy and slow.

I turn my face upwards. Blinking, eyes feeling tired and sticky. Just looking up at his big face. Multicolored lights illuminating him like he’s a pretty ghost.

“Hey…. Sideswipe?”

“Mmm?”

He inclines his own face towards me. But I don’t see any blue glow. It occurs to me that this is the first time I’ve seen any of them with their eyes closed. He’s too sleepy to open them. He’s….. he’s BEAUTIFUL.

“I….”

I feel almost guilty. But he’s worth it. Sunstreaker is worth it. They are ALL worth this simple thing I’ve found so hard to say my whole life.

“I love you. I love you, Sideswipe. And Sunstreaker. To pieces. To heck and back.”

Those big eyes stay closed. But that face above me curls into what’s possibly the most pretty sleepy smile I’ve ever seen…. Ever.

“That’s nice, little buddy.” His chest thrums below me, all along my body. So warm and so unlike any human chest.

“But…. But what’s a…. Heck…..” His voice trails off. I watch that boyish handsome face relax. Is he sleeping? He’s not talking anymore. The only sound I can hear is that thrumming sound under my chin. His alien heart.

I turn my own sleepy face into this warm metal below me. Not a kiss. Just pressing in, smooshing and feeling the sting along my tender nose. A languid warmth threading in my body till I feel like a happy cloud.

“I love you both so much. Thank…. Thank you….” The sound is muffled. I turn my head again. Resting my cheek on the thrumming sound of this alien heart beneath this warm metal. That thumb on my back is still at the base of my spine.

And my dreams finally scoop me into a world that kid me could have never dreamt of.

[pyjamaart]

Year 4 of submitting art for the SiIvaGunner Art Gallery!! >:]

For the fourth time now, I can proudly present my entry for this years SiIvaGunner Birthday Gallery! I had to put up with a lot of obstacles this year, like starting in June when I normally always started in early May, my parents and my brother visiting during the exact time frame I wanted to work on this, a crippling addiction to playing Dragon Quest Monsters and many more.

But as you can see, I really locked in at the end and finished it exactly one day before the deadline (17th June).

Now to explain my vision for this piece: I'll have to admit, since starting my new job in February, I didn't have any time to keep up with the loads of SiIvaGunner rips that are uploaded each day, since I always listened to them at my old workplace while I took care of my mountains of scientific journals. At my new job, I don't have anything to do with journals anymore. I mostly talk to students at the counter all day. Can't really listen to YouTube videos when someone wants something from you every minute. I also do a lot of things related to facility management in between (our library buildings are practically falling apart in some places...), so even when I'm not at the counter, I have way too much stuff to do to listen to rips. Sigh. Sometimes, I miss my old job.........

But I'll try my best to catch up some time in the future. At the very latest in September. My first vacation days in 7 months... Anyway, let's get back to the image at hand:

In the foreground, there's obviously my beloved dynamic duo of besties: Woodman and Nozomi. Woodman has been missing from the channel for 1 and a half years. Please bring him back. I miss my wife, Tails...

For this piece, my theme was centered around my favorite SiIvaGunner joke from the past few months (or has it been years?): The raft ride. I wanted something fun and summer-y, so I decided to put all the characters I drew in cute little sailor outfits. For Woodman, I just drew him in something simple that I thought of myself, which complimented and incorporated his usual armor.

Next we have Nozomi, who dons her outfit from μ's fifth single "Wonderful Rush". I had a few water themed outfits to chose from with her (and Honoka, for that matter), but I chose Wonderful Rush for Nozomi since it just fit with the aesthetic I was going for.

Next to those two is Coraline from the 3DS street pass game "Ultimate Angler", which is also prominently featured on the channel. For her outfit, I just modified her usual attire a little to fit in with the sailor vibe. I also turned her sun visor around because I could for the life of me not figure out how to draw it properly at this angle. Uhhh... I mean, I turned it around because I thought it looked cool.

I hope you can see that I had an absolute breakthrough in Gimp. I think I already talked about it on my Buck fanart, but I finally discovered layer modes. After 4 years of working with Gimp. Spectacular, I know. If you don't notice it here, you'll definitely notice it on the next image in queue for the robot master quest I have going on. I can already spoil you who it's gonna be this time: Tornadoman! I honestly couldn't believe what I was drawing. I think I was possessed by something for a few hours. It was honestly a little scary. But I think you'll see what I mean once you see the actual image, it's really different from the usual stuff I draw.

Getting back to the topic of this picture, let's talk about the background now. I decided to draw a little ship with lots of familiar faces making up the crew.

The ships captain is Honoka, who is standing on the very left of the deck. I took her outfit from μ's single "Heart to Heart!", which also fit into the aquatic theme quite nicely.

Right next to her, under a rainbow flag that's fluttering in the wind above them, is Aquaman. My beloved. Since I drew him into last years birthday gallery image, I decided to do the same this year. I also put a little starfish on his hat because I think it looked cute ;)

Standing epicly and mysteriously on the top of the boat is Meta Knight. I don't know if you can see it when it's zoomed out so far, but he's holding some kind of folded map in his right hand. Maybe they're looking for treasure??

And on the very right of the ship are Tito Dick and Robbie Rotten, reenacting that one famous scene from the Titanic movie.

After that, we shift our focus to the left of the image, where we can see Fluttershy flying over the island from Tomodachi Life.

And that's it for this image folks. I hope I'll finish my Mega Man Fully Charged art before the weekend ends, so stay tuned for that next! And after that, we're going right back to the robot master grind. ;)

Until then, this has been Jenny Pyjamakama, signing off. ;)

[worldbuilding-tomfoolery]

A teleportation premise, and the stories that emerge from that

Someone successfully creates a teleportation portal. Experimentation commences

First major concern is the preserved consciousness problem -- No one wants to go through if their version of their consciousness gets incinerated

Eventually work out that, if you sidle halfway through the portal and wait, eventually your consciousness fully transfers to the half on the other side of the portal. You can safely step through.

From this, the true "seat of identity" is eventually found. It's somewhere around your middle (perhaps in the brain, perhaps somewhere more interesting), it can move/stretch, and it doesn't have all the same constraints as vanilla matter

For the sake of homage, I am ruling the true center of self persists through cell renewals and is, indeed, smaller than a planck length

Speaking of constraints on vanilla matter, they don't figure out how to truly teleport those atoms. It's a case of perfect-reconstruction on the other side of the portal

At first, the challenge is getting enough people to accept teleportation at all. But it does eventually gain wide adoption, and becomes one of the most popular methods of mass travel

One day, someone has an epiphany and realizes there's no reason they have to keep the form they stepped in with. If it doesn't affect your center of self, why not change the shell?

Cue a massive transhumanist movement fueled by portal tech. Affordable affirming surgery! And so much more. People change their forms to whatever the present-day computational technology can safely program. They quickly exit the domain of strict sapien shape. Furries, fungi, single-cellers blown up to vastly bigger than they could ever exist naturally. They figure out how to plant the self-seat into inorganic matter. People turn into robots. And all of them can radically change their form as often as they can afford to design or commission a new form, and step through a portal.

Society has to change radically as a result of this. There's no way almost any of the previous walls or categories stay fully intact once people are no longer constrained by form.

As for HOW it changes, I'm gonna have to think long and hard about that. The hopeful ending is a post-scarcity utopia, basically Oops All Druids. But I'm more interested in the possible negative outcomes of this tech. Ruthless assholes will always find a way to take a cool new thing and use it to vacuum up more power.

So how do they do it this time?

Any novelesque story I want to write will probably be about these actions, or the revolutionary responses to it

Some side thoughts starting out

In order for the portals to be safe, I think something will be set up such that you can only move when stepping into the portal. If you are in contact with a portal exit, you are paralyzed. Only your stepping-in half can choose to move. This probably played in to how they determined portaling can be "safe" for the seat of identity -- if you remained in the stepping-in half and disintegrated upon contact with the portal, presumably you would never finish stepping in.

. . . . Right?

(We're going to say it actually does transfer and it really is safe because that allows us to move on to the more interesting story. But it is fun to have that little nugget of uncertain horror.)

I like to think it takes a noticeable, mathematically predictable amount of time for the "identity connection" to establish itself between portaling halves. Limitations are fun :)

[clonerightsagenda]

Scavengers Reign thoughts after contemplating for a bit:

I enjoyed it! While the weird little guys were interesting to watch I admit I enjoyed it more as we started getting to interhuman conflict. However the weird little guys were fun. As was the amusing contrast between pastel colors/soothing soundtrack and The Horrors.

Given the emphasis on recognizing and understanding the environment around you, it makes sense that the crew ends up staying on Vesta. Hopefully since they're in one place and not passing through unfamiliar biomes, they will not all get eaten as quickly. They've shown an impressive ability to learn to work with the planet, especially Ursula.

Big fan of Ursula! She is thriving in this role. Still a little worried about the fungus incident though. I got pretty excited about Azi in the second half because she was doing cool actiony stuff but I really enjoyed Ursula's quiet observation as her souce of strength.

We don't see Levi interacting with the humans in the closing montage. (And I have no idea what's going on with the Levilings. Levilets?) I'm curious, are they and Azi still friendly? Are the other humans perturbed by one of their robot drones gaining sentience? Or considering what they woke up to are they just like 'this might as well happen'. Imagining one of the newly awoken colonists trying to give the robot orders like they're used to and Levi going lol no.

The space death cultists seemed a bit out of left field, but I'm choosing to interpret the lily as a decomposer that brings things into some kind of planetary mycelial network afterlife, with Levi as a spokesperson for it. (With a dead woman's voice, no less. I was kind of wondering if we'd see one of the flowers growing from Sam and then have Levi say something only Sam would know. The planet wanted to assimilate that man So Bad.) In that case having two different takes on centering death could be an interesting potential conflict.

Bold choice to leave the psychic baby (or Hollow, if I must)'s intentions super ambiguous. How much was an animal's natural behaviors getting distorted by new situations? How much was Kamen influencing it? How intelligent is it? To what extent did it understand what it was doing? How is it going to handle being brainblasted by the majesty of the universe? IDK

Also Kamen is just there I guess. Azi's hostile to him; Ursula seems friendly enough. I suppose a lot of the colonists were asleep when he did the redirect, and there weren't any other crew survivors, so maybe none of them know what they did. I don't think Azi's the type to spread it around, even if she's personally annoyed by him. Can he speak and he's choosing not to, or did everything he went through change him? What do you even do after being psychically controlled by a weird frog pretending to be your wife. Gardening I guess. If he'd stuck with gardening in the first place he wouldn't have ended up in this situation.

I know the show got cancelled on HBO Max and we'll see if it survives the Netflix curse (probably not. Netflix loves cancelling shit) but tbh I think it works pretty well as a standalone! Bask in the majesty of nature. Do not try too hard to understand what's going on. Cheer on Azi's forklift prowess. Admire Ursula

[mosneakers]

Walking side by side with Coni, carrying the groceries to the car from the local Dandy's Affordable Supermarket Kingdom (D.A.S.K.), Sunglo subtly adjusts his pace, allowing her to take the lead. He briefly and respectfully admires the intricate hand physics has in the way her skirt sways as she walks. With a giggle, she turns around to face him with a flirtatious smile.

Coni: So... Cecilia's great and everything... [lightly trails fingertip down Sunglo's chest] but I'd like if you came with me on my grocery runs more often. I miss you. You're always cooped up in that dingy lab working. [Playful pout] Sunglo: The feeling is mutual, darling. I'm fully aware of how immersed in my work I've been, I'm sorry. An engineer's work is never done, I guess. Plus with running the bot-business on the side, it really doesn't give me a lot of time to be the center of any major plot points, does it? [glances at us] Uh- hey, let me get the door for you.

Coni: Sure! [Under her breath] With everything going on lately, that's probably for the best...

Sunglo sets the paper bag of groceries on top of the car and does a dorky little jog to the passenger side to open Coni's door for her. Sunglo: Hang on a tick... I was wondering...Cecilia's been making some advancements to her nanny protocols lately. I reckon she could handle Rorie just fine until bedtime. What if we catch a movie or something tonight? Just you and I? Coni: Are you asking me on a date, Daddy? Sunglo: Why yes, I suppose I am.

Coni smiles excitedly, then her smile begins to fade slightly. Coni: [Sighs] That sounds so nice, but... I've been worried about Erwin. Ever since... his breakup with Robin... I don't feel great about leaving him alone. Sunglo: Oh... well he's not alone! He can hang out with Cecilia. Coni: ...Robot. Sunglo: I guess you're right. Well I suppose if he doesn't feel like too much of a third-wheel, he could tag along with us? Coni: Really? Are you sure?

Sunglo: Yeah, it's fine. It's not like he'll spend the whole night with us.

Coni: True! K. I'll text him. Sunglo: Cool.

Coni pulls out her phone to invite Erwin, when she notices multiple missed calls from Tycho.

Coni: Oh, damn it! We forgot your oat milk, babe. Why don't you get the car started and I'll run in and grab it? Sunglo agrees, Coni gives him a quick kiss and runs into the store, as she begins ringing Tycho.

[maguneedsalife]

OK so I know it's been FOREVER since we talked BUT I have been watching a stream of someone playing FFXIV from the beginning and then I was also talking to a friend about the story of FFXIV and I thought of you.

I know if I get into FFXIV it will eat my life (and sometimes I consider it) but if I do, how should I start?

Also, what are the best parts of the story and/or gameplay?

(also Aoife is cool, I like her a lot, and I've just been casually following you long enough that she's like... my default WOL, just so you know)

aaa ty for the ask! (and it doesnt feel like forever somehow bc we reblog each other's posts all the time lmao)

anyway this ended up very long so im putting it under a readmore, but aaaaa im so happy you're interested in trying the game!!

ffxiv will absolutely eat your life, but! if you're interested in giving it a try to see if you like it, (deep breath) have you heard about the free trial of the award winning mmo final fantasy fourteen with no restrictions on playtime and content up to level 70 including the heavensward and stormblood expansio--

jokes aside, the free trial is my personal rec for where to start. you can play as most of the available races (viera and hrothgar are locked to shadowbringers unforch, but as part of the story you get an item that you can use to remake your character if you want, so if you decide to buy the game later you can use that to make the bunny or lion of ur dreams). there are some limits on things like buying items off the mb and how much gil/items you can have, but for the most part there's like 200+ hours of content that's just available for FREE. Idk if you have mmo experience, but if xiv would be your first foray into MMOs i would definitely try the trial first to see if you like it! and since stormblood is included in the trial now you can meet my favorite robot beetle without paying a CENT

the other thing to consider is that there is a big expansion coming at the end of June, which will also include a gigantic graphical update for the characters and world. right now the game is doing its best with ps3-early ps4 era graphics, but come june everything will look a lot prettier! (not that it isn't already pretty, but i won't miss the pixelated grass...). They'll also be adding furry lion ladies if that's your thing (though they won't be free to play as; you'll have to buy the full game to make a hot lion). the downside is the new expansion will be a tough time to start with everyone trying to get in for the new story, so I'd say if you want to start, either do it before dawntrail (easy to log in) or end of july (login queues have eased, and you get to see everything in the pretty graphics!)

normally here is where I'd put my "if you want to play around with the character creator, there's a free benchmark program you can download that includes it!" buuuut the dawntrail benchmark has uh, let's just say wip character models, and they're actually working on putting out an update to it sometime in the next couple weeks.... but when that update does come out, it'll be a great way to play around and see what kind of character you want your wol to be!

WHEW. Okay. that's the first part of your question.

Second part of your question - i wont discuss details of the story bc imo it's worth experiencing firsthand, but i think my favorite part about the story is that your little guy is at the center of it. a lot of the wol's narrative is left open to interpretation, and you are free to imagine how your character responds to the plot. every single person who plays this game has a different and valid experience with the same story, simply due to how they envision their character participating in it, and i think that's beautiful. i can't think of a lot else like it out there.

you'll see a lot of people online arguing that some expansions are "skippable" or base game is "skippable" but they're all lying to you. play all the main story. watch all the cutscenes. there's no need to zoom through it. the reason you are crying your eyes out at the end of endwalker is because you have watched your wol grow from the time they were killing level 1 ladybugs in the starting area. some parts might be stronger or weaker than others, but it all comes together to make one of my favorite stories videogames has ever told.

(also, no spoilers, but shadowbringers is still my favorite expansion for a reason. you've probably osmosized a fair bit of it from my posts about it but it's soooo good. it's worth seeing in person.)

also there are some surprisingly good storylines in the "side" content (raids, trials, etc), so it's definitely worth picking up those blue plus quests and seeing what adventures are to be had. not to be biased but the omega storyline is my favorite ("yes ren we KNOW you like the robot beetle"). some are serious (there's one about child soldiers) and some are goofy (in one questline you solve zany mysteries with the world's least competent detective) but all of them have heart, and a little final fantasy corniness.

as for gameplay, its probably obvious that i love the fashion aspect. Gear you obtain can be seen on your character (even jewelry!), and there's a whole system for saving outfits. people joke that glamour is the true endgame but i literally, like an hour ago, cleared a high difficulty raid because i wanted a specific shirt. So obviously the dressup aspect is a main draw for me gameplay wise.

but other than that, one of the game's strengths is there's something for everyone. if you want to be the sweatiest raider and optimize your rotation and get BiS and clear ultimates, you can, but it's not the only way to enjoy the game. i have friends who enjoy just dinking around in roulettes, friends who love to fish, friends who roleplay, friends who organize rare monster kill trains, and friends who spend a ton of time on minigames in the casino. that's just scratching the surface. there's so much to do!

anyway, whew, i think that maybe answered your question? or maybe you now have more of them?

i am always available here and on discord to answer questions and help you get started in eorzea :3 ty again for the ask!!!

and aaaaaaaaaa hearing that you like aoife makes me so happy 😭

[trash-can-sam]

I just had the cutest idea. About Qi and the kids.

So, I don’t think he ever explicitly says it but Qi definitely does not like kids. They’re kinda stupid and a lot of kids (esp young kids) are very annoying and distracting. He also does not know how to interact with kids, because kids are strange.

So because of this, I always imagine that whenever Jasmine gets him his mail, he’s always like “alright you can go now.” (Because I don’t think there’s a mailbox by the research center so I imagine she just knocks on his door and hands it to him.) just generally cold towards her bcuz he doesn’t have time for this shit and also doesn’t know what he’d talk about even if he did. I feel like despite this, Jasmine wishes she knew what was up with him because she just wants to be friends with everyone.

Because of this, I think it would be silly and fun if Jasmine picked up on Qis interest in Gungham and read some of the comic books or something and started talking to Qi about it.

I think at first Jasmine absolutely does not understand why Qi likes it so much. It’s all fights and that’s just not really her thing. But when she starts talking to Qi about it Qis like “Nono listen, now I doubt you’d be able to understand but the fights are what makes it emotionally powerful. How could you possibly think it’s boring when robot 623 is struggling to find a reason to keep going on. It’s about his issues with humanity, obviously it’s a metaphor not just a fight.” And then I think Jasmine gets it a bit more.

Qi will “Begrudgingly” explain all the deeper nuances within the themes in the series. Jasmine is pretty smart for her age, and I think that this would probably happen when she’s a bit older, like 8 or 9 instead of 5 like in canon (I think she’s canonically 5 at least?) (edit: now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure her age isn’t canonically confirmed BUT I think she’s probably more around 7-8 years old just because Andy seems much more like around that age and they’re about the same age. So for her being friends with Qi maybe she’s like 10-11.) I don’t think It annoys Qi to no end that she doesn’t just get it but also he loves to talk about his little robots and overtime she grows on him.

I also think it would be funny if Jasmine tried to get Andy into it and Andy’s like “Wow I love these fights that’s so cool!” And Qis like “Hmph. I honestly don’t think I can help you. Your prefrontal cortex is clearly nowhere near developed enough to even being to process any in depth emotional moments. You simply don’t have enough experience in any type of field to even start to grasp it on the most basic of levels.” (Andy does not know what he’s talking about at all.)

Plus it’s funny to imagine Jasmine going to Trudy and being like “I think I made friends with Director Qi :)” and Trudy is like huh. If she asks him about it, he’s like “Your daughter is truly remarkable for her age, most children are completely idiotic and incapable of understanding the very base level of most concepts, but she’s quite intelligent.”

ANYWAYS. I just think they’re cute :)

[sillyname30]

Actors get their breaks on Broadway in different ways. Steven Huynh, who has spent the past few years working primarily in regional theater and doing workshops for upcoming musicals such as The Lost Boys and Crazy Rich Asians, got his big break when he became the standby for Darren Criss in the new musical Maybe Happy Ending, now at the Belasco Theatre.

Huynh spoke with TheaterMania about deciding to pursue acting during high school after being nominated for a Dazzle Award, how his first Broadway show affected him, and what it’s like working with Criss, whom he first met on the set of Glee.

The following conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

What was the deciding factor for you in pursuing acting?

I was planning to be a music teacher. I mostly played trumpet in high school, but one year I ended up playing Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors, and I was eventually recognized as one of five Best Actor nominees for the inaugural Dazzle Awards at [Cleveland’s] Playhouse Square, which is the regional version of the Jimmy Awards. While working on that awards show — it was so cool being with 100 other kids — I came to the realization that I could make acting into a career, even though I didn’t win the award. It also was a huge factor that my mom and dad told me I should be doing this. They are Vietnamese immigrants who own a nail salon, so their support has meant so much to me!

Was being on Broadway always your goal?

I would say Broadway has been my dream ever since 2016, when my high school class came to New York and saw Aladdin on Broadway. Seeing the representation onstage of people who looked like me was really inspiring. When my agent called to tell me that I had been chosen for Maybe Happy Ending, I immediately went to write down “At 4:18 on July 10, you found out you are making your Broadway debut.” And then I called my mom and dad to thank them. I still have a sense of disbelief that I’m here. But my biggest feeling is gratitude.

What is Maybe Happy Ending is about?

It is a musical that takes place in this future society that has created humanoid helper-bots whose main purpose is to serve others. But since they are always upgrading to the newest models, these two older robots, Oliver [played by Criss] and Claire [played by Helen J. Shen], are put into this retirement center where they meet and come to terms with mortality, being human, and falling in love. My hope is that, even though the musical deals with advanced AI, audiences will leave the theater with a renewed sense of wonder about the world around us today. I also hope they will sing or hum the score for days to come.

You are not only the standby for Darren Criss, but you’re also an understudy for Marcus Choi, who plays various roles in the show. That sound like a lot of work.

Yes, it is a lot that I have to learn all these parts. But I get to watch and observe this show from the ground up and I get to be part of the conversation, which is so exciting. I learn a lot of the roles simply from osmosis, being in the room every day. Still, when I am home, in Harlem, my script is completely hooked up and I am constantly reviewing lines and music on my commute on the subway.

Are you enjoying working with Darren?

I absolutely admire and adore Darren. It’s so incredible being in the rehearsal room with him — we actually didn’t meet until we got into the rehearsal room — because he takes such an intellectual, in-depth approach to creating his character. I remember watching him in Glee while growing up; I actually used his version of “Someone Only We Know” as my audition song. Luckily, he thought that was hilarious. Anyway, a lot of our camaraderie comes not only from our Asian American heritage, but from our shared love of food. A lot of what we talk about is our experience of eating at our favorite restaurants, and now we try to go out when we can and find the best ramen, pho, or Korean BBQ. It’s so fun!