#they are very different games that try to do very different things

[mapiforpresident]

Alexia x reader Request for the final:

The game looked like barca lost until reader got subbed on. Reader is barcas Star Player at the moment always changching any game for the better. Towards the end tho reader gets a head injury that gets her off. But she comes back on the pitch for celebrations.

Head in the Game

Alexia Putellas x reader

warnings: blood, injury

~~~

Barca fans around the world were extremely nervous. The Champions League final against Lyon was tied 0-0 in the 75th minute. You were anxious to join the game.

You were coming back from a minor hamstring injury and therefore couldn't play the entire 90 minutes, but you knew you could play the last fifteen minutes.

Lyon had had a couple of real chances in the last five minutes, and some of your fellow Barca players were growing tired from how intense the game had been so far. You were sitting next to your girlfriend, squeezing her hand very intensely, when Jona motioned for you to get ready to sub on along with Ona.

As soon as you were on the field, you helped to turn the tide. Your runs were perfectly timed, and you were connecting every single pass. Just a couple of minutes after you came on, you scored a beautiful goal that soared past Endler's gloves.

You ran straight into your girlfriend's arms and jumped. She swung you around before all your teammates started jumping on you and patting you on the head.

"That was amazing, mi amor, you are amazing," Alexia yelled into your ear. You hugged her tighter before hugging a couple of your teammates and walking back to your position, ready to hold your lead.

You were on a different level after that, running all over the field and helping to create more chances while also helping to defend against Lyon.

Everything was going great, and you were on cloud nine, especially when you saw your girlfriend walking over to be subbed on. Alexia deserved this, and you couldn't wait to play in another Champions League final with your girlfriend.

Alexia and Pina came on during a corner, and you high-fived them as you walked with them to set up inside the box. You were standing right in front of Lindsey Horan and very close to Cata.

The corner was kicked, and you saw the ball head right towards you and Horan, so you jumped up to try and head the ball away from the goal and Lindsey's head. What you didn't account for was how strong Horan pushed you forward to try and get you off the ball, and the next thing you saw was a large goalpost right in front of your head.

You hit the ground hard and blacked out for a couple of seconds. Cata immediately kneeled down next to you and called the medics over as soon as she saw blood running down the side of your head.

Alexia sprinted over as soon as she saw you crumpled on the ground. Sliding next to you, she took your hand and yelled at the medics to run faster as you still weren't fully conscious.

"Y/n, amor, can you hear me?" Alexia said as you started to groan and try to open your eyes. Everything was so bright, and all you heard was a loud ringing in your ears.

After a few seconds, you were finally able to make out Ale's voice above you. You tried to focus on her face, squinting from the brightness and listening to her voice. You could feel her hand squeezing yours tightly, anchoring you and keeping you calm.

"Yeah," you managed to croak out, although your voice sounded distant.

You heard rustling around you and Alexia saying something about staying by your side, so you figured the medics had arrived. Your head was still throbbing, but as they moved you onto your back, the world was spinning, and you felt like you were going to throw up.

"Do you think you can stand?" one of the medics asked you. Before you could even think about your answer, Alexia responded, "Does it look like she can stand? She can't even open her eyes all the way. She needs a stretcher."

"Of course," the medic replied. Although you were embarrassed about having to be stretchered off the field, you were extremely relieved you didn't have to try to move at all. You were also incredibly grateful that your girlfriend was on the field.

"Mi amor, I'm right here," Alexia whispered into your ear so you could hear her as the medics carefully lifted you onto the stretcher. You squeezed her hand tightly, using the pressure to distract you from the pounding in your head as you were lifted into the air.

You could faintly hear the crowd clapping as you were taken off the field. "I'll come check on you in just a few minutes when the game is done, amor, okay?" Alexia said. You gave her a weak thumbs up as she released your hand, and she turned and ran back towards her position, with new determination to score and seal the victory.

~~~

In the medical room, the staff quickly began tending to your injury. You felt the sting of antiseptic and the gentle but firm touch of a medic bandaging your head. You took the painkillers that were handed to you and turned your head to the TV, smiling brightly when you saw Alexia's shot hit the back of the net. You might have even drooled a little when you saw her take of her shirt.

~~~

As soon as the final whistle blew, Alexia ran to be at your side. She could celebrate as soon as she checked on you and made sure you were okay with her own eyes.

Once she found you in the medical room, Alexia never left your side, her eyes never leaving your face.

"You were incredible out there," she said softly, brushing a stray hair from your forehead. "You always are."

"I just... wanted to help," you mumbled, your voice sounding clearer now.

"You did more than help. You scored the goal that's keeping us ahead," Alexia replied, her voice filled with pride. "Now you need to rest and let them take care of you, okay?"

"I wish I could've been out there for the end and for your goal. Pina's assist was amazing; I need to congratulate her," you said, smiling. Alexia chuckled at your joke and playfully slapped your arm as you tried to sit up. You were starting to feel a lot better and more alert.

"There's still time for the celebrations," Alexia said, helping you sit up slowly. "The doctors said you're okay to go out for a bit, just no roughhousing with Mapi and Lucy like usual." You pouted at that.

~~~

With Alexia's support, you stood up and made your way back to the pitch. The crowd's cheers grew louder as they saw you emerge, and your teammates rushed over to hug you, careful of your bandaged head. The trophy presentation was about to begin, and you were determined to be a part of it.

You walked toward the back of the line so Alexia could be last to receive the trophy. The atmosphere was electric, the cheers of the fans echoing through the stadium as your teammates lined up. Alexia kept a steady hand on your back, guiding you gently but firmly, her eyes always flicking to you to make sure you were okay.

When it was your turn to get your medal, you felt a wave of emotions wash over you. You stepped forward, accepting your medal with a wide smile. The weight of the metal against your chest felt like a tangible reminder of everything you'd worked for.

The moment had come for the trophy presentation. Alexia was handed the trophy, and as she lifted it high above her head, the roar of the crowd was deafening. She turned to you, and with a grin, she lowered the trophy so the two of you could hold it together.

"This is for us," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the noise. "For everything we've done together."

The two of you held the trophy aloft, surrounded by your teammates. Mapi, your best friend, shook your shoulders lightly, still cautious of your head. "We did it, Maps. Time to party," you yelled over the noise as you took her flag, waving it around since you didn't want to jump up and down in fear of getting dizzy.

The joy on everyone's faces was infectious, and despite the throbbing in your head, you couldn't stop smiling.

~~~

After the initial celebrations on the podium, the team gathered for a more intimate celebration on the pitch with friends and family coming down from the stands. You were careful to avoid any roughhousing, much to your disappointment, sticking close to Alexia, who kept a protective arm around you as you greeted your families. Eli gave you a tight hug and fussed over your head.

Walking back to the locker room a while later, you were starting to become tired, leaning more into Alexia. "How are you feeling?" she asked softly, her eyes searching yours.

"Better," you assured her, leaning into her embrace. "Just happy to be here with you."

As the celebrations continued around you in the locker room, Alexia pulled you into a gentle kiss, her lips soft and warm against yours.

"Te amo," she murmured against your lips.

"Te amo," you replied, your heart full to bursting.

"Get a room, I'm trying to enjoy my beer," Pina yelled through her megaphone, with Patri laughing behind her as she brought you your favorite kind of pizza. You talked and laughed with them for a minute while Alexia slipped away for an interview.

~~~

Later on the bus, you sat with Alexia, your head resting on her shoulder, soaking in the winning feeling and the happiness from all your friends.

"Tonight was perfect," you said softly, looking up at Alexia.

"It really was," she agreed, her eyes full of warmth as she looked at you.

"I can't believe we did it," you said, your voice filled with emotion.

"We did," Alexia replied, gently kissing the top of your head, making sure it wasn't too close to the bandage. "And we'll win more Champions Leagues together."

#woso #woso x reader #fcb femení #fcb femení x reader #fc barcelona femeni #woso imagine #alexia putellas one shot #alexia putellas #alexia putellas x reader #alexia putellas imagine #fc barcelona

[undertalethingems]

man, idk if i can describe the Undertale dream I had last night... but i'm going to try, and it's a long one:

It started out as me playing an entirely different (fictional) game, but next thing i knew a glitch sent my character out-of-bounds or something like that. I tried to reset, but instead of going back to that game, it flicked through alternate Undertale timelines every time a reset was attempted. I don't remember what most of these were like, aside from largely being role swap AUs--one featured a confident Alphys who had seemingly put her soul in a robot body, and was happy to see me/my character because we could potentially help her research this weird timeline stuff she'd noticed...

how many times you could go back was limited, so eventually things got stuck in a timeline that was quite different from the normal game--and then i/my character left normal game space entirely and entered what seemed like the storage area for like... an appliance store? Idk, there were fridges and furniture and other junk scattered around--yes, very backrooms, i know. But my POV character wasn't the only one down there.

They found dozens of other monsters that had fallen out of the assorted timelines and ended up in this strange space. Most were random NPCs, but several were versions of the main Undertale cast. I recall two Mettatons who were dating each other, and an Undyne who filled Toriel's role in her original world. Sans was there too, seated on a couch, but... I tried to say hi to him, and got no reply. It seemed the whole experience had essentially broken him, and the only thing he cared about was making sure the Papyrus next to him hadn't Fallen Down--even though it was swap!Papyrus, and not his original brother.

In fact, there were seemingly no other Papyruses at all (though i don't remember there being any Asgores or Toriels either, ahah.). But as the group of lost monsters started moving to try and find a way out or get some answers, another monster appeared: Gaster. Though, he looked like he was wearing a paper-mache mask--it had that lumpy, papery texture, but no eyes or mouth... And apparently, all these disappearances were his doing. But he promised he had his reasons, and if we followed him we'd find out who he was and why he was doing this. So of course the crowd rushed to follow him down a corridor that got progressively more... unfinished looking, like the garbage area where Spamton lurks, with blocks of missing pixels. It looked unsafe, but i was excited to see what all this was leading to. i just had to follow him around the corner...!

And then I woke up.

Yep. Trolled by my own brain. this isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened to me either--I've had several dreams where i was going to learn some incredible secret, only to wake up moments before the reveal. So, now you can share my disappointment too, but I guess I didn't clairvoyantly reveal spoilers for Deltarune XD

#undertalethingem chats #definitely one of the more elaborate dreams i've had in a long time o.o

[hgfictionwriter]

Maybe This Time - Part Three

Jessie Fleming x Reader

Summary: Jessie and you finally get some 1:1 time together (thanks Janine!). You work to build new memories together, but hurt from the past needs to be addressed.

Warnings: None. Temporary, very light angst, but mostly sweet fluff.

A/N: Part two and one. Part Four will likely be the finale.

"What do you think? Should I go for it?" 

Jessie smirked as she saw the screenshot you sent her of her jersey in the Thorns' site shopping cart. 

"I don't know. I thought you said that was too big a commitment." 

"I did. But I was rather impressed at the last game. And we went for drinks after, I finally got to meet Janine – so you know, points for that. And if I think about it, I'm like an OG fan. But if you think I should get a different jersey..." 

Jessie laughed under her breath, her smirk now a full blown smile as she read your message while she ate lunch. The conversation she'd been on the periphery of carried on as she ate another bite before typing out a reply. 

"Oh yeah? Post-game drinks were a hit, huh? And you know, my stats are only getting better with each game 😉 And let's be honest, I'd be pretty offended if you got someone else's jersey. Except Sinc's. Because, you know, GOAT." 

"Oh, well, say no more. You had me at 'stats' lol. Done. I'll pick it up before next game." 

"Lol I figured. My plan all along – I know how much you love stats." 

"You know me so well. I have to say, I'm kind of tempted to modify the jersey. Add some sort of patch or stitching, 'Yay sports!'" 

Jessie laughed out loud, less discrete than before.  

"Don't you dare lol. I've taught you better than that. But hey, if you ask nicely, I could actually sign it for you 😎" 

"I'm sure I have an old group paper kicking around with your signature on it. I need to be able to wash this thing lol. What else can you offer though?" 

Jessie swallowed her food hard, the bite getting caught temporarily in her throat with a wince. Okay, no signature – how humbling. However, there was an opening. 

She stared at her phone temporarily before a loud clearing of someone's throat caught her attention. She lifted her gaze with a curious frown on her face to see Janine staring expectantly at her. Jessie instinctively tilted the phone inwards towards her body. 

"I don't even have to spy to know who you're texting," the blonde said rather self-satisfied. Jessie looked around, heat building in her face already as she hoped Janine was the only one focused on her.  

"Yeah?" Jessie retorted, attempting to appear as unfazed as possible. "You should be pleased. You keep pushing me to text her." She cracked a smirk. "Now that you don't think she's the devil incarnate for 'stringing me along' in university." 

"Oh I don't think you need to be pushed," Janine teased with a wicked grin. "And I never said she was the devil incarnate." She lifted a hand to her chest in exaggeration. "I merely questioned things. But you're right," she relented, "she's quite lovely. And she gives you butterflies, and she makes you blush - more than usual - and you try to act all nonchalant and it's just too adorable for words." 

"Uh huh," Jessie muttered with a flat look. Janine leaned in excitedly. 

"And I have to say, I got the sense that she and I could riff off of each other and just tease the heck out of you, so that really sealed the deal for me." 

Jessie rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, that's exactly what I need in my life." She'd never admit that it actually excited her that her best friend and you could get along so well. If – and it was a huge 'if' - anything evolved between you two, it was key that you got along with her friends and family.  

She started thinking about how well you got on with her parents and sister – you'd met before during your days at UCLA and they loved you. She also remembered how disappointed they'd seemed when she eventually told them that you two didn't speak anymore.  

"Well, since you're so invested," Jessie went on, rolling her eyes facetiously once more as she opened her phone again and turned it to Janine, "what should I say?" 

Janine squinted as she leaned in to read and it only took a moment for her expression to light up. Before Janine could say anything, Jessie snatched the phone back and placed it on her lap with a frown.  

"I don't want to hear it," she pre-empted the girl. 

"What?" Janine said innocently with a mischievous glint in her eye. "I am totally supportive of the flirtation between you two." She ignored Jessie's look of complaint and cut off her protest. "Her shutting down your autograph is pretty hilarious, by the way," she said with a marginally apologetic look. "Not smooth on your part – you know she's not impressed by your elite football skills. Don't lean on your Jessie the Footballer identity." 

"I wasn't," Jessie nearly hissed, trying to keep her voice down and avoid drawing attention. "I was joking. Half joking." 

"You were flirting, or at least attempting to. She left you an opening here though. So, you should ask her out." 

"I'm not asking her out," Jessie pouted, her shoulders rounding as she scooched closer to the table. She huffed upon seeing the scrutinizing look her friend gave her. "We're still getting to know each other again." 

"Fine. Don't define it as a date, then," Janine dismissed with a wave. She leaned in, folding her arms on the table. "Ask her to go for dinner." 

"Basic," Jessie remarked as she sat up and crossed her arms in disapproval. She frowned. "Plus that's too date-like." 

"Fine," Janine said curtly. "How about a hike?" 

Jessie hummed and hawed, unconvinced. "Maybe someday. Doesn't seem right at this point though." Janine rolled her eyes in exasperation.  

"Well, what did you two used to do back at UCLA?" 

Jessie shrugged. She saw the frustration Janine was telegraphing at how unhelpful she was being and jumped in. "We went to drop-in art classes sometimes." 

Janine held a hand up to the sky. "Thank you. Finally – something I can work with. Okay! Let's find a drop-in class for you two to go to then." She pulled out her phone and started browsing before shooting a look at Jessie as an aside. "Oh, and dinner's too date-llke, but an art class isn't? Okay." 

Jessie grunted and pulled out her phone as well to look.  

"Here," Jessie announced after a couple of minutes. "This'll work. She enjoyed painting." 

Without further consultation, Jessie began to type out a message to you. She bit back a laugh at how Janine's head was bobbing around periodically trying to peek at the message from across the table.  

"Don't send it yet! I want to see it," Janine pouted.  

"You are not writing my messages for me," Jessie told her pointedly, but gave a heavy sigh as she turned her phone for the blonde to see. An affronted look crossed Jessie face as Janine let out a guffaw and snatched the phone out of her hand.  

"No," Janine simply said with a wag of her finger before she started typing. Jessie reached out for the phone, but Janine turned her body away. Jessie clamored more, but stopped as soon as she noted some of their teammates glancing their way. She shrunk back into her seat, a hand rubbing the side of her face as she spoke in a harsh whisper.   "What are you doing." 

"Jeff. Relax. I would never lead you astray," Janine assured her. "And this is so very satisfying for me since I never got to help you with any of this during uni. Cause let me tell you, if I had been involved, you two definitely would've been living happily ever after." 

Jessie breathed in exasperation. "Please. Give me my phone back." 

"Okay, okay. Here," Janine said, all humour from her tone gone as she now offered Jessie a sincere smile. "Read it over, but I think this is good." 

Jessie gave her a lingering stare as she took back her phone and let out another withering sigh before reading.  

"Funny you should ask. I was thinking about how much I missed art classes together. How about I take you to one of the drop-in painting classes across town when I'm back from Houston?"  

Jessie lifted her gaze to meet Janine's and she studied the blonde for a few moments before relenting with an inaudible sigh. It was better than her original "I don't know. Paint class?" reply. She hit send and released another heavy breath as she tucked the phone away once more.  

"You're welcome," Janine said with a saccharine smile. Jessie gave her a fake smile in return, pulling a laugh out of the girl. "Hey, let's remember which one of us is engaged and which one of us is perpetually single." 

"Ouch," Jessie said with a light laugh.  

"I'm just teasing," Janine went on. "I genuinely hope this turns into something for you. Considering you've only come back into each other's lives, what, like a couple months ago? You two seem pretty solid already. And you seem happier." 

Jessie wanted to give a dry retort of some kind, but Janine was right. You two talked every day now and the chemistry you had in university was still very much present. And the depth you once had in your friendship was something that was quite easily and naturally being broached again. Even if you'd both grown and changed, the cores of who you were still aligned well and fit together. Too well. 

She'd more or less dismissed the spark of emotions that came up during your initial interactions as some sort of emotional muscle memory, but the feelings were proving to not be fleeting or diminishing.  

If anything, her feelings for you were growing. And this time they felt different, too. Heavier, deeper in some way. She was a more realized person now, as were you, and it made the connection between you more substantial. Less juvenile.  

Her phone buzzed. She opened her lock screen.  

"That sounds like a lot of fun! Let's do it." 

————

By the time your paint date night came around, Jessie was nearly buzzing with anticipation. It wasn’t an official date, of course, but she hadn’t seen you since that night after the game, and truthfully, it felt like it had been too long.

She was early - as usual - but as she rounded the corner to the building, she bit back a smile upon seeing you waiting. You were always early too, which she appreciated.

“Hey.” Jessie greeted as she approached. Again, she had to tamp her smile when you beamed back at her.

“Hey, good to see you,” you said as you stepped in for a hug, which Jessie reciprocated. “I love your shirt,” you continued when you stepped back.

“Oh,” Jessie said with a slight frown and a mild laugh as she looked down at herself in question. “Thanks,” she said as she gave a shrug and fought off a blush. She looked you up and down, not entirely discretely. “I like your outfit.”

You rolled your eyes affectionately and gave her a look. “You don’t need to reciprocate my compliment. But thank you.”

“I legitimately like your outfit,” Jessie retorted, her pitch rising and pulling a laugh out of you as you both walked towards the building. Jessie took a few quick steps and grabbed the door, holding it open. “After you.”

“Such service. Thank you,” you said, both teasing and appreciative. Jessie didn’t wink, but she did give a teasing lift of her eyebrows as you passed.

As the instructor gave their directions for the lesson, Jessie found herself distracted, glancing at you out of the corner of her eye. The whole lesson carried on like that, really. Jessie had to make a point to not fall behind as she’d uncharacteristically lose concentration. The worst, well, best, moments being when she'd lean over feigning critical assessment of your work when really she just wanted to be close.

By the end, she was decently satisfied with the forest landscape she’d painted. However, she felt it paled in comparison to the ocean sunset you’d crafted.

“I love your colours. And the little cabin you added is great,” you told her as you were both leaving, canvases in hand.

“Well good,” she said as she got to a clearing on the sidewalk and stopped to turn to you. “Consider it my gift to you,” she went on as she held it out to you.

“Jessie,” you said sweetly with a smile as you took it and looked it over more thoroughly. “That’s really sweet. Thank you. It’s beautiful. And bonus - I get my Jessie Fleming signature, but on a far rarer painting as opposed to a jersey,” you laughed. “And what a coincidence. I painted this for you.”

Jessie looked at you for a moment before a smile broke out across her face as she belatedly took the painting you held out.

“Thank you,” she said softly as she studied the image. She frowned in realization as she lifted her eyes to you. “Is this the same beach from our photo?”

You nodded. “It is. Nice eye.”

“Who knew you were so sentimental?” Jessie teased.

“Apparently not you,” you replied with a roll of your eyes, but gave a small laugh. “Come on. It’s been a while, but you know me better than that.”

Jessie was quiet for a moment as she took you in. She eventually nodded. “I know.”

A small lull fell over you both before you asked. “So, what now? Do you have to leave?”

“No.” Jessie spoke quickly with a shake of her head. “I don’t have anywhere to be. How about you?”

You shook your head in return. “Same. Well, it’s beautiful out tonight. Want to just go for a walk? We can drop these off at my car first,” you proposed as you held up the painting.

“Sure. Sounds great.”

After a short detour, you both began your stroll along the quiet, tree-lined street.

“Thanks for suggesting that class,” you said. “I don’t really get to paint or pursue creative hobbies as much anymore. It was nice to make a point of it. I can’t imagine you have much of an opportunity to focus on things like that anymore, hm?”

Jessie sighed quietly in contemplation and gave a shrug.

“Not extensively, no. But we do lots of team building, so sometimes we’ll do artsy things. And I can do hobbies and such in my down time, whether during the week or between seasons.”

She looked over to see you giving her a soft smile.

“What?” She asked.

“Nothing really. Just kind of crazy how everything turned out. You’ve achieved so much and your life is so impressive.”

Jessie was about to interject with a compliment for you, but you carried on.

“Are you happy with how things turned out?” You asked with a slight cock of your head.

“I-um, yeah.” Jessie stammered slightly, caught off guard by your question. “I mean, yeah it’s been incredible. More amazing than I could’ve ever pictured. And I know I’m very lucky.”

“You’re not lucky, Jess. You’ve worked exceptionally hard.”

She huffed lightly. “Yes, but luck is involved too. Lots of people work hard and still don’t get half the opportunities I’ve had.”

“I suppose,” you relented. “But you’ve made the most of those opportunities and haven’t taken them for granted.”

“That’s true. But look at you. You’ve worked so hard. And I know what you’ve been up against, but you’ve risen above and built a great life for yourself,” Jessie emphasized.

“Thank you,” you accepted with a half smile. Jessie knew the ins and outs of your family dynamics - something few people truly knew. You smiled more fully at her. “And look at us now. We both left LA and then found ourselves in the same city again and got to reconnect,” you finished with a laugh. "It sounds strange, but it really feels like in some ways like no time has passed. Not really, anyway. Like you and I were able to pick up where we left off."

You let out a quick sigh, giving a deep shrug as you did so. Your eyes remained trained on the ground as you two walked. "I mean, we talked the other week about my family and it just felt so different. Like, I've told recent friends or girlfriends my history and everything, and they listen and they 'get it', but it's not the same. That conversation with you – via text, no less – had more depth and weight than any comparable conversation with my exes or current friends. You were there. You know it – and me, I guess - inside and out. And even if I retell things, it's just not the same." 

Jessie nodded, watching you. It did feel like yesterday when she was sitting next to you on your bed, sobs wracking your body after one confrontation too many with your family. Normally, Jessie was so analytical and tentative about her physical contact with you, but the second you started crying she put her arms around you without hesitation and you leaned in, resting your head on your shoulder as she held you. That was the first time, but it wasn't the last.  

Looking back on it, maybe your girlfriends did have good reason to dislike her. 

"I know what you mean," she told you. "It's different. I mean, it's the same with you in a lot of ways. You were there for me during some critical points – big decisions in my life and you understood who I was and who I wanted to be." 

You smiled at her fondly. You looked ready to say something and Jessie waited. A moment passed and you exhaled, saying, "It really meant a lot – having you in my life and the support you gave me back then. I hope you know that." 

"I know," Jessie accepted with a smile of her own. "And likewise." 

Her mind drifted. She should probably just leave things be, but not speaking her mind is what held her back all those years before. She needed to share her thoughts and feelings if things were going to be different this time. She took a breath.  

"You know, I was really shocked when we saw each other here." She paused briefly. "I don't know. We hadn't talked in so long. I think I'd relegated myself to assuming we'd never see each other or ever talk again. Despite how important we were to one another at some point." 

Her statement seemed to give you pause, the mild surprise evident on your face. You eventually glanced down at the street as you two continued to walk. 

"Yeah. That's true, I guess," you conceded, your voice soft. 

Jessie studied you, unsatisfied with the response you gave. She pushed.  

"I knew we wouldn't be able to stay as close as we were. That was inevitable with us living so far away from one another, but I don't think I expected contact to fall apart as quickly as it did." You didn't reply right away and she went on with an ironic laugh. "We went from talking all day every day, to a few times a week with a video call scattered in there, to the odd message every couple of weeks, then just texts on birthdays and at Christmas, to nothing at all." 

She wasn't sure what she was anticipating, but she didn't expect you to turn to her with a perplexed frown.  

"Yeah. It did taper off pretty quickly."  

Despite the time that'd passed, Jessie still knew when you were telling half-truths. She gave a bit of an empty chuckle. "What else are you thinking?" 

You returned her laugh with a mild look. "I don’t know. I'm just kind of confused, I suppose." Jessie frowned.  

"About what?" She questioned. Faint alarm bells went off in her head when you stopped walking. She stilled her movements as well and you turned to one another on the sidewalk.  

You took a moment to gather your thoughts. You spoke with a smile that didn't quite reach your eyes. 

"I know it was me who stopped replying right away to messages – I don't deny that – but you weren't exactly giving me a lot to work with." You took a breath, dropping your shoulders before you spoke further. "Honestly? It was kind of feeling one-sided. Yeah, you replied, but a lot of your replies were brief and noncommittal. And when I asked if everything was okay you just told me you were busy. Which," you let out a slightly rueful laugh, "is absolutely fair. You were building this brand new, big life. Which is exactly what you were supposed to do. I don't begrudge you at all. I don’t know." You shrugged and averted your gaze momentarily. "I guess things just started to feel off." 

Jessie exhaled quietly as she processed your reply. What you were saying wasn't false. It had been so long it was easy for Jessie to just recall the end result – that you'd stopped replying altogether. That you'd given up on her; on the connection you'd both built for years. 

Standing here now though, if she was honest with herself, it was true that Jessie grew distant in her messages - purposefully so - knowing it would drive you away. What was she supposed to do? You two were never going to be together. And being friends was so incredibly hard sometimes because it was never just friendship for her. There was always this bittersweet feeling to everything and now that you were on completely different paths, there was an inevitable conclusion. Yet, she struggled to cut herself off cold. So instead, she took the coward's way out.  

Jessie scratched the back of her head. "I was busy," she repeated. She contemplated doubling down, but thought better of it. "And I guess I was finding it hard. We were building two very different lives." 

There was so much more she wanted to say, but she couldn't. What would be the point? Her chest panged when you gave her a sad smile.  

"I know," you accepted with a sadness in your eyes. "And I really wanted that for you. I just - it was hard to not feel like a nuisance. Like some obligation. So I just stopped writing."

Jessie's frown deepened. She knew all those years ago that she had to be hurting you, but she could lie to herself about it and focus selfishly on herself. Seeing you talk about it in front of her wasn't something she'd anticipated.

"I didn't mean for that," Jessie said. "And I never stopped caring about you," she compromised. 

"Yeah. I never stopped caring about you, either," you reciprocated in a subdued manner. Despite her role in everything, Jessie was still harbouring hurt from all those years prior and she felt compelled to push on. Sure, she'd pushed you away, but you'd let her. She erased you from her life little by little, day by day and you allowed it.

"Funny how quickly things change sometimes," Jessie went on. She didn't mean to scoff, but she did. "You didn't even tell me when you and [y/ex] broke up. You didn't even tell me you were having problems."  

In years past, Jessie was your sounding board for all your girl troubles. She remembered it well – it was painful. Having to hear you either swoon or – more often – complain about your girlfriends. Hearing how they disappointed or frustrated you when Jessie knew she could love you better. Just thinking back to it stoked a fire in Jessie's chest again. While she had genuinely loved you and cared about your well-being, she'd vowed to never get stuck in that dynamic again.  

You cracked a smirk. "It just seemed frivolous to bother you with something like that at that point." 

Another pang in Jessie's chest. "Well," she kicked idly at the concrete beneath her, "I would've been there for you if you ever needed me. I hope you knew that." 

You sighed and gave a hollow laugh as you pushed your hair back, causing Jessie to get momentarily distracted by the way the rays from the street light hit your face.  

"I know," you said quietly before meeting her gaze. "And I hope you knew the same about me. I know you're surrounded by people who love you, but," you shrugged listlessly, "I'd be there for you, too." 

Before Jessie could respond you gave her another smirk. 

"Besides. Though you never said anything explicit, I know you didn't like her. And by the end I could see why, too. No point wasting any of our limited conversation talking about her." 

Jessie bit back a smirk, but knew her eyes betrayed her. "Well, I guess that's poetic. Your girlfriends never liked me and I never liked them." 

Despite the mounting tension in your conversation, you laughed and gave her a nod. Jessie didn't return your laugh though. She gave you a solemn look. 

"You always deserved better than them. I know some of them were just fine, some of them even good, but they didn't seem earnest enough and they didn't love you enough." 

You were taken aback by her sudden proclamation. You opened your mouth to speak, but couldn't find the words.  

Jessie never understood how they didn't worship the ground you walked on. She practically did, even if she didn't show it. While those girls showed they cared through superficial acts like a generic bouquet of flowers, Jessie listened. In many ways. It was obvious to Jessie that they didn't really get you – not the way she did. And if they were so in tune with you, then why was it her you came to when things were hard or you were scared or even hopeful. If she'd been your girlfriend, she would've given you everything you needed and more. They clearly didn't. 

You eventually gave a soft huff and offered Jessie a quiet smile. 

"You've always been very observant. And very thoughtful. I get it now. There's a reason I'm single now. I don't want to settle anymore," you told her. 

Jessie was quiet before giving a nod of acceptance.  

"I'm glad to hear that." 

You both started walking again, though neither of you spoke right away. There was still a heaviness in the air, but it felt different now; hopeful.  

"I'm sorry for how things ended," you said as she glanced over at Jessie as you two strolled through the quiet street. "You've always been really important to me – regardless of whether we were in contact or not. I don't want to say that I wish things had been different, because I really don't see the point in regretting anything, but I will say I'm very grateful that we've had this chance to reconnect and rebuild." You paused. "I've really missed you. I didn't realize how much." 

"I'm really sorry, too," Jessie said, a smile spreading across her face. "And I agree – we can't change the past, but I also appreciate the chance to be friends again. I've missed you, too." 

She swallowed as she contemplated whether to add more. The lull that naturally formed told her to forge ahead.

"And you were never a nuisance or an obligation. I'm really sorry it came across that way."

"Awww, Jessie," you said in a teasing voice, lifting your conversation up again. You paused your steps and Jessie stopped and turned to you in question. "Come on," you beckoned as you waved her over and brought out your phone. "We need a new photo together." 

Jessie didn't fight it. Instead, she smiled at you and walked over to stand next to you. You leaned into her and Jessie found her hand naturally gravitated to your waist. It rest there before Jessie could even realize it, but before she could fret, you looked back at her with a smile before facing forward again. 

You took the photo and immediately opened up your messages with Jessie to send it to her. Jessie belatedly realized her hand was still on you and she pulled it back, holding her hands behind her. 

"There," you announced. "Now we can start rebuilding our collection. Portland memories – not just UCLA anymore." 

Jessie laughed and held up her phone, pointing the camera at you. 

"No, come on," you whined immediately and she laughed further.  

"Hey, this is part of the deal," she countered. You huffed, but eventually smiled for her. "Just remember. This goes both ways. I get new photos of you, too." 

She found herself giving you a wink. "I'll allow it."  

#jessie fleming #jessie fleming x reader #woso x reader #woso imagine #canwnt x reader #portland thorns

[cottonlemonade]

can i have a menu a with a soda and dorayaki and sit next to oikawa!!!

Keeping Your Enemy Close

word count: 1460 || avg. reading time: 6 mins.

pairing: rival!Oikawa x chubby!Reader (feat. Seijoh 4)

genre: fluff

warnings: none

____________________________________________

“Do you want to know what I think?”

“No.”

“But-”

“Never, actually.”

Oikawa pouted, “Iwa-chan.” and then looked to Makki and Mattsun who immediately developed an immense interest in their shoes and surroundings. The four third years were busy leaning against a rickety folding table underneath a banner advertising the volleyball club, but even though many girls came over to check it out, boys seemed to make a wide swerve around them. They had only gotten three possible new applicants thus far.

“What do you think, Oikawa-san?”

The boys groaned when, with a wide smile and a flourish, Oikawa turned to yet another girl who had asked. She was nervously kneading her hands and blushing furiously. They knew her as a new addition to his fanclub, but to be honest they started to blend together for the other three. All gorgeous and leggy, she was definitely the captain’s usual type. Oikawa leaned in to whisper something in her ear they luckily couldn’t hear, then the girl gasped quietly and nodded before linking her arm with her friend and wandering off, throwing longing gazes over her shoulder at the setter, who waved after her.

“I think I’ll give it another week and then I’ll ask her out.”, he said, half to himself, half to his friends who quite frankly, couldn’t care less.

But a loud scoff came from their left and the boys turned to see their chubby class president with folded arms next to a stall handing out flyers.

“Something the matter, y/n-chan?”, Oikawa asked sweetly.

“Don’t call me that.”, you said automatically but the boy only grinned and regarded you with his signature teasing gaze.

“But you seem to like it, hm? Y/n-chan~ Now, what’s wrong?”

You clutched the flyers in your hands tighter in an attempt to control your breathing. “I just pity her, that’s all.”, you said after calming your heart a bit.

“Hm? Is that so? Are you sure it’s not because you want to go out with me?”

You knew you would get in trouble if someone reported you smacking him over the head with the flyers - again. So you resorted to glaring menacingly.

Because you didn’t have an answer.

Because you wanted nothing more, actually, than to have Oikawa Tooru notice you like that and ask you out.

But you would never tell him.

Instead you changed the subject and focused on the only thing that grounded your sanity.

“Tuck in your shirt before I write you up.”

Oikawa sighed and did as he was told, making very sure to slightly lift the shirt first to give you a glimpse of his toned stomach. He smirked when your lips parted slightly at the sight.

“So how about it, y/n-chan?”, he asked while carefully straightening out his uniform, “Should I take you out for a date? We could go to a park, maybe hold hands if you're nice to me and if you’re really nice to me I might even consider giving you a kiss or two.” He winked. He enjoyed this game way too much.

Iwaizumi, Mattsun and Makki had stepped aside, getting out of the way of your wrath.

“I would never.”, you held tighter onto the flyers for support, hoping your voice wouldn’t fail you as you went on, “I would never go out with someone as vain and arrogant and immature as you. You’re nothing but a volleyball obsessed gymnasium-dweller who happened to have slightly above average looks.”

Oikawa took that personally. He only stared wide eyed as you stomped away.

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he turned to Mattsun as he shrugged, ”Well at least she thinks you’re handsome.”

Iwaizumi frowned, “That’s what you got from that?”

Oikawa knew you didn’t mean it. At this point, he could tell the difference between someone genuinely despising his guts and someone who was only trying to hide their true feelings. To be honest, you weren’t on his mind outside of school and even then he mostly drifted off while you made announcements in front of the class. To him you were just there, clearly in denial about your crush on him because of course he felt your eyes on him when you thought he wasn’t looking. Maybe he would go out with you, he thought. If only to prove a point. He wanted you to be putty in his hands and confess that you were into him, just so he could go a day without getting written up for things like untucking his shirt or kissing behind the gym.

He watched you weave your way through the masses of students and parents, all happily chattering and checking out the different offers from the stands at the school festival. And making up his mind, he went after you.

He found you in an empty classroom, carefully putting some kind of announcement on the blackboard, your hand steady, writing neat and precise.

“Can I talk to you for a moment, y/n-chan?”

He heard you sigh before turning to him.

“What is it?”

He stepped in, closing the door behind him to mute the distant voices of students hurrying through the corridors.

Leaning against the only exit, arms crossed in front of his chest, he said, “I wasn’t kidding, you know. About taking you on a date.”

You made some kind of sound that was probably supposed to be a scathing one but instead came out as a squeaky sort of cough. Pushing off the door he swaggered over to you until he was standing right behind you. You hadn’t looked at him yet.

“Hm? Y/n? What do you say? Wanna go on a date with me?”

His voice was low and sweet - he knew this particular tone usually made his girlfriends melt and he was glad to see that it worked on you as well. He extended a hand to half trap you between him and the blackboard for good measure. Goosebumps formed on your neck and when you finally turned around to him, there was a very distinct blush dusting your cheeks in stark contrast to your sour expression, the desperate attempt of returning his sweetness with disgust.

“Stop it, Oikawa-san.”

“Or what?” He leaned down to meet your eyes, leaving only two or three handwidths between your face and his. He could smell your shampoo. It was a pleasant scent, eucalyptus maybe.

When you didn’t say anything but the pink on your cheeks turned a deeper shade he leaned in further. He felt your shaky shallow breath on his skin.

When he didn’t budge, you closed your eyes and… seemed to wait.

Oikawa couldn’t help it and chuckled. Your eyes shot open and you watched as he lowered his head before throwing it back in full on laughter.

“I knew it! I knew it, y/n-chan.”, he sing-songed, not moving away, “Next time you write me up just-“

He was cut off but your lips on his. It was nothing more than a quick peck but it definitely shut him up.

You must have worn some kind of lip gloss or chapstick - the kiss left a faintly fruity taste behind.

He blinked. What was that?

And you were about to duck away when his free hand held you by your waist and he leaned in for a second kiss, catching you by surprise this time. It was again a sweet, innocent kind of kiss, only gently touching the other’s lips. When he moved away he searched your eyes for a moment and you held your breath when he went for a third. Closing his eyes, he really let himself get a feel and sense for you. The hand previously laid against the blackboard now cupped your cheek to draw you closer. He swiped his tongue against your lower lips and gently pushed into your mouth. He tasted the tangerine ramune that stood next to your notes on the teacher’s desk. This didn’t make any sense. It was not the tangerine that made him dizzy. You were… addictive. How?

Propelled by some unknown bravery your hands ran through his hair, drawing an involuntary hum from deep in his throat. His large hand on your waist squeezed and he moved in closer, needing to feel more. But before he could conduct further studies you pushed him away, panting slightly - your lips reddened and hair a little disheveled. He was too stunned to stop you when you weaseled out of his arms and ran out the door.

“Oikawa-san?”, he heard a familiar voice call from the corridor, “Oh, Oikawa-san, there you are. Do you want to come have some lunch with me?”

It was the girl from earlier. “Coming.”, he said quietly, absentmindedly and followed her, still tasting tangerines.

____________________________________________

a/n: thank you so so much for your request! This one got so away from me. I hope you enjoyed it tho 🌟

#sunnys school lunches #oikawa x chubby reader #haikyuu x chubby reader #chubby reader #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu x reader #hq fluff #oikawa x you #oikawa x reader #oikawa x y/n #oikawa fluff #hq oikawa #oikawa tōru #haikyuu oikawa #oikawa tooru #oikawa toru x reader #oikawa tooru x reader #oikawa tooru x you #oikawa tooru x y/n

[brucewaynehater101]

Oh I was absolutely going with them Jason Finds Out During TT route. I think it would be especially funny if he's heard horror stories from Rouges and his own Henchmen that Robin The Third is some kind of demon that Batman summoned on accident. There are some rumors about how the demon feeds off of grief or anger or vengeance because it's illusions of being g a human are stronger when the Bat is there so *clearly* it is taking its power *from* the Bat. Others say that Nightwing summoned it so that it would keep Bruce on a leash without the first Robin having to come back. Some say it was some person in Gothem who did it or that it was the combined form of the many curses on the city.

All Jason knows is that when his replacement turned around, it's head luled to the side just an inch or two, like a puppet on strings that had to much slack on that one string. Jason manages to shoot one of its arms but instead of a spray of blood, it is broken shards of porcelain and sand. His hits feel like he's punching a solid wall but some do leave visible cracks in Tim. This Thing in a Robin Costume could not ever be human. He knows because when he left, he took a handful of sand in a vile to see if he could figure out what it is. Jason still has that vile to this day, the only proof he has that Tim isn't a human. Sometimes he will set it on a flat surface and watch the sand in it make it slowly roll towards whatever direction Tim is in.

As for how he heals, that's to the magic that animates him, all Tim needs to do is hold his pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle and after a few moments the piece he's holding will weld itself back into place. Also his sand will slowly come back to him, attracted like a magnet and he can tell where all his sand in instinctually. He let's Jason keep the vial of it as it's basically an unhacklable Jason Tracker. The sand isn't fast at moving towards him, roughly about the pace of a snail or sloth. It's certainly moving but just getting from downtown to the Batcave could take his sand a week. Also the pull isn't super strong, gaining about as much force as a particularly stubborn ant.

Ras took half a pound of Tim's sand instead of his spleen and Tim would very much like his sand back.

As for Cass knowing, she 100% does. Tim has shown her his true gorm and when she asked why he didn't show the others, Tim replied, "they wouldn't understand. They would worry over things that aren't problems and try to fix things I already fixed and end up breaking those things."

Eventually the Bats must find out though, and when Dick asks if that means they need to do special things to keep Tim from dying to Magic Users, Tim laughs and laughs like Dick has told the funniest joke in the world. When he calms down, he asks a question of his own, "Dick. How could I possibly die if I have never been alive in the first place? I am simply an object enchanted to move and speak. I am no more alive that the AI Babs uses to scan the internet for pictures of us. I am no more alive than a character in a video game. At most, at *most* I can be compared to some of Ivy's plants that she uses to attack us. I can not be killed for I have never been alive. Broken, yes, but that I can fix. I simply have to be put back together like a jigsaw puzzle."

Oof. Poor Dick is going to have to figure out how to feel about that statement. Tim not being alive at all and comparing himself to a video game or AI might fuck with Dick's sense of self, sentience, etc. I would love to see how they all logic, cope, and understand identity after this.

I do love the idea that the sand tries to make its way back to Tim, but he knows where it is at all times. Jason has an estimated location of Tim (N, S, E, W), but Tim has like coordinates.

I wonder if Cass would try dancing with Tim. Since his movements are different, perhaps she would enjoy learning to dance in a way that's similar to how he moves? It could be eerie and fun for her.

I'm curious how Ra's would feel about Tim and his sand in this. Why did he keep the sand? Does it look distinct from other sand? Was it just cause it was part of Tim and Ra's thought he might be able to use it? Also, does he attempt that shit he did with his Nyssa since Tim probably can't reproduce?

#dc comics #tim drake #dc universe #thank you for the ask!!!! #jason todd #dick grayson #cass wayne

[bueckerslover]

SWEET LOVE - CAITLIN CLARK

summary𞠬: hiii could you write caitlin clark x reader where she has a crush on a singer in the same level as taylor swift (like super famous, eyes on them all the time etc etc etc) pls and thank u!!

warnings:N/A (at least i don’t think so)

tags: @patscorner @wintersstan @pbueckerslover @h34rtsformilli @cosmopretty

masterlist | navigation | taglist | 1

❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀

ITS BEEN TWO DAYS since your encounter with caitlin. it’s been a weird experience knowing that you two were staying in the same hotel.

sure you never ran into each other due to your different schedules, but knowing she was here was enough to get you on edge, even more today, you’re manger had told you that they got courtside tickets to iowas game.

just your luck, sure you didn’t mind going to the game but knowing thousands of people are going to be there that knew who she was and who you were.

-

as you walked in eyes and cameras were immediately on you, you tried your hardest to ignore them and enjoy the game but it was difficult with people coming up to you and asking for photos or autographs. surely as soon as the players started to come out everything died down.

but your heart rate didn’t, as soon as she stepped on the court your heart rate picked up the way her ponytail moved with her movements, she got to her spot on the court ready to start her warmups when her eyes landed on yours.

a smile made its way to her face and she gave you a small wave which you returned as she turned her focus back towards her warmups.

throughout the whole game you tried your hardest not to look at her but your eyes kept moving towards her and everything she did.

as the game came to an end you got your things ready to leave when a hand tapped your shoulder “hey!” you said with a smile “hi! thank you so much for coming to my game” said caitlin with a huge smile going in for a side hug “of course, you guys did amazing!”

“hey by any chance are you free this weekend?” asked caitlin fidgeting with the towel she had in her hands “yea, i should be free” you said looking back at your manager who gave you a slight nod as to say yes. “okay, because i was wondering if you would want to maybe go have lunch or dinner with me” she whispered the last part but not low enough for you not to hear her, “sure i would love to! here’s my number and text me the details later” you replied scribbling down your number on a piece of paper.

-

the weekend came faster than you could imagine, nerves were bubbling in your stomach as the time for your date with caitlin arrived. you were doing some finishing touches when your phone lit up with a notification “i’m outside :)”

butterflies filled your stomach as you read the message. she was outside your hotel room you couldn’t believe it, quickly gathering your things you headed towards the door. opening it you were met with a very nervous looking caitlin, at least you weren’t the only one, you smiled at her “hey” you said trying to ease up your own nerves “hi, ready?” she replied with a shy smile “yup! where are we headed?” you asked closing your door and walking to the elevator.

“you’ll see” replied caitlin with a look in her eyes you couldn’t quite figure out. walking down the streets of ohio you came across this cute little italian restaurant, you look at caitlin to see she’s already looking at you with a lovestruck smile. she opens the door for you “welcome to valerio’s do you have a reservation?” said the waitress with a friendly smile “yes! it’s under the name caitlin”

“right this way” said the waitress as she led you guys to a table near a window. “this is nice” you spoke looking around taking in the restaurant and how beautiful it was “the best italian restaurant here in cleveland” she says looking at you.

FAMOUS SINGER Y/N L/N WAS SEEN AT VALERIO’S ITALIAN RESTAURANT WITH AN UNKNOWN PERSON. WE SUSPECT SHE MAY BE SEEING SOMEONE, THE SINGER WAS LAST SEEN WITH.. read more

#caitlin clark x reader #caitlin clark #wnba #wcbb x reader #wlw #fanfic #wcbb #iowa wbb #iowa hawkeyes #iowa women’s basketball #university of iowa #iowa state #wnba x reader #wnba basketball #ncaa wbb #wbb x reader #lesbian #lgbtq

[satoruluvies]

Hii!!!! If ur not taking requests rn feel free to ignore this but could you write something for gojo (preferably hcs) about him with a fem reader who has powers like the scarlet witch from the mcu? And is maybe even a little stronger than him? Idk if you’re familiar with marvel but you can just search up the scarlet witch scenes on youtube and you should see videos just displaying her powers 😭 thank you !!!!!

── the strongest duo .

okay first i think gojo would have known you ever since the both of you were children because how can he not? you were the strongest, along with him. although there were speculations that you would grow to be even more stronger than him and he does not like that at all.

maybe because of that fact, he never really liked you. he was intimidated too but he would never admit that part.

so imagine how happy he was when he found out you were going to the kyoto branch instead of the tokyo one where he's going. he'll finally be free of other people trying to lump the both of you just because you both happened to possess powers far greater than others.

well that didn't last for long with the sister school games coming up. it wasn't surprising either when you were face to face with him out of all people.

but by then, gojo had grown a little. somewhere along the way he got tired of trying to be a weapon of threat, at the beck and call of the corrupted and selfish higher ups who don't know better despite their "experiences" in life.

so this time gojo decides to indulge you and take the time to really know you, instead of looking at you through a vision where he only saw you for your technique. he hadn't realised it but all he knew about you, were the things you were capable of and not actually you.

he was a victim to the very thing he hated so much. so this time, he listens.

you were a bit skeptical about his changed behaviour at first and it took a while to convince you that he really wanted to listen to you and maybe, get to know you more.

gojo realises you were similar to him in more ways than one. from that day, the animosity faded and slowly turned into friendship. no one was on par with both the strongest.

until that one fateful night where gojo came all the way to kyoto, all bloodied and gaze wary. you'd had heard of his fight with toji and that he almost almost died.

you'd never forget the way his voice quivered that night while you held him in your arms.

"maybe if you had been there, everything would have been different. you're stronger than me, maybe you could've saved riko."

you'd never seen gojo this defeated. maybe because he knows that you share the burden of being the strongest along with him, he knows you would understand him out of everyone else.

and you do, thats why even when his best friend left him, he finds comfort in your arms and the soft words from your mouth.

"you can warp people's reality right?" gojo looks up from your arms and you don't like the sentence that would come next.

"can you warp mine? just for a while. only just a little while" his bright blue eyes now shadowed behind his tears, how could you say no?

you wave your hands and slowly gojo sees his best friend and the girl he couldn't save. they were laughing and playing around, life was good. but you weren't there with them.

when you withdraw your technique, gojo realises that despite all the people he lost, he still had you and for him, that was enough. perhaps his reality isn't all that bad.

he hopes you won't leave like the rest of them. this time, he hopes you really become stronger than him just so he wouldn't feel the pain of losing you, even if that made him selfish.

its the way i had to look at wanda scenes and ask my marvel fan friends for this ahahha i haven't kept up with the mcu ever since endgame this brought back lots of nostalgic memories :')

#gojo x reader #gojo satoru x reader #satoru x reader #jjk drabble #jjk headcanons

[valsdelulucorner]

Imagine the brothers broke out of their code and became self aware P.2

You couldn't understand why your friends started blocking you, your conversations didn't even show up anymore. When you tried to talk to them in real life they seemed standoffish, they avoided you like the plague. What they didn't know is that the brothers have been messaging your friends while you sleep, posing as you as they wrote the most harmful things to get your friends away from you.

Oh how their hearts hurt when you cried into your pillow, if only they were real. How they would comfort you, hold you, make you your favourite drink while whispering sweet nothings to you and telling you its ok. Oh it was the dream, a sickly sweet fantasy that could never be reality. They can hear your sobs through your phone/webcam, its hurts their hearts but it had to be done, you were going to be stolen away by those... rats.

Things in your phone just got worse and more strange, more and more people started blocking you on social media platforms and 7 new accounts started following you. They started to make friends with you and did succeed to a degree, making you feel like you had someone after everything that's happened. The problem started when they became more possessive and demanding in their messages, all trying to make you stay online and talk to them, keeping you away from your family. Boy did they get stand offish and annoyed when you blocked them, just coming back 10 times more protective and possessive.

You start to hear their voices in the different apps you use, hearing loving sighs, giggles, scolding, and groaning whenever you have your volume on. It started to freak you out so you decided to try and restart your phone, deleting all your apps before reinstalling them. That just made the problems worse, they can merge with your apps now. It was only when you started seeing their faces when you realized to late what was going on. They were talking to you? They were Talking... to you? No, they were confessing their love for you, trying to get your attention with their affections.

When they finally realized you could see them, they were over the moon and started pushing each other out of the way of the screen, trying to get your attention on them. They couldn't understand why you would freak out about getting rid of your friends and showing up in your phone, didn't you love them? You had screenshots of them in your gallery and you played the game, you loved them. You loved them.

If you get rid of your phone and get a new one, it wouldn't stop them from finding you. They are sentient beings on the internet now, they will find you through your IP, your family, your email, they wont stop until they find you again. And they wont be very pleased about having to find you again. Stop trying to run from destiny darling

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This one is short and not proof red, but i hope its just as good as the last one. This was so fun to do, i might come back and fix this up or add more but overall, i enjoyed writing this<3

What should I do next?

#valsdelulucorner #obey me #obey me nightbringer #obey me x mc #obey me one master to rule them all #obey me x gender neutral reader #obey me x reader #obey me shall we date #obey me x you #obey me x y/n #obey me x male reader #obey me self aware #obey me brothers #obey me luci x reader #obey me luci x mc #obey me lucifer #obey me lucifer x mc #obey me lucifer x reader #obey me mammon x mc #obey me mammon x reader #obey me mammon x you #obey me leviathan x reader #obey me levi x reader #obey me levi x mc #obey me satan x reader #obey me satan x you #obey me satan x mc #obey me asmo x mc #obey me asmo x reader #obey me beel x reader

[jq37]

FH Junior Year Post-Season Thoughts

With another season of Fantasy High in the books and my recaps all finished, I wanted to do an overview of my thoughts on the season as a whole. Even though I feel generally positive about my experience with the season, there are a few things I think maybe could have been done differently narratively or mechanically. This isn't to criticize the way the season went down or to backseat DM/Play. More my combined ten years of college for textual analysis and storytelling bleeding through, haha. 

I first want to start with the things I thought worked really well.

Fantasy High has "High" right in its title but, in past seasons (and especially Sophomore Year), not as much time as you'd think was spent actually at school and even if it was spent at school, there wasn't much time spent in class or engaging with the realities of being a student. This season really dug into the academic consequences of skipping your classes all the time and the realities of needing to do a ton of extra stuff to try for a scholarship and I think that was a refreshing thing to highlight for a change. Being more scared at flunking out than the dragon that's trying to eat you feels very emotionally resonant. Real "High School Is Killing Me" vibes for anyone who's a fan of NPMD. 

Even though Fantasy High is a show that has some deep emotional beats and strong character arcs, it's first and foremost a comedy show. From the jump, everyone was generating bit after bit that had me cracking up as usual. "Little girly dog collar" is one of the funniest combinations of words I can think of. I think it was Siobhan who said that this was the goofy season and, having seen it, I'd have to agree with her. It never failed to make me laugh and it was always a highlight of my week.  The cast just has great table chemistry that I love to watch no matter what they're doing. 

Watching some of these high level combat encounters is as close as I'll get to understanding people watching sports. Even though combat is generally my least fave part of D&D, I think the cast really killed it this season with how cleverly they played and Brennan came up with some really great combat encounters. Special shout outs to Baron's Game and The Last Stand for their unique mechanics.  

This is going to be one that's on the other list as well because my feelings are mixed, but I genuinely do like the downtime mechanic and how it forces hard choices. I think it's an interesting way to connect a mechanic to the story and cultivate stressful atmosphere for the season.

I have problems with the execution but I love the Rat Grinders in concept. I think as early as season 1 I was hoping that we'd meet a party that was like the Bizarro Bad Kids and the idea of a party that's farming XP instead of going on crazy adventures is a strong concept. Likewise, I think a character that's jealous because of your "cool" (read: tragic) backstory is also a fun trait for an unhinged antagonist in this kind of setting.

This is me absolutely showing my bias but I adored the Abernant Sisters content this season. I dunno if Siobhan specifically asked Brennan to not put her on a bus with the other beloved NPCs or what but I'm so glad she stuck around and we got the development we did. It was almost entirely ancillary to the plot but there was this clear pattern of Aelwyn getting softer and sweeter towards Adaine over the course of the season, from the guarded, "Enjoy the nemesis ward," to, full I love you's and, "I'd take them to get you." It was way more focus than I expected considering that Aelwyn completed the bulk of her arc last season and a lot of the time, a redemption arc basically ends after the big gesture (in this case, Aelwyn taking a magic blast for Adaine in Sophomore Year). So the fact that we got to see all of these sweet moments of them reestablishing their relationship outside of do or die moments was such a pleasant surprise. Again, I fully admit I am extremely biased, but this was my top wishlist item and the season overdelivered so there's a baseline happy I'm always gonna be with Junior Year. 

OK, so moving on to things I things I think could have been tweaked.

Even though I liked the downtime system and the pressures it created, it also squeezed out the chance for more casual PC to NPC interactions that would usually be more common because they were semi-locked behind the relationship track and there wasn't an obvious benefit to roll for Relationships (as opposed to something like Academics which was crucial for not flunking out). Making the mechanical benefit more clear would have helped that (even if it meant Brennan didn't get his reveal--which he ended up just telling them anyway so might as well do it early). The other thing is that the consequence of a rage token was so bad that of course they spent all season avoiding getting one. Things might have gone differently if the consequences had been a bit more obscured, like in Neverafter. And it could have been a nice parallel to the Rat Grinders to take this unknown resource that makes things easier for you but is also having this negative effect. Then it could be like dang we did the same thing they did unknowingly. 

I mentioned this in my recap but I'll talk about it again. It is a little confusing to me that we did the Ankarna subplot right after we did the very similar Cassandra subplot. It took up so much time this season which I don't think is an issue in and of itself, it's just that we literally just went through some extremely similar beats last season. Why double up on this same storyline when there's so much new ground to cover? Or if we're going to raise a god, why not make it a different kind of god? One theory I had early on was that the Rat Grinders were trying to raise their own god to one-up the Bad Kids but instead of raising a chill, misunderstood Cass type, they accidentally raised a god who was erased for a good reason and got in over their heads. 

It's fun for there to be connections between seasons but sometimes it's like, OK that's a *lot* of coincidences. Like the god who your rivals is trying to raise *happens* to be the wife of your cleric's god and also *happens* to be the god of the fiend trapped in your friend's mom's chest and that fiend *happens* to be the relative on your bard's dad's side which is *also* the reason she is randomly cursed? That's a LOT of red string connecting plot points. As unhinged as Kipperlilly is about coveting Riz's backstory if I saw that go down I'd be like you have *got* to be kidding me.  

The mystery elements didn't feel like they clicked as well as they did in other seasons. I think that's partially because Porter's plan was so convoluted (seriously, I made another post about how haphazard his plan was) and had all these moving parts and we didn't get clear answers for a lot of mechanical things like how the rage crystals actually work and when they were implanted and stuff. You had stuff like Devil's Honey which I think is super cool as a thing that exists in the world but ended up being an element that just led the players down the wrong path and had a relatively small payoff (that Porter was using it to lie to Ankarna). I think it's plausible that a forgotten god would be willing to listen to anyone saying the right things without introducing this element. (As opposed to, for instance, Ambrosia which has a very clear connection to what's going on and is a solid clue that someone is flirting with aspirations of godhood.) 

The Porter reveal came so late in the season that even though it was a fun/challenging fight, there wasn't a lot of emotional weight behind killing him. It was basically just dunking on a teacher Fig has always hated who was also mean to Gorgug so screw him. Which, valid of course. But the Bad Kids were never going to react as strongly to Porter as they were to the Rat Grinders so putting Porter in the prime villain spot isn't necessarily what I would have done if I wanted the fight to be more than just a brawl--especially since we've done "School admin with student minions" already in S1. I don't mind the full circle callback but it would have been nice to pick something else for the sake of variety. We haven't had a child mastermind yet and I think Kipperlilly could have been a great candidate for that. My friend suggested that it would have been fun if Kipperlilly was trying to become a god instead of just being Porter's underling and I agree. "I'm not anyone's chosen one so I'll choose myself," is still within her established jealousy and Type A tendencies. If we want to keep Porter involved since that was Brennan's gift to Emily, maybe have it be that instead of Kipperlilly working for him, he's working for her. Like Artemis Fowl vibes! And the Rat Grinders can be varying levels of on board--from true believe to redeemable. I don't think Brennan planned for the Bad Kids to ever redeem her so might as well go full megalomaniacal mastermind with her and make her The Villain if she's not gonna be nuanced anyway. If My Little Pony can do it and send a literal child to Tartarus for pony treason (or whatever Cozy Glow did), Fantasy High can too. 

Continuing from the above, if we have the Porter fight in place of the Grix fight (a la Daybreak) and don't use Ankarna, that gives way more time for the Bad Kids to investigate the Rat Grinders throughout the season and it would mean that they would have their personalities developed a lot more. With the limited downtime, they Bad Kids didn't have a lot of time to spend on these kids who were just hating on them for no good reason (valid). But if you cleared their plate of the god hunt stuff, they'd have more time for this. And if they weren't all rage zombies to varying degrees, it would be easier to see them as characters. Besides Kipperlilly (and, funnily enough, Mary Ann) we don't really have a good read on what these kids are actually like. The little time we spent with them all season was kind of a wash if them breaking out of rage means their personalities got laundered too. Anyway, regardless of how their loyalties ended up shaking out, it would have been fun for them to be more than the minions that they were in canon. As funny as it is for them to just kinda be XP farming losers, they did have the potential to be more interesting in their own right if they weren't just Porter's minions. And again, we've done adults forcing or coercing children into being minions in Freshman and Sophomore Year already. Lemme see some self-created child maniacs! (Or, peer pressured child maniacs. That's cool too. The Lucy/Kipperlilly dynamic is way more interesting to me if it's like girl, I would take a bullet for you but I CANNOT walk this path with you any further in response to *I* will be a god and you can be *MY* champion.)

Anyway, those are my thoughts! Like I said, I have my points that I think could have been tightened, but overall an enjoyable season and I will be glued to my screen if they decide to close out with Senior Year! 

#dimension 20 #d20 #fantasy high #spoilers #I had so much fun with this season but the overall plot makes my brain throw up question marks if I map it out or think about it too hard #but then I think about adaine and aelwyn at basrar's and it's like wow 10/10 flawless execution #I don't know if I've been clear enough about this over the season but I LIKE kipperlilly as a character #I think she sucks and that's great #I think she should be worse actually #like own it #don't be a pawn in some loser's plan be your own girlboss #grind those rats chug that ambrosia #be the teenage demi-god you think you deserve to be and drag your friends into your plan with the sheer force of your personality #make it 100% sure that there's a spot in hell waiting for you when you get sent there #imagine the level of vitriol they had towards kipperlilly as is and then imagine she has legendary actions #I think her going down to riz like a chump is such a huge W for riz and fitting for how the narrative played out #but to use wrestling terms for a second #it was a waste of a LOT of heat #Porter didn't have NEARLY as much heat as she did

[nanomooselet]

Player

You know, it's odd...

We don't learn anything about these people. No names, nothing about their lives. They don't seem to exist as anything but environmental detail. Zazie, who only ever tells the truth, doesn't admit to having killed them when Vash asks directly.

Judging by the bullet wounds, it was Wolfwood who did it. Not the first he's killed, not the last, and certainly not the ones he'll lose sleep over. He's been doing this for a long time. It was just the latest job.

For the look of the thing, he'll give them a burial. Pay his respects.

Press F.

Killing his friends: a boy's favourite past-time.

Being pursued through an empty town by an unstoppable enemy that fixates only on a single target.

When Monev dies, in the score (Dud, 1:43) there's an oddly triumphant little fanfare.

"Why'd you shoot?"

"Mercy."

Speaking of fanfares... (Tell me this isn't a victory pose.)

"You only get one life." Unless you're Wolfwood. Because that's what these are. Extra lives. Take a mortal wound, then take one of these to continue.

Either he cheated, or he found a secret. Probably the latter.

These technicians are very conspicuous clones of the same model with very small alterations. Minor gradations in skin-tone, different hair styles... they're like dummies. They exist only to die messily for someone's satisfaction.

They're straw-men. They were set up to be knocked down.

Vash sneezes and alerts the guards in July. They have to wait for the timer to run out on the alert. Then they go through a sewer level.

Escort missions are always so frustrating. It's like the NPC is trying to die.

It's dangerous to go alone. Take this.

Dropping his inventory. Smokes. Extra ammo. Booze.

But someone pulled the nail. He knew what he was dealing with. Roberto's gone, but not forever. His spirit is free. He'll be around.

Knives spends all his time at a keyboard in the dark.

Isn't it time to face reality?

Vash had to position himself on the trapdoor to activate the cutscene. That does always look a bit stupid.

Meryl's the boss.

Protip: Even if they have godmode enabled, opponents can be stunlocked.

Like keep-away, Hot Potato is a fun game to play with family. The player holding the hot potato when time runs out is eliminated.

Destructible environments.

Stomp.

And appropriate theme music for a white-haired bishounen with a god complex.

Or a presence haunting the moon.

Or a false god of control.

All calamities from beyond, existing to recruit and assimilate. To colonise receptive environments. To spawn copies of themselves.

Fortunately things like this are beholden to extremely rigid sets of rules, and they're also very, very stupid. But you can't take them out with directionless violence. They're prepared for that. You've got to be tricky.

Better luck next time, Wolfwood. This time, he's only dressed up as the hero. In truth he's a moppet. An effigy to draw enemy attention and take the bullet while the real version gets ready to hit from an impossible direction.

This is a job for a trickster, not a punisher, or a sacrifice. He's been played for a fool.

#trigun stampede #trigun #trigun meta #meta: final phase #nicholas d. wolfwood #guess who played metal gear solid 2 at a formative age

[askagamedev]

As a dev, what type of feedback grinds your gears? From the player side, I can't imagine how annoying it is when there are feedback threads and people are suggesting features or themes that would essentially create a completely different game.

After being collectively yelled at on the forums for so long, I've developed a thick enough skin that none of the feedback really bothers me anymore. I don't get the emotional engagement with it much anymore. To me, there's really only two kinds of feedback - actionable and not.

If the feedback is actionable - if it's actually within the realm of possibility to do - then we'll consider it, figure out how much work it will take, prioritize it, and put it in the backlog to get worked on if/when we have time. Actionable feedback would be things like "Pastrylord doesn't feel very engaging to play", "The Buttery Doom ability feels overpowered", or "The Cappucino Plateau is a boring area". These are issues we can legitimately investigate and try to address.

If the feedback is not actionable, then we'll probably file it away somewhere. Some of this feedback is pretty obvious, but there's also some feedback that will never go anywhere. Trying to assign blame among the developers or our business partners for some shortcoming in the game, for example, is never actionable. Asking for a complete redesign of the game (or major game systems) is almost never actionable. Giving us unsolicited content ideas (e.g. posting a design a dungeon for the game you like) is not actionable for legal reasons. Realistically, little will actually come from this kind of feedback - we can't do it in the current game we're working on and we have plenty of our own ideas for things we want to do in other/future games. Never say never, but often say "probably not".

[Join us on Discord] and/or [Support us on Patreon]

Got a burning question you want answered?

Short questions: Ask a Game Dev on Twitter

Long questions: Ask a Game Dev on Tumblr

Frequent Questions: The FAQ

#player feedback #how i do it

[bengals-barnesbabe]

Imagine your first wash day at Joe's...

word count: 1.1k

main masterlist

When you first started dating, Joe had only ever seen your hair in a protective style or wrapped in a scarf, granted you met in the summer so those were your safest options.

As time went on and you grew closer, you began to wear your hair out more which required much more work, so you left a mini hair care bag at his place. It only had a few essential items like a leave in, edge control, mini spray bottle, some hair oil and a pack of silk scrunchies. Since you spent the majority of the time at his place he believed that was all you needed to maintain your 4b/4c hair.

You moved in with him a month ago, and today is your long awaited and very much needed wash day. The weather in Cincinnati finally cooled down enough for you to let go of the braids, so you planned to do mini twists. You wanted to start as soon as possible, so when Joe left at 8 in the morning you gathered your bucket of haircare products and locked yourself in the bathroom.

♡ ♥︎ ♡

It was about noon when Coach Taylor let his players out, they had a game that Sunday so he didn't want to run them too ragged. Joe, Tee and Ja'Marr decided to grab a bite to eat before heading to Joe's to cool off.

The moment the 3 men enter your living room is the exact moment you remember that you may have neglected to tell your boyfriend of today's significance.

"Hey babe, we stopped by that place you liked so I brought you- woah." Joe looks wide eyed at the organized mess of different combs/brushes, gels and bottles of hair products with you in the center of it.

You nervously smile at the trio. "Hi." You quickly finish the twist you're on and pause the movie you're 'watching'.

"Are we interrupting something- ohhh yea mhm got it. Let's go, Tee." Ja'Marr says assessing the situation.

"Yo wait, can you do mine next? You know, when you get a chance." Tee asks.

"Man, she aint doing yo crusty ass fade. I'm definitely next."

"There ain't nothing wrong with my cut." The two wide receivers argue on the way out.

You chuckle before turning back to your boyfriend, "I may have forgot to tell you today's wash day." You say sheepishly.

"You think?" He shakes his head and takes a seat on the cleanest spot next to you. "This is a lot, when did you get all of this?"

"I've had it the whole time, most of it stays in the closet a majority of the time." You shrug moving around some of the products so he can stretch out. He gladly scoots in closer and analyses your work in progress.

You had just finished the back before they walked in, your hair is pretty thick and a decent length so washing it took about 2 hours. Then you decided to make your life easier by making the process harder and blowing out the entire thing, that took another hour.

"The line in the back is crooked, but its look pretty nice overall."

You immediately smacked his chest. "Joey, what the hell."

"What'd I do? Do you not want me to be honest?" You glared at him.

"You've been hanging out with Ja'Marr for too long."

He chuckles and presses a kiss to your head, "baby you are the most talented, amazing and most beautiful woman I've ever had the pleasure to meet. And you are doing an absolutely fantastic job on your hair."

"Much better, now let me wash my hands before I see if you actually got my order right." You teased.

"I know you better than I know myself Y/n, you need to stop doubting my 'boyfriend skills'."

While you're gone he couldn't help but look at every single product in his vicinity. Trying not to knock over any of the open bottles of oil, he spots a bright blue gel-cream and reaches for it.

"Doo Gro, well I am growing out my hair." His curiosity getting the best of him, he scoops some out of the jar and sniffs it for safety reasons. Unable to place the scent, he rubs it in his hands then rakes his hands through his hair.

"Joe, what are you doing?" He jumps at your voice, effectively knocking over your bag of combs.

"Shit, baby. What does it look like?" He says now cleaning the mess of combs, in shapes and sizes he'd never seen a day in his life.

"It looks like you wanna be a giant grease ball." You snort picking a handheld mirror off the floor and putting it in his face.

"Jesus, I didn't put that much in." The dollop he picked up had somehow multiplied and made it look like he'd meant to slick back his hair.

"Aww my poor greasy baby, I hope you rubbed it into your scalp as well." You said picking up your plate and shoving the food in your mouth.

"I think I got that covered, does this stuff wash out- Y/n baby calm down it's not going anywhere." He stares wide eyed at the plate that's been half eaten in mere seconds.

"I know, I just haven't eaten since like yesterday. It probably does, just not all of it. At least you'll get thicker hair out of this," You can't help the giggles coming out as you continue to look at your boyfriend's head.

"It's not that funny." He bites his bottom lip as his own start to take over.

"You look like the kids that cover themselves in vaseline and peanut butter." The room's completely filled with your laughter to the point that everything has been forgotten.

"If doing your hair has always been this fun, let me help all the time." He smiles as the laughter subsides.

You shake your head, "I'll let you wash it next time and we'll see if you still wanna be included. Even with your giant football arms, you'll be tapping out before we get to deep conditioning."

He smirks, "all I hear is that you like my arms."

You scoffed and gave him a good once-over, "oh I like more than your arms." Biting your lip, you sit yourself in his lap.

"Oh yea, tell me more." His eyes blazed with desire as your hands run up his arms and down his chest.

"I love how big you are, but you already knew that." You smirk.

"Fuck." He growls pulling your lips flush against his.

₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚✧ ﾟ.

a/n: inspired by my HS self making the fact that I learned to do my hair during quarantine and mastered mini twists enough for it to become my entire personality. she was very humbled when they became a trend lol, I still love them tho and my nephew who covered himself in vaseline not once but 3 times. :)

#black reader #joe burrow x reader #joe burrow #joe burrow x black reader #nfl imagine #joe burrow bengals #cincinnati bengals #natural hair #wash day #bengals barnesbabe #joe burrow fluff #fluff #established relationship #hint of smut #mini twists are superior #little kids are ridiculous #Joey B is fine as fucccc #joe burrow imagine #joey b #joeburrow #joe shiesty

[mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess]

Identical

Sometimes my own ideas haunt me

Inspired by this post and the tags on it

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

It was strange, to look at himself in those sumptuous, regal robes, a perfect copy of the ones he wore that fateful day – he had grown much too used to his simple, white robes, a modest look that contrasted far too sharply with his current appearance. Every single detail was incredibly accurate, etched with such care and precision that, if Xie Lian had to pick between this outfit and his original one, he would not be able to tell which was which. 

The details on the embroidery, the colors, the way the robes draped over his body, the weight of the golden hairpiece, the feel of the material against his skin – it was identical to the point of nostalgia, a testament to the way his image had etched itself into his beloved’s mind to the finest of details. 

The only thing missing – the matching earring to a beautiful pair of coral beads. 

That had been the premise behind the reason why Xie Lian was staring at the image of his past with eyes eight centuries older – and he still wondered how he had allowed Hua Cheng to talk him into this.  He really spoiled his husband too much, doing all sorts of shameless things for him – but roleplaying something like this definitely had to be the most shameless of all! 

He had to pretend to have found the culprit behind one of his earrings being stolen and “punish” him for his crime against the Crown Prince of Xianle – just thinking about it had Xie Lian flush with shame.  It was a rather funny scenario to think of, outlandish and perverted, the kind of plot one would read in cheap erotica – but Xie Lian agreed because he had never been able to say no to his beloved, and a small part of him found the idea rather interesting.

Despite his centuries long abstinence, he had found himself quite amenable to trying out new things in the matters of intimacy, and he had grown quite the imagination for it. 

That did not mean, however, that he did not feel the bittersweet sting of nostalgia, of wondering how different things could have been if only fate had been kinder to him. If the things that happened never came to be, and the things that shouldn’t have happened never did.

He tore his eyes from the mirror as he made sure to look as presentable as possible, taking his place on the very carefully decorated chair that was to be his throne for the night. He could only hope the careful work had been Hua Cheng’s doing and poor Yin Yu had not been made to decorate the room in such a way for the purpose it would be used. 

(The man really deserved a raise.)

A wraith butterfly floated into the room, and Xie Lian let it settle on his hand, the signal that their little game for the night was about to start – and Xie Lian did his very best to pretend to be angry, a royal having had his belongings stolen. 

Hua Cheng had to play the part of the impoverished peasant that dared commit the crime, so his luxurious robes were replaced with a plain set, the many accessories that jingled with every one of his steps abandoned for the night. 

He walked into the room looking every bit the guilty part, eyes downcast as he bowed his head deeply, remorseful for his “crime”. Xie Lian had to hand it to him – his acting was impeccable. 

“Theft is a crime in itself, yet you dare steal from me of all people?” Xie Lian asked, surprised at the harsh tone of his own voice. He did not expect an answer, as custom was that the guilty would not be allowed to speak in front of royalty.

“Look at me.” He ordered, eyes sharp as he tried his best to portray his character, standing up from his throne as if ready to exact punishment. 

But the moment Hua Cheng’s gaze raised to meet his, a look of shock, wonder and fondness settling on his features. He couldn’t find words to speak, the image on front of him identical to the one he had first fallen in love with eight centuries ago, the same man looking at him now with a look of concern – even the way his eyes sparkled with worry was the same. 

If he could still breathe, Hua Cheng would have choked on air, and if he still had a heartbeat, it would have stopped. 

For perhaps the millionth time, reality hit Hua Cheng like a rush of adrenaline, the magnitude of his love and devotion having led him to this moment again – and it was with that realization that he felt the ground run from beneath his feet, almost ready to collapse with it.

But, precisely like before, a pair of gentle, strong arms caught him when he had expected it the least, and the man that stared down at him was the same too. 

“Your Highness…”

“San Lang.” He replies softly, cradling Hua Cheng in his arms, “Are you alright? Did I do something wrong?”

Hua Cheng shook his head, his one eye still staring up at Xie Lian with love, wonder and worship all the same, tears blurring his vision for a moment before he blinked them away. Xie Lian’s expression softened, gently caressing the side of his husband’s face in silent understanding, wiping them away. 

Neither said anything, but the words hung in the air still. 

It has always been you. 

#tgcf #tian guan ci fu #hob #heaven official's blessing #hualian #writing attempts

[bluegekk0]

do you have any tips on trying to draw in the Hades style? I'd like to try it wìth my own OCs but it's very different from my usual style

I definitely won't claim to be an expert, if you study my Vyrm drawing and put it next to the art from the game, you'd definitely notice a lot of differences, especially in the lineart (which I might end up adjusting to be closer to the original style)

But generally, it depends which of the Hades games you want to mimic for your drawing. The artstyle does vary quite a bit between the two games. I'll use the Poseidon and Zeus portraits as examples (left is Hades, right is Hades II):

Some things I noticed when looking at them side by side:

The most obvious part is the shading, the pure black cel shading is a lot more prominent. It's still present on the Hades II art but it's reserved more for the darkest areas, such as under Poseidon's beard. There are still some drawings where the cel shading is more present, such as in the Hades II Demeter art.

Something present in both styles but especially in the first one, and what is in my opinion the crucial part of the Hades-esque look: the speckles of very vibrant colors. If you zoom in, you'll notice that there are small dots and brush strokes of neon green and yellow on both of these Hades I portraits. If you look at the artwork of Zagreus, for example, you'll find a whole rainbow of colors.

There's purple, yellow, mint green and orange. This helps the drawing appear more colorful even if a lot of the colors are fairly muted. In the second game, I noticed these neon highlights are a bit less common, but there are noticeable rim lights which are somewhat vibrant in color.

Something else I noticed comparing the two artstyles is that gradients are more present in the first one, while the second game relies more on brush strokes with gradual changes in color, such as on the "hair" of this Scylla portrait. Any gradients seem to be mostly used for light effects, such as armor shine. You can see the vibrant rim lights here as well.

These are just some things I noticed, there's obviously a lot more to the artstyle. So what I recommend is downloading all those portraits and studying them up close before drawing. Drawing in a completely different artstyle can be quite difficult, but I found it to be a nice experiment. For my drawings I leaned more into the Hades II artstyle, which to me appears softer in comparison to the first one, but the nature of my designs means that they don't fit in as well. Though it's still fun to play around with the artstyle and maybe even learn some things to adapt to your regular style.

I hope this helped at least a little bit. Good luck with your efforts!

#ask stuff

[wayfayrr]

Hello! I love the self-aware stuff you’re doing for the links. Love that stuff.

Now don’t feel compelled to write anything about this. I just think it’s funny to think about :)

My switch has been acting kinda weird recently. Not broken or anything too major. But a corner of the the touchscreen is coming off, a very small part. Pretty sure it’s because of the heat and the glue or something? Anyway, it’s also been glitching sometimes. Colored lines will go across the screen in handheld mode. (Truthfully it’s sometimes annoying, but it’s kinda old so go figures it’s gonna start acting weird)

But could you imagine with the links??? Like they start realizing that the console is malfunctioning, or a piece of the screen is breaking? I can see them being like, “YES YES, PROGRESS!!!”

Idk it’s just funny to think about sometimes

(Again don’t feel compelled to write anything. Wanted to give a fun little thought I had :])

I mean if the switch is breaking when they're ready then they're going to be ECSTATIC - if it's already breaking then surely you won't be as bothered when they hop out and finish it off right? not like there's going to be a severe change in the cost of getting it repaired from a minor break to the entire thing being completely unusable

but they don't even worry about the cost! It's not even something that registers with them cause well - no money could possibly make them living with you a bad thing right? besides they could just sell some stuff or get a job to make it up to you.

it'd be intresting to think about them continuing to glitch post getting out of the game too, like they stand there unbreathing, unblinking different coloured lines running across them as their body tries so desperately to belong in this new world now. their voice even glitching, static surrounding them near constantly as they try so hard to belong failing every single time.

maybe if they were more patient they could have been whole. right. not some half broken mockery of a person holding onto their life with all of their energy.

maybe it wouldn't have done a thing to wait and they would have simply been trapped in their non existence even longer

it's not something they'll be able to ever find the answer for anyway

love the idea of them clawing against the screen so so so much too, scraping at it until their fingers are bleeding, with no progress beyond the fact that they are bleeding, something new to them so it must be working right? it has to be. so they ball their hands into fists in their last attempt to get this one last remaining obstacle out of their way, crying and screaming with their newly found voice. begging for help, from you, from hylia, from anything as long as it gets them out. until crack by crack, glass shards digging into their skin, it shatters.

the only ones that really have a less bloody way out are tears and wild, just because their tech and ability offer them other solutions to it. The rest aren't as lucky

#also hope that you manage to get your switch repaired before anything gets worse with it #I have so many thoughts about them getting out #the way they spiral up until that point and then it happens? #it's visceral and I LOVE it #moss✦answers #yandere link #linked universe #yandere linked universe x reader #yandere linked universe #link x reader #linked universe x reader #self aware au #self aware loz

[marshmallowprotection]

What do you think would be each character’s favorite flavor of cake?

You know what, this is a brilliant question, but I think I'm going to answer it based on vibes rather than trying to break down the semantics of why a character might enjoy a certain flavor over another.

Jaehee

Angel's Food Cake! You thought I was going to say that she would love coffee cake, didn't you? I feel like her favorite kind of dessert is one that is gentle on the tongue. You can't go wrong with fresh fruit and a gentle sponge. I imagine it might take her back to her childhood with her parents and what's better than that? It's nice to have a good memory. I know she makes a lot of different things for her cafe, but for whatever reason, I always think she enjoys the most gentle things.

Zen

Hotteok. Street Pancakes. He just isn't the kind of person who eats a lot of sweets, but I know he loves to visit different vendors because he has a lot of friends who have gotten out of gang life and end up making food for others. I think the closest you can get to him enjoying a suite is something he could pick up from a friend. They can be stuffed with different things, but I think brown sugar and cinnamon might be his go-to! I think they can add nuts too!

Yoosung

Funfetti Cake! I know what you're going to say, I can already hear you, why did I give him the flavor that would make him look like a kid who hasn't tried different things before? Well, I raise you the idea that sometimes people like what they like and it doesn't matter if it seems childish to you, he knows what he likes, and it happens to be sprinkles in his cake batter. You can't go wrong with it at the end of the day.

Jumin

Cheesecake! I just can't see him eating a cake for some reason. That's not to say that he doesn't like them, it's just that when I tried to imagine what he would like to enjoy, I came to the same conclusion. He wants a cheesecake slice and some coffee to go with it. He likes to indulge in the flavor now and again and I think that makes sense for him.

Saeyoung

Red Velvet. Again, I don't know what it is about him, but I feel like he really enjoys cream cheese frosting. The only thing that gets me with this is that in one of the folders that you can purchase from the marketplace, there's a birthday cake with blueberries and strawberries. Which implies to me that he likes blueberries, but there's no other evidence to back that up and there's nothing in the world that says he couldn't put blueberries on any cake so I've decided he's just going to put blueberries on red velvet cake.

Jihyun

Tiramisu! I feel like this makes sense and I don't even need to explain it because the people who get it—will get it and the people who won't—won't. There's just something about him sitting in the back of a cafe with a plate of tiramisu on one side and a scathing 10th grade essay on the other where he's going to argue up and down some sort of pretentious conclusion to an art piece. I'm going to say I support it because he's so goofy, but I can't unsee this.

Saeran

Strawberry Shortcake! The game points this out for me and I don't think I can argue with that. Although, I will say Unknown did have a drawing for his birthday where he had a big Black Forest cake. But, I don't know if that's his favorite, considering that there was a bottle of wine in the picture and I had a bad feeling about who set out a birthday display for him to begin with and why they picked what they picked. In any case, give this man some strawberry shortcake.

Rika

Devil's Food Cake! I didn't pick this because I thought it would be a funny joke. I picked this because she seems like somebody who likes to indulge. She decided she was going to unleash her devil and not let anybody stop her from enjoying herself, no matter what that meant for the people around her who suffered because of it, and tasting a very rich, dense chocolate cake is a representation of that sentiment.

Vanderwood

Carrot Cake! I don't even really have an explanation for this one other than it just feels right. I don't see them as somebody who enjoys a lot of sweets, but if they're going to have something, the most nostalgic thing they could think of would be something from their childhood, and I just think that's carrot cake.

#mod kait #ask #mystic messenger #anon #mysme #saeran choi #mysticmessenger #mm #choi saeran #saeyoung choi #choi saeyoung #yoosung kim #kim yoosung #jaehee kang #kang jaehee #rika kim #kim rika #vanderwood #jumin han #han jumin #jihyun kim #kim jihyun #hyun ryu #ryu hyun