#next in line is animal crossing new horizons

[fivestar-outlaw]

New Horizons (Park Seonghwa) (Ch. 3)

Chapter 3: Scorpions

Pairing: Park Seonghwa x Fem!Reader

Words: 3.5K+

Warning(s): insecurities and discussion of insecurities, angst, someone's rude to MC :( (None of the guys), slight hurt/comfort, dumbdumbs in love but dont realize each others feelings

A/N: Here is chapter 3. I think this one is the second hardest to write (The fourth chapter is kicking my ass rn). I'm not sure how I am feeling about this chapter? I had like three/four different ideas for it. Sooo I did a 'spin the wheel' and went with what it landed on for this lol. I feel like this is the weakest chapter but it has some charm. Regardless, I hope you all enjoy <3

Reader is implied to be living in the US bc uh TIMEZONES ARE FUCKY and i didnt realize how reliant i was on mine (PST) when looking up KST

Summary: Attempting an all-nighter while playing Animal Crossing alongside your bias, you didn't expect your turnip prices to be such a high amount... nor did you expect Park Seonghwa to actually accept your offer to sell his turnips on your island.

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"I can't tell her, Woo." Seonghwa sighed.

Wooyoung nearly ripped out his hair at the very similar phrase he has heard you tell him before. The others all groaned as they lounged around in the recording room, 10 minutes before they needed to start recording and re-recording lines for their last song on the next album.

It was now February, two months since Seonghwa figured out his feelings towards you that night you fell asleep on video call. He immediately told Wooyoung the next day he had been right and ever since then, the younger has been trying to push Hwa into confessing. He even tried assuring the older male that you most likely returned his feelings without giving away you told Wooyoung you developed a crush on Hwa just a few days before Hwa told him.

Woo's mind thought back to his conversation with you a week ago.

"I don't think he likes me like that, Woo. No matter how much you tell me." He heard you say with a dejected tone through the call. He had snuck away on his own during practice, having the choreography down before the others. "I mean, I met him as a fan. I don't want him to think I offered him to sell turnips for this outcome."

"I don't think he assumes any ulterior motives, (Y/N)." He said softly. "He speaks fondly of you."

"And that's another thing. He is Seonghwa. He is the super kind, very lovable, handsome, and talented guy who loves to mimic his villagers, build Legos, and is an all around great person. It's hard not to fall in love with him... and then there is me. The average looking, college student working at the local bookstore. I feel so inadequate-"

"Hey. Don't speak like that about yourself." He scolded, his tone and facial expression serious. "You are amazing. You are beautiful. You've been a great friend and we all deeply appreciate and love you."

"Sorry." You sigh. "I just... I want to believe you, but it's hard, you know?"

"I get it, I do. Just... keep thinking on it, okay?" Wooyoung smiled sadly. He could see the self-doubt was still eating at you and his words didn't fully penetrate the self-conscious wall you built up. He just hoped you'd keep holding out long enough for him to try and push Seonghwa into confessing.

"Okay, why not then?" Yuhno asked, exasperated.

"It's clear she only views me as a friend. And I am fine with that."

"You don't know that for sure, hyung." San offered a kind smile.

"Are you guys sure (Y/N) likes me like that?" Hwa gave them each a pointed look. Everyone tried arguing that it was clear to them you did, though the only one who knew for sure was Wooyoung. "I... I truly come to appreciate her and every time we speak I feel like I am falling further and further for her. She is sweet, funny, gorgeous, and I feel my heart is always about to burst when talking with her..."

"He's a love sick puppy." Yeosang teased, making everyone chuckle. The eldest's face adorned a bright blush but he made no attempt argue against the notion.

"It's adorable seeing you crush so hard on someone, hyung." Mingi cooed.

"Why not try and talk to her now? It should be..." Hongjoong looked at the time, seeing that it was nearly 10am for them. "... about 6pm for her. Try gauging her feelings for you and bring up wanting her to visit next month for her spring break."

"I don't know..." The eldest unlocked his phone and had your contact pulled up. Wooyoung immediately moved spots and sat next to Seonghwa.

"Seonghwa-hyung, just go for it. We are all here cheering you on." Jongho smiled softly and the others nodded in agreement.

"And its not like your confessing now either. We've told you the signs, now watch for them." Wooyoung added. The others decided to join in on the call, hoping to catch anything that gave away you had feelings for their friend.

Seonghwa took in a deep breath before slowly exhaling as he pressed the call button. He felt two large hands on both shoulders pat him and give a firm squeeze as he slowly extended his arm to make sure everyone could be visible to some extent. He felt anxiety building up with each ring, waiting anxiously for you to pick up.

They all smile when you finally pick up. You were sitting at your desk, adding what looked like the finishing touches of your makeup on your face. You looked at the camera with a small smile before you looked down, picking up a tube of lipstick.

"Hello boys. Usually you text me before you start a call. What's going on?" You ask, eyes flickering to the phone again before you focus on your hand mirror.

Seonghwa felt Wooyoung nudge him off camera. "I wanted to check in on you, (Y/N), and they all decided to join me."

"Aw, really?" Your face seemingly brightened at the fact and the eldest could feel Jongho on his left excitedly tap his leg.

"Compliment her, Hwa." Hongjoong hissed into his ear, a toothy grin was on his face as an attempt to mask any suspicion.

"Did one of you say something?"

"O-oh it must of cut out." Seonghwa nervously chuckled. "I said you look amazing. Is there a special occasion going on?"

You got a bit bashful and smiled, though everyone could tell it didn't fully reach your eyes. "I got asked out on a date."

Seonghwa felt like he was punched in the gut.

But his face remained soft with a smile.

"Really? Who is the person?" He asked, his voice steady.

The others eyed him in concern but did their best to mask it while on video.

"His name is Charlie. He is in my English course this semester. We worked on some in-class assignments together a few times before he asked me out today."

"I'm happy to hear. Well, we better get going. We are about get to recording." Hongjoong could pick up some shakiness in Hwa's voice. "Have fun and please periodically message me, just to give me peace of kind on your safety."

"Thank you, Seonghwa, and I will." You gave them a wave goodbye before hanging up the phone.

It was silent in the room. Seonghwa slowly lowered his arm, resting his phone and hands in his laps. The smile he had dropped just as slowly as he took in a deep, trembling breath.

"Hwa, are you okay?" Hongjoong hesitated, placing his hand on his friends shoulder.

"Yes. I'm fine, Joong." He asserted, getting up from the couch.

"Are you sure?" San asked.

Languidly, the eldest turned to face the rest. Their breaths caught in their throats. His eyes were full of tears, his lips were quivering as he still maintained his smile.

"I told you guys I am just a friend to her. And I will be fine with that." He sniffled, one tear rolling down his cheek. He hastily wiped his cheek with the back of his hand. "Please, lets drop it and get work done today."

"Of course, hyung." Yuhno spoke with a comforting voice and stood up, wrapping an arm around the older males shoulders. "Lets grab some waters together." Carefully, the taller of the two led Hwa out of the room. The second the door closed, everyone exhaled.

"Maybe...Maybe we were wrong." Jongho mumbled.

"No we weren't." Wooyoung insisted, pulling out his phone.

"Wooyoung-" San tried to speak but the younger male kept talking.

"We weren't! (Y/N) told me herself she likes Seongwa!" The others watched as he called you, pressing speakerphone.

The phone rung a few times when they hear the line click.

"It's just me, (Y/N)." Woo gave the others a look to be quiet. "What was that? What do you mean date?"

"Exactly that, Youngie." You sighed, your voice sounding as if it lacked any confidence.

"But you like Seonghwa... You love him."

"... I do." The others in the room looked at each other in shock, their eyes wide.

"Then why did you agree to the date, (Y/N)?"

There was a moment of tense silence before you spoke again, starting your sentence off with a sniffle.

"Because I can't logically believe he likes me the same way. He just see's me as a friend and I just feel so inadequate to be on any level with him." You faltered. "I don't have any particular feelings for Charlie but I... I just wanted to try to get over loving Hwa."

"(Y/N)..."

"I need to get going Woo. I'll... message you tomorrow." Before he could say anything more you hung up.

The room was just as tense as before. No one knew what to say. Wooyoung pressed his lips tightly together as he kept his own tears at bay. When they heard the door open everyone else started getting up and getting ready to start recording. Seonghwa looked to have calmed down. Wooyoung refused to look at his oldest hyung until he could calm down.

---

After the video call with Ateez and the call with Wooyoung, you decided to try to to push any negative thought aside and finish getting ready. You put together a outfit that wasn't too fancy but still looked nice. You styled your hair the way you liked most for things like this. Overall, despite the heavy heart, you felt cute. You left your place with an Uber, figuring you may have something alcoholic to drink, with enough time to get to the restaurant on time, sending a message to Seonghwa letting him know you were heading there...

You glanced at the clock on your phone for the umpteenth time. It had been an hour since your uber dropped you off at the restaurant, 50 minutes since you were sat down at a table, and 35 minutes since that sinking feeling in your gut that you had been stood up started kicking in.

You sighed dejectedly as you finished paying for the meal you ordered. You may have been stood up but you weren't going to let that stop you from a nice meal. Luckily your waitress was kind and nobody paid you much mind. You felt that any pity sent your way would make you feel worse.

You slowly walked outside the restaurant, your phone out as you get ready to order another uber, when you heard loud cackling. Your head turned to the left and just a few cars down in the parking lot was Charlie in a car full of people. They were all laughing and looking at you.

It felt like a bucket of ice water was poured over you.

Ignoring them and the button to confirm the uber, you started walking in the direction of your apartment. You needed to get away. You could feel your chest tightening with humiliation and panic.

"Oh come on, (Y/N). It was a joke!" You heard Charlie yell but you just kept walking. You heard the car roar with life and could hear from their rolled down window various jokes directed at you.

They all cackled and decided that was enough teasing. Charlie then nearly squealed his tires as he drove away. The tears you kept at bay finally spilled over. You hiccupped as you glanced down at your phone. It was 8pm for you, which meant it would be around noon for him.

You didn't think, really. You just knew you needed to hear his low toned, comforting voice. You opened your phone and immediately dialed Seonghwa, pressing your cell to your ear as you walked back to your place. You felt pathetic but you knew you needed to speak to someone or else you would be a sobbing mess if you were left to stew.

---

It was lunch time in the canteen area at KQ when Seonghwa heard his phone ring. His brows furrowed when he saw your name on the screen. He finished his last bite and quickly wiped off any possible crumbs on his hands with a napkin.

"Didn't she leave for her date like an hour ago?" Mingi tilted his head, everyone else had a confused look.

Seonghwa pressed the green answer button and raised his phone to his ear.

"(Y/N)?" His voice with smooth and low. "You're calling me so soon-"

"Seonghwa..." He heard your voice trembling, making him freeze. His face must of gave away to the others something was wrong, as they stared at him intently.

"Hold on, (Y/N). Let me go somewhere private." He quickly got up fron his seat and wasted no time getting into the hallway where there were less people. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"I-I got stood up." You sniffled.

"What?"

"I sat there for an hour looking like a fool. And then... And then I went to leave and I saw him outside in his car with his friends." Seonghwa could feel his blood start to boil with anger. "They laughed at me. They made fun of me." He could hear you take in a shuddering breath.

"Where are you now?"

"I'm walking home..."

"How long until you get back?"

"Maybe... Maybe 10 or 15 more minutes?"

"Stay on the phone with okay? I want to make sure you get home safe." He needed to take deep breaths to stay calm. In the corner of his eye he saw the others leave the canteen, though they stayed back, giving him and you some privacy.

"I just don't get what I did wrong to-"

"You did nothing wrong, (Y/N). Don't start blaming yourself for some asshole's behavior." He glanced to his friends, feel a pinch of confidence. "You are a wonderful person. It's his loss."

There was silence for a moment.

"Did I interrupt work?" You asked in a small voice.

"No, I was just finishing lunch. Did you eat?"

"I had something small after I realized he wasn't showing up." Hwa felt some relief when he heard your voice getting steady. "I'll probably have some ice cream when I get home."

"It better not be mint chocolate chip." He joked and smiled when he heard you giggle. "You really did look amazing, by the way. You should send me and the group chat any selfies if you took any. I'm sure the others would like to see the full look."

"Really?" Your voice was meek.

"I would never lie to you... You truly look beautiful. You always do."

"Thank you, Hwa. I really needed to hear that, especially from you." He could hear your voice tremble again.

"Don't start crying because of me, jagiya." He gently teased, the petname slipping out seamlessly.

"Where are the others?"

"They are watching me down the hallway I'm in." He looked over and saw that they were still there. Wooyoung, San, and Jongho kept their eyes on him while the others were looking at their phones, occasionally looking back at the eldest.

"Am I keeping-"

"I want to be talking with you. They can all wait." Seonghwa huffed, which pulled a giggle from you. He was glad he was able to get you to cheer up, even if it was a miniscule amount. "They are very concerned for you though."

"You can tell them what happened. Woo will bug me when he can until I tell him."

"He is good at that isn't he?"

"Too good." You snort.

There was another moment of silence before Hwa spoke again.

"How close are you to home?"

"Uh..." You pause. "I'm pretty close. I'm passing the park thats nearby. I'll probably be there in two minutes."

"Good." He hummed. "I'm glad you called me."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Besides enjoying the sound of your voice, I am glad you felt comfortable enough during this vulnerable time to reach out to me. It warms my heart."

"I'm glad you answered."

"For you? Always. Well, unless I am on stage or Joong is lecturing us." He couldn't help but beam when he got you to laugh again.

"I see my apartment. I'm walking up to the door now." Hwa heard your keys jingle in your hand. "I'll let you go now. Thank you for everything, Hwa."

"It wasn't a problem at all. I'll check in on you when I have the time okay?"

"You don't have to." He faintly heard you unlocking the door and then heard the door close.

"I want to." He smiled. "Get comfortable, have that ice cream, and smile for me okay, (Y/N)? I'll talk to you soon. Have a goodnight in case you fall asleep."

"Have a good rest of your day, Hwa." There was a lingering pause before you ended the call.

Seonghwa let out a deep sigh, his face dropping into a scowl as he pocketed his phone. The rest of Ateez took that as a sign to approach him. They nearly froze when they saw the angry look on his face.

"I'm going to need one of you to stop me from buying plane tickets right now." Hwa muttered.

"What happened?"

"Why are you so upset?"

"Is (Y/N) okay?"

Were questions all asked at the same time.

"Let's get back to the recording studio first." Hongjoong offered. It took a lot of restraint for them to not run down the hallways.

The second that door closed to the studio, everyone turned to look at Seonghwa, who still looked pissed off. He sat down on the couch staring past the glass that viewed the recording booth. He needed to take a moment to calm himself down.

"Did something happen to our dear (Y/N)?" Wooyoung sat next to the older male, looking at him with desperate eyes.

"She called me crying, saying her date stood her up." Seonghwa finally spoke. Everyone let out shocked noises and some curses. "That's not even the worst of it. She said he and his friends were waiting for her to come outside to make fun of her."

Wooyoung pulled out his cellphone. "I'm buying you and I plane tickets."

"Count me in, I want to beat that guys ass for making her upset." San sat on the other side of Seonghwa.

Hongjoong quickly snatched Wooyoung's phone.

"Hey-!"

"You won't be making a spontaneous trip to her place and you all are definitely not going off to fight this guy." He said, using his captain voice.

"Come on, hyung. It'll be worth it." Jongho tried bargaining but quickly stopped at the look he got from their leader.

"Seonghwa." Seonghwa's attention was on Hongjoong's face after he called his name. "You already did most of your recording today. Unless you want to hang out with those who still need to record and need to re-record, or do some choreography practice with Yuhno, you should head back to the dorm and spend some time with (Y/N)."

"Thank you, Joong." Seonghwa smiled and gathered his belongings.

"We want to spend time with her too." Wooyoung whined.

"Too bad. You're assisting Yuhno after you re-record your lines." The eldest male smiled at his friends playful banter as he left the room.

He quickly fished out his cell and called you as he walked down the hallway. He was heading to his managers office to get home. He wasn't entirely sure if he had the confidence to confess right now, nor did he want to spring on a confession to you after the night you had... but he wanted to let you know he would be there for you. That he would never let you feel less than or alone. That stupid guy lost his chance and Hwa wanted to be the one treasure you. He was going to confess and tonight would be the start to his plan to do so.

"Seonghwa?" Your voice sounded confused when you quickly answered.

"Hongjoong is giving me the rest of the day off. Do you want to watch a movie with me? Or we can play Animal Crossing? Whatever you want, I want to do it with you." He took in a deep breath. "I'll even pick up mint chocolate chip ice cream and we can eat it together."

You laughed. "Sure, I would love that."

There was a pause in the conversation. Seonghwa was now waiting in front of the manager's office.

"I have a question for you, (Y/N)." He wanted to wait for later to ask his question but Seonghwa felt he had the confidence to ask now.

"What is it?"

"You said you took time off work for your spring break next month, right?"

"Yes, I have the Friday before that week off to Monday after it. Why do you ask?"

"Come visit me." He was shocked he got it out.

"What?"

"Come to Korea and visit me. I'll help pay for the flight and you can stay with us at the dorm. Is the issue with your passport?"

"My passport is fine." You sighed and took a moment before speaking again. "Are you sure, Hwa? Are the others okay with that? What about-"

"Everything will be fine. The others, our manager, and I have already discussed this in length and will probably want to discuss with you later."

"Well..." You didn't speak, which had Seonghwa feeling rejection would soon follow. "I would love to."

"...Is this a yes?"

"Yes it is." You chuckled. "I've been actually thinking of planning a visit after I graduate in May, but honestly, the sooner the better."

"Make sure to message the others about this, they'll be so happy." He smiled, unable to hide his excitement. "I am about to leave the office here soon. I will call you when I am back at the dorm."

"Get back safely."

"Of course. I will talk to you soon."

"And- Fuck!" You swore loudly.

"Is something wrong?" Worry seeped into his veins at how your voice sounded.

"I got stung by scorpion while island hopping."

Taglist: @stopeatread@hee0soo@pocketjoong-reads@seonghwaddict@tridkeys

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[pickles4nickles]

So I’ve been watching playthroughs of Yakuza games for a while now, but when I saw that the newest game takes place in Hawai’i, the place where I was born, raised, and have lived in for nearly 30 years now, I knew that this was something I had to have first-hand experience with and not let some guy tell me how to feel about it, to put it bluntly.

I went on a month and a half long journey to finish this game, so I sat around for a bit like

Jesus Christ I should write a review on it.

So if you’d like to read about 5k words on what I thought about The Video Game™, here you go.

Overall, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a really really good game. However, as Hawai’i local it was kind of hard for me to turn my brain off to some of the cultural inaccuracies and as someone who tends to play smaller indie games, I clocked in about 110 hours on this and I burned out a little towards the end.

GAMEPLAY

Let’s get into Gameplay first because I think I have the most positive thoughts about it. If you haven’t heard my thoughts about Pokemon lately, it mostly boils down to “It’s the only RPG I’ve really been playing in recent years and the gameplay has been very watered down and I yearn for a decent PvE experience.” This game definitely scratched that itch in more ways than one.

Infinite Wealth’s turn-based combat system revolves around positioning. Some moves have an AoE of either a straight line or a circle. Positioning a character next to an ally will proc a combo move with them and positioning them near items will proc an item attack where you can beat a guy to death with a traffic cone or something.

The job system is robust. Every character starts off with a default class- Ichiban’s is Hero, an all-rounder that can pretty much do anything; characters like Nanba and Eric (I know the game calls him Tomi or Tomizawa, but I’m not the game and “Fuckin’ Eric” sounds way better than “Fuckin’ Tomi”) are magic-oriented, so they’re basically wizards by default. You can change their class to other jobs (Desperado is my favorite because it’s basically gun mage), which unlocks new skills as you level them up. You can also change jobs as much as you want and skills carry over between them, so there’s a bit of moveset mixing and matching that makes my brain feel good.

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, (the Yakuza devs, which we’re just gonna abbreviate to RGG from here on out) have always been REALLY good at asset reuse (again, I cast a dirty look to Game Freak). They’ll make a whole-ass map of a region and reuse that same map for several games down the line. Not only do you spend a significant time in Ijincho again and not only do you go to Kamurocho for little bit… AGAIN, but there are two… what I can only call “macro” games that have the best asset reuse I’ve seen in, like, maybe anything ever.

DONDOKO ISLAND

Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth comes with a whole-ass Animal Crossing clone that’s also kind of The Sims called Dondoko Island. In this, you rehab an island that’s being used as a dump for some trash pirates (no, seriously, they’re actually pirates, yar har and everything) back into a five star resort. There’s a whole-ass crafting system where you go around the island, harvesting resources, to build furniture and facilities, which include whole-ass buildings which have appeared in past Yakuza games. The crafting system is GREATLY improved over Animal Crossing: New Horizon in that you can skip the goddamn animation and craft multiple of the same items at once. You don’t even have to have all the materials in your inventory, it’ll take it from your storage. Placing items in the world is also in an overhead view and the only grievance I have with the system is that placing paths is really weird and you can only place a limited number of them. But overall, Nintendo, was it really that hard to put into the video game. Why did you make AC:NH disrespect my time in that way?

Once the island has been cleaned up enough, you can start inviting guests over, which all have their own set of preferences for the vibe of your island (rustic, pop, sleazy, etc), their lodging quality, and how much of the island’s flora and fauna (and minerals, I guess??) you’ve discovered.

I really really liked Dondoko Island because who am I to say no to a management mini/macro game with decoration elements. I mostly really appreciate that it doesn’t waste your time. I wanna say I finished it in like less than 20 hours… which is not short for a game within a game (actually, that’s insane for a game within a game), but for a game of this genre, it’s pretty short.

There’s also an entire separate mini-island that further helps you with efficiently running your island by passively collecting resources over time and just being a general stockpile of bugs and fish to catch. But I can’t talk about this part without talking about…

SUJIMON

A returning character voiced by Keith Silverstein in the English dub – yes, that Keith Silverstein, who voices Masayoshi Shido of Persona 5 and Zhongli of The Genshin Impact™ is a professor who documents the behavior of weird and often hostile middle aged men, called Sujimon. When Ichiban goes to Hawai’i, he asks him to also document the native Sujimon there as there’s a prominent Sujimon scene there. Mans wasn’t kidding as there is an underground, more or less ilicit Sujimon fight club called The Sujimon League with its own Elite Four called The Discrete Four.

In the previous game, Sujimon was just your bestiary (literally called the Sujidex), but now it’s a whole-ass game, which I can mostly only describe as simplified Yokai Watch, but a glorified card game. Just so we’re not here for forever talking about middle-aged men cockfights… because I can talk about the mechanics and inner workings of middle-aged men cockfights for a hot minute, Sujimon League basically operates on a 3v3, with an additional bench of 3, rock-paper-scissors kind of system. You’ll need strong Sujimon to get through this macro game and you’ll recruit new guys through four ways- through random fights on the map, through literal Pokemon GO raids, through a gacha system, and through combining Sujimon of the same type into stronger Sujimon (don’t think too hard about that one). I had a LOT of fun with this and, again, it scratched an itch I’ve had for a while. Almost all of the Sujimon are just guys you’ll fight in-game, so, again, an excellent use of asset reuse.

Sujimon smoothly integrates into Dondoko Island in a way that makes Palworld look even more balls-less than it already is. You know that little island I was talking about a few paragraphs back? That’s Dondoko Farm. You can put your Sujimon to work on it! As you’re running around on Dondoko Island, letting it consume your life, your Sujimon will grow crops, scrounge around for resources, and earn some cash for you. The island also has some resources to help with Sujimon League by leveling them up with a small investment of some dondoko bucks and your time, but also a Pokemon-Amie type mini-mini game that helps strengthen the friendship of your current Sujimon team.

Yes.

This game lets you pet-

The sweaty, weirdo middle-aged men.

Don’t think about it too hard.

Especially don’t think about it too hard when you have a Sujimon on your team that uses Xander Mobus’ voice clips.

Anyway, there’s also another minigame called Sicko Snap, which is basically Pokemon Snap with Sujimon. It’s a good one, too.

STORY

I guess… the best way I’d explain my feelings on Infinite Wealth’s story is

Objectively, this is an okay story. Like, it’s par for the course for a Yakuza game. I have a lot of personal grievances with this plot which I’ll fully unsheathe my blade for in the next section, but for now I’ll just say… this game is basically Hawaii Five-O crammed into a Yakuza game and that was an emotional rollercoaster ride that I’m not sure I enjoyed.

Like a Dragon’s main theme is “Even if you hit rock bottom, it’s never too late to get back up again” and that’s something I hold near and dear to my heart.

They have used this theme to my benefit and to my dismay as this also apparently means it’s never too late for ~*Romance*~ which, sure, yeah, okay, true, but did it have to be Ichiban and Saeko?

I’m trying to give the game the benefit of the doubt because… to me, it’s mostly one-sided (as in, like, Saeko’s willing to give him a chance, but isn’t as crazy for Ichiban as he is for her) and, like, dude is allowed to have a crush. But from what I have seen… because I never got around to finishing her Drink Link (I was gonna but I’m like really burned out on the game), they kinda strap C4 to the Bechdel Test and raze a village to the ground with it when it comes to Saeko’s character arc because most of her dialogue and interactions are about The Incident with Ichiban, which sucks because she had more character than just a romance interest for the protagonist in the previous game. If you’re also REALLY not into this plot point like I am, the story DOES NOT let you forget that this indeed happened as it seems to be a plot thread that might continue into the next game as well.

Needless to say, I don’t ship it, and I don’t get to block tags and just walk away from this one.

The game also kinda keeps nudging at, “Hehe, Chitose’s pretty cute too, right?” to which I say

Yes I understand she’s of legal age but she’s only like 21 AT MOST and Ichiban’s like 40-something you stop with that.

It doesn’t feel like Ichiban really had a character arc in this… unless you count “proposing on the first date” to “saying I love you on a redo and then being weird about it again” as character growth. He went to Hawai’i, had some shenanigans, found mom, got backstabbed again, fought the cult (which I’ll be really salty about in the next section), went back home to help Eiji’s character arc. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just… Ichiban went on another adventure. And it was ok. I think maybe the game was sizing him up to, again, take Kiryu’s place and be The Hero, but… we already did that already? And I’m not even sure if the game was able to complete that message by the end of the game.

Kiryu probably got the most character development out of this game and talking this over with my friend Andrew, he brought up that it kinda wasn’t fair that this is supposed to be Ichiban’s game, but he had to share half of it with Kiryu. And I agree. His sections were also really hard to get into if you haven’t been a longtime fan. Again, I have a decent amount of Yakuza knowledge, but with Kiryu’s memories, a LOT of it went over my head.  It seems like RGG’s been trying to retire him as a protagonist for like three games now and MAYBE this time they’ll actually do it after this victory lap they’ve given him. But he did learn that “my friends are my power” and “never ever give up, you still have time to do better.” And you know what, that’s rad.

As far as the villains go, just, I dunno, they’re fine? Ebina and Eiji are very “okay bitch, stay mad, then,” and it’s. Fine? My only complaint is that Ebina’s arc felt like it was under-seasoned before they put it in the oven to cook and they could’ve peppered it on a little earlier in the game or something. Bryce’s entire deal I may have taken a little too personally, but that’s for later. Dwight was literally just Danny Trejo doing a villain role and I have absolutely no qualms with it. He was fun to watch.

The supporting cast was fun as always. Eric I hated at first, but he grew on me in the same way that, like, I’d bully a friend. Chitose I also kinda hated at first, was very sus of, but then she had a character arc that was pretty good. The Yokohama gang didn’t really have character arcs to them, but they were still fun to hang out with nonetheless. We got to learn a little bit more about Seonhee and she’s really fun. Both her and Zhao, who is my favorite for several reasons, are really really fun characters as they are both crime bosses (former, in Zhao’s case) who are BIG FUCKING WEIRDOS and I love them for it.

Joongi Han becomes a party member WAY too late in my opinion that, in a way, he’s technically an optional party member, or at least like getting a Dratini right before the Pokemon League in Gold/Silver/Crystal. He had some fun character moments, but felt kinda like an afterthought.

But also, ain’t no way he got his Hawai’i clothes at Hilo Hattie. There’s no way.

To wrap up my thoughts on the main story, I’d just like to say: the plot point that they sailed to Japan on a little tugboat in a handful of hours as opposed to WEEKS is peak Hawaii Five-O vibes and it infuriates me, but everyone kept telling me “it’s okay, the coast guard picked them up, like, halfway” and I will sit down and not start a fistfight over it. And just. That was the vibe of the game for me. Just… alternating between a J-Drama and Hawaii Five-O.

I don’t really have much to say about the substories except that they’re either almost Oscar-worthy material or they’re a snoozefest that I just tabbed through. I can really only think of three substories off the top of my head that were EXCELLENT, though - Nancy and Olivia, the artificial snow quest (THIS ONE IS EMOTIONAL WHIPLASH), and the traveling aquarium one. The rest I mostly just tabbed through because they were just……. Eh. But I think I’m okay with that since we have Sujimon and Dondoko to make up for it.

THE CULTURAL GRIEVANCES

So as I type this section out, I run my hands over my face to remind myself and say

This is a game that takes place in Hawai’i from a Japanese perspective, written primarily for a Japanese audience and I assume that certain things may come from a place of ignorance, but not maliciousness.

Hey Tumblr.

I want you to read that first bolded sentence again.

Because I know how you guys are with reading comprehension.

But that being said, as a Hawai’i-born Chinese person, there’s quite a lot about the Hawai’i cultural aspects of this game that I have problems with. If you wanna see me roast this game, you can stick around, but if not… Here is your chance to bail.

I’ve tried my best to write this in a way where I look at the thing that pissed me off and ask myself,  “Am I taking this too seriously or do I actually have a problem with it?” and write more or less objectively, but some of it might still come off as overly caustic. Just. I tried.

And after a deep breath,

Ho brah,

We go.

WHAT IS HAWAIIAN CULTURE, ANYWAY?

To start off, I’m not sure if RGG knows the difference between being a Hawai’i local and actually being of Hawaiian blood…? The game mentions at the very beginning that Akane is half-Japanese… and half-Hawaiian, which makes Ichiban one-fourth Hawaiian, which makes ME kinda… squint. Like, we’d need to know more about Akane’s backstory, but if you know anything about indigenous cultures, finding someone who’s half native is HARD nowadays. Akane also looks pretty light skinned for someone who’s allegedly half-Japanese, half-Hawaiian but that’s just my tiny nitpick?

I’m also… not sure what kinda research RGG did on Hawaiian last names because some of the ones I see on random enemies are kinda… 

Who is that

What is that

I have never seen anyone named that in my entire life

Sure, my worldview is a little shut in, but, no, what IS that?

Mililani is not a last name, that’s a neighborhood, why’s she Lani Mililani?

WHAT IS THAT?

The pidgin in the game is also there, but… small kine hit or miss. For those of you who don’t know, pidgin is Hawai’i’s creole, which came from a bunch of cultures who don’t speak the same language eventually falling into a kitbashed language system that works for everyone. Looking at the VA listing in the credits, they did hire some local people (they have Hawaiian names) and some of the VO performances work really well like Obispo in the restaurant side story and the cab driver dialogue that ONLY comes up in the Japanese audio version of the game for some reason. Others… are… hm (I don’t know what’s going on with Jeff the taco truck guy). I feel like the voice director got the intonation on the line reads down pretty well, but on the localization side, the syntax and grammar are a little off. Pidgin tends to come off as “broken english,” but it’s technically not since it’s its own language system with its own rules. So you have a lot of line reads that are in the right inflection, but the way it’s written is wrong for pidgin dialogue.

And it just doesn’t sound 100% right to me.

There’s also some… small pronunciation nitpicks that I have. Ukulele is pronounced the white way - it’s not Yooka-Laylee like the Chameleon and Bat, it’s ook-oo-leh-leh like Tapu Lele, the Pokemon. Some characters pronounce Hawai’i as huh-why and not ha-wuh-ee, which is more right (it’s SUPPOSED to be ha-vai-ee but I’m not native Hawaiian and this is kind of an axolotl situation so, y’know).

But shout-outs to the “Whatchu lookin’ at?” line guy.

Because that one is just, no notes, perfect.

NOTHING CAN BE NORMAL, I GUESS

Something that rubbed me the wrong way in this game is the mystification of a culture that’s foreign to you, that is, taking a culture that’s not yours and describing or representing it in such a way that it sounds so deviant and hard to comprehend compared to the one you’re used to. Think of that one tweet where someone describes hamburgers like a white person would describe asian fruit.

There's the lei substory where the girl needs to make a lei with blue plumerias (which does not exist by the way) because there’s an urban legend that if you give a blue plumeria lei to someone, it’s a way of confessing your true love. Lei are just… things you give as, like, a “congrats!” kind of a thing. Or if you wanna be touristy about it, a “welcome!” kind of gift. There’s nothing mystical about it, most grocery stores stock a few that you can just pick up, grab and go style. 

The entire game mechanic of “shaka to make friends” was so?? Like maybe after 8 hours into the Hawai’i map, I was like, okay, I’ll just… fine. I’ll accept it. But my god did I not appreciate it when Kson came up to me and was like “what’s a motherfucker gotta do around here to make some friends” and told me how FRIENDLY the Hawaiian people were and how you can just throw a shaka to make friends; while me, probably the saltiest, introverted Hawai’i local that throws stink-eye at tourists who can’t watch where they’re going, playing the video game on that day was like, “We don’t fucking do that, hello??” I don’t even know why we shaka?? Most people you ask that question will just be like “idk it’s the local thing, they do it at the end of the 5pm news on KHON2.”

There’s a substory in this game with a character named Nathan, but we were all calling him racist Alpharad because he kinda looks like him (ALPHARAD HIMSELF IS NOT RACIST OR IN THIS GAME I WANNA CLARIFY THAT) and he’s basically, like… a weeb. He’s recording what seems like a PBS special on Japanese tourists in Hawai’i, but he’s kind of a shitter about it. He makes Ichiban choose between local foods and cold-ass rice and becomes upset when he chooses kalua pork over the rice since it wasn’t The Japanese Option. It escalates to making Ichiban play darts with shuriken and when he loses, he tells him to “live up to his dishonor,” slides him a knife and board, and asks him if he wants to take a finger or hara-kiri. To which Ichiban goes “dude, I get you like Japanese culture, but you can’t treat people this way”

To which I look back at the game like

You clearly understand how this feels, so why are you doing this to Hawaiian culture?

Again, I understand that a lot of this game was written with maybe just ignorance, and not malice, and this isn’t really a call-out post to RGG or anything, but BOY…

Okay.

Now we get to my biggest gripe with this game.

PALEKANA CAN SUCK MY NUTS

I’m kinda disappointed in their choice to use a Hawaiian cult as a plot point. It’s not quite a native savages kind of a vibe, but… In the year of our lord 2024, I thought we would know better than to portray an indigenous religion as a bloodthirsty cult? I also don’t like how they’re conflating the Hawaiian religion with what’s more like a Christian/Catholic cult in this.

Palekana is portrayed as “cultists who worship a goddess who lives in a mystical land, forbidden only to her chosen and maybe one day we’ll be worthy of her blessings.” Hawaiian religion is… not… like that at all? They did get the part about “giving back to the community” correct as a part of Hawaiian culture is mālama ‘aina, meaning, you need to care for the land you live on, which is… reasonable? I guess the other basic idea of Hawaiian religion is that certain places, things, and times that are important, and you shouldn’t touch it unless you wanna fuck around and find out. But the game just kinda wildly overboils this.

Like, I don’t claim to be an expert, I’ve only scraped the basics from what I learned in school (a year’s worth of Hawaiiana lessons in middle school, a semester’s worth in college; went to a private Catholic school, took two world religion classes in college), but Palekana has a very Catholic European religion kind vibe instead of a Hawaiian one. And I really, really don’t like that the game conflates the two. The Palekana cultists wear hoods, which is a distinctly European thing (it’s too hot for hoods here!). The beaded necklaces also seem more like rosaries, which, again, very Catholic. The idea that a god-figure will save you is also a VERY Catholic idea. I’m also assuming the goddess Nele that they use in the game is an expy for Pele, which… okay, like, you can do that with locations. Ala Moana Shopping Center represented as Anaconda Mall in the game hurts me a lot, but… to change up the name of the most prominent deity in Hawaiian religion is like

Dude, I’m not Hawaiian, but I know better than to shit on Pele?

Maybe I’m taking this a little too seriously, but it comes off as a little(??) disrespectful.

To give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe RGG wrote this plot point in this way to be like, well, they’re the villains, so we’ll write them so hyperbolically evil and wrong so people won’t mistake that for the actual culture? But my gut reaction is that they’re only writing from what they’ve seen in the movies and they wanted to make a story like that.

This was my least favorite part of the plot because not only does the cult aspect feel like it’s in bad taste, but it’s SO MUCH of the story and you REALLY can’t get away from it.

Alright. So now that I’ve aired that out of my system, I’m finally capping off this section with the part of the game that hit the closest to me and that is

CHINESE IN HAWAI’I

Listen. Again.

This is a story about Hawai’i, written by a Japanese team, for a Japanese audience.

Yakuza is a series that often talks about the racial conflict between the Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans. And I don’t expect them to portray any of these groups in anything more than a neutral light in this game about Gang Crime.

But ohhhhh my gooooood did they get the Chinatown section so wroooooooong.

Right off the bat, the big glaring problem I have with this game is. All the guys speak Mandarin. I think they might just be reusing voice clips from Yakuza 7, which, sure, fine, I understand that video games are hard to make and expensive.

In Hawai’i, like, real-world Hawai’i, not the bizzaro Hawai’i this game takes place in, we’re definitely starting to see more Mandarin-speaking immigrants show up, but most of the town speaks Cantonese.

Most of the people here a generation or two above me come from Guangdong or Hong Kong, which are Cantonese-speaking areas. It’s an entirely different dialect that’s really only been represented in small bits in media I’m familiar with, like in Jackie Chan Adventures (the uncle’s chant is basically “no more ghosts, get out of here” in Cantonese) and Digimon Tamers (“Moumentai” is “it’s okay/don’t worry about it” in Cantonese), and it seems really hard to get VAs that speak it, so I’m not… really that mad about it.

BUT. Then there’s Wong Tou.

Wong is the Cantonese pronunciation of 黄 , Huang or Hwang in Mandarin.

So like… clearly they knew?? But?? Decided not to go all in on it??

(And then Daniel Dae Kim is his face model and I just??? Bro’s Korean, hello?????)

And then there’s the name of Wong Tou’s gang. The Ganzhe.

Which is a stupid name.

The Chinese dictionary gives me 甘蔗 which translates to sugarcane, which. I get it. The plantation times. The Chinese and the Japanese and the Filipinos and the Portuguese and whatever all used to work on the cane plantations.

…But you’re out here calling your BIG KNIFE GANG “Sugarcane??”

My guy, you could start a reggae band with that name instead.

SPEAKING OF REGGAE-

No one knows how to pronounce Ganzhe properly besides Eric’s VA apparently? All the other VAs pronounce the gan closer to “van” when it’s supposed to be more like a “gone.”

Yes. That’s right.

Ganzhe is pronounced more like ganja.

You know.

The Marajuanas™

I’m a Hawai’i-born Chinese, first-generation local on my mom’s side and third-gen local on my dad’s. I grew up in Chinatown, so this was a section of the game that was near and dear to my heart. So I THINK and HOPE you’d understand my frustration to see that work needed to be done on the representation of my culture in this game. It was definitely a little fun to see my hometown modeled in this game- they got Maunakea Marketplace and Keikaulike Mall down pretty accurately and some of the motifs on the buildings made me do a double take because they were so familiar to me. BUT, man, this cultural aspect of the game needed A LOT of work.

SO TO FINALLY CLOSE THIS OUT

Japanese people love Hawai'i a lot.

I think Japanese people love Hawai'i more than Hawai'i locals do.

But as for portraying it accurately, I understand that no one can do it as well as a local islander can. Did I personally think they did the best they could?

………………ehh

Like, if you turn your brain off, it's fine??

If you turn your brain off and not let Palekana get to you, this game is fine.

It can be a little campy.

It can be a little Hollywood.

It can be a little Disneyland.

And despite my four pages of bitching about it, at the end of the day. It is fine.

So with that, I’ve hit like ten full pages on this Google Doc. Despite half of this review being me complaining about what they got wrong about Hawai’i culture in this game, I liked it a lot! When the game didn't have me strapped down for an episode of a J-drama or Hawaii Five-O, I liked running around town, fighting guys, making other guys fight other guys, and managing a resort island. If anything, this game actually motivated me a little to make more local-themed stuff, because as I notice people getting older, there’s less and less people to correctly preserve highly specific culture stuff like this. So a lot of that responsibility falls on me, y’know?

Thank you for making it to the end of this review! I know it was a lot. I don’t know what happened. I do recommend this game, but I ask that you do NOT finish the game with the takeaway that you have learned everything there is to know about Hawai’i.

I’ll fight you with a lawn chair (in Minecraft, for the FBI agent reading this) if you do that.

Other than that, I think you’ll have a lot of fun but also take your time because this game is, like, a 100 hour commitment. Not Persona 5 Royal long, but a commitment nonetheless.

#like a dragon #like a dragon infinite wealth #pickle art #sure uhh I guess I will put this in the tag #IF YOU FOUND THIS VIA THE TAG AND YOU REALLY LIKE THIS GAME #HI HELLO I DO TOO I JUST HAVE SOME STRONG OPINIONS ABOUT THE CULTURAL ACCURACY OF MY HOMETOWN #PLEASE DON'T YELL AT ME YOU CAN STILL ENJOY IT #anyway I've had this sitting around for like... most if not all of march #and I finally got the spoons to put the finishing touches on it #and come to terms that I'm probably not opening the game back up anytime soon

[voidpetrova]

hard to get — kai parker x reader

☄. *. ⋆

content warnings and genre: swearing, alcohol consumption, clichés — drama

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

synopsis: you were the girl next door, he was the devil's advocate. you liked your russian literature, he liked his women—all of them, in fact.

✧.*

the parties took place on the front lawn of 4347, mystic falls, every sunday afternoon. despite the supernatural secrets lurked around every corner, it never got in the way of the little girls of your quiet neighborhood. lizzie saltzman wpuld bring the tea set, which was appropriate, since she was the hostess. hope mikaelson provided formal attire from her deceased mother's closet. and josie saltzman invited the additional guests—stuffed animals for each of the girls—some of whom hadn't been to a party in years. of course, it never occurred to the three young girls, that while they were busy playing out their fantasy, one of the older girls in the neighborhood was engaging in a fantasy of her own.

your were the walking cliché embodiment of the good girl next door – quick-witted, kind-hearted, and always ready with a sharp retort. your life had a predictable rhythm until the day you crossed paths with a neanderthal. up until that point, you had a thing going on. you were there, every morning, a book in one hand with a coffee cup in the other, basking in what the day had in store for you on your front porch.

kai, who was an enigmatic playboy with a smirk that could melt hearts and a reputation for leaving a trail of broken promises, set his sights on you the moment he saw you with bonnie bennett. he sauntered over, confidence radiating from every step, and leaned against your picket fence. “hey there, gorgeous,” he purred, blue eyes dancing with mischief. “mind if i join your afternoon?”

you barely glanced up from your book, arching an eyebrow. “is this the part where i'm supposed to swoon and hand you my heart?” your tone dripped with sarcasm as you turned the page, ignoring his presence.

kai chuckled, undeterred. “i like a challenge,” he replied, flashing his signature grin. “so, what's a smart and stunning girl like you doing with a book like that?”

“reading it and wondering how many times i've heard that line,” you shot back, your lips quirking into an amused smile.

undaunted, kai persisted. day after day, he found new ways to engage with you in conversation, each attempt met with a witty retort. it became a dance of words and glances, a tantalizing game you played on the quiet streets of mystic falls.

“i have a feeling you're just waiting for me to sweep you off your feet,” kai teased one afternoon, leaning on the hood of his car as you walked by.

you chuckled, raising an eyebrow. “and i have a feeling you're mistaking me for someone who would willingly fall for that.”

as the weeks went by, kai's relentless pursuit of you showed no sign of slowing. he became a fixture in your life, a presence that simultaneously annoyed and intrigued you. you debated, exchanged barbs, and even shared moments of genuine laughter, all while kai's intentions remained clear.

“when are you gonna stop playing hard to get, sunshine?”

“depends, when are you gonna stop being hard to want?”

but then something shifted. beneath the playful banter and sarcastic jabs, a connection began to form. in between your arguments, you would noticed the way kai's eyes softened when he thought you weren't looking, how he listened intently when you spoke about your passions, and the times when his laughter seemed unguarded and genuine.

one evening, as the sun dipped below the horizon and painted the sky in hues of orange and pink, you found yourself seated on your porch swing, just like every other night, lost in thought. kai appeared beside you, surprisingly subdued. “you know, i've never met anyone quite like you,” he admitted, his voice carrying a note of sincerity.

you turned to him, your gaze steady. “is that your way of saying i'm a challenge you can't resist?”

kai's lips curled into a half-smile. “maybe it's my way of saying i'm not sure i want to resist.”

your heart skipped a beat, a mixture of emotions swirling within you. you opened your mouth to respond, but before you could find the words, kai leaned in, capturing your lips in a kiss that was both unexpected and electrifying. in that moment, time seemed to stand still as your connection deepened.

pulling away, kai looked at you with a mixture of uncertainty and hope. “i've wanted to do that for a while,” he confessed, his bravado replaced by vulnerability.

your couldn't help but smile, your walls slowly crumbling, but the hesitation never making a full departure. “of course, it's just a few steps away from sleeping with me, isn't it?” the smile on kai's face slowly faltered, even all the while he knew you were joking, your words couldn't help but sting.

your banter had evolved into something deeper, something that left you both breathless and eager for more. as you continued to explore your feelings, you soon discovered that beneath kai's playboy facade, was a man capable of genuine emotion, while kai found in you a kindred spirit who challenged him in ways he had never experienced before.

“you know,” he began, his hands stuffed in his pockets as he began to wander, as if he was nervous to tell you something. “i haven't slept with anybody since we kissed.” you scoffed, but you couldn't ignore the way his words made you feel. it was what he was known for, yet he was straying away from it just for you.

you raised an eyebrow, giving him a skeptical look. “i should be checking for signs of the apocalypse. the world must be ending if kai parker, the master of fleeting romances, is suddenly turning into a monk.”

he let out a soft laugh, the sound surprisingly genuine. “okay, maybe monk is a bit extreme, but let’s just say i’ve found myself more intrigued by a certain someone’s company than just a quick roll in the hay.”

you feigned surprise, placing a hand on your chest dramatically. “kai parker? interested in more than just a casual fling? this must be a parallel universe or something.”

he shot you a playful glare. “hey, i'm not saying i'm proposing here. just—noticing that maybe there’s more to life than moving from one hookup to another.”

you tilted your head, giving him a thoughtful look. “so, what? you’re saying you’re looking for something real?”

he sighed, running a hand through his hair. “i didn’t say that exactly. i'm just saying that being around you— it’s different. and yeah, maybe i'm curious to see where different could lead.”

a mix of emotions swirled within you. you had spent so long building up your defenses against his advances, and now he was dropping his playboy facade? the irony wasn’t lost on you.

“different,” you echoed, your voice softer than before. “you do realize that ‘different’ for you is still probably light years away from what most people consider normal, right?”

kai smirked, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “who needs normal when you’ve got interesting?”

you couldn’t help but chuckle, his words catching you off guard. “interesting, huh? is that your way of saying i’m a puzzle you’re trying to solve?”

he leaned in, his tone teasing. “nah, puzzles are too much work. more like a mystery i want to unravel, one piece at a time.”

you rolled your eyes, but the corner of your mouth tugged into a smile. “you are ridiculous, kai parker.”

he chuckled softly, the smile lingering on his lips as he looked at you. “and you like it.”

before you could offer a sarcastic retort, he closed the distance between you, his lips capturing yours in a kiss that was surprisingly tender. it was a kiss that held the weight of unspoken emotions, a silent promise of something more.

as he pulled away, he met your gaze with a newfound seriousness. “i just wanted you to know that I’m not playing games here.”

your heart raced as you looked into his eyes, seeing a sincerity that was both unexpected and strangely comforting. “and i just want you to know that i’m not the kind of girl who falls for pretty words and empty promises.”

his fingers brushed against your cheek, his touch gentle. “i wouldn’t want you to be.”

there was a moment of shared understanding between you, a silent agreement that while the journey might not be easy, it was one worth exploring. and as the sun dipped below the horizon, casting a warm glow over the two of you, you realized that maybe, just maybe, God had something beautiful in store for you.

but just as your relationship was blossoming, a rumor swept through mystic falls, threatening to tear them apart. it was said that kai had been with another girl, a betrayal that shattered your trust and left you heartbroken.

unbeknownst to you, the rumor was nothing but a cruel lie. kai had remained steadfastly devoted, his feelings for you growing stronger by the day. he had never been with anyone else, consumed by thoughts of you as he gave himself a few days off, attempting to surprise you with days' worth of planning dinner reservations.

as days turned into nights, you found yourself growing more perplexed by kai's absence. the rumor that he had slept with someone else gnawed at you, fueling a mix of disappointment and betrayal. the possibility of a genuine connection seemed to crumble beneath the weight of the gossip, and your heart ached for what you thought had been lost.

seeking solace in a familiar friend, you found bonnie's comforting presence. she listened patiently as you poured out your heart, sharing your confusion and the sinking feeling that the connection you had felt with kai might have been a mere illusion.

“i just can't believe he'd do this,” you lamented, your voice tinged with sadness. “after all the time we spent together, the conversations, the moments.”

bonnie placed a reassuring hand on your shoulder. “i know how much you've been through already. it's okay to feel hurt. but remember, rumors aren't always true. maybe there's more to the story than you know.”

still, the pain lingered, and in an attempt to take your mind off things, bonnie suggested a night out at a club. she wanted you to let loose and forget your worries, even if just for a little while. she knew you were a gorgeous girl and, despite not treating sex like a playtoy, you had a few tricks up your sleeve. you knew just the way to curl your hair, you knew just the dress to put on to get everybody's attention—just the perfume to wear to turn heads, and just the makeup to put on to capture as many compliments as you knew how.

the club was alive with pulsating music and vibrant lights as you and bonnie danced your cares away. in the midst of the throbbing crowd, you found solace in the music's rhythm, allowing it to drown out the doubts and uncertainties that had been plaguing your mind. as the vibrant lights of the club danced around you, the beat of the music pulsed through your veins. her idea to let loose was working, and the worries that had been consuming your mind were beginning to fade. you swayed to the rhythm, feeling the music's energy wrap around you like a warm embrace.

bonnie leaned in close, shouting over the music. “you look stunning tonight!”

you laughed, the sound lost in the cacophony of the club. it was liberating to let your guard down and simply enjoy the moment. as you and bonnie chatted, the conversation turned unexpectedly towards your feelings for kai. it was a subject you hadn't discussed openly with anyone before, but the club's pulsating atmosphere seemed to encourage honesty.

“okay, fine,” you admitted, a blush rising to your cheeks. “maybe i've started to feel differently about him. but with all these rumors going around, i don't even know what to think anymore.”

her eyes glinted mischievously. “well, if you ask me, rumors are just noise. i told you once and i'll tell you again—you should follow your heart and see where it leads.”

before you could respond, a deep voice interjected, sending a shiver down your spine. “wise words, indeed.”

you turned to see klaus mikaelson, his gaze fixed on you with an intensity that made your heart race. his presence was magnetic, his charm a force to be reckoned with. the combination of the club's energy and his undeniable allure created a heady mix of emotions.

“klaus,” you greeted, trying to maintain your composure despite the butterflies that had taken up residence in your stomach. “didn't expect to see you here.”

he offered you a smoldering smile, his eyes never leaving yours. “life is full of surprises, my dear,” he smiled, and you couldn't help but follow his footstepw away from the dance floor. “can i buy you a drink?” normally, you wouldn't have accepted, but tonight was about letting loose. you nodded your head, earning a smile from him.

as hw engaged you in conversation, his words laced with innuendo and flirtatious undertones, you found yourself both flattered and slightly uncomfortable. his attention was like a spotlight on you, and though you were no stranger to attention, there was something different about the way klaus looked at you.

his words were magnetic, drawing you in with their subtle promises and unspoken desires. you laughed at his jokes, allowing yourself to be swept up in the whirlwind of the night. it was both exhilarating and overwhelming, a whirlwind encounter you hadn't anticipated.

amid the laughter and exchanged glances, you couldn't help but notice a shift in the atmosphere. people around you were suddenly casting curious glances towards the entrance, and your heart skipped a beat when you followed their gaze.

there he was, kai parker, standing at the entrance of the club. his piercing blue eyes were fixed on you, and a whirlwind of emotions crossed his face – surprise, disbelief, and something else you couldn't quite identify.

as if drawn by an invisible force, your gaze locked onto his. time seemed to slow as the space between you and him was filled with unspoken tension. it was as if the world had fallen away, leaving just the two of you in an electric bubble of awareness.

bonnie nudged you playfully, breaking the spell. “seems like someone's here to join the party.”

you tore your gaze away from kai, the intensity of the moment leaving your heart racing. your cheeks were flushed, a mix of emotions swirling within you. as you turned back to klaus, his expression held a knowing glint.

“ah, young love,” he mused, his tone suggestive.

you shot him a look, half-amused and half-embarrassed. “it's not like that.”

he chuckled softly, his eyes twinkling with amusement. “isn't it, now?”

but as klaus's attention remained on you, kai approached with determined steps, his eyes locked onto yours. the atmosphere around you shifted once again, this time with a palpable sense of tension and uncertainty.

his arrival had disrupted the easy dynamic you had shared with klaus, leaving you in a whirlwind of emotions you struggled to understand. the club's vibrant energy seemed to mirror the storm of feelings raging within you, and you knew that the moment kai reached you, everything was about to change. as he closed the distance between you, the anticipation was almost suffocating. jis eyes bore into yours, a mixture of emotions swirling within them – surprise, confusion, and something else that sent a shiver down your spine.

“hey,” he said, his voice softer than you had expected. it was as if the whirlwind of the club's atmosphere had transformed into a bubble that contained just the two of you.

“hey,” you replied, your own voice catching slightly. his presence was overwhelming, and you felt a mix of nerves and a strange fluttering in your chest.

kai's gaze lingered on you for a moment longer before he turned to bonnie, his tone casual. “mind if i borrow her for a minute?”

bonnie glanced between the two of you, a knowing smile tugging at her lips. “of course not. i'll be right here.”

as you followed kai away from the club, the silence was heavy with unspoken tension. the music seemed to fade into the background, leaving only the sound of your heart pounding in your ears.

“i heard there was a rumor going around,” he began, his voice a mixture of curiosity and something you couldn't quite decipher.

you sighed, your gaze dropping to the floor for a moment. “yeah, about you and someone else.”

he let out a frustrated huff, running a hand through his hair. "i knew these rumors would start eventually, but i didn't think they'd mess with your head like this."

you looked up, meeting his gaze. “kai, i thought—”

he reached out, gently lifting your chin with his finger. his touch was electric, and his eyes held a sincerity that took you by surprise. “you thought i was different. and i am, (y/n). i haven't been with anyone else since that night we kissed.”

your heart skipped a beat, his words resonating deeply within you. “how do i know you're telling the truth?”

kai's expression softened, his fingers brushing against your cheek. “you can trust me, (y/n). i know i've made mistakes in the past, but this... what we have, it's real.”

your breath caught in your throat as his words washed over you. there was vulnerability in his gaze, a side of kai you hadn't seen before. the emotions that had been swirling within you since you met him were suddenly overwhelming, and you felt a lump forming in your throat.

kai's thumb brushed against your lips, his gaze locked onto yours. “can i prove it to you?”

before you could respond, his lips met yours in a kiss that was both gentle and intense. it was a kiss that held all the unspoken emotions between you – the doubts, the longing, and the newfound realization that maybe, just maybe, you had both been wrong about each other.

as the kiss deepened, the world around you seemed to fade away, leaving only the two of you lost in the moment. the whispers of the club's music echoed in the background, a haunting melody to the story unfolding between you and kai.

and just when you thought nothing else could possibly matter, a new voice cut through the haze. “am i interrupting something?”

you pulled away from kai, turning to see klaus leaning casually against a nearby pillar, a smirk playing on his lips. the mischievous glint in his eyes told you that he had been watching, his presence a reminder that the supernatural world had a way of turning even the most intimate moments into a spectacle.

kai shot him a glare, his arm protectively wrapped around your waist. “actually, you are.”

klaus chuckled, raising his hands in mock surrender. “my apologies, young lovers. i'll leave you to it.”

as klaus walked away, a mix of embarrassment and amusement flooded your cheeks. kai's fingers squeezed your waist, and you looked up at him, the tension from moments ago replaced by a newfound warmth.

“you know,” he said, his voice a playful whisper, “i think i'm okay with people knowing we're not just friends.”

you smiled, feeling a weight lift off your shoulders. as you looked into his eyes, you realized that sometimes rumors were just that – empty words that held no power over the truth.

“me too,” you replied, your voice filled with a newfound confidence.

and as you leaned in for another kiss, the club's vibrant energy seemed to swell around you, a backdrop to the unexpected twist in your story. with kai by your side and the promise of a real connection between you, the night held endless possibilities, and you were ready to embrace every one of them.

#tvd #the vampire diaries #kai parker #kai parker x reader #kai x reader #kai parker angst #kai parker fluff #kai parker smut #klaus mikaelson #klaus mikealson x reader #tvd kai #tvd klaus

[saltydoesstuff]

Hear me out- we have self aware ai bot turtles right? And same with the show- what about an Animal Crossing self aware au? Like the turtles are villagers in the new horizons game and somehow is able to figure out that their world is just a game, and the player is in real life.

The turtles are suddenly all over your character, weird new dialogs popping up and them mentioning things that they could not have possibly known about you.

Like upon talking with Mikey, he gives you a gift for something in your in-game house that's in your room (assuming you play in your room) and complimenting your decorations.

Raph will start to lecture you on self-care if you are playing too late, urging you to get some sleep or to eat if you haven't in a while.

Donnie will also give you gifts, his own inventions on what is in your room or something you want. You made a passing mention about a laptop you've been wanting? Whether the game or console was on at the time or not, the next time you hop onto the game he gives you the same laptop you had wanted in real life in game. It's all he can do until he somehow figures out how to bring you into the game. You can't escape from them while on an island! Not easily at least.

Leo becomes flirtier and observant, making more accurate compliments and pick up lines- even if your character looks nothing like you, or doesn't have your name- somehow Leo knows exactly what you look like, and they will all call you by your real name.

#saltydoesstuff #rottmnt x reader #rottmnt au #rottmnt #acnh au?

[eviesaurusrex]

Harry Styles x Singer!Reader

Faceclaim: Marina Diamandis

author’s note: pt. 2 is here, wuh! theoceanismyhome is the reader‘s secret instagram account, while haroldundercover is Harry’s super secret ig account! re-upload because of my stupidity

pt. 1

;

harrystyles Something new is rising at the horizon x H.

Liked by yourinstagram, gemmastyles, mitchrowland and 1,769,325 others | 36,241 comments

hsfan1 🥰❤️

hsfan2 I’m already so excited!!!

mitchrowland Excited to see where this is going!

liked by harrystyles and 290 others

yourinstagram ♥️

liked by yourfan1, hsfan1, harrystyles and 863 others

↳ hsfan3 Have I missed something? 😦

↳ hsfan4 asking the same question

↳ yourfan1 manifesting right now 🕯

↳ harrystyles ❤️

liked by yourinstagram, ynandharry, hsfan2 and 1,112 others

↳ ynandharry dying.

jefezoff I’m really proud of you, Harry.

gemmastyles 🤯❤️

annetwist Seeing you do what you love fills me with so much pride and joy x

liked by gemmastyles, harrystyles, hsfan3 and 54 others

yourinstagram Remember to treat yourself, especially in troubling times like those we are currently facing as humanity, as one. Surround yourself with the things and hobbies you love and what makes you feel safe and warm and happy. Take care of your mental health, reduce the amount of news you consume (because let’s face the truth: it’s depressing every single time), and try to connect with people. Play multiplayer games (that’s what I’m doing), call your best friend, have watch parties, wave each other over the garden fence with enough distance. Try anything and everything to get through this hard and devastating time - everything is valid if it helps you to stay sane.

I love you, people. We will see each other again. Take care and stay safe x

Liked by selenagomez, harrystyles, yourfan1, yourfan2, niallhoran and 999,211 others | 107,682 comments

yourinstagram But please, don’t adopt pets if you know you won’t provide for them after this mess is over, thank you.

liked by taylorswift, niallhoran, yourfan3 and 4,564 others

↳ yourfan1 amen to that

↳ yourfan2 i already fear the post-covid situation in the shelters 🥺

liked by yourinstagram and 3 others

↳ yourinstagram I am currently in contact with a few resources and organizations over that matter! As soon as I have more details, I will let you know and how every single one of us can help x

liked by yourfan1, yourfan2, annetwist and 232 others

↳ yourfan2 YN!!!!! 😍 You seriously are the best human being on this planet.

niallhoran “Calling your best friend” sounds like a great pastime

↳ yourinstagram Do you try to hint that I should call? 😛

↳ niallhoran Well, if you’re asking so nicely already… 😇

↳ 1d4ever i lowkey love their friendship.

taylorswift Beautifully said, YNN 💜

↳ yourinstagram ♥️

harrystyles Beautiful flowers x

↳ yourinstagram They really are. Still need to text someone a huge Thank you ☺️

liked by harrystyles, hsfan1 and 554 others

↳ hsfan1 i’m sensing something

↳ hsfan2 your harrytingles are activated as well???

↳ yourfan3 My theory: Harry sent them to her.

liked by yourinstagram

↳ hsfan3 I’m 99,9% convinced precisely that happened.

↳ yourfan3 😱🤯

yourfan4 Take care, YN! And stay safe!

hsfan4 Which games do you play? 😍

↳ yourinstagram Animal Crossing came out. Does that answer your question? Do you need a screenshot of my already invested hours? (which wouldn’t be a good thing because I’m practically living in my Switch) 😅

liked by hsfan4, yourfan1, niallhoran and 323 others

↳ hsfan4 It totally does, thank you so much for telling me/us 🥹😍 And don’t worry, you’re not alone! :D

liked by yourinstagram and 9 others

etcanada We had the pleasure to talk with Harry Styles about his album Fine Line, his next steps as a singer and songwriter, and his personal life and where it will lead him.

This clip is only a short insight into our interview and shows Harry’s reaction to our interviewer’s question, “Is there a special someone in your life? Did Harry Styles finally find his well-deserved match?” He may have said “No”, but we never saw him happier, so maybe there is something developing he just wants to keep to himself for a little while longer. Either way, we wish him only the best.

Click on the link in our bio to watch/read the full interview with Harry Styles!

Liked by hsfan1, hsfan2, ynandharry, yourfan1 and 44,671 others | 29,346 comments

hsfan1 You can’t tell me that there is nothing going on 👀

↳ hsfan2 true, right?! Look at him! He couldn’t contain the happy laugh after that suspicious “No” after the even more suspicious pause between question and answer! And the grin and his head shake just scream “I am in a happy relationship, and I almost can’t stop myself from blurting it out!” 🥰

↳ hsfan1 this. 100%! and i am bloody here for it!

hsfan3 🕯manifesting more happy Harry interviews🕯

↳ yourfan1 I think we’ll get more 👀

ynandharry His “No” was almost believable. ALMOST! If he hadn’t laughed as he did after that, I could have been tempted to think they were only at the beginning of dating. But this… well well well ❤️

yourfan2 I don’t want to interrupt anything or destroy our corner of the internet or burn it in its entirety, but that’s YN’s bathrobe 👉🏻👈🏻

↳ yourfan3 OH MYYYYYYY IT IIIIIIIIIIS!!!!

↳ hsfan2 wait what?!

↳ hsfan3 You sure????

↳ yourfan2 totally. If you skip to the 2:54 time stamp, he raises his left arm, and there is a rainbow patch near the edge of the sleeve. YN patched it herself after Jupiter, one of her cats, had ripped the fabric 🥹

↳ hsfan3 🤯🤯🤯

↳ hsfan2 So they’re together, and she does social distancing at his, or he does sd at hers; either way, I AM SOBBING 😭❤️

↳ ynandharry i never was happier 🥹

yourinstagram You know what this means.

Liked by harrystyles, yourfan1, niallhoran, selenagomez, yourfan2 and 463,001 others | 49,739 comments

yourfan1 this could easily be your album cover

↳ yourfan2 it could! Lowkey want it to be that picture

niallhoran Whatever your brilliant mind will bring into your notebook, it will be art in its purest form.

liked by yourinstagram, selenagomez, yourfan1 and 5,878 others

↳ yourinstagram Niall 🥺♥️

↳ selenagomez It’s only the truth 💜

hsfan1 The room looks so cozy!

hsfan2 Harry liked her post 😩❤️

harrystyles A brilliant artist in her element x

liked by ynandharry, hsfan3, yourfan4 and 9,708 others

↳ hsfan3 Yeah, you can’t tell me they’re not a thing.

↳ yourfan3 I just thought the same

↳ yourinstagram Those words from you mean so much to me 🥹

liked by harrystyles, yourfan1, hsfan1, selenagomez and 444 others

↳ yourfan4 She really is brilliant. One of the best musicians we have on this planet! 🥰

theoceanismyhome I’m not quite sure what he is doing up there, but it looks like fun. Maybe I should join him - after I enjoyed the minty drink, he brought from this ominous “outside”.

Liked by selenagomez, taylorswift, niallhoran and 6 others | 7 comments

taylorswift So… We learn about your relationship and boyfriend over social media. Interesting.

↳ selenagomez I feel so appreciated - not 🥲

↳ theoceanismyhome NO! I AM SORRY! I didn’t mean to 😦😭

↳ selenagomez Mhmmm…? 👀

↳ taylorswift I feel so much betrayal

↳ theoceanismyhome I just forgot about it because I see him every day and I forgot that we barely see each other and I’m so used to telling you amazing, new things in person and I am so sorry

↳ taylorswift We’re just kidding, lovely ❤️

↳ selenagomez Yep, because we already knew something was going on 😇

niallhoran Someone looks at home 😁

↳ theoceanismyhome I’m really happy that he does. Was kinda worried 👉🏻👈🏻

↳ niallhoran Unnecessary. Your house is the epitome of feeling at home, not to mention you and your character 😙

liked by theoceanismyhome

selenagomez Can’t believe you two played UNO and are still alive + on good terms.

↳ haroldundercover We actually had a lot of fun x

↳ theoceanismyhome There may or may not have been alcohol involved.

liked by niallhoran, selenagomez and haroldundercover

↳ haroldundercover And maybe it wasn’t normal UNO…

↳ theoceanismyhome … but a more adult version of it.

liked by selenagomez

↳ selenagomez You dirty little minds 👀🤭

liked by theoceanismyhome and haroldundercover

haroldundercover Don’t worry, she knows what she is doing.

I guess.

Liked by pillowpersonpp, mitchrowland, gemmastyles, theoceanismyhome and 8 others | 12 comments

gemmastyles Don’t know how you got yourself such a stunning woman, hi

↳ haroldundercover Excuse me? ☹️

↳ gemmastyles 🫣🤷🏽‍♀️

↳ annetwist Stop teasing your brother, Gem ☝🏼

↳ haroldundercover I am stunning too! … Well, not as stunning as she is, obviously.

↳ theoceanismyhome I’m following you. I can read that 👉🏻👈🏻♥️

↳ haroldundercover That’s the purpose of me writing this down, darling ❤️

↳ gemmastyles Awwwww 🥹

mitchrowland A funny and strange thought, I know, but you could help her instead of taking pictures? 🥸

↳ theoceanismyhome I specifically told him to sit on the couch (and look pretty) (kidding)

↳ mitchrowland Aaaah, I see 👀

↳ theoceanismyhome and hiii. Huge fan 👉🏻👈🏻

↳ pillowpersonpp You made him blush 🤭

liked by mitchrowland, haroldundercover and theoceanismyhome

pillowpersonpp We finally see that secret girlfriend of yours 🤭

↳ haroldundercover She wasn’t particularly a secret girlfriend… A lot of people just didn’t know about it/us/her…? 😶

↳ pillowpersonpp Did you not tell it on purpose?

↳ haroldundercover Maybe…?

↳ pillowpersonpp Secret girlfriend, then 💁🏽‍♀️

theoceanismyhome I definitely knew what I was doing!

↳ haroldundercover Of course you did, darling ❤️

↳ theoceanismyhome 🤭😊

annetwist As soon as the world isn’t upside down anymore, you need to bring her home, Harry.

↳ gemmastyles I mean, we already met her via FaceTime, but I want to hug my new sister!

↳ haroldundercover Will do x

eonline Harry Styles and YN LN were spotted at a restaurant in Downtown L.A. today! Holding hands, they picked up some food before heading to Harry’s car, where the two lovebirds took off their face masks for an intimate kiss. It seems like the music industry got itself the newest It Couple.

Check out the link in our bio to see more pictures of the new It Couple!

Liked by hsfan1, hsfan2, internetidiot1, yourfan1 and 4,454 others | 3,931 comments

internetidiot1 Not that ugly and stupid b*tch

↳ yourfan1 Go f*ck yourself, idiot, and ignore posts about celebrities you don’t like instead of spreading hate comments.

↳ hsfan1 Fucking hate those morons.

ynandharry My dream came true 🥹

yourfan2 *deep breath* AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

hsfan2 HAPPIEST DAY OF MY LIFE

yourfan3 Look at how they’re holding hands 🥹

↳ hsfan3 Or Harry’s entire body language! He always is close to her, leans his head down to listen to her talk, or checks the parking lot before bringing her to his car. My lil’ protective bean 🤭

↳ yourfan3 truuuuuuuuuue

hsfan4 Did anyone already see the pictures about their kiss?! I mean, I hate how those paparazzi invaded their privacy, but I CANT CONTROL MYSELF I AM SORRY

↳ ynandharry GOING FERAL. The only thought in my brain was “holy guacamoly”

↳ yourfan4 These two just have skyrocketing chemistry, can’t change my mind.

↳ hsfan4 definitely. But you could also see how much he cares for and adores her. How he held her face and leaned down because she is over 20cm shorter and pulled her into him. And ✨his smile✨ during that kiss.

↳ ynandharry These two are the reason why i’ll never find the right one. They put the bar for every single man and possible relationship very high 😩

yourfan5 He is carrying her purse, so she hasn’t to 🥹😭

↳ hsfan5 Our sweet gentleman ❤️

;

Thank you so much for reading. As usual: Comments, reblogs, and likes are much appreciated!

Taglist:

@onecrazydirectioner

#harry styles fake social media #harry styles x reader #harry styles x fem!reader #harry styles x singer!reader #harry styles imagine #harry styles fake instagram #harry styles fic #harry styles fluff #harry styles instagram blurb #harry styles au #harry styles social media au #harry styles fake ig #harry styles one shot #harry styles fanfic #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles blurb #harry styles instagram imagine #harry styles social media imagine #harry styles smau #harry styles #harry styles x you #harry styles x y/n

[brandycranby]

one thing about us is we will combine our interests! so i present to you: soft thoughts about you and jake jensen — animal crossing new horizons edition! 🤍

when he completes his museum, jake asks you to go over to his island for a virtual (but in-person) date night. he says you two can walk around and read all the facts on the signs together. you arrive at his island and he’s waiting for you in front of the museum. when jake’s character gives yours a flower in your favorite color, it’s hard to do anything but giggle into his shoulder as his arm around you pulls you even closer.

on the custom design app, you make a few designs for jake that are a copy of the t-shirts he owns in real life and he loves it so so much.

you don’t think there’s anyone else in the world who uses the nookphone camera app as much as jake. when you finally get your favorite villager on your island, he wants a picture of you 3 together. when you gift him clothing that matches the outfit your character has on, jake quickly puts it on his character so he can get a cute photo. when you’re giving him a tour of your remodeled island, he insists on taking a picture of you in front of your pretty garden of cross-pollinated flowers.

jake is a bit of a history nerd and this extends to art history. when redd visits your island, jake is always happy to help you choose the real artwork. he never has to look it up and it impresses you every single time.

with jake’s military background and line of work, he’s used to living and doing tasks by a schedule. he has a sleep schedule and doesn’t oversleep. lounging in bed is different; he has no problem with that, especially if it’s next to you. jake feels comfort from your presence under the warm sheets, even if you’re still asleep. very rarely does he go past a certain number of hours a night. so on sunday mornings when he’s awake and you keep drifting in and out of sleep, he grabs your switch to help you buy turnips from daisy mae while he cuddles you.

aghhhhhh tt!! 🥺🥺 I love and cherish all of these headcanons so much!!! 🫶🏻💕💕

yes yes going through the entire museum, sitting on the benches together while you're cuddling together irl. or would it be cuter if you were in separate rooms? hehe going into the bug section together and spending time in the pretty fountain room (also screaming and running away from the spider tree, it jumpscared me today 🥲)

his sd card will get so full aaaa but i love that. maybe he's like that irl too. at his niece's soccer games? at your first day of work or promotion or whatever? on a roadtrip? photos, photos, photos. ooo secretly artsy jake? mr art history? photography whiz?? im loves him

hehe tomorrow will be my first time meeting daisy mae (i'm excited - she's so cute) and i'm nervous 😖 jakey needs to take over the stalk market for me, im no good at these things. i see ur veteran jakey details, i love u for it!! hehe just bc he wakes up early doesn't mean he needs to leave me all cold in bed 😌

#ty for thisssss #i love and appreciate u so much #brandy answers #ttyls <3 #my asks #jake jensen headcanon #jake jensen x you #jake jensen x reader

[introdemodev]

Howdy!

Anyways...to celebrate the demo turning one year old, I wanted to celebrate by posting more behind-the-scene works and such! :-) The plan is to post every day, but I might space some posts out by a day or two - I don’t want to seem like I’m spamming. Either way, I’m going to be active for the next two weeks.

And if you guys have anything you want to see, just let me know and I’ll add it to the queue.

With that out the way, let’s start off with talking about........her. The text box.

The first thing I tested for Introdemo was sprites, the next thing was the textbox and font size. The textbox was something I wanted to figure out right away. If I had to make changes to it later down the line, that meant I might have to possibly rewrite and reformat lines of dialogue. If you notice, the textbox almost always contains 1-2 lines of dialogue.

My original idea for the text box was to have it be literal speech bubbles. Introdemo is a prequel to an old webcomic of mine so I wanted Introdemo to read like a ‘comic’ too (btw don’t look at fridge and bear for any clues!!! it’s getting a soft reboot later down the line!! it’s technically canon but also not canon...it exists in canon limbo).

I also looked at The World Ends With You for inspiration as well.

However, I didn’t understand/know how to code something like that at the time, so I scrapped the idea. This idea still lives on in the game though. Introdemo feels like a bunch of different things, and that’s cool. Aaaaaah look out!! A style shift is approaching!!!!

So, I started to think of other games that I liked that might’ve used as a speech bubble as a textbox or had a speech bubble-like textbox, if that makes any sense. One of the first games that came to mind was Animal Crossing. I’m a fan of that Franchise™ and I’ve been playing it ever since the Gamecube version (best version btw). I’m going to be completely honest, I was heavily inspired by it, especially the speech bubble used in New Horizon, and a bit of New Leaf (NL, because of its use of patterns and the lower opacity).

But mainly, the inspo was New Horizons. I like how sleek it is and it’s nice on the eyes. It’s very simple. Best part is, it doesn’t take too much of the screen either - this was also important because Introdemo has *a lot* of art in it. I didn’t want to cover up the artwork.

So, what I’m saying is, I ripped off the textbox I was heavily inspired by it!

There is another variation of the textbox used in the game, and that is the thought box. It’s a rectangle, an uneven one. Since the game takes place primarily in Fennel’s POV, it’s mainly used by him to narrate, think, vent, and give commentary.

The inspiration for this was manga. In manga, squares/rectangles are sometimes used for inner monologue and narration (well, they're used in western comics too, but you get my point....I was thinking about manga when I made this decision).

After figuring out how I wanted the textbox to look, it was very easy to figure out how I wanted the game’s GUI to look overall. I like to think everything works together aesthetically.

The game has a pulpy-inspired comic look ...

and the menus have a pulpy-inspired magazine/tabloid look.

The menus aren’t exactly set in stone, unlike the textbox, so I do have plans to touch it up on future. It’s fine, but it’s not ‘there’ yet, in my opinion. The accessibility and about menus definitely needs more work and care put into it.

And that’s it for now! There’s not much to say about the GUI at the moment but I’ll go over my inspirations for it at another time. I’ll also go more in-depth about it in the digital art book, which will be available for purchase when the full game comes out (full game will be available for free, ofc :-) )

Thanks for reading!!

#game talk #game development #game dev #i need to go back and tag older posts with 'game talk' later #introdemo #screenshots #ren'py

[userastarion]

tell me about ur comfort shows, movies and video games plsss 🥺🩷🩷🩷

ooooohhh okay i will try to be concise but i can have lots of things to say lol

shows:

the good place - i just love this show. it's about ethics and morality and also choosing to be good to others. and it's funny. what's not to love??

elementary - elementary is like a warm blanket i wear. it was the first show i ever started watching when it premiered and stayed on top of for the entire time it was airing. sherlock & joan are literally everything to me and i fell off my rewatch at the last season bc i didn't want it to end (again)

ted lasso - this one is pretty self-explanatory but much like the good place, it's about kindness and being good to others and it's hilarious. whenever i feel like shit i rewatch the christmas episode from s2 lol

movies:

the princess diaries 1 & 2 - i just love these movies so much. the humor in them is so good!!! i missed so much when i was younger. they're just as funny, if not funnier, as an adult now. maybe they're comforting bc of the nostalgia but i just love how familiar they feel

into the spider-verse - if i want to be entertained by a Quality Film, this is what i'll watch. when i saw it in theaters i wanted to see it again and when i bought it i watched it and then literally started it over to immediately watch it again. it's just phenomenal and i love every second, every frame. this movie has a special pedestal in my heart next to peeta mellark

captain america: the winter soldier - aside from movies i watched as a kid, this may be the film i've seen the most. i just think it's great. the music is so special, the pacing is perfect, and the dynamics between everyone.... this was top-tier moviemaking, particularly for marvel, bc it was before every mcu movie felt quite so formulaic.

video games:

animal crossing - i kind of don't want to count new horizons in this bc it doesn't feel the same but i spent soooo much time playing ac games on my nintendo ds lite and my 3ds. i just love going into the games to talk to all my adorable ass villagers.

the last of us part ii - so this kind of comes with a caveat. i only count this if i skip all the cutscenes. i really really like how the gameplay feels so sometimes i'll just hop into chapters or combat encounters to mess around bc i know exactly how they'll go and i challenge myself to harder difficulties (or just go OP with all the cheats on). the content itself throughout the story isn't particularly comforting sldfjksdfl

skyrim - i have a tough time playing it these days (i just got it again and am playing for the first time in like 10 years) because of motion sickness stuff that hurts my eyes but i love skyrim so much. this was the first huge open-world game i ever really loved and i credit this one and portal 2 for kind of opening the door to gaming for me.

portal 2 - i can't go without mentioning this one bc even though i haven't been able to play it in a LONG time bc i have it on xbox 360 and my laptop can't run it, this game is the first game i remember REALLY loving. it's so special to me. i don't remember how many times i played through it but i know it was at least twice if not 3 times, which is a lot for me as a teenager. it's a quality game with really clever levels, fantastic voice acting, hilarious lines, and a really fun style of play.

it's sleepover saturday! send me... whatever?

#b:answered #gracelcdomas #fun fact: i've spend over 200 hours in tlou2 #also had to do 4 games bc portal 2 does comfort me even tho i haven't played in like a decade #i have wanted to tho #anyway ty for sending!!! #honorable mention is nintendogs bc it always makes me happy to go back and replay it #nintendogs on switch WHEN!!!!!! #mutual:milo

[supergito]

Even though I've put in over 700 hours into New Horizons, I do think Nintendo kinda dropped the ball with it. IMO they put too much priority & focus into the "customizing your island" concept over fleshing out the villagers more. Y'know, the star NPCs of the franchise. It is called Animal Crossing after all.

The next AC game, along with introducing a new / similar game setting that's more polished, I really want them to do more with the villagers. Make more personality types (at least two more so there's 10 instead of just 8). Make every personality type more nuanced, with specific traits and maybe some dialogue lines unique to every villager so every one in a single personality type don't ALL feel like copy-pastes. Introduce more ways players can interact or hang out with the villagers. Add actual games that can be played with more than one villager.

Oh and, especially make the online / multiplayer better. Putting aside the minigames that existed in New Leaf - imagine getting together with friends and playing games or chilling with multiple villagers all at once. Imagine holding an actual party event or something.

This is asking for a lot I know, but considering how these times aren't the early 2000s anymore (the next console AC game probably isn't getting released until the next decade to boot), I think wanting them to go the extra mile for this franchise by now isn't an unreasonable request. I think the AC games still have a lot of potential for near-endless replay value, and it'd be neat if Nintendo capitalized on that.

#animal crossing #animal crossing new horizons #acnh #acnh community #discourse

[sandgame]

Faking a spherical Age for the sake of KI coordinates

Heyo Tumblr, been a while!

Although I haven't used this blog lately, I have still been screwing around with this thing in the background of my life, because at this point I've basically accepted that semi-theorizing about how to make Better Uru is just my pastime.

Anyway. As a result of something else I was contemplating for this bizarre project of mine, I realized that because of how KI coordinates work, game worlds which allowed players to wander sufficiently far from the Age's Maintainer's Mark would need to implement some form of fakery in order to properly simulate the effect of walking around on a sphere while using a cylindrical coordinate system.

The "obvious" solution of just making the game world a sphere is… not really smart, though, so what's a game dev who is overcommitted to the concept of realism in this game to do?

Well, first let's finish defining the problem.

As you walk away from the Zero point of an Age, your elevation coordinate will decrease (generally; local surface geometry like mountains notwithstanding) until you reach the Zero’s exact antipode, because walking across the surface of the sphere will always send you "down" relative to the placement of the Maintainer's Mark. It should then increase back to 0 as you proceed back toward the Zero point across the other half of the planet.

But because game worlds are flat, this effect would have to be simulated for sufficiently large maps.

To do this, we have to know the following values:

The average radius of the planet

The distance traveled from the Zero point

The Zero point’s elevation relative to the planet’s average radius

The player’s local elevation relative to the planet’s radius

Using the equation for the length of a circular arc, we can reverse engineer the angular distance traveled:

L = θ * r

Or

θ = L / r

Where L is the length of the arc travelled (how far from the zero point the player is in a straight line), and r is the planet’s radius. 

NOTE: The math in the next part assumes you never travel more than 90 degrees around the planet, which I think is generally acceptable for the purposes of this hypothetical, but just be aware that what's presented here is not a completely comprehensive solution.

Solving for θ lets us construct a right triangle whose hypotenuse is the planet’s radius plus the player’s current elevation above that radius, and whose long leg is the planet’s radius minus the vertical distance the player has travelled away from the Zero point. We find the length of the leg with this function:

a = c × sin(θ)

Once we have a, we subtract it from the planet’s radius to get the elevation KI coordinate.

It may be necessary to make adjustments to certain values going into the equation solving for a in cases where the player has moved more than 90 degrees around the planet from the Zero point. 

The distance coordinate is calculated using the following formula to get the horizontal “opposite” leg of the right triangle formed by the radius of the planet and the angle the player is away from the Zero axis—which extends straight through the center of the planet, or:

b = c × cos(θ)

The value of b is our horizontal distance from the axis of the Zero point. (I should point out that we can't just use the XZ vector distance between the player and the Zero point for this measurement, as the player's travel is being treated as an arc for the purposes of simulating a sphere, and the arc's length would be greater than the actual absolute linear distance traveled if the map were actually spherical.)

The angle coordinate is the simplest to calculate, as it’s simply the player position’s angle from the vector of the Zero point (the “line” of the Zero), converted to torantee. 

In addition to faking the KI coordinates, a shader may also be used to post-process the geometry of the scene such that it falls over a false “horizon”, much like Animal Crossing New Horizons’ island terrain does (though the effect would be far less dramatic in this case). 

#sandgame #devblog #myst #d'ni #KI

[faline-cat444]

An Odd Reunion

Since yesterday I’ve been messing around at playing with Master Detective Archives:Rain Code.Detecting a few familiar tones in some of the characters I decided to see what’s been shared about the casting choices so far and got some fairly surprising connections.

Starting it off is Yuma

 I could have easily accepted at being Eiji Kakihana from Odd Taxi but scrolling a bit further I found a more “ideal” choice of why he sounded familiar and it wasn’t from playing one of the rivals in a Pokemon mini-series...

VICTOR S. COURT HAS BEEN DUG UP FROM THE GRAVEYARD

(As for who to give credit for these mentions it’s Lucien Dodge,so now I have a name and character to link if I ever cross by in any future works he happened to be casted for)

My next most major “I think I know this voice” was Pucci Lavmin

And in the grand scheme she was very recent for my experiences.Her English voice is Lindsay Sheppard and I guess until further notice she’s mainly immortalized to me as Sumire.

But Yuria is a rather close second in what I can say must have been my “true” introduction to her casting choices

Following this comes Melami Goldmine

Voiced by Lauren Landa we return to Odd Taxi as she’s the only alpaca around

Finally to end this off is something not exactly out yet but I have now gotten a mix of surprise and confusion from what seems to be known.Shinigami is a crazy little take on the Death God formula but I guess she’s become who I first think of for Anjali Kunapaneni and I’m not quite sure how to feel about that since she’s apparently also going to be Roy when the dub of Pokemon Horizons starts rolling out.Lemon Irvine from Mashle isn’t event standing a chance against a character who says lines like this.

Similar to what I said with Sheppard this is something of a sample versus the main course.But seeing some cast of Pokemon’s latest mainline anime on the English scene has been shared I also got some rather “rewarding” news from my little hunt.

The sub and dub both have a major casting choice perk...Unless nothing ends up changing but there’s still a chance Sprigatito is Megumi Hayashibara aka Lina Inverse while Friede’s going to be Zelgadis.Lisa Ortiz already took over as Litten...If they decide the cat’s cries must change I have my preference of who should be put on the spot...

#Master Detective Archives #Rain Code #Odd Taxi #Bravely Default #My Clueless First Friend #Mieruko Chan #Pokemon #Pokemon Horizons #Slayers #The Slayers

[ace-planecrasher]

Happy New Year

Humans had always been the most rowdy of the great apes. Their civilization had struggled to get moving for a few thousand years but once it did everything really started going to the dogs. They ripped the trees from the Earth, slaughtered animals, erected shrines and great pillars of concrete and glass to their hubris and comfort, and they pumped strange chemicals into the sky. They attempted to take control of the logic of the world and bend it to fit their needs, but you can only bend something so much until it snaps.

It started in three different places, all at once: in the American state of New Mexico, the Kantō province of Japan, and out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Within minutes, everyone on Earth had heard about what happened and not one person knew how to react. It did not take long, though, for interpretations to gain momentum. Most were of the opinion that the appearance of the three angels heralded a great miracle, the return of god to the Earth, or some other great historic event and, in that sense, they were absolutely correct. Great pilgrimages began, people crossing the Earth however they could, just to bear witness to the divine creatures. People flooded into both nations. Neither country could slow the deluge of pilgrims, who feared neither imprisonment nor violence (at least the scientists were deterred by the threat of pain or death). The angels themselves, for their part, sat on golden thrones of sunlight that people tended to throw themselves down in front of despite the burning of their skin. The cities around these new holy sites were all swept up in the mass migration of people, within days they had been looted dry and supplies had to be shipped in en mass by benefactors, along with the Japanese government. The coast of California and the Eastern side of Japan were both crammed full of with massive cargo ships. For a little while they managed to form lines to unload at the docks and ports but eventually it became so congested that ships became trapped amongst themselves. The contents of the ships were either thrown onto the shore and carried off by car, or simply thrown into the sea with a quick prayer that it would find its way to those who need it. Most of the cargo ended up rotting in the ships or sinking into the sea, never to be touched by human hands. The airports were useless in the mad rush to approach the angels. Any nearby airports were quickly inundated with aircraft of all shapes and sizes: private jets, passenger planes, and any other aircraft people could get their hands on. Just as the rush cooled down and supply lines were established, the arch-angels delivered their messages. The angel over New Mexico spoke first, its name was FORCE. It spoke mountains shattering, tectonic plates colliding, and the tearing of the Earth. As it spoke their great fists clenched tightly. Many were swallowed by the Earth. Those who stood near its throne should have been instantly killed by the force but FORCE held their broken bodies together as a reward for their devotion. The throne now stood on a vast plateau of desert that stretched beyond the horizon in every direction. A great plume of dust, smoke, and dirt coated the Earth and blacked out the sky. Its task was to reshape the land. The next angel to speak had just been raised out of the ocean and now sat alone, in the dark, on an island of mud and dying fish. Her name was LIFE. She spread her arms and the dust and ash in the air was expelled from the atmosphere and laughed into space at incredible speeds. Anything in orbit, including the moon, were completely perforated with microscopic holes. She spoke new animals, plants, and diseases into the world. From her hands they spewed forth, into the sea and onto the land, and into the sky. Many of them were unfit for function and died shortly after and their meat fed her children. Her island became a verdant paradise of fresh life and the areas devastated by her sibling were rejuvenated. Her task was to bring forth new forms and excite the evolutionary process. The third angel held close the humans who had made it to their throne, protecting them from harm. The third angel’s name was APOTHEOSIS. Their task was to commit sin and corrupt the Earth. They discussed condemnation and punishment with the humans; those that repented were forgiven and scattered across the planet. Those humans that refused to apologize were twisted. They were removed from nature, no longer animals: they were now demons. The angel had eight minutes to change what they will about the new world before a heavenly spear struck them, pinning their body to the Earth. Legions of their demonic children and scores of Angels of all ranks descended upon the helpless body, consuming their grace along with their flesh. When they had finished and the last bit of flesh had been consumed, it was the first day of the new year 1.

#writing #P-Anth #unedited #brain dump #rework 3 later #flush out 2 #come back to plateau

[melody-everbelle]

On Sunday Morning (Nathan Chen x Reader)

Title: On Sunday Morning

Pairing: Nathan Chen x gender neutral gamer!reader

Word count: 1,090

Warning(s): Though not really a warning, there is some fluff in this story 🥺

Summary: Nathan wakes up to find a Sunday morning routine that Y/N does.

Author's Note: I don’t have any words... Let’s just say this fanfic was inspired by me having to wake up almost every Sunday morning to play ACNH to buy turnips in-game.

***

You were in bed, cuddling warmly with Nathan. While sleeping, you were aware that today was your first Sunday since moving in with him. You woke up to take a look at the alarm clock that was on the drawer next to the bed. 4:59 AM, it read. That meant now was the time to get your Nintendo Switch to play Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and to buy turnips in the game. But you did not want to abruptly wake your boyfriend up from his peaceful slumber, and you normally wouldn't wake up this early. You softly planted a kiss on Nathan's forehead before you carefully climbed out of the bed, grabbed your Switch, and headed downstairs to the living room, all while trying not to make any noise. Once you landed on the couch, you turned on your Switch and wandered around your island in-game.

About an hour after you left, Nathan woke up to the alarm clock beeping. "Morning, Y/N," he opened his eyes only to find that you were not on the bed. "Y/N?" He quickly sat up, his eyes darting all over the room. "Where'd you go?" He whispered before climbing out of the bed and and exiting the bedroom to find you. "Y/N? Y/N, where are you?"

As you were busy playing your game in the living room, you heard Nathan call your name. "Oh shoot!" you whispered before exclaiming, "I'm downstairs, Nathan!"

Eventually, you saw Nathan heading downstairs to find you. "There you are, Y/N!" Nathan sighed in relief at the fact that you were in the living room all along. "I've been looking all over for you since I woke up." He stopped to notice the Nintendo Switch that was being held by both of your hands.

"Oh!" You gasped and stuttered, "Nathan, I-I can explain..."

"What are you doing in the living room with your console early in the morning?" he questioned.

"Yeah, about that," you sat up and moved to the end of the couch, inviting Nathan to sit next to you. "Please sit here, I've got something to show you."

Nathan obliged and headed over to the couch, instantly snuggling with you. "So, what's this about?"

You showed Nathan your Switch, which portrayed your character interacting with a small female boar wearing a blue kimono style dress, a white headscarf, and a basket of turnips on top of her head. One notable feature is a drip coming from her left nostril. "You see that small boar wearing turnips on her head? That's Daisy Mae, she visits my island every Sunday to sell turnips."

Nathan watched as your character bought the turnips from Daisy Mae, with the latter chanting a rhyme, "Turnips, turnips, watch them rise! Try to earn a nice surprise!"

"So, what do you do with the turnips in the game, exactly?" Nathan chuckled.

"You can do pretty much anything," you explained. "You can sell them, you can eat them, and you can even use them as ingredients."

"Wow, that's amazing," Nathan commented.

"But there are some downsides when it comes to turnips," you warned. "For starters, you can't sell turnips on Sundays, and if you don't do anything with your turnips by next Sunday, they'll rot. Like this," you directed your character to an area of your island where a spoiled turnip was being swarmed by ants.

"Oh, yikes," Nathan slightly cringed as he watched your character catch the ants with his/her/their net. 

"On the bright side, though," you pointed out as your character caught the ants, "spoiled turnips can be used to catch ants."

"That's really cool," Nathan sighed as he learned that spoiled turnips could be used as a silver lining in the game. "So, what are you going to do with your turnips?"

"You see, Nathan," you sighed, "I've been wanting to make some money, er, Bells, for my island." You showed him the current state of your island, which was far from the way you wanted it to be. "But, in order for it to happen, I have to spend so much Bells on certain things, such as relocating houses, building and getting rid of bridges and inclines, you get the gist."

"I see," Nathan nodded sympathetically as he saw how imperfect your island was.

"But I'm not gonna worry about that right now," you acknowledged. "From now on, I wanna spend some time having fun in the game, while also making sure I have enough materials for my island. I'm not giving up, no matter what happens."

"That's the spirit!" Nathan praised, being reminded of how he persevered since his time at the 2018 Winter Olympics. "I knew you're not gonna give up, despite your financial problems... in-game, of course."

You blushed and felt your heart flutter at Nathan's comment. Ever since the day you met him, you were inspired to keep your head up despite the obstacles that you were facing in your lifetime, and to have someone like Nathan encourage you to keep going just made you love him even more. You collapsed on his chest and let out a sigh, "Thanks, Nathan. You're the best boyfriend I could ever ask for. And I'm sure as heck I'll reach my goal someday."

"That's my girl/boy/lover," Nathan softly kissed your forehead as you giggled.

"So the more turnips I buy," you continued as you kept playing your game, "the more money I'll make just by selling them the next days after today."

"See, I knew you can do it!" Nathan started teasing you by repeatedly pecking his lips all over your face and neck.

"Nathan, stop, I'm in the middle of playing my game!" You laughed as you squirmed around from being kissed until Nathan slowly came to a stop.

You felt Nathan wrap his arms around you as the both of you lay down on the couch. "So, shouldn't we be having breakfast right now?" You wondered as you were finished placing your turnips on your island to prepare for selling them tomorrow.

"How about I watch you play for a couple of more minutes? We've got plenty of time all morning," Nathan placed his chin on your head.

"You're right," you replied. "I love you, Nate."

"Love you too, love," Nathan planted a kiss on your head.

The both of you spent the rest of the morning on the couch, with you explaining the basics of the game to Nathan, until your Switch gave the "low battery" warning.

#nathan chen #nathan chen x reader #nathan chen x you #nathan chen x y/n #nathan chen imagines #nathan chen fluff #x reader fanfiction #gamer!reader

[bnmblebear]

Dasui Reef After Hours

A showcase of my favorite places on my Animal Crossing New Horizons island.

Enjoy.

Two take place in my museum and one in my home, I truly like those areas so I decided to share. My island is witchcore/dark academia/moon themed, hence all the vines and the cauldron, the moss, and the moon lined pathways - along with the two moons I have on my island; one by the entrance and one next to my flowerfield that I forgot to get the video of. I guess you can say space instead of moon given I have stars on display-

[mourningstarfarms]

New next gen animal crossing concept:

“Roaming Lands”

Or

“Forest Dreams”

Player is an “adventurer” and is a ‘founder’ of new land (with the funding for development by Tom Nook). Select tasks are only available for the ‘founder(s)’ from different consoles (ex; building placement, building relocation, building updates, making constructions, etc.) choose friends wisely!

Bigger community based on land selection- ability to have multiple people on selected lands. Same console accounts or accounts from different consoles can live on the same land.

Host console has ability to move other founder(s) out. If the land is reset with the other ‘founder(s)’ from different consoles on it, the next console in line that moved to the land is now host.

Can visit other lands with an RV similar to pocket camp. “RV park” similar to new leaf for those visiting. Your RV can be placed down like a building in new horizons or is one whole unit including your home. RV park includes Harv’s home.

OK Motors reintroduced for RV customization and building relocation after certain milestones are met.

More opportunities for diverse terraforming. Bulk crafting and new recipes. Terraforming and specific crafting type acquired after certain milestones are met.

Introducing clothing recipes! Available after Able Sister’s building is constructed and certain milestones are met. Clothing can still be acquired at the Able Sister’s shop and by villagers.

“Dream time” is a one hour time frame between 1am and 2am where the landscape becomes a “dream world”. New fish and bug species are found in this world. New flower variants and select fruit. New recipes available. No fallen trees, terraforming, item placement, or construction during this time. Villagers can still be visited, but have similar dialogue to dreaming in new horizons. Villagers wear exclusively night wear during this time. Seasons will alter the dream scape (ex; spring is “lifting dream”, summer is “starlight dream”, autumn is “drifting dream”, winter is “wonder dream”- also varies depending on hemisphere). Different dream days will have a chance (higher percentage when dreaming) for shooting stars.

Visiting Lands via Dream addresses available if player has a bed.

Diving will have a slim chance of finding “sunken treasures” item collection. Dream variants are a lower percentage of encounter.

“Lake diving” available if land has a natural lake with pier or lake construction with pier (see population growing for pier). To be separated from rivers by small underwater barriers.

Buildings can be constructed and relocated. Select variant customization can be acquired for an added fee from Tom Nook. The Nook’s Cranny has different stages, the owners will ask if you think they should upgrade. Say no and the option to upgrade will be available from Tom Nook.

Reece’s upgrade camper + upgrades available after certain milestones are met. (Reece’s popup shop)

Kicks apparel camper + upgrades available after certain milestones are met. (Kicks’ corner store)

Redd becomes a traveling salesman. Available every other week.

Katrina’s fortune telling camper + upgrades available after certain milestones are met. (Fortune tent).

Leif’s garden camper + upgrades available after certain milestones are met. (Leif’s greenhouse)

Post office + bank reintroduced.

Orville can set you up with “land discovery”, a small land discovery service to gather resources find “new lands” differing in season and in time (see Kappin’s boat service in new horizons). Villager discovery only available to lands with vacant housing space (2000 Nook mile fee).

Kappin’ reintroduces boat tours! Island minigames and select items found from island shop and diving (1000 bell ride fee per player).

Additional DLC content extending from Orville’s flight service and Kappin’s boat service.

Rare/uncommon NPC discovery available on random days.

*Future additions may be added. Just concept ideas from a dream I had. Constructive community additions welcome.

#animal crossing #animal crossing pocket camp #animal crossing population growing #animal crossing new horizons #animal crossing new leaf #animal crossing ideas #acnl #acnh #acpc #acpg #animal crossing consept #my thoughts

[ambleyonderwanders]

Deep Cut Gardens

Picture it: July of 2023. When I heard there was a garden formerly owned by a Mafia boss, my interest was piqued. When I found out its name was a pun, I knew I had to see the place for myself.

Located down in Middletown Township, Deep Cut Gardens’ claim to fame is former owner Vito Genovese, who had the gardens built to resemble his native Naples. It’s now in the care of the Monmouth County Park System, who’ve dedicated the grounds to the enrichment of their local horticultural enthusiast population. They, incidentally, have a more robust history of the property on their website.

The Rose Parterre and Rose Pergola.

The grounds sport a koi pond, a greenhouse, a number of walking paths, a pergola, and a parterre that looks straight out of a castle’s courtyard. I may have had to Google what a “parterre” is, but now I’ll look super cultured when I whip that one out at my next social gathering. Just don’t ask me how it’s pronounced…

A creature I’ve only ever seen on my island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons came to greet me straight away. This gorgeous, gorgeous girl is the eastern tiger swallowtail. (How do I know she’s a girl? Those stunning blue spots only appear on the females of the species!) I never knew they lived here in Jersey. Turns out they can be found all over the eastern half of the United States! She’s an East Coast girly.

A fairy house… or a gnome home.

The walking trails will eventually take you to a set of stairs lined with the most whimsical trees I’ve ever seen; the spot looked like a fairytale and I fully expected to get whisked away by pixies. I wish I’d gotten more photos, but there were not one but two separate wedding/engagement photoshoots going on that I was trying not to photobomb!

If you manage to outmaneuver the pixies and get to the bottom of the stairs, you’ll reach the pergola and parterre.

The greenhouse was similarly charming, and had more greenery of the “indoor plant” variety. Apparently, the gardens also host a seed exchange station – like a “little free library” but for plant seeds instead of books, which is an idea so adorable that it makes me wanna cry.

Deep Cut Gardens was an absolutely stunning spot that certainly justifies all the simultaneous photoshoots. It’d be a fun place to check out if you’re a gardener, if you’re interested in local history, or if you’re a fan of Mafia dramas. (Actually, I think you’re legally required to be a fan of The Sopranos if you live in New Jersey…)

If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll even make a few insect friends like I did.

- Aley ❤️

#solo dates #solo trips #butterflies #deep cut gardens #south jersey #new jersey #gardens #flower gardens #flowers #gardening #middletown nj #monmouth county #photography