#6 underground spoilers

[avtvmnalvibes]

Okay I’ve been reentering my Gravity Falls era and I have to ask…did people think that Stan wrote the journals?

Like if I had watched this show as it was coming out I would 100% have thought that Stan wrote the journals. ESPECIALLY after Scary-oke aired

#THE MAN HAD A SECRET UNDERGROUND BASEMENT #SAID ‘FINALLY I HAVE THEM ALL’ WHEN HE GOT ALL OF THE JOURNALS #AND HAD 6 FINGERED GLOVES #gravity falls #gravity falls spoilers #idk if that tag still applies but just incase #gravity falls season 2 #stan pines

[tuliptiger]

Idk if I would recommend totk over botw if I'm being honest. I didn't find the emptiness other people have mentioned feeling, and when it is there it feels natural and not at all awkward to me. It felt peaceful, it felt thematically correct with the world and what was going on. Totk doesn't, it's awkward and a Frankenstein of a beast. It can be jarring, awkwardly and uncomfortably open and boring, and for all of the new features it feels less fun to play. It feels like the developers tried to do a sandbox type game and failed on every front.

I didn't want to find botw in totk but unfortunately I'm finding too much and not enough of it in it. I wanted it to be it's own thing. It just feels wrong. It feels like it failed at everything it tried to be and became the things it didn't.

#totk criticism #totk #totk spoilers #totk spoiler #i don't think its fun #honestly i think they couldve just improved the mount system and threw away the entire “mechanical” aspect #flying mounts? #underground sick as hell dark mounts? #like what the fuck #i feel like they could've done so msny things #and they just #didnt #6 years for like #for what? #it couldn't have been a dlc but it sure feels like it shouldve

[honey-doc]

Why I appreciate Kabru and Mithrun's relationship in the story (with pictures!)

I just want to express how much I loved reading through the chapter with the 6 days they spent together and how I think their relationship developed in a pretty sweet way.

I feel like a lot of people reduce their dynamic to "nurse and patient" and that makes me sad because I personally got a lot more from it than that.

I do wanna start off by saying I'm here appreciating their dynamic as it is in the text.

Read more (spoilers ofc):

The beginnings

When they first met, there was an air of intimidation surrounding Mithrun as the captain of the ominous Canaries. He demonstrates his proficiency as a fighter and leader which worried Kabru because he knew it would lead to the dungeon falling into elven hands once again. But this threatening aura begins to dim in Kabru's mind as they get to know each other.

Even before they fell down the hole, the both of them ended up relying on each other's abilities a number of times (when the underground governor turned out to be corrupted Mithrun defeated him and Mithrun needed Kabru's deduction skills during the battle on the first floor) which is already the beginning of a great dynamic

(Kabwu is scared but Mithrun just asks for his help)

After Cithis tasked him with "taking care of Mithrun's needs" for the time being, Kabru treated Mithrun with proper respect and doesn't take advantage of his disability, even using his title “Captain” when he knew Mithrun wouldn’t have cared either way after learning about how he lost his desires. This is in contrast to Cithis who immediately took advantage of her position to mess around with Mithrun when she was taking care of him.

(When Cithis was put in charge of taking care of Mithrun)

The whole time Kabru is with Mithrun, he treats him like a person and more than just someone to be taken care of, as also he relies on Mithrun's fighting skills, knowledge of the dungeon, and teleportation magic.

When you reduce their dynamic to just "caretaker and patient", you're ignoring Mithrun's own capabilities and making him seem totally helpless. It actually feels rather ableist. They have a more balanced relationship with what Mithrun brings to the table than you may think. Mithrun couldn't have survived down there on his own, but it's the same for Kabru (who famously dies every time he fights)!

Kabru doesn’t show signs of trying to manipulate Mithrun either, and he's no longer intimidated by him in the slightest once he learns he’s not a threat or after his life. Though he does instinctively revert to his "sparkly" persona to get Mithrun to eat the disgusting mushroom, it doesn’t work so Kabru just has him eat it normally and never tries it again. This is the beginning of Mithrun unintentionally encouraging Kabru to be more honest with others.

(Kabru realizing he can chill out)

(Kabru being unreserved and Mithrun being silly)

bonus funny moment:

Bonding

Throughout the journey they talked to each other, shared things with each other, and ate with each other. And Kabru expresses genuine concern about whether Mithrun is comfortable (which is something he could live without and wasn't something the Canaries told him to do).

(Kabru showing he wants to make him comfortable by making food for him which is a very important part of the narrative)

(Kabru sharing intimate memories with Mithrun)

(Kabru initiating conversation without hesitation or worry. This part also is referencing how Mithrun shared very important details of his life with Kabru. Kabru also ends up trusting Mithrun with information about Laios despite knowing he could possibly tell the other Canaries about him and impede his plans..which he does lol they do end up knowing about Laios before meeting him.)

For a bonus Lycion implies Kabru was taking better care of Mithrun than they had been which is interesting to me.

Mithrun also shows that he has come to trust Kabru's decisions over the Canaries' when he says he wants to stay in the dungeon after fulfilling the caretaker requirement. They did talk to each other a lot, during that time. I wonder what Mithrun's Shapeshifter double of Kabru would look like now?

Here, Kabru goes out of his way to make sure Mithrun doesn’t overexert himself by knocking him out after the demon leaves with Marcille (again, when his time taking care of him is already over), and I think that demonstrates an extra level of concern he holds for Mithrun.

(Kabru holding back a hellbent Mithrun)

(KNOCKOUT!)

He even managed to make Mithrun mad. It's probably because he "let the demon get away" but I think it's cute and funny because would he huff like that at anyone else? Lol

When the demon breaks through the surface

Kabru begins panicking after Laios turns into the giant monster because he's wondering if he made the right decisions etc. If Mithrun didn’t care about Kabru at least a little bit, he would’ve just left him alone when he started losing it (right after Marcille did the same thing and she is technically more to blame for empowering the demon than Kabru was for not allowing Mithrun to go after it), but he went out of his way to snap him out of it.

It also means a lot to me that Mithrun even says Kabru's name, because in Japanese you can go your entire life without referring to someone by name and it wouldn't sound wrong (just rude) and it's the first time Mithrun says Kabru's name on screen (I checked).

Though it was with a slap, I think it says a lot, because if Mithrun didn’t care at all he wouldn’t have done anything and left him alone. It's not like Kabru could've done anything to stop the demon. He didn't even to tell him to do anything even though Kabru looked ready for an order.

(To be honest I don't know exactly why Mithrun starts beating him up here but you can say it's another rare demonstration of emotion Kabru was able to evoke in him lol. Maybe it's payment for Kabru stopping him the first time. That can be interpreted as paying it back and/or paying it forward I think.)

The last few chapters

And in the end when Kabru’s motivating Mithrun to continue living his life, he speaks to him like they’re friends/have no rank between them despite using the Captain title for him the whole time. Even Lycion initially gets upset that he’s acting “too familiar” with Mithrun.

It feels like Mithrun changed so much in the short time he spent together with Kabru and before the final battle, and it’s thanks to Kabru that Mithrun finally starts to be able to move past his lingering obsession with the demon and begin to really heal.

This is despite the fact that he spent so much time with Milsril and the other elves who never managed to break through to him like that.

(Before Kabru) (After Kabru)

And even after his role as Mithrun's caretaker was loong complete, he still shows concern for Mithrun and tells him to take a break when he's using up all his magic to slice the Falin meat (lmao).

He didn't need to do that! But it shows how he at least slightly considers Mithrun some kind of friend.

It all culminates with Kabru helping Mithrun regain his wil to live and Mithrun confiding in Kabru. Their relationship is important. Kabru continuing to do things for Mithrun to me is more of a sign that he just plain cares about him. Isn't it normal when a friend needs medication for you to remind them to take it? I think it's like that.

Kabru is there with Mithrun when he comes out about his feelings of uselessness AND when Senshi helps him put a spin on the 'vegetable scraps' metaphor and he find meaning in his life again. He's the first one to see him cry :')

Along with the fact that it feels like Mithrun is the first person we see Kabru doesn't feel the need to change his personality with or put on airs for since Mithrun doesn't need buttering up and he won't get offended if someone were to say something socially awkward, I think they made a pretty good team!

BUT ALSO the REAL reason I became endeared to them is cute shit like this:

GOD I love them!!!!! There are so many funny sides to Mithrun Kabru was able to bring out, and really show his charm as a character. Mithrun also brings out the best in Kabru while Kabru’s the most genuine he’s been since his debut with Mithrun. We are able to see that he’s just a kind and caring person, rather than the shady obsessed guy most fans have come to believe him to be.

The true depths of their dynamic also grew on me over time :)

TLDR

All in all it’s so nice seeing how even though Mithrun is a really deadpan person, and Kabru is a really secretive and withheld person, they clearly seem to have developed some kind of bond while they traveled together and even changed each other to an extent.

Doesn't Kabru feel more honest near the end? Maybe it's because of how much he talked to and shared with Mithrun during those 6 days so candidly...because they taaaalked a looooot like wow.

They mean so goddamn much to me. I don’t need them to be in a romantic relationship but I do want them to be together forever :'))) or like at least hang out when they have off time since they're still in the same country lol. Praying for Kui to make another side comic of them some time (crying).

Thanks for reading if you made it this far, I mostly arranged this because it makes me sad to see people reduce their dynamic to only one singular aspect.

Anyways ya...love 'em (heart hands)

#dungeon meshi #dunmeshi #mithrun #kabru #kabumisu #MITHRUN DESERVES MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS TOO DAMMIT!!!!! #i wasn't gonna ship tag it buuut w/e #omg i just came up w something #you can reduce their dynamic...but all you'd end up with...is a nice sauce #for like..steak..get it? reduction..cooking..no ok #also for an extra i think it's highly unlikely kabru met mithrun as a kid because he showed NO signs of recognizing him when they met #like KABRU of all people would remember lol

[starlit-typewriter]

Genshin SAGAU, Creator of Teyvat, but not Humanity Part 6

Thank you to everyone who liked and commented, it really kept me motivated!

Warning for mild self harm, nothing graphic. There are no depressive feelings associated with it.

Warning for Spoilers up to 4.6

Masterlist | Prev Part | Next Part

~~~

You’re honestly not sure how long you’ve been sitting in the beautiful meadow, enjoying the scenery and the sounds of nature. 

You spent some time staring at the glowing yellow flowers, admiring their soft silken petals. 

You also spent some splashing around in the small river nearby. Its crystal clear blue water lets you see all the way to the bottom. 

The singing of birdsong echo through the beautiful meadow, providing a beautiful atmosphere. 

It’s probably been some time now since you’ve arrived, as the sun is starting to set and the sky was getting dark.

Well, it’s no fun sitting in a dark meadow, you reasoned, may as well see if you could find someplace to sleep. 

You wander over to the gigantic tree that stood as a centerpiece to this meadow and started to investigate its roots to see if there were any nook-worthy spots.

To your surprise you found, well it’s not a nook, but a cave.

Even better!

You scoot your way down, mindful of the steep incline. 

In the back of your head you realize you should probably be panicked about the fact you’re in the middle of nowhere, alone and with nothing, but its only the back of your head, which means the front part that actually makes the decisions is happily powering on. 

At the back of the cave, is not a wall of rock and dirt, you know like you’d expect the back of a cave to be like, but rather a glowing wall of golden symbols.

There’s also a strange energy behind the glowing wall that’s beckoning you closer.

That voice in the back of your head is outright screaming about how insane this whole situation is, but again as we’ve already established, it’s the back not the front. Therefore you reach out to touch the glowing wall of golden symbols.

You expect nothing to happen, because it’s a wall and you’re just touching it. But something does happen, to you, not the wall. The wall is fine, at least you think it’s fine because you can’t see it anymore.

Instead you see this gigantic underground cavern with a giant round rock in the center, surrounded by other large tall rocks and what looks to be a golden fence surrounding the aforementioned round rock.

Then the round rock starts to move.

Update, that is not a rock it is a living thing that looks like a rock.

You think it might be making some kind of sound, but there’s all of a sudden a loud buzzing in your ears that you can’t get rid of.

You shake your head in hopes it’ll do something, to no avail. Actually it makes it quite a bit worse, since you now have a bit of a headache.

You would like to investigate the creature that was once the large round rock so you start to move closer.

As you do the buzzing in your ears and the pounding in your head gets worse, but you can’t seem to stop your feet from moving you closer to the center. Or really your entire body because it would be weird if it was just your feet moving you closer when your entire body is trying to get away, that would probably look like a weird fusion of a tug of war and a crab dance wouldn't it.

Oh you’re at the golden gate now.

At this point your head feels like it’s splitting open. But your hand moves to touch the golden fence, only for it to shatter into golden sparkling particles. 

Before you can process what just happened, the round rock creature moves towards you at a speed that your brain honestly can’t comprehend due to it being in debilitating pain.

It doesn’t run you over or attack you, but rather it nudges you gently with its snout.

Dragon

The word went unsaid.

Yet it echoed in your mind nonetheless.

They’ve never met a dragon before, not do they know what one should look like. 

But now, looking into the topaz eyes of this creature, you knew in your heart of hearts that they were a dragon.

He was also talking to you.

You couldn’t understand what he was saying.

But you can sense his pain.

You can sense anger, rage, helplessness, fear

And

Relief

Your vision is suddenly filled with glowing golden particles.

The world seems to come alive with energy as it pours into your body.

Flashes of scenes and people run through your head.

These scenes, 

No

These memories.

They’re 

Yours?

But,

Also his?

Azhdaha.

His name falls from your lips as your weakened knees give out.

That was his name,

He was dying

Eroding

But, he still remembered his history

His kin

His family

He gave you his memories,

His powers

And in doing so,

It killed him.

But awakened you.

Glittering tears dripped off your fluttering eyelids as you struggled to wrap your mind over what happened.

Flashes of a history you never knew,

Memories of a family you never had.

Images of a swirling cosmos, dancing around your form. Joy, curiosity, freedom

An orb of golden light, zipping around you like a beloved pet. Fondness, concern, excitement.

The shadow of a large flying creature passing overtop you. Awe, pride, trust.

A pair of desperate golden eyes, apologetic and pleading as a searing pain overwhelms you. Betrayal, pain, hurt, hurt, huRT, HURT.

A sharp, sickening, burning pain fills your body as you fight the urge to cough blood.

Eons upon eons of pain and anger and betrayal crashes into you, bringing you to the floor.

There’s screaming, and pain.

Sounds of something crumbling and falling are but whispers in your ear as they’re filled with the sound of your pounding heart.

Your eyes burn with tears as you lay there.

Your tears stain the earth in front you.

Laying there on your side, you can feel the softness of the cool dirt, and a slight breeze in the air.

It was silent

Not a single birdsong nor the sounds of trickling water to be found.

Your heart bursting with more emotion than they could bear.

How could anyone live like this?

Every moment, every action, every thought is wracked with agony and pain.

All you could do was curl up in a ball and hope it all fades.

Little by little it does.

The fear, pain, panic, and sorrow are all stripped away.

Seeping into the cold hard dirt beneath you, replacing you with a familiar sense of numbness.

You breathe, feeling nothing

This is why you were so calm, you realized.

Even as you got transported to a foreign place, got threatened at sword point and lost all your belongings.

You knew that there was something wrong with your mindset, but you were so calm that you didn't think to question it.

But now, with the dried tear tracks on your face, you realize.

Something is very very wrong with this place.

It's like something or someone is constantly pumping you with a sedative, urging you to not focus on things that make you unhappy.

Even now, a part of you is trying to forget what just happened, to go back to wandering through the flowers.

To close your eyes and ears to the horrors and memories of the past.

No

No, you can't forget.

Azhdaha died for this.

He died to give you a chance at remembering.

You dug your nails into your skin until you felt it split open and something wet trickle out.

The pain helped ground you.

Helped you remember.

With all that swirling around in your mind, you had many questions.

Where am I?

What happened?

Why is this going on?

But the central one remains clear.

Who are you?

~~~

“-ao”

“-iao, please!”

The adeptus turned his head at the call.

While not many people knew his name, there were still times when those who didn’t know better used his name in vain. 

Either those who weren’t sure who its was connected to, or those who didn’t care.

But this one was different.

It wasn’t full of arrogant confidence that he wouldn’t hear.

Nor the simple curiosity of an irritating scholar.

This one was full of fear and panic.

From a familiar voice.

Summoning his adeptal energy he focused on that call, and willed himself to disappear.

The next moment he opened his eyes, it was to a sight that made his blood run cold.

The Traveler, usually so strong and bright and full of life, collapsed on the ground, their flying companion panicking.

He raced over, senses on high alert for any nearby enemies.

“Xiao!” The flying pixie shot over to his side, her hands twisted into her clothing in stress.

“What happened,” he demanded, checking over their body for any wounds or abyssal energy, but could find none. All the while Paimon blabbed helplessly about how they were just walking like normal when they dropped like a stone for no reason.

The conqueror of demons pressed his ear to their chest to see if he could hear a heartbeat.

Thankfully it was beating strong.

He moved over to their head, to examine their breathing and check for head wounds.

He cradled their body in his lap and he looked over their skull for any bumps or wounds.

Unbeknownst to him, as he was checking over this head, the Traveler’s eyes snapped open.

They sat up rapidly, almost hitting Xiao’s chin in their frantic panic.

“Azhdaha,” they breathed, scrambling to their feet and taking a couple of shaky steps.

The Yaksha leaped forward to catch them as they swayed.

The Traveler blinked at their savior.

“Xiao?” They breathed, their eyes glassy and unfocused.

“Are you ok,” he asked gently, trying not to spook them in their disorientated state. 

They blinked at him slowly, before pushing themselves upright. They seemed to be focused on something in the distance.

He shook them slightly, they startled at the contact. They turned to face him, the glassiness in their eyes fading slightly.

“We need to check on Azhdaha,” their tone showed no room for argument.

Xiao had many questions he wanted to ask, but, well.

The Traveler is never this serious. Only a couple times before have they seen them with this look on their face, that was always in the heat of battle.

He wanted to argue, but he knew that they wouldn’t ask like this without cause. 

Not to mention they’d probably go investigate without him if he didn’t agree. 

He exchanged looks with Paimon, who whilst still looking understandably stressed, seemed to to know better than to argue with the Traveler in such a state.

So he nods in agreement, offering his hand to take them to Nantianmen.

In a swirl of Adeptal and Anemo power, the three disappeared.

~~~

As the trio raced towards the base of Mt. Hulao , they noticed an issue.

A glaring issue,

The biggest landmark, the proof of Azhdaha’s sealing. 

The crystalline tree that became the dragon’s tail.

It was gone.

It also seemed that they were not the only people who came to investigate.

A handsome gentleman in a brown and gold suit stood at the edge of where the tree used to be.

At the edge of a giant crater.

“Lord La- Zhongli,” the Yaksha breathed, stalling to a stop behind him.

The man in question turned at his call, his gaze tired as it swept over the three of them. 

“What happened,” the Traveler demanded, walking up to him.

He sighed, seeming very old and tired.  “It seems that Azhdaha has passed on.”

There was a moment,

“WHAT!” Paimon’s shriek echoed through the meadow.

“But, I thought you said that the energy from ki-” Zhongli raises a hand, interrupting her tirade.

“A normal death would result in a backlash that would level the entirety of Jueyun Karst, that is true.” He turned back to the edge of the crater, “But this is no normal death.”

The four of them peered over the edge of the crater.

A small bedraggled figure lay there in the center, their white clothing stained with dirt and soot. 

“It seems,” he breathed, “that he’s given his energy to someone else before passing on.”

~~~

Masterlist | Prev Part | Next Part

This one is a little shorter, but I just had to end it here, its such a perfect cliffhan- I mean ending.

Again, the next couple updates might take a while, but I promise I'm trying my best.

My askbox is always open if you have any question, concerns or just wanna chat about Genshin.

Behold, the taglist!

@bunniotomia,@lucid-stories, @ymechi, @chocogi,  @ra404, @ash1, @esthelily, @tottybear, @mmeatt, @quacking-simp, @reemthetheme, @universallyenthusiastsage, @resident-cryptid, @fantasyhopperhea, @thedevioussmirk, @etherisy, @naynayaa ,@mel-star636, @chericia, @aithane, @mmeatt, @xrosegorex

#genshin impact #genshin impact sagau #genshin sagau #sagau #genshin cult au #My writing

[maopll]

imagine spoiler btw

If you tame Cerberus, you gain the title of the "Ruler of Underworld" right? Since MC is from a different timeline, what if upon an encounter with the fearsome beast, Cerberus is more calm and quite and not even that hostile towards MC since they still have that faint scent lingering on them that no one can feel but Carberus so....

It's odd, and very unusual. Cerberus is known as the most hostile creature that lives in the Devildom. Cerberus is so violent that its ferociousness has taken the form of a rumor. So were the rumors false? or was it your presence that changed the whole trajectory of the rumors. The brothers got into positions incase you were harmed since Cerberus was no talk. He circled around you a few times and leaped on you. With joy. The spectators were alerted yet they were frozen with shock by the scenes that were unfolding infront of them. Should they feel scared of Cerberus' presence or should they question the way he licked you with familiarity and happiness as if it was a little puppy.

Aside from you, no one knows, not even the Lucifer from the timeline from where you have come. You used to feed Cerberus meat jerky from time to time since it seemed lonely having to guard the underground tomb.

Cerberus smelled that you were no harm and you had that scent of love and care emiting from you so he licked your face and tackled you with joy and playfulness. "Oh my Cerbie! th—that tickles, oh!" you scratched his chin and petted him aggressively since that's how he likes it.

"Barbatos...is this...supposed to happen?" Lucifer asks quite clulessly to an equally clueless Barbatos who watches you behave with Cerberus as if you've known him for many, many years.

Meanwhile, the other 6 brothers watch you with jawdropped. "Hahah! now this isn't something you get to see everyday!" "Diavolo shouldn't you be concerned?" Solomon asks sweating profusely.

Looks like you earned yourself a new found fame and an easy access to be able to rule beside Diavolo as his significant other. Its a win-win !

#obey me! #obey me nightbringer #obey me nb #obey me shall we date #obey me shitpost #obey me lucifer #lucifer x y/n #lucifer #lucifer x reader #lucifer fluff #obey me mammon #mammon x mc #mammon x reader #mammon fluff #obey me leviathan #leviathan x reader #leviathan x mc #obey me satan #satan x mc #satan fluff #satan #satan x reader #obey me asmodeus #asmodeus x reader #asmodeus x mc #asmodeus fluff #beelzebub #beelzebub x reader #obey me belphegor #belphegor x reader

[nocreativityfornames]

Everything we know about Diavolo so far, lore wise.

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR ALL SEASONS

➤ He's the prince and future king of the Devildom, and the founder of RAD — the Royal Academy of Diavolo — taking the position of Student Council President. (swd: 1-1)

➤ He created the exchange program as a first step towards his goal of strengthening the relationships between the three realms and forming an allyship between angels, demons and humans. (swd: 1-1)

➤ He has the ability to discern the truth from the lie. (swd: 4-1)

➤ He was the one to step in and save MC from being attacked by Lucifer in the underground tomb. (swd: 6-6)

➤ He hasn't seen his father in several centuries now and only knows that the Demon King is somewhere in the bottom of the Devildom. (swd: 7-10)

➤ Unlike Lucifer, he saw MC's pacts with the brothers as a good thing from the very beginning. To him, MC's pacts were proof that demons and humans could put aside their differences and actually form bonds together. And that made him happy, considering it was all he wanted with the exchange program. (swd: 8-19)

➤ Before, citizens of the Devildom were allowed to travel to the Human World whenever they wished through passages spread through the kingdom, but Diavolo changed that after taking over the throne. Now, those passages are blocked and the only way demons can use them is by getting permission from Diavolo, Lucifer, or Barbatos - the only demons apart from his father who are allowed to use them freely. (swd: 11-4)

➤ When the eight siblings were cast down to the Devildom and Lilith was in the verge of death from the battle, Lucifer begged Diavolo to save her and he did, having her reborn in the Human World with no memories of her previous life. This came with a cost, however, said cost being Lucifer's loyalty to the prince for the rest of time. (swd: 14-10 and 15-7)

➤ He ordered Barbatos to imprison Belphegor in the castle for plotting treason and put Lucifer under house arrest for protecting the youngest by locking him attic and not telling Diavolo about his plans. (swd: 13-14)

➤ He knew about Belphegor's situation from the beginning, and told this to Lucifer when he arrived in the castle with the others asking for him to free him. "...Truth be told, I knew. I knew you were hiding Belphegor, and I knew why. Your loyalty to me forced you to deceive your brothers, and I knew that was a source of guilt. I saw how you struggled with it - how hard it was being pulled in two directions at once. And it made me sad." (swd: 15-12)

➤ He refused to free Belphegor at first, but eventually made a deal with MC: to release him from prison if they went back in time with the help of Barbatos' powers and found out who had freed him in the first place. (swd: 15-14)

➤ He had Barbatos trace down MC's bloodline and found out that they were a descendant of Lilith because of it. (swd: 16-15)

➤ On his birthday he decided to not only celebrate himself but also MC, to give them a "late welcome party" and show appreciation for them after everything that had happened. (swd: 18-A)

➤ He was suspicious of Solomon for suddenly showing up in the Devildom with MC unannounced (swd: 21-4) but arranged things so they would be able to stay for a while. (swd: 22-19)

➤ When Lucifer and his siblings fell Diavolo found them in the colosseum, and every now and then he finds himself going there and pondering over his past decisions and wondering if they were the correct ones after all. (swd: 24-13)

➤ He was the first Solomon talked to about his suspicions that MC was connected to the natural disasters happening in ancient locations around the realms, and for a while only the two of them and Barbatos knew about it (swd: 37-4), since Diavolo decided to keep it a secret from everyone else until he had proof of MC's powers being harmful to the realms (swd: hard mode, 32-16).

➤ He had MC undergo the standard magic exams that demons students are given at RAD, and although he initially told MC it was to help them learn more about the powers demons possess and how to control them (swd: 29-5), it was actually a test to see if their magic was as powerful as Solomon suspected. The sorcerer was proven right when MC passed each of them. (swd: 37-4)

➤ His secrecy and unusual reliance on Solomon caused a strain on his relationship with Lucifer, as the eldest knew that Diavolo was hiding something but refused to tell him. They eventually had a conversation in the colosseum after RAD's exams week ended, where Lucifer directly enquired him about what was happening. Diavolo refused to tell him, saying it wasn't "the right time" for him to know yet, and when Lucifer asked if whatever secret he was keeping involved MC the prince replied that he wasn't certain yet, further concerning him. (swd: 28-C)

➤ He's "not fond" of Simeon because he finds him difficult to deal with it and told this to the angel's face while speaking to him. When Simeon asked Diavolo why he found him difficult to deal with, he answered saying that it's because angels never divulge anything about themselves or the Celestial Realm but are constantly inserting themselves into Devildom business, and he's specially not fond of Simeon because he hides his true intentions better than any angel Diavolo has ever met. (swd: hard mode, 31-16 )

➤ He's so not fond of and unsure of how to deal with Simeon that when he finally decided to let him in on the secret and make him aware of MC's powers being a threat to the three realms he asked Solomon to break the news instead of doing it himself. (swd: 32-16)

➤ He eventually decided to tell Lucifer about MC’s situation and through text apologized to the Avatar of Pride for leaving him in the dark for so long and asked him to meet him so he could finally let him in on what was happening (swd: hard mode, 36-16). Unfortunately that meeting never happened, since Lucifer ended up affected by MC’s powers and lost his memories before Diavolo could explain anything to him. (swd chat: the fantastic three, untitled)

➤ Finally breaking the news to everyone, he and Solomon told the others everything, from the moment the sorcerer started growing suspicions about MC's powers to the moment that their powers struck Lucifer and he lost his memories. They also presented their only solution(s): to sever MC's pacts with the Night Dagger in order to break their magical connections to the brothers and make them an avarage human again. There was another solution: to stabilize MC's magic with the Ring of Light - the counterpart to the Ring of Wisdom that once belonged to Lucifer - but it was discarded right away as the ring had been lost in the Great Celestial War and no one knew its whereabouts. (swd: 37-9)

➤ Once everyone knew the whole story, he apologized to MC for not finding another way to prevent their magic from causing massive destruction to the realms, since he knew neither MC or the brothers wanted to sever their pacts with the each other. (swd: 37-9)

➤ When all things ended well and MC was able to get their powers under control without using the Night Dagger thanks to the Ring of Light that Simeon found just in time, Diavolo organized a party to honor MC and celebrate the victory. (swd: 39-1)

➤ He showed no surprise when MC expressed wanting to stay in the Devildom instead of going back to the Human World but still refused the request. (swd: 39-10) Later, with everyone, he explained why he didn't want MC to live in the Devildom permanently. “...All of you... I want you to listen carefully to what I'm about to say. I don't want MC to be a demon...or an angel, for that matter. No, I want MC to be a human. A human who understands us, and who works together with Solomon to shepherd the human world toward a better future… Someday I'd like MC to work alongside me to bring harmony to the three worlds. Which is precisely why I won't allow you to be stuck here in the Devildom, MC. I want you to learn more about the three worlds and to understand each of them better... The human world, the Devildom, and the Celestial Realm.” (swd: 40-22)

➤ He couldn't accompany the brothers on their vacation to the Human World at first because of work and told MC he often found it hard to get things done with everything being so quiet since the others weren't in the Devildom with him. (swd: 42-18)

➤ When tasked with the over the kingdom in his father's absence, the first thing Diavolo did was to start conciliating with Celestial Realm to end the conflict between the two realms. For this, he started having meetings with high-ranking angels to explain his plans and hopefully reach and an agreement of peace between the realms. That was how he met Lucifer in the first place, when the angel came down the Devildom to hear what he had to say. (swd: 44-12, 44-15 and swd card: Lucifer, Glory Days)

➤ He's a majority shareholder of the Three-Legged Crow Group otherwise called Yatagarasu, the largest company in the Devildom that's been expanding business in the Human World with their technology devices. (swd: 47-11)

➤ He “went missing” to purposely lead everyone to the karaoke place owned by Yatagaeasu where the brothers and MC had to play a game and get a perfect singing score in order to get out and would vanish from the room if they failed. His reason for this as he told MC later was because had been missing everyone ever since being left in the Devildom while the others were in the Human World, saying that being alone with no one but Barbatos by his side had made him remember how things used to be before the brothers started living in the Devildom and that had made him terribly lonely. In that same conversation, Diavolo also admitted that he felt jealous of the brothers for being able to spend so much time MC. (swd: 48-12 and 48-15)

➤ Later on during an outing with Lucifer after being confronted with the fact that the karaoke ordeal had been orchestrated by him, Diavolo explained his reasons this time to Lucifer and opened up about feeling jealous of MC as well. “I wonder, when was it, exactly? When did you and your brothers become so very important to me? I thought I'd never be able to become ‘one of you.’ It seemed ridiculous to even try, because it was just obvious that I couldn't. But then MC did just that... Effortlessly fitting in with the seven of you to become just another one of the gang. More than that, actually. MC is part of your family now. And when I saw that, it may have made me a little jealous. And while I haven't wanted to admit it to myself up to now...the truth is, I think I was lonely.” (swd: hard mode, 50-16)

➤ His mother died shortly after giving birth to him and he was raised by his father who was very strict and gave him a sheltered childhood, so much so he rarely ever left the castle. (swd: 56-18)

➤ He met Barbatos for the first time when he was still a child and the older demon was the first person he met from outside the castle. The older demon amazed him with stories of the outside world, and little Diavolo begged him to stay with him, getting to the point of threatening not to assume his position of king in the future if Barbatos left him. (swd: 56-18)

➤ When the brothers at the farewell party asked if they could make MC “officially part of the family” by marrying them, Diavolo explained that demons and humans aren't able to marry yet but that he'll do everything he can so one day that'll be possible. “MC, you aren't aware of this, but some bad blood still exists between our three worlds. No matter how much all of you may want this to happen, it's not something I have the power to do on my own. [...] However, my ultimate goal is to eliminate these barriers someday. And I will do everything in my power to make sure that happens.” (swd: 60-15)

➤ A while after MC left Diavolo sent them a magic letter and asked them to come to the Devildom for a third time because he had something important to discuss with them. (swd: 61-4) And that something turned out to be a request for MC to participate in the exchange program for a second time and an invitation for them to be a new member of the student council. (swd: 62-17)

➤ The intentions for this second try of the exchange program was mostly the same but now with a different approach, as Diavolo explained to everyone in the meeting then: “Our last exchange program was meant to provide an opportunity for cultural exchange among the inhabitants of all three worlds. But nothing more than that. Think of it as merely a starting point on the path to mutual understanding. But this time, the goal of the program is to make a stronger case for mutual understanding. Directed at everyone both inside and outside of the Devildom.” (swd: 62-17)

➤ He's known Mephistopheles ever since they were children. (nb: 13-11)

➤ Initially, his father was the main reason why he was determined to be a good king and why he even rescued the brothers in the first place. He craved the king's approval, wanted to live up to his name, show himself worthy of the throne, and eventually surpass him. He was forced to face this truth when he was younger during his last trial of the Kingsblood Crucible - a traditional ritual that demons of royalty have to go through before they take the throne. (nb: 14-7)

➤ After MC was officially appointed as the 9th member of the Student Council and the short-term exchange program ended, he gave them an “entry permit” so they could travel from the Human World to the Devildom whenever they wanted. (swd: 80-22)

#boy this one took TIME 🫠 #and there's probably still stuff I missed that I'll add later #obey me #obey me diavolo #omswd #omnb #obey me shall we date #obey me nightbringer #obey me lucifer #obey me barbatos #obey me simeon #obey me mephistopheles #obey me belphegor #obey me lilith #obey me lorebible #obey me spoilers #omswd spoilers #omnb spoilers #☙ no creativity for names ✾ #//om: lorebible #//om: diavolo

[pistatsia]

OKAY so the only thing I want to say about yesterday's spoilers (Ness backstory) is that borderliner* Ness is canon now lol

✅ explosive anger

✅ feeling neglected, alone, misunderstood most of the time

✅ low self-esteem and the resulting self-hatred

✅ strong, overwhelming emotions

(feelings that can't be explained == too high (for average person) bursts of them. Inability to handle them)

✅ black and white thinking

(Isagi's either good (tosses to Kaiser) or bad (doesn't toss to Kaiser) lol)

✅ fear of abandonment + self-harm

✅ very intense, frequent, extreme emotional swings

(difference of one second)

(difference of one second pt.2)

✅ maladaptive daydreaming

✅ determining one's value through relationships with others

✅ unstable relationships

I'm really disappointed that chapter haven't shown Ness' attempts to gain his parents and siblings love but, eh, okay. I can work with that

*

A little background on who people with borderline personality disorder are and where do they come from. (Of course, each case is unique. I'm talking about the average manifestation of the disorder here.)

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a type of personality disorder in which a person is unstable, hypersensitive, highly anxious, and has no sense of self (no feeling of identity). One in ten patients end up committing suicide.

In fact, borderliners are people with no emotional skin. What for a stable person is a small domestic nuisance - for a borderliner is boundless terror, fear, a complete sense of helplessness and overwhelming self-loathing. Are you sick? It's your fault, you're worthless. You forgot your pass and had to buy an underground ticket? You're disgusting, step under a train right now. You forgot the food in the fridge and it spoilt? Don't you dare eat for another three days, punish yourself, cut yourself because you're nothing. That's not an exaggeration, it's true. And then you see an advert with a doggy and you laugh until you cry and all is fine.

It's like that dozens of times in one day.

Why do borderliners work this way? Heredity plays a role (which in Ness's case can be seen, for example, by the fact that he reacted acutely to some things even as a child), but to a greater extent, of course, the family, because when BPD is treated in the early stages, it is more easily reduced to remission (but does not disappear completely - it is like the core of the personality). Speaking of family types, typically borderliners come out of families with a narcissistic parent or the same borderline. Why exactly is that the case?

Because life with a narcissist/borderliner parent is an endless battlefield in which the child is forced to survive. Any emotion you have, if it doesn't fall under the parent's incomprehensible ideas, is repulsive. Any request you make and attempt to speak your mind is a violation of all laws and the worst offence. Today you're the golden child, tomorrow you're trash. Today your mom says she loves you, and tomorrow she blames you for divorcing your dad. Today dad likes the tea you made him, tomorrow he'll throw it in your face. It's a constant violation of personal space, an inability to have privacy, an impossibility to defend your interests - and yet a staggering neglect, a removal of the child from your life. Parents in such families usually divide their children into "golden" and "outcast" children, emphasising in every possible way how terrible the lousy sheep of the family (the outcast child) is, and encouraging bullying by their siblings.

Sounds similar to Ness's story, doesn't it?

In such families, the child by the age of 6 or 7 already knows that he is disgusting, horrible, and must do anything to avoid being abandoned - because the parents emphasise in every possible way that he is horrible, but they (for now) keep him out of mercy. A child learns by the slightest movement of the eyebrows and corner of the mouth to know when mom loves you and when she hates you, when dad is good and when he's bad.

The childhood of such children is a battlefield, and they come out of it emotionally disabled. For example, a very common consequence of living in such a family, in addition to BPD, is PTSD. Yeah, like war veterans.

(and by the way, borderliners VERY often end up paired with… Narcissists. Because it's a familiar love-hate game. And on top of that, also a beautiful (non-existent) personality to take a bite out of for your non-existent self))

-------

(if it seems like I'm somehow writing about borderline disorder a bit too unkindly - I love Ness and sympathise with him. It's me whom I don't love lol)

#alexis ness #kainess #blue lock #bllk #bllk analysis #blue lock analysis #character examination #blue lock spoilers #bllk spoilers

[sp9culation]

reasons to ship eruri (spoilers)

1. erwin is levi's liege. aka his chosen one aka they're ackerbonded.

2. after erwin dies, levi's only purpose is his dying wish: killing the beast titan.

3. levi is always thinking about erwin after his death.

4. levi chose to let erwin die because he wanted him to finally be at peace and rest.

5. erwin usually only smiles around levi.

6. erwin was the one who saw potential in levi; anyone else would've dismissed him as a street thug and he'd still be underground.

7. "levi, aligato"

8. levi follows erwin and erwin alone.

9. enemies to allies to friends to lovers <3

10. they trust each other completely. levi becomes more confident and trusts erwin's judgment, while erwin trusted levi to choose between saving him and someone else should he die. erwin trusted levi to LET HIM LIVE OR DIE, and that's saying something.

i miss them so much i just want them to be happy

#aot #attack on titan #shingeki no kyoujin #snk #eruri #erwin smith #levi ackerman #levi x erwin #erwin x levi #they tore my heart apart

[yourhoneyisquiet]

I will unravel the secret fucking paint by numbers riddle encoded on Aabria's perfect face!

Here's what I got so far (spoilers btw): 

The red is our red warren stoats. The red triangle and green line appear in ep 4 Last Bast, as they approached the new warren but were still above ground (green line). 

In ep 5 Protect the Light they move below ground into Last Bast. New red triangle appears dragging from Aabria's right eye below the green line. 

Now fuck me running the blue triangle appears ABOVE ground in ep 6 Reactor Charlie, with a red square appearing underground also. Current theories:

Ava's meet-cute with Director Kirin above ground. Big bad blue energy if ever I saw it

Whatever they unleashed from Reactor Charlie fucked up something big time above ground

Something more abstract. The blue is catching up with them?

#this is killing me #but also serve #aabria iyengar #burrow's end #dimension 20 #dropout #burrows end #dimension20 #d20 #d20 spoilers #burrow's end spoilers

[uzis-dopeaf-hat]

Analysis of Episode 7

[MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW]

So I wanted to talk about the latest episode of MD and it's really hard to find people to talk about this with (surprisingly?) and the one discord I joined was a bit of a mess so I'm just gonna come here and try to word vomit cohesively.

Wanna start by saying that yes, even though V is no longer in the intro, I HIGHLY doubt she's dead or gone for good. I think the new intro is likely just the start of a new arc or progression of the story. We aren't supposed to know what happens to her, so they're taking any signs of normalcy of her being present away. They could have also just wanted a new intro in general (which I love!).

I would be incredibly surprised if she was permanently gone. I guarantee she has a clone like it's stated J (stated in episode 6) and N (mentioned in this episode by Cyn herself) have.

What I can see happening, however, is V not being the same as before. If the V from the last episode is damaged beyond repair, Cyn will need to get a new clone out for her. Cyn states in this episode that she keeps their personalities. So I doubt V would act like herself from before her DD days (though I did play around with the thought). I can see something happening where Cyn tries to delete the memory files of V interacting with Uzi and the events leading up to here and now. I'm not sure how practical this would be depending on how long they're planning on making the season finale be. I feel it would be easier to just have someone retrieve her or try fixing her (unless she is fighting this entire time, which again we don't know, anything is possible). If it is the case of attempted memory deletion, I don't think Cyn will be successful. I'll come back to this later.

It's revealed that the one chained up in the trailers is in fact Nori, who seems to be taken over by the Absolute Solver, or Cyn. It seems that the company is actually trying to remedy the mistakes of their former colleagues on Earth. They have created a patch that is located in a USB drive inside what looks to be a crucifix.

There seems to be a huge religious aspect, though it is not apparent why. Our researcher Ridley here seems to be wearing a Mitre Hat typically worn by bishops. I'm not sure if they're meant to be wearing a specific type of miter, but it resembles an auriphrygiata worn during celebrations of the sacraments. If we were to put whatever is happening here under one of those sacraments, I'd say the closest would be an Anointing of the Sick (meant to help various states of sickness in religious ways such as prayer). I think a big part of the religious aspect may be superstition on JCJenson's part, but considering what we see of Cyn being a seemingly eldritch being, I can't blame them.

"LAB SPACE FOR RENT LEASED RSCH012 - 'CABIN FEVER' PRIME CATHEDRAL REAL ESTATE"

So obviously this is partly a joke, with a cathedral underground being for rent and all.

But a catholic church is where some sacraments are held. Once again I'm not sure why they believe they need this space, but I doubt Glitch would pick this setting "just because." (or maybe they would, you tell me)

Alice refers to Uzi as a "witch" in episode 6, saying she's dealt with them before, and then immediately stating that "she hasn't seen 002 since she's left us to die."

Cathedral churches had many reasons for existing, but one small purpose they served was to ward off evil, specifically witches.

A pentangle was one of many symbols used to deter witches or anything thought to be an evil entity. The candles surrounding them are likely meant to be Votive Candles, meant to seek help from the saints.

Of course, it also seems to be a giant magnet which may have helped them more than the candles in this situation. This is about all I have for this episode regarding the huge religious themes (aside from the episode literally being called "Mass Destruction.")

Our intern Mitchell seems to realize something is wrong after grabbing Yeva (aka 048). I am unsure if these revelations make a huge difference in the outcome of events. It seems that when Yeva does save Nori from The Absolute Solver with the USB drive, they are intimately aware of how dangerous it is, as Nori seems to want her to chop her arm off when they realize the solver is going out of control. These events explain what happens to Copper-9 as the planet's core implodes in on itself, creating a huge crater in the planet. The rest we know: the planet freezes over and only the drones remain.

We cut to who we now know is Nori, in her - as I'll call it -her "Heart" form. It seems she is searching for the correct cross shown with the USB and has been all this time, only supposedly finding it in this episode. We can presume she finds it after running into N since she tosses a cross away after inspecting it and not seeing any resemblances to the crucifix in the video. She has the correct one later when she runs into N, so the only time she could have found it was between her leaving to enter the mineshafts and her actually finding the DD.

I won't be going too much into the dynamics of all the relationships in this post, but I definitely will make a separate post for those (feel free to ask for some as well) -- so I won't focus on any in-depth character analysis here unless I believe it needs to be mentioned for this post to make sense.

After "Tessa" and unfortunately N scare off Uzi, N is trapped inside the collapsed mineshaft with his human counterpart nowhere to be found. Likely because of the list she needs to find and confronting Doll.

It is also revealed shortly after that Thad and Lizzie seem to be looking for someone, most likely the person being V. I've seen some points where it could be possible V sent out a signal, which may explain why this just suddenly happens. I wouldn't be surprised either if she found a way to send a signal to Khan as well -- unless he suddenly decided to be a good father and look for Uzi (who apparently seemed to be last on his list of reasons for disliking DD's) I think he got some sort of clue as to what was happening from V or another outside source. We already know he went through Nori's closet along with Uzi's blueprints for her railgun to get information.

Back to N, Cyn reveals that she lets his team keep their personalities because of him. Whether or not this is true is unclear, as she manipulates N and many others to sway things in her favor. It's almost as if she sees them as playthings for her entertainment.

When she shows N a memory from before, seemingly right after or around Earth's destruction, we can see a symbol come across his face.

"ACCESS DENIED CONTACT ADMIN 'DARKXWOLF17'"

I know many people have already seen this, but I believe that Uzi has either intentionally put a safety guard on both N and V from episode 5, or that she has unintentionally done this.

It would make sense if she made the active decision to do this, to prevent The Absolute Solver from trying to hijack V or N again. This is why I believe if Cyn were to try to erase or tamper V's memories, she'd run into Uzi's failsafe. I don't think she'd exclude V from her protection, but we really don't know V's fate for sure until episode 8.

N finally runs into Nori, and as previously mentioned she now has the correct cross. She mentions he looks familiar. It's not because he's a Disassembly Drone, she already mentions this fact a few lines prior. I still believe there is huge potential for N to have killed Nori. It seems to be long ago since neither seem to really recognize each other beyond Nori's statement.

DDs don't vary too much in model, aside from 'female' versus 'male' models. Along with that, the two had much more important events happening in their lives, and N looks vastly different in his "murder" state as opposed to his normal one.

We don't know what exactly happened to Nori that had her ending up down here. I have a speculation that she likely wasn't down in the research labs the entire time, or else she likely would have found the Patch much sooner.

Something I want to point out about Heart Nori is her attire.

She is seen wearing something akin to a mourning hat (aka a widow's cap). Clearly, she is alive (and she seems to be confident of Khan's state), so why exactly is she wearing this? The veil is meant for privacy for a woman's emotions while grieving, so what is she grieving?.

It could be Nori is grieving the life she once had or the life she could have had before Cyn came and destroyed it. She is mourning herself and her losses while trying to remedy them. I think the veil also symbolizes that she will likely be closed off to others, hence why she is so crass and straight to the point. Perhaps in the next episode, it will be removed when she potentially confronts Uzi.

It's clear Nori believes all the bad things in her daughter's life are because of her, as she states "I caused every horror in her life." But she doesn't just sit and wallow in her sorrows, she decides to remain pragmatic and address the situation as best as she can with her knowledge.

Back with Cyn, or "Tessa" as she claims to be, she is seen walking through the same area shown before where Yeva resided. It seems the drones experimented on were chained up for precautions, as we also see several magnets on each drone's head. One of the drones even seems to have its teeth out and oil-coated on them.

We see her entering into JCJenson's "Project Cabin-Fever Database" to find the list she had previously mentioned.

I won't lie, this part perplexes me. Cyn apparently wants to take these drones (and presumably any connected drones) down. I'm unsure if it means just the top two or the entire list. Does "corrupted" infer that the specific drone didn't survive The Solver? Or that The Solver actually worked on them? I'm assuming "No Effect" means exactly that: The Solver had no effect on them when trying to "infect" them with it.

Cyn purges the list after viewing this, perhaps because it says "PATCH.2.1.8" next to Yeva. She doesn't want anyone to find out about the patch. She presumes that both Yeva and Nori are dead, so this not being true doesn't contribute to the fact she purges this list.

Purging the list also seems to purge the entire room, as shortly after confirming the process the area explodes to pieces.

We have an interesting encounter with Cyn and Doll here. Doll obviously believes she is talking to a human, and she asks about the patch. Presumably, she knew about this patch for a long while, just needing the key bug that Uzi found in episode 4 to obtain it since it was located somewhere underneath Cabin Fever Labs. Apparently, Cyn also needed this key bug, as it seems she couldn't gain access with just Tessa's skin suit. She knew about the patch from her previous encounters with Nori and Yeva, so her goal was to destroy it.

She tells Doll she essentially doesn't need her to go through with her plans, insinuating it's already too late to stop Cyn. Of course, Doll doesn't know this and is attacked by Cyn's true form after this short altercation.

This is startling (not referring to the jump scare, though it did its job), as Cyn knows that she's close to completing her goal. She doesn't need Doll at all, she is just another obstacle to eliminate (which she does so gleefully).

We see the results of Cyn's attack on Doll. "Tessa" shows up quickly after, and uses that as a guise to kill Uzi. I don't think this is purposeful, as N and Uzi are already separated and unless Cyn knows N is approaching doesn't need to use Doll's death as an excuse to blame and kill Uzi.

Perhaps this bought Cyn more time if N showed, but I find it more likely as a happy accident, as N finds "Tessa" before she's about to pierce Uzi's core.

Although, I don't think Cyn actually expected N to kill "Tessa." I believe she thought that N and Tessa's relationship was too sturdy to have N ever consider hurting her, let alone beheading her. Along with the fact that Cyn no longer knows N as well as she previously did, especially since he met Uzi, she seems to have miscalculated N's priorities.

The following fight deserves a post of its own, along with the analysis of N and Uzi's relationship, so I won't go too deep into it now.

So skipping that entire section (for now) let's jump back to Cyn. After Uzi and N's hug session, we see Cyn take Doll's body, proceeding to eat the girl's heart (which is seen writhing before being consumed). We can assume that the host is not necessarily dead until their heart is destroyed -- likely a big reason Cyn gave the Disassembly Drones so many offensive tools and the capability to consume Worker Drones: she wanted to create as many opportunities as possible to prevent a heart from surviving.

This may also explain why Nori survived, and why Yeva is presumed to be dead. Unfortunately, this means Doll is gone for good.

Cyn is labeled as what looks to be 001 (or 1001). We know she's not labeled as one of the experiments on Copper-9, but what was she the first model of? A normal worker drone? She was at the very bottom of a huge trash pile in episode 5, so this plays out if she was one of the very first models, especially one that may have been disposed of improperly early on.

It's obvious that the Absolute Solver existed before Cyn, but was this the first time it was able to successfully claim a host? It seems that The Absolute Solver and Cyn are one, and always have been since Cyn reawakened. Humans must have had evidence of The Solver existing beforehand though, since Cyn was marked with an armband here.

Something else to note about episode five...

Other drones in this scene were also labeled 001 (or 1001) So I am assuming it's more of a batch number if anything.

Back to episode 7, it seems that Cyn had been in Tessa's skin for a long time. She likely died with the rest of the humans in the manor. It is intriguing how the skin hadn't rotted off, but let's assume that Cyn's Solver helps create flesh to keep up appearances and keep Tessa's skin... fresh. This can help explain the blood coming from "Tessa" in episode 6 when she's bitten by a Sentinel.

It seems that Cyn intends to consume both N and Uzi after revealing herself. She states that she's "Honestly starving," before disappearing down the flesh chasm made long ago.

We see Uzi after her sacrifice... somewhere seemingly in space. Let's assume that this isn't some sort of vision/dream/hallucination she's seeing and that Cyn isn't manipulating Uzi's surroundings.

What she's seeing is Copper-9 from outside the planet... this isn't a flashback, nor is it the planet exploding. Remember Copper-9's core imploded on itself and sent bits of the planet out, hence why everything there is frozen over. I think she's seeing the core of (or supposedly the lack-there-of-one) Copper-9 here.

What is the core supposed to be here then? I'm not sure if it's meant to be similar to Earth where the core is made up of extremely hot metals. But with it exposed there's less pressure to help keep the core from melting (again, assuming it has a similar structure to Earth).

Copper-9 is no longer habitable for humans, so the existence of these metals in the core doesn't make sense.

Let's take a look at the scene before this.

Me and a few others played with the idea that Uzi fell into a black hole at the bottom. While I think a fun theory, I don't think that makes sense. The yellow sparks likely have something to do with The Absolute Solver, and Uzi ending up hundreds (thousands?) miles away from Copper-9 and her loved ones.

The way the light sparks reminds me of when Doll would teleport from place to place. I think Uzi may have been teleported away by Cyn since it seems Cyn was planning on consuming both her and N. It may have been a fluke on Cyn's part, though of course, we won't know for a while. Maybe Nori was able to manipulate The Solver in some way to prevent Uzi's death. Or perhaps Nori is also going to be in space scavenging or trying to determine a way back to Copper-9.

That's all I have for now. I'm planning on making a separate post for N and Uzi in this episode specifically at some point, along with some other character analysis and some final moments for others.

#md spoilers #murder drones #muder drones #major murder drones spoilers #long post #like;; almost 3k words long #uzi doorman #serial designation n #serial designation v murder drones #murder drones cyn #tessa james elliot #murder drones tessa #md thad #md lizzie #md lizzy #doll murder drones #murder drones uzi #murder drones n #n murder drones #v murder drones #khan doorman #murder drones khan #nori doorman #murder drones nori #murder drones yeva #nori murder drones #murder drones ep 7 #murder drones episode 7 #md episode 7 #md ep 7

[armed-with-a-waffle-iron]

The Bat Family Timeline and Ages (Post-Crisis and New Earth) with Sources

Evidence

In Batman: Year One, Bruce is said to be 25 in the January he returns to Gotham. The 1976 DC Calendar puts Bruce's birthday on the 19th of February so Bruce is 26 during his first outing as Batman in April.

Marv Wolfman's Batman: Year Three (Batman vol. 1 #436) tells us that Dick Grayson's parents die in Bruce's third year. In Batman vol. 1 #441 (also by Wolfman) Tim says that Robin started appearing around 6 months after the death of the Flying Graysons. For Dick's age when he becomes Robin, see below.

Bruce joins the Justice League before Dick forms the Teen Titans. Both these teams form before Barbara Gordon becomes Batgirl at 16 (Batgirl: Year One).

Barbara and Dick are each other's dates to their high school prom and so are less than 2 years apart in age (Detective Comics vol. 1 #871).

I suspect Dick, who was an emancipated minor, graduated high school and started college a year early, which allows Dick and Barbara to have some time as the new Dynamic Duo, as we see in Batman Family.

Dick Grayson is 18 when he forms the New Teen Titans, all of whom are also teenagers (Nightwing vol. 2 #137 by Wolfman, who also created the New Teen Titans).

Dick Grayson is 19 when he becomes Nightwing (Batman vol. 1 # 416).

21 year-old Helena becomes Huntress (Huntress: Year One #1), and interacts with Batgirl, meaning that Barbara is not yet Oracle.

Jason dies at 15, 4 months before his 16th birthday (Batman Files). This is before the New Teen Titans' third year anniversary (New Titans #71), before any of the Titans turn 22 (Deathstroke vol. 1 Annual 1), 2 years after Dick becomes Nightwing and almost 10 years before Dick's parents are killed (Batman vol. 1 #436). Dick is hence 21 during these events and 11 when he became Robin.

I also kinda like Dick being 17 years younger than Bruce because that's also the age difference between Adam West and Burt Ward from the 60s TV series.

After these events, Tim Drake becomes Robin and is 13-14 (Batman vol. 1 #441 and Robin II #1)

Soon after, Stephanie Brown is 15 when she becomes Spoiler (Secret Origins 80-Page Giant).

Stephanie is still 15 when she realises that she is pregnant (Robin vol. 2 #59) and Tim is almost 15 during this time (Secret Origins 80-Page Giant).

Cassandra Cain is 17 when she comes to Gotham during this time (Batgirl vol. 1 #1), during No Man's Land which lasts one year.

Helena’s family were killed when she was 8 and during Batman/Huntress: Cry For Blood, Tim says the murders happened roughly 15 years ago, making her roughly 23 during this storyline.

Cass turns 18 in January (Batgirl vol. 1 #39), Tim Drake turns 16 (Robin vol. 2 #116), Jason would have turned 18 in August (Detective Comics vol. 1 #790), and Stephanie is 16 when she "dies" (Batman Allies Secret Files & Origin).

Personally I'd re-arrange Tim's 16th birthday to be the last of these events four events to accommodate him still being 17 late into the Batman: Reborn, see below.

Jason soon returns to Gotham as Red Hood, not long before Infinite Crisis, 52 and One Year Later.

Following the one year time skip, Dick says it's been almost 10 years since his misadventures with Metal Eddie and Liu as a 16-17 year old (Nightwing vol. 2 #133 by Wolfman), which makes sense because he would be 25 by my math.

Stephanie returns from her time as a medical volunteer in East Africa, finishes high school and begins university during Batman: Reborn. She'd turn 19 by the end of this year by my math, which is a typical age to be begin attending university (Gotham Underground and Batgirl vol. 3 #1).

Dick calls Damian Wayne a "10 year-old" before Stephanie attends university (Batman and Robin vol. 1 #2) and Steph still calls Damian a "10 year-old" while she's in her second semester (Batgirl vol. 3 #13 and Batgirl vol. 3 #17). He might have turned 11 before the reboot.

Batwoman: Elegy (Detective Comics #858), during the Batman: Reborn year, shows that Kate was 12 when she was kidnapped and saw her mother and sister killed. This incident is also said to happen "20 years ago”, making her 32 and hence 30-31 during her first appearance in 52/One Year Later.

Tim Drake is still 17 while Steph is in her second semester of her first year at university, and it's stated that he is meant to be in his senior year at high school (Batgirl vol. 3 #13, Red Robin #17 and Red Robin #25). It's possible he turns 18 before the reboot.

Mistakes I Made

Cassandra Cain is 21 in Year Eighteen.

The "Titans disbands" in Year Thirteen was definitely a year early but it's done.

#batman #batman and robin #robin #batgirl #nightwing #spoiler #batwoman #red robin #red hood #black bat #batfam #bat family #timeline #bruce wayne #dick grayson #barbara gordon #tim drake #stephanie brown #cassandra cain #helena bertinelli #kate kane #damian wayne #jason todd #dc comics

[dn-838]

In defence of Undertale Yellow, how it can work with Undertale’s canon

So, I have seen a lot of debating recently on Undertale Yellow and whether or not it fits what we know already about the lore in Undertale. Of course Flowey’s presence in the mod is the primary thing that has sparked this debate, with many believing that he can’t have existed at the same time as the Justice Soul and that it is a major hole that breaks the continuity of Undertale. I however, as someone who has spent way too much time with Undertale and has vast knowledge about even the most obscure of details in the game, disagree. I believe that Undertale Yellow fits the original games canon well… maybe a bit too well, and I am here to give my own arguments against the things that I commonly see people say doesn’t fit the original game’s continuity. This may contain a few spoilers for Undertale Yellow, so unless you’ve already seen all 3 routes or for whatever reason don’t care about having the game spoiled, don’t read further until you are done.

Argument 1: all the Souls were already collected by the creation of Flowey and the amalgamates

Okay so this one I don’t really have much to say about. Yes Flowey and the Amalgamates were created using the SOULs of some of the collected humans, however it’s never specified that it was from 6 humans, all that’s made clear is that Asgore did have human SOULs (in plural) that were used in the experiment.

Argument 2: the timeline doesn’t match up

The timeline has always been a confusing topic among the Undertale community. While the most likely estimate of the gap between Chara and Frisk falling is 100 years due to what Sans tells us during his date.

There are a few reasons for us to believe that the gap is much smaller, especially considering the weird nature of the Deltarune timeline and the supposed grudge Chara seems to have against Snowdrake in Genocide (who is stated to only be a teenager).

However, no matter how you view the timeline, unless you have specific dates in mind for things like when Gaster was the Royal Scientist and when the fall of Integrity-Justice happened, or think the gap was REALLY short, Undertale Yellow doesn’t really contradict it too much. The game itself is meant to take place just a year before Undertale, with all the same characters existing in similar positions to how they do by the time of Undertale, however we never encounter them due to being on a completely different path that takes us to very different parts of the underground, being why they don’t behave like they encountered a human before in Undertale.

Integrity is a bit more interesting, because it can vary massively depending on how you view the lifespans of the Ketsukane’s, Starlo (Starlo won’t be important to this, but I mention him since he was childhood friends with Ceroba) and Dalv. It is strongly implied that as a kid, Dalv was best friends with Kanako, and was attacked by the Integrity human some point before the games events. At first you’d assume that this was all not meant to be long before the events of the game, however, Integrity was killed by Axis in UTY, a robot that was being worked on by Chujin back when the Steamworks were still in operation, which we can assume was long before the events of the game due to the state of the Steamworks itself and the fact it is stated to have been used as the source of all power in the underground, which would mean it would likely have shut down around the period that the CORE was first put into operation, so all the way back when Gaster was still the Royal Scientist, whenever you think that was (Axis wasn’t sent to kill the human until after Chujin was fired from his position, however due to the way Axis is locked up and deactivated before we wake up the Steamworks, we can assume he was shut down with the rest of the facility). On top of all this Dalv is shown to be a lot older than he presumably would have been when he was attacked by Integrity, and with him being a Vampire, you could say that he aged that much at a slower rate than a human would, with the Ketsukane’s also aging slow, 2 of them being Boss Monsters and one of them being a 9 tailed fox. We know that some monsters do likely age at very different rates due to monsters like Gerson who lived through the war.

So to give the whole timeline, basically, Chujin worked in the Steamworks and made Axis back before or during Gaster’s time as the royal scientist. After several failed prototypes that eventually got Chujin fired, Axis was sent to chase down and kill Integrity. He managed and Chujin kept the Soul hidden and over the span of years recorded a few tapes for what he had planning, meanwhile Dalv, who was previously attacked by Integrity, went into hiding, locking himself into a mostly dark and unknown part of the ruins. At some point when Alphy’s became the Royal Scientist, Chujin started to mentor Martlet, which led Martlet to enter the True Lab and get some strange serum. Eventually Chujin died around a year or two before UTY, revealing his hidden tapes to Ceroba, which Kanako overheard. This led to Ceroba attempting to inject Kanako with the Integrity soul, leading to Kanako falling and being donated to Alphy’s, and her of course then becoming an amalgamate.

Argument 3: Asgore killed all 6 of the other humans

Okay so this one is interesting, because Undyne does imply that humans before Frisk did make it to Asgore, with her saying that “no human has ever made it PAST Asgore” rather than “no human has ever made it TO Asgore”

The thing is, that other humans reached Asgore is all this really does imply, it doesn’t necessarily mean all humans made it to Asgore. You could argue that most of them died to Asgore, with Integrity and Justice being the only exceptions. If you really want to stretch you could even say that this line was actually just another attempt from Undyne to make Asgore sound like a powerful and threatening force (since she tries to make him out like that quite a bit in her fight, such as by saying that killing us is an act of mercy right after this), although I find this unlikely.

There is another line of dialogue that I sometimes see used to try and prove that Asgore killed all 6, and while it’s not used close to as much, I’ll still just quickly clear it up.

This doesn’t really mean that much, all it’s saying is that all the humans that leave the ruins inevitably die. She likely wouldn’t know any details on their deaths do to her isolation, and even if she had some knowledge she would probably still place the blame on Asgore due to his part in waging war and coming up with the plan to kill 7 humans in the first place.

Argument 4: The introduction of new incredibly powerful characters makes no sense

Okay, so this is a weird one, however the explanation for it is fairly simple. Nobody in UTY compares to the original Undertale cast when it comes to how “powerful” they are. We struggle so much against the opponents we face as Clover because well… Clover is much weaker than Frisk, bosses like Ceroba and Axis pale in comparison to Undyne and Mettaton, they just seem much harder since we are playing as a human with much less determination than Frisk. In Pacifist Clover fights a depressed fox lady, meanwhile Frisk fights a literal god; in Neutral Clover goes through a struggle fighting through Flowey’s mind after having his Soul absorbed, meanwhile Frisk holds on against Flowey with 6 Souls until those Souls rebel; and in Genocide Clover takes some time to finally destroy Axis, the failed prototype that got Chujin fired, meanwhile Frisk atomised Mettaton NEO, The greatest invention of the Scientist who was selected to replace Gaster, in a single blow.

The only Undertale Yellow character that I’d say surpasses any character in Undertale would of course be Zenith Martlet, but even then LV 19 Frisk would mop the floor with her, while LV 19 Clover had to go through a lot of effort to beat her, only ever managing to surpass Flowey in Determination after doing so. At LV 20 both Clover and Frisk have massive boosts from LV 19, however Frisk is far stronger, having awakened Chara and caused the destruction of everything, while Clover just destroys Asgore with a super laser blast directly from their Soul and leaves.

Argument 5: miscellaneous

Just to clear up any further confusion, I’ll give quick explanations for some more minor points that I have encountered

Nobody in the original Undertale apart from Flowey, Toriel and Asgore meets Clover, so the other monsters in Undertale acting like they had never met one makes sense.

Flowey not just stealing Clovers Soul is explained well by the game itself. He plans to, however he doesn’t get the chance in Pacifist; sees that we couldn’t surpass Asgore in Flawed Pacifist; steals our soul but is unsatisfied with the outcome and resets in Neutral, and gets gunned down in Genocide.

Toriel believing that it’s been a long time since a previous human fell when she sees Frisk in Undertale doesn’t mean much, she mostly lives isolated in the Ruins, with the other monsters being too afraid to speak with her, considering this and just generally how much seemed to have happened within that year, time could have felt much slower. Alternatively you could argue that the 6 humans all fell within months of each other, and that a years gap is a long time in comparison to the rate the first 6 fell (or 5, since she says the exact same thing to Clover).

Both Flowey and Clover using file 1 at the end of Genocide doesn’t fit what we know about save files no, however I feel it is a little nit-picky to use it as a definitive reason to discredit how well UTY fits into canon, after all the only thing you’d need to do is change the numbers and this would be fixed.

The Gunsmith having been born a week before the Human Vs Monster war doesn’t go against anything we already know. As stated before, we know that at least some monsters like Gerson do live for a very long time.

Flowey having more determination than Clover also doesn’t break anything. Flowey was injected with DT from 5 human Souls. The thing is that Frisk was special when it came to the amount of determination they had.

Unlike with most of the other cast, nobody in Undertale actually indicates that Flowey never met a human prior to Frisk.

Chujin being a boss Monster doesn’t contradict what we know about Boss Monsters. We know that the Dreemurrs are boss monsters, but nothing tells us that they are the only boss monsters.

Argument 6: the nature of the SAVE files contradicts Undertale Yellow

Here we go, the penultimate argument I shall argue against. Never did I expect for this obscure piece of Undertale lore to be the bane of my existence but here we are. For a short time I thought that this could not be countered, only after I had walked away from a discussion completely defeated did the pieces finally start to come together, and now finally… I have an explanation.

First things first, let’s look at the 10 save files. The files go from file 0 to file 9. We know that File 0 likely belongs to Chara due to it being the one that we save with in Undertale, and that file 9 belongs to Frisk since it works as the games Autosave/Checkpoint system. File 8 would then of course belong to Flowey, not just because it’s the one just before Frisks but because File 8 appears in your files after you beat Omega Flowey to mark your completion of a Neutral run, likely implying that his previous SAVE was of course when he was Omega Flowey. Flowey also uses files 2, 3 and 6 throughout the Omega Flowey battle, and since Toriel implies that other humans who fell were also able to save and reset, we can assume that 2-6 likely belonged to previously fallen humans.

Now the only files that need an explanation are file 1 and file 7, and I’ve seen 2 interesting theories for this. The first is that file 1 belongs to Asriel after he took Chara’s Soul, and the other is that file 7 belongs to Lemon Bread since they know what a SAVE point looks like and tries to trick us with it; but the thing is, which one of these are true? Surely it can’t be both since we know one needs to belong to the 6th… okay I’ll cut that out you already know I’m going to say they are both true.

So for Asriel having file 1, he absorbed Chara’s Soul so should have all of their determination and therefore should also have overtaken their ability to SAVE. Of course it’s unlikely that Asriel would have made anything out of it since the idea of saving and loading was fairly alien to Flowey, however that doesn’t necessarily rule out the possibility that Asriel didn’t SAVE or at least have a file created.

Lemon Bread is a bit more complicated, and we are gonna need to look into the order of events within the True Lab to try and work this out. Firstly, we need to look at some of the true lab entries.

ASGORE asked everyone outside the city for monsters that had "fallen down."

Their bodies came in today.

They're still comatose... And soon, they'll all turn into dust.

But what happens if I inject "determination" into them?

If their SOULS persist after they perish, then...

Freedom might be closer than we all thought.

This is entry 6, when the fallen down monsters are given to Alphy’s and have Determination injected into them.

I've chosen a candidate.

I haven't told ASGORE yet, because I want to surprise him with it...

In the center of his garden, there's something special.

The first golden flower, that grew before all the others.

The flower from the outside world.

It appeared just before the queen left.

I wonder...

What happens when something without a SOUL gains the will to live?

This is entry 8, Alphy’s gets a hold of a golden flower that she injects Determination into.

“One of the bodies opened its eyes.

This is entry 13, when the fallen monsters started to regain consciousness, 7 entries after they were first delivered.

Seems like this research was a dead end...

But at least we got a happy ending out of it...?

I sent the SOULS back to ASGORE, returned the vessel to his garden....

And I called all of the families and told them everyone's alive.

I'll send everyone back tomorrow. :)

This is entry 15, by this point all the monsters that had fallen down were awake, and the still not conscious Golden Flower was still just a Flower, being returned alongside the human Souls.

no No NO NO NO NO NO

This is entry 16, the fallen down monsters started to melt together and create the amalgamates.

the flower's gone.

Finally, we have entry 18, when Alphy’s noticed that the Flower seems to have disappeared from the garden, 10 entries after she first selected it.

So, why are these entries so important? Well we know that to have ever held the ability to SAVE, Lemon Bread would have to had held the right amount of Determination before Flowey first became conscious in the garden, and did they? Yes, yes they did. Flowey could have awakened anywhere in the timeframe between entry 15 when he was returned to entry 18 when Alphy’s noticed him gone, however all the fallen down monsters that were injected with Determination were already awake by this point, and therefore prior to Flowey waking up, they would have been the most determined beings in the underground, perhaps with enough determination that whichever monster happened to have the most was able to SAVE. The time that they would have had with the ability would also have at least been for longer than Asriel had it since Flowey can’t have awoken until after a couple entries later at the bare minimum. Of course since this follows the idea that Lemon Bread had the SAVE ability since they knew what a SAVE point looks like, we can assume that the monster in question would have been Shyren’s sister, since I doubt that the Moldbygg and Aaron that also make up Lemon Bread would hold such a role.

Argument 7: Flowey’s backstory

I really thought I was done with this infuriating Flower, but it appears not. For there is a single hole I need to clear up… Flowey’s Genocide speech. Of course this should be fairly simple to clear up-

Ah… well okay this makes things interesting. If Flowey didn’t know where the Souls were stored then that would make it very hard to believe that Flowey ever encountered a human before Frisk since if that were the case then Flowey would definitely have an opportunity to sneak by and see where they are hiding, however this is not what the dialogue actually means. Flowey knew where the Souls were, he sneaks in to steal them in Neutral while we are talking to a defeated Asgore, his only issue was that he wasn’t able to get them out without Asgore. In repeated Neutral runs he still just waits until we are distracted with Asgore to take the Souls, and in Pacifist he takes them while the main cast are all distracted which again is when the canisters are open and available.

On a last note, here’s some dialogue that actually helps the idea that Flowey encountered another human.

It’s made clear all throughout the underground that humans have far greater Determination than monsters, and while you could argue that Flowey was just overconfident in his abilities, it’s still fairly strange that Flowey would still find a human having the DT to overwrite his abilities something special, unless of course he’d encountered a human previously who wasn’t able to do as much.

Conclusion

So, that’s about all I have to say, honestly I’m just glad to be done with it. This was a lot of work, and I’m excited to see this post which I’ve been working on for 3 days get completely dismantled almost immediately. Anyways, wish everyone reading a good day and goodbye!

#undertale #undertale theory #undertale yellow #undertale fangame #indie games #ut yellow #uty

[jeon-s-sins]

Fighter - Three

Synopsis: YN, a young student in her final year of a master’s degree in international business, is forced to move. She is in a “bad” part of Seoul, without much income. Prostitution, drugs, and violence are commonplace, and the police think twice before setting foot in the area. Jungkook, a young student living alone in this cruel world, is forced to fight underground to earn money to pay for his rent and expensive studies. Unfortunately, the two young people meet in a very inconvenient situation and will see their lives change overnight.

Warning: Mention of alcohol, violence (fight), bad words, flirting that will make you sleep upright; the rest you will discover as you read, no spoilers. 😉

Word count: 12.8k

Chapter song: Unstoppable - NEFFEX

n/a: English is not my first language, so I may have missed some mistakes while proofreading. Happy New Year to all! May this year be full of joy and success. It took a long time, but it's finally here! I had a lot of fun writing this part, and I hope you enjoy it. Enjoy reading, and please don’t forget to vote, comment, and ask questions if there are any. 😁.

Translations, republications, and rewritings of my stories are not allowed. Failure to comply with this request will result in legal action.

©Jeon_s_Sins

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Hearing the garbage truck outside because of the windows' poor insulation, you estimated it was early morning, around 6:30. It's often around this time that they pass through your neighborhood.

Changing position in your bed, you toss and turn, trying to find a more comfortable position to immerse yourself in the world of dreams a little longer.

Since you hadn't found an internship, there was no point in getting up early. The deadline for finding and applying for an internship at your university was yesterday. It was too late to find anything; even the meaningless internships wouldn't serve.

Fortunately, you had the chance to try your luck the following school year. But this was your one and only chance. If you hadn't found anything by the start of the new school year, you'd be off to do it again. Since you'd passed your previous semester, you didn't have to attend classes; you only completed your six-month internship before writing and defending a thesis before finally graduating and bidding farewell to student life.

In the meantime, you had plenty of time to find something to do, so you wouldn't rush things and enjoy a little more time to make up for missed sleep.

Besides, you couldn't even remember how you got home. Still with your eyes closed, yet wide awake, your brain hadn't allowed you to sleep peacefully, projecting a few vague, disordered images.

You only knew that Jungkook had told Minjun he was taking you home... Jungkook...

You jumped up, sitting on the bed, finally awake and disoriented. Once you knew where you were, you concluded you weren't home.

You turned on the bedside lamp and noticed the room was tiny and dilapidated. The curtains blocked out the sun's rays, but given the time the alarm clock indicated, the sun hadn't risen yet, at least not entirely.

The walls were in a deplorable state. There were holes here and there, probably from bullet holes. Some of them had been shabbily plugged with plaster, but nobody had bothered to repaint over them, leaving big white marks on a disgusting salmon-orange wall.

An old wooden cross stood just above your head, and the bed's headboard was made of old bars.

There were two single beds in the room. Your bed was the one against the wall, just below the window, while barely a meter away from you was another identical bed, with only a pitiful little bedside table separating them.

The state of the other bed indicated that you hadn't spent the night alone. Jungkook had been keeping you company. But you didn't know that the poor man hadn't slept a wink all night and watched over you with his eyes glued to the bedroom door.

He knew what went on inside the walls of such buildings. Prostitution, kidnapping, and worse. But there was no way he would let a stranger into his home. Sure, he'd saved you on your first night in the neighborhood and offered to keep an eye on you for tonight, but deep down, he didn't know you.

He didn't doubt your innocence, but you never know. That's why he preferred to bring you to this hotel so that you couldn't say where he lived in case you got into trouble and were asked where he lived.

Jungkook was no fool. If you lived a life like he did, fighting underground for a few years, you'd have accumulated countless enemies, and almost certainly, unfortunately for you, some of them must have interacted with you.

Living in the neighborhood and frequenting the Den, you'll quickly learn that rumors travel faster than the blink of an eye. So it's for your own good to avoid each other.

Although you were not close, and Jungkook had no intention of becoming so, it was best to maintain a distance between you both. This protects you from further harm and ensures that he does not waste his time unnecessarily saving a stranger. He has more important matters to attend to than playing the hero.

Before ending whatever you guys had, he left the room quickly to buy you hangover medicine and haejangguk, a soup known for its effectiveness against hangovers. Haejangguk is a soup with Chinese cabbage, vegetables, and meat cooked in beef broth.

Having no table, he had left them on the bed he had occupied at night. As you approach the latter to take the contents left by Jungkook, you notice that he has left a note.

"Eat quickly. Come to your senses and get the hell out of here. Your car is parked in front of the entrance on your left. Stay out of trouble, princess. - JK. "

"Tsk." A simple good morning sufficed.

Barely awake, and you were already in a bad mood. Even when Jungkook wasn't around, he still managed to annoy you. On the other hand, you had to admit, it was nice of him to think of your hangover. He didn't have to.

Although you like to contradict and annoy him, you followed his instructions today. You do not even eat the haejangguk; instead, you take the hangover medicine, pack your things, and leave the hellish place. Opening the bedroom door, you stumble into a sinister, dark corridor.

"And they dare to call it a hotel. This is more like a place straight out of hell."

A few holes in the wall allowed the first thin rays of sunlight to enter. As you turn at the end of the corridor, you encounter a man lying on the floor, who appears to be heavily intoxicated. It is unclear whether he is breathing, and you wouldn't approach him to find out.

You quickly exited this gloomy place, taking the stairs despite the strong smell of urine and vomit. You passed through an empty reception area before leaving the key on the counter and skipping out.

As indicated in Jungkook's note, your car was parked near the entrance to this so-called hotel. Thank goodness you found it in one piece and in its original condition.

It was time to go home, shower, and enjoy the haejangguk.

The rest of the day had been dull. You tried your best to find something to do but soon ran out of options. It had been a few weeks since you'd watched the last game of AOT (Attack on Titans), and you'd finished it for good. It was the same for Naruto and Naruto Shippuden. You'd started Boruto but weren't too hooked after watching a few episodes. Maybe it was because you'd watched both Naruto series in succession. So you will let some time go by before picking it up again.

So, that afternoon, you opted for something different. You've been watching a Thai BL series. You even came to envy the characters. Sure, their stories had plenty of drama, but at least they weren't alone and had someone who shared their feelings.

In these moments, you realized just how alone you were in this world. No parents, no family, no friends, let alone a boyfriend. You even acknowledged that no one would notice if anything ever happened to you.

If at least you had a job or were still going to class, your absence would be noted, but you had neither. In your current situation, the only way your disappearance will be noted is by your landlord when you stop paying the rent, which would be too late.

"You lead a sorrowful life, my poor girl." Sighing, you look towards the wall clock and notice that the day is drawing to a close and sunset is just around the corner.

Grabbing your plaid, journal, phone, AirPods, and small portable photo printer, you headed for your fridge, grabbed a couple of cans of beer, and headed up to the rooftop to which only you had access.

With all the events that had taken place in your life over the last few days, you'd still found time to do up the roof, which from now on would be your safe place in this corrupt and hellish world.

You had bought artificial turf to cover the rough concrete floor. On the left-hand side, you had placed a small round garden table in case you wanted to eat quietly one day while admiring the view and take advantage of the sunny days to sunbathe a little. Moreover, the timing was perfect, as you had no neighbors. No one would notice if you felt like sunbathing in the nude, which was an idea to keep in your mind.

Continuing your property tour, you added plant pots and flowerpots here and there. Garden gnomes would keep you company on days like today when you came alone, which would be very often until proven otherwise.

There were a few comfortable bean bags where you could take delicious naps. You'd hung a few rows of garlands that could be recharged using solar panels. You'd hung a few more on the concrete railing.

You still had some things to buy, but for the moment, it was already better and more comfortable than before.

Although you'd invested in a table and some footstools, you decided to stand on the concrete balcony railing for now. You use a small bench already there the day you moved in to do this. You climb on it before finding yourself with both feet dangling in the air and looking off into the distance.

You had an incredible view. The sky was painted in a multitude of colors. Even though the sky was still blue when you looked overhead, the blue faded to violet in the distance, then pink, red, and finally orange. This orange color revived to become brighter, even golden, as the sun was setting. The clouds, too, took on a completely different color, blending in with those of the sky.

From where you stood, you had a view of the Namsan Tower. But unlike its usual size, it looked tiny to you.

At this very moment, to put you in an even more relaxed mood, you put on your Airpods and switch on your chillax playlist on Spotify before pulling out your phone and taking many photos.

Still enjoying the presence of the sun and its last majestic moments, you open your first can of beer and take a sip.

You take a deep breath before releasing it all.

"Now that's what I call living." You didn't understand how quiet moments like that scare some people.

Not that you judged them, because you're no one to judge others. But you didn't understand how people can't stand to be alone and have quiet moments. You didn't understand how people lived constantly surrounded by many people. A loner as you are, the little time you get to hang out with your classmates, your social battery runs out in a snap. Living like this, going out and partying every day, you'd end up losing your mind or shooting yourself between the eyes. But that was just your personal opinion. Everyone was free to live as they wished.

The music playing in your ears, matching the comfortable atmosphere, was interrupted by Siri's robotic voice.

"You have an incoming call from 'My Hero.' Would you like to take the call?" Who the hell is my hero? You had no idea you'd registered a contact under that name. Especially as you didn't have any friends, you got on well with only a few classmates, but not enough to call them that.

Curiosity killing the cat, you decide to take the call anyway.

"Hello?" Your voice sounded uncertain.

"Isn't it very cordial to take pictures of your neighbors without their knowledge?" An unfamiliar male voice sounded from the other end of the line. "What about other people's image rights and privacy rights?"

You were confused. What was your neighbor talking about?

"Excuse me, but I think you've got the wrong person." You were about to hang up when his voice rang out again.

"Ouch. You offend me, YN." The sound of your first name calls out to you. "It pains me to see you not recognize your savior's voice." There was sarcasm in his voice, a far cry from the sorrow he claimed to feel.

"My savior?" You twisted your brain in all directions but didn't recognize the person. The only person who could have that title was-

"Jung... Jungkook?"

"Bingo. Princess." The more he spoke, the more his voice sounded like Jungkook's. How did this moron get your number?

"How?"

"Face ID is great these days. You should be more careful when you sleep in the company of strangers."

"Don't worry, after that one, I learned my lesson. The question is, why?" This question had been burning your lips since you learned of his identity.

"As much as I don't want to, we'll see a lot of each other. So I thought, 'Why not?' "

"Bold of you to think I'd want to see you."

"Stop giving yourself such big shoes to fill, princess. We both know you're dying to see me again. In fact, to make it easier for you, I will give you a little present." You could tell from his voice that he was smirking.

"Oh, yeah? What?" You expected anything but what he was about to tell you.

"Look ahead." By pure automatism, you look in the direction of the ground, which makes Jungkook laugh.

"I said before you, not toward the ground, dummy." You're about to throw a good one in his face when your gaze fixes on a point across the street.

In the house opposite yours was a shirtless Jungkook perched at his window.

You'd already seen him shirtless on your first visit to the Den when he was fighting Bazooka. But his constant movements had made it hard for you to get a good look at him. But now that he was standing in front of you, motionless, you had all the time in the world to look at him and analyze him in depth.

He looked like he'd just stepped out of the shower. He had a small white towel around his neck, which he'd probably used to dry his hair. His pecs were well-rounded and prominent. Since his forearms were resting on the window railing, you couldn't see his abs very well, but you could see two small valleys announcing their start.

"Take a picture, it'll stay longer."

Out of your contemplation, your defensive mode is directly activated.

"Like I'd want to waste space on my phone's storage with a picture of you. Although, I could use it to scare the monsters out from under my bed."

"That's perfect, princess. That way, I'll be your hero once again."

You pretend to find his words hilarious. "In your dreams, Quasimodo."

"Are you aware that in the end, Quasimodo is considered a hero? So that little nickname coming from you sounds like a compliment." From your perch, you see Jungkook bring a hand to his heart as if your words had gone straight to it.

"It wasn't a compliment, you fool. You're insufferable." This makes him laugh and brings a smile to your face.

Although you pretended you couldn't stand him, you couldn't hide that he wasn't unpleasant to look at and that his company wasn't unpleasant either. Moreover, he seemed alright from the few times you'd been around him. He was a bit like you, a good person in a world of bullies, trying to survive as best as possible.

Besides, it reminds you that you hadn't had a chance to thank him for caring for you and saving you from a massive headache again.

"By the way, thanks for last night and this morning."

"Stop it, princess, you'll make me shed a tear." He teases you again.

Rolling your eyes, you reply. "No, forget what I said. I'll take it back. That'll teach me to be polite to a guy with an ego as big as his head."

His laugh was soft, childlike, though infectious, provoking yours in return. "But seriously." He says once he regains his seriousness. "Watch out. I won't be around all the time. Remember, some weirdos are lurking around."

"I told you yesterday, and I'm telling you again, I don't need to be taken care of. So you don't have to worry, Mr. Vigilante."

"Ha. Right," Jungkook figured you were too naive for this world. He didn't know your situation or even if you had a family, but he said you seemed to have been raised in the world of Care Bears. The few times he'd seen you, you'd been wrapped up in a mess, or almost certainly would have been if he hadn't intervened yesterday.

But he didn't know anything about you or your story. He didn't know that you were an orphan and that, for a time, you'd been living on the streets. Fighting tooth and nail for an expired milk carton before entering the orphanage. He also didn't know how many times you'd moved from family to family before finding the right one, only to have it savagely ripped away from you overnight.

But that was too topical for him to know. You doubted he'd ever find out.

"Anyway, thanks again." He doesn't respond verbally; you just see him nod. "Hey? You going to the Den tonight?"

Jungkook didn't understand the reason for your question but answered you anyway. "No. I only go there when I have fights."

If you only knew how much Jungkook hated this place and its atmosphere. He only goes there because the pay is attractive, which allows him to pay his rent and schooling, as well as what will enable him to make ends meet.

"Why do you ask?" You couldn't see, but Jungkook raises an eyebrow skeptically.

"No reason. Pure curiosity, that's all."

"YN, curiosity killed the cat. And a little friendly advice: you shouldn't go back there."

"Tsk, I didn't know we'd become friends." You retort.

"Us, friends? Ha. No, baby, you're the bane of my existence, a far cry from what I call being friends. It's just that I don't want to have to step in again to save your pretty little ass from the brink again. I've already had my fill."

"Don't worry, dear, you're the last person I'd ask for help in a jam." You could hardly believe it yourself, so Jungkook's following reaction was well and truly understandable.

"We'll see about that."

"Your lack of faith in me is hurtful." You tell him falsely offended.

"And justified. Remind me how we met?" Silence on your part had answered him. "That's what I say."

"Shut up, Quasimodo." For all answers, Jungkook sends you a floating kiss, which you pretend to dodge, almost falling backward.

Regaining your balance, you send an embarrassed smile toward your hero slash neighbor. In worry, Jungkook straightens; if looks could kill, you'd already be six feet under.

"YN, I swear you'll be the death of me."

To kill your discomfort, you retort, "Like that will keep me up at night. Sounds like a you problem, buddy."

For all answers, Jungkook shakes his head.

"That's not all, but I've got to go, princess. I remind you, I have a life."

You give him the thumbs-up and thank him again, but Jungkook says one last thing before you hang up. "Good night, neighbor. And try not to kill yourself coming down from your perch."

"I might come and haunt you." You hear him laugh. "Good night, Quasimodo." Then you hang up.

You watch as your new neighbor closes his windows and sinks into his home. On the other hand, you decide to stay outside a little longer, admiring the starry sky, while the music picks up where it left off.

It's crazy to say that some stars you're looking at now no longer exist. The sky is something that will always fascinate you. The days go by, and not for a single day will the sky resemble that of the day before or two or even three centuries ago. The same goes for the stars.

Many of today's stars are already dead. Some are so far away that their light takes billions of years to reach us. In the meantime, something may have happened to them, causing them to disappear from the universe.

That's why we say looking at the sky is like looking into the past.

It's also why you didn't understand people who bought stars. Sure, it may be romantic and incredible, but in the end, they're probably buying something that no longer exists.

But then again, you're not judging anyone or anything. Once again, you're just stating your opinion. Still, if someone were to tell you and prove that they'd bought you a star, you'd be touched by the gesture because, in the end, it's the gesture and the intention that counts.

Opening your second can of beer, you take a few sips before turning your attention to your phone and the little photo printer, long abandoned on the low wall beside you.

Like all other youngsters and children from your orphanage, you participated in a therapy session. And during one of them, the psychologist suggested that you take some time to write down everything that was going on in your head in a journal. This would allow you to clear your mind of all the toxins, doubts, and questions that poisoned your spirit to make way for serenity.

So, for years, you'd been playing the game. At first, you were a little lost, not knowing what to write down. Then, as time passed, you gave your imagination desires and needs free rein. You wrote about your experiences during the day. But also your doubts, your sorrows, the words of a song running through your head. Inspiring phrases that matched your life and state of mind at the time.

Tonight, you decided to put up the photo you'd taken of the sunset and, with it, your thoughts of the moment.

You thanked the heavens for having put Jungkook in your path, which at the moment was proving to be a beautiful encounter. Just like the magnificent sunset, he had brought a little color into your dull life, dulled by time and the deeds and accomplishments of recent times. And even if Jungkook's presence in your life is as fleeting as the time of a sunset, you'll always be grateful to him.

As night falls, you return to the shelter of your home. Leaning back on your bed, you gaze up at the ceiling of your room, asking yourself: "And now, what?"

You'll be out of school for a year with no source of income. If you wanted to continue living under this roof, you'd have to work your ass off to find something to pay the rent and make ends meet. You had no choice but to work and no longer rely on the government aid given to young students in times of hardship.

From now on, you have to rely on your own resources and manage to bring home the money and the food, like the big girl you are.

You spend about two hours looking for ads for odd jobs here and there on the Internet, but nothing comes up. At least, nothing exciting or close to home. Most ads come from the center of Seoul, only a few kilometers from where you live. Doing a thankless job, finishing very late at night, and having to take public transport for forty-five or even an hour's journey is demotivating.

But just as you were giving up hope of finding anything tonight, a flash from the night before comes back to mind.

Before you were entirely out of your mind, you remembered that Minjun had put up an ad saying they were looking for a bartender.

Admittedly, there were better kinds of jobs than this - you were bound to come across some insufferable drunkards and guys who would be quick to want to have you in their bed. Not to mention the harmful, violent, and damaging atmosphere for your little person, but on the other hand was that it wasn't really far from home, and you already knew Minjun.

You've got nothing to lose by trying. You can always break the contract if it becomes too much of a burden.

You didn't have Minjun's number and couldn't find the bar's contact details online. You had no choice but to go there and talk to him face-to-face.

It was still early, so the place was closed to the public. You hoped, by some miracle, that Minjun would already be there and that they'd agree to let you talk to him.

The two substantial black doors were closed, so you knocked forcefully on the door without wasting any more time and praying to heaven that you'd be heard. The place was vast, and you had to go down some stairs before you could access the main space, so you wouldn't typically make yourself heard by knocking.

A few moments later, having achieved nothing, you try again. You were about to knock a third time, but the door opened, almost hitting you in the face.

A man, no... a gorilla opens the door. He was most certainly two meters by two meters. You could even bet he was wider than your fridge. Dressed in black from head to toe, while he had an earpiece in his ear.

"Drop by later, we're closed." The man grunts and shuts the door in your face without even giving you time to express yourself. Except that, before he's had a chance to close it completely, you block it with your foot, just like you've seen people do in the movies. Except in the film, they don't show how much this shit hurts.

Swallowing a complaint, you try to negotiate with a gorilla. "I know, but please, I need to talk to Minjun. It's about the barmaid position." Scrutinizing you up and down, the man opens the door a little more, barely enough to let you in.

"Thank you."

He lets you pass him before locking the large doors and asking you to follow him. After descending the few steps separating you from the main area, you notice that everything has stayed the same as the previous day. The only difference was that all the lights were on, and you had a better view of the space.

"Minjun, there's someone here for you. It's about the bartender position." Announces the gorilla, immediately stepping aside to resume his activities, leaving you alone facing an empty bar. Empty until you hear the clink of glass bottles before a brunette head appears in your field of vision.

"Good evening-" Rising to his feet and looking in your direction, Minjun seemed surprised to see you standing before him.

"So, just like that, little one wants to play in the big leagues." He teases.

"Yeah, well, I'm not necessarily thrilled with the idea, but I'm really in need."

"Do you have any experience in the field?" Minjun rests his forearms on the counter, putting down what he is doing to give you his full attention.

"If you consider drinking everything you can get your hands on when you find out your ex is cheating on you, then yes."

"Tsk." He shakes his head, escaping a small laugh. "That's not exactly reassuring, little one. But you're lucky we're actually in need." This isn't very advantageous for him because whoever says no experience says training and lack of time to train you. But on the plus side, you're already there, and there are still three hours to go before the first customers show up. So he had some time to show you the basics, and he'd show you the rest as time went on and as you needed it.

"Join me behind the counter. I'll show you where things are and the most basic and common recipes. But before that, I'll show you the staff changing rooms where you can get rid of your stuff." He said once you'd joined him behind the bar counter.

You passed through a door linking the bar directly to the storeroom, which gave direct access to a corridor that only staff could use, leading to a checkroom and toilets. There was also another door on the left, providing access to the outside. "You can go through there when you start your shifts instead of through the front door, but also to smoke during your breaks or just to get some fresh air."

Having cleared away your belongings and returned to the bar, you give Minjun a hand. You restocked the drinks and other things you would need during the evening. You were also allowed to familiarize yourself more with where everything was placed.

Minjun also took the opportunity to explain a few recipes to you. "Don't worry if you can't remember them; just have some cheat sheet on the worktop." Indeed, some small laminated sheets were stuck on the worktop and on the counter's inner barrier, sheltered from the customers' view. "Cheater."

"What? Sometimes even the best have memory lapses." He pats you on the shoulder teasingly.

"Anyway, the most important thing is not to panic at the sight of the crowd. Do the orders one by one to avoid getting lost, and if you have any doubts, don't hesitate to come and ask me or Sohan, the other barman."

You nod and continue to prepare the drinks he asks you to practice. It wasn't all plain sailing. Tonight, you had to prove to him and the others that you were trustworthy and that you did indeed belong here. Besides, it was one less thing to worry about.

"When do I start?" You ask.

"Are you free tonight?" You nod, "Then tonight will be."

Oh. That fast? At least you won't have to wait long to have an answer. Mentally unprepared, you start to feel your hands becoming sweating.

"Be thankful tonight's fight was between amateurs and not Bullet Fists. Otherwise, it would have been hell for you."

Bullet Fists. Jungkook. Quasimodo.

You hadn't thought much about it, but working at the Den - if it became official in the days - meant you might see your beautiful neighbor more often than you'd imagined, which, in all honesty, wasn't unpleasant.

"Good." He says, clapping his hands and pulling you out of your thoughts. "Let's talk about the payment." Now you were starting to speak the same language.

"For tonight, if you can make it to the end and manage properly, you'll be paid 1 .291 .689₩" (€900 │ $991.30 │ £780.41).

"That much?" Shocked to earn so much for a few hours of work.

"Yeah, not counting tips from customers. And if you ever come to do business with us, you'll earn double. Don't forget, darling, that you're working in a place that's underground and where money flows freely."

No wonder, even in places like this, some people like you accept work without worrying about the risks.

"We've got half an hour before we open. Do you think that's enough time to get dolled up? I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for in the lost and found." He points to you.

"Did you guys find make-up?"

"You'll be shocked at how much we find once the customers leave."

Wasting no more time, you head off to the changing rooms and rummage through the lost and found. Everything: lipsticks, pencils, liner, mascara, perfume, clothes, and even shoes and telephones. It's in circumstances like this that you realize how absent-minded people can be when they're drunk. Worst of all, no one seems to have come to claim them.

It was barely ten o'clock on a Saturday morning when Jungkook's phone rang while he slept peacefully. The only sound in his house was his snoring, which clattered against his bedroom walls.

At first, Jungkook thought the unbearable noise from his phone was a dream, but when his subconscious awakened, trapping Jungkook in between the real world and the dream world, he realized it was his phone ringing.

He groped his mattress for his phone without even opening his eyes.

"What?" His morning voice was hoarse, low, and raspy. He knew very well who was on the line. That dog-bark ringing was registered to his "trainer," or the man who only called him when he had to fight for large sums of money.

"A little respect for your elders, you moron." Jungkook didn't care; he only wanted to go back to sleep. The night before, Jungkook stayed up until four to finish a job due first thing Monday.

This assignment was a group project, but Jungkook did it alone as usual, refusing to waste time socializing with his classmates.

"Get on with it." he barks again, becoming increasingly grumpy.

"All right, then. Tonight. The Den. Fight against Bazooka. See you at midnight. Is that short enough for Sleeping Beauty?" His trainer teased, knowing full well that this was playing on the younger man's nerves.

"Hmm." Jungkook grunts, rubbing his face against the mattress for lack of a pillow. "I've told you before that for this sort of thing, you can leave a message just fine."

"Yeah, and run the risk of you not reading it."

"Tsk. As if I'm going to miss an opportunity to kick this bastard's ass. Besides, it looks like last time's beating wasn't enough for him."

"Apparently not. Jung-Ho's trainer kept bombarding my phone with calls and messages to arrange a meeting between you."

"That guy must really be a masochist." Says Jungkook, referring to his opponent, fully awake now.

"Or maybe he's fallen for your charm." Jungkook rolls his eyes as his trainer laughs at the possible situation.

"It's possible. He's not the first and certainly won't be the last. Everyone falls for Bullet Fists' charm and charisma."

"Okay. That's my cue to cut this call short. You're fully awake, and your oversized ego has resurfaced."

"Oh, come on, coach, fess up. You've fallen for it too."

"Yeah, right. Well, come on, kid. Don't forget, midnight sharp." Then he hangs up.

It had been a week since Jungkook had set foot in the Den, and he wasn't unhappy about it. The farther away he was from this place, the better off he was.

Since the death of his parents a few years ago, when Jungkook was just eighteen, his life has been turned upside down.

This happened during the summer vacations when his parents were away on a romantic evening without Jungkook. On their way home, they were hit by a car belonging to a group of young people returning from a night out.

The news sent Jungkook into a frenzy, and he was only calmed when he made those responsible for his parents' death pay.

Before the death of his parents, Jungkook was what we consider a good boy. Polite, kind, helpful, and very shy. Especially towards girls. Today, Jungkook was a completely different man. Rude to some, no longer shy and charming. He was a massive hit with the ladies.

But deep down, he was still the sweet boy he once was; it's just that after all the shit life had thrown at him in the dark hours of his life, Jungkook found himself trapped in a darkness that refused to leave him.

It was pure chance that one night, he came across a man who later became his coach. It was this man who had introduced him to the life of an underground fighter he led today.

He had no ill intentions towards Jungkook. He wanted to help him, but he didn't have the means to do so, so he did it the only way he knew how. He had seen a glimmer of hope and life in Jungkook that he hadn't believed in for many years.

So the man welcomed him into the cubbyhole that was his apartment and taught him how to fight. Introducing him to street fighting was the only way he could help Jungkook make a decent sum of money fairly quickly.

In return, without realizing it, Jungkook brought a glimmer of life into the man who had taken him in. He let him know what it was like to be a father. For the man, Seokjin, life wasn't all rosy either, and Jungkook had given him a breath of fresh air.

The relationship between Jungkook and Seokjin was not just that of coach and fighter. It was that of a father and son but also of two brothers.

Seokjin sometimes regretted his decision to introduce his dark life to Jungkook. But as he looked back on Jungkook's living conditions when he first met him, he felt the poor boy could have fallen even further.

For the rest of the day, Jungkook prepared for his evening fight. With all the money he'd made from his fights, he'd been able to save up enough to buy some body-building equipment.

But while taking a break after having already trained for an hour and forty-five minutes without respite, he allowed himself a break to drink water and smoke.

Opening his windows, his gaze wandered in the direction of your home. Who would have thought that the distressed young woman he saved one evening would turn his thoughts upside down?

It had been a week since your last interaction, but it was still fresh in his mind.

It may have been wrong and out of place given the circumstances in which your paths crossed, but Jungkook still remembers the shape of your topless, perfect body.

The image of the valley of your breasts, though covered by your bra, haunted his memory. The curves of your body, right where it should be, the warmth of your body caressing his. Your scent still wafting through his car after he dropped you off at home.

Then, that famous night after his fight just a week ago when he'd realized you were his kind of girl. Sweet and naive, but also a strong woman with much fight.

The cat-and-mouse game you two played over the phone was like sweet music in his ears.

That night at the dingy hotel, Jungkook couldn't close his eyes all night, his gaze riveted on your silhouette, which he glimpsed thanks to the moonbeams seeping through the window. And although you found yourself in a nauseating place with a man you didn't really know, you slept so peacefully. As if you trusted him completely.

"Idiot." Yet a gentle, blissful smile that gave him a boyish air had taken possession of his soft lips.

Realizing how silly he looked, Jungkook shook his head to chase away these ideas that would get him nowhere. On the other hand, even though he hadn't heard from you since that famous time, he had noticed that you'd been going out at the same time for the past week and coming home at noon.

And here you are again.

Not that he was worried but curious. What could you be doing alone at such hours when you'd only just moved into a neighborhood like this?

"What are you meddling with, man? What she does or doesn't do is none of your business." And with that reprimand, he closes his windows to get ready.

"Hey, Little one. So, are you ready for the big night?" Minjun and Sohan were already behind the counter, preparing the necessities for tonight.

"What do you mean?" You shook off your belongings as the two men exchanged a look.

"You don't know who's fighting tonight?" You shake your head. "Bullet Fists versus Bazooka. So expect to get ripped off at the controls." Sohan was a tall man with blue hair and black eyes, although he opted for green lenses tonight. He also had muscles, and from what you'd seen during his last fight, Sohan seemed a little less muscular than Jungkook. He wore his hair up and back, which highlighted his face.

Like Minjun and you, he was dressed entirely in black. A slim black shirt with a few buttons undone and jeans pants adorned his legs, while his look was finished off with a pair of combat boots.

Minjun was dressed pretty much the same as Johan, the only difference being that he wore a tight T-shirt, revealing his muscles and pectorals. As for his black hair, it was in its usual form, with its fringe parted in the middle of his forehead. Giving him a bad-boy look.

Without planning it with your two colleagues, you'd opt for an all-black look tonight. Loose hair with a few curls, prominent make-up with smoky eyes, making your gaze bewitching. You wore a tight, sheer lace crop top. Accompanying your femme fatale look, you wore a high-waisted leather skirt with a slit up the right thigh. And while heeled boots would have been perfect, you couldn't forget that you would spend the rest of the evening standing behind the counter, so you left it out, opting for combat boots with clutches, which was very handy for putting your tips in.

"Awesome. I'm going to get my first rush. Not stressful at all." You give them a tense little smile.

"Don't worry." Minjun places a reassuring hand on your shoulder. "We'll do as usual. You take orders individually and ask us what you need."

The two men are pretty pleased with your work. They see that you're giving it your all and already have your bearings, although you haven't been here long.

"Don't worry about it. Don't think about it; everything's going to be fine."

"Now go and get ready because the first wave of customers is coming."

It had already been two hours since you'd arrived, and the crowd was still growing, but the good news was that you were keeping up just as well as your two colleagues. 

As you prepared the orders, you couldn't help glancing around the room in search of just one person. You kept wondering if he was already there? Was he too stressed? And would he stop by the bar for a drink before his fight? 

And yet, five fights had already taken place, and the sixth had just begun, with no sign of your neighbor. As the show's highlight, the Bullet Fists and Bazooka fight was decreed to be the last. It's all very strategic. The organizers know that their audience's two favorites are these two fighters - mainly Bullet Fists - so by making them fight last, they're sure to attract more customers and make a maximum profit from the beginning to the end of the evening.  

Meanwhile, you hoped to see Jungkook before he entered the cage, but your hopes were dashed as his fight drew nearer. Deciding not to dwell on the subject any longer, you return the drinks to one customer before moving on to another. 

"Good evening. What can I get you?" You change your look of disappointment to a broad business smile. 

When your gaze settles on the customer in question, you have a vague impression of having seen him somewhere before, but you are having trouble remembering where and when precisely. 

"I'd say the bombshell I'm looking at." Pfff. So, he falls into the category of annoying, redneck customer. But hey, you're not going to criticize and try to make him understand nicely that you won't go any further than serving his order. 

"Ha. That's going to be tricky, buddy." You were trying to say it with a teasing attitude. It's not like you were with Jungkook, but a little more distant, leaning more towards sarcasm than anything else. 

It's well known that barmen/barmaids are known to be flirts; it's part of the show if they feel like ending up with tips; after all, they have to make a living from their trade. 

"Nothing's really complicated when you really want it to be." You hold back from telling him that so he has his answer, but you hold back, not wanting to be rude and risk losing your job just a week in. 

"What can I put you down for?" Not wanting to waste more time in his company, you change the subject directly. Not to mention that the line is getting longer and longer, so you've got your work cut out for you. It's either he orders, or he bolts. 

"Pint of ruby, baby." Boy, did you hate it when someone as reluctant as him called you baby? 

It's crazy because you'd never talked to him about your life before, and yet he was already pissing you off. Some people like that don't do anything to us, but just seeing them or hearing their voices takes us out of our depths. It's something inexplicable, and yet you were ready to put your hand on the fact that you weren't the only one in the world to feel that way, and secretly, it reassured you. 

"Right away." Unfortunately for you, the draught beer tap was right in front of you, so you had no escape route, but on the bright side, you could quickly give him his order as soon as you'd finished serving it and hope he'd get out of the way as soon as possible too. 

Misfortune never comes alone. While the man already had his order in hand, he was still perched on the counter, clinging on as if his life depended on it. Worst of all, his gaze never left your side, and you hated the feeling of being spied on.

"I've never seen you around here. You must be new around here." Your only response was a vague glance in her direction as you continued to prepare another customer's order. 

"I would like to be a dead leaf in front of your door so that you can overwhelm me with your beauty every time you leave your house." Hang in there, YN; you'll be fine. Just don't roll your eyes at him. 

Sohan, who wasn't far from you, seemed to have heard the shit flirty floppy pickup lines the stranger was trying to throw at you because when your eyes met, he laughed.

Returning the order to the customer, you moved on to the next one. Fortunately, this time, you had to prepare a cocktail, and what you needed was laid out on the worktop behind you, giving you a little respite from the dolt guy starting to get on your nerves. 

You tried to drag out the process of preparing the cocktail as best you could, taking your time and making the pleasure of not hearing the sound of his voice last, but all good things must come to an end, and you had to turn around to give the customer his order back and cash it at the same time. 

As you waited for the customer to enter his credit card code on the EPT machine, the guy took the opportunity to pull another bullshit. 

"Your ass is so beautiful; it's a shame you have to sit on it." You'd like to know where he comes up with these ready-made moronic phrases. 

"Let me guess," you say, addressing the guy, "Last night you had trouble falling asleep, so you couldn't think of anything better than searching the internet for 'the top 50 worst pickup lines for hitting on a girl?" 

Sohan and Minjun were preparing their own orders without losing any of your interaction with the stranger and couldn't help but laugh at what you said, which had the knack of nipping the other guy in the bud for a while. 

Unfortunately for him, just as he was most certainly about to come out with some new bullshit, a slightly older guy interrupts him. 

"Jung-Ho, man, I've been looking for you for ten minutes. Hurry up; it's time to get ready for the fight." Without the annoying guy - Jung-Ho, from what you'd heard - even having time to retaliate, his buddy drags him by the arm away from the bar. 

Unaware that you were holding your breath, you let go of it suddenly, a sign of relief, while you gave a small smile to a customer who hadn't lost anything for some time. 

Some time had passed after Jung-Ho had been dragged off somewhere, and in the meantime, the previous fight had just ended. One of the fighters ended badly banged up by his opponent's blows. 

"YN, flee. Go take a five-minute break." Minjun takes the bottle of vodka from your hand.

"But there are still plenty of customers."

"Don't worry, the crowd is thinning out. We can handle it." Sohan takes you by the forearm and gently pushes you toward the back door. 

"All right." Crossing the storeroom and the back corridor leading to the checkroom, you enter the room before grabbing your pack of cigarettes and your lighter and using the door leading to the back exit for staff members only. 

And to think you never smoked before. It all started three years ago when your life became a mess, and you found yourself with your head underwater. Alone in the world, with no one to turn to or confide in while your life took such a rapid turn that you couldn't keep up. 

You were aware that this wasn't the best solution, but the temptation had been stronger, and you took up smoking. 

It's unfortunate to say, but smoking takes away all the pressure you build up over a day. Sometimes, you manage to go days without smoking, but these past few days, when you're faced with a heavy, tiring day, you sometimes smoke a few. Ironically, as a smoker, you hate the smell of cigarettes and, even worse, the smell of cold tobacco. That's why you invested in an electronic cigarette. Not only could you control the level of nicotine you consumed, but you could also have the possibility to change the taste, and even better, you didn't have the stench of cold tobacco.

You used it more at home because even though you had a roof terrace, you were sometimes too lazy to go out just to smoke even more when the evenings were cold. And that awful smell was out of the question.

But in the evening or at work, you'd allow yourself a few normal cigarettes. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, delighted to see so many of you here. The moment of the long-awaited evening is finally upon us. The fight we've all been waiting for is about to begin." 

That was your signal to go back inside. The fight you, too, had been waiting for was about to begin, and the boys could finally take their break in turn. 

"So, without further ado, give your champion a fervent cheer to encourage them." Back at the bar, you noticed no more customers surrounded the counter, all drawn like flies had taken their places around the cage. "I hope you've made your bets, and may luck be with you." 

Since there were no customers, Minjun and Sohan went off to take their break simultaneously. "Let's start immediately by calling the young stallion, the handsome one, the tall one I named Ba-Zoo-Ka." 

As last time, cheers and jeers are heard in the hall. When the named Bazooka enters the cage. Your drink in your mouth goes down the wrong hole when you swallow. 

Bazooka is none other than Jung-Ho, a.k.a. the super-boring guy with the stupid pickup lines. 

Showing off, he waves to the crowd and sends flying kisses in the direction of the ladies before stepping into a corner, wisely awaiting the arrival of his opponent. 

"Now, let's all cheer for your favorite, the charmer, the beast, the god. I named Bullet Fists." 

Once again, it was to the sound of NEFFEX that Jungkook decided to enter. But this time, he changed his sound, opting for Untoppable.

I'm unstoppable (yeah)

Do the impossible (that's right)

I'm irresponsible (oh)

Yet I'm phenomenal (oh)

I got an arsenal (oh, yeah)

I'm dropping bombs, you know (oh, yeah)

No, I'm not stopping, no (let's go)

Conquer the obstacle (yeah)

Jungkook usually chooses his songs according to his current state of mind. Tonight, he chose this song because he wanted his opponent to understand that he would do everything he could to win this fight and make his opponent bite the dust. Jungkook was unstoppable and had come tonight to conquer the obstacle and return home with the spoils.

To the top, here I go, think I'm chosen

To be the king of rock, think the people have spoken

I can hear the tic toc of the clock, I'm in motion

So, now I'm gonna pop, causing all this commotion, yeah

Entering the cage in his turn, just like his opponent, Jungkook makes the rounds, charming the women with smiles and winks.

Positioning himself on the opposite side of the cage from Jung-Ho, Jungkook discards his black-and-white silk bathrobe before baling it up and tossing it over the cage towards his coach, Seokjin.

When the ring girl finishes her turn, holding high the sign indicating the first round, she exits the cage, closing the door behind her. In no time at all, the ring gong sounds, signaling the start of the match.

The crowd holds its breath, and so do you, waiting for one of the two opponents to throw the first punch.

Impatient to make his opponent pay for the beating he had given him the previous time, Jung-Ho launched himself first, advancing toward Jungkook before trying to throw his fist in his face. However, Jungkook was beginning to know his opponent's habits, as he didn't play on the element of surprise, making him predictable for his opponent.

Sohan and Minjun return from their break, and you hand them their drink, which you had prepared in advance, knowing the two men's predilection after the week spent in their company.

Rounding the balcony, the three of you sit on the high stools while enjoying your drink and well-deserved rest after charcoaling like mad for over three hours without a break.

"So, what did we miss?" Sohan asks, his eyes still riveted on the battle ahead.

"Nothing. It just started." Sohan nods. "Did you know the pathetic guy was Jungkook's opponent tonight?" The two men look at each other, laughing.

"Yeah. He's a regular here."

"And Bullet Fists' number one opponent." Says each of your colleagues in turn. "Every week he's there, trying to get his revenge on the previous time, but every time the result comes back to be the same." Adds Minjun.

"Let me guess, defeat." You ask without really asking.

"Bull's-eye, young lady," Sohan replies as your conversation dies and you focus on the fight.

Jungkook does nothing but take Jung-Ho's blows, much to the frustration of his supporters. He parries them without a care, but some manage to hit him.

"What you're witnessing is typical Bullet Fists." Riveting your attention in Minjun's direction, you waited for him to elaborate. "The fans don't understand that Jungkook takes his opponent's blows not to waste their time but to analyze his opponent."

"You see," Minjun continues his explanation. "By cashing in Bazooka's blows, Bullet Fists analyzes his power and strong and weak points. From the strength of his blows to the stability of his body and fighting style. That way, once Jungkook has deciphered his opponent a little, he can strike at Jung-Ho's weak points, ensuring victory."

"Besides," Sohan continued, "it allows him one more thing."

"What?" You ask.

"It allows him to tire out his opponent faster."

"What do you mean?" It's super nice of them to explain the fight to you. It's nice to watch the proceedings before you, but it's better to watch and understand the tactics and techniques of the fight and the fighters.

"Take a good look at Jung-Ho; how does he seem? Focus on the movements of his breathing, the expression on his face, but above all on his current performance compared to what it was at the beginning of the engagement."

In turn, you analyze the fight, and some things have changed.

"His breathing seems to be getting faster and irregular. He seems irritated and annoyed while his blows are slower and less frequent than before."

"I'm proud of you, little one. Give me five." Minjun says to you.

"So, in conclusion...?" Sohan asks you.

"As a result, I feel that Jung-Ho is already tiring." You conclude.

"Right on the money. And get ready because, in the next round, Jungkook will make mincemeat of Jung-Ho. For a change."

Again, the three of you focus on the fight while sipping drinks.

When the three minutes are up, the gong rings again, indicating a one-minute break for the boxers.

A few people return to the bar to replenish their drinks before the next kick-off. Only a few people, just a handful, return to their seats once the gong has sounded again. You take the opportunity to refill your glass with your favorite drink and those of the boys before joining them on the high stool you occupied before.

As Sohan told you, Jungkook makes short work of his opponent without finishing him off. But this time, he's not only taking the blows, he's also delivering them, which revives the crowd with every impact, raising the excitement level.

Unlike the rest of the room, the bar was also lit, which was pitch black except for a few neon lights and the ring light. Not with a powerful light, but somewhat subdued, allowing you to work in good conditions. As Jungkook shifted position, his gaze wandered over the crowd. But against all odds, his gaze landed on the bar where, despite the poor lighting, Jungkook noticed three people sitting there.

It's true that, returning to the Den today, Jungkook had vaguely heard that they had recruited a new person for the bar and that, this time, it was a young woman. But he hadn't given it much thought. Now that he could see her in the dark, he couldn't suppress the feeling of familiarity.

So, dodging a last-second blow from his opponent. Jungkook looked back toward the bar, and with a bit of prodding to adapt his view to the necessary condition, he saw that the young woman in the company of the usual bartenders was none other than you. YN. The woman who, for a week, had been haunting his thoughts.

"What?" His contemplation is interrupted by a right hook from his opponent, which causes silence from the people in the room and jubilation from Jung-Ho.

Unable to retaliate, as the gong sounds again, indicating the end of the second round, Jungkook returns to his corner.

From where he stood, Jungkook had a perfect view of the bar. If his memories were correct, he told you not to return to the Den during your phone call. So what the hell were you doing here. He only hoped that you weren't the new barmaid the others discussed.

"Pighead." You were pretty true to yourself, just going through the motions when he'd told you otherwise.

During his whole minute's pause, Jungkook hadn't taken his eyes off you, which didn't go unnoticed by Jung-Ho. Had Jungkook had a case with this chick? That was the question on Jung-Ho's mind. Were you related to him? He didn't know that; all he knew was that you'd attracted the attention of his sworn enemy and that he intended to use it to his advantage.

The Ring Girl finishes her round after indicating the third round, leave, the gong sounds, and the third round begins where the previous one left off.

Jungkook throws Jung-Ho a straight punch right in the face. As the punch was thrown and Jungkook's fist made contact with his opponent's nose, he felt a crack coming from his opponent. He had just broken his nose. Confirmation followed as soon as Jung-Ho's nose bled.

The blow had knocked him back a few steps, and instinctively, Jung-Ho brought his hand to his bruised nose.

"I see you saw my chick at the bar. So don't try anything with her because she's mine." Jung-Ho was playing with fire and knew it very well; he knew full well that Jungkook would retaliate, but the game was worth the candle. He wanted to get him off his back, and he was going to succeed. He would try with words if he couldn't rattle his opponent with blows.

This was precisely why Jungkook didn't get involved with anyone, to avoid this situation. To prevent his opponents from finding his weak point(s) and turning them against him. Yet he hadn't been able to help himself tonight with you, and as feared, his opponent had caught on and was now making him pay for his imprudence.

On the other hand, Jungkook wasn't fooled; he knew what Jung-Ho was up to by using you against him. But if his aim was to piss him off, he must not have been very clever because Jungkook was going to let off steam. So, in both cases, Jung-Ho would come out as the loser and more humiliated than on previous occasions.

"Once I'm done with you, I'll take care of her. Take her back to my place and fuck her so hard, she'll forget her own name."

Jungkook knew reacting or feeling affected by these words was pointless, especially since he was nothing and no one to you. He was just a simple guy who was lucky enough to be around when you needed him and who helped you out a few times before you found out he was your neighbor. Your 'relationship' ended there.

Then why did he feel a lousy emotion surging inside him? Usually, when his opponents tried this childish tactic on him - Jung-Ho was not the first and certainly not the last to do so - they couldn't succeed. Usually, they'd try it with the few booty calls Jungkook had, thinking they were his girlfriend, but they'd just turn out to be chicks he'd slept with.

With you, however, it's not the same. The man feels possessiveness, no, rather a protective instinct towards you. An attraction that's still difficult for him to determine is whether it's because he wants to have you constantly with him or whether it's simply physical attraction. In either case, he wasn't going to try to figure out which one turned out to be his.

You didn't understand what was going on between the two men. All you could see, however, was that Jung-Ho was engaged in a monologue, and by Jungkook's facial expression, you'd be willing to bet it was getting on his nerves.

Although there had been no physical exertion on the fighters' part, Jungkook's breathing was jerky. His face was closed, eyebrows furrowed as he played with his tongue, caressing the inner corner of his cheek. His closed eyes made him vulnerable to his opponent, yet Jungkook didn't care. He was trying to channel his nerves and calm down before committing the irreparable.

Although, as an underground fighter, Jungkook avoided having a man's blood on his hands. For the stupidest, most inconsequential thing Jung-Ho could be, for Jungkook's psychological sake, he was trying not to kill him tonight.

But the more obscene things came out of Jung-Ho's foul mouth, the more difficult it became.

From your point of view, everything happened very quickly for the human eye and brain to properly assimilate and transmit what happened to the brain. The only thing you and the supporters knew was that one second, Jung-Ho, a.k.a Bazooka, was standing with a goofy grin, and the next, he was knocked to the ground.

The crowd went wild, and the referee entered the cage to start the countdown to ten. Inwardly and unconsciously, you prayed that Jung-Ho would stay down and that Jungkook would be the big winner.

At the end of the ten seconds, Bullet Fists is crowned the winner after knocking out his opponent.

Once all the evening's fights were over, people went home. It's been almost an hour since everything ended, and still no Jungkook in sight. So you get on with life and work with Minjun and Sohan, who can't stop talking about tonight's fights.

Meanwhile, you continued wiping glasses, Minjun washed and disinfected the counter and worktop, and Sohan cleaned and put away bottles.

"Hey man, what can I get you?" Sohan's voice snaps you out of your concentration, and you rivet your attention to the person he is addressing.

Finally, Jungkook showed up. You couldn't see his full clothes, but he wore a black hoodie. He was kindly seated on the counter's high stool.

"As usual, but give me a triple shot." With that, Sohan grabs the bottle of Whisky and, as requested, pours a triple shot before adding a large diamond-sized ice cube.

Although you try to make eye contact with Jungkook, he seems determined not to meet your gaze. Pretending to be focused on his glass and its contents before drinking it and asking for more.

Finish wiping up and putting away the last glass, you take the bottle of Whiskey from Sohan's hands.

"Don't worry, I'll manage." You dismiss him as he takes the opportunity to grab the mop and take care of the floor.

Meanwhile, you pour the bottle's contents into Jungkook's glass before handing it to him. Reaching for the glass, his fingers brush yours. It's undoubtedly a cliché to say it, but as you do so, a gentle warmth seizes you while an electric current runs through your body, causing goosebumps.

But as if burned by fire, Jungkook quickly moves his hand away from you and sips the drink. You didn't understand this distance on his part. You knew he was ignoring you, but the question was, why?

During your last exchange, everything had gone well, so you didn't understand his hostile behavior towards you. Ignoring all this, you tried an approach.

"Hey, Quasimodo, that was a hell of a fight. What did he say to you, Bazooka, to get you all worked up and send him to dreamland." You try to tease him to dispel the electricity between you.

There's nothing worse in this world than the silent treatment and being ignored by someone. Jungkook heard you all right. You had no doubt about that. You were alone in the room, Minjun having finished his duty while Sohan had gone to put the mop away in its place.

Instead of answering you, Jungkook empties his glass and stubbornly does not address you or even look at you; he gestures for you to serve him again.

"No." Two could play this stubborn game.

Surprised, Jungkook decided to look at you at last, one eyebrow raised as if to ask if you were serious, which you were. You close the bottle and put it back to show him you weren't joking.

Jungkook gives a little laugh, taken aback by your audacity. "All right."

He stands up, throws a bill on the counter, and heads for the exit without giving you another glance.

On the other hand, in total incomprehension, you let out a loud sigh.

"Trouble in paradise, sexy?" Startling you by not having seen him coming, you turn your head to come face to face with a rather severely banged-up Jung-Ho.

"Not in the least." You pretended to be busy so as not to have to interact with the individual. Luckily, you still had Jungkook's glass to wash.

"Can you pour me a drink?" Jung-Ho asks.

"Sorry, but the bar's closed, and I don't know if you realize it, but tonight was pretty hectic, and I just want to go home."

"All right, what do you say we go back to your place, and you buy me a drink?"

The audacity of this guy. What could you say to get him off your back once and for all? It was late at night, and your socializing battery was at minus a thousand, so you were planning to make it clear to him word for word that you weren't interested in him, but you didn't have the time to do it.

You were so absorbed in avoiding Jung-Ho that you hadn't noticed that Jungkook was still present, standing in the middle of the stairs. He had caught all of your interaction with his opponent.

He was determined to ignore you and head home for a hot shower to relax his tense muscles. He would also take the opportunity to treat his wounds before throwing himself on his bed, but once again, you eradicated his plans.

He couldn't ignore the obscene images playing in his head. Imagining everything, Jung-Ho told him he would do to you once the fight ended. He turned around and walked back down the steps towards the bar.

"For fuck's sake, Jungkook." He berates himself as he braves the distance between you.

"Get your stuff, we're going home." And lo and behold, once again, Jungkook holds out the stick to be beaten.

"Excuse me?" Stunned by his nerve. First, he ignores you for no good reason, and now he wants to take you home? What a joke.

"Grab your stuff, and let's get out of here." Minjun and Sohan return from wherever they are and stumble upon a scene they never thought they'd witness, especially from Jungkook.

In all the years the two men had worked in the Den and rubbed shoulders with Jungkook, they'd never seen him in such a state.

"Who's we? You, you mean."

Closing his eyes and sighing, Jungkook blurts, "YN, don't play smart with me. I'm exhausted and want to go home." He finally opens his eyes, and his gaze is dark. "Get your damn things, and let's go home."

"The lady doesn't want to go home with you, buddy. So fuck off." Swings Jung-Ho finds the situation amusing and throws more fuel on the fire.

"You shut up, you prick." Jungkook was ready to knock him out again, but Minjun intervened.

"Okay, guys, let's take it down a notch. The fight's over."

"Here." Sohan hands your jacket and bag before gently pushing you out from behind the bar.

"See you Tuesday," Minjun tells you as you walk past him.

"All right, I'm going home, but definitely not with you." You walk past a greatly annoyed Jungkook and pretend to ignore him as you put your leather jacket back on before adjusting your bag over your shoulder.

"I'm going to kill her," Jungkook mutters to himself before taking you by the hand and dragging you to the exit.

"What the fuck, man? I can walk on my own."

Suddenly, just as you'd reached level zero and were walking down the short corridor to the exit, Jungkook pushed you against the wall, trapping your body between the wall and his body.

"Don't play with my nerves, princess. I think I've had enough for tonight."

"Then leave me alone and go home." You shake off his hold and leave the building before starting to walk in the direction of your home.

"Don't be stubborn, YN, and let me take you home."

"How kind of you to come to my aid, my good man. But I can get home just fine on my own." His attitude and mood swings were beginning to make your head spin and play with your nerves.

"Goddammit, woman, get back here." Jungkook couldn't take it anymore. So he runs after you, grabs you in bride mode, being sure you can't get out of his grip, and walks towards his car the opposite way you'd gone.

Arriving at his vehicle, Jungkook unlocks it and opens the passenger-side door before sitting you in the front seat and buckling your seatbelt.

"I know how to buckle myself in. " You clap your hands to ward them off. Your eyes met no sooner than you felt electricity in the air again.

"Great." With that, Jungkook straightens up before slamming the door. He walks around to his car, climbs on the driver's side, puts the keys in the ignition, and starts the vehicle toward your respective homes.

All the way home, you sulked, refusing to speak to him as he had done to you. For his part, Jungkook was seeing red. He gripped the steering wheel angrily, driving like a madman while his knuckles were white.

He wasn't angry with you, even though you didn't listen when he told you to not set foot in the Den, and as usual, you didn't listen to him. No, he was pissed at himself for giving his opponent something to get at and, even worse, for succumbing and getting involved with you once again.

"Fuck." He punches the steering wheel as he accelerates again.

"You're fucking crazy. Slow down; I don't want to die." Once again, he ignored you, and the current speed exceeds 100 km/h.

"Jungkook." You could see that he was no longer present among you; his gaze seemed lost in the vague. You really were going to die tonight because of a fool.

Images of you and Jung-Ho replayed in his head, making him even more angry. But luckily, you had just entered your street. Stopping short in front of his house, Jungkook barely had time to save you from banging your head against the space just above the glove compartment.

"Sick bastard." And with that, you undo your seatbelt and get out of the car, not forgetting to slam the door.

That snapped him out of his delusion. "Shit." He gets out of the car just in time as you circle the car to cross the road and finally return to the comfort of home.

You had two days off, so you would enjoy forgetting this catastrophic evening. But your plans were postponed, as Jungkook managed to pin you against his car and wedge you between it and his muscular body.

"What's the matter with you?" You shouted in his face.

For crying out loud, Jungkook says nothing. Taking your cheeks between his calloused yet gentle hands, he seals your lips. He draws you into a kiss filled with passion and desire but also filled with frustration. His frustrations. Deepening your kiss by inserting his tongue into your mouth and pressing his body to yours, Jungkook takes you out of this world and into a whole new one.

You didn't know why you let that kiss go on. Indeed eager for Jungkook, too. Of their own accord, your hands pass under his sweatshirt, making direct contact with his skin and those iron abs he had. Your lips let themselves be led by his, engaged in a frenzied yet sensual dance, while your tongue was carried away by the rhythm. Your kiss was torrid initially, but Jungkook still built up the intensity.

Your body reacted well to his, fitting together perfectly despite your size difference, like chemical elements that, when stimulated, became incandescent with desire.

You let yourself be carried away by his hands that roamed your body, memorizing every curve. Your hands got lost in his hair, and out of pure reflex, you tugged gently on it, eliciting a grunt of pleasure from him. You both needed oxygen but feared that the reality would spoil everything if you paused to catch your breath. But Jungkook tried anyway and went for your neck.

He leaves his mark as he sucks on the sensitive skin of your neck, in the joint between your neck and shoulder. Running a hand over your back, you feel his broad hand move down to your butt before he takes one of them in his hand. A delicious moan escapes you, going straight into his ear and cock. With his hand still positioned on your butt, Jungkook greedily pulls you against him, pressing you even closer.

You resume your torrid kiss again, which causes you to lose all signs of strength in your legs, and you have to hold on to him to keep from collapsing to the floor. The streets were empty, and the brothel below your house was already closed, given the late hour. Only the moon and stars witnessed your moment.

Your moans mixed with Jungkook's grunts were a sweet melody in your ears. Tongue dancing together, teeth chattering, and his hands on you were the perfect mix to bring you to the gates of Nirvana. You felt that with Jungkook, you had unlocked all the keys to liberate yourself from your condition of suffering, illusion, and ignorance.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. Jungkook is the one who ends your fiery exchange. Yet his body remains glued to yours as he gently rests his forehead against yours, keeping his eyes closed as he inhales your scent, imprinting it once and for all on his mind. Your scent was sweet and bewitching. Your breaths are jerky and violent.

Caressing your cheek with his thumb, Jungkook succumbed to his weakness one last time before ending your exchange.

"You're driving me crazy." His voice was low, weak, and hoarse. "What are you doing to me, princess." And with that, he broke the gentle contact of your bodies and looked at you one last time before heading off to his home, leaving you alone, still leaning against his car, wondering what the hell had just happened.

n/a: I hope you enjoy this short story as much as I do. To ensure you don’t miss the progress of the chapters and their release, don’t forget to check out the Working on and Updates section. There, you’ll find updates on “Fighter” and other stories and “One Shot” that you’ll probably enjoy. Also, don’t forget to check out the Masterlist. You’ll probably find something for you among my other stories in progress and those to come.

Also, don’t forget that if you enjoyed the chapter, please consider buying me a coffee.

Taglist : @variety-is-the-joy-of-life ; @ttanniett

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#jk fighter #yaya #jeon s sins #jungkook x reader #bts fanfic #bts smut #jk boxer #jk underground fighter

[loganthrives]

RimWorld: Anomaly

I want to tell y'all a story.

So. RimWorld's fourth DLC Anomaly released this week, and for the past two days I've been playing it almost non-stop. I'll put it below the cut because its obviously a crapton of spoilers, but I'm just kind of blown away at how much story this DLC adds to the infamous story generator game.

Like, I have over 4,000 hours in this game and this is the first time that its felt like its telling me an actual story.

Spoilers ahead! TW: child death in the context of this cruel cruel video game:

I had this colonist join named Bristle who was described as a "leathery stranger" with a unique ability - he can blow up animals (and people, presumably) with his mind into hunks of twisted flesh. I said, sure, why not! Join my colony, what's the worst that could happen?!

Well, the worst that could happen is he went and studied a monolith on the beach outside of my base and it teleported him into a strange grey labyrinth. Pretty much just as soon as he got here, he's now trapped in some kinda void maze. Great!

It took me a couple of rooms before I noticed the markings on the floor, so once I realized I could read them I examined every single one I could find.

The messages are... Evocative, but they start giving me names. I'm wondering this whole time, who is Raisa? And who is Tom? I checked all of my colonists - I don't have anyone by either name. Are they people I should know? Or... People I haven't met yet?

Fortunately, because Bristle had literally just joined my colony, he came with his own rifle and 12x fine meals, so he could actually bum around and hang out in the labyrinth for a pretty long time. I ended up mapping out the entire thing before his last 6 meals disappeared from his inventory.

I found a couple rooms with fleshspikes - those are these pink little flesh monsters with a giant protruding spike coming out of their heads? - but thanks to Bristle's ability to explode creatures with his mind, I just... Exploded it.

I also found a couple groves of trees underground, a couple of horses randomly, and some bottomless pits. I was tempted to walk over one just to see what would happen (and savescum out of it ofc), but I didn't end up doing it.

I'm really concerned about Tom and Raisa though. Are they okay? Did they make it out?

I'm especially concerned about Tom. That... Doesn't sound okay.

And then I push through yet another door.

This is Raisa... And Tom.

I gasped out loud in real life. Nora came over to check on me because holy shit, that's so sad. Suddenly their notes makes sense. The obelisk abducted a woman and her child, and they got stuck in here for who knows how long. The wounds they had indicated that a fleshspike had done this to them.

I went to the exit - I had found it earlier, I just wanted to keep exploring. Thankfully, everything that had been left behind was kicked out of the labyrinth with Bristle when it collapsed on itself and the obelisk itself vanished from sight.

Including Raisa and Tom. I had to give them a proper burial. Wish I could've done more.

The messages were all from Raisa after she lost her son Tom.

I had done the two researchers one ghoul story start because I wanted to dive right into the DLC, and one of those researchers, Rose, arrived pregnant. Baby Thorn is almost three years old and still doesn't have a name.

Its kind of funny, because when I first landed she idly wandered near the monument, and I had one of those gamer coincidences where she walked by it right at the same time I got the notification that she was pregnant.

So I wound up continuing this colony even though it was a crap start, thinking I'd get some kind of void baby out of the deal? Nope, normal baby, normal birth. He's just chilling in his crib being looked after by the whole community as happy as can be. She must've been pregnant on the screen where I selected her for my colony and I just missed that detail.

Another funny thing about this kid, is that his father is Unknown, and apparently Rose's ex was the ghoul Kaito that I also started with. So, presumably, it was her ghoul (ex) husband's son, but the game's code doesn't seem to be able to link him as the other parent, either because he's a ghoul or because it happened as part of the game's starting conditions. Also she's actually gay on her character sheet, so I dunno how that worked for them? Ehh, I'm not gunna judge.

Anyways, I'm thinking about naming him Tom.

Here's hoping he has a long and full life.

#rimworld #anomaly #anomaly spoilers #tw: death of a young child #in a video game #I see that as potentially triggering even still #anyways I'm invested

[blogthebooklover]

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Possible Theories

Okay, I made a list of possible theories regarding KotPotA. Again, these are just theories until the movie comes out (in like 5 weeks!!!! YAY!!!!!)

Underground Human Community

I'm calling it now, I think there's going to be an underground community of humans who retained their ability to speak. So far, we haven't seen any articles about this, beside the fairly recent Slash Films article about the Forbidden Zone and I am 100% certain this will be the underground human community (or I could be wrong). And I think this will be one of (maybe) a few Easter eggs to Beneath the Planet of the Apes.

SPOILER ALERT

The Human Mutants in BtPotA worship an atomic bomb, and it's one of the reasons why they're disfigured and have psychic abilities. I don't think Kingdom will go that far. I think they'll have humans that retained their intellect and speaking abilities.

2. Noah and the Ark Biblical Story

Again, I'm calling it now (and I think Wes Ball might have mentioned it in an article). Since the main character is named Noa, and Proximus Caesar's domain seems to be an abandoned naval base or some kind of abandoned shipyard with rusted ships. I think this movie will take inspiration from the biblical story of Noah and the Ark; since the "Caesar" trilogy was slightly inspired by the Moses/Exodus story, and the laboratory from Rise was called Gen-Sys (get it? Genesis???) And maybe just a little bit of the David and Goliath story between Noa and Proximus Caesar 🤔.

3. William H. Macy’s character is either Mae’s father, or a leader of the underground human community

I know William H. Macy will be in the movie, and so far he and the filmmakers haven’t revealed what his role will be. I think he’s either going to be Mae’s father, or a leader of the underground human community, or maybe even both. And I think there's the slightest possibility that he might be a human secondary antagonist, since Proximus Caesar is the primary ape antagonist.

4. Raka Knows Sign Language

Since Raka the orangutan seems to be some sort of religious leader/elder, I think he also knows sign language. And I think Raka or maybe Noa will teach Mae sign language.

5. Mae Is Going to Talk or Learn Sign Language (ASL)

So far, it looks like Mae is going to be a silent character. I do think she going to talk at some point during the movie, whether in the second act or later in the third act. I think she will also learn sign language to communicate.

6. Noa Is A Descendant of Caesar

Okay, I know this one is very obvious, and I'm jumping on the bandwagon. I do think Noa is a descendant of Caesar, mainly because he looks a lot like a younger Caesar and Blue Eyes. And even if he's not, that's okay too.

7. Andy Serkis Might Come Back

I'm taking a page out of the YouTube channel, Ape Nation's book here. I do think Andy Serkis might come back as a different character, or maybe (and this is probably highly unlikely) as Caesar in a possible vision/flashback scene for Noa during a very low point or maybe when Noa discovers the truth about the apes’ history.

8. Mae's Name

The recent IMAX trailer showed Noa shouting out for Raka and Nova. I recently found out that "Nova" is the name that the apes call the feral humans. I couldn't find the article confirming this, but Freya Allan said that Noa also calls her character "Echo" at some point during the movie. Personally, I like the name "Mae" for the character (and there's maybe the possibility that it is her real name, but I digress).

#kingdom of the planet of the apes #planet of the apes #rise of the planet of the apes #dawn of the planet of the apes #war for the planet of the apes #beneath the planet of the apes #escape from the planet of the apes #conquest of the planet of the apes #battle for the planet of the apes #william h macy #owen teague #freya allan #andy serkis #woody harrelson #peter macon #pota noa #pota mae #noa #mae #pota nova #pota echo #nova pota #echo pota

[magentasnail]

hello I do not know anything about Undertale but I am interested in hearing about your children! I think I am in a similar situation with Little Nightmares, haha.

OMG THANK YOU I LOVE YOU!!! i can let this information out without feeling too annoying because now i'm answering an ask so it's fine !! it's going to be so long I'm so sorry, but what are we on tumblr for if not to rumble about our interests, right? also i hope the fact you don't know undertale doesn't make this too confusing !! also spoiler warning i guess ??

general world building:

the humans have forgotten about the monsters and magic, they are only remembered in myths and legends (i made a cool thing about it)

all of the humans had a similar experience to us playing the game, they learned about the monster history, made friends and eventually kinda gave up in hope to help the monsters

right so, first human: chara!

chara is already in the game, but I think i made them the richest backstory

"chara" is a nickname, their name is actually character. they were bullied for that name and they really hate it, wishing they could get any other name (like what happens at the start of the game!)

they were named character because of an old tradition to name kids based on the first word you see in the spell book that runs in their family. however the book is encrypted, and their parents ended up on a random character they couldn't read.

they didn't get along with the other kids in school, and were trying to study their behavior so they can understand them better by taking notes of what they said and drawing their facial expressions (the way text is shown in the game!)

eventually, they came to the conclusion they don't like the other children and don't want to be like them, so they decided to learn how to push them away (by making scary faces!)

always get red eyes in photos

next: patience soul! i'll be honset i wrote these stories 6 years ago, i think everyone had names but i don't remember them anymore, so all the children will now be called their soul trait gbfdjfd

patience was a girl from chara's village, and chara's only friend! or well chara was patiance only friend. their parents were friends so when they hung out patience and chara were left to play together. patience liked chara as she was home school and didn't get to play with other kids, while chara was mostly annoyed about the whole thing and felt like patience friendship wasn't genuine, as they were forced into hanging out

she really likes cute things, like dressing cute and putting on make up! she introduced chara to make up which ended up helping chara make scary faces (such as melty face look)

she wanted to be a Dr when she grows up, hence the toy knife (meant to be like a surgery knife for children) and the bandages at the flowey fight

when chara left to the mountain, patience just waited for them to come back. they waited and waited, until asriel got to the village. only then they decide to go to the mountain. they found out chara died very shortly after getting underground, and so lost their determination and was killed easily.

they got to the underground right after asgore declared war against humanity, asogre probably hoped it will take a while for a human to arrive but one fell down and was killed really soon! this just made more sense to me for why toriel left without talking asgore out of it, and why she hates him so much. things escalated really quick

bravery soul!

youngest brother of like 5 older brothers and a single dad.

his brothers always bullied him for being soft and girlie (I also considered him being afab but im not sure !)

got the worn boxing gloves his dad used to have when he was young, they have big holes and patches

also maybe his mom died when he was born, and she was also a red head like him, which is part of the femininity stuff ?

as part of a prank, his brothers dared him to go to the mountain and come back to prove himself thinking he won't go, but he did!

didn't stay with toriel because he was in a rush to get home to prove his brothers he did it

integrity!! this is where me not being a native english speaker gets me because I'm not sure what integrity means and it ruined their backstory a bit! I used to treat it as "being true to yourself" but now I think it's more about staying true to your morals, which is a bit different oops !

amab and nonbinary! their mom used to be a ballet dancer and now is a ballet teahcer

they were the only male student, and were jealous and hurt that all the girls got to wear tutus but them, and thought it wasn't fair

they sneakily stole their mom old dusty tutu from the attic and were secretly practicing in their room, until they were caught

they felt so guilty and ashamed that they ran away from home to the mountain

toriel reminded them of their mom, and how worried she must be, so they didn't stay with her

perseverance!!

kindness' little sister!

while looking for books in the library, she stumbled upon and old and encrypted spell book (yes this is the book that was in chara's family!) after a lot of hard work she learned how to decrypt it using some context clues, and with it she learned about the monsters and magic and even a few spells!

when she tried talking about her findings nobody took her seriously, and people at her school made fun of her

even her brother was trying to be supportive but didn't really believe her, which prompted her to run away to the mountain to prove everyone the monsters are real and she's right

in the underground, she was able to use her spells! like the unused spell option in the original battle menu! she also befriended Gerson as they shared their love to history, and she gave him her notebook and glasses (as they were fogging up too much to see out of anyway) as a parting gift! (maybe she also casted a duplication spell on them, considering the infinite supply at his store?)

also she didn't stay with Toriel because she was focused on getting back home to show everyone she was right at that stage

kindness!

perseverance older brother !

honestly, he's just a cutie that likes to cook! will often make and food just for sharing with his classmates

when perseverance was sad that nobody was taking her seriously, he went to make her favorite food to cheer her up. she wasn't answering him for a bit and assumed she just locked herself in her room because she was sad, so he gave her some time until eventually he decided to come in to check on her and realized she ran away through the window

he was probably a few hours behind her on the adventure, both as he gave her time, and he checked up a few places before going to the mountain, and he was more lost and confused than her when it came to exploring (also he was wearing flip flops still, which slowed him down)

didn't stay with Toriel because he was determined to find his sister, but then he found out she sacrificed herself, and decided to join her (both for the monsters and for her sake out of guilt)

justice!! she's the only one I know their name! her name is mustard !! just like undertale yellow I was tempted to call her clover based on the "clover" shooting from her gun at the flowey fight, but actually according to the file name this is not a clover but a flower! and mustard has a yellow flower with 4 petals and it's cute !!

moved to the village near the mountain with her family only recently, and this was their first Halloween in the town! and actually her first Halloween ever, as where she used to live they didn't celebrate it

she loves cowboys ! her grandpa was an actor in old cowboy films, he passed before she was born so she only know him through these films, and thinks he was a real cowboy

the gun she has is his old gun, that she got from her dad for her costume

she saw a group of bullies picking up on a younger child and trying to steal his candy, so she jumped to protect him saying she has a gun, but that didn't go very well as that terrified the small child and made them ran away. she tried to ran after them but ended up getting lost on the mountain

didn't stay with toriel because she wanted to return to her parents who must have been worried for her

lastly we got frisk!! i didn't get much background for frisk but more like a bunch of headcanons about them

probably homeless? and honestly, might have hit their head when climbing the mountain and suffer from amnesia, so they don't know their backstory either so it's fine!

really need glasses! explaining the small eyes and the whole game being pixelated and the small screen size, they just can't see

when asriel said frisk and chara have similar fassion choices he didn't mean like the striped shirt (as all children wear striped shirts) but like the way they have an under layer, cargo shorts for more pockets (also inventory space has to do with how many pockets you have!!) and boots !

fell underground the same age chara did, so like 10? and chara spent like a year underground

went to the mountain because it was some sort of a calling? they didn't really understand why but they felt like they needed to

also this is a headfanon but I'm for frisk and chara being far relatives!

wooo we did it all humans !!! now some extra general stuff:

the red soul's trait is love!!

all the humans came back to life after the asriel fight!!! and their body were fully healed and fine! Asgore probably bandaged them as he buried them in the coffins, and when they woke up (and opened chara's coffin seeing it's empty) they left their bandages there explaining the mummy wrapping that appear

considering it's been decades since some of them fell down, they had no where to go after this, and were all adopted by toriel! which also motivated her to open the school ! this idea of all of them being roomates and living together is what sparked all of this in the first place, i just really wanted to have a blog where people ask me things as them

at the end of the flowey fight, all of their soul traits "evolved", as seen with the color change when you ask for help, completing their character arc. all of them were helping flowey as part of their flaw, but frisk calling for help helped them change. for example, just as patience was always waiting to see what will happen, she wasn't trying to stand up to flowey, but she learned to be more brave and act! bravery learned to stop complying to every dare he gets and stand for himself and so on.

and that's everything i think !! if you made it all this way you get a sticker! i hope this helped with whatever boredom you were facing !

now i can stop worrying about how their story will never be out there, as it is now! and if nobody cares that's fine !!

#this has taken me hours to write but it was worth it #no im not going to proof read this #ocs #my ocs #oc backstory #oc #undertale #undertale souls #undertale headcanons #fallen children #undertale fallen children #undertale fallen humans #fallen humans #the souls #love #patience #bravery #integrity #perseverance #kindness #justice #woooo #chara undertale #undertale chara #frisk undertale #undertale frisk #frisk #chara #original character