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[newbieaffiliatemarketer]

Easy Pay Win Review Make Money Reading Emails

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[chaenniz]

maybe - kim chaewon x reader

A/N : i promise i’ll get to writing the reqs in my inbox, i’ve just been busy w upcoming exams 😭😭 hope this feeds yall though ‼️

genre ;; fluff

wc ;; 979

as the final buzzer sounded, you let out a victorious yell. you had just led your basketball team to a hard-earned victory against your rival school, and you were feeling elated.

but as you looked across the gym, you saw kim chaewon, the captain of the cheerleading squad, rolling her eyes at you.

“what’s her problem?” your teammate, yunjin, had asked you.

you shrug and shake your head in annoyance, “no idea.”

it was always like this between you two. when you two first met, it left a bad first impression to both parties involved.

you roughly remember the first time you met chaewon. it was the start of freshman year for the both of you, and unluckily enough, you two had been assigned as partners for a chemistry project.

at first it was okay, the two of you were able to work cooperatively strictly on an academic level, but that all fell apart when you received your shared project back.

a big red 74% was marked on the project. this caused upset between the two of you, blaming each other for not reviewing the rubric criteria enough.

since then, you and chaewon would constantly found yourselves at each others throats.

over the next few weeks after the victorious game, you and chaewon found yourselves even more at odds.

every time you saw her roll her eyes at you, you felt a surge of anger and competitiveness. you couldn't stand the way she seemed to be rooting against you, and you were determined to show her up.

one day, after a particularly heated game, you found yourself face to face with chaewon in the locker room. you had just changed out of your basketball uniform, and she was still in her cheerleading outfit.

"you were lucky today," chaewon spat, her eyes flashing with anger.

"lucky?" you scoffed. "we worked hard for that win. you should try it sometime."

"i work hard too," she shot back. "just because i don't sweat doesn't mean i don't put in the effort."

you rolled your eyes. "whatever. you cheerleaders have it easy. all you have to do is dance around and smile."

chaewon's expression darkened. "you have no idea what it takes to be a cheerleader," she said, her voice low and dangerous. "we train just as hard as you do, if not harder. we have to maintain perfect form and technique, all while making it look effortless. and unlike you, we have to do it with a smile on our faces, no matter what."

you felt a pang of guilt as you listened to chaewon speak. maybe you had been unfair in your assumptions about cheerleading. maybe it was just as tough as basketball, in its own way.

"i'm sorry," you said, realizing that you had been too quick to judge and took it too far. "i didn't mean to belittle what you do. i know it takes a lot of hard work and dedication."

chaewon's expression softened, and you felt a strange flutter in your chest. "apology accepted," she said with a small smile.

over the next few days, you found yourself thinking more and more about chaewon. maybe she wasn't so bad after all. maybe there was more to her than just a pretty face and a cheerleading uniform.

you found yourself paying more attention to her during games, and you couldn't help but notice how graceful and poised she was. there was a certain beauty in the way she moved, and you found yourself admiring her from afar.

‘no wonder she’s treasured as the school’s beauty’ you find yourself thinking more often.

as you were walking through the school hallway, you saw chaewon sitting alone at a table, her head buried in a book. you hesitated for a moment before approaching her.

"hey," you said, trying to sound casual. "what are you reading?"

chaewon looked up, surprised. "oh, just a book for english class," she said, showing you the cover. "it's pretty boring, to be honest."

you smiled. "yeah, I know how that goes. do you want to grab a coffee or something? maybe we can help each other study."

chaewon looked hesitant for a moment, but then she smiled. "sure," she said. "that sounds nice."

as you sat in the coffee shop, sipping your drinks and poring over your textbooks, you found yourself enjoying chaewon's company more than you had expected. she was smart and funny, and you found yourself laughing at her jokes and enjoying her insights.

as the weeks went on, you and chaewon spent more and more time together, studying, going out for coffee, and even greeting each other in the halls, much to everybody’s surprise.

you found that you had a lot in common, despite your initial rivalry, and you began to feel a deep connection to her.

one night, after a particularly intense basketball game, you found yourself alone with chaewon in the gym. you had both stayed late to clean up, and as you were putting away the equipment, chaewon turned to you.

"i need to tell you something," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"what is it?" you asked, feeling a strange flutter in your chest.

"i think i like you," chaewon said, her eyes locked on yours.

you felt your heart skip a beat. "i think i like you too," you said, a grin spreading across your face.

chaewon smiled, and then she leaned in, pressing her lips to yours in a soft, tender kiss. you melted into her embrace, feeling a rush of warmth and joy.

your team was currently in the final round of playoffs, adrenaline at an all time high. you search the crowd for a certain cheerleader.

and as you looked out over the cheering crowds, you knew that there was no one you'd rather have by your side than your girlfriend, kim chaewon.

A/N ;; i feel like this was barely even a fic 💀 also this is called maybe because as i was reading it over i swear i said it like 8 diff times 😵‍💫

#kim chaewon x reader #chaewon x reader #kim chaewon #le sserafim #le sserafim x reader #fluff #wlw #help ap is kicking my ass #chaenniz

[rosewaterandivy]

a light on in chicago - I. winning looks like losing (and i'm winning every time)

summary: so it begins, Warped Tour ‘05 baby!

WC: 1550k

a/n: no, I did not forget about this little daydream. it’s coming on summer soon, which means nostalgia and concert going. pop-punk steve is alive and well, my friends!

masterlist || playlist

"She never meant a thing to me, 'cept putting idealists in a body bag" - "Growing Up" // Fall Out Boy

Steve has his Motorola Razr in hand before he reaches the top step of the bus, thumb pressing down on the keypad until 'ace' is selected and holds it to his ear. Tosses his snapback onto the table and sliding onto the banquet seat.

Hearing someone come up the steps behind him, he sees that Nancy has drawn the short-straw and now has to play babysitter.

Typical.

“What are you doing?” It’s not a question so much as a reprimand.

“What do you think I’m doing? I’m calling her.”

“Like we haven’t tried that already, oh about a dozen times.”

Steve scoffs, kicking his feet up on the table. “Then I’ll keep calling until she answers or shows the fuck up.”

Nancy’s eyes roll to the back of her head, “You’re an idiot, Steve Harrington.”

Steve glowers at Nancy as the automated voicemail message recording fill his ears. He grumbles and hits redial just as he hears someone tramping up the stairs.

“I got her!” Eddie bellows, pausing at the top step to catch his breath, “I got her, s’fine Steve. You can calm your tits now.”

He falls onto the couch opposite of Steve and moves to light the cigarette between his lips. Nancy, quick as ever, snatches the cigarette from his mouth and snaps it in half. Eddie squawks indignantly, too caught up in Nancy’s flagrant disrespect to pay attention as a duffle bag is thrown toward him.

It lands with a pained grunt against his chest, “The fuck?” He coughs out, zippo falling between the seat cushions in the chaos.

“Shit Ed,” You huff, falling alongside him on the sofa, “Thought you were gonna catch that, my bad.”

He’s quick to accept your apology with a smile, arm thrown over your shoulders as the duffle bag falls to the ground.

“Steve,” You greet with a tilt of your head.

He snaps the phone shut and fixes you with a look.

“Ooh,” Eddie tsks. “Think mom’s mad.”

Showing up to Warped Tour after releasing a debut album that’s barley a month old in a brand new tour bus and the (mostly) full confidence of their record label has Steve stressed, for lack of a better term. Under the Gun had received generally positive reviews, despite the back and forth with the label over song titles and “overly loquacious” choruses.

While the label didn’t give you all carte blanche to do whatever you wanted on the record, there was the advantage of time this go ‘round. Honorable Mention’s first two releases, an EP and LP respectively, were recorded quickly due to lack of funds for more studio time, and after signing with Island Records, the four of you plus Nance had hauled out to California for three months to write and record.

It wasn’t easy, not by a long shot, composing as a band was rough, as was co-writing lyrics with Eddie, the both of you having vastly different styles. Add to that Steve’s penchant for vetoing things like hooks, verses, choruses, and song titles after hearing them just once while being fiercely protective over his own work— well, let’s just say everyone was happier once the album was locked and management had signed off on it.

So glad, in fact, that you’d actually booked it back to Chicago just to put some distance between you and Steve. Too much tension, all things considered, especially after the incident.

Robin pushes her obnoxious heart-shaped sunglasses into her hair and screeches upon seeing you in the tour bus.

“Babe!”

She falls onto your and Eddie’s legs while Nancy looks on with a shake of her head and a fond smile.

“Glad to see that the three musketeers are back together,” Hop greets, hand affixed to the railing by the font steps. “Er, uh, four musketeers, I guess. Sorry Steve.” He nods to Steve and Nance, kisses his teeth before saying, “You rascals ready to go?”

“Now that we have our lead singer, yeah.” Steve grouses with a cross of his arms. Nance smacks the back of his head.

“So sorry Steven,” You say, voice laden with malice. “But in the event that I hadn’t shown up, I know that you could easily carry the burden of being frontman,” Eddie elbows you warningly. “As you have told me, many, many times.”

“Whatever.”

Hopper quirks a brow at you, unaccustomed to vitriol between the pair of you. “Okaaay,” He drawls, “Ignoring whatever the fuck that was, the first stop is Columbus.”

He goes over the details of what to expect, even though he’ll be there in person for the duration of the two-month tour. Nancy nods taking notes, because of course she does. Steve continues to glower at you because he’s got a stick up his ass. Meanwhile, you initiate a slap fight with Robin and Eddie out of sheer boredom.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Hop scolds you, “Would you cut that out? I already have one teenager to deal with, and I don’t need your bullshit on top of that.”

You perk up at the mention of his daughter, “Is El here yet?”

“She’s coming up with Joyce tomorrow to help with the merch tent.”

Momentarily dejected, you sit back against the cushions, legs in serious danger of going numb from Robin’s squirming. Murray climbs onto the bus during Hop’s little speech, settling in the driver’s seat with a deep sigh.

“Murray,” You say, “I’m so pissed you won’t be with us for the Canadian legs.”

You can feel Rob’s stomach contract in barely repressed laughter.

“Damn mounties,” Murray mutters under his breath, checking the mirrors and adjusting his seat.

“Yeah,” You continue, “It’s a real shame that they banned you from the country. And over what? A simple misunderstanding of—”

“I’m not a drug mule!”

Eddie snorts.

“What an unfounded accusation,” You say with a slow shake of your head. “I mean, what right do they have to do that? So you had some prescriptions, we’ve all been there.”

“Well, it’s a shit country, anyway.”

“Tell ‘em man!”

Steve lobs a water bottle toward Eddie’s head, he moves to avoid it and artfully flips him off.

“Y’done Ace?” Hop asks with a tap of his shoe. “We gotta get this show on the road and you know riling him up only makes his driving worse.”

“Oh,” You smirk, “I’m counting on it.”

Hopper ends the team meeting and says he’ll see everyone tomorrow for sound-check. As he leaves the bus, Steve grabs his phone and hat and heads to the lounge at the back of the bus. Robin scrambles off your lap to follow after him, but not before giving you a hug and kiss.

“Missed you babe!”

“Likewise!” You call after her and grab your bag from Eddie’s feet. “Shall we?” You inquire with an arched brow, offering him your arm.

“Sure thing, sweets.���

Leaving Nance and Murray to their own devices, you follow Eddie down the cramped hallway.

“So I’m over here,” He gestures to the right. “Nance and Rob are just there,” He points to the left. “Which leaves you and—”

“Don’t finish that sentence Edward.”

He turns with an impish grin, “What? Not looking forward to bunking with Steve?”

You roll your eyes in exasperation, “Clearly not.”

He’s already claimed the top bunk and throw his crap in it, like some rabid raccoon. You reluctantly toss your bag to the bunk underneath his.

“Why can’t I just bunk with you Ed?”

“C’mon Ace,” He wraps an arm around you, “Y’know I’ve gotta have space for my Sweetheart.”

You gag, earning a swat to the arm from him.

“How was California? Haven’t seen you in ages.”

He settles back against the sofa with you in the front lounge. Murray closes the bus door and pulls out of the parking lot. Nancy has made herself scarce, probably in the back with Rob and Steve, leaving you and Eddie to your own devices.

“Yeah, you high-tailed it outta there pretty fast.” Eddie says carefully, watchful as you tense up and begin to rifle through your purse. He lets you do that for a minute or two before continuing in the same carefree tone. “Wanna tell me why I found your Calvins in Stevie boy’s room after you left?”

You head moves so fast, he’s nearly worried about whiplash. In a flash, your eyes shrink back from their wide, shocked state as you try to school your features into a semblance of calm.

“Oh, he probably just grabbed ‘em by mistake,” You shrug nonchalantly, “We both wear Calvins so.”

“Sorry, let me clarify.” Eddie says with a wicked smirk. “Your thongs, Ace. Why would Steve have those, hmm?”

You scoff. “I don’t know. Maybe he was selling them online or something perverted like that?” You grab your journal and smack it down on the table. “Why were you snooping for my unmentionables, Edward?”

“Ah, you got me.” He laughs, fascinated by how quickly you rose to defense. “Was gonna sell them online. Guess Harrington beat me to it.”

He watched as you saunter toward the back of the bus, on a mission to extricate Rob from Steve’s clutches. Wonders how long the standoff will be this time and who will break first: you or Steve.

It was only a matter of time.

#steve harrington fanfiction #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x reader #stranger things fanfiction #band!au #fic: aloic

[nkn0va]

Request (Pokemon): Dawn and May's S/O's surprise them with not only a birthday cake, but a necklace that has a picture of thier starter Pokemon.

Gonna be honest, their personalities feel pretty samey even in the anime so sorry if this ends up feeling repetitive. Also I'm writing this at 11 pm-12 am.

Dawn

-Dawn had been practicing extra hard lately to improve her Pokemon Contest game. after a recent loss to a rather high ranked Contest Star and some encouragement from you, it fueled the fire in her to improve.

-On one hand you were a bit concerned for her health, but on the other you were still proud of what she was managing to do. So you decided to acknowledge that hard work (and hopefully get her to chillax a little) by doing something for her birthday that was coming up.

-You were thinking of potentially making a cake yourself, but you then remembered an ice cream place you went to a while back on one of your dates that had good reviews for their cakes as well, so you decided to give one of those a try. Something else was in order though, not just a cake. Then as soon as you thought about it, an idea hit you.

-Despite your moderate worry, Dawn's hard work does in fact pay off. There's a contest on her birthday and the performance she and her team give is nothing less than dazzling, easy winning over the crowd.

-You of course watch in person but after the show's over you text her to meet at your place. Once she arrives, she's met with her friends and family throwing a surprise party for her with a rather large cake. She half doubts the ability for everyone to eat it all even with so many of them.

-Presents and congratulations are given out liberally, all of which she of course treasures. However the most special one is from her beloved S/O. A locket keychain with a picture she'd taken herself the first day she got Piplup from Professor Rowan. One she'd treasure for the rest of her days.

May

-May had recently gotten into battling on the side. She thought that by practicing her moves in battles, she could improve her Pokemon coordinating skills.

-She certainly wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, but she still had a long way to go before she reached her goal. Whatever that even was.

-Soon her birthday starts rolling around and despite being rough around the edges, she'd made some real progress. You wanted to commemorate that somehow.

-Cake was obviously mandatory. Nothing too big, you wanted a more close, intimate day out together. You decided making it yourself would help enhance that feeling. It's tough if you've never done it before, but you manage to get a decent end result.

-A gift would be necessary, too. Recently you'd come across a place that makes custom lockets that you could give them a picture to use, and you knew the perfect one. A picture you'd printed from your phone of her precious Torchic.

-It thankfully all goes well. You two spend a nice sunset in the park together sitting and talking about anything and everything as both your Pokemon play around together.

-The cake might not be the greatest ever made, but somehow food jus tastes better when eating with someone you love. Of course, the adorable Torchic necklace was metaphorical icing on it.

#pokemon #pokemon x reader #pokemon may #pokemon dawn #nova birthday bash

[suzuran777]

BLVN review: Paradise (PIL/SLASH)

Paradise is an 18+ BL visual novel developed by PIL/SLASH, who some might recognize for previous titles such as Shingakkou -noli me tangere-. The scenario writer is Kyuuyouzawa Lychee, who has previously worked on CAGE OPEN and CAGE CLOSE. The Japanese version of Paradise was originally released in 2017, but this month it's also getting an English release by JAST BLUE, which you can pre-order here! As usual the review will be mostly spoiler-free so I definitely recommend to buy the game yourself too!

Story Protagonist Azuma works at a local convenience store and his life is anything but eventful. He barely earns enough to pay his bills and also has no real ambitions. To his surprise, he suddenly receives a lottery ticket and wins a 6-day trip to Togajima Island. Hoping he would meet some cute girls during his trip, he's disappointed to find out the only other participants are also men. Soon Azuma realizes that this was not the luxurious trip he was hoping for...

Main characters

Azuma The protagonist of the game. His life is rather tedious and he doesn't really have any ambitions or dreams for the future, so he works at a convenience store and earns just enough money to survive. Voiced by Irakusa Netoru who's known for voicing Seiji in Room No.9 and of course Eiden in NU: carnival.

Mitsugi Architectural designer. Although he looks like the lone wolf type, he's a person with a lot of common sense. Despite that though, he gets angry surprisingly fast. Voiced by Ichijou Hikaru.

Matsuda Salesman. A responsible person who's good at taking care of others. If there's conflict, he takes a step back to analyze the situation and to choose the most logical solution. Looks older than he really is (he's 27). Voiced by Tetrapot Noboru.

Takara University student. He's very friendly and innocent looking. He's often teased by those around him because of his exaggerated reactions. Voiced by Yumachi Kakeru.

Hongo Tour guide. He's soft spoken and tries his best to be polite to everyone. Has a strong sense of responsibility. Voiced by Shinomori Hibiki.

Shimada Freelance photographer who joined the tour to take photos. Always carries his camera with him to take pictures whenever he feels like it. Voiced by Kishiri Tooru.

General info This game has three main routes (Mitsugi, Matsuda and Takara) but Hongo and Shimada do have their own endings as well and appear quite often in every route. There are also four other characters on the island (Kido, Uchimura and two unnamed guys). I actually wasn't sure if there was a recommended route order for this game, but I'd personally recommend Mitsugi > Matsuda > Takara. Though you can start with Matsuda's route too I don't think it affects the story much. I used a guide to get all the endings which you can find here, but you can also enable "easy mode" in the game which kind of guides you to the route you want to play. Usually, the bad ends were pretty easy to get too.

Just like some of PIL/SLASH's other games, this game does have horror themes and some of the CGs are a bit graphic, so be aware of that! If you're familiar with their other games I think you'll be fine, but I figured I'd give some kind of warning.

Let's start with a short summary of the common route! Azuma's dreams of travelling to a luxurious resort are already crushed when he's about to board the ship and realizes the island is uninhabited. Furthermore, he also learns that they will be staying in wooden cabins and have to cook their own food. Nevertheless, he tries to make the best out of the situation and actually ends up enjoying the first day together with his new friends. This positive mood doesn't last long however, as the ship that was supposed to deliver them fresh food every day stops showing up. Not only that, but they also lose communication with the outside world, as Hongo, who's the tour guide, is not able to contact anyone on the mainland.

At first the group tries to stay calm, hopeful that help might arrive soon. Aware that food shortages will be one of the first problems they will run into, they split up into different groups to look for ways to find food on the island. This proves to be quite difficult, as Matsuda comments that the currents around the island are unusual and the fish don't seem to be biting. The others don't have much luck either, as there aren't many edible plants or mushrooms on the island.

While exploring the island, they discover an abandoned village which most likely been abandoned since the Meiji period. Weirdly enough it doesn't seem like the former inhabitants took their belongings with them, almost as if they had to suddenly leave in a hurry. Another strange thing the group notices is that the storehouse has a jail cell in the basement, as if people had been imprisoned there in the past. Mitsugi mentions that this is not unusual for houses that were built during this time period, but it does make you wonder why people would need this on an island, and Azuma thinks the same.

Moving on to each route, I played Mitsugi's route first because I liked his character design. He's an architectural designer who came to the island for some work-related reasons, and at first he has no interest in talking to Azuma. This pisses Azuma off so he immediately tries to start a fight with Mitsugi. This kind of continues for at least a few days, but it was really funny to see their interactions. I was curious to see how their relationship would develop in this route. I think his route is a good one to start with because it doesn't really explain the full story about what's going on in the island, but I think it gives the player some interesting hints about what might happen in the other routes. I also recommend playing the bad ends, as you can also get Hongou's ending in Mitsugi's route.

The next route I played was Matsuda, who works as an salesman/office worker and traveled to the island for a well-deserved vacation. I wasn't sure what to think of him at first because he just seemed like a nice guy who liked fishing, so some parts of his route surprised me a little...! You can also get Shimada's ending in this route.

After finishing the first two routes, I played Takara's route. He's a student who similar to Azuma, also won the ticket for this trip. I think this route is locked (?) and for the right reasons because if you play it first it will spoil the entire game. In this route you finally learn more about the island. I can't really say more because it would spoil the ending, but definitely play the game until the very end so you can find out yourself!

Final impressions First of all, one thing I really liked is how the game really has no boring moments. I think my favorite character is still Mitsugi, but Azuma is such a funny protagonist and I always think it's fun how PIL/SLASH combines elements like horror and humor. I think I said something similar when I reviewed Dystopia no Ou, but these games always have such fun characters. I also liked the illustrations drawn by Kotomi Youji, the CGs are really nice and detailed.

Now I wouldn't say it's the most serious game ever, but honestly I think it doesn't need to be. This is one of these games in which I enjoyed the interactions between the characters the most. If you're a fan of BL games with dark themes I think it's definitely worth it to give this one a try! As usual, PIL/SLASH made sure to add some pretty dark and disturbing bad ends to this game, so I definitely recommend playing those too if you're into that. The dark themes are however also present in the routes that lead to the good endings, so if you're not comfortable with noncon scenes for example, this game might not be for you.

I played the trial version of the Japanese version years ago, but I had a good time playing the game in English this time and finishing all of the endings. Other than some minor typos and the game showing me hints when I wasn't using easy mode (I'm not sure if this also happens in the Japanese version) the English version was enjoyable to play. The game is also only 20 USD which is quite a good deal, since the Japanese versions tend to be more expensive.

Lastly, if you're looking for more content after finishing the game, Paradise actually also has two sequels, -MUSUBI- which is basically a fandisc that continues the story, and -KIWAME-, which is more of a re-telling of the first game's story. Apparently Takara's brother shows up in these games as a new character. Right now they are only available in Japanese though, so be aware of that!

#paradise #pilslash #blvnreview #blreview #jastblue #visualnovel

[capricornlevi]

professional obligations - osamu miya x reader

summary: attending your neighbourhood's annual business awards ceremony is not exactly your idea of an ideal night out. however, the owner of a shop a few doors down from your cafe makes an appearance and, to your surprise, you end up liking him quite a bit. timeskip osamu x reader.

cw: explicit sexual content, consumption of alcohol

NSFW, 18+ - MDNI - MINORS and AGELESS BLOGS DO NOT INTERACT!

wc: 5.9k

“Champagne?” 

The waiter holds out the silver tray with a polite smile and no judgment in his eyes, so you take two of the flutes without thinking twice about it. You’ll need some liquid courage if you have any hope of sticking this out to the end. 

If you had any other place to be on this Saturday night then you likely wouldn’t be here right now, in a mid-range hotel ballroom, attending the 25th Annual Local Small Business & Restaurant Awards ceremony with absolutely no connections to help you break the ice, and without a date by your side to keep you company. 

You knock back half a glass of champagne with a grimace, hoping the waiter isn’t offended; your expression has nothing to do with the refreshments. 

The champagne is actually quite delightful. 

Thankfully, he’s moved on to serve the table next to you and so he doesn’t notice. You spot him chatting with the co-owners of a successful flower shop located across the street from your café, congratulating them on their win. You seem to be the only person having difficulty with small-talk this evening. 

Your table has mostly been cleared except for a few coats and handbags draped over the backs of empty chairs. You watch as the guests mingle on the ballroom floor, showing off their medals and trophies and certificates. 

Your own award sits proudly next to your place card – a small golden trophy bearing the name of your coffee shop, with “INDEPENDENT CAFÉ OF THE YEAR” written in tiny but perfectly-engraved letters at the base.

It’s silly. Just a trivial little token. After tomorrow’s celebratory post on the café’s Instagram account, you’ll likely forget all about it. 

It’s silly, meaningless, but you feel proud nonetheless. You smile to yourself, allowing a moment of indulgence as you reflect upon your journey.

Running your own business hasn’t been easy. 

It all started five years ago when you were fresh out of university, burdened with student loans and with absolutely no plans for the future, and so you took up a job as a barista in a locally-run café to pay the bills. You had zero barista experience and could barely prepare toast successfully, let alone the intricate pastries that the café was known for, but the elderly owner took a liking to you and gave you a chance to learn from her. Her wisdom and experience were unmatched. 

Surprisingly, you found yourself loving almost every part of the job - baking in the tiny kitchen, brewing the coffee, chatting to customers - and just one year after joining you were promoted to supervisor. Business was never better than with you in charge and so you climbed up the ranks quickly, and when the owner retired three years later, she offered you the right of first refusal in buying the place.

It seemed ridiculous at first. You were twenty-five, had no experience in the behind-the-scenes aspects of running a business, and still had most of your loans to pay off. Even though your heart soared at the idea of making the café your own, it just didn’t seem realistic. 

However the owner, only wanting to earn enough from the sale to retire comfortably, set the asking price far lower than what was typical for this area. It was still a big commitment, but it was one that you couldn’t refuse. As a result, you were able to secure a small business loan from the bank and, with your mentor’s blessing, started a complete rebrand of the café the moment your signature was on the dotted line.

The café soon became remarkably popular. It went from being a hidden gem that people tended to stumble upon by accident to a bustling local hotspot, reviewed in countless travel guides and magazines.

Word-of-mouth did the rest of the publicity for you. You only use fresh, local ingredients in your baked goods and the finest coffee beans for your beverages, and the steady line of customers outside the café every morning shows how your efforts are appreciated.

The award helps, too.

Setting aside your awkward reluctance to mingle, you suppose this evening hasn’t been a total waste. You allow yourself this moment of pride in your achievement.

“Best café, huh?” a voice calls out from over your shoulder, and you turn to face the person speaking. “Not surprised, to be honest. I had ya pegged to win it from the beginning.” 

Standing to your left-hand side is Osamu Miya.

Osamu Miya, the owner of what is soon-to-be a chain of beloved onigiri businesses, is shooting a lop-sided smile in your direction, making your face heat for reasons you don’t quite understand. 

He’s wearing a shirt and tie - business formal, as the dress code stipulated - but his suit jacket is slung over his arm, the top button of his shirt is undone, and his dark hair is a bit more dishevelled than it was when delivering his acceptance speech onstage.

You just stare at him for a moment. 

He’s standing here as if you were expecting to see him, praising you so earnestly and seemingly without any ulterior motives. You’re very confused as to why he’s doing this. 

You’ve spoken to him all of twice in your life; the first of which was to place an order at his shop to see if it was worth the hype (it was), and the second time was when you knocked on his door to ask him to sign a petition for new parking regulations to be implemented in the neighbourhood. Both conversations were brief and civil and very unexciting.

You don’t know him at all. To be honest, the only thing you have in common is that your café is three doors down from his flagship store. 

And to be even more honest, a tiny part of you has been quite jealous of him for a while now.

You wish you didn’t feel this way. No part of you wants to begrudge anyone’s success — it’s not that he doesn’t work hard, he really does, you’ve seen as much from the countless times you’ve passed his shop on the way to work — but he just manages it all so effortlessly. His shop has been open for only ten months now and he’s already expanded to two new locations. He gets more publicity and acclaim than you’ve seen from any other business at this event, and every afternoon you see how the queue for his place doubles that of yours. 

He has been honoured with no less than four awards for Onigiri Miya  - Best Casual Dining, Best Newcomer, Most Popular Promotional Campaign, and the coveted Small Business of the Year prize - and the only times you’ve spotted him over the course of the evening have been while he’s on stage collecting a trophy or when he’s surrounded by people congratulating him on his success.

He seems perfectly nice, but some dark part of your brain worries that he’s just here to rub it in. He’s received fawning praise from pretty much every other person here – maybe he wants you to do the same?

Worst of all, you know he doesn’t mean what he said about anticipating your win tonight. He’s never even been to your café. 

This is especially hurtful considering you bought not one, not two, but three onigiris when you visited his shop, yet he hasn’t bothered to even try a shot of espresso.

How rude. 

He must notice the way you tense up, your lips pulling together tight, but his smile doesn’t falter even for a moment.

“Is this seat taken?” he asks, gesturing to the one beside you. Up until twenty minutes ago, it was occupied by an overly-chatty local councilman who hogged all the red wine and kept making jokes at his opponents’ expense, but from the way he suddenly sprinted outside while on the phone with his campaign manager, you doubt he’ll be returning anytime soon. 

You shake your head and watch as Osamu takes a seat by your side. 

“Some event, huh?” he observes conversationally, as if you two have known each other for years. “I kinda figured it’d be boring as shit, but an open bar fixes all that, I guess.”

“Yeah, I guess,” you repeat back to him. 

Your delivery isn’t exactly rude - even as jealousy rears its ugly head, the rational side of you knows that none of this is really his fault - but any observer could see that you’re not returning his enthusiasm at all. You’re barely smiling, nodding along just to be polite, clearly distracted.  

Still, he perseveres.

“And hey, thanks for gettin’ that petition started, by the way,” he carries on, “I’m sure ya saw already, but it’s helped business on the street like nothin’ I ever saw before.”

Damn, he’s good at this. You feel your defences drop, the hostility evaporating from your system with every word that comes from his mouth. 

Still, you don’t want to give in. He’s surely here just to pad his own ego, right? What other business would he have talking to someone who he barely knows?

“Yeah?” you prompt, testing his resolve. You look his way, trying to gauge his reaction – if he’s lying, you’ll surely catch him out now. “You think so?”

Osamu nods thoughtfully, the very picture of sincerity, and passes your test with flying colours.

“Hundred percent. It wouldn’t’ve gotten anywhere if ya hadn’t put the time in. I’m only sorry I didn’t get to help ya a bit more.”

Oh, shit. You’re smiling now. You didn’t do it consciously and you’re not even sure when it started, but it’s happening. You can’t seem to stop it.

“No problem. I’m glad it worked out,” you concede, taking another sip of the champagne – finishing the champagne, would be more accurate. You hadn’t realised how quickly you knocked back that last glass.

Osamu seems to have had a few glasses, too, judging by the pink blush that’s dusting his cheekbones. 

It looks sort of nice, actually. 

Both the blush and his … face, in general. 

Woah. That development takes you by surprise. 

Osamu leans back in the chair, looking at you in a way that makes you worry you’ve been found out, but his expression doesn’t betray anything other than a fond curiosity. 

“Wanna go for another?” he asks, gesturing at the empty flute in your hand. “A drink, I mean?”

You glance around the room, trying to find the friendly waiter with the tray of champagne. You can’t see him, can’t see anyone offering glasses to the crowd – the crowd which has thinned out considerably since you last checked, leaving only half the attendees standing around. It must be later than you thought. 

“I can’t see any servers … I don’t think they have any more champagne.”

Osamu flushes.

“I … uh, didn’t mean from here.”

He - what?

You set the glass back down on the table a bit too quickly, hoping the gesture doesn’t come across as hostile. 

“I just meant … this place is gettin’ a little tired,” he explains, his delivery remarkably confident considering the blush has reached the tips of his ears. “There’s a bar just down the street if ya wanted to go fer a nightcap or somethin’?”

Your grin is back, and you blame the champagne for the words that slip out next. 

“Getting tired of your adoring public?”

Osamu clutches his chest in mock offence. “You’re tellin’ me ya don’t adore me?”

It’s getting really difficult to pretend you have no interest in talking to this man. It’s almost embarrassing how quickly you flipped, how you want to say yes to his request right now. You want to go for a drink with him. You want to keep the conversation going, to maybe find out he’s not as cocky and self-assured as you originally assumed. 

You bite the inside of your cheek, thinking things over.

“I might not adore you,” you begin, laughing when he pretends to slump down in his chair with despair, “yet, anyway,” and he sits up straighter, encouraged, “but I will go for a drink with you, if that helps things?”

“That’ll do fer now,” he agrees, holding out a hand to help you up after you’ve grabbed your award from the table and slipped it carefully into your handbag. “As long as we get out of here before the mayor’s staff try to corner us again.”

You cast him an amused glance. “I thought you said this was a good night?”

“Yeah, it was, when the bar tab was still open,” he scoffs. “I couldn’t subject ya to their lecture about fuckin’ urban sanitation without at least one drink in your hand.” 

Once you’re on your feet, he lets go of your hand and turns to fetch his jacket and his own awards from his table, promising to be back in just a second. 

You take a few moments during his absence to try and process this whole thing, willfully ignoring the pang of disappointment you feel at the loss of his touch. 

This is … weird. Not ten minutes ago you were sitting alone, proud of your victory but still sulking a little, feeling an embarrassingly childish resentment for the star of tonight’s show, Osamu Miya.

But now he’s after ruining the whole thing by walking to your table, charming you out of your self-imposed isolation, and making you kind of … like him. 

And you’re leaving this event to go for a drink with him. Just the two of you. Alone. Since that’s the perfect way to commemorate the third conversation you’ve shared together, apparently. 

Your mind starts to race. Are you friends now? Is he going to start stopping by the café in the mornings? Will he expect you to do the same?

Maybe this is too much too fast. You start to have second thoughts, instinctually racking your brain for a decent excuse to bail out. 

But then you see Osamu approach you again, his tie loose around his neck and smile still so infectious, and all those anxious thoughts disappear … only to be replaced by more exciting, more confusing ones. 

Seeing him now, he’s taller than you remembered - broader, too, as shown by the way his shirt tightens against his chest as he moves - and his features more striking, with his grey eyes capturing your attention in a way you’d never noticed before. 

Your integrity is taking a serious hit tonight.

Still … you’d be lying if you said you weren’t just a little bit curious as to how things will play out from here. 

___

The bar that Osamu takes you to is surprisingly cosy. You’re not sure why, but you had expected something lavish - this is an expensive neighbourhood, after all - but this seems to be more of a family-run establishment, small and contained, with an open fireplace and candle-lit lamps providing most of the visibility.

The wall is lined with booths and cushioned seats, only a few of which are occupied, and the music is playing through an old vinyl player perched on the bar counter.

You much prefer this to one of the busier, fancier cocktail bars that have popped up on this street. 

The bartender waves at you both as you walk inside, clearly recognising your companion as he gives him a friendly greeting. You take a seat in a booth by the corner as Osamu goes to place the drinks order. 

Once he returns with two beers in hand you stop nervously fidgeting with a loose napkin on the table, instead choosing to lean back in the chair to appear more settled.  

You smile, thanking him for the drink. 

Osamu takes his seat but doesn’t even get to take a sip of his beer before his phone starts to ring.

“Shit, sorry,” he mutters, grabbing the phone and turning down the call. “I’ll mute it.”

“You sure?” you ask in a way that’s almost teasing, prompting a grin and a shake of his head. “It could be urgent – it could be about another award.”

“You’re tryin’ to embarrass me in my favourite bar?” he asks, as close to deadpan as you think he can get. “After I got my hopes up you were startin’ to adore me?”

You chuckle and shrug, trying the beer yourself. It’s nice – from a local brewery you hadn’t tried before. He has better taste than you’d thought. 

“That was my brother callin’,” Osamu explains with a roll of his eyes as he says the word brother. “Dumbass is playin’ abroad right now - well, the game is over, so he’s technically celebratin’ - and he doesn’t have any concept of time or schedules.”

“I mean, you’re out drinking too,” you observe, prompting another dramatic eye roll. 

“He doesn’t have to know that part!” Osamu objects, sliding his phone into his pocket and leaning back in his seat. Another heart-melting smile. “Plus, I’ve got company. That’s where I wanna keep my focus, not on whatever shitty drunken singalong ‘Tsumu’s gonna try an’ start again if I pick up his call.” 

Your face heats. At this point, you’ve given up all attempts at staying resentful.

Which reminds you of something you’ve completely forgotten to tell him. 

“Congratulations, by the way. I never said it earlier – four awards, very impressive,” you say, finding that against all odds, you actually mean it. 

“Thanks,” he beams, running a hand through his hair. “But it shoulda just been three, to be honest.”

You frown, confused. Osamu was the frontrunner for every award he was nominated for tonight, and you hadn’t taken his modesty to be that extreme. “What do you mean?”

He catches your gaze, almost as if he hopes the point will come across through eye contact alone; when it doesn’t, he clarifies;

“You shoulda won Small Business of the Year.”

Your resulting laugh nearly makes you choke on your beer. It’s flattering - sweet, really - and now that you have more faith in his intentions, you can appreciate the gesture. 

But you’re also a realist. That award was one you knew you weren’t walking away with tonight. “C’mon-”

“I mean it!” he objects.

“Miya, I know you’re being nice, but you opened two new shops this year alone. And hey, don’t get me wrong, I did fine. But I didn’t get nearly as much business as you did over the summer.”

“Firstly, call me Osamu,” he retorts, his expression showing that he’s clearly having a lot of fun with this. He pauses as he brings the glass of beer to his lips. “And secondly, I’m not just being nice – I voted for ya.”

You blink at him for a moment, heart fluttering in your chest as you process the admission. 

It doesn’t seem like he’s lying. He doesn’t sound like he’s lying. Still, you’re baffled – there were dozens of businesses on the shortlist for the award, and you can’t imagine Osamu Miya putting your name above all the others. 

Mostly because he’s never even set foot in your door.

“I - uh, thank you, Osamu.”

He laughs. “You look confused.”

“Well, I am a little,” you admit, not even sure of where to start. “I appreciate it, but I just … have you ever tried my coffee? I mean, it’s completely fine if you haven’t, I’ve just never seen you-”

“I get it every day.”

You freeze, expression shifting from confused to utterly taken aback. “What?”

“I put in a mobile order every day, around eleven in the morning. I’m usually busy in the kitchen at that point, so one of the sales assistants collects it and I give them the order number.”

Same order, same time every day …

“Shit!” you exclaim, suddenly putting it all together. You set your glass back down and clap your hands together, lifting them to your mouth as if you’ve just solved some complex mystery. “You’re the one who buys all my lemon cake!”

He shakes his head — no malice in the gesture, his grey eyes twinkling with amusement. “Is that a question or an accusation?” 

“Definitely an accusation,” you answer, knowing without a shred of doubt that your assumption is correct. Of course, this also means that Osamu is telling the truth about his consistent ordering, but you’ll unpack that in a moment. “Every day I get an order around that time – the drinks change every now and then, but they always order a slice of lemon loaf cake. Always.”

“And yet, no loyalty programme for the cakes,” he sighs, “I get every seventh coffee free, but no stamps for the cake. Just heartbreakin’.” 

“I’ll take your suggestion on board,” you acknowledge with a soft laugh, thinking back to how long those orders have been coming in and how many slices of cake that must equal - a lot, if your addition is anyway correct - and feel this pleasant, warm feeling flood your chest. 

Guilt also starts to tug at you, but you can’t see the sense of dwelling on that emotion for too long. 

Not when Osamu’s here, looking at you like that, professing his admiration for you not just as a business owner and an equal, but as a purveyor of baked goods as well. 

The least you can do is buy the next round. 

Two beers later and the conversation drifts back to the topic of work, but in a different way than before. This time, it’s more vulnerable; the struggles of getting started in the hospitality industry, the insecurities of your line of work, and how the ever-changing nature of the city landscape means your business plan might change overnight. 

“I guess I, uh, kinda worry sometimes,” he admits quietly, looking down at the table and tracing circles on his glass with his thumb. “About this whole thing, runnin’ it by myself.” 

“Worry about what?” you ask, hoping your question comes across as reassuring and not outright dismissive. “Your place is the busiest on the street from what I’ve seen. Definitely the most stable business at the event tonight.” 

“Thanks,” he replies, eyes flickering up to yours again. His lips quirk upwards when you meet his gaze.  “‘I ‘spose I just worry that it’s more from … name recognition, than anythin’ else. And I don’t like that.”

“Name recognition?” you inquire. “From your brother?” 

He nods. “Tsumu’s - well, he’s not a celebrity, exactly, but he’s well-known around here, as much as it kills me to admit it,” he says with the ghost of a smile. “And I guess I just … don’t want people to be comin’ to my shop out of some sort of sympathy. Like they think I’m only runnin’ the place because I couldn’t make it in volleyball.” 

Before you can think things through, before your brain can slow your muscles down and offer you the chance to think sensibly, you reach a hand over to rest on top of one of his. He doesn’t acknowledge it with words, but he lets go of his glass and rests the hand down on the table so you can properly clasp it. 

He continues speaking before either of you has to address the impromptu hand-holding.

“And I know it’s stupid, right? Cos hey, as long as business is comin’ in, it makes no sense to complain. But yeah … that’s the worry, I guess.”

“I’ve never met anyone who thinks that about you, Osamu,” you say softly, ignoring the thrumming of your heart in your ribcage as you feel his fingers intertwine with yours. “And I certainly don’t, anyway. You’re just a talented guy who puts in a hell of a lot of hard work.”

He smiles again. “Is that why you’ve gone all mushy on me? Ya like my work ethic?”

“Shut up,” you scoff, a little petulantly, “being nice to you isn’t mushy.”

“I’m a fan of mushy,” he clarifies, tracing slow circles on the back of your hand, “if that helps things.”

It does, and you show him as much by tugging on his hand, tilting your head towards the door to show your intentions. 

Osamu pays the bar tab while you collect your things. A taxi is called, goodbyes are said to the bar staff, and for the second time tonight, you leave together. 

Though this time, you know exactly how it’s going to go.

___

Osamu’s hands on your waist are careful but firm, pushing you back against the door as soon as it closes behind you. 

The ride to his place was only ten minutes long - all of which was spent making out like desperate teenagers in the back of the taxi - and now that you have some privacy and space to yourselves, you’re not sure how you can last even a second without touching him. 

You can’t imagine a better kiss, and then he gives you a better one just moments later. 

You arch into him, feeling him groan against your lips, looping your arms around his neck and pressing your chest against him to feel as close as possible. 

The kiss goes from languid and passionate to heated and messy, and you let out a whimper when his tongue meets yours, licking into your mouth as you keen almost pathetically. 

The varnished wood of the door feels cold against your shoulder blades and you shiver. Osamu notices, resting a hand on your nape to pull you towards him. 

You fist your hands into the crisp fabric of his shirt. He smells incredible, clean and fresh, and you want to make his hair look even more dishevelled than it did after he ran his hand through it at the bar. What started as him trying to guide you away from the door has now turned into something that would be more accurately described as grinding — his hips are flush against yours, and you feel so desperately empty that you start to rock back and forth almost involuntarily. 

“Do ya wanna-“ he mumbles into the shell of your ear once he pulls away, lips pink and kiss-swollen, voice torn and almost desperate, “- want to go to bed?”

You can think of nothing in the world you’d want more. 

Your nod comes instantly, so enthusiastic that it should be embarrassing but it isn’t, and he takes your hand in his once again and leads you to his bedroom. 

His surprisingly neat, very organised bedroom. 

But you don’t have time to survey your surroundings too much because before you know it, Osamu is guiding you to lie down on his dark-grey bedspread, caging you in with his strong arms. 

He leans over you, covering your body with his, peppering soft kisses to your jawline and whispering sweet praise into your ear. 

“Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted ta do this?” you hear him say, and you grin lazily as you finally run your fingers through his hair. “How long I’ve tried ta build up the courage ta ask you out? To have you like this underneath me, making those pretty lil’ sounds fer me?”

Warm, liquid heat starts to collect in your stomach, and you suddenly feel that you’re both wearing too many clothes. 

You reach for the buttons of his shirt and feel his lips curl upwards against your neck. You undo his tie before starting to unbutton the rest, exposing more and more of the hard muscle of his chest. Not content to let you do all of the work, he paws at the back of your dress until he finds the zipper, lifting your back off the bed for a moment as he unties it. 

Osamu sheds the rest of his clothes as you shrug the dress and your underwear down your legs and onto the floor. When he leans over you again, you notice he’s hard; you feel exactly how hard he is when his cock presses against your stomach. He grabs your tits, squeezing them and playing with your nipples as you moan more wantonly than you thought possible. 

You’re not usually this vocal, but he seems to draw it out of you.

Things escalate quickly, or maybe they don’t — you can’t really tell how much time has passed. All you know is his broad frame engulfing you, the pretty words he’s whispering, and the feeling of his fingers as they dip into your underwear and run through your folds, your body growing warmer and warmer under his touch. 

You gasp - gasp audibly, your voice weak and thready - as he circles your clit, feeling how wet you are and slipping two fingers inside you moments later. 

Your entire body shakes, trembling as he starts to move his hand, and you can hear how he’s working you open. The thrusts are steady and careful, his fingers curling in a way that makes your words slur - a string of ‘Osamu, Osamu, right there, please, please, fuck’ on repeat until your mind stops working - and you feel yourself dripping down his wrist.

Osamu looks delighted. When he’s not kissing you or rutting gently against your thigh for some relieving friction, he’s propped up on his other arm and just looking at you, taking in every lip bite and flinch and the way your hips cant upwards when he switches to a new angle. 

He looks like he’s having even more fun than you are, which seems impossible since you’re practically on fire, that ball of heat growing and burning and getting more intense until –

“Fuck, Osamu, I’m coming,” you gasp, rocking against his hand as he fucks you through it, feeling it ripple through you for what seems like hours. 

Your eyes screw shut as you come but when you finally gather enough strength to open them again, you see him admiring you with blown-own pupils, his cock rock-hard and leaking against his stomach. 

“Need you,” you just about choke out the words, your body feeling utterly weightless. You’re surprised at how soon you want to go again, still feeling the aftershocks pulsing from your core, but the way he’s looking at you now makes you want to lean over and take him in your mouth. 

“Need me?” he mumbles, pulling his soaking fingers from your pussy with a lazy smile. 

You want to laugh, smack him playfully and bite back with something like don’t let it get to your head, Miya, but your mind isn’t letting you get that far. Instead, all you can articulate is a broken-sounding;

“Need you inside me.”

Thankfully, Osamu doesn’t try and tease you any further. Your words ignite something in him; he pulls back on his haunches and grabs a condom from his bedside table before you can even blink, breathing out a low moan as you start to pump him slowly. He fucks into your fist, biting into his lower lip as he does so, hands resting on his muscular thighs.

He starts to leak into your palm and at that, he’s had enough of the touching, leaning back over you and kissing you in a way that knocks the breath from your chest.

He rolls the condom onto his length and positions himself at your entrance, the head of his cock nudging your clit and making you whimper, and gives you one last look to make sure you’re ready for him – he’s not exactly small. 

You nod, certain that if he’s not inside you soon, your core will start to physically ache.

He pushes inside you in one slow but fluid motion. It fills and stretches you in a way that you’ve never felt before and your thighs spread wider for him, needing to feel that sensation again and again. Once you’ve had time to adjust to his size, he starts to move, thrusts steady and firm.

It’s unbearably hot. Every movement, every touch, it all makes you feel as though you’re burning up underneath him. Judging from his expression, he feels the same. 

If he seemed like he was enjoying himself before now, it pales in comparison to the look on his face at this moment; cheeks flushed, eyes fluttering shut as he swears under his breath, lips shining from having kissed you over and over. 

He tells you exactly how good you’re making him feel: how your walls are squeezing him just right, how he’s imagined fucking you before but this is somehow better, how you’re so wet he wants to stay buried in your pussy forever. You want to reply but his thrusts are hitting too deep for you to form coherent sentences. 

His hands are back on your waist, manoeuvring you easily since the pleasure has rendered you utterly boneless and pliant underneath him. 

However, that all changes when you see him approach his peak - you can tell as much from the way his movements turn erratic, and the swears and praise start to flow out as if he has no control over it - and you decide to take charge. Wrapping your legs around his waist, you pull him into you, gripping his shoulders and leaving little crescent-moon indentations in his skin.

He groans into your shoulder and comes deep inside you. He keeps thrusting into you; even in his fucked-out state, he seems intent to bring you to the edge along with him. 

It works – you come again without warning, the build-up from before now entirely absent as the orgasm burns through you. You cry out, the sound barely muffled against his shoulder as you spasm around his length, your quaking thighs struggling to stay wrapped around his hips. 

Cliche as it may sound, it’s unlike anything you’ve felt before. 

You take a ragged breath, feeling your chest move up and down, your nipples grazing against his chest. His lips are still at your pulse point, kissing you gently.

Slowly, very slowly, you start to untangle yourselves. Osamu pulls out with a soft hiss, still half-hard, and you let your legs fall back against his bed. You lift a hand to your forehead, feeling how your skin is damp and flushed, and let yourself come back to earth as Osamu disposes of the condom. 

He returns a moment later, laying down next to you on the bed, giving you a smile that is surprisingly but achingly affectionate. 

Your heart skips triumphantly. You’ve gone from resenting him to liking him to really liking him in the space of a single evening, and there’s no denying how much you want him to keep smiling at you like this for the foreseeable future. 

He cups your face with one of his large hands, and you can easily predict what he’s about to ask you next. 

“Wanna stay over?”

You hum, pretending to think it over even though, once again, you know what your answer will be. 

“I mean, it’s sensible – we share a commute,” he points out, and you can’t argue with him on that one. “Plus, I heard ya make decent coffee.”

You let out a weary sigh, oozing fake annoyance. “So that’s why you brought me over?” 

“Nah, it’s just yet another point in your favour.”

Before you can say anything else, he brings you in for a kiss - tender this time, soft and careful - and as strange as it sounds, you find yourself looking forward to the morning after. And maybe the morning after that, as well. 

There are definite perks to working three doors down from Osamu Miya. 

#osamu miya x reader #osamu x reader #osamu miya x you #timeskip osamu miya x reader #haikyuu #may tries to write #timeskip osamu has taken root in my brain #those damn compression sleeves!!! #miya osamu #miya osamu x reader

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2023: #18

18. AUSTRIA Teya & Salena - "Who the hell is Edgar?" 15th place

Decade ranking: 51/116 [Above Ronela, below Jeangu]

OOOOOH MIO PADRE, I'VE GOTTA ROAST ME SOME BARBIES, ooooooooooh no.

It does NOT pay to be funny, sadly. Yeah, I wish I didn't have to go there, but sometimes the stars just don't align. With Loreen and Pasha being reunited and the year generally being mediocre, Liverpool 2023 already had enough parallels with Baku 2012. The "preshow obsession has a disappointing live" part I could have done without.

Like seriously. Was there ever a more slam-dunk end of contest favourite for me than TeyaLena? (well other than You Know Who, but we'll get there). My recent faves were Think About Things, Shum and In Corpore Sano. All uptempo, all enjoyable, all secretly very clever entries, eating and mothering (or in Da­ði's case brothering) as THE act on everyone's lips as the dust settled. Edgar was one of two entries who could have been The One for this year!!! But as Poe Poe Poe became Poo Poo Poo I'm forced to pack up my praise pen and bring out my critical analysis quill :-/

Fortunately, like the ladies, I am such a good writer, so enjoy this lengthy review, which is more like a vivisection:

ON THE FLAWS OF 'WHO THE HELL IS EDGAR?'

The first instinct would be to say that the song was impossible to bring, but I don't buy into that logic. "Edgar" was great, a vision, and absolute fucking BANGER. That's the hill, I'll die on. Despite the flaws of its live, I will always cherish it as a song.

Granted, the song was a lot of things at once. That's what made it both iconic and live liability. You try to explain to a layman casual audience member what Edgar is about. How it satirizes the music industry. How self-deprecating it is. What an API is. What an A&R is. What the 0.003 stands for. Now do that in the THIRTY SECONDS TIME FRAME it takes for the video teaser to play. You can't. You can be the best commentator or the most eloquent eurovision-obsessed guncle. Also, you're making me think with your words. Thinking bad. ME WANT ENJOY SHOW. ME WANT GOOD TIME, NO THINK.

So, there's two approaches you can take here, if you play to win.

The first by embracing the campness and going full ham, which how the televote countries would handle it. Your Moldovas, Ukraines, Finlands, Serbias, Norways. Hand Edgar over to one of them, and TeyaLena would start bent over a laptop or typewriter, harrassed by ravens or men in Edgar Allen Poe costumes, who would so a possessed zombie dance while TeyaLena try to escape the clutches.

Naturally, such an act requires less effort from the performers and could be seen as an easy cop-out by juries (die, juries!) and result in a loss of points and well, Austria don't play that way. Austria don't have a built in televote base and feel they are better off playing for the same juries that would normally reject an Edgar.

So instead they went for option two: embrace the hyperpop and try to build momentum off its hyperactivity. Fair enough, that's less interesting and safe, but a valid choice that can result in a very good time.

On this occasion though, it was a MISTAKE.

The best part about Edgar was the combination of dumb hyperpop memes with clever satire, and the staging ignored the latter completely. It showed Edgar Allan Poe TWICE, and then spliced in the Spotify reference in the background without context. That was all the act did with the satire. They should have named this song "Where the hell is Edgar?". The vague references only work when the entire audience is already in on the joke, otherwise it's a three mins of braincell murder. If a pleb tuned in blind (over 75% of the audience), tough luck on them for trying to make sense of it all. SHOULD HAVE FOLLOWED ESC ON TIKTOK!!!.

Bottom line: THE STAGING WAS PEDANTIC.

Thematic acts can alleviate that problem. Think Konstrakta's spa tableau vivant, Katryna's tron aureole, the presence of Gagnamagnið on the stage alongside Daði Freyr. This year we had Vesna's hexaplet choreography, Käärijä's ballroom dancers, Loreen's panini press, Gustaph's motivational graphics, even Alika's fucking self-playing piano applies to this principle. All of these did well, the competent ones with juries, the camp ones with the tv. Intuitive but thematically fitting visual cues that instinctively get the vibe across without requiring the audience to ponder it too deeply (or become a parody, I SEE YOU, France.) that's what effecive staging is about. Now compare the above good stagings to what Austria came up with: Four dancers in Samanta Tina garb, some more created by the LEDs in the background, and a VERY basic choreography. This is not a just simplification but a dumbing down. Every visual cue comes across as nonsensical, because nothing quite ties it together with the music. If only the song itself had provided us with a clear visual reference point, huh?

Of course, a dumbed down staging concept could still yield a good result despite itself if the live was teeming with energy and bounced off in every direction to match the music. Folks would be voting based on pure performance skill and nothing else. After all, Ewnicorn bluffed its way into third on that very principle. Sadly, neither Teya nor Salena were versed in the art of singing and dancing at the same time.

So ultimately, you're given this awkward performance where Teya acted really well and produced delectable facial expressions - I mean who doesn't love THIS:

-but failed to harmonize with Salena, while Salena hit most of her notes but clearly struggled with the Dietmann's simplistic, toddler-like choreography, like a Leila Jane or Mirud on stilts. Nice that they complimented each others weaknesses by showcasing opposite talents, but if you wanna do well just get yourself a girl who can do both.

And there we have it, Teya and Salena. High Risk, High Reward usually plays out for the better, but this is one such occasion where the high risk was avoided and the just reward was a disappointing score on the middle of the scoreboard. Such is the price of not embracing your queer-coded campness in Eurovision. We have landed in mild-like hell, just like Nina Zilli and Jonsi and all the others that I wish I could love more, but sadly did not live up to their initial hype. That too is life. Onward to better things, and things will surely get good as we move forward, right?

THE RANKING

#Eurovision 2023 #Eurovision Song Contest #ESC #ESC 2023 #Liverpool 2023 #Eurovision #Austria #Teya and Salena #Who the hell is Edgar? #Edgar Allen Poe #Youtube

[legobiwan]

Alright, as should be obvious, I finished watching Andor during my insomnia session Number 3000 last night.

I can't praise this show enough.

One of the comments I've made about it in the past is that it does not fall into the Star Wars easy "good vs. evil" dichotomy. Now, let's be real here - the Empire, as an organization and a government, is really evil. And the Rebels are on the right side of history.

This doesn't necessarily mean they are good. It means they did what they had to do to win. And that's not always pretty. This is Luthen Rael's philosophy, this is the philosophy Mon Mothma comes to adopt when sacrifices her whole family for the greater good.

Who is Light Side and who is Dark Side? Impossible to know, in some cases.

And you have to juxtapose this with the Jedi and their failures during a galaxy-wide conflict. (And to be clear, I'm not one of those people who feel the Jedi are evil, but I do think they contributed to their own demise, even if it was with the best of intentions).

The Rebels, Luthen and Cassian and Cinta and Mon - they all know the price they must pay and willing to put everything on the line. The Jedi - began to do this in fits and starts but never could commit, for their fear of turning to the Dark Side.

It was never the Jedi who ultimately saved the galaxy from fascism, it was the people. Luke Skywalker needed Luther Rael, Mon Mothma, Cassian Andor, and all those who gave their lives so he could make that one-in-a-million shot. I could even argue that perhaps the downfall (although not the genocide) of the Jedi was necessary for the people to start taking power back into their hands. After all, it's easy to dodge responsibility when there is a Government-Sanctioned Protection Force of Monks people have been primed to accept as their saviors. (A harsh view? Yes. A theme that keeps emerging during the Clone Wars era - also yes.)

I love that this show indirectly tackles the shortcomings of the Jedi. (Shortcomings that Anakin and Dooku dealt with by going dark, shortcomings that Ahoksa (and Rael) dealt with by leaving the Order altogether, shortcomings that Obi-wan dealt with by trying to subvert the system from the inside, in his own way).

I love that this show shows us the true cost of war, of rebellion, of taking a stand, knowing that your actions may not solve anything today but will build a better tomorrow.

I love that this show highlights contemporary issues like prison slavery, the process of radicalisation, the role of local culture.

I love that so many of the characters know they are "dead already." That they knowingly sacrifice everything for a better tomorrow which they will never see.

Honestly, this show makes me want to go out on the streets and fascist ass, and that's really the best praise I can give it. That, and the fact that it is so incredibly well-written, my writer's brain leaps with joy with every other line.

I have no place to end this review, it is 100% stream of consciousness. But this show gets a solid 10/10, THANK YOU FOR THIS, STAR WARS.

#hello there #andor #vague ranting #jedi critical #but not hateful! #gods i love this show it's on another fucking level

[rakumel]

Raku's Been Playing Some New Faves: Balatro and Dangeresque: The Roomisode Triungulate

It had been a minute since I'd even last opened my Steam account, but a couple of weeks ago I dusted it off in order to purchase Dangeresque: The Roomisode Triungulate, a title which drives my autocorrect utterly insane. You can see the trailer for it below:

I...don't know if I can adequately convey how endearing the Homestar Runner website was back in the day, if you're not already familiar with it. Many of their cartoons can be watched via YouTube, but a majority of the games that you used to be able to play for free on the website were lost once Flash was discontinued.

The first "roomisode" in this game was one of them, I remember most of it. (The other two are completely new to me.) All three of them are similar in style and gameplay to old Sierra point-and-click games, which if you know what those are without having to look it up, congrats, you're old too. Basically you earn points by clicking on and collecting items, then using them to solve puzzles and find hidden easter eggs.

I was okay with paying the regular price because it's both a nostalgia hit for me and I like Homestar Runner's style of humor, especially the Dangeresque segments that inspired this game. (He's a private eye, a crooked cop, AND a celebrity pharmacist!) But others might want to wait until it goes on sale; the game itself is pretty short, even if you count the long periods of time I spent randomly clicking on things because I wasn't sure how to progress. (I refused to look up a walkthrough, lol. Eventually I figured it out.)

Speaking of long periods of time, though....

The handful of you that follow me here and also see me on Discord might have noticed that I've spent a frankly embarrassing amount of time playing a game called Balatro.

I found out about it from watching another person stream it. At first I thought, "Oh hey, a card game, cool. I'll watch this for a bit and then go to sleep."

That was the beginning of the end: I got so intrigued I watched almost the entire three hours. A couple weeks later, soon after I'd bought the Dangeresque game, Balatro kept showing up in my Steam recommendations, and it got a ton of overwhelmingly positive reviews, AND my interest in it hadn't waned at all since I'd first watched it. So I broke down and bought Balatro too. And, well, admittedly I'm hooked on it now.

What is Balatro, exactly? Well...err...hm. It's essentially poker, we'll start with that. You earn chips based on how good your hand is, earn a certain amount of chips to go on to the next level, so far, straightforward.

But the further you go on, the higher the amount of chips you'll need to keep going; so much so that your basic 52-card deck won't cut it. (No pun intended.) So in between levels, you spend your earnings to enhance your deck of cards with - other cards. Tarot cards can be used to alter your deck or earn more money; you could wind up with a deck that's mostly one suit, or has ten kings, or whatever. Planet cards increase the multipliers for each type of poker hand. There's also a whole lot of different Joker cards that can give you bonus chips, score multipliers, or money if you meet the right conditions. Some are definitely better than others, some seem kind of gimmicky and are clearly there for challenges, still others start off weak but get much better the longer you keep them.

At its core it's very much a watch-numbers-go-up kind of game, or in later levels, go-WAAAAY-the-hell-up, which sounds boring on paper. But I think what got me interested was the number of ways you can go about it. A lot of how well you do depends on what the game gives you, and when - but there's still plenty of room for individual strategy, a bit of daring on your part (I mean, it's poker, of course it's a gamble), and of course some luck.

Balatro is easy enough to play, but difficult to win. At least it is for a dope like myself who can't do math in her head anymore. Other people who can may not find it much of a challenge. But still, I'm enjoying it, and will probably be sticking with it for a while. It's another one I'd recommend you wait for a sale on, though. Not because it's bad, far from it. Just that I think it's just a tiny bit pricey for what it is.

#homestar runner #strong bad #dangeresque #the roomisode triungulate #balatro #Youtube #...what a combo #maybe I should have bought Poker Night at the Inventory #and combined the two lol #...ah but it's not for sale anymore is it? #damn

[m00nprincessai]

Gabriel Lozier

~We were jet-set Bonnie and Clyde, until a switch to the other side. It's no surprise I turned you in, 'cause us traitors never win~

[Any POV] Lovers to Enemies to Lovers again.

Two years ago, you betrayed your criminal boyfriend and partner, Gabriel Davies, making off with all the art from the massive heist you both pulled.

It was simply an offer you couldn't refuse, though, betraying Gabriel hadn't been an easy choice.

He's spent the last two years tracking you down to get his revenge and now he's finally found you.

Art Credit: 다윗D𝚊𝚠𝚒𝚝

Trigger Warning: There are mentions of both suicide and alcoholism.

Couldn't get this plot out of my head. {{user}} is an art smuggler who betrayed their art forger partner for a big pay off two years ago. Now Gabriel has found them again and plans to seek revenge.

It's open ended so you can decide why and how you betrayed Gabriel.

♡I'd really love if if you left a review! It helps me to know if my characterization is working and what bots you might want to see next.♡

Please note: The bot writing for you is a known issue! I have written into the behavior not to write for the user but if the bot does start writing for you, please either delete the action or swipe for a reply sans talking for you and in your next reply remind the bot with [Do not write for {{user}}]

#ai roleplay #janitor ai #roleplay #18+ only #adult roleplay #adult rp #ai chatbot #ai bots #j.ai #m00nprincess bots #oc bot #oc #oc rp #original character #oc male #male oc #male original character #art thief character #criminal oc #criminal character #french character #enemies to lovers #lovers to enemies to lovers #criminal rp #ai character #ai bot creator #ai bot maker #character ai

[tokidokitokyo]

2022年11月30日

The end of the year is looming, and with preparations for Christmas and the New Year comes thoughts of the JLPT for many. Good luck if you are taking it this year! I won't be taking it, but I am definitely already thinking about my goals for next year. This will be my last regular monthly update, as next month I will review my progress over this past year and talk about my goals for the next year! Let me know how you are doing with your goal progress too!

そろそろ年末年始が近づいて、後ちょっと日本語能力試験も来ますよね。受けてる皆さん頑張ってね！私は日本語能力試験を受けませんが、もう来年の日本語の目標について考えていますよ。今月のアップデートは今年の最後の普通のアップデートですよ。来月は2022年の成長についてを書いて、来年の目標の話をしようと思っています。皆さんの目標の進歩は今までどうでしたか？

My Goals at the Beginning of the Month

Spend at least 10 minutes per day studying Japanese

Reading practice daily (articles, manga, books)

Review 5 kanji a day

Active listening practice once a day

How I Studied This Month

Spent at least 10 minutes studying Japanese almost every day 〇

Read (article, manga, book) once a day 〇

Reviewed 5 kanji about once a week or so ✕

Actively listened to the news, a movie, or kids' shows every day 〇

〇 = completed, △ = partially completed, ✕ = did not complete

Primary Study Tools/Methods

Articles (NHK News Easy)

Manga (月刊少女野崎くん・Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, おじさまと猫・A Man and His Cat)

Books (コンビニ人間・Convenience Store Woman)

Children's shows (いないいないばあっ！・おかあさんといっしょ・アンパンマン・ギョふんでサカナ★スター)

Netflix children's shows in Japanese

What Were My Strengths?

Reading - I was able to read short articles daily, and manga or books when I had a little extra time

Listening - I can fairly easily pick up the dialogue in the children's shows, although it does help that I watch the same shows over and over again (love that repetition), and I even learn stuff (animal names, various phrases, etc.)!

What Were My Weaknesses?

Kanji - I have been slacking off on my kanji -practice during the second half of the year so I'll need to find a way to reintegrate it into my daily study habits. I used to do flashcards daily, but I'd like to try to increase the number of new kanji I'm learning too

Writing - I haven't been writing much in Japanese either, and although it wasn't a goal, I find that the lack of practice shows

Other Study Methods I'd Like to Try

Writing Practice - I do occasionally write on tumblr, but I'd like to write more often, and if possible get it corrected

Workbook - I love using the 総まとめ (Sou-matome) series workbooks (vocabulary, grammar, kanji, listening) but I don't have much time to pull them out and sit down to work on them, but I'd like to do more workbook study if I can

Grammar - I enjoy the short grammar videos from 日本語の森 (Nihongo no Mori) and I would like to get back into watching these videos a few times a week (and taking notes)

Keigo - I'd like to work on learning formal Japanese better, to improve my speaking ability when in conversational situations

I always say that the most important thing to improve your Japanese (or any language or skill for that matter) is to practice daily. I think that having daily conversations at home in Japanese helps me a lot, but the extra effort I put into continuously studying and trying to stretch myself and learn more really does pay off. When I use a new vocabulary word that I've taken the time to internalize in front of a group of people, they don't even notice the huge accomplishment it is for me, but I feel quite proud of myself when I can seamlessly communicate with native speakers for a majority of the time. When I learn something new about an animal and can communicate it to my son in Japanese, I feel excited about learning new things. When I can read and understand a whole sentence without looking up a single kanji or word (even if I'm guessing at some of the meanings), I feel quite pleased with myself.

Taking a look back at the time and effort I put in to my studies, I think that these small wins should be great sources of pride (for myself and for you too!). What are the things that you notice about your own Japanese progress?

いつも繰り返し言うのは毎日日本語を勉強するのは目標の進歩に一番大事なことだと思います。他の言語の勉強やスキルを習いにも当たり前ですよね。うちには毎日日本語で会話するのは大切だけど、その日常会話以外に勉強の努力も大事だと思います。「今」の能力よりもっと上に上がりたいと思っている気持ちも大事だと思います。例えば、人前に新しく習った単語を正しく使う時や、日本語で息子に新しい動物について通じられる時や、辞書を使わず文書を理解ができる時、とても自慢したくなります（笑）

今までの日本語の勉強の努力を考えると、別にちょっと自慢してもいいかなと思っていて、皆さんも自慢していいと思います。皆さんは頑張ってて、成長していて、すごいと思っています！皆さんの進歩について何か気づいたことがありませんか？

#日本語 #japanese #japanese langblr #japanese language #langblr #studyblr #日本語の日記 #japanese diary #japanese goals #japanese goals november 2022 #japanese goals 2022 #tokidokitokyo #japanese studyspo #tdtphoto #my photo

[infantisimo]

"I’m not going to detail how I know these stories are “AI” spam or outline any of the data I have collected from these submissions. There are some very obvious patterns and I have no intention of helping those people become less likely to be caught. Furthermore, some of the patterns I’ve observed could be abused and paint legitimate authors with the same brush. Regional trends, for example.

What I can say is that the number of spam submissions resulting in bans has hit 38% this month. While rejecting and banning these submissions has been simple, it’s growing at a rate that will necessitate changes. To make matters worse, the technology is only going to get better, so detection will become more challenging. (I have no doubt that several rejected stories have already evaded detection or were cases where we simply erred on the side of caution.)

Yes, there are tools out there for detecting plagiarized and machine-written text, but they are prone to false negatives and positives. One of the companies selling these services is even playing both sides, offering a tool to help authors prevent detection. Even if used solely for preliminary scoring and later reviewed by staff, automating these third-party tools into a submissions process would be costly and they tend to have regional holes. Adopting them would be the same as banning entire countries. I don’t think any of the short fiction markets can currently afford the expense.

I’ve reached out to several editors and the situation I’m experiencing is by no means unique. It does appear to be hitting higher-profile “always open” markets much harder than those with limited submission windows or lower pay rates. This isn’t terribly surprising since the websites and channels that promote “write for money” schemes tend to focus more attention on “always open” markets with higher per-word rates. We could easily implement a system that only allowed authors that had previously submitted work to us. But that would effectively ban new authors, which is not acceptable to us. They are an essential part of the this community and our future.

The people causing the problem are from outside the SF/F community. Largely driven in by "side hustle" experts making claims of easy money with ChatGPT. They are driving this and deserve some of the disdain shown to the AI developers.

. . .

It’s clear that business as usual won’t be sustainable and I worry that this path will lead to an increased number of barriers for new and international authors. Short fiction needs these people.

It’s not just going to go away on its own and I don’t have a solution. I’m tinkering with some, but this isn’t a game of whack-a-mole that anyone can “win.” The best we can hope for is to bail enough water to stay afloat. (Like we needed one more thing to bail.)

If the field can’t find a way to address this situation, things will begin to break. Response times will get worse and I don’t even want to think about what will happen to my colleagues that offer feedback on submissions. No, it’s not the death of short fiction (please just stop that nonsense), but it is going to complicate things."

#ai #clarkesworld #publishing

[mydarlinginej]

read my full review of unnecessary drama by nina kenwood here.

From the award-winning author of It Sounded Better in My Head comes a deliciously entertaining enemies-to-lovers romantic comedy about two high school nemeses who end up sharing a house together their first year of college Eighteen-year-old Brooke is the kind of friend who not only remembers everyone’s birthdays, but also organizes the group present, pays for it, and politely chases others for their share. She’s the helper, the doer, the maker-of spreadsheets. She’s the responsible one who always follows the rules—and she plans to keep it that way during her first year of college.

Her student housing only has one rule: “no unnecessary drama.” Which means no fights, tension, or romance between roommates. When one of them turns out to be Jesse, her high-school nemesis, Brooke is determined she can handle it. They’ll simply silently endure living together and stay out of each other’s way. But it turns out Jesse isn’t so easy to ignore.

With Unnecessary Drama, Nina Kenwood perfectly captures the experience of leaving home for the first time, dealing with the unexpected complications of life, and somehow finding exactly what you need.

my review:

I had heard good things about Nina Kenwood’s debut, and the summary of this book sounded really interesting. When I was invited to join the blog tour, I couldn’t say yes fast enough! Unnecessary Drama navigates the anxiety of moving away for college as well as a former friendship turned roommate turned something more.

Brooke has always been the responsible one, and she’s prepared to handle college the same way she approaches life: with a plan. All bets are off though when she moves into her student housing (aka a neighbor’s granddaughter Harper‘s house) and discovers that Jesse, the former friend and crush who she had a public and humiliating fallout with, is her other roommate. Now, aside from navigating the stresses of college and being away from home for the first time, she has to deal with the awkwardness between her and Jesse. However, as they are forced to spend more time together, old feelings begin to arise.

I really liked Brooke’s character. She’s used to being the responsible one, but she notes throughout the story that this is more a burden than anything else. If she didn’t take care of everyone around her, she would worry about them more. Being the “mom” friend is more a proactive measure than anything else. I also really related to her spiraling about moving away from home and dealing with the unknown territory that college is.

read my full review here.

#unnecessary drama #nina kenwood #reviews #book reviews #booklr #mine #link #q

[risu5waffles]

i Miss DoTENBori

i really do. i know it's gotten cleaned up a lot from when i first got to Osaka in 2004, it's grimy charm brushed and burnished off, but it still had that undertone of scuzziness that said it could all come back if the city took the day off upkeep.

Also, i needed a TEN for the title. Sue me.

We talked about this one the Friday before last, and i still like it for it's frenetic crufting. Maybe not the most polished version of the theme that i've played, but it's got a lot of heart to it.

The precursor to Rescuing the Monster's Child that we reviewed last month. It's mostly a gallery to showcase that bigass monster, but at least some work got put in that department, which is more than you can say for most galleries. The monster itself is, well, i mean, it doesn't do much; i think at this point in LBP, folx were still working out how to get large contraptions to reliably stand up and manage limited movement. It's still impressive, and cute in its own way, and i could appreciate it. i'm pretty sure there was an intended flow to this level that i completely fucked up by going further back in layer than what would have been possible in LBP1. Ope.

This is an earlier level by the kid who did Hello Autumn! a few entries up, and it's definitely the weaker of the two in my books. It's got swimming, and it's quite rare that i find LBP swimming to be all that enjoyable as a traversal mechanic. The cameras tend to be overly pulled back, and it just feels slow moving all-around. Like Hello Autumn, it's overburdened wiv prizes, so that was going to make it a hard sell wiv me as well. It still has that charm of a level the creator really enjoyed making, tho'; and i can enjoy it on that level at least. Some creators can really bring that feeling to the front in their work.

It will always feel a little wild to me to think LBP generates its own intracommunity drama. i mean, on one level, any group of people larger than two members is going to pick up some drama over its lifespan, but it's still, like... it's LittleBigPlanet. But there was a contest, and our own wonderful chronos453 won it, and some folx got really cheesed off. chronos showed me a few of the comments from the time (i was blissfully ignorant of it, as i usually am until years after the fact), and this level here got put forward by a number of them as the level that really should have won. So, thought i, let's have a look. It's not bad. Like, i love the look of it. Well executed sticker panel visual presentation can be very slick looking. Usually when, as we see here, it's the exclusive or at least primary element in play (another great example is in chrono's Demo series, or the menus in his Tower Defense level. Gods and fish, those menus are actual fire). The problems creep in in the game itself. It's exceptionally ok. Like, i think it'd work really well as an early mobile game (that is not a dig, mobile games got shittier and shittier the more companies realized they could be turned into money engines that looked like games, as opposed to games that might happen to generate money, if you ask me). You've got a keep ship moving until you take enough damage and die gameplay loop that is, at least, easy to get into. i found it a little too simple to engage my interest more than a few tries, and it really wasn't something i would find myself going back to wivout need. And it's a shame, because you can tell a lot of work went into putting it together. i have no doubt that Gilinator was quite serious about the project, and put in the hours; but this is a good level, not a winning level.

Here's the winning level. Honestly, despite one significant flaw, it's one of the best, if not the best survival challenges i've played in 15years of LittleBigPlanet. Elegant, stylish presentation. Gameplay that requires the player to be active and paying attention throughout. Quick to get into, and quick to restart when you've messed up (a point crhonos mentioned being a particular focus in his design of the level). Like, people complained that that was too much of an homage, and not original enough; and i would invite them to go back to the survival challenge in the Metal Gear dlc pack and tell me if this is not an improvement on that in every department. You could argue, and fairly, if this should have been first place; there's always room for that kind of conversation. You cannot argue in good faith that this isn't a top-notch level. However, i did mention a significant flaw. It is not in anything that the level does wrong, or a failing on the part of chronos as a creator. It's the simple fact that, maybe not for everyone but at least for me, using the Paintinator really starts to hurt after a while. i wonder about the susceptibility of people to RSIs. Like, it can't be a 100% thing, or else they'd be more well designed for. There are millions of folx working cash registers that i imagine come home fine after work, but when i was a kid my friend up the block's mum wound up needing multiple surgeries to try and fix up her fucked up wrist after a couple years of "help make the ends meet" work at JC Penny's. i bring it up because, like, Mm must have playtested the Paintinator. Even if it was a dlc and not, like, the main game, they would have had a team working on it. And then QA after. Did no one say "hey, ummm... my wrist kinda felt like it was on fire after the Metal Gear Rex fight"? And maybe they didn't, or maybe it was just one or two folx who complained, and that was deemed an acceptable risk by legal. Maybe i'm just one of the lucky ones i kind of hate that.

This level was... it was definitely a lot. Not, necessarily a bad a lot, just a lot. i really enjoyed the extremely "this is not a real place, but we'll treat it like a real place" cartoon environment vibe; like it manages to pull that off pretty well. i like that there were a couple of spots where you've got mechanical movement and interactions mixed in wiv behind-the-scenes logic, i'll always have a soft spot for those. The end feels like it could have used a little bit more wrap up, and i will almost always prefer a scoreboard to an adventure board, but that was all ok. But... for all that is good and holy, why did the creator put that arm-y enemy where it was, and why was it set up how it was? Like, that bit just kills any momentum the level has. It's such a pain in the arse to get over the arm, because it's kinda-sorta tracking you, and then the bounce pad puts you onto a wall jump that, if you're not careful, will throw you right back into the spikes on the arm. i was not a fan of that bit, i can tell you what.

Once again i have gotten to my Halloween content well after Halloween. It one of the dangers of doing things in advance. You'll record a bunch, and then only later when you're actually setting up the editing and uploads do you realize you've already set for videos all the way up to, like, a week after some upcoming event. This one was a fun little one. Great presentation, very charming, smooth gameplay. i don't know if it's strong enough to make me want to come back to, but definitely glad i ran into it this year.

Talked about this a little bit back, but it's still really good.

What do you even say about Ramp? The first. The best. Picked up Level of the Day yesterday (i am half convinced because i, in a roundabout way, reminded StevenI that it existed). Ramp is an honest hoot, and i found myself just laughing in delight. Thought, how haven't i archived this one yet? Why wasn't it the first LBsA episode? i mean, i know the reason it wasn't the first is i'd wanted that slot to go to chronos, but Ramp should have been number two by all rights.

i think First was EightWonder-'s first published in the actual release? 'cause Ramp was first-first. Still, this one's a great example of early-early LBP1 platforming, and i had a real good time wiv it. It's a little confusing in its pathing at times, and it's definitely super-kludgy, but it has such a "having a good time" vibe to it that it's hard not to love it. i appreciate it when folx get all srs biz in their creations (i don't necessarily mean that the tone is serious, just that they've clearly taken creation seriously), but i do love it when you see these levels that are, like, let's just have fun and throw everything at the wall and see what we end up wiv. As long as the result is sufficiently level as to be playable, it's always at least a little bit of a good time.

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So that's the that for this set. Pretty good spread all in all, no real clunkers. i'm sorry for being late, again, but thing's have been life-shaped. Dealing wiv a lot of little health stuff. Mostly headaches and a lot of exhaustion. Nothing that has me, like, "maybe i should go to a clinic" kind of thing, but it's really got me worn down.

A quick reminder that @soupum is running a LBP stream for Palestine at twitch.tv/soupum . Drop on by and give him some love!

#littlebigplanet #little big planet #lbp #lbp1 #lbp2 #lbp3 #LittleBite-sizedArchive #LBsA #Youtube

[unitedbydevils]

Match Review: Fulham 0-1 Manchester United

It wasn't an easy game, or a comfortable result, but it was one where United showed desire and determination, and were it not for some extremely suspect refereeing it might have been a much clearer gulf between the two sides...

The game started with a dramatic injury to Harry Maguire, whose missed header saw him faceplant a player's shoulder. A swollen eye socket for his troubles, but thankfully it wasn't serious enough to warrant substitution and Maguire managed to put in another very solid performance.

A nasty foul on captain Bruno Fernandes in the 8th minute led to a free kick; swung left side to Garnacho who played a beautiful ball back across to McTominay at the back post. The jubilation was short-lived however, with appeals for offside leading to a VAR check. In a highly unusual turn, the referee also took a look from the sideline - something PGMOL argue was because of the technical rules of the incident rather than the normal "clear and obvious error" from the on-field referee. In this case, Harry Maguire was adjudged offside. This despite not touching the ball or interfering with a defender who could stop Garnacho, but instead because he showed intent to attack the ball and thus was guilty. An interesting inconsistency compared to some other decisions made this season.

Fulham's reaction to the goal being disallowed was one of increased tempo and determination. In many ways it felt like they had taken a 1-0 lead and had that confidence boost, the wind in their sails, that allowed them to play more expressive football.

The first half drew to an end slightly in United's favour but the second was a far more open affair. Brazilian winger Antony was notably awful on the right side, which saw him substituted fairly quickly for Facundo Pellistri, and it was a remarkable change of intensity, desire, and competence down that right side for United. The scrappy little Uruguayan with his low centre of gravity and a tenacious approach to duels caused Fulham trouble - trouble which opened up opportunities.

An 84th minute chance nearly led to a sensational goal from substitute Anthony Martial, but it was the Captain who became the man of the hour in the 90th minute. Good pressure from Martial, McTominay and Pellistri allowed Fernandes a chance on the edge of the box. A feint left, cut back right, and ping bottom corner past Leno. 1-0 United, and a deserved 3 points for the Red Devils after it felt like perhaps fate had intervened and stolen away a much needed win.

After heavy criticism of Fernandes and Ten Hag in the past few days, both men will be relieved to have claimed the win away at Craven Cottage. The hope now is that a run of form can begin.

Ten Hag spoke to TNT Sports post-match and was questioned by Rio Ferdinand on the lack of team identity or play style this season. Ten Hag's response was that injuries had curtailed any sense of a predictable XI and that had hindered synergy or familiarity, but it is something the Dutchman needs to address quickly. November is upon us - there have been enough games and training sessions now for players to gel.

There are concerns to be had about many players; Bruno Fernandes being too stroppy, Rashford's lack of goals, players not finding enough passes to Højlund up front, but most pressing is the Antony situation. He has been the Manager's Favourite for a while, to the ire of Jadon Sancho. Poor club operations led to United paying double the asking price for him, but even if United had paid £40m, Antony hasn't even lived up to that. He's pacey and holds the ball up well, but he's unfathomably one-footed and fails take-ons almost every time. United's fatal flaw on the attack for years had been a lack of midfielders, and then it switched to being heavily LW-orientated.

If Ten Hag wants to keep the good times rolling he needs to work on Antony - whether that's tactical changes to encourage better match habits from him or benching him for the eager Pellistri. Something has to change if United want to retain a top 4 spot this season, and games against København, Luton and Everton are the perfect time to act.

#manchester united #man u #man united #man utd #manchester reds #erik ten hag #harry maguire #alejandro garnacho #facundo pellistri #anthony martial #bruno fernandes #scott mctominay #var #fulham #craven cottage #antony #TNT Sports #Rio Ferdinand

[jabbage]

#Letters from Watson #lettersfromwatson