#maximum legend challenge

[namelessdeceased]

28-10-24 ╵ monday ╵ mlc day 4/100

welcome welcome! hii. ive had quite a nice weekend i think, had a lot of fun in D&D yesterday morning and i got SUCH COOL GIFTS from my uncle. he gave me his old DMG, which is INSANE cause its so surreal to actually have it. he also gave my sibling (as a post-PSLE gift) and i his old switch and a couple games, which is GODLY and INSANE. i have an interview tmr for STEM TD so i'm just going to cram some research into the topics i mentioned i was interested in in my email and prep some points about scientific communication i'd like to talk on. have a nice day guys :)

🗝 to-do (>6)

studyblr post

review black hole slides

review old script for BJC

do some wikipedia deep dives on schrodinger's, deeper than i have

maybe look at some QCD articles, just to get the gist

assemble videos and clips on google photos

mayb find editing software?

tell players about their feats and levelup benefits (devina first)

📀 finding your casual magic e.3 〢 unjaded jade

JADE JADE JADE!! so happy.

╰ theo 🪐

[kittenan2]

Troubleshoot My Heart

Trope: IT Helpdesk Chaos Pairing: Grumpy Genius IT Guy!Yoongi × Bored, Unhinged Newbie!Reader Warnings: Explicit 18+ content, office romance, age gap (~10 years), smut, forbidden romance, workplace chaos Word Count: ~5k Rating: 18+ | Explicit | Minors DNI Some viruses come from shady websites. Others wear glasses and a smirk.

The office is a prison of beige and buzzwords. At 22, you’re a fresh graduate, drowning in Excel spreadsheets and shared calendars that multiply like roaches. Your cubicle is a purgatory of motivational posters and recycled air, and the 4 PM quarterly update call is sucking the last dregs of your soul. The presenter’s voice drones on about “synergy” and “KPIs,” and you’re half-asleep, chin propped on your hand, when boredom—your old, reckless friend—whispers in your ear.

Just one click. For the thrill.

You know better. You do. But the corporate firewall is a challenge, and you’re restless. So you type a shady URL (NSFW) into the browser, something you overheard in a freshers' group chat about “exclusive content.” It’s blocked, of course—big red warning, “Access Denied.” But not before something slips through. Your laptop stutters, screen flickering, then freezes entirely. A pop-up screams: “CRITICAL ERROR: SYSTEM COMPROMISED.”

Panic claws at your chest. You mash keys, but nothing works. The IT helpdesk form is your only salvation, a digital confessional for your sins. You type, hands shaking: “System acting weird. Might’ve clicked something. Send help (preferably cute help).” You hit submit and pray.

Ten minutes later, he arrives.

Min Yoongi, head of IT support, is a walking paradox: hoodie under a blazer, dark hair falling into sharper eyes, and a voice so low it should be illegal. At 32, he’s a legend in the office—not for charm, but for fixing disasters with minimal words and maximum disdain. He doesn’t look at you as he drops into your chair, his fingers flying over your keyboard.

“Did you accidentally download six trojans,” he says, not asking, “or was that part of your productivity strategy?”

You lean against the cubicle wall, feigning innocence. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just… clicked a link.”

He glances at you, one brow raised, and you feel it—a spark, like static from a bad outlet. His glasses slide down his nose as he mutters, “Idiots who think VPNs make them invincible.” But he’s already working, pulling up diagnostics, his hands moving with a precision that makes your throat dry.

The screen stabilizes. He stands, brushing past you, close enough that you catch the faint scent of coffee and cedar. “Don’t do it again,” he says, and he’s gone.

But you’re already hooked.

By Wednesday, the office is a hamster wheel of monotony, and Yoongi’s dry wit is your only lifeline. You decide to make a game of it: How far can I push the grumpy IT guy before he cracks? It’s not just boredom driving you—it’s the way his eyes linger a fraction too long, the way his voice dips when he’s annoyed. You want to unravel him.

Your first move is small but deliberate. You submit a ticket: “Mouse not working. Urgent.” He shows up, slouching into your cubicle, glasses catching the fluorescent light. “Urgent,” he repeats, voice flat as he picks up the mouse. It’s unplugged. His eyes flick to you, narrowing. “Really?”

You bat your lashes, all innocence. “It just… stopped. Maybe it’s shy?”

He snorts, plugging it back in with a flick of his wrist. “Shy. Right. Next time, check the cable before you waste my time.” But he’s lingering, leaning closer as he tests the mouse, his arm brushing yours. You catch a hint of his cologne—cedar, sharp—and your pulse spikes.

“Waste your time?” you say, tilting your head. “I thought you liked visiting me.”

His fingers pause on the mouse. He looks at you, and there’s a glint in his eyes—half irritation, half something else. “You’re gonna be trouble,” he mutters, but he doesn’t move away.

By Thursday, you’re bolder. You spill a splash of coffee on your desk—nowhere near your laptop, but close enough to justify a ticket: “Coffee incident. Laptop at risk. Save me.” Yoongi arrives, tie loose, sleeves rolled up, exposing forearms that make your brain short-circuit. He scans the desk, sees the tiny puddle, and sighs, long and suffering. “This is what you call a crisis?”

You lean forward, letting your blouse gape just enough to draw his eye. “Could’ve been. Better safe than sorry, right?”

He grabs a tissue, wiping the desk with exaggerated care, his movements slow, deliberate. “You know,” he says, voice low, “if you keep crying wolf, one day I might not come.”

You pout, twirling a strand of hair. “Oh, Yoongi, you’d miss me too much.”

He freezes, just for a second, then tosses the tissue in the trash. “Keep dreaming, princess.” But his voice is rougher, and when he leans over to check your laptop, his shoulder brushes yours, lingering a beat too long.

Friday, you go for broke. Ticket: “Desktop icons too aggressive. Hostile work environment.” He shows up, arms crossed, leaning against your cubicle like he’s bracing for a storm. “Aggressive icons,” he deadpans. “Care to explain?”

You point at the screen, where your perfectly normal icons sit innocently. “They’re glaring at me. It’s intimidating.”

He stares at you, then at the screen, then back at you. “You’re unbelievable.” He slides into your chair, closer than necessary, his knee brushing your thigh as he pretends to inspect the screen. “Maybe they’re just mad you keep breaking shit.”

You gasp, mock-offended. “Language, Min Yoongi. What would HR say?”

He smirks, typing something pointless. “HR would say you’re a menace who needs constant supervision.” His fingers brush yours as he slides the laptop back, and the contact sends a jolt through you. “Or maybe just a leash.”

Your breath catches, but you recover fast, leaning in until your lips are inches from his ear. “Only if you’re the one holding it.”

He stiffens, glasses slipping down his nose. For a moment, you think you’ve gone too far, but then he updates your ticket with a note:

Try restarting. If that doesn’t work, I’m available. For troubleshooting. Or kissing. Whichever works first.

You choke on your smoothie, heart hammering. He’s already walking away, but you catch the smirk on his lips. Game on.

The flirting is a full-blown war now. You’re addicted to the way Yoongi’s jaw tightens when you push his buttons, the way his eyes darken when you get too close. You call him for every minor issue, each ticket a thinly veiled excuse to see him. He knows it, and he’s playing along, showing up in person even when he could resolve things remotely or send someone else. His sarcasm is sharper, but so is the heat in his gaze.

Monday morning, you’re chewing a pen cap, voice deliberately breathy as you call him. “Yoongi, I think I clicked something bad again…” You’re perched on your desk, skirt riding up just enough to be dangerous.

He arrives, tie loose, hair slightly mussed, looking like he’s already had three coffees and zero patience. He leans against your cubicle, arms crossed, glasses glinting. “Clicked something bad,” he repeats, voice dripping with skepticism. “What was it this time? Another ‘productivity’ site?”

You twirl the pen, letting it slip between your lips before answering. “Maybe. Or maybe I just wanted your expertise.”

He steps closer, crowding your space, his voice dropping to a low growl. “My expertise? Or my attention?”

Your pulse spikes, but you hold his gaze, smirking. “Can’t it be both?”

He chuckles, dark and low, and slides into your chair, his knee brushing your thigh as he checks your laptop. “You’re gonna get me in trouble,” he mutters, but his fingers linger on the keyboard, brushing yours. “Keep this up, and I’ll start charging you for house calls.”

You lean in, close enough to smell his cologne. “What’s the price? Coffee? Dinner? Or… something else?”

His eyes flick to yours, and for a moment, you think he might kiss you right there, cubicle walls be damned. But he pulls back, adjusting his glasses. “You couldn’t afford me, princess.”

Tuesday, you up the ante. You wear a tighter blouse, top button undone, and submit a ticket: “Laptop lagging. Need urgent assistance.” He shows up, visibly fighting to keep his eyes on the screen. “Lagging,” he says, voice flat. “Or are you just fishing for compliments in that shirt?”

You gasp, mock-scandalized. “Min Yoongi, are you objectifying me?”

He leans closer, voice a dangerous whisper. “If I was, you’d know.” His fingers brush your wrist as he types, and you swear the air crackles. “Fixed. Try not to break it again by lunch.”

Wednesday, it’s a fake email issue. He’s at your desk in minutes, looking like he’s one ticket away from throttling you. “Your email’s fine,” he says, not even touching the keyboard. “What’s the real problem?”

You lean back, crossing your arms, pushing your chest out slightly. “Maybe I just missed you.”

He stares, jaw tight, then mutters, “You’re gonna be the death of me.” But he doesn’t leave. He lingers, pretending to check settings, his hand brushing yours again. “Stop looking at me like that,” he says, voice low.

“Like what?” you ask, all innocence, batting your lashes.

“Like you’re begging for something you can’t handle.”

Your breath hitches, but you recover, whispering, “Try me.”

He doesn’t answer, but his eyes burn, and you know you’re winning.

Then comes the fire drill, means everyone needs to evacuate building for around 30-40 minutes.

It’s the third one this month, alarms blaring, everyone groaning. You’re halfway to the exit when Yoongi grabs your arm, pulling you toward the server room. “Need to check something,” he says, voice clipped, but his grip is firm, possessive. You follow, heart racing, the chaos of the drill fading behind you.

The server room is a claustrophobic box of humming machinery, blinking lights, and stifling heat. The door clicks shut, auto-locking. It’s tiny, fans roaring, air heavy with static. You’re both sweating, your blouse clinging to your skin, his tie loosened, sleeves rolled up. He leans against a rack, glasses fogging slightly, and growls, “You really don’t care about fire safety, huh? Following me in here like it’s nothing.”

You step closer, bold, reckless. “Maybe I just like tight spaces. Especially with you.”

His eyes darken, pupils blown. “You’re trouble,” he says, voice rough. “And you know it.”

You tilt your head, smirking. “And you’re not? Dragging me in here, all alone, no witnesses?”

He steps forward, closing the gap, his breath hot against your cheek. “Keep talking like that, and I’ll give you something to complain about besides your laptop.”

Your stomach flips, but you hold your ground, whispering, “Promise?”

He doesn’t answer. He doesn’t need to.

The air in the server room is thick, charged. You’re inches apart, and you can’t resist pushing him. “You think I don’t know what you’ve been doing?” you tease, voice low. “Fixing my laptop so fast, showing up every time I call, even when you can do it remotely or can send someone else from your team. You’re obsessed.”

He snaps. “You think I’m obsessed?” His voice is rough, dangerous. “You’ve been downloading viruses, calling me for fake crashes, bending over your desk like it’s part of your job description.”

Your breath catches. He steps forward, crowding you against the server rack. The metal is warm against your back, cables brushing your arm. His hand grazes your waist, then slides under your skirt, fingers skimming the edge of your panties. “You want chaos?” he murmurs, lips brushing your ear. “I’ll give you chaos.”

You gasp as his fingers slip beneath the fabric, finding you already wet. He groans, low and feral, and you’re done for. His mouth crashes against yours, all heat and desperation, tasting of coffee and something darker—need. You tug at his belt, fumbling, and he chuckles against your lips, dark and teasing. “Impatient.”

“Shut up,” you hiss, yanking his shirt free. His hands are everywhere—under your skirt, gripping your thighs, lifting you slightly so you’re perched on the edge of a rack.

The machinery hums, vibrating through you, amplifying every touch. He pushes your panties aside, fingers sliding inside you, slow and deliberate, curling just right. You moan, loud, and his free hand clamps over your mouth.

“Quiet,” he growls, but his eyes are wild, pupils blown. “Unless you want the whole office to know you’re getting fucked in here.”

You bite his palm, and he curses, thrusting his fingers deeper. Your nails dig into his shoulders, legs wrapping around his waist. He’s hard against you, straining through his slacks, and you grind against him, desperate for more. He undoes his belt one-handed, freeing himself, and you nearly whimper at the sight—thick, flushed, and all for you.

He doesn’t wait. He pushes inside you, slow at first, letting you feel every inch. The stretch is exquisite, and you arch against the rack, cables tangling in your hair. He thrusts harder, deeper, the rhythm relentless, each movement sending sparks through your core. The fans drown out your gasps, but not the slick, obscene sounds of him moving inside you.

“Fuck, you’re tight,” he mutters, voice wrecked. His hands grip your hips, bruising, pulling you onto him with every thrust. You’re close, so close, and he knows it, angling just right to hit that spot that makes you see stars. Your orgasm hits like a wave, crashing through you, and you clench around him, trembling.

He’s not far behind. His thrusts grow erratic, and he buries his face in your neck, groaning your name as he spills inside you. You’re both panting, sweat-slicked, clinging to each other in the humming dark.

Then you shift, still dazed, and your elbow bumps the emergency restart button on the rack.

A low hum dies. Lights flicker. The servers reboot with a whine.

You freeze. Yoongi’s eyes widen. “Did you just—”

“Oops,” you whisper.

Monday morning is chaos. Emails flood in:

“Why did the servers reboot?” “We lost six hours of sales data.” “Also, someone left a bra in the server room.”

Yoongi’s inbox is a warzone, but he’s calm, typing responses with that infuriating deadpan.

You’re avoiding IT helpdesk department now, because the office is buzzing. Whispers follow you—your tickets get resolved suspiciously fast, and someone saw you leaving the helpdesk department, blouse misbuttoned.

It’s early afternoon, and you’ve locked yourself out of your laptop again—right before a client presentation, a bad habit of not remembering the password. You could’ve go to helpdesk, but you’re avoiding the department after the server room fiasco, terrified someone saw you. Instead, you text Yoongi directly on his personal contact:

“Locked out my laptop. Conference room. Help. Have client presentation in 1 hour.”

He storms in, tie askew, glasses slipping, looking like he’s ready to strangle you. “You forgot your password?” he snaps, slamming his admin laptop onto the conference table. “Again?”

You’re leaning against the table, blouse tight, top two buttons undone, revealing a hint of lace. “No,” you say, voice dripping with mischief. “I just wanted to see your face.”

His jaw clenches, but his eyes betray him, flicking to your chest before he catches himself. “You’re impossible,” he mutters, typing override commands with aggressive precision. You slide closer, letting your hip brush his, and murmur, “You know, no one uses this room until after 2.”

He freezes, fingers hovering over the keyboard. “You’re playing a dangerous game,” he says, voice low, but he doesn’t move away. You lean in, lips grazing his ear. “Good thing I like danger.”

That’s his breaking point. He spins, grabbing your waist, and pulls you under the table, out of sight of the glass walls. The projector hums to life, casting the company logo across the room, but you’re already on your knees, hands working his belt.

His breath hitches as you free him, stroking slowly, teasing the tip with your thumb. He’s thick, hard, and you can’t resist tasting him, tongue swirling around the head before taking him deep.

“Fuck,” he groans, voice barely a whisper, his hand fisting your hair. You move slowly at first, lips sliding along his length, savoring the way he twitches against your tongue. The projector light dances across your face, the hum masking your soft moans.

His hips jerk, pushing deeper, and you hollow your cheeks, taking him to the back of your throat. His grip tightens, guiding you, and you can feel him unraveling, his breaths ragged.

He pulls you up, voice wrecked. “Get up here.” He spins you, bending you over the table, your skirt hiked up, panties shoved aside. His fingers find you soaked, and he groans, teasing your entrance before sliding two fingers inside, curling them just right. You gasp, gripping the table’s edge, the wood cool against your heated skin. “Yoongi,” you whimper, and he chuckles, dark and low.

“You wanted my attention,” he murmurs, withdrawing his fingers to replace them with his cock. He pushes in slowly, letting you feel every inch, the stretch making your thighs tremble. He grips your hips, thrusting hard, the table creaking with every movement.

The projector flickers, casting distorted light across your back as he fucks you, relentless, each thrust hitting that spot that makes you see stars. His hand slides up, fingers tangling in your hair, pulling your head back so he can whisper in your ear. “You feel so fucking good.”

You’re close, the pressure building, and he knows it, angling his hips to hit deeper. Your orgasm crashes through you, and you clench around him, gasping his name. He follows, pulling out just in time to spill across your thighs, his breaths heavy against your neck.

He zips up, adjusting his glasses. “Next time you lock yourself out,” he pants, “I’m locking you in instead.”

You’ve been avoiding the IT department like the plague, terrified of the rumors swirling after the server room incident. But your laptop’s battery is genuinely overheating now, the fan screaming like it’s possessed.

You try to fix it yourself, but every troubleshooting guide fails, and you’re forced to face the inevitable: you need Yoongi. Emailing him feels too risky—too many eyes on the network—so you swallow your fear and head to IT, clutching your laptop like a shield.

The department is quiet, most of the team out for lunch. Yoongi’s at his desk, headphones on, typing furiously. You hesitate, heart pounding, but you need this fixed before your afternoon meeting. You clear your throat, and he looks up, eyebrows raising behind his glasses. “You,” he says, pulling off his headphones. “Thought you were avoiding me.”

You blush, setting the laptop down. “Battery’s overheating. It’s real this time.”

He smirks, leaning back in his swivel chair. “Real, huh? Not just another excuse to get me alone?”

You roll your eyes, but your pulse races. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

He stands, locking the office door with a casual flick of his wrist. “Break hours,” he says, pointing to a handwritten sign taped to the door: “IT Lunch Break: 12-1 PM.”

“Can’t have anyone walking in on us troubleshooting.”

Your stomach flips, but you play it cool, perching on the edge of his desk. “So, you gonna fix it or just stare at me?”

He steps closer, crowding your space, his voice dropping. “You mean you’re overheating.” His fingers brush your knee, and you shiver, skirt riding up as you shift. He’s right—you’re burning up, even more than your laptop.

You grab his tie, pulling him closer, and kiss him hard. He groans, hands sliding to your waist, lifting you onto his lap as he sits back in the chair. The blinds are half-open, light chatter drifting from the hall, but the locked door gives you courage. Your skirt hikes up, and his hands find your thighs, squeezing as you grind against him, feeling him harden beneath you.

“Fuck, you’re gonna kill me,” he mutters, lips trailing down your neck. You fumble with his belt, freeing him, and he’s already tugging your panties aside. His fingers tease you, circling your clit before sliding inside, slow and deliberate. You gasp, rocking against his hand, and he smirks, voice low. “Keep making those sounds, and the whole department’s gonna need help.”

You bite your lip, trying to stay quiet as you sink onto him, the stretch making your head spin. He’s thick, filling you completely, and you rock your hips, slow at first, savoring the way he grips your waist.

He’s on a call now, headset on, voice infuriatingly calm as he says, “Yeah… just another quick fix. Shouldn’t take long.” You clench around him, and he stifles a groan, pretending to adjust his headset.

You lean forward, whispering in his ear, “Liar.” He thrusts up hard, making you gasp, and you ride him faster, the chair creaking under you. His fingers dig into your hips, guiding you, and you’re both teetering on the edge. The blinds cast slatted shadows across your bodies, the risk of being caught only heightening the thrill.

You come first, trembling, biting his shoulder to muffle your moan, and he follows, thrusting deep, spilling inside you as he mutters, “Fixed,” into the mic.

You collapse against him, panting, and he kisses your temple, voice soft. “You’re gonna get us both fired.”

The rumors hit critical mass by Wednesday. Your tickets are resolved before anyone else’s, and the whispers are deafening. Someone saw you adjusting your skirt outside helpdesk department again.

HR calls you both in, and you’re sweating, heart pounding as you sit across from the stern-faced manager. Your job—your first real job, the start of your career—feels like it’s slipping through your fingers. You’re 22, barely out of college, and the thought of being fired for “unprofessional conduct” makes your stomach churn.

The manager peers over her glasses. “Is there a reason her tickets are prioritized, Yoongi?”

He leans back, glasses glinting, voice calm as ever. “She breaks things a lot. I’m just thorough.”

You nod, throat tight, barely breathing. The manager’s eyes flick to you, and you force a smile, but your hands are trembling in your lap. “We’ve noticed… irregularities,” she says.

Your heart stops. Yoongi’s knee brushes yours under the table, a small anchor, but it’s not enough. You’re spiraling, imagining unemployment, blacklisted from every corporate job, your career dead before it started.

After the meeting, you’re a wreck, avoiding Yoongi’s gaze as you hurry to your cubicle. He catches up to you in the hall, pulling you into an empty stairwell. His hands are on your shoulders, firm but gentle, and his voice is low, urgent. “Hey. Look at me.”

You do, eyes stinging. “I can’t lose this job, Yoongi. I just started. I—”

“You’re not losing anything,” he says, voice steady. “I’ve been through this—corporate bullshit, getting blamed for things that aren’t your fault. I won’t let that happen to you.” His thumbs brush your arms, grounding you. “We need to cool it at the office. No more server rooms, no more conference tables. Not because I want to stop, but because I won’t let you go through what I did. Your career’s just starting. I’m not gonna fuck that up for you.”

You nod, swallowing hard. “But… what about us?”

He softens, a rare smile tugging at his lips. “My place. After hours. I do repairs there too.” He leans closer, voice dropping to a whisper. “And I’m not letting you go, princess. Not now, not ever.”

It’s Friday night, and you’re at Yoongi’s apartment, a small, cozy space with exposed brick and mismatched furniture, a stark contrast to the sterile office. He’s cooking—actual cooking, not just microwaving ramen.

The kitchen smells of garlic and sesame oil, and he’s stirring a pan of japchae, sleeves rolled up, glasses fogging from the steam. You’re perched on the counter, swinging your legs, watching him move with quiet precision.

“Stop staring,” he mutters, not looking up. “You’re distracting me.”

You grin, stealing a noodle from the pan. “Can’t help it. You’re cute when you’re domestic.”

He snorts, but his cheeks pink slightly, and you feel a warmth that has nothing to do with the stove. He plates the food, handing you a bowl, and insists on feeding you the first bite, chopsticks hovering at your lips.

“Open,” he says, voice soft, and you do, letting the flavors burst on your tongue. His eyes are on you, warm, unguarded, and you realize this is a side of him the office never sees.

You eat in comfortable silence, sitting cross-legged on his couch, a soft lo-fi playlist humming in the background. When the dishes are cleared, he pulls you into his lap, arms wrapping around you, his chin resting on your shoulder. It’s quiet, intimate, and you feel the weight of something unspoken.

“Yoongi,” you say, tracing circles on his wrist. “Why are you so… cold at work? I know it’s not the real you.”

He tenses, then sighs, his breath warm against your neck. “Ten years ago, I was a cybersecurity hotshot at a big tech firm. Thought I was untouchable. Then a system crashed—major project, millions lost. Wasn’t my fault, but they needed a scapegoat."

" I got dragged through the mud, humiliated, fired. Landed here to lay low, avoid the corporate bullshit. I hate the politics, the small talk, the way people treat you like a machine. So I shut down. Keep my distance. It’s easier.”

You turn, cupping his face, thumbs brushing his cheeks. “But you’re not distant with me.”

He looks at you, eyes soft, vulnerable. “You’re different. You’re reckless, restless, like I was back then. You don’t treat me like a tool—you tease, you challenge, you see me. First time in years I didn’t feel like I was rusting away.” His voice cracks slightly, and he pulls you closer, forehead against yours. “You bring color to my life, princess. I didn’t know I needed that until you.”

Your heart aches, and you kiss him, slow and sweet, tasting salt and warmth. “I’m not going anywhere,” you whisper, and he smiles, real and unguarded, pulling you against his chest.

“You better not,” he murmurs, kissing your temple. “Because I’m not letting you go anywhere.”

A/n: Well recently I raised a ticket regarding my email's not working and somehow this idea popped in my mind. But why my office IT Helpdesk doesn't have Min Yoongi? 😩

Taglist: @army-geniuslab . @jeonjamiekim . @moonjinniecafe  . @minpdrecs . @bontensbabygirl . @this-most-assuredly-counts . @taolucha . @mytaegiheart . @dear-mono . @lilyficrec . @janeluvwonuuuu . @k-fan-fics . @iztrouble . @pikajooni . @namluvili . @alonahh . @paradise172 . @stay-tiny-things . @micdropitlikeitshot . @softhaes . @littlebluhellfire . @niqueesthings . @nocturnalsingularity . @syudoeslove . @namjoonbaby17-blog . @mar-lo-pap . @naesarang07 . @diame93 . @themwordsblog . @crizoosblog

[genshin-impact-updates]

Legends Ablaze: Cross-Border Brawl – Fun Co-Op Crossover Challenges

〓Event Duration〓

2025/06/05 10:00 – 2025/06/16 03:59

〓Event Rewards〓

〓Eligibility〓

Adventure Rank 20 or above

Complete Archon Quest Prologue: Act III "Song of the Dragon and Freedom"

〓Event Details〓

● At the start of the event, all five challenge types will be unlocked on the first day. Each time you start a challenge, you will be matched with 3 other players and enter a random type of challenge.

● Each challenge is split into 3 rounds, and each round into 2 phases: Gold Rush and Saurian Assault. You must get as many Trial Coins as possible in the 2 phases, thus scoring the highest number of points.

● After completing a challenge, you will receive a score based on your performance. During the first 5 days of the event, a 2,000-point score limit is unlocked every 2 days, with a maximum cap of 6,000 points. Accumulate a certain total score to claim corresponding rewards.

[wooattackrr]

Opposites Attract

MDNI

word count: 1,704

a/n: as I was writing this I realised most of my fics are school plot

——————————————————————

You had always been the studious one, the kind of student who could ace exams without breaking a sweat. Mingyu, on the other hand, was the quintessential class clown—loud, unpredictable, and always the center of attention. His antics had made him a legend in your high school, but you never expected the two of you would ever spend time together outside of class.

However, that all changed when the teacher announced mandatory tutoring sessions for struggling students. To your surprise, the person assigned to your group was none other than Mingyu himself. You were apprehensive about it at first; after all, you knew how he could be. Would he be serious about his studies, or just use the time as another opportunity for jokes and laughter?

The first few sessions were exactly what you expected. Mingyu would arrive with a quick grin and a barrage of puns that could make anyone groan. You would roll your eyes and get back to work, trying to make the most of your time with him. But slowly, as the days passed, you began to appreciate his humor more. Beneath the façade of the class clown, you discovered a more thoughtful side to Mingyu. He wanted to improve, and with your help, he actually started to.

Your meetings eventually shifted from awkward and frustrating to enjoyable and filled with banter. You would laugh at his silly jokes and tease him about his notorious reputation, while he would engage attentively with the material, even occasionally asking for clarification on topics he found difficult. It was surprising how he could change from a playful joker to a focused student in the span of just a few minutes.

One Wednesday afternoon, as winter settled in and the sun began to set early, you both found yourselves deep into a particularly challenging math problem in the quiet confines of the local library. You were seated at a large, wooden table illuminated by the soft glow of a desk lamp, surrounded by bookshelves stacked high with novels and textbooks.

"Okay, explain this part again," Mingyu said, resting his head on one hand, his expression half-focused, half-exasperated. Your fingers traced the numbers on the paper as you explained the concept of quadratic equations.

“Imagine it like a jump,” you said, enthusiastically drawing an exaggerated parabola in the air with your free hand. “When you throw a ball, it goes up, then comes down. The highest point is the maximum value, and the whole trajectory is shaped like a curve, just like this.”

Mingyu mimicked your hand movements, a smirk dancing on his lips. “So you’re saying if I throw a ball really hard, I’ll pass this math test?”

You laughed. “If only it were that simple.”

The hours flew by, marked only by the ticking clock on the wall and the occasional rustle of paper. You had both lost track of time. It wasn't until the library announced its closing for the night that you realized how late it had gotten.

"Oh no, we're locked in!" Mingyu exclaimed, looking around furtively as you both realized the entrance doors were indeed shut tight. "What are we going to do? We’ll be trapped here forever!"

“Calm down,” you said, trying to mask your unease with a shrug. “We’ll just wait for someone to come back and let us out.”

“Yeah, right,” Mingyu said, plopping down in a chair dramatically. “I’d probably just start doing my stand-up routine to keep myself entertained until then.”

The playful banter continued as you both settled into the unexpected situation, and soon, you found yourselves in a comfortable silence surrounded by the stories that lined the walls of the library. But in that quiet moment, Mingyu turned to you, a glint of mischief in his eyes.

“Since it’s just us here, do you want to hear a secret?” he asked, leaning closer with intrigue. There was a moment of tension, a thin line drawn between the humor and seriousness you both shared.

“A secret? From you?” you teased. “I’m not sure I trust you to keep it.”

Mingyu feigned offense. “I promise! No jokes. Just… honest.”

“Alright, then,” you said, your interest piqued. “Let’s hear it.”

“I think you’re really smart,” he said, his voice dropping to almost a whisper. “And I mean, smart-smart. Like, you get all the answers and I can barely figure out which number comes next.”

You blinked, taken aback by the honesty in that statement. “That’s sweet of you to say, but it’s just studying.”

"But you study because you care," he replied, sincerity etched on his face. “You don’t just do it to get grades… you want to help others, too.”

His gaze was steady, and for a moment, the classroom antics and the laughter faded away. It was just the two of you—Mingyu and you caught in an unexpected act of vulnerability. You felt a warmth rise within you, something you hadn’t anticipated.

“Mingyu…” you began, unsure of where this conversation was leading. But before you could finish your thought, he shifted closer, the distance between you shrinking until it felt electric.

“Mingyu!” you exclaimed, half in surprise, half in protest, yet your heart raced with an excitement you couldn’t quite analyze.

“I’ve been thinking…” he murmured, inching even closer, his face a mere breath away from yours. “Maybe I’ve been hiding behind jokes and laughter… but I really like spending time with you.”

Your breath caught in your throat as his honesty washed over you. It was unexpected but refreshing. In that moment, the world around you melted away until it was just the two of you, the quiet library filled with unspoken possibilities.

And then he leaned in.

The kiss was tentative at first, a gentle exploration filled with the hope and curiosity that had been building up over your shared laughter and late-night study sessions. As his lips brushed against yours, the world seemed to stand still. It felt like the climax of a romantic movie—two unlikely characters drawn together by the most unexpected circumstances, finding a connection they never knew was possible.

When you finally pulled away, both of you breathless, you knew that this moment would redefine everything. Mingyu’s expression shifted from the playful, buoyant energy that was so familiar to him to an earnest vulnerability that left you speechless.

With newfound determination, you guided his hand back to where you had left off. As his fingers traced the sensitive folds of your skin, you couldn't help but moan in delight. He teased and pleasured you until your body was quivering with anticipation.

Just as you were about to reach your peak, Mingyu gently turned you around and lowered you onto one of the library tables. The bookshelves loomed over you, their silent pages bearing witness to your stolen passion. Mingyu entered you slowly and deliberately, his every thrust setting off fireworks within your body.

You cried out in ecstasy as he filled you completely. Your nails dug into his back as he pounded into you, his hips moving in a rhythmic dance that sent shockwaves through both of you. You wrapped your legs around his waist, pulling him closer until you could feel every inch of his hardness within you.

The climax hit you both like a tidal wave. You screamed out in pleasure as Mingyu's seed erupted deep inside of you, mingling with your own sweet fluids. He collapsed on top of you, exhausted but still buzzing with the afterglow of your shared passion.

As you lay there entwined in each other's arms, you realized that your hidden love for Mingyu had blossomed into something more profound. It was a love that transcended the confines of the library and the boundaries of your wildest dreams.

With the first glimmer of dawn, Mingyu helped you to your feet and kissed you softly. 'I never would have imagined this,' he whispered, his voice filled with wonder. 'But I'm so glad it happened.'

You smiled up at him, your heart filled with a joy that you had never known. 'Me too, Mingyu,' you replied. 'Me too.'


——————————————————————

fromis comeback !

[theology101]

Part of me is imagining a Senior Year Fabadine relationship where its Fabian juggling “No, im still maximum legend and always have people at my house” and “My girlfriend’s social battery is empty and everyone needs to leave.”

The solution he comes up with is that the living room/kitchen are a public, everyone talk as loud as you want space, but there’s also a home theatre filled with single person reclining chairs, sleep masks and classical movies while soft piano music comes from a pirate in the corner.

Adaine switching from “I’m the hostess walking around with Fabian and some Bad Baby Milk to loosen everyone up” to “Nah i want to watch Godzilla” in a millisecond is so funny to me. ESPECIALLY because Fabian would fo everything in his power to help her. Someone’s talking during the movie? Fabian WILL challenge them to a duel (despite the fact that makes more noise)

[bloodyshadow1]

I know the bad kids are weeping, especially gorgug, about how Arthur's hologram/illusion told them all their studying and hard work was pointless, but that doesn't mean it was. Look, the purpose of an education is to gain knowledge and grow. Sure modern education as a whole has corrupted the idea of school and education, but that doesn't mean it's pointless.

Despite how hard it is, the bad kids have flourished this year, it's terrible that they were put through that, but it doesn't mean their hard work was in vain. This isn't a post about how pain or adversity makes you strong, because fuck that. But life isn't easy, there are challenges that you have to endure to get what you want.

Sure, they could have taken the last stand early in the year and if they succeeded, they would have had an easy year, especially compared to the year they had. But if they had taken it, whose to say they would have succeeded. After the night yorb fight, they were level 8 or 9, they are currently 13 but I assume 14 after that last combat. that's 4 to 5 levels they gained since the start of junior year. And that's what levels are supposed to represent, experience. Exp is supposed to show what your character has been through as they go through life learning and growing, it's not a notch on your belt of all the things you've killed to gain power.

If the bad kids tried the last stand at the start of the year, they would have been creamed. Yes, they weren't as stressed, but they also hadn't grown as much and would have been slaughtered. Fig didn't have her paladin levels that did massive damage this fight, Adaine and Kristen wouldn't have access to 6th and 7th level spells, Fabian would only have 3 as opposed to his 7 levels in bard or the confidence to be maximum legend, Gorgug wouldn't have had his homebrewed subclass and pioneered at Aguefort, Riz wouldn't have his higher level spells and abilities that would have meant no haste which meant no double sneak attacks that helped them so much this fight.

This is what sets them apart from people like the Ratgrinders. Because as much as the Ratgrinders seem to hate them for being 'favored' by the school, the Bad kids have earned every scar and bruise, every stress token, every spell slot and point of HP to get to where they were today. They beat the deadly challenge in a way that no one has done before and they got a 100% on the questions, not a single one of them went down, the proctor was barely hurt. There will always be people who take the easy way out that doesn't mean the path you forded was wrong

[demifiendrsa]

Donkey Kong Bananza Direct 6.18.2025

Donkey Kong Bananza will launch for Nintendo Switch 2 on July 17, 2025.

Updated key visual

Updated box art

Screenshots

Donkey Kong and Pauline amiibo

Latest details

The Donkey Kong Bananza game kicks off in Ingot Isle, where the discovery of the century has just been made within its cavernous depths: golden bananas! This turns out to be excellent news for renowned banana fan Donkey Kong, who just happens to be there for this incredible find. However, just before DK can indulge in the gilded treats, a tempest sends him hurtling deeper into the depths of the planet. There, he meets a mysterious new ally in Odd Rock, who turns out to be a talented young singer named Pauline! Together, the pair explore the vast Underground World by smashing, crashing, jumping and singing their way through it. A rollicking adventure you can play solo or in cooperative play with a friend, Donkey Kong Bananza gives you new ways to cut loose and unleash your inner Kong!

New Ways to Smash and Bash – As Donkey Kong, you will be able to utilize powerful abilities to smash your way through obstacles and enemies and even unearth discoveries! Use Dive Punch to drill deep into the earth, roll yourself over obstacles, and perform a Hand Slap to help locate hidden items. You can also tear off chunks of ground to either throw at enemies or ride on top of by Turf Surfing and more. These abilities can even be combined for maximum mayhem!

Bananza Transformations – While this unlikely duo explores the Underground World, Pauline can enhance Donkey Kong’s destructive ability and even make him temporarily transform through the power of her singing! Collecting gold builds up their Bananergy, which allows Pauline’s singing to activate the transformations, each with its own specialties. Like Kong Bananza, that makes Donkey Kong super strong, Zebra Bananza which makes him faster and lets him dash for short distances and Ostrich Bananza that allows DK to fly and drop Egg Bombs on enemies!

Cooperative Play – By sharing a Joy-Con 2 controller, you and a friend can control Donkey Kong and Pauline separately in local cooperative play. Unleash Pauline’s vocal blasts using the Joy-Con 2 controller’s mouse functionality! You can also use GameShare1 to share the game and play in cooperative play with another player locally even if they don’t have the game themselves and use GameChat to invite friends online to join you via voice or video chat.

Race to the Planet Core – Legend has it, the Planet Core has the ability to grant your heart’s desire, so Donkey Kong and Pauline set off on a quest to reach it. Pauline hopes it will be able to return her to the surface, while Donkey Kong plans to ask it for more (what else?) bananas! Unfortunately, they aren’t the only ones seeking the Planet Core: The Void Company is also racing there for their own nefarious purposes! A villainous mining operation whose reach extends through every layer of the Planet, VoidCo is not only responsible for the banana-stealing maelstrom that sent Donkey Kong hurtling underground in the first place, but they are also responsible for turning Pauline into Odd Rock. As they all dig deeper towards the Planet Core, Donkey Kong and Pauline must do whatever they can to get there first!

Collectibles – While you dig your way through the Underground World, you’ll discover useful items to help you along your journey. Uncover golden bananas called Banandium Gems buried behind walls, under the ground, and sometimes right out in the open. Collecting these Banandium Gems earn you Skill Points that increase DK’s power and even allows you to learn new Skills to add to your repertoire. You can also earn Banandium Gems through challenges like timed battles, side-scrolling stages, obstacle courses and more. You will also uncover banana slice-shaped items called Banandium Chips and gold nuggets called Banandium Gold. You can trade Banandium Chips for Banandium Gems at the Chip Exchange and Banandium Gold for useful items at the Stuff Shop. As you dig for these banana-shaped goodies, you may also discover Fossils. If you happen to find one during your excavations, take them to the Style Shops and trade them for different fashions for Donkey Kong and Pauline, almost all of which come with useful extra benefits, as well as fur colors for DK.

Other New and Familiar Faces – While uncovering more about the villainous activities of the Void Company, Donkey Kong and Pauline encounter many inhabitants across the Underground World. In addition to the giant Elders, familiar faces like Cranky Kong and his companion Rambi show up as well. You’ll also come face to face with Grumpy Kong, Poppy Kong and others who work for VoidCo leader, Void Kong.

Getaways and Eelevators – Need a break? Treat yourself to a Getaway while in the Underground World and sleep in a comfy bed to help restore your energy. You can even choose some music to enjoy while you rest. And if you want to explore areas you’ve already been to with ease, use the Eelevators—subterranean eels that can carry you quickly from layer to layer.

Creative Game Modes – Get ready to explore new game modes and ways to play Donkey Kong Bananza. This includes Photo Mode, where you can change the in-game camera angle and adjust other settings to snap your ideal pic. And in DK Artist, you can use the Joy-Con 2 mouse controls to take a break from the action and carve designs into stone. You can even change the lighting and add banana effects to give your masterpiece its finishing touches.

amiibo – Donkey Kong Bananza also supports amiibo! A Donkey Kong and Pauline amiibo figure will be available on July 17, and it allows you to unlock Pauline’s in-game Diva Dress early and receive KONG tiles with explosive power. Scan other Donkey Kong character amiibo figures and you will also earn gold KONG tiles. What’s more, if you scan any other available amiibo, you’ll receive a giant sphere of terrain material to aid you on your adventure!

[zoniteillusion-pyritedreams]

HIYA !! I'M OVER THE MOON WITH HOW DETAILED YOUR READINGS ARE !!

Could you do a reading on how Jung Wooyoung from Ateez is like as a boyfriend ?

Sending you tons of love ❤️ and gratitude !!

“Dating Wooyoung of ATEEZ: Emotional Chaos, Devotion & Domestic Daydreams”

Okay bestie.

I pulled the Moon, Libra, and Gemini from the astro deck and the tarot just straight up said “this boy is a beautifully messy paradox.” Like he's a romantic, a flirt, an emotional sponge, and a husband-in-the-making with abandonment issues. Buckle up.

Let’s start with the headline:

Wooyoung As A Boyfriend Is The Perfect Combo Of Passionate Chaos & Nurturing Comfort.

He’s your emotional support menace.

Core Boyfriend Energy:

The Moon gives soft boy with trust issues. He feels everything. He gets moody. He’s intuitive, lowkey psychic about your emotions, and probably sends “you okay?” texts before you even realize you’re not okay.

Libra + Gemini? FLIRT MASTER. He’s playful, social, and addicted to banter. He’s probably texting you 37 times a day with TikToks, “wyd” messages, and spicy compliments.

He’s also the type to give you the silent treatment for 5 minutes just to see if you’ll chase him.

(Spoiler: he wants you to.)

His Love Style:

10 of Cups + The Empress + Ace of Pentacles + 10 of Pentacles = HUSBAND GOALS.

He doesn’t just date for fun he wants emotional security, aesthetic matching fits, a cozy apartment full of plants, and someone to hold in the middle of the night when his insecurities hit.

Six of Pentacles reversed + Three of Swords + Five of Cups = Hello Trauma

Sometimes he pours more into the relationship than he gets back. He fears being abandoned or not being good enough, so he might overcompensate. When he’s hurt? He broods. Dramatically. Cue sad playlist.

Relationship Challenges?

Three of Pentacles reversed + Queen of Swords reversed

He can get lowkey defensive if he feels misunderstood. Communication is not always his strong suit when he’s hurt he’ll either go silent or come out swinging with ✨sassy sarcasm✨. He may struggle with feeling like you’re not “on his team” during tough moments.

Two of Swords + Hanged Man

Decision paralysis KING. He wants to please you but also has his own emotional waves sometimes he’ll need time to think things through (and maybe spiral a little in private). Patience is key.

But let’s talk about the GOOD STUFF:

Knight of Pentacles + Knight of Cups = Loyal romantic slow-burn legend.

He’ll commit hard. He takes his time to build trust, but once he’s in? You’re HIS.

Expect regular love notes, affectionate touches, “I made this for you” snacks, and random romantic gestures with maximum drama.

Queen of Wands + The World

He’s proud to be seen with you. Your biggest fan. Your hype man. He brags about you, posts you, stares at you like you’re the moon incarnate.

He’ll always push you to go after your goals while being lowkey obsessed with everything you do.

Wooyoung as a boyfriend is…

Emotional but romantic

Possessive but loyal

Chaotic but deeply nurturing

Overthinker with a soft spot for cuddles

A Mix Of Simp Energy & "Don’t Leave Me" Drama

The kind of boyfriend who says “I don’t care” while absolutely caring too much.

[felassan]

EA Blog Post on hair tech in DA:TV, under a cut due to length.

"Innovating Strand by Strand for Lifelike Hair in Dragon Age: The Veilguard Strand Hair technology adds visual fidelity and realism to characters, and it redefines what’s possible in Dragon Age: The Veilguard --- In the fantasy world of Thedas, where heroes rise and legends are forged, every detail breathes life into an epic saga. Dragon Age: The Veilguard introduces players to a crafted and beautiful world where even the finest elements like strands of hair tell a tale of their own. Each strand of hair weaves seamlessly into the fabric of the game, enriching your character’s journey through treacherous labyrinths and beyond. Together, the Frostbite and BioWare teams embarked on a quest to elevate Strand Hair technology, focusing on the following elements: - 50,000 individual strands per character for over 100 hairstyles – EA’s Strand Hair technology brings natural motion to your hero’s hairdo in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. - Adaptable to various character movements and environments – Frostbite and BioWare pushed the limits of hair rendering, achieving realistic material response and shadows. This collaboration introduced detailed, physics-driven hairstyles tailored to the unique world of Dragon Age. - Industry-leading realism – Dragon Age: The Veilguard sets a new standard for lifelike character hair at 60 FPS on PlayStation®5, Xbox Series X, and PC with compatible hardware, showcasing EA’s leadership in innovation and BioWare’s craftsmanship in enhancing immersive storytelling. This is how Frostbite and BioWare brought Strand Hair technology to the next level, letting you be the hero you want to be as Rook in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Weaving Magic Into Reality Harnessing the power of the Frostbite engine, Strand Hair technology transforms your character's locks into a living tapestry of thousands of individual strands. Strand Hair technology combines physics with real-time rendering to simulate believable modeling of human hair."

"Incorporating realistic hair within games is quite challenging, which is why Frostbite has already spent years advancing hair rendering technology. Strand Hair was featured in previous EA SPORTS FC™, Madden NFL, and NHL titles, but the technology is always being upgraded for new releases. While Strand Hair is present in other EA games, the BioWare team had to push the limits even further for Dragon Age: The Veilguard. For example, implementing Strand Hair technology for characters who have waist-length hair with horns on their head presented some unique challenges. With hair attachments that move seamlessly, and the decoupling of simulation and render tessellation, this is the first EA game to offer such detailed physics-driven long hairstyles. The Frostbite team increased maximum hair length from 63 points to 255, and implemented a new system for complex hair structures like braids. Frostbite and BioWare also collaborated to achieve accurate hair material response and shadows across diverse lighting environments. Strand Hair technology in Dragon Age: The Veilguard features a new hair lighting model with improved light transmittance and visibility calculations. Dragon Age characters can have various builds and physical traits, each with unique hairstyles that adapt seamlessly to different garments and dynamic movements. Whether jumping at high speed in combat, slowing time, or going prone, the hair responds fluidly while maintaining realism across all scenarios. A Heroic Collaboration With Trials and Triumphs The evolution of Strand Hair technology has been a collaborative journey, beginning with Frostbite’s partnership with the EA SPORTS FC™ team that pushed the tech to a shippable state. Frostbite continues to refine and enhance this innovation, bringing its magic to titles like Battlefield 2042, UFC 5, College Football 25, and now, Dragon Age: The Veilguard.  The Frostbite and BioWare teams worked closely together to get Strand Hair tech within Dragon Age: The Veilguard. The engineering team played a huge role in making sure hair looked good in new scenarios, like being surrounded by magical particles, underwater, or interacting with waterfalls. Their tireless work made these complex interactions both performant and robust. “The collaboration between Frostbite and the BioWare engineering team was key to supporting complex hairstyles. Advancing the technology for intricate styles and optimizing performance ensured that specific moments, like when hair covers a large percentage of the screen in certain cinematics, run smoothly.” – Maciej Kurowski, Studio Technical Director, BioWare Together, they tackled challenging lighting conditions and pushed the limits of strand length and tessellation, achieving hair designs far more complex than any previous EA title."

"Complex Hair Rendering and Enchanting Visual Magic A major difference between Dragon Age: The Veilguard and existing Frostbite titles that have shipped with Strand Hair is the sheer variety and quantity of visual effects and transparent objects. From magical spells to smoke, fire, and fog, the technology needed to blend seamlessly into the environment and magic of Thedas. Strand Hair is not rendered like traditional objects are within Frostbite. The technology utilizes a bespoke compute software rasterizer and is composited into the frame and blended with other opaque and transparent objects when resolved. Due to the complexity and uniqueness of the software rasterizer, the hair supported limited options for blending with the game world and characters. It was specifically designed to favor blending with depth of field, which is an important broadcast camera technique used in sports games. This did not blend well with transparent objects, which while few in sports titles, are extremely common in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Thus, the BioWare team needed to develop a new technique for blending hair with transparent visual effects and environment effects like volumetric fog and other participating media. This technique involves splitting the hair into two distinct passes, first opaque, and then transparent. To split the hair up, we added an alpha cutoff to the render pass that composites the hair with the world and first renders the hair that is above the cutoff (>=1, opaque), and subsequently the hair that is lower than the cutoff (transparent). Before these split passes are rendered, we render the depth of the transparent part of the hair. Mostly this is just the ends of the hair strands. This texture will be used as a spatial barrier between transparent pixels that are “under” and “on top” of the strand hair."

"Transparent depth texture, note the edge of the hair."

"Once we have that texture, we first render the opaque part of strand hair, and then we render transparent objects. The shaders for the transparent objects use the transparent hair depth texture to determine whether the shading pixel is “under” or “on top” of the strand hair. If it’s below, it renders the hair and marks a stencil bit (think of it as a masking texture). If the pixel is “on top” or equal to the hair, it simply discards that pixel and renders nothing. After we’ve drawn the transparent objects once, we then draw the transparent hair since we are sure that there are no transparent objects ‘under’ the hair that have not been rendered yet. Finally we draw the transparent objects again, this time checking that stencil mask to see where we did not draw the transparent objects before, thus layering the pixels of transparent objects that are on top of the hair properly. This results in perfect pixel blending with transparent objects. – James Power, Senior Rendering Engineer, BioWare"

"Left, without “Layered” transparency. Right, with “Layered” transparency."

"Another challenge the BioWare team faced was handling the wide range of cinematic lighting rigs used for cutscenes, which must be rendered in real time in order to support customizable characters and followers. Because pre-rendering cutscenes was not possible, performance in cinematics was still paramount to the technical vision for the product. The team also wanted to maintain the same consistent frame rate across gameplay and cinematics to avoid jarring transitions if the cinematics were to be locked to 30 FPS.  With that in mind when lighting scenes, there needed to be support for a wide range of lights that would be less computationally expensive to render, but would have extreme consequences on the quality of hair self-shadowing. This is a major contributor to the overall quality of the hair. Any given Strand Hair object, which has tens of thousands of individual thin hair strands, requires high quality shadow maps in order to have good coverage of the hair strands in the resulting shadowmap texture. Wide angle lights, distant lights, and non-shadowcasting lights do not provide adequate coverage (or no coverage at all, in the case of the non-shadowcasting lights). When the lighting routines are run, the hair would occupy a low amount of pixels in the shadowmap.  When attempting to calculate light transmission inside the volume of hair, the fidelity would be poor, resulting in flat shading lacking detail near the edges of the hair where a fine gradient of light transmission is expected. To solve this, hero shadows are rendered for every Strand Hair object and every light that lighting artists designated as important to the shot. These hero shadows are generated at run time, using a tightly fitting light frustum that is adjusted to each hair’s bounding box, ensuring there are high fidelity shadowmaps.  When applying shadows to the hair, we test to see if a shading point is in the hero shadow or the regular shadow (since the hair will not be in both) and composite the final results."

"Left, Bellara rendered without Hero Shadows. Right, with Hero Shadows. Note the differences in fidelity of transmission on the left side of the character head."

"Harnessing Efficiency With Performance and Memory Throughout development, Dragon Age: The Veilguard aimed for high performance and strict memory requirements across all platforms to ensure players have a smooth and scalable experience.  Strand Hair is a memory and GPU dependent rendering system. Optimizations needed to be made in order to conform to the limited amount of system resources available for the following considerations: - Strand Hair assets, especially those with high strand counts and tessellation settings (which are necessary for the complex hair BioWare authored for both followers and Rook alike), have a high memory footprint. - The system is designed to allow for a large number of Strand Hair assets, but this comes at the cost of additional memory allocations to support the number of characters on field in other titles like EA SPORTS FC™. - For Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the team had a lot of control over which characters are on screen, and how many hair assets are supported. BioWare developed a system to control how large these allocations are to tightly fit the number of hair assets for the best possible memory utilization. On average, there is a flat GPU cost of around 128MB of GPU memory for the full field of followers (eight hair assets). Outside of this fixed memory cost, the system can dynamically adjust the size of system memory, GPU memory, and group shared memory in compute shaders using custom permutations with set thresholds.  This provides the ability to scale additional memory costs from 300MB to 600MB depending on quality settings and resolution. Both Xbox Series X and PlayStation®5 sit at around 400MB depending on the number of characters and the assets loaded, as they each have their own memory costs.  These costs are dynamically adjusted due to hair needing less memory to occupy less pixels. Lower resolutions (or lower dynamic hair resolution on lower quality settings) can get away with smaller buffer allocations for many of these per-frame costs without sacrificing any image quality.  This work was especially important for PC due to the wide array of available graphics memory on GPUs available to consumers. This amount of memory being allocated per frame can push the GPU into demoting or paging memory, which can result in significant performance loss and hitches. For lower quality settings on PC, as well as Xbox Series S, swapping out Strand Hair assets for Card Hair assets is supported. These assets have significantly lower memory footprints and allowed the team to push for higher fidelity on systems that can handle the load without sacrificing performance on lower end systems. To achieve the performance requirements of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, BioWare implemented a number of scalable performance features that are applied across various quality settings on PC and performance modes on consoles. Strand Hair is normally rendered at render resolution and is unaffected by upsampling technology such as NVIDIA DLSS, AMD FSR, or Intel XeSS. Therefore it does not scale as well with other render features when those settings are applied.  To ensure great performance across all configurations, BioWare implemented technology that scales the hair render resolution for a set of minimum and maximum targets based on said render resolution.  Hair rasterization performance scales fairly aggressively with resolution and screen coverage. As hair covers more of the screen, a larger primitive count is required to render the strands at adequate detail. This requires both more memory and GPU resources."

To ensure we meet our frame time requirements, we set a maximum frametime budget for strand hair rendering for consoles at 6.5ms for 30 FPS (33.3ms frame time) and 3ms for 60 FPS (16.6ms frame time) with eight strand hair assets on screen.  Our hair resolution control will adjust the resolution within a minimum and maximum resolution based on our upsampler and DRS settings and keep the hair costs proportional to those targets. This is important since hair does not go through upsampling, as mentioned earlier, and will not have its load reduced by those technologies. Running hair simulation costs are also done on the GPU in compute, and change dramatically depending on the asset, but tend to hover around 2ms with some spikes to nearly 5ms depending on complexity of the hair and whether we are loading/teleporting new assets. This cost does not scale with resolution.  We have a variety of systems for cinematics and gameplay that will disable simulation for hair assets off screen or far away and do not contribute to shadows that are on screen. Controlling simulation costs is largely done by cinematic designers ensuring their scenes do not go over budget. – James Power, Senior Rendering Engineer, BioWare As mentioned earlier, BioWare’s Hero Shadows provide the hair with high fidelity shadow maps, but come at a heavy cost to GPU performance.  Support for scalable hair decimation was added to combat this, allowing for the reduction of strand count when rendering shadows, thus reducing the cost of hero shadows. This enables lighters to use more of them, and support them for both 30 FPS and 60 FPS targets."

"Head and Shoulders Above the Rest Examples above describe only some of the improvements the BioWare and Frostbite teams worked on to redefine state of the art, real-time hair simulation and rendering technology for Dragon Age: The Veilguard. This groundbreaking accomplishment underscores EA's innovative spirit and highlights BioWare's exceptional craftsmanship. Whether you're uniting the Veilguard or facing the gods, the lifelike detail of your character's hair allows you to make this heroic story truly your own. As you journey through Thedas uniting companions and forging your legacy, remember that every detail down to the last strand of hair has been crafted to enhance your adventure. Join the ranks of innovators shaping the future of gaming realms. At EA, we forge alliances and craft powerful tools like Strand Hair. Explore open roles and embark on your adventure!"

[source]

[arcadia-smith]

Summary: His arrival and first demonstration.

Word count: 920

The air in the Red Room was thick with tension, the stale scent of gunpowder and sweat clinging to every corner of the training compound. You stood in the dimly lit corridor, the faint hum of fluorescent lights flickering above you. Today was different; today, he was coming.

Whispers had been circulating for weeks about a new addition to the training cadre. Not just a recruit, not just another trainer—no, this was a legend. The Winter Soldier. A phantom of the Cold War. His name carried weight, heavier than any weapon you’d ever held. They said his strength was inhuman, his precision unerring, and his presence a storm that left chaos in its wake. But you weren’t just anyone. You were the Black Widow—the Red Room’s finest creation, and intimidation was not a luxury you afforded yourself.

The metallic hiss of the heavy doors opening snapped you from your thoughts. A wave of cold air swept in, along with the sound of boots crunching against the icy floor. Slowly, you turned your head and caught sight of him.

The Winter Soldier.

He was taller than you expected, clad in tactical gear that looked more like armor than clothing. His mask obscured most of his face, but his eyes—icy, calculating, and just a touch haunted—locked onto you the moment he stepped inside. A chill ran down your spine, but you refused to let it show.

“Black Widow,” Dreykov’s voice rang out behind you. “Meet the Winter Soldier. He’ll be training our new recruits for the next few months.”

You didn’t move, holding your ground as Dreykov’s words hung in the air. The Soldier’s gaze didn’t waver, and neither did yours. This was no ordinary man—they hadn’t lied about that—but you weren’t about to step aside for anyone.

Finally, you took a single step forward, your boots clicking against the floor like a countdown. He watched your every movement, a predator gauging prey. But you were no prey.

Seeing the Soldier now, flesh and blood, made him more real—and more dangerous.

The other trainees stepped back, forming a wide circle around the sparring mat.

“I’ve heard a lot about you,” you said, your voice steady.

He tilted his head slightly, like he was studying you, dissecting you. For a moment, there was silence, and then he spoke, “And I’ve heard about you.”

The air between you thickened, a silent challenge crackling like static electricity. You both knew what the other was—a weapon forged, sharpened, and honed for destruction. Survivors of systems built to break lesser beings.

Dreykov clapped his hands, breaking the moment. “Enough introductions. Widow, you’ll assist the Soldier during his time here. Make sure he...adjusts.”

You suppressed the urge to roll your eyes at Dreykov’s tone. Assist? The Winter Soldier didn’t look like a man who needed help with anything. Still, you nodded, knowing better than to argue.

The drills began soon after. The Winter Soldier was an unrelenting force, each move precise, ruthless, calculated. He didn’t train the recruits; he tested them, pushed them, broke them.

You stood on the sidelines, watching each new Widow take on The Winter soldier, as you watched, you caught the subtle restraint in his movements.

He wasn’t here to kill—this was a measure of their endurance. A hunt, not a massacre.

Every punch, every kick, every takedown was calculated, designed to inflict maximum damage with minimal effort.

“Impressive,” you said as the last recruit stumbled to their feet, clutching their ribs. “But maybe they’d learn more if you didn’t break them on the first day.”

He turned to you, his brow furrowing slightly. “Fear is a good teacher.”

“Fear only works for so long,” you shot back, “If they’re too afraid to think, they’ll be useless in the field.”

For the first time, you thought you saw the ghost of a smirk beneath his mask. “Show me, then.”

It wasn’t a request. It was a challenge.

You stepped onto the mat without hesitation.

The recruits fell silent, their eyes wide with anticipation. The Winter Soldier took his place across from you, his metal arm glinting under the harsh lights.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Always.”

The first move was his—a lightning-fast jab aimed at your side. You dodged, countering with a roundhouse kick that he blocked effortlessly.

He was stronger, but you were faster. He relied on brute force, while you used agility and precision. The clash of styles was exhilarating, each move testing your limits.

For a moment, it felt like the world had narrowed to just the two of you, the recruits and Dreykov fading into the background.

“You’re holding back,” you hissed dodging one of his attacks.

He lunged, faster than you expected, catching your wrist mid-strike. His grip was iron, twisting just enough to throw you off balance, but you spun with it, using his own momentum to flip him onto his back. You landed hard, pinning him with your knee pressed against his chest. His breathing was steady, his gaze sharp and almost—impressed.

“You’re good,” he said.

You looked him, a smirk tugging at your lips despite the ache in your muscles. “So are you.”

You pushed off him, standing and extending a hand. He hesitated, then took it.

As you stood, Dreykov clapped sharply. “That’s enough. The rest of you, take note. This is the standard you will aspire to.”

You turned to leave, but you could still feel his eyes on you. You paused, glancing back over your shoulder.

“You’ve got a name?” you asked, your voice quiet enough that only he could hear.

He tilted his head slightly, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips. “Not one I remember.”

You slightly noded “Well, Soldier, welcome to the Red Room.”

His eyes followed you as you walked away, and you thought you heard him murmur under his breath, “See you, маленькая вдова.”

The Winter Soldier wasn’t just a ghost or a weapon. He was something far more dangerous.

[namelessdeceased]

(my own photo)

22-10-24 ╵ tuesday

ah! sorry! i got home super late last night and basically what happened was that i was SUPPOSED to have a normal day yesterday but before i left for school like we got the news that my grandmother (whos been sick for like a while now, about 3 weeks) passed away in her sleep so we fucking RAN over there i skipped school my dad was supposed to present there too everybody was going insane it was CRAZY i was busy the whole day got home at like 9 30 and passed tf out it was INSANE.

🗝️ to-do

studyblr post

help out w and submit OH game

pack COMPLETELY for melaka

get some sleep maybe?

do some work for dashboard

help clean up at embah's

talk to dr nuraini ab RSP scholarship

submit subj combo form

📀 starman 〢 david bowie

honestly kind of happy to restart my productivity challenge! i have some new terms i want to try so they'll be in the tags as well as under #maximum legend challenge / #mlc if anybody wants to follow along. maximum legend is a reference to fabian seacaster from dimension 20's fantasy high btw! good afternoon!

╰ theo 🪐

[velvetvexations]

The fact that Junior Year didn't at all challenge the way ANY system is set up is insane to me.

In the first half of the season I kept telling people the solution to Adaine's money problems wouldn't be Fabian buying her shit for her, because Brennan - DECOLONIAL PHILOSOPHER THAT HE IS - would never construct a scenario in which the solution to a ruinous lack of funds would be to get your rich friend to pay it off for you. This was just the foundation of my argument that Fabian literally, in-universe, did not have access to enough money to do that, because BLeeM usually plugs those holes and that seemed to be essentially the point of kicking Hilarial and Gilear off-screen for most of the season, but put that aside. The point is, it was clearly a critique of the system.

Right?

Because I assumed the solution would in some way be either changing the system or breaking free of it. Part of Adaine's problem is capitalism in general, but most immediately it's the financial demands the school system makes of her.

And then...the solution is not that. The solution is that she yells at her bosses to start paying her for being the Oracle, and Fabian beats someone in a dance contest so they do it. Problem solved. It's fine that Aguefort, which prides itself to an insane degree about what an anarchic madhouse it is for all the real freaks who want to just reach out and take life by the horns, requires you buy literal barrels of diamonds to be a wizard. That's fine.

The problem was that Adaine didn't have a fortune, not that she needed a fortune in the first place.

And it's wild because exactly that's something I liked about A Starstruck Odyssey. Obviously, Starstruck is an existing IP, and there wasn't a lot of room to just revolutionize galactic society overnight, but thematically it only enhanced the season's thrust to have everyone's problems be tied to money and for them to get past them by inventively striking a fortune. It was essentially taking this mildly grimdark capitalist hellhole and being like "okay, we'll play by your rules, assholes" and by the end it felt like there was a heavy tone of irony to the celebration of The Ball Rolling Up. Like you were meant to notice and be aware that the crew of the Wurst basking in their newfound riches was good for them personally but also a fucked-up reflection on how the setting operates.

And there was little tiny baby steps towards acknowledgement of systemic issues in JY that seemed promising, but all ultimately fizzled out.

Fig being overwhelmed by her responsibilities as a working musician and owner of a part of Hell? She orders her demonic underlings and indentured souls to help her put on a hella sweet concert and she goes quintuple platinum and her old agent is totally seething.

Gorgug is being failed by an educational structure that won't allow and doesn't even want him to succeed in the way he aspires to? Zac rolls insanely well so no he isn't, he's doing great, everyone should take four times the coursework.

Riz has to do a ton of shit to get into college because as a poor person he has to run to where others walk? Jokes are occasionally made about him being in a lot of clubs but that's never once examined or otherwise touched on between the the third and final episode, with the resolution in the epilogue being his mom going "hey kiddo wherever you end up you'll do great, just as long as you get enough sleep and take regular breaks to eat ice cream!".

Fabian trying to live up to the pressure of his legacy and maintaining his social status at school? Bill has a genuinely moving conversation with Fabian in the finale, indisputably one of the highlights of the season and a moment that in spite of everything I found incredibly powerful, where he tells him that he would love him even if he weren't a Maximum Legend, but it ends on "maybe we can have both" because as Brennan himself noted Lou was rolling so well that it was actively strangling the theme of his arc so that it ended up just being Fabian occasionally feeling a bit frustrated about the pressure while effortlessly succeeding to the point that not even Fig's catastrophic bardic put a dent in his popularity could have been an interesting exploration of tragic imposter syndrome, but it felt more like they were trying to stick to an expected "Fabian has to struggle with fluctuating popularity" plotline without really examining the contradiction.

Kristen failing cleric class? Kristen deserved to fail cleric class.

The issues with Fabian and Gorgug's arc was just luck and a flaw in the downtime mechanic. The others went deeper and man I really wish more had been done there.

[thekulemiverse]

KULEMIVERSE | Death of a Legend AU

Ava Vernon

Yakuza: Death of a Legend (or DOAL) is a project that’s been in the works on and off for about 3 years or so! It’s meant to follow Masato Aizawa (protagonist) after the events in Yakuza 5 (2012). It opens with Aizawa in captivity as a prisoner of the Tojo Clan as they beat and torture him after finding him passed out in the snow. After what may have been a few days, he’s then detained during a police raid of the building he’s held at. 

Aizawa is tried and found guilty for the murder of the legend, Kazuma Kiryu and is imprisoned in a maximum security prison until he’s delivered a suspicious letter written by an unnamed character claiming to have pulled enough strings to have his 17-year sentence commuted. 

The story then picks up about 3 years later (2016) when Aizawa is released from prison. Outside, he’s congratulated by a well dressed man heavily cloaked in dark clothing and a strange mask seemingly equipped with a voice modulator. There is also a well dressed woman there beside him. The man introduces himself simply as Kagari. He claims to be the reason behind Aizawa’s release, making the man indebted to him and as such, he owed him a “conversation”. 

Intrigued but mostly confused, Aizawa agrees and they drive him to a high rise building in Saitama. There, the man suddenly challenges Aizawa to a no holds barred contest with the condition that if Aizawa wins he would reveal his identity and if he lost, he’d kill the convict himself. 

Aizawa holds his own, though the match ends in a tie by way of exhaustion, and the man remarks that he had a long way to go before he could have taken out a man like Kiryu, and Aizawa thoughtfully admits that Kiryu had practically said just as much himself. Kagari then tells him that he’d known since he sent that letter that he was innocent but he had to see for himself if he deserved such a credit– he didn’t think so. 

He admits that he’s been investigating since he heard the news and had some ideas as to who was behind this, but he unfortunately needed Aizawa in order to get to the bottom of it. Without hesitation, Aizawa agrees, citing his refusal to continue to take credit for a fight he lost. He was too prideful to live that sort of lie.

From then on, Kagari and his seemingly infinite resources become an important asset in finding out who actually killed Kiryu and who would have wanted to have him framed for it.

Just some background info!

◈ The Masked Man/Kagari is the pseudonym that Akira Nishikiyama uses after surviving the explosion at Ares in 2005. 

◈ The Kulemiverse version of DOAL takes place from 2016-2019. Kagari/Nishikiyama is 48-51. Aizawa is 36-39. Ava is 28-31. While actual DOAL takes place in a span of about 6-7 months between 2016-2017.

◈ The DOAL universe hops between 3 different maps: Kamurocho (Tokyo), Okinawa & Kawazumi (Gunma). Kawazumi was created for the purpose of this project and is lightly based on Oizumi in the Gunma prefecture.

◈ The character known now as Ava Vernon was an unnamed background character in the actual DOAL with few speaking lines with the exception of substories. Her role was originally that a of  dutiful assistant to Kagari. However, she was remodeled, renamed, and repurposed solely for selfshipping adventures.

*Elements of the DOAL AU were the foundation for certain aspects of other AUs as well, such as the Daily AU and Swanview AU to help establish the MM&N dynamic

About AVA

✕ She is the ever-capable Administrative Director of Kagari, Inc. Her role is to essentially take care of things before Kagari even has to ask. She’s studied him to the point of practically knowing what he’s thinking most of the time. 

✕However, due to the nature of so many of her former jobs requiring her to anticipate the needs of others, she excels at reading more than just Nishikiyama/Kagari which just adds to her value as far as he’s concerned.

✕ She is known as his shadow. Wherever he goes, she is sure to follow– sometimes, even against his direct orders and it used to piss him off but it’s saved his ass more times than he’d like to admit. 

✕ To his clients, she appears as little more than an errand girl that Kagari may or may not be screwing on the side. When she’s not tending to business in the head office, she’s attending meetings and dinners with him. If he’s hosting in The Tower’s lounge, she’s generally manning the bar. However, what many do not realize until it’s too late is that her melee ability, as well as her speed and sleight of hand is unmatched. He utilizes her calm, elegant and subdued aura to encourage people to lower their guard and when he gives her the signal, she executes his plan of attack.

✕ Before she was Kagari’s right hand, she was a broke college student from the States who was willing to do just about anything to make enough money to live. He found her on a camming site and requested to meet, offering her an amount of money that she'd felt foolish to turn down. When they met, she expected to have sex with him but it turned out to be a very unconventional job interview of sorts. He offered her a great salary as well as room and board for the first year. He’d recently cleaned house at his company and wanted to hire a different cast of characters, people who he felt had a great sense of loyalty and nothing left to lose– and in many ways, he felt that she was perfect for the role that he had for her.

✕ She was not born as Ava Vernon. It was the name they brainstormed together as they worked toward reinventing her. The only person who knows her real name is him (and later Aizawa). 

✕ Her reinvention didn’t stop at changing her name. He also encouraged her to improve her style, speech, posture, mannerisms, had her trained to use weaponry and so, so much more. For the first year working under him, she hardly knew sleep because he had her working tirelessly on crafting her new identity.

✕ In just a few short years, she somehow got him to lower his guard and shed his many layers to allow her to see beyond the persona. She knows him as Akira Nishikiyama– including all the details leading up to and beyond his “death” in 2005. 

✕ She’s the most trusted on his team and it’s for that reason that he’s harder on her than anyone else. He feels that since she knows too much, he cannot lose her and therefore she cannot afford to screw up. 

✕ She’d been in love with him for a while, but by the time of the events in DOAL, the feelings were mutual between them despite neither of them actually confessing to each other. It was just sort of obvious to everyone around them. 

✕ To outsiders, Kagari/Nishikiyama was needlessly harsh to her. Even Aizawa commented on this over time but between the two of them, it was just the way things were. It was easy to excuse because behind closed doors, his affection for her seemed endless.

✕ It takes multiple instances of her opening up to Aizawa and her really taking in what he had to say about their dynamic for her to finally question things for herself. 

✕ The relationship that Ava and Aizawa develop is one that complicates things for Nishikiyama in more ways than one. Aizawa was quickly able to see past her persona and see her for who she actually was. Not even her coworkers at Kagari,Inc. had done that and she’d worked with most of them for multiple years by this point. This infuriates Nishikiyama because not only does her letting her guard down put them at risk, he also finds himself struggling to be okay with the fact that parts of her that he thought were only for him had been exposed to another man. 

✕ To Aizawa’s credit, he never intended to get in between them. While he did find her attractive when they first met, he had too much shit going on in his own life to worry about getting involved in any sort of romance- let alone some weird love triangle. His interactions with her had been fully platonic until they just weren’t. He couldn’t even say for sure when the switch happened. 

✕ Besides, after he does finally realize that he’d been feeling things for her, he doesn’t say anything about it until mooonths after Ava and Nishikiyama call it quits on their complicated romance and decide to maintain a tense, but strictly professional working relationship. And even still, he doesn’t act on it out of a sense of loyalty to Kagari because while they weren’t friends, the man had saved him… Even if he did do so for his own personal motivations.

✕ Ava is the one to step out of line here and well, Aizawa was never really good at turning down beautiful women that were bad news.

[duckprintspress]

32 of Our Favorite Sci-Fi Reads for National Science Fiction Day

Duck Prints Press LOVES kicking off the new year with one of our favorite annual recommendation lists: science fiction stories (ideally queer, but it wasn’t required) to celebrate National Science Fiction Day! For this year, 14 Duck Prints Press contributors suggested a whopping 32 awesome science fiction books. Note that there’s no overlap with last year (by design) so make sure you also check out Our Ten Favorite Science Fiction Reads of 2022 for some more titles to add to your 2024 TBR.

Our 2024 Science Fiction Recs:

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

Little Mushroom by Shisi

Always Human by Ari North

More Than We Deserve by Nicola Kapron

Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho

Ocean’s Echo by Everina Maxwell

Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

CrashCourse by Wilhelmina Baird

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen

Emergent Properties by Aimee Ogden

Victories Greater than Death by Charlie Jane Anders

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

The Fever King by Victoria Lee

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Infomocracy by Malka Older

Zero Sum Game by S. L. Huang

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott

Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

Trigun and Trigun Maximum by Yasuhiro Nightow

Legend of the Galactic Heroes by Yoshiki Tanaka & Katsumi Michihara

In the Lives of Puppets by T. J. Klune

Mega Man by Ian Flynn & Pat Spaz Spaziante

Mega Man Megamix by Hitoshi Ariga

Ghost in the Shell by Masamune Shirow

Once & Future by A. R. Capetta & Cory McCarthy

Five-Twelfths of Heaven by Melissa Scott

The Big Sigma by Joseph R. Lallo

Want to come read some of these books with us? Join our 2024 Queer Book Challenge on Storygraph! One of our challenges there is to read a queer science fiction book, and there’s a lot on this list that’d count!

You can check out all our sci-fi recs on this Goodreads shelf.

Wish you could contribute to these lists? Back our Patreon, join our Discord, and you can!

[real-total-drama-takes]

“Three queens stand before me,” Ru-Chef began, sizing the dolls up and down.

“Only two of you will move on to the finals, and one of you will bid your adieu and go out in a a burst of glory, in our giant Cum Cannon of Slay-me.”

Brown Sugar and S-kai eyed each other up and down. Brown Sugar, having acquired a Republican-woman tan the shade of burnt caramel, was dead set on getting that Olympic wannabe eliminated. In turn, S-kai, the non-binary short king who merged her deadname Sky with the name every non-binary short king who watched LEGO Ninjago as a kid chooses, also wanted that Alberta asshat eliminated. Shawn-tay, on the other hand, was just focused on not getting his wig snatched by the millions of wig-snatching zombies in the wild of Pahkitew Island.

“So who stays? And who goes?” Ru-Chef was turning up the heat. She got right up in the final three contestants’ faces.

“Brown Sugar, you were terrific in the Dolly Parton drag/moose rodeo double-challenge today, but you completely tripped on your stilettos during the 100m gogo-boots race! What happened, queen?”

S-kai smirked. Yes, Mama Ru! Read that flop to filth with the rest of her hog-tying hick cousins! she thought.

“And S-kai, my darling…”

The non-binary Olympic short king gulped.

“Musical legend Madonna originated the vogue walk. We wanted to see that passion in you during the reward challenge today. Instead, much like said legend herself in present day, I almost went into a mid-life crisis from that godawful posing! This is Ru-Chef’s Drag Race: Pahkitew Island, not a soup kitchen! Let’s straighten that neck up, and act like we’re in a photoshoot, m’kay?”

S-kai reddened, and Brown Sugar hooped and hollered at Ru-Chef’s insult.

Further back, Sis McSlay, co-host of the show, was fine-tuning the Cannon of Slay-me for maximum propulsion. Xe took a moment to rub the sweat off xis forehead from doing repairs to laugh at xis lover’s read. Ru-Chef didn’t just read people–she brought the whole damn LIBRARY.

Click. Clack. Click. Clack. Ru-Chef’s pink Louboutin heels carried the queen over to Shawn-tay, who hadn’t bathed all season.

“Shawn-tay,” said Ru-Chef nasally, as a clothespin pinched her nose from the zombie conspiracy theorist queen’s stench. “You didn’t do terribly in today’s challenges. Nor did you do particularly well. Just…middling. Mediocre. Milquetoast, if we want to keep this trend of “m” words meaning “bland” that perfectly describe you.”

S-kai and Brown Sugar’s eyes widened. Shawn-tay gulped.

“In fact, my dear,” Ru-Chef continued, “If I had a glass of lukewarm Pepsi, I’d offer it to you, because much like a glass of lukewarm Pepsi, you are both unimpressive and nobody’s first choice.”

Shawn-tay’s jaw fell to the floor of the makeshift stage set up on the island. She was thoroughly gagged.

____________________________________________

After Ru-Chef had gotten those bitches together, it was time for the elimination nomination.

“S-kai,” Ru-Chef said, her pink dress shimmering in the summer sun. “You are a phoenix. Bright and awe-inspiring when in action, but pathetic and ashy otherwise. You are an Olympian in training, and you haven’t won a single challenge on your own all season! You’ve got so much potential, crazy abs, a killer bod, insane upper-body strength, sexy flexibility, and a calm head that would soothe any acid-attack victim’s chemical burns! But is athleticism and levelheadedness all that can carry you to the crown?”

S-kai braced xishelf.

“I’m sorry, my dear, but you are up for elimination.”

S-kai’s heart sank. Xer blue chiffon ball gown seemed to shrink and pucker with every condemnation from Ru-Chef, and with this final blow, with this heart-halting threat of elimination looming over her, it finally gave away. S-kai sank to xer knees and wept.

Unfazed, Ru-Chef turned to the next contestant.

“Brown Sugar. Your performance in today’s challenge was…shall we say…Sugar Honey Iced Tea.”

Brown Sugar’s wig was snatched. Her bedazzled blue-denim bell bottom jeans swished pathetically in the wind.

“Let’s just say, if I wanted a performance that tried way too hard to be modern but ended up being a downright offensive yet horny hick fest, I would’ve just created an AI deep fake of an uncomfortably sweaty sex tape between Lil Nas X and Billy Rae Cyrus to the tune of “Old Town Road.”

S-kai stifled a giggle. Brown Sugar’s eyes went as wide as the sticks of fried butter she ate for lunch.

“I’m sorry, my dear, but you are up for elimination.”

Brown Sugar started boohooing instantly, her blonde locks billowing in the breeze.

“And Shawn-tay….Con-drag-ulations, you are the winner of this challenge! You stink like Selena Gomez’s acting, Jennifer Lopez’s singing, and Sofia Vergara’s English accent, but you’ve got that it factor, despite an initially lackluster performance. You’ve got a ticket to the finale, my darling. Sashay to backstage, and spectate these two queens battling it out if you dare.”

Fixing her ratty orange beanie, Shawn-tay ran to the back of the stage, endlessly relieved that she wasn’t being eliminated that round and that no zombies had snatched her wig to get her brains!

____________________________________________

“Queens,” Ru-Chef said, after the commercial break. “It is time…to lip-sync…FOR. YOUR. LIFE.”

S-kai and Brown Sugar hated each other all season. Brown Sugar’s loud hillbilly antics and cruel, manipulative tactics like bullying their teammate Sn-hoe White out of the competition and breaking up S-kai and Dirty Dave’s showmance rubbed S-kai the wrong way. Similarly, Brown Sugar was repulsed by S-kai’s good sportsmanship, sense of fairness, and potential alliance with Dirty Dave. They couldn’t be more different. But the two shared one thing in common at that moment, judging from their shaking knees, as jiggly as Season 1 Drag Race winner Ho-wen’s belly: they were scared shitless.

“Good luck, and don’t fuck it up.”

Having uttered this warning, Ru-Chef pressed Play on the hot-pink Disney Princess Karaoke Machine. On either side of him, co-judge Sis McSlay and celebrity judge, current Prime Minister of Canada, Cunt-ney, were staring at the queens coolly.

A remix of Disney Princess “I Want” songs began playing, starting with Snow White’s “I’m Wishing” melody that she sang into the wishing well, still in her peasant clothes. But unlike a peasant, S-kai and Brown Sugar were in full force, grooving around the stage, lip-syncing as best as they could to this childhood medley.

The remix switched over to Cinderella’s “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes”. Channeling her inner Gus, Brown Sugar tumbled and scurried around the stage, posing perfectly under the spotlight. Ru-Chef looked impressed.

Quickly, the lyrics morphed into Sleeping Beauty’s “Once Upon A Dream”. Channeling xer inner Aurora, S-kai fluttered around the stage, dancing with a deer and gaggle of birds that had wandered in from the forest. Prime Minister Cunt-ney seemed amazed.

It was when the music shifted gears into Ariel’s “Part of Your World” that a lightbulb went off in S-kai’s pixie-cut-adorned head.

The medley is going chronologically, by order of the Disney Princess movies! she deduced.

Hmm, right now is 1989’s The Little Mermaid. What’s next…was it Beauty and the Beast? No, Aladdin!

Distracted by her mental calculations, S-kai didn’t see that she was twirling right next to the front of the stage. Brown Sugar slyly stuck her foot out in front of her competitor. S-kai tripped.

Tipping over the edge of the stage from the momentum of her twirling, the queen gasped. At that moment, the Disney Princess animals from the forest dashed to her rescue. A gaggle of bluebirds grabbed onto her ballgown. A nest of robins held onto her velvet cape. Using their paws and hooves, a deer and a rabbit steadied S-kai’s high heels, which were teeter-tottering from the impact.

Once again, fully upright on stage, S-kai flashed her brightest smile and continued twirling. Sis McSlay narrowed his eyes, but looked satisfied by her recovery.

Shooting a glare at Brown Sugar, S-kai focused on what lyrics would be next. Correctly predicting that Ariel’s signature song would shift into Jasmine’s “A Whole New World,” S-kai used xer cape as an imaginary magic carpet, and, combined with xer acrobatic skills, pretending to glide around the stage in it. All three judges exchanged looks of wonder.

Fuming, Brown Sugar planned to crush that gymnast out of the competition once and for all. In the meantime, though, she’d bide her time and pretend-lasso S-kai out of the way, as the medley changed into Belle’s reprise.

Ironic that Brown Sugar, who thought that books were just government conspiracies to “kill trees and stuff them between boring covers,” would dominate in this portion of the lip-sync, but that’s exactly what happened. Dizzy from all her spinning and flipping, S-kai moved around the stage in a daze. Taking the opportunity to hip-check xer out of the way, Brown Sugar shoulder-shimmied her way into the judges’ hearts.

The sun beat overhead as fiercely as the two lip-syncing queens’ competitive spirit. Neither was backing down, and Shawn-tay watched from backstage in amazement. Maybe life wasn’t all about zombie apocalyptic survival, she thought, inspired by their desire to snatch the crown.

There wasn’t much choreography during S-kai and Brown Sugar’s lip-syncing renditions of Mulan’s “Reflection”, but the emotion in their faces, no doubt spurred on by their hunger to stay in the competition, brought Prime Minister Cunt-ney to hysterics. Even though queen never cry, she couldn’t help but dab at her watery eyes with her mindful and demure platinum-plated handkerchief. Ru-Chef and Sis McSlay held each other for comfort as they sobbed.

Princess Tiana’s “Down in New Orleans” was the segment which made S-kai and Brown Sugar vie for the spotlight the most. Hips swayed, toe-taps cascaded, fingers wagged, and legs sashayed through this jazzy tune. Brown Sugar “accidentally” bumped S-kai into a stage prop, which came crashing down on the queen. With xer out of the way, Brown Sugar pirouetted to her heart’s content, letting out years of Little Miss Hillbilly pageant experience. The judges oohed and aahed.

Crawling out of the rubble from the stage-prop sabotage, S-kai’s ears steamed. Xe wanted to run out there and drop-kick Brown Sugar off the stage and onto the judge’s table to expose that fraud who wore…Sh…Shake….

S-kai shuddered. Even xe couldn’t speak that godawful piece of cheap hair technology into existence. Much like Lord Voldemort, Shake-N-Go wigs were an evil best left unspoken, lest it secretly grow power whenever it was uttered. All of Canada knew that only the trashiest queens wore them, and a secret like this that S-kai had caught wind to would destroy Brown Sugar’s drag career, and on national television at that. But….

No. S-kai wasn’t that low. As angry as xe was, xe wouldn’t stoop to Brown Sugar’s level just to win a lip-sync. Instead, S-kai would win with xer killer physique and discipline. “Fly like a butterfly, sting like a queen”, her intense drag trainer Mr. Mi-yas-gi had taught her. That, and “Wax on, wax off” (when it came to styling eyebrows).

Picking xerself up and dusting xerself off, S-kai was just in time as the remix moved into Rapunzel’s “When Will My Life Begin”. Despite xer obligatory short haircut like all non-binary short kings with some variation of the name Kai, S-kai wasn’t deterred from using xer flowing ballgown to cosplay as Rapunzel’s magical locks. Swirling them around and combining hairography with classical ballet, S-kai zig-zagged around the stage, trapping Brown Sugar in a whirlwind of chiffon and pixie-cut dandruff. The judges were surprised at S-kai’s recovery, having been almost ready to disqualify xer for xer absence for most of the previous lip-sync segment.

S-kai’s dancing whirlwind spun faster and faster, as Brown Sugar, feebly shaking her blonde curls, became disoriented. Making a mad dash out of her opponent’s ballet-based natural disaster, Brown Sugar’s head was clocked by a stray wind from S-kai’s choreography of fury. Flying off the stage, Brown Sugar smashed into the judges’ table and sent an intern running away in fear.

Having knocked her rival off stage, S-kai took center stage, the spotlight on xer, as the final song of the remix, Moana’s “How Far I’ll Go”, began playing. Despite Moana’s Polynesian roots, as a First Nations (indigenous Canadian) queen, S-kai resonated with Moana’s indigenous heritage.

By the time S-kai’s lips, perfectly aligned with Moana’s voice, mouthed the final “how far I’ll go,” all three judges were brought to tears. Even Brown Sugar, as much as she hated S-kai, had to admit that xe sounded pretty good. Shawn-tay sobbed tears of awe.

____________________________________________

The stage lights went dim. Just the natural sunlight, the summer breeze, the chirping birds nearby, and the applauding judges were the only sounds left.

Having defeatedly risen back onto the stage, Brown Sugar faced her judgment. She stared daggers at S-kai, who stared daggers right back. The two were having a mental diva-off, a stare down of the gods, and only one would walk away. That is, until–

“We’ve made our decision,” Ru-Chef called.

“S-kai,” Prime Minister Cunt-ney began.

A pit of nervousness rose in the Olympic queen’s stomach.

“Shantay, you stay,” Ru-Chef proudly finished.

Xer mouth agape, S-kai took in Ru-Chef’s words. Xe was in the finale. Xe was IN the finale.

Beaming, she ran over to hug Shawn-tay before halting inches away. Shawn-tay did still smell like raccoon ass and her outfit did still look like she had gotten mauled by attack dogs and fire hoses at a civil rights protest (seriously, what was Mama Ru thinking giving her invincibility??), but….who the hell cared! The two queens embraced, congratulating each other. Discreetly, S-kai sprayed some Chanel No. 5 perfume on Shawn-tay as they hugged.

“Brown Sugar. Your performance in this lip sync matches your tan exactly: skanky and reeking of bad judgment. If the sabotage wasn’t enough, the hair was my last goddamn straw, honey…a Shake-N-Go wig? How dare you.”

Having had her secret exposed for the entire viewing audience of Ontario, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Quebec, Brown Sugar stood frozen in her tracks, a white-hot fury and mortification petrifying her. She could kiss her brand deals with Juggy Chunks and Darwin’s Food Safari goodbye.

“Brown Sugar,” Ru-Chef looked upon her like gum on the bottom of her stiletto. “Sashay away.”

____________________________________________

Not even giving her enough time for a farewell, Ru-Chef’s bulging biceps hoisted Brown Sugar up and tossed her from the stage into the Cannon of Slay-me across the forest. Promptly pressing a shiny red button, Sis McSlay watched as Brown Sugar screetched, “I’M COMING, WIZARD!” as she blasted away into the sky. For the record, by “wizard,” she was not referring to Leonard, a black queen LARPing as a sexy mage who was eliminated 2nd in the competition, but instead to her illicit American lover, a “Grand Wizard” in an organization whose three initials are all comprised of the same letter…

“Taking the trash out, one silly billy (hillbilly that is!) at a time!” Prime Minister Cunt-ney dusted her hands off, a self-satisfied smirk on her ever-so-cunty face.

“We are down to TWO finalists,” Ru-Chef announced.

“Who will be the queen that snatches the crown on Ru-Chef’s Drag Race: Pahkitew Island? Will it be S-kai, non-binary short king (pronouns xe/she/xer/her) and Olympian-in-training, or Shawn-tay, smelly but spirited QAnon conspiracy theorist Shawn-tay (pronouns she/her)–?”

"–It’s ‘zombie conspiracy theorist, not QAnon! And zombies are totally real–“

“–Find out next week on the season finale of Total…Mama💅…Island!”

[tgrailwar-zero]

Servant Matrix: GIL

Class: 'Gilgamesh'

True Name: Gilgamesh

Gender: Male

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Height/Weight: 140cm / 30kg

Source: History, The Epic of Gilgamesh

Region: West Asia, Ancient Mesopotamia

ENDURANCE GAUGE: [X/X/X/X/X]

MANA CHARGES: [ X / X / X / X ]

COMMAND SPELLS: [ ---- ]

The young king of Uruk, he prefers to be called 'Gil' in this form. While Gilgamesh was known as many things- a brutal tyrant, a great hero, a wise king- in his youth he was praised as a fair and compassionate ruler, and only having turned into an intense and arrogant man in his later years. Someone who acknowledges the divine, but does not defer to them, and enjoys seeing others forge their own path forward.

While in most cases he would be an 'Archer', on the Moon Cell he falls beyond the standard Seven Classes, and is therefore just 'Gilgamesh', though having reverted to his youthful form, his power is on a much more reasonable scale. Still, that does not stop him from being 'Gilgamesh' nonetheless.

"…It was either that or 'Gorgeous'…" The young king sighs with a roll of his eyes. Either way, he belongs to a non-Standard 'cheat' Class.

When he was summoned to the Solar Cell as an adult, he couldn't turn his gaze away from the plight of the people, and so became the de-facto leader of the Sunbeam Row while simultaneously decrying the Heavenly Divinity and the Priestess. He is an ally to the Solar Cell's inhabitants, but not their leaders. Perhaps, due to being blessed by the Sun God Shamash as a hero, or maybe simply due to his heritage, he has a positive affinity with the land.

He was the former Servant of one 'Rin Tohsaka' during the Lunar Holy Grail War, though he doesn't speak of that time much. After all, that was an escapade of his 'adult self', rather than his 'youthful self'.

While he is more reasonable like this, his lack of arrogance means that his 'awareness' is actually increased despite his reduced age. He's still a king, and in his eyes kings are not to be challenged unless the one challenging is willing to risk it all. Even with his reduced stats, he still boasts a powerful set of Noble Phantasms and a eagle-like focus. Playful, yet dangerous. Powerful, yet humble. Childish, yet wise.

He has a constant glint in his eye, as if he always knows more than what he lets on. However, he only shares what he likes… that's the fickle nature of a divine king, that is present whether he is a child or an adult.

Strength: C

Endurance: C

Agility: C

Mana: C

Luck: A

NP: EX

SKILLS:

Magic Resistance (E) - Spells are not cancelled, but magic damage is slightly reduced.

Independent Action (A) - It is possible for Gil to remain in the world for up to a week without magical energy supporting him. He can act independently without a Master, but may require some form of mana support to use powerful Noble Phantasms.

Divinity: (B→A+) - One's divine spirit aptitude. Originally this was ranked 'A+', essentially the maximum level, but was reduced due to Gilgamesh distancing himself from the gods.

Rosy-cheeked Youth (C) - The nature of a charming, pretty-faced young man. A magical charm skill that works on people regardless of gender, but can be resisted or avoided with proper Magic Resistance. Even without Magic Resistance, it can be avoided if someone has a strong will to resist it.

Charisma (A+) - A skill possessed by outstanding leaders and kings, the natural talent to command armies, kingdoms, and countries. At this level, it becomes less of a 'talent' and more of a spell in itself. Any forces or groups commanded by someone with this level of Charisma will have a massive increase in capability, guaranteed.

Golden Rule (A) - A skill that denotes how much wealth one possessed in life, and how fortune allows them to acquire wealth in the present. Gilgamesh, due to possessing all of the world's treasures according to his legend, is an incredibly wealthy individual who will never struggle with monetary issues and live as comfortably as he pleases. It is important to remember that this does not naturally extend to his Masters.

Collector (EX) - A skill that denotes one's 'luck' in acquiring rare, high-quality items. Gilgamesh can acquire rare items with ease, however this is a personal skill, so naturally it only benefits him- not his Masters.

NOBLE PHANTASM: Gate of Babylon

The King's Treasury.

All the treasures that Gilgamesh had accumulated in life, and his primary Noble Phantasm.

Instantaneous access to Gilgamesh's treasury, where he can access various items with ease. Items can be easily retrieved, weapons swiftly wielded, or multiple points of access can be opened up for a barrage of Noble Phantasms to be fired like bullets. Due to Gilgamesh's youthful form, he cannot use it to the extent that his older self could, firing untold amounts of treasures without issue. However, due to him being less arrogant than his older self, he is able to more clearly pick and choose which weapons to be fired, meaning that 'quantity' has been traded for 'quality' in a sense.

NOBLE PHANTASMS: Enkidu - The Chains of Heaven

A chain named after Gilgamesh's closest friend and one of the most prized treasures within the Gate of Babylon. A powerful, anti-divinity chain that can shackle gods and men with immense strength. Even if this chain is somehow 'broken', it is not destroyed.

NOBLE PHANTASM: Sha Naqba Imuru

Roughly meaning 'He who saw the Unknown'.

The manifestation of Gilgamesh's omniscient wisdom and vision. Incredibly high-ranked Clairvoyance that allows Gilgamesh to see optimal paths, hidden truths, and even glimpses of other worlds. A constantly active Noble Phantasm that Gilgamesh uses when he pleases, but tends to keep restrained.

If the True Name of this Noble Phantasm is properly released, it serves to help Gilgamesh guide his allies in the most optimal fashion, massively increasing both offensive and defensive power.

-

COMBO ATTACKS:

SWORD OF GILDED VICTORY

{REQUIRES: YOUNG GIL + RICHARD I, -3 MP EACH} --

Gil passes Richard a blade from the Age of Gods from his treasury, allowing him to use 'Excalibur' in a massively powered up fashion, unleashing a barrage of super-powered beams. The blade is destroyed once the technique is completed.