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aelaer · 1 year

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Another whump icon prompt filled! And this is the last of my pre-written fics before my first poll, so now I *have* to work on figuring out how to write Loki...

Also a fill for @badthingshappenbingo! The bad thing happening to the protagonist is pretty light, *but* it's still a not-terribly-fun thing, so I figure it works out.

I was trying to write something else for this for ages (read: almost 3 years), but it never came out the way I wanted it to, and I still had this ancient prompt to fill so I figured I'd try not to make a huge story out of it and just do some writing exercises to get back into it. And the normal stuff wasn't working so I flipped the angst on its head to something a bit more BAMFy. Still a bad thing happening though.

The MacGuffin here is pretty simple but hey, it works.

Lightning Before The Thunder Rating: Gen No pairings

On occasion, Doctor Strange still had to do mundane, normal-people things. He still needed to buy food and even magic wasn't quite as effective as the dry cleaners two blocks away for his suit, whenever he needed to wear it for whatever occasion presented itself.

Today it was the bank. The New York Sanctum still sat in the city it was named after, which meant that every year property taxes were due. And sometime between the Blip and now, the automatic payment to the city on the Sanctum's bank account stopped going through despite nothing changing, which meant Stephen had to go talk to someone to get it fixed. He figured it'd be easier to do it in person than try to navigate the menus in the bank's phone system and never ending hold times that characterized every customer service center after the Blip.

Despite his rather unfortunate infamy that came with his involvement with the Infinity Stones and the last battle against Thanos, he wasn't recognized nearly as often as, say, Tony Stark or Steve Rogers once were. In casual wear people rarely recognized him, and it was only once he gave his name that recognition lit up in stranger's eyes. He was thankful for the relative anonymity.

Stephen wasn't sure if said anonymity was a blessing or a curse when four armed robbers stormed the bank five minutes into his appointment. On one hand, they may have shot him for it if they thought he was a threat.

On the other hand, maybe that would have meant that the security guard wouldn't have been shot.

Each second of calculation felt like a minute. He could go immediately on the offensive and attack them, but their guns were pointed at clerks and patrons as they shouted for everyone to get down. They had already shot someone and the man was bleeding heavily.

He had a life to save first. He needed to play doctor—and hostage—before he could do anything else.

Stephen crawled to the security guard even as the robbers shouted orders across the building. He shed his outer shirt and pressed it against the security guard's bleeding shoulder. When he cried out in pain, one of the gunmen turned to him.

"The fuck you doing? Get on the ground!" He turned the barrel at him.

"I'm a doctor," Stephen said, voice even. He'd certainly faced worse, though he was really regretting not bringing the Cloak with him. "Let me help him."

The man hesitated, but another spoke up as he addressed the majority of the people by the counters. "Stay on the fucking ground and y'all live, right? Just stay there. No phones!"

That seemed to be enough for the gunman focused on Stephen. "Stay there," he ordered.

Stephen complied. Underneath his blood-soaked dress shirt he silently applied subtle healing magic to constrict blood flow from the wound, the glow barely going through the cloth. The security guard frowned at what would have been an unusual, warm feeling.

"What…"

"I'm a doctor," Stephen repeated. The blood flow was slowing down. He glanced over his shoulder to gauge the situation. Once he heard sirens outside and the gunmen were separated, he could act.

The security guard winced. "Is it—supposed to feel like that?" He glanced at his shoulder with a grimace that twisted into a confused frown as he caught some of the glow from underneath Stephen's shirt. "What the—"

"My name," he cut him off, words soft yet sharp, "is Doctor Stephen Strange. Do you understand?"

The man's eyes lit up in recognition. His gaze went beyond him to the action in the background. "Can you—can you help—"

"Everything will be fine," Stephen reassured him. "Just concentrate on breathing."

"Hey! No talking!" It seemed one of the robbers noticed their whispers. Stephen glanced up to see a gun being waved in his general direction, which was more annoying than frightening if he was to be entirely honest. Then again, his line of work had rather desensitized him, perhaps to a rather alarming degree. He wouldn't be able to get a shield out fast enough to stop a bullet.

Hmm. Were there spells out there that could? Probably. It was physical damage, so those that held against that may hold up.

His silence seemed to appease the gunman enough to get him to back off—or maybe it was the sirens finally at the building. Good. It would take a couple minutes for them to set up a perimeter, then he would act.

Stephen's chance came soon enough. The gunmen were split now with only two in the main foyer, and one of the two was wandering to the far end of the room to peek down the halls. Great.

He moved the security guard's hand to his wounded shoulder. "Press as hard as you can," he muttered. When the man did so, Stephen slipped his sling ring out of his pocket.

The first gunman was out in a blink. With one gesture Stephen tore the gun from the man's hands, scattering it to the other side of the bank. In the next the man fell through a portal that deposited him on the stairs of the building outside with barely a second to shout.

Still, his buddy heard the brief commotion, which worked perfectly for Stephen. He came from around the corner at a quick walk. "Jerry?"

That gunman suffered the same fate as Jerry.

The bank employees and clients were staring at him now, naturally. With the other two robbers in the back room, Stephen felt it was safe enough for him to stand without anyone else getting hurt.

"Stay there," he told the other hostages. "I'll be right back." He strolled his way into the back where the other two robbers were.

They weren't even facing him when he approached. Disarming them and placing a portal under them almost felt like cheating. So it wasn't even two minutes later that Stephen was back in the front of the building. "All four of them have been deposited outside," he said to the person that looked like she was a manager. "Call the authorities and let them know it's only civilians within the building now, and that we need an ambulance."

At her startled nod, he went back to the wounded security guard to see how he was holding up. "Medics will be here soon," he told him. "You'll be just fine."

"Thank—thank you."

"Don't mention it."

As he heard the front doors open a few minutes later, Stephen realized that he probably couldn't just slip away as he would have preferred to after giving the paramedics a summary. The civilians would definitely point his way, which meant he'd have to talk to the police.

Ugh. There went the rest of his day.

#bad things happen bingo #prompt: hostage for macguffin #mcu #stephen strange #doctor strange fanfiction #doctor strange #prompt fill

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ratatatang · 1 month

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Capable Cards- Motes Devlog 02

(Check out the itch.io page!)

Welcome back to people who read the first devlog, and Hello to people who haven't. I'm Figgity, and this is Motes!

Last devlog, I went over the trials and tribulations of basic opponent AI. Between now and then, fun stuff has happened!

But before we get into the thick of it, I wanted to introduce a new segment to the devlogs. The CARD SHOWCASE! Where I go over a fun card and some possible uses for it (Everything subject to change, of course)

Say hello to Cauterize.

Cauterize is an interesting card, doubling as a supportive tool, and an offensive weapon for anyone that picks it up. I'll also note that it can target yourself in addition to allies, making it a valuable tool for healing allies, yourself, or hurting enemies in a pinch.

Moving on to the new developments in development, I spent this time recuperating from life (I may have crunch time'd a bit to get the devlog out by my personal deadline) while doing a litany of miscellaneous changes and additions.

As you saw from the card showcase above, I took the liberty of changing the layout of the cards, giving more space to the quickly identifiable parts of the card, the name and image, and added a few popup tabs that display relevant information for using the card. In the end, it looks like this in your hand.

youtube

(I know its grainy, I promise that's just from zooming in a ton and having it compressed 3 times)

I also added a 'Card Inspector'. That's what I'm using to see the cauterize card above. If you ever want a better look at the card, and a longer description then the shitty little ones at the bottom, you can just right click and look! I didn't have the time to implement this part right now, but I'm also going to add a way to see the card history & inspect them, so you can get a good idea of every card being used by your enemies.

If you were astute, you may have also noticed one of the bigger changes from the cauterize card. The capabilities of cards have been massively expanded. I won't go over the nitty-gritty, but cards can do so much more now! AOE attacks (that you can rotate), healing cards, status effects, and even some weirder untested effects like teleportation, drawing cards, and effecting your enemies hand and deck.

The other, smaller changes I added don't seem big, but they make a big impact on how it feels to play, even now before there's much to play. I tweaked the damage numbers, so you can see the elemental damage from the color as well as used that same system to popup that you've been inflicted with a status effect.

Speaking of status effects, the last thing I want to mention is the status menu. Eventually, this will double for things like inventory and character information. I couldn't figure out how to really implement this for a long time. It's simple to just say "Well Figgity, add some icons!!" but that leads to a hard question, where?

The best of both card games and tactics games have a common thing in their design, their communication to the player is extremely concise and well done. For a lot of games, you have to train yourself to see all the available information, and the developers work to decide what information the player should have and what not. The weird thing about tactics and (to a lesser extent) card games is that they have a lot of information available, so making sure your game isn't word-y or math-y or menu-y, displaying tons of information at once is important to making the game not feel overbearing to play.

I'm still on the fence about the status window, in an ideal world I could display status effects without adding a button to see them (if you have suggestions, please comment!!) but I settled with this.

It simply adds them all to a list, and displays their turn limit. As I said, I want to double this for inventory & character info, so I'm going to use all that blank space to the left for that important information.

Thanks for reading this far! I know it's been a minute, but I promise I'm hard at work on motes. I've been doing some big stuff for the next update (starts with an M) and am much further then I thought I would be in such a short period of time. I'm even thinking of extending what I want to call the "First Edition" to have a mini-campaign type thing. We'll have to see.

Expect the Unexpected,

Figgity <3

#Youtube #gamedev #indiegamedev #indie dev #solodev #indie game #game development #tactics rpg #itch.io #code #coding #video games #programming #godot engine #card games #game design

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nhi-theuserof-this · 3 years

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@sharpie-chen I said I’d write a oneshot

@give-grian-rights I have come to feed your brain ideas

TW// depictions of blood(vague), fighting, almost drowning(vague)

All kept vague but are described in detail in the version linked at the very bottom of the post

—

Technoblade.

Blood God. Merciless. Undefeated. The second worst thing to happen to the orphans.

His iconic crown was freshly polished and sitting back at his camp site because he didn’t want it to smudge while raiding a pillager outpost. For a little extra supplies on his journey.

Technoblade would’ve gotten back sooner if it weren’t for the screetching of an endedmen in the distance. Endermen were only aggrivated when attacked or if you made eye contact with them, and Technoblade had done neither meaning someone was nearby.

By the time Technoblade had gotten there, the fight was already over. Blood spattered across a small campsite and a single ender pearl hovering above the ground, a bloody mass slowly moving down the river somewhat covered by a cloak that twisted around it. Whatever had happened simply wasn’t of interest to techno as he snatched up the pearl on the edge of the river and turned back towards his own campsite.

A hand shot out of the mass and yanked on Techno’s cloak, causing Techno to drop his loosely held axe as he fell into the river. Technoblade felt two hands grab him tightly as they pulled him closely to themself.

Technoblade twisted around and kicked off of the figure and immediately began swimming towards the surface, the attacker following closely behind as they were just out of eachothers reach. Technoblade had pulled himself out of the river and the figure had closely followed. Just as they started climbing up, Techno looked back and kicked them back into the river.

After closer examination, Techno had been stabbed by a concealed weapon and he was not in range of any healing potions, having used them when raiding the pillagers. Bleeding at a steady rate without bandages, Techno trudged back towards his very far away camp.

Techno was barely consious as he reached his campsite, not registering the fact that things were out of place and how his crown was not there. All he did was collapse onto the ground and frowned as he saw a small figure approach. “Didn’t your parents teach you not to get near strangers?”

The kid mumbled something as Techno’s eyesight blurred. “Sorry kid, you’re gonna need to repeat that for me.”

“None.” Said a distorted voice, as the kid nervously looked away from Techno’s gaze. He would later put two and two together and figure out his parents were the ones that he found the remains of back at the other site, but Techno could barely think and almost didn’t register that this kid was an orphan now.

“I guess you’ve peaked in luckieness then,” Techno mumbled as his eyes slowly drooped and became half lidded. “B’cause if I wasn’t bleedn’ out right now I’d totally slay you.”

The small kid took a step back and Techno grinned, finding happiness in the fact that even on the verge of being forced to respawn, he could still terrorize small children.

Technoblade had woken up to the godawful smell of healing potions and dried blood. This should not be possible. He had passed out infront of an orphan hybrid and was supposed to bleed until Minecraft took pity on him and put him in the respawn menu. Instead, he is currently lying in his makeshift tent, splash potions staining his pants, partially undressed with poorly tied bandages around his wound.

He abruptly sat up, startling the orphan child from before into teleporting away. After an akward moment, the child came walking back with another potion as if he wasn’t startled into teleporting away, making it seem like he didn’t even remember it happening as he just waved when he saw Technoblade was awake.

Technoblade was suffeing a moral dilemma, and that never happens.

It’s completely against his own character to not slay an orphan, but it just feels.. wrong, wanting to slay the orphan that saved him from the pain that is respawning.

“Hey kid.” Techno mumbled as he dug into one of his many hidden pockets. “Come here for a second.”

The small hybrid teleported within arms reach as Techno took a string of measuring tape out of his pocket and wrapped it around the kid’s head. “Let’s go on a journey.” Techno grinned as he took note of the size the measurement was.

Technoblade had taught this orphan many things.

“Make sure you always have full hunger.” After the orphan had run out of sprint as the two were running from several pillagers.

“Keep something to reduce or minimize fall damage in your inventory, preferably a water bucket, but I know you don’t like water.” After the orphan tripped and fell off a particularly tall tree while trying to look for a lava pool.

“Keep a close eye on your surroundings.” After the orphan got caught between a ghast an two skeleton.

The lessons kept up until the two were in the blacksmith of an abandoned village as Techno measured the orphan’s head one more time as he set to work on something made of gold. He kept most of the larger peices locked in a chest.

“Here.” Techno said, opening the door to the blacksmith signaling that the orphan could come inside to see what Techno had been working on.

Lined up on a dusty table were several different sized crowns. On the inside of each one were different small messages written for the orphan. “I have elected that as a small orphan child, you shouldn’t be allowed to see the things I do, and I can’t have the enemy mistake you for someone they can use as a hostage. Become greater then all the rest.”

Techno scribbled a messy note onto a paper and stuck it into his pocket. “Kid.” Techno said turning towards a crafting bench motioning towards it as the orphan followed. “This is how you craft an ender chest.” Techno said as he crafted two of them and passed one to the orphan. “Place one down on the other side of the room.” And the orphan did so.

“Try putting a stick in there.” Techno said placing the other chest beside himself. “Now try looking into this chest.” Techno explained how enderchests worked and how they were only universal to worlds but existed everywhere. He told the orphan that he should keep the crowns in the server hub to maximize accessibility. “Once you grow out of it you can go to the next one, and that one’ll fit you.”

Technoblade and the boyorphan were in front of a portal to a place Technoblade knew quite well. Techno turned to the boy and pressed the messy note he wrote into his hands. “Read it once you go through, and don’t forget to listen to the crown, ‘Make sure you have a signature so the people remember who crushed them.’”

“Goodbye.” Technoblade said as his boy walked through the portal.

“Ranboo.”

——

Graphic edition: https://nhi-theuserof-this.tumblr.com/post/636290875226570752/tw-depictions-of-blood-gore-fighting-almost

——

Bruhhh so how’d I do mcyt tumblr?

Very quick edit: I’m finna be offline for the next 6-8 hours as of this edit because this is a school night :shrugs: btw how do people make custom tags??? I’m limited to mobile so that might be it

—

Edit(8 hours later)

I SAID HOW’D I DO MCYT TUMBLR?

Edit: saw a post of techno saying some stuff about the ranboo and him relationship thing so I might take this down depending on where this goes because I don’t wanna make technoblade uncomfortable

#mcyt #dream smp #mcytau #technoblade #ranboo #nhiwrotehere

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liloelsagranger · 3 years

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Night shift - Chapter 2 (Rocketshipping)

Chapter 2:

The whip already raised for use, Jessiebelle reared up in front of James, who was cowering on the floor all intimidated. “Where have you been? Do you realize how worried I was?” She swung the whip and gave James a blow. James cried out in pain, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. He knew that this little excursion into freedom would have consequences. Today Jessiebelle carried out the punishment with her favourite tool and throttled her fiancé without batting an eye.

“You have to be chastised, otherwise you might get ideas and leave me, and we both don’t want that, right James?”

The young man was trembling with pain. He grabbed his arm with the gaping wound. Sometimes he wanted to die, sometimes he wanted to leave this world, thoughts that had plagued him since he was a child. But the urge to be free and to be able to live his own life had prevented him from doing anything stupid until then and thinking of the waitress Jessie gave him new hope. Another lash!

“Please, Jessiebelle, stop!” he pleaded. “I’ve learned my lesson, I’ll never sneak away again, but please, have mercy!” Tears streamed down his face. Jessiebelle knelt beside her fiancé and gave him a small kiss on the cheek.

“This is the only way you will learn to be obedient and please your future wife. Sometimes you have to take harsher measures to open someone’s eyes to how much love is involved here. I love you, James,” she breathed into his ear. James cried bitter tears. If this is love, what does abysmal hatred feel like?

She left him crouching on the floor, alone in his pain and thick tears of despair. James was breathing heavily, he could barely move, but he had a mission and nothing and no one, certainly not Jessiebelle’s abuse would stop him. With the last of his strength, he tried to get to his feet, left the torture cellar and sank into his pillow, tired and exhausted. Tomorrow night he would see her again, Jessie. He imagined her smile, her sapphire blue eyes, and slipped into a fitful sleep.

The day dragged on endlessly. James counted the hours until he could sneak out through the service exit. When evening came, he waited for the right moment to dismiss the property. The servants covered him, they were on his side and could no longer watch this tragedy of a relationship.

“I hope the wound heals quickly, James. This tincture is a recipe from my grandmother, it is supposed to work wonders. Look how Jessiebelle is ruining you. You are a shadow of your former self.” Maria became quite emotional at the sight of those deep cuts. She had cared for James since he was a little boy every time his parents were traveling the world again. Seeing him like this, abused, beaten and mistreated, broke her heart. James put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry about me, Maria. There’s someone worth living for,” he put on a weak smile. “And I really need to see her,” he pressed on the tourniquet and disappeared into the night.

As James walked along the Strip, he noticed the many carnies and performers. Some were painting portraits of the tourists; others were juggling ten balls at once. Others sang and played music and thrilled the guests with little show acts. It wasn’t long before James spotted Ash, who was holding the crowd spellbound with his Pikachu. He had many tricks up his sleeve and his little Pokémon was exceptionally well trained. They were a welded team and impressed the audience with a fantastic interlude consisting of various electric attacks that Pikachu was capable of. The crowd went wild, applauded and cheered. The coins were already jingling, the bills flowing. James wanted to do more than one good deed today and secretly put a hundred-Pokédollar bill in Ash’s hat. With it, he and his friends could enjoy a delicious dinner at the Diner. Ash could hardly believe his eyes when he fished the large bill out of his hat. His mouth was open, never had he received so much tip before. His gaze wandered through the audience and stuck to James.

“Hey! Aren’t you the guy who was at the Diner last night?” he asked him. James nodded his head. “Wow! What happened to your face? Where did you get that black eye?” Ash wondered. Should James tell him a tall tale or come clean with the truth? He didn’t know this boy at all and honestly, he didn’t want to hang his private life on the big bell.

“Work accident,” James replied. Ash nodded his understanding and stowed the big money in his pocket. He had no idea that his sponsor was standing right in front of him.

“Are you coming by today? Fridays are fish day, you’ll miss out on the tastiest salmon and sea food if you don’t show up later.”

That’s when it slipped out of James’ mouth. “Is Jessie having a night shift tonight?” It was so foolish, he felt pretty stupid. What kind of impression did this make on young Ash? The boy grinned maliciously.

“Jessie is at the Diner every single night, trying to keep herself and that place afloat, it takes hard work, but she’s up to any problem. So yeah, she’ll be there. Why?”

James blushed to the roots of his hair. “Oh nothing, she just served me very well.” James shrugged it off, but one question still burned on his mind. “This man, who works with her at the Diner. Is that her boyfriend?” Ash laughed out loud.

“You mean Eddy? He’s ace. All he wants are close and deep friendships, but nothing more. A hug is still in, but not a step further. You don’t have to worry about him but let me give you some good advice. Give Jessie some space and don’t press her. Life wasn’t always easy for her.” Ash packed up his paraphernalia and disappeared down a dark side street.

Late in the evening, James hardly dared to show up at the Diner. He was visibly nervous and couldn’t quite explain to himself why. Of course, he was happy to see Jessie again and to enjoy her first-class service, to feel her warm smile on his skin. On the other hand, he didn’t want her to see him maltreated like that. But when he entered the restaurant, the atmosphere was really tense. He discovered the large bouquet of flowers that he had secretly sent her, but Jessie seemed to be anything but pleased about it. He approached the waitress and overheard snippets of conversation that made him shudder. Turning to Eddy, she showed her best friend the small note James had enclosed. “He’s trying to suck up again, that lousy guy! Signs it with a friggin J. Like I wouldn’t guess it’s that assface of Jack’s who’s supposedly trying to make up with me. Throw this bouquet in the trash can right now, Eddy! Get it out of my sight!” she commanded. This action had gone completely wrong. But how could James have known that Jessie’s ex-boyfriend’s name started with a J, too? He put a hand on her shoulder and Jessie immediately winced. “Oh, it’s you. Sorry, I didn’t see anyone enter de Diner. I’ll come right over and take your order.” She heaved a deep sigh, gave way to her anger, and kicked the trash can with all her might.

James had probably hit the wrong nerve. Now he felt all the more pathetic. He wanted to please Jessie with the bouquet and show his gratitude for the nice service, but this action was a shot in the foot.

The waitress was beside herself when she reached James’ table. Her hair was mussed, she rummaged in her apron for her tiny notebook to write down the incoming orders and could not concentrate on her guests. Something had to have happened, and James was trying to figure out how to help Jessie. It was his turn to ask her about her day. “Miserable, James. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong! But I don’t want to burden you with my stuff, I’m sure you have other things to worry about, judging by your eye…” James’ hand shot up. “I’ll get you cooling pads”, Jessie was overly attentive and James liked that feeling of being cared for by someone. There was no emotion in his relationship with Jessiebelle, except for pain and hatred. There could never be any question of love. It was an arranged engagement, and his parents didn’t care how much James suffered from Jessiebelle’s mannerisms. James wanted to offer Jessie all his attention in return, he wanted to listen to her, ask her how her day had been and talk for hours about trivial things that made him forget for a short time the strains of a botched relation.

“Here’s your coke and a turkey sandwich. Enjoy!” she forced herself to smile, but the day’s toil was gnawing away at her. James had to take the initiative. “Please, sit down for a minute. There aren’t many guests, you can certainly take a short break”, he offered her the seat next to him. She looked around, nodded wearily, and let herself sink into the chair. “What a day,” Jessie grabbed the menu card and fanned herself. He turned to her, eyeing her beautiful face, and straining to take in her every word. “Maybe you’ve already noticed, but the Strip is no place for rich snobs. Drunks and homeless people hang out here. Most of the guys who come to my Diner can’t even pay, so they charge me. Unfortunately, at the end of the month there is barely enough for the rent…and food must also be purchased. We work to the limit, staying open late to make a few Pokédollars, but it just doesn’t pay. Cassidy paid us a visit today. You remember? That broad from the newspaper? She threatened to kick us out, said she was going take the Diner away from us piece by piece. I just don’t know what to do, we barley make ends meet and we have far too few guests. What should I do? Oh, why am I talking to you, you have enough problems,” she buried her face in her hands and sighed. James stroked her cheek. He could have bought the Diner at the push of a button, but he didn’t want to be liked for his money, he wanted to be liked for who he was, the real him.

“Don’t hang your head, I could help you out after all. I don’t want a salary, a roof over my head and a warm sandwich in the evening is perfectly fine”, he smiled encouragingly at her. ‘And I can be closer to you,’ he didn’t say it out loud. She raised her head and looked at him questioningly. “What do you want in this shabby place? I’m sure you have better places to stay and besides, I really can’t pay you anything, we’re almost broke…”

James felt embarrassed. If only Jessie knew how much he wanted to escape the shackles of this terrible relationship. He wanted to be free, no matter what the cost. He wanted to have air to breathe, he wanted to laugh and have a zest for life, and that’s what he hoped to find at the Diner. With people who could show compassion, who responded to the needs of others, without batting an eye, were willing to offer a helping hand to even the most down-and-out creatures on the Strip. “You know, I have some idea about advertising and marketing. With just a piece of cardboard and my loud blabbermouth, I can double your customer base. Trust me,” he held out his hand to her and she took it. What tender, soft skin. So fragile. What have these hands had to endure? Cleaning, washing, cooking, tidying up. Such delicate hands must be protected, and James already knew how. He wished this handshake would never stop. For the first time he felt the perky waitress and it was overwhelming. A slight tug in his heart area told him where this journey would lead, and he hoped Jessie would be the destination. He had never felt so attracted to a woman before. She was different, she was a fighter that not even the worst news could wear out. For a brief moment, they looked at each other, smiling. No words were needed to describe the attraction between these two. They lost themselves in their gazes, even if it was only for a split second. Something blossomed between them, a tiny flame of hope, of forgetting and of new beginnings.

“I’m about to get out my violin and serve them a plate of spaghetti with meatballs,” Eddy murmured to one of their guests. “Yes, yes, our Jessie has sworn off love, but she seems to make a big and fat exception with James…” “Let there be fish for everyone! Let’s celebrate, my friends!” Ash rumbled into the Diner, followed by his two best mates, Misty and Brock. They immediately destroyed the intimate moment between Jessie and her new co-worker James. They both jumped up and tried to hide their blushes. Jessie cleared her throat. “Get to work, James! We don’t want to keep our guests waiting!”

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neonthecrazy · 3 years

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ok, so we may or may not get a teaser for persona 6 this year, it's been a hot minute since any persona stuff has come out, and if they announce another P5 spinoff it could easily come with a P6 teaser attached. regardless of if anything is announced for P6 it will be bare minimum... I want to say 2-5 years till it's relleased in Japan. that being said im going to aimlessly rattle of things I would like to see in persona 6 knowing that none of my followers/mutuals care about the random ass jrpg I just started rebloging stuff about one day (btw hey mutuals I know I don't talk a lot but know i love all of you <3). so let us began the hyperfixiation rant:

give us a female protagonist

retro-gameboy menu aestetic, like in P5 you whip out your phone to fast travel and look at texts, except your MC pulls out a brand safe Nintendo DS to look at character stats and manage healing items

punk rock soundtrack, maybe just my personal biases, but persona 3 had a soundtrack filled with industreal sythrock (I think that's what you call it) that made you feel like you where in a cyberpunk-esk strange destorted world, reflecting the ambiance, P4 had this happy popy soundtrack that hoped to brighten your day and help you stand tall no matter how foggy the situation gets, and P5s smooth jazz and contemporary helping to give the game a calming atmosphere and this deep meloncally and nostalgia for better days, falling in line with the game being about making the world a better place through vigilante acts, if P6 is going to be green themed, like P5 red or P4 yellow, then themes of growth and understanding of one's self may come at the cost of breaking free of oppressive things keeping you down, hence punk rock.

make party members more special, let's take ann from P5 for example, she is the resident mage archetype of the group and does fire magic, by the end of her progression she has conncentrate (2.5 times damage to your next spell) blazing hell (severe fire damage to all enemys) and fire amp/boost (passives that give 25% and 50% fire damage increase respectively), my issue here is: I can make a persona that does way better then that in an afternoon, and then some, with no elemental weakness, ann ain't special. BUT, consider insta-kill abilitys for a moment, they only come in bless and curse elements, they can be very dangerous and quickly end fights, so when Atlus wants an enemy to be tough, they make them null to bless and curse. what if ann had FIRE elemental instakills? they would cost a lot of sp and would only get about a mediam chance of working to balance out, but ann would become essential in finishing fights quick when normal insta-kills are nulled. And with no way to get that kind of ability for yourself, you have to lean on your party more, if they gave something like this to all the party members, it could get really interesting.

normally if your MC dies, it's game over, why is it like that? can it not be like that anymore? thanks.

now that I think about it when you loose a fight can we get a big goofy GAME OVER pop up on the screan?

I want this games talking animal mascot to be a bird, no I will not elaboate

can we have gay romance options? in persona 5 we can romance an alcoholic reporter we meet on the street, but not our best friend with which we kill God with and find ourselves inseparably attatched to, in persona 3 you could romance a middle schooler but not someone of the same gender. WHY

a change to the one more system, let us get a one more from healing. make it so that when you heal a party member from bellow half health to full you get a one more, as I feel that healing is always the only thing a party member can do on there turn, as opposed to attacking and baton passing and doing massive damage to an enemy, healing disrupts the flow, as does debufing enemys, maybe they can have a confidont perk that makes it so that you get a one more from debufing a previous undebufed target?

technicals are cool and all, but P6 should pump the breaks after royal gave you technical levels, it's a time sink i don't think was needed, set the chance of a technical to knock down at a static 50%,

for baton pass I would keep the levels of it, but change the way to rank it up because the the darts minigame was cool twice then it was all over

more then just two combats tracks, maybe slight remixes of them for different dungeons/palaces

P4 let you go back to old dungeons to grind, P5 had momentos for in between palaces, it got kinda annoying how easily you could plow through them, maybe you get, like, a gladiator Arena where the game throughs progesivly harder miniboses at you, with a jose like vender to pay for more exp rewards, and it will cap the difficulty intermittently so you arnt over leveled before the next Palace even opens up

give the MC more agency in the story, in P5 your response doesn't really matter, often having the same reply no matter what you say and only really controlling how quickly you rank with a character.

have other characters ignowedge our romance options, even if its unvoiced lines, I romance makoto and was waiting for sae to say something at the very least offhand about it, and got nothing

can we nix the fusion alarm? I founditmore annoying then anything else, a just want to fuse my persona I peace

#persona 5 #persona #persona 3 #persona 4 #persona series #persona 6 #p5

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spencerr31d · 4 years

Text

Milkshakes and Fries

Spencer Reid x Reader, fluff.

This is basically the troupe where person A is cleaning person B’s wounds and they lock eyes and kiss!

Word count: 1816

You knew how dangerous being out on the field could be, especially since you and your partner, Spencer Reid, were chasing a serial killer through a big, open field. Not the best place for a serial killer to hide in, but it worked for him. But you hadn’t worn the right shoes for an on-foot chase throughout the plains of Oklahoma, so things were a bit difficult for you. But not Reid, while he was lanky and awkward, he managed to catch up with the killer, standing behind him with a gun aimed at him.

You tried to catch up to the two men, but you heard a bang. From a gun. You searched around frantically for who had been shot — it was Spencer. It was just his arm, but you almost had a heart attack. You regained your composure as you shot the unsub in the knee, alerting the rest of your team that the unsub had been apprehended but Reid was injured.

“Y/N, I’m fine, really,” Spencer groaned, clutching his bleeding arm. “It’s fine, I’m fine.”

You rolled your eyes as you crouched down beside the injured doctor, “Reid, shut up. You were shot, you idiot.”

Reid winced as you applied pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding. You and Reid both have had your fair share of injuries, but it was never easy to see your good friend hurt right in front of you. But luckily, the paramedics came quick and stitched him up quickly. The young doctor looked bored as the medics were checking his vitals again.

“Really, I’m fine,” Reid whined as you looked on with a smug smile. “I’m a doctor, trust me!”

You stifled a laugh as the doctor whined like a child. He was always so sure he was fine, that no one should fuss over him. As you walked over, the medics walked away to give you some time with him.

“Reid, you’re not a cut-people-open doctor, you’re a I-like-learning-so-much-I-spent-most-of-my-life-in-college doctor,” you teased and gave him a playful punch on the shoulder of his uninjured arm.

“You know, the cut-people-open doctors spend a lot of time in universities too, but they spend even more time learning outside of the schools,” Reid explained, one of your favorite things about him.

You rolled your eyes, giving him a soft smile. “Hush. If you keep whining, I won’t treat you to a milkshake once they release you.”

Now that got him to shut up for a few minutes. The rest of the team came over to check on Reid, teasing him about getting shot the same way you did. You couldn’t stop smiling as you stared at him, watching his hands as he ran them through his lovely brown hair, watching his lips move as he chatted away.

…Okay, you can admit, you had a bit of a crush on him. But you couldn’t help it! Somehow, in your time working with him, you found yourself falling for the rambling, goofy, awkward man. Spencer Reid had somehow charmed you into falling for him, but you weren’t sure if he felt the same way.

You were whisked out of your thoughts by Reid himself tapping your forehead, “Y/N, can we get that milkshake now?”

“Of course, Doc,” you gave him a soft smile as you led him to the FBI’s van you drove over here. “Did Hotch give us the okay?”

Reid had a bit of a mischievous look to his face, “If we hurry, we don’t need his okay.”

You gave a girlish giggle as you snuck away to the van, Reid closely in tow. The two of you drove off, the team somehow unaware of your disappearance. Reid noticed a diner when the team first arrived to the town, so with his instructions, that’s where you headed. The diner was quiet at this time of night, few patrons and few workers. It was just you and Reid, sitting across from each other in a booth. You kept glancing down at his large hands, you glanced at his beautiful eyes. He was too pretty for his own good, and yet he didn’t really seem to realize it or do anything about it. He could have girls eating out of the palm of his hand if he wanted to. Hell, he could have you eating out of the palm of his hand if he wanted to.

“Y/N,” Reid pulled you back to reality. “What’re you thinking about?”

“Nothing, I’m just spacing out,” you gave him a reassuring smile as you looked at the diner’s menu.

“Not true, you’re doing that thing you do when you think,” Reid started. “The thing with your lips.”

You tilted your head, a ghost of a smile on your face. “What thing with my lips?”

“Normally, people only bite one part of their lips, and chew on it,” Reid explained. “But you take two parts from the middle of your lips and bite, and it makes your mouth look funny.”

You chuckled, he was right, you had a habit of doing that when you thought. “Okay, you have a point. I’m just thinking about stuff, nothing serious.”

Spencer didn’t seem too convinced but he wasn’t going to push you any further. Thankfully so, as the waitress came to your table to get your orders. He ordered a strawberry milkshake, and you got a chocolate one with a side of fries to dip in the shake. It was your favorite treat, if we’re being honest.

The two of you had a simple conversation while waiting for your treats, talking about nothing special in particular. But you couldn’t stop yourself from staring at his wounded arm. The medics gave him some stitches that would help the healing process, but you were worried nonetheless. He’d been through a lot worse than this so you had no reason to worry.

“Hey, Y/N,” Reid muttered, gently placing a large hand over yours. “Stop worrying about me, you know I’ll be fine.”

You let out a heavy sigh, smiling up at your friend. “I know, but I still worry about you when you get hurt. I worry about everyone, Spence, you know that.”

He let out a chuckle, “Yes, I am well aware. But stop that. I’ll go pay for our stuff and we can go back to the hotel so Hotch doesn’t murder us or something.”

You started to protest as Reid slipped out of the booth to pay for the milkshake and fries, but quickly gave up. You picked up the keys and waited near the door for him to finish paying. He strode over to you with his long, lanky legs and held the door open like the true gentleman he was. You hopped back into the driver’s seat and took off towards the motel Hotchner had booked for the case. The team was nowhere to be found, probably slinked off to the nearest bar to relieve their stress — similar to you and Reid but neither of you were really drinkers.

“Okay, Doc,” You sighed as you approached your door to the room you shared with Emily. “I’ll see you in the morning?”

Reid bit his bottom lip (god, that drove you crazy), hesitating to speak, “Actually, do you think you could help me clean up the stitches? The medics said I needed to clean it whenever I got back to the motel, so…”

You felt the warm rush of blood on your ears and cheeks. “Uh, yeah, sure, I don’t, uh, see why not.”

Reid smiled as he led you to his motel room he shared with Morgan. You prayed that he didn’t notice your blush or stuttering but you know he had noticed. He noticed everything. Mostly everything.

After Reid unlocked the door and cut the lights on, he sat on the bed with his sleeve rolled up above the gunshot wound. “My rubbing alcohol and cotton pads are in the bathroom, shouldn’t be hard to miss.”

“Gotcha.”

You made your way to the small bathroom with horrible fluorescent lighting. You glanced at yourself in the mirror, noticing the blush rising to your face and ears once again. Why are you so nervous? You had been with Spencer in a hotel room alone before, thanks to the one time you were “forced” to room together during a case (you suspected Emily and JJ had something to do with it). But something about tonight felt different for some reason. You shook off your worries as you retrieved the necessary supplies to help clean up Spencer’s wound.

“Got it!” You hummed as you approached the bed. “Gimme that arm.”

Spencer groaned as he lifted his arm towards you, wincing a bit. You moistened a cotton round with the alcohol, grabbing Spencer’s forearm with your empty hand.

“This is gonna sting, so don’t be a baby about it,” You warned as you started dabbing around the wounds.

“Ah!” Spencer winced, gritting his teeth.

You rolled your eyes and continued doing what you were doing. “I clearly remember saying ‘Don’t be a baby’, didn’t I?”

“Yeah…” he pouted a little, making him look like a puppy dog.

“Well, if someone hadn’t gotten themselves shot, you wouldn’t have to be dealing with this,” You playfully chided as you looked at his soft eyes, glancing down quickly at his pouted lips.

He huffed as you chuckled and continued making sure the whole area was clean. You couldn’t help but keep glancing at his lips, they were such a lovely shape and shade. It drove you crazy with how much you wanted to kiss him. You, like, desperately wanted to kiss him.

“Y/N?” Spencer questioned, voice barely above a whisper. “Is everything okay?”

“Not really,” you breathed out. “There’s just…a lot on my mind.”

You felt his hand suddenly on your cheek, his thumb slowly brushing your face. He pulled you closer to his face, your breaths mingling together. Spencer looked up into your eyes, a sparkle of…something in his.

“Is it…okay if I kiss you?” Spencer whispered, looking down at your lips and back to your eyes.

You gave a hasty nod. He pulled you even closer, placing his lips softly on your own. His other hand made his way to the back of your neck, causing you to straddle his legs. The kiss was soft and tender. It was perfect.

He was the first to pull away, a sheepish grin on his face to complement the pale blush on his cheeks. “I’m sorry, I just…couldn’t help myself.”

“Don’t apologize, idiot,” You muttered and pulled him in for another kiss.

This kiss was quickly interrupted by a Derek Morgan swinging the door open, “Oh-ho, pretty boy! Emily, you owe me $10!”

Spencer glared at the man at the door, forehead pressed against yours as you giggled and wrapped your arms around his neck.

#my writing #reader insert #spencerr31dwrites #spencerr31d #Spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfic #criminal minds fanfiction

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spoadicdeviance · 5 years

Text

"Skyward Sword holds your hand too much! I mean it explains everything to you. Fi can‘t ever shut up.”

Fi actually only “overexplains” before the first dungeon. After that, any advice she has is given to the player only if said player manually summons Fi for advice.

“Well, there’s still the fact that you have to spend so long in that tutorial filled prologue before the first dungeon.”

You mean the prologue where you can skip almost half of the tutorial segments, including the rescue of a remlit from a rooftop, and the sword combat tutorial?

Also the time it takes for a player to get to the first time is, on average, about 50 minutes. I kind of remember other Zelda games like Twilight Princess taking much longer to get to its first dungeon.

“Well the fact it gives you any tutorial prompts without asking the player is a serious offense.”

What about Breath of the Wild? That games gives you a tutorial prompt for almost every action you do, even if it’s done after the your time in the Great Plateau. This also includes loading screens.

In fact wont most players spend around the exact same time (if not more) doing Breath of the Wild’s Great Plateau as they did playing Skyward Sword’s pre-Skyview Temple sequence? Doing those mandatory tutorial shrines for the each of the runes and having the game teach you each of the game’s mechanics via textboxes, preventing the player from experiencing the real game until they complete all those shrines.

Also there’s the shrine at Kakariko Village that teaches you about combat regardless if you already learned it on your own.

“Aren‘t you going overboard with these examples?”

Don‘t you mean isn‘t Breath of the Wild going overboard with it’s tutorial prompts?

“Well Skyward Sword sometimes mark important locations in the overworld, preventing the player from exploring the land for himself/herself.”

Yeah, it’s not like other Zelda games (or any other game) marked important overworld locations on the map for the player.

And it’s not like the first game came with a map detailing important early game locations like the placing of the first four dungeons.

Knowing where to go does not ruin the fun of actually getting there.

“But Skyward Sword has those beacons.”

Breath of the Wild had that as well. And just like the beacons in Skyward Sword, they are optional.

“But dowsing! Surely you think Nintendo went overboard with a mechanic that tells you where to go, right?”

I would, if it was forced on the player. Once you get a new dowsing target just hold the c button to go to the dowsing menu and highlight the eye symbol in order to turn off dowsing. Trust me, you can beat the game without dowsing. It’s not forced on you. It’s there for inexperienced/very young players.

By the way, why aren‘t you calling out Breath of the Wild for using the Sheikah Sensor? A feature that works the exact same way a dowsing does in Skyward Sword.

You can also upgrade it to allow the Sensor to search for almost any object in the game.

Considering that Breath of the Wild is an open world sandbox game, and focused on exploration, wouldn‘t the inclusion of such a feature be a more egregious offense compared to dowsing in Skyward Sword?

“Well Skyward Sword has other things that prevent players from figuring stuff out on their own. Like those markers over the heads of NPCs that give out quest related information.”

The quest markers in Breath of the Wild are placed directly on the NPCs that either give you quests or are needed to talk to in order to continue/complete the quest. It didn‘t take away anything in either game.

“Skyward Sword has NPCs that give away hints to puzzles without the player asking for it.”

Hints and solutions are two different things. Getting hints from NPCs is a standard of adventure games. Other Zelda games do that too.

“Skyward Sword has that potion that can make you invincible.”

That’s only available at the tail end of the game. Plus you have to upgrade it with multiple rare insects and find the Potion Medal before you can get its full effect. A Link Between Worlds has a similar potion you can get before the halfway point and all you need are 10, easy to find, monster horns.

Also, Breath of the Wild has those recipes that fully restore Link’s health, with additional yellow hearts.

In fact, there is a spot in Breath of the Wild, right next to a fast travel spawn point, where you can farm for Hearty Durians which can be used to make the Hearty Simmered Fruit dish seen above.

There’s also the fact that in Breath of the Wild, you can pause the game and heal yourself as much as you want, even if you are about to be hit with a killing blow. Other Zelda games don‘t allow that.

Give Skyward Sword some credit, you can‘t pause whenever you select an item, including potions. The game still plays and enemies will still attack you. Only now, while you select a potion, Link cannot attack, use his shield, or dodge. He can only walk around slowly as you search your inventory.

“Well the YouTube channel, Boss Keys, showed that some of Skyward Sword’s dungeons has those stones that explained too much.”

First of all, the stones never give anything away they just state what the challenge is, not how to solve it.

Also Boss Keys completely ignored the fact that other Zelda games used similar stones as well.

By the way, if you want to mention “giving to much information away” in dungeons, how about in Breath of the Wild, when you are in each of the Divine Beasts, you are directed to the guidance stone for the map, given the location of each terminal, and told how to navigate and control the Beast. Complete with the spirits of the original pilots of their respective Beast acting as a glorified tour guide. Where was everyone’s righteous fury then?

“Why are you so focused on calling out Breath of the Wild?”

Because everyone praises Breath of the Wild as “the savior of the Zelda franchise”. Claiming the game fixes the “issues” with Skyward Sword, despite the fact that those same “issues” are found in Breath of the Wild, as well as other Zelda games, including the NES titles.

It’s kind of weird that everyone who calls out Skyward Sword for “holding your hand” are mysteriously silent whenever similar moments/features are found in other Zelda games like A Link to the Past or Breath of the Wild.

It’s almost like these so called “hand holding” features in Skyward Sword, as well as the other Zelda games, aren’t as much as an offense (or as hand holding) as the game’s critics would have you believe and it’s like these critics are just fishing for excuses to justify their irrational disdain for a game that made them use motion controls.

But that can‘t be the case. I mean those critics wouldn’t have such blatant double standards when it comes to games they review, right? RIGHT?

#the legend of zelda #skyward sword #breath of the wild #ocarina of time #majora's mask #wind waker #twilight princess #a link to the past #a link between worlds #nintendo switch #nintendo #Nintendo wii

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batboysandgirls · 5 years

Text

Tim Drake x Reader - Explosions And Other Saturday Morning Activities - PART 2

PART ONE HERE, PART THREE HERE, and PART FOUR HERE! Title: Explosions And Other Saturday Morning Activities - PART 2 Pairing: Tim Drake x Reader Summary: After discovering Tim Drake’s identity in an attack on Wayne Tower, you return to life as a Wayne Enterprises intern... but there’s a few problems. Problems include (but are not limited to): going on a lunch date with Tim that is definitely not a lunch date, being the reason #timistaken is trending on Twitter, and getting kidnapped. Typical Batfamily-adjacent issues, right? ... Right? Notes: Canon-typical descriptions of violence and injuries. Words: 4.4k

“I can’t believe you came in today!” Liza from social media management said. “You’re so brave.”

You were trying not to roll your eyes. If one more person called you “brave,” “strong,” or “tough” because you survived an Black Mask attack on your workspace Saturday and came into said workplace the following Wednesday… you were going to scream.

All the Wayne Enterprises interns on your floor had gathered around your desk, asking to hear about what happened. You briefly retold the story for the mini-crowd of mostly college students who were definitely slacking off and using your injuries as an excuse to kill twenty minutes. Maybe three were genuinely concerned.

You sat next to Nadiah from web design, and she had nervously been glancing at you all morning. You usually ate lunch together and were certainly friends, so that made sense. Ivan and Maria from public relations also were worried, though you wondered if it stemmed more from the fact you could still miss your deadline at end of the week, which would screw them up. The work of a videography intern stops for no crime lord attacks, apparently.

(This morning, your boss, after hugging you and expressing how happy she was that you were alive, swore that you could take off whatever time you needed and to not worry about work. You liked your boss a lot.)

The rest were just giving you pitying looks and nodding their heads to whatever you said. You weren’t even sure of a few people’s names. You weren’t paying that much attention and didn’t notice when a few girls at the back of the swarm around you started gasping (mostly likely because some guy from marketing was mansplaining how difficult this must be for you, which was distracting).

You did notice Nadiah go, “Oh my god,” as she looked behind you.

“I hope I’m not interrupting, Peter,” a familiar voice spoke. “But ______, can I chat with you for a minute?”

You turned around to see Tim Drake-Wayne standing before you. Last time you’d seen him, he was bloodied and in a burnt Red Robin costume. Now, he was looking unfairly handsome in a suit with no tie. Some girls were giggling at him, but he didn’t seem to mind. You were way too happy to see him. This was so wrong, wasn’t it? To like your boss’s boss’s boss’s boss? Who happens to be a superhero? But you can’t help the smile that spreads across your face.

(So, so wrong. But it feels right.)

“He was not saying anything particularly interesting,” you said, standing up. “Sure.”

Tim smiled at that remark, eyes sliding to the slightly offended mansplainer, apparently named Peter, and titled his head towards the western door of the floor.

“I was thinking we should get lunch today. Bruce and I really want to make it up to you for everything that happened Saturday,” he said as you walked. You heard a few girls jealously gasp and whisper something about how lucky you were to have a “lunch date” with Tim Wayne.

Everything, huh? Including discovering his secret identity and helping his fellow vigilantes escape from behind tied up?

You walked across the floor together, ignoring the jaw drops of not just interns but full staff members.

“Well, I know it was a long day for the both of us,” you said. “I’m glad we both seem to be healing and in good spirits.”

He smiled as he opened the door to the stairwell for you. “Exactly.”

This stairwell hadn’t been badly damaged to begin with, but, overall, repairs to Wayne Tower happened very quickly after Black Mask’s attack. It was mostly windows that had been destroyed, along with the other central stairwell, not structural integrity stuff (thankfully). And apparently, Wayne money could buy you not just quality reconstruction, but speedy reconstruction.

You could see some of the put-on charm vanish from Tim’s manner as you descended down the stairs, the two of you now alone. He stopped at a landing between your floor and the next, looking you up and down.

“I just wanted to check on you. Away from a slew of interns. Is your side healing okay?”

Your fingers automatically reached for the gash bandaged below your blouse. “It… it still hurts, and it’s going to leave a large scar. But the nurse said it should be fully healed in about a month.”

Tim frowned. “I’m sorry. That’s awful.”

You tried to smile a bit, but it probably looked a little forced by the way Tim’s face turned even more apologetic.

“How are you doing?” you asked, before glancing around the stairwell. This probably wasn’t secure enough to talk about Tim being Red Robin… you’d make do. “I know that you had some injuries too, right?”

Tim nodded slowly, and you could see in his eyes that he wasn’t just affirming his injuries. He was approving your careful questioning about the events of the attack.

“Yeah, but nothing too serious. I’ve had a few bad accidents that were worse, so, with some rest, I was alright.”

Thing was, he didn’t look alright. The way he was standing, his body looked tense and heavy. His gaze even felt tired; there were dark bags below his stunning blue eyes. You wished that Batman would force his kids to take time off. More than three days.

You didn’t say anything in response though, because it probably wasn’t your place. Tim smiled at you. You found you couldn’t smile back; instead, you just tried to push down the knot of worry in your stomach, worry for this boy you hardly knew anyway.

“Meet me in the café across the street at noon, okay? It’ll be my treat. I should get back, see you soon.”

You gave a little wave as you each headed your respective ways, then you stopped and headed back towards him.

“Tim.”

“Hm? Wh—”

Just as Tim turned back towards you, you enveloped him in a hug. He was frozen for a second, but then he hugged you back.

“Sorry. It just seemed like you needed that,” you said into his shoulder. Tim didn’t say anything, but he hugged back a little tighter. You didn’t know how long you stood there holding Tim, but a warm feeling didn’t leave your chest long after you had returned to your desk.

✹ ✹

Tim told you to order whatever you wanted, and you had to remind yourself as you looked at the menu that he was not one of your college friends. He quite literally could afford everything and anything. Usually, you’d try to choose something on the cheap end if someone offered to buy you food, but Tim Drake was not a broke student.

The café was simple, but nice. It looked like this was a popular spot for lunch in Old Gotham. You got a chocolate croissant and avocado toast with salmon—

(You could practically hear what your parents would say if they saw you eating avocado toast, but you ignored your mind’s versions of them. They couldn’t mock you here.)

—with lemonade. Tim had a chocolate muffin, BLT, and several cups of coffee. Well, that probably explained how he was awake and alert, even though he looked exhausted.

You two mostly chatted about nothing important. You talked about what interning was like, weird stories from around the office. Tim talked about what it was like being a teenager basically running a multi-billion dollar corporation, funny anecdotes about adults being confused by him. It was… weirdly nice. He wasn’t a distant boss a dozen floors below you, he wasn’t a mysterious vigilante you’d only ever seen in darkness until a few days ago. No, he was a teenage boy who was laughing at your joke about your boss not understanding the sad cat meme on your phone lockscreen despite her being the reason you changed your lockscreen to a sad cat meme.

His laugh made your stomach do embarrassing flips, and his smile filled you with a warm feeling. This was very, very wrong. He was still your boss, vaguely. But you were eating pastries together and laughing, and you found you didn’t care.

As the laughter died down, your eyes met, and something passed between you in the way they did that set your heart racing. The way Tim’s eyes widened a little at you made you wonder if he felt whatever that was too. Tim cleared his throat, looking away.

“Bruce wants you to come to dinner Friday,” he said slowly. His eyes returned to you, and you realized from the weight of his gaze that this was probably the main reason he got lunch with you. To ask you this. You should have known you weren’t just going to sit with the knowledge of the whole… (What were the bat heroes called altogether? Batclan? Batfamily? That sounded right.) ...the whole batfamily’s secret identities.

“Okay. Because of—” you started.

(You weren’t even going to finish this sentence, because you couldn’t finish it aloud in a random café—)

“—yeah…yeah,” Tim cut you off. While you had been talking about funny little life things, the tension and heaviness that had bogged Tim down in the stairway seemed to lift a bit. But it had returned as soon as he spoke about this dinner with Bruce.

“...are you sure you’re okay after everything?” you asked, “Because it was a lot. Even for you.”

“I—I’m really fine,” Tim replied, with all the certainty of someone who was definitely not fine. “...I’m fine.”

You weren’t going to get up and hug him again, but you reached across the table and took Tim’s hand. You gave it a squeeze and smiled a little at him.

“It’s okay to not be fine. It was… too much.”

(You were looking at Tim’s face, and you could see a boy being electrocuted on the ground in front of you, just screaming, and you could see a boy under your arm as you descended the stairwell, his blood dripping onto you, and you could see a boy leaning against a wall, eyes closed. You could see he was a boy. Before he was a hero, he was a boy.)

“But we made it out. We’re going to be alright, eventually. But it’s okay to be not okay, in the right now.”

Tim stared at you, then nodded, squeezing your hand.

“You’re right. I’m—” Tim paused, inhaling a shaky breath, “I’m not totally fine. It’s what I’m used to, to just push past things, but it’s never—. It was bad, really bad. And I’m not fine because of it. But I think I will be eventually. We both will be.”

You exchanged a smile with Tim, then drew your hand back.

“Dinner sounds good. Is it at…. your house?”

“Wayne Manor,” Tim said with a grin. “My house, mansion, estate, whichever word you prefer.”

“...there’s not a metro stop near there, is there?” you said cheekily.

“No, but you can ride back with me after work.”

“Fancy.”

“We like to impress,” Tim said.

“I can’t wait.”

✹ ✹

You woke up next morning, shutting off your phone alarm absently as you hopped out of bed. You brushed your teeth, thinking back to the end of your lunch date. You’d walked back to Wayne Tower together, and you swapped phone numbers before you each returned to work. Honestly, it wasn’t even really a date. It was a “sorry you got injured in an attack on our building and thanks for saving my life also Batman wants to talk to you” lunch. But you could indulge yourself in the comfort of your own bathroom. Lunch date was easier to say, anyway.

When you finally grabbed your phone after getting dressed, you almost dropped it when you saw the sheer number of notifications you had. What the fuck had happened?

TWITTER 6:32 AM Amy Lin, Sarah Twine, elle loves draco malfoy, and 2,643 others have followed you

TWITTER 6:29 AM You have 10K new likes, and 4K new retweets.

MESSAGES 2:32 AM EMILYYYY: YOU ARE PROBABLY ASLEEP BUT YOU NEED TO TELL ME ASAP IF THIS IS LEGIT

MESSAGES 2:32 AM EMILYYYY: OH MY GOD HAVE YOU SEEN THIS??? IS THIS REAL???

MESSAGES 2:31 AM EMILYYYY: bzfd.it/TimWayneGF-summer

You’ve got about twenty more texts from other friends all talking about a Buzzfeed article, a video, and Tim Wayne.

It’s too early for this.

You take your phone with you and open the link from Emily, your college roommate, as you make cereal.

10 Reasons We ALREADY Love Tim Wayne’s New Girlfriend

Oh no.

Tim Wayne, adopted son of Bruce Wayne and Gotham royalty, has a new girlfriend: _____ ______. While most young women in Gotham are disappointed that one of the city’s most eligible young men is taken (just take a look at #timistaken on Twitter), we can’t help but love the incredibly interesting and talented _____.

1. She’s an intern at Wayne Enterprises.

amelia needs a nap @amelim67 ok I know everyone is upset that #timistaken but hold onto your butts for 1 second bc he’s going out with a wayne enterprises intern… which means… this is the wattpad story we all dreamed of living 12:34 AM • 7/4/__ 10.2K Retweets 25.7K Likes

Amelia is right—this is basically straight out of a Wattpad story and we’re loving it. _____ is a (paid!!) videography intern at WE, which impressive because 1) WE internships are incredibly competitive and 2) _____ JUST FINISHED HER FRESHMAN YEAR. SHE ALREADY HAS ONE OF THE MOST COMPETITIVE INTERNSHIPS IN THE COUNTRY. BAD. ASS.

2. She’s incredibly smart.

That’s right, one of the reasons _____ got a WE internship is because she’s a genius. No, really. Now heading into her Sophomore year at Gotham U, _____ is a Wayne Merit Scholar, one of 15 students per class who has a full ride to Gotham U based on merit alone.

The Wayne Foundation already has an extensive financial aid program for college-bound Gotham students, but they only have one (yes, 1) purely merit-based program, the Wayne Merit Scholarship. With only 15 scholars per year, the program is incredibly competitive, but _____ clearly is a standout student. She was valedictorian at East Gotham High School, and she made the dean’s list this year at Gotham U.

Tim Wayne is known for being a genius himself, and we don’t blame him for being drawn to someone as bright as he is. Smart is sexy.

3. Her Twitter is HILARIOUS.

_______ @_______ friend from Nevada: omg I heard a metro stop exploded are you ok?? me: yeah lol it was only two face friend from Nevada: ONLY TWO FACE?? me: girl I live in a city with the joker yes ONLY two face 2:34 PM • 7/3/__ 2 Retweets 14 Likes

You couldn’t take reading any more of your own tweets. You exited the article and immediately private your Twitter. Some damage control. The tweets were not hilarious if 432,756 people have really read them, like the top of the article said.

You ate your cereal, trying to calm down process why Buzzfeed and the internet decided you were dating Tim. After you finished, you opened the article again. The rest of the reasons Buzzfeed loves you were varying levels of uncomfortable. 6 was the worst.

6. She’s super independent.

From her Twitter, we learned that _____ doesn’t have a great relationship with her parents.

_______ @_______ People talking about their relationships with their parents… HA wonder what that’s like 11:29 PM • 10/5/__ 3 Likes __________ @_______ Replying to @_______ Not that I’m unhappy living completely on my own without support from my folks but uhhhh sometimes I forget how not normal that is 11:31 PM • 10/5/__ 2 Likes

But with _____’s brains (see #2) and paid internship (see #1), she’s clearly made a way for herself without the help of her parents.

But 10 was probably what started this madness in the first place.

10. Finally, the now viral video of her comforting words to Tim Wayne on a lunch date.

Transcript below:

T: Bruce wants you to come to dinner Friday. _: Okay. Because of— T: —yeah. Yeah.

[slight pause]

_: Are you sure you’re okay after everything? Because it was a lot. Even for you. T: I—I’m really fine. I’m fine.

[____ reaches her hand across the table and takes Tim’s hand.]

_: It’s okay to not be fine. It was too much, but we made it out. We’re going to be alright eventually. But it’s okay to be not okay in the right now. T: You’re right. I’m— [Tim takes a breath] I’m not totally fine. It’s what I’m used to, to just push past things, but it’s never—. It was bad, really bad. And I’m not fine because of it. But I think I will be eventually. We both will be.

[The pair share a smile.]

The two teens were both injured in the recent attack on Wayne Tower in Gotham by local crime lord Black Mask. The moment seems to stem from their shared experience. Not to mention a dinner invite! Could Tim Wayne be introducing _____ to his father Bruce Wayne and family for the first time?

Okay. Okay. So, the video was clearly just someone in the café recording you two talking, in what appears to be a quite intimate moment. And everyone jumped on it—#timistaken apparently.

(You felt a strange hurt watching yourself console Tim. That was meant to be just for Tim, not for the entire internet to see.)

And now everyone and their mother thought you were dating one of Gotham’s most eligible teens.

Great.

You called Tim.

“Tim, have yo—”

“Yeah, ____, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. Some random person took the video of us at the café. I just… You’re probably used to this level of attention. I’m really not.”

“I know. As soon as I saw, I called the WE publicity team. They’re trying to get that Buzzfeed article down.”

“The stuff with my parents, just—. I mean, I shouldn’t have vented about it so openly on my Twitter, but I feel like there’s journalism ethics stuff to not randomly report that stuff about someone who’s not a public figure.”

“I know. I’m hoping in a couple hours that they’ll remove that part at least, if not the whole article. We’ve got a pretty good P.R. team, as you might imagine.”

(The number of playboy bizarre yacht and jet ski accidents Bruce Wayne had got into over the years started to make some more sense as soon as you learned he was also a vigilante.)

“Okay. That’s good.”

“Let me know if you have any trouble with anything. Literally anything. We’ve got security people, P.R. people, people people—whoever is best suited to help if you have an issue.”

You frowned. “Do you really think I’ll need a security person?”

You heard Tim pause on the other end of the line. “...probably not.”

“Probably?”

“You never know. I’m kind of... popular.” Tim’s voice said “popular” like it was a disease.

“I hadn’t noticed,” you said, feeling a small smile form on your face despite how overall awful this situation had been.

“Oh? Better pay closer attention.”

(Were you flirting? Was Tim flirting back? Was this allowed? You literally just had a conversation to establish how you were going to take down press about you two dating. Ugh.)

“I’m sure I will,” you said, before pausing. “Thank you, Tim. I’ll call you if anything else comes up.”

“Of course. Let me know. Talk to you later.”

✹ ✹

By the time you got to lunch at work, you were about ready to hurl yourself through your computer screen. Your email was filled with requests from reporters to comment on your “relationship” with Tim Wayne, which you quickly deleted. Other interns from around the floor kept wandering by asking if you were really dating Tim.

(“No.” “But I th—” “No, we’re not a thing. I have work to do.”)

Even your boss stopped by to ask how you were doing, and you had to resist the urge to scream. You needed everybody to leave you alone and stop asking.

Thankfully, when you ate lunch with the usual group of interns you considered your friends, no one brought it up after you said, “I am not dating Tim Drake,” as you sat down. Nadiah from web design complained about her superiors' inability to reply to emails in a timely manner, George from engagement told a funny story from his weekend involving a puppy loose in the intern housing, and you were able to completely set aside all the uneasiness that came with Buzzfeed and being the reason for a Twitter hashtag. It was nice to laugh and joke about your bosses and worry about the things you were supposed to be worried about.

George stopped you as you were walking back to the office from the cafeteria.

“Hey, I know you don’t want to talk about it, but I just wanted to make sure you’re not too stressed about everything.”

You smiled. George was one of your favorite interns. He was just genuinely sweet and also really good at his job.

“I’m pretty stressed, but I think it’s going to be okay. Tim told me that he’s got Wayne P.R. people trying to get the weird personal information Buzzfeed found about me off the Internet.” You shrugged. “Whatever happens, happens. I’ll be okay.”

George nodded. “Just let me know if I can help. My job is basically social media management, so… I know stuff.”

“That you do,” you said with a smile. “Thanks. I’ll tell you if I could use your expertise.”

“On the subject of expertise, can I ask you a favor?”

You raised an eyebrow. “Uh, sure? I don’t think I’ve got expertise in much.”

“Do you know how to install a graphics card in a computer?”

That you did actually have mild expertise in. You had become known as “computer girl” around the office earlier in the summer for installing a new power supply in your boss’s computer when her old one broke. I.T. was too slow for her liking. Graphics cards were pretty easy comparatively.

(It occurred to you how many epithets you’d acquired around the office. First, “computer girl.” Then, “explosion girl.” Now, “Tim Wayne’s girlfriend girl.” Oh, wait. Girlfriend already contains girl. Ugh, whatever. Can’t you just be a nameless intern? Is that too much to ask?)

George explained that he needed help installing a graphics card he just ordered, having never opened up his computer before he was afraid he’d damage it. You agreed to come over that evening and give him a hand. He lived a couple floors below you in the intern housing. You’d been over to his place a few nights with a bunch of interns to watch movies and hang out. It might be a nice distraction from everything to just… do some work on a friend’s computer. Not worry about anything else.

Work was uneventful the rest of the day except for a series of amusing texts from Tim just before you headed out.

Tim Drake-Wayne It only took FOREVER but the buzzfeed top 10 reasons article is now a top 5

Tim Drake-Wayne They took out half the stuff, mostly the more sensitive information

Tim Drake-Wayne And they also added at the bottom that my press team reached out and denied any relationship

Tim Drake-Wayne So of course they put that “the evidence suggests otherwise but

Tim Drake-Wayne Not to sound like a whiny celebrity but I hate the paparazzi???

Tim Drake-Wayne ANYWAY please let me know if anyone else bothers you or if I can do anything to help

Tim Drake-Wayne I’m looking forward to dinner tomorrow

Tim Drake-Wayne I mean, everybody is

Tim Drake-Wayne Looking forward to it

Tim Drake-Wayne Everyone wants to meet you, esp Dick and Damian

Tim Drake-Wayne And Bruce

Tim Drake-Wayne This is an obnoxious number of texts I’m sorry I’ll stop

You Your texts are very enjoyable, don’t be sorry

You I started laughing to myself and the intern Nadiah who sits next to me was giving me weird looks

You Thanks for all your help with the article I am so grateful

You I’m looking forward to dinner too, but I am slightly terrified

You I think for rather obvious reasons

You But I’ll text you tomorrow once I’m done and I’ll come downstairs to meet you?? Then we can drive to your house

You Your house which happens to be Wayne Manor which is so crazy oh my god??

You But seriously, I’m glad you invited me

You Thank you again, for everything

You tried not to smile too hard at your phone as you walked back to the intern housing. You made some ramen for dinner quickly, then headed down to George’s apartment, telling yourself “Don’t think about Tim” over and over.

(It didn’t work. You thought about Tim.)

Working on George’s computer did provide a distraction. It was a rather tight fit adding the graphics card in his computer tower, so you took your time.

George was chatting pretty mindlessly to you as you worked, mostly about the latest Twitter beef the Wayne Enterprises account got into with Arby’s.

“It was kind of accidental. I was just trying to be funny and then it got a little out of control.”

“This is why I’m not an engagement intern,” you said as you clicked in the graphics card. “I think I’d accidentally start Twitter beef with everybody. Video is less interpersonal, mostly.”

George began to talk about how you’d probably be fine at engagement, or something, but you tuned him out because there was a weird device attached to his power supply. It looked like a like container. You’d never seen anything like that in a computer before. It was also taking up a lot of space right near where you had to plug in the card to the motherboard.

“Hey, George,” you started, looking closer at the little canister inside his computer. “What’s this bit us—”

You didn’t finish. Suddenly, one of George’s hands pressed against your mouth and the other pinned your arms to your chest, and the canister started letting something out into the air.

You struggled against George’s grasp, but he was basically sitting on top of you, and he was much larger than you were. You tried to hold your breath as long as you could, but eventually you inhaled whatever was now in the air. You immediately felt sleepy.

As everything started to fade away, you heard George whisper.

“I am sorry about this, _____, but the boss can’t be mocked.”

You closed your eyes and thought of what a shame it would be to miss dinner tomorrow as everything went black.

(UPDATE: PART THREE HERE!! AND PART FOUR HERE!!!) / (Hey! I wrote a part 2! I am also going to write a part three, obviously. I won’t leave you hanging with this ending. Hope you enjoyed and let me know what you think! Also, let me know if you’d liked to be tagged in the next installment. c:)

#tim drake #tim drake x reader #tim drake x you #tim drake x y/n #tim drake imagine #dc comics #red robin #red robin x reader #red robin x you #red robin x y/n #robin x reader #robin x you #robin x y/n #mine #my writing #fic #eaosma

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puppypaw-wc · 3 years

Text

i just wanted to ramble ‘bout undertale... hhhhhhhh.

aka me just describing the whole plot of the game... this one’s just the ruins tho cuz i don’t think tumblr would let me type out the whole game’s plot in detail.

i understand if y’all don’t wanna see this so it’s under the cut.

soooo uh. the opening “cutscene”/whatever you call it is just a few images with text explaining the events prior to the game.

“long ago, two races ruled over earth: humans and monsters. one day, war broke out between the two races. in the end, the humans were victorious. they sealed the monsters underground with a magic spell. many years later . . . mt. ebbot. 201X. legends say those who climb the mountain never return...”

the last frames show a human who you’d at first assume to be the player character climbing the mountain and falling in; however, it is not the player character (frisk), as the human in the intro only has one stripe on their shirt, while frisk’s shirt has two.

anyways after that you get presented with the start menu (it’s track is creatively entitled, you guessed it, start menu!) with instructions on how to play the game. once you start, you get to name the fallen human.

now, this is honestly kinda ingenious. it doesn’t say “name your character”, it doesn’t say “what is your name?”; no, it says “name the fallen human”.

there’s also responses to some specific names.

like if you name yourself “fight” (or something like that) or “mercy”, the response is “that’s a little on the nose, isn’t it?”, though the name’s still allowed to be used.

naming yourself one of the main characters’ names (or however much can fit) also elicits special responses, and most of them aren’t allowed to be used, but there’s a couple instances of them being usable. like papyrus’ name is too long so if you enter “papyru” as your name the response is “I’LL ALLOW IT” and the name’s allowed to be used. the names “blooky” or “napsta” (as in napstablook) are also allowed, with the response being “... (they are powerless to stop you)”. my favorite is either naming yourself “flowey” or “temmie” tho.

the name “flowey” gets the response “i already CHOSE that name” (flowey had the ability to reset/save/etc. before frisk) with it not being allowed, while naming yourself “temmie” gets the response “hOi!!!” as a reference to the species of temmie (temmie is best undertale character /hj) and is allowed. it used to make tem flakes heal more but that was removed for some reason.

ANYWAYS the game starts after you name yourself (the “true name” is chara, which elicits the response “the true name”, so i’ll be referring to “the fallen human” as such). you start out with your armor as the bandage and your weapon as the stick... both of which have 0 of their corresponding stat.

in the next room, you meet a talking flower, who introduces himself.

“howdy! i’m flowey! flowey the flower! hmm, you’re new to the underground, aren’t’cha? golly, you must be so confused! someone oughta teach ya how things work around here. (oop i’m listening to the undertale ost and finale started playing-fitting-) guess lil’ old me will have to do? ready? let’s go!”

you then find yourself in a battle. on the bottom of the screen, there’s two things: your LV, which is 1 at the time, and your hp, which is 20/20. in the middle of the screen is the bullet board, with a red heart inside. flowey’s above the bullet board. oh, and in battles, everything’s black and white other then the heart and some attacks.

“see that heart? that’s your SOUL. the very culmination of your being! your SOUL starts off weak, but grows stronger with LV. what’s LV stand for? why, LOVE, of course! you want some LOVE, don’t you? *he winks* down here, love is spread through little, white... “friendliness pellets”. go on! collect as many as you can!”

now, here, there’s two options: run into the “friendliness pellets” (which makes this part go by faster) or dodge them, which elicits some funny responses from flowey.

“hey buddy. you missed them. let’s try this again, shall we?”

“is this a joke? are you brain dead? RUN. INTO. THE. BULLETS friendliness pellets.”

“you know what’s going on here, don’t’cha? you just wanted to see me SUFFER. who would pass up an opportunity like this? DIE.”

running into them elicits basically the same thing as the last response, though he states that “in this world, it’s kill or be killed” first. i also don’t remember what he says if you run into them cuz i always dodge them... cuz it’s funny...

you find your SOUL surrounded with the “friendliness pellets”, and it seems that you’re doomed to death... but when they hit you, instead of harming you, they heal you.

flowey gets a confused look on his face before he’s hit with a fireball and goat mom toriel appears!

“what a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth. do not be afraid, my child. i am toriel, caretaker of the ruins. i pass through here everyday to see if a human has fallen. you are the first to have come here in a very long time.”

she also says some other stuff but i don’t remember it so. :shruggie:

anyways, you follow her into the next room, where you find a four-pointed star; a save point.

“the shadow of the ruins looms above, filling you with determination. (HP fully restored).”

this is your first opportunity to save, which is interestingly enough not just a game mechanic; it’s an in-universe feature as well.

(okay wtf undertale ost on shuffle, it played temmie village and then tem shop immediately after, wtf???)

anyways, toriel guides you through (read: does for you) a few puzzles, before you find yourself in a long hallway, where she says she wants to test your independence by making you walk to the end of the hallway by yourself.

she’s just hiding behind a pillar at the other end of the hallway.

toriel says that she has a few errands to run, and gives you a cellphone before leaving. you can get some funny calls if you do wait, and at the end of it all her phone gets stolen by a dog. despite this, she still calls you when you leave the room. she does actually have special dialogue, though: “My apologies. A strange dog kidnapped my phone.”

anyways, you travel through the ruins, getting encounters with the enemies (froggit, whimsun, loox, vegetoid, moldsmal, migosp), who you can all spare.

i forgot the dummy battle tutorial, basically toriel has a training dummy as a battle tutorial.

things you can do:

talk to it: this makes the battle end, and makes toriel seem happy with you. it’s technically the right thing to do but the others are funnier.

fight it: this kills the dummy, though it doesn’t give you exp, and thus you can still get a true pacifist route.

flee: you run away from the battle and toriel says that it’s a good strategy... but it’s just a dummy, it can’t hurt you and doesn’t seek revenge.

do nothing: if you do nothing for eight turns (including missing attacks), dummy “tires of your aimless shenanigans” and leaves. toriel is confused by this, but continues on as if nothing happened.

whatever you do elicits a different response in a future mini-boss’ pre-battle dialogue, so. yeah.

ANYWAYS!

the ruins’ mini-boss is napstablook, a ghost who, according to themself, “usually comes to the RUINS because there's nobody around”.

to spare them, you need to cheer three times; this makes them show you their “dapper blook” trick, which is a top hat made of tears. they stop attacking to await your response, and if you flirt or cheer, the encounter ends.

also random fun fact: just like with the dummy, killing napstablook doesn’t give you exp, and thus a true pacifist route doesn’t end.

“FIGHTing Napstablook causes them to remind the protagonist that they are a ghost and therefore unable to be killed; they were only lowering their HP to be nice. They then vanish, and the protagonist suffers a loss of one "experience point" (not the same as EXP). This action does not abort the True Pacifist Route since it does not accrue any EXP.”

(x)

oh yeah, did i mention that EXP and LV don’t mean experience points and level?

flowey was actually correct about LV being LOVE. however, it’s an acronym, namely for level of violence. EXP, on the other hand, is an acronym for execution points.

continuing through the ruins and doing some puzzles (one of which includes several holes you must fall through to find a switch, one of which has the faded ribbon, a piece of armor, in it), you can get the toy knife, a weapon, before heading to toriel’s house, where she’s made you a butterscotch-cinnamon pie.

you see, earlier on in the ruins, she asks if you prefer butterscotch or cinnamon (if you’ve reset/loaded a save from after this point, she actually remembers your answer), before asking if you’d turn up your nose at the sight of the other/if you have allergies. there wasn’t enough of both at the store or something along those lines if i remember right.

anyways, you go to sleep in your room (yes, you have your own bedroom and yes, that is pure, and yes, toriel is the best), and she puts a slice of the pie on the floor for you to collect. it’s a healing item that restores all your hp, but i’d recommend saving it honestly.

toriel’s reading in the living room, where you can talk to her and either ask how to leave, or just talk to her. you do have to leave for the game to progress, though.

after asking her how to leave like three or four times, she goes downstairs and talks to you before fighting you, asking you to prove that you’ll be able to survive.

you see...

“Every human that falls down here meets the same fate. I have seen it again and again. They come. They leave. They die. You naive child... If you leave the RUINS... They... ASGORE... Will kill you. I am only protecting you, do you understand? ... go to your room.”

the fight with toriel is one that people often mess up on, though the strategy for her fight is actually foreshadowed by an npc froggit earlier on in the ruins.

many people think that you have to weaken her, or just end up killing her because they don’t see how else to do it.

so, what does happen if you kill her? well, it depends.

if you attack her once she stops attacking:

“You... ... at my most vulnerable moment... To think I was worried you wouldn't fit out in there... Eheheheh!!! You really are no different than them! Ha... Ha...”

on a neutral route:

“Urgh... You are stronger than I thought... Listen to me, small one... If you go beyond this door, Keep walking as far as you can. Eventually, you will reach an exit. ... .... ASGORE... Do not let ASGORE take your soul. His plan cannot be allowed to succeed. ....... Be good, won't you? My child.“

on a genocide route:

“Y... you... really hate me that much? Now I see who I was protecting by keeping you there. Not you... But them! Ha... ha...”

fun fact: until today my dumbass though that “them” was referring to chara and only just realized that it’s referring to the monsters further in the underground.

and now, it’s time for flowey (slash indicates a break in the text).

on a pacifist route (where you don’t kill anyone):

“Clever. Verrrryyy clever. / You think you're really smart, don't you? / In this world, it's kill or be killed. / So you were able to play by your own rules. / You spared the life of a single person. / Hee hee hee... / I bet you feel really great. / You didn't kill anybody this time. / But what will you do if you meet a relentless killer? / You'll die and you'll die and you'll die.Until you tire of trying. / What will you do then? / Will you kill out of frustration? / Or will you give up entirely on this world...... / and let ME inherit the power to control it? / I am the prince of this world's future. / Don't worry, my little monarch, my plan isn't regicide. / This is SO much more interesting.”

on a genocide route (where you kill everyone, exhausting the kill counter until the “but nobody came” message appears):

“Hahaha... / You're not really human, are you? / No. You're empty inside. Just like me. In fact... / You're Chara, right? / We're still inseperable, after all these years... / Listen. I have a plan to become all powerful. / Even more powerful than you and your stolen soul. / Let's destroy everything in this wretched world. / Everyone, everything in these worthless memories... / Let's turn 'em all to dust.”

(note that by “chara” i mean “whatever you named the fallen human”)

and that’s it for the ruins.

uh. yeah.

sorry for rambling about undertale so much on main, i love it too much.

#puppy rambles #undertale #things that're definitely my special interests

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capitainecorbeau · 4 years

Text

K you know what I tried to write a steam review but it turned out way too long so here you go ! (the random italics/bold are here for readability, it’s LONG and I know wall of texts can be hard to digest)

I want to like this game, I really do. There was obviously a lot of love poured into it, and there ARE some stuff in it that are pretty cool and made me happy... but overall it just... not very good.

Buckle in, it's gonna be a long one. Also light spoiler warnings, I'll try to stay vague, but I am going to discuss some plot points. Also tw for mentions of mental illness and harmful tropes relating to it.

GAMEPLAY : this is, IMO, the worst part of the game. They tried to spruce up the ol' jRPG/tactical RPG formula, but the result dosn't work.

Reason 1 : The combat is extremly unsatisfying. Like, in every single rpg I've played, even the more lackluster ones, there was always a couple a ways to deal significantly more damage to the enemy. It could be a weakness/resistance system, critical hits, buffs, a gauge that when filled lets you unleash more powerful attacks, grouped attack, etc etc. Inkenfell doesn't really has that.

Ok so, when you time your attacks, there are three results : oops, when you mess up, nice and great. Except that great, the best you can get, feels like what bog-standard attacks do in other rpgs. There is no significant difference between nice and great. I ended up very quickly setting the timing on auto (every signle attack is "great") because it felt like they just added an extra tedious step to the usual menu-based combat. Also despite that, and skipping all fights save for the bosses, it STILL felt long and grueling.

There are attempts at more powerful damage but they all fall flat. Most buffs are single target, which I don't bother with because I could spend that turn attacking rather than applying a buff that most often a)makes little difference or b)wears off too quickly.

There are a couple attacks that deal effective damage against certain enemies but a)the difference is negligible b)one of those is against a type of enemies you barely ever fight against. There's also a "powerful" attack you can only do when your hp is below half ! It's less powerful than the single target spell you get at the very beginning of the game. All in all, it makes every thing long, grindy, and not very exciting.

Reason 2 : The utter lack of variety. Almost every single boss fight is exactly the same. Couple of phases, the boss attacks you and summons minions. SOMETIMES they also have status effects/debuffs. And that's it.The first couple bosses have this trick where their minions explose on death and deal bigger damage. But that quickly disappears. I can't really speak for the other battles because I skipped them but for what little I played it also felt very same-y. As for your characters, you have characters focusing on raw damage and other focusing on utility (healing, buffs, etc).

I basically benched every utility character because the general damage output is already low enough and the utility isn't really useful. Healing is fine, buffs would be fine if it didn't buff enemies caught in the range as well (I usually use them once at the start of the battle and then stop bothering). You can set traps if you want, and then tear your hair out as you watch the enemy repeatedly side-step them (though there are two character who can set traps, maybe you couyld make a strategy out of that). Most likely the trap will expire or you will kill the enemy before they step on it. You can steal items, but you find so many everywhere in game that if you don't use those skills you won't miss them. You can poison your enemies, for an amazing ONE DAMAGE A TURN. Or delay their turn, if you feel like eating two attacks in a row later. Nothing really feels worth it you know ?

It results in this long, drawn-out same-y battles where you just use the same couple of spells against the enemy, over and over until they die. Which, in terms of bosses, can take a very long time. My reaction to new phases was generally "are you kidding meeee ANOTHER one ?" which is not a good sign.

Reason 3 : The lack of juiciness and quality of life. Example : you can freely see enemy hp ! if you specifically go to the menu and hover over the enemy. Otherwise, it's hidden. Why ? Either make their hp easily and quickly visible, or keep it hidden ! When you factor in the fact that every attack has its own, sometimes awkward range, that you cannot walk on occupied tiles (apparently your allies will not deign step aside to let you through), the short walking range of the characters, AND the facts that many enemies love to pepper the battlefield with traps (high damage+lost turn), actually getting in a good position to hit the enemies can be rather tedious. Hitting the enemies doesn't feel satisfying. There aren't little things like shaking their sprites, shaking the screen, cool fx, satisfying sound effects, etc. Just the damage and a little "oops/nice/great". It's a little things, but it makes battles feel even more flat.

TL;DR : the fights are repetitive and unsatisfying, and none of the alternatives to "deal damage to enemy" feel interesting enough to explore.

STORY : The story is... eh ? Well let's just say there are good things, bad things, and utterly confusing things.

Good : The characters are pretty endearing, for the most part. I'm not gonna be thinking about them for long after finishing the game, but they're nice, there were lots of funny quips and cute moments. That's mostly what kept me around despite the bad gameplay (and other issues I'll get to), I wanted to know what would happen to these people ! Also I loved that there are so many nonbinary characters !! With different presentations and pronouns !! AND who are all humans :D That made me really happy.

Bad : The pacing is bad. My god it's bad. Most of the first half of the game boils down to : we have to do x, but for that we have to go to y, but we can't so we have to ask w in z, and just when you think you can, finally, do x, another obstacle pops up and you have to go on the other side of the map to do something else. It really feels like you're making little to no progress, and it ended up being quite frustrating at times. The second half of the game is better, but sometimes, after an emotiolly intense moment, you would snap right back to "oh we have to go to q but there's a giant rock in the way !". Jarring. Also some scenes left me asking "wait that's it ? You're not gonna discuss things further ?" or "Why aren't the characters reacting to this ?". The story in itself was ok, but the pacing... yikes.

Also, this is more a personal gripe that anything, but... (spoilers warning) I really didn't like how the game handled trauma and ptsd. It fell into the ol' trope of "ptsd/delusions makes people dangerous and violent", and that's not really something I expected from a game that tries to be progressive about this stuff (The inclusion of content warnings is a very good thing !! more games should do that). And I'm not talking like "lashing out at people", no, we're talking kidnapping, assault, murder, potentially triggering the apocalypse. And like, the game deliberately puts these characters through some of the worst things that could happen to them, which made them very violent and dangerous as a result... I don't know, it feels pretty thoughtless and cruel. Not to mention that they then go down the "oh but it's not your fault it's the traumaaaaaa" which, ew, no. No, mental illness, ptsd, trauma etc don't make people inherently violent and dangerous. But when you harm people, it's serious, and you should make amends, regardless of what mental ilness(es) you may or may not have. I dunno, maybe it's just me but that whole thing left a sour taste in my mouth.

Confusing : There's a character who is handled very weirdly ??? Like, at the beginning of the game they're pretty present, they get an arc, join you and then... barely do anything ???? They almost never interact with the others, or react to what's going on ? There are scene where they went to the trouble to show their sprite (characters who don't contribute to the conversations usually don't appear), but they don't say or do anything ??? At most they make a quip about fighting and stuff but that's it ??? There was a scene when the group argues and a few characters go off on their own, and other follow them and comfort them. I thought, well, since they have a huge crush on the protagonist, they're gonna go and talk to her, right ? They're the only one who hasn't left yet. But nope ! They don't even react ! And yet they're one of the few characters who gets a song ???? I feels like they were added as an afterthought what It's a shame, they're pretty fun.

TL;DR The characters are endearing but one is handled weirdly, the pacing is bad and some plot points felt unsavory.

And finally, some random stuff. In general, the world feel very bare and empty. I'm not just talking about the very low number of npc, there's a plot reason for that, but there is almost no flavor text ?? At first I tried to check out everything, to learn more about this setting and the people in it, but the only things you can interact with are plot important. Makes the whole world rather flat, and that's a shame ! I would've liked to learn more !

One good thing though, is the inclusion of accessibility features like different options for the timing gameplay, displaying content warnings and stuff (though I've seen someone say the game wasn't friendly to photosensitive people , there is an option to reduce flashing lights but I dunno how good it is). That's very nice, and I hope more games will include those features !

So here's my giant wall of text on Ikenfell. I'm sad I didn't end up liking it more, but the game has quite a few issues (ESPECIALLy gameplay-wise). I hope the developers will take that as an opportunity to leanr, because I'm sure they can make good games ! There's some good stuff in there, some good ideas that would've just needed to be imlplemented better !

#babbles #game babbles #long post #very long post #apparently I spent an hour writing this lol #adhd #some repeats with my previous posts but more fleshed out

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lucastheunlucky · 4 years

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sweet treat | rio+luke

Date: Prior to the full moon, week of 6/1/20 Location: Coffee Plus Summary: The two bois have a conversation over muffins and drinks. They both carry many scars that hold great pain and the two seem to understand they are a little broken, but they find great relief in that they can speak freely without judgement between them. @3starsquinn

Luke hadn’t been in the coffee shop in a long fucking while. The smell almost made his mouth salivate. There was something truly delicious and unique about coffee shop scents, almost like the bakery or his pizza shop. He waved towards Rio with his good arm, and greeted the other with an easy smile for looking exhausted. “Listen, I’m so excited for this drink. I need the energy,” he huffed a laugh, “you really going to order a hot chocolate? I love it. Let’s get some carbs too.”

If nothing else, Orion was just happy that Lucas was safe. Ever since the two had spoken, Rio couldn’t stop thinking about it. He had known about Lucas from the moment that he had met him. He was cursed with that knowledge, in a lot of ways. He never wanted that ability, never wanted that awful intrusion into someone’s personal life. The same ability that people like his parent’s and other hunters used to get a one-up on people like Lucas and try to kill them. The thought, the fear that this could have been done by his parents, made Rio sick to his stomach. But Lucas had been adamant that he wanted to worry about something else. Rio couldn’t blame him, so instead he would entertain it. Let them meet for food. Maybe discuss what Rio had accidentally texted him like some idiot. “Yeah, uh- I don’t really drink coffee.” Rio laughed nervously, rubbing at his neck and hopping in line with Lucas. “But they have really good hot chocolate here so it’s all good. So you’re looking great, all things considered. The recovery seems to be going… speedy.”

“I look okay? Good. Everyone else keeps telling me I look like shit--,” Lucas teased, and had to laugh a little. “I’m sleeping half the day away and eating the rest, but the time off and doing that cycle with some physical therapy has helped immensely. I’ll be in the shop this week. Back to business so long as I can make sure things are safe for my customers.” Luke waved lightly to the person behind the counter and ordered a sweet drink and a bagel with cream cheese, and two muffins and waited for Rio to order and moved to a table to wait. As if on cue, Luke yawned, and he rested his palm on his cheek and gave Rio a look over. “School is almost out right? Few more weeks? Are you going to be busy with summer?” He asked, trying to keep it somewhat light, even if they both knew they needed to talk about important things.

“Are you kidding?” Orion laughed incredulously. From what he had gathered from the team at the pizza place, Lucas had gone through some terrible things and been gravely injured. All because some hunter thought that he had the right to harm or kill something that was different than himself. It infuriated Rio, but more than that it terrified him. He hated that they could get away with this. He just wished that he could stop them. “Considering what you went through? You look great. I’ve looked worse after far smaller things.” Rio had gotten way better at handling pain, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t get to him. “We’re all super excited to have you back at the restaurant though!” Rio ordered a hot chocolate, undecided on if he should order any food. Nothing here would fill him up. He may jump back in line later or grab something else later on. “Classes actually wrapped up. Finals were a couple weeks ago. I’m signed up for Summer classes, but I have a little break before those start so for now things have been slightly less hectic.” He had spent most of that time obsessing over the demon visions he had been seeing, but no reason to bring that up. “I’m just happy that you’re recovering and are coming back to us soon. We can use your expertise.”

“Mhm,” Lucas didn’t like how that sounded, as if there was insinuation that there were times where Orion was hurt and hadn’t handled it well and didn’t have help. His mind toyed with seeing the scars on his arms, and Lucas’ stomach soured. There was a gentle frown on his usually grinning face, “what I’m going through is bullshit. And it’s taken me a long time to be able to see that.” He said it like he was also wanting Rio to say the same thing, as if maybe they both were being dumb softies and should have some back up. “I’m going to shut it down for a week, have it deep cleaned, do some repairs, and restock it properly. Rework the menu and get the business back end caught up so just a heads up. I’ll need all the help. I’m hiring a few more people too, I want the place packed.” He pondered more on what he wanted to say, or more how to say it. “So,” a knowing glance. “You sorta understood what happened to me, Rio?”

It took him a long time to be able to see that? Orion had no idea what Lucas was going through, but maybe their situations weren’t too different. Of course, they couldn’t be too similar. Rio didn’t discount what he had gone through, but he could still recognize that he held a certain advantage. Regardless of the pain, Rio had heightened healing and he grew up in a house where he wasn’t constantly afraid of being hunted and killed. Sure, he was afraid for plenty of other reasons, but he had some privileges as a hunter. “I get that.” Rio sighed. He didn’t know what else to say about it. Instead, he tapped her fingers nervously against his cup and tucked a stray piece of pink hair back under his ball cap. “That’s great! I mean, as long as that’s what you want to do. I’m really excited for it. Can I come in and help? While it’s closed?” He was technically hired for prepping, something that wouldn’t exactly be required if there were no customers to prep for. It wasn’t that Rio needed the money, he had way too much money right now actually, with two jobs and a roommate that refused to let him pay rent. But it didn’t matter. This entire meetup all boiled down to one thing, Rio knew that. The talk that they needed to have. “It was more of a theory, if anything.” Rio waved his hands and avoided eye contact. He couldn’t exactly tell Lucas about him being a hunter. Not after Lucas had just been attacked by one. “It’s stupid I just- I’ve seen stuff like that before. People getting attacked for no reason.”

“You can, it will probably be fun to flip everything on its head for a day,” Lucas commented about the pizzeria. It was due for a small update, it’s looked the same for seven plus years now. The main issue Luke had that was difficult to stomach, but one he was sort of forced to push forward with was his anonymity. He’s technically still missing, but the police records and hospital would have put him here to make it easy to investigate his whereabouts if someone really wanted to learn about it. At this point, he was in a rock and a hard place with it. So he was going to just see how it went. Not dart and hide, pull up his hoods, and shop at night. This was all going to start with Yum!Pizzeria, all his employees would know his name, know his face. No more hiding in the kitchen, doing everything. It was a big change. “I’m sorry you see that shit,” Lucas’ stomach once more balled up in a knot. He just wished for once some of this younger generation could live without so much damage to process. Thinking about the kids crying at the ice cream shop when those people after him shot it up. Luke’s lip snarled lightly before he took a sip of his drink. “People all have opinions on what should be done around here. At the end of it. You just have to survive.” Luke wasn’t interested in this being an interrogation, and ultimately, he was already more worried about Rio than himself. “What have you seen? Do you believe it all?”

Orion preferred to think about the restaurant over their other conversation. He wished they could have moved back to that subject instead. Talked ideas for cleaning and a new menu. Maybe discuss the plan for new employees. Instead, they were stuck in the conversation of Lucas’ attack. Or rather, why Rio knew what he did about it. Judging from the look on Lucas’ face, he seemed just as hesitant to talk about it as Rio was. “Eh. It’s life. Not a very fun part of it, but I think I’m in a better situation now.” Maybe. He had still gotten involved more than he wanted to in the town’s dangerous under dwellings. But at least he was doing it free of the obligation to kill. “Just because people have opinions doesn’t make them valid. Opinions are for coffee versus tea. Not whether or not something should die.” Rio grumbled, the thought of hunters viewing their views as a simple opinion made Rio furious. “I grew up in this town. I’ve seen way more than I could ever want to see or try to believe. It’s… most of the stuff isn’t even fathomable. But it’s there. I- It sounds like gibberish. I don’t know what I’m trying to say.” Rio rubbed at his temples and continued to his neck, dragging the palms of his hands across his face. He wasn’t make any sense. Trying to be indirect just wasn’t working. “Just- What I’m trying to say is I’ve grown up knowing what this town is like. I know about hunters and what they do. So when I heard about it… well I just assumed that they were involved.”

“I see,” Lucas got a little bit of an answer, and it was enough. “It’s okay. You don’t have to explain yourself. I’m not looking to make this difficult between us. I’m actually a little relieved you might get why this wasn’t some random thing. I’m sure the rumors have been weird to hear without me being able to be honest.” He said, pushing the muffin’s towards Rio as a small peace offering, and split the bagel apart. White Crest cranked out many different people, supernatural, hunters, and humans, and it wasn’t unknown to Lucas that some people here knew more than they should ever have too. Especially those who grew up here like himself too. “There is a lot out in the world,” he sighed a little, taking a decent bite of the bagel and wondered how many regular people here were affected by what went on around here. It wasn’t entirely fair to them. “My situation isn’t about life or death. Luckily? Who knows,” Lucas said, “but I wasn’t asking all this to put stress on you okay? Just, wanted you to know that I’m open to listen you about stuff too. I won’t laugh at you over it. I grew up here too. I get, that this place can be a lot on the mind.”

Orion accepted the muffin, offering a smile towards Lucas in exchange and pulling a piece from it to toss in his mouth. “That’s such crap,” Rio groaned, wishing he could phrase it better or make his words seem a bit more poetic. “You shouldn’t have to make up excuses or try to explain it away. You shouldn’t be injured at all.” Rio wasn’t an angry person by nature. He rarely ever got worked up about things and had never thrown or punched something in anger. His frustration was usually expressed through tired sighing and fidgeting. “Don’t worry about me. Being stressed is just a natural state of being for me. It’s not you.” He tried laughing to dispel the mood, plopping another muffin piece in. “I really appreciate it. The open door. I’d like that. Uh- I wish there was more that I could do to help you. I don’t like knowing that the person that did this to you is still out there.”

“Yeah, I shouldn’t be,” Lucas conceded, but it wasn’t ever his choice to be regardless if he should. Rio seemed to be flipping through thoughts, emotions rather quickly, and Lucas had to appreciate being young and able to handle all that. Luke has trained himself to let things go so he didn’t get overwhelmed in depression and shit, but the more people that tell him that he shouldn’t have to deal with this, he was slowly believing it. Getting angry over just letting it happen. “Hm, I know. There are a bunch of people around me feeling the same thing. Especially my brother. He wants to save me so bad, I worry for him. Dangerous people, they have ways around the law. It’s not an easy thing to tackle, and we’re all not sure how to handle it without causing more problems.” Lucas shook his head lightly. “Sometimes, all you can do is just live. Let life move on a little bit, so that’s why I’m trying to clean up the restaurant, upgrade it a bit. Maybe extend the hours, hire another chef even. There can’t be hiding anymore-- which has been my life for five years now. Life is just too precious to me now, if it ends bad down the road at least I lived with friends and family and not alone.”

It was an unfortunately grim way to look at life. Despite that, Orion didn’t know how to dispute it. Lucas had a point. He knew the same things that Rio did. About the hunters. About how they were able to get away with the atrocities they committed. It wasn’t fair, and they all knew that. No point in continuing to rant about it. “I like the idea. To just live your life no matter what. I think it’s… formidable. And brave.” Far braver than Rio could ever aspire to be. Sure, Lucas had a point. No point in living life in fear. But Rio knew that there was an easier way to achieve that. By stopping the hunters. If only he had a way to do that. “Speaking of living life to the fullest, let’s uh- maybe try a less depressing topic? Now that we have all that stuff out of the way. I didn’t know that you had a brother.” He realized that until today, Lucas didn’t talk about his personal life much at all. Something else they had in common. “I have a sister. A twin actually. But uh- I wouldn’t say that we’re especially close anymore.”

Luke felt almost embarrassed about being called brave, but it was nice to hear. “Yeah, I do, he’s in town, his name is Miles, but I also have an older sister who is a lawyer out of state, and a younger brother who is probably causing trouble somewhere. I haven’t seen both of them in a very long time though.” Lucas really needed to call them. Explain everything, just to get it all off his shoulders soon. “I hope you and your sister can speak again in the future, sometimes-- I don’t know, seperation does really make you realize what you are missing, but also gives you a little bit of a break to think for yourself. Family can be in your face without much boundary, right?” Lucas settled comfortably, some of the tension leaving him shoulders. “Also, I want to find someone to do some art on the back all in the dining room. Do you know anyone who is good at finding art in town? I might even just hire an artist to paint right on the brick. What do you think would look good there? We could really go in any direction.”

Family was a sensitive topic. Lucas seemed to hold them dear, even the ones that he hadn’t seen. Orion could tell by the lilt in his voice. It was a shame, really. Lucas seemed to love his family but couldn’t see them. Rio loathed his and felt like he couldn't get away. Even after running from the house, his family was always just around the corner. Literally, given that they live on the same island. And figuratively, given that he always felt they were peering over his shoulder. Waiting for him to mess up so that they could end things. “I’m sorry. That you haven’t seen your other family.” He didn’t know what else to say. “I uh- Yeah family is weird. Sometimes I wish that mine understood me. Or that they would just leave me alone.” That was partially the truth. But he didn’t figure it was worth mentioning that he wanted to stop them. “There’s an art gallery in town. I don’t know much about the owner.” He scratched at his head, pondering it for a moment until Lucas mentioned hiring an artist. “Oh! My roommate is an artist. A fantastic one. He’s more of a sculptor but he excels in most things. He’d be perfect.”

Lucas could also tell that family was another hard topic for them. How could someone as young as Rio have such problems there too? Luke hopes they weren’t alone too much like he had been. Running from things helped clear the mind but it wasn’t the solution, things always came back around, always found you. It seemed they were on a similar cycle, but with different people, different reasons. Luke hoped it didn’t end like it had with himself-- with near death and an unmarked grave. A deep sense of protectiveness ached in him. At least at work Rio will have him. “Your roommate is an artist? Nice, awesome man,” Lucas was excited now. “I mean I’m open to anything, I’m very chill with letting people do their thing. Why don’t you bring them to the shop sometime and let them see the space? What’s their name?”

Orion finished off the section of muffin that Lucas had slid over to him. It wasn’t always pleasant, talking about this stuff. But Lucas made talking easy. He was understanding and kind. He had met multiple people like that in the last few months. He just wished that he had known them beforehand. Maybe he would have been better adjusted. “He’s fantastic. I don’t know if it’s something he’d be interested in but I’ll definitely ask. His name is Ricky! He’s amazing. I will definitely bring him by!” With things discussed, Rio assumed the conversation had mostly wrapped.

Luke cherished the smallest of time slots that could feel normal living. With all the shit happening in town, the weird that lingered around every corner, the full moon rising, and a multitude of problems that liked to chip away at his sanity-- this small shared meal. The idol chatter afterwards that was easy, comfortable.

#x: orion #x: sweet treat

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thelittlesttimelord · 4 years

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The Littlest Timelord: The Death of the Doctor Chapter 10

TITLE: The Littlest Timelord: The Death of the Doctor Chapter 10 PAIRING: No Pairing RATING: T CHAPTER: 10/? SUMMARY: The Doctor’s death is looming on the horizon and Elise is growing every day. What the Doctor doesn’t know is that he has 200 years to teach Elise all he knows. Amy, Rory, and River let Elise in on their secret, because River knows she will keep it. What will Elise do when he’s gone?

[A/N - We’ve made it to the double digits! I am so excited for the next chapter! I’ve got an emotional scene planned that will forever change the relationship between Elise and the Doctor.]

Elise watched as Amy paced back and forth.

“What's wrong?” Rory asked her.

“The most beautiful thing you've ever seen?”

“Oh, tell me I didn't really say that.”

Amy laughed at his embarrassment.

The first mate and the other pirate started to break down the barricade in front of the door.

“What's going on?” Amy asked them.

“We're not staying here to mollycoddle the boy. The Captain's gone soft. It's time for us to leave,” the first mate told her.

Elise and Toby stood up.

“He told you to wait, you dog. He's your Captain, a Naval Officer. You're honor-bound to do as he tells you,” Toby said.

“Honor-bound? Do you know what kind of ship this is? Do you know what your father does?” the first mate asked him.

Amy wrapped an arm around his shoulders and stroked the back of his head. “Don't listen to him, Toby.”

“We sail under the black flag. The Jolly Roger.”

“Liar! He's no wicked pirate!” Toby yelled.

“Oh, you think so? I have seen your father gun down a thousand innocent men.”

“Get what treasure you can. I'll meet you in the row boat,” the first mate told his fellow pirate.

Toby rummaged around and found a sword. “You're going to remain at your post,” he told them.

“I am not playing games with you, boy. You put that down.”

“One more step and I'll use this, you blaggard.”

Elise admired Toby’s bravery.

“You don't know how to fight with a cutlass, boy.”

“Don't need to, do I.” He swiped down and cut the first mate on the hand.

“No. You little swabber!”

“Congratulations. You made it to the menu. Probably shouldn't go out there now,” Amy told him.

“You scurvy ape!” The first mate pulled out his gun.

“Don't shoot. The powder will blow and kill us all,” Rory said.

The other pirate took the keys from the first mate’s belt. “Mulligan, what are you doing?” he said.

Mulligan left.

“No honor among pirates,” Amy said.

The first mate put down his gun and started to rebuild the barricade.

Elise wished she had her sketchbook or something with her. She was bored and wondering what was taking her father and Avery so long.

Toby, who sat next to her, pulled off the medallion around his neck and started to polish it with a piece of cloth.

Suddenly, there was banging on the door.

“Amy! Open the door!” the Doctor yelled.

“Toby, open the door! Toby!” Avery yelled.

Rory and Amy ran to the door to deconstruct the barricade.

The door opened the Doctor grabbed the medallion. He started to breathe on it, quickly clouding the surface. The Doctor ran out of the room with Avery following, leaving Amy, Rory, Elise, and Toby standing there confused.

They soon came back in.

“Now what?” Amy asked.

“Now we wait,” the Doctor told them.

“Just wait?” Rory asked.

“Not my most dynamic plan, I realize.”

“TARDIS?” Amy asked.

“It's been towed.”

“What?”

“Sorry. We might be stuck here for a while.”

“So you're saying that we should all just wait here below?” Rory asked.

“The sea is still calm, like a mirror. If you go out on deck she'll rise up and attack you,” Avery said.

“It's okay. The calm won't last forever,” the Doctor told them, “When the wind picks up we'll all set sail.”

“Until it does, you have to hide down here.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Avery joined the Doctor and Elise up on deck.

The Doctor was teaching Elise about the stars.

Avery looked up at the night sky.

“It's not one star, it's two. The Dog Star, Sirius. Binary system,” the Doctor said.

“I use it to navigate the ocean,” Avery told him.

“I've traveled far, like you. Space can be very lonely, and the greatest adventure is having someone share it with you.” The Doctor looked down at Elise, who smiled at him. “

If we get out of this I'll take him back to England. He can't stay with me. I'm not the father he needs.”

“Who are you, Henry Avery? Respected naval officer, wife and child at home. How did you end up here, wandering the oceans with a band of rogues?”

“I've set my course now. Nothing I can do to alter it.”

“People stared at it for centuries and never knew. Things can suddenly change, when you're least expecting.” The Doctor patted Avery on the chest before he and Elise went down to the captain’s quarters. The Doctor stopped and looked at the windows he had smashed.

Elise looked at him and then looked at the windows. She got a prickling feeling at the top of her spine.

“Doctor? Elise?” Amy asked, coming up behind them.

“Shush.”

“What can you see?”

“Feels like something's out there, staring straight at me.”

There was a crash of thunder and then lightning.

“Man the sails!” the Doctor yelled, running up on deck.

Elise and Amy ran after him.

Soon, they were being pelted by rain.

“To the rigging, you dogs! Let go the sails. Avast ye! Put the bunt into the slack of the clews!” Avery yelled.

Amy and Rory ran to a set of ropes and started pulling on them.

“I swear he's making half this stuff up!” Amy yelled.

“Well, we're going to need some kind of phrase book!” Rory yelled back.

The Doctor stood at the wheel, directing the ship.

Elise clung to his legs.

“Toby! Find my coat. My compass is inside it, boy. Heave ho, you bilge rats!” Avery yelled.

“Rats was all I could hear!” Rory yelled back.

Toby came towards his father with the coat when a golden crown fell out and rolled across the deck.

The Siren shot out of the crown and flew up into rigging, before coming down to the deck.

“Don't let her take you!” Avery yelled.

Toby walked towards the Siren with his hand out.

“No!” Avery yelled.

Elise let go of the Doctor and ran towards Toby.

“Elise!”

She grabbed onto Toby as he touched the siren. Elise opened her eyes and found she was in a med bay, much like the one on the TARDIS. She’d only been once. She’d been sharpening her charcoals and sliced her hand open.

The Siren was hooking Toby up to machines as she ignored Elise. The Siren disappeared and a second later, appeared with Rory.

“Rory!” Elise yelled, running towards them.

The Siren turned red when she got near him.

“I’m sorry,” Elise told her. Elise stepped back and the Siren calmed down.

The Siren floated off to somewhere else.

A few minutes later, the doors to the med bay opened.

“Daddy!” Elise yelled, running towards him.

“Elise!” The Doctor caught her in his arms. “You’re okay.” He placed several kissed on her hair before he put her down.

“McGrath! He's one of my men,” Avery said.

“He's still breathing,” Amy observed.

“My entire crew is here. Toby!”

Amy spotted Rory. “Rory!”

“Toby!” Avery said, running over to his son.

“The TARDIS!” the Doctor yelled. He ran towards the plastic sheeting and threw it aside. He’d never been happier to see the big little blue box.

“We have to get him out of here,” Avery said.

“Wait,” the Doctor told him. He scanned Toby with his screwdriver. “His fever's gone.” He walked over to Rory and scanned him.

“He looks so well,” Amy said.

“She's keeping him alive. His brain is still active, but all its cellular activity is suspended. It's not a curse, it's a tissue sample,” the Doctor told her, “Why get samples of people you are about to kill?”

“Help me get him up.”

The Doctor started to unhook Rory from the machines.

They started beeping rapidly.

“She's coming,” the Doctor said.

Rory was starting to wiggle around on the metal bed.

The Doctor, Amy, Avery, and Elise hid behind some monitors as the Siren floated in. As she sang her song, Rory went back to sleep.

“Anesthetic”, the Doctor realized.

“What?” Amy asked.

“The music. The song. So she anesthetizes people and puts their body in stasis.”

The Siren floated over to Toby.

Avery stepped out with his gun raised.

“Avery, no!” the Doctor yelled.

Avery fired his gun and the Siren turned red like when Elise had tried to come near Rory.

The Siren advanced on Avery until the Doctor sneezed. The Siren produced a beam of fire between her hands as she came towards the Doctor.

Amy held Elise back from running over to him.

“Fire. That's new. What does fire do? Burn? Yes. Destroy? What else? Sterilize! I sneezed. I've brought germs in.” The Doctor pulled out a handkerchief. He sneezed into it before throwing it on the floor.

The Siren blasted it with fire.

Amy used this distraction and ran to Rory. The Siren started going towards Amy now.

“Amy, stop. Don't interfere. Don't touch him. Anesthetic, tissue sample, screen, sterile working conditions. Ignore all my previous theories!”

“Yeah? Well, we stopped paying attention a while back.”

“She's not a killer at all, she's a doctor!”

Amy stopped messing with the Rory’s tubes and the Siren returned to her normal state.

“This is an automated sick bay,” the Doctor said, “Its teleporting everyone on board. The crew are dead, and so the sick bay has had nothing to do. It's been looking after humanity whilst it's been idle. Look at her. A virtual doctor able to sterilize a whole room.”

“Able to burn your face off,” Amy reminded him.

“She's just an interface, seeped through the join between the planes, broadcast in our world. Protean circuitry means she can change her form, and become a human doctor for humans. Oh, sister, you are good.”

Amy reached for Rory and the Siren turned red again.

“She won't let us take them,” Avery said.

“She's keeping them alive, but she doesn't know how to heal them,” the Doctor explained.

“I'm his wife, for God's sake. Why can't I touch him?” Amy asked.

“Tell her, Amy. Show her your ring.” The Doctor grabbed Amy’s hand. “She may be virtual but she's intelligent. You can't do anything without her consent. Come on. Sophisticated girl like you. That must be somewhere in your core program.”

“Look, he's very ill, okay? I just want to look after him. Why won't you let me near my husband?” A tear fell from Amy’s eye and the Siren cocked her head to side.

The Siren held out her hand and a circle of light appeared around it.

“Consent form. Sign it. Put your hand in the light. Rory's sick. You have to take full responsibility,” the Doctor told her.

Amy did and the Siren disappeared. Amy turned off Rory’s life support and he immediately started gasping for breath.

“He can't breathe. Turn it back on,” the Doctor said.

She did and Rory went back to sleep.

“What do we do? I can't just leave him here.”

“He'll die if you take him out,” Avery said.

“Rory? Rory, wake up,” Amy cooed, stroking his hair.

“Where am I?” Rory asked.

“You're in a hospital. If you leave, you might die,” the Doctor told him.

“But if you don't, you'll have to stay forever,” Amy added.

“You're saying that if I don't get up now…?” Rory asked.

“You can never leave.”

“The Siren will keep you safe,” the Doctor said.

“And if I come with you?” Rory asked.

“Drowning, on the point of death.”

“I'm a nurse.”

“What?” Amy asked.

“I can teach you how to save me.”

“Whoa. Hold on.”

“I was drowning. You just have to resuscitate me.”

“Just?”

“You've seen them do it loads of times in films. CPR. The kiss of life.”

“Rory, this isn't a film, okay? What if I do it wrong?”

“You won't.”

“Okay, what if you don't come back to life? What if…?”

“I trust you.”

Amy looked at the Doctor who was walking over to Avery. “What about him? I mean, why do I have to be the one? Why do I have to save you?”

“Because I know you'll never give up. I know you can do this. Of course, if you muck it up I am going to be really cross. And dead.”

“I'll see you in a minute.”

The Doctor looked at Amy and nodded. He ripped off the restraints and Rory started gasping for breath.

Amy and the Doctor lifted him up and carried him into the TARDIS.

Elise walked over to Toby and Avery. “Goodbye Toby,” she said. She leaned down and placed a kiss on his hair.

“Take care of him,” Avery said.

Elise nodded, knowing he was talking about her father. Elise entered the TARDIS as Rory started coughing up water.

“Amy. Amy, you did it. You did it!” Rory told her. He sat up and they hugged.

The Doctor smiled and walked up the stairs to the platform. “Did you say goodbye?” the Doctor asked Elise.

She nodded.

“Don’t feel like talking?”

Elise shook her head.

The Doctor sighed internally. He missed the days when Elise was loud and outspoken. He hoped she found her voice soon.

#the littlest timelord #the littlest timelord: the death of the doctor #eleventh doctor #eleventh doctor imagines #eleventh doctor fanfiction #doctor who #Doctor Who fanfiction #doctor who imagine #amy pond #amy pond imagine #Rory Williams #rory williams imagine

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jj-lynn21 · 4 years

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Roman & his Princess Valentine’s Day ch 5

Warnings: angst, blood drinking, smut, mind control...The End, of this story at least.

ch1 ch2 ch3 ch 4

Roman gets Peter’s attention for him and Letha to follow to the glass enclosed bar area. You sit at the table for four. The table is set with white cloth and a red glittery lit candle in the center that says LOVE. A waitress in black dress pants and a red cotton shirt comes over to hand you menus.

“I will bring out the house wine for out our upir guests,” She said. “And for Beauty and the Beast I will bring the beer on tap and a virgin sunrise.”

Peter chuckles, “Beauty and the Beast, funny.”

Letha said, “Oh, I can have alcohol. You need to see my I.D?”

“No, need Miss,” the waitress said. “It will have alcohol.”

Letha looks puzzled but excepts the answer. In a few minutes the waitress brings out a tray with what looks like a normal bottle of wine with wine glasses, a beer, a layered orange and red drink and cheese fondue for the middle of the table.

This surprises Letha, “I was going to ask everyone if they wanted fondue.”

The waitress laughs, “Such innocence with the company you keep. We pride ourselves here at knowing what people want before they need to tell us. Will there be anything else?” She pours some of the wine into the glasses for you and Roman.

Roman nods a thank you, “Will Bill and Jen be making an appearance tonight.”

“I believe they will be Sir. Possibly soon,” She corked the wine back up sitting it back on the table. “They just went into the office for a meeting with one of the new staff. Oh, sip the wine. Its probably a bit stronger, Aabit fresher than you are used to.”

She leaves to go take care of some people at the next table.

Roman raises his glass, “It’s technically not Valentine’s Day anymore but I think we should toast to love, lust and all the fun a safe word can bring to a relationship.”

Letha giggles lifting her drink. You nod to him with grin. Peter lifts his beer to meet everyone else’s drink.

“You have quite the way with words my friend,” He clinks his glass with Roman’s. You and Letha follow suit.

You take in a breath and let it out slowing looking at Roman who looks back at you. Bill and Jen step out of the office. They walk over to your table. Roman stands facing Bill. Jen at Bill’s side.

Peter is shocked, “Fucking doppelgangers.”

You stand almost directly between them. Roman introduces you and the others, “This is My Princess, (YN). The young lady across from her is my cousin by marriage Letha. And my friend with the big mouth is Peter. Everyone this is King Bill and Queen Jen, the owners of the club.”

Bill takes your hand. He bows to you as he kisses it gently. “You will always be welcome here my dear.” He takes Letha’s hand and she stands mesmerized by Bill’s demeanor. He kisses her hand, “You would be very popular if you chose to stay around long enough my dear.” He smiles. She giggles.

Peter jumps up, “We won’t be staying much longer King.” He bows and Bill chuckles. “No need for that Peter. You can just call me Bill. I am fascinated that someone of your kind is friends with an upir and he trusts you. But I don’t judge you for it. I think it’s great actually.”

Bill puts out his hand for Peter to shake. Peter shake his hand. “There are all kinds of friendships, Bill.”

“Yes, there are Peter.” Bill turns to Roman and you, “How is the wine. Its very fresh. Very potent.”

Roman said, “It’s fine thanks.”

You exclaim, “It’s the best tasting thing I have had in my mouth today, but it is only a few hours into the day.”

Bill chuckles, “Thank you Princess. I think that nickname suits you well. Maybe you can get Roman to take you to see our Vegas club.” He gets closer to your face, “You could be a real princess there.”

Your head is spinning with thoughts of you in a gown walking down corridors in a Castle as he looks at you with eyes as green as Roman’s. His powerful gaze making you want the scenario in your mind to come true. “Drink and have a great time tonight with Roman, Princess. It was nice to meet you.”

Bill breaks his eyes from yours. “It was nice to meet all of you. Now if you excuse us there are some things we must attend to before the finale.”

Roman grabs your arm pulling you on to his lap when he sits. You are still a little dazed and confused. Roman hands you your glass of wine. “take another drink.”

“What the fuck was that Roman?” Peter asked. “You alright Princess?”

“It’s nothing. She’s fine.” Roman insists. “Why don’t you two take off.” He looks in Letha’s eyes, “You’re tired. You should go home.”

She looks to Peter and yawns, “Peter can you take me home. I feel sleepy.”

“Of course, doll.” He glares at Roman. When they get up, he steps over to Roman. “I can’t fucking believe you did that to your own cousin.”

Roman hands him the keys to the SUV. “It’s what’s best for both of you. Don’t worry I’ll call a car service for us when we are done here.”

“I think you’re fucking nuts for staying here, man.” Peter takes the keys, grabs Letha’s hand and heads out of the bar to grab their coats before leaving.

Roman pulls your hair to the side to kiss your neck, “You good Princess?”

You blink a few times and take a sip from the wine glass you are holding. “I’m perfect.” You turn your head to kiss him. He kisses you back not taking the bar full of people into consideration at all as your tongues mingle leaving you breathless when he pulls away. “This is the freshest blood I have ever had.” You finish your glass. “Can I have some more?”

Roman finishes his. “Of course, you can, My Princess.” He fills your glass and his. “How about we go back out to that dance floor when we finish this bottle to be ready for the real fresh stuff.” He whispers.

You nod in agreement. By the time you both finish the bottle you feel on fire with passion for Roman. He is looking at you like he wants to eat you alive. That stare only makes you breath heavier. Roman stands and pulls you up to him. His eyes dart around the room. Then he pulls you out the door to the dark crowded dance area. You follow willingly. Aching for him to just fuck you wherever he sees fit.

Love, Sex, and Magic - Ciara ft. Justin Timberlake plays as he just pushes you up against a far wall. He has your dress pulled up as he undoes his belt, unbuttons and unzips his pants. Roman holds your hands above your head and kisses you maddly. He bites on your earlobe as he positions himself pushing your legs farther apart.

He’s breathing heavily, “It’s to fucking dark and noisy for anyone to notice us. Your mine and I fucking want you right now. Right here.”

You moan out as he slams into you. Giving him everything back that he is trying to take. Hips bucking against his every thrust. Bodies starting to glisten with sweat. Roman moans in ear, “fuck…aww…fuck…” only heightening your pleasure. “Yes…Roman…oh…damn”. Make Love In This Club - Usher ft. Young Jeezy https://youtu.be/kdATGDEjAzs plays as your orgasm hits making you scream, “ROMAN!”

Roman watches you go limp in his arms as he finishes and pulls out. He puts his hands on either side of your face as he kisses you. Then he slides your dress down and your panties back in place before fixing himself. You look around to see if anyone has noticed. No one is paying attention to anything around them other than the person right in front of them. There is a shadow of another couple a few feet down the wall from where you and Roman stand. Since you can’t really see or hear them you feel better that no one saw you and Roman.

The DJ Screams, “Ok, lovers, soon to be lovers and everyone else that chose to party with us tonight, if you have ever been here you know what’s about to happen. If not, you are in for some fun. When I count to three everyone screams and keep screaming until you can’t anymore.”

Roman pulls you into the middle of the club near Bill and Jen. There are plenty of people around waiting for what they know or have heard will be the best time they ever had in their life. Bill looks to you, “don’t worry Princess. Just give them a good memory and we will heal them for you. Roman spins you around to him, “Just do what I do, and no one feels a thing.”

The DJ screams “One, two, are we all ready?”

The crowd screams, “YES!”

“Three,” He plays Bullet For My Valentine - Tears Don't Fall.

Roman looks at the person beside him. You can’t hear what he said but others are doing the same thing before they rip into their blood source. Your eyes are wide as your heart pumps faster and your hunger overwhelms you.

You look at the person dancing to your right, “This is the most wonderful night you have ever had. You won’t feel a thing but happiness.”

You grab the persons arm and bite down drinking just a little as you listen for their heartbeat to only slow slightly before moving to the next one and the next and fuck you don’t want to stop. You don’t even notice Bill and Jen trying to keep up with you and Roman’s appetites while fulfilling their own hunger. They heal everyone you have drank from. You are ravenous covered in the blood of those you have drank from when someone grabs you from behind pulling you out of the crowd.

Roman holds you tight to try to calm you, “Enough Princess. We had enough.”

You turn to him and whine, “But it’s so fucking good. There are so many people here and they’re so fucking good.”

“We can come back next weekend if you want, but its time to go work off all this energy privately,” He picks you up.

You start sucking the blood off Roman’s neck and splashes on his cheeks and lips as he carries you down in the basement of the club where he opens a door to a bedroom. He tosses you across the room on to the bed and takes off his blood-soaked cloths. You pull off your blood covered dress and take off your undergarments as he stalks closer. His eyes hungry as he walks around the bed situated in the center of the room. You get on all fours watching him closely, eyes wide, heart beating fast with anticipation and hungry for him to just attack.

You can feel the heat coming off him. See his chest moving with every heavy breath before he’s on you. Blood still dripping from his disheveled hair on to your cheek as he takes you from behind like an animal. “Fuck, Roman,” you scream out.

He leans down in your ear growling lowly, “I can fuck you all night with this energy Sweetheart.”

He grunts loudly when he comes. You collapse on the bed. He turns you over roughly putting your legs over his shoulders. You fist the sheets as he goes down. Lips teasing your folds before his tongue goes in to taste you completely. Working you up quickly and not letting up on your clit when you cum until his cock is damn well ready to destroy your tight wet pussy.

Your cries for “more” let him know you want all he needs to give you as long as he can give it. When he powers inside you fast and deep you arch your back and push your hips with his every thrust to get the satisfaction you crave. “Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck,” he moans.

You pull his face down to yours, “I’m going to fucking milk you dry tonight.”

“Fuck yes baby.” Blood and sweat glisten on his face as he kisses you biting at your lips.

You moan against his lips as another orgasm hits your body like a freight train. He moves unrelentingly until he finishes. You both lay back on the pillows trying to catch you breath. When you snuggle your backside against him, he grins turning on his side and lifting your leg over his to open you up more. He rubs his hand down her stomach. “You want more don’t you? You need it don’t you? I can keep you cumming as much as you can handle.”

His hand moves down to tease your slit. You buck your hips against his touch wanting at least one more release. You whimper as he purposely slowly works you up again. The release is magnificent when it hits. He just grins at your expression satisfied with his work. The process just makes him hard again so he turns you on to your back to go another round until your body can’t take any more. Exhausted and spent completely you both pass out.

You do get back home by 4pm. You don’t even know what he could possibly do next Valentine’s Day to top this. And maybe its best not to think about that as your body heals from the evenings/early morning’s events.

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party-of-rpg-muses · 4 years

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A Look At Stuff You Probably Never Heard Of: Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey

I was actually going to take a look at a different game today, but at the last second, I decided to take a look at this fairly recent game. So today, we’ll be taking a look at... Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey!

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, or simply just Ancestors, is a T-rated open world survival game developed by Panache Digital Games, a new game studio founded by Patrice Désilets, who left Ubisoft after Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. It was also published by Private Division. This game was initially released on PC via the Epic Games Store on August 27th, 2019 due to an exclusivity deal that would last a year. It later saw a release on PlayStation 4 and XBox One later that year on December 4th.

The game doesn’t have a story in the typical sense, but it takes place about 10 million years ago prior to current time in prehistoric Africa. The objective is to survive, learn, adapt, explore, and evolve from an ancient hominid known only as “The Missing Links”, evolving up to 2 million years prior to current time.

The game itself opens with a fish being caught by a pelagornis (an ancient pseudotooth bird), but drops it into the water, where it gets caught by a grey-crowned crane, but drops the now-dead fish when it gets attacked and eaten by a Thorbjarnarson's Crocodile. The fish is then picked up by an elderly male hominid with an infant on his back. Upon taking the fish to a high point to eat it, the hominid is taken away by a Bateleur Eagle to its nest, where it is killed and eaten as the infant falls to the ground below. Upon finding a hiding spot, perseptive switches to an adult, trying to find the lost infant. After that, the game opens up.

As stated before, this is a survival game with a wide open area to explore. The biggest thing about this game is that there are no maps, meaning the player must rely on recognizable locations to navigate. Though this isn’t entirely up to the player to remember, as the hominid can “remember” specific locations (only one at a time until later). The game encourages exploration and there are many ways to get around, most notable by swinging from branches to branches and climbing up cliffs and tree trunks. This is the best way to avoid many predators and enemies that can often be found on the ground floor.

There are many animals that can and will attack any and all available hominids. From predators such as the Machairodus (early Sabertooth Tigers), Crocodiles, Black-backed Jackals, and even Hyenas. Crawling Threats include Megarian Banded Centipede, African Rock Pythons, and Black and Green Mambas. While Irascible Threats (creatures that are typically passive, but can and will attack if the player gets too close) such as Giant Warthogs, African Buffalos, Hippos, Miocene Elephants (easily the strongest and most difficult animal), and even Miocene African Otters (which are far more aggressive and bigger than current otters).

With a Clan, the player can control a single hominid and by bonding with another adult hominid of the opposite gender, a bond can be formed, making the two a couple, thus leading to procreation. Once a child is born, Neuronal Energy can be gained by performing certain actions and this Energy is used to Evolve the present Hominid. But if that Hominid dies, all Neurons (upgrades) are lost unless they had a child and said Neurons become permanently locked upon changing a generation.

And now, the time has finally come for my Final Recommendation: Never Let Go Of It||Get It||Hold Onto It||Try It||Consider It||Stay Away From It

I won’t lie, this game isn’t for everyone. It can feel really slow at times and though this is a game that doesn’t hold your hand, it’s also the kind of game that tosses you into the deep-end of the pool while being tied to a 40-pound weight and expecting you to swim.before you drown. While you are told how to play the game and the general controls, they expect you to instantly remember everything. But at the same time, it can feel satisfying when things finally click and you can do things without really thinking about it. There are (in-game) days where you can do a lot of things and make tons of progress, while there are other days where things run slowly with little to no progress being made. I myself, despite enjoying the game, couldn’t play it two days in a row, as my interest wasn’t great enough to do so. I would take a break from the game for days or even weeks before picking it up again.

The A (XBox)/X (PS4) is used for almost everything. Picking up items, running, jumping, eating, sleeping, swinging, and dodging/attacking. The X (XBox)/Square (PS4) is used for hearing. B (XBox)/Circle (PS4) is used for smell. And Y (XBox)/Triangle) are used for “Intelligence”, which is what allows you to remember specific things, such as notable locations, animals, food, and items.

I couldn’t figure out where else to put this, but you’re given these side quests to do. They aren’t important in any way, but are there to encourage exploration and help you become more familiar with the idea. Pretty much all of them are about discovering a specific location. On to of encouraging exploration, the game also encourages experimentation and traveling outside your comfort zone. When you start the game, your clan’s territory is very small, but it doesn’t take long before you have to explore and enter unknown locations. When entering a new location, the hominid will become scared and you’re required to gain dopamine by identifying things nearby, such as fruit, items, and even other animals before finally conquering your fears.

And at various points in the game, you’ll be required (but not explicitly forced) to take your clan and move to another location. This, of course, can make your an easy target for enemies. But they can be scared away by using Intimidate, with your group scaring them away. Intimidate hardly ever works while on your own with only a few exceptions. You also have to be careful, as while many injuries won’t outright kill you, that can hamper your movements, making it harder to get away from enemies. Bleeding is especially dangerous, as it can slowly cause your primate to bleed to death unless treated. Not to mention falling from too great a height can cause you to get a broken leg, which can either heal naturally (after a considerable amount of time), or using certain food. But even greater will outright kill your hominid. And not just falling onto the ground, but even onto a tree branch you planned on swinging from will impale your hominid.

When at least one child is born, you can change the generation, causing time to leap forward a few years, causing infants to grow into adults, adults into elderly, and the elderly die. And any female adults become infertile upon becoming elders. This can only be done at your Clan Settlement, while accessing the Evolution Menu (which is also used to gain Neuron). You can do this to Lock in a Neuron, thereby making it permanent for all hominids from that point forward But you only get a certain number of locks relative to the amount of children born in that generation. So if there are any that aren’t locked, they must be regained again.

After passing a Generation, you can perform an Evolution Leap, allowing you to jump ahead several thousand years, gaining more with each Feat you perform, marked by a checklist based on what you’ve seen or done. The more you do, the more you jump ahead. And if you do or discover certain things before what science dictates (like standing upright before 4 million years ago), you get an “Ahead of Science” bonus, jumping ahead even more years. Births also count to how many years are added while deaths (not counting natural deaths) take away from it.

I also want to mention that when you finally reach 2 million years ago, you get a final cutscene and the game just ends right there. I won’t lie, it’s rather underwhelming. But apparently, this is only the first part in a trilogy.

So with that said, I’ll see you guys next month, where I take a look at a game that it impossible to buy now and you can’t play it unless you already owned it or use an emulator. And no, I’m not talking about PT.

#Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey #A Look At Stuff You Probably Never Heard Of #outofexp

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chemicalmagecraft · 4 years

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The Gamer Hero, Deku Chapter 27

A/N: Completely totally random fun fact: Five-card Mao is a fun card game where you're not supposed to tell people the rules, except for, I believe, the fact that if you win a round of Five-card Mao you may create a new rule for the game.

xoxoxo

After getting back from Yuuei, the first thing I did was show my mom the paperwork Shuzenji-sensei gave me. We cried tears of joy together and hugged, then she signed it and I decided to go talk to Kacchan. I figured it'd be a good idea to fill him in on my new powers.

"You can what?" Kacchan asked.

"I can copy Quirks now," I answered. He stared at me for a while. "Are you okay?"

He sighed very loudly. "You know what, why not? You can copy Quirks now. Cool." He stuck out his hand. "How do you do it?"

I grinned and made sparks from my hand. "It's a little finicky, though a bit less thanks to an exploit I found out about, but if I fulfill the right conditions I get a copy of a person's Quirk that I can 'buy' from a new menu."

"And those are?"

"I think it's supposed to be just from either beating someone in a fight or potentially from quest rewards, but one of the rewards for the sports festival quest I got was a choice of two Quirks from a pool limited to people from Yuuei. One of the Quirks I picked was a copying Quirk, which thankfully gives me a copy too."

Kacchan nodded. "Yeah I remember that guy. Kind of an asshole. So what was the other one?"

I felt a sting in my eyes as I activated it. My hair felt weird, and while I couldn't see them I assumed my eyes were glowing red. "Try to use your Quirk."

He snorted. "I know what Aizawa-sensei's Quirk looks like, asshole." I laughed and turned it back off. "So you just... have a bunch of Quirks now?"

I shrugged. "There's a limitation. If I have too many Quirks out then it lowers their effectiveness. But yeah, I have a bunch of Quirks now. I got the Quirks of the past One For All users, there are the two I just said, Super Regeneration from that Nomu thing that I bought because it's a passive boost to healing, the Quirks of everyone I beat in the tournament as another quest reward, and my cat's Quirk, which I tested Copy on."

"Damn. And knowing you, you got some other stupid good thing during the sports festival."

I nodded and pulled out my phone, using Technomancy to turn it on and open my pictures without actually pressing any buttons.

"Showoff," Kacchan muttered, then looked at the picture I took earlier. "Is that a fucking tower?"

"Yup. I got a new spell called Imaginary Architect after that last attack in our fight."

"When you threw fucking swords at me?" Kacchan asked.

"Because I threw fucking swords at you. It's an improved version."

"How the fuck is an entire tower an improved version over being able to make some swords?"

"Now I can make anything out of magic, if I have enough power."

He thought for a moment. "Yeah I guess that makes sense."

I switched to the second photo where the tower was dissolving, the only indication that I was interacting with my phone the blue, circuit-like lines that glowed to life on it and my hand when I did. "And this is what happened when I stopped using Imaginary Architect. Pretty, right?"

Kacchan nodded. "Yeah, it kinda is. Don't suppose you've got enough of an understanding of it to teach it to me yet?"

I shrugged and made a small sphere. I tossed it into the air a bit, then dissolved it mid-throw and replaced it with a small cube. I tossed that cube around a bit, added spikes to it, then dissolved it. Next I made a lab coat with a lot more concentration due to how complicated it actually was, actually making it around my body. I managed to make it a lighter shade of blue than the other IA constructs, but in the end it was only almost white. It did, however, behave exactly like a lab coat made of cloth should, down to how it ripped when I pulled one of the sleeves off. Even breaking a part of the construct didn't destabilize it, which was a failing in most Quirks and spells that made temporary objects. Even my Skill Grimoir worked like that. It was that self-contained... "Yeah, I think I should have a good enough grasp on it now. It's a bit complicated, though."

"This isn't gonna be like Meditation where it just doesn't work, is it?"

I shook my head. "No, from what Todoroki told me Meditation has an aspect to it that my Quirk reproduces automatically."

"How the hell'd he know that?"

"Apparently he can sense magic."

Kacchan twitched. "How the shit does he do that?"

"Beats me. Still, the biggest hurdle to you learning Imaginary Architect should just be that it's really complex. You might want to start out with Bound Blade first."

He sighed. "Ugh, fine."

xoxoxo

I spent the rest of the day (and night) switching between grinding both Imaginary Architect and Item Enchantment and reading up on basic architecture. Around midnight, I decided to check out the hero news. I opened up the website I normally used for hero news (not even using my hands, Technomancy was fun) and scrolled through the articles. One caught my eye.

Pro Hero Ingenium Critically Injured by Hero Killer Stain

"That was what you overheard, wasn't it Sonia?" I asked. She nodded quietly. "Well, thanks for giving me a heads up. Come to think of it, I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell me anything you hear about that you think I might need to know? Nothing personal about other people, unless you think they're going to get hurt or something, but stuff like explosions or villainous plotting?"

She smiled. "Yeah, I'll do that!"

"Thanks." I clicked on the article. Yeah it did not look good. "I don't need to tell you to keep an eye on Iida, do I?"

"Nope."

"Thanks..."

I was glad that I was using Technomancy to use the computer, because that freed up both of my hands. My left hand started to glow green with Healing Hands and my right hand glowed purple with Draining Hands to give it something to heal. While I was at it I switched Super Regeneration off. I didn't know if I would be able to help with Iida's brother at all, but it was a reminder of why I got Healing Hands in the first place. I wanted to heal people, and Healing Hands still had its limits even in the nineties.

xoxoxo

I stopped practicing my new skills around noon of the next day to check out one final thing that I had gotten recently that I wanted to mess with. Enlightenment had recently leveled up enough to unlock its next ability:

Allows the user to access their own subconscious mindscape through Meditation.

It would probably be more obviously useful if not for the fact that The Gamer already prevented any form of tampering to my mind, but at the very least it changed Enlightenment from (Passive) to (Active and Passive), meaning that I could hopefully level Enlightenment up at least slightly easier by exploring my mindscape.

I created a perfectly generic object with Imaginary Architect, automatically enchanted with that one slowfall enchantment I'd stumbled upon earlier (though not the floating one), and used Singularity on it. I floated over the construct with my legs crossed in the stereotypical meditation pose and pulled it into the air, adjusting my pull on it when it was halfway between me and the ground so that it just hung there, my 'gravity' pulling on it as much as Earth's. I closed my eyes and let my skills guide me deeper within my own mind.

xoxoxo

I felt like I was falling backwards for what somehow felt like both an instant and an eternity at the same time, scenes from my life flickering in and out of my vision. After that interminable time, I found myself in the foyer of what looked like a hero museum. It felt familiar, and from the looks of it combined some elements from some of the hero museums I'd been in before, though maybe with some other aspects as well. I suppose that made sense, it was my mindscape after all...

The central figure of the foyer was a larger-than-life statue of All Might in a triumphant pose raised on a pedestal.

...

Fair enough...

The statue had a spiderweb of large cracks on it, exactly where the real All Might's wound was. "I know this is my mindscape, but is everything in here going to be so on the nose?" I muttered. I shrugged and picked one of the hallways leading out of the foyer at random, one labeled 'Magic,' and walked through it.

"Whoa," I said. The giant room on the other side looked something like the library of a medieval fantasy magic school, instead of the museum theme of the foyer. The walls were lined floor to ceiling with bookshelves packed with books, there were moving models of various moments scattered around the room, an ornate pedestal with a large book in the middle with a large spiral staircase around it, and balls of light floated around the ceiling to provide light. I walked over to the closest model. It was the tower that I'd made yesterday. As I watched it dissolved like it had when I stopped supplying it with energy, then reappeared after a few moments. I walked away as it looped itself and examined another one. This time it was the flurry of blades that I'd used to finish off Kacchan. Not all of the models were mine, though most of them were, but every example was an example of magic that I was impressed or amazed by. For example, Kacchan and Uraraka's fight, the time I destroyed Todoroki's iceberg, the cavalry battle, the first time I cast Halcyon Wing, those shenanigans with Yang, the Wild, Wild Pussycats' cat spells I'd seen on TV that one time, my fight with Nomu, that one time Kacchan pulled me out of Illusion Barrier to punch me in the face, my first time using the elements with Kacchan, and the first Mana Bolt that started it all were among them. It was nice to see them all memorialized like that, even if it was only in my own head.

After I was done looking at the pretty displays, I checked out a section of one of the bookshelves. It had a label on it, 'Lightning,' with little lightning bolts on it. I pulled a book out at random and opened it to a random page. Most of the text was garbled for some odd reason, but I could make out one passage.

Lightning Bolt

A simple lightning spell. The user gathers electrical energy with lightning mana and shoots it in a burst at the target.

It was almost exactly what my own skill entry for Lightning Bolt said, but without the cost and everything. I frowned and flipped through the pages. I couldn't make out any of the other entries, but to be fair I didn't know too many lightning spells. I really needed to fix that, and with the other elements too. I closed the book and it flew back into its spot with just my intention to return it. I thought about Lightning Aura and Lightning Embodiment, and a dash-like lightning spell I'd made with the hope of creating a flying lightning spell called Arc Step. Those were my other three major lightning spells, so they should probably be somewhere in the lightning bookshelf. Again, my thoughts caused the books to move on their own. Two books pulled themselves out of the bookshelf and floated in front of me.

I plucked one of them out of the air and opened it to a random page. It had Lightning Aura and Lightning Embodiment on it, with one spell in between them. I stared at the passage. It was almost like it was constantly shifting, like some sort of selective but cripplingly bad dyslexia, but I felt like I should know what it was. I almost caught a glimpse of it... I checked one of the other passages that I couldn't read. I didn't have that feeling of recognition, but I still caught a flash of what it might be. Filing that away for later, I turned my attention back to the familiar passage. What could it...

Maybe a lightning version of Kacchan's Fire Ignition? As I thought it, the shifting of the slowed to a stop. The description was still a blur, but I could at least read that I was right.

Lightning Ignition

Maybe it was because I knew what the spell was, but didn't know it? If that was the case... I put the lightning books back and summoned an air book. Yup, Air Aura and Air Embodiment were there with their descriptions, but with a passage for Air Ignition in the middle that I couldn't read the description of. I put them back and looked at some of the other sections of the bookshelves. Aside from the elements, there were several books on healing, enchantment (apparently Elemental Aura and Elemental Ignition, but not Elemental Embodiment, were enchantment-type, plus my buff spells), illusion, offensive, defensive, sensory, movement, mind, summoning, and even more books of magic. There were so many books, most of them almost completely indecipherable. I supposed it represented the sheer scale of what magic could do. Heck, there were even a few bookshelves that I couldn't read the titles of.

After looking through a few books, I decided to check out the book on the pedestal in the middle. For it to be in the middle of a library full of magic, it had to be something impressive, right? I approached the pedestal and... it was just an oversized version of the Skill Grimoir. The pedestal had a counter on it that looked like it was showing me how many Skill Fragments I had at the moment. "Status," I said to check.

The menu didn't open. I frowned. "Menu." Nothing. "Skills." Nothing. "Skill Grimoir?" The giant Skill Grimoir was summoned to my hands, not the one that I could make from my Quirk. I guess it made sense, Quirks being a part of the body, that even if part of my Quirk affected my mind I couldn't use some parts of my Quirk within my own mindscape. Heck, now that I thought about it the only part of my UI that was still was the minimap. "Does that mean my magic won't work?" I asked myself. I created a simple little Magelight and added it to the floating lights. I cast the spell, yes, but even though it felt almost exactly like it did when I did it in real life, it didn't feel like I used any energy in it. "Weird."

I shrugged and looked at my Skill Grimoir. I wondered what it would look like to use it in here. I clearly could, otherwise why would the pedestal have an SF count on it to make up for the fact that I couldn't check my status screen? I flipped through the book for a skill that I wouldn't mind using SF on. There was a decently cheap skill called Shock Sphere that I was fine with. I confirmed the purchase. The words peeled off the page as usual, but when they dissolved into light they didn't go directly to me. Instead, the light split and streaked over to books in the lightning and offensive bookshelves. There were no text boxes, but I knew how to use Shock Sphere when the last of the light entered the books. I summoned both books to see that yes, there was a completed passage for Shock Sphere in them.

"That's... something..." I muttered. I guess that the books were a representation of my skill list? I moved onto the last feature of the room, the staircase. It was made out of floating strips of the same stone-like material as the flooring, but with small bits of red carpet on them. I walked up the staircase to see what was up there. The staircase was long and the tower that it went up was hollow, meaning that I could fly around there with a lot of room if I felt like it. The room at the top of the staircase looked like... maybe it was supposed to be the top of a wizard tower? The large room was circular, with eight large windows that lined up with the cardinal and ordinal directions on my minimap. There was an empty bookshelf, some tables, and a few training dummies and targets by the walls in between the windows. Creepily enough, the space outside the windows was just a blank white void...

I jumped out the window to see what the outside looked like, but realized when I tried to use Float that my copied Quirks weren't working either. I fell for a few meters in surprise before casting Halcyon Wing. The base of the tower was just a part of the circular staircase, instead of the library at the bottom. I tried to fly under the tower to see what would happen, but bonked into a perfectly white floor. There weren't even any shadows, which made sense when you considered the fact that there was also no light. I looked around the white void.

"I wonder what this is supposed to be?" I muttered. "Maybe it's supposed to be something like visualization of magic? I can use my magic in here, plus there were those dummies, so maybe I can use this place like a training ground for my magic. It'd be a bit nicer if it wasn't just this blank white void..." I had an idea. "If this is all in my head..." I closed my eyes and imagined the forest I used to play in as a kid. Soon the image in my head felt almost real and I realized that my eyes had opened at some point. I flew back up and surveyed the new forest. It probably wasn't exactly accurate, even aside from the giant wizard tower that stayed in there when I replaced the void, but it was still a forest in my head.

I flew around the forest for a bit, seeing how it looked. It kind of looked like it was randomly generated with my memories of the forest, because it didn't look like it was exactly the same as the real thing. Certain areas seemed to repeat too. I also checked what would happen if I destroyed a tree or something. It just smashed like a normal tree. Not sure what I expected to happen there. After that, I wondered if I could create NPCs in there. I imagined a ring of bokoblins, like from Breath of the Wild, around me. Before they could attack me I tested out my new skill on them. Shock Sphere, fittingly enough, reminded me a bit of the electric lizalfos from Breath of the Wild. At least, that electrical explosion that they could do. A sphere of lighting magic centered on me enveloped the bokoblins, causing them to convulse. When I ended the spell (which seemed like I could continue it just by supplying more MP), they all fell down and faded out of existence. I hoped it wasn't that deadly in reality...

With the training grounds tested out, I flew back into the tower and jumped down the stairwell. I didn't even feel any impact when I fell on the floor, and the floor didn't look damaged either. I got up and finally walked through the exit hallway of the magic room. I suddenly found myself back at the foyer of the 'museum,' standing exactly where I had been when I first entered my mindscape like I'd teleported there.

"That was interesting. Let's see another room." I walked up to a hallway, which had a sign that said 'Memory Lane.' This time, the room was just a long hallway with paintings hung all along both sides. On the left side I saw memories that were, generally speaking, negative. Fear, anger, sadness, every picture evoked emotions like that in me. Meanwhile every memory on the right was positive. When I looked at the left side it felt like it was longer than the right side, but when I looked at the right side it felt like it was longer than the left. Only when I didn't focus on either side and just stared down the middle did I see that the two sides were equal.

Does that count as a metaphor? I feel like that's a metaphor.

I kept my hand on the wall of happy memories as I walked down the hallway. My hope was that it'd serve as a reminder not to linger on the bad memories. As I walked down the hallway reminiscing, I noticed that some of the memories on the happy side were also on the negative side, just in a different light. I got to the end of the hallway having only cried a few times. Like the last room, exiting it brought me back to the beginning.

I looked at the hallways around the foyer, wondering what else could be in them. "One more," I promised myself, and went through a hallway labeled 'Heroes.' The large room was filled with statues and pictures of various pro heroes. The ones I admired more had more prominent statues, with All Might's being the centerpiece of the room. I noticed with pride that while there was a statue for Endeavor, it was destroyed. Only the legs were intact, with the rest of him just being a pile of rubble with demeaning graffiti on it.

However, I quickly noticed that there was something completely out of place near the All Might statue. A party of seven, who by the way I had never seen any of before, sat at a cheap folding table in cheap folding chairs. And because this was in my mindscape I apparently couldn't see their titles. There was a man with long white hair, a woman with a short, spiky ponytail that kinda reminded me of a pineapple, a blonde man with red eyes, a white-haired man with a large scar over his left eye, a bald man wearing an opened leather jacket with no shirt under it and a pair of goggles on his forehead, a black-haired man in a coat with a collar so high it covered his mouth, and a motherly-looking woman with a beauty mark under her mouth. It looked like they were about to play some sort of card game.

The man with long white hair, who looked like he was the dealer, shouted "Five-card Mao is not in session!" and threw a card at the man in the coat, who was the only one holding his cards. The man picked the card up and added it to his hand, which was currently about twice the size of the others'. The long-haired man said "Five-card Mao is not in session!" again, and threw another card at the other man. They repeated this several more times, the white-haired man's shouting getting more exasperated each time. Soon the man in the coat was holding all the cards.

"I win," he said smugly.

"That's not how Five-card Mao works!" the white-haired man protested.

"How does it work, then?" The man looked through his numerous cards.

The white-haired man slammed his hands on the table, rattling his five cards. "I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO TELL YOU!"

"Then how are we to play the game?" the man asked smugly as he set most of the deck down.

The white-haired man sighed. "You figure it out. That's supposed to be part of the fun..."

"Um..." I said, and all seven of them turned to stare at me in unison. "What are you people doing in my head?" I asked.

"The kid's here," the bald man said. "How is the kid here?"

The motherly-looking woman got up. "I suppose some introductions are in order. Sorry for alarming you, Midoriya. We're... the past users of One For All, the Quirk you have now. My name is Shimura Nana."

"Oh," I said. "So I guess One For All takes some kind of copy of the user's mind?"

The bald man shrugged. "Probably something like that. Name's Daigoro Banjo. Sup."

The man in the jacket nodded. "Hikiishi Jiroku."

"Hello, Midoriya," the scarred man said. "My name is Honenuki Shikotsu."

The blonde man waved at me. "Hello," he said with a small Russian accent. "I am Sokolov Kyousan."

The woman with the ponytail smiled at me. "Hello, Midoriya. My name is Kaizen Futaba. It's nice to meet you."

Finally, the white-haired man got up and shook my hand with an apologetic grin. "And I'm the reason you're in this whole mess, sorry. Shigaraki Ichigo." I gasped. Come to think of it, he looked a bit like that hand guy, Shigaraki Tomura, if he wasn't so... crusty. He winced. "Yeah, like that hand kid you fought. I think he might be my nephew, but I kinda don't like the idea of my brother procreating. He wasn't a very good brother and I doubt he'd make a great father either. You can call me Ichigo, by the way. I understand if you wouldn't want to call me Shigaraki."

"Um... So if you're all here then where's All Might?" I asked.

"Oh, he's in the closet," Shimura said.

"I knew it!" I said.

"Oh no, I meant that closet," she said, pointing to a literal broom closet in one corner of the room. Why was that even there? "Toshinori's openly bi, or at least he was in school."

"Oh, so did you know him when he was in school?" I asked. "Or I guess you would know anyway if you were in his head too..."

She nodded. "I did end up in his head eventually, but I was his teacher at Yuuei."

"Wait, why is he in the broom closet? I asked.

"See, the thing about that is..." Daigoro said. "Maybe it's best if you see for yourself."

I shrugged and walked over to the closet door. I could see something under the crack, but it didn't look like a pair of human feet... I opened the door, revealing a hazy yellow silhouette that was roughly All Might-shaped, but didn't look like an actual person. He didn't react to me opening the door. "Oh," I said.

"Yeah, he kinda creeped us out after a while, so we just stuck him in the closet," Ichigo said.

I waved my hand in front of his face. He didn't react at all... "Is he... conscious?"

"We don't think so, or at least we hope not," Honenuki said.

"We don't remember our times as that strange half-shadow, but at the same time most of ours were short," Hikiishi informed me. "At the very least, he doesn't react to anything and won't until the real Toshinori dies."

"I see," I said. That was kind of disturbing... "So are your real souls in here? Is that how it works?"

Sokolov shrugged. "It's best if you don't think think about it, existentially."

"Okay," I said, closing the door. "Would it be possible to get another chair for me?" I asked. "Actually how did you get those chairs?" I turned around to see that there was an extra chair right next to Ichigo. "Right, mindscape." Ichigo patted the empty chair.

I sat down as Ichigo shuffled his cards really fancily. I didn't even know you could do some of those those things to shuffle a deck of cards.

Or it was just mindscape logic...

"So do you wanna play too, Midoriya?" Ichigo asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah, thanks." When he dealt my cards I almost picked them up, but remembered the whole thing with Hikiishi and stopped myself.

"Five-card Mao is now in session!" Ichigo said as he flipped the top card of the deck over, the two of hearts. "I figured we'd do this in the order of what bearer we were, and we could say a bit about ourselves to Midoriya. I'll start." He placed the eight of hearts down on top of the first card. "I was the first bearer. Our enemy, All For One, is.. was my brother. He kinda snapped when our father killed our mother, which to be fair was pretty dang traumatic, but that doesn't really make anything he did cool. We had a few arguments, he locked me in a room for months, then he tried to control me by giving me a powerful Quirk. Still don't get what his plan was there, even with the chance of brain damage. Plus I mean even then we already knew that Quirks could be genetic, so he should've figured I could've been even a little bit more compatible with his Quirk than some random schmuck, so-"

"You're rambling again, Ichigo," Kaizen interrupted him.

"Right. Thanks, Futaba-chan," he said. I guess they knew each other. "So yeah, I used the Quirk he gave me to escape him and join what may have been a precursor to those pro hero organization things, though obviously without the overt government support. Speaking of, I think that's when you come in, Futaba-chan."

Kaizen nodded. She put down the eight of diamonds before speaking. "I was Ichigo's sidekick. He took me under his wing after he couldn't dissuade me from being a hero and showed me ways to use my Quirk that I would have never thought of. When he was on his deathbed I promised to continue the fight against his brother and was the first to have One For All passed to me. If I may, Midoriya, I would like to advise you to not underestimate the power of my Quirk, Mending."

Sokolov nodded. "My turn." He put down the three of spades.

Ichigo picked up the card, took a card off the top of the deck, and tossed them both to Sokolov. "Bad move. Try again."

Sokolov grunted. "What about this, then?" He put down the seven of diamonds. "My mom lost her Quirk to that bastard Hisa-"

Hikiishi threw a card at him. "Watch your language, there's a kid present."

Before Sokolov could pick up the card Ichigo swiped it up and threw it and another card at Hikiishi. "That's not a rule," he said.

Hikiishi picked the cards up, took another one from the deck, and threw all three at Ichigo. "You said can make new rules if you win."

Ichigo glared at him. "I'll give you that one, but only because I agree with the rule." He turned to Sokolov. "Continue."

Sokolov nodded. "My mom lost her Quirk, so I decided to melt the brain of the person responsible. I suppose if we're saying what our Quirks are, I should say mine's Fear. Luckily Kaizen got to me before I could get to him, and she made me her successor."

Honenuki threw his card down next. Seven of spades. "Believe it or not, but I used to be one of All For One's allies. Was born into it, actually. In fact, the Quirk you got from me, Skeletal, was a combination of my birth Quirk, Spike Growth, and a Quirk called Bone Armor. One day, though, I made the... well, not mistake, but I questioned him." He tapped his scar. "How I got this. Kyousan saved my as- life and I didn't really have anywhere else to go, so he basically adopted me."

Banjo slammed down the jack of spades. He shrugged. "Honestly I became a hero because I was bored and liked using Blackwhip. Don't know what Honenuki saw in me, but to be fair he was dying and the other guy was an even bigger jerk. Not really much to say."

Hikiishi looked at his cards for a bit. "I was always good at using my Quirk, Magnetize. I was heavily encouraged to become a hero, so I went with it." He put down the jack of diamonds. "I suppose Banjo saw promise in me when we worked together, because he gave me One For All."

Shimura played the queen of diamonds. "I also became a pro hero because of my Quirk, Float. Well, I really did want to help people too, but having a Quirk that let me fly played a factor in my becoming a hero too. I only ever met Hikiishi a few times before I... well, when he gave me One For all he was about to die. I became a teacher after that, hoping that maybe my successor would be spared the traumatic circumstances of my getting One For All." She laughed wryly. "I'm honestly not too sure I was able to do that for Toshinori..."

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry," Hikiishi muttered.

"I don't blame you," Shimura assured him. "Now it's your turn Midoriya."

"Okay," I said. I looked at my cards. If I understood the rules right, the only card I had that would work was the queen of hearts, so I placed it on Shimura's card. "My name is Midoriya Izuku, as you know. I think the Quirk I was born with was actually Singularity, but it's really weird and didn't even show any sign of being there until a few months ago, when I got The Gamer. I know I'm not very experienced, but I hope to make you all proud."

Banjo grinned at me. "You're doin' great already, kid!" he shouted.

"Yes, I'm proud to call you my successor," Ichigo added with a grin.

The rest of the former bearers echoed the sentiment. I laughed and rubbed at my suddenly wet eyes. "Thank you."

xoxoxo

A/N: Sorry about dumping a bunch of names on you at once, bit that was kinda the only way I though of for how this could go down...

Also sorry for the kinda long wait. I had writers' block for a bit with the OFA scene and then had an awesome idea for the card game that unfortunately involved reading a lot about the minor tarot arcana (I know it was a minor detail, but I thought it was really cool and I just kinda go wild for tarot motifs okay). By the way if anyone's looking things up, remember that most playing cards are the same rightside-up as upside-down so it could be either upright or reversed ;3. Plus I had a lot more irons in the fire that I had to tend to.

Elemental list: Midoriya: Halitus, Dune, Rayne, Blaise, Juniper, Mifuyu, Raimon, Iggy, Sonia, and Claude Bakugou: Pyra and Leaf Tokoyami: Corvo Uraraka: Nebula and Ion Hagakure: Lucy Tsu: Bubbles Aizawa: Charlie and Cassiopeia All Might: Seth O'Scope

#fanfiction #bnha #bnha fanfiction #the gamer #The Gamer Hero Deku #Gamer Hero Deku #GHD CH27

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