All Idleness and Ephemera

I bought ebi-hime’s BL bundle because a) I love her games and b) after immensely enjoying [i]To Have and To Hold[/i], I needed more Yuel/Tavi in my life. [i]All Idleness and Ephemera[/i] is the first game that centers their relationship. The first thing to know about [i]Idleness[/i] is it’s an AU spin off of [i]All Ashes and Illusions[/i], a cishet hentai game. [i]Ashes[/i] is where Yuel, Tavi, and Safiya debut. Given her adoration of the cousins now, it was extremely funny to read in the Notes that ebi-hime stumbled upon the Yuel/Tavi ship mostly by accident—she wanted to write something else with Yuel in it, and Tavi was a warm body, haha. [i]Idleness[/i] poses the question of what if Yuel focused his obsessive love on Tavi instead of Safiya. You don’t absolutely need to play [i]Ashes[/i] to understand [i]Idleness[/i], but the starting narration sort of dumps you into an already established world. It was a bit disorienting and abrupt, but hey, that’s the cost of starting in the middle. The second thing to know is [i]All Idleness and Ephemera[/i] is a game centered around sex scenes, though I’m given to understand this designation is more on a technicality than a true entry into the nukige genre. I’m a big believer that sex (and fight) scenes shouldn’t actually be about the acts they involve. Instead, they should be about the characters—showing who they are, changing them, and moving their arcs forward—as well as being hot to trot. With [i]Idleness[/i], ebi-hime displays a true mastery of the craft. The majority of this game is pa-pa-pa, and each caress is a crucible. Both Tavi and Yuel are transformed by their intimacy. I gobbled it up. Got some high quality erotica right here, lemme tell ya. If the fantastic narrative wasn’t enough, the soundtrack is full of bangers. The reason I have so many hours in this game isn’t that I read slow. No, I actually left the game running to hear the music while I did other work. It’s that good! Thank goodness the menu has the music tracks available and loop-able. Plus! There’s like, a little lyric music video in the game after the first scene. Seeing that the first time, I was absolutely tickled. How fun! If you like sexy, sexy character studies with great background music, I heartily recommend [i]All Idleness and Ephemera[/i].

[spoiler]Yuel lets Saffy's family and Tavi survive in this one.[/spoiler]

It's a perfect blend of giggling over their banter, gushing at their budding personal connection, and sitting in front of your screen to let the melancholy marinate that made Yuel and Tavi such an endearing couple to me. I've got to admit that self-indulgent AUs for grimdark stories are totally up my alley (ebi-hime you're so real for this), so after going through what I can only call an experience with All Ashes and Illusions, All Idleness and Ephemera felt like a love letter to a beloved original character who you love to torture but would also like to see solving all their personal failures in another world. I do recommend reading through All Ashes and Illusions first, as the weight of Yuel's angst and their background may not hit quite as hard without a good grasp of the context. It's short for the price, but the artwork is quite pretty and the custom OSTs are pleasant to listen to. I honestly didn't expect so much smut throughout so that was definitely a surprise, but the character interactions are just so enjoyable so I forgive the story for throwing us from sex scene to sex scene. [spoiler] Side note, but every time Yuel got it up the ass, I thought of the atrocities he committed against Safiya in Ashes. Hope she's doing well in this AU. It was hilarious to think of her just living her daily life in between all the gay sex of her would-be tormentor lol. [/spoiler]

This was the first game from Ebi-hime I've played featuring her characters Tavi, and Yuel. I was really charmed at the aesthetic, and the way the characters and settings were drawn, and the story was definitely in my taste, pleasing CGs and some hot scenes to screencap. If you don't mind [spoiler] incest between of-age cousins, [/spoiler] then this game could prove wondrous for you as it proved for me, As of writing this I'm actually playing "To Have and to Hold"━━my now second game featuring the pair. I love these two guys so much, might even cosplay Tavi (he's more my type lol.)

I LOVE THESE TWO!!!!!!! BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

内容太少了，虽然挺涩的，但是好贵，我是↑↓

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Еще одна игра про Тави и Юэля! Горячо как в Сахаре :3

It's good. I personally really dislike incest content but was easily able to ignore that part and just appreciate the story & dynamic. Way more smutty and sexy than i expected, but it was very good and hot, a welcome surprise~ Main characters and pretty hot and resolve a lot of their issues through slightly kinky sex, props to the author for conveying the story very well through the sex scenes, most media still struggles to do that. Would recommend~ A bit pricy so feel free to wait for a sale~

Это уже третья новелла по этим бро, и что я могу сказать? Я уже настолько прониклась ими, что для меня отношения двух кузенов уже не выглядят чем-то странным (кукуха, ты куда?). Интересно смотреть на них в разных сеттингах(прошлые новеллы я проходила, где они были в современном мире). Таки вот, из плюсов красивая рисовка, лёгкий английский, какое-никакое погружение в их историю, а также много постельных сцен, НО немного меня бесило, что сцена с поцелуем и сидением на коленках постоянно повторялась, то есть всегда одна и та же картинка, ток с фоном разным, как бы окэй, но можно было либо немного разнообразия добавить, либо просто описанием без картинки всё делать. Новеллка 9 кузенов из 10