#unpackin

[alexhwriting]

Ludonarrative Harmony and Engaged Narrative Drive: The Success of Unpacking and Inside.

IV. Gaming and Storytelling

In her book Storytelling and Video Games, Amy M. Green works through how scholars might go about unravelling the narratives present in video games. She suggests that the same approaches and tools that can be used for understanding narrative in media like film and literature can also be applied to video games, “However, digital narratives go further in that they also require the player’s investment – the player’s willingness to have as a goal ending the story with the game being well played.”[1] As simple as a statement as this is to begin this section, Green is being very specific about what it means for a game to be considered “well played.” For her project, the voluntary component of playing the game is of the utmost importance, as the player must be invested in the game to have the game treated as well played.[2] It should be clear that Green has a particular kind of player in mind, and she describes them (as well as the games they play) as being “playful,” by which she means the player must do two things: be willing to suspend disbelief for the gaming experience and thoughtfully engage with the game they play like a thoughtful reader engages with a book.[3] With these two things, the player is then in a position to play a game well and “reveal the full story and its implications.”[4]

Gameplay, in this conception then, centers completely on the interaction by the player once they have committed to the act of playing a game well. The story, and how it is enacted, becomes the story that is navigated through the game mechanics, not dissimilar to the way that a book is read by engaging with the mechanics of turning the page. Enaction, however, requires the space to act, which is where there is a balance struck between the player’s understanding of the game world as well as the intention of the creator of the game itself. Referring to this balance, Green calls the game world a negotiated space where, “the player, via his or her agency, advances through that negotiated space to both glean and help create narrative meaning.”[5] We see this tying back to the concept of ludonarrative harmony through the engagement of the player’s narrative drive to help create the story through the present game elements. For instance, let us look back to Fallout: New Vegas: the wasteland is an open environment where the player is given free rein to wander around and explore, completing the main quest and side activities as they choose. Should the player in this environment come across a burned building with various figures and objects inside for them to interact with or observe, the narrative drive will act to fill in the story of what happened in that place. Imagine a burned building in the middle of a nuclear wasteland, inside of which are an unburned mattress, a tipped over locker, and some burned schoolbooks, the arrangement of these elements is up to the developers of the game, but what they mean together is understood by the player.

In her book, Video Games Have Always Been Queer, Bonnie Ruberg addresses this variance in player temperament and engagement with a game. One example being the practice of speedrunning[6] a game, which she describes as “a metagame. . .a secondary set of game-like practices that operates according to its own rules and treats video games as raw material for new modes of play.”[7] By virtue of being a type of metagame, speedrunning does not allow for the same kind of narrative engagement that would otherwise be intended by the developers, and the practice often includes finding ways to skip the cutscenes that would play the traditional role of storytelling in games. As such, then, the very act of speedrunning exists as an example of exercised player agency on the game itself, changing the goal of a narrative from its intended conclusion towards something that’s entirely player determined. For example, in considering the game Elden Ring (FromSoftware, 2022), the route that players must take to navigate the open world[8] in a speedrun is one that seems to move antithetically to the intended progress the game has in mind, typically forcing the player into more challenging areas than they might encounter early on through the use of glitches. Keeping narrative drive in mind, this form of engagement is not necessarily without narrative, though the experience will be much more heavily curated by the player’s perspective. By making the game curated towards the player’s perspective on events, they become more invested in piecing the narrative material together in a way that promotes the experience of ludonarrative harmony.

If players taking the reins in speedrunning is one end of the negotiated spectrum, then the other would be exemplified by the kinds of games termed walking simulators. These games typically are exemplified their lack of action mechanics, such as combat or competition, in favor of more emphasis on the environment and the narrative world around the player.[9] As such, these games negotiate more in the creator’s favor, as the gameplay and the agency of the player is much more focused on navigating the specific game world to engage with the story. This type of gameplay is found more recently in the Life is Strange series, where the player is placed in the shoes of a girl with time travel powers and must navigate through her life with this in mind. The gameplay has some minor puzzles within it, though most of the action takes the form of watching the consequences of the player’s actions as they unfold throughout the episodes the game is broken up into. As such, there is more of the narrative imposed by the developers as compared to the player, shifting the interpretation of the environmental elements to the developers as text, description, and exposition become more prevalent.

Narrative as it is specifically applied to the survival horror genre[10] of video games is explored in the essay, “Storytelling in Survival Horror Videogames” by Ewan Kirkland. In his approach, these games are, “the very definition of ludic video gaming,” emphasizing that, unlike walking simulators, there are gameplay elements that must be constantly navigated to reach the end state of the game, and failure to do so results in the end of the game.[11] The narrative of these games typically appears fragmented throughout the environment, in the form of notes, letters, recordings, or photographs that exist as things left behind by the other characters – living or deceased – in the game world.[12] These objects, when combined with the narrative drive of the player and contextualized by the environment that they are found in, create the horror atmosphere.

The classic example of this, cited ad nauseum by video game scholars, would be Resident Evil (Capcom, 1996), a third-person survival horror game where the player must uncover the source of the zombies roaming the mansion and escape. The game makes heavy use of notes left behind by the mansion’s previous inhabitants, found most often on their corpses or near grisly scenes, which give extra context to what was going on at the time they met their demise. Referring back to a similar case of using these notes and elements, let us look to Life is Strange again where the player’s primary mode of engaging with the world around them is through examining objects, much like in a horror game. When examined, the character that the player controls, named Max, will often give some kind of commentary about what she thinks of the item, typically informed by its surroundings. As the player, we get both the environmental storytelling about the object, where it was found, and how, but we also get the understanding of a given object explained to us through diegetic exposition.

[1] Green, 22-23.

[2] Green, 22. This only applies to games that actually have narrative ambitions, which Green states not all games do on the very same page.

[3] Green, 20.

[4] Green, 25.

[5] Green, 37.

[6] Speedrunning is the practice of playing a game with a particular goal in mind (typically the ending credit sequence) as fast as possible by any means necessary.

[7] Ruberg, Video Games Have Always Been Queer. 193.

[8] Open world refers to a game in which the player is allowed to move freely through areas, as opposed to a closed world, where the player progresses through closed off levels that must be beaten to move on to the next area.

[9] Ruberg, 201.

[10] Survival horror games, exemplified best by the Resident Evil series of video games, are typically games that involve the player struggling to manage resources and overcome puzzles in the midst of horrific environments and monsters.

[11] Kirkland, “Storytelling in Survival Horror Videogames.” 64.

[12] Kirkland, 67.

[fat-psychward-sockgrippussy333]

I know it's hard...hard as HELL to shut the fuck up sometimes but I promise you, white queer, those black folks don't need you explaining shit. They know...just because it was said in a context you couldn't comprehend or perhaps with humor (humor that you also can't comprehend) still doesnt mean they need you to clock in for overseer 😭😭😭

Read the room! Stay out black queers conversations, it's not for you every time!

[yuukimiyas]

good mornie loves! & happy sunday funday! ٩(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )و i just had my first sleep in the new place & im feelin so ready for the day!! we still have like…sm to put away & then i can start to jazz the place up chlo style ໒꒰ྀི∩˃ ᵕ ˂∩꒱ྀི১ hehee!! i can’t WAIT to show you guys when everyth is all put together!! MWAH MWAH HAVE THE V BEST SUNDAY EVER!! ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و✧*｡

[nerdie-faerie]

Supposed to be moving out of my current flat into my summer flat and instead I'm just glaring at all the things I own

[macfrog]

greetings from austin, tx cowboy like me chapter one

alright hwfg. first part of a dbf!joel series i'm gonna be working on. i hope you guys enjoy 🤍 please feel free to send in any requests or ideas, i'm constantly writing this so would love to know your thoughts!!!! love u all thank u sm for being the best

pairing: dbf!joel x fem!reader

summary: you return to austin after graduating to find everything as it always was. well, most things...

warnings: age gap (reader is 23, joel is 48), little bit of alcohol consumption, and lotsa flirtin and allusions to...something more

word count: 2.3k

series masterlist | main masterlist | playlist

The doorbell rings and your dad jumps up. “Ain’t got no cash ready. Be right back.” He jogs off past you down the hall, but your eyes remain locked on Joel, who notices you once your dad’s gone. Or so you think. “Rude to stare, darlin’,” he tsks, bringing his beer to his lips. “Wasn’t starin’.” “No?”

Summer. Texan summer. One of the few things drawing you back halfway across the country to your hometown: bright, sunny, so hot the car bonnets burn your fingertips. It had become a running joke between you and your dad: he’d send a picture of Austin’s scorching sunshine, and you’d reply a picture of New York’s grey skies.

You were ready to come back home.

That is, until your flight landed onto saturated wet tarmac, during the rainiest month of the year. It hasn’t let up in the five days since.

You stumble off the bus into a torrential downpour and throw your hood back up, but it’s no use. By the time you arrive at work, your clothes are soaked through, your hair is plastered to your shoulders, and your mood is worse than ever.

Sal hands you a towel from the back when you walk into the office, but not before giving a hearty laugh from his desk.

“You oughta be gettin’ yourself a car, anyway, lady. Now that you’re back home.”

You give him as sincere a smile as your cheeks will allow. He’s your boss, sure, but he’s also a buddy of your dad’s. Gave you a part-time job for some extra cash when you were still at school, and has taken you back on now you’ve graduated. It’s in your best interests to keep him sweet.

The hardware store is the same as it always was. A little dim, a little dusty; same old tools and same old customers, but homely. You get to work unpacking this morning’s delivery, hauling boxes off of the trolley and filling the shelves. The day passes quickly enough, and you’re folding up empty cardboard boxes to waste the last half hour of your shift when a voice hums from behind you.

“Well, hello, darlin’.”

You stand up straight and spin around to find Joel Miller before you, trademark flannel and subtle-but-still-there smile on.

“Hey, stranger,” you reply, smiling back, before he opens his arms and pulls you in for a bear hug.

Joel Miller. Same as always: tall, rugged, handsome, dark hair and beard singed with grey, warm and sweet-smelling, grumbling, mumbling Joel. His chin rests on top of your head for a second before you pull away, and he looks you up and down.

“Been meaning to come over to see you since you got back, your dad said you were pretty busy unpackin’. Thought I’d give you a few days. Everything alright?”

“All good,” you reply with a nod. “I accumulated a lot of crap in New York.”

He smirks, shoulders jerking a little with a laugh. “Didn’t realise you’d gotten your job back in here,” he looks around, “you likin’ it?”

You shrug. “It’s money. And I know how things are run. Sal’s a good guy.”

Joel nods. “When do you get off?”

You glance down at your watch. “Five minutes.”

“You want a ride home?”

You take a deep breath and breathe out a, “Yes, please,” with a sigh. It’s been a long, damp day.

“I’ll just go grab these,” he holds up two boxes of nails, “meet you outside when you’re done, kid.”

He brushes past your shoulder heavily as he passes, something he always used to do when you were younger. You snort when he mutters, “My bad.”

Joel Miller and your dad have been best buds since, like, the eighties. Your dad has a few years on Joel, but they’re as close as can be. Grew up on the same street, saw each other through girlfriends, marriage, children, divorce. Never one without the other, all that.

Joel’s daughter, Sarah – four years your junior – is a freshman out west, somewhere in California. Another of the reasons you thought it was time to come home: your dad and Joel must feel pretty lonely having both of you gone.

When you’ve grabbed your hoodie and bag and made your way back out front, Joel’s being served by Anna, a girl you went to school with. She stayed here in Austin, has some side hustle selling makeup and perfume. She flutters her eyelashes at Joel as she rings him up. You cringe as you find place at his side.

“Ready?” he murmurs, looking down at you.

You nod.

“How’s things, anyways, Mr. Miller?” Anna asks, even as he’s turning to leave.

“Uh, good, thanks. Good luck with the…makeup.” Then he gives a low grunt and makes for the door.

“Not much of a talker,” you mutter to Anna, and flatten your lips against one another in the form of a goodbye.

Joel’s sat out front in his truck, looking down the receipt.

“Girl charged me for three boxes. If she wasn’t talkin’ so damn much about her perfumes…”

You pull your seatbelt over your shoulder. “Why don’t you go back in there and get your money back?”

“What, and subject myself to her battin’ eyelashes again? Almost blew me off my feet.”

Your head falls back against the headrest with laughter. “You know, you were the first thing she asked me about on my first shift back.”

“I bet I was, baby,” he replies, switching the ignition on and reaching an arm behind your seat as he reverses back.

You spend most of the drive home catching up, telling him about New York and listening to what antics he and your dad have gotten up to since your last visit home. It’s easy talking to Joel, easier than with your dad. He hums and grunts, lets you ramble, tells you what he thinks, then the pair of you fall back into comfortable silence until the next conversation sparks. No judgement, no lectures. Just Joel.

When you pull up in your drive, Joel casts you a meaningful look and says, “He’s really missed you, y’know. We both have.”

“You both have?”

“Sure. Gets quiet ‘round here at times. And with Sarah gone…It’ll be real nice to have you back again.”

“I’ll keep you on your toes, Miller.”

“Holdin’ you to it.”

“Joel? Hey, buddy.” Your dad’s voice breaks apart your conversation and you both turn to see him approaching from the garage. “Hi, kiddo.”

“Hey. Joel came in to get some stuff, gave me a ride home.” You hop out of the truck, and Joel wanders round to meet you.

“Well, thanks, man. You say thank you?” he asks.

You glance awkwardly at Joel, muttering a thank you like some little kid. He shakes his head softly in return, giving you a look that your dad misses, but you understand.

“C’mon inside, I was just tidying up. Stayin’ for dinner, Joel? I bet this girl’s been chewing your ear off about NYC…” Your dad’s voice fades away as he wanders back into the garage, and you and Joel begin to follow.

“Ain’t no need to thank me,” he whispers, leaning into your space.

You nod appreciatively. “My presence is thanks enough, I know.”

He nudges you toward the house.

Your dad orders in pizza and you set the table while he and Joel sit to discuss a potential new client. Joel sits at the edge of the table, turned outward to face the sliding doors, elbow hooked over the back of his chair. As you maneuver around them, placing mats down, you can’t help but note how fucking good he looks.

Tousled hair, unshaven beard. A broadness that even his own shirt can barely hold in; from where you’re standing, you can see where his neck meets his toned shoulders, skin tanned from the sun and the tiniest burst of chest hair over his collar…

The doorbell rings and your dad jumps up. “Ain’t got no cash ready. Be right back.”

He jogs off past you down the hall, but your eyes remain locked on Joel, who notices you once your dad’s gone. Or so you think.

“Rude to stare, darlin’,” he tsks, bringing his beer to his lips.

“Wasn’t starin’.”

“No?”

“Uh-uh. You got a stain on your shirt.”

His brows furrow and his head instantly snaps down to his chest. “Where?”

You snort, wandering over to put his plate on the mat. “My bad,” you whisper, leaning over, “must’ve been the light.”

Joel’s breath wavers only for a second, before your dad re-enters the room and he’s forced to compose himself.

“Alright, let’s see…Pepperoni, bleh, keep that one on that side of the table, please, and plain cheese over here.”

“See you haven’t improved Dad’s taste in pizza,” you say to Joel as you pull your chair out beside his and sit down, cross-legged.

“He – he’s immune to change,” he replies, then, only once he’s regained composure, adds, “or improvement of any kind.”

“Hey,” your dad protests, lifting a slice. “Cool it on the insults, here. You’ve been back six days,” he points a greasy finger at you, then steers it in Joel’s direction, “and you’re the one who turned down Lois last month. Talk about improvement, she could turn your life around, son.”

“Who the hell is Lois?” you ask, mouthful of pizza, aiming for chill, but coming across overly interested.

Joel shakes his head, only looking at you briefly from the corners of his eyes. “Receptionist at Clark’s Plant Hire. And I didn’t turn her down.”

“She asked you out?” Your knee brushes against his waist. He feels it; you know from the way his body tenses.

“She…said she’d like to go for a drink, sometime. I said yeah, maybe…some time.”

“Ouch. Poor Lois.”

He turns to face you now. “Don’t give me the same spiel your dad did, alright? I can decide for myself when I’m ready to be…datin’.”

“Wouldn’t he be nice with a receptionist from a plant hire on his arm?” Your dad fades into the background as you and Joel back-and-forth.

“If you don’t think you turned her down, why say you’re not ready to be dating?”

“Ha! See, my little girl,” Dad waves his slice of pizza around, “she got a degree, Joel. She’s smarter ‘n us. She’s got you on that one.”

“What is your degree in, again? Law?” Joel speaks through his teeth.

You beam back, happy to have riled him. “Film.”

“Film. My mistake. Must’ve felt like I was bein’ interrogated or som’.”

You decide to pull it back then. Enough discussing Joel’s love life – it doesn’t interest you much, not for the right reasons, anyway. The conversation shifts naturally to your degree, your graduation, and the year you spent living in the city afterward.

When most of the pizza is gone, the three of you sit idly chatting; the last Rangers game, the neighborhood barbecue coming up, the weather. Right as your dad voices concern about a job he has next week, his cell starts to ring in the living room.

As hasty and tactless as ever, he jumps up and almost knocks his chair flying. You and Joel laugh quietly as he bounds off in search for his phone.

You turn back to Joel, who’s playing with the label of his beer bottle.

“Hey.” You nudge him with your knee. He grunts in response. “Hey,” you say, clearer, this time pulling your legs up and over onto his lap. “Didn’t mean what I said about that Lois lady. I’m sure you had your reasons, and it’s none of my business. Or my dad’s.”

He stifles a laugh, sucking a breath in until his chest meets his chin. Then he lifts his head to look over to you. “Sorry I snapped. Wasn’t all serious, but I don’t want you thinkin’ I’m mad with you.”

“You can be, if you want.” You lean forward. “Just not for long, okay? It’d be a long summer with just my dad to hang with if Sarah’s gone and you ain’t talking to me.”

This time he laughs. For real. You mirror his swollen cheeks, glad to see you’ve amused him. He puts the bottle on the table and his hands fall to your ankles, where he gently rubs with his thumbs.

“When does she get home?” you ask him.

“Couple weeks. Still got finals and all that to worry about.”

You nod knowingly, muttering, “Rough.”

He gently lifts your legs from his lap and stands, towering over you, your chin inches away from his belt buckle as you look up at him. He doesn’t move, just brings a hand down to cup your jaw and tilt your head back ever so slightly with his thumb under your chin.

You can feel your pulse in your throat. You know Joel can, too. You clench between your legs, an ache forming there, and the only thought behind your eyes is him remedying it.

You bring your hands up to settle behind his thighs, trying desperately to send him a message through your doe eyes. Something in the way the corners of his mouth rise almost imperceptibly tells you he hears you loud and clear.

Your dad bursts back into the room like a bat out of hell, and the two of you spring apart.

“Supplier had some trouble with directions,” he mutters, tossing his cell onto the counter.

Joel grumbles in response, then, like nothing at all out of the ordinary just happened, begins gathering the bottles and gestures to you to grab the pizza boxes. You follow him over to the sink where you set the boxes down and he runs the bottles under the faucet, filling them up and pouring the dregs of beer down the drain.

Your dad’s busy clearing the placemats from the table, babbling to himself about work, when you feel Joel’s shoulder lean into yours.

“Trouble,” he murmurs.

You tilt your head and furrow your brows in response.

“You,” he breathes, “are nothin’ but trouble.”

You smile back at him gleefully.

Trouble, indeed.

[stararch4ngelqueen]

hey! just hopping on the period train here…can we get tender, soft, tooth-rottingly sweet ghost with a reader on their period? reader has cramps and will 100% try to overexert themselves if not directly managed lol. Anyway love your work🤍🤍🤍

The unintentional period train 😆 I’ll try, haven’t written about Ghost in a hot minute.

It’s not as grand as I’d like it to be, but I think it’s pretty good for a quick half hour ✨let’s say this is at home too for convenience sake

—

Simon wouldn’t be aware you were on your cycle at first, which makes the most obvious sense.

You; his sweet, bombshell of a woman, had a tendency to hide what irritated you. Physical or not.

Moving into a new house was a bit of a process, one that had a lot of challenges to overpass before enjoying the rewards. You believed their wouldn’t be as many boxes, or as many things to haul off the moving truck and through the front door.

Simon would then assume something was wrong by the amount of breaks he’d find you taking. Moments you’d catch your breath, stand completely still with a hand along your side, or sitting down in the passenger seat of the truck.

Try as well as you like, it’s his job to be concerned about your well-being. Exertion was a high price to pay in the military; sore muscles, lack of proper sleep, etc.

You weren’t in the military anymore. Pushing yourself wasn’t necessary inside your new home.

You figured this pain would go away. Exercise was always a factor to lessen cramps. An annoying tale, but sometimes effective.

Sometimes.

The more boxes you hauled, the quicker you’d walk, the more you’d pace yourself was met with more pain on your end.

“Go rest.” Came his voice from behind you, startling you after you settled some kitchen appliance boxes on your new marble counter.

“I’m fine,” you quickly state, turning your head to meet your husband’s gaze. “I’m okay—“

“That’s an order.” Simon states, leaving little to no room for doubt or denial. You’d frown, but he didn’t care, maintaining his ground with a firm brow and stern expression.

“Simon—“

“Now.”

You scoff, glaring up at him as if he asked something vile from you. Again, he didn’t care.

“Fine,” you bite back a bitter tone before leaving towards your bedroom. “You can finish unpacking all by yourself.”

Simon expected this, seemingly unfazed as he watched you go. He didn’t mind the attitude, he would’ve found it funny. He kind of did, but you didn’t see his smile.

He’d find you later curled up on a bare mattress, yanking blankets out from their boxes to wrap yourself up in. Your head settled on a pillow, his pillow, he recognized after a second glance.

He approached, proceeding to pull off your socks and shoes for you.

He pulls the blankets back after crawling into bed, per your irritation, only to apply a warm bottle compress along your tummy.

“M’sorry,” he murmurs into your ear, proceeding to lay the blankets back over you. Your raised hand stops him, your fingers grasping along his wrist.

Your quiet plea encourages him to join you in bed, clutching your body like a gentle wall of support. Occasionally, his hand would remain over the compress, moving it around along spots you desired it the most while his other massages the back of your neck.

“I’ll start unpackin’ in the morning,” Simon murmurs, his head settled ontop of your head, breathing in your sweet scented shampoo.

Your mouth opens to persist, but he beats you to it.

“No no, don’t wanna hear it. I’ll unpack the rest of the frame, an’ the sheets, give you a proper bed to rest on.”

Your silence meant you were listening, which makes him assume you’re growing irritated by his unique form of ‘persistence’.

“Sickness an’ in health, love,” He kisses underneath your earlobe, hearing your small sigh.

“I’m not sick.”

“You’re cranky.” A faint rumble of a chuckle erupts from his chest. “Often times I’d hear ya say you would get lobotomized back in the day for this type of behavior.”

“That’s what I used to tell Soap just to mess with him,” you faintly muse, nearly falling asleep from his rough hand providing the most gentlest of massages along your nape.

“Get some shut eye, sweetheart. Talk about your self diagnosis in the morning.”

-

I don’t know how to end this 🧍🏽‍♀️this is not proofread. Back on the grind.

[lazyneonrabbitt]

I've been seeing some words in the tags and thought, hey, why not. I hope it's any good!

Daryl x male!reader

Being the new guy in the recruitment party was scary.

You ran with Aaron, who had a mace for a hand and was a badass.

And Daryl, who was probably the biggest walking distraction you had ever seen. He was everything you wanted to be, or to have? You weren't sure you just knew the crush you had on him was obvious to Aaron, and Daryl was luckily oblivious to it.

Daryl did always look out for you, though. He cared for his party members and whowed it in many different ways, like heading into a store to find you new, sturdy steel-toed boots after seeing you shove walkers to the ground and stomping their skull with worn out shoes that could easily tear if you did that more often.

"C'mon, give 'em a test run." He'd call out after knocking a walker down on its stomach and holding it down for you to crush its skull with much more ease now.

Next time you guys were going out on a run when the weather got a bit colder Daryl made sure to find you a thick leather jacket. You thanked him only for it looking really good and wondering how he knew you wanted a cool jacket, but when he told you why he gave it to you it was even better. "Walker won't tear this as easy as yer other coat. Will bite through it so don' go bein' reckless now just cus ya look badass." The pat on your shoulder radiated through your entire body as heat rose to your cheeks and Aaron laughed from next to Daryl. "Looks good on you, you two match now."

Aaron found it hilarious how you had confessed to being head over heels with the huntsman but always declined when he told you to go make a move. "He clearly wouldn't mind if you cooked dinner for him or let him teach you stuff about his bike." With a fork pointed at you from across the dinnertable he continued. "Which you still need to ride, by the way." The way he made a fece when he said 'ride' had you almost choke on your dinner. You swallowed the food and coughed. "Oh come on! Just when I take a bite, really?" You both laughed and Aaron decided to drop the teasing, letting you finish your dinner in peace.

The next day he found Daryl working in the garage, deciding to go fish for a bit so he could see where he was on the spectrum of liking you.

It was difficult to fish when he couldn't just outright ask seeing Daryl didn't talk about these things, but he managed to learn he was absolutely fine with having you around and teaching you stuff. He counted that as a win.

A couple of weeks passed and Aaron was getting tired of seeing his friends be a bunch of dumbasses and rung them up for a supply run to a stocked warehouse to take whatever they could fit in the car.

"Where do you expect me to sit, dude?" You stared at the car's trunk, backseat and passenger seat stuffed full of random crap you disn't even know the community needed. Only when Aaron pointed out you could ride back with Daryl the hint dropped. You didn't really need all this junk, he just wanted you two to admit your feelings.

"Hop on, yer with me." Daryl was already seated on his bike and waiting for you to join him, watching you approach slowly and get on the bike with awkward movement.

"Now hold on tight, ya don't wanna fall." He revved the engine but didn't drive off yet, instead looking over his shoulder. "Said hold on tight. Tha' aint' tight, kid."

You pressed further into his back, but still he grabbed your hands and wrapped your arms closer around him. "Tha's tight. Now lets go home of we wanna be done unpackin' all tha' crap 'fore nightfall."

With that, you were off to home.

You never imagined how amazing it felt to ride on a motorcycle, but maybe that was because of how you were squished against Daryl's back.

Which was something Daryl was enjoying an awful lot too, if he had to admit. He really had to invite you on solo hunts more often.

It was in fact far into the evening when you had finally empties out the car and sorted all the items. Tired and sore you bid the men goodnight and headed home, in dire need of sleep.

Daryl had taken you out on a hunting trip not long after. "Pretty boy like ya shouldn't be out there unprepared." He claimed while teaching you how to soften your steps and breath through the process of keeping aim on a target far away. You managed to catch only one small animal but Daryl still called it a successful hunt and took you home to continue the teachings by showing you how to clean and skin in preparation for cooking.

You shared dinner together and hung out on the couch, going over the day, how proud Daryl was of your quick learning and how thankful you were for him teaching you.

Daryl came back from the kitchen with new drinks and sat down closer than before, setting the glasses down on the table and lounging back. He lifted an arm to drape around you and pull you against his side, finally gathering the courage to do what Aaron told him to, in his own Daryl way of words of course.

"I like havin' ya around, kid. Stick around fer a while longer?"

[onmyyan]

🗡️Psycho🗡️ Anon, here again! #5

Ya gonna have to make a divider folder for me or somethin for all my posts I’m submitting to ya at this rate…

Anywho as my brain was rottin n everythin I was sent into another eureka episode of delulu with Ashley Hunt. I’m so sorry but no not really cuz I love this man and I’d let him tie me up to him like a cock sleeve. Like seriously I wish this man would geta larger fan base too cuz he deserve a harem. Imma be whore #1 for him though plz…

So back to me thoughts. Imma be like those people jumpin into multiverses and constantly explorin AUs, cause it was another AU idea I had with meetin Ash. We got your original story reader, then the AU of hardcore city girl reader yours truly made (check out my submits #2 and #3 for new viewers), and now we got…

Bimbo AU reader!!!

Yea we samplin lots of different dishes hun! Cause sometimes I just wanna be “no thoughts head empty” ya know? But like not in a horrible misogynistic way…Like hardcore city girl was fun, but now let’s see something that’s more opposite of her character and see how Ash deals with this new character/reader personality.…so dontcha worry this new AU won’t be bad. I hope not…

You know the drill, story starts by us comin out to the small ass town in the countryside n livin with our grandma. In this AU though, grannie is doin just fine. It’s us who’s fucked. Ya see we got our hearts broken yet again in our home of the big city. We’re not that smart ya see…and cause of that we’re constantly taken advantage of by romantic prospects. What can I say? We’re a hopeless romantic at heart and wanna be whisked away be a handsome Prince on a horse…

So grannie thought it’d be good for us to leave the city for a while and come to the country to take a break from all the bullshit. We oblige cause there ain’t anyone who’d ever take advantage of us in a small town in the hicks. And some of our former suitors have been real bratty to us lately and our friends think distance might be the only solution at this point. Maybe we can become a better or new person by the time our stay with grannie is over. We could get whisked away to the land of Oz and getta new brain perhaps…

So now we all cheery comin out of our vehicle and unpackin our luggage. Ashley Hunt pops up of course and introduces himself. We get a lil flustered cause he big big at 6’6” and got the muscles to match. We polite n everythin and introduce ourselves too. He offers up to fix parts of the house (as per usual story sequence) and before we give him our answer, a small pocket journal falls from the luggage we’re carrying onto the floor. It’s guide our friends helped compile for us on “how to survive and make smart decisions” cause we just that naive and stupid…

It filled with tips, advice, and scenarios of what to do when a man does xyz. It even got a chart that you can answer yes, no, and the like that points you down to the final verdict at the bottom. We look over to the sound of the falling object and see the pocket journal and that enough for us to remember our poor decision making skills. So we just say “no” like our friends back at home have been drillin into us to practice sayin to men when we confused or can’t make a sound decision at the moment…

Ash is a bit taken aback at this and is asking us if we got someone else already comin to do repairs. We respond “no” again. Then he asks if we’re gonna do it ourselves. We say “no” again. And then we kinda just stand there in awkward silence for a few moments as Ash himself is just tryin to process what just happened himself…

We tell him it was nice meetin him and he gets the hint and bids adieu sayin that he hopes he can see more of us. And if we change our minds or need anythin from him to not hesitate to come n get him. “No” is what we reply with a smile cause we stupidly on auto pilot repeat mode still. Ash is just stupefied himself at this point wonderin what he did wrong as the door closes in his face and he got a while to think ridin home…

It’s been a couple days n we gotten all settled in. We haven’t gone into town yet and decided we should explore. We’ve also been running out of some food so it’d be good to pick up some groceries too while we at it. We go to town surprisingly easily given the single direct road from the house. Thank goodness for our poor brain…And as we shoppin in the small store mindin our business we get harassed by the town creep. A old poor drunk who tends to only come out durin late nights to a bar. But lucky us he had to come out this fine afternoon…

 He tells us how we must be new in town since he hasn’t seen our pretty face n all. We just smile and take his compliment cause we really do think he bein nice to us. Drunky of course takes this as an invite and starts gettin handsy and our danger signals finally start flarin. And whose hand comes in to save us? Our country beau Ash!

He easily pulls drunky back tellin him how his ma and pa raised an animal for doin something like that to a lady and throws him out of the store onto the street. Ash quickly comes back to us askin if we ok and all. We nod and tell him this ain’t our first rodeo dealin with men like that. To which we don’t notice the brief flashin murderous glint in his eyes as we ‘em this. He pushes the conversation to a better place askin how we’re enjoying town n everythin. And we happily tell him we likin the area so far. Easily forgettin the events that just occurred as we continue our shoppin with Ash by our side…

The conversation ends when our shoppin does n we tell Ash we should get home. He says goodbye he himself happy that we were able to be close and our second encounter wasn’t like our first again. Much more pleasant. And as we drivin back home we wanna do somethin nice for Ash since he saved us. But then we think back to our pocket journal and gotta consult it first…

As we lookin through it we realize that it doesn’t have anything for what to do when a man saves you from danger…Sure it got what to do when a man offers you a free ride in his vehicle, when a man offers you a free drink or meal, or when a man gifts you somethin really expensive. But nothin about a man savin you from another man…So what the fuck do we do?

We ask our grannie for advice since she gotta have something good. She asks us what is our head tellin us what he might like. We respond with “blowin him? Men always told me that’s when they liked me the most” Grannie is not amused. She is also concerned for our survival out in the world. She suggests we bake him a pie since she a bit old fashioned thinkin that a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. And you can’t ever go wrong with somethin sweet…

We reluctantly agree as she really really pushes it as she obviously doesn’t want us going down the other route. And so we spend the rest of the afternoon bakin a cherry pie for Ash for me to take to him later in the evenin when he’s probably for sure done with farm work. Night comes and we going alone to Ash’s residence. And luckily it also a one way road down from grannie’s so our poor brain won’t break down and malfunction. We go up to Ash’s large large house. He got a big farm too. And so we knock his door with the door knocker and it a cute shoe horse…

Ash is genuinely surprised to see us. And so late at night too. He initially woulda thought somethin bad had happened if not for the pie in front of us pushing it to him with a smile. “I made you a cherry pie. Well grannie and I did. As thanks for helping me out today at the market,” we say in the cutest way possible that’s about to make him cumbust. “Grannie wouldn’t let me thank you how I woulda wanted to.” Ash grins back wonderin how you’d thank him, and before he can ask outa curiosity we keep talkin…”I would’ve blown you as thanks. But if you don’t like the cherry pie I can still blow you if you’d like. I can do it in your bed too if it’d help you go to sleep too”…

Ash is just a stunned red hot blushin mess at this point and he swears his precum is probably sleeping out of him by now and if he moves an inch he’ll probably nut in his pants. We ask him if he ok and if he’s got a fever since he so red and not movin, and Ash just a stumblin mess of words n expressions. He eventually excuses himself and invites us in and prepares dishware and cutlery for us to try the cherry pie. We start apologizin and tellin him that he ain’t gonna like it since we aren’t good cooks and all. And he reassures us that he’s sure that it’ll taste delightful…

Now it’s uwu boohoo story time as we tell Ash that no one ever likes our cookin or bakin as it’s always tasted bad. All the men we were with previously also tried to get us to cook or bake for them at some point and were also disgusted with us and our abilities that we just ended up eating out all the time before the eventual break up for somethin else. So we tellin Ash with our eyes gettin a bit wet n glassy that this is our last warnin and we happy to give him a proper thanks instead. And Ash gives us one look before devouring the whole cherry pie easily himself and then sayin “it was the best cherry pie I’ve ever had.” And we just stunned n waitin for him to throw up n topple over or somethin. But he doesn’t. Instead they’re a small bite left and he picks it up with his fork and pushes it up to our mouth. Tellin us to try it. We open our mouths and eat it. And it’s not bad? Ash smiles at us and tells us to have more faith in ourselves. We smile back too…

Ash asks if we need any help gettin back home since it’s dark out and he’s ok with walkin home n stuff. We good and leave promptly back home. And while we wantin to feel good from everythin that happened we don’t let ourselves as we read our pocket journal almost every night. Advice n notes from friends actin as our conscious tellin us we always fall for men who give us the slightest attention and men are scummy liars who can fake about anythin if it means gettin some kitty. So we just try to tell ourselves that Ash is probably fakin it and is vomitin the pie probably right now. But we tasted it…the cherry pie did taste good…

And so for the next while with grannie we wanna try cookin and bakin more. Much to her delight. And we really really tryin. Tryin have more faith in ourselves n everythin. We makin everythin from cute sandwiches, cookies, to hand made pasta. Really becomin versatile in different dishes for any persons stomach. Soon enough we meet Ash again when we on a grocery run and can’t help but blush a little n hope he doesn’t notice. He asks how we’ve been and we happily tell him everythin. He says he’d be honored to try more of our cookin and bakin if we have any spare leftovers or need to use a taste tester much to our laughter…

We part ways once again and going home for the night and cookin dinner with grannie wouldn’t you know…the fuckin house really could’ve used some repairs here and there cause the damn oven gave out before bed. So grannie having her old timey mentality just told us to go over to Ash’s the next morning and ask him to borrow his kitchen for the day to make a few meals for the week for us. And it’d be good practice for me to go at cookin n bakin alone. We wanna say “no” as our conditioning from our friends taught us to, but grannie persists and isn’t taking no for an answer. So mornin comes and we gotta leave early to catch Ash before he leaves work early for the farm…

We drive n go up to Ash’s at dawn hopin he’ll be up at least and we haven’t completely woken him from bed. Much to our delight he’s up and wonderin what we need. Playfully sayin that it’s awful early to be bringin him food but he’ll always be ready to accept anythin from us. We explain the situation to him and luckily he agrees a bit too excitedly. He jumps and easily brings in some of the bags of food we brought in the car into the house and onto the kitchen counter for us. We start preparin food and Ash just sits back and watches us for a bit with a grin that’d make fish forget how to swim. Tellin us eventually that he needs to get goin but to make ourselves at home…

So the day progresses and sure enough it’s afternoon and Ash comes back into the house thinkin he can take a quick shower since some of the bulls he had to wrestle were especially bitchy today and tossed him around in the environment a little more than usual. And lo and behold when the door opens Ash hears from us “yay! You’re back! I was wonderin when you were coming home. I made you lunch. I bet you’re hungry from working so hard!” Pinching himself wouldn’t be enough to wake up from this blissful dream Ash thought. No he’d have to ram himself into the bull pen and even getting kicked n bucked by wild horses wouldn’t be enough to wake him. Not that he’d ever want to wake up from this moment anyway…

Ash comes into the kitchen and sure enough sees us settin out his food for him and usherin him to eat. We made him a large ass cheeseburger with a baked potato and coleslaw on the side. We keep babbling to him as Ash is just kinda in lalaland takin in us in the kitchen lookin all cute n shit and bein happy to see him. “…to your liking right? Wouldn’t want something so small since your so massive and everything. I couldn’t handle eating something so big. Can’t wrap my hands around it. I’d probably choke”…

And so this brings Ash outa lalaland and into hornyboner land as he’s just tryin not to take what the last few words we said outta context. That and he’s also trying to get his lil friend to settle down and not make the table rise from underneath…Ash is happily eatin and is doin his best to act normal…though everythin we doin to him is so domestic…Askin how his days goin so far, how much longer he’ll be workin, when he comin back home, what he wants for dinner…We givin this man a seizure practically and Ash probably needs to get his blood checked after we leave for the day…

And with the last bit of sanity Ash has he manages to leave n go back to work after he done eatin lunch. We bid him goodbye n say “take care. Make sure to stay safe for me ok? I don’t want you gettin hurt. Bye!” Needless to say Ash is doing peachy…We continue cookin the rest of our meals for grannie and I for the week in addition to startin a dinner for Ash too. Durin this time we get done a bit earlier than expected and see that some of his blankets in his livin room could use a wash and get the idea to help a bit more since he’s been so kind lettin us use his kitchen. And we look around the house just a lil for any more laundry to do…

We find the laundry room. Throw in the blankets and some towels and other items too. Cause it just easy to do it in one go ya know? And after some time when we all done to our horror some of the once white items are now a cute pink. And we panicking cause what’s Ash gonna do to us once we fucked up? It ain’t good n thinkin if we should quickly pack up n make a run for it to our car. As if the universe hated us we Ash comes in unnoticed sayin that he was callin for us for a bit throughout the house…

We shakin and lookin at him watery and glassy eyed thinkin that this is the end for us. Cause this is what always happen to us with men. We always find a way to make them mad at us and ruin whatever relationship we had goin on whether it was platonic or romantic. Cause we’re just that dumb and don’t have anything else goin on for us in life aside from our cute face n body accordin to them. And so we just do what we’ve always done when confronted with similar situations and go real quiet. Wait to be scolded for all our shortcomings n stuff. Then tossed outside and cry on our bed for the next week or something…

Ash just looks at us and asks if we were also doing our laundry. And we just remain beady eyed n silent like a deer in the headlights. Ash asks again and asks if we need any help of anythin. And at this point we just go on auto pilot mode again and start sayin we’re sorry and cryin. Ash of course is surprised and very gentle sayin that it’s ok and just hugs us lets us sob and cry. Get it out of our system…

After we’ve gained a bit of our composure he surprises us by carrying us extremely easily bridal style to the livin room where we explain what happened and how some of his stuff is now pink. He lets out a hearty chuckle and tells us not to worry our pretty little head. “It’s just fabric. It can be replaced if I really needed it to” And he also tells us he doesn’t mind the pink. It’ll give him something now to always think of us. To always have of us…

And so we laugh at it some more and then we both sit down in the dining room to eat the dinner I prepared for us. It some chicken, pasta, and salad and we talk some more about Ash’s day n life in general. We take him up in his offer in the end to do some repairs around grannie’s house since our oven fell apart and we wouldn’t want the rest of the house crumblin too. Much to his delight cause now he has reason to swing by more. We finish up eatin and I bring out a cute lil Angel cake for dessert for him n we eat a bit of it together. Night ends with me packing up the rest of the week’s meals for grannie and I and drivin back home. Tellin Ash how much we appreciated him for lettin us borrow his kitchen and not gettin mad at us for messin up his laundry…

And so the next week progresses with Ash comin to do repairs on the house and us talkin to him a lot while he does it. He never tells us to be quiet or what we’re sayin is dumb and stupid. He genuinely really happy to be hearin our voice no matter what’s comin out. Before we know it we’ve forgotten all about readin our little pocket journal n stuff for advice. And even when he done with all the repairs we practically just hang out with him about every other day…

On one of the days we hangin out with him he brings us out to the stables where he keeps his horses for a surprise he wants to show us. In the stables there are some ribbons of all different colors and lots of brushes. He told us he remembered that we thought it’d be fun to dress up his horses and make ‘em all cute braidin their hair n stuff. So he wanted to fulfill that wishful thought of ours. And we beamin happy as fuck cause no man ever really was this considerate of us and remembered what we said even if it was somethin like a small fleetin thought. So we spend the day decorating the horses of course safely as Ash makes sure we know how to handle the animals in a way so we don’t scare them. But not like the horses get scared cause Ash got the best horses n trained them the best a person would probably ever see. He’d never put us in any potential harms way…

And towards the end of the day we take a ride on the horse of our choosin. A large white stallion all cute with multi colored ribbons we put on it. It’s our first time ridin with Ash and the first time did not disappoint. It was fun and he made sure we were comfortable all the way. We felt so safe n secure being able to lean back into his broad n muscular body we coulda sworn we could’ve fell asleep if we wanted to. Have we ever felt this comfortable and happy bein with a man before?…

Starts to get dark out and we head back to his residence. Ash puts his horse away and while he at it we excuse ourselves to go to the bathroom. When we enter his house we find that some of the stuff we accidentally dyed pink is nicely arranged around the house. He kept it just as he said. Some blankets over some furniture and some pink towels n such in the bathroom and kitchen. When we leave and meet Ash outside where our car is parked we have a faint blush on our face. Tellin him he doesn’t have to keep the pink to spare our feelings. And Ash responds again n reassures us sayin he likes it. “Keeps you around the house when I can’t see you”…

We smile at this and ask him if we can add another touch while we’re at it. He of course agrees. Sayin that we can do whatever we want to his house cause he’s sure he’ll like it. And so we pull out a big pink ribbon from our pocket n tie it all nice n pretty on the horse shoe knocker on the front door. Tellin him it’s so that we don’t forget this very happy n special day. We give Ash a big hug n burry ourselves into him tellin him how much we appreciated this gesture he did for us today. And Ash of course is equally happy n prayin that we don’t notice the massive bulge in his jeans. So we leave n drive back home to grannie’s finally. Leavin Ash to admire the new cute addition to the house…

After some more time we goin on a nature walk by ourselves in the late afternoon. Just enjoyin gettin out of the house for a bit. We figure Ash is hard doin his farm work so we may drop by later during our walk and wait for him when he done. As we walkin we see a car on the road drivin up. It’s a pretty luxurious lookin car n we really truly don’t think much about it n all. It starts to slow down n pulls up to us. The driver door opens and a man comes out…it’s one of our fuckin exes…

He gets all giddy sayin that he knew it was us from the dress we were wearin. And before we know it he pulls our hands into his n starts spewing how he was wrong to have dumped us and that we were the best girlfriend we ever had. Though it unsurprisingly quickly goes into him mostly degrading us. Tellin us that even though we have nothin goin on in our head at least we have the best bedroom skills he’s ever experienced. That’s something we actually good at doin n that we should get back together n pretend like our breakup never happened. Him continuously sayin too that we need him to survive and to be smart for once and listen to his words. To trust him completely. To rely on him completely. And that no man other than him can love n protect us as well as he can…

 We luckily go into autopilot safety mode sayin “no” to him n stuff. He takes this about as well you’d think…Goin “why the hell not!? What’s the matter baby? Country air messin with what’s left in that head of yours?” The man askin question after question. Accusation after accusation only to be met with a “no” from us that keeps increasing in panic and fear. He just snaps and starts to pull us into the passenger seat of his car. Tellin us that we just need some time and we’re heading back to the city now. Obviously we fightin our best and start to cry cause we scared as hell as we should be…

Just like out of a fairytale, or I guess one of them western movies, a lasso comes out of nowhere in the far distance and latches itself easily around the man’s neck. And before anyone of us can process what’s happenin. The man is violently choked and dragged to the ground with our cowboy beau’s silhouette in the distance literally pulling him by the throat. It doesn’t take much for the man’s body to go limp…though we don’t see that as Ash made sure to drag the body with his horse deeper into the tall grass before death finally came. And the wolves later if Ash doesn’t deal with the body first…

We cryin and still tryin to process the events that still happened. With Ash on his horse quickly comin up to us, dismountin it and holding onto us tightly. Doin what he does best and consoling us as we let it all out. After a bit he picks us up and placed us on his horse. Tellin us that we’re goin back to his house for the time bein since it’s not safe outside right now for me. We of course nod and just lay into his body. Lettin his comforting smell envelop us as our steady ride home soothes the rest of our nerves…

Back at his home Ash fixed us up with some hot cocoa and us bundled up in a cute pink blanket on the sofa. Lettin us take our time to compile our thoughts n speak when we wanna. Eventually we tell him thanks for savin us and how that man was one of our exes. We tell him how he was gonna take us back to the city with him if Ash didn’t show up when he did. And we joke how Ash is like our knight in shining armor ridin on his loyal stallion to save us time n time again. This isn’t the first time talkin about our love life n bad relationships with men to Ash as we’ve talked to him over the course of gettin to know each other. So we just enjoy Ash’s presence and lean into him. Too tired from the bullshit that happened today…

Ash bein the fine gentleman he is offers to take us home or if we’d like we can spend the night at his place. We take him up on that as we say we can use a friend right now. So we get better back to our normal selves gradually as the rest of the evening progresses. Cookin n bakin together all while giggling too. We eat dinner n dessert, chat some more n get ready to go to bed. Ash gets us all fixed up in a neat n tidy spare bedroom of many he got for the night. Sayin if we need anythin he’ll be in his bedroom. But he wasn’t expecting us to look at him weirdly n say “can’t you sleep with me tonight?”…

This takes him back a bit as we continue to babble sayin that this is what our friends would do with us back when something bad happened to us. Though they were girl friends and not boy friends…but to us there’s really no difference…So he responds askin if that’d make us feel safer n better he’d do it, albeit in a very very flustered manner. We squeal with delight and say we can just sleep in his bed then. No need to be cleanin sheets for a guest bedroom afterwards…

And so here we are lyin in Ash’s large ass bed in a cute pink baby doll nightgown tellin him to come settle in after he done with his shower after we went in first. Ash is doin well as you’d imagine thinkin that his dick n balls r gonna strangle him in his sleep that is if he can get any sleep tonight which he doubts. So we settle in bed together and as Ash closes his eyes n rolls over to his side to make sure we couldn’t feel his raging boner durin the night he feels our presence over him. We lean down and kiss him on the forehead n say “your suppose to wish each other good night silly”. And so he like a blushin bride about to cumbust from bein kissed for the first time by us. He stutters a quick apology, says goodnight to us and tries to focus on not dyin tonight cause he’s really fighting for his life right now…

And so the night progresses and he can’t sleep and neither can we. We poke Ash’s back a bit a whisper askin him if he’s awake. He grunts a yea. We ask him if he’s up for some “late night girlie talk” and he obliges us of course. So we start off nice n easy by askin him “do you ever think I’ll find true love?” And this psychologically springs forth Ash into action with his body turnin to us in the dark…

He doesn’t hesitate to say “yes” and starts spewin the most romantic shit ever. Tellin us that we’re the most beautiful woman he’s ever met. Inside and outside. He looks forward to seein our face every time. We always are so considerate of others. So selfless and that any sane man would fall on their knees for a chance to be with us…

We start tearin up a little sayin he doesn’t have to say that to us to make us feel better n all. We got poor self esteem of course and are in that perpetual compliment denial phase. And so Ash turns on one of the night stand lamps and asks us if he looks like we’re lyin to him. Of course we see nothing but sincerity painted across his handsome face and tell him “no”. He gently takes our hands into his and says “I would love to have a chance at bein with ya. Can I have a go? I promise you’ll never regret” as he looks deeply into our eyes…

And so we a blushin mess too now. The hopeless romantic in us quickly risin to the surface to break through as we pull our hands out from Ash’s and take his face to push our lips onto his. Pulling back after his surprised reaction with a “yes!” and smilin and continuin our attack on his plush lips. Ash eagerly accepts as the passion between us is utterly unchained. Both going at each other barely gaspin for air between kisses on the face neck and body…

Ash was wearin some trunks and a shirt to be polite to us since we were gonna be sleeping together with no funny business goin on but now those easily came off as he also tore off our own nightgown too to do the deed. And so the night was filled with nothing but love. Ash takin care of us in a way that’s never been done before and in a way we didn’t think that’s ever be possible. And us returning the favor and finally showin us our skills that we’ve always been complimented on. It almost become more of like a competition really seein who could make the other fall apart faster and let the other completely dominate them. Ash won eventually havin us mewl from his lips pressed against our nipples, cock rearranging our guts, and fingers rubbin our clit. The rest of the night quickly flew by and the mornin light was pourin into the room…

Alas after the night’s events Ash continued to court us. Tellin us that it’s what we deserved n makin us fall in love with him further n further. Grannie was delighted of course knowin that we’re in good hands for the rest of our lives if we decided to wed him. And Ash finally took us around town to meet the locals n everything since we still hadn’t really met anyone or made connections. Introducing us as his lady and makin it very clear of course that we were off limits. Though we never noticed that behavior from our kind hearted Ash…

Eventually Ash proposed to us in a beautiful landscape right outta a fairytale book and we of course screamed “yes”. We invited the entire town in one of those big open wedding events and also called on our friends in the city to come down too. Makin them sick with worry since we hadn’t been in touch for so long and they were worried about us since our ex came lookin for us a while ago. Though no one knew where he disappeared to in the end…Some people out of legal obligation had to search for him but with his history of substance abuse benders, no one was really surprised that he couldn’t turn up in the end. So it’d always be just one of those “don’t care cold cases”…

The wedding was splendid. Bein surrounded by friends n family. And of course walkin down the aisle to Ash. Movin into Ash’s was the easiest thing in the world too and Ash was thrilled to let us decorate the place more. And with all the fuckin we were doin durin the courtship it wasn’t really a surprise that we ended up pregnant. Walked down the aisle while we were pregnant though thankfully no one knew as we weren’t showing obvious signs yet. Wouldn’t want the locals to think ill of Ash or I thinkin it was a shotgun weddin or anythin…

In the end we got our happily ever after with our Prince Charming who’d always come to save us. And now we’re havin twins on the way to join us too. So we’ll be a stay at home mother and wife much to Ash’s relief as he wants us in a safe environment where he can always get to us easily. Ash also isn’t ever worried about money or resources. He got plenty to take care of us and our family. He wants a big one too. At least 5 more babies too. And we’ll happily oblige that wish cause he gave his heart to us just as we gave him ours. To love each other forever n forever.

Scene!!! I’m done with this AU! Thank fuck it was hella long! Way too long to be honest but it was honestly so much fun to write about a “Bimbo” Reader that I wanted to make sure I gave her a good amount of depth and didn’t make the story seem lazy with no build up or progression with evidence of Ash’s and Reader’s relationship. I wanted it to feel “earned” and plausible ya know?

I also wanted it to be clearly different from the City Reader AU as it’s fun to explore different characters/personalities and thus how the story will unfold differently for each of them. Didn’t want to have too many of the same scenes or scenarios either from the City Reader AU, so that’s why there isn’t “cowboy hat rule” for example in the Bimbo Reader AU. So fresh n new scenes with Ash. And I also had real fun explorin Ash again and how he navigates this new reader. Cause City Reader is obviously in a rush to get outta town and doesn’t wanna be in a relationship with Ash, so Ash is put into an extreme time crunch. Really showin his “yan” side in that AU. While in the Bimbo Reader AU the girls obviously not in a rush to leave or anythin and is more scared if anythin to be in a relationship again. She’s much more vulnerable and Ash understands that so like dealin with a spooked animal he knows he gotta play the long game with this girlie. As such this AU really showed his “dere” side more I think. Of course I included the twins n 5 more babies at the end cause I figure even in multiple AUs the existences of other characters still happen. So to me it wouldn’t really make sense if Reader suddenly only had 3 kids in this Bimbo AU or didn’t have twins at first pregnancy

So lemme know how I did. Lemme know if you enjoyed it or not

P.S. Girlie did you get my submission #4 or did Tumblr censor it and delete it or somethin? Do I gotta resubmit it to ya!?

Love 🗡️Psycho🗡️ Anon

I AM CONSISTENTLY BLOWN AWAY BY YOU OMFG THABK YOUUUUU I ADORE BIMBO READER SO MUCH SJDKDMDM THE WAY ASH IS SO SOFT WITH HERRRRRR OMFG YOU DID UR BIG ONE WITH THIS BABES DHDJDND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEE

[buckleyvol6]

breakin' curfew with illegal fireworks

unpackin' god in the suburbs

[coffeecat1983]

Mario Bros Then and Now (feat Tony and Arthur): Home Sweet Home

Time: Early June 2023. Luigi pushed open the front door with his shoulder, turning once he was inside. He had a medium sized box in his hands labelled 'books'. It had taken a lot of work but the Bros were finally moved in to their own home in the Mushroom Kingdom. Over the course of a few weeks Peach had snuck a small army of toads in to Brooklyn at night to gather the packed items and take them back through the warp.

The last thing to go was the furniture with Giovanni and the twins helping out. Even the beds had been dismantled and transported down to the smallest bolt. Once the Bros broke the news that the house was built, Marianna had gotten into the hall closet and pulling something out, handed it to them at the dining table. "I've been saving this for when you two move. A little piece of home." Luigi teared up and Mario was speechless. It was more of the wallpaper from their bedroom. It had gone up in their new room. The toads worked with love and care to put it in place, and once it was done Giovanni and Arthur got to work putting the beds together. Meanwhile Marianna and Tony helped with kitchen items and the living room. Now the Bros were alone in their new home, and Luigi had just brought in the last box that had been left outside. Setting it down, he heaved a sigh. "Phew, I think this is the last one." he grunted as he stretched and popped his back. "Moving through a warp made moving cross-country look easy, huh big bro?" His brother didn't reply. Leaving the small entryway, Luigi found his older brother standing in the living room, surrounded by boxes. His cap was off and his arms were folded. He looked, Luigi thought, lost. "Mario?" he was gentle as he placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. "You okay?"

Mario didn't look at him, instead his gaze remained on all the boxes. "I didn't think it would feel this weird." he finally said. "Bein' in our own place." "You having second thoughts?" Luigi silently admitted to himself that he had been worried about the move. Out of Brooklyn was one thing, but to a new world altogether, well that was terrifying. Mario let out a soft laugh. "Nah, no second thoughts. Just we've always been in that apartment. Now it's a whole house for us. Uncle Art and Tony aren't across the hall, Ma, Dad, Papa Sal, they won't be here when we get up…" "Heh, I see what you mean. It is kinda weird." Clearing his throat, he went over to a box and opening it, took out a video game and held it up. "But h-hey, we can stay up late now playin' games!" he set the game aside and pulled out a movie. "Or watch movies as loud as we want, there's no other houses close by." His attempt to cheer him up worked, he made Mario laugh. "Yeah, you're right, Lu. How about we get your music player set up and start unpackin'? Oh, and Ma wants us back tonight for dinner." Luigi's eyes lit up and digging in his pocket, he pulled out his little music player and turning it on, cranked up the volume.

That evening in Brooklyn, the Bros were surprised to find the whole family gathered for dinner like it was Sunday evening. "What's all this?" Mario asked as they entered to cheers from their relatives. "Hey kid! Gotta celebrate you two gettin' your own place." Arthur said, holding up a wineglass. Marianna slipped behind the Bros as they were taking their seats and leaning in, kissed them both on the cheek. "My boys, so proud of you two!" she beamed. "How's it feel havin' your own place?" Marie spoke next. Mario let out a soft laugh, glancing at Luigi. "It, ah, it feels, well…" he hesitated. "Weird?" Tony volunteered. Mario's shoulders visibly relaxed. "Y-Yeah, that. Just, not being so close to you all is really different." Tony sat back, arms folded. "Sound familiar, Art?" Arthur groaned past his sip of wine. Setting the glass down he shook his head. "God, that first day in the basement felt like the Twilight Zone…"

August 1999.

Tony stepped back, taking in the sight of the freshly made bed. He swallowed hard. Seeing the powder blue of his bedspread all alone without Arthur's yellow and white stripped spread nearby was jarring. "Beds are made." he called as he went to the kitchen. Not getting a reply, he popped his head around the doorway. His twin was in the living room, rubbing his arm as he stood surrounded by boxes. His hair was ruffled, the loose strands hanging down nearly to his eyes. "Hey, lil bro, you in there?" Tony teasingly waved a hand in front of his face and Arthur jerked, coming out of his thoughts. He sputtered and waved his hands, playfully pushing Tony back. "What're you doin', ya idiot?" he said with a laugh. "There you are. You okay? Looked like you were lost." Shuffling past the boxes of movies and comic books, Arthur plopped down on the secondhand couch they had gotten. "I feel lost." he softly admitted. "New place, not having the family with us," he looked at Tony, "seperate rooms." Tony sat beside him, sighing. "Yeah, definitely weird. We've always had people around, and shared a room." Arthur quietly agreed. They couldn't afford one of the upper apartments that would give them a room big enough to share, and with Marianna expecting her babies, they had to take what they could get to give their old room to their nephews. Something that neither resented, but it meant a big change and it was hitting them hard. Tony sat back, looking at the blank walls. "I mean, yeah we got separate rooms but we got the whole place to ourselves." He nudged Arthur and jerked a thumb towards a long, thin box. "And Gio never liked posters on the living room walls…" Arthur broke into a grin as he caught on. When Marianna came down in the elevator to see how the twins were doing, she found them both singing as Arthur hung up movie posters and Tony filled the bookcases with their movies and music. "Hi Ma!" Tony waved before turning down the stereo and going to give her a hug. Her eyes sparkled brightly as she entered and looked around. "Well look at you two! You're gonna turn it into your own place in no time." "You like it?" Tony asked nervously. "I know Gio never liked posters in the living room." Marianna laughed. "Oh he's stubborn! I think you boys are doing a wonderful job. But how about a break and some dinner? Can't have a good sleep in a new place without a full stomach."

"We had a good sleep all right," Arthur finished the story. "Passed out on the couch together watching movies!"

Giovanni shook his head as he folded his arms. "Thankfully you two moved on a weekend and didn't have work the next day." "Gettin' to the point," Tony said, "I know it feels weird but give it time. It'll feel like home pretty quick." After dinner and a movie with the twins, the Bros made the trip back, both stopping outside the house. The little porch light by the door cast a warm and welcoming glow. "You know somethin', Lu?" "Hmm?" Mario smiled at his little brother. "Feels good to be home."

END By "CC"

[avesseloflanguage]

when boygenius said "who would i be without you without them" and "in another life we were arsonists" and "mama told me that it don't run on wishes but that i should have fun pushing the flowers that come up into the front of a shotgun so many hills to die on" and "you know how i get when i'm wrong" and "i can feel myself becoming somebody i'm not" and "i'm twenty-seven and i don't know who i am but i know what i want" and "when you don't know who you are you fuck around and find out" and "you've never done me wrong except for that one time that we don't talk about because it doesn't matter anymore who won the fight? i don't know we're not keeping score" and "it feels good to be known so well i can't hide from you like i hide from myself i remember who i am when i'm with you your love is tough your love is tried and true-blue" and "wishin' you were kind enough to be cruel about it" and "i'll pretend bein' with you doesn't feel like drowning" and "i don't know why i am the way i am" and "half a mind that keeps the other second guessing" and "always an angel never a god" and "if this isn't love then what the fuck is it? i guess just let me pretend" and "i don't wanna die, that's a lie but I'm afraid to get sick i don't know what that is" and "if you're not enough then i give up and then nothing is" and "i used to think if i just closed my eyes i'd disappear" and "you said i might like you less now that you know me so well" and "i never thought you'd happen to me, i never thought you'd happen to me" and "if nothing matters, man, that's a relief" and "you could absolutely break my heart that's how i know that we're in love" and "will you still love me if it turns out i'm insane? i know what you'll say, but it helps to hear you say it anyway" and "i'll be feeling lonely so i'll walk to karaoke sing the song you wrote about me, never once checking the words i hope that no one sings along, i hope i'm not a regular" and "damn that makes me sad it doesn't have to be like that if you rewrite your life may i still play a part?" and "salt in my lungs, holding my breath, makin' peace with my inevitable death" and "i guess i did alright considering" and "tried to be a halfway decent friend wound up a bad comedian an honest fool with more bad habits than you can count" and "there we were was anyone ever do young? breakin' curfew with illegal fireworks unpackin' god in the suburbs" and "you don't have to make it bad just 'cause you know how" and "i love you i don't know why i just do" and "you're not special, you're evil" and "you made me feel like an equal but i'm better than you" and "i wanna be happy"

[alexhwriting]

Ludonarrative Harmony and Engaged Narrative Drive: The Success of Unpacking and Inside.

VII. Conclusion

Having spoken about two games that achieve ludonarrative harmony through environmental storytelling and engaging the narrative drive of the player, I will now discuss an example of a game that does not provide this experience, Goodbye Volcano High (KO_OP, 2023).  This game blends the two genres of visual novel and rhythm action to tell a story of a musician in high school, except that they are an anthropomorphic dinosaur named Fang.[1] The entire game takes place over the course of a week, during which rumors spread that there is a meteorite coming to kill all the dinosaurs on earth (mimicking the actual meteor that killed the dinosaurs). It is worth talking about for two reasons: it fails to use its environment to its full effect and thus fails at achieving ludonarrative harmony.

In Goodbye Volcano High, the high school setting is never fully utilized. While there are back and forth conversations with individual characters and one scene where a mass of dinosaur-people is present as part of a light puzzle, there is never anyone in the background of the game or its scenes. Rather, every wide shot of the school or the town in the game is left devoid of dinosaurs in what should be very populated areas. While this makes sense in the later part of the game where the characters are all facing assured destruction because of the oncoming meteor, the certainty of their death is only made a part of the story in the very last bit of the game after a brief bit of time-skipping. Thus, the earlier empty space just leaves the game feeling underdeveloped. This is in part due to the generic nature of these background spaces as well, which take the form of – unpopulated – streets, building facades, and school interiors, which give the player little to latch on to when it comes to non-explicit narrative clues.

Similarly, the game struggles to engage the player through its mechanics. While the narrative is of a musician composing songs for their garage band, the actual moments where the player must hit notes to a beat in the rhythm action sections are completely optional and cannot be failed. While this may sound as though they are simply very easy, the reality is that the moment of engagement is lost in the absence of stakes. Rather than having a “game over” screen and blocking the player from progressing, or giving narrative consequences for failing to perform, the story moves on as if nothing had happened. The band acts as a narrative catalyst for the core conflict of the game, that all the band members are drifting apart as they come to the end of their high school careers, making the concerts that they play together very important, and the music is put across as though it should have some weight and impact to it. All of this falls flat when there are no narrative consequences for failing, removing the emotional stakes from this interactive component of the game. The other mechanical way that the player engages with the game is through making choices in the dialogue to affect conversations, befriending, or pushing away, the other characters that they meet. However, the consequences and ending remain unchanged no matter how the player engages with the other characters. This begins very early on in the game when Fang gets caught on their phone in class by a teacher and the two options that the player is given two options: to hand it over willingly or to insist to keep the phone. Both choices lead to a different reaction from the teacher but do not persist beyond the different reaction. The narrative tension is all brought to a head in the penultimate scene, that either disregards the player’s choice to push away other characters or seems out of left field as characters who were all befriended turn against the protagonist so that they can move past their issues and play one last big show. In this scene, all of the main cast of characters gather at the beach for a bonfire to talk about how they should handle the incoming asteroid that is set to clear the planet. However, in discussing their plans, regrets, and fears, the characters get emotional and begin fighting about perceived slights, after which the player can get an extra scene of dialogue with any of the characters, they have built strong bonds with. Regardless of who is spoken to, or who was befriended, the beach scene and the final send off concert both play out exactly the same. Through these two mechanical missteps, we can most clearly see what ludonarrative dissonance looks like: the misalignment of the mechanical structure and the narrative.

By understanding ludonarrative harmony and its relation to forms of storytelling, as theorists we gain another form of description that can be used to analyze these complex interactive narrative structures. It is this dual nature that video games have that allows them to work well, the interactivity working in harmony with the narrative elements or in dissonance with each other, and effectively engage the narrative drive of their players. A key part of these two aspects working in harmony with each other is the environmental storytelling that takes place, blending the interactive environment with the story being told. By looking at environmental storytelling as a way in which game developers leave gaps in the story for the players to fill in, the players are provided with another level of interactivity that goes beyond the one provided in just the mechanical use of a controller and an avatar, but also as creators with investment in the story itself.

Bibliography

Aarseth, Espen. “A Hollow World: World of Warcraft as Spatial Practice.” In Digital Culture, Play and Identity: A World of Warcraft Reader, edited by Hilde G Corneliussen and Jill Walker Rettberg, 111–22. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008.

Altman, Rick. A Theory of Narrative. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008.

Christopher, David, and Aidan Leuszler. “Horror Video Games and the ‘Active-Passive’ Debate.” Games and Culture, April 27, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120221088115.

Green, Amy M. Storytelling in Video Games. McFarland, 2017.

Grodal, Torben. “Video Games and the Pleasures of Control.” Media Entertainment, 2000, 209–26.

Hocking, Clint. “Ludonarrative Dissonance in Bioshock.” Click Nothing, October 7, 2007. https://clicknothing.typepad.com/click_nothing/2007/10/ludonarrative-d.html.

Jenkins, Henry. “Game Design as Narrative Architecture.” In First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game, edited by Pat Harrington and Noah Frup, 118–30. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004.

Kirkland, Ewan. “Storytelling in Survival Horror Video Games.” In Horror Video Games: Essays on the Fusion of Fear and Play, edited by Bernard Perron, 62–78. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2009.

KO_OP. Goodbye Volcano High. KO_OP. Windows/PlayStation. (2023).

Krzywinska, Tanya. “Blood Scythes, Festivals, Quests, and Backstories.” Games and Culture 1, no. 4 (October 2006): 383–96. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412006292618.

Playdead. Inside. Playdead. Xbox/PC/PlayStation. (2016).

Ruberg, Bonnie. Video Games Have Always Been Queer. New York: New York University Press, 2019.

Ryan, Marie-Laure. Narrative as Virtual Reality 2: Revisiting Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Electronic Media. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015.

Soriani, Alessandro, and Stefano Caselli. “Visual Narratives in Videogames: How Videogames Tell Stories through Graphical Elements.” Img Journal 3 (2020): 474–99.

Wolf, Mark J. P. “Beyond Immersion: Absorption, Saturation, and Overflow in the Building of Imaginary Worlds.” In World Building, Transmedia, Fans, Industries, edited by Marta Boni, 204–14. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2017.

Witch Beam. Unpacking. Humble Bundle. Xbox/PC/PlayStation. (2021).

[1] A ‘visual novel’ typically involves a branching narrative based on player choices, branching narrative structure, a character focused story, and visual elements to show the player who the characters are and some basic scenes they are in, usually with very minor animation; A ‘rhythm action game’ is usually a game where the primary activity within the game is based on music, rhythm, keeping time, and colorful visuals that match up with the timing of the player.

[grandtear]

unpackin' god in the suburbs.

[silver-crowned-riders]

Aight guess I'm doing this too now

[qilinkisser]

RuPaul's Drag Race Selfship Ask Game!

Drag on a Dime: What is your f/o like when they go shopping? Do they like shopping with you?

The Snatch Game: Do you think there are any celebrities your f/o would be a fan of?

Face, Face, Face of Cakes: If you were to describe your f/o with a flavor or food, what would that be?

Frenemies: Do you have any f/os that you think wouldn't get along with each other?

Scent of a Drag Queen: What does your f/o smell like? Do they wear perfume/cologne?

Scream Queens: What is your f/o scared of? Can they handle scary things, or are they easily spooked?

The DESPY Awards: If you were to give your f/o an award, what would it be for?

RuPaul Book Ball: Does your f/o like to read? What sort of books do they like?

Draggily Ever After: If you were to replace fairy tale characters with you and your f/o, what fairy tale would you be part of?

Tap That App: How tech savvy is your f/o? Which one of you is better with technology?

Whatcha Unpackin?: What is your f/os general style? How similar is their fashion sense to yours?

World's Worst: What sort of things are difficult for your f/o? Can you help them with these things?

Gettin' Lucky: What are your f/o's skills? Can you do these things too?

The Daytona Wind: What's the relationship between you and your f/o's family like?

Remember to practice reblog karma! Pro.shippers DNI <3

[rupaulssimsrace]

 RuPaul’s Drag Race: Yvie Oddly

Promo Look, Entrance Look, Whatcha Unpackin: Alaska Inspired Look, Good God Girl, Get Out Acting Challenge Look, What's Your Sign? Look, Diva Worship Challenge Look, Fringe Look, Trump: The Rusical “Kelly Anne Conway” Look, Orange Alert Look, Trampy Trick or Treater Look, Witch Please! Look, MILF Eleganza Look, Draglympics Challenge Look, Farm To Runway Look, Snatch Game “Whoopi Goldberg” Look, Sequins on the Runway Look, L.A.D.P.! Challenge Look, Face-Kini Realness Look, Caftan Realness Look, Drag Family Values Look, “ Queens Everywhere” Music Video Look, Best Drag Look, Reunion Look, Finale Entrance Look, “SOS” LSFTC Round 1 Look, “Edge Of Glory” LSFTC Round 2 / Crowning Look