#pay back for the yuri event

[hyp3rfixation-h3ll]

TRICK OR TREAT BITCH

HAPPY HALLOWEEN have a deep fried hot rod

just kidding. BAT ATTACK 🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇

[moooxy]

Double Trouble (18+)

MINORS DNI

Pairing: Dmitri Antonov (Enzo) x f!Reader | Jim Hopper x f!Reader

Synopsis: the night before the big reunion sparks feelings and desires… during strip ‘poker’.

Word Count: 3.6K

Warnings: Threesome, hair pulling, choking, stripping, gambling, deepthroating, spanking, very vulgar language…

AN: I’m so sorry this has taken so long to get out. I sped through the first part and when it came down to the smut I sort of avoided it for weeks.

The past few days had been eventful. Erratic, horrible, mortifying. But now, all was well (for the time being). It was finally time for you all to rest and calm down— it felt strange not having someone on guard at all times. You were picked up by Agent Stinson, and she profusely insisted that you all shower and get a good night's sleep before it was time for Hopper and Joyce to reunite with their kids. No one really knew what to do with Yuri, so he was put under Murray’s supervision (again).

Only the best hotel was chosen for the six of you. Yuri and Murray in one room, you and Joyce in another, and Hopper and Dmitri in the last. With it being such a short notice, the only hotel rooms were double beds— and it humoured you and Joyce just thinking about the awkwardness between the men.

Greedily, Yuri, Murray and Joyce called the first shower. You couldn’t be annoyed knowing you’d have more time than them in the shower.

“I can’t wait to wash my hair… and shave… and moisturise!” You dramatically grin, flaunting yourself over Dmitri’s lap. He’s sitting on his bed with you, Hopper is sitting next to Dmitri, leaning against the headboard.

Hopper nudges Dmitri, flashing him a devilish grin. It’d been their form of entertainment over the past few days— bonding over their attraction for you.

“Keep it in your pants,” Dmitri whispers over to Hopper.

Abruptly, you stand up and wander over to the huge bucket of clothes Stinson gave you all. You fish out a t-shirt with a cringey slogan, taking it as your pyjamas. There’s a red fabric peeking out under a pair of jeans, and curiosity gets the best of you.

Hopper almost winds himself when you squeal, he jolts upwards in shock.

You throw it over at Dmitri— and Hopper knowingly chuckles. “Shit, Antonov. Is that what you’re gonna wear to bed tonight?”

“Shut it, American.” He warns, picking the red thong from his lap and tossing it back to you. “We’d much rather see it on you, gorgeous.”

It takes all of your inner strength to stop yourself from turning into a blushing mess. Two can play at that game. “Who knew you were such a flirt, Dmitri? Maybe I’ll have to pay you a visit tonight…”

“Woah, woah,” Hopper chimes in. “I’m here too, sweetheart.”

“Hmmm, maybe I can convince Joyce to give you a surprise,” you playfully tease with a wink.

“Who said anything about Joyce?” Hopper retorts, all amusement stripped from his voice.

“Wow, I knew Dmitri was bad but you too James?” You giggle, emphasising his real name. He groans in annoyance, running a hand down his face.

“James?” Dmitri chortles.

“Don’t push it, Antonov. It’s Jim.” Hopper painfully replies.

“Oh my bad. We’re not at that level yet,” you wink.

Hopper opens his mouth to, without-a-doubt, berate you— but Joyce peeks her head through the door.

“Bathrooms free,” she says with a smile, drying her hair with a towel.

“See you later, boys,” you tease, picking up the t-shirt, the thong and a pair of shorts.

Once you’re out of the room, Dmitri speaks up. “Think you can swap rooms with her?”

“Definitely fuckin’ not. I want her too,” Hopper confesses and Dmitri hums like he’s well-aware of the statement.

“What about Joyce?” Dmitri can’t help but ask.

“What about her?”

There’s a selection of everything in the shower. High end shampoo and conditioner, hair mousse, strawberry scented body wash, a razor and moisturiser. It’s a perfect reward for being left dirty and unwashed for days in Russia. And as an extra, the hot water felt heavenly on your skin. You were sure the sexual banter with Hopper and Dmitri was just talk, but just in case— you shave everywhere.

After putting your clothes on, including the red thong, you go and find everyone. Your feet pad against the hallway floor, cold air flying to your bare legs. The shorts you picked out barely even showed, due to the oversized t-shirt you wore that probably should have been left for Hopper.

All rooms are empty, except for Hopper and Dmitri’s. When you enter, everyone is sitting on the bed, Yuri shuffling a deck of cards. Dmitri is missing— but not for long. The radio is playing lowly as you scan your eyes for the missing member of your group. Just as you shut the door, their en-suite bathroom door opens and Dmitri is walking out. He’s shirtless, water drips down his chest and abdomen, and there’s a towel around his waist. You feel your heart beat faster at the sight, you feel something erupt in your chest— like butterflies. You can’t help but ogle him in desire—

“Oooh! Love is in the air!” Yuri cackles, firmly pointing at you. Joyce and Murray look over and loudly laugh at the embarrassed look on your face— you’re mortified that you’ve been caught staring at Dmitri. He only flashes you a shy grin, putting a shirt on and coaxing you over to the bed.

The six of you played card games for what felt like hours. Yuri wanted something on the line, like money or drinks, but Joyce dismissed him like a naughty child. He didn’t step out of line after that.

With a yawn, Joyce gets up first. “I’m gonna hit the hay,” she says. Not long after, Yuri and Murray trot down the hallway to their shared room.

Dmitri didn’t want to say anything in front of the group, but he deems now a good time to tease you.

“Liked what you saw earlier, huh?” He asks, voice horse and accent as strong as ever. He’s grinning, leaning forwards towards you as if to say ‘my attention is all yours.’ Hopper continues to shuffle the cards, watching the scene play before him with a smug smirk.

“I just happened to glance over and then—“

“‘Glance’, sweetheart? You were drooling!” Hopper chuckles, noticing your cheeks flush red.

“Aw, she’s getting flustered now, aren’t you?” Dmitri sheepishly mumbles.

“Please can we change the subject?” You whine, shielding your face with your hands to ease the embarrassment.

“…I know. Let’s play strip poker,” Hopper proposes. Dmitri laughs loudly, agreeing.

You’re sceptical, “I don’t really know how to play poker…”

“Even better then,” Dmitri teases, poking your side. You playfully push him away, he’s still laughing. “What about blackjack then? Lowest or highest number strips.”

Hopper hums in agreement, both pairs of eyes loiter on you, waiting for a response. Finally, you sigh and nod. Dmitri can’t help but grin, rubbing his hands together like he’s about to start some drama.

Dmitri grabs a bottle of liquor from the cabinet tucked in the room, something he’d had his eyes on since he walked in. He’d been monitoring it with Yuri around, but he’d been only co-operative. He pours you drinks, insisting that you all drink beforehand to soothe the uncomfort.

Finally, you feel tipsy. Suddenly the radio captures your attention and your body is subconsciously swaying to the music.

“We’ll make this a fair game, yes? We wear three pieces of clothing: shirt, bottoms and underwear.” Dmitri starts and you hum in response. Then, he sits on the bed next to you and begins to shuffle the cards.

Ten minutes later, you’re all sucked right into the game. You’re missing your shorts, Dmitri is missing his jeans and Hopper is missing his shirt and his pants. Your heart aches at the sight of Hopper and how much weight he’s lost, but he looks happy with it and you know he would rather not talk about it.

You grin when you draw a 19. But surprisingly, no one else seems phased. You all decide to stick, presenting your cards to each other.

Hopper gets a 20, Dmitri gets 21. You groan, ignoring their laughs— you were the first to actually show something. You slip the thong off, your shirt covers your modesty. They mumble in annoyance, but you swatch their hands away and continue with the game.

“Wanna sit on my lap?” Dmitri asks.

“Or mine?” Hopper adds.

“Whoever wins this round can have me on their lap,” you say with a giggle.

“And if you win?” Dmitri asks.

“Then I get to stay right here and ogle.”

Hopper draws a 20, you draw a 23 with a dramatic groan and Dmitri draws an 18.

“Lucky bastard,” Dmitri mumbles.

Hopper pats his lap, you plop yourself eagerly onto his huge thighs.

“Ah ah sweetheart. Think you’re forgetting something.” Dmitri rumbles, sending heat straight to your core.

“Yeah you lost the round… still need to take this off,” Hopper whispers in your ear, hands pawing at your shirt.

You roll your eyes, taking the shirt off.

“ебать (fuck)…” Dmitri whispers under his breath.

“This is kind of backfiring on us, huh?” Hopper chuckles. “It’s taking all of my strength to not touch her…”

“Finish the game and then maybe you can touch…” you tease. Dmitris eyes light up, and you feel Hopper go rigid underneath you. “Winner gets to do whatever they want to me.”

“The stakes have been heightened,” Hopper grins. The next round, Dmitri loses. Him and Hopper are only in their underwear as he strips his t-shirt.

“Last game,” you say, getting up off of Hopper’s lap. You lean against the dresser, sticking your ass out and arching your back. Their eyes are trained on you, watching you seductively roll your hips. You playfully turn the music up, taking a swig of the tequila on the table. You’ve completely captured their attention — their eyes follow you when you sit on the bed with them. You shuffle the deck of cards, dealing them both two cards.

You analyse their faces, Dmitri’s lips twitch up and Hopper stays neutral. Dmitri sticks, leaving Hopper to gamble. When he picks up the card, he’s instantly grinning.

“Hope you have fun sleeping in the dog house, American,” Dmitri teases with a grin, flipping his cards over to reveal an ace and a ten.

“Hm?” Hopper nonchalantly replies, revealing his cards also. He has a seven, a nine, and a five — leaving them both with twenty one.

“Oh,” you realise, lips curling into a mischievous grin. “I think that means you can both play with me…”

“Well shit, sweetheart,” Hopper starts playfully. “You’re in for it now.”

“You asked for it, I hope you won’t run back on your word,” Dmitri says with his brows expectantly raised. He’s waiting for you to object, refuse, but nothing but a giggle leaves your lips. He stands up, pulling you up towards him. He pulls you into his arms, his hands sliding down your back which eventually fondle your ass. He looks down at you, his hot breath tickles your nose and his lust-blown eyes intimidate you. A presence behind you brushes against your skin, then the large body presses flush against your back.

Dmitri’s hands are adventurous and confident, whereas Hopper is slow and intimate. Hopper’s thick fingers tickle your pelvic bone, touching the bare area between your abdomen and your private areas. Then, you feel his stubble roughly rub against your neck. Your attention alternates between the two men — Dmitri would capture your attention by squeezing your ass a little too hard, Hopper would steal it by kissing your shoulder or trailing his fingers a little too far down.

Eventually, your attention is settled on the man in front of you. Your eyes fall to his poor, neglected lips and you desperately want to kiss him, shower him with attention just like you dreamed of doing ever since you heard him speak. You were attracted to both men, of course, but Dmitri was available and in closer reaching distance than Hopper. You never thought Hopper would be willing to do this considering his feelings for Joyce, but you were mistaken. He’d been wanting this as much as you.

“Kiss me,” you ask Dmitri, and he doesn’t hesitate to oblige. The kiss deepens, and you know Hopper’s beginning to feel left out when his hands abruptly cup your breasts. You pull away from Dmitri, a string of saliva conjoining the two of you together. Your head turns to the side, and Hopper’s lips are waiting for you. Lips latch onto your neck whilst you make out with Hopper now. Hopper is more sloppy, equally as good a kisser, but Dmitri was careful and precise with his lips — whereas Hopper is enthusiastically pushing his tongue into your mouth at the first given chance. Finally, a move is made:

“Let me have her first, American,” Dmitri groans, clothed cock rubbing against your thigh. He’s hard, painfully so, and clearly pent up with the way he was rutting against your bare skin.

“Hold your fuckin’ horses,” Hopper replies through the kiss, causing wet sounds to escape through parts of his dialogue. “Who do you want first, baby?”

“You know I can’t make a decision like that,” you say with a pout, and he nods like he’d been expecting that answer. “There’s a reason why I have a mouth and a—“ you cut yourself off, a grin forming on your face.

“You’re fuckin’ right, sweetheart.” Says Hopper.

Dmitri’s fingers tilt your jaw back to face him, and his lips capture yours once again. “Mmm, been waiting for this for too long,” Dmitri mumbles. You manage a breathily ‘yeah?’ through the kiss and he hums in clarification. “How do you want to do this, American?”

“You get her pussy, I’ll have her mouth,” he announces.

“Fine by me,” Dmitri agrees and you whine. “Sound good?” He asks you and you nod.

Immediately, Hopper sits on the couch and pulls you by the hips there with him. He sort of just looks at you for a moment, deciding which approach to take towards you. Fisting your hair, he abruptly pulls you to his mouth. The kiss is hot and heavy, his tongue plunges its way into yours. Dmitri watches, hands instinctively palming the ache in his boxers before he finally situates himself behind you. You’re on your hands and knees, kissing Hopper as your hand paws at his crotch. Dmitri’s eyes fall to your ass, your glistening pussy which is on perfect display for him.

“Jerk me off,” Hopper mumbles through the kiss and you nod. Your fingers wrap around his bulge in his boxers, squeezing and pumping. You hear him sigh in pleasure and you can’t help but smile. His eyes find yours, and you both just stare at each other for a moment. The silence in the room is erotically-charged, before fingers prodding at your entrance makes you yelp in surprise.

“Sorry, princess,” Dmitri chuckles. His middle and ring finger rub your clit in circles, he relieves his sore cock by lightly grinding against your ass. Dmitri’s pace of his fingers help you jerk Hopper off. You take him out of his boxers, slowly pumping him the same speed as Dmitri touches you. When his two fingers push inside of your hole, you can’t help but roll your hips in desperation. The feeling of his fingers inside of you burned, in such a euphoric way - you felt every hypersensitive curl of his fingers, every twitch, every pump. You felt him stretching you open, preparing you for himself.

“You like his fingers inside you, baby?” Hopper teases, his hand roughly grasps your jaw, forcing you to look at him.

“Yes,” you breathe out, “feels so good.”

“It’s been so long, hasn’t it, American?” Dmitri chuckles, a squelching sound filling the room. Hopper hums in agreement.

Your back arches, causing your hole to tighten around Dmitri’s fingers.

“Fuck, you’re driving me crazy,” he rumbles. His fingers pull out of you, and it’s not long before you feel something rubbing down your slick pussy. This ‘something’ pushes at your entrance, it’s so much thicker than his fingers. You whine, head dipping down into Hopper’s lap as the oh-so familiar burning sensation of him stretching you out reoccurs.

“F-fuck,” you stutter out, mumbling into Hopper’s bare thigh. Hopper’s grinning when you look up at him, when Dmitri is fully inside of you.

“Well well, baby. You gonna use that mouth of yours to get me off?” Hopper rumbles, your hand on his chest feels the rumble of his gruff voice. You nod, immediately dipping down to get a taste of him. You open-mouthed kiss his raging head, feeling the moisture on your tongue. His head falls back, a sigh erupts from his lips and god— he looks like a fucking model. Dmitri slowly grinds into you, he’s waiting for you to get started on Hopper before he really begins to take what he’s wanted for months. “Don’t tease,” he snarls, teeth gritting and nose furiously pumping out air.

Taking him fully in your mouth is harder than it seems. He’s too long, too thick for you to comfortably suck — so it takes a whole lot more effort. You listened to him, not teasing and instantly getting on with it. He’s rock hard in your hand, wet, throbbing and starved.

The atmosphere alters quickly. Dmitri starts to speed up, your fist around Jim’s cock tightens, your mouth bobs up and down so much faster. The bulge in your cheek relentlessly nudges against the fleshy muscle, and Hopper groans when he notices it. His fingers wrap around your hair, pulling it away from your face. With his free hand, he caresses your cheek using his thumb. “So fucking pretty,” he grunts. “This is what you wanted, yeah? Getting fuckin’ pounded by one of us, suckin’ off the other? My, my, Antonov. I think we’ve been—“ he moans, “seduced.”

“This doll is behind it all?” Dmitri breathily replies, a sheen of moisture on his forehead. He pulls your hair from Hopper’s hand, lifting your head off Jim’s cock. “This cute face has seduced us?” He taunts. Your eyes open, meeting Hopper’s grinning face as Dmitri slams into you. The noises coming out of your mouth are involuntary now, you can’t control them, you weren’t aware you were even making them.

“Come on, honey,” Hopper soothes you. He firmly pats your cheek, “back to it. I’m almost close,” he says.

Your hair is let go, you feel two firm hands on your lower back. One occasionally spanks your ass, loud and firmly. You’re oh-so-desperately pumping Jim’s cock, taking him as deep as you can in your mouth. You feel him twitch and throb whenever you do something unexpected, and you feel you’re one step closer at cracking him.

“God, keep doing that and I’ma fuckin’ come,” Hopper groans. “Fuck,” he whispers to himself.

“Come on, big man. Take one for the team,” Dmitri whines from behind you. Only those two could turn fucking you into a competition.

“Shit, I will. I fuckin’ will,” his lower jaw collides with his top lip. “You ready for my cum, baby? You gonna eat it all?” He teases and you moan. The vibration of your voice pushes him over the edge and, before you know it, Dmitri leans forward to fist your hair. Your head is pulled up again, and shots of salty white spurt onto your face. You catch most of it on your tongue, swallowing as much as you can manage.

Russian is spewed from Dmitri’s mouth, and his cock is slapping against your slick folds. It pushes you over the edge, and you cum the same time as him.

Lights and spirits fade as you’re pulled into Hopper’s chest. Dmitri sits on the sofa next to him, chest heaving, but a wicked smile plastered on his face. He says nothing, only exchanging cheeky glances with Jim.

You wake up tangled between both men, in utter darkness. You shift slightly, and Hopper jolts up. When he realises it’s you that’s touching him, he relaxes.

“You okay?” He asks in a croaky, tired voice.

“Yeah,” you softly reply. You coax him to lay down again with you, his arm wraps around you and you’re pulled into his chest like a magnet. “Are you?”

“Yeah. Just not used to… safety yet, I guess.” He mumbles.

“Me too,” you reply. You hear his heartbeat and Dmitri’s quiet snores, you relish in the peace for a moment. “I should probably get back to my room,” you speak up.

“No, I’ll go. You stay with Antonov,” he reasons, and you barely protest.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, Joyce won’t mind,” he replies.

“Thank you.”

He only nods in the darkness before climbing out of bed.

“Hopper,” you grab his arm. He’s got a handful of his clothes, but he puts them on the bed to give you his full attention. “Jim,” you correct yourself. “Will you kiss me before you go?”

He doesn’t reply. You feel his breath on your face, and you know he’s leaning in to kiss you. It’s sweet, wet, full of desire and respect. It goes no further than a kiss, but it means so much.

“See you in the morning,” he says.

Light pools in as the door cracks open, but it’s quickly roped back into the hallway as the door clicks shut. You don’t remember much after that, despite strong arms encasing your body the whole night.

Dmitri treats you like a princess — like he’s playing his and filling in for Hopper’s place. He fucks you slow and lazy in the morning, he makes you cum using his fingers as morning light illuminates the room. His hands don’t leave your body, his sentences revolve solely around you, his thoughts are trained only on you. Dmitri is yours, he’s who you want to marry. He’s who you want to kiss, to wake up every morning next to, to share your life with. Hopper wants that with Joyce, and you’re all aware and okay with that.

[yuri-is-online]

Sled Ride Together With Yuu (Jade Leech)

a/n: Yuri write something that isn't about Jade challenge (impossible). This is just some random stuff set during the Harveston event. I have half a thought written out for Idia that was supposed to go on this post but turns out the next part comes out today and I know I won't be happy to finish that until I complete the available story content. Sorry :/

notes: Jade is a red flag and Yuu is implied to be comically short, what are we? energy being answered with a shrug emoji, no one in NRC knows how to communicate and this includes Yuu.

“Well if Mount Moln is involved I might know someone who would be interested.  Not too sure if he’d be down for the sled race, though.” 

“There’s no need to be so shy prefect.”  He had interjected, fully intending to round on you and tease as soon as he was finished making his pitch to Epel.  But you, delightful, unpredictable, beautiful you had instead rolled your eyes at him once he obtained your friend’s blessing and went in on the attack.

“As cute as your self-confidence is, I wasn’t going to suggest you.”  Both he and Epel are left flustered as you sigh and turn to the most unexpected of persons.  “Idia you’re going to miss the QTE.”

“Cute.”  He pouts at your back, you’ve barely spared him a glance this trip unless prompted.  You had avoided commenting on his applepom Idia’s too but he certainly wasn’t paying extra attention to how you treated him, even after he spoke his mind about yours.  His sanity’s only current saving grace was the way your pupils had dilated the first time you had been forced to look at him; otherwise he might have been forced to assume all the careful months of dancing around your unspoken little attachment to one another was the misread of the century.

Thankfully he doesn’t have to wait much longer to find out what you are currently "arguing" about.  The entire trip is practically made worth it with the little stall Epel guides them to, filled with the bounty of the mountain he was so eager to witness.  His eyes dart over the stall, wondering if he can maybe convince Epel he should be allowed back sometime in the future when he has time to spare.  A month perhaps?

“... I have no idea what any of that meant.”  says Sebek as Jade rattles off plant names.

“Sounded like monster or mecha names to me.”  mutters Idia.  You sigh.

“He’s just using the scientific names for the plants; it's not that hard.”  He smiles as you finally move to his side, gladly adjusting to be as close to you as currently acceptable.

“Did you recognize any of them?”  Epel asks, genuinely impressed as you nod.

“I should hope so,” Jade interjects before you can respond “we certainly discuss plants enough in the Mountain Lover’s Club.”

“YOU’RE A MEMBER OF THE MOUNTAIN LOVER’S CLUB?”  Sebek asks at a completely normal volume and you roll your eyes, suddenly remembering that you’re supposed to be angry at Jade who is taking a bit too much pleasure in this revelation.

“Unfortunately.”  You mutter and Jade laughs.

“It’s just the two of us.”

“Oh so it’s Fungus when one of my friends invites me somewhere you want to go but fungi when it comes to storing the climbing gear?”  You huff and Jade blinks.  Oh.

OH.  He has to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing.  So that’s what this was all about.

Jade turns towards you, eyes dangerously aglow as he lets out a pitiable, put upon sigh, slipping his right hand free of his glove.  “Darling,” he says with that toothy smile, in just condescending enough a tone you nearly miss the desire swimming in the subtext of how he traces your jawline with his long, cold fingers “you keep suggesting that I’m causing problems for myself on purpose.  If I’ve caused you distress, please do forgive me.”  He leans downward, gently pointedly kissing your forehead and nuzzling your hair, dropping his voice in both tone and volume to murmur in your ear.  “I assure you, I can reach our things just fine.” 

You really, really, r e a l l y want to shriek and cuss him out, but it’s all you can do to steady your breathing with how keenly aware you are of every eye in Kokko Market heavily judging you both.  Jade seems blissfully unconcerned, you know he’s not unaware, as he pulls his focus away from you and back to his purchase and Epel mercifully, though clearly judgemental, tugs you away with the rest of the group deeper into the market.

The merchant is trying hard not to laugh, though Jade quickly notes it’s not at him.

“I used to do the same thing.”  Jade’s polite smile returns, eyes darting momentarily to the small woman sitting next to the stall who appears to be competing in the reddest apple contest Epel mentioned earlier with the shade she’s turned.  “It’s just so cute to watch how far they’ll go before asking for help.”  

“It really is.”  He agrees, pulling his hand back into his glove as he prepares a few fake tears.  “Still I am worried I’ve gone a bit too far this time.”

“Aww chin up.”  the merchant finally audibly laughs.  “I’m sure you’ll find a way to make up for it.”  The red woman sighs, still embarrassed but settled enough to face him finally.

“If you’re looking for suggestions, I might have one in mind.”

~~~

You’re quite finished huffing and puffing by the time Epel allows them to take a break from sledding practice, though Jade’s presence still causes you to stiffen.  He apes embarrassment well enough, though you’d like to think you know enough about his acting that your skepticism is warranted. 

“I don’t suppose you have any comments to offer?”  he asks innocently enough.  “You seemed to be observing quite diligently.”  You snort, he’s practically screaming praise me.

“Not anything substantial.”  you dodge, still too flustered from earlier to even think about throwing Idia or anyone else under the bus again.  “I’m afraid plush sledding is beyond me.”  

“How disappointing, you seemed so enthralled with the animals earlier.”  You sigh and brace yourself, gearing up for another… conversation making the mistake of closing your eyes to center yourself.  “You know I was wondering something.  Earlier when Epel was talking about stuffed animals, he never bothered to ask about you.”  That was not where you were expecting the conversation to go, and when you look up at him he does seem interested to a degree.

“Stuffed animals are popular in my world.”  it sounds lame to say.  Sort of like confirming your world’s humans also breathe air.  You’re so embarrassed you find your gaze naturally drawn to your shoes as you kick lamely at the snow.  “Um.  I had a teddy bear when I was a kid I really liked.  That’s a sort of stuffed bear but it doesn’t look anything like Idia’s-”  Something soft hits the side of your face and you turn to look up at Jade in surprise.  You come face to face with a plush reindeer, similar to the one Jade’s been practicing with for the past few hours being pushed forward to boop your nose.  You sneeze as he laughs, tugging you forward into his arms when you attempt to take the plush; that familiar heat of embarrassment floods back into your chest as you try to resist the urge to squeeze it to death.

“How unfortunate.”  he sighs, but there’s a smile tugging at his lips similar to the way he looks when inspecting a plant he really likes, only this time he’s inspecting you.  “Here I was thinking I finally had a chance at making some progress, but you’re still talking about other men.”  He bends down to your level again, pressing his forehead to yours with a content sigh.  “You will be rooting for me I trust?”

“A bit greedy to want me all to yourself, don’t you think?”  There’s not even a hint of malice in your voice, you can’t bring yourself to pretend to be mad anymore as you try to focus on the gift and not your rapidly beating heart.

“Oya, are you saying I don’t already?”  and technically, no he does not.  He hasn’t asked, but that’s something you are content to keep fishing for later, for now you just blow a raspberry that he kisses into as you sigh in content.

*I left the merchant gender neutral since they aren't mentioned in game to my knowledge. I was picturing a cottage core lesbian couple though.

**I'd like to think originally no one joins the mountain lovers club because they're afraid of Jade and then after this Yuu joined everyone stayed extra far away because they didn't know what was going on, but they didn't want to be in the middle of it. Hence Sebek screaming and Epel judging.

[nomorefstogive]

Path To Nowhere Headcanons: Langley

Good Evening ladies, gentlemen, and all things that lie between, and welcome to this newest display of our wanton insanity. While we work on updating our Genshin Impact story, A Guide To Mending Broken Wings, on Ao3, we have decided to have a bit of fun with something that is somewhat novel to us.

That being our attempts at headcanons, this one focusing on the SFW ones as we plan to make a second one to focus solely on the NSFW ones, without managing to make an entire damn fic out of each entry lol. In particular, we will be starting with our headcanons for the sinners of PTN, with all of that said, let us begin!

Ah! We will also be using a Female Chief when we mention the Chief in this fic, we hope this does not bother anyone, but yuri is a passion of ours and fem chief was practically born for being paired with all of the lovely and dangerous ladies of PTN. 

First up, we have the Silver Spider of Dis herself, head of the 9th Agency and wielder of a gun to make Alucard from Hellsing ultimate proud-

Langley: 

SFW Headcanons

1. Like Zealous-Box on Reddit, I believe she is actually a rather nice boss to work under, although I also see her having the mentality of 'These are my agents to bully and not yours' and as such will not tolerate any outside factors weighing down on them. Debt? She'll subtly pay off the one they owe. An issue with their kids' schooling? Welp, that school is under investigation now. And so on.

2. She has trust issues as a result of having been betrayed many times in the past. It's the reason she is so quick to put a 'Mark' on someone, so if they betray her she can put them down as soon as possible, however, it can also serve as a sign of trust to those who have proven themselves to her.

A way of saying 'I always have your back, so long as you don't double cross me,' as she could use the 'Mark' to find them if need be. Of the few people she trusts, the Chief is the newest to a very small circle and as such is under her watch.

3. The Chief is her 'Little Rookie,' and no one else's. She is their superior and she will not tolerate anyone else trying to poach someone who is hers from her.

If someone tries to give the Chief an order, she will tell the chief to ignore it, before she has a nice 'Talk' with the person who tried to order her rookie. Said talk may involve her cane and their skull becoming intimately familiar with one another.

4. She hates the Old Men who run Dis. She finds them to be both incompetent and Corrupt to the point she has many times fantasized about removing them and playing kingmaker to find suitable replacements for them, but the threat of Pharma and others keeps her from going through with said dreams, afterall it is better the Devil you know then the unknown ones. She is loyal to the city, not the suit-clad rats that run it.

5. She sleeps with her pistol under her pillow. She likewise has one on her nightstand, another strapped under the bed, and many more scattered all across her home. She even has her room at Minos, it is less a cell and more a room because the Chief has accepted they are largely running more of a rehabilitation center/halfway home/apartment complex at this point, outfitted with several guns of varying caliber hidden across it.

6. She treats her stay at Minos like a vacation from her superiors, and can often be found napping with her hat pulled down over her face and her cane over her lap, Lady Maria style, or doing any other number of things to help try and relax from all the stupidity she deals with daily.

7. She encountered Suspect R once, the event left her absolutely terrified of the woman to the point of suffering nightmares of the woman and her power for several months afterward, this being what led to her meeting Chameleon, who came to be her counselor.

To this day she is terrified of meeting the woman again, and fears that should that day come she may not be able to muster the courage to actually face her. What makes it all the more traumatic to her, is that R did not even try to fight her, she simply overwhelmed her by virtue of her sheer presence alone, and this has led to Langley fearing the idea of just what the woman is capable of if she actually tries to fight.

8. Like KhandiMahn on Reddit, I think that she does collect cute things, although I personally feel she collects things such as children story books and fairy tales and has a single stuffed animal that has been with her since childhood, where it was her only real friend, that she has kept well maintained all these years.

She cannot sleep well without her stuffed animal and would more than likely have a panic attack should it be destroyed. The Chief earns brownie points with her when they find it laying around in the washroom and patch it up before she finds them fixing it in their office, Langley almost begging them to give it back to her with the chief doing so and agreeing to not tell anyone else while Langley hold her old friend to her chest.

Needless to say, Langley threatens them to keep quiet despite what they have said and heads off to get some actual sleep, the chief smiling at their superiors' antics as she leaves.

9. She is not a morning person, at all. Her subordinates consider the idea of waking her up early to be the equivalent of walking into the Rust without a weapon and with a neon sign strapped to your chest saying 'Eat Me'. She is in fact barely coherent or aware until she has coffee in her, and is in particular quite fond of Summer's coffee, the one that keeps the Chief up for a whole day in the supervision incident, though it barely affects her.

10. She suffered a leg injury that makes her occasionally have issues with her balance while walking, hence her cane. She added all of the gizmos and gadgets it contains later on, and has recently had Summer update some of them. Among them being a taser-like function that packs as much punch as a cattle prod, an option to remove the handle, which is attached to a small pistol, and a needle filled with adrenaline with a separate one being filled with sedative.

11. She cannot stand spicy food and has a not so secret sweet tooth. In particular, she is quite fond of strawberry or blueberry flavored ice cream but also enjoys coffee flavored versions of the frozen treat as well. She has a separate freezer in her home that is filled with nothing but ice cream. Her subordinates know about it but are wise enough to not say anything because she frankly deserves it given all she has to deal with. 

12. She frequently has migraines and as such carries around a pair of ear plugs, a pair of sunglasses, and a bottle of aspirin, as strong as she can obtain it without going on the blackmarket, and has a special room in her home and cell that is outfitted with complete sound proofing and no windows. 

Her subordinates have come to recognize the signs of one beginning to form, and will work to get her out of whatever situation she is in and either back to her home or to somewhere she can ride out the oncoming pain till it passes. 

The Chief encounters her when one is forming and takes her to their office to rise out the pain with them pulling down blackout curtains and giving her a pillow to rest her head on as they go to leave, only for Langley to stop them and ask them to stay with her during it and until it passes. 

13. She is somewhat touch starved, but she has had bad experiences with physical contact from her childhood and from her struggles throughout her life, and as such is somewhat adverse to it. 

That said, once she feels she can trust someone implicitly, of which there are few, she will typically be the one to initiate contact, typically through light brushes against their shoulders or by threading their fingers together.

If she ever reaches the point of allowing for herself to embrace someone, or allow for them to embrace her, then it becomes readily apparent that she is quite clingy and will allow for just how touch starved she is to become apparent as she tries to maintain contact for as long as possible or initiate it whenever it is possible for her to do so.

It will be worse still if she has nothing to do, and she knows the one she is holding has nothing to do, in which case they had best be prepared for a lengthy stay.

14. She has something of a fascination with spiders, often pausing to admire their webs whenevers she gets the chance, or allowing them to scurry across her hand or nest in the corners of her home, she also has a terrarium filled with various breeds from harmless if annoying Jumping Spiders, to lethal Brown Recluse and Black Widow spiders. 

Curiously, even the most hostile breeds of arachnids seem to be somewhat docile in her presence and also seem to display something akin to obedience to the Silver Spider of Dis, perhaps owing to an unknown attribute of her Sinner Power or for other unknown reason. 

She is particularly proud of having managed to get her hands on, and subsequently raise, a Female Goliath Bird Eater that she has named Spook, it is unknown if the Spider is normal or not, as it has lived for almost 10 years past its life expectancy and has shown remarkable intelligence. 

All of that said, the chief most certainly did not appreciate it when Spook landed on her shoulder while visiting Langley, the ensuing scream could be heard well across the Bureau and most of Dis.

15. Her driving is…let us just say it is something that necessitates boeing both soundly buckled in for, and having made sure that your last will and testament is in order, as Langley tends to pay less attention to speed limits and traffic laws, than she does on getting where she needs to go fast.

There are many reasons her agents trip over themselves to drive her somewhere, and most of them are owed in part to the sheer amount of accidents she has caused over the course of her time behind the wheel. 

16. She has a somewhat odd relationship with Tetra and Bai Yi, as she has hired the 2 to do jobs for her, and by extension the 9th Agency, before and while she has had many complaints about Bai Yi’s antics in the past, she cannot help but admit that the 2 are among her most trusted independent contractors for when she needs something done outside of her own jurisdiction. 

She occasionally provides them aid by subtly having charges against them revoked, or by having them bailed out of sticky situations, though she always expects them to repay her in some way once she has done so. 

17. She has something of a rivalry with Eirene, the two often being found playing chess against one another and speaking, though few of those who have managed to find them during these games are able to understand just what it is they are speaking about. 

This rivalry also manifest as Eirene going out of her way to purchase assets the 9th Agency is interested in, be it structures and companies, or hiring individuals they were interested in recruiting and then using them as leverage to force LAngley to play further games with her both at the negotiating table and at the chess board. 

18. She has a fascination with Crache and has her eye on her as a potential recruit for the 9th, her ability to effectively control shadows and to appear out of nowhere having the potential to make for not only a lethal agent but perhaps also someone that, if taught correctly, could become a greater legend than even herself in the fields of espionage. 

For now though, she is content merely monitoring the girls growth and ensuring she continues to develop along the right paths, occasionally she will provide little tests and challenges for the girls ability as well as subtly raising the education level of her tests to see her strive to grow, but outside of that she is keeping her hands off of her for fear of a certain nurse catching wind of her interest.

She despises needles and someone with a gun that shoots them is as such quite a bother for her to deal with. 

19. She once attempted to deal with Nightingale’s work out of curiosity for just what the adjutant has to deal with on a daily basis, she promptly had a small mental breakdown after the first hour, crashed from an overdose of caffeine near the third, had another mental breakdown near the fourth, and upon seeing just how much was left gave up and fled to her cell.

She has since made it clear that no one is to speak ill of the Adjutant, be they Sinner or Agent from the 9th or otherwise, any person who can handle that much bullshit and not lose their minds deserves not only the highest of praise, but also whatever the hell else they want or need, whenever they want or need it. 

20. She has a personal stamp made in the image of a widow like spider with a hypercube on its thorax that she uses to stamp all of her documents with, she once attempted to add a webbing design to it…it did not work like she thought it would and resembled more solid circle of ink than anything else and so she tossed the web and went back to the simpler spider design.

21. Her main gun is called the “Silver widow”, she has several spares with similar names, from a sniper rifle called the “Black Widow”, to a shotgun called the “Brown Recluse”, she has likewise had each of the weapons inscribed with the design of the spider they are named after, her main gun bearing the only custom emblem out of the lot with it being her own spider symbol, a widow like spider with a hypercube in place of an hourglass on the thorax. 

22. She shares a feeling of fond exasperation for the Chief and her usual aids, Hella and Hecate, as while they do get results, their methods tend to be…rather unique and occasionally very entertaining to watch and or hear about, but she is also somewhat wary of the most unlikely of the two Sinners for her own reason. 

She sees the Chief as something of a protege, though it could also be argued she seems to have a borderline romantic interest in them, or perhaps it is the growing bond between them simply showing just how lonely she truly is behind the mask of the leader of the 9th.

Regardless she tends to go out of her way to keep an eye on the eccentric Chief of Minos, occasionally going out of her way to aid them from the shadows or protect them from the various elements of Dis that just seem incapable of grasping just under whose protection they are.

As for Hecate, she finds the quiet and artistic girl to be somewhat pleasant to be around, always silent unless she is spoken to or needs to speak and always sketching she is one of the very few to have encountered Langley while she was having a migraine and not earned a bullet between the eyes as she closed the curtains of the room they were in and gave her a pillow to put her head on. 

When she asked why she helped her, Hecate merely looked at her and tilted her head before saying; “You have been kind to the Chief, and the Chief says I should help people if they are in pain, and you looked like you were in pain. Is that not a good enough reason?”

Langley will deny to her dying breath that she gave the young woman a head pat after she said that, and Hecate herself will be strangely quiet on the subject, though there will be a faint glimmer in her eyes at the memory. 

Since then, she has had something of a soft spot for the young woman, typically it is one shown by making sure she is alright upon returning from a mission or by encouraging her to grow beyond her current state of being, typically by arranging tests for her or challenging her to chess, she can proudly say the young woman is showing progress in her growing education.

As for Hella, one would expect her to despise the feral gremlin of Syndicate, what with her foul tongue, disrespect for authorities, and penchant for causing trouble wherever she goes, but in truth she finds her to be quite entertaining as all it takes to cause a spectacle is to say the right words to wind her up and then point her at something as she watches the fireworks. 

She also harbors a grudging respect for the young girl, as at one point she found herself confronted by Hella in one of the many hallways of Minos, the Syndican casually leaning against a wall as Ninety-Nine leaned against the wall across from her.

She had been intrigued from the moment she saw the oddly calm and composed look in the little gremlin’s eyes as she pushed herself off the wall and walked towards her, stopping in front of her and looking up just enough to meet her eyes as she spoke up in an oddly calm voice.

What followed was something she did not expect, the little B-Rank Sinner meeting the eyes of the Spider of Paradiso, an S-Rank Sinner with a kill count in the hundreds if not thousands, and telling her that she didn’t trust her, nor did she like her authority over the Chief, but she would tolerate them.

But if she betrayed the Chief, if she betrayed them or hurt them in anyway…well Ninety-Nine’s fist striking the hypercube reinforced wall with enough force to cause cracks to spider web across the wall and dust to fall to the ground as she pulled her mutated hand out of the pit she had born through it with one strike finished her sentence. 

The display was met with her aiming her pistol at the younger Syndican fast enough neither could blink before the cold metal was aimed at her forehead, the taller Syndican snarling as her eyes began to burn crimson as her power began to surge, only for Hella to do something that caught them both off guard.

She laughed.

She looked Langley dead in the eye, and she laughed as she lifted up her hand and pulled the gun flush against her forehead, the cold steel meeting her skin in a frigid kiss as she unblinkingly met Langley’s gaze.

“Go ahead, pull the trigger you eight legged Eastside bitch. We both know you don’t have enough bullets or strength to keep me from coming back before you can put Ninety-Nine down, and how long do you think that fancy cane will keep us back huh? Think a taser and a few knives and a little pea shooter are going to stop us for more than what? A few minutes? An hour? Doesn’t fucking matter, eventually one of us will break it, then what? How long will you last with that bad leg of yours? I give you about 10 minutes before one of us breaks it again, and this time you won’t have anyone to save you. So go ahead cow, put one between my eyes, I. Fucking. Dare. You.”

As Hella spoke she had reached her hand up to grip Langley’s wrist and begin to rest her smaller, yet more heavily calloused hand, over hers and begin to push down on the trigger finger after she thumbed the hammer back, never once breaking her gaze as she and Langley kept meeting each others eyes. 

Langley could feel Ninety-Nine’s gaze on her as she moved closer to her sun’s side, her posture telling Langley that the moment she squeezed the trigger, she would be fighting the brute up close and personal and she doubted even a round from her gun would stop her.

And so, she pulled her gun back and gave an amused chuckle to the young woman and her hulking companion. 

She looked down into Hella’s eyes and offered her a simple nod of understanding as she holstered her gun and began to walk away, the pair letting her pass with their peace said, though she soon stopped to call over her shoulder to them.

“I’ve known some of the best FAC soldiers and Agents in my life, and none of them have even half the guts you do brat, I look forward to seeing how you’ll turn out, little girl from Syndicate.”

Since then she has kept a close eye on the little gremlin, all the while wondering just what is truly going on in the head of the little B-Rank that had the guts to stare her down like that, because now that she has seen a glimpse of what lays behind the facade of a brat, she can’t help but wonder just what kind of beast stands beside the Chief. 

23. She is bi-sexual, but prefers either females or feminine or effeminate looking males, she is also one to very much wear the pants in any relationship, though she will have her softer moments, especially after a long day of dealing with the bullshit she deals with and her leg beginning to ache on her.

All she will want after visiting her partner afterwards, is to have her leg massaged while she closes her eyes and gets some sleep as she dreams of the day when she finally snaps and sets her paperwork on fire. 

24. She can be quite protective of those she has grown close to, and even more so in regards to those she considers friends or potential partners. Expect the Spider’s web to be thoroughly wrapped around these individuals as she maintains near constant surveillance of them and those around them.

Any fool going after them will have not only the Spider herself after them, but all of the 9th gunning for them as well, because their boss has earned those few treasured individuals after all the shit she has been through and anyone that tries to take those that make her happy from her, had best start digging their grave, cause whatever gods they worship have washed their hands of them. 

And that is about all for the Headcanon we have for the silver Spider of Paradiso at the moment, we may come up with some more in the future but for now this is where we will be ending this little chapter of this mess. 

Till next time, take care and stay safe everyone.

[xo-lesserafim]

FALLING FOR YOUR SMILE AND EYES

EPISODE 5. TBH

authors note: Enjoy episode 5! And if you want reas my new oneshot/ fanific, “the eventful night.” Anyway enjoy!

Bold: Korean.

Italics: Over the phone.

Both: Korean and over the phone.

Back to masterlist.

Yesterday, I helped Kitty move in, but thank God she didn’t have a lot of stuff.

As I went to the bathroom to do my skincare, a someone had beat me there.

“Get out, I need to do my skincare.” I said.

“No, go to another bathroom puppy.” Min ho said.

“Um, yea, no thanks boo.”

“Whatever, anyway I finished.” He said.

“Bye boo.” I said.

On the way there I was talking and waking with Kitty and Q.

“Don’t worry, okay?” Q said.

“I’m sure you and Dae will figure out how to be cohabiting exes.”

“Or not.” Kitty said.

“But let just stop talking about Dae.”

“But kitty, weren’t you the one who brought him?” I said.

“Whatever.”

“But look.” Kitty says, shoeing something on her phone.

“It says, “We do not release information about private adoptions.”

“Which is at this point, the only thing I can read in Korean, but at least I got Andrea.”

“Ugh, can we stop this Alex thing.” Q said.

“Go back to talking about you and Dae.”

“It’s not an Alex thing.” Kitty said.

“I know in my gut that Alex is our brother.”

“Okay,” Q said.

“Or we think, at least.” I said.

“But maybe you should talk to your guys for-sure siblings about this.” Q said.

“Yea, we want to, but we can’t.” I said.

“Not yet, Alexa needs to know first,” Kitty said.

“Also, there’s chance that we are not right.” I said.

“Just ask him. Rip the band-aid off.” Q said.

“Most of the school will be gone for Chuseok, anyway so this is the perfect weekeend to corner him.” Q said.

“Sure, and say what exactly?” Kitty asked.

“You’ll figure it out. Q said.

“And, we’re late.”

“RUN!” I said.

“Chuseok is the Korean Celebration of the good harvest.” Principal Lim said.

“And as a time to thank our ancestors for bringing us prosperity,” She says as Kitty and I walk in.

“and to pay respect for those we have lost.”

“We do that, by going home. It is a very special holiday in our house, because family is the most precious thing in the world.”

And we don’t take it for granted.”

“Enjoy your break, everyone, have a great Chuseok.” She finishes.

“Thank you.” Everyone says.

“Kitty, it’s actually like Thanksgiving in America.” I said.

“Yea, minus the genocide.” Yuri says.

“You go home, eat your ass off, and argue with your relatives.”

“We don’t have any relatives here.” Kitty said.

“Maybe you guys should use the time to study.” Professor Lee said.

“We have been studying.” Kitty says.

“Really?” He asked, showing that Kitty got F and got an A.

“Your aggressive perkinesses may have charmed the American teachers into giving you good grades, but here, you’ll need to put in more work.” Professor alee says.

“And Andrea, nice job.”

“Uh, thank you?” I say.

“How did you even get an A?” Kitty asked as we go to our next class.”

“I dont know, hard work?” I say.

“Eyes on the road, Kitty and Andrea!” Professor alee says.

“Happy Chuseok! Chuseok?”

“Chuseok.” I say.

“Yea that, how’s it going.”

“Bad,” “Good,” We say at the same time.

“Bad, bad, and bad.” Kitty say.

“I failed my Lit test.”

“I have never gotten an A- in my entire life.”

“I’ve failed at many things in my life.” he says.

“I’ve failed my drivers test, i failed a philosophy test, i failed a drug test.”

“Just kidsing.”

“Failing is apart of learning.”

“You’re gonna be okay.”

“Thanks, do you have anyone plans for Chuseok?” Kitty asked.

“No, no family in Seoul.” He says.

“Yea, us too.” I say.

“We should have dinner!” I say.

“I mean, you should come to the dinner, that we are planning on campus.,” I say.

“For uhh, expats, yea expats.” Kitty says giving me a confused look.

“Like a Friendsgiving.” We say.

“Oh, sweet I’ll for sure be there.” A dude says.

“He’s gonna be there. Cool!” I say.

“Kitty you may have failed this, but you guys just aced being good people.” Professor Finnerty says.

“Thinking of others who have nowhere to go, cooking a massive feast..”

“Cooking.” Kitty says.

“Okay,” I said.

TIME SKIP : AFTER SCHOOL

As we went to the grocery store shopping, “Ugh there’s more than one type of soy sauce.” Kitty says.

“What’s a good brand Andrea, I mean you did the cooking.”

“I like this one, I say picking the most popular one I know.

“You’re seriously everywhere.” Min ho says.

“You guys like my every own sasaeng.”

“Uh, what’s a sasaeng?” Kitty asked.

“It means that we’re like his very own obsessed fan or fans I should say.” I told Kitty.

“What are even doing in a grocery store, Min ho?” I asked.

“Shouldn’t you been on a yacht being rich snd annoying?”

“Hm, my dad is doing that with wife #3 with her new fillers.” Min ho says.

“I have decided to stay here as a favor to all the women who want me piece of me for Chuseok.”

“So.. why are you here?”I ask.

“Whatever Puppy.”

“Strawberries and Chocolate? I’m going to be sick.” I say.

“I’m sure Lulu will appreciate this.” He says.

“Who’s Lulu? Another one of your Min-hoes?” I say.

“Cute. She’s only the fastest rising pop in the country.” He says showing us a picture of her.

“Huh?” We say.

“We’ve been flirting since her trainee days.” She’s on break from tour for the holidays.”

“Even K-pop stops for Chuseok.”

“Okay..” Kitty says.

“Do you even know what to do with this?” Min ho asks taking something out of the cart.

“Hey, I am admittedly entering a new territory, but with the help of TikTok, Andrea, and a positive attitude, I’ll manage just fine,” Kitty says.

“Plus, I’m doing most of the cooking.” I say.

“I got cooking lessons when I took Korean lessons, when I was younger .”

“Plus, if I don’t know what I’m doing, I’ve won awards for my mashed potatoes.” Kitty says as she moves the cart.

“No,no, no. As a Korean national, I cannot in good conscience let you guys desecrate my native cuisine like this.” Min ho says.

“Hey what?” Kitty and I say as Min ho takes the cart.

“Do you want to poison your classmates, or do you want my help?” He asked.

“Fine, but I’m making my kimchi.” I say.

“And I still making my mashed potatoes.” Kitty said.

“I have an entire system.” Kitty says as Min ho scoffs.

“Don’t mess it up!”

“Just follow me.” Min ho says.

I woke up early to start cooking, when I notice Min ho was already cooking.

“You’re are angelic in the morning.” He says.

“Thanks, I know I look good.” I say.

“Where’s Kitty?” He asked

“Still sleeping.” I say.

“Why are you up this early?”

“To finish my kimchi I made yesterday?” I said.

“Oh okay.” He said.

“Who’s this from?” I say looking at baskets of gifts.

“My mother, gifts are my love language.”

“Make sense.”

“Mm-hm.”

“No way, you have Peppero?” I say almost touching it.

“She sent it from Los Angelos since she couldn’t be here .” He said slapping my hand.

“We usually spend Chuseok together.”

“That sucks, does that mean she’ll be alone?” I ask as I started to finish my kimchi from yesterday.

“No, John Cho is having a thing.” He replied back.

“Oh,’Lulu about time.”

“Dont touch anything! Got a method.”

“Okay, boss baby.” I say.

“Y’know, you are the last person that I would have expect to know how to cook.” I say.

“Or do anything remotely helpful, y’know.”

“There are these teeny tiny microscopic moments like these why I can see why Dae is friends with you. There’s an actual person in here.” I say.

“Don’t try to get me on your good side, I’m famously anti- kitty and anti-Andrea.” Min ho said.

“Wah, I’m going to cry my head off .” I say sarcastically.

“And , no matter how hard Dae tries to sway me.”

“Well, have you heard from him today? Is he okay?” I ask.

“Chuseok, family, and ancestor stuff.”

“No, I haven’t. It’s definitely a difficult holiday for him.” Min ho said.

“Yeah,” I say.

“And, you?” He asked.

“Me, huh and what?” I say back.

“You must be thinking about your mom too. A lot thus week.” He says.

“Yeah, I am. But in a good way. I can feel her all around me, plus she was the reason I came here.”

“Thank you Min ho.” I said smiling

“You’re welcome.” He said back.

“Okay, I mean I feel bad for Kitty and all, but why does Dae matter? He is just a boy.” I say.

“Excuse me?” Min ho said.

“I just wished they could make up or something.”

“They could give each others gift, I mean also pass me the gochugaru.” He says.

As I finished making my kimchi, Min ho was texting his phone.

“ Confirmed, Lulu will be at the premises at 8 pm.” Min ho says.

“I’m sure she will greatly enjoy the chocolates” I say.

“The chocolates was actually for someone else.” He says.

“Hey, don’t judge.” He says. “Not all people needed to be star-crossed lover to be compatible.”

“Like, hot people for example.”

“So not you?” I asked.

“Whatever.”

“But we can and want to play the field.” Minho said.

“That’s because you haven’t found your perfect match.” I say.

“I’ve found many, many matches.”

“I’m just saying, I’ve seen the magic when people find the one.” I say.

“Mm-hm.” He says.

“It’s true!” I say.

“My parents both thought they found the one. They were the “IT” couple. “Beautiful, young starlet. “Chaebol heir.”

“Their tabloids literally called them the perfect match.” Look at them know.”

“I’m sorry.” I say.

“Here, try. some of this, maybe it’ll make you feel better.”

“Mm.” He says.

“It must be weird having people know all about your family.” I say.

“They think they know, but don’t really.” That’s my point.”

“There’s really only one thing that matters at the end of the day.”

“And that is?” I say.

“The truth.” He replied.

“Yeah, you’re right.” I say.

“Finally some appreciation.” He says.

“Hey! Be grateful I’m like this right now.” I say.

“Good morning Andrea! And Min ho?” Kitty says.

“Omg! Peppero.”

“Kitty, don’t touch it. Min ho wouldn’t let anyone touch it.” I say.

TIME SKIP: CHINGUSEOK

After the toast and what not, I decided to get some fresh air.

“Kitty, I’m going to get fresh air.”

“All right stay safe.”

As I was outside, I was just walking around as I bumped into a lady.

“Oh my gosh I’m sorry.” I say.

“It’s fine dear. I’m Jenny Song. I’m looking for Andrea Song Covey. She my cousin. Her visual would be perfect for my modeling company!” Jenny said.

“My name is Andrea Song Covey.. and I’m willing to maybe join. I don’t know.” I say.

“ That fine, here.” She said giving me a card.

“Give me a call or text if you need anything.”

“Will do, thanks.”

As I was walking back , someone called for me.

“ANDREA!” Min ho said.

“What the hell did Kitty put in those potatoes ?” He asker.

“Uhh, a lot of lactose. Like Milk and cheese..”

“Awh, Poopy Baby, looks here cute here.” I said sarcastically.

“Shut up.” He said.

“That’s Lulu. You have to get rid of her. She can’t see me like this. If her fans find out. I’m done for. ”

“And what will I get in return?” I ask

“Just do it, you owe me remember Covey.”

“Whatever.” I said walking up to the car.

“Minny! I’m here!” Lulu said.

“Uhh, who are you?” I asked.

“Min ho’s date. Why?” She asked.

“Oh, your his date? Well, actually He was my date tho.”

“I mean we’ve been flirting since I was in highschool.”

“That jerk double-booked me.”

“Well, I mean you think you could keep him to yourself? hm?” I said.

“ He’s he hottest guy in school, and those abs and muscles are to die for.”

“I mean he is so sexy, and his voice just- never mind.”

“Let’s jusy say he’s ruined me. For others boys . and men.”

“That’s intriguing, right?”

“But I refuse to be sloppy- seconds.” Lulu said.

“You tell him, I’ll be back at 6:00 tomorrow night. He better clear the rest of his schedule.” She said.

“When he has a night with me, he wont be seeing anyone else after. Okay?”

“Bye Boo!” I yelled as she got into her car and drove away.

“And thats why you do it.” I told Min ho.

“ You’re a genius! I could hug you right now.” He said.

“Please dont. bye!” I said.

“Oh, and by the way. the chocolate was for you.” Min ho said.

“How nice of him.” I thought.

I just decided to go back to my dorm, since I was tired. Today was pretty good.

PREV EPISODE MASTERLIST NEXT EPISODE

TAGLIST: @chaewon-slays @cherrriesss

Copyrights © 2023 xo-lesserafim. All rights reserved. I do not own XO, Kitty , Netflix does. do not copy, translate, or repost anything without my permission.

[juni-aldaine123]

LOVE EVERY FACE OF YOURS/ tgswiiwagaa ; ayamitsu

・❥・fluff . light angst maybe . cute . oneshot . canon universe . canon compliant . the green yuri manga . set after events of ch 78, you're too obvious

༶•┈┈┈┈┈┈୨♡୧┈┈┈┈┈•༶

The sky lights up and the clouds thunder against each other as rain showers around Mitsuki. Her fortune must be going downhill with all the events that have been happening currently. First and foremost- she broke her ankle.

Though the perks that come with that make her feel slightly better about her rotten luck. Aya constantly hovers around her and tends to all her needs, even picking her up for school and dropping her off, helping her with her school work, and most importantly- she spends all her time and attention on Mitsuki.

She totally does not get butterflies at this.

But then she had to ruin everything by spilling seeds of the past. 

Mitsuki isn't really sure who the 'she' is.

Is it Aya? She was the one who had brought up 'Onii-san' out of the blue. And she also seemed to be missing 'him' if Mitsuki puts it like that. When all the misunderstandings were already cleared and Mitsuki was the one standing right in front of Aya, why did she call her 'Onii-san'?

Mitsuki heaves a sigh. It isn't Aya's fault when she is jealous. Of herself? Or this fake persona she'd created of herself that Aya happened to like better?

But....does Aya truly think about 'Onii-san' still? Or had she meant it in another context and it was her who took it the wrong way?

Her thoughts round about one girl, they have been for quite sometime now; Mitsuki can't stop thinking about Aya.

"Totally forgot to bring an umbrella." She glares at the clouds hanging heavy overhead, as if they were the bane of her existence. (which they kind of are now, since she can barely walk back home without getting drenched by the downpour and she'd rather not fall sick in addition to her broken leg.)

She has frightened her poor uncle and troubled Kanna-san enough. But she knows the one who would shoulder the burden the most would be Aya. That girl will probably think it's her fault for not coming to Mitsuki's aid even though Mitsuki is the one (trying) to avoid her.

Mitsuki knows what conclusion Aya might possibly stumble upon. 

'No Oosawa-san, you're not abandoning me or anything like that. It's just me being me,' she grimaces as she speaks to the voice of Oosawa Aya that doesn't seem intent on leaving her mind anytime soon.

'Should I just run home?' But then she looks at the crutch and hides a disappointed sigh.

"I guess this is pay back for my sins..." she mumbles to whoever deems to hear her self deprecation words.

She doesn't expect it to be Aya though.

"What is?" comes a question out of the blue.

"Oosawa-san?!" she shrieks out, pale as a ghost. Aya stands beside her, eyes glued to her phone, as if she'd never called out to Mitsuki and the ravenette is just imagining things.

Maybe she is. Maybe Aya isn't even here but Mitsuki wants her to be, so her mind conjures up this image- that Aya's free hand rests too close to hers, their knuckles brushing. It's not as if they weren't this close before but with the latest revelations Mitsuki has had a simple touch drives her crazy.

Silence rings heavy around them and Aya seems content not to break it so Mitsuki takes the initiative.

"Is- is that Incubus?" she asks, noticing the song that plays in the backdrop. Aya finally looks at her; unreadable intent brewing in her peachy eyes.

"Yeah. Wish you were here," 'But I'm right here,' calls out a voice in her head. It's kind of ironic. "That song- I mean." Of course, Mitsuki knows the song very well.

"The...The way it starts calmly feels pretty nice, right?" She tries to smile. "I...like that song too."

Aya only stares, unblinking, as if she is assessing her. Then she doesn't look at Mitsuki anymore, opting to turn her gaze ahead.

"Do you think...Onii-san likes this song too?" Aya doesn't respond to what she had instead. Doesn't tell her what she thinks about Mitsuki liking the song. Instead she asks if Mitsuki knows what 'Onii-san' thinks of this song.

"B-But-" she stammers out. "By 'Onii-san' you mean-"

"That's right." Aya opens the umbrella, holding it in front of them. "You had said 'Are you being nice to me just because I'm Onii-san,' didn't you?"

"Are you jealous? What for!" There's a sparkle in her eyes; it's back, Mitsuki realises. Aya gives her a blinding smile, like that of the sun that shines after rain.

It's beautiful, like a daydream.

"You're one and the same for me!" Sunshine doesn't leave her face.

"What?!" Mitsuki's heart is in a frenzy! And her mind is beyond repair at this point. 'Does Oosawa-san even realise what's she's saying?! She's too bold!' The blush refuses to leave her cheeks. "No-! I was just- I mean-"

"Just get under!" And Aya yanks her towards her, but still mindful of her injury.

"I like all sides of you Koga-san. You're so cool in every way!" She gushes non-stop the moment Mitsuki is under the umbrella, by her side.

"But you know- if I liked 'Onii-san' more than you I would've been helping him not you." Mitsuki wants to retort that she couldn't help someone who doesn't exist anyway, understanding dawning on her as she remembers Aya's words.

"If I liked him more than you, why do you think I'm always with you? Even at school, where you're Koga Mitsuki and not 'Onii-san'?" She's suddenly all too aware of the warm hand holding her cool sweaty ones.

"I just like you Koga-san. I never became your friend just because of the disguise you wear outside of school," she laughs. "I became your friend just because-" There's hesitancy in her voice, but Mitsuki wants to hear more. So she squeezes her hand urging Aya to continue.

"Just because?"

"You're- well- You're you!" she blurts out in a panic. Mitsuki stifles a chuckle at the outburst. 'Cute...'

"Because you're so pretty and kind and- and nice! We like the same type of music. We have so much in common- and at the same time not-!" Guess even Aya notices the disparity between the two of them. But- "We bonded over our shared interests, right? But we also always talk about whatever we like to do individually. We take an interest in eachother's hobbies, even if we may not personally like it. But that's 'cause we are friends!"

Ouch, the 'friends' suddenly stings.

"I'll admit I'd started frequenting the store because of Onii-san- and music of course! That was the reason I came! But do you know why I stayed?" Aya looks at her with a fondness and Mitsuki feels as if her heart would leap out of her chest any minute now. "It was because of you Koga-san."

"The feelings I had for Onii-san....they never actually changed even when i found out the truth you know? But instead they've just gotten stronger....And that's why I still stick around! For you! Not for Onii-san or anyone else-"

Aya feels like combusting! She had just planned on saying a little of her true feelings to Mitsuki, once she figured the ravenette might need her assurance. It was just to tell her enough that Aya liked her and not anyone else, even her own alter-ego. But she hadn't expected her mouth to go rampant and blurt out everything!

"Just me..." Mitsuki thankfully finishes for her, struggling to cover her own heated face.

The confession lingers between them. The small space they share is comforting. Like Aya.

"Thanks for telling me....Aya-san." The butterflies in her belly flutter with happiness.

[stargazer-sims]

Journal Entry #57 (part two)

Journal Entry #57 (part one) // STORY INDEX

Victor

Just in case anyone was getting the impression that mine and Yuri’s time apart has been completely consumed by thoughts of each other and of Yuri's therapy, let me fill you in on what else I've been doing since I've been back in Willow Creek.

To be fair, Yuri is on my mind a lot, and for the first few days I was here, I felt a little bit guilty whenever I was having fun with my friends or doing something new without him, but I'm feeling better about it now. I talked to Yuri and he said he felt the same way at first, but then he realized what a perfect opportunity he had to spend time bonding with his family.

Despite his initial misgivings about staying with his parents, he seems to be having a good time now, and he's obviously happy. I figured if it was okay for him to feel happy without me, it was also okay for me to feel happy without him. I missed him desperately though. No point in trying to hide that.

Anyway, once I got my head around my "temporary bachelor status", as my cousin Leo put it, I started to relax and really enjoy myself.

Speaking of bachelors, Uncle Stephen, Leo and I have been planning the most epic bachelor party of all time for Julian. We decided on an Italian theme because he and Mom are going to Tartosa for their honeymoon. There's going to be Italian food and music, and everyone's going to be encouraged to wear Italian beach club fashion. Uncle Stephen managed to reserve an event room at the Harbourside Haven with a view overlooking the water. It may be Newcrest, but we're gonna pretend it's a Tartosan beach scene.

At first, I thought it was kind of weird to have a theme, but Uncle Stephen said a lot of people have bachelor parties with themes. I deferred to him because what do I know? Nobody threw a bachelor party for Yuri and me, and this was my first time planning one for somebody else. Uncle Stephen has been involved in organizing at least three — his best friend Matthew's, Uncle JP’s, and my dad's — so that makes him an expert, as far as I'm concerned.

"By the time you get around to planning Leo's bachelor party, you'll be an expert too," he assured me.

Leo wants a superhero theme when his turn comes. Probably no surprise there.

Leo, Ellie and I have been spending as much time together as we can, which probably isn't going to be much of a surprise to anyone either. We've been getting up to our usual nonsense; playing soccer and racing bikes in the park, going to the pool and the arcade, and generally just hanging out, but we've been getting some productive stuff done as well.

I can't remember if I mentioned this before, but Julian moved in with Mom around the beginning of January, like maybe a week or two before my accident. He was originally planning to sell his house, but what ended up happening was that he transferred the title to Ellie instead. What that means is, Ellie gets to live in her childhood home and doesn't have to worry about paying a mortgage since Julian managed to fully pay it off a couple of years ago. At the end of April, Leo moved in there with her, and now they're wholly involved with renovating the place to make it exactly how they want.

They're actually not changing it significantly, but even cosmetic changes require a fair amount of work. They had to hire somebody to install their new kitchen cabinets and appliances, but Leo decided they could do the hardwood flooring in the living room themselves, as well as the painting and redecorating.

And that's where I came in. I might not be very good with electronics, but I definitely know my way around carpentry tools. My mom taught me a lot about home maintenance, so I can measure, saw and hammer with the best of them.

Almost as soon as I arrived, Leo enlisted both me and his sister Kiki to help with the flooring. Ellie and Kiki gleefully ripped out all the old carpet, and then they sanded and cleaned the subfloor. After that, Leo and I got down to business. We got the entire living room done over three days, and it looks fabulous, even if I say so myself.

We're all getting pretty good at painting too. Leo, Ellie, Kiki and I painted Ellie and Leo’s living room, kitchen and bedroom, and then I got them to come over to our new house and help me paint mine and Yuri's rooms, our living room and downstairs bathroom.

Robert and Kim did a bunch of renovations before they put the house on the market, so there’s really nothing much that needed to be changed except the colours of a few walls. The only thing I really want to do besides the painting is to install a jet tub in the upstairs bathroom. Yuri got used to having that at Uncle Kaz's place, and I think he should have one here. It’s very therapeutic for him.

You knew I'd inevitably come back to talking about Yuri, didn't you? Some of you are probably laughing over my inability to keep my mind off him. Go ahead. I don't mind. I'm hopelessly in love with him, and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

As a matter of fact, Yuri is the whole reason why I was motivated to record this entry tonight, after kinda forgetting about our journal for almost three months. Now that I’ve gotten all the life updates out of the way, I can get to the really good part. It's the part I maybe should’ve led with, but I guess you’ve all figured out by now that I sometimes like to leave the best stuff till the end.

So, here’s the story. It actually started yesterday evening, when Yuri missed our regular seven o'clock FaceTime chat. By seven-fifteen, I decided I'd better call him. He didn't answer, but I wasn’t overly concerned right away because I thought there might just be something wrong with his iPad, so I texted him instead. I started getting scared when I received no reply to that either, and when I phoned him, I got a robotic-sounding error message that said the customer I was trying to reach had the phone turned off.

At that point, I systematically called everyone I could think of who might know what was going on, but Takahiro, Fox and Sakura had no clue, and the most that Mr. Okamoto's personal assistant Koichi could tell me was that Mr. Okamoto was away on important business for the next several days, which didn’t really help. When I tried to call Yuri's parents, I got the same error message I'd gotten when I attempted to call him.

I tossed and turned in bed all night, and every time I woke up, I sent another text to my husband. By seven o'clock this morning, when I still couldn't reach him, I started scrolling frantically through my phone to see if I had his grandparents' numbers. Somebody had to know something.

I didn't have a number for his grandmother or grandfather, but I did have contact information for his boss, Mr. Tanaka. It was a long shot, but I called him, which may not have been the wisest thing to do. Mr. Tanaka didn't have any idea where Yuri was or what might be happening, and I think I might've caused him to worry with my asking him about it.

Around ten o'clock, I was seriously considering getting online and trying to arrange an earlier flight back to Japan. I'm not even joking.

That was when my phone buzzed in my pocket.

I pulled it out and glanced at the screen. It was a message from Yuri.

You ever hear that phrase 'weak with relief'? I literally was, and I sank down the kitchen floor, nearly crying, with my phone still clutched in my hand.

As if he'd been reading my mind, the message said, «I love you and I'm okay.»

«Where are you?» I texted back with trembling fingers.

He sent, «I’m outside. Are you at home?»

Perplexed and still shaking, I replied, «Yeah. Why?»

«Look out the front window.»

Feeling thoroughly confused, I got to my feet, put my phone back in my pocket and made my way from the kitchen to the dining room so I could peer outside. Parked at the curb was a vehicle I didn't recognize. I took off my glasses so things further away would come into sharper focus, and I think i may have let out a small gasp when I realized who was behind the wheel of the unknown blue minivan.

It was Kenji Okamoto.

I was still forcing my mind to process that when the van's side door slid open and first Yuki and then Yuri climbed out. Mr. Okamoto got out of the driver's side to open the front passenger door for his wife, who was holding baby Kinai.

To say I was shocked would be putting it lightly. During all our daily conversations, Yuri hadn't mentioned anything about him and his family travelling. I could only assume they were here for the wedding, which is coming up in four days, but if they were here for the wedding, that would mean Mom and Julian both knew they were coming as well, and yet nobody had breathed a word about any of it to me.

I should've been upset about that, but I was way too excited over being unexpectedly reunited with Yuri to worry about having been kept in the dark. I mean, real talk here, the sound I made when I saw my husband was a lot louder than a gasp. A second later, I was flinging open the front door and flying down the steps, and he was hurrying to close the distance between us too, arms outstretched for an embrace.

I caught him and spun us both around in a circle right there on the walkway. "Yuri! I missed you!"

"Me too," he said, clinging tight as we completed our big, joyful circle. "I couldn't wait to get here. The last couple of hours, I was getting so impatient I could barely cope with it any more."

"This is why I couldn't reach you, isn't it? You were in a plane."

He was laughing. "Ah... surprise?"

"I was freaking out!" I exclaimed. "Like, I was literally just about to change my flight and everything! You should've known I'd panic when I couldn't reach you. Why didn't you tell me you were coming?"

"I'm sorry," he said, as I carefully set him down. "Don't be angry. It was so hard to keep the secret, and I almost let it slip out, but we really wanted to surprise you."

"I'm not angry," I said. "I'm relieved you're okay, and I'm thrilled you're here, but..."

"But what?"

"I thought you couldn't travel," I said. "What about your therapy?"

"We'll only be here for a week," Yuri said. "I'll miss my psychologist appointment this week, and one in-person session with my nutritionist, and a food intelligence class.”

“Can you afford to miss that stuff?”

“I think so,” he said. “The nutritionist scheduled a fifteen-minute video call so I can check in and show her my food diary and talk about any concerns, but she said I’m doing so well that she thinks I’ll be all right even if I miss a full session.”

"So, uh... I guess you're here for Mom and Julian's wedding?"

"Of course," Yuri said. "I promised them I'd play, didn't I? And I've brought my accompanist with me."

Mr. Okamoto laughed at that. "The things I let myself get talked into," he said. "Grace called Yuri about a week ago to ask if he was able to come, or if they should make different arrangements for their wedding music. When he told her he could, she asked if we'd all like to come, and then Julian got on the phone with her and said that if I was coming, I ought to help with the music as well."

"Nothing like being drafted into a project last-minute," I said, amazed that Julian had felt comfortable enough with Mr. Okamoto to even make a request like that. They'd become fast friends when Mom and Julian were in Mt. Komorebi just after my accident, but I didn't think they'd gotten that well-acquainted. I mean, practising a whole set of wedding music with only a couple weeks' advance notice was a huge ask. I'm not sure I'd even ask my best friend in the world to do something like that.

"I don't mind," said Mr. Okamoto, much to my astonishment.

"You don't?"

"Yuri and I hadn't played together in a very long time, and we've been rediscovering how much we like our violin and piano duets. The music isn't that difficult, and we're already familiar with each other's playing style, so I think it'll work out quite well."

"That's...impressive," I said.

"It's an honour for us to play for your parents' wedding."

"I'm grateful to you for agreeing to it," I said, and I totally meant it. One of Yuri's favourite memories that he always talks about is of playing duets with his dad, and I'm glad they've started doing that again. I'm also super happy that Mom and Julian didn't end up having to hire random music students from the local college or something.

I pulled Yuri in for another hug. "And you too, sweet boy. I'm super happy that you... hang on."

"What?" Yuri said.

It'd taken a moment for my brain to register the observation, but it seemed that Yuri felt more solid in my arms than I remembered. "Excuse the change of subject, but have you gained weight?"

I know... not a very smooth question, right? In any other context, it would probably seem rude, but for us it had the complete opposite meaning.

Yuri drew back a little so he could look up at me. His face practically radiated happiness, and his beautiful smile accentuated the new fullness in his cheeks. "You noticed."

I slid my hands down his sides. "I can barely feel your ribs."

"I gained four kilos since you last saw me in person," he told me.

"In three weeks? Really? That's like, more than a whole kilogram per week." I glanced over his shoulder at his parents. "What have you been feeding him?"

From beside her father, Yuki piped up, "Milkshakes!"

"Not just milkshakes." Mr. Okamoto interjected hastily. He seemed to feel the need to be accountable to me, to prove they hadn't been so reckless as to let Yuri subsist on such a limited and arguably unhealthy diet. "He's been trying all sorts of new foods, haven't you, Yuri? But he does enjoy his strawberry milkshakes."

Of course I knew he'd been consuming more than milkshakes, but I acknowledged Mr. Okamoto's explanation with, "I'm glad you've been getting him to try new stuff." And then to Yuri, "Have you tried any other dairy products?"

"Real butter," he said. "And cream of broccoli soup. I didn't like that."

"Because of the broccoli, I guess. What about cheese?"

He made the most adorable face, scrunching up his cute button nose in distaste. "No. Cheese is disgusting."

"Unless it's in strawberry cheesecake," his father commented, looking entertained. "You should've seen him devouring that."

I raised an eyebrow. "Yuri, you ate cheesecake?"

"Mm-hmm, and cinnamon buns and dango. Oh, and ice cream!" Yuri said. "I can't believe I've been missing out on real ice cream this whole time."

“He’s been making up for it,” said Mr. Okamoto. "I've never seen anyone eat so many desserts."

"Well, I guess that explains the four kilos," I said.

Yuri offered up a grin that somehow managed to be simultaneously angelic and cheeky, "Aren't you proud of me, Victor?"

"Very," I said. "Four whole kilograms. That's awesome. You don't want to shoot past your goal, though. I hope you've been eating low-fibre vegetables and healthy proteins along with all your desserts."

"I don't like vegetables," he said.

"You like carrots and squash. I'll make you some carrot soup. That'll be the next thing for you to try, okay?"

"Okay." He leaned into me and nuzzled his cheek against my chest. "I'll eat it on one condition. You need to take me on a date to that ice cream place you're always talking about, with the forty flavours."

I laughed out loud and gave him an affectionate squeeze. I was beyond happy he'd discovered something new that he wanted to eat. "If you're not too tired from the trip, we can go this evening after dinner," I told him. "On one condition."

"Oh? What condition?"

"I know how much you love anything with strawberries, but The Frozen Cone has forty flavours. I really want you to try something other than strawberry."

"Peach?" he ventured.

"Good choice. They probably have that. They usually have orange-pineapple too, and cherry."

Yuri hummed softly, a little sound of satisfaction. "Let's try peach and cherry. I don't want to taste pineapple until we go to Sulani, okay? I want to save that experience for a really special occasion."

"Okay," I agreed.

"If we get a scoop of each kind in a bowl, we can share. Would that be all right?"

"That sounds perfect," I said.

"And you can feed me," he whispered, but evidently not quietly enough to prevent his father from overhearing.

Mr. Okamoto sounded torn between scolding and amusement. "Yuri—"

"One spoonful, because you're cute," I said. "But you'll be on your own for the rest of it. Rules are rules, you know."

"I tried," he said.

"Full marks for effort." I laughed, and kissed the top of his head. "Come on. Let's go inside. I can show you the paint job Leo and I did in your bedroom, and we can give your family the grand tour."

"Our family," he said.

"Our family," I repeated. I nodded to my in-laws. "Come on in."

Mr. and Mrs. Okamoto both thanked me and bowed respectfully, but I think Yuki forgot her manners in her excitement. She bounded forward and grabbed one of my hands. "Yuri said there's a ghost! Can I meet her?"

I smiled. "Well, that'll be up to Sachiko. I think if you call her Kobayashi-san and remember not to use her favourite mug, she'll come out and meet you. Don't be too surprised if she starts making small objects fly around the room, though."

Mrs. Okamoto frowned. "Are you saying the house really is haunted?"

"That's why the asking price was so low," I told her. "Don't worry, though. Sachiko isn't a bad ghost. She's just been here longer than we have, and she thinks it's her place, so her rules should apply."

"I... see," said my mother-in-law.

"What's this about the mug?" asked Mr. Okamoto.

"It's a red one," I said. "It's Sachiko's, and she's very possessive of it. No pun intended."

"Well," said my father-in-law. "A ghost with a mug, a wedding, and my son wanting to go to a forty-flavour ice cream shop. This should be an interesting week."

I couldn't resist a grin. "Family," I said. "Welcome to Willow Creek."

[astralartefact]

Placeholder Name for Atarase's Media Diary

Entry 003 - NieR Reincarnation <<Prev: Dragon's Dogma 2

Synopsis

Living in the shadow of its predecessors a [g___] grapples with the fact that it was born shouldering the burden of Reincarnation.

And don't forget, Mother is watching. Don't. fuck it up.

gambling that whatever they announce next week makes parts of this post irrelevant

How much did I know before playing?

I played it since the JP launch despite not understanding a single word and I've played every DrakeNieR Adjacent thing in existence except for DoD2 (no interest, sry) and... NieR Automata which I refuse to play at this point - but I guess that just means you can't complain that I haven't played DoD2 lol.

Did I like it more than I expected?

I did in fact not expect the Gacha game to turn out the best NieR game but here we are.

Since I liked it, here's what I hated about it

Despite its (to me) clear intention to present a diverse and not particularly "objectified" cast it still has a visible bias towards a certain group of characters - by which i of course mean the waifus, because those make more money. But it means that certain characters never get the 'worthless' free event units while some only get them - snd I mean, just look at Priyet who has 3 less costumes than Yurie who came out months after her.

Also, the story was clearly supposed to be longer, especially with 10H's more-than-swift in- and ex-troduction, but tbh I didn't particularly mind it? 'Cutting it short' didn't ruin anything even though it could have taken the game a bit longer to end - but I wouldn't have said no to a Purple Season 3 Chapter either.

Also also, 'Tis evident that this ludus has maybe one singular mention of our Lord and Saviour YoRHa:Dark Apocalypse (henceforth referred to as Y:DA) - and even that one mention is marvelously vague. Father, are you ashamed of your best work? Is it because it doesn't qualify as its own game? Please, I beg of you to acknowledge the existence of the Crime & Punishment fanfiction sequel you wrote in a MMORPG cross-over! Do it for meeee!

What did this game make me think about?

Reincarnation is a Cage.

Specific Impressions that will stick with me

Honestly? A lot, so this is very non exhaustive.

The Art, both 2D and 3D, especially the very limited usage of color.

The Story and how exactly it was written. Every single line in this game pulls at the same rope and that's impressive for a game that's basically a very, very complicatedly put together Collection of Vignettes written from more than 5 people.

How thought through this game's structure is - how and when what kind of story was introduced/unlocked, stuff like that. I even thought "the grind" wasn't pointless okay, sue me but it makes the pay-off from the ex stories feel better.

Sarafa and Priyet

Outstanding Audio

The entire soundtrack, as always the crew at MONACA is beyond mere mortals - and honestly, Shotaro Seo deserves more credit for his NieR work!!! (also he's cute but that's besides the point)

Here are some fave picks:

Inori, Kizuna & the S3 Main Theme

Kusabi (i love seo's voice i think its so funny that they just used him as the male voice)

Mizukagami

Madan & the S3 Battle Themes

The Return of Normandy

The Mourning Mother Theme, All Versions (if this one doesn't come back in one of the next games i swear to mother)

The Final Boss Theme

Favorite Character

this is so hard why would Past!Me make me choos- Sarafa.

also mama, dark mama and papa and fio and levania and saryu and yudil and priyet and yuzuki and hina and argo (bc he's an idiot) and akeha and frenlise (still not sure why that's the only name they changed) and- all of them, i love all of them, some more than others but all of them except for the carrier, fuck the carrier also anogg y:da should be on this list

Favorite Arc/Story Line

Sun/Moon Story

Favorite Set Piece

The S3 Cage is so fcking gorgeous, around every corner another compositional marvel, they went above and beyond.

Favorite Scene

Priyet's Hidden Stories

The Library

Mourning Mother

Best Performance (I played with JP voices)

Yumi Hara as Mama.

--- ENTERING THE PRETENTIOUS SECTION OF THIS ENTRY --- reminder that the pretentious section is called that way for a reason, don't take it too seriously

What about this game gives me Hope for the future of gaming?

I guess the death of the Common Gacha is somewhat imminent if even Square Enix is giving up on it. A shame that what's left in its wake (the Gacha with "Gameplay Value") is so much more worrisome than shitty jpg dispensers ever could be.

And I don't know, I guess I'm just excited for Yoko Taro's next big hit because he has yet to really miss. Sadly this game won't set any industry standards in the ways I would like it to :/

What about this game makes me scared for the future of gaming?

The Internet has figured out that complaining about things that everybody agrees is bad is fun - and that's nothing new. What's new is that they have at this point seen enough video essays to make their incessant complaining sound like "Criticism."

The problem I have with that is that these surface level "Criticisms" taint the stage, so to speak. Everyone is constantly mad at the mere mention of Microtransactions or of Gacha Games (except, of course, if it's one of the popular ones) and it makes it so that "not critizising" Gacha Games for even just existing in the first place makes you "uncritical."

Can you tell by my usage of Quotation Marks that I do not like the word Criticism anymore?

And I wish that my only stake with this is that I think this shit is annoying as fuck. That I think it sucks that every person having something, anything genuine to say about this game feels the need to state how they know Gacha games are bad because Capitalism sucks - a so surface level fact I would genuinely struggle to believe anyone who would agree with that hasn't already caught on to it yet.

But no - that's where our public interrogation of this type of media starts and ends, because god forbid we have a more nuanced opinion about this shit than "Gacha Bad".

Instead of talking about anything below the surface, good or bad, be it the artistic merits of this game I really like or the actually deeply fucked up evolution on the Gacha Formula the Industry is going through to make their practices more palatable despite being so much worse and deeply ingrained into everything else - resulting in an ecosystem that's so much more dangerous than anything Square Enix could ever hope to come up with.

Instead of talking about any of that I get to hear people act high and mighty about how smart and brave they are for voicing an opinion everybody shares with them.

Meanwhile Hoyoverse has made it cool to just take whatever game is currently popular and turn it into an industrial-grade FOMO machine printing object women of the week and money and everybody unironically endorses it, creates endless amounts of free publicity through fan-art & co, feeding into this FOMO cycle that's already exacerbated by games solely built to drive you to FOMO through all of its built-in game design mechanisms - all so you gamble your money away for your own enjoyment - but that's 'better', actually, 'because it has good gameplay.'

[This is where I cut a lengthy section about how Japanese Idols and Gacha Games are both selling the same things. It was very informative and you are disappointed you're missing out on this quality content.]

Because clearly, the problem with Gacha Games has all this time been that Gacha Games have boring gameplay and not that they do everything in their power to addict people into spending money on parasocial relationships to people (mostly women) that don't even exist, all to impress themselves and their friends.

and also you guys it looks kind of silly when you say 'good riddance, you cheap cash-grab' to a game that a) clearly wasn't that cheap and b) clearly didn't grab that much cash

The Ramble Section where I get to actually talk about what I thought about

[This is where I cut a lengthy section about my complicated feelings towards Video Game Archiving and how Lore is a blight. It was very informative and you are disappointed you're missing out on this quality content.]

So a couple days ago Yoko Taro met up with the Stellar Blade guy and the only thing I can think about is... well...

Was 2B a mistake?

I mean, it's kind of a sign of how good he is at analyzing the topic at hand so take that as you will, but the fact is that Yoko Taro set out to create the most objectifiable women he could think of - and he was so good at it she has become what is probably the most objectified female character of our time.

And yet, despite knowing that that's not really a good thing - because clearly he did all of that for a reason and Reincarnation didn't really do all that despite being a Gacha - he continues to just... enable people (and by people I do mean Men) to keep doing these kinds of disgusting behaviours to an entire gender, fictional or not. Things that Automata at least to some degree criticizes through 9S (like there's a reason he's the final boss you guys)

And I guess it just feels shitty to see Yoko Taro publicly give this game his stamp of approval when the entire existential premise for Stellar Blade seems to be that clip of Yoko Taro saying "I just really like girls"; a shitty quote that 100% has caused women some societal harm he has yet to r3pent for because Gamers took it and ran - and now we have another game with a big tits SciFi Woman for Men to objectify and I'm pretty sure this one won't have the underlying subtext of "maybe objectifying women is not all that great you guys"

But then there's stuff like putting a shallow husk of 2B - and they somehow also always feature the butt out version too, isn't that interesting - into any game that will take her - which is pretty much every game that is physically able to because thanks to her standing for nothing but ass woman in the popular conscious everyone wants a piece of that free money from horny gamers.

And I guess I have to legally state that that's fine or else the horny fun police is taking me in, but with how he's treating this character outside of the game it feels like it does such a disservice to the points he makes in his games (plural bc of dod3) and that fucking sucks because clearly the world isn't ready to move on from 2B so she'll be around, and with her a symbol that actually, it's fine to objectify your female characters - full stop because nobody but us few cares about the things he's criticizing through subtext.

And it sucks that to SquareEnix her stupid ass (like literally just her ass) is going to overshadow anything Reincarnation has ever done, all the interesting points it makes about societal agency and human relationships and gender and consent and family - because I wouldn't be surprised if NieR 4 manages to barely acknowledge Reincarnation's existence at all while still churning out YoRHa DLC - I mean just look at how they treat Drakengard, which for its 20th anniversary got... an entire tweet.

Like. They didn't even play Reincarnation Music at the NieR Concert!!! Not even Inori!!! It's been three years, why was there no Reincarnation Music at the fucking NieR concert??? I guess we'll just hear Grandma and Kainé and Weight of the World Remixes forever because squeenix mandated that everything that's not the big 2 games can only be referenced in vague subtext (and listen, I love how NieR treats Drakengard Lore, I will be severly disappointed if he ever actually explains any of it - it just hurts my soul that Kuroi Hana has never been performed live) (also y:da's final boss theme should have been a kuroi hana arrangement and not kainé but i guess licensing is a bitch so there's that)

But I mean it is kind of funny that NieR Reincarnation is in a Reincarnation Cage of its own. It's living in the shadow of its predecessors, grappling with the fact that it was born shouldering the burden of Reincarnation. Another Yoko Taro story whose story is about itself. (can i interest you in a german review i wrote where i explain which other yoko taro story also does that) (it's y:da, it's always y:da)

I guess all I can say is that you're clowning about Women, Yoko Taro, and I really hate that. Do Better, as they say. I wish you would publicly talk about literally anything else at this point, especially since you made a good point and then ruined it by not just simply shutting up about it like you do about anything else you do. (remember the ff14 live stream where he proceeded to not answer a single question about y:da? iconic behavior and absolutely the right choice)

And you have so many other good points to make that you could talk about instead! ...then again I swear to mother if Kamierabi really is about how Abortions are bad I will abort you, we have a perfectly capable successor in Yuki Wada right there. (btw praise be Yuki Wada, the true hero of this story, living his dream with his two nier ocs hina and yuzuki)

[blueeyeswhitegarden]

Day 5: Action Magic – Overpass @arcvmonth

I kind of like the idea of swapping some of the Resistance fighters with some of the Academia soldiers. Yuto being with Academia is an interesting premise. Despite not being childhood friends with Ruri, I think that Zarc's influence didn't really affect Yuto as much as it did with Yuri largely because Heartland was always presented as this idealistic and happy place to live prior to the invasion. Putting Yuto in Academia and separating him from Ruri would probably make him much more aggressive, especially due to his relationship with Shun. Honestly, one of the reasons I started to think of this premise is because of how angry and aggressive Shun already is during most of the series. That is understandable after struggling to survive against Academia for so long, but I think that if he was with Academia instead, it would be more intense and he'd probably start to enjoy hunting against Xyz users just like most Academia students tend to do. It would also create a different kind dynamic between Yuto and Shun. Academia isn't really the place for people to develop friendships in the first place, so they might have developed more of a rivalry with each other. It's possible that Yuto would be too isolated and focused on his orders from the Professor like what happened with Yuri to develop any kind of connections, but I kind of like the idea of Yuto becoming more aggressive through a combination of being raised in Academia and his relationship with Shun.

With Ruri, I think being isolated and not having connections with characters like Yuto, Shun and Sayaka would be the biggest changes. That was a big reason why she came off as pretty happy and gentle in the flashbacks prior to the Dimensional War. I don't see her becoming as full of pride as Serena, but she would be more aggressive and would still want to join the front lines of the Academia army.

As for Yuri, I think he would be more laid back growing up in Heartland, but he would still be pretty smug since that's practically built into his DNA. I could see him being more sarcastic among friends prior and during the Heartland invasion. Being able to connect with Serena would be huge for both of them. They were both isolated from each other in the series and that clearly affected them. Serena would still have a bit of her aggressive attitude, but not have the need to prove herself. She'd be able to call Yuri out whenever his smug attitude would go too far or could pick up when something was actually bothering him. They're already a great example of a “What if” kind of pairing, so putting them in a setting where they have a bond prior to the events of the series would be perfect. They would still struggle against Academia forces, but I think fighting back would just intensify Serena's aggressive personality and Yuri's smugness while toying with his opponents more so than anything else. Yuri wanting to get Serena back would be an interesting contrast to how he didn't really pay much attention to her in canon.

[randomreadingtimewithtsuki]

First official imagine request: Could you write an imagine where Yuri and Estelle are some of the only ones who can tell when their S/O's are giving fake smiles? (Also,take your time with the request. I can wait)

Hello!

Thank you for requesting!

I hope this is of your liking!

Tsuki's note: I am terribly rusted on vesperia, hope this turned out decent? Also I just so happen to be great at faking smiles sometimes! Lets see how i rock ( rock bottom or sky rocket) this request!

----------------------------------------------

Yuri:

• Oh he can tell.

• Even before you give the :) smile, he knows it's coming.

• He knows because you stop for a second, a brief moment, like you are loading some game map and soon the smile is there.

• Now what he does about it depends on the situation.

• If it is a fake smile like " haha go away person please" He may interrupt the conversation and make the person stop talking to you.

• May physically get in between you.

• If it is a fake smile of " this is awkward " he may or may not do something. What I mean? Well it will depend on the person and topic. Yuri may find it amusing and just grin.

• Or he will sigh and change the topic so you can feel a little better.

• If it is a smile directed towards him or a topic that makes you upset, things get a little different.

• If someone else is bringing up the topic he will get protective of you.

• Sharp, sarcastic and mean words will come flying off of his mouth.

• It's clear to everyone that something bothered him, a lot. But he won't tell anyone about it, unless it's you.

• If the others don't notice your fake smile, they will find it odd how Yuri snapped like that.

• Even weirder that he keeps side eyeing you or just watching you.

• Asking you is a little pointless, as you probably wouldn't be able to tell what ticked him off - you might know, but you won't tell them either, mostly out of respect for Yuri, he is a reserved guy.

• Asking Yuri himself is a dead end. He will just brush it off.

• But he will tell you what bothered him and you bet he will look for you to have this chat in private.

• He will ask you if you are OK. If you are honest with him, he won't push the topic if you don't want to. Yuri will listen to you if you'd like to talk.

• He will worry a lot about you the next few days and pay extra attention so that person stays away from you.

• Boy is protective, he is willing to fight demons and move mountains for you.

• But! Remember I said if you were honest right? If you give him a fake smile, prepare for confrontation.

• He can tell you will fake smile right away and he will call you out on it.

• Asks why you are lying like that or just to cut out the bs - what he means is " you can trust me!"

• Being this straight forward doesn't always help. So when you fall silent and avert your gaze, he will sigh, scratch the back of his head and ask in a more calm tone if you'd like to talk.

• If you say yes, he will listen quietly to you. He won't press you if you take pauses, may try to Crack a joke or sassy comment to see if you smile a bit - genuine smile, that is.

• If you say no, then, he will pat you on the head and say you know where to find him if you need - aka: you can count on me!

• Regardless of your choice he will pay extra attention to your reactions to pinpoint what makes you fake smile.

• Yuri is honing his " predicting you" skills you know?

• After the events that led to that fake smile, he will definitely feel the urge to make you actually smile.

• So expect him making snarky comments about Raven or situations, so you Crack, at least, a tiny little smile or giggle.

• Once he get what he wants, he will grin proudfully and just watch you for a moment, with the softest smile and expression.

• Does Judith tease him ? Yes. He denies straight away and pouts. He doesn't know what she means by " you look like you have heart eyes". No, disgusting.

• To Yuri, your smile is worth a lot, more than anything in this world. So he won't settle for a little :), he wants to fight whatever makes you sad or uncomfortable.

• A beautiful smile like yours, should be hidden behind a mask of a smile, right?

Estelle

• She is not as good as Yuri when capturing flags of bs.

• but she is a sensitive person. She can tell you don't feel like yourself.

• If another person makes you fake smile, she will try her best to change the flow of the conversation.

• She will put a hand on your shoulder, as if to reassure you that she got you.

• Not gonna lie, she is a little distressed about your reaction. To her a fake smile means big discomfort, so she will try her best to understand!

• Will ask to talk to you privately and ask what is wrong.

• Estelle is a good listener and even though she doesn't know much about the world, you bet she will work extra hard to make you feel comfortable!

• So, there she goes to read books or ask the crew about advice on how to aid you.

• If you are not comfortable with the others knowing about it, she will try - the probability of failing is higher with Yuri or Raven or Judith- to keep it discreet and anonymous!

• Now if that smile is directed toward her, then she will be upset.

• Very very sad.

• She can recognize that little :) a mile away, since she also gave them.

• Estelle won't hesitate to ask you right away what's wrong. If you dodge the question, she will simply say " I know something is off, Y/N, you can tell me what's wrong"

• She has the softest voice and expression. If you are still silent she will grab your hands and tell you she will be by you no matter what.

• When you tell her what's wrong, she will listen carefully. Her eyebrows may furrow a bit too, which is quite cute!

• She is ready to give you a quick hug if the situation calls for it.

• If not, then she will grab your hands - or keep holding them - and shake them lightly while saying reassuring words and trying to mitigate what caused that fake smile.

• She will pull out a list of things you actually enjoy.

• Find your favourite snack, ask Judith or Yuri to cook your favourite dish, bring you to scenery you would love, bring you flowers of your favourite color, you name it!

• If you ask her why she is doing so, her answer is simple: " there are a lot of things to truly smile for in this world!"

• For Estelle seeing you regain your usual self is the most important thing. Seeing you carefree, laughing and smile genuinely is very lovely.

• So as soon as you give a smile to her, she will put her palms together and smile softly, a slightly blush on her cheeks.

• This little moment didn't go unnoticed, oh no.

• In her case Judith won't be as cruel, but Yuri will be teasing you both a lot giving ship names to you two and laugh when Estelle blush furiously and you get to upon and close your mouth like a fish.

Bonus: Thanking them

• If you thank Yuri for his effort he will blush, turn away from you and blabber something about you owning him.

• As soon as you turn your back, you bet he is looking at your frame with a soft expression again.

• In Estelles case, she will smile beautifully and say she is always right beside you!

• She will blush a bit and stutter, but she is so happy to be able to aid you, she won't even notice her awkwardness ( or yours. Who would go short circuit from seeing her all happy?)

----------------------------------------------

This is it!

I hope you have enjoyed!

Let me know what you think!

Thanks for reading !

[literalite]

i’m not that same genshin anon, but what are your opinions on fontaine so far!?

HEYY NEW ANON LETS GET INTO IT 💪🏼💞

(spoilers for the 4.0 archon quest obviously 🥰 also massive block of text and this was me trying to keep it brief idk this has been the most interesting genshin has been for me in a hot sec)

i ammmmm not a fan of the new pneuma/ousia system.. ik they gave us lyney and hydro traveller have that inherently but to be totally frank i dont appreciate being basically told to build characters that i dont actually want to 🕊 if they had to implement this i would have preferred that all existing playable characters have an affinity toward one or the other that only triggers inside the borders of fontaine. bcos there (from how much of the region ive seen so far) doesnt seem to be a super solid lore reason as to why only fontaine characters and inexplicably the traveller have exclusive access to arkhe system it just feels unnecessary i dunnoooo. tbh tho i am being sort of nitpicky with this like i dont Need to have arkhe using characters in my party to do decent i can just tank it

i like the nation design! it feels very exciting. ratiowise it feels a bit awkward to have so much of the nation dedicated to the ocean, would have loved an extended sewer system that went into the sea as well so u could access it from both inside the city and in the sea. im a big fan of the steampunk aesthetic and i do wish they'd leant into it a bitttt more as opposed to the art deco. i like grunge sue me. i love the aquabuses and i wish there were more of them but perhaps a bit faster 😅 not the most entertaining mode of transport but my graphic settings arent the highest so i could be missing some of the scenery aspect of it

ok onto the archon quest. to my surprise i actually enjoyed it i thought it was silly and over the top but not in a wholly offputting way. like was it goofy and did i have to suspend my disbelief very hard yes but when i managed it i still had a fun time. childe getting knocked out in one go by neuvillette was def a highlight to me as well as pretty much all of navia's scenes she's such a cool character i really connected with her i think and i hope she comes back for more later down the line and we get some more background on her and clorinde's relationship (or lack of one? not sure what their deal is specifically but giving off immense toxic yuri which.. YESS) before clorinde killed her dad. i appreciated the balance between the expected lighter portions of the quests with the darker themes and stuff (the prophecy, lynette's trafficking, the injustices that the so called nation of justice metes out to its people) i think it was handled decently. all the characters felt like that had a solid reason for being incorporated into the quest itself (my main issue with sumeru's archon quest was how it felt like it was just introducing us to as many characters as they could just for the sake of it and no actual plot reason *cough* dori) and all were realistic and nuanced enough to hold their own in the overall sequence of events. VERY invested in the next installment of the quests in the next update in a way that i don't think i've been since the disappointment that was the final truncated and weirdly paced parts of the inazuma archon quest, sumeru felt like a whole new writing team finding their feet in genshins lore and this nation's quest has so far felt like they've def found their footing

i like lyney and lynette and freminet, theyre a really interesting set of characters and everyone who called them being fatui is surely very pleased with themselves gfhjkl i do find i guess for lack of a better word child soldiers as a narrative point really compelling to me (coughs in sunao kimura), and their clear loyalty and "love" towards arlecchino feels like it will pay off in a big way later down the line, for better or for worse. i did not see lyney being groomed to be the next "father" of the house of the hearth coming so when i looked into all of their voicelines that genuinely surprised me and opens up a lot of questions as to how the harbinger structure works or at least how arlecchino's place in the harbingers works. does this mean if/when arlecchino dies lyney takes her place as a harbinger as well or is her position as harbinger separate from her position as "father"? theyre making the fatui a lot more interesting to me personally as the plot goes on which is a good thing because i was really not into the whole two bit villain thing they were pushing in the really early parts of the game

in terms of who im going for i would like neuvillette i am not immune to lame dude with long hair. to be honest. also if navia has a good kit i might go for her actually because she was a stand out character in this archon quest in a way i really was not expecting like at all so. big fan of her

[steelblaidd]

Rules: post the first lines of your last 10 fics posted to ao3. if you have less than 10 fics posted, post the first lines of all your fics.

@overworkedunderwhelmed tagged me a couple days ago but I was on travel for work and was not going to try and do this on my phone.

Most of these are prompt responses for the @miraculousfanworks booster rewards.

"Marinette sat with her chin resting in the palm of her hand staring dreamily at the back of Adrien’s head as the clock in Mme. Bustier’s classroom ticked slowly towards the end of the day. Her smile dripped across her face like melting ice cream as the light of the sun burnished his blond hair to spun gold." How Sweet It Is (to be loved by you) 

"Even though it had never been more than an occasional thing, Anansi had had a lot of fun training Alya and Cappy off and on over the years. So it was particularly gratifying when her little sister had started showing up to the gym around the start of her second year of Lycee." Marital Kombat

“There are eight million stories to be told of the city. The City of Love. the City of Lights. Those lights cast deep shadows. The lives that huddle in those shadows pulse with the fire of passion and anger, or drip with unshed tears. Violence and corruption flow through those shadowed alleys like the dirty waters of the Seine hemmed in by its stone banks. Occasionally spilling out onto the glittering boulevards where the smiling people live. But those smiles can hide the shadows too and there’s no telling what darkness hides behind the closed curtains and lowered shades, what cries for help are muffled by the bustle of the streets. But secrets can't stay hidden in the shadows forever and we make it our business to -”

“Alya. You’re monologuing again.” Noir Would I 

"Yuri did not want to be here.

It took every ounce of self control he had to walk, without scowling, down the long aisle of the Eden academy chapel between rows of guests with his beloved sister on his arm. Anya was prancing back and forth erratically in front of them, scattering great handfuls of rose petals over the scene as they processed toward the doom waiting at the altar. " Giving the Bride Away 

"The first rule of being a successful liar: Be confident. " Hair Today

"There is no question that the wedding of Ladybug and Chat Noir was the biggest wedding in Paris this season. " Small Moments at the Biggest Wedding 

“My son is an idiot.”  Ring Side Seats

"At first she didn’t recognize what was going on.

Everything seemed natural. Adrien was very smart after all and he had been there for all of the events. 

W~ell, most of them.

Mostly. 👀" I hear the secrets that you keep. 

“Babe! Save me! It’s happening again!” This series didn't need a reboot! 

"Noel was so proud that he was finally allowed to walk over to the park by Marinette’s House all by himself that he was barely paying enough attention to the bustle of the sidewalk around him on his way there. He had been looking forward to the chance to see his friends Ella and Etta and Manon all week as they lived just far enough apart that they ended up attending different primaire." Fly Away home

I made it eleven because that's every Fic I published Since 2022 started

Honorable Mention: I updated my analysis essay collection Miraculous Short Takes several times

@everybody

[nurseprigs]

BACC RECAP || YEAR 2 Hello friends! I can't believe Valeree just completed year two in the game! If year one had been more than I ever made it, year two was more than I thought it would! I'm really happy with my Sims from this city so this year's lost made my heart really small. But let's get down to business! I'll remind you everything that happened around here during this year!

GREEN DISTRIC - OFF THE GRID LOTS 2 - THE BURTON PLACE home of Burton-Lewis family 3 - THE HANCOCK CABIN home of Morris family 4 - THE NAKAMURA FARM ORANGE DISTRIC 1 - THE FOUNDERS HOUSE home of Deon-Nakamura family 5 - VALEREE NATIONAL PARK still no opend yet LILAC DISTRIC 6 - THE MORRIS HOUSE not finished yet UNLOCKED:

Careers: EDUCATION by Alexander Hancock, Begonia Nakamura, Emmanuel Edwards and Felicia Morris.

Part Time Job: BABY-SITTER for teens by Alexander Hancock

Other: NEW SIM by Kylie Deon for Charlie Burton || NEW SIM by Alexander Hancock for Dalton Lewis || NEW SIM by Begonia Nakamura no used yet.

SIMS

Current Population: 11 # of Adult & Elder Sims: 7 # of Underage Sims: 4 # of Males: 6 # of Females: 5

'HOOD # of Owned Businesses: 0 # of Community Lots: 0 Total Careers + Part Time Jobs: 8 # of Employed Sims: 3

CAREERS Henrique Deon in POLITICS Mila Burton in PAINTER Alexander Hancock in MANUAL LABORER DESIGNER | ENGINEER | SIMFLUENCER | BABY-SITTER | EDUCATION opened

EVENTS Immigrated: 2 Went Steady: 1 Engagements: 1 Marriages: 2 Divorces: 0 Pregnancies: 2 Births: 2 Deaths: 1

The Deon-Nakamura family

Henrique Deon: The second year at Valeree was a roller coaster ride for Henrique. It all started well, with a beautiful wedding and the prospect of having his mistress and wife in the same house in different rooms. When Kylie found out about the affair, their relationship got extremely bad. Henrique decided to focus on what matters: making Valeree an amazing place to live and maybe, just maybe, having a family without the high drama. Kylie Deon: Nothing in Kylie's life is the result of what she hoped for herself. Absolutely nothing. She married Henrique in a beautiful spring, where all the guests attended, but the love… ah, that never came. And in addition to never arriving, the respect and admiration that was on her wedding day ran out the door and didn't come back. Kylie found out that her husband and best friend were a couple and her heart was never the same. In a madness of the moment, she decided to pay back in Mila' wedding causing a mess that has repercussions on her own marriage to this day. She thought that the arrival of the heir that Henrique so wanted would change things… it didn't. She thought Begonia's arrival after Akemi's unexpected death would change things… it didn't. Now she found herself in the position of an unhappy wife in an unhappy marriage who would become an unhappy queen and bring into the world a son who would probably be unhappy the second he grew up and realized his father didn't want him. Begonia Nakamura: Begonia's whole life deserves a book that maybe one day, she'll write. Valeree's baby-flower was born in a freezing winter where a blizzard took her father's life before she even met him. All she knows about Yuri are the photos taken by Dulce Morris, the paintings by Mila Burton and the stories they all insisted on telling her. She fondly remembers her childhood on the farm surrounded by animals and in the presence of her mother. Begonia has grown into an independent baby who loves the color brown and in the fall, a rambunctious scamp child in love with pink. She grew up very close to Alexander Hancock and charmed every adult in town. She did watch her mother slowly heal from Yuri's death, and just when she thought that maybe Dalton would become her new father, she watched her mother get killed by a wild bear. Begonia now lives with the Deon, as a result of a promise Kylie Deon made to her mother one day. Despite being grateful, she misses her mother immeasurably and wants to return to the farm as soon as possible. Emmanuel Edwards: Emmanuel never saw his father. In his entire life, he had never had the opportunity to look into his face or be in his arms. In fact, he spends most of his life alone staring at the ceiling of what was once Mila Burton's studio, surrounded by works of art from a future museum in a space that wasn't even planned for his arrival.

The Morris family

TOTAL FEES: $6.106 Gustav Morris: Gustav is extremely disappointed with himself. Another year passed without achieving the goal he had wanted since year one: to build the Valeree National Park, build the museum and build a bigger house for his family. With the end of another year, only one of these goals is really close to being achieved and in his mind, the time has come to really prioritize the new house. With a teenager Alex, the arrival of Felicia, and the birth of Panther, the Hancock' Cabin is really small. He also needs to decide which of the two available job he has decided to found. There are many decisions to be made in the coming year… Dulce Morris: Dulce was the second resident of Valeree to become an adult. All the events of year one made the redhead nourish in her heart the desire to have another baby. But this time, she was going to do it right, like a responsible mother would. As Akemi, her dear friend did. The year saw the disagreements with Kylie Deon be forgiven and forgotten, and now, the redhead is part of Valeree's only women's club, the Tea Club. Alexander Hancock: Alex was a child with very little patience and counting the days to grow up and be able to work with his father in the construction of Valeree. When he finally grew into a happy and active teenager, he realized that construction is not what makes his eyes shine, in fact, he hates his new job as a manual laborer. Alex likes the land, planting, harvesting, taking care of animals… maybe one day he will build a farm for himself, and that way he can finally live off what he loves. Felicia Morris: Felicia had a very different start to life than her brother. The little one was wanted, expected and loved since her first moments in Dulce's belly. If she depends on all the love she receives from everyone in her family, her future will be prosperous.

The Burton-Lewis family

TOTAL FEES: $1.544 Charlie Burton: Charlie has always been a free spirit who never knows what's going to happen in the long run. Destiny is what controls his future and he is very satisfied with that! That's how Dalton quickly convinced the young man to get on the boat on an expedition. Charlie liked life on the high seas a lot, but he liked life on land even better. That would probably be the last expedition for a while, he was already made up about it, when fate decided to intervene once more and guide him to Valeree. His first weeks here were harrowing with no news of his buddy's whereabouts, but everything was overcome by the love he had for Mila Babin. He knew she would become Mila Burton. He wanted this to happen. And he made it happen. Now he is thinking about Henrique Deon's proposal to become Valeree's teacher and teach the new generations everything that can be taught about the world. Mila Burton: Mila was absolutely certain that she was going to die single. Famous for her paintings, beloved by the people of Valeree, but single and childless. Charlie's arrival in town made the young woman realize how much she wanted to change her destiny. Mila saw Alex and Begonia born. She saw the Morris and Nakamura wedding. Mila wanted this! She wanted it so bad… and now she could have it. She became Mrs Burton in an orange autumn, and although she's focused on opening up a painting career for every man and woman in Valeree, she can't wait to become a mother. Dalton Lewis: Valeree was not the place Dalton imagined he would live. In fact, his plan was to finish the expedition, return to Alvorada and retire. He wasn't getting any younger as the days passed and he needed to build a family. He was outraged to know that his buddy would not return to Alvorada, but soon the indignation passed… when he met Akemi Nakamura. Dalton started to admire that heartbroken woman and her daughter so much. He was more than ready to make her a proposal: Let him take care of both of them, and if he was lucky, one day Akemi would fall in love with her new husband. But destiny didn't allow that to happen and now, Dalton doesn't know what to do with his own life. He wants to return to Alvorada, but considers Begonia his daughter and could never leave her behind.

Let’s see what year three brings to us!

Year Three

[darkenforcer]

12, 20 & 21 for the canon questionare!

canon questionnaire || no longer accepting !

12. What would you say is the most unique trait about your character?

yuri's a sharp breakaway from the usual t-rated jrpg protagonist (at least all the ones i've come across). he's bold, yet laid-back... blunt, yet compassionate... reckless, yet purposeful... there's a reason why he stays relatively static and drives others' development, he's already done most of his maturing before the game's events!

though if i had to pinpoint the one trait that really sets yuri apart, it'd have to be his vigilantism. i can gush about his nicer characteristics all i want, but that's what made him stand out so much within the franchise. the fact that he understands the extremity of his actions and is even willing to pay the consequences for it someday -- he never puts himself on some sort of moral high ground, and he doesn't enjoy the act of taking another person's life. that doesn't stop him from being so cold and ruthless about it, though; both cumore and ragou were completely defenseless, yet he took full advantage of their desperation (even feeling the teensiest bit satisfied in the moment, giving them a taste of their own cruel medicine). that's what i find so interesting!!! he's willing to stain his hands for the greater good, to solve problems that the law refuses to, all while knowing those he holds dear will never fully accept his methods. not that he expects them to... ooogh.

20. If you could sum up your character with one sentence, what would it be?

answered here~!

21. Which song do you feel describes your character the most and why?

idk about the most fitting song -- i usually just add music to playlists based on general vibes alone lmao.

i could plug my other big interest here and say "undefeatable" by tomoya ohtani... and i will, actually! it's a high-powered boss theme that perfectly captures yuri's single-minded, cocky determination in the face of danger; some lines even correlate with his own growth (e.g., feeling lost/aimless, then resolute in his goals by the end of ToV), while also having some extra stuff i think are fun coincidences, motif-wise. maybe it isn't a song that totally defines every facet of his personality, but it makes sense in my silly lil' head. i'll just highlight the chorus since it goes hard.

'Cause when your time has come and gone I'll bе the one to carry on (Carry on) And you can throw me to thе wolves (Throw me to the wolves) 'Cause I am undefeatable I'm hanging on to the other side I won't give up 'til the end of me I'm what you get when the stars collide Now face it; you're just an enemy

sorry for sonic crimes! it will happen again.

[alexthegamingboy]

Toonami Weekly Recap 10/15/2022

Housing Complex C EP#03 - The Wheel Comes Full Circle: Takashi helps briefly diffuse the housing residents and the interns, lamenting that the wheel came full circle and that watch groups would incite further mistrust as even Kanchan is sold out by his fellow interns to Rubel's disgust. Takashi realizes the strange events are tied to the lyrics of ancient song but reached a dead end until seeing Rubel off, discovering the actual Kurodo Shrine is located behind Housing Complex C and makes a horrific discovery. As the day passes on, Kimi, Yuri, and Kanchan realize Takashi is missing and try to look for him. Their search takes them to the storage cellar where they find Hideo's drawings ripped to pieces and a back chamber which Kimi enters, finding a pile of moss and a mural of fish people praying to the mountain god as Yuri attempts to decipher it before Kimi pleas her not to. The two take their leave, Kimi revealing the moss to be what remains of Takashi. Later returning to her apartment, Kimi questions the embryo that she calls her mother if everything will go full circle.

Yashahime: The Second Act EP#35 (11) - Battle on the New Moon, Part 2: A thoroughly powerless Towa finds herself at the mercy of Zero and Nanahoshi, who attempts to strengthen his extraordinary powers by feeding on her enduring sorrow and unpredictability by using an eternity bug on her, giving Zero a greater advantage. Setsuna, still human, trusts that Hisui and the other demon-slayers to take care of the snow demons who are after her. Meanwhile, Moroha continues to complete the job her parents began and restore Takechiyo to his rightful place in the Raccoon-Dog Clan as well as finally pay off her entire debt to Jyuubei the Corpse Dealer. Moroha declines it, saying she has spent her life of bounty-hunting..

Lupin the 3rd Part 6 EP#24 Finale - What Crooks Love: Lupin and Mattea's fight is broken up by Jigen, Goemon, and Fujiko's arrival. The three demand proof that Tomoe is really Lupin's mother, so she reveals the box is located in the original safe. Lupin then reveals that he's been free of her brainwashing for a while, thanks to his strong memories and bond with his crew bringing him back to his senses, and had come up with the plan to get her to reveal the box's location right after getting shot. He figures out the box, rather than containing proof of Tomoe's parentage, contains information regarding his true roots. Tomoe laughs manically, stating that she will continue to use more women and methods to get Lupin to become hers, causing Mattea to snap and try to kill her, only for Lupin to shoot her first. As Tomoe lays dying, Mattea becomes further enraged due to Tomoe taking her life from her, and still intending to fight Lupin, which he agrees to. During their fight, Zenigata arrives, revealing Arianna has just regained consciousness, and after Lupin tells Mattea to decide by her own standards how she'll be a crook, she agrees and is arrested. Lupin and the crew break into the safe to receive the box, only to barely survive one last death trap from Tomoe. He realizes the box was on her the entire time, and after reclaiming it and burning down the house, he throws it into the fire, deciding that his present with everyone is more important than learning his roots. Later, Mercedes breaks out of prison, no longer caring about surpassing Lupin, and Zenigata resumes his chase with Lupin and his crew.

[yuribrd]

A timeline of Yuri Leclerc, up to his enrollment in the Officer’s Academy, consisting of both canon and headcanon dates and events.

He’s born, 1160. (It’s theorized his birth name could be Regulus, but he will be referred to as Yuri throughout below.)

At around seven or eight years old, his mother takes in a struggling old man. She and Yuri nurse him back to health and help him with his needs thereafter. The three of them bonded through his stay, especially he and Yuri, as they would spend a lot of time together while his mother was out making ends meet. The elder taught Yuri to read and write, and Yuri was happy to help the elder with anything he needed. Over time, Yuri would come to see the elder as something of a teacher and grandfather figure.

A little over a year later, an outbreak of the plague sweeps through his hometown. A lot of people catch it, and almost all of those who do die. Yuri is among those who catch it, and having no access to a doctor, or the means to pay for one anyway, he gets very sick very quickly, with an almost certain death imminent. Then, when it’s clear Yuri won’t be getting better, the elder treats him, his methods entirely mysterious, and Yuri recovers. The elder dies shortly after.

Once the outbreak begins dying out, having taken much of the town with it, the remaining people get back to living as best they can. Yuri’s mother moves the two of them to a nearby town where they continue struggling to get by. It’s here that Yuri makes new friends his age and in similar situations, and with a population that hasn’t been almost entirely wiped out, the young ones begin getting creative with how they use that population to get by.

Yuri becomes a part of what he would call a gang (they’re a bunch of street kids doing petty crime together with varying degrees of proficiency from member to member), and with high intelligence and the naivety of a kid, and very little actual adult guidance, Yuri is quick to believe he’s ready to set out and do bigger crimes with better payout. His mother protests, but he does not listen.

And, true to his goals, he begins roaming around the Adrestian Empire, committing higher-stakes crimes. Mostly frauds, scams, and burglaries, but anything he can use his charm, intelligence, and dexterity to do well is on the table as an option, as far as he’s concerned. Frequently, he has portions of his earnings sent back to his mother.

Some time in the year 1172, Yuri is hired out as an assassin. His target is the young Bernadetta von Varley. He sets out and is able to become the assistant to their gardener to get close. Unfortunately, finding a true friend (something he hasn’t had since he set out from home) in Bernadetta, when the time comes to kill her, he can’t bring himself to do it. He is, however, caught in the act of trying to go through with it by Count Varley, and he’s taken and very nearly beaten to death for it. In fairness to all involved, it did look like he was about to kill a young girl, and it’s very likely they intentionally stopped short of actually killing him due to him also being so young.

After he recovered, he continued roving about the Empire for a little while, carrying on very much as he had, though never taking another assassination job as a kid. Soon enough though, he heads back to Faerghus, to visit his mother for the first time since he’d left. He, of course, expects her to be angry with him, but she cries and embraces him when she sees him. Yuri promises himself then that he’ll not abandon her like that again, and that he’ll make sure she can live more comfortably when he’s not there.

When he sets off again, his mother wishes he wouldn’t go, but Yuri promises to visit more frequently, and they part on better terms than they did the first time.

By the year 1174, Yuri is able to use (stolen) old records of family lineage to cherry-pick a distant and isolated Rowe relative (descended from a female relative who married into a Leclerc family) who had, naturally, tragically died in a plagued village, along with his other parent, when he was just a child. He’s able to convince Count Rowe of this, and that he’s worth being brought in as his adoptee. It’s at this time that Yuri actually takes the name Yuri. From there, he leverages his new position for all manner of new advantages in life.

From there, in year 1176, Yuri is able to be enrolled in the Officer’s Academy, where he learns he is in possession of the Crest of Aubin, and that he is the only one who is.