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toiletwipes · 3 years

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hoppípolla; part one

college!dream x afab reader but they pronouns

nervous college student you, smoked weed with dream one night and you couldn't ever forget it. starting a crush you knew would be the death of you. and at the moment, you had a terrible way of dealing with things. and things just kept happening, one thing after another.

a little author's note: i'm splitting it into parts because i like the attention and also because it feels right

2.37k words

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he literally couldn't get any hotter.

you sit at a mini-bar, crossing your leg over the other, sipping at your sprite. there was he was, in all of his fucking glory, was dream. your classmate in your english course and the one person at this party who you knew, for an absolute fact, smoked weed. and although he wasn't smoking right now, the beer in his hand said that he probably wasn't going to be, tonight.

oh you knew, this was a college dorm party, and people tried all sorts of party drugs, and weed was the tip of the iceberg. no, you knew that.

but no one was also that hot.

well.

maybe they were but they just weren't dream, not a stoner, not someone who had damn good genetics, and someone who knew how to roll a joint perfectly. not to mention, his best friend sapnap? also your best friend.

he's the one who introduced you two, despite having shared english for the past year. and he's the one who brought you and dream to the party.

(yeah, you sat in the back, pulling at the cords of your hoodie, watching the sides of his face move with quiet notions, talking to sapnap as he drove and playing soft music to match the rain.)

thinking even more, you wanted to just get up and go outside, just the urge to smoke something and anything, something to fill your lungs as your mind numbs just even the tiniest bit.

you sigh, taking one more sip of your drink before leaving it at the mini-bar, slipping your hands into the pocket of your hoodie and sliding out a cigarette out of its carton. taking a step outside, you sigh in relief seeing the dry porch. several others sat in a circle, passing around a beer and two decent blunts. sometimes sharing a kiss, sometimes the smoke between their lips.

what you would give to do that with dream, you bemoaned silently, as you lit your own cigarette, inhaling the bitter nicotine as you enjoyed the patters of the rain.

wiping your hand down on a bench, and seeing as it wasn't as wet as you thought it would be, you take a seat and take another long drag.

"so, what did he say?"

a girl with a bright green mullet and the sides of her head dyed pink, and several piercings in an non-existent eyebrow, she stares at you expectantly. as if you had an answer.

"don't know. haven't really talked to him." you shrug, trying not to think about any of your past conversations with him. all dull, all about school, all about homework. there would be no reason for him to agree to anything dealing with you in any romantic sense. or sexually, if you even dared.

"you know what that means right?" you look at her with a pinched expression. "it means you start talking to him, then ask him to blow your back out, or whatever it is you want" you almost choke on the smoke coming out of you but you mostly laugh it off.

"yeah like he'd want to talk to me," you muse, finding the stranger oddly comforting as she came over to sit next to you.

"well you don't know that, do you?" you had to give her that. you didn't know. but it wouldn't take a genius to guess the right answer. "does he smoke?" she asks, turning to you and feeling like there's nothing really stopping you from becoming besties, you pass your cigarette to her.

"i know he smokes weed but nothing else as far as i'm aware." you lean forward onto your knees, pressing your chin into your palms. "but honestly, i don't know him that much to begin with, so like, what's the point?"

the mullet hands it back to you after a pondering puff, and when you take a drag, she answers. "well, the way i see it, you can ask him out or you hookup tonight, or try to move on if you're serious about him." she pats your knees, moving to stand as she stretched. "but really, i hope it goes well, and if you need anything," she flicks out a card and watches you take it with disregarding eyes, "give me a call." and without as so much another word, she's leaving in a Beetle with her circle of friends.

glancing at it, it's a card to the floral shop but with a name on it. pocketing it and then snuffing out the bud, you leave it dead on the porch, hoping to find sapnap and beg him to take you home.

you appreciated the nice girl for the conversation and maybe the start of a healthy friendship, but even just being with someone other than dream made your heart twist in your chest.

you didn't have time to search for your best friend as he clung to dream, who was dragging his ass close to the door, where you stood now.

and when you finally appeared in his vision, you see relief and a smile sink into his face. you don't know why but you push down a smile as he approaches you with long strides. but what happens next is downright hilarious.

"we have to go right now, sap just puked all over minx and she's this close to blowing this house up," his nose wrinkles with his smile, you notice, but you nod without much thought.

"need me to drive?" you offer, though, you hates nothing more than exactly that.

"please, i've had a few beers and i don't want to risk driving tipsy," he says and you want to just cry.

you nod as you hold your hand up for the keys, and upon them being dropped in the center, you swallow down the dryest, biggest lump in your throat.

hearing several honks behind you, you don't even move above the speed limit in the neighborhood, which was five. it was fucking raining and you happened to have the biggest crush in existence on the person sitting in the passenger seat.

"i know you're driving right now, but have you heard of this song?"

the first ten seconds are tense, piano notes building up to a release after the next twenty with a guitar and drums in the back.

you recognized it easily, finding it comforting. you smile as you glance behind your shoulder and flick your turn signal on. "it's called hoppípolla, isn't it? from that one movie with the cursed girl?" he laughs and your heart clenches, wanting to hear it more.

"yeah, i just wanted to see if you'd recognize it, i've shown it to like, ten people and only a few knew it." you knew it was silly to be proud to know it but you couldn't help it. you felt easy, easy to ply with.

"yeah, well, i do have an eccentric movie taste," you smile as you turn onto the next street over, finding sapnap's house immediately. originally his parents, but they were gone for a small vacation while it was the summer.

putting the car in park, you let out a breath, just happy to be done with driving for the moment. "you okay?" you jump in your seat, finding dream already out of the car with sapnap in his arms.

the man in question babbled with incoherent words, but you paid him no mind.

"um, yeah, i uh, i just- just hate driving," you grimace as you pull yourself out of the car, getting hit with the constant pelting rain.

he frowns, of all things, walking to the porch as you beat him there already, unlocking the door.

he lays sapnap down on the couch as you make your way to the kitchen, helping yourself to the gourmet chocolate cake left there by his parents' anniversary.

tasting as sweet as you thought it would be, but somehow so fucking bitter at the same time. maybe it's the way you want to cry but how lame would that be? found in your best friend's house crying as you ate their cake?

not cool.

wiping your face with the sleeve of your hoodie, you pick yourself up and sit on the counter, desperate to change how your feeling. your skirt riding up your thighs, almost hiding in your oversized hoodie, not that you noticed.

and as if he could read your fucking mind, he walks in as he's ruffling his head of hair, as if he just got out of the shower. catching you on the counter, you had half a mind to stop eating cake and get down but you just didn't care at this point.

"want some?" you offered, sliding the platter of cake towards him while you tried to hide the fact that your face was blotchy and your nose couldn't stop sniffling. you hated the way pity looked in people. but when you turned to give dream a spoon, you saw nothing but a man with flushed cheeks and darting eyes. "are- are you good, dream?" you ask, almost disbelieving that this man is anything but flustered.

"you just, uh, well. i- i don't know how to say this but." he covers his mouth and face with one hand as he points to your lap. raising an eyebrow, you turn your head down to see the little, cyan bow on the front of your grey panties.

"oh fuck-" you dropped your fork as you yanked your skirt down and hopped from the counter, barely meeting his shoulders as you went to move away from him.

tears dropped from your eyes faster as you went to leave, when dream's arm shoots out to stop you, grabbing you by the arm as he protests you leaving.

"okay, it's bad but you can stay, um, let's just finish the cake and go to bed." you really didn't want to, dream seeing your underwear while you ate cake was forcibly checked off your bucket list.

turning around, you wanted to shrink and then be crushed like a bug underneath dream's shoe, but you settled for picking up your spoon and shoveling a bit of cake in your mouth until you couldn't think about anything else.

you flashed your crush, and he asked you to stay to eat cake. cake, of all things, you mourned.

wished somebody eat you out, you weep in your head, and come to your horror, dream starts choking on cake, coughing loudly as he punched his chest.

"i have a feeling i said something out loud." you feel humiliated as you just let the fork fall from your fingers, walking out of the kitchen, not hearing the man disagree and then as you're about to just pull your shoes on and leave, dream comes out of the kitchen and puts his hands on your shoulders.

"listen, uhh, i don't want to freak you out, but a few weeks ago, when- when we went to that party with george, he may or may not have said that you had, uh, that you have a crush on me and- is- is that right?" his words fell out of his mouth faster than he could trip over his feet. "do you like me like that?"

you wanted to melt into the ground.

"can i just go?" you whimpered out, turning your head as you tried to pull his hands off your shoulder.

"please answer the question," he begs, moving his hands from your shoulders to your cheeks, cradling it as he got closer. "because i cannot stop thinking about you, and every time we're alone, you always leave as soon as possible but then you looked so hot on the counter-" he breaks off, moaning under your stare as you listen with wide eyes.

"please say you feel the same," he begged pulling your face close to his as you gripped his arms.

"and what would you do if i did?" you whispered, eyes closing as you tried to hold onto your beating heart. his breath fanned over your lips, and all you could think about was him, him, him.

"anything you'd let me do," he says and you let out a broken moan when your two lips met, slotting against each other as if they were always meant for this. he moves his hands from your face to your shoulders and down as he moved to your waist. you grabbed a handful of his hair, the other holding the side of his face, and he moves his mouth from yours and licks a stripe down your chin to your neck.

"do you remember the day we first met," he murmured against your skin as you panted. "you were shivering while we waited for the professor, and you asked if you could borrow my jacket." it does ring a bell but you're not thinking too hard when he starts biting into your neck.

"and when you keep showing up, wearing my jacket, and that pretty, short skirt," he reaches up with one hand to hold onto your neck as he sucks a hickey right into your skin, painting as much as he could with such a pliable canvas as your skin.

"the things you do to me," he lets out a moan so broken, you wondered how he could be this affected by you and you not noticing for so long.

"we have all night, we can-" you let out a whine as he sucks hard into that sweet spot, "we can try to do it, everything, everything you and i want."

reaching down, he slipped his hands underneath your ass, picking you up with ease as he moved towards the guest bedroom. "i hope you're not planning on walking anywhere tomorrow," he pants in your ear, leaning you against the door as he uses the one hand to open it. kicking it behind him, he lays you on the bed, pushing up his hoodie to mouth kisses onto your stomach.

"as long as you'll have me," you spoke with need, your voice breaking just as much as his. and he nods hard, before he moves back over you to kiss your lips.

"you ready?"

#dream x reader #dream x you #dream x y/n #dreamwastaken #dreamwastaken smut #dream fic #dreamwastaken x reader #dreamwastaken x you #dreamwastaken x y/n #also woo hot mama #this felt good to write #especially after having idea after idea #and not being able to finish any of them right away #anyways #part two will probably be uploaded today or tomorrow #so be on the lookout

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smolfailure · 3 years

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FUCK IT, DREAM SMP HOMESTUCK AU

but it's only half shitposts and there are actual Thoughts in there.

You don't need to have read the comic to understand because I tried not to spoil anything major, but it'd help if you knew basic stuff about classpects, SBURB and the hemospectrum.

disclaimer: i'm not a good pixel artist and this is my first actual sprites ever so please be kind to my weird pixels

The Kids:

Tommy

Fundy

Techno

Tubbo

tommy, tubbo and fundy one of the kids because they're the kids in dream smp canon (with fundy being son of wilbur)

techno's there because i want to make a dave strider reference (haha get it because techno's name is also da-- *gets shot) and also because they are both coolguys except instead of using irony, techno has adhd

The Trolls:

Wilbur Soohte (fuschia)

?????? Ehrret (violet)

J????? Shlatt (purple)

Nihacu Niikki (indigo)

Skeppy Diamon (cerulean)

Quacki Tthiey (teal)

Philza Myncra (jade)

Dreame Wastkn (lime disguising as olive)

George Notfou (gold)

Sapphe Nahfpe (bronze)

Badboy Haelow (burgundy)

don't come at me saying only females are allowed to be jades and fuschias; gender is fake and this is an au

more of the AU and the talksprites are under the cut:

Tommy

Lunar sway: Derse. Types in: Red

chaotic. the first person to be introduced.

when he gets introduced instead of the “Zoosmell Pooplord” bit, Tommy is initially going to be the name inputted but then backspaced it and decided that Tommyinnit was better and he was fuming until he’s named Tommy.

Gives me big Blood/Hope vibes. Blood because a lot of the conflict of the dream smp connected to someone breaking his trust or harming the things he cares about, Hope because a lot of the plot of the dream smp stems from Tommy starting shit based on his ideals and what he thinks is right.

the first to instigate fighting against the trolls

bbh contacts him once and tommy keeps cursing until he disconnects from frustration rip

wields Gunkind and his only strife weapon at the beginning is the Vlog gun. He has Gunkind as his strife specibus mainly because he looked up at schlatt and he imitates him.

Fundy

Lunar sway: Prospit. Types in: Orange

it was his idea to play SBURB but only through Dream.

he talks to dream the most among the other trolls fwt stans getcha juice this is the rosemary of the session

dream’s the one giving him exposition about the game so that’s how he knows how to play SBURB.

wilbur trolls fundy once and instantly adopts him.

“You’re my son.” “How does that even work??” “I was one of the people who created your universe. It’s basically the same thing.”

Fundy relents anyway.

Techno

Lunar sway: Derse. Types in: Pink

dave strider but dead-inside voice + rose lalonde english major vibes

he slices the text box when you try to name him "Dave " like in

techno gives me time player vibes (contantly on the move. his skyblock series, his “stays in the pit” monologue,) but also rage vibes (anarchy, the “theseus” monologue, political alignment is Chaos) alas i am not sure what class

uses Tridentkind and claims "it came from god"

it was dream, he accidentally transportalized one of wilbur’s weapon while he testing the transportalizer.

Tubbo

Lunar sway: Prospit. Types in: Green

the jade harley of this session. the only thing keeping them from going apeshit. where would they be without him.

but also jade harley in a sense that he seems nice and wholesome but also don’t fuck with them they can mess you up

Heart/Life vibes??? someone good at classpecting help

i put them in prospit bc of the "tubbo third eye" instead of tubbo having a sixth sense or smth, they see the future from the clouds of skaia when they sleep

wields Stress-relieverKind at some point

bonus: everyone’s actual hair colors

Ideas about the Trolls

no i haven’t done their sprites yet bc it would take so much time and i’m not even sure if people wanna see more of this au skjdkdsakdfkl,, but i have Design Ideas.

events of the dsmp revolution are just a FLARP session drawing parallels to how the homestuck trolls had a FLARP session that spoiler alert: destroyed friendships. dtrio, eret, will are involved. eret betrays will's faction and wilbur's still Bitter over that.

on the context of alternia (highbloods and lowbloods) lmanburg and dreamsmp have their roles SWAPPED. the emancipation theme thing is completely gone since highbloods are in more power than the lowbloods (the dream team) .

wilbur made a faction called l’manburg because he wants a place where he and his fellow highbloods could make drugs vibe.they take a piece of land that was owned by the dream team. in normal circumstances, they shouldve stood down because lowbloods aren't supposed to start shit with highbloods (especially a group of highbloods that has the alternian heir among them) but dream turned it into an activism thing about lowblood rights. the story plays as close as possible without tommy or tubbo in it (which is pretty hard ik but this is the best can do).

like in the dreamsmp revolution, dream kinda let wilbur do what he wants but this time he has more reason to because he’s in a lower caste. dream really only fought back when wilbur announced that he’d be building lmanburg on their land and calling it theirs.

eret betrays wilbur by supporting the lowbloods and wilbur and co. technically won but only because he finally called the drones in, as a reference to how lmanburg absolutely got crushed by the dream team in the smp but technically won. l’manburg keeps the piece of land and the dream team scatter away to find a new home.

wilbur soot's a fuschia because a) he's in a position that has a lot of power, b) yknow how he wrote a song about squids and his thing with sally… yeah.

eret's a violet because nobility!! dream looks down on him because he's ambivalent on fighting for lowblood rights when he's in a power to do so "you just sit there, and you look pretty that's it"

also like eridan he has a minor aesthetic mutation (herobrine eyes) that won't classify him as a mutant.

jschlatt is purple because it makes sense thematically because of the gamzee parallels (a. substance abuse b. if you know what happens in act 6, you know this already but spoiler alert, he ruins the main protagonists' lives) also he's a funnyman he deserves the clown caste

quackity's a teal because he’s a law student. moving on--

ok but for real it also makes sense thematically because he's the one who wrote the thing that tricked schlatt into agreeing also he gets manipulated by schlatt which also draws parallels to certain events in the comic

skeppy and bbh are BEST FRIENDS despite being highblood and lowblood respectively. initially, skeppy just wanted to bother bbh but they grew to be good friends in time. y’know like how they actually becane friends :D

philza minecraft is a jade because dad friend. also works thematically, because spoiler alert he gets to murder a seadweller for going batshit crazy.

he also god tiers early. he dies fighting his quick undead denizen (haha baby zombie) but the consorts of his land carry him to his quest bed because he’s treated them all so well.

dream was initially going to be another caste but then i realized that means i have to make his hoodie something other than green which is unacceptable so its a good thing the fact that he's a lime works out

dream was the one who thought of playing sgrub in the first place- initially only planned to have gogy, sap, and bbh in the session but then realized that they four won't be enough so he invited more into his session

he’s also the first to go godtier ez clap blind speedrun not sure what classpect tho

the only reason why dream avoided being culled at birth for being a limeblood is because his rng is That Good. he quickly picked up the fact that he’s not supposed to exist and masqueraded as an oliveblood and kept mostly to himself to avoid suspicion.

george is still colorblind but he has lazer eyes along with it instead. dream lives with him in the same hive since being a mutant means dream doesn’t get a lusus of his own (dnf fans getcha juice “and they were roommates”)

despite living in the same hive, he never really figures out that dream is a limeblood. possibly because a) he’s colorblind and when he sees dream bleeding he just sees yellow b) he’s just that fucking oblivious and it’s so valid of him.

sapnap’s a bronzeblood mainly because i know he’s the instigator of the pet war with tommy also because i associate him with the color orang in my mind so bronze it is

that’s the end of this long-ass post!! if you have other ideas PLEASE i want to hear them. i don’t know the other streamers i mentioned in here very well so if you have ideas that would be fitting to them like with classpect or lunar sway that would be GREAT.

the only thing i’m confident about in here are the kids’ lunar sways. i’m not an expert in classpects and homestuck lore so there’s that too!! i just wanted to make this post because adhd means that the idea wouldn’t shut up until i finished it. This initially started as a single shitpost edit of tommyinnit talksprite but then the hiveswap 2 trailer came out and that means i have to combine my two hyperfixations.

also i have ideas about potential quadrants but idk how much of that is breaking some streamers’ boundaries about shipping (even the non romantic quads such as kismesistude, morallegiance and auspisticism) so i decided not to include it.

edit: apparently people want more so i made a discord server as a place to brainstorm!! please pm me to join!

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actualbird · 2 years

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Honestly I feel a lot of Korean things got popular around 2017 out of seemingly nowhere. I try to pinpoint when and how they became popular and come up empty. It's kind of strange. Definitely not complaining though because a lot of it is very good.

Yeah I imagine soju still tastes strongly of alcohol because I can very much smell it. Even when the other flavours are added and I can smell other stuff it only makes my brain associate it with scented soap which is extremely sad because I do want to at least try it. I might try your suggestion though, it sounds quite interesting.

The sped up timeline kind of hurts. I felt my soul leave my body for RRG part 1 because I had been aiming for Vyn's RRG card and all the anniversary cards but now potentially a lot of time to save s chips just got taken away. I mean it was kind of for nothing when Skadi rolled around because apparently I don't like really romantic lines unless Vyn says them and the twitter preview kind of bit me there, but still. I should be able to get bday 2 though because not many of these year's banners interest me which means I'll absolutely have enough s chips unless one of the cards has a ton of lore.

With gacha games I've kind of developed this strange habit of absorbing spoilers from everywhere else but waiting to see the nuances in the actual story. It's definitely served me well because stuff like Luke's Shape of You ending hit harder when I read it for myself with the context instead of seeing it posted without context but it very much gets in the way when I have bad luck and cards don't come home. I'll probably cave for Vyn's RRG if I don't get it honestly, that card feels too important to skip.

MARIUS ROLLING A D20 DFJXG. Does he just roll it every time he visits Vyn until he gets the nat20. Honestly it might work a nat20 makes you feel invincible sometimes. Whenever you write that dnd au I will very happily read through and scream about it.

🌌

a lot of it is very good!!!! maybe theres a reason, maybe theres none, but either way, i am thankful for soju entering the global market HAHA. and YEEEAA it's a great drink mix!! theres like, set recipes online for the ratio of sprite + yakult to add to the soju, but i just mix by taste. i personally put a looooot of sprite cuz i like the sweetness haha. if ever u try it out, i hope u enjoy it :DDD

also apparently soju has a shitton of alcohol content in it based on ihavenotfallenyet's reply KJBKJSDK I HONESTLY DID NOT KNOW

my siblings drink soju on its own holy fuck. theyre so strong, stronger than i ever will be

the sped up timeline hurts me too :(((( not so much bc of s-chips tho bc im not too bothered honestly about not getting cards even if i want them since like, all the story will be available on yt after a day (thank u uploaders). im mostly hurt bc the out of order events jarred me irt to story development, MOST ESPECIALLY WITH MARIUS. i swear, when i was playing his route in RRG i was like. what. whats going on. why r u so nice, why is MC SO NICE, i know theyll get to a point i their relationship that is this point, but the necessary build up (which happened originally in xmas partyland and skadi that originally preceded it) hadnt happened yet ksjdbgksjd

ohhhh same-ish feel on wanting to go thru the story urself!!! same same!!! i just have a non-existent impulse control JKBKSJKGS back in like, october, i said to myself "okay im not watching any of the cn server future content" and then i broke after 1 week. not too bothered tho, that was my own doing sjdksdjks

and marius rolls the d20 he keeps in his pocket at all times for like, whatever random reason. he likes rolling high but even when he doesnt, he has confidence in his base charisma score

sucks for him tho cuz that wont always get him out scot free since im preeeeetttyyy sure that

vyn's perception modifier is high as it can possibly get

#i play a character with a +6 modifier to anything that needs cha so even if i roll meh i still get thru KJFJGSD #milkyway!anon #asks #well. most of the time. one time i did suck but i used it to my advantage #me: i wanna serenade everybody!! dm: roll sucks. u sing bad. me: ok then im doing it on purpose i wanna ANNOY EVERYBODY

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vodkassassin · 3 years

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world state: refresh, chapter two

Last chapter: “—From the description, it’s basically the same as the synopsis of your run of the mill VRMMORPG anime, except the virtual games are real worlds.”

“Sure, but if they’re real worlds, then what does being a Game Master mean?”

Shen Yuan grins down at him.

“Hey, Airplane,” he says. “How do you feel about being an actual god?” [Read ch. 1]

—

“Oh, yaaawn!” She throws herself back onto the plush surface behind her and stretches her arms above her head. “Man, what a chore! Hey, Dorazou, make a note to always double check the Mission Rating before accepting an Assignment in the future. No way in hell am I gonna be doing that again!”

“AwRAWRight!” The tiny avatar cheers, pumping a little red scaled fist into the air. “Reminder set! Hey, Host, if it’s any consolation, this system thinks you totally aced it!”

“Hmm,” she crosses her arms and stars at the collection of screens that have popped into existence before her. “The mission grading will be the judge of that. Let’s see, here…. Oh, awesome! I earned a double S score! You know what that means!”

Dorazou gives another little roar cheer that sounds more like a kitten's mew than anything. Ah, so cute! “Host may close her next Assignment! Congratulations!”

The agent gathers her hair up into a loose and messy bun at the top of her head, breathing out a sigh of relief. “Awesome. Let’s choose something easy, why don’t we? That last world was only an A-rank, but it gave me a lot more trouble than I bargained for. It should have been labeled at least S-tank! Dorazou, bring up all available Assignments. B-rank or lower only, please!”

“Gotcha!” The tiny dragon-themes sprite gives a little twirl, it’s clunky arms flailing adorably. “Assignment list set to: Easy!”

“Perfect, thanks! Let’s take a look, now… Otome-world…. Fantasy style cooking show star, haha. I have zero talent in that area, so please decline it for me, Dorazou…. Another Knights Order needs a Pure Heavenly Maiden for such and such ritual, ah, that honestly just sounds so sinister, decline! And here we have yet another otome assignment, damn. These things are such pests. Oh, what’s this?”

Sitting up, the agent leans in and peers closely at the screen, eyes bright in excitement. “Hey, Dorazou! This one calls for a team of agents!”

“That is correct!” Dorazou says, beaming. The dragon floats up to sit comfortably on the girl’s shoulder. “System Agents 74 and 81 have put in a request for additional manpower in the Game Master Assignment for World-120MAX. If Host accepts, she and four other agents will be tasked with working under the leadership of Agent 74 in creating and managing a Game World.”

She tilts back again, kicking her legs up into the air with some excitement. “What’s the deadline?”

Dorazou is quiet for a moment as it studies the screens. It gives a hearty cheer and pats the agent on the head. “No deadline! Host will remain on Agent 74’s GM Team until it is decommissioned by the Team itself!”

She jumps off the beanbag entirely to float up into the air, catching the little dragon sprite and hugging it to her chest. “Awesome! So it’s basically a neverending paid vacation, if we want it to be? That totally rocks! Dorazou, we lucked out with this one!”

“AwRAWRight!” The tiny system cheers, looping its scaly arms around her neck in a hug. “Is Host choosing this Assignment, then?”

“As if I’d ever turn down a chance like this! System Agents hardly ever get to work together! Dorazou, please confirm my acceptance!”

“Assignment chosen! Does Host wish to rest in the home space before starting?”

“Nah, I’m way too pumped now,” she clenches her fists and grins. “Dorazou, let’s go meet our new friends!”

“RAWR! World-120MAX loading! Twenty-eight percent! Fifty-percent! Eighty-three percent! World load complete! Entering database now!”

The agent grins as she dissolves into light. This is gonna be sweet!

—

“Nice to meet you! My name is Myra Khol, System Agent 23! I’m here for the Game Master Team Assignment!”

“The what?” The boy says, expression just positively befuddled as it has been when she’s first loaded into the world, and Myra tilts her head in slight confusion. Has this guy never met another agent before?

She hops down from the tree and steps over to him, a little surprised when he takes a step back in return. Man, this guy is shy! How cute!

“Wait a minute, did you just say ‘System’?” The boy straightens up, his eyes going even wider than they’d already been. “Does that mean you are also a transmigrator?”

“What else would I be?” Myra huffs out with some bemusement. “You guys clearly haven’t put any people in this world yet, so the only ones you’d be seeing are yourselves or another agent.”

“Agent…” the boy echoes, holding the fan up to his lips in thought. It’s an endearing gesture, something so old fashion being slightly out of place with the futuristic fantasy design of the boy’s outfit, and yet it still somehow fits him.

Myra blinks at him, and then decides to take pity. From the looks of it, this kid is a noob at the job. She remembers when that had been her. The good old days!

“Didn’t your Systems explain it to you guys yet?” She asks.

At her words, the boy’s expression darkens. “The System? No. Why would the System explain anything?”

Oh. That sounded like anger, there. Myra reaches out a hand and nervously scoots her precious Dorazou over until it’s hidden behind her back. The little dragon makes a tiny noise of confusion, but goes along with it.

The boy narrows his eyes at her action. “Speaking of systems… is that one yours?”

“Um, well,” Myra coughs. “Yes? But! Dorazou is such a sweet little thing! Wouldn’t harm a fly! Please take care of it!”

The boy looks confused. “Wouldn’t harm a fly! Have you never been threatened with Punishment Protocol?”

Myra gapes, aghast. “No! That’s reserved for triple S class worlds on the highest difficulty setting! Why would an Assignment like that be given to newbie agents?”

The boy stares at her, face pale.

“Oh.” Myra presses her hands over her mouth, staring at him in horror. “I mean, I’ve heard it happening only once. Someone being given an extreme-difficulty Assignment for their very first world. It was basically an impossible mission, but she luckily managed to complete it successfully. The Assignment Parameter glitch that led to it was suppose to have been fixed since then, though. Are you really saying…?”

The boy lets out a weak sounding laugh, bowing his head. He rubs the back of his arm across his eyes, and Myra feels something in her chest ache at the sight. These two agents… they’ve really been through the wringer, haven’t they?

Clearing her throat hesitantly, she asks, “The Assignment said there were two agents behind the request. Since you’re here, where’s your partner?”

“He’s on the other side of the Level, touching up on some persistent glitches that are occurring in quadrant five,” the boy releases an aggravated sigh. Then, he glances at Myra in surprise. “Oh, I haven’t introduced myself yet, have I? My name is Shen Yuan, it’s really nice to meet you.”

Myra grins back at him, relieved. “Is it? For a moment there, I thought you weren’t happy to see me.”

“Are you kidding?” Shen Yuan laughs again, and this one is much lighter. It suits him way better than the faintly grieved sound from before. “I am ecstatic to meet you. It’s nice to know that we’re not as alone as we thought. Here, I’ll take you to my… partner. He should be about finished by now.”

Myra bounces onto her toes in excitement. She grabs Dorazou by the tail and troops after Shen Yuan when the boy turns his back and begins to walk away.

“Man, not being given a tutorial world really sounds like it sucked,” Myra says, side eyeing her new teammate as she comes up beside him.

Shen Yuan has an odd smile on his face when he replies. “It was… definitely something, yes.”

“You want me to lodge a complaint with Management?” She asks, a pinch of worry between her brows. “If all three of us do it, they’ll have to take another look at the glitch and make double sure that it doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

Shen Yuan is quiet for a long while as they walk along the quaint little dirt path. The silence stretches into minutes, and Myra decides to leave him to his thoughts, because it looks like he’s pondering something pretty deep.

She busies herself with checking out their surroundings as they move along. Shen Yuan has called this area the Level, and she’s assuming it’s the first of its kind, and therefore intended to be the Starting Area for the Players when they enter into this world. She’s done her reading while loading into the Assignment, so she’s fairly confident in her ability to assist Shen Yuan and his partner with whatever sort of administration work they need help with. So far though, from what she’s seeing, the two of them are actually off to a really good start. One or both of them must have some sort of experience in world building.

What a perfect Assignment for them, if that’s the case.

Especially if what Shen Yuan says is true, and he really had suffered through a triple S class of extreme difficulty for what was suppose to be their tutorial world. He really deserves a paradisal vacation such as this, where he can recuperate from the troubles he’d faced.

“It shouldn’t have happened in the first place,” Shen Yuan finally says, voice so quiet that Myra wouldn’t have heard it if the rest of the world around them wasn’t dead silent. It seems the audiosphere hasn’t been set up, yet.

Myra glances over to her side, and finds Shen Yuan staring down at the ground with a frown on his pretty face. His hands are clenched into fists at his sides.

“You said they already patched the glitch, so it shouldn’t have happened. They — whoever they are — clearly didn’t do their job.”

Myra bites her lip, and hugs a strangely quiet Dorazou to her chest. “Yeah, so we should file a complaint, right? And we can get the rest of the team on board with it, too, once they get here. I’m sure they’ll agree, too.”

“The rest of the team?” Shen Yuan asks, frown still present. He flicks his wrist, and the fan opens with a sharp snap and a skillful flourish. Myra stares at the action in awe. So refined! So graceful! And the fan itself was exquisite.

“I’m sorry, could you elaborate on the… Assignment Parameters you mentioned before? Xiao Lei and I just needed help, and the system said we’d have it. It didn’t explain what that help was, or where it would come from.”

Xiao Lei must be the other agent, Shen Yuan’ partner. Myra files the name away and directs a bright smile in the direction of her new teammate.

“Sure thing! Basically, your request generated a new Assignment in the listings for agents. It asks for five agents to form a team directly under you and your partner, though Agent 74 is suppose to be the team leader. That wouldn’t happen to be you, would it?”

Shen Yuan blinks at her, before his frown returns in full force. It looks faintly irritated this time, and the boy calls out, “System, what is my, uh, Agent number?”

There’s a faint sound of static, before a slightly stilted and robotic voice replies, “Host is filed as Agent 81.”

Myra glances down to see a Siamese cat, tail poised elegantly in the air and ears perked upright, weaving between Shen Yuan’s every step like a ghost. The cat glances up at her and blinks it’s bright blue eyes at her with an indifferent gaze.

“Oh, is that your System? It’s so cute!” She squeals.

The cat glances away from her, and Shen Yuan huffs.

“It’s an absolute snob, is what it is,” the boy refutes.

His system doesn’t look back up, and Myra feels a little bad for it, but…. Well, she supposed, if she’s been trapped in an SSS-rank hell world for her first Assignment, she might have some resentment toward her system, too.

She clutched Dorazou to her chest at the terrible thought, and is comforted when the little dragon spite turns around to nuzzle her back. It seems she’s really lucked out, huh?

“Does your system have a name?” She asks, scratching Dorazou behind the ear.

“Does it need one?” Shen Yuan asks coldly.

Myra cringes, glancing down at the aloof-looking cat that darts between his legs. It doesn’t even twitch at the way that it’s host speaks about it, and Myra decides to change the subject least the air becomes too awkward.

“So, um, I guess your partner is the designated team leader, then!” She tries, her smile fixed in place.

Shen Yuan shrugs. He flutters the pretty fan in front of his face and holds his other arm behind his back. He looks like some sort of regal young master of an ancient dynasty, with a posture like that. Myra wonders what the setting of his last world had been. Imperial court drama, perhaps? That sort of plot was almost always a guaranteed S rank.

“It suits him,” Shen Yuan says. “He has the most experience in creating worlds, so I guess I’d follow his lead even if he wasn’t the boss. Though, I’ll definitely be there to advise him, so he doesn’t get too carried away.”

“Carried away?” Myra wonders.

“It happens, sometimes.” Shen Yuan grimaces. “If it’s true that we’ll be a team, then I’ll be counting on you to keep an eye on him, as well.”

“Yes, of course!” Myra is a little confused, but Shen Yuan obviously knows his partner best, so she’ll take his words to heart. She salutes him. “You can definitely rely on me for that!”

This gets her a faint smile, and she inwardly cheers. This boy is surprisingly difficult to get a response out of. Myra hasn’t met someone like him in a long time.

Suddenly, Shen Yuan pulls to a stop, and gestures ahead of them. “We’re here,” he says, and then sighs. “Looks like he’s not finished… I wonder….”

Myra looks ahead of them, to see a huge structure looming in the distance. The forest they’ve been strolling through has given way to an open plain, grasslands mixed with an opaque sandy desert. A few hundred meters away sits a hulking building, which in closer examination is not a building at all, but in fact some sort of autonomous being. It’s collapsed on its side, limbs askew, a central panel of its torso gaping open to allow its mechanical insides to be strewn about throughout the grass and sand around it. There’s faint noises of metal hitting against metal coming from within it, and when Myra squints, she can just make out a tiny figure perched on the very edge of the thing’s opened chassis.

Shen Yuan takes a step forward, and Myra keeps back. He closes his fan with a satisfying clack and slips it into the pocket of his shorts, and then cups his hands around his mouth. “Hey, Shang Lei! Come here!”

Oh, so the other agent’s name was Shang Lei, not Xiao Lei.

Myra pokes at her lip in thought as she watches the distant figure poke it’s head up out of the mechanical innards of whatever creature they were tinkering around inside of. Shen Yuan, Shang Lei… those names both sound pretty Chinese to her. And in Chinese, Xiao is often used as a diminutive or an endearment. So, this must mean that Shen Yuan and Shang Leo are actually very close friends, right? Myra covers her smile with a hand.

Due to context gathered from Shen Yuan's earlier words, it must also be likely that they were partners in their last world. Meaning that Shang Lei also experienced what was, in layman’s terms, called a Hell Assignment. And it is likely that the Hell Assignment was also Shang Lei’s first Assignment, given that Shen Yuan has no idea about a lot of System Agent common sense.

If they were partners all this time, if Shang Lei had previous transmigration experience, he’d have schooled his partner on it by now. And yet, Shen Yuan was ignorant of a lot of things.

Myra presses both her palms to her cheeks and sighs quietly as she watches Shang Lei approach them. Shen Yuan has stepped up to meet him, but she can clearly see the hesitant way that Shang Lei holds himself, the wary way that he eyes her. The way that he slides himself into the shadow of Shen Yuan’s barely taller stature when he realizes she’s looking back at him.

She sighs in her heart, as well, and clutches Dorazou in one arm like a teddy bear. Her system pays her on the hand.

“—apparently posted an assignment asking for other agents to come and lend us a hand.” Shen Yuan is explaining quietly to his partner — his friend. He gestures at her with a hand. “This is Myra Khol, the first one to accept the mission.”

Myra steps forward the smallest step she can take without it seeming like she’s wary of them, too. It still makes Shang Lei duck even further behind Shen Yuan. She does not let it dim her smile.

“Hi, I’m Myra, System Agent 23! I’m pleased to meet you, boss!”

Shang Lei peeks out from behind his friend with wide eyes. There’s a complicated expression on his face.

“... Nice to meet you, too,” he mumbles, and curls back behind Shen Yuan as soon as the last word is out.

That is it! Myra has decided! She will help these two to the best of her abilities, not because it’s the Assignment, but because she wants to!

Dorazou! Edit Assignment self parameters!

[[Host!]]

The dragon sprite makes a soft noise from within her grasp. She sees the way that Shang Lei’s eyes dart down to it, and the frown that graces his face as he glances shyly back toward her with an expression that almost looks faintly concerned. For her. And given the fact that it’s very possible that Shang Lei’s opinion of systems is the same as Shen Yuan’s, due to their not-so-great past experiences, the look that he’s sending her now makes Myra’s heart melt.

[[Assignment parameters, self edit mode!]]

Myra’s smile broadens.

Take care of Agent 74 and Agent 81! Priority!

#scum villain's self saving system #bofuri #cheating men must die #world state: refresh #update #vodkassassin fanfiction #cucumberplane #vodkas ocs

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viking-raider · 4 years

Text

Fangs Deep - Part IV *Mature*

Summary: Luna and Henry’s relationship continues to grow and develop a firm foundation. Titus invites Luna to a very important Vampire event with Henry, where she ends up causing some serious trouble.

Pairing: Henry Cavill/OFC

Word Count: 9,444

Parts: I II III

Rating: M - Language, Daddy Kink, Sugar Daddy, Size Kink, Caregiver Kink, Fluff, Angst, Slight Bullying, Light Spanking, Aftercare, Vampire Politics

Inspiration: Vampire!Henry is such a mood!

Author’s Note: It’s a sorta dark fic and sorta not. Thanks to @wondersofdreaming for reading it for me and being its beta! Tell me what you think!

Tag List: @jennylovelyheart, @peakygroupie, @jessevans, @rosie-loves-things, @ohjules, @mary-ann84, @omgkatinka, @the-freak-cassie-131, @heelsamizayn, @agniavateira, @cap-barnes, @romyr4, @michelehansel, @kaatelyyynn, @badassbaker, @mrsaugustwalker, @authentic-bish-face, @rizeandvibe, @severuined, @supernaturalvikingwhore, @bellastellaluna, @wondersofdreaming, @thisisntmyrightera, @michelle-1185, @winchwm, @royallylazy, @sofiebstar, @worldicreate, @agniavateira, @fantasygirlsuniverse, @witches-of-discovery-a, @xuxszx, @ayamenimthiriel, @keiva1000, @fantasygirlsuniverse, @itsreigns, @constip8merm8, @scorpionchild81, @mylifefallingupthestairs, @onlyhenrys, @luclittlepond, @ellixthea, @lebguardians, @geralt-yennefer-jeskier, @cherrybloomn, @p3nny4urth0ught5, @iloveyouyen, @hollydaisy23, @mcuimagination, @psychosupernatural, @sweetlybigdragonn, @whitewolfandthefox, @moviemonzy, @the-soot-sprite, @hell1129-blog, @trippedmetaldetector, @captaingothgirl1996, @dont8mind8me8eue, @peaky-marvel, @desperate-and-broken21, @monstersnmoney, @dancingwendigo, @redhot-mystacism, @thereisa8ella, @black-ninja-blade, @oddduckthatgirl, @rosewinx, @henrythickcavill, @tinabean37, @hnryycvll, @msblkfire84, @romangenesius, @emelinelovesjc, @strangerliaa, @lovieebby, @pinksdaydream, @fanfictionaddiction99, @seb-owns-these-tatas, @oh-for-fic-sake, @sauvage-et-libre, @mis-lil-red, @angreav, @crazyandanonymous4u, @the-mighty-jellybean @syversons, @jimmypagesandbrianmayshair, @iam-laiya, @worshipping-skarsgard, @thetruthandotherstories, @ruthoakenshield, @lostinaseaoffictionalbliss, @theonetheycallhannah, @nina-skyee, @thatgirly81, @inanna999, @suueeeeeee, @spideysimpossiblegirl, @x-wingwarriorbbpoe8, @beckster07890, @daddys-littlewhitegirl

“No.” Henry shook his head at Luna.

“Why not?” She pouted back. “It's cute.”

“It's too revealing.” He replied, taking the shirt out of her hands and putting it back on the rack.

“You said, I could have anything I wanted.”

“I did, but I'm not having you walking around with your breasts practically hanging out.” He chided her, directing her away from the article of clothing.

“But, Henry--”

“Do you want to shop, or do you want to go home?” He asked, stopping and looking down at her.

“I want to shop.” She replied, blinking up at him, gulping at the intense feeling coming off of him.

“Then, stop whining.” He told her, jaw tight. “If you try throwing another tantrum, we're going home and you're going to be stuck in the corner, for the rest of the day. Got it?” He warned her, in a low voice, with an edge that dared her to have the gall to defy him.

Luna's mouth dried up and fell open, big blue eyes staring at him in shock, the pure authority dripping off of him and washing over onto her was so intense, she was left speechless for a moment. She had allowed Henry, unspoken, to start acting more as a Caregiver, and Daddy her more, and she was still getting used to it. She hadn't gotten comfortable enough with it yet to call him Daddy or anything of the sort and Henry had so far only gave her stern words, if she started to misbehave and get out of line; before her brain was able to come back online.

“I got it.” She whispered, licking her dry lips.

“Excellent.” He sighed and relaxed again, gently touching her hair. “You want to finish?”

“Yes, please.” Luna nodded, relaxing as well.

“Well, go on then.” Henry smiled, kissing her cheek. “I'll be right here.”

Luna looked between Henry and the clothing section, making Henry smirk, and gave her a gentle nudge, then watched her start to weave in and out of the racks and shelves of clothing. She browsed the selections, picking things up and putting them back down, then held them up for Henry to see, wanting his approval on them, and would smile, when he nodded his head. A text on Henry's phone distracted him for a moment as Luna rounded a corner into another section of the store. He was just about to reply to the text, when he felt a spike in Luna's blood pressure and quickly made his way to her, expecting the absolute worse as he went around the corner.

“Luna?” He called out, panning around for her. “Where are you?”

“Right here, Hen.”

Her voice answered back, making Henry drop his gaze to the floor, where she was sitting cross legged in front of a display of big eyed beanie babies, cradling a gray, blue-eared Elephant in her hands. Henry relaxed, realizing Luna wasn't in danger or frightened; she was just excited at how cute the stuffed animal was, hugging it to her chest.

“Look how cute it is, Hens!” She smiled up at him, eyes sparkling.

“It's a very cute stuffie, Luna.” He smiled back at her, feeling her melting over it. “Would you like it?”

“Yes, I would.” She nodded her head, vigorously.

“He's yours then.” He chuckled, reaching his hand out for it.

“No, I want to hold it.” Luna shook her head, hugging it closer to her body.

“All right.” Henry laughed and shook his head at her, amused.

Luna carried the little stuffed beanie baby around with her as she looked around the store, picking out several articles of clothing, a couple shirts and a super cute pair of shoes. Henry secretly bought her a pair of expensive earrings with her birthstone set in them. Which he presented to her over lunch at a nice restaurant, Luna's mouth dropped open as he opened the velvety box and set it in front of her plate.

“Oh god, Henry.” She gasped, setting her fork down and picking up the box. “How did you even know my birthday?” She asked, looking across at him.

“I'm a very rich man, Sweet girl.” Henry smirked at her. “I can find anything out with the right amount of money.”

“You could have just asked me.”

“I could have.” Henry nodded, taking a sip of his water. “But, that would have given away the surprise.” He chuckled. “Do you like them?”

“I do.” Luna nodded, gently touching the teardrop opal earrings, a ring of diamonds around them. “They're absolutely beautiful.”

“Excellent.” Henry smiled, relieved. “We have one more shop to go to.” He told her, digging back into his food.

“For what?” Luna frowned, closing the box and setting it back down.

“You need a formal dress.”

“For what?” She repeated, lifting a brow at him.

“There's an event coming up in the next few days.” He sighed, finishing his lunch and pushed his plate aside, wiping his mouth with his cloth napkin. “I was going just have Tali watch you, while I attended it, but Titus specifically asked me to bring you.”

Luna swallowed. “Why?”

Henry heaved a sigh. “He likes you.” He admitted, rubbing the side of his face. “You made quite the impression on him two week ago, you are the only Human to stand up to Titus like you did, and live. I was sure he was going to kill you for being so blatantly disrespectful.”

“I didn't mean to be rude.” She whispered, shyly. “I just wanted you two to stop being so angry at each other. It was making me dizzy and like I was going to pass out.”

“You felt him?” Henry blinked at her, surprised. “You felt Titus's anger, through me?”

“I guess.” She blinked back at him. “Is that weird?”

“That is weird.” He nodded, licking his lips, then shook his head. “Anyway, the event happens yearly, the top elite of the Vampire Society go and Titus hosts it, naturally. As his son, heir and Prince, I am required to attend, there's no ifs, ands or buts about it.”

“What am I supposed to do?” Luna asked, uncomfortable and nervous about going to a party full of Vampires.

“Naturally, I'll be your escort, since you are my Nexum, and you'll be by my side, the whole time.” He explained to her.

“What's a Nexum?” Luna frowned, shaking her head at him.

“It's what a Human is called, when they are blood bound to a Vampire. You are blood bound to me, so it makes you my Nexum. It's Latin for bound or linked.” He explained to her.

“That being said, you need to understand something, my baby girl.” He whispered, his voice critical, as he leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. “Whatever you do, whatever you say, will be watched very closely and very meticulously, with extremely judgmental eyes, by several people that can be quite dangerous and cause a never-ending amount of trouble for Titus, and the rest of the Vampire society.”

“I don't know if I want to go with you, Henry.” Luna said softly, feeling her hands start to shake at the thought of saying or doing something wrong and possibly starting a serious conflict for Henry and Titus.

Henry smiled softly at her. “You'll be okay, Luna.” He assured her. “You just need to listen to what I tell you to do. I don't want to tell you not to say anything, that's rude and all. But, I need you to be very careful in what you say, if someone speaks to you, or you to them.”

“Like, what?”

“Don't speak of my business.”

“I don't know anything about your business.” She said, softly. “Other than that, you have a host of Humans that know of Vampires existing and are contracted to one of them, purely to feed on; so they don't go out attacking and killing people on the streets.”

“That's quite enough information for some people, little one.” He smiled at her. “If they ask you about it, try and behave like you don't know anything about it.”

“I'm not a good liar, Hen.”

“I know you aren't, love.” Henry laughed.

“What if they try glamouring it out of me?” She asked, suddenly.

“I'll be able to sense the change in you, if someone tries too, and I will put a swift end to it.” He assured her.

And them. He thought.

“You are part of my world now, Luna.” He sighed, leaning back in his chair.

“Part of me wishes I never dragged you into it, it's so dangerous and unpredictable. But, I love you so fucking much, that thinking about a life without you is painful and almost unbearable. I need you. I want you. I crave you. All the time. I've never felt like this with anyone, the closest is my bond with Titus.” He cleared his throat, fighting down a lump of emotions.

“I will do anything, and everything, I need to to ensure your safety, happiness and well-being. Even if it costs me my life.”

Luna leaned forward and grabbed at Henry's hands, still resting on the table. “Please, don't leave me.” She begged him, afraid at the thought of losing him.

“I won't, if I can absolutely avoid it.” He promised, squeezing her trembling hands. “Now, finish eating and we'll go dress shopping.” He smiled at her, sweetly.

“I don't know, Henry.” Luna said, chewing on her thumbnail as she looked at all the super expensive and really elegant dresses in front of her. “The only time I wore a dress was when I was going to school and it was for dress code.”

“Hm.” Henry hummed, rubbing her back as he stood next to her. “Do you trust Daddy?” He asked, looking down at her, he had started to refer to himself as Daddy to her more, hoping to help her get used to the term and the theme of it.

It still struck Luna as odd, she never called her biological father Daddy, not even as a small child; he was either dad or Colby. Gulping and clearing her throat, Luna nodded at Henry, still chewing on her nails.

“All right.” He smiled at her, gently wrapping his hand around her wrist and pulled her fingers away from her mouth. “Sit right there.” He pointed to a chair behind them. “And I'll pick something out for you.”

“Okay.” Luna nodded and sat down, watching Henry browse the selections.

“You need something elegant, but practical and appropriate.” He said, taking a dress off the rack, shook his head and put it back. “Nothing too revealing, but still shows those beautiful curves of yours.” He bit his lip and looked over at her.

“How are you with high heels?”

“I'd rather walk on hot nails.”

Henry chuckled, smirking at her. “Then, a dress that pairs well with flats.”

Henry spent several minutes looking through the store's collection, before his eyes landed on a black and royal blue, gradient ombre evening dress, a single shoulder strap with a row of straps at the back. It would hug Luna's curves, without giving anything away that only Henry should be able to see. It's length was appropriate enough for the occasion, but wouldn't be hindered by the fact she would be wearing flats, instead of heels.

“What about this one?” He asked, bringing it for her to see. “It really goes with the earrings I got you.” He smiled, watching her look the dress over. “and your eyes.”

“I really like it.” Luna nodded, licking her lips and getting up to have a closer look at it. “Oh, god.” She gasped, seeing the price tag.

“I don't care about the price, and you know it, sweet girl.” Henry chuckled and turned towards the wall of shoes the store also had. “These will work.” He pulled down a pair of black, almond-toe ballet flats with ankle straps and the smallest of raised heels.

“You're going to look even more gorgeous than usual.” He said, kissing her and taking the shoes and dress to the counter, paying for them.

“Did you feed Kal the rest of your lunch?” Henry asked, standing next to Luna as she sat at the dining table, his hands on his hips.

“No.” Luna shook her head, blushing as she lied to him.

“I know you're lying, Luna.” He sighed, disappointed in her. “So, tell the truth. Did you give Kal the rest of your food?”

“No.” She shook her head again, gulping.

Henry rolled his jaw and set a chair next to her, sat down, then pulled her into his lap. “Look at me.” He told her, baby blues serious. “Why are you lying to me?” He asked her, once she held his eyes.

“I'm—not...” She whimpered, looking away from him, guilty.

“Hey.” He snapped his fingers at her. “Look at me, don't look over there. My eyes are right here.” He held her chin in his fingers and turned her face back to his. “There's a good girl.”

“Now, out with it and tell Daddy the truth.”

“I'm--” Luna started to repeat herself, but Henry shook his head at her.

“You know, how you started to quietly let me take care of you?” He said, brows lifting.

“Mmhm.” She nodded, sucking on her bottom lip and struggling to keep eye contact with him.

“I think we need to have a verbal agreement on you allowing me to correct you.” He said, licking his lips, he could feel her raised anxiety at the notion of Henry punishing her; the PTSD of her father and everyone else that had abused her.

“I would never hurt you.” He told her softly, caressing her cheek with his thumb. “Or abuse you, for that matter.”

“Would you hit me?” She whimpered.

Henry sighed. “You mean spank you?”

Luna nodded her head, dropping her eyes from his for a moment, before bringing them back.

“I wouldn't spank you, if you don't like it, were uncomfortable with it or it caused you to have a flashback episode. There's several punishments I could give you for misbehaving. From a time-out in the corner, writing lines, taking something away, like your phone or your Switch, or making you go to bed early.” He explained to her, patiently.

“If there was something you did that was so bad , that it warranted me spanking your bottom, I will ask you first. If not, I'll punish you another way. Deal?” He compromised with her.

Luna sat in Henry's lap for a little while, mulling over the options and the explanation he gave her. Considering, if it was something she was comfortable with and didn't scare her, which she knew wasn't ever Henry's intention. Luna was more than sure Henry would never do anything to harm her, put her in danger, against her will, or anything of the sort.

She really didn't mind Henry acting as a Caregiver or a Daddy towards her, the added attention was nice. He would read to her before bed, something she always loved to do, because it helped her quiet down her mind. He made sure she ate breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as stayed hydrated. She had a horrible habit of not drinking enough water, which nearly caused Henry's head to explode with shock, when he realized it. He would give her a bath too, if she was up for it; which she was most of the time.

The strong and reassuring feel of his strong hands massaging her body felt nice, and she marveled at the fact Henry was capable of being so insanely gentle. He could crush any part of Luna's body, with the weakest amount of pressure from his Vampire strength against her feeble Human body. Yet, he was so so gentle as he rubbed the soapy washcloth against her delicate skin, not leaving anything behind, not a single mark, but the soapy suds on her clean and fragrant skin.

No, Henry would never hurt Luna, even if he were to spank her.

And Luna knew that, with every drop of his blood inside her body.

“I'm--” She gulped and blushed, bright red.

“You can tell me, sweetie.” Henry whispered, soothing his hand up and down her back, getting her to relax so she leaned against him, her temple resting against his forehead. “Take your time.” He added, whispering into her ear.

“I don't--” Luna sighed, shifting in his lap. “I don't completely understand this. I know you've been, Daddying, me since we met, that night.” She confessed, speaking slowly, so her words didn't come out in a jumbled mess. “I didn't fully realize it, or even knew what it was, until you said something about it.”

“It confuses me..”

“What about it confuses you, Nana?” Henry inquired, when she paused for a moment.

“Why do you do it?” She asked, looking down at her own lap.

“Why do I love being a Caregiver and a Daddy?” He asked, looking for clarification.

“Yeah.”

Henry took a deep breath and glanced up for a moment, trying to find a way to explain to Luna the reason why he enjoyed and loved doing it, why the kink attracted him so much. “I love taking care of people I love and care about. I'm very protective of those close and important to me.” He frowned and shook his head, struggling to explain it.

“I know, it's a very different kind of loving, protective care. Drawing you baths and bathing you, picking out your outfits and making your meals for you. Helping you make decisions, or making them for you, when you can't. Making sure you're happy and healthy, taking your antidepressant--”

“I'm bad at that.” Luna blushed, abashed.

“I know you are.” Henry chuckled, tucking her hair behind her ear. “That's why I make sure to give it to you, myself. Then, I know for sure you've taken it and that important and vital need you have, is filled.”

“I enjoy being the person you come to when you're sad or upset, when you're struggling with something, whatever it is, and be the person to help you fix it. To be that ear, when you need someone to listen to you or the shoulder, you need to cry on; to comfort you. Your support system. I love you and I want to take care of you, in every way, shape and form. Being a Caregiver and a Daddy to you is one of those ways, as is me being your boyfriend.”

“And my Vampire.” She chuckled at him, cheeks still warm.

“That too.” Henry smiled, warmed and touched. “I'm not a normal person, and not just because I'm a Vampire. I'm unconventional in a lot of ways. If you don't want or don't like me being a caregiver and a Daddy to you, I will stop. I'll just be your supportive and loving boyfriend and protective Vampire. All I want is your health, happiness and well-being. To love and cherish you, inside and out. To have your love and affection back.”

“Do I do that?” She asked, glancing up at him. “Share your love and affection back?”

“In so many ways, babe.” He nodded, kissing her cheek. “You take care of me, as much as I take care of you.”

“I don't mind you Daddying me, or wanting to be my Caregiver.” Luna admitted to him. “That's why I don't say anything, when you do it.”

“But, it does make you uncomfortable sometimes.” Henry said, he had felt and noticed it.

“I'm just not used to someone wanting to take care of me like that, or at all, really. It's not a 'I'm uncomfortable because I don't like it or want it.' It's a 'I've never had this before, and don't know how else to react.'”

“If that makes any sense.”

“It does.” He nodded, softly. “I understand that, and I try not to be too overbearing with it. I don't want to push it on you, all at once, and have you become really uncomfortable with it. I'm an extremely patient man, Luna. I'll do whatever it takes and I'll move at any pace you want too. I don't care if it takes you months, or even years, to get comfortable enough to call me, Daddy. I don't care if you never call me Daddy. That's not what I'm seeking from you.”

“If you want to completely give yourself into allowing me to be your Daddy and be your Caregiver, then great. If you only want to give half of yourself to it, fine. If you don't want to do it at all, then we won't do it at all, that's great too. As long as I have you.”

“I'm willing to try some things, to see what I do and don't like, before I decide how much of it I want to give myself over too. If that's all right with you, Henry?” She said, very quietly. “You don't know if you like something, until you try it at least once; my mum always said.”

“That's more than fine with me, sweetheart.” Henry told her, patient and understanding.

“So, I'm all right with you punishing me, if I'm bad.” Luna told him, bluntly. “And, if you feel one of them does require a spanking, I would like to, at least, talk about it before you do it.”

“Of course.” Henry nodded, seriously. “I will never punish you without giving you at least one warning and telling you why I'm doing it and what it is. I try to be a rational person in everything I do.”

Luna wrapped her arms around Henry's neck and hugged him, she actually felt a lot better about the new and developing dynamic in their complicated relationship. Luna had grown to trust Henry, she had started trusting him almost instantly, when they met, and she never trusted anyone more than him. Henry hugged her back, feeling her reassurance mix with his own assurance and relief.

“I did give Kal the rest of my lunch.” She confessed into his ear, still hugging his neck. “I'm sorry for lying to you and feeding Kal non-doggy food.”

“Why did you?” Henry asked, pulling her away from his neck and looking her in the eyes.

“I wasn't hungry anymore and he kept staring at me, so I just did it.” She admitted, nervously licking her lips.

“You already know how naughty that is, don't you?”

“I do, Henry.” She nodded, ashamed of herself.

“All right.” He sighed and raked a hand through his hair. “I don't want you to ever lie to me again, understand? If you do, there will be severe consequences.”

“I understand, Henry.”

“I don't want you to feed Kal anything that isn't meant for doggy's to eat, either. You can make him very sick.” He added, giving her a firm look. “Now, I want you to go upstairs to your room and get your Switch and your phone. You're losing your games for lying to me and your phone for feeding Kal inappropriate foods.”

“Okay.” She whimpered, hanging her head.

“That's a good girl.” He whispered back, kissing her cheek. “Go get them, please.” He told her, standing her up and directing her towards the stairs.

Luna went upstairs to her bedroom, getting her phone and Nintendo Switch. Coming out of her room, she found Henry standing by his bedroom door, his hand held out. With a soft pout, Luna put them in his hand and Henry went into his walk-closet, locking them inside his safe, so she wouldn't be tempted to sneak them; though Henry didn't think she would.

“Henry.” Luna said, as he got into the driver's seat beside her.

“What, baby?” He replied and started the car, before looking at her.

“I'm scared.” She whimpered, fidgeting with Henry's signet ring, that still hung around her neck.

She had been panicked and anxious about the party for the wealthiest and most elite Vampires in the world, for nearly the week leading up to it. She didn't want to mess up and cause any problems for him and Titus, or anyone else for that matter. Luna had tried, once, already to convince Henry to just let her stay home, even if it meant being babysat by Tali. But, Henry refused to allow it, he wasn't going to defy Titus's wish for her to attend the event, as much as he wanted to give into her wish, about staying home. Henry sighed and rested his hand on her thigh, gently stroking the chiffon fabric of her dress, he felt bad for her, he really did.

“I know you are, sweetheart.” He frowned, kissing her temple and trying to reassure her as much as possible. “But, you'll be all right and you'll be perfect tonight. I have all the faith in you.”

“What if I do fuck up?” She asked.

“Watch your language.” He corrected her, gently. “If you end up saying or doing anything that causes trouble, we'll deal with it accordingly.”

“Will you punish me?” Luna squeaked, she had given Henry verbal consent to punish her, if he felt she needed it.

“That will completely depend on what you do or say, sweet girl.” Henry replied in a measured voice.

Henry opened the car door and helped Luna step out, then handed the keys to the valet standing on the curb, patiently waiting to be of service.

“Thank you, Bruno.” Henry smiled to the valet, looping Luna's arm with his and walked into the massive building with her. “It'll be all right, love.” He whispered into her ear as they entered the large and spacious room, full of people.

“Are all of them Vampires?” She whispered back, eyes sweeping the room.

“There are several other Nexums here. There's a few humans that are assistants or just arm candy.” He explained, scanning the room himself.

“Nephew!” A voice rumbled with a cheery tone.

“Remus!” Henry grinned at the dark haired Vampire advancing on him, and returned the bear hug. “Bindy.” He smiled at the young lady with him, kissing her hand, politely.

“Who's this sweet dove?” Remus asked, lifting a brow at Luna.

“Remus, this is Luna Davenport, my Nexum.” Henry replied, smiling so proudly at Luna. “Luna, this is Remus, Titus's youngest brother, and this is Bindy, his Child and Partner.” He introduced the three of them.

“It's a pleasure to meet you.” Remus smiled at Luna, extending his hand to her.

“And you.” She smiled back softly, letting him have her hand and blushed softly as he kissed it.

“Pleasure.” Bindy smiled at Luna, leaning in and kissing cheeks with her.

“Same.”

“Is Soren and Emil here?” Henry asked, resting his hand on Luna's hip.

“Soren and Alan aren't here, they've got pressing business in the States to deal with, and Emil..” Remus replied, looking around the room. “Ah, there he is.” He motioned to the entrance on the other side of the room.

“What is Wyn doing with him?” Henry asked, heart pounding.

“Don't you know?” Bindy asked, lifting a brow at him. “The two of them have, apparently, become a thing. Emil adopted her, after Seb died.”

“How did you not know that, after how many decades the two of you were gallivanting around the world together?” Remus laughed.

“I knew she and Emil knew each other, I didn't know about the nature of their relationship.” He answered, feeling a cold sweat start to break out.

Luna looked up at Henry, concerned and squeezed his arm, bringing him back out of his building panic, smiling softly at him as he looked down at her. Henry smiled back down at her, squeezing her hand in return, then shivered as a cold tingle ran down his back.

“Excuse us.” Henry smiled at Remus and Bindy, leading Luna away from them and back into the hallway outside of the event space.

“What is it, Hen?” Luna frowned.

“Titus wants to see us.”

“How do you know that?”

“He sensed us in the area and called for me through our bond.” He explained, stopping at a door at the very end of the hall and knocked, before entering.

“Titus.”

“Henry.” Titus smiled, turning towards him. “Ah, and Luna.” He grinned at her, giving her a once over. “You look absolutely gorgeous.” He complimented her, kissing both her cheeks and her hand, chuckling at her blush. “I am glad you came.” He added, softer.

“Thank you for inviting me.” Luna replied, biting her lip.

“Of course.” Titus nodded his head. “You're my son's partner and Nexum, I wouldn't dream of not including you in the family functions.” He assured her, with a light touch of her arm. “Henry,” Titus turned to him. “The Duke of France, Dimitri Rodin, is attending this function. Being that your French is considerably better than mine, I would like you to entertain him and his wife, Louise. There's been rumor that the Duke of Russia, Anton Smirnov, is trying to form an alliance with Dimitri, to undermine my throne.”

“Again?” Henry hissed, shaking his head and rolling his eyes.

“Yes, he's still holding the claim of being one of Arius's children.”

“Arius was dead by the time that wrench popped into existence.” He huffed back, gobsmacked at the Russian's attempt to take the throne out from under Titus.

“We know this, but he has already convinced Peter Kindler, Duke of Germany of it, and almost has Isabella York, Duchess of America convinced of it as well. That's why Soren and his Child, Allan, are there dealing with it.”

“It's going to be a very politically fueled night, then.” Henry sighed, running a hand through his combed curls, the styling balm he put in to tame them was bare capable of doing so. “I fear, I won't be a load of fun tonight, baby girl.” He frowned, sympathetically, at Luna, whose mind was spinning from all the information he and Titus discussed.

“It's okay, Henry.” She replied, blinking the tangle of thoughts out of her head. “The fate of whatever you two were just talking about, sounds a million times more important.”

Henry's smile softened, cupped her head in his hands and gently pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Thank you for understanding, honey.” He whispered, resting his forehead against hers. “I love you.” He added, even softer.

“I love you too, Hen.” Luna smiled and whispered back, resting her hands on his hips.

“What?” Henry frowned, pulling away from Luna to look at Titus, who had the strangest smile and elated look on his face.

“I didn't say anything.” He laughed, turning away to look into a small mirror on his desk, fixing his tie.

“You don't need to say anything.” Henry teased back, shaking his head at his Maker.

“Why don't we all go out and make ourselves seen.” Titus replied, turning back around, utterly put together and composed.

The vibe of Titus's authority and power oozed off of him in heavy waves, if there was any doubt to his age and station in the world, standing next to him for a few moments completely crushed that doubt to ash. Henry stepped around Luna and opened the office door, bowing his head as Titus stepped through and kept his head bowed as Luna followed behind him, then brought up the rear of his two most beloved people in the world.

Offering his arm to her again, Luna and Henry followed after Titus as he walked down the hall, the people there, lining the walls to get out of the King's way, bowing their heads respectfully as he passed them. There was a tall chair at the front of the room, on a slight platform; which Titus went straight for and sat down in, taking his place as head of the event, the Vampire Society and rightful King. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing, conversations ending mid-word and eyes drawn to him.

It was eerily silent for several long moments before, slowly, all the champagne and wine glasses raised in the air, toward Titus, and in one voice, echoing in the room came the worlds: “Vivat Rex.”

Long live the King.

“Longo vivas tempore.” Titus chanted back.

That you may live a long time.

Henry quietly translated the phrases into Luna's ear afterwards, then took a sip of his wine, hailing and honoring Titus and his reign.

They stood together for a while, speaking to whoever came to speak with them, but Henry was keeping his eye out for the Duke of France. He had explained to her, between the lull of people approaching them, that each country around the world had either a Duke or Duchess to preside over the region, since Titus couldn't be everywhere all at once. They all answered to him, no matter what, but like all Kingdoms, there was disdain going on. Several of the Dukes and Duchesses, more vocally the Duke of Russia, felt that Titus had reigned as King long enough, and needed to step down and let new blood in.

Namely, anyone, other than the Arius bloodline.

“So, Titus, his brothers, you and so on?” Luna asked, sipping the glass of wine Henry had given her.

“Exactly.” He nodded, sipping his champagne. “Ah, Dimitri!” Henry smiled, seeing the Duke enter the room, both of them bowing to each other. “Comment allez-vous?” He asked, switching his glass to his right hand and shook the Duke's with his left.

“Très bien et toi?”

“Même.” Henry nodding his head, politely. “Duke Dimitri, I would like you to meet my girlfriend and Nexum, Luna Davenport. Luna, this is Dimitri Rodin, Duke of France.” He said, motioning a hand from Dimitri to Luna, giving Dimitri the permission to address her.

“Un plaisir de vous rencontrer, ma chère.” Dimitri smiled, taking Luna's hand and bowing over it, before giving it a delicate kiss.

“Merci, mon plaisir aussi.” Luna grinned back, flattered.

“You know French?” Henry smirked, surprised and impressed.

“Top marks in my class.” She replied, loving the amused surprise on Henry's face to learn something he didn't know about her.

“My little box of surprises.” He chuckled, kissing her temple.

“Your Maker noted that you wished to speak with me, when I paid my respects to him.” Dimitri said, lifting a brow at Henry.

“Ah, yes.” He nodded, setting his glass down and got down to business. “It's been brought to my attention that Anton has been trying to form an alliance with you, on the false pretense of being an Heir to the Arius bloodline, my Maker's bloodline.” Henry started to explain to him, his whole air changed as he started talking business with him, his shoulders relaxed and he locked his arms behind his back, giving Dimitri and their conversation his complete attention.

“Oui, Monsieur Anton, came to my offices in Paris, not a month before. Wishing to discuss a possible business venture together, that could increase our standings in the Society.” Dimitri began to explain to him, brow pinching. “We only spoke briefly on the matter before he was forced to cut the meeting short, because of a...problème.”

“What was the issue?”

“One of the people he patrons summoned him on a personal matter.” Dimitri explained to Henry. “I didn't see the note, so I know not what it was exactly about.” He took a sip of his wine, then handed it to a boy standing just behind him. “I assure you, Monsieur Cavill, I have no intentions on breaking my promise and oath to King Titus. He has been generous and most helpful to me, not only in installing me as Duke of France, after my predecessor, Monsieur Jean-Luc tragically took his life.” He made a cross over his chest, an old habit from his Human life.

“But, personally as well. I would have been in financial ruin, had he not invested in my company, for Vampire-Friendly restaurants.”

“I would hate for you to believe Anton's nonsense and not only lose your position as Duke, but for your company to collapse as well.” Henry told him, in a tone that was filled with pity should such a thing happen, but also lined with a threat that if the Duke dared to cross Titus, Dimitri would lose everything.

“Oui.” Dimitri nodded, gulping and readjusting his tightening tie and collar.

Henry suddenly looked down at Luna, startling her for a moment, with the strange and dark tint of his eyes. “Tali.” He said and snapped his fingers.

A tall, dark haired and Hazel-eyed woman suddenly appeared beside Henry, brow lifted at him in question. “Yes, Henry?”

“Will you please keep an eye on Luna, while Dimitri and I speak more about our business?” He asked, his eyes still on Luna. “I don't want to bore her with all this silly politics.” He told her, gently touching Luna's cheek and brushing her hair off her shoulder.

“Of course.” Tali nodded her head at Henry and offered Luna a sweet smile.

“I'll come find you, when I'm done here, sweetheart.” He told her, sweetly, and kissed her gently on the lips. “Do behave.” He added against her lips, before turning back to Dimitri, motion out of the room. “Shall we, Monsieur Rodin?”

“Hello, Luna.” Tali smiled offering her slender and smooth, cocoa colored hand. “I'm Talicia, but you can call me, Tali.”

“Pleasure to meet you, I've heard some about you from Henry and Titus.” Luna replied, shaking her head.

“All good I hope?” Tali laughed, she had a breathtaking smile.

“Oh, of course!” Luna nodded, worried she had offended her. “They hold you in really high regard, Titus especially.”

Tali grinned, looking at Titus over her shoulder as he sat on his throne talking to someone. “I do hope so, or he'll be having a rough night.” She chuckled.

“Excuse me?” Luna blinked at her, caught off guard.

“I'm Titus's Nexum.” She smiled at Luna, soothing away her confusion. “I started out as the CEO to one of his companies, the Hercules Corporation. It's a military company.” She explained to her.

“The government knows about Vampires?” Luna shook her head.

“Oh, yes. It's an open secret.” Tali nodded. “The Hercules Corporation caters to Vampires that are currently in active duty. It's very beneficial for the military and government to have Vampires in their employment. They are hard to kill, heal rather quickly, they're very fast and strong, among everything else they are capable of. I am also an agent for AI6, or Alpha Intelligence, Section Six.”

“It's like the MI6.”

“That's incredible!” Luna replied, really impressed by her.

“It is!” Tali smiled, proud of herself. “Titus took notice of me for my work as an Agent and started sending me on his most delicate cases and missions, and we hit it off and fell in love.”

It was hard to miss the pure look of love Tali had for Titus, and why he and Henry trusted her so much. It was a daunting job to help run a military company, on top of going on missions as a secret agent.

“Has he tried turning you?” Luna asked, innocently.

“Oh no.” She shook her head. “I'm content being Human, I don't want the stress of going through the change, then out living all my loved ones. So, we have an agreement that he won't turn me, no matter what.”

“It must be hard for him, to watch you age, while he stays the same, and then eventually has to watch you die.” Wyn's voice spoke as she came out of the crowd to join them.

“Titus and I know the sacrifice it demands, for the choice I made in not having him turn me.” Tali replied, coldly. “We've come to terms with it. Besides, the ingestion of Vampire blood, especially blood as strong as Titus's is, prolongs a Human's life. It won't be a while yet, until I die.”

“Unless, something was to happen to you.”

Tali narrowed her eyes at Wyn, opening her mouth to say something to her, before her eyes jerked towards Titus. “Excuse me, Luna. I'll be right back.” She said, touching Luna's arm for a moment, then crossed the room to her lover.

Luna floundered for a moment, getting stuck alone with Bronwyn for the first time, since they ran into each other on Kal's walk. “How are you, Wyn?” She asked, taking a large gulp of her wine.

“I'm excellent.” Wyn replied, flicking her red hair off her bare shoulders. “How are you, baby?” She chuckled, menacingly.

“Fine, thank you.” Luna huffed back, finished off her wine and turned around to set it on the table behind her. “What do you want, Wyn?”

“Just to talk.” She replied, running her eyes over Luna's outfit.

Henry had taken Luna to get her nails done and she had them painted a matte, royal blue with almond tips, the dress and ballet flats that he bought her, the Opal and Diamond earrings and Sapphire and Diamond Bracelet, he also gifted her to help tie in the outfit.

“Henry buy those for you?”

“He did.” Luna replied, lifting a brow at her.

“Where is he, anyway?” Wyn asked, looking around the room for him. “So, rude. Your first introduction into proper Vampire Society, and he ditches you.”

“He didn't ditch me.” Luna answered, narrowing her eyes at the other woman. “He had to go deal with a political situation with the Duke of France.”

“Oh, what's that all about, then?”

Luna started to open her mouth, then snapped it shut again, realizing she had already said more than she should have. Wyn smirked at her, knowing she had Luna exactly where she wanted her to be, crossing her arms over her chest in smug triumph.

“It's too late now, baby.” She mocked Luna, popping her lips at her. “You might as well tell me the rest.”

“No.” Luna squeaked softly, shaking her head.

“What's that matter, baby?” Wyn continued to taunt her. “It's not like the whole room doesn't know about what's going on. Everyone is talking about it, it's okay for you to talk about it too. Daddy doesn't have to know.” She giggled at Luna.

Luna's eyes panned around the room, to all the talking people and wishing that either Tali would come back or Henry would, but neither of them did and Luna could feel Wyn pressuring her, until she broke.

“There's something going on between France and Russia for the Vampires, and they want to dethrone Titus.” She blurted out, hoping she'd let it go now and leave her be.

“Bronwyn, leave Luna alone.” Tali snapped as she came back up to them, seeing the distressed and uncomfortable look on Luna's face and in her body language. “Don't you have horns you need to file down? I think I see them coming out right now.” She narrowed her eyes, critically at Wyn's forehead.

“Don't you dare call me Bronwyn, Talicia, or so—”

“Or what?” Tali snapped, stepping closer to Wyn, her sharp heels clicking on the expensive tile floor, completely unruffled by the other woman's attempt at intimidating her.

Wyn looked Tali over and huffed, backing down from her.

“That's what I thought, Bronwyn.” She said, purposely dragging out Wyn's name. “Now, get lost.” She added in a low hiss.

Huffing again, Wyn spun around on her high heels and stormed away, hands clenched into fists as she went. Tali watched after her, until she vanished in the crowd and turned back to Luna, relaxing her tense body.

“Are you all right?” She asked, looking Luna over.

“I'm fine, thank you for that.” Luna replied, biting her lip. “I don't think she likes me.”

“Bronwyn doesn't like anyone.” Tali told her, taking two glasses of wine off a serving plate as a waiter passed her, handing one of them to Luna. “She's always got her fangs in a bunch, and it doesn't help that you're with Henry; when she's still attracted to him.”

“She has no one to blame, but herself for that.” Luna commented, taking a relieved sip of the sweet and fruity white wine in her glass.

“Amen.” Tali nodded and clinked glasses with Luna, both of them laughing.

“Hey, Henry.” Tali smiled as the Brit appeared. “How was your meeting? She asked, but her smile slowly faded seeing him eye Luna. “What is it?”

“What have you been up too, little one?” He asked Luna.

“I've been right here with Tali, Henry.” Luna frowned at him, not understanding why he was giving off such an angry vibe.

“She's been right here with me the entire time, Henry.” Tali spoke up, noting how tense his body was under his suit. “We haven't left the room once.”

“Is that so?” He asked, tightly, the muscles of his jaw tightening and flexing.

“Yes.” Luna mewled, gulping.

“I only left her for a few moments to speak with Titus, but my eyes were on her the whole time.” Tali explained. “She didn't go anywhere. She only got, unfortunately, stuck talking to--”

Henry's upper lip twitched faintly, then looked to Tali. “Thank you for watching for me, I appreciate it. Greatly.” He told her with a quick nod of his head. “But, Luna and I need to have a private conversation.”

“Of course.” Tali nodded, putting her nursed glass of wine aside and nodded her head to them, before going back to join Titus.

Henry reached out and took the wine Luna had also been nursing and put it next to Tali's, then took her hand and led her out of the event room. He didn't say anything to her as he pulled her down the hallway to the lift, pressing the up button and waited for the lift to arrive.

“Henry--”

“Hush.” He cut her off, quickly and pulled her into the lift with him, pressing the second highest button and the doors closed.

Even as scared as she was about what was going on, Luna squeezed Henry's hand for comfort and got a quick squeeze back, relieving some of her anxiety. Stepping off the lift, Henry pulled a card out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket and marched down the hall and swiped it into a reader, then pushed open a door, holding it.

“Go in.” He instructed Luna and followed in behind her.

It was a conference room, a long glass table in the middle with about a dozen office chairs pushed into it. The opposite wall was full length windows, showing off the bright and sparkling lights outside from the street fifteen stories below and surrounding buildings.

“What did I tell you about coming here with me tonight, Luna?” Henry finally asked, his jaw tight again.

“To behave.” She whispered, finally feeling the full extent of the trouble she was in.

“Behave how?”

Her mouth hung open for a few moments, then gulped. “I was to behave, by not talking about anything I shouldn't talk about.”

“Why?”

“Cause it's important to you and Titus, and you can get in trouble, if the wrong people find out about it.” She replied, dropping her eyes to Henry's polished dress shoes.

“And did you behave like you should have, while I was away?”

Luna felt a hard lump instantly form in her throat and blinked several times at the growing burn in her eyes as tears wanted to form. “No.” She mouthed, soundlessly.

“What was that, little one?” Henry asked, brows lifting at her as he leaned slightly forward.

“No.” She mewled, a little louder, shaking her head.

“No, you did not.” He agreed, hooking his index finger into his tie and tugged it loose, too tight around his throat as his blood pressed throbbed in his neck. “You broke the one rule I gave you for tonight, Luna, and not only did you break it and misbehaved because of it, you said some very sensitive things.” He told her, removing his suit jacket and folding it over the back of a chair.

“I will take some of the blame for that, I shouldn't have said it in front of you.” He added, removing his cuff-links and rolling up the charcoal gray sleeves of his dress shirt. “I missed you being slightly into Little Space. That being said, you saying what you did, could and still can, cause a good amount of issues.”

“I didn't mean to.” Luna whined, biting back a pouty lip.

“You still did, little girl.” He told her, pulling out a chair and sat down. “What you said, could start a fucking war, if you said it to the right—or the wrong—person? The lives and livelihoods something like that can take, is astronomical, Luna.”

Luna just nodded her head, resigned to take the punishment for it.

“I promised, we would talk about this.”

Henry sighed, rubbing his face as exhaustion seeped into him. “The price of your actions is immeasurable. So, I'm going to spank you for it.” He told her, bluntly, and watched her shiver. “If it was anything else, I wouldn't. I would have simply taken you home and put you to bed, or sat you in the corner.”

“But, you need to understand the gravity of what's happened and been done, the things Titus and I now have to clean up. You need to feel the impact you just made.”

Luna shivered again and fought to keep her breathing under control and not break down.

“Do you accept this?” Henry asked her, seeking the permission to spank her, like he promised he would.

“What will you do, if I don't?” She asked him, glancing up at him.

“I'll take your Switch and Phone again, you'll be grounded to your room, with nothing; not even Kal, to keep you company, other than your thoughts. You also won't be able to sleep with me, either. If you try too, you'll be grounded for even longer.”

“How long will you ground me?”

“A month.”

Luna's eyes flared wide and her silent tears dripped down her cheeks. She could take not having her phone or games, even not being able to snuggle and play with Kal. But, to be stuck in her room, for a month, without being able to sleep with Henry, to be close to him. The thought of it alone made her hurt and anxious.

“What will be, Luna?” He asked her, patient, but still very upset and disappointed.

“I-I'll..” She gulped and rubbed at her face, smearing her wet make-up. “You-you can...” She took a deep breath and shuffled closer to him.

“You need to tell me, Luna. I'm not going to punish you, until you tell what choice you've made.” Henry shook his head. “Use your words.”

Luna glanced at the door.

“Don't worry about that, little one.” Henry told her, following her eyes. “No one's going to come up here and they can't hear, either. This room is soundproof.” He assured her, feeling her reluctance to be spanked in a building full of Vampires, who would no doubt hear it, if Henry hadn't taken the consideration to bring her here.

“You can...s-s-spank-me.” She mewled, meeting his eye.

“All right.” He nodded, wrapping his hand around her wrist and pulled her closer to him, moving her around to his side and pulled her across his lap, shushing her whine. “Don't tense, or it'll hurt more.” He explained to her, pulling her dress away from her bottom.

“Have you ever been spanked before, Luna?”

“Not exactly.” She replied, watching her necklace and Henry's signet ring swing back and forth on her neck.

“I want you to count each one I give you.” He told her, leaving her black lace panties on. “Nice and clear. If you miss a count, I'll start over at one. Any questions?”

“No, Henry.” Luna shook her head, hugging her arms around his leg and buried her nose into his thigh for a moment, inhaling his scent to help calm herself for a moment.

“Good, start counting.”

Henry pressed his hand down on the small of Luna's back, keeping her in place as he spread the fingers of his other hand open and cupped his palm, bringing it down in a firm and quick swat.

“One.” Luna jerked and hiccuped, surprised by the sting it left behind.

“Good girl.” He cooed at her, and gave her another smack.

“Two.” She whimpered, tears dripping to the carpet below her. “Three.”

“You're doing so good, little one.” Henry praised her, giving the red prints on her clothed bottom a firm rub.

“Four.” Luna sniffled, shivering in his lap. “Five.” She yelped as the fifth slap was the hardest.

“You're such a good girl, Luna.” Henry told her, rubbing her back for a few minutes, then fixed her dress and turned her around to sit in his lap. “Are you going to tell Daddy, what it was that you did wrong?”

The word Daddy made Luna's brain snap and jerked her head up to look him in the eyes. “Bronwyn.” She whimpered, realizing exactly what was going on now. “She told you, what I said?”

Henry blinked at Luna. “How did you know it was Bronwyn?”

“She was bullying me. Calling me a baby, in a mean way, said you ditched me and I just blurted out that you were with the Duke and what you were talking about.”

“She's who Tali said you got stuck talking too?”

“Yes.” Luna nodded, wrapping her arms around Henry's neck.

Henry frowned and cradled Luna against his chest, rubbing her back, even more troubled now. “It's all right, my good girl.” He whispered into her hair. “You took your punishment very well, I'm so proud of you.” He told her, pulling out his handkerchief and gently wiped her runny eyeliner off her face, smiling as she yawned and nuzzled her face into his neck.

“Why don't we just go home, hm?” He hummed, hugging his arms around her. “It's getting late and it's well past your bedtime.”

“I'd love that, Hen.” Luna agreed, her feet hurt from standing so long, she was overly warm from all the wine she drank and her bottom was slightly sore now, as well.

“All right.” He smiled, standing them up and tucked Luna into his jacket, kissing the top of her head.

“Why does Bronwyn bully me?” Luna asked, laying her head on Henry's shoulder as he drove them home.

“Because, she's Bronwyn.” Henry sighed, resting his hand on her leg. “She's upset that I'm with you. That I don't love her anymore. There's so many reasons, baby girl.” He turned his head and kissed her hair. “But, don't worry yourself about it.”

“She's just a bunch of hot air.”

-- Part V --

304 notes · View notes

small-teacup · 3 years

Text

Okay, Inventing Privileges Revoked

Requested by: @jwillowwolf

Notes: The magical stuff in this fic is based off of The Ancient Magus Bride (anime and manga). If you've read/seen it, I put a lil reference to it somewhere in here >:)

POV: 3rd person

Ships: Analogical, Royality, and Demus/Dukeceit/Receit

CW: Swearing, yelling, eating, sympathetic Remus and Janus, fire, mention of failing classes, vines, being watched

Lemme know if I missed any :D

Word Count: 3041

“Twist this...and then you-” The inventor muttered to himself as he made a few adjustments and tweaks on his latest machine. It was supposed to harness the power of magic from other worlds, so that it could benefit this world. He knows they exist...he just knows. A few sparks flew at him as a knob was turned. “Don’t you dare start acting up on me. I spent a year and a half on you, I’m not letting you give up on me now,” he scolded the piece of machinery. He had an amusing habit of talking to objects. As if the invention had heard him, little gears started turning even though he hadn’t meant it for it to be turned on. Not yet. But it seemed like it was doing it out of spite. An unpleasant noise erupted from it before he quickly turned the knob back to its original position. “That’s enough out of yo-”

“LOGAN!! DINNER’S READY!!”

“Soooo..” Patton started, taking a bite out of a piece of garlic bread. “Any progress on your cool lil’ device you got in your room?” He asked, looking over at his roommate.

The voice scared Logan out of his wits, flinching as he pushed up his glasses. “I’M COMING!” He called back, standing up from his seat and tiredly walking out of his bedroom to the kitchen. He didn’t seem to realize the pink-ish glow emitting from the machine behind him.

________________

“It’s not...exactly doing what I want it to do. But that’s alright, I can still fix it,” Logan replied, scooping some spaghetti into his mouth.

“Ooohh..okay! Virgil, how were your classes today?”

The boy in question sat across from Patton, hunched over and eating slowly with one hand, the other one shoved in his jacket pocket. “Failed ‘nother exam. I’m thinkin’ of giving up at this point…” He mumbled, poking a meatball.

“Noooo! Don’t say that! You still got a lot to look forward to!”

“I agree with Patton,” Logan said, looking over at Virgil. “You’re trying your best and that’s what matters. It’s just one mistake, it’s not that big of a deal. You’ll be ok.”

“But what if I won’t be? Ughh..my grades are going down so so low… Sometimes I just don’t wanna be here. Not away from you guys, of course, but..just- somewhere where I don’t have to stress myself every night and break down almost once every week.”

“Like Logie said, you’ll be okay! Here, how about this, you take a well-deserved break and me or Logan can do your work for you?”

“That wouldn’t work because he wouldn’t be learning the things he needs to in order to pass. The least we can do right now is try to keep his mind off of work for a short time. But he has to get back to doing his assignments after.”

“Um..,” Virgil muttered quietly, as not to interrupt either of the boys. “I guess my little ‘break’ starts now…? If so, then uh..can I see Logan’s machine thing?”

Logan and Patton looked at each other, the more optimistic of the two grinning. “Yeah! I’d like to see it too!”

The inventor sighed, shaking his head lightly. “Fine, but do not touch it.”

His roommates cheered as a small smile made its way onto Logan’s face.

After dinner, they were grouped in Logan’s room, staring at the little device.

________________

“So...how does it work?” Virgil asked, tilting his head slightly. Logan gently took the device and held it in his hands so the others could see. “Well, you’re supposed to turn this knob,” he explained, turning said knob. The machine sputtered to life, however it seemed...off. “But it doesn’t seem to be working correctly at the moment.”

Patton stared at the tiny device in amazement, Virgil doing the same until he got a notification from his phone. He pulled it out, pure frustration showing on his face.

“UGHHH- I don’t even wanna be IN THIS WORLD anymore!” He groaned, shoving his phone into his pocket.

Suddenly, child-like laughter filled the air.

“Wh...What was that?” Patton asked, fearful.

“I’m..not sure,” Logan responded, looking around. Vines grew from the ground and latched to their legs as three small portals appeared beneath them. They were pulled down into those portals before they could even scream.

________________

Logan woke up to the sight of trees, the moonlight shining through them, and the feeling of dirt beneath him. He shot up and looked around frantically before his eyes landed upon two figures curled up next to one of the trees. On closer examination, he realized those were his roommates. Patton seemed to have calmed Virgil down from a panic attack.

“Are you two okay…?” He asked, going over and sitting with them. At the sound of Logan’s voice, Virgil suddenly latched onto him. “God- I thought you died! I’m so sorry..This is my fault, I’m so so sorry..,” the boy muttered, his grip tightening.

“I...believe it’s my fault. It was my invention, I shouldn’t have shown it to you two when it wasn’t even working properly.”

“Guys-” Patton said, trying to warn them.

“No but if I hadn’t got so angry-”

“I don’t think it had to do with your anger.”

“Guys-”

“But what if it did? We weren’t pulled in until I got that stupid notif.”

“There’s nothing in the device that would make it respond to human emotions-”

“GUYS!”

“WHAT?!” The two shouted in unison, seeing Patton looking up.

“There’s people..w-watching..,” he whispered.

Virgil and Logan looked up as well. Two pairs of eyes stared back at them, one pair green and the other pair red. Shadows hid their bodies from view, if they even had bodies. The two entities laughed, sounding exactly like the laugh they’d heard before being sucked into this alternate world. Patton scooted over to his roommates hurriedly and stayed very close to them. The entities above seemed to look at each other before the one with green eyes suddenly disappeared with a gust of wind. Red eyes looked back down at them, suddenly dropping from the tree and landing with a flourish. In the light, it seemed that the entity was a boy, about the same age as the three humans in front of him. Little flames burned from the tips of his hair that he didn’t seem bothered with. Speaking of, his hair was tied in a ponytail that hung over his shoulder. He wore a white shirt with gold lining at the top, its sleeves going down to his elbows and hanging loosely. A red sash was tied around his waist. Black cloth was tucked into it from the back, making it sway behind him whenever he moved. He wore simple brown shorts that seemed to have been torn from what used to be a complete pair of trousers. Gold ribbons wrapped his legs in a criss-cross pattern, tying into knots at his ankles. His ears were pointed, making him look like an elf. His eyes always seemed to have a fire burning in them.

He grinned at the terrified humans and held his hand out to them, but it seemed more directed at Patton.

“Greetings, humans! You may call me Princey. You’re not supposed to be here!” He sang.

Patton was the first to speak up, albeit in a shaky tone, “N-Nice to meet you, Princey. I’m P-”

“Ah ah ah! Nicknames only. Real names have power in our world, and you wouldn’t want to fall prey to anything...unpleasant, now would you?” The fae interrupted. He narrowed his eyes, but his grin stayed.

“And how’re we supposed to know that you’re not one of the ‘unpleasant’ kind?” Virgil asked harshly, suspicious of this seemingly magical stranger.

The faerie’s eye twitched as he pulled back his hand, “You certainly seem to be one of them, so you tell me.”

“You did not-”

“If the shoe fits, rusty human.”

“Alright alright, umm...maybe we shouldn’t fight?” Patton suggested, looking between the two.

“Yes, we don’t need to cause more problems to add to the ones we already have,” Logan agreed, pulling Virgil closer. The smaller boy huffed and muttered an “okay.”

“So we’re all in agreement that we’d rather not fight right now! Perfect! Now, let’s start this over. What would each of you like to be called?”

“Can I be called Pat..? Is part of our names allowed?”

“I...suppose. You have a very sweet-sounding nickname. And you two?” He gestured to Logan and Virgil.

The inventor sighed, “Call me L, please.”

“Alright, very simple,” Princey commented, looking over at the last boy to share his nickname. “..You know, I might just call you Rusty.”

“Don’t call me that-”

“Too late, Rusty.”

“I have a question,” Logan stated, looking up at the fae.

“Yeeeesss?”

“Why did you call him a ‘rusty human’?”

“Ah! It’s something only Neighbors, such as I, would get. Each human that comes through the forest has a distinct smell. For example, Pat smells like roses.” He sighed dreamily. “My favorite flower… As for Rusty over there, he smells like...well- rust. It’s utterly disgusting to us.”

“..Is ‘Neighbors’ the name of your species?”

“Sort of…? Neighbors is what you call faeries, however that term is dull to some. If we’re talking about the subspecies of fae, I’m a fire sprite.”

Virgil snickered, covering his mouth to hide his smile.

“What’s so funny about that? I’ll have you know that you should respect us magical beings, lest you be cursed or spirited away!”

“I’m gonna call you Soda,” The boy replied behind his hand.

“Wha-”

“Ooooh! Because he’s a sprite!” Patton said, pointing finger guns at Virgil. “Ayyyyyy!”

“Ayyyyyyy.” The other pointed finger guns right back at him.

Princey and Logan just sighed, one being confused and the other used to his roommates' antics.

The fae clapped his hands. “Okay okay. To get you all out of potential danger, you’re going to have to come with me. I’ll take you to my abode. Be warned, my brother and his boyfriend live there as well.” He shot a look at Virgil, “I’m not going to kill any of you. It wouldn’t benefit anyone.”

They looked at each other and seemed to be in silent agreement as they stood. Princey started guiding them through the trees and the bushes, careful to avoid anything that could kill these new humans.

“So...Why are you helping us? Not that I don’t appreciate it, I just...wanna know, y’know?” Patton asked as they walked.

“...It’s lonely here. The other fae are very..gossipy. You do something dumb and suddenly it spreads around like wildfire. So I usually stay away from fae that I don’t already know, as I wouldn’t want any...betrayals or damages to my pride. I trust that you humans are not the same...?”

“I don’t think so.. Right?” The boy looked over at his two friends, who seemed to be having a silent conversation with one another. He sighed and gave up on the question, feeling a bit left out. Princey seemed to notice, gesturing for Patton to walk with him at the front, to which the boy hesitantly but happily did.

After a bit of walking, they came across a little cottage in a clearing. Smoke billowed out of the chimney as they approached it.

“Well,” the fire sprite sighed. “Here we are! It’s not much...but it works.”

“...I thought it’d look more like a giant mushroom or something,” Virgil commented, a bit suspicious about how normal the house looked.

“Why would we live in a fucking mushroom? A MUSHROOM THAT SIZE DOESN’T EVEN EXIST- Where are you getting these ideas?!”

“Wouldn’t you like to know, faerie boy?” The emo replied, waiting for Princey to open the door or something. Was there even a lock on the front door?

As if on cue, the door swung open to reveal another faerie, similar to Princey. This one, however, wore reversed colors. A black shirt with silver lining and a green sash instead of a red one. He had a silver streak in his hair, dangling over his eyes. His hair was braided, draped over his shoulder as well. The most peculiar thing, though, was the fake mustache he wore and the green wings protruding from his back, speckled with black.

“Wretched brother! And...other people!” The new faerie greeted, moving aside so they could get in.

“Greetings to you too...Duke,” Princey muttered, leading the small group inside.

“That’s his name? Duke? What, is he a dog?” Virgil asked, semi-sarcastically.

“Based on his behavior, he might as well be,” The fire sprite grumbled, flopping on a nearby chair and sighing. “And no, that’s not his name. Remember what I said about those, Rusty?”

“Yeah yeah, they ‘hold power’ or whatever. But why do you guys need to disguise your names when you’re the one who’s able to use them against us? You’re not at risk.”

“Actually, we are. I’d also rather you not call my beloved a dog,” A new voice said, the source of it being a figure that had just walked in from the kitchen. The humans looked at him, a bit startled. It didn’t seem like this one was the same as the brothers. He wore a wide-brimmed black hat with a yellow ribbon tied around it. The shadows created by the hat covered one half of his face. The half that was visible seemed normal. He had dark brown eyes that made him seem wise and intimidating. A black and gold capelet laid on his shoulders, linked together with a gold chain. He wore yellow lace gloves with black ribbons wrapped around his wrist. He was even wearing thigh-high stiletto boots.

“mY BOYFRIEND!!” Duke screeched as he half-ran and half-flew to the new faerie. He latched onto him in a tight hug, his wings flapping slightly in happiness.

“Could I inquire what nickname you,” Logan started, gesturing to the mysterious fae, “would like to go by? And what type of faeries are you two?”

“Hm...Call me Deceit, if you will. Duke’s an Ariel and I’m a Leannan Sidhe.”

“Ariel?? Like the mermaid??” Patton wondered aloud, sitting next to Princey on another chair. It was obvious the two wanted to be close to each other with the way they were glancing at each other.

“I...don’t know what a ‘mermaid’ is, but I’m assuming that has nothing to do with the faerie world, so no. An Ariel is a type of sprite, a wind denizen, or in simpler terms, they can control the wind. They’re known to be mischievous, despite their job of purification,” Deceit explained, fondly playing with his boyfriend’s hair.

“And a Leannan Sidhe…?” Logan asked, sitting on the couch with a notebook and pen in hand. Where did he even get that…

“A subspecies of a fae you humans would refer to as a ‘vampire’. Young men let us feed on their blood in exchange for talent. It could also be exchanged for...other things.”

“Oh. Is the amount of blood a lot…? Because it would kill the human if you took too much.”

“It’s just enough that the human wouldn’t die on the spot. However, those we feed on don’t usually lead very long lives. Enjoy what you have and die or yearn for more and die greedy.”

“Greedy?” Virgil repeated, sitting next to Logan and clasping his hands together. If he was being honest, he actually considered offering his blood to the vampire, despite how shady that’d be.

“What you sought for certainly didn't come from you, did it?”

“N..No…”

“That’s what I thought.”

Awkward silence fell over the room. Duke fluttered his wings happily as he cuddled closer to Deceit. It created a little gust of wind that unfortunately threatened the life of Princey’s flames, to the fire sprite’s annoyance.

“Do any of you know why we’re here..?” Patton asked quietly, shuffling a bit closer to the fae next to him.

“I do! I do!!” The wind denizen chirped, speeding away from his boyfriend and stopping in front of the human. “So when the nerd over there made the weird machine, we were able to find connections to your world! But we didn’t know what to do with it, so we left it alone. But theeeeennnn, Rusty said a few magic words, and some of the faeries in our world took advantage of it, so that’s why you guys are here!”

“What magic words???” Virgil called from the other side of the room.

Duke cleared his throat and did a half-hearted attempt at imitating Virgil, “i dON’T evEn WAnnA be iN thiS woRlD ANyMOREEeEe blAHhhhh.”

“Okay, I said everything BUT that last part.”

“I know, it’s just that you’re overly angsty.”

“IT’S PART OF MY AESTHETIC-”

“Let’s calm down for a moment,” Patton said softly, giving a tiny and nervous smile. “What part of that was magical?”

“All of it! When humans say something, whether they mean it or not, some specific types of fae listen closely so they can cause maaaajor terror and disorder. Like this one time, some girl was angry at her lil’ brother so she went, ‘I wish you were never my brotherrrr!’ or something dramatic like that, and then the next day, the boy was gone! And nooooobody remembered him except her. She got really scared, but lucky for her, a couple of mages came by and helped her.”

“...Mages?”

“Yeah! They’re either like...human-like faes or sleigh-beggies.”

“Sleigh-beggies??? I honestly don’t think that’s the actual name-”

“Doesn’t matter what you think! That’s what it’s called. Sleigh-beggies are just humans who’ve been gifted with the sight to see otherworldly things. It may sound cool, but trust me, you don’t wanna know how many things are crawling over all of you right now.”

At that, both Patton and Virgil screeched, trying to get rid of the creatures they couldn’t even see. Logan sighed and shook his head.

“How do we get back?” He asked, looking over at Deceit as it seemed like he was the best person to ask.

“Well…” The fae started.

“You’re just going to have to stay and find out.”

[End]

(This post wasn't proofread-)

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wincestisasincest · 4 years

Text

Bob Your Head (The Fellowship x Reader)

I HAD A DUMB IDEA BON APPETIT BITCHES.

Summary: You get stopped by a woodland spirit that inhibits you from continuing, before noticing your silky smooth hair.

Words: 1616 (soz it got way longer than i intended)

Things literally just kept getting weirder and weirder for you. First, you’d fallen into this strange land. Then, you’d joined their crackhead quest. THEN you’d found all of these nerds oddly endearing. AND NOW you were to face to face with this mischievous tree motherfucker. Great.

“Please, I beg your pardon, but our quest is of the utmost sensitivity.” Aragorn communicated with the slender, brown-skinned sprite just as he would a political ally. Big mistake.

“I am not some king to be courted by you greasy-haired hobo.” As the sprite convulsed, the rest of the trees began to grow around you, and you realized that you were completely trapped in the glenn. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that magic exists in this world, and then it comes back and smacks you in the head like that.

“Are not the sprites kings of the forest?” Gandalf muttered under his breath.

“It’s not up for you humans to decide what we are at all, actually.”

“Okay, well that’s like half of the group, nice.” You said it sarcastically, out of instinct, but the sprite turned to look directly at you. You could feel the leaves begin to touch our arms and legs. Boromir, protector of literally everything he was, put his hand to his sword as the hobbits took a step back.

“What was that?” His eyes flared with anger. Legolas coughed, looking at Aragorn, Gimli, and Gandalf like he was expecting them to do something, but the just stood watching you in fear. That’s enough fear for one group, though, and you took it on yourself to act at least a little brave.

“I said that’s half of the group, bro. Like, him,” you pointed to Boromir, “and him,” you pointed to Aragorn, “and me are human. Gandalf, I don’t know what he is, but it’s not human, Gimli, well, he’s a dwarf, that long haired guy is Legolas, an elf, and all of these peeps,” you gestured to the hobbits at your side, “are hobbits. So, uh, you got some of it right, I guess?”

Aragorn facepalmed. Pippin seemed more intrigued by what you were doing, and almost opened his mouth to add something on to it before Merry nudged him aggressively.

“Is that so?” the sprite raised an eyebrow. You nodded.

“You’re not from here, are you?” You nodded yet again, suddenly aware of everything on your body that was modern, from your t-shirt under your tunic to your undergarments to your sneakers.

“What gave it away?” You made eye contact with Frodo, who looked like he was about to cry. You recall that one night at the campfire he had shared stories of sprites that he’d learned back in the shire. He was shoulder to shoulder with Sam, looking utterly terrified.

“Everything, human. What’s your name?”

“Y/n” You flipped your hair back sassily. At this point, Boromir had put his sword away, but he still appeared very much on guard.

“Where does one get a name like that?” You could swear that this man was writing a Wikipedia article on you.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, Mr., uh-”

“Elmwood. Call me Elmwood.” You swallowed the urge to call his name redundant.

“Well, Mr. Elmwood, I’ll make you a deal. I’ll tell you where I come from, and everything about me, if you let our lovely party pass.” You smiled, pleased with your own cleverness. Thus far, you felt as though you had been more of a burden to the group than anything, but now you were actually contributing.

“Hm. No.” He put a finger to his chin, looking displeased. Even Gandalf was somewhat surprised, leaning in front of Legolas to get a better view of your conversation, almost as if he was expecting something.

“Look, all we wanna do is-” You were not about to take his bullshit.

“I know what I want from you, human. You, you woman.” Ah yes. We have a real observant one here. Though some members managed to remain contained, the hobbits, especially Merry and Sam, visibly cringed. They were far more familiar with having unchangeable qualities about themselves being used as insults.

“Well spotted. Well, what is it? I haven’t got all day.” You wondered to yourself if they could smell fear, like dogs. Behind him, you noticed Aragorn reach for his sword and rest his hand on the hilt, while Legolas and Gimli exchanged a glance before getting into a stance that would easily allow them to grab their weapons at any time. Boromir whispered something in Gandalf’s ear, but Gandalf just shushed him.

“That hair of yours. I want it.” Now everyone, including yourself, simply looked confused. Your hair had grown long and soft since you had come to Middle Earth, as your general lack of upkeep had allowed it to return to its natural state. To be honest, for a while, it was the least of your problems.

“My hair?” You reached up and touched your tendrils. They had dried well in the sun.

“Stop this nonsense. Y/n, you don’t have to-” Boromir stepped forward. Aragorn placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Calm down, Boromir. Though, he is correct y/n. We can always take the long way round if you would rather not.” The hobbits nodded affirmatively.

“No, no, it’s fine. It’s not that big a’ deal. Just sorta weird.” You fingered around on your belt before landing on a dagger, a gift from Elrond, that you had yet to use. You slid your finger across the blade. It was mighty sharp.

“Y/n, are you sure?” Legolas stepped forward, deeply rooted with some sort of concern.

“Lass, I wouldn’t mind takin’ the long way round.” Gimli nodded.

“Yeah, we’re durable!” Pippin called from the hobbit group, to which Merry and Frodo affirmatively nodded, while Sam continued to look on.

“I would hate for you to lose your lovely hair, Miss Y/n.” Sam said softly.

Gandalf stayed silent, calmly waiting for you to make your decision.

“Uh, guys, it’s not that big a deal. My hair is not that important to me, like, it’s fine.” Before any more protests, you pulled your hair back, lifted the dagger slightly under your chin, and sliced, feeling the weight vanish from the back of your head.

Your hands clutched a fistful of your locks, leaving you a very blunt bob cut. Though there were no mirrors to look at, you ran a hand through your hair, only to feel a wave of adrenaline run through you as you felt the emptiness behind your back. You shook your hair a little bit before making eye contact with the sprite again, who seemed awfully pleased with himself.

“Well, here ya go,” You offered the fistful of locks to him, which he approached cautiously before snatching from you, “Now can we pass?”

“Sure, just mind where you step.” The sprite didn’t look you in the eye, but was too busy playing with the hair that was once yours. And just like that, he disappeared into who knows where, leaving a vacancy.

You peered around. All eyes were on you, some with concern, others with pity, and only one, Gandalf, with understanding. You sheathed the dagger and put in back on your belt, before running your hand through your hair once more.

“Are you alright, Miss Y/n?” Merry, bless him, looked at you with wide eyes. You awkwardly smiled.

“Yeah, y’all, I’m fine, it’s really not that big of a deal. It saved us a lot of walking, that’s for sure.” You tried to ease the awkwardness as you looked forward.

“Y/n, if you require us to explain to people the situation with your hair, we would be more than glad too-”

“Situation?” You cut Aragorn off. You didn’t mean to sound angry, but this sort of confusion was frustrating you.

“There is no need to get angry, Y/n.” Gandalf sagely said.

“What? No, I’m not angry, I’m just confused. Is there some hair stuff I don’t know about?”

“I think what they mean to say,” Gimly stepped forward, “is that your hair is far more befitting of a young lad than it is a proper lady.” Everyone else nodded with agreement.

“Wait,” you paused, “Is short hair not a thing here?” Everyone looked amongst themselves awkwardly, but thankfully your own memories were there to ask you questions. Now, pretty much every man in this world, save for the hobbits, had longer hair than you, and the women all had hair down to the middle of their backs, at the very least.

“Oh, yeah, that makes sense,” you said understandingly, “though like I said, I don’t really care. You don’t need to explain it to anyone, it doesn’t bother me, short hair is very common where I come from. Besides, now it can stop getting in my face when I’m trying to do things.” You giggled, and you could see Aragorn and Gandalf adopt small traces of smiles.

“It’s common where you come from?” Frodo inquired.

“Yeah, like we would call this a bob cut. Cause it bobs.” You shook your head to demonstrate the bobbing effect, and the small crowd of hobbits laughed.

Legolas, Gimli, and Boromir still didn’t appear to be convinced, but Gandalf didn’t have time for their shenanigans.

“Well, now that that’s settled, on we go!” He lead with his staff, to which the hobbits quickly trotted behind, followed by you, then a tentative Legolas, Gimli, and Boromir, and finally a patient Aragorn, holding up the back.

Wherever you went after, you could feel eyes on your short hair, though you didn’t mind. It was the least strange thing that had happened to you so far.

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bluerosesburnblue · 3 years

Note

Now that KHUx ending has been out for a week a or two and you've dissected it, I wanted to ask you how you would rank the various KH game endings, if you have the time?

Oh, wow, yeah. That's really an interesting question. I never think of the endings much, despite how important they are. Let's see...

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days - The nostalgia's got me bad with this one, but I've gotta put it at the top. It was my first KH game and I can only think of two other video games from my childhood that had endings that impacted me as much as this one did. It's clear-cut and succinct, it capitalizes on all of the character development shown in the game while wrapping up almost every plot thread it introduced, playing as Another Side Roxas is intense... and I think it's the only KH ending that's entirely tragic, but that just makes the tone so much more clearly defined than if it had been a mix of emotions. I don't know if I ever would have gotten into the series if the ending of this game wasn't as good as it was and didn't make me desperately crave more just to see how the Sea Salt Trio's story effected everyone else

Kingdom Hearts χ - It's kind of wild that I'm ranking a browser game so high, but the KHx ending (also known as The Keyblade War questline for KHUx players) was magical when it happened. And the thing is, it wasn't unexpected but still managed to be engaging. People were freaking out trying to fight the Foretellers who introduced you to the world of the game only to try and take you out of it. And the ending with Ephemer and Skuld coming to save you at the last minute was beautifully open-ended, while wrapping up all of the storylines from earlier in the game. It went from intense, to sad, to hopeful again and it did it all with chibi sprites. And not just that, but the external community came together just to see it happen. It was really special

Kingdom Hearts II - This one's just very emotionally satisfying, finally seeing everyone get to return home again after a three-game arc. Riku and Sora have a nice character moment where they finally respect each other that draws on their earlier rivalry in a satisfying way, then Mickey, Donald, and Goofy rush over to the boys in such a sweet way, and we even see Sora finally return Kairi's good luck charm! It feels like it really ties the KH1-CoM-KH2 arc to a close, and then leaves on a high note of even more adventures to come. It's beautiful and it feels like an actual, tonally-consistent conclusion

Kingdom Hearts III - On the one hand, this one gets big bonus points for managing to deliver on an ending that saw almost every character who'd suffered from terrible fates get happy endings in a way that felt earned, and to this day I cannot believe that they actually did the beach party ending that had been joked about for a long time. On the other, though, Sora's disappearance feels like a cheap hook to continue the story when it really should have been focused on just ending the Dark Seeker Saga without setting up for the next game (you could have had Sora disappear in the Re:Mind DLC though, I would have been okay with that). The highs are high, it's just really the last few seconds that bring it down for me

Kingdom Hearts - KH1 is a classic, but its ending is pretty basic all things considered. The world is saved! Kairi gets to go home! There's more adventure to come as Sora, Donald, and Goofy set off to find their friends lost to the darkness! It's perfectly acceptable, it's set up in a way where if they never made another game you'd be satisfied with it, but it's nothing remarkable, either

Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, & Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory - I'm lumping these three together because I feel the same way about all of their endings. They're fine, but they're mostly setup for future games. Sora's promise to Naminé is cute, Riku teaming up with Mickey and DiZ and choosing dawn over darkness or light is nice setup for his future arc, the Wayfinder Trio's fates are sad but make sense in future games, MoM has some neat lore teases... but all of them rely on the existence of future games to bring the emotional satisfaction of those endings so they don't feel "final," and thus not particularly satisfying on their own

Kingdom Hearts coded/Re:coded: It exists. It's entirely a plot hook. Same issue as the three above, but it has even less substance since we never see Data Sora again. The only real purpose it has is letting Mickey know things that the audience already did. It's not awful, but it's not good either

Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage- - It's not really a full game, but I put KHx on here so I may as well. I think overall it's fine, and nobody was really expecting much from a short side story anyway. My issues with it mostly stem from the contrived way that it tries to shove Aqua into the KH1 finale without actually changing the finale, and that what Nomura said the original draft was is much more interesting and leads better into KH3 than the actual ending (originally Aqua was supposed to break down in despair and cry about how she wants to go home, which flows better into KH3's Anti-Aqua storyline). As it is, the ending is tonally discordant with the rest of the game

Kingdom Hearts Union χ - I think we all know what I think of Union X's finale. It's going here, because while I think that most of it should be ranked around where I have CoM and BBS, the parts that I didn't were so bad that it ruined the entire experience of it for me. It's only beating out the next entry because the parts that I did like were better than anything that happened in the next finale

Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance - This game ends with a tea party and Sora in goofy glasses, which is so absurd that I have to give it some bonus points... and yet it's still at the bottom. I can't get over the decision to have Yen Sid fail Sora for being actively sabotaged (while Yen Sid did nothing to help) while promoting Riku, who was not a primary target and in less danger. They both should've been forced to retake the test. This decision is so bad that I don't even care about any good that it does for Riku's arc, because it's not like Riku even uses the Master status that he gets from this anyway so why was it important for him to pass the Mark of Mastery exam? They don't even have the decency to show Sora being all that upset about it, even in private. It's just brushed off! And the way that Lea gets a Keyblade entirely offscreen is so cheap. DDD is the only KH ending that I would classify 100% as a bad ending. It's frustrating to sit through, and that frustration can't even be ignored because it has a major impact on KH3

#liz answers #mademoiseli #kingdom hearts #long post #btw the other two game endings that effected me as much as days were pokemon mystery dungeon explorers of time and drawn to life #both on the ds like days because that's really all i had as a kid

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askaceattorney · 3 years

Text

Dear 91teivos,

Mod Vera: Thanks! Everyone in the world is going through some kind of existential crisis, so it made sense for the AA characters to join the party! (And since it was another follower who gave us the idea, we might just keep that idea in the think that after all...)

Dear dawsongfg,

Mod Vera: No need to apologize! We like to space out letters from specific people a little, but we’ll answer as many as we can!

(Referenced Letter)

Dear Bluedragoncody,

Co-Mod: Don’t worry. I doubt they’ll have much luck against the Ace Attorney crew, even without the Proto Badger. They have the ultimate weapon against despair in their arsenal, after all.

...They’re doomed, aren’t they?

I can’t make any promises, but if I ever gain enough skill in the art of animation (which has been a dream of mine for a long time, it turns out), I’ll keep that idea in mind.

Dear skibot99,

Mod Vera: Probably Tumblr bein’ weird. (What else is new?)

Dear sheeeesh,

Mod Vera: Mods get brought on as needed, as you can see with the arrival of Mod Edgeworth! Also, DGS2 is one of the few AA titles I’ve never played, but rest assured. Where there’s a letter, there’s a Mod who can answer it!

Mod Edgeworth: To add to Mod Vera, even if you weren’t accepted during any mod applications, that doesn’t mean you have lost all chances. I applied early January and lost to Mod Vera. Regardless, Co-Mod informed me that, even though I was rejected, he saw my potential and kept me in mind for if I was ever needed. Now, here I am.

Just because you get rejected, that doesn’t mean it’s game over. Show that you have potential and make yourself known by sending letters to us. That is what I did, after being rejected. I made myself known to the mods by sending letters. We do read them and they tell us how much you know the characters and games of AA more than any application. Of course, you must also follow the guidelines. That just goes without saying.

Co-Mod: I think my actual words were something like “Don’t tell anyone, but you were my second choice.” But yeah, what they said is true -- becoming a Mod here, like many things, may or may not happen to you, but you can definitely increase your chances by waiting patiently and demonstrating your potential.

As for DGS2 letters, I’m afraid those are still off-limits unless you know of a way to play or watch the game in its entirety, translated into English. I guess I could check to see if the Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2 channel finished translating...

(Translation: Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?! ...D-Don’t tell me?!)

...Okay, looks like I have some watching to do. Don’t know how I missed that.

So, uh... That part in bold was what I was going to say. Now that both games are finally getting an official English version, all I can say is, hang tight!

(Previous Post)

Dear Inferno again,

Co-Mod: Yeah, I agree. I was just joking around. For anyone who didn’t catch it, that was a reference to Sbemail #108.

The event’s technically over, but we’ll answer the rest of the April Fools’ Day letters when they reach the bottom of the queue. I’m as eager to see Trucy’s reaction to the news (after the stunned silence) as anyone else, after all.

(Video in Letter -- Strong Language Warning)

Dear Ella,

Mod Edgeworth:

I can’t see the first link and....

How did you find this masterpiece and where can I play this game?

Co-Mod: We don’t check for direct messages on Tumblr, if that’s what you’re referring to, so it wouldn’t have made any difference anyway. You can always send links in your letters, of course.

(Previous Post)

Dear Inferno,

Mod Edgeworth: That mad lad would be me and thank you.

I like to put my heart and effort when answering these letters. With this one, I figured you wanted to see Trucy in costume, so I just searched up an image on Google for the Ancient One’s costume, a sprite of Trucy and a bald head to put on her. The rest I photoshopped on GIMP.

We’re still going through letters from January. Hopefully we will get the rest of yours soon enough.

Mod Edgeworth: Thank you very much. Your support and the others’ support that have liked, commented and reblogged it mean a lot. As you have stated, a majority of the fandom seem to consider him the worst. I’d like to think it’s because how AA had created this villain of a character to be universally hated was pure genius. Not even the Phantom gets this much hate… and that’s saying something.

Unfortunately, I’d like to keep my real identity outside this blog a secret. I write a lot of letters here and I don’t want to break the spell for anyone. Think of it like a Disney theme park. The cast that play the characters will never admit their true identities, outside of family and close friends, to prevent the experience from being ruined. I want to do the same as a Mod. I don’t want to break the spell of writing to your favorite AA characters. This blog had helped me through my tough times and I want to help everyone else as a mod.

However, I will answer your letters and, if you post anything on your account, a mysterious friend I know may linger and give you a like ;)

(Previous Letter)

Dear Ali S. Fakenamington,

Co-Mod: Beautifully so.

(Previous Letter)

Dear Sinyove,

Mod Edgeworth: That letter was made in 2012 before AA5 and AA6, which was WAY before I became a part of the AA fandom. I’m certain a lot of us were not here when this letter was made, except maybe Co-Mod, but you’ll have to speak with him about this. I will say that the mod that answered this is no longer working here... I think. At the very least, I haven’t heard from him.

That being said, AA4 or Apollo Justice was the first AA game I’ve ever played. Despite all of the hate I saw towards that game, I still loved it regardless. Though, having not played the trilogy, playing the tutorial of AJ was a pain in the ass. I remember going to YouTube to find out how to beat it, because it was so hard. I also played it on PC.

I do see where The Mod was coming from. Had the two sequel games never existed, Apollo Justice would have more holes than my brothers’ socks. My only critique is that Phoenix wasn’t any better either with having Mia babysitting him during almost every trial AND investigations. Hell, Phoenix needed Mia to know how to talk to a kid, talk to a perverted old man, almost gave up in most of his trials in the first game and never conducted a trial without Mia until Turnabout Goodbyes when Maya literally couldn’t summon her. For the most part, Apollo was doing fine on his own without Phoenix, with only Trucy assisting him for the two middle trials, only almost giving up once and Phoenix having assisted him during times when Apollo was not in a normal situation (like when the criminal turned out to be his own co-council/mentor or when he had to lead a trial that included the Jury System). That’s more than Phoenix ever did on his own in the first two games and I think Apollo deserves more credit than he got in that letter in my opinion.

For me, Apollo Justice is one of those games you either like or you hate. I love it for what it is. My least favorite AA game would have to be Ace Attorney Investigations, the first game. The second one is my absolute favorite.

Co-Mod: Sadly, I haven’t seen or heard from the Mod in a while, so it may be time for us to declare him MIA again.

Erm... Sorry, poor choice of words.

I’m fairly certain I wasn’t around 5 years long ago, but I have to say, Capcom did a great job of making Apollo and his story more interesting over time. He may not be Phoenix, but he certainly carried his legacy forward pretty well, both as an attorney and as an Ace Attorney protagonist.

Now, WHAT ABOUT ATHENA ALREADY!?

Dear BDC,

Co-Mod: It fits like a glove, if you ask me...although it also kind of reminds me of 101 Dalmatians. And thanks for that bit of info! I never get tired of watching people enjoying the fun dialogue and plot twists of Ace Attorney, so I might have to look him up.

I’m not sure I feel the same about watching Dahlia’s voice actress, though. I’m sure she’s a nice person and all, but the thought of hearing that voice for so long... *shudder*

(Previous Letter)

Dear dawsongfg again,

Co-Mod: I wasn’t trying to say that natural deaths can’t happen in the Ace Attorney universe, just that most deaths aren’t what they seem. I knew right away that Archie Buff’s death was no accident, for one thing. Waaaaay too much of a coincidence, know what I mean?

-The Mods

#91teivos #dawsongfg #bluedragoncody #ajanisapprentice #skibot99 #sheeeesh #Ella #moonlitgraffiti #Ali S. Fakenamington #sinyove #Mod Post #Mod Vera #Co Mod #Mod Edgeworth

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old-blanket-man · 3 years

Text

danganronpa hot takes because i hate this fucking series, a new game is coming, and danganronpa tumblr is pretty chill (spoilers for every game lol:

- chapter two in every game is just,, god teir im sorry

- genocider has the best sprites/art

- also shes super fuckign funny?

- other than thh really, the anime is bad. its so fucking boring

- sdr2 was the worst game in terms of storyline. worse than v3. v3's trials saved it for me, but sdr2 was a clusterfuck of sexualization and garbage

- like yeah makoto was stupid but at least it made sense

- ig i'll add this, no i didn't care when hajime was all "im not re a L?" because he was unrelatable and boring as shit

- kaede as protag and angie as antag would have been better for v3

- honestly they should have made angie more important, she was pretty funny and her relationship with god could have been used more

- himiko is gross and has the worst voice in the entire series

- nekomaru could have been such a good character (in a q-taro after chapter one of yttd type beat) but he was just shit jokes till he died.

- also im in love with nekomaru i'll put this here

- sdr2 had the best and worst executions in the series (one woman army for best and whatever the fuck mikan was for worst)

- can we talk about how stupid junko's execution in thh?

- no? okay then, kirigiri wasn't a support character until chapter 6

- there is no fucking reason for teruteru to be a pervert but they gave him the trait anyway to meet the gross character quota.

- i honestly really fucking hate sonia shes so boring bro

- hifumi is extremely relatable and pretty funny but god danganronpa doesn't know how to draw anyone who isn't skinnier than a fucking pencil

- people making joeks about chest size is weird especially since you're supposed to see these characters as minors most of the time ("but they're actually-" stfu i could care less.)

- fuyuhiko was the only character to likee,,, actually develop other than the protags and antags

- ryoma single handedly improved the v3 cast by just existing

- the previous one is mostly a joke, but he is my favorite from that game i think his cardboard cutout base (every dr character is just a trope guys, dont think this is dynamic shit) is actualyl pretty interesitng.

- 11037, mondo butter, fairy, etc jokes weren't funny, currently aren't funny, and will never be funny.

- i did enjoy chapter 3 thh, but it was super easily predictable because no one else was smart enough to do that

- i hate sdr2 chapter 3 it was just sorta shitty (though mikan my beloved)

- chapter 3 v3 was,, okay. korekiyo my beloved.

- monokuma is super funny and i laughed at him a lot. his voice is only good in the thh anime though.

- i keep bringing up the anime because its better paced then the games uwuw

- the woh are some of the best villians. they're relatable, funny, and have super interesting personalities because of it. also kotoko is the best one i dont make the rules man

- nagito's english va sounds like he smoked 50 a day

- EVERYONE'S JAPANESE VA IS BETTER THAN THEIR ENGLISH

- the only english performances i really really liked were miu's (it captures her perfectly, the lines are delivered so well), teruterus (they get the gross lines down well, the screaming was well done, also :sparkling_heart: im in love), and genociders (idk its just done really well, as i said all the lines are pretty funny, but with the voice acting it makes it better)

- danganronpa shouldn't have been at e3, i screamed when i saw it. not a positive scream. i was terrified.

- i genuinely don't like many danganronpa ships, but i'll list a few of my favorites because its about meeee today: teruteru x nekomaru (they get one,, mildly sexual scene together but omg they'd work out nice), kirumi x ryoma (idk what to say its a comfort ship, give ryoma the happy 2021), sakura x toko (remember that scene in the manga? yes), tsumugi x hifumi (im a rairpair guy, this one is a tdp thing, they'd be cute), angie x miu (they get like 0 interactions but they'd play off each other really well), peko x fuyuhiko (sobs)

- nagito isn't well written hes annoying

- same with ouma lol

- togami isn't super bad, i still fucking hate him loads during the first few chapters

- have i mentioned im in love with nekomaru? i think i have

- also you shouldn't hate people for enjoying characters like wow u hate them cool stfu now

- im being really harsh on this series because it really has changed my life for what should be the better, but now that the magic of a new fandom has faded, i can finally take a step back and criticize it (even if i am a little harsh)

- nagtio is going to kiss a girl in the new game

#danganronpa #thh #sdr2 #v3 #idk #uh #danganronpa opinions #hot takes #danganronpa hot takes #lol #shitpost #mostly a shitpost #some opinons #danganronpa fandom #dr opinions #sdr2 goodbye despair #killing harmony #trigger happy havoc

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henryobsessed · 4 years

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The Borrower and Her Bean Part 6

Summery: Henry is starting to get to know the borrower family. Including a lesson for the boys in playing game.

Word Count: 1455

A/N Thank you @littlefreya for your help around the gaming section :)

Part 5 - Part 7

Part 6

Greg and Carson looked ready to bolt as their faces coloured with embarrassment. Puffing their chest out in fake bravado they put their hands on there hips and Carson said" Yep, but we thought it was a dumb game." Henry chuckled and the little boys attempt to be brave. Trying to find a way to connect to Melina he said "well maybe if you want I can show you how to play it, and show you the tricks to make it not so dumb" the boys interest peeked at this offer and a broad smile grew on their faces. They relaxed a bit as they said in unison "Awesome, that would be fun".

Melina could not believe what she was witnessing. She knew that her brothers like her believed that Borrowers and Beans should be co-existing, but they were still terrifying. Yet here her brothers were agreeing to play a game with the giant. Looking at her bean she could see his face was mirroring the excitement at playing with the boys and wondered. Could it be true that he wanted to be friends?

The boys set up a time with Henry to meet and play his game later that day. Saying see ya later they left both Melina and Henry. Henry could see she was uncomfortable with what had just happened. Shifting as his arms were getting sore, he said "I could tell your brothers were scared but they still are willing to spend time with me. I know you are scared too but you helped me. What is the problem your people have with me that you would get in trouble?"

Melina had to word her thoughts well so her bean would not get the wrong impression of her community. "Well, Beans that what we call human Beings in the past have been very frightened of us. If a borrower was found they would often get exterminators in to kill the 'infestation'. Some have been captured and experimented on, and often we have been squashed underfoot mistaken for vermin. Because of these past behaviours borrowers have learnt to be unseen; this rule is so strong that if a borrow is seen by accident the family generally have to relocate. If they do it on purpose, their family leave them behind."

This hit henry hard realising what she had risked, what they all had risked helping him. Melina continued "However my brothers and I believe that their are beans that would happily co-exist with us rather than hurt us. You are the first we have had contact with. So, I hope that our faith in you is not misplaced." Stunned by their bravery henry nodded his head. "I can keep your secret; I would love to get to know you and your brothers, and if your parents are able to put their fear aside, I would love to meet them to. If there is a anything you need just let me know and I can help get it for you.

Shaking her head Melina knew her family would be too proud to accept help from a bean. She cautiously watched as he smiled at her again "well I have work to do, its been nice chatting can we do this again tomorrow maybe?" she saw the hope in his large blue eyes as he waited in anticipation. He was nice, gigantic, but nice, maybe she could have a friendship with him. Coming to a decision she nodded her head and said, "Ok Henry, breakfast tomorrow but you need to bring some with you as I missed mine today." He chuckled starting to rise to his knees "Ok little one, I'll bring breakfast." He then rose to his feet. Her stomach churned as she saw the size of his feet wrapped in leather sandals his toes sticking out the end. With shock she realised his big toe could almost be half the size of her body. "Have a good day Melina" her bean spoke from the clouds as he left. There was something in the way his baritone voice said her name that sent a thrill through her body and left a smile on her face for the rest of the morning.

That afternoon Melina stood at the hole to her bean's computer nook, it wasn't a room, but an alcove carved out of his living space that he dedicated to his love of all things gaming. Using the curtain ball and chain attached to his blinds she climbed to the windowsill. She was partially hidden by the books he had stacked on the sill turning it into a miniature bookshelf, along with some of his figurines. The blinds were closed to protect the items siting on the sill darkening the nook. She quietly looked over to the computer desk and saw Greg and Carson standing on his desk by the keyboard waiting for her bean. She was amazed again at their boldness, although she could see them begin to shake slightly as her bean entered the room.

He was dressed in black shorts and a royal blue tank top that showed off his large muscular arms making Melina blush just at the sight of them. She could see him grin through his beard as he pulled the chair out and sat down. Facing the boy's he picked up a large set of ear muffs and explained that he spoke to the other players through a microphone that stuck out like a small snake towards his mouth. She could see the boys faces full of excitement and awe as he turned on the machine and the screen glowed with light, and filled with colour.

The afternoon was one of amazement as she enjoyed seeing her brothers learn. Henry pointed out each key's importance on the keyboard and they did mock scenarios until they were a fine unit. Henry would call out a play, then Carson and Greg would dance over the keyboard along with Henry clicking the mouse to bring about the desired manoeuvre.

The cheers would arise from the two borrowers as they would raise their little arms at the computer screen. What they didn't see and only Melina was privileged to observe was the soft look of pride, and joy that would pass over Henry's face. Once the game really began the challenge was in earnest, concentration fell over borrower and bean alike.

It was during a particularly hard campaign that Carson jumped quickly from the E key to the space bar causing him to slip and tumble off the keyboard. In a split-second Milina went to cry out as she saw him rolling toward the edge of the desk. He didn't fall, instead her beans large meaty hand flew out so fast and Carson tumbled into his hand instead of falling to his demise. Hand to her mouth muffling a sob she noted Carson's trembling body as it lay in Henry's hand. Her bean looked down a look of concern on his face at the little boy and pulling his head set off saying "Are you ok?" Carson trembled as he stood up and walked off his hand back onto the desk "Thank you Henry, I guess it's a dangerous game." He chuckled covering his embarrassment.

They returned back to their game and continued for another hour, as Melina sat she struggled to stay awake and finally with the sounds of laugher and cheers in the background curled up against a book and fell asleep.

Melina didn't want to open her eyes, but she heard voices quietly whispering, the problem was one of the voices whispers was louder than her loudest shout. "Should we wake her?" the deep baritone voice said followed by a more normal borrower voice "yeah we should neither Greg or I can carry her she's too heavy". A gentle chuckle followed as her beans deep voice said, "well I could pick her up but I'm sure waking up in my big beefy hands would scare the wits out of her." At this comment Melina opened her eyes and looked up into the face of Her bean gazing down at her with a soft look in his eyes.

Quickly pulling herself up into a sitting position she looked between her brothers and her bean. "How did you find me?" Henry chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck "well once the game finished we could her a soft snoring" red stained her cheeks as she realised he meant she had been snoring 'Loudly' horrified she stood up and hid behind one of the books. Trying to hold back tears of embarrassment she ran to the chain shimmied down and disappeared into her safety into the dark.

I have Tagged people who follow me and who I follow if you want to be removed or added please let me know :)

@keanureevesisbae @darkverrmin @viking-raider @littlefreya@madbaddic7ed @the-soot-sprite @thelastsock @lovetusilver20@crimsonrae @demivampirew @ladyreapermc@henrycavillobsessed @nitannichionne @runawayolives @heartfelt-pen @omgkatinka @star017 @llly113 @sad-ghost-of-garbage @ayamenimthiriel @starstruckkittyangel @lebguardians @summersong69 @notyouraveragemochii @imneonpanda @carriebee1 @ivyfatale @thereisa8ella @lucy930 @sarahmichelle5 @stuckupstucky @cleodoramer @kmuir1 @elliepower @xobriellaxo24 @xxxkatxo @supernovacocorocha @hennerslionhat @xo-mery-ox @waitedforlove743 @ladamari68 @coksy @wickedrum @harleyfranquinn @mysticalstrangerearthquake @justrae9903 @willkatfanfromasia @daddys-littlewhitegirl @cavilladdict @lebguardians @theblondetumbleweed @snowbellexx @radaofrivia @geralttheewitcher @acdd22 @lana-rose5 @skorimizize

#borrowers #theborrowerandherbean #henrycavill #henrycavill x ofc

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mayorofcattown · 3 years

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lol it’s been a while, but finally making an update on the original VN I’ve been (very slowly) working on. I meant to do this like a month ago but wanted to finish up some sketches first and then all of well everything happened and I got distracted oops. planning on just posting most general updates on here tho, there’s not much point putting original stuff behind a paywall atm, I figure the better way to get ppl interested is to talk abt it here

anyway I’ve decided to just jump right into making it rather than trying to make another smaller game, mostly cause I haven’t had any better ideas and also cause the coding was honestly easier than I expected anyway.

Been making some progress on the design/aesthetic stuff (like the logo and sprite/menu roughs above), plus some boring back end stuff setting up some of the mechanics/systems the game is gonna use in renpy, which tbh sounds way fancier than it is... but anyway this will get long so I’m gonna put the rest under the cut

I posted it above, but I made a new logo! I honestly wasn’t planning to at first, I was just making some minor updates to it so I could try out some interface layouts, and then next minute I’d been fussing with it for like four hours, oops. But I like the way it turned out (tho I might fiddle with the i a bit more...) it fits the aesthetic nicely, tho I still need to make an actual like. vector version of it to actually use in things

here’s a comparison of it next to the old one if anyone’s curious (old one is top)

anyway, as for the game itself I’ve mostly just been setting up the different stat systems, and I’ve got a working glossary, stats and friendship system going, though they’re very bare bones at the moment, as you can see below

they weren’t actually as hard to put in as I thought they would be tbh, the glossary was actually harder weirdly enough ha ha. though they’ll probably get more complicated once there’s actual Content to deal with...the actual game itself is still very basic tho

I have been doing some interface designs, all still very rough wireframes tho. most of them honestly were basically illegible to anyone but me, but I do have this nicer looking wireframe of the stats page that I put together. I tried to work as much with the existing renpy layout as possible, as editing the layouts of things in renpy is a Huge Pain compared to just changing colours and slapping nice background art in is lol. the fourth character here is a character who I’m still working on finalising some of the design and story for, so I can’t show her yet, but Soon

one new character I Can show off tho (as you can see from the first sprite art I posted, ignore how messy it is, they were mostly just to rough out the interface) is this guy:

I am very indecisive abt names but I’m like 90% settled on naming him ‘Kai Parata’, he’s a young mechanic working at his family’s mechanic place where he mostly works repairing mechanical pets. He and Trinity become very good friends ;)

On the subject of the story, I haven’t been working on it as actively as the other parts, in the sense that I haven’t written any actual scripts or anything, mostly just spit balling ideas around parts of the story I’ve been struggling with. I’ve had this story idea since I was like, 15, and that’s definitely meant a lot of the writing process has been course correcting Bad Ideas I came up with when I was a teen lol. And the ‘bad idea’ I’d been struggling with lately was the police elements of the setting. I’d been pretty hmm abt it for a year or two now already but these last few months were uhh definitely the nail in the coffin that made me actually commit to changing it. While the story never really framed them as ‘good’, I mean its a dystopia the cops being shitty is basically a genre requirement, and it’s a fairly minor part of the story, I still didn’t feel anyone would be comfortable reading abt it, and I def wasn’t comfortable writing it anymore.

But once I actually dug into it, I realised it wasn’t actually super critical to the story, I’d rly only made a cop character in the first place cause I needed something to contrast a ‘hacker’ and that’s the first thing I thought of, but once I thought abt it there were wayy better options. Turns out making the character guy working in security at the big wig tech firm Skyler hacks into accomplishes literally the exact same beats story wise, fits way better with the story’s themes and world building, and also gave me a tonne of ideas for his backstory which I’d been stuck on for a while. And it isn’t going to make people’s skin crawl anywhere near as much... It’s certainly a much better direction for the story either way.

Anyway, that about wraps up most of what I’ve been working on. Next I’m probably going to start setting up the interface designs in game, and (hopefully) actually plotting out some of the story. I might also do some rough sprites and things too. Also actually design some of the environments too oops... anyway we’ll see.

Currently my plans for actually releasing stuff is probably just work on the game until I’ve got most of the core elements designed/implemented, and then just release a demo of the first few chapters for ppl to play so I can test it/gain interest. I had been considering doing like a mini spinoff first, but I never had any good ideas lol so I’ve just decided to go with a demo version. Who knows how long it’ll be before that happens tho, while the story doesn’t need to be finished I will need a p decent portion of the art done to even release anything. But things are getting there ya know

#honestly it felt like a hadn't done much but seeing it all compiled here it actually looks like a lot lol #tho it is over the space of like idk. 6 months???#VNS #art #I guess?#original art

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demonfox38 · 3 years

Text

Completed - Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Oh, my language is going to be vulgar on this one.

So, I'm a crusty millennial who likes old garbage. Most of the media I like is old enough to drink and be a member of the US congress, but probably couldn't be due to the country that produced it. Now, I'd like to think that I've got good reasons to like older media, particularly when it comes to video games. It's a bit hard for my NES to bug me for microtransactions/DLC and emanate the screams of children and man-children alike. But, as much as I like my retro junk, there's one thing I'm very, very happy about regarding modern video games. The variety of game types now-a-days is a blessing. It's rare that someone is stellar at all game types, and I sure have my weaknesses.

It took me a long time to realize that I could be good at video games, and I wholly blame the glut of 1980s platforming games on that.

Look, platforming is not a forgiving genre. Particularly, back in the day where you had characters dying in 1-3 hits before factoring in death pits. It existed then for the reason that fourteen million instakill indie horror games exist now. Instantly killing the player is a lot easier to code than, say, having to track a health bar or their new position as an enemy swats them into a different room. Sometimes, a coder's gotta do what they can to keep themselves sane.

But, from a player's perspective, this style sucks!

Getting good at a platforming game requires practicing the same levels over and over again, developing a sense of your character's inertia and limitations. Without a save state or a warp to narrow in on a particularly troublesome location, it's hard to get learning to stick. You could lose a lot of games and time trying to put it all together. And some poor little character is always suffering because of your ineptitude! Such failure feels like a fork in an electrical socket. Succeeding in these circumstances requires a great deal of emotional resilience and a contrary attitude. And you know what? That's just not something I had as a kid. In fact, one could say I had my aggression and competitive drive scolded out of me. I'm just now getting that back.

So, yeah. I had a little trouble with "Zelda II: The Adventure of Link."

"Zelda II" is part of a trifecta of NES games that get routinely shit on by retro reviewers. Like its peers "Super Mario Bros. 2" and "Castlevania II", this game is generally considered an inferior game due to an extreme change of gameplay and appearance from its predecessors. And you know what? That attitude sucks. I'd rather have a variety of different games with a cast I like than have them pigeon-holed into one genre. In "Zelda II"'s case, however? The game mechanic shift was so extreme that I can easily see the ire it raises. Hell, I felt it. I wouldn't go so far to say that it's the worst Zelda game ever, but man, does it have structural defects.

In "Zelda II", Link's goal is to save an ensorcelled Zelda from eternal slumber by picking up a Triforce chunk that was pitched into a fuck-off palace way at the edge of Hyrule. (No, not the Zelda from the first game. Another Zelda. Same Link, though.) To do that, he's got to slap six gemstones into various temples across the countryside. Naturally, that includes picking up his trusty sword, leaping into battle, and then maybe straight into a death pit.

That's right. This Zelda is actually a Mario.

Further complicating the matter is a sharp switch in battle style and item accruement. While the previous Zelda game was about room management and ranged combat (or at least, as much as that was allowed), this game is all about jamming Link's dinky sword into an enemy's face and running off as fast as he can. Now, Link can learn a few tricks to help with the slash and dash, like directional stab mechanics and spells. But, as far as getting new weapons to help you? Sorry, bud. No bombs or boomerangs here. Well, except for the assholes throwing boomerangs at you, anyway. You just can't steal them.

The game encourages polishing the player's skill with Link through a level system. After acquiring XP through good ol' fashioned monster murdering, Link can cash his points out, improving his life, magic, or attack power. As the player levels him up, stats become more costly to improve. If Link gets a total game over before you use your XP, it is wiped out. Alright, fine. Fair, I guess. But, I wouldn't recommend looking at Japanese footage of this game if you don't want to give yourself a migraine. It turns out that as a part of some rebalancing, the level-up system was stacked to try and keep players from dumping all of their points into a single stat early into the game. Particularly, attack. Considering how painful and annoying enemy logic gets in this game, it's such a drag to learn that Japanese players literally could cut their way right out of that struggle. Thanks for dicking with the game design again, American publishers.

I guess we got better looking sprites and sound effects out of the deal? Hooray for wiggly Barba.

Even with leveling mechanics and a handful of heart and magic containers, this Link feels much frailer than the original Zelda's Link. Like, it's hard to believe he's supposed to be the same guy. Even at max health and defense, you could get Link wiped out with 8-32 hits (as opposed to 16-64 hits from the first game.) Exacerbating that is a life system that can yoink those health bars at any pit's whim and Link's range/health restoration being tied to a limited pool of magic. It feels like you're playing with a ceramic replica of the original character. You can make it work in a fight, sure, but you'd rather have a sword than a shard of a broken teapot.

If you don't have a bushido-level acceptance of death, you're not going to make it very far in this game. I'm not being hyperbolic. You have to accept that you are going to kill Link. You're going to watch that little fairy boy fade to black as the world flashes around him, and you're going to see that a lot. You're going to toss his bitch ass into the river to get a game over and restock your lives because fuck if you're going to wipe out inside a dungeon and have to start your bitch ass back at Zelda's temple again. That little counter on the main menu isn't how many times you have wiped out. It's how many times you've clawed your way out of the abyss with a middle finger raised.

Oh. Minor epilepsy warning on boss and Link deaths, by the way.

Having gone full bleak there for a moment, there are a few pieces of knowledge that can help slow down the cycle of life and death:

There are towns with nice ladies in red dresses and orange robes that will heal your ass for free. You should talk with them a lot.

There are classes of enemies that will drop items after they have been killed six times. Most of the time, this is a magic bottle that restores MP. Sometimes, it's a bag of experience. No monster will drop anything to heal your HP.

Also, some enemies are literal rat bastards that steal your XP. Some also give you no XP on killing them. Yeah. I know. Annoying.

The Life spell is in Saria. The downward stab is in Mido. (I realize these are very strange sentences if you're more familiar with "Ocarina of Time.") Getting these can make a night and day difference in surviving the game. So, keep that in mind.

You do get a spell that will turn you into a fairy. You can use it to game pits and sneak past lock doors. Just don't abuse it too much. It's expensive.

The dungeons have this little statue in front of them that you can whack with your sword. In most locations, it'll drop either a magic bottle or an Iron Knuckle. Game entering and exiting a dungeon as much as possible to restore yourself to full vitality.

You can get into random fights on the overworld (represented either by a little black blob or a more threatening human-sized blob.) Staying on gold roads will mean these encounters produce no enemies.

Also, you can use those random battles to override forced platforming sections. Not that I would recommend cheating in such a fashion. 😉

The game will give you a level up after you plug a gemstone into a dungeon. If you're close to leveling up anyway, turn around and grind up to the top, cash in what you've got, and then go pitch that gem.

Link has a crouch, not a duck. You think pressing down on the D-pad will evade projectiles aimed at your face, but it does not. Crouching is only good for blocking floor-level garbage. It's best not to think of the down button as much as possible, really. Only use it to pick up crap off the ground and cheese the final boss. Otherwise, jump.

I know that I said earlier that "Zelda II" is mechanically like a Mario game, but you know what other perspective might help? Try and play Link as a Metroidvania Castlevania character. There's an attack style in games like "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night" and "Aria of Sorrow" where you walk, jump, and attack in such a way that you never stop moving forward. That's what you've got to do. Walk, jump at an enemy, bonk on forehead. (Depending on how fast you press the attack button, you may need to delay swinging your sword just a teeny bit. At least, I had a bad habit of swinging too early.) With any luck, when you hit the ground, you will be able to keep on moving. You do not want to get stuck playing "poke-the-hole" with your enemies, particularly with how turtle-y some of them can get.

So, the game's a brutal bitch, but I don't want to spend the entire time shitting on it. Let's talk about improvements.

Honestly, I like the sprite style of the side-scrolling sections better than the previous game. Everyone/thing has more room to be rendered, so they look clearer. I can't say the monster or dungeon design here is my favorite, but hey. Easy to see. Yippie. Could have used a map though. Maybe some more tile textures in the dungeons?

NO. STOP. BE NICE.

There are more people around that want to help Link out. Like, whole towns filled with helpful healing ladies and dudes that will teach you magic and the occasional sword strike. Most of their conversation makes sense (although, there's a memetastic fault in translation regarding a character being named Error instead of what I'm assuming should have been Errol.) People good. Want to help people. People help me.

Except for towns where some of the people are monsters, and one of the times they overlapped a healing lady to get text box priority, and then they killed me. Boo.

I'M SORRY. I HAD A HARD TIME.

The music variety is pleasant. Only a few tracks have escaped the game to go into use elsewhere, but there's only one that I'm really iffy on. The NA release did a fine job transposing what they could using a different sound chip, and there are striking uses of the sample channel being used in ominous situations.

But…like…I struggle to see where fighting through this game is worth it. And maybe it comes down to the final boss. Like, the penultimate one? Absolutely cool. A bitch to fight, but I can't knock how massive and intricate its sprite is. But, the final boss? I suppose it comes down to personal tastes, but I find mirror matches/rivals to be exceedingly dull. Like, good for you. You know how I fight. I do too. Come back to me when you know the weaknesses of my style and use a fresh set of skills to throw at me.

Like, it's not the worst ending in the Zelda series. (My vote for that would go to "Link's Awakening.") You do get Zelda saved. But, given that the final boss is some kind of dark clone of yourself…it begs a lot of questions. Was there any concrete plan for the forces of darkness in Hyrule, or were various monster tribes just scuffling around, being dicks without any overarching plan? Were some monsters trying to keep you out of the Great Palace for a good reason? Would there have been any threat of Ganon reviving at all if Link just…sat on his ass behind a castle for the next century or managed his anxiety in a different way? Why does the manual bother to separate Zeldas and the game does not? Oh, wait. The Japanese intro correctly distinguishes this and the American one does not. Why am I not surprised? What's the difference if you don't see the Zelda you saved from the first game, anyway?

This game is a lot of work. I had to psych myself up to play it every time, and by the end, I was rattled enough by my nerves that I literally camped in my bathroom for a few minutes just to make sure I didn't get sick on the couch. Very stressful. And I'm not sure that stress was worth it, frankly. Life's hard enough as it is right now. I literally have a stress rash on my neck from the shit I'm going through in real life. No, you did not need to know about that. But maybe you need to know that I've been having a hard time lately, and this game did nothing to alleviate me from the stresses of reality. And what's the point in checking out from reality if a fantasy world is just going to make me miserable, too?

There are better games to play in this style. Hell, there are better games on the NES in this style. You know what you should go play? "Faxanadu." It's uglier than "Zelda II", sure. An absolute idiot when it comes to basic mathematics. But it's very chill about platforming and death. And maybe I just want to chill the fuck out for a while.

#post game evaluation #zelda ii: the adventure of link

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