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ddwcaph-game · 2 years

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So I received this super long anonymous ask, so I hope you don't mind if I cut off the extraneous bits and spoilery parts so this doesn't become too long!

I'm very grateful for the ask though, but please send your spoilery asks to @in-auctorem-credimus-if instead! I'll be happy to answer if you have further or follow-up questions!

In Auctorem Credimus spoilers ahead!

1. I only found one hidden link on my second playthrough as my Heart Twin and all I have to ask. Is there some kind of translator for the link? [...]

Yup! Just look up "hexadecimal to text converter". It's likely that you won't be familiar with the decoded text, so you'll have to use Google Translate to find out its meaning!

2. The villain. Honestly, you may have already explained this and I just wasn’t here for it, but is there a villain, maybe villains? [...]

The "villains" that will be chasing you throughout the story depends on which genres you pick in your short story. Each genre has a different villain, so you might get different dialogue and fight/chase scenes, but they all have the same role story-wise.

They'll be the "main villains" from Volume 1 to Volume 3. The ending of IAC happens in the middle of Volume 4, so from then on, the group is basically trying to run away from both the story villains and The Foundation... except, isn't CANon trying to capture the story villains too? And even if Squad 626 lets the kids go, they still have to deal with the rest of CANon.

I won't spoil too much about what happens after that, but there's another "villain" behind everything else. You won't find out who or what it is until the end of Volume 6, but trust me when I say that it's the hardest thing to keep a secret. 😄

3. Hope this doesn’t come off as rude because I’m genuinely curious because the more I think about it, what exactly does our story genre change? [...]

Lots of things:

Unlocking special interactions, dialogue, and flavor text: This can be as small as MC knowing what JM's dog is named after, or as big as knowing a certain monster's weakness, or giving you extra clues when trying to complete sidequests. For example: The Leap Day Lady sidequest provides different bonus clues for Fairytale/Mythology/Supernatural/Mystery Lovers.

Your MC's powers and abilities: The best example I can think for this is that Fairytale Lovers will gain the ability to talk to (or at least understand) animals later. Each genre combination has their own advantages!

Your story world: Yes, you do get to visit your own story world in Volume 6. This also affects the villains chasing you throughout the story, as well as the background and powers/abilities of MC's parents.

4. I wanted to know that if the player decides for MC to go the same way, say their personality is very different than the one they began with. Will that be recognized? [...]

Yes! That's the plan at least. I'm also planning a feature in later volumes that will allow you to shift personalities much easier in-between volumes. (If you're interested about the mechanics, you can find more information here.)

5. I know you said you don’t really want praise. But I’m going to do it anyway. I know you have a hard time giving the Twin their own identity outside of the MC since they are already so customizable, but I’m going to be honest… Some of my favorite moments are when the Twin says/does something when I’m not currently playing as them. [...]

Hehe, thank you! I've said this before, but I did base the Heart Twin's personality from Wayne and Roselyna since they're the original twins in the first draft of my story, while Star Twin's personality is closer to Lily and JM's.

6. If F6E had their own stats similar to the Twins, what would it look like? [...]

If you mean the four attributes (Vigor, Grace, etc.), you can find them in the non-mobile version of the character page.

If you mean their personality stats, please send a separate ask because this is too long already! 😅

7. Our pet! Honestly, one of my favorite additions to this story. I know we probably won’t see our pet past Chapter 3 (even though I wish we could!) But I love them. I chose to have the dog and named him Boney. (if you get that reference, you’re awesome.) [...]

You'll see your pet again in Chapter 5 if you go the Investigation Branch. Although now that I think about it, maybe they can make another appearance in Chapter 7 during the school invasion? One of the reasons Julie/Robert adopted the pet was to keep an eye on the twins, and the invasion is definitely enough of a threat, although the pet will be definitely be trying not to blow their cover.

The pet was inspired by Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb, so yes, the pet could be from any story world—CANon has animal agents too, which is one of the reasons the pet can understand the MC regardless of whether they have the [Animal Lover] Trait or not.

And sorry, I don't get the reference. 😅

8. Anyway, the stats in DDWCAPH interest me. In fact, just last night, I was thinking about what the hell they could possibly be used for like is my Heart Twin gonna randomly stumble upon a huge boulder in their and F6E’s way and using vigor, they just somehow pick it up. Imagining a 12 year old do that is. silly. [...]

I renamed the stat from Strength to Vigor because I wanted it to represent a general physical "fitness/endurance/constitution" stat, so it's not just about pure strength.

Maybe picking up boulders sounds silly if you didn't choose the Superhero genre, but when I mentioned you'll be fighting legendary monsters in the introduction post, I mean monsters like the Big Bad Wolf, Medusa, and the Lernaean Hydra. Not to mention there's also the story villains. I think imagining a 12 year old do that is a lot more sillier.😄

And thanks for the recommendation! I've heard of Disco Elysium before, although I don't think I'd enjoy it very much. The mechanics do seem interesting though!

why our aunt (I think it was our aunt) hid to us about our Mom coming back? The twins are obviously both hurting from this. Do they think it would make their relationship worse or is it for more selfish reasons? [...]

If you follow the Secrets Guide, yes, you can find out in Chapter 3 that Julie does indeed want the twins to be her children. It's selfish, yes, but you have to keep in mind that Julie and Maggie are estranged, and Maggie just suddenly showed up on her doorstep with the twins. (Also Julie doesn't want a repeat of the cursed fieldtrip—it's very likely that Maggie won't follow through with her promise again, and she'd rather not disappoint the twins and make them fight again.)

There's definitely more to this story as you'll find out in the Investigation Branch in Chapter 5, but yup, regardless of the reasons, MC has every right to be angry at both Julie and Maggie.

Also, incase you didn’t know, I somehow remember a glitch about how if you find this secret before your twin gets out of the shower, [...]

Oh no, not another bug! I'm not sure when you last played, but I tried to fix a looping shower bug a few days before, so I don't know if you're referring to the same thing.

But yes, I would absolutely appreciate screenshots if it's still happening. Thank you!

I have more questions, but I kind of want to replay through the whole game + IAC to get more of a good view of it all.

Thank you! I'm honestly just flattered you have this many questions for me, but please space them out a little so the ask doesn't get very long! 😅

#ddwcaph spoilers #in auctorem credimus #mc #mc's twin #mc's pet #maggie #julie #f6e #the villains #secrets #dear diary asks

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hoodharlow · 3 years

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Stuck with Nowhere to Go

El Novio Quarantine Edition: Part 1

AN: This is part one of El Novio week and I'm gonna be posting a new part for this mini series everyday until April 17. Thank you to everyone that has been supporting me and following Cal and Claudia's story. I love y'all so mucha nd hope y'all enjoy this.

Requested?

Warnings: smut, brief quarantine talk, a small arguement. and overall Claudia being h word for Cal

Word Count: 3.1 k

Calum gently pushed Claudia against the mattress, getting in a more comfortable position as they devoured each other. With one hand balancing himself, so he wouldn't squish Claudia, he used the other to unbutton the flannel she wore. He slid his hand inside her shirt and gave her breast soft squeeze before sliding down to her soaked-through panties.

Frustrated with his teasing touches, Claudia tried to roll him onto the mattress. But he wouldn't budge.

"Cal," She whined against his lips, jutting her hips against his to feel some sort of relief.

"Pretty girl, I know, but your parents are across the hall." Calum mumbled before kissing down her neck.

"It's been three weeks. Please," She sighed. "I'll be quiet."

"Fine, but you have to be quiet. For our sake." She eagerly nodded at him before he continued. "I'm only going to eat you out okay?"

"But—"

"Later okay? When we get to our house, you can have your way with me. I promise." He held out his pinky to her.

"Okay." She pouted, wrapping her pinky around his.

Calum sat on his knees and slipped off his shirt. He tossed it to the side before towering over her once more. A giggle escaped Claudia when he sponged kisses all over her face.

Having enough of his teasing, she pulled his lips back to hers. She wrapped her leg over his waist, helping her stay balanced as she grinded herself against him. Claudia was basking in having the upper hand that she didn't feel Calum's fingers slip in her panties.

He skillfully slipped his ring and middle fingers in her, causing her to loudly gasp and stop all her moments.

"What's wrong, pretty girl?" He whispered in her ear, making her whine. “Want these off?” Calum asked her, toying with the waistband of her panties.

“Please.” She nodded eagerly. He gently patted her ass so she could lift her hips up.

Once Calum slipped her panties off, he situated himself in front of her core. “All this for me pretty girl?” Calum asked. He placed soft kisses on the insides of her thighs. She squirmed at the feeling of his lips. They got closer and closer to where she needed him the most.

She let out an inaudible gasp of pleasure when Calum licked her. She tried closing her legs, but Calum’s grip on them kept her in place. He softly moaned at her taste and savored her, taking his time with his tongue. He pushed one of her legs to her chest, giving him better access to her.

He inserted another while he pressed his thumb on her clit. Claudia felt something build up in her. She felt pleasantly overwhelmed with Calum’s fingers and tongue. Calum felt it too. He sped up his fingers and circled his thumb on her clit roughly.

She moaned out, not caring who heard her, but he grabbed a pillow and covered her face. Calum lapped up her release. He dropped her legs down and laid next to her.

“Happy album release day,” Claudia whispered excitedly after catching her breath.

He grumbled his response, making her giggle. He rolled to his side and traced his thumb under her bottom lip, giving her a quick peck. He got up to the bathroom to finish himself off, but Claudia had other ideas.

“No, let me,” Claudia said. She sat up and pulled him back by the waistband of his boxers. She brightly up at him, with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Se me antoja un chorizo.”

“The kitchen is downstairs, Claudia.” He told her prying her hands off him.

“Cal, please let me suck your dick.” She fake cried.

“No, go get ready. We were supposed to be on the road by now. But someone doesn’t know how to keep her hands to herself.” He said before closing her bathroom door. He popped his head out once more. “You better be ready when I’m done.”

***

Calum watched Claudia skip down the steps of Ashton's house when it finally hit him. The last he saw her wear the dress she currently wore was when they went to Coachella the year before. It was probably his favorite dress on her, even if he's only seen her in it once.

"That's the last of them." Claudia said sliding onto the passenger seat. She has baked 'CALM' cakes for the guys in their favorite flavors along with sugar cookies shaped in their initials and in their instruments.

She took off her mask and reached for her now watered down iced coffee. She made a face and set it down in the cup holder. "This is nasty. I fucking hate almondmilk." she mumbled before taking another sip.

"Why are you still drinking it?"

"I have to finish it. It was like five bucks."

Calum shook his head, hiding his smile. He reached for his army green Hydro Flask and took a long sip of water. He capped it and started the car. Pulling the car into reverse, he gripped Claudia's head rest a little tighter as he felt her gaze on him. As he got out of the spot, he watched Claudia shift around in her seat.

"You really have a parallel parking kink." Calum laughed as they left Ashton's neighborhood.

"I do not." Claudia scoffed, crossing her arms.

"Keep telling yourself that. Your tits don't lie." He said, pinching one of her nipples. She smacked his hand away as he checked that there weren't any cars before turning into the main road.

"The AC isn't even on so can't say you're cold."

"Whatever."

Calum shook his head and drove to the nearest Target. When they got there, Claudia grabbed a homemade disinfectant wipe from her bag and cleaned their cart. They went straight to the electronics section so Calum could get a record player for the live stream later in the evening. The needle broke in the one he had and since Ashton demanded that they play the album in vinyls, he had to get a new record player.

Claudia took the cart after he placed the record player in the shopping cart. She still felt awkward shopping for pads in front of him. They agreed to meet in the alcohol aisle after she hopefully found some pads. Tampons weren't an option. Pandemic or not, the only thing she was having inside of her was Calum.

“They may not have toilet paper but least they have White Claws.” Calum told Claudia as two boxes, one of only black cherry flavor and the other variety pack because Claudia only drank tangerine flavor.

"I managed to get one thing of pads, so it's something." She told him, covering the pads with the other groceries. "I'm just lucky my period ended last week. I have a month to worry about getting more. You have dog food right? Because there's none in the aisles."

"Yeah, bought some when we got back from Medelyn's baby shower, water and toilet paper too." He nodded his head over to the shopping cart. "Is that everything? And what your parents needed too?"

Claudia looked over their shopping cart. It wasn't much but it was enough since the stores set limits on how much to buy because of the lack of ability to restock.

"I think we're good. If we need something we can drive back and steal from Ashton's garden." she joked.

While they waited in line, Claudia thought about how quick her life changed in less than two weeks. Her landlord practically kicked her, Dulce and Sara out and wanted them out by the time spring break started because of mandatory stay at home orders. She was lucky though. Calum took her in and for the meantime she was going to live with him. Though just last week Diego told her to come home. It took her a lot of convincing, but Calum ended up going with her too.

"Your total is $132.76." the cashier told them.

Claudia was barely pulling out her card as Calum scanned his phone in front of the pin pad. He thanked them and nodded Claudia to keep up.

"We agreed that I was going to pay groceries since you don't let me pay for anything else." She told him as he put the groceries in his car.

"I didn't agree to shit." He furrowed an eyebrow.

"Yuh-huh you nodded and waved me off."

He stayed silent, trying to remember if he did. Then it hit him. "Was it when we ordered Mikko's? Because I thought you meant you were paying for that."

"Of course you did, your cheap ass doesn't pay for sushi." she mumbled to herself. "Well I'm paying for groceries from now on."

"I don't like it when you spend money for us when I can pay for them. Especially now that we're both basically jobless. You need that money for school, Claudia." Calum said as they pulled up to the In-N-Out drive thru across the street from Target.

"And I don't like you paying for things that I can afford too." She argued back, but Calum ignored her since he was ordering their lunch.

He had his card ready to pay so there was no way that he was going to let her pay. When he reached the window the computer crashed and they were only accepting cash. Claudia pulled out a twenty, knowing that Calum never carries cash on him unless they're outside of California. He begrudgingly took it and gave it to the cashier.

***

Claudia considered herself a patient person. An elderly person taking their time in front of the ATM, no problem. Her getting cut in line at Starbucks because she was answering a text from Calum and not paying attention to the line, not an issue. Where she did lose her patience was when she would get stuck in traffic.

“The San Ysidro border is faster than this.” Claudia groaned, dropping in her seat after poking her head out of the sun roof.

“Well we would have avoided traffic if someone didn’t need to go back our place to get a fucking coloring book.” Calum muttered under his breath.

He had enough of her complaining. Ever since he got on the I5, that’s all she’s been doing. They’ve been stuck for over four hours and it was just her mumbling over and over how she would rather be waiting to cross the border than be stuck in the freeway. Even Claudia during her period was less irritable than this. Before she could get a word in, he turned up the volume on the true crime podcast they were listening to.

Ironically it was about a couple where the girlfriend murdered her boyfriend and disposed of his body by a lake in the very same freeway they were on.

Calum glanced over to Claudia. She was curled up, leaning against the window playing tetris on her phone. He rotated his neck and hands in hopes that he loosened up, but nothing worked. He knew he shouldn't have said that to her. It wasn't her fault that there was traffic.

"Cal…" Claudia said quietly, reaching down to lower the volume.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't be getting all irritated when I was the one who suggested that you take me back to your house. Because of me we're stuck in traffic and—"

"Claudia, you have nothing to apologize for. You're not the one who caused the traffic. If someone should be apologizing, it should be me. I'm just stressed out because of the album dropping tonight and I'm taking my nerves out on you. So I'm sorry for being a fucking cunt."

"Apology accepted." she giggled.

Claudia leaned over the center console and kissed his cheek. Slowly, she descended down to his neck And sucked under his jaw, making him jerk the car.

"Ashton needs me alive for at least tonight." Calum said, gently prying her off of him. He adjusted his shorts and looked toward the road.

Not even five minutes later, Claudia was toying with a loose string on Calum's shorts. Her hand occasionally bumped into his crotch. Wordlessly she unbuckled her seatbelt and tried reaching for her purse in the backseat. It gave Calum a great view of the nude lace panties she wore.

Before he tried anything, she sat back down and pulled out some nail clippers. Claudia bent over the center console once more and clipped the string with them. She rubbed his thigh and laid her head in the console. Her fingertips deftly smoothed down his leg hairs.

"What are your thoughts on road head?" Claudia asked. She tiptoed her fingers up his thigh, slowly inching to semi hard on.

"I don't know, never thought about it." He answered her, swallowing hard with his gaze glued on the road.

"Really? Like you never thought of me choking on your dick while you're driving?" She pushed herself up from the console and sat criss-cross applesauce. "I have. The thought of you guiding my mouth over your dick surrounded by other cars, clueless to what we're doing. All I have to say is thank fuck for your tinted windows."

He watched from the corner of his eye. She had pulled down her dress, exposing her breasts and her panties were on the dash. One of her hands disappeared under her dress while the other was tweaking her nipples. She whimpered Calum's name loudly as her fingers sped up.

Calum pulled her hand away and licked her fingers cleaned. He slipped his and continued where she left off. With one hand on the steering wheel he brought her to her orgasm. Her hips chased his fingers as he stopped thrusting them in her and only rubbed her clit. Once her high relaxed, he slipped his fingers out of her and licked them.

He pumped a quarter size amount of hand sanitizer in his hand, cleaning his hands, and kept driving.

He looked over to Claudia and smirked. "Thank fuck for tinted windows, huh Claudia."

***

Claudia was bundled up in her room so she wouldn’t disrupt Calum during the livestream. She went downstairs to get her water and a snack after hearing 'Not in the Same Way.' She bumped into Calum in the kitchen, who was getting another White Claw.

"Hey," she said kissing his cheek.

"Miss you." Calum said in between kisses.

Before she said anything, Michael's yelling that he was a pickle echoed through the kitchen. Calum gave her a look and went back to the living room. Duke tried getting on the couch but failed.

"I leave for a fucking second and you're a fucking pickle." Calum said, trying his best not to laugh.

He picked up Duke and sat him in his lap. Panchito wandered over and hopped on the couch and used Duke's bed as a pillow.

"Uh… this is Panchito. He's the Santos' family dog." Calum said introducing the blue heeler puppy to the 40 thousand people watching. "He's about four months old and just sleeps all day with Duke."

The livestream went on until Michael's phone died and Calum continued with Luke. But just before Michael signed off, he thanked Claudia for making the CALM cakes and cookies. Calum struggled a bit to get Luke connected, but he managed once Claudia hopped in and showed him how. He gave her a sheepish thank you and watched her curl up on the opposite end of the couch.

At some point during Calum and Luke's segment, they strayed off their music and discussed cake flavors. When Claudia heard Luke say that he's not a big fan of red velvet cake, she bit back her comment about Luke eating a few slices of red velvet cake at Calum's birthday party the year before. If Claudia knew how to do one thing, that's bake a good red velvet cake.

By the time Calum finished the livestream and his phone call with Luke, Claudia had fallen asleep. He signaled the dogs to follow him outside so they can do their nightly business before going to bed. He guided them back to their respective kennels and secured the doors, so they couldn't escape to go ruin Soni's plants.

"Claudia," Calum said softly. He gently nudged her awake. "Let's go upstairs."

"Fuck, did I fall asleep?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah, surprisingly since you took about four naps today." he teased her.

"Oh shush." she grumbled, folding the blanket she covered herself with.

They quietly went to the guest room where Calum was sleeping to watch a movie. Not even fifteen minutes into the movie, Claudia and Calum were devouring each other. Her hand lazily stroked his length through his sweats as Calum's hands ran over her thighs and ass.

"We should get on the floor, the bed squeaks too much." Claudia said when pulled away from Calum to take off her hoodie.

She got off from the bed and grabbed a duvet from the closet and laid it on the floor. She grabbed some of the decorative pillows and arranged them neatly so they could lay on them. Calum followed suit and shedded off his sweater and sweatpants. He laid back on the duvet and took in Claudia. She sat in his lap in nothing but a light grey bralette and matching panties she got at Aerie. It wasn't an overall sexy set, but it still sent him spiralling.

She leaned down and captured Calum's lips with hers. He let out an incoherent grumble as Claudia rocked her hips against his cock. He slowly inched his hands up her thighs, feeling his way around until he found her ass. He roughly gripped her ass and began guiding her along his clothed cock.

“Can you fucking wait?” Claudia giggled, pulling away from his lips. She sat back up on his lap and took off her bralette. “I wanna take care of you.”

“I don’t want you to.” He said.

“You better remember that the next time you get a stomach ache for eating too many chilaquiles.”

Claudia drummed his chest and got up from the floor. She reached for Calum’s hoodie and tied her hair in a bun.

“Where are you going?” Calum asked her confused.

“You don’t want my help, so I don’t see what I’m doing here.” She shrugged.

She grabbed her phone from the nightstand and gave him a small salute before leaving his room. She waited outside, knowing he was going to go after her. A few seconds later he opened the door and pulled her inside.

“I’m kidding, I need you.” Calum said peppering kisses all over her face.

“That’s what I thought.” She said, triumphantly. She got down on her knees and tugged down Calum’s sweats. She licked her lips and looked up at him. “Now let me show you how proud I am of your album.”

“What would you rank it?”

“Definitely one of your top four.”

Taglist: @f-mu @another-lonely-heart @sunshinebabycal-deactivated2021 @calumscalm @karajaynetoday @cherryxwildflower @myloverboyash @idontneedanyone @findingliam-o @5-secondsofcolor @spicylftv @sexgodashton @fckingpernico @2fangirl4u @calpops

#calum hood smut #calum hood imagine #calum hood fanfic #calum hood one shot #calum hood fluff #calum hood imagines #el novio series #el novio quarantine edition

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undertalethingems · 4 years

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Bark at the Moon Chapter 18: Another Truth

Or read on my Ao3>

Rating, Setting: Gen, Pre-canon

Chapter Warnings: None

Chapter Summary: Undyne suggests visiting Asgore to see if he can recall anything about the brothers’ past--but they need Alphys’ insight, and she’s late to the meeting...

"I apologize for failing my duties, sir," Undyne said, voice amplified by her helmet. She stood stiffly at attention, braced for whatever Asgore would say next. He was kind, and her mentor, but she'd abandoned her responsibilities. "I put a personal matter before my oath to protect all monster kind, and I accept whatever punishment you deem appropriate."

Asgore furrowed his brows, perplexed. "This is about the 'beast' incident, right? The rogue monster that turned out to be your friends?"

"Yes. I spent some time afterwards to search for them, to exclusion of all my other work."

Asgore sat back in his throne, stroking his beard. "You still had the rest of the guard on duty, correct? And you found them in the end... So, it all worked out, didn't it?"

Undyne sighed. "Sir... you really are a big softy."

"Well, I can hardly lose my best captain!" Asgore said with a smile. "Your dedication is something to aspire to--I hate to think what may have happened had you given up on your friends, and I'm sure they're happier for it as well. You did the right thing."

"Thank you, your majesty," Undyne replied, bowing her head. "Um, with that out of the way... I was wondering if I could ask you something."

"Oh? What is it?"

"Well..." Undyne started, then glanced around the room before stepping forward and continuing in a lower voice. "It turns out... the brothers are beasts because of something an old Royal Scientist did. We've--Alphys and I--have been wondering if there's anything you'd know about it."

Asgore blinked, then dipped his head as he thought. "No, I... I don't recall anything of the sort. Perhaps, if I met them, it would jog some memories."

Undyne grinned. "I think we can arrange that. Any particular time?"

Asgore thought. "Well, I am not up to much today... Perhaps after your patrol?"

"That should be fine. I think Alphys will want to come too, if that's alright."

"Of course! If she's helping with this conundrum, I think it's all the better," Asgore agreed. "If it's decided, then I shall see you later!"

"Yes sir, I'll let everyone know. And... thank you."

"Of course, captain. I'd have done the same thing."

Undyne nodded, then saluted before marching from the throne room. She should have known Asgore was too forgiving to hold her search-and-rescue stint against her. She'd been working harder than ever, trying to make up for her shortcoming--even sorting through old paperwork she usually got someone else to do. But... if it made no difference to Asgore, maybe she could lighten up on the extra patrols and have time for her friends again. With Sans and Papyrus not needing her help anymore, it'd been a few weeks since she'd seen them--and the last time she'd talked to Alphys had been during one of her shifts, and she'd had to cut her off. It sucked, and she was looking forward to having a social life again. The moment her patrol was over for the day, she pulled out her phone.

"Alphys, hey! Listen, I know it's short notice, but the king wants to meet with us--you, me, and the bros to discuss what's up with them."

"Uhhh what, y-you mean, like right now? H-how short-notice is this?" Alphys stammered on the other end, and Undyne regretted putting her on the spot.

"Er, yeah. I mean, I'm sure Asgore wouldn't mind waiting a bit--I have to tell the brothers too, and then we all gotta head to the castle... so, maybe in half an hour?"

"I was about to--w-well, I guess I don't have to do that now--um, so should I bring the files on what we know so far?"

"That might be a good idea. Asgore said he doesn't remember anything about it," Undyne replied. "Which is odd, but I guess so is everything else about this."

"Y-yeah... okay, let me get some things together, and I'll meet you guys there!"

"Great! I know we'll get to the bottom of this--alright, see you soon!"

Undyne hung up, then dialed a different number. "Hi Papyrus! Are you guys busy?"

"Undyne! An excellent choice in calling me--what can I help you with?" he replied, and she chuckled.

"Actually, I think we're gonna be helping you--Asgore wants to see you guys, and figure out if he can remember anything about... uh, what happened to you. He's ready to see us now, so head on up to the castle--Alphys is coming too, and we're all gonna meet there in about twenty minutes."

"Wowie! King Fluffybuns himself! Alright, I'll wrangle Sans and see you guys there!"

"Okay, see you in a bit."

With her calls made, Undyne set off for home to get out of her armor, then for New Home. ...Wow, Asgore was really bad at names. But, it didn't matter--he was a great leader otherwise, and he was going to help them figure out how the mess with the skeleton brothers had ever started. She marched toward the castle purposefully, wondering what they might discuss. The castle soon loomed overhead, and she grinned as she saw the brothers waiting just outside.

"Hey guys! Looks like you made good time."

"It's hard not to when your brother decides he's done enough walking for the day," Papyrus replied with a huff, glaring down at his brother, who chuckled.

"listen, i've had enough action for a lifetime bro. think i'm gonna slack off even more."

"Sans! That! Is almost a fair point, but I think even you know you can become too lazy! So I won't allow it!"

"fine, fine. think of it as me saving my energy for important stuff then."

Papyrus snorted, then turned back to Undyne. "Well, the main thing is that we're all here. Right?"

Undyne glanced around--she hadn't spotted Alphys. "I think so--Alphys must have gone inside already. Shall we?"

"We shall!" Papyrus declared, leading the way in.

Asgore was waiting for them in his throne room, perking up from tending flowers when they entered. "Ah, howdy everyone! I was just finishing up a little gardening. I hope you're all well--once Doctor Alphys arrives, we'll get started."

Undyne frowned. "She's not here yet?"

Asgore pursed his lips as he shook his head. "No, I assumed you'd all be arriving together. She's not with you?"

"No..." Undyne trailed, "but, maybe she's just running a little late. It was pretty short notice, and she said she had to get some stuff together..."

"Well, let's wait for her then. I don't believe there's any rush," Asgore said, turning back to the flowers, picking off dead stems and sprinkling water as he puttered along. "Let me know if you would like tea. It would not take long to make at all, and I always find it comforting when discussing... serious matters."

"That is an excellent idea," Papyrus replied, glancing to his brother. "It would be lovely to sit and tell this tale around the fireplace while we all drink flavored leaf water together!"

Undyne noticed that neither of the brothers--but particularly Sans--had stepped far into the throne room. Sans looked tense, and Papyrus was casting concerned glances... Oh. Golden flowers...

"Yeah, I could go for some too," she agreed, and Asgore smiled and set his watering can down.

"Wonderful! Go sit anywhere you like, I'll start the water boiling."

The trio headed back through the hall up to Asgore's home while he brought up the rear. Undyne picked a spot at the table, and the brothers followed her lead as best they could--most chairs weren't exactly made to accommodate dragon-horse-lizard things. But they managed to get settled, and Undyne noted they looked more relaxed now that they weren't surrounded by flowers. Only a few more minutes passed, and Asgore carried out a small tray with the steaming kettle and five dainty teacups. He gave one to each of them, leaving the fifth empty.

"I do hope Alphys arrives soon," he said, finally taking his seat. "It has been a little while since I spoke to her... But she seems to be very busy with her experiments, and I do not want to impose."

"Yeah... I'll text her and see what's up," Undyne said, pulling out her phone and sending a brief message, then sipped her tea. Asgore was always really good at getting it to just the right temperature.

"So," Asgore began, "are you boys... doing alright? I do not know the full story yet, but, Undyne told me a little... It sounds very frightening to go through something like that."

"We're doing much better now!" Papyrus replied brightly, perking up. "It was scary at first just because we didn't know what to do... and while we still don't know what to do, we're not afraid of people hunting us down anymore!"

Asgore blinked. "Er, yes, that's good to hear. I'll do my best to help you. How are things in Snowdin? I do not get out there very often."

Papyrus happily began filling him in; after listening for a while, Sans turned to her.

"nothing from alph yet?"

"No... that's weird, she's usually pretty quick. It's like her phone is glued to her hand some days," Undyne joked. "She hates phone calls, but, maybe I should try that next. Hold on."

She dialed, and listened to it ring--it picked up. "Hey, Alphys! I--"

The call dropped. Or had been hung up. Either way, it had cut off without a word, and Undyne frowned before dialing again. This time it rang and rang until finally going to voicemail, and Undyne left a message. "Hey Alphys! We're all waiting for you at Asgore's place--is everything okay? Call me back soon."

"We will give her a little more time," Asgore said, refreshing everyone's tea. "Perhaps something came up."

So they waited. Sans dozed off with his head resting on the table while Papyrus and Asgore got into a discussion about puzzle history; Undyne found herself checking her phone every few minutes, but the result was always the same: no new messages. An hour after their meeting was supposed to begin, she stood.

"I'm going to check on her."

"Do you believe something's wrong?" Asgore questioned, looking worried, and Undyne grimaced.

"She's never taken this long to reply to a message... Even if she just got distracted, I wanna check up on her."

"Very well. Brothers, you can stay here if you like..."

Papyrus rose as well. "I'll go too! Between the two of us, we're sure to find her!"

"ok bro. i'll stay here. as long as asgore doesn't mind me monopolizing the spot in front of the fire."

"Oh, I don't mind. I was going to do a little tidying, if that's alright."

"guess it's settled."

"Okay. See you guys later then," Undyne said, then headed for the door with Papyrus in tow. She broke into a jog, heading for the elevator that would take them right to the Core's upper entrance, and they'd reach the lab from there. Papyrus kept pace easily, and occasionally sniffed the ground to see if Alphys had come this way--but he'd found nothing yet.

They made it to the lab, with neither incident nor finding Alphys--it was like she hadn't left at all. Undyne exchanged a look with Papyrus, then stepped forward. The door slid open, and she cautiously entered. The lights were still on...

"Alphys? Hello? It's me and Papyrus, we came to check up on you... Uh, 'me' being Undyne of course..."

Only her own voice echoed. Undyne frowned, and headed further in. Papyrus put his nose to work, sweeping along the floor to find the freshest trail, which led him to the door marked with a bathroom sign.

"She's, in there," he said, stopping just short of it.

"The bathroom...?"

His tail twitched. "It's. There's one down there, yes."

"Down... Papyrus? I know you said you were... born here, but... what are you talking about?"

He stared at the door. "This floor is just the nice part of the lab. There's a lot more floors down below. She must be on. One of those."

She noted how stiff he looked, and grunted. "Well, we have to find her. If she got in trouble somehow... Well, I'd want someone to come looking for me. I know you don't like it here, but... I won't let anything happen to you either. Come on."

She stepped forward again, but the door didn't open this time. She tried again, waved at it, but nothing happened. It was locked. Well, that wasn't about to stop her--she took a few paces back, then leapt at the door from a running start, landing a flying kick directly in the center. The metal buckled and folded back under her assault, revealing a short hallway leading to an elevator. She landed on her feet, and turned to see a very startled Papyrus looking back at her.

"...I'll fix it later. Let's go find Alphys."

He took a deep breath, then followed her into the elevator. "Maybe she'll keep it as a testament to your frightening muscles, Undyne."

Undyne snorted. "Maybe. Now, which floor do you think we should try first? Start from the top and work our way down?'

"If she's in trouble like you think, that could take too long! Let's see..." Papyrus stepped closer to the control panel and narrowed his eyes. "A-ha! ... I have no way of knowing either."

"You could probably smell her though, right? We just need to find which floor has the strongest scent," Undyne suggested, and he perked up.

"Of course! Down we go!" He pressed the first button--but nothing happened. "Hmm. That wasn't as timely as I hoped."

He tried again, then the next one, and the next--but got the same result.

"Do any of these work?!" Undyne groused, and ran her hand down the side of the panel Papyrus hadn't tried. The elevator shuddered--and finally moved. "Hey! I got it!"

"Good job! Hopefully that's the only floor of this horrible place we'll have to check!"

Undyne gave a bittersweet smile. "Yeah."

The elevator finally slowed to a stop and the door slid open. They stepped out into a dimly lit hall, and Papyrus sniffed.

"Huh. I don't think this floor looks familiar, actually. The good news is, Alphys is definitely here. But..."

"But what?" Undyne asked warily.

"I can smell... Oh, it's probably just the smell of science! Come on, she must be close!"

Undyne watched him bound ahead, noting he looked tense again. He probably just didn't like being down here, but... She summoned a spear just in case, and followed the sound of his footsteps as they clicked on the tile floor. It was eerie in these halls... nothing like the bright, airy lab she knew. Did Alphys really work in a place like this? It didn't seem like her.

But maybe it was like they guy she'd replaced.

She quickened her pace to jog beside Papyrus as he did the sleuthing, and they swept through the darkened passages together. They passed a heavy blast door, and through a room full of beds; Undyne wondered at them--Alphys was always talking about robotics and computers, and didn't have assistants... But Papyrus skirted them, heading for the next doorway.

They were traversing a long straight hallway when a fluid, pale gray mass burst from the floor. Papyrus screeched, backpedaling straight into Undyne and knocking the wind out of her as she tumbled to the floor. She struggled to get up--then realized Papyrus was now standing over her protectively even as he rattled with fear. He hissed, a deep threatening sound Undyne had never heard from him, and the strange mass quivered--but didn't move. Papyrus planted his feet and inhaled, light gathering in his jaws before firing a beam of magic straight into the thing's center--and then it split into three.

Or was it in three places at once?

Undyne scrambled up, panting as she tried to get a read on her opponents. They were unlike any monster she'd ever seen, a slimy heap of tendrils and faces and--a glowing eyelight met her gaze, and she suddenly realized there was a pit in her stomach. Actually, this thing looked too familiar now--

It made a horrible electronic screech, and Papyrus yelped. He fired another beam, and Undyne snapped out of her horror. However horrible she thought this thing was, it was even more distressing to her friend. She readied her spear, selected the same entity Papyrus had attacked--and yelled.

Its health bar was broken.

Whatever damage Papyrus had dealt had only increased this thing's vitality--it had broken the readout. They couldn't hurt it. If they couldn't figure out how to spare it, it could...

"Papyrus! I know this is weird coming from me, but, we can't fight these things!"

It was the entities' turn. They attacked together--or perhaps only one of them did--filling the bounds of the board with strange smiling faces. Undyne did her best to dodge them, only to look over and see Papyrus curled up, unmoving, and quaking with fear. Not good. As soon as it was their turn again--he fled the battle. Undyne looked from him to the other, grit her teeth, and followed suit.

"Papyrus!"

She came to a crossroads, and decided to keep going straight, hoping it was what Papyrus had done and that he hadn't slipped. Something about whatever that thing was had made him react instinctively--she'd never known him to lose control in battle like that. Bringing him along was starting to seem like a really bad idea.

"Papyrus?" she called again, slowing down as she entered another room. The walls were lined with fans, which circulated fresh air in. But that wasn't what caught her eye--a pair of orange lights shone at her from the end of the hall, and below the hum of the fans, she could hear bones rattling. Papyrus was curled up at the far wall, and he whimpered as she slowly approached.

"Hey punk, I'm here. I won't let that thing touch you again. C'mere."

She knelt, and was nearly knocked over as he barreled into her. She adjusted her footing to support him better, and she waited until his shivering had calmed down to speak again.

"Do... Can you explain anything about what that was?"

He shuddered again, and opened his jaws to speak; at first, only a dry rasp came out, but he cleared his throat and tried again. "I... it..."

"It's okay, take your time."

He panted, then shut his eyes and took a few deep breaths. "They.. Th-they were... I could have been that."

Undyne flinched. "What?!"

"I could smell it--bone, but wrong--all wrong. Th-their voice--their voices--almost, a-almost..."

She rubbed his back, and he shuddered again.

"I--I'm sorry I panicked, Undyne. I know you expect better of me. They just brought back... bad memories."

"Hey, shh, it's fine. Those things freaked me out too. We came down here to find Alphys, not fight... that. Are you sure she's past... where those things were?"

He heaved a tremulous sigh. "The scent trail was really strong..."

"I was afraid of that..." Undyne said, then her expression hardened. "If they hurt her, I'll... Stay here. I'll go on ahead."

"I... N-no, I should come with. I was just surprised earlier, it's fine!" Papyrus said, standing.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea..."

"If it's too much, I'll just run away again. It's fine! Alphys needs us!!"

Undyne sighed. "Okay. Stay close."

They left the ventilation room behind, with Undyne leading this time. Spear at the ready, she walked slowly, watching for signs of movement and ears straining for the slightest sound. They passed the junction and kept going--it wouldn't be long before they arrived at the spot they'd been attacked at again.

It was so quiet she almost didn't catch it--but far ahead, there was a shuffling sound. She held out her arm, and they stopped to listen. It kept coming--a steady, quiet slap-slap on the tile far ahead. Footsteps... Undyne inhaled, and relaxed as it dawned on her.

"Alphys?"

"A-ah... Undyne..." Her voice sounded weak, and Undyne let her spear dissolve as she ran forward.

"Are you okay?! Are you hurt?! Papyrus and I ran into this crazy--thing, and it--"

"Amalgamate," Alphys interrupted. "You met an amalgamate."

"Wh..."

"Follow me... there's... There's some people you should meet..."

Alphys began shuffling back the way she came, and Undyne and Papyrus exchanged looks. She seemed... downtrodden. Undyne frowned, and followed her down the hall, still on edge should the amalgamate return. The hallway finally opened into another room, and Undyne heard Papyrus stumble to a stop behind her--she couldn't blame him, considering there was a huge machine hanging in the middle of the room, its red outer shell shaped... not too differently from his own skull. It gave Undyne that pit in her stomach again, but Alphys had slipped into a small side room.

"Papyrus, come on. This one's a machine, it can't hurt you."

"... Smells like... more bad memories," he uttered, shivering as he scratched at a spot on his arm. But she put her hand on his shoulder, and they headed into the side room together.

Alphys was surrounded by the white shifting beings. Undyne yelled, summoning an array of spears--but Alphys had leapt, balancing on the back of a couch with arms raised. At least, she balanced briefly--not built for acrobatics, her tail wasn't enough to counterbalance her outstretched arms, and she pitched forward with a squeak. Undyne dispelled her spears and lunged, catching the little lizard just in time.

"Alphys, what the hell is going on?! What--what are these?!"

"I-it's the amalgamates, th-they're friendly! Don't worry!" Alphys quickly explained, and Undyne set her down.

"One of them attacked us--"

"It's not here," Papyrus spoke up, and she turned to him before scanning the room. There was a vaguely dog-shaped mass, a heap of teeth and muscles, a spindly birdlike thing, and what looked like a snowdrake at first but... did it have... vegetoids for eyes? Undyne grimaced. But Papyrus was right--the creature that had attacked them wasn't here.

"O-oh, you must have met the memoryheads," Alphys explained. "th-they come and go a lot... I'm sure they didn't mean to hurt you."

"They scared Papyrus," Undyne replied. "Why are you here? What's going on?"

Alphys shrank, claws fidgeting as she cast her eyes to the ground. "I... I... I don't think I should help..."

"Why not? You're a great scientist--"

"She made us like this." "She made us like this." "She made us like this." "She made us like this." "She made us like this." "She made us like this." "She made us like this." "She made us like this." "She made us like this." "She made us like this." "She made us like this." "She made us like this."

Undyne flinched at the cacophony of voices--the toothy creature had spoken. Alphys looked like she wanted to disappear. The thin bird spoke next, three voices at once.

"She tried her best"

"She wanted to help."

"Ribbit..."

"Sno... wy..." the snowdrake said weakly in the corner.

"I'm... I'm sorry. I... I didn't want anyone to find out about this--what happened here," Alphys continued. "I made a horrible mistake, and ruined these people's lives, and lied--lied to you, to everyone... so... You should just. Forget about me..."

"What?!" Undyne uttered; she was still trying to sort out just what had happened down here, and she was no good at emotional stuff. But she'd have to try--she hated the look on Alphys' face. It was the same one she'd worn just before they'd first met. She sighed, and relaxed. "Look Alphys, I don't know what's going on here, but, I don't care--I'm just glad you're okay! We were worried something horrible had happened to you!"

Alphys looked up blearily. "Really?"

"Yes! You're our friend!" Papyrus spoke up cheerfully, and Alphys managed a weak smile.

"W-well... If you hear what I did... you won't want to be."

Undyne dropped to her knees and cupped Alphys cheeks in her hands. "Alphys. You're SMART, you're PASSIONATE, you've figured stuff out in hours what I never could in a million years. No matter what you did, I'm GLAD you're here, working to help monsters even if you don't always know what's gonna work. We'll figure out what to do--together."

"You mean it?" Alphys said, somewhat muffled and clearly turning pink under Undyne's hands.

"Of COURSE I do! That's what we're gonna do for the bros, right? You think this only applies to them?"

"W-well... I-I... didn't think... I..." She trailed, then placed her hands over Undyne's. "Th-thank you, Undyne. I'm... I'm really, really glad you guys came here. Other wise, I might have... W-well. I wouldn't have helped anyone that way. I came down here because I thought I'd made up my mind to do the right thing, but... I started thinking about it and... couldn't... couldn't bear the thought of losing... losing your friendship. But..."

She sniffled, but shut her eyes, focused. "After Sans and Papyrus told us what happened to them, I knew I needed to come clean about the amalgamates if I wasn't going to be a huge hypocrite. I... I have to tell Asgore that the experiment failed. I have to... I have to let these guys go home to their families. I've been so afraid of the consequences, but... I don't want to be like the Royal Scientist who came before me."

"You can't! You're not a skeleton!" Papyrus offered helpfully, and Alphys snorted.

"N-no, that's true. But I mean, like him in the 'bad scientist' way. I kept what had happened a secret from everyone..."

"Hey, I'm just proud you're willing to own up to your mistakes," Undyne said, pulling her into a hug. "I'm sure everyone will understand... once you explain it."

"Y-yeah... I... I wanted to do that when we met up with Asgore tonight, but, it was such short notice... I chickened out."

"Well, lucky for you we're here to un-chicken you," Papyrus said, seeming much perkier now. "You know old King Fluffy, he's a softy about everything! And, I'm sure all your melty friends will be happy to return home--I know the feeling and everyone will be so happy to see them again!"

Alphys smiled, a bit more genuine now. "I-I think, as long as you guys are there, I can explain everything. But... o-okay. H-hold on a sec."

She drew back, and turned to the amalgamates. "O-kay guys... As you all just heard... I'm finally going to tell the king what happened, and then, your families. I think you should wait here just a little longer, but, you'll... you go home soon. Th... Thank you for... for waiting so long. I hope you can forgive me. But it's time this was over."

The snowdrake shuffled from the corner, leaving a trail of sludge. "S..... no.... wy....?"

"Yes. Mrs. Snowdrake, you'll see your son soon," Alphys said, looking like she might cry. "You just--just wait a little longer, please."

"We'll watch some movies." "We'll watch some movies." "We'll watch some movies." "We'll watch some movies." "We'll watch some movies." "We'll watch some movies." "We'll watch some movies." "We'll watch some movies." "We'll watch some movies."

The doglike amalgamate wagged its excitement indicator.

"Have courage."

"Ribbit ribbit."

"You finally got it."

"Th-thanks guys. I... I'll be back soon, I promise" Alphys said, then turned to her friends. "Okay. Let's go."

The journey back upstairs was much less tense, and it wasn't long before they were finally in open air and on their way back to Asgore's castle. Undyne kept a reassuring hand on Alphys' shoulder, and she tried not to steal too many glances at her; she'd have to do this again when they were just... hanging out. Yeah. That'd be nice...

"So Alphys, if I have deduced things correctly, you created the amalgamates," Papyrus began, "on accident of course, but, I have to ask... where did you get skeletons!?"

"Wh-what?"

"Papyrus..."

"I'm just wondering, because, um, if there are other skeletons and my brother and I never knew about them... um..."

"O-oh, uh... no, I didn't have any skeletons in my test group," Alphys explained, scratching her head. "Why do you ask?"

"W-well, it's just, um... the amalgamate Undyne and I fought, was... skeletons... sort of..."

Alphys' brow furrowed. "Th... how's that possible?"

"I was hoping you knew." Papyrus said, grin tight. "It's not important! Let's meet back up with Sans and the king! They must be wondering where we are!"

Undyne watched him trot ahead, then spoke in a low voice. "It really freaked him out, enough that he slipped, just a little. When I met back up with him and we talked... he said it was something he could've become. That they smelled like bone, but... all wrong."

Alphys studied him as she thought. "I... I can't be sure, but if that's true... It's only a hypothesis, but, that means the memoryheads aren't from my experiments."

"They're from his."

"Y-yeah."

"Alphys... I'm really glad you want to help them. You're a good person, you know?"

She wilted a little. "I... I'm trying to take your word for it."

Undyne squeezed her shoulder, and they continued on. The guards at the castle gate saluted her as they entered, and then it was a matter of making it back to Asgore's house. The king welcomed them in, giving them each a hug as he explained how worried he'd been. Sans was not so concerned--he was blinking awake after napping in front of the fire all evening, and slowly shuffled to join everyone else at the table as they settled in.

Undyne sat next to Alphys, and squeezed her hand as she took a deep breath--and began explaining her experiment and how it had all gone wrong. Asgore listened, eyes wide--then glistening as he listened to her struggles, and Alphys found her other hand engulfed by his as he leaned across the table, moved to tears.

"Oh Doctor Alphys, I had no idea! You should have said something, oh--there there, it is alright, we will get it all sorted out. I'm very glad everyone is alright, even if it didn't turn out like we'd hoped."

"S-so... you're not... mad that I failed? And lied about it for so long?" Alphys asked timidly, and he sat back with a heavy sigh.

"I do wish you'd told me how things were going, but... to be honest, I know how you feel. I do not want war or power, but... The people need hope, and I promised them freedom. I do not feel I can go back on my war declaration when that is what has given everyone something to work for. It is.. difficult to do the right thing... especially when so many people are counting on you."

Alphys blinked, rubbing at her own eyes. "Th... Thank you, Asgore. Everyone should be able to go back home... I can only hope their families will take it as well as you did."

Asgore smiled. "Alphys, though they may be changed, they did not Fall Down thanks to you. I think everyone should be very happy about that."

"Y-yeah. I guess... I guess I g-got too caught up in thinking about it as a failure, and not recognizing the small bit of good that came out of it," Alphys surmised, and Asgore patted her shoulder gently.

"That is how you keep moving forward, my dear. Speaking of moving forward... if that is the full story there... I think it's time we discussed the brothers' predicament. Here, I will make us fresh tea."

He got up, and Undyne squeezed Alphys in a side-hug.

"See? We told you it'd be okay."

"Y-yeah. I... Thanks again. For being there for me."

Undyne caught the looks the brothers exchanged with one another, but they said nothing so neither would she. "Of course, Alphys. Anytime."

Asgore returned with more tea, and spoke as he poured and passed a cup to everyone. "Now then, with a nice fresh cup, tell me this other story, about the beast of Snowdin and how it wasn't really a beast but two nice young men with a strange ability."

Between the four of them, they relayed the different parts of the story. Asgore tried to stay resolute, but on hearing how the brothers had separated, struggled with powerful instincts, and reunited, his eyes were glistening again. Once they got through explaining their origin, the dam had burst once more, and he dabbed at his eyes with a lavender kerchief. He managed to listen to the rest without openly sobbing, but had to take a few deep breaths to steady himself once they'd finished. He rose, and knelt. The brothers turned to face him, and he cupped their heads in his hands.

"Sans, Papyrus... I am so, so sorry that you both have suffered so much, seemingly from my orders to find some way to gain an advantage over the humans. I do not remember this former scientist, but had I known what he was doing--creating living things and using them as tools--I would not have allowed it. I hope you can forgive me."

"It's okay," Papyrus spoke up, raising his head from Asgore's palm to place a paw on it. "No one knew about it, even the people who worked for him."

"you shouldn't blame yourself for the actions of someone else who took advantage of your trust. it was their choice to do that, not yours. that said... maybe you should keep in better touch with your scientists going forward," Sans added, glancing over at Alphys, who nodded in agreement.

"I'll admit, science has never been my strong point..." Asgore replied, drawing back and scratching his beard in embarrassment. "I'm afraid it all just goes over my head, so, I've had to trust what my scientists say... Perhaps I am a fool..."

"In my opinion, it takes a special kind of jerk to do what Gaster did," Undyne spoke up. "Alphys didn't want anyone mad at her--she already had your permission for the experiment. Gaster... he took your orders and twisted them into meaning he could do whatever he wanted, and kept exactly what he was doing from you the whole time."

Asgore nodded gravely. "Indeed. I wish I could help you boys more, as you had hoped, but..."

"s'ok, it's good enough to know you wouldn't be down with the whole 'living weapon' thing."

"No... though war makes us do terrible things... creating life and treating it so callously is inexcusable. If there is anything I can do for you two, please let me know. Alphys, seeing as the Determination experiment is over... you have my permission to work on whatever project strikes you as most promising. If that is helping the brothers, that is quite alright."

"Th-thank you, sir."

"Fantastic! This will be Alphys' most important assignment yet, because the assignment is me!" Papyrus beamed, tail lashing with excitement. "And my brother too of course, but, he's not going to be joining the Royal Guard when all this is over."

"Hey, you still gotta get through me," Undyne laughed. "Let's work on getting you back to your old self, then we can talk about recruitment."

"Oh fine," Papyrus sighed. "But, it's still happening."

Asgore chuckled. "I'm sure. Well my friends, I do not know if it has been a pleasant evening, so to speak... but I'm very glad you came and told me all this. May we all be able to move forward more wisely, and you have luck with your efforts."

"I-I think I'm going to find out what I can from the old labs. There seem to be sections I've n-never seen... M-maybe I can salvage data from the old drives, and have some numbers to compare to the brother's current states--maybe even... maybe even figure out how Gaster was able to do this at all. A monster's body is tied to their soul, so for a monster to be able to change their body... A-anyway, I need data. S-so, that's where I'll start."

"I cannot begin to fathom what that entails, but... I can only trust that you know what to do," Asgore said, giving a small smile.

"W-well, I'll do my best to summarize the reports once I have something," Alphys said, and he patted her head.

"Alright my friends, it is getting late and I am afraid I must retire for the evening. Please take care, and let me know how it goes."

"You can count on us," Undyne said, saluting him, and the others nodded.

"Good. I will see you soon."

They finally left, and Alphys sighed with audible relief. "I was soooo worried you guys, oh my god. B-but! It worked out! I d-don't have to hide anything anymore! W-which means--! Undyne, I--"

"Yeah?"

Alphys trembled, slowly turning red again. "I--I--I have a new anime I wanna show you! We can, u-um, see it later, if you want."

"Cool! Does it have fighting in it this time?"

"U-uh, n-no, b-but--it has--a g-girl--who's good? At fighting?? B-but also... maybe... k-kissing..."

Undyne furrowed her brow. "Huh. Well, I'm sure it'll be great. We can watch that after I help you get the amalgamates home, okay?"

"O-oh, you... really want to help with that?"

"Sure! The guard knows where everyone lives, so we can help escort everyone. But, not tonight. I gotta agree with Asgore, it's pretty late."

"It's early if you don't sleep!" Papyrus offered.

"and if you do," Sans added, and Papyrus swatted at him--a move he dodged easily. "anyway, me and my bro are headed home. let us know when you wanna do science stuff, alph."

"O-of course! Like I said, I want to see what I can find out from the labs first, and I'll contact you when I have more information."

"A brilliant plan Dr. Alphys! We'll talk again soon, and finally find the solution to this most persistent of problematic happenstances. Goodnight!"

In a blink, they were gone.

Alphys shook her head. "Not gonna lie, I wanna look into how he does that t-too..."

Undyne snorted. "Guess you better add it to your project list. Here, I'll walk you to the lab."

"Oh... th-thank you."

They spent the rest of the walk back talking about anything that came to mind; anime, science, a new song Undyne had been working on. It was a nice way to finish out the evening after a long day at work, and then feeling like something awful had happened to someone Undyne cared about so much. If only she could find the right words to say, finally write a letter that could express all the feelings she had for Alphys... but this was nice enough. It seemed like Alphys really liked hanging out with her, and even if she didn't feel the same way, Undyne was glad she knew her.

She was looking forward to seeing her more.

#undertalethingem writes #gaster blaster au #bark at the moon fic #papyrus (undertale)#sans (undertale)#Undyne (undertale)#asgore (undertale)#alphys (undertale)#amalgamates #aaaah glad to finally update this again! ^^#don't know when the next will be out unfortunately ^^;

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newcaptainofsquad9 · 4 years

Text

Daria & Chill~Jimin x fem! reader

Pairing: Jimin x reader

Summary: You finally get a weekend off from constant studying, and you plan on spending it alone. Your plans are thwarted by a rather persistent Jimin, your friend and crush who insists that he come over to give you company. Of course you couldn’t resist with his lonely voice and the fact that he promised snacks. During your Hulu viewing however Jimin gets rather close to you, forcing you to confess your feelings, along with other things.

Genre: College AU, Fluff, Romance, Smut

Word Count: 2, 955

Warnings: Smut, you know the drill, don’t read unless you’re 18.

Author’s Note: Whoops, more Jimin look at that. Other members stories are coming soon, I promise! Also as you see by the title there are Daria reverences, it’s ok if you don’t get them but if watch the show too that’s dope.

It’s almost six. Jimin should be on his way here.

I can’t help but giggle as my heart flutters at the thought of Park Jimin. My best friend, my main shoulder to lean on for venting, gaming and just plain boredom. University has been up my ass lately with all these quizzes and assignments, I believe midterms snuck on everyone. This weekend was supposed to be chill: just me with ramen, but not just any ramen, I wanted to be experimental by adding cheese, boiled eggs and grilled chicken. After that it was gonna be some hot chocolate, courtesy of my roommates who overstocked prior to them leaving for their boyfriends’ houses( or dorms).

My plan was thwarted by Mr. Park himself and his infamous, “what are u doing this weekend” text. Of course I could have ignored him, or worst left him on read, yet I didn’t. Those soft brown eyes came to mind, along with how those thick lips got whenever he pouted. Ok, maybe I shouldn't think about his lips or how kissable they are. Fuck, I can still cancel, right?

The abrupt vibration of my phone says otherwise. I pick it up from the couch next to my leg, opening it to see a text from yours truly.

Jimin: Outside your door, can I come in?

Well that defeats any attempts at trying to get out of this one. I rise with Jimin’s soft knocks. One quick look at the living room and I rush to the door, peeping through the peep hole prior to opening it. The moment I open it Jimin smiles, baring his teeth and dimples, the gesture bringing out his pale blonde hair beautifully. His arms are full of the snacks he promised: a plastic bag with what looks to be a box of popcorn, candy and sodas.

“Hi there stranger,” he greets.

“Hi,” I say, trying not to blush at how equal parts handsome,cute and sexy he looks in a black dress shirt, jeans and vans. He can truly pull off anything well.

“Wow Y/N,” Jimin gushes, “take a picture, maybe it’ll last longer.”

“Ah, wow sorry Jimin,” I say, “you just look really nice. Come in.”

I open the door wide enough and Jimin slips in. His eyes move over my own outfit: it’s nothing special, just some sweatpants and a dark hoodie.

“You look stunning as always,” he says, “I was expecting pjs.”

“Why did you think that?”

Jimin shrugs as he places the bag on the coffee table in front of the flat screen.

“I don’t know, you said you wanted a chill, laid back weekend,” he notes, “I expected cute pajama bottoms, that Avengers shirt you love so much and no bra.”

My face heats up at the meant of no bra.

“J-Jimin,” I stammer, “maybe I wanted to look decent for my guest, hmm?”

Jimin giggles, smiling hard as he puts a hand through his blonde locks.

“All jokes Y/N,” he says, “and I’m glad you consider me a guest, the sweats still look cute either way.”

I mumble a thanks, and throw on my hood to hide the rising blush in my cheeks.

“S-so, what do you wanna watch first?” I ask while flipping through Hulu.

Jimin hums.

“It’s your chill weekend,” he says, “you pick.”

I give me a side longed look, taking in how comfort he got so quickly, leaning into the couch. He’s already nibbling on a strawberry laffy taffy stick, watching my saved shows with interest. I land on Daria, my smiling growing at the fond memories I had watching it.

“Daria sound good?”

Jimin giggles at my enthusiasm.

“Of course.”

I press an episode in it’s later season and slump down beside him, giving us enough space so I don’t turn into a blushing mess beside him. The iconic theme cuts on and I’m glued to the screen, singing along.

“You want anything?”

I jump at how close Jimin got all a sudden. We’re shoulder to shoulder, his breath hits my ear.

“I-um, yeah, popcorn would be nice, the microwave is to the right,” I say, pointing behind me.

Jimin pats my knee, rises and pulls a bag of unpopped popcorn from his plastic bag.

“Do you want me to pause?”

Jimin shakes his head.

“No, you enjoy it,” he says.

I do as he says, too engrossed in Daria’s oddly, yet still timing commentary and Quinn’s air headed ways. Jane’s always dope, but the one who always cracks me up is Sandi and her hilarious voice.

“Why does she sound like that?” Jimin asks, returning with a hefty bag of kettle corn.

“I don’t know, but it’s still stupid and funny,” I say.

Jimin chuckles through a mouthful of taffy as he points at Tiffany.

“Her voice is weird too, of course they’d hang out together,” he says.

We get halfway through the second episode when Jimin whistles lowly at Daria kissing Tom in his car.

“Wait, isn’t he with Jane?” he asks.

I nod as I take a sip of soda.

“Yep, it’s complicated,” I say, “they dated for a while then he got with Daria later, even though that doesn’t last long either.”

Jimin bites off his final piece of taffy.

“Damn, that sucks,” he says, “how long have you lasted with someone?”

I nearly choke on my soda.

“Um, p-pardon me? Last?”

Jimin narrows his eyes and giggles.

“Not like that, well maybe that too, but in this case I meant dating.”

I cannot believe this man is asking this.

“There was this guy in high school I dated for a moment, before he moved on to another girl,” I explain, “all we did was hold hands, after that I never really lasted with anyone else.”

Jimin nods, eyes never leaving me.

“Are you seeing anyone?” he asks abruptly.

My chest flares at the question. He licks his lips, which should be because of all the taffy he just ate, I hope.

“No, but-”

He slides closer, my knee now touching his jean clad one.

“But?” he asks.

“There is this guy, and he drives me crazy.”

Jimin bites down on his lip, eyeing me with those smoldering brown pupils. God, he’s so close. His lips are more plump and pink from the candy, super kissable at the moment.

“Does he drive you as crazy as I do?” he asks.

“Jimin-”

His lips crash into mine, tasting of the sweet, yet artificial strawberry flavor. I blink before returning the kiss. His lips curl into a grin as they continue their work, stealing my breath away. Daria’s theme song blasts again, forcing me to jump, and Jimin to chuckle.

“Maybe we should mute this, yeah?” he asks, biting down on his lip again.

“You don’t wanna watch anymore?”

Jimin shakes his head.

“Maybe later, all I want to do is kiss you again.”

His words send my head into a daze.

“Jimin, wait,” I say.

Jimin stops at my words, he’s close again, chest almost pressed against my own. He frowns.

“Do you think I’m a bad kisser?” he asks.

A nervous giggle erupts from my chest.

“N-No, you’re amazing, it’s not that.”

Jimin slides away, eyes down on the carpet below our feet.

“Did I read you wrong?” he asks.

“Jimin, n-no- wait, what?”

Jimin grins sheepishly.

“I thought you liked me, I guess I-”

“H-hold on! I do like you!” I exclaim, “y-you just caught me off guard.”

Jimin’s face lights up.

“R-Really?”

I nod and lean in to kiss him. He replies with a grin as our lips meet again, his lips are feverish this time, pressing harder, forcing me to groan against him. Jimin pulls back with a chuckle, hands moving down to caress my thighs.

“Can I tell you something? Before we go any further,” he says.

My face heats up again. Nothing can really top kissing him-wait did he just say further?

“Y/N, relax,” he reassures, “I’m up for doing whatever you want. Or,” he pauses to lick his lips again, “whatever you want to do with me.”

His hands continue to rub at my thighs, making me squeeze them together.

“Mmh, is this ok?” he asks.

“Yeah, I-I just,” I pause as Jimin pulls me closer so that I’m flush against his chest.

“Hmm? Talk to me jagiya,” he says, “let me know what you’d like to do. It is your chill night.”

“Yeah, this is ok,” I say, “just keep kissing and touching me.”

Jimin smiles brightly, eyebrows furrowing up quickly prior to leaning back in.

“Of course I can.”

Our lips meet again: Jimin’s soft touches correspond as his lips move mine to pant. His hands trace down my sides, forcing me to moan into the kiss he sets me into next. My jaw is his next target as his lips trail down and attached themselves to my neck.

“J-Jimin, have you done this before?”

Jimin hesitates as he pulls away from my neck to press his forehead against my own.

“Yes,” he admits, “a few times in the past.”

I nod and play with his hand that rests just above my waist.

“If you’re wondering if I’m clean, I am,” he says, “but I’ll understand if you don’t want to.”

I place my hand on his cheek, forcing him to look to me.

“Jimin, I want to, I just.”

Jimin squeezes my hand.

“What? It’s ok, I’m a big boy,” he teases, “I can handle rejection, I have before.”

“I find that hard to believe,” I say, “why would someone resist you Jimin.”

Jimin shrugs, a smile playing at his lips.

“I didn’t know you found me so desirable Y/N, here I thought my crush wouldn’t go anywhere,” he says, “it’s all right if you don’t want to have sex.”

Jimin presses his point with a kiss to my cheek and slides away from me to settle for putting an arm around my shoulders. I can’t help but notice the tent in his jeans and how he shifted his legs.

“Jimin, you’re hard,” I deadpan.

Jimin chuckles.

“Yeah, it goes to show how much I want you,” he says, “but I’m willing to wait, anything for you.”

I move to palm his hardness, eliciting a sigh from him.

“Baby, we don’t have to,” he groans.

“I want to help you Jimin and I-” I pause and blush at the thought.

Jimin grabs my hand, his eyes dark and shrouded with desire.

“Tell me jagi, this is your night,” he says, “whatever you want.”

I bite down on my lip as I bring my hand back down on his lap to rub him through his jeans.

“Can I touch you and maybe you could, “ I flush and pause again.

Jimin pulls me back towards him as his hands travel up and down my thighs at an agonizingly slow pace.

“So, you want to jerk me off? Deal. Can I guess what else you want?”

I shudder at how low his voice got, completely overtaken in lust that I have to hide my own moan. Jimin tugs me closer so I’m nearly straddling him. He doesn’t give me time to adjust before his lips ghost back down my neck again. His tongue teases at the top of my chest, brown pupils dilated as he looks up at me.

“Would you like me to touch you, here?”

With his question he goes to cup my breasts, thumb gently swirling around the nipple. I tense up at his action then bounce back down against his bulge. His breath adds to the sensation, fingers tracing down my shirt, stopping at the waistband of my sweats.

“Want me to touch you here too?” he asks, nodding down to my lower region.

“Yes Jimin.”

A chuckle washes through him as his hand slips down my sweats, fingers moving slow yet with purpose against my warm center. My breath hitches once he slides my panties to the side, the tip of his index finger teasing my entrance once more. He continues to ease it in, hungry eyes never leaving me as I let out a low groan.

“Mmh, you’re so wet already,” Jimin purrs, “as much as I’d love to finger you more jagi-”

He slips down onto his knees in front of me, yanks my sweats down to my ankles, forcing my heart to quicken its already rapid pace.

“I’d much rather eat you out right here and now,” he declares, “is that ok?”

Jimin’s duality never fails: he’s peering up at me with a tiny pout along with the sweet cadence of his voice. Even between my legs he seems as dashing as ever, making me squirm more.

“Yes, just-we should probably-ah-”

His lips travel up my legs before taking a long kitten lick at my clothed slit.

“Hm?” he reply's innocently, “talk to me.”

“S-shouldn’t we un mute the TV?” I ask, “w-we wouldn’t want anyone to hear.”

Jimin hums while tugging down my panties in concentration.

“We wouldn’t would we?” he teases, “so what you’re saying is that you are gonna be loud.”

“I-”

Before I could say a word Jimin’s tongue flicks quick and hard against my folds, mouth smacking as he leans his head down to drag his tongue deeper. My head lulls back as a high pitched moan escapes me as he slows down with a prolonged lick and a groan that forces my legs to tremble.

“J-Jimin, t-the remote, please, o-oh fuck!”

His breath hits my center as he chuckles lowly.

“Anything for you jagiya,” he says, but...”

He trails off prior to diving back in with the slow licks, looking up at me with those innocent eyes. How can he be like this? Is it legal to look so cute while doing something so sinful?

“Jimin!” I yelp, gripping down on his blonde locks, “please, j-just hurry!”

“God, you sound so amazing, mmh. Here.”

Jimin rocks back on his knees to reach for the remote behind him. In one swift motion he brings the sounds to the TV back to life; Daria’s monotone voice and Quinn’s annoying one fills the room.

That’s the only chance I get to breathe until Jimin’s tongue continues it’s work. My hips roll to meet his tongue, my eyes screw shut as my moans grow and grow to echo through the empty halls of my dorm. Thank God my roommates aren’t home. I wouldn’t be able to explain this anyway. A build up bundle of nerves gather in my stomach as Jimin’s fingers join his expert tongue.

“Jimin, I’m close, I think.”

“Yeah?” he asks with a doting smile, “let go ok?”

I nod as his fingers bend and bend as I pulse around him. His mouth takes full control again as he licks for dear life. My body responds accordingly as I come with a deep groan, and shudder. Jimin laps up my juices with vigor, I try to steady myself above him with a strong grip on his locks. He moans and pulls back, mouth covered in my mess.

“You taste as sweet as the taffy,” he notes as he wipes his mouth clean, “mmh, no, even better than the candy.”

Jimin gently pulls my panties up, along with my sweats before rejoining me on the couch as if he wasn’t down on his knees a minute ago. He leans forward to grab a pack of gum from his snack back, eyes never leaving my own.

“How was it?” he asks with a wink as he pops a square strip into his mouth.

“Amazing,” I say, “w-what about you?”

Jimin sighs, and shuts his eyes as he chews away.

“I promised you could, didn’t I?” he says as he moves to unbuckle his jeans and slide down his zipper.

My hands push his own out of the way as I reach down in his briefs to bring out his length.

“Ah, slow down,” he groans.

I giggle at how much of a mess he is already.

“Oh, like you just did?” I counter, “ok.”

I start to pump at a steady pace, bitting my lip as I gauge Jimin’s reaction. His eyes flutter as tiny moans escape his plump lips. He’s already swollen in my hand with a bit of precum trailing from him.

“Y/N,” he groans, “mmh, please ah!”

I slow my movements and give his length a slow, fluid pump, eliciting a delicious gasp from him.

“Jagi,” he moans.

“Talk Jimin,” I tease, “please what?”

His head lulls to my shoulder, mouth agape as he struggles to speak.

“Faster!” he yelps, “please, I-I need to come!”

I oblige and jerk him faster and faster with his moans growing higher. His voice goes higher than I’ve ever heard, forcing me to jump and reach over his lap to grab the remote and turn the TV up a few more notches. My hand gets coated in his come, along with the bottom of my shirt and his own.

“Fuck, Y/N,” he groans, “damn, sorry about your shirt.”

“Don’t be,” I say as I kiss him deeply.

He whimpers into the kiss while I slowly remove my hand from his length. I pull back and trace my fingers along his jawline.

“Does this mean we’re a couple now?” I ask, “I-I mean I know we didn’t really have sex bu-”

Jimin cuts me off with a chaste kiss.

“We are Y/N,” he whispers, “I still would have cuddled and watched Daria with you if we didn’t do anything.”

“Really?”

Jimin chuckles and presses a kiss to my forehead.

“Yes really, now can we lay back and watch what Daria is going to expertly critic next?”

“Of course,” I say, “right after we change shirts.”

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keelywolfe · 4 years

Text

FIC: Separate Lives (spicyhoney)

Summary: Edge can't be anyone but himself, but he is nothing that Rus needs.

Notes: This story strikes me as almost an AU of 'By Any Other Name', what might've happened if Stretch and Edge didn't get together. Sadness ahead!

Tags: Underfell Papyrus, Underswap Papyrus, Undertale Monsters on the Surface, Angst, Self-Worth Issues, Post-Break Up, Yearning

Read It On AO3

Read It Here!

~~*~~

It was past dark by the time Edge returned home from work. The lights in the main room turned on automatically as he stepped inside, closing the door against the chilly evening air. He hung up his jacket in the closet, keys deposited in a decorative bowl on a small table by the front door, shoes lined up carefully on the mat.

Dinner was waiting for him, already prepared in the crock pot which in his opinion was one of the best inventions Humans ever developed. Perhaps some gourmands would be rolling in their graves if they were forced to taste his modified version of beef bourguignon, but if so, they could keep their complaints beneath the ground.

He changed before he ate, hanging up his suit carefully and dressing in a soft pullover and jeans. When the workday was done, it was best to get out of that mindset and a simple change of clothes helped to keep him from turning Embassy issues over in his head all night long.

He ate at the table in silence, washed his plate and set it in the drainer.

Mettaton was on and he watched the variety show. The detective movie. Even the Quiz show. If he were asked tomorrow what any of them were about, he wouldn’t have been able to think of a single word.

His sockets felt dry and grainy by then, exhaustion starting to pull him down; he was tired and tomorrow would be an early day, technically today, and--

But his cell phone ringing cut off anything else.

He waited for the second ring to answer, “Hello.”

“heya, bestie,” The voice on the other side of the line was low and amused. “didn’t wake you up, did i.”

Edge relaxed back into the sofa cushions and closed his sockets, allowing that husky, malted voice to roll over him. “Would you care if you had?”

“nah. we both know you were waiting by the phone.” Rus said it teasingly, unaware of the uncomfortable truth.

“With bated breath,” Edge said dryly.

“heh, well, you can cut your fishing trip short cause here i am. told you i’d call when i got home safe.” The blurred, liquid quality to his laughter implied several drinks over the course of the night. His eye lights would be bright from the alcohol, faint orange bleeding into the normal soft white. There was the sound of rustling, perhaps blankets, it could be that Rus was lying in the unmade mess of his own bed, looking up at the ceiling with Edge’s voice in his skull.

“At 2am?” Distantly said, the words weren’t ones he wanted to think too closely about. “Burning the late-night oil, were you.”

Rus made a rude, scoffing sound, punctuated by the creak of the bed frame and there was a soft thunk, quickly followed by a second; he must be kicking off his shoes. “it was a date, not a tinder hookup! gotta take a little time, you know, get to know them, takes a few hours. isn’t that what a date is for? getting to know someone, making a match, letting someone light my fire.”

“Knowing your jokes, he was probably ready for the burn unit by the end of the night.” Perhaps he took an Uber home, alone, perhaps he’d allowed his date to take him. A last few teasing jokes before he got out of the car or perhaps leaning in through the driver’s side window. Perhaps, perhaps—

“ouch, okay, i’m hanging up, i need to report a murder,” Rus laughed, then his voice dropped low, secretive. “speaking of fire, might not make it to the third date rule with this one, whoa, momma, he’s igniting something, all right.”

The low growl that escaped was not of his choosing and Edge stifled it immediately.

“didn’t catch that, what did you say?” More rustling sounds, Rus’s voice was muffled, likely pulling off his sweatshirt. There was a heavy flump of it hitting the floor and Edge could see it very clearly. The clutter of dirty clothing littered around with the occasional empty honey bottle sprouting through, a trash flower blooming through fabric. Rus lying back on the sheets, rib cage bare, the path of his spine leading to his pelvis where his pants interrupted the journey. Or perhaps not, perhaps he’d already kicked them off to join their brethren, another patch in his laundry garden. Perhaps he was dressed only in his own bare, lovely bones, perhaps--

"Oh, I was just thinking,” Edge said lightly, “that you might try playing a little hard to get. That is, if you’re hoping for something past date three.”

“we’ll see,” doubtfully, rich with amusement, “anyway, i’m home safe, worry wart, didn't end up in any stranger's dust pan. you can get some sleep now. night, edgelord, see you tomorrow.”

“Good night, Rus.”

Edge disconnected the call and sat on his sofa with his phone in his hand for a long time.

~~*~~

Once, he’d been the one on the verge of date three, all of Rus’s teasing flirtations forging a direct path to it. Edge was the one who stopped things there, halted them at the crossroads to choose a different path.

He could still clearly remember Rus’s face when he’d told him; the bland acceptance complicit with the way he blinked a little too often, a fraction too hard. There would be no third date, but when Edge offered friendship, Rus took it eagerly, and now, months later, they were best of friends despite their differences.

It was for the best, Edge knew, necessary, the only choice Edge could make. He’d needed to break things off before he learned how Rus’s mouth tasted, before he ever felt him in his arms.

Dates were a chance to get to know someone, Rus said, a learning experience of sorts, and what Edge learned all too quickly was that Rus deserved better than he could offer.

Truth be told, he should have cut him off entirely, kept his distance rather than endure this slow, aching torture. It was a weakness, Edge supposed. Too weak to properly let Rus go, but at least like this the only person he was hurting was himself.

They were friends, the best of friends, and it was enough. It was.

~~*~~

The next morning Edge got up with his alarm. He went to work, did his job, came home. Left his shoes lined up by the door and listened when Rus called him to let him know he was home safe from his date.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

~~*~~

“unf, how do you always make the best stuff for lunch,” Rus said around his current mouthful. His chopsticks were delving back into his bowls, scooping up more noodles before he’d even swallowed the first round.

They were sitting together in the Embassy cafeteria as they always did on their once a week meeting. It was nothing unusual, hardly a second glance was sent their way. Everyone else was focused on their own lunches and conversations, a roomful of meandering chatter

“I like eating.” Edge took a bite from his own bowl with more care. The broth was rich and salty, the noodles cooked to satisfying perfection and generously flavored with plenty of scallions.

“please, everyone likes eating. most people, anyway. not everyone raises their game to an art form like you, damn.” Rus slurped up another mouthful of noodles and Edge reached over to slap him lightly on the back of the skull.

“Show some manners or you’re going to get banned from the museum,” Edge told him dryly. He looked down into his ramen bowl, swirling his chopstick through the broth. “Speaking of which, the Embassy is sponsoring an event this Friday at the Ebott Art Institute. Did you want to come?”

“can’t,” Rus said around a mouthful of soft-boiled egg. It should have been the furthest thing from charming. “got another date.”

“Date number three, isn’t it?” Edge said idly. As if he didn’t know very well. “I’m sure that will be far more entertaining than ‘Monster and Human Art Trends Through the Ages’.”

“might be, i’m a little more into current events. ‘specially when its currently in my bedroom. eh, don’t worry, edgelord, i bet you won’t have any trouble getting someone else as a go along.” Rus offered him a sharp grin and cast a glance over the room, his eye lights touching on various Monsters consideringly. Edge didn’t follow his gaze.

That would only be true if one considered his shadow a companion.

Edge didn’t answer him and asked instead, “You’ll call me when you get home?”

“wouldn’t dream of not, captain concern.” He ran his tongue over his teeth, banked heat hidden in his eye lights. “might just be a text, though. could be busy.”

“Of course,” Edge said crisply. He took another mouthful of noodles, too soft beneath the force of his teeth.

~~*~~

“you’re an idiot, you know.”

Edge stopped just inside the door of his office, sighing to see his brother sprawled out on the sofa. Instead of at one end, Red chose to lay on the middle cushion so he could prop his filthy boots up on the arm.

“Yes, please do instruct me on how I’ve failed you this time.” Edge took hold of the untied laces and yanked those boots roughly off the fine leather. Red only rolled with it, shifting to sit upright. His coat needed washing and Edge absently began making a plan on how to get him out of it long enough to do it.

“ain’t failing me,” Red scoffed. He pulled out a slender vial, tipping a toothpick into his hand, and the faint smell of cinnamon rose in the air. “too busy failing yourself.”

It would be better to ignore him. Eventually Red would get bored and either wander off or fall asleep, adding drool to the dirt he’d already gotten on the sofa. Either way, he’d be silent. That would be the intelligent thing to do. “How so?”

There was enough disgust in his expression to sting. “you think no one else can see it, don’t you? just cause rus can’t find his coccyx in broad daylight with both hands and a map don’t mean i’m blind.”

“You’re being ridiculous.” The noodles were long since incorporated into his magic, it wasn’t possible for them to churn within him nauseously. He went over to the coffee maker and poured out a cup.

“oh yeah?” Red’s eye lights glittered, the color of old blood, and his grin widening to border on vicious. “what about last movie night?”

Edge stilled, cup in hand.

He should have known that was what would give him away. His weaknesses would glare out for his brother, as easy to read as the daily newspaper.

Rus always sat next to him these days at the movie gatherings, the line of his body pressed lightly against Edge from their shoulders down to their knees. Sharing a large bowl of popcorn that Edge would eat too much of, glutting himself on greasy kernels until he felt nauseous for the simple reason that their hands would brush inside the bowl.

An utterly pathetic excuse for a too-brief touch and he was greedy for it, every time.

But last week, Rus fell asleep halfway through the movie. Sagging in increments, until he ended up in Edge’s lap, and Edge couldn’t remember a thing about the film. His only memory of that night was of warm weight against him, of soft, even breathing, the lingering drowsiness when Rus awoke, blinking up at him with languid temptation.

If the phone calls were slow torture, that evening was a white-hot spike through the soul, and all he’d done afterward was help Rus sit upright, let the others tease him for getting drool on Edge’s pantleg.

Red’s mouth twisted into a knowing sneer, “yeah, s’what i thought. you’re forgettin’ all your lessons, little brother.” He leaned forward and his expression was savage, gleaming teeth and blazing eye lights were of memory long past, of Underfell. “you want something that bad, you find a way to get it.” Then the fiery blaze eased, leaving nothing but soft crimson as Red sank back into the sofa cushions, his sharp-fingered hands clasped together over his middle. “unless you’re getting a little too used to the soft life on the surface, eh, boss?”

“Shut up,” Edge told him, the words felt brittle between his teeth.

Red’s laughter cut, the honest amusement at his expense. “truth hurts, yeah?”

He was gone in a shortcut, vanished before the hurled cup could hit him. It bounced uselessly off the empty cushion, hot coffee puddling on the leather.

Edge stood for too long, panting, staring at the ruined sofa, before he called down to housekeeping to send a cleaner to his office.

~~*~~

“home safe, edgelord, no one stayin’ over on either side.” Rus was a lot more drunk this time, all his words a soft slurry, blurred nearly to nonsense.

Edge closed his sockets, listening. It was well past three am, the Embassy event ended hours ago to muted applause and well-funded success. He’d been sitting here alone in his living room, tearing a magazine into little strips. The confetti of them flutter to the floor as he sat forward, “Are you all right?”

“jus’ fine, honey, i’m doing great. came home ‘lone, but he gave me a swell time first.”

The temptation was there to go to Rus’s home, to burst through the front door, ignore Blue’s surprised questions that demanded to know what he thought he was doing. To go up to Rus’s room, to pull him close, ignore the scent of someone else on him and— “You didn’t take my advice to play hard to get?”

“can’t play hard enough, never enough, is it. never. never ever ever,” Singsong sweet, tripping over his tongue, and it trailed into something like a muted sob, wretched and wet, “edge? why’m i so hard to love?”

He needed to say something to that, couldn’t let Rus think that, he couldn’t, he needed—

“nah, s’okay, don’ matter anyway, it don’, you listen to me, yeah? worry about me, you do, every time, all th’ time.” Rus drifted off between words, those weak sobs slowing, evening out to only the occasional hiccough.

Edge sat up for most of the night, listening to him breathe.

~~*~~

“fuck, it’s so early. how could you sign me up for this?” Rus groaned. The darkened hollows beneath his sockets were stark, but Rus was up and moving, helping Edge carry the tables to the outside storefront.

“Believe me, you weren’t my first choice for the early shift,” Edge told him.

The fundraiser was one for a local family who’d lost all their possessions in a fire, a bake sale held by the local chapter of Wilderness Scouts group that was made up of Monster and Human children. The goal was one of more than money, it was part of a continuing an effort to familiarize the Human community with Monsters showing them working beside Humans in harmonious unity. Or at least that was the goal and as children tended towards adorable regardless of species, it seemed an excellent opportunity.

Not that Edge was planning on staying for the actual event; he’d baked an assortment of treats, another calculated move, chocolate chip cookies and rice krispie treats, familiar snacks to Humans from an unfamiliar people.

His baking skills notwithstanding, Humans tended to find his appearance somewhat unnerving. He’d volunteered the two of them to set things up for the children and after they were done, the rest would be up to the chaperones.

That was the plan anyway and Edge was hopeful.

“If we work together, we should be able to get this done quickly enough,” Edge said. Although his doubts grew on that as he watched Rus struggle with the folding table

“uh huh,” Rus grunted, finally battling the capricious thing into submission. “sorry if i kept you up last night.”

“What?” The table Edge was setting up seemed to be of a kinder temperament. “You didn’t.”

“no?” Rus unfolded a plastic tablecloth, fussing to spread it over the table with uncommon precision. “that call lasted for four hours.”

They weren’t actually talking about this, they weren’t-- “I must have forgotten to hang up.”

A touch on his wrist stilled him, cool fingertips against the slim line of bone showing between his gloves and his sleeve. His head jerked up involuntarily and Rus was standing too close, too too close, the shadows beneath his sockets garish and obvious.

"how long are we going to do this?" Tiredly, so terribly soft, too low to be heard by any passersby going into the store. Rus seemed worn, the world almost blurring around him as if he were nearly about to step into a shortcut.

"It shouldn’t even be a couple of hours,” Edge said doggedly. “Once we get set up, I think--"

"edge."

Rus didn't say another word, only his name, once. Anything else stayed unspoken and he was so close, his eye lights soft, pale, searching Edge’s face and it would be so easy to lean in, to take his mouth, to see if the sweetness of his kiss matched the rest of him, this endearing fool.

But Rus deserved so much better, he deserved a pure soul that glowed a silver to match his own, not the stony, LV-scarred one that was all Edge had to offer, the memory of murders bound within it in blood-shaded crimson. Rus deserved someone who could offer him their world.

Edge couldn’t even offer a piece of his.

Don’t do this, don’t, don’t be kind, don’t know how I feel, don’t, please, please—

He reared back, turning away to smooth the last tablecloth into place. "Let's finish getting this set up."

Rus said nothing, stood unmoving and Edge tried not to look at him, unable to bear seeing the banked unhappiness within him. Then, abruptly, "yeah, okay. guess we're gonna do this for a little while, then." Rus gathered up one of the boxes, pulling out baggies of cookies and setting them up in fairly neat rows. “we can go out for lunch after if you want, but i need to get home in time for a nap, i got a date tonight."

“You’ll call me when you get home.” It should have been a question. When Rus didn’t answer, Edge glanced at him, involuntarily, searching his face, and the taste of his desperation was flavored with shame.

Rus smiled a little, a faint curve of his mouth. “yeah, sure. i’ll call, let you know i got home okay. this is date number one, maybe i can make a good first impression, for once.”

“I’m sure you will.” Edge stood next to him, both of them piling up cookies and treats, readying them for the children to sell. They’d finish soon enough, go out for lunch, and then Edge would go home, alone. He’d line up his shoes on the mat by the door, sit on his sofa, and wait for his phone to ring. It was enough, stealing brief, borrowed moments of Rus, more than he even deserved.

Despite everything, Edge was still himself. It was all he could ever be.

-finis-

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

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sunlightbabe · 5 years

Text

look both ways | part three | rami

pairing: joe mazzello x reader a/n: here’s chapter three of the lovingly nicnkamed ‘hot mess reader’ fic!! special shoutout to loml lena for her help with this one <3 you can read part one here and part two here

Rami read. Lucy drinks coffee. Reader visits a friend. As always, let me know what you think!

The cafe is pleasantly quiet this early in the morning. There's no one else inside the small space, save for the baristas working behind the counter, which means Rami gets to pick where to sit instead of being stuck with the first available table. With his book in one hand and his coffee in the other, his morning is shaping up to be pretty perfect. Well, almost perfect.

Picking a table tucked into the furthest corner of the room, Rami swirls his straw around in his iced coffee, eyeing it wearily as the ice cubes audibly clink together. He's been ordering the same thing for months now and this? This is not his usual order. This looks different.

He takes a hesitant sip and frowns almost immediately. Yeah, definitely not what he ordered. This is far too bitter and there isn't nearly enough ice- the solution is to go up to the counter and let the barista know that some sort of mistake has been made, he knows this. But people make mistakes. It's not a big deal. Rami would rather deal with his bad coffee than trouble the nice person behind the counter.

And who knows, maybe he'll get used to it? Rami tries another sip, smaller this time, and suppresses a shiver. Nope, still gross.

Moving his tongue around his mouth to try and get rid of the lingering, sharp taste, Rami pushes his cup away from him and towards the other end of the table. He wonders if one of the girls will drink it. He knows Lucy likes her drinks flavored stronger than he does and that if she doesn't want it, you'll probably take it. You never turn down anything free, especially if it's edible. Or drinkable, in this case.

With one last glance towards his drink, Rami flips open his book and settles more comfortably in his seat. He knows he should be more productive with his free time, that he should be working on homework or doing one of the readings for his classes, but he can't be bothered to reach for his laptop, tucked away in his bag on the seat next to him.

Rami finds it all too easy to get sucked in. He reads and reads, the pages flipping easily under his fingers as his eyes move from one sentence to the next. He's only dimly aware that the cafe has gotten more crowded as the morning continues on and he stops reading just long enough to shoot Lucy an incredibly delayed text to see if she wants to meet up with him at the cafe and grab something to eat together.

He shoots you a similar text a moment later- a useless gesture, really, because of course you're invited too- and turns his attention back to his book. He's able to read a few more pages before his phone buzzes with a reply but Rami doesn't check it right away. Just one more page.

Except one page turns to two, then three, then five, and then he's almost two thirds of the way done with the entire book.

A pair of cold hands unexpectedly slide across his shoulders and slip under the collar of his shirt. He jumps a little in his seat, snapping out of his reading-induced, pseudo-hypnotic trance, but his eyes never leave the page.

"Sorry love, didn't mean to startle you," Lucy says and he can feel her rest her chin on top of his head.

" 's alright," he says with a little smile, even though she's currently sapping the warmth out of him. The things he puts up with for love.

"What are you reading about?"

"Moss." Rami flips the page- he's almost done, just one more paragraph before the chapter ends. "Did you know that Spanish Moss is actually a flowering plant? It's more closely related to pineapple than actual moss."

Lucy hums, pulls her hands out from his shirt, and loosely wraps her arms around his shoulders.

The book he's reading is about more than just moss. It talks about botanical sciences, yes, but it's also full of personal essays about the author's life and culture, a collection of stories and memories and past reflections. It's scientific poetry. He doesn't elaborate on any of this, choosing instead to finish his reading with rapt attention. He figures he can tell Lucy all about it later, preferably once he actually finishes reading the entire thing.

The chapter ends and Rami gently closes the book. He tilts his head back to look up at Lucy who, in turn, lifts her chin off of his head.

"Hi," he says simply with a warm smile, unable to look away from the way her hair falls so perfectly around her face as she looks down at him.

"Hello."

"Sorry I didn't hear you coming," Rami says as Lucy presses a gentle kiss against his forehead before pulling away to sit beside him. He runs his hand through his hair, fingers carding through the soft curls, fixing and fluffing it up from where Lucy unintentionally flattened it. "Kinda got absorbed in my reading."

"It's alright." Lucy moves his backpack to the floor and shifts her chair closer until their knees touch under the table. "I figured that was the case when I texted you to let you know that we were running a bit late and you never got back to me."

Rami takes in the circles under her eyes and the tenseness of her shoulders. "Everything okay?"

Lucy waves her hand vaguely in the air. "Yeah, just, you know. Looking for keys and wallets and the like after a night out is always an adventure."

"Ah." Rami looks at the empty spots across the table and then takes a quick glance around the room. "Speaking of adventure, where's our favorite party girl?"

"Throwing up in the bathroom, hopefully. She was complaining about feeling nauseous the whole ride here."

"Poor thing," Rami says with a sympathetic frown. He eyes the small hallway leading to the bathrooms before turning his attention back to Lucy. She looks exhausted, which is typical for the morning after a night out, but there's something off about her. Maybe it's the way she's slouching in her seat or how she has this slightly glazed look to her eyes. Rami hums to himself and gently nudges her foot with his own until she looks away from the general hustle and bustle of the cafe and looks back at him.

“Rough night?" he asks, inclining his head to the side a little as he watches her.

Lucy doesn't answer right away. Rami patiently waits, eyes flickering over her face. She looks dead on her feet- or ass since technically she was sitting, not standing- and yet she's still the most beautiful woman he has ever laid his eyes on. Without a word, and without looking away from her, he reaches for his pushed aside drink and slides it in-front of her.

The smile Lucy flashes him is small and soft and makes his heart do this strange, almost leaping thing in his chest. He disgusts himself sometimes with just how much he loves her.

"Rough is... an understatement," Lucy finally answers, playing with the straw for a moment. "I didn't sleep. At all."

Well, that explains why she looks so damn tired. Rami hums quietly as Lucy takes a sip of the coffee. She hardly bats an eye at it and wordlessly offers it back to him. Rami declines with a slight shake of his head.

Lucy looks like she's about to say something else, but instead she takes another lengthier sip. As she chugs the coffee down, Rami looks over towards the bathrooms once again and catches sight of you just as you walk into the main cafe.

Wearing an oversized sweatshirt and a pair of sunglasses that cover up most of your face, you look like the picture definition of a hangover. You shuffle over to their table, sit down across from him and Lucy, and promptly rest your head and arms on the table.

"You doing okay there champ?" Rami says, trying to keep the laughter from his voice. He fails.

You merely grunt in reply. Rami's been drinking with you enough times to know just how much alcohol it really takes to make you this miserable the morning after. He feels for you, truly.

"I don't think you're going to get much sleep here," he points out after a quiet moment passes in which you don't respond or even move. Next to him, Lucy finishes off her coffee, straw slurping quietly against the bottom of the cup. Rami leans across the table and pinches the sleeve of the sweatshirt you're wearing between his thumb and forefinger. "... is this mine?"

"It's comfy," comes your muffled reply. He snorts and wonders just how long ago Lucy stole it, knowing you very likely stole it from her closet in turn. Or maybe you stole it from his apartment yourself? He doesn't know. He doesn't really care.

Rami leans back in his seat and eyes you and Lucy, a curious look creasing his forehead. "What the hell happened last night? I haven't seen you two this bad in a long time."

('A long time' being just earlier that year, at the reception for Lucy's sister's wedding. Open bars were dangerous.)

"Do you want to tell him or should I?" Lucy asks casually. You raise your head just enough to meet her gaze and even though your sunglasses completely cover your eyes, Rami can only imagine the glare you're giving her.

He's expecting the worse, which could be anything given your track record, but even with his active imagination and his knowledge of your past drunken shenanigans, he's not expecting the words that come out of your mouth.

"I got hit by a car last night."

Rami blinks and wonders if he heard you correctly. He looks between you and Lucy, waiting for the punchline, for one of you to crack a smile and break and laugh as your joke falls apart. But that doesn't happen. You keep your head rested on the table and Lucy looks back at him with an arched eyebrow, her mouth pressed into a thin line.

"You... got hit by a car last night," Rami repeats slowly. Lucy nods her head and you simply groan.

Rami scrubs a hand down his face. "That's... shitty." It's scary and Rami's head fills with violent, awful images of what could have happened. Although- "Although you're here now, so I'm guessing it wasn't too severe? What did the doctors say?"

"I don't know," Lucy says, voice sounding a little strained, "seeing as how we didn't go to the hospital last night."

"What."

"Oh my fucking god- I'm fine," you say with an exasperated little noise as you finally raise your head completely off the table. "It was- it was nothing, okay? It was just a little bump."

"From a car. A car hit you last night," Lucy argues.

"Yeah, barely. It was a light tap, I barely felt it."

"Jesus christ," Rami mutters under his breath. He's not even sure what to do or say. He knows that you should go to the hospital, or at least visit one of the nursing students on campus or something, but he knows you're stubborn and he knows without a doubt that you and Lucy have certainly already had this argument. Judging by the fact that you were here and not waiting in the emergency room, he knows you won. "Did either of you get the license plate number?"

"What for? To press charges?" you ask with a scoff.

Lucy shakes her head and rests her chin against her hand. "The driver didn't even stop. Just kept on driving by."

"Jesus christ," Rami repeats. Anxiety blooms all too familiarly in his chest and he gets why Lucy wasn't able to sleep at all the night prior.

"Rami, I'm fine. Seriously. If there was an issue, I'd go to the hospital," you say in an attempt to comfort him, reaching across the table to rest your hand on his arm. "But I feel- okay, I feel like shit, but that's because I drank enough to fill a bath tub last night."

Rami's torn. He wants to believe you, because of course he wants you to be okay, but he remembers how you slipped down the stairs last year and held off on going to the hospital until almost a week later, when your ankle was still black and blue, and even then, Lucy had to force you to go if memory served correctly.

You were a disaster magnet.

"You are one lucky bastard, you know that, right?" Rami says with a small, fond shake of his head. You simply beam at him.

"Lucky or not, I still think you should take it easy the next couple of days. Better safe than sorry," Lucy says as she settles her crossed arms on the table.

"Don't worry, I will. Besides, I don't think I have any-" You cut yourself off with a small hum. "Actually... shit, I had plans for like, tonight. What time is it?"

"Almost 1:00," Rami says after checking his phone. Was it really that late? He had been there at the cafe for much longer than he thought. Rami's phone buzzes as he receives a few texts from his friend Joe but he ignores them for the time being- he assumes he's asking for help with homework, judging on the first few words of the text preview that flash across the screen. Homework can wait.

You rhythmically tap your fingers against the table with a soft hum. "I promised Gwil that I'd help him look over some papers for Fletch's class."

"Wait, he's working with Fletcher? I thought he was TAing for McCarten?" Lucy asks.

"I think he's doing both," Rami says with a shrug. It sounded like a lot of work to him, personally, but if anyone could pull it off, it'd be Gwil. "If you explained the situation, I think he'd understand."

You shrug and lean further back in your chair. "No, yeah, he totally would. I'm just thinking-"

"Nothing good ever comes of that," Lucy teases under her breath. Rami snorts and wonders if you even heard her, but then you playfully flip her off and that answers that.

"I'm just thinking that it's not as if I'll be doing anything strenuous. I'll just be sitting there reading over some essays, but my god, my head's killing me. I feel like I could sleep for a week... so I should just re-schedule it?" The infliction in your voice makes it sound like you're asking if that's what you should do. Rami's never been prouder.

Rami leans over and rests his head on Lucy's shoulder before letting out a wistful sigh. "She's growing up so fast."

"Bite me."

"I remember when she was just yea high," Lucy says with an exaggerated sniffle, motioning a few feet off the ground with her hand.

With a groan louder than necessary for his and Lucy's benefit, he's sure, you push your chair away from the table and stand up. Lucy giggles and Rami smirks as he straightens back up and watches you carefully, worried for a second that you're just going to collapse in sudden pain. That doesn't happen, thankfully.

"Where are you going?" he asks.

"To find Gwil and let him know I can't make it tonight." You elaborate further before Rami can even ask. "I dropped my phone after the accident last night and now it won't turn on."

"Do you want to use mine?" Rami offers. He's pretty sure he has Gwil's number saved in his phone somewhere. His phone lights up with another text from Joe and Rami closes the notification before offering it to you, but you just shake your head.

"Nah, I'll be fine. He's usually at the library around this time and it's a quick walk from here. I feel like I need to get up and stretch around anyways, ya know? I get all stiff if I just sit around for too long."

Maybe you have a point. Maybe the fresh air will do you some good. "Are you sure you don't want me to drive you?" Lucy asks, reaching into her bag for her keys, but you're already walking away.

"I'll see you at home!" And with that, you walk out the door.

Lucy practically deflates the moment you leave the cafe, resting her head against Rami with a tired little groan. Rami reaches a hand over to gently pat her knee.

"I'm going to go gray before I hit 30, I just know it," she laments quietly. "I love her dearly but she stresses me out so much- a car Rami! She got hit by a car and just- just walked it off!"

"Is it really that surprising? She has a talent for walking away from accidents unscathed. Remember that time she fell off my balcony?" To be fair, his apartment was only on the second floor, and you had fallen right into the hedges. He vividly remembers your arm poking out through the leaves, giving him a thumbs up to let him know that you were okay.

"... No?"

Rami gives Lucy a quizzical look. "The night I locked myself out of my apartment? She climbed onto the balcony to unlock one of the windows-"

"Hold on a second, is that how she got poison ivy all over her back last summer?"

It hits Rami then that Lucy wasn't there for that particular adventure. She did, after all, have the extra key to his apartment. If she had been there, they wouldn't have had to resort to Mission Impossible-esque methods of getting inside.

And he has a vague, fuzzy memory of the two of you promising to never tell Lucy about what happened. Well.

Rami's not sure what to say next, words dying before they can even form properly in his head, but thankfully, he doesn't have to say anything. Lucy shakes her head a little and mumbles something that sounds like "I'm too hungover for this" before leaning against him even further, practically using him as a pillow. Rami doesn't mind.

On the table, his phone lights up again. Another text from Joe.

Trying not to jostle Lucy around, who he thinks might genuinely be trying to take a nap at this point, he reaches for his phone to read the texts.

Rami can feel his eyes widen with each text he reads. He re-reads them to make sure that he's not losing his mind and when it becomes apparent that he's not, he shakes Lucy's shoulder.

"Honey, we- we need to go to the library. Right now."

tag list: @bensrhapsody @honimello @lap-of-the-gods @myguardianmailman @killer-queen-xo if you want to be tagged in future chapters, you can drop an ask or leave a comment!

#joe mazzello x reader #joe mazzello fanfic #bohemian rhapsody fic #borhap fic #fic.txt #i laugh every time i tag it bc like.... joe and reader interaction WHEN #don't worry it's coming i promise

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evilrubberducke · 5 years

Text

Read You Like a Book

A fluff filled IzuMina story about dorks and dates. Not too much to say besides that. I hope you enjoy.

Summary: In the midst of a lovely date, Mina discovers that Izuku might just be paying more attention to her than she ever realized.

Also on AO3!

“Midoriiiiiii, you lied to me!” Mina whined as she took in the building before her.

The Csilla Book Emporium was the largest bookstore she’d ever seen, spanning nearly a block in length and several stories in height, all filled to the brim with books of every sort. Supposedly they had every book under the sun, and if you couldn’t find it on their shelves they would have it sent there in just a few days. Under normal circumstances, Mina would have been happy to spend the afternoon there with Izuku.

It was the sign out front, proudly advertising their “First day of summer textbook/workbook sale!” that gave her pause.

“I didn’t lie!” He protested, though he seemed to be having trouble keeping eye contact with her. “I told you I wanted to take you somewhere fun. This is fun!”

“It’s schoolwork Midori.” she put on her best pout, a technique which had improved dramatically since they had started dating. He was a sucker for a good pout, and if you used puppy dog eyes as well, it was a surefire way to get what you wanted.

“I know, but if we get it done now, we won’t have to worry about it later.” He was holding surprisingly firm under her gaze, only shifting a little bit as he spoke.

She held out for a long moment, but eventually she was the one that cracked first. “Fiiiiine. But I’m holding you to your word. You’re taking me out somewhere fun after this.”

He smiled at that. “Ok. We’ll go anywhere you want.”

She shook her head. “Nuh uh. You don’t get out of it that easy. I came here to be wooed, only to be bait and switched. You’ve got to earn your way back into my good graces, and that starts with coming up with somewhere nice to take me.”

At that, Izuku began to resemble the boy she remembered from their first year at UA. The ball of perpetually frightened energy who couldn’t keep himself from muttering about Heroes every few minutes. She’d almost forgotten how cute he could be when he was off balance like this. These days he seemed like he could take anyone on without even flinching, and the smile he always wore reminded her enough of All Might that she had started to give Todoroki’s crackpot theories some real consideration.

His muttering now a soothing background noise, Mina pulled her boyfriend into the bookstore.

---

The pair had headed straight into the workbook section, competing with several other students for precious space and even more precious deals.

Izuku proved surprisingly adept at claiming space among the crowd. He didn’t really fight for space so much as slip through the gaps between people, pulling Mina along behind him. When she asked he claimed he had learned from watching his mother navigate sales at the grocery store which he would only describe as ‘cut throat’.

She could tell he was taking their task seriously, as he didn’t even notice the amount of attention they were getting from the other patrons. The crowd had quickly clocked the presence of UA students, and from there it was only a quick jump to recognizing UA’s rising power couple.

Mina was a little embarrassed by the whole situation. Some enterprising reporter (read nosey snitch) had snuck into the back halls during their second sports festival. They had caught a picture of her and Izuku cuddling between matches, and ran a story about ‘Love Blooming on the Battlefield’. With her and Izuku both placing in the top five for the festival, people had quickly started to call them a power couple, and comparing them to UA’s previous big three.

It was odd to think that she now possessed a following. Sure, it was a select following but it was still a strange experience. She’d even had someone come up and ask for her autograph the other day. It really made the fact that she was a hero feel real to her.

At least they were being left alone. There were whispers, and more than a few intrigued looks thrown their way, but no one tried to disturb them. Mina wasn’t sure if it was due to respect for their status, not wanting to miss a workbook they were looking for, or if they were intimidated by Izuku’s intense focus as he hunted for whatever it was he was searching for.

No matter the reason, Mina took the opportunity to browse with Izuku. Much as she was loath to admit it, having the extra books would be useful for their studying, something she knew Izuku would manage to corral her into at some point this summer. Resigned to her fate, she rolled up her sleeves and got to searching.

---

It still amazed her how astute Izuku could be. Every workbook he grabbed was for a subject she was struggling with, or had scored poorly on in their last exam. She hadn't even discussed the exam with him, too disappointed in her own performance. Sure, a C was better than she had been doing at the start of the year, some would even call it a great improvement. It just didn’t feel like one when compared to the rest of the class. With three perfect scores, one by Izuku himself, and several more As, it just left her feeling like she was falling behind with every step.

She’d tried he best, she really had. But in the end the concepts refused to stick in her head no matter how much she studied.

She sighed as she hefted a math workbook up and glared at the cover. It was so frustrating to be praised for her excellent combat skills, only to be lambasted week after week over something she just couldn’t seem to master.

She looked up as Izuku squeezed her hand absentmindedly, while he debated the value of two texts of his own. Even so deep in his own head, his muttering going full bore, a part of him was still making sure she was okay.

It warmed her heart in a way she couldn't even begin to describe. She returned the squeeze and cuddled closer to him. It was hard to be sad with his warmth leaking into her.

---

“I-I’m sorry it’s not much.” Izuku apologized. I couldn’t think of anywhere else to go.”

They were in a cafe just off Mustafu’s main shopping street. It was a cozy place, run by a small family who were more concerned with making sure their customers were satisfied than with making a profit. Entering the business felt like stepping into the home of a long lost relative. A few patrons waited in line, and more were seated at tables around the cafe, but it didn’t seem crowded in the slightest.

“It’s perfect Midori.” Mina said.

It really was too. Mina had heard about this place from Uraraka a few weeks ago. Apparently the pink cheeked girl had stumbled across it during one of her patrols with Ryuku. Since then, she had been singing the praises of the cafe, calling it a hidden gem of Mustafu.

Mina was inclined to agree. The menu was smaller than most of the popular cafes that she had been to, but it felt like it was curated rather than limited. Each of them had a cute name, and a small little blurb about how it could help your mood. Ever since she had heard Uraraka mention it, she had wanted to come here.

She just didn’t remember telling Izuku about it.

“But...how did you know I wanted to come here?” She asked, confused.

“You were talking about how you wanted to go here with Uraraka the other day, weren’t you?” It was more of a question than an answer.

She cast her mind back to the conversation in question. They’d been chatting in the common room, taking a break from homework to have a quick snack. Izuku had been there of course, he’d been helping her study since before they had even started officially dating, but she was sure he hadn’t been paying attention. He’d been in one of his muttering fits, focused on creating a new super move.

Now that she thought about it, this wasn’t the first time he’d known something about her without her having to state it. For instance, the time he’d shown up with flowers for her mother’s birthday even though she’d only told Toru about it. Or when he’d switched to buying her cherry sparkling water instead of lemon when she got tired of the flavor.

But it wasn’t for everything. When they were planning a surprise party for Todoroki, Izuku had come close to forgetting about it, despite being there for the planning meeting.

And then it hit her. The thread connecting his random fact acquisition was her. It was like some part of his mind was paying attention to what she was saying, or even just thinking about, despite the other 90% being occupied.

It was only just a theory, but now she wanted to test it.

“Midori, do you know what my favorite movie is?”

The sudden shift in topic seemed to take him by surprise, but he recovered quickly. “Umm, The Princess Bride, right?”

It was absolutely right. She considered it a guilty pleasure, and most definitely hadn’t watched it with anyone from UA. After all, she had a reputation as the dorm’s number one horror buff to maintain.

It was...odd to realize that he knew her so well without even seeming to try. She knew plenty of stuff about her boyfriend of course, but it was different with Izuku. He wore his heart on his sleeve in so many ways. It was easy to tell what he liked, from his favorite hero to his favorite foods. Even his more subtle tastes were obvious when you looked, though not everyone seemed to be able to take the hints. Just a few weeks before, Kirishima had dragged Izuku to a raunchy comedy with the rest of the guys in the class. She wasn’t sure exactly what he saw, but Izuku had looked vaguely traumatized by the experience.

He was easy to please, always happy to help or to listen to her talk, completely able to entertain himself if she left him alone, and an all around sweety. He would be the most low maintenance boyfriend in the world, if it weren’t for his insistence on self sacrifice.

She was pulled from her musings when they reached the front of the line. She had already made her choice when she had first seen the menu, but Izuku had waffled for a while. When he finally chose his drink, it was all she could do to hold back a snort. The woman who took their order seemed surprised, but after looking him over, she nodded once and punched the request in.

The “Little Hero” was clearly meant for children, a chocolaty affair with a generous helping of whipped cream on the top. When Izuku finally laid eyes on his drink, his brow scrunched up in confusion, and Mina finally lost it, cackling softly at her boyfriend’s misstep.

Izuku did his best imitation of a strawberry while he meekly accepted his drink and made a beeline for the table they had picked out and Mina followed him, still recovering from her bout of mirth.

The seats they had managed to get were hidden slightly from the rest of the cafe by a large potted plant. Mina appreciated the bit of privacy that it afforded them. She didn’t really care about being watched, but she did enjoy having a bit more alone time with her boyfriend.

“Enjoying your drink?” She teased as he took a tentative sip. The barista had really gone all out, adding chocolate shavings as well as sprinkles and a stick of cinnamon to the top of what Mina was sure was an unhealthy amount of whipped cream. Her own drink was fairly simple by comparison. An Iced coffee with some cinnamon to give it some extra flavoring, with a small heart drawn in the cream for her, which was a nice little touch.

“It...it’s pretty good.” Izuku said timidly, eyes firmly fixed on the table in front of him.

“Apparently!” She said with a chuckle. When he lifted his head up to look at her, she could see that a bit of whipped cream had lodged itself at the end of his nose. Combined with the confused and slightly embarrassed look on his face, it made for an insanely cute picture. Mina was half tempted to whip out her phone to commemorate the moment, but decided against it.

Instead she reached across the table and deftly wiped the offending spot away. Then on a whim, she took a moment to run her thumb along his cheek.

Izuku relaxed into her touch, his eyes closing as he sighed in contentment.

Mina felt her heart skip a beat. She was sure in that moment that she was the luckiest girl in the world. Izuku was beyond strong, incredibly smart, and so dedicated she was sure he would crawl through hell on bloody hands and knees if it meant saving someone in trouble. And here he was, melting like putty in her hands simply because he enjoyed being around her.

It made her feel truly special.

They didn’t get any studying done that day, much to Izuku’s chagrin. Instead, they spent the day wandering Mustafu to see if they could find any other hidden gems like the cafe. It wasn’t a productive day, but it was a pleasant one. A day spent in easy company was just what the pair had needed after the stress of UA. And at the end of the day, they were both perfectly content to fall asleep in the arms of the one person in the world who could read them like a book.

#izumina #mha #my hero academia #mina ashido #fluff #midoriya izuku #slice of life #fanfiction #dekumina #minadeku #mha fanfiction #bnha #bnha fanfiction

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nobodysuspectsthebutterfly · 6 years

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GRRM’s Chekhov’s guns - how can we tell what they are?

yeyaboya asked:

I love the way you analyze ASOIAF and its mysteries and how you made me enjoy them even more by revealing the “Chekhov’s guns”. The last list you made is amazing! I hope this question doesn’t bother you but how can we be sure that some minor mysteries are Chekhov’s guns and not just worldbuilding? Is there something as a literary rule to distinguish them? After all, not every story needs to be told in the books and some things may work better if left open…

Thanks so much! Regarding GRRM’s Chekhov’s guns, the most important thing to remember is where the term came from:

Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there. –Anton Chekhov

That principle can be understood in several ways: 1) if you intend to have something happen later in the story, you should set it up earlier in the story; and 2) if you mention a significant object or other element, it must be important to the plot, otherwise you shouldn’t mention it.

Therefore, deciding whether something is a Chekhov’s gun (for a plot point that hasn’t happened yet) is very similar to deciding whether something is foreshadowing (for a plot point that hasn’t happened yet). If you want to do literary analysis properly, you can’t look at an unfinished work and say definitely that things are foreshadowing or Chekhov’s guns – you need to wait until the work is complete, otherwise you’re only guessing. Sometimes you can guess in a way that turns out to have been pretty accurate, but sometimes the author was not going where you thought he was, sometimes the object was not significant at all, and you end up being just plain wrong.*

*(To step away from ASOIAF, consider the Harry Potter series: some thought that Neville’s parents giving him bubble gum wrappers was a Chekhov’s gun, and built theories about what the letters on the wrappers signified. Others thought that Lily Potter having been skilled at potions and charms was significant foreshadowing for Harry discovering that a potion or charm was needed to defeat Voldemort. Still others believed Harry and Hermione’s flight on the hippogriff was foreshadowing for their future romance, based on alchemical symbolism. While there were many arguments about the validity of these speculative Chekhov’s guns and foreshadowing during the time the story was unfinished, by the end they all turned out to be extremely wrong.)

However, even in an incomplete work, you can analyze pieces of foreshadowing where the thing they foreshadowed happened already, because there you can be definite. For example, the stag killing the mother direwolf, which foreshadowed conflict between the Starks and Baratheons, or all the visions and such foreshadowing the Red Wedding. (Sandor’s “maybe we’ll even be in time for your uncle’s bloody wedding” also counts as foreshadowing, though GRRM was extremely unsubtle by that point. Not that the visions were especially subtle, not at all.) To shift that to Chekhov’s guns (which are often but not always physical objects): for example, at the end of ACOK when Dontos gave Sansa the black amethyst hairnet, that was GRRM hanging the gun upon the wall (and we knew it was a gun because we had been told that strangler crystals looked like dark amethysts at the start of ACOK) – and then the gun was fired in ASOS at Joffrey’s wedding, with one of the “amethysts” in the hairnet used to poison his wine.

Another baseline to check the significance of potential Chekhov’s guns is GRRM’s own words regarding the direwolf Nymeria and her pack of wolves, where he stated that “you don’t hang a giant wolf pack on the wall unless you intend to use it.” He explicitly referred to them as a Chekhov’s gun – and we can see by the many times that Nymeria and the wolfpack have been mentioned in the story, ranging from frightening lords and peasants in the Riverlands, to killing the Brave Companions chasing Arya and her friends, to dragging Catelyn’s body from the river, to being a focus of Arya’s wolf dreams allowing her to keep her identity despite the Faceless Men’s attempts to make her “no one” (again even in TWOW), that GRRM considers them a very important and significant gun that will go off hard. What exact role they’ll play in endgame, we don’t know yet, but it is definite that they will have one.

Therefore we can consider things that have been referred to often, whose ultimate purpose is mysterious or as yet unknown, to be very probable Chekhov’s guns. Valyrian steel, for example, has been hinted to be one of the few things that can destroy the Others – therefore Valyrian steel swords are definite “guns” (Chekhov’s swords?), even specific swords that have not been mentioned much. (Widow’s Wail, not mentioned since Joffrey’s death, but in the Red Keep waiting for Tommen to grow up; the Targaryen swords Blackfyre and Dark Sister, as yet unnamed within the main books but significant within D&E/TWOIAF/F&B; and so on.) The powers of the Wall to repel the Others and focus or block magic have also been referred to often, therefore it seems very likely that the “gun” in this case is the fall of the Wall via the Horn of Joramun, allowing the Others into Westeros to raise the dead and begin the new Long Night. Jaime described how Aerys and his pyromancers planted thousands of jars of wildfire within King’s Landing, even in the cellars of the Red Keep – and while Tyrion and his pyromancers found many of those jars while preparing for the Battle of the Blackwater, significantly they did not discover the ones within the castle – so it seems probable that Aerys’s “fruits” are a huge Chekhov’s gun that’s not just going to be fired, it’s going to explode. It’s technically possible that this might not be a gun; it could be that the Blackwater was all the plot that the wildfire jars were needed for… but at this moment (especially with wildfire playing a major role in a KL explosion in the show), I’d take any bet.

And as for certain major or minor mysteries (Jon’s parentage, Ashara’s suicide, Tyrek’s disappearance, Benjen’s disappearance, Jaqen’s actions, Patchface, the many prophecies, etc, etc), whether they can be defined as a “Chekhov’s gun” or not… it’s kind of a matter of semantics. However, GRRM is definitely following Chekhov’s principle here, in that he is establishing these plot elements within the story, “hanging them on the wall”, so that when they are resolved or become relevant later, it won’t come out of nowhere. (Note GRRM has said he avoids looking at fan theories in case they’re right, because then he might be tempted to change things up to surprise people – but if it were a surprise, then it wouldn’t be based on the work he’s done that led people to figure things out in advance, which would be bad writing.) Also, we know that these plot elements are significant, otherwise he wouldn’t be mentioning them.

That leads to your question about worldbuilding, and whether elements of ASOIAF worldbuilding can be considered a Chekhov’s gun or if they’re just “flavor text” to give depth to the world of ASOIAF. And the answer is… it depends. Worldbuilding like the cannibals of Skagos seems like it will become very relevant to future events, as Rickon is on Skagos and Davos is heading there in order to bring him home. The mystery of Hardhome is another element of worldbuilding that may become relevant, if Jon needs to rescue the Night’s Watchmen and wildlings there. The mysteries of Asshai… alas, GRRM has said nobody’s going to Asshai, but it will still be significant through the people who have been there. The Deep Ones, the black stone, all that weirdness from TWOIAF – as they appear to be relevant to the ironborn and to the Hightower at Oldtown, as there will soon be a huge confluence of ironborn at Oldtown with whatever weird magical ritual Euron’s planning – well, that seems like a pretty big potential Chekhov’s gun to me. The demon roads of Valyria and the monsters of Mantarys might just be worldbuilding… or they might be relevant when Dany (probably) travels to Volantis.

But the mystery of whether the dragon Vermax laid a clutch of eggs by the hot springs of Winterfell? While that’s briefly hinted to in TWOIAF, that rumor is noted as being extremely dubious within the text, and nothing within ASOIAF itself has referred to the story. Not even any tales by Old Nan, who you’d think would mention it if anyone would. Though it’s possible that it will be related as one of her tales in TWOW (and the TWOIAF-only thing is just ‘cos GRRM’s so late with that book), and the crypts of Winterfell are surely significant for many reasons (Jon’s parentage, secret passages, the mystery of why the statues have swords, what might happen when the Others make the dead rise). So there could be a Chekhov’s gun involved here… or maybe not.

And there’s also the fact that GRRM doesn’t always follow Chekhov’s principle. Besides him being a gardener-writer and not an architect-writer, not everything he writes in detail is significant to the plot of the story. Sometimes he just wants to show the grim-n-grittiness of the world, therefore the constant mentions of pee. Sometimes he’s just showing the pageantry of the medieval era, or the mysteries of “here be dragons” in lands beyond common knowledge. Sometimes he’s making private jokes, including references to writer friends or fan friends or comic books or Harry Potter or the Three Stooges. Sometimes GRRM just wants to describe amazing food, because he loves food. Though once in a rare while, food actually is relevant to the plot. ;)

So, the question of whether something’s a Chekhov’s gun or not, and how you can distinguish a mystery that’s intended to stay a open mystery, from one that will be resolved and/or significant to the events of the story? Well, for things that haven’t come to a conclusion yet… you can do your best at guessing, but honestly, you can’t know. The proof is in the pudding. When the story’s over, we’ll know. Even if you take lots of English classes, even if you study classics of literature and fantasy, even if you read GRRM’s favorite books, even if you read other GRRM works and try to figure out his patterns, you may have become a better educated guesser, but it’s still no guarantee. I’m sorry, that’s just the way it is. In the end, some fans who tried to make predictions will be right and some will be wrong and many will have never even guessed where GRRM was going; some things we thought were Chekhov’s guns or foreshadowing won’t be; and some things we’ll go back and see that GRRM had been laying the groundwork all along and we never noticed. (Though it’s a big fandom, I’d bet at least someone would have noticed.)

And really, I think the possibilities of being wrong, the possibilities of being not quite right – that’s half the fun of writing about this series. If we figured out everything that was going to happen before it did, what would be the point of reading, after all? Though if it turns out you did figure things out correctly… you can be glad you did. :)

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anotherererifanshippingcorner · 6 years

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#2 Wonders of the unknown (Damaged) pt. 1 - for Eren/Levi Angst Weekend

There’s a story behind the monster under the cut, I swear. It was supposed to be a cute, little thing a couple of pages long, angst as the event required, about goodbyes and whatnot. But it became a novel. Jocking. When I finished, it was 10k long, so something needed to be done about that. That’s why this is going to be a short story in two parts, the first for today’s theme and the second one tomorrow. Something possesed me and I felt very inspired. Not sure what came out of it, though, and I’d love to have some opinion! If some part sounds awkward, I think it’s due to the fact that English in not my native language and I’m still trying to understand how to wrap my head around my thoughts and try using them in my writing. That’s it, I’ll shut up.

Title: Wonders of the unknown Prompt: Damaged for #ereriangstweekend by @ererievents Rating: Mature Fandom: Shingeki no Kyojin Pairing: Eren Jaeger/Levi Ackerman Word count: 4.8k Additional tags: Alternative Universe - Dystopia (sort of), Soulmates AU, Angst, Bits of smut, Fluff Summary: In this world, everyone has a soulmate, but it hasn’t always been easy to find them -not like now. Years of scientific progress helped the world organize and engulf the functioning of the Red Thread of Fate into the system, so that no one would fear not meeting their destined one ever again. Levi Ackerman is finally twenty, and the Red Ceremony -where young men and women meet their soulmates for the first time- is close. Or is it really?

Read under the cut or on ao3

*** Levi…

Blinking sleep away from his eyes, the world started to fall into place as his consciousness came back.

Spots of light danced in his vision, and a dull ache was spreading into his head, giving him a hard time when he tried to focus on his surroundings.

There wasn’t that much anyway -the clothes of the previous day neatly folded and placed on his chair, desk almost empty, simply organized with things that could easily come in handy, wardrobe closed in front of the bed, his phone on the nightstand, flashing lightly with an incoming call.

Oh. Maybe that was what woke him up. If the caller knew Levi, they were not very smart.

«What» was all he said to the one at the other end of the phone. It was risky -could have been the higher ups or his boss, but something told him it was a certain someone, far more annoying and less dangerous for his working life. More or less.

«Don’t tell me you were still in bed!» a girl’s voice yelled, Levi’s hand snapping away the device from his throbbing ear drum.

There. Of course.

«I was waking up rather peacefully before you called just to screech in my ears»

He could perfectly picture Hanji’s eye rolling back into her head.

«I’m just being the awesome friend I am. So? Ready for the Ceremony?»

«What are you blabbing about, shitty-»

«THE RED Ceremony, you grumpy ass! Come down right now before I barge into your quarters and drag you out!»

The call disconnected, and Levi was left staring at his phone’s display blinking at him and going black, trying to give a bit of needed order to the thoughts in his head.

The Red Ceremony. Right. How come did he forget about it? Was it today?

Checking out on his phone not only told him that yes, today was the day, but also that he was awfully late for that meeting he agreed to go when Hanji asked him to.

Hanji probably called him for that -wondering what was keeping him, since usually he wasn’t the kind of person to lose track of time so easily. Why was he asleep so early in the afternoon, anyway?

Scrolling his head, trying to dissipate the fog of sleepiness, he shifted the comforter and padded toward the bathroom, urging his body into getting ready for the day.

A shower was exactly what he needed, hot water brushing his skin in a warm caress that took away every trace of sweat and restlessness. He frowned, scratching at his scalp and his hair, getting rid of any trace of shampoo left.

That strange feeling, as if he had been misplaced somehow while he was sleeping, was still lingering. Either he had gotten drunk without remembering, or he had a very disturbing dream that faded away from his memory, making him feel as if something in the back of his head was tumbling against his skull. Levi was far from being squeamish, so he didn’t have a clue of what could have happened that left him this bothered with him remembering.

Who knew.

Getting out of the shower and going on with his morning routine, Levi brushed his teeth after looking for his toothbrush and combed his hair after drying them up, then went to turn on the coffee machine, moving back to his room to choose his outfit -black boots, black tight-fitting jeans, white button down, pretty simple- and retrieve his phone, feeling like a ghost in his own home. Has it always been that quiet?

In the kitchen, the coffee machine was already gifting him with the flavor of his morning drink. Levi closed his eyes and inhaled, filling his lungs with the familiar scent, then took the cup he placed in the machine and lifted it to his mouth by the edge.

It hit him at the first sip that something was strange.

The cup was already there -he always prepared it before going to bed so that it was easier for him when he was half asleep-, but it wasn’t his own. There weren’t cups with handles in his house, since he didn’t like using them, and when he rarely had people over, they settled for what he had.

But that? White, with a little cactus and a comic-like bubble within which the text Stay away from me! was imprinted -that was nothing short of his own possession.

He took a deep breath.

He emptied the cup and put it in the sink, leaving it to wash for later.

Heading to the entrance, he put on his coat, grabbed his wallet and house keys and got out of the apartment.

The Red Ceremony was this sorting thing everyone had to face in their lives.

Just once, though, since the SP (short for Soulmates Program), working along with the Caste system, assembled all the young individual of the society in their twenties or above in order to officialize or present them their other halves.

It was a really boring and fancy way, administrated by the government of Sina, to regulate the Red Thread Bond that occurred between people when they met their destined mate.

The red string around one’s right little finger has always been the proof that somewhere, out there, that person’s perfect other half existed. But meeting, as much as it was decided by fate, wasn’t always certain or secure, and many lived in restlessness and fear, increasing the discontent in the world.

In the city of Sina, the Soulmates Project was born precisely to look for a solution and heighten the chance of finding mated pairs within their first 30-40 years of life.

They found out that the red string released some sort of chemical factor in the blood around the twentieth year of a person’s life, and that it was possible to scientifically find a match in just one other person. It hadn’t always been a quick method, nor perfect, since both mates in the pair had to be twenty to show the chemical factor, not mentioning the fact that there wasn’t often the guarantee that both were even in the same city.

But now that the SP had spread to the rest of the world, it became a problem of the past.

After months of success, when it became clear that the program was working and ready to grow into a stable part of people’s life, the Ceremony of the Red Thread of Fate, or how it was now known as Red Ceremony, was established.

That was why Levi and Hanji were heading toward The Hall, the only building big and dignified enough to host the event in the whole Sina.

Many of their friends and those of their own age, who eagerly entered the double door of The Hall for the first time looking around in wonder, were already there, chatting friendly or pointing at the huge mirrors in the main corridor or at the beautiful crystal chandelier.

Some of them where too nervous to look around in hope to meet the eyes of their mate, others, bolder, didn’t shy away from the groups of boys and girls that came there from different cities.

A few, like Hanji, had already met their mate months prior and where there only to support their friends.

«Moblit!»

She left his said, jumping in the arms of a young man a couple of steps farther from them, in a corner of one of the many rooms that this place had where the rest of their friends were.

«Ehi Levi! Are you nervous for today?»

Levi turned his head to look at Petra, whose smile was knowing and open. She was aware of his hate for fancy things like that, so it wasn’t really a question that needed his answer.

But it made him think.

Rolling his eyes into his head and ignoring her laugh, Levi thought about how under the weather he felt when that should have been one of the most crucial moments of his life.

Somehow, he had forgot of the Red Ceremony, filtering it as something of the past.

Somehow, it kept eluding him -the reason why that day should be important to him.

There is a high chance you’ll find your match today, if they’re already twenty. You should be at least curious.

But it didn’t feel like it, and Levi didn’t know how to explain the void in his heart.

The afternoon was full of his friends smiles and nervous glance, wondering how and where and if.

«Don’t you feel like you belong right here, right now?» Hanji had beamed with enthusiasm at one point.

No, he wanted to say. No, I feel like I need to run away. Run away as fast as possible, where I really need to be. If only he knew where that was.

When the Ceremony begun, those who came from other cities where called following their mates’ position in society. Since Sina was organized according to the Caste System, the richer and more powerful people in the city had the honor to represent the entire event and show off their sons and daughters to the society, presenting them as their heirs.

Being called to Sina and have a mate there was a privilege for those from other cities, since it was where the SP and the Red Ceremony first made their appearance.

It was all about money, wealth and what one’s position in the Caste system was, and it did nothing but deprive the moment of all of its deep and sacred meaning.

Fancy and ridiculous as fuck, had always thought Levi.

While he watched, something occurred to him.

Or to be more specific, a small set of shivers danced in his mind, playing with the outskirt of his field of vision, making him turn his head toward the corner of the room.

Odd. That was odd, akin to when he ate something cold and got brain freeze for that, only in the opposing sense, more as if that same part was thawing out slowly.

He had been there before plenty of times, for his friends’ Ceremonies, of course, but when a sudden, crushing sense of déjà vu made his head spin, he had to move a little bit away from the crowd and lean against the wall, looking around, searching for-

a similar room, a bit smaller, casted in the twilight’s light. There were many people -parents, siblings, friends-, loud and happy, none of his friends in sight. He moved to a corner of the room, distancing himself, and there he stood. A man, with broad shoulders and brown hairs under a winter hat, silently gazing at his hand, playing with his sunglasses with the other. Levi hadn’t looked down, ignoring the way his string glowed red and twirled happily. He had been moving a couple of steps forward, enraptured, inhaling rasping breathes, when the stranger had finally raised his face. It was blue. And green. And amber. No, it was the three together? Just green? He wasn’t sure, and something deep, deep inside of him needed to understand that. That was all he could think about. The stranger’s mouth parted-

clapping hands roughly took him away from that vision.

His sight fogged a bit, leaving him dizzy for a few seconds.

Around him, everyone was congratulating the first branch of mated pairs of the Ceremony, but Levi was far, far away, immersed in eyes of unspeakable colors.

«Soooo»

Levi looked over, glancing lazily at Hanji on his right.

His confusion must have been clear on his face, because she kept quiet for a moment before saying: «So, how is she?»

«You mean…»

«Nifa, I mean Nifa»

When he didn’t reply, Hanji took a quick look to the rest at the table -they were in a restaurant, Levi noticed suddenly, with their friends chatting animatedly, blinding smiles on their faces. Then, she gave them her back and leaned on Levi.

«Okay, that’s enough. You’ve been out of it for the whole day, getting up late and not even cracking a smile after meeting your soulmate. What’s going on, uh?»

Levi frowned, holding his temple while bits of images rushed in his head -the Ceremony, the red string’s lighting up, Nifa’s smiling face, they exchanging phone numbers and signing their release from the first part of the SP. It felt like something in his brain was fast forwarding the last couple of hours of his life -as if he hadn’t been there at all and someone was replaying those memories for him in his head.

What the hell was happening to him?

His phone -he held it in his hand, when did he took it out?- blinked at him, letting him know that there was a new message, and the name Nifa felt alien and familiar to him at the same time.

«I don’t know. Nothing, really. Just… it’s a lot to take in»

Hanji kept scrutinizing him, like she was having a hard time believing him.

«You know you can’t fool me, shorty»

«Don’t call me shorty»

«I only speak the truth»

The truth is that they will reject the fact that we are meant to be.

Shivers, and the voice of a man.

His right hand was trembling.

«Levi?»

He got up from the chair, attracting everyone’s attention at the table.

«I think I’m going home. I’m tired»

When the door closed behind him, he was more or less calm. The brisk, cool air of that evening -January had given them a little break from the snow, allowing bits of relative warmth into Sina’s winter- helped him clear up his thoughts and gain control over his nerves, that were rattling against his skin as if they were on fire.

He was fine.

He finally had a soulmate, someone he would get to know -following the protocol, obviously, through dates, holydays and what not, all set up by the final part of the SP. Someone to cherish, who would cherish him, forever.

So why did it feel wrong?

He put his coat, wallet and keys away, going to the living room and throwing the phone on the couch, Nifa’s text still unread. Flashes of something kept trying to break the quietude of his mind.

He took his time in the shower, eyes closed, head tipped back-

You are ticklish? No, it was just your imagination.

His eyelids shut even more, while fits of laughter echoed in his bathroom, a knot of fear tightening in his stomach.

It had seemed simple enough.

Go to The Hall, feign indifference, let Hanji nag you to get the distraction you needed without asking to.

There were so many people surrounding you, experiencing the same kind of feelings you were going through -nothing knew, it was how things worked.

You were nervous, just didn’t like feeling it or admitting it aloud.

Many rooms were already full, especially the main ones, where those of the highest Caste were waiting for the Ceremony to begin.

You and your friend went to the section of the building were those of your Caste belonged to -less fancy, but nothing short of elegant and sparkling.

You didn’t want to look at your hand. You wanted to search them for yourself, looking around, keeping your heartbeat at bay as long as you could. So you separated from your friends, told them you wanted to walk a bit, alone, and they let you.

Soon, the crowd started giving you this suffocating feeling, as if you were going to drown here and there. You went to a corner of the room, distancing yourself, when suddenly something shot within you. Your eyes moved frantically around, checking, inspecting, exploring, and oh!, there he stood.

A man, with broad shoulders and brown hair under a winter hat, silently gazing at his hand, playing with his sunglasses with the other with a distant expression on his face.

You hadn’t looked down, had ignored the way your string glowed red and twirled happily. You had been moving a couple of steps forward, enraptured, inhaling rasping breathes, when the stranger had finally raised his face.

It was blue. And green. And amber.

No, it was the three together? Just green? You weren’t sure, and something deep, deep inside of you needed to understand that.

That was all you could think about.

The stranger’s mouth parted, and you both moved without even realizing it.

«It’s you»

There was wonder and surprise in the man’s eyes, as if he had never seen something quite like you. It wasn’t hard for you to understand the feeling -you felt the same way.

He was beautiful.

Exotic eyes, honey skin, chiseled features, long hair of a chocolate color that had your mouth watering just with a look. He seemed fit under his clothes, your hands trembling because you were restraining them from raising and touching him.

He was perfect, and handsome, and he was your mate.

It was too good to be true.

«My name is Eren» the stranger said, not bothering to bring up his hands and waiting patiently for you to do the same and take his.

He leaned in, lifting his arm and taking a hold of your fingers, gently intertwining them with his own and pulling you closer.

Your heart almost burst out from your ribcage, lungs frozen, breath trapped in your throat.

Somehow, that reaction made the man -Eren, you know his name, now, you told yourself giddily- laugh a little, and he had to remind you to inhale before you lost your consciousness.

«Sorry, I…»

«It’s okay, Levi»

Something shifted in you -his voice gave you chills, the good ones, and how good your name sounded on his lips-

«How- how do you know my name?»

A cloud appeared in his eyes, dulling the light that had been lighting them up from the moment he saw you.

«It’s complicated, maybe as much as what I’m going to have to ask you to do»

The giddy, happy feeling that had filled you until that instant was starting to fade.

«What do you mean?»

What was going on? Well, you couldn’t have known.

Not back then.

«I know it’ll sound strange, but I need you to come with me»

«Uh…?»

«Please. I’ll explain later, but we need to get away from here»

Confusing thoughts swirled into your mind.

«What are you talking about? The Ceremony-»

«It’s not what you think it is»

There was something in his eyes -something that was burning from within, that warmed its way into you, leaving you without words. This person, this stranger -your mate, the one who was destined to you, the man on the other side of your red string, string that was sparling in a bright, deep red color when you looked down at it.

«Please»

You raised your head again.

The Ceremony had always sounded ridiculous to you, and you hated the emotion that reminded you how you were part of the very same system -hated feeling restless and impatient because you couldn’t wait for it to be your turn.

And now, now that you had finally found him, there wasn’t really much to do. You would listen to what he had to say, and deal with the consequences.

«Alright, lead the way»

Days passed, before things started making sense.

When the tea was ready, he set his cup on the small table in front of his couch, a book on his lap, and got comfortable.

You’re so small, I love having you all snuggled against me. Say that again and I’m going to castrate you. Eh, your loss, Levi.

He fisted his hair, ignoring his book sliding down on the floor, and pulled hard. Since the Ceremony, images kept flashing in his head without giving him a break. He tried to shove them down, to behave as if they weren’t there, stuck in his brain, torturing him with that sweet, sickening feeling of something missing, something precious and beautiful and relaxing and exciting -someone, who was not there, and it was wrong.

You’ll forget. No. There’s no way I’ll forget this.

An intense wave of pleasure wracked him, leaving him panting for air of the cushions, eyes wide open.

Levi! Yes, keep calling my name, because I’ll always remember yours, E-

His head was throbbing painfully now, in total contrast with the way his dick begged for attention, the two different kind of stimulations cursing through him and rendering him useless. It hurt and it was good and Levi didn’t know what he was feeling anymore -if the lust filling feeling his body was giving him or the stabbing pain in his head.

God, don’t stop- Levi- Keep fucking me, harder- go faster-

He was going crazy, for sure, but the pleasure he was feeling -it was his own, had his dick hard and leaking, his hand reaching down into his pants while his brain seemed to settle for a dull throb, distant in his lust induced haze.

Levi was riding someone, and that someone was screaming his name. Ghost hands gripped his hips tightly, and he closed his eyes, getting lost in the sensation.

Shit- Levi, I’m- Yes, yes, yes, come inside me.

His fist was already moving on his length, taking advantage of the pre-cum that kept running down on his hand. Only, it wasn’t his hand anymore, but his.

Tears started streaming down his cheeks and with a few more thrusts he came, much sooner that any other time before, spilling on his abs and shirt. For once, he didn’t care much.

The back of his head touched the cushions again. He put a hand on his mouth, trying to rein in his sobs, but a name slipped out of his lips like a prayer.

«Eren…»

The two of you didn’t meet any of your friends on the way out, and a part of you was glade for that.

The other was asking you what you thought you were accomplishing by running away.

You had always been fairly grounded, realist and pragmatic, but that wasn’t anything like the usual you.

But Eren’s hand was still linked to yours, so tightly that it seemed to reciprocate the similar grasp that he had on your heart since the moment you saw him.

An enchantment you hope would last forever.

He maneuvered you out of the crowd of people infesting the corridors and out of The Hall altogether, slipping into a side road almost immediately. There, a motorbike was waiting for you.

And that made you finally hesitate. It was one thing going out and talking, but this…

A click sounded in the air. When you looked closely to what Eren had in his hands, your body froze in growing fear.

«That’s-»

«A gun» Eren said, nodding when he made sure the safety was on and passing it to you.

«For you. We may be soulmates, but I know that what I’m ask you is not easy. Besides, we’re still strangers. After you hear me out, I’ll go away, if that’s what you want. That» he said, pointing at the weapon now within your reach, «is your assurance. The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but if in any moment you think I’m going to, then shoot me»

You took it, something in you relaxing, knowing that with the gun you could get the upper hand quickly if something went wrong. But it was also a double-edged sword, since it made you trust him a little more.

«I take it you know how to use it»

His tone seemed smug, knowing, and you observed him while he took out two helmets, extending one to you.

You reached back, tucking the gun in the jeans on your back, hiding it under your coat. Then, cautious but swift, you took the helmet and placed it on your head.

«I like shooting. But I get the feeling you knew about it, like you knew my name»

The guilty expression that Eren couldn’t manage to hide was an answer enough. You sighed, walking toward him and getting on the bike. Your reluctant acceptance surprised him, if that glint in his eyes and the hesitant smile on his lips was anything to go by.

You felt yourself blush, and hurried him up on the vehicle to avoid him seeing it.

«Let’s go somewhere you’ll feel comfortable»

The motorbike roared to life, and in the next twenty minutes you guided him through Sina’s street, following a familiar pattern of turns and side roads.

Your destination was a little apartment complex in the business district, close to your work office. When Eren, looking around curiously, asked you where exactly you brought him, you told him it was your apartment.

You weren’t sure, but it seemed like Eren felt slightly embarrassed, but you couldn’t be sure, since you both were painted in the colors of sunset. Nevertheless, the thought alone pleased you.

Entering, you invited Eren to take a sit on the couch, announcing you were making tea. He did, taking his coat and hat off, and you went to the kitchen, getting everything ready in the awkward silence.

You joined him in the living room when the tea was ready, asking him about sugar and milk, which he accepted. He talked a bit about him, uncertain, telling you he was twenty-four and that he lived out of town -maybe he wanted to break to ice, to make him appear more normal to your eyes.

Was it working? In that moment you were convinced it wasn’t, but it was. He was truly endearing.

«There»

You placed the tea in his hands, waiting for him to get a good grasp since there was no handle, before taking you own cup and sitting on the other side of the couch, leaving space between you and him. You placed the gun beside you, on the other side compared to where Eren sat, and felt relieved.

«That’s… a curious way a holding it»

You finished taking your sip, calmly, scrutinizing him and the tight hold with which his hand clutched at the cup.

«You should buy one with a handle, you know? I have one with a cactus on it, exclaiming “Stay away from me!”. It reminds me of you, if you want it I’ll give it to you as a present»

You hated it every time your friends brought it up, but now you couldn’t help. You laughed, shaking your head soon after, reminding yourself the seriousness of the situation. But when you glanced at him, he was smiling widely.

You were quick to bring the cup to your lips and drink.

«So» you said, trying to get your control back. «Why did you make me take you here?»

«You don’t beat around the bush, uh?»

«Not usually»

That made you gain a very charming smile, with dimples and all, that complete with the wild chocolate nest on Eren’s head gave him a childish appearance.

«The reason is fairly simple» he started, slowly becoming serious.

«I wanted to meet you, and keep you safe»

Okay, you expected it to be a rather strange talk, but he had yet to explain everything and you already felt like it didn’t make sense.

You told yourself to keep your cool and rein your impatience.

«I am a ghost» he kept going, dropping his eyes from yours and sipping his tea.

«I don’t exist in any of the Sina’s database, I am not in the SP, I am not a citizen for the government. That’s because when I was born, my parents kept my existence a secret. They met at the Red Ceremony, but not as mates for the SP. The program had destined them to other people (told them those were their mates when it was not true), and when they went to seek answers, they were told the SP did not lie, and that they were wrong. Ulterior protests caused them to have their memories wiped»

He stopped for a moment, letting the information he gave you sink slowly. His pause probably was timed and carefully chosen, since the last thing he said had you looking up at him as if you didn’t know if you wanted to call him crazy or kick him out of there.

«They… took your parents’ memories away?»

Eren nodded, testing your response. You sagged back, careful not to spill any tea on the couch.

«You know that sounds-»

«Absurd? I know. I would have struggled believing it too, if I didn’t know for certain that such a technology existed. I just want you to keep listening and then deciding what you want to do, okay? Please»

Please. There went all his logic.

«I already said yes, didn’t I? Go on»

Eren nodded, sipping nervously from his cup.

He didn’t know how much time had passed.

«Hello?»

«Hanji. It’s me»

«I know it’s you, you ass!»

«Can you come over?»

That did the trick. He almost never asked her to come over.

«Give me ten minutes»

#ererievents #ereriangstweekend #my writing #day 2 - damaged #fic: wonder of the unknown #OS #angst #smut #fluff #ereri #riren #snk #soulmates au

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theultimateegghead-blog · 6 years

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Modest Media Game Reviews Spooktober Spectacular! DOOM

Game – DOOM Year of Release – 1993 Developer – id Software Publisher – id Software Rated – pre-dates ESRB, was later rated Mature. Genre – First Person Shooter Platforms – MS DOS, PC, Atari Jaguar, Sega 32X, Super NES, PlayStation, 3DO, Sega Saturn, GBA, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Iphone For all sakes and purposes I am playing the Ps3 BFG port. This means no WAD support.

DOOM is a legendary game that holds an important part in gaming history. It redesigned the shooter genre so much that for quite a few years most FPS were referred to as “DOOM Clones”. With such an astounding legacy I wonder how well the game holds up today? DOOM is nearly 25 years old after all. The question is, has it aged well? Today we are going to be looking at a game that defines a genre and was for a while the king of FPS games. Today we look at the original DOOM. Well, I say original, but I mean the ULTIMATE DOOM, so it includes the 4th episode as well.

Gameplay – DOOM is a classic first person shooter. This game takes place over several episodes that house 9 or so levels each. Each level is littered with items, keys, traps and enemies. Dying results in you restarting the level with only the pistol, and this can be frustrating on later levels. Luckily, you can save to revert this loss, but some might see that as cheating. The game has 7 weapons available to the DOOM guy. The fist, which does next to nothing. A pistol that is the default firearm that does little damage. A shotgun that can deal good damage up close and can even hit far away targets. The shotgun is the main weapon of choice for many players due to its accessibility, range and strength. A chaingun that can chew through large groups of enemies but chugs ammo. A rocket launcher for high damage single shots, but can be extremely dangerous in close quarters. A plasma rifle that shots tons of energy balls that can obliterate foes. Finally, the BFG9000, which can destroy large groups of enemies in a single shot, but needs a lot of ammo to use. Enemies are plentiful, and the number of foes grows with each difficulty level. At the end of each episode a boss is fought. The game has a steady difficulty climb with its levels and enemies. The enemies come in three types of categories. The first is the hitscan enemy, these include the zombie marines and the final boss. Hitscan enemies fire bullets that can instantly hit you if you are in their line of sight. Despite being the most common enemies, the zombies can be dangerous because of this and the final boss can rip you to shreds with its chaingun. The second type is melee enemies. These enemies need to make physical contact to damage you. These include the pink demon, the transparent phantom and the lost soul, getting surrounded by them can result in a game over. Finally, the projectile foe, these enemies can throw or shoot doge-able but damaging projectiles. These include the Imps, Cacodemons, Barons of Hell and the Cyberdemon. These enemies can be encountered in large numbers and in a mixed bunch which can lead to a great challenge, though it can be annoying if they manage to get behind you. Also, don’t even think about going for 100% on nightmare, its not going to happen unless you know this game inside and out. The game is great, but can have some moments that could be consider slightly unfair. Score – 18/20

Graphics – The graphics are good. While DOOM is not the prettiest of games, with the majority of its levels set in drab interiors with grey, brown or rusty green walls. Some levels have special moving walls that add to the atmosphere. Some levels have liquids such as water, acid, lava and blood to further spice up the levels. The games sprites are the shining light of the game. All the enemies are iconic and beautifully animated for the time. Projectiles fly through the air and tons of enemies can appear on screen at once with little to no slow down. This game overall looks great. Score – 9/10

Story – The game was originally 3 episodes long, with a 4th episode added a couple years later. The game starts in a military base on one of Mars’ moons and eventually leads to hell itself. Each episode ends with a text wall that introduces the next episode. The four episodes are Knee Deep in the Dead, The Shores of Hell, Inferno and Thy Flesh Consumes. The first three tell a linear story with the fourth being a sort of pseudo sequel. While the story does not overly effect gameplay, it gives tells about the environment and the world. The world map shows which facility, or twisted palace of hell, that the Doom Guy is currently in. Each level also has a name to further build the lore. While no expansive lore is given over the course of the game, the story does add a bit of flavor. However, as stated the story doesn’t impact the overall game so it will not be necessary to score. Score – N/A

Replay Value – Decent, it depends on one’s desire for higher completion rates. Almost each level has its own secrets to be discovered. When a level is completed the player is presented with a completion screen. This screen showcases the total percentage of enemies killed, items picked up and secrets discover. While going for 100 percent on everything grants you nothing other than a sense of accomplishment, seeking out the secrets can give you an edge in combat. For example, you can possibly get the rocket launcher or plasma rifle earlier than intended if you find a secret location. Each level also has a par time as well for speed runners. Score – 4/5

Music – The musical score for this game is good. Each level has its own unique theme song, which shifts from rock to more sinister music. The whole entire ost has a very 90s feel to it. The game itself is home to many high-quality sound effects. Most enemies have their own unique sound bits, which means more experienced players can tell what’s around the corner just by the noises. The weapons all have their own sound bit as well. The weapons all sound like they pack a punch and enemies emit death noises upon being destroyed. No complaints here. Score – 5/5

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Overall – A legendary title through and through. This game is awesome and full of iconic items, songs and monsters. There are few flaws to this game, be warned that this is no walk in the park, it can be difficult, it can be frustrating, but it can be conquered. Many modern-day FPS owe their existence partially to DOOM. I would totally recommend this game to anyone old enough to play it. Final score – 9/10 – Amazing

#Modest Media Review #doom #shooter #horror #action #id software #john romero #1993 #pc gaming #classic

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ramajmedia · 5 years

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Remnant: From the Ashes Review - Soulslike Gunslinging Takes Root

Remnant: From the Ashes brings guns and friends to the Soulslike table, and playthroughs remain engaging despite its several flaws and bad tendencies.

Darksiders 3 developer Gunfire Games' Remnant: From the Ashes is the newest Soulslike, introducing high-intensity gunplay and online co-op to the well-trodden genre while still aping a sufficient amount of Dark Souls series elements to fit the trendy criteria. This surefire formula means that combat and exploration are decently rewarding, but the game inherits its antecedents' worst annoyances in the process. Its post-apocalyptic story settles itself somewhere between the dark fantasy of the Souls games and the gritty sci-fi setting of The Surge without borrowing much from either, but its efforts to craft the caliber of universe, lore, and characters that defines the genre cumulatively miss the mark. Luckily, Remnant: From the Ashes's core gameplay loop is engaging and difficult enough to carry both solo and co-op players through to the end of a semi-randomized campaign, but it's a far cry from the infinitely replayable adventure that Gunfire touts.

Setting the stage on an alternate history Earth ravaged by an alien force known as the Root, a hive mind of tree-like lifeforms hellbent on the complete entropic destruction of life across all worlds. Minus the tree thing - which, at the very least, makes for some interesting enemy and world design on Root-infested Earth - Remnant: From the Ashes's story isn't exactly groundbreaking, retreading a tired premise that's been explored to far greater effect by the likes of the original Halo and Mass Effect trilogies. Of course, the Soulslikes' main quests are rarely particularly imaginative or well fleshed-out, so the unoriginal concept deserves a pass here. What moves players from one area to the next is the search for the Founder of Ward 13, the only one who knows how to stop the Root at its source on Earth.

Related: Vicious Circle Review - Messy Multiplayer With Potential

There are many attempts by Gunfire to contrive the mandatory lore that Soulslike fans crave and a few heavy-handed text logs that spell stuff out, but its the search for the Founder - the only one who knows how to stop the Root at its source - that sends players on a circuitous journey across multiple worlds to kill almost everything they meet. Most of the game is a blur of near-constant monster slaughter, and interspersed among protracted combat sections are a few moments where Remnant: From the Ashes's creativity is allowed to shine through. However, none of these moments really pertain to or enhance the main storyline. It's expected that the drama should take a backseat to gameplay, but even the most seasoned and cynical players will likely be surprised at how anticlimactically and abruptly the central plot thread slams the door shut on playthroughs after hyping up the ending over a lengthy course of playtime.

The barebones story's lackluster payoff does sour the final hours of a Remnant: From the Ashes playthrough, but the focal point of the game is obviously combat, which does a more than serviceable job of delivering players from start to finish without descending into monotony. Its emphasized gunplay is punchy and satisfying, and it feels consistently great to stagger rushing enemies with shotgun blasts and devastate harassers at range with precise headshots. Though weapon variety is fairly limited during a significant portion of most initial playthroughs, the six starting guns can be outfitted with a diverse assortment of mods that temporarily alter weapon behavior or grant player abilities after filling a damage meter. Melee combat is also an option, but it's far more situational than in other Soulslikes due to its lack of power and zero stamina usage, relegating it to crowd control and a risky method of ammo conservation.

Although it misses the chance to flip the script on Bloodborne's brilliant fusion of ranged and melee combat, Remnant: From the Ashes isn't shy at all about lifting most of its mechanics and ideas straight out of FromSoftware's other titles. Though most lack the nuance of their inspirations, there are tough-as-nails boss battles (blocked off by fog gates, even), an obligatory stand-in for Estus Flasks, a stamina meter, and a Bonfire-like system of World Crystals and checkpoints that enable fast travel at the cost of global enemy respawns. The prescribed approach is slightly subverted by exchanging risk-reward Souls for permanent experience and Traits, though it's hardly an imaginative change. Its biggest additions are gunplay and online co-op, the latter of which makes the game innately more fun despite seriously killing atmospheric tension and tipping gameplay balance severely in the favor of bosses.

In picking what Souls elements to incorporate, Remnant: From the Ashes chose to take after its forebears' worst habit: padding out boss fights with droves of cheap fodder. Confoundingly, this mistake was entirely avoidable. It was most present in Dark Souls 2 before being addressed in its sequel, meaning Gunfire had five years' worth of hindsight and still actively chose the worse alternative. It's a shame, too, because Remnant: From the Ashes has great boss designs and a few with some truly formidable move sets. Rather than give players a genuine sense of accomplishment after mastering more intimate battles against hulking opponents dangerous in their own right, the game instead over-relies on overwhelming players with frustrating quantities of common enemies. Remnant: From the Ashes's best bosses are those that deploy only a small number of additional elite minions at a time, but these gratifying encounters are too few and far between.

This approach of throwing large waves of enemies at players works a lot better in Remnant: From the Ashes's regular environments, and the difficulty here also scales much better based on player squad size. Mowing down scores of grisly adversaries is the name of the game here, and it's obvious that Gunfire went to great lengths to ensure that the core combat remains engaging dozens of hours in. The act of clearing areas of common enemies in normal ARPG fashion is regularly punctuated by the appearance of elite enemy types that require advanced tactics and greater firepower. These stronger combatants keep players on their toes and contribute to a consistently frenetic experience, and it never fails to spike one's pulse slightly when hearing the distinct warning sound and seeing the sudden Left 4 Dead-like rush of lesser foes that herald their arrival.

That said, this core gameplay loop quickly grows predictable, but that gripe can be attributed more to overly simplistic level layouts than to enemy patterns. Whereas most Soulslikes pride themselves on cleverly funneling players around complex, interconnected areas that build a sense of real place within their worlds, Remnant: From the Ashes instead settles almost exclusively for series of corridors of varying dimension. Coupled with the relative small size of disparate areas within each world, it becomes apparent that the game is so densely populated with hostiles in order to artificially lengthen the amount of time and resources needed to reach the next checkpoint. The feeling of being a monster exterminator is further reinforced by the inclusion of a mini-map that reveals paths as they're navigated. This concession was likely made to cater to the game's online nature, but it considerably dulls the thrill of exploring the unknown.

While its environments are shallow, enemy design in Remnant: From the Ashes is the full package. Non-boss enemies leave little to be desired in terms of their disconcerting visages and solid variety, and they're an effective vehicle for effective environmental storytelling. Each world sports unique collections of foes, and no faction outshines the Iskal on the primordial swamp planet Corsus. Brainwashed and enslaved by the manipulative Fairy Queen, the once peaceful Corsans have been made hosts to an incredibly aggressive species of parasite. When first exploring this world, shambling humanoids with amputatable legs at first seem like generic aliens. That is until later on while encountering eerily familiar Corsans that have yet to fully turn, culminating in the introduction of their more heavily affected peers that degenerate into their fully devolved form mid-battle. Gameplay-driven discoveries like are far stronger plot devices than anything found in the main story or flavor texts, and the game would be stronger overall if it had shifted its focus more toward this direction.

Even though it won't set the Soulslike genre alight with its well-implemented but ultimately minor additions and tweaks to the formula, Remnant: From the Ashes is an intensely compelling gameplay experience, doubly (or triply) so when played with friends. Even when it sabotages itself with its abortive narrative, cheap boss tactics, and undervalued enemy design, it still emerges from the ordeal as a solid shooter with a high amount of polish and decent replayability. Though it remains to be seen if Gunfire can fix the present issues and expand the game into the infinite time sink that the studio promised, Remnant: From the Ashes will no doubt inspire genre fans to hang up their swords and shields for some time in order to dive into a chaotic universe, guns blazing.

Next: Telling Lies Review - A Thoroughly Immersive, Interactive Story

Remnant: From the Ashes is now available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Screen Rant was provided a PC code for this review.

source https://screenrant.com/remnant-from-the-ashes-review/

#screenrant

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zombolouge · 7 years

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hiya! Have you got any tips for editing your work? i wrote a chapter the other day, came back to it to edit it and found out it was 9k words lmao... needless to say I'm having a hard time fixing up the whole thing without it taking ages!

Oh man, I've definitely had chapters like that. I aim to average about 3k words a chapter, but I let them get bigger or smaller depending on content. It's all about the flow of the story, to me. BUT, that's not what you asked. So, editing tips, huh? Well, I can certainly go over my process. To be honest, I am not the best editor, because I'm usually too impatient to do a proper job. Still, I do HAVE a process, and I always edit at least a little because posting something without editing, to me, is like jumping into a lake of fiery acid in nothing but my birthday suit. It's gonna burn, and oh boy am I gonna have regrets. The bare minimum of editing that I will do on any given story looks a little something like this:1. Write the whole chapter. 2. Read through and adjust where needed. 3. Copy text from Scrivener (my main writing program) into Microsoft Word. Read through again and use the MS Word grammar/spellcheck to catch any missed errors. (you can also use a program called Grammarly that is pretty nifty with this step, too. I'm not a grammar savant, so I like to rely on software to catch the things that I missed because I type how I talk, which is atrocious apparently). 4. Copy text from MS Word and paste into AO3, click preview, and read through again to check for errors and format. 5. PostFor stories like Tearing Down the Heavens and As Bright as the Stars, that was about all I did. I didn't need to do a ton of editing for those because they were lighter to write. For stories like One Hundred Years in the Making or The Traveler, however, this process gets a LOT more complex. Those stories have complicated narratives, and I am balancing several different plot threads at any given time in any given chapter. There are layers on top of layers, and it gives the writing and editing process a whole new flavor. For more complicated stories, the process starts to look more like this: 1. Write the whole chapter. 1a: stop in the middle, double back to check something, realize that it isn't right and redo three paragraphs. 1b: re-read through the beginning of the chapter to get the flow again1c: realize that I forgot to foreshadow something and add it1d: actually write the rest of the chapter2. Read through and adjust where needed.2a: realize I'm still missing foreshadowing. Adjust, start the read through again.2b: realize nobody is talking like a human, not even for the fantasy genre. Edit for human flavoring. Adjust, start the read through again. 2c: Start the read through over to check for flow, make adjustments to the adjustments. 2d: check my outline and check the next few plot points coming up in the story to make sure I didn't fuck up the story progression or miss any OTHER points of foreshadowing. Make any necessary adjustments.2e: Repeat all parts of step 2 until a read through has been completed with no adjustments made.3. Copy text from Scrivener (my main writing program) into Microsoft Word. Read through again and use the MS Word grammar/spellcheck to catch any missed errors. 3a: argue with MS Word grammar check over word order. 3b. Fuck you, MS Word, "chivalry" is a perfectly valid word. 3c: check document from the beginning again to make sure I REALLY feel like I'm right and MS Word is wrong on all squiggle battles (I am not so prideful to think I actually know what I'm doing, so I like to triple check these things when a computer says I'm wrong)4. Copy text from MS Word and paste into AO3, click preview, and read through again to check for errors and format. 4a: notice something wrong, adjust. 4b: read through and make minor adjustments, then copy that back into Scrivener so I have the updated copy. 5. Post5a: hyperventilate slightly until someone commentsAnd those are just my steps for average chapters. If a chapter is Important with a capital I, then I will usually write it ahead of time and come back to edit it repeatedly. This means it will go through a lot of changes, usually with large portions being scrapped in favor of newer ones, but it ends up being polished enough to carry the weight of the big parts of the narrative. If a chapter is giving me any trouble, I usually try the following things to get through editing:Reading it out loudChanging the font as I edit Changing the medium (as in sending it to myself and reading it on my phone, or a tablet, or printing it, etc.)ReAdInG iT oUt LoUdSending it to a friend to get their opinion on something (no joke, this saved my life in the chapters of ABatS where Nicolette is in Jumin's apartment. I think I rewrote a couple of those chapters 8 or 9 times before I was happy with them, but I also needed input because I was trying to balance someone exhibiting detestable behavior while not making them out to be a detestable person, ie still garnering compassion and sympathy. It was a very fine line to walk along. "Test" readers help me get those parts right.)It's also worth noting that sometimes NOT editing right away is a better plan. With most of my fanfiction, I'm impatient and don't bother waiting because I want to post, but with Original works I will usually step away and wait at MINIMUM 24 hours before I try to edit anything. Coming back with fresh eyes can really alleviate a lot of the strain. You'll catch more, have a better grasp of the flow, and be more constructive while you edit. The flip side of that is that you shouldn't wait TOO long. If you wander off into the woodlands and return to your words a year later, you will have grown as a person and a writer, thus making what you previously wrote very inadequate and requiring EXTENSIVE edits, or the need to be rewritten. And while that is good for some projects, if you table everything and continuously come back to rewrite it, then you will finish nothing. Older work should be like shrines dedicated to your progress, not a phoenix rising from the ashes of the past every time you decide you want to give it a new polish. Now, since you said the chapter is 9k, I would recommend reading through it a couple of times. Longer chapters tend to require more attention to the flow, so that each thought transitions to the next properly. This can, of course, change if you have it split by different POV shifts or otherwise broke it up into smaller, more digestible chunks. But with a chapter that long, it needs to flow VERY smoothly through the different segments, otherwise you will have people's attention span snapping in the middle. Then THEY'LL wander off into the woods and get eaten by bears, and the news outlets will find out they had been reading your chapter, and there will be organizations formed of angry mothers who hold up signs and declare that your words drive people to death by bear. That probably isn't what you are going for with the chapter, so...yeah. There has to be a sort of heartbeat to the words, that keeps urging the eyes to keep going down the page and the reader to keep thinking "oh yes, but what then?". Flow and a sense of good pacing are paramount to longer chapters. I think one of the chapters I hated editing the MOST was Chapter 4 of Facing Down the Void. It was a solid, 6400 word chunk of exposition, and I poured over it several times trying to make sure that it flowed well enough to support what was happening. It was basically ALL dialogue, and had several parties to account for in the conversation, so I drove myself nuts trying to make sure it was balanced. Even then, I'm sure if I picked it up and looked at it again I would feel like it needed some re-writing (something I will eventually get to, once I catch back up in my DA stories and get to writing that one again). In the end, if you want to SHORTEN editing time, then I recommend taking a break and coming back to it in 24 hours. Then, when you return, pop it into a different font and read it out loud to yourself. You will probably only have to read through twice before you have worked out all the kinks. I hope that helped, Anon Friend!!!

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strlghts-blog · 7 years

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the sun can't compare to you (James x MC)

Summary: A rework (that I’ve been meaning to post for the longest time, but life ya know?) of Chapter Thirteen: California Dreamin’ feat. a west coast food fave. Hope you enjoy reading!

—

James’ hand is warm as it rests on your knee, the pad of his thumb idly drawing circles on the exposed skin. You’re on your phone, typing out a message to Zack, telling him that you’ve met up with James and you’re doing okay.

More than okay, in fact, you want to say, because you’re practically bursting at the seams with happiness. But you don’t want to gush too much, so you keep your text short and sweet. Though, you can’t help but add a few extra smiley face emojis before hitting send.

As soon as you finish, you drop your phone into your purse and turn to your boyfriend, a smirk on your face.

“I must say, interesting choice of venue,” you tease, poking a finger into his side. After a sweet reunion at the airport – which involved you attacking James in a bear hug when you caught sight of him, but was interrupted moments later by an embarrassingly loud growl from your stomach – the two of you decided to grab some food. Where, thirty minutes later, you’re sitting in the passenger seat of James’ car at In-N-Out’s drive thru.

James squirms in his seat and glares at you, but there’s no heat behind it. His hand on your knee reaches up to tuck a few wayward strands of hair behind your ear. “Got any better ideas?” He says playfully.

Your smirk deepens and you shake your head. “Nope,” you say, popping the “p.”

He simply rolls his eyes at you and unable to help yourself, you stretch over the center console to plant a kiss on his cheek, but he turns his face at the last second, so you catch his lips instead.

The kiss is unbelievably sweet; his lips soft and pliant under yours. You feel his hand slowly slide up the length of your thigh, the material of your skirt bunching up at your hips. Your breath hitches in your throat when his fingers toy with the edge of your panties and you feel heat begin to pool in your lower belly. Right when you’re about to deepen the kiss, the sound of a car horn blares from behind you. Startled, the two of you break apart, dazed. James is the first to recover, and he quickly shifts the car back into drive and eases it forward.

“Tease,” you mutter under your breath, whilst rearranging your skirt back into place.

Smiling cheekily at you in response, James leans over to press a kiss to your temple before whispering in your ear, “To be continued.”

His promise makes you shiver, in spite of yourself.

He pulls away from you then, and you catch sight of his self-satisfied smile and eyes alight with mischief, before he turns to roll down his window, just as a worker approaches, tablet in hand. You narrow your eyes at the back of his head.

The worker, a young man, smiles and says cheerily, “Hi, I’m Jacob and welcome to In-N-Out! What can I get for you two today?”

Your eyes widen in panic when you realize that you haven’t looked at the menu yet. But before you can say anything, James begins listing off your orders.

“Hey, can I get two Double-Doubles both with grilled onions, two Animal Fries, and two Neapolitan milkshakes, please?”

“Sure,” Jacob says, fingers flying over the screen of his device. “Anything else?”

“That should be it.”

He repeats the order then, and after James nods an affirmative, Jacob says the final price before wishing the two of you a “good one” and walking away.

You tell James lightly, “You know, you’re lucky I’m not a picky eater.”

He looks at you, expression sheepish. “Ah, I did some research before and the general consensus was that those are the things a first-timer must try here.” His brows pull together, suddenly unsure. “I can change the order as soon as we get to the window. I’m sorry, I should’ve asked you first–.”

You interrupt him by covering his hand on the stick shift with yours. “Don’t worry about it, I don’t mind,” you say, laughing. “Thank you.”

Relieved and cheeks tinged a light pink, James shoots you a smile and tangles your fingers together.

***

Eventually, the two of you pull back onto the main road, the smell of greasy fast food permeating the interior of the car. Your mouth waters as you peer inside the pair of paper bags sitting on your lap, everything looking so delicious. You pick up your milkshake to take an experimental sip and moan when the flavor hits your tongue. James mimics you and he hums in pleasure.

“Where to next?” You ask.

“I was going to suggest my apartment, but it’s so perfect out and the beach isn’t too far from here. I have a blanket in the trunk – we could have a little picnic and watch the sunset. You up for it?”

You nod, excited. “That sounds perfect. Let’s go!”

***

Fifteen minutes later, James lets out a groan of frustration. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this traffic – we’ve barely moved an inch! How can it take so long just to get to a destination that’s literally a mile away?”

He pouts and slumps in his seat, and you have to restrain yourself from giggling because the sight of him is just too cute – so you pat his knee comfortingly instead. He catches your hand and raises it to his lips for a kiss.

“I’m sorry,” he sighs, looking at you. “I know you’re starving. You should eat your food before it gets cold– er, colder.”

Smiling, you shake your head at him. “Don’t worry about it, I can wait a little longer. Besides, this is your first time eating In-N-Out, too. We’re in this together – from the very first bite to the last,” you say, voice serious.

James chuckles and pokes your side, just as you did to him earlier. “Silly girl.”

Except, unlike James, you’re extremely sensitive in that area so you yelp and jerk back, banging the back of your head against the window with a loud thunk. You hiss in pain, cursing. Next to you, James bursts out laughing.

Rubbing the tender area, you narrow your eyes at him, at his body shaking with the force of his laughter. You’re able to maintain your glare for a few more seconds but then your lips twitch, and soon you’re laughing along with him.

He slaps a hand over his mouth in a vain attempt to quiet himself. Tears leak from the corners of his eyes, and in between the spaces of his fingers, you see his smile is stretched wide. His amusement is infectious, and despite the painful cramps from your stomach and the ache in your cheeks, you crack up even more.

Eventually, your laughter dissolves into a fit of coughs as you both try to catch your breaths. “I’m really sorry about that – it’s just, the sound you made when–,” he breaks off snickering, but then composes himself. “Are you okay?”

When you look into his eyes, they are bright and filled with mirth, but also hold a touch of concern for your wellbeing.

Your heart soars at seeing him so carefree and light, even if it may have been at your own expense. You find that you don’t mind one bit.

You roll your eyes at him. “I’ll live,” you respond, grinning.

He chuckles and shakes his head fondly at you. Outside the windshield, you see the car ahead of you finally move forward. James notices too, and eases up on the break pedal, focusing his attention back on the road.

As he drives, he points to different buildings, sharing with you tidbits of its history. Truthfully, you’re only half-listening, nodding and humming at all the right parts, but you’re a little distracted as you stare unabashedly at his profile bathed in the California sun – committing his bright brown eyes, soft smile, and glowing complexion all to memory. Biting your lip, you feel both giddy and unbelievably lucky that you – and only you – are able to bear witness to this private moment.

With that in mind, you tune back into James’ animated story telling. After a brief pause, he scratches his chin thoughtfully, musing, “Growing up in Manhattan, I didn’t think I would enjoy LA very much – the city life being vastly different and all. Maybe it’s too early to say this since I’ve only been here a grand total of three weeks…but being here feels right. And other than the homesickness, which is expected but manageable, I can’t think of any reason to walk away from this opportunity of a lifetime.”

You bristle in your seat, inhaling a sharp intake of air, James’ words reminding you of yesterday’s video call, when she interrupted and –

“And what’s going to stop me from telling James any of this?” You say angrily, wishing you could reach into your laptop and slap the smug smile off of Yasmin’s face.

“Go right ahead,” she challenges, sounding amused and your frown deepens. “Do you think that’s going to convince him to walk away from the opportunity of a lifetime?”

The memory leaves a bitter and foul taste in your mouth, which only seems to worsen as you recount the rest of that standoff, remembering - with a sick twist of your gut, because how could you be so stupid to forget - it being the reason why you left Hartfeld in the first place.

And just like that, your little bubble of happiness bursts.

Outside, the landscape of LA continues to pass by in a blur and James announces excitedly, “We’re almost there!”

You don’t say anything or indicate that you heard him, focusing instead on tamping down the feeling of something sharp and hot flashing in your chest. He cuts a quick glance at you and does a double take when he finds you just staring at him.

“I don’t need to rush you to a hospital for a concussion, do I?” He teases, but there’s an edge of worry in his voice.

“I – what?” His gaze flicks between you and the road, and you rearrange your features into what you hope is a neutral expression. “No, I’m fine. Really,” you say, as convincingly as possible.

“Okaaay,” he says, not at all sounding convinced. “Then why–,”

You cut him off as the car finally pulls up next to a weatherworn ticket booth. “Hey we’re here!” You exclaim too loudly, pointing to the glittering waters of the Pacific Ocean in the distance. Internally, you cringe, hoping he won’t call you out on your odd behavior.

He eyes you a little weirdly, but to your relief, doesn’t mention it. Instead, he chuckles softly. “Yeah, we are.” James exchanges a few dollar bills for a receipt, which he places on the dashboard.

He pulls into a parking spot facing the water then kills the engine. Hastily, you grab the drinks from the cup holders, the bags of food from the floor, and your purse. You quickly exit the car and make your way towards the trunk, needing a few moments alone to settle the emotions warring inside of you.

On one hand, you know you need to tell James the truth about Yasmin’s intentions with him and hope to god he’ll listen to you.

Because even though it’ll break his heart, it’s the right thing to do.

But…on the other hand, you can’t even count how many times you’ve heard him laugh or seen him smile today.

And you would do anything in this world to keep him happy.

James chooses then to get out as well, and you feel your heart flutter with panic because you haven’t made a decision yet.

“Can you pop the trunk, please?” You ask, fidgeting in place and avoiding his gaze when he stops next to you.

He lets out a soft sigh and before you know it, the load from your arms is gone as he sets it down on the back of the car. He tugs on the crook of your elbow, bringing your body close to his; his arms encircle your waist as your hands settle on the planes of his chest. You swallow hard as you finally look at his face, which is tight with worry.

“What’s wrong?” He implores quietly, eyes searching yours.

“Nothing,” you reply, pushing false conviction onto that one word.

Unconvinced, he levels you with a look and reminds you, voice hard and laced with disappointment. “Remember? We agreed no more secrets.” Then, softer, “You know you can tell me anything.”

Slumping your shoulders in defeat, you nod slowly, knowing you can’t deny him the truth. You take a moment to gather your thoughts, and he waits silent and patient. It’s his hands spanning the small of your back and thumbs rubbing idle circles over your shirt that calms your nerves and gives you the courage to finally speak.

“I,” you start, struggling to find the right words. “I’m just worried about you. Sure the glitz and glamour of Hollywood is great now, but what happens when that wears off and the strain from your movie finally gets to you?” You pause, backtracking. “Not that I’m saying I think you can’t handle it, because I know you can – I believe you can.” You sigh, “I guess what I’m trying to say is that – I’m afraid showbiz is going to…,” ruin you, you want to say, but instead, “change you.”

Your cheeks are hot as you finish and you duck your head down, humiliation trickling in your belly. It is then that you notice that you’ve been clenching fist-fulls of his shirt for the span of your confession. Immediately, you release the fabric, and begin to nervously smooth out the wrinkles, waiting for him to say something, your heart thundering in your chest.

“Hey,” he murmurs, and your hands freeze. His voice sounds nothing close to angry at all. James crooks a finger under your chin and tilts your face back up again. You blink in surprise when he presses a chaste kiss to your lips.

When he pulls back, you stare at him, confused and wary. “Thank you for sharing,” he says sincerely. “But I’m not going to change. Hollywood, the studio, Yasmin – no one is going to change me. I won’t let them,” he promises.

Then James huffs out a breath and shakes his head before continuing, “You know, most of the time I feel like you know me better than I know myself. So, if I do happen to fall out of line, you have free reign to put me back in my place – with whatever method you deem fit. That includes kicking my ass if you really have to.” You giggle quietly at that, unable to help yourself, and give him a soft, close-mouthed smile. He grins at you.

But then your smile fades and you bite your lip, still feeling uncertain. James sees the change in your expression and he cups your face in his hands and you gaze up at him - at his brown eyes, big and gentle…and the way he’s looking at you, it’s like - like you’re the sun and he’s a blind man seeing for the first time. You feel the inner corner of your eyes stinging and you blink once, twice, to chase away the moisture you feel gathering up. “The amazing thing about being a writer is that you’re essentially playing God, deciding the fate of your characters, having all the creative freedom in the world. Sometimes, I forget that my life isn’t like that, it’s not under my full control and it could change at any second.” He pauses, considering his next words carefully.

“So, I can’t tell you for certain what’s going to happen to me or to us. But what I can tell you is that you’re the most important person in my life, and as long as you’re by my side, the uncertainty of the future doesn’t scare me so much.” Your blinking becomes futile as tears cascade down your cheeks in earnest. “I love you,” he says thickly, voice shaking, eyes wet. “I’m in love with you. So much I can’t even breathe around it sometimes. I know I don’t say it enough, but I do. And it’s ridiculous; it’s completely ridiculous how much.”

There is a moment of breathless, frozen silence as your mind goes blank and your heart stutters to a stop.

Then you reach up and press your lips to his in a bruising kiss.

The two of you don’t come up for air for a while.

***

Later, you’re lying down on the blanket you and James spread out, soaking up the rays of the fading sun, far away from the other beach goers. His arms hold you close as your head rests on his chest, your ear nestled over his heart. A combination of food coma, the background noise of crashing waves, and the warmth of James’ body almost lulls you to sleep when you remember something.

“James?”

“Hmm?” He mumbles sleepily.

“I love you, too.” You say and beneath you, you feel his breathing still and heart rate pick up.

Propping yourself up on your elbow, you lean over to give him a quick peck. But he has other ideas as his hand slides into your hair, holding your head in place. Encouraged by his enthusiasm, you’re about to deepen the kiss, intending to cash in on his earlier promise of “to be continued,” when you swiftly pull away from him, a hand clasped over your mouth. James blinks up at you, a little dazed.

“Sorry, I have onion breath,” you explain sheepishly from behind your hand.

There’s a split second where he continues to look at you, puzzled, then his face breaks out into a breathtaking smile when what you said registers in his mind. Suddenly, you’re being pulled back down and you let out an ouf as you land on top of him and his arms wrap around you, squeezing you so tight you can hardly breathe. “God, I love you – onion breath and all.”

His laughter is loud and deep in your ear, the sound of it echoing inside you, filling you up with warmth, like something bright and golden coursing through your veins.

Your little bubble of happiness is back.

And it’s here to stay.

#playchoices #choices stories you play #the freshman #james ashton #james x mc #tf fanfic #mine: fic #OKAY who knew writing fluff could be so damn fun??????#like angst is great but FLUFF MAN #it's some next level shit #also does anyone ever write fluff and think 'wow I wish this was happening to me?????'#mine: james x mc fic

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ironemblem · 7 years

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Iron Emblem’s Tips: Prepping and Running a Mystery Adventure

Have you ever felt daunted by the thought of running a mystery? Whatever the system you prefer to play it can be quite the challenge, but if pulled off right can be extremely satisfying for both your players, and very importantly, you. I hope these tips can help out a tiny bit, or at least entertain you for a few minutes. Also big thanks to the D20 Future Show for help with this article (@D20FutureShow)!

Disclaimer: This goes without saying but I might as well anyway, these are all opinions on the subject, “Your Mileage May Vary”.

Number One, Know When to Stop Talking

This might be the hardest for some Game Masters (myself most definitely included), but know when to stop describing. You don’t want to give away too many details on accident, either by full on pointing out the major clues or lingering for far too long on a specific area.

As a general rule of thumb, try to keep the first wave of an obscured room’s description within two to four sentences. For example: “The bedroom is dark, oppressively quiet, and foul smelling. Past the range of the hall’s illumination you see nothing but black. The corner of a dresser is barely visible to the left of the entrance, and light switch within a few inches of the doorway.” In this case the characters can’t see what else is in the room yet, they’d need a better light source before they could see more details, like say the murdered mayor draped across his bed with a knife planted firmly in his back. Or you know something dangerous that wants to eat them if you’re running that kind of adventure.

Summary: This is important for many genres, but especially so for mystery, only describe what the characters can detect, giving more details when actually appropriate. Don’t give away the clues for free, make the pcs earn them!

Number Two, Index Cards are your Friends

A habit that’s helped me out in many an adventure is keeping plenty of index cards! If you have certain items hid in an environment write it down on an index card and when, or if, it’s found hand the finder the card. The players think they found a clue? Give them a blank index card to write it down. The cards will keep everything organized and sortable, so towards the end of the adventure they can make a whole story web, connecting the dots so to speak!

Now if you are running an online adventure you might think this is hard to do, really you just need to shift to an online option (email, instant message, text, anything)!

Summary: The point isn’t the cards (or whatever) themselves, the point is to keep the players directly engaged with the story. Keeping and receiving notes sets a different mood than just telling the players what they found, it makes it more concrete. Essentially this is more of a prop than an organization method.

Number Three, Be Prepared for Roadblocks

The cold hard truth is occasionally players will get stuck, we aren’t all Sherlock you know. So prepare for this, don’t make a one dimensional adventure, have a few different things moving about in the background. Perhaps even a side plot that is only loosely connected to the main mystery. That way when the players hit a roadblock and can’t figure their way past, you just bring to the surface one of these other pieces, always having something happening.

I. E, the pcs in their investigation of the mayor’s murder have begun to stall. Their only clues are the bloody murder weapon and the odd eye carved into the mayor’s forehead. You, the Game Master, know that the deadly Cult of the Watching Eye are responsible for the murder, their first in the town, and that information of the group is available in research of old religious orders, your players think it is just the mark of a single serial killer, looking into past deaths instead. To draw them back towards the cult route you might have a group of tattooed members ambush them, brandishing knives, and shouting things like, “Bow before the Sons of the Observed!” (A reference to their leading figure). After seeing a bunch of ritualistic psychos the players might investigate the mannerisms and dress realizing the truth of the Watching Eye. Much more flavorful than just telling them it was actually a cult not a serial killer.

Summary: In short; keep it active, especially when the players may be starting to stall! Have them earn further info, this makes the setting feel more alive and might help them think past a roadblock, or at least stop some awkward silence!

Number Four, Story Webs and Checklists

Since mysteries aren’t a one path thing you need to prepare for that! Rather than a series of events going off one after another in a linear fashion you should make more of a story web. A visual reference that helps for when inevitably the planned stuff goes awry by actions you didn’t foresee. Instead of, “this happens then.” It’s more, “If pcs respond in this or this most likely of ways, this will happen. Or if they decide to ignore this, I know later on this happens.” Essentially it will break eventually just like a more traditional plot, but you’ll have more ideas to improv off of with a story web.

Another thing you might find helpful is organizing the actual clues to be found. A checklist works really well for this, you list the clue to be found and location, when it’s found by the players simply mark it off your paper/document/whatever. Sounds pretty simple but it might help keep your session running even just a touch smoother.

Summary: Checklists and story webs help organize a mystery adventure into a less linear fashion. Keeping the session chugging along, even when the players bust plots in their most entertaining of fashions!

#Iron Emblem's Tips #Mystery #mystery adventures #advice #rpg #tabletop

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jesseneufeld · 4 years

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Is Avocado Oil Good for You? Benefits for Hair, Skin, Cooking, and More

Avocados and avocado oil had a slow road to popularity, starting with a rebranding of sorts. There’s a bit of an internet debate around the origin of the word avocado. Some reports say that it came from the word ahuacatl, which is Aztec slang for testicle. As the fruit became more popular, that association wasn’t great for marketing, so farmers changed the name to “avocado” and even petitioned dictionary publishers to update the entry. 1 Good move on their part, because “avocado toast” sounds much more appetizing than … the other thing.

Is Avocado Oil Good For You?

Back in the ‘80s when low-fat diets were lauded as the sure path to losing weight, people shunned avocados because of their fat content. About a decade and a half later when word got out that different fats do different things in the body, avocados were regarded as a welcome addition again because of their monounsaturated fat content. With the growth of the Primal and keto movements, people now embrace these fats, and avocados are regarded as a beneficial food that fits into a healthy lifestyle.

Stay on track no matter where you are! Instantly download your Primal and Keto Guide to Eating Out

Avocado Oil Benefits for Skin

With naturally-occurring nutrients and a range of fatty acids, it’s no wonder that the skin loves avocado oil. As demand for natural products rises, avocado oil becomes a more and more common ingredient in skincare products from moisturizing creams to facial oils and treatments.

There’s not a tremendous amount of research on avocado oil benefits for skin, but a few studies show its potential as a worthy skin ingredient:

Rats that were fed avocado oil for a period of time showed increased collagen in skin. 2

A skin cream containing avocado oil combined with a few other oils showed antimicrobial effects, specifically against Staphylococcus pseudintermedius and Malassezia pachydermatis 3

Avocado oil seemed to increase increased collagen production and reduced inflammation during wound healing 4

Avocado oil is being explored as a treatment for psoriasis 5

If you would like to experiment, try it as a base in a DIY facial. Fill a small bottle with three tablespoons of avocado oil and one tablespoon of a lightweight oil, like MCT oil. Add one drop of essential oil like frankincense or rose. Shake to combine, and apply one drop at a time to your skin. (Always patch test new products before using them all over.)

Avocado Oil Nutrition

One tablespoon of Primal Kitchen® Avocado Oil contains 120 calories and 14g fat. It is not a significant source of sodium, carbohydrates, or protein.

Fatty Acid Composition of Avocado Oil

One of the main avocado oil benefits is its fatty acid composition. Most brands of pure avocado oil has approximately:

11% saturated fat

13% polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA)

Over 70% monounsaturated fat (MUFA)

Saturated and monounsaturated fats are stable fats that your body can use; polyunsaturated fats tend to oxidize easily.6

Avocado Oil vs Olive Oil

Monounsaturated fat

Avocado oil and olive oil are both high in oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat, which is the compound that research has shown may help reduce blood pressure, 7 8 may benefit the immune system,9 and is potentially blood-lipid friendly. 10

Antioxidant Content

Both avocado oil and olive oil contain a range of antioxidants. High-quality, extra-virgin avocado oil contains lutein,11 a carotenoid that may benefit eye and skin health.12 Olive oil contains vitamin E, beta carotene, lutein, and others that have a range of benefits. 13 The benefits of lutein depend on how much lutein is actually in the avocado oil, which varies depending on lots of factors – the quality of the avocado, processing methods, etc.

Smoke Point

Both olive oil and avocado oil make incredible salad and finishing oils when used straight from the bottle. The difference comes in once you heat the oils. Avocado oil begins to burn just over 500 degrees Fahrenheit, whereas extra virgin olive oil can only withstand temperatures just over 400 degrees Fahrenheit. As long as you use both oils appropriately, you can reap the benefits of either.

Avocado Oil: Regular or Extra Virgin?

There are a few key differences between avocado and extra virgin avocado oil.

Taste

Avocado oil has a neutral taste. Extra virgin avocado oil tastes rich, buttery, and can have earthy or mushroom-like undertones.

Smoke Point

Avocado and extra virgin avocado oil both have similarly high smoke points, though avocado oil’s smoke point is slightly higher than its extra virgin counterpart. Both work well for cooking, baking, frying, grilling, and more.

Uses

Since avocado oil has a neutral taste, it works well in most recipes as a cooking oil. Extra virgin avocado oil works for cooking, but its rich flavor is best showcased as a finishing oil or alongside a few simple ingredients for a quick-toss salad dressing.

Avocado oil uses

Cooking

You can use avocado oil in place of any neutral-tasting culinary oil. Cooking applications include:

Sautéeing

Pan-frying

Stir-frying

Baking

Roasting

Searing

Greasing pans before baking and grill grates before grilling

You can also use avocado oil uncooked, for example in homemade salad dressings or drizzled as a finishing oil. The rich, buttery flavor of extra virgin avocado oil suits these applications well.

Avocado Oil Smoke Point

As research emerged about the dangers of oxidized oils, people started to pay attention to which oils could be heated, and how hot they could get without degrading. A lot of healthy fats are delicate and oxidize quickly. Some oils should not be heated at all.

Avocado oil is unique in that it contains predominantly monounsaturated fats that can be heated over 500 degrees Fahrenheit. That makes it an ideal oil for the stovetop, as frying and sautéeing can exceed the smoke points of a lot of other oils.

Frying

Because avocado oil can be heated to such a high temperature without damage, it makes a fantastic frying oil. As long as the temperature doesn’t exceed 520 degrees, you’re good to go.

Avocado Oil for Hair

Some people use avocado oil as they would any other hair oil or pomade, to combat frizz and tame flyaways, creating smoother, more manageable hair. Everyone’s hair is different, so it’s best to give it a try when you have time to wash it out and restyle if it doesn’t work with your hair type.

Avocados naturally contain biotin. Since biotin deficiency is associated with hair thinning, people have done avocado oil-based scalp treatments to help stimulate hair growth. This hasn’t been researched, but try it if you want to, and monitor your hair for changes. Others combine it with other ingredients, such as coconut oil or shea butter, and use it as a moisturizing hair mask or hot oil treatment. There’s no measurable amount of biotin in avocado oil, so if people are seeing an effect with these hair masks, it’s probably more due to the skin-happy effects of the fatty acids.

How to Choose the Right Avocado Oil

A lot of avocado oil on the shelves may be either rancid (heavily oxidized), or adulterated (cut with cheaper, less desirable oils like soybean). It’s up to the consumer to do their homework and find a trustworthy brand so that you know the oil inside the bottle matches what it says on the outside of the bottle.

From tree to bottle: the Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil process

What to Look For

To ensure your avocado oil is high quality, look for these attributes:

Minimally heated. Excessive heat destroys the beneficial compounds in avocado oil, which opens up the opportunity for oxidation. That could turn a healthy oil into one that may potentially cause harm.

Non-GMO. Depending on how it’s done, genetically modified avocados could shift the balance of fatty acids and nutrients in the final product.

Mechanically extracted. Centrifuge is the best way to extract avocado oil as temperatures can be kept low and there is no need for solvents.

Extraction without solvents. You want to avoid solvents like hexane, which are removed at the end of extraction, but many solvent-extracted oils have traces of hexane left behind. You probably don’t want to eat chemical solvents.

Extra virgin, if you want to add richness. Extra virgin avocado oil is extra rich with a subtle earthy flavor that adds something special to salads or steamed vegetables.

Shop Primal Kitchen® Avocado Oil

Signs Your Avocado Oil Might Be Off

Aroma. Rancid oil takes on a faint smell of plastic or paint thinner. Virgin avocado oil can smell grassy or earthy, which is a good thing.

Smoking. If avocado oil smokes in a pan under 520 degrees Fahrenheit, it may not be pure. Avocado oil can withstand pan frying on medium-high heat.

Color. Avocado oil should range from pale yellow to green, depending on region and processing.

Date. Buy avocado oil that you can use up before the expiration date printed on the bottle.

Don’t hesitate to contact avocado oil producers and inquire about their processes.

How to Buy and Store Avocado Oil

Again, check the expiration date before you buy, and make sure you’ll use it well within that time frame. Look for avocado oil in dark glass containers, as light will degrade the oil more quickly. You can store avocado oil in a dark cabinet or pantry, away from direct sunlight and heat.

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References

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5563805#:~:text=The%20farmers%20came%20up%20with,group%20the%20California%20Avocado%20Association.&text=Today%2C%20California%20accounts%20for%20nearly,grown%20in%20the%20United%20States.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/03008209109152159

https://www.agriculturejournals.cz/publicFiles/150092.pdf

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3614059/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11586013/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0891584989901020

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18772370/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15814269/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23278117/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21041432/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3664913/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0738081X08000126

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128114421000043

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