#its all about the grind and the gains bro

[sofiaruelle]

You look sporty today! 🏀🏈⚽️

#doodle #stardew valley #stardew valley alex #stardew alex #he’s such a gym bro #but like the healthy positive himbo kind yknow #its all about the grind and the gains bro #but make it healthy at your own pace #i lowkey feel like he’ll never go pro mostly because he’s had an knee injury #but he goes back to college after a gap year in junior year but for like sports medicine #and maybe he part times as a gym teacher/works as a zumba intructor for the ladies of pelican town #either way sports medicine and he adopts like a super healthy mindset and would be able to help shane and his recovery process

[princessbrunette]

Stepbro!Rafe is too hot to handle, idk out of all characters the trope suits him so well 🥵 I love your stepbro!Rafe headcanons because you just know he’d be so possessive and never let another man touch his step sis. Him with a sweet naive step sis would be so hot!! Like he makes it his business to make sure every man in Kildare is afraid of him so they never even dare approach his step sis. That leaves her never having gone on a date or even having been kissed so she innocently and naively pours her heart out to Rafe on night all vulnerable and lonely and sad thinking there’s something wrong and off putting about her because no boy has ever asked her out when all her friends are gossiping about their active dating lives and sharing intimate details of their sex lives whilst she’s feeling left out because she’s never had close to any of that. Little does she know Rafe threatens every man he sees even talking to her. So she innocently asks him stuff like “I wonder what I feels like to get eaten out” and he coaxes her into letting him do that to her because he’s just being a “helpful step brother”. And another night she’s curious about how to give a guy a blow job because she wants to be prepare for when she gets a boyfriend (foolishly thinking Rafe would let any man but himself touch her in that way) so he’s more than happy to teach her how to. And begins frequent night where she innocently wonders into room asking him to each her how to do things she hears her friends doing with their boyfriend like “Rafe, what does doggystyle mean 🥺?”, “Rafe did you know people have anal sex 😯?! Where men put their penises in inside the woman’s butt! I wonder what that would feel like???” Hmmmff step bro Rafe is a fave trope 🥵!!!

i love this a lot because there’d be so much manipulation involved and… idk when it’s rafe its hot 🙏🏼

“girls really… do this kind of thing? i don’t know rafe, it seems a little gross to m—”

“look, i just don’t want you to embarrass yourself, a’ight? you’re my little step sister… wouldn’t wanna have to beat some guys ass because he got mad you don’t know how to suck him off properly… right? y’know i’m just tryna take care of you.”

also, bonus points if reader starts to catch on. i mean you’re not an idiot, after the first few ‘lessons’, seeing how much rafes enjoying himself you start to realise it’s mostly for selfish gain. but… you turns a blind eye to it because as much as you know it’s wrong, you like it too. he makes you feel good.

you’ll come slinking into his room with your most innocent face on, pawing at him, so helpless and sweet, talking about “apparently… you can grind on a guys thigh and it feels really good… heard the girls talkin’ about it and i felt left out ‘cos i’ve never done it before…” your hand playing with the north face fleece he wore. he stares down at you knowingly, fighting away the urge to smirk.

“y’think i’m dumb or something?” he rasps after a minute and your eyes widen.

“huh?”

“you come in here… actin’ all sweet cos’ you wanna get felt up by your big bro again, ain’t that right?” the way he words it makes you recoil, shoulders practically at your ears as you rapidly shake your head. “yeah… yeah you want a freebie. i know your game.” he begins to back you against the wall, and you could cry from the humiliation.

“s’not true rafe, i just wanna learn!”

“bullshit. what happened to you, hm? i think… i think i’ve turned you into a slut.” he mocks concern, tilting his head with wide worried eyes. your bottom lip juts out just like he thought it would, shaking your head still in denial.

“no…” it comes out small.

“uh-huh. and you know what happens to sluts?” he closes in. “gotta be punished. i can’t have you turnin’ out like that… running around town trying to get yours. i gotta nip it in the bud, yeah? m’a proactive person, you know that— a good big brother, i gotta teach you a lesson.” he’s dragging you over to the bed, manhandling you to bend over his lap.

you must’ve caught him on the wrong night.

#one thing about rafe he’s gonna tell u he’s proactive #tw stepcest #stepbro!rafe

[raymondonnl628]

Why You Should Spend More Time Thinking About Fresh Bros

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[bnha-dumpster]

Alright I’m back mate and boy do I have something. So imagine all of them (boys of the bakusquad) wanting Y/n, and they’ve talked about this together to try and come up with a way to get closer to him. So they decide that in order to get closer to him, one of them (you can decide) has to get into a relationship with Y/n’s sister. (Sister could be an OC, a character, or just a sister insert) This way, all of them can get into his their house without it being suspicious. Y/n’s sister doesn’t really think much about it, but the four of them always tease and borderline flirt with Y/n while they’re there. Don’t think they didn’t notice you blushing. So one day when his sister and parents aren’t home, they all decide to visit, knowing that Y/n is home from college that weekend, and all alone. Deciding that this will be the day that they bring him to bed, each have their turn with him, and milk him till he just can’t come anymore. (Dub-con? Y/n clearly wants it- who wouldn’t lol?)

Just realized that if you dislike some female character in the show, you could just use them as the sister lol. Also sorry my request is kinda long for this, but thanks if you decide to do it! I appreciate it.

oh i love this request so much! may have had a bit too much fun with this and got carried away

pairing: bakusquad (- mina) x male reader content tags: group sex, milking, double penetration, face fucking, male squirting, creampie, sex toys, praise, light degradation, electro stim play word count: 2.5k

The day Sero started dating your younger sister was a weird one. You’d never felt too protective over her considering she’s only a year younger and a hero, but seeing her hold hands with your classmate lit something inside you. It’s why whenever Sero wanted to come over, you’d beg for the rest of the Bakusquad to join him. You thought it was a way to protect your sister. You thought you were doing a good job. Yeah, you thought a lot of things.

Then they started teasing you- even Sero. The four of them love to tease you and act flirtatious with you. Even with Maiko in the room, they all find a way to tease you and not gain any suspicion from her. Their hands wander places where they shouldn't and you can't do anything but give them a stern look as you swat their hands away, blush apparent on your face. You don't know what they're doing but it gives extremely mixed messages.

But you think you finally understand when they show up unannounced, all four grinning as they push their way into your house.

“How long are we gonna let Bakugou eat his face?” 

As soon as the four of them got you in your room, Bakugou pounced on you. He’s holding you by your hips, grinding himself against you. His mouth is smashed against yours, teeth clashing as he devours your mouth with his tongue. You don’t have much of a choice but to go along with it. It’s not like you hate this. Rather, you’re enjoying this way too much. 

“We can get everything set up while they’re eating each other’s faces.” Sero shrugs as he pulls out the contents of the bag. Lube, towels, toys, said toys being Kaminari’s suggestion. “Why’d you bring a cock ring? I thought the goal was to milk him?” 

“It’s for us! Gotta last longer for him, right?” 

“For once you make a good point.” Kirishima pulls Bakugou away from you by his hair, earning a growl. “Stop hogging him, bro.”

“Fine.” 

Kirishima helps you towards the bed, sitting you down on the edge of it. He tugs your sweatpants down, slowly taking your clothes off. You definitely need a breather and the redhead is more than happy to give you one. He does all of the work for you, lifting your legs and body with his strength so all you have to do is sit there. You watch him with half-lidded eyes as you catch your breath. Besides your heavy breathing, you can hear the other three taking their own clothes off. The rustling of their clothes falling to the floor is as quiet as it’ll be from now on.

Your cock springs out of your boxers, almost completely hard from Bakugou’s actions. It’s a little embarrassing how quickly you’re turned on. They just think it’s cute.

“Denki, didn’t you say you wanted to taste him?” 

The blond in question nods eagerly and nearly trips over himself to replace Kirishima’s spot between your legs. He’s already excited, cock hard and slapping against his stomach. Does the thought of giving you head really turn him on that much? 

Apparently it does. He lets out a small moan when he grabs your cock and pumps it a few times. You can see his eyes dilate and his mouth is open slightly as he admires it. And when he finally takes it in his mouth, it feels like he’s practiced for this. 

“Fuck, Denki-” His mouth is warm and inviting, his tongue doing its best to wrap around the shaft as he bobs his head. You weave your hands into his hair and help him take you deeper. You’re not huge, but you do know it might take a bit to take all of you. 

Then he moans. The vibrations go straight to your core and your shove his face flush against your hips. He gags around your cock but doesn’t try to pull away. Instead, he looks up at you with eyes that scream for you to keep going. You’re not the type of person to refuse someone, so you give him exactly what he wants. 

You take hold of his head and move it up and down, using his mouth as a toy. Kaminari moans each time your cock hits the back of his throat. The two of you are caught up in the moment to the point where you don’t notice Sero coming up behind you. The hero begins to kiss along your neck, hands going to grope at your chest. Finger pinch your nipples harshly and you let out a surprised moan. 

“Hanta, what are you doing?” 

“Your chest looked a little lonely.” He hums and continues to play with your nipples, pinching and flicking them as he kisses your neck. You’re not sure what Kirishima and Bakugou are doing but you can’t focus on it, not when you’re reaching your end. Your hips stutter and you press Kaminari’s face against you as much as you can. The blond’s eyes roll back into his head as you cum, shooting ropes down his throat. You can feel him swallow it all and the sensation makes you groan. 

Kaminari removes himself from your cock with a pop, face red. Tears and drool cover his face and it’s oddly endearing. 

“Alright, Kirishima?” Sero grabs you by your hips and pulls you with him further onto the bed. He rests against the headboard and continues to tease your nipples. Kirishima crawls in front of you, a bottle of lube in hand. You know what he’s going to do but it doesn’t make you any less anxious.

“Hey, hey, it’ll be okay.” The redhead rubs comforting circles into your inner thigh, smiling at you. You watch him pour some lube onto his fingers and circle your hole gently. He watches your face as he begins to push one finger in. There’s a moment of surprise when it goes in without much protest, you looking to the side to avoid his stare. You’re thankful that he doesn’t say anything. Rather, he just pushes another finger inside you.

It takes a few tries before he manages to find that soft spot inside you. You let out a whimper and your hips move away. Bakugou is more than happy to sit on your stomach, keeping you in place. 

The blond takes this chance to devour your mouth once more. This time you moan and kiss back with as much need as he does. His erection grinds against your stomach as you kiss. You reach down to pump his cock a few times, enjoying the feeling of how hot and heavy it is in your hand. Bakugou swats your hand away and glares at you, pulling back.

Kirishima is eager to fuck you. He pulls his fingers out after barely prepping you and slathers his own cock with lube. You’re sure he doesn’t mean to, but he sheathes himself inside you a little too quickly. A small yelp leaves you and three sets of eyes land on the redhead. The three heroes stare at him for a moment before turning their eyes back to you. 

“Sorry he’s being so rough...” Sero leaves open mouthed kisses along your neck and shoulders as he soothes you, “We’ve just wanted to fuck you for so long.” 

Bakugou moves off of you, sitting beside you as Kirishima begins to move slowly. Kaminari has settled on the other side of you, one hand cupping your balls and the other teasing the head of your limp cock. 

A small shock goes through you. It’s from Kaminari’s hand, the blond stimulating you back to hardness with his hands. The shocks are sent through both your cock and balls. You squirm and whimper, the head of your cock twitching pathetically with each shock. Even if it’s not hard, it still weeps precum all over your abdomen. 

Then the redhead’s pace gets rough. His balls slap against your ass with each thrust, making sure your hips meet before he pulls out. Your overwhelmed by the stretch of your walls and how Kirishima seems to be rubbing against all the right spots inside you. There’s even a small bump that appears whenever he’s fully inside you. It pokes out of your stomach and the other three marvel at how hot it is. 

Kaminari’s shocks finally bring your cock back to life. It stands at attention, tip swollen and red. He lets go of it and watches it slap against your stomach, precum smearing over the skin. 

“Relax for us, Y/N.” 

You don’t know what Kaminari means until you see something in Bakugou’s hand. It’s metal and long but you don’t exactly know what it is. At least, until the blond begins to circle it around the head of your dick. There’s no warning for your when he prods the slit of your cock with it, slowly inching the rod inside you. It’s a strange feeling but it doesn’t hurt. For a moment you think it’s not so bad, but then Bakugou presses a button.

“Wha-” The rod is vibrating. Your back arches off the bed and tenses, a confused moan escaping you. Sero leans down to capture your lips, kissing you gently compared to Bakugou. Both blond heroes are tending to your nipples, each one has a nipple in their mouth. Bakugou’s hand is wrapping around the base of your cock, pumping it gently. Kaminari is once again fondling your sack, giving it small squeezes and shocks to stimulate you. 

And you cum, you cum hard. Strangled moans are muffled by Sero’s lips. Your cock twitches and cum leaks out past the rod, dribbling down your shaft slowly. It’s a strangle climax. It doesn’t come out like it usually does and everywhere is being touched. You don’t get to come down from your high either- it just keeps going. They don’t stop what they’re doing, the only thing changing being the way Kirishima’s thrusts grow erratic. 

He releases inside you and you can vaguely feel warmth filling you. It feels empty when he pulls out, your hole clenching around nothing. Kirishima takes a moment to spread your ass to watch his cum leak out a little. 

“Who’s next?” 

Sero releases your lips and removes himself from behind you, letting Kirishima take his place. He situates between your legs and ruts his cock against your ass. He can feel your hole clenching each time he brushes the head of his cock against it. Your body is so needy and he can’t possibly refuse you. 

He’s longer than the redhead, that’s for sure. Not as thick, but definitely longer. Sero reaches deeper and touches places you didn’t think could be touched. His pace is slow, watching the way your hole so eagerly swallows his cock. You’re clenching and trembling so much from the overstimulation, the vibrating rod still abusing your limp cock. 

“Good boy, good boy, Y/N.” Kirishima praises you as tears fall from your eyes. It blurs between pain and pleasure and you don’t know how to process it. You cling to his words, holding into his arms as he shushes you. “We’re so proud of you. You’re so good for us, so good. We’ll take such good care of you.” 

You’re mouth is left unattended. Moans and sobs fill the room, a line of drool coming out of your mouth. You can’t form any words either. They’re enamored by it, staring at how you’ve come undone just after two times. A thin layer of sweat covers your body and it makes you look shiny, you practically glow.

“Fuck, so tight- you’re so tight, Y/N.” Sero’s words barely register. Something is building in your core as Kaminari begins to send larger shocks through your sack. They make your cock twitch more than it already is. The constant vibrations inside your urethra are making your cock vibrate and twitch even when it’s soft. 

“Kaminari.” The hero fucking you catches the blond’s attention. He puts a finger in your ass and tugs it open a little more. “Think you can fit?” 

The absence of Kaminari’s lips and hands don’t register right away, especially when Bakugou begins to pinch your abandoned nipple. Your haze is lifted somewhat when you feel your ass stretching just a bit more. The blond is slowly pushing his cock inside, joining Sero in your tight hole. The stretch alone forces another orgasm through you without even getting hard, more cum leaking past the rod. 

As Kaminari sheathes himself completely, the other hero stills. They don’t move for a bit, they let you get used to having both of them inside you. 

“What a good boy. You’re taking them so well, taking them just like we know you could.” Kirishima’s words soothe you. “They’re going to make you feel even better.” 

Then they start moving. The two of them alternate thrusts, moving slowly and carefully. Your belly bulges from the stretch and Kirishima reaches down to rub the bulge, groaning at the feeling. His cock twitches with arousal behind you. But he’s had his turn and you need comfort. 

Your prostate is being pressed against constantly. It’s a never-ending stimulation of your most sensitive spots. You hold onto Kirishima as tightly as you can as a rush of warmth goes through you. The feeling isn’t the same as an orgasm and you lift your head up for a brief second to see clear fluid gush out of your cock past the rod. 

“Oh my god, he just squirted.” Kaminari stares down at you in wonder as he fucks you, grabbing your cock and pumping it. Your stomach is covered in whatever you let out. Bakugou moves himself down to lick at it, curious to its taste. It’s not pleasant, but not unpleasant either. 

And the blond is hard, impatient for his turn. As much as he wants to fuck you properly, he needs release. He turns your head to face him, his cock gently slapping against your face. Your mouth is already open and he begins to slide it inside. The moans and sobs you make vibrate around his cock, making him feel amazing. It’s difficult to keep himself from fucking your face like you did with Kaminari but he knows that a slow pace is better. 

The head of his cock presses against the back of your throat and you gag before he pushes deeper. Your face meets his pelvis for a few seconds before he pulls out. Bakugou is looking down at you as your eyes flutter closed, mouth stretched to fit his cock inside of it. You look so cute, so eager to please him. Your head must be a mess right now. 

“Damn, I’m cumming already. This is amazing.” 

The blond fucking your ass stills inside you, cum filling you. Sero is still going, his pace slow and deep. He’s nowhere near done and has more stamina than the other three. Taking it slow and thoroughly enjoying the warmth of your ass is how he wants to go. 

More cum leaks out of your cock and finally, the rod is pulled out. Cum practically pours out once the rod is fully out. It pools on your stomach and mixes with the fluids from your squirting. 

Your head is a mess, a haze of pleasure. You don’t know what’s going on besides how good you feel from all of them. You don’t care anymore. They can do whatever they want with you. 

#bakusquad x reader #bakusquad x male reader #bnha x male reader #bnha x reader #bnha x reader smut

[imagines-mha]

✩ haikyuu x how they are in the morning ✩

Daichi- acts like mornings dont affect him but they do. They really really fuckin do. This poor man is the king of masking his annoyance at everyone until he gets his coffee

Suga- actually a morning person! He doesn’t complain and just keeps his usual composure, says good morning to everyone and does his best to keep the spirits high hes an angel

Asahi- the only time this man will be outwardly rude is before 11am im so sorry. He looks so hot in the morning tho like his hair is down and he has more stubble OOF. will tell you to go away and leave him alone if you open the curtains and let the sunlight in, but he’ll never stop apologising the second he fully wakes up

Noya- WAKEY WAKEY EGGS AND BAKEY. He’s annoying in the morning and he fucking owns it. Will open the curtains and stand on your bed with all the energy in the world. Has definitely led to him getting punched multiple times

Tanaka- not really all there in the morning but he tries his best. Once he’s out of bed hes his usual self but GOD does he complain about EVERYTHING

Ennoshita- usually the one calling the others to wake tf up. He definitely gets 10 hours of sleep every night and wakes up to read and have his breakfast before his day starts. Never late to anything. Nerd

Tsukishima- scrolls on his phone for an hour before dragging himself out of bed. If bitter had a face. Dont fuck with him in the morning because he WILL bring up ur deeply rooted trauma

Yamaguchi- he has the CUTEST yawns in the mornings. Eats his breakfast while half asleep hes so fucking cute. Doesnt complain, but also can't hold a conversation to save his life so dont even try

Kuroo- pretends to be a morning person to annoy his friends. Opens the curtains and CLAPS in their face to wake them up. Like a dad but worse.

Kenma- no. nope. Takes 5 alarms to get him awake and then an entire hour before he even attempts to get out of bed he'd rather die

Lev- doesnt get up unless he wants to. Lev works on a circadian rhythm of his own. If he wants to get up at 7am one day and 3pm the next then so be it

Bokuto- complains the entire way through the morning like a child getting ready for school. Probably falls asleep on 5 different things before gaining consciousness, but can be easily persuaded to come to life if something he likes is brought up

Akaashi- dont even think of communicating with him unless hes had his morning coffee he just wont answer

Oikawa- tries his best to keep positive in the morning to keep that reputation up, but its probably just cus hes living on 3 hours of sleep lmao

Makki- can be persuaded out of bed with baked goods and/or the sunrise. If neither of these things are present, good fucking luck bro

Iwa- gets up every morning at 5am cus hes so dedicated to that grind 😎

Kunimi- mornings and kunimi dont agree. Kinda like kenma in the sense he just wont do them if he doesnt want to. has to be rightfully DRAGGED from bed

Ushijima- early bird like Iwa. Enjoys having his tea and watching the sunrise before going on his morning run

Tendou- does he even sleep? Noone has seen him get out of bed? Hes always somehow just? there?

Semi- grumpy as fuck in the mornings. He has horrible bedhead, he thinks the world is out to get him, he is ready to fight anyone who does so much as make eye contact with him. Pouty as hell

Goshiki- chronic alarm misser. He will set 4 alarms one after the other and sleep through every single one. He is SUCH a cute sleeper though sdcvbnhtres

Atsumu- tells everyone he gets up at 6am to go running. Shocked and appalled when his team finds him sleeping on the floor of the inarizaki gym closet. What the fuck atsumu

Osamu- dont wake him up. He’ll never forgive you. He’ll get up when HE wants to get up.

Kita- the sunrise is the only thing keeping this man going. Usually calls his grandmother in the mornings awh. Makes his team snacks and drinks for the day

Aone- good morning he is an angel. He will literally thank you for waking him up. He isnt different than he usually is, but yawns a lot more. Very polite

Futakuchi- ‼️ walking hellfire do not come into contact ‼️Kamasaki makes it his personal goal to piss futakuchi off every single morning and it works so easily. He will beat you up

Koganegawa- RAY OF SUNSHINE IN THE MORNING. Also makes futakuchi’s life hell but his energy is unmatched i love him

Terushima- he is just a Mess. Will not hesitate to come to school with bedhead and then fall asleep on the desks. Talks like every syllable pains him. Drama queen™️

#oikawa tooru #sugawara kōshi #atsumu miya #ushijima wakatoshi #akaashi keiji #bokuto koutarou #kuroo tetsurou #kenma kozume #hq #haikyuu!! #hq x reader #tendou satori #semi eita #iwaizumi hajime #kita shinsuke #osamu miya #terushima yuuji #daichi sawamura #tsukishima kei

[retrievablememories]

serenade | mark (m)

title: serenade pairing: mark x reader genre: fluff, smut summary: you and mark spend your first night together at the dorm, and you try to think of a way to say what you really want. word count: 2.5k warnings: fingering, PIV sex, riding, handjob a/n: i still kinda see mark as like a little bro or something so it felt weird to write this. lmao. in other news, who do i have to pay to get a full cover of “get you” from him?

“We better not get caught.”

You say this as you and Mark head up to their dorm floor, his hand in yours the entire time like he’s unwilling to let you go.

“We won’t, promise. The manager went to go visit family so we have the room all to ourselves this weekend.” He winks at this, and you give him a look in return.

You plunk yourself onto his bed once you get to the room he shares with the manager, your overnight bag slipping out of your hand. You only mean to lie there for a few seconds, but you’re taken in with the smell of Mark on the sheets and comforter, and you try to inconspicuously bury your nose in them. Of course, he notices anyway.

“Do you like the smell of me that much?” Mark comes over to you and tugs the comforter around you so you’re rolled up in it like a burrito, and you giggle uncontrollably as he does so. “Shh! Don’t wake the whole dorm up.” Mark puts a finger to his lips and looks around suspiciously as if there could be someone in the room already eavesdropping on your conversation, and you roll your eyes. 

“Hello, Mark, you’re the one who said the coast was clear.” You try to unravel yourself, but he’s gotten you pretty wrapped up in the small amount of time you were laughing, and now you can’t get free. “Uh, what the hell!”

“I know, but if the guys find out they aren’t going to let me hear the end of it…” Mark says, coming to rescue and pulling you from the mesh of blankets. You slide off the bed, trying to fix your hair, but it doesn’t matter much anyway; you’re going to be dressing for bed soon.

You go to the bathroom to do just that, changing into your sleeping clothes. You and Mark have been dating for a little while but haven’t done much yet, so you’re still unsure about changing in front of him or how he’d react—though you’re hoping to change that tonight. Maybe if you’re lucky.

When you enter the room again, you see that Mark has done the same and is lying on the bed in his pajamas. He’s looking at something on his phone, but his eyes drift back to you when you walk in and climb on the bed beside him, tucking your head into his arm.

“Are you gonna fall asleep so soon?” Mark laughs, throwing his leg over yours. “We still have the whole night ahead of us.”

“I’m just resting,” you say, though you also know you probably will fall asleep soon if you stay like this long enough. “But if you don’t want me to fall asleep, we should probably do something. Like watch a movie.”

“What do you want to watch?” Mark asks, sitting up straighter at the suggestion. He reaches for his laptop nearby.

“Doesn’t really matter,” you say absently. “Maybe we could try something we haven’t seen before.”

You and Mark go back and forth about which movies to watch until you finally settle on an action film that looks interesting to you both. It’s better than you expected it to be, so you decide to watch the sequel when the first one ends. Halfway through the second film, though, you start losing your focus. Much to your annoyance, it leaves a lot to be desired compared to the first.

Your attention starts drifting more towards the boy beside you. Your eyes follow the sharp lines of his jawline and cheekbones, and you think about bringing up the subject that’s been burning in your mind. Mark must feel your eyes piercing the side of his face, because he soon turns to you with an amused smile on his lips.

“What’s wrong? You’re not watching the movie. Are you bored with it?”

“Ha. A little…” you admit, distractedly playing with the fabric of his shirt sleeve. Mark pauses the movie and sets the laptop aside. He grasps the hand that’s tugging at his sleeve and plays with your fingers, clasping them between his own.

“What do you wanna do now, then?” Should you ask him now? How do you even say it? Let’s fuck? I’d like to have sex? You almost roll your eyes at the thought of saying either of those lines. You squeeze his fingers between yours and open your mouth to speak, but you become stuck on what to say.

You chicken out at the last second. “C-can you sing something for me?” you ask instead, nervously wetting your lips.

Mark blushes a little and laughs. “You wanna hear me sing?”

“Anything! It doesn’t matter what.”

He nods, then pulls away from you to grab his guitar and take it out of its case. He resettles himself on the bed in front of you, crossing his legs. You push the sheets away from you and sit like an excited puppy, waiting to see what he’ll play. He strums thoughtfully, warming himself up and wondering what song he should sing for you. 

Suddenly, his eyes widen a bit and he smiles slyly, like he’s just unearthed the answer to a mysterious case. “Oh, I got it.” Mark plucks at the strings on his guitar, his voice flowing out softly.

Through drought and famine, natural disasters My baby has been around for me Kingdoms have fallen, angels be callin' None of that could ever make me leave

Every time I look into your eyes, I see it You're all I need Every time I get a bit inside, I feel it

Ooh, who would've thought I'd get you? Ooh, who would've thought I'd get you?

And when we're making love, uh Your cries, they can be heard from far and wide It's only the two of us Everything I need between those thighs...

He continues singing the rest of the song as you look on, a grin on your lips and excitement buzzing in your body. He has to make an effort not to look at you as he sings, because your grin makes him want to giggle every time.

Mark smiles bashfully when he stops strumming, and he’s about to say something when you cup his cheeks and kiss him on the lips. He’s surprised for a moment before he responds, kissing you back as tenderly as you’re doing to him.

When you separate from each other, you’re still holding his face, studying him carefully. Mark swallows nervously, though his eyes shine with a mischievous light. “Did it work?” he asks, his voice low.

You look at him questioningly. “Did what work?”

“Have I seduced you with my voice?” He seems embarrassed about his own line, but he says it anyway with all the confidence he can muster.

“You’re embarrassing,” you answer, trying to hold back your laughter. “But if you really want to know, we can find out.”

Mark sets his guitar to the side, and you kiss again, his tongue nudging carefully against yours. He draws you closer, though neither one of you is really taking the lead yet—instead choosing to move at an even pace and test the waters of this whole thing.

It’s not your first time—or his—but it is your first time with Mark, and you don’t know quite what to expect. You let yourself relax against him as his hands slide across your sides, curving around to your back to bring you closer still. He soon ends up lying you back on the bed, settling himself against you and feeling your body heat reaching out to him through your clothes.

You think you could kiss him like this forever, but you can feel him getting hard against your hip, and your own body is answering in kind, wanting to explore further. “Take your shirt off,” you say quietly against his lips. He pauses—but only for a second—before pulling back and stripping his shirt off.

You run your hands across his chest and stomach after they’re revealed to you, and he asks you just as tentatively, “Can I…take this off?” while holding the hem of your shirt. You nod yes, and he does so. He’s quick to nuzzle into your breasts, which makes you laugh tenderly and pet his head. He lavishes them with warm kisses, sucking the nipples past his lips and making you moan softly. His hair is soft as you run your fingers through it.

He continues kissing his way down your chest and stomach, and you feel anxious and eager all in one. When he reaches the hemline of your pajamas, he asks if he can take these off, too, and you reply with a yes. He slides your bottoms down, and you feel a little self-conscious about it but try not to let that get to you, wanting to enjoy the moment.

“How do you want this to be?” Mark asks this simple question as his fingers trace across your thighs, soft like a bird’s wings, and it makes your insides tremble. You’re not entirely sure how to respond, because Mark could fuck you in every way possible and you would likely enjoy every moment of it.

You answer by sitting up and climbing into his lap, feeling him hard under you.

“Please touch me,” you say this against his lips as you kiss him again, feeling the silky texture of his mouth caressing your own. One of his arms snakes around your waist to hold you in his lap, and you gently grip the other one, guiding his hand to the space between your bodies.

He touches you carefully at first, feeling you over your underwear and nudging his fingers against that small bundle of nerves that has you shifting on his lap. His touches grow a little firmer when he notices how you respond to him, and he gains the motivation to pull your panties to the side for better access.

Mark slips his fingers across your lower lips, noticing how wet you already are and then nudging them against your entrance. Tentatively, he pushes one inside, and you melt into him more, wanting more of him inside you.

“More, Mark,” you murmur into his neck, his pulse beating against your lips. He adds a second finger, stretching you out around him. You whimper into his skin as Mark thrusts his fingers into you, coaxing more pleasure from you. 

When you cum on Mark’s fingers, your orgasm arrives with a shuddering moan. Your eyes drift back a little as he keeps scissoring his fingers inside you, and instead of pulling away, you find yourself grinding into his hand again so you can chase a second climax. It doesn’t take long for another wave to rush over you, with Mark mouthing at your neck and collarbone as he feels you shake in his arms.

He eventually pulls his fingers out, which are slick with cum, and slides them into his mouth. He makes a satisfied sound at this, which turns into a groan as you pull his sweatpants down far enough to release his dick. It slaps against his stomach, leaving a smear of glistening precum behind on his skin.

“You should find a condom,” you say as you take his member in your hand, drawing your thumb over the sensitive spot just below the tip. This move makes more precum leak from him, running onto your thumb and wetting your fingers. Mark’s eyes flutter, and he tries to steady his breathing.

“You have to let me go, first,” he responds. You know that, but you want to have a bit more fun with him first, thumbing the slit of his cock and fondling his balls with your other hand. You haven’t really begun touching him yet, but he’s already taken apart by these actions, groaning as quietly as he can.

You play with him a little more, making him tremble against you as you stroke his cock, before finally letting him go and allowing him to get up. After he retrieves a condom and slips it on, you practically pull him back onto the bed, causing him to land on you. He holds himself up to keep his weight off you as he claims your lips again. You think he’s going to slide into you in this position, but with his lips at your ear, he says, ”I want you to ride me.”

Your body is burning hot with the idea of it, and you comply by nodding and placing yourself back in his lap, his member sliding against your sex.

Mark makes a sound between a moan and a whimper when you sink down onto him, snugly fitting his dick inside of you. His breaths are heavy as they hit against your skin, and his hands go to your hips, needing to take hold of something to keep himself grounded.

Mark thrusts up into you as you bounce on him, and your toes curl both with the pleasure of it and from the effort of not being too loud. “Mark, God…” You hold onto his back for stability as your bodies slide together more perfectly than you could’ve dreamed. His lips go back to worrying the skin of your neck as he pushes himself up into you, holding you tight enough against him to have your breasts pressed against his chest. His hand slides lower to grip your ass, and he moans openly at the feel of it in his palm.

Your hands slide easily across each other’s skin from the sweat; some of it drips down Mark’s collarbone and you lick it away. HIs dick twitches inside you in response to your actions, and you decide that you like teasing him this way, drawing your tongue against his body and making him shiver underneath you.

“Y/N…” Mark’s voice shakes as he groans into the side of your neck, and you know he’s likely already close. You bring your hand to where you’re joined together, wanting to bring yourself closer to orgasm, but Mark replaces your hand with his. His touches on your clit make you thrust yourself harder onto him, wanting to get as much of the sensation as you possibly can.

Mark spills into the condom soon after this, his thighs jerking beneath you, though he never stops pleasuring you the whole way through. The barely-concealed sounds of his moans and his fingers on the most sensitive part of your body is enough to have you following after him, leaving small imprints of your nails on his shoulders.

After you are both spent, Mark lies back on the bed and you cling to each other, your head resting on his chest. You’re wholly satisfied, waves of contentment enveloping you in their warm embrace. Mark remains seated inside of you, and you’re delightfully full from it.

“I should sing for you more often if this is what happens afterwards,” Mark comments, tapping his fingers against your back absentmindedly.

“...Do you always have to ruin the moment?” You shake your head, though on the inside, you definitely can’t deny that you’d do it again.

#mark smut #mark scenarios #mark imagines #mark fic #nct 127 smut #nct 127 scenarios #nct 127 fic #nct 127 imagines #nct smut #nct fic #nct imagines #nct scenarios #ambw #ambw scenarios #ambw fic #ambw imagines #ambw smut

[calikocat]

Discrimination Runs Rampant

So my little brother and his partner were visiting for a few minutes and things should be going good for them.  His partner just sold the house he used to own, so they have some money to cushion things for a while.  They’re having a commitment ceremony with hand fasting on Halloween (not an official ceremony, if they had that they’d lose more than they’d gain).  So things should be okay, not perfect, but okay.

Its not.

They both work a the local Dollar General store ( 816 S Main St, Morgantown, KY 42261 ).  The store is remodeling (no one knows why, it was fine the way it was) but it makes it impossible to find anything.  Not important though.  They’re hard working, a lot of their coworkers like them...but...there’s 2 Karen types who work with them who are causing them a lot of trouble.  Basically bullying them to try and get them to quit.

My brother is Trans, and his partner is non-binary.  These two Karens have issues with that.  Karen 1 has a child that’s non-binary with multiple suicide attempts and she blames the Community for it.  I don’t think she realizes its her own toxicity that’s probably part of the problem.  She also just gets off on kicking people when they’re down.  Ya’ll know the type.

They didn’t tell me much about Karen 2.  More’s the pity.

Now my brother also has some other problems, like a bulging disc and pinched nerves and if he’s at a register too long his legs can go numb.  Management doesn’t care.  Hell as long as their manager doesn’t see you steal something he doesn’t care.  Bro also has anxiety and all kinds of things going on with him, I’m surprised and proud he’s held the job (his first) as long as he has.  Especially since his abusive ex and the other biological parent of his child has come into the store more than once and almost sent him into a depressive spiral.  

At first no one cared that bro would take a breather in the office when the ex or any of his family came into the store.  Now he gets an eyeroll and indifference, doesn’t matter that he’s one of the most dependable employees.  What started this?  One of the Karens, decided that Bro shouldn't be wearing his headphones to listen to music while working.  Headphones that block out little things so he doesn’t get overwhelmed.  He keeps the music really low so he can communicate and not miss instructions.  Doesn’t matter, when Karens have an ax to grind they come at you no matter what.

So management told him he had 3 options.  1) Stop wearing the headphones.  2) Take 5 days off for the issues to clear up, which they’re permanent so that’s not gonna happen.  3) Quit.

For the first time in years Little Brother asked for my advice and I had none to give.  Other than filing complaints with corporate and firing back at the Karens on facebook.  Apparently at least one of the Karens had been messaging newer workers telling them not to talk to Bro and his Partner.  His partner said $10 an hour wasn’t worth the bullshit they’re going through.  He also said almost every job he’s worked has had the same bullshit going on in it.

So I don’t know if they’re going to quit today (Bro is tempted) or wait the 5 days and then quit.  I am at a loss.  We live in a small town in Kentucky and discrimination runs rampant.  Bro and his Partner stand out with their dyed hair and piercings but they’re good people.  Morgantown, Kentucky just kinda sucks I guess.  

I’m sorry for the post but I needed to rant.  I was just shocked that he came to me with this.  I don’t know if its just because we have more in common than we do with our little sister...or simply because I’m bisexual and part the Queer Community.  I just...needed to do this.

#discrimination #queer #bigotry #dollar general #rant

[danni-dollarsign]

A Critical Look at “Pokemon: Sword and Shield” From a Casual’s Perspective...

A/N: Hey! if you’re reading this, then thank you! I don’t know why, but I thought to myself, “Hey, wouldn’t it be cool to write a pointless essay about a Pokemon game?” And then I realized today was the 1YR anniversary of SWSH, so I figured I might as well just do it! So even though I’m late and probably nobody will really care to read all this nonsense, I wrote it! If you’re interested in all the analyses of PKMN SWSH, but aren’t too invested in the technical mumbo-jumbo used by the more hardcore fans, then maybe you’ll enjoy this. 

Also, it’s worth mentioning that I’m literally just some rando on the internet saying my opinion. None of this should really be taken SUPER seriously - it’s mainly designed to provoke thought rather than try to argue any specific idea. So if I say something that you don’t agree with, you got two options: 1) Draft a constructive comment or DM to me and we can discuss calmly like adults, 2) shake your idea and ignore this. There’s really no need to get heated up over a video game essay, of all things, so let’s not do that lol. 

But other than that, yeah! If you’re interested in more stuff like this from me (in-depth analyses of Pokemon games from the perspective of a low-key casual), lemme know! I’d love to chat with anyone about this awesome series.

So, without any further ado, let’s get into the essay (warning: it’s like ~8k words).

Introduction...

Welcome to the wonderful world of Pokemon! Love it or hate it, Pokemon has had a huge impact on popular culture in countless countries in a number of different ways, sparking memes, dreams, and happiness everywhere! It holds a very special place in my heart - Pokemon was a game that I got to share with my two older siblings, was one of the first fandoms I got into, and was a big reason as to why I grew to love creative writing so much after writing a couple fanfictions for the games. I’ve been playing Pokemon ever since my brother gave me a copy of Pokemon: Ruby and have been a devoted fan ever since. While I may not be super into the strategy and damn near mathematical aspects of gameplay, I’d like to consider myself a relatively knowledgeable fan with enough extra knowledge to give a look at one of these games from a casual, yet analytical view. So what game other than the newest title, Pokemon: Sword and Shield, with its release anniversary being today? In this casual online essay, I hope to describe all my thoughts of Sword and Shield (which I’ll shorten down to just “SWSH”) from the perspective of the everyday Pokemon fan.

General Gameplay...

Many top-title games of Nintendo are best known for their simplicity: in Super Mario Bros, you’re a mustachioed red guy jumping on monsters to try and save some random princess (who may or may not be in this castle); in The Legend of Zelda, you’re a green elf-looking guy slashing wildly at monsters with a sword given to you by some old guy in hopes of defeating some ultimate bad guy; and in Pokemon, you’re a child wandering around the region catching monsters who also accidentally saves the world before becoming the very best (like no-one ever was). And while the games themselves have grown from that initial stylistic simplicity, some have lost that creative in-depthness in favor of being playable for children. This is probably the biggest issue with the newer Pokemon games as of late.

Regardless, let’s look into the playability of SWSH.

It’s played like your regular Pokemon game; you’re a kid who journeys to become the Champion of Pokemon Battling with your friend, catching monsters known as “Pokemon” with pocket-sized balls dubbed “Pokeballs.” But I’m sure you’re all aware of that information, and are instead asking “Well, what’s the deeper plot?” Yeah, no, that’s it. You’re a kid catching Pokemon to become champion - oh, and you also accidentally save the world from a power-hungry businessman - but that’s neither here nor there.

Plot aside, the game is a bit barebones. It’s pretty linear gameplay (literally linear - the map of the Galar region is almost exactly a straight-line waltz from Postwick to Wyndon, which is a bit weird after dealing with the giant, sprawling maps of earlier generations) where you travel from place to place, beating gyms and catching ‘mons, before getting into a couple scuffles and becoming champion. For an RPG-styled game, it comes off as much too simplistic for older fans (I’d even reason that it’s too simplistic for younger players, as well). While I will say, I don’t exactly miss the days of hopelessly wandering around a pixel city, trying desperately to figure out how to move on to the next town because the answer to the puzzle is hidden in this giant area that my little peanut-brain couldn’t figure out at the time. But it is a bit demeaning to get “Hey, do you know where to go?” and  “Hey, follow me so you don’t get lost!” and “Oh, yeah, want another tutorial on how to easily catch Pokemon for the fourth time in a row?” every two seconds in a city where there’s only two places to check out.

But we can’t really discuss the gameplay of Pokemon without discussing the highlights of the region. Ever since the transition from 2D to 3D, Pokemon games have begun a trend of gimmicks - which I like to call “battle enhancers” - that they use to add uniqueness to their games. X&Y had Mega Evolution, Sun and Moon (and USUM) had Z-Moves, and now we have Dynamax! As we all know, battle enhancers are the strategy by which the player uses some extraterrestrial/magic stone to physically enhance one pokemon at a time for a certain period of time - in the case of Dynamax, the pokemon either grows in size or changes in form, gaining the ability to use special type-based attacks for a duration of three turns.

Honestly, I think it’s a pretty fun mechanic! Dynamax combines the good components of both Z-Moves and Mega Evolution - new forms, awesome moves, and a ticking clock. It adds a bit more strategy to the battle enhancer, where the player actually has to plan out who and when to Dynamax (though it’s really not that hard - most everyone will save it for their ace or the pokemon with the type advantage at the very end of the battle, because that’s what you do). But it’s fun and creative, making the battle a bit more exciting when you see your beloved ace become gargantuan on a field while the audience chants in excitement. Initially, I was skeptical of the battle enhancer, but once I threw myself into the game and really got into it, I felt it was fun and cool for the region. My feelings were further improved when I learned that Dynamax was inspired by the idea that the Nintendo Switch had the potential to be played on the TV as well as in a hand-held mode. The idea of turning pokemon “big” on a “big-screen” is really just so cute to me, really. Overall, it’s a fitting concept that is paired well to the game when everything is considered.

But when you look beyond the Dynamx experience to find more content in the game… there’s really not much else. Many people (including me) were ecstatic to hear about the free-roam areas in SWSH - the Wild Areas. Here, you can do all the fun grinding stuff that makes Pokemon games a bit more challenging and fun - hatching eggs, shiny-hunting, running around in circles, Dynamax dens, etc. But when looking at other Pokemon games, that’s really it. Let’s examine Pokemon: Sun and Moon, for example. This game really shines not just for its refreshing setting and compelling plot-line, but also for it’s amount of cute and quirky mini-games to be enjoyed for a good while outside of the main story. Pyukumuku Chucking, Mantine Surfing, the Alolan Photo Club, Ultra Warp Ride Travel - a good handful of mini-games that appeal to different kinds of people! All of these mini-games aren’t just tossed in there, either - they have a fitting place in the culture of the world and add to it, rather than just reiterating it. But when you look for mini-games in SWSH, you won’t really find anything aside from just battling. Sure, there’s the Battle Tower, as well, but I’ll personally say that I’ve never been a fan of the concept of post-game NPC battle buildings. For a hardcore player, they might be fun, but as a casual who can’t devote the time to really dig into understanding how IVs and competitive breeding works, they’re really no fun. Not to mention that nothing is really being added or developed with these battle buildings; they don’t add to lore, they don’t add to the culture of the region, you don’t even really gain anything from it - they’re pretty much just places to battle the occasional familiar face and that’s it. While I’m sure plenty of people adore these facilities in the games, I’ve never been too partial to them (I’d even prefer those god-forsaken casinos over another goddamn battle frontier).

But my biggest problem lies with the release of the DLC. While I’m not against the idea of DLC in general, both The Isle of Armour and The Crown Tundra left a bitter taste in my mouth when I started thinking about the issue of playability in SWSH.

I have always been more invested in the storyline of Pokemon games rather than the battling aspects. Usually I’ve always just gotten through the main story, then wandered around to find extra post-game content or mini-games, and then moved on to other games. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing - I just figure that the games have served their purpose for me upon completion, so rather than bore myself wandering around and doing things that don’t interest me, I go find another game that has more story-based content. That being said, I finished SWSH in less time than any other Pokemon game (I’d say somewhere around twenty hours, complete with me running around in circles like an idiot before rushing through content intermittently); as a result, I was no longer actively playing the game by the time the DLC was announced.

I’ll be honest and say that when I learned about all that was being offered in both sets of DLC, I felt a bit betrayed. I’m well-aware that Nintendo is a corporate business, and therefore will always prioritize financial gain over their fans’ lasting enjoyment of their titles - that’s just a fact of life. But I couldn’t help but feel like I paid a bunch of money for the bundled titles, only to play a game that hardly could be considered worthwhile or satisfying without added headcanons or fan-works, and then get told that extra content is available that may or may not add satisfaction to the experience that’s already long since ended for me. It was just a bit disappointing - and I’m not talking about the whole “Dexit” deal (I actually was on-board with the idea of having no real National Dex - I felt it added realism to the games and would force players to get to know the new Pokemon instead of just choosing the same team they always have since Gen 1 or whatever). My gripe is that I paid for a whole game, wasn’t satisfied with the result, only to hear later that the content that I might have been missing is available to pay for? That’s incredibly annoying. Not to mention that I was further disappointed after learning about the contents of the DLC, but we’ll get into that later.

Overall, the playability of SWSH is very basic, but can be enjoyable if you suspend belief and just enjoy it for what it is. When it comes to storyline, it’s not much of a game, and doesn’t sport much post-game content besides battling.

Immersion and Ambience...

Many of my friends can attest that I tend to like silly, fantastical concepts because I personally love to throw myself into the universe being offered to me. Pokemon is really no different - the games have always sported a very immersive experience for me thanks to the combination of interesting regions and evocative music (especially the music).

I think that most every Pokemon fan has a specific region, city, and music theme that sparks a plethora of nostalgic emotions to the point of near tears. For me, that’s always been Pokemon: Platinum, the Twinleaf Town theme - just staring into the rippling reflection of the pond by the player’s home, listening to that beautiful synth clarinet playing that nostalgic melody - it makes my heart beat with so much fervent passion that I hardly have the words to describe it! And I think that sense of nostalgia - regardless of whether or not those memories are old or new - has always been a strong-suit for Pokemon games. They always have the ability to inspire such deep emotions in me and other alike in a variety of ways, further adding to the ability to immerse us into the game’s world. And whether your favorite area is as simple as Twinleaf Town in the Sinnoh region, or as agonizing as Rock Tunnel in Kanto, it’s the spirit of certain cities/towns/routes that further add to the immersion of the world in question. But how well does SWSH hold those values? Spoiler Alert: Not very well.

SWSH, in the end, is still a Pokemon game - so the setting is very vibrant and colorful and everything that can hold my attention for long periods of time. But the problem arises when one begins to progress through the game and continuously forgets what’s where and where’s what. A lot of the map is painfully basic (again, due to the literal linear nature of the Galar region) and the cities themselves kind of lack their own real originality. There was an attempt at unique cities that’s become iconic of the Pokemon franchise, but it doesn’t really stick. I think most people would agree with me that the only real memorable areas in the main game were Slumbering Weald, Ballonlea, and Spikemuth, and each of these areas have their own set of problems that also make them a bit difficult to fully enjoy. At their core, most all Galarian cities have the same basic set-up: basic green plants (if plants are in that area at all), the same brick roads that lead either to the gym or to a route leading in/out of city to another city, and a giant gym/key building in the center of it all. And that’s really about it. No real interesting buildings except for gyms and Rose Tower (and I guess technically the hotels), no extraneous locations that aren’t directly related to the plot or to gimmicks - it’s very bare-bones and really can take you out of the experience.

In a hard contrast, I’ll give the example of Generation 1’s region set up - every city has its own personality that also matches the feel of the region as a whole. Every city is based on colors, and each city is themed after that, respectively (i.e. Vermillion City, the city of sunsets themed around the color orange, is home to the Pokemon Fan Club and the kick-ass electric-type gym that initiates feelings of excitement; Lavender Town, the noble town themed around the color purple, is home to the Pokemon Tower and spooky spirits that inspire feelings of somberness and reticence). Obviously, this isn’t very realistic, but the trick isn’t to replicate reality - it is to inspire reality. The Kanto region is incredibly creative, and therefore is easy to immerse oneself into the world because it’s become a world we are actively interested in. We know that it could never truly be real or plausible, but that hardly matters when we are so enthralled with the colors and set-up and feeling of the towns. We don’t really get much of that in Galar. It probably isn’t such a great idea for your final city - being Wyndon - to feel blank and lifeless when compared to minor cities in the region. And even when we find cities that hold that uniqueness we desire like in Spikemuth or Ballonlea, there’s really no other reason to be there longer than just beating the gym. It’s sad, really. Spikemuth is such a interesting, creative-looking town home to such cool characters, and yet there literally is only one path to get in and out of the town - the town isn’t even given small houses to investigate like literally every other city in the region. It’s a waste of potential! The fact that I can’t investigate such a promising setting that inspires me really takes me out of the world, reminding me that this is just a video game in which you move from Point A to Point B. It’s no longer a fantasy world for me to explore, but instead a line at the DMV to get my Drivers’ License. The only real good thing about this is that fanfiction writers get so much free-reign when it comes to writing about the city - the only thing we really learn about the city is that it’s underfunded and gloomy and that’s literally it. I would have really liked to see more inspired cities around the region where things outside of the main plot can be done, but hopefully this is just a problem we’ll see in this region.

Probably the most important aspect of immersion (in my opinion) is the music. With the potential to make or break a game for me, I hold a lot of expectations on the music found in video games (I’ve been classically trained in music since elementary school, and have always had a fondness for video game music). Pokemon music has always been some of the most inspiring pieces of art in my life - whether it be the kickass battle suite of Champion Cynthia, or the somber piano melody of Emma’s Theme, the music of Pokemon has always been the first thing I notice and analyze whenever playing the latest title. That all being said, I have quite a few notes to make in regards to the soundtrack of SWSH.

I’ll start with the pros, first. Generally, every main title has had its own feel when it comes to the soundtrack - DPP was jazzy and smooth, Sun and Moon was based on popular Hawaiian music meshed together with classic Pokemon synths, RSE was all about the horn section (trombones and french horns all the way!). SWSH, at the end of the day, isn’t much different. The region is inspired by the UK, so it’s no surprise to discover that the soundtrack was inspired by popular British Rock. As a result, a lot of themes went really hard, keeping a hint of individuality even when some battle themes hosted similar instruments. The biggest appeal of the soundtrack, I believe, was found in the little moments, namely the cheers of the gym battle themes. I think it’s safe to say that most people get super hyped when they hear those rhythmical chants coming to life whenever in the final leg of the battle, right when you begin to Dynamax. That’s amazingly exciting, never failing to suck me into that exact moment to gather the power of God and anime to defeat my opponent. While I wasn’t totally rocking out to every single song that came on, I was pretty satisfied with the music of SWSH, overall. It’s not too bad, and hosts a few bops that I still seek out to get my blood pumping.

But, as to be expected, there are plenty of cons when it comes to the soundtrack of SWSH. I could go over this for hours and hours, detailing complex definitions of music theory and basic song comprehension, but I’ll just make this nice and simple: it was really bland.

Note that I said “bland” and not “bad” - the music is fine in my opinion, I just wasn’t feeling the same feelings as I had in previous Pokemon titles. It all felt like Pokemon music, but not much else. It was like remembering hints of a memory long-lost, but you don’t really care about to dig deep into your mind for context. Towns had music, routes had music, pokemon and characters had battle themes, yada yada yada, nothing really to write home about. If I had to pick a song that honestly, truly invoked emotions beyond “Oh it’s battle time, now”, it would have to be the Battle Tower Theme, and that’s most likely because it was written by someone else entirely (Toby Fox, also known as the creator of Undertale and composer of super hard-hitting jams). And the worst part is that I never would have even been able to hear the Battle Tower theme because I hate battle buildings (which is more of a personal problem, I know, but still). Honestly, I would have preferred hearing that theme as compared to Champion Leon’s battle theme - I feel like his champion theme was very bland and lifeless, simply holding all the required elements of a Pokemon battle theme just because that’s what has to happen. It’s uninspired, faceless, and corporate, only to be completely foiled by the unique blast of energy found in the Battle Theme, which just screams “Prove that you’re the best!” over and over to me (also known as a big theme in the Pokemon games, especially in SWSH).

That’s not to say that every other theme in the game was terrible. I much enjoyed Marnie and Piers’ battle themes, but for a different reason. As we know, Piers and Marnie host a more “punk rock” style when compared to literally everyone else in-game, a trademark of Spikemuth citizens. With their occasionally cold and prickly (no pun intended) personalities, their themes go a bit harder into rock-land as compared to characters like Hop or Bede. There’s no conflict of style there - it’s “punk” with “rock”, loads of guitars and bass with a hint of synths to keep that Pokemon flare, and fits a bit better in the setting of the world. Mild conflict arises when we start looking at characters who aren’t rockstars or idols - let’s look at Bede’s theme, for example. While it really isn’t a bad theme (it’s actually, dare I say, a bop), I wouldn’t exactly say that the resulting pieces fit neatly together like they do for the Spikemuth duo. Bede’s theme requires a lot of synths to accentuate his more flamboyant and immature personality, but also holds ties with the rock guitars while also trying so desperately hard to sound like a Pokemon song. Now, I don’t think “Pop Synth Rock” is anything bad, per se; I just feel like the added rock elements didn’t do much to add to the musical representation of our cliche jerk-face “rival”. It feels like the rock elements were an after-thought rather than a planned layer of musicality. I could really say the same thing about Hop’s theme, but then I would have to re-listen to Hop’s theme because I always forget what it sounds like even after listening to it a second before.

A big problem is that not many of these themes hold lastingly memorable motifs/melodies, which is a personal pet-peeve of mine in games where the music is highly esteemed. In pretty much every battle theme (except the generic pokemon encounter theme, which is the same melody in every Pokemon game, only with variations added to fit the music theme of the region) is just an on-going strip of notes that sound nice when playing the game, but if you tried to pick out the specific melody-line of that character, it’s a bit of work to really find anything. Let’s look at a more concrete example: Lusamine’s battle theme from Pokemon: Sun and Moon is up on my list of most memorable battle themes, and will do well without the extra influence of young me’s nostalgia seeping in like it would with earlier generations’ battle themes. Lusamine, as we know, was the elite antagonist of the game, being the leader of this esteemed Pokemon protection group who later is revealed to be using Pokemon for her own demented goals of perfection. Almost immediately, the player hears the signature accents of the harpsichord playing the prime motif before the piece digs into a full orchestration. It doesn’t sacrifice anything for the sake of “sounding like a Pokemon song”, nor does it sacrifice anything for the sake of keeping with the musical inspiration. Instead, it focuses on being exactly what it needs to be - a musical representation of Lusamine, hosting orchestra-based instruments (piano, violas and cellos, horns, violins, light pad synths, etc…). Most anyone can pick out a handful of memorable motifs from her theme (the main horns melody line, the harpsichord melody line, the mid-section cello and piano melody line, etc…), and those remain in our unconscious. So, it’s no surprise that when she becomes the “Mother Beast” later on, when the player hears hints of those signature melody lines becoming distorted in the madness of the new battle theme, it invokes a particular emotion that fits elegantly with the subject matter of the plot right then. In short, it’s musical storytelling done right. In SWSH, we don’t have that extra omph of emotionally-nostalgic motifs; instead, we just get songs that play in the background of this video game, and that’s really it. If you don’t like the song, good news - you’ll probably only hear it once or twice, depending on who the NPC is. If you do, then you’re out of luck for the very same reasons. This game lacks a very basic hint of soul to its soundtrack, which is really such a jarring idea especially when you realize that they paired up with a composer who arguably has mastered the idea of musical motifs (Fox).

This really isn’t just SWSH’s problem, either. I also went through a similar heartbreak in S&M during the final stretch of the main game; after battling Lusamine and saving the region from the threat of Ultra Beasts (more or less, anyway), we the player go to challenge the champion, who is revealed to be Profession Kukui since there really is no true champion for the newly-made league. It’s hard to go from an exciting, powerful battle theme like Lusamine’s to some generic, cardboard-cut-out version of a champion battle theme for Kukui. It’s hard to invoke any sort of emotional appeal when there’s no real inspiration to be felt in the music; with no emotional connection, there is no emotion. It’s, once again, just music that plays in the background of a video game. A similar experience happens in SWSH with the player’s match against Champion Leon; though we have the potential to gain an emotional connection to a Leon Theme motif, we don’t get that. Instead, we just get music that is programmed to be exciting for our championship match that will undoubtedly change our lives forever. Bland, boring, anti-climatic - all for the sake of coloring in the lines. This has been an on-going problem in Pokemon games for years in which the Championship Battle Theme is less interesting than the Evil Team Battle Theme, which probably isn’t a good idea. It’s annoying when your villain has a better theme than the literal strongest trainer in the region - it ruins the chances of likability for the region’s “good guys” and overall is anti-climatic when it is finally time to become champion.

Overall, the ability to immerse someone like me in a game is very important when it comes to retaining players. While SWSH isn’t the worst Pokemon game when it comes to immersion (considering the fact that I actually beat the main game, which I can’t say for other main Pokemon titles…), Game Freak certainly could stand to learn from the game’s shortcomings.

Creature and Character Design...

The monster design is arguably one of the most controversial topics when it comes to any Pokemon game. Some people only care about the designs of Gen 1, others accept everything but Gen 5, and a select few could rant for hours on the stupidity of literally every Pokemon design in the franchise. Regardless, the design of the Pokemon native to the Galar region is an important topic of discussion when analysing the potential for enjoyment of the game. After all, I’m an artist who loves drawing all my favorite characters as well as my favorite Pokemon, so understanding the designs of these beloved figures is vital to understanding the game in general. For sanity’s sake, I’ll only be discussing new Pokemon introduced in this region, and will be ignoring all previous pokemon that aren’t regional variants.

Overall, the designs of the latest Pokemon are satisfactory. Because of my tendency to always suspend belief in fantasy works, I’ve very rarely had much to hate about Pokemon designs (not even in Gen 5, though I don’t particularly like any of them aside from the game cover legendaries). SWSH didn’t really bring much to the table when it comes to brand-new Pokemon, but the ones introduced are fitting and interesting: the Dragapult line, all three starters (even if I did laugh for literal hours at the discovery of Cinderace’s typing), Wooloo and Dubwool, Yamper and Boltund - just to name my top favorites. And I was totally invested in the designs of the game cover legendaries, Zamazenta and Zacian, since they held cultural relations with the region’s inspiration and therefore had actual meaning within the game besides just being cool mythical creatures. Nothing really outright bothered me with the designs or pokemon choices in this game; as I mentioned earlier, I was okay with the idea of no National Dex for this region, and that all the pokemon allowed in this game matched with the region well-enough.

But, of course, it’s not without faults. I found there to be a substantial lack of original legendaries in this game - we only have three real legendaries to catch in the main-game, four if you consider the DLC. We had a similar problem in Pokemon: Sun and Moon, but it was later amended with the introduction of Ultra Beasts (which can technically be regarded as legendary Pokemon, albeit from another dimension and not technically Pokemon). In SWSH, we are only given the option of catching more than two legendaries if we buy the DLC - this is remarkably disappointing for those who are interested in seeing new, unique Pokemon designs. I know many fans are constantly frustrated with Game Freak’s tendency to overuse Gen 1 Pokemon, but the fact that nobody is bothered by the running trend of being able to easily catch a bunch of previous games’ legendaries is beyond me. It’s essentially the same thing, overly relying on the fanbase’s sentimental nostalgia rather than moving forward to create new creature designs. I know for a fact that so many people would have been excited to catch Pokemon with cultural significance (maybe like elf Pokemon that resemble that of Seelie/Unseelie fairies, or more Pokemon that resemble chess pieces, or maybe more Pokemon that follow a theme of medieval artifacts - there are many possibilities), so the fact that they skimped out in favor of making people pay for nostalgia is ridiculous to me. This was a majority of the reason why I rejected buy any of the DLC content - why would I pay for Pokemon I’ve technically caught before? I mean, I guess it can be more for the kids who have never encountered the older legendaries, but then again, wouldn’t it be more beneficial for your game to have Pokemon that actually represent the new region? Instead of just stealing other games’ legendaries for the sake of saying that you have them, they could have just worked a little harder to design maybe three or six more cool legendary designs and centered those guys around the two DLC locations instead of just having Calyrex for The Crown Tundra. At the end of the day, it’s really just a cash-grab; the only reason I could ever see myself understandably buying the DLC for SWSH would be because I wanted to interact more with my favorite NPCs, but then again, I can just look at screenshots on Twitter and feel just as satisfied.

But not all is lost in terms of designs. Now let’s get into my favorite design portion of this segment and discuss the NPCs.

First, we’ll dig into the rivals. Personally, I really enjoyed the rivals of this game; while Pokemon is definitely running on a formula, I still was able to find enough about the three rival characters to genuinely enjoy their presence whenever they came on screen. I suppose we can expect to keep seeing this new Pokemon Trainer Rival Formula: Kind of Annoying but Too Sweet to Hate BFF Rival (Hop), 2 Edgy 5 U Rival (Bede), and Some Pedo’s Waifu Material Rival (Marnie).

Hop is arguably one of my favorite Pokemon rivals of all time (right up there with Gladion from S&M). He’s one of the only Pokemon characters to get a realistic character development over the course of the game’s playable story, which really humanizes him and makes up for his occasionally annoying personality. Over the course of the game, Hop goes from silently residing in his brother’s shadow to learning to stand on his own without needed any outside validation; much to my surprise, it’s not some half-hearted transition. Hop doubts himself during the challenge, as evidenced not just by his dialogue but in the way he actively changes his team to try and be more competitive like everybody else. I remember feeling so heartbroken in realization that Hop stopped using his beloved Wooloo, which is rightfully paired up with the excitable boy. The idea that Hop uses Wooloo, a normal-type cute Pokemon that generally wouldn’t be used in a competitive team, really adds more dimension to his character; when he learns to enjoy himself instead of letting his doubts overtake him, he returns to using Dubwool and his favorite team, demonstrating how he would prefer to have fun as himself than be someone he isn’t. I found that to be a really wholesome theme to his character, one that we haven’t really seen in a Pokemon game yet - it was a pleasant surprise! Hop is sweet and kind, always wanting to motivate the player even when he’s in his own internal turmoil. With all that added with his adorable babyface and goofy/awkward preteen disposition, he really makes for a likeable rival character.

The next rival to be introduced is none other than our classic Mean Boy rival, Bede. He’s a character the fanbase is a bit more accustomed to due to previous titles’ rivals (i.e. Green/Blue/Gary Oak from in R&G/B, Silver from SGC, technically also Gladion from S&M…), so are quite a few expectations placed on his character as a result. Also true to the typical Pokemon Jerk Rival, he has a complicated homelife (he comes from an orphanage, as we later learn) and has a similarly complicated parent-child relationship to the leading antagonist of the game (in this case, Chairman Rose). Bede constantly assumes himself to be better than he is and isn’t afraid to be a total prick about it, choosing to bully Hop upon winning battles against him to boost his own inflated ego (though there’s hints pointing to Bede actually having rather low self-esteem). All things considered, I liked Bede as a character about as much as one can like a mean rival archetype, but I was more than pleased to discover his transition to a more likably mean-spirited character when he later returns to the game to challenge the player after being disqualified from the challenge. While we’ve had a likeable mean rival before (namely Gladion), Bede is something of his own entity with how he actually has an attempt at character development that leads him to a mini-redemption near the end of the game. He’s really the first mean rival to have a transition from total jerk to slightly-peeved tsundere, which was probably a good idea on Game Freak’s part so that we wouldn’t be left with a character we downright hated after the way Bede quite literally destroys Hop’s confidence. It’s nowhere near as impressive as Hop’s character development (which isn’t super impressive to begin with, but let’s ignore that fact for a bit), but it’s still interesting to see in a monster-catching game about being the best you can be.

And then, of course, we get to the cute-girl rival, Marnie, also known as the place where I get a bit mad again. I’d like to say that I absolutely love Marnie; she has an adorable design and interesting personality that captures my attention whenever she has screen time. But she serves one purpose in this game, and one purpose alone - being the main cute girl rival of the game. Marnie has the potential to be a similarly interesting rival (cute design that meshes “punk” with “cute”, has a wholesome and fun dynamic with her gym leader older brother, uses a Pokemon that isn’t considered to be a “competitive” choice as her ace, has a cool/cute personality…), and yet we probably only talk to her about five times over the course of the main game. Little is done with her character - in fact, the only real thing she does in the game other than becoming the next dark-type gym leader is that she helps the player sneak into Spikemuth after the gates have been shut by the remarkably-harmless Team Yell. I don’t think I’m alone in saying that I would have loved to have seen more done with her character. With the boy rivals being more fleshed out than her, it leaves a sour taste in my mouth because the female rival is the one left with a blank personality (and I’m not just saying that because she hardly smiles - that’s really one of the only things we get about her that gives her an actual personality). My frustrations are further exacerbated because this has always been an issue in Pokemon games, in which the girl rivals are so barebones for seemingly the only purpose of serving as some neckbeard’s waifu that they can input a personality they desire despite the fact that she’s canonically a minor. Why put in the time to give dimension to Hop and Bede, but not Marnie? And we know for a fact that Game Freak has to recognize the lack of personality given to Marnie, especially since they had previously come out with Lillie’s wonderfully sweet character arch in S&M and USUM. Personally, I feel that it was because they didn’t feel like having a more punkish girl character who also had traditionally feminine-coded interests (she’s known to have been distracted during the gym challenge by the boutiques) and ultimately decided to just not give her any further personality other than that, perhaps fearing that it would dissuade the gross creeper fanbase from latching onto her. But that’s really just speculation, so don’t take any of my nonsense too seriously. Really, I’d just rather we had a girl rival with more personality to match the other two rivals so it wasn’t so annoyingly unbalanced.

Moving on from the rivals, we get into the designs of the League Staff of the game. In most other Pokemon games, I’d never really been too interested in the gym leaders; they had always been more of minor bosses, just faces that you saw for a couple of seconds before pummeling their ‘mons and moving to the next city. But in this game in particular, there was a sudden transition from simple puzzle master to a full-on celebrity figure. I really enjoyed this! It was so nice to actually have some information on the gym leaders other than what type they sported; suddenly, they have personalities and interests - they become real to the player. Not to mention that there really is a gym leader for everyone to enjoy, thanks to their unique personalities and styles.

I’ll be a bit honest and say that some of their clothing designs are remarkably stupid for even an anime-based RPG game (I mean, I know we joke about Leon’s terrible sense of fashion in the fanbase, but can we just pause and ponder what Piers’ wears? I mean, a leather jacket with spandex? Metal boots and a work-out tank??? What is he wearing?!), but it isn’t exactly distracting. In Western cultures in particular, we can see a trend towards the glamourization of the “athleisure” style, or athletic wear designed more for everyday use rather than just working out. It was kind of fitting to see this be the primary style for the gym leaders, who can basically be described as hierarchical sports stars. Weird? Sure. But in the context of the world, it all fits together, and once again adds to the immersion aspect of the game.

Looking at our main antagonists, they are designed quite well. Chairman Rose is designed to be quite easy and fun to hate (at least for me) - he’s an important-looking businessman who’s very impressed with himself, paired up with a beautiful yet terrifying subordinate woman who does most all the hardwork for him (...actually, they kind of remind me of an antagonistic Cl. Mustang and Lt. Hawkeye from Fullmetal Alchemist…). They also had noteworthy battle themes that popped a bit more than other battle themes in the game.

While they hardly count as antagonists, I’d like to also make a brief mention of Team Yell. They’re more annoying than anything, which is a trend that I’m not too sure how I feel about yet. It was definitely more likable coming from Team Skull, that’s for sure. I would have liked Team Yell doing a bit more damage, having them be a bit more unruly and controversial before evening them out with the whole emotional appeal of them cheering on for Marnie in hopes of saving their ruined town. But they weren’t too terrible in my opinion.

I could talk for hours on the champion of the region, too, Champion Leon. He’s a really fun and charming character overall, less of the supremely wise and powerful champion that we’ve seen in older gens and instead being a more quirky but worthwhile opponent on the path towards the crown. But I definitely preferred him more as a character than as a champion; even though his team changes depending on your starter, it’s not too challenging of a fight if you know what you’re doing, especially when you immediately know what his ace pokemon is (something we don’t really learn in other gens about the champions). While I’m sure the idea of a powerful but transparent champion can be done, Leon doesn’t really stand up as a powerful trainer when compared to other champions in the franchise. But he’s definitely still a fun, interesting character concept that I am grateful for in this particular game.

When it comes to the designs of the primary NPCs and Pokemon, SWSH continues to talk that line just above mediocrity. Not too bad, not all that great, but definitely not something to be forgotten. I’d reason that the primary strength of this generation lies within the characters that are introduced.

Uniqueness vs. Status as a Pokemon Game...

In regards to the uniqueness - how well this game stands on its own as an individual concept rather than just another Pokemon game - I’m a bit divided. On one hand, I’m a bit saddened by the watering down of content and constant reliance on concepts from older games. But I can also see that SWSH introduced a lot of interesting ideas that have inspired so many fans for this generation. And while yes, this gen didn’t have much to offer in terms of new Pokemon, new scenarios, or new lore, I do think that it does hold its own when compared to the other games in the main series. New characters are introduced to the player, all of which having good (and bad) traits that allow for lots of fan-created content with their essence; a new look into a brand-new battle enhancer that requires a different strategy than those of previous battle enhancers; a new culture found within the Galar region that can inspire many more thoughts and theories on the Pokemon world as a whole in a number of ways. We cannot pretend that SWSH isn’t an influential game just because it wasn’t ground-breaking; even with my extreme distaste for the Black and White games, I still admit that they led to important decisions and ideas that led to the creation of games I did enjoy. So, as its own entity, I think that Pokemon: Sword and Shield really has a lot of offer and would probably be an amazing game for a younger player who’s just getting into the Pokemon universe.

But I think that a lot of us long-time fans can agree that this game doesn’t quite match up with the others in terms of giving those real “Pokemon game” feelings. The problem with big-titles like this is that the company tends to lose sight of what really makes a franchise so influential isn’t the stuff found at face-value. It’s not the creatures or NPCs or game mechanics or design or any of that garbage - it’s the feelings we get when all of those things reach that perfect harmony. It’s the rumble in my chest whenever I listen to that famous intro-sequence of my old Pokemon: Ruby game; it’s the fire in my eyes when I went back to challenge Pokemon Trainer Red for the tenth time that night back in my old Pokemon: Heart Gold game; it’s the tears I cried when I watched the only interesting character, N, leave my playable character after his emotional spiel following the defeat of Ghetsis in my long-since abandoned copy of Pokemon: White. At the end of the day, Pokemon is more of an emotion I get rather than a game I play, and I think this is an idea that few people can recognize for themselves. And while I’m aware that I literally just spent several thousand words bagging and praising this game for all those face-value aspects, I also know that when you add that extra little bit of care to your work, go a little further with a character you know someone will adore, or try something new with that new battle theme, there comes a sensation that goes beyond that of love for a silly fantasy game. I’d like to think it’s something akin to inspiration.

Conclusion...

In conclusion, Pokemon: Sword and Shield is far from perfect. With a number of faults and disappointments, I can understand why a lot of fans were less than interested in giving this game the time of day. But I also want to say that this game deserves to be understood and appreciate for what it is, for what it’s done. Who knows what sort of new ideas this game has inspired? Whether it be in the name Pokemon game or someone else’s passion project, I am confident in the potential that this game has to bring someone’s dreams to fruition. It already has inspired so much amazing fan-content from the community; after so many years of being away from the fandom, SWSH was the game that drove me right back, giving me the drive to once again indulge in my middle-school days of sketching out my latest comfort character or writing out a million headcanons in a way-too plot-heavy story. Many fan-creators in this community feel the same as me, I’m sure, so it would be untrue of me to say that this game was anything less than what it was: a fun, simple game that prides itself in its characters and potential rather than complex combat mechanics or some corkboard-plot nightmare. It’s a game meant to be enjoyed, so we must remember to find our enjoyment wherever it can be found. For me, Pokemon can’t really do much wrong, but also is held up to a level of expectations that I can’t quite understand even for myself. This, at the end of the day, is a video game from my all-time favorite franchise; so long as I can find enjoyment there in it, then it’s worth it. In a world filled with nihilism and cynicism, it’s nice to visit a land where you’re wise to try and be the very best like no-one ever was, to be the next best Pokemon Master.

#pokemon #Pokemon Sword and shield #pokemon swsh #swsh #sword and shield #game review #game #analysis #review #post mortem #(does this count as post mortem???) #casual gamer #essay #video game #food for thought

[keelywolfe]

FIC: Something To Say, But Nothing Comes

Summary: A direct sequel to the previous chapter, 'What Will Be, Will Be'.

Red still isn't speaking to Edge. Rus needs donuts. He's eating for two-ish, thanks, donuts are a requirement.

Tags: Spicyhoney, Brotherly Relationships, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Pregnancy

Notes: I've been informed that I am not allowed to leave the last story at Red being an asshole, so here we are. 😂

So, yeah, a sequel to What Will Be, Will Be. Rus is pregnant, and everyone is dealing with the fallout.

Warning: There is a mention of thinking about abortion here, so please be aware.

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Read it on AO3

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Read it here!

~~*~~

The false dawn was only beginning as Edge stepped out of the basement door, locking it behind him before heading around the side of the house to the front. Snowdin was quiet for now, most of the denizens still asleep, but the rest of the guard would be heading out soon, ready to begin patrol and Edge needed to be with them.

It hadn’t been his intention to sleep over in Underswap, but he’d taken the option when it was offered and, despite Rus’s unsubtle hinting, there had been no sex involved. Partly because Blue was sleeping in the next room but also, it was the first time they’d ever shared a bed for a reason other than sex. Edge laying on that silly mattress on the floor, guilty absorbed in the chance to hold Rus close, to press his skull against Rus’s sternum and listen to the strong throb of his soul. The souling was far too small to be heard yet. It hadn’t stopped Edge from straining to hear even the tiniest flicker.

If he was going to be a fool about this, he supposed he might as well be a complete one.

Edge unlocked the front door, pausing to kick the snow off his boots as he stepped inside. He froze just inside. Red was already up, and that was strangeness all its own, shrugging into his jacket. He didn’t look Edge’s way.

“Good morning,” Edge offered, warily.

Red didn’t answer and Edge resigned himself to another day of silence. He took off his boots and headed towards the stairs to get changed before going on patrol.

“how’s rus?” Came from behind him. Edge whirled around, but Red wasn’t looking at him.

“He…he’s fine.” Edge hesitated then added, “A little tired. The souling is fine, too.”

Red was leaned over, tying his shoes in double-knots and Edge pressed on, hating the desperation in his voice, “It’s very small, not even the size of a knucklebone, it won’t descend for a few weeks yet and—”

He winced as the door slammed behind Red.

Well. He hadn’t shortcutted away, that was something.

Edge turned back towards the stairs and headed up. He was training with Undyne today and needed to be at his best. Afterward, he was going back to Underswap for a while. The knowledge of the souling was too fresh yet and the urge to stay close was strong.

Knowing that he didn’t need to resist it, that he was welcome, was enough for him to go back and he hated that part of his reasoning was that spending another day with his silent brother did not appeal.

Red would get over it or he wouldn’t, but Edge wasn’t going to wait around for him to decide.

~~*~~

The false sunlight creeping over Rus’s face was enough to drag him out of a sound sleep. He pushed up on his elbows, scrubbing a hand over his sockets as he tottered into awake. The bed next to him was disappointingly empty. Not that that was unexpected. He had a vague memory of Edge leaving earlier, something about having to go on patrol.

The memory of a kiss being brushed over his skull made a shiver trill up Rus’s spine. He shoved it back down for the moment; just because he and Edge were gonna have a sproglet didn’t mean there were wedding bells or anything in the future.

Sproglet? What was a kiddo skeleton called anyway? Skellilet? Skettle? Skitten?

Okay, yeah, he was calling skitten.

From the light, he was guessing it was probably past noon, but damn, he felt well-rested for the first time since he’d woken up earlier this week to discover his soul manifested and the tiniest sparkling of light circling it.

That’d been a helluva day. Staring at the mirror in shock, unable to believe what his eye lights were telling him.

He’d immediately thought of aborting, for about the first half a mo’. A knee-jerk reaction to suddenly finding out he was knocked up, he supposed. He wasn’t sure how it went in Underfell, but no one in Underswap would’ve given him so much as a dirty look if that’s what he’d decided. Sure, Blue might’ve been a little disappointed, but a souling didn’t even dust when it was removed. It just faded, no LV, no foul. Supplies could be scarce at times and that was a fact, Monsters had to be careful about reproducing Underground.

But looking at that tiny star, Rus couldn’t help thinking of possibilities. A little baby bones, his own skitten. An adorable miniature version of Edge, one who could grow up where it was safe and warm, with daddies and uncles who’d adore ‘em.

Yeah, okay. He wanted that.

He’d only waited a day or two before telling Edge, since it wasn’t a secret that was gonna keep for their next round of rough and tumble. He’d reacted about how Rus expected, pure white-skulled shock. Rus left him there to think about what he’d done and headed back home, figuring he’d be hearing from Edge again soon enough.

Truth was, telling Blue had been more nerve-wracking than Edge. At the time, he’d been sure Edge would come around eventually...well, pretty sure. But his bro? He couldn’t’ve said if Blue would be disappointed or angry. They were about to gain a new stress to their finances and their pantry, no question of that and it was kinda fucking hard to explain to his little brother that a moment of stupidity during a bump and grind with his asshole with benefits was gonna cause it.

Blue listened seriously when he told him and it wasn’t until Rus said he was going to have the kiddo that he showed any emotion at all. Didn’t know why he ever doubted his bro; Blue launched directly into squealing delight. He’d demanded to see the little spark, then almost immediately bullied Rus into laying down on the sofa, talking about ten things at once in a blur of ’quit smoking, more calcium, extra rest!!’

The concern was nice, but eh, the cigarettes he’d given up the second he saw that tiny light and fuck, that was the worse than any other damn thing combined. He’d tell ten Edges they were gonna be a baby daddy and half a dozen bros if someone would kindly find a way to infuse him with nicotine.

Welp, if he couldn't have a ciggie then donuts were a poor replacement, but it was one he could have. Undyne couldn’t be sure that shortcutting wouldn’t hurt the spark, especially one so early, so walking was the order of the day.

Rus pulled on the first cleanish sweatshirt and pants he found, stepping into his sneakers and grudgingly tying them. Probably stupid of him, but he could trip over air on a good day. May as well be a little more careful when he had a baby on board.

The effort was almost a useless one, since he almost went ass over teakettle with one step out the door. He almost ended up shortcutting anyways, arms windmilling as he struggled to keep his balance and two bony hands grabbed his femurs high enough to give him quick pelvic examination, stabilizing him.

“careful, ya overgrown giraffe!” Those hands pulled away before Rus could put in a request.

“red?” Rus looked down in disbelief at the hunched-over skeleton sitting on the stairs. “what the hell are you doing on my porch?”

Red scowled and flicked his cigar butt into the snow, “nuthin’. what are you doing out?”

“uh, i live here, which isn’t an argument you can make, so let’s flip that back your way, yeah?”

Red shrugged unapologetically. “keepin’ watch.”

“keeping watch?” Rus repeated, slowly. “for what?”

“blue ain’t here, the boss ain't here. so i’m keeping watch,” Red snapped. “mama monsters are fierce, but you ain’t a mama yet.”

“not really planning on being ‘mama’ at all, thanks,” Rus said, even as he turned those words over in his head, studying them like a math problem. “i’m laying claim to daddy early.”

Red went on, doggedly, shoulders hunching further, “soulings are fragile until they descend.”

Oh.

Yeah, okay, Red was staring at the snowdrifts so fiercely Rus sort of expected em’ to catch on fire. Protecting him, from the mean streets of Underswap Snowdin, where Red must think roving bands of miscreants were waiting around every corner. Or not, and Rus didn’t really want to know how Red knew soulings were fragile. And if Red wanted to protect him like some kinda bodyguard, Rus guessed he could play diva. At least he could get Red to stop trying to ignite the snow with his eye lights.

“well, come in and sit on the sofa,” Rus told him. He opened the door again and held it open invitingly. “c’mon, you can sit by the door so you’re the first line of defense.”

“maybe,” Red said, diffidently, and kept his ass parked right on the step. “what’re you doing out here, anyway? smokin?” The low growl on that last word seemed a pretty good sign that the answer to that better be no. Rus regretfully shelved the urge to tell him yep, pack a day man, that was him. But he really didn’t trust Red not to strip him to the bones in search of cigarettes and his neighbors got enough of a show from them on any given day.

“nah, i quit.” He didn’t think he imagined the relieved slump in Red’s shoulders. He shut the door, every instance of Blue griping that they weren’t paying to heat the outdoors ringing in his skull. “craving a spider donut, is all.”

Red hopped up so quickly Rus almost thought he teleported. “i’ll get it. head back inside, take me two minutes.”

“oh. um.” He supposed he could argue that he was perfectly capable of going himself, but eh, truth was, he wasn’t sick of the novelty yet. Plus, it wasn’t gonna kill him to let some babying happen. He knew for a fact once there was a real baby, it wasn't gonna last. “okay, here, i have a few…” G, he started to say, but Red was already gone. Welp, he hoped Red had some cash. If not, he hoped Muffet would put it on his tab because he really didn’t want to try explaining to her why some short, grouchy skeleton popped into her bakery to swipe the goods.

It was probably more like a minute in a half when Red reappeared, steam still rising from the bag in hand.

Red scowled, “why’re you still out here, get inside where it’s warm.”

“not until you come with me,” Rus crossed his arms over his chest, unperturbed as Red’s scowl deepened. “seriously, get inside, my neighbors are gonna think we found a gargoyle at the dump.”

“tch.” Red glared but Rus was unmoved. What was Uncle Red gonna do, carry him in and drop him on the floor? Chain him to the sofa? Well, he might, but Rus was going to hedge his bets.

To his relief, Red grudgingly went inside, the two of them taking over the sofa to munch their way through the donuts. Rus flipped on the latest Napstaton special so that he and Red could continue their endless debate on who was better, him or Mettaton. Secretly, Rus was ready to concede that Mettaton had better legs, but he was in no way a better Sherlock Holmes.

They were still sitting there when Edge came in, already bitching before he was through the door.

“How many times have I warned you both about locking…the…” Edge trailed away to gape at them, and all Rus could do was resign himself to the fact that Edge was pretty damn adorable when he was surprised. He’d been pretty damn adorable looking at their little spark, too, soft wonder in his eye lights, but Rus tucked all that into the back of his skull to Deal With Later. Preferably when Red wasn’t around.

“there’s a donut left,” Rus offered. Pretty damn generously, too, he was eating for two-ish and those donuts were damned good.

“You eat it,” Edge said immediately. “You’ll need plenty of food to convert to magic.”

“yeah, you’re right, the other five donuts probably weren’t enough,” Rus said agreeably. Didn’t have to tell him twice. He didn’t give Edge a chance to change his mind, happily munching it down. Except, yeaaaah, it wasn’t really escaping his notice that Edge and Red were playing a fun little game of not looking at each other.

Welp. He wasn’t gonna deal with this shit until the kiddo was here.

Rus gave Red a hard elbow, shoving him over until there was a space on his other side. “have a seat, napstaton is just about to tell us who the murderer is.”

He waited impatiently for Edge to pull off his boots and line them up at the door, Angel save us if the heels didn’t perfectly match. When Edge sat down, Rus immediately took advantage of the new lap, sprawling out with his head on Edge and his feet on Red.

Oh, yeah. The satisfaction in feeling Red struggling with the urge to push him on the floor was just the best part of his day. Less so was feeling Edge’s hands hovering over his skull like he was trying to decide if he was allowed to touch. A beat, two, then they settled gingerly and Rus sighed, pushing against them impatiently until Edge hesitantly started stroking the smooth bone. Pretty soon he started to improvise, petting his way lower, tracing coronal sutures and the delicate hole of his audial canal. Rus was drowsing before Napstaton even got the suspects together, but that was okay.

Everyone knew the butler always did it, anyway.

tbc

Read Chapter 3

#spicyhoney #papcest #keelywolfe #underfell #underswap #underfell papyrus #underswap papyrus #underfell sans

[shinydmoon]

Tv tilts Chapter 3:

-(Warning- Coma, Panic attacks) I did try warring that its going to get dark.-

A jump, a shock, a..a..a Wrong. What is it? It’s pain-pain-pain. It hurts it hurts! Why does it hurt? Why does it hurt? Why does it feel…wrong, no not wrong. There is something out of place, missing. Missing..Missing?

“He’s missing…he’s missing.” Something is between us, we are separate. I don’t like that, we should not be separate and the pain is harder to bare without him! “Yo--Yos--Yoss-Please Yosukkkee,” Blood, tar, oil, grease, slim…A Frog…HAHHHAAA I have a frog in my throat!! “PARTNER PLEASE!” It hurts come back, I’m sorry for whatever I did! PARNER!! “YOSUKE-PARTNER- JIR-ac!”

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

‘BUZZ’ ‘BUZZ’ “Grr wha?” There’s something to my right. Reaching for it I see Naoto is calling, now that’s weird normally they would contact Partner if there were issues? Stretching, I push Teddie off me and pause whatever movie we were watching. Teddie only gives a weak groan before returning to his dreams. Deciding to be merciful to my bro I move to a different room before hitting answer.

“Yo, what’s up Detective? Are there new murderers cuz if-“My cheery tone is cut with a simple

“Hospital,” their voice is tired, empty and scratched.

“Naoto, Buddy? What’s wrong?” while I let my heart take control of my mouth I start getting dressed to head out to their stated location. Naoto said hospital so hospital we go. There is muffled silence on the other line. “Naoto? Hey Naoto?” I’m shaking Teddie awake when Naoto speaks but…

“Leader was run-over and is now in a coma,”

I have no reclamation of what they said…

“The doctors aren’t even suspecting a minimal of survivability.”

As my Heart had dead while my brain rushes my body to the hospital.

  The place is as drearily as I remember it, certainly fits. You know, seeing as my heart is trying to end its self. The front desk is well...In front of me. “Yu Dojiama.” Funny I can hear an echo…it kind of sounds like Susano-o. The nurse led me to a quiet little room, there sat a small form curled and covered by a blanket. I’m not even going to look at the bed. “Hey Naoto…” I take a seat right by the curled bundle of tiny detective. The lightest tap had them slumping right into me, but really I don’t care and clearly neither does Naoto.

I don’t know (NoR CaRe) when my voice finally returns to me, “What are you up to telling?” the koala retracts its grip to look into my eyes, eyes that reflect emptiness shared. “Last night, a passerby heard a crash; they rushed to the scene and saw a car speedy away. They then called emergency services along with the police to tell us about the latest hit and runs…” I see a ghost where our detective prince should be, tightening my grip helps secure them. “The, The witness then recognized Y-Yu and well called Dojiama-san.” Pulling them back into a hug is all the push they need to resume their tears. I remove my headphones then placed them onto Naoto, playing some nature sounds and hear a squeaked out ‘Thanks’.

“Who knows?” My voice is still empty and echoic (Which is sssoooo ssaad).

“Myself, Dojiama-san, you, and presumably Teddie,” Naoto points to my open cell phone, I laugh.

“Wow, you ARE good Detective.” After an empty snort and small elbow jab I explain. “You were clearly tired and as for me,” I break my self-imposed rule to not look at the bed,” …ya.” I turn back to Naoto, “I had a hunch neither of us wouldn’t buckle and fall if we tried to tell the others.” The rest of our time was spent in soft tears and the odd hiccup. (i dO NOT like THiS)

After around a half hour Naoto’s phone rings, they check then turn to me, “Dojiama-san. Should I go out or put it on speaker?” I wait for a sec (FRoM-FeaR) to think and hit the answer button. Another tired and familiar voice comes from the phone, “Naoto?”

“Yosuke-senpai is also here.” Naoto’s voice was gaining back its life, at least compared to the previous time they were in a phone call. A grunt from the phone, “well at least you’re no longer alone in there. How’s the punk taking it?” I tug the speaker towards me, “Well I’m not thinking of drowning in a river of my own tears,”(YeT BuT MaybE..),“so there’s that positive!” Geez I sound like a breaking down robotic toy(A frOg thAt cAn’t rIbbIt nOw thAt’s sAd).

…O.K. That’s annoying! “OKAY I GET IT SO CAN YOU PLEASE KEEP YOUR SLIMY MOUTH SHUT FOR AWHILE!” My temper snaps, when I regain present consciousness Naoto looks like a rain drenched cat and crackling or gurgling comes from the speaker, Dojiama is probably stunned. I quickly cover my face and buried it in my lap, “Sorry that wasn’t, I mean it… Um not TO You but I…I…I,” The room is starting to darken and spin! (naptime Hm?) “ReaLLy you CaNT JuST-“My teeth are grinding. I jump (HeHe) and fall to the floor in shook when Naoto places a hand on my shoulder, “YOSUKE!” They scramble on to the ground beside my splattered form (Hey THaT MeaNS We MaTCH ouR P-) “STOP TALKING SUSANO-O!” My lungs are nearly screeching from the strain of my shouts and hyperventilating.

Naoto has her* Detective face on, “your persona? That’s who you were shouting at?” A look of dread and worry fills her face, “Wait then has it reverted to being a SHADOW?!” She shakes me while helping me sit up. The room is still not right? (Yo I’m still tame, pass it on will ya?) I would if I had any air to speak. “Nur-r-se,” I push out a single word between my gasps, Naoto quickly hurries to get them while I just look at the spinning corners of the wall plastered on my back once more.

*(Clans share a mental-link; Yosuke has unknowingly relinquished some control to Susano-o so His bond with Yamato-Sumeragi is active)

#Tv tilts #Souyo #P4 au #I was going to make this go father along but it seems a good place #tw panic attack #tw coma #I Hope those are right tags #jiraiya is mean in this chapter

[shuttershocky]

Type-Moon really carried themselves out of the visual novel era and into the video game age through the sheer power of their writing huh? Outside of Melty Blood (thanks, French Bread,) the actual game design of their video games have ranged from buttfuck terrible to serviceable if flawed with its balance.

Fate/Extra working on a rock-paper-scissors mechanic that needed you to just fucking guess what move the opponent would use or die? Wack.

Fate/Extella being a musou game where some of the characters just plain have difficulty swiftly killing hordes of enemies and one of them literally leaves her with 1 HP despite all noble phantasms doing more or less the same thing? Wack.

Fate/Unlimited Codes having enough infinites that even the original Super Smash Bros was asking if it was feeling okay? Wack.

Fate/Grand Order having a hard limit of 50 stars, a class advantage system with horribly uneven distribution, and quests that assume you’re rolling a Merlin because they made a servant so amazingly broken they have to still keep the game challenging for anyone who owns him? Wack.

it really sucks that the macro of their game design sucks, because you can find some real gems in the micro, in the individual characters and little details that translate amazingly well and tell you who they are. 

Nameless needing to build projection stacks in order to cast skills and Unlimited Blade Works essentially giving him unlimited projections so he could spam an enemy to death, but needed to build up enough projections to reach that point? Incredible. Fantastic. That is Archer’s fucking fighting style translated into Fate/Extra’s rules. 

Tamamo No Mae being very fragile and reliant on having all the info of the enemy on hand in order to CRUSH them with her ridiculous arsenal of curses? Fucking amazing. Told you as much about the character as her backstory did. 

It also made for an incredible battle with Gawain, who was so mcfucking tanky that his HP could outlast Tamamo’s mana pool, forcing her to pull out every trick she had in order to conserve her mana and still survive while draining every instance of his NP and skills with Aphotic Cave. I remember just grinding my teeth in anguish because that motherfucker spammed his stupid Numeral of the Saint and gained 90% defense in nearly every single turn Tamamo looked like she would finally win, rendering most of her spells useless. The final moments of that fight in my playthrough was an exhausted bareknucle brawl as a mana-less Tamamo brought down to very low HP with only a few strikes from Gawain finally put her fists up and beat what was left of him to death. Truly, an incredible experience.

It just sucks that that moment is hidden behind everything else about Fate/Extra’s gameplay. 

#OD I just #wish Type-moon made decent games you know #The best designed Type-Moon game is that damn fan-game Battle Moon Wars #Please I just want one game where the game is as good as the story

[sharkboyandlavaboy]

38 Kiribaku Fanfics

I decided I should gather all of my fics in one spot, and I mayaswell share it with you all! Enjoy!!

❤️ = favorite

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❤️ Houdini

Rating: T

Words: 14,142

Kirishima gets stuck in a closet with Bakugou for the sake of a stupid game, and it’s fine, it’s only seven minutes, what’s the worst that could happen

or how Bakugou finds some sort of excuse to make the time go faster and Kirishima realizes he doesn’t really want to get out of here

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❤️ 2am Knows All Secrets

Rating: T

Words: 59,033

… It wasn’t that he was annoyed. Okay, maybe he was a little annoyed, but that was just the lack of sleep talking. Because a certain explosive punk thought it was a good idea to test the flammability of his sheets at 2 in the morning. Every single morning. (In which Bakugou’s quirk wakes Kirishima up, and Kirishima gets way too invested in his bro’s well-being.)

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❤️ ❤️  The Fool’s Rush

Rating: T

Words: 40,714

Settling down with each other is naturally what comes after being dorm neighbors for years. It’s time to navigate through adulthood together, to live the daily grind of being pro-heroes, to learn more than they thought they’d like to know about each other, about themselves.

Or how Bakugou and Kirishima find a way to call each other “home” and struggle with the realization that once all their bills are on auto-pay, the only thing they still have to deal with is this pit full of feelings they have ignored for too long.

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❤️ ❤️  Slow it Down (Go Easy On Me)

Rating: T

Words: 26,930

When a confrontation with a villain throws Bakugou through time, he’s forced to face a future he never imagined, and maybe something he can’t leave behind.

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❤️  But I’ve Got an Angry Heart

Rating: T

Words: 40,126

Bakugou Katsuki is not going to jeopardize his future a second time, and that means staying away from anyone who gets too close. Kirishima Eijirou has never learned how not to be close to someone. Of course, they end up as next-door neighbors.

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❤️ ❤️  The Lost Continent

Rating: E

Words: 97,887

Kirishima Eijirou is from a noble family of pirate exterminators. Bakugou Katsuki is rising as one of the most fearsome pirates on the seas.

When a trade goes awry, Kirishima finds himself cast among Bakugou’s crew, having to learn the ropes and the sea as they chase after All Might’s infamous hidden treasure.

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❤️  Broomsticks

Rating: M

Words: 47,452

Local witch Bakugo Katsuki doesn’t have many friends and he’d like to keep it that way but the shop that he gets all his ingredients from has a new delivery boy that might just work his way into Bakugo’s fiery little heart.

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❤️ Stargazer

Rating: T

Words: 3,346

Wherein every single Christmas, Kirishima and Bakugou queue up for hours to buy food. Bakugou hates it (not really).

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❤️ Downhill

Rating: T

Words: 5,546

Bakugou sleeping in the common areas like it’s no big deal seems to give everyone else permission to be just as bizarre, and little by little Kirishima starts learning things about his classmates he never knew.

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❤️  Quote, Love, Unquote

Rating: T

Words: 135,781

When Kirishima Eijirou’s band hits the big time, he’s not prepared for his newfound fame. He’s even less prepared to meet the actor he’s been crushing on for years, or to start dating him as a publicity stunt. The closer Kirishima gets to Bakugou Katsuki, the more he realizes he’s in over his head. But it’s hard to stop, once his heart is in it.

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Melt My Heart

Rating: E

Words: 37,409

Bakugou is an elite figure skating determined to be the best in the world and, one day at the rink, Kirishima, a new hockey player, stumbles into his life (literally). No matter how hard Bakugou shakes, Kirishima just won’t let go, and after a while he stops trying; it takes him much longer to admit he needs him by his side. Their relationship strengthens as the competitive skating season goes on and slowly but steadily develops into something more than just friendship.

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Hit Me

Rating: E

Words: 34,851

Around 6-8 months after being kidnapped and rescued from the League of Villians, Katsuki Bakugou is having a rough time deciphering whether his anger is normal, or if it’s caused by the trauma he experienced. It’s a good thing the campus counselor deals with his sass, and it’s a good thing he has Kirishima around to take his angry outbursts in stride. When Katsuki and Kirishima start to spar with each other to help him blow off some steam, feelings happen, and we all know Katsuki isn’t good at feelings. – Rated explicit for Bakugou’s dirty mouth and eventual smut.

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Broken Bridges

Rating: E

Words: 68,766

After years of working abroad, Kirishima moves back to Japan to open his own agency, and things seem to be going well. There’s plenty of work, he gains popularity quickly, and it’s a relief to be back in his home country. Everything is perfect, until he runs into Bakugou on the scene of a villain attack.

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The Unexpected Benefits of Broken Heating

Rating: E

Words: 8,581

When Bakugou’s heating decides to kindly fuck up on a freezing cold day in mid October, he has every reason to be pissed off but a particularly attractive, red headed repairman might make things a little better.

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No Decision

Rating: E

Words: 32,722

Kirishima Eijirou’s a newly contracted fighter for Japan’s major Mixed Martial Arts promotion and Bakugou Katsuki’s its volatile middleweight champion. But when the two men meet in a chance encounter and discover Kirishima can’t be knocked out by the champ’s famous elite strikes, it sparks a rivalry and fascination between them that can’t be settled in the cage.

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You Have a New Admirer!

Rating: E

Words: 12,792

When Katsuki is convinced (read: bribed) to try out a friend’s glitchy dating app, he’s expecting the whole experience to be a resounding failure. Instead he ends up meeting Kirishima, who turns out to be the perfect combination of sexy, sweet, and way too freakin’ earnest, all rolled into one easy-to-fall-for package.

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Tonight We’re the Sea

Rating: M

Words: 60,715

Kirishima goes to a quiet seaside town to take care of his grandmother after she has a bad fall. There he meets Bakugou Katsuki and falls in love.

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Overworked & Underfucked

Rating: E

Words: 11,907

“It’s just not manly to leave your bro like this, after knowing he can’t do anything about it, you know?” Kirishima blabbers some kind of bullshit excuse, and the worst part is that it looks like he’s totally convinced of it. “It’s just a— handjob,” he stumbles over the word, the weight of what he’s proposing hitting him all at once, but he doesn’t stop. “—but if you’re not into it we can pretend I didn’t just say that.”

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Manly man falls for manliest man (Incomplete)

Rating: E

Words: 100,929

Kirishima brings up Bakugou one day as he and Kaminari are eating together in the campus cafeteria. Super casual, like yeah-I-saw-this-guy-on-TV-once, and not I’ve-watched-literally-every-single-interview-he’s-ever-even-been-in-the-background-of-and-wouldn’t-mind-having-his-babies.

“Oh, him,” Kaminari says. “Eh, he’s popular lately, I guess. Don’t see what all the hype’s about.”

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Worth A Thousand Words

Rating: T

Words: 43,012

When a rare picture of Bakugou smiling leads Class 3A to believe he is in a relationship with Utsushimi Camie, a contest arises to see who can get the most pictures of the couple together.

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I Want You to Show Me

Rating: E

Words: 3,673

“I already told you, I’m not gonna break, you don’t have to go slow.”

“What if I want to, though?” Kirishima murmurs quietly. “What if I wanna take my time with you?”

Bakugou shivers.

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You Need to Relax

Rating: E

Words: 62,272

Bakugou Katsuki has always been uptight. Maybe there’s a specific reason he always looks so tense? Kirishima wants to be the friend to help. Based on a little headcanon that Bakugou’s quirk hurts him

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Outshining the Sun

Rating: M

Words: 58,526

It’s the end of the semester, and UA has decided that class 2A needs a vacation after all they’ve been through.

Two weeks at the beach with his classmates sounds like a drag to Bakugou, but with Kirishima’s begging, he decides to take part in the trip. He didn’t realize that spending so much time with his redheaded friend would lead to him having to confront some uncomfortable truths that he tried to keep hidden, even from himself. And Kirishima is just trying to keep himself together.

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Chitchat and Pencil Pushers

Rating: E

Words: 92,777

Kirishima starts a new office job and unfortunately discovers that he may just have a big crush on the worst person possible

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Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

Rating: T

Words: 4,463

It’s not weird to share a bed with your best bro. It’s completely normal, and platonic, to get under the covers and to have a conversation in whispers even if nobody else is in the room.

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Fire and the Flood

Rating: E

Words: 7,186

Kirishima’s good at massages and Bakugou’s bad at feelings (they both are).

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In the Dark of the Night

Rating: E

Words: 84,611

Chanting sounded through the Colosseum. “Red Riot! Red Riot! Red Riot!”

“Sero,” Bakugou snapped at the Head of his Council, seated a few meters to his right in the Emperor’s box. “What the fuck is a Red Riot?”

Sero nodded his head to the pit and Bakugou followed his gaze, watching as another gladiator walked out of the gate and towards the center. “New gladiator prodigy. He’s only eighteen, but he hasn’t even come close to losing a fight since he started a couple months ago.” Then, Sero smirked. “I think you’re gonna like him.”

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Just a Touch (Too Much)

Rating: E

Words: 3,330

Prompt from the Kink Meme: Kirishima gets oversensitive after using his quirk too much, and somebody (Bakugou) fucks him until he’s so overstimulated that he cries

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Roses are Red and They Taste Like Shit

Rating: T

Words: 47,846

Katsuki was really fucking sick of the smell of flowers. Hanahaki disease

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Tell Me I’m Yours

Rating: E

Words: 6,180

Bakugou was going a little crazy. He could grudgingly admit that it was at least in part his own fault; moving in with his best friend maybe hadn’t been the best idea. At first, it sounded great. The rent would be cheaper, grocery shopping and cooking for two would be way more convenient, and it would be easier for the two of them to hang out. The only thing was, Bakugou forgot to consider how the joys of moving in with his aforementioned best friend might be dampened by the fact that he was madly in love with him.

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Brewed & Beards

Rating: E

Words: 30,729

Kirishima is starting his first year of college with his three best friends when he meets an impossibly hot barista with a really piss poor attitude. Unfortunately the man is all Kiri can think about. Too bad it looks like he has a girlfriend.

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A Heart Swelled to Bursting

Rating: M

Words: 49,644

The summer training camp of Bakugou’s second year at UA descends upon him with all the untamed fury of- well, himself, honestly.

PACKING CHECKLIST:

✓boyfriend (need to figure out how much he’s willing to let him get away with)

✓people who claim to be his friends (deluded and in need of correction)

✓ptsd (that he absolutely doesn’t actually have)

✓a healthy dose of denial (say it five times fast and that means it’s true, right)

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Idiots and Denials

Rating: M

Words: 44,642

Bakugou hates Kirishima’s teeth. He doesn’t think they’re cute at all. Really. Series of snapshots following Kirishima and Bakugou’s relationship.

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Six Page Spread (Incomplete)

Rating: E

Words: 76,783

They’re 22 and Bakugou’s finally gotten control over his public image. Think more…“bad boy” and less “explosive asshole”. Kirishima is weak (though he always has been).

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The Best Part is Falling

Rating: T

Words: 11,656

Bakugou’s had enough of Kirishima asking to sleep with him almost every night (“I just sleep better when I’m next to you, man!”) and going on and on about how nobody makes him happier and calling Bakugou the most handsome boy in their whole class and putting his hands all over Bakugou’s spine and waist in mundane, public situations, like that’s platonic behavior – he’s obviously in love with Bakugou, and Bakugou’s obviously in love with him, but does he realize that? Perhaps it is about time Bakugou corners himself into martyrdom and spells it out for Kirishima.

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Say You Like Me

Rating: M

Words: 5,456

Five times Bakugou thinks his crush on Kirishima is unrequited, and one time he’s proven wrong.

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I Even Like His Shitty Hair

Rating: M

Words: 54,255

“It works better if you take your shirt off, idiot,” Bakugou admonished, rolling his eyes.

Kirishima gulped, he bet it did. He just hoped he’d hear those words in different circumstances one day.

Kirishima has had a little crush on his best friend for a while and even though he liked Bakugou, he knew he couldn’t feel the same way so he didn’t want to ruin their friendship over it. Yet there was a sinking feeling in his stomach that told him it wasn’t manly to hide his feelings and that he would never know if he never tried. So he tries and learns that Bakugou gives back as good as he gets.

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A Meme a Day

Rating: T

Words: 131,297

Kirishima’s always been happy to meet people and make new friends. Needless to say, he’s ecstatic when he’s informed that he’s finally getting assigned a roommate after a month of living alone in a dorm room. He’s more than happy to welcome his new roommate with a smile and help him out with anything he needs. He isn’t expecting, however, to meet a seriously attractive blonde with intense irises that shine with his favorite color, and who he also has trouble keeping his own eyes off of.

#kiribaku #bakushima #kiribaku fanfic #bakushima fanfic #mha fanfiction #fanfiction #kiribaku fanfiction #Kirishima Eijirou #kirishima #bakugou #bakugou katsuki #a03 #archive of our own #fanfic rec #kiribaku fanfic rec

[kenyatta]

Game-play—the work of working a game—is fundamentally irritating, at least in comparison with other media forms. It’s easy to pass the eyes over the pages of a book, or to bathe in the waves of image and sound at the cinema or in your living room. Moreover, these forms skip over the boring parts by editing them out: You don’t have to watch a character traverse the stairs, sidewalk, subway, and elevator to get from home to work. But in games, you are the character, and thus you must pilot him (or her, but usually him) through every detail that the simulated world demands. Role-playing gamers sometimes talk about “grinding”— completing boring, repetitive tasks to advance their character’s abilities in order to make progress—a term that exactly mirrors the drudgery and toil of labor. The game theorist Julian Kücklich even coined a portmanteau, playbor, to describe the fusion of work and leisure in contemporary life. In FarmVille, for example, players exploit their network of friends and acquaintances to advance their progress in the game, and thereby the material benefit of Zynga, the company that publishes the game. In Super Mario Maker, players pay for a software product that invites labor: making Super Mario Bros. levels for other owners of the software to play. Playbor isn’t for just games either: It also describes the digital economy more broadly. When you post to Instagram or Twitter or Facebook, for example, your leisure (sharing with friends) doubles as unpaid work for social-network services, which use the results to sow others’ leisure. Likewise, when you feel obliged to check work email or Slack at all hours, you confuse work with leisure until no boundary exists between the two. But email is undeniably work, at least, and social media can be construed as interpersonal communication. Games, by contrast, are supposed to be entertainment—and yet they demand toil in leisure’s pursuit. The game designer Paolo Pedercini sees that contradiction as a fundamental feature of the medium. Games, he argues, are the aesthetic form of instrumental reason—that is, order, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness as art. Tetris aspires for the rule of order over disarray; civilization presents natural resources as a means to global domination. Solutions, control, metrics, and outcomes rule. Even when a game does not literally exploit its players’ leisure for its creator’s gain, it orients the player toward formal, often numerical goals that structure progress and, by extension, define enjoyment. The fact that consultants and entrepreneurs have applied game metrics such as points, levels, and badges in institutional settings, dubbing the effort “gamification,” only further entrenches the connection between games and work.

Video Games Are Better Without Gameplay - The Atlantic

#playbor #gaming #ian bogost

[thisizaraisu]

So I just watched Aggretsuko, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind, and Lucky Star

Well, okay. None of that is even remotely true. It’s been over a year since I first saw Aggretsuko, Lucky Star was finished a few months ago and I’ve rewatched it three times since, and I finally wrapped up with Golden Wind two weeks ago.

There are a few reasons I’m tackling all of these in one review. The biggest reason is that after I cover these three, I’m only one away from having reviewed every anime I’ve ever seen in full. A smaller reason is that my review of Lucky Star was just a bulleted list and didn’t really do the series justice.

So, yeah. I’m 20 years old, 21 in two days, and I’ve only seen 11 anime series in full. Truth be told, I didn’t get into anime until last October but once I started watching it more frequently, I was hooked. And in all honesty, Lucky Star is the series that got me into anime, so I found it necessary to go in-depth on why I like it so much.

But let’s save that one for last. In the meantime...

It’s been a few months since I touched Aggretsuko, but I really didn’t want to give it a rewatch for a handful of reasons, most of those related to the fact that I watched all 20 episodes with my now-ex-girlfriend. But that’s a story I don’t really feel the need to discuss.

While it’s ranked fairly low on my overall list, Aggretsuko is an incredibly enjoyable and relatable experience. I think we can all connect with Retsuko, despite the fact that we really don’t want to. Under the mask of cute animal characters lie problems that are extraordinarily human, and a myriad of ways that we can solve these problems.

I think one of the weakest aspects of this show is the romance subplots, especially that of season 1. While there’s plenty of relatability to be found in them, they tend to bring the humor and excellent pacing of the show to a grinding halt. Outside of these subplots, however, these aspects are incredibly well-executed. I’d say that every anime I’ve watched in full so far is worth a watch, and this is definitely no exception.

Yes, I call it Golden Wind and not Vento Aureo. Fight me.

Golden Wind is the part that first got me hooked on Jojo’s. While I went into this show for the memes, I came out with so much more gained from it. Jojo’s is a show about characters, and there are plenty of amazing ones to be found in Part 5. From the mooks that only last a single episode to the central eight characters, there are fully fleshed-out personalities and interesting encounters abound.

One knock I have against this part, and the aspect that puts it below Battle Tendency for me, is that the pacing is rather weak. While it does build its characters very well, it’s also apt to throw a particular character or two into an elongated fight sequence every episode. The 17-episode length of Battle Tendency was perfect, while the 39-episode length of Golden Wind seemed rather excessive. And yes, I know the manga is probably substantially longer, but I’m not here to talk about the manga.

That’s not to say that Part 5 ever bored me though. Every episode was an experience like no other, for better or for worse. It’s an anime that I hold in high esteem, even when I put the memes aside.

I want to walk you guys through every experience I’ve had with Lucky Star in the past few months.

Here’s how I was introduced to this masterpiece: It’s my first time attending the anime club at my university. I’m about an hour and a half late to the meeting because I was participating in a Smash Bros. tournament. I walk in, take my seat, Angels of Death is just wrapping up. I turn my attention to the projector screen. Several minutes later, I hear something I’ll never forget:

AIMAI SAN-SENCHI, SORYA PUNI TTE KOTO KAI? CHO!

At first, I have no idea what to think. “This is the kind of stuff I’m gonna be watching here? Will, what did you make me agree to?” I just start laughing out of sheer confusion.

Within minutes, my laughter of confusion is replaced by genuine chuckling. However, I’m still confused because it’s just a couple of girls sitting around a table, talking about food. Throughout the entire 22 minutes, I’m asking myself, “Why do I enjoy this so much?”

And you know what? I never found an answer to that question. I have no logical reasoning for why I enjoy Lucky Star so much. But that never stopped me from becoming vocal about my love for this show. It’s the show that led to me paying for Funimation Plus. It’s the show that kept me returning to anime club. It’s the show that changed my taste in pretty much everything. And it’s all because these girls were sitting in desks, talking about which end of a chocolate cornet is the head.

Since then, I’ve rewatched the show at least three times, found myself jamming to numerous selections in the show’s soundtrack, cried over Kanata no Theme on several occasions, and gotten back into reading and writing fanfiction. Yes, this show resonated enough with me to make me do something I haven’t done since I was 13. It’s the most relatable show I’ve ever seen by a wide margin, and perhaps that’s why I find myself wanting to see more of the characters by any means necessary.

There are really only two moments in the entire series that I avoid consistently. The first is the Lucky Channel segment of episode 10 in which Minoru Shiraishi goes on a rant about the word “tsundere.” I just found the segment to be awkward, and so I prefer to move on to episode 11 before seeing it again. The second is the flies and mosquitoes segment of episode 20, solely because I still have slight childhood trauma from the Wormy episode of Spongebob and close-ups of bugs scare the shit out of me.

But for a series that lasts 24 episodes, having only two one-minute segments that I prefer not to watch is still incredibly solid. There are more moments where the jokes don’t exactly land, but they’re not awkward enough to make me pass them up when I go to watch the show again.

In short, no matter how many series I watch, I’m confident that Lucky Star will remain a fixture at the top of my rankings simply because of the impact it’s had on me in such a short amount of time.

I’ve also decided that I want to rank the shows in a tier-list format to show exactly how I feel about each one. No, I won’t be adding the parentheses every time.

S-Tier (Almost perfect, incredible experience overall): 1. Kaguya-sama: Love is War 2. Lucky Star

A-Tier (Inconsistent moments overshadowed by great moments): 3. Assassination Classroom

B-Tier (Has its faults but still absolutely worth a watch): 4. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 2: Battle Tendency 5. Gabriel Dropout 6. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind 7. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.

C-Tier (Wild cards, potentially great depending on individual taste): 8. Aggretsuko 9. Nichijou (My Ordinary Life)

D-Tier (A bit of a chore to sit through, but passable at worst): 10. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 1: Phantom Blood

F-Tier (Cannot and will not recommend): I can think of a few that I want to put here but I haven’t watched them in full so I’m gonna hold off.

There are two notes that I want to end off on:

-Earlier I said I’ve seen 11 anime series in full, but obviously my tier list is only comprised of 10. This is because the first anime I’ve ever seen in full was one that was around when I was 12 years old, and that was Hetalia Axis Powers. My plan is to revisit Hetalia immediately after finishing The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and even if my tastes have changed to the point where I do not enjoy it, I plan on finishing all 52 episodes.

-Speaking of Haruhi, I am making progress on it. I have just reached the Endless Eight, but I want to hold off on that until I have time to watch all three episodes at once, because I’ve heard... some things about the Endless Eight. Stay tuned!

#aggretsuko #jojo's bizarre adventure #lucky star #anime #anime review

[emperor-uncarnate]

My Top 20 Favorite Video Games

(Listed in the order in which I played them)

Pokémon Red Version - Along with my matching red Game Boy Pocket, this was the first video game I owned that was purely mine and not handed down from an older kid. I still go back and replay this every couple of years on that very same Game Boy Pocket or on the 3DS Virtual Console. I know there’s FireRed and a whole series of more modern Pokémon games at my disposal but the original Red Version easily gets the most nostalgia points. Sometimes that’s what it’s all about, no? Banjo-Kazooie - Similarly, the N64 became my first home console that wasn’t a hand-me-down and it came equipped with both bear and bird (complete with “screaming about it on Christmas morning”). After going back and replaying this almost twenty years later I gained new appreciation for how goofy and colorful it is. Treasure Trove Cove is so fucking catchy. Sonic Adventure 2 Battle - From its kickin’ soundtrack to its satisfying controls to its random-ass virtual pet simulator this game has it all. Multiplayer was always pretty exciting too, I remember many an afternoon trying to one-up a friend during a grind race. No 3D Sonic game compares to this if you ask me, although Sonic Heroes and Sonic Unleashed come sort of close in their own ways. What I wouldn’t give for a proper Sonic Adventure 3... Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes - I remember playing this at my local arcade in my youth before eventually getting a port of it for the Xbox 360. The look of its 2D sprites are phenomenal and - if it will help you understand why I love this game - I’m singing “I Wanna Take You For a Ride” to myself as I type this. Metroid: Zero Mission - This was the first Metroid game I ever actually beat, and it was the game that made me fall in love with the series. I love Metroid Fusion and Metroid: Samus Returns as well but I like Zero Mission’s visual style the most. I was so thrown for a loop when Samus lost her Power Suit towards the end of the game but it only made getting it back that much sweeter.  Metroid Prime 2: Echoes - I started playing this one in 2004 but didn’t officially beat it until way later in 2017. For a while I had a pattern I’d go through every few years of “start playing, enjoy it for a while, get lost, and start over for some reason.” Took me thirteen years to get serious about it but it earned its place as my favorite of the 3D Metroid games. I felt so fulfilled once it was complete, like I was achieving a childhood dream. Kingdom Hearts II - I don’t think I would’ve gotten into this game if not for my friend’s suggestion but I couldn’t thank him enough for it. This is another one of those games you only vaguely understand when you’re a kid only to realize how complex and intuitively designed it is in your adulthood. After the long wait, Kingdom Hearts III proved to be pretty satisfying but I just have too much history with its predecessor for it not to win a spot on this list. Jak 3 - Though my interest in this series burned fast and bright, this game still sticks out to me as one of the best I’ve ever experienced. I played the third installment before Jak and Daxter or Jak 2 but that’s fine because it’s the best goddamn one. Driving around in the desert, swapping out gun modules, and taking flight on some janky wings made of light were definitely the highlights for me. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm - I got into this game during the latter period of Wrath of the Lich King but I didn’t feel like an official WoW player until this fiery, grim expansion. It was the first real online game I’d ever played (if you don’t count Neopets and Adventure Quest) that I started as a Night Elf Warrior in a PVP server and ended as a Worgen Hunter in a non-PVP server. Because fuck the Horde, that’s why. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - I got Skyrim on a whim because I literally couldn’t think of anything else I wanted for Christmas in 2011. There was no hype for me, I knew nothing ‘bout no Dragonborns, but I thought “heck it” and dove in anyway. After originally playing it on Xbox 360 and replaying it more recently on PS4 (with a slew of mods) I can say with confidence this game continues to blow me away. I always seem to find something new even though I feel like I know it like the back of my hand. I did get involved in The Elder Scrolls Online later on but Skyrim is still where it’s at. Soul Calibur V - I was first introduced to the tale of souls and swords (eternally retold, of course) through Soul Calibur II and only because you could play as Link on the Gamecube version. Fast-forward to 2012 and I was still on board with its story and cast of characters but its character creation was really what kept me hooked. Soul Calibur VI turned out to be a little disappointing but I definitely got the most out of its fifth installment and I’m guilty of having played for hours and hours on end. Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward - What began as a free trial because I was bored turned into a years-long interest in yet another MMO. While the base game was okay it really picked up speed with Heavensward and I was hooked from that point onwards. After a certain point I caught myself not skipping cutscenes and discovered - oh hey - the story’s actually really good. Star Wars Battlefront - I loved this game when it came out on PS4 and used it often to get my insatiable Star Wars fix. Aerial combat was my downright favorite part of the game and I loved smoking some TIE Fighters in an X-Wing or in the Millennium Falcon. Its sequel Star Wars Battlefront II could’ve made this list but EA was being a real dirtbag about it and now I find it hard to look back on happy memories of it the same way. The 2015 game is thankfully unsullied by those sour elements, however, so I’d say its gotta be my favorite Star Wars game ever. Overwatch - This game came to me at a time when I only wanted to play games that had character creation. I was hesitant to get to know all the characters and lore but I’m overjoyed I did since they’re so rich in personality and fun details. Once I got the hang of characters like McCree, Soldier, Reinhardt, and Widowmaker I was absolutely sold and I still play it two years later. Sonic Mania - The delightful trailer for this game got me all riled up but I wouldn’t know just how great it was until I was playing it myself. I don’t think I could ever truly enjoy my previous favorite 2D Sonic games (Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Sonic CD) ever again because this game just feels better than all of them combined.  The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - I didn’t really grow up with the Legend of Zelda, only ever playing A Link to the Past and Twilight Princess, but I immediately knew I was going to enjoy this open world take on the series. Just the sheer freedom of what you could do and where you could go was enough to reel me in and its aesthetic still amazes me with how great of a mood it generates. Final Fantasy VII - I still remember going into a GameStop when I was in high school and naively attempting to buy a used copy of this game for the PS1. It was an “epic fail,” as I would’ve said at the time. But over a decade later I downloaded it on the PS4 and went to town, getting my full FF7 experience at long last and loving every minute of it. Very stoked for the remake; it’s probably my most anticipated game right now. Marvel’s Spider-Man - What a surefire hit this was. From the moment the first gameplay footage was out I knew this was going to be the must-have web-swinging, wall-crawling good time. I love that there are so many ways to play the same character and everyone can really embody their own version of Peter Parker. I’m also from New York City so seeing a digital rendition of Manhattan was a real treat (even though they changed uptown a lot and my old apartment doesn’t exist in the game). Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Nine of the other nineteen entries in this list feature a character who’s playable in this latest Smash game. I get that people like Melee for reasons and whatever but how can you not like SSBU, the game that has it all? I’m still riding the high of Banjo and Kazooie entering the fray and I absolutely cannot wait to see where things go from here. Never had more fun playing local multiplayer in my life. Red Dead Redemption II - Never cared for Grand Theft Auto and the first Red Dead Redemption was fun but damn, there’s nothing quite like its sequel. I’m still working my way through the story just because I’ve spent so much time out in the wide open world, taking my time and seeing the sights. I might be a city boy but I have a deep appreciation for the American West and if this game ain’t just the prettiest damn thing I ever did see... hoo-WEE! Top shelf.

#video games #pokemon #banjo-kazooie #sonic #metroid #marvel #kingdom hearts #jak and daxter #star wars #soul calibur #final fantasy #skyrim #spider-man #super smash bros #red dead redemption 2 #breath of the wild

[asherranceoftheheart]

Live With Your Choices - JSE Drabble

Character/s: Chase Brody, Jackieboyman  Warnings: Soft!Anti (Mentions) Genre: Fluff Masterpost of my Stories AO3 edition of the Post A/N: This is a continuation to this piece

Tag-List: @the-rampaige​​ @iris-the-asparagus​​ @sqxxddygremlin​​ @awkward-bullshit​​ @jaysflight​​ @assbutt-of-the-readers​​ @humblecacti​​  @stuck-in-a-l-o-o-p​​ @ellien-artistica​​

Muttered and nasally sounding curses echoed throughout Henrik’s office as Jackie held the ice pack against his swollen nose. Chase was on the other bed, completely scratchless while he repeated the footage he caught on camera with a smug smirk.

“I still can’t believe he only glared at you while he nearly killed me!” Jackie whined, wincing when he accidentally put too much pressure on his nose. “If Jack hadn’t been there to stop him, I think he really would have snapped my neck.”

“I still can’t believe you’re alive. I thought even Jack’s presence wouldn’t have saved you earlier with how lethal his death glare was.” Chase chuckled, remembering the icy look Anti had thrown on Jackie’s way as Jack was pulling him out of the room. “Actually, maybe you should go sleep at the Iplier’s Mansion for now. Anti might just try to suffocate you in your sleep tonight.”

“This is favoritism.” The hero complained and gestured at the numerous patched up bruises and scrapes he got from Anti’s attack and then at Chase’s spotless body. “Tell me you at least got the evidence.”

Chase shrugged. He waved the video camera that he was holding in the air.

“You’re lucky I was fast at hiding this cam away or your near death experience would’ve all been for nothing,” said Chase.

“Yeah, yeah,” Jackie waved his smugness away before perking up, “speaking of that…”

The hero bounced from his bed and shoved himself right beside Chase who leaned away from the hero and stretched the arm that was holding the camera away from his body and his older brother. Jackie pouted and tried to make a grab for it but his younger brother expertly dodged his attempts.

“Lemme see! I was too busy worrying about whether I was going to live to see the next sunrise to remember if he sneezes like a kitten or not.” Jackie whined childishly but Chase merely raised an unimpressed eyebrow at his older brother.

“What do we say first?” Chase asked with the patience only a father with rambunctious children (which all the Septics are, much to the dismay of poor Henrik) could ever have.

“... Please?” Jackie’s ridiculous pout deepened.

“You are an actual child,” Chase rolled his eyes but brought back the camera closer to them again, “but here—”

He opened the camera’s screen and started replaying the video.

The video starts out by focusing on a snickering Jackie trailing the tip of the feather back and forth beneath Anti’s nose. The demon was scrunching up his nose in dismay and was trying to avoid the tickling feather in his sleep by tossing his head to the sides.

“Come on…” Jackie muttered, tip of his tongue sticking out at the corner of his lips while his forehead scrunched up in concentration.

“Bro, I don’t think this is a good—”

“Ah…” They both froze as Anti’s entire face scrunched up. “Ahch!”

The camera glitched along with the demon’s glitching after he sneezed. Anti’s eyes snapped open to reveal glowing green eyes and it immediately flashed towards Jackie who was snickering above him. There was a quiet ‘Oh no’ from behind the camera when the demon’s body started glitching and his eyes flickered over to pitch black. Just before Chase ducked behind the couch for safety from the upcoming blood fest, the last thing the camera managed to record was the glitching roar of rage from the demon and Jackie’s laugh being cut off before he started screaming for mercy before the video stopped.

There was only silence between the two as they stared down at the camera.

“So much for a heroic death.” Chase’s voice was drier than the Sahara Desert.

“Listen, if you had been facing Anti that moment, you’d have seen your entire life flash through your eyes in a second,” Jackie groaned. He wrapped an arm around Chase’s neck and started to lean his entire weight on the now scowling father. “So… Can’t believe the glitch has such a cute sneeze.”

“At least his is cute unlike when you sneeze and it seems like you’re inhaling the entire universe.” Chase snidely muttered and then began hissing in ire when Jackie started grinding his fist on the top of his head, messing up his fluffy hair further. “Stop it! You’re so annoying!”

“Awwww is wittle Chase gonna cry?” Jackie taunted Chase who narrowed his eyes up at him, the pair of baby blues gaining a steely glint that reminds the hero of the glitch when he’s pissed.

Then Chase smiled brightly as if he was the sun itself.

“I’m sure Anti would love to know who broke his favorite knife,” he cheerily said.

Jackie’s smile froze and gained a strained edge. He tightened his arm grip around Chase’s neck.

“You wouldn’t.” Jackie called his bluff out but the younger ego’s smile just amped its brightness up.

“Bet.” Chase’s eyes glimmered with evil.

“Chase, Anti would actually kill me this time if you did that,” Jackie’s smile finally dropped and he hissed. His eyes snapped around warily as if he expected the glitch being to appear out of nowhere after the mention of the forbidden event.

Chase didn’t reply, he just continued smiling up at his older brother, eyes daring the other to continue teasing him. The man looked absolutely ready to toss him into Hell’s jaws.

“... You’re spending too much time with the glitch bitch.” The hero finally released Chase with a sullen scowl.

Chase rubbed his neck and tried to fluff down his currently poofed up hair. He was still wearing his smile and this time it had a triumphant edge teasing at its corners.

“Congrats Jackie, you’re going to live to see tomorrow.” Chase chirped and patted the sulking hero’s back.

“I miss the sweet, innocent Chase,” Jackie mournfully looked at him.

“Bitch, when.”

#jacksepticeye #writersofjack #chase brody #jackieboyman #jackieboy-man #jbm #jacksepticeye egos #jacksepticegos #soft!anti