#lets go. OH AND ALVIS!!!!

[holykhepri]

twitter is broken for me so

all these gamecube remakes makes me PATIENTLY HOLD MY BREATH....

[streatfeild]

killjoys rewatch complete. i‘d forgotten what a fucking brilliant and spectacular and well written show it is and uh. rewatch again, perhaps now?

[the-delta-42]

Returns 4

[First] [Previous] [Next]

Returns 4

Louis quietly groaned as he entered his and Clementine’s shared dorm, he quietly noted that Clementine was already asleep, with Rosie curled up on the foot of the bed. Shedding his coat, Louis climbed into the bed and wrapped himself around Clementine and let sleep claim him.

Meanwhile, down in the grounds, Lee looked over the ground.

“It surprising how much she’s grown.” Said Kenny, getting Lee’s attention.

“I wanted her to be with you.” Confessed Lee, “We didn’t know Omid and Christa, and, well, I think we all saw Christa’s reaction to Clementine.”

Kenny grunted, before looking over at a Walker head, “What do ya think of that Louis boy?”

“I think he’s nice.” Answered Lee, getting a huff from Kenny.

“I think he looks a little gay.” Said Kenny, crossing his arms, “But, if he makes her happy.”

Lee let out a laugh, before sighing, “And all that shit with Lilly and her faction. What do you think Clem plans on doing with her?”

“Fuck if I know.” Answered Kenny, glancing back towards the gym, “I still need to talk to Duck. I, I’m not sure if he’ll cope.”

“Going by how he was talking that girl’s ear off,” Remarked Lee, sending Kenny a smirk, “I think he’ll adapt.”

Kenny frowned, but nodded, “I was hoping Kat or Sarita would’ve been with him.”

“Doug, Mark and Chuck aren’t back either,” Said Lee, “I don’t now about Molly or that Jane character Clem mentioned.”

“I hope not.” Snorted Kenny, “The bitch told Clem and me that AJ was dead and tried to frame herself as a victim.”

“What about Luke’s reaction?” Asked Lee, “He didn’t seem to take it well.”

“He and Jane decided to knock boots while Alvie was being born.” Scoffed Kenny, “I’m glad Clem only saw them after they’d finished.”

Lee hummed, spotting Carley walking around the perimeter with Violet, before he looked up at the stars.

R

Clementine yawned, before gagging. Hastily clambering over Louis, Clementine grabbed a bin and threw up into it.

“Ooh,” Groaned Clementine, as Louis shifted himself into a sitting position, “this fucking sucks.”

“I heard the end is far worse.” Commented Louis, getting a glare from Clementine.

“Why am I attracted to you?”

“Because I’m irresistible.”

Clementine was prevented from retorting by throwing up again. The door burst open, with Violet holding a broken lamp above her head.

“I heard something fall.”

“It’s just Clem’s condition.” Said Louis, as Clementine retched.

“Oh.” Violet lowered the lamp, “Right. I’m going to bed now.”

Louis frowned as Violet left, “It’s morning.”

“She had the nightshift.” Said Clementine, her voice echoing in the bin.

“Oh, right.” Louis groaned, “Do you want a hand with your leg or are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine.” Clementine waved him off, “Can you watch the new guys, please?”

“Okay.” Louis nodded, before grabbing his coat, “Do you want AJ to give em a tour?”

Clementine gave him a thumbs up as she dry-heaved.

Wincing as he stepped outside, Louis hopped down the steps and walked towards the Gym, he saw the girl a little older than AJ running around, as Willy opened the gate for a small group of survivors. Groaning, Louis redirected himself towards the gate.

“Thank you,” Said a red hair woman, “we were travelling for months and we were attacked. It’s a miracle we found this place.”

“Who’re you?” Asked Louis, silently kicking himself for not picking up Chair-les.

“Oh,” A brunette turned to him, “Are you the leader here?”

“Not quite,” Louis looked over them, he counted seven of them, “but I talk with her regularly.”

The group glanced at each other, before a man in glasses spoke in a thick Russian accent, “We are travellers.”

“Yeah, I gathered.” Dismissed Louis, glaring at them, “Names. Now.”

“Right, I’m Shel,” Said the brunette, “this is my sister, Becca,” she pointed at a woman with black hair around his age, “Vince,” an Asian man, “Wyatt,” A white man with a thick beard, “Russell,” A black man, “Mike,” another black man with part of his left ear missing, “Bonnie,” the woman with red hair, “and Arvo.” The Russian man.

Louis eyed them, “Okay, I’ll speak with some people and put you up in the Gym.”

“We can help.” Said Bonnie, eagerly.

“Yeah, but we need to check all of you for bites.” Dismissed Louis, turning around, “AJ!”

Bonnie and Mike froze as Louis called for AJ.

“Yeah?” Asked a Ten-year-old, appearing from a bush.

“Take them to the Hospital,” Instructed Louis, “I’ve got to check on some things.”

AJ nodded, before looking at the group, “You need to leave your weapons here.”

“Why?” Demanded Becca, glaring at AJ.

“Because we don’t trust you.”

Bonnie carefully put her rifle on the ground, slowly followed by the others. Arvo looked around the community, he glared at some of the people, just as Bonnie gasped.

“Luke!” Mike stared at Bonnie ran over to the man they’d seen drown, “How?”

“I don’t know.” Answered Luke, “I’m sorry, but I’m a little busy right now.”

Bonnie watched as Luke walked away and pick up an axe.

“You done?” The group looked at AJ, who didn’t seem impressed, “Because you all need to be checked.”

R

Clementine looked at the new arrivals, she didn’t care for most of them, but she kept her eyes on Arvo, Bonnie and Mike.

“Aren’t these the guys that left you and AJ to die?” Asked Louis, glaring at them.

“Yeah,” Said Clementine, her eyes fixed on Arvo, “my only issue is that cunt.”

“Why?” Asked Violet, looking away from the new arrivals.

“Because,” Clementine pulled the collar of her shirt to the side, revealing a circular bullet scar, “he fucking shot me.”

Violet glanced as Arvo, putting her hand on her knife when she saw Arvo take a step forwards. AJ was less subtle in his warning, opting to point a gun at Arvo. Arvo gave Clementine a hate filled glare, his face contorting into a sneer.

“Put him in the basement.” Said Clementine, as Louis grabbed the Russian, she turned and looked at Bonnie’s group, “Have you been checked for bites?”

“Duh.” Responded Becca, Clementine looked them over.

“Go to the Gym, we’ll talk with everyone there.” Clementine got up and walked out the door.

“This way.” Said Violet, gesturing for them to follow her.

R

Lilly looked up as someone was shoved into the basement. It was a Russian man, since he was screaming at the doors as they shut. She heard her Dad grumble about the man.

“I KILL YOU!” Screamed the Russian, “I KILL YOU, CLEMENTINE!”

The doors opened and someone threw a violin at him, before the doors closed again. The Russian screamed himself hoarse, before collapsing to the ground. The doors opened, and Lilly saw Clementine limp down the stairs. She didn’t spare the Russian a glance and instead looked at Lilly and Larry.

“So,” Her voice was neutral, “we’re trying to figure out what to do with you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Demanded Larry, glaring at Clementine.

“Lilly,” Clementine nodded at the woman, “attacked, abducted and killed members of the community here. Some, myself included, aren’t sure if she can be trusted.”

“So,” Sneered Larry, stomping up to Clementine, “Lee can be trusted, but my daughter can’t?!”

Clementine glared up at Larry, “You’re a walking liability, if I were you, I’d watch my temper.”

Larry sneered, as Clementine looked at Lilly, “When you’re let out of here, you will be watched at all times, you won’t be allowed weapons and any tools you use will be done under the supervision of senior members of the community.”

Lilly huffed, before nodding. Clementine sighed, before gesturing for them to follow her, “Thankfully, one of the people that came back was a doctor, so we might have your medication.”

Neither said anything, as Clementine stepped over the breathless Russian.

“What did he do?” Asked Lilly, looking at the back of Clementine’s head.

“He shot me.”

R

“Deep breath.” Instructed Clarissa, listening to Larry’s heart, “You said you’ve got angina?”

“Yeah.” Grunted Larry, as Carlos checked Lilly over.

“Cough.” Lilly followed Carlos’s instruction, “Hmm.”

“What’s wrong?” Asked Clarissa, looking over at them.

Carlos readjusted his stethoscope and repeated his command, frowning, “It sounds like she has the beginnings of a chest infection.”

“Hold on.” Clarissa glanced at Larry, before going over to Carlos and Lilly and repeated Carlos’s tests, “Do you smoke?”

“No.”

“Have you been around people who’ve smoked?”

“No.”

“Your lungs have a slight wheeze to them,” Said Carlos, after a moment, “It might be nothing, but I’m going to try and run some tests.”

“Thank god for the Commonwealth and their scientists.” Muttered Clarissa, going back to Larry.

Outside, Clementine watched as wall extension was lifted up, she thought she heard Pete yelling at Nick, before she spotted Luke walking towards the Admin building, she knew he wasn’t happy about Jane, given the stink eye he’d been giving Kenny.

“Ooh.” Clementine looked down and frowned as Omid and Christa’s daughter, Kenlee, was looking over the edge of the balcony, “Can I help?”

“You’re three weeks old,” it didn't escape Clementine how weird it sounded, “once you’ve learnt to look after yourself, I’ll bring it up with your mother.”

“Can I help dig the hole?”

“No.”

[eaglefairy]

Last night, we defeated Zanza and finished the game! It's all sidequests forever now until we start Future Connected.

24 hours later and she's slid into full Dickson apologist mode. Okay, it's not actual Dickson apologism because she's still very aware that his actions at the very least are still very bad, but her version of him is an antihero who was working against Zanza all along but in the worst most self-destructive way possible

I might not agree with her Dickson but I salute her for it. I certainly don't have any room to talk considering my version of Alvis has...drifted...from canon

Me: So do you think Prison Island always looked this...evil? (We decided that it probably had a facade of a different rock before so it wasn't just Evil Black Stone back when it was in regular use by the Giants)

(At the end of Melancholy Tyrea) Roommate: Oh, so they can fly? Me: Yeah, and it looks so stupid.

Oh nooo we're running around with Riki, Reyn and Sharla and she just went to fight a Torta in Satorl but Riki's too short to go in the water. My roommate is just stuck on land hurling freezinates at this thing while Reyn and Sharla whale on it up close

Polling the people to ask: any tips on getting over the gap in levels between 83-84 to 87-88? My roommate's at that awkward point where she's done all the quests under level 90 but isn't level 90 yet herself, and if there's anything she can do besides fighting random gogols I want to let her know

She just beat Rotbart with ease :D

[xenoblademisadventures]

I'm bored. Gonna give two hot takes for every Xenoblade game. One uncommon criticism and one uncommon praise.

Xenoblade 1

Criticism

Shulk's character arc was bad. Like, what was he on about? Firstly, the revenge quest. It doesn't really tackle the ideas of revenge. Instead he just goes "oh shit my gf isn't dead time to be a pacifist." And with Egil, we've got Shulk going "we must spare him" while quite literally every other character, plot point, etc. is saying some variation of "we tried" or "no." And then he has no issue with slaying Zanza and his henchmen. He also has this thing about learning to see more than just what's in front of him, but that's really only something he tells Alvis once in Ose Tower. It's not something you can clearly see develope over the course of the game.

Praise

I really liked the camera in Xenoblade 1. You can see the cameraman going nuts whenever Alvis is on screen, especially when he gives Shulk that pep talk in Space. You can also see it with the fight against the mechon on Bionis Leg. The camera was just on point almost every scene. I think the credit goes to the storyboard artists, I'm not entirely sure. But they did an incredible job.

Xenoblade X

Criticism

The combat system was really bad. Like, I felt like there were two grounds for the combat. Either you have no clue what's happening or you snap the game in half. This is a multifaceted issue that comes down to a mix between the combat itself, unhelpful tutorials, and the UI failing to emphasize relevant information. But, what I mean here is that even if the game explained its combat system to the player proper, it's got too many type attributes, which usually just results in you switching out gear to match the resistances and weaknesses between fight, it also means I have to look up something's attributes on the wiki before I can properly plan out my build, which isn't an issue in the other games; the buffs attached to the dual guns are too powerful compared to everything else, so it just makes them overpowered, but they're also fun status effects, so it just makes every other gun feel bad to play; Overdrive is needlessly complicated and you can pretty much only either break the game or find the mechanic to be useless depending on whether you've looked up external guides; TP being regained through auto attacks would be a good system if the amount of TP gain wasn't fucking pitiful; also the TP arts are way too powerful like True Stream Edge and Ghost Factory are pretty much all you need to 1v1 most of the shit in the game; there's not much need for utilizing party members, post-game the avatar character can 1v1 everything, and even ignoring that, there aren't any real systems in place to make the presence of your allies feel known; and there's a bunch of other shit. It's definitely the worst combat system in the series by far.

Praise

I really like how X progresses its penalties for death. You start off with full party wipes only sending you back a few minutes. A lot of your deaths in this game will be caused by an overlevelled enemy spotting you, and the level design does an incredible job at accommodating this and turning that into a core part of the gameplay loop. So, about halfway through the game, you get access to these giant mechs. The mechs let you move faster and they're really fucking strong in combat. Like, if you haven't played X, imagine if you could use Ouroboros Form indefinitely. The catch is that if your mech dies, it doesn't respawn. You have to go get it repaired. A little inconvenient, but nothing unmanageable. If your mech gets destroyed too many times, your character's insurance stops paying for the repairs. The mechs are really fucking expensive. So, you probably can't afford the repairs, especially if you haven't been stockpiling an ungodly amount of money before chapter 6. Furthermore, threat assessment gets a lot more fucky once you get mechs because larger enemies have better stats than smaller enemies, so you get cases where level 40 enemies are weaker than level 30 enemies. So, you can't just see number big run away. But the game eases you into this. For one, you only get one mech immediately, which will probably go on the player character. So, you can learn to dismount whenever your mech might die. Then you start getting the ability to have the AI control the mechs. There's a command to tell specific party members to mount or dismount their mechs. So, the AI won't screw you if you're quick enough. Then you get access to the ability to make the mechs fly. There's two new major factors here. Firstly, that's a whole new axis to get spotted from. You might get sniped by an enemy way above or way below you. Second, you can't really dismount when you're in the fucking stratosphere, so you don't have that safety net. The game teaches the player how to keep an eye out for big enemies, so it doesn't feel unfair by the time you get to the point where a level 80 mech plucks your level 40 ass out of the sky. And I really like how the increased stakes are a natural progression to your power-ups. It's a really good system and it adds a great spice to the exploration.

Xenoblade 2

Criticism

So, this us something that I haven't complained about before, but it's a massive bugbear for me. I really hate that 2 and 3 removed the player's ability to tell what detection type the enemies are. Like, sneaking around dangerous enemies to explore areas early is some of the most fun I've had with these games. Like, the out of combat interactions with enemies in X may as well be the glue holding the gameplay together. One of my most memorable moments in Xenoblade 3 was stealing Riki's Biter from the level 90 area at level 30. And this is an even more annoying decision for 2 and 3 specifically because those games reuse a lot of enemies from 1, which does show enemy aggro types. So I just happened to have that information memorized, which let me avoid the enemies anyways. But there's no reason someone who hasn't played 1 or X would know that different enemies have different aggro types. I think the removal of this information also limits options for level design. Like, the Territorial Deathape was a lot more memorable in 1 compared to every other game. And the reason for that is because the deathape is kind of off to the side in the other games, but it will sneak up and ambush you in 1. Like, in X, the monkey was off to the side, but it has a billion other enemies that function same as Rotbart. It's just that the deathape happened to not be one of those enemies. While in 2 and 3, I think the more underwhelming deathapes can be largely attributed to them having much more predictable movement patterns. And part of the reason for that is that you can tell at a glance exactly how to avoid Rotbart in 1, but you don't get that option in 2 and 3. I think 2 and 3 both have been leaning more towards not making overpowered enemies randomly aggro onto the player. And I think they're worse off for it.

Praise

This is the first Xenoblade game where Monolith did a good job with the UI. For those who weren't around for 1 and X, the UIs were impressively bad and it wasn't really a question. 1 covered way too much space with useless information while X just completely failed to emphasize important details. Meanwhile, 2 did a great job at making information compact and emphasizing what the player needed to know.

Xenoblade 3

Criticism

N was a poorly written villain. His backstory was great, but everything else about him sucked. This applies to every other tragic villain in the game. They're expected to garner sympathy off the premise of "they're important to the protagonists," but they're presented the same way as any no bars evil villain, which is just a huge disconnect. Like, I can't really get behind N as an antagonist because I can't see a world where Noah does an evil laugh. Like, I can be sold that he'd join Moebius, but I can't buy him acting the way N's presented. As with Joran, I think he became a lot less interesting as a plot point once he's revealed to be an antagonist, which hurt Lanz's character arc a lot. Crys is potentially interesting, but omg please stop monologuing what the fuck. But yeah, that's why I think N is a pretty shit antagonist. He just doesn't sell the "was Noah" part.

Praise

This is going to sound strange, but the way the game handles swimming is so much better in my opinion. First of all, the sound effects are better. In every other game, my autistic ass would get really bothered by the swimming sound effects, but not here. Second, the fact that swimming doesn't cancel combat is great. It was really annoying falling or being knocking into water and having the character decide "no more fighting." It was most noticeable in X because you could jump and sprint during combat and thus had a better chance of falling into water (and falling into water cancelled Overdrive), but I also felt it in 1 and 2. Also, I appreciate that the game's tutorial makes you fight and swim, just to say "hey you can do that now btw" to returning players. I also really like the wave effects Erythia Sea. Those were really cool.

[legofrans]

29 + 30

Avatars. . . could be good, but they usually aren't. My favorite is Robin, and that is because they have something going on with them. They aren't quite a blank slate to project on (though technically, I guess only really mark is) but they have proper character traits. Their supports are not defined solely by the person they're talking too, but their own personality (or role I guess since it's mostly about them being the tactician) matters to the supports which doesn't really happen with byleth most of the time and I don't care for with Alear since the whole god king bullshit bores me out of my mind. I do not remember how it was with Corrin and don't care to find out.

What's more. Their defining character trait, their amnesia, is an important and entertaining part of the main story. It's done well. Nothing to comment in that regard for kris, Corrin doesn't really have anything interesting going on imo, byleths mercenary status was practically entirely absent in 3 houses(but was important in 3 hopes. I did end up liking byleth in 3 hopes a bit too!) And Alears whole divine Dragon savior of the world shpiel makes me want to throw up.

Mark's existence is acknowledged like twice in all of fe7.

Overall, not a big fan. Please bring back classic protagonists.

I would argue that this already was a take on an oversaturated topic but oh well. Let's try to find something else.

3 houses kinda sucked ass from a gameplay standpoint even if the story (CF) actually had me the most hooked of any FE game I had played when I first played it. Then I finished CF and was immensely let down and couldn't be assed to finished GD or even try the other routes cause I was so done with the game. That ending was so poorly executed. And inconclusive. What the fuck. Keelhaul Kusakihara.

Keelhaul Kaga too actually. I got reminded of Shanan starting at 200 love points with Larcei today. Then in his joining chapter, he has an event that gives them another 100???

"No fe4 actually condemns incest because the pairing of Deirdre and Alvis results in satan being brought back to life." C'mon.

We don't need to find excuses to play games we enjoy. But be serious.

[quinloki]

Quicksand - ALTERNATIVE

If you haven't read Quicksand up to chapter 5 you're going to be terribly confused.

Fem Reader x Sir Crocodile

CW: Language, violence, blood, moral ambiguity, murder, sexual themes and situations, yandere, angst with a happy ending, a referenced instance of physical abuse. 18+ only

ADDITIONAL CW: Dub-con, kidnapping, imprisonment

The alternative version picks up at Chapter 6- there's a lot of overlap for the first few chapters as the story slowly peels away from the original. The alternative chapters explore Sir Crocodile's yandere tendencies in a setting where the reader rejects him (vs the original where she never ran).

You can read it as it posts to Tumblr, or sate your curiosity on AO3 // Wattpad immediately.

Chapter 7: Shifting

Going to work was utterly nerve-wracking, to the point that you nearly considered calling off. Spending the day job hunting seemed like a better use of your time than spending the day nearly ready to vomit because you weren’t sure when the CEO would decide on a surprise visit.

You checked your phone one last time to see that there weren’t any missed calls or messages. You hadn’t heard from him since you left, and it was one-half a relief, and one-half a concern. Sunday, you had been in a fit of sleeplessness and nerves, randomly napping when your tension had simply forced you to rest. Last night at least you got a few hours in a row, and hopefully it would be enough to get you through the day.

Getting into the office, you checked in with Buggy. He gave you an odd look, but wasn’t prompted to say anything. You’d come into work on Monday’s a little strained before, but it had been quite a few months since anything had happened to cause it. You wanted to ask him if Crocodile had said anything, but if something was already being done against you from an employment standpoint you were sure Buggy would’ve cut to the chase and let you know.

Asking about Crocodile yourself would’ve been completely out of character for you. Your job was almost entirely internal within the West branch, you had no direct concerns or contact with the CEO. You barely had direct contact with anyone higher up the ladder than Buggy.

"So, how'd it go?" Alvida questions as soon as you were out of Buggy's office. Her voice had the usual almost melodic tone it got when she knew she was on the verge of juicy gossip.

"Horrid," you assert, and something on your face must have backed you up because Alvida’s entire demeanor slumped.

“Oh, honey. I’m sorry.” She gives you a hug, patting your back a little. “I expected if it went poorly you would’ve come in with too much makeup or a really bad new haircut.”

You snort and lean into her hug a little. Alvida was a good friend, and even as the main hub of gossip in the office, she’d never betray your actual trust.

“It was good for a moment, but,” you heave a big sigh before moving to sit at your desk and begin to work. “Well, I got cold feet I guess.”

“At least it wasn’t Buggy.” Alvida offers, starting a pot of coffee for the three of you.

“Haa, I almost wish it was.” You admit with a chuckled sigh.

“… Oh dear.” Alvida replies after a moment’s shock. “Can I… I mean, you need to talk about it?”

You shake your head. “I don’t want to just yet, and I don’t even know that I should.”

“Alright. Well, if you just need someone to confide in or vent to, you can trust me, (Y/N).” Alvida says, setting a cup of coffee next to you before sitting at her nearby desk.

“I know Alvy, thank you.”

You start sorting through your work, making idle talk with Alivda.

“Do you know what Buggy did over the weekend?” You ask with a little less energy than you meant.

"He's been working on starting his own business. I guess he's been consulting with some of his old friends." Alvida said absently.

"Oh wow." You stop working and look over at her. "Seriously?"

Alvida shrugs. "As seriously as I think he does anything. I have no idea what kind of business it is."

“Huh… I wonder if he needs any help organizing it.”

Alvida nearly drops the papers she’s working on. “You? Change jobs?” She looks completely flabbergasted. “I… mean this as politely as possible, but I honestly thought you’d retire from here. No risks, no changes, no leaps of faith. You fit in well here and enjoy it, I’m surprised.”

“Mm, maybe I could use a challenge.” You say with a small smile as you return to your organizing. “Besides, it’s not that much of a change, I already know how to handle and work with Buggy.”

“Fair.”

The two of you worked in silence for a while longer before you came across a piece of information that nearly made you groan. "The auction next week is being hosted by Donquixote Doflamingo?"

Just what you needed. Another Warlord in your life.

"Yeah, the CEO of SMILE, Inc.? Well, new CEO, he stepped up after retiring from modeling last year, didn't he?"

"Beats me," you admit with a shrug, wondering internally how many of the Warlords had legitimate businesses as fronts. "Isn't SMILE a pharmaceutical company? From Model to CEO of something like that seems like a heck of a leap."

"Oh, I'm sure he pulled some strings," Alvida says. "His money has money." You snort at her sarcasm. "Still, they say he was educated in the Holy Lands, so he's probably smarter than he looks."

Alvida flips her phone and holds it out to you. There's a picture of a tall, well-built man on the beach in glaringly pink swim trunks with hair so blonde it's almost lost in the sunlight. His shaggy hair is drenched, and it looks good on him that way. You can feel the arrogance rolling off of him in the photo, it's obvious he's aware he's being photographed.

"I'm surprised he's retired from modeling." You admit. "He's not even thirty yet, I can't imagine."

"He's been doing that work since he was 16, I think? He might just be tired of it." Alvida says, seemingly disinterested. "He'd be cuter if he wasn't so aware of his good looks."

"Can you get me a behavioral write up on him before the Auction?" You ask. "I know we usually have more time with these big profile events, but anything would help."

"Sure, I'll have Galdino and Cabaji help me." She assures you. "Think you're going to have trouble corralling him during the auction?"

"Maybe. Better to over prepare than under prepare." You roll your shoulders and release some of the building tension and check your phone. Still no messages. That’s good, you can focus on the task at hand.

Aside from dealing with Doflamingo for a couple of days, you also have to brace yourself to see Sir Crocodile again. He’ll be present during the auction proper, though, if you can make it work you may be able to hand things off to Alvida that day. He’s technically a visitor from another branch, so you don’t have to work with him at all.

It depends on how you feel in a week’s time. If you think you can face Sir Crocodile neutrally, then you will. Otherwise, there’s no shame in hiding behind your good friend who hasn’t slept with the CEO of your company.

You get things organized and pop into Buggy’s office for a moment before going on your rounds to check in on all the teams.

“Hey boss,” you say evenly, pulling out the pages about the upcoming auction. “Can you see if you can get us some extra hands? Donquixote is a big name even in big names, and I’d like to make sure the staff is beyond capable of tending to any requests he may have while he’s here.”

“As flashily as I can!” Buggy says with a smile. “Feeling better?”

You smile a little and nod. “Yeah, sorry for worrying you this morning, boss.”

“Bah, it’s fine. As long as you’re feeling better.” Buggy waves a hand.

“I hear you’re starting a business, boss.” You say pointedly, causing him to flinch.

“Ah, ha ha, I mean, I’m sure I could use your help… (Y/N).” Buggy answers rather sheepishly, almost hiding behind his desk.

You chuckle a little. “I was thinking it was about time I started looking for a new job, so you can certainly keep me in mind, boss.”

Buggy lights up almost instantly, practically screeching with glee. “(Y/N)! You would be an immense help! You’re so much better at organizing people and things than I am, and you’re really good with words and getting people to do what you need, and I’m not failing or anything so far, but I would be so relieved to have your help.”

“Let’s get through this auction, and we can talk about details.” You say, pointing at the papers you’ve left behind. “I’m going to check on the teams and do my rounds, but I’ll be back for this copy later, so make those calls, boss.”

The rest of the day went on without incident and you headed home only a little later than usual. Being able to work through lunch while still getting to eat lunch made the day go smoothly, and you were grateful for Buggy's consideration. There was less stress after work as well, knowing that you wouldn't have quite the mountain to deal with the next day.

On top of everything else he had managed to get some extra hands to help out during the auction, and even better than that, Buggy himself would be coordinating them. All you had to do was determine how they would be utilized, and then your boss would oversee them. Leaving you to focus on Doflamingo, and eventually, possibly Sir Crocodile.

You really did want to just quit and leave the Metro before the auction, but it would leave Buggy and Alvida in the lurch and you didn’t want to do that to them.

The drive home was dull and long. Traffic was terrible this time of the evening, and honestly you should’ve just stayed at work for a couple of hours and gotten more done before trying to get home. Hindsight and all that. You listen to some music and meander your way home without incident.

After you get inside your apartment you check your phone and see a message.

From Sunawani.

Taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly, you open it up and read it.

Sunawani: The auction was supposed to happen in the South Branch. I can have it returned to that venue if you prefer, but I wanted to be clear I didn’t know it had been changed until today.

You: It’s okay. Thank you, and I’m sorry.

You pause for a moment and then continue. Admitting your plan won’t hurt anything, and maybe it’ll help him to move on as well.

You: After the auction I’m putting in my notice.

Sunawani: I will be true to my word, Miss (Y/N). You aren’t required to leave.

You: I know. I just need to.

Sunawani: Need?

You: Yes.

You: I don’t want to get into it.

There was a long enough silence you set your phone down and went about your evening routine. You took a shower, changed into comfortable clothes, and started something to eat before you checked your phone again.

Sunawani: Very well.

The two words twist your heart a little and you put the phone down. There’s no other response that would’ve gone well, but the finality in the statement stings more than you expected. The conversations of the last two months start dancing through your head and twist your stomach so hard you’re barely able to eat. You pack the leftovers into the fridge and go to bed early.

Your rest is restless, and your dreams are full of sand and citrus and cigar smoke.

. . . . . .

After Monday you kept feeling like you were being watched. You couldn't find anything definitive, but there was a powerful sense of being stalked that itched at you randomly. You wrote it off as being stressed about the auction at first, but as things progressed for the preparations you were less and less stressed.

Despite the lessening job-related stress, the strange sensation wasn't abating.

Alvida’s write up on Doflamingo prompted you to practice with Dandy to prepare for the man’s arrival. Practicing with Dandy went well. Aside from the fact that you spent a couple hours every day interacting with him in the first place. You were, at least, finding a decent space between fully business and marginally interested.

You'd need to fawn over Doflamingo a little more, but you couldn't bring yourself to do so with Dandy. You knew him too well, and you absolutely weren't going to give him any ammunition to use against you down the road. As coworkers it was best to keep him at slightly more than arm's length, preferably with a taser, if you were being honest.

Organizing the space, equipment, and laying out the plans and event timing went smoothly as well. The extra hands - provided by Sir Crocodile and managed by Buggy - were a huge weight off everyone's shoulders. Especially since they were all not just competent, but quiet as well. No zany quirks, no desire to be the center of attention. They were more like you and less like Buggy or Dandy, so they didn't stress Buggy out and they didn't create additional work.

But they weren't creative. They came to people with questions on everything, almost more akin to computers than people. Not that it was a bad thing, the lack of personal decision making might have been part of their contract for all you knew. They were extra hands, and extra eyes, but that was really it.

Alvida caught you glancing around on Friday when things were finally coming together.

"What's got you so twitchy, (Y/N)?" She asks, "Anything I can help with?"

"Ah, no. Everything's pretty much handled. The Auction's Wednesday, the VIP will be in Tuesday, and I'll sleep again sometime Thursday, I'm sure." You joke, stretching. "I just keep feeling like someone's watching me. It's been itching at me for the last few days, and I can't shake it."

Alvida leans in after looking around to make sure you’re alone.

“Could it be related to your date?”

“Hah?” You almost yell the questioning sound and cover your mouth. “What do you mean?”

“Well, things went south, right?” She prompts. “You said you got cold feet, did you bail, after… you know, sex?”

Your face goes red, and you make a face and it’s really all the answer Alvida needs.

“Oh, honey.” She pulls you in and hugs you loosely. “Love, some people don’t walk away well.”

“It… it can’t be related to that.” You say after a moment. “I’m certain.”

“Oh?”

“… Alvida, you… can not breathe a word of this.” You assert, looking up at her from the loose hug you’re still in.

“On pain of death, (Y/N).” She vows, putting a hand up.

“It was the CEO.” You say and feel her entire body tense for a second.

“Are-you-shitting-me?” She hisses quickly, leaning in even closer to you and trying to keep her voice down.

You shake your head. “I was surprised too.”

Alvida puts a hand to her mouth for a moment and looks around, thinking. “You should tell him.”

“What?!” You bark before lowering your voice. “No. No way. Alvida, I… I had mind-shatteringly good sex with the C. E. O. of this company and left while he was sleeping.” You practically growl the words at her. “I’m looking for a new job after this auction, I can’t ask him for help!”

“Are you being fired?”

“No-! No, I’m not. I’m quitting on my own.” You assure her. “I… don’t…” You purse your lips and look away.

“Oh, honey.” Alvida hugs you tightly. “I’m sorry.”

“… It’s alright.” You manage to keep your voice even as you hug her back. “I’m not even thirty. I’ll, I dunno, move, find new work, move on. It’ll be alright.”

“I know, but it hurts right now, and I’m sorry you fell so hard.” She says, patting your back gently.

“Haa, yeah. Me too.” You admit.

[tsfs-dragon]

Finally finished the DLC.

You know.... the first story DLC for Xenoblade was XBC2: Torna the Golden Country. And in all honesty, that first time was their best work without a doubt. I felt that some things could have gone on a bit longer to flesh out things a little more. But all in all Torna really filled out events and characters as we see them in the main game. And sadly all DLC stories after that fell so short.

With Xenoblade Definitive Edition’s DLC story (yeah in all honesty it technically isn’t one but since it was mostly a remaster of shorts adding that and the challenge area in the base game was to likely help sell this game as the usual $60 and it plays exactly like a DLC story) Future Connected, and it was mid at best. A story that doesn’t really progress the main story as a whole. The big old fog beast plot is really as it is... nothing but hot air with no substance and easily forgettable.

Now you have Xenoblade 3 you have the Future Redeemed. There will be SPOILERS for this part. It just seems like any time “future” is added to DLC story titles it ends up not being good. And in this case is just worse. I was hoping.... WISHING that this story would patch stuff up that messed up with Xenoblade 3′s story but it doesn’t and even goes so far to spit in the face of fans. Though how fans can look at this experience and no be pissed off confuses me. It sticks with the “world split in two” even though the last games have nothing that supports this. There is constant talk about how “how if ‘they’ (Pyra and Mythra) where here” which is a question and really points to the flaws of this story. Why are they NOT there!? Pyra and Mythra would have fixed all this no problems but the creators of this game had have them not be involved because they would have easily fix things meaning no bullshit bad guy coming for no reason. What was the reason because they were just in Smash Brothers Ultimate the whole time? We see images of Klaus’s world, which again has ruins of that in the XBC2 world and not the first one. Characters like Shulk and Rex bring up some stuff in relation to their world but sadly it all feels empty and hollow as I would much rather play those games instead and not a game whose story is going to be wiped out like it was Sonic 06. It throws in Alvis as the baddie in this story with no real relation to the events going on. Could have just have Z as the main baddie in the story and it wouldn’t have mattered. Lore for this game just throws everything out the window without caring what came before. Titans have no value other and just to be there an look pretty. Nothing about them informs the world and makes it meaningful. All races are human despite those clearly not being human to the point where you just wonder why they didn’t just call Nopons humans if they cared so little. Characters like Glimmer should have clearly been alive for the events of the main story considering her being part Blade with a crystal that is the same as the Trinity Processor but NOOOOO, that would be logical. Made worse since with the race thing treats the aging process for the other races the game as a human even though they are not. Eunie is part High Entia yet ages like a normal human. Which to inform you there as a pure breed High Entia child that was in the 90s age range. The events that created the worlds of XBC and XBC2 it wasn’t just the Earth, it effected the whole UNIVERSE yet the narrative focuses on their planet exclusively. Then around the end you hear a radio talking and it isn’t lore important. It’s all just references to other things with no solid ground. One reference is the game of Xenoblade Chronicles X, which is strange since it feels like they want to forget that game. People claim that this ties X to the other games but not really. From what I looked up people left the planet because of aliens attacking and not just “oh let’s look around and live on other planets just cause”. All it does is share a name and that’s it, since with Klaus’s experiment effecting the universe I’m sure all of the people that left the planet and aliens that are out there all but dead and in ruins making the events of X happening within the 3 XB games unlikely. Same goes for a reference to Xenosaga. Don’t know if it was that game or another Xeno game, but it was just there in name only and that’s it.

At the end of the day I had hopes for this game and while characters are good and gameplay is alright at best, this game along with the DLC disappointed me to no end. The story and lore that was built up so much in the games before really just seemed to be lit on fire without a care, replace it all with trash that we are told is “good”. If Monolith Soft goes on to make another Xenoblade game unless it’s an X remaster to see what that game is like, then I can’t imagine buying any future games of that series. What would they tarnish next in future installments, character’s, gameplay? From XBC2 they could have gone up form there. The Definitive Edition of XBC was just a remaster and the DLC story wasn’t as good as it could have been. And we ended up with Xenoblade Chronicles 3, honestly the worst game in the series and I’m seriously regretting getting the paid DLC for it.

[ecofinisher]

Ecofinisher's crediting list for the "Ecofinisher 2.0 Sims 4 Game File" (Version 2)

(This is basically the same version, just switched the screenshots and added missing families. I meant to edit the other one, but I have no idea, Tumblr doesn't let me or my knowledge of this page is just too low)

https://www.tumblr.com/ecofinisher/747830238720016384/ecofinishers-crediting-list-for-the-ecofinisher?source=share

About two months ago I think, I was thinking about wanting to do another save file again on Sims 4, but I didn’t know when exactly. During a procrastination moment I got into with fanfic writing, I took a small break and did other things, got from a work friend a couple of notebooks since she knows I love to write and I wrote down something I dreamt once wondering if it could be turned into a plot…..then as it was actually something for Sims, I thought about writing it down as a family summary. Around that week, I gathered more ideas and noticed down, what I had in mind to do. From an instruction video, I read the many variations people used in their save files and I decided to use the content only from the gallery. Content made by other Simmers. There are a few families out there, that I still created or downloaded from my starter-times in the game, because it wasn’t enough or I didn’t have any family in mind to fit the plot.

Notes:

- This save file contains objects and clothings from the following pack: Get To Work, Cats and Dogs, Werewolves, My first pet (Free/UTB free) and Holiday Celebration (Free/UTB free).

-The following worlds were used in the save file: Willow Creek, Oasis Springs, Newcrest, Magnolia Promenade, Brindelton Bay (1 new lot, the rest remains the same), Moonwood Hill. (1 new family is located there)

-The game should be free from any CC. There’s a possibility, that it could have something I have missed.

- I recently installed MasterController and some things I have fixed with it, rather than manually. *coughs* career.promote-cheats….you know, that way.

Moving on, here is the link, and it's packed inside a ZIP-file with a PDF file of all the buildings I screenshotted straight from the gallery with the original creator's name. The screenshots were too many for this single post only and it would be annoying to make more posts solely for that. The PDF file consists of 30 pages, but most of the sheets are just screenshots and the family that lives in it.

On the rest of this post, I have the crediting list for the households I downloaded from the Gallery. Go under the cut to check the screenshots out.

Link via Sims File Share:

Click down here:

Households (Inspired by Sims-media)

The Alto family. The red-marked is the original one from the gallery from user gemz123. The one you'll find in my game has base-game content only. I only have the mentioned packs above and tried to stay closer to the original.

The Alvi-McIrish household. (McIrish are based on the mother-daughter duo from Ts3's Single Moms household and the Alvi are the ones with the single divorcee Dad from Sunset Valley) I had the Alvi's saved a long time ago in my gallery and I couldn't track back the right creator. I assume it was hestiah23. I only remember redesigning their clothes back then. McIrish as seen in the red square was made by gemz123.

From gemz123 I have gotten her parents. As far as I know, the user hasn't made its own version of Blair as far as I know. So my current favorite version of Blair is from this user mentioned in the image. (Oh I also took screenshots to facilitate for everyone, when looking for those versions on the gallery.

Taken from my other save file I shared back in 2023. Here you see hestiah23, the original creator and the clothing were put into owned games to prevent them from being "naked" (Oh and Judy's a scientist, lol I forgot about that)

The Goode and Bad household from Twinbrook. Ah from the last sales I bought Ambitions and played with them. (It was the only family I was familiar with 😂Wish I had got the game earlier)

Where are my former PSP gamers at? Do you all remember Annie Howell, the bar girl? I remembered her existence and had to add her in the game as well, knowing that she was a werewolf in the game and I had the pack as well! TengGong had made a great Sims 4-version of them. If you own said packs, you're definitely going to enjoy having them in your game. I had to go with what I had and follow somehow the PSP design.

I had a different plot for them, but changed at a later point. I was meant to focus on either Kaylynn or Parker, but ended up getting the idea to make Iliana "the main character" Iliana being the workaholic we know suddenly finding herself lost and needing to find her way back to reality. The Langeraks and Zelda are shared separatly, but were made by the same user. Also gemz123. The dog is from the user rnr1975 and is the house dog of Iliana and served as her therapy dog during her low days. I picked a Leonberger, which only exist in the gallery by other users as the game didn't own one in the breeds list.

The Jones-Brown family. Also from Twinbrook. They're not part of the plan, they are homeless. I thought about adding Jenni, because of the summary of the Goode and Bad household.

Yeah, I gave Mortimer parents in the game. They're also from the gallery, just one of the two happens to be dead now. - They also are dressed differently in the game. Very hideous, sadly :/ If you got the packs above, you'll get this look as DolphinSimmer13 made 😍

The Sekemotos - OK, in the game they live separately. Yumi lives in a smaller house in Newcrest and Leighton is located in Oasis Springs with his toddler Sam. Everyone's favorite "legacy daddy" lives just like in the OG Sims 3 as a single Dad, just he might be interested in someone in this new town. If something is going to happen between them in the future.....it's up to you.

The Ursine household - Like girl, screw Jared Frio and everything, that happened in Sunset Valley. Take your daughter to a new place and raise her on you own. You have seen in life more men and women were doing the same with their kids and it's possible. Also from gemz123 - Simmers, seriously all his Sims 3-inspired Sims look so close to the original. This user so far has impressed me with how detailed the results were.

The Wainwrights - Owning the Get to Work park, they deserved to make an appearance somewhere in the game as well. "Eco, what idea did you even have for them? People barely know them?"

I stuck with the same plot as in Sims 3, just it progressed here 😂 I had read recently, that Oasis Springs is basically Strangetown, so....military, science freaks, weird shit.....why not?

Ok Ignore the name there, I had to remove their original kids from the save file and that was just my "emergency save name" - Just in case I save households during CAS, because you know.....freezes, crashes and mostly at the wrong moment. Luckily nothing has ever happened to me in the past weeks, but you never know. (As an avid fanfic writer I learned to press CTRL-S every 10 seconds to avoid trouble 😭)

They live separately in the game. Thornton had an affair with Jamie, while being married to Morgana. Both women figured it out and broke his heart and became friends. What happened next? Guess, who fulfilled Morgana's deepest desires? 😏

Households (Inspired by other media)

The Ritchi household. (In other names "The Megamind household)

They were both variations of them alone or together already. I preferred these two versions from two different users and set them together in the game. Roxanne doesn't need a lot of packs and Megamind is base game, so you wouldn't have a problem, when downloading them from the gallery.

Time & Space household (Inspired by youngest children of Clavell Jr, Langerak Jr and Caliente household)

On the right side, you'll see after whom the adult Sims are inspired by. If any of you have played or seen my previous Save File reviewed by Savythatsimmer around July 2023. This is where the Sims are from, just they're adults here. The household name already reveals that they're "time travelers" which are for some reason in this save file.

Kurtzberg household (Inspired by previous save file & Miraculous LB)

I had created them along with their "fanon kids" of mine in Sims 4 back in 2019 and reused them in this save file. Just like most of the families they didn't have a lore back then, so I made one based on their oldest daughter, who just like her father was shy and reserved, but things would eventually change in her new home in Willow Creek.

Couffaine (Inspired by Miraculous Ladybug and a post of Simmer Nikethesimmer)

Luka already existed in my game married to Marinette and their common son, Rouven. I had in mind to create a different family, but remembered I had Adrien somewhere in the gallery with his family and switched everything up and gave them kids with CAS-DNA thing two kids, then killed the kids' parents off for the drama of the summary 😂I can't recall the exact info of the summary, basically Luka saw Marinette on her dead-bed and promised to raise her children, despite not having any relation to them. Sounds weird? I dunno, it didn't back then. (Oh yeah they drowned in the game, because there is no other way to "make them have an accident"......Or I can say they died on a cruise like Toby's parents in Tales of Arcadia....Good idea....

Rodriguez household (Inspired by Snow Queen Mirrorlands and the two boys' "in-law rivalty" 😶)

Because canon didn't care about showing their relationship in the new movie nobody asked (OK we did, but SOMETHING WAY DIFFERENT) we can improvise with Sims 😂 Here Gerda is engaged with her boyfriend Rollan and lives with him together in a new house, but invited her younger brother Kai to live with them until he's old enough for an independent life. Kai has a hard time accepting Rollan in Gerda's life after a past incident and despite things having changed for the best, he still can't help it. Perhaps it's a brother-sister thing. It's up to you to see, if their relationship improves or not.

Lopes household (Inspired by the family of the same name from Mar Salgado, a Portuguese soap opera)

About the Live-Action pictures, they're just portraits from the channel's page of character introduction, this is why the clothing is so random. I had used another screenshot for each character and the family was created around 2017. The summary in the game is just like in the show, just downplayed.

I just ran out of pictures, the next family would also belong to the same show, but it would consist of 7 pictures, but I don't want to start or remove anything from here :/

This is all I got, if you want some bonus here are names of non-mentioned families :D.....Without pictures of course :/

Herzog = Inspired by random names in Dutch,.

Sarutobi = Names from Anime characters.

Kaufmann = Random gathered

Blanco = Enrique Iglesias and Nazaré novela parody.

Furtado = Based on Sims 3 character of mine. (Look he exists since 2009, Furtado I just took from Nelly Furtado, cause I liked her songs back then)

Disaster = Inspired by one Simpsons episode.

Lucia Noceda = Inspired by Luz Noceda from The Owl House and Lucia from GTA 6

Stanford - Inspired by the Madagascar movie.

Werewolves = Random wolf-themed names.

[arsnovacadenza]

Soukazu NSFW headcanons

FINALLY 'TIS DONE! (Tho I'm gonna write more later. This won't be the last)

Warning: These headcanons are for Top!Soushi and Bottom!Kazuki. So if you're looking for headcanons with Top!Kazuki, I have them in a separate post that I'll link later

The Horny

Kazuki is a MEGA-masochist who gets off on being submissive. Kazuki's guilt in the first season, his longing for Soushi in Heaven and Earth, his growing trust that we see in Behind the Line -all of it culminated into his desire to please Soushi in any way he can. 

((Plus he's been going on about wanting to be useful throughout the series so.....why not channel it in a kinky yet healthy way))

Also also Soushi being his commander makes it easier for them to slip into a Dom/sub dynamic. Would Kazuki cream his suit if Soushi ordered him around this time from the Siegfried System? Most likely.

Soushi likes to tell Kazuki to cut his hair, but he secretly likes being able to yank him by the hair when taking Kazuki from behind. He just knows how much strength he must apply to make sure that it hurts enough without being too painful while still being pleasurable for Kazuki

Soushi, at his core, is a medical researcher. He keeps, ahem, private records on Kazuki's stamina and endurance, which leads to....

Orgasm denial. He's trained Kazuki to cum at his command ONLY, so he'll tell Kazuki to lie down on the bed face up or face down, stuff a vibrator inside him, turn it up to the highest setting (sometimes gradually) and then leave his boyfriend for minutes on end to do other stuff until Kazuki is sobbing and begging Soushi to let him cum.

But Soushi, being the devil as he is, just positions himself behind Kazuki, skin-to-skin, and tease him with feather-light touches across his chest, his thighs, and tells Kazuki softly that he can endure a little more, that denying himself a little bit longer will make it more pleasurable. And when he finally tells Kazuki to come, it's all too much, way too much that all Kazuki can see is white, white, white.

They're suprisingly private. They don't do stuff like having sex toys under their clothing while out in public. Sure, Soushi BURNS with the need to make everyone know Kazuki is his, but he also wants to protect Kazuki's honor by not making it obvious to his friends they're into nasty stuff

Maya still knows, somehow. Not that she wants to dwell on it

((But part of Soushi wants to force Kazuki to walk around in his Alvis uniform with a vibrator up his ass. Soushi fantasizes sending Kazuki to talk to Kanon who he knows has a huge crush on him while he's being stimulated. BUT HEY IT'S JUST A FANTASY))

Another staple to their routine is overstimulation. Even after they climax, Soushi sometimess refuse to pull out and continue to fuck Kazuki through his orgasm. Kazuki begs Soushi to stop, but he's met with "Oh, so you've stopped listening to me then, Kazuki?" ((It's okay guys they have a safeword))

Soushi is highly aware through Crossing that Kazuki has the hots for his dominating side. And Soushi THRIVES on being in full control of the strongest fighter and pilot on the entire island.

(Kazuki trusts him with his life as much as Soushi puts his trust in him)

Their sessions often start like this: Soushi sits at his desk facing away from Kazuki as he enters the door and he commands Kazuki to strip without even looking at him. Once Kazuki is fully in the nude, he swivels around and Kazuki kneels or sits between his clothed legs

"Open your mouth" Soushi whispers, and Kazuki lets Soushi's hand explore his teeth, the roof of his mouth, coating his digits with Kazuki's saliva

"So obedient", Soushi hums. "Now, on the bed."

Kazuki wants to be good for Soushi, craves for Soushi's approval. He knows that Soushi only has eyes for him and preens at the thought of Soushi finding him beautiful, and so Kazuki crawls over his sheets seductively, making sure that Soushi sees all of him, wanting and waiting for his command

"You're so beautiful, Kazuki. It was worth the wait, after all." Soushi's eyes darken, referring to their separation for those two, agonizing years. "I want to memorize this forever"

No matter how many times Kazuki's eyes widen at the sight of Soushi's burner smartphone (not linked to Alvis' system, fortunately), he still rolls onto his back, enticingly inviting Soushi to capture every inch of his skin, the deep flush of his cheeks, the flutter of his eyelashes as the camera zooms in.

"Gorgeous" Soushi coos. He imagines Kazuki clothed in lace and ribbons and yet they haven't gotten far

The closest they've come is tying Kazuki up in bright red ropes that leaves marks on his skin. Kazuki's embarassed at first, but he learns to enjoy it and would even close the door to his bedroom so he can lie on his futon and trace the ropes under his clothes while waiting for the day to end (and present himself to Soushi)

But there are times when Kazuki can't stay overnight or Soushi is too busy to come to him, so Soushi gives his boyfriend another burner phone (seriously, how did he get these?) and tells Kazuki they can stay connected that way

There's a good reason why it's another burner phone not linked with the system: that's how they trade pictures

Of course, it's always Soushi who asks for pictures. Kazuki, ever the obliging one, would pose however Soushi wants him to, lying in bed with his skin warmed from the shower or desperate to have Soushi inside him, fingers obscuring his hole but still enough for Soushi to see traces of lube trickling down the sheets

As for Kazuki, he's rewarded with just the soothing baritone of Soushi's phone, guiding him every step of the way and assuring him that once they meet again, Kazuki will be rewarded.

The Wholesome

At the end of every session, Soushi pulls Kazuki close and tells him what a good boy he'd been, and that Kazuki is so beautiful when he falls apart. But most importantly, he tells his boyfriend that he's proud of him -that it doesn't make him love Kazuki any less no matter what Kazuki chooses during their session. Kazuki's chest swell with warmth as he is lulled to sleep in Soushi's arms.

The Hilarious

Soushi once proposed "curry" as their safeword, and Kazuki laughed so hard Soushi didn't get any (but it was worth it tho, to hear Kazuki's laughter)

[thecelestiallegacies]

Grace: "I'm sure you're aware of why I called you here today, Caspian. So lets just get it over with." Caspian *confused*: "Um, no? I thought you wanted to mess around?" Grace: "Um, Alvis Day, all that airing grievances and stuff." Caspian *laughed*: "What have you possibly got to be grieved about princess?" Grace: "Um... a lot of things actually. It just seems like every time I need you, you aren't able to be there, I'm questioning how I feel about you." Caspian *charming smile*: "Oh, well that's an easy fix." He then takes a hold of her waist, planting a kiss right on her lips. With the magical kiss her feelings became illuminated and she wrapped her arms over his shoulders, pulling herself closer to him. Grace *pulling away from him*: "I'm going to miss the static kisses." Caspian *suddenly nervous that the spell didn't work*: "You don't have to miss them." Grace *standing straighter*: "You're right, I can get them from someone who shows up for me too. Someone who sees me the way I want to be seen. I'm done with you Caspian."

[alshiora]

1.7k alshiora nonsense. getting together. human/modern/high school au. that's all i have folks

He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised Fiora and Alvis made it to the tree before him. After all, wasn’t this what he wanted to talk about? 

Alvis sat on the bench, ankles crossed neatly, while Fiora paced back and forth, gesturing with one hand, but Shulk couldn’t make out what she was saying until he drew closer.

“--I know, but I guess a part of me was just hoping that he’d finally gotten his head on straight, and of course, I want you to be happy, too, don’t get me wrong--” she said, words falling from her mouth in a rush. 

Alvis cut her off, catching sight of Shulk’s approach. 

“Oh! Shulk!” Fiora said, turning. One hand stayed curled to her chest, the other falling to her side, where Alvis wordlessly took it, tangling their fingers together.

It was such a natural movement, Fiora not even glancing at him, as though they had done it a thousand times. 

Shulk swallowed, looking at the grass, hating how his eyes and ears were burning. He felt so foolish! How had he never noticed how close they had become?

“Hi,” he said weakly, aiming for a smile but missing. 

“What’s wrong?” Fiora asked, eyes going bright with worry. 

He waved his hands. “Nothing! Nothing’s wrong. I just... wanted to talk to you both.”

At that, they glanced at each other, eyes wide, before turning back to him. His eyes fell to their joined hands again.

“I know you two are dating,” he said bluntly. “And I’m-- I’m really happy for you! Truly!”

Fiora let out a startled cry, stifling it with her hand. Alvis blinked. They looked at each other again, then dropped their hands hastily.

“No, no, you misunderstand!” Fiora said, stepping away from Alvis and tucking her hands under her arms.

“It’s okay, Fiora,” Shulk said, heart breaking in his chest. “Really, I am happy for you. Both of you. I just... sorry, but. Why didn’t you say anything?”

Alvis cleared his throat gently. “We aren’t dating, Shulk,” he said, quiet but earnest.

Shulk barked a laugh, tears pricking at his eyes. “You don’t have to lie! I saw you.”

They widened their eyes, foreheads crinkling in shock. 

He flushed, realising what he said. “I mean--!” He sighed, shoulders slumping. He kicked a pebble morosely, although it didn’t go very far in the grass. “I accidentally stumbled across you two.... making out in the old library cubicle. You know, the one everyone says is haunted?” He didn’t look up, hurrying to explain. “It isn’t actually haunted, of course, but no one ever uses it, so I like to go there to work on assignments, or if I just need a quiet place to decompress, since it’s at least part-way soundproofed, but, anyway, you were already there, but I didn’t want to interrupt, so--”

Alvis dropped his head to his hands, arms and laugh shaky. “We really aren’t dating, Shulk.”

Shulk made a noise of frustration, crossing his arms against his chest. “You don’t have to deny it! I’m not mad! But how else would you explain it? Because it wasn’t just a one-off occurrence.”

...He was digging himself a hole, admitting he had stumbled across them making out more than once, but. It was already out there. As long as he didn’t mention that he liked watching them, then...

“Practise!” Fiora blurted. She looked mortified to have been called out so briskly, fingers splayed over blotchy cheeks. “We’ve been practising.”

Shulk stared at her. “...Practising. Kissing.”

She nodded miserably. She sat down heavily next to Alvis, elbows on her knees. Alvis lifted a hand to pat her shoulder comfortingly. 

“She speaks honestly,” Alvis said. “The truth is... we both fancy someone, but neither of us have any experience with dating. It seemed a matter of convenience, to experiment with each other.”

Shulk shook his head slowly. He felt his heart was being torn in two. So not only had they been making out with each other (as a matter of convenience??) but they both fancied someone else. 

“I... don’t really get it,” Shulk admitted, twisting his fingers together, then bringing one hand up to chew the side of his nail. “I mean... you two look perfect together. How could you not be dating?”

That might have been too close of an admission, actually. But, really! His heart ached for them. They were beautiful, and complemented each other well. That was just an objective fact! And.. and it made sense, right? Everyone else their age was starting to pair off, and they were already good friends, so it just seemed logical. No one else could fit with them as well. 

(He tried not to think about how he didn’t quite fit in with anyone either, that he wished he could be with either of them (both of them, if he was really honest with himself, which apparently his brain was forcing him to be), but his imagination had been working overtime, if his dream last night was any indication.)

(He blushed furiously at the memory.)

Fiora shifted awkwardly, biting the inside of her cheek as she glanced at Alvis. Alvis withdrew his hand from her shoulder, instead clasping his hands together between his thighs and not looking at either of them.

“We had a bet going,” Alvis said suddenly, pale eyes meeting his through his silver bangs. “To see how long we could go before our crush noticed.” He glanced away. 

“I suppose the bet’s off now,” Fiora said, giggling hysterically.

Shulk furrowed his brow. “‘Our’ crush?” He said, mind slow like syrup. 

She shrugged, faux-casual. “Well, yeah. We both fancy the same guy, you see.”

Oh.

Whatever was left of his heart and hopes shattered. 

He felt awkward just standing there, nodding stupidly at them. “Ah. Right. Of course.” He tapped his foot nervously. “Well, I. Certainly wish you the best of luck in your endeavours. He must be a special guy,” he said, mouth quirking oddly. 

“He is,” Alvis said simply, piercing gaze boring into him. Shulk couldn’t bear to keep looking at them, instead hiking his bag up on his shoulders, and clearing his throat with finality. 

“Well, I-- I should be going, then,” Shulk said lamely, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. “It was. Good talking to you.” He turned, blinking rapidly against the flush in his cheeks and prickling in his eyes. 

“Shulk, wait--!!” Fiora said, leaping from the bench to follow him. Her hand fell on his shoulder, sparkling red nail polish catching the light through the leaves overhead. 

He turned, not daring to meet her eyes. 

She took a deep breath, pulling her hands back to her chest. “Do you-- do you want to go to the spring dance together? With me and Alvis, I mean.” She searched his face, looking oddly vulnerable.

“As friends, you mean,” he said dully. “It’s okay, Fiora.”

“That’s not what I meant!” She cried. “How can someone as smart as you be so daft?” She threw her arms around his neck, pressing her forehead to his collarbone. He put his arms around her instinctively, a loose embrace where his hands didn’t know what to do. 

“I’m sorry...?” He said, blinking owlishly at Alvis over her shoulder. Alvis’ gaze was soft. He rose slowly from the bench, coming to stand next to them, resting one hand on Fiora’s shoulder blade. Shulk watched him apprehensively.

Alvis leaned in, gaze turning slightly nervous, before he darted in to press a peck to Shulk’s cheek. He withdrew an instant later, eyes wide and questioning as if to say, “Is that alright?”

It was more than alright. 

Shulk stared at him, not quite comprehending, and oh, that’s what Fiora meant, wasn’t it. 

“I’m the guy,” he said stupidly. 

“Yes, you silly goose,” Fiora said, pulling back slightly, arms still around his neck. “We’ve liked you for ages.”

“Oh.”

She stepped back fully, catching his hand as it fell to his side. “Is that okay?” She asked hesitantly. 

He dragged his eyes from their linked hands to her eyes, then to Alvis. He swallowed, nodding jerkily. His voice had left him, too many emotions swirling around and choking in his throat. 

He tapped his fingers against his thigh, then thrust his other hand out to Alvis. Alvis lit up, a pretty smile stretching across his face, and gladly accepted his hand. Then, with a sideways glance to Fiora, they linked pinkies, forming a sweet little triangle. 

It felt... right. Like coming home.

Overwhelmed with affection, he tugged them closer, blinking happy tears from his eyes. When they stumbled into range, he pressed a kiss to the top of each of their heads, squeezing his eyes shut. His jaw trembled with emotion. 

How had things changed so drastically in just a matter of minutes? He had been so ready for them to leave him behind, had never expected that they would-- would actually be interested in him, and to the point that they?? were basically dating each other in the meantime??

“Wait,” he said, pulling back, but not letting go. “You were practising kissing each other, because you both,” he blushed, still wrapping his mind around the idea, “you both like me, when I am the most romantically incompetent person in this entire school. It’s not like I’ve ever kissed anyone, either, you know.” 

They blinked at him, just a fragment of a second out of sync with each other. If their skin weren’t so brown, he’s positive they’d be just as red as he was. Gotcha. 

Fiora broke first, snorting inelegantly as she thunked her head against his shoulder. He laughed breathlessly, letting go of her hand to put his arm around her instead, pulling her close. Alvis smiled at them, dark eyebrows canting up in confused anticipation. Shulk tugged him closer, too, pressing his cheek against his hair, and couldn’t help but notice how pleasant it smelled, how silky it was against his skin. 

“And this is-- this is really what you want?” He asked quietly, wetting his lips. 

Fiora nodded against his collarbone, warm breath sinking through his sweater. 

“As long as you’re okay with it,” she hedged, playing with some loose stitching. The yarn was threatening to fray under her fingers. 

“I can’t imagine anything better,” he whispered.

[eaglefairy]

Hello liveblog viewers, it's been a while! We were both busy last weekend, but now we're back for more xenoblade. The roommate decided to postpone sidequests for now and return to the main plot, much to my delight!

The cutscene as you enter Valak Mountain spawned some rapid theorizing (and I have some thoughts about it too that I'll share later), most of which I expected (trying to figure out what the Face Mechon's relationship to memory is, picking up on that Meyneth is very old and has met Zanza before, etc)

I am most definitely testing my roommate's patience by continually calling the geyser a "geezer". And I will not stop.

Oh ok fun fact: my roommate is a geologist. She has some Complaints about the idea of taking a quick stroll through lava to grab some item orbs

Ah and we're back to the ramifications of my accidental spoilers. After the scene in Ose Tower with Alvis, roommate is now theorizing that Shulk's death will be not just a plain heroic sacrifice but somehow tied into the main plot with the Monado. She's still certain that it'll be a heroic sacrifice though :,)

Roommate: Do you remember that time we almost lost 4 hours of progress? Me: Do you want to go manually save right now? Roommate: ...you know what, yeah I'll go do that.

"Motherfucker, are you going to kill her again?" -my roommate, upon seeing Metal Face swoop in and hit Silver Face

Oh shit uh. Huh. We...did not put Shulk in the party to fight Mumkhar. Whoops. Rip Reyn, Riki, and Dunban

OH MY GOD SHE DID IT. SHE BEAT HIM WITH THE BOYS???

Egil: "Find us, Monado. Sword of the Bionis." Roommate: "Rude, I'm a person too." Me, with foreknowledge:

Roommate: "Oh, it's interesting that Egil claims he's an agent of Meyneth but Meyneth didn't want him to know she was there." Me, with foreknowledge:

Roommate: "The tyranny of the Bionis...? Weird, it'd be kind of hard for the Bionis to do tyranny while it's asleep." "I bet it's a really stupid reason. I bet we're going to find out what it is and I'm going to be like 'Egil, really? This is why you chose war and slavery? Grow up.'" "Either that or it'll be a really good reason and I'll scream. It'll be one of those two for sure, though."

Me, with foreknowledge:

eeeee we're blasting ahead to get Fiora! No sidequests no distractions the roommate misses Fiora and wants to get the babe back!!!

Oh she's so on the side of the Bionis. I'm listening to this wonderful rant about how terrible the Mechonis is for leeching ether out of the Bionis and oh, the poor Bionis just trying to support the life living on it with that terrible Mechonis siphoning away the ether!

Ah and now she's theorizing that the Mechonis used to produce its own ether but ran out during the ancient battle, so now she drains ether from the Bionis to sustain herself

The shriek she let out when she saw Dickson again. Now she's just flipping off the screen and singing "you liar" in different ways

Roommate: "If I had a little less self-respect I would have a crush on that man[Dickson]. Maybe I already do and I just don't want to admit it to myself." Me: WHEEZE

Roommate: "Dickson? You gonna be honest with us?" Me: "It's Dickson, what do you think?" Roommate: "He'll probably be honest with me when I'm dead."

Ah, we blazed through Sword Valley but our level advantage ran out against Mumkhar. It's also past midnight so we're going to do some sidequests tomorrow and head back in to save Fiora!

[sleepyboisinc]

first art post on this new blog after accidentally yeeting my old one, pink haired techno is coolio

[gustingirl]

not rlly absurd but here we go

no matter what, wilson is a better cook and baker. the days they dont do takeout are the days wilson whips up a fantastic meal. house is endlessly and vocally jealous

wilson and cuddy (and sometimes ducklings, depends on seniority) have regular talk-shit tea parties. house is not invited but he knows about them and tried to spy once. they ended up sacking him with the bill and everything he heard was decoy conversation (did you know that the barnacle relative to its size-)

house helps wilson learn spanish by refusing to speak to him in english for days on end (and will torment the ducklings just for fun the same way) and takes full advantage of wilson's limited vocab to pepper him with affection. this backfires very quickly as wilson learns

while wilson encourages but doesnt participate, house is a closet musical theater nerd. pretty cool when his mayfield roomie alvie wrote that blockbuster broadway show about a founding father

wilson has stuffed animals and hes almost one hundred percent convinced house does too but to this day the evidence is circumstantial at best

they have both literally slept together on wilson's office couch during all nighter hospital stays and sometimes find excuses to do so before and during their relationship

the stint with the 82yo woman with syph (s1e8) lets say,, inspired house to write poetry. rlly intentionally bad poetry. he leaves sticky notes of terrible lines all over wilson's side of the bathroom. to this day wilson has never told a soul and has kept all of them

oh my god you're a fantastic human being and i love you, let me go in parts

they definitely have like cooking competitions and house is way more petty so whenever wilson cooks something delicious he has to pretend he doesn't like it

SO TRUE, remember that episode where house thought wilson and cuddy had fucked and wilson kept on fooling house about it? same shit, house would go to wilson to "corroborate" tea he had heard and he would be fooled every single time

i would have paid for one episode where house does not speak a word in english just to mess with everybody. i love the idea of wilson and house being competitive

LMAO NOT HAMILTON OMG and considering hugh was the inspiration for "you'll be back", then house was alvie's inspiration. house is definitely a musical theatre junkie but won't admit it bc he knows wilson will mock him

house definitely has stuffed animals bc wilson keeps on gifting them little ones and he can't throw them away but he also can't show wilson he keeps them so he hides them somewhere. when wilson brought it up one dinner, house had to start changing the hiding spot because wilson is always close to find them

but what about when the ducklings catch them? they come up with the most absurd excuses, at least house does. wilson can’t figure anything out so when cameron asks him in private he just confesses

ok but wilson doesn't even tell house about them, until one fight where house says wilson never cared about their relationship, wilson shows him all the post its he has been saving since day one.

then they have sex.

please send me more, you just made my day

[10ths-writing-corner]

Whumptober #21- That’s where the blood supposed to be

“Hey, hey! Do not move from the bed.” Henrik rushes next towards the hero who clumsily tried to get out of the hospital bed. The doctor wraps his arms around Jackie’s torso and lightly pushes him back to bed. Though, at that Jackie is visibly annoyed.

“Piss off, doc. I have things to do—“ Jackie glared at the medical student, he shouldn’t even be here. His self healing should be enough to carry him around. Though, the more he moved the more his head pounded and the little strength he had left his limb, causing him to fall back.

“Whatever you need to go back to the streets can wait. You will mess up your stitches, you also have a nasty concussion.” Henrik tsks as he gently turns Jackie’s head as he takes a look at the bandages, though the white soon stains with blood splotches. The doctor exclaims in his mother language which honestly has Jackie taking a double look. “Perfect stitches gone to waste-“

“Alright, listen—“ Jackie squinted his eyes, the letters on the doctor’s name tag being all jumbled up together. Oh, yeah, he had a messed up head alright. “Doctor man whatever your name is. I am extremely busy and whatever you’re doing is a waste of time, understand?”

“And I need you to understand, that hero or not, you still need medical attention. I do not care for your fancy hero title, my job is to ensure whoever is in my care leaves with no scratches.” The doctor shot back, unamused by the tantrum Jackie was throwing. “Now, if you will just sit down and let me restitch the wound on your thick head. Maybe the blood, and your brain, will stay where it should be, yes?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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