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#this ended up loooong
wannaeatramyeon · 1 year
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Hello!! Recently found your page and when i tell you i binge read almost all of your lookism content i mean it.
That being said i would love to ask if you could do a scenario where y/n and Goo hate each other but fake date in order to make Gun jealous and of course annoyed (in Goo’s case), however in the end they both fall for each other.
Aww!! THANK YOU FOR READING!! Isn't this community great. Isn't Lookism great.
I LOVE fake date fics! Slight deviation to just trying to prove Gun wrong (the plot is thin, okay).
Goo Kim x Reader: Fake Dating
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"Get your hands off me!"
"It's called acting, you bitch!"
"Dumb bastard!"
"Stupid hag!"
"Four eyed fuck!"
"Shit for brains!"
A door slams shut. You and Goo freeze for a brief moment before throwing yourselves at each other. Your lips smash painfully together, and hands wander. It's for authenticity, you see.
(And it works.)
Gun stops in his tracks, "What the fuck?"
.
.
You had been chit-chatting as you usually do during one of the lulls in your missions with Gun.
"-and winter weddings are sorta magical, y'know? I like the idea of getting married and having snow falling all around me. But summer with the weather, I-"
Gun has had enough of your mundane chatter. "How the hell do you find the stupidest shit to talk about. You can't even get anyone to date you."
You throw a punch at him, "We dated!"
He dodges your attack, "And we broke up."
"Fuck you, loads of people want to date me!"
Gun peers over his sunglasses at you, he knows you are bullshitting.
Ugh. You'll show this asshole.
.
.
"Hey, you big lump," you kick Goo's chair. Oops maybe a bit too hard. You cackle as he tumbles into a heap on the floor.
"AHH! What was that for, you dumb bitch!" Goo gives you the filthiest look.
(On paper you and him should get on like a house on fire. But the first time you met, he had opened his mouth and asked who brought along this pretty little bimbo. You tried to rip out his tongue for that. Well, the rest is history.)
"So..." You eye up the blonde dusting himself off and readjusting his glasses. Is this one of your worst ideas? Probably. "Wanna piss off Gun with me?"
"I don't need you to do that."
"But what if we can take it to new realms of irritation?"
"..."
"I'll pay you."
"Why didn't you say so, Princess! I'm all ears."
Goo had always thought you were a little weird. As if this doesn't prove his point exactly.
Whatever.
He's making money and irritating Gun. Two of his favourite things. Add in beating someone up in there, and it's his holy trinity.
Hmm, maybe he could beat you up after this. That would be fun. He gives you a sly glance as you're explaining the 'fake dating' and what it entails.
Seriously, what an oddball.
.
.
After Gun discovers you two all over each other, he turns around and swiftly exits.
He did not care for getting involved in your love life. That ship had long sailed.
The only concerns are with his own sanity.
Having you and Goo together is a dangerously irritating, annoying combination. It doesn't just increase his chance of getting a headache and into trouble two-fold, it increases it exponentially.
...And the fake dating begins.
.
.
"Sweetheart, this song reminds me of you!" Goo gives a mocking smile that only you could see.
Gun is sitting in the back while Goo drives and you occupy the passenger's seat. That's fine as far as Gun is concerned. The further he is away from the both of you while you have this little... thing going on the better.
He honestly could not care less. But even listening to you two flirting is like nails on a chalkboard. The headache is returning. He should really invest in some headphones.
"Aww~ You are so sweet!"
You run your hands along Goo's thigh then brutally dig your nails in as you pinch him. This fuck. Did he think you couldn't hear the lyrics? The woman in this song is a useless doormat.
Goo blows you a kiss in return.
.
.
"Cupcake!" Goo matches pace with you and goes to hold your hand. You hear Gun's unhappy grumblings from behind. "There's a new hot restaurant that opened up. We should go on a date!"
"I would love that," That really would be thoughtful if you guys were an actual couple.
"We can have a nice night out and walk along the Han river."
"Perfect."
Goo's grip on your hand tightens, he looks deviously at you. Oh no. You prepare yourself for whatever comes out of his mouth next.
"And afterwards we can go back to mine for dessert? You know what I mean? By dessert? That's how everyone phrases it right? To mean we will just fuck all night? With my big, huge, throbbing-"
You hear a stumble and cursing from Gun. You look at Goo and feel him mentally high five-ing you.
Heh. That'll teach Gun for being such a dick. This isn't such a terrible idea after all.
.
.
"Sweetheart! Don't I look handsome!"
Gun questioned his life choices.
You and Goo had insisted on running into a designer store for something quick. 'Something quick' had turned into an hour of Goo parading around in suits. And now Gun is waiting sullenly in the corner for you both to finish up whatever the fuck you are doing.
"Hurry the fuck up,"
"Gun, you sourpuss! It's for the HNH function tonight. Goo needs to look his best."
Goo definitely did look good, you'll give him that. The blonde has a great body and a keen eye for fashion.
"Honeybun?" you turn your attention towards your 'boyfriend' as he strides out the fitting room. The suit looks like it was tailored especially for him.
Oh. Has he always been this handsome? You start to think maybe he isn't so bad until-
"You said you'll treat me for showing you a good time last night?"
You must be a better actor than you thought. Your mouth doesn't drop open at his boldfaced lie and your face remains neutral.
This prick. No doubt he's going to rack up an absurd bill and make you pay.
"Let's have a closer look then," you walk over to him, playing the part of a sweet girlfriend. Your hand smooths out the lapel and shirt.
"Silly, your tie is all askew," you adjust the knot and tighten it until it almost chokes this idiot.
Goo doesn't say a word, just looks down at you with a smirk. You feel the urge to wipe it off.
"I do like this one," you say. Your hand reaches out to caress his face. He stills at your unusually tender touch, his next backhanded comment gets stuck in his throat.
You push yourself up on your tiptoes to press your lips to his.
As if on autopilot, Goo's arms moves to circles your waist, pulling you closer and deepening the kiss. Something about the way you fit with him feels natural.
You nip at his lower lip. Hmm, Goo really is a good kisser.
Gun closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. You two are getting on his fucking nerves. He really shouldn't kick your asses here. He takes a deep breath and counts to ten.
Scratch that, maybe one hundred.
.
.
Goo, with his arm around your shoulder, eyes your Uno cards.
He had already won a couple rounds ago, and now you and Gun are determining who between you is the loser.
"No cutie-pie, don't put the green one down. Gun will +2 you!"
"Don't help her out!" Gun growls at you both sitting across from him. He gets awfully testy even with silly games.
You hum and haw at whether to trust Goo as he studies your hand, trying to come up with a strategy.
"Put this one down," he ignores Gun and points at a particular card, "cross my heart babe!"
Fine. You follow his instructions.
Gun huffs and picks up a card from the pile. Guess he couldn't follow your colour or number.
Goo taps twice on his cheek. You giggle and reward him with a loud smooch.
.
.
"Like this,"
Goo comes up behind you, pressing himself fully into your back and helping you adjust the grip on the golf club.
You subtly elbow him.
"Watch it," you whisper.
"You're paying for my boyfriend services," he responds under his breath, a grin never leaving his face.
Your voice returns to its normal volume, "I thought I was doing it right?"
"Nooo Princess, your swing is all off!"
He rests his head on your shoulder, actually telling you about where your hands should be and correcting your stance.
If you were a weaker woman, you would be feeling butterflies, and your face would flush. You would think about how sweet Goo could be, and how fun he is in a relationship...
You see Gun from the corner of eye and quickly derail any straying thoughts. Instead, you turn and lightly graze your lips on Goo's cheek and shuffle your hips into his crotch playfully.
Goo, delighted at your movement, chuckles.
Off to the side, Gun facepalms.
.
.
You open your mouth obediently as Goo spoonfeeds you.
"Isn't it extra delicious when your Goo-bear is feeding you?" He flutters his eyelashes. God, this guy is so ridiculous you couldn't help but laugh.
"Do you have to fucking do that? I'm trying to eat here." Gun glares at the display.
"Don't be jealous just because you'll never know love like this!" Goo snaps before feeding you another mouthful.
Gun rolls his eyes. Why does Charles curse him with the most idiotic partners.
"Yeah I'll just pay for mine and the wifey's food," Goo smiles at the waitress, handing over some cash.
"Just pay for it all you cheap asshole!" Gun is exasperated. It's a goddamn hole-in-the-wall, not some fine dining establishment. The total is pocket change.
"Nope!"
"You fucking-"
The waitress clears her throat awkwardly.
"Pay for it yourself, you prick," Goo retorts as he nuzzles into your neck.
Gun angrily slams down some money.
.
.
"What's this?"
So much for doing work. Goo loudly makes an entrance into your office and wafts a piece of paper in front of your face. You snatch it irritably.
"My invoice!"
What? This wasn't the duration that was agreed.
You narrow your eyes at him, "But we're not done yet!"
"No, we're not."
"So?"
"So I thought I'll give you a 100% discount for the foreseeable, sweetheart."
Your eyebrows knit together. Does this mean what you think it means?
Goo is a picture of nonchalance, he perches on your desk as he examines his nails.
"You mean you actually want to...?"
"I'm having a good time. You look like you are too."
Hmm, you couldn't deny it. And you never thought kissing him could be so pleasant.
"So we're really...?"
Goo gives you a smile and a casual shrug. "If you want to, Princess."
How does nothing ruffle his feathers. How can he be so relaxed about this?
You mull it over. What's the worst that could happen? The last few weeks have been undeniably fun. You don't think you had ever laughed so much.
You school your expression and give him a nod.
Goo's easy smile turns into a toothy grin. He pulls you close and kisses you, like all the times he had before. But this one feels sweeter. Real.
Goo fucking Kim is actually your boyfriend. Who would have thought?
When you finally pull away, you both stay within touching distance, beaming at each other like morons.
"Bastard."
"Bimbo."
Goo suddenly frowns, and the magic breaks. "This doesn't change anything. You still need to pay the bill!"
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smth smth about 'the thing that the character did that you thought was rly rly funny in the moment is actually linked to a terrible trauma that lies within said character.' or wahtever.
#jrwi show#jrwi fanart#jrwi riptide#gillion tidestrider#made this within a short span of wahtever bc i gotta go up to the mountains for my stupid gay job tonight n im trying#nnot to frrRREAAAK THE FUCK OUUTTTTTTi dont wanna work but. get that bread we fuckin shall i guess#ONWARDS TO THE FISH TORMENT!! sometimes flowers feel pain when you trim them before their blossoming. atleast i imagine so#i used to draw gillion with loooong hair tied into a big ol braid. and then it was confirmed that he had short hair when he was little.#AT FIRST I WAS SAD. but then i realized the duality of. when they were little. gill had short hair. edyn had long hair.#AND NOW THEYRE OLDER. and gillion has long hair. and edyn has short hair#both mirroring eachother. looking up to eachother. subconsciously or not. they most certainly care. and most certainly miss eachother.#GILLION ALWAYS LOVED HOW LONG HAIR LOOKs. atleast i imagine so. he hasnt cut it since he left the undersea. sure he wanted to go back home#but even at the very start. he knew he was free in some way now. free to grow out his hair. an adventure would await him before he returns.#he knew it would be a while. so he cant let this go. he cant let this sought-after hair-length get cut away from him again#not yet. not yet. i like to think he loved music too. I SAW SOMETHING INTERESTING A BIT AGO#i see alot of ppl commenting on my baby gill comics like;'i wouldFIGHT this teacher i wanna KILL EM i want them DESTROYED#all very good and nice sentiments! i LOVE the energy here! and it would be nice. to have that catharsis#but the story of young tidestrider is not a story of catharsis. it is a story of agony and being so so small and so special and also so dum#and sucking so bad. and just being a kid and doing the things that a little kid does and so many tired tired people reacting badly to it#youre supposed to be the hero that will save us. our world hangs in the balance and you are the one who tips the scales.#YOU are supposed to SAVE US!! you NEED to SAVE US! CAN YOU PLEASE STOP SQUIRMING IN YOUR STUPID CHAIR!!#you'd think that young tidestrider ought to prevail. and be tucked someplace all safe and sound.#elders gone missing and rotting in a jail. their cultists nowhere around. but theres no happy endings. not here not now.#this tale is all sorrows n woes. you may dream that justice n peace win the day. but thats not how this story goes#BIG ideas for this lil baby gillion series. if anything i make ever gets disproven im killing myself in a well as to poison a water supply
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ne-nene-ne · 1 year
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Imagine being Nagi’s crush and Reo getting jealous, unsure whether it's because you're taking Nagi's attention or because he also likes you
seishiro nagi × fem!reader × reo mikage
- nagi is the primary love interest while reo has a one-sided crush on you (mostly from his pov too)
- includes a smidge of angst I'd say, (well actually not just a smidge teehee)
When Nagi was developing a crush on you, Reo was the first to notice. You were classmates, and you caught Nagi’s attention by playing the same mobile video game he did.
As Nagi was walking through the school yard with Reo, his ears perked up when he heard the familiar sounds of attacking noises and fanfare from his beloved game. Following the source of the sound, he found you, sitting on the bench and indeed playing the same video game that he did. You seemed so happy in your own little world that he didn't want to bother you. Instead, he would often peek behind your shoulder at a distance to see your progress. Your gaming tactics interested him.
Reo found the whole thing amusing at first. He elbowed Nagi lightly, "Why not just approach her and ask her about it instead of watching her like a creep?" Reo wouldn’t have encouraged him if he knew how this would eventually play out.
Nagi took his advice and approached you during those rare moments when you were having difficulty defeating a boss. You were incredibly concentrated on your phone screen, with your brows furrowed and teeth subtly biting your lower lip. It was an unusual sight to see that he finally felt the need to step in.
"Use that spell and use that attack at the same time, he'll be much easier to defeat", he says, earning a startled reaction from you as the silver-haired boy seemed to appear out of nowhere. Yet, you do as he says and end up finishing off the boss with ease.
You say your thanks, introduce yourselves, and segway into talking more about the game (and also exchange player ID's). The two of you began talking to each other more often.
This would be the beginning of Reo's 'dislike' for you.
Reo's irritation would increase when Nagi noticeably had you on his mind constantly.
Even with Reo next to him, Nagi's mind would still wander off to you. “I wonder if she’s online…”, he'd mutter and frequently check his phone, hoping that your active status would be green. The fact that Nagi would check nearly every 2 minutes particularly pissed him off.
In class, Nagi would come over to your desk, pull up a chair, whip his phone out, and you two would play the video game together. Poor Reo would be off to the side, sulking while his eyes were drilling holes into you. He'd be muttering to himself.
So what if you liked the same game as Nagi? What made you so special? Was it the way you'd sweetly smile at him whenever you saw him coming? Or was it the way your eyes lit up whenever he gave you a helpful tip to win? And that soft laugh whenever you thought he was being a bit silly. How annoying… Your blatant 'flirting' was irritating the hell out of him.
Reo was cut off from his thoughts when you suddenly called his name, beckoning him to come over with that same sweet smile of yours. And for a reason he couldn't comprehend, it made his heart beat a little bit quicker. What did you possibly want from him? He swallowed thickly as he approached you two. Turns out you wanted to learn how he and Nagi got into soccer as you noticed them practicing on the field after school.
'Is this your attempt to be nice? How dare you try to act so considerate when you're the root of the problem. I don't need your pity', Reo would think. Yet, he found himself answering all of your questions so willingly. Your eyes, brimming with genuine curiosity, were getting to him as he spoke that he ended up inviting you to watch their practice without thinking. Of course, you said yes.
Before he could come up with something to change your mind, the teacher came in and began class. He mentally punched himself. What was he doing? You were the enemy and he invited you to spend more time with them. But those eyes– It was those bright eyes that gazed at him while he spoke of his passions that got him carried away. He wanted more of it. You found his weak spot and he hated it.
And so you'd show up to their practices to watch them play. The moment both boys saw your figure waving at them, they'd instinctively try to show off. For Nagi, he hadn't realized it himself until he thought it odd that he wanted to put in a little more effort that day. (but that was just the effect you had on him). And for Reo, well, he just reasoned that if anyone at all was watching him, there's no doubt he'd want to look great.
But halfway through practice, he questioned himself. What was the use? You were looking at Nagi most of the time and not him anyway.
You had gained more of their affection when you brought them their favorite drinks and snacks once practice was over. Nagi would definitely eat most of the snacks you brought while you and Reo had to scold him to not eat either of yours. A muffled, "Thanks for the snacks, y/n" would come out of Nagi's mouth, now full of chips, and Reo would mutter a small "...thanks" (If you tell him to speak up or that you couldn't hear him, you'd get a rise out of him for sure, hehe)
And this would sorta be your routine with them. You would watch and wait for them to be done with practice and you three would hang out together afterwards.
Rather, in Reo's pov, it was more like you and Nagi hanging out while he was basically just third-wheeling, no matter how much you attempted to include him in your conversations with Nagi.
The interactions you two had were just different. The looks, smiles, and light touches that you'd give to Nagi weren’t the same ones you'd give to him. It was frustrating that what he wanted was right there but he could never have it.
And so maybe he could finally admit to himself that he's just jealous– Jealous that you were stealing both his best friend and his heart.
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haharuspex · 2 months
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phew, okay, pathologic oc time!!
“I don’t gather. I don’t sing. I don’t dance. That’s for others, but for me - it's to hunt, to pretend, to scavenge. Cattle is content, it knows its purpose, herbs don’t resist when I pluck them, but the rest... Oh, odonghs hate me. Herb brides, too. They tore off my tail once and I haven’t bothered them since."
"Hunter", a steppe creature, is rumored to have crawled out of rivers so deep that their bottom originates in Suok's guts. He (it, she, they, whatever, it doesn't care) took on a more or less humanoid appearance when it first met people, because he hunts best when it imitates its favorite prey. That’s why Hunter resembles herb brides in some ways - he loves to feed on them, because he secretly envies their talent to communicate with Earth. He "steals" this talent after consumption, but it doesn't stay for long.
He does not enter the Town just yet because he's lowkey afraid lmao, but engages in barter on the outskirts. He can exchange twyre of any rarity and the organs of odonghs/herb brides for lemons. He fucking loves lemons. He doesn’t even eat them, he collects them as a kind of treasure, and in his underground lair they somehow, magically ig, don’t rot - they just chill there like a hoard of citrus gold.
His true form is a long black half-snake, and his poison, at worst, can paralyze and kill, and at best (when processed properly) can become an anesthetic or a medicine to boost immune system.
his hair is snakes and twyre and certain daredevils are eager to use it as an ingredient for a homemade snake wine lol
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rush-the-stars · 4 months
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something i think about a lot is how like. a lot of kinks within fic are no longer the character study they used to be. like its Just There. and therefore makes it weirdly….plain? or removed from the reason it was originally maybe taboo or NOT vanilla?
not to be like “back in my day…” but i’ve been in fandom spaces for like 10 or so years now? and i felt like awhile ago, you’d read a fic with a specific kink and it’d be like 60k+ and largely it was a study on the character(s) and why and how they’d have this kink. maybe if they denied it or were embarrassed or how they even can become comfortable with it. what circumstances would give them this desire.
the fic itself sometimes felt more like someone’s thesis on why these characters would have sex like this. but it kinda amped everything up? it gave it context and build up and conflict.
not to say its bad or that writers can’t also do the same in shorter fic. but ig i feel like now its mostly just. like the kink is Just There. and there’s not a huge justification for it—not that there always has to be!
this isn’t hate to anyone or anything in particular its more just me musing. ig sometimes i miss the days when character study type fics were very popular.
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cozymochi · 2 months
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never wrong 💃
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kaladinkholins · 2 months
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lmfao @ me saying i estimate this fic will be like 20-30k words. now it's standing at 19k words with 5 chapters and it's not even close to done!!!
my outline, standing at 10 chapters, has yet to even reach the midpoint of the story.
so like.... fellas... i have no idea how long this fic is gonna be... :')
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WIP Game
Rules: In a new post, post the names of all the files in your WIP folder regardless of how non descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet and tell us about it!
Tagged by @wsdanon hi hello! <3
I *also* do not title any of my WIPs, though mine are scattered over multiple locations. I'll just gather up a couple more recent ones for people to play with. Some can barely be called WIPs though. Some are just like 3 lines of dialogue, or a concept scribbled somewhere ^^;. (most of these are one or other of my aus, and in one case a joint au)
Pac, Mike, Felps, and Richas on a 3am roadtrip
PoV flip
self harm volume 3
Technobabble
happy end au epilogue end
self harm volume 4 (this time with mind control)
Picnic?
xcomau Pac & Mike illegally and traumatically obtain their first (and only) legal job circa a year after "leaving" prison.
Memory & Richas
Pissa in Purgatory
Veterans phonecall
Philza and Cellbit in Purgatory (huh this one's basically postable neat)
Slenderking
Bagi's bad day
(For completeness there are also 2 fics I cannot speak about as they are exchange gifts, and a further umpteen in other fandoms)
Wait tagging people um... @becauseplot @rabbit-harpist I know you two sometimes write ^-^ and my brain has blanked on everything else in the world.
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incensuous · 15 days
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omg i was reading ur tags on the conan post u reblogged and one of my ships was actually surprise incest and it was so cool!!! Literally 10/10 and made the ships dynamic even better. hope this befalls u someday!
OMG SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!! that is the best LMAO. of course, im sure other might not feel that way, but you know what, they can have the other 99.99% of the ships out there. i usually don't go for canon incest, because it's typically portrayed poorly. the other thing about surprise incest is i'd be a tiny bit sad if the characters themselves didn't know it and/or didn't grow up as siblings/related, etc.
i definitely agree tho that, in my totally unbiased opinion, the surprise incest (sincest? lol should i change my blog name???) would improve the dynamic!!!
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selective-yellow · 3 months
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I need better shelves for these but lookit my dragons :')
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sapphicblight · 1 year
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hihi a little fic announcement (or two)
one week from today, on valentine’s day (feb 14th), i’m posting a 3k words kimchay fic!! it’s an attempt at fluff, and there’s a reason i’m waiting to post it till valentine’s day hehe
also @hawkshadowwrites​ and i have started a collab project! it’s been fully outlined and is now in the drafting stage! we don’t really have an estimation on how fast we’ll get it done because it’s kind of a big boy but i’ll update our progress on my wip page every so often
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toribookworm22 · 1 year
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Heads Up Seven Up (x3)
Thank you @italiangothicwriteblr @creatrackers & @late-to-the-fandom for the tag!
No pressure tagging: @saphoblin @midnight-and-his-melodiverse @mschvs @gracebriarwoodwrites @kayedium-writes & my open tag!
From the almost completed and yet to be revealed Secondary Series. Under the cut because it's long (🙃):
One of my blades travels hilt over handle perfectly, just a little too slow, burying into the banister. No time to pull it out. Five stairs behind him. Three. One.
Launching myself at his back, I can feel the exact moment he loses his footing and comes down. Because I go down with him. Well, he goes down and I get thrown into the air and-
...
There's fire and running. A cliffside. A redhead. Waves crash against the shore. Eyes glued to a screen. More fire.
Black flames?
Red.
Black smoke hangs in the air above me, but the flames licking down the stairs are most definitely red. Burnt orange and copper and maroon and the same color as the blood we all share even if I've lost the one person that was completely true for. Redder than Mace's new eyes and Maybelle’s old hair. And so red I could bleed out here on the floor and the stain would be Roric pale in comparison.
The shadowy figure appears again, flickering red like it's burning, too, and I can help but think I have been right all along.
Knock knock.
No one's home.
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lilywhisperer · 6 months
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i'm yet to actually watch (puella magi star kaomoji) madoka magica (will probably do after my final exams week) but i feel like i can say that with homura's speech about love being "more passionate than hope and deeper than despair" and turning into literal devil just to make the "girl she loves" happy and safe...
either those two are lesbians or they have a very very extremely devoted friendship. because i swear to God.
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I’ve been feeling a little weird lately and seeking comfort, so I decided to go replay splat2′s story mode.
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, maybe briefly, but I didn’t play much of splat2 when it was active. I played a little bit of 1 when it came out, enough to fall in love with the concept but also enough to know it was for people much more mechanically skilled than me (a person who favored slow-paced sim games, turn-based RPGs, and point-and-click grindfests). I watched my housemate play 2 a bit but I couldn’t justify the purchase myself for something I figured I would terrible at. (I remember watching them play salmon run, and asking ‘wow, there’s a PvM co-op mode now?’ and thinking for a moment that maybe that would be less intimidating to learn, and then I saw a steel eel for the first time which was HORRIFIC, then watched them get completely swamped with with bosses and wipe, and decided .. no maybe not).
It was Splat3′s testfire, that I just so happened to hear about happening in a friends discord server, that happened to hit me at exactly the right time. I finally had a better job, was well on my way to healing from the trauma of my 11 years of working retail, and going through a bit of an inner renaissance, particularly getting in touch (possibly for the first time as an adult) with the true concept of play, the idea that playing didn’t have to have high stakes, that you don’t play to get a good grade in playing, you can just play to have fun and experience the thrill of intense situations in a setting where no actual danger is present.
I fell in love so quickly. I played the testfire every moment that I could and felt like I was finally, finally getting to enjoy this. In retrospect I was so bad at it-- I could barely swim up walls and I couldn’t even figure out how to use my special for the first several hours of gameplay and after trying out tons of weapons found that I was having the most luck using rollers and running over people (lol). But my skill level, for once, was something I wasn’t giving a single brain cell to worry about. I was just enjoying myself, celebrating every tiny victory and laughing at how many times I would just run off the map because I had so little spatial awareness. I won a 100x, I experienced my first squidparty, I did tricolors on attacking and felt intensely bonded with the random strangers I got partnered with. I was experiencing so many wonderful new things all at once and was absolutely euphoric.
And once the testfire was over, the emptiness it left behind left me so restless I thought I might start climbing walls. So to tide me over between then and release, I borrowed my housemate’s copy of splat2, figuring I could at least attempt story mode and learn the basics.
It was hard. Like really, really hard. I don’t... play these kinds of games. I could barely control where I was walking, I absolutely could not aim, I had zero confidence in jumping and missed even easy jumps routinely. I made it through by sheer stubbornness and force of will, running over and over through the same levels until I got lucky enough to get through them. Many levels I finished with a time of over half an hour, one at least 40 minutes, and that’s after lord knows how many failures. The last two kettles in the last zone nearly broke me. I actually cried tears of relief when I finally finished Platform Madhouse, shaking from the tension of making my final moves with the greatest precision and calculation that my clumsy and inexperienced hands could.
But... I did it, you know? And in doing so, I managed to prove to myself that I could do it-- that these kinds of games actually weren’t impossible for me, and that maybe, maybe I could overcome whatever other challenges awaited me in 3 and beyond, too.
Anyway, that’s way too much backstory to say that going back through the splat2 levels again was something of both a surreal and comforting experience. I went through them all in the span of a day, during a workday even, just playing in short intervals during breaks and lunchtime. Those last two kettles (minus octavio) were still the most difficult, but they didn’t take more than a few tries. It was satisfying to gracefully sail through so many of the levels that I struggled so painfully with less than a year ago. I’d say my confidence in making jumps has absolutely improved the most and is the thing I think has had the greatest impact on my ability to navigate the game-world in general.
I’ve been finally playing octo expansion too. A bit late maybe, but I think I had just really overhyped the difficulty in my mind and intimidated myself out of it. As it turns out, the main story is still very accessible, even to lower skill levels. You don’t have to actually complete most of the levels (or even play them) and even the points you pay to play you can go into debt with, so there’s never any real danger. You can skip levels after failing them enough times, so I think the only way you can actually get stuck might be the final segments. Granted, I’m still putting off going to the P R O M I S E D   L A N D until I have a long stretch of time for it (This is the same reason I still haven’t done After Alterna >>.., I just.. don’t have the sheer continuous amount of time to sit down and grind it out. I wish I could save states in these games so I don’t have to lose progress if I need to task-switch), so I might take this back, but so far that’s my impression.
And it’s been really enjoyable. I was happy to find there’s a ‘Who Caused The Big Bang’-style level that takes seconds to complete to make it easy to farm points (I keep wanting to call them power eggs when they’re not, lol). The levels on average are definitely more challenging than Alterna, but there are certainly several that I’d consider less challenging than Those Aren’t Birds and Target Town, and there are even some that Alterna practically made copies of (the one where you cut a shape out of boxes, for example).
That said, there have only been a few levels that I might say I breezed through-- they’re pretty challenging, but they don’t feel un-doable, and it’s so satisfying when you do overcome the challenges. It’s giving me an honest confidence boost to watch myself successfully take out a octosniper (my most feared enemy in my early days) with a charger (probably the weapon class I am weakest in) while balancing on a rotating platform (which were my absolute worst nightmare my first time going through splat2′s story mode). There’s still several levels I have to clear and some I haven’t even unlocked, but since they’re not keeping me from finishing the main storyline, I feel like I can just complete them as I feel up to it and there’s no reason to rush or get frustrated.
I love the levels where you just... play anarchy modes against octolings. Especially the one where you play rainmaker on manta maria-- tetras is a weapon option for that one and it’s quickly becoming one of my comfort levels in addition to just being good practice for firing the rainmaker. And I just love the entire vibe of everything-- much like Alterna there’s so much to see if you stop and look around, so many childhood-items floating in the sky, mixed with the music that gives me those vaporwave-esque feelings of nostalgia mixed with melancholy mixed with a feeling that’s somehow equally comforting and unsettling. And all that woven into these... weirdly juxtaposed grimdark/horror elements expressed with clown-like lightheartedness. It’s just a masterpiece of a setting and I’m so so glad I got the nerve to play this.
Splat2 in general has just been kind of a fun thing to mess around in with friends when we feel like a change of pace. Sometimes we do salmon run which is kind of awful without egg throws or squid-rolls, but we’re so low-rank that it’s still just kind of a chill experience.
I wouldn’t say I’m on a break from Splat3 anarchy because I keep intending to play it, and I know I’ll have fun with it, but then I get set up and sit down to do it and end up playing octo expansion instead. I think I may have low-key intimidated myself out of getting back into anarchy since I fell out of practice when I was out of town again; it feels like it takes me so long to get back into the swing of it and I take my losses a bit harder than I should. I tell myself octo expansion is good practice, and that’s not entirely untrue, but deep down I do know that the only thing that’s going to get me over my hesitance to play anarchy is playing anarchy.
But I guess at least if I’m going to put off addressing something I’m intimidated by, I’m glad I’m doing so by addressing something else I was previously intimidated by.
I’m really looking forward to Side Order now, especially since now I have the confidence that I’ll actually get to enjoy it along with everyone else and not get bogged down or walled off by being unable to complete basic things. I just feel a lot more capable, and it’s nice.
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josephslittledeputy · 2 years
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Datura || Datura’s Human Disguise
Evelyn Foster (Arriving to Hackett’s Quarry) || Wolfin’ out after getting bit || The Morning After
Tagged by @marivenah​ to do this cute picrew, ty! :D
Tagging @clicheantagonist @natesofrellis @sstewyhosseini @thomrainer @shallow-gravy @purplehairsecretlair (Only if ya want, I know there have been lots of tag games going around lately. Also sorry if you’ve already been tagged!)
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commandermeg · 1 year
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It's been an extremely long pair of days (story to come later) so I wasn't able to get anything done for Threshold day (tomorrow where I'm from) but consider this my celebration!
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