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jeff-from-marketing · 3 months

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Hey it's been a hot minute, I'm gonna go off about Helldivers 2 for a bit, because the whole thing fascinates me.

Funnily enough it's not even the actual game itself that truly fascinates me, as great as it is. I do genuinely think that, while not perfect, it's a very solid game that knows what kind of experience it wants to deliver, and does a fantastic job delivering on it. The Starship Troopers-esque satire is hilarious, and I love how much the gameplay reinforces that satire through things like reinforcements canonically being a whole new Helldiver sent into the meat grinder, and that the mission still counts as a celebrated victory even if you never make it back alive. I could even talk about how the objectively clunky system for calling in orbital support is actually a positive for the game, but only this game and the type of experience it's selling.

But none of that is what fascinates me about this game so much. Because y'see, I played the first Helldivers game, and it was also a great bit of fun! It's actually why I was interested in the second one to begin with. But I also know that the first Helldivers was not a very wide reaching game, none of Arrowhead's games have been. They've not done poorly by any means, they're still in business and have been for over a decade now. But they've always been fairly niche affairs. Until now. To really sell the picture, I wanna rattle off player counts for their previous games:

Magicka in 2011, Arrowhead's first big game and published by Paradox, had an all-time max player count of 11,727 players according to SteamDB. I don't believe it was on any other storefronts, but I could be mistaken. A quick wikipedia visit tells me that the game sold roughly a million units over a year which, again, not bad! Especially for a game that is admittedly fairly unusual, but is a lot of fun!

The Showdown Effect in 2013, which I only just found out about right now after double checking my numbers, had a all time high of just 3,284 according to SteamDB, and is now delisted from Steam. Though apparently there's a remake from another company happening? There's a lot less info on this one in general.

Gauntlet in 2014, this one I do know a bit more about since I also played this one. A remake of the original 1985 game, and was a good bit of fun as well! This one is trickier to get an accurate player count reading, because it did have a PS4 release and those are harder to find numbers for. Regardless, it was also on Steam, so therefore I can use those numbers at least, which gives me a max consecutive player count of 12,730. I don't know how much PS4 factored into this.

And now we get to the real interesting one: Helldivers 1. Again, this is tricky because not only was it on console, but it was actually on console before it was ever on PC, which heavily skews numbers. SteamDB has the peak at just 6,744, but this doesn't sit right with me. I've seen estimates of 50k people around the place, some say 35k, but never a solid source. It's also very difficult to search atm because of how much Helldivers 2 is blowing up. Speaking of...

So Helldivers 1 is their most popular game, and I'll be generous and say that the 50k count is the accurate one. So surely Helldivers 2 can't be that much more- oh I'm not even going to pretend, you already know what's going on here. The game has reached ~450k concurrent players just on Steam alone! And the game also exists on PS5, and if I recall correctly: there's official statements saying that the player counts are roughly equal with each other. That means a peak of ~900,000 individual players. To illustrate how bonkers batshit insane that is, motherfucking Fortnite has a current consecutive player count of roughly one million.

Let me reiterate: a game that came out of basically nowhere with little marketing, from a small studio with only about 100 employees, is rivaling the juggernaut that is fucking Fortnite. That is insane.

As someone who has played all of Arrowhead's previous games besides The Showdown Effect, this is bonkers. There's a reason the sentiment was "there's no way to have predicted this" when the servers were at their worst, because look at the previous data! How is anyone supposed to predict a sequel to a niche game (from a company very few people have heard about) to get a ~1800% increase in max player count? Their initial server capacity was 250k, which would've been very optimistic if you were just going by Helldivers 1 numbers. But then that wasn't enough. And then 360k wasn't enough. And then 450k wasn't enough. We're now at 700k server capacity and just finally getting things under control. This game just exploded in a way no one could have reasonably predicted. And I have no idea why this is the case either.

I'm not saying it's not deserved; it absolutely is! Like I said, game is great, and there's not even any shitty business practices I can bitch at this time! It's just so sudden and out of nowhere that it baffles me. Such a small percentage of these players would've even heard of the first game, let alone played it. It didn't have a massive marketing campaign, this is pretty much all spread through word of mouth, which is insane in its own right. It's not even like the game is entering an untapped market, it shares its existence with games like Deep Rock Galactic, Vermintide, Darktide, the actual Starship Troopers game, probably some others I'm forgetting. And yet, despite all of this, it breached containment something fierce. I don't have a big conclusion to make from all this, I'd love to be able to say "oh people are just getting tired of Triple A- oh I'm sorry, Quadruple A gaming and this is a breath of fresh air" and it is that, as was Baldur's Gate 3, but I'm not naive enough to think that's the main reason. Not when so many other great games continue to go undiscovered, and so many people still end up buying whatever the next big Triple A thing is. It's a great game to play with friends, and there's a lot going for it and a lot of charm, but such is also the case for the other games I already listed in this paragraph and they don't see the same popularity.

Whether it's just dumb fucking luck, or a really oddly specific set of circumstances at play that I can't see, I'm just dumbfounded and flabbergasted. But I'm not exactly gonna complain. It's fun getting sent into the meat grinder to spread Managed Democracy, and I'm glad the game is doing as well as it is, though I do hope that the devs get to have a bit of rest once the dust finally settles a little bit.

#helldivers #helldivers 2 #seriously if they ever need to update the example sentence for the word “unprecedented” this would be a solid candidate #this has genuinely kept me up at night before just thinking about how wild it is compared to all of Arrowhead's other games #let alone compared to just Helldivers 1

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lonepower · 2 months

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ok you know what i need more bodysharing/brain roommates. malevolent got me feeling some kind of way and I need MORE. tvtropes has like 15 different categories that are all sort-of-but-not-really under the umbrella of what I'm looking for, and sorting through all of that is a little too unwieldy, so I'm turning to you guys.

key factors of the specific flavor of "multiple consciousnesses stuck in the same meat suit" that I'm looking for are:

any variation of, a human (or this universe's equivalent [so like, an elf where elves are commonplace would count]) has another, nonhuman consciousness attached to them and only them in such a way that the two can communicate, and subsequently

they Banter Constantly

^that^ is probably the most important qualifier here tbh

second most important qualifier is that they are not separated at the end (this obv. doesn't apply if the thing is still ongoing). it's okay if the passenger gets a new body (cf. subnautica) or is freed from their binding (cf. baldur's gate), as long as the partnership isn't broken.

Related: they don't actually have to SHARE a body (so enchanted objects, an AI implant, a Mysterious Disembodied Voice, an imaginary friend, etc., also count). they just have to be tethered to each other such that the passenger cannot move around or function on their own without a host. (I think this is part of why it's hard to narrow down on tvtropes: it's more about the dynamic than about the specific mechanism of "possession".)

Third most important qualifier is that only the current host can hear/communicate with the passenger, even if other people around them are aware of the passenger's existence.

two humans stuck in the same body is okay as long as the other criteria are met, but I would prefer it if the host is human(/equivalent) and the passenger is not (or vice versa if the passenger/possessor is the one with control of the body, as with things like the yeerks, most demonic possession, etc).

it doesn't have to be romantic. they don't even have to like each other. conversely, it absolutely can be romantic too.

They DO have to be the POV character/s for a significant majority (like, at least 60-75%) of the work, because the internal back-and-forth is the entire point.

Bonus points if: they do actually share a body; they are either never physically separated either, or are rejoined at the end (voluntarily or otherwise); passenger has lots of setting-relevant knowledge/an alien or fantastical perspective, while host shows passenger what it's like to be Alive™; despite constantly butting heads, host and passenger work patently better as a team; super extra bonus points for all of the above

My favorite examples of what I am looking for:

Malevolent podcast (super extra bonus points x10000000000000000)

Venom movies (this is probably the codifier for most people here tbh) (super extra bonus points)

Subnautica: Below Zero (AL-AN gets their own body but stays with Robin, and it hits all of the others)

Forspoken (super extra bonus points)

the "a bagel. two bagels." vine

(I know there's a couple others that I'm just blanking on. If I remember them, I'll add them.)

other things that have moments or flavors of this, but aren't focused on it/don't quite hit all of them:

the Bartimaeus trilogy had it at the end a little, but, well. it didn't last very long. (i STILL haven't recovered from that ending and i was, what? 15 or something? g o d)

the emperor in bg3 kiiiinda counts since they're magically bound to the player/party and can't exist outside their prison, but they do have their own body and are not nearly as chatty as I'm looking for. also, while only the holders of the prism can hear them, All of the holders of the prism can hear them and I'd really prefer one-on-one.

I think Death Note would also count? I read it in like 6th grade and never finished it so my memory is patchy At Best, but since nobody else can interact with Ryuk, he's bound to whoever holds the notebook, and he's the supplier of the holder's powers, it's close enough that I would accept something similar.

Slay the Princess has the bickering in spades and fulfills the "do not separate" criterion depending on your ending, although the jury's out on whether the voices are Actually their own entities or just symptoms of you losing it. Also, nobody in it is human. The bickering is definitely good enough to make up for it though. (The fact that it's Jonny Sims clearly having a grand old time might have something to do with it...)

with the caveat that I have not watched any of it, i think jadzia (and?) dax from ds9 miiight count, but they're part of an ensemble cast and thus fail the "pov characters for a majority of the work" and "we get to hear their constant internal banter" criteria.

things I tried that fit at least some criteria, but didn't like for various reasons:

the good demon by jimmy cajoleas. promising concept, but 1) the protagonist smokes, which is an instant and unnegotiable dealbreaker (seriously, who makes their protagonist do that in The Year Of Our Lord Anything Later Than 1950?? and to a child? DEATH. ONE MILLION YEARS DUNGEON.), and 2) I looked it up and they separate at the end anyways, so there's even LESS of a point.

the venom comics. honestly I just... really dislike superhero comics, there's always way too many of them to keep track of + I'm very shallow and they're usually unbearably ugly to me (and also having started with the movies I just found comics!eddie really unpleasant tbh)

parasyte manga. perfect concept, great dynamic, but its particular brand of body horror was... not great for me and I had to put it down. (horror in and of itself isn't a dealbreaker, though, so if you've got something similar that doesn't involve lots of hands bent at nauseating angles, I'll gladly take it.)

Cyberpunk 77 has the two-humans flavor of this and hits almost all of the other criteria, but i viscerally hated literally everything about j*hnny s*lverhand with every fiber of my being and the rest of the game was so mediocre already that i just gave up

....I know it's a highly specific/potentially niche dynamic, but if anyone has any recs, PUHLEEASE hmu!!! I'm looking for original work rather than fanfiction, but apart from that, format doesn't matter at all (although if it's some like super difficult indie game or something, I probably won't get very far lol). the MAIN points are 1) bickering and 2) host-and-passenger, so if you have something that hits those but not the others, feel free to share it anyway!

#rec request #i'm not really sure how else to tag this? i don't want to tag adjacent fandoms bc i find it really annoying when people do that.#anyway please let me know...#long post

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punkitt-is-here · 11 months

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im a huge sucker for Real Time Combat but I will never get behind thinking its the natural evolution of Turn Based Combat. What!! these are different styles!!! i genuinely think the turn based influence is explicitly what MAKES FF7s real time combat INCREDIBLE for me. without it, it would be just a kind-of mid action game.

FF16 just has me thinking about that and it kind of reminds me of how we had a 2D platformer drought for a while because of 3D being seen as inherently better but we've ALREADY gone through the whole loop of realizing these are two different styles with pros and cons to those. The thought that goes into designing both styles vary greatly and they both accomplish different things.

like, being able to just mash X and kill a guy in real time is not inherently better than carefully strategizing and experimenting to kill a guy in a couple turns!! these are two unique stances in gameplay with strengths and weaknesses and its weird to see one treated as better. and i admit, im a fucking sucker for real time, i like at least some real time elements in most game's combat, but i think FF7R's combat is incredible BECAUSE it's not just purely real-time. You can swap around, go through menus, plan stuff!! its such a cool synthesis!! Real Time Combat can offer the thrill of really BEING in combat, dodging and weaving, getting gritty with your foe, but Turn Based allows you to strategize and plan and have MUCH easier access to a potentially HUGE arsenal of moves without having to fiddle with menus while you're scrambling to avoid getting hit. These styles are different and can bring a lot to the other, but acting like one is somehow better beyond just preference is very silly to me.

When you play a game with turn-based combat that sucks, know that it's probably because the balancing/design itself is not fun, not the actual genre. Super Lesbian Animal RPG has no real-time elements at all in combat, but it's some of the most engaging and fun and well-balanced turn-based combat I've had the pleasure of experiencing. And it has a deep focus on teamwork and friendship, and I think that's genuinely very hard to instill in Real-Time games because the player is forced to control only one character at a time in linear, progressively flowing time. I love KHII, but it rarely feels like you're working together because aside from your Limit attacks, you can't really collaborate with your party members or strategize. It's still a FANTASTIC game that I love playing, but the element of teamwork is lacking in comparison to a turn-based game, like, say, Bug Fables, which has you control all three members of Team Snakemouth. It allows you to have a myriad of attacks and moves that all influence each other, and because you can control all members, it feels really good and rewarding! And you all feel like friends, not just in cutscenes, but explicitly in gameplay because teamwork is highly incentivized to make things work!

i guess if ur a dev or just someone who appreciates games remember that there's no objectively better style for gameplay; it's all about context!! what is the GOAL of combat? What choices does it have the player make? Would one style work over the other for achieving this goals? That's how you pick what style you want to use! That's how you can analyze why or why not a game's style is working for you! rghaGHHHH GAME DEVELOPMENT IS COOL ARRHGHGHGHHGFJG

#my posts #gamedev

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ketterdamskaelishprince · 1 month

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episode 100, mr raven what the fuck

obviously since i'll be talking about episode 100 i'm going to just put it out there that if you haven't read episode 100 yet then do not read this. then again, this is all in vague reference to the episode and i'm mostly just using bits and pieces to back up my previous idea.

(this is taken from ep 99 pls chill i'm not dishing out spoilers)

anyways, if we continue to ep 100, we see MORE EVIDENCE FOR THAT WIERD DEER THING BEING THEO.

"and for you, especially" shouts to me specifically about this. as previously stated, i have the most insane and stupid thought that the weird deer-monster-bone-tree thing from episode one (you know what i'm talking about), is theo's spectre.

as stated before, the most compelling evidence i have for this is the fact that theo was known to hunt deer a lot, and the thing we see in episode one looks a lot like a deer skull, just with loads of red eyes placed into the cracks and such. and we know from the first episode that it seemed to flock towards lenore and annabel. or at least i think it sort of seems to go towards them.

and you, know i could've been wrong– except look at this from ep 100:

now, obviously the first part practically proves the fact something is following lenore, and that this something is (potentially!!!) theo's spectre. but i think what proves it more is what mr raven says next.

"close as a second shadow"

someone on tumblr (i cannot remember who) pointed out that annabel and lenore's like fates are almost reversed? and how lenore who once had nothing to loose now has everything, and annabel is vice versa. and you know, first of all, amazing take. delicious. fantastic. whoever this was, please please please make yourself known to me pookie i'm gna worship the ground you walk on because you've given me thoughts !!!

from this "second shadow" talk, i wonder if the idea of reversal spreads through more than just lenore and annabel's relationship. in life, theo was the star violinist whilst lenore was the accompanist, the piano player.

musically, lenore was his shadow.

of course, this is a very generalised take. as somebody who plays both piano and flute, i'm not going to go out and say that the piano player is just background noise when it's a duet, but more often then not the piano stands aside so that the violin (in these situations) can shine.

n life, lenore lives behind theo's shadow, and when he dies she's haunted by it.

when she looks in the mirror, she sees theo as she cuts her hair. she sees him everywhere. in his life, she was the the dark shadow that loomed– but in death he always behind her, always the dark looming figure that follows her. her guilt binds with his memory and forms that dark looming thought that nobody wants to discuss.

and so, to me, it makes perfect sense that this little deer-tree-bone-monster thing is theo.

but then, obviously, as i look at all of this, there is the glaring question of why in the first episode this monster looked like it really wanted to chomp on lenore and annabel's limbs. and you know, typically, siblings don't want to cannibalise each other.

i see your point, and i respond back with these three panels:

lenore goes on to explain that their bloodline has been plagued by madness, misfortune and death. then, take a look at what the raven says of how spirits "oft" are "driven to madness" by their desire for souls.

i think this connects, because idk i just think it does. could be totally wrong, but i think (???) theo (???) somehow escaped to try get back to lenore and go to the threshold (???) but got trapped in that spooky place, and his only defence left was his spectre (???) and so, by staying in it too long, he too was "driven to madness" which probably wasn't helped by the vandernacht curse (???). he might be half forgotten in his own mind, but he knows one thing right now: he wants to find lenore, his sister. he might not remember her as his sister, but he knows her name and an image is there in her mind. so when she arrives, he must get to her.

anyways guys, that's it. ignore me. i yap a lot. i know i don't know a lot and i'm sure there's a few fastpassers out there who are laughing because i'm being silly, but let me delude myself :)

#nevermore webtoon #nevermore webcomic #nevermore #lenore nevermore #annabel lee nevermore #lenore vandernacht #theo nevermore #i am singlehandedly adding to this tag #this may be riddled with typos #episode 100 damn fr

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absolutebl · 6 months

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This Week in BL - I Gave a 10/10 to a BL... me!

Organized, in each category, by ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Nov 2023 Wk 3

Ongoing Series - Thai

My Dear Gangster Oppa (Thurs iQIYI) ep 4 of 8 - I love this show. I adore Tew's the simple backstory. No frills. No fuss. He got dragged in the way many do and he can kill so they kept him. They aren’t trying to make it needlessly complicated (which is rare for Thailand). That said, the pacing is way tf off, the emotional arc is rushed and then sappy out of absolutely nowhere. Before you ask, the kiss is not at issue, we halfway through they should be kissing, but the romantic life changes - too soon. But I don’t care. Finally, they left us this ep reminded of 2 v important things,

this pair kisses beautifully

in BL all mafia be gay

Fun fun!

Last Twilight (Fri YT) ep 2 of 12 - It's official, I love this. It’s a classic caregiver/bodyguard trope where one of them is opening the other one up to the world, but sweetly. I’m enjoying the softness of JimmySea's take and I hope GMM TV takes its cues from the success of My School President and doesn’t push this particular show into rough or edgy territory. Stay on target GMMTV. Don't mess with my bias again!

Twins the series (Fri GaGa) ep 3 of 10 - Finally, our adorable side couple has emerged! This show remains engaging without losing pace (despite the main couple being slow burn), which is all I want from a Thai pulp, and more I could ask for currently from a sports BL.

(Note: when I dictate the computer always puts "Thai pope" instead of Thai pulp - this is hilarious to me.)

Pit Babe (Fri iQIYI) ep 1 of 14 - I guess they didn’t strip the omegaverse out of this. Unfortunately, I’m not an omegaverse fan, so I find its presence extremely off putting. (But it’s kind of amazing that somebody finally put one on our screen.) Unsurprisingly, it’s a lot of alpha posturing and hyper masculinity, because that’s what this kind of worldbuilding is an excuse for (lazy writing and lazier characterization). This means I don’t like Babe AT ALL except that he’s smell orientated and a bit verse. Way is lovely tho, because Nut is a great soft screen presence amongst the testosterone haze.

Middleman’s Love (Fri YT & iQIYI ep 2 of 8 - I’m not gonna lie (when have I ever bothered to lie to you all?) I’m struggling with this show. The sound effects are getting worse. That is not allowed. Still I found this installment slightly more bearable than the last last, probably because there was more of the cast in play and less of Jade being too cringe to live.

Absolute Zero (Weds iQIYI) ep 8 of 12 - AKA temporal paradox of pain.

My Universe (Sun iQIYI) Friends Forever ep 13 of 24 - Ooo it’s a bit of a teacher/student (coach/player) thing. Linguistic negotiation and kinkification of phi. Also actually kinky. But not consensually. Gonna get dark. Bummer.

Playboyy (Thurs Gaga) 1 of 14(!) eps - Whines. Must I? Gaga doesn’t have a skip ahead button. Sad sack main characters really do not work for me. But this was better than I expected. I wasn’t expecting much.

Look: This is helmed by Cheewin (shudder) with screenplay by Den (Only Friends - shudder the second) under Copy A Bangkok (they deserve not my shuddders). It's gonna be a shizz show people. It's Thai dark War of Y style - my least favorites. Apparently, there is meant to be a "plot" but when has Cheewin ever bothered with plot?

On a completely different note does the blond look like that Korean actor/idol from At a Distance Spring is Green & Wanna One to anyone else? Or is it just me? (Park Ji Hoon)

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

A Breeze of Love (Korea iQIYI) eps 3-4 of 8 - I like it a lot. Dongwook is so obtuse and socially awkward and reserved and needy and Dohyun is so gay over and simultaneously wildly confused by this behavior. Fantastic. A bit stiff, even for Korea, btu I'm okay with it since everything else I'm watching right now is decidedly NOT stiff.

I finished it!

Let's Eat Together Aki and Haru AKA Aki wa Haru to Gohan wo - Japan BL movie 1.5 hr

Best friends life together during university - cheerful sunshine loves to cook, grumpy tsundere loves to eat. Aki is a bit manic pixie dream boy for me (not my favorite archetype) but they’re cute and it’s one of those Japanese slice of life pieces like Our Dining Table that isn’t really a romance in fact it’s barely a drama. This isn’t friends to lovers because they’re basically already in a relationship (which everyone around them knows) they just aren’t fucking. I did spend a lot of time worrying that they weren’t eating any green things whatsoever. In the end this isn’t my thing when there’s no kissing at all, and this was a bit too dull even for JBL. Sorry Japan, one cannot trade on cute and cheese alone. I know, you want to. But that's not a BL or a personality. 6/10

I Cannot Reach You AKA I Can't Reach You AKA Kimi ni wa Todokanai (Japan, maybe coming to Netflix) 8 eps - This classic friends-to-lovers BL is everything Japan does best. Angsty. Emo. Aching. Driven by real thirst. Yamato is deeply in love with his childhood bestie, Kakeru, and has been for ages, unable to hide his ungainly damaging high school need. He wants Kakeru in every way possible and it oozes off of the screen. Kakeru is silly and a little simple, but not frenetic or overly camp about it. He is earnest, and genuinely wants to keep Yamato in his life which means giving a romance (and gayness) a fair chance. We watch him realize his affection and what form it can take in a truly authentic way. This show was impossibly kind to both of its lead characters and I felt honored that I got to watch something so lovely and rare play out on my screen.

I LOVE LOVE LOVED THIS. IT'S SO GOOD.

10/10

Let me be perfectly clear: I have watched 646 BLs and only handed out nine 10/10s.

I talk more about why this one made the cut, here.

It's Airing But...

One Room Angel (Japan Gaga) 6 eps - adaptation of Harada’s manga (which I did not like) about a clerk who's stabbed, nearly dies, and returns home to find an angel waiting for him. With only 5 eps and a good chance this won’t end happy, I'm gonna wait and let you tell me how it goes.

SHADOW (Thai Gaga) 14 eps - I'm not wild about Thai horror (or horror at all) even one featuring Singto and Fluke. I'm holding off on this one and if told it's good I'll binge later.

Beyond The Star (Weds iQIYI) 8 eps - House of Stars meets Boyband. I was NOT impressed. Waiting to be told if I should bother.

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps - I find this series more fun to binge, so I'm waiting until it completes its run.

Next Week Looks Like This

STARTING

11/20 Bake Me Please (Mon Gaga) ep 1 of 6 - trailer here, stars Ohm (of OhmFluke) opposite Guide (bestie from IFYLITA). This looks like an actually gay version of Antique Bakery (play it again, BL). I'm intrigued, it looks HELLA pretty.

11/22 7 Days Before Valentine (Weds ????) ep 1 of 10 - trailer here, horror-esk. Adapted from y-novel of the same name, directed by Tu (180 Degree) stars Jet (Why You… Y Me?). When you want your old love again, but fate sends you a reaper instead. All he can do for you is kill people. I'll likely give this a pass and wait to binge if safe.

11/24 VIP Only (Taiwan Fri Gaga) ep 1 of 10 - Screenplay by Lin Pei Yu (WBL) about a chef who courts a shy writer with spicy beef noodles.

11/25 The Sign (Sat ????) ep 1 of 10 - trailer here, horror-esk, but with a suspense and adult characters. Special investigators who loved each other in previous lives reunite in new bodies. Stars Billy Patchanon (BillySeng) & Babe Tanatat (new). Includes other SCOY favorites as a special investigation team. I may give this a try (depending on distribution) because I'm into the non-horror bits.

11/26 The Whisperer (Sun ????) 1 of 10 - trailer here. Thai horror BL that ALSO involves cheating (what joy is mine). He has dimples (My Ride) but I don't think even that gives me the will. You can tell me how this goes.

11/26 Cooking Crush (Sun YT) 1 of 12 - OffGun are back, trailer here. Adapted from the novel “Love Course! เสื้อกาวน์รุกเสื้อกุ๊กรับ” by iJune4S this is about Prem who runs a not-so-popular restaurant with 2 friends. About to go on a cooking competition with a huge reward, Prem gets involved with Ten, a stressed-out med student who wants Prem to teach him to cook.

Still Coming November BL

11/30 For Him (Thurs ????) ep 1 of 10 - high heat trailer, I suspect iQIYI will scoop this one up. From the people who brought us Unforgotten Night (please no) based on a y-novel, man nursing a heartbreak has a one-night stand, but the other boy didn't want it to end. It looks terribly trashy so I'm in! Maybe I'll do a trash watch?

Nov 2023 line up with screen caps here. Not kept updated.

Original 2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED).

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

To be fair this was last week but I did get the screen shot until now. (You are Mine)

I Cannot Reach You serving all Japan's favorite tropes plus some very un-Japan decent kisses.

(Last week)

#this week in bl #bl updates #bl review #I Cannot Reach You #Japanese BL #You Are Mine #Taiwanese BL #Let's Eat Together Aki and Haru #Let's Eat Together Aki and Haru review #2023 bl #upcoming bl #My Dear Gangster Oppa #Thai Bl #Last Twilight #GMMTV #Twins the series #Pit Babe #Playboyy #A Breeze of Love

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jaegeraether · 7 months

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Sunsets and footballers (Part 3)

Lucy Bronze x Reader (3)

Masterlist (other parts here)

Jordan had a big smile on her face when she saw YFN. She pulled over at the front of her hotel and put the window down.

“Allo mate, need a lift?”

“I don’t have any money, sorry.”

Jordan opened her mouth in an amused and fake offended ‘O’. “You’re takin’ the mick.”

YFN laughed and slid into the passenger seat. “Do you charge by the hour or…?”

Jordan laughed loudly and slapped her arm. “Too expensive for you, mate.”

She began driving. YFN loved seeing this side of Jordan. The side that seemed much more natural, and much more of the Jordan that Lucy was describing last night.

“Wherrrrrre are we going?”

“I was thinking coffee and then shopping? Also, I’m assuming you don’t have any football gear to wear to the game tomorrow?”

“Hm, you are correct there.”

“Oh, Lucy is going to love seeing you in a Bronze jersey.”

YFN blushed and looked over, surprised.

“What? She loves seeing people in her jersey. Plus, you don’t know anybody else on the team, do you?”

“That’s a negative, and what number is she?”

“2.”

“Oh, my favourite. Okay, let’s get a Bronze jersey. Should we get the home or away kit?”

Jordan laughed. “Wow, look at you! Someone’s been doing their research!”

YFN grinned. “I love blue but the internet says something about it being a bad luck kit…?”

“Oh poppycock. Blue would be perfect with your eyes.”

YFN laughed. “Oh, and I also want an Australian flag.”

Although they only planned on a few hours, the two spent all day together. The atmosphere was great, they both bantered like they’d known each other for years. They wandered around town with iced drinks, stopped for breakfast, then lunch, and Jordan even taught her how to kick a soccer ball on an empty pitch, as well as teaching her some rules. YFN did try to incorporate some tackles to which Jordan gave her red cards for. They collected some free merchandise for the game from people in the club who Jordan knew and managed to find an Australian flag also. The day was fantastic, and of course they ended it on the beach with some fish and chips, Jordan making YFN try it with curry sauce. It confused the hell out of her, but she admitted it was decent.

The next day Jordan picked up YFN again early and they went for lunch. They had decided the day before that they wanted to catch up earlier before they headed to the game. At lunch, Jordan asked YFN about her job and what she did. She was a writer and loved to write fantasy. She’d been working for a newspaper before she left and had a very popular daily column with a lot of fans, but she left because she lost her passion for it. And so, she decided to travel to gain inspiration and get back into writing fantasy with the hope of publishing and travelling the world. Jordan was wowed by this and admitted to wishing she had the creativity for it. About five minutes later though, it seemed she had completely forgotten the conversation though, and had to ask again. YFN laughed, this had happened a few times with her the day before and so she lovingly gave Jordan the nickname ‘Dory’.

The seats for the game were in the perfect spot, just adjacent to where the team benches were. The two were dressed up, laughing at their awkwardness as they made their way down to their seats with arms of popcorn, hotdogs, and drinks. They reached their seats and were greeted by a loud man and his adorable family. YFN didn’t need a degree to figure out who it was. Jordan introduced him as Jorge Bronze, Lucy’s big brother, and his family. He gave Jordan a hug and kiss, and she picked up the kids and gave them kisses also. Jorge dragged YFN into a strong hug they took their seats next to them. It felt like a huge family affair and made YFNs heart swell with happiness. Her family life was not so joyful, and so this was a happy change. A few other friends came over to say hi to Jordan and she introduced them to YFN. They were friends, other football players, or partners of friends.

Shortly before the game, the teams ran out onto the field to warm up. The crowd seemed to yell extra loudly as Lucy came out onto the field, Jorge was the loudest of all. One kid in his arm and a drink in the other, he yelled at the top of his lungs “LUCYLUCY. LUCYLUCY.” Many people were yelling it like a chant, and Jorge recorded it for his social media. YFN couldn’t keep her eyes off of Lucy. She oozed confidence. Her dark hair was up in a messy bun, and she looked a bit different without her glasses, but a good different. YFN bit her lip, thinking her football gear was a welcome sight. She couldn’t help but see the muscles through her clothes, particularly the thigh muscles when she walked. Lucy jogged around without a care, chewing gum and laughing with her teammates. At one point in time, she even sat on a football and just watched as the others warmed up.

“Hey Dory, what’s she doing?” YFN asked Jordan.

Jordan leaned into YFN to yell over the crowd. “Who? Lucy? Oh, her knee is really bad. Like really, really bad. She’s had a lot of surgeries and she’s always in pain. She just tries to keep off it before and after games really.”

As if Lucy had heard them, she looked up and caught sight of her group. Her eyes wandered along her family who were crazily waving until she reached Jordan and YFN. She grinned when she saw YFN wearing her jersey with that little dimpled smile on her face. It suited her, she thought. Being in the crowd with her family and friends, wearing a Bronze jersey, and holding an Australian flag with pride. She and Jordan had painted the flag on their cheeks also, fully supporting their friend. Lucy wanted nothing more than to walk over and talk to them, but she knew she was supposed to be warming up. She settled for a big childish wave and re-joined her team.

Ten minutes later they left the field, Lucy waving at her section and grinning from ear to ear as she left. Soon enough after, the crowd roared as the teams entered the stadium, holding hands with their mascots. Lucy was last in line, swinging arms with her little mascot. They stood for the national anthems and after a quick team photo, the game was underway. YFN couldn’t tell if she was just biased, but it was pretty obvious to her that Lucy was the most intelligent on the field. When she didn’t see an opening she liked, she passed the ball back to the defender next to her who Jordan said was “Millie Bright – acting Captain.” She pushed up the field hard during the first half of the game, and very nearly scoring on several occasions.

“Wow, Lucy is ON FIRE today! LUCYLUCY!” Jorge shouted. “THAT’S MY SISTER!”

“I haven’t seen her play this good is a while!” Jordan shouted in YFN’s ear.

A long shot came towards the goal and Lucy was sprinting from nowhere, her speed was incredible. She leapt, heading the ball and the goalkeeper tipped it. The ball hit the crossbar and bounced back into play. One of Lucy’s teammates were in the perfect position for the rebound and struck the ball, side-netting it. The crowd groaned loudly.

“COME ON LESS!” Jordan yelled encouragingly.

“COME ON RUSSO! WHY IS LUCY OUR BEST STRIKER!” A yell came from behind them in the crowd.

YFN was confused. Jordan saw her confusion. “Lucy is a defender, not a striker. Not even a midfielder. She shouldn’t be the most dangerous striker for us today but she’s just playing so well. The other girls aren’t doing well enough to be honest.”

That made sense to her. Lucy was compensating for her team. All of her discussions with Jordan the day before about Lucy being overly competitive and not liking to lose were becoming more obvious. YFN loved it and joined in on the shouting for England’s number 2.

The whistle blew to signal half time and the scores were still 0-0. During the break the pair took Lucy’s niece and nephew up to the bathroom and brought back more snacks for the Bronze family. They settled back down when YFN noticed that Jordan was tense and uncomfortably shifting.

“What’s the matter?” YFN asked.

Jordan leant over to talk in her ear, not loud enough that anyone else would hear it. “My ex is here. A few rows behind us. She waved at me.”

YFN pulled back with wide, worried eyes. “Oh Jordan, are you okay?”

“I don’t know. We’re still friends and I think she’s a lovely person, but I just feel so uncomfortable right now. She going to want to try and speak to me after this.”

“And you don’t want to?”

“She going to try and speak to me like everything’s normal when it’s not. I don’t think I have the capacity.”

YFN put her arm around Jordan and pulled her close. “You need to tell her that you need space. Because right now, even though you’re replying the bare minimum to her, it’s still coming across like you’re okay to casually chat to her when you know you need your space to heal.”

“You’re right.” She groaned. “I just don’t want to come across nasty at all. She’s such a good person.”

“Protect yourself first. Heal a bit. And only then can you try to have normal conversations with her, hm?”

The teams came back out then, and the second half began. Jordan’s mood picked up as she was lost again in the screaming, but unlike YFN, she was yelling their names.

Lucy played even better the second half, giving so many chances to her teammates to score. She went down, hard at one point, literally tumbling over like a gymnast and the crowd seemed to think this was normal.

“NEVER A GOOD GAME UNLESS LUCY IS FLYING!”

“LUCIA!”

“LUCYLUCY!”

“BRONZEYYYYY!”

She got back up and jogged back over to her spot a bit stiffly. YFN was in awe of her resilience. Eventually the 90 minutes were up and they were given +2 minutes. Just when all seemed like it was about to be over, Lucy scored. And it was beautiful. Just like last time she came sprinting from absolutely nowhere however this time she volleyed the ball into the net, hard. So hard the net must have broken. The stadium erupted, they all leapt to their feet screaming at the top of their lungs. Jordan and YFN grabbed each other, jumping up and down. Popcorn flew all around. Lucy was bombarded by her teammates leaping onto her. Looking up at the big screen, YFN could better see the massive grin spread across her face. Of course she scored.

“GOAL FOR ENGLAND NUMBER 2, LUCY BRONZE!”

The stadium erupted again.

Play resumed for the last 20 seconds, and the whistle ended the match to a stadium still cheering for Lucy.

Jorge was again filming on his phone, kid in one arm and phone in the other. “AW TOO BAD SO SAD.” He cackled as he filmed the other team. YFN laughed at the absurdity of it. She looked around at the packed stadium. It was all insane.

“AND YOUR PLAYER OF THE MATCH IS… LUCY BRONZE!”

Lucy received even more yelling and applauses. She shook hands with both teams and then was dragged into an interview on the pitch while her teammates signed autographs and gave out some of their match worn gear to the crowd. When Lucy finished the interview, she immediately hobbled over to her section and jumped up to lean over the barriers. Jorge and her family got to her first and pulled her into big hugs and kisses. They took some selfies and then Lucy moved over to grab Jordan into an all-encompassing hug.

“I’m so proud of you.” Jordan cried, tears welling. Lucy grinned and pulled back, looking at YFN and opening her arms cheekily. YFN laughed and wrapped her arms around her in a tight, warm hug. Of course, Lucy’s hugs were amazing.

“I’m sorry, I probably don’t smell the best right now.”

“You smell like success to me.” YFN kept holding tight for as long as Lucy was, though Lucy was doing the same. They both gave up eventually so as to not give any wrong impressions to photographers or the crowd around them.

“Nice jersey. Would you like me to sign it?”

“Depends, how much would it be worth?”

Lucy rolled her eyes and took a sharpie from her brother. She shifted YFN’s hair back gently to sign her jersey over her collarbone. She couldn’t help but notice YFNs perfume. The same perfume that was on her hoody when she had given it back a few days before. A shiver went up her spine as she tried to focus on writing neatly.

“Mine too please!” Jordan quipped. Lucy signed her jersey also.

“Oh, and this please!” YFN held up her Australian flag. Lucy grinned, rolling her eyes again and signed her flag. YFN couldn’t help but stare at her, the big grin taking over her face, her hair curling at the sides where she’d been sweating, and those big green eyes. They locked eyes for a moment but both broke contact almost immediately as it affected them both so intensely. No way would they be able to keep it normal in front of so many people. They felt each other shiver and saw each other smile. Nobody seemed to notice.

“I hear there’s a dinner party tonight!” Jorge almost yelled.

“Ohhhh yeah. Family and friends. I told them you’d all be there. You’re all coming, right?” She looked at Jordan a little worried, presumably because her ex would be there.

Jordan looked at YFN. “Stuff it. Yeah, we’ll be there.”

#lucy bronze #jordan nobbs #engwnt #woso #woso x reader #woso imagine #woso fanfics #woso community #woso soccer #womens football #lionesses #lucy bronze x reader #lucy bronze imagine

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attorneys-against-court-violence · 9 months

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I'll never get over how Athena's trauma is written in Dual Destinies. I never will. It's one of few areas I have absolutely no complaints about.

At a surface-level, it's a very effective tool to evoke discomfort, fear, pity, and intrugue from the player. We get glimpses as to what's causing these nervous breakdowns of hers in 5-1 and it's nothing comforting (a courtroom with bloodied-out faces staring judgementally at a crying child is... distrubing). Those breakdowns are accompanied by near silence, letting us drink in the raw emotions of the moment. Her breakdown in 5-3 is a standout example; there's nothing but hollow wind and a shivering, broken Athena to lend the moment its deserved gravitas as she fruitlessly tries to calm herself.

Repeating the trauma of having to defend a dear friend from being accused for killing their tutor, in spite of nobody listening to you, is going to do that to you.

Come the revelations in 5-5, we get compelling body language with her covering her ears in distress - the most sensitive part of her & source of a lot of pain in her childhood. Shaking her head in denial at the revelation of what Simon saw when he walked in the robotics lab, how rarely she comes out of her sad pose during the first half of 5-5 (reminiscent of Edgeworth's own brooding pose in the Wright Trilogy, most often seen when he's reliving his own traumas). Even after things come to light and the truth is revealed, she struggles to even say what happened while locked in that Edgeworth arm-grab pose. It's fantastically handled each time it rears its ugly head.

Going deeper, it also explains a lot about her behaviour; her reflexive throwing of the police officer in 5-2 and her furious outbursts being some good examples. Her emotional state is pretty wild throughout Dual Destinies - partially because she's just like that - but partially because she's trying to keep the more uncomfortable feelings down. She goes quiet when the Blackquills first arrive, being avoidant around the topic of Simon and unable to confront Aura for just how cynical and loathing she's become. She's very iffy around blood and is noticably uncomfortable and perturbed during 5-3 (for reasons I have already mentioned). Her main motivation for keeping this pain to herself is a tragically relatable one; not wanting the drag others down in her sorrow. That's the reason she gives Phoenix when he tells him to back down and stop fighting (a stark contrast to when she objected on his behalf in 5-DLC, sensing he still had some fire left in him).

Despite having others help bring her back from a dark state of mind before, her pushing others away to carry the sufferage alone when it's too much for her feels painfully real.

But one of my favourite parts is how other characters handle it. Specifically, how Phoenix handles himself around Athena. Even if he doesn't know the full extent of her traumas, he knows she's nervous and perhaps not in the best of spirits. He's a LOT more gentle with her than Apollo, is for damn sure; guiding her through examining Courte's body and praising her for getting through it despite going pale. He does still tease in 5-DLC, 5-3, and 5-4, but it's more playful than what he does with Apollo. He also keeps it to a minimum in 5-1 after just barely making it before she has another shutdown, prioritising his role as a reliable presence over anything else. A very good example of this is 5-5; when the big revelation finally comes and Athena's ready to confess to what really happened during UR-1, Phoenix is there to reassure her that she's safe and prevents the Judge from butting in to give her room to disclose what happened.

When push comes to shove and Athena can't quite make it out of that terrible mental space on her own, it's her friends and allies that ultimately help pull her out. Juniper Woods re-assures Athena of her faith, something that had appeared to waver over this case until the truth of what she saw the day of the murder came out. Simon Blackquill reminds her why she's even here to begin with, indirectly stating that he so desperately wishes her to succeed and bring them both out of this mess. Apollo Justice - on top of the usual "your're fine!" bit - reminds her of the skills she has to turn 5-3 around. Phoenix Wright, having dealt with many a client and friend burdened by trauma, gives Athena the stable footing she needs to get back up and carry on. Even if he needs to step in now and then, it's not to belittle or infantalise her - it's to be supportive.

I've said before in a past essay I don't really think too highly of anymore that I don't really mind the fact that Athena needs so much help throughout the game. This is the main reason why; her PTSD from the events of UR-1 have a believable impact on her character and ability to perform normally, with characters helping to pull her back out in ways unique to them and their respective relationship to her. As I said, she gets all that support because she genuinely NEEDS it. The game does a good job proving that much.

And that's alright.

Part of the reason it took so long to solve this is that Athena constantly pushed people away from her problems. She didn't want anyone else to become another psychological casualty of something that otherwise only affects her. It's when she finally sees that Phoenix can and does help her that she can finally let him do so, and help him in return by digging into that dark place and letting the memories of that day come back to her.

Trauma in Ace Attorney doesn't often get this level of focus. It can and has been depicted rather well in the past - see Edgeworth for a good example - but Athena, being the heart-on-your-sleeve type and a protagonist, offers a unique opportunity to witness how it affects her on a more personal, sometimes first-person level. Between a gut-wrenching and haunting presentation, stellar characterisation, and fairly grounded consequences and reactions to it from her and others... it's a rare part of Dual Destinies that I have no complaints about.

Happy Thena Thursday!.....?

#dual destinies analysis #thena thursday #thena thoughts #dual destinies spoilers #ace attorney spoilers #athena cykes #dual destinies #undescribed #i'd also like to mention how painful it is to see shivering athena from the counsel perspective.#you're standing right next to her while she's in genuine anguish and telling you to stand down and accept her guilt.#the same things that make us laugh make us cry just as hard.

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theminecraftbee · 6 months

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second’s slightly arbitrary guide to vault hunters knowledge unlocks

so, one of the main questions I see new vault hunters players have is “which mods should I unlock in what order?” unlike skills or even, if expensively, expertises, mod unlocks in vault hunters are completely irreversible, which means they can be kind of intimidating for new players. so here’s my (somewhat arbitrary) guide to what to unlock! keep in mind I’m not a “top player” or anything, so these might not be the PERFECT meta picks, just a guide for new guys.

also if your question is “but I have one knowledge star and am like level 5 what do I unlock NOW”, the answer is probably vault compasses if you’re getting lost, either stack upgrades or double pouches if you’re having inventory management issues (depending on whether “numerous stacks of common items” or “many types of items” is currently your larger problem), or storage drawers if overworld storage is giving you nightmares.

additionally, my biggest unlocking mods advice is to check how much the thing you want to do costs in materials before unlocking it. nothing sucks more than unlocking a cool mod and only realizing you need an echo pog to interact with it and you’re only level 15 afterwards, after all!

anyway let’s go, general guide beneath the cut.

STORAGE MODS

these mods give you the first three without price increases before they start getting more expensive, which is useful, since people almost always combine more than one solution. even after they start getting more expensive, it’s only +1, so this is a category you should get the thing you want or need in when you want it without worrying about it locking you out of other options later.

Storage Drawers are the backbone to basically everyone’s storage system. they work fairly simply: each drawer can store a certain number of stacks of a single item. add upgrades to increase the number of stacks or make the drawers automatically void excess. if they are connected by other drawers or trim to a drawer controller, you can double-click the controller to move everything in your inventory that goes into a drawer to one of them, and that controller acts as a port for other storage interacting with it. because they can store an absurd quantity of items, are way cheaper than basically every other storage option, and are useful right up to the late game, these are by far and away the most common first storage option. I can’t recommend them enough. even early game before you can afford a controller they clean up your inventory SIGNIFICANTLY with the number of stacks they can hold.

Colossal Chests are a trap earlygame. unlike regular chests, you can’t use quark’s sorting or searching functions, which means they’re effectively the “hiding it under the bed” solution to chest monsters. however, mid-game once you actually have another storage mod, these become fantastic, since they’re much cheaper and use much more common materials than storage disks and capable of storing large amounts of items. the largest one you can make in vault hunters is 5x5 for the record. a lot of people like using this with ssn to help reduce lag.

Simple Storage Network is… controversial. it’s the cheapest early way to make a searchable storage network, but it gets very laggy the more chests you attach to it, and many of a storage system’s most useful functions are no longer possible to craft in vault hunters because of it. also, it eats items with NBT data, so never store crystals, jewels, gear, or similar things in it. my general recommendation is to do whatever you want in singleplayer (although if you want a crafting interface you’ll need to upgrade out of this eventually), but in multiplayer only use it if you’re using colossal chests or something else that prevents you from having to make massive silos of chests, and save your server the headache. it’s only one knowledge point, though, and it’s much cheaper generally than the digital options, so I totally understand why people go for it, and it can super be worth it early game when you just need to be able to search your inventory! just be aware of the caveats.

Applied Energistics 2 is one of your two main digital storage options. digital storage should be your end goal with a storage system! it is the more complex of the two. my understanding is that it’s cheaper if you know what you’re doing, as well as more powerful, but that it’s notoriously a beast for people who don’t know it to try to understand. if you don’t have good spacial reasoning skills maybe stay clear, but if you do and you like a more involved storage approach, go with this. also, be aware you’ll need something that can produce power in order to use this mod. (ae2 comes with power generation on its own, but I don’t remember if you can craft that in vault hunters or not.)

Refined Storage is the other of your two main digital storage options. digital storage should be your end goal with a storage system! compared to ae2, refined storage is fairly straightforward, but it’s slightly more expensive and a bit less powerful at its highest levels. it is the one I recommend to most people, though, just because “straightforward” is really valuable if you don’t want everything to be a puzzle. also, be aware that you’ll need a mod that can produce power to use this mod.

Mekanism QIO is a third digital storage option you can only use with Mekanism unlocked. my understanding is that it’s quite powerful, although it does not work with altar automation. most people won’t use this on account of mekanism being a pre-requisite and mekanism being fairly late-game, but if you want to use it, it’s almost certainly just as good of an option as the rest!

LOOTING MODS

the majority of these are pouch upgrades, but this also contains bulk soul dust recycling and the vault junk controller. these mods get more expensive by two points for every one you get, so the order does matter somewhat; remember for each mod in this category you get that is not “a bigger pouch”, the slightly further away bigger pouches get, and for each bigger pouch you get, the further away other inventory management gets. so it’s a balance for when you get what! that said, most players end up unlocking basically everything in this category eventually, because it’s all quite useful, and even at maximum price it doesn’t get as expensive as the production mods or big mods or big toys get. unlock things as you need them in this category. I tend to unlock things in this category whenever I have the knowledge stars to unlock it and nothing else I want to save up for at that exact moment!

Bigger Pouches are the vast majority of the unlocks here (being double pouches, belts, small backpacks, and large backpacks). they’re prerequisites for each other, so you have to unlock them one by one. normally, I unlock them when the pouches I have aren’t cutting it. that said you could just as easily get by with a small army of smaller pouches, you just won’t be able to fit as many upgrades! so this is a mileage may vary thing.

Stack Upgrades are the most useful pouch upgrades, and should be the first ones you buy. these are multiplicative by each other—two tier 2 stack upgrades in the same pouch don’t add 8x the number of stacks a single slot can hold, but 16x! these also mean pouches with a lot of stack upgrades can be a poor man’s storage drawers in a pinch. you will need these, get them before you upgrade past double pouches.

Refill Upgrades are one of the two QOL pouch upgrades. you can save this until late, but the ability to automatically always have a stack of an item (or, well, up to nine items!) in your hotbar is extremely handy for things like marking blocks, kiwis, and food, and helps save hotbar space and time managing inventory. I personally find this more useful than the feeder upgrade but that’s a preference thing.

Feeder Upgrades do one thing only: automatically have you eat a food (which can be controlled with a whitelist/blacklist) from the pouch it’s installed in when your hunger goes down. this seems sort of arbitrary in vaults since hunger doesn’t heal your health but it’s actually really nice and once you get used to it you’ll be so sad whenever you don’t have it. set the food it feeds you to vault sweets and literally never have to worry about your hunger bar again. this is normally either the last pouch upgrade I get or second-to-last (before big backpacks) but I could totally justify getting it way sooner.

Junk Controller is… interesting. it sometimes doesn’t play nice with pickup upgrades and pouches, although I think that’s fixes at this point. it automatically voids items you pick up in the vault that are on its list of controlled items. it’s capable of handling WAY more than a void upgrade can, but honestly I find the advanced void upgrade can do everything I need it to when it comes to voiding vault items, and the junk controller is pretty expensive. however, if you’d prefer not to have to use void upgrades and to never have to deal with vault junk again, I could see this being the thing for you!

Soul Harvester is pure QOL. it is so much faster than and so much more efficient than the soul diffuser that I recommend everyone get it at SOME POINT, if only to make processing things into soul dust more efficient, but if you don’t do much recycling it’s probably not very useful for you.

POWER MODS

this is the first category on the list that makes other mods in the category enough more expensive that the order you unlock in, and whether you unlock at all, matters, at +6 per mod. you will also almost inevitably need at least one of these no matter what you do. as such, this category can be overwhelming for people. luckily it has an answer! the answer is powah. you should get powah. yes I know it’s the most expensive one and means you’ll have to wait longer but you’ll thank me later.

Iron Generators are sort of a trap. they’re cheap at low levels and good for early game, but the cost for higher-level power generation is very high compared to how much power they make, they burn fuel whether something is currently drawing power or not, they don’t come with any kind of cables so you’ll need a handling mod to move the power or to place them directly next to the things they need to power, they can’t charge items like the mining gadget or the building gadget, and they make everything else in the category more expensive. however with all of that said: if all you’re doing is powering an RS system, then yeah, you’re probably fine to just use these forever and buying these as the cheap option is probably fine.

Powah is the most versatile of the options here and comes with literally everything you need to make a decent self-sustaining power grid. the best generators for most people are the solar panels, which only require direct sunlight, and thermo generators, which provide power as long as they’re above a heat source and provided water. a supplementaries sink (which doesn’t require a mod unlock) or a thermal expansion aqueous accumulator (which does) can do that job easily. additionally, batteries are really useful for various gadgets, the ender network lets you move power remotely, and it can charge items inside its energy cells. the main downside to this mod is that it’s a royal pain in the ass to actually CRAFT any of this; while most of the individual ingredients aren’t that expensive, there are normally many steps to any higher level craft and the base ingredients add up. luckily, mod boxes are really good with this mod, and you can normally get a decent system running from almost only those.

Flux Networks are vault hunters’s best option for storing and moving power around. this mod doesn’t come with power generation options on its own, but it’s the most powerful for transferring power around by far. a good purchase in tandem with another mod.

Botania Flux Fields allows you to turn botania mana into power. it doesn’t come with any cables, so you’ll need a handling mod to move the power around, but as several botania mana flowers can be made self-sustaining, this is probably an interesting option if you already have botania before you need any power.

Thermal Dynamos are like if iron generators were actually good. they require constant fuel like an iron generator, but they have a much wider variety of things they can burn and actually produce meaningful power. they require thermal expansion to unlock, though, so I’ve never used them by virtue of the fact that by the time I have thermal expansion, I almost always also have powah. they also don’t come with cables.

Mekanism Generators are the best solution for producing very large amounts of power. the mekanism reactor is more than the vast majority of players will ever need, but if you’re getting deep enough into mekanism that you need a nuclear reactor’s level of power generation, you should accept no substitute. once again though for most people a large powah setup will normally cover your needs, this is, quite literally, the nuclear option.

HANDLING MODS

these mods don’t do much on their own, but they make handling output from other mods much easier. they make each other somewhat significantly more expensive, but tend to be overall cheaper than power mods, so even with that +5 knowledge points required for each new mod in the category, it’s not normally hard to get more than one. these are a very “get them as you need and/or want them” category, but you’ll almost always find yourself wanting at least one, if not more, to get things done.

Modular Routers are probably the best mod in this category. they do just about everything, able to wirelessly transfer items, fluids, or power, sure, but also able to activate things like a player, automatically kill mobs, vacuum items (or experience!) from the ground, and probably more. a common sight in many vault hunters bases are the signature laser beams of routers shooting things around. they can be a little complicated to understand at first and I highly recommend watching someone like iskall use them when you’re starting out, but once you understand them you will soon learn to love them. they work by creating a router, then placing “modules” in that router that tell it what to do. you can also add upgrades to the routers! this is my biggest recommended handling mod; if you only get one, this is the one that can do most everything anything else in this category can.

Pipez are simple: they’re fairly cheap pipes that move items, fluids, power, or gasses from one place to another. this is the quick and cheap option for handling, and are often the most intuitive. the downside is that you physically need to lay the pipes between places, so they take up a lot of space. fun bonus fact: at a certain level of power draw, a power pipe with an advanced pipe upgrade will be MUCH cheaper for rate of power transfer than using powah cables. I learned this the hard way. in general these are fast, minimally laggy, and surprisingly useful, especially for fluids (or gasses if you’re using mekanism).

XNet is presumably powerful but I don’t know anyone who uses it on account of it also being kind of complicated. my understanding is that if you have any kind of item/energy/etc transfer that you want to apply interesting logic to, this is your solution, so it’s probably nice as the “brain” of your base. I can’t say much else because I don’t use it though.

Dark Utilities is a small but handy mod. its biggest draw are its plates, which are items that can be placed like a carpet that do things to entities that step on them. most notable are the vector plates, which push a mob in the direction they point and the various damage plates, including a non-lethal damage plate that’s great for exp farms or the player damage plate, which makes mob drops fully AFK-able. also not to be discounted are a few redstone odds and ends (including a randomizer) and special blocks that only certain types of entities can pass through (great for filtering in farms). this mod is almost always recommended in tandem with ispawners, but can be useful in all kinds of farms outside of that too.

Iron Furnaces are basically a fancy QOL mod: they let you make really absurdly fast furnaces, including ones that are powered by power instead of fuel. they’re almost surprisingly useful though; a fast furnace can save you a whole lot of time!

Automatic Genius is—well, if you’re at the point of unlocking automatic genius, you probably already know, to be honest. it’s auto-crafting, it’s useful, it practically has the entire game as prerequisites so. there’s that.

BIG MODS

this category is one of the ones that gets to people, because it’s one of the +12 categories. whenever you pick a mod in this category, make sure it’s one you want, because the next one will be very expensive! chances are if you’re a modded player, you already have an opinion about which of these four is the most useful to you, but if you aren’t, I’ll attempt to give some tips.

Thermal Expansion is probably the easiest of the four for a new player to understand. it requires power generation, but most of this mod works by simply building a machine, which then does that machine’s one thing. (for example, the redstone furnace, which cooks things using redstone, or the pulverizer, which crushes things.) I personally really like thermal; it’s extremely straightforward and compact and decently powerful as an earlygame option. it also sort of has ore doubling; you can pulverize raw chromatic iron to make two raw chromatic iron dust, which can then be smelted to two ingots, but for other ores the ratios are a bit messier and often comes out to “just use fortune and a normal furnace unless you need the secondary products”. still, very useful as a mod!

Create is a mod you probably already know; it’s taken the world by storm, after all. building create contraptions is fun and more intuitive than redstone and routing power to a lot of people, and it has a number of very useful tools, such as the crushing wheel and its ability to ore double, the various ways you can convert items using fans, and one of the very few ways to automatically farm trees in vault hunters. the main downside of create is that it’s deceptively expensive in larimar and chromatic iron and that it can’t produce power. also, in my experience, create is the laggiest of the big mods, although your mileage may vary on that front.

Botania is a magic mod that’s secretly actually a tech mod. it doesn’t require power, instead using its own power called mana, and can be used to do a large number of useful things, including farming trees, making cobwebs and other rare and hard to make altar ingredients, and making some very pretty decorative blocks. personally, I always had trouble wrapping my head around botania for some reason, which is silly since I’ve somewhat figured out mekanism, an objectively more complicated mod. of the four big mods, botania definitely helps you get the most hard-to-get and unique blocks, but it’s the only one that doesn’t have any kind of ore doubling.

Mekanism can get you as much as quintupling your ores, has a number of fairly high-powered machines, but is also really complicated in a lot of places and requires an entire power grid to use effectively. also, the mek suit isn’t in vault hunters, if you wanted that. I love mekanism I think it’s very fun also you should NOT get this as your first big mod unless you have so many resources to spare. make this your second one at the very least, it’s VERY late-game, but enjoy it when you do.

UTILITY MODS

unlike the last several categories, these don’t make each other more expensive ever! instead, these are all mostly small but useful mods that don’t fit in another category. whenever you want one of these go ahead and buy it, there’s no reason not to and it won’t make anything else more expensive!

Vault Compasses is one of the most useful mods in the game. all it adds is a vault compass, which is a compass that always points back to the entrance of the vault. you can also hold down shift+right click to set it to point to a new point in the vault, such as a loadstone in an elixir vault or the last monolith in a defeat the guardians vault. it costs four netherite ingots, which is a lot in the early game when most people get this, but it’s VERY WORTH IT. you’ll never be lost again!

Elevators create a special block that, when above or below each other, let you jump to teleport up to an elevator above you or crouch to an elevator below you. they’re very useful in bases with verticality; I like to use them to hide a lot of my storage and mechanisms in a basement that’s invisible from the main build, lol, but they’re handy for any kind of similar thing. pro tip: you can disguise them as any block by right-clicking them with that block!

Trash Cans are what they sound like: a special block that permanently destroys what you put in them. they can have a whitelist/blacklist, and you can pipe or hopper items into them. they’re handy for things like getting rid of unwanted armor from mob farms or other junk items that would otherwise clog up your handling.

Waystones allow you to teleport to pre-determined locations; a waystone lets you interact with it to teleport to any other waystone you’ve found, if you have the mod unlocked, and the teleport pads teleport you to a specific other pad. they’re just extremely handy for getting around a server, and on my friends’ server we just give everyone a knowledge star to unlock these on day one so we can get to each other’s bases easier.

Torch Master gives you several tools for preventing mob spawning. there are ways to prevent both passive and hostile mobs from spawning, and to place large amounts of light. the mega torch has a pretty wide radius too, so it’s fairly easy to cover your whole base.

Altar Automation is the only prohibitively expensive utility mod; this is meant for use lategame. it can be bound to either an ae2 or rs controller, and then will automatically take items from that storage system to complete the altar for you, leaving your only job to hit the button and get the crystal. it’s very handy, but also deliberately meant for buying after you’ve mostly already got all the other mods you want.

BIG TOYS

all of these mods are fancy QOL mods. they all require power, so don’t get one before you have a power source! additionally, only building gadgets come with a way to charge, so make sure you either have batteries or a way to charge before getting these. at +12, this is once again a category where order matters. however, since they’re all QOL, it’s a less massively consequential choice than your choice of production or big mods. go with the one that vibes with you most.

Building Gadgets are tools to help you place blocks, copy/paste structures, swap blocks, and delete blocks. they’re held in your inventory but require power, which means they either need to be charged or you need to have a battery. luckily, they come with the enercell for charging. I can’t express enough HOW MUCH EASIER these make building large structures; the base building gadget alone speeds up building massively. I highly recommend these on any skyblock world just for sheer ease of building platforms, but also anyone who likes Big Buildings should probably consider them.

Weirding Gadgets are chunk loaders. they require power. not much else to explain other than the obvious “be careful on servers when you are leaving your farms loaded please”, I think.

Mining Gadgets is a mod that gives you a cool laser to mine blocks with. I love my mining gadget, it’s very fun, but fully upgrading a mining gadget is very expensive in chromatic steel (and in echo for the magnet and void upgrades) and a very, very solid argument can be made that the only advantage this thing has over a hammer is that it has a long range, the ability to automatically place lights, and the ability to stop liquids in their track. meanwhile, it has the very large disadvantage of requiring being charged with power, costing a lot to get upgraded, and not being able to mine more than a 3x3. it’s up to you if any of those benefits sound like they beat a hammer to you and you decide to get it.

Digital Miner is a mekanism device that automatically mines out everything in an area for you (rather like an old-school quarry). just place it in a location, give it power, and let it run! like most mekanism devices, this thing requires a lot of power, and it is, once again, arguably slower and more expensive than a hammer. however, it’s also fully automatic and requires no effort on your part to get a LOT of resources, so it can be very worth it for those who do not enjoy mining themselves!

PRODUCTION MODS

arguably even more consequential than the big mods you choose are the production mods. which production mod you go with will decide on a multiplayer server what is your “thing” and what requires trading; on singleplayer it will decide which altars will be easy for you and which will be hard. there’s also no right choice here (although I’d argue there are two wrong ones). at +12, it’ll be a bit until you unlock your second one, so choose wisely!

SNAD is a trap. it vastly speeds up the growth of things that can grow on sand but it’s just not worth the +12 to everything else for that alone—and that really is all you get. don’t get it.

Easy Piglins are less of a trap but still a trap. they allow you to put piglins in special boxes for trading, as well as make automatic traders. however they don’t really do anything that picking up a piglin, putting it in a hole near your portal, and throwing gold at it manually doesn’t do, so for the +12 to everything else, for my money, this one isn’t worth it.

Easy Villagers by contrast is worth it. while the ability to pick up villagers and easily re-roll trades doesn’t require unlocking this, the various villager blocks this mod unlocks are very handy for doing trades much easier. it also comes with one-block breeders, iron farms, and crop farms, and the ability to automate any of them, including the villager trades. personally I tend to find villager trades aren’t my main alter bottleneck, so I go for this last, but someone else may disagree with me on it, and honestly I don’t blame them. a solid choice.

Cagerium is one of the two mob farming options. cagerium works by creating terrariums for passive mobs, mob cages for hostile mobs, or a binding plate for boss mobs, and then putting spawn eggs you get from the vault in them. it then outputs that mob’s drops into a chest below, passively. you can put up to four eggs in a cage to make it faster, but you need a skeleton key to swap out what’s in a cage. also, it’s slow compared to ispanwers. however, it’s cheaper early game, doesn’t require building a farm, and is better at a few edge-case mobs (namely, boss mobs like the wither or ender dragon if you get one of those eggs and shulkers, because shulkers are a nightmare).

iSpawners is the other mob farming option. this lets you create an expensive item called a survival spawner that works like a regular vanilla mob spawner, only you can pick it up and move it, it’s much faster, you can swap what egg is in it whenever, and it is active in a much larger radius of the player. ispawners are more reusable and much faster at producing drops than cagerium, but they require infrastructure like a farm to be built around the survival spawner to be effective, and while the survival spawner is a one-time craft it’s a VERY VERY expensive one. which of the two you prefer is a matter of preference.

Botony Pots are one of the two plant-growing options. this mod lets you make pots that automatically grow plants over time, including plenty that can’t be farmed normally, such as spore blossoms or small dripleaf. the hopper botony pot has been made more expensive than it used to be, so it’s at parity or more expensive than swapping things out of a phytogenic insulator to have a lot of them, but for passively farming plants, botony pots are still king. the one plant it can’t do is any of the trees, however, so you will still need a solution for that.

Phytogenic Insulators require thermal expansion and power, and are your other plant farming option. they’re rather expensive, but they can be freely swapped through, can produce things like trees that botony pots can’t, and are much faster than botony pots (especially when maximally upgraded). like with ispawners and cagerium, this is a matter of preference for which you pick, but you’ll probably only need one of the two.

ALCHEMY MODS

these, thankfully, don’t require any strategy or explanation; you can only go one at a time, and each unlocked mod is a new upgrade to your existing vault potion (or vial to start with). each upgrade heals more health and has a stronger chosen effect. that said, no matter how high you upgrade, you always have the same number of charges. take these when you start needing that extra health!

and that’s everything! hopefully this is helpful for new players playing along with the hermits! happy vaulting!

#vh talk #vault hunters #things I do when I have insomnia apparently: this #I get asked sometimes what mods to pick and ultimately it’s a personal decision #but I thought maybe people would appreciate this guide?#so hopefully you appreciate this guide!

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kald-dal-art · 5 months

Note

please infodump about your hunger games OCs more, i beg 🙏

Of course I can infodump about THG OCs at any time, at any day. Don’t know which specific ones you wanted me to talk about so just going to talk about my headcannons for the 12th-15th Victors. Because I like the idea of the direct aftermath of the 10th game to be a very experimental decade for the games.

Ash Jorgenson D7: the 12th game

So after the 10th game they ditched the capitol arena after the bombings and started to use outdoors arenas. The first outdoor arena was a deserted island and the arena was a massive success. So the gamemakers decided to be more ambitious with a forest on top of a hill. They ended up being too ambitious with how hard core the arena ended up being.

Most of the tributes ended up dying from exposure. Ash managed to win mostly through having the actual survival skills to survive the arena. Also helped when the gamemakers released a swarm of mutts into the arena to weed out the remeaning tributes Ash managed to climb on top of a tree and managed to kick down one of the other tributes that tried to climb the tree after him.

Ash ended up being the first Victor from D7. He ended up being severally traumatised by his games not managing to fully settle down. He manages to mentor 1 tribute to Victor, a girl named Rowan a decade or so after his Victory and becomes rather close to her and her family. She even names one of her kids after him.

Ford Wright D6: the 13th game

So after the disaster of the 12th game the gamemakers decided to do an arena that wasn’t as hardcore when it came to the weather, exposure and sheer nature. Going a bit back to their roots with having a more crammed arena that wasn’t made out of nature. So the arena for this year was an abondend scrapyard.

The arena being a scrapyard ended up working fantastic for Ford, seeing as he had worked in his family workshop for years, he knew exactly how to use the scrapped automobiles to his advantage. One of the more memorable moments from his game was when he managed to restart one of the cars, slamming it into 3 tributes.

Ford ended up being the first victor from D6, a few years after his games he marries his girlfriend he had before the games. Having a daughter a few years later, but unfortunetly she ended up being reaped for the games and dying in them. Which ended his marriage and he starts drinking alchohol to cope with the game season from now on. He ended up mentoring 1 victor, a girl named Kennedy. They’re close, having almost a father/daughter relationship, but Kennedy would rather jump infront of a train than to admit to that.

Minerva Paxton D2: the 14th game

When a young girl got reaped the last thing anyone expected was someone begging to go in her place. That is how Minerva Paxton immediatley caught the attention to everyone. Being the first ever volunteer in these games. With some people thinking she was an idiot and other admirring her bravery.

Her arena was an abondend city and she was a ruthless player. Immediatley a popular victor and is credited for starting the ball of the “Career” tribute, in 2 especially. It’s a legacy she has grown to dislike more and more for each year she has to see a volunteer die in the games. She only volunteered to save her cousin.

She never ends up marrying or having children. Ended up mentoring 2 victors, but she was never a fan of mentoring and when D2 started to train children for the games she refused every request to teach anyone.

Claude Demont D10: the 15th game

The gamemakers wanted to do something completly different for these games, introducing a weapon that had never been introduced before, fire arms. Unfortunetly it backfired (ha), a lot of the bloodiness and battles were gone. A good amount of the tributes had no idea how to actually use them, some of them accidentally shooting themselves with the weapons.

Claude however, was a surprisngly good shot, essetianly snipping his competiton one by one. After his Victory the Capitol got suspicious with his skills with the firearm though. With not really beliving that it was something he just happened to pick up on in the arena. So let’s just say his family didn’t get to have a very long warrant on life after his games.

Claude was always considered a bit of a paranoid nutcase in D10. Putting a million little traps around his house in Victor’s village. He did end up by miracle settle down with someone. Never had children though. Ended up mentoring 2 tributes to Victory, one girl named Lucia, and one boy named Mateo.

#thg ocs #the hunger games #hunger games #district 2 #district 6 #district 7 #district 10 #victors #thg victors #thg fic #fan art #digital art #eva answers stuff #thg headcanons #artists on tumblr #procreate #thanks for the ask

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eyeofnewtblog · 7 months

Text

Things that happen at home:

So, my mom had her first symphony concert this weekend, and I’m happy to report that it was a smashing success.

What I personally thought was really cool is that the whole symphony is mostly older women. Most of the brass section was older men though, and you could tell that the trumpet and trombone players were having a great time with the music (lots of jamming out head and shoulders movement) and WOW that tuba player has A Set Of Lungs.

Honestly kinda makes me miss the days when Middle Sister would stand just outside my bedroom door and just BLAST through her practice session as fast as possible. Yes, she was a tuba player. Yes, she was in marching band and orchestra. Yes, I absolutely ran out screaming “MOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!” Every. Single. Time. No, that did not stop her in anyway whatsoever.

Anyway, there was also a cello soloist that performed with violin and viola accompaniment, and he was legitimately fantastic. I told my mom during intermission that she was better and she did her scrunch up face of You’re Full Of Shit But I Like The Support which was cute.

I was sitting next to my one of my cousins for the concert and we both kept side eyeing each other and giggling about how he was bobbing along and jamming out…for those of you that don’t know, it’s very easy to jam out and look cool when you have either a very small instrument or a very large instrument.

When you have a medium instrument, like a cello or French horn, you just look silly if you’re jamming out (saxophone is the exception) and my mom has this very…contained way of playing that looks intense but graceful and determined. So to see someone looking like they’re jamming out on an electric guitar while playing a cello was just…hilarious to us, because we’ve been watching my mom jam out for decades and never seen anyone look so goofy while sounding so good.

One of my moms work friends showed up, and she was an absolute delight. Complete sweetheart; it’s also really fucking funny to tease government contractors about their top secret clearances and joke about their projects or basically anything that they aren’t allowed to talk about. (I teased her specifically about being in the CIA because she does intelligence analysis; my husband and I have a long standing “argument” about if my mom works on quantum computers or making targeted ai satellite systems talk to each other, because honestly her PhD could easily allow for both) the goal is to make relatively small jokes and then drop it quickly because you don’t actually want them to violate their security protocols…but fucking hell if it isn’t fun to toe the line.

My mechanic husband had the dubious joy of teaching me how to jump start a car in the parking lot without jumper cables. (My car battery is in the fritz and needs replacement but we honestly thought it could wait another month or so…)

But basically you put the car in neutral, push it into a position that it can roll naturally downhill, then put it in either first gear or reverse (which ever way is down hill, basically) and release the clutch. I’m pretty sure this only works on automatic transmission vehicles, but I could be wrong and didn’t ask for clarification.

I’d like to point out that we were in a crowded parking lot with a perfectly functioning set of jumper cables. We could have absolutely asked any of the ten people walking by if we could get a jump. We could have waited for my cousin to come out, because we were parked right next to each other. But no. “What if you’re stuck by yourself? You pride yourself on being able to get out of anything.”

That man knows me too well.

Overall, great night. Fantastic concert, great learning experience, got to be an absolute little shit. 10/10, would do again.

#humans are space orcs #my mom is amazing as always #cello is the best instrument I’ll die on this hill #car trouble #marry a mechanic #trust me it works #but also #marry a plumber #either way you will never be helpless again

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utilitycaster · 5 months

Note

I’ve always been very interested in what you think about Caleb and Veth’s relationship. They’re not romantic, but not platonic, but not familial, but at the same time they are, but it’s different? I’m rambling. I find their relationship very interesting and I wanted to see what your take was on them :)

Also have a good day if you’re not having one already and if you are, have an even greater day

Hi anon, thanks! I assume you are asking specifically for my take but I follow a lot of people who have like, 20 times more thoughts on them than I do so I feel a little ill-equipped.

With that said: I personally did not seriously ship it romantically, but that was purely a matter of what I'm specifically into. I do think that a romantic reading of their relationship is an extremely valid one and there was, undeniably, a romantic element, which is why it's not clearly platonic. It reads as familial but in my opinion it is genuinely a relationship that only makes sense within a found family framework, ie, while early on Veth attempts to frame it as a mother and child, it really isn't that, either; that's just how she can best put what they are to each other into words because more apt ones don't exist. They care about each other and they care for each other and they did so at a time when each of them thought they had no future, even before they could admit that's what they were doing. I think that's the best way to describe it.

Something that has struck me - and that is one of the things I want to keep an eye out for when I finally one day have time to rewatch Campaign 2 - is how despite their relationship being one of convenience and coincidence (ended up in jail together, broke out, found it easier to travel together) and some degree of self-interest (Caleb benefited from having someone who could steal and who would remind him to take care of himself; Veth benefited from someone who wouldn't be chased out of shops and was interested in what a wizard could do for her; both did better with a partner for scams) it still lasted for months with no plans of separating. It didn't matter that Caleb wasn't telling Veth most of his past nor Veth telling him hers - or even her real name. They were lonely and it was better to travel with someone else, and they felt better for doing so, even if they told themselves (not even incorrectly) that it was purely a pragmatic matter.

My favorite early scenes between them are first, Caleb asking Veth if she'll leave with him should his reveal of his past to Beau go badly; and secondly and more importantly Veth saying she loves the rest of the party and that this isn't just pragmatism that's leading them to rescue the others. She's talking about the kidnapped party members; but again, because Veth and Caleb have never really defined what they have as anything but a partnership of convenience it feels like she is obliquely telling him how she feels as well.

I also of course love their scene in Felderwin - when Sam goes fully serious it's nearly always going to be a great time, and Veth's anger and drunken accusation and Caleb's intense guilt is a highlight, as is the way they are both able to move past it soon after due to the strength of their relationship.

I also think Liam and Sam did a fantastic job of laying the groundwork. Everyone did so beautifully for their Mighty Nein characters but I think Veth and Caleb's uneasy six months together feels incredibly vivid and real and are a standout among the pre-existing relationships. That might just be because Fjord and Jester had only been traveling together for a very brief amount of time, and because between Molly's death and Yasha not being around much we couldn't see as much of their friendship, but I still think about the list of grifts Caleb and Nott had together and how they were still running them mid-campaign. It was a level of work I think all players should aspire to when playing characters who knew each other in advance. There need to be inside jokes and a history and plans they've made together to breathe life into a pre-existing relationship that's more than a month long (give or take), otherwise it will fall flat and feel forced.

I think this focuses pretty heavily on their earlier relationship and that's because as time goes on they build stronger relationships with the rest of the party and develop a bit more distance. I think this is healthy! Again, a lot of their relationship - particularly on Caleb's side - came from a belief that this was the best they could hope for, and so it necessarily evolves, particularly once Veth and Yeza are reunited. I think Xhorhas/Angel of Irons arc Caleb isn't sure how to approach the relationship for a while until he finds a means of giving Veth her body back; Caleb is always someone who shows affection more through action than words. But I think that even as they build separate lives, Veth returning to a renewed version of the one she thought she lost and Caleb making something entirely different, they still mean a lot to each other and later in the campaign they are able to adjust and adapt their relationship with each other as well.

#answered #Anonymous #no one has ever blurred the platonic/romantic line like them thus far #like while that tends not to be my personal bag for romance (I tend to fall on the platonic side for those types of relationships)#i respect when one is done well bc it's hard to do and it can often feel really forced and caleb and veth NEVER do #caleb widogast #veth brenatto

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misshoneyimhome · 6 months

Note

hii! i was wondering if you could write this angst to fluff request i had in mind? what if y/n and willy are best friends and she’s freshly dating auston. but one day auston comes into the locker room for practice and he’s marked with hickies and scratches and the guys are like teasing him about it being like “oh y/n did a number on you last night huh?” and auston plays it off with a laugh but will knows they weren’t together the previous night because they had a friend movie night or were on a call or something so will gets mad and calls him out later and reader and willy get together at the end and it’s fluffy by the end of it🫶🏼

Ugh! This is what I’m here for babe 🫠🫢 I hope I met your expectations, because I really enjoyed writing this, though it might not be so angsty ❤️ But let’s face it, hopeless hockey boys and their tea-spoon of emotions just always get me going 😉

[Btw, I apologise for making Auston such a jerk... 🙈]

・✶ ｡ﾟ

Speechless

"So, which film would you like to watch?" you asked William just as the popcorn finished popping, and you were getting ready to settle down on the sofa.

"Hmm, I don't mind, you choose," he chuckled, already relaxing comfortably as you joined him.

"Oh, no no no, I picked last time, and all you did was moan about my rubbish taste in movies. So, this time, it's your turn to pick, love," you chuckled with a grin, placing all the snacks between you, pulling up the blanket to cover your legs, and snuggling into the cushions.

William couldn't help but admire how effortlessly comfortable you always made yourself at his place. It was like you felt right at home, which he found utterly endearing.

"Alright then, 'The Wolf of Wall Street' it is," he grinned, taking the remote and scrolling through the various streaming services.

"Oh, that's just because you want to ogle Margot Robbie, Willy," you teased your best friend.

"Not just that - it's a great movie," he defended with a smirk.

"Mmm hmm… Margot Robbie is quite the movie," you laughed. "But at least Leo is in it as well," you added, lowering your voice slightly.

"Hey, I heard that," William chimed in.

"So?" you chuckled.

"So, you're dating my friend, y/n – you shouldn't be staring at Leonardo DiCaprio," he said with a smile.

"Is that a rule now? As if you've never gawped at other women in movies while you were dating someone," you cheekily accused. "Or watched porno..."

And William couldn't help but let out a defensive sigh.

"That's what I thought," you chuckled once more, before leaning back to enjoy the movie.

Evenings like these were some of your favourites.

William Nylander was more than just a good friend to you. He was your best friend and had been for a while now. Everything about him seemed to amaze you all the time; whether it was his hockey play, his wonderful personality, or simply his calm and chill demeanour - he was just incredibly enjoyable to be around.

You'd known each other for a couple of years now, and over the past several months, you'd grown a lot closer.

It all started during the off-season when you travelled to Stockholm because one of your girlfriends had a sudden urge to visit Sweden, for some odd reason. And William had been incredibly kind and wonderful, showing you both around and offering his flat in the city for you to stay at.

He took you to his favourite spots, revealed the city's hidden gems, and introduced you to authentic Swedish life.

And after a fantastic ten days in the lively Scandinavian city, you returned to Canada while William went on holiday with his family.

However, upon his return to Toronto, William discovered some news about you. Just before the Leafs were due to regroup, he learned that you'd been spending time with his teammate Auston Matthews, and apparently, the two of you had begun dating.

Initially, William felt a bit surprised. Not that there was anything wrong with it, he just hadn't expected the two of you to be each other's type.

Auston was a prominent hockey player in the NHL, confident and strong on the ice, but sometimes struggling on a more emotional level.

Meanwhile, you were a strong, intelligent woman who had worked hard to succeed in your career and achieve financial independence. You were incredibly kind and considerate towards others, humble, and never overly concerned with money or fame.

What had initially endeared William about you was your innate sense of self-assuredness. Despite facing some unfortunate experiences in the romantic area, you managed to uphold a positive spirit. And this quality had drawn William to you right from the start, as he simply admired how you seemed so comfortable in your own skin. And consequently, he struggled to understand what you saw in Auston.

Nonetheless, your unwavering support for the team and for William swiftly integrated you into the inner circle of the Toronto Maple Leafs. And eventually, William came to terms with the fact that you and Auston were dating.

However, you were cautious about how much you shared with William. Although he wasn't typically the jealous type, he tended to involuntarily pull a peculiar expression whenever you mentioned your activities with Auston. So, you chose to keep the details to yourself.

Your relationship with Auston was still relatively new, and as a result, the three of you were still navigating the complexities of these intertwined relationships.

As the movie drew to a close, you found yourself nestled closely against William.

It was a habit you'd always had, and since he didn't seem to mind, you gladly took advantage of his cuddly, warm body.

"Alright," you sighed deeply, slowly untangling yourself from William's comfortable embrace and sitting up straight. "I think I'd better head off."

"You're going over to Auston's?" William gently inquired, but you shook your head.

"No, he mentioned he'd be video chatting with his family after a late skate session."

William simply nodded as both of you rose from your relaxed positions, and he escorted you out.

"Want me to drive you home?" he then asked, displaying his concern as the cold November evening settled in, revealing Toronto's chill.

"Sure, that would be great."

And upon arriving at your building, you shared a tight and heartfelt hug before William watched you enter and lock yourself in.

The next day, the boys had their training session. And in the midst of the lively banter and changing in the locker room, Reave's voice suddenly cut through, grabbing William's attention.

"What's that, Tony?" he mischievously called out as he approached Auston, who was getting ready. "oh, y/n did a number on you last night, huh?”

Slightly startled by the mention of your name, William turned around, puzzled by the comment and curious to see what had caught Reaves off guard.

To William's surprise, Auston's neck and collarbone were covered in hickeys. Dark shades of blue and purple in the shape of lips adorned his skin.

And William felt slightly confused. He knew you hadn't been with Auston the previous night. He had driven you home to your own flat. Moreover, he had spent most of the evening with you, and during the day, Auston had been at practice with him.

However, Auston simply chuckled at the comment, making no attempt to defend or explain himself.

As the boys got ready and headed towards the ice, William hurriedly caught up to Auston, attempting to hold him back for a moment.

"Hey, what's happening, man?" he inquired with a serious expression.

"What do you mean?" Auston shrugged.

"The hickeys, Aus. I know y/n didn't give them... she was at my place last night before I drove her home."

Auston rolled his eyes and let out a sigh.

"So?"

"What do you mean, 'so'? You're dating..." William was baffled by his friend's nonchalant attitude towards the situation.

"Yeah, we're just dating - chill out, Willy," Auston huffed, then continued on his way to join the team.

But William couldn't shake it off. You were one of his best friends, and Auston seemed to act as if your feelings didn't matter.

Initially, the hockey training proceeded smoothly, where William poured his energy into every shot and display of speed. However, towards the end, when the boys split into two teams to play, William couldn't help but feel a surge of anger whenever Auston came near. They were on opposing teams, and collisions occurred frequently as they both went for goals.

"Hey! What are you doing, man?" Auston shouted as William blocked him just as he was about to make the perfect shot.

"Playing hockey, what else?" William snapped back at him.

A palpable tension began to build between them, noticed not just by the two players but also by their teammates.

"Keep going, guys!" Coach Keefe shouted, trying to maintain the focus on the game. However, as they continued playing, the animosity between William and Auston intensified.

"Fuck off, Willy!" Auston yelled amid another shot.

But William chose to ignore the comment.

And moments later, William tackled Auston. It was a clean move, but it did fuel Auston's anger.

In response, Auston retaliated with force. Though it was also a clean play, it seemed very much intentional.

"What the hell did you just do?" William shouted, an uncommon display of emotion for him. His teammates had never seen him behave this way during a training match before.

"Playing hockey, what else," Auston mockingly fired back.

"Knock it off, guys," Sheldon once again shouted, attempting to redirect their focus to the game. However, neither of them was willing to let the matter slide. In response, William forcefully pushed Auston in the chest as he attempted to skate past him.

But this action completely crossed Auston's limits. Unable to contain his temper any longer, he firmly grabbed William's stick and pulled him back, then shoved him over.

William almost lost his balance but quickly regained his footing, retaliating by charging back at Auston and initiating a punch.

"Hey! Stop it!" Tavares shouted as all the players rushed in, wrapping their arms around the two boys, attempting to separate them. However, both William and Auston continued shouting and swinging their arms toward each other, requiring more players to hold them back firmly.

And then a loud whistle pierced through the air from the coach, while Tavares and Marner managed to pull Auston and William apart, with Sheldon skating in to assess the situation.

"What the hell is going on between you two?" he yelled, fixing an intense gaze on the lads.

"He blocked my vision!" Auston started to explain, trying to justify his actions.

"He tackled me!"

"It was a clean tackle!"

"Was not!"

"Alright, stop it! Both of you," Sheldon intervened. "You're playing hockey. Auston, Willy is supposed to block you, and Willy, Auston is supposed to tackle you... Honestly, one might think you two were amateurs instead of professionals being paid millions to be here..."

They all sighed deeply, realising that their fight had been utterly senseless. And soon enough, they returned to training.

That until, Auston couldn't resist muttering as he skated past William, "Just jealous I'm actually getting laid..."

"Fuck you, man!" William shouted, and before they knew it, they were back at it again, shoving each other's helmets off, discarding their gloves, and this time, they actually managed to land punches on each other's faces.

William landed a solid punch, hitting Auston straight on the nose, while Auston's swing cracked William's eyebrow enough to draw blood. Once again, the players quickly intervened, grabbing hold of them and pulling them apart.

"Alright. That's it!" Sheldon raised his voice in frustration. "There's something else going on here, and whatever it is, you two need to sort it out. Now. Hit the showers," he commanded, shaking his head in disbelief.

The two forwards exchanged disapproving huffs before then collecting their gear and skating towards the locker room.

Meanwhile, you had just arrived at the training rink in a good mood, eager to meet up with the boys as you had plans with Auston later. However, upon entering the arena, you noticed the wives looking rather concerned, having observed the practice for the past 20 minutes.

"Hey," you greeted cheerfully, but your smile faltered as you saw their worried expressions. "What's going on?" You scanned the area, sensing that something was amiss. Then, you realised that your two favourite players were missing. "Where's Aus and Will?"

"In the locker room," Aryne replied softly.

"Why?" you asked, puzzled by the situation.

"No one knows... suddenly they just started fighting," Tessa chimed in with a friendly smile.

"Wait, Aus and Willy fought each other?" you were slightly taken aback. That was an unusual situation, and the wives simply nodded in confirmation. "I think, I'll go and check on them, then" you said with a reassuring smile before turning around and heading towards the locker room.

"What's wrong with you, man?" Auston shouted as the two lads entered, his hand holding a towel to his bleeding nose, while William held an ice pack to his head.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you?"

"You started the fight!" Auston accused.

"Well, you were being annoying..."

Their voices grew louder as they faced each other.

"Come on! Is this about y/n?"

"What?"

Auston raised an eyebrow.

"Willy, you never get into fights like this!" he chuckled darkly, his voice still loud. "You're just mad about the hickeys..."

"Of course, I'm mad, Auston! She's my best friend, and it was you who wanted to date her, but now you're just sleeping around – how do you think that makes me feel? You're hurting her..."

William's voice nearly cracked as he shouted back at his teammate, and Auston let out another sigh.

"Why do you even care so much, Willy? We're just dating; it's not like we're serious..."

"Does she know that?"

Auston shrugged. "I don't know. We haven't exactly talked about it – and as far as I'm concerned, I can sleep with whoever I want!"

"You're a jerk, Auston," William spoke loudly and firmly. "I never should have let you to date her."

"Let me to date her?" Auston chuckled deeply once again. "It's not your decision. Just because you're in love with her doesn't mean you get to decide who she dates. That's up to her, and she chose me," Auston replied with a smug, confident face.

"Then why would you sleep with someone else?" William shouted once again.

And just as Auston was about to respond, your voice interrupted their verbal fight.

"You're sleeping with somebody else?"

Your voice was quiet and hesitant as you stood in the doorway to the locker room, having caught at least part of the conversation if not all.

Auston let out a deep sigh, turning to face you, meeting your pained expression. But instead of answering, he simply nodded gently, causing tears to slowly well up in the corners of your eyes.

You tried your best to hold yourself together, swallowing hard and straightening your posture before nodding.

"Well, I guess that's it then," you spoke softly once more before turning away, not letting the tears fall until you were out of sight of the boys.

"Well, are you going to go after her?" William asked Auston, but he simply shook his head.

Still in his gear and skates, William hurried through the hallway, catching up with you.

"Hey," he spoke, attempting to grab your hand, but you refused to turn around, not wanting him to see your tears.

"Not now, Willy..."

"Yes, now, y/n," he insisted, managing to turn you around to face him. "Shit..." he breathed out, seeing your reddened eyes and tears streaming down your cheeks. "I'm going to punch him for this..."

"Don't..." you almost whimpered. "He's not worth it..."

Initially, you tried to avoid looking directly at William, but as he moved closer, offering comfort, you eventually met his gaze.

"y/n... he hurt you – he shouldn't just—"

"Was it true what he said?" you cut him off.

"Is what true?"

"That you're in love with me?" Your voice nearly trembled as you posed the question.

Even though you knew this wasn't the immediate issue to focus on, it was all you could think about. Despite Auston hurting you, you felt you could get past it. But with William, was it true? Was he truly in love with you?

"Yeah... maybe," William admitted softly, briefly averting his gaze before meeting yours again.

You were stunned. William was your best friend, and while you knew there was a special connection between you, you had never imagined he might feel something deeper for you.

Back in Stockholm, spending those days together, there were moments when you’d wondered if there was more to your relationship, if your feelings for William were more than just friendship. However, he always seemed so relaxed and nonchalant around you. And his calm demeanour led you to believe he'd never develop romantic feelings for you. So, you buried your thoughts and emotions, and when Auston showed interest, you thought that might be a more viable option.

But your feelings for Auston never came close to what you felt for William. Perhaps that's why you weren't as hurt right now. In fact, you were more taken aback by William suddenly confessing his feelings for you – feelings he had never expressed before.

"Maybe?" you chuckled lightly, seeking clarification on his response.

"Well, yes... I mean, I do – I just... I didn't think it was a possibility..." William let out a deep sigh, finally admitting those feelings he had been grappling with for so long.

"But what if it is?" you softly inquired, looking at him with concern in your eyes.

William pondered for a moment on how to articulate his emotions. Verbalising his feelings wasn't his strongest suit, but he knew he had no choice. And this was his moment to confess everything.

"Then I'd want nothing more than to just kiss you and tell you how much more you deserve than what you've been offered... I want to... I want to tell you that you're the most amazing person who's ever come into my life... that those weeks in Sweden made me realise I'd probably never meet someone like you ever again... and that you're the most beautiful girl in the world; and I never want to let you go – even if it meant seeing you date my best friend."

You were left speechless. You had never witnessed such vulnerability from William. He had never spoken like this before, expressing his emotions so openly and directly from his heart.

Your heart sunk in your chest, racing faster, as your eyes remained fixed on his. In this tender moment, all feelings for Auston vanished, and all you could focus on was the Swede standing before you, pouring out his heart and confessing his deepest emotions.

All you could manage was a whisper, "Willy..."

But before you could utter another word, William's emotions took over, and he cupped your face, leaning down to tenderly connect your lips in a heartfelt kiss. Your lips softly met, sharing the air between you, before he gently pulled back.

"y/n... I'm in love with you... and I probably have been for a while..."

Your eyes met his once more, and a gentle smile graced your lips as happiness surged through your body.

"I'm in love with you too, Willy," you confessed softly. "But next time... you should probably tell me that before somebody else does..." You chuckled lightly, and he joined in.

"Yeah, I know... I'm sorry. I guess I'm just a hopeless romantic idiot."

"Perhaps," you teased, flashing him a sweet smile, "but you're my hopeless romantic idiot."

And once again, he pulled you in, tenderly sealing the moment with another soft kiss.

#my asks #william nylander imagine #auston matthews imagine #toronto maple leafs imagine #wn88 imagine #nhl hockey imagine

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theresattrpgforthat · 10 days

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Oooo you know what I haven't seen a lot of? Games meant for long term play between two players. Id love to see that!

THEME: Long-Term 2-Player

Hello friend, here's a few specific recommendations, but you'll want to take a look at the bits I recommend at the end as well!

Afterglow, by Fistful of Crits.

It started when a WIZARD cleaved apart the temple into two. Because, in the cyclical way of things, one ideology eventually wins out over the other. The Celestial Cycles shatter and pour away, blending into the colour of their worship into tones of soft purple and creamy orange hues.

Now there is no more day or night, no rising or setting of the Godly tombs that float in carefully calculated arches through the sky: there is only the AfterGlow and the wake of a different world.

AfterGlow is a solo or co-operative play journaling TTRPG game. Become a Dawncarver Acolyte of the Light, Imefelga, or a Nightweaver Acolyte of the God of the Night, Elestrell. Expand the world as you explore, search for offerings, fight dangerous threats and discover the mysteries of the Wizard and the AfterGlow.

AfterGlow is designed using the Firelights system, which was originally designed for solo play, and inspired by games such as Hollow Knight. As a game system, I think it’s one of the games that’s meant to last longer than just one session, and since AfterGlow uses the same bones, I’m guessing that it could work as a longer game as well. Just keep in mind that this game isn’t inspired by Hollow Knight; it’s more of a fantastical post-apocalypse.

Empanel, by Bogus Cheesecake.

The year is 1915 - you sit inside a dreary office, working as a telegraph operator for the North American rail system. The dots and dashes of the telegraph machine spell out a dreary, unfulfilling existence. Until one day, a new kind of message appears.

Empanel is a two-player narrative roleplaying game based around telegrams and queer yearning. Completely diceless, Empanel's messaging-based gameplay is designed for long-distance play between you and a partner.

Empanel provides a new spin on two-player conversational roleplaying. Step into the shoes of a middle-aged telegraph operator (or anyone, we're not your boss) and explore the feelings of reconnecting with a love long past.

I find that two-player games designed to happen over long distances naturally lend to more long-form play, although that is partially because of the time it is expected to take to send messages to each-other. That being said, even if you don’t live that far away, you’ll be expected to think carefully about the messages you send to each-other, as well as spend time encoding and decoding every letter you send. If you want a game about longing and secrecy, you might like this game.

Trading Places, by Jamie Sands.

Trading Places is a game for two people - one who has an ordinary life, and one who has an extraordinary life. They both keep journals. One day, they wake up in each other's bodies. What happens next is entirely up to the people playing - will your story be a poignant examination of what a life of value means? Will you create a holiday-themed romantic comedy or an existential horror?

This game doesn’t look like it has a recommended play time, and since it’s a journaling game, you’ll likely need to wait for each other to submit journal entries. I think the fact that you can change the tone of this game makes it really flexible, so you can talk with the other player about what kind of story you’d like to share. I also really like the idea of exploring the life of another person, and coming up with that as you go.

One More Thing, by Nathan D. Paoletta.

Somebody has been murdered! The murderer is sure they will get away with it - but the detective is on the case, and quickly sees the truth of the matter. Both of them know that the murderer did it; the question is how to prove it.

Your story begins with the murder, and continues as a back-and-forth drama playing out in the view of an imaginary television audience. The Murderer never gets away with it, but they can control how the audience sees them in the end. Were they justified in their crime? Did they see no way out of an untenable situation? Or are they a cold-hearted monster who took a life for their own material gain?

One More Thing tells compelling stories of criminals bought to justice, in the finest tradition of TV detective dramas from the 1970s to today.

This game feels episodic, but I don’t think that would stop it from being something a bit more long-form. You could run this either with one player embodying the same detective over a series of different murders, or you could alternate between roles, perhaps following the stories of two connected detectives, or switching between different tones.

Hit the Road, Jack, by Urania Games.

Hit the Road, Jack is a solo/duet game of adrenaline rush and creeping terror. Of chasing and being chased, of being forced to face your sins or to leave them all behind. It is a game of cat and mouse between two characters that we call the Jacks.

This is a game that mentions blood, violence, drugs, crime, and death - both deaths you choose and deaths you don’t.

Jack Be Nimble is the sinner, the criminal, and the one being chased.

Jack Be Quick is the lawman, the aggrieved, and the one who chases.

This is their journey cross-country across an empty stretch of highways. By drawing tarot cards and responding to journaling prompts, you will be able to flesh out the nature of these two Jacks, their relationship, and how they deal with whatever the road throws at them.

The game page mentions that there are different lengths of play that you can use for this game, so that tells me that long-form is definitely on the table here. I don’t know how long exactly the game is, but the nice thing about having two different roles, is that you can likely play the game twice, switching roles to give each of you a chance to be each character.

Other Games To Check Out

Little Shepherd, Little Spy, by @psychhound, has a two-player mode called Little Mortal, Little Fey. It’s a game about communication between spies, so I feel like it’s meant to happen over a significant period of time.

There's a lot of GM-Less games out there that aren't specifically two-player but are duet friendly, and are designed for longer-form play.

#tabletop games #indie ttrpgs #game recommendations #dnd #asks #indie ttrpg #duet games

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raschuuuu · 7 months

Text

Summary: Y/N is a famous YouTube vlogger and Ruben Dias a famous professional football player. They've been friends for a few months but never met. Now it's finally time for them to meet but what happens when one of them falls in love?

PART 3

Raiting/genre: fluff, friends to lovers

Pairings: Ruben Dias x female reader

Word count: 1229 words

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

It was 12:23 p.m. when Ruben and I finished our phone call. He told me he's arriving in London tomorrow night and he'd like to have dinner with me, Brett and Arabella. I didn't know what to do, so I was forced to call Brett and tell him the truth. I called him FaceTime and after ringing three times he answered. "Hey, why don't you go to sleep?", he said. "Brett, listen, I have a huge problem," I said desperately. "Hey, what's going on, tell me,"

"Do you remember when I went to Manchester a few weeks ago?", - "Yes...", I took a deep breath.

"You have a boyfriend?" he screamed and he had a big smile on his face. "No, Brett. Now listen to me. A few months ago, Ruben Dias slipped into my DM's, he's a football player in Manchester City. I know you don't know football much as a dancer, but he's pretty famous, and his team has won almost every trophy you can win this year and Brett he is so fucking hot. And when I was in Manchester, I visited him. We're just friends!!!"

Brett listened attentively to me and I saw that he was trying to suppress his laughter the whole time.

"Looks like he's got a new girl and they've been watching my vlog with you. They think you and I are a couple. Now the girl has come up with the glorious idea of going on a double date. They don't know you're gay, I didn't want to tell him. I can understand if you don’t-„

„Girl, are you crazy? Of course I pretend to be your boyfriend. I can look pretty straight and pretend to be straight. Let's go on this double date and make Raven jealous. - "Ruben," - "Huh?", - "His name is Ruben. And why should we make him jealous, I don't find him-„

"Y/N shut up. I know you're into him because otherwise you'd have said I was gay and look at you shaking, so you can't fool me."

The next morning, Ruben wrote me a message that he and Arabella were on their way to London. He sent me an address from a restaurant. He's booked four seats for 7:00 pm. Brett and I met early in the morning, went shopping together, had breakfast together, and got ready for the dinner. We've made a plan that makes us look the best as a couple. His idea was to hold my hand all night or put his arm around me and then he's gonna give me some kisses. I didn't have a problem with him kissing me, I mean, it's not like he's into women again after a few kisses. We called a cab that took us to a noble neighborhood here in London. The restaurant looked so fancy from the outside, and in front oft hat restaurant were so many expensive cars. I've been to this neighborhood a lot, but I've never been to a restaurant or a bar because it's too expensive here. A waiter greeted us at the entrance. I told him Ruben's last name, and he said he's already there with his girlfriend. Brett and I smiled at each other. SHOWTIME. He took my hand when the waiter brought us to the table I saw Ruben and his girlfriend there... Wow, she was really pretty. They got up when they saw us. She was a tall woman with medium-length blond hair, blue eyes, beautiful thick lips, and a fantastic body. I was the exact opposite of her. I was a little shorter, brown hair, dark eyes, and my body was normal. She had a nice tight dress that emphasized her figure. Her butt was very nice, you can tell she goes to the gym a lot. I started to feel insecure and uncomfortable.

Ruben had a big smile on his face and hugged me. "It's so good to see you again, I missed you." He whispered in my ear. I noticed the butterflies in my stomach were just freaking out. When he let me go, his girlfriend came up to me. "Hi, I'm Arabella, I'm a big fan! I love your videos," she said, hugging me. I was really hoping she might be a mean or arrogant girl, but she's a fan of mine, and with my fans, I'm getting weak. I can't be mean to my fans. You still have to stay grounded, and it doesn't make me a better person when I treat you mean. "You're so pretty!", she said. I hugged her back and thanked her. I gave her a compliment back, of course. Ruben and Brett also greeted each other with a handshake, and now we were all sitting at the table. The first 10 seconds were an embarrassing silence, but then Brett eased the situation. That's why I love him so much. "So Ruben hello, it's very nice to meet you and thank you for inviting us. I'm a huge Manchester City fan. Congratulations on the treble this year, you really earned it," Brett said, and I had to smile. Brett did his homework this morning and a lot of research on Ruben and his team. Brett really doesn't know anything about football. He told me he only knows Ronaldo and Messi. Typical. "Thank you, Brett, it's nice to meet you, too," Ruben said.

"You never told me you had a boyfriend Y/N!" Ruben looked me in the eyes. "We met a few weeks ago and you didn’t mention a boyfriend. I was so surprised when I saw the video" –

"I can say the same thing back to you. I guess I just wasn't sure if Brett and I really belong together, but now I know I love him and I want to be with him. I'm sorry I didn't tell you last time Ruben," I said, and when I said that, Brett took my hand in his and kissed me on the cheek.

I saw that Ruben looked away when he kissed me. "They're so beautiful together, aren't they, Ruben?" said Arabella.

I have to be honest, Arabella talked most of the time. Ruben ate his food and barely said anything, but what I noticed was his eyes on me all the time. Arabella said she met Ruben on Instagram. Of course, he slided into her DM's. She showed me her Instagram account in which she had 1 million followers. She also told me that she joined a Love Island season and that's why she has so many followers. She's a typical bikini Instagram model. And she's six years older than Ruben. I was two years younger than him.

Brett and I sat close all night, and we had to suppress our laughter all the time. Because we sat so close to each other, he whispered things in my ear like hot Ruben is and that they really thought he was straight. He kissed me once in a while on my cheek. Ruben didn't say anything the whole time. Arabella's phone rang and she apologized for a moment, saying it was an urgent call. Brett winked at me and said he was going to smoke a cigarette. Now Ruben and I were alone at the table. I smiled at him, but he didn't smile back. "Are you all right?", I asked him. "No. I don't want you to be with him."

#ruben dias fic #ruben dias imagine #ruben dias x reader #ruben dias #ruben dias x you #ruben dias one shot #football fic #football imagine #football one shot #mancity #manchester city #erling haaland #imagine #fanfic #football #premier league

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