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orbitariums · 4 years

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𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐦 | 𝐜𝐲𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐱 | 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 (𝟏)

welcome to the first part of girls on film!

i made this thinking of steve having his first experience with a cam girl. i hope u enjoy!!! this is a series, next part will be coming soon!!!

description: steve rogers is in a rut. for the first time in forever, captain america wants to have sex. the only problem is that he doesn't have a girlfriend, and he's certainly not the kind to have a one night stand. a cam site, girlsonfilm.com is his last resort -- and thank god for it, because through there, he found you.

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warnings: sex work, porn, dirty talk, smut, age gap

Steve Rogers was filled to the brim with lust. It was a feeling he didn't get often. But for the past couple of weeks, it had been creeping up on him like a bad cold. He was distracted, not like himself, zoned out. He seemed detached and uninterested, all to hide that on the inside he felt like a cat in heat. He didn't know what to do with this sudden burning. He knew if he had sex, or sexual interactions, the conflict would at least begin to resolve itself.

He'd be sated in the way he desired and knew he wanted -- needed. But there was a problem with that as well - he wasn't in a relationship at the moment, so he couldn't have sex with a partner. He didn't even have time to initiate a relationship and get to that level. And Steve Rogers was good old fashioned Captain America, who didn't want to have a one night stand just to fulfill his desires. He would feel uncomfortable just diving in with a girl he hardly knew because he felt like he needed a stronger connection and because he didn't want to use someone in that way.

And masturbation hardly helped. He needed the real thing, and more than a few rounds of it. He didn't quite understand why he felt this way, it was so rare. Of course he was a man with a sex drive, but it was typically limited to finding a woman on the street attractive or wanting to start a relationship with a woman who wasn't tied to his job, or figuring out the new things that he was attracted to.

He raised his eyebrows at his own self sometimes - who knew he liked high heels so much? But this was different. In this case, he absolutely needed relief, and soon, lest he fall further down the rabbit hole of indifference and inner frustration.

But it took a few weeks for anyone to really say anything about Steve's changed attitude -- his apparent unconcern, irritation, bits of anxiety and hiding his feelings. Specifically Tony. Steve was sitting in the meeting room with seemingly no purpose, just staring at the TV ahead of him, with his legs spread out. He was gently bouncing his right leg, thinking embarrassingly NSFW thoughts in his head.

That was when Tony walked in, yet to be noticed by Steve, who had pretty much spaced out. Tony raised a suspicious brow, then whistled loudly, making Steve look his way, tuning back in to Earth.

"Steve-o, good to see you," Tony grinned, the corner of his lip turning up. Steve narrowed his eyes slightly at the sound of the annoying nickname.

He sighed, his voice lower and huskier than usual, as it had been during these past few deprived weeks,

"Tony. How can I help you?"

"I think today what we're asking is- how can I help you? Been meaning to talk to you," Tony quipped, and Steve sighed even heavier internally - there would be no good coming from this, he thought. "Step into my office!"

The words were like knives on a chalkboard. Tony was on some type of mental health bend ever since he had finally started therapy - he felt the need to check in with his fellow Avengers, typically inviting them to an "office session" with those very words. There was no resisting. Steve knew better than to try, and slowly rose to his feet to get up and talk with Tony.

"Attaboy," Tony patted Steve's back, leading him to his office where he sat down behind his desk and had Steve sit on a chair in front of him. He adjusted his tie and cleared his throat, and clasped his hands together. "So. What's been going on?"

Steve winced slightly, confused and a little embarrassed. He knew he had been acting different, but he didn't think it was that bad. And he didn't want to have to admit what was going on with him to Tony.

"You can tell me," Tony prodded, and Steve frowned slightly.

"Why'd you call me in here?"

"Rogers, everyone's been seeing that you're acting... iffy lately. Less control freak, less robotic super-soldier, less-"

"Alright," Steve cut Tony off, furrowing his brows together.

"I've seen it too, but it was Nat who asked me to say something to you. She thinks I'm actually good at talking to people, can you imagine? Anyway, you gotta own up to it. You've been off these past few weeks. Any reason why?"

Steve took a breath, opened his mouth to answer, then closed it. He blinked and folded his arms in front of his chest. If he wanted to hide that something was going on, there was no use anymore. Tony leaned back in his chair, waiting for a response.

"I..." he started, and Tony became intrigued, leaning forward. "I just..."

Tony raised a brow,

"Cat got your tongue? Y'know what Steve, I'm thinking maybe you need someone you can really talk to. If it isn't me, which... wouldn't make much sense, maybe it's someone else. A girlfriend?"

"That's it!" Steve exclaimed, a bit too excitedly. He recomposed himself, nodding calmly. "That's exactly it. I need a girlfriend. But more specifically, I need... what a girlfriend can give me. Does that... make sense?"

Tony raised his eyebrows, very intrigued now, and a little smirk appeared on his lips. He nodded slowly,

"Oh it makes a lot of sense. I would've thought you'd have no problem with that, my friend."

Steve sighed, folding his arms,

"More trouble than you'd think. I want this, but... I don't have time to go out and meet someone and then... you know-"

"Bump uglies."

Steve's face morphed into a concerned grimace at Tony's choice of words, and he continued speaking with a raised brow and pursed lip,

"Right. And, I don't wanna just..."

"Have a one night stand."

“Right," Steve nodded, slowly becoming more and more uncomfortable with the topic of sex although it was all that was on his mind. "So I'm just... a little bit conflicted, that's all."

Tony seemed to understand, but he was also slightly amused, smirking slightly,

"So, let me get this straight. Captain America's been acting disconnected and aloof because he's horny?"

Steve made a face like he'd eaten a sour candy, and could hardly even nod in replacement of a verbal answer. Tony laughed a bit, clapped his hands together, and began to commend him,

"Amazing! You know, I always wondered - the guy doesn't bring any women home, he doesn't have a missus, what the hell does he do? Does he even think about it? I was concerned for your health, honestly, but I didn't want to overstep."

Steve chuckled,

"Not like you."

"Sure," Tony brushed off the comment, then returned back to the subject, narrowing his eyes slightly in curiosity. "You do jerk off though?"

Steve shrugged.

"I try. I typically... need more, though," Steve became sheepish, his cheeks turning a slight red at the delicate, private manner of the topic.

Tony seemed very surprised by this admission, but very satisfied with the honesty,

"Thank you for sharing, Cap. So your dilemma is - you're tied up because you want to slime the shield, but-"

"Have sex," Steve interrupted, his eyes pinching shut. "Just say have sex."

"Alright- there he is. So, you're conflicted because you want to have sex, but you don't have time for a relationship, and you're too wholesome to have a one night stand."

"You could say that," Steve nodded slowly, agreeing - this talk with Tony was beginning to seem more feasible. Still embarrassing, but a conversation he could have. And if anything good could come from it, he was willing to continue.

"Honestly, pal, you want a solution?"

"Please," Steve leaned forward in his chair, the word coming out more desperate than he had even meant it to. His mouth was becoming dry - he was tired of the futile devices he'd been left to at his own hands.

"Alright. Listen, I'm a changed man, really. But before Pepper, I was what you might call a sugar daddy. You know, I'd buy hot girls things in exchange for sex, or just because I wanted to. I suppose a part of it was due to satisfying my own needs. Now, I know that's not exactly what you're looking for, but hear me out. I'd usually find these girls on cam sites."

"Cam sites?"

"Oh, Steve-o. You are in for a wild ride. These women... they're phenomenal. You wouldn't even believe.

In that hour, Tony had gone over the basics of cam sites. He had emphasized the fact that while cam sites weren't as wholesome as Steve might be hoping, there were many ways to develop a personal relationship with cam girls (that was what they were called, the women Steve would encounter), and receive sexual gratification. It wasn't physical sex, but it might tide Steve over for now, until he could develop those relations in real life.

So, Steve agreed. And it had been on his mind for the remainder of the day. The talk helped though - Steve was slowly coming back down to earth. Just having an option that appeared slightly viable was helpful, and he was looking forward to that night. It was a bit unorthodox, especially for someone like him, but if he could find that real connection Tony was talking about... he'd give it a shot.

So that night, after a hot shower, lots of contemplation and heavy thoughts, he got into bed, freshly clean and warm, shirtless and in a pair of boxers. He placed his laptop in front of him, his room dark and quiet, and typed "girlsonfilm.com" into the search browser. His face shifted almost as soon as he got onto the page - there was a collection of photos of girls, many of them naked or almost naked, smiling up at the camera or sporting their best sexy pouts. Already it was a bit overwhelming, and it was only the welcome page. Tony had told Steve it was best to sign up, so that was exactly what he did.

He used his middle name, "Grant", rather than Steve - because you could never be too safe, and he signed up for an account. Before he was able to view the collection of cam sites, he was given a plethora of interests to pick from. Some were fetish based - BDSM, foot play, scene play, squirting, etc. Others were based on the ratings of the performers, some based on race - Steve raised a brow at that category.

As if race would be a factor to him. He honestly didn't know what to choose from. He hardly knew his interests sexually, and just barely knew what personal qualities he wanted in a girl. So, he pressed the "just get started" button at the top, and it randomized the video selection. He wouldn't be missing out on a thing.

Steve's cheeks grew redder and redder as he scrolled through the site. All the selections were showing previews of the live videos, and seeing so many naked women on screen at once made Steve's face get hot. He clicked through various videos - some girls were simply chatting, others were moaning too much to get a real word out, and others were undressing slowly or praising their customers. They were all interesting and talented, yet none really stood out to him. Up until he found you.

You called yourself "moonrose haze", and you were genuinely smiling, something that made Steve feel less desolate. You seemed to be enjoying yourself, and it seemed as though this were all completely natural to you. You were happy and calm and wistful all at once. The people in your comments were tipping you and asking you to do certain things — Steve was almost confused by some of the requests; why would someone want to see you suck your own toes? But this didn't take away from you. He was enthralled — you were young, gorgeous, and already he liked you as a person though he knew nothing about you. And when he heard your voice, this liking towards you only grew stronger.

He just watched for a while, listening to you speak.

"I just got out of the shower," you grinned dazedly — that would explain why you were wrapped in a white robe, your hair still slightly damp and clinging to your skin.

His eyes flickered down to the comments:

Bob - bobnewman14 How was your shower, ms. Haze?

Nick - virgodick Shower? without me?

"Very funny, Nick," you replied, rolling your eyes playfully. You grinned — you seemed to have a sense of humor, and a few regular fans with whom you had a relationship with. Steve felt encouraged by this, maybe then it would be easy for him to make a connection too. You shifted purposefully so that more of your skin was showing, and instantly got a few more tips. "And my shower was great, Bob. How are you?"

Steve just watched for a while more as you interacted. You weren't doing anything overtly sexual, but your presence was enough. And sure, you were teasing, elongating your performance enough to keep your tips going. You took in a deep sigh, and Steve was entranced by the sound of it, by the softness and color of your lips, the way your hair brushed against your (insert color) skin.

"So... I wanna do a private chat tonight. And I'll be choosing one lucky winner. So comment your name below if you want a 40 minute session with me," you explained. You were articulate and right to the point — Steve liked that about you.

The chat started filling up with names and requests for the private chat. Tony had told Steve about this. He was reluctant at first when you said it, but as he saw how many people were requesting, he realized that now was his chance. He wanted to get to know you as soon as possible, and in a private session he could also get that sexual gratification he was seeking, and have it all to himself. But how to stand out to you?

Tips. Steve saw that you were almost to your tip goal for the night, so he decided he would help you out a little more. He pressed the tip button and entered the value without even batting an eye — he had the money for it and more: $360. He watched as your eyes brightened up and your brows raised, a little gasp escaping your lips.

"Wow, we have a new and very generous customer. Thank you!"

He smiled to himself, and this feeling of satisfaction was rare. He then requested a private session, and it was only a few beats before you accepted and Steve was then rerouted. What first popped up was a webcam that asked "join audio and video?" Steve contemplated it — he wanted you to be comfortable, but for obvious reasons he didn't want to reveal himself just yet. So he clicked "join audio without video", and was then transferred into a private session unique to him. You could hear him, you just couldn't see him.

The two of you were alone, no other customers in sight. And the 40 minutes would be great for getting to know you, so Steve was glad. You were smiling, that genuine smile that met your sparkling eyes.

"Hi!" you cooed. "What's your name?"

"My name's Grant," said Steve, using his fake name. He was speaking into the microphone so you could hear him, but you couldn't see him.

You smiled even wider,

"Hello, Grant. Nice to meet you. It says you joined this website — 33 minutes ago? You're brand new aren't you?

Steve grinned a little, he liked your slightly teasing personality, and you could hear his bemusement in his voice, "Very new. It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too, Grant," you liked him— he seemed formal and polite so far, and he had helped you succeed in reaching your tips goal for the night, you hardly had to do a thing after he joined your live session. "And thank you so much for the tip. You have no idea what it means to me. I'm currently trying to pay for school and be an artist at the same time, and also pay rent. It's kind of crazy. I work another job outside of this."

Steve was surprised. He knew cam girls usually did their shows for an extra source of money, but you seemed to be juggling a lot more than he'd expected,

"It's my pleasure. And I'm sure you'll succeed in everything. I want to help you if I can."

Your heart felt warm. But this was a little too good to be true — you had lots of customers, but it wasn't often that a man came on offering the kind of help you figured Grant was insinuating right away. You went on anyways, but didn't give in just yet,

"You're sweet. So what can I do for you?"

Steve panicked at the question. He didn't know what he wanted to see. He wanted to talk first, then maybe try something sexual towards the end of your time together. For now, he wanted to talk. He wanted the illusion of a connection and relationship before he got the sexual satisfaction he needed.

He shrugged a little, forgetting that you couldn't see him, and tried to sound natural and not nervous,

"I was thinking I could just get to know you for now, if that's alright with you."

You laughed, because you were amused by his charming nature.

"It's more than alright," you flirted gently, and Steve smiled slightly. "You're the customer, Grant."

He was thrown off by the use of the fake name, but he'd have to get used to it.

"So, you go by Moonrose?" Steve asked, curious about your stage name.

"That's me," you quipped, and Steve got a rise out of the confident look that spurred on your face as you confirmed. It seemed you really enjoyed this job and your interactions with others, and he liked that.

"What made you choose that name? It's very nice."

"Thank you, Grant," you flashed a quirky smile. "Well, I love the stars and the moon, I love flowers. I love earth and space. What better way to combine them both than to do it through this?"

"Couldn't agree more," Steve grinned. "It sounds like you like nature a lot?"

"Love. I'm studying environmental policy and astronomy at school. On the side I try to make money as a designer, and I also work at an office for a state rep. And this, of course. I like this a lot. What about you, what do you do?"

Steve admired you for your willingness to change the world, and for how much you balanced at once. If there was anyone who understood stress- it was him. And you probably dealt with a lot yourself.

"Oh, I-I'm uhh... I'm a... scientist," he blurred out the first thing that made sense, and it made a lot of sense - he was surrounded by scientists and scientific experiments - hell, he was one. He could carry a short conversation about the same things as Tony. This would work. "An engineer, actually," he continued.

"Oh wow," you raised your brows, impressed. "Lots of math, I imagine. Hey, you could tutor me if you really wanna help me. I love astronomy but it's kind of kicking my ass."

Steve smirked at your honesty and attitude, and the way you leaned into the camera to express interest in his "life."

"I could, if you want me to," Steve replied, knowing he wasn't that great with math.

You laughed — the sound of your laugh like music to Steve's ears,

"I'm kidding, I won't put you through that. But you're so sweet to offer. I like you."

"I like you," Steve returned, the words flowing so effortlessly out of his mouth. It was easy to talk to you, but you were a force of a woman, and he liked that about you.

You laughed again, and Steve chuckled quietly.

"Hmm," you hummed to yourself, and placed your finger on your lip. "You have this really nice, deep voice. Not creepy or anything. I could listen to you talk for ages. We have over thirty minutes left but I'd love to do another private session with you. Hope I'm not asking too soon."

Unbeknownst to Steve, now you were nervous. It had happened fast, but you felt the chemistry between the two of you. You felt like he was different, and although you couldn't see him, you had an attraction to him, and not just because of the money. So you wanted to talk with him in private again, and you were nervous to ask so soon in the session because you didn't want Steve to feel pressured or on lock, but he seemed to be enjoying himself.

Steve was overjoyed though. He wanted to see you again, and had been planning on trying for another private session as well as watching your public, live cams. He felt like he knew you already, and getting to know you was a breeze. More would definitely satisfy him.

"I'd love to see you again," he leaned back into his pillows, feeling more comfortable.

You smiled, trying and failing to hide your excitement as you giggled gently,

"Great. I do live shows every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, just so you know. Private sessions vary."

"I'll clear my calendar," Steve joked playfully, and you smirked.

"I like you," you said again. "So, what made you want to come on here, if you don't mind me asking. You're just very new, as we discussed."

"Well," Steve cleared his throat. He figured he might as well be honest and talk about his problems— you would be the one helping solve them. "I've been having this issue. I've been wanting to be intimate for a while now, but I don't have the resources for that. I want the physical intimacy, but I don't have a girlfriend and I don't have time to get one, and I don't want to do one night stands either, I prefer a deeper connection. So this seemed like a good option. A sort of compromise."

"Wow," you nodded slowly. You got lots of responses to that question, and they all varied — some were similar to this one, but this seemed more unique. You took in everything he said, but couldn't help but prod playfully. "How old are you, Grant? You seem to be very traditional!"

Steve chuckled. Little did you know, this was a loaded question. But he could answer it anyway,

"I'm thirty seven. You?"

"I just turned twenty one! My birthday was two days ago," you replied, and the age difference came as a shock to Steve. He didn't mind it much, but he didn't want to feel like a perv. Then again, you were both adults, but you still felt so young to him. Then again, this was unlike him to begin with and this was a temporary means for satisfaction.

"Wow, you're young. Happy belated birthday," Steve replied, his brows still raised.

"Thank you," you smiled. You began to lay down on your side, playing with the strings of your robe. "I am young. I bet you like that, don't you?"

Steve felt nervous again, a pang in his chest. You were flirtatious by nature, even in regular chats, because you were used to sexual interactions with customers. He felt himself blush slightly at the vulgarity of the simple question— you were practically asking if he had a thing for the age gap. He didn't really know the answer to that question, but he spoke before his throat ran too dry,

"Yeah, I- I do. You're young and bright and..."

You were gazing into the camera, listening to him and batting your lashes, making him stumble on his words. He swallowed hard, saliva coating his dry throat. He shifted slightly, pushing his bedsheets back— it was getting warm.

You just shook your head playfully,

"You're too kind, Steve. Now, are you sure there's not anything I can do for you? Now that you've told me about your problem, I'd love to help you solve it."

Oh. Steve hardly knew what to say in response. But it wasn't long before that feeling crept back on him. He was undoubtedly turned on by you and these unfulfilled opportunities. So he cleared his throat,

"Well. I know we can't touch each other, but I find that... doing it myself... doesn't always suffice."

"I can help you with that," you bit down on your lip. When you realized Steve wasn't sure what you meant, you continued to explain, your voice getting naturally lower and sexier. "I mean I could help you get off. I'll do whatever you want me to do, make it feel like someone is really there with you. A bit like... phone sex. Except you'll be able to see me."

Steve was overwhelmed by the option, but he felt it might help him out. Tony had spoken about it briefly and it was also one of the main things that had attracted him to the site. So he'd try it out.

"That- that sounds great."

You grinned, genuinely excited. Steve — or "Grant", to you — seemed new to this entire experience. You were overjoyed to be his "first."

"So... tell me what you want." A pause. You chuckled a little, biting down on your finger. "Do you know what you want?"

"Honestly? Not really," Steve laughed, and you smiled.

"Well, let's figure that out." You sat up on your knees in your bed and glared down at the camera, a look in your eyes that both intimidated and excited Steve. You were so ready for him already, so interested in his desires and helping him reach them. "Can I take this off for you?"

"You— the robe? Uhm— ye-yes," Steve stammered, taken aback by the look in your eyes, the sound of your voice, and what you were proposing.

You laughed huskily, shaking your head,

"Don't be nervous, Grant. Just do what you want, and tell me what you want."

Steve watched as the robe slowly came off, paying more attention to the way it slid down your shoulders, revealing your arms. The way it pooled at your knees. Then he paid attention to the supple skin of your breasts, the way they perfectly fit your body type.

He was breathing a bit heavier and he found that his boxers were becoming tighter, watching you sit there in front of him, your entire body exposed. It had been quick, yes, but so had the connection. He felt a little more comfortable doing it because of how much he felt like you connected.

"Is that good for you?" you cooed, pouting slightly as you let your hands run along your sides, and then cup your plush breasts, the flesh oozing between your fingers. Steve's throat ran incredibly dry at the sight. You were beautiful and effortlessly sexy, and seeing you naked for the first time in front of him felt so oddly intimate. He swallowed hard and nodded.

"You're fuckin' beautiful," he replied under his breath, gaining a cheeky smile from you - of course he was satisfied, of course you had taken his breath away.

"Thank you, baby," you donned the pet name for him quickly and easily, shifting your shoulders back and forth as you moved rhythmically, teasing him just a bit more before you gave him any more content.

"My god," Steve groaned. He couldn't stop his eyes from looking up and down your body, even if it was only on a screen. He felt like you were close to him, enough that he felt like you were there with him. You were talking to him, actually engaging with him, trying and succeeding to fulfill his sexual needs. He felt himself growing hard underneath his boxers, and his jaw clenched as his hand reached down to palm himself on instinct.

You sighed out, and bit down on your lip, pushing your hair behind your ear as you lay back on the mattress slightly, slowly opening your legs. As your sensuous thighs parted, Steve let out a suppressed moan as you exposed the soft flesh between your legs. You were turned on by the situation as much as he was, your folds glistening with hints of arousal. Your fingers danced around your thighs and your stomach, skillfully avoiding that bundle of nerves and everything close to it.

"You like that, Grant?" you asked, and Steve fell through, shaking his head and gripping his erection in his strong, large hand.

"Call me Steve, that's my real name. Ca-call me Steve," he stammered, not thinking of any type of consequences - he was still using a fake username, and you had no idea what he looked like. His identity wouldn't be guessable, and he was being careful otherwise. He just knew that he only wanted to hear you moan his real name.

You didn't mind the switch. You knew lots of customers used aliases to protect their identities for various reasons.

"Okay, Steve, do you like seeing my pussy spread open for you?" you asked, your voice reeling him in.

A grunt escaped Steve's lips as he continued to palm himself over his boxers, waiting for instruction from you. He felt himself throbbing underneath his touch.

"I wanna hear you say it, honey," you smirked, deciding you'd have a some fun teasing him - he didn't seem the dominant type, at least not yet. You could help him figure out his fantasies by instructing him. "Can you tell me how much you love it?"

Steve practically whined, his voice coming out in desperate strings.

"I love it so much. I just want to see you touch yourself for me, doll," Steve replied, surprising himself with the request and the use of the pet name.

You moaned, leaning your head back at the sound of his voice, which made you even more wet for him and made you feel all warm inside. You liked hearing him express what he needed, liked knowing you were the one who was fulfilling his needs.

"Mm, god yes, I just wish you were here so I didn't have to touch myself," you bit down on your lip, your hands caressing your chest, spreading your legs a little further. "Can you touch yourself too? I wanna fuck myself while you get off to me. How's that sound, Steve?"

Steve felt like he was on fire, his jaw clenched to the extreme, his eyelids heavy and his eyes darkened. It was as if you had unlocked a different, unseen side to him -- the side of him he'd been so desperately trying to satisfy for all that time.

"I can do that, doll," he breathed out heavily, his voice constricted and dark.

You moaned quietly as you let your fingers travel between your legs, teasing your own clit as you circled it with your fingers. Despite how quickly things had escalated, Steve felt close to you already - and felt like he was with you even more now. Watching you touch yourself was the breaking point for him, a needy grunt escaping his pink lips as he reached down his boxers, guiding his hard cock out. It sprung up against his stomach and he groaned at the contact against his skin.

"God, your moans are so hot. I want you to stroke your cock for me, okay baby? I want you to be as loud as possible, I want it to feel like I'm there with you," you instructed slowly, your eyes scrunching tight as you continued the circles against your clit, making your fingers move quicker and rougher.

Steve's eyes were trained on your fingers against your heat, how wet you were getting for him, almost not believing how much it turned him on.

"Mhm," he hummed in agreement, starting to close his hand around his erection, slowly but surely stroking it up and down, almost painstakingly slowly. He wanted to last for you.

"You're so good for me baby, fuck," you dipped a finger inside of yourself, easily sliding into your slit because of how wet you were for him. "Fuck, I can feel you inside of me. How many fingers, Stevie?"

Steve groaned under his breath at the sight of you fingering yourself, your middle finger pushing slowly in and out of your hot slit, stroking himself harder now. You asked him a question, but he didn't quite understand,

"I-I'm sorry?"

"How many fingers to make it feel like you're inside of me?" you huffed out, working your finger faster inside of yourself.

When he realized what you meant, Steve felt himself twitch inside his hands, and little spurts of cum shot out from his tip, unexpectedly. There it was, that simple release, even if slight and not complete, it was still extremely satisfying. Normally he'd last much longer, but just you saying that had triggered him, and he was taken by surprise when he came. He felt like he was finally purged, huffing out loudly as he kept going,

"Fuck, I just came, baby."

You made a face, surprised,

"Really?"

"Keep going, I can keep going," he panted, continuing to stroke himself, slowing down a bit.

"Yeah?" you bit down on your lip, excited by him and his stamina. "How many fingers, baby?"

"God, fuck..." Steve didn't even care about how much he was swearing - why should he? "Three fingers, doll."

"Mm, I love it when you call me that, Stevie," you smirked, and you slid one more finger inside, gently scissoring yourself open. "Are you that big, baby? Three fingers?"

Your coquettish whimpers sent Steve into another dimension. He wanted you even more, but this felt like he was really there with you, your erotic narration giving him the illusion that you were there, being intimate with him. He nodded, a knot tied in his throat,

"Just for me."

You cried out when you pushed the third finger inside, feeling almost all the fingers on your right hand fill you up, your stomach twitching with that orgasmic feeling,

"Oh my god, yes. You're so big, Steve, your cock is stretching me out. You like how I feel around you?"

Steve could hardly reply, but he choked out a response,

"You feel so good around me, baby. Like an angel. So good around my cock."

The dirty talk, which he usually would find awkward or even out of character, came out so naturally, not forced. You brought it out of him with ease, bringing him to climax over and over. He was focused on all of you, every part of you. Even with your head rolled back, eyes in the back of your head, lips parted, and legs spread for him, he found you beautiful, admired the way your skin glowed and the way your hair hung down.

"I just wanna be good for you," you thrust your fingers inside of yourself, maneuvering them so well that you couldn't get enough. "I wanna come for you, Steve."

"Mhm, just wait for me, darling."

You pouted, curling your fingers and pushing them in and out as fast as you could, still trying not to come,

"Baby, you feel so good. You're so big, fuck."

"I know you wanna come baby. You're so wet for me, god damn," Steve groaned salaciously, observing how you quite literally dripped all down your thighs.

It only took a few more minutes of dirty talk and stroking himself for Steve to reach his second orgasm of the night, watching as you changed positions to your knees to finger yourself from behind, your head turned so you could watch him. He could see every reaction on your face, how your eyebrows twisted and your lips twitched.

"I'm coming again, doll," Steve swallowed hard, watching as the thick white ropes spilled out from him, onto his bedsheets and rock hard abs, panting and moaning loudly into his built in microphone.

"Oh, I wish I could see you come for me, Steve, feel it inside of me."

"Come on, come for me, baby."

You let out a shriek of satisfaction as you began to release around your fingers, rocking back and forth on your hand as you rode out your high.

"Oh fuck!" you cried out, your eyes scrunching shut. "Steve, I-"

"That's okay, Moonrose," he called you by your stage name for the first time since you had started. "Shit, yeah, that's it."

You kept riding out your high until you were finished, your entire body shaking even by the time you were done, laying face first in your sweaty bedsheets, your hands at your sides. When you got yourself back together, Steve could go again, but he was sated for now, since he knew you were probably done.

"How was that?" you panted, finally turning to face the camera, your entire body hot and flushed.

Steve was smiling, elated. You had done what he had needed, and he felt as if a weight was lifted off his shoulders. Not only did you have that connection, but Steve felt pleasured sexually, as if it weren't just through a screen. He could only imagine what you'd be like in real life, but he didn't want to get too ahead of himself.

"You were beautiful, Moonrose. Thank you, so much, honestly. I-I don't know how to repay you."

"Well. You could pay me," you joked playfully, but Steve was right on it, adding another couple hundred to your account. "Oh shit, really? Oh my god, you're the best."

"You are. Honestly, I've been in such a rut these past few weeks. It's safe to say you helped."

"I'm glad to hear that Steve," you grinned. You felt filled with joy as well - for some reason you felt so comfortable with Steve, so intimate. You wanted to talk to him more. You wanted to get to know him more, and he wanted to do the same. You glanced up at the clock on the top of the private chat, and pouted slightly. "We've only got a minute left."

"I guess this is goodbye?" Steve replied, his brow quirking up in amusement.

"I guess so," you sighed out in pleasure. You paused, then spoke, your voice a bit more serious. "I hope I can talk to you again, Steve. This was... amazing. I feel like..."

"Like I know you," Steve finished her sentence for her, though he hardly meant to. He didn't want this to become anything more than what it was, and though he wanted to build that connection, he also knew he had to be careful and think before he spoke or acted.

"Yeah," you nodded, with a relieved smile. "It's like you sort of understand me, and it's weird. But I love it. It's different. And you were... so fucking hot. Are you really not having sex in real life? Because if you are, I'm not mad. Whoever's getting it is lucky."

"I'm really not," Steve chuckled, bashful at the vulgar compliment. "But thank you."

"Well, ten seconds. Keep in touch?"

"I will. Nice meeting you, doll."

This time you blushed. You really did like that nickname,

"You too, Steve."

And the camera switched off. That night, feeling lighter than ever, more satisfied than ever, Steve could only think about you. But he didn't know all the wonderful things this would lead to.

ok so that's it omg! i hope u all enjoyed this, let me know if i should make a series out of it!!! thank u for reading, have a safe quarantine!

#steve rogers #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers reader insert #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers x y/n #marvel imagine #marvel smut #marvel imagines #marvel oneshot #marvel #captain america #captain america x reader #captain america imagine #captain america x you #smut #captain america smut #steve rogers smut #reader insert

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bigmeatymudcrabchitins · 3 years

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A not-so-brief overview of my Skyrim Dova OCs bc i need to scream to the digital void about my ideas

Freyora Lind, more commonly known by her strange alias “Bjorne Icepick”

A Nord-eventually-turned-werewolf who orphaned during the Great War and taken in by a Dunmeri mercenary whose residence was in Windhelm’s Gray Quarter. Grew up in a cramped boarding house setting among desperate mercenaries of varying backgrounds. Many of them would all come and go, but there was always some sort of a familial bond between them all.

From a young age she got in a lot of fights against people who insulted her for living in the Gray Quarter among the dark elves. Eventually she took a fight too far and was jailed for murder around 14, but was broken out shortly after by a band of masked vampires. Turns out some of her mercenary comrades unwittingly caught vampirism during a contract to clear out a vampire den and had to skip town, but not before ensuring one of their own wasn’t left to rot.

Lived in Cyrodil for about 15 years, but returned to Skyrim pursuing rumors surrounding a cure to vampirism, as her adoptive father would be nearing the end of his elven lifespan and had wished to die a normal death.

Seeing as she was literally a fugitive, and her long-belated parents were somewhat renowned for their battlefield prowess, she took on a false identity. AND an act to match it.

She’ll eat raw meat, chase prey with swords instead of using a bow like a normal person, harp about irrational conspiracy theories, and more. Everyone’s foul reactions to her outlandish act are plainly hilarious to her and only encourage her to act even stranger.

The alias “Bjorne Icepick” was simply the most ridiculous name she could think of.

Not the most morally outstanding. Besides drunken brawling, she’ll steal from anyone who angers her, even if it’s things she literally won’t ever need such as all the goblets in a household. It’s the pettiness that counts. “Try drinking your damn high-end wine now, jackass.”

Calls Dwarven Automatons “Gundams.” Including she herself, no one knows what that means.

Joins the Companions out of homesickness and a desire to fill in a gap that leaving home left.

Hasn’t bothered curing herself of lycanthropy because her whole schtick is being incredibly resourceful, and that includes using any means of power necessary. Still doesn’t fancy Hircine’s Hunting Grounds as her desired afterlife, though.

As her journey goes on, however, her lightheartedly eccentric face starts to fall off as a number of events push her to begin to question the legitimacy of her actions up until that point.

Some of which include the eventual death of her adoptive father (and how she was indirectly responsible for it even if it was what he wanted), Delphine’s ultimatum, the civil war as a collective, learning the tragic history behind the Falmer and the original Companions’ role in it, and killing of Vyrthur (no matter how much he genuinely deserved it).

She grows disgusted by herself down to the core. She takes to skooma to cope, and starts to be plagued by serious skooma-induced side effects. She ends up shutting herself away from all her responsibilities and distancing herself from her friends.

Does she get better? Maybe. I haven’t thought up anything past this point lol

Moureneris Alta

A very, VERY ancient vampiric snow elf, (though it’s notable she was born a considerable amount of time after the razing of Sarthaal)

Survived many atrocities. Stayed in isolation with a band of vampires for countless years out of sheer disgust for the nature of the sapient races. (I’ll explain her full story some other time. It’s pretty complicated)

She was abducted from her isolated lifestyle by a certain person i’ll talk about later. She managed to free herself south of Skyrim, and uh, walks right into that Imperial ambush. The rest is history.

Super ignorant to modern society as a result of centuries of isolation. Exploited for comedic relief. (“What in the name of Oblivion is a Cyrodilic Empire? Are you messing with me? And please, how does levitation magic simply get outlawed by this hypothetical Empire? What are you to do when you fall down a crevice? Just... let yourself perish? How degrading.)

She reintegrated herself into society with vengeance in mind under the belief that all humans are savage bloodlusting murderers who had to answer for their treachery. (And she was royally angry there was no Dwemer left to spite, but partially satisfied at the same time). But she grows conflicted after being shown genuine kindness, even as early as being freed from her binds in Helgen.

Subsequently has a very muddled redemption arc. Queue Dragonborn hero stuff

She has impaired vision, but she cultivated detect life magic to aid her in daily life and combat (think Hyakkimaru from Dororo ‘19 and his soul detection or Toph Beifong from ATLA and her seismic sense). At her peak, she can detect life from about a kilometer away.

She can just barely read, but only if she holds the text incredibly close to her face, not to mention her Cyrodilic lessons were left unfinished after her abduction, making reading a very taxing process. Weary travelers are often spooked at the sight of a floating, ghastly looking elven woman with her nose pressed up against crossroad signs, and it has become somewhat of an urban legend.

Isn’t as nearly as skilled with detecting the dead and tenses up in burial crypts or around other vampires for that reason. Unfortunately, being the Dragonborn and all, she finds herself in a lot of crypts...

When questioned about her background due to her unique appearance: “Oh, yeah. My mother was one of those mer from the east. You know the ones. Dark elves, I think? And my father was one of those er, tall elv- no, sorry, HIGH elves. Yeah. They both died in a big fire or something though. It was horrible. I can’t get the noxious smell or the deafening screams out of my head. Good talk, but never ask me about that again.”

Queue sheltered old immortal antics: “Wow, you’re THAT old? Enlighten me on how it felt witnessing the fall of the Dwemer. Or perhaps the rise of Tiber Septim’s Empire. The Gates of Ob-“ “Oblivion if I know. I lived in someone’s basement for thousands of years. And I still don’t know what everyone means by Empire. You all are messing with me, aren’t you? That really annoys me.”

She ultimately returns to faith in Auri-El and makes it her life’s purpose to help the Betrayed find peace, as well as to seek out any remaining snow elf groups. Probably good friends with Gelebor or something.

Had a crush on Serana. We all know how THAT went. Damned temples.

Was originally gonna spiral into a much darker corruption arc (another ATLA comparison being Jet or Hama) but I just felt bad for her. Moureneris can have a little found peace. As a treat.

That’s her preliminary design made. I’ll need a mod to properly play her, because that right there was made by choosing Dunmer as her race. But I can’t do that. I’m on console, and while I got the Steam port a month ago, my PC’s stone age specs can’t handle Skyrim yet and I’ll need to wait until I can afford a better graphics card (thanks economic inflation)

Alexandre Armasi, jokingly nicknamed Alexandre the Curious

A complete and unapologetic export of my character from a dead and unfinished DND campaign. Except there are no Aasimar in Skyrim, so he’s half Altmer half Bosmer. And his initial last name was Armas but I thought Armasi suited his Skyrim counterpart more, as subtle a change it is.

He’s mainly Bosmer in appearance and constitution, save for his hair and eyes, which are more similar to that of his Altmeri father’s.

I can’t really export his original backstory though because the campaign wouldn’t translate well into TES lore at all.

He’s a writer who came wandering into Skyrim in search of inspiration. While he mainly writes dramatic fables, he wanted to divert his focus to crafting his own bestiary and herbal compendium surrounding Skyrim’s fauna and flora. The ones at home are simply too vague to him!

He’s very altruistic, wishing to spread cheer wherever he goes, through the art of song (even though he was a cleric in DND and not a bard. My bad.) However, many of his verses are just blatant self promotions of his published fables.

But he’s too naive for his own good. Dangerously so. In fact, he says what’s on his mind with little forethought, with little grasp on the consequences of his actions, which lands him in lots of trouble. “I don’t favor him myself, but you guys kill people over Talos worship? That’s not very cool. A bit scary, if you ask me.” or “A Stormcloak rebel? Didn’t your leader kill a bunch of Reachmen rebels years back, or so I’ve heard. By the divines that’s not a man I’d make a symbol of nonconformity.”

He’s also insatiably curious. The type to ACTUALLY shove alchemic ingredients in his mouth with no knowledge of their properties, experiment with dangerous rune spells, throw rocks at pressure plates, and more. Needless to say he’s very accident prone.

Doesn’t know common curse words. People exploit this for laughs. Think that episode of Spongebob.

Everyone is a little baffled that HE of all people is the prophesied Dragonborn of legend. This agonizingly imbecilic writer who has absentmindedly wandered into burial crypts, troll dens, bandit forts, and more, too busy juggling his manuscripts to pay attention to his surroundings.

His past doesn’t exactly reflect his outlook on life. His mother and father fought in the Great War aligned with the Imperials despite their elven background. Both managed to live to see the war’s conclusion, but his father vanished without a trace shortly after, and it seems his mother knows something she won’t tell him.

With plenty of exposure to bad influences, his innocence is slowly lost throughout the course of his journey, and his altruism begins to grow twisted. But nevertheless, he maintains his jovial, social persona, except this time with much darker undertones. Kinda like a creepy dentist or something.

Whoops. He winds up becoming a feared Dark Brotherhood assassin. (Haha get it “Innocence Lost”???) He somehow deluded himself into thinking that the life of an assassin was the right thing to do. But he’s a funky little guy so he gets a pass for his heinous crimes against society

#skyrim #skyrim oc #dragonborn #dovahkiin

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crowmero · 3 years

Text

MCL UL final review

2020 was the year I took the resolution to make peace with MCL and the last thing I wanted to do before taking a break from the game was finishing UL season. I also wanted to follow tetrakys example just to make it more meaningful for me.

For starters I want to thank my boyfriend because he just got super interested to know more about all the games I enjoy or used to and just encouragement to keep playing if I feel like having a hour for myself to enjoy something because he knew how I was super busy and worn out with work at the time. I think he deserves credit on this because he was there supporting me in all this process and was the truly person who would hear me talk and rant about the game and hype with me at a time I didn’t have anyone to hear me because everything was complicated and some of my friends who played the game were also trying to come to terms in their own private way. It was wonderful to have someone cheering me in a positive way, to enjoy the things I wanted to have fun with without regrets. Thank you my dear!.

I feel like 2020 and 2021 have a impact in my general relationship with otome games, between some of my favorites games ending and me slowly drifting away from them. I feel like I’m not the same person that I used to be and that things have changed too, but I don’t feel bad about it. I wish eventually I could go back to many of the games that I used to enjoy but I wonder if in the future there would be another game that would make me hype so much and I that I would devote and dedicate as much of myself as I used to.

Also a lot happened since 2018 and how much hurted for all what happened with MCL. I was tired of feeling bad about it so I felt like I have to come to terms with it. I have carried a lot of weight for other things in my life but never for a game. Is the first time that something like this didn’t worked as a way to cope but more as a way to hurt us. I do wonder a lot of things but are things that probably will never know. The only thing that could have made perfect my way out from the game if that we weren't in the middle of covid and trapped at home.

All that said, let's start talking about every topic on the list below:

LIs and routes

Non-LI characters

Favourite episode

Favourite scene

Favorite Outfit and/or Favourite illustration

Conclusions

LIs and routes

Priya

Priya was my main LI and the one I was more excited about when UL launched before knowing the true about who she was replacing. I’ve get to date her and fulfilled that fantasy. This was the season were we got to know her better, apart from knowing that she was not that good with art (and working on it) and that she loved to write fiction in her free time. I loved that she got more context to her motivations on becoming a lawyer and her family past life on india.

I think for me, the flirting was subtle but it was enough to understand, or maybe was because I was into her since many others just viewed her as a good friend. But that was also actually cool for me, it was cool to have at ally, specially with the assault situation at the start of the game. She was fierce and protective and smart and caring.

But also I felt like the game keep pushing her aside or putting her in the back burner. Several times I was quite annoyed for the little time we get to spend with her (I mean, yes this was a general issue with all the LI’s since all five have to make an appearance in the short span of the episode) and the game will cheat on me when we have a good moment at her side making her run away because he needs to do/to be somewhere else.

I think since the season focused too much on Nath, Priya was one of the characters that got neglected and the sad part is that we actually had time in the last episodes that could had be filled with more trivia, more learning about her. We also didn’t get to meet her parents or family and get to know more about her past than what was said.

Hyun

Hyun is a character I didn’t expect to like on the long run but ended appreciating a lot. He become my second favorite after Priya. I think was the character that got me more confort looking at his illustrations. I wish I knew him better and I think he deserved more, it makes me feel bad that people look down on him as a character.

He is really nice! I really have a change of heart with him. I get that the game will push him onto us, but he is not bad at all. He is really thoughtful and worries about Candy and has cute details with her. Also my boyfriend is like him *shot*. I don't really get the hate on him, I think is just because he is the most normal of the love interest, thus why people find him boring or plain (because he is not a rockstar, not a bad guy, not our teacher).

So he is like "the safe guy" you choice in real life because he is not full of BS and drama, he is just normal and tame, and some people just want that, but I get that doesn't work as a fantasy for some people. He is the guy who is prepared for everything and is there for you if you need him. Still impressed to where Hyun finds the strength to organize a party after all the stress with the thesis and cook for a whole army.

Castiel

I have really few thoughts for Castiel since my Candy and him don’t liked each other much in high school and the few moments I came to feel ok with him was because he was Lysandre’s best friend (My Candy’s LI). He really changed, he become more calm and collected and overall mature while he softened his original nature. It was a surprise he was not the first to start a fight but Nathaniel. I think I was lucky to spend time with him since he was more busy with his own life and personal business.

There were really sweet moments from him like when he give us his old MP3 while we are in the infirmary, and some more chill like when we are waiting for the oral presentation at the end of the season and we share some company. We also find that he tries something with Candy if we’re not dating him, so that was unexpected and thrilling, it was a surprise he have this feelings for Candy or he wondered for her all this time. On the bad side, he tried to patronize Candy sometimes or just butt in Candy’s business with unrequested help and I’m glad Candy called him out on that.

Rayan

I don't find him creepy, I was actually interested in him because I'm almost his age and I find also interest in more older characters like him. Also I reflected that I can relate to him in some personal stuff (My thing wasn't as tragic, but I can understand him). Sadly I think his personality type is not for me and that's why I was kinda disappointed. What I was thinking that could have worked better with him is that instead of making him feel interest for our character since the start, for me would be more natural that our character makes the first move instead. So in that way, people who wanted to go for him from the start could unlock this path and players who don't want that, just carry on without worrying about him. I understand that people could change his mind over the course of the game and choosing his path from the start could be extreme, but also the option in episode 8 was not better. I don't think that an option like the one I suggest is that crazy. Overall, I don't think he was creepy, he just feel odd for me, and everything happening with him in a romantic way just didn't make sense if you're not into him, even the drama is pointless. Also It's weird because I don't feel he is the creepy type at all, he was just victim of the writers who forced everyones to be in love with Candy from the start instead of just building a relationship more naturally. But yeah, they needed to move the story quickly, no time to bother that much.

Nathaniel

While revisiting my past notes about him, I more come to the conclusion that I really hated him and his guts in this season. It was worse because this whole season focus on him and how much he changed as a person. I was forced to deal with him and... I saw that as a waste of my time and AP.

I think Candy was really reasonable with him (I clearly remember how Candy would confront him and he just will go on circles and nonsense to try to avoid giving answers while acting like a poor lost soul). I also had to put with his nasty behavior and babysitting him when things got worse like when he was stabbed. Like at some point I couldn’t care less but the game would keep shoving him on my face.

I’m surprised myself of having a heavy negative opinion about him. The sad thing is that despite my Candy being dragged in his whereabouts, being dragged for other characters like Amber (because Candy is the salt of the earth) to look for him and all the things, at the end Nath manages to disentangle himself all alone without our help or presence needed, and I understand how disappointing that was.

Like I feel sorry for the poor souls who loved Nathaniel in HS just to have a alien put on his skin and be someone completely different. I know this change also helped to bring attention to new players who love this kind of characters or he acted as a replacement for the old players in the crowd who needed to fill the gap that the old deleted characters left.

Non-LI characters

Chani was my favorite and I think was the favorite for many on this season. She became one of Candy’s BF and she also is caring, smart and supporting. I loved her own whole aesthetic and vibe, I wish I could have such a good and interesting friend like her. The episodes I enjoyed the most involved her (included all the weird trio wet dream haha) and she actually make me feel better and reassured in general while confronting all the bad arcs and misfortunes of the season. She also gift to us a pretty amulet and was one of the few extra items we got for free like in the HS times.

Yeleen was a character than for starters I really wanted to get to know better and become friends with. It makes me sad all the hate she received and also I got myself some angry person calling me out for liking her (that was awkward buddy). But i loved her developed and how she changed as a person. The bad side is that I wished we could develop a more intimate relationship with her, but I’m happy with the good influence that was Candy for her and she take the bull by the horns at the end of the season. Her farewell letter was really touching.

A side character I liked from the beginning was Morgan because he was pretty handsome and I wish we knew more about him since he was also good vibes but got eclipseted when he becomes Alexy’s boyfriend. I still remember when we though he was Kentin in the trailer.

I don’t really have positive opinions for the rest of the cast or I just really don’t care much. The other character that got a bit of redemption in my eyes was Rosa. It was hard to be friends with her because how much she changed as a person but also how much her new self contradicted with her past self. It was worse because she was there supporting and cheering my relationship with Lysander since she was dating his brother Leigh in HS but in UL was pushing me to look somewhere else. It was also weird for me to be hanging of with Leigh but not Lysander when we weren’t that close to Leigh in the past. I still believe that what happened to Rosa (the drama!) It was done so that we felt pity and sympathy for her. The thing that probably make me feel better about her was when she organized that date at the beach for my Candy and Priya, it was sweet, it was the moment when I really felt guilty about how I feel about her.

We should talk about Amber and how much of a failed and inexistent redemption arc was that? Adding that when we got on the topic of cyberbullying she got to be on the spotlight but we couldn’t talk about what happened in HS. Also she was dragged my Candy around for the sake of Nathaniel and she also give us a big scare when she faints in that bathroom stall...

Favourite episode

For some reason, Episode 11 got good grades from my part as chillest long trip (I HAVE TO TRUST MY OWN SELF ON THIS) but of course Episode 16 was second best because the sex dates (If only we didn’t have to deal with Nath at the start of the episode...)

Episode 11 really got me thinking in a lot of things and make me remember some good memories. Chani was incredible in this episode, she really cares a lot about Candy. I wish a moment to chill right now the same way Candy and Chani go out to eat sushi and to the snake room, I miss doing this kind of things before Covid hit my country and everyone. In the same way, Chani has some very wise words to offer, things right now are so crazy and been stuck at home is just making everything just worse, taking care of you mental health is difficult, social media doesn't help either (Rosa did the smart call there deleting her social media) and fandom spaces right now are not doing that well.

In general, I enjoyed how chill was everything for Candy and how she focused more on herself than the rest of the world. Like I wish she focused more on herself that in trying to save the world. All with Castiel was a trip from start to finish. All the description of the new video got me thinking in whatever video from MTV from the 2000's! I'm also surprised with how smooth he was in the scene in the apartment, was not difficult to me to imagine all the situation, and for a moment I wanted, really wanted to go his way, but since Priya is waiting for me and because I didn't expect of my HS mate to be soo into Candy, I stopped and leave. Was a interesting develope. It also got me thinking how some old classmates would think very different of me right now that from the child I was 15 years ago.

An well, we got to the Priya's moment, and... I really don't get why all that jealousy with Tara haha, my Candy is not like that at all, BUT I really wished more time with her (I know, the drama), but this episode really got us the perfect ending we didn't get in the past episode, just my Candy chilling, hugging and kissing her beloved.

When I played episode 16 at first was with Priya and later did a replay with Hyun and honestly, Hyun date was bananas! I wish I could do all the dates to see how they play because all look cool on their own way. I didn't expect my Candy to be this horny for Priya (?).

After the traumatic events in the start of the episode, we get to chill with Chani because she is such a good friend and she also craft us an amulet to protect us from all the terrible things that happen Everything gets better in our date with Priya. We celebrate that she would be able to do her bar exam and we spend the day chilling on the park chatting, but Candy falls asleep in the middle lol. Priya invite us to spend the night since her roomie left for vacation. Our Candy reveals she still owns her HS underwear (?) so she proceeds to buy new one (I know underwear is expensive but five years is a lot, those things have holes already). We cross paths with Hyun and is hilarious, he was so embarrassed lol. Back in our date, time to get really nervous. I'm loving that all this characters are now into horror (Thanks Chino!) and Priya propose to watch " The haunting of Hill House". Anyway, it was hilarious how everything played because Candy rEaLly WanT It! but at the end, Priya falls asleep and Candy is too self conscious of Priya sleeping half naked next to her that she couldn't close her eyes all night long. Then morning arrives and everything gets really hot and yeah, I didn't expect that Candy was that thirsty omg. Coolest ending.

Hyun date was bananas! I have to say it again because was so fun and cute all along: the fact that Candy surprised Hyun in the Cosy Bear since he have to work that day, that he is up to solve conflict with actual talking when we got a cheating scare, that he is a good person to helps people, even novices in online games. Yeah we also learned his weird thing for shoes that don’t reflect in his actual fashion lol. AND THE DATE! It was so hilarious that they were about to watch the wrong version of Toy Story! POOR HYUN! This dude was fucking prepared for the day, he brought everything in that magic bag, the ending was hot and satisfying, he really surprised me.

Favourite scene

NATHANIEL SHOWS IN THE MIDDLE OF CANDY’S STUDY SESSION WITH EVERYONE THERE AND PRIYA IS ABOUT TO KILL HIM BECAUSE MY CANDY CONFIDED ON HER AND NATH IS COMPLETELY CLUELESS ABOUT IT AAAAH YEAAAAW!

This was the indiscutible winner because despite there was great moments to talk about, this was the only that really make me feel actual excitement for this game (IS WEIRD I KNOW!).

Favorite Outfit and/or Favourite illustration

Illustrations

This priya Illu is one of my favorite among the rest.

This one was when I noticed Hyun’s great body.

This is illu with Priya is also very sweet too.

I felt really touched with this illu with Hyun.

Candy’s expression is so funny.

This was one of the cutes too and really funny<3

Honorable mention

I think this was one of the most controversial Illus we got and hot too.

OUTFITS

Ep 5 & 6 (and I forgot to add Ep 4!) but a big part of this season clothes were incredible.

Ep 11 & 12

Ep 15 & 20

Honorable mention

Ep 9 party!

Conclusions

Was I angry and disappointed when I started UL?

Yes

Have I made peace with it?

Yes, that’s what I wanted to achieve doing this. I also feel like there is not much I can do or think at this point, I’m kind of resigned.

Did this stop me from enjoying UL?

The “angry and disappointed” part sure played into my original run and perception of the game. I think that this was the case for many others since the wounds were open fresh at that time. But it really took me until the middle and end of the third season (!) to change my perspective (aka like 2-3 years later). I would said that after all that time what bothered me the most that was stopping my enjoyment of the game was how long it takes to play it for free and how that limits you from the whole game experience.

Would I have enjoyed it more if BV hadn’t done us so dirty?

Of course! I ended enjoying the change of tone. I do think many players were precisely looking forward to see our favorite characters in a different phase of their lives. When the company lied to us is when everything burned. I think is a matter of opinion at this point: if Lys, Armin and Kentin stayed, I wonder how people would have taken this whole season since there was a lot of negative critic and people saying that it was for the best that the old boys weren’t there because they probably would have ended totally changed like Nathaniel. They also could have ended in the back burner like the new LI’s and that also wouldn’t be fair. But I’m not sure how much of that negative critic is fueled by resentment or is biased by nostalgia since many didn’t bothered to play and just took what others were telling them without making their own opinion. For me was important to make my own opinion.

This season had their ups and downs, was hard to navigate with all the imposed changes, it was baffling to see how all the characters changed for good or bad, the dialogue options we got where I couldn’t relate at times especially at the begin, the thoughts on reflecting in all the very good things we got that also make me think I wished Lysander was around for all that.

I definitely don’t like the idea of replacing Lysander with Priya, both characters were unique in their own way and both deserved love and respect. Now that the first generation of My Candy Love ended it’s weird to be in this position were everyone is throwing a party around you in slow motion and feeling you don’t belong there because you weren’t lucky enough when picking your LI.

I was thinking on coming around at some point to play LL in the future (who knows) despite right now I don’t think I can make myself to do that and because I have the feeling that I will got more of what I got from UL. UL ending was fitting for me as a “what if...” My Candy got a different path in life where Lysander is not around and having the extra of looking forward to a happy bright future. I still sincerely wish that I could have had more than what we got.

#my candy love university life #mclul review #long post #this took a lot of me #mclul #review #mcl #cdm

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seiin-translations · 3 years

Text

2.43 S1 Chapter 3.1 - The Dog’s View and the Giraffe’s View

1. FRESHERS

If my one accomplishment in life is teaching everyone how cool Odacchi is...I’m okay with that

Translation Notes

1. Volleyball and ballet in Japanese are written in the same way (バレー)

2. Yuichi Nakagaichi is a former volleyball player who played for Japan in the 1992 Olympics

3. Tadahiro Nomura is one of the most famous judo competitors in Japan who won three Olympic gold medals in a row

Previous || Index || Next

When he first entered high school, “Oda” was second from the top for the boys on the class register. The seats in class were temporarily allocated according to student number, so he was second from the front, two files from the window.

However, he couldn’t see the board very well in this seat due to an obstacle. If he were to apply a nicely fitting expression to it, then it would be as though a tree had spurted up from the seat of the chair. An extremely tall back completely blocked his sight. His shoulder blades were at the height of Oda’s line of sight, who was sitting normally.

“Whoa,” Oda bent back in shock, then leaned over his desk and poked the tall guy. “Hey. Hey!”

“Mmm?”

The tall guy twisted his long back around and placed his elbows on the back of his chair. His sleeves of his brand-new blazer, the same as his own, was already a little short at that point in time, his wrists peeking out quite a bit. His arms look long too… Oda, out of habit, imagined how far he could reach if he added the reach of his arms to his height.

“You’re huge. The biggest in this class. How tall are you? Were you the biggest in middle school too? What club are you in?”

“Club? I’m not in any, but…”

When he showered enthusiastic questions on him, the other boy leaned away from him suspiciously. A mild personality could be inferred from his gentle-looking features reminiscent of a horse-like creature, as well as a low voice like his throat was slightly stuffed, coupled with a relaxed way of speaking, however…

“Huh, with that height? You’re kidding, right? What a waste.”

Oda’s eyes widened, and the boy frowned, as though he had said something that hurt his feelings.

“You’re prejudiced to think that if someone’s big, they’re in some kinda sports club. I don’t really like exercise. There’s a lot of guys who say stuff like that, but it’s annoying.”

…He was the type of guy who spoke harshly and without restraint from the first meeting. Oda felt daunted at the gap from his first impression of him, but he immediately collected himself. They would be classmates from now on. It was much better to have someone to state clearly what they hate rather than let it go vaguely.

“Hey, wanna join the volleyball team together? I played it all the way through middle school and was thinking of playing it in high school too.”

“Volleyball? The ball sport?” (1)

After a short while,

“You?”

He said with a faint mockery in his voice. Oda was discouraged. It was the first day of school. Anticipation bounded in his chest and there was still absolutely no reason to doubt his own future.

“Well, it’s true that I’m small now, but I’m gonna grow tall in the future. They say there’re guys who grow thirty centimeters in high school, so I’m sure that I’ll have caught up to you by third year.” For some reason, at that moment he never doubted that he would be as big as the guy in front of him after two years. “And then I’ll be a super ace, like Gaichi.” (2)

“Super ace? What’s that, sounds strong.”

Oda’s eyes sparkled like he had been waiting for that question.

“It’s a team’s coolest, most dependable attacker.”

After that, he enthusiastically talked about how Nakagaichi Yuichi was from Fukui Prefecture and how amazing of a player he was until the new homeroom teacher arrived and made them stop chatting. The tall guy didn’t seem particularly impressed as he listened, but after school that day, he followed Oda, who immediately went to visit the boys’ volleyball team.

This was the second boy in attendance, Oda Shinichiro’s encounter with the first boy in attendance, Aoki Misao, who was one spot before him. That was exactly two years ago from now.

***

I. Prohibition of the posting and distribution of flyers other than in designated posting areas

I. Prohibition of any solicitation activities that obstruct traffic, on campus or off campus

I. Prohibition of any solicitation activities accompanied by the transfer of money, goods, privileges, etc.

I. Prohibition of any solicitation activities that could be seen as coercive or intimidating, as well as forcibly making someone join a club

The above was the notice handed down every year by the student council during the welcoming period for new students in early April, but practically no club strictly adhered to those rules. In actuality, the student council took a stance of toleration unless some sort of problem occurred.

That was why, during this season, as soon as school let out, the hallways became so crowded with people that it became difficult to walk. Those who indiscriminately pushed flyers on any new student coming out of their classrooms, those who tried to get their attention by offering sweet conditions such as answers for past exams or joint training camps with girls’ schools, those who wrapped their arms around the new students’ shoulders and trying to bring them into a room, extortion showing through beneath their friendly behaviors—. A large number of flyers were trampled underfoot, staining white like a cherry tree-lined path after a spring storm scattered all the petals.

Oda was considerably fed up with the tumult that filled the hallways, and he advanced through the crowd while hugging his enamel bag to his chest. Although he thought that the student council should manage it a little more, every time he saw the innocent faces of the new students whose shoulders didn’t quite align with their uniforms, he thought that it might be insensitive to say so. Although they were overawed by their upperclassmen’s overbearing approach and backed away, their cheeks were flushed with excitement and anticipation and their eyes were sparkling. He probably had that same face as he walked down this hallway two years ago.

The him from two years ago who triumphantly entered high school with pure anticipation and groundless self-confidence had already somewhat transformed into being part of his dark history, and he felt embarrassed when he recalled it. That was two years ago. At some point during those two years, I think I was forced to acknowledge my own limits…

“Hey, you, yeah you, walking over there.”

Someone heartily placed their arm around his shoulders from behind.

“Ooh, nice abs. If you’re this fit in your first year, you must have been in a decent sports club, right? Which club? Baseball? Soccer? Wanna try judo? You’ll be in the lightweight division at a tournament in no time. If you do soccer, there’s a chance you’ll be on the bench until graduation, you know?”

His abs were being rubbed while a huge guy was leaning on him and making him slouch over. “Hey, stop it!” Oda twisted around and pushed the other person’s elbow aside.

“Ah? Oh, what, it’s Oda. Sorry, sorry. I got it a bit wrong.”

“Not just a bit. You got it completely wrong.”

“Well, you’ll do too, Oda, you’re an instant asset. You can still switch clubs now, right? I’m seeing a second Nomura Tadahiro (3) in you, Odacchi. I don’t care if you’re in two clubs at the same time either, if you want. Let’s accomodate each other, seeing as how we’re both minor clubs.”

“I don’t know who Nomura is. If you have the time to invite third years, then go get a first-year.”

“We already lost all the good first-years. It’s all about soccer for them. I guess judo really is that uncool. It has a stinking image I guess.”

“Well it is uncool. I’m in a hurry.”

He was getting bitter, so he dealt with him bluntly and started walking.

“Odaaaa!” A rough voice chased after him. When he turned around, the stern face of the tall judo club member popping out from above the heads of the students crowding the hallway.

“I’m serious. The only club that wants you is us, you know? You don’t have to do volleyball… Why volleyball of all things?”

It’s none of your business, he cursed in his mind, faced forward, and squeezed through the crowd of people. Even when he thought he got out, his enamel bag that was wider than him got caught and he stumbled backwards. He frustratedly pulled on the strap and held it to his chest once again.

Why volleyball of all things, you ask? He had already asked himself that a long time ago without being told that by others. Did he miss the chance to give up? Maybe if he had switched at an earlier stage, there would be something else he could have displayed his power at? I don’t know, I don’t think there is something like that in this world, but maybe there is.

But, this year would definitely be the year where I’m glad I continued. This year, we’ll definitely get stronger. Even if I can’t do it by myself, the actors are coming together.

A feeling of exhilaration gradually welled up from the pit of his stomach. His steps, which become a bit heavy, lightened. He held his bag, raised his head that was hanging down, and looked forward. Unable to suppress his excitement, he hastened to the room.

For the Nanafu Seiin High School boys’ volleyball team, today was the first day of practice for the new first-years.

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

When Oda changed into his practice clothes and went to the gym, the second-years were in the center of preparations with the new first-years helping out as well. When the third-years were all there, they would look good as a team. After all, during his second year, after last year’s third-years retired, there were two people in Oda’s grade and three in the grade below, so the total was a meagre five people. It was a situation where they didn’t even have the head count for a game.

Four provisional admission forms were received three days after the entrance ceremony. That could be called an excellent result. I don’t know how many people will stay after this, but assuming they’ll all join officially…

“Eight people…ah, nine including me?”

How can a court not look so lonely when there’s nine people?

As he stood in place at the gym entrance for a while to take in the scene, Aoki approached him with a wry smile.

“Oi, oi, don’t tell me you’re getting emotional from just this?”

“I’m, I’m not getting emotional!”

He looked away to gloss over the embarrassment. In the first place, his neck got tired when he looked this guy in the eye and talked. Not liking how the shoulders of Aoki, who was standing next to him, trembled slightly as he suppressed his laughter, he made a stern face on purpose.

It was just as Aoki said. How could he be feeling satisfied with this stage? The Inter-High-slash-prefectural qualifiers were at the beginning of June, two months later. He would be picking the starters from these new members at once.

“Whew, this really puts the high in high school.”

A first year said with his mouth wide-open, after the first- and second-years finished putting up the net. He seemed to have volleyball experience. His shoes were Mizuno Volleyball, and you could see that they were worn in. He still has iinnocent, middle school student features, or rather, he seems spoiled, but…he’s big. Though not as big as Aoki, he was definitely over one-eighty. It seemed he would be useful just by having him stand in the center.

“Wanna try hitting one?”

Oda called out as he walked up to the court.

“Is it okay?”

It was a look of irrepressible joy despite his shyness. Yeah, that’s nice. That’s a good face.

“Where are you hitting from? You can just choose your strong spot.”

“Then, I’ll start from the back, right in the middle.”

He was a bit surprised that he requested to do back row attacks without hesitation. Not center, but a side hitter? The first-year flexibly used his knees to bounce twice before lightly running to the court end. “Kanno, give him a pass.” The second-year Kanno picked up the ball Aoki rolled to him and assumed the position of receiver. Oda went to the setter’s position, close to the right front. His position wasn’t originally setter, but he wanted to get a first taste of this raw material to see how good he was.

Kanno sent forward a light overhand pass. As a preliminary test, Oda started with a slow high set—

“Oi!?”

The first-year kicked the floor with his legs, and by the time the ball might or might not have left Oda’s fingertips, he was already jumping. It almost looked like the floor itself had elasticity and added power to his jump—he was that high! And not just that, but far! His body, which was bent back like a bow, jumped nearly three meters in one go from the front of the attack line to the net.

But of course, the set didn’t meet him at all. Before Oda’s high set even reached the top of its parabola, the first-year refreshingly and very energetically attempted to hit it and missed, and unable to kill his momentum, went under the net and tumbled all the way to the other side of the court. There was even time for Kanno to nonchalantly walk right underneath the ball and catch it as it fell after drawing a huge arc.

“O…oi, are you okay!?”

He was stunned for a moment, but then realized what happened and rushed over. They couldn’t afford to have a new team member get injured on the very first day. “Sorry—!” The first-year said. He was relieved to see him suddenly raise his upper body up from his spread-legged forward bending position, looking surprisingly unconcerned.

He’s pretty flexible…with that height…? From Oda’s experience, big guys had stiff bodies. He himself was fairly flexible, having properly did stretches since middle school. He secretly thought that it was one of the few physical advantages he possessed. This first-year had easily overturned that. This is a bit…no, very frustrating.

But, what was that timing just now? Didn’t he jump after he saw the set? “Huh, that’s weird,” the first-year muttered to himself, tilting his head.

“Well, that’s enough entertainment for now. Assemble!”

Aoki clapped his hands and called the other team members over.

Facing the captain and vice-captain Oda and Aoki, the three second-years and four first-years stood on the right wing and left wing respectively, standing moderately spread out. Kanno was also participating today’s gym use day, so it felt good to see everyone’s faces and start the new year off right. The new members, including that astounding first-year from just a moment ago, looked a little nervous, their cheeks unconsciously slackening with their innocence.

Aoki handed him the forms they were made to fill out when they tentatively joined the team. He flipped through the four forms in his hand. The provisional admission form had a common format for all clubs, requiring students to write down the club they wanted to join, class, full name, and middle school. Obviously, all four forms had “boys’ volleyball team” written for the first item. That one line written in poor handwriting on each of them was dazzling…If he got emotional here, Aoki would laugh at him again.

“Now, we’ll have each first-year introduce themselves. Class, name, middle school, height, and position if you have experience. If there’s another position you want, you can say it. If you don’t know because you’re a first-timer, don’t worry. First is…”

He read aloud the first form.

“Nagato Ryo. Where are you?”

The first-year on the far left answered with “Here!” almost immediately. He wasn’t badly built either. He remembered seeing his face at the middle school prefecturals last year.

“Nagato Ryo from Class 1-E. I’m from Monshiro Middle. My height is probably around one-seventy-eight now. My position was pretty much the center.”

Fourth in the prefecture, Monshiro Middle. He exchanged a glance with Aoki and nodded.

“All right, next. Kuroba Yuuji.”

This time, there was no one who answered immediately.

“Hmm?”

He looked up from the sheet of paper. The one who had introduced himself as Nagato earlier poked the person to the right of him with his elbow. It was the first year who had swung and missed earlier who answered “Here” while looking down with Nagato’s elbow in his side.

“Kuroba Yuuji from 1-C, I’m from Monshiro Middle, now I’m probably one-eighty-three or four or something like that. I played left-side and right-side…”

While talking, that Kuroba was glowering at Nagato next to him. When he looked, he saw that Nagato had his hand to his mouth with his shoulders shaking.

“What’s going on here?”

The two’s faces stiffened when Oda’s tone turned sharp, but…

“It’s nothing. I’m Kuroba Yuuji.”

Kuroba named himself again while seemingly reluctantly giving Nagato the side-eye, a “pff” sound burst out from Nagato’s mouth.

“…Senpai. It’s Yuni. The reading.”

Kanno interjected from among the second-year right side players. “Ah,” Kuroba said and turned protesting eyes to Kanno. Come to think of it, Kanno was also from Monshiro Middle.

“Well, if that’s true then say it earlier. Why didn’t you correct me?”

“It’s fine. I will change my name starting today.”

Kuroba said with a solemn face while the tips of his ears were bright red. “You’re gonna change your name starting today?” Oda’s temple twitched. Is this guy an idiot? Nagato was clutching his stomach and bending over like he couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“Senpai, apparently his name got laughed at a lot in his new class today. When he was asked the reason for it, he said it was Yuni from ‘universe’, and everyone said it was a super over-the-top name. That’s why you’re sulking, right, Yuni?”

“Shut up…no one said anything in middle school.”

“Nah, I thought that too, but I knew you since first grade so I missed the timing.”

“Say, say stuff like that earlier! You’re making my wounds worse.”

The other two first-years, who had been just standing there with confused faces at the back-and-forth between the graduates of the same middle school, laughed reservedly. “Sto-stop laughing at me!” Kuroba said, aghast. Oda sighed.

“Isn’t it fine, Yuni from ‘universe’? Who named you?”

When he interjected, all four of them reflexively straightened their postures and contained their laughter. “Grandpa did…” Kuroba answered embarrassedly with his head hung. “The Buddhist priest at the temple decided the number of character strokes and read it as Hirohito at first, but Grandpa said he changed the reading since he wanted it to mean ‘May you be able to reach the universe…’”

The person himself didn’t seem to like it very much, but Oda was impressed by that origin. That’s nice…he thought again. The other first years other than Nagato seemed to have come out of their shells with this episode. They were already familiarly whispering and poking each other. He made the people around him like him, perhaps because he had a strange, hopelessly unguarded character to him. There was a big difference between having a moodmaker like that on the team and not having one. And of course, the first thing his eyes were drawn to were the height he was blessed with, and the jump power he displayed earlier. The suppleness of the body led to less chances of injury.

That’s nice…but…it’s frustrating. Two feelings were jumbled within him—the sincere feelings of welcome as a captain, and envy mixed with jealousy as a fellow attacker.

“Kuroba Yuni, eh. I don’t approve the name change, so keep it. Okay, next!”

When he turned over another temporary club entry form, he saw that there were no more people from Monshiro Middle School. He looked over them starting with the last one first, just to be sure, but that was also wrong. I assumed that he’d be among these four, but…

“Kuroba, Nagato, there’s another guy coming here from your school, right?”

The two first-years, who had gone from poking each other to joking around with each other, immediately froze. Kuroba’s reaction was especially conspicuous. His smiling face stiffened in an instant, and his huge body seemed like it shrank a size.

“What’s wrong?”

The two made noncommittal answers and looked away from Oda.

“Haijima goes here, doesn’t he? Haijima—Kimichika.”

When Oda impatiently repeated that, Nagato gave Kuroba’s profile a meaningful glance before nervously speaking.

“That guy, Haijima, stopped showing up to practice after prefecturals, and he doesn’t seem to be playing volleyball anymore.”

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#2.43: Seiin Koukou Danshi Volley-bu #2.43: seiin high school boys volleyball club #2.43 book 1 #2.43 translation

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elisajdb · 4 years

Text

GoChi Week 2020: Day Three: Third Child

Snippets in Time:

Expanding Family

Month Two

Goku wasn’t sure what happened but something forced him awake tonight. Rolling on his side, he reached for ChiChi. His closed eyes opened when he couldn’t feel her beside him. A sliver of light from the bathroom door and ChiChi’s Ki told Goku ChiChi was inside. Goku laid back in bed preparing to fall asleep when his sharp ears picked up the sounds of sobbing coming from the bathroom.

Knowing something was wrong, Goku got out of bed. He slowly opened the door to see ChiChi sitting on the edge of the tub crying. Her hands were buried in her face, so she didn’t notice him.

“ChiChi?”

ChiChi gasped, startled at Goku’s appearance. “Goku.” ChiChi wiped her eyes. “Do you have to use the toilet? I’ll be out in a moment.”

“Why are you crying?” ChiChi didn’t answer. In fact, she looked terrified. “What’s that?” he asked of the plastic sticks besides her. “Those look familiar.”

“It’s nothing,” ChiChi said as she reached for the sticks but Goku was faster.

He picked one up and sniffed. “Hey, this smells like you, ChiChi.”

“Goku, it’s….” she sighed, “a pregnancy test.”

“Pregnancy test?” He remembered those. When ChiChi checked to see if she was pregnant with Gohan, the sink was covered with tests. He looked at ChiChi, understanding her reaction. “Oh.” Goku sat beside her. “It’s okay, ChiChi. We can try again right now for a baby.”

“No,” ChiChi shook her head. “You misunderstood. I’m pregnant, Goku.”

Now Goku was confused. If ChiChi is pregnant, why is she crying? “Don’t you want a baby?”

“Do you?” ChiChi threw the question back at him.

Goku rubbed the back of his neck. “I never thought about it but, sure why not?” ChiChi wasn’t smiling. “Why don’t you wanna have the baby?”

“I do but I don’t want this baby to go through what Gohan and Goten went through.” Judging from the blank stare on Goku’s face, he didn’t know what she meant so ChiChi explained, “You missed seven years of Gohan and Goten’s lives. Both very formative. You didn’t deal with Gohan’s depression after you died or watch him grow into a man. You missed a lot of firsts for Goten and didn’t have to console Goten when he couldn’t participate in father/son events. I don’t want to put another child through that.”

He understood ChiChi’s concerns but Goku argued, “But that happened because I was dead. I’m alive now. I’ll be here for the baby.”

“For how long?”

That remark stung but ChiChi had a point. “I can’t predict the future but I wanna be alive for a very long time. You know there will be other fights but dying is a last resort.” He put his arms around ChiChi and hugged her back to his chest. “I’m sorry for dying on you twice, ChiChi, but the next time I die, I want it to happen many years from now and I want you to go first.” ChiChi gazed up at him. Fresh tears were in her eyes. “I wanna be the one who waits.”

“Goku…..” ChiChi whispered awed. “Thank you.”

Month Three

Vegeta rubbed his left shoulder as he stepped out of the gravity room. It was a good workout, but he was ready to take a shower and relax for the evening. He entered his bedroom where Bulma was on the phone. He ignored her talking as he gathered a change of clothes from his chest drawer when he heard Bulma say,

“That’s great, ChiChi! We have to throw a party in a few months.” Vegeta rolled his eyes. Bulma and those parties. She always finds an excuse to have one. “Ah, come on. It’ll be fun and you may be the last one in our group to do this for a while.” Vegeta turned. What did Bulma mean about that? “The next person will probably be Gohan and Videl.”

Vegeta observed Bulma puling the phone from her ear. Even from his spot he could hear ChiChi yelling about something. What did Bulma do this time to provoke her?

“I’m only saying, ChiChi. I won’t be next. Vegeta and I aren’t planning any now.”

Now Vegeta wanted to know what was going on. He turned to Bulma with a fist hand on his hip. He sent her an ‘I’m pissed and get off the phone look’ to her. It took a few moments but Bulma eventually noticed. “I’ll come by later this week and we can go shopping. Bye.”

Bulma tapped the ‘end call’ button on her cell phone when Vegeta asked, “What was that about? What aren’t we planning that Kakarrot’s wife is?”

“ChiChi’s pregnant.”

“Pregnant?!”

“Yeah! I was surprised myself.” As Bulma talked, Vegeta rushed to Bulma’s desk and sifted through the papers in the drawers. “She’s six weeks. I thought ChiChi was done having kids. Gohan’s finishing high school and Goten’s been out of diapers for years. To start over again with that age gap between the kids,” Bulma shook her head. “Not for me.”

When Vegeta didn’t say anything, Bulma looked in his direction and noticed Vegeta tossing paper after paper out of her desk drawer. “What are you doing?” She walked over to him. “You’re making a mess.”

“Looking for—ha! This!” Vegeta pulled out a blue notebook. He turned several pages, read the content and laughed victorious! “Yes! I was right!”

Bulma crossed her arms over her chest annoyed. “Right about what?”

Vegeta turned the notebook around. On the paper were a list of names of everyone except the Son Family. The names started with Bulma and Vegeta, including Yamcha, Krillin, 18 and ending with Oolong and Puar. Next to each name was a date and money amount. By Vegeta’s name was a date, a week off from today’s and 100 zeni. “I won the Baby Pool! There’s 3000 zeni in it. Pay up!”

Month Four

She made a mistake looking at the moon. It was by accident of course. ChiChi woke up needing to relieve her bladder. As she washed her hands, she noticed the full moon in the window but looked away too late before realizing what she had done. ChiChi made the mistake looking at the full moon while pregnant with Goten. It created a very sexually frustrating night for her.

ChiChi didn’t have to worry about being sexually frustrated since her husband was alive but, whoo, the effects of the full moon were hitting her hard. Her breasts throb, she could feel moisture between her legs and tingles of pleasure pulsing from her warm core as her body was filled with a deep, burning need for sex. Just thinking about Goku filled ChiChi with a strong urge to jump on him, rip his clothes off and attack him with kisses, bites and licks before plunging his tool in her wet home riding him with all her strength the rest of the night.

Refusing to wait anymore, ChiChi climbed back in bed and snuggled with Goku. She began her seduction by nibbling his ear while her fingers caressed his chest, pinching his nipples. It didn’t take long before ChiChi’s touches awakened Goku.

“ChiChi?” Goku murmured sleepily. He grunted at his ear being tugged by ChiChi’s sharp teeth. “What are you---ah,” his words cut off at ChiChi stroking his penis.

“I’m hungry for Saiyan meat,” ChiChi whispered in his ear. “You smell so good.” She licked the right side of his face. “I love your taste.”

“Oof!” Goku grunted as ChiChi straddled him. Above him ChiChi pulled off her nightgown. His eyes stared at her swollen breasts; lips licked at her stiff nipples. His right hand caressed the swell of her growing stomach and his nose was teased with the tantalizing smell emitting from between ChiChi’s legs. Whoo, she was ready! ChiChi always responded a certain way when she wanted intimacy but Goku couldn’t recall ChiChi acting like this except…. “Did you look at the full moon?”

ChiChi responded by gripping his boxers and ripping it open. Her lips licked at the sight of his swelling penis. “My prize.”

“Hey!” Goku complained. “No fair. You can’t look at the full moon without me.”

Goku turned his face towards the window but ChiChi slapped him hard turning his face away. “My turn,” ChiChi snarled. “My turn to only see the full moon.” Stunned at ChiChi’s aggressiveness, Goku relented. He watched as ChiChi lower herself further in bed. Grabbing her breasts, ChiChi wrapped them around Goku’s thick penis and squeezed firmly.

“Ngh!” Goku groaned. It wasn’t as tight as being inside ChiChi but it still felt good to have ChiChi’s breasts wrapped snuggly around his penis. “Feels good, ChiChi. Keep……” Her warm mouth covered the head of his penis sucking Goku as her hands constantly move her breasts, squeezing, moving up and down in a thrusting motion as it smothered Goku’s cock.

“Hah,” Goku hissed through his teeth. His hips thrust upward to keep in sync with ChiChi’s loving attention. It wasn’t often ChiChi gives him this type of treatment. She gave him attention with her mouth but ChiChi didn’t always get this creative unless she was really in a sexy mood.

The downside to this attention left Goku spilling before he was ready.

“Chi!” Goku threw his head back as his hand fisted the bedsheets. His hips shot up, body flared in a golden aura, eyes turned green and hair turned blonde as he exploded in her mouth. ChiChi held on to Goku and took as much as she could in her mouth but Goku’s sudden transformation caught her off guard. ChiChi found herself pushed off Goku’s shaft as Goku exploded like a geyser. He spilled on the sheets, ChiChi’s breasts with a few sprinkles on her face.

Goku’s hips dropped back on the bed as his recovering body panted. It took a moment before Goku collected himself and recall he transformed into a Super Saiyan and knocked ChiChi off him. Worried he harmed her, Goku sat up. ChiChi sat on the edge of the bed panting and wiping her face.

“ChiChi, I’m sorry,” Goku apologized. “You were so good and I just lost control.” He slid to her touching her stomach tenderly. “I didn’t hurt you or the baby did I?”

A drop of his cream was on the corner of ChiChi’s lips. Sticking out her tongue, she licked the cream before rolling her tongue back in her mouth. ChiChi’s elicit moan made Goku rise again. “I forgot how Super Saiyan cream taste,” ChiChi whispered huskily. “So addictive. I can’t get enough.”

Uh-oh. Goku knew that look. ChiChi looked at him as if he was a meal. Seeing her smile turn predatory, Goku had a feeling he was in sexual trouble. It was good to be in this kind of trouble. Goku was getting harder than a rock. Still when ChiChi got this way, it was a little overwhelming and, in her condition, they had to be careful. Slowly, he slid back. “ChiChi, I know how the full moon gets. Just take it easy. I’m willing to do anything. No need to---Whoa!”

The next morning, Goten sleepily walked into the kitchen. He expected to find his mother making breakfast but saw his father cooking in front of the stove wearing boxers. It was strange seeing his Dad cook. That was Mom’s job but what really confused Goten were the scratch marks on his Dad’s back. “Dad?” His father turned and to Goten’s surprise there were even more scratches and bite marks all over his Dad’s chest and neck. “What happened to you?”

Goku rubbed the back of his neck, laughing awkwardly. “Oh, I got into a fight with a bear this morning. Marked me up pretty good.”

“Oh.” Strange but his Dad did strange things sometimes. Dad was the strongest person in the world to Goten. The idea of his Dad being marked up by a bear had the child giggling. “It looks like the bear won.”

Goku turned away from Goten muttering, “You got that right.”

****

Month Six

Eating more is always expected for a pregnant woman. For a woman carrying a half Saiyan baby, the abundance of food she ate was abnormal. Goku’s stomach always made the food bill high. Since his return to life, the food bill doubled. Adding ChiChi’s pregnancy, it tripled. It was never acknowledged who was always hungrier: Goku or ChiChi. It was common thought no matter how hungry ChiChi got it never equaled Goku’s hunger.

It would’ve remained unchallenged if it were not for Goku coming home one day stating how hungry he is. ChiChi gently argued it didn’t equal her hunger since she is pregnant. Goku foolishly laughed and said his stomach was bigger and ChiChi couldn’t compare. Gohan intervene trying to deescalate the situation but Goku wouldn’t keep quiet and argued his stomach was bigger than ChiChi’s and though she is pregnant will never equal his hunger.

His innocent laugh and words enrage ChiChi that before Gohan could calm his angry mother, he, Goku and Goten were in the forest hunting for various animals Goku and ChiChi will consume in their eating contest.

Goku thought it was all hilarious and he will be declared the winner. No one had a bigger stomach than him. Humoring ChiChi, Goku caught a bear, while Gohan and Goten collected four large Mount Paouz fishes.

Plates of cooked fish, bear meat, and an array of vegetables, rice and bread covered the table and counters in the kitchen.

“This is gonna be fun!” Goten cheered as his parents sat at opposite ends of the table with numerous numbers of plates between them. “I can’t wait to see who wins.”

“You won’t have to wait long, Goten,” ChiChi told her son. “It’ll be me.”

“If you say so, ChiChi,” Goku winked at her. “I’m winning this.”

“Are you ready?” Gohan intervened as the game’s judge. “Get set and go!”

Goku, a frequent fast eater, quickly piled food in his mouth, chewing nosily and fast. ChiChi ate fast, too, but unlike Goku didn’t choke every few minutes from lack of water to wash down the food. One by one, plate after plate was cleared from the table with Gohan and Goten frequently adding a new dish. Gohan knew his Dad will win but even he was impressed with how many plates his mother emptied. He forgot she ate like this when pregnant with Goten.

Nearly an hour later, ChiChi felt her stomach getting tight. She looked across the table to Goku still eating at a fast pace; giving no indication he was getting full. She wasn’t going to win. Her temper got the better of her and she was going to lose to her husband who will gloat about this victory.

“Getting full?” Goku noticed ChiChi’s pace slowing in the last ten minutes. Victory was his. He shouldn’t gloat but he couldn’t help himself. He loved seeing ChiChi get angry with him. “It’s okay to lose, ChiChi. I’m a full Saiyan. You’re carrying a half Saiyan and you’re human. You never had a chance.”

Goten giggled, Gohan slapped his forehead, and if she could, ChiChi would smack the smirk rising on Goku’s face. Perhaps, she deserved the ribbing. ChiChi wouldn’t mind if Goku did this while alone but mocking her in front of their sons, frustrated ChiChi to the point where she felt he had to pay. Goku wouldn’t lose but she can always argue he only had a slim victory over her.

ChiChi grabbed the remaining dish of seasoned bear meat and stuffed it in her mouth, eating fast and loud like him but the sounds she made were reminiscent of the sounds she made that got her in her current condition. Gohan was a little suspicious but the sounds went unnoticed by Goten. He was only impressed with how fast and how much his mother ate.

Goku stared at ChiChi silently watching ChiChi ravenously eat the bear meat. That was impressive but the sounds she made caused his pants to get tight. At the moment, he wasn’t hungry for food. Gripping the table, Goku jumped to his feet; eyes only on ChiChi.

Gohan’s eyes bugged out of its socket as he noticed the bulge in his Dad’s pants. Gohan didn’t like where this was escalating and as big brother, quickly acted to protect his younger brother. He covered Goten’s eyes and pulled him from the room. “Goten, since Mom and Dad ate all the meat, let’s go hunt something for ourselves.”

“Ow! Wait, Gohan,” Goten complained as he was carried out of the house. “I can’t see. I wanna finish watching Mom and Dad eating contest.”

“Uh, contest is over.” The last thing Gohan saw before leaving the house was his father carrying his mother out of the room. “Dad won…. but barely.”

Month Eight

Sleep for a pregnant woman in the advance stages of pregnancy was torture. When it was in the summer, it was pure hell. Sleep was almost impossible when the baby was awake. ChiChi could feel her son or daughter moving around, kicking and punching as it tried to find a comfortable spot. With the unborn child’s home getting smaller as the baby grew bigger, being comfortable was a challenge.

Rolling over for the fifth time, ChiChi saw Goku sleeping peacefully and taking up space on the bed. She needed this bed more than Goku. She’s the one who’s carrying the baby. She’s slept in this bed longer than him.

Pushing Goku a few inches, ChiChi took the space. She laid on her back with her with one hand on her stomach and legs stretched. She was comfortable….. for five minutes.

This position sent sharp pains in her lower back. It didn’t help the mattress was older and worn. She had it when pregnant with Goten. It was perfect then. Now the aged mattress cause aches in her body.

“Ow!” ChiChi winced as the baby kicked her painfully. The child was probably making her pay for picking such a poor spot in bed to sleep in.

While she suffered, Goku happily slept. Jealousy and anger filled her seeing how happy and peaceful her husband slept while she was spent half the night trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in.

With a grunt, ChiChi rolled on her left side. A sharp breath escaped her. This spot. It was so soft. It was comfortable. Perfect she thought as she settled a little further. This left her cuddling against her husband. It would be pleasing to cuddle Goku if she wasn’t so hot and Goku wasn’t hogging the one good spot on the mattress. She deserved it more than him. She’s carrying the baby. Not Goku!

“Goku,” ChiChi whispered. “Goku,” she said louder.

Goku responded rolling on his side and draping his arm and leg over her. ChiChi was already hot. She didn’t need Goku’s hot Saiyan body smothering her. With a shove, ChiChi pushed Goku off her. She put too much strength in it since Goku rolled away from her, tumbling out of bed.

The loud thump of his body hitting the floor awakened Goku immediately. “What the..?” Goku looked around puzzled. “Why am I on the floor?”

Sitting up, Goku saw ChiChi lying on his side of the bed. “What are you doing there, ChiChi? This is my side.”

“I need it, Goku. I can’t sleep on my side.” A dream sound left her lips. “It’s really and soft and comfy here for me and the baby.”

“Yeah, but…. that’s my side.”

“The baby needs this side!” Aggravated, ChiChi shoo Goku away. “Just take mine.”

Frowning, Goku stood. Whenever ChiChi took something of his, she always said the baby needs it. He wondered if it was just ChiChi needing it and ChiChi using the baby as an excuse.

Looking at the bed, Goku noticed a problem. ChiChi told him to sleep on her side of the bed but ChiChi laid in a diagonal angle, leaving her body nearly sprawling the entire bed. There was no way he could sleep in the bed unless he curled up in a ball.

“Uh, I think I’ll sleep on the floor, ChiChi.”

Silence.

“ChiChi?”

Goku pressed his hands on the mattress and leaned over his wife. ChiChi was sound asleep wearing the same happy smile he wore before ChiChi woke him. “Hmph,” Goku grunted as he grabbed a pillow laid it on the floor. “One more month. One more month,” he muttered over and over.

****

Month Nine

“This is wrong, Videl. You have to use the cosine function to solve this problem. You used the sine function.” Gohan flipped his pencil over and erased the formula Videl wrote to solve her trigonometry problem.

Videl leaned closer to Gohan reading the formula he wrote. “I thought I was using cosine. Opposite over the hypotenuse.”

Gohan shook his head. “That’s sine, Videl. Cosine is adjacent over hypotenuse.”

Videl groaned irritably. “I hate trigonometry! I’ll be lucky to get a D out of this class.”

“You won’t get a D,” Gohan told her as he finished writing the solution to her math problem. “I can help you get a B at least.”

While Gohan focused on her math homework, Videl was focused on him. He was so sweet, so helpful and just so cute.

“Gohan?”

Gohan turned his head. “Yes, Videl?”

Videl pressed her lips to Gohan’s. The pencil in Gohan’s hand rolled on the paper as Gohan wrapped his arm around Videl returning her kiss. Gohan felt Videl shift as she settled more comfortable against Gohan while they tenderly kissed.

As he and Videl made out, Gohan felt something wrong. A presence. One of Gohan’s eyes opened to see his father standing over him and Videl with his head cocked to the side looking confused.

Gohan pushed Videl away, knocking her several feet from him. “Dad!” Gohan gasped with a cherry colored face. “What are you doing here?”

“What are you doing?” Goku asked. “You’re kissing Videl. You told Mom you were only gonna do homework.”

“W-we were,” Gohan stammered. “We, uh….ah, um, were taking break.” His heart pounded in his chest and his skin felt so warm. Caught making out with his girlfriend in front of his Dad. How embarrassing. Hoping to change the subject, Gohan asked. “Why are you here?”

“Mom’s in labor. I came to get you.”

“Labor.” Embarrassing kiss forgotten, Gohan quickly gathered his books. No wonder Dad popped in with his teleportation trick. “Let me get my stuff.”

Videl returned to father and son. Her face wasn’t nearly as flustered as Gohan. It was embarrassing but Videl was glad it wasn’t her father who caught her and Gohan making out. As Gohan zipped his bag, she told him, “Call me when the baby is here.”

“I will.” Gohan leaned forward to kiss Videl goodbye but realized his father was still watching. “Uh, I’ll call.”

Gohan touched Goku’s arm. He waved goodbye as he and his Dad vanished before her eyes.

Goku left Gohan with Goten and Gyumao in the waiting room. He joined ChiChi in her hospital room who was being examined by Dr. Barkley.

“Looks like you’re dilated enough to push.” Dr. Barkley lowered the bedsheet as Goku teleported back in the room. The older doctor smiled at Goku’s arrival. “Goku, it’s good to see you back for this one. Ready to do your part?”

Goku flashed a victory sign. “Yup!”

Son Keiko was the easiest birth for ChiChi. With Goku by her side, occasionally giving her his Ki, the delivery was without any complications and very mild pain. Goku was very hands on with this birth, cutting Keiko’s umbilical cord, helping Dr. Barkley clean baby Keiko and standing over her as she examined the baby before placing her in the happy mother’s arms.

Alone, Goku and ChiChi marveled at their little blessing. ChiChi held their baby while Goku sat in bed with her. Goku stared at the small bundle wrapped snugly in her yellow blanket. Like Gohan as a newborn, Keiko’s eyes were open, curious at the two people staring at her.

“She looks like you,” Goku remarked at Keiko’s eyes.

“But your hairstyle,” ChiChi added at the tufts of black spike in Keiko’s hair. “A Saiyan trait.”

“Yeah, but no tail,” Goku thought glumly. “Only Gohan was born with one.”

“I have a theory about that. Gohan wasn’t conceived when you were a Super Saiyan. Goten and Keiko were.”

Goten was definitely conceived while he was a Super Saiyan but Goku wasn’t sure about Keiko. “Are you sure? I wasn’t Super Saiyan every time.”

“But you were most time. Sometimes you came by transforming.” ChiChi shook her head. “I swear you get off on trying to kill me.”

Kill her? From the way ChiChi acted intimately when he’s in Super Saiyan form, she loved it. In fact, “Hold on. You wanted to be intimated when I was Super Saiyan Three. It’s probably how we got Keiko.”

ChiChi turned her head to Goku stunned. “I did not! I….. I…..” Goku’s sly smile silenced ChiChi. Come to think of it, she did ask to see this transformation. As she touched his face and hair, studying Goku’s new form, one thing led to another…..

“Well,” ChiChi turned her attention back to their daughter. A thought occurred to her as she realized the implications of creating a child while Goku is in Super Saiyan Three. “You’re training this one then. Goten almost broke my back when he transformed for the first time. Let our daughter kill you this time and not me.”

Goku laughed. “I doubt Keiko will be that diff—” he paused. Did ChiChi really say…? “Are you serious, ChiChi? I can train Keiko?”

The breathless tone in Goku’s voice had ChiChi gazing back at her husband. He looked so hopeful, imploring she really meant it. “Yes, Goku. You can train Keiko. After Gohan and Goten, I think we have enough experience to find the perfect balance in training our daughter and allowing her to get an education. This baby is a blessing, Goku. My only wish is she gets to grow up with both us; that she receives training by her Daddy, the strongest man in the universe.” She received a tender kiss from Goku. “And an education but decides for herself what she wants to do with her life and we support it no matter what. Deal.”

Goku broke many promises to ChiChi but this was one Goku vow to never break. “Deal.”

The door opened with Goten, Gohan and Gyumao walking in with balloons, flowers and gifts ready to meet, love and protect the newest member of the Son Family, Son Keiko.

#Gochiweek2020 #Gochiweek #Son Goku #Son ChiChi #Snippets in Time #Day Three #Third Child #Dragonball Z #fanfiction

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hydrospanners · 4 years

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fic masterlist: swtor

at the request of literally no one, i’ve created a masterlist of all my swtor fic. first is a chronological collection of all the swtor fic i’ve written in my “canon”. it’s broken up into snippets of time relative to the events of swtor. aus and gift fics are at the end. this is more for me than anything else, but if you have a bunch of time on your hands and want to read some fic--enjoy!!!

i am the most self-indulgent author known to man so there are numerous fics that don’t feature any canon characters in any significant way. i’m not sorry, but i did mark them with an asterisk for everyone’s edification. i also wrote actually vaguely descriptive descriptions instead of whatever bullshit i put in the descriptions on ao3. all links go to ao3 because tumblr was not designed for reading and it shows.

53 fics below the cut... what a trip, y’all.

backstory these fics are about things that happened before the opening of the class story.

* a very velaran life day - snippets of different life days in the velaran family history. no canon characters in it yet, but maybe this christmas i’ll get to some fics that aren’t solely about my own ocs.

* the shape of things to come - the story about how rea finally joined the jedi at the ripe old age of sixteen.

* a dimming star - the first steps on rea’s jedi path. they aren’t fun ones, lads!

* necessary sacrifice - like three years down the timeline and still no canon characters! rea continues to struggle with this whole being a jedi thing, and it continues to struggle with her! this one features a haircut as a symbol of a turning point in the story.

bars and stripes - canon characters??? in my fic????? its more likely than you think. this is a shameless ripoff of an episode of m*a*s*h masquerading as doc backstory. does it have cameos and/or mentions of other healer companions? maybe!!!

prelude these are fics set during the prologue of the class stories, everything that happens between the start and completing the capital planet missions.

* memories - rhese? do you finally get a say in all this??? this is the moment rhese and rea finally see each other for the first time since they were recruited to the jedi, set at the very start of the class story.

attachments - kira and rea talk about rhese. that’s it. that’s the fic.

act one all the stories set between killing tarnis and beginning preparations to capture the emperor (everything after coruscant ending and pubside balmorra starting). rip orgus. one day ill finish all those wips about how sad it was when he bit it. in the mean time, can i interest you in some gifsets?

lessons - now rea’s padawan, kira reflects on how bad rea is at teaching, though maybe without as much clarity as i just implied.

a tangled web - so stupid it’s basically crack, kira has to rescue rea from an embarrassing situation.

of flowers, failure, and the virtues of friendship - kira and rhese start to bond over the shared torment of having to be around rea. rivals to friends (one day i’ll write the “to lovers” part that comes after).

act two all the stories during the time when the knight is prepping for the assault on the emperor’s fortress and then assaulting it. everything between pubside balmorra starting and breaking free from the emperor’s fortress after that super successful plan to bring him in alive. great job jedi!

filling the table - is that shipfic????? the reason i started writing swtor fic in the first place??? this is rea being thirsty disguised as me sewing seeds for the eventual doc x rea romance. pazaak themed for some reason? (doc x rea)

when the wicked play - this is me being obsessed with the translation of video game violence to vaguely realistic circumstances posing as doc feeling some kind of way about rea murdering a whole bunch of dudes who wanted to hurt her but weren’t powerful enough. not primarily romantic but definitely some setup for their relationship.

night shift - everything is doc x rea and nothing hurts. rea’s got work to do but who can work when there’s a horny mustachio’d doctor trying to persuade her back to bed??? it’s not love it’s just good sex!!!!! honest!!!!(doc x rea)

these nights never seem to go to plan - rea isn’t yearning for affection, she’s just too tired to get out of doc’s bed after so much boning. okay maybe this is about slightly more than good sex after all... doc x rea TENDERNESS.

somewhere we’ve not been before - this is the good shit lads!!!! doc x rea!!! first dates!!!! shenanigans!!!! honest to goodness falling in love between all that fucking that do!!!!!!!!!!!! (doc x rea)

no better taste - a sequel to the last fic featuring the morning after!!! some post-horniness introspection!! tenderness!!!!!! hints of yearning!!! god i miss the days before the mind control and the carbonite when the problems were normal things like commitment and abandonment issues. (doc x rea)

heart - rea sends doc a rocking “thanks for the great sex” gift!! rhese is disgusted by every part of it! this is comedy folks!!!! (doc x rea... i guess)

interruptions - rea takes a work call while she’s boning doc. that’s the whole fic. i think this was my first spicy fic?? i can’t remember. (doc x rea)

* where you go to rest your bones - sibling tenderness!!!! their relationship is super complicated, but rhese is reminded that underneath all the bullshit rea really does love him a lot.... it’s both sad and not sad at the same time. schroedinger’s sadness.

gifts - the crew tries to plan a gift for rea, but what do you get for the woman who’s banned from everything?? so dumb it’s basically crack and i’m not sorry for it.

crapshoot - the crew takes bets on what rea’s next Bad Idea TM will be. she shows them you can’t predict chaos. basically crack but i don’t care.

spoonful of sugar - vignettes about the jedi knight crew dealing with sickness. almost entirely comedy and/or fluff. doc x rea content is present and rhese x kira content is suggested.

a little eggstra - grocery shopping gone awry, based on an old tumblr text post. hella stupid, yet hella fun. doc x rea is in the background.

to break our bones for kindling - you thought we were just having good times??? you’re a fool. doc’s job is to heal people and rea’s job is to break them. sometimes they have work-related disagreements!!! be sad with me. doc x rea.

* when a problem comes along, you must whip it - i can only stop being stupid for so long, so here’s the story about how rea came to possess her lightwhip, the stupidest weapon known to man. these events do not go well for rhese.

things unsaid - a dumb doc x rea drabble about stupid shit rea says when she’s been mortally wounded. if doc were to just let her die, no one would blame him.

* the things you do for love are gonna come back to you one by one - a bit of a character/relationship study about what rhese is willing to sacrifice for love of his sister, no matter how complicated things are between them. a second chapter about what rea sacrifices for rhese is in my wips and will be completed... .eventually.

lovesick - doc x rea ship content. my interpretation of that one conversation where doc’s like “hey would your jedi powers tell me if im going crazy also do you love me? check yes or no. i will not elaborate.”

* the things we left behind - oh no lads.... we’re building up to the fortress shit.... our good times are over. rea does some underhanded shit to make sure her brother doesn’t go on this mission to capture the emperor cause the plan does not seem like a great one.

act three wow wasn’t act two fun??? so much silly nonsense and love. now get a drink assholes it’s Time To Be Sad. act three covers everything in the class stories after coming back from that super successful assault on the emperor’s fortress (great job jedi!) to finally stabbing the bastard in the dark fortress and hoping that gets the job done at last. (spoilers: it doesn’t!!!!!) aka stories from belsavis to the final assault on dromund kaas.

everything we left there - it’s trauma time!!! rea’s fucked up from the fortress and feeling the pressure (thanks for the prophecy scourge!!! love that!!!!) so she hurts people she cares about to protect them. it’s her signature move!

the only thing that’s real - rea continues to be fucked up from what happened on the fortress but hey... at least she isn’t fucked up alone??? sad doc x rea content.

into the jungle - the gang is on belsavis and no one is having a good time! since rea isn’t herself, doc tries to pick up the slack and reassure kira that it’ll all be okay! it goes about as well as you’d expect.

interlude now that i’m looking at it, there are some serious gaps in my fic coverage. anyway, sad hours are over, the emperor is (kind of but not really) dead and there may still be a war on but things are looking up! this covers everything between the emperor’s death and the beginning of kotfe, including forged alliances and the shadow of revan.

hands too hungry - doc finally takes rea on that honeymoon she didn’t really care about in the first place! tragically, rea is way too horny to be impressed by what an amazing vacation he planned for himself them. peak rea x doc content.

no kind of romantic - it’s doc and rea’s one year anniversary but they are both working on opposite sides of the galaxy. sad! it’s doc x rea fluff disguised as angst.

a little help from a friend - rea and theron are worst/best friends and i recycle romance tropes into annoying friendship ones. this is the least sexy sharing body heat fic you’ve ever (not?) read. bite me.

retirement - rea has some feelings about her very violent, stressful job and how it interferes with her husband doing things that actually help and heal. doc x rea content.

the dreaded kotfe content these are sad hours!!! this is everything from arcann’s invasion on, cause i’m not breaking it up by post-carbonite storyline you bastards. i don’t know why i’m being so hostile no one asked me to do this.

every doubt we had - after watching what may have been his sister’s death by exploding starship, rhese is having trouble sleeping. no one is more surprised than him when seeks out doc for comfort! doc & rhese brothers by marriage solidarity. carbonite angst...

love is a waiting game - rea’s been MIA for six months since the ship she was on bit it and her crew is finally making some changes. doc is sad about it. doc & rhese brothers by marriage solidarity again. doc x rea angst.

waiting - some time has passed and now rhese is the sad one again!!! grief is so funny isn’t it??? hahahaha haha hahahaha why is no one else laughing? doc & rhese brothers by marriage solidarity yet again.

the greatest distance - rea’s back baby!!!! oh but this isn’t a celebration. she’s taking a tour of her long lost ship now that all the people she loved aren’t in it. it’s a sad one, fellas.

* when the stars are the only thing we share - rea tracks down some people from her past to help her track down her brother since he went missing while she was having a nap. no canon characters were used in the making of this fic.

leave her sleeping a little longer - rea has a dream and wakes up missing doc even more than she was before. sad hours. doc x rea angst.

take back what the kingdom stole - after theron pulls some Shenanigans (you know the ones) his friendship with rea is in peril. they both break character and actually talk shit out for once.

a wish your heart makes - rea dreams a dream. so does doc. it’s a wet one. this makes it sound lighthearted but actually it’s angst with a side of porn. doc x rea supreme spicy/sad content.

overserved - back to crack baby!! rea gets drunk and acts a fool based on a joke made in a discord server. this is the best shit i’ve ever written.

thrusting back into my skin i feel anew - the band is back together again and everything is fine!!!! just kidding -- actually people change a lot in six years and rea and doc are having some trouble fitting back into the marriage they had back then. doc x rea angst but with a hopeful ending!

non-canon fics i’ve written a couple of things with my dumb characters that are too stupid even for me to put into their canon story or are otherwise aus. these are them, listed in no particular order.

the lies we tell ourselves - a sadder (yet possibly more realistic) take on the ossus reunion and what follows. a bit experimental. doc x rea angst au.

archiban frodrick’s kennel - a romance au where doc is a vet and rea has a pet with a health issue, inspired by my own stupid dog whom i love very much. doc x rea. spiciness suggested but not detailed; sorry horndogs.

fallen - a fun au where rea’s shittiness as a teacher and everything being bad leads to kira falling to the dark side... its angst lads.

the new recruit - rusk’s squad adopts a kitten. that’s the fic.

cruel - ever wonder how things would have turned out if rea was never smuggled off eriadu and got plucked up by the sith?? no??? well i have and i wrote about it. the self-indulgence never ends.

fill my lungs with sweetness - a gift fic for @hoiist; flower-themed vignettes about doc expressing his love for hoiist’s knight, vii. this is some real soft shit, lads.

remember me, love - another gift fic for @hoiist; this time some ossus-flavored angst about doc seeing through vii’s eyes in his dreams. what he sees is not comforting!!! all aboard the angst train--choo choo!!

#swtor #swtor fic #jedi knight #hydrostuff #hydrofic #hydroswstuff #hydroswfic #this was.... a lot

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chloebeale · 5 years

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WANTED: SOCK THIEF

PROMPT: “Write me a fic about how chloe’s fuzzy socks always go missing in the bellas house and she finds out beca has been stealing them (despite beca’s apparent disdain for them)” RATING: T. WORDS: 1.5K. SUMMARY: @isthemusictoblame asked for fuzzy socks, this was the result.

***

READ IT BELOW OR ON AO3!

“Wow, you’re really serious about this, huh?” Stacie questions, amused smile threatening her lips as she straightens up. She’d craned her neck to see what Chloe had been pinning to the fridge, and had definitely not been disappointed.

Hands balled into fists that plant firmly on her hips, Chloe steps back to admire her work, shoulder shrugging lightly.

“The love heart you signed off with makes it particularly threatening,” Stacie adds with a nod of her head, going back to tossing ingredients into the smoothie maker.

Chloe shoots her a scowl, before turning to make her way toward the nearest free counter space, leaving her handmade WANTED: SOCK THIEF poster proudly on display to the other girls congregated in the kitchen.

“They’re really cute socks,” she shrugs, hopping up onto the counter and leaning over to steal a strawberry from Stacie’s collection. “Super warm, and super comfortable. And it’s just like every single time I buy more, they suddenly disappear.”

Beca’s arrival in the kitchen had gone unnoticed until the fridge door opens, her amused voice ringing out from where she’s digging around for a carton of orange juice inside, “The mystery of the ugly sock saga continues.”

“They’re not ugly,” Chloe protests, sucking on the strawberry, “They’re fuzzy. And they’re Halloween themed. Did you see the cute little ghost ones?”

The fridge door closes, with Beca scurrying over to grab herself a glass from the cabinet by Chloe’s head. She stretches up onto her tiptoes, look of amusement still displayed on her features. “Mm,” she shrugs a shoulder, retrieving a glass, before pushing a quick kiss to Chloe’s cheek as she lowers back down onto flattened feet. “Can’t say that I did.”

“I don’t know why you’re so against them,” Chloe retorts, though her tone is much softer now.

It’s pretty recent, the fact that Beca has actually begun to grow more comfortable with PDA, at least around the other Bellas. She and Chloe have been dating for a while, but they’d decided to keep their romance to themselves to begin with, not wanting the outward pressure of everybody else’s opinion while they settled into their new roles in one another’s lives. Of course, neither had been as subtle as intended, and they’d eventually been caught out, but if you were to ask Chloe, it’s a relief. It’s easier, being able to be open with her girlfriend, so something as small as a brief kiss to her cheek in quick passing is enough to bring a contended smile to her glossed lips.

“Maybe it’s Beca,” Stacie teases, glancing over her shoulder toward Chloe, “She just hates them that much, she can’t stand the thought of her girlfriend walking around in them. I bet the waste disposal is full of them.”

“Maybe so,” Beca chirps, though she’s already gone from the room, leaving Chloe to playfully roll her eyes and reach for a second strawberry.

—

It’s pretty rare that Chloe has free time during the day.

(And when she does, apparently she’s filling it by making posters about her missing socks…)

But everybody else is busy, Beca included, and Chloe finds that she’s bored.

She knows that her girlfriend is pretty deeply into mashing up new songs for the setlist for their upcoming competition, but that doesn’t stop her from making her way casually to Beca and Amy’s room, where she finds her girlfriend seated at her desk, headphones on and expression one of pure concentration as she stares at her computer screen.

“How’s the setlist going?” Chloe questions, flopping down onto Beca’s unmade bed.

“It’s going,” Beca mumbles in response, “I have about half done, so I guess it could be worse.”

“You don’t have to put so much pressure on yourself, you know? You always come up with amazing songs for us, I have no doubt the same will apply this time.”

Beca gently tugs off her headphones, letting them fall comfortably around her neck, then spins her seat around to face the bed, eyes landing on her girlfriend. “At least one of us has faith in me.”

“You’re right,” Chloe nods, genuine smile stretched across her lips, “One of us does.”

“You want me to take a break?”

Chloe doesn’t have to verbally respond. She simply nods her head, reaching out her arms, fingers outstretched and beckoning Beca in.

Beca, of course, doesn’t fight it. Rather, she just slips off her headphones completely, sets them down on the surface of the desk, then rises to make her way to the bed, shuffling over to straddle Chloe’s lap in one quick, smooth motion.

“Hi,” Chloe smirks, hands settling softly on Beca’s thighs. The volume of her voice quietens some, though her words come out like some kind of gentle command. “Get down here.”

Neither knows how long the honeymoon phase of a relationship is technically supposed to last, when it’s supposed to end, but both would place bets on the fact that theirs is never going to; it doesn’t matter when they last kissed, they always crave more, always feel so much more relaxed once their lips are pressing against one another’s.

Chloe’s eyes flutter shut as she parts her lips, hands sliding up Beca’s thighs and around her body until they can rest on the small of her back, fingertips slipping beneath the hem of her shirt.

“How long’s this break going to last?” Chloe questions as the two pull back, staring up at her girlfriend through now hooded lids. There’s only a small gap between their faces, and she takes note of the way Beca’s gaze falls down toward her lips, her own subtle smugness difficult to hold back.

“Keep looking at me like that and you’ve got me the whole night,” Beca murmurs as she reconnects their lips for the briefest moment, just long enough to leave Chloe wanting more.

As Beca’s lips begin to trail soft, open-mouthed kisses lightly along pale skin, moving toward Chloe’s jaw, defined by the way she tilts her face slightly to the side to leave more room for Beca to work, Chloe finds herself humming out a contented sigh. Her hands change directions, fingers sliding beneath the waistband of Beca’s jeans to dance over the fabric of her underwear.

“You know this is not why I came in here, right?” Chloe murmurs, goosebumps rising beneath the path of kisses Beca is still trailing along her skin.

“Complaining?” Beca mumbles, to which Chloe shakes her head, soft smirk rising to her lips.

“Not at all.”

“Didn’t think so.”

A small whine leaves Chloe as Beca pulls back, though it’s only so she can sit up and tug her shirt upward, until she’s pulling it off and over her head. Chloe’s whine of complaint fades out quickly, much more focused now on allowing herself to drink in the sight of her now shirtless girlfriend sitting on top of her.

“You know I think you’re incredibly sexy,” Chloe begins, voice something of a husk. Her gaze lowers down Beca’s toned body. “But it’d be even sexier if you weren’t wearing sneakers right now.”

“I was about to take them off, shut up,” Beca says, eyes rolling playfully.

With her top half as exposed as it is, it’s difficult for Chloe to really focus on anything else. She’s ready to sit up and reach around Beca’s back, unclasp her bra and pepper kisses along the hill of her breasts, though her gaze almost automatically drifts downward as Beca reaches behind herself to slip off the sneakers Chloe has no idea why she’s wearing in the first place.

“Wait…”

Chloe’s hands had been moving, fingers slipping below the fabric of Beca’s panties, though they stop quickly, stare narrowing in on Beca’s feet.

“What?” Beca questions, brows tugging together the same way Chloe’s have.

Chloe pushes herself up, in turn forcing Beca to move further down her legs.

“You’re the sock thief!”

“What?”

For a while there, she’d forgotten about Chloe’s wild rampage for her missing socks. Just like she’d forgotten that she’d put them on today, though Chloe has totally just caught her in the act, so Beca can’t even deny it.

“Okay, first of all—” Beca begins, though she’s cut off by the way Chloe’s arm wraps itself firmly around her waist, lifting her up and turning so that she can lay Beca flat on her back, with Chloe hovering over the top of her.

It’s not like she’s angry — she was never angry about the missing socks. Just confused, is all. But there’s nothing but sheer amusement written across Chloe’s face as she looks down her girlfriend, smugness dancing in her eyes.

“I thought you thought they were ugly,” Chloe smirks, glancing behind herself to look at her fuzzy ghost socks, covering none other than Beca Mitchell’s feet.

“They are,” Beca grumbles, toes wiggling as she looks around Chloe. “But it’s cold and they looked warm.”

“You have all of my others, don’t you?” Chloe questions, amusement lighting up her eyes. “You’re a sock thief, Beca Mitchell.”

“I might,” Beca shrugs, brow raising as she looks up at her girlfriend.

Chloe responds with a soft, breathy giggle, head ducking to press her lips against the bare skin of Beca’s neck. “You’re annoying,” she mumbles against soft skin, her lips pushing a wet kiss where they land. Her voice is raspy, and Beca’s head tilts to the side now, the same way Chloe’s had earlier, as Chloe pushes warm, open-mouthed kisses downward toward Beca’s chest, muttering in the process,

“Super annoying. And you owe me new socks.”

#beca mitchell #chloe beale #bechloe #bechloe fic #mine #mine:writing #sock thief

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ericsonclan · 4 years

Text

A Father’s Day Gift

Written for @stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale ‘s one shot monthly challenge. Glad I was able to achieve all the points again and still make it sound natural XD

Summary: Willy learns from A.J. that it's Father's Day and wants to celebrate, but who can he give a Father's Day card?

Read on A03:

“Hey, AJ, whatcha doing?” Willy hopped over to the picnic table, watching his friend busily coloring away at a folded sheet of paper. For a second there, he’d reminded Willy of Tenn.

AJ looked up from his work. “Making a Father’s Day card,”

Willy’s nose wrinkled in confusion. “What’s that?”

“Aasim was talking with Omar about how it’s today. He said it’s important for us to remember all the old holidays and keep celebrating them to remember our history. It made me think about last year when Louis and I got those flowers for Clem on Mother’s Day. So this time I’m making something for Louis,”

Willy looked down at the card. It read “To: Louis” then below, “HAPPY FATHERS DAY”. Underneath was a drawing of a stick figure with squiggly noodle hair Willy figured was Louis then AJ with his afro and Clementine with her bun on either side of him. It looked nice. “I want to make one too!”

A.J. looked confused. “Who will you make one for? Your dad’s dead,”

“So is yours!”

“Yeah, but now that Clem married Louis that makes him my dad. You don’t have a mom or a dad,”

Willy’s face fell at the statement. He looked round the front yard, thinking about all the others. Clem and Louis weren’t A.J.’s real parents, just the ones he chose, so Willy knew he could make up his own too. If anybody counted as his mom, it was probably Prisha. She always made sure he had enough to eat, made a big deal about telling him how smart he was whenever he showed her a new invention and hugged him a lot. But then who was his dad? Mitch came closest, but he lost him years ago. Plus, he’d been more like a big brother. And Willy was pretty sure parents didn’t let you play with bombs.

“Hey there, goofball,”

The boys looked up to see Clementine making her way over to them. She playfully ruffled A.J.’s hair, ignoring his attempts to wriggle out from under her grasp. “Hey, Willy. What are you boys up to?”

“Secret stuff,” A.J. declared, leaning over to cover his paper. Then his eyes lit up in excitement. “Oh, Clem, can we go down to fishing shack today?”

“That depends. What do you want to go there for?”

“I’m gonna break off the mirror on the old truck that’s by there and give it to Louis as a present. That way next time he gets something stuck in his teeth he can find it right away and won’t get so embarrassed,”

Clementine chuckled at the memory. “That’s a good idea, but why does it have to be today? You and I will have fishing duty together later this week,”

“It’s ‘cause today is Father’s Day!” Willy exclaimed.

A.J. glared daggers at Willy for revealing his true motives.

Clementine look surprised before her face softened into a tender smile. She looked down at A.J., a hand on his shoulder. “If you want, we can go right now. I just need to ask Aasim to cover my watch shift for me before we go,”

“OK!” A.J.’s anger immediately dissipated with the promise of an outing.

Clementine headed out to find Aasim.

The boys colored in silence for a few minutes before A.J. looked over at Willy’s drawing in curiosity. “So who are you making a card for?”

“I don’t know,” Willy shrugged. “I’m just gonna make it super awesome then figure out who to give it to later,” He’d already drawn a bunch of explosions on the inside of the card. Now he was drawing a detailed picture of his possum Garbage on the front. He still wasn’t sure who to give it to. He didn’t want to lay it on Mitch’s grave. That would just make him sad like it always did. Louis was already getting A.J.’s card so he didn’t want to copy. Omar was shorter than him now; it’d be weird to give him the card. That only left Aasim.

Willy thought more about Aasim as he continued to color in his card, adding cool gears and more explosions on the back. He knew Aasim had looked out for him ever since Mitch died all those years ago. When he was smaller, Willy thought he annoyed Aasim since the older boy always seemed to want to be alone writing in that journal of his. Over the years though, they’d seemed to come to an understanding of each other. Aasim would play games with Willy and listen to all his crazy ideas about new inventions to improve Ericson and Willy would help Aasim out where he could and sometimes even listen when he went on and on about historical stuff.

Aasim wasn’t really Willy’s father, but he was probably the closest thing he’d ever had. He made sure that Willy stayed safe when they were out hunting, taught Willy to read and write better even though Willy had the attention span of a fly, and always seemed proud when Willy accomplished something. Hesitantly, Willy scratched out a message on the card: “To Aasim, Happy Fater’s Day”. Realizing he’d forgot the h, Willy jammed it in super small right beside the t. He hoped Aasim wouldn’t be weirded out by getting this card. Even if it didn’t work out the way Willy wanted, he still wanted to try giving it to him.

---

Evening fell and Louis and Prisha returned from their hunting trip. A.J. immediately ran over to Louis with his card, the broken mirror from the truck tucked underneath his arm. Willy watched as A.J. said something to Louis, holding forth the card excitedly. Louis looked at it for a moment before the full impact of what was being given to him hit him. An exuberant smile crossed his face as he lifted A.J. up into his arms, spinning him around excitedly before placing him down for a hug. He then took the mirror A.J. offered him, laughing sheepishly as A.J. likely retold the story of the time he got that piece of rabbit stuck in his teeth.

Willy hoped things would go as well with Aasim. He wandered over to where Aasim now sat on the steps of the admin building, reading a book. Willy cleared his throat to signal his presence. “Hey, Aasim. What are you reading?”

Aasim looked up from the book. “It’s a series of speeches by George Washington. You want to hear a bit?”

Willy nodded.

Aasim looked for a good place to start. “Our conflict is not likely to cease so soon as every good man would wish. The measure of iniquity is not yet filled; and unless we can return a little more to first principles, and act a little more upon patriotic ground, I do not know when it will.”

Willy wasn’t sure what to make of any of that.

Aasim could tell that he was lost. “Washington lived during the founding of America as its own country. He fought in a lot of wars for Americans to get their freedom. Here he was saying that if Americans didn’t unite and figure out the reasons why they were fighting for freedom, he didn’t know when or how they could win. Of course now America’s not really a country anymore, just a series of scattered territories. Makes you wonder if all that bloodshed was worth it. Still, I figured it would be nice to read something by one of the Founding Fathers today.

There was that word. “It’s Father’s Day!” Willy exclaimed.

“You’re right. Did A.J. tell you? He seemed awfully excited when he heard me mention it to Omar,”

“I-I made something for you,” Willy thrust the card forward along with the rock from his personal collection he’d decided to throw in as a last second gift. “I know you’re not my real dad or anything, but I thought you’d like to get something for Father’s Day too,”

Aasim seemed touched by the gift. He turned the card over in his hands, looking at all the details. “You did a great job with it. The explosions look pretty realistic and Garbage is spot on,”

“I always know how to draw Garbage,” Willy smiled proudly, his gap teeth showing. He pointed to the rock in Aasim’s other hand. “I thought you’d think the rock is cool too. I found it in the river a while back. It looks like it has scars all over it,”

“They’re quartz,” Aasim said, holding up the rock so they both could see it better. The grey rock was covered with bright crystal stripes. “You know, the way quartz forms is pretty cool. It actually comes from magma deep underground,” He looked at Willy’s uncomprehending face. “Volcanoes,”

“Woah, that’s awesome!” Willy’s mouth gaped open, his eyes large. A couple months ago Prisha and Aasim had made paper volcanoes for everybody to see and had them erupt fake lava and everything. It had been one of the best days of Willy’s life.

Aasim smiled at his enthusiasm. “You’re a good student, Willy. It just takes a bit of work to figure out what you want to know,” He looked back down at the card in his hand. “Thank you for this. It… means a lot,” He paused for a moment before awkwardly pulling Willy into a hug. “Man, I can’t believe you’re already as tall as me. Any day now you’re gonna have me beat,” He was silent for a moment before pulling away to look Willy in the eyes. “I’m proud of you, Willy. You’ve really stepped up over the years to help protect the school and keep everyone safe,”

Willy shrugged. “Just doing my job. You’re the one who does the hard stuff: all the planning to make sure we’ll make it through each winter. You’ve always had my back. I just don’t want to let you down,”

Aasim placed a hand on Willy’s shoulder. “You never have,”

Willy grinned again. It felt good to know Aasim was proud of him. “I guess with the baby coming we’ll all be working a lot harder, huh?”

Aasim’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Baby? What baby?”

“You and Ruby’s. She had me help her sneak back into the old nursery a couple days ago to see if we could use any of the old cribs. Didn’t you know?”

“I…” Before Aasim could answer, Omar’s voice rang through the front yard.

“Dinner’s ready! Get it before it’s cold!”

“C’mon, Aasim! It’s dinner!” the accidental reveal had already disappeared from Willy’s mind as he ran toward the picnic tables.

Aasim stood there in shock, looking toward the greenhouse where he knew Ruby was still working. He was going to be a father. This was all so sudden, so new. His eyes dropped to the card and stone in his hands. In Willy’s eyes, he already was a father figure of sorts. Did that mean with his own child he could be the father they deserved? Aasim felt a spark of excitement lighting deep within him. He certainly hoped so.

#fanfic #clouis #rusim #twdg willy #twdg aasim #twdg aj #twdg clementine #twdg louis #fathers day #twdgjunegame #14points

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inmy-blueperiod · 5 years

Text

Grandparents Day, Pt. 2

Part 1

based on this post:

1582 words

In homeroom, Peter’s teacher, Miss James, asks for any Grandparents Day papers. Ned, Michelle, Flash, and Peter, along with multiple other students, raise their hand. Once Miss James is on the other side of the classroom after collecting them, Flash turns to Peter.

“So, Penis. Who did you pay to bring in for Grandparents Day?” Flash muses.

“I didn’t pay anyone Flash, piss off,” Peter mutters miserably.

“I’m serious Penis. Who did you pay? We all know that your parents are dead. Along with all blood-related family.”

“I said piss off,” he states, steadier now.

“Answer the goddamn question and maybe, maybe, I’ll leave you alone.”

“I didn’t pay anyone, alright? A few family friends are coming in for me,” Peter defends himself.

“You have a family? Since when-?” Flash gets cut off by Miss James.

“Alright, class. Science history! 2006, 13 years ago today, December 6th, NASA reveals pictures taken that suggest that there is liquid water on Mars! And about a year ago 2018, the probe we sent up started drilling into Mars surface, which changed the science world as we know it. And what does science have to do with technology?” A few hands go up. “Say it with me now, ‘when technology advances, science advances and when science advances, technology advances’. That's right. Today we were supposed to taking more notes, but because Monday is Grandparents Day and some of you won't be here, we’re going to start a project today that’ll be due Tuesday. You’ll have all weekend to work on it; no extensions, but if you do need one, see me privately. Get into groups of 3 and send someone in your group up to get a rubric.” Immediately everyone got up and chatted with their friends. Ned and Peter shared a look before gravitating toward Michelle- or MJ, as her friends call her.

“Hey, losers. Is there something I can help you with?” she asks without looking up from her current drawing of what looks like Abe.

“We want to be in your group,” Ned says firmly.

MJ doesn’t stray from her drawing, “only if one of you walk back up to the front of the room to grab the rubric.”

Peter nods to Ned and walks across the classroom for a rubric. On his way back, however, he gets stopped by Flash; “Penis. C’mon, man. Just answer my question. Who did you pay?”

“Flash, I told you,” Peter sighs, annoyed, “I didn’t pay anyone. They’re, uh, they’re May’s friends.” Well, I mean, he thinks, it’s not a complete lie. May had met Cap a few times and Bucky scared the crap out of her. Same thing though, right?

“May has time for friends? After taking double and triple shifts at the hospital? Yeah, I know that she struggles to feed your pathetic ass. My dad was up at the hospital yesterday for a case. You know, he’s a cop. I tell him that you’re not eating because of May and you leave here. You’d be swept away by a social worker. Poor poor Penis Parker. All alone.”

No. Stop. Stop talking. Shut up. Shut up! Peter’s screaming inside his own head. Don’t punch him. Don’t punch him.

“Flash,” he growls out. “Please. Shut up.”

“Whatever, Penis. But just know that it’s always an option. Don’t piss me off.” And with the ramming of Flash’s shoulder into his, Flash was gone.

When Peter finally got back to his friends, it was evident that he took too long. “Here’s the rubric,” he mumbles. Breathe! Breathe! “I’ll be right-right back.” he chokes out a gap. “Start without me,” he wheezes. He’s already dashing out the door before either friend has time to say anything.

The rest of the day goes by quick with only glares and shoulder “bumps” from Flash; most teachers realize that not many students will be in class on Monday so it’s just projects and study hall all day, which no one is complaining about.

Instead of the usual Happy pickup, today it’s Steve and Bucky, both in baseball caps (as if that would be a good enough disguise) chatting together, leaning against their motorcycles. Steve waves Peter over with a grin while Bucky looks weary of every kid coming out of the building.

“Hey Mr. Barnes, Mr. Rogers. What are you both doing here?” he asks nervously, looking around to see if anyone recognized the heroes.

“We wanted to talk to the office about us coming in on Monday. You know, making sure they treat us like every other grandparent.” Steve chuckles with a shake of his head, “sorry, it’s still funny to hear myself say that I have a grandkid.”

Peter and Bucky crack a smile at each other at Steve’s antics, but Pete is still nervous. “Mr. Barnes? Mr. Rogers? Can you wait until all the kids are gone? I just, I don’t want to make a scene.”

“Sure, kid. Can you go in and tell the office or whoever that we’re coming in for a meeting? We, uh, didn’t call ahead or anything. How does a phone work?? Why is there no buttons? It’s just a surface! What is technology and why does it-?”

Before Bucky goes into a full-blown confusion fest over phones, Peter cuts him off; “sure, Mr. Barnes. I’ll be right back.” And with a smile, he’s off.

A few minutes go by and Peter still hasn’t come back. Steve turns to his best friend, “should we go in? Or wait for him to come out? I don’t see that many kids lingering so I don’t think it would do much harm.”

“I don’t think it’ll be a big deal. And, yeah, you’re right; not a lot of kids. I think we can go in,” Buck replies.

The two super soldiers make their way inside the school and to the office (it’s a miracle they even find the office, (“Why are the schools so big, Buck?” Steve complains. “Because all the kids nowadays are a lot smarter than we were so they want more schooling, dipshit.” and “We can’t get distracted by the portrait of Howard, Buck.” The Former Winter Soldier tears his eyes away and continues walking with a concerned Steve following behind.).).

Inside the school’s office is Peter, arguing with a secretary. “Not another word, young man. I don’t care what you say, whoever you claim is coming in needs to have a meeting. And I do not believe that the previous war criminals would even consider coming for a liar who cannot learn when to let go--" the secretary, Mrs. Thatcher, her name tag reads, is cut off by the clearing of one’s throat.

“I hate to interrupt, but did you just say what I think you said?” Bucky rises to his full height to look more intimidating and crosses his arms to show off his biceps, but Steve and Pete knew the truth; he wasn’t going to hurt this little secretary. “Did you just call my Peter a liar? Because why? Because he knows Captain America? Were you not here when Pete brought in Tony Stark for Parents Day?” Mrs. Thatcher is terrified. That much is evident.

The captain leans towards Bucky, and Peter’s enhanced hearing picks up a whispered “play nice” from Steve.

“I-I’m sorry, sir. Um, I’ll, uh, I’ll get the principal,” she attempts to leave in a frenzy, but Mrs. Thatcher regains control of herself and turns back to the trio. “I’m sorry, Peter. It was wrong of me to call you a liar. I’m sure Mr. Morita will be thrilled to see your guests. And thank you, for your service, I mean. You saved my late father-in-law’s life.” And with that, she's gone to get Mr. Morita.

Cap holds a soft smile and Bucky-- Bucky is just ashamed. The same dread from looking at Howard Stark’s portrait comes rearing back. He’s never saved anyone. He took way more lives than he can count. He sighs and looks over at Peter, not expecting him to be looking his way and definitely not expecting him to mouth “thank you”. The soul world, Buck remembers with a shudder.

Mrs. Thatcher returns, less frazzled than before. "Mr. Morita is currently on a call with a parent, but if you want you can wait here or go explore the school, I can put it over the loudspeaker when he's done if you would like."

The two super soldiers look at each other, not knowing what 'the loudspeaker' was, but Peter accepts for them; "that's perfect; thank you, but instead of calling them 'Captain America' and 'White Wolf' can you say 'Steve' and 'James' instead?" The secretary nods. "Again, thank you so much."

He leads them out the door and to the cafeteria. "This is where the breakfast will be held on Monday. It looks big now, but it fills up pretty quickly." After a few minutes of Peter showing them how it works--he's been to one Grandparents Day with Ned's Grandma before she died.

After the cafeteria, the trio moves on to where the pictures will be taken, and on their way to Peter's locker, an announcement comes over the loudspeaker and the boy winces at the noise. "Steve, James, and Peter, please make your way down to the office. Steve, James, and Peter, please make your way down to the office, thank you." Buck and Cap just look to the ceiling in amazement and Peter can practically read their thoughts; damn. Modern technology.

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makefrancehappen-blog · 5 years

Text

The most romantic non-date

June 25 2019, retrospective

There’s a lot of things I want to remember about my day with Sèbastien. He was older than I expected, it turned out he was 46. And he was in incredible shape, much better than me, the kind of toned body from a person who actually uses their body every day, not at the gym but just through living life. He was so, so tan. Everybody was in the south. By the time I left, I was almost one of them. The hat was funny, it was one of those flat brimmed DC caps that gave him such a youthful touch and would be cliché or look dirt baggy on a younger guy. I remember thinking that his face seemed super French with his bone structure and mouth especially, but now I can’t even paint a mental picture of him. I remember a little greyness but I can’t remember if it was in his hair or whether I might have noticed it in a beard, or whether he even had one. I regret not looking at his hands.

As he puttered around on the boat, getting us where we needed to go, he would sing and hum softly to himself. It absolutely caught me by surprise, almost every time. I still forget that he did that and then I remember all over again and think it’s a wonderful trait for a person to have. The one thing he did that I didn’t like was pull a starfish out of the water to show me... “she” was beautiful but I felt so uncomfortable knowing she was wrenched from her perch, and I just wanted him to put her back. In that moment though, there was a youthful and boyish fascination. He wanted me to see her little suction cups, and explain that her short legs were probably the result of an attack by birds. I like the enthusiasm, even though I already know or guessed most of these things.

Our first stop was the beach of Port Cros, where there’s a small dock to tie up. As he secured the boat he would murmur in French, English, or a combination. Several times I heard the word, “Alors,” not knowing what it meant. I asked, but he was confused, he didn’t know what word I was asking about. Then again he said it. “Aha!” I pointed at his face (bad manners). “There it is again!” “Which?” “The last one. Alore?” “Ahhh, Alors.” “Yeah that, what’s it mean?” Bafflement in attempting to explain. “Is it like how we use “okay” in English? It kind of fills lots of gaps?” Yes, kind of.

From there we snorkeled and eventually went ashore because the waters were still pretty cold except for in the shallows. On shore we went without shoes, and he checked with me twice to make sure that I was sure I was comfortable (I was). I said I prefer living life barefoot, which is obviously not possible in the city. He said he kicks off his shoes in March and doesn’t put them back on until September, but that a few weeks ago he’d been touring with a German couple who insisted they didn’t need shoes, only to have to cut the hike short because of their sensitive feet. He took me to the top of a lookout point by an abandoned building that I think had a green door. Made a joke about it being a nice little house if you could fix it up. On the way back down I stopped on the trail to take a deep breath and he turned around, mistaking my inhale for a gasp. I was just taking in the piney, jasmine, mineral and dusty scent of the island that smelled so much like summer. On the walk back to the dock we stopped to people watch a minute at the beach, and for some reason on the dock I wound up explaining that next year I would be returning to go to Bordeaux for my sister’s wedding (”No, she’s not French, it’s just that you have a destination wedding when you want to be polite and invite people but you don’t want them to accept or actually come.” “That seems like a good solution.”) Had a small snack on the boat. I don’t remember in what order or when we got to talking, but the similarities were so striking - at least to me:

- On Mexican cenotes, both having been. His experience was to stop and listen. “What did you hear?” “My heart.” There was a thoughtfulness and a pause, there seemed to be more that couldn’t be expressed in English.

- On liveaboarding, both having done. He crossed the Atlantic in 11 days, 5 days of prep, on a catamaran with 3 or 4 friends, going from Africa to Brazil. God if that isn’t just the sexiest thing ever. I wonder if that was before the kids.

- On camping. Every year at the peak of tourist season in August he “disappears into the mountains” for a week. He mentions the calanques to me, and asserts that I know them, which I think is funny or flattering maybe that he assumes I know.

- On environmentalism. He tries to avoid plastic and brings his reusable bags to the weekly market, stepping into a grocery store only once or twice a month. Trying to teach environmentalism to his 3 kids.

- On adventure. “Would you ever live on a boat and sail around the Mediterranean?” Absolutely. But there’s the kids to consider (2 teens, 1 around 9) and the several small businesses. (He seems to be a “guy I know” kind of guy). But someday.

Maybe that’s when he asked my age, which surprised me mildly. I think that was when he mentioned I was young enough still to have those adventures. I regret noting out loud how he had his first kid when he was my age, because it put a space between us that I don’t think needed to be there.

There’s a word he used, a great one. I can’t remember what it was but it floored me that a non-native speaker knew it. I told him this, that I know many English speakers who don’t even know that word. He either didn't understand or didn’t have a response. I wish I could remember the word.

It’s funny to me that he thinks Italy’s food is better than France’s, on account of it being simple ingredients of the highest quality. That’s what I thought France did so well. His expression towards the ocean seems wistful, longing for the larger and wilder waves.

I tell him about Arizona when he mentions the vast wildernesses of America being so alluring. I could live there if it weren’t so far from the sea, and he seems to nod agreement.

I have a rant about rich people, their yachts, and the weird and annoying things they do with their money. I think he’s probably just humoring me or being polite and I mention that my friends tell me I talk about depressing things, which makes him laugh. I grimace and apologize.

At a little cove where we stop again to snorkel, I wander ashore to look at the schist folds more closely and then I notice plastic, and the more I look the more of it I see. I already found a plastic bag and tucked it into my bikini side, to dispose of after swimming. I start collecting bits of plastic, rubber wine corks, and mostly styrofoam. When I turn around, Sèbastien had paddle boarded over and produced a half torn garbage bag from the ground and was filling it, so we worked silently, picking up pieces until the bag was full. I noticed moments before he said aloud that the more pieces we picked the smaller the remaining ones got. I made a comment about micro plastics. It was depressing, realizing in a moment of pause that there was still so much rubbish around. That’s when he unwittingly gifted me the mantra I didn’t know I needed:

“Alors. It’s not everything, but it’s important.” It washes over me like cold water, jarring and refreshing all at once. I never believed in love at first sight until this day.

There’s a seagull back by the boat that’s cautiously optimistic about our picnic lunch. Sèbastien tries to lure it with various treats (it doesn’t care for watermelon). Is it true that we both think these common birds are beautiful, or is he just being agreeable so I have a good tour experience?

After about 5 hours in the sun I’m getting drowsy and the boat motion is lulling me to sleep as I nod off while he’s driving, and he offers me a towel for my head. I get the impression that this is someone used to caring for other people, and realize that’s what I need.

I need to be able to relax, but to relax I need to trust that somebody else has their hands on the wheel. And I could cry with relief at this realization and with frustration that the person who gave it to me is probably completely unattainable.

Coming into the final harbor we talk about the Levant and he admits he never spends any time there but he isn’t sure why, other than that the kids are emphatic about not wanting to go. I laugh because of course that makes perfect sense.

I want to see him again. The kids are going to NYC next week with their mother, but he’s never been. I say I have an AirBnB and he’s welcome to stay if he ever decides to go, and that I hope he does. It’s 5pm and it feels abrupt when he says he should leave. I’m left wondering if I came on too strong or made him uncomfortable with the overture of invitation. Then I wonder too if maybe I didn’t come on strongly enough.

It’s a cruel coincidence that the house I stay at in Hyères is steps away from the one he rents out to vacationers. It’s even crueler that the day after our day I see the same yellow boat on the dock and have to convince myself it’s not his. I could have talked to him for many, many more hours than we had. I so want to see him again and have no idea if this is me being limerent again or whether there was some mutual connection.

When’s the last time I had so much in common with a person? It feels like never. But maybe I am living in the wrong places, maybe for him it’s common and the people around here are often outdoorsy, adventurous environmentalists. This might be the (possibly misleading) lynchpin that convinces me to make the move.

3 days later I ask if he has a website for the environmentalist friend who runs the NGO and a week after that there’s still no response. I don’t have any recourse except to chalk it up to one-sided attraction, which makes me deeply sad and I’m not ready to let it go yet.

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casualarsonist · 6 years

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Wolfenstein II, and the importance of tone.

B.J. Blaskowicz's pregnant lover, Anya, tears her burning shirt from her body as her grenades explode under the feet of the advancing Nazis. She straddles B.J's prone body and brandishes two machine guns aloft as blood showers her naked skin, and I roar with laughter. My girlfriend asks me what the f**k is happening. Hitler pisses into a bucket and vomits on the floor. B.J. rants against bourgeois pacifism in a drunken rage and passes out. And as the sword bites into his flesh, and his head falls into a pyre, only to be collected by a machine and reattached to a synthetic body, I rejoice at the moments wherein Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus has the balls to embrace the absolute madness of its setting and take everything up to 11.

But something doesn't feel quite right. Its predecessor - The New Order - subverted and exceeded the expectations of everyone that awaited it; I don't think anyone could have imagined what Machine Games would do with the franchise rights of the world's first FPS. As a pitch, the idea of taking the inherently daft premise of a man fighting Nazi-zombie robots in a retro-futuristic 1960's and grounding it all in a real emotional place with characters that understand and communicate the gravity of their situation to one another and to the audience alike...well, it's mental. And yet it worked. It worked really, really well. The action was intense and bombastic, but when it was over and the game asked us to understand what was motivating these people to do what they were doing, the drama felt earned, and every enemy you defeated felt like a cathartic victory rather than an exercise in psychopathy. When a friendly character died, it hurt because you cared, and because the death felt like a genuine loss amongst all the well-written personalities. The New Order was dark and visceral and at times terrifying, but always a joy to play, and in the end, no matter which turn the story took, you were invested.

So why does The New Colossus feel like such a mistake?

To be fair to the game, as I've already said, there were moments that I was literally rolling in my seat with laughter, and it is certainly at its best when it says 'fuck it' to the concept of restraint and goes mental. It is, at times, incredibly fun, and funny. The aforementioned scene in which an insane, addled, syphilitic Hitler pisses in a bucket whilst auditioning actors for a terrible, terrible film he has written is one of the best in the entire game, not just because it makes an absolute mockery of the long-feared icon of human evil, but also because it is rendered and animated so well that looking into his eyes is genuinely chilling for how lifelike it all appears. But moments like these are few and far between, and it's regrettably rare that, buried amongst long, long cutscenes that have nothing important to say, one feels like they are genuinely being surprised and entertained.

I suppose it's all about on which end of the crazy scale you heap your content - balance is good, as is committing to one style and tone on either side, but to be indecisive, or to miscalculate and mistime and portion your moments improperly so as to leave your audience confused as to your intention can be fatal, and in the case of Wolfenstein 2, it very nearly is. Whereas The New Order balanced the silliness in its gunplay with sincerity and moments of genuine tenderness in its story, The New Colossus couples inappropriate moodiness and melodrama with the violent actions of its characters, and leaves them looking like hypocrites. After tearing through a gauntlet of soldiers leaving little but a hallway littered with bloody chunks of flesh, B.J. chooses to wax poetic about the loss of a friend's life and the loss of all her experiences with it, in turn completely ignoring the dozens of lives and thousands of experiences he just erased. The moment is timed so perfectly and the recitation of the lines so genuine that the juxtaposition almost feels intentional, as if the game wants you to scoff at his lack of self-awareness, and it might have been a nice subversive moment if this game’s immediate predecessor hadn’t pinned all its integrity on the fact that its characters and narrative were supposed to be relatable. Instead, B.J. comes off psychotic, annoying, and unlikeable, and the writers seem less like they’re in on the joke and more like they just don't know what their doing.

Which is rather baffling, given that it's the exact same creative team behind the The New Order - the same two writers that created a masterpiece of action storytelling, and somehow married an impossibly absurd premise with a genuine, heartfelt narrative. They created a terrifying villain, complex and likeable sidekicks, and together with the ambitious and intense soundtrack crafted a world that lived and breathed despite exploring all manner of ridiculous scenarios (moonbase FTW). The New Colossus is this, but less well made. It repeats a lot of the same beats of its predecessor, and so they all feel forced, unearned, and inferior. It's as if the setting of Nazi-occupied America wasn't fertile-enough ground for the creative directors, so they needed to borrow directly from their previous game. They delve into B.J's childhood and fill his backstory with caricatures that overstate the point they're there to make, and yet at the same time expect us to invest in a depressing world that is directly at odds with the light-hearted insanity of the rest of the story, and I think moments like this come from a desire to leave the tone of their previous game behind in favour of something a bit more fun, while still feeling like they need to bridge the gap with some kind of drama. Unfortunately, they fail to find the balance, and the attempts at seriousness reek of try-hard melodrama and smash against the humour like two cars travelling opposite directions down a one-lane road.

I could be mistaken of course; perhaps I’m just too thick to ‘get it’ and they were trying to ironically deconstruct their own work, but the drama is so heavy, and heavy-handed, that I just can’t believe that this is the case, which is such a shame because there are all the makings of an amazing game under the hood - fantastic components have been assembled together in a confused and chaotic manner, leaving the follow-up to one of the greatest shooters ever made (and one of the most unexpected underdog releases) feeling like a victim of its own success. And this is exemplified in no better place that at in the ending of the game, which is in almost every way the antithesis of that of The New Order.

A recap: in The New Order you must fight a super-robot implanted with the brain of one of your former comrades. After defeating it and ending the suffering of your friend, you’re attacked by the main villain - General Deathshead - as you fight amongst an increasingly unstable network of gas pipes and crumbling concrete. When you finish the desperate battle and kill Deathshead from within a conflagration of fire and flames, a short, poignant cutscene activates in which the game implies the end of one of the most important parts of the franchise. It’s a perfect example of why the game did best as a whole, offering the traditional trope of a boss fight with a new coat of paint, and then ending with a no-nonsense but impactful piece of genuine drama.

So how does The New Colossus conduct itself? Well not only does it unravel the risk of the previous game’s ending within the first few seconds, but it ends by making the player’s last interaction with its Big Bad a single button-press that then triggers a five-minute-long cutscene in which the characters stand around and spout cliche ideological platitudes about America rising up. Then B.J. stares at the corpse of his enemy like a fucking nutcase, before getting down on his knees next to the wrecked carcass and proposing to his girlfriend, which would be funny if this wasn’t the same character we were supposed to be rallying behind and is now clearly insane. It’s anti-climactic, tonally unbalanced, and boring, and worse than all this is that it commits the cardinal sin of second acts in that it ends unsatisfyingly whilst promising a third installment that will be much more interesting.

Fuck off.

This could all have been avoided if the creative rudder of the production had steered it directly into the eye of the storm - the setting, its violence, and its cast of characters are all ripe for parody, so why the hell did they feel like they had to spend so much time exploring B.J’s tragic upbringing in which his racist, wife-beating dad makes him kill his own dog? What purpose does that serve in a story that opens with a wheelchair-bound protagonist machine-gunning Nazis in the face? It’s just madness. And in my opinion it ultimately undid a lot of the good will that The New Order worked so hard at creating. Even if the incoming third game commits completely to its craziness, we’re still stuck with this strange Frankenstein’s monster, and the fact that from about the half way mark I was just waiting for it to end is, for me, a nail in the coffin. It’s just...it’s such a shame. The New Colossus is a smooth, beautiful shooter, and also an trainwreck of mismatched tones, confused pacing, regurgitated story beats, and an unsatisfying ending. It tries to vary its gameplay and somehow ends up feeling more of a generic shooter than it’s predecessor - a game that actually set out to reboot the world’s first FPS. It has moments of absolute brilliance that it just fails to perpetuate because it doesn’t let them gather momentum, which leaves it feeling starkly weak specifically in the areas that The New Order excelled, and that makes it a much larger kick in the nuts to me than it ought to otherwise be.

Of course, if you’re not a whiny little baby like me, or are like a friend of mine who’d never played a Wolfenstein game in his life before this one, you might just enjoy it for what it is - a gorgeous, ambitious, and gratuitous FPS set in a strange and fun alternate history, but if you asked me to recommend it as a sequel to it’s fantastic predecessor, I just can’t do it.

6.5/10

P.S. I think I’m going to remove the qualification titles of my ratings from this point onwards. I’m not 100% certain that I’m going to get rid of them forever, but between my poor attempts at thinking of ‘names’ for half-marked titles and the fact that I’m tied to classifying a 7/10 game as ‘good’ even though my subjective impression of the game might not agree with that, means that the more complex my feelings about a certain title, the harder it is to put a specific label on it. Wolfenstein II is a good example of this conundrum. I don’t think it’s objectively good at a lot of what it’s trying to do, and yet I don’t think it’s objectively ‘just okay’ across the board. With this in mind, if you refer to my review scoring system you’ll get a better idea of what each ranking means, beyond what a single word can convey. You’ll see that Wolfenstein II gets a 6.5 because I think it is largely unsuccessful in the pursuit of its intentions regarding its narrative and tone for the reasons I’ve detailed above, and yet I can’t at all say that it offers a poor return-on-investment for the average gamer. Hell, you might think it’s an excellent game and disagree with me entirely - this is just my opinion, after all - but given that I will obviously weigh certain aspects of a work’s design more heavily than other aspects, I still think this is the best way to understand what each score means for me (and thus for you), and why I might have come any given conclusion.

#wolfenstein ii: the new colossus #bethesda #machine games #video game #review #pc #b.j. blazkowicz #id software #fps #shooter #ww2 #gore #sequel #alternate history #imnotgoingtotagthefuckingnazisinthis #shitijustdid

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forthegothicheroine · 6 years

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Best books I read in 2017

I read a lot of graphic novels this year, whose individual volumes artificially inflated my goodreads numbers. In any case, here are my favorites- not necessarily books that came out this year, just ones I actually got to.

Behind this cut lies gothic horror, true crime, indie comics, weird history, magic realism, and muppets.

My Favorite Thing is Monsters: This one is my absolute favorite of the year. Oh my god. Heaven help me. Oh god. If you want a fantastic world of monster movies, private heartbreak, memoirs of libertine cults, and amazing color all narrated by an adorable lesbian werewolf girl, please read this book. And join me in dancing around impatiently for the next volume.

The Faerie Handbook: Look, sometimes I just want to be twelve again and surround myself with fairy artwork and crafts and mythology, all provided by the editors of Faerie Magazine. This book helps with that.

Haunted Castles: This is a collection of gothic novellas by Ray Russell, and it’s worth it for “Sardonicus” alone. The other stories aren’t bad either (especially the super-nasty “The Fugitive Lovers”) and an introduction by Guillermo del Toro doesn’t hurt.

Swords Against Wizardry: I’ve talked about my love of the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series before, and this book is the best of all. I love these two dorky adventurers, and this is the pinnacle of sword and sorcery as Coen Brothers-style dark comedy. Steal invisible treasure! Romance invisible maidens! See what happens when you try to fence invisible treasure! Say ‘screw it’ and end up fucking around in Gormenghast! Such is the adventuring life.

The Rabbi’s Cat: Another graphic novel, this one is sad and cute in equal measure. Don’t worry, it’s not a downer- it’s about a skinny, mischief-making cat who wants to become Jewish solely so he can keep getting petted by the Rabbi’s daughter. The family’s life in 1930s Algeria fluctuates, as does the Rabbi’s faith, and through it all the cat wryly observes.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown: Now this is the kind of YA vampire romance I want to read! It’s genuinely exciting and the vampire dystopia portrayed is believably glamorous and grimy. These are vampires I can believe in, both sympathetic and otherwise. Plus, if you’ve ever wanted to punch out Lestat, you’ll be satisfied.

Conjure Wife: I had read this one before, but it rang especially true this time. A college professor finds out his wife has been using witchcraft to prop up his entire career, and everything falls to hell when he makes her stop. It has to be taken literally for an urban fantasy suspense romp, but you can also easily read it as a metaphor by replacing “witchcraft” with “emotional labor.”

The Refrigerator Monologues: Catherynne M. Valente is pretty hit or miss for me, but this worked for me in a big way. Her anger at watching Gwen Stacy die on screen resulted in this work, where analogues for female comic book characters air their grievances from the afterlife (my favorite is the Harley Quinn one.) You can tell her opinions- she thinks Jean Grey has been rebooted way too many crimes, and Daredevil is the only hero who comes off completely sympathetic- but whether you share her opinions or not, I think you’ll find value here.

My Friend Dahmer: ‘Derf’ Backderf went to high school with Jeffrey Dahmer. The kid was weird, and they always laughed at his antics...until he got just a little too weird and they distanced theirselves from him. Looking back, he wonders many things, chiefly why none of the adults recognized or cared about the warning signs that Dahmer was having serious problems. @harkerling said this graphic novel memoir perfectly hit the balance between sympathizing with a killer and not excusing him, and it’s going to stick with me for a long time.

Nightmare Movies: Kim Newman is another hit or miss author for me, but I’m definitely going to check out more of his work now that I’ve read what he has to say about horror movies. Even when I don’t agree, he’s always intelligent and insightful and notices things I somehow missed (is Hayley from Hard Candy actually a ghost or an avenging angel?) I’ll fight him on a few movies he trashes, but it will be a gentle fight.

Paperbacks from Hell: Oh man this one is fun. The author of the horror comedy novel Horrorstor gives us a look at the best and worst of pulp horror paperback covers, from the sixties through the nineties. You’ll meet skeletons in funny poses, whip-weilding leprachauns, and plenty of gothic heroines running away from big houses in the middle of the night. The only problem with this book is that it made my to-read list so much longer!

Romantic Outlaws: This dual biography of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley filled in so many gap in my knowledge of gothic literature, broke my heart, and even helped me understand what these women saw in their wacky husbands. It’s huge but it’s a page-turner, and you’ll feel like these women are your troubled but fascinating best friends.

Muppet Classics: Phantom of the Opera: Look, you’ll never know till you read this what a great Christine Miss Piggy is. It works with the Leroux text adding not only Muppet characters and jokes but developing a semi-plausible background for the plot. The casting is perfect, and don’t get too comfortable because muppets actually die! Now I just need them to do Muppet Dracula.

Poirot and Me: Do you love David Suchet’s Poirot? Do you want to know how an actual method actor works, as opposed to a publicity seeking jackass who annoys his fellow cast? Read this book. It’s precious and enlightening, and now when I watch Poirot I see how much work Suchet put into every motion and expression to perfectly match Agatha Christie’s creation. (And to any of you who may have headcanoned Poirot as asexual, Suchet says you’re right.)

#books

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geeky90-blog · 6 years

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Celeste: A Review

Surprise! I forgot to review Mirror’s Edge. Work’s been really hard on me lately, and so I’ve been struggling to find time for my hobbies except for some quick bursts of gaming.

I’ve spent the last week and a half/two weeks playing through Celeste, an Indie Platformer by MattMakesGames on my Switch. Last night after many tries and roughly 27 hours poured into the game, I’m happy to say I completed all 24 of its levels and am floored by this game. Hit the jump below to see my thoughts.

Title: Celeste Platform(s): Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Xbox One, PC, Mac, Linux MSRP: $19.99 Total Playtime: 28 Hours (Roughly) Status: Main Story Completed, All Levels Completed, ~100 strawberries collected.

Read on below my friends.

For those that aren’t aware, Celeste is a game that was developed out of a small scale project that turned into a full game. (The original game is actually playable online for free, here: https://mattmakesgames.itch.io/celesteclassic) Players play as Madeline, a young woman with the drive and desire to climb Celeste Mountain, a mysterious mountain that features multiple breath-taking sights, including an abandoned city, a ghastly hotel, and spikes.... tons and tons of spikes.

The premise is simple enough to hook you in, but the actual story, while not as expansive or in-depth as many of our AAA games today, does... well, it does really well with its subtlety, symbolism, and of course letting fans interpret Madeline’s journey. (More on that in a bit)

Graphics-wise, the game bases itself somewhat on old retro titles, more towards the SNES/16-bit era, while the music keeps a nice synth-retro style to go along with it as well. Fitting, considering how the game originally got its start as a retro game made on a retro (imaginary) console. Aesthetically it fits, and the game’s beautiful backgrounds, details, and more truly shine on any screen.

Gameplay is one of the true highlights of this game. Similar to Super Meat Boy, I Wanna Be the Guy, and other titles in that nature, this game is designed to be hard, precise, and brutally unforgiving at times. While there are some instances of RNG, for the most part success or failure is based upon the player’s skill and reflexes. This is pretty refreshing for the most part, as sometimes RNG can become a bit too common place or critical in the world of gaming. (I’m looking at you, Pokemon!) You can run, wall-jump, dash, and that’s about it. But where the game starts to shine is the difficulty and precision moves you must make in order to be successful. Each jump, dash, and wall-jump truly matters. One wrong move can find you falling to your doom, getting impaled on a bed of spikes, or getting crushed by a laughing block. Each step and failure you make along the way allows you to learn the game and master its mechanics. One of the most satisfying moments for this game for me was finally mastering the more advanced abilities that are essential in succeeding in the later levels, and I felt truly accomplished by completing the climb and reaching the Summit of Celeste Mountain.

The difficulty is something that I truly thought would bother me, if I’m being honest. I’m well-known by my partner for my temper when playing video games. (I once rage quit fighting a Pelipper in Pokemon Alpha Sapphire because it kept spamming recovery moves on me if that says anything) However, when I first saw the trailer for this game in a Nintendo Direct last year, something about it stood out. Maybe it was the aesthetic, the story, or the challenge... but like Madeline, I knew I wanted to climb that mountain. I had no reason why, I just knew I wanted to. I think that’s the appeal of the game... some large challenge that players want to overcome. Celeste presents itself in a way that encourages the player to keep up their efforts. Each failure becomes an opportunity for success, and I can’t think of any moment I truly rage-quit at the game. Yes, I may have been annoyed, but I still felt empowered to finish the game. Even when I faced the final two levels last night, dying almost 500+ times, I was encouraged by the game as I kept learning the correct actions to take. This ultimately led to my final victory when I finished the game ... at 2:30AM. I felt accomplished. I felt proud. I felt...tired. But overall, I felt satisfied at completing what I set out to do in this game: climb the mountain and complete each level in the game. (Collecting all the Strawberries scattered about the mountain, that’s... a whole other story) This game has perfect gameplay, and I believe it’s one of the strongest examples of refined and easy-to-master mechanics in a video game since Super Mario Bros. It is that good and the gameplay makes it worth the price of admission.

Here there be spoilers after this point,

But the true heart of the story, that keeps you going, is the Madeline and her internal conflict. The overall narrative focuses on her drive to climb Celeste Mountain while also opening up to the faces she meets along the way. Madeline is relatable: she is determined, insecure, and stubborn. This was why I was able to invest myself in the story and for many players, I think this creates immersion in the game. One of the few faces on the mountain she meets is, of course, her other self brought to life by the mountain. Her fears, her insecurities, and more manifest themselves in her alter-ego, and the journey she has confronting herself and overcoming this makes up the true heart of the narrative. And this is one of the highlights of the game that comes together in a wrenching climax and finale. Many games have done the “evil” rival of a character story before (Sonic & Shadow, Mario & Wario, Samus & Dark Samus, etc.) but this game adds some real emotional depth to their conflict and their reconciliation.

This is in fact, something, I think that allows the player to make up their own connection to Madline. The game is never outright saying what exactly Dark Madline represents at times. It does allude to her insecurities, her fears, her anger, and other negative emotions.... but there’s no set defined name for what she represents. The general consensus (that I agree with) is that she represents depression, anxiety, or mental illness. However, it’s extremely easy for the player to project onto Madeline their personal feelings. (For example, I read the story almost coding Madeline with queer theory, with her Dark Half representing her repressed, true self, and their reconciliation being Madeline accepting of herself) It’s subtle story telling like this that lets the players fill in the gaps, so to speak, which makes for a lot of fun overall.

That being said, there’s truly nothing I’ve seen like Celeste before. The game takes some basic tropes and ideas from its genre, but presents it in a way that’s like a breath of fresh air. Encouraging notes are given to the player throughout the game, the music is somewhat calming and grand, and the environments are all beautiful despite being 16-bit pixel graphics. I’ve been rambling at this point, but I think you now get the picture: this is one of those rare games that will be defining for a generation of gamers, and I am happy I stuck out to the end and completing the game by what I wanted to do. I put 27 hours into a game with 24 levels for my first play-through alone without even realizing it. I got sucked into the world of Celeste, and that doesn’t happen to me in a video game as much as it used to. I could have kept the fun going by collecting all of the game’s 200 strawberries (I ended up with about 100, getting me the second best ending) but I knew my limits and goals: I wanted to finish every level in the game... and I reached that summit, proud of what I wanted to do.

There honestly is nothing much I can say about this game in a negative light. The only thing I can think of is more tutorials for the advanced movements, but otherwise... there isn’t much I can say about this game negatively. It is that good: believe the hype. I will say the best platform (in my opinion) is to get it on the Switch. I played this game in short & long bursts, putting my Switch to sleep when I needed to go back to work or when something would take me away from the mountain. The game is fabulous on any platform, but I think the portability of the Switch makes it easily the best choice to play on.

In sum: if you are a fan of the genre, you owe it to yourself to play this game. Celeste is unique, fun, and frustrating but satisfying at the same time. The music is catchy and fun, the graphics charming and beautiful, and the gameplay is near flawless. The story is emotionally driven, and I honestly think this is one of my Top Games of 2018 easily. Be brave, approach the mountain, and get climbing. Final Score: 10/10

#celeste #nintendo switch #nindie #nintendo #gaming #video games #review #geekyky90 reviews #just go get this game already ffs

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lesless · 6 years

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scene, community, kindness

I love fine art & immersing in ideas & seeing how artists nod at specific concepts or societal trends as a means to inspire humor or insight or both—but the idea of talking about art to fine art enthusiasts… Like that whole in-person scene, so far as I experienced, was soooo annoying. Being around folks super into the music scene, similarly, was annoying. Exposure to those way involved in the bicyclyclist scene, annoying. Talking to people way into comic culture, same. Etc etc etc.

Like it’s the same story if you’ve ever hung out with any subculture. It’s not that the people in those microcosms are annoying, most of them are, in a way, building a community which is amazing & fulfilling & fun. It’s just that those cultures inevitably appeal to people who tend to make those cultures their identity. People who adopt external identities tend to be filling a place in themselves, in some way, that they feel is lacking. People who feel a gap are often hungry for things to fill it, & tend to burn through a lot of resources, used as little reliefs to their gap. Eventually, the pace speeds up, & the whole of it is consumed, & creativity is often a limited resource on that time scale. Then, those who made it their identity have nothing to fuel that identity. Emotional flair-ups tend to happen. Drama starts. People get pulled into it somehow. It’s the same in every subculture. You know people who are like, I don’t like anime, I AM ANIME

It’s not that people who are in that scene are annoying or that all people who regularly show up to things are irritating. Honestly, the vast, vast, overwhelming number of people you meet who are regularly in those groups are absolutely stellar people!

One lady in the biking group, a older lady, always shows up to group rides with weed brownies for whoever. People stop at the back of the group if you fall behind even if they don’t know you, because they want you to enjoy the thing they enjoy, with them. It brings them fulfillment to share biking as a good experience. People would arrange concerts if someone in the scene fell on hard times, donate proceeds. People would do it for birthdays. Weddings. If someone passed. Cover goes to whoever, it was amazing. Yearly house shows become local-scene-tradition. Like that’s so fantastic to me. & that’s also the same in every subculture. People are warm & welcoming & enthusiastic to show you something they love. You know exactly when someone loves something, you can tell by the way they talk about it.

But what makes it annoying is that all those kind hearted people tolerate the folks that show up & create alllll this shit. They don’t want to hurt someone they hardly know by setting boundaries, like it’s not appropriate for you to show up, get plastered, & fight someone. It’s not cool, that’s what gets you kicked out of the anime rave (that is a reference to drama I literally heard about first hand oh my god) OR the show, or the bar, or the restaurant, or whatever. Then people don’t want to show up. You end up with a lot of die-hard fans that will put up with anything for their love of the thing & the people who are there because they are the thing, the involvement in the scene takes up time & energy that distracts from the gap so they’re going to be there. & that’s how you kill the scene.

The best, often most transformative & impactful time to be in a scene is before that thing takes off. When is just you & the other 6 people showing up for your friend’s backyard show. When it’s the 3 people you bumped in to at the release day of a comic, happenstance. It’s the mental stimulation & emotional rush of trading Long-mulled thoughts on a thing after so much time in hibernation. Something strikes a chord, people are engaging with one another & reflecting on themselves in a new way. Self discovery & new realizations of the depths of your fellow people.

I just don’t think there’s a reason to let it end. I think we should reclaim cultures & local identity & community. Letting them wilt under the free range of people acting up is what created an environment where cringe culture cropped up. A means to collectively express what we all feel but suppressed, the uncomfortable pain of someone making a mockery of something you love. I mean face it, if you didn’t love the thing they are bastardizing, why would you care? Why would it even evoke an emotion? It wouldn’t.

So for a long time, we cringed & it was funny to us all because we could finally breath about it for a second, with a laugh instead of a shout. But then it got old. & the people with a gap got onto the bandwagon & started ‘cringing’ at something that was nothing at all, or derogatory about things that shouldn’t be degraded. & a lot of it became hurtful. So people moved on to acknowledging sadness, & now there’s a big movement around healing & setting boundaries because as a community, we need to heal. Polite people everywhere who build community realized that there’s no avoiding having to address people with gaps, lovingly, gently, & earnestly to encourage people to heal.

& I hope a lot of people are healing their gap. I want to be the part of those who promote community. I think what takes up so much energy is that I try to be mindful about being kind & welcoming & looking out for people like people look out for me. I think it is important to be kind, because being kind is a radical act of kinsmanship with whoever you meet because they are a person, & they see you as a person, & you know you will both help each other or someone else, together, if you see them being treated as not a person.

You know that you can count on those around you to stop people treating other people like non-persons. Treating someone like a race, or an orientation, or some other stream of concepts that act like an excuse to treat people with all the virulence & disgust they feel for themselves.

Being kind, to me, is setting the expectation with whoever I meet that they deserve my respect & attention just because we crossed paths. Until they give me a reason not to.

& when I’m given a reason not to give respect, I make it clear why they stopped getting my respect. If I meet eyes with someone happenstance I smile & nod. If I notice I’m being stared at after the fact, I yell “HEY YOU GOT EYE PROBLEMS?” Or I stop & shrug, or whatever. If someone rudely talks over me, I say excuse me let me just finish my thought please, & if they continue I say shut the fuck up.

This boundary setting is also part of kindness. If you do not set your boundaries they express in other ways, often passive-aggressive & overblown. Disproportionate. It is untilamely kinder to set boundaries than it is to spare feelings.

I want to be part of rebuilding community as an expectation. Kindness is very important to that goal. When we look out for each other, we look out for ourselves.

#me #finally fleshed out floating ideas #v long

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pebble-xo · 7 years

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Painted Hearts (2)

part one; part two; part three; part four; part five; part six; part seven; part eight; part nine; part ten; part eleven; part twelve.

Four missed calls and three text messages.

All from Oh Sehun.

You weren’t purposefully ignoring his attempts at communication but work had that annoying habit of getting in the way. The entire household had been rushed off their feet cleaning and preparing the house for Yuri’s mother, who was coming back from a business holiday in a week’s time. Even though she wasn’t due back straight away, the house had been a flurry of activity that just left you completely exhausted. Every night, you’d finish late and head home, looking at the missed calls and collapsing asleep before you could call him back.

Opening the door to your apartment with a hard shove of your shoulder, you threw your keys down on the sideboard and kicked your shoes off. Already you could feel your body being pulled towards the bed, discarding your uniform along the way as you stumbled across your apartment and flopped down onto the soft mattress. You wrapped yourself like a burrito in your duvet and fumbling around on your nightstand for the TV remote. There was nothing like an old rerun of a terrible sitcom to fall asleep to.

You yawned widely as you fluffed up your pillows and found the most comfortable position. Then you checked your alarm was set on your phone and sighed wearily, staring at the list of missed calls from Sehun. A part of you wanted to call him but you were too tired to think of anything to say. The last thing you wanted was to make a fool of yourself. You were still trying to figure out why he was even bothering with you.

However, you weren’t left worrying long, sleep quickly easing your mind and letting you drift into a peaceful dream.

-x-

“Has Mami made a list of everything that needs to be ordered in?” you asked Sooyoung sternly while the two of you walked down one of the many long corridors in Yuri’s house. Your eyes flickered down to check with the clipboard in your arms at the list of things you needed to tick off throughout the day. It was a long list that was already exhausting you just reading it.

Sooyoung fixed her hair in one of the expensive mirrors dotted on the wall. “If she hasn’t already, I will make sure that’s the next thing she does,” she replied, clipping back the little strands of hair that had escaped her ponytail from the top of her neck.

You made a little note to collect the list later and then read through the rest of the list. “And has all of the silverware been polished?” you inquired, yanking the younger girl away from the mirror.

“I’ll get Minree to do it. You know how super OCD she gets when polishing; it’ll be done in no time,” Sooyoung replied with a teasing salute. It wasn’t often you had to take charge but when you did, the girls liked to tease you for it.

From the opposite end of the corridor, you spotted Jaemin hurrying towards you with a sense of urgency in his step. He stopped in front of you and doubled over breathing hard. “Oh Sehun ... in the Entrance Hall … but Miss Yuri is taking a bath,” he managed to get out with sharp gasps for air.

You frowned at Jaemin in confusion while Sooyoung immediately perked up and started smoothing down her dress. “What is he doing here?” you murmured quietly, biting down hard on your bottom lip. Had he got bored of you missing his calls and decided to try his luck with Yuri instead? As much as you tried not to care, your heart dropped a little at the thought.

“I’ll greet him,” Sooyoung chirped up brightly.

For some reason, your friend’s words snapped you into action. “You need to go down to the kitchens,” you told Sooyoung, stopping the girl in her tracks and turning her in the other direction. “I’ll greet Mr Oh, while you go and find out if Yuri has finished her bath,” you told Jaemin, letting him and Sooyoung dart off in one direction while you went to the Entrance Hall.

You were just about to walk down the grand staircase when you paused right on the first step. Did you look alright? There wasn’t a mirror anywhere nearby so the best you could do was tighten your ponytail and smooth your dress down. Then taking a long deep breath in, you started to descend the staircase, rounding the curve and looking down at the marble floor that Sehun was pacing.

He was dressed in light grey trousers with a black bomber jacket over a plain black t-shirt, looking absolutely effortless with his hands buried in his pockets and his head dipped low while he patrolled the same point on the polished floor. He didn’t notice you coming down the stairs until you were on the last step, his soft coffee coloured eyes finding yours instantly. “I was hoping I’d get to see you,” he said in his low voice, a smile stretching the corners of his perfect lips.

“What are you doing here?” you asked him quietly in case anyone was listening in. There was no one else in the Entrance Hall but in places like this, the walls tended to have ears.

Sehun took long strides towards you until you were face to face. “You said you were too busy with work to talk so I thought I’d come and visit you,” he replied with a smirk. The way he looked at you left your stomach filled with butterflies. His hands twitched by his side and you thought he was going to reach out for you.

To give yourself some headspace, you retreated back a step and held your hands on your stomach. “You can’t just turn up like this. This isn’t just my work; this is Yuri’s house. You’re only complicating things by coming here!” you exclaimed as quietly as you could. It felt so good to see his face but you were constantly aware that anyone could walk in on you.

“I’m not used to girls pushing me away,” Sehun murmured, closing the gap between you both and tracing a long gentle finger from your temple to your chin. “But I kind of like it.” He tilted your chin to force your gaze on his face, watching the corners of his pink lips pull in a devilish smirk.

You raised your hands and prepared to push him away, just as sudden footsteps echoed off the marble in the Entrance Hall, loud and announcing the arrival of the only person who didn’t feel the need to sneak around this house. You stepped back from Sehun just as Yuri came hurrying down the grand staircase, dressed in a casual t-shirt and tracksuit bottoms with her hair still damp from her bath. “Mr Oh, what a pleasant surprise!” she exclaimed brightly, skipping down to the bottom step and walking over to greet her guest.

“It’s nice to see you again Yuri,” he said politely, locking his hands behind his back and bowing low.

Yuri nodded her head and smiled up at Sehun. Was it Sehun who she liked? After the dinner, she mentioned potentially liking one of the two sons. Could it be Sehun?

For some unknown reason, you couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. You shouldn’t, because you didn’t have any claim over the rich boy. Yet you didn’t like the fact that Yuri could be so casual and smiley with Sehun while you were always on constant edge around him.

“What brings you here so unexpectedly?” she asked, scooping her slightly wet hair over her shoulder.

Sehun smirked, his gaze flickering from Yuri to you and then back again. “We’re opening a new hotel on the other side of the city and there’s a big celebration there this evening to commemorate the opening. The only problem is … I’m in need of a date.”

You should have hidden your reaction but his request caught you off guard and left you extremely confused. Had he not said that he came here to see you? Why was he inviting Yuri to some hotel party? As soon as you caught your wits, you dropped your gaze to the floor and stepped back further into the shadows.

There was hesitation from Yuri as well.

“You wouldn’t have to go alone,” Sehun quickly added, his voice low and smooth as silk. “You are more than welcome to bring your personal maid as a plus one.”

At this, your attention snapped up and you saw both Sehun and Yuri staring at you with wide grins on their faces.

“I’ll provide dresses for both of you from our department store, plus I have a salon waiting to get you ready for the event if you both agree to attend,” he continued to explain, making Yuri smile grow even wider.

You could see the sparks alight in her eyes. This wasn’t the first time she had been invited to an event but it was the first time you had been. After every event she would come home and vent about how lonely the event had been, how people only wanted to talk business with her and never actually have fun with her. With the idea that maybe you could accompany her as a guest too, there was a twinkle of hope in her eyes that maybe she could have fun at one of these things.

On the other hand, you were frozen in fear. You didn’t like the spotlight and by the sounds of what Yuri had described, you wouldn’t like such lavish events. Plus, you didn’t want to go and be a third-wheel on Sehun and Yuri’s date. You shook your head slightly and silently pleaded for Yuri to say no but it seemed you hadn’t spontaneously acquired telepathic abilities.

Yuri shuffled in your direction and linked her arm with yours, dragging your unwilling self out of the shadows and into the middle of the marble floor. There you were greeted with Sehun’s dazzling smirk that made his whole face unreadable. “We would absolutely love to attend the event with you,” Yuri exclaimed brightly, keeping a tight hold on your arm.

“The honour is all mine,” Sehun replied like a perfect gentleman, sweeping his arm across his chest and bowing low. Then he straightened up and checked the time on his expensive watch. “I’ll have a car come and collect you in a couple of hours,” he arranged before bidding you both a goodbye.

Stepping out of Yuri’s hold, you tucked your hands behind your back and your eyes locked on the floor. “I’ll see Mr Oh out,” you announced quietly, leaving Yuri to walk up the staircase while you escorted Sehun across the Entrance Hall. Opening one of the two large oak doors, you let Sehun step out first before joining in in the fresh spring air. “

“It looks like I managed to get you to go on a date with me,” Sehun said under his breath, taking the stone steps slowly.

You rolled your eyes and held your hand back from slapping the rich boy for his idiot. “Either you don’t like me as much as you claim or you’re just completely stupid,” you muttered in return, not looking up at his beautiful but distracting face. Once you reached the loose gravel of Yuri’s driveway, you rushed forward and opened the door of Sehun’s car before he or his driver had the chance. “Never turn up at my work like this again Oh Sehun. I don’t care how rich you are. If you ever turn up and threaten my job like this, I will never talk to you again.”

Sehun climbed into the backseat of his sleek black car and looked up at you with a guilty expression. “I realise now that I didn’t approach this situation all that well. I’m sorry,” he apologised and it seemed genuine. “I’ll make it up to you this evening,” he added with an optimistic smile.

You groaned, feeling drained from the night’s events before they had even occurred. “Don’t remind me,” you muttered, slamming the door and stepping back to watch Sehun’s car disappear down the long driveway.

-x-

You lifted the price tag on a sparkly, red gown and almost passed out at the sight of all the zeros. “Yuri! I can’t afford any of the dresses in this store,” you murmured quietly so only your friend would hear. “I don’t even think I could afford a sock,” you scoffed, stepping away from the dress in case you accidentally breathed on it.

Meanwhile Yuri was casually flicking through the rails of expensive dresses, looking completely at home in the luxury boutique you were shopping in. It was no surprise either; she was used to this lifestyle but for you, it was startlingly brand new. “You’re not paying, remember?” she replied, pulling out a royal blue gown and holding it out in front of her.

You rolled your eyes and sighed loudly. “Don’t remind me,” you groaned, thinking about the very reason why you were shopping for a dress in the first place.

Oh Sehun.

Apparently the entire department store, all fifteen floors of designer boutiques and lavish restaurants were owned by Sehun and his family – one business venture amongst many. Being able to physically see the empire he controlled made you want to recoil and hide behind a small rock. His world was so far apart from yours, his life so different to yours. Looking around the blush coloured store with rails of exclusive designer gowns shining under painfully bright spotlights, you squirmed in your spot. This wasn’t a place you fitted in.

“Why don’t I pick a few dresses for you, and you try them on and pick your favourite?” Yuri asked, her bright smile lighting up at the prospect of dressing you up like a doll. You knew she was just excited to have someone with her for something like this.

Not seeing any way out of this torture, you reluctantly nodded and resigned yourself to your fate, while Yuri whizzed around the boutique with practised finesse.

After trying on what felt like a million dresses and hating all of them, you were beginning to lose enthusiasm for this whole idea. Everything you tried on just seemed to make you feel entirely inadequate. You weren’t pretty enough or rich enough to wear such extravagant dresses and there was no fooling anyone, despite Yuri’s best efforts.

In the end you were down to one dress. It was made from a beautiful silver material that seem to sparkle under the harsh lighting as if it was made of a million diamonds. The design was simple; a floor-length dress that glided over your body and made it appear that you had curves, with thin straps that dipped into a low back.

As you turned from side to side in the fitting room, you couldn’t help but admire the way the dress moved, light bouncing off the fabric and making it shimmer as if your body was drenched in molten silver. It was so beautiful and mesmerising – there was no way you could pull off.

“Let me see!” Yuri’s loud voice boomed from the other side of the curtain, interrupting your negative thoughts.

Lifting the hem of the dress off the floor, you pulled back the curtain and stepped out into the private room Yuri was waiting in. You kept your head down as you dropped the skirt and did a slow turn. In your opinion, the only thing wrong with the dress was that you were the one wearing it.

It wasn’t until Yuri clapped her hands together loudly that you peeled your eyes off the velvet floor. “If you don’t get that dress, I’m firing you on the spot,” she teased, pressing her hands into her cheeks and grinning wide. “It was made for you!” she cheered, jumping to her feet.

“I don’t know,” you mumbled, looking down at the silver covering your body. It was a beautiful and glamourous gown but you didn’t feel worthy to wear it, nor could you afford it.

Apparently your thoughts were plainly written on your face. “Don’t worry about the money for the moment,” she scolded, approaching you with a smile. “Do you like the dress?”

You nodded timidly.

“Does the dress fit?” she asked, taking your hair down from its usual ponytail so it fell down and framed your face.

You nodded again, tucking your hair behind your ears out of nerves.

Yuri gripped your arms and squeezed them tightly. “Then this is the dress you shall wear,” she declared.

To say you were conflicted was an understatement. You’d never taken anything that you didn’t earn through hard work. Accepting this dress, from a rich stranger no less, went against every bone in your body. “I guess I can return it afterwards,” you resolved quietly, watching the smile on Yuri’s face beam.

“That’s the spirit,” Yuri mocked, shooing you back into the fitting room. “Now get changed because we have a long appointment at the salon.”

“Yay,” you cheered sarcastically, your mind already stuck in dread of what was to come.

-x-

The girl looking back at you in the mirror was a completely different person. She was beautiful: warm eyes framed by long eyelashes, soft pink cheeks that made your skin glow, dark red lips slightly parted in shock, soft hair styled to perfection so no strand was out of place. “Wow,” you breathed, stepping closer to the reflection. Was that really you?

Your eyes traced over the flawless features of the girl, trying to find parts of her that still looked like you after hours in the salon. The way the lips curled up into the same familiar smile, it was you - a prettier version of you, someone who was used to flash cars and designer labels. The perfect costume.

Yuri came up behind you and grinned over your shoulder through the mirror. She looked as gorgeous as ever in a royal blue cocktail dress, glistening jewels dangling down from her ears and the hollow spot of her collarbone. “You look absolutely stunning,” she praised. “I mean you were always pretty but now on a whole new level!”

You laughed, turning on the spot to face her and smile. “Thank you,” you replied with a solemn nod of your head. You may look like the heiress of some lucrative business but you were still Yuri’s maid. “You look beautiful too.” You moved to the side so she could check herself out in the mirror too.

She puckered her lips to smooth out her lipstick before turning slightly and pulling her arm out from behind herself, revealing a red pair of heels like matched the exact colour your lips were painted. “These are my gift to you … for coming with me tonight,” she told you, holding the shoes out for you to take.

“You really didn’t have to do this,” you sighed, reluctantly taking the heels out of her hands and thanking Yuri. They were perfectly made and undoubtedly not cheap. Finding a nearby stool, you sat down and lifted your silver dress out of the way so you could slip the heels on and secure them in place.

When you stood up again, a little bit taller now, Yuri beamed and clapped her hands together. “You look perfect,” she exclaimed excitedly, bouncing up and down on the spot before beckoning you closer.

A little unsteady on your feet, you stumbled haphazardly towards Yuri, linking arms with her and letting her lead you out of the salon where the two of you had been getting ready. “How do these things usually go then?” you asked, as you met up with the man that had been escorting you around the department store and followed him into a glass elevator. “I can’t say I’ve attended many hotel openings.”

Yuri giggled, scooping her curled hair over her shoulder. “There’s typically a red carpet,” she started, completely unaware of your face dropping in fear. “Then there will be a little reception with the press to commemorate the opening. After that, there’s usually a dinner and some dancing,” she continued, too excited to pick up on your sudden nerves.

You didn’t sign up for this, to be in front of cameras, to be under the eyes of the press. How were you supposed to act? Girls like Yuri had been raised in the spotlight. However, you were going to look like a deer in headlights.

“This is going to be so much fun,” Yuri squealed, squeezing your arm tightly.

The elevator opened up onto an underground carpark below the department store, where a tall handsome figure was waiting for you both beside a long sleek limousine. As Yuri led you out, Sehun peeled himself off the shiny car and stepped closer into a stream of light that revealed just how beautiful he looked in his navy tuxedo that reminded you of stormy clouds. With his hair styled up and brushed to the side, he looked utterly breathtaking.

Then you saw the shocked expression on his face as his dark eyes met yours and you instantly dropped your head to hide your blushing cheeks. The way he stared at you, the desire visible in the way his lips curled up in a smirk, it made you squirm on the spot.

“You both look amazing,” he exclaimed brightly, holding his hand out.

Yuri smiled wide and placed a delicate hand in his. “As do you Mr Oh,” she replied, letting go of your arm and allowing Sehun escort her to the open car door.

You tried not to be bothered by the touch, but there was the tiny voice of jealousy in the back of your mind that wouldn’t leave you alone. You wished it could be you Sehun was leading first, your hand in his tender grip. However, it wasn’t meant to be. Instead you were left to quietly follow from behind … like the servant you were.

Once Yuri was comfortably in the back of the limousine, the rich boy turned his attention to you, holding his hand out. “You look absolutely beautiful,” he breathed in your ear.

It unnerved you to have him so close. You could smell his aftershave around you like a warm cloud that made you feel dizzy. His hot breath on your skin left shivers running down your spine and butterflies in your stomach, as you took his hand and lowered yourself down. Why did he have such an effect on you?

With the three of you in the back of the limousine, Yuri and Sehun sitting side by side while you sat awkwardly on the side seat, the car started its short drive to the hotel. While you stared silently at the sparkle of your dress and tried to calm your overflowing nerves, Yuri and Sehun chatted about who was going to be attending the event – apparently it was a lot of people that the pair of them knew. This didn’t seem to help your nerves. The closer you got, the more knotted your stomach became.

All of a sudden the car pulled up. Out of the window, you could see the rows of cameras all pointing in your direction on both sides of a plush red stripe of carpet. Feeling the panic rise up in your body, you called out before Sehun had the chance to open the door. “I’ll just meet you both inside,” you quickly blurted, pressing your hands into your stomach to quench the feeling of nausea.

“You don’t have to hide away,” Sehun replied with an earnest smile. “I invited you as my guest too. You’re not here on a professional level.” He shared a glance with Yuri who was already leaning over to take your hand.

She squeezed it tight and smiled. “We’re here to have fun remember?” she said with a silent plea in her voice. For you to come with her to this event meant a lot to her and you couldn’t let her down.

Swallowing past the nervous lump in your throat, you relented and nodded your head, scrunching your face up as Yuri leaned across and kissed the top of your head. Only then did Sehun open the door, stepping out first and then offering his hand back inside. With a cheesy grin at you, Yuri placed her hand in his and let him help her out of the limousine gracefully.

You could hear the calls for Sehun and Yuri from the reporters, loud and aggressive yelling for a second of their attention. Savouring the last moment of peace before you threw yourself to the sharks, you closed your eyes and took a deep breath to quell your nervousness. Something like this would probably never happen to you again. Despite how nervous you felt, you told yourself you should at least try to enjoy the evening.

Even Cinderella had fun until the clock struck midnight.

Ducking his head back into the limousine, Sehun flashed his charismatic smile and held his hand out for you. “Ready?” he asked encouragingly.

“No,” you squeaked, making him chuckle. Hearing his laughter oddly relaxed you a little. Shuffling up the seats, you fixed your dress so you hopefully wouldn’t trip on the long skirt and then gripped Sehun’s hand tight.

He guided you out onto your feet, keeping a tentative hand on the small of your back. Once you were safely out of the car, Sehun linked arms with Yuri on one side and you on the other and escorted you both past the blinding cameras and loud reporters without stopping, until you all were through the glass doors and into the grand foyer.

“See that wasn’t so bad,” Yuri teased, unlinking her arm from Sehun’s.

You did the same, although quite reluctantly. It felt sort of good to have him by your side. “I wouldn’t know,” you retorted, blinking hard to try and get rid of the spots in your vision from the camera flashes. “I can’t actually see properly yet!”

Letting out a loud sigh of relief, you internally congratulated yourself on managing to get past the reporters without falling flat on your face. However, now you were faced with a whole new challenge – a hotel full of the rich and famous. And then there was you, the little lamb dressed up like a lion in the heart of their den.

What could go wrong?

-x-

During the reception, you and Yuri stayed close to one another while Sehun paraded the two of you around the foyer of the new hotel. It was a beautiful building, as far as you had seen so far, the foyer decorated with intricate stonework with a huge water feature in the middle of the floor. You met so many people too, some of which Yuri knew. However, all of them seemed very interested in you, the men wanting to know who you were and where you came from while the majority of women just looked at you with scorned faces. Immediately you got the feeling that a lot of the women had come to try their chances with Sehun.

Once the foyer was filled with guests, Sehun left to get ready for the ribbon cutting ceremony. Keen to not draw any attention to yourselves, Yuri and you stayed at the back of the crowd sipping on your flutes of champagne. You probably drank more of the bubbles than the other guests but as the alcohol hit your system, you felt yourself loosen up a bit and start to enjoy yourself.

On the stage, you saw Sehun, his brother Chanyeol and an older man you assumed was their father because he looked like an older version on Chanyeol with tiny similarities to Sehun too. They cut the ribbon ceremoniously and each made a speech about the future and expansion of their family company before guests were filtered into the ballroom for dinner.

“Yuri, I didn’t realise you would be attending this evening,” Chanyeol exclaimed brightly, jumping to his feet as the pair of you approached your assigned seats. He bowed politely to her and then pulled out Yuri’s chair for her.

You could see the blush on Yuri’s cheeks as she took her seat. “It was sort of a last minute plan,” she confessed, looking up at Chanyeol with a big smile on her face.

Awkwardly pushed to the side, you looked down at the fancy place settings to find your own seat. All of a sudden, someone came up behind you, their breath hot on the sensitive skin on the back of your neck. “You’re sat next to me,” Sehun murmured softly for only you to hear, before appearing at your side and pulling out a chair for you.

“Thank you,” you mumbled shyly, happy to be giving your feet a rest from the uncomfortable high heels. Sehun sat down between you and Yuri and passed you a small card with the menu for the evening, although you wouldn’t have guessed it by looking at the words. You frowned hard at the gibberish, not understanding a single word. How were you supposed to order anything?

Your confusion must have been plainly written on your face because Sehun leaned over, his head almost resting on your shoulder. Being that close, you could smell his delicious aftershave. “It’s all Italian food,” he explained quietly, pointing at the dishes down the menu and explaining each to you. He taught you how to pronounce the dishes you wished to order, however as soon as the waiter arrived to take your order, you froze and forgot everything Sehun had told you.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it,” Sehun intercepted quickly, placing a gentle hand on your thigh and squeezing it reassuringly. Then he ordered for you so eloquently, in a way you never would have been able to.

Even once the waiter had left, he kept his hand on your leg while he talked to everyone on the table with you, like a constant reminder that he was there by your side. The rational part of your brain told you to push it away but guilty, you liked his reassurance. It felt good and calmed your nerves, better than any words he could have said. Reaching down casually, you placed your hand on top of his, curling your fingers around his own.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw him smirk at your sudden touch. You couldn’t help but smile too, dipping your head a little to hide behind your hair.

By the time dinner eventually arrived, you didn’t want to let go.

-x-

After dinner and a deliciously chocolate dessert, you were led to a different ballroom on the other side of the hotel, where a stage had been set up along with a long bar. Sehun regrettably left with his brother to talk business, leaving you and Yuri to your own devices. One look at her and you could tell she was just as overwhelmed by everything as you were. People were dancing to the band playing and chatting with each other like old friends. Almost as a reflex, you and Yuri glued yourselves together and made your way to the bar.

When in doubt, drink!

It seemed like the event was sponsored by a certain brand of champagne and a special list of cocktails had been created especially. Yuri thought it would be a good idea to try them all and pick a favourite. “Maybe Sehun might name it after us,” she teased, clinking the first cocktail against yours and taking a long sip.

After a few glasses, your cocktail tasting was interrupted by a tall and very handsome man. “May I have the honour of dancing with you Yuri?” Park Chanyeol asked softly in a low voice with his hands behind his back like a gentleman.

Yuri pursed her lips in thought, her gaze flickering worriedly in your direction. You could tell she didn’t want to leave you behind so you nodded to her in encouragement. “I wasn’t aware you had any moves,” she replied, leaving her cocktail on the bar and linking arms with Chanyeol.

“Oh I have plenty,” you heard him reply teasingly as the pair of them walked towards the dancefloor.

Alone, you found comfort in the champagne cocktails, drinking another three before your bladder was in desperate need of emptying. Now extremely unsteady in your heels, you slowly shuffled around the edge of the ballroom, sneaking out of the nearest door and finding the bathroom.

You stayed on the toilet a little longer than you needed to, suddenly feeling the effects of all that champagne flood your bloodstream and leave you dizzy and more than just a tad tipsy. Your whole body felt buzzed, every nerve ending alive with electricity. One moment you thought you were going to throw up and then suddenly you wanted to take a nap, flopping forward into your lap.

After minutes – or an hour, you really couldn’t tell – you managed to pull yourself together and leave the bathroom on two wobbly feet. As you walked back into the ballroom, you decided to find Yuri and tell her you were going to go home. Looking around the room, you spotted her on the other side talking to Chanyeol and a few other men of a similar age.

You were about to push yourself off the wall and go and talk to her when someone stepped in front of you, someone tall in a fitted navy tuxedo with a distinct aftershave that made you feel relaxed. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” he murmured as you looked up and met his warm caramel eyes filled with worry.

“I’m sorry,” you muttered, although it didn’t come out exactly how you wanted it to. Tucking your hair behind your ears, you licked your lips and cleared your throat. “I was just going to tell Yuri I was going home,” you explained, hearing your words slur together.

Sehun’s face dropped, his smile falling a little. Reaching out, his hand wrapped around yours and intertwined your fingers together. “But we haven’t had a dance yet,” he whispered for only you to hear, pulling you off the wall and closer to his body.

You tried to pull away, the thought of dancing making you shudder. “Sehun, no,” you moaned softly, shaking your head. “I can’t dance, plus it’s a slow song. I’ll just embarrass you,” you tried to tell him, but he wasn’t listening, just smirking and pulling you onto the dancefloor in the middle of the ballroom.

“It’s really easy,” he murmured quietly, letting go of your hands and lifting them up onto his broad shoulder. Then he traced his gentle touch down your arms, leaving goosebumps in his wake until his hands settled on your hips. “Just keep looking at me,” he whispered, dipping his head until you looked up at him.

Slowly the pair of you started to sway in time to the music, Sehun moving your hips for you so your feet would follow until you got the hang of it. You started to enjoy it too, staring up at his handsome face and being able to observe all of his flawless features. The lure of his aftershave pulled you closer so you were practically pressed up against him.

Sighing softly, you couldn’t help but break out into a timid smile. “You’re a lot of trouble, you know that Mr Oh?” you noted softly, reaching up to push back a dark strand of hair that had fallen out of perfection across his forehead.

His lips flipped up in a charming smirk – the exact expression that had your stomach doing somersaults. “None of this would have happened if you hadn’t just picked up your phone,” he retorted, his eyes plainly inspecting you from head to toe. “But then I wouldn’t have got to see you in this dress!” His hands dropped a bit lower than your hips to emphasise his point before he shifted them back into place.

You couldn’t help the burning of your cheeks completely exposing your growing feelings for Sehun. You’d be lying if you said he didn’t like him, despite the polar differences between you both. Maybe the champagne bubbles had gone to your head and diluted your doubt, but there was a definite chance you were beginning to fall for him. There you were dancing in a breath-taking ballroom in the arms of an even more breath-taking man.

Like a real life Cinderella moment.

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