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angellettes · 1 year

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𝐀𝐖𝐊𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃 ➔ ETHAN LANDRY

─ synopsis. based on the song "awkward" by SZA; Ethan and you are best friends but friends with benefits too. some specific words comes out that makes it a bit awkward

─ notes. didn't think this would get sm attention i luv u guys♡ genre/warnings..18+ nsfw content (minors dni).. mutual pining, best friends with benefits to lovers, oral(f receiving),handjob(but it's kinda interrupted), fluffy smut, tons of kisses, creampie, cowgirl, porn with plot, non gf! ethan because we all know how that went, fluffy ending, not proofread

Loud music blasted throughout your ears as you walked around, looking for your best friend. It was halloween night and you were moderately drunk with the haze of the alcohol taking over, you decided to look for Ethan to mellow out, and just have a conversation with a decent person instead of some douchebag frat boy who was trying to get in your pants and take advantage of you being tipsy. You had to admit you were pissed with the guys here, and you couldn't find Ethan. you were contemplating on leaving and just going home to watch a scary movie until you fall asleep, until you heard your name being called. You whipped your head around to see who was calling you, only to see your friend who you had been searching around for what felt like forever. "There you are I was looking for you." you said with an inflection in your voice, expressing your twinge of annoying of not being able to find him. "Yeah, sorry about that. Chad was holding me up this whole time. He kept trying to get me to hit on some girl, but I wasn't very interested." of course Chad would do that. You looked at him trying to cover up the slight jealousy you felt, even though he hadn't talked to her, the idea makes you sick. "Hey Y/N, are you ok?" you snapped out of your thoughts, and looked at him giving him your attention. "Oh yeah I'm good. I feel a little tired I might go home." his eyes widened a bit and although it was dark in the room and the only see the dim colorful lighting surrounding you, you could still somehow see his blush spreading actually his face."Do you mind if I walk you home" "yeah sure, I would like that" you replied with a smile. you both walked together talking while walking to your apartment. The conversation flowing freely as the sound of cars pass by and the chilly autumn air runs through your hair. The vibe is comfortable and nice, and you really don't want it to end. You finally get to your apartment and ethan gives you a hug goodbye. You quickly stopped him before he walked away. "Ethan wait!" he turns around and looked at you wondering what you wanted. "can you please stay? you can spend the night if you want" you say tugging at the sleeves of your sweater nervously with a rosy flush on your face. He looks at you with a look of adoration in his eyes, and that same pink flush on his cheeks. "Yeah, I would like to, that would be nice" he says walking up the stairs to get to the door. he approached you at the door with a smile. you let him in, and left him to get comfortable in the living room so you can change after giving him clothes he left last time he was there. as you were going to change you looked into the mirror, thinking about why you were thinking of sleeping with you best friend again. It was hurting you being best friends with him, being friends with benefits, and also having strong feelings. You wished you could tell him how you felt but things were complicated. You and Ethan had been best friends since middle school, always being there for each other, always stuck at each other's hip. One drunk night led to several Rendezvous for sex but it got more difficult with the intimate meetings making the feelings you had for him since middle school. You didn't want to ruin such a precious bond. if he doesn't feel the same way because if you messed it up you would hate yourself for it. You finally snapped out of it and got dressed into sleep clothes, and washed your face of all the stressors, and dirt of the day. You walked into your room to get blankets, and saw Ethan looking as if he was admiring the decor of your room. He turned around to see you there jumping a little. Stuttering over his words as he tried to explain himself "S-sorry I-I-I was just looking at- I like the way your room looks" he said. You let out a laugh at his stutter and let him know it's fine. You both walked back to the living room with blankets and pillows. "Hey Y/N, I'll sleep in the living room" he said as he started getting comfortable on the couch" you looked at him with a grin on your face as you got comfortable with him.

"you know what? let's have a sleepover here in the living room, and just stay up all night eating, talking, watching movies, stuff like that, you know?". You put on a stab movie but you guys weren't even really paying attention because you were both talking the whole time about random stuff. You both started talking about music and what artists you both liked "what's your favorite song right now?" he asked with a smile that hasn't left his face the entire time he was there. "my favorite song right now is awkward by SZA but I'm also like obsessed with any cigarettes after sex song lately" you said with a small smile. You enjoyed his company, when he talked about his interests, and classes. Just him being around was your favorite thing. "Hey, let's listen to some music" The TV had been long turned off throughout your conversation. he played his playlist. The first song that played was Awkward by SZA....This is the song you think of when you thought of Ethan. The song that describes your feelings. you tried to cover your blush with the blanket as you cuddled closer to him and you looked at eachother. next thing you knew he was leaning in closer....and you were too.

this is deeper than friendship

The line echoes through the room as your lips met eachother. He leaned you back onto the couch, as you kissed. His kisses almost felt loving but maybe it was your own delusion. He looked at you asking you for permission. you nod as his gentle father kisses trailed down to your neck and behind your ear. You took off your clothes as he took his off as well. He trailed his kisses farther ,kissing and kneading the fat of your tummy with such gentleness and fervor. He kissed your thighs gently, holding your thighs apart wrapping his arms around them gently squeezing occasionally as he licked a stripe up the lips your pussy. Gently kissing and running his tongue along your clit, as your fingers met his dark chesnut curls running it between your fingers. Your pleasure running through your body with gasps, and light moans escaping your mouth. He let out a deep moan into your pussy, as he grinded his hard cock into the couch, just trying to get some type of friction. His saliva and your wetness dripping down your ass and onto the couch, as your fingers grasp his hair a little harder as your chest heaves, gasps leaving your mouth with moans as you moan and cum all over his tongue. He sits up about to put his pants back on but you stop him. You let a fat glob of saliva dripping from your mouth onto his cock. You stared up at him as you rubbed your fist up and down his cock, rubbing your thumb over the tip as you went up over the top. he let's out a deep moan with some words you never thought would come from his mouth "fuck, I love you so much " your stroking stops. and you stare at him with shock in his face. He looks at you finally realizing what he just said and you saw how he started getting soft probably from the fear of you reaction. He starts putting his clothes back on and covers up. "Sorry, I made it awkward" you let him know it's ok but he doesn't seem to be convinced. "I'm just gonna go". you start to panic at those words. "wait no Ethan please don't go!" you shout as you grab his wrist trying to stop him from leaving. "at least stay here and sleep" you look at him with doe eyes as if you're begging him to stay "alright" he puts his stuff back down and gets back on the couch. The silence is loud but you'll reassure him in the morning and ask for his true feeling to see if those words weren't just from the heat of the moment.

The sunlight of the morning shined through the curtains as you woke up realizing you were alone on the couch. He left before you could wake up. You eyes start to dribble tears as you felt his words were only from the heat of the moment. He was Your best friend and he cared about you, you knew that but these flings meant nothing. you weren't anything to him besides a friend, and you would never be anything more than that.

The first few days after that in class he just wouldn't talk to you but as days were going by he distanced himself even more. hanging out with different people, sitting at different seats, not even texting you good morning or good night anymore...You lost your best friend just like how you were avoiding.

This distance between you both was making you insane. After days and days of crying until you got a massive headache and your eyes became bloodshot red, you finally grew the confidence to do it. You were going to tell him your feelings. You got dressed in something nice but casual quickly and stormed out of your dorm in a hurry. You quickly jogged down the street to get to his dorm. As you finally got to his dorm you knocked on the door rapidly. His roommate, Chad opens the door. "Oh hey Y/N, If you're looking for Ethan I'm already leaving anyway" he said with that big toothy smile. "Ethan Y/N is here for you!" he yells out to Ethan before leaving. Ethan starts walking to the door to greet you. His eyes are red as if he's been crying. "what are you doing here?" he asks with a congested voice. "I needed to come and see you. This distance is driving me crazy. I just wanted to say some things and get clarity on the other night" His eyes widened a bit. He opens the door wider to let you in, with that look of slight sadness still on his face. He closes the door behind him as you got comfortable on the couch. "Listen Ethan, I'm sorry I didn't respond to what you said the other night. I was shocked, and nervous. Truth is that I have had feelings for you ever since middle school. You were always there for me and I never told you because I don't want ruin what we had. you're my best friend, and if this was how I lost you then I would hate myself forever. I'd rather lose you telling the truth than lose you to a miscommunication of words." He sits with you and looks you in the eyes. There's that look again, The look of adoration and admiration.The look that you always looked past but now realize maybe it was genuine. "Y/N, the words I said the other night slipped out during the heat of the moment but they were genuine. If I had the chance to had told you how I felt without all this distance it would've been better but I didn't want to ruin what we had either. The feelings I've had for you have always been there and I never was true to myself about them because we're best friends and we were just having sex with no strings attached. I was too embarrassed to face you after that though. I mean how could I face you after the way you stared, it just scared me. I'm sorry for not explaining why I wasn't talking to you." you stared at him with a slight smile. Your eyes were tearing up. He leaned in to hug you and you hugged back, with a smile on your. You laughed a bit as you wiped your tears."Can I Kiss you, and hopefully show you in other ways my feelings, to make it up to you?". There was so much sincerity, and emotion in his eyes, emotions you don't even think you've ever noticed. You nod your head, almost immediately being pushed onto the couch as he presses his lips against yours with fervor, and love. Kisses become more desperate, and you quickly flip him over beneath you. You start removing your clothes and his, lips still connected as he ran his hands along your skin. He kissed down your chest and stopped at your nipples sucking them into his mouth gently as your fingers ran through his curls and sighs left your mouth as you kissed his neck. "Please Y/N just let me inside. I need you" he whimpers out to you, looking you in the eyes with love and passion. As you slipped him in, you shuddered with pleasure. He let's out a loud, whiny moan as he thrusts up into you, kissing you as he thrusts in and out with your hips rocking back and forth to meet him. "Oh my God Y/N I love you so much! please, please, cum with me" he says with desperation forming in his voice as that tight, contracting, feeling builds up in your abdomen, getting ready to release. "Ethan please cum inside me" you say hugging onto his shoulders, whispering into his neck how you oh so badly wanted him to cum inside. He thrusted up harder and faster, the only sounds heard in the room being, wet skin slapping, and both your moans and whines. He grabs your face, turning you to look him in the eyes as you both cum.

His mouth goes agape as he makes a few more strong thrusts into you, before pushing his hips up into you and holding them there as his hot, warm, cum fills you up. Your eyes roll back and you shudder as a loud moans escaping as a final strained moan cums out before you gush all over him. You take a moment to take a breath before you're both looking eachother in the eyes, laughing together as you press your foreheads together. "So Ethan, are you hungry?" you ask with a grin on your face, until you both burst out laughing at a loud growl coming from your stomach. "Yeah, we should go get something to eat" with chuckles in his sentence. You sighed again as you pressed your forehead against his once again, giving him a long passionate kiss. Your fingers running up his neck and caressing his cheek, as his hand gives a soft, gentle, loving grasp on your neck rubbing his thumb along your jaw as your lips form together, fitting perfectly together.

"I love you Ethan Landry"

"I love you Y/N L/N"

please do not plagiarize, translate,or repost my work.

finished- April 1, 2023 , 4:05 PM

#🎀—⋆·˚ ༘❛ 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒆'𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒔˚ ༘♡ ⋆‧₊˚#ethan landry imagine #ethan landry x reader #scream vi #scream fanfic #scream x reader #ethan landry smut #ethan landry x y/n #ethan landry scream

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therabbitthatpostthings · 1 month

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Might write this into a full story- depends. Salaryman!NanamixReader! -canon adjacent ramble-

“(Y/N) are you ready for lunch?”

A simple question shouldn’t have shocked you so much but, coming from Nanami Kento it did.

You were attractive. You didn’t believe that or at least not to the extent Nanami had explained but, you were. You gained so much attention at the office that all went unnoticed by you. From bosses, coworkers, random delivery guys- it was madness basically. And you were just at your desk, not a care in the world, just thinking how nice everyone is at this job.

Everyone knew, especially Nanami. Unlike the others, he was a professional and never let himself get sucked into your orbit. He thought you were an admirable worker and you seemed nice. At the end of the day though you were just another coworker at the company he hated. He would catch you staring at him sometimes. He would pretend not to notice but it had started to get annoying. It was only after he noticed how you avoided the copy room did he understand: you can see curse spirits too.

He felt bad for you. You obviously didn’t know anything about curses or sorcery and now your work area isn’t safe. As long as you weren’t attacked he thought it would be okay to ignore it but the stressed expression you wore when asked to make a copy or go get some documents ate away at him. Nanami started to coveiently be around the copy room at the same time as you. And the strange little creature in the corner always seemed to be gone. You also felt lighter for the first time in years. You spent most of your life in constant fear of little creatures and dark energies you felt all around you. It plagued you as a child and your parents could never console you. You eventually learned to just deal with it. You had been able to get by the past couple of years without much trouble until you started working and saw it. A tiny, creepy, rat-like-fly-like-bird-like creature. It was hideous. But when Nanami would follow behind you to the copy room it never seemed to be there. In fact, you felt light around him. Like a weight was lifted off your shoulders.

This became your routine. Nanami didn’t seem to mind. You were constantly surrounded by others so he assumed you didn’t notice him. Not until one long company outing. You hated these. Nanami hated these. That’s probably why you were both drinking so heavily, the only two non-lightweights. All your co-workers were absolutely gone including your supervisors. It didn't take long before everyone called it quits. While standing outside, idly swaying, you spoke to Nanami in the longest conversation you two have ever had. You admitted that you felt safe around him, safer than you did at home. It almost felt like the horrid feeling you got at work suddenly transferred to your home. Nanami, being the gentleman he is, offered to take you home and you (still drunk) said “You’d rather spend time at his home just to keep feeling safe tonight.

That’s how you found yourself in Nanami’s large bed, in his moderate apartment, not as hung-over as you thought you would be. You walked out of the room to the smell of breakfast being made. You noticed a spare pillow and blanket on the couch as you st at the breakfast bar.

“Good Morning.” He said “Coffee or tea.”

“Tea.” You replied softly, “I didn’t mean to steal your bed.”

“It’s fine, you fell asleep in the taxi, I didn’t want to wake you.”

“Oh god,” you whined inwardly, “Did I say anything embarrassing?”

“You said you felt safe with me.” He said in a monotone voice as if theat wasn’t the most embarrassing thing to be told at 8 am.

You laid your head down on the counter top. This day could not get worse.

Nanami found it somewhat endearing. He decided that today was not a good day to tell you about curses. Now he just wanted you to feel better. Instead of it being awkward, you two became somewhat closer. Work friends at least. It turned to actual friends and somewhat more. You didn’t really know what to call it, he felt like a boyfriend though. Nanami never protested you saying so. During work hours you stayed friendly and cooperative. Despite his apartement being bigger, Nanami enjoyed your home instead. He insisted that laying in your bed was better. He would jokingly say it was to keep you safe.

So yeah! It was a bit of a shock to you and the surrounding co-workers when Nanami-I-hate-work-Kento suddenly asked you to lunch and addressed you by your FIRST NAME.

“U-Uh, yeah. C-Coming.” You stumbled over your words and handed the paperwork to the coworker.

“Oh I thought we could get lunch today.” He said

“Sorry, Kento and I already had plans.” You replied with an embarrassed smile. It felt strange calling him by his first name in front of others. It was kind of nice too.

“So what was that,” You smiled as you both sat down for lunch.

“What was what?” He replied plainly.

“You seemed a little upset that Takahiro was going to ask me out for lunch.”

“Really? I didn’t notice him.”

You chuckled, “You also called me (Y/N).”

“I should have checked first, I’m sorry.”

“No. I like it. I would like it if you called me that all the time. I won’t be here long anyway.” You smiled. Kento often spoke about how you garnered attaentioned but you didn’t notice until this last month when you announced you were transferring.

“Alright I will then.” Kento said with a small hint of a smile. “I’ll be leaving a little after you.”

“Are you transferring?”

“No, I talk to an old classmate of mine. They found a mentorship for me, it’s at my old highschool.”

“That’s sweet!” You swooned, “Those kids would be lucky to have you.”

“I hope so. I want to give them the guidance I wish I had back then.”

After your lunch you both made your way back to the building. You both noticed a definite shift in the air. Takahiro must have spread the word already. It didn’t matterm you were both going to be out of this place so any idle gossip meant nothing. The day ended and you were about to part ways when he handed you his spare key. “I have to meet with my classmate for a bit, would you mind going over to my place?”

“Yeah, it’s no problem.” You seemed a little skeptical.

“There’s also something I wanted to talk with you about, I won’t be long. Don’t worry about cooking, I'll bring dinner.” He said as a black car rounded the corner.

“Is it something bad?” You asked.

“No, just important before I take this big step. I know I have your full support but I want you to know everything before I do.”

The car pulled in front of you both, the window rolled down and there sat a man with short parted black hair and black rimmed glasses. He spoke, “Nanami-san.”

“Text me when you get there.” Kento said as he reached for the door.

“Okay.” You smiled. He leaned over to give you a kiss and stepped into the backseat of the black car. You waved him off befoer turning towards the train station.

“It’s good to see you again, Nanami-san.” Ijichi said.

“Ijichi-san. Could you not mention anything you saw to anyone?” The two men made eye contact through the rearveiw mirror. A silent agreement was made. Nanami hadn’t fully agreed yet but keeping you out of the way of the higher ups took priority. He needed to make sure you knew exactly what those creatures were. What jujutsu sorcery was. What you were possibly risking by staying with him. He had to do it tonight while you still had a chance to leave. He loves you. He can’t tell you that though. He needed to make sure you wouldn’t stay if you had the choice.

He needed to keep you safe.

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ijuststareatstuffhereok89 · 2 months

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"Eden" - A Loki/Reader Drabble

You get lost in the woods and stumble upon a stranger in a secluded grove.

Pairing: Loki x Reader Genre: Sexy, Flirty Fluff (lusty descriptors but no sex) Word Count: 800 (quick read!)

MY MASTERLIST

“Are you lost?”

Absolutely, but you didn’t say a word. Your senses were too busy taking in the idyllic tableau you’d found by chance.

After wandering for hours, being mistakenly left behind by your small hiking party, you parted two large bushes to find an opening in the trees. Behind them, a small tributary wound a pathway up to a two-story waterfall, which was busy churning and rushing with the spring runoff. All around, the evidence of spring blossomed: trees birthed bright pink buds underneath their newborn leaves. Small birds chimed in chorus from the lush canopy above, and only together could they reach a noise capable of being heard past the roaring falls. Secluded, it had to easily be five to six miles from the closest point of civilization.

The source of the query that greeted you was standing at the top of the small cliffside that hosted the waterfall. Naked as the day he was born, he was unashamed of himself, letting everything shine in the sunlight. In fact, he seemed boastful, and he had every right to be from what you could see. Raven black hair blew back across his face until he took a moment to tie it back. Every pectoral, deltoid, and leg muscle was defined, given its own territory across his pristine surface to show off. Alas, that was all you could make out from your distance.

“Are you lost?” he repeated, his voice somehow able to carry clearly across the falls to you, on the far side of the glen.

You nodded, too enchanted to understand that such a subtle response would go undetected.

The figure smiled and placed his hands proudly on his hips, even thrusting his pelvis forward. Of course, this showed off more than just the sharp ‘V’ his abs formed. You only wanted a closer look for yourself.

“Stay put,” he said. “I’m coming down.”

He took a few steps back, until you could barely see his head. Then, at a moderate run, he leapt off the cliffside, performing a rigid, graceful swan dive below, making surprisingly little splash upon entry. He surfaced, whipping his soaked hair back over his head and gasping for air. His chest dripped, his breaths were deep and heaving.

As he casually swam down the creek, you shyly sat down by the bank, slipping your hiking boots off. The water did look nice, and indeed, your feet hurt from the past hour you’d spent searching for your friends. Upon dipping them into the river, you felt instant, cool relief bubble up from your toes as you stretched, enjoying the sensation.

He was athletic, more so than any human you’d ever seen. It only took him a moment to swim the distance to your place on the grass beside the water. He surfaced again, much closer to you, so you could witness him in all of his perfection.

Was he a mermaid? No, he’d clearly had legs when he jumped off the falls, and you’d plainly seen them (and what lay between them). Who, then, was this woodland god who seemed so eager to meet you?

You were met with two piercing blue eyes, fresher than the river water and just as sparkling in the sun peeking through the canopy. The ebony hair he’d shown off dripped in streams down his chest, forming small branches that circles around his nipples before rolling down his stomach.

“I…don’t mean to stare,” you whispered, embarrassed and suddenly self-conscious.

“It must be intimidating to find yourself suddenly in the presence of Prince Loki, but please continue to admire me,” he insisted smoothly, smiling with a tempting twinkle in his eye. “Then I will have an excuse to do the same with you.”

A Prince? In the woods?

His gaze moved away from you long enough to spot a small cluster of buttercups in bloom along the blank, about ten feet from your spot on the shore. Giving himself a moment, he waded downstream and plucked three from their tethers and brought them back. He didn’t ask your permission to tuck them behind your ear, but perhaps your own body language was already obvious: you wanted him to move in closer.

“Lovely, you shall be my new little companion,” he said softly, tracing your jaw with his finger briefly after placing the tiny flowers in your hair. “But I feel I should ask you one more time, sweet wood nymph, are you lost?”

You held out your hand to Prince Loki, asking him gently to come in just a little closer. He took your hand, bringing it swiftly to his lips and let his mouth linger for a deliciously long moment on your fingers.

“No, Prince Loki, I’m right where I want to be.”

Sorry this was just a drabble. I haven’t posted one-shots in a while and wanted to do one, but my muse is on staycation and it took a lot for her to get off the couch this morning. I kind of wanted to practice my descriptors a bit. Hope it's ok!

@acidcasualties @lokisgoodgirl @mischief2sarawr @loopsisloops @fictive-sl0th @smolvenger @joyful-enchantress @holdmytesseract @mochie85 @lcolumbia1988 @glitchquake @gruftiela @gigglingtiggerv2

#loki #fanfiction #mcu #mcu loki #loki fanfiction #loki x reader #mcu fanfiction #loki laufeyson #loki/reader #lost in the woods trope #waterfalls #naked loki #loki fluff #drabble #fluff #one shot #masterlist

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obm-avenquire · 1 year

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Obey Me! Seven Minutes In Heaven Hell

[I’m honouring my rotten god awful roots from hell. Put up with it. I hope this gives someone whiplash. I am writing this both as a joke and with complete sincerity and i wont be explaining myself if you get it you get it if you dont then i hope youll find it entertaining anyway. I used my own deviantart for 2012 for reference for this]

✧─── ･｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

Another day, another party in the Devildom.

You have no idea how any of them have energy for all this - it feels like every week someone will pull some cause for celebration out of thin air and suddenly they’ve hired a catering company and a truckload of helium balloons. Of course, Diavolo - fuelled by his unending fear of missing out and need for enrichment - enables it every time, doing everything he can to get himself and everyone else you know invited. Which is…fine, you like seeing them all. In moderation. At none noisy crowded events. Ah, well. Such is the burden of a dating sim protagonist. Slumber parties at the castle are a little less high maintenance at least.

You’re pulled from your thoughts when Asmodeus calls your name, waving you over with Demonus-flushed cheeks before dragging you away from the balcony and back into the big guest room-turned-common-room-sleeping-area. You definitely think there’s a better way to phrase that, but you barely have time to think when Asmo is pushing you to sit down in the collective circle (his strength always surprises you, and he’s maybe just a little too tipsy to regulate it properly), pressing a kiss on your cheeks before running off to herd together the rest of the group.

You look around the circle, giving Satan an affirming but vague nod that he returns with an equally innocuous smile, which you accept as you always do and go back to your usual little headcount. Belphegor was dozing on the sofa, threatening to sprawl over Satan (who was ‘gently’ repositioning him whenever necessary), Mephistopholes (who had invited himself) was preaching his very special gospel to Beelzebub at the snack table while Asmodeus did whatever he could to wrangle the younger away because his plate was basically just a tower of snacks at this point and he could always get more later so if he would just pleeeeaaaaasssee-

You stop paying attention, instead giving Simeon and Raphael a little wave as they walk in.

“Welcome back,” You shuffle over slightly to make space for the two of them, Simeon sitting down next to you as Raphael decides to stand rigidly slightly off to the side just a little behind the sofa, and just…stay there. Well, whatever makes him comfortable, you guess. “Did Luke arrive safe?”

“He did, thankfully,” Simeon smiles, tucking his phone into the pockets of his trousers, “I can’t believe Serun broke all their bones and had to be hospitalised again. I feel awful not being able to visit, but, well…” He sighs, shrugging, “He wanted to go himself, and insisted he could manage, so…You know how he i-”

“What? I only came because I was promised melon cake!” You’re not sure where Thirteen popped up from, but she’s already on the armchair in the corner, kicking her legs over the armrests as she rolls her eyes. “What a waste of time.”

“Oh! Well, he still finished that, actually, so-” There’s a distinctive arcane shink sound that cuts Simeon off mid sentence. “Now, Raphael, put the spear away, you can’t do that here-” Ever the stickler for manners, it seems. Oh well. Not your problem.

“Hey, so I’ve been meaning to ask.” Thirteen raises her eyebrows at your voice, pupils knife-like and theatrically bitchy in the dim candlelight. “Why are you covered in soot.”

“Well,” She scoffs, clicking her tongue, “Since someone-” She glares at Solomon from across the room, who smiles very nicely and innocently through his conversation with Barbatos- “Decided to ‘dismantle’-” She does incredibly heavy and repeated air quotes with her fingers, “My special little bomb boy it exploded all wrong!”

“I understand completely. I’m sorry someone would ever do something so awful to you, you don’t deserve that even slightly.” She snorts, balling up the tissue she was using to wipe the ashes off her forearm and throws it at your head. It disintegrates in midair before so much as making contact, and you squint over in the sorcerer's direction. He’s not even looking your way, and Barbatos whispers something you can’t make out to him as Thirteen groans and throws up her hands in frustration, sliding into what must be an incredibly uncomfortable position. It doesn’t seem to bother her, though, and she picks at her nails grumpily. Oh well!

“-Stop complainin’ already, would it really kill ya to join in?” Mammon is doing everything in his power to pull Levi through the door by the collar of his coat, but the younger seems to be trying to retract his own head into his shirt like a turtle to try and get out of it.

“You’re killing me you’re the worst and I hate youandIhopeeverythingbadeverhappenstoyoua-”

“Yeah yeah whatever. Shut up and sit.” Mammon slings his arm over Levi’s shoulder, dragging him down into the circle just as Lucifer and Diavolo finally come back from whatever it was they were getting done.

“Lucifer, don’t make that face!” Diavolo nudges his bestest of friends, who looks particularly miserable, even as Barbartos silently refills his glass before they all, too, sit to join, the prince and his right hand man on the final empty sofa, the butler instead choosing to kneel neatly a little off to the side from Mammon and Levi. Satan adeptly shoves Belphegor upwards at just the right timing for Beelzebub to sit down (his twin slumps right back into his shoulder). Mephistopholes complains that there isn’t a proper place to sit til Mammon trips him and he ungracefully tries to pass it off as deciding to sit on the floor as Thirteen barks a sharp laugh at him.

A pleasant hum of conversation settles through the room, Asmodeus stumbling into hugging Solomon, whispering something between the invocation trio that you can’t quite make out before spinning around and clapping his hands together (cutely. It’s important to emphasise that he did this so so cutely) to get everyone’s attention.

“E---veryone!!!” He waits a few seconds for silence, shooting a glare at whoever dares to continue in the wake of this very very important announcement. “It’s time for a very special game! Have we all heard of 7 minutes in heaven?” He bounces on the tips of his feet in excitement despite the lukewarm reception. “Okay well that’s a mostly no then I guess- Honestly! I know it’s a human world thing, but really?” He pouts, and you note that Diavolo’s visible excitement has increased exponentially already.

“Allow me to explain,” Solomon cuts in, confirming your suspicion that he’d been somehow roped into this. “Two or more participants are selected - in our case by drawing lots - to go into a closet or equivalent and do whatever they like for 7 minutes.” Everyone seems a lot more attentive, suddenly. “Ah, of course, we’ll be taking magic precautions to make sure that there’s no cheating, and certainly no one breaking into the closet before time is up,” He grins, clearly enjoying this already.

“The heck.” Mammon grumbles, oddly fidgety all of a sudden, “There ain’t even a closet in here,” Leviathan nods aggressively. He’s sweating.

“Hm? Oh! That won’t be a problem, haha! Barbatos was kind enough to offer to help out with that,” The aforementioned butler steps aside to reveal a simple wooden door on the wall that decidedly hadn’t been there earlier. “We even made sure it was sound-proofed! You know, just in case.”

“What a curious game! Shall we start right away?” Diavolo beams, inadvertently cutting off Mephistopholes, who’d just opened his mouth to no doubt complain that this sort of juvenile and inappropriate game had no place at a gathering with the Devildom’s one and only prince.

“Yes!! Everyone write your name on a piece of paper, okay?” Asmo begins handing out paper and pens to everyone, shushing any complaining he meets. “You don’t have to play! It just means you’re boring and no fun and that you’ll never get a chance like this again.”

Better write your name, then. You’d hate to miss out.

You watch as Barbatos collects everyone’s paper slips, dropping them into a glass bowl and shaking periodically to shuffle them well. You immediately lose track of yours, so you figure that it’s worked. After what feels like a slightly inordinate amount of time, everyone seems to have put their name in the bowl - sure, some were more…begrudging or in need of convincing than others, but that’s normal! Anyways-

“Oooo I’ve been waiting for this all evening!” Asmodeus grabs the bowl, tap-tap-tapping along the rim for effect, perfectly manicured nails making a pleasant ASMR-esque tink noise. “Right, first u-”

“Uhm, how do- how do we know you’re, uh, not rigging this?” Asmo whips his head around to stare open-mouthed at Levi.

“Excuse me? I would never-”

“Mm, there’s no guarantee though, is there?” Asmodeus pouts at Satan, grumbling something about being personally offended and making sure to snitch next time Satan asks him for a favour.

“Fine! Since I’m so untrustworthy and awful-” The smile is switched back on as he saunters over to you, swishing the bowl around carefully before holding it out to you. “Why don’t you pick? No one will complain then, right?”

The silence in the room means yes, presumably.

“Go on hun! Don’t be nervous-” He winks, and your mouth quirks into a smile to humour him, carefully reaching into the bowl for two slips of paper, pulling them out and carefully unfolding them to reveal-

✧─── ･｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

[As is tradition, I'll be uploading the individual 'endings' as I write them :) I'll be putting a poll up on my account for who to write first (within reason, I don't think tumblr will let me put up enough options to cover everyone) so feel free to suggest people in the replies/tags too!! there will be no luke option becuz i dont know how to put hardware destroying malware in clickable links yet sory :( feel free to simulate the experience urself tho!!]

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thecarnivorousmuffinmeta · 2 years

Note

Omfg!! Ffn is closing?? Where did you hear this? I don’t see anyone else talking about this!!

Okay, calm down people.

I didn't hear it from anybody. There's no official word. HOWEVER, I've seen the signs and the signs aren't good.

All Hints of Moderation Have Ceased

There used to be a pretty rigorous team of moderators who ran the site but it's noted (and not just by me) that for a while they haven't seemed as responsive if they've been responsive at all.

Fics that would have been pulled in a heartbeat stay up. Spam bots do seem to have taken over PMs.

Their Authentication Server's Been Wonky

The authentication server has sometimes been entirely non-functional for users. In my case, fanfiction has kept me logged in for an eeriely long time, far longer than it ever used to.

Their Email Server's Been Black Listed

Their email server has been black listed by a prominent email provider (i.e. mine). I'm not talking sent to junk, I'm talking it will not send to the inbox as in it has been straight up black listed. Their solution to this is to tell me, the user, to white list their email rather than improve their reputation.

This is a terrible solution and a sign that things are not good.

Rather Than Pay for More Servers They Use Cloud Flare

It's probably been noticed by everyone that they're employing DDOS protection via cloudflare. Well, that's nice and all, except that it's slow, clunky, and annoying. It's not a good user experience and the more expensive but good option would be to up the number of servers they have or use a more seamless DDOS protection solution.

This is a sign they're not willing to spend the money for the good stuff.

The Proliferation of Ads

Fanfiction is now riddled with ads when not using ad block. It's ads every few paragraphs, completely breaking up a story. It's utterl illegible. To me this reeks of trying to wring out every last cent out of viewership without putting in effort of attracting people.

They know people are leaving so they've stopped trying at all.

They Didn't Renew Their Cert

Now, this I heard from somebody else but this IS THE SIGN. They didn't renew the cert for their website. Now, it expires in several years, but when it does you will no longer be able to traverse safely to the site and it may not even exist.

What Does All This Mean?

Is fanfiction going down today or tomorrow?

No.

But it means that if the email server fails... they might not fix it. If the authentication server fails... they might not fix it. If one of their databases fails and they have no backup... those fics might be gone.

It means that access could be lost, certainly for me as an author, with no warning and I may not get it back.

#fanfiction

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britcision · 10 months

Text

I’m pretty sure the people bitching about not giving money to tumblr are the same ones who complain when AO3 or wikipedia ask for donations, so I’m just gonna clarify something

Running a website is not free

Even if they made no changes and did only maintenance, they still need to pay for server costs, expert programmers for when something goes wrong, storage (although frankly storage is cheap as chips these days which is nice)

They need to keep up with the capabilities of new tech like improvements to web browsers, never mind their own apps keeping pace with old and new tech developments

Backwards compatibility (being able to run the updated app on old tech) is a massive problem for apps on a regular basis, because there are people out here using an iPod and refusing to update software

There’s a reason every few years apps like Animal Crossing will issue an update that breaks backwards compatibility and you can only play if your phone is running more recent software

This shit costs money even before you look into the costs of human moderation, which I’m not exactly convinced is a big part of their current budget but fucking should be if we want an actual fix for their issues with unscreened ads and reporting bigots

Ignoring that it’s apparently illegal for companies not to actively chase profits, running Tumblr is expensive

And advertisers know we fucking hate them here

They’re still running ads, which we know because they’re all over the damn place, but half the ads are for Tumblr and its store

Other ad companies know we are not a good market, so they’re not willing to put the money in

Tumblr runs at a $30 million deficit, every year, because hosting a site is expensive

They are trying to take money making ideas from other social medias because they’re not a charity; they need to make enough money to keep the site going

If you want tumblr to keep existing, never mind fixing its many issues that require human people to be paid to do jobs like moderation, they will need money

Crabs cost $3

One crab day a year can fix the deficit and hammer home for Tumblr that:

A) we do want to be here and want the site to keep going

And B) they do not need to do the normal social media money making strategies we all hate

They need a way to make money if you want the hellsite to exist, because we live in a capitalist hellscape and cannot all be AO3

If they think they can make enough to keep running without pulling all the tricks we hate, they have no reason to pull said tricks

But they need money

And a way to make money

And if we can show them we can do that, there is a significantly higher chance they will listen to us, the user base they need money from, than if we don’t

Tumblr isn’t perfect, or anywhere close. They need someone to actually screen the paid ads they put through, they need to take the transphobia, antisemitism, and bigotry seriously

These Are Jobs That Will Cost Money

People Need To Be Fucking Paid For Their Work

Tumblr Is Not Run By Volunteers For Free And Nor Should It Be

Paying People Is Good Actually

So if you wanna get all high and mighty over $3/year, by all means, go spend that hard earned cash elsewhere

Good luck finding a perfect and morally pure business to give it to though

Being a whiny negative asshole isn’t more appealing just because you’ve put yourself on a moral soapbox, it just means the asshole is a little higher up

For all the whining about “all the new updates are terrible this site is unusable”…. It’s one fuck of a lot more usable than it was in 2017, 2018, 2020

And yeah, it’s going back down and most of the newer ones have been fucking annoying and I would also like them to stop

But it got up somehow and that means it could do that again

Hope is more fun than edgy nihilism

August 1st is a good and exciting day to summon a crab army

#tumblr #crab day #fuck if i know what a profitable plan for tumblr as is will look like #since half the user base are entitled assholes who think they shouldn’t pay for less than perfection #and tumblr themselves are entitled assholes who think $5/month is a good base proce #motherfuckers would have so many more people if it was $2-3 #totally not paying $5/month for this shit #but $3/year? yeah that’s okay

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thankskenpenders · 6 months

Text

Sonic Superstars!

Superstars is out! And guess what? It's good! It's a worthy new entry in the series, and I mostly like it. Mostly. Except for the handful of parts I don't. As usual, allow me to share my thoughts.

(For the record, I got the PS5 version of Superstars. I can't speak for how it plays on older hardware like the Switch, or how the weird Steam version that seems to make you log in with Epic runs. But I encountered zero performance issues, personally.)

General thoughts

The thing is, aside from two notable flaws I'll discuss in greater detail below, I can sum up my feelings on most of Superstars quickly. You see, it's... a Sonic game. This will either be a blessing or a curse depending on who you ask. It's not a bold new take on the series that'll blow you away, but they also didn't fuck it up. There's no catch this time! There's something refreshing about that straightforwardness, given how rare it is to get a regular-ass New Sonic Game from Sega. It's just a new classic-style game where you can play as Amy, set on a new island with all new zones, and Fang is in it! This might be damning with faint praise, but that's what it says on the tin, and they did a good job overall.

(It also has co-op. That's nice. I didn't play it in co-op.)

It plays exactly how it should. At no point did anything feel Wrong. The graphics might not have the absolute highest fidelity, but I think the character models look really nice, and the levels look appropriately good with vibrant color palettes. A couple zones like Sky Temple gave me Klonoa vibes, which I like. One zone is an absolutely incredible homage that I won't spoil. The story here is minimal (as expected), but there are a few good moments of telling the story through the gameplay, particularly one very cute sequence with Trip. I did find a couple stage gimmicks moderately annoying (Speed Jungle 2 and Press Factory 2, looking at you), but like... I could say the same thing about Mania, and also damn near every other Sonic game ever made. There's always That One Level. Superstars may not raise the series to new heights, but it generally executes well on the standard beats of the series. It's an easy recommendation for all fans of 2D Sonic.

Really, aside from the two big flaws (we'll get to them), this game's greatest crimes are simply not being quite as good as Mania, and also coming out the same week as the more creative and polished Super Mario Bros. Wonder. If we hadn't gotten Mania, I would easily be calling this my favorite 2D Sonic game since... what, the Advance trilogy 20 years ago? I like the Rush games, but if you asked me to replay one or the other, I might have a better time with Superstars. And, yes, it beats the hell out of Sonic 4. It's not even close. Anyone who says this game is exactly like Sonic 4 is just being a hater.

...I guess I would say that $60 is a bit steep for this, but you know it'll be on sale for a more appropriate $30-$40 in a few months. This isn't a Nintendo game we're talking about here.

Nice little tweaks

Superstars also features a number of welcome quality-of-life updates over Mania, bringing it more in line with the design ethos of modern platformers.

You have infinite lives! No more getting a game over on the final boss and having to redo the whole final zone - or, god forbid, the entire game

Time overs are gone! It'll warn you before you go over ten minutes, but I have no idea why because it doesn't kill you anymore

The game features a hub from which you can easily replay previous levels, rather than needing to beat the game or put in a cheat code to unlock the level select

This means you can easily go back and hunt for any special stage rings you missed. However, as a tradeoff, it seems like you can only get one Emerald per zone now, rather than being able to get Super Sonic by the end of the first or second zone

You can swap characters between levels! No more having to start a whole 'nother save file to play as Tails

And those characters even have optional little movement tutorial rooms available from the hub, which is great for new players who may not know about things like the Drop Dash

And, finally, checkpoints now feature arrows pointing in the direction you were supposed to be going, in case you forget upon respawning

Of course, while you might not be getting game overs, Superstars certainly compensated with some bosses that kicked my ass.

Bosses

Here's what I would consider notable flaw #1.

I have mixed feelings on the bosses in Superstars. I don't think many of them are poorly designed - in fact, a lot of them are good, and offer fun moments of spectacle. But for a 2D Sonic game, they're REALLY long and drawn out, and by the late game this was starting to get draining.

Bosses tend to be the type where you have to dodge their attack patterns for a while until you get the chance to hit them exactly once, MAYBE twice. A few bosses seem to have quicker options if you abuse your post-hit invulnerability or play as a character with a double jump, but many will either be completely invincible or run away to the background for long periods of time, making it impossible to damage them outside of the allotted windows. And even if it seems like you'll be able to get in a second hit, many bosses turn invincible and skip ahead to the next attack pattern as soon as they take the first hit. Again, most of these fights aren't BAD, but because of this behavior they sometimes take almost as long to beat as the entire levels preceding them. This didn't bother me much early in the game, but against the more challenging bosses towards the end that kept killing me several minutes into a long fight, it got tiring. The final boss of Story Mode probably took me like an hour.

While this certainly isn't an uncommon style of boss design, part of me suspects they did this for the sake of co-op players. For one, playing in co-op means that you don't necessarily have to start the entire fight over if one person dies, so I assume the length is less of an issue. But in particular, true classic-style Sonic bosses that you can just hit repeatedly with good timing would go down in a few seconds against a team of four players. Likewise, the swarm of clones from the "Avatar" Emerald power would probably obliterate every Genesis era boss with one button press. So I get why every boss needs all these invulnerability periods, but still. I at least wish they'd made some of those attack patterns shorter and given you more frequent opportunities to deal damage.

Emeralds and their powers

Speaking of the new Chaos Emerald powers: they're neat, I guess? They're fine. I didn't use them much. Actually, I kept forgetting I even had them - although the game will play a noise and show an icon in the corner of the screen to remind you any time you reach a spot where a specific power is useful. Avatar, the first power you get, is at least good for getting a couple free hits in on the trickier bosses. Yellow's ability to slow time is obviously good, but, again, I always forgot I even had it and made it through just fine without it. I was also pleased to realize that the swimming power is useful for the water levels and not just for climbing up waterfalls.

Oh, and the new grappling-based special stages kind of suck, but they're not the worst, and I'll at least give them credit for trying something new. (Motion Sickness Zone from Sonic 1 does return as a bonus minigame, but I only did it once lmao.)

Battle Mode

I haven't played Battle Mode. Couldn't tell you if it's good or not. It did, however, give us official designs for Metal Tails and Metal Amy after all these years, and also it let me make this:

...Okay, enough beating around the bush. Let's talk about the thing that REALLY drags down the experience.

The soundtrack...

(This lengthy section on the music will feature some light spoilers for things like zone names and themes.)

Now, don't get me wrong. There are some bangers in here that I've been listening to on loop. But this is one of the most inconsistent soundtracks I've ever heard, and I'm not sure I've ever played another game where the music has such a sharp dip in quality in the back half.

As anyone following this blog knows, prior to release I was a little obsessed with trying to gauge what the soundtrack would be like. "Jun Senoue" and "new Classic Sonic game" naturally evokes the memory of Sonic 4, but from the start we knew Tee Lopes was involved as well, and almost all of the music previewed before released leans more towards the sound of Sonic Mania than anything else. I was hopeful! I was excited! Jun deserved another chance at doing another classic Sonic OST, and Tee is one of my favorite game composers of all time between his Sonic material and other works like the TMNT: Shredder's Revenge OST. I frequently thought back to this Sonic 4 remix medley by Jun and Tee as a reminder that these two could really be the dream team, bringing out the best in each other's work.

Sure enough, the front half of the game is largely dominated by the Mania sound, whether it's a track by Tee himself or one by an in-house Sega artist that's compatible with his style. Pinball Carnival Act 1 by Rintaro Soma (an up-and-coming composer who wrote a bunch of the Cyber Space themes in Frontiers) takes obvious inspiration from Mania's Studiopolis Act 1, to the point that I was shocked when Sega posted the track and revealed it wasn't written by Tee. Act 2, however, forges more of its own sound by leaning into the act's spooky haunted carnival theme. And despite being the music lead, the only level theme that I know for sure was written by Senoue in the front half of the game (Bridge Island Act 1) was actually arranged by Tee Lopes to give it more of that Mania sound. Hell, the level clear jingle is literally just the one from Mania. A few level themes by other composers don't quite match that style, but they fit in well enough.

But there are early signs that this sound won't be consistent throughout the game. Our first warning of things to come is the boss music:

youtube

When early copies started floating around and the soundtrack leaked, many, many people hoped that this was merely a placeholder, like the literal Sonic 4 Episode II music used in the earliest previews of Speed Jungle, and that it'd get replaced with a day one patch. Oh, those poor, innocent fools...

Even if you don't mind the poor production with the returning Sonic 4 faux-Genesis sound, this is a very simplistic thirteen second snippet of music that then plays a second time in a higher key before it loops. This wouldn't be the end of the world if the bosses were as short as the ones in the Genesis games, of course, but they're not! This theme is used for a ton of lengthy fights throughout the game, including an EXTREMELY long and tedious autoscroller boss at the end of Golden Capital Act 2. Maybe I would've enjoyed the bosses in this game more if they were paired with some earworms that'd get me hyped up and sell how cool and exciting the fights are supposed to be, but grating songs like this just made the minutes spent fighting those bosses feel like an eternity.

Still, boss music (and menu music) aside, all of the level themes in the front half of the game ranged from decent to great, with the peak easily being the phenomenal Lagoon City Act 2 by Tee Lopes. And then... I got to the back half of the game. And the Mania style completely disappeared, replaced largely with the dreaded Sonic 4 sound. That isn't the style for EVERY song in the back half, but even the ones that try something different tend to be weaker than the material from the first six zones, with less engaging melodies and less intricate arrangement. Many sound straight up unfinished, leaning on extremely basic synth patches with no personality. And there isn't a single track from Tee in the back half. He just disappears from the project altogether.

What this means is that we go from this absolute banger by Tee Lopes in zone 6, which elevates what's otherwise a bog standard desert level to a thrilling adventure:

youtube

To... this, in zone 7:

youtube

It's EXTREMELY jarring!

The thing is, this is actually one of the better tracks in this style. I have to assume this is by Senoue, because you can totally hear a good Adventure or Heroes era Senoue track in there once you get past the crude synth replication of the Genesis era Sonic sound. Senoue is still a great composer, as you can hear clear as day with Bridge Island, but he's working with a restrictive sound palette that doesn't play to his strengths at all. If only he'd bust out that damn guitar, or at least pick some better synths.

(And no matter what people will tell you, no, this is not an accurate recreation of what the Genesis's YM2612 chip really sounded like, nor is it representative of what it CAN sound like at its best. Go back to the Streets of Rage 2 or Ristar soundtracks if you need a reminder.)

While I can at least see what the Press Factory tracks were aiming for, some other faux-FM synth tracks are just really bland. They don't have anything interesting going on, and they also don't seem particularly tailor made for the levels they accompany. They're just attempts to mimic what Sonic 1-3 sounded like on a very literal level. Take, for instance, the Golden Capital Act 1 theme, AKA "we've got Sky Sanctuary at home." While the better level themes in this game enhance the mood or even completely carry the vibes of a level, the weaker tracks can really suck all the air out of the room and make a level feel like more of a slog.

What kills me is that there are, in fact, a couple examples of how to do throwbacks to classic Sega FM synth music well on this very soundtrack! They're just not the Sonic 4 type tracks. I love the Frozen Base Act 2 theme, presumably composed by legendary Sega composer Hiroshi "HIRO" Kawaguchi, who's responsible for all-time classic arcade soundtracks like Fantasy Zone, Out Run, Hang-On, After Burner, and more, as well as the hacking and pinball themes from Frontiers. Maybe to an untrained ear this doesn't sound all that different, but it has a catchier tune, better instruments, and stronger production overall. I'm also a fan of the track for Sky Temple, which isn't perfect, but it blends a few Genesis-esque instruments like the Sonic 1+2 snare with other instruments for a richer sound. If the whole soundtrack sounded more like these examples, I'd definitely be complaining less.

I really just have to wonder... how did this happen? How did this end up being so inconsistent? Many fans on social media are jumping to the conclusion that Senoue is just extremely stubborn and refuses to ditch the style from Sonic 4. I can't deny this possibility, but some things just don't add up. The almost complete lack of "retro" style music in the promotional material. The fact that the style just suddenly shifts halfway through the game, then disappears for the final zone, as if that's not the note they want to end on. The complete lack of any tracks by Tee Lopes in the back half. The focus on the Mania-style tracks in the bonus "mini soundtrack." And most perplexing of all, the fact that three of the first tracks you hear in the game were Senoue compositions that were given extra attention with arrangements from Tee Lopes.

This is pure speculation on my part, but it almost seems like they straight up ran out of time.

Perhaps Jun wanted more of his tracks to get full arrangements from Tee, or for Tee to contribute more songs, but things were down to the wire and they chose to leave in some of the raw Sonic 4 style demos. The soundtrack being crunched out in a matter of months at the end of development would certainly explain why Speed Jungle had to be demoed without its music a mere four months ago. It'd also explain why a game that's only a few hours long needs NINETEEN composers listed in the credits. And also the fact that multiple zones just have completely different, unrelated music by different artists across their acts. Did they need multiple artists working on different acts simultaneously, completely independent from each other with no time to cross reference each others' work, due to extreme time constraints? I'd buy it.

Ah well. It's not the end of the world. I've heard worse Sonic music. But I'll always think of what could have been...

At least the final battle with Eggman at the end of Story Mode has a pretty kickass boss theme, which ALMOST makes up for how bad most of the preceding boss music is (and the fact that that very difficult fight doesn't have a checkpoint between phases and took me like an hour to beat lmao). It even seems like it might be written by longtime Phantasy Star Online composer and recurring Sonic contributor Hideaki Kobayashi. That's the guy who wrote NONAGRESSION!!!!!!!

The postgame

Speaking of beating Eggman! It turns out Superstars has a good deal of postgame content, as merely beating the last zone with all the Chaos Emeralds doesn't take you to the true final boss. In order to do that, you'll need to do something else.

Before we hit the big spoiler warning, I'm going to give any future players who are still reading a warning. If you value your sanity... don't force yourself to do all the postgame stuff. Don't make the mistakes I did. It's not worth it, and it may very well knock your personal score for the game down a couple points.

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

SPOILERS FOR THE STORY, UNLOCKABLES, AND THE POSTGAME BELOW THIS POINT

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED

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

The bonus scenario

Sonic Superstars has a big surprise in store for anyone who beats the main story. For the first time since... what, Silver? In 2006? We finally have a brand new playable character in a new Sonic platformer! (I wouldn't count the player avatar in Forces as a full-fledged New Character.) Yes, after the credits roll, you unlock Trip as the super-secret fifth playable character. I was really excited to see this. Trip is cute, even if her masked appearance from early in the game is perhaps a more unique design than a Sonic-ified lizard girl who can only vaguely look like a real sungazer lizard. She IS the first new Sonic character Ohshima has designed since the '90s, though, so she gets points for that - and she gets even more points for literally turning into a dragon when she goes Super. We love a girl who can turn into a dragon, don't we folks? And her playstyle is fun, too, with a double jump and the ability to roll along walls and ceilings.

But Trip isn't just playable. Like Knuckles before her, she gets an entire alternate story mode of her own, which somewhat remixes the level layouts, generally makes things more challenging, and swaps out Eggman for Egg Robo. I was so excited to see this! It really felt like the game had so much more in store for me than I'd anticipated.

...Then I spent probably around three hours attempting to beat the new final battle with Fang at the end of Trip's Story. And it made me regret doing Trip's Story at all.

Once you learn the patterns, a lot of them are actually piss easy. But the difficulty comes down to a few misguided factors:

The fight is LOOOONG. On a successful attempt the whole thing will probably take the average player about, like... seven or eight minutes? Maybe longer? This is where I really started to get pissed at the game for making me wait through these stupid attack patterns before I could attempt to hit the boss once.

The fight is divided between two phases, one with Fang in a vehicle and another with him in a giant robot, with no checkpoint between them. Dying to one of Fang's bullshit attacks on the second phase means having to redo the ~5 minute first phase all over again. And, worst of all...

Fang has multiple projectile attacks that are guaranteed instant kills, even if you have rings.

Also there's a stupid desperation headbutt attack that can really easily catch you off guard and kill you, but I only got that far in the fight once.

It's the instant kills that got me. If those fucking immobilizing net attacks just made you drop your rings, or you could at least wiggle out of them by mashing buttons (EDIT: apparently you CAN do this but you literally have to button mash so rapidly that it's a crapshoot whether or not you'll physically be able to do it), it would have been totally doable! Kinda fun, even! Slow, but pretty cool in terms of spectacle. But nope! Three hours! Three hours on this! This is, without a doubt, the hardest boss I have ever faced in any Sonic game, period, and one of the hardest bosses I've ever seen in ANY game. All because of one attack pattern where making a tiny mistake means starting over.

The glitches didn't help, either. Something about the way the circular boss arena was set up in both stories' final battles seems to make the floor intangible sometimes for non-player objects. Occasionally my dropped rings, enemies I was supposed to knock towards Fang, or one of Fang's insta-kill projectiles would just fall through the floor randomly. This definitely wasn't my main problem, but it helped drive home the idea that this fight just wasn't worth my time.

After three hours of attempts, I gave up. I just went and looked up the ending of Trip's story, as well as the contents of the Final Story, on YouTube. Turns out I made the right call, because boy, that true final boss looks like dogshit. It's just a very dull fight against a big generic cartoon dragon. Apparently this is the thing Eggman was looking for. It appears and is defeated with little fanfare. I think I liked it better when I assumed the scary dragon being foreshadowed was just Super Trip.

...Also, hey, what's up with The End being very conspicuously visible in the background of the last zone?? I know it's just a cheeky cameo, but, like... isn't it supposed to be sealed away in Cyber Space right now? Should I be taking this literally? Does this have lore implications? This is one hell of a way to remind people that the timeline's been reunified, I guess

Closing thoughts

I really hate to part ways with Superstars on a sour note like this, because like I said up top, I mostly enjoyed my time with it! It's really just a small handful of particularly frustrating bosses and the inconsistent soundtrack that drag it down. Other than that, it's solid as a rock. Maybe wait for sales if you're not dying to play it, but it's definitely worth playing for any Sonic fan. Just... skip the true ending. I would have stepped away MUCH happier with this game if I'd done that.

I wanna try to end this on a more positive note but I'm tired, so, uhhhh... look, you can unlock a Metal Nights skin for your Battle Mode bot!!

Anyway back to jamming to about half the soundtrack on loop while pretending the other half doesn't exist, and looking forward to the continued Fang Renaissance with his upcoming IDW miniseries

#tkp post #other media

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mstormcloud · 3 months

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More fankids!! Both because they are genuinely fun to make and give lore to but also because I made Mirai and then wanted to make sure she had friends!

Aster is designed by my friend Duetland!! (The last art is by them!!) They aren’t on tumblr but you can find him on Instagram @duetland :)

Lore for each of them under the cut! (LONG POST WARNING!!!!)

Gold and Aster:

Shadow and Sonics kids. They’re twins (with Aster being older). Both were babysat by Tails a lot and ended up picking up a lot of stuff from him as well as their parents. Gold became more responsible and significantly more polite (far more than either of his parents lmao) meanwhile Aster became interested in robotics. Specifically those related to space like rockets or planet rovers.

When the two were born there was immediate concern about their power imbalance. Aster was born with no powers at all, meanwhile Gold’s chaos energy was so high Shadow feared he would burn himself up unless something was done. Due to them being twins, it essentially ended up where instead of two moderately powerful hedgehogs - Gold got enough power for two while Aster has none. This leads Aster to resent Gold, less because she actually wants superpowers but more because Sonic and Shadow are always fussing over Gold (to make sure his powers aren’t harming him) and she feels like her parents don’t care for her. Causing her to push them out even more. She listens to Shadow more than Sonic, but they don’t end up talking through all this properly until Espio gets involved since unlike Sonic and Shadow who had powers all their lives - Espio had to teach himself his abilities and is able to empathize with Aster more.

3. Rhine

Rouge and Knuckles’ child. I’ve thought about her way less WHOOPS but!! Despite not being an echidna he looks up to his father a lot and promises to be the best guardian of the master emerald he can possibly be. Has a habit of just picking up shiny things like a magpie and will turn them into jewelry. Is blunt and gullible like her father but likes thinking things through before she moves. Uses the shovel claws more as weapons than actual shovels - he’s a bit of a neat freak.

Mirai and Gummy:

Mirais story is on my previous post! Not much has been added since then other than that I’ve decided she’s a bit of a troublemaker and very energetic, sarcastic, silly and kinda stupid. As for Gummy he’s about 7 years younger than Mirai, and I haven’t quite figured out what he’d be interested in yet haha

Eli and Anchor:

These two are half siblings! Eli’s parents are Amy and Metal. While investigating the ruins of a disaster, Amy and Metal find a child who who had been incredibly injured. They happen to be closer to Eggmans new hideout (where he has retired and is just kinda pouting by himself forever) than anywhere else - the two break in and force Eggman to help them save the child. Since the current Metal is Amy’s size, there were several smaller models for when he was “younger” - Eggman uses one of these scrapped smaller Metals to give the child cybernetic parts and saves their life. Amy and Metal then take the child back to their house and raise it as their own, with Eggman forcing them to bring Eli over frequently so he can see his grandchild.

Anchor is the child of Blaze and Amy! I’m just letting Amy be poly I think she has a lot of love in her heart and now she has two wifes. Anchor lives the Sol kingdom, and takes after her aunt Marine quite a bit with her love for adventure and especially sailing! When she was young, much like Blaze, she was brought before the Sol emeralds and blessed with a power. I feel like she’d be able to control / harness winds rather than fire though - to help with her sailing.

If you read all of this - thanks!! You didn’t have to but it was very nice of you!

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idyllcy · 2 months

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not every moment, but every day

word count: 7k

summary: you bloom a fairy with dandelion hair and peridot eyes

Pixie dust comes in small quantities at once.

You would argue for more, but there isn't much left for the common folk after the royals take everything for themselves. You work with what you can to fix what you can, and people tend to stay away from the sketchier areas of the city— your shop included. It's nice to be able to make just enough profit to live. Perhaps it was a stroke of luck, perhaps it was fate, but when you fix small things for curious children on the street for a flower or cookie, everything is worth it.

You do not care for bigger matters, and you do not care for an excess of anything.

To live in moderation... is sufficient.

You spend your day dealing with plants and machinery, making a living off of what you can, a little bit of this and a little bit of that keeping your day to day amusing. To live is to be happy, you find. You cannot be happy until you truly live. Perhaps two sides of the same coin? You do not find that you care all that much. You are content with what you have, white lilies blooming outside on your flowerbed, magic tinkering with older toys that are out of production, the slow life of the slums sliding by in your day to day life. You are content with where you are, and you shall continue living like this until you are old and wrinkly and can no longer move. Then, you shall return to the dirt your precious lilies adore so much.

You fix the toy in the child's hand while at the market, lips curled into a sweet smile as he beams.

"Have you brought something as payment?"

"This!" The child, surprisingly, holds up a potted white lily, bulb slightly fuller than the ones you regularly tend to, and you take it from him. "I saw the lilies outside of your place, and my older brother had this lying around in his room, so I thought I'd give it to you."

You blink, raising a brow in amusement, laughing. "Will he be mad you gave it away?"

"He was doing a terrible job at raising it, so I would say it's better with you." The kid shrugs. "Don't tell him, though. He's been missing for a while..."

"Ah." You mumble. It wasn't uncommon for the men in the slums to go missing. It was even more common for women to disappear overnight. The slave trade was especially prominent in the slums. One wrong move could result in a whole family disappearing overnight. You wonder if that was what happened to the old owner of the store. Well, it doesn't matter all that much. It's thanks to their disappearance that you managed to find a place to stay in the slums rather than the capital. Though... as you put the plant down on the first floor, sprinkling the fairy dust onto the flower with some water, and you watch as the plant shudders, reacting to it.

"You don't like it?" You tilt your head. Pause. Why is the plant reacting to the fairy dust so visibly.

The flower doesn't respond, so you set it by the window, shutting the blinds to the first floor as you head upstairs to fall asleep.

Maybe you're just tired.

You are not.

You wake up the next morning and feed your flowers, pausing when you notice the new flower is even bigger, and you tilt your head, sprinkling more pixie dust onto it as it reacts again, and you blink at it again, sighing. It is not your problem. You don't care. Not enough, at least. You water the flower, finish with the rest, and go back to your day to day routine. You are content with this life. You are happy with fixing old toys and watering the leftover lilies in the abandoned residence you took over, and that is all you will be doing. There will be nothing else to break your day to day schedule, not even some sentient flower that hisses at you each time you feed it fairy dust. At least the other flowers don't react.

The addition of the new plant is interesting to you. The child who gave it to you eventually is taken away by the slave traders— something that you have found no longer matters to you. They will eventually end up back in your household anyway. At the very least, you hope the child reunites with his brother. Instead, the young girl staying with the two of them bids you goodbye as she is adopted away, and you stare at the noble family that has adopted her. May she find peace, you whisper to yourself. The other children start visiting less, and you assume it is because your mentor will soon be making his return and visiting.

So, you water the new plant, ditching the regular pixie dust and settling for the pink one instead, finding that your particularly picky unbloomed flower prefers it to the regular one. Picky asshole. Yet, you whistle and look the other way as you water it, making rounds down to the orphanages for broken toys and replace them with fixed ones, the children treating you to a portion of their meals, making you laugh. You tell them you do not need their food, handing them each their own treat instead, leaving early and returning home, your continuously growing flower and garden of white lilies greeting you. It is a sight that you are fond of.

It falls into a pattern until it suddenly does not.

Your mentor visit first, observing the flowers and the particularly large one on your windowsill but not mentioning anything, as mysterious as he always has been. He leaves you with some more pixie dust and enough coins to survive, and he is gone with the wind again. You find that you will never quite understand the lives of nobles despite being of their blood yourself. You will never understand why there is a hunger for more and more until they have nothing left, and why they would crave so much. Though, it does not bother you. You are content with your life and the repetition you have brought into your schedule.

You are content with it until it is broken.

You wake up one morning to a blossomed lily and a small fairy sitting by your windowsill and staring at the white lilies, and you do a double take.

Clean daffodil hair and peridot eyes. Glass butterfly wings with a rainbow reflection. Small in stature yet a charming gaze. You peer down at your little visitor and then at the lily that has finally bloomed, and you reach for a small peridot in your pocket, tilting your head as you hold it out to him as an offering. He cranes his neck to the side, not accepting your stone, and you rummage for another one. It is not uncommon for you to meet fairies, and most require a sort of greeting gift, so you find it surprising that a fairy would not take a stone that matches their eyes. You find an opal instead, holding it out for the fairy as he inspects it and accepts the gift, flying right before your eyes to inspect you.

"Hi?" You lean slightly back as he flutters forward.

He blinks twice.

"Ah, you're the nonverbal kind." You hum, taking a step back as you bow lightly. "Were you stuck in the flower?"

The fairy nods.

"Will you be staying?"

He nods again.

"Then I look forward to making your acquaintance." You bow again.

The sound of gentle wind chimes indicate the fairy's mutual agreement.

You forget some days this is the same asshole who shuddered at regular pixie dust. He helps around the place, sprinkling his own pixie dust onto the white lilies and finding fallen screws on the ground for you, almost always holding his hand out for a small treat after, something you've stocked up on. You find it strange that he does not feed on nectar the same way the other fairies do, but you don't complain when he helps around the house. He knows every nook and cranny as though he had been born for the place, and you find that he is equally helpful. He's giving you a lot less attitude now. Perhaps the hardest part was simply helping him bloom.

He sits by you when you have your dinner, popping the bubbles that manage to flutter into the air when you do the dishes, sitting by your bedside and helping you blow out the candles when it is time for you to rest. Sometimes, you find that he manages to open the windows for you in the morning. You wonder just how much strength a fairy can have, but you refuse to question it. Ignorance is bliss to a certain degree, and you are plenty content with knowing barely anything about your small friend. If he does not reveal it, then you can live without knowing.

You bring the fairy with you out to the market after a handful of weeks, letting the small thing pick out any new plants to add to his collection (which you find strange considering he can only help sprinkle pixie dust), but he picks out succulents instead, flowers that require minimal water. You find that he's still quite picky, having you only water the plants a certain amount each day, and you make him a small watering can of his own so he can do whatever he wills with it. (It does not help. He still pulls on your sleeve to have you water the plants instead of him. Annoying.) Though, as annoying as you find it at times, he is an overall pleasant person to have around.

You learn that he's particularly inclined for treats, always asking for a bite of your food, even if it means sticking one of his fingers into your bowl and licking it. He does not do well with spice, so you put aside a small bowl for him before you add anything, and he digests it while you continue cooking, flavors mixed into your food. He prefers sugar, so you make sure to triple lock the sugar jar, finding that it's always opened in the morning anyway (seriously. where is he getting the strength) and you try to scold him, but you can't resist the way he pouts at you, closing your eyes as you groan and continue to scold him. Curse him and his squishy cheeks.

"Really!" You sigh. "Stop breaking into the sugar jar!"

The fairy pouts at you, looking down and kicking dejectedly.

"Seriously. You're going to pass away from an overconsumption. How are you not going to eat nectar and only consume candy and then try to have even more?!"

The sound of wind indicates his annoyance.

"No."

He looks up at you from the table, folding his arms.

"Still no. I don't want you to pass away. How does a fairy diet even work?"

The fairy points at the sugar jar.

"No." You point at him. "No more."

You swear you hear him 'hmph' at you.

You find that you still don't know the fairy's name, and you no longer remember if it was because their names held power or this particular fairy was just out to make you struggle as much as you can to communicate with him. Maybe he just enjoys watching you not look him in the eye when he's being scolded. He's annoying (you tell yourself).

Though, when the children start visiting again, you find that your small friend sits on your head or shoulder, peering down curiously at the children who trade you old toys for fixed ones, eyes big as they ask who the small creature on your shoulder is. When you tell them it's a fairy, they almost always ask if they can touch him. The creature hides further behind you when they ask, and you shake your head no. You tell them another time, but knowing the fairy, he's never going to let them touch him. You find that not even you are allowed to touch the small thing and that he flies away almost always, wings tinted a peachy pink as you imitate the pout he likes giving you.

You wonder if he just hates you.

Though, you find that it's only with you. After a while, he warms up to the children, going as far as to flying above them and letting the gentler ones hold him, and you scoff. Maybe he just hates you. You try to grab him when one of the kids reach for his wings, and he flinches away from you, wings turning pink again. You gape at him in offense, letting him suffer as the child brushes over his wings, squeaks squeezing past his lips as he struggles to get back to you with a panicked look on his face.

"Will you let me touch you?" You hold your hand out, freeing his wings from the sticky hands, and the fairy sits in your hair with a whine, terrified of the children he had wanted to play with.

"Aw." The boy frowns. "Does he not like me?"

"Try not to touch his wings next time." You hum, handing the fixed toy to him. "How are the others?"

"The mister is letting us roam again since the master is out of the land again." The boy hands you a small bag. "I stole that from the headmaster's room."

You blink as you open it, pausing at the blue pixie dust that sparkles in the bag. "Blue pixie dust? You'll get whipped if he finds out."

"It's fine. They found a noble family to adopt me into." The boy blinks. "Will you let me write you letters?"

"Of course." You hum. "If anything arises—"

"I will let the master know." He hums. "Will I see you again, then?"

"No promises." You hum. "It would be hard to make promises."

The boy nods. "Bye bye, mister fairy!"

The creature in your hair waves goodbye, wind chimes sounding.

You lost another one. When winter falls, the children stop visiting altogether, and you watch as your lilies wilt and fall asleep for the time, watching as your fairy shivers and sticks close to your skin, even while you cook, wings sparkling on the back of your neck as you pour him a small bowl of soup to enjoy and maybe warm up with— only to fail. He crawls into your sleeve with a frown, peeking his head out as you tap his forehead twice.

"Cold?"

He nods.

"Can't afford heating, sorry—"

You hear him kick in your sleeve in complaint, but you don't address it.

And you fall into a steady day to day rhythm again. You wake up, feed two mouths (one tiny one normal) and sit in your workshop fiddling with the toys, holding up the new batch of gems that your master has sent you to the light for inspection. You do not understand it, but you do it anyway, leaving out a smaller one for the fairy to play with. You wonder if you still need to buy his favor in order to be able to touch him. Besides, would it make sense? Perhaps your little guest is waiting for spring to arrive since he had bloomed during summer. Perhaps he will leave then.

He does not.

When spring arrives, you wake up to a naked man in your bed and scream. You fall off your bed with widened eyes, hands flying to your chest to check if you still have clothes on, reaching for the knife on your nightstand as you stare at the fairy.

"I am... safe." He nods slowly, holding both of his hands up.

"How did you get in?!" You shake slightly.

He tilts his head, and you stop when you hear the wind chime.

No. No fucking way.

He smiles.

ASSHOLE. ITS THE FAIRY.

"Oh, hell no." You throw the knife to the side and throw a pillow at him. "How did you grow. Is this a sign? Is it because it's spring? You fairies better not have mating seasons. I'm kicking you out if you do."

He blinks at you, eyes wide, innocently.

"Yes or no?"

He shakes his head.

You relax only then, groaning as the birds chirp outside of the open window. You can worry about groceries later, but for the time being... your eyes trail to the man's abdomen, falling lower and lower until you realize that you definitely need to go out today because other than the fact that his fairy clothes have sized up slightly, the skirt made of leaves definitely does not help him cover anything. You'd have to keep your windows closed for the day. Some poor rich woman might catch the way his body is built and ask to buy him from you or something. The thought alone makes you shudder.

"Stay put." You point at him and then at the bed, and you shut the windows, close the blinds, light a candle, and lock him in your bedroom. Well, it could be worse. You buy what you can for him, a pair of shoes, some semblance of clothing (two sets so he has something to change into) and some more food because... you're feeding two mouthes now. Seriously. You better get paid soon because if that stupid duke of the land doesn't come back. Well, calling your mentor would be a little... rude. The land is his in name yours in legality. Though, considering the two of you are both immortal, it matters very little in reality. As long as the land is prosperous, you do not care.

Your mother died of heartbreak, your father died of mortality, leaving you with your mother's curse of immortality.

You don't know what to make of it, and you no longer care for it.

You return home with the clothes, handing them to the man (fairy? human? creature? humanoid?) to change into, to which he obeys, turning around to change. You wonder if he'll be good at anything or if he's just going to cause problems around like he did when he was a fairy well, cause problems is an overstatement. You wonder if he's going to be a picky eater again. Perhaps he'll lounge around— you're practically praying for him to keep his household habits from when he was a fairy now. Maybe you will have some strange stroke of luck.

And strange stroke of luck you have— the man helps around the house, waking before you, watering your lilies and making breakfast, sitting at the floor of your bed, head tilted as he bats his lashes at you when you wake up, scaring you half the time and worrying you the other. You find it oddly domestic of him. A man whom you do not know the name of, a fairy who bloomed from the flower stolen by a young boy, some... dude who you've just been living with. You really wonder if he has a name, but from the looks of it, he doesn't seem to be able to... speak? You wonder if he could write, but he hasn't tried communicating to you that way either. Instead, he pulls on your sleeve and gives you the most innocent bat of his lashes, and seems to telepathically tell you what he needs. You wonder if you just picked up on his body language from when he was a fairy with how you seem to know everything he needs or wants.

You still choose to ignore him when he blinks at your with stars in his eyes for more candy while shopping for food. He may come off as perfect to many, but you find that the vast majority of it comes from a facade. You squint your eyes at him, pointing at him as one would with a disobedient puppy. "No," you tell him, and he puffs his cheeks and pouts at you (something that hasn't changed from when he was a fairy) and continue following after you as you bargain over the food. He remains with a slight frown for the rest of the day, and he won't feel better until after sleep. You pick up on that equally quickly. You find that he just likes pretending to be perfect— something you are visibly not. You don't know how many times you've accidentally broken a plate when he crept up on you as a fairy.

Yet, you get used to him too, finding that it's nice to have a random dude who does the chores and cooks around, and you quickly find out why the nobles like slouching around and shopping all day. It's the boredom. So, you kick the guy out of cleaning the place and watering the flowers, and the poor man stares at you like a kicked puppy— as if he's done something wrong for trying to pamper you. You try and explain that it's because you need to do something around the cottage or else you'll end up bored out of your mind and insane. He doesn't get it, but he lets you water the flowers at the very least. You also get to do the grocery shopping still. He may not be picky anymore, but you find that he seems to add things you do not even remember buying into your food.

"No red peppers." You point at him. "No."

He blinks at you.

Some days, you really want to strangle him for weaponizing his incompetence. Though, as you chide him for trying to sneak peppers into your basket, you find that he might just really like eating peppers. No. There was no way. This was the same fairy who was huffing when you added just a bit of wasabi into your food. You squint at him, and he puts it back, smiling apologetically to the sweet old woman who gushes over his face. You wonder how far that face card could get him. You wonder if you could get the approval of your mentor... he would probably just kick him out, though. The thought almost makes you laugh.

Though, when the man is shoved a bouquet of flowers into his arms by some passerby girl, you can only pull your lips up in amusement. He blinks in confusion as the girl runs back to her friends, and he takes a step back, hiding behind you (still visible, much different from when he was a fairy), and you stifle laugh. He takes your hand quietly, bottom lip jutted slightly out the whole walk back, staring at the flowers and then at you, holding them out for you to take. "for me?"

He nods.

You tell him to find a nice vase to set the flowers in while you prep dinner. He listens, cutting the stems of the flower and pouting. You do not know what he is thinking. He's too vague— and his expression tells you that he's annoyed, but you really cannot tell over what. He stays slightly dejected for the whole night through, sitting by your bed with a frown on his face, and it almost makes you feel bad. Almost. You ask him what can make him feel better, and you watch as he reaches for your hand, staring at you the whole time for any discomfort. You blink as he rests his head on the edge of your bed, content with just holding your hand for the time being... where did he get so sly?

The answer to your question is that he's always been sly.

You crack open your door for your mentor to enter as he visits, handing you the funds for the year, showing you the files and funds and papers and scrolls and documents and... the list goes on. You locked the fairy in your room— you don't know what your mentor would do if he were to find out you were living with a man. You're pretty sure he would get kicked out. So, you try to rush your mentor out as quickly as possible, sighing when he finally gets up and ready to leave, and lo and behold— the fairy decides to make his descent down the stairs.

"I just heard footsteps."

"You must be mishearing."

"I'm afraid not."

You watch as your roommate (roommate?) steps up to your mentor, nodding as they shake hands.

"Pleasure to meet you. Your name?"

You open your mouth to make one up on the spot, and you physically pause when the man speaks.

"Don't worry about it." He smiles all friendly (with an underlying passive aggressiveness that only one might have when meeting someone they dislike) shaking his hand. "You are?"

"I am... their mentor." He nods. "So the two of you are?"

"—"

You cut him off. "Roommates! I picked him up off the street."

"You picked a random man off the streets?" Your mentor raises a brow. "Couldn't he have stayed somewhere else other than your place?"

"Well..." You lower your voice and pull your lips to his ear. "He's kinda... hot."

"He looks like a pathetic mess." Your mentor stares right into your 'roommate's' eyes, and he stares back, uncanny smile on his face. "Call me if you need me."

"You'll let him stay?!"

"I fear that if I do not let you have your way, you will simply force me out of the territory." He shrugs. "Clear the attic for him. Do not let him stay in your room, understand?"

You mock a salute at him as he shuts the door with a snap of his hands. The man is expecting you to beam at him, but as soon as you turn around, you tilt your head to the side, jabbing your finger into his chest as you press him against the table.

"So. You've known how to speak this whole time, hm? You've just been watching me read your expressions to see what you were feeling when you could have spoken the whole time? Is that how you pay your precious gardener back?"

"I really—"

Holy fuck his voice sounds like heaven.

"No." You hold your hand up to silence him, grumbling as you take a step back. "You're cooking dinner tonight and I am eating it in my room withoutyou because you've been a rude ass and deceiving me this whole time."

You watch as his expression falls. "I—"

"If you cook good enough I might forgive you."

He cooks. You find dinner set outside your door with a knock after he finishes, and you catch him peeking at you from the bottom of the stairs as you bring it into your room. You really wonder just why this fairy is so obsessed with you, but when you get a spoonful of his soup you don't mind, really. The man was good at cooking. What else could you say? You leave the finished dish outside, bringing it down to do the dishes, and you watch as he lights up from the dinner table.

"Was it good?"

"You're forgiven." You grumble, physically holding yourself back from melting over his voice. "But only if you tell me just why the hell you didn't tell me you could speak. Also, what the hell is your name?!"

He fiddles with his fingers, blinking at you. "I'm Alkaid... and I was worried you'd be creeped out by my voice if you just woke up one day and your fairy companion was both human-sized and could speak."

You blink at him wordlessly. "That's it? Wait— that came out rude. I would not think that, but I'm glad we're over that hurdle now. Can I get an omelette for breakfast tomorrow? I can get the eggs."

"I'll get the eggs." He smiles. "No red peppers?"

You shake your head.

"Okay." And you watch as the moon glistens behind him.

Alkaid is a sweetheart. Well, he had been one, but you find that he's especially gentler now, communicating with you over simple things, and knocking on your door in the morning before waking you up. You wonder if the language put a barrier between the two of you, but you don't find it in yourself to ask— especially not when he seems to know your habits just as you know his. He's always one step ahead of you. Whether that be preparing your clothes in advance or knowing what foods you're craving, he seems to know everything. You find it a little off putting at times, but you also find that it's lovely to be known. You wonder how many girls would kill to be in your position at the moment.

"Shall we head to the market tomorrow?" He tilts his head at you. "We are almost out of food."

"Already?" You blink at him. Surely he has some other intention.

"They are hosting a festival tomorrow... as well." He smiles. "Let us go together."

"Alright."

Ah. That was what it was.

You find that Alkaid has been buying clothes behind your back, the man in matching clothes with you as you descend the stairs and take his hand, holding his hand as he takes you through the stalls. He stops for candied strawberries and street style foods, taking it from you if you dislike it. He eats everything, and you refrain for ordering anything spicy in result of that. Your fairy does not like it, and you fear that you will not like it, so you settle for nothing too hot. Though, you're sure that the girls who have been peering at Alkaid the whole night would argue that you are settling for something very hot. Well, settle would be the wrong word. Is it really settling if you aren't dating?

You wonder what Alkaid makes of the whole situation.

"Is it good?" He tilts his head, opening his mouth as you give him a bite.

"It is." You nod, tilting your head back at him.

"I agree." He hums. "Shall I try to replicate this at home?"

"You're that skilled of a cook?" You raise a brow at him.

"Always." He smiles, tilting his head. "Yes?"

"...as long as you don't burn the kitchen down." You mumble.

Alkaid squeezes your hand in affirmation. You spend the rest of the night with your fingers laced between his, palm pressed flush against his, lips curled into an unconsciously sweet smile as the two of you watch the fireworks. He rests his head on your shoulder, eyes glued to the stars as he tells you the tales behind them. You listen, following his hand as you point with him, at some point the fireworks stopping and the stars being more visible to the two of you. You do not catch him staring at you, too focused on the way his voice carries through the air, and the two of you stay that way until the early hours of the morning, moving from standing on pavement to sitting on bricks, moving from sitting on bricks to laying on grass, hands never let go of.

It is beautiful, you think. He is beautiful, to you.

You wonder what you are to Alkaid. It is less of a haunting feeling and more of an innocent curiosity. Who are you to this fairy that he would willingly stay by your side and please you? Is he this way with everyone? You wonder if he would have been the same with someone else. You blink at him from the table, tilting your head as he places the bowl before you.

"What is wrong?"

You blink at him slowly. "I wonder what we are."

"You are my companion, are you not?"

(The word companion stings, but you do not know why.)

"I understand." You nod slowly.

"Why so?"

"I was curious." You smile. "I will start in the workshop again next week."

"Was there a need?"

"I am making the fireworks for the summer festival." You pause when he blinks at you. "The flowers in the sky — I am creating the ones for the summer festival."

He nods. "Is it dangerous?"

"As long as no fire gets close to it. Though, I will need to pay my mentor a visit for some more pixie dust. Perhaps I will—"

"I can provide." Alkaid swallows slowly, hand flying to cover yours on the table as you blink at him. "I will... I can provide."

"You have a source?"

"No. My wings drop pixie dust when I am small." He pauses. "How much do you need?"

"I will let you know once I get started." You smile. "Are you worried I will not come back?"

Alkaid does not answer you.

It is more than that — to him. He fears something more— that whatever force had created him and cursed him to become who he is would get its hands on you, force you to become something that he is. He wonders, and he fears, and so many more things because he would not know what to do if you are to become like him. He must protect you, perhaps. But how is he to balance protection with the ability to let you do as you will? He wonders. He wonders often.

You blink at Alkaid as he crouched by your bed, blinking your drowsiness away.

"Good morning." He smiles, and you watch as the sun peeks out from behind the curtains to light up his hair.

"Good morning." You smile back, chest warm.

Alkaid enjoys your presence more than anything— he finds. You are pretty and delicate, fingers working fast on fixing toys and making fireworks, gunpowder and pixie dust slid into the fireworks gently and carefully, eyes glued to the mechanics of everything as Alkaid cleans up your place. You are pretty, pretty like the lilies in your flowerbed, pretty like the clouds in the sky that the sun plays peekaboo with. You are pretty, and his heart knows it well, skipping a beat as you move, racing as you smile at him. The sun is nothing without its clouds. He wants to pry your fingers from your embarrassed face the same way the sun does to its clouds to catch a glimpse of you.

You are a star.

"Is something on my face?" You tilt your head, and he reaches over, wiping the smudge of pixie dust on your cheek. He watches, eyes fond as you close one eye out of reflex, smiling.

"Not anymore, starlight."

Alkaid sleeps later than you. He shuts your door behind him when he finishes making sure you're rested, and he sits in the attic, pushing the window open as the night breeze rustles his hair. He wonders sometimes if you had ever wished on a star. It would have been sweet, but he supposes it's not really something he should concern himself with. He will outlive you, and he will be alone without someone again. He wonders how much longer he will have to live before you are gone. Perhaps he will name a star after you. At the very least, he would be granted such. Perhaps he should search for your soul again since you had been so kind as to bloom him. Then, he will stay with you until it is his time to pass.

He wonders if you the two of you live like this in another life.

Though, he needs his rest too, so he shuts the window, eyes closing as he falls asleep in the warmth of his bed, pretending you are there with him.

You wonder some days if Alkaid wants to explore. Fairies are naturally free creatures, and you find it surprising that he has managed to stay so close to you for such a long time. Perhaps there is something of his that you are still holding on to. Perhaps you should ask him after the fireworks. Perhaps you are holding him back from being who he really is. So, as he shuts the door behind him after you pretend to sleep, you stare at the wood for a little too long, pondering if he would have been free in another universe. You are just weak, you find.

You don't attend the summer festival, settling for sitting out on the roof with Alkaid instead, blinking at the summer shower and the way the rockets still splatter in the sky, quieter than usual because of the rain. You wonder if you were tasked with making them because yours were resistant to the water. Alkaid hands you a sandwich from the picnic basket he had prepared, and the two of you watch from the covered patio.

"Alkaid." You hum.

"Yes?"

"Do you long to be free?"

Alkaid stares at you, closing his eyes as he shakes his head. "I am happy where I am."

You stare at him, heart churning uncomfortably in your chest as he lies to you.

"I am sorry." He senses the uncomfortableness you radiate immediately.

"No." You shake your head. "I just assumed that we were close. It is my fault."

"It is not." Alkaid reaches over for your hand as you pull it back. "star—"

"It's fine." You smile at him. "I am sorry."

"No." He tries to fix it, heart shaking in his chest, ears ringing as he tries to explain, chain of jumbled words breaking past his lips as it seems to make it worse, reaching for you again as you take a step back, and he watches as the stars in the night seem to reveal themselves after the rain clears, storm in his chest from hurting you, panic flushed through his system as the door to his room separates the two of you, his heart crumbling in his chest. Perhaps you are right.

"I... am planning on travelling soon." Alkaid smiles almost apologetically, bitterness visible on his face as you slow in your eating.

"When will that be?"

"Perhaps in a week or so." He nods. "Do take care of yourself while I am gone."

You nod.

The house is emptier without Alkaid around. You send him off from your door, handing him a safety device that you are sure he will not need, sending him off with good wishes despite the rift between the two of you. You do not know if you will see him again. You wonder if you ever will. Though, that is not your problem. It was a good time to visit everyone that had been sold to the slave market and bought again. You have had enough time playing around. It is time you return to where you are supposed to be.

You leave an empty home, white lilies wilted on the streets.

You do not return.

You busy yourself with the affairs of the land, returning Cael to his role as an aide, thanking him for taking over during the years you wanted to rest, and the two of you work for the land, your age stuck in time, Cael's age frozen next to you. You wonder if anyone questions how you have lived for so long, but you do not care. The immortals have been in power for longer than you can remember, and your father had been the exception to your noble bloodline, and it made you sick. Your mother did of heartbreak. You understand, but you find that you are not as weak as your mother was— weak is the wrong word, you find. You are not as in love as your mother was. Perhaps you had been foolish to think that you had been in love.

"Stop being a drag." Your mentor sighs, rolling his eyes as he slides you an invitation. "It's the century masquerade."

"I am not a century..." You pause. "Wow. I'm old as fuck."

"Language."

You stare at the invitation, blinking slowly.

"If you're still stuck over that roommate of yours," The man sighs. "Perhaps he will be there as well. Fairies are invited."

"Do they locate us by blood?"

"Only those who are over a century old are able to access the royal palace. You will see him again."

"How do you know that? I left him."

"He left you first."

You can't help the groan that breaks past your lips.

Yet, you are dolled up and escorted to the dance anyway, mask slipped on your face as you step foot into the ballroom, the lights too much for your eyes, heart souring at the daffodils on display and green, finding that you had been given a different dress code for some reason, but fitting in, stardust scattered on your golden gown, taking your mentor's hand as the two of you blend into the rest of the crowd, dancing as you are passed around to change partners. You wonder when you will get to stop. Though, everyone who is over a hundred is well energized. You wonder if any of these men and women pass away.

"Lonely?"

You glance at your dance partner. "No."

"You are sure?"

You nod.

"It is a shame." He swings you out of the way of your next partner, humming. "I have missed you, starlight."

You shrink back slightly to look at him, blinking owlishly as you notice the daffodil hair and peridot eyes. He smiles at you, pressing your knuckles to his lips as he smiles at you. You let him pull you off the dance floor to retreat to a balcony, rain thumping gently outside as he offers you a drink, cheeks warm as he smiles slightly over reuniting with you.

You blink slowly at him, head tilted as he opens his mouth to speak.

"I apologize." He swallows, smile bitter. "I lied to you, and I—"

"No." You blink. "It was my fault. I apologize for overreacting."

"No." Alkaid takes a step closer to you. "No. I should not have lied. I was happy with you back then, but I did not wish to hurt you by telling you I thought about exploring. It was my fault. Do forgive me for it."

"But—"

"Accept it." He hums. "May we... start over?"

"I'm... Alkaid." He smiles, bowing.

Your name comes next, and Alkaid presses your knuckles to his lips again, humming.

"May I have the honor of courting you?"

"Yes." You breathe. "Always."

Alkaid turns your hand over to press a small stone into your hand.

An opal.

"Thank you, starlight."

#alkaid x reader #lovebrush chronicles #lovebrush chronicles x reader #reader insert #alkaid mcgrath x reader #alkaid mcgrath #lu chen #lu chen x reader #☾.fics #happy white day (not white day yet)

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