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shchristine · 3 months

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LA BELLE VIE

Pairing: Chef!Joel Miller x F!Reader

Summary: A server at La Belle Vie, the nicest restaurant at the Secret Springs Resort, can't keep her eyes off of world-renowned chef Joel Miller. He's taken notice of her too.

CW: 18+ MDNI!, smut with very little plot, reader is a female but no other identifying traits, no use of y/n

AN: Written for @secretelephanttattoo's Secret Springs Creative Challenge! Also my first posted fic ever! Enjoy :)

“Yes, Chef!”

You hear the muffled sentiment from the kitchen staff through the closed door to the back of the house for the first time that day. You would hear it countless more before your dinner shift was over. But it was always a soft, muted phrase to your ears, since you weren’t allowed in the kitchen. That was one of Chef Joel Miller’s many rules;

No service staff in the kitchen.

“This is how they do it overseas,” you heard him tell the owner once.

“But….this is Secret Springs,” Tommy Miller, the front of house manager and Joel’s brother, responded.

You knew it was going to be a busy day. Opening week at the Secret Springs resort and most of the shops and excursions wouldn’t be open for business for another week or so, so how were the early tourists going to spend their time? Eating.

And you were right. The constant chatter of patrons, clinking of silverware on glassware, opening and closing of the creaking kitchen door, and the dull repetition of “door!” and “yes, chef!” would have your ears ringing for the rest of the night. But in the midst of the dinner rush, you couldn’t help but sneak a few glances through the kitchen door during the constant in and out of Tommy and the food runners. Chef said you couldn’t go back there, but he didn’t say anything about looking back there. Look you did, as hard as you could to catch a glimpse of him. His dark, tousled hair that got progressively messier while the night went on as he stressfully raked his fingers through the strands at any minor inconvenience. How badly you wished to run your own hands through them. The white chef’s coat stretched taut over his broad chest and shoulders, rolled sleeves revealing his strong but precise hands and muscular forearms. The scruff that covered the bottom half of his face, a small grey patch on the side above his jaw. You thought about him constantly; when you were working you hoped to attract just a sliver of his attention, and at home you laid in bed dreaming of scenarios where maybe you would see him out at the dive bar only the locals visited after a long shift, doing a shot and offering you one after watching you walk in or run into him on the beach, shirtless and enjoying some time in the sun with Tommy and his wife Maria on a rare day off. Your volleyball would accidentally roll in his direction, bumping into his legs as he laid on an outstretched towel. Sorry, chef…

As diners and filled tables dwindled and servers were cut and sent home for the night, you couldn’t help but wonder what would really happen if you snuck back into the kitchen. You and Tommy were the only front of the house staff left as the minutes crept closer to midnight, and he was in the office counting the drawers for the night in preparation for the morning bank deposit. He needed you there to verify his count, which meant you just needed to sign the log book once he told you he was done. This was a notoriously long process for Tommy, and most servers would do anything in their power to not be the one chosen to stay the extra half-hour after closing waiting for him to finish. But you didn’t mind. Not when you could stand next to the kitchen door wiping down wet dishes in the hope that Chef might walk out and throw a casual smile your way before the ever-present scowl on his face returned as he stormed into the office to yell at Tommy about something. You liked to think you were the only one he smiled at in the whole restaurant, saving the sweet gesture for the times he saw you and furrowing his brows, turning down his lips for everyone else.

But tonight, you were restless. You want to see his work; what he has touched and what he has made. You wait until you see the last bus boy make his way from the kitchen to the front entrance, waving at you nonchalantly before exiting the restaurant to grab the still swinging door to the back of the house. Giving the kitchen a precursory scan before fully committing, you make sure no one was around and step in. The kitchen was neat, kept extremely clean and tidy at Chef’s insistence. The countertops seem to sparkle as you walk quietly between the impressive appliances, making sure your shoes don’t squeak on the freshly mopped and polished floor. Shelves of fresh produce, bottles of oils and sauces, and expensive cooking utensils line the walls. Towards the back of the room is a large, steel door. You make your way over and reach for the handle, twisting it and pulling the door open. It makes a small but high-pitched creak causing you to wince and pause momentarily before walking in, electing to leave the door open in case it makes the same noise when being closed. The cold air of the refrigerated room rushes you, causing a shiver to run down your spine and goosebumps to cover your skin. The walk-in, duh, you think to yourself as you peruse the shelves. Labeled containers are stacked neatly together, a piece of tape stuck to the front of each with scribbled green onions 7/3 or puttanesca tomato sauce 7/1 facing outward. Was this his handwriting? You reach out to lightly graze the tape with your fingertip when the door to the freezer slams shut behind you, causing you to jump and pull your hand down in a hurry before turning. A gasp escapes your lips when you realize that Chef was there, standing in between you and the now-closed door. His eyes are dark and jaw clenched tight as he observes you.

“What are you doing?” he asks, arms hanging loosely at his side. His chef coat was unbuttoned at the top, a sliver of skin and chest hair peeking over it.

“I…uh,” you sputter, unable to get any words out while still processing his presence, “I…”

“You,” he interrupts, “are not supposed to be back here.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I just wanted to look.”

“Get out,” he spits. You put your head down, looking at the floor as you try to walk past him to reach the door. But he doesn’t move out of your way. He stands in place with his eyes stuck to you as you turn sideways, facing him to try and slip between him and the shelves. Your chest underneath the soft cotton apron brushes against him and he reaches out suddenly, grabbing you by the arm above your elbow and turning to face you fully.

“You’ve been watching me,” he states plainly.

“Yes,” you answer, even though you knew it wasn’t a question. He leans forward, his hot breath tickling your ear as he speaks.

“I’ve been watching you, too. Have you noticed?”

He doesn’t give you a chance to answer before leaning back, eyes scanning your face for any sign of apprehension. You look up at him through your lashes, eyebrows raised and mouth neutral. He smirks.

“Get on your knees.”

You do as you’re told, fighting the urge to whisper yes, chef. You don’t think he would appreciate the joke in the moment. You reach up slowly, taking the button of his pants gingerly between your fingers in case he changes his mind or swats you away. But he doesn’t. Instead, he reaches down as well to un-do the bottom buttons of his chef coat and pull the now-loose flaps behind his back. You unzip his pants and reach inside to pull him out of his boxers. The feeling of his smooth skin sends a ripple of anticipation up your neck, but the sight of his large cock causes your eyebrows to shoot up. The shaft is both long and thick, ending in a plump head. You waste no time wrapping your hand around it to give his member a few slow, gentle pumps.

“Don’t tease me,” he grunts from above you, “put your mouth on it.”

You do, using one hand to guide the hardening member into your mouth and the other to steady yourself against his thigh. You feel his fingers gently thread through your hair as your tongue touches the underside of his cock for the first time. He sighs, his hips surging forward involuntarily. You swirl your tongue up his hardness and around the head, tasting the precum collected there before wrapping your lips tightly around him. Sucking him further into your warm mouth, you inch forward until your nose hits the skin and pubic hair above his cock.

“Fuck yes,” Joel stutters out when he feels his tip hit the back of your throat. His hands slide down to cradle the back of your head with both of them before pressing his hips forward just for a moment. You gag around him, a thick line of saliva trailing from your tongue to his cock when he pulls all of the way out. “God that’s hot.”

Your lips chase after his member, sucking your cheeks in once it’s back inside of your mouth and beginning to bob your head back and forth on him. His fingers tangle in your hair and he throws his head back with a groan, causing you to let out a whimper of your own.

“You like that? Bet my fat cock down your throat is gettin’ you all wet, isn’t it?”

Mhmm you moan around him as you continue your movements, the vibrations causing him to let out another deep grunt. He pulls himself out of your mouth abruptly, grabbing you by the shoulders and yanking you up to your feet. “Gonna make me come too quick.”

He looks into your face for a moment, finding lips plumped and red and eyes big with anticipation. His lips crash into yours, the kiss wet and sloppy as he slips his tongue into your mouth. Your arms reach up to grasp at his large biceps, squeezing there as his hands slide around your back to untie the apron you’re still wearing.

“Anyone could walk in,” you say breathlessly as his lips make their way from your jaw down your neck. You knew it was only the two of you and Tommy left in the restaurant for the night.

“But they won’t,” he murmured into your skin, “Most of the people here listen when I make rules.” His hands make quick work of both your pants and underwear, pushing them down hastily and grabbing at your ankle to motion for you to step out of them before grabbing your ass in both hands and lifting you up to rest on the edge of the shelf behind you. The cold metal against your skin causes you to gasp and jerk your hips forward. He uses the closeness to reach down and swipe a finger through your exposed folds, collecting the wetness that has pooled between them.

“Knew it,” he says before pulling his hand away and spreading the wetness down himself. You watch as he lines himself up to your entrance, gripping your thighs and spreading them as far apart as they’ll go before he sinks into you. Your breath hitches at the stretch, closing your eyes and moaning loudly when he bottoms out. He sets a merciless pace from the beginning, quickly rutting into with long strokes as his hands keep their rough grip on the back of your thighs. The freezer echos with the sounds of skin slapping on skin, his deep grunts and your breathy moans.

“This what you wanted? What you thought about every time I saw you trying to look in the kitchen door?”

“Yes, chef,” you whimper, lost in the feeling of his firm thrusts and the cold air surrounding the two of you. Your eyes snap open, widening to see his expression at the slip-up. Instead of stopping like you thought he might, he smirks at you, picking up his pace.

“Say it again,” he urges, his hands squeezing into the skin of your thighs so roughly he was sure to leave red marks indented there for days.

“Yes chef, yes chef, yes chef,” you whine as you bounce up and down at his incessant pounding into you. He groans and reaches one hand out, grabbing on to the shelf behind your head for leverage. His other hand remains on your thigh to keep you in place.

It doesn’t take much longer for your climax to creep up on you, waves of pleasure spreading slow and warm through your lower back and thighs. The roughness of his thrusts are both exciting and overwhelming you. You can’t help but moan louder as your body tightens. Joel isn’t much better off, his movement becoming erratic and rushed. Your legs tremble as your orgasm washes over you, arms reaching out to clutch at his shoulders and head thrown back with eyes clamped shut. Your cunt pulses tightly around him, causing his grip on the shelf behind your head to slip. He recovers, groaning and grabbing harshly at your still-clothed breast as he comes undone inside of you. His thrusts slow before stopping completely, the warmth of his release spreading through your lower half. But the sensation is short-lived as Joel pulls out of you, causing a gush of his release to follow and fall to floor. He watches with tired eyes, wiping the thin sheen of sweat that has covered his face and neck as his breathing returns to normal. Panic spreads through you at the prospect that Tommy may be done counting the drawers and looking for you and you bend forward to pull your underwear and pants up. You watch out of the corner of your eye as Joel does the same, adjusting his pants and shoving himself inside before pulling up the zipper. On unsteady feet you softly push past him, making your way to the door of the walk-in and try to smooth your clothing and apron out as much as possible before exiting.

“Hey!” Joel calls out your name, causing you to stop and turn sharply. Maybe he was going to ask you what you were doing this weekend or for your phone number, even though you knew he could get it from the directory Tommy kept.

“If you want to keep your job, don’t let me catch you back here again.”

#secretsprings #pedro pascal fanfiction #joel miller #tlou #joel tlou #joel miller x you

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goldsbitch · 8 months

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That next Christmas flight

epilogue p.1 to That one Christmas flight

summary: Few months down the line, Y/N is getting onto the same Christmas flight as a completely changed girl.

warning: cheesy af, swear words I guess, cliche probably, typos most definitely

Another Christmas flight. Traditions linger long and strong no matter how much one tries to resist. It's been a year precisely since the last flight that had turned her life upside down and Y/N found herself standing at the same airport where she shared a first kiss with Lando. Except this time she was thrown off for a completely less glamorous reason, sitting all confused and looking at the cancelled note next to her flight number on the departure board. She was just one of the other anxious annoyed passangers, trying to figure out how to get to Japan on time. Her mom hated when people were late. And she was sure she'll find a way to blame it on her. Bad planning, she'd always say. Love comes in different flavors to anyone, Y/N sighed, looking forward to seeing her mom after so many months, which had brought a rollercoaster of unexpected emotions.

She has had the summer of her life, hard to imagine something topping this one. The ultimate love affair - exciting, sweet and eye opening. Made her question everything she thought about adult life. All those love song suddenly made sense. She understood why people do crazy things for love. There wasn't a cell in her body regretting getting her summer and early September got stolen by one guy. It would not have mattered if he was a server from a local café or a tattoo artist, he just happened to be one of the most famous racing drivers on the planet. She had followed him around his trips as long as her school schedule allowed, making new friends in the process and generally exploring a different way of life. Sometimes, she had to stop in order to take it all in, because his world shined just a little too bright. It took all of her free time to keep up. Once summer rolled to its very end, it started being harder for the pair. Coming back to the school environment was somewhat of a culture shock and suddenly her having her own life was making it harder to drop everything and meet him at yet another race track around the world. Their schedules seemed to be working against each other. Late night cuddles turned into late night / morning calls. Summer romance got a real hard test that October and was forced to mature real quick. And sadly, very few love affairs manage to survive this leap.

There are little things that people in love do for each other. One does not often realize that the other person had been doing these mundane gestures until they are out of sight. Lando would always put Y/N's airpods on the charger when they were together, because he knew that she would just never do that and then would complain about it endlessly. He was even looking forward to the annoyed text she'd send him two days after they parted, almost on the clock. Y/N never learned. Nor did she want to.

Y/N airpods were sitting in the pocket of her coat. Fully charged. Lando and Y/N had never spent more time together than this winter break. After few rough weeks, they got used to the changing tone of their relationship. She finally met his family and spent few very fun days at their house. Lando made fun of her afterwards, because she had been so nervous to fuck it up. He never doubted that she would do a good impression - he loved too much to think that.

Pair of hands hugged her from behind and the familiarity kicked in.

"Thought you got lost, honey," she greeted her boyfriend and potentially the love of her life (spoiler alert - yes, he really was).

"I actually kind of did, I'm sure there must be a bathroom closer that all the way back that hallway," he said, kissing her cheek softly. She was taking him home to Japan to get him introduced to her mom, which made him the proudest guy at that airport. He was worthy of getting introduced and to him, that was the biggest compliment one could give. It had been quite a hectic Christmas break for Lando so far, if he were to be honest, he was happy to get few hours alone with Y/N. On the outside, he was this cool racer chill dude. But he was also a sappy romantic, absolutely insisting on having them celebrate their anniversary on the same flight. Y/N grounded him, kept him at bay in the best way possible. He felt like the best version of himself. Which was also what he told her when they almost broke up over the phone one confusing November night. Their relationship was cut with difficult conversations and the need to untangle things, but it was strangely something Lando loved about their relationship. No stones left untouched, caring so much about each other that any shift in energy was a signal to the other party. Y/N taught him to notice things. He pushed her into making her feelings known.

"My love, our flight is cancelled for today," she said softly, not really knowing what to do. Lando usually had his travel booked by the team, so he was surprisingly not very skilled in booking things anymore. But he longed for any possibility to be the hero that saved the day, so he got to the counter and got them on tomorrow's flight, with an overnight at a hotel.

Y/N let out a sigh once he told her that there is currently no other option. She just wanted to be at her mom's place and show Lando off, like a proper proud girlfriend she was.

"I'm sorry, honey," he said, caressing her cheek. "I'll make sure you have an absolutely amazing evening with me, ok? Honestly, getting to spend an extra night with you alone is the best thing I could wish for." She looked at him and there was not a single cell in her body that would doubt what he was telling her. Even after months, every time Lando looked at her, her heart skipped a beat. Every time he embraced her, she completely melted. His skin still felt like the softest thing on this planet. His eyes were the bluest of green that had her mesmerised whenever he shared a glance at her. "There is nothing better I could wish for Christmas either," she said, kissing him softly. "Let's get to the hotel, give your mom a quick call, order a champagne and cuddle without letting anyone else know we're still in England," he whispered like a little devil on her shoulder.

"Hm, maybe we can cuddle like really fast," she insunuated, setting Lando's imagination on fire.

"I have many ideas, honey."

"Good, write them down."

"This will hardly ever skip my mind," Lando laughed lightly and the pair took off, with him having his shoulder around her, both of them hiding their faces under a cap. They soft launched their relationship in the middle of the summer, but there was still a cloud of mystery around Y/N, as she had made sure to set her socials on private. No more of a little secret hidden in a hotel room. Still, privacy was an important thing to the pair, that's why there was a whole fake social media trip happening for Lando right now to redirect attention.

So there they were, toasting with the same champagne a year later, lives intertwined and with their own set of Christmas traditions forming. Two young people with souls still undamaged by the tragedies of life, two young people not realizing how light and magical part of their life they got to call today and tomorrow. Next time you're flying somewhere, don' be a chicken and talk to your hot neighbor on the plane. You never know.

____________________________________________

personal note: thank you so much for all the support you guys gave me for this one, it has grown into my favorite story so far - mainly because I got to put in my own memories and feelings from when I accidentally started dating a semi famous sports guy while having no idea who he was, lol. it was in no way lando level kind of famous, but still, it is a great memory, so thank you for reliving it with me.

there will be blurbs of these two coming in the future, but i wanted to tie the main story to an end. but I can't wait to write more, so i'll be more than happy if you come back for some snap shots of their little moments. thank you - smutty epilogue p2. is on the way

Tagged all those who like to suffer: @prudyhoo @anuksunamon @sagestack @esquerkaren @ushygushybaby @ilove-tswizzle @thehufflepuffavenger1 @superlegend216 @mehrmonga @lovely-blackinnon @mylifeihate1029 @lausdigitaldiary @tswizzleismother @goldenharrysworld @llando4norris @classiclitfreak @ophcelia @leclerc13 @starmanv @k4r1402 @biitch-with-wifi @drunk-teens-doing-drugs @starmanv @formulaal @scenesofobx

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reidsrambles · 2 months

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An Invisible Locket

Chapter 7: Gravity

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!BAU!Reader // Secret relationship

Description: You work with your best friend and your boyfriend. The only problem is, nobody knows Spencer Reid is your boyfriend of over a year. When you find out that Spencer's getting sent out on a case immediately after getting back to Quantico, impulses take over. (Content/Warnings below the cut)

Content/Warnings: [18+ MDNI], smut, oral sex (M & F receiving), PIV sex, unprotected sex within an established relationship, unplanned pregnancy, discussions of abortion (in a pro-choice context, though Reader ends up choosing to stay pregnant), minor mentions of alcohol and cancer.

As for the crime subplot, much of it is very canon-typical (referenced child abuse & grooming by an extended family member (non-sexual), violence, blood/gore, drugs. As always, please feel free to let me know if I miss any CWs!

A/N: This fic is obviously heavy on the Spencer and Reader relationship, but it's also got a significant Garcia best friend plot line and crime plot line. This fic also features an unplanned Reader pregnancy. Reader debates abortion and is pro-choice, but ultimately ends up keeping the pregnancy. If any of that isn't up your alley, please feel free to skip this fic!

Names used: Baby, baby girl, good/sweet/pretty girl, daddy, good boy (once), my love.

Words (this chapter): 4.8 K

Words (total): 29.1 K

Spencer and Derek are quickly treated at the hospital while the rest of the team assists the local PD in processing the scene and finalizing our part of the case.

Jeremy talked pretty quickly once they got him in custody. He said that his entire “message” was to warn against medical misinformation, hence the MO and the site they used to lure their first victims. In reality, Jeremy is just a narcissistic psychopath who’s got a lot of psychological damage and abandonment issues. He wanted total control over someone, and he got that with Mason. Shooting Spencer and Derek will just be another charge to help keep that monster locked up for a very long time.

By the time Spencer and Derek are cleared to fly, it’s 7 p.m. The team rolls into the BAU at nine. You and Penelope wait near the elevator as they trickle in and greet everyone with hugs and I-missed-you’s.

Of course, Spencer, Derek, and Hotch came up last. It takes every ounce of willpower to not run straight into his arms. The fact he has a horrible bruise on his chest aids your willpower here, though. Penelope follows everyone else into the bullpen, and it’s finally just you and Spencer alone.

After the jet left Florida, you and Penelope developed a plan. You knew you needed to get Spencer alone as soon as possible to talk. Penelope planned to hang around the bullpen with the team, keeping track of them while they grab their stuff and head home. If anyone asks, she’ll say that you went to your office to pack up and that Spencer already left for the night. No one’s going to stick around long, anyway. They’re all exhausted.

The hallway outside the bullpen that leads to your office is quiet. One of the night shift custodians turns the corner towards you, broom in hand, probably looking for spots the vacuum missed. He greets you with a nod, which you reciprocate as you pass.

“So, I didn’t leave work on time,” you say.

You push the door to your office open, leaning on it as it closes behind you both. The room is quiet except for the low whir emanating from the server racks.

Spencer’s standing directly in front of you, his face an inch from yours as you breathe each other in again.

“That’s okay,” he says, flashing you a tired smile. “I didn’t either.”

“When Hotch said you and Derek were—” You choke back your words to avoid breaking down.

Spencer nods in understanding but doesn’t speak.

“I was so scared,” you add, voice breaking.

He pulls you into an embrace, holding your head against his chest as he kisses your hair. Your bodies gently shift side to side, rocking each other’s bodies and soothing you both.

“I know, baby. I’m okay, though.”

You want to be angry at his attempt to reassure you. You almost weren’t okay, Spencer. What if he had aimed his gun a little higher?

But he’s here, standing in front of you, safe.

He also shot Jeremy in the leg, allowing Derek to take him down and cuff him. Another serial killer is in custody because of his bravery and quick action.

You lift your head off his chest to look up at him. You can see the fatigue in his face, but yours surely mirrors his to some degree.

Reaching a hand up, you touch his face. His facial hair is stubbly, rough under your fingertips. Your fingers trail down his jaw, across his lower lip, down the bridge of his nose. He simply observes you as you touch him, taking him in.

Bringing your hand to rest on his shoulder, you let your eyes do the wandering on their own, now. The overhead lights in your office are dimmed, which is how they stay overnight. The bags under his eyes are visible, but softened in this light. He always looks so incredibly beautiful, but when he’s staring at you like it’d kill him to look away, it’s astonishingly hard to believe you could have ever seen him as anything less.

Your breathing shallows as you give his face an up-and-down, gaze darting between his eyes and mouth.

Spencer dances his open mouth over yours, breathing you in. Before the tension can build too much, he presses a deep kiss to your mouth. Neither of you can withstand much restraint right now, and nothing could feel as comforting in this moment as Spencer loving on you.

Your hands slide down to his hips, pulling his body even closer to yours. The friction feels so good. He’s already semi-hard and you just wish you could drop to your knees, take him in your mouth, and worship his body. The urge to please him and to make him feel good is so strong, but words unsaid gnaw at your conscience in a vicious tug of war.

His body pressed to yours feels like aloe numbing the searing pain of a scraped knee. Being back in his arms, your heart would be bursting right now if it weren’t weighed down by the elephant in the room, visible only to you.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, searching your eyes for a clue. “There’s something on your mind.”

Correction: the elephant, visible to both of you.

Almost instantly, tears fall.

Spencer pulls you to his chest, seeming to ignore his injury. “Shh, baby. It’s okay.”

He leads you over to your desk chair to sit down and he takes Penelope’s chair, rolling the few feet over to you.

“Is this about my chest?” he asks. “It’s just a bruise. No fractures or anything, so I’ll be okay,” he softly laughs, attempting to lighten the mood.

This is fucking terrifying. You can hear it in his voice, how concerned for you he is. He’s trying to look at you—trying to read you, but you can barely meet his eyes without breaking down into sobs.

“We need to talk,” you choke out.

Realization washes over his face. This isn’t about the gunshot which could have killed him. It’s something else entirely.

He doesn’t reply. He takes both of your hands in his—you hadn’t realized how cold yours were until now—and he nods.

Okay, swallow. Deep breath. No beating around the bush.

“I’m pregnant.”

His expression shifts a few times as he processes it. His eyes almost sparkle as they well up with tears.

“Are you–I–” He can’t even get a sentence out.

Spencer crushes you to his chest and cries. You fall into his embrace and continue sobbing, too. Whatever his feelings are, you’re still not sure, but to know that he needs to hold you is enough in this exact moment.

He pulls away just enough to plant kisses all over your face and neck, a smile contrasting his wet cheeks.

“Hold on Spence. Is that… Uh, how do you feel?” you ask him.

He pauses for a second before asking, “Well, do you want to be pregnant?”

When you don’t immediately answer, his eyes search your face with worry.

You try to figure out how to tie your many thoughts together eloquently. “I haven’t really had much time to even think about it. I’ve just sort of been in limbo about it with this case and with you being gone.” You wipe your cheeks with the side of your finger. “On the phone today, Hotch led by saying that you’d been shot but he didn’t know how bad it was. I think I nearly had a heart attack. Penelope and I have been giving this case our all. Now that you’re back, I feel like I can just breathe, at least.”

“Tell you what, why don’t we grab our stuff, head home, and get into bed? Then, we can talk about it or we can just sleep and save the talking for tomorrow when we’ve rested.”

Spencer kisses your forehead before pressing a chaste kiss to your lips.

All you can do is nod. The only place you want to be is in bed with him, hiding from the real world for a bit.

***

You wake up in the exact same position you fell asleep in. You’re pressed into Spencer’s side, an arm and leg draped over his body. If you didn’t have to wipe the drool off your face, you probably would have just laid there until Spencer naturally woke up.

Last night, after a very quick shower together (mostly for Spencer’s sake), you got into bed and crashed.

Spencer’s eyes flutter as he stirs awake. As you sit up to wipe your face, he groans at the loss of your body curled up into his.

“What time is it?” he asks, keeping his eyes closed.

His hair is a mess; his little curls and waves turned to un-styled fluff by his pillow. Your bedroom windows have translucent curtains over them, and he looks so peaceful and beautiful like this: in your bed, your white sheets and poofy duvet like a cloud surrounding him.

Twisting your body, you glance at the alarm clock on your side table.

“It’s ten-to-one.”

He stretches and finally blinks his eyes open.

“We needed sleep, but I’m still surprised we managed to get that much.” He reaches his arms to pull you back down to his side. “Who said you could get up yet?”

The anxiety in your body starts to build. You’ve thought numerous times already about how this conversation would go. You still don’t feel prepared. Your voice quiets to nearly a whisper.

“I have to go put your clothes in the dryer and start breakfast,” you say, unmoving.

Spencer shifts onto his side to face you. Reaching under your loose-fitting t-shirt so that he’s able to touch your bare skin, his hand trails down the side of your body, stopping just above your hip. His thumb gently rubs the side of your stomach. Any other time, this exact gesture would seem completely unremarkable, but right now, you know exactly where his head is at.

“You know you’re a horrible liar, right?” he asks.

“I do need to finish the laundry and start breakfast.”

“Yeah, but you don’t need to do that right now. You just feel pressure about this conversation that you know we need to have, and you feel the urge to avoid it.” Why the fuck did you start dating a profiler again? “Plus, you know I’m not letting you do my laundry or make breakfast.”

This man literally just got shot. You’ll be making breakfast, at the very least, whether he likes it or not.

His expression is so soft, his features still a bit puffy from sleeping. His hand brushes your hair off your face and cups your jaw in one sweep. He kisses your forehead first, then the tip of your nose, and lastly, your lips. The final kiss begins as pure as the first two. Chaste. You reach your hand up to his neck, fingers gliding into the hair at the back of his head, and you lean into the kiss, parting your lips. Spencer’s hand shifts to your lower back, pulling your body into his.

You want him, and he wants you. It’s been a long case.

But lust doesn’t erase the thick, heaviness in the air. The weight of the conversation you know you need to have.

As you pull back for a breath, you notice a small droplet of tears at the corners of each eye.

He pulls you back into his body, but this time into a big hug. You’ve been dealing with your own emotions about this pregnancy all week, but right now, his are extremely palpable. He lies on his back again, pulling you with him, into his side. You’re right back where you started.

“We’ve got to talk about it,” he says.

Your lips trill, lax as you let out a big breath.

“I know,” you say.

You’re still very conscious of his injury, so before you rest your arm over his chest again, you check in with him. “Is your chest okay with my arm like that?”

He doesn’t reply. He just grabs your arm and lays it across his chest. The arm he has wrapped around your body squeezes you tighter to him. He feels the pain of his gigantic bruise, but he needs you close.

Whenever you have to have serious conversations, you’ve found it’s easier, especially for Spencer, if you’re somewhere comfortable. Somewhere where you both have the option of closing your eyes or staring off into the distance. It’s easier to think, to talk, and to stay calm.

“I need to know how you feel about this,” he says.

“I don’t even know how you feel. You never told me last night. I didn’t know if you were going to come back, find out I was pregnant, and leave me on the spot.”

“God, I hope you know that I would never do that, Y/N.” He sounds so hurt and you begin to regret ever implying that he could do such a thing. “I can’t even imagine how scary this has been for you, though. Of course, you’d be worried that I’d have a negative reaction.”

He hugs you tight into his body again and kisses the top of your head, as if breathing you in to give himself the strength to continue.

“I love you so much. When you told me, I was definitely in shock for a minute, but as soon as I processed the fact that you were pregnant, and with my baby, I couldn’t think of anything else I wanted more.”

Your slow tears continue to drip down onto his shoulder, and his now-wet cheek has made a mess of your forehead.

You almost want to throw a joke in there. Something to lighten the mood; to escape the weight of this conversation so you don’t feel as though you’re being crushed by it.

Are you sure Penelope isn’t the father? I do spend more time with her.

You don’t even have the energy for your own stupid jokes right now, though.

Spencer continues, “If you decide you don’t want to be pregnant, I can’t lie and say that I wouldn’t be sad, but I would support you and love you exactly the same.”

You take a second to process everything he’s said. There’s no way out of this conversation but through.

He tilts your chin up to examine your face. His hands cradle your head, and through his own teary eyes, he wipes the wetness off your cheeks with his thumbs. He places a loving, quick kiss on your lips.

You’re safe. He’s safe. You’ll figure this out together, like you always do.

Spencer’s looking at you the way he always does. Like you’re his entire world. Even at work, in the quick glances no one pays any mind to, his eyes light up when he sees you.

After a few deep breaths, the word-vomit spills out.

“I’m just so fucking scared, Spence. Aside from the fact that this could put my job at risk, there are so many more factors at play here. This changes everything in our lives if we go forward with this. You know I want kids, but I don’t know if this is the right time. We haven’t been together that long. We aren’t married. My parents aren’t local, so would we have to get a babysitter, or would I have to quit my job to take care of them?

“I just got off Strauss’ chopping block. Penelope and Hotch just went and fought for me, explaining what a ‘valuable member of the team’ I am. If I continue this pregnancy, I’m going to have to tell her that I’m not only leaving on maternity leave—and, how long do you even get maternity leave for?—but that I’m going to be taking more time off because I’ll have a kid to take care of, and kids get sick,” your voice begins to tremble, “and—and I’ll have appointments to take them to. What if we have one of those kids who plays six sports and I have to give up my job to chauffeur them around, or something!?”

Spencer rubs your hand in his while you try your hardest to compose yourself after that spiral.

“First, with us as their parents, I’d be amazed if our kid even played one sport, let alone six.”

His joke has you both laughing, but the soundbite of Spencer saying “our kid” is replaying in your head. Our kid.

Spencer continues talking, bringing you back to reality.

“Also, under FMLA, maternity leave would be up to twelve weeks.” He stops rubbing your hand, instead intertwining your fingers with his. “Putting everything involving work aside for a minute, do you want to be pregnant?”

This is what you’ve been avoiding. Definitively deciding whether or not to continue this pregnancy is fucking terrifying. Since the test, you’ve felt constantly hyper-aware of your uterine contents. You already downloaded one of those pregnancy apps, and this thing is only the size of a peppercorn; a collection of cells the size of a peppercorn. But this thing is your baby, and you want to see it grow.

You can understand how, at an earlier stage of your life, this would have been the last thing you wanted. Right now, though, this feels right. Not only do you trust Spencer and your relationship with him, but more importantly, you have faith in yourself to be a good mom.

You nod your head.

“Then I promise you that I will do everything in my power to make the best of this.”

“I know you will, Spence. You know that a lot’s going to change though, right?”

Having a kid together means lots of change, and obviously you both know that. The question you’re really asking is, “What’s the next step?”

“Even before this whole pregnancy surprise, you and I had developed into something bigger and more special than I could have ever imagined. I can’t even begin to imagine my life without you in it anymore. We got too comfortable living in secrecy. I don’t want any of this to be a secret anymore, though.” Spencer’s voice is getting shakier as he speaks, his chest rising and falling faster under your arm. You tilt your head up to his face and place a few soft kisses along his jawline. He meets your lips for a minute of soft, tender kisses, and then continues.

“I think I’ve spent far too long worrying about things changing with the team…” He speaks as though he’s talking aloud to himself. He often does, processing something as he talks through it. “Change can make things better. It doesn’t have to be a bad thing. I mean, you’re on the team and things have already changed between us, right?”

“Considering we’re currently in bed together and I’m pregnant with your child, yeah,” you nod.

He laughs into your hair, and you laugh against his well-loved cotton t-shirt. You’d buy him some new shirts if he weren’t so picky about the fit and material. At least these ones hold his scent better.

“I don’t know why I assumed that they’ll think less of me when they find out…”

“About us or the pregnancy?”

“Even before the baby, I had this automatic assumption that they’d have a negative reaction to us dating. That hardly makes sense, though, logically.”

You open your mouth to speak, but he beats you to the punch. “And before you tell me that my feelings don’t have to make logical sense, I’m well aware,” he teases.

You giggle. Relaying your therapist’s teachings has paid off.

“I mean, they might have some concerns, especially Hotch. But it’s not like we’re some fling or we’re just fuck-buddies anymore,” you say.

“When you started in the BAU, did you feel sort of like everyone viewed you as though you were a child wearing grown-up clothing?” he asks.

You shake your head to the extent that you can in this position. “No, but I was coming in under very different circumstances than you were when you started.”

Spencer has more than proven himself as a competent, capable, agent, even in the field. He’s told you about how poorly he did during his time at the academy, but you’ve always seen, firsthand, how hard he’s worked to hone those skills.

“I sometimes think that the team still views me like that, but I’ve never felt like they looked at you like that,” Spencer says.

You both sit with that for a moment.

“I know that you know better than anyone that you don’t have to prove yourself to the team, You’re not the 22-year-old new recruit anymore, Spence.”

He nods. “Morgan and Rossi will probably still call me ‘kid’, but I don’t think that will ever change”

You smile. They’ll never stop calling him that.

“Well, shit. We’re really doing this then, huh? We’re gonna be parents,” you say.

Spencer shifts onto his side to face you, slightly wincing at the pain as he moves.

His hand finds your hip again, his thumb stroking the edge of your stomach. His other fingers slowly slip under the waistband of your underwear as he grips your hip. When he looks from your stomach to your lips, you kiss him, beating him to the punch.

You roll onto your back as Spencer gets on top of you, neither of you breaking the kiss in the process. His lips move to kiss and suck on your neck.

“You’re already so perfect in every way, but, god, thinking about you pregnant with my baby just… does something to me.”

“I guess it’s a good thing neither of us have to work today then because I think both of us could use some quality time together,” you say. “In two hours, I have to start getting ready for my therapy appointment, though. Think that’s enough time to satiate us?”

Spencer kisses his way down your body, spending extra time on your stomach.

“No, but I’ll make it work for now.”

***

[8 WEEKS LATER]

“Okay guys, I need everyone’s attention,” JJ yells.

The bull pen quiets. She sent an email out this morning asking everyone in the unit to meet here at the end of the day for “an announcement”. You and Penelope have heard whispers around the office. People think JJ’s announcing that she’s pregnant again, which isn’t surprising given the fact that she’s the only one on the team with a kid.

A few days after the team got back, Spencer asked her if he could come over to talk to her and Will. She got one shock when you showed up with Spencer, arm-in-arm. The look of realization on her face when she opened the door was kind of priceless, though.

When you told her that you were pregnant, she actually gasped and brought her hands up to her mouth in shock. She’s been insanely supportive, obviously. Her pregnancy tips have also been a godsend. You probably wouldn’t have survived the first-trimester morning sickness otherwise.

Now that you’ve hit the 12-week mark, you’ve decided to tell everyone, both about the relationship, and about the baby. Might as well kill two birds with one stone, right? You can still hide your tiny baby bump for now, but it’s time to clear the air so you can shift your focus to celebrating and enjoying the pregnancy. Shortly after Spencer got back from Florida, you slowly began moving into his place. He’s had to move some of his books and you had to get rid of some of your purses and shoes, but this little peanut’s nursery is starting to come along.

“Thank you all for coming. So, we do have an announcement today, but it isn’t going to be from me,” JJ says.

Here goes nothing.

You step forward from the group and move to stand beside JJ.

“Hi, guys. So, I—uh, I know this announcement is going to come as quite a shock to you, but I need to tell you all that—,” your eyes lock onto Spencer’s to ground you, “that I am pregnant.”

Spencer gives you a private smile before surveying everyone’s reactions. The murmurs of discussion have returned, louder this time.

Dave marches right up to you, grabbing your face and kissing both of your cheeks before enveloping you in a hug.

“Another BAU grandchild for me! Brava, my dear!”

At your announcement, all Emily could manage was a loud, “Oh my god!” in shock. She comes up to you after Dave and gives you a big hug, rocking you side-to-side.

“Congratulations!” She lowers her voice to a whisper for only you to hear and says, “I can’t believe you’re fucking pregnant!”

“I can barely believe it myself most days. Trust me.”

With an air of cautious implication, Emily says, “I didn’t know you were seeing anyone.”

“Yeah, about that…” You shift your attention from Emily to the rest of the room to gather their attention. “Guys, there’s something else I have to tell you.”

Derek chimes in, “Don’t tell us it’s twins,” which elicits a few nervous laughs.

“If it was twins, you know Garcia would have already spilled the beans by accident,” you say.

Penelope, who has been relatively quiet throughout this announcement, speaks up to defend herself. “Hey! For the record, I have worked incredibly hard to keep this secret! My tongue hurts from biting it so much, so you all should be very proud of me!”

You hear Derek privately congratulate her with a “High-five, babygirl. I’m proud of you.”

“Oh, and I’ve been planning the shower for months, so nobody better start getting any ideas!” she adds.

“It’s not twins or triplets or any other form of multiples.” You make a vague gesture of circling your belly. “There’s just one bun in this oven. Depending on how well I’ve been keeping this next secret, this might be more or less of a surprise than the last one. I think everyone knows that I’ve been pretty single since I started working here, so I’m sure you’re all politely and quietly wondering how I found myself with child.”

You could hear a pin drop in this office right now as you swallow. Everyone’s eyes are on you and their anticipation feels like a weight in your chest. Then again, your abdominal organs are all being rearranged, so maybe your liver has just moved in on your diaphragm’s turf or something like that.

“No, it wasn’t immaculate conception. I was single when I started with the BAU, but I’ve become not-single since then and kept it a secret.”

It’s like you can see the gears turning in their heads as you wait for someone to connect the dots.

“We know the father.” Dave says. A statement, not a question.

As all eyes turn towards Spencer, Derek’s utter shock sets in. “No fucking way.”

Spencer’s face is slightly flushed, and he’s sporting a cute little smirk.

“How long has this been going on?” Emily asks, pointing between the two of you.

“You all might want to consider a different career,” you tease, walking over to Spencer and reaching out for his hand.

Finally.

Spencer answers, “As of today, 549 days.”

You follow that up with “Like, a year and a half,” which registers much better with the team.

Everyone remains quiet, their thoughts drifting to past interactions, looking for clues.

“You know, the more I think about it, the more sense it makes,” Emily says.

Derek picks his bag up from the floor beside him. “I think we could all use a drink after that bomb drop. Well, no drinks for Y/N, obviously,” he laughs. “You guys down?”

Dave grabs his bag, as well, and gestures in the direction of the elevators. “First round’s on me to celebrate!”

As everyone funnels out, you and Spencer trail just behind them. He kisses the top of your head and whispers, “We don’t have to hide anymore, baby.”

You look up at him and kiss him as you continue walking. It feels so damn weird to be kissing him in front of your colleagues like that, even though they’re all facing the other direction. It’s so open in here.

“Yeah, the hard part’s over. Now we just have to birth a child and raise them for at least 18 years. That shouldn’t be too difficult, right?” you say.

Spencer nods forward, in the direction of the team. “They say it takes a village, right?”

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yuurei20 · 18 days

Note

A little bit ago, I heard a fan mention something that implied Sebek’s grandfather’s name has two spellings in the English Server. I am not at Book 7 myself just yet, so I was not sure if it was true, however, I decided to look into it through footage on YouTube to verify if it was true. In Book 7 Chapter 26, Lilia mentions Sebek’s Grandfather’s name, and it is spelled “Baul.” Fast forward to Book 7 Chapter 56, and we get to see Sebek’s grandfather for the first time and his name is now spelled “Baur.”

Is either spelling technically correct? Why do you think the English localizers first spelled it “Baul” before changing it to “Baur”? Thank you!

Hello hello! ^^ Thank you for this question!

You are very correct: the first mention of Sebek's grandfather's name was written with an "L," while from the second mention onward it has been written with an "R," but the name is consistent on JP!

While I do not work for Aniplex USA I have been doing localization work for a few years now, and my guess would be: it was just a proof-reading error :>

It is possible that "Baul" was an early-draft localization that was changed to "Baur" at some point in the process, and they just happened to miss the first time that the name came up! Perhaps they opened the text files to 7-4 and did a search-and-replace for "Baul -> Baur," and did not think to check 7-2? ^^ We will never know!

(Aniplex USA is no stranger to continuity adventures: credit to Twitter's Kanna for discovering that EN has spelled "Felicity Cosmetics" three different ways.)

As for which is correct, we would have to ask Yana to be sure!

The Japanese language does not really have Rs and Ls--Riria, Lilia, Rilia, Liria? They're all the same in Japanese! (It is same with Rollo/Lolo/Roro/Loro and Ferro/Fello, etc., which is why there can be conflicting claims by both fan and even official translators (re: Baur/Baul) if a character's romaji has yet to be announced by the creator.)

Q: So how does someone know how their name is supposed to be spelled in romaji?

A: You decide for yourself! ^^ When you get a passport in Japan you register the romaji spelling that you want! So if Sebek's grandfather wanted to get a Japanese passport he could write either Baur or Baul, and whatever he chose would become the correct spelling!

Since he cannot decide for himself--as he is not real--the decision comes down to Yana, as his creator ^^ As of this post I do not believe that we have seen his name written anywhere in the JP game or on merchandise, etc., in romaji, so there is no way for us to know at the moment which she prefers.

This is likely the source of the problem with Felicity Cosmetics, as well! The EN team did not know the correct spelling as it was only ever written in Japanese, so they had to make something up!

We only just received the official spelling in the Tapis Rouge event :>

There is a new game guide coming out in September and there is a possibility that information about him will be included, so we may get confirmation one day! 🐊

#twstask #twisted wonderland

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enderpearlll · 2 years

Text

Yandere! Bob Velseb - My Favourite Employee. PT 1

An AU where you’re employed at Grills & Boys and Bob is your boss. That’s it. These are headcanons and I’m writing a second part with more yandere tendencies so… Yeah. Hope you enjoy.

Gender-Neutral reader, but pet names such as “darling” and “sweet pea” are used.

TW/CW: Yandere content, boss/employee dynamic, etc…

• Having recently been let go from a previous job, it was up to you to quickly find another so you could pay the bills. Luckily, you found a local restaurant that was willing to hire as quickly as you applied. It had a fair pay, and decent hours so you decided that working at Grills & Boys would be beneficial.

• When you went in for the interview, you had to talk to the manager; who was pretty well known around town. You were anxious about the whole thing, seeing as you never had much experience in food service. But your new manager Bob Velseb was awfully understanding of your situation, and was kind enough to hear you out.

• Bob was a joy to be around, and he didn’t make you feel pressured at all! He had a southern accent and a hearty laugh which only added to his charming personality, which immediately knocked down any worries you had. Bob was also oddly attentive to your every move, a weird look in his eyes when you would fidget or talk. It’s like he was staring into your soul…

“Thanks, Mr. Velseb—“ “Of course, don’t worry ‘bout anything! And you can call me Bob, no need for formalities.” “O—Oh, okay… Bob.”

• But you ignored it, and thus began training at Grills & Boys. Your new boss Bob was really involved in the process, (even though he would usually rely on another employee to train the new hires) and would be eager to answer any of your questions with a smile. Any mistakes you made were quickly taken care of or swept under the rug by Bob, who constantly reassured you that it was no big deal.

• You were a server, so you spent most of your time helping customers and taking orders. Most of the time you had decent customers, but of course there was certain people that were straight up assholes. Of course Bob wouldn’t let any mistreatment of you slide, and would immediately come to your aide. He would not let you deal with an angry customer if he had anything to say about it.

• He may be a friendly guy but man, when he’s angry it’s a sight to see. You’ve never been on the receiving end of it but you have witnessed unlucky coworkers or angry customers that tried to insult you deal with it. Of course, when everything is done and said Bob is immediately worrying about your well-being. He reassures that he’s not angry at you at all, and is constantly asking if you’re alright.

“I think he was just having a bad day boss, I don’t think that a permanent ban was necessary—“ “Nuh uh, he deserved it either way darlin’. Never really liked him anyways, hah!” “But he was a regular!” “Don’t worry about it pumpkin, how are you doin’? He didn’t hurt ya did he?”

• You quickly realize that you have a lot of privileges that none of your coworkers have. Aka, favouritism at its finest. Bob is constantly joking around with you, making you your favourite food from the menu for lunch everyday, letting you take longer breaks, acts more lax if you make mistakes, letting you take leftovers home, etc… Did you mention the pet names? He calls everyone else by name but you don’t think he’s said your name once.

• Bob feeds you a lot. Like a lot. “Ah, I think I’m good Boss.” “No worries sweet pea, just take ‘em! Don’t want you going hungry on me, okay?”

• It’s surprising to both you and your coworkers. Because to them, Bob had never really gotten close to anyone besides you. To you, a feeling of guilt is constant when you’re pampered while your coworkers suffer with extra work to do (because Bob gives you a really light workload while your coworkers are left behind doing the work YOU were supposed to do).

• You begin to grow close to Bob, despite the writhing feeling of guilt in your guts. He even asks you to help out in the kitchen, to which your coworkers are floored at. “Woah, he NEVER has anyone help him cook! Are you dating or something—?” “NO! Also, What? I thought that was normal, he asks me to do that almost every week!”

• He loved telling you little facts (that were rather morbid, actually and creeped you out more than they interested you) and would pick up on little habits and quirks you had. Bob was really attentive when it came to you, and from this he’s able to tell what you’re thinking or feeling. You’re amazed at first, it’s like he can read your mind. Bob also liked to tease you a lot, just to fluster you.

• It gets to a point where Bob begins to worry about your safety and well-being outside of work. He begins to call you outside of work, often to check up on you. “Hello, Bob? What’s up? Do I have to come in or—?” “Oh, no! I just wanted to check up on you dear! Did you eat yet?”

• Bob begins to crave your presence more than he should, and as a result you receive more hours. More hours than you could handle. You barely do your actual job and end up hanging out in the kitchen with Bob or run errands for him. It’s like he’s distracting you from doing your own job. You work from opening till closing for most of the week, and it takes a toll on your schedule and your personal life.

• Bob is far too nice to decline, and even if you did call in sick or give away your shifts he’d just keep calling you nonstop. You’re stressed with how much hours you have to work, and you always work opening and closing alone with Bob. He’s nice and really easy to work with, but you rarely see your other coworkers anymore.

“Hello? You okay darlin’?! You ain’t hurt or sick ain’t ya!?” “Bob. It’s eight in the morning.” I know, but you were supposed to be here with me, sweet pea...” “Oh, um… I gave my shift to someone else.” “Oh. Okay. Anyways, you sure that you’re okay—?” “Boss.”

• One night when you and Bob were closing he had offered to walk you home, seeing as it was late and all. You were rather reluctant to do so, seeing as he was your boss and you were perfectly capable of making it home safely. But Bob was persistent, and you couldn’t really decline him when the concern on his face was so convincing. You had a friendly conversation, which was mostly Bob prying into your personal life.

• Now, your boss had been oddly sparing with physical affection. He would often place a hand on your back, wrap an arm around your shoulders, etc… It was odd. Now that it was a chilly autumn night and you were visibly freezing, Bob took initiative to help you by offering his coat.

• It was oversized and was practically a cape, but you took it anyways. But the look on his face when you shrugged it on was almost creepy. You watched his eyes light up, and his whole body began to tremble and shake (you’re pretty sure it’s not because of the cold,) with excitement— Was he drooling?!

• Eventually you arrived at home, waving at Bob with an awkward smile on your face. He seemed to glow with glee as you smiled at him, waving back vigorously. As you took off your jacket and shoes, you felt a pit of dread in your stomach. You feel like you’ve made a grave mistake… Ah shit, you forgot to give Bob’s coat back too. Oh well, you’ll deal with everything tomorrow, you’re probably just worried because of stress… Right?

#yandere blog #yandere headcanons #yandere x reader #yandere fic #yandere writing #yandere x you #yandere bob velseb #yandere spooky month #bob velseb x reader #bob velseb #spooky month x reader #spooky month #yandere #my favourite employee

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ravnicacardsconverted · 3 months

Text

Mass Manipulation

7th-level Enchantment Casting Time: 1 hour Range: 100ft radius Components: V,S,M (Dimond Dust, A clay tablet with a detailed list of commands and triggers, a focus worth at least 1000gp.) Duration: 1 year Classes: Wizard

Description: Dusting the tablet with diamond dust and begining the casting process you lay out a list of at up to ten commands and triggers and write them on the tablet. these commands and triggers may be as simple as "sneeze uncontrollably when you see a dog", or a morbid and specific as "when you see the local adventuring party, attempt to capture or kill them and bring them to me. Dead of Alive"

Then you may designate any number of creatures you can see to not be affected by the spell. After the hour of casting, each non-protected humanoid within 100ft of you must succeed a wisdom saving throw. on a failed save that humanoid gains the list of Commands and Triggers. A creature affected by this is unaware of the presence of the this list and does not know a spell has been cast on them.

At Higher Levels: You may cast this spell using a 9th level spellslot instead. If this spell is cast using a 9th level spellslot the duration is indefinate and you may create up to twenty commands and triggers.

Join the Ravnica Cards Converted Discord and come hang out here https://discord.gg/PydYEEY (SERVER LINK)

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

To contact me directly for commision info or to just talk my Discord name is RavnicaCardsConverted#3451

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

#d&d #dnd #d&d5e #dnd5e #homebrew #d&d 5e #mtg #magic the gathering #mtg to dnd #dnd 5e #dnd spell #d&d spell #7th level spell #wizard #ravnica allegiance #enchantment

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the-64th-gamer · 1 month

Text

I feel like the last year has been a great push for me to slowly detach myself from giant companies and ensure what I do is in my control and ownership

Finally switched over to linux permanently

switched to firefox

enabled adblocker, sponsor blockers, and tracker removers

disabled autoplay and the recommendations sidebar on YouTube (highly highly encourage, though I still keep the homepage open so I can choose when to browse new suggested content rather than it pestering me)

downloaded all my tumblr posts and now host them parallel on my website (stuck here until we find some decentralized way of doing social media right)

cleared out 99% of my online storage to now be on multiple hard-drive backups

downloaded locally all my music

removed myself from basically every data tracking social media platform except this and YouTube

And now currently I'm trying to consolidate all my feeds into just an RSS reader.

It takes a long time and a lot of planning, but its very rewarding to take control over what you want to see, how you see it, how its formatted, ect. I find these are my steps to an easy transition off a certain service:

Download all your data and back it up. Now your account can be deleted at any time with no remorse.

Find browser extensions that enhance and modify the experience to what you might need. Use that to tangibly guide your preferences. Go ahead and remove the app on your phone if its there.

Research every alternative service and try them out. Begin moving certain activity exclusively to the alternative. Take time getting used to it and see if its better to try more alternatives.

Completely jump ship, delete the account, move all feeds or settings over.

Its an ongoing process but there's still probably a few more years of this to go through. Future plans are:

Completely remove all prior emails and self host a new one

Get off Discord entirely except for running the wiki server. It sucks that Discord is so prevalent. Probably move to various forums. Maybe look into some sort of forum management software such as how RSS feeds tame articles and videos into one place.

Setup adblockers directly into my router so ads won't even appear on phones.

Setup my phone to just straight up also run linux. There's a few mobile-designed linux platforms to look into until I decide.

#my goober speech patterns

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a-roguish-gambit · 4 months

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Oh goddddd. Something I reblogged earlier today has given me the best/worst x men brainrot

X-Men maid cafe.

It starts out simple enough with a need for money to help cover maintenance costs at the school. Shit gets blown up/destroyed all the time there. Tis expensive AF.

The queer community is the most mutant friendly out there and many of the X-Men are some flavor of not straight so Charles puts it up to Scott and the others to come up with a way to do a 50/50 split donation drive of sorts in combination with the local LGBT rights org for the school and the org at a local pride festival.

People are brainstorming shit and aren't coming up with anything and then morph jokes "lol what if we did that shit they do in all the super power school animes where they have a maid cafe"

The girls all roll their eyes. Most of the guys look unamused. Jean Grey telepathically flicks a paperclip at them. Then Gambit speaks up, suddenly very enthusiastic about the idea and tries to encourage the others to do the idea.

Storm immediately shuts him down. Jean grey tries to challenge him "sure we can do that...except in the spirit of pride it should be a drag cafe. Women as butlers, men as maids" hoping it would scare him off.

Gambit just looks more enthused. "PERFECT! GAMBIT LOVES DAT IDEA!"

The room is silent. Storm, jean, and rogue share surprised looks before shrugging their shoulders and voting yes. Kurt, Bobby, and morph are up for it too. With majority vote they go through with it.

Gambit and jean fight over the menu. Gambit wanting a full restaurant style menu going and Jean furiously reminding him that this is only going to be up for like a week and none of his choices are cafe food.

They some how manage to get Logan into the outfit and he looks like an angry cat some child played dress up with.

Jubilee working the kitchen and sending the items out with the gayest most sparkling presentation.

Bobby was declared the milkshake king by a group of LGBT gen Zers.

They have donation jars marked with each server's name labeled "tell us which server is your favorite" Hank and Kurt are tied for first place.

Hank is so confused people keep telling him he's amazing and wonderful and keeping asking him for hugs even if they are not attracted to him at all.

Local poetry lesbians have adopted him as their group guy friend.

Kurt: "vy do že keep calling me 'twink'? Pretty sure it's a compliment but I vish I knew vat it meant."

The bi community stanning rogue and gambit. The same group of 10 or so bi peeps coming in and stuffing their jars with ones.

They ended up coming up with x men themed treats. There's cupcakes with little red candy sunglasses on them for cyclops, and a midnight blue flan style pudding with strawberries for nightcrawler. And of course Remy beignet.

Charles is oblivious to this until they open up shop. Goes in to check out how stuff is going, sees just students in non X-Men costumes and just....processes for a few minutes before saying "good work. Have fun" and wheeling himself out the door.

Idk this is probably dumb but I love it ok let them do stupid stuff

#x men #x men comics #charles xavier #gambit #rogue #beast #wolverine #morph #jean grey #cyclops #nightcrawler #iceman #sweet-tea #mod talks

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codingquill · 8 months

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Network switches

What’s a network switch ?

A switch is a device used in computer networks to connect multiple devices together within a single local area network (LAN). Its main role is to facilitate communication between different connected devices, such as computers, printers, servers, IP phones, etc.

It is a mini-computer which is made up of RAM, ROM, flash RAM, NVRAM, a microprocessor, connectivity ports and even an operating system.

RAM

RAM (Random Access Memory) contains the current configuration of the switch and temporarily stores the MAC address table, which is then processed by the microprocessor.

Microprocessor

The microprocessor is the heart of the switch, responsible for data processing, including switching and creating links between multiple devices.

External memories

External memories, such as flash RAM, ROM, and NVRAM (Non-Volatile RAM), store configuration files , different versions of the IOS , etc ...

Ports

The switch ports are the communication interfaces of the switch. There are several of them, generally 24 for a Cisco switch. Each port is associated with an LED which indicates its status and activity.

How does it work ?

Now how does a switch work to transfer information from one machine to another?

Suppose we have 4 machines: A, B, C and D connected to our switch in ports 1, 2, 3 and 4 as follows:

The switch only works with MAC addresses , so basically we have an empty MAC address table stored in RAM as soon as the switch starts up which looks like this :

Transmitting data from machine A to machine B happens in the following steps:

Machine A sends a frame to machine B

Once this frame arrives at port 1 (which is the one linked to A), the switch reads the source MAC address and stores it in the MAC address table

The switch reads the destination MAC address and looks for it in the table, if it is not in the table, it broadcasts to all the active machines connected to the switch except the source one.

If the port linked to the machine we want is active, it sends a response frame from which the switch reads the MAC address we were looking for (@B)

Once done, it records the MAC address of B in the table.

This process repeats until the switch reaches what is called "MAC address table stability", that is to say it knows all the MAC addresses of the connected machines and has no more need to broadcast.

Starting and configuring a switch

When it comes to booting a switch, the process is similar to that of a traditional computer system:

POST (Power-On Self Test): The switch performs proper functioning tests on all hardware.

Loading IOS (Internetwork Operating System): The switch operating system is loaded.

Loading the configuration. At this stage we have two cases:

Either the switch already has a startup configuration defined and stored in NVRAM

Either the switch is blank and it is up to us to define the startup configuration when it goes to setup mode

Switch configuration

The configuration of a switch is done through different modes, such as user mode, privileged mode and global configuration mode, which allows access to specific configuration modes, such as interface mode, routing mode, line mode, etc.

And to do all this of course you must first connect the switch with the machine via the console cable and open a terminal emulator

💡 It should be noted that the only machine that can configure the switch is the one connected to it by a console cable, the others are only hosts.

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hussyknee · 2 years

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Guys, Z-library is back up, but it desperately needs our help.

Z-Library is one of the largest online libraries in the world. We aim to make literature accessible to everyone. Today, Z-Library contains over 12,140,413 books and 84,837,000 articles Z-Library has many servers all over the world. Our stored data now totals more than 220 TB! Every month, millions of people use Z-Library for their purposes — and that means we are on the right track. But it will be difficult to achieve our goals without your help.

As you may know, almost all public domains of the library were blocked in November 2022 by order of the US Secret Service. The inner infrastructure of the project suffered some substantial damage too. Today, we are still under unprecedented pressure. At the moment, Z-Library is going through the hardest times in all the 14 years of its existence. The library might work with interruptions, and we ask you to be patient. Be sure – we are doing everything possible to provide free access to knowledge for millions of people across the globe, and we expect you to help us with that and to support us.

But despite all the difficulties, the library continues to function and develop. We have recently introduced several important features: the new recommendations section, comments to booklists, the new web-site menu, personal domains and Telegram Bot, and more.

Your active support gives strength to our Team and inspires to work. Each donated dollar is not only money for us, but it is also the confidence that you really need our project!

On 15 March 2023, as in March and September of each year, we launched additional fundraising to project maintenance and development. We will be extremely thankful for every dollar that will be donated. Furthermore, UNLIMITED downloads (for 1 month) are available for ALL contributors who will donate during the fundraising period. The fundraising will run until 1 April 2023

Millions of people use Z-Library every month for their purposes — this shows us that we are on the correct track. But it will be difficult to achieve our goals without your help.

Please consider making a donation.

I know there's a lot of discourse around book piracy right now, but you know who absolutely cannot afford to buy your books in dollars, afford the shipping fees, or don't have access/ travelling distance to the kind of fully stocked libraries you have in the West? The Global South. Our factories make your Kindles, your phones, your textbooks, and then we can't afford to buy them from your corps that sell them at around 300% grate price, and half the books are not even available for our region. Our universities don't get your funding or recognition, and when we do sell our personal possessions to get the money and work our asses off to get admittance to Western universities, y'all use us as grunts, exploit us and pass our work off as your own. Worse still, you buy out our local publishing houses and shut them down.

You cannot imagine the extent of global apartheid and colonial economic order that capitalism runs on. Amazon cheats you out of royalties? We can't even afford to buy your books. A dollar can buy someone a full dinner here. These sites – Z-lib, Internet Archive, Libgen, Open Library, Sci-Hub, PDF Drive, LibriVox – they are essential to granting the global majority our human right to knowledge, education and access. Z-Lib is by far the best one of them all.

You will first need to sign up to Z-Lib and access it through the private domain link they send you. It's a simple process, and every little bit counts. You're a leftist that believes in equal access for all? Then literally, put your money where your mouth is.

#social justice #z library #books #free access #inequality #libraries #global south #capitalism #academia #white academia #amazon #publishing #reading #education #colonialism #decolonization #activism #knee of huss #piracy

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dsmppinup · 1 year

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DSMP Pin-Up Calendar - Details and FAQ

TIMELINE:

Applications Open: August 11

Applications close: August 25

Invites to artists sent: August 30

Printing: Late October DSMP Pin-Up Calendar is an artistic celebration of the characters of the DSMP, drawing inspiration from the creativity of the fandom community, "hot guy" calendars, action movie posters, classic pin-ups, vintage advertisements, art prints, and more, in the form of a 2024 calendar. FAQ:

Which characters are going to be in the calendar? There are 38 people on the DSMP, so we're not going to be able to fit them all. We're going to attempt to build a portfolio that covers as many characters as possible, but we're not deciding on which characters specifically until we know which artists we have and what ideas for images they have.

Are the characters played by minors involved? There are no current minors involved with the DSMP, but we understand that the creators being underage for much of the server's run puts a bit of a damper on enjoying more salacious images of the characters. In cases where artists decide they want to draw a character who was underage for a significant period of time of the DSMP, we'll ask that their images tend closer to "action movie poster" or "vintage advertisement" than "pin up".

Is NSFW allowed? We want this calendar to be fun and a bit cheeky, and we want to allow the artists creative liberty, but we also want you to be able to display this without your parents going "what the hell"? No actual NSFW will be part of the calendar.

I want to draw [x] character, can I draw them? During the application and planning process, we'll ask artists to indicate which characters they want to draw. We will then draw up a plan for the calendar, and artists will be assigned a character or characters based on the ones they selected.

Do the images have to stay canon-compliant? Can I draw my own design for a character? We encourage you to bring your own designs to the table, and feel free to set the characters within a canon setting OR an au.

How will I get the calendar? We will be printing a bound calendar through a central source, probably Mixbox, and we will also be making a PDF version that you can print yourself locally, if you have a different print source in mind or if the website doesn't ship to your country.

How much money are you making from this? We are not making any money from this project. If you buy the calendar through a source that asks you to pay for it, it will be priced at-cost, so you will only be paying for the cost of the printing and shipping. The mod team will see no profit from it.

How does the process work? We are going to open the calendar up to applications, and then we're going to go through the apps and select artists that can draw a wide variety of characters. Once in the discord, we're going to ask artists to pitch us a variety of ideas, and then the mod team is going to select pitches to make sure we, ideally, get a variety of different images and characters represented. We will then go through sketches, final, layout, and then release it for you all to buy or print!

#DSMP Pinup Calendar #Fandom Calendar #DSMP #DSMPblr #mcyt #mcytblr

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coconox · 3 months

Text

my 2 cents on the state of whb

i've been contemplating about my thoughts on this game since i never really sat down and processed it, and a month of not playing the game and just keeping up with fandom content/official game news i think i can properly format my words (hopefully idk lol)

if you're looking for a specific section dw i'll properly format everything under the cut so you can just scroll till you find whatever you're looking for (also head's up it's insanely long i'm sorry but kinda not sorry i wanted to just put all my thoughts into one post rather than multiple)

SMALL INTRO

for some context on my experience, i have been playing this game everyday since launch/day 1, i was f2p up until i got juno's card, which i'll talk about later, but just know in advanced that juno was the only case where i've spent money. i uninstalled around the time the announcement was made in regards to no posting full stories of paid content, so almost month ago, and only reinstalled recently to grab certain items to add to the spreadsheet that i've been maintaining since november (aka a month after launch)

i've said it privately to a couple of close friends but i'll say it publicly here: imho, i think they released the game way too early even with the fact that they delayed launch 3 times.

i understand a handleful of bugs are from the fact that the public servers are significantly larger than test servers, but playing this game after the servers kinda stabilized feels like we are the test players, like we're constantly given rough drafts rather than the final copy.

the localization is rough to say the least, but i think i've been so used to it from other gachas that i've played that it didn't really ruin the experience for me,,, except when the text would switch to an entirely different language HJGFDHJGK

from visual bugs to gameplay bugs to voiceline bugs, there's been a lack of communication in terms of what has been fixed and what is still a wip. instead the players just have to "fuck around and find out" in terms of whether something has been fixed or not.

as i continue to state the issues with this game and its direction i'd like to put a disclaimer that i am by no means an expert in any of this stuff lol. i'm just a guy who nerds out over math, spreadsheets, and video games and everything i'll be saying is my personal opinion based on what i've seen/experienced.

THE ISSUE(S)

SOLOMON SEALS AND GACHA

i think the first mistake was them adding solomon seals in the first place. based on what packs in the past looked like, it looked like red keys were originally designed to be for debut characters, but instead they throw a curve ball and add ANOTHER gacha currency that was essentially p2w only up till some point early this year. this ultimately led to there being 2 standard banners, both of which essentially do the same thing except one doesn't have A/B/C-ranks. the fact that now even with realm of seraphim, in order for f2ps to have enough to guarantee with seals, they need to save for a year and a half. that is WAY too long for ONE character. this is of course worst case scenario of needing to hit pity, i'm aware you can get characters early but you should never always expect you'll get early in gacha games, i learned that the hard way during my idk how many years i've been playing gachas lol

i personally think that there's no winning across any of the gacha banners. there's no pity for either of the standards, and debut L/S-ranks have imo too high of a pity for what we're actually receiving per week. we essentially get more or less 1 pull per week in terms of red keys, yellow keys, and seals through dailies/weeklies alone, though of course that can vary cause of the rng key boxes, monthly login rewards, etc.

PANCAKES

there seems to be a general pattern that i've noticed of rather than confronting an issue directly they try to create something new in hoping that fixes the issue instead. an example of that would be the pancake shop.

the old pancake shop was fine as is, we could get a multi for relatively cheap price and get pie boxes everyday (albeit they're rng but pies are pies). what they could've done was add the L-ranks and skip tickets or whatever new thing they wanted to add into that old shop, adjusting the currency wherever necessary. yet instead they just remove the old system entirely and replace it for a new one that no one really asked for? while having the L-ranks in shop are nice, an entirely new system wasn't necessary to make that one relatively small addition. having A+-ranks and lower give gold and books was also not necessary, we have resource stages containing those 2 things and it's very accessible to everyone. what resources we are lacking in however are tears and pies, which are arguably more important than gold and books since those 2 currencies are the core to ascending/lvling characters and their skills.

PIES

i've emailed pb in the past in regards to if there will be other permanent methods for obtaining pies, and their response was holy coin portal and events. those two are NOT stable enough for pie income considering the prices of skills. if there's instances in unholy board where we need to level a character's skills, i'd expect there to be some sort of resource stage that would allow us to get pies so that we can easily obtain that skill level requirement.

"META" GAMEPLAY

i'll explain the quotes in a bit but i do want to put a disclaimer that whb was the first time i've experienced a full on tower defense style gameplay for gachas. i was already familiar with how it works kinda because of neural cloud even though the game as a whole is more like an auto-chess game of sorts, but some story gameplay had tower defense mechanisms and i learned a fair bit from playing that. personally i also haven't played arknights since i'm trying to cut down on the amount of gachas i play but i am aware of its playstyle through friends who like to attempt to drag me into playing it cause of certain characters that i might simp over (*cough flamebringer cough insider cough chongyue cough*)

disclaimer aside, trying to piece together what characters work and what don't genuinely hurts my brain. i put "meta" in quotes because realistically there's only 1: all L-rank light types, ideally at least 1 tank, maybe 1 healer (though a tank can act as both), rest be whatever dps you'd like really (preferably satan considering the fact he can be extremely reliable without his ultimate unlike a few characters). of course, everyone will have a different opinion on what they deem as meta, but that's the general idea i'd personally follow based on what kind of battles have been given to us, what characters are available, etc. the rest tbh are just "cope and seethe" for lack of a better term.

there's a huge type advantage with light and dark types, and i really wish they could buff the other elements more just show they have some spotlight too. i also wish there were more non-light L-ranks. as of making this post, out of the 23 L-rank characters there is currently only 1 non-light L-rank, and it's juno, an L-rank fire marksman.

the part that really "hurts" me the most (don't really know what other word to put here LOL) is the fact that this game is going in a very specific direction of just dps'ing through everything and hope you clear the stage before the enemies kill you.

this game has a huge and imbalanced ratio between dps characters and support characters regardless of element. the fact that we only have 5 healers (NOT including lucifer (victory) considering he's technically a marksman and the healing is from his artifact and not in his skills) and 8 tanks, whereas marksman and close-rangers have twice or thrice the amount is absurd. what pains me more is the fact that for tanks, if you don't have mammon, you're screwed. arguably the best non-mammon option players have that's accessible is bimet. valefor and eligos share the same kit with the fact that their downfall is the possibility that they could be instakilled the second they pop their ult. healers on the other hand are somewhat more lenient. if you don't have lucifer, marbas is your next best, then gamigin (marbas and gamigin can technically be placed interchangeably since their healing differs by 0.1%, it just depends on who you have), then morax, then maybe buer but he only heals 1 unit at a time rather than multiple but i digress. healers still have multiple and very reliable non-L-rank alternatives whilst tanks really only have 1. i really, really hope there's more support units in the future cause man this sucks.

NIGHTMARE PASS

spending $50-$70, on paper, is significantly better than spending ~$400 for a character, and that's really the only "good" thing about it 💀

$50-$70 may feel like nothing to some players, but to a majority, that is a portion of a cost towards food, groceries, rent, etc. basically, i'd assume a majority of people would prioritize surviving than watching pixels on a screen.

i understand at the end of the day pb is running a business, but for kings to be fully locked behind a paywall knowing for a fact that a majority of the player base are 1. casuals/f2ps and 2. are here for the kings is absurd. plus with the fact that typically nightmare pass characters aren't added to standard and aren't always 100% guaranteed to rerun in the future just puts the nail in the coffin for me.

i think it makes more sense for non-kings like juno to be in nightmare pass because it's just additional fun and silly content that arguably won't be tied to the main lore and whatnot, maybe referenced as a silly bit here or there but it'd be more of an easter egg than something important that you absolutely need to know.

personally i bought juno's pass because i love his design, kit, and voice. story was kinda meh for me personally but i really just cared more about the va and gameplay. gameplay-wise, he certainly does not disappoint as a gehenna support unit. but do i regret purchasing him? yes and no. oddly enough this was probably the first i've ever felt guilty in terms of buying something i wanted in a gacha game. yes i regret it in terms of i'm no longer really playing this game anymore, which is unfortunate considering i barely made it through half a year of this game's release. yet at the same time, no i don't regret it because he is a really fun unit. for example, when it's gabriel's rotation in realm of seraphim, juno's, leraye (nostalgia)'s, and leraye's ultimates absolutely DESTROY gabriel in a matter of like <10 or so seconds and it's so satisfying to see. i also just really like his va, scratches a very particular itch in my brain.

anyways before i get sidetracked over appreciating juno, the fundamental flaws of nightmare pass are essentially

you shouldn't need to buy both tiers to get the character. you should realistically need to buy the highest tier and by default it unlocks all previous tiers below it

ui is a bit confusing. i still don't get why f2ps have to unlock parts of nightmare pass that they can't even access/obtain. there should be a clear separation between what f2ps get, what advanced tier gets, and what premium tier gets.

it's too expensive. most bp's i know are ~$10 at the highest tier, though that's considering the fact that bp's i'm familiar with only give cosmetics rather than actual units

from what i've heard through the grapevine, beel (bath) is basically in the same formatting as all the other currently existing bath cards, which are all currently obtainable through gacha. beel has no reason to be in nightmare pass. it genuinely makes no sense as to why pb put him there aside from getting money and that in-turn alienates a majority of the fan base since we can't even view the prologue of card stories if they're a nightmare pass character.

when nightmare pass was first released during christmas, everything was in chaos. the fact that a nightmare pass character needed the other two limited gacha characters gameplay-wise is absurd (mind you, this was before we were given the chance to earn seals through weeklies). everything was too expensive, and rather than an enjoyable christmas event it felt like a "merry christmas, now give us money" kind of situation. i think nightmare pass should not be happening as frequent as it is now. the gap between gabriel and juno was perfectly fine (4 month gap btw), but for a nightmare pass to happen back to back on top of gacha events is too much for both f2ps and p2ws.

the point of buying packs, bp, anything that costs real money in a gacha game is so it makes your gameplay experience easier, paying shouldn't be the main component of your game. personally based on what i've experienced through playing gacha games you should theoretically be able to pull for almost every character on debut just by playing dailies/weeklies/events, yet here we get a bit over a multi per patch (this includes playing realm of seraphim).

DICTATING FANDOM INTERACTIONS

i wholeheartedly believe a fandom is what keeps a game alive. a hindrance to the fan base is a hindrance to the game, which can be seen with the aftermath of pb announcing that legal action will be taken if full stories of paid content are shared publicly. while i understand from a business standpoint that pb would want to enforce the "no sharing full story" thing for paid content since they want players to yk, buy the card, like i mentioned in the previous section, the majority of the player base just cannot afford it.

the people who posted full stories wanted to share to those who cannot afford it, some people may not want only tidbits of the story but rather the whole context, especially those who enjoy dissecting character lore but don't have the irl funds to fully experience it themselves. some people may even want to archive it, cause honestly no one knows how long this game will stay up and we want to archive story so that it's something we can easily look back on. to essentially make players borderline terrified on trying to figure out whether or not it's ok to publicly post stuff in relation to any sort of story content is absurd.

there is also that loophole of what is defined as a paid story. when events end and get put behind a paywall, does that now count as paid story or is that still ok? what about debut L-ranks that are behind seals and there's a 3 month downtime till they're added to standard? or is it just referring to nightmare pass characters? paid stories in the context of the state of the game right now is insanely broad, it's practically at least 50% of this game (i'm exaggerating (or maybe not i wouldn't be surprised if that was actually the case)).

i understand no datamining, while it technically speaking isn't illegal, it's disrespectful to the devs, but a lot of these call to action methods they're announcing are rather extreme imo.

with the most recent cards either being put to standard 3 months after their banner ends or flat out paywalled and not 100% guaranteed to have a rerun, story content as of late has been very sparse. what people want most is a main story update, which we were originally promised to be updated every 3 months and it is now month 6 and we still have nothing.

EVENTS AND EVENT STORIES

event stories being locked behind a paywall after the event ends is probably the first time i've ever seen a gacha game do this. most of the gachas i've played either don't archive event story at all and just rerun it every year, don't rerun or archive the event at all (i.e. if you miss it, cope and seethe), or they archive it for FREE. it feels insanely greedy how EVERY event story needs payment if you ever want to backread an old event.

what also concerns me is the fact like instances like gamigin's event or beleth's event carry so much lore for their respective region and that may never show up in main story, which then screws new players over in not knowing the full context behind every region. events like minhyeok's or bimet's are fine in the sense that it doesn't carry that much lore in comparison to the more recent events. the first few events were like silly banter and getting to know a bit more about the cast.

also changing the event shop from daily pies to a set limit per account was an awful choice it just emphasizes my point earlier of how unstable obtaining pies are in this game.

FULFILLING PROMISES

i think while it was a smart move to list what's gonna be implemented throughout the year, they shouldn't have stated deadlines on when they're doing so.

the following are the things that still aren't implemented yet as of making this post:

new daily chats (expected within february)

friends system (expected within march)

birthday system (more specifically celebrating your bday) (expected within april)

new main story chapter (new chapter expected every 3 months)

if pb were to just say "here's what to expect in 2024" and NOT give specific months, that's fine, but giving these specific months sets an expectation that they would complete it within that timeframe. main story for example is probably the one people have been anticipating the most. by now as of july, if we were to follow the expectation pb gave us, we would currently be on chapter 7, or at the very least chapter 7 would've been released some time this month. we have not even gotten chapter 6 yet. chapter 5 was released in january. it has been 6 months since the last main story update. failing to meet these timeframes will make people upset, because it was mentioned in the announcement that it's 1. a promise (i hope i'm not the only one that takes promises seriously) and 2. in bold yellow text, "what we can realistically expect to see in 2024." the only promises that were fulfilled on-time were the ones in january, the rest have been delayed by at least a month. if you're giving a timeline of what's happening, announce if there's any changes to that timeline, because not doing so will make players believe you were lying to them even though you probably aren't and are instead just falling behind schedule.

i think what hurts more to me is the fact that they aren't publicly communicating these delays. it shouldn't be our responsibility to find out why or when something isn't happening within the timeframe they promised (e.g. by emailing them), it should be up to the devs to communicate that publicly to us. i'm not saying they should overshare what's going on behind the scenes, it can simply just be a simple announcement of "hey, we're very sorry but we're having some technical difficulties with this certain feature and we need more time. here is some compensation in the meantime, thank you for your patience and again, we're very sorry." it's that simple.

FINAL THOUGHTS

i mentioned back in my intro that i feel like this game was released too early purely because the fundamentals of making a bare minimum decent gacha game are just not there. if every patch update has people complaining on what's just recently been added/removed, you're not fully listening to what the audience wants. while i understand pb is a small business, a business is still a business regardless of size and criticism/feedback is necessary especially in a game dev setting.

i've followed this game's news ever since it was teased, which was december of 2022, i've lurked/participated in the fandom (on here at least) ever since september of 2023. i've felt a rollercoaster of thoughts and emotions of "omg this is so great" to "why is this even a feature," hoping that over time the game would get better, but the only thing that's improved was server stability (and even that's still a bit rocky 💀).

a huge part of my stay was just being a lurker in the fandom. i genuinely appreciate all the creatives who fulfill asked prompts of characters, make ocs, fanart, write theories, reactions + many more. i love seeing other people's works/opinions and having just a lively fandom made it all more fun.

but at this point this game is just not for me. i've really only stuck around to read mammon's lore but since main story hasn't been updated in 6 months i'll really only chime back in when there's finally an update. it still amazes me to this day that my patience lasted this long. i think i've covered everything i wanted to cover but my memory is swiss cheese so if i forgot something,,, woops 💀

as for the future of the spreadsheet for those who check back on it, it's still being managed by myself and windy, who has been a huge help since day 1 of creating the build lists and team comps and i honestly can't thank her enough for also enduring this pain of a game with me as we've worked on this spreadsheet together hgjdfgh (luv u bestie 🫶). though it's written in the narrative that both of us will eventually quit updating it entirely if this game persists on not having any signs of improvement. when that day comes i'll make sure to post an announcement about it.

as for myself i'm probably still gonna lurk in the fandom/keep an eye out on game news. i doubt i'll be making any fanart anymore unless if i really have the motivation/boredom for it, but currently i'm revamping the "aesthetics" of this account so nothing's really set in stone. maybe i'll make a few whb rambles here or there if some game news really irks me but for the most part i've already been in the process of moving on to other things.

if you've stuck around this long to read this mess of a post, thank you for sticking around and have a cookie, you deserve it 🫴🍪

#good grief this post was longer than i expected LOL #silly rambles #whb

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