#Maybe now that I know it's a general thing I might stop worrying they're going to Have a Conversation with me

[hellohoihey]

Why am i working in a restaurant. I got asked to make small talk with people today i think they want me to die.

#Gonna be honest I'm here because I get to go outside a lot in the summer and also a little in the winter #And there's birds there and sometimes even butterflies. Cool as fuck. I'll just be walking around with a look of wonder & joy in my eyes #I am not going to ask random guests how they're doing that is Not normal #If they wanna talk to me they can start that convo lol I am already too anxious to ask ppl how their food is most of the time #Literally at the end of the day I was told like yeah we're coaching to better service and shit now was everything okay? #*me who thought about quiting my job because I'm not cut out for this several times in just the first hour* yeah no - helpful tips! :) #sayingthing #Ughh #Maybe now that I know it's a general thing I might stop worrying they're going to Have a Conversation with me #and fire me later because I made mistake oooh👍

[sunderwight]

Bingqiu AU where SY and LBH grow up as childhood friends (idk maybe they're both at QJP but Shen Jiu is less of an asshole, or maybe SY transmigrates into Random Village Bully Child No.3 when Binghe's mom is still alive -- or both) and there's none of the tension of the idea of "one day Luo Binghe is going to rip my limbs off" for Shen Yuan.

So he and LBH can just be bros! Fantastic! Shen Yuan has never had a little brother before but he's had a little sister, he knows how to do this. Just spoil the cute kid rotten!

It's only fair compensation for how many terrible things LBH is gonna have to endure on the road to ruling the world, after all. SY also feels more freedom to change minor aspects of the plot around, too, like maybe he'll stop Liu Qingge from dying, definitely he can help LBH get a better start to his cultivation journey, and maybe the abyss and xin mo thing doesn't really need to happen...?

The list of things SY considers meddling with ends up including wives.

Like really, come on now, Luo Binghe may be a stallion protagonist but there's no need for that many women. Especially when at least half of them are just increasingly cheap copies of the other half, and that's being generous about it. Some of PIDW Binghe's wives were, frankly, horrible people. And if he's being honest about it, it wasn't fair of Binghe himself to take on that many either. Even if anyone would naturally give their left arm to be the protagonist's wife, after a certain point Binghe just can't spend that much time actually with them! And then he can't form the kinds of deep and meaningful bonds which might actually help heal his trauma!

SY's not looking to interfere too much, of course. Ning Yingying is not his favorite wife, but she's fine. She causes trouble but it isn't on purpose, and she's genuinely sweet and willing to befriend Binghe before he's anything special (although even now, it's obvious Binghe is special). Ning Yingying can stay.

And of course, so can Best Wife Liu Mingyan.

But Sha Hualing? Well, she offers some political advantages, and as the demon wives go she's not the worst. She's kind of iconic and was very popular, but Shen Yuan thinks the harem could do without her scheming and malicious attitude towards the other wives. The cost of harmony was too high for the political bonuses offered, especially when Binghe might as well just take her ancestral lands by force and be done with it. He's going to advise against that match.

And the Qin sisters. Sure there's the legendary threesome, but Wanrong's dead weight and it never struck SY quite right how Qin Wanyue pressured Luo Binghe into sex. The threesome wasn't even good anyway.

Better Qin Wanyue than the Little Palace Mistress on that front, though. But aish, that's complicated, the Palace Mistress is even more politically vital to securing HHP than Sha Hualing is for her father's kingdom, and almost as bad for the peace and harmony of the harem. Ultimately SY will leave it up to Binghe, but if Binghe asks, he's going to advise against the Huan Hua wives too.

With thoughts like this in mind, SY starts talking to Binghe about how to establish a household, what to look for in a spouse (or twenty), and other topics of that nature. What sort of household Luo Binghe ought to strive to have, and what sorts of standards he should himself to. Also while of course assuring him that Shen Yuan isn't interested in women. Lest he worry that Shen Yuan might be trying to steal any of the wives from him, at any point. He's not competition!

SY: I am helping to pave the way for Binghe to have better marital relationships! I am the best big brother slash best buddy ever! don't worry, no matter what happens to Binghe, this gege will be your no.1 cheerleader forever!

LBH: is he saying I should get a palace if I want to marry him? well... that sounds reasonable. ok, I will do it! (•̀ ω •́)✧

#svsss #bingqiu #scum villain's self saving system #scum villain

[suzukiblu]

Excerpt from the one where Kon meets pink kryptonite and decides to fuck Tim and his boyfriend about it.

(The read-more is definitely necessary, length-wise. I . . . got very into this idea and frankly this is barely a third of it so far, lol.)

"So, uh . . ." Kon says, skeptically eyeing the softly glowing rock in his hand. Metallo, like, threw it at his head. He has no idea why. "Is this supposed to do something or . . . ?"

"It's pink," Kara says leerily, staying very firmly back. Like, unexpectedly far back, in fact.

"Yeah, I'm not actually blind, thanks," Kon says, turning the rock over and squinting at it. It continues not to do anything, aside from the glowing thing.

"No, it's pink kryptonite," she stresses.

". . . it literally doesn't hurt at all, though?" Kon says. Though he probably should've figured it was some kind of kryptonite, given that Metallo had it and had apparently thought he could hurt him with it.

Seriously, though, his gloves are fingerless and he's got it right in his hand. It should be hurting him, if it's actually kryptonite.

"Pink kryptonite doesn't work like that," Kara says, edging a little farther back. They're floating a few hundred feet in the air right now, but from the way she's acting Kon's vaguely concerned that he might be about to explode or something. "It just affects our sexual . . . urges."

"Oh," Kon says, frowning in confusion. Weird, but . . . "Is that all?"

"I don't mean like it makes you horny, Kon, I mean like it makes you homosexual," Kara hisses, looking mortified. "And don't ask how I know, alright?!"

Kon . . . blinks.

"What the literal fuck?" he asks incredulously, just staring at her. "How does that even–are you telling me Metallo went and chucked gay kryptonite at me in the middle of a fight?"

"Yes!" Kara says, still clearly mortified. "So just–just stay over there with it until somebody shows up with a lead box, okay?! The effects will stop after we get it contained."

"Alright, alright. So then do you think the dude was flirting with me or is he just a fucking idiot?" Kon jokes, balancing the kryptonite on his index finger with his TTK. "Although I really don't think he'd be my type either way. Like, nothing against cyborgs in general, obviously, just the whole thing with him being a murderous supervillain who literally runs on kryptonite seems like it'd make us totally star-crossed. I want somebody I can actually commit to, you know?"

"Sure," Kara says, still eyeing the kryptonite with serious trepidation. It's really not helping Kon feel less like a time bomb, to be honest. Is there like some other side effect that he should be worrying about right now or something? Like, is he missing something here?

"You seem kinda high-strung about this," he observes, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Look, you'd have avoided it too if you'd dealt with it before!" she says protestingly. "So stay over there and definitely keep it away from Kal, I don't know if Jimmy ever really recovered from the last time."

"Oh, well, congrats to Jimmy, I guess," Kon says, since he can't really see a downside to scoring a one-night stand with Superman. Like, a downside for somebody who isn't literally his clone, he means. The clone thing would definitely make it weird.

Just it's also Clark, though, so he'd probably be the generous type in bed. Like, the sort to really take care of somebody. Be as gentle as happened to be appropriate but also be down if his partner maybe wanted it a little rough for whatever reason. And he'd definitely be able to go all night. Again, Kon isn't gonna go there himself, it really would be too weird, but he can make a logical conclusion. Extrapolate one. Whatever.

Then again he'd be down with Power Girl absolutely destroying him whenever the fuck she wanted to and she's genetically his . . . some form of cousin or something, he guesses. His half-cousin from another reality. So really, Clark's not even that weird an option. And like, all appearances aside Kon's a binary clone anyway, not even a one-for-one match, sooooo . . .

Actually it's probably weirder that he thinks Power Girl is so unspeakably hot but comparatively Kara is just . . . fine? Like, that's a little odd, isn't it?

Maybe it's an attitude thing. Or the costume.

Might be safe to blame the costume, yeah.

It's just such a good costume. Like, Kon aspires to reach that level of costume.

But really, all that aside he still doesn't even know what the big deal about temporarily going gay is, although to be fair he's also currently talking to Supergirl and not, like . . . literally any dude whatsoever. So like, who knows how weird this stuff might actually make him under those circumstances. Maybe it like fucks with inhibitions and stuff too?

Yeah, hell if he knows. He's really only dealt with green kryptonite before. He was vaguely aware that other colors existed and apparently did different stuff, but . . . this just seems very different, put it that way.

Maybe best to avoid Jimmy Olsen for a little while, Kon decides privately. The guy probably doesn't need that.

Besides, Clark apparently got there first anyway and Kon just really doesn't want to be worrying about measuring up. Miss him with that, thanks.

. . . although maybe he'll go visit Tim later.

Eh, no, Kara made it sound like the pink K's gonna stop affecting him pretty quick once they box it up, so not much point in bothering. Though maybe he'll visit just to hang, come to think of it; they haven't seen each other in almost a whole week. Well, he hasn't seen Tim, at least–who knows how much Bat-surveillance Tim's seen him through.

Kon should maybe sweep his room for bugs again. Note to self.

Although would it be weird to just like . . . keep the pink kryptonite, maybe? Since it apparently doesn't actually hurt anyone or anything? Because that could be, well . . . just interesting, that's all. Like, Kon is open to exploring that experience. Just–as an experience.

"Actually, you're surprisingly not high-strung about this," Kara says.

"Am I?" Kon asks. "I mean, it's not that big a deal, is it?"

She stares at him.

"Kon," she says slowly. "Pink kryptonite affects your sexuality. It makes you attracted to people you're not normally attracted to. It confuses you and everyone around you and it is really freaking embarrassing to explain afterwards."

"I've been mind-controlled into shaving my head and breaking my best friend's arm," Kon says, continuing to not really see what the big deal is. "That was embarrassing. And fucking traumatic. This? This is just kinda weird."

"Only kinda?" Kara asks incredulously. "You're one of the straightest guys I know! How are you just fine with this?!"

"I mean to be fair, that's probably making some unfair generalizations about straight guys," Kon points out. Kara stares at him. "What?"

"I don't even know how to respond to that," she says.

"Sorry?" Kon says, then tucks the pink kryptonite into his jacket pocket with a shrug. He's not trying to hide it or anything; just getting kinda sick of holding it. And it's that or he either ditches it somewhere or starts tossing it around and that'd probably be . . . just, well, absolutely epically stupid of him.

Or it seems like it would be, anyway. Whatever color it is, it's still kryptonite.

"I mentioned keeping that away from Kal, right?" Kara says.

"Yeah, on that note, are they like . . . done down there yet?" Kon asks, glancing down towards the mess of the street that Clark's standing on a few hundred feet below with a whole bunch of randos from S.T.A.R. Labs, for some reason. Somebody mentioned something about neutralizing Metallo's kryptonite heart without actually killing him, but mostly it was science talk and clearly theoretical anyway so to be honest Kon'd kinda tuned it all out as "not currently relevant", and that's all he knows.

"Definitely not," Kara says.

"I'm gonna call Robin while we're killing time, then," Kon says, pulling out his phone.

"You're going to call your closest male friend," Kara says. "Right now. While you've got pink kryptonite in your pocket."

"Yup," Kon says, already pulling up Tim's contact.

"Can you not see how that might be a bad idea at the moment?" Kara asks. "Not in any way whatsoever?"

"Well I'm not calling Impulse," Kon replies reasonably. Kara stares at him again, for some reason.

Eh, whatever.

He calls Tim.

"Hey, Conner, what's up?" Tim answers distractedly, which Kon doesn't hold against him because when isn't Tim distracted, really. Dude's got too much going on in that head of his, for real. He's just glad the guy ever picks up the phone at all.

"So apparently I'm gay right now," Kon greets conversationally, figuring he should lead with that just in case he actually is about to do something embarrassing to explain. "Pink kryptonite is fucking weird, man."

". . . uh," Tim says as Kara covers her face with her hands. "What?"

"Pink kryptonite makes you gay, Kara says," Kon says. "And we're both just kind of chilling above downtown Metropolis waiting for Kal to finish up with the science-y people so we can get said pink K locked up, so I'm bored out of my mind right now and calling you to complain about it."

"You're calling me," Tim says slowly. "While you're . . . gay."

"What, is he asking to come over?" another voice asks from the phone, sounding amused. It takes Kon a second to recognize it, but–oh yeah, that's the mysterious Bernard, isn't it?

Right, Tim has a boyfriend now. Kon's never actually met him on account of being the worst at secret identities and the whole thing that is Bernard living very firmly in Gotham, land of "no metas allowed unless you're either a supervillain or Batman's too dead to stop you", but he's heard him over the phone a couple times now, although they've never actually personally talked. So maybe thinking about Tim while being high on pink kryptonite isn't actually, like, kosher? Or polite. Or whatever.

. . . then again, Bernard did ask.

"I don't know, maybe?" Kon says thoughtfully, considering the idea. "Are you open to me coming over?"

"Yes," Bernard says.

"Bernard," Tim says.

"Babe, I know we're pretending I don't know you're an ass-kicking vigilante and all but come on, don't make me turn down Superboy," Bernard says wryly.

"We're–wait, pretending?!" Tim sputters.

"Pretending so, so hard," Bernard confirms, sounding nothing but fond. Kon's actually a little jealous of that tone of voice, he's gotta admit. Like–it's been a bit since anybody's talked to him that way, is all. "But like, if you actually thought you were being subtle maybe you shouldn't talk about kryptonite on the phone right in front of me or put themed emojis next to all your superfriends' civilian names in your contacts list?"

"Oh my god, you do that?!" Kon asks with a gleeful cackle, immediately forgetting everything else in favor of that absolutely delightful piece of information. "You're the worst! Batman just rolled over in his grave and Oracle is absolutely losing her shit on the other end of her wiretap!"

"B's not even dead right now," Tim says in exasperation. "And if O cared she'd have already hacked my phone and changed them. And for the record plenty of people put random superhero emojis next to their friends' names, that's a totally normal thing to do!"

"Usually the random superhero emojis aren't associated with contact pics that are dead fucking ringers for said superheroes," Bernard says, sounding amused again. "Just as a thing and all."

". . . anyway so you're gay today, how's that going for you, Conner?" Tim says as Bernard laughs gleefully in the background. "Triggering any unfortunate mental health crisises or anything? Making you worry about the validity of your masculinity? Because I can safely assure you that's all bullshit and you're fine."

"Naw, I know all that, being gay is just a thing," Kon says with a shrug. "Kara's being a little weird about it but honestly it's going way better than, like, the times supervillains mind-controlled me into being into them. Like just as an overall experience, I mean."

"Wait, how many times has that come up?" Tim asks in bemusement.

"I dunno?" Kon shrugs again. "I mean you were there for the Poison Ivy incident, and then Gorgeous Gilly happened to me a while later, which was, uh, genuinely horrifying because she tried to literally marry me during all that, so . . . I think just the twice, probably? But don't quote me on that, I don't even remember what I had for breakfast."

"And how is Kara being weird, exactly?" Tim says in his very unsubtle "assessing my teammate's psychological condition" voice.

"Oh, she's mostly just avoiding me?" Kon says, as a guy who's personally not really all that concerned with his psychological condition at the moment. "Because I've got the rock in my pocket on account of not wanting to just leave it lying around somewhere and she doesn't want to get affected by it. I don't know why, I don't really get why it matters."

"I mean it matters, definitely," Bernard says. "Like it very strongly matters to a lot of people."

"Fair, but I think we're all too invulnerable to really have to worry about getting gay-bashed or anything," Kon reasons. "Like, at least not as a heat of the moment thing."

". . . god can you imagine the world we would live in if every piece of shit gay-basher had to deal with the consequences of punching fucking Superman?" Bernard says feelingly. "For real."

"Oh, pink K's temporary," Kon clarifies. "Kal's not gay anymore."

"Hold up, I'm sorry, are you saying that at some point he was?" Bernard demands in obvious delight. "Is that what you're telling me right now?"

"I guess he was into redheads?" Kon says, tilting his head. "Slightly twinky redheads, specifically. Which I don't blame him for, I'm gonna be honest."

"Well now I know that forever, thanks," Tim says dryly.

"Alternate option: he could've been into Batman," Kon points out.

"Redheads it is," Tim says. "You just . . . redhead away over there."

"I mean I thought about it, kinda," Kon admits.

"Ngh," Tim says, for some reason.

"No thinking about Batman, though?" Bernard asks with a snicker.

"Not so much," Kon says, making a face. "Did consider having some Superman thoughts but I'm apparently not that narcissistic, surprisingly enough."

"Kon!" Kara chokes.

"Tell me you've never considered having Superman thoughts and I'll tell you you're a fucking liar," Kon snorts, shooting her a dry look. "Weren't you like totally naked when you first showed up on Earth? And then he found you like that and wrapped you up in his cape all nice and gentlemanly and took you home with him?"

"He is my baby cousin and you're being affected by pink kryptonite poisoning!" Kara accuses, her face bright red.

"Wait, is it actually poisoning me?" Kon says with a frown. "I feel like you should've led with it actually poisoning me, if that's actually a thing."

"Well no, not actually, it's physically harmless," Kara says grudgingly, folding her arms. "But you're still being affected! You're having Superman thoughts, of all things!"

"He just seems like he'd be considerate," Kon says reasonably. "Like, you know. Biblically."

"Ngh," Tim says, again for no apparent reason. Bernard sounds like he might be laughing. Or choking? Or maybe both; it's unclear.

"Please don't hit on Kal," Kara says. "Especially don't hit on Kal with pink kryptonite in your pocket. I don't want to know how that situation would end up."

"Ideally with him being considerate," Kon says. Tim chokes. Kara covers her face again.

"Does pink kryptonite affect your inhibitions too or are you just always like this?" Bernard asks curiously.

"Eh, pretty sure I'm just always like this, going by the things I've definitely still not been forgiven for saying to Power Girl," Kon says, idly tapping a finger against the side of his phone case. "Like, pretty damn sure at this point."

"That is unfortunately accurate," Tim agrees resignedly.

"So you're saying it is ethically okay to have Superboy over while he's gay," Bernard says in a promisingly speculative tone. Kon grins. Just a little, but yeah–definitely he grins. Kara grimaces, because she is absolutely no fun whatsoever.

Spoilsport.

"I did not in any way say that," Tim retorts dubiously.

"I mean that's what I heard, man, and I'm the one with super-hearing in this conversation," Kon says with a wider grin. "My inhibitions are all inhibited and my personal opinions of people are all the same, I'm just currently batting for the other team."

"So your normal opinion of me is that if you were gay, you'd come over," Tim says dryly.

"Yeah?" Kon says, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, obviously."

"How is that obvious?" Tim says.

"Because I already come over every time you let me," Kon reminds him.

"Oh yeah?" Bernard says slyly. "And how often does he let you come, exactly?"

"Not often enough," Kon replies honestly, and doesn't even bite at the obvious dumb sex joke Bernard so thoughtfully set up for him even though it is frankly painful not to.

"Ngh," Tim says. Kon continues not to understand the reason for him repeatedly making that same weird little noise, but whatever, he guesses. It's Tim, maybe he's stitching his own bullet wounds again or something. Guy's a multi-tasker like that.

"You know this would probably make for a fascinating case study about sexuality, actually," Bernard says musingly. "I mean, all I intend to do is abuse the situation to get into your very tight tights, but seriously, maybe we should all be taking notes or something."

"Ugh, hell no, Rob'll go full Bat if we let him do that," Kon snorts, then smirks. "He can take pictures, though, I know he's into that."

"Ngh," Tim says yet again, accompanied by a weird random "thump". If Kon didn't know better, he'd think he'd just fallen off a chair or something.

"Aw dammit, dude, I think I actually like you as a person now," Bernard says, sniggering. "Are you keeping the kryptonite? Please keep the kryptonite. Like, just for Valentine's and Tim's birthday, that's all I ask."

"Honestly don't know if Superman's gonna let me but I do kinda wanna," Kon admits. It seems pretty convenient, really. And definitely fun.

". . . and you're sure his inhibitions and opinions aren't being influenced in any way, Kara?" Tim asks suspiciously.

"He's really just like this, yeah," Kara says resignedly. "Well admittedly Kal spontaneously developed opinions on window treatments and used the word 'smashing' in cold blood when it happened to him, but that might've just been him sucking at flirting. Because he really does suck at flirting."

"What about when it was you?" Kon asks curiously.

"No one ever said it happened to me," Kara says.

"You kinda implied–"

"No one ever said it happened to me," Kara repeats, narrowing her eyes at him and doing an impressively bad job of acting like she's not blushing.

So it definitely happened to her, yeah.

"Okaaaaay, we'll pretend about that too then," Bernard says. "Well, what are your opinions on window treatments, Conner?"

"That I don't know what they are," Kon says.

"Sounds like he's in his right mind to me," Bernard says.

"He is absolutely not," Kara retorts dubiously.

"I really don't feel weird or anything, I swear," Kon tells her, since he still doesn't get the problem but also doesn't actually want to worry her either. "I don't even feel any different."

"Kon, you are hitting on your best friend and his boyfriend," Kara says. "Together. At once. Simultaneously, one might even say."

"You've met Wonder Girl and Arrowette before, right?" Kon says. "And both the Batgirls? And–"

"Oh my god, Kon," she cuts him off.

"Just saying," he says, then pauses for a moment and frowns consideringly. "Actually, question, how gay is this stuff making me, because while we're on the topic of threeways I kinda always wondered about what Starfire and Nightwing get up to together and if–"

"KON!" Kara yells, covering her ears.

"I'm just asking," he huffs.

"I don't know if it's actually possible to be gay enough to not be into Starfire," Bernard says musingly. "Like I can't imagine how it ever could be."

"Right?" Kon says.

"It's possible to not be into Starfire," Tim says. "Like, theoretically. Asexuals and aromantics both exist, for one."

"Do they?" Kon says doubtfully. "Like in general, sure, but when around specifically Starfire?"

". . . I can't technically prove you wrong due to a lack of reliable evidence but still," Tim says. "The possibility is there. If nothing else the multiverse is a thing."

"Last time I saw her she was wearing half a gold lamé bikini and I am not going to tell you which half or define how loosely I am using the term 'wearing'," Kon says.

"I said it's possible, not probable," Tim says.

"What about you, man, are you the gold lamé type?" Bernard asks with a teasing snicker. "Just while you're gay and all, of course. That's like, practically a cultural thing. Gotta be authentic to the experience, yeah?"

"That is in no way whatsoever a cultural thing, babe," Tim says dubiously.

"Please, like I've never worn freaking lamé," Kon scoffs. "I've worn collars and loincloths and leather and crop tops and enough unnecessary belts to tie up a Bat, lamé is nothing."

"Collars and . . . loincloths?" Bernard repeats, sounding confused.

"Yeah, this one time I crash-landed on a lost isle of beast-men and they kidnapped and enslaved me for a few months," Kon explains, waving a hand distractedly. "Frankly I count myself lucky they even let me have the collar, much less the loincloth."

". . . um," Bernard says.

"You, uh, never mentioned the collar part of that story before, Kon," Tim says, clearing his throat. "You very definitely never mentioned the collar part of that story before."

"Oh yeah, the prince kinda kept me as his pet for a little bit?" Kon tells him with an easy shrug. "Like he and all his buddies ganged up on me and then took me home with them, but I was kinda . . . feral, I guess? Technically? So like, collar and chain setup. But he was cool, he took real good care of me."

"Ngh," Tim says just barely faintly.

"Yeah you should definitely come over," Bernard says. "Tim, get the check. Conner, exactly how super is your super-speed?"

"You can just call me Kon," Kon says. "And . . . mach 3, last I clocked it?"

"Isn't that like two thousand miles per hour?" Bernard asks.

"Two thousand two hundred and twenty-three point three," Kon replies with a pleased smirk. "Faster than a speeding bullet. Or so they tell me."

"We'll just meet you at Tim's, how's that," Bernard says. "That work for you, Kon?"

"That works for me, Bernard," Kon confirms, smirking wider.

"Oh my god, Kon, you cannot possibly be serious right now," Kara says in exasperation, rubbing at her temples. "Just because you're temporarily gay doesn't mean you should do anything about it!"

"I mean, I'm feeling pretty serious?" Kon says, shrugging again. He still doesn't get why she's being so sensitive about this. "It's not like this is the weirdest thing I've ever done in pursuit of a good time. Like, holy hell, lemme tell you about the Ravers sometime."

"You're going to have to look Robin in the eye after this!" Kara says. "And work with him! And be a normal person in his presence! Normally!"

"I'm aware?" Kon says, vaguely bemused by her concern. Like he's never been normal around somebody he's slept with before, geez. "Tell Kal I ran off with the pink K, if he wants to lock it up in the Fortress or wherever I can bring it back tomorrow."

"Maybe Monday," Bernard says.

"Or maybe Monday," Kon amends.

"It's Thursday!" Kara sputters.

"So it's a long weekend," Bernard says.

"I'm not explaining this to Kal," Kara says. "I'm not explaining this to Batman."

"I really don't see why you'd have to," Kon says. "Rob, you cool with the long weekend thing? Not too much of an imposition?"

". . . I got the check," Tim mutters in obvious and absolute mortification.

Kon's gonna take that as a "yes".

"Cool," he says, grinning broadly. "See you soon, Boy Wonder."

He ends the call. Kara drags her hands down her face and continues to stay very far away from him and the pink kryptonite in his pocket.

"When you go back to normal and freak out and make everything weird with Robin and your team and even Robin's literal boyfriend, I'm going to say so many 'I told you so's," she swears vehemently. "So don't say I didn't warn you."

"Your objection is on the record," Kon says, then tosses her a lazy salute with another grin and takes off, kryptonite and all.

Best to just scarper while Clark's distracted, yeah?

Definitely best.

#kon el #tim drake #bernard dowd #timberkon #timkon #timber #superboy #dc robin #rinfic #wip: think pink

[samandcolbyownme]

Summary: anon request - "y/n (she's dating Colby?) is with them when they finally go to the basement in the conjuring video and y/n tells him she went to the basement without them like how Sam did and he gets super upset/mad at her?"

This one shot will contain things some readers might find unsettling and/or triggering.  PLEASE DONT READ IF THIS IS SOMETHING YOU'RE NOT COMFORTABLE WITH!!

Warnings include: strong language, being alone in the conjuring house basement, reader being touched and spoken to, hair pulling, pushing, reader feeling like they're being controlled by spirits, reader having visions, angry Colby, mild fighting, arguing, mentions of puking, general spooky stuff - read with care my lovelies ily! 

I will be using Sam and Colby's SAWATCH Part 3: The Basement as reference in this one shot but only for when the three go to the gravesite and then into the basement together. I will be adding some stuff in to make it flow since the reader is being written in, so everything won't be 100% accurate to the video itself.

Word count: little over 13.k | not edited 

╔═══━━━─── • ───━━━═══╗

You don't know how Sam and Colby were asleep right now. You don't know why you even agreed to coming here for a few nights - if you can even last that long. 

Maybe because you were more worried about Colby? 

Maybe because you were actually really interested in the history that surrounds the house itself? 

You were also an investigator. You'd think you'd be used to this stuff by now? But you're not. Nothing could have prepared you for what this house holds within the walls. 

You sit up, glancing over at Colby who's softly snoring on his cot that, is in fact, under the table like he said he was going to do. You smile slightly as you lay back down, snuggling into your blanket.

You try to remind yourself that Abigail is there to protect you, and that helps, but only a little bit. 

You suddenly felt a chill roll over your body, one that a few blankets wouldn't be able to calm. 

"Y/n." 

You slowly turn over on to your back, sitting up slowly, "Colby?" You whisper, but he doesn't move, "Sam?" He continues to lay there and you take a deep breath, realizing that it wasn't them who said your name. 

"Y/n." 

Your head tilts slowly as you watch a figure walk past the door frame, left to right, "Hello?" You call out quietly, but nothing answers. 

Sam stirs in his sleep slightly, but nothing drastic. 

Your eyes shoot back up to the door as you felt like you seen something in the corner of your eye, a face peaking around. 

The spin chilling creak of a door opening slowly causes you to freeze, even your breath is held. 

You stare at the dark opening for a few seconds before letting out the breath you've been holding. 

You go to lay back down and you hear another whisper, "Go." 

Your legs swing over the edge, feet planted flat on the floor as your hands move the blanket. Your stare is held on the darkness on the other side of the dimly lit door frame. 

Mind on one thing. The basement.

You walk past Sam's cot, glancing back at Colby before slowly looking back into the darkness. 

You know you shouldn't go down there at all, let alone by yourself. 

Colby made you and Sam both promise not to go down there before going together. He even promised both of you that he wouldn't either. 

As you round the corner, you stop as your eyes fixate on the specific door - that you know for a fact opened by something that wants you down there. 

Are you going? 

You wish you didn't, but you feel like you don't have any other choice. 

You walk over to the door, placing a hand on the knob as you look around the door and down the lit stairwell. 

Without taking another glance back towards the boys, you're heading down to the basement. 

Alone. 

But in reality. You're never alone when you're at the conjuring house.

You step gently on each step, careful not to make any loud noise. As you reach the small platform mid way, you stop, staring at the half lit room. 

Part of you wants to turn around, high tail it back up the steps and go back to bed, but a bigger part of you wanted to try and get answers. 

You wanted to know why, ever since you arrived, the basement has been - literally, calling your name. 

You didn't want to give them, too much of your trust, no matter how human they sound.

"Abigail. Are you here with me?" You whisper, snapping your head to the table and chairs when a knocking sound comes from that area, "Knock again if that was you." 

Another knock sounds and you walk over, slowly sitting down in the chair. Your eyes move from the well back to the table, "why am I here?" 

"The woods." 

Your body settles back into the chair and you get a sudden flash of the tree line, "The woods." You repeat, but in a much quieter tone, "Why?" 

"Meet us." 

You tilt your head, smiling slightly, "You're the trickster, Dave. Aren't you?" 

It's silent for a few second, but then you're left in total darkness as the light turns off. 

You can feel your heart rate pick up slightly, "I'm not going to the woods alone." Something clinks on the ground and you blow air through your nose, "Dave. Did you call me down here?"

You feel a light brush on your shoulder, but you don't jump. Something in you knew it was a loving touch, from Abigail. 

"Do you want me to leave?" You lay your hands flat on the table, getting ready to stand up. A loud whisper in your hear causes you to sit right back down, "No!" 

You close your eyes, slowly reopening them. You turn towards the direction of the stairs, staring for a few seconds before turning back to the table.

How did I get here, you think to yourself, but you already knew the answer to that. 

Even though you were fully aware of what you were doing and what was happening around you, you didn't feel like you right now. 

You knew you were sitting in the place you shouldn't be, but it's like you didn't have control over your mind and body. 

As you're sitting there waiting for anything else to happen, you get a chill up your spine, and a feeling in the pit of your stomach that you cannot shake off. 

You hear foot steps upstairs and your eyes are glued to the ceiling, waiting for either Sam or Colby to call for you, but nothing sounds. 

As you turn your head, you get a quick vision of a soldier standing outside of the upstairs window, looking in. 

"Are they watching Sam and Colby?" You ask and you can feel your hands start to shake. You wait for an answer but then it feels like you were released from your hold. 

You shake your head and take a deep breath, "What am I doing here?" You stand up, laughing slightly as you turn to walk towards the steps. 

Footsteps sounding behind you cause internal panic, now that you're.. yourself again. 

You book it up the steps, quickly turning out to close the door and holding it closed for a few seconds before you turn and make your way back to where the boys were. 

Still sound asleep. 

You push your cot closer to Colby, what just happened in the basement haunting you. You lay down, facing him and basically bury yourself in the blanket. 

Every little noise causes your body to jump ever so slightly. 

Why did I do that? 

Why did I break a promise? 

It wasn't you, you try to convince yourself, it wasn't you. 

.·:*¨ ✘ ¨*:·.

You barely got any sleep the rest of the night. You were awake when you hear Sam stir around and sit up. 

You closed your eyes, pretending to be asleep. 

Colby moves his arm from over your body and you pretend to stir. He brushes hair from your face, "Hey." 

You open your eyes, pretending that you just woke up, "Mm, hi." 

"Get scared last night?" Colby asks with a quiet chuckle and your heart starts to pound, "Yeah, I couldn't really sleep without being close to you." 

He nods, "It's understandable." He leans in, pecking your forehead with his lips. You sit up, forcing a stretch before standing up to move your cot. 

"How'd everyone sleep?" Sam asks slipping on his sweatshirt. 

"I honestly don't think I woke up once." Colby stands up, stretching, "I think someone got a little spooked in the middle of the night." 

He nods towards you and you laugh slightly, trying to cover up your nervousness, "Yeah. It was pretty creepy." 

"Glad to know that there was a cuddle party going on while I was over here all alone, hot and ready for whatever wanted to drag me away." Sam holds his arms out, trying not to laugh, "What the fuck?" 

Colby tilts his head, walking over and hugging Sam, "Oh I'm so sorry, brother. Come here." He squeezes him and you laugh, shaking your head as you grab your little travel bag and head for the bathroom. 

.·:*¨ ✘ ¨*:·.

You felt different all day and you were scared either of them would pick up on it, more Colby than anything. 

You kept drifting off, thinking about everything that happened when you were down there. How you felt, what you heard. 

You were torn between telling Colby and just waiting until they were done filming for the night, but at the same time, he'd probably find out regardless because of the cameras the owners have set up in the corners of the house. 

So you decided it'd be better to tell him sooner rather than later, but that was going to have to wait as you were on your way to check out the graveyard. 

You kept thinking about how mad Colby was going to be. He was going to be far from happy. You hated when you argued, which honestly wasn't that often, but you knew this was going to be a big one. 

"Hey." Sam bumps into you, "You alright?" 

You look up at him, "Oh yeah. I'm just anxious because of the woods and it being dark, ya know?" 

He nods, "I know what you mean. I'm actually quite nervous myself." He chuckles and looks behind him, "You ready Colby?" 

Colby walks up, wrapping his arm around your waist, "Yes." He nods, "I am." 

You lay your head on his shoulder, taking in the happy Colby as much as you can before your words, eventually, ruin his mood. 

Sam turns the camera on, light shining towards Colby as he walks forward, "Before we go to the grave site, we thought we'd stop where I talked to Dave, under the Estes method, earlier this week." 

You follow behind them, shining your light on the trees. You feel like your eyes are playing heavy tricks on you, but after that night, you just felt like you were going nuts. 

"So again." Colby's voice causes you to snap out of your thoughts and you walk up next to Sam as Colby continues talking, "After the past few days, we've heard the name, Dave." He points, "Specifically, super clear, on the Alice box, in the forest over there when we camped out. But, we were introduced to him right around these graves, so.." 

Colby steps back, opening his arms as he moves around, looking side to side, "Dave.. if you're around, or any other soldiers. Feel free to follow if you can hear me." 

"We have a long hike." Sam says and you groan, "Oh great." 

Colby chuckles, "I mean the last investigation last night.." he looks at Sam, "Come find out? Thats like, the scariest thing they can say." 

Sam laughs, "that's like, the most ominous thing any spirit has ever told us." 

As you walk, you keep hearing things in the woods behind you, "Jesus fuck." You whisper, walking quicker to be closer to Colby. 

He reaches his hand back, wiggling his fingers for you to take his hand. 

You grip his hand, not letting go for anything. You shine your flashlight with your other hand and it starts to flicker before going out then turning right back on.  

Sam and Colby stop, turning back to look at you then down to your flash light. 

"I'm not even going to say anything." Sam says and you nod once, "please don't." 

Colby squeezes your hand and you look up at him, smiling slightly at him, "You're good." He nods, "I got you." 

That made you feel ten times worse. 

You feel like you could puke. 

Your nerves, between the basement and walking through the woods you were warned not to go into, were almost shot. 

"Here's what scares me.." Colby starts out as he stops walking. You let go of his hand as Sam turns the camera to him, "Most of the spirits have these, like quiet knocks, but the one downstairs was way louder. It had more power. It had more energy, and we were on concrete." 

"Last time we were.. in the woods, the only things we really heard was that it wanted to attack and stalk us.." 

Sam's words cause your heart to beat faster - now you really felt like you were going to puke. 

What if you're what they, the spirits, were attacking, stalking? 

You feel dizzy, but you weren't sure if it was from the woods or just your guilty conscience. 

".. man in the woods might be following us right now." Sam finishes and you lay a hand on your head, thinking that it might just be whoever Sam is talking about. 

"Y/n." Colby's voice causes you to lift your head, "Are you okay?" He walks up to you and Sam shines the light on you, "What's going on?" 

"I'm just.. dizzy right now." You shrug, "It started when Sam said they wanted to attack and stalk us." 

Now you're just totally confused on why you're dizzy because there's a dozen things that could be causing your dizziness right now. 

Colby wraps an arm around you, "Do you need to sit or anything?" 

You shake your head, "It went away now, let's just keep moving." You motion forward and you all walk on. 

A little bit later, you push through some brush and Colby shines his light, "Oh god. Where'd the path go?" 

Sam turns around, "This is where we came from, but there's three paths." 

"Pink ribbons right?" Colby asks and Sam nods, "Yeah I think, they're supposed to be pink ribbons." 

"There's a blue ribbon over here." Colby shines his light and Sam walks down another path, "I can't see anything down here." 

You follow Colby and he yells to Sam, "Oh, here we go. Here we go!" 

"Pink?" Sam asks walking over and Colby nods, looking back towards him, "Yeah." 

Colby grabs your hand, leading you down the path as Sam points the camera to the pink ribbon on the tree. 

"It's like a river up here." Colby says, "Oh I remember this from two years ago!" 

"Yeah isn't there some sort of.. like pond? Or something?" Sam asks and you stare at the ground, trying not to trip over the rocks that are sticking out. 

"It's right there." Colby points and Sam nods, "Oh, oh oh yeah! I-I just remembered going to the side of that. So we just gotta figure out - Wait." Sam says and you jump slightly as he turns the camera towards you. You laugh, "Just frogs, Sam." 

"Oh god, that scared the fuck out of me." Sam laughs slightly you guys keep walking. 

"Okay so you said this way?" Colby points his flashlight and Sam nods, "Well, we just gotta get to the other side of this." He points, "If I remember." 

As you're walking through trees, Colby shines his light, "Oh yeah pink ribbon." 

"Pink ribb-" Sam stops, "Wait." You and Colby stop, both looking at Sam as he walks up to Colby, "What the fuck was that dude?" 

Colby looks at him confused. 

"I hear two of your voice, like in that research section.. where like, it echoed." Sam says and Colby looks out in  front of him, "Hello?" 

Sam pans the camera and you guys wait for a second before Sam shrugs, "I don't know, that was weird." He sighs, "Let's keep going." 

"I don't know why I agreed to coming here." You shake your head, laughing. Colby stops waiting for you to catch up to him and he leans in, kissing your head as he gives you side hug, "You love the adventure." 

You smile, nodding, "Yeah, I guess so." 

After a little bit more walking, the feeling of it being just the three of you, quickly started to subdue. 

"We are really in the middle of nowhere." Sam says and Colby blows out air, "We've been walking, guys, for like ten minutes maybe? Fifteen?" 

"fifteen." Sam nods, "Yeah probably. I just checked though, we have zero service, too." 

Sam pans the camera, "We are really out in the middle of the woods, alone." 

Suddenly a noise from the woods catches all of your attention, getting you all to stop in your tracks. 

"What the fuck was that?" Sam whispers and Colby shrugs, whispering quickly, "Wait, whoa whoa." He turns, pointing to the woods. 

Sam steps around and you move close to Sam. 

"What? What was that?" Sam whispers and Colby presses his finger to his lips before pointing, and staring out at the woods. 

Sam pans the camera to the direction Colby's pointing. 

All you hear right now is the crickets and buzzing of other insects. 

You feel a slightly eerie feeling wash over your body and you take a quiet and slow deep breath. 

Colby's stare is held on the woods as he brings his hand to the side of his neck, "Alright, let's just.. keep moving, I guess?" 

You walk down the dark path, all on high alert. 

The woods were scary, and being told not to go there was even scarier. 

"I think I see it." Colby said and you feel a slight bit of relief, mainly because you were over walking right now. 

"What?" Sam questions and Colby shines his light ahead of him more, "I think that is it up here." 

"Oh fuck dude." Sam says and you and Colby stop and look at Sam. 

"What?" You and Colby say in unison. 

"This-this light just died." Sam says and you take a deep breath as you tilt your head back, "Great." 

"You're lying." Colby says, walking up to Sam. Sam shakes his head, "No this light had like thirty five minutes of battery left.. look at it." 

Colby walks up to Sam and looks down at the camera that's pointed to the ground, "Let me look." 

"Look. It's out of battery." Sam states and Colby shakes his head, "Okay. Let me film that because no body is going to believe that." 

"Right there." Sam points to the screen, "That is actually so strange." 

"Is this one charged at least." Colby questions and you lay a hand on your forehead, looking around. You feel eyes on you but you don't see anything whatsoever. 

"Yeah, that one is charged." Sam nods, "That's the graveyard?"

"I think." Colby answers and Sam points to the camera, "And this just died?" 

"What the fuck." You mumble, running a hand through your hair, "what the fuck." 

There's a sound behind you and you all turn around, "What was that?" Sam whispers and you shrug, staring out into the woods. 

Sam lays his arm over you, moving you back with him as he steps backwards, "Footsteps, footsteps." 

Colby grabs your hand, pulling you with him as you run away from where the sound came from. 

"I'm just scared of like, what's taking the energy. Like why did we get lured out here? And then what's like-" 

Sam cuts Colby off, "Wait, dude. What if all of our lights just go out? Like there's no way we're gonna be able to get back." 

"No I know." Colby nods as he continues walking, "that's why we should make this quick." 

You walk up to the gravestones and sam shines the camera, "Here it is." 

"This is it." Colby adds, "This was like, a lot more overgrown last time we were here." 

You walk ahead a little more, shining your light on the stones as you walk by to stay with Sam and Colby. 

"All the graves, guys." Sam says as he shows the camera. 

Colby bends down in front of one, "George. George baker." 

Sam whispers the camera away, "What the fuck was that?" 

Colby continues, "Another George." You tap Colby to get his attention and you point to Sam as he speaks, "Footsteps. Footsteps. Footstep, dude!" 

Colby shines his light into the trees and Sam follows it with his camera, "What the fuck is that? Dude." 

You move between Sam and Colby, your heart beating faster and faster with each second. 

You're all silent for a little bit as you look around to try and find the source of the sound. 

"Is that tree-" 

Sam cuts Colby off, "Something moving in the tree." He shakes his head, "Alright, let's just go over to James."

You move around to walk over and Sam sighs, "oh god, I can't see shit, dude." 

Colby shines his light, making sure you're good before shining it onto a grave, "Oh wait, it's this one." 

Sam points the camera, "There it is." He bends down slightly, "James had a god dang pentagram as if he was getting summoned into the house." 

Sam talks about James and you zone out, the guilt of going to the basement slowly consuming you again. 

"Eighteen sixty five. That's a hundred years before the Perron's were even here." Colby faces the camera and Sam nods, "These people might know, what's been in the woods. You know, if they've been here for this long.." 

Colby nods, "okay so we have the EMF and we brought the Alice box, right?" 

Sam nods, "Yeah." He looks to you and you raise your hand, "Yeah, I have it." 

"Last time the Alice box gave us pretty much the direct intentions-" Sam stops talking, panning the camera out into the darkness. 

You and colby shine your lights on the tree before Sam goes back to talking, the direct intentions of the people that were out in the woods so hopefully they can give us that again." 

You walk over, standing next to Colby as he takes the camera from Sam. You take your backpack off, getting out the Alice box for him. 

Sam takes it before walking over to crouch down in front of James' headstone, "James. We came here a couple years ago. I don't know if you recognize us, you came back to the conjuring house with us. We're really just.. coming out here to look for some answers." 

He pauses before speaking again, "lot of people are scared of the woods." 

The box beeps and Sam looks down, "Oh fuck." He stands up, looking between you and Colby, "Dude." 

"What?" Colby asks and Sam holds the box up slightly, his stare on Colby. 

"Knife." The box plays and Sam repeats it, "Knife." 

"Knife!?" You and Colby ask at the same time. 

"First word is knife?" Sam asks, completely shocked. 

"What's that even mean?" Colby asks and Sam looks back down at the box as it beeps, "Late." He looks up, "Late at night?" 

Colby shrugs and you wrap your arms around yourself as Sam asks more, "Do you happen to have any idea who the man from the woods is? He's being very cryptic with the way he was telling us to come out to the woods." 

You press your fingers to your lips, watching as Sam moves around to set the equipment against the stone. 

After a few minutes, the box beeps again. 

Sam leans down and Colby gasps, reaching out to point, "Oh that just spiked up!" 

"Violent?" Sam reads and the box replays the word, "Violent."

All three of you shout out the word, shocked. 

"What ever was out here." Sam starts, "In the woods, a couple of days ago, was trying to attack us." 

"You said, violent-" 

The box beeping cuts Colby off and Sam leans down, "Violent land!" 

A sound causes Sam to look to his right, and Colby moves the camera, "What!? What!?" 

"I saw- I just saw something move to the right." Sam points and Colby taps you with his hand, "Wait, point your flashlight over there." 

You point your flashlight and the Alice box beeps again, "Spell." 

Colby whips the camera back to the stone and you keep your light to where Sam saw something, but you look over at the boys. 

"Spell." Sam says and Colby tilts his head, "The alphabet." 

You stare out at the trees, zoning out for a second before the beeping of the alice box causing you to look over, "Levitation." 

"Levitation!" Colby says loudly as Sam yells, "Oh my fucking god." 

"Oh fuck." You shake your head, "There's no way." 

"Wait wait wait." Sam whispers quickly, "does that mean from the thing from the woods, was the thing that caused the levitation of the seance in Nineteen seventy four?" 

"I don't know." Colby answers, "But it's like threatening a violent levitation, like I can do that, too." 

Sam covers his mouth, same as you, "Oh my god." 

"Or it, it, it's just mocking the story." Colby says quickly, right before the Alice box beeps again, "Cycle." 

"Oh fuck." Sam says looking up at Colby. Colby holds his hand out, "It's like it's gonna happen again." 

Sam repeats, "It's gonna happen again." 

You shiver slightly, "This is fucking wild. What the fuck, I don't like this." 

Colby looks at you and Sam, "I don't like this." Sam nods, "I don't like this at all." 

The box beeps again, "Alignment." 

All three of you repeat the word in unison, "Alignment." 

"Something's about to happen." Sam waves his hand in front of him, "Levitation. Violent land." 

"Colby. Colby." You tap him a few times and point, "There's like.. a light or something over there." 

Sam stands up, walking over to you guys and turning to look where you're pointing, "A light? Where?" 

"Yeah, there's like a flash of light over there." Sam point and you and Sam shine your flashlights in the direction it's coming from. 

Your flashlight dies and you look up at Sam shocked, "What the fuck?" You look down as you tap it a few times against your hand, "it's.. it's not working." 

Colby scoffs, "I don't like that we only have one flashlight now." 

"I'm actually really anxious about that." You say and the Alice box beeps, catching all of your attentions. 

Colby bends down with the camera, "Fight."

Sam repeats the word in a whisper and Colby stands back up, "What's that mean?" Sam shakes his head and Colby sighs, "We're gonna have to fight? It- dude. It's all like, malicious words. The fact that it said levitation, and cycle, and alignment?" 

"Yeah, it's like something's about to happen." Sam stares up at colby who nods, "Yeah, it's like this is about to be the same thing, every few years." 

Colby takes a deep breath, "So how do we figure out who we're talking to? I think that's the main thing here." 

Sam stands up, looking at colby, "How bout this.. we're not talking to anybody else. Just you..." 

As Sam continues asking questions and talking, you start to feel dizzy again. 

Your heart starts racing and you can feel your hands start to shake, just like they did in the basement. 

You close your eyes, trying to calm yourself down, but you start to feel like not yourself anymore. 

You can tell that you're taking slow steps backwards, and you know that you shouldn't do that. You don't want to do that. 

You open your eyes and gasp for air, it was almost like your breath was being held. 

Sam and Colby's whip their heads around and Colby walks back to you, "Whoa, hey. What's happening?" 

You shake your head, breathing heavy, "As.. Sam was.. talking.." you take a breath, holding it for a few seconds before you blow out the air, "I felt myself get dizzy, so I closed my.. eyes to try and get it to stop and I felt myself taking steps backwards. It felt like I wasn't breathing because when I-I opened my eyes I just gasped." 

Colby wraps his arm around you, looking back at Sam, "okay, let's just go ba-" 

"No." You cut him off, "I'm fine." 

Colby states at you, "Y/n. I don't want you getting hurt. That's not why we're doing this." You nod, "I know, Colby. I know, but I want to keep doing this. This is.. this is stuff we need to get. If anything else happens, I'll tell you but.. I'm not stopping here, we're already deep into this." 

Colby glances back to Sam and Sam shrugs, "She knows her limits, Colby. If she wants to keep going, I say we move to another spot because we aren't getting any names here." 

Colby nods, looking back at you, "You sure you're fine?" 

You nod, "Yes, Colby. I'm good." 

He nods, taking your hand in his as you follow Sam to a new area. As soon as you stop walking, Sam holds up the Alice box, "Dog." 

The Alice box goes off, "Dog." 

Sam's head snaps to his left and Colby moves the camera to his right, "What is that!?" He asks, fear coating every word. 

Sam shines his flashlight and Colby gasps, "What the fuck is that!?" 

"That.. sounds like breathing." You whisper, holding onto Colby's arm, "What the fuck." 

"Yeah, that sounds like.. h-heavy breathing." Colby pulls you close to him as he keeps the camera on Sam who tries to mimic the sound. 

"Dog." Colby whispers after a moment of silence. Sam stares at Colby with his jaw slightly dropped. It drops more when the heavy breathing sound happens again. 

"That's fucking insane." You whisper leaning out around Colby to look where Sam has his light shining. 

Colby puts the camera back on Sam as he speaks, "Wait, that sounds like.. like an, instrument or something." 

Sam imitates a horn sound and Colby nods, "Yeah, that's like a bass. I don't even know how to describe that." He walks a few steps away and Sam continues to ask questions, "What is that coming? Do you know?" 

Colby stop, turning back around. Sam's voice goes down to a whisper, "Wait, wait. Voices." 

Colby nods, "Voices, voices, voices. Wait!" He turns the camera to his right and then back to Sam, "I'm turning this off." 

Colby switches the camera light off and Sam turns his flashlight off, leaving you in total darkness. 

You get a strange feeling, feeling like you're back in the basement of the house. 

You keep yourself calm, trying not to panic because this is a feeling you do not like, at all. 

"Fuck." Sam curses, "What do we do." 

It's quiet for a few seconds, then Colby speaks up, "Is that you, in the woods?" 

The Alice box beeping causes you to jump, "Shit." 

Sam whispers right before the Alice box says the word, "Teacher.. who is the teacher?" Sam switches his flashlight back on, 

Colby gasps, his voice slightly louder, "What was that? That- dude." 

"It's coming." Sam whispers and the next thing you know, Colby grabs your arm and is pulling you along as he walks away, Sam following.

"I don't want to go too fast." Colby whispers, turning back to look at Sam, "Because like, I actually think somebody's over there." 

You stop and Colby shakes his head, "I'm not kidding." 

The light turns off and you listen for a few seconds before Colby whispers, "You hear that?"

"No." You answer in a whisper. Sam shakes his head, "No, no I don't." 

"Just wait. Just wait." Colby whispers quietly, squeezing your hand that's clinging to his, "Something is making noise." 

"Something over there." Sam says as he's lit up by the red light blinking. Colby turns his head, "Now it's this way." He turns his body and sam turns too, "There's more voices?" 

Colby turns again, "Now it's this way." 

"Okay." Sam starts, "We're getting fucking surrounded." 

"Again, again, again." Colby says taking over talking, "Okay." 

The Alice box beeps and everyone waits for it to speak, "Dave." 

Your heart falls into your stomach and you instantly feel your mouth watering like you're about to throw up. 

"Oh my god." You lay your hand that isn't in Colby's, on your forehead. 

"Dave, if you want to come back to the conjuring house with us, please follow us right now, we gotta go back." Sam speaks in one quick sentence. 

"Please." Colby pleads and Sam keeps talking, "there's people surrounding us, we gotta go" 

Colby holds your hand tight as he pulls you along with him, running after Sam. 

"Wait, we don't have a light!" Colby yells after Sam to get him to stop. Sam turns around as you and Colby catch up to him, "Then we gotta stick together real close." 

You guys run a little bit further before slowing down, "Look dude I don't want to go too fast."

The Alice box beeps and Sam looks down at it. Colby moves closer and the box sounds, "Special." 

"Special?" Colby asks and Sam looks around, "Dave is special?" You walk a little bit more and Sam looks around, "there's probably actually people or something in the woods because we're hearing like weird voices-" 

"Wait, wait, wait." Colby whispers, getting everyone to stop. You press your body against his back, closing your eyes as the feeling of puking returns. 

What?" Sam asks and Colby leans in to whisper, "I just wanna see if we can hear what's actually out here." 

It's silent, nothing but the insects for a few minutes. 

"Is that a dog?" Colby asks, "It said dog." 

"Dogs." Sam says with a nod. 

"We're in the middle of the woods. That makes no sense." Colby whispers and Sam looks at Colby, "We're two miles in the middle of the woods-" 

Sam stops talking as a noise close by makes you all freeze. 

"What was that?!" Colby asks loudly. 

"It literally sounds like a war horn or something." Sam says and Colby mimics the sound, "rrrrrrr." 

"Like I said. Something is fucking about to start-"

Colby cuts sam off, "That's not like a car engine." Sam shakes his head, "No way. We should probably actually get back." 

Sam looks at the battery percentages of the lights, "And our light's like halfway done, yours is out. Hers is out, too." Sam looks around for a second, "There's tons of dogs around." 

Colby nods, "Okay. Let's go." He squeezes your hand, "Let's go." 

The main focus for all of you right now, is getting back to the house. 

Which you do, about twenty minutes later. 

You make your way into the house, your eyes land on the door to the basement as soon as you walk in. 

Your mind flashes back to you sitting down there in the chair, and you shiver as you remember the clinking sound that happened all over again. 

"Everyone alright?" Sam asks as he walks through the door. 

"Yeah I'm good. Are you good?" Colby pokes your shoulder and you nod, forcing a smile up at him, "Yeah, I'm good." 

He nods, looking to Sam, "Ready?" Sam nods and Colby holds the camera up towards Sam. 

Sam sighs, "Dude. We just got back to the house." He reaches back to close the door, "And it says one start of battery. We left and it was full. These things should last like, five hours?" 

"Something was draining our power out in the woods." Colby's says and Sam nods, "genuinely. All of it. Something was taking a lot of the energy to follow us back. We invited it back." 

Colby tilts his head, laughing slightly, "That could have been a mistake." 

Sam pauses for a second, glancing over at you then back to Colby, "Well find out." 

Colby turns the camera off and looks at Sam, "Are we ready?" 

Sam stares at Colby and laughs nervously, "Now or never right?" 

Colby looks at you, "Are you ready?" 

You swallow, "I'm making myself not have a choice." You laugh and Colby walks up to you, embracing you in a hug.

You could cry. 

You could puke. 

You knew once you said something it was going to be a rough next couple of hours, even a day. 

"Alright." Sam claps his hands together, "Let's do this."

Sam takes the camera and walks over to the door. 

Colby walks over, standing off to the side and you're right next to him. 

It felt like your heart was going to beat right through your chest. You weren't afraid of the basement. You were scared of how much disappointment Colby was going to feel when you finally told him. 

Which you decided was going to be right now.

Sam reaches forward, grabbing the knob to twist. He pulls the door open.

Colby takes a deep breath, "Ahhh, my heart.. started beating faster as soon as I looked down there." He nods, looking to Sam then back to the stairs, "Abigail. Hopefully you were following us in the woods, but please, please please, I know you don't like it in the basement.. please follow us down here. We won't be too long. We need your help." 

You get into a line, Colby first. Then you. Then Sam. 

You felt like you were shivering because you were shaking from being so nervous. 

Your heart was beating loud and hard. 

Colby glances back, "Ready?" 

Sam answers, but all you do is nod one time. 

Colby goes down the steps, you force yourself to follow and Sam is right behind you. The camera light illuminating the stairwell. 

You completely miss their commentary about the stairs. Your heart was now beating in your ears. 

You knew that it wasn't you, that was down there last night. But you know Colby wasn't going to focus on that right away. 

His mind is going to go to you being down there in general. 

You reach the bottom and you lay your hand on your cheek. You can feel how nervous your arm by the warmth on your hand. 

"Wait." Colby looks at you and Sam, "It's just us this time. This is the first time we're alone in the basement." 

You sigh, forcing the words to come out of your mouth, "it's not." 

Colby's head snaps towards you, "What did you just say?" 

You clear your throat, "It.. um.. it's.." your voice goes quieter, "Not the first time.. for me." 

Colby just stares at you, trying to fathom what you just said to him. 

"Wait.. so.. you came down here? Alone? When?" Sam asks and you look at him, voice still quiet, "Last night." 

"What do you mean last night?" Colby asks, "I don't.. I must not.. understand what you're saying." 

"It wasn't.. um.." you wipe the sweat from your palm onto your jeans, "It wasn't me.. like.." you sigh, "It was me.. but it wasn't me, like I didn't feel like myself." 

Colby looks away, jaw cocked slightly as he tries to wrap his mind around what's happening. 

His silence was deafening. 

After a few moments, Sam breaks it, "Can you elaborate, like what do you mean it wasn't.. you?" 

You look down, trying to not look at Colby because it would just make it harder for you to talk, "I.. um. I heard my name.. being called. A few times actually. Um, then I seen a figure walk past the door way." 

"Wait. Something walked past the door?" Sam asks and you can feel Colby's eyes on you, so you just nod. 

"And then what happened." Colby states, his voice a little deeper, clearly with anger. 

You look up at him, "I heard a door open, I wasn't sure which one u-" 

"Until you got up and came down here?" Colby scoffs and Sam sighs, "Colby, just let her explain."

Colby motions and you swallow again "I tried waking both of you guys up, but neither one you heard me." 

"Obviously you didn't do a very good job, now did you?" Colby shakes his head and you sigh, "Colby, I'm telling you. Something took over me. Something made me come down here. I was sitting up for a few minutes, I tried laying back down but something actually told me, whispered, go, and I just.. went." 

"That's so weird." Sam says and you nod, looking at him, "Sam. I am deathly afraid of this basement, I told you guys this when you asked me to come out for a night or two. I never wanted to come down here, let alone all by myself. When I tell you that I had absolutely no fear at all about coming down here in the middle of the night, that honestly scared me more than this because you both know I wouldn't just do that." 

"Where did you go?" Sam asks and you point to the table and chairs, "I literally just sat, right there in that chair." 

You look at Colby and he smacks his lips as he wipes his face. He stares at the place you pointed to and stays silent for a few seconds before breaking his own quietness, "I just.. thought.. when we, uh.. first came here that we made a promise to each other not to come down here alone." 

You clench your jaw, "Colby." Your voice breaks slightly, "I didn't feel like I had much of a choice." 

He licks his lips, looking down at the items in his hand. 

"I-I felt like I needed to come down here, like I just-" you sigh, "If I could have just went to sleep I would have done that." 

Colby leans back as he looks at you, not saying anything. 

He was mad. Disappointed. 

He pushes his lips together, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he thinks about what he wants to say next. 

"Colby.. she said something to- you can't blame y/n." Sam sticks up for you, "You and I both know that this house is.. this house is way beyond something else." 

Colby sighs, "I-" he pauses, "I get that.. but like.." he looks at you then to Sam, "We said we would go to the basement, together for the first time." He looks to you, staring at you for a few seconds before speaking, "So that's like.." he shakes his head, "I'm not gonna lie, it still just.. sits a little bit wrong with me." 

He shrugs, "and that you wouldn't try and wake one of us up harder, you know?" His arms fall to his sides, "This was, like.. a big moment.. for us, Sam." 

"I don't think you're actually under-" Sam is cut off by Colby, "She took that.. for herself." 

You close your eyes as they start to burn, "I'm sorry." Your voice cracks again, "To both of you."

You open your eyes looking up at Colby slowly. He has his jaw clenched, lips pressed tightly together as he avoids looking at you. 

"Do you know what time it was when you got up?" Sam asks lowly and you shrug, "I think it was almost three, or maybe three exactly?" 

Colby nods, looking towards you but his eyes are on the floor. 

"I just heard my name a few times and then something whispered go and that's when I just wasn't me, Colby. You have to believe that I mean it when I say I'm sorry." 

He nods, running his tongue along his teeth on the inside of his lips, thinking about the situation, "I mean.. I just wish.. you know, that you would have woke me up before.. like, it would have been nice to know that something was trying to take over my fucking girlfriend." 

"I know." You whisper looking down and Colby shakes his head, letting out a sigh, "Honestly I don't even really want to keep talking about it right now. So let's just.." 

"Colby." You walk up to him and he avoids eye contact, "I didn't do it for the camera, or for the channel, or for my channel. I didn't even do it for me." 

"But you knew what you were doing?" He looks at you and his stare sends a shiver down your spine, causing the words you want to say to disappear. 

You nod, "Yeah bu-" 

He cuts you off, shaking his head, "It's fine. I get it. It's all good." He walks into the room with the table and chairs and you look at Sam. 

He walks up, laying a hand on your back, rubbing gently, "It's fine. We'll talk more about it after we're done here." 

You nod, wiping under your eyes before you follow Colby into the room. 

"Dave, the trickster.. Abigail. Whoever's down here, we are gonna be doing the Estes method, and we also believe this is the easiest way of communication." Sam says and you just stand there, staring at the table. 

"I actually have an idea." Sam points to Colby, "Before we do the estes method." 

A sound causes Colby's eyes to go wide and he points at Sam and Sam gasps, "What the fuck was that?" 

Colby holds his hand up, listening to see if the sound happens again. 

You were honestly terrified to be down here again. You wanted to move next to Colby but you weren't sure how that would go. 

You wrap your arms around yourself, trying to console yourself silently as they continue. 

"Dude." Sam says quietly and Colby leans back, "Footsteps." 

"What the fuck is that?" Sam whispers quieter and Colby answers, "That was footsteps." 

You step closer to the table, voice as quiet as theirs, "I heard footsteps when I was down here, right after I had a vision of a soldier looking in the upstairs window." 

Sam snaps his head towards you, "No fucking way." 

You nod, glancing over at Colby. He looks at you and looks away, not wanting to talk about it. He points to the wall, "But it sounded like it was in the wall." 

Colby reaches out, knocking on the wall, "It was like deep inside." 

Sam pans the camera, "If that was you knocking.." he pauses, looking down. Colby steps towards him, "What?" 

"I don't know." Sam shakes his head, "just felt like something was grabbing my foot." 

"Your foot?" You and Colby say at the same time, but Colby doesn't laugh like usual. 

"Yeah, it was like hard to-" 

Colby yells, cutting off Sam, "Oh fuck. There's something on me." 

"What? For real?" Sam asks walking over you move closer to Sam and lean over to look at Colby's leg. 

"For sure, there's some-" he sets his stuff on the table and leans down, pulling up his pant leg slightly, digging in with his fingers. 

"what is it?" Sam asks and Colby stands up, putting something on the table, "I don't know." 

"Tick?" Sam asks and Colby points with his two fingers, "It was a fucking tick." 

"Oh god." Sam groans and you cover your mouth, paranoid that you have one or two on you. 

"I knew there was something on me." Colby exclaims, stepping back. He leans down, "Shit man, that is so gross dude. I hate ticks." He picks it up and leans over, flicking it down the well, "go in the well." 

"Speaking of the well." Sam starts, " A lot of the things that we've gotten, and a lot of things we've talked about, is the water could be the catalyst for activity." 

You raise your brows, "Oh shit." 

"What if we.. kinda like how we did in the Dracula's castle episode, why don't we grab some of the well water and use that to maybe like, summon something here." Sam pauses, "If things are coming from that well, at least maybe that's like a trigger object, you know?" 

Colby nods, "Yeah. Do we have anything to get the water out with?" 

You look around for something and Sam scoffs, "wait, dude. This just turned off." He looks up at Colby, "As soon as you touched- it just did it again." 

"See!" Colby says with his hand pointing to Sam. 

You walk over to Sam, looking down at the camera and he nods, "Yeah, it just turned off again!" 

"It's not just me." Colby shrugs while holding his hands out to his sides. Sam nods, "It's not just you." 

Colby nods, "So maybe it was a warning, not to do that." 

"Are you still going to do it?" You ask looking between them. Colby looks down at the well for a few seconds before looking up at Sam with a smirk on his lips. 

His eyes go to you then back to Sam, still smirking, "Yeah." 

"Oh god." You laugh slightly, "How the fuck are you going to get it?" 

Sam looks from you to Colby and Colby laughs, "Sam. Hold my ankles." 

Sam hands you the camera and walks around to Colby and bends down. Colby gets down on his stomach and grabs the cup. 

Sam grips Colby's ankles as he inches himself forward a little bit more. He blows out air, "Catch yins on the flip side." 

He leans down, groaning as he stretches to reach the water, "Oh god " 

"I promise you're not going anywhere." Sam says, groaning as he holds Colby's ankles down. You can't help but laugh at this situation. 

It's just so.. them. 

Colby's saying something but you can't really understand him because he's laughing. 

"You good?" Sam asks and Colby answers, "Yeah I'm just gonna go forward a little bit." He inches forward some more, stretching down more. 

As they're getting the water, you feel an uneasy feeling, but you just brush it off. 

"You got it?" Sam asks. 

"Yeah, I got it." Colby answers. 

In a strained voice, Sam says, "He got the well water." 

Colby comes back up, setting the cup of water on the ground with a groan. You put the camera on Colby and he sighs, pointing to his shirt, "XPLR merch, down below." 

You hand the camera back to Sam and step to the side. Sam looks at you, "You good." You sigh quietly, nodding, "Yeah." 

"Shit dude, I ruined everything." Colby says as he brushes himself off. Sam tries not to laugh, "It was well worth it." 

Colby looks up, glaring at Sam and Sam laughs, "get it?" 

You laugh and walk around to sit down in a chair and you watch as Colby moves to sit next to you, Sam next to Colby. 

Sam leans forward, setting the camera down on the other side of the table to get you all in frame. 

"This looks oddly familiar." Colby says and Sam nods, "literally learned the Estes method in this house, two and half years ago." 

You watch as Colby puts on his blindfold and you hand him the headphones. 

Sam looks at Colby, "Let's try and figure out who's trying to fuck with us." 

"Weird full circle moment." Colby says as he brings the headphones to his ears, but stops, resting his hands back on the table, "Yeah, so as a recap real quick.. Dave.." 

Your stomach drops when you hear his name now. 

".. is the soldier.." Colby continues but Sam butts in, "Who's been following us for like four days." 

Colby continues, "For four days, but we initially talked to him with the Estes method out in the back yard, and then he follows us to the woods by the campsite.." 

You look around, squinting your eyes behind Sam. You stare for a few seconds before looking away. 

"Hopfully Abigail is still here and guides us in the right direction. Please, Abigail." Sam looks up at the ceiling and you turn your head slightly, smiling as you feel the same loving brush on your shoulder, "she's here."

Sam looks at you and Colby turns his head towards you, "How do you know?" 

"She touched my shoulder." You swallow, "She did it before." 

"And you know it's her?" Sam asks and you nod, "Oh yeah." 

"Hmm. Alright. That makes me feel a little bit better." Sam laughs slightly, "Alright. You ready?" 

"Let's do it." Colby says and as soon as he puts on the headphones, "Reason." 

"Yeah we're trying to figure out the reason why you like us so much." Sam starts, "Why you want us out into the woods." 

"Works." 

Sam reaches over between you and Colby, whispering as he moves the cup of water towards Colby more, "We also have the well water." 

"What do you want with us?" Sam asks and Colby answers right away, "Sex." 

You raise a brow, "Huh?" 

Sam blinks, smirking slightly, "Alright, are you just fucking with us? Are you the trickster spirit?" 

"Me." 

"Can you give us a name?" Sam asks and Colby is silent. Sam looks up, "Okay. Are you a solider?" 

It's silent again and you lean forward, "Sam." He looks up at you, "What's up?" 

"When I came down here last night, I asked if it was the trickster spirit. And whoever, whatever it was kept telling me the woods." You say and he tilts his head, "Huh, that would make sense. Wait, is that why you got dizzy in the woods?" 

You shrug, "I don't know. It could be. I was thinking about that, though." You nod, "I just thought I'd tell you now so you know who didn't get mad again." 

He nods, "Yeah, I get it." 

"Run." 

"What do you want us to run from?" Sam asks, "unless it's Abigail?" Sam looks over at you, "like warning us?" 

You shrug, "That, I don't know." 

"Is it something dangerous?" Sam asks and there's no answer for a little bit. 

"Injury." 

You and Sam both look up at the ceiling confused.

"Science." 

"Oh my god." Sam whispers and you look at him, "what the fuck was that?" 

Sam looks from Colby to you, "everything's moving." He goes to say something else but Colby cuts him off, "Us." 

Your eyes stay on Colby and you get a sick feeling in your stomach. 

"Fall." 

"Do you want to hurt us?" Sam asks and you lean in, "Sam, I feel sick." He looks at you, "Are you okay? Do you need to step out or something?" 

"I'm not going alone. I'll be fine." You take a deep breath, "I'm good." 

"Friendly." 

"Okay. So you're friendly. Is this Abigail? Are you trying to lead us somewhere else, make sure y/n is okay?" Sam looks at you and Colby answers, "Stone." 

"There's a lot of stones around here." Sam says and his tone makes you want to laugh, he sounded so done. 

"Oh, Sam. Another thing. When I got that vision of the soldier looking in the window, there were footsteps before and then I asked if it was watching you and Colby.." you start and Sam nods, "Yeah?" 

"That's when that weird hold on me went away and I booked it back upstairs because footsteps were coming towards me but I couldn't see anything." 

"Stab." 

Sam keeps his stare on you, "it said knife in the graveyard." You nod and Colby speaks up, "He had to go." 

"Are you a murderer?" Sam asks and there's no answer from Colby for a little while. 

"James." 

Sam's eyes go wide and he jumps back, "James!" He covers his mouth with his hands. You cover your mouth, eyes wide, "No fucking way!" 

"That's the soldier from the secret grave." Sam looks to you and over to Colby before looking back at the table, "James. Is this you that we're talking with?" 

Instantly, Colby answers, "yes." 

Sam's mouth drops open, "Fuck yeah." He rests his hands against his chin, "Okay. Thank you. Who is this man from the woods?" 

You start to feel dizzy again. You lay your head in your hand as Sam continues to ask questions. 

"Here." 

"James thinks the man from the woods is here." Sam says and you lift your head. 

"He's pointing fingers." 

"What does he want with us?" Sam asks and it's a few minutes before Colby answers, "Rule."

"He wants to control this.. area? Is the man from the woods actually powerful, or is he just tricking us?" Sam pauses, "James can you answer? Are you just fucking with us?" 

You shake your head as you look away from Colby to Sam, "I feel.. like there's something here, like.. around us." You motion, "Like a constant presence that's moving around." 

"Yes." 

Sam stares at you, "He's not actually gonna hurt us, right? Nothing can happen?" 

You wipe your hands on your thighs, "This is fucking scary." You take a slow, deep breath and exhale quietly. 

"Future." 

A minute or two of silence goes by, "Use." 

"What, are you gonna use us?" Sam asks confused and Colby answers, "Help." 

You and Sam both look at Colby, staring at him. 

"James, do you need help?" Sam looks away and back to Colby, "How can we help you?" 

You both stare at Colby, waiting for a response but nothing. 

"Tell us how we can help, actually this time." Sam looks around and you feel like hairs on the back of your neck stand up. 

"There's definitely something here, Sam." You whisper so quiet you weren't sure if Sam actually heard you. He looks over at you, nodding and his voice is just as quiet as you, "Yeah." 

"Water." 

"Is that how you get your power?" Sam motions to the cup, "We got a little of the well water right here." He looks at you and his eyes move up to above your head, like he's following something that's moving away from you. 

"You." 

"Are.. are both James and the man from the woods still here?" Sam asks and there isn't a response from Colby for a few minutes. 

"Yes." 

Your mouth, along with Sam's, drop open, "Oh shit." 

"Dave." 

You and Sam look at Colby, asking in unison, "Dave?" 

Sam looks at you, "are there three people now?" Sam asks, "James. Dave. The man from the woods?" 

"Fool." 

"Fool." Sam repeats slowly.

"I'm back." 

"I'm back.. as if he's been talking with us." Sam looks up at you and back down to the table, "Man from the woods, have you been with us this entire time?" 

Sam pauses, waiting for a response but nothing happens for a few minutes, "You." 

"Yeah, have you been with me and Colby?" He looks up at you, "or have you been with y/n?" You tilt your head down, shaking your head as you blink slowly. 

"Woods.. Us.." 

"Us and the woods? We were all in the woods." Sam says and there's a knock, causing you to jump slightly, "Fucking hell." 

"In." 

"We were all in the woods." Sam repeats, "Man from the woods, what is your name?" Colby instantly answers, "Yeah." 

"I don't-." Sam rests his hand on his chin, totally consumed and Colby speaks, "Me." 

"Yeah yo-" 

Colby cuts Sam off, "I am." 

"Are you-" Sam stops talking, looking at you confused, "Have you been-" 

"Hello?" 

You and Sam look at Colby and Sam stares at him as he speaks, "Hello.. have you been with us the whole time, It-" Sam is completely baffled by what you're getting back from Colby. 

"Are you Dave?" Sam asks, keeping his stare on Colby. 

You're so scared that you know you're going to jump when either Colby or Sam breaks the silence. You were so on edge right now, you didn't want to sit through another Estes method. 

But you are. 

"No." Colby moves his head slightly, "It's meee." 

Sam looks away, letting his hands fall in front of him, "What the fuck?" He looks at you and you lay your hand on your mouth, shrugging as you shake your head. 

"No, then it's me?" Sam whispers and Colby butts in, "Moon." 

"Dave. Are you a soldier? Answer me. Who are you Dave?" Sam asks and another few minutes of silence go by, "Don't." 

"You've been following us for four or five days." Sam leans forward, resting on his elbows. 

"Again." 

"Why don't you want to tell us who you are?" Sam asks, set on finding out who this spirit is. 

"Sam." You lift your finger, pointing to the green camera light that's getting brighter by the second. 

He shakes his head, letting out a sigh and Colby speaks up, "Yours.. friend." 

"You want to be our friend?" Sam asks and Colby instantly answers, "Happy." 

"Okay.. you like when we come talk to you Dave?" Sam asks and there's more silence before Colby answers, "Lake.. turn around." 

You and Sam both instantly look behind you, a weird feeling in your stomach building up. You look forward at Sam and sigh, "This is intense." 

He nods, "Are you.." he looks to his other side, "Are you right behind us?" Sam stays looking behind him as Colby answers, "Unlock." 

"Unlock? Thats what it said about the door. Is the person down here right, the person that locked the door on us two years ago?" 

"What?."

"Do you remember us? Cause we were here two ye-" 

Colby cuts Sam off, "Yes." 

"So were you the person th-" 

"Yeah!" 

Sam covers half of his face, "Fuck.. Dude.." He turns to Colby, fighting back the urge to tap Colby. He lays his hands on the table and before he says anything else, Colby speaks, "Here.. This.." 

"Are you calling-" 

Colby cuts Sam off, "Friend." 

"His friend, was the one who locked us in the basement two years ago." Sam looks at you and taps the table with his fingers, "Is this friend of ours, this happy friend, the same person as the man from the woods? Are you the one calling us to the woods?" 

"Yeah." Colby answers and you get a chill down your spine. That feeling like you're about to puke returns. 

"Fuck." Sam leans forward. 

"Smile." 

Sam reaches out, grabbing Colby's shoulder speaking quickly, "Dude. Dude dude dude." 

You lay your hand on Colby's opposite shoulder, "Colby." 

Colby takes off the head phones and pulls the blindfold down. His hand lays over his eyes as Sam grabs the camera, "I actually think this thing that's been following us the entire time, Dave.." 

Colby keeps his hand over his eyes, "Mhm." 

Your fingers rub gently over his jacket as Sam continues to speak, "Is.. the man from the woods. I don't think Dave is a soldier." 

"Wait, why do you say that?" Colby asks, blocking the light with his hand.

You keep your stare on Colby, making sure he's good as Sam keeps talking. 

You feel that guilt feeling all over again. You don't want to feel it, not only does it make you feel upset, but you didn't want the spirits feeding off the negative emotion. 

"But Dave was the soldier, because when we talked to him with the Estes method, like he was the one that came from underground." Colby says and Sam nods, continuing to talk. 

Colby leans back and you drop your hand, leaning back as he speaks, "Wait. So you're saying he's been the one that's been stalking us since day one?" 

You look from Colby to Sam, sitting there listening to them talk back and forth about what happened while Colby was doing the method. 

You feel goosebumps form on your skin and you shiver. 

"Let's check if he locked the door one more time." Sam says and you all get up, walking over to the steps. 

Colby reaches back, grabbing onto your hand to pull you in front of him so you're not last on the stairs. 

You look up at him and he just stares down at you, fighting back a smile because he still wants to seem mad. 

You smirk slightly and walk ahead of him. 

"The doors wide open? That's also bizzare, too. I thought we closed it." Sam says, turning around to look at Colby.

"When we went up and got.. the water cup? We might have-" Colby's cut off by Sam, "Oh, okay." 

"You know what I just realized, too?" Colby asks as you walk out into the room, "when we first came to the basement, yesterday." He closes the door, but then opens it back up, "We did a ritual where we were saying soldier, soldier, soldier. What if that was just instantly telling, like the trickster as well, that we were trusting the soldiers too much?" 

Colby closes the door, "Like duh, he's gonna act like a soldier to get on our good side." 

Sam switches the green light back to the regular, white light, "Wait, the first day we did an investigation right here with Amanda. We opened the basement door and something came up and hit the REM pod." 

"So you could have just let out, Dave, the trickster spirit from the basement and then ever since then he's been following us."

A knock causes you to jump and Colby wraps his arm around you, "What was that?" 

"What was that?" Sam asks turning the camera, "It was like a knock on the front door." 

Colby walks over, checking it out and you watch, making sure you don't see anything in the windows. 

After a few minutes, Colby walks back, "Okay. Are we ready to go back down?" 

Sam nods and you stand there, hesitating on how you want to answer, "Um.. I don't.. know." 

"Do you feel comfortable going back down?" Sam asks and you sigh, "I mean.. yeah.. I just.." you shake your head, "Yeah. Let's just do it." 

"Y/n. If you don't-" 

You cut Sam off, "I'm good." 

They don't argue anymore and walk over to the door. Colby first, then you, then Sam. 

You make your way back down, sitting down at the same like you were before going up stairs. Sam ties the blindfold on and Colby looks at him, "Ready?" 

Sam nods, "Yeah." 

Colby switches on the static sound, "See how loud that is guys?" He looks into the camera and Sam puts on the headphones, immediately saying something, "Two." 

"Two." Colby thinks, "there's still two of you here? I believe we were just talking to-" 

Sam interrupts Colby as he continues to speak, "Young." 

"Out." 

"Hi." 

You get instant chills and Colby looks at you, "Every single time I talk it's just talking over me." Colby looks up, making his voice louder, "Dave. Are you with me?" 

A few minutes goes by, and Sam breaking the silence causes you to jump, "Here." 

"Why do you want us to go to the woods so bad?" 

You close your eyes, trying to keep that sick feeling at bay as Colby keeps trying to get answers. 

"Evil girl." Instantly after, "Abigail." 

You open your eyes, looking at Colby and you repeat her name at the same time. 

"He would.. the trickster, or Dave, would think that Abigail is evil-" 

"Dead." 

"Dave I need you to be clear with me, why do you want us to go to the woods?" 

Sam doesn't say thing for a few minutes, but within those few minute, you reach out, laying your hand on Colby's arm and his hand goes to lay on yours, "What's up?" 

"I don't feel like it's just us again." You shake your head, "Someone else is here. Something else, or whatever. We're not alone." 

"Down." 

"Person."

Colby looks from you to Sam, and back to you. 

"Blame." 

"So if there's other people down there as well, is that what you're saying? Other spirits that you know?" Colby asks and Sam responds, "Seven." 

Colby's mouth drops and he leans back, "we've been getting seven all the time.." 

"Line em' up." 

"Are these seven spirits dangerous?" Colby asks and you jump as something brushes against your leg. You refuse to look, mainly because you're scared. 

"Who are these seven spirits in the woods with you? Are they other earth bound spirits, possibly?" Colby asks and you sit there in silence, awaiting a possible answer from Sam.

"With you." 

You look at Colby, "Is that why I don't feel like it's just us?" 

"If there's seven spirits with us now.. I mean.." 

"Basement." 

Your eyes go wide, "seven spirits here. In the basement." 

"Do you have a plan to do something to us is we go to the woods?" 

Sam answers Colby immediately, "Spooked." 

You nod, your voice quiet, "Yeah, we're for sure spooked." 

"Why didn't you scare us when we were there earlier tonight?" Colby asks and you look between him and Sam, wishing you weren't scared enough to leave the basement alone. 

"Was that you making noises in the woods? Were you trying to scare us?" 

Sam doesn't answer, he just sits there. 

"Find out." 

You feel like your skin is crawling with the cryptic responses. You were so on edge right now, you wanted to leave and never come back. 

Colby looks at you, "That's the same thing is said yesterday.. come find out." 

You place your elbows on the table, holding your head between your hands. 

"Are you okay?" Colby whispers and you nod slightly, "I'm starting to get a headache." 

"I promise." 

"What's gonna happen?" Colby asks and there's another long pause, the pain in your head growing worse by the second. 

"Trauma." 

You look up at Sam and you close your eyes. 

"Stone." 

"Stone?" Colby questions and you lean back slowly, taking a deep breath as you rest your hands on the table. 

The pain in your head is slowly dying down. 

Colby continues asking questions and you feel that feeling of not being alone creep in again, this time it's more of a heavier feeling. 

You can feel it, weighing down on you like something is pressing on your shoulders and you're resisting. 

"It's time." 

"I can sense." 

The feeling disappears and you slam your hand on Colby's arm, "I just felt like something was weighting down my shoulders and when Sam said it's time, it went away." 

"Is that plan happening now? When is it going to happen? Were you just touching y/n?" Colby asks, glancing from Sam to you, "Why would we come back there if you're saying you're going to attack us?" 

"Pause." 

"Dude." Colby rubs his eyes and you sigh, "i have a question, were you the one we were talking to two years ago?" 

"You're scared." 

Colby laughs slightly, "we were terrified." 

"Don't record." 

You glance to the camera and back to Colby. 

"Dave.. do you call yourself Beelzebub?" 

"I dare you." 

You all sit there in silence, you mainly thinking about everything. 

"I like you." 

"At this point, we just know you're trying to get on our good side. So, it's not gonna work." 

"Family." 

"Do you do this for a specific reason?" 

You lay your hands on your head, resting your elbows on the table. 

Your headache returns. 

"Heaven." 

"Do you get power from scaring people?" Colby asks and you swear you hear a knock, but before you can say anything, Sam cuts you off, "Come in." 

"It's the same thing. He's not answering any questions. It's the same things.. just come to the woods." 

"My head hurts again." You look at Colby and he leans in, "Do you need to leave?" 

"I'm not going by myself. I'll be fine." You take a deep breath, "it was hurting just a few minutes ago.. stopped, and now it hurts again." 

"Did it do this when you were down here-"

Sam cuts Colby off, "Alone." 

"No." You answer quickly, "It didn't." 

"You know, that makes sense though, the owner did say the best way to get evidence is to be alone." Colby looks at you, snapping his head to Sam. 

"He's ready." 

You point to Sam, "Colby. Look at him." 

Colby watches Sam and tilts his head, "He's like.. shaking.." He looks at you, "I'll pull him out of this in a second.." 

You nod, sitting up and watching Sam intently. He shakes his head back and forth, just acting weird. 

"Colby, I don't .. I don't like this." You look at Colby and he shakes his head, "Yeah neither do I." 

"Thank you." Sam says, sounding normal. 

Colby just stares at him as he places a hand on his shoulder. Sam reaches up, brushing his other shoulder before moving to take off the headphones. 

Colby moves his hand and Sam brushes his shoulder again, almost in a panic to take off the blindfold. 

"Why you acting like that?" Colby asks, kind of worried. 

"Dude." Sam shakes his head, hand still on his shoulder, "I-" he stumbles over his words before he stands up, moving behind Colby, "It felt like someone was leaning in like this." 

He demonstrates and Colby looks at you, eyes wide, "Isn't that-" 

"Uh huh." You nod, "I felt that same thing." 

"It felt like it was pushing me down." Sam moves to sit down and Colby nods, "Yeah your legs were shaking. I stopped it mostly because y/n kept getting headaches and I wanted to see, like what you were doing." 

"I don't think I've ever felt an Estes method like that.. I don't.." he looks between you and Colby, ".. Was I like.. it literally felt like-" 

"Just pressure on your neck and shoulders?" You ask and Sam nods, "Yeah, the pressure." 

"It was your legs that were freaking me out because you were just like starting to twitch and like-" 

Sam cuts Colby off, "that's what I'm saying like, the Zack Bagans thing.. my legs were tensing up as if I needed to like, move or I'd get up.. it was just fucking weird." 

"Okay let's just.. get out of here. We can talk about it all upstairs." Colby stands up, "How's your head?" He looks at you and you nod, "It's fine again."

"The camera turned off." Sam says and Colby goes to grab it. He turns it back on and it shuts off again, "it just turned off twice, in a row, right when I grabbed it.." 

"Alright let's just get upstairs." Sam says and you all start to gather the things from the table. Colby yelling causes you to jump, "Three times!?" 

"Let's just go. Let's go." Sam says and it turns off again, "What's fucking happening? I'm holding it with my left hand because I'm holding this." Colby shows his hand and you turn your head, almost like a scuffling abound capturing your attention. 

"Guys." You hold your arm out towards them but the camera shutting off has their attention. 

You look back at them, then back into the darkness and the same footsteps that came after you while you were down here alone, come after you again. 

You let out a yell, moving to stand between Sam and Colby.

"What!? What what?!" Colby asks wrapping his arm around you. 

"Footsteps. Like footsteps running towards me just happened and that same thing happened last night when I was coming back up the steps." You lean into Colby and he sighs, "We need to be recording." 

"Here. I'll just.." Sam starts recording on his phone. He explains what you heard and Colby holds the camera out, "Guys. Look look." 

"It's just turning off." Sam says and Colby holds it back up, "Look watch. Are you gonna do it again? Turn off the camera." 

Sam shakes his head, "Dude, I just don't think we should fuck with it like that." 

"No that was five times in a row, Sam." Colby argues, "You got that right?" 

"Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I got it." Sam says. You sigh, "I think we just need to get out of here." 

You all go up the steps, stepping out the door way and you take a deep breath, "Oh my god." 

"It's still turning off." Colby says, and suddenly the light goes off, causing you all to yell. 

"This is a brand new light." Sam says, "let's just go outside." 

As you go outside, Sam pulls the door shut, "What the fuck is happening." Colby shrugs, "I don't know dude. Something is trying to delete the footage." 

They go back and forth about it for a second and then Colby looks at you, "Are you okay?" 

You nod, "No, yeah. I'm good. I feel better now that we're out here." You walk over to him, "Are you still mad at me?" 

He pulls you into a hug, "Were definitely going to talk about everything in detail when we get a second, but as of right now I'm just glad that nothing serious happened to you." 

"So you still love me?" You look up at him and he looks down at you, "Yes. Of course I love you. I love you, even when I'm mad at you." 

He smiles and leans down to peck your lips, "so are you sleeping with me tonight or are you-" 

You cut him off, "Going to a hotel? Yes. I'll see you in the morning." 

.·:*¨ ✘ ¨*:·.

I hope you enjoyed this. I wrote so much my Wattpad started to slow down and didn't keep up with me so I'm sorry if there's any major mistakes. 

Thanks for reading! Love yas! 

Likes and reblogs are majorly appreciated!

#samandcolby-ownme #below ground level #sam and colby #Colby Brock one shot #sam and colby one shots #colby brock #sam golbach #scary one shot #scary oneshot #scary fanfiction #scary #the conjuring sam and colby #the conjuring house #the conjuring #hell week #a week at the conjuring house #the conjuring basement #requested #long one shot #long one shots #long fanfic #colby brock one shots #colby Brock x reader #adventures with sam and colby one shot

[angelltheninth]

Arcane Characters Being Your Co-Workers

Pairing: Jinx, Vi, Caitlyn, Ekko, Vander, Silco, Sevika, Viktor, Jayce, Mel x Reader

Tags: fluff, developing relationship, co-workers, flirting, teasing, eating together, cuddles, kissing

A/N: I really hope we hear some Arcane news soon cause I am really, really itching to see these characters again.

Jinx almost never leaves you alone while you're working. She likes poking at you, taking your tools away and then kissing you, both on the cheek and on the lips.

The only time she's calm is when she herself is working away on her gadgets. Even then there's always music in the background, her humming and small sounds of sparks and buzzing. She can sometimes stay in her lab very late but that's why she has a comfy couch there to cuddle on.

"If ya want this back sugar you're gonna have ta give me some sugar. Oh come on, I know ya can do better then that, lay one on me. Or maybe ya'd rather stop working for a bit and move this to the couch? Just to warm ya we're gonna have to pull extra hours."

Vi finds it a bit hard to focus on work at first. He's pretty restless when she works so she needs to keep moving constantly. If she doesn't then she'll walk right over to you and start kissing your neck, that's more fun.

Can stay up longer if she needs to, she always likes walking you home, its one of her favorite things about the two of you working together. If you're both really tired you'll let her sleep over at your place, or she's just saying that as an excuse. After all you're both going to the same place tomorrow and she always waits for you.

"Yeah, I am bored, aren't you? Why do this paperwork when we could be out there putting the hurt on the bad guys. Come on sweet stuff, I know you're hungry for some action too. Or is it... a different kind of action. If you lock that door we could... ouch! Alright, sheesh, I'm joking! Or am I?"

Caitlyn is fully focused on her work, there's very little that can break her concentration and drive once she gets started. She can sometimes get too into her work, almost forgetting you're there.

Knows she should do better but she just can't help herself, she would rather get the work out of the way as fast as possible and then spend the rest of the day with you. She trusts you to tell her when she's going overboard as she has gotten herself sick before due to working too much.

"Just a bit more and I'm done darling. I have a surprise for us tonight, so be patient. Looking at me like that won't get me to talk, you should know this by now. A trade? What kind of trade? Just one kiss? Oh, darling, my secrets are worth much more then that."

Ekko manages his work time really well, and in turn yours. He always makes sure you both have a lot of breaks and enough time to properly eat your lunches and of course some time away for kissing.

Might get a bit distracting working with him when he's covered in grime and oil but he wants to keep you focused on the work. At least for now, you can have plenty of fun later. Loves to cuddle by the window and observe the on goings in the hideout to take his mind off work.

"Break time Firefly! You're gonna work yourself into an early grave if you keep this up. Oh yeah? And if I say you need to stop? I'm not afraid to tear you away from the desk you know. If I can catch you? Hah, doesn't that defeat the point? H-hey, don't just kiss me and run!"

Vander wakes up early, earlier then anyone and open the Last Drop for business. Everyone already knows it opens early so its a rush from early hours of the morning all the way into the night.

Flirty when you're really close to him, leaning over the bar or telling him what drinks need to be made. In general though he likes to keep things professional, as much as he can with his friends teasing him about paying you in many different ways.

"Pay them no mind darlin' they're just being jealous of us. To tell you the truth I don't know which one of us. Don't worry, we can close up early and then I'll take you out to dinner, no kids this time, just you and me. Yeah I mean it this time! I do! They're not gonna follow us this time!"

Silco has a lot of work to do day in and day out so having someone working together with him takes a real load off his shoulders. Not to metion that its a lot more fun to have a pretty face in the office, despite the distractions it might cause.

Pulls you by the wrist and kisses your cheek when you do well or bring him coffee. It took a while for him to get used to having someone to actually work with on equal footing but he can't deny how nice its been too. He wouldn't trade you being here for the world.

"Thank you for the warm coffee darling, it really hits the spot. Did you take some for yourself? You can have a sip of mine then. Oh! Hold on, you've got a little- Hahaha, what's wrong? I thought you liked my fingers."

Sevika hated having you dragging along at first. She works best when she's on her own, with no one weighing her down. She wasn't sure she could trust you to watch her back at first but after seeing you punch out a few people she offered to buy you a drink.

It kind of went from there, she started bringing you along for more jobs and putting more trust in you. Kissed you on impulse when she was out with you and luckily for her you kissed back, otherwise the work dynamic would have gotten real messed up, now its just gonna be more fun.

"Care to make a bet with me sweet thing? Let's see who can take out more of these losers today. You win, you get a kiss from me. I win and I get a kiss from you. Sounds like a good deal to right? Ugh, if you get flustered that easily you're gonna end up losing."

Viktor gets even more serious then usual when he's working. Luckily the two of you are in perfect sync and manage to get things done in a timely manner, which then lets you leave a little bit early.

In the past Viktor was very well known for spending nights at the lab but lately, since getting into a relationship with you, he's developed a healthier working schedule. Loves it when he's looking at the board and walk up behind him and casually hug him around his shoulders. He leans closer so that you can kiss him and then goes back to thinking.

"Be done soon darling, then we can go home. We can pick up some food on the way since we both skipped lunch today. Maybe we can take turns making homemade meals? Sure, we can cook together, I find that I work much better with you by my side anyway."

Jayce sometimes teases you while at work but most of the time he does keep his focus. There have been occasions where he pulls you in his lap saying it helps his concentration but you really doubt that because it always seems to do the exact opposite.

Loves eating lunch with you and taking little walks as breaks and fresh air. He started getting desk neat instead of notes and books being scattered around everywhere to make it easier for the two of you to coordinate with each other. Otherwise his work place can get quite messy which you have teased him about before.

"Made some food for us today babe. Almost burned it but this time I was watching it closely. I also made sure that the notes I took last night are... well... readable. Sorry about just unloading on you like that last time. Wha- Why are you laughing? Unloading? What's so funn- Oh. Uhm. Not like that, I'm not sorry for that."

Mel is very strict when it comes to work. Work time is always just work time, nothing else. There are certainly some looks passing between you two but it doesn't go much further then that while you're both on the clock.

During break though, she can't get enough of you. Kissing, touching you, keeping you close, her arm wrapped around yours, whispering into your ear, making you shiver from her words and her touch before leaving you high and dry, or rather hot and bothered and going back to work.

"We can't be doing this right now darling, there are things to do. Besides each other I mean. I won't deny I may have went too far with my teasing but I assure you I will make it up to you. Just be patient for me."

#arcane #arcane x reader #jinx x reader #vi x reader #caitlyn x reader #ekko x reader #vander x reader #silco x reader #sevika x reader #viktor x reader #jayce x reader #mel x reader #arcane imagines #arcane headcanon #arcane fluff #league of legends #league of legends x reader #league of legends imagine #league of legends headcanons #league of legends fluff #arcane x you #league of legends x you

[slocumjoe]

Companions reactions when Sole finds an abandoned baby and is like, “Welp! No parents, your mine now!” And wants to take them back with them?

Cait; ...okay...she understands that there is something of an obligation to not leave a baby to die, but...does Sole really have to keep it? Surely there's someone else that would like a baby, like a gay couple somewhere. Maybe those lesbians in the DC science center. Or the Ms. Nanny and teacher dude that got married, also in Diamond City. Like...Sole already has a bab—oh. Right.

Codsworth; Gotcha, what are they naming it? He'll sort out the feeding situation while they figure it out, go check shops for baby things.

Curie; Ms. Nanny protocol remnants + Curie naturally having a strong sense of justice = Sole will finally hear Curie say naughty words. They won't understand it if they don't speak French, but Curie is spitting pissed off. If Sole wants that baby, they might have to wrestle it out of her hands. Becomes very mama bear. Fusses over it in incessantly. Will relax once it is in a safe environment, and then Sole can claim it for themselves.

Danse; Goes fucking Terminator levels of bodyguard until the kid is in safe hands, like Curie. If a leaf on a tree moves, he's shooting it. Twitchy and on high alert until they get to a settlement. Sole is already planning on putting a baby room in their house. Very worried. Sole has a lot on their plate, much of it involving travel. Sole is not going to travel with a baby in their arms, fuck no. Pre-BB, suggests taking it straight to the Prydwen. After...surprisingly open to keeping it.

Deacon; Thinks they're straight-up joking. Makes a joke in response. Sole keeps joking, he keeps joking, Sole holds up a baby, Deacon has an aneurysm. Plays 5d chess in his head, planning the safest routes back to a town. Hyperventilating the whole time. Babies are loud. Loud is bad. Sole says they want it. Also bad. Sole. You are a spy. Spies don't have kids. You can't keep it, he's sorry, he knows what it's like, but that kid is safer somewhere else.

Gage; The deepest sigh man has ever achieved. Could have inflated a blimp with it. Okay, yeah, sure. Don't use crotchgoblins as bearbait. He's a raider, but there's...no, no there isn't honor amongst raiders. There is with Gage, though, he has, like, some coupons he can cash in whenever the ol' moral compass stops pointing at money. But...no. No, Sole...no. You don't have to put it back, but you can't keep it. And if they're Overboss? What the fuck are you thinking? What, like Mags is gonna babysit or some shi–why are they looking at him like that.

Hancock; A pendulum of 'chill with it' and 'unchill.' On one hand, SOMEONE GET THE BABY AN ADULT. On the other, WAIT NO NOT HIM, A CAPABLE ADULT. Doesn't matter what relationship he has with Sole. Hancock is getting babysitting duty. Hancock always gets babysitting duty. For some reason, he gets stuck watching kids way too fucking much. It's not that he hates them, it's that he breathes more Jet than air and has a penchant for throwing knives at things when bored. Please for the love of God, keep it if you want, but understand Hancock himself is baby and is not suitable for watching another baby.

MacCready; He's from Little Lamplight. As if he's even gonna blink. Hops on board quicker than Codsworth.

Piper; Sole's probably still in that phase after having their own child, where the hormones go all crazy with kids in general...losing their kid isn't helping matters, either, huh? Regardless of the circumstances, Piper is just going to shrug and do what she can to help. Whoever the parents are, they're either dead or don't deserve it, so...

Nick; Will not rest until he finds parents, dead or alive. If they are alive, has some stern fucking words for them. It'll take a damn good reason for him to take the kid from Sole and give it back to the parents. Will also suggest giving it to a couple who wants kids, but can't have them. Knows quite a few people who'd appreciate it. But not against Sole keeping it. Hope they like Uncle Nick back-seat parenting, though. Like a crusty grandpa at Thanksgiving who makes a face when your five year old has an iPad.

That grandpa is right, by the way.

Preston; Also doesn't flinch. Baby alone in the Commonwealth, you take the baby. This isn't a moral conundrum, it's basic common sense. Sole wants to keep the baby? Chill. Preston is not a useless potato sack of a person, like some people. Baby get, baby take care of. Hey, they're Minutemen, too, so they should have access to resources you need for childrearing. Third fastest to hop aboard the This Is My Baby Now train.

X6-88;

#fo4 #fallout 4 #paladin danse #preston garvey #piper wright #nick valentine #companions react #robert joseph maccready #x6-88 #porter gage #Codsworth

[sports-on-sundays]

prince not so charming / CL16 / PART 1

Warnings : Mention of death, Mention of sex, Mention of marriage between a minor and an adult (spoken about as a bad thing, not a good thing), Mention of forced marriage, Switching between second and third perspective, Charles acting a bit spoiled maybe.

Summary : Prince!Charles x Princess!Reader - A prince has seven princesses brought to him, and must choose which one he wants to marry.

Author's Note : I've had ideas like this circulating through my head for quite a while, so I figured this would be something good to start my blog off with, especially since I think it's another idea that a lot of other people might enjoy reading. I'm just starting out my blog, so if you read this and you like it, I would really appreciate if you would hit my ask box and request something to support me and help me get going! And of course reblog and follow would be kind too <3 Thank you, and I hope you enjoy my little story.

Requested? : No.

There are six other princesses travelling by chariot today as well, also headed to the same exact castle you're heading to.

When your father, the king of your small island country, told you that the prince of one of the largest countries nearby was sending in for all the single princesses, both you and your father had a plan.

Unlike a lot of countries, yours is just fine with having a woman rule as queen, by herself, so since your mother passed away in childbirth, and you're your father's only child, you've both basically decided that getting married into some other kingdom's royal family is just about the last thing you want to do.

Apparently, this Prince Charles, who is twenty-five, your age, has been being pressured ever since he was eighteen by his family. The story is that they keep trying more and more ladies from all different countries and families, but every single one he sees he quickly dismisses after meeting them, rejecting every single one.

Which, you figure, means he's a spoiled little ungrateful brat, like many of the royals from surrounding kingdoms and countries. Not surprising.

For seven years, his mother and eldest brother have been searching all over for the woman he'll finally accept. Of course, searching only in royal and noble blood.

So now, they're bringing in seven more princesses to see if he'll accept any of them. You're generally not worried about this conceited prince wanting to marry you, but just in case, you and your father have ensured that there's no chance he will.

So you sit in the covered royal chariot, wearing a plain white dress, a men's cloak, your hair very simply down over your shoulders, and dirt smudged on your clothes and face.

Even though it's not your most favourite outfit, it's worth it to avoid at all costs being forced to court with... someone like Prince Charles.

You're sure he'll be disgusted.

Which is good.

You've met all the princesses that will be arriving as well, and you're sure most of them will be more interesting to a prince such as Charles. Apparently, to them, he's known as the most handsome prince around. All of them would be delighted to marry him, and are surely putting forth their best for the prince.

You're sure he just uses his good looks to fake a charming personality, so people like him. That's what all the princes do, but then when you really get to know them, it turns out their personality is really quite devilish in the end, and it was just an act, a show, to get you interested in them.

Soon enough, the chariot you're in stops, and your driver gets out, holding the curtain for you as you lift your skirt to jump out. The driver offers his hand to you for help, but like always, you ignore it and hop out yourself. It's not like when women jump we break our ankles or something. My goodness. You know deep down inside they're just trying to be honorable and kind, but still.

You look up at the castle. It looks very basic, like many other castles you've seen, with it's tall pillars, carved images, and glorious towers reaching up, slicing into the bright merry blue sky.

"Would you like me to walk up with you, or send a servant to go with you, up to the door, Your Highness?" asks your driver with a very low bow.

"No thank you, but I appreciate the offer. I can handle walking by myself. Just carry on."

"Yes, of course, Your Highness," he nods, briskly, with agility, hopping up into the chariot.

You turn away from that, and start walking down the cobblestone path that leads to the third courtyard, which leads to the main gates. When you get to the gates of the third courtyard, a guard grunts at you, not even realizing that you're one of the princesses, because of your means of arrival and presentation, "What's your business here?"

"I'm one of the princesses to meet Prince Charles today," you say simply.

He narrows his eyes. "No, you're no-"

"Listen, guard. This was a message sent only to the princesses, no? How could anyone else know about this? If you do not allow me to enter and go to the castle with all the other princesses here today, I will order my men to go against you in an instant!"

The guard's back straightens. "Right, then, Your Highness! Please, show mercy, and forgive me for my misunderstanding! I'll lead you to where you need to go immediately!"

"You're forgiven. Now, yes, take me there. And let's get this over with."

Charles reclines in his velvet red couch, leaning back as he stares up at the sparkling gold chandelier with a heavy sigh. There's a knock on the door to his room, and he calls, "Who's there?"

His older brother, Lorenzo, enters the room, shutting the door behind him. "Charles, come on now. I thought you were supposed to be getting ready." He ruffles his brother's light, fluffy, tangled hair. "My goodness, Charles, you need to get this cut and washed before you meet the princesses. And clearly you are in need of a shave."

"I don't have to have nice hair or clothes for every last one of those ladies to fall deeply in love with me. In fact, half of them probably are already deeply in love with me," replies the younger with an eye roll and a scoff.

"Charles, you know you have to look more presentable. Stop with all the excuses. Get up now."

"Is Mama gonna cut my hair?"

"Charles, you're just going to have to get it done by a servant. I'm sending one in to get you fixed up now, okay?"

Charles nods, sitting up more with a sigh. "Yes, yes, Lorenzo. Now be on with your day, now, won't you, King?"

"Charles," he says, looking back from the doorway with a sigh. "Do one thing for me, please?"

"Another thing?"

His brother, the king, ignores Charles' little comment and just says, "Please choose your princess today, Charles. Please. Choose the best one for you. I've been trying to give you responsibilities for so long. I think having a lady may help with your..."

"My what? My goodness, Lorenzo, be out of my presence already! Please!"

And with a sigh, the elder brother listens to the younger's order and leaves him to be by himself.

Charles gets up and walks across the room, stopping in front of his mirror to look at himself. His hair is a little tangled, but he doesn't mind it. He always thinks it makes him look better. It reminds him of how he looks after he's won a race, pushed his horses to the limit, with the wind and dust blowing dirt up into his helmet. He's never minded a little bit of danger, and a little bit of dirt. And a little bit of fun.

Yet a part of him loves to look nice, too, for these girls. Not because he's trying to attract any of them.

Maybe just because he feels so strong in those buttoned coats with gold lining, big, black boots, with a beautiful sword at his side.

Maybe all this talk of marriage and pressure to fall in love is a pain, but by now, would he want it any other way?

It's strange the way you get used to the things you hate, so much that you almost start to like them.

The six other princesses sit as far away from you as they can. Naturally, they're disgusted. Not that you care. You figure it's better like that. This way, maybe their sweet perfume won't make you smell any better.

Even the guards in the room seem extremely confused and unimpressed by you.

Which is just fine. It means that hopefully the prince will feel just the same.

Soon, a servant comes in, saying quickly, "I'm sorry for the wait, Most High Ladies of the Land. Our highly respected and honored Prince Charles, the second heir to the throne, after King Lorenzo, may he be honored forever, is still preparing himself to meet you beautiful ladies. I can assure you all that he is very excited to meet you all. Forgive us for the wait."

Of course he's taking long. He's probably quite vain. Just like these girls surrounding you. Quite vain, you know. You can't help but smile to yourself as you ponder upon the fact that perhaps this vain, conceited, self-centred prince could potentially get along quite well with these girls. Prideful people often seem to enjoy the people who are much like themselves, after all, right?

Soon enough, though, they start taking the princesses, one by one, to come and meet the prince. The princesses here are from ages anywhere between fifteen and twenty-five. You realize that the younger one's time meeting Prince Charles is much shorter than the older ones, and even then, the longest time before the servant comes to fetch the next princess is at most fifteen minutes.

Of course, they save you for last. Which you're happy about. After seeing all those beautiful princesses, you're sure Prince Charles will be even more disgusted with you than he would've been originally.

You stand up when the servant gestures you to come, and you walk next to him down the hallway. When you make it to the end of the hallway, there is a small passage with stairs leading up. "I am sorry to tell you that Prince Charles' room is on higher floor. Would you like me to carry you up the stairs, Your Highness?" The servant asks with a bow.

"My goodness! How do you treat your women in his kingdom? What a meeting this shall be with the prince! By the name of God, servant man, no. I can walk up a flight of stairs just fine on my own two feet."

"Of course, Your Highness!" the servant says quickly, and you start walking up the spiraling staircase. You don't doubt that all the other princesses accepted the offer to be carried.

The hallway at the top is much nicer than the one you were just in. It has red carpets, gold lining, and windows all across one wall. You pause to stare out them. They overlook the huge capital city, and you think about all the little common people down there, working for their lives.

It's such a sad concept. While you're up here, worried about having to meet a prince, there are people down there worrying about staying alive.

It's not right. And when you're queen of your island, that's what you want to fix. In your country, your father has it all set up for you.

You want the people to be happy and content.

"Your Highness?" the servant says. "This is Prince Charles' room."

You nod. "Thank you."

"I'll be waiting outside here if either of you need anything."

You nod again, and slowly turn the knob to the door, before stepping in, closing the door behind you gently with a quiet click.

You have never been in the bedroom of a prince before.

There's a huge window overlooking a beautiful bright bluebody of water, which you assume must be the ocean. On the wall is a breastplate and two swords. There's a large wooden wardrobe with beautiful carvings all over it, and sitting on top of it are two helmets- one look's like a knight's helmet, shining with steel, and the other a horse racing helmet with red streaks painted on the sides. Next to the wardrobe is a painting hanging on the wall of a young man with dark shaggy black hair and a playful smile, wearing the elaborate outfit of a king, despite not having the looks of a typical solemn painting of a king. There's a wall with lines of different kinds of plaques and trophies on shelves, glass doors covering them. Prince Charles has a huge grand, wooden but painted white, piano. His huge bed has curtains surrounding it, and next to the bed is a little nightstand. There's a huge desk with parchment and ink sitting on it, and there's a soft red rug over the floor. Hanging on the wall is a large, beautiful, tinted, full body mirror. There is a large empty fireplace, and with it a red velvet couch and matching chair. Next to these pieces of furniture is a table on which a map, a compass, and a bowl of fruit sits. The whole room smells like sweet, calming incense.

And then, after viewing the room, you turn to view the much less interesting prince. He looks like every other. Sure, his face is exceptionally handsome compared to the others, but who cares? He's not that glorious. He wears a tall black shiny boots, red pants, and a long white double-breasted jacket unbuttoned with gold buttons and gold furnishing. Underneath his coat he wears a soft looking poet shirt. The whole outfit fits him quite well, and compliments his thin, lean, but very strong figure nicely.

But the best of his outfit is the sparkling gold crown upon his head. It shines with all different kinds of lovely colorful sparkling jewels. You can't help but think about how heavy that must be on his head.

His brown hair is nicely styled, his eyes bright, and his white smile likely fake.

But the smile quickly vanishes as he can't help but express the surprise on his face when he sees you. "H- Hello," he says. "You are...?"

"Princess Y/n. It's nice to meet you, Prince Charles." You curtsy.

"Nice to meet you, too, Princess," he says with a quick bow, obviously trying not to express his emotions on his face. It's hard not to laugh at this. At this little rich prince trying to hold it together. He takes a step closer to you. "How old are you?" is his first question. He speaks with the accent that it seems many people from this country speak with. You can't help but wonder to yourself if this country has it's own native language.

"Twenty-five, Prince."

He nods. "Me as well. What kingdom are you from?"

You tell him about the island kingdom you come from, and, as expected, he doesn't end up having ever really heard of it much. "How far off the coast are you?" he asks.

"It took half a day to sail here."

He nods once again. "Alright... Uh, why don't you sit down here next to me," he starts, walking to the velvet couch, "and I can tell you a bit about myself, if that's okay with you."

"Of course, Prince. Go on," you answer as you sit down next to each other on the couch. You look over his nice appearance once again.

"I'm the second son of my father, may he rest in peace. My elder brother is king of this country, and my younger one, Prince Arthur, rules nearby conquered land. Me and my wife would be the rulers of a section of land that we have just won over in war, across the river."

"So you're telling me that regardless of being older than your brother, he rules more than you and has a wife, while you don't?" You really couldn't care less. You're just trying to make him dislike you.

He clenches his jaw and says, "It's just taken a little longer for me... I guess."

"Why do you think that could be?"

"I... well, Princess, so far in my life, I've chased after things besides ruling and marriage."

"Right," you say simply.

"So... tell me about yourself. What... makes you... you?"

You can't help but softly chuckle at that question, as the Prince's eyes look you up and down. "Well, isn't this meeting really only about two things?"

"Two things? I'm sorry?" he asks in confusion.

"Whether the princess' beauty suits your tastes, and whether she'll be good to make you your babies."

He stares, wide eyed. "Wow... egh, you're honest, now, aren't you?"

"I suppose I am," you respond with a shrug.

"Right..." is all Charles says, at a loss for words at the princess' way of speaking. This is the first princess that's been so... blunt with him.

And he realizes perhaps this is why he has been avoiding marriage for so long.

He'd rather not getting married to a woman for her intense beauty, and only use her for sex to have his children. He doesn't even want children. Or a wife.

He really just wants to be for himself. Adventure. Have fun. Make the most of life.

"So, Prince Charles, you said you've been chasing after other things besides marriage and ruling? I'm curious to know what."

He swallows. "Really, my lady, it should not matter. I'm really leaving that old life in the past." Or at least trying. Really, every part of Charles hates to think about leaving that life in the past. It's a life he loves.

But, as everyone seems to say to him, Charles, you're not a little boy anymore. You're a grown man at twenty-five, and it's pathetic how little you've got done in life.

To them, what Charles has done is pathetic. To Charles, what he's got done is success.

"I still want to hear, Prince Charles."

Charles sighs. He figures it doesn't matter if this girl knows or not. He's sure no one would want him picking her, anyway. So who cares if she has a strange view of him? "I love chariot racing. It's my passion. I love it so, so much. See those trophies in that case? Those are from racing. I love the adrenaline, and the danger. I love the speed. That's one thing. I also love music. I play on that piano all the time. I'm not interested in getting married... I mean, I guess I can be kind of romantic, but I don't want to get married for the reasons everyone says I should. They always bring me these women that all seem to act exactly the same, with the same clothes, same personality... And then they get annoyed at me for loving none of them. They try to put me in armor and get me to fight if I'm not going to marry, but that's never turned out either. Even though I have the strength for it, I don't want to do it. I don't want to go out on battlefields and shed the blood of other men. Maybe that makes me a coward, I don't know. Maybe it makes me 'not a man'. I don't know. But I can't help it. It's just the way I am."

The look on this princess' face seem to be a mixture of extreme curiosity, regret, worry, and empathy. Which is confusing.

"Prince Charles, I'm sorry. You're very unlike many princes I've met. But I think you're just fine."

"I'd say you're quite unlike all the princesses I've met. And I think you're fine, too. The bothersome thing is that I basically have to choose one of you seven today. By the way, Princess, usually I wouldn't be saying this. But I just can see that you aren't like the rest. I can tell I can trust you."

"Why do you have to choose one of us now?" the girl questions.

Charles sighs, glancing down at this rug. "I don't want to make this seem like this is any of my family's doing. They love me, and want the best for me. But I have advisors put in place, that in a way have authority over me, and have told me if I don't choose a princess today, then they'll choose. And I know who they'll choose. There's a princess in a very, very large kingdom very nearby, and they've been waiting until she turns fifteen. She's fifteen now, and I'm sure they'll force me to marry her, because having a marriage with a kingdom as big as that is just wise, when it comes to government. But I am not marrying mere girl who is ten years younger than me. There is no way."

She nods. "That's... That's good. Very wise. There are lots of princes I know of that would do just that. So I respect your decision in that very much. But I suppose the best thing for you to do is to just choose the nicest out of those girls to marry. It's a hard situation to be in, though. I'm sorry for you."

"Are you really a princess?" Charles asks, looking the woman in her eyes.

"Yes, I am."

Charles reaches over and wipes a smudge of dirt off her cheek with his thumb, before holding it up in front of her. "What is this all about then?"

"I didn't want to doll myself up. Just like you, I don't want to marry, really. I'm into other things that are uncommon as well."

"Like what, Princess?"

"Well, racing as well. I like hunting with my bow and arrow. I love swimming, and going for walks, and gardening. Most people think princesses always enjoy indoors more, but I love the outdoors. And luckily, in my kingdom, I'm allowed to spend my time outside. I don't like singing or dancing or reading or knitting or doing makeup or dresses or anything, like most people expect princesses to."

Prince Charles suddenly takes your hand and says intensely, "I have an idea."

You narrow your eyes at him, feeling suspicion sink deeper within you. "What...?"

"If neither of us want to marry, then if we married each other, then we could get along more. Like, I'm not saying we fall in love. I'm just saying if neither of us are willing to fall in love, then we marry each other."

"I see your point, Prince Charles," you start, "but it's quite selfish, what you're planning. While you're being forced to marry, I'm not. So while for you it would be a step up, for me it would be a step down."

He continues to hold your hand, though. "I would let you live in your country and rule it as you please. Please, Princess Y/n. It would be... such a favor for me. Seriously, the only time you'd have to see me is when we're invited to dinners and what not."

"Oh, yes, the only time I'd have to see you is for dinners, and as well, perhaps, to come to bed with you to give birth to your heirs! Prince, I do not-"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"What? It's rude to interrupt."

"I've stopped trying not to be rude by now! Just let me ask my question!"

"Go on, Prince Charles."

He sighs, giving your hand a little squeeze. "Do you realise that if you want to protect your own kingdom, and keep it as it is as well, that you're going to need an heir?"

You swallow.

What a terrible, awful turn this has taken.

You should've just dressed and acted like all the other princesses.

But you had no idea that Prince Charles would be so...

Such a square peg in a round hole.

Much like you are.

This time you squeeze his hand, which is very, very smooth, and would feel nice, if it weren't so sweaty at this very moment.

He barely whispers, "Please."

He's so desperate.

What will your father say?

You suppose you'd just have to explain the whole thing to him.

"Listen, Prince Charles," you say, slipping your hand out of his, standing up. "I do not want to marry you. I ask you not to marry me. But I understand your point of view, and I understand that I should expect that regardless of what I've said, you still might choose to marry me."

He stands up with you. After getting to know him more, he looks much more handsome than he did in the beginning.

And then he says something shocking. "I think you're beautiful."

You stare, eyes wide. "I'm sorry, what?"

He reaches over and wipes the other smudge of dirt from your face. "I think you're beautiful."

"How? I went out of my way to look ugly."

"It's your personality that shines through those lovely eyes of yours."

"Wow... Thank you, Prince... You weren't lying when you said you were... romantic. Although you know if this is some way to manipulate me into wanting to marry you, I'm sorry. I've got my mind set on no."

He shakes his head. "That's not what I was trying to do. I was just telling you that... Showing you that... No matter what you do to your appearance, I still thought you're beautiful."

You stare into those bright green eyes, and for a moment, there's a little pit in your stomach. But not a bad one. Like there's something flying up within you. You take a step closer to him, and say, "Prince Charles, you are a very special person. You really are. To see past all the makeup and dresses and perfumes, and look for the one with the personality you like the most? That's extraordinary."

He gently puts his smooth hand to your cheek and says, "You've got to be special as well. After all these years of seeing all these ladies and princesses that I could choose to marry, and you're the first one I have any kind of feelings for. Your humility is so admirable... You just want to be there for your country. You're amazing."

You swallow, nodding. "I don't want to marry, but out of all the princes I've met, you're the only one I would marry if I had to."

"You're the... You're the princess I would marry, and I have to."

You sigh. "I beg you not to say me, but I understand, fairly enough, you're looking at your own best interest. So if you... If you end up having to say me, please let me be there for your country."

"I'll say you, but I'm putting a lot on the line."

"Like what?"

"If my advisors don't like you, which is likely, they'll make me marry the fifteen year old, likely. But it's worth it. I think putting so much on the line is worth it to be with a lady like you. Because I know I won't meet another princess like you. They likely won't even let me, though, so you're probably safe."

And suddenly, your heart softens as you look at his longing eyes, and you say gently, "Prince Charles, say you'll sleep on your decision. They'll have us princesses stay at this castle for the night. In the morning, I'll make sure I look just like the others."

"Cover up your beautiful face with all that makeup?"

"Just so your advisors accept me."

He stares, wide eyed, before suddenly hugging you.

"Oh my goodness," you breathe.

"Don't tell anyone I've hugged you."

Hugging is reserved for, in tradition, only those who are courting or related to each other, so this in a way fills you with guilt, because you know how much people would look down on you if they knew he was hugging you so tight.

You smile to yourself, though, and hug him back, even tighter.

Who cares if they look down on you?

Prince Charles steps away out of the hug, before bowing to you, taking your hand, and kissing it, before saying, "I suppose you should leave now, Princess Y/n. I'll see you later."

#f1 one shot #f1 imagines #f1 fanfic #f1 #f1 x reader #charles leclerc #formula 1 #ferrari #charles lecerc x reader #leclerc #leclerc x reader #formula1 #formula one #scuderia ferrari #charles leclerc one shot #charles leclerc x you #charles leclerc imagine #f1 x you #f1 x y/n #f1 x female reader #charles leclerc x y/n #charles leclerc x female reader #arthur leclerc #lorenzo leclerc #prince!charles leclerc #f1 fanfiction #charles leclerc fanfiction #f1 fic #charles leclerc fic #charles leclerc fanfic

[idyat]

Overprotective Sanford x reader

They'll never hurt you again

Requested on Wattpad

Summary: The AAHW has captured you. That will not stand with your lover.

WARNINGS: Violent threats, torture, murder, lots of gore in general

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...What time was it? You couldn't know inside your empty, dark, sealed of from the world room. Your ennemies had got you, the chances of you dying in terrible agony were at an all time high. Lucky for you though, they wanted to try and get some information out of you first.

"So, are you gonna talk?" The ATP soldat in front of you asked. But there was no way you were saying anything. Ever.

"Oooh playing tough huh? If you love staying quiet so much maybe you'd like to have your throat ripped out?" They threatened, pointing a knife towards said throat.

You couldn't do anything to fight either. Your arms, your legs, even your torso were strapped to a very uncomfortable chair. Judging by the look, it was electric too.

While you were dwelling on your thoughts, the soldat got a call through their earbud.

"Huh? Yeah don't worry I'm not actually killing them. Might cut the bitches tongue though. You guys do your jobs and make sure absolutely no one's breaking in okay? Okay."

They were probably serious about the tongue thing. Your body was already covered in cuts, burns and bruises.

But you knew your condition wouldn't last long. You knew he would just need to know about what was going on to bring hell upon these assholes and their base. Which is why, even through the pain you managed to smile.

"Oh? You're smiling now?" Your captor had focused back on you.

"What's making you so happy huh? Is there something funny going on on the wall?" They were baby-talking you and turned around to this time look at the wall in front of you with stupid movements. Idiot, they're only embarrassing themselves even more.

You suddenly got punched in the face real hard.

"Are you enjoying this, huh?! You like being hurt or do you like being annoying, you stupid brat?!" They continued to hit you as they yelled.

"Maybe you'll enjoy the stretchers even more then, you useless fu-"

The building's alarm suddenly went off. Filling every room with a flickering red light and ear-splitting ring.

"What the-" The soldat got once again interrupted, this time by the sound and sight of explosions, screams, and guts flying out not far from your own placement.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck!" You smiled even more at their panic.

Both of you knew that motherfucker was already dead.

One last explosion of your interrogation rooms door, and their body was already getting hooked from across the room, right before it was their heads turn to get crushed onto the ground. And when I say crushed I mean crushed. Brain and eye flying out and everything.

It would almost gross you out if you weren't concentrated on the hunk responsible for the carnage. Well, "hunk". At the moment all he was was terrifying. Blood and shadows covering his face with only the light of his sunglasses perceivable as he wiped out everyone in his way with horrid shrieks of agony.

He looked up before bolting towards you. Your heart almost stopped until you felt your face being grabbed and restraints being torn as if they were mere paper.

"Oh god, Honey are you alright?! Holy shit, what did they do to you..."

You could almost see the darkness fading away as he worringly yelled if you were okay.

"I'm definitely better now that you're here." You smiled, still panting from the pain and recent beating.

He finally destroyed all the straps connecting you to the chair before grabbing you and tightly, yet gently, hugging you.

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry...I took so long just look at what they did to my sweetheart..." Sanford's voice was trembling as he scanned over your wounds to make sure none needed urgent attention. It was quite funny honestly, to see such a murderous and sadistic man turn so nurturing within a few seconds, all for his lover. It's a very strong contrast for one person.

"Hey, Love, it's okay! You saved me in the end, isn't it all that matters?"

"Yes...But-"

You gave him a kiss. "No buts Honey. It's all over now. Let's just go home."

He nodded before picking you up bridal style. No way he was going to let the love of his life walk with legs injured like that. He also took the time to get to the entrance (or to blow up a hole in the nearest wall) to comfort you and made sure you were ok physically and mentally. You were the one who just got kidnapped and tortured, there's no way he's the only one getting reassured!

You two eventually made it outside. To which your boyfriend suddenly stopped.

"...Uuh...I got here all by myself...Could you call Deimos to come pick us up?"

#madness combat x reader #madcom x reader #mc sanford #madness combat sanford #mc sanford x reader #madness combat sanford x reader #sanford x reader

[heliads]

Idk if requests are open rn (I can't convert time lol) but I was wondering if I could request something for Now You See Me? Maybe smth with Jack where they're both just a super silly couple, like always goofing around before shows and just having fun, but they're both kinda insecure, like 'what if the other person doesn't take this as serious as they do'. So they...idk talk it through and in general super fluffy. Sorry, i'm really bad at describing things. Feel free to ignore if I sent this in too early.

masterlist

If you ask the Horsemen what they like most about being, well, a Horseman, you would get completely different answers. Some of you love the planning process, being able to organize the perfect heist right down to the very last detail. Others love the car chases afterwards, running as fast as they please without ever getting caught. Still more of you have a fondness for the magic tricks of the shows themselves.

If you were to pick, though, your favorite part about this fantastical life of yours wouldn’t be what happens on the stage, nor immediately before and after it. The magic is lovely, obviously, and you all enjoy the sound of so many people cheering your names, but what you like most of all about this select group of extraordinary people are the members of the group themselves. The backstage murmuring, the whispered inside jokes. That, to you, is worth more than any perfected sleight of hand trick.

That’s the reason for the contented feeling in your stomach as you survey your little crew. The five of you just made it out of another successful deal. This one will have the skeptics talking for months, of that you’re certain; all of you went above and beyond to make this job impossible to deny. It’s a good feeling. It lets all of you lay down your guard for the time being and just laugh with each other while you wait for the coast to clear outside.

Merritt tips his glass appreciatively as another siren caterwauls outside your hideout. “I think that’s the tenth one I’ve heard in ten minutes. Face it, people. We’re famous. Or, I am, at least. They might be too distracted by my good looks to notice you.”

Danny rolls his eyes. “They’d only get distracted by your looks if you hypnotized them.”

“Why don’t I do it to you, then?” Merritt pretends to lunge towards him, laughing when Danny jerks backwards.

“Not funny,” Danny complains.

“Totally funny,” you argue. “Are you scared because you’re worried it already happened? What if you secretly think Merritt has been super attractive this whole time and you’re just fighting the truth?”

Merritt snorts. “I like that idea.”

By your side, Jack breaks into a wide grin. “It’s okay, Danny. You can talk to us. We’re friends. Tell us your inner truth.”

Danny scoffs. “That is so not my inner truth.”

You arch a brow. “Are you sure? It wouldn’t be the first time you’ve fallen for a Horseman.”

Danny glowers at you. “Low blow, Y/N. And that’s rich coming from you, anyway, given that you’re also dating a Horseman.”

This is true. Unlike Danny, though, you’re quite proud of it. Your relationship with Jack Wilder was quite literally months in the making. It nearly drove the other Horsemen insane with the way both of you couldn’t stop tiptoeing around your feelings, but you both confessed eventually and have been quite happy ever since. Even when your friends try to divert blame onto the two of you to get out of the hot seat.

Jack must be thinking along the same lines, because he just shakes his head and grins. “It’s okay to be jealous of our fantastic relationship, Daniel. It’s not your fault we like each other way more than anyone loves you.”

Merritt chokes on his drink, and has to press a hand to his mouth to stop from laughing any more. “I didn’t laugh. That’s not funny, you two. You should all be nicer.” The twinkle in his eyes, though, lets you know that he’s firmly on your side.

Danny just groans. “Trust me, if this is what love is like, I’m fine without it. I feel like I’m going to be sick to my stomach. Remind me again why I wanted you two together so badly?”

Merritt chuckles. “Because you said the same things when they were just pining uselessly, remember? Ah, good times. And now the two of you can actually tell each other how much you love each other, right?”

He stares directly at Jack, waiting for him to say something. It’s strange, usually Jack has no problem picking up the thread of a joking conversation, always jumping in with another rebuttal, a laughing riposte, but this time, he just stays silent. He seems lost in thought, and maybe it’s just you being paranoid but it seems awfully coincidental that he would zone out just as Merritt brings up the idea of him being in love with you.

And, well, you get it. Love’s a big idea. Especially with your lives on the road now, it’s hard to picture any of you settling down in any way. You and Jack started out just flirting, only catching feelings by accident. You can’t expect him to love you. Even if you know that you’ve loved him for quite a while now.

Truth be told, this isn’t the first time such an issue has crossed your mind. You and Jack have been dating for a couple of months now, and you’ve been questioning things since the halfway point. It’s not Jack’s fault, really, it’s just hard sometimes to understand why he would pick you when there are literally hundreds of thousands of people begging to go out with him at every show. He could have any supermodel, any celebrity, but he chose you. It just makes a person wonder why.

It’s been getting to you lately, the instability of it all. You and Jack have a lovely time joking around, kissing after shows in between bouts of laughter, but he’s never once told you that he actually loves you. There’s a very good chance that he hardly sees this as a relationship at all, more a distraction in between extensive shows, and that to you is more heartbreaking than if he’d never confessed his feelings in the first place. You love Jack, you know you do. You just don’t know that he feels the same way about you.

The conversation drifts off into uneasy silence when Jack still says nothing. When it becomes clear that he’s not going to respond to that, you quickly change the subject, asking Daniel about his thoughts on the way a certain aspect of the job had gone. It’s an easy excuse, and will earn you at least fifteen minutes of uninterrupted Atlas monologue to smooth over the awkwardness, but you still feel your spirits sinking. It wouldn’t have hurt Jack to say something, right? Even just to joke along. He wouldn’t have to have meant it.

Merritt meets your eyes sympathetically, but you look away just as quickly. You don’t want his pity, it just means that he’s aware of the imbalance just as much as you are. Danny’s oblivious enough that he probably won’t notice it, which is good. You don’t want anyone realizing the difference in your affection from Jack’s. Not when you plainly like him more than he does.

It’s not a good feeling, to say the least. It sits with you the rest of the evening, causing you to leave early, claiming exhaustion and wanting an early night’s sleep. Jack tries to coax you to stay a little longer, but you can’t answer his jokes with the same spirit you usually do, making his face fall slightly. Well, a cruel voice whispers in the back of your head, good. He should feel at least a little of the hurt you do right now.

Even that doesn’t make you feel better, though. You lie awake, listening to the soft sounds of your friends laughing together. Jack never has a problem carrying the conversation when it’s just them, then. That means the problem must be you. You joke too much or not enough, and somehow Jack saw that you weren’t quite the right match for him. Maybe somewhere out there is a person who’s perfect for him, who can always pick up what he’s putting down and knows exactly the right amount of emotion to show, but Jack is making it clear that won’t be you. 

You fall asleep eventually, but even a good night's sleep isn’t enough to reset your mood. You do your best to act like nothing is the matter, but it’s hard to go on joking with Jack when all you want to do is ask him if he could ever actually see himself loving you. 

It takes about a week before he catches on. You’re bailing out of another night of drinks with the Horsemen because you can’t bear to see how flimsy your relationship really is. 

Instead of letting you go, though, Jack stays put in your room. “Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”

You feign indifference. “Nothing, really. I’m just tired.”

Jack doesn’t seem convinced. “You’ve been ‘just tired’ for a while now. It’s not like you.”

“Yeah, well, maybe you don’t know me as well as you thought,” you mumble, trying to distract yourself by pretending to look at the papers on your desk. 

“What does that mean?” Jack’s voice, suddenly razor-sharp, takes you by surprise. 

You lift a shoulder cautiously. “Nothing. Just leave me alone, alright? You’ll have more fun if you’re not stuck with me right now, I know that.”

“That’s not true at all,” Jack protests. “Every time the rest of us go out, I’m miserable. They can all tell you that. It’s no good if you’re not out there with me, Y/N.”

You can’t help a tinge of bitterness from entering your voice. “So you want me to go out with you because you want entertainment? Great, Jack, that definitely makes me feel better.”

He reacts as if you’ve struck him. “That’s not what I mean at all. What’s gotten into you?”

“What’s gotten into me?” You spit out. “Nothing, Jack. Nothing at all. It’s just that I realized you don’t feel half as much about me as I do about you, and surprisingly enough, that doesn’t make me feel the greatest.”

He’s silent, reeling in place. You shake your head slowly. “See, this is why I didn’t want to do all this. Just forget it, alright?”

You try to move past, but Jack’s hand snaps out, weaving around you and blocking your path. “I had no idea you felt like that,” he says softly. “I would have said something sooner, sweetheart, I promise. All this time, I’ve been thinking you didn’t like me that much, so I didn’t want to say something stupid like I love you since I thought it would scare you off. If I had known–” he breaks off in a quiet half-laugh, then continues, “–if I had known that’s what you thought, I would have told you a lot more about just how you make me feel.”

Suddenly, it seems to take a lot of effort to speak again. The weight of your surprise hangs against your throat, slowing the syllables. “You love me?”

“More than anything,” he smiles. “Enough that I didn’t want to hear you say you didn’t love me when I knew how much I loved you. I never asked what you wanted, and I assumed you didn’t want a serious relationship.”

“I want you,” you tell him. He beams.

“And I want you, sweetheart.” In Jack’s arms, it’s easy to forgive him. This has all been a simple misunderstanding, and the greater truth is far lovelier than you could have ever hoped. Maybe you will go out with him tonight after all, tonight and every night until forever. The stars will shine sweetly overhead and you will be happy. With Jack, you think you always will be.

now you see me tag list: @mayfieldss

all tags list: @wordsarelife

#jack wilder #jack wilder imagines #jack wilder x reader #jack wilder oneshot #nysm #nysm imagines #nysm x reader #nysm oneshot #now you see me #now you see me imagines #now you see me x reader #now you see me oneshot #nysm jack #nysm jack imagines #nysm jack x reader #nysm jack oneshot #now you see me jack #now you see me jack imagines #now you see me jack x reader #now you see me jack oneshot

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

For the 1k word fics, maybe one where Ed finally talks with Lucius? The more angsty the better >:)

This prompt has lived rent-free in my head since you sent it in. I had a lot of fun with it!!

(Pretty much always taking prompts for 1k word fics! I love 'em because they're great to write when I have writer's block on other projects, so don't be shy!)

--

Enough was enough.

Ed had been out of his probation period for a few days now. Most of the crew seemed to be comfortable enough with him again; they came up to him with questions, they invited him to sit next to them at dinner, they talked with him and invited his input. Lucius had…stopped flipping him off every time he saw him out on deck.

Thing was, Ed was genuinely trying to leave all that awful dark scary Kraken shit in the past, and pushing Lucius overboard to the sharks? That had been the worst thing he’d ever done during all that nastiness. Lucius had only ever offered him support and friendship, and Ed had pushed him overboard for it. And now Lucius made a point of talking over Ed, shouting at him, dismissing his suggestions, insulting him, and just generally proving at every opportunity how much he hated him.

And Ed knew he deserved all that and worse. But if he was going to leave the Kraken behind, something would have to give.

When he overheard Roach talking about something Izzy had told him at breakfast, Ed knew his game plan.

It only took Ed a few seconds to get everything he needed set up, and then he found Lucius up on deck. When someone flips you off that enthusiastically at every opportunity, you can’t really miss them.

“Hey,” he said, making a beeline up to him. “Can you come with me for a sec?”

“Absolutely fucking not,” Lucius said immediately.

Ed’s pleading desperation must have shown on his face, because Lucius made a sort of go-ahead gesture, and he let Ed lead him to a space he’d cleared out in the empty galley. He’d already set up bottles of antiseptic, gauze, and everything he’d figured he might need.

“What’s all this?” Lucius frowned at the equipment Ed had laid out, and he shouted in alarm when Ed thrust the old saw into his hands.

“Izzy said you suggested cutting my leg off,” Ed said, plopping down on the bench and stretching his bad leg up in front of him at what he figured was an ideal chopping height. “Have at it. I’d prefer this one, but, uh, dealer’s choice.”

Lucius just kept blankly looking at him.

“I expected some reluctance, but don’t worry,” he said, holding up one hand to show the length of rope he’d looped around his wrist. He put his hands behind his back, slipping his other wrist into the knot he’d prepared, then tugging at his arms to prove to Lucius he wouldn’t be able to get free. “See? Not gonna try to hit you or anything. Whenever you’re ready.”

He hoped Lucius wouldn’t be able to see how hard he was shaking, and he jumped a mile when Lucius just tossed the saw onto the table.

“You fucking idiot,” Lucius spat, “I’m not doing that!”

“It’s okay,” Ed assured him, “I know I deserve it -”

“I don’t want to chop your leg off!”

Ed just stared up at him. This had been his last hope. “Then what do you want?”

“Oh, uh, I dunno,” Lucius said, “maybe a fucking apology?”

Ed snorted disbelievingly. “That’s all you want? You just want me to say, I dunno, oh, Lucius, I’m so sorry for what I did to you, and it was the worst time of my life but that’s no excuse, I was scared and I hurt you and I’m sorry, and I think about it often, and I feel terrible, and I wish I had a way to tell you how deeply I regret hurting you, and could you please forgive me?”

“Yes,” Lucius said simply.

Ed blinked.

“Oh, Lucius,” he said softly. “I am so sorry for what I did to you. It was the worst time of my life, but that’s no excuse. I was scared and I hurt you because of it and I’m sorry. I think about it often, and I feel terrible. I wish I had a way to tell you how deeply I regret hurting you. Could you please forgive me?”

“See, that’s a fucking start,” Lucius said, crossing his arms and nodding primly. “Follow-up question. What did I do to deserve that? What did I do to you that made you do that to me?”

Lucius’ voice wobbled, a bit, and Ed looked at the floor to avoid having to meet his eyes.

“So, uh,” he started haltingly, “you remember how you listened to my lyrics? And you gave me advice and shit?”

“Mhm.”

“Izzy kinda said that he should’ve let the English kill me and I better watch my fuckin’ step -”

Lucius reeled back a bit. “Shit, did he really?”

“Yep,” Ed said, with the best shrug he could manage with his arms behind his back. “And if I had to go back to being Blackbeard, I figured you were the only one who could’ve seen through me.”

“That is fucked up,” Lucius said with a loud groan. “That is so fucked of you, that is such shit.”

“Yeah.” Ed went back to looking at the floor. “I was having a really shitty time of it, and I wasn’t thinking right. I’m sorry, man.”

“For what it’s worth,” Lucius sighed, “I was kind of having a really shitty time of it when I said the whole chopping your leg off idea. I didn’t really mean it.”

Ed let his shoulders relax. “Could you maybe untie me? This knot is really tight, I can’t feel my fingers.”

“Yeah, sure,” Lucius mumbled, grabbing the pair of medical scissors on the table.

Ed still held his breath as Lucius moved behind him, but he just cut the rope without even attempting to stab him in the back. Progress.

“We’re not good,” Lucius said when he crossed back in front of him again. “We’re nowhere close to good yet.”

“Understood,” Ed mumbled.

“But.” Lucius held out a hand. “Crewmates?”

Ed beamed, taking his hand for an enthusiastic shake. “Crewmates.”

#ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd fic #my fics

[shuhwaa]

Le Sserafim Reaction | Them realizing they're falling in love with you

Le Sserafim all members x gn!reader words: ~200 per member genre: fluff, reaction warnings: none

(requested)

Chaewon:

you've been dating for a few weeks, slowly moving past the stage where you only just get to know each other

now you're at a state where you can both feel that it's about time you decided if you wanted to give yourselves a real chance, or take the experience and move on

and somehow she just can't reach a conclusion

of course she likes you, or she wouldn't be dating you to begin with, but she just isn't sure if she's ready for the next step or if she'll make the right decision

it's when she's out with her friends and they start talking about a different couple and how in love they seem that she begins feeling like she wants that with you as well

she'd love to become closer with you, to hold your hand and to kiss you whenever she wants and to make memories with you that are special simply because you're together

it's during that train of thought that it suddenly hits her: she's already falling in love with you

stops in her tracks and blushes at the realization 

panics for a moment and even makes her friends worry, but she can somewhat calm herself down quickly

"I'm fine, guys. I just realized... I think I'm in love with Y/N..."

runs off as her friends are cheering for her, because she needs to tell you about this right now

Sakura:

you don't know each other to the point you're super comfortable around each other yet when it begins to dawn on her that she's falling for you

though she's been very conscious of not making you feel uncomfortable around her, she's been acting naturally so far

however, now that she has feelings for you and she wants to get closer to you she isn't sure how to act around you

she’ll try to impress you and to come across in a way that she thinks would draw you in

but things will just get kinda awkward between you two

though you will catch onto the fact that there must be a reason for her sudden change in behavior so eventually you just ask her about it

she'll try to downplay it, but in the end she'll just admit that she likes you

"I don't know how to go about this whole dating thing..."

when you try to reassure her by telling her you like her and that she should just be herself, she'll relax

she will be a lot more proactive now, and she's actually very blunt when asking you out on dates or just talking to you in general

one thing's for sure: you will always know how she feels about you and whenever you're ready, you can take your relationship to the next level comfortably

Yunjin:

the oblivious type

says she knows herself and is perfectly in tune with her feelings 110% of the time

but somehow she just can't put her finger on why or how you make her smile so much and make her heart race etcetc...

you two are very obviously flirting, yet somehow everyone seems to understand what's going on except her jdhdhdhd

until one day it finally hits her, and she almost has an existential crisis over it...

"Wait... oh god... oh my god, am I...?" 

surely she can't be in love with someone she thought was just a friend???

she comes to accept it eventually and the next time you two meet, it'll be obvious something's weird about her

she decides she'll have to talk to you about this asap, but she'll be quick to notice that maybe the conversation won't be all that complicated, because now she's starting to see the signs that you might have a crush on her too

Kazuha:

you two have been spending time together a lot lately

you're both aware that you're interested in each other, but you decided to take things slow and figure out your feelings as time passes

it's when you're spending a quiet moment together, just sitting side by side after both having a stressful day, that she realizes

you're like a second home to her, making her feel safe and like she can really be herself, and she figures she must've fallen in love with you sometime along the way

smiles to herself as she dwells on all the moments she's spent with you that made her come to love you

that's until you ask about the broad grin on her face, your question making her shy all of a sudden

"Ah, nothing... just thinking back." 

she tries to move on at first, but when you insist she eventually ends up telling you how she feels

talks about how you make her feel comfortable and how she always looks forward to seeing you and then eventually she'll confess:

"Actually, I think I'm falling in love with you."

Eunchae:

you know that cliché of the teenage girl lying flat on top of her bed, thinking about a special person and then suddenly kicking her feet in the air out of happiness cause she just realized she's in love? yeah, that's her

can't stop smiling about it once she understands that she likes you in that way

you've been texting all day, just sharing trivialities when she stops to wonder why each and every one of your messages makes her smile so much

that's when she can feel herself blush as her heartbeat speeds up at just the thought of you and she knows

she really is in love with you

of course she's excited, so a part of her wants to tell you about it immediately

but you haven't been dating for long, so she doesn't want to overwhelm you with such a big revelation

decides to keep her feelings to herself for now and to spend some more time with you to see if maybe you show her signs that you’re falling in love with her too

#le sserafim reactions #le sserafim fluff #le sserafim x reader #le sserafim imagines #chaewon fluff #sakura fluff #yunjin fluff #kazuha fluff #eunchae fluff #fluff #reaction #req

[toomuchracket]

mads I keep imagining that d word girly would have an incident where she gets really defensive about Matty’s personal space/safety. maybe after he went into the crowd at the Hollywood bowl? but I actually think it might be when that reporter approached him in LA. I think she’d be like “you can you leave my boyfriend the fuck alone? He won’t be mean to you, but I will.” Or something else, pick your poison!

(i am dramatising these instances a bit)

actually yeah, i think that as much as you're professional and careful with what you publicly do or say and pretty good at staying calm in stressful situations, there's only so much you can take re. matty's safety/wellbeing/general happiness being threatened right before your eyes. your reaction to the hollywood bowl incident was maybe slightly amplified given the, um, changes to your body that you found out about a few days later, but it was justified - thinking that you (and denise, sitting next to you) got really worried when matty went over the other side of the barrier, and you got progressively angrier when they all started shoving phones at him and trying to grab him, to the point denise actually had to hug you just to stop you storming down there yourself and trying to intervene. literally, she had to calmly whisper "he's fine, he'll be fine, mark's there to keep him safe", while you were seething about "fucking animals they don't give a fuck about him it's fucking ridiculous imagine having such little respect for another person" (and this was BEFORE you started crying about peanut. quite the evening for you!). do you know what you were going to actually do once you got there? no, but probably nothing good.

in some ways, the earlier thing with the reporter in LA was probably worse to witness, because you saw matty up close and personal realise in real-time that he was being pestered by a journalist; you're both used to being filmed by randoms when they meet you (well, as used to it as you can ever be), and so you've gotten quite good at quickly determining if people seem a bit off, and thus i think it was you who clocked the girl was a reporter because she was holding her phone in a really weird way to try and discreetly get the shot (as opposed to fans generally being obvious about the fact they're filming). you whispered to matty to tell him, before you were audibly like "so sorry but we can't talk right now, we're running late for a meeting", but she still persisted in asking questions - matty didn't want to be impolite, you knew that (plus he kinda squeezed your hand anxiously like "help"), so you tried again to shut her down like "no seriously we literally can't talk right now" to no avail. she's talking over you, stepping closer as you move back, generally being a dick, and you think fuck it and calmly say, like you said, "look. my boyfriend won't be rude and tell you to leave him alone, and i've tried to do it politely with no success. so i'm going to be a bitch about it, actually - can you just fuck off? thanks". it works, but as soon as you say it you're internally trying to figure out damage control on yourself. but it's not too bad, because cctv and nearby fans caught the whole thing on tape and showed she was actually being a pest. and matty's reaction to you saying that was good; he kissed your hand as you walked off together like "that was so fucking cool, baby, i can't believe you got all aggressively protective over me like that. it was sexy", and you got all blushy but were still fired up like "nobody messes with my man", and matty was almost swooning like "so fucking true. i love you!" lol <3

#mads answers asks #matty asks #fluff asks #d word matty #moots <3 #satvb

[sprintingowl]

Playtesting Your TTRPG

So, you've built your own system, or a module for an existing system, or even a set of houserules you want to share with people. What do you do next?

Often, but not always, the next step is to playtest it.

Real quick though, three disclaimers:

-Playtesting isn't always possible. If you can't playtest something, you can't playtest it. That's okay.

-Also, rigorous playtesting isn't always possible. If you can playtest your game a little but you can't dump 100+ hours into it, that's also okay. Do what you can.

-Finally, there's no definitive one right way to playtest. What I'm sharing is my approach, but please do what works best for you.

Now, to get started, you need players.

If you've got friends who are willing to help out, great. Recruit 'em.

If you've got friends but you're not sure how they'll feel about the game, ask them.

If you don't have friends who are willing to help out, you can simulate some players. Imagine a person and walk them through the steps of your game, or play yourself as both the players and the GM.

Now, when you playtest, your goal is this: to have fun with the game.

Try to get through a session. Engage the players. Tell an interesting story together.

For any element that breaks but doesn't crash the game, make a note of it and circle back later.

If any of the mechanics break completely in half, rendering the game unrunnable, that's fine. Stop and fix things only to the extent that you can continue play. You don't need to get everything perfect.

When the session's over, ask the players what they thought about the system and if there were any parts of it that they felt strongly about.

Sometimes their answers will tell you as much about the players as they do about your system, but all feedback is good feedback.

If a player is frustrated because they wanted to power-game and your system wouldn't let them, that's useful information! There might be types of players your game clicks with more than others, and maybe you can add some text to let readers know to prepare for this.

Similarly, if a player is constantly getting confused by a dice mechanic, maybe there's another way to explain that mechanic. Try to draft some other versions of that text.

Of course, if the players liked some part of the system, that's worth recording too. If the players light up at your fishing minigame, maybe you can develop that minigame a little bit more.

What you *don't* need to do at this point is worry about whether your game is good, or stress out if the mechanics hit a snag.

The goal of playtesting is to improve a game, so it doesn't matter if the game is good at the start of the process.

I have had systems break in truly spectacular ways, every single mechanic imploding, the moment someone enters a car or tries to assist on a roll. So really don't sweat it if you find some bugs.

If you've got friends helping you, and if they're good friends, they're not going to give you (too much) grief over the system breaking.

And if you're testing by yourself, then you've got even less of nothing to worry about.

After you've gotten your feedback, the final step is making changes to your game. Fiddle with the mechanics, add or remove material, and generally revise the text based on what worked for you as a GM and what the players liked or disliked.

When you're done, you might have an entirely new-looking game, so provided you can keep playtesting (see the earlier note about rigorous playtesting,) schedule another session and see if there's anything more you want to change.

#ttrpg #ttrpg homebrew #ttrpgs #ttrpg design #indie ttrpg #dnd

[farfallasims]

Hi Madi! Do you think the simblr community has been a little quiet lately? I feel like it seems like everyone has gotten a little discouraged and there aren't as many posts. I love following you, you're the one who posts most frequently and I'm happy to know that you haven't given up on us 💕

I really want to start posting but I'm afraid of judgment as it's a bit difficult to do they have a different style as everyone uses the same ones cc and presets and among other things. And it always reminds me of something more or less used by someone. Anyway, I feel that simblr is more divided between groups and that there is a lack of unity for everyone to be great one day. I love the simblr community and I love its content. Maybe sending this message here will reach more people in the Simblr community who may be discouraged for some reason, please don't give up, no matter how difficult it is to get likes or recognition, one day we will all have acquaintances and our name. Thank you Madi for encouraging me so much to play The Sims, you're great!

Hi gorgeous!

The community is kinda quiet, I do agree, but it makes sense to me (as someone with a business degree). After Christmas in the business world, money making, all that, a lot of companies experience their worst quarter.

Everyone is drained (mentality & physically their wallet), and they're back to work, school, all that. A lot of YouTubers will also take this time off, usually only January from what I've seen, because it is their least engaging month/quarter. To sum it up, everyone is busy and working, so the community can suffer with some moments of silence.

For the community itself to be quiet it's expected. It will 100% pick back up in the spring/summer, so don't feel discouraged by it. I experience my best activity in the later months of the year, especially the summer when everyone is out of school or on vacation in general, so look at it that way.

It can definitely be discouraging to join the community right now, but don't let that stop you. Sure, we all love engagement, it's why I'm in the position I am today to be able to offer you advice, especially as someone who joined last February. However, I didn't go in worrying or thinking about it. I honestly didn't anticipate nor expect the engagement I got and I am so incredibly grateful for it.

And as for your content, you and so many others need to learn that regardless of aesthetic, we all appreciate the beauty. If you're a beige girly, a maximalist, fully alpha, whatever it might be, it doesn't matter. We as a community accept and appreciate all content, regardless of aesthetic or opinions.

As long as you enjoy what you're making and you're having fun, regardless of the engagement, and are an unproblematic king/queen that's truly what matters.

I hope you have a beautiful day/week and I hope some of this can shed light on the community and give you the boost of confidence to start posting! We all want to see more beautiful content as there is room for you and so many more simmers!

#wcif #love to you x

[orbmanson7]

Thinking on generation loss and what we know so far

Idk what the twist is, what Showfall's motive is, but....

(spoilers below)

There's something so distinct in that in episode one, sneeg said he had refused to do slimecicle's cooking show and got locked up. That implies he's done this at least once. But slimecicle said in episode two that he ate the mousetrap game piece to survive, implying he's also been through this before. But since he was the villain of the first episode then a victim in the second, we can theorize that the villains are just as trapped here as the rest of them.

And then jerma proves that theory very plausible, because when sneeg gets gooped from the hat in episode two and seems to understand what's really happening, he tries to escape but gets brainwashed again. While this happens, Showfall intervenes and literally pauses everyone, including jerma. When they put the re-brainwashed sneeg back, we can see jerma is not completely frozen, he can see what's happening.

He really is just like the rest of them, and his death coming immediately after he says he's been "doing this for 30 years" is very suspicious. But how did he get to this position? because I'm convinced he's trapped there, too, but forced to put on a show and torturing people and making up puzzles, because it keeps him in some level of power or it's what he has to do for Showfall.

I think that's what happened to slimecicle, too, but probably more recently. My worry now is for sneeg. Because slimecicle purposefully tried to 'corrupt' sneeg in episode one to fight ranboo, and then with sneeg getting brainwashed again after trying to escape in episode two, only for him to act in ways where he went along with whatever ranboo did and then purposefully stopped Austin and himself from surviving in order to let ranboo win in the end...

But if slimecicle and sneeg died in episode one but then were brought back in episode two, maybe jerma and all the other hostages who died in episode two might possibly still be alive?

My theory right now is that Showfall is trying to create entertainment and is basically pulling a hunger games (in that they're making survivors into gamemasters) and they are trying to inaugurate ranboo next... To do that, he's being mind controlled so he won't make his own decisions, which seems to have significantly increased in episode two as he's no longer receiving input from the audience and begins to just wander aimlessly and act more like an NPC. If he's susceptible, they could possibly change him from this 'hero' title to anything else, another victim, another villain, anything!

Someone (this Hetch person) is trying to prevent that from happening by hacking in and making ranboo see things for what they are. But I don't trust this guy, either, because we don't know his motives, not any more than Showfall's. Maybe giving the illusion of choice is the endgame, maybe this has been going on so long, Showfall controls too many aspects and one measly person hacking in to try to save one person isn't going to change anything because the company is too powerful already.

Or maybe that's the point? Maybe ranboo has to be The Hero and that means the audience sees him getting outside help, that means he has to have hope that he can win and somehow be free... But, again, much like the hunger games, all of that is about keeping them trapped inside.

Not to fucking remember slimecicle's old tales of the smp quote here but, well, like he told those characters... You were so busy running through the maze, you never stopped to look for the cracks.

I think ranboo did something on the outside that got him taken and put into this show. Maybe he tried to help and now he's mockingly being titled as 'the hero'.

Maybe it was his intention all along to get caught, but he didn't know what kind of technology Showfall was using on the contestants and now he has to rely on the one person hacking in to try to get him out.

Or maybe this is just what happens every time. And, like generation loss, this show started out so simple, but it's degraded and distorted so much over time, it's unrecognizable and everyone involved has to be brainwashed to continue participating because if they knew the truth, they'd be terrified....

Idk what the big twist to all this will be, but there are a lot of possibilities in store for us. Sunday should be fun.

#generation loss #just theorizing some things #long post #genloss #genloss spoilers #generation loss spoilers #orbs thought bubbles #but yeah big truman show vibes hunger games vibes

[basu-shokikita]

you want asks? here’s something: when/if the rest of dethklok find out that toki and skwisgaar had gotten together, how do you think each of them would react?

omg yayay thank you mj! this is actually a scenario i've thought about a lot

so, before aotd came i had the specific scenario in my head of skwistok coming out to dethklok together. as in, they sit them all down and tell them about it. like a total formal thing. by this point, they've been together for long time enough that they're OK with it no longer being a secret anymore.

in this scenario, pickles is the most chill about it. it's not like he's particularly happy about it, he's just ok with it and then keeps on doing his thing. it's still a pretty big news after all but he's not judgemental at least. he gives a thumbs up or smth and keeps drinking

nathan is definitely weirded out about it. not because it's gay but because he saw the band as family/brothers so he thinks it's weird and honestly kinda gross. he's mostly judging skwisgaar too because he assumes toki doesn't know what he's doing/gives him kid treatment. nathan is basically a certain subset of the fandom here

murderface is so fucking pissed. both cause it's gay (homophobic homo as usual) and because he feels excluded. he's like WHAT SCHO IT'SCH BRUTAL TO BE GAY NOW? NOT FAIR. WHEN I WASCH GAY- and then abruptly shuts up because he is NOT GAY. btw his rage is just a lame cover for how he cannot stop his brain from fantasizing about having a threesome with skwistok now

after aotd came out however...my scenario changed a little.

first of all, i think after experiencing the end of the world almost and because of his general development, nathan is honestly less uptight about things that might have thrown him off before. meaning, receiving the news that skwistok are together makes him earnestly happy for them. it does still surprise him a little tho somehow, it makes sense. lowkey he was always a BIT worried about skwisgaar's habits so he thinks it's good someone that loves him can take care of him now. my nategaar besties agenda prevails

pickles is also glad for them though vaguely jealous that he doesn't have something like that going for him too but that calls to other issues he'll have time to work on hopefully in the future. he does get a LIL naggy about it, telling them they need to use protection and etc. toki is elated to have a sort of maternal figure worry for him while skwisgaar is genuinely just GAGGING

murderface still acts like a butthurt bitch but does definitely an attempt at be nice about it. maybe he gives them an awkward pat (to which skwisgaar immediately responds to not touch him) but they both genuinely appreciate mf trying for them

this is essentially my wholesome version of skwistok coming out lol

oh and charles already knew in both scenarios. of course he does.

#asks #metalocalypse #skwistok #dethklok