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kelyon · 9 months

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Contract

Before beginning a new BDSM relationship, Belle French and Mr. Gold hammer out their written agreement.

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Belle French sat primly on the edge of one of Mr. Gold’s dining room chairs and read the page in front of her. At the other end of the long table, Mr. Gold also had laid out a collection of papers. Both of them had the same document, but he wasn’t reading his copy. He held the handle of his cane in both hands and looked at her the whole time.

She felt his eyes on her as she tried to read, which made it impossible to concentrate on the words. Maybe this was a bad idea. Everyone knew not to sign anything without having a lawyer read it first, and that went double for any agreement made with Mr. Gold. All over Storybrooke, he had written contracts that gave him the advantage and left the other person with no options but to do exactly what he wanted. He was a ruthless, heartless son of a bitch, everybody knew that.

But what he had proposed to Belle, what they were now about to negotiate, was an offer too intriguing for her to dismiss.

The contract wasn’t a legally-binding document, Gold had made that clear. It was just an agreement, an understanding. Before they moved forward with their new relationship, it was important that they both know what to expect.

Besides, Belle didn’t know any lawyers. Even if she did, she couldn’t imagine asking a legal professional to sign off on the sorts of things she and Gold were talking about doing.

Crossing her ankles under the table, she looked up from the contract. She tapped a clause with the pen Gold had provided.

“I’m glad this is on the first page,” she said. “The mutual consent and authority to revoke.”

“Of course,” Gold was quiet. His face didn’t have much expression, but his eyes were fixed on her. “I’m not interested in trapping you, Miss French.”

He really did have lovely eyes. Dark and intense, often cold. What would those eyes be like once Mr. Gold heated up?

“And the renegotiation after a period of thirty days, I like that.”

He shifted in his seat. “I thought it an appropriate interval. Enough time for both of us to get our bearings, then see if anything needs to change. Or if you want the relationship to end after that period, that’s fine too.”

According to the revocation clause, either one of them could walk away at any time. But he had given them a mandatory expiration date. In case she wanted to stop.

“You don’t think you might want to end things after the one-month trial period?”

“No,” he looked into her eyes. “I know what I want, and I know I want it from you. The only question is whether you want the same thing.”

Belle’s face went hot and her pulse jumped up a few beats per minute. “And if we both do want to continue after thirty days?

“We can negotiate for a longer period at that time. Perhaps ninety days, or six months. I also understand if you want to keep it month-to-month.”

“You really are a landlord, aren’t you?”

Gold grinned. “My tenants are bound to a yearly lease. What I’m asking you to undertake is much more serious.”

“Right.” Belle turned over the first page and began to look at the second. “Let’s get into that.”

“Before we do,” he raised one of his long fingers, “I’d like to review the second clause on the first page, about confidentiality.”

Belle flipped back to the first page and looked at it again. “Oh right. What’s a sex contract without a gag order?”

She’d meant it as a joke, but Gold sat up straight and looked away, like he was insulted.

“I mean, I understand,” she said as an apology. “You have a right to privacy. I know this is just making sure I don’t blab your deep dark secrets to everyone in Storybrooke. I don’t mind at all.”

“It’s not that,” he said quietly. He brushed something off of the polished wood tabletop. Probably a bit of dust that wasn’t really there. “My reputation around town is already so besmirched, nothing you might reveal could possibly lower people’s opinions of me. And don’t forget that I chose you for this position, Miss French. You wouldn’t be at this table if I didn’t already have considerable trust in your discretion.”

“So…?”

“So the confidentiality clause is for your benefit. Your good name doesn’t need to be damaged by any association with me.”

“The contract mentions developing a ‘mutually agreed-upon cover story.’”

He nodded. “That way you can answer anyone who asks why you might come to my house, or be seen conversing with me in a public setting. I thought you might pretend to be my housekeeper.”

Belle’s lips quirked. His plan made sense. And if she told people she was working for him, that would also explain why she suddenly had more cash than usual--though it would be a very well-paid housekeeper who had the kind of salary Gold was proposing.

“Are you married to the idea of a housekeeper? Could it maybe be something less menial? I mean, if I told my father I was coming over here to clean, he might ask me why I’m not wearing something practical for work. Unless you want me to come over in jeans and an apron?”

Gold shook his head. “No, no. God forbid anything keep you out of skirts and heels, Miss French.”

Belle snorted, and felt her face flush at the same time. Maybe it was silly, considering what they were here to do, but a part of her was still surprised to hear Gold compliment her fashion choices. It forced her to know that he had noticed her. Without her knowing, he had been looking at her, looking at her clothes as well as her character. Long before he came to her with this offer, he had considered her. He had decided that he wanted her, but he had never told her about it until now.

She took a breath, and got her thoughts back on track.

“We could say I’m doing clerical work, maybe. Helping you catalog all the antiques?”

“Whatever you like,” he said. “We can decide what the story is later, just so long as we both say the same thing.”

“Sounds good.”

In the margins of the contract, Belle wrote a reminder to come up with a cover story. That settled, she smacked both hands against the glossy wood tabletop. She did it without thinking, a sort of ‘back to business’ gesture.

At the sound of the impact, Gold’s eyes fluttered shut. His mouth opened, just a little. The reaction was almost a flinch, but there was no fear in it. All of a sudden, the dark room seemed warm and stuffy.

Belle took a breath. She listened to her heart beating. Then she allowed the moment to pass.

When she looked at Gold again, his face was as expressionless as before.

“Okay,” she said softly. She flipped through the pages, to the meat of the contract. “Now, you understand that I don’t have a lot of experience with this sort of dynamic, right? Like, I’ve played with people, but it’s never been anything this formal or this intense. Is that going to be a problem?”

“Educational materials are listed in Appendix A,” Gold said briskly. “Over the years I’ve amassed considerable research on the topics you’ll need to be knowledgeable about in order to perform your duties. I assume you won’t mind reading a book or two on the subject?”

She grinned at him. “I’ve read a book or two, Mr. Gold. My point is that theory isn’t the same as practical, physical knowledge.”

“Of course,” he nodded. “I understand that, and I’m more than willing to guide you through your first ‘hands-on’ experiences. Or there are educators listed in the appendix as well. We can call them for one-on-one sessions.”

Her eyes ran down the list of names and phone numbers. She recognized some of the authors and sex educators. “These are all people you know personally?”

“In some cases, quite personally.”

“Huh.” She set down the papers. “I have to say, you seem pretty established in the world of kink, Mr. Gold. What do you need a novice like me for?”

He straightened the cuffs of his suit jacket. “Well, you’re local, for one thing. Confidentiality is a small concern compared with the hassle of driving to Boston several times a week.”

Wait a second--several times a week? Belle flipped over to the clause about frequency. There it was: Three evenings a week, with the option of staying overnight, and at least four eight-hour sessions per month broken up between Saturdays, Sundays, or bank holidays. It wasn’t quite a full-blown 24/7 power exchange, but it was a commitment. Was Gold really going to need her this much? How much pain was it healthy to inflict on a person in one month?

“I’m, um, looking at the section on ‘expectations per session,’” she began.

“I tried to keep that area open for now. Lots of room to experiment. We can learn how we want to do things. What’s best for us.”

She tried not to notice the lingering satisfaction Gold put on the word us. For all that he had most of the power in this situation--in every situation--Belle knew that he was actually a very lonely man. More than the money, that knowledge had influenced her choice to hear out his offer.

“Right. I just… it’s a lot of time,” Belle said. “I know BDSM scenes can be lengthy, but--”

“Oh, I don’t expect every moment of our time together to be a scene,” he said. “If that’s what you thought, I--I’m glad you brought up your concerns.”

“Okay,” Belle sat back a little in the plush chair. “So a session isn’t a scene, that makes sense. In that case, what is a session? Like, we have a scene and aftercare and what else?”

“I’d like to eat with you.” For the first time, Gold’s eyes weren’t on Belle. He stared at a nondescript spot in the center of the table. It was like this was the first part of their conversation where he didn’t have absolute confidence.

She leaned forward. “Do you want to go out to dinner with me?”

His eyes flashed toward her for just a second, the whites of them a blaze in this dim room.

“That won’t be necessary.” Gold cleared his throat. “Confidentiality clause.”

The clause he’d set up for her protection, not his own. How much did he really want this to be a secret?

“We wouldn’t have to eat anywhere in Storybrooke. You could take me out of town. Somewhere nicer than a diner.”

“Really?”

It was a whisper, a breath, a half-spoken hope too small and weak to bear the crushing weight of reality.

Belle waited until Gold dared to look at her again, then she gave him a slow smile.

“Really.”

Something loosened in him. His posture relaxed by a hundredth of a percent. He wasn’t smiling, but the grim lines around his mouth had softened.

All these minuscule reactions stirred something in Belle. It was clear to her now that Mr. Gold was wound up tight. If she signed this contract, she would be able to get him to relax.

“What else would you want to do?” she asked. “Like, not strictly BDSM stuff, though I’m sure we can find ways to incorporate the lifestyle into everyday things. I just--I’m getting the impression that you want some non-kink, non-sexual activities with me. What would that look like?”

Gold shrugged. “It could look like anything.”

“So… monster truck rallies?”

He winced at that. Belle snickered at her own joke.

“If such events are your desire, Miss French, I would appreciate you indulging in them on your own time.”

She snorted. “Sounds good. But seriously?”

“Seriously?” He looked at her for a long moment. “Seriously, I would like to go on dates with you. I’m not much good at dancing and I detest modern movies, but, well… There’s theater, concerts. We could go to museums together. There are some beautiful parks and gardens in Boston that I’ve always wanted to show someone. I have a cabin out by the lake where we could stargaze. I could take you to every bookshop on the Eastern Seaboard.”

“See, if you had started with bookstores, you’d have me for all the kinky fuckery you wanted, no negotiation necessary.”

He shook his head. “That’s why I didn’t start with bookstores, Miss French. I’m not trying to turn your head with luxuries. I want you with your full faculties. Before we do anything, you need to understand what you’re getting into with me.”

The way he said it made it sound like he was secretly a monster. She didn’t think he was. Biting her lip, Belle looked down at the pages of the contract that outlined expected behaviors for the Dominant and Submissive.

“The whole contract is opt-in, right? We’re doing this like Subway instead of McDonald’s?”

“I beg your pardon?”

Belle couldn’t help but smile. When was the last time Mr. Gold had gone out to a fast food restaurant? She explained the metaphor:

“Some restaurants make your sandwich to order. They have all the ingredients laid out, but they’ll only put on what you specifically ask for. Other places have a standard sandwich and you have to ask for things not to be on there. You have to tell them you’re allergic to tomatoes or you don’t like mustard or whatever. Sometimes they put up a stink about making a special order. Me personally? I’m a much bigger fan of getting a custom order that gives me exactly what I like and nothing I don’t want.”

“Well, I‘m a fan of giving you what you like, Miss French.”

She could tell.

“So only things that are in the contract are on the table, right? We won’t be dabbling with, like, age play, pet play, watersports?”

“No.”

He seemed definite, which was fine for Belle. The contract as it was included more than enough kinks to keep them busy, at least until the thirty-day renewal.

“I’m going to insist on specific negotiations before every scene,” she said. “And that consent can be revoked at any time for any reason. Not just for the contract as a whole, but any particular act or attitude. Even if we’ve done something before, headspaces can change from day to day. Sometimes from minute to minute. This contract is extensive, but no piece of paper can cover every eventuality.”

Gold shrugged. “The contract as written says everything I want it to. In my opinion, further negotiations won’t be necessary until the mandatory thirty-day renewal. That being said, your opinion on the subject matters. I’m willing to yield to your point.”

“Good.” Belle made a note in the body of the contract. “Specific acts to be negotiated at specific times before the start of each scene.” She set down her pen. “Cause listen, if one of us is having a bad day or is feeling sick or something, I don’t want to be held to the rules of a best-case scenario. You know?”

He nodded. “I understand your point, Miss French. Though I maintain it won’t be necessary.”

“But you’ll abide by the revision?”

“Of course.”

He had better. Especially while they were still learning each other’s tics and moods and limitations. Until they developed an unspoken dynamic, they were going to have to say things out loud, very plainly, every time. It was a matter of safety.

“I don’t see anything about safe words in all this.” She looked up from her pages. “Don’t tell me you’re the type that doesn’t use them?”

For a long minute, Gold didn’t say anything. He didn’t look at her. He just rolled his pen back and forth between his fingers.

“I understand why someone like you would think safe words are necessary,” he said evenly. “And of course we can add their use into the terms of our deal. However, my motto has always been caveat emptor, let the buyer beware. If someone isn’t willing to be hurt, then why are they engaging in dangerous activities?”

“Because it’s simulated danger.” This should be obvious, especially to someone with as much experience as Gold. “You go to a haunted house to be scared, not to have your limbs torn off by a machete.”

He kept looking away from her. His voice was distant when he spoke. “For some people, the machete is the goal.”

Belle bit her lip. She was going to have to fight him on this, wasn’t she? Fine.

“Safe words are a must,” she said. “For everything. Especially pain. Because this section on pain play is, respectfully, insane. And sanity is another must in my kink.”

Gold made a dismissive face. “It’s not that bad.”

“There’s a sub-section here on wounds requiring stitches.” She held up the paper and pointed at the words. “Is this medical play? Are we trained nurses? Because I am not comfortable with that level of risk. If you’re not willing to back down on some of this, I’m gonna have to walk away.”

He took a deep breath, clearly trying to maintain his iron-clad composure. His thumb rubbed against his first two fingers. His mouth twitched with unspoken words.

“You have every right to revoke,” he said stiffly. “But I must state my case: For me, this is the heart of the contract. Of the entire relationship. Even more than the sexual components.”

Belle read over his list of desired activities. “Spanking, flogging, even impact play is fine, but burning?” She knew how horrified she must look. “Are you serious about this?”

He waved his hand. “It’s temperature play.”

“I’ve done temperature play. I’ve done wax play. Those are fine. This is something else.”

Gold began to protest, but Belle found another objection.

“What can you even do with a sledgehammer?”

“That’s mostly for intimidation. A haunted house, as you said. BDSM is about bringing participants to the edge of their mental limits as well as physical.”

“But it’s not about hurting people!” Belle blurted it out without thinking, then waved away the obvious counter. “You know what I mean. The point is, I’m not comfortable with this much pain play. Especially three times a week and especially if you’re noncommittal on safe words. I’m not here for edge play, and I want it out of the contract.”

For a moment, Gold scowled. Then he seemed to give up. He gestured towards her pen and she took that as leave to start scratching out parts of the section.

“Shall we go through it line by line?” he asked. “Or would you rather remove the entire section? We could replace physical pain with the psychological torture of attending amateur comedy shows.”

Despite herself, Belle snorted. You could tell a lot about a man by how he reacted to the word ‘no.’ If Gold was letting her remove a sizable chunk of his favorite kink and he was still able to have a sense of humor about it, that was a good sign. She wanted to do this with Gold, but she wouldn’t play with someone who didn’t respect her limits.

“I’m just crossing out the stuff that’s too extreme for me.”

“Can we keep knife play?” Gold asked. “I’ve got this dagger I’m quite taken with.”

“We can cut clothes but not flesh.” Belle wrote that down. “I’m not a complete wimp.”

His face was soft when he looked at her. “No, of course not,” he murmured. “I believe you’re very strong indeed, Miss French.”

Her cheeks went warm again. His confidence in her was flattering and encouraging. She did want to expand her kink experience. Gold seemed like a promising teacher. But they had to take things step by step. They had to build up to the metaphorical machetes and apparently literal sledgehammers. Eventually, both of them would get what they wanted. Both of them would give what they were comfortable giving. That was the whole point of having this conversation before they started.

“We’re using safe words,” Belle insisted. “Check-ins are absolutely mandatory during a pain scene, and tons of aftercare when it’s done.”

“Fine, fine,” Gold muttered as he wrote. “We’ll do it your way.”

“Since we’re on the subject of things I don’t like.” She pointed at the next section. “We need to talk about humiliation and degradation.”

“Don’t you like dirty talk, Miss French?”

“I don’t like the idea of kink being dirty.” She leaned back. “I mean, I respect the transgressive element, the idea that we’re doing what society thinks is filthy and taboo. But I hate the idea that anything is inherently, fundamentally Bad and that we’re Bad People for wanting it.”

“Interesting, considering your revulsion at pain play.”

“That’s about safety,” Belle had to keep herself from snapping. “And it’s about my preferences. If a consenting adult wants to deepthroat a cactus, that’s their prerogative. I just can’t be a part of it for my own reasons. But there’s nothing wrong about doing it or wanting to do it. You know how the saying goes: Your kink is not my kink and that’s okay.”

“But humiliation…” Gold said. “That’s not okay?”

“In our specific case, public humiliation might interfere with the confidentiality clause. More broadly? I’m not interested in shame. I think kink should be a joyous thing, something you can take pride in. For a lot of people, BDSM scenes are where they feel like their truest selves.”

“Even if your truest self is a worthless, needy slut?”

As self-righteous as she was being, Belle couldn’t deny the red-hot streak of desire that flashed through her when he said those words. He was good at dirty talk. She put her palms on the table and took a breath.

“There’s a difference between playing something and really believing it,” she said. “Sometimes it’s a fine line. Point is, I don’t think anyone is worthless. I don’t think being a slut is a bad thing. And if someone is needy, it means they’re aware enough to know what they need and ask for it. Being brave enough to ask for what you really want--even when everything in the world tells you you’re not supposed to want it--that should be celebrated.”

From across the table, Gold’s breathing was deep, and a fraction of a second faster than normal.

“Is that what you want from a scene?” he asked. “A celebration?”

“When I’m in a scene, I don’t want anyone to feel bad about themselves.”

He let out a dry laugh. “You may need to temper your expectations, Miss French.”

“No,” Belle said simply. “No, that’s a limit for me. I’m not going to play with degradation.”

Gold opened his mouth, then closed it. “Fine.” He drew a large X over the entire section. “It’s probably for the best.”

Belle crossed out the text on her copy and moved on to the next section.

“If it makes you feel any better, I don’t have a problem with the list of sex acts. Though there is some stuff on this list that I have not tried before.”

He looked up from the page. His dark eyes were on her, but there was a wariness in his expression.

“Feel free to eliminate any acts with which you’re not one-hundred percent comfortable,” he said. “If you need to, we can eliminate this section as well. BDSM doesn’t have to be sexual--”

“Nah.” She cut him off. “I mean, yes, of course. BDSM doesn’t have to be sexual. But this is a detailed list, Mr. Gold. You want a lot of these acts, and I think you want them badly. And I’m not opposed, it’s just my inexperience again. Like, anal fisting? Don’t you need equipment for that?”

“I have equipment,” Gold rubbed his thumb along the handle of his cane. “Really all one needs is lubricant and a willing spirit.”

“Oh I am willing.” Belle’s eyes glazed as she read over the list of orifices expected to be available for penetration, over the descriptions and dimensions of various toys, over phrases like forced chastity and deepthroat training. Hell, just the opportunity to have sex three times a week plus bank holidays was enough to entice her. “I just might need a little patience.”

“I am nothing if not patient, Miss French.”

After a moment’s further reading, Belle looked up from her paper. “The contract seems a little vague on whether or not this has to be part of a scene. Do you want to have sex in our non-BDSM time?”

The clatter of Gold’s cane falling to the ground rang out through the otherwise quiet dining room. Coughing, Gold bent out of his chair to pick it up. He straightened up to gather himself, but didn’t look Belle in the eye.

“Miss French, I assure you, we can have sex as often and under as many circumstances as you’d like.”

She snorted. “It’s been a while since my last round of STD tests. And I’ll have to get back on birth control.”

“Do you need me to compensate you for medical expenses?”

“No, I’ll be alright. Thank you.”

Gold picked up his pen. “We should add that to the contract. If you suffer any injuries during our time together, I’ll cover all the costs.”

“Can’t say no to workman’s comp,” Belle agreed as she wrote down the addition. “And all of the equipment listed in Appendix B, that’s all going to be stuff that you’ll buy or that you already own?”

“Yes. As well as any other expenses. Meals, travel, every book on the Eastern Seaboard--you’re not paying for any of that, Miss French.”

Belle tried not to smile too much at the thought of being showered with hardbacks. It was like he was offering to give her an entire library.

“What about clothes? Do you want me to have a uniform or something? Dress code?”

“Yes.” His voice was thick. “I would dearly love to buy you a complete wardrobe, Miss French. Clothes, shoes, jewelry.” Gold licked his lips. “Lingerie. I could give you a stipend, or--or pick items out for you.”

Now she couldn’t keep herself from grinning. She leaned onto the table. “What would you pick out for me?”

“Skirts and heels seem to be your affinity,” he said with utter confidence. Clearly, he had put some thought into the subject. “Your style is loose and flowing, and that’s lovely for day wear. But I’d like to see you after dark, Miss French. Something risque, something tight. I want to see you wearing clothes that say fuck me.”

Belle swallowed. “Yeah?”

“You know Louboutin, the heels with the red backs? They have a style with a strap across the ankle. Might be a little taller than you’re used to, but I’m sure you can rise to the challenge. If you went out wearing those shoes with a short black dress, everyone who looked at you would want you.”

“And they’d know that I’m going home with you.”

“Yes.”

The word was a whisper, but it was the surest sound Belle had ever heard. Gold kept going.

“There’s a man I know in Boston who makes custom lingerie. He’s an artist with silk and lace, leather and metal. I would give you to him as a canvas, Miss French. I’d pay just to see how he decorates your body. How much beauty he can add to perfection.”

Belle knew her cheeks must be flaming red. The heat of self-consciousness was sharper, more stinging, than the warm glow that had gone through her at various points of the conversation. Being wanted was different than wanting something for herself.

“Whatever happened to not turning my head with luxury?”

“Oh, I’m not trying to seduce you by giving you what you want,” he said in a low voice. “I’m telling you what I want, Miss French. I want to see the most beautiful woman in the world wearing clothes that are worthy of her. I want you to feel stunning, and powerful, and absolutely adored.”

“Adored,” Belle breathed. She let the word sink in for a moment. Let it nestle in some hidden sweet spot between her libido and her heart. She locked eyes with Gold. “You want to adore me.”

“Yes,” he said. His gaze didn’t waver for an instant. “What did you say earlier, that kink was a celebration? I want to celebrate you. I want to worship you. I want to push you to your limits and help you realize your full potential as a sexual being. Miss French, I want to transform you. I want to help you become the best version of yourself--confident, radiant, a goddess.”

She couldn’t breathe. Even from across the table, the force of his desire was overwhelming. What he was offering her--he wanted it so much, wanted her to have it so much that she couldn’t keep herself from wanting it too. Forget turning her head with luxuries, he was turning her head just by wanting her.

Belle shook her head to clear it. Gold was still looking at her. His posture hadn’t changed, but his eyes were soft and dark. They were so full of longing--not pleading or demanding but longing--they reminded her of a hero from one of her books.

Gold’s expression looked like there was a string somewhere under his left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string inside her own small frame--and if that cord was snapped, he had a curious notion he would take to bleeding inwardly. He looked like he had struggled in vain to repress his feelings, but that one word from her would silence him forever. He looked like he was half-agony, half-hope.

She let out a long breath.

“Let’s move on to the final section.” Belle’s hands shook a little as she flipped to the next page of the contract. “Obedience and protocol.”

“I put a lot of thought into this section,” Gold said.

“I’m sure you did.” The words were flippant, but Belle meant them sincerely. “You put thought into everything, don’t you?”

“Into everything that matters, yes.”

Belle read out loud. “‘The Submissive is to wear a collar at all times during the duration of the relationship. Eye contact is restricted based on the preference of the Dominant. The Submissive is to begin every session kneeling at the Dominant’s feet.’” She looked up. “Are you sure about that? Did you mean to put scene instead of session?”

“I meant what’s written down. Even the most vanilla of dates should include a moment to remember what this dynamic truly is. Call it a sign of devotion.”

“Okay, but kneeling?” She looked at him. “There are other ways to show humility.”

“I like kneeling.”

“Okay.” Belle tapped her pen against the word, but didn’t make a move to alter it. Gold knew his own mind. It would be her task to give him what he wanted.

She read on about the service and deference that would be required.

“Foot worship is something new for me. Does that include foot rubs?”

“Oh absolutely,” Gold murmured. “Nothing but the best.”

There was some housework included on the list. Most of it seemed to be more for show than drudgery. Drawing baths, making the bed, keeping the sex toys cleaned and maintained.

“This item about cooking, is that just dinners we eat together?”

Gold cocked his head. “As opposed to…?”

“What about packed lunches?” Belle offered. “Definitely breakfast in bed on nights when I’m over here.”

“Would it violate the confidentiality clause to provide snacks to the workplace?”

“Oh that’s brilliant!” Belle wrote it down. “Maybe confidentiality could be maintained via anonymous or third-party delivery. That would turn a box of cookies into a dirty little secret.”

He grinned at her. A new light had entered his eyes.

“This is why I chose you,” he said. “Of course you’re beautiful and good-hearted and brave enough to seriously consider this opportunity, but this is what matters most to me. That you’re creative and collaborative. Our time together will be a true partnership. We will work together to create extraordinary experiences.”

They were silent together for a beat, then Gold cleared his throat.

“That is, of course, assuming you agree with all the points we’ve discussed today.”

“Oh, I agree.” Belle turned to the last page of the contract, where there were two blank lines for signatures. “There are still some open points that need refining, but overall, I’m very happy to begin our new relationship.”

The pen danced over the paper as Belle signed her name. She pushed herself out of her chair and crossed the table to meet Gold where he sat. He had already signed his copy and was reaching for hers. They made the exchange and then it was done.

The contract was signed.

Belle took a breath. Her heart was fluttering. Gold looked like he had woken from a dream just to find that the dream was still happening.

“Well,” Belle said. “Do we want to count today as our first session? We’d still have plenty of time to do a scene. Or just fuck.”

“Whatever you like,” Gold said, a little breathlessly. He was staring into the middle distance, shell-shocked. “You’re in charge.”

“Now, now.” Gently, Belle reached out and brought her hand to his face. She held his chin and forced him to look at her. “You know that’s not true. Submissives have the real power.”

“I want you to have the power now,” he whispered.

A wide smile grew across Belle’s face. It was one thing to top strangers at play parties in the dungeon in Boston. It was something altogether different to have Mr. Gold shaking like a leaf under her touch.

“In that case,” she said firmly. “The contract states that you have to start every session on your knees.”

“Yes,” Gold whispered. He slid out of his chair, used his cane to support himself as he got into position to kneel at Belle’s feet. For the first time that evening--possibly for the first time in a long time--Mr. Gold beamed. “Yes, Mistress.”

#contract #rumbelle #rumbelle fic #rumbelle fanfiction #ouat

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overnightshipping · 10 months

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So I completed Pikmin 4 on Thursday with all treasures, all onions, and all castaways rescued. Basically everything except going back to platinum the Dandori challenges, which I probably don't care about but maybe someday. As promised, I have a lot of thoughts on Pikmin 4.

In some ways, Pikmin 4 is truly the Pikmin game that I have wanted since I originally got hooked on Pikmin and Pikmin 2 on the Gamecube. It is grand, expansive, and polished in a very Nintendo way. It brings back many fan favorite elements from the previous 3 numbered Pikmin games and expands upon them, adding its own unique twists and interesting concepts. It dives further into the society of weird little interplanetary explorers you play as than any previous game, expanding them across multiple planets (since apparently they sure do have a lot of planets). It was a very enjoyable experience and one that I don't find it difficult to recommend.

In other ways, it is a game that in making itself as marketable as possible has lost the charm of Pikmin. It is a game that feels at odds with itself, a game that loses some of the most potent elements that made Pikmin a compelling strategy game. I have seen at least one person liken it to a collectathon platformer moreso than a strategy game, and while I don't think that is completely accurate I think it clearly outlines one of Pikmin 4's biggest, most prevalent problems: the lack of strategy in a strategy game. It's a game that is terrified to punish the player, presumably in an overcompensation for the previous games not selling well and Nintendo thinking it was because they were too hard.

I don't want to make this a full on review, but let me see if I can make some sense of my thoughts under the cut. There will be full game spoilers, both for before and after the credits roll.

The first warning sign for Pikmin 4 was how slow, tedious, and long-lasting the introduction is. In previous games you had a single day of tutorial, giving you the ropes, and often had characters chime in for extra things you needed to learn afterwards, like what different Pikmin types did, but it was never so annoying as 4. 4 makes you go through multiple ingame days where the characters laboriously explain to you everything and admonish you if you try to go off on your own - the games point you directly at the first cave and if you don't go there IMMEDIATELY the game yells at you to do so. Thankfully after a few days it finally gets less overzealous, but damn was it a poor first impression.

Unfortunately, it only gets a bit less overzealous, because the characters do. Not. Shut. UP. In Pikmin 4 you have a crew of rescue explorers (who you save) who just are constantly chiming in from the peanut gallery. All the way into the very end of the game will characters remind you that you have Pikmin sprouts to pluck, or tell you to go attack the enemy's weakpoint, or whistle at Pikmin if they catch on fire, or say "aw man it's so sad we lost so many Pikmin, if only we could turn back time" not-so-subtly hinting at the game's (fine and appreciated for newer players) accessibility feature to rewind to certain points and undo mistakes. By the end of the adventure I wanted to strangle Collin in particular who is the worst offender.

The game chirps these "helpful tips" at you when you are doing the post-credits challenge mode that is explicitly the hardest part of the game! For fuck's sake! I know how the play the game by now!

This brings me to the game's accessibility options, which are much appreciated even if I wish they were less imposed on the player. You can rewind time to an extent if you need to undo things, and if you ever get lost you can get your dog to sniff up a path on where to go next. Now, I wish the game wasn't constantly telling me to use these features I didn't want to use, but I'm glad they are here. Pikmin 4 is definitely the most accessible Pikmin game and I think that is worthy of praise, even if I have some (okay maybe a lot of) gripes on how exactly they were implemented.

Speaking of the dog, I was skeptical about how it would be implemented but I largely really enjoyed Oatchi. He essentially takes the place of having a second captain and it works quite well. The big highlight is that Oatchi has different capabilities from your captain, which means you have to put some additional thought into which character you want where. This is at its best in the nighttime missions, where the captain is the only one who can use the Glow Pikmin's powerful glow bomb blast thing which is an extremely useful tool for dealing with the nastier enemies.

Unfortunately, Oatchi also kind of... is overpowered as hell. The main thing you will use Oatchi for is to carry Pikmin - when playing as Oatchi or riding him as a captain, your Pikmin will all cling to Oatchi's back instead of following behind in a group. This is extremely useful against bosses in particular, since it means you can dodge enemy attacks directly rather than having to manage the horde of Pikmin following you. Because a bunch of the bosses are ported over from Pikmin 1 and 2, this trivializes them in a not insignificant way. Man At Legs is a great example, as it is absolutely pathetically easy in Pikmin 4 since you don't even have to think about Pikmin management, just circle strafe with Oatchi while it's shooting and you'll never lose a Pikmin. This is not even taking into account how powerful Oatchi's charge and carrying abilities get when you upgrade them.

The best bosses in the game, unsurprisingly, are the two Pikmin 4 original bosses that feel actually designed with Oatchi's mobility in mind, the Groovy Long Legs and the final boss. These are also the only bosses that come close to the complexity and satisfaction of Pikmin 3's boss fights, since the game eschews boss encounters tied to going to new areas entirely, which is a damn shame since if it was going to take anything from 3 that would have been a great thing to take.

Speaking of things to take from 3 which I hate, the lock on. It sucks! I didn't like it much in Pikmin 3 but at least there there was still a bit of strategy in needing to aim after the lock on to hit enemies in particular weakpoints, and at least it was manually triggered. In Pikmin 4 you automatically lock your cursor to everything as you pass the cursor by it. This has two effects:

It can be quite annoying to try and get the cursor where you want it, and heaven help you if you want to aim at something which the game doesn't lock onto. For example, Skitter Leafs hide as leaves and then skitter when you approach, but you can instant kill them if you throw a Pikmin on top. Your lock on works when they are revealed, but when they are hiding it doesn't. This means that if you have killed a Skitter Leaf but there are others hiding nearby, you just can't even try to kill the ones that are hiding since your cursor will be locked onto the corpse your Pikmin can carry. This annoyance only happened a few times, but boy howdy is it annoying when it does crop up.

More importantly, it trivializes aiming at enemies. Throwing Pikmin in Pikmin 1 and 2 was a skill you could get better at - if you throw Pikmin near a Dwarf Bulborb, they would attack it, but if you threw a Pikmin directly on top of one they would kill it in one shot. This incentivized getting a feeling for the throwing arc of Pikmin and carefully lining up your shots to kill enemies quicker and safer. In Pikmin 4 you just... lock on automatically, and can throw a Pikmin and kill the Bulborb in one shot and go about your day. This wouldn't be so bad if so many enemies weren't ported over from Pikmin 1 and 2 directly - enemies like Shearwigs, Flint Beetles, and Breadbugs aren't balanced with the lock on in mind and as a result feel impotent. The only thing the game does to acknowledge this at all is make other Dwarf Bulborb types need two or three Pikmin to kill them, which... doesn't help much.

To swing back into things I like: the Pikmin types! The way Pikmin are introduced is reinvented and works really really well. You get Red Pikmin first with their Onion as normal, but after that you will find other colors of Pikmin in caves as wild Pikmin, or with the help of Candypop Buds, and integrate them into your team without having their Onion and thus being unable to grow their numbers manually. However, you can also find each color's Onion somewhere in the world, allowing you to raise as many as you want just like normal. This is really cool! It means that every Pikmin type (except Reds and arguably Yellows) gets a chance to be rare and important, really making you second guess how you approach things in case you lose out on those Pikmin that you might need for other things. This hit home for me when I was doing a cave with Blues and Ices, and was having trouble killing an Aristocrab. I finally killed it, but my Blue numbers had dwindled to the point that I couldn't carry a treasure out. That's cool! I love having to deal with the consequences of my actions. I ended up being put in a situation where I could keep charging forward into new areas and hope that I found more Blues or I could backtrack because I thought I had seen a Blue Onion in an area I was in before but couldn't get to it, but maybe I can now...

The one issue I have with how the Pikmin are given to the player is that the way means they aren't very well paced. Since it is essentially tied to whatever caves the player goes into, it is perfectly possible to get to the credits before even finding every Pikmin type - this happened to me, actually, as I got my first Winged Pikmin post-credits. It's a far fling from the careful metering out of the types in 1-3, but I think it largely works well outside of some pacing issues.

Speaking of pacing, this game really wants to be an open world in some ways, it's kind of silly. The areas are all bigger than normal and, as aforementioned, there aren't mandatory bossfights to get to the next area anymore. Your ability to explore is just tied to the Sparklium you collect, which has its pros and cons. Hell, Pikmin 4 even has a menu clearly riffing on the minimalist approach of BotW for some reason.

Luckily, this mostly works. The areas are great! The caves are also great! Everything feels really satisfying to explore, aided by the cool new feature to move your base to one of several predetermined areas on the map once you have found them (and usually killed an enemy on top of them). It's really fun to be able to take different approaches on each of the maps depending on where you plop down your ship and Onion.

Unfortunately, Pikmin 4 completely whiffs the "exploring a hostile alien planet" theme and tone. Every cave has a little "intro card" penned by Olimar explaining roughly what to expect in it, often spoiling the sense of discover when plunging in. New concepts are similarly explained - in previous games, Candypop Buds are shown to the player, the player is suggested that the Pikmin want to be thrown into them, and so the player tries and, in so doing, discovers what they do. In Pikmin 4, Candypop Buds are shown to the player, and the player gets a little explanation by Olimar and the other characters as to exactly what they do before the player has a chance to experiment. It's a subtle change, but when it applies to much of the game it really stands out.

The planet's hostility is a joke this time around. If you, like me, were a bit underwhelmed at how Pikmin 3 was easier than Pikmin and Pikmin 2, I have bad news: Pikmin 4 is even easier. I wouldn't even have that much of a problem with this if it weren't for one key thing that ruins it for me: enemies never respawn.

This is the single thing that bothers me most about Pikmin 4. In previous games, the choice to continue to explore a single area or go to a different one was one you made thoughtfully, because while your progress would be saved, over time enemies would respawn and you would have to deal with them again. Certain areas would even spawn harder enemies after enough time had passed, meaning that even in Pikmin 2 where there was no omnipresent day-based time limit to the game, there was still an incentive to go quickly - too long and that Snagret would be back, or a Sheargrub would chew up your bridge, or you would have to deal with a Beady Long Legs where one wasn't before.

Pikmin 4 takes this away entirely, which makes the game feel artificial in a way that the others didn't. Where once was a living, breathing world which actively continued on when you weren't looking now there is a bunch of video game levels where you can kill a Bulborb on day one and come back on day fifteen to pick up its corpse for Pikmin sprouts. It sucks, and is even worse in caves. When I went back to that cave from before where I needed to get a treasure but didn't have enough Blue Pikmin, I expected to at least need to fight that Aristrocrab again, to fight it smarter so I would still have Pikmin ready to carry the treasure. Instead it was still dead, its body still right where I had left it, and I just picked up the treasure with no obstacles in my way whatsoever. Where is the challenge, the satisfaction of holding your own against a hostile environment? Where is the friction? This change baffles me.

It's one thing to make a game easier to appeal to a wider audience, but it feels like another to me to make it so easy that you remove the satisfaction from actually besting its challenges. It would be one thing if this was an optional difficulty mode, or something, but Pikmin 4 has no such thing. And this is all on top of the copious ways that the game is made easier for the player optionally, such as the items that you can use to trivialize most enemy encounters.

The OTHER thing that I absolutely hate about Pikmin 4 is that it is a reboot for some reason. Despite being the fourth numbered entry in the series, and despite Nintendo seemingly going out of their way to port the rest of the series to Switch prior to 4's release, Pikmin 4 is a reboot, retelling Olimar's original trip to the Pikmin planet with a lot more shenanigans. I guess they did this because they wanted the whole dogs through-line to be more important to the Pikmin planet's history? It's a strange decision that didn't need to be made, and mostly serves to further make this feel like this is less a game for Pikmin fans and more a game desperately trying to appeal to everyone but.

This is a lot of text complaining about Pikmin 4, but I do want to emphasize that I really did enjoy the game. It might have beaten out Pikmin 3 for my third favorite in the franchise by its quality of content and enjoyable design. I just really truly wish it were more Pikmin and less anything but Pikmin. It feels like Pikmin has lost its character in favor of being a more generic Nintendo family friendly franchise for kids, and that's a shame.

Okay, final random comments, mostly nitpicks:

They brought Smoky Progg back which should really excite me but a loading screen tip spoiled it for me and it shows up so many times - not to mention when it does show up having nothing to do with its unique and fucked up "summoning" in Pikmin - that is dulls the impact for me. Makes me sad.

Puffstool is back but not Mushroom Pikmin??? This is baffling why even bother bringing back a fan favorite enemy if you don't bring back the reason why it was a fan favorite.

I alluded to this earlier but Groovy Long Legs fucking rules, I'm a little sad it didn't get an encore in the final boss rush dungeon. Definitely a highlight moment for me.

It's really silly that the Piklopedia entries basically only make sense if Pikmin 1-3 still happened despite the game obviously being a reboot lmfao. What the hell is a Beady Long Legs or a Ranging Bloyster, Olimar? I've never heard of these before they sound like they are from an alternate timeline or something.

I hate how many enemies just have a bigger version as a miniboss. It feels really unimaginative for Pikmin in a way that really bugs me.

Why did they remove the Pikmin dragging long enemies to the Onion from Pikmin 3, that was suitably macabre in a satisfying way. Carrying a curled up Snagret just isn't the same.

It's funny that they introduced this new baby Snagret enemy but then had like one Snagret outside of challenge rooms.

Purple and Whites finally got Onions and this made me very happy. :) It felt like a good reward for the challenge area. Speaking of the Onion I love it visually in this one, the colored segments look great.

It's very telling of the difficulty of this game in general that the hardest caves BY FAR are the final cave (as a lengthy boss rush thing) and the Waterwraith's cave they ported from Pikmin 2. Which wasn't even a late game cave in Pikmin 2 it was near the middle.

The three Pikmin types at a time felt too stifling to me, a limit makes sense but I feel like they could have made some cool puzzles around 4-5 types at a time. Also three at a time doesn't evenly divide into 100 which is obviously agonizing. Also I really hoped the final dungeon would go crazy and set me up to have every Pikmin type but nah.

#overnight gaming #pikmin #pikmin 4

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crispinablr · 1 year

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Omg!!! If you’re taking requests how about 1, and 5 from the fluff prompts for Kent 🥹

I don't take requests but since I saw that you were excited I decided to take your request <3 I hope you like it.

Love letter

I can't believe I was able to convince Wednesday to come to a slumber party along with Enid, Bianca, Ajax, Divina, and Yoko. He had invited Ajax since Enid did not want him to miss out on the gossip, he had also invited Xavier and Kent, but apparently they wanted to have a boys' night together with Eugene, Eugene was elated because it was going to be the first time in his life that he was going to having a guys night out with friends, I think Ajax wasn't very amused especially because I saw how he moved his lips to say “HELP MEEEEE” to the guys, but they just laughed and shrugged their arms. Why do you want to have enemies when you have that kind of friends, I decided not to torture the poor boy too much, and I tried to make it as pleasant as possible, I'll be evil but today was a relaxing day, so I'll let the opportunity to torture him pass this time. I had prepared everything for this evening, a lot of pillows and blankets, junk food and soft drinks, movies from fantasy to horror movies based on true events, I had made sure to put on the lights that they usually put on in Hollywood movies when the characters go to put a movie on the porch of his house, the screen and the projector were placed so that the movie can be seen perfectly. The only thing they had to bring is a bag with their clothes, their sleeping bags, and if they wanted they could bring games to play together. After mentally reviewing if I had placed everything I hear some rhythmic knocking on the door and I quickly head towards the door, when I finally open the door I can see an avalanche of people enter my room and I close the door once no one else enters. I turn around and see my happy friends looking at the preparations that I had placed about half an hour ago, Wednesday was the only person present with a horrified face, but we already know how she is, so I'll take it as a compliment. Enid was jumping and running around excitedly and the rest seemed pleased with my work.

-I'm so excited, it's going to be an amazing party!!! I have even brought my entire set of nail polish with me - Enid could not contain the joy of just imagining it.

-I will pass, I just use the nail polish "As black as my heart"- Wednesday as dark as always

-"Oh come on Wednesday is a sleepover night, it wouldn't kill you to try something new just for one night" Enid tries to put on her best puppy eyes

-A touch of color in your life would not hurt from time to time Wednesday. – Bianca laughs along with Divina and Yoko If looks could kill, I think they would be dead a long time ago.

Come on girls tonight is to relax and you're going to scare poor Ajax. – I say while I watch as Ajax is in a corner looking at the panorama trying to go unnoticed. Just when Bianca and Wednesday were about to say something, there was a tap on the door and I instantly knew who he was. I quickly open the door and grab Thing that was outside while she grabbed a letter between her fingers and instantly close the door.

-I thought you were in the bag, what have you been doing? – Wednesday was about to torture Thing to get answers but she quickly starts tapping on the ground and everyone stares at Thing trying to figure out what she was trying to say.

-UuUuUH it seems that our organizer has obtained a letter from a secret admirer, come on open it. - Enid says excited

-I can't believe you left alone to do a love errand to someone else. – Wednesday was outraged

-At this hour who will be writing letters? - Bianca asks without giving credit

We spend our time drinking non-alcoholic drinks and having parties - Yoko tries to defend my admirer.

-Does anyone write letters nowadays? – Ajax became thoughtful

-How else are you going to write to someone if they don't have a cell phone or internet? – says Divina looking at Ajax

-THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO DO NOT HAVE INTERNET??? - says Ajax surprised.

- If you keep shouting, you're going to make even the dead find out that we're having a pajama party, it's torture enough to be here for more people to find out. - says Wednesday looking at him coldly. I take the letter that Thing was holding out to me and I give him a small thank you, I look at the small envelope, it was brown in color on the front side, and it was written in black that it was addressed to me, but there was no more information, I turn the envelope and see that It is sealed with a heart-shaped sticker, so I open it as delicately as possible so as not to break it. I manage to release the sticker from the envelope and gently lift the flap and see the folded letter, so I grab it and pull it out of the envelope. I put the envelope on my desk, my friends seeing that I was going to start to find out what was inside the letter began to surround me, so they could also read the letter.

I unfold the letter and proceed to read it:

Dear mon diamond,

Sorry for writing so late, but I wanted to confess my feelings, I always have you in my thoughts, I can't help but smile like a fool when I see you or hear your laugh as sweet as chocolate and warm as a sunny day. What I want to say is that I like you a lot, and it's not like a friendship, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to stop being friends, I really appreciate our friendship. You would make me the happiest newt in the world even in the galaxy if you would let me be by your side as your boyfriend, I wish I could make you happy, I would like to swim under the night light together, hold hands and warm your little hands in winter, so you don't get cold. I would like to do so many things with you, just thinking about it, I feel like my heart is racing as if I had done a marathon. If you don't feel the same I understand, and I hope we can still be friends if you don't mind.

loves you your secret admirer

I look at the letter in disbelief, I couldn't believe someone liked it, I feel my heart beating rapidly with emotion. Although the main problem is that I don't know if I could reciprocate this person's feelings especially if I don't know who wrote it. I listen to how Enid argues with Ajax about why he doesn't write her romantic letters like the one she had received, Wednesday began to write about her novel, and it was only Bianca, Divina, Yoko, Thing and I am reviewing the letter.

-"I can't believe he is so stupid" said Divina exasperated.

-What are you talking about? - I said surprised

-Instead of writing his name, he goes and puts secret admirer, if it were a gift what he gives it would be passable but if he wants you to reciprocate his feelings, at least put a place to meet or say who he is, I can't believe my brother be so stupid - Divina sighs while Yoko pats her on the shoulder.

-'How do you know it's from Kent?' I ask curious about the new information.

-I could recognize my brother's handwriting anywhere - Divina said proudly.

Upon hearing the revelation about my secret admirer, Enid runs to grab me by the shoulders and proceeds to shake me from one side as if I were a can of Coca Cola.

-YOU HAVE TO SAY YES!!!! This is so cute, #love is in the air – I squeal with excitement and Bianca frees me from Enid's clutches.

-Enid, don't you think this is something hasty? – Ajax said -But they would look so cute, we need to send her some kind of message, how about you sing to her under her window like in those romance movies? – says Enid

-I would rather be eaten by a pack of rabid wolves than have to listen to anyone sing under their lover's window, it makes me want to vomit and not in a good way - says Wednesday with a disgusted face.

-"And wouldn't it be better if the person who received the letter decides what she wants to say?" – says Yoko wanting to end the discussion

-I have an idea, since we know who my secret admirer is thanks to Divina, - Divina smiles proudly - I can talk to Kent about the letter and tell him my answer.

-I wonder how Kent knows French, am I the only one wondering? – says Ajax doubtfully.

We all looked at each other and shrugged, I think we all thought that maybe he knew French, that he had looked it up on the internet or simply asked someone who knew, so we didn't give it more importance.

-I really want to know how all this is going to end, remember to stay on top of how your confession went. Tell me everything in detail pretty please – Enid begs me

-Okayyy - I say giving in to his plea

-Well let's start the party and forget about this until tomorrow- says Bianca.

We went back to what was happening to us, we were talking about all kinds of things from gossip to old memories together with friends, we played dominoes and some board games that Bianca and Divina had brought. We decided to watch some cheesy movie to make Wednesday suffer, all the junk food and drinks didn't last a round and after singing karaoke and dancing we fell asleep and fell asleep. I hear my roommate's alarm clock and I get up quickly, I look around and everything was in order, I look at my phone and there were some messages from my friends telling me that they had left early, so they wouldn't get caught by some supervisor and that they had tidy. I get ready to go to Miss Thornhill's class and take the letter with me. I get to class a minute before the bell rang, I sit in one of the available seats and start to place all the class material, I can't help but look for Kent and I see him there. I was sitting behind Bianca as usual but this time I was sitting with her sister, she notices because she turns her head towards me, smiles mischievously, proceeds to give her brother a little nudge to get his attention and whisper something to him while she points her head at me. Kent turns his head towards me and I can see the surprise on his face, I smile nervously at him as I wave and say a little “hi”, this catches him off guard, and he gives a little nervous laugh as he waves back. The little moment was broken as soon as the teacher began to give her class on toxic flowers, we proceeded to take notes from the class, my head was still going over what I was going to say after class, I was very nervous, I felt like my heart was beating fast, I focus on the class and let the time pass.

Finally, the class ends, we left the greenhouse and I quickly look for Kent who was not far from where I was, he was ordering his backpack for the next class, so I go to him while I grab the letter with one of my hands. I stand in front of him, when he finishes ordering everything he raises his head and looks at me in shock.

-Hello Kent - I say smiling at him.

-Hello, how was the party last night? Divina already told me that it was quite exciting, although she did not give any details about it - she says placing her backpack on her back

-It was quite interesting, especially because of this little surprise- I say while I show the envelope with the letter Kent tries to hide her surprised face but he is very bad at hiding it, he seems so cute to me as he tries not to get nervous.

-A letter from a relative? – He says trying to not to be obvious about his feelings.

-No, my family and I always text each other on our mobile phones, this letter is about a confession of love from a secret admirer, I thought it was very nice, it's a pity that it wasn't signed with the person's name because I would have liked to answer him "Someone like that, I wouldn't mind giving him a chance to conquer me" I say as I look into his eyes and see how a small sad smile forms - did you write this? - I tell him directly.

I watch as his eyes go wide, his face starts to flush and he starts to babble.

-Don't worry, Divina told me it was you, you don't have to be nervous - I take her hands

-I'm so sorry, I was afraid to tell you to your face and I told the boys yesterday at the party and they insisted I write you a letter talking about what I felt and give the letter to Thing so that he could give it to you. – She says while caressing my hands with her thumb.

-Kent, Je t'aime - I say while gently squeezing his hands He starts to blush even more possible and he is stunned by my confession. -Why did you blush so much? I only told you that I love you in French- I say while he laughs -Because I didn't expect you to love me too, besides I didn't expect you to speak to me in French – he says while he tries to keep his composture.

Before he can say anything else I grab his jacket, look into his eyes and kiss him. After the surprise I feel his arms surround my waist and corresponds to the kiss, we parted and stared into each other's eyes, it wasn't until we heard Divina and Bianca call us that we realized we had to go to the next class, we laughed and we quickly headed to the next class holding hands.

#kent wednesday #kent x reader #kent fisher #kent fluff #kent fisher x reader #kent the siren #kent the siren x reader #wednesday kent #kent wednesday x reader #fanfic

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manonamora-if · 9 months

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ive been looking at the ifcomp and i think im gonna do it. any advice for a firsttimer? what should i expect? what was your experience?

Hi Anon!

First of all, congrats on taking the leap! I know it can be quite daunting to participate in one of the biggest and oldest IF Competition there is currently. Takes quite a bit of guts to do it! Yay, you!

Suuuper long ask answer because you asked questions requiring long answers, where I probably repeated myself multiple times.

IFComp Advice

What to expect?

What was my experience?

TLDR: it's hard but also fun. Def recommend at one point (unless ranking makes you go blerg... then do the SpringThing or an unranked game jam).

IFComp Advice

I do have some advice for you, especially if you are planning on submitting a game to the IFComp this year, which is less than a month away:

Be Ready for your work to be judged and reviewed by people. Some will be harsh, some will be kind, most will be fair. If you are not fully open to criticism, especially negative one, the voting period will sting like hell. It is also fine not to read any review or comment about your entry, but a head's up is important.

Be prepared to rank low. If you follow the advice below, you probably won't end up last place. But the competition is stiff. Authors often spend a year or two on their entries before they submit. If you know you can't handle rankings, go for the SpringThing instead. More chill.

Submit your intent to participate NOW! The deadline is Sept 1st, but it's easy to put it off and forget. And intent to participate doesn't mean you have to submit something. You can back out at any moment (even during the voting period).

Check the rules and timeline of the comp (@ifcomp). You don't want to disqualify yourself by mistake...

Keep it short: 15 to 30 min of gameplay. There is less than one month left, and you want plenty of time to make sure your entry is as polish as possible! I took 3 months last time and it was a buggy mess on Day 1 of the voting period.

Use a program you know, or a simple one with good documentation or guides. You might have time in a month to learn how to use a complex program, but I wouldn't recommend it. List at the end.

Create something simple but airtight. You are racing against time. Shooting for the moon with something complex could work, or it could land you in the bottom. Usually, it is best to create a game which is doing little, but doing it very well, than submitting a behemoth that can't even do its core gameplay loop right every time (dissing myself, yes). Sam Ashwell has some good article for choice-based, Emily Short for parser puzzles.

Your prose should have as little grammar mistakes as possible. Pass your text through as many grammar checkers, and maybe some human testers (beta). The more eyes you have on it, the better. Hate to say it but, avoid word crimes there...

Have some impactful interactivity, that makes sense with the story. Puzzle, branching of variation, etc... Even if all of it is fake, and you are pushing the player through a linear story, the player shouldn't feel like they are just flipping pages of a book. I am not talking about the quantity, but the quality of the interactivity. Emily Short has some great article about that stuff.

Don't have bugs. Should be obvious, but you know... I didn't follow that one and got (rightly) roasted for it in the reviews. Test your game (and have people test your game) A LOT.

Style your project a little bit (if possible). It doesn't have to be fancy, but as simple as changing the colour of the background and the text, maybe the font of the text as well (!!! it should still be readable) can go a long way. Also appreciated but never mandatory: different formatting for different bits of text, some animation in the text, having images, having audio, having accessibility settings (theme, font, visual, audio)... Again, those are pointers. Leave this for last.

Credit where credit is due. Code, assets, beta-tester, etc... anything you did not make from scratch, or anyone helping you along the way, should be added in a credit page. Also credit yourself for what you did :P you deserve to show off your efforts!

Test your game relentlessly. Yes it bares repeating, I've done that mistake. Don't be me. Test your stuff again. Have people break your game.

Edit your submission page with care. Have a grabbing hook for your synopsis, an eye catching image, and any relevant documents the players would need (i.e. walkthrough). DON'T FORGET TO ADD A WAY FOR PLAYER REACH YOU FOR BUGS!

MOST IMPORTANTLY: Have fun! If you have fun making your entry, it will show in the writing and how the game is constructed.

Hypertext/Choice-based: Twine (Harlowe, SugarCube), Ink/Inklewriter, Moiki, ChoiceScript Parser: Adventuron

Oh... and good luck. You'll need it :P

If you are thinking of next year instead, most of these advice applies. You can just rule out the intent submission for now, the length of the game (1h gameplay is usually the sweet spot), and the program to use (though take one you understand). The rest could work for any comp honestly.

What to Expect?

The IFComp period in an exciting time where many people gather to play games and talk about them. Many people submit stuff yearly, sometimes with good results, sometimes it's atrocious. Sometimes, authors who haven't been seen in a while reappear to show off their labour of love or review other people's games. It can be very intense and overwhelming if you are participating (author or player).

As an author, you should expect (not exhaustive):

deadline (intent/game/voting),

potentially getting comments for bugs (and having to update, which you are allowed to),

seeing reviews and discussions about your entry (mainly on the IntFiction Forum, but sometimes on blogs too): good stuff, negative stuff, and people missing the point entirely or having bad take, or takes you didn't think about.

seeing people rating your entry on the IFDB (rating =/= vote, but can be a flawed indicator)

feelings galore (good, bad, ugly, anxious), especially stressing about the results

having to remind yourself that no one can judge everything completely objectively (expect when it comes to bugs, it is or it isn't), and that people vote for what they like.

following the rules on the IFComp website

a special private group on the IntFiction forum to discuss with other authors when the voting period starts, as well as posting reviews,

maybe get a prize at the end? (depends on your placement)

Honestly, it can be pretty rough. This is not an easy competition. Most people have been working on those projects for months or years. Some have for just a few weeks, but their pieces can be out of this world. Only the organisers have an idea of who is competing ahead of time, and how competitive it could be from year to year (i.e. did big names come out or not).

While reviews and ratings can give you an indication of how your game is faring with players, you will not be able to know until the votes are actually out (case and point: me, thought I did much better than reality). Either way, it will be a surprise, good, bad, disappointing...

Speaking of reviewers, most will try to be as partial as possible and going into every entry with an open mind. But, there are harsh reviewers out there, as well as kind ones. It is not unusual to see blunt reviews, especially if something ticked the player (bugs usually).

But also, it's loads of fun! You have a bunch of very serious people debating on minor things, newcomers trying out the comp and sometimes even reaching the stars, oldcomers popping by for a cup promising they will review ever game and then disappearing after three, a lot of very very very good games to play, so many different perspectives on what if IF, and feeling like you have a voice in what should be crowned the best of the competition!

It's weird, it's serious, it's goofy...

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best... but most importantly, have some fun. And do what's best for your mental health!

What was my experience?

I think I've talked about it quite extensively in my Post-Mortem for The Thick Table Tavern. Read that before the end of this, for context.

And almost a year after this experience (on this day, I was frantically writing), I think my feelings have changed quite a bit. I went into the competition guns-blazing without understanding the importance of things (bugs/grammar especially) and thinking I had done the absolute most and breaking the genre, believed I did sooooo much better than any other entry, got very dramatic when the first non-positive reviews came in, and was about to throw my shit when I saw the 1s in the voting curve. I am only a bit over-exaggerating here.

I definitely deserved the placement I got. Don't misunderstand, I am incredibly proud of what I achieved there! But... there were major issues for sure. And I've come around to recognise those.

Those 1s-2s were warranted, those negative comments were warranted: the first version was buggy as hell (which I think was the version in the mass downloadable packet? and I updated the game like 20 times), there are still a bunch of issues with the prose (I learned my em dash lesson!), the pacing is aaaalll the way off (I thought I was being cheeky, but didn't always land)... This was something way different for the comp, maybe more experimental than people expected (I mean, who does a click-only bar for a text-based comp...)? But most importantly, while it looked polished, you just needed to play a few minutes to see the varnish crack...

To say the least, I got slapped back to reality. HARD. This was a mediocre good-looking game. Real pretty, big flaws. And that's ok (not putting myself down). Not every game can be winners (unless it's La Petite Mort or DOL-OS :P), not every game will work as intended. You can rack all the trophies all the times. Sometimes you're just at the bottom.

All this might sound hella negative, but I am incredibly grateful for this experience. I have learned so much about game creation, coding, writing, what to do and avoid... There are things I probably wouldn't have learned had I not participated (or not as early). I have created friendships (and rivalries /jk) and found a community where I feel comfortable being this experimental with my work (hey, it worked for DOL-OS!) and continuing breaking the codes. It's renewed my drive to create and do more: games, experiments, trying new program, but also for the community, helping out, creating guides and templates, giving advice...

And I've found a bit of love for reviewing stuff it turns out.

I've made my peace.

And I have plans for a new pretty weird game for a future IFComp ;) I will make people cringe again :P Hopefully not because of bugs!

Final sidenote: I am still not taking my advice. No one tested DOL-OS before it was submitted, and it won. But also, other games placed poorly... I am still speed-running through competitions (not the IFComp this time), and tripping all over all the time. I still submit thing thinking I'm the hottest stuff and that no one else will be better than me. Completely delusional here. Be better than me, for your sake.

#ifcomp #interactive fiction #experience #competition #tttt #the thick table tavern

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userkhael · 2 years

Text

undercover

Summary: You’re partnered with August Walker for an undercover mission as a newly married couple but you hate his guts more than ever. If only that one night stand didn’t happen.

Pairing: August Walker x Reader

Warning: smut, enemies to lovers trope, p in v sex, a bit of dirty talk?

Word Count: 2900+

A/N: This has been sitting in my drafts for so long and I finally had the time to finish it. I would love every comment, like and reblog of you guys. I appreciate every one of them. Also this is not beta’d so expect some errors. Aside from that, enjoy!

**I edit my own work, this is not beta’d and there will be errors. I do not consent for my work to be reproduced outside of Tumblr without my permission.**

Tucking your gun in the holster, you grab your jacket and make a mental note to pick up some coffee on the way home. Maybe some Thai takeaway too. But when your boss called your name from his cubicle, your head perked up. This can't be good. You've always been a good agent and everything you were told to do. Hell, maybe break a few faces here and there but it comes with the territory.

"Good luck, Agent Y/N. Looks like something serious."

Well, it can really be something more serious when you're meeting the boss face to face than to get a folder as debriefing information.

Your boss's office is what a typical chief's office looks like. Plain and boring. You enter the room, standing and you nod at him when you notice a huge frame leaning on the bookcase, pretending to read something. You caught a glimpse of his eyes looking up and you rolled your eyes at him.

What could Walker be possibly doing here?

"So..." Your boss stacked the papers neatly on top of another and pulled a fresh one from the leather-bound sitting on his left.

You didn't take a seat. Not with the menace lurking in the room. Funny because that's what they call him nowadays and they're not wrong. He's a bit of a troublemaker everywhere he goes.

"You and Agent Walker will be on an undercover mission. We've already set everything up. The house and all you will need. The folders will be sent to you at 0700. You will review it and proceed to your flight at 0900."

"Hold on —" Your boss looks at you, raising his brow like he's waiting for you to explain why you'd just interrupt him.

"Anything you want to say, Agent Y/N?"

August clears his throat and smirks, looking at his well-polished shoes. Goddamn him.

"I wasn't briefed about —"

"I am briefing you now, aren't I?" You fell silent for a few minutes and when you looked back at August, he's shaking his head like he's enjoying this. Even though you shouldn't be speaking out of anger and annoyance, you took the courage to speak. Your boss is the best in this field and he's not that easy to please. So you get why he's giving you daggers from across the room when you questioned him about being with Agent Walker.

"Why him?"

"I'm sorry, I don't understand the question." Your boss crosses his arms on his chest and you're prepared for a battle you know you will never win.

"Why not?" August answers and flashes me his fang-filled perfect smile. All the ladies in here must've been kissing the ground he walks on, but you're not one of them. You can smell trouble five miles from him so it's instinct to stay away.

"You shut your fucking mouth!" You couldn't stop saying to his face. You kept staring each other down when a loud bang could be heard in the room when your boss slapped his hand on the desk.

"You two are the best in this field. This is our one chance to infiltrate and sniff out one of the biggest links to one of the drug lords in this country. Your petty fights shouldn't be more important than starting to think about strategies to get this done. Yes?"

You gave August another death stare before answering your boss. Out of all the people that could be paired with you. It had to be him. For every second that you're spending with him will be a waking reminder of how stupid you are waking up in his bed. It was one of the worst decisions you've ever made in your whole life and you're not planning to repeat history. You found out he's terribly obnoxious and a hundred percent an asshole.

Finally, your boss lets you go and you can't help but think about the misery you just subject yourself into. It's not like you can back out. This is a pivotal moment in your career. The more missions you get yourself into, it somehow gets you closer to the promotion you wanted all along.

"Glad to work with you again, Y/N." August's voice traveled like a breeze against your skin. He always has that effect on you. He's somewhat making you feel like everything is quicksand and you're sinking painfully slowly. This is the reason why you had to get him out of your system. You thought having sex with him would stop it but it just made everything worse. It's like whenever he's around you'd like to light him on fire. You hate him so much.

"Do not talk to me." You breathe through your nose and try to think of happy things to relax.

"C'mon, it's been so long since we hung out. You've been avoiding me."

"Yes, I am. I can't stand you." August is way taller than you are and he has that aura on him. He looks dangerous and he feels dangerous but somehow you crave his touch to make you feel safe.

"Just thought I'm doing you a favor." He smirks and looks down on you and you shake your head. He's good at playing head games.

"Whatever." You walk out the building and he's following you.

"Have you read your email? Some information was sent there."

"I'll get to it later on."

"I think you should read it right away."

You turn to him and he seems to be serious so you pull out your phone and check your emails. Since your computer is already shut down for the day.

You open the one that says "Confidential" and you read the first few sentences and when you reach the part where it gives you information about what your roles are, you almost drop your phone.

"What the fuck?"

August chuckled and walked away and you're left with so much hatred in your heart you can kill him in his sleep.

***

The flight wasn't that long but the headache that's brewing in your head is lethal. You and August are pretending to be newlyweds to infiltrate one of the town's main sources of illegal firearms. One of intel mentioned the leader owns a series of apartments and an opening was posted three days ago. And here we are.

This mission is easy as pie if not for the man beside you. He looks casual with his faded jeans and gray sweatshirt. The muscles in his chest and arms are trying so hard to get out of the fabric. August is the kind of man who can flip a man his size upside down without breaking a sweat. He's incredibly competitive, very good in tactical missions and just someone who can easily kill you if he wants to.

Everyone's preparing for landing when a flight stewardess walked by just as August removed his sunglasses. You admit he looks extra sexy with it on.

"Uh, excuse me. Do you happen to have aspirin? My wife has a terrible headache." August pointed at you and you looked up and smiled. The stewardess was giving your "husband" flirty eyes throughout the flight and you bet she's not expecting he's married. There's a pang of jealousy in your chest that shouldn't be there.

"I'll get it." She says in her most seductive voice.

"I appreciate it, thank you." August said before facing you and just caught you rolling your eyes.

"You should be thanking me "wife". I'm taking care of you." He held his knuckles against your cheeks and you felt the electricity coursing your body. This feeling, you should shut it down right now. The heart feeling things should be illegal.

"If you want to fuck every breathing human being while we're here, please, leave me out of it."

August doesn't answer and that's when the stewardess came back and handed you two Aspirins and a bottle of water. August remained silent throughout the off boarding. While you waited for your ride, you thought you'd been harsh and just really experiencing a terrible headache.

August is standing and looking down at his phone, a cup of coffee on the other hand. You walk towards him, not too close but close enough so he can hear you.

"Look, I'm sorry. I'm just having a terrible headache. Thanks for looking out for me."

August looks at you up and down, puts his phone in his pocket and sips his coffee, without breaking eye contact.

"Just remember this, if I wanted to fuck every breathing human being while we're here, I'd start with you."

You obviously hit a nerve and thought it would all be okay with a simple sorry. But August is just as complicated as the calculus you took up in college.

In exact timing, your cab arrives and August takes care of both of your luggage. Once you're inside the cab, August slides in beside you and he's still quiet. Now, both of you should have the mission in mind and be professional towards one another.

Arriving at the location, you expected something that's dingy but the buildings here are well kept. If we didn't know the real story behind this place, we would never have thought it being owned by a drug lord.

A thin, old man introduced himself as the landlord and gave your keys to the apartment.

"I thought the owner would be here." I say nonchalantly. We were told the owner would personally give us the keys and would give a tour.

"You thought wrong. The owner only ever come in here to pick up his money. So, you won't be able to see him often."

You nod and August signed something that looks like a ledger book. You would expect everything will be modern and logged into a computer but it looks like it's not.

"I heard you're newlyweds." The old man said and August turned around to answer him.

"Yes." He said, more clipped.

"I don't want neighbors complaining about noise of you rutting each other."

You're sure your cheeks are now red and you can't hide it even from August. He looks down at you, with no expression in his eyes. He's currently on work mode.

"Well, then, let's get you settled in."

The old man name Hector, toured you in the apartment, showed where certain things are. Once he's done, he walked out like he never wanted to be there in the first place.

You settled in bed and decided to unpack later on. My headache disappeared so you just lie in bed looking up at the ceiling. You haven't really talked who's sleeping on the bed and who's sleeping on the couch. But you know, you sure aren't sleeping on the damn couch. But thinking about how small the couch is, you suddenly feel guilty.

You step outside and find August setting up his laptop. He's still in work mode so you prepared coffee. The apartment looks decent and with the amount of rent, it should be.

You place the coffee beside him and he didn't even look up but muttered a "thank you" under his breath. He's still mad about the plane. Before you can even walk away, his hand dig into your arm. You immediately look back and see anger in his eyes.

"What is this?" He gestured to the coffee. His laptop is now shut and he's looking at you like he wants to eat you alive. He probably could.

"Uh, coffee?" You say and he scoffs.

"For someone who despises me, sure as hell doesn't look that way." He stands up, coffee cup in hand then he spills the dark brown liquid in the sink, without breaking eye contact with you.

"Ha. What a fucking asshole." You say, looking at him as he comes back to his seat.

"Yeah, I know. Many times you've called me that. Oh, and by the way, I'm not sleeping on the couch so better choose your side of the bed now."

You wanted to slap him across his face but you tried calming yourself by drinking the coffee you just made. Both of your phone dinged and it's intel of the owner's schedule. He'll be here in a month. A fucking month of pure torture being in August's presence.

Finishing your coffee, you set it on the sink, rinsed it and put it in the dishwasher. August never spoke again and you're sure enough he won't for the rest of the day and you prefer it that way.

You suddenly feel tired so you lie down in the middle of the bed so as to not make space for August. He will be fuming and all you can do is laugh about it. Sleep came to you almost instantly and when you wake up it's already dark.

You stepped out of the room and August is nowhere to be found. Until you heard people laughing from outside, a male and a female. You slide the windows open and you peek, that's when you see August and a woman chatting. Well, not chatting but she's all over him flirting. You feel your cheeks heat and the feeling of anger takes over you.

You stepped out of the balcony and the woman is the first one who sees you. August looks up and smiles back at the woman while pointing at me.

"That's my wife. Y/N."

"Oh, you're already hitched. No worries, if you decide to part ways, I'll be here, waiting." She places her hand on his chest and my jaw dropped at her audacity.

"August, we need groceries, remember?" You say loudly than you should and August looks up at you confused and angry.

You wait for the knob to turn and prepare yourself for a fight. It's always like that with you and him.

"Really, August? Flirting can't be removed from your agenda in the course of this mission?" Your arms are crossed while he's standing in the kitchen, drinking water.

"Don't start with me, Y/N." He held up his index finger thinking you'd follow his every command.

"You just can't keep it in your pants, can you?"

He looks and charges at you with so much anger in his eyes.

"Fyi, that woman you're so angry about is technically the owner's girlfriend. So, I'm doing my job, Y/N. You're the delusional one. You can't admit you're jealous. Right?"

"Fuck no!" My voice's pitch becomes higher when I'm being defensive but I can't openly admit I was jealous because we're nothing more than colleagues. Well, colleagues who fucked each other. Feelings won't do us any good in this job.

"You can't admit that you're angry because you see with another woman. Isn't it?"

He's backing you up and you feel the wall behind you. His eyes are on you and you feel the air leave your body when his face is inches from yours. You can smell his minty aftershave and his manly cologne.

"Yes, I do feel something for you, August because I fucking hate you." You stand your ground and looks up at him. He smirks at you and you can feel his hand going up to your neck, holding you in place. You can't deny the tingles under your belly and how much it arouses you to be manhandled by him.

"I fucking hate you too, Y/N." His lips crash onto yours and your brain did a spasm for a few seconds. You pushed him and you're both panting, looking at each other.

You didn't actually know what you're doing but your hands are on his neck while he's lifting you up, his hands supporting your thighs clinging to his sides.

Your clothes are off your bodies in seconds and never did your lips parted. He throws you on the bed and it squeaked when you moved. He removed his pants until his naked before me.

"This doesn't mean I don't hate you, August Walker." I say, breathlessly.

"Tell me that after I make you come." He pulls both of my feet until my wet center is under his face. He looks down and looks up at me as he slides the fabric to the side. He hums and lay his tongue flat on your sensitive spot, not breaking eye contact. You pull his hair, like he can't be close enough.

"Oh, God, please." You can feel the white hot orgasm hitting you like a freight train. August smirks and plunges two fingers inside you.

"Now, what do you want?" His voice vibrated across your skin, like you're under his spell and his magical trance.

"I want you to fuck me." You say and he obliged. You can already see he's hard as a rock but you're not a slave of him so when his guard is down, you pushed him on the bed and sit on top of him. You smirk at him and he smiles, shaking his head.

"I wonder who comes first." You say, challenging him. You sink yourself on him without warning and he groans with so much pleasure. You gasp feeling his length and girth all at once. He smirks and accepts the challenge, moving his hips, thrusting in and out. But you know better and grind on him.

Both of us challenged each other until we're both sweating and on the edge of euphoria. You feel him stiffen and you're so close to exploding that all you can do is moan and slowly grind on him. He looks at you, sweat dripping from his forehead. He holds your neck with so much possessiveness.

"You win. I'm coming for you." His words sends you over the edge and as his thrusts quicken, your orgasm hit you like waves in the ocean. Your walls are quivering over and over again and then you feel him spill inside you. Your body is still shaking and he's looking at you like he's in awe.

"Come here, loser." He smirks and opens his arms. You lie on his chest while he's still inside you and stayed like that for a moment.

"This is probably the best mission I've done so far." He says and chuckles when you playfully punches his chest.

"Mission or missionary?" You ask and he chuckles.

"10/10 would recommend." He teases as he bites your ear and you feel the need to go all over again.

#august walker #august walker fic #august walker x reader #august walker fanfiction #august walker smut #smut #oneshot #khaelwrites

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ajcgames · 26 days

Text

A little output

I spent my lunch programming rather than eating, which is very typical of me when I get deeply involved in a project. I must make sure I don't fall into that obsession trap again, which has caused many burnouts in the past! 😅

My current task was to get the new generation machine to spit items out onto a connected belt. This was mostly straightforward, though it was a little tricky getting my head around supporting rotation.

Ultimately it came down to making things simple. Machines can either have an input or an output, or both. Since the side with which the machine accepts either inputs and outputs is defined at the prefab level (i.e. it's fixed based on what I set the model to), I just had to write some code to shift those input/output 'sides' depending on which of the 4 possible directions the model was placed in.

As far as handling exactly where the machine should look for an input / output belt, I kinda cheated a bit on this one.

The reason this was a little more complex is because machines can have a footprint of more than just 1x1, they can be 2x2 as well. A 2x2 machine will have a inputs / outputs on specific grid positions around its outside perimeter. How do I allow for this whilst enabling rotation of the placed object?

This. This is my cheat.

The little blob in the above image is an object that represents which grid position I want the machine to look for a belt (specifically an output belt). Because this blob is a child object of the machine, when the machine rotates - so the blob does too. At runtime, when I configure the machine, I can simply read the real-world position of the blob to get its grid coordinates. Neat!

It's easier to see top-down here:

The machine lives at grid position [6,4] and the blob lives inside the machine object at position [1,0]. Translated to absolute world position the blob lives at [7,4] - exactly where I need to be checking for belts!

I'm sure there are much better ways of doing this, but this was a pretty straightforward solution that only requires a tiny amount of preprocessing when the object is first placed, after which no additional calculation is needed.

With the positioning and belt-lookup code added, it was just a case of writing up a short Machine class, from which I derived a special 'InputMachine' class that only spits out items of a specific type.

The result you can see below!

Where is this all leading?

I suppose it's a good a time as any to review my future plans for these developments. What good are little prototypes without some larger goal in mind?

In one of my earliest posts I details the kind of game I'm hoping to make. Mechanically it's not super complicated, but it required figuring out some of the technical stuff I've been showing in recent posts - namely conveyor belts and moving items around.

I'm hoping to create a game that fits in the automation / factory genre. You'll be playing the role of someone setting up an automated factory that has been deposited and unpacked on a remote asteroid. You place down drills (inputs) that dig and spit out raw materials into your factory, and you move these around and process them in various machines in the name of science!

As I said this isn't the most complex of concepts. From a programming complexity point of view some of the legwork has already done (problem solving belts, specifically). There are areas that still need consideration, but looking over what's left to come I'm quietly confident it falls within my skill set to execute.

A cut down the middle

I expect anybody familiar with game development is aware of the term 'vertical slice'. It refers to the practice of developing a small segment of a product, but to a very polished state that could be considered represetative of its final form.

You see this a lot in game development. Particularly at conferences and exhibitions where publishers want to whip up excitement about games that could be years away from release. But there should be some delineation between a vertical slice for a trailer, and a playable vertical slice. I'm aiming for the latter.

In order to decide how to put something like that together, I need a broader understanding of the scope of the game. A vertical slice should demonstrate all the key concepts in the game, but leaving room to expand those ideas later without changing the core experience too much. It doesn't have to look like the final game either, though I would like to put some effort in there where possible.

I'll probably end this post here for now, but I'll probably detail out the main efforts I'm likely to be aiming for in order to reach this vertical slice. I will, of course, continue posting updates when I can with more details about the game's development.

And if you read this far and found some small measure of interest in here, thanks for your time and have yourself a great day! 😊

#indie games #game development #game dev blog #gamedev

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pqrachel · 9 months

Text

Fucking Amazing Game Alert

So Goodbye Volcano High just came out today, and I played it all in one sitting. (6.9 hours, nice) And like holy fucking god. It was so good. I mean it was buggy in places and some of the minigames weren't fully polished but whatever. The storyline, and the characters, and the music, and the story!!

Heads up. Minor spoilers but I wanna talk about it so here I go. HUGE REVIEW / INFODUMP BELOW (There's also a bunch of screenshots from my playthrough mostly of the last couple episodes.)

Fang's VA sounded like Chloe from Before the Storm (not Ashly Burch but Rhianna DeVries) and it was so cool, and speaking of Life is Strange, there's so much Life is Strange vibes throughout the whole thing. Apocalypse, queer teens, great music!

Oh my gosh great music! The music minigame didn't work 100% but when they did it felt so great and I loved all of the songs actually all of them.

The main cast was great Fang was relatable and flawed and well written. And I loved them so much. Trish was an amazing backup to Fang and drove the story so well. Reed was amazing especially as GM, and his L&L character Sydd was hot as fuck. Sage and Stella were great and reminded me so much of my friends @hearthurian and @spookyscarynik it was amazing. While not everything matched up them, Sage being a femme presenting trans boy was handled well and remind a lot of Arthur. Especially him talking about horoscopes and being so invested in Stella but still being so strong on his own, and Stella crushing on fictional characters was so Nik lol. And they just kept being so great as a duo even if they weren't dating in game. I ship it. Rosa was nice but I definitely missed some scenes with her and after seeing the name of the achievement "Surprise Friendship" I do wish I knew what her story was like. Naser was so fun, was a well written older brother character, and did great in the L&L session.

And Naomi. <3 Lovely Naomi, her reveal as the secret admirer was done so well. Like even though I was thinking maybe it was her the reveal that I was right in the end of the 3 episode had me screaming, I loved it so much!!! And their short time together was great and I really want the best for them even if their world's story is almost definitely ended.

The game aspect of it wasn't great, like honestly this could have been a short miniseries kind of thing, like Looking for Alaska and it could have been so much better. Because as medium all the game aspect let me do was play along to the music (which I did like though), and miss some scenes because I didn't choose the right dialogue options. I guess there were the unlockable flashback but those could have been added as like little cut between episodes or commercials. (Maybe like the Sk8 the Infinity stingers idk) I did like getting multiple dialogue options but if choosing ones that felt right to me means missing out on scenes, it's not worth it. Like I really wanna see all the story has to offer and it's a shame I couldn't see the full story just because they wanted the story choices to feel important. According to the achievements I missed scenes with Rosa, Stella, Trish, and Reed.

Rosa's story felt the most lacking. Stella's story felt fine as a side character but maybe I just don't know what I'm missing. I kept wanted to see more of Reed's story but it never happened. Trish's story felt whole as I got it but apparently I still missed something, possibly connected to Rosa's story but maybe it was just more with her. Maybe I'll go back if there's a guide on which dialogue options result in getting to see every scene in the last act (the achievements say it's possible to get all of them in one playthrough), but that depends on how restrictive it is and how much that would take me out of the game. I might do it like how I did the Life is Strange Ultimate playthrough a few years ago, where I looked at the wiki to get every scene I wanted. Cuz yeah I could just play the game over and over again but seeing a story like this over and over again can make it lose its magic. I know the last time I played Life is Strange definitely wasn't anywhere near as impactful as it was the first couple of times I played it. I couldn't even finish True Colors on my second attempt going for 100% because it just felt like I wasn't in the story like I was the first time I played it, and I don't want this game to be the same. It deserves better, so I'm just gonna leave it at one playthrough for a while and MAYBE I'll come back to it at some point.

And now for the storyline. Holy feels dude. So much worm drama! The story is so deep and emotional and tackled a bunch of rough issues really well, all with an amazing friend group. Dealing with the apocalypse felt so real after the pandemic, and that brought a lot of emotions back up which felt almost nice? now that I'm in a better place and have had to sit with them. And having dealt with my dad's death last year, some of the family scenes did hit me more than I was expecting even if I wasn't too close with him or my family. Fang being non-binary was handled so well and all the scenes with their parents deadnaming and misgendering them also hit me really hard, Naser was being supportive the whole time and that meant a lot. And even though the scene at the end with Fang's parents correctly calling them Fang and them saying they love you back felt a little undeserved, it's the end of the world and there's some love there even if they don't fully understand Fang. Which doesn't always happen with trans people and their parents so I guess I'm happy for them if their happy.

The Battle of the Bands plot was fun, after reading Steph's story (the Life is Strange book) [SPOILERS FOR THAT], I wasn't actually expecting Worm Drama to win. But I guess even more amazingly they did and it didn't matter; and they had to find their own meaning in their music and with their friends. And they did, and it was great.

The dino characters were great. It was like lowkey furry energy (I mean that in a good way) but it wasn't just thrown it. They thought about it the emojis faces and hands were dinos. All the character's clothing made sense with their dino features. (I loved Fang's horn choker thingy.) It just brought me into the world way more than took me out of it.

#screenshots #goodbye volcano high

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fyx-ation · 10 months

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A Meandering Ramble on FFXVI

Firstly, if you haven't played the game yet or haven't finished the game yet, I suggest scrolling on. If you want a recommendation to play it, the best I can give you is a 7/10. Worth playing. Not the best thing on the market in the same territory but refreshing (I might use that word a lot going forward) and holds interest very well. Like a page-turner of a book.

That said, the rest of my ramble will be behind the cut to spare spoiling others.

Huh. What a strange little game. I actually just finished it, though I do need to go finish the chronolith things at some point. But I wanted to strike while the iron is hot, so this might be all over the place. I usually try to provide some essay-like structure when I write about a game... But I'm not really feelin' it since I've been working 5am shifts for a while and my brain is fried.

I have not read or watched any other reviews or summaries or impressions of the game. I didn't want my opinion to be tainted by bias because some creator or another loved or hated it.

It is Very Pretty. But perhaps not in a PS5 sort-of rock your eyeballs way. It handles like the Witcher III and Final Fantasy had an off-putting love-child. By that, I mean just the walking around and interacting with things reminds me of Witcher. Casual conversations are overheard from NPCs, and occasionally one that will actually speak to you (Clive) even if they aren't offering a quest or incentive. Facial animations, weather/landscape animations. Very Pretty but maybe a smidge outdated? How is that possible? Everything is lovely! But a little stiff if it's not an important, scripted, you-can't control your character here, sort of scene. The ones that aren't separately rendered cutscenes but still have extra polish? Yeah, not those.

You know what else this game reminds me of? Mass Effect (or Dragon Age). There's no open world to explore. There are pocket maps that you can return to from your Normandy Hideaway, but usually you're just sent there to do a mission quest or hunt or something.

So, let's deconstruct that a little. I think and hope that the producers of this game looked at what has been working and what has landed with the fan-base like a sopping wet diaper. Open world fatigue? Absolutely real. Stamina bars? Fuck right off. Pacing the game out with enormous, unskippable BS like a car ride because the plot is paper thin? Nope!

Does it work for a Final Fantasy game, though? See, this is where the conversation gets choppy. (While I didn't interact with reviews, I did see some plumes of smoke on the horizon in the form of thumbnails and the like). Some people are ride or die "this ain't MY final fantasy." Worse, some are like "this isn't a JRPG q_q."

Personally, I let that ship sail years ago. I loved the old turn-based games, don't get me wrong. I lament there aren't that many on the market anymore. But I've moved on. 16 is probably the biggest departure so far from that. Excluding the online games, they've been moving away from that format since 12. 13 was the last to have party members who you can actually control. (I'm not counting the 7 remake here, either) 16 doesn't have a party system. You can't swap Thane Krios (my space boyfriend) in when you fast travel from your hideaway to the next story beat. It's just the protag and whatever side piece is relevant at the moment, and that side character just does their own thing.

Do I like it? Ehh.... yes and no. Clive doesn't talk to himself or them much, so I feel like a lot more banter was needed. I could see why they left it out on the battle maps ("Hey, Clive, remember when were playing checkers and mom kicked the board because oh hello Mr. Behemoth."). But in city hubs? More banter, please. Even more conversations like the newer God of War games have would be most welcome.

And controlling just Clive? It's fine. I am A-okay with it. Combat's really fun, even when I'm not playing at my best and half-dozing on the couch. It's better than holding down the circle button (15 shaming is my kink). It's all amazingly refreshing in comparison to SE's other departures from turn-based battles. It's the first one so far (again excluding ff7r) to actually succeed at doing something different.

But I would not recommend the game to anyone on that alone. If they were looking for a hack n' slash pew pew magic pew game, I'd suggest the newer God of Wars first.

This is where I'm on the fence about how to judge the game as a whole because it isn't SPECTACULAR. It's good. Combat's good. Story is decent. Side characters are interesting (though some are woefully under-cooked, including Jill, whom I often compared to a piece of cardboard while talking to friends). Pacing a HUGE improvement from previous installments, though the last few hours of the game are weirdly smooshed into sidequests which aren't really sidequests because they are invaluable to the story and the game expects you to do them.

However. The world-building, which is very nice, is padded with lore directories just to clarify shit to people who have no idea what the fuck is going on or who have maybe missed or forgotten details that flesh out the motivations of everyone on the two continents. Did you forget who was fighting who while Clive was was off kicking boxes? Boy, do we have the right solution for that: it's LORE DUMP MAN and his faithful sidekick MAP TIMELINE WOMAN. I'm not saying they are bad things... just... odd. Heavy-handed? I love it when games offer some sort of journal to keep me on track or remind me of things, and yet they feel like they were put in this game because things are a bit blurry for the first third. They throw a lot of names at you, a lot of factions, and a lot of talk of different battles that you don't even witness so the only way to clarify all that is to be given Baby's First Overview. I think that might be indicative of a small failing on the game's part. Lots of telling with little showing often leads to lore dumps in RPGs, because it's critical that you understand for the sake of the story. Weirdly, there actually aren't a lot of exposition dumps in the actual gameplay. I guess they couldn't find a happy medium.

It's late. Gotta get up at 4, so I'll bring this ramble to a close for now. I'll talk about tone and themes later, probably.

Is it worth $70 and satisfying? Mostly. If you like button mashing combat and fantasy, sure. If you're a die-hard FF person, sure, but bolster your expectations as it doesn't really fit that mold. Anyone else that's curious, I'd say wait for a sale or promotion.

TBC

#final fantasy XVI #ffxvi #ff16

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deke-rivers-1957 · 1 year

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Jailhouse Rock Review

This was I think the first Elvis film I ever saw in its entirety. As it's preserved in the Library of Congress for being so significant, I wanted to know if there was any merit to it. Even though this was my first film, I had to rewatch it after discussing it with some Elvis besties. I feel like discussing some scenes helped me better understand things. This also turned into a Vince character study so it definitely involves me going way too deep with this.

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I can't think of a better opening sequence of events for an Elvis film other than the opening of King Creole. In the matter of minutes, Vince goes from an everyday guy in construction, to a jailbird. We get to see who Vince is as a character already. He's a regular guy, but he also isn't willing to roll over if someone wrongs him. This bar fight showed how his anger got the best of him and it ended up killing someone. The expression Vince makes when he accidentally kills a man is incredible. It shows Elvis' range of an actor as he conveys the emotion of "oh my god I just killed someone. I was just trying to stick up for a woman and now I killed someone". At the same time, it also shows just how Vince's attempts to right a wrong ended up getting him into even more trouble.

Props to the writers of Jailhouse Rock for actually having someone other than Elvis sing uninterrupted. Hunk's rendition of "One More Day" works well from a thematic perspective. It reflects how in the past, country ballads were very popular. The first rendition of "Young and Beautiful" is cleverly done as it reflects how music changed and how singers like Elvis were going to be the next big thing. It shows that Vince has raw talent so of course the vocals are going to be good, yet still unpolished. Elvis conveyed that inexperience well down to how he's holding the guitar in an awkward way.

One thing I'm amazed at is how not only Hunk, but the warden of this prison willingly commit a felony by withholding Vince's fan mail. Under the US Federal law, withholding or obstructing mail from its recipient is a felony. This was written into law in 1948 so they broke the law. Even when considering that this is a prison, inmates mail could only be withheld if it contained contraband items. While the warden could inspect Vince's mail, there would still need to be proper procedures he'd have to follow.

In addition to Vince getting into a fight with the guards, it's easy to see why Vince was so angry. This scene is great in developing Vince's later characterization. This is meant to be his breaking point to show how he can't handle getting wronged by others anymore. It was Hunk's advice of protecting yourself before you get hurt, that possibly lead to Vince being who he would become. And later on, these actions would hurt Hunk's chances at making more money. Vince later found out that Hunk withheld his mail, so instead of Hunk receiving 50% of Vince's earnings, he only made 10%. It's a testament to Vince's character that he didn't tear up the contract altogether because of Hunk's crime.

Vince's new persona of a tough guy who doesn't take anyone's crap is now in full swing after he gets out of prison. Even when he meets Peggy, he can be sarcastic and rude. His second rendition of "Young and Beautiful" is another step of his evolution. He's getting polished but his anger issues are getting in the way of his ability to succeed. Him bashing the guitar against the table is a reflection of how Vince gets immediately defensive when he feels like he was wronged. We see this repeatedly throughout the film. The only time where he was in the right was when his song "Don't Leave Me Now" was taken and sold to another artist. To be a success, Vince had to break the mold and do things his own way.

Scotty, Bill, and DJ appearing all throughout the film is amazing. They just seem to follow Elvis around, even being in a prison scene with him. And yet they never seem out of place. They naturally fit in with the story as they act as Vince's band, so it would of course make sense that they met in prison. I love the sequence of making "Treat Me Nice" as we get an insight of what Elvis would've had to go through to make his original sound.

Of course I'm going to talk about this dance scene. I can almost guarantee that this dance scene is the reason why Jailhouse Rock is so iconic. It's easily the most memorable scene in the entire film and perfectly highlights how much of a natural performer Elvis was. Hunk's number being cut from the program also works well because it reflects how it wasn't Vince, but the executives decision to say that no one cares about country ballads anymore. Vince wanted Hunk to have his chance, but the executives decided to cut it. It also serves as a reflection of how out of touch Hunk was with pop culture and how most if not all of the advice he gave to Vince wouldn't work anymore.

After this point, the movie slows down and just adds necessary fluff to get from point A to point B. We need to follow Vince's rise to fame, to fully understand why from a character perspective he had to fall. The infamous couch kissing scene is the only highlight and even then, it's pointless. If Peggy is meant to be Vince's love interest, it doesn't make sense from a story perspective to just not have her present at all for a good part of the 3rd act.

Speaking of Peggy, I don't like how they set up the path of their relationship in this part of the film. I understand how up until "Jailhouse Rock" Vince has to act like a jerk and after becoming arrogantly famous, Peggy wouldn't want to be around him. However, you still need to try to develop chemistry so that the audience can believe that they work together as a couple. Peggy not even being in the film for a period of time until now, feels like we're focusing too much on a side plot that ultimately goes nowhere. There's no reason to focus so much on Vince dating his costar, if we know he's going to just ditch her for Peggy. In fact, it doesn't even make sense for him to ditch her for Peggy anyway because we don't see them having the chemistry for a relationship.

I will never understand why for a beach/pool party, Vince is dressed in a sweater and slacks while the band behind him are wearing t-shirts. "(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care" while good on its own, doesn't add anything to the film. It just comes off as a song used to meet an Elvis film quota. Peggy just shows up out of nowhere for exposition that the same people who wronged them earlier want to buy them out. Peggy of course is upset, because it's basically implied she was financially backing this herself in the beginning. Hunk being upset however, doesn't make sense. His issues with Vince were self induced. It wasn't Vince's fault Hunk willingly withheld his mail. It wasn't Vince's fault Hunk's part of the program got cut. It doesn't even make sense to have Hunk fighting Vince to teach him a lesson about respect, because he has no on screen relationship with Peggy to warrant that. It just feels like they had to have a fight scene for Vince to metaphorically fall and realize that he needs to change.

As sweet as this scene is, it feels rushed. The weight of Vince realizing he had done wrong isn't there. Aside from the nearly fatal wound, Vince doesn't suffer any consequences for his actions. Hunk and Peggy forgave him rather quickly and Vince changes his attitude really quick. His redemption just feels muddled and I feel like it could've been redone. If they cut some of the fluff in the middle, they could've had a scene where Vince wakes after his surgery all alone in his hospital room. He realizes that because he was such a jerk to the only two people willing to back him up. He has no voice of his own at this point, so he goes through the efforts of writing a long apology letter to Hunk and Peggy.

If we had that sequence of events, it would've made the hospital scene even more emotionally powerful. The hospital scene was meant to reflect how the cycle of hurt ended because Vince found a group of people that he could trust. The facial acting Elvis has to do in this scene is beautiful because it reflects how Vince at this point is completely vulnerable without his voice and how Vince is no longer using this facade. By letting himself feel vulnerable, Vince is now opening himself up to the possibility of getting hurt. That's why this final version of "Young and Beautiful" is one of the most underrated ballads in an Elvis film. It's so overshadowed by "Jailhouse Rock" but I think this is one of Elvis' best songs. It 100% reflects this vulnerability Vince feels and yet it also reflects contentment with his life. He's actively asking Peggy to be with him in song, and is entirely letting that decision be made by her. I'm glad that they didn't kiss at the end because it shows Peggy just willing to be with Vince is enough. Vince is just happy to be alive and to at least have the chance to be with Peggy.

It's such a shame that Judy Tyler passed because I feel like she could've been a great actress and could've costarred in other Elvis projects. She also could've been a great friend to someone like Elvis who needed friends in Hollywood. Despite, my issues with Vince's interpersonal relationships, this film is a great depiction of this intrapersonal journey that Vince goes through. We see a confident man get broken in prison, develop a hardened heart and arrogance only to get broken again, and finally allow himself to be vulnerable. In fact, as a preview to my fighting tier list, I would rank Vince in C tier if not lower. He only won one fight by accident, and by the end of the film, he just hasn't shown enough skill to rank higher.

Ultimately, there are some story and character issues, but Jailhouse Rock is very well deserving of being preserved in the Library of Congress. It easily depicts how Elvis could've reacted to success and how in the world of white music, represents a change in pop culture. Country music was no longer popular because of artists like him. This film is a great summary of just how much things were culturally changing in the 50s and how Elvis himself was characterized. He, to the outside world, comes off as crude and aggressive, but when you take away the image and the bravado, he had a raw vulnerability of a young man just wanting to make it big. I would give JR a 9/10 and would highly recommend watching this.

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So sorry this took months to make. I think this is the review I had the most to say about. I had my opinions change about this film so many times that it was hard to right a clear review. I'm still open to discussing this film from an analytical perspective. Requests are still open so if there's an Elvis film you want me to review, feel free to send it in.

#film review #elvis film #were critics wrong for thinking vince was just a jerk? Evidence suggests no #so sorry this was in my drafts for months lol #jailhouse rock #1957

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skysometric · 4 months

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2023 Resolutions In Review

it's new year's resolution season, and for me, that means looking back as much as looking forward. yesterday i wrote about all that i accomplished this year, and today, i want to look at the resolutions i wrote for 2023. i got so much done that, surely, i knocked those out of the park… right?

so as the year draws to a close, i’m not making any resolutions about what i’ll accomplish online, because i know that i’ll be drawn to it no matter what happens. no, my resolution for 2023 is to improve my IRL, so that this year is not as miserable as the past two have been.

uh. Shit

okay, so… i definitely neglected my IRL this year, in favor of creativity. i'll freely admit that some of it was escapism, throwing myself into the act of creation so that i could get away from how i felt about my life. but other parts of it were to get something off my plate, so that i could handle my IRL with more grace and less stress. so it wasn't all bad!

but this quote especially hits like a truck:

then, once i’ve bolstered my IRL with stronger foundations, more joy, new inspirations, less stress… online stuff will naturally follow. i will always want to create. resolutions are for putting in the work.

the sad truth is that i did not get the stronger foundations that i wanted; most of my year was spent in survival mode until i could get home and create again. i want to create out of joy, not escapism! to be clear, there's nothing wrong with the latter – but only i have the tools to get out of survival mode, and i did not accomplish that this year.

i did, however, put a dent in the mountain of stress. here's some things i tackled IRL:

my partner and i put a LOT of effort into improving her mental and physical health this year, getting her to new appointments and treatment and professional help that she did not have last year. i consider this our biggest IRL accomplishment of 2023!

with good budgeting, my partner and i were able to upgrade our computers, phones, and consoles. every single device i just listed was 5-10 years old and falling apart at the seams, so these were very necessary upgrades! all of them have contributed to us getting more creative work done this year, like my upgraded computer allowing me to stream more often – as well as getting more rest.

we also got out of the house more, picking random nights to go shopping, go to the park, or just get food. it's nice to be able to do that again, after the pandemic locked us in the house for so long… but we're just natural couch potatoes anyway lol

i have a psychiatrist and a therapist now! i don't get to see them often due to my health insurance, but it's a good start and something i may be able to invest more into in 2024.

speaking of which, i got to try ADHD meds this year. they didn't work out… but i did try, and it was worth the effort of trying. i would like to try again next year, though i am not making it a resolution.

i wouldn't call this an accomplishment… but we lost two cats this year, and while we'll miss them dearly, it does mean a lot less cleaning and chores to take care of our remaining two cats. having four cats was a commitment we did not choose in the first place, and it was a sore spot for many reasons – but we did our best to care for them anyway.

it's a lot for one year! and i did accomplish my goal of being less miserable than last year… it's just not everything i hoped for, resolved for. i've allegorically polished up my house, but the house itself is still built on shaky ground.

i would say something like, "oh well, there's always next year!" and in truth, there are a lot of opportunities on the horizon that could very well bring the stronger foundations i'm looking for. but i am not going to make the same resolution again… because, quite frankly, i don't know what it takes to get out of survival mode! and i can't possibly predict how a year will go, or what the whims of my ADHD will decide to focus on. i'd rather play it by ear, and just… try to be cognizant of how much i'm leaning on escapism.

so here ends this resolution… but 2024 brings new possibilities, and maybe they'll lead me to where i was already headed.

#2023 year in review #resolutions #writing #life #thoughts

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curator-on-ao3 · 1 year

Note

For the question meme (which I somehow missed when you posted it, so don’t worry if you’re not doing them anymore, I know I’m late to the party):

Chris and Una + “how long have I been asleep?” and/or “did you want to be alone?”

You’re wonderfully on time! 🥳 This might not be what you had in mind, lindsaybob, but I hope you’ll like it anyway. 💕

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How to Save a Li(f)e

She’s about to follow Spock out, to leave Chris’ quarters with the night’s work done — their cover story planned, practiced, and polished to a believable shine.

I saw Discovery explode.

That’s what they’ll tell Starfleet.

I saw Discovery explode.

Chris and Spock sat too straight as they rehearsed, their gazes too steady, her gentle coaching helping them find their normal postures, to remember that a lie announces itself through changes to the spine, the eyes, the hands.

They didn’t ask how she knows how to lie so convincingly.

I saw Discovery explode.

Spock mourns a sister whose memory he has to lock away.

I saw Discovery explode.

Chris thinks he’s consigned to pain, disfigurement, grief for his own sense of possibility.

I saw Discovery explode.

She has to playact placidity, can’t flounder, not now, not when she could get caught in this lie-to-be, exposed, a newly suspicious Starfleet digging through her service record for other deceits, oddities connected into a pattern, suspicions confirmed, the loss of everything she’s ever worked for.

The doors to Chris’ quarters close, Spock in the corridor, her standing just inside, and Chris looks up, his gaze clouded by fatigue, by time and fate, by a battle both lost and won, a present gifted to them by the Discovery crew’s sacrifices in the recent past and distant future. Chris can be prone to melancholy, to swings of expansiveness and self-flagellation. Maybe she should give him solitude, let him work things through on his own, not run the risk of her burdens compounding his.

“Did you …” The question sticks in her throat. “Did you want to be alone?”

Her chest is heavy with hope. Is she selfish for wanting to spend the night, for wanting to curl her arms and legs around him the way she has so many times before, but never with lies and loss and fear swirling together, a silent storm in the air of a broken ship limping home? Is she selfish for wanting a port in that storm, for wanting to be his port in that storm?

His head shakes and his voice is craggy, fragile in a way he won’t let it sound in front of anyone else, not even Spock. “Please stay.”

I saw Discovery explode.

Her pyjamas pulled from his drawer, clean sheets, no words. They’ve talked too much already about the cover story, about how Starfleet might try to set them against each other, about the need to protect this lie that’s more important than the truth and she’s too familiar with that balance, with the tightrope of wrong to get to right. How long can the balance last? Will this investigation be the tipping point that sends her falling, falling, falling into disciplinary review, court martial, probably prison?

The nightmares come. Twisted faces of angry admirals, accusations, Illyrians deemed sub-human, hunted like Starfleet game, incinerated by phaser blasts set on a wide beam.

Her shoulder is shaking.

“Una, you’re having a bad dream.” Oh no, Chris has enough on his mind. He shouldn’t have to worry about her. “Una, wake up.”

Clean sheets are bunched in her fists, her pyjamas damp from sweat.

Maybe it’s almost morning. Maybe she’s that much closer to this investigation being over and she can find a mission, any mission, and fly away.

“How long have I been asleep?”

“About forty minutes.” Chris’ furrowed brow is lit by starlight. “That looked like one hell of a nightmare. What were you dreaming about?”

Forty minutes.

Lies upon lies upon lies — and it’s only been forty more minutes.

She forces her fingers to relax, drop the sheets, ease him onto his back, let her head rest on his chest, steady heartbeats, as if she hadn’t just taught him that a lie announces itself through changes to the spine, the eyes, the hands.

“I dreamed … ” Her eyes flutter closed. She could lose everything. “I dreamed that I saw Discovery explode.”

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Send me an ask with character(s) and a prompt and I’ll do my best to dream up something you’ll like. ❤️

#questions prompt #i love asks #fanfic #star trek strange new worlds #star trek strange new worlds fanfic #star trek discovery #star trek discovery fanfic #una chin-riley #christopher pike #una chin-riley x christopher pike #pikeuna #pikeuna fanfic #lindsaybob #i saw discovery explode

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chaoticgeminate · 2 years

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Kinktober 2022 - Day Twenty Six

Pairing: Javi Gutierrez x f!Reader

Rating: Explicit (If that was not entirely clear)

Series Summary: You’re a fanfiction writer turned novelist, which was great since it was the path you wanted your writing to take you down in life. What you never thought would happen was meeting the Javier Gutierrez, who you actively write smutty fanfiction about from his film with Nic Cage, and you especially didn’t expect him to have a crush on you.

Fast forward several months of dating, with a good chunk of your relationship being distance due to his constant traveling and having to go home to Mallorca, when he surprises you with a prompt list and a vacation planned around exploring it.

You haven’t even worked up the nerve to tell him about what you write and post to Tumblr about him as a character yet.

Notes: Going to be using prompts from @the-purity-pen for my meta as hell indulgence! There are feelings in this (I have no idea how they got there) and I may end up removing some possible chapters here and there depending on how I’m feeling, I apologize in advance if that happens because my brain is super mean sometimes.

Possible Warnings: Wax Play, Dom!Javi, fluff that might make your teeth rot out, HCK returns (healthy communication kink)

Wax Play (1.8k)

Eduardo had laughed and then been very curious when you and Javi delivered a glowing review of his experiment, the man had been very happy that you’d been willing to answer his questions and even offered -once you were in Spain- to have you stop by his facility for a full medical run up by his team. He had trialed it with others and you were among the few couples to have a much more noticeable reaction to the oil, it was a matter of finding out the common factor be it genetic disposition or if it was something else.

Like the research loving fiend you were it was with great glee that you recorded the factors of your night that you could recall and gather easiest, like what brand and model diffuser Javi had and how far from the bed it was, you wouldn’t have exact time stamps but at the very least you had that.

But today Javi was making you take it easy, calling Lorna to make breakfast and treating you to an at home couple’s spa day, his masseuse and her business partner came and the pair of you spent most of the day being pampered. You even got a mani-pedi with him, though you hadn’t gotten any colored polish because you preferred to do it yourself, and as the two of you sat in the hot tub together Javi just held you close with his face buried in the spot between your neck and shoulder.

“For tomorrow, Solecita, I request that you don’t tickle me.”

Sensory deprivation was something you were eager for, mostly because Javi requested to be on the receiving end, the idea that he wanted you to have your way with him was appealing basically on all levels. His trust in you was probably the most valuable thing you had, if you were being honest, and you tipped your head to the side with a low hum.

“Only if I get to pinch your butt. Just once.”

“I do not understand the fascination, however I will try not to squirm when you do.”

“You have such a cute little butt, Javi!”

He snorted and chuckled at your remark, one of your favorite things to do with Joaquin in any fanfic was give him a girl that loved his ‘sheet cake’ booty. When he’d asked where that came from you had to very vaguely mention that you had other author friends and it was a common discussion point, that he had cake but it was a sheet cake instead of a layer cake.

You couldn’t help but squirm when Javi’s hands lifted to cup your breasts, which he’d shamelessly admitted he loved playing with, and you found yourself giggling as he just held your boobs like he was trying to be a bra. It wasn’t remotely sexual, the way he just held them, and you idly traced patterns on the skin just above his knee caps while reclined against him.

It was just peaceful, so much so that you drifted off and ended up napping for a few minutes, so Javi urged you awake to help you out of the water and slide your robe onto you after drying you off; you laid back on the bed sideways quite dramatically when you got up to the bedroom, opening your mouth when Javi pressed a grape against your lips, and he leaned down from his side of the bed to give you an upside down spiderman style kiss before promising to be right back.

“I bought soy candles; they are said to be the mildest and best for beginners.” Javi’s voice was soft and you sat up as he walked back into the room with the rather fancy box, the candles inside had designs carved into the wax body and looked rather beautiful too, but the slight tension in his shoulders made you sit up on the bed to face him as Javi set the candles down on the table. The other thing he set down was a bottle of a gentle massage oil and a bottle of aloe gel, setting the aloe into a small ice bucket that you knew was supposed to be for drinks.

“How high are you going to hold the candle?” Watching him so skillfully flip a zippo lighter open, igniting the first candle, you felt your throat catch at how easy he handled and flicked the lighter open and closed. The wide candle looked small compared to the size of his hand and you blinked when he turned his head to look at you, that intense look only slightly hidden under the bright concern in his eyes.

“With you laying down I will stand, likely the height of my head.” That would give a few feet of a drop for the wax to cool before it hit your skin and help prevent the risk of being burned, and then you noticed that the grooves in the candle seemed super intentional. Javi noticed you were looking at the candle and brought it over, letting you see that the wax wasn’t gathering at the top because the candle itself was shaped and carved to make the wax actually drip down through the shaft before it would spill out or down the sides.

Javi smiled when you captured his cheeks and kissed him, the sheer caution and concern was something you could never thank him enough for, and then he brought the oil and aloe closer too while the rest of the candles stayed on the table. The one he’d lit was random colors of wax like a tie-dye, it looked beautiful, and he urged you to lay on your stomach after getting a cloth to lay under you so that wax didn’t get on the bed.

You shivered when the first dribble of oil touched your skin, room temperature thankfully, and propped your head on your arms as Javi began rubbing the oil into your skin; across your shoulders and down the curve of your back, fanning out to cover each ass cheek almost reverently in how slow he was stroking, and down your thighs all the way to your knees.

“Spread your legs for me.” His hands coated your inner thighs carefully, making you whine when he pressed against your folds with the outside of his hands in what was definitely a tease, and then he was stepping back to wipe and clean his hands of excess oil.

“Are you ready, bebita?” You reached one arm out to take his hand, seeing it shaking a little, and turned your head so you could see him.

“Remember, you can tap out too.” He nodded and you just watched him before Javi gently tipped the candle with a soft warning, the first touch of heat on your skin was a curious sensation, and you did tense up but the slight pain was nearly unnoticeable. It was almost like being splashed with water from a hot tub. Javi waited for a second, clearly gauging your response, and then breathed softly through his nose before you felt the long dribble of wax that started between your shoulder blades and slid down your back and sides.

This time the stream of liquid heat did make you exhale and shudder, you felt Javi’s inhale as he waited, but the chills that went down your arms weren’t because it hurt in a bad way. When you met his gaze over your shoulder you couldn’t help but pout, loving and hating how careful he was being with you, and you kind of wanted to push him a little more. Not in a malicious way but to give him a chance to let go, you could see that he liked something about this by how hard he was already.

But since this was still so new to both of you it could end up bad if you pushed him, he might pull away worse if you weren’t careful.

“I’m okay, more?”

His eyes traced down your back before returning to your face, nodding as he tipped the candle again, and this time you felt him craw a careful circle of wax dots closer to your lower back; the sensation made you whine, it was almost like having someone very lightly run their heated fingertips along your skin.

This time he didn’t check in, which was fine, he trailed that candle down over your thighs carefully closer to the outside, and the more sensitive skin proved to be a much more stimulating sensation for you; it made you moan softly, the slight sting of pain that was gone in an instant, and Javi began to get braver.

A strip of wax traced across your thighs closer to your knees.

Moderate length line curving down you’re the curve of your ass and gliding toward the front of your hip, and the bravest yet was the concentrated dots just shy of your inner thigh. Dribbling along the skin after it began to build up layers and making you keen from the sensation.

While you knew you didn’t mind some level of pain in the bedroom you hadn’t expected to get so turned on by this, the fact that Javi was in total control of what happened next and that he was indulging your request at all reminding you just how much he wanted to take care of you, and you nearly jumped out of your skin when you felt him trace your folds before he was humming like he didn’t notice just how wet his fingers were getting.

“Tell me, Bebita, what about this has you so turned on?”

He continued to play with the slick between your legs, making you shiver at the sensation, and your heart jumped in your chest when he barely touched your clit and you clenched around nothing; already so close.

“S’ the lack of control, that you want to take care of what I want, but it’s also the right amount of pain.”

“You do like it to hurt.”

That wasn’t a question but you answered like it was anyway.

“Yes sir.”

He hummed again and you didn’t know what he was thinking, you whined louder when he pulled his hand away, but another dribble of wax silenced you; it was hotter, dropped from a lower distance no doubt, and when your back bowed in response with a breathy exhale Javi chuckled darkly.

“I’m going to take my time with this and then I’m going to devour you, bebita.”

“Do your worse.”

You couldn’t help the challenge, the fight, in wanting him to let go more. You loved that he was trusting you with so much more of his darker side. You wanted it all.

“Oh, my beautiful girl, don’t start to get bratty with me now.”

“Who’s going to stop me, you?”

You looked up at him and felt your face warm and your muscles lock down, his expression was so smug but also so… well it screamed brat tamer vibes.

“Someone’s being a bad girl, let’s see if we can’t turn that attitude around.”

All Fics Taglist: @hardc0rehaylz @wordsnwhiskey @pagannightwitch @radiowallet @musings-of-a-rose @amneris21 @trickstersp8 @practicalghost @rominaszh @alwaysdjarin @alexxavicry @all-the-way-down-here

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Alt Taglist: @imtryingmybeskar @fan-of-encouragement @grogusmum @sizzlingcloudmentality @deadhumourist @prostitute-robot-from-the-future

Kinktober Only: @nicolethered @katareyoudrilling

#kinktober 2022 #javi g x f!reader #javi gutierrez x f!reader #cw smut lite #cw wax play #chaoticwrites #the HCK is strong this chapter

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