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wonderingpanda · 3 months

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So after a week the results came in and it seems you guys want to have four separate y/n’s; I hope it doesn’t get too confusing for any of you while reading this. Just remember L/L is Leo’s lover/love interest, R/L is Raph’s lover/love interest, D/L is Donnie’s lover/love interest and M/L is Mikey’s lover/love interest. Apologies in advance, I didn’t want to waste a bunch of space explaining the kids in detail so they they have their own little individual descriptions which kind of cut into the story at the beginning.

You may notice while reading that I’ve changed my writing format. This is just to see how it goes since during my last larger story I found it especially annoying to keep finding new ways to describe people talking and transition to characters dialogue. It may be lazy and petty but I just find it easier to write my longer stories like this. Don’t worry though, headcannons and smaller oneshots won’t be affected by this.

Now, I hate being extremely specific and try to make my Y/n’s as flexible as possible so a large number of people can enjoy the story but I’ve had this story for ages and at this point it’s hard to change some of the details so these are the things you need to know. All four of the readers will be given she/her pronouns. At their regular ages M/L is 14, the turtles and D/L are 15, April Casey and L/L are 16 and R/L is 16-17. Since I had also already pictured Raph’s kids as little turtle-lizard mutants, R/L is going to be an anthropomorphic lizard. I hope this is all ok. If you don’t like it then just read it different in your head.

Each piece of the story will also be prone to editing, I can almost certainly guarantee it. Nothing major, most likely just fixing grammar and spelling or rewriting sentences to flow better. I also don’t have a name for the baby yet so I need to add that in as well. Ok, I’m done ranting now, please enjoy the prologue to my own version of…

TMNT Next Generation

2012 Turtles x Fem!Readers

New York City is destroyed. Every building has either been over and smashed or abandoned. The streets are quiet. A set of green legs can be seen running through followed by more pairs of running green legs with mixes of human legs. Some are small while others are much bigger. Bombs are being detonated behind the group of running people, gunshots can be heard in the distance as robots continue to fire in pursuit of them. R/L is holding a crying lizard-turtle baby, trying to calm it down.

R/L: Raphael I fear if we do not find a safe zone soon the children will pass out from running.

RAPH: She’s right Leo, you got a plan or what?

LEO: I’m trying to think! Donnie is there anything you have that could help us right now?

DONNIE: I don’t know Leo I-I can’t really think of anything right now!

The baby continues to cry, Mikey runs up next to R/L and talks to him.

MIKEY: Aww hey there little guy, don’t cry. We’re gonna totally find a place to hide in a minute and then we’ll get you all changed and fed okay?

The baby quiets down and let’s out a small noise, staring at Mikey.

MIKEY: See everything’s gonna be fine you’ll see.

A large piece of scrap metal gets blown forwards narrowly missing the group.

M/L: Antonio watch out!

M/L protectively grabs Antonio, an orange masked 11-year-old mutant turtle with some human aspects, as they both run.

M/L: Just stay close to me okay. I’m not losing you.

ANTONIO: Already on it mum.

D/L: Hey Mary, Mary?

Mary, 10 with a pink mask and also part turtle, is panting heavily and slowly falling behind. D/L yanks her onto her shoulders.

D/L: Get on here now, we can’t risk leaving you.

MARY: Thanks *wheeze* mum.

CASEY: You all good buddy?

Casey looks down to his son, a yellow-wearing 12-year-old, speeding on roller skates.

ALEX: Don’t worry dad I’m totally fine woah!

Alex begins to trip on his skates and struggles to remain balance.

SORA: Alex here!

Sora, a blue masked 11 year old who is also of mixed species with more prominent turtle traits, grabs his hand and keeps him balanced while they run.

ALEX: Thanks for the save Sora.

SORA: No worries.

APRIL: Are we nearly at a safe zone?

L/L: I hope so. Yoshi, are you still feeling right?

Yoshi, a green masked 12-year old who, unlike his sister, appears more human-like, catches his breath and looks up.

YOSHI: Better than I was before.

Amongst the group are 3 more turtle lizard children. 10-year-old twins, Harriet (with a light turquoise mask) and Ethan (in a dark turquoise mask), who appear more lizardy and their sister Athena who’s a year older, wearing red mask and looks more like a turtle.

HARRIET: I don’t *huff* think I can *puff* keep this up *huff* much *puff* longer *huff*.

ATHENA: Hey don’t say that, we got this just keep going. After everything we’ve been through there’s no way you can let this get to you.

ETHAN: But we’ve been running for hours now I know dad said there’d be a safe zone eventually but I’m not sure anymore.

Bridget, another 11-year-old turtle looking human hybrid (wearing a purple mask), runs up towards the front where the main 4 brothers are.

BRIDGET: Dad from what I can see there aren’t any safe zones anywhere around, are you sure we’ll be okay?

DONATELLO: I- yes. We’ll be fine Bridget just stay strong okay?

Bridget looks at the ground in worry. Donnie sends Leo a look.

LEO: There’s no way we can get to a safe zone is there.

Donnie shakes his head in dismay.

RAPH: Well then what are we gonna do? We can’t just give up.

MIKEY: Uh dudes the kids are starting to give in.

Leo thinks deeply for a moment.

LEO: We’ll have to fight.

MIKEY, DONNIE & RAPH: What!?

RAPH: Are you crazy!?

MIKEY: Dude there’s no way we can fight them off again!

DONNIE: You saw what happened last time we tried!

LEO: I know, I know but right now it’s our only hope. We’ll protect the kids for as long as we can.

RAPH: And if we fail?

LEO: Then we accept our fates.

BRIDGET: Wait dad?

DONNIE: Uh now might not be the best time dear we’re kind of busy.

BRIDGET: But it’s important.

The brothers share a look.

DONNIE: Alright what is it?

BRIDGET: You remember that project we were working on right? Do you still have it with you?

DONNIE: Oh no Bridget, we can’t use that thing it’s still in testing. I don’t even know if it works properly. We haven’t even tried sending something through.

BRIDGET: But in theory, if it works then it could save us right?

DONNIE: I suppose you’re correct.

LEO: What are you talking about Donnie.

DONNIE: Well, you see, back at the old safe zone Bridget and I were messing around with some gadgets thinking off possible designs for different machines to keep us busy when Bridget had an idea. She suggested trying to build a time machine.

RAPH: A time machine? Now you really have gone mad.

DONNIE: No I haven’t! Bridget helped me figure out the design and together we came up with a device that could possibly work but we got attacked before we could test it.

MIKEY: Wait didn’t we already meet a time travel lady like years ago?

RAPH: Oh yeah, Renet wasn’t it? Wonder what happened to her.

DONNIE: Well Mikey that’s exactly it we haven’t seen her in years so building a machine is logically the most reliable option here.

LEO: So what are you trying to say Donnie, what was Bridget thinking before?

DONNIE: She was implying that if we used the time machine to go back in time we could possibly alter the events that lead to this and save the future!

LEO: But you said it wasn’t tested yet?

DONNIE: It isn’t which is why using it comes at such a risk.

Another bomb sounds.

RAPH: So we either fight, run till we drop or risk our lives on one of Donnie’s genius inventions. Great!

LEO: Alright. Donnie, Bridget, if you think you can get that thing up and running then we’ll protect you guys while doing so. There isn’t much left so it’s now or never.

BRIDGET: Alright.

DONNIE: If you say so; are you sure about this Bridget?

BRIDGET: Like Uncle Leo said, it’s now or never.

LEO: Guys get up here!

APRIL: What is it Leo?

LEO: We might have a plan to escape these guys.

CASEY: You finally found a safe zone?

MIKEY: Nope, but if Donnie and Bridget can get their time travel thingy to work then we’ll all be saved!

D/L: Wait, time travel?

LEO: It’s a long shot but if we can protect them while they get the machine up and running then we might just be able to save ourselves and the rest of the world.

R/L: Are you sure this is the best course of action?

LEO: Positive.

APRIL: But what about the kids?

LEO: We’ll keep them safe too.

SORA: What? But dad, I can fight those guys too!

LEO: No way, not after last time.

Sora looks down.

LEO: *sighs* I need you to take your brother, Alex, your cousins and defend them with your life am I clear?

SORA: Yes dad.

HARRIET: I guess this is it.

ETHAN: I think I’m about to puke.

ATHENA: Don’t, just don’t.

MARY: Do you really think this could work?

BRIDGET: I hope so.

R/L: Here Yoshi, please keep baby safe.

YOSHI: You can count on me.

ALEX: Guys, they’re getting closer!

ANTONIO: I don’t want to die!

M/L: Antonio I need you to calm down. You’re not going to die, ok? Not on my watch.

L/L: Alright, I’m ready when you guys are.

LEO: Okay we got into combat in three…

The brothers ready their weapons.

LEO: Two…

The other adults prepare to fight.

LEO: One…

The kids look on nervously.

LEO: *Takes a deep breath* Go!

Mary hops of D/L’s shoulders and runs with the other kids. Bridget and Donnie get as far behind the others as possible, Donnie pulls out an odd looking watch and they begin to tinker with it.

The kids get into a group, Sora having her sword drawn and Yoshi holding the baby while Alex is holding a baseball bat. Athena is in a fighting stance with Harriet and Ethan behind her. Antonio and Mary are both clinging on to each other.

The adults have their weapons drawn in a wall to protect everyone behind them. They all let out battle cries and run in.

Leo deflects lasers with his katanas, D/L is bashing up whatever’s attacking them with her kanabō. April begins to show her fan at the enemy and Casey is whacking them away with his hockey stick. Raph and Mikey are both fighting side-by-side while M/L is using martial arts. L/L is attacking with Kakute, Shurikens and Kunais. Sora, Athena and Alex are fighting off the few enemies that made it to them while Yoshi is trying to keep the baby safe. Bridget and Donnie are still working with the watch, a few sparks fly about but they don’t focus on them. L/L is still fighting by herself until a gunshot hits her arm.

Y/N: Ah!

LEO: L/L!

SORA AND YOSHI: Mum!

L/L stops fighting and Leo runs to her. Mikey and Raph look over but refocus as an attack narrowly misses them.

APRIL: Guys look out!

April quickly jumps in and deflects another shot with her fan. She continues to protect them while Leo holds L/L. Sora is struggling to fight and Yoshi nearly drops the baby.

Athena looks over to where Harriet and Ethan are cowering together.

ATHENA: Guys, stop being cowards and fight!

The twins look at each other before determinedly moving out of position and helping to fight.

D/L: Donnie, Bridget, please tell me you’re nearly finished!

DONNIE: Almost done, we just have a few more things to adjust!

ANTONIO: Hey you, over there!

One of the robots looks over to Antonio who’s pointing at them.

ANTONIO: Have a taste of my fist!

Antonio begins to punch the enemy in the stomach over and over to no avail. He looks up and gulps before the robot punches him in the face and sends him flying.

M/L: Antonio!

ATHENA: No!

MIKEY: Wait M/L!

M/L gets kicked to the ground by another bot. Mikey runs over and picks up Antonio before going over to M/L.

ANTONIO: Dad, is mom okay?

MIKEY: You’ll be fine, we’ll be fine, everything’s fine!

RAPH: Donnie I swear to god!

DONNIE: I’m trying! Do you know how hard it is to manually formulate time travel!

Donnie stops when he hears Bridget sniff. He looks over to see she has tears in her eyes.

BRIDGET: Dad what if we can’t do it, what if the watch fails?

Donnie looks back at the scene behind them then at the watch and finally looks back to Bridget.

DONNIE: We’re gonna get this thing working if it’s the last thing I do!

Bridget looks at Donnie getting back to work and gives a firm nod before doing the same.

APRIL: Leo I know this is hard right now but you have to get back to fighting, I’ll protect L/L but we need you on the battlefield!

L/L: She’s right Leo, it’s only my arm I’ll be fine. The others need you.

LEO: Stay safe.

L/L: Always.

Leo stands up and keeps fighting off the robots.

MARY: I don’t want to do this anymore, I’m scared!

ATHENA: And you haven’t been scared this whole time?

MARY: Huh?

ATHENA: This has been going on for years. We’ve been running and fighting and hiding and running all over again, this isn’t anything new.

MARY: But Antonio, Aunty M/L and Aunty L/L-

ATHENA: Are fine. They were knocked down but they’re still breathing and that’s all that matters right now.

Mary looks on at Athena fighting bravely.

ATHENA: I’m just as scared as you are but if any of us give in at this point then there’s a chance we could all die!

MARY: I-I guess you’re right.

ATHENA: Now come on, pick yourself up and kick butt!

MARY: Yeah!

HARRIET: You still feeling the fight?

Harriet puts her hand up, Ethan grabs it.

ETHAN: You know it.

The two shake before letting out battle cries and continuing to fight.

SORA: Are you alright there brother?

YOSHI: I’m fine and so is the baby.

SORA: Good.

Sora gets back-to-back with Athena as they fight.

SORA: That was a pretty good speech you gave back there.

ATHENA: Don’t mention it.

Sora smiles as Athena fights seriously.

With the adults, Casey knocks away another enemy and faces L/L.

CASEY: Is everyone okay?

L/L: I hope so, it looks like Mikey and April are on the defence right now and Raph, R/L and Leo are with us on the offence.

CASEY: Alright, sounds good to me.

Casey turns around and is nearly shot until R/L steps in.

CASEY: Thanks for the save R/L.

R/L: There is no need to thank me we’re a team.

D/L: Alright three more guys incoming, you ready?

CASEY: As I’ll ever be.

R/L: I’m armed and prepared to fire.

CASEY: Goongala!

D/L: I can’t believe you still say that.

M/L is gaining consciousness with Antonio next to her.

M/L: Mikey?

MIKEY: Don’t move M/L. I can’t stop fighting right now but I need you to stay still, you were both hit pretty hard.

M/L: Both? *gasp* Antonio!

ANTONIO: Relax mum I’m right here.

M/L gives Antonio a big hug but the two quickly move away.

ANTONIO: Ouch!

M/L: Ow! Sorry I should of been more careful.

ANTONIO: It’s all good.

APRIL: Are you feeling okay L/L?

L/L stands up holding her shot arm.

L/L: I’ll be fine for now.

APRIL: Can you still fight?

L/L: I think so.

APRIL: Great cause I could use your help against these guys.

L/L: Right, I’m on it!

SORA: Hey, everyone’s up and fighting again!

HARRIET: Hah, I knew we would make it!

MARY: Yes!

Leo looks behind at the children cheering and smiles. Suddenly there’s a loud bang. The ground shakes violently and everyone’s vision is temporarily blinded.

Sora, now lying on the ground, waves a hand in front of her face while coughing, she stares at the sight… a bomb had gone off.

SORA: No…

Parts of the nearby buildings had been blown off and everyone was on the ground struggling as another wave of attackers began moving forward. Leo pushes himself off the ground wheezing and coughing before turning to look at Donnie and Bridget. His eyes widen as Donnie connects two wires and a portal opens.

LEO: They did it, they actually did it!

RAPH: Well it’ll all be for nothing if we don’t get moving like now!

Mikey pushes himself off the ground and helps up M/L and Antonio.

M/L: Ow!

MIKEY: Sorry M/L but we got to go!

APRIL: Casey!

CASEY: I’m alive, barely.

APRIL: Let’s get moving; we’re out of time.

April pulls Casey up.

Athena lifts herself up and turns to Ethan and Harriet.

ATHENA: Hey, get up!

Athena pulls up Harriet

HARRIET: Ah! It hurts.

ATHENA: I know, but trust me it’ll hurt a lot more when those things catch up to us.

Ethan pushes himself up.

ETHAN: Let’s get moving. You alright Mary?

Ethan helps Mary up.

MARY: I’ll be fine.

Yoshi opens his eyes and looks down in shock to find the baby safely wrapped in his arms. He gets up and hands the baby to Athena before looking over at Sora.

YOSHI: Are you going to keep lying there or are we still fearless heroes?

Sora looks up at him and sees the baby is okay. She lets out a weak smile and pushes herself up.

SORA: Fearless heroes. Forever and always.

R/L helps pull up D/L.

R/L: Are you alright D/L?

D/L: Been better but considering right now, I’ll be ok.

Leo pulls up L/L.

LEO: You ready to go home?

L/L: Yeah.

The kids rush over to their parents, being smaller and hit less by the blast they have more strength. Antonio joins them.

SORA: Dad are you okay? You’re walking really slow.

LEO: I’ll be fine let’s just get to that portal before-

Another gunshot fires this time hitting Casey in the back.

APRIL: Casey!

ALEX: Dad!

More gunshots go off but April repels them with her psychic powers. She uses a wave of energy to hold back the robots as she sits by Casey with tears in her eyes.

APRIL: You guys need to go I can’t hold them back for long!

MIKEY: No way we’re leaving you!

RAPH: We’re not going without you or Casey.

Donnie and Bridget run up to the group.

DONNIE: What happened?

APRIL: Casey’s hit!

ALEX: Dad?

DONNIE: Oh no.

APRIL: Guys I can’t-

Aprils powers fail and the robots begin storming forward.

MIKEY: What are we gonna do dudes. Ack! I can barely move my arm.

RAPH: I can’t go any faster than a snail.

R/L: I’m also lacking in physical strength.

D/L: Same here.

LEO: What about you L/L?

L/L sadly shows her wound’s been opened further.

L/L: Sorry Leo.

LEO: Looks behind him at the kids.

MARY: Mum you’ll be okay right?

ALEX: Dad, please get up!

HARRIET: Are you okay mum?

ETHAN: You guys aren’t hurt right?

ATHENA: Dad?

BRIDGET: Will everyone be able to make it through?

Leo smiles sadly and looks down at his katanas in front of him.

LEO: Change of plans.

Everyone looks up at Leo.

LEO: The adults will stay here and fight best we can. Kids, you guys are going to go and run as fast as you can through that portal.

KIDS: What!?

SORA: Dad you can’t be serious!

YOSHI: There’s no way you’re leaving us!

SORA: Mum tell him you can’t!

L/L looks away sadly and closes her eyes.

ATHENA: Dad there’s no way I’m letting you fight here alone! You can’t just stay!

All the adults stay silent.

ATHENA: Dad!

BRIDGET: At least you can come right dad? You weren’t hit by the blast you’re perfectly fine.

DONNIE: Bridget I love you so much.

MARY: Dad? What are you saying!?

DONNIE: You too Mary. But I swore to always have my brothers backs and to fight till the very end. If me staying here means you guys get out safe then I’ll do it.

MARY: Nu uh no way. Mum you’ll come with us won’t you?

D/L: I’m in just as bad a condition as everyone else sweetie. You’re going to have to go alone.

MARY: No!

More gunshots follow and the sound of bombs can be heard getting louder. Leo crouches down to Sora.

LEO: Now listen here I’m trusting you to lead this mission.

SORA: B-but dad!

LEO: No buts. You’re going to go through that portal and lead your family on this mission. I know it’s scary but I also know that if anyone can do it it’s you.

Sora holds Leo’s hands and begins to cry.

Bridget looks around at everyone crying to their parents and faces Donnie.

DONNIE: Bridget I need you to take possession of the watch.

Bridget silently nods and takes the watch.

DONNIE: Do you remember all the features it has?

BRIDGET: Mhm. Left dial for latitude, right dial for longitude, bottom dial for month, top dial for day and the centre is for the year.

DONNIE: See, you know exactly what you’re doing. I even installed a small device that’ll lead you straight to the lair.

BRIDGET: The lair… as in-

DONNIE: That’s right, home. Now here, let me adjust the settings.

Donnie fiddles with the dials before handing the watch back to Bridget. She looks up at him for a second before giving him a big hug.

ANTONIO: Mum, dad, I don’t want to leave you guys!

M/L: There isn’t really much of a choice here buddy.

MIKEY: We’re not fast enough to catch up with you.

ANTONIO: But, but-

MIKEY: Hey I need you to promise me something. Do you think that you can keep everyone smiling and laughing while you’re away, for me?

ANTONIO: I promise.

ATHENA: I don’t want to leave you guys, you can’t just expect us to go without you!

RAPH: Sorry but you have to, we’ll only slow you down.

ATHENA: No you won’t!

RAPH: Hey who do you think knows better, the 38-year-old ninja or the mini warrior-in-training?

Athena puffs out her cheeks and glares at him.

RAPH: That’s what I thought. Now you’re going to go with you’re brothers, your sister, Alex, your cousins and you’re going to protect them no matter what. I’m relying on you to make sure everyone comes back in one piece okay?

ATHENA: Okay.

RAPH: That’s my little warrior.

ETHAN: Are you guys really going to stay?

R/L: It is for your own protection.

Harriet cries and hugs her mum tight.

ALEX: Dad, come on you’re not really down are you.

CASEY: *Groans as he attempts to lift himself up* Sorry little dude.

APRIL: Come here honey.

Alex skates into April’s arms and hugs her tightly.

APRIL: I know you can do this. You mean so much to all of us so we need you to be brave enough to leave us and help them.

ALEX: Can’t you just use your psychic powers to stop this and save us all?

APRIL: I wish it was that simple.

A laser narrowly misses April’s head as she parts with Alex.

APRIL: Enough chit-chat, they’re here.

Everyone takes a fighting stance as more guns begin to fire. The adults start fighting with Casey still on the ground.

D/L: Go, go, go!

M/L: We love you all!

R/L: Come back safe!

L/L quickly pulls Yoshi back.

L/L: Take this and give it to our past selves.

YOSHI: What?

L/L quickly pulls him into a tight hug.

L/L: Remember you are more than what others make you, I love you so much. Now go!

MARY: No I don’t want to go!

Bridget begins pulling Mary back. Mary turns to her with tears.

MARY: We can’t just leave them.

BRIDGET: *Deep breath* We have to.

HARRIET: Guys come on we have to hurry!

Yoshi pulls Mary along and Bridget continues to run. The kids all run and jump through the portal one by one. Yoshi pulls Mary through leaving Bridget and Sora.

BRIDGET: If you don’t go I will; just make sure to grab the watch before going through, we need it to get back.

Bridget jumps through. Sora looks on at the parents fighting and focuses on Leo. Tears begin to fall from her eyes. Another loud bang goes off; bright light fills the space and Sora quickly grabs the watch before being forced into the portal, unable to see the remains of the explosion.

Hope you enjoyed! Please keep sending requests so I have more stuff to post as this story will likely take a while for me to finish. With that, have an amazing day/night wherever you may be!✨

#tmnt #donnie x reader #raph x reader #leo x reader #mikey x reader #tmnt x reader #x reader #2012 tmnt x reader #2012 tmnt #2012 donnie x reader #2012 mikey x reader #2012 leo x reader #2012 raph x reader

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twilightknight17 · 8 months

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Today (it’s not tomorrow til I go to sleep) on P3R, we spend a lot of time in Tartarus, I’ve got some questions about why everyone I know is such a mess, yet another couple is competing to be worse parents than Nyarlathotep, and six days of exams.

So with the Priestess down, we can get past that barrier in Tartarus, so up we go to the next set of floors. I was expecting more green hallways, but instead I got, uh…

Mementos was weird from the beginning, but like… it saved the REALLY weird stuff for a lot further down. This is area 2, and we’re stuck with Bigface and eldritch eyes.

When I reached another gatekeeper shadow, I got it! But then there was another one immediately after. :(

Disappointing Igor is the worst. But at least I figured out what the stupid dice’s weakness was, so I got it the second time. Everyone keeps talking about how Akihiko is going to be better soon and he’ll be able to help, so I guess we’ll head home for now just in case there’s more gatekeepers immediately ahead.

The takoyaki thief at the shrine is named Maiko, and she’s adorable. I really like her. ^_^

………….oh no.

Her parents are getting a divorce, and she is NOT doing well. And apparently they spend more time yelling at each other than talking to their kid and making sure she’s okay.

Minato doesn’t have the energy for righteous fury, but I do.

Mitsuru wants me to look at the command equipment instead of going on a rage-fueled rampage, so off we go. I dunno why she thinks we can fix it. Just let Ikutsuki do it.

…...that seems concerning.

It’s a video of Ikutsuki working on a report and talking to himself. He’s pondering the full moon shadow, and whether it’s a sign that “it’s starting”.

Apparently he also tells himself puns. This man...

You can’t actually tell Mitsuru about what you saw??? Like, did I fix it? Was this a plan to get me to see this video? Mitsuru, what even.

Ugh, fine, I’m gonna go study.

I’m finally a Regular Guy instead of a pathetic wet blanket.

In the next few days of school, Junpei texted and asked to hang out in the afternoon. I guess this is the new side-story things they added? It’s a little weird, though, because it shows up on the map like this:

It’s not a social link, though. We went to the arcade and hung out and talked, but there were no points or Velvet voiceovers or anything. Just chilling and playing some… uh… “very interesting games”. XDDD

It did up Junpei’s stats, so that’s good. But it’s not a social link. I am still stuck with Kenji as my Magician. X’’’D He’s not around, though, because pretty much everyone is knuckled down to study for exams. So I ended up spending a lot of time at the bookstore. Even though Bunkichi and Mitsuko make me sad.

My space is being invaded, though. By the French.

But just call him "Bebe".

I'd rather not.

I can’t actually start his link right now because he hangs out in the home ec room, and all the clubs are shut down for impending exams.

...is this gonna be on the exam?

I bought some food that needs to be refrigerated, and the mini fridge in my room spontaneously broke. However, the downstairs fridge is full. Which, like… guys. Who is using all these ingredients? It keeps telling me I can’t use the kitchen, so how have y’all filled the whole fridge?

Instead of going to Tartarus, we’re having study sessions to get ready for exams. It’s going, uh… well? I think?

And I’m spending more time with Maiko, because all my links at school are unavailable.

MINATO. WHY IS THAT EVEN AN OPTION.

…..man, I am so worried about this kid.

I made it through midterms and answered all the questions correctly because no one asked me about algebra! So hopefully that’s enough to get me a good grade and a reward from Mitsuru. Speaking of Mitsuru, I ran into her biggest fan in the hallway after my last exam.

Wouldn’t we all be happy?

I also ran into my fellow student council member, who can only say a little bit to me before freaking out because she can’t talk to guys. Minato’s dialogue options are golden.

Off to see Maiko again, only to get interrogated by this dude.

First of all, Minato’s in high school, so… neither? Second of all, who are you? You didn’t even introduce yourself. Maiko just called you “Stripey”. And I might know who you are, but Mina doesn’t. From his perspective, you’re just some other guy Maiko knows.

I’M SO WORRIED ABOUT THIS KID

Anyway, now that exams are done, Akihiko has been cleared to fight again, and apparently found another persona-user while he was in the hospital. But apparently, she also wouldn’t be capable of fighting.

This is why you don’t jump the gun, Akihiko.

So I guess next time, we’ll head back into Tartarus to see what Akihiko can do.

Random side note: I keep meaning to mention that they’re still wearing the SEES armbands. I’m wondering now what prompts the spiffy uniform upgrades to the shoulder-guards and stuff we saw in the trailers.

Second random side note: If hanging out with your non-social-link friends for side stories buffs their persona stats, I wonder what hanging out with Ryoji will do? Buff Than? Debuff the final boss? XDDD

#Li plays P3Re

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deannagrey · 9 months

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A Mendell Christmas: Part Two

A/N: I meant to have this up so much sooner! The end of the year was far busier than I expected. And because I had to take care of some personal things, my writing became a low priority. Thankfully, I finally have time to sit down again.

This Christmas project became far longer than I expected (I still have one more part to post). When I finished this part, I hesitated to share it because it didn't feel exciting or interesting. It felt too cheesy. But then I remembered how much I used to write when I was younger. And how much I used to just want to have fun. So, I've decided that's what all my posts on this Tumblr will be: simple fun. The characters might be all over the place, the dialogue might sound weird, and there probably won't be any real plot. But I want a space to have fun again. Writing as a job has been a blessing but it's not my escape anymore. I miss it being my escape.

So, for the year ahead I want to post random writing on this blog! Stories, shorts, and snapshots of characters that may or may not be in my published books. This is my sandbox. My place for quiet moments with the characters I love. I hope you enjoy this quiet moment with Finn and Sam. I had so much fun being back in their heads and spending more time with them.

Happy New Year! I hope 2024 brings you everything you desire. I hope you enjoy these small moments too.

(Also apologies for any inaccuracies! I'm Florida-born & raised, I don't know how frozen lake fishing works and didn't want to do research for such a small piece of writing lol)

Finn

“We’re going on a road trip,” Sam said as he joined me in the kitchen.

“When?” I stirred sugar into Naomi’s morning tea.

“As soon as you get your shoes on,” he said.

I looked up, noting how he was already dressed. “Are we in a hurry?”

“Oh yeah.” Sam glanced at the time on his phone. “Should have left here an hour ago.”

“You’re not going to get everyone else ready on such a tight schedule. You know Henrik’s going to need at least an hour to make food to pack.”

“Well it’s a good thing they’re not invited, isn’t it?”

I raised my brow at Sam’s smile. It’s the first time I’ve seen his smile reach his eyes since Aderyn asked for space and time. There’s a lightness to his energy. An excitement I’ve been trying to draw out of him for weeks. I kept failing over and over until disappointment became an all too familiar feeling.

Being there for Naomi felt like putting on custom-made skates with the blades perfectly sharpened for a smoothed rink surface. When trying to comfort the guys, I was in secondhand skates, trying to stay upright on an uneven, frozen lake.

Maybe today could be different. Sam was already primed for a good time. All I had to do was lean in and try to summon a bit of old Finn energy. Some part of me must remember how to be a good friend to him. If not, I'd learn. I'd already learned how to talk to people again…kind of.

“What’s the destination?” I asked while topping off Naomi’s drink with oat milk.

“A trip down memory lane,” Sam said. “It’s my not-so-secret Santa gift.”

My stomach jumped, curiosity making me more alert. I’d been vehemently against learning about my past earlier this semester. But after finding my own rhythm and becoming more confident in the person I was now, I couldn’t help but harbor a bit of wonder about what I’d left behind. What memories I’d once shared now only belonged to one person.

“That cool with you?” Sam asked just in case. “It’s fine if not. I know you’ve been hesitant but figured—or maybe hoped—you were more comfortable with it now that things seem to be better for you. You're more settled.”

“Umm…” My mind was trying to catch up to everything.

“I got a far more traditional gift option as a plan B,” Sam offered.

“No, I mean, yeah, I’m cool with that. With the memory lane,” I said quickly. My curiosity evolved into nerves. What if I didn’t like it and that fucked up his mood again? I wasn’t good at faking happiness. Hell, I was barely good at expressing happiness even when it was genuine.

“Relax,” Sam said gently. “If you hate it we’ll come right back, no questions asked.”

The muscles in my shoulders loosened a bit.

“Sound good?” he asked.

“Sounds great,” I assured.

Sam

Whenever Finn was keeping something to himself, he became an excessive throat clearer. Even after his accident that hadn’t changed. On the ride out of town, I listened to his symphony of nerves. And let him go on until I decided to throw him a line.

“It’s a good memory,” I promised and smiled over at him. “If that does anything to help your anxiety.”

Finn grunted, pretending to be more interested in whatever he was doing on his phone.

“A memory that'll make you feel all fuzzy and warm,” I teased. "Like the teddy bear, you truly are thanks to Naomi."

He rolled his eyes. “That so?”

“Yup.” I put on my turning signal, pulling off of the busy highway.

Finn and I used to be inseparable when we were in middle school. As we got older we were far less codependent but still close. Close enough for it to sting like hell when I realized he wasn’t going to remember most of what we’d been through.

Sometimes, when I looked at Finn, I saw the guy who used to sneak me an extra Jello in the lunch room because he knew how rough the first half of my day was. Sometimes I saw the hothead who’d threaten anyone who hurt me even though most of the time he was far outnumbered. Sometimes I saw the guy who told me I’d be the best choice for captain despite my then doubts. Those parts of him were still there and alive. So even if the parts of him we shared were forever gone, I found comfort in those memories.

“It’s not my goal to try and spark something,” I said gently. “Today is just for fun. We really loved this place. I still do and I figured you should see it and maybe…I don’t know, you might find some joy here too. What was that thing you told me about muscle memory?”

“I can always count on it.”

“Exactly. I wanted you to feel that this year. Remember you can have something to count on and a place to go if you need.”

It was quiet for a minute as I made our final turn. Finn cleared his throat once more before saying, “Thanks…for letting me know you’re not trying to trigger a memory. I like the idea of just being here…with you.”

“Look at us, a couple of assholes with hearts. What have Naomi and Aderyn done to us…?” My mood shifted slightly at my mention of Aderyn. I chewed on my bottom lip, hoping Finn didn’t sense my brief dip in energy. Unfortunately, he’s getting better at reading between the lines.

“I don’t know how to get you to talk about it,” Finn confessed. “I’m sure there was a method I used before.”

“It’s fine,” I said quickly. “I usually mope around until one of you guys gets pissed enough to drag it out of me. You weren’t the only one to try and help.”

“I know but…I was your person, right? Your main person.”

My main person. That’d shifted over the years. I bounced between all the guys. And now, Aderyn was in that mix. She could have probably been at the center of it if things hadn’t gotten so twisted.

“You still are.” I pulled into a parking spot that faced the river.

“I just have to figure out how to make you talk,” he said.

“Don't stress about it too much. I'm good. Or, will be good eventually."

Finn followed my lead out of the car. He watched as I unloaded a gym bag and a couple of folding chairs from the trunk. He was quiet until he saw me check the bag for my ice pick.

“We’re not secretly murderers, are we?” he asked when he saw my stash.

I snorted. I'm sure he was joking but Finn’s deadpan delivery often left me with some uncertainty.

“Nope. Just two fishermen are about to waste their time while the sun comes up.”

Finn frowned when I tossed him the extra bag of supplies. “We’re going out there?”

His finger pointed toward the frozen lake. Snowfall had been sparse this morning. The lake would be picturesque once the sun leaked over the horizon. We were already getting a sneak peek of what the morning would have to offer, so I decided to hurry Finn up.

“Correct me if I’m wrong but we don’t feel like people who fish,” Finn called after me.

I laughed as I continued our trek forward. The snow crunched underneath my boots. “We weren’t until we met Mr. Meyers."

Finn paused for a second. "Mr. Meyers?"

I froze too, my stomach jumping with excitement. "You remember?"

"Not at all."

It was hard to mask my slight disappointment. Sometimes – when I least expected – it hurts to hold memories on my own.

"Meyers was an old guy who spent all his free time over there during the summer." I pointed to the boardwalk about a half mile away. "And around here in the winter."

I gestured to the middle of the lake. At our backs was the parking lot and to our front a dark, thick tree line that was covered in frost. It smelled like sixth grade out here, all pine needles and frozen earth.

"We met him out here when we decided we would become Boy Scouts." I unfolded the chairs and pulled out our Thermos. Henrik had enough time to force me into packing something warm to drink. I was grateful for his persistence now that the cold wind was biting at our skin. Finn let out an agreeing sigh when I offered him the Thermos.

"We were Boy Scouts?" Finn asked.

"No, not officially." I chuckled at his look of confusion. "We wanted to be but your folks couldn't afford the annual membership at the time and wouldn't accept the money from my dad."

He nodded. "I suppose I wouldn't have either. At least not now…it doesn't feel right."

"You're stubborn. Always have been, always will be," I agreed. "But I would have convinced you to take it if your parents didn't have the final say. But, anyway, we decided we'd be Boy Scouts on our own. And that meant earning badges on our own. Of course, our first attempt couldn't be something simple like learning to tie a knot. No, we wanted to fish in the dead of winter. Like someone in a post-apocalyptic Arctic landscape, as you put it – you were really into post-apocalyptic books back then."

"Was I?" Finn nodded and undoubtedly tucked that information away for later like he always did with tidbits I shared.

"Hardcore. So you had me out here hammering away at the ice with a screwdriver." I laughed at the memory of us on our hands and knees, trying to chip away the ice with runny noses and burning ears. "Mr. Meyers saw and got on us until he was blue in the face. When we finally got a word in, we let him know that we weren't trying to crack through the lake and drown. But we were trying to be resourceful members of society. He folded then and decided as a former boy scout himself, it was his job to teach us everything he knew."

Finn smiled and I motioned for him to come closer. I talked him through how Mr. Meyers showed us the way to create a clean circle in the ice. I explained how we were supposed to pick a spot where the ice was thickest and the cracks were little to non-existent.

"He made us badges," I said when we settled into our seats. "Whenever we learned something new and proved ourselves to him, he'd have these incredibly unique badges that'd he designed from scratch. The guys at school got so jealous that some of them quit the Boy Scouts and wanted to be taught under Meyers."

"Did they?"

I shook my head and pulled out our fishing rods. "Meyers wouldn't teach anyone but me and you. Said he only had enough time and energy for two pupils. And he only had enough extra cash for two sets of badges. For a moment, we were the cool kids…until people decided Boy Scouts were dorky and gaming was everything."

"Sounds like we had a lot of fun." Finn smiled. Maybe he was playing the spoken memory over in his head, trying to fill in details to construct something he'd be able to recall. Or maybe he was simply smiling because I hadn't stopped. I felt good today. Better than I had in a while and that's because I enjoyed being outside. I enjoyed the open sky, the chilled air, and being able to sit across from Finn. I loved my friends but these quiet moments with Finn were few and far between. After almost losing him, I cherished this.

"I'm sorry," I said, my smile fading when I realized what I'd done.

"Huh?" Finn frowned.

"I…I brought you here as a gift but just realized–" I sighed and ran my hand over my head. "This was more of a gift for me than you. I was being selfish bringing you here. I thought it'd be nice to get away and be like we used to but this doesn't mean much to you."

"Sam, this is good. This is fun," Finn said firmly. "I'm having fun."

The tightness in my chest loosened. "Really?"

"I'm not a good liar just yet," he reminded me with a smile.

"True." I laughed in agreement and leaned over to bait my hook. Finn did the same, listening to my instructions on how to do it. He watched me toss the line in before mimicking my motion.

"I have something else for you," I announced once our hooks had sunk. "You didn't get to earn your last badges because, like the other guys at school, you thought Boy Scouts were dorky."

"Really?" Finn's forehead furrowed as if he was disappointed in himself.

"Yeah, but I kept coming to hang out with Meyers," I said. "Got a couple more badges until he got sick."

"Is he…" Finn paused, not sure how to finish.

"He's fine," I quickly confirmed. "Lives in Florida now with his granddaughter."

Finn nodded, relieved for a man he didn't remember but would forever be tied to through me.

"I got him to send over the badges you didn't get to earn." I dug through my bag and pulled them out. I'd wrapped each one in green and red striped paper. They were misshaped and poorly taped up presents but Finn accepted them like they were precious pieces of gold.

"You can't open them yet," I reminded him. Lincoln wanted all of us to open them together. Since a fishing trip couldn't be wrapped, I figured it was best to do it before Christmas. But, the tangible gifts were to be kept for later.

"But you when do–" I shrugged and laughed, feeling silly all of a sudden. "--we could finish earning them together. Like, gradually, throughout the year when we have time. I already have mine so I could make sure to teach you how to do it. Teach you in a way I'm sure Meyers will be proud–at least, I hope. You could finally fill up your sash–even though it's probably collecting dust in your family's basement and you don't care like that. But lately, you've been really into renovating the house and you look like you used to when we were kids."

"That's why I like doing it," Finn said as he took a deep breath. "I think the muscle memory part of me liked figuring out the practical."

I smiled. "I think so too. It's a part of you."

"This was perfect, Sam. I…thank you." Finn looked back down at his badges, which now felt like pieces of himself he didn't know were missing. "I can't wait to earn these with you."

"Not too dorky anymore, is it?" I teased.

He shook his head. "Not in the slightest."

We were quiet for a moment, enjoying the sun's heat as it crawled up in the sky and the warm tea that I'd accidentally put too much sugar in. The fish never bit. Finn never remembered Meyers on his own. But none of that mattered. We were happy. We were once again on track to earn badges. Once again trying to figure shit out together.

#mendellhawksseries

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chenfordspiral · 6 months

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4, 6, 9, 26, 30, 35, 49 (for the [insert fic] ones, go with Little Bit of Love!) 😊

4. What detail in [Little bit of Love] are you really proud of? Mh, good question. Oh, omg. The fact that they found and agreed on a name for their baby in a car of all places. I didn’t intend for it to happen that way, but it did and now I can’t let go of the thought that, not only did they technically fall in love riding in the same car (*ahem* shop *ahem*) for hours every day, but they also named their first child riding side by side in a car. Maybe it’s just me who thinks that’s kind of cool and fitting lol

6. What’s one fact about the universe of [Little bit of Love] that you didn’t get a chance to mention in the fic itself? Um, again, good question... maybe the fact that Lucy did actually officially keep Chen as part of her name (like a middle name), and that people at work call her both Chen and Bradford now.

9. How do you find new fic to read? I usually scroll through the Chenford tag on AO3. If I’m not in the mood for that, or have little time to do it (like the last couple of weeks), then I just read the stories from the authors I’ve subscribed to (my inbox is glaring at me as we speak because I've got some serious catching up to do. I’m so behind… and thanks to a certain new blog, I now have even more reading to do.)

26. Would you rather write a fic that had no dialogue or one that was only dialogue? I think I’m gonna have to say no dialogue because without dialogue, there’s still ways to convey whatever message you wanna convey, but with only dialogue, some pieces are just going to be missing in the context. How are they actually feeling? Did they say it with a smile, or a frown? Where are they? Who’s actually talking? Are they sleepy, excited, sad? Etc, etc, etc…

30. Have you ever written something that was out of your comfort zone? If so, what was it, and how did it affect your approach to writing fic thereafter? Um, writing that first piece of smut back in July for ChenfordWeek. I’ve written more since then, so I guess after getting that first one out of the way, so to speak, it made it a little less terrifying? I’m still nervous as all hell every time I’m about to hit that post button, but it’s getting better.

35. What aspects of your writing are completely unlike your real life? Huh, ha. Most of it? If not all of it lol. But I guess that’s why it’s so much fun (as you said yourself as well!)

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it! I’m always working on Little��bit of Love (shocker, I know). So here’s a snippet of the beginning of the next chapter, which is proving to be more difficult to write than I anticipated...

He hums in agreement and closes the few feet of space between them to pull her into a loose hug. Her back is to his chest since she was looking around the room again, and she lets herself sink into his arms with a smile. He lets his hands wander over the sides of her belly and then down until he can clasp them together underneath and gently lift the weight of their baby. “Oh my god,” Lucy sobs in relief, tears welling up in her eyes because up until right this moment, she hadn’t realized how much she needed that. Her head falls back against Tim’s shoulder and her eyes flutter closed in pleasure. She can feel his little chuckle against her hair and sighs when he nuzzles his face into her neck and brushes his lips over the skin just below her ear. “This is how much weight you carry around every day in your belly alone?”

Thank youuu 🫶🏻

#asked and answered #ask games #this was fun #as always #i need to start tagging who asked #so #queseraone

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stromuprisahat · 2 years

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Expectations were low, but Oh My God!

I intended to write down the dialogues that don't make much sense, but then I figured it's no use to copy/paste all the subtitles. There's rarely anything that isn't plain stupid. The Witcher: Blood Origins is amalgam of badly used tropes I've seen thousand times before.

The Elves

Forget the beautiful, graceful humanoids with equally stunning culture. The elves here are dirty, rude and equally pathetic as humans. The only difference is pointy ears. Their architecture is massive and angular, their blades, proverbial elven blades, often look like a total amateur with zero skill forged them out of scraps.

Elves are also morally corrupt. Colonization is a huge issue we won’t learn much about, except they’re just as bad as humans will become in future. Given the context the point seems to be they had it coming... in case you were starting to feel for their race in present time.

REPRESENTATION!!!

Recently I’ve read a post about how little representation is in “source” material. Shocking, isn’t it? Slavic fantasy, heavily inspired by mediaeval Poland doesn’t include POCs (read: Blacks and East-Asians, because I’ve never seen anyone complaining about lack of Native Americans... in pseudoEurope...). The show creators obviously decided to fix that by ticking off the proper boxes.

You’ve got Black elves, East-Asian, gay gay, chubby deaf-mute... well, at least this time the different colours came from distinct nations. If only the stereotypes were avoided.

Tropes and patterns

Soft, slightly feminine gay, gullible disabled, wise older East-Asian mentor, washed out hippie healer, abused genius, forbidden love between protector and his charge, soldier who was done killing untill the enemy wiped out his home, redemption = sacrifice = suicide, two characters arguing about who’s gonna do the sacrificing only for the one, who “lost” to go behind the other one’s back and do it...

... sprinkle some well-known terms and names: chaotic power, Xin'trea, Eredin, Avallac’h... aaand done! Brand new tale from a widely-loved universe is done!

Perhaps try writing less of what could people find cool, and focus on a good story.

Rah, rah-ah-ah-ah!

Four episodes don’t offer much space to develop many characters. Seven good guys, at least four antagonists... personalities, interactions, needless romance... it’s interesting how much can actors express in only so many interactions.

Zacaré and Brother Death are believable.

Meldof and Gwen's story's tragic, but rather sweet in a way. (Tho they could’ve refrained from that rape aspect.)

Éile and Fjall, flat and boring. One of the unsurprising, disappointing turns of events. Zero chemistry. Made to fuck with the sole purpose of making a baby to artificially connect them to Ciri, one of the MCs in the “original” series.

The WITCHER: Blood Origin

You're telling me that the first version of a witcher was a badass elf? This is really gonna piss Geralt off.

One would hope for something different, after all this fuss, but no. First “witcher" is just another butch guy, only with pointy ears.

How do we know the turning potion's ew? It's black!

How do we know he's really WITCHER 1.0? Yellow eyes!

How do we know he’s not quite himself? Black eyes and veins on his face!

I'm sure this improvised ritual had the same effects as carefully honed procedure sorcerers spent decades perfecting...

Fuck the Coup, free The People!

The story starts with a coup, killing off three monarchs with their bodyguards. Corrupt, elitist leadership’s gone, the new rulers- army, magicians and overlooked princess- plan to invade new worlds to gain resources their world’s lacking. Sounds like a decent idea? Our heroes would disagree. The empress needs to be destroyed, because people suffer.

You changed nothing. You're just another boot looking for more necks.

... reproaches the great Éile new empress. When was she supposed to do that? In a week? Change takes time and resources, Merwyn had none. Am I supposed to cheer, because now it's faceless "people" in charge? Do they have knowledge to rule? The skill? Anything? Or are they expected to wing it? Rule isn't about putting new people to the wheel and hope it will all work out. Talk about freedom won't feed you, run trade, economy, agriculture etc..

The worst thing's we know the Empire is crumbling. We know there's no food to redistribute, even the leadership has barely anything and you can't let the head starve if you want to fix anything. Merwyn's unforgivable sin was being born into the ruling class.

- You've no idea what elfkind even is. You're just another spoiled princess.

~ I am Empress!

- You are a child ~given~ the reins of a warhorse. You don't speak for elfkind.

... the writers try to gaslight us. We’re introduced clever, idealistic, inquisitive princess, who wants to help her people. When she’s confronted with reality, she tries to learn more. She goes from her family’s pawn to schemer, who makes allies and plans, frees herself from role of figurehead and reminds others the most important task is to feed their people. That’s a character I’d love to watch. Not a dumb singer, who rallies a mob, destroys government, helps to cause cataclysm and fucks off to countryside.

The Story of the Seven

What did those fame-deserving Seven achieve? Did they solve famine? Did they end war? Did they offer better way to rule? No, no and no.

But they (unintentionally) caused the Conjunction, brought the monsters and humans into weak, starving, disorganized society. The rightfully forgotten Seven effectively crippled their own race and destroyed any chance for defense they might have had.

I don’t know who is Jaskier’s song about, but it’s not about these Seven.

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dianaburnwood · 2 years

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HITMAN Freelancer: First Impressions

Let’s be real, this is not a first impressions post. I’ve been playing Freelancer for a month now :D

First of all, before we even get into Freelancer, can we all take a moment to appreciate the new menu screen for World of Assassination:

DIANA is the story, she is the Moment, she is THAT girl

Now, for Freelancer

ok this is going to be long

tbh I don’t know how to distill my emotions

I DO actually have some negatives to say, but TL;DR my impressions are overwhelmingly positive. It’s an incredibly fresh and interesting mode while still feeling true to the core of the series.

So, Freelancer Missions Pros and Cons: Cons: A few bugs that have cost me dearly e.g. shots from an emetic pistol being reacted to as both a distraction and a bullet, NPCs seeing through walls, poisoned drinks having no effect. Also the burner phones counting as “calling a meeting” seems to be sporadic.

Two things I might consider cons but I’m not sure: Not being able to save, and not being able to choose starting locations.

The not being able to save thing might actually count as a pro, as it really makes everything super tense. But starting locations can really mess you up e.g. starting at the top of Dartmoor Manor when you were trying to avoid getting spotted.

My other con is that I was hoping alerted territories would be based on player action, like the notoriety system in Blood Money. But at the same time I understand that you could end up with no alerted territories then, which would take away some of the strategic elements of the campaign e.g. choosing your showdown location.

I think it’s a shame that there clearly wasn’t either enough time or resources to nail down the randomised dialogues. I’ve had loads of instances where 47′s line and the supplier’s line don’t add up - e.g.

Supplier: Hey there, you need anything? 47: I am.

It happens with Diana too, and her line transitions aren’t smooth enough so it makes it obvious they were all recorded separately instead of them sounding like they flow e.g. “So you need to be careful. Be careful 47″ and things like that.

It’s hard to get randomised lines perfect, but I think this could have done with more polish time.

Pros: Literally everything else :D The stakes are high, the NPC targets are fresh, the showdowns are fun and require careful planning, the assassins and lookouts make for excellent complications, showdowns in alerted territories are a wonderful nightmare, buying from suppliers is great too BUT I have been disappointed now that I’ve collected everything I get nothing from suppliers or supply crates :/ I don’t know what I expect them to give me, but every time I open up that empty supply crate after a mission I’m like... :(

Got everything a few times over now except for the outstanding service coin???? It’s nowhere??? Must be a bug, or maybe it’s only awarded for Hardcore.

Speaking of which, Hardcore looks pretty but it’s also tough so I’ll wait till I’m bored with the regular mode.

The biggest plus for me is obviously the safehouse. I mean who doesn’t want to play dress-up in Barbie’s Murder Mansion????

The safehouse deserves its own post (THAT is coming) and I have a lot to say - namely it’s pretty obvious that Diana canonically bought this house for 47????? He didn’t get it, SHE got it for him? LIKE, I AM DECEASED

The Safehouse

When you first get here, I was struck by the absolute aloneness of the upper floors. I know this was deliberate as you get to choose your own music later, but omg. I think IO portrays emptiness and loneliness so well in Hitman in general, and this is no exception. The slow echo of footsteps, the silence, the large, empty spaces... it really gave that feeling when you first move in somewhere and you’re like, what now?

Progressing through levels and unlocking more stuff is SO much fun. Decorating is so much fun. 47′s little blend in actions are SO much fun. I wish he had more tbh.

Like why can’t I sit here?????? It’s PERFECT???

The shed is such a nice thing to have, really reminds me of Silent Assassin. I love that he can make little poisons in there as well as in the infirmary, and he can go make bombs in his garage, like dude

Speaking of Silent Assassin - he can grow tomatoes????? Do IO know what they’ve done for me

It’s so beautiful out here, so soothing, when Diana says she loves the lifestyle she is RIGHT like, the music out here is so calming I love it - meditating beside a picnic table???? YOU’RE KILLING ME

Wish I could check out this church tho

His house appears in a mid-century modern style to me, so I’ve kept the furniture and decor mainly matching that aesthetic where possible.

I’ve finally opened my asks again lmao lemme know if you want a house tour complete with “dark floors... hide stains easily....”

And I’ll post on all the things I’m freaking out about in the safehouse. My playstation is overflowing with pics

Happy hunting babes

#first impressions #hitman freelancer

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ravenalla · 2 years

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I’ve said my complaints a lot without saying what I liked or what I would have done to improve it so I’ll do that now. This isn’t completely changing the events but rather what I would do to reorder them! Particularly switching up the ending and the beginning.

First, like always the concept art looks really cool! When you have these ideas displayed in a still 2d image it shows a lot of potential and creativity, but then when it comes to the actual execution not so much. To make the episode’s writing flow better with these concepts I would take out the covert stuff at the beginning, Din’s new quest was already established in tbobf you could’ve just included it in the recap at least and it wouldn’t leave us questioning how much time has passed for all these new mandos to be here. Have Din first be on the hunt for Bo-Katan, maybe a quick line to explain how he got a lead on finding her so we actually know why he knew where to go. Hell, you could’ve included a scene where we see Din actually finding the crystallized Mandalorian relic and he learns from the jawas or someone else in a market about information on Bo-Katan. Her scene plays out normally, you could have it cut to the title screen with that ominous ending line from her or him finding out where she is.

Then we get the Nevarro stuff, it makes more sense why he would want a droid as a precaution after Bo insists it is impossible to go there now. Cute Din and Grogu moments are still perfect. The space pirates could still happen but extended with the extra time, have Greef tell Mando he’s been having problems with them and warn him about the captain and his crew lurking. Same with the stand-off, make it more intense and less random. Then after we could go ahead and learn Din is on his way to Tatooine next to get the droid part when the pirate captain intervenes and we end with the two getting away from that space battle. Maybe some extra dialogue from Din talking to Grogu and explaining why being a Mandalorian makes you hunter and prey like the Armorer did after that narrow escape. We could really take in a quiet moment dealing with how much he loves Grogu’s back with him. You could have him subtly reflect on how he’s longing to become one with the group again and feeling like he must make up for his dishonor, ending firm on what Din’s mindset and goal are at this start without having to add in a random repetitive covert scene. It would end kind of like The Sin, a hopeful yet dangerous path laid out for the two in a new adventure that we are about to experience.

Maybe later on in another episode he could learn about where his covert is and revisit them to tell them he is positively going to Mandalore for an attempt at redemption and be shocked to see all the Mandalorians there, fueling his need to belong again. Add in some quick dialogue where the Armorer mentions that Grogu has returned to Din (seriously why didn’t she question that)? You could have Din once again do the “it’s complicated” line so when he does eventually say “it’s because he is my son” it’ll hit so hard. You could also have him mention Bo to cause even bigger tension between him and the Armorer! We know they both would have negative opinions of one another. Then when she decides to trust him that he can pull it off, it holds way more weight that she is actively choosing to put her faith in Din when not only is he an apostate in her eyes but also because he is working with people she doesn’t deem worthy. This wouldn’t fix everything of course, but it’s my best attempt to reimagine a better and more cohesive premier.

#the mandalorian #the mandalorian season 3 #the mandalorian season 3 spoilers #din djarin #grogu #Pedro Pascal #the mandalorian rewrite #mando critical

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newwhoreview2016 · 5 months

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The Star Beast

On first viewing, this episode made me so happy. The RTD1 era may be my favourite era overall and it felt like we were right back. So let’s see how it feels now, before the 15th Doctor’s first season begins.

The recap is a bit odd, isn’t it? Tennant, looking like he’s cosplaying as the Tenth Doctor, like everyone in Dimensions In Time wearing half-remembered outfits, plonked on top of a generic background like he’s in a TikTok video. But then it’s into the best theme music and best title sequence we’ve had in ages, so it’s all fine.

“We’ve still got that giant sausage roll from Thursday.” The beauty of this episode is that it barrels along from beat to beat and they’re all entertaining. And the Noble family dialogue is straight out of Dinnerladies. Why is Susie Mair shorter??

Shirley isn’t as fabulous a character as RTD thinks she is, but she’s good, and her chat with the Doctor shows us Tennant starting to ring some changes.

Sylvia: “YOU!!” Having these characters back is just so much fun. All the Wilf stuff is lovely too, but more of that next time.

Do I care that the sonic screwdriver can now create shields? Yes, I do a bit, but not enough to spoil an exciting action sequence. (There is a bit too much gunfire-in-the-streets though.)

My god, the way it barrels along! The man is so good at this stuff. From chaos at home, to battle in the street, to trial in the car park. It’s wonderful.

The scene in the ship - David has to do his big yelling acting and nails it, then finally solves the one big problem everyone had with Journey’s End…

… although, while we are here, did we really need that to happen? Did we really need an entire return for this Doctor just so that RTD could appease everyone upset about Donna‘s lack of agency? Isn’t that about as necessary as solving the question of the Morbius doctors?

… except that I absolutely love the way they do it. The fake out death drags on a bit too long, but the solution, involving Rose, and the frankly miraculously coincidental use of the word binary all those years ago, is just fabulous. And the knowledge that there would be people all over the country really annoyed by this just made it even better. I’m actually crying again watching this. The bit where they just shrug off the metacrisis afterwards (“Let it go!”) is less satisfying, but I’ll allow it.

Ok, quibble - the Meep completely destroys a lot of London. And then somehow, because Donna turns it off, the roads repair themselves magically. Still, more good news for Sadiq Khan.

Overall, this was brilliant. I’ve been a fan since the Tom Baker era, but it’s very possible that RTD1 is my favourite era of the show. The Star Beast felt very much like my favourite era returning and I am completely there for it.

Oh yeah, and I love the new console room. Best one since the eighties. And I love the middle eight too.

Next time: anywhere in time and space, but there’s no trailers any more so who knows?

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jupitermelichios · 3 years

Text

So I’ve been playing a lot of skyrim lately, because it’s video game comfort food, and I decided it was time for my Redguard Dovahkiin to settle down. (Actually I specifically just wanted to be able to adopt some of the random orphans you meet because I felt guilty about them, but you need to be married before you can do that so that there’s someone at home to take care of the kids while you’re off galivanting).

So I travelled around a bit, chatting up likely looking npcs until I found one I both liked and didn’t feel guilty about marrying (I feel bad if I marry one of the warrior adventurer types, making them be a stay at home mum) and settled on an obnoxiously cheerful argonian called Shavee because her life was frankly shit, and I thought she’d probably be good with kids.

So off I go to Riften to the Temple of Mara to arrange the wedding. I book it in for the next day, realise I didn’t bring anything nice to wear, and spend the night before the wedding robbing every house in the city in the search for something to wear. Eventually decide everyone in Riften has terrible fashion sense and break down everything I stole into raw materials and use them to craft myself an outfit and some jewellery that i’m pretty happy with. I even carefully pick out my fanciest looking sword to wear.

(don’t know why I bothered, frankly, shavee turned up wearing a shirt covered in suspicious stains and weilding a pickaxe, it’s like she doesn’t even care about this marriage)

(also for comedy purposes, bear in mind I play with survival mods that mean my character needs to eat and sleep to live, and I literally spent the entire ingame night on this and forgot to eat and drink anything either and then just downed four bowls of wolf stew right before entering the temple so I didn’t starve during the ceremony. also I discovered during the wedding that I am dying of rockjoint, which I contracted from sleeping in a pile of hay on the floor of a skeever infested cave, so even being six foot tall and jacked can’t make up for the fact that I am exhausted, running a fever, and probably covered in wolf which I spilled because my joints are slowly atrophying, and even the fanciest clothes in the world aren’t going to cover that up)

so I enter the temple, and my finance is there, and Lydia my housecarl, and some random NPCs the game thinks are my friends because I did fetch quests for them

One of the random NPCs is Lisbet. Atfter I did her fetch quest, I then did another quest in which I discovered Lisbet is secretly a cannibal and part of a demonic cult that worships the daedric prince of decay by kidnapping priests, sacrificing them, and then eating their corpses. Raw. I think the raw meat is the sticking point for me here honestly.

I ultimately decided not to sacrifice the random priest to a daedric prince in exchange for one magic ring and all the raw human I could eat, because frankly, that doesn’t sound like much of a deal to me. I was expecting there to be some kind of dialogue choice where I could nope out at the last minute, but it turns out there isn’t one, so after they drugged the priest and tied him to the altar, I just got out my sword and started swinging.

I killed most of the cult (including the town butcher, because I had brought meat from him before and was extremely pissed off that he might have been secretly feeding me humans) but a couple of them got away, which I figured was fine because they weren’t trying to kill me.

Except it turns out, if any of them escape, then every time you see them in the future there’s a random chance that they’ll fly into a violent rage and try and murder you.

Lisbet is at my wedding. Lisbet decides that clearly me marrying this random argonian woman with two lines of dialogue is the happiest day of my life, and she cannot allow me that happiness, when I’ve taken so much from her.

So she tries to kill me. Only she can’t, because I’m stuck in a pre-rendered wedding animation, and also she’s sitting next to Lydia, my faithful retainer and owner of a really big axe.

It also turns out that Lisbet is essential, meaning she can be knocked unconcious but not actually killed because she’s needed for some quest or other. And the minute she wakes up from unconciousness, she tries to kill me again, so Lydia knocks her unconcious again, and I’m stuck, I can’t move, because I’m supposed to be in the wedding animation.

Except Shavee has, not unreasonably, see all this and decided that she doesn’t like me enough to risk getting murdered, and has done a runner, leaving me at the altar, but more importantly, leaving me trapped in a broken pre-rendered animation, so all I can do is stand there at the altar, staring at the space where my fiance was supposed to be, listening to the sounds of Lydia trying and failing to beat a cannibal to death behind me.

Okay, I think, clearly this wedding isn’t going to happen, I’m going to go for the registry office option and complete the wedding using the dev commands. I do this. The priest gives me a wedding ring, and I can finally move again. I chase after Shavee, who has an impressive turn of speed on her, and eventually catch up right by the city gates. I try to talk to her.

Apparently using the console has completed the wedding for me, but not for her, because she still only has the same 2 lines of dialogue she usually has.

Clearly this is working, I can’t leave my kids with someone who can only say 2 things and doesn’t even know she’s their mum, that’s irresponsible.

I try loading from inside the temple. I get the same problem.

Eventually I figure out that I need to use the dev controls to disable Lisbet’s entire existence in the universe.

Shavee and me get married. As the priest reads the vows, I stare at Shavee and wonder why she couldn’t even be bothered to put on a clean shirt. I wonder what kind of mother she’ll be.

Once the ceremony is over, and I’m happily married to the dirty green lizard of my dreams, and we’ve agreed that until I can make her recognise my extremely nice modded house exists I will share her single bed in the unheated flophouse in Windhelm she calls home, I re-enable Lisbet, because I’m worried I’ll forget if I leave it too long.

Fun fact about skyrim, it loads in quite a lot of npcs and objects by dropping them from the sky. I have no idea why this is the case, but it’s objectively the funniest way to load in objects.

I re-enable Lisbet. She falls from the sky, clips through the roof of the temple, and lands in the pew beside Lydia, stands up, draws a knife, and is immedately beaten unconcious.

I no longer care, because Shavee now has all the exciting new spouse-only romantic dialogue options like “Could you cook something for me” and “have you made any money lately”, and I know she’ll be a great mother.

I limp to the door of the temple, while around me the guests not involved in the Lydia-Lisbet murder cycle scream and duck for cover.

I open the door to the temple, immediately collapse and ragdoll down the steps, which is how I discover I am dying of rockjoint.

I limp to the orphanage down the street, adopt two kids, and then finally remember that I’m carrying garlic bread, which as we all know, cures all known illnesses.

When I emerge back into the street, full of the joys of motherhood and garlic bread, I find the town in disaray. Lydia is chasing Lisbet through the streets with an axe and a dragon is circling overhead, burning npcs to death. People are running for shelter, screaming, while the guards try to take down an entire dragon using only the worst bows and arrows in the game.

I decide that as a parent, I have to think of my own safety first and leave them to it.

I head out of the city, intent on returning home and figuring out why Shavee refuses to move in with me. A man hanging around the stables challenges me to a boxing match. For want of anything better to do, I agree.

Halfway through the fight he dodges at the wrong moment and I punch one of his horses in the head.

Two guards attack me while I desperately try to surrender. My kids will miss me, but I’m prepared to go to jail for my horse crimes, I’m an honest citizen. Also my horse crimes seem somewhat less important than the dragon.

The guards refuse to accept my surrender. I am stabbed to death. As I collapse in front of the indifferent horse, Lisbet exits the city, followed by Lydia. The last thing I see before I die is Lydia swinging her axe at Lisbet’s face.

#skyrim #spoilers #technically #although this game is a decade old and we all own at least two versions of it at this point #so i'm not sure it counts #long post

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harcove · 3 years

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you uh. wouldn't mind an angst request would you haha because I have had this one scenario stuck in my head where leon (probably resi 6 leon) has been drinking a lot more and has been neglecting his s/o and they finally call him out on his shit

anyway ooga booga they fight and decide it's best they give leon his space and take a break and maybe he finds them at a bar he goes to to get wasted to already find them drunk off their ass

Angst is absolutely one of my most favourite things to write and to read like damn I do be out here making myself CRY. So I definitely don't mind angst like hell yeah!

I was gonna end this was a happier note- but uh, I really love angst so I left it semi-open ended but also pretty sad I think. Also not really dialogue-heavy, more like... I write too much detail-heavy :,) Also this isn't edited, I spent days on this cause I was overthinking it and felt it was just not good so oof I'm sorry!

Length: 2k

Request: in the ask

Warnings: angst, drinking, lowkey it's alcoholism on Leon's part, being drunk

Leon x Reader - "I know."

How long had it been since you had held your boyfriend's hand? Since the two of you had really sat together and done something together, fully, completely, involved, and focused on one another. You didn't even remember, which was agonizing to think about.

You had been through so much with Leon. And you knew where his deepest thought lay, but you could never truly know. And it didn't help that over the years the two of you had together, he had started to become more distant. And instead of finding his comfort in your arms, he found it in some glass bottle.

At first, you didn't really protest much, you didn't say much about it. A drink every once in a while couldn't hurt. Yet, it wasn't every once in a while. It was more often than you'd have liked. And he was using it to forget. To focus on anything else but his life and his memories. Your soft words trying to talk to him didn't do much to stop him or dissuade him. He brushed you off more often than not. It tore you up from the inside out that you couldn't help him, that at some point a bottle was his chosen form of comfort over you.

The guilt mixed with sadness, and then with anger. And in the end, those feelings came together and created an explosion between the two of you one night.

Your throat was hoarse as you swallowed as much air as you could. You couldn't exactly remember what the argument stemmed from but you knew it had to be related to him drinking.

"Will you just listen to me?!" You shouted, the words coming out uneven as your throat begged you to stop, "put that shit down Leon, and look at me!"

The man sitting at the aisle in your kitchen put the flask he had down in front of him, but still had his hands on it. He turned his head to look at you, barely even moving at all, and his eyes were looking at you like he was unimpressed or annoyed.

"I'm listening."

You wanted to pull on your hair and scream because he wasn't. He wasn't listening, and he hadn't been, at least not for a while.

"No you aren't, you are not listening to a word I say, you never do!"

He scoffed, turning back to his drink and taking another sip.

"Where am I going on Friday?"

"What?" He looked at you incredulously, completely lost as your voice went from yelling at him to speaking relatively peacefully, but there was no peace in your voice.

"I said, where am I going on Friday, Leon," you repeated with clenched fists, "if you listen to me if you even bother to pay attention to me, you would know the answer. So where am I going on Friday?"

The silence was your answer, as you expected it to be, you just hadn't expected it to be so painful.

"I'm going to visit my family in the town over," your voice was low and tired, and you wanted to cry but you couldn't even find it in you to do that, "I told you that a thousand times Leon I..."

Biting your lip hard, you felt yourself break skin, and the metallic taste of blood invaded your taste buds. You were so angry at him moments before, angry enough you had been yelling. But suddenly you weren't angry anymore. You were just so sad; sad for yourself and sad for him. He wasn't going to listen to you, not right now, that much was clear.

"I've been busy Y/N-" whatever he said was wasted on deaf ears as you drowned them out unintentionally, your eyes trained on the flask he nursed.

For once, you knew you had to let it be. You had to give him space, and give yourself space.

"I'm sleeping in the guest room," you offered lamely after the long silence between the two of you after he had finished whatever he had said. Leon looked up at you, with a look of surprise, and confusion, "we both need space. From each other. I just... Don't stay up drinking all night."

"Y/N-" his words once again fell upon deaf ears, and his fingers just missed your arm as you turned and went upstairs to the room usually used by people like Claire, or Chris, sometimes Sherry.

When morning came, you had gotten up later than usual, Leon was already gone as he usually was early in the morning with his job and everything. Your heart felt heavier as you walked into the empty kitchen and noted the vodka bottle you two had been given as a gift was half empty. Something in you asked if it was all worth it; did it really do so much that he drank more than he should've? Did it take away the feelings of hopelessness, like the one you were currently stuck in?

Those were the thoughts that followed you the entire day as you went about your routine. They followed you all the way to the spare bedroom of one of your old friend's homes as you decided you and Leon needed to take a break. If you didn't do that, you feared you would only lose him completely. Or lose yourself. It was exhausting.

But what was even more exhausting was not seeing him. You worried for him, and even if you sometimes felt like he didn't, he worried for you.

It would take about a week before something would crack, before the storm that had been brewing between you two, the one that laid dormant after you walked out to take from your relationship, would begin to thunder again, but in a much different way.

"We're here to have fun," your friend who had been letting you stay over said as she pushed a shot of... something into your hands, leaning against the bar from your side while you said on one of the barstools, "and loosen up. You specifically."

You rolled your eyes; this wasn't in your plan for the day, going to a bar. But it was more than you had done in the past week now. Your routine consisted of going to work and heading back to your friends. Nothing more, nothing less.

You wanted Leon. But you couldn't have him right now. You were still upset, and you didn't even know if he wanted you right now. Everything was a mess.

Things seemed to blur together over the course of the night in the bar, your friend insisting on you trying each new drink she got, some not new too. You had had one drink that you ordered of your own volition, and it had been a regular bottle of beer. But the shots your friend got for you two, and the sips of the drinks your friend ordered, culminated into more than you realized and you could say you were a bit more than just tipsy.

For some reason though, your friend seemed to be chugging along much better than you, you must've been a lightweight.

You hadn't even seen your friend in a while, but you also were so out of it that you couldn't exactly comprehend time properly at that current moment in time.

A hand on your arm and a familiar voice seemed to sober you a bit as your eyes met familiar blue, but they were clouded over with pain, with worry. Confusion too, and a bit of shock. Your fingers twitched, aching to touch his arm. His face. To smooth the furrow that seemed to be etching itself into his brow, threatening to become a new and permanent feature.

But the sober feeling you experienced also stopped you from doing any of the above. Rather, your body stiffened a bit and you pulled away from his touch, only barely missing the look of hurt that glided over his features as you did so.

"L-Leon?" the alcohol in your system made it sound more like you were questioning if he was real rather than saying his name, "What are you-"

The question you were going to ask didn't even need to be finished. It didn't even need an answer from him, because even if you were drunk, you knew Leon. And you knew why he was there.

"Oh," you couldn't help but scoff, "you want my drink? It'll start you off-"

Leon wasn't going to pretend that he hadn't come to the bar to drink away his sorrows; to forget all the pain he held onto and the nightmares he couldn't escape, and now the pain of not having you around. But when he walked in and saw you? Something in him stopped. Something in him twisted and he felt nauseous and for once it wasn't because of a hangover, but it was because of you.

You looked so miserable. Not that you realized you were wearing your heart on your sleeve at the bar, with the dejected look on your face and the limp hand holding onto a beverage you clearly didn't enjoy. Whilst at the same time, you looked empty.

Is that what you saw? Is that what he looked like to you when he was drinking? When he was at home or at a bar, focusing on anything but reality?

Leon didn't want a drink anymore, he wanted to get you out of a place that didn't suit you whatsoever. He wanted to take you home, he didn't want you to be him.

"You didn't come here alone, did you?" He cut off whatever you were trying to say as he looked into your eyes sternly.

"What? N-no I'm not stupid... I came here with a friend."

It didn't take long for Leon to figure out the friend because he spotted her coming near the bar, and recognized her.

"Hey, I'm taking Y/N home," Leon tried to not sound aggressive when he spoke, but it may have only made him sound more upset.

"Leon? Oh, ya, of course. Are you two...?"

"We'll be fine," Leon replied as he helped you stand up, "thanks for being with them."

He hadn't just meant in the bar but in the past week. It was left unsaid, but it was laid bare.

As much as you wanted to pull away from the man who gently wrapped one of his strong arms around your waist, and used the other to hold your arm behind his neck, you couldn't. You didn't have the strength to, and you missed him.

Leon was glad he had taken the car and not his motorcycle. There was no way in hell he would've been able to keep you on a motorcycle all the way back to your home that you shared, or well, you hadn't for the past week. But that wasn't the point.

"You're so mean Leon..." you mumbled as he helped you get into the passenger seat of the car. He all but carried you into it like a child and leaned across you to put your seat belt on. You leaned your face into his neck as he did so, breathing deeply.

"I just... Want you to be happy," you continued sloppily, "but you won't... Let me in..."

Leon's breathing stopped for a moment as he stilled, his hand still on the seatbelt he had just finished putting you in. He quickly pulled himself together and pulled back, adjusting the belt on your body so it wasn't digging into your lazy form, but it was still doing its job.

"I know."

There was so much more he could say, but he couldn't. He wasn't sure if he ever could.

He settled himself into the driver's seat and got ready to start the car up.

"I still love you though..." your words were slurred as you rested your head on the car window, feeling your eyes grow heavier.

"I..." Leon's hand was turning white at the knuckles from how hard he was holding the steering wheel. He didn't deserve you. And you didn't deserve this.

"I know..."

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itsallyscorner · 4 years

Note

Could you do something where the reader is a marvel actor but crashes a panel that Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan are doing (kinda like Tom Holland did that one time) but the sofa is small so the reader is squished in between them and has to share their mics when asked questions something like that. It can be platonic but they are really close or the reader has a little thing going on with Seb but is really close with Mackie. I hope that made sense!

Oooo this request is so cute! Thank you for the request lovely, hope you like it!💜

a/n: This imagine is HEAVY on the dialogue because I wanted to include some fun questions from the fans and what not, anyway here’s the imagine:)

💌.

Stackie Sandwich

You watched from backstage as Anthony showed off his thighs to the crowd, you know, the usual. You were currently at ACE Comic Con along with Anthony and Sebastian. You always enjoyed going to these kind of things. Meeting and getting to interact with the fans was always fun, it reminded you of why you did these movies and how thankful you were to have such lovely, supportive fans.

Currently you and the crew backstage were trying to find a way to sneak you onto the stage without interrupting a question.

Anthony sat back down on the small couch as Sebastian laughed at his friend’s antics.

“I’m telling y’all, you wanna have thighs like these, you gotta do leg day. Don’t skip leg day.” Anthony tells the crowd as he nudges Sebastian. You chuckle from backstage as Kevin Smith, the monitor of the panel continues.

“So I know we were supposed to be joined by (y/n) (y/l/n), where is she?” He asked the men.

“Probably on a coffee run.” Sebastian answered immediately shaking his head with an eye roll. The crowd reacts with quiet giggles.

“I swear that woman cannot function without her coffee.” Anthony remarked.

“I’ve known her for years and lemme tell you it’s like her body is going through some kind of error. We were on set for a movie we did together and I was talking to her.” Anthony started as he leaned forward.

“Now I didn’t know she didn’t have her coffee yet. I’ve been talking for like 10 minutes and the whole time she was sleeping. And when she began to like wake up and talk, it was like she was a sloth.” Anthony shared as he proceeded to act like a sloth saying “Error 404” really slow.

You turned to the stage hand and said “I’m going now, he just called me a sloth.”

The man laughed and handed you a mic from the side. Before walking out you say into the mic, “I know you ain’t talking about me, Mackie.” You walk out to the stage and the crowd cheers loudly. Mackie throws his head back as he laughs.

“Hey everyone!” You greet the crowd, waving at all of them. You approached the guys with your arms up in a “fight me” manner, it was mostly for Anthony. You greet Kevin and move to Sebastian, purposely skipping Anthony.

“Hey, dragostea.” Seb greeted you as he wraps his arms around your body. You giggled as you wrapped your arms around his neck and hide your face in between his neck and shoulder.

When you pull away you turn to Anthony who looked offended. You send him a playful smile and smack his arm before jumping on him and wrapping your arms around him. He lets out his boisterous laugh and hugs you back. In the process you drop your mic on the stage causing you to cringe.

You guys settle onto the small couch. You sat in between Anthony and Seb, fairly squished in the middle by the two buff men. Their legs took up too much space on the couch, leaving no room for your own legs. The crowd laughed at your face as you tried to make yourself comfortable in the tight space.

You went to speak into your mic but it didn’t register. Looks like you broke the mic.

“Look at you, haven’t been up here for a minute and you already broke something.” Anthony tisked playfully. Sebastian poked you with his mic and handed it to you. You thanked him with a smile.

“I’ll pay for that! Just send me the bill.” You yell towards the back. You look at Anthony and raise your brow at him.

“You need to pipe down, son. You’ve been coming at me all morning long.” You acknowledged pointing a finger at him. The crowd laughs along with Seb. Anthony nods as he stifles his laughs to himself.

“(Y/n), thank you for joining us, how are you?” Kevin asks you.

“I’m doing great! I’m so excited to be here and meet all of you! I saw so many of you guys dressed up, and you all look absolutely amazing! I also saw a dog on my way here!” You answered bubbly.

“What kind of dog?” Sebastian asked pulling your hand with the mic towards him.

“A golden retriever and omg he was dressed as Cap!” You squealed.

“I hope that dog is here because I want to meet them and just smother them with hugs.” You add as you motion to the audience.

“Sebastian said you were running late because you were on a coffee run, is that true?” Kevin asks as Sebastian scrunches his nose.

“I mean he’s not completely wrong. I got coffee before I got here. But the traffic on the way here was really bad.”

“She’s lying, she spent a good half hour at Starbucks sippin’ on her coffee while inhaling the smell of Starbucks like an addict.” Anthony jokingly jabs at her. You were used to the playful jabs from Mackie, it was how you guys were. Knowing each other for years, you guys formed a brother/sister relationship.

“Alright then! So, we’ve got a line forming for the questions! How about we start?” Kevin continued as he motioned to the crowd.

🕓 Time Skip

It’s half an hour into the panel and you guys have been asked so many questions already. Some about your characters, the relationships off screen, and some new projects. Thankfully the crowd was very nice and respectful to you all, no one asked anything rude or made offensive comments.

The laughs were just dying down after Mackie told another one of his jokes. A teenage girl dressed as your character came up to the mic.

“Hi, my name is Maddie and my question is for (y/n)!” She waved at you with a grin.

“Hi, hun! You look beautiful by the way, I love your costume!” You complimented her, taking Anthony’s mic. She thanks you and continues.

“I—, I’m sorry you’re just so small compared to Anthony and Seb on that couch. You’re so cute!” The audience laughs along with the two men next to you.

You huff and squish your way out between Anthony and Sebastian’s bodies, “In my defense it’s a really small couch! And these guys are so beefy they take up all the space on here!”

“It’s a Stackie sandwich with a side of (y/n)!!” Mackie enthusiastically announced making the crowd go crazy.

Sebastian moved further into the corner of the couch making more space for you. He even moved his arm to rest on top of the couch’s backrest. You could hear some fans point it out and squeal. You thank him by patting his leg as his arm lingered behind you.

“So my question is, how is it like to be around such tall people? Because I’m short as well and I have to always look up at everyone.” Maddie says into the mic.

“That’s exactly how it is! Sometimes I get concerned if I’ll mess up my back because I have to look up at everyone!” You say into Sebastian’s mic, which he voluntarily held up for you.

“We carry her around a lot on set.” Seb chimes from beside you.

“Yeah like a sack of potatoes.” Anthony adds.

You pull on Seb’s arm to talk into the mic, “They also tease me a lot, but it’s all in good fun.”

—•

“Hey guys! I’m Jess and my question is for Anthony! So you and (y/n) have worked on multiple projects together. How was it like to be in Marvel with each other and act along side each other?”

You giggled at the question, turning to Anthony, “How’s it like to work with me, huh?”

“I mean, honestly, it’s always an honor to work with (y/n). I’m glad that I know someone like her in this business, she’s one of the most genuinely nice people you’ll ever meet. And I respect her for that because sometimes it’s hard to not get blinded by the fame and just become a dick, or a diva in your case.” Anthony answered as he threw an arm around you.

“Aww thanks, Mac.” You smile and lean on his shoulder.

“And to add onto that. Our characters in the movie are pretty close as well, so when Anthony and I have scenes together, it doesn’t even feel like acting. It’s always a great time on set when he’s around.” You finished off.

—•

“Hi, I’m Elena and my question is for Sebastian!”

“This is our last question for the panel, so make it good!” Kevin interjects.

“Go ahead, sweetheart.” Sebastian says to the fan.

“Bucky and (y/c/n) have really good chemistry with each other in the movies and the relationship doesn’t feel forced onto the fans. I wanted to know if any of the chemistry on screen is real offscreen?” Elena asked with a cheeky grin. You remained quiet as you felt Anthony nudge you with his knee.

Sebastian longingly stared at you for a moment before answering, “Well it’s not hard to act like you’re in love with (y/n), because everyone on set loves her. She unapologetically herself and I think that’s what makes it so easy to have chemistry with her, it just felt natural with her, you know?”

“To answer your question, Elena. They’ve been on a few dates already.” Anthony blurted out causing the audience to erupt. You looked at him with your mouth agape from your position on Sebastian. You were currently leaning into his side while your arm rested on his thigh.

“You weren’t supposed to say that.” Sebastian uttered as he moved his arm to wrap around your shoulders. You’d be lying if you said you didn’t have feelings for Seb. You guys definitely had chemistry offscreen and everyone knew about it.

“Hey! All I’m implying is that y’all need to both stop beating around the bush and make it official Anthony defended himself.

“Fine!”

“(Y/n), how do you feel about dinner tonight?” Sebastian asked you.

“Sounds good.” You smile at him.

“Great, we have some things to discuss.” He playfully teased the crowd.

“FEELINGS!” Anthony yelled over Sebastian.

Kevin laughed as he ended the panel, “On that note! Our panel has come to an end, thank you everyone for showing up and for your questions! Thank you Anthony, (y/n), and Sebastian for coming here we really appreciate it!”

You guys thank the crowd again and take a group picture with the audience. Anthony leaves the stage first followed by you and Seb. Sebastian helps you down the stairs and keeps a hand on your back.

“Wait, are we actually going to dinner?” You asked looking up at him.

“Yeah, I told you, we’ve got some stuff to talk about.” He winks as he leads you guys to the green room.

dragostea - love

#ally’s requests #marvel #mcu #avengers #sebastan stan #sebastian stan oneshot #sebastian stan headcanons #sebastian stan drabble #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian stan imagine #marvel cast x reader #anthony mackie x reader #falcon and the winter soldier #anthony mackie #Bucky Barnes #bucky barnes x reader #Sam Wilson #sam wilson x reader

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octerminal · 3 years

Text

Avoiding the ME1 LI Romances

...And also what to do if you’ve already triggered them.

This is a post I’ve been wanting to remake forever, and with the remaster around the corner I thought now was a good time to finally get on it.

A few things first: I say “avoiding the ME1 LI romances”, but in reality this is mostly going to be about Kaidan and Ashley. While there are a few ways around Liara’s romance I’ve discovered, I have never been able to find a simple way to avoid triggering it. (I’ll get to that later.)

This post will be split into three sections: Kaidan, Ashley, and Liara. Kaidan and Ashley’s sections specifically will go over how to avoid triggering their romances entirely, and then the dialogue choices you need to take if you want to end the romance if it’s already been triggered. I have also included a few bonus things for the both of them, such as avoiding the flirting during the scenic view cutscene in the Citadel Wards. For Kaidan specifically, I have also included content about his mechanics in ME3.

Please note that most of these have been accomplished on console. I have gotten several PC users who do attest that, at the very least, Kaidan’s portion works for them. But on the off-chance that platform influences other parts of Kaidan’s, or Ashley and Liara’s, I thought it was worth mentioning. It should also be said that, obviously, these are all using the original games as a basis, though I am not expecting MELE to change any of this.

I will also be using both my Kaidan transcript and Ashley transcript as reference for their dialogue. I recommend following along there if you find Tumblr’s formatting confusing.

Final note before we begin: this post is not an open invitation to hate on any of these characters. ME1 is turning 14 this year and ME3 recently turned 9. Anything you have to say about these characters and their romance mechanics has already been beaten to death, brought back to life, and beaten to death again. No one wants to hear it, least of all me. Please keep your comments to yourself and be civil.

KAIDAN

“I WANT TO AVOID TRIGGERING IT ENTIRELY, WHAT DO I DO?”

Kaidan’s romance can be triggered after the first main mission has been completed. For many players, I imagine this is Therum, but it really doesn’t matter which mission it is.

Kaidan will prompt the conversation, as he will for every other post-main mission conversation so long as his romance remains active. This conversation will be about his time at Brain Camp. You can read the conversation in his transcript if you find it easier to follow along, though I have done my best to format this post as cleanly as possible.

KAIDAN: Commander, do you have a minute?

SHEPARD: (You can choose whatever dialogue option you want. It makes no difference yet.)

KAIDAN: Off the record, I think there’s something wrong here. This Saren is looking for records on some kind of galactic extinction, but we can’t get backup from the Council? Sorry, Commander. There’s writing on the wall here, but someone isn’t reading it.

SHEPARD: (Again, you may choose whatever dialogue option you want. It still makes no difference yet.)

>FIRST CHANCE TO AVOID THE ROMANCE<

KAIDAN: I hear ya. It - It just seems like a group that’s been around as long as the Council should see this coming. It’s funny. We finally get out here and the final frontier was already settled. And the residents don’t even seem impressed by the view...or the dangers.

SHEPARD (Renegade - Zip it, Lieutenant.): I’m sure your letters home are very poignant. Just keep this kind of sentimentality out of the CIC.

KAIDAN: Yes, ma’am. Sorry to have wasted your time. I’m right about the mission, though. I know it. (The conversation will end here and his romance will not trigger.)

>SECOND CHANCE TO AVOID THE ROMANCE<

SHEPARD (Paragon - Cute way to look at it./Neutral - An old-fashioned view.): Well, well. You’re a romantic. Did you sign on “for the dream,” Alenko? Secure man’s future in space?

KAIDAN: Heh, yeah, I read a lot of those books when I was a kid. Where the hero goes to space to prove himself worthy of a woman he loves. Or, you know. For justice. Maybe I was a romantic in the beginning. But I thought about it after Brain Camp - ah, sorry, “Biotic Acclimation and Temperance training.” I’m not looking for “the dream.” I just want to do some good. See what’s out here. Sorry if I got too informal. Protocol wasn’t a big focus back in BAaT.

SHEPARD (Renegade - Just be ready.): I trust you won’t have any questions when whatever’s coming hits the fan?

KAIDAN: None. I’m not questioning the mission. I’m just concerned. Sorry to have wasted your time, ma’am. It won’t happen again. (The conversation will end here and his romance will not trigger.)

The final chance to cut off Kaidan’s romance before it triggers happens after Shepard asks him about Brain Camp. This opens up a lot of investigation options and you may exhaust all of them. If you want to avoid hearing Kaidan imply that he thinks your Shepard is attractive, avoid the “Time to talk, then./Time to “get physical,” then.” investigation options. Once Kaidan is done speaking about Brain Camp, you will get one final chance to avoid his romance.

>THIRD CHANCE TO AVOID THE ROMANCE<

KAIDAN: Anyway. This was supposed to be a casual debrief, not a bull session about stuff that happened years ago.

SHEPARD (Renegade - You’re right.): I pretty much gave up waiting for the good part.

KAIDAN: Bad habit, ma’am. I do tend to run off at the mouth. I will work on it for my next review. Sorry to have wasted your time, ma’am. It won’t happen again. (The conversation ends and his romance does not trigger.)

You will notice all of these are renegade options. There is literally no way around this if you want to avoid triggering Kaidan’s romance. You don’t get any renegade points from them, and Kaidan does not treat you negatively in the ensuing post-main mission talks.

Here is an easy way to tell if Kaidan’s romance remains active. Conversations between him and Shepard will end like this:

SHEPARD: We’ll talk later, Kaidan.

KAIDAN: I’d like that.

“I’VE ALREADY TRIGGERED IT, HOW DO I GET OUT OF THIS?”

The good news is that getting out of the romance is fairly simple. The game gives you a lot of opportunities before it triggers the love triangle with Liara (assuming her romance has also been triggered, anyway).

If Kaidan’s romance was triggered, you will have an opportunity at the beginning of his second and third post-main mission talks. These are a bit more complex to transcribe, so I really recommend just reading them in my transcription if you need the exact dialogue options to understand.

But the gist: You can’t go wrong with choosing the renegade dialogue options. This is always the dialogue option that will end his romance. You are almost never going to end his romance with a paragon or neutral dialogue option. He will always prompt this conversation by wondering if he’s gotten his signals mixed up, if there’s someone else you’d rather spend time with, if he’s being too casual, etc. Once he does this, just shoot him down with a renegade dialogue option.

Again: you get no renegade points from this. He will not treat you negatively in the ensuing post-main mission talks.

Here is an example. This one occurs in his second post-main mission talk if Liara’s romance hasn’t been triggered:

KAIDAN: I’m just saying...try to leave yourself a way out. I’ve seen what cutting corners can do and I’d hate to have that happen to you, Shepard. Commander.

SHEPARD (Renegade - I don’t need approval.): I’m your commanding officer, Alenko. Are you questioning the way I handle things?

KAIDAN: No, Commander. Just concerned about the reception of the brass if things go sour. I apologize for bringing it up. I know we’re getting the job done.

SHEPARD: (You can choose whatever response you like; they all lead to the romance ending.)

If you have repeatedly not broken off the romance with Kaidan after a certain point and Liara’s romance is also active, it will trigger the love triangle scene. This is one of the last points you have to break off Kaidan’s romance, but it will lock you into Liara’s romance instead. If you are wanting a no-romance run, I recommend choosing one of the other options instead.

There is also a separate way to end the romance outside these three opportunities. In the third post-main mission talk, you must pick the dialogue option that triggers the argument that can “renegade” Kaidan’s opinion on the Council. You must not choose the charm or intimidate option here, and you must then pick the renegade dialogue options. The conversation should go like this:

KAIDAN: So yeah, I hated that turian. But he wasn’t “a turian” to me. He was Vyrnnus.

SHEPARD (Renegade - All turians are the same.): You can’t deny the turians are imperialists. And the asari, the salarians - they’re manipulators.

KAIDAN: Shepard, I outgrew the blame game years ago. If the Alliance is missing its chance, it’s because of men like Udina. Not the rest of the galaxy holding it back.

SHEPARD (Renegade - I’m not so sure.): When anyone out here listens to us, the Council starts up with their treaties and heel-dragging. We can only rely on ourselves.

KAIDAN: We’re not doing the galaxy any favors if we try to force our way into a seat at the grown-up table. They aren’t - malicious. They’re just slow to change. My story doesn’t get any better if Vyrnnus is a good guy.

SHEPARD (Renegade - Whose side are you on?): I don’t need you kissing the Council’s asses, too.

KAIDAN: Look, Shepard. You’re in command, and we’ll all follow your lead. But don’t ream me out for having an opinion. I thought we respected each other more than that.

SHEPARD (Renegade - I can’t respect this.): I can’t believe you’d side with aliens over your own kind. I think we’re done here.

KAIDAN: Yeah, I think we are. It’s--It’s too bad we...It’s just too bad, Commander.

This argument will end his romance. He will also not be renegaded. This is obviously a much more convoluted way to end his romance, but I’m throwing the option out there because it’s 1) hilarious, and 2) way more dramatic, if you want to roleplay ending the romance for whatever reason.

MISCELLANEOUS

Depending on the dialogue options you take for the scenic view on the Citadel, Kaidan will always flirt with you. This does not lock you into, or even trigger, his romance. It is entirely possible to not have him flirt with you at all in this scene, and still initiate the romance later. But if you do not want him to flirt with you, simply do this:

[image ID: ME1’s subtitles showing Ashley saying “Or maybe they just don’t like humans.” with the dialogue wheel below it giving the following dialogue choices, starting from the top: “What’s not to like?”, “Let’s move out.”, and “That’s enough, you two.” end ID]

When you get to this part of the scenic view cutscene, choose any dialogue option but the top “What’s not to like?” one.

Also, even if you’ve already avoided or shut down Kaidan’s romance, Liara will still ask if there’s something between the two of you if her romance is active. Tell her that there isn’t (because there isn’t). Her saying this does not re-trigger Kaidan’s romance.

Congratulations, you have now survived ME1’s romance mechanics. Enjoy experiencing unromanced Kaidan for the rest of the game.

ME3 BONUS: “OKAY, WHAT ABOUT HIM FLIRTING WITH ME IN THE HOSPITAL THOUGH?”

I have tested both of these personally multiple times and they have always worked for me, but again: see my warning about different platforms at the beginning of this post. If it doesn’t work for you, please let me know.

If you have not romanced Kaidan previously: don’t buy him the alcohol as a present. That’s it.

If you have romanced Kaidan previously: on Mars, tell him your relationship is over. It is a renegade dialogue option, but it is necessary to avoid the flirtation in the hospital. This route also means that you can buy him the alcohol and he will still not flirt with you.

Please note that going renegade on Mars does not lock you out of his romance. It merely prevents him from assuming you’re interested during your hospital visit.

ME3 BONUS: “OKAY, WHAT ABOUT HIS APOLLO’S PROPOSITION THOUGH?”

This only happens if you have not locked in your romance with your preferred love interest first. For Garrus, this is the bottle shooting date. For Tali and Traynor, it’s inviting her up to your cabin. For Liara and Miranda, it’s her Presidium date. So on and so forth.

This means there is no way around it if you romanced Jacob or Thane and do not want to pursue a different romance after them. If you do get this scene: again, just turn him down. It is never brought up again. He does not act like he’s in love with you going forth. You will get his unromanced date in the Citadel DLC, as well as his unromanced London goodbye.

ASHLEY

“I WANT TO AVOID TRIGGERING IT ENTIRELY, WHAT DO I DO?”

Ashley’s romance can be triggered after the first main mission has been completed. For many players, I imagine this is Therum, but it really doesn’t matter which mission it is.

Ashley will prompt the conversation, as she will for every other post-main mission conversation so long as her romance remains active. This conversation will be about her concerns about the aliens aboard the Normandy.

Note: Ashley has one less opportunity to avoid triggering her romance in the first post-main mission talk compared to Kaidan. You may also read the conversation in her transcript if you find it easier to follow along, though I have done my best to format this post as cleanly as possible.

ASHLEY: Commander. You have a minute to talk?

SHEPARD: (You can choose whatever dialogue option you want. It makes no difference yet.)

ASHLEY: I know things are different aboard the Normandy, but - I'm concerned about the aliens. Vakarian and Wrex. With all due respect, Commander, should they have full access to the ship?

SHEPARD: (Again, you can choose whatever dialogue option you want. It still makes no difference yet.)

>FIRST CHANCE TO AVOID THE ROMANCE<

ASHLEY: This is the most advanced ship in the Alliance Navy. I don't think we should give them free reign to poke around the vital systems. Engines. Sensors. Weapons.

SHEPARD (Side - You're out of line!): That's enough, Chief. You always second-guess your superiors?

ASHLEY: Sir! No, sir! I'm sorry. I was out of line. I'll get back to my duties, Commander. (The conversation will end and her romance will not trigger.)

If you do not pick the above option, Ashley will elaborate her stance further until you get to the dialogue wheel with the second (and final) chance to avoid her romance.

>SECOND CHANCE TO AVOID THE ROMANCE<

ASHLEY: My family's defended the Alliance since it was founded. My father, my grandfather, my great-grandmother - they all picked up a rifle and swore the Oath of Service. I guess we just tend to think of Earth's interests as our own.

SHEPARD (Renegade - Just shut up.): I expect you to keep your family politics to yourself, Chief. The mission will be difficult enough without you picking fights with aliens.

ASHLEY: Aye, aye, Commander. (The conversation will end and her romance will not trigger.)

Note: You can still pick the investigation dialogue options that discusses her service and family history. You just have to pick the renegade dialogue option outlined above afterward, instead of any other option.

Like with Kaidan, you do not get any renegade points for picking this option and Ashley does not treat you negatively in the ensuing post-main mission talks.

Here is an easy way to tell if Ashley’s romance remains active. Conversations between her and Shepard will end with the following:

SHEPARD: We'll talk later, Williams.

ASHLEY: Looking forward to it, sir.

“I’VE ALREADY TRIGGERED IT, HOW DO I GET OUT OF THIS?”

Admittedly, you have fewer easy opportunities to end Ashley’s romance than you do Kaidan’s, and most of the early game ones require Liara’s romance also being active. You are still offered multiple different opportunities out before the game ends, however.

If Ashley and Liara’s romances are both triggered, you will have an opportunity at the beginning of Ashley’s second and third post-main mission talks to end the romance. The gist is the same as Kaidan’s: You can’t go wrong with choosing the renegade dialogue options. This is always the dialogue option that will end her romance. You are almost never going to end her romance with a paragon or neutral dialogue option. She will always prompt this conversation by bringing up your relationship with Liara. Once she does this, just shoot her down.

Again: you get no renegade points from this. She will not treat you negatively in the ensuing post-main mission talks.

In both the second and third post-main mission talks, the conversation will go something like:

ASHLEY: Surprised to see you here, sir. Thought you’d be chatting up what’s-her-name. T’Soni.

SHEPARD: (Pick the neutral or renegade dialogue option here; they both lead to the same dialogue branch.)

ASHLEY: Scuttlebutt says you’ve got a bit of a thing for her. I could understand why. The crew’s off-limits, with the regs against fraternization. And at least she looks like a woman.

SHEPARD: (Pick the neutral or renegade dialogue option here. They both end the romance.)

One of the easier exceptions to this that doesn't require Liara’s romance being active is in the second post-main mission talk when Ashley gets Sarah’s vid-mail. It will go like this:

SARAH: - Oh, before I go. You said you’re serving with Commander Shepard now? We saw him on the news here. He’s cute! Later, sis.

ASHLEY: Tell me you didn’t hear that.

SHEPARD (Renegade - That’s unprofessional.): I don’t need to tell you it’s inappropriate to gossip about how “cute” your commanding officer is.

ASHLEY: No, sir. You don’t. Sorry about that. It won’t happen again. (Conversation and romance ends.)

Please note, however, that this will lock you out of the remainder of the conversation and you will not learn about Ashley’s family.

If you have repeatedly not broken off the romance with Ashley after a certain point and Liara’s romance is also active, it will trigger the love triangle scene. This is one of the last points you have to break off Ashley’s romance, but it will lock you into Liara’s romance instead. If you are wanting a no-romance run, I recommend choosing one of the other options instead.

There is also a separate way to end the romance outside these three opportunities. In the third post-main mission talk, you must pick the dialogue option that triggers the argument that can “paragon” Ashley’s opinion on the Council. You must not choose the charm or intimidate option here, and you must then pick the renegade dialogue options. The conversation should go something like this:

ASHLEY: But hey, once we save the galaxy, maybe the Alliance will get its act together. Start acting like an actual government.

SHEPARD (Paragon - The Alliance is all right.): The Alliance isn’t perfect, but it does well enough.

ASHLEY: Have to disagree with you there, skipper. Giving aliens the run of our most advanced ship? Kowtowing to the Council?

SHEPARD (Paragon - It’s not like that.): The Alliance should be able to stand on is own. We can’t. Yet. Why not learn from the races that have been standing for the last thousand years?

ASHLEY: How can you say that, given everything we’ve seen out here? They’re already acting like Saren is our problem. Already siccing us on the bear. The Council races will always think of themselves first. It’s - human nature. We can’t afford to trust them. Not if the survival of humanity is on the line.

SHEPARD (Renegade - I’ve heard enough.): Whatever feelings I might have for you, we have to work with the Council. I can’t let you second-guess our superiors.

ASHLEY: Shepard, I’m a soldier. You’re my commander. If you give me an order, I’ll follow it. I don’t expect you to treat me differently from anyone else under your command. And if you have been - quit it. I thought you knew me better than that.

SHEPARD (Renegade - Do I?): Seems like every time we run up against aliens, you whip out the “Earth first” card. I can’t have my authority undermined.

ASHLEY: I never intended to “undermine” you, Shepard. I believe in you. I wish you’d believe in anyone but yourself. With your permission, sir, I’ll return to my duties.

This argument will end her romance. She will also not be paragoned. This is obviously a much more convoluted way to end her romance, but I’m throwing the option out there because it’s 1) hilarious (that final line, oof), and 2) way more dramatic, if you want to roleplay ending the romance for whatever reason.

MISCELLANEOUS

Like with Kaidan, depending on the dialogue options you take for the scenic view on the Citadel, Ashley will always flirt with you. This does not lock you into, or even trigger, her romance. It is entirely possible to not have her flirt with you at all in this scene, and still initiate the romance later. But if you do not want her to flirt with you, simply do this:

When you get to this part of the scenic view cutscene, choose any dialogue option but the top “What’s not to like?” one.

Also like with Kaidan, even if you’ve already avoided or shut down Ashley’s romance, Liara will still ask if there’s something between the two of you if her romance is active. Tell her that there isn’t (because there isn’t). Her saying this does not re-trigger Ashley’s romance.

Congratulations, you have now survived ME1’s romance mechanics. Enjoy experiencing unromanced Ashley for the rest of the game.

LIARA

“I WANT TO AVOID TRIGGERING IT ENTIRELY, WHAT DO I DO?”

As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, I have found no easy way around Liara’s romance. If anyone else has, I genuinely mean it when I say I would absolutely be open to you telling me, because I would love to know.

The only way to avoid triggering Liara’s romance that I have found are the following:

Simply not talking to her for most of the game (not ideal)

Completing Therum only after you’ve done at least two main missions (also not ideal since it will require Noveria being completed without her)

Completing Therum only after all the other main missions have been completed (again not ideal, though every player should at least do this once if only for the unique content you get from it)

Okay, so what if you want to complete Therum first but still avoid Liara’s romance? I have found one way to accomplish this, but it requires you to be in a romance with Kaidan (or presumably Ashley, but I have only tested this with Kaidan).

After you recruit Liara, you may check up on her in the med-bay but do not initiate conversation after that. If she prompts you by saying, “I get the feeling you want to ask me something, Commander,” do not pick the yellowed dialogue option:

[image ID: ME1′s subtitles showing Liara saying, “I get the feeling you want to ask me something, Commander.” with the dialogue wheel showing the following options: “Investigate”, a yellowed option above “Investigate” labeled “I’d like to talk about you.”, and “Goodbye.” end ID.]

After you complete another main mission, you can check back in with Liara and speak to her normally. This conversation should be the one you’d normally get after Therum, where you learn about why she likes archaeology and how she finds Shepard fascinating.

After you complete another main mission, you must talk to Kaidan or Ashley first. To clarify: at this point you should be at the post-third main mission mark. For Kaidan, you will be getting the “Vyrnnus and Rahna” talk that you can read in his transcript; for Ashley, you will be getting the “Williams Curse” talk that you can read in her transcript.

After you speak with Kaidan or Ashley, you may speak with Liara as normal. This conversation should be picking up on where you left off last time. Liara will talk about how she’s looked into Shepard’s history and Shepard can press her for why she’s so interested in them. Liara should then say something like the following lines:

LIARA: I admit, your connection to the Protheans had something to do with my initial interest. But it has grown beyond that. My interest in you, however, is strictly professional. I want to make that clear. It is obvious you and Lt. Alenko already have some type of relationship. I would not want to come between you.

Her romance will not trigger for the rest of the game.

Please note: Again, I have only tested this with Kaidan. But it should, in theory, work the exact same for Ashley considering many of hers and Kaidan’s other romance mechanics are identical.

“THAT’S NICE, BUT HOW DO I END HER ROMANCE IF IT’S ALREADY TRIGGERED?”

You will follow the same steps as in Kaidan and Ashley’s portions. When she prompts you with whether or not there’s anything between the two of you, you must turn her down. You can never go wrong with the renegade dialogue options here. Again: you get no renegade points for it, and Liara treats you no differently going forth.

She will also usually bring up Kaidan or Ashley depending on what Shepard you are playing, and mention that it seems like there’s something between the two of you even when you do not have their romance active. If you aren’t romancing the VS, just tell her that she’s got it wrong, because...she does. It does not re-trigger either of their romances.

YES I AM ALMOST DONE TALKING

The game really does give you ample opportunities to avoid or end the romances (which is only fair considering how easy they are to trip), so hopefully I have outlined at least one you are comfortable taking.

There are other ways to end both Kaidan and Ashley’s romance that I did not mention (such as during the locker scene, or if you try to un-paragon/renegade) - the point of no return you mainly have to worry about is en route to Ilos. I imagine most players will have their romances sorted out by then, though, so I’m not sure it’s worth mentioning unless you’re wanting to do it purely for roleplay reasons. (In which case: you may read those in their respective transcripts if you’re curious.)

I cannot say I have tested every single romance cut-off, but I have tested most of the important ones players are most likely to take. I am assuming the romances are cut off based on the fact Shepard and the VS’ farewells will change depending on their romanced status (as I outlined in their respective sections), which I do feel is a safe bet. But if you try one of these and find that it did not end the romance: I’m sorry, and please do let me know (and also what platform you play on).

If you read all of this: thank you for your time, and I hope you find this guide useful!

#mass effect #kaidan alenko #ashley williams #liara t'soni #shenko #shepley #shiara #okay perhaps this post will show up in the tags eventually but it certainly is not for now #which makes this post utterly pointless but whatever hopefully it still gets spread around #edit: this post is showing up in the tags now thanks everyone who reblogged!

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illfoandillfie · 3 years

Text

A Different Kind of Education: Q Is For Queening (Chapter 10)

ADKoE MASTERLIST

Pairing: Professor!Roger Taylor x Fem!Reader

Series Summery: After being broken up with for not being kinky enough, Reader seeks out her professor to give her some private tutoring so she can win her boyfriend back.

Chapter Summery: Roger wants to revisit an old topic from a new angle but he's going to need to convince you first.

Warnings: Modern AU, smut (18+), slow burn romance, dom/sub dynamics, dom!roger and sub!reader, professor x student sex, dialogue heavy, Roger’s POV, oral sex (f receiving), queening stool, daddy kink, blindfolds, handjob.

Words: 8, 444

A/N: it's finally here!! big apologies for taking nearly 5 whole months to write this chapter. the burn out was real at the end of 2021. But here we are. The long awaited cunnilingus lesson lmao.

I have ideas for later chapters that will make more sense/be easier to write from Roger's POV but I don't want them to feel like they're coming out of nowhere so every so often I'll be doing another Rog chapter and this is the first! It was a bit tricky at first but I think it's fun to get in his head a bit. Also I wrote reader’s attitude towards oral sex very particularly and I would love to discuss it further if any of ya’ll are curious (or annoyed kdjskjals) so let me know if you want to hear some of my reasoning/thought process while writing! Oh and also! If you want to see what the queening stool I was picturing looks like/how it works, check out the research resources page for a video link.

As usual, I've used *** to mark the smut scene, although I will warn there is some mention/use of daddy kink before the smut kicks in - while they're establishing the rules of the scene. I did try to limit that though since I know it's not everyone's jam.

Taglist: @labessieisallama @deakyclicks @jennyggggrrr @drowseoftaylor @hannafuckingsucks @i-cant-hangout-im-drumming @queenmylovely @ilovequeenmorethanyou @johndeaconshands @borhapbois @stardust-galaxies @cherries-n-rocknroll @rogersslave @scorpiogemini

@80s-roger @libsterslobsters @okilover02 @cjand10 @dealorgirl32 @youngpastafanmug @onceuponadetectivedemigod @zeida

Roger had found it more than a little awkward to have you sleep over. As well as he’d got to know you during the weeks he’d been tutoring you, the fact remained that you were his student. Letting you stay the night went against a lot of his instincts which had developed over his long and varied teaching career. But, then again, so did the sex and he was enjoying that. It was perhaps those professorly instincts which had first led him to offer you the guest room, though before he’d even finished the suggestion he realised how absurd it would be to spank you and then send you off to a different room. Midway through his sentence he changed the offer and instead invited you to sleep in his bed and then he spent longer than he needed trying to reassure you that his original offer had nothing to do with the intensity of the scene and in fact he was just trying to be polite and give you space if you needed it. Every word that came out of his mouth only made him more embarrassed - he hadn’t been so inarticulate in front of anyone since he was a teenager. But he was heartened when you giggled and gently pressed your fingertips to his arm, assuring him you understood what he meant and would prefer to sleep in his bed.

It hadn’t been so awkward to start with. When you came back inside to check on him he’d been surprised but pleased to have you climb onto his lap, comforted as much by your nearness as what you said. And, when he was feeling less in his head about the scene, it had been easy to sit beside you and watch TV and talk. Roger decided he couldn’t sit too far away. He wouldn’t want you to think he was pulling away, more effected by the spanking scene than he was letting on, so he stayed close enough to keep your mind at ease. There was a respectful distance of course but if he brushed against your shoulder or nudged your thigh he could hardly be blamed for it, after all his couch wasn’t so big. You chatted amiably about the shows he chose, sometimes complaining about his taste (“Midsomer Murders? Really? What are you 70?”) but mostly content to watch what he usually watched, even after he asked if there was anything particular you wanted to put on. When enough time had passed that he could call it a night he suggested you stay up and keep watching TV, offering you free use of the streaming services he had access to. Instead you’d accompanied him back to his room and he’d had to hide a smile. Your excuse was that you were worn out from the impact play but Roger suspected you also wanted to keep an eye on him, just in case. He didn’t mind though. He liked how much you cared.

Roger managed to dig out a value pack of toothbrushes he’d bought for his children, three of the five colours remaining for you to choose from. It was cute, the way you carefully considered your options as if the differences between them were more than superficial. Eventually you settled on one and ducked into the nearest bathroom as he quickly changed his sheets and his clothes. That was when he started feeling unsure about the sleeping arrangement. While you were gone he picked out a set of pyjama pants for you, handing them over with his babbling about guest rooms and then a small apology as he went to tackle his own pre-sleep routine. All the way up the hall he kicked himself for it. But when he returned every self-depreciating thought was replaced with sheer arousal. He had to busy himself with his back to you, fussing over making sure his phone was plugged into the charger, just so he wouldn’t stare. The pyjamas he’d given you were not new. The elastic was a little worn and the red tartan fabric a little faded but the tie in the front still worked well enough to keep the saggy pants from falling down your legs. Just seeing you in them made his cock twitch, even as you rolled the overlong hemline above your ankles, and Roger struggled for a moment with the idea of making you cum while dressed in his pyjamas. The phrase extra credit drifted into his head and he quickly banished it, hoping you wouldn’t be able to tell what he was thinking.

Getting into bed beside you became even harder once he’d seen you. Roger couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened the last time you’d been in that bed together, mere hours before, and, judging by the way you were biting your lip nervously, he assumed it was on your mind too. Sharing a bed for reasons beside sex was more troublesome than he’d imagined it would be. He wanted to hold you but suggesting spooning felt too intimate for your studious relationship. On the other hand though, he knew you too intimately to create a barrier of pillows down the centre of the bed or turn his back to you. He sat up and batted his pillow as if it were causing his discomfort and felt you shift under the covers, the warmth of your body moving closer and then, just as quickly, back away. He turned towards you on his side and shoved his hand between his knees to keep from reaching for you, only to pull his hand back so it didn’t appear inappropriately placed. Eventually you both settled, somewhere between together and apart. Roger was on his back, unsure where to put his hands and very aware of your body. You’d ended up laying on your side and on and angle, your feet nearly touching his and your head as far away as your pillow would allow. Roger’s cock twitched again as you sighed smally into the quiet room, as if finally letting yourself relax. To cope, he squeezed his eyes shut and willed himself to sleep.

But, as weird as going to sleep was, it was worth it for how he woke up. You were close when he stirred, closer than you were when he shut his eyes. Facing each other, practically nose to nose. Not yet fully awake, Roger watched you quietly, unsure if he was dreaming. You snuffled in your sleep, shifted so your hand lay on his arm, warm and soft and real. He didn’t want to disturb you when you seemed so peaceful, so Roger let himself doze on a little longer, somewhere between asleep and awake but very aware of how you felt beside him. It was nice just to sleep beside someone again. For a long time he’d shared his beds with his wife and then when the kids came along they’d squeezed in too, snuggling up between their parents to ward off nightmares or just because it was novel and fun to be in a big person’s bed. Even after the divorce was finalised and Margo had moved out, Winnie was still young enough to seek her father when she was scared and there were numerous weekends he woke up with her sprawled out beside him. There’d been a couple of girlfriends too, mature women he met through work or friends. But none lasted as long as he thought they might and it had been at least a year since the last one. He’d dated since, of course. Met a number of lovely women who seemed promising but none of them had progressed all that far. Being the father of two teenagers wasn’t the sexiest descriptor and seemed just a little too much baggage for most. He’d almost forgotten how comforting another’s presence could be.

There was something wrong about seeing you leave in the light of day, more of a walk of shame than leaving right after the act would be and potentially more dangerous, his neighbours up and about and able to see you if they cared to look. But more than worry over your visibility, Roger felt it was a shame to see you go and he held off the goodbye as long as he could, offering you coffee and breakfast. But you had a life and he had kids to pick up eventually and there wasn’t any reason for you to stay longer than to double check he was feeling better after his drop the night before. The only evidence left was the crumpled sheets where you’d lay and his old pyjama pants folded neatly on the pillow. But on Monday, he was still thinking about it. Not the brief anxiety that gripped him as you walked quickly to your car. Not the awkwardness of his student sleeping in his bed overnight. Not even the drop he’d had and the overwhelming worry of his hurting you. Instead he was thinking about how gorgeous you looked wearing his pyjamas, hair messy from sleep. How your laughter had been infectious, even when you were teasing him. How just waking up so close to you had put him in a good mood for the rest of the weekend. So much so that just seeing you walk into his classroom, chatting with one of the other girls, made him feel lighter. You took your regular seat, glancing up to catch his eye and he smiled back before quickly addressing the room. He couldn’t wait to see you again that afternoon. Roger had something a little special planned and was eager to teach you. Maybe, if he was lucky, you’d decide to spend the night again, as dangerous as that would be. He turned to write something on the board behind him, letting out a slow exhale and trying to mentally shake himself. You couldn’t. He couldn’t want you to.

Dinner was simmering on the stovetop as Roger got everything ready for the lesson, hiding his prop behind the whiteboard, and neatening his bed covers. He knew it was a bit of a risk, that there was a chance you’d not like the suggested topic but he wanted to suggest it all the same. Part of it was curiosity about how far you’d let him get in his explanation before you turned him down. But more importantly, you deserved it and you should at least know the offer was on the table. Roger was just double checking he had everything where he wanted it when he heard the unmistakable sound of the front door and your voice call out hello as casually as if you lived there. Hurrying his footsteps, Roger met you in the hallway, accepting your bottle of wine though barely glancing at it, keeping his gaze on you instead.

He didn’t raise the topic until after you’d finished eating, leading you through to the study-cum-classroom. You set your bag down as you did every week and made to pull your laptop from it, but Roger stopped you. “Before we get into today’s lesson I wanted to run something by you.” “Oh?” you let your hands drop from the bag, “what is it?” Roger took a breath, “I want to go down on you.” It was hard for him not to be amused by your reaction, the evident shock at his proclamation. Your mouth fell open and you averted your eyes, your hands rising to your cheek as if to feel how warm they’d become in your embarrassment. “Roger I-” “I know it’s not your favourite thing, that’s why I wanted to talk first. I’m not going to force you into anything you don’t want to do.” He watched you bite your lip, waiting for you protests. “We already did oral.” “We did half of oral. I’d like to try the other half with you. If it’s a definite no we can do something else. Revisit an old topic or start a new one, I don’t mind. But I’d appreciate it if you’d at least hear my reasoning for suggesting this.” “Alright.” Roger frowned at how small your voice had become but didn’t say anything immediately, gathering his thoughts. He leant against the wall, keeping his distance so as not to make you feel like he was trying to intimidate you into agreeing and attempted to make his tone as unlectury as possible when he began to talk. “I have a couple of reasons. First off, I don’t want you getting stuck in the mindset that dom/sub dynamics indicate which partner is on top. Submissives can ride their dom and still be submissive. Dominants can go down on their sub and still be dominant.” You made a noise as if to interrupt but Roger held out his hand to stop you. “Just listen.” He waited for you to nod and then continued, “That’s the first part. The second is that another important part of understanding d/s relationships is understanding that doms don’t always have to be rough and mean and punishing. Soft doms and service doms are more common than you might think and their brand of domination is more about taking care of the sub and making them feel good, sometimes to an extreme level. Though, of course, their subs are generally less bratty than you.” Roger winked to underscore the joke, pulling a chuckle from you in response. “Thirdly, you’ve tried so many new things and approached them with an open mind and that has impressed me so much. Not all of it has been easy for you, I know, and I want to give you a lesson that’s all about feeling good. Nothing hard, nothing too out there. Just pleasure. I bet the pain from the spanking took a while to fade completely.” You shrugged and then nodded, finally giving voice to your agreement with a soft, “Yeah, it did.” “So let me make you feel good. I want to do that for you.” When you still looked unconvinced Roger sighed and stood up, stepping a little closer. “Consider it a reward Y/N, not a punishment.” “I don’t know, Roger, it’s still not something I really enjoy.” “Okay. That’s okay. You don’t have to like every part of sex. But, if you don’t mind me asking, why not?” “I ju-” you stopped and thought and all the while Roger patiently waited for you to figure out what you were trying to say, “I don’t know why, I just don’t enjoy it as much as other parts of sex.” “Can I pose a theory?” “What, have you got a psych degree too now?” you scoffed, crossing your arms over your chest. Roger snorted, “No, psychology was never my area.” “Oh go on, what’s the theory?” “You're a bit of a people pleaser aren’t you Y/N? I mean from my years teaching you, I know you don’t like disappointing people. And from what you said about how you learnt to deepthroat and some of what you’ve told me about Dylan, I think I can assume you like making your partners happy in the bedroom.” You gave a non-committal grunt and jerked your shoulder up in something of a shrug. “So my theory is that you prefer the act of giving pleasure rather than receiving it because that’s what most people have expected from you and the idea of just experiencing pleasure alone makes you uncomfortable.” You blinked in stunned silence. “No comeback? Does that mean I’m right?” “You...might be onto something.” You ducked your head to avoid his eye, “But I think theres more to it than just that.” “No doubt.” Roger agreed, “You’re not the only one who feels that way though. If someone goes down on me I like getting the chance to return the favour. I’d really like to do it for you.” “Just because you worked out that I like giving in sex doesn’t mean you’ve convinced me.” “Fair enough. But I’m happy to do anything I can to put you more at ease with it. I can lie under you if you like or you can lie on your back. We can use our nicknames if that makes it easier, so you could call me Sir and I can come up with a nickname for you too. Maybe being less personal would help. Or maybe you’d find it easier to get into if it felt like you had no choice and I could restrain you a bit, tie you up and blindfold you and humiliate you a little so you get all squirmy in the best way possible.” Though you’d still not met his eye, Roger noted how you sat up a little straighter at the suggestion. He let you take in what he’d said for a moment before making his final offer, “There is something else I have that might help make it easier.” Roger moved to pull his prop out from where he’d hidden it, “A queening stool.” “What the hell is that?”

Roger moved your bag aside and lifted the seat onto the desk, letting you see the box up close. “A queening stool or queening chair basically allows people to perform oral sex in a face-sitting position but without the worries that often occur in that position. Things like comfort, cramps, anxiety about smothering the person on the bottom, those sorts of things which are quite natural to feel but can get in the way of enjoying the sex. They can look different depending on the model of course – you know how us kinksters like our variety – but this is the one I own.” “It looks more like a box than a chair.” Roger chuckled and nodded, “Yeah, you’re not wrong about that. But it’s good. Very sturdy,” he smoothed his hands over the black sides, “made of wood and low to the ground so it feels secure. But every inch is covered in leather, so it’s padded and comfortable to sit on, not to mention easy to clean. I like this one’s shape because the seat part, the top side, feels very stable and even. I’ve used one in the past that was more of a horseshoe-y shape and I don’t know if it was the shape or the material but it felt like the person on top could fall off at any moment. Which is why I upgraded to this, slightly more expensive, model. You can see that the seat has this oval hole cut out of the middle,” he traced his finger around the rim of the cut out, “but the rest of the seat is solid and really secure.” “So would I sit on it? How do you like...” you tried to visually demonstrate with your hands, flicking one wrist so the fingers curled upwards, “...reach?” Roger laughed at your twisted fingers and reached out to turn the box shaped seat on the spot. There was a wooden thunk and a heavy scrape as he rotated it so that the opposite side faced you. “The trick is, it’s hollow,” he said, tapping the red leather interior, “This side is always open so that the person giving can lay down inside and lick up through the hole.” “But...I still don’t understand. Even if it’s close to the ground, theres no way the person on the bottom would be close enough.” “That’s true and different models have different solutions for it. Some have adjustable legs so the stool can be lowered to a better height, some attach to a bed, sometimes you just need to prop your head up on a pillow or a leather wedge. This one came with a harness, one sec.” Roger stepped back towards the whiteboard and reached up to unhook the leather harness from where he’d hung it on the frame. He wasn’t sure if you’d noticed it or not but chances are if you had you wouldn’t have been able to work out what it was for. Roger held it up so you could see it clearly now though – the black rectangle with a long strap dangling from each corner. “Turn the box again for me, could you? Just so the short end is facing you.” He nodded as you pushed on the box, doing just what he’d asked, “There are these metal loops screwed into this side and the opposite one.” “Mmhmm,” “So what we do is take one of these dangly bits on the harness,” he held it up to demonstrate, “and feed it through the metal bit. And again with the other three, like so.” He worked quickly and calmly, hoping you could see he was no novice when it came to this particular toy. You were well within your right to say no to all his suggestions but he wanted to make sure you knew just how much experience he had in this area. Perhaps that would help put your mind at ease more than anything else would.

Each strap was tightened into place, the lengths running up the side and then back down through the hole in the sea so that, when he turned the chair again, you could see the rectangular bit suspended above the floor of the box. “So, if you’re sitting on top, Y/N, all I have to do is lay my head on the harness and I’ll be near enough to comfortably lick you. It’ll support my neck and the seat will support you and we can just focus on making you feel good. You hummed in thought and then pointed at another set of metal loops screwed into the edge of the open side, “What are those for then?” Roger shouldn’t have been as taken aback by your observance as he was. “You noticed those, huh? Well, they’re for if the person giving was also tied in place. Or, I s’pose if either person were tied. See, queening stools are quite popular amongst female dominants so some of them come with attachments or extra bits for restraining a submissive or other BDSMy stuff. We don’t have to use them though. But do you think using the chair might help at all?” Roger could see you were thinking about it, your brow crinkled and your lips serious. He felt a burst of pride and affection that you were considering the offer and not dismissing it immediately.

After a few moment silence you spoke, Roger’s attention still quietly on you. “The queening stool might help. I’ve only ever, um, experienced oral laying down which feels okay but the change might be good. And...maybe being able to see you better would help me be more comfortable with it. Like, if I can see that you’re getting hard then I’ll know you’re enjoying it too and it’ll still feel like you’re getting something out of it. “That makes a lot of sense. You definitely want to try it?” “Yes. I mean it can't hurt, right.” “Nope, trying can’t hurt. But is there anything else you want to play with, just in case it helps too?” “Anything?” Roger could see you were nervous and took your hand between his in what he hoped was a comforting gesture, “Anything at all, Y/N.” “Can you take off your glasses?” That was not what Roger had been expecting, nor did he think he ever would have guessed it. “My glasses?” he asked with a small huff of laughter, “how come?” “You always wear them during sex.” “Not always but I have been with you, yeah. I’m fairly blind without them.” He was on the point of making a joke but it was clear you weren’t in the right frame of mind for it. Even playful teasing felt like it would only make things harder. “I usually prefer to leave them on when I’m domming someone and especially if my partner is still new to it. It just feels safer to me if I can see everything clearly – not just how tight my knots are or where my spanks are landing, but also your reactions to everything. So I can be sure you’re not getting hurt.” “That’s a good reason,” you frowned, eyes dropping to your hands. “But this isn’t particularly kinky, so I’m happy to take them off today if you want me to. Whatever helps.” “I think it will. I don’t like the idea of you looking at me down there. Is that weird?” “Not at all. Lots of people feel self-conscious or just awkward at the prospect of someone looking so closely at a part that’s normally private. But I have seen you naked before and I think you’re gorgeous.” He smiled softly, hoping the compliment would put you at ease. Your lips did seem to quirk up slightly but they were back to serious again before long. Roger wanted to make them part, make them open in a wide O shape, make his name fall from them in a grateful gasp. “One last thing. The name thing might help too and I haven’t tried calling you daddy yet.” “You wanna call me daddy, huh?” he tried to downplay his excitement, “That’s a-okay with me, love.” The way your breath hitched would have been easy to miss if Roger hadn’t been waiting for your reaction. He was delighted with it but even more thrilled when you stuttered out, “Okay d-daddy.” “Is there anything else you want?” You shook your head, “No. But if you keep asking me things like that I might panic and try to run.” “No you wont.” He smiled and leant forward, bracing his hands on the desk so he could get closer to you as he dropped into his more dominant tone. “Daddy’s going to make sure you stay right here so he can lick your pretty cunt for as long as he wants.” Surging forward, Roger caught you in a quick kiss, smiling as you whimpered against his lips. He could have kept kissing you like that all night if the queening stool hadn’t been between his body and yours, the edge pressing uncomfortably into his chest. Reluctantly he broke away. “Here or the bedroom? Or another room?” “Ummm, bedroom I guess.” Roger grunted as he lifted the box, “You'll have to get the door for me.” Smiling, he passed you into the hall, catching a whiff of your perfume and growing hungry to finally taste you.

*****

“Right,” Roger said, lowering the stool to the floor, “clothes off.” He stepped towards you, hands falling to your hips so he could tug you even closer as he began to undress you, revelling in each tantalising inch of skin he exposed. “Good girl,” he almost whispered as you, now naked, reached for the buttons on his shirt, reciprocating his gesture without being asked despite the nerves that made your fingers fumble. “Pants too love. Daddy knows how much you like his cock.” “Mmhmm,” you hummed, movement more confidant as you loosened his belt and unzipped his fly. Roger let you push his pants down over his hips and then took over, taking them and his underwear off completely. “Go ahead and touch it love. That’s right. Just like that.” Your breathing became shallow as you slowly stroked him off, “Can I suck it daddy?” Roger chuckled and reached up to swipe a strand of hair behind your ear, “as fun as that would be you know that’s not what we’re doing today. But if you keep being my good girl then maybe you can make me cum.” He loosely grasped your wrist, “I think that’s enough for now love. Go sit down.” You hesitated for a moment but a deep breath seemed to help steel your resolve and you moved where Roger had directed. He eased himself to the ground in front of you, putting you back at eye level, “Now I believe I promised to take off something else, didn’t I.” Roger slipped his glasses from his nose slowly. He wanted you to see him remove them, wanted you to be at ease with him and to understand how he’d listen to what you needed. So he held your gaze as he removed them, the world blurred and fuzzy in their absence, and he handed them to you. “Thank you,” you said softly, tracing the frame with your fingertip. “Just don’t squeeze them too hard when I make you cum, okay? I will need them back.” Your surprised shriek of laughter made Roger laugh too and for a moment both of you forgot what you were there for.

“Okay, sit back and spread your legs,” Roger said, still smiling. He watched your out of focus form shift as he lowered himself further, laying on his back and shuffling between your legs, into the stool’s opening. It took some time to situate himself comfortably. The straps of the inner harness needed adjusting and he’d had to ask you to grab a pillow to place under his backside for comfort. But eventually he was right where he wanted to be, close enough to lap his tongue along your slit. Being so close to what he wanted just made him want it more and the temptation to dive into your muff was nearly overwhelming. But one thought held him back and kept him patient. You. He didn’t want to rush into gratifying his desires if you weren’t ready for it. It already felt like a miracle he’d gotten this close to tasting you and he wasn’t going to do anything to scare you into closing your legs. Instead he contented himself with a deep breath of your scent before he said, “just relax, let daddy make you feel good.” His voice sounded loud in the confines of the box but he knew it would be muffled to you, so he waited a beat in case you needed him to repeat himself. You squeaked out a small “okay daddy,” which he took as his sign to get started. Finally able to take what he wanted, Roger eagerly swiped his tongue between your lips. You weren’t nearly as wet as he usually found you. Roger gave a resolute little hum, gathered more spit on the flat of his tongue and licked again. Ordinarily when your lessons led to his bedroom, he found you already at least a little slick with desire, ready and eager for whatever he was going to show you. This was different. But he wasn’t one to backdown from a challenge. He kept going, lapping at your folds greedily, spreading his saliva between your lips, trailing up to your clit. You jolted the first time the tip of his tongue flicked across your clit. And not in the way Roger had imagined. There was no accompanying moan, no surprised noise of pleasure. You just shifted as if to pull away. Roger frowned to himself. Logically he’d known you’d be nervous and tense and not as at ease as normal, but he’d thought you would surely enjoy it. Perhaps there was something else he could do to help distract you. If you were thinking about it too much that might be stopping you from feeling what he was doing. Slowly Roger brought his hand to his thigh, shivering at the caress of his own fingertips as he dragged them in towards his cock. Perhaps if you could see him pleasuring himself it’d help you settle into your own pleasure. He groaned softly as he swiped his thumb over his head, his cock already stiff from how you’d touched him but stiffening further under his own experienced palm. Gently stroking himself off he tilted his chin, angling himself to better reach your cunt, and drew his tongue between your lips once more. This time he was gratified, the tangy taste of you his reward, though he knew you could get wetter still. He let out an elongated moan as he reached for more, perhaps a little performative but he wasn’t above exaggerating to help you get into it. “Wait, stop.” Roger stilled, your reaction the complete opposite of what he wanted, “Y/N?” “It’s not working, Roger.” He sighed and wriggled out of the confined space, shifting to his knees again. Your tension was palpable from outside of the box, your posture rigid and your muscles tight as if tensed to run. He took your hand and squeezed it, “What’s not working Y/N? Tell me how I can help.” When you said nothing he asked, “Do you want to stop?” You shook your head. Roger fought back a smile. If you didn’t want to stop that meant you’d liked it or at least that you’d been starting to. “Okay. What do you need me to do then?” “Blindfold me. Please.” “Blindfold you? I thought you wanted to be able to see me.” You shook your head, “I thought being able to see you would help me get into it. That it’d scratch whatever people pleasing itch I have the same as if I was actually sucking you off instead. But it’s not. It’s just making me very aware that I’m the only one getting anything here and I can’t relax like that.” “I’m happy to blindfold you if you want to try that. But I will need my glasses back long enough to see that it’s on you comfortably.” “That makes sense I suppose,” you said with a shaky chuckle, handing his glasses back. “So, very quick theory lesson, and I mean very quick.” Roger said, returning from his cupboard, kneeling in front of you once more, this time with a soft groan. “Blindfold can basically refer to anything that goes over the eyes and obscures vision. They range from a thin bit of sheer fabric you can still partially see through, all the way to BDSM specific eye coverings which create a near total darkness. Sometimes people also include hoods under the same banner even though they do more than just block vision, they can also cover the whole face including nose and mouth so it limits more senses. But we’ll keep it simple today. I have two to choose from. This first is an ordinary sleep mask.” He held the light blue mask up. “That’ll work?” “They’re designed to block out a lot of light so it should. Plus it’s comfortable and soft. I also have this other one,” he held up something black, recognisably a blindfold but less familiar, “it’s more BDSM-y, with what are called moulded or cupped eyes. Basically they’re sort of rounded over so you can fully open your eyes under them without risking the material irritating your eyeballs, but it still blocks your vision. You’d probably be less likely to see under this one than the sleep mask but it’s also a little less comfortable, might take a little longer to adjust to.” You hummed as you weighed up your options, “Sleep mask I think.” “I can vouch for it’s worth, I’ve worn it on plenty of overseas flights. And you can always change if you need too.” You nodded and took the mask from him, fitting it over your eyes snuggly. “How does that feel? Can you see?” Roger leant in to adjust the band at the back of your head where it had twisted upon itself, carefully smoothing out your hair underneath it.” “I can’t see anything,” “That makes two of us,” Roger removed his glasses again and placed them in your hand.

The second attempt was better. You were still obviously tense, but Roger didn’t mind going slow. He praised you between strokes of his tongue, making sure you could hear how much he loved doing this for you. He hummed and sometimes moaned at your taste, told you how good you were being for him. He revelled in how wet you were getting as you adjusted to the sensation of his mouth on you. And when he flicked his tongue across your clit and made you moan softly he encouraged you to keep moaning. “That’s right love. Nice and loud so daddy can hear.” Between wet sucks of your lips he added, “If I wasn’t already rock hard from licking you, that sound would have done it for me.” He smiled against you, unable and unwilling to move more than a hair's breadth away, when you moaned again. Every so often he indulged himself, wrapped his hand round his cock and stroked himself a few times, relieving his need a little. But he never let himself get carried away. His focus was always on you, your steadily rising moans, your legs on either side of his waist, your slick pussy. All he wanted was to please you. And maybe to upend your expectations a little. So he was gentle in how he touched you, careful in how he spoke. Instead of degrading names he called you love and gorgeous as he unravelled you, turned your limbs to jelly. You sounded surprised when you came, a sharp gasp filling the space of the room moments before your whine of pleasure. Roger wasn’t surprised though. He’d known he could get you there and he knew he could do it again. So, when you, breathing in deeply, said, “so I can suck your dick now, right?” he chuckled, able to feel the squirm of your legs on either side of him as his breath hit you. “No, love, you gotta keep being my good girl and stay there. Daddy loves how your cunt tastes and he’s not finished with you yet.” You delighted him with another whine though whether it was because of his words or how he’d attached himself to your still fluttering pussy he couldn’t be sure.

But before long he drew back again, as far as the harness would let him. As much as he loved this, loved being under you, he felt he’d be able to make it better for you in another position. Carefully he extracted himself once more, turning to face you on his knees. “Why’d you stop?” Roger raised his eyebrows expectantly and you quickly added, “daddy.” “Oh so you wanted me to continue?” You visibly squirmed in your seat, “Maybe.” “I’m going to, love. But I think I want you on your back for the next one. If that’s okay.” “Oh, um,” “As fun as this is I do think I could reach certain spots a little better from a different angle.” That was certainly part of it, but Roger refrained from mentioning how badly he wanted to watch you come undone for him, even if his vision was blurred. You chewed your lip as you considered the suggestion. Roger thought of stopping you with a kiss but he needed your answer more. “Okay. Bed’s probably a bit more comfy anyway.” “Definitely,” he agreed before leaning forward to kiss you, painting your lips with your own arousal. You made a surprised noise, blindfold still in place, preventing you from knowing what Roger would do until he was doing it. But he gladly swallowed the sound and your hum as you relaxed in his arms. He kept kissing you as he helped you to your feet and led you towards the bed on unsteady legs. With a gargantuan effort he released you so you could settle on top of his sheets, shuffling back against the pillows. Your breathing was coming harder now and he saw you nervously twitch your fingers, the change of position breaking the easiness you’d allowed yourself to fall into. He tried to calm you with another kiss, bracing his arms beside your head so he could lean in. And then he began a soft trail down your neck and chest and stomach, tracing the path with his lips and, occasionally, his teeth, until finally he was once more settled between your thighs.

It was certainly easier from above you. Easier to judge your enjoyment when he could see the tremble of your thighs and the arch of your back. Easier to hear your gasps and whimpers and the soft sounds he’d missed from inside the box. Easier to lap at every inch of your cunt, to trace his tongue along the whole length of your slit, to suck your clit between his lips. And when he gave you your second orgasm he made sure you knew it was coming. “C’mon Y/N, I know you’re close. Daddy needs you to be a good girl and cum again while he fucks you with his tongue.” And before you could move or speak he was doing it, pressing the tip of his tongue into your hole and licking as if his life depended on it. You had no choice but to give in and give him what he so clearly needed, moaning loudly for your daddy just the way he wanted. He’d continued his attentions as you clutched at the sheets, grinding his hips into the bed to relieve some of his pent up need. But he was careful not to lose himself in the back and forth of his hips, the wet patch he was leaving on the sheets. Instead he kissed your cunt again and praised you and then, when you’d calmed a little, worked on pulling a third orgasm from you. His fingers taking over from how his tongue had tickled your walls from inside, his lips hardly moving from around your clit. Except for when you reached your climax and his mouth moved over your whole cunt, cleaning up every drop of your release, moaning against you as you whined at how sensitive you were, even just his breath enough to make your muscles tense. The feel of his hot mouth enveloping you made your legs shake as you tried to pull free but, once he was sure you were finished, he soothed the trembling muscles with soft kisses. Roger retraced his trail, wetter this time, the evidence of what he’d done to you transferring from his lips to your skin as he moved back up your body. He groaned as you tugged his hair, trying to speed him up, and he quickened his pace, just as eager to kiss you again. It was a little messy and a few seconds in he realised you were still blindfolded and tried to pull the sleep mask from you without breaking apart. Which just left you both giggling into each other’s mouths. You gave him a hand, breaking apart enough to pull the damn thing off yourself and then reigniting the kiss as soon as you were free.

Roger sighed against you, cupping your cheek, content to just stay there forever, despite the throbbing from his cock. But a smudge of wet under his thumb made him pause, raising his head to better see you. “You’re crying. Are you okay?” You nodded and Roger felt your fingers tighten in his hair, pulling him back down. He obliged for a moment, kissed you back but he needed to be sure. Carefully he extracted himself from you and leaned back again. “Are you sure?” “I’m sure. Can I get you off now?” “I don’t know, love. This was meant to be about you.” “But you promised...daddy.” “Okay,” he laughed softly, able to hear your pouty, pleading expression even if he couldn’t see it properly, “Who am I to complain about that. How do you want me?” “Right where you are.” Roger was a little surprised as you pulled him into another kiss, your arm wrapping tight around his shoulders. But he jolted as your other hand found his cock between your bodies, overtaking every other thought completely. “Fuck,” he mumbled, the word barely spoken before his lips were once again distracted by yours. You stroked him carefully, the angle a little awkward but mostly manageable, and he met each movement with a thrust of his hips, beyond achingly hard. He’d practically edged himself as he focused on you and it didn’t take long at all before he was gasping against your lips, cum splatting against his stomach and yours.

*****

It was a while before either of you felt like moving beyond a perfunctory clean up. It was nice just lying there kissing, wrapped up in each other’s arms. A few stray tears leaked from the corners of your eyes and Roger did his best to wipe them away until they stopped entirely. But as tempting as it was to just stay there in your arms, to keep kissing you, Roger was too curious. He was curious about your teary reaction, curious how you’d found the experience, and, though he’d never admit it aloud, even a bit curious how he compared to Dylan. He gently extracted himself from you, sitting up and patting the bed in search of his glasses. “They’re still over by the queening stool,” you said with a laugh, swinging yourself out of bed to collect the glasses, placing the sleep mask out of the way on the bedside table. Roger took them gratefully when you held them out, pleased to see you in all your naked glory, clear as day and beautiful as ever. He said as much too, pulling you back towards the bed with a sly, “That’s better,” his eyes directly on your chest. “Dirty old perv,” you admonished, reaching for his shirt. Roger protested a little at your skin disappearing under his shirt but he had to admit it was a good look. Perhaps not as nice as full on nudity, but better than fully dressed. He followed suit too, locating his discarded underwear and pulling them up as you found your own knickers. No longer naked but still disinterested in moving too far from the bed, Roger settled in under the covers, propping his pillows up behind his back. With an outstretched arm he beckoned you over, practically purring at the warmth of your body curling up into his. He drew your hand up, brushing his lips over your knuckles as you leaned into him. Roger could feel how much more relaxed you were now than when you’d entered his bedroom that evening. He hoped it wasn’t just because he’d stopped going down on you. “So how was it?” His curiosity could wait no longer. “I don’t think it will ever be my favourite thing but it wasn’t bad. You did make me feel good.” “I told you I would,” Roger winced as you lightly elbowed him. “So when you were crying...” “Good tears, I promise. You were just so gentle. It wasn’t what I was expecting.” “Well, just like submissive doesn’t equal meek, dominant doesn’t equal mean.” “Yeah, I can see that.” “Do you wanna talk about it at all?” “We don’t have to.” “No we don’t, but I'd like to know where you were at with it.” Roger rubbed your arm softly as he waited to see what you’d say, and when you seemed to struggle to find the words he prompted, “You felt pretty tense at the beginning.” “Yeah, I spose I was. I guess I was pretty nervous...the stool thing was interesting though and I think it did make it easier to start even if I wasn’t totally sure what to expect. It felt...I don’t know, oddly powerful even though I was blindfolded and out of my comfort zone.” “It did?” “Yeah. Maybe just cause I was sitting up higher than you, I’m not sure. But I think how you talked to me also contributed. Made me feel like I was being worshipped or something,” you chuckled. “That’s cause you were.” Roger said softly, just to fluster you a bit, “But what else? What about when we moved to the bed?” “Oh I was definitely more nervous about being on my back.” “How come?” Roger felt your shrug more than he saw it. “I was more exposed like that. Even if you couldn’t see clearly, it was a better view than you had from inside the box. And even though everything felt more familiar in that position it was still kind of uncomfortable. All the times I let Dylan go down on me were in that position and like...he wasn’t bad and I never hated when he did it but I also never wanted it myself if that makes sense. And I wasn’t sure if I wanted you to change my mind about it when Dylan never did.” “And did I change your mind?” Roger found himself nearly whispering. “I don’t think so. Which sounds bad because you made me cum three times and I definitely did like it. I just don’t think it’s part of sex I’m ever going to actively desire.” Roger felt a small pang of disappointment that he hadn’t been able to beat Dylan but he pushed it aside, tightening his hold on you, “That’s okay, Y/N. No one likes every sexual thing they try. And I know the popular idea at the moment is that everyone should enjoy oral and especially that all women should enjoy being eaten out but not everyone does. It’s really good you know where that line is for you though. What did you think about using daddy?” “Mmmm, also not bad. I think sir is still my favourite but I can see why people would be into daddy. I did really like how you spoke though. Like when you told me to be your good girl and called me kinda cutesy names and stuff. It really made me want to be good and do what you wanted. There were a couple of times when I wasn’t sure I could get into it, but you’d tell me to stay or to relax and it made me want to stay and try to enjoy it.” “I’m very glad to hear that. Degrading names and punishment threats can be a lot of fun but sometimes its also fun to be a bit softer.” “I liked the soft. It still made me feel subby but in a different way. It was interesting.” Roger kissed your knuckles again and the conversation shifted from notes on the scene into more casual chatter. It was still some time before you got up though and, much to Roger’s disappointment, left. He hadn’t dared offer his bed again. He knew he shouldn’t, that you both had classes in the morning, that you’d have things to do and a roommate who’d ask questions. But he did check you were okay to drive and in a good headspace to be alone just in case. It wasn’t until he was watching you drive off that he realised something had been different about that day’s lesson. Not once had you taken notes.

#my writing #my fics #roger taylor x reader #roger taylor smut #roger taylor imagine #a different kind of education #oh it feels good to post something again #oh i hope you like it

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