#my hands remember the game but my brain does not entirely. & the Point of playing a game is to get to experience the game

[eldritchneuro]

I have a theory that the reason so many people who were introduced to Trigun via '98 dislike Stampede, and vice-versa, is because each text is positioning the audience to view it from a completely opposite lens.

'98 does the same thing that its sister show, Cowboy Bebop does, which is to lure you in with the premise of turning your brain off for some good, simple fun, only to slight-of-hand you into realizing that oh shit there's themes, and now you've got a 15-page video essay.

Trigun Stampede does not want you to do that, in large part because it's a far denser text. There's like 7 different main themes and ideas bustling around and multiple story elements are told almost exclusively through film language (see Tesla, red-blue-purple color theory, and probably multiple more that I can't summon from the top of my head). It wants your brain on and intensely focusing the entire time and then you go on to write a 15-page video essay.

The tricky part is that you have to somehow communicate to the audience that you want them to do this, which is a hard ask because any hints you drop to hey, focus! aren't gonna be obvious enough to picked up by those people without being obtrusive.

The dramatic tension built up in episode 4 is built off of Wolfwood and this game of traitor-or-not that the narrative plays. 'Why is this man alone in the desert in completely inappropriate dress?' 'Why does he have a cross?' 'How is is he not dead?' and 'Okay so he's somehow survived this far but he's also just been hit by a fucking truck!?'. These are all questions that the story wants you to ask, because they help build up Wolfwood as being hella sus.

Enter Roberto, who conveniently has asking questions be his entire job. By having him explicitly point out various things throughout the story like this one, it signals that these are things we should be focusing on, especially since he's set up as someone who's been around the block a few times.

Here's some more examples of Roberto showing us what to remember, all from just the first episode:

This helpless guy they found in the desert has a gun on him. Why does he have a gun on him?

2. Cowardice is a matter of perspective, and perceived cowards may just be under pressure that we can't see (this is clearer in the English dub, where iirc the word 'experienced' is used rather than 'privileged').

3. This one's a red herring! Vash is, in fact, very tough, but this line still contrasts him against being perceived as naive even by someone as experienced as Roberto.

4. Fuck them cops (based)

Of course, the flipside is that Roberto will not live to see the end of this season. But much like how he leaves Meryl with the newfound experience she needs, he also leaves the audience with the curiosity that we will need going forward.

[juyeonszn]

PARTY O’CLOCK

PAIRING choi chanhee x f!reader

WORD COUNT 5.39k

GENRES fluff ﹒smut

WARNINGS 18+ MINORS DO NOT INTERACT, mature language, tau beta zeta frat treasurer!chanhee, reader is a stereotypical party girl, she’s also an astronomy major, mentions of alcohol, i’m pretty sure everyone makes a cameo at some point, kevin moon playing matchmaker, we escalate a little fast so, intense making out, marking, vaginal fingering, brat tamer!chanhee, dom!chanhee, lowkey pussy job for like 1 second, nipple play? kinda?, unprotected sex, wall sex, missionary, multiple orgasms, creampie (yk… the usual), overstimulation

SUMMARY in spite of being a frat boy himself, chanhee could never actually see himself enjoying the luxuries of the title. besides, how could he with all the responsibilities of being treasurer? enter you and your carefree spirit and chanhee’s got a real big problem on his hands.

MORE … don’t yell at me PLEASE. i know this is 2 days overdue. I KNOW I KNOW. i’ve been so busy these past couple days and my time management is ass we already know this. BUT IM HERE AND SHES FINISHED AND ITS CHRISTMAS EVE SO??? 🙏🙏😍 anyways. i hope u guys enjoy i had a fun time writing this. i’m a firm believer in dom chanhee 😋 if u liked this pls don’t forget to reblog!

SERIES MASTERLIST

PERM TAGLIST @winterchimez @maessseongs @itsbeeble @zzoguri @deoboyznet @cloverdaisies @vernyangel @ericlvr

TAGLIST @millksea

“Who’s that?”

The question comes out before you can even stop it, eyes focused on a guy sitting on one of the couches in the living room, complete disinterest all over his face. He’s pretty. Prettier than any guy you’ve ever seen. But he also looks like he’d rather be anywhere else than at this party.

“Who?” Your friend Heejin asks, following your gaze.

She finds out pretty quickly, especially because of how intense your stare is. She racks her brain for his name, sure it’s somewhere in her catalog of the student body. Heejin was the kind of person who knew everyone even if she didn’t exactly know them personally. She was both sociable and obsessed with gossip, sticking her nose in the business of those around her.

“Ah! That’s Choi Chanhee,” she nods, index finger tapping her chin. “He’s the Tau Beta Zeta treasurer actually. That’s probably why he looks like he wants to kill himself. Dude doesn’t really want to be here, but fraternity brothers are required to attend every party.”

She’s right, it appears, when you see some of the members you do recognize make their way over to bother him. He definitely does not look like the fraternity type, but you guess it also makes sense in a way. Maybe he needed an extracurricular or something that would be nice on his resume.

It’s hard for you to enjoy yourself for the rest of the night, too concentrated on the treasurer who’s lips stay pressed into a frown the entire time. You try to take shots with Heejin, but your eyes gravitate back to the sofa. Ji Changmin and his girlfriend even convinced the two of you to play them in beer pong. (Worst mistake you’ve ever made. You sucked at beer pong.) You finally draw the line at a game of Rage Cage, when you strategically get placed between Lee Juyeon and Heejin, arguably the best drinkers at the function.

Everyone laughs at you when you take a step back and recall your decision to join. And just as you suspected, you end up back in the living room, right where you wanted. Chanhee hasn’t moved from his spot, occasionally taking sips of whatever he’s drinking and scrolling through his phone.

You remember when that was Jacob Bae’s thing to do, and then he went and got himself a girlfriend. Perhaps that’s what Chanhee needed to do. A girlfriend was a little bit of a stretch, but someone to help him loosen up at these things was plausible. Girls weren’t even trying to hit on him left and right like they usually did with the Tau Beta Zeta boys, which was even more surprising considering most of them had their own partners now. Desperation was an ugly look on the university female, you know.

Which is exactly why you don’t make any moves that night.

Initially, you think you’ll wait a week. You happen to see him on campus a few times. The first time is in the library studying with some headphones on, in his element. The second time is in the cafe on campus, again, doing coursework with the intention of being left alone. Then it’s when you’re leaving your Fundamentals of Astronomy lecture, walking to one of his own classes. In your head, you’re being tested, like a dog with a bone being dangled in front of its face. It’s tortuous, wanting to go up to him and introduce yourself, but you don’t do it.

Heejin “drags” you to another TBZ party the following Friday and you put extra effort into your outfit. You walk in with the hopes to sweep him off of his feet, strutting into the fraternity house with a confidence that throws you off. Just when you’re getting ready to walk up to him, Kim Sunwoo intercepts and you backtrack. That ruins any of the lingering self-assurance in your system. So you push things back another week.

The next time you plan on striking, you and Heejin had said you’d meet at the party since she had something to do prior. You arrive at around 11 PM, prepared to shoot your shot and score. The kitchen is the first place you go, concocting yourself a drink that doesn’t get you trashed, but provides enough liquid courage. Then Heejin texts that her project partners wanted to grab food and she wasn’t going to make it. The thought of being alone without moral support effectively kills your mood, so you only stay for another hour or so before leaving.

It’s annoying, really. Every single time you attempt to set your plan into motion, something has to interrupt and mess things up for you.

This is your dilemma for roughly every weekend for a whole month. By the time you know it, it’s midterm season and you’re too stressed out over exams to think about Choi Chanhee. Divine intervention was a crazy concept, so maybe it was a blessing in disguise. Maybe this was your sign to just call it quits and give up on your weird fantasy of being the girl who charmed him.

“Do you wanna go to the TBZ party Saturday? We can celebrate finishing these stupid fucking exams and just relax for another couple months before we have to worry about finals.” Heejin asks through a mouthful of instant ramyeon. You sigh.

“Sure, whatever.” Your lips purse, pushing around your own food. She raises an eyebrow, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

“What the hell happened to you? You were jumping for joy when it came to going to them all semester, but now that I want to get shitfaced, you don’t seem all that excited.” She puts her chopsticks down, narrowing her eyes at you from across the table. You shrug.

“I don’t know,” you rest your cheek on your palm, huffing. “I guess I’m not really in the party mood anymore.”

“Bullshit,” she scoffs. “You’re the girl everyone thinks of when they talk about the typical university party girl. There must be a reason you’re suddenly Miss Debbie Downer.”

You could just tell her the truth, tell her about your delusions and the need to be different. As your roommate and best friend, she wasn’t at liberty to judge you. But this was so unlike you, so you knew she would anyway. It was out of character for you to be this enthralled by a man, let alone a stranger you’ve never spoken a word to. In fact it’s even thrown you for a loop, this mental break giving you clarity about your recent actions.

“That time I asked you who Choi Chanhee was,” you start after some silence. “I thought about going up to him and finding out why he’s so uptight. I sorta wanted to be in a ‘not like other girls’ situation. But whenever I wanted to swoop in, something always interfered. And now I’m just over it.”

“Y/N. You cannot be serious,” Heejin gawks at you like you’ve grown a second head. “Chanhee’s very picky about the girls he talks to. I could probably name on a hand the ones who’ve successfully snuck their way into his pants. He has specific taste, too; pretty ones who know when to shut their mouths.”

Your jaw drops, because what the fuck? He’s not a raging virgin with that personality? No wonder there wasn’t a line of single ladies attempting to land in his bed. They all knew they didn’t stand a chance. It kind of encourages you to resume your mission. You were never one to back down from a challenge.

“In that case…” A mischievous glint sparkles in your eye.

“Good god,” she rolls her own. “I’m warning you now, I highly doubt this will end in your favor.”

“You know me, Heejin. I never take no for an answer.”

It’s the day before the party and you’re walking out of your last midterm exam, a new light in your eyes now that you’re somewhat free. You step into the quad with your arms stretched above your head, a yawn pushing through your lips. You were long overdue for a good nap.

“Y/N!”

You whip around to find Kevin Moon from your Music Appreciation class stalking towards you. Part of you wants to pretend you’d never heard him and keep walking, drained of energy after that Intro to Astrophysics exam you’d just taken. Your brain felt like mush at this point. But you were kind, and you would’ve just felt bad about ignoring him anyways.

Kevin catches up to you rather quickly, hands hidden inside of his hoodie pockets. He lets out a sigh, both of you watching the puff of air that forms in front of him. “You’re going to the party tomorrow right?”

“I am…” You furrow your eyebrows, narrowing your eyes skeptically just a bit. “Why?”

“I have a huge favor to ask you.” He clasps his hands together, as if he wasn’t above begging on his hands and knees. You’re confused even further, because what could Kevin Moon possibly want from you?

“Okay… What is it?” The suspicion in your tone is so strong, that there’s no doubt he hasn’t noticed it by now. He holds the heel of his palm to his forehead.

“So, I was supposed to go with my friend Chanhee to try out that new outer space themed coffee place just outside of campus later today, but I got put on alcohol duty and I won’t be able to. I know you’re an Astronomy major so I figured that was something you’d like. Do you think you could go in my place?” He bats his eyelashes at you, like doing puppy dog eyes will convince you. You stare at him blankly. He wants you to do what?!

Meeting Choi Chanhee before the party tomorrow was not in your itinerary. Usually you were decent at adapting to changes in your plans, but this? This was more than just something minor that you could acclimate to. You had to psych yourself for hours in order to execute something of this caliber. Was Kevin Moon trying to send you into cardiac arrest?

“W-Wh— I mean— well—” You fumble over your words— something you never do— and Kevin breaks into a wide grin. You’re not sure if the blush across your face is from the cold weather nipping at it, or the thought of being put between a rock and a hard place.

“Perfect! I owe you one! Meet him in like an hour.” He pats your back like you’re one of the homies, not giving you any room for refutation. You actually feel like throwing up. How were you supposed to just show up without qualms?

Did he really expect you to just do this out of the goodness of your heart? No complaints stacked up to be hurled in his direction? You’d known Kevin Moon since freshman year orientation, but you didn’t think you were close enough for him to throw his dirty work at you. You can’t help but stand there dumbly as he walks away, a pep in his step that nearly has tick marks forming on your temple.

Okay, you know what? This is fine. This was totally fine. All you had to do was sip on some coffee, make some small talk, and then you could be on your way. It wasn’t that hard… was it?

You could throw on an act, pretend like you were one of those pretty girls who knew when to shut their mouths just like Heejin said he was into. You could give him a false glimpse into who you were and he wouldn’t know what you were really thinking of doing. The you of tomorrow would be a complete 180° turn around from the you of today, and Choi Chanhee would be the one groveling at your feet.

As soon as you walk into the cafe, your throat feels narrow, like it was closing in on you. You’re not sure why you’re so nervous. It’s not like Chanhee knew you. He couldn’t possibly be aware of your existence, much less of your little fascination with him.

You see him sitting at a table for two, the straw of his drink trapped between his lips. He sips leisurely as he scrolls through his phone, likely waiting on Kevin since you’re sure he left his friend in the dark. You pick at a thread on your sweater as you stop in front of him, raising your hand in an awkward wave. Chanhee glances up, confusion in his features at first and then it morphs into something else.

A laugh has to be held back when he chokes on his drink, slapping a hand over his mouth. He stands up quickly, wiping his palms on his pants.

“Hi,” your voice is small, so far off from your usual boldness. “I’m Y/N. Kevin sent me.”

“Fucking Kevin,” he curses underneath his breath, forcing a smile. “Um, please sit.”

You take the seat across from him, eyes flickering around the coffee shop to absorb your surroundings. It’s pretty, the stars and planets painted all over the walls and ceilings. Even the drinks had celestial themed names. Your friend was right, you would love it here. It was right up your alley.

“I— uh— Kevin had texted me and told me what to order for him, but I’m assuming he meant for you, because he never told me you were uh— that you were coming.” He scratches the back of his neck as a server leaves a drink in front of you.

“He stopped me in the quad after my midterm and asked if I could fill in for him. Something came up apparently.” You explain, humming in appreciation when you taste your coffee. “He remembered that I was an Astronomy major and figured I was his best bet I guess.”

Chanhee purses his lips, it’s almost like he knows something you don’t. He nods slowly. “Yeah… I’m sure that’s why…”

The impromptu formal introduction between you goes on without a hitch. It goes so well, that the time flies faster than you’d hoped it would. You get a tiny peek into Choi Chanhee and his life as the TBZ fraternity treasurer, but it’s not enough to satiate that unbearable curiosity that pricks at you.

Thankfully, you have tomorrow to do exactly that.

Heejin and yourself arrive at the Tau Beta Zeta party that Saturday with a goal in mind; Getting Choi Chanhee into bed with you.

Okay. Maybe that wasn’t actually the main objective, but it was definitely a side quest. What you really wanted to do was get him to let his guard down. Like your friend said previously, you were the stereotypical party girl. Had there been a picture beside the term in a dictionary, your pretty little face would be there, a red solo cup in your hand and all. If he wound up being entranced by your womanly witchery, that was on him.

Just like your first go at wooing him, you decided to pull out all the stops. You’d worn your shortest, tightest fitting dress despite the weather not necessarily permitting it. It was a cute black strapless number that you paired with some long heeled boots and a warm fuzzy jacket. You looked hotter than the sun itself, and deep down you’d feel extremely disappointed if he wasn’t falling to his knees for you by the end of the night.

A sense of déjà vu washes over you the moment you step through the front door into the jam packed fraternity house. The bumping early 2000s music and the thrumming of the bass gave you an adrenaline rush like no other. Nothing could waver your confidence this roundabout. He wouldn’t even know what hit him.

Before you sink your claws into the treasurer, you need to grab yourself a drink. You and Heejin take a shot from one of the various liquor bottles on the counter, serving yourselves each a cup of whatever Jacob Bae threw together for the party. It was kind of funny that the resident bartender for these things wasn’t even a member of the frat. You and your friend cheers to the night ahead of you, manifesting that things go your way.

It’s rather easy to catch his eye even in the bustling crowd of drunk college students, glued in his usual spot on one of the living room sofas. His dark hair falls into his eyes when he glances down at his phone to check the time, almost as if he was counting down the hours, the minutes until this party was over. He brushes it out of his face with his index finger at the same time he raises his cup to his mouth, knocking back the contents with a slight wince.

He espies your presence immediately after that, raking your figure with an unrecognizable look in his gaze. Though you were shivering upon entering the house, your skin felt hot to the touch now, the burning intensity of his stare melting away any nerves that might’ve been lingering. You pull your jacket off of your shoulders, tossing it over your forearm as you snake through the bodies sardined between the two of you.

“Hi,” you greet once you’re in front of him. “I’m Y/N.”

His lips quirk upwards and he stands so you’re no longer peering down at him. In spite of meeting each other yesterday, he decides to play along. “I’m Chanhee.”

“Well, Chanhee,” you bite your acrylic nail, not bothering to hide the unabashed desire in your expression and drinking in his appearance like a glass of water. “I couldn’t help but notice you from across the room. You looked bored and I was wondering if I could change that. I know how to have a good time.”

Chanhee thinks it’s cute, the amount of effort you’re putting into this little charade. He doesn’t doubt that you knew of his reputation when it came to sleeping with girls. He knows he’s a bit conscientious when it comes to this sort of thing, but that’s only because he doesn’t want to deal with being seen as someone who’s ran-through. (For an example, please see (No) Strings Attached™.)

However, you were different. Chanhee thought you were cute from the very first time he saw you, which happened to be at a Tau Beta Zeta party last semester. He knew you were friends with Kevin, so maybe it was on him for the delay of your union, but he’d grown a little tired of always making the first move. He’s somewhat grateful that you were the type of girl who set her sights on something and never backed down from it. You were headstrong and that was exactly what had him hooked.

Nevertheless, it would be a bit of an issue. The only part of the rumors surrounding the treasurer that was true, was the part about him preferring his partners to be on the quieter side. There was something about them following his every demand, kneeling at his beck and call, that lit a fire underneath him. The mouthier they were, the less he enjoyed himself. But for some reason, he doesn’t think it’ll bother him as much with you. In fact, he thinks he’ll have fun putting you in your place.

“You know, Y/N,” he pushes your hair over your bare shoulder, letting his thumb graze your warm skin with a small but conniving grin. “I’m not too sure you’ll be able to cure this boredom that’s been plaguing me. It depends on what you have in mind.”

You might cry. A strained groan stays stuck in your throat, fighting to inch its way out of you. Fuck this stupid party. Fuck your stupid idea. You had a new mission. You needed him now and you needed him bad.

Your lips are on his in a matter of seconds, rushed and desperate. You don’t have the strength in you to act like you weren’t just about ready to combust. The curve of a smile can be felt through the kiss, his hands coming to rest on your waist and dig into the fabric of your dress. Had this been any other guy, any other day even, you would’ve freaked out over the PDA. Right now, though, you’re too lost in the moment, too absorbed in the high that kissing Choi Chanhee is providing.

His mouth travels along your jaw and neck, finally snapping you back to reality. With shaky breathing and a wavering voice, you step back from him. “Don’t you want— don’t we need some privacy?”

He laughs like he’s on the inside of a joke you’re unaware of. “Oh, so now you care about privacy? You didn’t when you were trying to seduce me ten minutes ago.”

Your cheeks flush impossibly more, cowering into the space where his shoulder meets his collarbone. All that confidence and for what? He really could not wait another second to see you crumble beneath him.

“Too shy for me to fuck you in front of all these people, sweetheart?” He asks in your ear, leaving a gentle kiss on the lobe as he does so.

You’re dizzy, so dizzy you might faint in the middle of this living room. Who would’ve known that such a pretty boy had such a filthy mouth on him? He knows he’s got you right where he wants you when you fist the material of his shirt, the vibrations of a whine on his neck. It’s kind of comical how little it took for you to crack.

He hauls you away to what you assume is his bedroom, fingers caressing the inside of your wrist. You think maybe he’s all talk, that he’s actually a big softie who couldn’t hurt a fly. The way he’s careful with his touch and making sure he doesn’t lose you as you weave through the other party attendees. At least, that’s what you thought.

But then he’s slamming his door shut and pinning you against it face first. His lips return to their prior position, sucking in the plush skin on your throat and your shoulders. You can feel him pressed into your lower back, hard and ready for you. He doesn’t seem to pay much attention to it, instead trailing his fingers down your front and sneaking under your dress.

He bunches it up around your hips, middle and ring digits circling your clit through the lace of your panties. Everything is escalating too quickly for you to comprehend. You whimper into the wood of the door, drool beginning to pool in your mouth. You’re so needy that you’re salivating over the prospects of what’s to come.

“Want more, Chanhee,” your words are muffled, but he understands you nonetheless.

“You want more?” He pouts, a false tone of sympathy in his voice. “Poor you, asking for something you can’t even handle.”

You squirm, raising your leg in an attempt to reach a different angle. The pads of his fingers apply an increased pressure on your clit, the friction caused by your underwear skyrocketing your heart rate. You know he can feel the pulse when his lips reconnect to that sensitive area just under your jaw. Your back arches, still craving and yearning for additional touch.

His fingers slip into the waistband of your thong, collecting your arousal and using it as a lubricant to glide through your folds. He thrusts two of them in and out of your entrance, the heel of his palm rubbing up against your clit. You moan, louder this time. His free hand shoves the top of your dress down, groping and kneading your bare breast. You wanted more, he’ll give you more.

You’re a whining, squirrely mess, humping his hand like a bitch in heat. It’s hilarious, really. The way you wanted him begging, but the tables seemed to have turned, flipping it the other way around. He ensures that he leaves his mark on you, biting your skin with the intent to bruise. He doesn’t care if you looked like you were attacked by a vicious animal. If Chanhee was anything, he was possessive, wanting everyone to know what was his and not to get near it lest they wanted to keep their lives. What better way to stake his claim than on your body, where anyone could see?

He senses that you’re close to your release, your walls clenching around his fingers and sucking them in further. Most people would’ve been generous, making your orgasm smooth sailing. But Choi Chanhee was not like most people. That much is obvious when he adds a third finger, restraining himself from groaning at the feeling of your cunt constricting and contracting. The stretch has your stomach tying in knots, each one growing tighter and tighter until they just about untangle altogether.

You cum with a guttural groan, nearly convulsing in his hold, but he keeps you pressed to the surface of the door. He doesn’t stop his motions, fingers curling and uncurling like he was reaching for something inside of you. You push your ass into his crotch, another whine escaping your lips when you feel his cock impressing into it. He bites his tongue to refrain from evoking a sound.

The poised nature of your regular personality makes a comeback, one of your hands cupping the side of his face. You pant as you speak, rasping slightly after all the moaning you just did. “Can you fuck me for real now?”

Chanhee forces your underwear down your legs roughly, kicking them out of the way once they hit the floor. “You’re such a goddamn brat. Nothing is ever enough for you is it?” You can hear rustling behind you, the unbuttoning of pants and the discarding of his shirt. And then you feel him. God, you might die. He’s flush between your lower lips, his teeth grazing your earlobe. “Gonna have to fuck you until you learn your place, don’t I?”

He squeezes your cheeks together with his thumb and forefinger, relishing in the adorable pout it forms. All you can do is nod, eyes fluttering shut when he finally slides inside of you. The weight of him sits heavy in your cunt, the singular drive of his hips causing your clit to bump into the door. It sends a rippled shockwave throughout your body, a voluminous moan breaching past your lips. Chanhee rests his forehead on your shoulder, staying still for a moment to gather himself.

It’s not long before he’s pistoning his cock into your pussy like a sword being sheathed and unsheathed. You claw at the wall as a means of grounding yourself, inconsistently paced cries and mewls of pleasure bouncing around the room. He hikes up your leg higher, palming at your tits so he can override your senses any way he can. You’re so lightheaded and tears have begun to spring at the corners of your eyes. It feels too good.

“O-Oh my god, you’re s-so— f-fuck Chanhee,” you babble, gasping for air as he continuously punches it out of you with every inch his cock buries into you.

He’s enjoying himself too much, loving how fucked out you look. He’s reduced you to an incoherent state of being. You curve your back a bit more for him, allowing the depth at which he slips in you to go further.

Unfortunately for you, it doesn’t take much to wind you back up to that summit from previously. You’re on the brink of your second orgasm, your chest heating up and your abdomen contracting. He doesn’t let up, pinching and thumbing at a peaked nipple to egg on your release. This one feels a lot stronger than the first, your knees nearly giving out on you.

“C’mon sweetheart, that’s it,” he coaxes, stroking your hair from your face.

Chanhee fucks you through it, allotting space for you to recover before he’s knocking you onto his bed. He removes your dress entirely and rubs up and down your thighs. The exhaustion is already beginning to settle in, but you realize that he hasn’t finished not once and you’d be hitting your third at this point. You’re overstimulated and your body aches all over, but you push through.

He finds your entrance again, pressing into your cunt with more ease. You whine, smushing your cheek into the mattress. Your toes curl and you fist at the sheets, eyes all but rolling to the back of your head where you see white spots and stars coating your vision. He grips your hips to hold you still, starting to rock back into your pussy with practiced aggression. He’s carnal with his movements, but it’s careful, almost like he doesn’t really want to hurt you.

“It’s too much—“ you interrupt yourself with a wail, the tears from earlier tracking along the sides of your face.

“I’ve fucked you stupid, haven’t I? Thought I was done with you?” He strains, folding over so he can kiss the skin of your collarbone and trail up to your mouth. His lips brush yours when he talks, teasing you as if he hadn’t already fucked you within an inch of your life. “Do you think I’m having fun yet?”

Your cunt sucks him in like a vacuum, your volume rising the closer you get to what you hope is your last orgasm of the night. What you needed was the best sleep ever after this. Your brain can barely form sentences, and you struggle to give him a proper response. “Y-Yes, Cha-Chanhee— oh god— s-so much fun,”

Your breath catches in your throat when that familiar sensation reappears. Chanhee is in his own world, focused on chasing his own release. His nails dig into the fat of your thighs, thrusts becoming deeper and slower. You reach between the two of you to swipe at your clit with your middle and ring fingers, the extra stimulation tipping you over that sweet edge.

Your orgasm crests upon you with so much intensity that you can’t even make a sound. If you do, it’s so far away from you that you don’t hear it. The uncontrollable fluttering of your walls sets Chanhee’s into action, his hips stuttering with a groan that doesn’t meet your ears. He fills you up with enough cum that it begins to spill out of you in spite of his cock still plugged inside your cunt. You both take a moment to recollect your bearings, chests clashing with each rise and fall from your breathing.

After what feels like forever, he pulls out and collapses on the bed beside you, the back of his hand thrown over his forehead.

“Holy shit— I mean— wow I really— I really didn’t think you were so…” You don’t finish your thought, head still stuck on the actions you’d committed prior.

“It’s always the quiet ones.” Chanhee shrugs, sighing dramatically.

“You are not quiet,” you turn your head to give him a pointed look. “But, I’m not complaining. I got my insides rearranged six ways to Sunday. Who’s the real winner here?”

“Me, actually,” he says, his thumb caressing your cheekbone. “I’ve had the longer crush.”

“Y-You— huh?!” Your eyes practically bulge out of your head, comically wide like a deer’s caught in headlights. He laughs at your expression.

“I’ve been wanting to make a move on you since last semester,” he admits. “But I was kinda… discouraged? I guess? I feel like I’m the one who puts in too much effort all the time, with everything that I do. I wanted to see if maybe someone would do the same for me. I’m just lucky that it worked out in my favor.”

Your bottom lip juts out and you flip over to peck the tip of his nose tenderly. “Choi Chanhee, you’re extremely lucky. I almost gave up on you, like, a couple days ago.”

Chanhee’s laughter grows and he kisses you softly. “Well, I’m glad that you didn’t. Now I can take you on a real date to that space cafe. Not one that Kevin forced on us.”

“I like the sound of that.” You smile, cuddling into his side.

© juyeonszn. do not steal, claim, or repost.

[lavenderchqn]

𝐶𝛨𝛢𝑃𝑇𝛦𝑅 𝟎𝟎𝟕 — INVESTIGATION BOARD (1K WORDS) 𝑅𝐸𝐷 𝐿𝐼𝑁𝐸𝑆 — lyney x f!reader smau

𝑆𝑌𝑁𝑂𝑃𝑆𝐼𝑆 —

Second year of university should've been everything you thought of it - more studying with human interaction sprinkled throught... What it definitely wasn't supposed to be was an investigation saga where one of your friends goes missing out of nowhere

𝑃𝑅𝐸𝑉𝐼𝑂𝑈𝑆 — 𝑀𝐴𝑆𝑇𝐸𝑅𝐿𝐼𝑆𝑇 — 𝑁𝐸𝑋𝑇 𝐸𝑃𝐼𝑆𝑂𝐷𝐸

“Hi! Good to see you. Nice to meet you in person, Furina.” You opened the door to the last expected visitors. Lyney, Lynette and Furina are standing in front of [Y/N], with some snacks. She promptly lets them in, taking some stuff from their hands. 

“Pleasure meeting you too…” Furina answers, albeit a tad shy. 

“Clorinde and Charlotte are setting up the games and Navia is getting some snacks ready.” She mentions, leading the arriving guests into the tiny dorm. “What can I get you started with?” 

“The usual,” Lynette answers, setting down cookies before heading into the living space and greeting the remaining girls. 

“Oh, uh… Do you have any tea, perchance?” 

“Absolutely! I’ll show you the options in a sec.” [Y/N] brings out a can of energy drink handing it to Lyney. “Unsure if you want it in a glass, but I  think you like this flavour.” 

“No shot you remembered?!” He takes it with quite the shock on his face. 

The only other time Lyney and [Y/N] met happened months ago when the girl came to collect a pillow Lynette took during one of their sleepovers on accident. Back then, Lyney’s drinks of choice had less caffeine compared to these days, yet the flavours he fancied stayed the same. 

“It just stayed in my brain for some reason.” 

She gets the water for the tea going not before remembering the offer she made to Furina. 

“Here’s the available options.” The girl sets a basket full of bagged tea in front of the girl, ready for her to pick. She does it promptly, not forgetting to ask for some sugar.

Charlotte puts down the most devious plus four of her life. Lyney up to this point was one card away from winning… His brilliant strategy to win turning out utterly impossible to accomplish. 

“Pick up.” 

“Wait, no shot you can’t stack cards?!” Lyney looks at Charlotte with utter horror on his face. 

“According to Uno’s twitter post, those are the rules. Pick up.” 

“Uno doesn’t know their own fucking game then…” He sighs, taking the loss and 4 cards. 

“That’s what you get for only playing online.” His sister shoots him a deadpan look, drawing a card herself. “Uno.” 

She’s gotten lucky, instantly getting the required colour. Lyney shoots her a dirty look, albeit agreeing with her silently. Furina had to convince him quite a lot for him to consider coming to play “normie” versions of board games. He was used to sitting in front of his setup playing these games with his friends online.

“It’s much easier, and there’s no cleanup required,” Lyney said, on his voice call with Furina a few hours prior.

“I know, I know… But there are some things you can’t experience stuck in gaming chairs,” 

Looking back, this is what Furina must’ve meant when speaking of experiences happening only in offline play… Looks of envy, future revenge incoming or crocodile tears pleading not to get skipped or nuked with cards… 

“Uno out,” Lynette says with a soft, yet accomplished expression on her face. A bunch of words of congratulations mixed with sighs of defeat fill the room. 

With the staple of the girls’ mandatory game of UNO now being 

Navia instantly starts to eye the box of monopoly that had been waiting this entire evening. 

“How about monopoly next?” She asks, getting mixed reactions. 

“You’re not the banker this time,” Clorinde states. 

“What?!” She looks at her appalled. “I think I’m a great banker, thank you very much!” 

“Didn’t you steal money for yourself last time we played?” [Y/N] gets up picking up some mugs from the floor. “Lyney, Furina would you like something more to drink?” 

All this time, she was making sure that the first-time guests of hers were taken care of in the best way possible. Always offering more drinks and snacks and checking if their pillows and blankets were comfortable… 

“Oh, that would be lovely.” Furina smiles at her, standing up to help her with the tableware. “Thank you so much again for inviting us, as well as being a magnificent host.” 

“I’ll get that started then,” She quickly takes their mugs, signalling for them to stay in the room. “I can handle the cleanup, you stay here.” 

Time sure goes fast when you're in good company. By the time a break time is called during a session of monopoly, it’s already dark outside. 

“Clorinde, can you drive today?” Navia asks, lying down on the floor. “I don’t wanna drive at night…”

“Yeah, I can do that.” She answers, noticing how dark it indeed got. “What about you three? How are you getting home?”

“Oh, I live quite close to the campus.” Furina perks up. “I’ll probably walk— ” 

“Absolutely NOT.” She gets shushed by Lyney, whose expression says more than a thousand words. “If Wriothesley hears that you did that, especially after their department announced a person went missing, I will have my head chopped.” 

“Oh please…” Lynette rolls her eyes at him. “You can be honest and say you’re worried about your bestie…” 

“Man, speaking of that weird kidnapping situation — I started investigating that a few days ago.” Charlotte gets up, garnering attention to herself. 

She walks to a board covered by a bedsheet… courtesy of [Y/N], who didn’t want the guest to experience walking into THAT. By the time it’s off, you can see many pictures of currently known missing people, their contact, gauged days when they went missing… It’s a lot. 

“Holy shit, how did you make this?” Lyney comes closer, looking at all the detailed information. “If I wasn’t scared of journalists before, I sure am now…” 

Curiosity also gets to Furina, interested as to how much information a singular board can hold… and how much Charlotte would be able to gather in a few days. By the time she gets there… something is not right. 

She freezes in front of the board, eyes wide with shock realising the linking thread about three missing girls specified. 

“Oh my god. I know all of them.”

𝑇𝐴𝐺𝐿𝐼𝑆𝑇 — OPEN

@state-of-grac3 @santaluna @meigalaxy @romyoia @meurtreofcrows @floweringanna @moonjellyfishie

for the people who's @ are in italics, it's because for some reason whenever I tag you it just doesn't show up whenever I save the chapter...

date of posting — august 7th 2024

[thebigoblin]

play stupid games

tags: Established Relationship, Alpha Derek Hale, Attempt at Humor, Cheesy, Fluff, Derek Hale is a Softie, Implied Sexual Content

a/n: inspired by a reel on instagram. and the title is from Taylor's song "Miss Americana and The Heartbreak Prince."

read on ao3

The tabs opened on his chrome browser make no sense. Not one bit. But he supposes that's just a representation of his own mind, and his morbid curiosity, and whose fault is that, really? No one's. Perhaps his mom's — but no more than it's his dad's to have given him his obsession with everything non-sensical. His dad just has to find patterns, and really, maybe his entire problem is that he is the combination of two very weirdly specific people.

What was he working on, again?

He squints at the tabs. There's too many of them, the edges stuck together so close it's like one long continuous tab instead, but he can see the lines between them, even if deciphering which tab is what is proving difficult. He could have used separate windows, but oh no, all sane ideas come to him after things are said and done.

Seriously, what was he working on?

"What are you working on?"

"What the fuck!"

The sound of another person in the room, so close to his ear, hot breath on the left side of his neck, has him jumping and flailing on his desk chair.

Rough and familiar hands grab him so that he doesn't brain himself against the floor by falling right off the chair, and he curses, because this is his life.

Once he's sitting straight, he glares up at the smirking asshole beside him. "Fuck you," he says, with feeling. "I'm giving you a bell for Christmas!"

Derek's lips tick upwards, like ha ha, that's funny. Funny that Stiles thinks he could get away with that. "My birthday gift has to be something good, then."

"I'll show a good gift!"

"That's what I am saying, Stiles."

"Ugh, you're fucking annoying." He's still glaring up at Derek, the angle not kind to his neck, so he looks back down at the screen. Derek just moves closer, a line of heat against his side that has Stiles' anger nearly melting off, but no! He'll persist.

Distraction. Yes. That is what he needs, so he clicks his mouse rather aggressively and moves the arrow to one of the tabs randomly. The title of it hovers over the tab as he does so, and Stiles wonders what could have prompted him to look at a YouTube video of making a DIY skirt from old clothes.

"You would look good in a short red skirt." Derek says this right into his left ear, his lips moving along his skin, from the top of his ear to the bottom of it, and because he's obnoxious, Derek bites his earlobe, too.

"Go away!" He slaps at Derek's chest, but his boyfriend only laughs at his half-hearted attempts. "Nuh uh, you're distracting me and I- I have work!"

"What work?"

Stiles doesn't really remember.

"You forgot, didn't you?" Derek just laughs some more, his hands wrapping around Stiles' shoulders, and Stiles pouts. "Search something for me."

"You have your own smartphone and internet, Distractingwolf!"

"But I also have you," Derek states this, a smile in his voice, and hey, it's true.

Stiles rolls his eyes and mutters, "Sap," before asking, "What?"

"I want to check something, but there's a condition."

Stiles cocks his eyebrow, just like Derek does. He's been spending too much time with Derek, and it's because of shit like this: Derek likes to climb the side of the Sheriff's house, get inside the Sheriff's barely-legal son's bedroom, and spend time either glaring at Stiles, pushing him onto surfaces like the door and walls and the bed and kissing him, or making him do random internet searches that 99% of the time happens to be information of a new supernatural creature they have to deal with.

Point is, Stiles has been spending too much time with Derek, and he loves it a fucking lot.

"Condition, huh? You getting kinky on me, Sourwolf?"

Derek moves around his chair so that his bulging biceps and sexy, veiny arms — that he knows are there below the leather jacket and the henley because he's seen his boyfriend shirtless, even if unfortunately they haven't wandered down to pantless situations — brackets him between the desk and the chair. The movement also pushes his chair further towards the desk, just a little, and Derek's chin rests on top of Stiles' hair.

"Maybe." Stiles' whole body shivers at the thought of it. They haven't had sex, but Stiles yaps about it, thinks about it often. Wants to take Derek in his mouth, wants Derek to have his way with him. He wants, and wishes, for Derek to be inside him — pound him so hard he forgets what life is, just for a moment or two or more. He's seen the alpha strength, and it's too much. Perfect. "Stiles."

"You can't blame a guy for wanting to have sex with his hot werewolf boyfriend," he retorts, huffing at the reprimand. "I can wait until you are ready, and I will, but I can think about it, can't I?"

Derek doesn't answer him, just puts his hand over Stiles' on the mouse and moves it the way he likes it. Stiles wants to be that, a ragdoll under Derek's ministrations, and nope, he can't pop a boner right now. He wants sex, but he respects Derek. But he's also a healthy ninetenn-year-old young man, and there goes his dick in his sweatpants, chubbing up like a balloon being filled with air.

Derek opens up a new window and goes to Google, his free hand coming to rest on Stiles' thigh. Stiles' breath hitches.

"Stiles," Derek's voice is low, his sex-voice. They've never done handjobs, or blowjobs, or any real dick-on-dick or hand-on-dick or mouth-on-dick action, but they have done phone sex, and about 50% of Stiles' brain, at this point, is filled with how Derek sounds when he's turned on, commanding. Close to coming, post-pleasure. Stiles knows this voice, too.

"You don't have to do anything you're not ready to," Stiles says, and he means it. Derek's head dips down and he kisses Stiles on the neck, a silent acknowledgement — Derek knows Stiles won't force him. It's okay.

"You always say 'hot werewolf boyfriend.' Not just 'hot boyfriend.' Why."

"Inflection, alpha, that's a thing." Derek pinches his thigh, and Stiles lets out a small sound at the sudden action, then grins. "You are a hot werewolf." He turns his head, pulls with his own free hand, his left hand, the one not trapped beneath Derek's on the mouse, and has Derek's head turn towards him. He kisses him, sure once, sure twice, and third time just because. Derek's eyes are intense on him as he pulls back. "I like all of you. I'd shout it out of the rooftops of all the buildings in the town if I was allowed to, Derek."

Derek smiles, and Stiles' heart beats triple time in his chest, which suddenly feels too small for everything Derek makes him feel.

They stare at one another for one more moment, and then they turn towards the screen, the cursor having moved on the screen, evidently because of their absent grip on the mouse. Derek takes his hand back and Stiles misses the warmth, but he dutifully leans forward to type in Derek's enquiry of the evening.

"Stiles, kiss me if I'm wrong, but Dinosaurs still exist, right?"

Stiles' hand spams on top of the keyboard.

He waits for the punchline to come.

When it doesn't, he gets up, turns, flails at his dork of a boyfriend, who is grinning at him, cocky and full of shit, and punches him in the chest.

"I take it back. I don't want anybody to know you belong to me. Fuck you, Derek Hale."

"Actually, I asked for a kiss, and only on the condition that I'm wrong."

"Oh, you're so, so wrong, you jerk, and you're gonna pay for it."

Stiles has now pulled the uno reverse card and boxed in Derek against his bed. Derek cocks his eyebrow at him. "Oh?"

"Yeah, oh. You're gonna kiss me, like, a 1000 times! That was the worst pick up line ever, what the fuck, who is teaching you these things?!"

Stiles pushes Derek onto his bed and starts peppering kisses on Derek's forehead, his cheeks, his nose, his chin, and of course, his lips. After a while, Derek flips them over, and they cuddle, and then they lazily make-out until their lips are swollen and red.

Derek is asleep after that, and thank god for his dad's out of town police conference, and Stiles falls asleep, too.

And that's how Stiles completely forgets about his presentation due on Monday, which is a day after.

(Derek helps him with it, and they spend the whole of Sunday making out, cuddling, and trying to out-do each other with worse and worse pick-up lines. Derek wins, because apparently he is the king of those, and Stiles just falls in deeper, his chest feels even smaller, and his feelings for Derek just seem like something he can't possibly have, too precious and important and so, so much).

[carlyraejepsans]

you just mentioned in the tags ''toriel stopping sans from [cutting the humans' journey short] by killing them'' ive always wondered, do you think sans would actually have killed the human if he hadnt made the promise to toriel? i think you mentioned once that the ''youd be dead where you stand'' moment is another one of sans fumbling attempts to seem threatening but despite that, do you think he wouldve actually done it ? if hed seen them kill monsters or during a pacifist run? or do you think it wouldve played out similarly to canon in the genocide route or that he wouldve been just less involved with the human during their journey in a pacifist run?

(ok i found this in my drafts and I don't remember where i was going with this, but i kinda went off so have this as it is lol)

i keep 5 versions of sans that are Ever So Slightly Different According to How I Interpret Different Details simultaneously rotating in my brain at all times. so uhhhhh yes and no.

jokes aside, I'm starting to gravitate more towards the interpretation that like... the threat he made at the restaurant? full on jackassery. shithead extraordinaire. he WAS messing with us.

but would he have tried to kill a human if toriel hadn't made him promise otherwise?

...yeah i think so. let me elaborate

here's the thing though: i think people put way too much weight on that! i mean it's a fighting RPG, every single other character—bar toriel—fights you to either capture and have you sent to the capital or to kill you themselves. either way they want your SOUL. papyrus... is his own neutral case here with his refusal to kill you.

my point being: every monster you meet wants to fight you. it's through that fight (or what happens afterwards) that you actively challenge their point of view and befriend them.

you don't go through this with sans. he never fights you, so you never need to change his mind because that belief was challenged before we even got to the underground, through toriel's words alone. that's... kind of admirable?

but it does frame his actions in a very creepy way from our point of view in-game. not to forget his dumbass scary pranks. because we go from someone a bit mysterious though ultimately friendly and goofy whom we thought we could trust, to someone who openly tells us he could've been a threat for us... and then never delivers. at least, not in any playthrough where we hear that line of dialogue.

so much of sans' character and appearance stems from tonal dissonance. he's shamelessly comfortable in the game's tone and vibes, but still stands out as an outsider. he plainly doesn't play by the same rules as everyone else, so we don't judge him by the same standards, either.

even more, if he actually kept his promise the way toriel meant it, that would've meant playing the entire game like a tutorial. sure, you can enjoy the story, but did you enjoy playing the section in the RUINs when she's with us? it's basically handholding the entire time. it's BORING for us, and ultimately, Undertale is a game! so it should be enjoyable to its player. which brings me to our next point:

ultimately... yeah maybe he would've tried to kill us. and yes it is kinda shitty that he only kept his promise by not doing that. in a sans characteristic troll way, i mean. but acting like the "sans was happy to watch a baby get beat up and killed" jokes are, well, anything other than jokes is just a plain bad reading. forget about post pacifist. during a gameplay, frisk IS the Human IS us IS the PLAYER. which means capable of RESET and SAVE. which means essentially immortal, at the end of the day. it's the "special power" sans tells us about in his judgement. you can't treat us with the same moral lenses as an NPC. the power we hold over their world in the game is lovecraftian. we can literally destroy it entirely, an outcome that was scientifically predicted by some characters in the game...

...sans being one of them. every interaction with you, every joke and every hand extended in friendship and eye closed to your shenanigans. all of it, the good and the not-so-good. it's all colored with the knowledge that the "human" in front of him could end the world. whether you actually do that or not.

this is one of my favorite moments in the canon. one time. one second where the mask slips and we see through the cracks in the façade of laid back confidence. and what we see is a mirror, held up to our face.

and it's fucking terrifying.

"waaaa sans is bad because he lets us die" boo-FUCKING-hoo brother! cry me a river then throw ice cubes in it. mans goes through all of this on the daily and still gives us a chance, you should be thanking him.

i have a few other opinions on this topic that i feel are relevant, but I don't feel like putting them into a coherent argument so I'll just list them instead:

there are some collateral factors that i think would've prevented him from killing us outside of toriel's promise. mainly the fact that papyrus was feeling down and meeting a real human would've cheered him up. then he would've befriended us because of course he would, and of course sans wasn't going to kill his brother's new bestie.

so would he have fought us in a pacifist or papyrus-friendly netral run? maybe not! but he WOULD'VE whooped ass sooner if things got out of hand.

it's kind of a given that sans figures out you can manipulate time very early into the game. he works for/with asgore, who knows from first-hand child-murder experiences that it's an ability humans have, he's a scientist who studied the space-time continuum of their world and he's a friend of alphys', the royal scientist who studied human souls and determination (and let's not even get into his connections to gaster). he's a bright lad. he put two and two together.

while he COULD have seen taking a humans' soul as a necessary evil for monsterkind's freedom (promise to toriel aside) he openly sympathized with the anomaly. he's not there to be a time cop. he just wants to avoid the literal annihilation of the universe.

[...? yeah i never continued this. still stands tho.]

[imaginejamesandsirius]

I was hoping you can write one with tooth rotting fluff. Maybe about Sirius being insecure because of his messed up home life and James making it his mission to shower him with hugs and praises 🥰

"You're the best person in the world," James says, very seriously, drink in one hand and the other gripping Sirius's shoulder. "You're- blimey, you're the best. Like, out of the entire population on this planet, if one person had to be picked as the best, it would be you."

"I'm not sure you have all the information to properly make that claim," he laughs, causing James to frown.

"No, I'm right."

"Sure about that, are you?" 

"Yes, because I've met you! You're awesome. You're so smart, everything you say should be written down for posperi- postert- we should write it all down so we can remember it because it's all right. And you-"

Lily tunes him out as he extols Sirius's virtues and turns to Peter and Remus-- both of whom, she notes, don't look like they've been listening to this from the start. "Is James always like this when he's drunk? Going on and on about how wonderful he thinks Sirius is?"

"Yes," they both say.

"Though, hang on a second," Remus adds. He shifts in his chair to turn towards her. "'When he's drunk' makes it sound like Prongs only does this when he's drunk."

"Mm, yeah, not true. He does this a lot," Peter says.

"Any time he's tired."

"Any time he's in a really good mood."

"Any time Sirius frowns for more than two seconds."

"Okay," Lily interjects when it looks like they'll continue, "I get the picture." Bloody hell. Peter and Remus had to be exaggerating at least a little bit-- otherwise she would've noticed sooner-- but for them to so easily complain about James talking about it, it had to be a more regular occurrence than she originally thought. She wants to pay attention to the drinking game some sixth years are playing like she was doing before James caught her attention, but when she turns to the group, her eyes drift back towards the pair.

James has been talking the entire time-- topic unchanged-- and he's now got an arm around Sirius instead of facing him. The hand holding his drink is curled into Sirius's chest as well, like he needs the extra point of contact to drive his point home.

Sirius is listening with an indulgent smile on his face. This strikes Lily as egotistical, and she frowns.

Remus catches her expression and guesses (incorrectly) what it's over. "If you're waiting for James to be done so you can talk to him, you're going to be waiting a long time."

"Ha, yeah."

*

James rests his chin on Sirius's shoulder and slips his arms around him at the same time. "You want to talk about it?" he asks quietly, aware of their dormmates on the other side of the room.

"Nothing to talk about," Sirius mutters-- a blatant lie.

"Mhm."

He's still glaring at the wall like it's done him wrong.

"You have me, you know that?" James whispers. "No matter what happens or what you do, you're stuck with me." He turns his face into Sirius's hair and inhales deeply. "You couldn't get rid of me if you tried."

"I figured, what with you acting like a bloody barnacle." He doesn't look happy but the glare is gone. Mission accomplished.

*

"Sirius!" James calls, barreling into his friend. He's so happy to see him that he lifts him off his feet, making Sirius laugh. "I missed you so much."

"It's been two hours," Lily says, rolling her eyes.

"Two hours too long, don't you know that, Evans?" Sirius says as he's set back down. "These sodding meetings of yours are killing our friendship."

James gasps theatrically, turning to Lily with wide eyes. "Maybe we can take him with us next time."

"No."

"But I need him! He keeps my brain working."

Sirius nods in agreement, but Lily rolls her eyes. She knows by now that it's useless to argue or try to find any logical reason why that's a bad idea, so she just says, "No," again as she walks up the staircase to the girls' dormitories.

*

"I know I joke a lot, but you know that I think you're great, yeah?" James asks.

Sirius glances over at him, but James's eyes are trained at the sky stretching out above them. They're laying on the Quidditch Pitch, looking at the stars. Ostensibly they came out here to drink; there's a bottle of firewhiskey beside them, but neither have reached for it. They haven't said much of importance tonight, which makes the question feel sudden.

"Like, I make a big production of it and shout it to the world like I'm teasing you, but it's the truth." James rolls his head to the side and meets Sirius's eyes. His hazel eyes are warm, flecked with bits of brown, and Sirius could drown in them, he's sure. He moves his hand, sliding his palm against Sirius's and squeezing. "I'd rather be with you than anyone else."

It feels ridiculous, sometimes, when James talks like this. He means it. He means it in a way Sirius can't wrap his head around. Every good thing he says about Sirius, he believes like it's a fact of life.

This time, Sirius smiles at him and says, "I know." Then, grin widening, he adds, "And I mean it what I say about you, too. Best bloke the world has ever seen."

James laughs. It curls his body a little, and he rolls onto his side to move with it. His hand is still holding Sirius's, and he uses the other to cup his cheek. "Imagine what our wedding vows will sound like."

"Everyone will leave the room before you're done talking about why you want to marry me."

"They can try," James says, his eyes glinting. "I'll ward the doors. No one leaves without my say-so."

[caterpillarinacave]

I love Charlotte and Henry and they're super underrated. And I would VERY MUCH like to hear the headcanons whirring about in your brain.

Oh well buckle up cause literally all I think about is head cannons. Like, you know how cells replace themselves every few years? Mine have replaced themselves with head cannons. *Sorry it took me a hot moment to answer this ask, I was busy howling into my pillow whenever I tried to articulate thoughts.*

First of all, they’re very cuddly. They basically sleep on top of each other (Charlotte hasn’t needed a pillow in decades). Henry cant sleep well without Charlotte in his arms and Charlotte can’t sleep well anywhere other than Henry’s arms so it works out. Plus, they both do that thing where they jerk awake like the world is ending and scare the shit out of each other, so sleeping in a hug that basically pins them both down saves some energy at 2am. Henry’s perpetually cold and sleeps under like, four blankets, so Charlotte just wears summer nightgowns all year and wraps herself around Henry like a koala.

Naturally there’s an angsty side to the incessant cuddling because that’s just the way I role.

Charlotte sleeps with her head on Henry’s chest so she can always feel him breathing because, by the angel, she remembers when he wasn’t. She sleeps with a hand on his pulse point because she wakes up in the middle of the night and she’s still half asleep they might as well be on the floor in that mountain and she might as well still be desperately swearing she didn’t imagine his heartbeat.

While on the topic of soul crushing feelings of guilt, y’all remember from Clockwork Angel that Henry was the one who told Mortmain what a Pyxis was? And he wanted Charlotte to tell the clave that and she wouldn’t because “they already treat him so badly”? Because I do. And so does Henry.

(I’ve got a whole WIP that I love very dearly about this head cannon and this chess game hehe) There’s one random old tutor who goes to the London institute once a month-ish, basically to hand out a few weeks of homework to any shadow hunters who don’t have their own tutors. Most shadow hunters who live in a more rural area show up a few times a year so the clave knows they’re alive and at least somewhat literate. Charlotte attends them every month since, you know, she lives there, but Henry lives somewhere around Yorkshire so he shows up every few months. The professor is kind of a dick ngl. He doesn’t help Charlotte with any school why would a woman need to be so well educated? “Go on find a husband and stop worrying you’re pretty little head” sort of shit. Henry drives him insane because he’s a) some random kid who’s smarter than him and b) didn’t use any of the professors materials to get that smart. Professor Douche is constantly trying to get him to be wrong about something, or at least flustered about something and he doesnt ever do either of those things, and even more aggravating he refuses to get upset. (He honestly just assumed the professor wasn’t that smart.)

Charlotte’s a really good student of course, but she’s having a shit time with some mathematics and the professor absolutely refuses to help her with it. Eventually she asks Henry if he wouldn’t mind helping her with it, which he’s happy to do (once he figures out that’s what shes actually asking lol.)

Charlotte is incredibly distracted the entire time by Henry’s freckles (and eyes. And hands. And the way his hair curls on the nape of his neck. And the spots of gold and green in his hazel eyes that flashed as bright as the sun when the light catches them. And-), but they get through it in an hour or two which leaves them alone in a deserted wing of the institute. They end up playing a game chess. Charlottes a decent player and thought since Henry had never showed any interest in chess it would be a probably be an evenly matched game. She didn’t know what hit her. He beat her in like, eight minutes, eighty percent of which were spent on the last two moves by Charlotte who, upon realizing she was fucked, spent five minutes staring at the board trying to figure out when he even started beating her. She was sitting there having a whole crisis, (she’d been distracted by a man who probably doesn’t like her, and certainly doesn’t think much of her now after a pathetic loss like that and now she’ll have to sit hear and wallow in failure-) just preparing for him to start that whole smug gloating thing men do when they win and Henry you know. Didn’t. He just put the pieces away and thanked her for the game, in that very genuine way, with the gloomy London evening light casting a depressing shadow across the room, a shadow that he stood out against all gentle, kind, bright and brimming with a sort of barely contained passion. If Charlotte had ever doubted that shadow hunters had come from straight angels then sitting there, looking at a boy stained in soot, who she loved more than anything else to walk the earth, she would never doubt it again.

(It wasn’t until after Henry won and noticed Charlotte hadn’t said anything in a while that he remember people don’t like losing. Honestly he was playing just to be around her and he would have thrown the game if he could conceptualize how to do that on the fly. They spent like five minutes in autistic silence waiting for the other to stand up and declare newfound hatred.)

In true British fashion the a modern tea bag would kill them both.

When they were both 13 or 14 Charlotte mentioned she was dreading winter because it’s so bleak and dark (and her mom had died a few winters before, though she didn’t drop that in casual conversation). Anyways, come winter Henry brought her a marigold preserved in something like resin. She kept it in her jewelry box for years and after they got married she found out he had literally dozens of them. Whenever he came across a particularly bright flower he preserved it and set it aside. He was never quite brave enough to give them to her pre-TID, but he now leaves them for her when she’s particularly sad or stressed. She keeps them all in a drawer- they fit together like little tiles, and still look as fresh as they would had they just been plucked from the ground.

Somewhat surprisingly Henry doesn’t really lose stuff, with the singular exception being his own medical equipment. He’s lost the leg braces he wears every single day of his life before. Charlotte’s not usually speechless but she wasn’t sure what to say to that one.

Henry gave Charlotte a watch with a hands and numbers that can glow the same way a modern day one would. It’s absolutely beautiful, durable and accurate, even if Henry set himself on fire at least four times making it. (They can say with confidence that that watch is fireproof)

—-

Honestly, I could go on and on, then on some more, but technically I’m supposed to be writing a paper on gut micro biomes that’s due tomorrow, so I figured I’d cut myself of. In conclusion, I love them dearly, they love each-other dearly, they deserve the world, all I can think about is them, and the world can pry them out of my cold dead hands.

[bangobeep]

A Love Letter to Jazzpunk, by Ed

It's crazy how fast time can go by when you're enjoying yourself. It's been about three years since I first encountered this game, and I could not be happier with where it's brought me. I've learned so much and met so many wonderful people through it.

For a game that can be played in 2 hours and a half, it sure is complex; so full of jokes and content that can take literal hours to be taken apart. It's brought me closer to an appreciation of things like abstract art, the cyberpunk genre, analog tech, vintage clothing, suits, among a few others.

I remember my first interaction with the game. Funnily enough, it was not through Ranboo like what I usually tell. Back in the day, 2021, I was a mere high school student who, to cope with the horrors of the pandemic, used to be into the DSMP. Woo. Yeah. No shame in admittance. Well, only a little bit.

There was this one cosplayer I used to follow on TikTok (if I recall correctly, their name is Fern [they/them]); mainly because of their c!Foolish cosplay. I was drawn to them and their energy and the way they portrayed characters! So, naturally, I followed them and interacted with their videos every now and then.

On the 23rd of June of 2021, I found myself doom-scrolling on the app (as one does), and I came across one of their videos, though this one was not from any media I knew or was used to watching from them.

The song spy? by WHOKILLEDXIX started playing, and there he was. Glasses and (makeshift) orange tie. Business card. Coat. A little unhinged, yet classy. The Editor.

I feel as if I was so drawn to him because of what I wanted to do after high school. I wanted to study literature in college to become an editor myself! I wanted to correct people's texts, be annoying about it and get paid for it! And would you look at that, the name of the guy is quite literally The Editor. LOL.

As the days went by, I found myself going back to the video, waiting for them to upload more, to feed into my curiosity. I loved the video I saw so much I saved it to my gallery the exact same day I saw it.

Then came the second one, with actual footage from the game. "Quick, look behind you." The Director says, and the camera cuts to the ground, and Fern's shoes. I heard their voices for the first time. "Improvise, I know you'll do well by me." He says again, and I grow ever so drawn to it. Five videos are more than enough. And while I don't look it up just yet, it's in my head.

Until the 25th of July 2021! Like I said, I used to be into the DSMP, though by then, the fixation was fading, and I found myself in that limbo where nothing quite caught my attention. On that day, Ranboo tweeted something about a Jazzpunk stream, and it instantly caught my attention. I was quick to put down anything I was doing to find out what it really was.

And though I was not particularly interested in them, or their streams anymore, I was hooked! I was not the kind to stay for an entire stream, yet there I was. Two hours and thirty something minutes of being beamed in the brain with pure madness.

And then it was over. And I found myself gripping every single piece of fanart I could find with my bare hands, screaming because there had got to be more, right? There had to be more.

And there was! That's when Tumblr became my main form of internet presence. First was Instagram, then came Twitter, and well, would you look at that, I made it here.

I started drawing. I must admit, my first few drawings were atrocious, but looking back on them now, I feel proud. People say that when you fixate on something, your art develops as you go, and they're right!

A year and a half are all my prior account lasted. By the same name. I made a stupid joke to my boyfriend, sending one (1) spam message in their ask box and it was gone! And so, bangobeep 2.0 came to fruition. But that's not the point.

Back when I first got into the game, the need for connection was strong. I found myself craving the partnership; the long, late-night talks about little details of the game, the roleplaying, the scenario thinking, and so the Jazzpunk server came to life on the 13th of August 2021. Named Jazzpunk Moment. I sent a DM to the people I saw most often in the tag back then: Pangolin-404 and Vendotlover, both of which I admired very much!

I remember looking at their art and reading their fanfics and thinking to myself: 'Wow, what I'd give to be able to talk to the cool kids!' And well, I did! I talked to both, and they both agreed to give me their discord, after which they (and a few others with time) joined the server.

Some time after that, I befriended them personally through our mutual love for the game and similar interests, as well as through general chitter chatter about me being hyperactive when on caffeine, 404/Caligula telling me about Sammy Lawrence from Bendy and the Ink Machine, and Ven telling me of xeir OC whose name came from Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss. I’m happy to say nowadays I still talk to both Caligula and Ven very often. In fact! I consider Cali one of my best friends, and I am kinda gay dating Ven. So, you know. Fun things bring fun people together. :)

Then came around people like Jazz Jazzanon, Zippy Zippycup, Jazzhands, Noah, Wither, and a couple others that, while I won’t mention, made this experience something wonderful for me.

I can’t quite find the words to express this something so dear to me. Jazzpunk, as short as it is, changed my life in ways I could’ve never imagined. I’ve started researching things I thought I’d never be into, started books I loved, got into music I had never listened to before, and it all helped build me as a person these three years. It’s brought me unimaginable amounts of comfort and joy, and I don’t think I’ll ever find something else that will make me feel this whole.

I could go on and on about how I have projected so many little aspects of my life onto my interpretation of it. About how the way I interpret Polyblank is highly influenced by those I love. About how the paintings in The Editor’s house fit him and his personality, but those are topics for another day.

The world out there is wacky and crazy, and Jazzpunk does a great job at feeding into the fact it can be strange, it can be difficult, and it can be fun.

So, to 10 years of community, 10 years of happiness, 10 years of a game that will stay with me forever, and many more to come!

Thank you, Jazzpunk.

[melverie]

for the wip ask game

Flower on a High Peak? Days Long Past?

and why does it sound so interesting👀

~@too-much-gacha

Aaaahhh candy!! I'm so sorry this took a bit but Flower on a High Peak drove me crazy because I could not for the life of me come up with a good summary that didn't involve explaining half of Assassination Classroom?? Only to then remember that almost all of the actual plot of AssClass plays the most minor of roles imaginable in my fic???? Sometimes I don't think when I start working on things

ANYWAY onto the fics

Flower on a High Peak (fanfic)

As mentioned, this is one of the two fanfics that aren't Obey Me-related, but rather for Assassination Classroom! I at one point used to have like.....15-ish AssClass WIPs at once? Someone help me 😭

((Also, real quick--Asano is the family name))

Anyway, it's about Asano who has had a ghost companion called Ikeda ever since he was four years old. They are bound together by an invisible thread that, if ever broken, is said to forever break the living's person soul. The next decade passes without incident, but once they discover in what way Ikeda's life (or rather, his death) has been an integral part to the Asano household, it finally threatens to snap once and for all

I can't give you an exact age for this one since I've only ever handwritten it, but I know it's several years old. I think maybe 5 or 6 years.....? It's definitely the second oldest one on the list tho

Days Long Past (fanfic)

Hey, the newest one in the entire line-up!

What inspired this one was my brain coming up with this exchange:

Father: I do not remember you being so hateful. Lucifer: That 'hate' is nothing but the love you took from me. My corps has been rotting alongside hers the day you chose to abandon me. Her blood will forever cling to your hands, Oh Divine "Creator". You killed her. You killed me.

And then I thought 'hey, this would be a cool fanfic idea'. And then it spiraled from there

So essentially, it's about OG Lucifer suddenly finding himself in the Celestial Realm long before the Great Celestial War will take place, finally getting to yell at Father and realizing that ultimately, he's happier now as a demon than he would have been if he continued being an angel

Or as I described it to a few friends: og Lucifer suddenly finds himself in the Celestial Realm in a time before the Great Celestial War & he just met Father again & he was giving Luci shit for being super pissed at him & then Luci is like "don't care + didn't ask + ratio + I've never been happier bitch"

This one would feature the other brothers + Lilith as children btw, so it would have a lot of fluff >:)

As for the title, this was the only one I didn't already have one for since I only came up with the idea itself like five days ago. I had to come up with one at the spot and this was the first thing I thought of 😭

-> to the WIP ask game

[julie-su]

Megaman, as a series, does something absolutely bizarre to my brain. The first time I really got into it, wasn't so long ago - I believe it was 2017, 2018? It was the month that Tony died, only a month after Skunk died, maybe - I don't remember the timeframe. I was already numb, then number. I was already majorly depressed; I didn't know how to cry, I didn't know how to do anything.

I don't really remember why, I bought a NES. It's all I talked about for a long time, my NES. I was mean, and apathetic, and rude, and I wanted you to know about my NES. I went to the local arcade, I went to their coadjacent 'retro' games store, I bought NES games. I bought NES peripherals. I played Megaman II. I played it a little, then a lot. I felt nothing, still, nothing, as I managed to die in the game, over and over. Am I even paying attention? I don't know. I don't care. It's all just going through the motions; it's always just going through the motions. And then... Defeat my first robot master. Was I always this close to the screen, leaning in so intently like this? I'm sweating from the effort. I start to smile. Just a little, then a lot. I don't know how long I had been playing at that point, but I had been feeling like I was ramming my head against the wall endlessly. In the game? In real life? I haven't felt this much of anything in a long time. It's not failing; it's getting better, each try. You're not meant to win it all in one go; it's designed like this. You get better, you have a margin for error, you're expected to fumble around. It sounds so silly, but I just started to cry about everything. I guess it wasn't so much about it being MegaMan, so much as I just needed the time to sit and parse through my emotions; but it felt almost poetic, how it had happened. They say that playing a game which forces you to focus, can help you to compartmentalise traumatic events. It was the first time I had truly had time to cry about it. I have a hard time with emotions like that; I had cried for show, because it's what you're 'supposed' to do, but I had felt total apathy up until the moment I reduced poor ol' Metal Man into scrap.

The next few weeks, I felt all of those hard-to-feel emotions about love, loss, and every human emotion under the sun. Laugh about the good times, seethe about how quickly it all happened (we lost Skunk to an idiot drunk driver), and cry, cry because it's really sunk in that I will never see either again. Before that, when I was in total apathy, it was like I had pressed pause; in some infinite dimension where they still were alive, and yet dead, at the same time. Like when you're playing a videogame, and you know that your next action will cause the death of a character who you love; but if you stay here, if you don't progress, you're still alive, for as long as I need you to be. I wish it could be forever, but you have to be selfish sometimes, and keep on moving forwards.

The next few months of my life after that were then dedicated entirely to telling anybody who would listen, about everything MegaMan. That sort of happy-flappy-hands no composure half-yelling type of excitement. I travelled further afield to more retro videogame markets than ever. It's a little embarrassing, and I don't get exactly like that for anything else. I was trying to avoid getting back into it now, because I get so embarrassingly head-over-heels, but I decided to indulge myself. I feel my cheeks getting a bit pink, but oh, oh, have I ever been happy these past few months, years, as I follow my nose wherever it'd take me. There's some Sonic fan events coming up soon; I can't wait for those, either <3 everything is coming up beautifully in my little old life.

[pagesofkenna]

The ending to BG3 is sloppy, rushed, and underwhelming. if burnout on this game hadn't already lead me to decide not to replay it again anytime soon, that nonsense ending would have been the nail in the coffin. instead, it just convinced me I have no interest in replaying this again ever

BG3 is a fun game to play, but not a fun game to finish. I like finishing games

thoughts on the nonsense ending (major spoilers):

I chose to free Orpheus because I was romancing Lae'zel, and even without that I really like the Githyanki and was pleased to participate in any action leading to Vlaakith finally dying (she's overdo). On the other hand, I didn't outright disobey The Emperor until that moment (I even did his sex scene, which is hindsight was such an obvious manipulation)

Consequently, The Emperor seemed like a suspicious and untrustworthy ally for the entire game right up until he decided to ditch me and... fight for the Netherbrain?? You know, the thing we were working together to fight this whole time??

there's no attempt to rationalize his actions. the game needed to punish me/pay off for me discovering this 'ally' is actually not one, but his actions in that moment don't make any sense. the most logical thing would have been to say 'since you're freeing Orpheus, who will want me killed, my only options now are to die, run away, or be subjugated by the hive mind again' but he doesn't say that!! he seems to be saying that he's joining the Netherbrain cause of his own volition, and during the fight (which also includes a subjugated red dragon... for some reason?) The Emperor does not indicate that he's subjugated or that he's joined the hive mind. he's just here to be petty!! i guess!!

Once free Orpheus says the netherstones can only be wielded by a mindflayer...........? for some reason? for plot railroading reasons. Not like Netheril or Karsus were mindflayers, or even abberations at all. not like the Dread Three weren't wielding the netherstones separately just fine (for a time)

so sure, I'll allow that it has more to do with the brain itself having 'evolved' (thats not what that means) and trying to wield all three stones against it at once. but why a mindflayer?? why specifically the one type of being most vulnerable to an Elder Brain's influence??? why can't Orpheus, the one being in the world that we know is naturally immune to mindflayer and Elder Brain manipulation, wield the stones as-is??

plot reasons. because.

because I need to be made to make a Difficult Choice here in the eleventh hour; either Orpheus dies or I do. because, sorry, being turned into a mindflayer is not a 'transformation' its a death. I love mindflayers I think they're a cool enemy, but The Emperor was not Baldur. he was a mindflayer whose first victim, whose first memories he obtained, was Baldur. maybe this is a fault in me being a GM and knowing too much about the mechanics of this world

except that Withers himself literally appears out of nowhere to make sure you know that mindflayers don't have souls! way back at the end of Act 2! there was no point to that other than to make sure the players knows how this bit of the world works: a mindflayer is like a robot made from a dead person's brains. it might act and think like the dead person, but the person is dead.

I actually saved, and had Orpheus transform, and saved that as one branch, then reloaded and took the transformation myself, and played through the rest of the ending on that branch. I transformed, we saved the city (mostly), my girlfriend told me she thought I was ugly but she loved me anyways and would overlook it, then I told her to go save her people and after she left I killed myself

I'm glad I at least got the chance to kill myself because otherwise there were almost no narrative consequences for letting my brain get eaten and my corpse transformed into a monster. allies were like 'its weird, but youre awesome! huzzah!' even Orpheus says 'you'll be remembered fondly as the mindflayer who withstood the hivemind' until I specifically told him not to remember me that way (I'm only a mindflayer because you told me I had to be one!)

there were like 7 options for that final choice on what to do about yourself. options 1-5 were variations of 'sure I'm a mindflayer now but that's not a big deal! not all mindflayers are evil!' option 6 was 'they probably shouldn't trust me, i should be in prison.' option 7 was 'the narrator is literally telling me I can already feel my sense of self slipping away. I know what Baldur turned into. I know what mindflayers do. I need to be dead, for everyones safety'

I wish someone else could have killed me. it would have been so heartwrenching to have Lae'zel kill me but I would have loved her for it!

then Karlach burned to death and I got no other scene for literally any other companion and roll credits

nothing. for anybody. poor Karlach is dead right now, we gotta rush and get this product out for shipment, we're spending more money on the overloaded graphical effects and textures than we are paying the line-writers and voice actors

like, you didn't play this game for the ending, dear customer, did you??

I truly think Larian did an amazing job for what they were asked to do, and I'm very curious about their other work. but it feels sometimes like game devs spend so much time making satisfying middle-game experience that they really drop the ball on end-game experience. I dont know if they fell into this trap because they were working with a major IP with not enough creative control, or time, or resources, or if even with better circumstances they still wouldn't have put much effort into trying to stick the landing

[shipofthesis]

Reflecting on Fallen London content in light of the Disgraced Former Founder

I’ve been looking into Fallen London’s Disgraced Former Founder (AK) because I’d rather just know then assume. Now, everything I’ve read has tracked with what I was assuming from what I already knew and have seen of him but. God, he’s insufferable. I’ve read through his professed list of influences, and my realizations on that front have been: 

lamentably I have his written voice saved into my brain cuz I clocked it almost immediately (I tiredly clicked the link without registering who/what it was). This is wild to me cuz I have only really “read” him through whatever FL content he’s responsible for. Which makes me wonder how much is by his hand.

some of his commentary is... illuminating about the sort of person he is. Does he always sound this condescending? (Yes.) While a handful of his comments had me rolling my eyes or sighing this bit made me need to pause altogether. 

What an ass. Anyway, my final and perhaps most important realization! I am convinced while his merit as a writer is up for debate he is very well read and his writing owes everything to that. It sounds like some of FL is less genius ideas he had and more him grabbing things he liked from other, more established authors. (Something his own narrative along this list supports, though I’m sure he thinks more highly of himself than I do.)

Why does any of this matter? Why am I subjecting myself to learning about this frustrating scumbag? Because I am reexamining (earlier) FL given this context, understanding that often fiction is a reflection of its creators. 

I am thinking about how much of early FL content is the player character manipulating and exploiting people. I am thinking about the player character’s overarching narrative of starting from the bottom with nothing but your wits and grit, and winding up on top. I am thinking about how difficult it is to play a morally upstanding character if you take every storyline as canon rather than handwaving some here, others there. And I am thinking of all this while familiar with how people like AK think and create.

It sounds like AK regularly manipulated people while at Failbetter games. (Here’s a piece by the current CEO about AK’s behavior.) It’s safe to assume manipulation, intimidation, extortion, bribery, and other similar tactics are part of his everyday toolkit. Things the player character has options to do quite often, usually for greater profit. Even if you don’t play your character as morally dubious, there is something to be said of how various Making Your Name stories play out. How romancing characters is often a means to an end, how the university line is much more punishing if you uphold what is true and just. And likely many others I cannot remember in this moment! But wait, FL is a dark comedy and a horror show, it is also an rpg. This sort of thing is to be expected, right? It’s a dystopia where deathlessness has changed what violence means and we are all subject to the whims of monomaniacal space bats! What’s my point?? 

My point, what I am pondering, is how much of the player characters choices and actions were not written as something fantastical. How much of the sardonic narrator voice isn’t an affectation to amuse us, and how much the player characters sometimes ruthless, heartless, and even entitled actions and desires are not simply there to offer different Quirks. People like AK tend to think everyone thinks like them. The player character being written to use all tools available in service of their own needs, pleasure, ego, and rising power might not be entirely a hypothetical fantasy to AK. Well, maybe it’s a fantasy in that approaching the world of the Neath like this is not only accepted and justified, but the way to power. Power which you deserve because of your sharp wits and willingness to do what it takes, morality and ethics be damned.

[borderline-off-fangame]

it's the anniversary... of the game's development. idek why I'm making these at this point, I suppose because it gives me some kind of purpose or motivation to continue on despite the shit that's been happening in my life. The massive burnouts, the lack of motivation, my dayjob eating up my time to the point that I'm unable to sit down and work on the game.. the depression.. but I keep persevering..

Last year I released a remade demo of the game, where I rehashed the entirety of the game, from the gameplay to the story, the entire thing was changed.. And there were lots of struggles and hurdles I needed to surpass just to release a (somewhat) perfectly functioning demo, completely bug-free.. That's an achievement if I do say so myself... I did take a break from the game afterwards and ended up making Escape Button, a.. quite short and silly little experimental game where I tried to emulate a 'point-n-click' setting.. It's possible, you just gotta be a little creative. *pensive* For the most part it worked, and from there, I applied what I learned in Esc and slapped it into burdel borble, you will see what I mean in a few.. enough sob stories about my crippling depression and burnout, you came here for the good shit, but if I end up wallowing in my own self-pity, that's on me. I'm a tired creature, that is all I am..

I unfortunately did not receive any questions, so I may as well make up some questions you might wanted to ask me.

WHY IS IT TAKING YOU SO LONG?!

To put it bluntly, I'm a one man developer.. People might misinterpret what I mean by that, so let me elaborate. Other than music and the assets I receive from volunteers who want to see my game come to fruition, I am left to do everything else that isn't in the music department or general assets. Which means coding, mapping, setting up events, story and dialogue, constant beta-testing, yadda yadda. Other factors play in this, and it has to do with my day-job. Since I started my day-job back in February, all my focus shifted onto my work, so I have been unable to sit down and work on the game..

I know people want to see my game get finished someday, but idk when exactly that someday will be.. Might not be tomorrow or next year.. My fg does not have a deadline and it's better that way, so I don't end up stressing myself out.. When it comes out, I hope to make it into a grandiose deal or some shit like that..

For the most part, I'm mostly re-working on dialogue and certain events in game to make it pop a little bit more and make it look more.. mine you know.. like I made it with my own 2 hands..

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE?

Finish the game ofc, and then begin working on new projects.. I do have something in mind, might be another experimental one, who knows.. And ofc, finally kickstart my twocrown tutorial channel, where I post rpgmaker related tutorials.. I'll keep that short haha.

WHAT DO YOU HAVE SO FAR? WHAT WILL WE SEE IN THE FUTURE/FINAL VERSION?

Lots of things actually! Let's start with the most basic..

Animated facesets. It came to me in a dream lol So I wanted to try out a thing where the characters are able to speak. As in you see the faceset's lips move. This one took time to implement because I kept running into issues.. Then the bird brain awoke and was like: remember that large sprite tutorial for 2003? Make it for the facesets! And so I did!!

Aleyes shop gets a bit of an overhaul! learning from Esc, I made a panorama for his little shop, where he will sell you goods. This is a point-n-click segment.. don't worry, there will be more, in the form of minigames and puzzles! they are fun to make!!

First person battle. Think Earthbound. Just think Earthbound!! This one comes with it's pros and cons unfortunately.

The major Pro here is that it will not be necessary to constantly change the battle sprites, all i have to do is just change the faceset and I'm moving on with my life.. the con? well, when their HP reaches 0, they are dead, but they're unable to show.. I'm trying to figure out a way to overcome this, but I am drawing blanks.. i do see potential in the window c variant (the first person view), I haven't seen much people use this type (WITHIN the fangames!! not outside, within!!!)

and that's about it I suppose.. I don't have much else to show cuz everything else is spoiler territory and I don't want to spoil!

So yea, happy anniversary, and.. let's hope I finish this game someday..

[daisyachain]

HXH vol 1-3 notes

Every line is snapped to a curve. Every shape is filled to the brim with whatever hatching or ink it’s meant to have. The tightest manga you’ll ever see. And then the lizard is so beautifully watercoloured that you can feel the scales

The hand-drawn backgrounds make it apparent how much of backgrounds in current manga are 3D modelled/photo edits. This is not a bad thing for modern manga. I like to see a beautiful quotidian setting that a poor overworked assistant did not die to produce. It’s also so so cute to have the simple cartoony bushes

Gon is (: a treat to have for a main character. He’s so interesting! A little boy who is not all there

First time around HXH I loved it and it stuck in my brain but only Kurapika, and I was still so hung up on Yorknew that I didn’t really register or understand the rest of it. Downsides to HXH basically being 2 totally separate arcs quilted together (they did say it had a JJBA influence…)

Poor Aunt Mito. More evidence that Gon is a little…

I had 100% forgotten Kite got introduced here

Leorio is 19????? This makes sense…

Different stories exist on different planes of reality and disbelief. HxH exists on the single top plane of disbelief. The tone and content are impossible to reconcile so you just have to let go of any kind of expectation and be free!

The Hunter Exam arc lasts longer than expected

How on earrrtth can they run that far. That is 2 marathons. And then summer camp starts (see aforementioned disbelief)

Body count is Mad High (see aforementioned disbelief). People just keep dying!

This may be my chance to separate Hisoka entirely from anime/Heaven’s Arena ver. and see why he’s my sister’s favourite

The ♦️unique speech bubbles ♣️ are certainly ♠️ a charm point ♥️

Imagining voices to go with the characters is a challenge. They are all so big-eyed and squeaky in my head. At the same time I remember being 12 and what the 12-year-olds in my class sounded like

My youthful Kurapika obsession hasn’t faded. Sorry mutuals. He’s well-spoken.

Culinary challenge minigame is a bit weak

Midnight game is v fun. Bonding time.

HxH is the most video game a thing can get without being a video game. The blobby shapes. The simple backgrounds. The vivid green of a Pokémon or BotW. The levelling up. I don’t know enough about games to be sure but I want to say that it consciously steals Pokémon’s look

The hunt is on!! Great tension in Gon’s pursuit. I was waiting with bated breath

‘197’ <- I did chuckle

Leorio is the failed main character who never actually gets an arc, but the role he plays is to bring everyone else together. He can’t do it himself. We have to help him together. He needs to stick around or else they’d all shake hands and never again see each other. He is a babysitter not much older than a baby himself

Gon and Kurapika’s bond is so sweet! Underrated axis of character relations. Kurapika always has an answer to Gon’s questions (even if it’s wrong) while Gon opens a whole new world of problem-solving for a vengeance-fixated teen. They care about each other very much, even if it’s just because Gon cares about everyone and even if Kurapika isn’t going to let it go beyond casual cooperation

Hiss-o-ka. Feel sorry for the guy who was just trying to get his license (see aforementioned disbelief)

I don’t know what roles Illumi and Hisoka play with respect to one another and at this point I’m not going to ask. Drinking buddies.

Killua time! Eat your heart out, everyone else

Leorio almost solved his puzzle in a remarkably clever way. Rip.

HxH has a world you should never think about for more than 5 seconds

Off to be final…

Another remarkable blast of tonal dissonance. Yay! Hanzo broke his arm for the greater good (?). The creepiness of the situation does heighten Gon’s wrongness so it works

Killua and Gon’s relationship is the bedrock of the story. I do not remember it being so explicitly stated or so early

‘There has to be something you want in the world that is strong enough that you will break away from us’ well.

Zoldyk arc! A classic. Silva is despicable. I feel like this one went a little better in the animation with the dark colouring and the saturated hues.

Killua breaking out of the dungeon is the scene in so many ways. He can leave, he just needs a reason

Gon HxH and Oz PH have some similarities and Gon HxH and Alice PH have some similarities

Alluka already exists. Illumi- Milluki - Killua - [REDACTED] - Kalluto

Most of what I am feeling during the read is sad for Killua

There’s a bit of a balance of power between narrator characters and main/protagonist/active characters. Narrators are aware of the consequences of the protagonist’s actions as well as where they fit into an overarching narrative, narrators can rationalize and contextualize the seemingly random events around them. Because Gon doesn’t understand any of this, he needs a narrator (Kurapika or Killua). Killua is doomed to be aware of what Gon is doing to him and what is happening to Gon. He can’t tell him, he can’t escape it, he doesn’t want to, his role is to Observe and Know the way his entire self is being warped, and he legally can’t do anything about it because he is not the protagonist

Off to Heaven’s Arena…

[ramblingsofafanatic]

So... I didn’t listen

Summary: Jim couldn't just flat out ignore Bones' birthday like he asked.

Word Count: 843

Relationships: Leonard McCoy/James Kirk

Warnings: None

Can also be read on AO3 here!

 “I regret to inform you that I didn’t listen and I need your help” Kirk says walking into McCoy’s office, McCoy just sighs and looks up from his report, the circles under his eyes obvious as he does no more than raise an eyebrow. Kirk is just standing there, smiling, they maintain eye contact until McCoy gives in.

 “Okay fine, I’ll bite, what did you do this time?” The only reply the doctor gets in reply is a wider smile and Jim nudging his head in the direction of the door. McCoy’s frown deepens, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back in his chair.

 “Nu-uh, I’m not going anywhere ‘till you give me a verbal answer and an explanation on what I’m getting myself in to.”

 “Come on Bones, it’s easier if I just show you!” Jim says, gesturing to the door once again, but with a wild wave of his arms.

 “If you need my help than I need to know what I am helping with, as I may need equipment and I’m not walking into something unprepared cause you want to take the easy way out and just show me, so spill.” McCoy says, not moving. Obviously it’s not dire, cause Jim wouldn’t be playing these games if it was something serious, so McCoy’s also in no rush to see what the captain has mucked up.

 “You don’t need any equipment but your hands and your brain, let’s go” Kirk insists, and it doesn’t seem like he’s gonna tell McCoy what it is anytime soon, so, with another sigh, McCoy rises to his feet.

 “Fine, but just know I hate you and whatever is about to happen.” McCoy says.

 “Love you too bones.” Jim says, smiling before walking out of the office with confidence that McCoy is gonna follow, which he does, but with one more sigh and roll of his eyes for good measure.

 McCoy is led to the turbolift and then to the same floor as his and Jim’s quarters. He gets more and more suspicious as they near the door, and the feeling reaches a peak when Jim stops outside their door.

 “There isn’t anything wrong is there, did you just want me to have lunch with you in our quarters instead of the mess? Cause you coulda done that with a lot less theatrics, you know, like just saying that you wanted such a thing.” McCoy says as he waits for Jim to type in the code to the room.

 “No, that’s not it, there’s more to it.” Jim says as the door swishes open to reveal the room no different than usual on a first glance from the doorway, but upon entering McCoy can see that the table is set nicely and can smell something good coming from the container on the counter.

 “A fancy lunch then?” McCoy says.

 “Yes, a fancy birthday lunch.” Jim says.

 “Jim I told you I didn’t wanna do anything for-”

 “I know, remember when I started the conversation in your office with the fact I didn’t listen? I was telling the truth, come on it’s not a big thing, just lunch, and don’t act like I was ever gonna listen and just gonna NOT do anything for your birthday. You should know better than that.” Jim says, stepping behind Leonard and corralling him to the table.

 “Oh yes, how dare I think that my boyfriend would actually listen to a sincere request I made” McCoy says.

 “Precisely, yes.” Jim says, smiling and laughing as he pulls out McCoys chair and waits for him to sit, kissing the top of Leonard’s head before grabbing the container from the counter and sitting down across from him. Jim knows that Leonard feels uncomfortable with people doing stuff for him and placing attention on him, which is why he thought a quiet lunch alone in their quarters would be the best way to celebrate the doctor’s birthday as he couldn’t possibly just ignore the day entirely.

 “I could have made everyone in the mess sing happy birthday to you instead.” Jim points out, laughing again at the face Leonard makes at that.

 “Nope, you know what, I think this is a great idea.” McCoy says, knowing Jim would make that happen if he kept complaining for too long just to spite him.

 “That’s the spirit.” Jim says as he opens the container and reveals a peach cobbler.

 “That appears to be a dessert, not a lunch Jim.”

 “You’re the one that started calling this a lunch date, I just agreed.” Jim says as he puts a piece on each of their plates. “No need for a lecture on healthy eating, I have plans to eat a vegetable at dinner.” He continues.

 “An entire vegetable, maybe this whole birthday thing isn’t that bad.”

 “Oh hush” He says before they break out in laughter. They continue to make small talk as they eat the cobbler, Leonard relaxing for once after the last few weeks of the regular chaos from being on this godforsaken spaceship.

[highfunctioningflailgirl]

Les Trois Mousquetaires, Chapter 31

Our boys meet up with de Winter and the three other Englishmen for their appointed duel.

De Winter wants to know the real names of Athos, Porthos and Aramis, refusing to fight with men who carry the names of "goat sheperds". (How dare he?!) And the three actually comply, whispering their true names into the Englishmen's ears - to d'Artagnan's and the reader's immense frustration who can't overhear a damn thing!

Athos cooly tells de Winter that, since "one believes me to be dead, I will now have to kill you, to keep my secret." And he means it.

And then "huit épées brillèrent aux rayons du soleil couchant." ("Eight rapiers glistened in the rays of the setting sun")

(I live for excatly this kind of romanticized swashbuckle writing).

And for Dumas' descriptions of each of the Musketeers' fighting style:

"Athos fought with the same calm and method he displayed in a weapons hall (aka in training)"

"Porthos, no doubt having had his confidence curbed a little by his adventure in Chantilly, played a game of finesse and prudence."

"Aramis, who had the third verse of his poem to finish, fought his man in a hurry."

It is, of course, Athos, the best swordsman of the regiment, who kills his opponent first, with a single thrust, right through the heart.

(As I said, I'm so here for this shit.)

Porthos, meanwhile, only injures his opponent and helpfully carries the man to his carriage. How polite!

Aramis' Englishman very quickly realizes he doesn't stand a chance and makes a run for it.

(I'm so here for this, too.)

And our youngster? D'Artagnan uses a clever strategy of simply parrying de Winter's blows, tiring him out, until he can simply flick his rapier out of his hand.

De Winter stumbles and falls, d'Artagnan's sword at his throat. But d'Art, generous as he is, lets de Winter live - in exchange for the love of de Winter's sister. (Which had been his plan all along.) D'Art is proviced with Lady Clerick de Winter's address and to show up at her place at 8 o'clock that same evening where de Winter will introduce the two.

After an unusually flamboyante toilette, probably using the 17th century equivalent of hair products and a lot of parfum, d'Artagnan, ready for his date, stops by Athos' place on his way, who - wary as he is of anything female - warns d'Artagnan that Milday may be a spy of the Cardinal's. (Remember, dear reader, that, at this point, none of them know who Milady really is!)

They even talk about her being blonde, and Athos about being especially suspicious of blonde women.

But our young Gascon doesn't listen.

In d'Artagnan's eyes, the evening's date goes well, as do three more dates on the following nights. Milady (who turns out to be de Winter’s sister-in-law and not his sister) is nice to him and shows great interest in his person, asking a lot of questions, also about his friends, and if he's considered working for the Cardinal? Or if he's ever been to England?

But d'Artagnan, sweet summer child that he is (and also a 20yo whose blood has entirely left his brain in favor of his dick), doesn't suspect a thing, and neither does he notice that Ketty, Milady's pretty and friendly maid, is desperately trying to flirt with him.