#its been some times but yeah i did it with speedy | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ns-imagines · 10 months

Text

What they drive

141 Guys x domestic/everyday life

SFW | Word Count: 1.4k | Headcannons

**Long post with lots of pictures!

A/N: I dunno much about cars but I always wonder what the boys would be driving. See what they’re picking me up in for date night… this is just for fun and highlights the modern life they have outside of missions. Also the gif of Soap falling on the car took me out lmao. Not requested. -Kiv

John Price

A man who takes pride in his vehicles. He has two Chevy trucks. A nice truck for everyday use and a project truck. The perfect person to talk to if you are thinking of purchasing a car or truck. Price has got the “dealership scam” game down. You'll be leaving the lot with a good deal.

The project car being a 1985 Chevy C10. Price is always going on about how “this is every man's dream car to work on”. He says it everytime he opens the garage. Without fail! It's got a classic blue color with a few rust spots but, nothing a good layer of paint can't fix. Its the 90s car from the movies. Nothing else to say about it!

Ahh the project car. Price works on it when he can. Set up a lawn chair, get a glass of lemonade, and just watch that man work. Sometimes hell even explain to you what he’s doing. That is if you can even pay attention. There’s something so attractive about a man talking about what he’s passionate about all sweaty with a nice pump. HEY, wipe that drool off your face.

Price’s personal truck is nice. It gets him from point A to B. Everything on it is stock. He’ll always tell you hes gonna sell it once his project car has been fixed. But there’s still quite a lot to do on the project car. Its a 2012 Chevy Silverado in cherry black with a covered bed. Good on gas and can pull a trailer or boat! He doesn’t invest money in it for other than maintenance costs.

It smells specifically like “Lakeside Morning” from Bath and Body works car scents. The packaging is what got him. It was honestly super cute when he read the package out loud. “Smells like: Cool, Sweet, Fresh, and alone time on the dock” followed by a shrug and him throwing it into his cart. Does he even fish?

Oh, whenever he turns a corner in the Silverado theres a thud coming from the bed. Its a cooler that has been there FOREVER. He swears he’s going to take it out. Price brought it when 141 met for a cook out and some beers a few months ago.

Kyle “Gaz” Garrick

Don’t ask about the APR please. Kyle is going to use this bad girl till it breaks. Its his dream car. Price took him away from base to get a better rate for it! Its fast its speedy its a 2015 Ford Shelby GT350. Oh yeah racing stripes and all. He got it wrapped in a matte ocean blue. Im talking leather seats, tinted windows, and custom wheel.

Kyle loves this car and will always offer to pick you up. Ur always going to be passenger princess. Kyle always drives up reallll slow, rev the engine a little, and rolls down the window to smile big at you. He gets the door for you when you are both approaching the car. Don’t test him. He will literally sprint to get the door for you. An actual cutiepie

Hes so damn cute when it comes to long drives. Hand on your thigh and singing to the music together. Expect spontaneous trips!! He doesn’t even know where you guys are headed today.

Loves to speed up when there no cars in front of him. That feeling of the car pushing into you the sear is his favorite. Kyle is definitely the type to lightly bang on the steering wheel and go “Wooooooo” when returning to the normal speed limit. Hehe. Hope it didn’t freak you out too much. You will without a doubt get a few reassuring thigh squeezes.

Classic Black Ice scent. Cant go wrong with it! Its his car’s signature sent if you ask him. Kyle keeps his car clean. Theres a few half empty water bottles in the back but never straight up trash. He makes sure to buy the premium wipes for the interior. Like I said that car is his baby. Ugh did i mention the sound system?! Its absolutely amazing. You can feel the bass in your bones. Literally sounds like you’re in an air pod pro.

John “Soap” Mactavish

His car is the hangout car. Like if were going out with boys were taking Soaps car. He drives a pearl colored 2020 Honda Accord. He ordered the under the seat lights and everything. Its actually a vibe in there. The music changes the lights or he has an app on his phone to change the color. Another amazing sound system tbh.

Similar to Gaz the glovebox in the car is yours. He even puts stuff in there for you as a surprise :,). Sweet baby Johnny. Like one time you got in the car like usual and opened the glovebox to grab chapstick or some perfume/cologne and sitting on the car instruction manual was a bag/box of ur favorite snack. When you looked back over, Johnny was looking back at you with a big derpy smile.

Since his car is the hangout car it can get messy pretty easily. He has to do “trash runs” to empty the random things people leave in his car. Dont get it wrong, It isnt nasty with random food left behind!! Soap has tried those like little trash cans on Amazon but they always end up lost under the back seats.

Johnny always goes with New Car Smell. He doesn’t have a specific brand he likes he just gets whatever’s at the gas station at the time. He also has the bad habit of never locking his car. Soap swears he always forgets to but you think its just a habit at this point.

CEO of spontaneous trips. You would never believe how much camping stuff his car can hold. Soap will give him car encouraging words as it struggles to go up the hills to the hike or camping site. He always keeps an emergency box under the passenger seat. Its shaped like tackle box. It has a first aid kit, some portable batteries with chargers, flares, and an emergency flash light. Last time you both went camping he was so excited to show you the random hatchet he bought. He keeps it in the trunk for no reason. I mean, he cant have it in the barracks so you suppose it makes sense.

Simon “Ghost” Riley

Simon currently owns two bikes. Hes in the process of selling his old one. Which is a chameleon purple painted 2006 Suzuki GSXR600 with 750 cc. It gave him a good year and half off rides. He took care of it and rode it to its top speeds. It has a scuff on the side from when he tried to do a wheelie but, he was going to slow and had to jump off before it fell to its side. Your heart sunk when it happened. Ghost was super embarrassed because he thought he had it down. He’ll never tell you though.

After a long deployment where he was getting quite a big of hazard pay (extra pay when you’re in a dangerous location) he saved it all up. As soon as he got back he bought a black 2021 Honda Rebel 1100 DCT. This bike is fast but it’s more for cursing. Trust that he’ll ride it to its max speed at least once for the adrenaline rush.

Bought you a matching jacket. He wont say anything about it being matching but you noticed almost after putting it on. Best part about riding is when you get to wrap your arms around his waist. Simon always makes sure to take it slow especially if you get nervous on bikes. Don’t even try to do your hair. He wont move the bike unless you have the right gear on. Ghost doesn’t wanna lose you from an accident.

You are probably wondering what he does when it rains… or maybe you already knew he chooses to ride anyway. I promise though that after a ride in the rain he will slightly complain about how wet the road was. It makes you worry because so much could happen with one slip. Simon will always reassure you that he’s an experienced rider. If you pick him up in your car he won’t be upset. Definitely wont say no to a free and dry ride!

#cod x reader #simon ghost riley #john soap mactavish #john price #kyle gaz garrick #simon riley x reader #soap x reader #price x reader #gaz x reader #cod headcanons #call of duty x reader #cod mw3

350 notes · View notes

yourlocalstranger123 · 1 year

Note

Hi! its me again.do u write for the side characters too?if yes can u do a hc of how they would react if a really short MC can pick them up?if u don't write them can u do it for the bros btw can I be ✨anon?thx in advance!

YES! hiii ✨️ anon!

Obey me! x short! Reader

How do they react to short! MC picking them up?

Damn, you're hella strong.

[Part 1]

Part 2 (side characters)

Sorry in advance, some of the pictures idk who they came from.

Characters: obey me, brothers.

Bold is reader. (Reader is like dominant)

Warning; long, slight begging(light), good boy mentions, VERY VERY SLIGHT sussy, ¡!cringe!¡ (I need help with my life)

Note; the picture is an example/how they look like. You'll understand when you read one of them.

~Oldest to youngest~

LUCIFER

Twitter artist: kuso_gk666

Lucifer was in his office as usual, doing work. Although today would be his last day of his pride.

"Luci! You promised me you would sleep!"

"Ah, sorry dear. Just few more papers, I'll go to sleep."

You knew he wouldn't only do a few papers.

"Luci, you don't want me to do this."

"Pfft, what are you gonna do? Pick me up?"

As he said smirking, looking down to you. 'Your just too short' He thought.

"Yes."

"Wha—"

He flinched when he didn't feel his feet on the ground. He looked at you baffled. His face was red as his eyes. He didn't expect that!

"P– put me down now!"

"Awww, did someone's pride been broken into pieces by short little me~?"

You gave him a smirk, snarking at him. His face was so easy to read. He really thought you could do nothing because of your height? Oh he was so wrong. You went on the bed but did not let go.

"[Name], were already on the bed. Put me down already!"

You wouldn't let go that easily now would you?

"Say the special word then."

He was confused. 'What special word?' He thought.

"Hah...I guess I just have to tell you. Beg."

He was bewildered by your response. He tried covering his face but you grap his wrists so he couldn't cover his face.

"I guess I'm not letting you go now."

He doesn't want you to let go He looked away, hesitantly....

"Please.....[name]?"

Augh- that hit you right in the heart. You let go of him, slowly putting him on the bed. Putting the blankets over him.

"Good boy. Now that wasn't so hard is it?—"

He felt the smirk on his hand that was covering your mouth.

"Sh- shut. Let's just go to sleep."

Now you do it every time he does this. He always expects this. His face shows annoyance but you knew...He loves it

MAMMON

Twitter artist: kurekachan

Note; well I didn't originally found this on Twitter, I was on Reddit and I saw the art and in the comments, the person who posted it linked the artist and told me it was in Twitter and the account. I didn't press the link so if I was wrong I am so sorry

"Pfft, wow. Never thought I would see the great Mammon get tied hanging upside-down."

"H– hey!.....augh, lets not talk about this, let me down!"

You didn't budge and just looked straight in the eyes. He knew what you wanted, you wanted him to beg for it.

".....please, pretty please [name]!"

You quickly untied him but he still didn't feel his feet touch the ground. You were carrying him! Just how??? You were so short!

"Let's go shopping, yeah?"

His eyes brighten up, although the tip of his ears is still bright red.

"Are you gonna let me down now?"

You didn't awnser and just ran out of the door.

Rumor was that there was a speedy midget carrying someone to the mall with the avatar of greed

He wonders why you bought some bunny ears.

LEVIATHAN

Twitter artist obm_kuki

You guys wanted to go home, play some video games and watch anime. But Levi got a twisted ankle from running too fast and tripping, and this is how you got here.

"I can still walk!"

"With what workable leg."

"My right one!"

"...you damn know that you cannot walk unless you drag yourself right?"

"...."

"Hahh....I guess I gotta—"

*swoop*

"AaaAAaAH?!"

You made a mental reminder to buy some earplugs. Damn you almost needed a docter-

"P- put me down!"

"No. You have a twisted ankle AND no one is literally Here beside us so no one is gonna see us. Jeez."

"Fine...."

*later*

"PFFT AHAHAHAHAHAHA, I CANT— BREA- BREATHE!" Asmodeus was laying down, gasping for air. While the other brothers were trying to not laugh. Attempt failed Apparently, your other friend (me 🤭) posted you two on media, and Asmodeus saw it.

Now Levi is in his room, not even budging when hearing a conversation about ruri - Chan or his beloved video games. Although he did want to just bust down the door when he heard you talking about a new game. He is the one who is supposed to do that with you! My, my! So jealous

Perhaps he would come outside if you come in his room and convince him?

SATAN

Damn....Satan may have mistaken your alcohol as water.

Welp! It's your responsibility, not mine! Cya—

"Hgnh....[name] don't go!~"

Great. He can't correctly walk anymore, and if I leave him alone he'll destroy everything if something goes wrong! What did you do shortie? You picked him up.

"Ah— oh! Pfft, why are you picking me up? What? Am I a cat or something? Haha!"

You can smell the awful smell of alcohol from him.

*later that day*

"Why is Satan screaming and running around? And why is he red?" Beel asked, concerned also because he could destroy everything. And the kitchen!

"Well apparently [name] picked him up but he kept bothering them. So [name] decided to prank them when he gets sober up. [Name] put him in a maid dress with cat ears and tail, then they made a video. And Satan remembers when [name] picked him up." Lucifer told beel, as he glared at the laughing Asmodeus.

Yeah, Asmodeus didn't go unharmed well he did since he can't get his precious skin get damaged! but the area around him didn't.

Video;

"You like the outfit hm?"

Yeah! I- its like a cat!"

His word slurred but you still understood.

"Can you say that you won't ever drink anything that's mine without permission?"

"AhEm, I won't ever drink anything that's yours without permission!"

"Good boy—"

Satan turned it off quickly. Embarrassed, he still remembers so vividly of the warmth of your hand on his face. How he felt when you said 'good boy.'

ASMODEUS

Obey me

It's his birthday! You wanted to take a picture of him. After you took the picture you noticed he didn't move.

"Hey, let's go. We don't wanna miss your party now do we?"

"Of course darling! It's just....I think my leg gave out on me—

oh– oh my!"

"This fits you as a pReTtY LiTtLe PriNcEsS."

"H- hey!...well that was pretty funny"

You smirked at his confession. You could never get tired of his beautiful smile.

"But I didn't expect you were so strong but yet so short!"

"...."

'Damn....he was right though' you thought.

You both went in the party, it was truly a good day. Soon to be a good night. He surely would have a beautiful lustful smile.

BEELZEBUB

Twitter artist: SnailTato

You saw him in strength many times. Now you wonder how strong you were! And thats how you and Beel got here.

"[Name], I don't think this is a good idea though. Are you sure?"

"Yup! I am NOT gonna go back to my words. Heh."

You had to do some convincing that you wouldn't be squished by him. He shut his eyes then he jumped, he felt arms carrying him. He opened his eyes and saw you....how??? You were so short though! And He was huge!

"See! I'm strong enough!"

*later*

Beel was piggy-back riding on you, Diavolo was impressed by your strength! Luci was very, very concerned. He was ready to put a safety magic spell just for in case. You also gifted Beel pocky sticks. But he was still hungry, for your warmth. Maybe you could hold his hands/body in a different way hm?

BELPHEGOR

Deviantart artist: il-lumee

You were so tired of waking up and seeing belphie sleeping on the floor beside you with a pillow and a blanket. Like seriously! If you wanted to sleep near our wonderful, darling [name] then just sleep on the bed not the floor and if there's no space just wake them up.

As much it was rather cute, but still no.

The next day, you stayed awake but pretended to sleep. You heard the door creaking and a loud

*thud!*

He fell didn't he....you stood up and walked to him. He woke up but still half asleep. Until he saw your face and didn't feel the ground.

He jolted

"Stop moving around, where did this sudden burst of energy from the avatar of sloth, you sleepy head."

Well how do you feel when you see a shortie picking you up!

You set him on the bed, you spoon him.

(He probably likes being the big and small spoon)

He sighs. Well, at least he doesn't have to sleep on the hard floor just to be next to you. He falls asleep as he snuggles closer to you.

677 notes · View notes

raven-at-the-writing-desk · 1 year

Note

Do you think Kalim’s unique magic has healing properties or at least promotes growth in plants? In chapter 4 the rain made everyone feel better(though I imagine getting a drink of water after THAT work out would be good either way) and after a few days the oasis grew back. I know after rain fall in a desert plant life grows back, it just seemed like Kalim’s magic made it grow faster.

In the game itself, Kalim's unique magic, Oasis Maker, is described as being able to produce a large amount of water using only a miniscule amount of magic. Additionally, as noted by both Kalim and Grim, the water that he conjures is the most pure and delicious around.

There are no other explicit mentions of additional effects or properties, but I think the idea of Kalim's water having the power to heal is a neat concept. I'm not going to count the act of drinking the water since these homies just marched through a desert so any hydration would feel like a godsend). However, the actual physical properties of the water could be such that it provides more relief over normal water. For example, water that has been enhanced with electrolytes can replace some of the minerals that have been lost via sweating excessively. Grim also comments on the temperature of the water being perfect--not too cold, not too warm.

The example brought up of the oasis becoming lush again is really interesting! I believe that Kalim casts his UM once there (to refresh the students), but the oasis is still dried out the second time Scarabia comes to the oasis. The third and final time they pay the oasis a visit is at the very end of the episode, and the place has suddenly become lush and full of water again. Since the events of episode 4 take place over what is winter break, this means that it took about a week or a little over a week for the oasis to be restored. I actually don't know if this is possible in real life or if that's a realistic recovery time 💦 When I looked it up, Google tells me that it usually takes a few weeks to a month minimum to see change in a dehydrated plant. If we're using that as a point of comparison then yeah, the oasis blessed with Kalim's UM water did indeed experience a speedy restoration to its former glory. This could imply that Oasis Maker water has other benefits that aren't clearly exposited in the narrative or the dialogue.

What I find really cool about this idea is that it seems plausible enough given the lore and the attitudes of the characters surrounding Kalim's magic. Kalim himself doesn't think of it as a big deal; he says that maybe it would have been really useful back in the old days before potable drinking water was readily avaliable in arid areas, but nowadays it's pretty useless with how accessible water is. (Think of Silk City's canals and modern irrigation system!) However, Azul points out to Kalim that he's casually overlooking the true power he has. The game kind of just goes for a joke about Azul's greed (as he laments how profitable Oasis Maker could be), but in a sense, Azul's right. Kalim can do so much more with his abilities, it's just that he doesn't know how to really apply them and he underestimates what he can do.

Let's think of it like this: sure, the Scalding Sands are fine with their water. But you know who isn't? The Afterglow Savanna. The people there are pretty opposed to anything that interferes with their philosophy of living in harmony with nature; some of them live on well water which may not be entirely safe all the time--but with Oasis Maker, Kalim could literally make it rain clean, safe to drink water for all their needs with just a smidgen of magic. Even better, because the water comes down like natural rain would, it doesn't harm nature (and in the case where his water does have healing properties, it would actually promote the growth of plants). In other contexts, Kalim's UM could do immense good. (My thought is that perhaps since Kalim grew up so privileged, he takes some things for granted and therefore doesn't think too much in depth about things outside of his immediate environment or people who are lacking what he already has an abundance of?)

Kalim seems to adopt a somewhat flippant attitude towards his UM; he doesn't hate it or anything, but he definitely talks it down. He doesn't really seem to think it's useful or has large applications outside of reenergizing his friends-and for him, that's enough! Kalim's happiest when others are happy, and they can all sing and dance together, just like the incantation to his UM says. It's possible, then, that he didn't bother experimenting with Oasis Maker to determine its other properties outside of just producing nice water (which would sort of explain why Kalim doesn't see its broader uses, but a big brain like Azul, who is far more results oriented, can).

ADDENDUM: Interesting detail on Dorm Uniform Kalim; with M3 (magic 3) that comes with his third uncap, he has a healing water spell.

#Kalim Al-Asim #Azul Ashengrotto #twst theory #twst theories #twisted wonderland theory #twisted wonderland theories #twst #twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #question #notes from the writing raven #spoilers #Grim

177 notes · View notes

violetsiren90 · 7 months

Text

All I Haven't Said | Namjoon/Reader

💜 Chapter 3: Part 1 💜

Table of Contents: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3 (part 1), Chapter 3 (part 2)

Pairing: idol!Namjoon/f!Reader

Genre: Soulmate AU; idol AU; chapter fic; strangers to lovers; a bit of idiots to lovers, tbh; slow burn; eventual romance; eventual smut; angst (life is messy & hearts are complex); OT7 featured

Summary: You found your soulmate - or rather, he found you. Turns out he's an idol of much acclaim who needs you for very real and unglamorous reasons. What could become of two hearts so used to giving of themselves when they are confronted with needing each other?

Chapter Word Count: ~6k

Chapter Warnings: This fic is 18+, as is all my work and my page as a whole; Talk and depictions of cancer, its treatment, and the symptoms of both; implication of some disregard for personal agency by entertainment industry; character experience and description of disassociation; flashbacks of a distressing situation; soulmate skinship; cursing; conversations surrounding soulmates and sex; character experiences an emotional breakdown; light embarrassment; CONFLICT (you knew it was coming, right?), there is plenty of fluffy stuff too I PROMISE 😂😅

Author's Note: Wow. It's been a minute. If you're still reading this story, thank you for sticking with me, and I apologize for the stretch of time between updates. For the longest time, I just couldn't get this part right...and then it was far too long, so I split it up, and I'm still editing the second, and (potentially) third parts. I got several messages from readers who were worried I might have abandoned this fic, and let me assure you, far from it! I am not a speedy writer, and struggle with doubting if what I'm putting on the page is good enough, so sometimes it takes me a minute to update, but let me assure you, these characters are so special to me and so alive in me, and I ask thank you for your patience as I work to tell their story! Thank you for your lovely words of encouragement and feedback on the story - I appreciate each and every one of them!!

P.S. If you want to join the tag list, drop me a comment or ask!

P.P.S. If no one has told you yet today, you're loved and worthy of love! 🧜‍♀️💜

"I needed the light of your energy, I looked around, devouring hope."

~Pablo Neruda

Chapter 3: My Windows Ache

"FUCKING FINALLY."

"Hey, Di."

"How dare you ghost me for the forty-eight most interesting hours of your life?!"

"Well, I was low-key occupied..."

"TELL ME EVERYTHING."

You sighed, settling down on a shaded bench in the garden grounds of the hospital to which you had escaped for a little privacy and an important phone call or two.

"Uh oh. That was your 'things are complicated' sigh," Diana prodded.

Your eyes tracked a swallowtail as it flitted from azalea to azalea.

"Well, things certainly aren't conventional or straight-forward, that's for sure. But where's the fun in understanding the basic parameters of what you're getting yourself into on a life-altering scale, right?"

"Ummmm...what does that mean? You met him, right?"

You could barely hear your sister's question over the crinkle of plastic in the background.

"Yeah, I did. We bonded too."

"Oh mah gah!!" Diana choked out amidst sounds of crunchy chewing. "So what's he like?"

You thought for a moment.

"He's kind and intelligent. Obviously extremely resilient. His presence is impressive, but he has something about him that's very disarming. He's kind of clumsy and at moments almost...shy? Like, I don't know what I expected, but there's this sweetness to him that you wouldn't anticipate from someone in his position."

"As a cancer patient?"

"As an idol."

You sighed again.

"I don't know...he's..."

Diana let out a strangled sound and uttered an enthusiastic string of words you couldn't make out.

"I have no idea what you just said. Could you please decide whether you want to talk to me or consume an entire bag of Doritos?"

"Hey, it's dinner time here!" she whined, "And I said," her voice quickly changed to take on a smug sing-song tone, "That last sigh was your smitten-kitten one..."

"It was not!" you cut her off sharply. "And get every single idea of Namjoon and I as a couple out of that scheming head of yours because he's very much taken. I'm meeting his fiancée for lunch today."

"What? He's engaged?"

Diana let out an exasperated huff.

"Why didn't they tell you about this right off the bat? You're going to be the soulmate of a married man? What does that even mean? This is bullshit."

You had a hard time disagreeing with her there. It was, in fact, bullshit that Namjoon's team had kept his relationship status a secret. Would it have changed your decision? Probably not. This had been about saving Namjoon's life, not some bizarre attempt at matchmaking. But having a third person to consider, and so intimately, as part of the equation for the rest of your earthly life felt like something you should have been made more immediately aware of. Navigating your boundaries with your soulmate had already been complex enough without introducing the prospect of being a fixture in his married life. When Namjoon had breached the prospect of meeting her, he had been taken aback at your surprise - he, like you, had assumed that Hybe's representation had disclosed everything of significance.

"So it's a good thing I came here as a lifeline, not a mail-order bride," you reminded your sister, "And that seems to be working, by the way. His vitals are already stable. They stabilized overnight, in fact. And his white blood cell count was way up this morning, which is good because I guess he was experiencing immunosuppression from the chemo."

"Oh, nice," Diana murmured.

You had to remind yourself that she was young and excitable, and not to be annoyed at the disappointment that he crept into her tone. However, never one to be down for long, her voice brought its usual bright mischief through the speaker as she posed her following question.

"By the way...how was bonding?"

She had said it with an inescapably salacious undertone, which is why, you told yourself, heat had begun to creep up the base of your neck. You stammered, switching the phone from one ear to the other as you bought yourself time to reassemble your decorum.

"Ah...I mean...it was...intense?"

"Ooooohhhh," Diana trilled, only making you more uncomfortable as the heat spread from your neck to your cheeks, "Intense, huh? Like in a good way?"

You squirmed uncomfortably where you sat, thoughts of Namjoon's pleasure-stricken face and the strength of his hand and how his skin felt against your own hitting your hippocampus like a flash flood.

"Y/n?"

"It was fine, okay? And it worked - so that's what's important."

"....Okaaay..." Diana drawled skeptically.

You scrambled for another talking point.

"That kid visited. The one who came to the States - Jungkook. And another one of the members too - Jim...Jimin? I'm still trying to get their names straight. Some of them don't go by their actual names on stage - Namjoon is RM...but you knew that. Anyway, I digress. Both the boys were really sweet. Seems like they're all very close. I'm supposed to meet the rest of the members at some point next week at dinner. They wanted to have a sort of 'last supper' for us since we're probably going to start rejecting food soon."

"That's cool, you get to meet the whole team! Oh my gosh, you're just going to casually have dinner with BTS...this is still so unreal!"

"Yep," you affirmed, a smile tugging at the corner of your mouth.

Namjoon had hit you with a couple of whoppers last night, but this was one you were actually looking forward to. You told Diana all about your first two days in Seoul - about the impressive hospital and its kind staff. About meeting Namjoon, and his condition. About how everything was still so fresh and new. About how so many things were still unsettled, so many questions unanswered.

"So are you nervous?"

"About what?"

"Meeting his girlfriend."

You had been so wrapped up in filling Diana in on it all that you had actually forgotten about the impending lunch date. As you pulled the phone away from your ear to check the time, your stomach lurched.

"Shit, I better get going. It's almost eleven-thirty." You sprang up and started quickly back toward the building.

"That wasn't an answer," Diana scoffed, "But, hey, sis?"

"Yeah?" You pressed the "up" button on the elevator.

"Don't be."

You smiled.

"Love you, Di."

"Love you too. And so does anyone worth a damn."

After deciding that you smelled like outside, you showered quickly then slipped into caramel-colored corduroys and an off-white tee. You rummaged around the small suitcase Matt had brought from the hotel for you in search of a sweater. After several exasperating minutes of unsuccessful digging, you heaved the bag of laundered clothes that had been returned to you by the hospital staff this morning, having gone through much of the what the Hybe staff had initially pilfered from your luggage in the last two days.

You grumbled in relief as you pulled out your dark green cardigan and slipped it over your shoulders, wondering what the hell the hospital laundry services had done to stretch it out so badly. But, you didn't have time to fuss - so you bunched up the sleeves and headed to the opposite end of the hospital's outdoor grounds where you suspected Namjoon and his guest were already waiting.

The hospital grounds were extensive and beautiful, sporting a garden that extended from the western wing, and a lawn punctuated by traditional pavilions to the east. He had pointed out the one he had reserved to you last night - tucked away in the shade of the large gingko trees flanking the little man-made stream that delineated the border of the grounds.

As you made your way toward the shady spot you chided yourself for being so uneasy - everyone surrounding your soulmate had been as lovely and warm and welcoming as he had been, and the woman he loved would likely be no exception. After Namjoon had disclosed that she was a musician like he was, you had done a bit of online recon before going to bed that night.

Her given name was Kim Hyung-seo, but her stage name, by which she was well-known, was Bibi. She was four years Namjoon's junior, but seemed nearly as ambitious. From what you could tell, she seemed to share a similar drive for artistry and honesty in her musical process as her future husband, and though her tendency for loose-canon candidness had landed her in hot water more than once, her earnest sincerity had engendered her to the hearts of her peers and fans alike. In an industry that seemed to often censor and restrict women, Hyung-seo didn't seem to give much credence to the rules. You liked that. You were actually kind of excited to get to know her a bit and ask her about her art - you had always been a woman's woman, and being in the company of strong feminine energy was something you found deeply empowering and grounding. You anticipated that your soulmate's girlfriend was someone you could respect, and you allowed yourself to venture to hope that feeling would be mutual.

You trotted up the steps of the pavilion and took in its contents. The center had been fitted with a low, round table bearing a colorful and mouthwatering spread of gogi, bibim guksu, gimbap, and banchan. Cushions had been placed on the floor for seating, but none bore the lunch companions you had been anxious not to keep waiting. You were about to take your place at the table when a figure moving near the creek caught your eye.

You moved to the far side of the structure, to see your soulmate deeply engaged in conversation...with a duck.

He was standing near the edge of the water, his tall figure clad in silky modern navy blue hanbok. The top was untied and hung loosely over a white tee - the only contrast to the deep muted tone apart from his cognac loafers. He wore a dark beanie pulled low on his head, which was bowed in affectionate greeting to a juvenile Gadwall who had paddled away from his family to sample the little bits of starchy fluff that the stranger had sprinkled onto the water.

You pressed your palms against the painted wood, taking him in with a smile as he crouched down, extending a bit of bread between his fingers slowly toward the curious little water foul.

This man, you were learning - this erstwhile underground rapper, this leader of men, this brilliant intellectual and genius artist - this great, powerful, impressive man could be called out of his poise in an instant by the sweet and tiny things of the world.

You watched as he waited patiently, the little duck swimming in to-and-fro circuits and drawing closer and closer to Namjoon with each pass, until finally it was close enough to snatch its prize from him and scuttle off quickly to rejoin its mother and siblings. Namjoon chuckled, smiling fondly as he watched the duck make his way back down the creek.

This man, you thought to yourself, could not possibly be real.

"So you're a Kpop idol and a Disney princess, huh?" you called, causing Namjoon to startle and rock back on his heels, landing on his posterior in the damp grass.

You slapped a hand over your mouth to repress the laughter that threatened to bubble up at the site of his large well-dressed figure tipped back haphazardly on the creekside. He huffed a sheepish laugh as he stood, swiping at the back of his pants.

"Give a person a little warning?" he chided lightly, approaching you where you leaned on the railing.

"Sorry," you chuckled, "I didn't want to scare your little friend."

"So you settled for scaring your soulmate? I see how it is."

You smiled and ducked your head.

"Sorry," you murmured, flicking your gaze back to his.

He looked up at you, fixing you with his warm brown eyes and bringing his hands to grip the railing on either side of yours. Suddenly, you felt shy. You shook yourself.

"Hey, hang out with the ducks and you'll end up with a wet tail," you teased.

Namjoon's eyebrows drew together in mock disgust.

"Yikes, you're almost as bad as Seokjin hyung," he remarked disparagingly.

You shrugged, smirking.

"I have no idea what that means, but whoever Seokjin is, he must have a superior sense of humor."

Namjoon was opening his mouth to respond, but was cut short, as the tiny motion of your shoulders had slid one of your hands just a centimeter down the railing and barely flush with his own. The slight contact was enough to send sudden little tingles of comfort shooting up your arm and across your chest. In a millisecond you felt yourself relax where you hadn't realized you were tense. You could have imagined it, but you thought you felt Namjoon press his hand just a fraction more into yours as he swallowed and heaved a deep sigh.

You reminded yourself for the hundredth time since you arrived that this was biological. Clinical. The means to an end. Damn, he felt good though.

You found yourself snatching your hands away to push up your cardigan sleeves and then stuff them into your pants pockets where they would stop confusing you. You distracted yourself from Namjoon's subtle look of disappointment with an apology.

"Sorry about your pants," you rocked back on your heels as you looked out over the little ribbon of water rippling over its stony bed behind him.

He glanced over his shoulder and brushed himself off again before waving a hand in dismissal. Your eyes focused back on the blue silk.

"I didn't realize this was a fancy lunch. I feel under-dressed."

"You look nice," Namjoon rebutted, as he glanced over your attire. Then his brow pinched as his eyes halted on your torso, flitting over your arms and shoulders. "But isn't that -"

"Joon?"

A voice behind you caused you to turn.

Standing at the top of the steps was the woman it belonged to. She was tall and beautifully slender - her svelte figure draped in a slinky chrome dress with a triangular cutout that displayed the smooth skin of her upper abdomen. Her glossy raven tresses were styled away from her face in a high ponytail, drawing sharp attention to her sultry features. Her smoky eyes glanced over your form with a lazy intensity, lids half-raised over dark irises, and her pouted lips pursed in appraisal. You wondered just exactly how many ridiculously beautiful people traveled in Namjoon's circle.

She stepped toward you, her chunky pink heels marking her confident strides on the floorboards, before bowing and extending a small hand with sharp white acrylics and icy sliver rings.

"I'm the girlfriend!" she hummed, her deep, velvety voice matching her features.

You bowed in return before shaking her hand politely.

"So nice to meet you," you smiled, "I'm -

"The soulmate," she cut you off, glancing over your shoulder at Namjoon, who still stood outside the pavilion, "of that weirdo." '

Namjoon circled around to the entrance of the pavilion before joining you with a wry smile. He introduced the two of you formally, before being the first to take a seat at the table. Hyung-seo joined him, shimmying her cushion closer to Namjoon's as she used a pair of chopsticks to load her plate with selections from the spread.

"Oh my god, I'm STARVING," she gushed, staring at Namjoon impatiently as he took a bit of kimchi fried rice and a few slices of samgyeobsal.

"My stomach feels like it could take some real food for the first time in a while," he said with eager enthusiasm, glancing up at you with a smile of gratitude.

Hyung-seo tapped her chopsticks against her plate as she watched you survey the dishes before you. You took some kimchi fried rice and carefully ladled out a small bowl of doenjang-jjigae. You pulled your hands into your lap and watched the steam rise from the fragrant broth.

"Ah, unnie..." Hyung-seo began before Namjoon shushed her and lightly tapped her knee.

You glanced between them in confusion. Namjoon merely smiled at you, and you smiled back, glancing down from his warm gaze to your plate.

"Oh for the love of god, would you take a bite?"

You looked up rather startled at Hyung-seo, who was leaned forward, her desperate eyes tracking your movements, and the chopsticks clutched in her right hand hovering over a plump, sweating mandu.

You blinked, fumbling for your chopsticks as your soulmate admonished the woman next to him. You took a heap of fried rice onto your chopsticks and brought it to your lips, looking questioningly between the two across from you. Hyung-seo groaned in impatience, her head lolling back.

"In Korea, the eldest eats first," Namjoon offered in soft explanation, his features trained in apology.

As realization washed over you, you all but shoved the rice into your mouth, hoping to swallow your embarrassment with it, followed quickly by Hyung-seo, who popped two mandu into her mouth consecutively. Her eyes rolled back as she let out a groan of appreciation. You watched Namjoon carefully savor a piece of samgyeobsal. He smiled a dimpled smile. You smiled to yourself as you tucked into your fried rice. Namjoon's fiancée watched you both. Her cheeks were full, but she wasn't smiling.

Your little trio ate in contented silence until your visitor, having satisfied her belly, fixed her eyes on you with a different sort of eagerness. The time for questions had come, you realized. You set down your chopsticks, taking a drink of water.

"I'm sure there is so much we'd like to know about each other," you offered with a smile.

She pulled her lips into a brief grin, sipping from her own glass as her eyes trailed over you. You cleared your throat.

"So, I read that y-"

"How does it feel?" she interrupted, starring at you raptly. You blinked.

"I'm sorry?"

"When he touches you." She licked her lips. "I heard it's like cumming. I heard it's better."

Namjoon slid a large hand over her thigh. You saw it squeeze.

"Jagiya..." he murmured.

You glanced at him and gave him a reassuring grin which he returned, though not as readily as before. Not the start to the conversation you had hoped for, but she was living up to her brusque reputation. You let yourself laugh a little at the question, and saw Hyung-seo's mouth curl up a bit at the corners, though it didn't reach her eyes.

"It's nothing like sex, actually," you mused, trying to be as forthcoming as possible without abandoning politeness. "Strange, I guess, because it is all about physical exchange and contact. But...it's more like...nourishment? I don't know...I haven't had long enough to think about it."

You had had quite long enough to know that it was ineffable, but in the most intoxicating, magnificent way - and a hell of a lot better than most of the sex you'd had. This, however, wasn't the time and place for descriptions of the bond that could be ripped from the pages of drugstore romance novels.

You found yourself turning to Namjoon with a questioning gaze, as if to ask if he had anything to add. He nodded in response, not meeting your eyes.

"Yeah, it's different," he murmured succinctly.

Hyung-seo hummed in assent, chewing on her lip, her gaze still roving over you. You decided to try again.

"So how did you m-"

"How do you do it?"

You stifled a small sigh that threatened to escape your lips.

"Do what?"

"Use the bond. Like, do you hold hands, or...or what?"

You looked to Namjoon who murmured something in Korean that sounded like a warning. This wasn't going as you'd hoped. Her questions were natural ones, but not the first you thought you'd be asked, and not so pointedly. In fact, they were ones she should probably have put to her partner. Had they not spoken since you arrived?

"The bond works with any physical contact. When I first got here, I had so many questions myself. The hospital personnel were very informative while helping us navigate our questions. I still know very little, but as someone whose partner is bonded, I'm sure they would have someone who could better answer these types of questions than I can," you offered.

It was the opposite of forthcoming, but you were absolutely not prepared to launch into a conversation about you and her fiancé spooning in your undergarments. The trajectory of the exchange had to go elsewhere, so you resolved to take the wheel.

"Is there anything you'd like to know about me? Maybe I could tell you a little about myself. My job in the states wasn't glamorous, but I loved it. I was -"

"A social worker, I know," she murmured with a sigh, and Namjoon's head snapped toward her.

You could feel your confusion pulling into a frown. In your beat of silence, the woman in front of you gave into another impulse as she placidly launched into an answer of your unasked question.

"You're a social worker from the West coast, oldest of three kids. Your father died when you were ten. You graduated summa cum laude, and chose a career in women's services. You support your mother's living - you have been, long-term. Your brother is an engineer and your sister is in nursing school. You've never committed any crimes, but you were arrested once in college at some political protest about immigrant rights. Your blood type is O positive. You don't seem very good with your money, but you've never asked for financial assistance. You've never been married."

Silence.

Your ears were ringing.

You blinked as you tried to focus, grappling for something on which to stabilize your composure. This isn't how this was supposed to go. You felt your control slipping as the words pierced you in echoes that knocked you back down each time you reached out to steady your mind.

"Your father died when you were young..."

"...You support your mother's living..."

"...You don't seem very good with your money"

Your mind whirred as the silence closed in, and for a moment you were suspended.

Diana and Henry weren't pillars, you thought - they were tiny little babies as your mother clutched them on either side of her prone, shaking form as shovels of dirt were shifted back into the gaping hole that held a pine box covered in flowers. You looked down at the flag in your hands, and then up at the white flowers, still fresh and blooming, being caked and sodden with damp soil. You felt something rising up in your chest - something that never reached the surface. You turned from the wound in the earth as Dianna reached out and tugged at your arm. The babies looked afraid. You couldn't see your mother's face from where it was buried in her skirts. You tucked the flag reverently under your arm and took the little hands.

Somewhere outside the amniotic sack of your mind, you saw Namjoon's figure stand. You heard his garbled voice speak to the woman beside him. He was angry, his voice pitched low. Hers in response was sharp and high.

You took a deep breath and exhaled. Your chest was beginning to labor and your inhaler was on the fifth floor of a building on the other side of the property.

You willed yourself back into this world you had chosen. This place which, like the others you had inhabited, would discover its new tenant didn't take long to adapt. She was built to withstand.

"Namjoon," you called softly, as you looked up at your soulmate. His eyes snapped to yours, his face showing subtle but unmistakable signs of distress - eyes reflecting remorsefully and jaw flexing.

You smiled at him gently, reassuringly.

"It's alright," you insisted, your eyes not leaving his.

You saw his shoulders sag, and his head bow. His hand came up to scrub over his face. You realized then that she was looking at you. Hyung-seo's expression was apprehensive, her eyes scouring your face.

"This must be an extremely difficult thing for you, whatever the reason," you offered earnestly.

She regarded you in silence, her eyes flickering like the flame of a candle.

"I would say, 'I understand', but I don't. I have no idea how hard it must be to fall in love with someone only to watch them suffer at the hands of disease, and to suffer so greatly and to come so close to losing them that you turn to finding a person who can save them, and who - if they are saved by - they will need and desire for the rest of their natural life. A person who isn't you."

Her eyes quivered as they held you in their gaze.

"I know I'm supposed to be a saving grace," you continued, having gained your ground, "But I know I could also look a lot like a threat. Trust me when I say that you can be open and honest with me about how you feel. This is a difficult situation where we're going to feel burdened by things we shouldn't. Namjoon and I discussed this."

You smiled again at your soulmate, who was watching you with relief and something else in his features. You wanted to call it admiration, but you had only known him for two whole days.

"Whatever fears you're carrying that make you feel like a burden in this moment, could I ask you to set them aside? For a chance to get to know me in the real way that you deserve? This isn't a trap. Or a cage. We've all chosen to be here."

You regarded Hyung-seo in the silence that followed. Her eyes had fallen from your face - they glanced over toward where Namjoon stood, barely raising toward his figure, when she suddenly dropped her face into her hands and began shaking with sobs.

You let out a sigh of relief too soft to be heard by the others.

"Fuck...." Hyung-seo choked out against her palms, "I'm such a piece of shit..."

Namjoon moved to place a hand over her back and assure her she wasn't. You wondered what she felt when he touched her. Your heart ached with pity for her. Namjoon drew her into his chest and held her as she cried her makeup off. He stroked her hair as her regarded her with weary, worried eyes. You couldn't help but feel that you were encroaching on a private moment...expect that you were a part of this as much as they were. Was there a lifetime of this feeling to be endured? You sighed again.

"I'm gonna give you guys a minute," you whispered as you clambered to your feet.

Namjoon nodded silently over the woman in his arms.

You watched scattered leaves from the boughs overhanging the far side of the stream spin as the were swept away. Your eyes tracked one in particular, twirling as it sailed around a protruding rock and under an arching root, only to be stopped as it was doubled at the middle by a thin, swaying reed. You found your feet moving to where the water rushed around it as it billowed helplessly on both sides of its obstruction like a flag of surrender. You slipped off your shoes and rolled up your pants. You waded into the cool, clear water and, reaching out, tugged the little leaf free. You watched as it sailed on, disappearing around a bend in the waterway. You glanced back up at the pavilion. If you could have been sure it was the right move, you would have left altogether, but you wouldn't want your sudden departure to be taken the wrong way.

You sighed. You pulled your phone out of your back pocket as you waded back out of the stream. Dead. You were bad about keeping it charged, and your conversation with Diana had drained its aged battery. You wished you had a book. Glancing about, your eyes caught a fairly large patch of clover flowers a few yards down the bank, and crossing the soft grass, you sank down in its center.

You smiled weakly to yourself as you plucked one of the little white buds near the base of its stem. You and your siblings would spend hours at the park under the shade turning sprawling patches of the puffy blooms into garlands, crowns, bracelets, and rings. You picked another flower and tied its supple stem into a knot just under the other flower's head.

By the time Namjoon came to join you, sinking down across from you in little clover patch you had fashioned yourself a crown and a necklace, and were working on a garland to send to Diana. You set down your handiwork to look up at him. He was regarding you with soft, somber eyes and a little smile that looked like one he didn't have the energy for but couldn't help besides. He picked a flower and twirled it between his fingers.

"I'm so sorry," he murmured, "If I would have thought that things would go that way, I wouldn't have insisted on her meeting you before she left. She's going on tour and I thought...well, I thought if she just met you her anxieties would be eased."

You nodded thoughtfully.

"Thank you for your patience and kindness. She was out of line saying those things to you like that...you were...that was everything she needed to hear, I think."

You cast your eyes down as you tied off another knot in the garland.

"Is she okay?" you asked quietly.

Namjoon sighed.

"She's...embarrassed. Ashamed of herself. She wasn't in any condition to finish that conversation, so I suggested she go home."

"Understandable," you assented, nodding again.

Silence hung between you for a moment before you raised your eyes to his again.

"Namjoon...there are some things I think we should discuss."

He nodded earnestly, his eyes falling, brow creasing and tongue pressing into his cheek.

"I know we haven't had much time," you continued, "And we have literally the rest of our lives...but, I think we should be on the same page about what we've been told about each other. I think it will make this whole process easier? I don't know. There are some things you assume you'll have to tell someone at a certain point in knowing them - some things that are...deeply personal..."

"Aren't things between us already that way? Deeply personal?"

You looked up and those half-lidded brown eyes were looking right at you in a way you weren't prepared for, in a way that flooded your veins. Soulmate. You wanted to touch him. You wanted to feel him and what he brought to you. You wanted him to feel it too. But you didn't know him, and he didn't know you, and he needed healing, which is why you were here. He loved someone who loved him whose lives you were disrupting. This feeling was basal, you knew - came with the territory...but you were going to need some strong boundaries if this was going to function. You were going to need honesty, for a start.

"They are," you relented slowly, "But I have questions that I need answers to. Your trust in me is clear, and I appreciate that...but...I need time to get my footing here."

Namjoon nodded in assent.

"I get that. So, what do you want to know, specifically? I'll answer any question you have."

You nodded gratefully.

"Thank you. Do you think I could take a little time to think about what I want to ask? I'm kind of still processing everything that just happened."

"Of course," he was quick to answer, "Whenever you want to talk, just let me know. Did I say how sorry I am?" he asked smiling weakly as he looked up from where he struggled to knot the stem of one flower around another, suddenly looking down again when its stem snapped between his fingers.

You huffed out a little laugh.

"Yes, you did," you did, you answered, offering him a rueful grin.

He picked another flower only to realize he had cut its stem too short for his purposes. He tossed the little blossoms back into the grass.

"Can you make me one?" he asked pathetically, pouting at the garland in your hands.

You chuckled as you tied off the one in your lap and leaned forward to slip it over his head. He adjusted it around his neck, looking down at it with a pleased expression.

"You know...if you can believe it, we actually got lucky in there," he smirked, his forehead creasing as he raised his brow.

You gave him a look of confusion. His eyes trailed over your torso again before flitting back up to yours.

"She didn't notice that you're wearing my sweater."

You froze. Then you blinked down at the giant green cardigan that had, in fact, slipped down off of one shoulder. Then you gaped at him.

He snickered.

You scrambled to yank the sweater over your head, even as he laughed and protested, you blustered apology after expletive after apology.

"Shit, it was in my laundry bag!" You whined in explanation as you shook it out and began to fold it in your lap.

"Stop, just keep it on," Namjoon insisted, still clearly amused at your state of panic.

"I have one just like this. Like, identical but obviously smaller. I just assumed it had stretched out in the wash..." You extended the sweater toward him.

He shook his head.

"Just give it back later, you'll be cold." He looked up at your exasperated expression and started laughing again.

"Stooop..." you whined in embarrassment, and when he only laughed harder, you tossed the sweater in his face. As he balled it up with a smile where it fell down into his lap, his smart watch trilled. He glanced down at it.

"I've got labs scheduled now," he sighed.

"Hopefully they'll bring more good news," you offered, at which he nodded. "I seem to be getting the job done, if I do say so myself," you teased, leaning back on your hands and offering him a smug look.

He nodded, tongue in his cheek, then pushed to stand - with effort, you noticed - and extended a hand down to you. You didn't realize what the little smile on his mouth was for until you accepted his hand with your own, by habit, and were nearly knocked back off your feet as the bond surged through you like a wave of mind-numbing euphoria that left you unable to process information outside of what was sent coursing through your every cell from where he touched you.

You blinked up at him as you got your wits about you, and he was looking down at you through little slits in his barely-open eyes, head tilted back and mouth hanging open - little smirk still tugging at its corner. You pursed your lips, trying not to grin back.

"You did that on purpose," you chided, trying and failing to train your features in a scowl.

His smirk deepened.

"What? I was just being courteous..."

You rolled your eyes.

"I'm feeling a little weak, I think it would be best if you helped me back to the room," he muttered slyly, turning to head back toward the building.

The smile that was dimpling his cheek and creasing the corners of his eyes did something to your stomach that had you yanking your hand out of his grasp.

"Yeah, right," you huffed, forging a few steps ahead of him, "You're putting a lot by your poorly reputed coordination to think you could walk while I was touching you."

He let out a laugh behind you. It was loud and bright and had you biting back a smile to match it.

"What happened to getting the job done, sweater thief?" he called after you teasingly.

Shit. Yeah. Boundaries. You were going to need them.

_________________________________________________

Well, they met! Next part to follow soon.

Thank you for sticking with me here!

Tag list: @butterymin @little-dark-empress @aretha170 @kamilamb @jlee97 @thephotoend @callmenoona25 @felicityroth @softforyoongles @berlianv @honneypies @deadrose287 @n0pesir

63 notes · View notes

systemadministratorclu · 1 year

Note

Ark the Echidna had fled to the woods behind the human settlement. She had been looking for information on the Emerald, but so far, she had only been able to gather bits and pieces of scattered scraps. She didn't like getting close to the humans and their long-range weapons, but she had no choice in the matter. It was the Echidna's duty to protect the Emerald, and as the only Echidna here, it fell upon her. It potentially would've been her duty, anyway, had she not been banished here. Up until now, her time on this world had been uneventful, she had hid in the forests and protected them and the creatures that lived there. But, now, she had a bigger purpose and she was doing what she could to stay alive as she did her best to figure out how to fulfill it.

This particular human settlement, one Green Hills, Montana, did not allow the long range weapons she feared (except the sidearms used by its police force) and the four reasons why were currently gathered around a Saturday morning breakfast table. Well, three of the four.

"Don't worry, guys. I know how to get him up." Dr. Maddie Wachowski said as she placed a large flat white box on the counter, the smell coming from it already enticing the three at the table.

"WHO WANTS DONUTS!?" She called upward. No sooner had she said it than the fourth member of the group, a rather energetic blue hedgehog, appeared in front of her.

"Someone said donuts?" Sonic Wachowski looked up excitedly, ears pricked toward her. Maddie smiled.

"Mhm. Glazed, powdered sugar, and your favorite. Chocolate covered with sprinkles."

"You got sprinkles?" Came a deep voice from the table. Knuckles Wachowski, an echidna, stood up on his chair.

"Of course she did, they know you love them as much as Sonic does. Now sit down, your tail almost poked my eye out!" Said the littlest Wachowski, Tails.

"I am sorry." Knuckles (very carefully) sat back down.

"Technically, Donut Lord got 'em." This was the fourth of the furry group. Oldest in age, but newest to the family, Soneca Wachowski was a speedy blue hedgehog like her middle brother, except she was a little bigger. During the commotion of getting Sonic up, she'd zipped over and snagged a chocolate donut, which she now bit into with a smirk at her glaring brothers (Sonic had taken his seat on the other side of Knuckles.)

"Gotta go fast." She teased.

"Yeah we do." Sheriff Tom Wachowski announced as he entered, "I just got off the phone with Wade. Mrs. Baxter called the station, said her sister nearly had a heart attack seeing something in the woods. She told her sister it's just some wild animal, but she told Wade she thinks it might be another Mobian, like you guys." By now he had everyone's attention.

"If it's another hedgehog, I will not be happy." Knuckles stated, "We have enough of those."

"HEY!" Both hedgehogs exclaimed.

"How about instead of guessing, let's go find out what it is." Tom suggested, "Tails, you be our eyes in the sky. Knuckles, you go check around Carl's place and keep an eye on him.-" Though Carl had been right about the "Blue Devil" (now the name for all Green Hills sports teams) he was still a little crazy to most people. And Knuckles was one of few in town who could keep his craziness safely contained.

"-Sonic, you're with me. Soneca, you take Mrs. Baxter's place."

"On it!" And there was a somehow organized rush for the shoe rack and the door. Sonic was first out, getting his red and white running shoes on as he flew (figuratively) through the door. Next was Tails, grabbing his own sneakers and a pair of aviator sunglasses as he flew (literally) out the door. Knuckles followed with his old shoes, and finally Soneca's armored boots. The group split off, except for Sonic, who was waiting in Tom's truck.

Now Soneca was racing through the woods behind the Baxter place. She'd caught a scent unlike anything else around. It was definitely animal, but she couldn't tell-

There! She heard a rustling that meant movement. Like lightning, she shot toward it, a blue blur streaking through the woods. That is, until she caught sight of what she came to find. And slid to a stop in disbelief.

"Not........possible." was all she could get out when she locked eyes.

With an Echidna. One that was NOT Knuckles.

#sorry I kinda wrote a book here

351 notes · View notes

sourslices · 1 year

Text

hc that the titans know/knew dick better than the batfam — and it makes sense, but i dont feel like elaborating on this part. anyway...

it'd be nice to see too, yk... considering dick is the eldest in the batfam and (in at least fan content) he's known to be very caring about family and yadda yadda.

dick was the first. the first child hero/sidekick, the first robin... the leader of the titans. a charismatic leader, a faithful friend. most people idolise him, and even if you get disillusioned after getting to know him personally, there's still a certain amount of admiration and respect that will never go away when it comes to nightwing.

this also works with the yj universe — esp yj because dick's the youngest out of all of them (not too sure abt the titans, but ik he isnt the youngest)

damian's perhaps the closest to dick out of the batfam. most people are aware of the distance between them and him but jason and tim don't realise that they don't know a lot about his brother...

it starts with cass calling him out for pretending to be okay and even trying to adjust his body language to hide his fatigue and his wounds. it goes on with jason commenting about a movie night that dick had wrestled everyone into (the movie had been steph's choice btw) and then either roy or kori respond like this.

jason: *off-handedly commenting abt the movie night and dick*

roy/kori: ???

roy/kori: we saw that movie when it came out. dick hated it and swore not to watch it ever again lmaooo

or maybe it was food. jason talks abt alfred's meals and then kori chuckles and recalls how dick had told her that he wasn't too fond of alfred's cooking. jason had been like "???" because dick always acted like he loved it and then roy goes like no lmaooo dick finds most of alfred's food kinda tasteless. something about british men and not knowing how to put seasoning

when jason confronts dick, dick admits to it

dick: okay yeah true

dick: i didnt rlly like alfie's cooking when i first came here but he got better... gradually. it's better than before but

dick: ...if you ask me, i prefer his baking.

jason: roy said smth about him trying to make one of your ma's recipes

dick: i never asked him again.

dick: (starts thinking about how he had nobody to teach him how to cook like his parents did and becomes SadTM)

and then cass damian and duke all go like "??? im not alone ??" because in reality they all find alfred's cooking a little... subpar. its not bad per say but u have to rmbr alfred is old white british man and there are battles you lose. anyway, cass damian duke and dick all bond over this because they thought it was only them who found the meals prepared a little... yk. alfred still works on getting better but there is nothing that will beat food made by hands who know how it shld taste yk...

(sorry about the alfred slander)

anyway, tim starts to realise despite being dick's little brother, and the only little brother dickie had for a while, there's a lot he still doesnt know abt the guy. which is funny because tim used to essentially stalk him

kori and dick make up after a long discussion about assault and victim blaming and there are a lot of apologies and they resolve their remaining issues (that doesn't mean what happened was okay, or it was forgotten or whatever)

dick actually asks for some space and tells her their friendship will probably never be what it was and kori is sad but is like. okay. they're still friends after a few months of distance and a lot of therapy on dick's side. he didn't blame her for any of it but he still needed... time

roy and dick also sort their shit out. im unclear as to what that shit actually is because roy used to adore dick when they were speedy and robin but whatever they sort it out and there's some homoerotic tension between them im telling u... dick still asks for space el oh el it takes a while to recover from years of distance and they're not the same

but just because they aren't the same doesn't mean everything's different.

the titans are subjected to the changes in dick and they watch him interact with the batfam, meanwhile batfam realises they don't know a lot abt dickie while watching the titans take care of him in several different ways while they, despite being a family of investigators, didnt know smth was up. it's mostly donna who does the "taking care of"

ik i actually didn't mention many of the titans but... yeah

#dick grayson #donna troy #roy harper #kori'ander #did i spell it right #hope i did lol #batfamily #teen titans #dick grayson has eldest daughter syndrome #he needs to be taken care of #and he does! by his friends #titans are found family #you can pry those ideas from my cold dead hands #in a better world we would have never had kori as a victim-blamer #the mirage shit was a MESS.

60 notes · View notes

little-birdseeker · 11 days

Text

Growing Wings - Ch.7 - The Problem With Magic

[<- Chapter 6: A Not So Subtle Style]

“So, what’s the matter, Namo?”

“You know very well what i want, Jon”, R’namo answered more harshly than she intended to. After all she had only told him to come to this pier where she was now sitting, her feet dangling just above the water.

“How should I know? You were the one that-” “The girl, Jon. Isa.” “Again? What is it this time? She is doing well, you know that.” “It’s not- just. Listen. Maybe sit down, I don't know, do whatever you like.”

With a shrug, Jonathan let himself fall down on some nearby ropes.

“Always the ropes, right?” “Never sat better.” “Of course… Well, as I said, you know the problems.” “A lot of them, yeah. She is just a quirky young girl, nothing more. With some godda-”

“I know! Everyone knows, we have eyes! Gods can you- well, whatever. I mean the other stuff. You know?”

“I know?” “Yeah, I mean… Listen, the other day she sneaked to me without making a single noise! The third time this week!”

“Sounds like her, yeah. Happens everyday if I don’t check the time when she should arrive.”

“But that’s to be expected, Jon! Like, everyone does that to you, once in a while. But tell me another person that sneaked up on me lately!” “Uhhh… let me think… Uh…”

“No one, Jon! Not a single person!”, R’namo exclaimed without waiting for Jonathan to finish mentally checking everyone from the guild.

“Okay? So?” “And. And. She does not make one single sound! As if the air itself is suppressing everything around her! And you have seen her fighting or running!” “We already talked about that, Namo. And I told you, she is fucking fast.”

“Exactly! She- when I brought her in, she had jumped on Speedy George. The legend! The one who had mastered sprinting itself! It’s not normal, Jon!”

“You know what I said the last time?” “I- Listen, it can’t be that. Have you seen the Birdseekers?” “Never seen them having red hair like she does.” “And? Coloring the hair is a thing.” “Do you think she is that obsessed with red that she- well, okay, yeah, hold your tongue, she is, you won. But still, she would have told someone about it. You know how much she likes to talk about everything.”

“...yeah. Yeah, you’re right”, R’namo sighed. “But she is still a Birdseeker, through and through. No adoption, no affair or something. I checked that.”

“So you still want to deny that it’s magic she just cannot control?”

“It’s not that I am denying it, it’s just… Apkallus can’t fly. It’s that simple.”

“And even if one would fly directly in front of your nose, would you still deny its existence?”

“I, for one, would check my sanity first.”

“And would still have to accept the reality afterwards.”

“...” Silently, R’namo looked down to the ocean at her feet.

“Hey, still there? Okay, yeah, fine. You are the Miqo’te, you know more about the kitties and the families and all the stuff. But look at the signs! Just… told you, go to-” “I was!”, R’namo shouted, which in turn made Jonathan sit up straight in a matter of moments, as he had further and further been dragged into the ropes he had placed himself on.

“And?”

“Routine check. Talked with one Lalafell. Asked him about his opinion. You know. He said he can see potential in her.” “And that’s it?”

“Seems so. Well, I asked him to show her some stuff as well. Cause, you know how she is.” “If it's interesting, she will move mountains, yeah. But it did not help, it seems?”

“Well. She liked everything sparkly.”

“And the carbuncle?”

“And the carbuncle”, R’namo chuckled. “We could not stop her from petting it all the time.” “Why did I even ask…” “Right? And she asked how to summon one herself.” “Woah, wait. She would love to have one, so that must have-”

“Three minutes”, interrupted R’namo her friend, who in turn looked at her dumbfounded.

“...what?”

“Three minutes. That’s all it took.” “...to? “To make her lose interest in all the circles and patterns and whatever.” “...oh.”

“Yeah.”

They went silent for a minute, listening to the sounds of the waves and the seagulls nearby.

“She is really not built to be an arcanist, right?”, Jonathan broke the silence. “Yup.” “Could have seen that myself before I made that suggestion, huh…”

“Well, yeah. But it was worth a shot.”

“It was, yeah…”

Both of them nodded in agreement. Sure, it was magic, but both knew well enough how they made it happen. Books and quilts and ink. Magical formulas, lots of them. And even with a magical affinity… they both knew how much interest Isabelle had ever shown in mathematics and complex concepts: Basically zero. Well, she had learned how to do simple maths, after all, but it was clear that it was rather something she had learned out of necessity rather than out of interest. Well, kind of - the interest was just something way different. Namely the acquisition of cloths for sewing, and most importantly being able to deduce how much sweets she was able to buy with her allowance. And it had turned out to be something handy to have here and there. But besides that…

“So, what’s the plan?”, Jonathan finally asked.

“Hey, that’s what I wanted to ask!” “Not my fault you haven’t asked it yet!”

“Urgh, you- fine. I have no idea. And now?”

This time, Jonathan sighed, for once. “Okay. Namo, for real. I think we have to do something.” “Yeah, duh. But what?” “No idea. We can’t teach her, can we?” “And the Arcanists can’t either…”

“Let’s… well, okay, let’s just keep an eye out for her. Or maybe two.”

“As if we weren-” “Yeah, of course. But we have no other option. Arcanists won’t help, we have no other mages here, I really don’t wanna ask an adventurer for it, so we have to wait and plan ahead. Like… bring her to Ul’dah or something.”

“…fine, yeah. You are right, Jon. But we should still do… something.”

“Keep an eye on her. And search for someone that could teach her stuff. And worst case, bring her somewhere else.” “Don’t think she will like that…” “Of course, but it’s for her best. And besides, I have a real bad feeling about doing nothing. Like. Something is basically bound to happen in the future. Dunno when, dunno where, but if she does not get some proper education… best case she destroys some market stalls or something similar. And worst case she might burn someone alive, or cut them in half or whatever.” “You- She would never-” “Yeah she wouldn’t! Tell that her magic once she is upset!”

“I- Fine, right…”

Once again, they grew silent, while the sun slowly sank, now nearly hitting the ocean in the distance.

“Do you regret taking her in?” Jonathans question hit R’namo unprepared.

“What?! No! I mean… well, sometimes I think about how relaxing everything could be without her…” “So you do regret it?”

“I told you, no! I mean, she is a handfu- fine, more than that, literally, but like. It would be boring without her, wouldn’t it? Yeah? See? And… don’t forget how much joy she brought, just with her smile. After the calamity, everyone was so… gloomy. And now? Look at them!” “...yeah. Right. She brought some light into the Den.”

“Right? I don’t regret taking her in. I just ask myself every now and then why she has to be like… this.” “Yeah. I get that.” Despite the kind of grim talk, both of them just had to chuckle a bit.

“So, that’s the plan? Waiting, searching for a mentor? And adjusting to whatever the hell she is doing?”

“Yeah. Or you got a better plan?”, Jonathan asked the catwoman.

“No, even though I wish there was one.”

“But better than nothing.” “Right you are. Well, we’ll handle it. And the others will help as well.” “True. Well then. Let’s get going. Care for a beer?” “Oh hell yeah, count me in!”

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

(Thanks for reading <3 I hope you enjoyed it! More will be added the coming days and will be linked here and on Isabelles story page!)

[Chapter 8: Weaver Among The Rogues ->]

#Isabelle Birdseeker #Writing #My Writing #Growing Wings #about her~#final fantasy xiv #ff 14 #long post

6 notes · View notes

thesunisatangerine · 6 months

Note

alexia only played like 28 minutes today, so you watched most of it! she was playing as an interior today, i thought she did pretty well; she had some good passes, she won the free kick that caro scored and osho scored off her rebound (which was a p solid save from the gk, could’ve been an alexia goal). it wasn’t her best game but i honestly thought she did well at getting into good spaces, she’s never been super speedy so i don’t worry about her speed ever really. honestly i’m not too worried because she said a week or two ago that she’s not putting pressure on herself because she knows she probably won’t be fully back until december!

oh yeah, agreed that was definitely a good save from villarreal's keeper (not for barca and alexia of course especially when she didnt even get an assist from it). yeah it really wasn't, but you could see the effort she put in.

honestly i think the main thing shes struggling with right now is timing her runs properly and which side of her defender she needs to be on. i mean of course as viewers these things are easier to comment on/spot than when youre actually playing but its still there yk. (if i remember correctly there were 2 consecutive instances where caro tried to feed alexia the ball from the wing but alexia stepped out of her position as caro passed it so the defender ended up putting the ball away) etc.

as for her speed, ive actually been watching her games before her injury and she was actually faster before. she bulked up (which is good especially when youre coming back from injury/preventing them as well as defensive/midfield play) but if jona wants to keep her fixed in a false 9 position, she needs her speed. and by the looks of it, shes already started trimming down (new workout routine maybe? or just playing in general). also it doesnt really help that the second she gets the ball, defenders swarm to her (her being smacked in the face in the last game without the ref giving a foul was lowkey 👀). its good for freeing up space but its also an injury magnet.

and yeah of course, time, practice, and gameplay are the only way to fully recover. but im still dubious about the false 9 position after a long-term injury though, like why???

#alexia putellas #woso #barce #liga f #anon #inbox #sorry anon this was long...

8 notes · View notes

smells-like-mettaton · 2 years

Note

#3 from the sensory prompts (Snow being shoved down the back of your coat) with Papyrus and Undyne, the best friends! Add as many characters as you want tho, I just love the idea of a Undertale gang snowball fight :D Ty!!

Reverse-Fetch

Rating: G Word Count: 1051 Read on AO3: here

XXX

Papyrus’s bones rattled with excitement. Doggo and Greater Dog stood at attention on either side of him, their wagging tails whacking him occasionally. As a sentry, he didn’t have armor to dull the hits—yet!—but their tails were soft and fluffy, so it was just like being hit with a pillow. Or what he assumed being hit with a pillow would feel like. He’d never actually been in a pillow fight before.

But. Now that he was practically in the Royal Guard, he was sure to make a friend! And then they could have pillow fights, and sleepovers, and whatever else friends did!

“Alright. Listen up!” Undyne barked as she paced back and forth through the snow.

Her arms were folded neatly behind her back, one of her cyan spear-shaped bullets tucked in the crook of her elbow. Its light gleamed off of her polished armor. Papyrus tried to stop staring and focus on what she was saying.

“Today’s training is an exercise in dodging and aiming! It doesn’t make a difference how strong you are if you can’t land a hit on your opponent—or if an opponent lands a hit on you.”

Whirling, she threw her spear straight through Greater Dog’s chest, and it barked in surprise. The attack wouldn’t do damage, of course—Undyne never had the intent to hurt a fellow monster, and even if she had, Greater Dog’s armor was hollow in the middle.

“So… we’re playing catch?” Dogamy asked from Greater Dog’s other side.

“No! We’re playing—the opposite of catch! Anti-catch!” Undyne said.

“...Fetch?” Dogaressa asked tentatively. Lesser Dog’s neck stretched in excitement.

“I like fetch!” Papyrus chimed in, not wanting to be left out.

Undyne snorted softly, shaking her head.

“Think of it like, uh… reverse-fetch! You’re gonna be the one throwing the balls. Snowballs.” Undyne picked one up a handful of snow and packed it tightly. “Then instead of trying to throw ‘em far away for each other to fetch, you’re gonna aim to hit each other. Got it?”

The sounds of affirmative barking and panting surrounded him. Papyrus joined in to the best of his ability.

“HECK YEAH!!” Undyne roared before nailing him in the face with her snowball.

Oh ho ho! She might have struck the first blow, but Papyrus was a sovereign of snow! A boss of balling! A pioneer of powder!!

He dove behind a snowpoff as the field erupted into chaos. This appeared to be a few of the dogs’ first time crafting snowballs. Undyne hadn’t assigned teams, but it was important to hep out your fellow guardsmen, right?

“Doggo!” He called before somersaulting over to the dog’s hiding place—a different snowpoff. “Would you like some assistance from an expert snowball craftsman?”

Doggo squinted at him. Right, he could only see things that were moving. Well, that was no problem! Papyrus could stim for hours! He wiggled back and forth, the snowpoff vibrating from his energy.

“Huh? Uh, sure! It’s Papyrus, right?”

“It absotutely is!” Papyrus held out his hand for a shake. “And you’re Doggo! A highly respected and popular member of the Royal Guard!”

“I don’t know about that… but, uh, thanks.” Doggo grinned and shook his hand. “You think you can help us hit the guys that aren’t moving?”

“You bet your bones I can!!”

Snowballs whizzed overhead as Papyrus taught Doggo how to best pack the snow. A perfectly smooth sphere, for optimal aerodynamicisity.

“Lesser Dog would be better at this,” Doggo grumbled to himself.

“You’re doing fantastic!!”

Papyrus already had a pile of snowballs sitting next to him by the time Doggo finished his first, but that was fine! It took practice to be as speedy as himself!

“Okay. I’m going to aim for the other dogs who are trying to hide. That means you get the honor of taking down Undyne!” Papyrus grinned.

He would have loved to target Undyne himself, but she was the only one consistently moving. She stood in the middle of the clearing, whirling a spear to slice through any snowball that flew near her. When she retaliated, her snowballs had a way of curving in midair to hit the others from behind. (It was exciting to know that someone besides Papyrus could do that!)

She hadn’t focused her attention on Papyrus and Doggo yet, though. They must be hidden better than he’d thought!

“ALRIGHT! LET’S GET MOVING!” Doggo howled.

They leapt up, flinging snowballs with precision (in Papyrus’s case) and reckless energy (in Doggo’s).

“Ha! You’ll have to try harder than THAT!” Undyne grinned as she smacked Doggo’s shots out of the sky.

“SHE’S MOVING TOO MUCH!!” Doggo said.

“Don’t worry! I have your back, my friend!!” Papyrus stopped targeting Dogaressa, who had elected to start rolling in the snow for “camouflage,” and aimed for Undyne.

“You think you can hit me?” she bellowed dramatically as his shot flew high. “In the name of everyone’s hopes and dreams, I’ll punish—”

The snowball swooped back around, striking the back of her neck.

“NGAHHHHH!!!!” She jumped and tried to scrape the snow out of the back of her armor. “WHO WAS THAT?”

The battlefield went silent. Doggo nudged Papyrus forwards.

Dang it. Doggo was a snitch. And Papyrus had thought their friendship had been going so well, too.

“It was I, the Great Papyrus!” He posed, his jean jacket billowing dramatically in the wind. If he was to be reprimanded for his skillful throw, he might as well claim the credit proudly.

Undyne stomped over to him, leaving deep bootprints in her wake. Her toothy grin twisted menacingly.

“Well, Great Papyrus,” She loomed over him, “I’ve got a special prize for such a good shot.”

“Really?” He stood up straighter.

Was this it? Had he finally earned her respect? Was she going to instate him as an official guard?

“Really! Here it comes!!”

She took the snowball hidden in her gauntleted hand and shoved it down the back of his jacket.

“...That’s it?” He pouted.

“That’s… aww, come on, you’re not even shivering!” Undyne threw her hands in the air.

“Of course not. I don’t have skin.” He held back a laugh.

“Ugh! Forget it! I’ve got a better prize!!”

She wrestled him into a headlock, laughing near his ear cavities.

“Noooo! Not this horrible noogie!”

#fic tag #tali writes #prompt requests #undyne #papyrus #papyrus & undyne #papyrus & doggo #thank you for this request!!#sorry it took so long i have been doing So Much lol

106 notes · View notes

mydaroga · 6 months

Note

Follow up on the Tune In ask, Thank you for your response!! And please, never apologize for the length, it was greatly insightful. I actually haven't started on the book yet but it came highly recommended to me as The definitive Beatles biography so I was looking around to see what others think of it. Most of the critical opinions I found on this site seem consistent with your criticisms especially about Lewisohn's tendency to cherry pick quotes or imposing a new context on them...

Well, that formatted weird. Sorry. Anyway, I will definitely try to give as thorough an answer as I have time for, so that may mean just a few examples. If you want a deeper dive I can recommend the Another Kind of Mind Series, Fine Tuning. I don't agree entirely with their approach, but I agree for the most part with their findings and concerns, if that makes sense. And then there's Serene's blog entry which does a more thorough examination of the way Lewisohn ... hrm, shall we say, stretches citations to mean... whatever he wants.

I don't know that I am going to be able to go into quite as much detail here as I didn't keep these good notes while reading. But I can think of a few things that stuck out to me before I listened/read these other takes. And I'm happy to keep talking about this or expand, I'm not saying I don't like doing this, just that I am not gonna ... okay I'm going to write an essay? But I won't be as meticulous as I should be.

The first thing that made me stop reading and just go track down what was actually going on was a passage in which Lewisohn is talking about teen Paul's resistance to getting a job, going against Jim. From Tune In:

Paul still hated anyone telling him what to do -- 'It just never occurred to me to listen to other people' -- but when Jim insisted, sometimes Paul did as bid... as John scathingly noted. He went down to the Labour Exchange and Renshaw Hall and landed a £10-a-week Christmas-period job with SPD Ltd, Speedy Prompt Deliveries.

Now, all on its own without context this is a great Paul McCartney quote because you go, "yeah that checks out." I plan on using it as a sort of Macca meme, you know? But it was soooo Paul I thought, "wait, in what context did he say that? Like, he doesn't listen ever? He's admitting he just doesn't listen to anyone?"

So weirdly, it's not actually footnoted, but I found the source. It's a 1980 interview with Tim Rice, which is entertaining in its own right because he tells the guy who co-wrote Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita and later The Lion King that, you know, musicals are boring. Anyway, not the point.

It took me awhile to find the actual quote, because it's really a throwaway, almost self-deprecating aside, in the context of how he's listening to people more now because he's realized too many smart people just talk and it might be good to listen some.

So okay. Paul did say that, and he's admitting there was a time he didn't take the time to listen, but he's doing it in a sort of jokey way. I guess it's fair to say, generally, sure, Paul has a tendency to be headstrong and go his own way and that certainly would have been a factor in his psychological battle with Jim Mac over going to get his teaching license or whatever. It's not like Lewisohn is bending the facts of anything. It's not really a big deal. But it was the moment that clued me in that he's not necessarily using like for like. There's plenty of quotes about how Paul felt about this time in his life without using a joke from 1980 to shore up your point about his resistance to dad, in a paragraph that implies he's saying it about his resistance to dad. And when you've decide that "it just never occurred to me to listen to other people" can mean "and that's why he didn't listen to Jim about work, except this time he did," I don't know. It leaves a funny taste in my mouth because then you could use it for anything Paul decides to do differently. If that makes sense. If it applies there, it applies to anything Paul does. And Paul obviously didn't mean that in 1980.

Also maybe this is more nuanced, but while "Paul still hated anyone telling him what to do" is a true statement in any time in his life, that quote itself? Is neither necessarily relevant to being told what to do or very revealing. It actually is entirely unnecessary. The passage would be completely benign and throw me no red flags without it.

Like any of the points I make or, frankly, I've heard others make, it's less that he's saying untrue things and more that by using these citations in ways that remove them from context and add them to a different context, he is painting a picture but passing it off as fact. In addition, he often will use a quote from John's angry, Lennon Remembers period to interpret Paul's motives in the early 60s, rather than using, oh I dunno, a quote from.... Paul? Or a nicer quote from John when he's contradicted himself again? Again it's all legit sourcing and citing! But the contextualizing creates something he's selling as free of interpretation which is anything but.

The other one I've been thinking about is laid out quite well in I think episode 3 of the AKOM pod, and it's about Paul's creative development. While John's is described as original and a free spirit and rebellious in his artistic ambitions--which he was--Paul's artistic endeavors almost always come with a weasel word or caveat. What I mean is, John is always described as inventive; Paul is a gifted mimic. This despite a lot of attention paid to how John was basically copying his favorite cartoonists and artists--he even says at some point everything he does is Just William and Lewis Carroll. But somehow when he does it, it's extraordinary. He's got his own voice, while Paul is a talented parrot. Lewisohn gives props to all of Paul's many accomplishments but there's always either some kind of adjective like that to take away from it or this thing that creeps in where everything Paul does is for show. There are numerous places in Tune In where Paul is ostentatiously reading difficult books so he can be seen reading them. Anytime he's trying something new or going to explore a new art form or theater experience, Lewisohn has to point out that he wants to be seen to be doing something clever. When he writes songs, Lewisohn points out that he's not just writing songs, he's thinking about the image of being a writer or something like that. It's never because he's artistic, or likes the thing. He needs to be seen as someone liking the thing.

Now, we do have a quote from Paul about this. He does mention thinking about the image of a poet with the pipe and the leather patches, and he does at one point get a pipe and you know, famously pretend to be French to try to pull birds. (He does this again on that little week off he takes in France, years later, reminiscing about imagining he's a novelist in a cafe.) It's not that I'm saying Paul isn't capable of being pretentious! (I still have the beret I insisted on getting for my birthday when I was 16. I'm not immune. I still look great in it.) But Paul's, again, self-deprecating description of himself as a goofy teen appears to be the only 'proof' Lewisohn has that his reading, his art, his going to shows alone no one else cares about, is a pretense.

Again. It's not a huge deal and it's not like Paul didn't factually do all of this. It's that in a text that he's insisted in the front matter is free of speculation, Lewisohn's included numerous interpretations of Paul's (and others') motives without any direct proof/citation for those interpretations. That, I'm afraid, is speculative. And that's fine for an author to engage in--but he needs to be clear about it.

For the record he does this with John, too. He interprets numerous, sometimes almost contradictory actions of John's as "evidence" of his ability to lead. Sometimes he's like, in front and sometimes he's doing nothing and Lewisohn will conclude this was John also leading.

The point of all this isn't, like I said in my original post, that I think any one of these things is that bad. Paul's kinda pretentious? Maybe sometimes he did like to be seen reading War and Peace or whatever? Maybe John sitting back and watching what his mates are going to do is leadership? The problem, for me, is that it's not presented in a way that meets the premise of Lewisohn's introduction, which promises a work free of the prejudices and unsubstantiated speculation of his forebears. And I really do think that Lewisohn has convinced himself that he's done enough research and been a keen enough "Paul watcher" that it no longer counts as interpretation. I fear he may actually believe that he's done the math.

Again, I think you should read it. I loved the attention to detail and you'll get a lot out of it. But just be aware of this tendency, which I no longer think I'm imagining. And these are just the first two things I thought of and wanted to rant about.

#oh man thank you so much for enabling me #you don't know how great it feels to get to just babble about my thoughts lol #i'm really touched that whoever you are thinks my opinion is even worthy!!#kris reads tune in #kris talks a lot #tune in anon #anon asks

5 notes · View notes

thessalian · 1 month

Text

Thess vs Waiting Out Bugs

There was going to be more Horizon Forbidden West yesterday, but yesterday morphed into an unbelievably bad pain day. I managed to get through the work day - had to; Scruffman and Temp were both out so I had no one to report to and we were already shorthanded. But after that, even sitting in the desk chair was a no. However, I was reasonably okay first thing, so I did try for that stupid drone. I know computer processes are complicated, but yeesh.

Right. Attempt 1. Can I get to that wall without stepping in blight?

I can! Up I go, and ... Ah. In a game where there's a difference between being able to stand on something and Being Able To Stand On Something, those gun turrets are things I am Able To Stand On. Buuuuuuut the drone's still too speedy. Reload.

Attempt 2. Back up the wall, and ... now it's stopping in the wrong place. It's supposed to stop near the turrets, I'm pretty sure. I mean, that is why I am Able To Stand On them. But drone is stopping right above the doors I kerboomed the firegleam on awhile back. Can I climb up there?

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii cannot climb up there. Is the turret on the other side close enough to let me leap to the drone?

Nooooooooo it isn't. Fuck. Reload.

...Huh. I am ... at a different campfire - one nearer the gun turret I was balanced on when I tried and failed for the drone. There must have been an autosave.

Attempt 3 - third time's the charm?

THIRD TIME IS THE CHARM. It's stopping at gun turrets. UP I GO.

And yaaaaaaaay! Don't like having to land in blight with it, but at least I don't have to "Hold E To Grab Data" for very long.

Right. I have some time. Now what?

I wanted to check out some stuff around Plainsong. I can splash out on using one of my fast-travel packs. Man, I know we used to be able to craft fast-travel packs but I don't remember if or how we can on this game, so--

...And just as I think that, the game gives me a tool tip on how to do that. HUZZAH! Normally I just go to the nearest campfire and fast travel from there, but crafting my own fast-travel packs is probably good for when I'm doing morning gaming.

Right. There should be a codex entry in this area. Fields full of blight, satellite dish array ... should be around the base of this dish somewhere.

...Or up. It could be up.

Look, I know that's a grapple point; let me grapple without potentially stepping in blight, okay?

Right. I can scan it from here. No more jumping.

Well. Maybe let's just see what's through this gap.

Ah. I could have just walked over to it from here. Ah well. Lesson learned. I could go check for green shiny elsewhere but I probably don't really have time for that. So ... hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work I go.

Today is going to be a take-it-easy day. It's going to have to be; I'm feeling better but dear gods yesterday was awful. Lots of rest breaks, maybe a nap, not leaving the house if I don't absolutely have to.

Nice thing is that we're starting to have the kind of weather where I can have the windows open during the day without worrying that the heater's going to kick on. We're supposed to get to 20 Celcius today. Currently at 16-ish, and I can get some fresh air. I mean, yeah, it's apparently a high pollen day, but it's a high pollen day for me either way, 'cos my petunias.

On the subject of the garden, most of my stuff has sprouted and many have even started growing adult leaves. A few still haven't sprouted, but I'll give them some time before I panic. Chamomile in particular has a reputation for just taking its own sweet time. But the dill and particularly the coriander are growing incredibly fast and I'm probably going to have to repot them soon. Good thing I already bought my Big Bag of Soil for the year.

Yeah, this is me being Plant Parent - pondering the loss of baby leaves instead of baby teeth and thinking about how fast some of them outgrow their pots rather than their onesies. The reason why I own a t-shirt from TeeTurtle that reads "My Plants Are My Babies". It's a little twee, but I guess it's true enough anyway.

(...oh fuck I need to take out the garbage later...)

#Thess plays video games #Thess liveblogs Horizon Forbidden West #Thess on gardening

2 notes · View notes

callsign-bunnie · 1 year

Text

Migration PT2 (Teeth and Skin)

Gaz and Price are back on the rode. Back on a mission. So far, it’s been boring as hell. So far.

Gaz took it back. He could not keep listening to Price’s music. He was slowly losing his mind. At least it wasn’t Britney Spears but it was the same three albums from three separate artists. “Fuck it, we’re going to find a music store to raid.”

“Fine with me.” Price shrugged and chuckled softly. “But, I’m also fine with this music.”

“We’ve been driving for days and we’ve listened to the same damn tracks over and over and over again. I am now seriously concerned for your brain chemistry, sir.” Gaz rolled his eyes and glanced over to Price.

Gaz had taken over driving when Price needed to sleep but for the most part, Price drove. He claimed it kept him sharp but Gaz knew the truth; Price liked driving. It gave him this idea of control over an uncontrollable situation. They all had to cope, somehow. He knew that. Gaz coped by just not thinking about it, most of the time.

Price coped by trying to keep control, even when it was clear he didn’t have it. Gaz let him have that control. He trusted the older man with his life.

In the last two years, he’d stopped trying to hide that he saw Price as a father. Not a father figure, just his father. Price had pretty much stopped hiding that he saw him as a son.

Price laughed softly. “If we find new tapes, I will use them. What would you prefer to listen to?”

“God, anything new. Anything but this.” Gaz turned to the radio instead, going through the transmissions. He stopped at an old station, frowning a little as he heard English being spoken over it.

Both had picked up Spanish. They had to, in order to survive. So, it was surprising to hear English. American English no less. Price seemed to pick up on it as well, glancing at the radio.

The transmission was faint, likely due to distance. Gaz could barely make out the words, but it seemed to be detailing some event happening in a city they had to go around. They knew of the city, as it was very overrun with zombies and was generally seen as something to avoid.

Well, whatever it was, they planned to avoid that city, anyway. So they’d likely miss whatever it was. “You know, I’d kill for pizza right now.”

Price laughed. “I don’t think even killing would get you one of those.” He joked. “Two more hours and we’ll stop. Set up camp.”

“Good.” Gaz nodded, since the sun was going down. They hadn’t stopped since they’d started going, save for a quick supply gather in a town, and it would be good for both of them to get a full night, or full for them anyway, of sleep and for the truck to be off for a few hours.

As promised, Price found a place to stop. They didn’t dare camp out of the truck, since they were in a heavier zombie populated area. Granted, they were not actively in a spot where that was a risk but, it was better to be safe than sorry. Zombies didn’t have rules.

Yeah, they had patterns and it was usually pretty easy to tell when groups of them would do something, but at the end of the day, they went where the food was. That was it. There was nothing beyond that. No feeding patterns, nothing.

Just pure hunger. Gaz and Price, or anyone else, hadn’t really tried to dig into why they ate, either. Gaz could remember a time they’d seen a zombie with half of its intestines gone, still tearing into a body. It clearly wasn’t to survive. They didn’t need to survive, they were already dead.

Gaz did have a notebook where he took down information they learned about the zombies but.. It was hard to get anything when the only time they were actively interacting with them was running for their lives.

When Price found a good place to stop, Gaz hopped out and went to the back of the jeep, setting up their stuff. Price used to offer to do it, but Gaz was way better at getting them set up in a speedy manner than Price was.

Price just did some maintenance on the jeep while Gaz did so. Both were very tired, though, so Gaz wouldn’t be shocked if Price just came to the back, climbed in, and crashed. Gaz definitely planned to.

In fact, as soon as he was done, he climbed in and immediately laid down. As expected, Price followed a few minutes later, and he was shutting the door, locking it. However, instead of laying down, he stayed sitting up, frowning.

Gaz sat up a little. “Sir?”

“Shh… Do you hear that?” Price started to reach for his shotgun, which they kept in the back. Gaz listened and then he did hear it. Clicking. He furrowed his brows. As far as he was aware, there were only four types of zombies. And none of them clicked. Bleeders hissed, Heavies growled, Sprinters screeched, and biters groaned. None of them really… clicked.

A soft booming noise came from their right. Gaz immediately moved to the window of the back door, ducking a little as he saw jets flying overhead. “What the fuck?”

Price came over and frowned, having to lean over Gaz, who scrunched up to give him room. “What the hell?”

Gaz looked at a jet, seeing an American flag. “Either some fucking survivor group got their hands on a few jets or…”

“The Americans are trying to reinstate themselves.” Price grred and shook his head. “This will not be good.”

“No kidding.” Gaz snorted and ducked again, watching odd colored explosions hit a city in the distance from the jets. Thankfully nowhere close to them but… great. This was just another element of bullshit that they’d have to look out for. “What do we do about this, sir?”

“Can we do anything?” Price went to his spot and laid down. “Avoid them. If they start to threaten survivor settlements, we’ll do what we can to help but…”

Gaz understood. They were two people. They couldn’t exactly take down an entire military, even if he’d like to try. They helped people, now. They didn’t really run missions. Even if he’d like to frame what they were doing now as one, it really wasn’t. It was them going a longer distance to help someone. Again.

Gaz wished it was different. He wished this had never happened. He wished they could be back in England, running missions, going home for Christmas or leave. Price had let him move in with him when he lost his apartment. Watching football on the television, eating shitty tv dinners or takeout because neither of them felt like cooking.

Hell, he missed Farah and Alex. He’d go back to Urzikstan if he could, just to see them. Alex had stayed with Farah… Change the subject. Now. “Hey, sir. Remember that heavy we took down?”

Price raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t settled in yet, fucking with a map. “Yeah. It was a pain in the arse.”

“Piss off, you weren’t the one being chased by it, having to narrowly dodge bullets. Your aim is dogshit.” Gaz laughed. Price had managed to get up on a roof and had yelled for Gaz to run from the thing. To be fair, Gaz was a hell of a lot faster than Price. He could outrun it, Price likely couldn’t have. However, the problem was, Price planned to take the fucking thing down.

So Gaz had had to run in circles while dodging the occasional stray bullet. Price’s aim was pretty good, but it’d been a high stress situation.

“My aim is bloody fantastic. The damn thing kept dodging.” Price grumbled. “Why did you bring it up?”

Gaz shrugged. “I was thinking about it.” He lied. He’d wanted to distract himself. It hadn’t fully worked, but hey, he wasn’t about to go down that rabbit hole of hurt. He decided he was tired enough to sleep and laid down, pulling the blanket he had over himself.

It didn’t get that cold at night, but it was cold enough he needed a blanket or he’d freeze.

He heard Price eventually settle in behind him and he relaxed, closing his eyes.

Gaz took deep breaths, trying not to freak out. He knew the room around him, well, and he hated being there again. He did not want to be there. He would rather be anywhere else but… No. He was here, again.

“Shoot him.”

“No.” Gaz shook his head, trying to drop the gun in his hand. It was glued to his hand with a thick layer of blood, though, so he couldn’t. “Please, I don’t want to.”

“Shoot him.”

“I can’t. He’s barely 18. Barely a kid.” Gaz stared at the fresh faced soldier, tied up in a chair in front of him. He was sobbing, clearly not wanting to die. Why he was there, Gaz didn’t know. He didn’t know anything about him, just that he was 18.

“Shoot him.”

“Please, I can’t-”

“Shoot him.”

“No, I won’t-”

“Shoot him.”

“Please-”

“Shoot him.”

Gaz let out a breath, his whole body shaking. The kid was begging. “I don’t want to die. Please. I want to live. I want to see my mama again. I… I miss my mama, please. I miss her so much. I don’t want to die.”

Gaz couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t do this at all. He wanted to leave, he wanted to spare this kid. He didn’t deserve to die. He didn’t.

The kid continued to beg for his life. “Please, sir. My name is James. I have three siblings, they’ll miss me. They hang onto my letters. My mama will be lost without me, please… She was so upset I left… She said I’d get myself killed. Please don’t let her be right.” He wasn’t begging Gaz, he was begging whoever had put them there.

“Shoot him.”

“I can’t!” Gaz snapped. His entire body felt icy cold. How was he supposed to shoot this poor kid?

That’s not what happened, though, was it?

Gaz stopped and his whole body shook. No. No! He couldn’t kill this kid.

But you did.

Gaz squeezed his eyes shut.

“Shoot him! Shoot him! SHOOT HIM!”

Gaz took aim and shot the kid. Right between the eyes. He watched his head jerk back and Gaz tried not to scream. What had he done?! NO! He wasn’t supposed to do this!

Then the head slowly rose back up straight. Gaz stared into yellow eyes. Skin rotted right off the bone. The kid became slim and gangly.

The gun disappeared. Gaz wished it hadn’t. He wished it’d stayed. He would need it. He watched the kid open its mouth and start to screech. High… so high… It hurt his ears. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t breathe-

It attacked. Gaz backed up as it lunged forward, biting right into his shoulder. He felt the pain everywhere. He shoved and kicked at it but it just kept biting and screeching and biting and screeching and-

Gaz woke up with a start to Price shaking him rather hard. “Kid! Kid wake up!” He looked at Price, shaking.

“Wha-” He started before stopping as his throat burned. He’d been screaming again. Oh. The nightmare was already fleeing his mind. He checked outside, seeing the sun was already fairly high in the sky. Getting up, he decided not to acknowledge anything. It was better. Smarter. “Ready to get on the road?”

“I’ve already eaten.” Price mumbled. Gaz had been doing this for so long, he probably knew not to bother. “You should eat on the road.”

“Yes, sir.”

Gaz groaned as they climbed out of the truck, finally. They were stopping for a supply run and Gaz was incredibly grateful. He wanted out of the jeep. He liked it, don’t get him wrong, but… It was stuffy when you rode in it for a couple days straight. They’d only been on the road for a week but… it was a long fucking week.

Price checked their stuff and shook his head. “We need more food.” He groaned and shook his head. “A lot more food.”

Gaz frowned and went over, checking their food supply. He was shocked to find they would barely have two days. Four or Five if they really stretched it. But… They would have to barely eat. “We’ll see what we can find.” He shrugged. They were stopping for supplies, anyway. Surely they would be able to find something.

Price didn’t seem too sure but nodded, anyway. Gaz knew he was just worried. He was always worried about this stuff. Even if they had plenty of food, he’d still be worried. That was just how Price was.

So, Gaz shrugged off his concern and got his rifle out of the back of the truck. “What else do we need?”

“Ammo, medical supplies. Water.”

None of the water was really safe to drink unless it was from big water sources. Granted, if you were immune, bites wouldn’t turn you, but it could still cause infection to get any sort of fluid from those rotting bastards.

Not to mention, both heavies and Bleeders posed significant threats. Bleeder blood was literally acid so it could burn a hole through your stomach. Whatever caused Heavies to bloat like that was potent and you were pretty much guaranteed to get violently ill if not die.

Gaz had done the math from everyone he’d asked about it and the odds for violent illness was 90% and death was like 64%. Granted, his numbers weren’t precise but… he trusted them enough to know he would rather not take the risk.

One could filter the water, if they had a filter. Gaz and Price were not so privileged, though. They’d tried to find one, but there were always higher priorities. Food, medical aid, supplies. Etc etc.

“Might try to find you some new boots, eh sir?” Gaz offered, since he’d noticed Price’s were wearing down.

“If we find any.” Price nodded, getting his own gear out. Despite the heat, both wore jackets. They were loose, which helped since it was a dry heat, but it was significantly harder to get bitten or scraped in a jacket than it was without one.

Gaz decided to keep an eye out for his own boots. “Oh yeah, and the music store.”

Price full on laughed at that one. “Alright, kid.” He gave a thumbs up and then they headed to the first store. Price had to break into it, which was hopeful. That meant they might have decent luck with their supply run.

Price took down a biter that jumped out at them as soon as they walked in with ease. They were most common for a few reasons. One, they were named for what they do. Which was Bite. Yeah, they generally did feast if they were in multiples, but one tended to get bored pretty quickly on its own.

Still, if you were alone in a room with no way to defend yourself and it just so happened to decide it was hungry enough (close to a 50/50 chance if Gaz’s math was correct) then you were likely just stuck and fucked and would probably die.

The second most common were Sprinters, which were functionally biters but something caused them to lose all excess mass so they were just speed machines. Terrifying speed machines. Gaz had had the misfortune of watching five of them go after the same human and they had torn them to shreds. Gaz wasn’t even sure they had any time to react to whatever was happening to them before they were dead. But, they still bit and it was fairly easy to get away from them in close contact, since they were light and easy to knock away. Gaz… knew that first hand.

Bleeders were third most common, though only just so. Their common attack didn’t really allow for them to bite until the victim was already dead, though Gaz had heard of those unlucky enough to get bitten by one. Or who would swallow blood and survive. Hell, he’d heard of a cartel leader who’d done it on purpose. He’d gotten lucky and was immune but… the idea of that had been horrific to Gaz. He’d apparently done it because one of his men had gotten bitten and it was revealed his blood was now acidic, though not to the same degree as a regular bleeder’s was.

Gaz wasn’t sure he believed this story, but hey, people were just crazy enough.

Funnily enough, Gaz didn’t know much about Heavies. Price and him had only had the misfortune of dealing with one and Gaz planned to keep it that way. He supposed now was certainly a time when only knowing a little about these things, unless you had regular contact with other survivors, was a good thing.

At least, Gaz certainly saw it as one.

They were greeted with a large stock in the store. Gaz chuckled and nodded. “Awesome.” He searched for the main things they needed. Medical supplies took priority for now, since they could stretch food, but they couldn’t stretch most medical supplies.

However, Price seemed to have food covered, so Gaz wasn’t too worried. “Hey, sir? Should I just grab all of the bandaging?”

“We can come back for more stuff. As long as it fits in the jeep, I don’t care. So just take as much as you deem necessary.” Price nodded, glancing at him. Gaz shrugged and turned back to the aisle, knocking all of the basic first aid into his bag.

Sadly, ammo would not be found at this place, since it was a dollar store, but canned foods, pre-prepared meals, and water would be in excess. Along with medical supplies.

Gaz did take most of the socks in their size. Even the apocalypse didn’t stop them from losing socks. Well, they were useful as hell. The long ones could be made into quick weapons with a rock. And, once Price had sliced his arm open, elbow to wrist. It wasn’t deep enough to need stitches, but it was an infection risk. So, Gaz had wrapped it up and then they’d cut off the toes of a knee high sock and rolled it up over the bandaging to keep it secure so Price could move easily.

Gaz still felt pretty smart for that one. Price had said it was smart thinking, since they moved a lot in their day to day. The sleeve had given him freedom of movement.

So, Gaz had no problem wasting space to grab them. Hell, like Price said, they could always come back to get more. They hadn’t seen many biters through the town and they’d parked close enough that running to the jeep and running back shouldn’t be an issue.

Gaz stopped in the craft aisle. He usually would grab the blades for the precision knives, and the handles, that they had there. Plus the shitty super glue. It wouldn’t hold too much, but it held just enough to be useful. He grabbed all of those things and then made a decision to grab some more pens and a small notebook. He had the space.

He paused in front of the activity book section. He’d loved doing the random activities in them when he was a kid. His foster mom had had a ton of them for mental enrichment. Glancing back at Price, he saw he was preoccupied looking at the labels on some cans of what Gaz was assuming was ravioli. That or some kind of bean. Likely some kind of ravioli or canned pasta. Gaz actually didn’t mind those. Especially since they would pop the tops off of them with a can opener and stick them in the fire to heat them up.

They had a few pans but they were reserved for when either one of them couldn’t stand pre-made meals anymore and would throw a bunch of shit in it and make some form of cooking happen. They didn’t want to bother having to clean them up.

Then, they’d keep the cans, which were good for making bombs if they felt like it.

Which, they rarely did. But, they collected them all the same as many survivor settlements would trade for them. They’d trade a decent amount of items for them, too. Food, medicine, ammo. Apparently aluminum and tin was really good if you knew what to do with it.

Gaz shrugged and grabbed a few books. Again, he had the space. His bag was huge and could fit a fair amount in it, since it was only the bag they’d use for grabbing supplies. When he was finally done grabbing things (oh and another pack of plastic silverware, which they kept when it broke since there were plenty willing to trade for that, too. None were really willing to say for what, though…) he grabbed a random set of men’s reading glasses and held them out to Price, laughing at the withering glare he received.

“Goddamnit, Garrick! I don’t need those.” He huffed and shoved the cans in his own pack.

Gaz laughed louder and shook his head, setting them on a nearby shelf. “Don’t squint so hard at words, then.” He shrugged and turned back to Price. “Old man.” He added, just to rib at Price, though he was only 37.

Price rolled his eyes. “I’m in my thirties, kid.” He shook his head and grabbed more food. “You grab everything you think is necessary?”

“Yeah.”

“Fantastic. Let’s go stock the truck and then we’ll look for a store that will hopefully have ammo.” Price nodded.

Gaz agreed and they both left. Gaz followed close behind Price. Since Gaz was much faster than Price, he stayed behind him to make sure neither got left behind. It was easy for Gaz to get caught up in his own thoughts and then Price was several feet behind him.

Once they got to the jeep, Price helped Gaz get out their boxes and look through them, organizing everything into where it went.

“Fuck, you think you grabbed enough socks?” Price raised an eyebrow as Gaz emptied them into a bin labeled the “sock bin”.

Gaz raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to have to try to run through towns on blistered feet? Do you want to try to wrap a fuck ton of bandaging on big wounds? Or should we save that for our torsos?”

Price raised his hands in concession and then stopped, frowning. “That clicking noise again.”

Reasonably, there was no reason to believe that they were in immediate danger, but… dread still flooded Gaz’s veins, regardless. He quieted and listened. It was much louder this time.

Then they saw them. All black fighter jets with the American flag on them.

“Fuck!” Price cursed.

In the distance, they could make out trucks rolling up. Military trucks. Gaz should have taken this as a good sign, but no. No, things were never that easy. They rolled up in the distance and stopped and the angle meant that Price and Gaz could see them, but they likely couldn’t be seen. They’d done this on purpose so they wouldn’t have to deal with the various groups of shitbags around.

Gaz went to go around to the truck, but then a piercing shriek sounded through the air. Not a sprinter shriek, no. An electric shriek. Gaz’s eyes went wide as he saw groups of biters flood from their buildings. No, not just biters. Sprinters, bleeders. He covered his ears and quickly went around the truck with Price, getting in and locking the doors. Price had thankfully slammed the back of the jeep shut.

“What do we do, sir?”

“Get the fuck-”

Price was cut off by the first explosion. Gaz expected a bomb, but… no. Something large and round had dropped down on a group of biters and exploded in a purple cloud of gas. Gaz knew it was gas from the way it hung in the air, spreading out rather than up like smoke.

Gaz stared at the group, watching them all drop like flies. “How is that possible?”

“I don’t fucking know, but I’m not sure I want to find out what it does to humans.” Price growled and put the jeep in drive.

“Sir, how are we going to get through this town? Do we keep driving through?” Gaz knew from the map that going back would mean adding two more days of travel. From Price’s frustrated expression, he was thinking the same. “We could hide somewhere, wait them out?”

“No.” Price shook his head. “That’s too risky.”

Gaz sighed, since it was. Plus, what happened when it drove the hoards out of the town? They would be stuck. “Can you travel the backroads?”

“Let me see that map.”

Gaz got it out and handed it to Price, keeping an eye on the biters and the approaching military men. He wondered why they were there.

Well, that question got answered quickly because no sooner had he thought it then a group of three survivors were coming out of a building nearby. They started to choke and grasp at their throat. “Price-” Gaz started, before jerking away as something slammed against the door of the jeep.

A soldier in a gas mask was at their door. Where did he come from?? He was yelling at them in shit spanish to get out of the jeep. Price looked up, alarmed, but nodded at Gaz to comply. Gaz hesitated before carefully getting out of the truck. He looked around and saw the three survivors were now on the ground, two soldiers standing over them.

One of them was convulsing and he could hear the other two screaming. It was… a horrible scene. Gaz’s stomach churned from it. The soldier kicked his knee in so he was forced to kneel and he put his hands behind his head immediately. Price did as told as well, being made to step out of the jeep. Gaz was made to go around to his side.

“Can we leave?” Price tried, doing a convincing American accent. If Gaz said so.

“No. Orders are to neutralize all survivors in this town.” The soldier put his gun to Price’s head.

It was a sheer moment of panic. Gaz had the gun away from the soldier within five seconds. Clearly they weren’t expecting someone trained in this shit. He shot them in the chest and yanked their gas mask off their face as they fell, tossing it to Price, who quickly slipped it on.

Gaz shot another soldier that approached, whipping around and immediately shooting another. Price yanked open the door to the jeep, ducking behind it as gunfire sprayed near them. Gaz practically sprinted around it after yanking another gun off one of the soldiers he shot.

He put his hand on the door handle when he was suddenly being yanked back. He was met with the yellow eyes of a sprinter. The gunfire was so loud he hadn’t even heard it screech. He didn’t waste time to shoot it through its head and he was lifting up again.

“Get the fuck in!” Price ordered.

The group of soldiers in the distance were now being surrounded by biters. Even with the gas taking them out, they were still quickly swarming them. “This is clearly not going to plan for them!” Gaz called and Price just shook his head.

Gaz started, again, to get into the jeep, but then his vision was flooded with purple.

Then black.

Hey, want to get added to a tag list for this ship or AU? Reply to this with "add me to the tag list for [ship/au]" and I will tag you in everything I post for whichever you choose. If you want to be added to a different tag list, send me an ask or dm

@i-miss-balthazar @transneurodivergentmess @hayleymaltman

#migration storyline #Kyle Gaz Garrick #Gaz COD #John Price #Price COD #Teeth and Skin: a zombie cod au #Call of Duty #Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

22 notes · View notes

vanillaarts · 1 year

Text

I had written a while ago

Young Adrian meeting the pillagers that saved him

@/mae910do own the pillagers in this (sorry if you don’t want me to use them)

Adrian stumbled through the dark forest, barely able to see his hand in front of his face.

For getting drugged and left in the forest to die, he felt he had been doing pretty well and staying safe until he could find shelter or another person.

However, he had been doing well earlier. Currently he felt awful, and he knew exactly why.

His arm hurt badly, and felt very itchy like a healing injury. His throat also felt tight, and it was very, very hard to breathe. He felt a little nauseous too, but compared to the inability to breathe, it felt less important.

Overall, he got stung by a bee, and was severely allergic.

He noticed a zombie in the distance and went to run, but it followed him. He turned to looked back at it and tripped, falling into crunchy leaves. As he hit the ground the world spun quickly. He tried to scream as he fell but his swollen throat only let out a squeak.

The zombie approached but before it got too close an arrow went through its head. He gawked at it as it fell beside him, and a young pillager approached.

He looked down at Adrian. He held out a hand, and Adrian, slightly able to see it in the dark, took it to get up, but the world spun again and he stumbled.

“Woah hey…” The guy steadied him, “Are you okay?”

Adrian knew he wasn’t and shook his head.

“I… can’t…” He whispered and gestured to his throat.

“You can’t breathe?”

Adrian nodded.

“Bee-“ He wheezed. The illager didn’t realize what he meant.

“Be? Be what?”

Adrian rolled his eyes in the dark.

“Buzz-“ He uttered. He started panicking soon after, finding himself completely unable to breathe.

“Oh! Bees! You got stung by a bee?” He didn’t get a response and couldn’t see the guys face in the dark, so he assumed that was a yes.

“I’m going to pick you up and take you away, ok?”

He scooped up the kid and hastily came back to his outpost.

“Hey! Domino! Who’s the kid?” Bonnie called out.

“Found him in the woods. No idea who he is or where he came from, but he needs help.”

“What kind..?”

“Allergic reaction kind.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah… I’m bringing him in.”

“But he’s an evoker.”

“Doesn’t seem like they liked him enough to look for, also the kids, like, I dunno, fifteen. I’m not letting him die.”

He came inside, put Adrian on a table and got some older pillagers to take a look at him.

“Get me a bottle of dripleaf extract.” The tallest one said to another young man. He walked away quickly and came back with the bottle.

He took a spoonful of the syrup and forced it down the kids throat.

Almost immediately Adrian was breathing better and taking large gasps and coughs, regaining a lot of lost oxygen. They applied a small amount of the extract to the sting after they removed the stinger and wrapped it in a small bandage.

“There. He’ll be fine for now.” He said. “Take him to a bed.” He told Domino, who nodded and carried him away.

“Thanks…” Adrian murmured. “Your names Domino?”

He smiled.

“My names Danko, but everyone calls me Domino. Nice to meet ya. And you are..?”

“Adrian. Or Aid.”

“Nice.”

The two chatted and Adrian felt himself get better while sitting in the bed. And Domino noticed the speedy recovery.

“Dripleaf works like a charm, doesn’t it?” He said.

“Yeah. I think you guys saved my life. Thank you.” Adrian replied, genuinely thankful.

“No problem. You were dying, so what did you expect me to do?” Domino asked. Adrian shrugged.

A bell rang in the distance.

“Time for dinner. You think you could come down with us? It would be fun, but leave the robe. Pillagers usually don’t like evokers.”

Adrian obeyed and came down to the large table wearing a t-shirt and pants. It was very loud, with pillagers shouting, grabbing food, and drinking at almost every chair.

He sat beside Domino awkwardly. Evokers always used to have dinners quietly and have etiquette forced on them, so this was much different than what he was used to.

Sighing, he listened to the drinking song that began. He began singing along with Domino and the others as he started let his evoker etiquette go.

He could get used to this.

Compared to the cold and hard environments he just came from, and the dark woods, this warm, hearty meal felt a lot nicer.

It felt like home.

#minecraft oc #mcd oc #adrian #mc adrian #Domino saves him :)#oc rant #illager ocs #Adrian is a sweet bean but he’s been through a lot

13 notes · View notes

radigalde · 10 months

Text

Okay, so, I started BG3. But this post is not about spoilers. It's about how it looks.

You see, I preordered it when it first became available, and participated in Early Access for most of its duration (except for two last patches). As you may know, during the development Larian abruptly changed the system requirements. And while my laptop with old GTX1050 was sitting comfortably enough in the middle of the old requirements, it's barely able to crawl under the minimum of the new version.

So, while the game was running smoothly with the medium graphic settings at the start of EA, by druids patch I couldn't even get to the first settlement because of the freezes, textures lagging in and out of their blurry existence, T-posing, etc. It was pretty bad.

Reportedly, the final game should have been optimized a bit better, so I decided to give it a shot and see how it looks like on the same laptop almost 3 years since the first download.

Yeah, I know that the cloud gaming exist. It costs money and needs a speedy internet connection.

And the game greeted me with this.

(Changed everything from medium to low except for the texture quality - it's still on medium. Had to say goodbye to the distance blur as well)

Compare it to this from 2020 (screen from another person with approximately same old settings, my screenshots of the old character creation room didn't survive):

Or this (mine 2020 screenshot outside of the character creation):

Same laptop, same graphic card, 3 years of development in-between.

Which is especially gutting, because the hair quality was really good during the first EA patches even on the lower graphic settings and older machines. But at some point the developers decided to change it, turning it into greasy looking pixelated something.

Larian, why :(

Some hairstyles managed to lag through into something decent.

Others did not.

The hair's reaction to lightning in this room/location is atrocious btw.

Even when the textures are fully uploaded.

It's a LED wig, I got it.

Comparison of the first model appearance vs after the textures loaded in is quite funny, though.

It jumped to the left version each time I moved the camera in/out even a tiny bit, loading the textures from the right anew. Each. Time. The same happened during the last patches of EA, except that back then the loading could take a few minutes. Now it's either ~15 sec or not loading at all here.

Tbh, after seeing all of that in the dressing room, I dreaded of what would I see during the main game.

But it's surprisingly better. Almost no jarring rounded pixelation, and no jumping between abyssmal low and normal version of textures.

The reaction to light still sucks sometimes. The hair pick too much from the light sources that are barely visible otherwise and don't light up anything else to the same degree.

As for the optimization: yes, it indeed became better. Still not the first EA release quality for me, sadly, but by far better than the latest EA patches. Textures are way more steady now: they still take a few seconds to load in during the big cutscenes, but it's like nothing compared to the previous mess. During the regular exploration gameplay character (and most of environmental) textures are always steady. I even managed to watch the full crashing cutscene as a, well, cutscene instead of three half-loaded frames that took 20 min to render. And I was running freely on the beach despite the falling ash and everything that almost killed my frames back then.

Also, it still doesn't heat up my laptop all that much, which is a pleasant surprise.

Well, stay tuned for more cursed images, I guess.

Isekai-d into a mobile game.

Oh, and Lae'zel is a fiery redhead on her character portrait for some reason, and other characters' hair is displayed like brighness/contrast +100. I think, something is deeply wrong with the dressing room specifically after all.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #min graphic playthrough

3 notes · View notes

tyrantzeye · 10 months

Text

guys ok since im never gonna finisj my rebellion essay im nust gonna ramble here and pray its coherent. wish me luck

first point im gonna start crying ab the plot im yonn ro it in chronological order if u wanna skip2go rrad my thoiguts oknthe movie and transformati9ns n details n dtuff

so homura after madoka becomes god is like overcome with despair n is talking 2kyubey ab madoka kaname(the law of cycles) and the incubators traps her b4 her soul gem turns and homura in this weird limbo state beyween magical girl and witch makes a labyrinth of ALL OF FUCLING MITAKIHARA CITY and invites all of the holy quintet in unknowingly cuz her memories are reset and tjeyre magical girls and theyre fightinh nightmares and BEBE???? AND BROS LIKE DANXING AROUND EVERYWJERE AND "late nights are the enemy of beauty"I LOVE MAMI AND BEBES DYNAMIC anyways after some quality time (haha "this feels like sometjing ive been wanting for a lonh time") homuras like "haha wait a minute!" and so she goes 2 kyoko whos from tje next town over originally n is like "hey shawtay do u know whats going 9n" n shes like "no lets go out of town and oh my gosh the town i am from is not real shawtay" n then tells homura that shes better actin all tough n then homuras confused and is like "wait so i remember BEBE being a little WITCH BITCH so lets stop time" N THEN THE FUCKING FIGJT ENSUES MAMI FINDS HER N SHOOTS AND HOMURA SHOOTS N TIME IS STOPPED N EVRY BULLET IS AIMED PERFECTLY TO SHOOT AANOTHERAND MAMI IS COMFUSED AB IT ANDTHERES NOWJERE LEFT FOR THEM 2 GO AND HOMURA REPLAYS TIME AND ALL THE BULLETS SHOOT AND THE SOUNDTRACK WHIPS im honna learn it onthe cello N HOMURA SHOOTS HERSELF?????? BUT SHE DOESNT????I NEVER QUITE GOT WHAT JAPPENED BUT SHE STOPS TIME AND TJEN SHOOTS MAMIS LEG N SHE UNRAVELLS AND IS RIBBONS NHOMURAS CAUGJT N MAMI DOESNT UNDERSTAND WHT SHES SAYING AB THIS WORLD BUT MAMI REMEMBERS WHAT WRAITHS ARE AND HOMURAS LIKE "NOOOOOOOOOO" AND SHE RUNS SO SPEEDY (sayaka is carryinh her) CUZ NAGISA MOMOE(BEBE) & SAYAKA MIKI SAVE HER omg sayaka diaolog and homuras likro"omg u remember??????" n nudges homura along 2 think ab it n realizes that 3 people dont belonh here n "would you be okay destroyinh this version of mitakihara city?" n homura monolog cuz shes gay BUT THEN MADOKA JUMPS OFF A FUCKING BRIDGE FOR HOMURA WHOS ON A BOAT n they go back 2 that garden n kyubeys there n did i mention tjat kyubey only says "kyu"for now n homura has this talk w madoka tjat i will takk aboit later bc its such a turning point in the story i swear its at least a mini climsx on the plit mountain & its so gay faggot nstion rise up n syand for the anthem(pmmm ost) n homura leaves madoka worried and kyoko gets a call from homura "this is like some kind of bad joke....for real...."

(para break 4 the climax) and hmura realizes shes a WITCJ and tests this via her soul gem and why does her pjone fucking glide like a leaf n yeah she knows shes the witch nowni will talk ab this sequence later as well cuz the imagery is beautifully executed n kyubey starts to talk as the labyrinth kinda collapses n homura realizes that the incubators did this to her n kyubey hss tjis whole speech nants homura ti call for madoka and homura realises that kyubey wants 2 control madoka bc b4 now tje law of cycles was a hypothesis n homura keeps squishing kyubey n it doednt understand why shes mad n shes mad bc she wants meguca to be safe n she wants 2 die in the isoñation dield and omg the homura witch brcoming scene and the rest of the quintet come to ssve her in such a cool battle scene and PARMASEAN A REGGIANO and omg the sayaka silhouette reference and sayaka and nagisa are madokas secretaries and kyoko x sayaka omg i love tjem and they save homura to her own dismay and you csn hear in her voice what shes going to do and mami & kyoko witness the law of cycles and madokami/ultimate madoka saves homura but then homura RIPS MADOKA FROM THE HEAVEN. HER SOUL GEM IS TAINTED BY LOVE. MORE PSSSIONSTE TJAN HOPE, MUCH DEEPER THAN DESPAIR - LOVE. OH NY GODDDD SHE BRCOMES THE DEVIL AND USED THE INCUBATORS TO RID THE WORLD OF THE WRAITHS ANF SSYAKAS PISSED AT HER N DOESNT KNOW WJY N I OVE THIS INTERACTION anyways madoka kaname comes to mitakihara as a transfer from the us and homura shows her around campus and madoka starts to remember tjat she isnt human but homura stops her n is like "do you treasure tje world you live in or would u break its rules 2 follow ur heart" n madokas like "ummm dont break rules" n "oh i suppose one day u will be my enemy" n its sad n madoka ribbion n the movie ends

so ny immediate thoughts are always "WHAT THE FUCKKKK"ok so i adore this movie so do mucj tbis is fuclinh genius n evrt im e i watch ot i realize smth new and homuras despair is so felt througj the entire thing and nothing compsres to how fuckinh well written her arc is and i love love love love love love how her love is portrayed n u realize that she doesnt love herself and neither does madoka and i tjink its just fonna be a loop of them circlinh sround eachother until they say it rireftly bc theyre god and devil and catholic stuff homuras catholic bc its weird bc god and devil r kinda working towards the ssme goal in a weird way thats never really broigjt up n this is reflextes in rebellion they both want a happy world but tjat world csnt exist bc 1. their visions clash (a world qherw madoka can be happt vs a world where every1 else except r madoka can be happy) n 2. until they both love tjemselves enough to sustain eitjout the other at least neither will be happy cuz how can u love someone else when theres no love within kr left 4 urself and homura doesnt seem keen on letting madoka go and madoka doesnt seem to want to be here due 2 her belief that she gets in the way and ywaj iys just a giant cycle and i think that homura did do the rigjt tjinh bc otherwise the incubators wouldve probably tried to control madoka and it was tje only way 2 potecy jer & she didnt rlly destroy the law of cycles she only riped away the madoka part n imo its unclear if magical girls still exist i tjink tje wraiths e gonns hsve 2 be extinguidhed by tje incubators themselves AND WHAT EVENNARE WRAITHS BTW. i need2watch magia record anyways i also love every single sayaka interaction bc she cherishes homura obv but also believes tjat madoka should stay the same as tje llaw of cycles and i domt think sayaka wil end up being homuras enemy bc in the same way the end form of magical girls is a witch, a creature of despair, the end form of a human, for all humans do love sometjing even if it is small, the final form is a godly entity of some sort: a creature born of the chaos that is love ykwim? n in the ssme way sayaka sympathizes with witches i think she will cmr to realize where homura is cominh from and her and tje rest of the quintet will act as sort of a middle ground once they realize whats happening amd i think thats where this is going bc this series is a masterpieve and no nasterpiece exists witjout msking u sob over philosophy

ok so i wanna just talk ab the madohomu garden scene bc its literally so important. madokas love is rly portrayed here so well bc its clear that homuras fucking lovesick but like madoka is also so gay. like. howd they name tje last episode of the series "my very best friend". snyways we see madoka exhibit healthy communication behaviors (ifu want u can always talk 2 me im here 4 u i migjt not be able 2 help but its better than dealing witj it alone) n u can see how badly dhe wants to help homura n tjen tjeshot wjere u csn see the wjole garden n both of thrm n the cityscape ⬇️

shows them as equals (foreshadowin?) esp cuz weve almost always seen homura viewinh madoka as infinitely above her esp considerinh the god stuff but rn they can be human and full of flaws n juzt overall equal rn and tjats beautiful fr. anyways hmura had a "dream" (the plot of the series) n madoka hears about how lonelyn sad n scared homura felt n how she felt that she was lying 2 herself for so long and homura runs down the hill and collapses, placing her below madoka kaname once more. madoka places tjem at the same level again, but fails to see how real this "dream" was. madoka as she is now thinks that this is just a dream, just something fabricated by homura - as homura thinks madoka was for so long. and madoka says tjat she could never do that - not to homura, someone whos so strong and capable, she could never make her cry snd could never leave her friends behind. and homura can tell tjisisnt true because to her it was real, to her it happened in real time right before her eyes after 12 years worth of tryinh to save madoka over and over and over. "you know how wimpy i am, and because i could never do something that would make someone as strong as you cry like this." n in the dub madokas like "it would bresk my heart" but in the sub homura says "then for you, thats something that hurts you so much you couldnt bear it?" and madoka agrees and homura fails to see that madoka kaname, without her memories, doesnt grasp the realness of it and solidifies the idea in homuras mind that the real madoka would never willingly leave her behind, regardless of the circumstances.

and the moonlight shines over tjem like a spotlight and homuras reality has been shattered. madoka doesnt realize tje weight of her statement and homura in this moment knows that she is the witch. and shes put the only person shes ever cared about in jeapordy. and it cuts to different scenes of them talking, before homura eventually has the information settled in- like this was the last piece needed to set in place tje rest of the story yk? and dsrkness spreads over the flowers, and she begins to blame herself - how could she let the most amazing person leave? how could she fuck up that badly by letting her escape? and homura tells her that, no matter what, madoka kaname is capable of making "yhat hard decision" andthe flower petals fall and the core-thingies glow and rise dandelion style and leave the field empty, showing that nothing else matters to homura and madoka is confused af! cuz she doesnt remember and homura knows deep down that shes holding the real madoka and you van hear the bliss in her voice and her expressions and its so goddamn powerful. but she has to go now, has to confirm her suspicions. and i honestky think that this scene is felt throighout the rest of the movie and this scene is where homura realizes that if she is the witch she has to die here so that she doesnt do yk what she does do to ultimate madoka bc clearly she understands that its wrong logically but also after knowing that the incubators want to control madoka that seems like its the best thing she could do to protect her yk? anyways i love this scene this is my favorite scene in the whole franchise fight me.

n now last thing i PROMISE i wanna talk ab homuras witch transformation starting at thetrain I LOVE THE OWL IMAGERY SO SO MUCH ABOVE THE CLOVKS N SHIT cuz owls symbolize like transformation which is literalky what we r watching happen from magical girl in2 witch n the bus lights on fire n the chanting begins and th world destroys itself becoming a fiekd of chaos and hands taint her soul gem and she shoots it and shes in shock and um cut to her labyrinth cuz HOLY FUCKKKKK the littke guards to show shes like protecting madoka n i LOVE the color scheme of the weird curse things n the broken gkass n the gears n oj my god does it take place in a COLOSSEUM??? and HELLO THE DRIPPY BLOOD THING ABOLISHING THE FUCKING PRAISING ARM HOMURAS and the skull tjinhg af oh my god i love 5his so much n the blood pool stuff i couod keep goijg 4ever i lobe the homulily nutcracker labyrinth n the nutcracker part is brilliat cuz shes "protecting" from the incubators n idk thats my thoighrs 4more organized stuff go here https://madoka.fandom.com/wiki/Homulilly .

i give up for now but i might edit this in yhe future or smth. send asks if y wanna know my 5hoifhrs on other stuff ilyasm

#if u read all of this im so so sorry.#i also cant type so #pmmm rebellion #astrid goes on a disgusting tangent #astrids silly lil thoughts #pmmm #up next i will be rambling ab tbhk....soon.....#tw gun mention #tw cursing #tw death mention #tw caps #tw catholicism #<- i think thats all idk

5 notes · View notes