#you can retry life as many times you want

[ginazmemeoir]

love how hinduism has so many cheat codes and reruns.

[pillowspace]

Okay but, what about the angst of once you get out of the loop. Yes it's finally over, the virus is gone and the fire set Sun and Moon free to live with y/n but... y/n has live years, decades or even longer in that loop. They know everything about these kids that they may never see again, every little inch of the plex that is destroyed, everything that could happen in this few months time frame. Then they're out and it's incredible for there to be a day with something new except they barely remember who their friends outside of the loop even are anymore. They get a call from their family because they had completely abandoned everything except the loop, missing important holidays or plans, and their family comments on them feeling like a completely different person. They can barely talk about the loop with Sun and Moon because they've seen how talking to much has destroyed their friendship and now they can't try again anymore. Everything is suddenly to permanent and too fragile. They've adjusted to a life that lets you retry things as much as you want, what happens if they ruin everything now?

Y/N is going to need SO much therapy after, cob bless. I'd imagine so many things would set them off until they could heal from it all. They accidentally shatter a vase or something and go "aw. Well, it's okay. It'll be back," go completely still, then burst into panicked tears. They don't know if they're more horrified by the fact that the vase will never be back, or that, for a moment, they thought it would

[witchconnectingdotes]

✿｡PAC : Why do people fall in love with you ｡✿

Hello everyone ✿ !! How are you guys doing? Personally I have been doing just fine. Happy Eid to all the Muslim people celebrating it I hope you all had a great time.

Since I just got out of school I decided to get back to this account and retry this pick a card thingy (it's my second so far) because I find it to be really entertaining !

Keep in my that this is a general reading for entertainment purposes only, take what resonates leave what doesn't of course, if you want a personal reading hit my ask box I am reopening my free readings ^^ !

Without further due here are the piles :

Pile 1

Hello Pile one, welcome to your reading! Let me start off by saying that you guys have options. That message is loud and clear, and most of you know you do. This pile also feels like the pile of people who have a social media following or are very active on social media/ their community. You people know that you are the shit and no one can tell you otherwise. People love that in you, they can see how much love you have for yourselves and that you know your worth, and at the same time you are playful and fun.

When I think of you I have the word royalty in mind. You guys are quick to cut out people who are not up to your standards and you tend to treat people fairly. As I said you might be the pile who has a lot of suitors but that doesn't make you a player, quite the contrary you might be the type to only and exclusively focus on your love interest despite having other people begging for your attention. You guys are very selective with who you give your attention to and that makes your lover feel extremely special.

Your intelligence is also very attractive, people love how well read  and articulate you are, it adds to your air of confidence and majesty. Your lovers are in awe of having such a diamond.

Literal bad bitches keep it up !!

I just want to say as a note that for a first pull your energy was just wow I aspire to be as confident and hot as you pile 1

Song : Sure Thing - Miguel

Pile 2

Hello Pile two, welcome to your reading! So this pile's message came clearly too. This is the life lover material pile. People fall in love with how tranformative your energy is, your love brings healing and peace to your lover when they treat you right but it also brings chaos when there is healing that needs to be done. Your energy is not for the weak let me tell you that lmao. But I can tell you that your love is very strong.

Your love feels like a divine union to them. People might see you and think we're meant to be together, you are the one I want to be with forever. Your energy feels stable and unstable at the same time because I feel like you can be a very devoted lover but that doesn't mean you don't want your partner to evolve and grow. You triggrer in them the desire to change and heal, you trigger your lovers' growth.

You can also be the kind of person who doesn't surround themselves with a ton of people, you might appear alone in a crowded room and that draws your lovers in, they discover that under your colder exterior or more aloof exterior there is a very loving and giving person. People can tell you that you don't talk a lot put that just makes them want to know what in lying under your calmness. They want to read your mind.

Song : Lotus Flower Bomb - Wale

Pile 3

Hello Pile three, welcome to your reading! I am going to be honest, I had more difficulty with this pile because I feel like some of you tend to attract disappointing lovers. You guys are often seen as very feisty and exciting, you might be a flirt, some see you as a temptation even, but many of the people who come talk to you fail to understand that you guys can have a more traditional view of relationships. You want commitment yet attract those who aren't capable of providing it. Which can create a sense of frustration in the relationship.

I think it's a bit weird from the people who come to you but most are imediately sexually attracted to you. You guys have very focused minds especially in conflicts, you tend to know exactly what to say, and it sounds weird but people love that, they love to create tension between you two, I am sorry it's a very bizarre energy.

Those lovers tend to look back at you and feel a sense of incompletion, they feel as though they took you for granted, which I think they did to be honest, they themselves feel incomplete, they go to you hoping that you will fill the void or be the missing part in their puzzle. You appear to have your shit together and can fix their lives or at least give them a great time but you are worth more than that.

I really want to tell you guys that you are enough, you are great and lovable, you don't need those kinds of people in your life.

Song : Love - Keyshia Cole

Pile 4 

Hello Pile four, welcome to your reading! For you guys I think people fall in love with trying to figure you out. They like the challenge that comes with learning who you are. And I think for most you really test your lovers, you are the kind of person who won’t shy away from giving someone the silent treatment if they wrong you. I don’t know why I hear that they know you can leave them eventually? or they already see you leaving?

There is something that makes them feel like they can’t fully trust you, you might attract people with an anxious attachment style, and they are scared of you leaving at some point. They might think that you are strategic and discrete when it comes to achieving your goals. you also appear to be a very goal oriented person.

Most of your lovers see great potential in you and can see that you are the type of person who isn’t afraid of changing to plan B if plan A isn’t working. They admire your way of handling crisis and difficulty and would try to overcome everything to get to you.

Song : Clouded - Brent Fayez

Pile 5

Hello Pile five, welcome to your reading! Hey heartbreakers, how are you doing?;)?

Most people fall in love with how you break their hearts lmao. I think for most of you people

your suitors think they can depend on you, you might appear dependable. People have this idea on their mind that you are going to be someone they can get attached to but you refuse their codependency. Those people might get addicted to your energy even, it’s weird but your lack of commitment drives them mad?

Some people really think that they can “have you”? And I mean in the way of always being able to rely on you and come back to you whenever they want, but you don’t follow through with the script they made. You are not the one to stay and wait for someone to come back to everytime they feel like it. You seperate from those who project their expectation onto you and leave them hurt.

Girlboss lmao 

Song : Wet Dreams - J Cole

[autistic-sidestep]

lying down thinking very hard abt imagining sidestep trying ortega's cooking for the first time, canonically them liking anything ortega makes, that ortega learnt from tia elena that feeding people is the best way to befriend people and that SO many of their fond memories are food-related. (bumped into overdrive with a sugar vice step!) the necessity of needing to eat a lot to maintain their telepathy helps, ofc!

#Sugar—my brain needs the energy.     One drawback of your telepathic powers is that you need a lot of carbohydrates, and sugar is the easiest way to get them. […] the syrupy drinks you were used to back when [you were at the Farm]…

even chen's memory of a happy sidestep involves food

[non(knowssteelsuspects) tacticianstep] [i]So excited about a milkshake. Laughing with Anathema. The almost childish glee with which ${che} delighted in normalcy. In junk food and music. In movies.[/i]

which is why he stocks the fridge for an ally/friendly step

*label steelfridge (steelshelf true) "Raiding the fridge again?" Steel's voice is too soft for being inside the HQ. […] "Yeah, I'm a regular criminal," you joke, not looking back. Your eyes catch that damn shelf again, with your name clearly on it. There are some beers at the back, as well as assorted snacks. All things you've stolen in the past.

this can even be triggered by marcia from the business base

*label businessstart Sometimes, you pretend that this is what ordinary life must be like. Having a job. A daily routine. Surrounded by normal people, thinking unimportant thoughts. It's a nice enough fantasy, easy to indulge in when you sit sharing a meal with Marcia. She's brought a chili today, not as spicy as you're used to, but for a moment, you're having a flashback to another table, to another shared meal. Familiar laughter. A sense of belonging. You shut your eyes hard, and when you open them, it's Marcia's face you see and not Tía Ortega's. "Was it too hot?" Marcia looks concerned, and you realize your eyes have been tearing up. "I'm fine," you lie, hiding your face as you bite down on a piece of bread. "Thanks for sharing." "A meal is meant to be shared," she says, triggering more memories you don't want.

leading onto comforting spaces and memories with elena and ortega, it's definitely true ortega's strongly associated with food - all their meetups tend to revolve around meals

As do snacks. Is that part of what ${he} learned from ${his} mother? Feed people to make them comfortable, and you suppose the alcohol is mostly for ${him}self. (vice = "sugar") $!{he} always lets you steal ${his} snacks.

"Ooh, they have pancakes." "Pancakes." You shake your head. (*if vice = "sugar") Old memories. You used to eat those together.

What else did you have that wouldn't bring back traumatic memories? Clubs without Anathema, karaoke without Sunstream coming to life on the stage? Dinners with Tía Elena?

(retri epilogue, ortega pov)

Food. When in doubt, always go for food. $!{he} learned that trick at a young age, and it has never steered ${him} wrong.

memorial park meetup

[non alcoholic vice step] "You don't have to talk," ${he} assures you. "But what do you say we get a cup of coffee and a bite to eat?" "Coffee…" You almost laugh, because that's how people work, isn't it? When something uncomfortable happens, make sure to eat or drink something. It will make things better.

hoots

Of course ${he}'d pick a spot like this, [if see_shrink] where ${he} knows you would feel safe, especially after what you just went through. [else] the site of many of your escapades. Familiar. Safe.

"You know what Mamá would have said…." $!{he} wags ${his} finger in the air with a serious look on ${his} face. "If it tastes bad, it's good for you." Your voice is a fair approximation of Tía Elena's; you've heard that sentence often enough. For some reason, she had always been very concerned for your health. Intent on not letting you go hungry.

and ofc, the apartment scene

  "I'd like that," you admit. It sounds good; a little privacy is what you need right now. "Been a while since I ate something homemade."     "I think I still remember your favorites," ${he} says with a chuckle. "Wow. It's been ages since we did this."     "Yeah," you look away to hide your smile. "I miss it."     "So do I." For a moment, you think ${he}'s going to say something else, but ${he} doesn't.     "I like your food," you finally admit, a little lower than needed, because you're not sure how ${he} will react.

*if ((wound = "a severely bitten lower lip") or (wound = "a severely bitten lower lip, and a sore shoulder"))   "Are you sure you're going to be okay eating with that lip?" $!{he} touches ${his} own in sympathy.   "I'm not going to starve," you say with a careful smile. "Just don't make it too spicy."   "But I like spice…," ${he} complains.   "Sucks to be you then."   [*if ortega_friendship >= 75] Your smile softens somewhat. "You can always add it last, just to your portion."

"Any requests?" $!{his} voice is light and airy, clearly attempting to strike a lighter mood. "I like everything you make," you say, with a nonchalant shrug. [...]

It feels surprisingly normal sitting in Ortega's kitchen, one leg pulled up on your chair, watching ${him} cook. You helped cut the vegetables, but once the preparations were done, the stove was all [hers/his]. A familiar routine. It used to be what you did back in the day, maybe not every week, but when you had the time. The smell brings back fond memories [...]

"It's been a long time since we did this." Ortega again, breaking the silence that had been building, putting food on your plates. "Yeah," you admit, wishing it didn't smell so good, wishing the smell didn't take you back. […] "Do you like it?" "You're a good cook but such a sucker for compliments," you say, shoving in another mouthful. "I like it." […] You don't know what to feel as you watch ${him} eat, sharing ${his} table, sharing ${his} food. Sharing ${his} home. $!{his} friendship. $!{his} heart.

epilogue (recovering in chen's apartment + dating ortega)

 "Your kitchen really sucks." Not exactly the smartest thing to say, but ${he}'s never been that good with words when ${he}'s stressed. "You know that, right?"   "I know," Wei sighs, with the long-suffering look he has perfected over the years. "And you know it too. You say it every time you cook here."   "$!{he} cooks here?" [...]   "Occasionally." Wei sits down at last, giving Spoon a scratch before the dog pads back to ${name}'s side. "When ${he} feels I've been eating too badly."   "I know your stomach doesn't always agree with food, but occasionally you just need some homemade caldillo." ${ortega_name} turns back to the stove, glad for the opportunity to busy ${his} hands. The closest thing ${he} can get to meditation, that, and the bike. [...] And everything starts with a delicious dinner. Even if ${he} has to be careful with the chili.   $!{he}'s made worse sacrifices.

of course ortega learned it all from tia.

 "Not Ortega?" Steel sounds surprised, which is annoying. Are you that predictable?     "You know Tía Ortega. Dishes get done in that household." You can't help but smile at the memory. Another life. Another world. Did you use to be happy once?

[...]

Once upon a time, [if ortega_former ally] you were a frequent guest at [Elena's] house // [else] you were close. Back when she lived in the city. Invited into her home, at her dinner table. Hugs. Friendly laughter.

[...]

But it would also mean meeting her again. Stepping back into the past, being soft, loved, cared for, and you…you're not the same. Ortega hasn't told her about you for a reason.

i just.... augHHH. food as love.

[ancicntforged]

Kal'tsit lore dump on new Babel event in CN

The gist of it is that Doctor gave Kal'tsit her name and freedom and they been sleeping for 4 million days.

------

Kal'tsit: He's the one who understands Originium the most.

Kal'tsit: If there's a need to solve the suffering caused by Originium.....

Kal'tsit: He's the most suitable candidate.

Theresa: I have to say, you always bring things that even Sarkaz wouldn't easily believe.....

Theresa: Can those devices still operate... Are you still confident in his awakening?

Theresa: The vast majority of Terra's life forms are unlikely to resist erosion over such a long period of time.

Kal'tsit: Terra now is undoubtedly a miracle. So are you, Theresa.

Kal'tsit: But in the past, in their eyes, the entire solar system revolving around the sun was insignificant.

Theresa: ......You seem a bit nervous now. There's also some anxiety and unease.

Theresa: Do you have anything else to worry about?

Kal'tsit: ......I do.

Kal'tsit: But I... can't say.

Theresa: That's okay! Sorry, I shouldn't distract you, focus. I can feel it.

Theresa: ......

Theresa: "Kal'tsit"... You love this name, don't you?

Kal'tsit: I... have almost forgotten everything else from that time.

Kal'tsit: But I distinctly remember, in that distant past, there was a person who gave me this name——

Kal'tsit: "Kal'tsit".

Kal'tsit: That was our last meeting.

"Kal'tsit... I don't have much time left.

"Go seek traces of life, go find hope and the future.

"Kal'tsit... Find the answers yourself.

"Go find yourself."

Theresa: Then why hesitate again, Kal'tsit?

Kal'tsit: I know, it's just...

Kal'tsit: ...I've always had a premonition... worry, or speculation.

Kal'tsit: At the beginning of the land, at some point when life was just beginning to sprout, something happened here that can never be reversed.

Kal'tsit: But I don't know what.

Theresa: If it's someone even Dr. Kal'tsit can trust, then I'm not worried at all.

Theresa: Moreover, given Dr. Kal'tsit's cautious nature, I never have to worry about prearranged contingency plans.

Kal'tsit: Unfortunately, Theresa.

Kal'tsit: Only in this matter, no matter how many contingency plans I've made, I don't have any concrete assurance.

Kal'tsit: ...Theresa, I can't guarantee that I'll always make the most rational choice.

Kal'tsit: But this time... I want to believe.

Theresa: Then do what you want to do, I'll be here, accompanying you.

Kal'tsit's hand has already touched the door that has been silent for countless years.

Rhodes Island ushered in a new round of turmoil.

The door, loosened.

"Originium will become the beacon formed by our civilization...

"If one day, other life forms in the universe return to their dead homes, seeking a breakthrough,

"They will witness...

"Our glory,

"Our resistance,

"Our slumber here.

"We once bestowed gifts upon the successors before extinction—

"—Hope."

???: Here...

???: Time... has it... come?

(Note: Here the "???" or actually the Doctor and Kal'tsit speaking in Unknown language)

Warning: Unknown power source activated.

Warning: PRTS system permissions read-write in progress...

Warning: PRTS system permissions read—

PRTS system permissions reset. Administrator permissions confirmed.

Communication module full-band open, communication receiving module overclocking complete.

Search: Preserver... no signal.

Search: Caerula Arbor... no signal.

Search: Paradise Pivot... no signal.

Search: (Unknown noise)... no signal.

...

Search completed, full-band no signal.

Retry—

???: No... response...

???: Only... me...

???: How long... has it been?

Search process log file...

Latest update: 4,755,954 days ago.

???: ...

Detecting severe abnormalities in life sign data. Automatic loading of repair module.

Repairing—

???: ...

???: Did... I wake up too early... or... too late?

???: ...

???: At what stage... is Originium... in?

Retrieving Originium detection historical data... No response.

Originium detection module offline.

???: ...

???: "Terra"...

???: Why store... so much... redundant information...

???: ...

???: This... not recorded in the database... New language?

???: Civilization... has... emerged...?

???: Only... remains... me... What about her, Priestess, my...

Kal'tsit: I can answer your questions. Those data were previously stored in PRTS by me.

???: ...You?

In the eyes of one trapped in the past flickered a hint of unfamiliarity, a hint of suspicion, and... a hint of vigilance.

Kal'tsit keenly caught the gaze of the person in the sarcophagus.

And Theresa caught Kal'tsit's tension.

???: Wait...

???: ...

???: ...

???: ...

???: Even though you have changed a lot...

Kal'tsit: ...

The newly awakened person seemed to have had a short dream in the sarcophagus.

The life that bid farewell before entering the dream still lingered by their side when they woke up.

???: ...You didn't leave.

Kal'tsit: ...No. Since leaving here until now, standing in front of you again—

Kal'tsit: ...I have wandered for tens of thousands of years.

Kal'tsit: ...But, I still haven't forgotten the questions you left me—

Kal'tsit waited, anxious, she needed assurance...

Assurance that her hopes hadn't undergone some terrible change.

???: ...

???: That's not... a question, it's... my hope...

???: ...Then, have you... found the meaning of your life?

"Kal'tsit..."

Kal'tsit: Seeking the meaning of life's continuity—this is still the path I need to continue on in the future.

Kal'tsit: Do you remember...

???: I remember... For me, saying goodbye to you feels like it was just yesterday, yet also as distant as unreal...

???: But for you...

Kal'tsit: Ihave never forgotten the efforts you made for me.

Kal'tsit: Besides life itself, you gave me another precious thing—freedom, Doctor.

???: Or... call me Doctor, Kal'tsit.

Doctor: Let me... leave first...

Kal'tsit: You're still weak, I can help—

Doctor: No need...

Doctor: Kal'tsit, I have... too many doubts.

Doctor: What about Originium... I haven't found any records.

Kal'tsit: ...

Kal'tsit: Originium still grows on the land outside.

Doctor: So I woke up too early.

Kal'tsit: ...

Doctor: You've been through a lot, Kal'tsit.

Doctor: I can tell from your eyes. Do you need my help? Is that why you woke me up?

Kal'tsit: It's not just me who needs your help.

Doctor: Ah. What about the "devil"?

Doctor: On your friend behind you, I not only see Originium existing in unexpected forms...

Doctor: She also possesses... um, the "Civilight Eterna".

Kal'tsit: Nowadays, the trajectory of civilization development is very... complex.

Doctor: What's her name? Do their civilization also have a similar term to refer to their existence?

Kal'tsit: Theresa.

Doctor: The...re...sa...

[mybworlds]

Chapter 7: Routine

Pairing: The Hound x Sansa Stark

Summary: As their journey continues, they will discover that slowly their relationship is beginning to change -- perhaps.

Chapter Warnings: language, use of pet names

Masterlist

Before to start... thank you to follow me, if you want to be tagged in the next chapters, please let me know! if you want to ask me smt, you can write down here or you can inbox me. Please remember English is not my first language.

Thanks @vase-of-lilies for the banner

Sansa was silent for a long time, straining to remember what she had done or said: she tried to justify his behavior. She knew for sure that he didn't touch her: if he did, she thought, he would surely have reminded her or turned her some ambiguous phrases to make her uncomfortable.

Instead, the Hound looked particularly grim and blurted out for everything.

The Sun painted the surrounding hills as Sansa and the Hound walked through another forest, over there air was cool and there was no particular noise except that of the pristine nature around them.

"It's beautiful here," she said with a small smile, "What is this place?"

"A friggin' forest, a friggin' forest, they're all the same as each other," he replied, taking his canteen and drinking.

"Wine?" she asked, turning her head toward him.

"Yes, would you like it?" he asked handing his the canteen, she wrinkled her nose and looked ahead.

"No, thank you. My head hurts too much." she replied as she turned to him and looked at the landscape that offered itself to their view.

He chuckled "I had my first drunk when I was twelve, I had made a bet with a pig warden." he told her, sketching a smile.

"Really?" she asked in amazement.

"Yeah."

"How were you as a child?" she asked curiously.

"Silent." he replied admonishing her "What is this question? Courtesy question? Or something else?"

"No, I mean, if we're going to get to Winterfell, we should get to know each other, don't you think."

"No." he replied abruptly.

"Why are you so…unwilling to talk about you and your past? I only asked you about your childhood! You must have been a child, right?" she tried to deepen.

"I've forgotten who I was like!" he told her. And it was true in part.

"Because of your brother?" she had the audacity to ask him even though she dared not look at his expression.

He shook his head; he didn't like to talk about that part of his life. Indeed, the less he remembered about it, the better he was: his childhood was linked with so many painful memories. He didn't want to talk about it!

"What was your mother's name?" she asked him, retrying after a while to talk to him.

Sandor huffed, "What does it matter?"

"Mine is called Catelyn. She is one of the strongest and proudest women I know, when I grow up I hope to be like her." she told.

"I hear your mother is holding that damned Lannister captive who thinks he's above everyone! May the Underworld take him!" Sandor spoke bitterly.

Sansa smiled, "I know. She's showing such courage."

"So are you, little bird, so are you," he added, making her turn her head toward him and make their eyes meet.

That clear sky soon gave way to rain and the two were forced to stop again.

They reached a small inn where Sansa ate stewed meat with vegetables and drank a lot of water, she would not be drinking wine again for certainly not anytime soon.

She promised herself.

Sandor, on the other hand, ate and drank to satisfaction, he was so drunk that at one point he almost dropped the glass from his hands and that was when Sansa stopped him: it had never happened that a woman managed to stop him, but she must have had some strange power over him because strangely he did not attack her, indeed when she told him to go to sleep, he let himself be guided to the room that Sansa had previously requested for them. The man leaned on the little girl who was barely holding him because of his size and let her guide him up the dusty, creaking steps, his head aching more than usual.

The two entered a small room that was old and smelled musty, Sansa sat the Hound on the bed that creaked under his weight, then the young woman went to the small window and opened it. Fresh air flooded the room that probably hadn't been opened in years, and Sansa felt better, rested her palms on the small windowsill and closed her eyes, breathing in the crisp air that filled her nostrils and gently moved her hair.

Who knows if it was snowing in Winterfell, if the wolves were howling and running through the woods, she opened her eyes and watched the sky grow darker and darker, then she looked in again and saw the Hound lying on his side, the features of the healthy half of his face were relaxed and for a moment it seemed to Sansa that for real she had a man just a little older than she was and not someone forty!

She was tempted to move his black hair that was falling over his face, but she preferred not to touch him, not to disturb his sleep, and so she made to lie down beside him on the other side of the bed: it barely squeaked under the slight weight of the young Stark and she only at that instant realized that she was lying with a man, she flushed. He was drunk yes, sleeping it is true, but he was a man!

What would her mother or her septa have said if they had seen that she, Sansa Stark of Winterfell, was lying with a man who was not her husband and who moreover had been in the service of the Lannisters?

But then she recalled that they had almost certainly slept together the night before as well, and her heart missed a beat and then galloped off again.

"You can lie down, I won't hurt you."

The Hound reassured her, at least in words, about his intentions, but Sansa continued to feel that state of deep shame. She squeezed her eyes shut and placed her hands to her chest, then relented and lay back, her head turned away. The Hound was too drunk to even think about touching the little bird, but even if he had, it would not have been to hurt her: he wouldn't laid a finger on her.

He was making that journey for the purpose of bringing her back to her nest; he would never break her wings to satisfy his desire, ever.

The next morning the two set off again, their relationship was changing, it was now clear.

A strange routine had developed: they ride for several hours, then Sandor goes off to find some berries or a hare while she lights a fire or satisfies personal impulses, then after they had eaten their simple meal, Sandor helps her get back on Stranger and then continue riding, Sandor holds the reins and she keeps her hands on his or she holds Stranger's reins and he covers her hands with his own.

It was a bit strange that relationship, but in Sansa's eyes it was beautiful, simple and less frightening as the days went by, in Sandor's eyes magnificent because for the first time he was sharing something simple with someone.

[luxaria-nocturne]

So I have been introduced to the concept of Dnd before, but could never really get into it going up. I liked my time just fine, but my neutral affect is hard for others, especially strangers, to read. The people who would invite me either assumed I didn't like the game or was just bad at roleplay (the phrase, "Are you doing alright?" was said a lot back before I understood that to mean, "Are you having fun yet??"). Because it seemed like I just could "gel" well with people in campaigns, I've long assumed that Dnd can't be for me.

It's been several years since then and with a better understanding of myself, I played around with the idea of giving it another try. Honestly? I probably would not have done it until my sister (who has played several campaigns) told me that there is a race of humanoid turtles in the game that you can play as.

I had never been more down for an idea in my entire life.

I don't have a special interest in turtles or anything, but the concept of embodying a wise man-sized ancient turtle creature floored me. The description of "having their home right on their backs" spoke to a part of me inside that longed for that level of reliable security and comfort. My sister showed me a picture of this wrinkly, hunched over scaly looking thing with way too many pouches hanging off of its harden back and I was sold.

I messaged my friend who'd been trying to get me to retry Dnd for years that I wanted to play a campaign before the end of the night.

I cobbled together a semi-decent character sheet through the power of Wizards of the Coast guides and Googling whatever the fuck didn't make sense.

I went online to buy my first set of dice that sort of looks like swamp-weathered bone.

Then I started drawing real-life turtles to practice for making my character art basically all night. I couldn't bring myself to stop. Sleep was irrelevant as long as I could still hold a pencil.

My friend woke up at an actually decent hour and, though very happy that I want to now play Dnd with them, told me to go the fuck to sleep and stop drawing turtles.

That was about 4 hours ago.

I can't stop thinking about turtles with dumbass grin on my face.

Fucking Tortles man

[nekropsii]

I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT CANADIA AND NEO JAPAN

You're in luck!! I'd quite like to talk about Canadia and Neo Japan!! Thank you very much for asking about that!!

I really cant think of a smooth transition into talking about this, so we're just going to dive right in...

Content Warning: Long, Discussions of Late Stage Capitalism and Orientalism.

CANADIA:

Canadia is, put bluntly, an icy cyberpunk hellscape. It's known for being just about the only country in the world to very strictly follow Capitalism... And it's not in a very good state because of it. It's in an extreme form of the Late Stages, to the point of it being beyond parody. Corporations run the country, monopolies are rampant and unchecked, you can't even look up at the sky without being advertised to. It's miserable there, whether you live in a major city or not. Surveillance is rampant. Everything is a commodity. God forbid you want to go to a doctor for something. It's the perfect breeding grounds for either extreme paranoia or complete desensitization.

None of this is to say everyone's subservient in it. Not everyone's been broken into allowing themselves to be cogs of the machine- there are fighters out there who want to take the system down, one battle at a time. Maybe their revolution will work one day...

This is where Mituna is from. It explains a lot.

It's largely populated by Trolls. A startling amount of the population has started to partake in a political movement called Alternian Traditionalism as a means to cope with their oppressive environment. This isn't a healthy or effective way dealing with the problem, though, because it actually doesn't address any of the real issues, and wouldn't solve a damn thing. If the Alternian Traditionalists have their way, the country will get much, much worse...

NEO JAPAN:

Neo Japan is... Incredibly normal. In fact, one could even say that it's literally just regular Japan, except everyone acts like it's this strange, mystical place 25 years ahead of the technological curve, yet 2,500 years behind the cultural curve. Many people who aren't from Neo Japan practically worship the place blindly, not realizing that what they're praising is a heavily fictionalized version of a real place that real people live in. To many, it's a pure spectacle. An exotic experience to be had. A tourist location, full of fake people with perfect lives. It's as if the entire nation is defined by what can be put in advertisements and postcards. So... Again, one could even say that it's literally just regular Japan.

This is where Retris is from. Specifically Old Capital, which you may know as Kyoto. He lives in Kyoto City. This has given him an immense disdain for tourists/foreigners. He doesn't mind if you're respectful, though. He's just had his home treated as a circus enough times to get weary and wary. Damara, meanwhile, is from New Capital, which you may know as Tokyo. Though she has the same experience as Retris does regarding people treating her home as a circus, she hasn't had nearly as long of an exposure to that behavior, so she doesn't hold much opinion of it all. She ran away into the woods too soon to start really caring about it.

It's largely populated by Carapacians. I'd say the only "strange" thing they partake in is Traditional Battleground LARPing, which are entirely normal, save for the fact that a good majority of them involve real weapons, real battles, and real life-or-death stakes. Some of them are "Death-Free", though that's usually a fact that is remarked upon... Meaning, it's not the average set up. It's a cultural difference. Some people find it barbaric, but their attitude towards death just is not the same as it is in other societies. And that's fine.

[criptochecca]

Im curious, whats the deal with difficulty in video games?

"All games need an easy mode" which i soundly disagree with. It became a big discussion upon/after the release of Elden Ring with fromsoftware games entering the actual mainstream and people who had never before touched a soulsborne game actually playing one (the most accessible one on top of that). Putting aside how asshole fromsoft/hardcore players can become (I already talk about them especially the PVP invasion guys I can't fucking stand), the funniest part to me were people who complained about difficulty in videogames in a way that implied that hard games with no difficulty setting/sliders or assist mode were taking up the majority of the videogame mainstream industry when I can count them on the fingers of two hands: Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 1, 2 and 3, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Elden Ring, Cuphead, Blasphemous and Hollow Knight. And what? Fear and Hunger? 5 people played that game and 3 of them are my mutuals. Even the other indie Hard Games that are supposed to be challenging like Celeste, Ultrakill, Dead Cells etc have assist modes/difficulty sliders.

Concerning Elden Ring (and any fromsoft game), what was annoying of this discussion (that was accompanied by western devs jealous of Elden Ring success starting a shitstorm on the fromsoft UI/UX) is that people simply refused to play the game on its own terms. You don't die and retry a boss more than one time because you necessarely suck at the game, but because that's how the game functions. "Putting an easy mode wouldn't ruin the game experience" hhhh it does a little bit. Like I am sorry but the sekiro copypasta is kinda right.

Sure it does sound annoying and pretentious as any guy telling you "git gud" does and I am also a true believer that cheesing in fromsoft is always morally correct (and some cheeses/glitches are like actually hard to pull) but there is a core that's true. So let's take a look at me from one year back for a sec.

Around last year (or 2021 i dont remember) I bought Dark Souls Remastered for the Switch so I could play it with my gf. I tried several times through the years (since 2012/2013) to play it but I just could never get it. Now, before playing it I discovered there's a glitch/exploit that lets you fundamentally have infinite souls so to level up a lot more than you should. And I did that. And at the start of the game I had so much life and a lot of dexterity and stamina that was almost late game level. And yet. I kept dying. And I couldn't even get past the Goat Demon. Because even if I had so many PV and stamina I simply never learn how to play the game. I played the game with Cole and fundamentally they did all the hard work and it took me dying and dying and dying to Artorias to finally learning how to play the game.

If you refuse to entertain the game on its level, to understand how the game functions, how it gives you access in game to ways to make the game easier for you, if you refuse its philosophy and stubbornly demand the game changes it because you don't want to learn the pattern of an attack. Then play another game. There are so many more games with a more classic approach to storytelling and combat that I'm sure will satisfy you.

[phanfictioncatalogue]

Rekindling Romance Masterlist

All Over Again (ao3) - roryonice

Summary: It’s almost Christmas, and Phil goes back to his hometown to win back his high school love after five and a half years.

arms unfolding (ao3) - orphan_account

Summary: It's been two years since Dan and Phil have seen each other after an explosive break up. But now, a few years later when they're both a bit more certain of themselves, maybe, just maybe, they can make it work again.

'cause I want what I want, but with you it's what I need (ao3) - t_hens

Summary: Phil had one rule: don't think of Dan, but that's hard to do when they bump into each other three years after Dan left.

Don't Leave Me (Please Come Back) (ao3) - roryonice

Summary: Dan and Phil broke up in high school and haven’t seen each other in seven years, but when Dan gets the lead role in a Broadway musical, Phil flies across the country to see Dan and they realise that breaking up may have been a mistake.

everything comes back to you (ao3) - curiosityandrain

Summary: Dan and Phil grew up together in a small town, where they had a secret relationship throughout their last year of school. When it comes time to leave for university, they lose contact. Three years later, they’re both back home for summer break and decide to reconnect. They soon realize how much they missed each other. After a whole summer spent together and a road trip with old friends, Dan and Phil begin to wonder whether or not they should continue what there once was between them.

In the shadow of your heart (ao3) - croissantbleu (orphan_account)

Summary: Dan and Phil fell apart a few years ago, and if Phil seemed to have no problem getting used to his new life back in Manchester with his husband Noah, Dan has a few more difficulties moving on. But when Phil comes down to London to attend Louise’s party and ends up having to stay with Dan for a few days, who can tell what will happen.

One last time (ao3) - outphan

Summary: 2009, Dan and Phil met. 2017, Dan and Phil broke up. 2022, Dan and Phil meet again.

In which Dan and Phil go out for an innocent dinner after 5 years. However the evening turns completely around.

Our Flaws Are Aligned (ao3) - phantasizeit

Summary: Dan and Phil are YouTubers, but they hate each other. Phil is reminded of this when he’s forced to interact with him at the Spain Creator’s Summit. Their situation isn’t helped by their complicated past when their firecracker relationship crashed and burned. When Stop, Speak, Support contacts Phil to be a headlining speaker in their tour across schools in the UK, he is more than excited, until he finds out he’ll working next to his YouTube enemy. Phil doesn’t expect their time planning the tour together to rekindle old feelings he thought he’d long since buried.

Resurrection (ao3) - pasteldanhowells

Summary: Dan Howell died 10 years ago, or that’s what Phil Lester thought. After 10 years and having to move on, Phil’s life quickly changes when his supposed-to-be dead ex-boyfriend shows up on his porch.

Retrace, Retry (ao3) - catboydan

Summary: In 2012, Dan left Manchester and Phil didn’t follow. Dan didn’t let him. Now, it’s 2016 and Dan returns to retrace his steps and maybe, possibly, have a chance at a second try. Heavily inspired by the song Retrace by Anberlin.

things we leave unspoken (ao3) - zvyozdochka

Summary: There were things Dan never expected Phil to find, and likewise, Phil never did tell Dan about the ring in his closet. After they collapsed in 2012, that wasn't exactly an option. But 2017 was a fresh start in so many ways- why not for them as well?

[verothexeno]

I have some more thoughts after finishing Baldur's Gate 3 a second time. I must indulge - warning for potential spoilers under cut because idk how the post will go.

Halsin's romance, oh my dear LORD.

Never thought I'd giggle so much like a highschooler having a crush. What also made this playthrough really special was that Halsin's character is a lot like my partner's current D&D character: A wood elf (although a Fighter, not a Druid) that has people's well-being at heart and actually carves wooden ducks as well (when I say that I laughed so freakin' loud when Halsin mentionned that in-game, Mat and I couldn't breathe). Bear in mind, we've had our Descent into Avernus game running for 3 years now!! And so to have Kara, also my current D&D character, romance him sort of solidified the actual dynamic we have in our real-life sessions.

And the tenderness, the open expressions of love, the wanting to see a greater good in this world - that is also something that reflects the relationship I have with Mat. So that made me appreciate that romance even more.

And to say that I first wanted to romance Gale, but then got locked out of his romance because of a weird bug.... Then again, now I have no regrets - Kara belongs with him - and I will definitely revisit Halsin's romance when time allows. He's easily become a character I love, especially due to his warmth and sincerity. .... Man, I love all the characters in this fuckin' game, I swear... (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

-CRIES FOREVER-

My next romances to finish are Karlach, Astarion, and Wyll (I'm especially looking forward to Wyll's !! He's among my top favorite characters now!). Shadowheart and Halsin are completed, dunno when I'll get to (retry) Gale and also do Lae'zel. It's a lot of time to invest :')

Also I was surprised about the Emperor... I see how manipulative he can be on many instances, but I think there are genuine moments where you see how he truly wants to be free and be his own "person" again - even if in the end it's to look out for his own gains. I enjoyed his character. For most of my playthroughs now I've been rejecting a lot of the Illithid's "potentials", but I may try to go down that path deeper at some point. Who knows... Also yeah, Kara did fuck with him also, woopsie HEHEEHEHE. She's had ... quite the interesting body count in that playthrough LOL.

ANYWAY, gotta stop rambling for now. I'm just really grateful that such a game exists. It's been so long since I had such experiences...

[bluelizze]

More on Elliott’s background that i thought of during my life drawing class last week

tw/// death, suicide

Elliott is French and was born a couple years before the French Revolution

Elliott’s surname, Allen is not be his real surname because it is implied that he came from a high-class family during his youth

After meeting the current talior’s grandfather, he helped elliott in many ways possible

vía be helping him express himself and exploring his identity to the point that it thanks to him that he was able to realize that he is actually a man but was born in the wrong body

And he was the one who helped Elliott picked his new name and surname

I had thought about Elliott’s mother and her secret lover and how they play a major role in Elliott

Basically either his mother or lover will be executed

I’m leaning more to his mother bc i figure it would be more reasonable for her to get executed during that time

So her lover might die from suicide bc she can’t handle the news of her lover being executed

Elliott was very close to his mother and her lover as mentioned so obviously, he got PTSD from that

His father tried to marry Elliott off to a suite he found for him but elliott ran away

Elliott hated the thought of marrying someone to keep the bloodline going

Which is pretty ironic bc not long after everything he became a vampire

So he’s keeping the bloodline alive by being immortal

But not intentionally

So back to the tailor, elliott would leave the tailor every few years and travel around Europe before returning

Bc he doesn’t want to cause any suspicion of how and why he isn’t aging

He made a somewhat fake background whenever he meets the the current tailor of the time

It’s always, “my grandfather has worked with your tailor many times. I want to uphold his honor”

How he met grelle was just peer coincidence and the first thing he thought was just that she was a beautiful woman

So he invite her to try out an outfit he designed but he needed a model to test before making adjustments

His vampire nature came from shortly after running away from home

He retry much got caught and almost died

On the verge of death, a mysterious figure came to aid him and basically was like “I can help you, but you gotta drink my blood and kill me”

So he was given blood to drink and painfully turned into a vampire

Was given a knife but the figure and killed them, and drank some of their blood

I’m still working on how he becomes a vampire and this is the best I got

[submalevolentgrace]

i think a lot about the one of the stories of the game braid, the one written in the books at the start of each area

this man has the power to rewind his life, just a little, enough that he can undo any mistake me makes, any stupid thing he says to his love that upsets her. a story paralleling the game mechanic of rewinding the game to undo platforming mistakes and retrying until making the perfectly timed jump, and so on

so many times in my life i've craved that power, more when i was young and immature, less as time has gone on, but still.... to be able to rewind, just a few hours, maybe even minutes, so many things i could fix

but in the story, the most important part of it is that the man's partner knows he can do this, i can't remember how she knows, but she's aware of it, aware that her perfect relationship and his perfect love is the result of an uncountable number of mistakes and dead timelines she can't witness, she can't even know how many of them there are, all she sees is the perfection at the end

and she hates him for it,and it ruins their relationship, and no amount of unwinding can fix it, because it's the whole relationship, it's always been lies and deception all the way down, him living in a private world of mistakes and failures he never wants her to see, but she hates him for it

she doesn't really know who he is, only a meticulously crafted persona that he allows her to see, and she hates him for it

and when you couple it with some of the game mechanics, that certain meta puzzles become permanently locked off one you make certain progress in the main puzzles of the game

i think it says that you just have to live within your mistakes, the unintended consequences of your actions, and hope that it all turns out okay, right? because life and love don't silently freeze when you fuck up, and wait for you to rewind time; you don't even die and respawn. you just, fuck up and keep going. you have to. the guy rewinding time to be the perfect boyfriend is a metaphor for living honestly, right? even if sometimes in that honesty you do the wrong thing? say the wrong thing? if i could rewind the conversation back to before i said anything, when we were just sitting in open honesty, and i could just stop myself from saying things that made you regret opening up at all.... would that make it better? or is it better that we sit in the regret, and move forward anyway, and weather it together, as honestly as we can?

i don't know, and based on the themes of braid and also the witness, i suspect there's not supposed to be a definitive answer in there, just the question and some perspectives for us to ponder

that's my takeaway at least, of one of the many story threads woven throughout the game braid

but instead the analysis of the stories of the game are all like.... woah what if the princess is actualy.... nuclear bomb??? woahhhhhhh because i think Gamers™ are generally pretty adverse to the concept of art

[cottoncandyruby]

So, i am way behind on Rhinktober but just fulfilled the cuddle prompt and it’s Rhett’s birthday so here! You can read on archive but also under the cut - peek, if you want some sickly sweet softness 💚

Rhett was a creature of habit, and of late he’d acquired a new one that he had only recently told his wife about. It had been just for him, something his therapist suggested he try after he brought up an issue he’d been having.

As Rhett had stated many a time, he was an introvert and more pertinently, he wasn’t a fan of physical touch. While his wife and other friends of his preferred to receive affection, he was happy having a quite pronounced personal space bubble. He was selective with both the touches he received and the touches he gave out.

Due to his imposing height, he had a well-practiced lightness to his touch too; never wanting to apply too much pressure during a hug or allow his weight to be felt by someone significantly smaller. One person he was less self-conscious of bothering with his touch was Link. Ironically, they weren’t very affectionate friends. He had other friendships like his relationship with Mike where touches were more regular; greetings were often hugs instead of handshakes, as were goodbyes, because Mike was an affectionate person and he also respected people’s boundaries so if ever Rhett declined a hug he wasn’t as concerned about hurting his feelings. With fans or new, friendly people it felt more challenging for Rhett to say no.

With Link, touches were so few and far between, neither of them wanted anything more than what they provided for the other. That was until a few weeks ago.

In his future-oriented philosophical way, as the day of his forty-fifth birthday grew nearer, Rhett couldn’t help but ponder his mortality. Considering the frequency with which he and Link looked back and tapped into their nostalgia, it was hard not to get all bittersweet and emotional from time to time, even if he did so privately. With one son off at college, vow renewals, near forty years of friendship and the plentiful peaks and valleys of life he couldn’t stop himself from wondering if he was misspending his time.

Were the better, more worthy things he could be doing? Heck, were there better, more selfish things he could be doing? It’d taken him years to retry butt plugs; what about all the new experiences that eventually would become too awkward, too difficult, too dangerous for him to try?

Rhett couldn’t help but stew on these questions and his therapist encouraged him to embrace the concerns he had but make them actionable; find the time to experience new things on his own. So, Rhett did. He embraced the rare occasions he had a free day to himself and explored L.A for new solo adventures until one day he found himself at a spot he’d never actually been to but was greeted by a familiar face.

Jean was more than pleased to see Rhett, though she was very surprised when Link didn’t follow him through the door. That late afternoon, Rhett partook in a group session with about eleven other people he’d never met before, some cuddle professionals and some strangers lookin’ for a hug. He spent a lot of his time in one corner with this other first-timer who was a little overwhelmed by the group dynamic but eventually warmed up to one of the professionals there.

Rhett managed a lean on someone’s shoulder, finding himself more comfortable on the floor and immediately seeing himself as the alternate “Rhett” from ‘Buddy System: Season 2’ just sans the silks. Jean noticed his hesitance and paired him up with Liv who was a very tall woman, who either had to be a former basketballer or volleyballer. She was muscular and had a warm smile that helped put Rhett at ease, but he still felt a little weird when she invited him to lay down next to her, the only welcome surprise that prevented the awkwardness of a possible arousal was that she suggested she be the big spoon. It was as though she had sensed his reason for coming. Outside of Rhett’s genuine curiosity in an experience like cuddling with strangers, there was also a part of him eager to understand what it would feel like to be…the little spoon.

It was that specific curiosity that led Rhett to make many return trips to the Cuddle Sanctuary. Eventually, he grew weary of the awkwardness of interacting with several new people in what was still a relatively intimate way considering he wasn’t physically affectionate by nature.

Jean had suggested private sessions to him after they had a candid conversation about some of the specific needs he wanted fulfilled. Despite the fact that it was an incredibly wholesome arrangement, Rhett couldn’t help but feel a little dirty, even when discussing the sessions he was about to have and the first meet with the professional cuddler, his brain likened it to hiring a prostitute. Not that there was anything wrong with sex work or any shame in soliciting sex workers, but it wasn’t what Rhett was looking for and he didn’t want anyone getting the wrong idea that he was cheating on his wife or something.

Jean did her best to assuage his fears and Freddie, his one-on-one professional cuddler, was a delight. They got on pretty well upon first meeting and slowly built up from a starting point of casual closeness: sitting on beds or couches with their bodies touching at the arm and leg. Steadily, they graduated to an arm around Rhett’s shoulder and then to different configurations of hugging.

Yes, occasionally Freddie got aroused as it was a possibility when close and relaxed with someone you may happen to find attractive, but he always kept things professional and would announce the problem to Rhett and suggest a new position to keep things cool.

Though the first time it happened Rhett wound up a little wigged out, by the third time, his ego was starting to inflate, and he wasn’t feeling so nervous about their proximity anymore. The charmer in him did have to reign in the flirty side of his personality though; despite the whole premise of Cuddle Sanctuary originating on the idea of physical affection being non-exclusive to romantic or sexual partnerships, Rhett couldn’t help but think of romantic and/or sexual things. Even Freddie, who was certainly attractive, had Rhett blushing at their closeness. Rhett was very comfortable in his sexuality and open to exploring it, but this wasn’t the forum for exploring his sexuality.

It was just a part of Rhett’s process to help de-stigmatise the need for physical affection between male friends. It was normal and privately, Rhett was proud of himself for championing the pursuit of tenderness that he so often avoided with other men.

So far, as part of Rhett’s journey to getting more comfortable with physical affection, he had had five sessions with Freddie dotted here and there and had recently committed to weekly scheduled sessions for the next two months. Price wise it was going to cost.

.().().().

He was at the Creative House one Friday after work and had forgotten to change his mailing address to his home. The first few letters of communication between him and the Cuddle Sanctuary had transpired when Rhett was still yet to tell Jessie; his insecurities eating at him until he realised of all people, Jessie would be the last one to judge him and, as he expected, was genuinely excited for him to get more comfortable with affection. Besides, she’d benefit from it too.

It was a win-win...until it wasn’t. Link arrived at the Creative House about forty minutes after Rhett, he had to stop at his house first and had picked up their mail on the way in. Rhett, ever the workaholic, had breezed by their post to get to work in his office space.

Link didn’t usually call out to him when he arrived, preferring to just wander into his office when he was making a drink or something, so Rhett was confused when Link shouted at him to come to the living room.

As he made the short trip from his office to the front door, beads of realisation took the form of sweat on his forehead as he observed Link squint at his letter. At the Creative House, both men had agreed they were free to open mail addressed to whomever since it was usually about business ventures involving the two of them, not personal matters they might not want the other reading about.

“You’ve been goin’ to the Cuddle Sanctuary?” Link asked, shrugging off his shoulder bag and toeing off his shoes. “You don’t like being touched.”

“Yeah, well…times change.” Rhett replied with a casualness he didn’t feel as he entered the living room, hovering by the sofa.

Link frowned at him, “But…you – you don’t even hug. Isn’t it like a group thing – you’re just touching strangers?”

“Hey, what’s with the tone, Neal? We’ve met Jean, yeah it seemed like a woo-woo thing initially, but it has meaning for people. Plus, there’s plenty folks we know who feel better after a good hug. Look at Mike or our wives.” Rhett edged closer around the coffee table, hoping to snatch his letter from Link’s grasp.

“Yeah, but you? I just…I don’t know. Colour me surprised, I guess. So, this is for private sessions? Rhett -”

Link darted out of the way, despite Rhett’s large wingspan, his movements were too predictable for his friend to not see coming, “- Just, give me that. Link -”

The younger man speed-walked around the hazard the coffee table was becoming, “- ‘Dear, Rhett, this is to confirm your first payment of two-hundred and fifty dollars for your private session with Freddie Tompkins’. A private session? With Freddie? Who is Freddie?”

Rhett was getting agitated now, “Link, you ‘bout to piss me off, brother.”

Link widened his eyes, a look of teasing shock on his face, “What? I’m just curious, I didn’t know you were so touch-starved that you were paying for hugs from Freddie.”

Rhett sighed, maybe coming clean would stop Link from embarrassing him any further, “Maybe I am.”

“What?” The smirk fell from Link’s face as he watched Rhett deflate like a burst tyre.

“I. Shit. I’m not ‘touch-starved’, me and Jessie are good, and plenty affectionate or whatever. It’s just…” he faltered, knowing however he phrased it, Link was gonna be weirded out.

Link could see Rhett getting self-conscious; it wasn’t often that he got that way around Link though and he didn’t like it, “Say it.”

“Link, I’m trying to but listen, this isn’t some joke to me, I’m serious about this. If you’re gonna start ripping into me for it, then I don’t wanna explain it to you.”

Link rounded the corner of the coffee table to approach Rhett with hands open in a surrendering gesture, “N-no, Rhett. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come off as judgy, I’m just confused. You’ve never…you’ve never wanted that so…what made you change your tune?”

Rhett cleared his throat, “I’m a big man. Sometimes I wanna be the little spoon.”

Link made a face at the lacklustre explanation, “That’s it? You...want to be held by some guy? What – is Freddie seven foot or somethin’?”

He could hear Rhett’s jaw clench, “Link, I swear –“

“- Sorry, I…so you’re telling me you’re paying this dude two-hundred and fifty bucks to be your big spoon?” The look of incredulity on Link’s face wasn’t doin’ a whole lot for Rhett’s confidence; an air of resignation settled around him.

Rhett shrugged, “Yes, do you have a problem with that?”

Link flapped his arms like a peacock puffing out his feathers, “Well, yeah!” He pushed the letter into Rhett’s hands as he brushed by him, angrily huffing his way toward the kitchen.

Rhett responded with an impersonation of the blinking guy meme, taking a second to process the abrupt change in mood, “What, why?”

He entered the kitchen to find Link searching the drawers for some utensil he’d misplaced, “Why wouldn’t you ask me? I’m a big guy, I could be your big spoon!”

“Wha-you don’t like hugs! Least not with me, we don’t do that,” Rhett countered.

More clunks could be heard, and Rhett was getting increasingly sure Link didn’t actually know what he was looking for he just wanted to occupy his hands, “Well, I thought you didn’t want to. If you’re just wantin’ a different kinda hug, I can spare you the money man. Honestly, that’s what driving me nuts that you’d spend that much money on this. I assume you were gonna be seeing him more than once?”

Finally Link settled, palms resting on the kitchen island as he appraised Rhett, “I already have seen him. He’s a good cuddler.” Rhett couldn’t help but smile beside himself which only seemed to rile Link up more.

“He freakin’ better be with that rate.”

Okay, so there wasn’t as much out-right scorn as Rhett expected; that was a good thing but this angsty energy was tiring him out.

Link’s head had bowed now but Rhett couldn’t tell if he was staring at the cutting board on the counter or closing his eyes from…frustration? “So…we’re good?”

Link sighed, “Yeah, yeah, we’re good man.”

Rhett doubted it but he was also fully done with this conversation, “Cool. Alright, I’mma be in mine – okay.”

“Yup. You want a coffee?”

“I’m good,” and with that Rhett made for his office while Link set about filling up the kettle, muttering something to himself that Rhett couldn’t make out.

Well, that went down like a lead balloon.

.().().().

About two hours later when it was nearing half past eight, Rhett was snapped out of his work reverie by Link sneakily appearing in his doorway and lingering there until Rhett felt eyes drilling holes in the back of his head.

He rotated slowly in his chair, turning to face his friend, “Link?”

“Am I a bad hugger?” he asked, one arm creating a triangle between his head and the doorframe.

Rhett closed his eyes and rubbed the sleepy dust that was forming there, “What?”

“Am I a bad hugger?” Link repeated, straightening up as he crossed his arms.

No. No, I don’t think so. I mean, I don’t think we hug enough for me to have an opinion -”

“- Okay, let’s hug right now,” Link shook out his arms as though he were stretching before a fight.

Rhett held up a hand in the universal ‘wait’ motion, biting back a yawn as he questioned his friend, “What? Link, what is this about?”

“I wanna know if I am a bad hugger in your eyes or not. So, get your butt over here and hug me.” Link beckoned him over with widening eyes, like he would a disobedient Jasper.

Yup, it was weird now, but Rhett got up from his chair and walked over to Link anyway, “Alright.”

Rhett stood before Link awkwardly, both hesitant to initiate the embrace.

“Well?” Rhett prompted, wanting to get this over with soon rather than later.

Link made a half-hearted noise of affirmation before tentatively stepping forward, his arms bent at the elbow reaching out to Rhett. Rhett brought his arms raised up like chicken wings and wrapped them around Link’s back.

Usually, when they hugged it was a quick one-armed pat situation, or a side hug. Rarely did they walk into the other’s embrace to the point where the stomachs could touch. Nowadays, that kind of hug only really happened if it was necessary for some skit they were doing for TikTok, ergo Link had forgotten how to comfortably lean into this type of hug.

Instead of his usual back pat touch, something he didn’t want to inspect too much possessed him to gradually glide his hands up Rhett’s back until they found a comfortable resting spot. Both men chose not to note the strangeness of this action, or the full body shiver it elicited from Rhett and instead stood quietly, listening to each other’s breathing.

One of the things Link had always found intense about the full body hug with Rhett specifically was that he was perfectly aligned to hear his heartbeat. If asked why that bothered him so, he would answer “because it reminds of his pumping blood and then I get nauseous” but he knew that wasn’t the true reason.

To avoid the heartbeat issue, Link would often raise onto his tiptoes so that he could lean on Rhett’s shoulder but Rhett hadn’t bent his back like he normally did and thus Link was forced to press his cheek against Rhett’s chest. The thump of Rhett’s heart was simultaneously grounding and dizzying. Not before long was Link disentangling from the taller man, hands finding their way back to his hips as he reinstated his question, “So, am I a bad hugger?”

“You’re fine Link. Honestly, it’s more comfortable for me to hug taller folks anyway then I don’t have to worry bout bending too much. It’s…nice.”

This was so bizarre, they rarely sincerely evaluated each other’s ability to comfort another especially physically. Not a lot of friends did to be honest, unless they were teasing or joking around but this was almost too serious Rhett wanted to laugh from the dramatics of it.

“Alright then. So that means I can be your big spoon.” It was less of a question and more of a statement of fact, but Rhett couldn’t say he was surprised that Link was just declaring things now.

He shook his head, a fond smile on his face he made no attempt to conceal, “Um, what are you talkin’ about?”

“If I ain’t a bad hugger, I can be your big spoon when you’re…wanting to be held and you won’t have to spend however much money you were gonna spend on this dude,” Link reasoned, as if it was the most obvious conclusion he could come to after hugging Rhett.

Rhett laughed, “Link, you’re not a bad hugger but he’s a professional cuddler. There’s a reason why this is a service people pay for.”

“So, I just need practice. Come on. What exactly is he doing that’s worth all that money? Come on, show me – I bet I can do it better.” While Rhett was pouting, trying to figure out what to say to put a stop to this whole thing, Link had grabbed him by the wrist and was waking them back to the living room where he left Rhett and promptly sat on the couch.

He patted the spot next to him. “It’s cuddling right? So, do you sit and do it? We were always on a bed when Jean was showing us those positions. I could get the blow up out -”

“- No!” This is weird enough.

“Okay, couch is fine then.” Link patted the cushion next to him again and the Friday fatigue ushered Rhett to sit beside the smaller man, despite the plentiful protestations his brain had at the ready.

“So…how do you start?”

Rhett blew a puff of air from his lips, “I guess, typically we’ll just sit next to each other first and it’s kinda like your personal space rule; we’ll be touching so that our legs are against each other, usually our arms are touching too, and we’ll just chat about our day.”

“Okay.” Link nodded; their legs often touched at the knee when they sat by each other at the desk so he wasn’t it unfamiliar territory. He shuffled closer to Rhett so that their thighs were also touching and let his arm press against Rhett’s bicep.

“So…how was your day?” Rhett was up like a shot, shaking his head as he turned to face Link.

“No. Link, I don’t wanna do this weird roleplay with you- ”

Link frowned at him, “- It’s not roleplay, I’m trying to solve this financial predicament you’re in- ”

“- It’s not a predicament if it’s something I want and am choosing to pay for.” Rhett had a point, but Link wasn’t hearing it.

“But you don’t have to Rhett. It’s a waste. Plus, I am right here.” For some reason, neither man knew why but the last thing Link said seemed to carry more weight for both of them. It felt like a plea more than a statement of fact that he’d presented Rhett with before.

“Just…just lay with me. Let me be the big spoon. If that’s the main reason you’re with this Frank guy- ”

“- Freddie.”

“Whatever. Then maybe it would be cheaper to just use me.”

The energy in the room was shifting, Rhett could feel it, but it didn’t deter him the way he thought it would.

Without waiting for a response from Rhett, Link moved to lay back against the leather sofa on his side, patting the very thin space beside him as he stared out across the room.

Rhett tried not to look at the slither of skin that was now peeking out under Link’s white worn tee but failed. He shook his head, “I’m too big for both of us to fit.”

“Then you’ll have to get close,” Link replied smoothly, still avoiding Rhett’s gaze as he tried to hold in his stomach as if he could make more room for Rhett by doing so.

Rhett knew this wouldn’t be comfortable but sat down on the sofa anyway, lingering there for a moment in case Link changed his mind but he just kept waiting.

Like a man with brittle bones, Rhett gently lowered himself onto his left side, his legs awkwardly dangling off the couch that couldn’t accommodate his full height.

For a minute or three, the two friends laid beside one another, both holding tension in their torsos that refused to relax as they tried and failed to avoid connecting at the pelvis.

Link tentatively reached out his right hand to leisurely stroke up and down Rhett’s shoulder and upper arm, “You need to relax, Rhett.” His whispered words caused goosebumps to appear at the back of Rhett’s neck.

Rhett closed his eyes, knowing that had helped him when he started his sessions with Freddie.

Link tutted, raising his head to assess Rhett’s position, “You’re half off the couch, get closer.” The temporarily taller man pulled Rhett in by the hip so his butt was now flush with Link’s front. There was a sharp intake of breath from both men that they once again chose to ignore.

Rhett stiffened momentarily, his eyes flying open as he fought the desire to pull away or laugh or say something stupid to diffuse the tension.

When he felt Link’s head move forward to rest against the back of his own, some of that tension fell away. Link resumed his ministrations on Rhett’s arm, hoping it was soothing as intended.

The feather-light touch of Link’s fingertips on his arm made the sensation somewhat ticklish but Rhett didn’t mind. When Link started drawing figure of eights, it began to feel less ticklish and more comforting.

“Is this okay?” Another whisper wrapped itself into Rhett’s curls.

Rhett shut his eyes again, “Yeah. Yeah, it is.”

He couldn’t actually feel it, but Rhett was almost certain Link smiled into his hair and pressed his chest even closer to Rhett’s back although they were practically fused already.

Eventually, Link’s hand stopped moving and a soft snore indicated he had fallen asleep but his hand remained on Rhett’s arm and the warmth of his body spread along Rhett’s until he was sufficiently toasty. His front was getting cold in comparison, so Rhett did the logical thing.

As carefully as he could manage, Rhett rotated to face Link, having to bring his legs up and weave them between Link’s to get comfortable. Though he and Link had attempted the human braid position before, it wasn’t one he’d practiced with Freddie and in retrospect, he was glad of that.

It felt nice knowing this was just something he and Link had. He placed his left arm on Link’s hip and began rubbing his thumb there ever so slightly, distracting himself with the gentle action. Rhett looked up at Link’s face, his mouth was yet to fall open like it did but his glasses were at an odd angle. Rhett raised up onto his elbow so he could remove Link’s specs with his right hand, and he laid back down, not knowing what to do with his free arm that wasn’t lightly caressing Link’s hip.

He couldn’t tell you why, everything was already so intimate, but he took Link’s right hand in his own and closed his eyes before he could find out if the movement had stirred Link from his slumber. It didn’t. But a sleepy smile appeared on Link’s face to match Rhett’s aura of soft contentment. Link squeezed his fingers in Rhett’s hold, and the two slept peacefully until dawn.

Being the little spoon had never been so…lovely; Rhett would definitely be requiring Link’s services again but thankfully, out of the goodness of Link’s heart, he promised not to charge him a penny.

Maybe, it was a win-win after all.

[escxelle]

the quarry characters and what type of pjsekai player they are

dylan

actually does really well but gets hand cramp too often so gets a few good bad and misses.

he can't do expert songs for the life of him (because he has adhd and i said so)

he has to play without an mv, no note sound and without cut-ins because the first time he played he kept getting distracted by them (i'm calling myself out with this one)

he plays on mobile because the screen's smaller and it's easier for him to reach the notes

he tried playing with his prosthetic but it didn't always pick up on his taps so he doesn't play with it

he plays on the default speed (6.0)

he wishes on the gacha as soon as he has 3000 crystals and gets sad when he never has enough (real)

spams the tsukasa "a full combo of course" sticker even if he fails a song in co-op shows (he thinks it's really funny and it is)

he always spam taps before the songs start

his favourite group is n25 and his favourite is mizuki (if you disagree, you're just wrong)

his favourite vocaloid is kaito (and he's correct)

ryan

started to play it after dylan told him about it

but he pretends that he doesn't play but he can easily full perfect the end of hatsune miku on master with no issue

plays on 11.0 speed because he's insane

when the others (mainly jacob and nick) dare him to play, he denies it and says he can't do it

so they get him to play easy to show him it's not that bad but

he plays so fast that he can't do easy or normal songs because they're too slow for him so everyone believes that he can't play

(dylan notices that ryan taps his foot a little to the songs when he plays so he doesn't buy it)

he has so many stickers but he doesn't play co-op shows even for events so he never uses them

and he rarely wishes on the gacha (he already has good cards so he doesn't see the point in getting more)

his favourite group is vivid bad squad and his favourite is toya (he's correct on both)

his favourite vocaloid is also kaito (but he'd never tell dylan that)

abi

actually doesn't play often (and when she does she plays on easy or normal), she just watches the music videos and reads the stories

she loves to draw fanart of all the characters because she loves the art style and colours

she sings along when she plays and knows all the lyrics to more more jump songs

she loves to collect cards but saves for cards that she wants

her favourite group is more more jump and her favourite is minori

her favourite vocaloid is luka

nick

he only started playing it because he saw abi play it

he actually really likes it

and he's pretty good at it

he plays on 9.0 speed and only does hard and expert songs (he can't do master yet but he's trying)

he's never read a story or wished on the gacha in his life so he's stuck with the defaults (he doesn't really get how the gacha works abi offered to help but nick said he didn't need it - he does)

his favourite group is wonderlands x showtime and his favourite is tsukasa

his favourite vocaloid is meiko

jacob

saw nick play it and said he could beat him

nick explained there's no way he can beat him

so jacob started a bet that he could beat nick at any song

nick obviously picked the end of hatsune miku

jacob bops his head and has the time of his life

he doesn't understand how he gets a max combo of 4

he told nick that he doesn't care and the game was stupid (but he secretly plays all the time and retries the song as soon as he gets a good, bad or miss)

will spam the tsukasa "a full combo of course" sticker if he gets a full combo but will disconnect from a co-op show if he doesn't

rarely gets good 4* cards

will be on 0% for ages and then will go straight to 100% when loading songs

he plays on 6.9 speed because he thinks it's funny

his favourite group is leo/need and his favourite is ichika

his favourite vocaloid is len

emma

one of her followers told her to play it and she heard abi talk about it so she decided to try it out

she plays on the default speed

she struggles to full combo hard songs but she just plays for fun so doesn't mind too much

she often listens to abi talk about it

(she only really plays so she can understand what abi says)

her favourite group is vivid bad squad and her favourite is an

her favourite vocaloid is rin

kaitlyn

a beast mode

she's the ace and superstar in like every co-op show she plays

could easily all perfect any master song

she plays on 10.5 speed

always spams stickers when she does well in co-op shows

her favourite group is vivid bad squad and her favourite is akito

her favourite vocaloid is miku

laura

also very good at the game but struggles to full combo master songs

she's always the one who gets the team disbanded in co-op shows if it takes more than 3 seconds to load (and she doesn't care about it)

she plays on 10.0 speed

her favourite group is leo/need and her favourite is shiho

her favourite vocaloid is luka too

max

a cursed thumb player (he's trying his best)

he struggles with all the levels for different reasons (easy/normal are too slow and hard/expert/master are too fast)

always takes forever to load in co-op shows and often disconnects

laura tries to help him but she gave up long ago

has awful luck with gacha cards

he plays on default speed

his favourite group is wonderlands x showtime and his favourite is emu (this is fact)

his favourite vocaloid is len

bonus: travis

is god awful at the game but he remembers that caleb and kaylee played it so he plays it sometimes on kaylee's old phone.

[eddysocs]

The Good Place OC Masterlist

Name: Amanda Caruso

Face Claim: Annie Murphy

Love Interest: Janet

Fic Title: After Life Of The Party

Plot Summary: Amanda Caruso has been called a dumb blonde her whole life. So, yeah, maybe she’s taken advantage of that one too many times, stolen a man's wallet…or two, weaseled a charmed life of luxury and excess out of a couple of gullible suckers. Call it reparations for slights made against her intelligence, or just her very existence. But one time she chose the wrong man and things didn’t end so nice and rosy for her. That’s when she wakes up in the Good Place faced with an "Architect" and his not-a-girl, not-a-robot, assistant and she couldn’t be more confused.

Name: Jenna Flynn

Face Claim: Karen Gillan

Love Interest: Michael

Fic Title: Reboot, Redo, Retry

Plot Summary: When a demon constantly reboots his hell experiment just because you’re not falling in love with him like he wants you to, it’s time to start questioning everything. That’s what it’s like in Jenna Flynn’s afterlife and things can only get crazier from there.

Name: Tinsley Darlington

Face Claim: Lucy Punch

Love Interest: Tahani Al Jamil

Fic Title: Socialite Justice

Plot Summary: Tinsley Darlington was an activist, before she died in the midst of a violent protest. When she arrives at The Good Place, she notices something seems wrong and seeks to improve it, which throws a wrench in Michael’s plan when she starts to see that there’s more wrong than she initially thought.