#this has spoilers for the rest of the game too - not just the first third

[taylorman2274]

We Care About You

For the past couple of days, you've been sacrificing sleep to spend more time playing Genshin. The people of Teyvat take notice and do not approve.

Content Warning(s): Liyue Archon Quest Spoilers

Notes: SAGAU; GN!Reader; First Story; Inexperienced Writer

Word Count: 1.5k

Previous || Next

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You honestly should've seen it coming.

There were too many hints that told you what was about to happen, but you either didn't notice them or ignored them entirely.

Now you're about to fall into unconsciousness against your will, all because someone within Teyvat cared about your well-being.

"How is this even possible?" you pondered before you finally fell into sweet unconsciousness.

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The first hint happened so quick you almost missed it.

You were a couple of minutes removed from logging into the game and had just started working on your second of four daily commissions.

As you were teleporting to Dadaupa Gorge to help Wyatt look for his key, you noticed an unusual message on the loading screen.

Sleep

When night falls, make sure that you get plenty of rest!

You were lucky that you were a fast reader or else you wouldn't have been able to read that message in time.

At first, you didn't know what to think of it. Sure, Hoyoverse could've easily added it into the game, but you didn't see them ever doing such a thing. Additionally, you've never seen anyone else experience this message before.

"Probably something new," you guessed before gliding on down to speak with Wyatt.

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The second hint was a bit more noticeable than the first.

After completing Wyatt's commission, you were on your way to Falcon Coast to defeat some hilichurls. It was approaching nighttime in Teyvat when Paimon suddenly said:

"It's getting pretty late. Paimon thinks that we should go to bed soon."

You stopped gliding forward for a brief moment in slight surprise. It only took a few seconds for you to snap back to reality before pausing the game to save what airtime you had left.

"I can see a new line of text being possible, but a new voice line?" you contemplated. Like the last hint, you really didn't know what to think of it. If it was only one new voice line that got added into the game, you guess you shouldn't see that as a big surprise.

"Today has certainly been weird," you added before unpausing the game.

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It wasn't until the third hint that you started to think that something was wrong.

After defeating the two waves of hilichurls, your last commission had you beat up some cryo slimes near the Dawn Winery. You teleported to the Anemo Archon statue, grabbed a couple of Windwheel Asters, and began to glide down to the water.

However, just as you were about to pass the Dawn Winery, you began to hear a sweet melody coming from the building. This wasn't the theme you were used to hearing when you were near the Dawn Winery, so being the curious person you were, you took a quick detour to the building.

As you approached the building, the melody began increasing in volume. Furthermore, as you moved your camera you noticed the sound gradually shifting volume in-between your right and left ears.

"Wait, this isn't just a soundtrack? Someone's actually playing this?" you questioned, speaking aloud for the first time. You rarely speak your thoughts aloud, finding such an action to be awkward, but you felt that the situation warranted such a reaction out of you.

After a bit of wandering and camera movement, you pinpointed the source of the sound coming from the roof. Starting from the front of the building, you climbed up the wall and onto the balcony. You moved the camera around, trying to see if you could get a better view of the roof, and after a while, you found the source of the melody.

Venti the bard was currently straddling the roof beam with his back against the spire right near where the Anemoculus used to be. He had his eyes closed as he was playing the soothing melody on his lyre. If he noticed you, he took no note of it as he continued to play.

"Okay, now things are getting weird," you began to monologue to yourself. "I can somewhat explain a new loading screen message and a new voice line, but a new audio played by a character who is never supposed to be seen outside of archon quests and events? A change as big as this would've surely been advertised by Hoyoverse on social media, right? So why does it feel like I'm the first person to have discovered this? Do I consider this to be a bug or a glitch?"

However, as you continued to think to yourself, Venti continued to play his melody. As the melody dragged on and on, you began to yawn and feel your eyes growing heavy.

"Hold on. Is this melody...making me sleepy?”

Music notes began to fade in and out as they floated from Venti's lyre to your player character.

"I can't fall asleep just yet! I still need to finish my commissions!" you proclaimed before leaping off the balcony and continuing your way down to the beach. "Ooh! I also may need to travel to some domains and farm for materials."

You missed the fourth hint while you jogged away from the winery. Had you looked back at Venti, you would have noticed that he stopped playing the melody before sighing with a slight frown on his face.

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After completing all of your dailies, you decided to take a change of scenery and meet up with Liyue Katherine.

"I still need to go to Wanmin Restaurant and trigger that Beetle event. Plus, the crafting table is just around the corner for me to craft some Condensed Resin!"

You were too distracted by the crafting table to notice the fifth hint of the day. Had you kept your eye at Third-Round Knockout, you would've noticed the former Geo Archon getting up from his table and walking over to you.

Having finished crafting your Condensed Resin, you began to head over to Wanmin Restaurant. But before you could...

"Traveler! A quick moment of your time, please."

Startled by the sudden attention, you flicked your camera behind you to find Zhongli approaching your player character.

"It has been a while since we last had a chat. I was hoping you would accompany me while I head to Wangsheng Funeral Parlor to retire for the night. We can catch up with each other while we walk."

Too many thoughts were running through your head for you to give a proper response, not that any prompt showed up anyway. Zhongli took your inactivity as a sign of acceptance.

"Good. Let us be on our way then."

Zhongli started to walk past you, which didn't help your thoughts at all.

When his feet hit the ground, there was no visible space between the sole of his shoes and the ground. You never saw any of his clothes clip through any part of his body. In fact, you swear you saw a few wrinkles.

"Everything about him is too detailed. The walking animation, the clothes, the collision, the hitboxes; there is no way in hell everything should be so... fluid."

You started to think whether or not you should go through with his request. However, before you could make a decision, the game decided to make one for you.

The Traveler moved... but your hands were off the keyboard.

"WOAH Woah Woah woah..." You repeated as you backed your chair away from the computer. Now you were starting to think that your game was broken. You quickly scooched your chair back closer to your computer and were about to Alt+F4 outta there before...

"I would refrain from doing that."

You stopped what you were doing and looked up at the screen. Did you miss something that the Traveler did?

"As much as we all love to have you around, we know better than to have you overstay your welcome when you are clearly tired."

...That didn't sound like he was talking to the Traveler.

"I admire your persistence, but you leave me no choice, [Y/N]."

"Oh sh-."

Before you could finish your sentence, a loud buzzing sound suddenly played from your computer speaker. Almost immediately, you could feel yourself about to fade to unconsciousness. You quickly stood up and covered your ears as you tried to fight it, wondering how in the hell this sound was affecting you despite having heard it before in Sumeru. Unfortunately, the noise continued to grow louder and louder until you could no longer stand on your own two feet. You slowly slumped to the floor as the sound began to lower in volume, sensing that its job was done.

You honestly should've seen it coming.

There were too many hints that told you what was about to happen, but you either didn't notice them or ignored them entirely.

Now you're about to fall into unconsciousness against your will, all because someone within Teyvat cared about your well-being.

"How is this even possible?" you pondered before you finally fell into sweet unconsciousness.

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Author Side Notes: I know that I'm not the best writer in the world, but this idea for a SAGAU story I had continued to grow and grow until I felt like I could connect all of the plot points by myself.

If anyone is willing to rewrite or even possibly continue this story, I'm all down for it. I just wanted to see if people like this sort of scenario.

I also have more ideas for SAGAU stories if anyone wants to hear them.

[terezis]

ok here's the hot goss from the nycc taz gn panel

i don't actually know whether or not it was recorded/ if they're going to put it online so here is my summary. also if i miss anything and u were there pls feel free to chime in. spoilers obviously!!!

got eight new preview pages (four two-page spreads), not the pages on the macmillan website!!!

ok i will tell u about those pages but the main thing discussed at the panel was how they went about adapting this arc into gn form. the actual time spent in wonderland has been trimmed a lot bc they had to think about what was actually important to the narrative as they are building to story and song.

basically in planning out the suffering game they also really had to decide what the rest of the series would look like, bc whatever they include now is seeding the stuff that's going to happen later.

cam is not in this book. it was implied there's less wheel spins. rowan/ash/sterling get much less screen time

almost half of this book is lunar interlude stuff (pre and post suffering game, INCLUDING REUNION TOUR!!! no word on where it ends but they made it clear that a LOT of thought went into what to include and where to end it, and what that would mean for the next book)

ok so about those preview pages

first one was post-taakitz date with kravitz sensing a lich and the umbra staff shooting at him <3 <3 <3

i thought they were going to show us the preview pages that were on macmillan so when i saw kravitz i was so shook

second spread was magnus visiting the voidfish, which now happens right before they leave for wonderland; the whole beginning of tsg from magnus trying to talk to pringles to him kidnapping those guards to the chimera fight was cut LOL bc it never really got… addressed again in the podcast

angus comes to get him for the mission but magnus has been going Through It (outright stated, they were like. he found out he's a red robe. he would probably not be handling it well. he has eyebags now. LOL) and snaps at angus when angus presses him on what's wrong.

more angus content, he will be investigating what's going on at the bureau more (his scene w magnus ties into this)

same for lucretia! more content/ stuff for her to do

third spread was merle w his kids getting saved by the red robe, is at a carnival instead of a random street this time LOL

last one was the boys arriving just outside of wonderland

wonderland looks fuckign cool

what else… oh confirmed like eighty panels of bare ass naked magnus after he gets his body back. so i think we really are getting the full reunion tour this book???

ALSO NAKED BARRY COVERED IN SLIME. WHEN HE GETS OUT OF THE POD. CONFIRMED. CANON. LOL

omg ALSO!!! ben (editor) said he campaigned REALLY HARD to have the umbra staff break during the suffering game, freeing lup early, bc he really wanted more time with her, but griffin campaigned really hard NOT to do this, and in doing so his arguments solved a lot of other problems they had been having at the time LOL

travis is the fans' champion when the others get too edit-happy. he's the one who has a good idea of what moments are important to the readers so he's like hey… too far. don't cut that. and then they don't

justin leaves great notes and when they couldn't figure stuff out ben would often say "no it's fine justin will solve this." and he ALWAYS DID

this was news to justin

??? i think that's all the main points honestly i'm v picky about adaptations but overall i feel like these are good changes that make sense when translating the podcast to gn

that said i do hope taako still gets a washing machine dropped on him <3 do this for me carey <3

[acmelxvr]

Take A Seat, Inquisitor

Pairing: Female Lavellan x Solas

Summary: Solas finds the Inquisitor in desperate need of some relaxation in the Winter Palace. And, well, he can provide.

Genre/Tags: Explicit, Canon Compliant, POV Third Person, Spoilers for Dragon Age: Inquisition, Drunk Sex, No Penetration Though, Thigh Riding, Praise, Dirty Talk, Ear Licking, Edging, Orgasm Denial, Biting, Premature Ejaculation, Mentions of Oral Sex

Word Count: 3,900

Notes: This is my first Solas fic so be gentle pls...I also posted it on AO3, you can read it there by clicking this link if you want :3

“And that’s how I ended up hunting wyverns in the Frostbacks with only two pairs of breeches!” All the nobles and Inquisition personnel in the small circle laugh at the lord’s story, some more forced than others. The ball at the Winter Palace wanes into the early hours of the morning now with no end in sight. Although drinks and food are still being served, the massive crowd has thinned into small packs of chattering lords and ladies who would dare not make the faux pas of leaving too early.

“I think I’m going to explore the library.” Lavellan murmurs to Leliana, Josephine, and Cullen. The excuse is enough to dissuade the rest of the crowd from protesting the Inquisitor’s departure from the group, but her three advisors are unconvinced.

“Take me with you.” Cullen pleads through gritted teeth, smiling a bit too wide as he barely follows along to the conversation taking place. Josephine tuts at the Commander but simply nods at Lavellan. 

“Good idea. You might find some of the more intellectual attendees who would be interested in learning more about the Inquisition.” Josephine’s eyes twinkle at the possibilities, and the Inquisitor nods politely.

“Yes, I will most definitely be doing that.” She says flatly, causing Cullen to snort and this time earn a light kick from Leliana that could easily be passed as a stretch of the knee. As Lavellan begins to take her leave, the Spymaster grabs her arm and turns to speak over her shoulder to avoid any eavesdroppers.

“You did well tonight.” She starts. “You are a complete natural at The Game, despite the many forces working against you.” Lavellan smirks at the praise, knowing Leliana probably thought she would trip over her own two feet. “You’ve earned a respite, even just for a few hours before our work starts up again.” The last part she fully whispers, leaning in conspicuously. “For once, I will advise you to not listen to Josephine.” She smiles knowingly before dropping the Inquisitor’s arm. 

Lavellan chuckles. “You read my mind.” She takes small steps through the ballroom towards the vestibule, occasionally saying hello to people she passes. Her mind spins with the possibilities of her alliance with Empress Celene; what it means for the Inquisition, for the Dalish, for herself. The Inquisitor is still deep in thought when she looks up and realizes that her body seemed to auto-pilot her straight into the Grand Library. The guards that used to be stationed near the entrance have disappeared, gone hours ago once the threat against the Empress’s life was neutralized. She worries over this for a moment, before dropping her shoulders and taking a deep breath as she remembers Leliana’s words.

Her fingers trace over the many titles packed into the various shelves, some in languages Lavellan doesn’t even recognize. She smiles softly as she picks up a book by a professor in the Free Marches collecting Dalish songs and tales. She leans against a desk, facing away from the Grand Library entrance, while she flips through the pages and remembers a much simpler time. 

“I figured you’d be hiding in here.” The voice makes her jump, yelp, and drop the book at the same time. She quickly turns with her hand over her hidden dagger strapped to her thigh, only to sigh when Solas snorts with laughter. “The Inquisitor should not be so easily caught off guard.” He exclaims, the two flutes of champagne in each hand shaking as he chuckles to himself.

“Yes, well, forgive me if it pleases you.” She snips, then grimaces when Solas raises his eyebrows slightly at her short tone. “I’m sorry. I had finally escaped from all those people out there…I guess I got a bit caught up in what I was reading.” Her explanation is jumbled, but Solas places the two drinks on the desk before waving her off.

“Do not apologize. I’m certain you’ve had a much busier night than I. I can leave, if you wish.” He points towards one glass as an offering. Lavellan nods gratefully before grabbing the thin spine of the delicate piece and holding it close to her chest.

“Please, stay.” She says. “You’re good company.” Solas smiles and shakes his head as another laugh escapes him. He heads towards the shelf Lavellan previously occupied, now examining the tomes himself.  With his back towards Lavellan, she can’t help but take in Solas’ form. He towers over her a bit and his broad shoulders also help distinguish Solas from the Dalish elves she’s used to. Even in the alienages, Solas stands out as…bigger.

Lavellan coughs, a flush climbing her cheeks as her mind wanders to more depraved thoughts about Solas’ body. Solas was certainly free with his verbal affections, but they had only just started engaging in physical affections recently. Even then, they had only kissed. Lavellan didn’t mind waiting, of course, but it felt as though every time it developed into something more that Solas pulled away. 

Solas clears his throat, bringing the Inquisitor out of her thoughts as though he has eyes on the back of his head and can see how she’s examining him. Or maybe being a mage with a speciality in the Fade lets him read minds. Lavellan’s eyes widen as the drink begins to take hold. Can Solas read minds? She thinks, half seriously. “Inquisitor?” Solas asks.

“Yes!” He turns to fully face her as he holds a book in his hand. “Yes, sorry. Long night.” She mutters, taking another sip. She can feel Solas’s gaze on her as she redirects her vision to a different corner of the room. The shadows dance along the wall as the various candles around the room burn low. There’s a moment of silence, as though Solas is deciding to address the tension in the room. 

“I asked whether you enjoyed your time in the Winter Palace tonight.” Solas leans against the bookshelf, a sly smile gracing his face. “The way you managed to navigate the nobility, the ballroom floor, and an assassination attempt was particularly stunning.” He swirls his beverage in one hand as he flips through his chosen book. Solas’ choice of words cause Lavellan to finally bring her attention back to him. She scrutinizes him for a moment, furrowing her brow as her eyes rake over his stature from head to toe. Finally, she smiles too.

“Solas, are you drunk?” She asks. She giggles as Solas opens his mouth to give a quick retort, but closes it when he realizes he doesn’t have one. He shakes his head in slight embarrassment and drops his eyes as the Inquisitor continues to quietly laugh. “I guess I need to catch up.” Lavellan murmurs as Solas regains his footing in the conversation.

“I will admit to partaking in more drinking than I usually allow myself. All the power, intrigue, danger, sex…” He notices how Lavellan crosses her legs when he pauses. “Well, I suppose it’s nice to go unnoticed for an evening. To engage in behavior that is unbecoming of me.” Lavellan shakes her head, alleviating his fears that she thinks less of him now. “You haven’t answered my original question.” He states, placing his book back on the shelf.

“Enjoyed is not the word I would use.” She pauses, thinking deeply on her answer. “I’m glad I was able to play The Game well enough. It was almost satisfying being able to talk circles around humans.” Solas nods ruefully, staying silent. “But I was on edge the entire time. Constantly waiting for something to go wrong. And when the Grand Duchess was dragged away…” She trails off. 

“Power can be suffocating, sometimes.” Solas finishes Lavellan’s thought. They’ve both finished their drinks at this point, the flush on Lavellan’s face indicating that she’s just as tipsy as Solas is. “There are times when a decision needs to be made. Even the correct choice is never an easy one.” Solas’s expression turns serious, and Lavellan cocks her head.

“So you think I made the right choice? Going with Empress Celene?” She asks. The candles in the Library have dimmed even further as the moon creeps higher above Halamshiral. Solas tilts his head back against the fine wooden shelf, crossing his arms and looking down at the Inquisitor.

“Is my praise necessary for you to feel at ease?” His question makes Lavellan laugh, a true laugh that comes from her stomach. It’s infectious to Solas, a smile creeping onto his face replacing the scowl he had moments before. “Briala and Celene could never have ruled together, and Gaspard is a disaster when it comes to court. In the Fade I’ve seen whole nations crumble because someone would rather force a compromise than make a real decision.” He moves towards Lavellan, all social grace completely lost, and places a hand on her shoulder. “You made a real decision, ma vhenan. They are never easy.” 

Lavellan looks up at Solas, who is only now an arm’s length away. “Ma vhenan?” She restates, teasing Solas now. “That is an odd way to pronounce ‘Inquisitor’, Solas.” Her hand creeps up to rest on top of Solas, the space between the two elves shrinking as he moves to grip her waist.

He rests his forehead against Lavellan’s, rubbing her shoulder with his thumb adoringly. “You looked breathtaking tonight. You were magnificent, awe-inspiring. You’ll forgive me if I drop your title. I couldn’t bear to hide how I feel for you any longer.” He pulls back momentarily to kiss the top of her head, one hand moving to the small of her back. She leans into his touch, and for some minutes the pair is silent, their embrace only betrayed by the soft skitters of someone passing through the hallway.

The trance is broken as Lavellan gives a soft push to Solas. “I should head back now. There are people probably looking for me.” She groans and rolls her shoulders, her muscles tensing back as she recalls what it feels like to have a dozen pairs of eyes on you at all times. She turns to leave, but Solas captures her arm.

“You’ve played your part for the night, vhenan.” Solas pulls Lavellan flush against him, her backside against his groin. Solas forgets his inhibitions as he pulls her collar back to plant a kiss on her neck, making Lavellan gasp. Another kiss and a roll of Solas’s hips makes her groan louder, planting her hands on the desk. “Relax with me. Forget your duty, even for a moment.” Solas’ words cause a small pit of guilt to form in his heart, but it retreats when Lavellan moans again. 

“Josephine would personally see to our executions if we were caught having sex in the Winter Palace.” Lavellan’s skin is practically lit on fire with every single one of Solas’s touches, his fingertips dancing down her waist. “And I think the Orlesian nobility would die from heart attacks if they found two naked elves here.” She turns to face Solas, who stops momentarily to grin wildly, showing his sharp canines.

“I haven’t said anything about being naked.” Their faces are inches apart, both of them breathing heavily as arousal sits heavy in their stomachs. “There are many things one can do to relax without being naked, if their imagination allows it.” Solas whispers in Lavellan’s ear. He pulls away and guides Lavellan to a plush couch in a dark corner, far from any immediate entrance into the library. Solas lets go of her hand and sits on the couch, spreading his legs wide. He leans back on the couch, throwing one arm over the velveteen, and pats his thigh, beckoning Lavellan to sit.

To sit on him.

Lavellan swallows as she takes the sight in. She’s imagined, dreamed of sex with Solas dozens of times, but this was something entirely new. Something she hadn’t even begun to consider, but was still enticing nonetheless. “Is this something you want?” She asks him.

“Yes.” Solas answers so quickly that Lavellan is taken aback. “Nothing would bring me more pleasure right now than to give you pleasure.” He holds out a hand for Lavellan to grab, and tugs her on top of him. “It is selfish of me to admit, but I do not kiss you the way I do solely for your benefit.” He rolls his thigh up causing Lavellan to cover her mouth as she moans. “I do it because I also enjoy it. No, enjoy is too simple of a word.” He turns his head to think while Lavellan grips his shoulders with both hands. “I relish it. Feeling you against me, with only some layers of clothing to separate us…Fenedhis, ma vhenan. You’ve undone me. I haven’t been this overcome with desire in a long time…You make it difficult to control myself.” He plants his hands on her hips. “Let me guide you. Let me show you what I mean. We can reckon with our indulgences in the morning.” 

Solas’ words have Lavellan dripping. she nods, and plants herself fully onto Solas’ thigh, moving her hands to Solas’ neck and jaw. He starts pushing her back and forth against his leg, adjusting the pressure by examining the way her face contorts just so. She moves to cover her eyes but Solas stops her. “You are so beautiful right now, vhenan. Do not think about how you might look, but focus on how you feel.” She obliges Solas and slowly drops her fingers back to his jaw. Solas notices how his words make her quicken the pace, if for a moment. “Ah, so you do need my praise to feel at ease. Very well.” 

Solas keeps one hand on Lavellan’s hips, and moves one to the back of her head, entangling his fingers in her hair and pulling her down so he can whisper to her. She gasps as he presses up into her, causing her to roll her hips on her own. Although she can’t see it, she knows Solas is smiling with pride right now. “Just like that, perfect. You are a natural at this, vhenan.” His lips move against her ear as she forms a rhythm, her moans forming a perfect harmony with Solas as he groans from the pressure building in his own sex. The slight push and pull causes him to rub against the smooth fabric, making him knit his brow in concentration to ensure he somehow doesn’t cum before she does. He can’t remember the last time he did something like this with someone else; and while he’s relieved himself plenty of times since meeting the Inquisitor, he didn’t allow himself to think their relationship would get this far.

Lavellan whines loudly when Solas grinds up against her clit, the wet patch on his thigh exciting him more than before. He pulls Lavellan so that way they’re face to face, and kisses her like it’s the first time. She heaves against him, pressing her chest against his to get a better angle. Solas groans, louder this time as Lavellan’s knee presses up against his erection. Like everything else about Solas, it’s somehow bigger than she expected. “If you keep stopping, Inquisitor, you will inflate my ego. And getting you into this position has made me prideful enough already.”

 He kisses her again, sloppily this time, the alcohol ignoring any expectations of how their first time together would go. Solas presses his tongue against Lavellan’s, his eyes rolling back at the vibration of her moans. He finds her chest with one of his palms, kneading her and finding a nipple with ease. She yelps when he pinches and rolls, her thighs beginning to shake. Lavellan’s pace has quickened to a point where her thighs burn, the strain of muscle mixing with her pleasure. She begins to chant his name, panting and whining when Solas lets go of her nipples and moves his hands to her backside, massaging Lavellan and gripping her with a strength she didn’t know he had. “Do you know how many times I’ve finished thinking of this exact situation? How I’ve dreamed of having you completely?” Lavellan shakes her head. “Thirty four times I’ve spilled myself over my own hand thinking of how beautiful you’d look like this. For the first time in my life, my dreams cannot compare to the real thing.”

Lavellan gains confidence through Solas’s words and leans forward, almost coming in for a kiss but at the last second, she moves past Solas’s lips. Instead, she focuses on his ears; she licks a long strip from his jawline to the tip of his ears, noticing how Solas shivers and making him wonder how the hell she figured that out. She laughs while still moaning and gasping for more. “I knew you were sensitive here. Had to be, because I noticed how you pulled away the first time we kissed when I went to grab you,” She moves her thumb just underneath the other ear, making Solas jump in shock and pleasure. “Here.” She finishes, returning her mouth to latch onto Solas’s helix. She licks a circle around the apex of his damned ears, running her tongue up and down the ridge before returning to his lips. “Imagine what else my mouth can do.” Her breath mixes with his as both of them pant, although Solas does close his eyes momentarily to see the picture she’s painted. 

Solas bites his lip, almost drawing blood by how close he’s come to cumming over himself. Both of them are sweating now, Lavellan’s pristine hair stuck to her forehead. “Fenedhis–” She presses her knee against Solas’ cock again as she moves her clit down onto him, “–Fuck–”, he groans loudly as her pace quickens and she begins to babble quietly in his ear. If someone had walked in on them, Solas was too preoccupied to notice.

“I’m going to–I think I’m gonna–” Solas nods approvingly while Lavellan’s release reaches its peak. Solas closes his eyes, tears forming in the corners as he pleads with himself to hold off for just a bit longer. In a final move of complete desperation and arousal, Solas latches onto Lavellan’s neck.

And bites.

Lavellan yelps and it’s what finally sends her over the edge. She cums on Solas’s thigh, stuttering and gripping onto him while he licks at the marks his teeth had left. Both of them are moaning, although Lavellan has the sense to cover her mouth. When she finally comes down from her orgasm, Solas leans back to examine his work. Lavellan looks down and breathlessly laughs. “I made a bit of a mess.” Is all she says, and Solas lifts her momentarily to examine her handiwork.

Solas’s thigh is so soaked that Lavellan’s juices had even begun to pool next to Solas in those final moments. He smiles softly and pats Lavellan approvingly. “It is an easy enough task to warm my hands and dry my clothes, as I have done before. Do not worry.” Lavellan moves to get up off of Solas and onto her knees in front of him, but he stops her. “As much as the thought entices me, and believe me when I say it does, I’ve stolen enough of your time tonight.” She crinkles her brow in confusion, and gestures towards Solas’s groin where his erection is clearly visible, and pre-cum has even started leaking through his trousers. 

“Ah.” He says, and while he does entertain the thought longer than he should have, he still shakes his head. “This was for you, not for me. And besides,” He stands up and kisses Lavellan. “I can’t imagine there won’t be more opportunities for me to catch up.” Lavellan snorts, giving another kiss to Solas before smoothing down her attire and hair. 

“How do I look?” She asked sarcastically.

“Magnificent.” Solas responds, moving closer to brush her hair with his fingertips. He plants a gentle kiss on her forehead. She seems to be remembering something and laughs; Solas tilts his head in a silent question.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you curse like that. I didn’t think ‘fuck’ was even in your vocabulary.” Solas’s cheeks flush red and he coughs in surprise.

“Yes, well…” He stammers underneath Lavellan’s stare. “You bring out a part in me I thought I put away long ago.” Solas smiles lightly. “And that part is inclined to curse, occasionally, when underneath a fascinating woman such as yourself.” This time, Solas is the one to let go. He nods towards the Library entrance, and Lavellan sighs before squeezing his hand and stepping quietly into the hallway. He waits until he can no longer hear her footsteps before sitting down and throwing his head back against the couch. The late hour and sudden physical activity has him utterly spent.

The elf looks down, his cock practically bursting against his leg and begging to be taken care of. “I’m not that depraved.” He murmurs. Solas’s eyes close, and while he tries to think of more important matters, he can’t remove the image of Lavellan on top of him from his mind. The way she bounced on his lap, how her mouth felt against him, makes Solas bite his knuckles to hold back a moan. How she jittered when he marked her, claiming the Inquisitor all for himself as her neck bloomed with purple splotches from his sharp teeth and how quickly her release came from an action that felt as natural to Solas as blinking. Solas breathes in, then out through his nose, attempting to bring himself back to reality, but he can’t help but recall the offer she left on the table before Lavellan took her leave. Her lips would look so pretty wrapped around him, gagging and moaning as she would try to take him all the way, his tip hitting the back of her throat—

Solas jolts suddenly as his orgasm hits him like a slap against the face, the dark stain of cum now spreading down his thigh. Solas bites down hard on his palm, unable to fully hold his voice back as the smallest movement against his trousers prolongs his release even further. When the immense pleasure finally subsides, Solas opens one eye hesitantly to assess the damage. He groans into his hands, a conjured flame able to dry his clothes but not the Orlesian, and definitely expensive, couch.

It’s hours later when the morning sun rises over Halamshiral that the Inquisition takes their leave. Solas blearily rubs his eyes and yawns, although when he catches Lavellan’s smile he can’t help but reciprocate despite his weariness. The Iron Bull looks between the pair before laughing and slapping Solas on the shoulder. “Sleep well?” He asks simply, although Solas knows the Bull well enough to know that his questions are never simple.

“No, I had a long night.” Solas quips, eager to head back to Skyhold and be as far away from the Winter Palace as possible. The unspoken part being that he is more eager to finish what he started mere hours before.

“Yeah? Spend some time cleaning in the library?” The Iron Bull asks, looking at the way Solas and the Inquisitor blanche before guffawing loudly. As he walks away he shakes his head. “You guys are not fucking subtle.” 

[hoodreader]

nerd astrology — jujutsu kaisen (001)

hey y’all! i wanna give my personal opinions on what my favorite characters from my favorite video games, mangas/animes, & comics would be astrologically. today, i’m starting off with the students of jujutsu kaisen!!! [spoiler warning]. 💗 ima discuss some canon events of JJK. not giving away too much plot though, but just so ya know.

YUJI ITADORI — “i like a tall woman… with a nice big ass — just sayin’.”

gemini sun. pisces moon. sagittarius rising.

he’s so sociable, kind, and friendly. very concerned with others & their wellness, thus the seventh house sun. his fixation on “proper deaths” & ensuring justice. it seems like a blend of seventh house and jovial energy. he super go with the flow and adaptable. and he’s very powerful. i think he also love to laugh. even when aoi todo was beating the fuck out of him, he still humored his question when asked. he can be really philosophical / thoughtful. especially with others. he likes to think, and that’s a quality gemini, pisces, and sagittarius all share. i do also see scorpio, but maybe his mars.

MEGUMI FUSHIGURO — “i don’t have a preference. as long as she has unshakable character, i won’t ask for more.”

scorpio sun & moon. capricorn rising.

that resting bitch face say earth. the capricorn rising in particular is because he had to grow up wayyy too fast. his pappy was incompetent. but he very aloof & calculated (calculation is ruled by capricorn!). i was thinking he could be a virgo rising, but he lack the neuroticness of a mutable. allat scorpio & capricorn would make sense considering his technique is shadows, though. he is very compassionate & concerned with “the right thing” as well though, which explains the sun conj moon in the eleventh house.

NOBARA KUGISAKI — “if hell froze over and danced the lambada, still no.”

sagittarius sun. aries moon. taurus rising.

loud, brush, aggressive, etc. i find this quality is most people who have a combination of aries & taurus in their charts. the impulsive aries & stubborn taurus create someone with a mixture of that head-butting energy. her personality is big too. can be a bit blunt, as i notice with a lot of sagittarius placements. but the girl can fight. that’s for sure. and she’s pretty smart / calculated.

MAKI ZENIN — “if i stayed there [at the bottom], i would’ve hated myself.”

scorpio sun. capricorn moon. aquarius rising.

i feel she is so saturnian in how her family rejected her. a lot of saturnians are forced into independence at a young age. that detriment moon does a lot in her family ostracizing her. still, she’s insanely disciplined. she had no cursed energy (energy is solar in nature, & saturn is the sun’s detriment) but she compensates for that just how raw she is with practical combat. i think her tenth house scorpio sun would make sense also in how she presents herself — kinda hard and unapproachable, but really she’s just complicated.

TOGE INUMAKI — “fish flakes…”

pisces sun & moon. capricorn rising.

he so weird, & that’s why i luv his character sm. anyways. that calm presence he got in social situations… i feel could be a saturnian ascendant. i could see aquarius, but i couldn’t see a third house in aries for him. which is why i opted for capricorn. instead, he would have a saturnian second house & a jovial third house, which can show his restricted speech but the large impact of his words. i could also see pisces ascendant but i’m not sure about a first house sun, i’d guess first house moon before that. he’s not aggressive, but he gon do what he got to for his friends. giving third house moon. also. the fact that he chooses to communicate with food ingredients is the most third house moon thing ever, and the fact nobody (aside from his circle) understands is the most piscean third house thing ever.

PANDA — “the answer’s obviously pandas!”

taurus sun. pisces moon. libra rising.

a sweetheart and a voice of reason. he’s really laid back & chill, which is super venutian to me. i think there’s a major focus on harmony for him. but again, just ‘cuz he venutian don’t mean he bitchmade. the way he fucked mechamaru up was insane. i chalk it up to his eighth house taurus sun. i think people forget that taurus (the bull) can be aggressive if they want to. other than that though, he’s adaptable and really just wanna avoid unnecessary fall out. he will take it there if y’all want to though.

some of these i have mixed feelings about. but whatever. i’m gonna start reading the manga soon, so as i get better acquainted with the characters, my opinion might change.

thanks for reading!

[wildesqdreams]

midnight drop

pairing - grayson hawthorne x reader.

summary - a late-night swim in the swimming pool after the shocking will reading doesn't help grayson cool down, but it's a good thing that his girlfriend is there to help.

warnings - spoilers from the book "inheritance games", shirtless grayson + kissing.

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a/n: my first grayson fic has finally arrived, yeyeyeyeye :)) i also have to read the third book, but i don't want to, because I don't want the series to end.

y/n sat on the edge of the swimming pool. the sky was dark, but not pitch black, because the stars were visible. even though the girl felt at peace, she felt slight waves crash against her legs, making her lip corners lift.

the reason she was out at midnight was because of her boyfriend. grayson hawthorne. her eyes followed his figure in the water.

swimming laps was his way to relax. to clear his mind. but it was visible that he couldn't get the shocking news from today out of his mind.

even though he wouldn't admit it, y/n knew he was quite upset. she could tell by his tensed muscles and by the tone of his voice, as he spoke, filling in the silence.

the fortune that he should have inherited from his grandfather. the things that he should have gotten, for his hard work and his wasted time, were given to a random girl named, avery. and the question was - why?

why would someone leave something so meaningful to a random person? but in the hawthorne house surprises and mysteries were a normal thing, so the girl couldn't help but smile, when she heard her boyfriend, for the thousand time, talk about how the girl had seduced or manipulated him.

"what?" grayson noticed the grin on the girl's face.

"nothing."

"then what's so funny?" he slightly furrowed his eyebrows as he stopped swimming.

she just shrugged with a smile still on her face.

"y/n."

his stare was intense.

the kind of intense that made grayson stand out. that stare that made others feel threatened or powerless, but for the girl, it was like she was the only girl he could see, while the world slowly disappeared, "it just humerus me how you think that she manipulated your grandfather because he was the real mastermind."

"so funny," he stated, as he rolled his eyes.

she could feel the annoyance in his tone, which made her want to tease him even more, so she continued, "that's what i'm saying."

but for some reason his next move wasn't the one she taught it would be - him getting more frustrated - but instead grayson started swimming towards her, "mhm, yeah, really funny."

"wha- what are you doing?"

"nothing," he said calmly, with a small smile.

sensing that he was up to something, she started to take her leg out of the pool so she could get away, but before the girl could do that, y/n felt the boy's wet hand on her leg, holding her in place, "gray..."

"mhm?" his hands slowly traveled up her thighs to her waist.

"what are you planning?"

a smirk appeared on his face and she felt his hands grip her sides tighter, "i just want to laugh too."

"wait grayson-" but her words were silenced when she felt the cold water.

her clothes, face, and hair were soaked. y/n felt the coldness against her skin, hitting every nerve, that made her immediately come up from underwater.

the girl saw her boyfriend laughing and she splashed water on him, "you idiot!" but that didn't stop his laughter, "it's not funny you asshole!"

"oh, but it is," he chuckled, as he reached for her.

when she felt grayson's hand grab her side, y/n removed from his touch "don't touch me."

the boy smirked, "you mad, princess?"

"fuck off."

"that's quite hard when you're so beautiful," he reached for her side again.

"i'm wet," y/n stated in a serious tone, but when she saw the boy's eyebrows slightly lift, the girl immediately said, "not like that!"

"i didn't say anything," he pulled her closer with a grin on his face.

y/n rested her head on his shoulder, so he wouldn't see her tinted face, "i'm still mad," her hands wrapped around his waist.

"oh, really?"

the girl hummed. she felt his hand move slowly up and down her side.

"well, there's no need to be. i didn't do anything," he added.

she pulled back and stared at him, her arms remaining in their place, "oh, really?" the girl said the same words as he.

grayson gave her a small smile, before leaning in and capturing her lips in his. he grabbed the back of her thighs and lifted her, so the girl could wrap her legs around his waist.

y/n's arms wrapped around his neck, "i despise you," she murmured in the kiss.

grayson started to trail kisses down her jaw towards her neck, "we both know that's a lie, princess."

and it was because y/n y/l/n would die for him. her heart beat for him and he was her home. her safety. grayson hawthorne felt the same. that's why their love for each other was magnificent.

"well maybe now you're right," the girl murmured.

he disattached his lips from her skin and looked at her, "i'm always right," and with that, he leaned in for another kiss.

[livefromcastledracula]

Book Carmilla vs Adaptations (SPOILERS)

Here are a few 'interesting' adaptations. I like some of them for their own merits, but mostly dislike them as Carmilla adaptations for the below reasons, with some notable exceptions: Vampyr: The Dream of Allan Gray (1932 film): The first Carmilla inspired movie, although it keeps almost NOTHING from the novella except 'female vampire'. In this case, a creepy old lady rather than a charming young lesbian. This is a really moody, slow, acid trip of a film though, a treat for fans of vintage vampire film. (3/10) Hammer Karnstein Trilogy: The Vampire Lovers is the gayest and most book-accurate. Carmilla still kisses/seduces men before killing them, boo. The second one her identically-named reincarnation is blonde and has sex with / falls in love with a man booooooo. She's not in the third one at all. It's all very 70's and nowhere near queer enough, but at least we got the incomparable Ingrid Pitt in the first movie. 5/10. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust: 'Carmilla' shows up as a surprise third act villain. She's an elegant and imposing vampire queen with a castle called "Cjethe" and the Vampire King offed her previously for being A Bit Too Extra. She's... Bathory. She's Elizabeth Bathory, right down to the name of her historical castle, the elaborate gowns and the blood-bathing. Bathory in Castlevania Nocturne even looks a lot like this one. Cool scary vampire lady, but Carmilla In Name Only. 4/10 Castlevania (Games): She's fine here, but mostly just kind of a big Dracula groupie like most of the other non-Dracula vampires. Often depicting as a flying skull or mask crying bloody tears, with optional succubus-like figure reclining on top of it. Cool. Rondo of Blood has her appear together with a ninja vampire Laura with bunny ears because why the hell not. 6/10 Castlevania (Netflix show): Baddass, angry Karen. She's amazing in the first season when she's scheming against Dracula, but after that she just sort of sits on her butt sipping wine and griping about men for a whole season until Isaac storms her castle. A cool character but not a great Carmilla, because Carmilla for me is defined by how much she loves women, not how much she hates men. Still amazing voice work by Jaime Murray though and her last stand was insanely baddass. 7/10

Carmilla Web Series / Movie: My favorite adaptation. It's obviously playing waaaay fast and loose with the canon and reframing her as a charming antihero in a zany urban fantasy, but there's deep current of love for the source material, especially in the movie. Natasha Negovanlis has charisma off the charts and the Hollstein romance is adorable. This Carmilla might be a black-leather-wearing snarky millenial goth with a Canadian accent, but as the show goes on it peels back layer after layer of the romantic, poetic, wistful, world-weary immortal hinted at by the novella. This show redeems LeFanu's lovelorn villain in all the best ways. 10/10. 2019 movie / Styria movie: I still haven't seen these, have heard good things about the gothic cinematography on the most recent one but not good things about the rest of it. The trailer looked moody and pretty though, I may watch it at some point.

[gotouhitori]

Okay, so. I'm in Love with the Villainess. Watashi no Oshi wa Akuyaku Reijou. WataOshi. Whichever title you want to refer to it by.

Before reading or watching it, I wondered why the hell people were holding up this random villainess isekai light novel with an over-the-top masochist main character as a landmark yuri title. Okay sure I don't doubt there's yuri going on, but how can it be so special?

Then I watched the anime. "Huh. The series and its main character are clearly and unambiguously lesbian in a way that so many other series can't bring themselves to be. And it has the most frank discussion of queer issues I think I've ever seen in anime or related media. Yeah, I think I see now, it is a cut above." And both because I've heard the novels get into a few things a little more and because the series now has its hooks in me enough for me to want to read the novels anyway, I read the first novel. And yeah, that does add a bit.

And then I read the second novel. The latter bit of the anime does cover the first bit of the second novel, but it's mostly new territory for an anime-only or anime-first such as myself. And holy fucking shit. Spoilers under the cut.

For one thing, the anime/first novel dropped some trans hints about Yu, and that turns out to be a whole transfem allegory - which isn't unheard of by any means, but it's not especially common in a work where that isn't the main focus. And not only that, but there's an actually explicitly textual transmasc in Rae's past life, who forms part of Rae's motivation to make considerable effort and take considerable risk (up to and including treason) to make sure Yu can live as a girl - once Yu states that is what she wants, it is important to note. Random yuri villainess isekai light novel says trans rights, and will absolutely stand by it.

And then all of the stuff about class and inequality comes to a head, and remember how the game that Rae's in the world of is titled "Revolution"? Yeah. One of those happens. Various hints have been dropped about what happens, largely centred on Rae making efforts to save Claire's neck in the most literal way possible when things really go down. But holy shit does that turn out to be more effort and a much more complex endeavour than it appears at first... or for most of the time while it's going on, for that matter. Ultimately she arranges things so that while the revolution still happens (it is basically inevitable), overall loss of life and suffering is minimised, and the general situation is as good as it possibly could be. By the time the proverbial smoke clears, Rae and Claire are openly living as a couple, which is a lot more than you usually see - one of the things Rae comments on is how in per previous life, too much of the yuri she read ended with at least one of the girls either dead or winding up with a man, which annoyed her enough to write fanfic based on series she likes with unsatisfying endings to fix that. And though the game did have a yuri spinoff, the original - the events of which she was living through and manipulating - was het. The character she winds up with was never supposed to be a romanceable character to begin with.

And that's just the first two of the five novels. Living through and changing the course of an actual revolution and settling down with her partner is just 40% of the whole story. (And less if more novels get published.) I've just started the third novel, and it's certainly looking like the rest is going to be at least as much of a ride as the first two were.

This really is an outstanding series. It's Dungeon Meshi levels of "I cannot stop thinking about it" to me, which if you've seen how much I post about that, says a lot. And I haven't read even half of it yet.

[mothellie]

So I have a Life is Strange theory and I know I'm probably not saying anything that hasn't already been said before, but I feel the need to ramble about it because MMMMMMMMMMM. Major spoilers for Life is Strange and Life is Strange: Before the Storm.

My theory: Rachel had powers, too.

That's definitely been said before. I know I've seen people talk about it both on here and on other sites. When she kicks over the flaming trashcan, a HUGE gust of wind blows from behind her and turns this relatively small flame into a huge forest fire. The fire goes out when she disappears. I've seen people debate whether this is a power related to the wind, or fire itself, but I personally think that her power encompasses all of nature. Which leads me to the second part of my theory.

Not only does Rachel have powers, ones that are related to nature, but she quite literally is the storm that wipes out Arcadia Bay. And the deer that follows Max around through most of the first game, and the butterfly.

Now PLEASE hear me out on this.

Max Caulfield suddenly gains the ability to control time seemingly out of no where, conveniently right in time to save Chloe Price from being shot to her death in the Blackwell bathroom. She's also been getting premonitions of a catastrophic impending tornado seeming headed straight for Arcadia Bay. And, to top it all off, she sees a doe all around the town that seems to follow her and make direct eye contact with her on several occasions, that only disappears when her and Chloe finally locate Rachel's body. Do you wanna know where Max saw the doe in the junkyard, the very first time she's seen it outside of her foreboding nightmares about the storm? Right next to where Rachel is buried. What's in the bathroom that gives Max a convenient hiding place to witness Chloe's death so she can reverse it? The butterfly.

At each turn Max takes, there is some sort of natural occurrence or creature guiding her path, leading her not only to the clues that solve Rachel's disappearance, but also to saving Chloe's life time and time again. She's then faced with a choice: sacrifice her hometown, or sacrifice her best friend.

Despite being given a choice, it's my firm belief that Rachel wants us to sacrifice the town. The very first thing Max's power is used for is to save Chloe, which she was all but put on a leash and led to by numerous strange occurrences that all seem to link back to Rachel Amber. Rachel wants two things: for her story to be told, and for Chloe to be safe. And she knows the only way to ensure both of those things happen is through Max Caulfield, Chloe's long-term best friend since childhood. She also knows that Chloe and Arcadia Bay do not mix, and cannot coexist. If Chloe lives, Rachel will not let Arcadia Bay stand knowing all the pain this town has caused not only herself, but Chloe. If Chloe is dead, there's nothing for her to protect. And it's all up to Max to decide if Chloe is worth that sacrifice. She's gotten what she wanted for herself, for her story to be revealed. That's why the doe disappears after they find her corpse. The only thing that's left is ensuring nothing can ever hurt Chloe again, not even herself.

Once Arcadia Bay is in ruins and Chloe is safely out of town, the storm stops. Peace has been restored and Rachel can finally rest.

And, finally, my third part of this theory:

Rachel is the reason anyone in the continued Life is Strange series has powers in the first place.

Life is Strange 2 picks up a story that seems completely unconnected from the story of Rachel, Max and Chloe. It follows two completely different characters, Sean and Daniel, in a different state. Life is Strange: True Colors follows Alex Chen, also in another town. This seems like it couldn't possibly tie back to the original story but JUST YOU WAIT, DEAR READER. In LIS2, Sean and Brody quite literally have a heart to heart while overlooking the ruins of Arcadia Bay. In LIS:TC, Alex meets Steph Gingrich, a character who was featured in LIS:BTS and is canonically from Arcadia Bay. No matter how minor the connection is, each Life is Strange game up until this point has somehow referenced or tied back to the story of Rachel Amber, and by proxy the story of Max and Chloe.

Each character who gains powers have something in common, as well. They all have something, or someone, important to protect. The same way Rachel, and Max, protected Chloe. Rachel's influence is still felt throughout the United States, all because she wanted to protect all that was important to her and destroy anything that dared to underestimate her.

The true story of Life is Strange can only be told if you sacrifice Arcadia Bay, and that story didn't start with Max Caulfield. It started with Rachel Amber.

[centrally-unplanned]

I played Needy Streamer Overload, which was a lot of fun, with an asterisk. NSO is a Lifesim Management game for a batshit up-and-coming streamer, where you as her 'boyfriend' allocate her time between streaming, resting, and content inspiration/development to hit 1 million followers. The writing is very on point for actual streams culture;the topics and comments and all that are very true-to-life, while its zany edgecore presentation is hilarious. And the UI is full kino:

Vibes - and also, spoilers, not just a cutesy aesthetic, as the player is not in fact a real person so the digital viewport is ludonarratively cohesive, +1 point.

However, it also pissed me off for specific me reasons!

So, these games tend to go into two buckets. One is the engine builder - managing the lifesim is both involved and The Point of the game. You work hard to optimize and achieve the goal. The second is narrative device - the lifesim elements are more about narrative choice than challenge, and either can't be failed or are trivially cleared. You approach playing those 2 game types differently.

NSO presents itself like the former - its mechanics are pretty involved. Managing Followers, Stress, Affection, & Mental Darkness, all on a clock, while unlocking ~10 different streaming content topic progression trees, its a lot to track. Not saying its crazy hard or anything, but its what you spend your time doing. You will be asking yourself questions like "yes I could have sex with her for the third time this week to lower stress and boost affection so I can burn that affect buildup on the Sexy Stream lvl 2 to sync my highest topic bonus with my streaming streak bonus before I need to end it for a rest cycle, but I can only play that card so many times, is day 13 too early?". That is fun, and where your focus lies. On my first playthrough I tried to hit the 1 million target, barely succeeded, but burned out Ame's stats so much I got a short, pretty-much-failed ending.

So on my second playthrough I tinkered around and stumbled on a soft infinity engine, where I could push Ame's stress to the limit in the opening days to get her follower count to the point where she would unlock "follower milestone celebration" streams that I could bank, that did not increase stress but would count towards a streaming-every-day streak bonus, and never take a rest day to get that bonus insanely high. I got several million followers with low stress, low darkness, I thought I did a good job.

And I got a short, pretty-much-failed ending.

Turns out this game has 30 endings, and the lions share of the long, involved ones are from you completely fucking up. You will get a way more interesting ending if you make Ame-chan overdose on LSD and she trips her way into breaking though the illusion of the internet. You want to raise her darkness high as hell for half of them. You can found a cult, you can induce all sorts of violence against her or others, whatever you want. But the game didn't tell me!!

It instead presented me with a solid optimization puzzle, which I spent like 10 hours doing. I shouldn't have bothered! It doesn't really tell this partially for surprise, but if we are being honest its because they expect you to google it, and they expect you to watch streamers unlock 25 of them after you do 5. Which is how modern games are made, but personally I don't love relying on that. I do think games are at their best when they self-teach a player the right way to engage with it.

But I respect that some people would see the discarded scraps of a tryhard faildaughter that is Ame-chan and immediately push her into doing conspiracy theory streams while smoking weed. I am just not someone you can plunk an engine in front of and expect me not to try to tinker with it. This is 50% on me.

[thecampjuicebox]

If I might make a request: Give us the Gale epilogue that we never got. Gale cooking dinner for Tav and Tara. Given the fact that Tara hisses at Tav on their first meeting, I feel like she'd really interrogate them, and Gale would be oblivious to the tension.

Oh my GODS I adore this idea. Okay okay. Here we go, I hope you enjoy!!

Third Degree

Pairing: Tav (f) x Gale (m) x Tara (f tressym)

Rating: 18+, Minors DNI

POV: 2nd person (Reader is Tav)

Warnings: Tara being an overall nuisance, angst, FLUFF FLUFF FLUFF, game spoilers

You clasp your hands for a moment, squeezing the trembling appendages together to attempt to soothe your anxiety. A bottle of perfectly aged wine nestled between your forearm and breasts. Questioning your sudden bout of anxiety, you shake your head. It was just Gale, after all. You've shared many a meal with the wizard, shoulders touching next to the camp fire. You've shared many a night with him as well. Tangled in the weave. Your mouth waters at the memory, a familiar tingling in your core. No, what worries you now is Tara. Gale's tressym and most trusted friend. Gale spoke about her regularly. You'd met her once in Baldur's Gate, the encounter going less than well. You still remember the way she hissed at you, fangs bared in a hostile fashion. Gale didn't even seem to notice, his excitement purely on seeing the tressym so far from Waterdeep. Shaking your head, you ascend the stairs to the front door of his tower. Waterdeep is comfortably warm this time of year, a gentle breeze sweeping the soft fabric of your skirts. You scoff at yourself, peering down at the outfit you spent entirely too long at Figaro's trying to pick out. You settled on a emerald green velvet dress, adorned with gold filigree that sparkles in even the faintest of candlelight. It hugs your supple curves in all of the right ways, accentuating the roundness of your hips. Figaro gushed about how it perfectly complimented your complexion, the rest of the shop's clientele dropping what they were doing to gawk at you like you were a fine piece of art in a grand foyer.

Your pale white hair is plaited neatly, 2 thick braids hanging over your tired shoulders, a few loose strands hanging about your flushed cheeks. Gale has always loved the white shade of your hair, often comparing it to starlight. He reveled at your ancient elven roots on a regular basis, often finding comfort and pure joy in listening to your story telling, bouncing tales back and forth with Halsin at camp. You miss the comradery that traveling had to offer. Always someone to talk to. To confide in. Now, you spend your days simply reminiscing on what once was. Baldur's Gate, while bustling with life now after the city has begun to rebuild, still feels so.. desolate. Lonely. You're startled by the sudden swinging open of the front door, the brown haired Wizard leaning against the door frame, blue robes covered by a some-what messy apron. He grins in your direction, eyes scanning your frame before settling on the bottle of wine. You notice his stare, eyes narrowing and you grasp the bottle by the neck to hand it over to his eager hands.

"An Athkatlan Clarry? Impressive. Come come come, dinner is almost ready. And my gods, you look stunning."

You blush and nod once, lifting the end of your dress to move onto the final step, crossing the threshold. Taking a moment to gather your bearings, you scan the room. Books and scrolls are scattered on every open table top, not messily, but definitely in no form of organization. A few pillar candles are lit to create ambiance, the scent of whatever Gale was cooking filling the room with a delicious cloud and you tilt your head up to better inhale. You mumble a soft "mmm.." to yourself. A gentle hand rests against the small of your back and Gale gazes down at you, thumb rubbing back and forth against the velvet of your dress. You sink into his frame and drink in his familiar warmth. Gods, you've missed him. His scent. His strong chest and toned arms. His embrace. He sets the bottle of wine down on the nearest table and wraps both arms around your short body, snaking underneath your arms so you're forced to place them on his shoulders. He places the softest kiss between your eyes, making your lashes flutter at the sudden skin to skin contact, earning a comfortable sigh from you.

"I've missed you, my little piece of starlight."

You giggle quietly, tilting your head up slightly to bump your nose against his. He wiggles his nose back against yours, head turning side to side to make the tips brush ever so slightly past each other.

"Ahem."

Gale's head turns quickly towards the sound and his eyes meet with Tara's, her small wings fluttering in annoyance. He smiles up at her as she descends the spiral staircase, whiskers twitching at the new smells. You take a step away from Gale. He looks at you with confusion before Tara stops in front of you, small pink nose wiggling from side to side, assessing you. Her green eyes pierce a whole right into your skull, seemingly picking your entire being apart with a single stare. You smile nervously, raising a hand to gesture a simple wave at her. Her eyes flick to Gale and she turns around, tail swishing behind her as she walks towards the doorway of the kitchen, looking back over her shoulder to assure that Gale is going to follow her. He does. The wizard intertwines his fingers with yours and gently pulls you along with him, scooping the bottle of wine from the table he originally sat it down on.

The kitchen is swirling with the most delectable scents you've ever experienced, a mixture of herbs you can't quite pinpoint. Your palette was so used to the random assortment of foods you could find while traveling, so this was truly gourmet in your eyes. Hells, a simple lamb shank would sent your salivary glands into overdrive, had you the opportunity to obtain one. Gale saunters over to a grand brick fireplace, carefully lifting the lid of the cauldron hanging above the crackling fire and giving its contents a look. He wafts the smell up into his nose, steam swirling in translucent white tendrils into the air, his eyes nearly rolling all the way back into his skull. He places the lid back on the cauldron and mumbles an incantation, extinguishing the once roaring fire beneath the cast iron. Tara rests comfortably on a stool at the large oak table on the far side of the room, her eyes fixed on you. You tuck a piece of hair behind your pointed ear and make your way to Gale, who is now fetching plates and cutlery from the cupboard, hands carefully gripping the silver as to not smudge its shiny surface.

"Need some help, my sweet?"

Your voice trickles out like honey, making the wizard's hairs stand on end and he smiles at you, eyes twinkling.

"Gods, no. Make yourself comfortable in any seat you'd prefer. I'm sure Tara would love to get to know you better. She does love stories."

He nods his head to the side, pointing in Tara's direction and you huff quietly. With calculated steps, you find a stool across the table from Tara, eyes watching her just as she watches you. Gale turns his back to the two of you and continues on his mission to fetch the nicest dishes he can find, pulling a silver chalice from the top shelf of the cupboard and giving it a gentle shine with the corner of his apron. He hums quietly to himself. Your hands fall to your lap and you lower your gaze, picking at your fingernails.

"So.."

"Hm. So?"

Tara's tone of voice is stern, but also hushed as to not alert Gale of her intentions to absolutely interrogate you. You're not stranger to interrogations, having persuaded your way in and out of some of the most dangerous situations. This, however. This felt more difficult than any of that. Tara raises a paw to her lips, her eyes still not leaving you and she licks long, gentle strokes along the back of her paw, claws extended slightly as a warning. You clear your throat and rub your fingers over your knuckles, fidgeting with the thin gold ring Gale had given to you after the fight with the Nether Brain. You smile down at the piece of jewelry, eyes flicking to the side to watch gale from your peripherals. He continues his preparations, now filling the plates with the food he's perfected, steam clouding his little area of the kitchen now. Carefully, Gale walks to the table, setting a plate filled with assorted vegetables and a large piece of what looks to be goose down in front of you. Your nostrils perk up at the smell, saliva pooling in the back of your throat. You swallow harshly and smile up at him, ready to absolutely tear into the food, and potentially Gale for dessert. You giggle at the thought, covering your mouth with the back of your index finger to stifle the noise.

"Thank you, my love. It looks delicious."

Gale beams at your compliment. You love the way his eyes light up when anyone compliments him, for literally anything. Back at camp, you relished telling him how nice his hair looked, or how neatly he had trimmed his beard, or how his ideas were good ones, even then they absolutely weren't. You'd do just about anything to see that man smile. Tara tuts and waits patiently for her plate to be set down in front of her, sparing the niceties before leaning down to take a bite of the perfectly crispy goose flesh. She purrs happily. Gale leaves the table momentarily and you sit, hands in your lap, waiting for him to return before even considering taking a bite of your food. It was a habit your mother instilled in you at a very young age. Returning with a chalice full of the wine you brought, he gently presses a kiss atop your head, making your cheeks flush at the simple gesture of love. He sits on the stool beside you and claps his hands once in excitement, rubbing them together quickly before lifting his fork and digging in. You do the same, lifting the silver utensil carefully, stabbing the prongs of the fork into the impossibly tender piece of goose breast. You earn a small piece and quickly lift it to your mouth, the flavor setting your taste buds ablaze. You close your eyes and chew slowly, a quiet "mm.." rumbling in your chest and you swallow.

"Gale this is.. incredible. Truly."

His cheeks flush and he nods, working through chewing the too-large bite of potato he shoved into his mouth. Tara silently laps at the remnants of goose on her plate, already finished since she didn't have the decency to wait for Gale to join the table. Gale points his fork in Tara's direction, mouth still full of food and he speaks in jumbled words.

"So, I assume the two of you have gotten acquainted, yes?"

Tara and you exchange glances, you breaking eye contact first to set your fork down beside your plate, lifting the chalice to quickly take a nervous swig of whine, the alcohol deliciously burning the back of your throat once you swallow.

"Hm, I suppose so, yes. Tav seems.. Lovely."

Her last word stings a bit and you know full well she doesn't mean it. Gale nods happily, shoving a baby carrot into his cheek. You set your chalice down and reach a hand under the table, placing it on Gale's happily bouncing thigh. The bouncing stops abruptly, his facial expression not changing, but he's painfully aware of your hand, leaning in to your touch. You rub soothing circles over top of his trousers, humming quietly to yourself.

"So, hm, Tav. Gale has gone on and on and on about the two of you being engaged. You must be so excited. Will you be staying in Baldur's Gate after the wedding, since out tower is just.. Oh so cramped already. I'm sure you plan to spend so much gold on this wedding, hm? Gale is nothing short of extravagant. You should hold the ceremony in Mystra's temple."

Gale shoots Tara a perplexed look, chuckling to himself after he swallows his thoroughly chewed bite of food. Tara blinks innocently, flashing a single fang at you and she places a paw on the table, claws extended. You grit your teeth at the mention of Mystra, blinking down at your lap.

"Tara, my dear. Tav will be living with us. She will be my wife, after all. There's plenty of room in my bed, just for her. And we will speak about wedding plans when Tav is ready. Lots of preparations are to be made."

He reaches down to the hand resting on his thigh, giving it a loving squeeze. You grin and tilt your head sideways, resting it against his bicep for a moment before pulling your hand away to resume eating. You take small bites of food, chewing each one with ease before swallowing, little happy groans following at the taste. You chase the final bite of food with more wine. Tara straightens up, wings fluttering against her back at the new position and her tail swishes a few times before settling beside her on the stool.

"And.. Children? I assume you'll be having children? How many, do you think? It's obvious you can't keep your hands off of each other anyways, it's only a matter of time. Gods, I do wonder what they'll be like. Hopefully they all look like Gale, him having the superior genes and all."

You cough, covering your mouth carefully with your hand. Gale's eyes widen and he raises his hands quickly.

"Now now, let's not be hasty. Children will come in due time, yes. Much.. Much further down the road. Entirely too much to do and experience now."

Tara smirks at you, clearly sensing how uncomfortable you are. You squirm in your seat and reach for the chalice to finish off your wine, a warm buzz traveling up your spine and into the back of your neck, your chest turning a light crimson. The tressym hops down from her stool, a small yawn followed by a "mew" leaving her mouth. She rubs her side against your leg, covering you in her scent and some of her fur. She takes a seat on the floor beside Gale and purrs quietly, waiting for him to reach down and pet her head. He obliges, scratching behind her small ears. With a flick of her tail, Tara turns and leaves the room. You sigh in relief, placing your elbows on the table and your face in your hands. Gale lifts his chalice and takes a sip, savoring the sweet taste of the wine before smiling at you, absolutely clueless of what just unfolding directly in front of him at dinner.

"She seems to be really fond of you!"

[maxisanangrywell]

Review & Rant Concerning MW3 Reboot

**This has Spoilers for MW3. If you have not played the full game and care about spoilers, please do not read.**

To preface this, hi!! I'm Max is a Well, and I am a writer. I have not published any novels, but I do have one in the works. I have written for plenty of people, including some pretty big fanfiction authors [past tense] (not as impressive as most, but I quite enjoyed it), and I have written my fair share of fan artworks, and then a few half published WIPs are floating around the internet somewhere. I've been writing since I was like, 12 years old. I've done it for the better part of my life now, and I've turned some heads with my writing. If circumstances were better where I could pursue this passion for full-time, I'd probably be really well off by now. All this to say, I'm very much someone who knows a lot about writing, story pacing, emotions dramatics and the whole 9 yards.

I love playing games and immersing myself within what's happening in game, and I got that feeling from MW1 & 2, but 3 was just, a little rough feeling. I can't quite explain it, but it just didn't have the same vibe as the first or second. I enjoyed the narrative although, again really rough story telling. (You're gonna get that in games like this that are essentially propaganda for a certain cause or organization, so I disregard most of it. It's the "look this is cool guys! You wanna do this," kind of thing.)

Then, Price didn't let Soap kill Makarov. Standing from a narrative point of view, we were told this guy 1, is extremely dangerous extremist, and threatening to bring WW3 onto humanity. 2, Brass is worried about this, and if they're worried about it, than we need to be too. (This solidifies that the man is a genuine threat, and that he needs to be treated as such. Often this means, a straight up get rid of this guy.) 3, Price and the 141 have some history with Makarov. Then, to build off this, in the previous game, MW2, we literally were on a to-kill mission for Hassan. So if Makarov is an even bigger threat than Hassan, (and Hassan had MISSILES), then, shouldn't we have killed Makarov when given the chance?

Also to build off this, they are all within the SAS, or have passed SAS selection. They are, narratively speaking, the best of the best within their specific branch. They are more than well trained and specialists when it comes to Counter-Terrorism, which with that would come with knowing things like how to properly debilitate your enemy, knock them out, etc. They would have had done interrogations to get specific information and you can't just bring someone awake to a location to be interrogated. You would have to knock them out or debilitate them prior before moving. Yet, they didn't do any of that. Just, knocked his ass to the ground after a stab to the shoulder.

None of it past a certain point makes any sense narratively, and me as a writer is so fucking pissed. They made Makarov a fucking badass and BBEG for the century, yet they kill off arguably one of the best liked characters? Especially after Neil did so much advertising for the fans and even doing the corny Christmas thing that was all over COD TikTok for a few good weeks afterwards. People were going WILD over the Scot, and Ghost.

One thing you learn pretty quickly when creating content, whether it be games, art, comics, novels, etc... is that you got to feed your fanbase from time to time. You give them an inch, and you'll get a mile. No one needed to die within the third game, especially when it felt so rushed. If they really needed the suspense, then they could have easily injured Soap, and kept us wondering if he was alive, and then revealed him okay within the fourth installment. That would have made people buy the game just to see if their favorite was still around, and who knows, maybe they'd actually enjoy the story and decide to play the rest of the game.

What really pissed me off other than the weird pacing of the stretch of the game is the way they reacted to Soap's death. Now, they didn't have to be horribly torn up at it like Price in the original series, in fact, that would be horribly unrealistic. My mother is a hospice nurse, so she's gotten close to a lot of patients that have passed. Some being really traumatic and saddening ways. She can't cry anymore, but she does grieve, and she grieves hard when it's a patient she's had for a while and gotten close to. You can't look me in the eyes, and tell me these three men who have just spent a year and some change chasing down Hassan, and now Makarov, wouldn't show no emotion when it came to one of their own dying?

Soldiers are friends but more. There's a whole reason there's the saying "brothers in arms" exists. They go through hell and back together, they definitely did in Las Almas, and during Chicago in the second game. So to have barely 2 minutes worth of a cutscene to pay homage to a character that they all bonded so deeply with? I genuinely thought people were seriously joking about it, and then I saw it with my own two eyes and I'm appalled on how they thought that was a good send off both emotionally and narratively. It did nothing. It didn't comfort you, it didn't sound like they were grieving too terribly, it was just, flat. Monotonous. There was hardly any emotion in the lines, and the guys didn't have to be crying, but at least put some emotion in it.

Ghost and Gaz arguably in the reboot are the closest to Soap, so some sort of emotion, like Ghost being just a little choked up on his "Rest in Peace, Johnny" would have been just top tier. You would have been able to gauge so much off of that, and it would have fed the Ghost and Soap fangirls so much. (I know some COD players don't like to hear that, but the fandom shifting is a normal thing to happen, and the new people within the fandom are buying the games to play them just to understand the story and that is absolutely helping the studio and the games preform better. To put it simply, they are now also apart of the integral part of keeping COD alive and well.) Or, Gaz instead of just saying the most generic army farewell thing in the world, instead make a personal promise to bring Makarov to his knees himself. Again, it would gauge so much with his character, how he's feeling, what this death is doing to him, and what his personal goals are moving forwards.

They absolutely, from a narrative position could have done so much better. There are always going to be bugs and glitches in games, especially shooters, but the thing that draws people in and keeps them coming back, is the story and the characters. At the end of the day, this was not only a horrible story decision, but also is probably going to hurt them a lot when concerning the next game release. The newer crowd hardly has a reason to come back to see the new game. If Soap, a beloved character was treated this way, how are they going to treat Price, Gaz or Ghost if they die? I'm incredibly disappointed, they had an amazing story, amazing VA's, amazing graphics and design. The COD fandom was seriously getting a much needed breath of fresh air, new life was coming in, and they just tossed everything out the window.

TL;DR:: As a writer, the decision to kill off Soap was extremely horrible from both a monetary and narrative standpoint. It didn't move the story forwards, create any friction, and he didn't even have a decent send off. This is probably going to kill the new growth the COD fandom was experiencing, which in turn is definitely going to hit the studio's pockets. How much is yet to be seen, but I've seen a lot of new-blood say they weren't satisfied and aren't looking at purchasing the next game. Me included.

[lewkwoodnco]

August (Lockwood x reader)

A/N: inspired by the tsitp version of august (which you can listen to here on Spotify) but also works for the regular version of August too! Spoilers for the ending of the third book of the series! Angst, but not in a depressing way ish? Idk (wc: 1.3k) read the sequel here

The first few nights after were the hardest. The image of that Changer who took the shape of Lockwood with a hole blasted through his chest was burned into her retinas. The Changer had threatened her, or warned her, that it had been her doing, and it was only a matter of time before it actually happened. The guilt sat in her stomach for six days, cementing her to her bed, barely coming down to eat or drink, but on the sixth day she was as well as she could be. She didn’t have a renewed sense of vigour or sudden clarity in her life’s purpose, but she had something that occupied her well enough.

The four them were going for a small trip to the seaside where they had rented a cosy house by the beach, for a little break after one of the toughest cases they had in a while. Lucy was still feeling loopy from the Poltergeist and George had been a little quieter than usual. Lockwood…she couldn’t bring herself to look at him, or think too long about him, before slipping into despair. If Lockwood had noticed her distance from him, he showed no sign of it, not that she would have noticed. Except for the fact that even in times like now, she couldn’t help but notice every little detail about him. Whatever it was, a bit of fresh air was exactly what they needed to lift their spirits, so she decided to wait until the end of their trip to tell them.

And so they left for their weekend getaway. The air was pleasantly balmy and the warmth melted the last vestiges of cold trapped in their bones. It was so peaceful, and bright, with a sea of possibility stretched out ahead of them. For the next day-and-a-half, she ate, drank, swam and laughed just as hard as the rest of them. There was no reason to dampen their spirits just yet. Maybe she wouldn’t even have to tell them.

Of all their games and activities her favourite by far was just sitting on the beach, watching the foamy waves roll in. She could feel the freedom in the best of the seagulls wings, who called out to her, urging her toward a realm of possibilities. The sand playfully shifted around her ankles when she dug her feet in deep enough, and the wind whipped her hair with a salty sting, pushing her, propelling her, towards the rest of her life. And during sunset, an intense orange glow outlined all the cracks and crevices in them and the house, a light almost bright enough to consider life outside of Lockwood & co. That’s where Lockwood found her on Sunday evening, the night before they were supposed to leave. Lucy had somehow managed to scatter all her belongings throughout the house and George was making an upside-down pineapple cake. When she left, Lockwood had been uncharacteristically engrossed in some case report. They hadn’t talked much since Lockwood had pulled her to safety, seconds before certain death, and though she knew it was impossible for him to have seen what she did, a part of her felt embarrassed, or clumsy, to have been so careless.

The wind was quite loud in her ears, so she hadn’t noticed him until he sat down beside her. Besides his coat, most of Lockwood’s normal attire apparently doubled as beach-wear, as long as his sleeves and trousers were rolled up. She unsuccessfully tried to stand up, panickedly scrabbling at the mound she had absent-mindedly packed onto her feet, but it was too late. She awkwardly clasped her hands around her shins, staring straight into the gentle sea lapping at the shore, listening to Lockwood breathe just a tiny bit more agitated than normal.

“Hey.”

“Hi.” In her nervousness, her voice had become a little too high pitched, but she hoped the wind has swallowed up most of it anyway.

“Did you have fun?”

Did she have fun? Maybe it was the shadow of what she was about to do looming over her, but everything had somehow felt extra funny in this trip. They played Charades until they laughed themselves blue in the face, ate so many biscuits until it was too much of an effort to trudge back to the house after their picnics, and fell over each other laughing as they watched George insistently yank at the front door that was mostly rusted shut. Even as she looked at Lockwood now, eyelashes bleached by the fading daylight, she felt a peace that had nothing to do with the sea, wind, or seagulls. It was the feeling of having so little, and yet having everything she could ever dream of needing.

But she couldn’t say all that. “Yeah. Nice change of scenery.”

He smiled, and her heart thumped crazily. It was so easy to get swept up in the grim of things and forget how young she was, with her whole life ahead of her to have all these firsts - first butterflies, first crush, first love, or even just the first delusion of being in love. Before the Poltergeist, she even remembered this one quiet night in, when she was lying on her bed with her legs up the wall, staring at the ceiling and seeing all these images of Lockwood, and it wasn’t until much later that she remembered they weren’t actually anything more than friends. It just felt so natural, so easy to want and to want him, the curve of his shoulders, the curve of his face… And she only felt that way with Lockwood. He made her feel giggly and as warm as the beach, and maybe it was unprofessional, irrational and irresponsible, but he brought out the worst - and the best - of her. She would do anything for him, even if it meant breaking her heart. Even if it meant breaking his heart.

“I know you’re planning something. And I know it’s something big.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’ve been exhausted before, but not like this.”

“Like what?”

“Like your mind is somewhere else. Like you’re plotting. And I’m going to find out eventually, somehow.”

Her butterflies crumbled into nausea, and the hitch in her breath was anxious rather than coincidental. It was going so wrong so fast. She could feel her lips moving and hear the words coming out of them, but she wasn’t the one talking.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“I know I am.”

“You will find out, eventually.”

“Exactly.”

“Like right now.”

“Like - what?”

“I’m leaving Lockwood & co.”

She didn’t expect herself to sound so calm, her tone to be so even. And from the looks of it, neither did Lockwood. Maybe replaying this instant for days in her head made her more prepared than she realised. Lockwood stared at the shore, unblinking, until she began to wonder if she had really even said it at all.

“Lockwood?”

But it was too late, and he was already up and swiftly walking back to their villa. She could only walk so fast, kicking the uncomfortable wet sand off her feet, her pleas for him to slow down or wait painfully hanging in the still air. He walked into the house and went straight to his room, closing the door shut while she stood helplessly in the doorway to the kitchen.

George was just finishing up the icing on his cake and Lucy was eating some of the leftover pineapple. She didn’t see the point in keeping it from them either. George was properly put off his cake and Lucy looked like she might cry.

The air in the house was too tense to have dinner that night, and so she went to bed after giving Lucy a quick hug. As she lay on her bed, she looked out the window through the reflection on her mirror, and watched the stars come up and go down. She and her packed bags had left before the sun came up.

She only lasted a summer.

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

Till Death

[ID: The title of the story, till death, written in light green, brush-stroke letters over a photo of a blonde woman in black clothing, walking through a dense forest, facing away from the viewer. All other images are divider lines, showing four small brass bells. End ID]

Her garment covered him like a soft green blanket. It didn’t keep him warm, because there was no warmth to keep, but it made him feel a bit safer. One tiny barrier between his broken body and the teeth of the forest, but perhaps it was enough. Perhaps she was going to stay with him until it was over.

📖 Synopsis

Finnian is a wandering healer down on his luck. When one of his patients dies, the village turns against him, beating him half to death and abandoning him for thirst and scavengers to finish what they started.

Eilis lives deep in the forest, hiding from the world. When she finds him, impaled on a tree and barely alive, she can‘t leave him to his fate, even if it means upending the peaceful life she has built for herself.

As Finnian slowly recovers, days filled with quiet companionship make the prospect of him staying less daunting than either of them had expected. But he carries too many scars, and Eilis too many secrets, threatening to destroy their fragile relationship as the shadows of the past draw closer. When everything falls apart, will they save each other, or will the price be too high?

📖 About

Genre: Dark Fantasy Love Story

POV: Third person past tense, dual POV

Wordcount: 110k

Status: final_final_v2_thisone.doc

Content Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, gore and rape, including, graphic eye/hand trauma, attempted hanging, strong deathwish, insects, animal attacks, torture (whipping, strangulation, cutting, flaying, burns, broken bones), forced to watch, self-sacrifice, abusive marriage & childhood trauma

Vibes: left for dead / falling leaves / “please don’t leave me” / crows on the branches / making fire (the novel) / sweet berries / small touches / “i'm sorry” / the chiming of bells / a stubborn goat / unreliable magic / the smell of honey and milk / “don’t hurt her”

Moodboard | Playlist | Lego Finn & Eilis!! :D | Printed Version | "Advertisment" | Locket | Another Ad

AU: Forsaken - Forgiven - Forever

Custom artwork links below, contain spoilers as well as sketchy violence and gore <3

Left for Dead | Despair | Worry | Compliance | Forced to Watch | No other Way | The Wheel | Happy End

📖 Cast

Finnian

As a healer who cannot use his magic to heal, Finnian has spent the last fifteen years barely scraping by. He hates his profession, he hates people, and most of all, he hates himself. Unfortunately for him, someone else hates him just as much.

Eilis

Deep inside the forest, in a little hut with only her ducks and goats for company, Eilis is hiding from her past. She can’t trust, she can’t speak — but she also can’t turn the wounded stranger away, even if it means risking her heart.

📖 Tags

There aren’t many, because I have yet to think of a tag for the two protagonists. The only tag I am currently using is #wip: till death, for tag games and ask answers talking about this wip.

I don’t know what genre to call it — it does not quite fit the common cornerstones of Dark Fantasy, or Dark Romance, but oh boy, it definitely is dark.

It won’t be posted on Tumblr, instead arriving directly as ebook, because I am just done dealing with this site.

As of Aug 20th, the first draft is done at 110k words! Now I'll bother my friends, let it rest for a few weeks, then edit it. Fingers crossed!

It's out! Download the ebook here.

[pixelatedraindrops]

Why Yuma Kokohead is my main whump candidate🌡️ An Analysis:

(contains raincode spoilers)

So, some of you people are probably asking yourself; Why do I keep making these sickly edits of Yuma?

Okay. Allow me to present my evidence and reasoning behind this weird little obsession of mine in 3 parts. (prepare for a small essay with some spoilers)

First off; I've noticed that Yuma always holds his head like this whenever he's distressed.

I know its probably just a nod to his memory loss, but he does it

EVERY

SINGLE

TIME

Through the whole game.

Like his model is just programed to do it whenever he makes these two expressions in the sprite art.

He always looks so pale and tired... sick even.

Which is why I edited these sprites first

The model of him that’s used in an Ace Attorney fan made crossover project does this exact same gesture too.

Only he actually looks like he's in even MORE pain here.

source

And Reminder; he canonically felt sick in the first chapter of the game. Idc what the reason was, the point is it happened.

All of this might confirm that he has potential to be frail of health or may suffer from specified ailments easily.

Also... DO YOU HEAR THIS LABORED BREATHING???

Like hello? BE FR RIGHT NOW??

In the JP dub, he speaks under somewhat heavy sounding breaths when he's going through this ordeal of trying to open the door to the Infirmary (as he should) It shows how exhausted he feels or how dizzy he is just wanting, BEGGING to lay down and make the world stop spinning.

(sorry for the poor quality video lol)

This was all that was going through my mind when I first played this part of the chapter. And I nearly lost it. He was officially on my list

This part of Chapter 0 was more than enough to convince me he had the potential.

SPOILER TERRITORY⚠️

Second: Yuma usually doesn't mind admitting when he is weak or vulnerable.

Such as when he tells Fubuki that he feels like he's in pain and going to pass out after Shinigami punched him in the Ch3 ML, or telling Vivia how scared he was when he was threatening to kill him during the Ch4 Investigation, or admitting his fear and hesitation to Shinigami in Chapter 5's deserted factory. Anytime that he admits his feelings if someone asks him rather than trying to act tough. Instead of playing dumb, he admits when he feels a negative way. He's completely honest about it.

THAT IS SOME GOOD SHIT 👀

This is really good fodder for a scenario where he just confesses that he's not feeling well. Or that he's about to be sick. Or if he's in pain or injured. Or if he's having a mental breakdown. He won't shy away from it. He'll say it.

(though I did kinda make him play dumb in my own fic lol I cannot deny that there are times he also wants to be strong and/or not be a burden to others)

Third: Yuma's size. HIS TINY SIZE??? COME ON?? He may as well be a CHILD.

I know vivia is a freaking giant but STILL LOOK HOW SMALL HE IS

He is so baby despite his age being completely unknown. He could be a teenager or he could be an adult over 20. Nobody knows.

Point is regardless of that, you can see him is any kind of vulnerable situation with no doubt or worry of it being OOC. You can see him crying if he's hurting. You can see him whining about making the pain go away. You can see him wanting comfort if he has a nightmare. You can see him having a panic attack reaching out to a caretaker for support.

He can be carried or lifted up by anyone taller than him and probably be light as a feather. Seeing him cling to them like a sick or hurt kid would.

He could sit or lay on their lap. He could lean on them as they help him walk if he's hurt, or as they help him eat or drink if he's too weak to do so himself.

And he probably couldn't stop someone from forcing him down to rest if he tried due to his physical stature being unfit for combat. (or anything)

Regardless, it would ALL FIT.

Like taking care of a child.

~

Now with those 3 points out of the way, I ask you all:

How can this character NOT be easy whump bait? Don’t underestimate my imagination as a sickfic enthusiast.

HE IS LITERALLY SO WHUMPEE SHAPED AND CODED WITH THIS INFORMATION

He's a perfect victim for specifically any sort of head issue:

Be it a headache, a head injury, migraine, or what I usually continue to give to him in my edits.

A High Fever.

plus, coupled with the RAIN 24/7 SETTING?

In THIS type of scenario??

AS I KEEP SAYING; IT'S WAY TOO DAMN EASY

THIS GAME PRACTICALLY SPOON FEEDS ME ALL THIS BAIT

he's got the major potential to be the biggest sickly wet cat ever

and I love him so much for that

he's so dizzyboy coded that I want to make him SICK AS A PUPPY

Which is why I do it so much.

40 degrees? Call a freaking doctor aaaa

I'll mostly go with a high fever because they're my favorite thing in the sick whump category and easy to edit, but at the same time, he could be suffering with any sort of issue and it would seem accurate, likely or canon, so long as it involves his head.

Such as a splitting headache, immense dizziness, flash blurred vision, or even a nausea induced migraine. (heck, even all of the above, go crazy)

You may ask yourself, why?

Easy: For caretaking fluff purposes.

That's mostly why sickfics exist.

The potential fluff of him getting taken care of by the NDA (found family) Shinigami (chaotic mascot partner/sibling) Kurumi (platonic or romantic) or heck maybe even Makoto (sibling dynamic or possible ‘self-care’)

Just the thought and image of him getting taken care of in general puts a smile on my face. Its a HUGE comfort for me 💜

The potential for the found family, shipping, or sibling moments he can produce from being in this state is astronomical. And you don't see that in characters very often. He is a very rare specimen. He is Number 1 after all.

Checks literally all of my boxes on why I love illness whump and sickfics so much. He is perfect.

Sometimes sacrifices must be made to forge deeper connections. And these kinds of scenarios almost NEVER fail to be 1 of three things: tooth-rottingly wholesome, heartbreakingly angsty, or chaotically comedic. It depends on your preference. (They're mostly wholesome and sweet though.)

~

fr though.

once you find your prime whumpee you never go back

and now I know how it feels ;w; the bliss makes me feel as though I am now complete in a place where something was missing.

~

Thank you Kodaka for this adorable smol anxious purple trainee who’s actually the top dog 💜

I love him dearly🥰

Some of you may just want to see Yuma as a cool smart, competent, and badass protagonist and that's great! I completely agree! That he is.

But to me personally? He's also a soft, delicate, anxiety filled, adorable lil' wet cat who needs constant TLC, love and/or support 💊 Physically and/or mentally.

Get a character that can do both lol

That is all.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

I love this little guy so much! He means everything to me.💜 He’s just a little guy. My babygirl, my little scrunkly, my lil' blorbo, my little meow meow…

No matter how you see it;

Yuma Kokohead is a blessing✨

[honoringthehorrific]

I watched Alien: Romulus and here's what I thought!

As always friends Spoilers under the cut!...👽

Gosh first can I apologize for not being as active recently? I've seen this movie 3 times and am just now getting to writing my review! Might as well torch me now! haha. Seriously though I'd like to stay active on this blog it's just hard to find stuff to talk about sometimes when I come away from these movies. I'd like to start this off by saying this is going to be a pretty glowing review. If you haven't seen Romulus, or any of the alien movies...What the hell are you doing here??? Get out! Go see it! If for some reason you cant get out and go see it please spare yourself spoilers until you can find it on streaming! This franchise from what i've seen so far is one of my favorites. If you love sci-fi, body horror, bad ass female leads, or slimy slithering creatures in general you should really give this one a chance.

I feel like a lot of people wanna talk about this so lets get it out of the way. Rook. The artificial person we meet when things start heating up. Obviously he is a CGI rendition of Ash's actor from the first movie Ian Holm. You may be screaming at me right now about ethics. How this took a job from an actor. How technology is bad because it's going to take work from actors. I hear you. I was on the fence about this too. In truth AI replacing human workers is a topic near and dear to my heart because it's something that worries me as an artist myself. However, Reading about how Alvarez got permission from Holm's widow. How Holm felt almost blacklisted from hollywood after so many years in the sci-fi and fantasy genres. It made my opinion of this soften. If that makes you disregard my review or even me as a person I understand. I'm happy I was able to give you my thoughts and that you gave me your time. Now, The CGI of Holm's face is....not the best? His eyes and mouth move strangely if you pay too close of attention however it was something I could easily ignore as the movie progressed. Overall however with the other effects I think this movie did very well! I loved the way the facehuggers looked and moved and we even got to see up close the egg laying...tube...thing? Forgive me I'm not well versed in facehugger anatomy. The chest burster actually having to work to burrow it's way out and the xenomorph's acid just all of it felt really great! I only very recently watched the second alien movie and I intend to watch the rest of the alien sequels in the near future so don't be upset with me! However it seems like if you've only seen the first two this one will make plenty sense. I've seen people complain about the pacing being really slow and the only thing I really have to say to that is...The first two movies, at least to me, felt equally as "slow." However I wouldn't necessarily say this is a slow movie! It kept me interested each step of the way. Usually I hate watching something that feels like it's dragging it's feet so I feel like if the movie were truly a drag someone with my attention span would have noticed. On the subject of noticing things this movie has a TON of fan service and nostalgia. There's quotes from the previous films, Visual references, and even a nod to the video game Isolation! Some people really lay on a lot of flack for that kind of thing but it's been 7 years since the last alien movie so it's kind of something I expected if that makes sense? Also If it's something I love, I'm usually a sucker for fan service! Yeah some of the quotes felt kinda off in the dialogue (Personally when Andy says he prefers the term artificial person, That felt like an off moment to me? I could be nit picking but it just felt like it didn't flow with the previous dialogue.) But over all I liked easter egg hunting on my second and third watch. In terms of characters there were some misses like Navarro where I really wanted to learn more about her but we don't really get the chance. We see and learn a lot about Andy and Raine's relationship as siblings but its hard to tell what the other's relationships are to each other until they outright say or are on their deathbeds.

Overall I liked the effects, the action, the pacing and the characters. It did fall flat in some spaces but honestly I think it's one of my favorite movies of the year next to Immaculate. 4.5/5 Facehuggers!

[sarandipitywrites]

Happy WBW, Saran!

Please pretend it's Wednesday, because I just found a single spoon on the floor and am gonna use it before it's gone: So your DRDW is based on a video game I know absolutely nothing about. How much of the game did you keep? Is it the same setting, same world, or something new?

Happy WBW, Elli!

"I found a single spoon on the floor" is such a mood though (I'll get to your other asks at some point, I promise - this just looked like one I actually had the brainpower to answer lol)

The quick answer to this is that the essentials (characters, setting, magic system, some plot beats) are there, but very heavily changed and expanded upon, to the point that I don't actually think you'd need to know anything about the games to understand what's going on in DRDW. The long answer is... a lot longer lol

(Putting the rest of this under a read more for spoilers for a 20-year-old game and because infodump mode was activated)

The Jak & Daxter game series is - and i say this with all the love in my heart - completely fucking bonkers. In summary: in the first game, Daxter (a human) falls into a pool of Evil Magic (dark eco) and turns into an orange otter-weasel-thing, which sends Jak on a quest to change him back. While they don't succeed at changing Daxter back, they do find a time machine (?!) which they take into the future, where Jak is promptly arrested and subjected to magical mad science experiments and injected with dark eco (this is the start of the second game). This does not, notably, turn him into an orange otter-weasel-thing, but does give him the ability to turn into a demon (and anger issues. It also gives him anger issues). He then uses these powers to overthrow the dystopian future government and save a kid who's destined to save the world because the kid is also Jak (because Jak's originally from the future, of course). He then sends the kid back to the past to repeat the cycle.

I won't get too into the third game (except for how you find out that the otter-weasel-things are actually a race of spacefaring gods, and Daxter has technically been a god all this time because Reasons?!) because DRDW doesn't cover that, but i can assure you that it is also a trip.

DRDW was originally meant to follow the canon a lot closer than it actually does. As it stands, though, I've scrapped pretty much all the events of the first game (Daxter in DRDW does not turn into a weasel god, although he did get to keep a bit of magic-ability-worldbuilding i gave him as an explanation for why dark eco would turn him into a rodent instead of a rage monster), including the time travel.

For the setting, this means that I smashed together the settings from two different time periods into one map, as well as moving things around and adding new locations where it made sense. As far as time period goes, I went for the Jak 2 time period (a little bit of 'recovered ancient tech,' but mostly modern-futuristic tech).

Without the time travel, the kid being young Jak doesn't make sense, so his story got completely changed. A couple characters didn't have anything to do, anymore, so they've been excluded (although I'm considering bringing them in for other roles in another story). This also affected how the main characters (Jak, Daxter, and Keira) grew up a lot more significantly than I expected, so while the core of their characters is similar, there are significant differences from the canon (plus i wrote them as being more explicitly neurodivergent than they are in the games [although in the games they're already pretty heavily ND-coded, in my opinion]).

In this version, Daxter also takes a bit longer to find and rescue Jak (because. Look. You give me an excuse for prison/experiment/post-whump, I am going to run that shit as far as I can, ok) - because of this, Jak is pretty much stuck in magic demon mode. So plot-wise, there are a lot of parallels to the plot line of the first game as they try to find a way to change Jak back (but it's complicated, because of course it is).

The magic system got a total overhaul - in the game, magic (eco) is very... well, video-gamey. Green heals you, blue makes you go fast, dark turns you into a monster/orange rat, etc. I put a frankly unnecessary amount of work into figuring out what eco *is* - where it comes from, how it forms in different environments, how it interacts with people, how it's used in connection with technology, etc. Tbh I spent so much time on this part that it made me consider spinning this whole story into original fiction. But when I tried, it just Felt Wrong so I put it back 😂 Really though, I think the magic system rewrite is one of the bigger factors in making this fic actually kind of comprehensible without knowledge of the games - I'm really proud of it 😊

Thank you so much for the ask (and the chance to infodump about my favorite games and favorite project 💜)