#So they could get mad about anything in games that reflects the world we live in | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sdyd · 11 months

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* ALWAYS WATCHING OVER YOU. sentence starters from kaigan games' horror series, simulacra. change pronouns / tense as necessary.

now we are luminous, a bright star. all shall see us !

I've been trying to reach out ...

thank god I found this phone.

you are not worthy of respect.

poor unfortunate soul.

you're just like the rest, a sheep.

tragic. we can change that.

you think you can stop me ?

I have no use for someone who accepts the world they are given.

no one truly deserves anything.

I ate and entire pizza by myself in five minutes.

tell me I'm pretty.

material attachment is so pedestrian.

behind your glass screens, behind your black mirrors, is a reflection of reality.

we seek those with extraordinary influence.

you are lost.

it is easy to be led astray when you are so broken.

you deserve to be followed.

you looked through his phone ?!

he has the nerve to accuse me of invading his privacy.

you're the one who went out of line.

I am not even mad, just disappointed.

how are you feeling ?

can you stop being so emotional right now ?

you've got the wrong person.

I'm not who you think I am.

you're better than this, [ name ].

what are you rambling about ?

maybe he'll slip up and tell you something we don't know.

there's something on my mind ...

it's not my fault that she left you.

if you're obsessed with me, I get it.

there's something off about him.

it's too late for me.

she can still be saved.

do not trust its' words.

nothing is what it seems.

I saw him, then I blacked out.

it only reveals itself too its' chosen

he told you, didn't he ?

I am her as she is me.

if it is me you wish to see, so be it.

impressive. a worthy pretender.

you have seen through my mask.

do you crave the truth so badly ?

the material society is fading, a digital one taking its' place.

she did nothing wrong and nothing right.

is that how you've been feeling ?

expecting him to follow you is pointless.

your actions will carry weight. live with them.

fuck this silent treatment. fuck it so much.

hello, worm.

don't forget your headphones.

no more losing, only growing.

when you look into my eyes, you can see it looking back.

join the fun !

worms, how are we feeling today ?

my followers are my puny worms.

there is no end or beginning.

we will never be separated.

pretender.

soon, this will become your reality.

hola chikas !

grovel as we consider your divinity.

that old fool mistakeningly thinks he has solved this.

your concept of right and wrong eludes me.

your own suffering will lead you back to us

how does it feel when everyone leans on you for guidance ?

don't compare yourself to me. ever. you're not on my level and you never will be.

don't you kids link everything to the cloud these days ?

are you having a stroke ?

who's going to believe us if we said some face - tearing monster killed them ?

I'm not a cartoon rabbit.

life hurts a lot more than death.

yes, a person was ruined.

this is not your memory.

I was lost and you sensed my need. I followed your path and you kept me from falling.

you need a form. a new body, a new face. a true face ... I will do this for you.

what is the current status of the investigation ?

[ name ] appears to be on this alone.

focus, please.

tell me, what do you see ?

step, seek, and proceed.

your path is coming to an end.

tell me, what do you doubt ?

find the truth.

my perversion fails to deceive you. you have seen through my mask.

what's the worst that could happen ?

we will never be separated.

you showed me that the human heart can hide so much more.

you have given me a great gift.

why won't you just let him be happy ?

this cannot be !

you and I are not that different.

I'm really scared. I've been trying to reach out.

I asked for your name.

then who will save me ?

it's getting harder to think.

I need to get out of here !

help me defeat this thing, [ name ] !

I'm right here. you won't go through this alone.

you should go.

it's up to you now.

promise that you'll remember me ?

I'm glad your here.

the only way forward is to disappear.

who am I to deny their wish ?

no one deserves that.

I should have paid more attention.

I valued my own ambition over their cries for help.

I forgot who I was.

is it really that easy ?

everything is slipping away.

you really think I can do this ?

embrace your sins.

you wear the face of a ghost.

you're unable to exist without something to latch onto.

GET ! OUT ! OF ! MY ! HEAD !

I don't know what to say ...

you pulled me back. thank you.

that's what partners are for.

I'm not letting you go that easily !

thanks for believing in me.

we've got so much to talk about.

I'm not afraid anymore. I feel clarity.

don't deny its' voice, let it through.

I just embraced the truth.

I'm here. I'm not leaving you.

you've seen the damage I can do.

no one deserves that.

you're safe, you're with me.

now, where were we ?

I can't lose you too !

I'm on my way ! just stay on the line !

you can do this.

#sentence starters #rp prompts #rp memes #rp meme #roleplay memes #roleplay prompts

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themarginalthinker · 6 months

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Stiction

(Drabble request for @enquiringangel ! Star is having a rough time, and while there is no easy solution she will accept, Paul at least offers her some comfort. She is pack, after all.)

Star wakes with a sharp breath.

The darkness behind her eyes is gone, banished to the dreaming world once again, though the images linger like the faded rainbows from bright lights seared into her vision.

Her dreams these days hold little rest for her. Not really a reprieve from anything, even if her body needed sleep. Stress took the threads of consciousness and twisted them into barbed twine that wrapped itself around her throat, leaving her breathless and tense when she woke up.

It wasn't usually anything she could even recall enough to pretend like it was some kind of portent or karma. And when it was something she remembered after waking up, it stuck like a bone in the throat. Those dreams resembled reality far too much to allow herself to dwell on them.

Teeth and claws, glowing eyes, and silent, rotting holes that ate at her living flesh while her screams got no further than her tongue.

That one was a common one.

Sometimes, when she was tired and those dreams refused to dissolve into nothingness after they'd come, she wondered if those shapeless thoughts were his doing.

That accusation never took real hold, even when she was spitting mad.

No. As bad as David could be, and as much spite as she knew he was capable of directing at people, she didn't think he would do so at her. Not like this. David didn't direct his power out of anger towards any of the others either. Tricks and games and pranks, all fair game, but never when he was upset. When even maybe, he wanted to. When she could tell he'd sooner bite and maim than speak words like a man, he still wouldn't turn the force of his darkest imagination on the mind of one of his own.

She's honestly not sure why not, but it's not worth adding to her worry at the moment.

Star is awake, and that means facing whatever reality this night held for her.

Star opens her eyes.

And has to stifle a scream as warrior blue eyes blink at her mere inches from her face.

She does jerk back however, air hissing through small fledgling fangs as she bares them without thinking.

It's becoming easier to do so.

Paul doesn't take it for the warning that it is, granted, Star's little teeth hardly pose a threat. He does lean back though, startled by her startlement more than anything.

What little hesitation her reaction had garnered eases away in seconds. Replaced with that stupid bright smile of his.

Paul had a nice smile. Star could admit it. Objectively.

"Good morning, Starshine!" He says, flinging out a hand like he was announcing something. "The Earth says hello!"

Star blinks at him.

And then turns back over with a growl that wasn't terribly human. "Well, the Earth can stuff it."

Paul snorts a laugh, and Star groans as she feels the bed shake and shift, Paul having taken her response apparently to mean he was allowed closer, and he crawled into the nest bed with her. He jumped about, on purpose she knew, settling all his long limbs into the small space. His bony knee was pressed into her back, and she turned and glared at him over her shoulder.

"C'mon! Get up. We got adventures to have!"

"Paul, get off."

His smile widened.

Star only just realized what she'd said.

"No-"

"Well, if you insist."

Paul's hand slowly, deliberately started to slide downward, towards the junction of his hips, and before he could take the joke any further, Star sat up, and whipped a pillow at his face.

It connected with a satisfying whumph, a bull'seye right to Paul's stupid, smiling face. Paul goes over the side of the bed, landing squarely on his ass.

"You are so gross!" Star yells, throwing the pillow after him.

Paul sits up, rubbing at his lower back. She feels a bit of satisfaction at that - even if his own pain reflects dimly in the back of her mind - until he smiles again.

"Sure. But you're up now."

...Fuck. Star looks down, and sees she is indeed almost mostly out of the bed. The covers are tossed askew, and the sleepiness banished from her eyes. Her pillow is soiled with the dirt of the cave floor.

It feels like a constant, this irritation and annoyance. Always muddying her thoughts these nights. Sometimes it's directed, like right now, and other times it just seems to be there, floating like an ever-present, unpleasant cloud around her. Even when she doesn't want it, when there's seemingly nothing happening in her immediate vicinity to cause it, it's there.

It only seems to go away when she's sleeping, when her mind isn't preoccupied with the backdrop of her current life.

She hates it. And that hate only makes it worse.

"Whatever," she snaps, turning to the other side. There are boxes here, with her stash of folded clothing. She digs through, trying to find something that didn't feed the irritation in her stomach. Somehow, every article of clothing felt wrong, something. A skirt that was too silky, a shirt that she liked but hadn't cut the tag out of and would have to find scissors first. Even a pair of socks - she picks them up and then realizes that they're long, not her ankle length ones, and suddenly feels the urge to...to...

Something. Fling them down. Run away. Open her mouth to scream into the echoing depths of the cave that all at once is empty space and yet a cloistered, airless tomb.

Her teeth hurt, and she feels panic rising.

Star doesn't realize how much her hands are shaking until a hand comes to rest on them. Cool, long fingers curl around the socks, and tug them from her grip.

"Whatever they did, I don't think they deserve to be strangled to death," Paul says evenly.

"Shut up, Paul," Star mumbles weakly, trying not to move her mouth too much. Trying not to feel the points of her teeth.

"Can't. Doctor said it's a condition," he replies, cheeky.

She can tell he's watching her, though. Star is a fledgling, the bond not quite formed in her mind and made hazy with the lack of pack blood she takes. His mind tried to press against hers, like a gentle rapping at the door of her innermost self. Let him in.

Let him help.

Star feels Paul get up, and leave. She doesn't know what he's planning on doing, if anything, but the moment he's left her side, it's like a gaping hole opening up in the exact shape of him. Negative space. Star keeps staring down at the box, but not seeing it. Her teeth hurt worse, and she shuts her eyes. She wants to go back to being asleep, where even if her dreams aren't good, they don't possess the cutting edge of the waking world.

She wants to blame it on them. It would be easy to do, and what her mind defaults to. Almost out of habit, really, after months. The anger, the fear knew this dedicated direction, and takes the path of least resistance. They did this to her. All this inside, it's their fault. They're the ones hurting her, she's alone, they don't care, they'll get rid of her when they've decided that playing with her isn't fun anymore and she'll be just like all the humans who've died in pain and terror at their hands, but she probably won't be allowed the dignity of a fast, apathetic death, no, they'll probably toy with her and draw it out, the boys she knows, her pack killing her-

Something flops against her head, Star letting out a squeak and a full-body jerk as the bundle of fabric makes contact.

She reaches up to her face, hands gripping it and pulling it away. It's soft in her fingers. She spreads it out, and yes, just what she thought. A teeshirt, black and plain and a size too big for her, made for broader shoulders and a longer torso. It's wrinkled and so well-loved the bottom hem is coming undone, and there's a hole or two in the undersleeve. The logo that was printed upon it has long since been worn away to a few scatted pieces with washing and wearing, but Star thinks it might have at one point been a print of some park logo.

She looks up, brain still reeling a little from the arrested panic attack, to Paul, who had hit his own bull'seye when he'd tossed her the shirt.

He comes ambling back to the side of the bed. Steady pace, face relaxed. He folds himself down, on the other side. Not touching her now, but close to her.

"Try it on," he says, pointing to the shirt.

Star looks down. Of all the clothing she'd set hand to tonight, it doesn't...irritate her to feel.

She glances to the side, to Paul. His eyes are on her...but she doesn't feel like he's really watching her. Not with any intent.

She doesn't feel his gaze linger on her skin when she grabs her tank top and shimmies out of it, like she thinks it should. Like it would with anyone else.

The teeshirt falls against her skin like it was always meant to be there. The sleeves come down her upper arms, settling almost to her elbows. The long body of it hiding her in its black, rumpled folds. Old and known and understanding.

As it passes her face, Star catches the scent.

A hint of pure earthiness. Unscented soap from whenever it was last washed. And.

And Paul.

Star grips the collar of the shirt in one hand, breath suddenly stuck in her lungs.

She looks to the side, to the vampire sitting back at the foot of her bed. Eyes still watching her. Mind still like a door she could open, if she wanted. He doesn't look like he wants to hurt her. He's never looked at her like that. The violent images that had flashed across her mind seem like the dreams now that she can't recall, distant and...silly, in a way.

Those boys wouldn't have done this.

Her teeth don't hurt anymore.

"Thank you," Star says quietly.

Paul smiles, soft. "Of course, Starshine."

#the lost boys #Star tlb #Paul tlb #drabbles #the boys love her but star has problems seeing that #letting them in

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fullmetal-the-last-alchemist · 1 year

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hi ruth!!! :] for that ask game, i have many so i'm just going to rapidfire them at you!!! a little tf2 heavyweapons guy indulgence is necessary every once in a while <3 🍄🥰

funky orange, forest green, the purple christ ALIVE the purple!!! ocean blue (a slight spoiler hehe) & cherry blossom since we met irl in the spring! :] green screen, always! 🏋🏻‍♀️🏋🏻‍♀️🏋🏻‍♀️ void black + ice blue, esp in the madness and mania right now... and... ofc... to finish it all off... lilac bites u bites u bites you bites yuo bites y-

SARAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! 💖💖💖💖💖💖💥💥💥💥

funky orange: you are very fun, your blog is a joy <3 RIGHT BACK ATCHA!!!!!!!! 🥹🥹🥰😘💕 no but fr whenever i see your icon or url i get warm fuzzies... like that's sarah!!! sarah thee bröth-lovied!!!!! you never fail to bring me joy 💝💝💝

forest green: let's elope <3 ANYTIME BELOVIED,,, not just for tax benefits.,, but also for love 💞💞💞💞💘💘

jrwi purple: you are so right about your blorbos WEEE THANK YOUUU 🥰🥰 since our interests don't entirely overlap i love the idea that u support me in my blorbomania even when u might know NOTHING abt the blorbo in question,... that is true love + support right there 🥰💘 but like i also get it bc i feel the same way abt u, i KNOW in my heart that ur correct abt everything re: your blorbos who only hold blorbo-in-law status for me... i don't know vergil but you are correct about EVERYTHING with him 💖💖

ocean blue: uhh... seashells for you? !!!!!!! a slight spoiler!!!??!!! 👀👀 AHHH NOW I'M EVEN MORE EXCITED HEHEHEHEHE 🥳🥳💃🕺💃🕺

cherry blossom: you remind me of spring awww, i really like that, that's so sweet!!! 🥰🥰🌺🌻🌼 i cannae lie, in that particular regard, i'm not sure i feel the same,, because for me, i flew back home to 20 degree F weather like three days later MKDGHFDDF not very springlike unfortunately 😅😅 for me, you remind me of summer+fall, cause we started talking in the fall and bc you live in The State Of Eternal Summer (florida 🫡)

green screen: you can do anything, I'm proud of you !!!!! wahhhhhhh SARAAHHhhh ;___; thank u,.... and the same to you of course!!!! all the stuff you've been doing lately, with the substitute job and the house cleaning and the evil peepaw situation... u are so strong adn i'm so proud and i wish i could spirit u away to a pocket dimension to give u the 1000 hour nap u deserve 🤧🤧💝💝💝

void black: you are too hard on yourself! learn to take it easy :c 🥺🥺🥺 ookay. okay. yeah., thats fair. i'll try 💞 but also,, 🪞🪞🪞 U TOO!!!!! u are one of the most kind and giving and patient and generally amazing people i have ever known... if i could reflect the love i have for u back into your own soul u would never feel another negative thing about yourself again....THATS CHEESY BUT ITS TRUE AND IM STANDING BY IT 🙈😤😤💗💗

ice blue: wrapping you in a blanket rn omg,, i would love that bc im actually cold rn... and the closest blanket to me rn is my favoritest blanket in the whole world... it has kitties on it and it's soft and fleece and it's the best.. i am wrappng you in here with me.... i love u 💓💓

lilac: biting yuo NO U!!! >:3 bites yuo bites yuo bites yuo bites yuo bites yuo bites yuo bites y

#dropped this under a cut cause i went a lil crazy... anyways. BEAM OF 1000000 HUGS AND KISSIES ❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️#i don't think i saw u rb this ask post but honestly even if u did i would just send like. all the same ones to u fkghfdhg #OK ANYWAYS!!!!!!!!!!!! u do not need to hol horse me... i will do it myself 😔🤠 goodnight!!!!!!!!#ask

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mondaysjournal · 11 months

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6/16/2023 - Needing // Getting

It's been a relatively uneventful week. On tuesday, I went to magic club and lost a few times, once with your kaza, because I copied a time stretch and hit only the most useless spells off of it. But I did win one game with taigam using the leveler thoracle combo. This was a game where etali (the green red one from march) got at least 8 etb triggers not just from it being played, but from other people copying and cloning it. On thursday, I was able to play with all of the pieces of Shelob (without shelob since she hadn't come out yet) and I predictably lost most of those games given her low power nature. But I did get to win one game off of an ezuri's predation making 11 beasts and then a roar of challenge. I hope I can get an actual shelob soon. And then today I went to hmart to get some stuff. I don't think I got too many interesting things, but I did get shrimp, mangos, and some of those moshi drinks we saw at maruichi that one time. They have frozen rabbit for a relatively reasonable price (compared to wegmans anyway) but I decided against it. They also had duck for $5/lb (which is how much it is at costco, I think) but I also decided against that. It felt kind of indulgent, and I think I want to get one for a special occasion. I don't really know if that will come up any time soon, given that not many people are around, but I might just get one next time I go there. That tenderloin for $12/lb is always tempting...but I will wait for you to come back to do anything with that. I kind of want to do something more interesting with it than a roast, though. I know you think I'm already good at making food, but I hope that by the time you get back, I'll have improved, or at least have found new things to make for you that I couldn't before. I will always try hard to be better for you, because you deserve that much.

A lot of places feel very different without you here. It's not always apparent when I'm there, just walking around, living, but in the reflection and the rear-view it really does feel like something incredibly important is missing. Sometimes I get mad that you left me here, but it's never for very long. Because it also made me realize just how deeply in love I am with you. It made me realize just how much I need to hold you in my arms. How much I need you to hear you breathe as you sleep next to me. How much I need to be able to kiss you whenever I want. I knew that I needed all of this when you were here, but now in your absence I realize how all of that is what gave my life real meaning. I won't go so far as to say that life before you was pointless, or not worth living, but...it really did change everything. I didn't really have this sense of "future sight," where I could say what I was planning to do or where I would be. I just had to keep going for no other reason than to see what came next. I had hope that things would get better, but I didn't know how that would happen. I just had to keep going, living that life I said I would live. I would accept whatever came to me. And then you showed up and gave me something to cherish and protect. It's a lot easier to think about creating a better future when it's one you're going to share with someone else. That's something I always dreamed of having and something I really didn't think I would ever obtain. So if I ever get mad, it's because you came into my life and gave me all these things and made me so happy as quickly as you left. But that's okay, because you're coming back, and every time you tell me you love me, that moment comes closer. I hope it's okay that for a little while after you come back I'll hold you a little tighter, stare at you a little longer, kiss you a little harder, because I'll have missed you so much. For now, I'll just be grateful that I'm in love with the cutest girl in the world, and that she loves me back. It makes me so happy that you're my princess. I love you so much.

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niqhtlord01 · 3 years

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Humans are Weird: Soldier without a war. Part I

( Please come see me on my new patreon and support me for early access to stories and personal story requests :D https://www.patreon.com/NiqhtLord Every bit helps)

“You sure the speks don’t patrol there?”

“If they did do you really think I’d bring this rust bucket along for a job?”

Melp strapped himself into the copilot’s chair and looked over the console readings one last time. All systems were showing minimal operational capacity which normally would have been setting off alarm bells but with how things had been going for him and his captain lately it was the best they could ask for.

Melp was part of the salvage company “Outlying Star”, co-owner in fact with his partner and current captain Galem. When the war against humanity had started the two had thought it was the best idea to make a fortune with all the wrecks floating between star systems from fleet combat and had went all in on a converted freighter to pick through the bones and sell what they could.

At first Melp and Galem had made a killing, bringing in semi functional sub space drives and salvaged fully automated hard shell loaders from human ships. They made enough to fund a fleet of five ships and live the good life back on Valfha without a care in the world; for a little while at least.

Galem thought it was because of the government’s restrictions on salvageable items that had hampered their business but Melp believed it was because they were just too good at it that and had inspired countless others to take up the salvage game. Soon markets, both legal and black, became flooded with salvaged goods and people willing to undercut each other to make a quick buck. Neutron cannon went from 3.5 billion credits in value to just under 300 million credits in the span of six months. As a side effect of the sudden influx of salvage parts the government began taking notice and cracked down hard. Salvagers were called “Scavies” and deemed criminals by the government and the military would all too happily fire on any scavy ship they spotted. Seems they weren’t too happy about people rummaging through the wrecks of ships that once held their friends and the government would turn a blind eye if a scavy ship was destroyed during “Live Fire Exercises”.

Soon the jobs became even riskier and Outlying Star lost three ships after they were caught and destroyed. Another had to be sold for parts and salvage and now the final ship, the Morning Gale, was the last hope for Galem and Melp to make back some money.

“How do you even know this site hasn’t been picked clean already?” Melp asked over his shoulder as Galem entered the cockpit and locked the door behind him. “We could be wasting our time on a fantasy.” Galem shook his head which did little to ease Melp’s concerns.

“I got it from a reliable source that there was a big fight in the Glipi Cluster that we lost to the humans.” Galem began as he took the controls and slowly pulled back on the engine throttle as the ship ascended. “It was so embarrassing that the navy wiped all records of the battle and said the destroyed ships were lost in a freak transition from sub space into a rogue comet cluster.”

“If the data was wiped how does your source know about it?” Melp quipped as the ship breached upper atmosphere and exited the travel lanes for the jump point.

Galem smirked as he engaged the sub space drive.

“They were there.”

As the salvage ship exited sub space Melp let out a gasp. He blinked several times and rubbed his eyes yet when he opened them all he could see was a shroud of purple. Galem saw Melp’s confused expression and chuckled.

“It’s the color of the gas filtering through this entire cluster.” He said calmly as he flicked on several scanners and filter units. “Try looking now.”

Melp looked again as the shades of purple faded away and let out a startled gasp. Upon gazing out of the cockpit window he could see why the navy had wanted to cover up this place so badly.

Floating around them were dozens of lifeless wrecks of Mibari warships ranging from light destroyers to several cruisers. Compared to their tiny ship it was as if Melp and Galem had entered the realm of giants. Melp was transfixed by the wrecks and became utterly enthralled when a massive shadow draped across their vessel.

“Is that what I think it is?” Melp spoke sheepishly as his blue hands trembled and changed to a soft orange color. Galem leaned forward in his seat to look out the window and whistled as his eyes caught sight of what had terrified Melp.

“A galaxy class troop carrier.”

The massive ship spun slowly in place like a top that refused to stop spinning, the metal interior exposed in several places from weapons revealing a dark interior of metal supports and long dead hallways. Melp looked towards the front of the ship as the command deck slowly spun into view and he was surprised to see the name of the ship had survived the damage it had taken.

“The Vault of Ohya…” Melp softly spoke. He reached out with an arm and shook Galem who was smiling like a hatchling on birthing day. “That’s the Vault of Ohya!”

“A piece of her hull to the right collector would be enough to refurbish this little dingy,” Galem said as he playfully smacked the command console, “into one hell of a floating casino.”

The two of them broke down into fits of laughter as if they had just been driven mad by their findings; but it was not of madness that now drove them but the sheer joy of their discovery.

These dozen ships floating lifelessly in the cluster were more than enough to bring the two of them back into the life of luxury they once held and keep them there until their dying days.

Melp was still star gazing at the shattered troop carrier when something else suddenly grabbed his attention.

“What’s that?”

Melp tore his gaze away from the Ohya and saw what Galem was looking at.

A new vessel slowly drifted out of the shadow of the troop carrier and came into view. It was clearly a human vessel of some kind; the lack luster design a clear give away. The body of the ship was missing sections of itself, but rather than appearing as if it had been damaged in the battle it looked more as if the ship had not finished being built. Sections of the body were lacking armor showing a complex network of pipes and corridors. The hull was painted in a soft grey color that stood out sharply among the ever shifting gas cloud surrounding it. Rows of gun ports ran along the sides, their openings revealing nothing of the pitch black interior giving them the appearance of small gaping mouths ready to consume Melp and his ship.

The more Melp looked at the ship the more he felt something was just wrong with it. Galem must have felt something as well as he pulled up the virtual display and began interacting with it.

“Not sure what that thing is but it’s not listed in the records.” He said as he closed the display and leaned over the controls to get a better view of it. The tingling feeling at the bottom of Melp’s three stomachs was starting to grow stronger as his uneasiness did not subside.

“What does that mean?”

“It means that there’s no record of that ship variant from the entire war with humanity on any recorded file.” He popped open the virtual display again and flicked it over so it was hovering in front of Melp to view while he fiddled with the controls again. “Which means it’s worth a whole lot more than anything here.”

“How do you figure that?” As a response to Melp’s question he waved his arm across the scattered wrecks.

“Out of all the ships here the human ones are all clustered around that one as if they meant to protect it.” Galem said as he began moving the ship closer to the strange human ship.

“They could have bugged out and ran, but instead they all fought and died just to protect that thing; which means something on it must’ve been worth defending.”

Melp knew what Galem had some merit, but he still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was still very wrong; but before he could raise his concerns though a loud shudder ran through the scavenger ship.

“Get your suit on,” Galem said as he exited out of the cockpit, “let’s go find us some treasure.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If the exterior of the ship had uneased Melp, the interior down right terrified him.

No sooner had the airlock door opened the two scavengers leaped back in shock. Standing at the entrance was a humanoid looking figure. Galem screamed and grabbed hold of a nearby cutting tool and swung it at the figure before Melp could even say anything.

A shower of sparks eradiated off the figure’s body as the plasma torch cut into it, all the while Galem was continuing to scream, and cut a decent size hole through the beings torso.

“Shut it!” Melp shouted at Galem, forcing the scared halfwit to calm down some while Melp inched closer and retrieved the still burning plasma torch. The figure had not moved and inch even as the torch had melted away his exterior and as Melp moved closer still he noticed why.

“It’s an automated drone you idiot.”

Melp motioned him forward and the two of them inspected the machine.

It was human shaped but it was entirely of metal and wires, a mindless drone used for menial tasks such as inventory handling or maintenance. It wore a human uniform for some reason which clashed with its blank reflective visor face.

“Why’s it standing here?” Galem asked as he nervously tapped the drone. The touch pushed it off the ground and the dead drone slowly lifted off the ground in the zero-g environment and floated back into the ship, bouncing off the back wall before continuing to silently float away.

“Maybe it’s here to greet us?” Melp chuckled as he activated his mag locks and his feet latched on to the metallic floor. Galem followed suit and the two began entering the derelict ship.

“Can’t be,” Galem began as they reached the airlock secondary doors and began slowly opening them, “these tin cans would run out of power in a day and it’s been years since this tussle went down.”

With several loud grunts as the two strained with the manual release the inner airlock to the human ship finally cracked open. The two entered slowly, not knowing what to expect, and took stock of their surroundings.

They entered a long hallway that seemed to stretch out far into the distance passed the reach of their head lamps. Melp could see side corridors scattered every few dozen feet no doubt leading to other sections of the ship, but likewise they too were pitch black.

Something about Melp’s comment made him pull out his data scroll and do a quick scan. The device beeped rapidly as the scan commenced before ending with a loud “DING” and displaying a waterfall of information.

Melp read the data as the two continued to hover by the airlock entrance.

“It says here that somethings still giving off a power signature here.” Melp commented as he ran he scan again to be sure.

“Give it here,” Galem said as he turned to Melp with his hand outstretched, “you must be reading it-“

When Galem didn’t finish his sentence Melp looked up and saw something akin to a mixture of fear and surprise on his face. He was staring at something over his shoulder so Melp slowly turned in place , his magnetic feet latching heavily to the decking with each step like two magnets smashing together.

When he finally turned around he let out a yelp of surprise and tried to jump back, but his magnetic feet kept him firmly locked to the floor leaving him in an almost comical off balance state.

Standing directly behind him was another of the drones, this one dressed in what appeared to be some sort of security uniform even including an empty weapon holster at his side.

Neither of the scavengers knew how the thing got there as it most certainly hadn’t been standing there a moment ago. Before either of them could respond the drone’s visor lit up and displayed a pixelated face. The visor was damaged with a deep crack running the length of it making the display flicker in and out on half the screen giving it an eerily ghost like visage.

“The captain,” the drone began as it stepped to one side of the hallway and extended a hand into the darkness, “requests your presence on the bridge.”

#HUMANS ARE WEIRD #humans are insane #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #scifi #story

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cerastes · 3 years

Note

What do you make of Specter's operator record? Personally I liked it, but that's with the knowledge we're getting more Specter backstory soon.

Ok, so! Just as you pointed out, I went into it with the knowledge that:

We're getting Under TIDES soon.

Specter gets a second Operator Record later, some time after Under TIDES.

And with that in mind, I'm fine with it, but if I was a CN player and all we got was Specter's first Operator Record without any knowledge of the future, I would be pretty pissed, lmao. In fact, CN players were pretty pissed, the reception to her Operator Record was pretty bad. Specter is a popular character both in terms of gameplay and character (the latter more so in China, she gets a steady influx of cosplayers, fanart and fanfic in Weibo, Lofter, and such). It's believed that Hypergryph announced her second Operator Record because of this backlash.

Now, with the context and preamble on the table, I want to say: Great idea, not so great execution. Overall, I enjoyed it, but again, that's only with knowledge of the future. Despite that, I sincerely praise Hypergryph for actually having the balls to try a narrative approach like this one on a mobile game. The thing is, just because an idea is interesting doesn't mean it's good, and I think a lot of aspiring writers and designers need to hammer that in their head, especially armchair game designers that like to theorize oh so much about how cool it would be to have a game that did this or that. I don't care if it's cool or not, is it enjoyable to experience?

And that's just the thing with Specter's Operator Record: It felt lackluster in many regards. The approach was definitely interesting, bold, I'd even say, but that doesn't really matter too much if the result isn't a success, now, does it? Let's immediately address the Originium Slug in the room: Specter doesn't even appear in it. Now, is that an interesting approach to an Operator Record? Sure! Is it good? I don't really think so, especially with a character that fans really have been clamoring to see more of in actual cutscenes, given the wealth of clues they've put regarding Specter in other places:

Blue Poison' Files -> We learn that Blue Poison knew Specter personally before her descent to madness, addressing her with her real name.

Skadi's Dialogue -> Skadi implies that Specter was on a very important mission, and more or less confirms she knew her before she went crazy.

Several pieces of official art -> Specter is associated with the phrase "All seas are singing your name".

Ceobe's Fungimist -> It's implied the cursed painting depicting the end times is the same confusing painting Specter painted in her Token.

Rosmontis' Files -> It's confirmed that Specter's spinal cord is filed to the brim with originium fluid, and the Medical Team theorizes that, just like Rosmontis, her infection was artificially induced. It also confirms that they have no idea how Specter is able to fight such an insanely high level of infection.

So, see, this has been a character that fans have really been clamoring to see again. The only cutscene Specter's ever been is the secret cutscene of Grani and the Knight's Treasure AKA the very first event in the game. Understandably, after two years of the game existing, people were a bit miffed that once again we just get breadcrumbs and a non-participation 'appearance', to say the least, in what's supposed to be her day in the limelight.

Now, personally, I kind of get how they are handling her, and the Operator Records are a very faithful reflection of this: Specter is meant to be this mysterious force that we don't have clearance to know about, as Kal'tsit herself is the only one authorized to treat her or even enter her containment quarters. And, in this regard, I think the Records succeed:

It all starts innocently with Suzuran drawing Specter in a Secret Santa and then having to start deep diving to find out who the hell even IS Specter, because absolutely no one knows of her. Eventually, Suzuran lucks out by asking Meteorite, who did participate in a mission with Specter once, to which Suzuran immediately reacts: "Hey hold on, don't they send you on pretty dangerous missions all the time?", and Meteorite's answer is, "Yeah, and she's right at home there."

Now, this is really interesting because we, as Doctor, have some level of clearance: We know things about Specter and can even converse with her to a certain degree, because Doctor is a high authority in Rhodes Island, but the average Operator, like Suzuran, Aosta and Chiave, doesn't even know of her existence. She's one of Rhodes Island's well kept secrets, even within Rhodes Island. Even Meteorite, a veteran Sarkaz mercenary and a bombardment expert, only knows about Specter in a need-to-know basis (because they deployed once together). More telling is the fact that Meteorite doesn't think she'd get along with Specter, simply based on the fact that, just on that one operation, the level of violence and carnage brought upon by Specter unnerved even her, a Kazdel Sarkaz veteran. Well, to be precise, it's not the sheer level of destruction that Specter is capable of that unnerved Meteorite, it's the fact that she does it all seemingly without a care in the world, expressionless, soundless, simply following orders to the letter without showing or taking in a single emotion. To paraphrase Meteorite, "someone that can unleash such destruction and violence upon others so easily, and that can then just not mind it in the slightest, has something wrong and concerning going on with them, no doubt".

Next up, we also learn that Folinic has very restricted, also on a need-to-know basis access to Specter. Keep in mind that Folinic is extremely competent and not at all a stranger to danger: She handles Phantom. So this is a huge hint: There's perhaps more to the secrecy regarding Specter than just her being a dangerous, unstable element. Folinic could reasonably handle Specter professionally, but it's not about whether she can or not, it's about information, and this brings us back to Grani and the Knight's Treasure: Kal'tsit makes it clear to Skadi that Specter is, as a whole, inaccessible to everyone but her, that only she has clearance to access Specter's quarters. Keep in mind that Skadi does not operate in the same conditions, despite also being an Abyssal Hunter. In fact, it's well known that Skadi is infamous among other Operators for being unreasonable and obstructive in operations, as well as unapproachable outside of them (unless you are Grani, who managed to successfully befriend Skadi and vouches for her). There's things about Specter that are so sensitive, so important, that Kal'tsit can't risk them getting out, and even using her as an Operator is something reserved for very dangerous operations. Not even Warfarin, senior staff and Operator that's been with Rhodes Island for a very long time, has full access to Specter, but she clearly knows the importance of keeping her under curtains, given she immediately diffused the Folinic-Suzuran situation by coming up with a compromise on the spot.

There's another interesting contrast between Files and the Operator Record: Meteorite describes Specter as "dead silent". Mind you, we knew from before, thanks to Specter's Files, that the shark is completely silent in battle, but we also do know that she incoherently rambles quite a lot. Folinic sheds some light onto this, explaining that Specter intentionally stays silent most of the time so as to not say anything that could be misunderstood when around others. When she's in a more private setting, however, she does let loose with the insane talk. This is confirmation of something that had been hinted at before: Even though she's insane, there's a fervent part of her clinging onto sanity for dear life with bloodied, splintered fingers, and it manifests itself in how she'll never harm an ally, and how Specter is, to a certain degree, aware of how far gone she is, and thus keeps her mouth shut around others that aren't Doctor or Kal'tsit, so as to not spook them out or accidentally threaten them with her insane rambling.

Then, at the very end, after Suzuran managed to get her present to her, Specter does in fact deliver a thank you present back to Suzuran: A music box, consistent with Specter's love for the arts. Of course, the gift might have been chosen by a proxy of hers (Skadi or Blue Poison, both known to also enjoy music), but the message is all the same: Specter clearly appreciated the gift, and was mentioned to see an improvement in her condition after receiving the doll Suzuran gave her.

So, in paper? All of this? I love it. Of course I do, she's my favorite character, and it was such a bold way to present her Record, too, I respect them trying out new things, it managed to capture the essence of "the mysterious, terrifying fighting machine Operator they don't want us to know about that's actually a pretty sweet and decent person, just going through some really hard stuff" that they've been going for with Specter, it's just, I can also understand (and agree with) fans because... It's been two years, bwahaha, let us see her again, you know? It's her Operator Record, we've gotten some VERY good insights into the lives and days of other Operators through those, like with Angelina's or Kroos'! Of course we also wanted something like that, bwahaha.

What I would've loved, and what I think would've made it all better with fans, is if the final scene had Specter actually show up in Suzuran's room like the cryptid she is, with Suzuran noting the security door had just sort of been casually pried open, Specter's perpetual smile on her face as she's holding her thank you gift before Warfarin and Folinic just sort of storm into the room like "DUDE, WE SAID YOU CAN'T--", she thanks Suzuran wordlessly, gently hands her the music box, and then she calmly turns back and walks back to her confinement quarters.

But, yeah, I've gone on for long enough. I appreciate it overall, knowing what's coming, and I appreciate the idea, I just think they could've handled it better, but the whole essence and message of it, I think lands pretty nicely.

#beta elekid #long post #arknights #specter

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drarrily-we-row-along · 3 years

Text

Day 60: Heart

Harry would never be quite certain of why it happened the way it did. One minute he and Ginny were sitting at dinner and he was listening to her talk about Quidditch practice that afternoon and the next minute the words, “Are you happy, Gin?” were tumbling out of his mouth.

“What?” she asked with a laugh as she flicked her long hair over her shoulder. “Yes, of course I am. We’re shaping up to have a great season and even if we weren’t, I love my job-”

"With me," Harry interrupted. "Are you happy with me?"

She stared at him for a long moment, "What do you mean?"

"It's just-" Harry broke off, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck, "I don't know. Do you even like me?"

"Harry," she said softly, reaching across the table and laying her hand over his, "What in Merlin's name has gotten into you? Of course I like you."

"What do you like about me?"

She drew back and tilted her head consideringly at him, "I like that you're..." she trailed off. "I like you, Harry," she said with a huff. "I like that you're kind and that you're a good listener. I like that you want to protect people. I like that you're loyal."

"You're describing a golden retriever, Gin," he said, pushing his glasses up so that he could rub wearily over his eyes.

"Harry-" she started sounding a hint defensive.

"What are we doing?" he asked, letting his glasses drop down so that he could look at the woman he'd been engaged to for almost a year without planning a single thing about their wedding and he wondered how he hadn't seen it before. "We don't even talk to each other."

(Read more below the cut)

“We talk to each other!” she said before casting a stronger muffling charm around their table to stop any prying ears from overhearing.

“About work,” Harry replied. “About quidditch, about hunting down criminals; about playbooks and rule-books. I’m away half the time for cases and you’re away the other half for games.”

"So this is my fault?" she asked, her cheeks flushing telltale red with anger.

“No!” Harry said quickly, resting his hand over Ginny’s. “Godric, no. I’m not-” he paused searching for the words. “I’m not mad, I’m not hurt, I don’t feel like you’ve abandoned me-”

"Well good," she huffed.

"But I should," Harry finished. "And you should!" he hastened to add.

"I don't understand. What are you trying to say?"

He sighed, “I don’t know. Merlin, I don’t know. It’s just we don’t talk, not about the things that matter. And it feels like I live alone when I come home because the house is almost always empty and I’m sure it must feel the same to you. And I love you, Gin, of course I do, but sometimes it feels like there’s supposed to be more.” He shook his head, “Does this make any sense?”

Ginny was quiet for a long moment. “Maybe,” she said, a touch helplessly, “What do you want me to do?”

“Nothing,” he said. “I’m not trying to change you or make you change your life. I just,” he swallowed and looked down at the table, picking at the stain his pasta sauce had made on the table cloth with his thumbnail. “Sometimes I feel like we didn’t give ourselves a fair chance.”

"A fair chance at what?" she asked.

“I mean, what choice did we have?” he asked, anger and bitterness welling up within him. “After the war? Everyone just expected us to end up together and you were comfortable and you were safe,” he confessed. “And I couldn’t,” he took a sharp breath, trying to quell the unreasonable panic. “I couldn’t even think, then. I’d felt so alone, so hopeless, and so many people had died. And you,” he shook his head, “You were like coming up for air. We never talked about the war, we never talked about the way we felt, never had to work through grief with words. I buried myself in you and I thought it was enough.”

"We can talk about the war," she said. "If that's what you want, what you need, I can listen."

"It's not that," he said, shaking his head. He sighed, "I'm making a mess aren't I?"

"A bit," she said, her tone teasing, and gentle, and familiar and Harry ached all over.

"Do I make your heart feel like it's going to beat out of your chest, Ginny?"

"Well, when I was younger, I suppose," she said with a shrug. "But that doesn't last, Harry. Not for anyone."

“It did for your mum and dad,” Harry said. “Your dad said something to me last night when we were putting away the dishes after dessert. Your mum had come through, fussing about something or another with one of the grandkids and when she left he said, ‘forty years and she still makes my heart beat a little quicker when she comes into a room.’ And I just-” Harry broke off. “I want that for us, Gin.”

She was quiet for a long moment, "So do I."

Harry looked up at her.

"You're right," she said with a little shrug, "I've been so in love with the idea of you that I've just been filling you in with that."

Harry took her hand, “I’m leaving,” he said softly. “I’m moving out and I’m ending it. I just,” he shakes his head, “I wanted to be a part of your family so badly. Not that I proposed to you to that end or anything, it’s just in reflecting on it that I’ve realized-”

“Oh, Harry,” she said, leaning across the table and hugging him fiercely. “You’re a part of our family whether you marry in or not. Don’t be daft.” She sat back in her seat and wiped her eyes, “Mum loves you as much as any of her other children and definitely more than Percy.”

Harry let out a choked laugh and shook his head.

“Is there someone else?” she asked, then. And somehow she didn’t sound suspicious or mad, just genuinely curious.

“Maybe?” Harry said before shaking his head, “I don’t know. I didn’t let myself imagine it.” He looked up at her, “I would never have cheated on you.”

“I know,” Ginny said matter-of-factly. “I would have hexed your bollocks off and you know it.”

He laughed, "No doubt."

"So who is it?"

Harry rubbed the back of his neck uncertainly, “I think I’m bi,” he blurted, a deep flush warming his cheeks.

Ginny laughed, "Well I've known that for ages."

"You have?"

“Sure,” she said with a shrug. “You aren’t the ogling type but I can tell when you’re subconsciously interested in someone and 60% of the time it’s a bloke.”

He leaned back in his chair, "How long?" he asked.

"I don't know," she said with a shrug, "third or fourth year, maybe?"

Harry spluttered, choking on his saliva and coughing. “Fourth year?”

“Why?” Ginny asked, “When did you realize?”

"Last week!"

She nodded, "It's because you were raised by muggles."

"What?"

She lifted one shoulder, “Wizards just aren’t as conventional as muggles so people raised by muggles are generally slower on the uptake, and you... well, you’re you, so let’s just be glad you figured it out on your own at all.”

"I wasn't trying to lead you on."

She smiled at him, a soft gentle thing born of familiarity and love. "I know."

"I do love you, you know."

“I love you, too, but maybe not like I should to marry you,” she said wistfully. “It just always seemed like this was where we were supposed to end up. Married, two and a half kids, a house with a big back garden, happily ever after.”

Harry nodded, “I know what you mean. But we deserve more than that, don’t we?” He covered her hand with his, “I want you to be incandescently happy, Gin. I want you to feel that pitter-patter in your heart every time you look at the person you’re going to spend the rest of your life with. You deserve that”

“You do too, Harry.” She laughed, “Merlin knows that if there is anyone that deserves every happiness in the world, it’s you.” They clinked their glasses together and both drank, “So who is it?”

He shook his head, “No one. And even if it was someone, I’m sure he doesn’t feel the same.”

"It's bloody Malfoy, isn't it?"

"What?" Harry asked, startled, "No. Why would you even-"

“I knew it,” she said, shaking her head fondly. “I knew the minute that you told me that they paired the two of you in the auror department that you were either going to kill each other or end up fucking.”

"We're not fucking!" Harry said, looking around quickly to make sure that no one had heard her, even though the charm was still firmly in place around their table.

"Not yet," she replied with a wicked grin.

"He doesn't even like me."

“Right,” Ginny replied sarcastically before finishing her drink. “Well, I’m off. I have practice in the morning.” She leaned in and pecked him on the cheek. “You’re telling mum, by the way.”

“What? Why?” then before she could say anything else he said, “Fine, but you’re telling Ron.”

She made a face, "I think that's worse."

"I know it is," he replied smugly.

"Fine, but I'm telling him you're in love with the ferret, then."

"I'll trade you," he offered.

"Done."

"You're evil."

"I love you, too," she said with a wink.

“I’ll stay at a hotel tonight. I’ll swing by tomorrow to get my stuff, but you should keep the flat. I never really liked it that well anyway.”

"Are you sure?"

He nodded, "Completely."

"You should tell him," she said.

"Not bloody likely."

--------------

And yet, Harry still somehow found himself standing outside of Draco Malfoy's muggle flat, rapping sharply at the door.

Draco appeared a few moments later, wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt, his long hair braided loosely, the glasses he wore at night (because vision charms gave him a headache by the end of the day) perched on his nose. "Potter," he said in surprise, looking past him and into the hallway, "Did I miss a patronus? Is it work? Is everything-"

"I broke up with Ginny," Harry blurted.

Draco froze, mouth comically open before he seemed to gather himself, "I'm sorry," he said. "Do you want to come in?"

"You make my heart beat faster," Harry said. "You challenge me, and engage me, you make me feel alive. You are the person I look forward to seeing every single day," he confessed. "I want to tell you everything and I want to hear every thought that passes through your head."

"Potter, what," he spluttered.

"What I'm trying to say," Harry said, exhaling roughly, "Is that Ginny is lovely and I love her but not the way I should to marry her," he said, borrowing Ginny's words. "And she agrees with me," he added hastily.

"I don't understand what you're saying."

"I'm saying that I'm in love with you," Harry said, "and I'm tired of being too afraid and complacent to do anything about it. And you don't have to feel the sa-"

He was cut off by Draco yanking him in by the lapels of his jacket and kissing him, hard and desperate. Harry wrapped his arms around Draco, pulling his body in flush against his own. His heart leapt inside of his ribs, thumping hard enough that he was sure Draco would be able to feel it where their chests were pressed together. He kissed him and kissed him, learning the feel of his mouth and the curl of his body against him.

"I feel the same," Draco whispered eventually after he'd pulled back, when Harry was dizzy with joy (and possibly oxygen deprivation).

"Can I come in?" he asked nuzzling Draco's cheek.

Draco shook his head, "I need to know this is real."

"It's real," Harry said quickly.

"Then prove it, prove that it's not just about you not wanting to be alone, that it isn't just infatuation that will fade." Draco shook his head, "Because I cannot let you into my flat until I know that you will want to stay there forever. I would never get over the heartbreak."

"Okay," Harry said. "I'll prove it to you." He pressed one more kiss to Draco's soft lips, "I'll prove it to you every day until you believe me."

And he did.

------------------

Day 59: Ring | Day 61: Hurt

#100 drarry drabbles in 100 days #drarry #getting together #drarry drabbles #drarry ficlets #we stan supportive ginny #I can't believe we're at 60 days already!#this one got away from me #love confessions

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yandere-sins · 3 years

Note

hi hi!! I was wondering if I can get some poly yandere Daichi and Suga from haikyuu with a fem!reader pls! Maybe something where they’re done with her trying to escape and what they do to make her stay? Thank you<3

Oooooh, yesssssssss!!! Thanks for requesting!

»»———————— ♡ ————————««

“Leave her be,” Daichi’s faint voice revealed the exhaustion but also the relief he was feeling. Suga’s steps made the floor creak beneath him, and you knew he was pacing up and down in front of the door, thinking of what to do. With you barricading yourself in, neither of them wanted to risk hurting you, knowing you sat in front of the wood, and if they broke it down, they’d clash with you inevitably.

“Just... how could she? What did we do wrong?” Koushi churned out from gritted teeth, and you could imagine he was biting his nail in frustration as he prowled the living room. “You know what we did,” Daichi sighed, the leather of the couch squeaking as he moved, probably laying down.

“But...” Suga croaked, frustrated, a long sigh eventually falling off his lips. Subconsciously, you had listened to their words, studied their movements just like you had before. For months now, you had practiced recognizing sounds like how the floorboards ached or how the breathing of your captors echoed in your bedroom at night. It had all been so you could escape. Run away from this nightmare you were trapped in, a situation you would never have expected to be possible aside from in books.

Unfortunately, you were the living proof that these scenarios didn’t only happen in fiction.

Of all people, how could you have known not to trust these two charismatic idiots you’ve been hanging out lots for months now. At first, it had just been a study group, something so minor. But soon, they had invited you to hang out with them and their club, and naive as you were, you believed that you three were really good friends, going to every one of their games and talking openly about your life with them. Too openly.

So openly that one day, they didn’t want to let you go anymore.

It was scary. They were scary. How come that those two loveable guys you grew so familiar with turned out to be a menace to this world - at least, your world? What had YOU done to deserve their treatment of you? That they kept you from something they only ever imagined happening? Maybe you had been a little depressed back then, but that wasn’t a reason to keep you locked in their apartment, right? You had trusted them back when they asked you to stay the night because it was so late. How could they betray you so much?

A small squeal escaped you as you withdrew more into yourself, the doorknob to the room twisting and turning again, gently rattling. It was slow at first, then it became increasingly frustrated and demanding. “Please open the door,” Suga meekly whined. It felt like he stood right behind you when he spoke, and it gave you the shivers. “We can talk about it. We can talk about anything! You know we’re always here for you!”

Yes, but you didn’t want them to anymore

“We love you, [Name]! We want to help you!”

They did. They did, and that was the problem; they loved you too much.

Every second, every breath that those two made, you knew your situation was getting worse. You had slipped from their fingers before; they were just as scared as you were, though for different reasons. Sugawara had been near frantic when they finally found you, breaking down in the next best alleyway with you, choking back the tears of relief that they caught up with you. All while, Sawamura had done nothing but blocking the view from the main street to you until his partner was ready to depart. You thought to see him relax a little as he took deep breaths, hugging both of you tightly in his embrace, but he was the driving force that urged you back to his apartment.

You should have fought back then and there, called for help! But the words were stuck in your throat, unable to leave you as you worked through the shock of being found. You thought you had hidden so well and even gotten far enough to consider it safe. Just how? How had they found you?

“Please!” A loud thump echoed through the bedroom as Suga punched the door with his fist, and you gulped, cupping your ears with your hands, wishing for him to stop. You didn’t want any of it anymore! You just wanted to go home! Biting your lip, you took a few deep breaths. Yes, you had run and hid in this room as the first thing when they pushed you through the entrance door. Yes, you wanted to stay here until they left you alone.

But Sugawara was getting impatient. Worry was fueling and frustration controlling him, and though he wasn’t the man you came to know, you thought you understood him a little better by now. No matter how often Daichi would tell him to stop, he wouldn’t. He never would.

They’d never leave you alone.

His mouth had just opened up, hand ready to drum against the door once more when you opened it. Only a gap at first, but through it, you could see their surprised and flabbergasted expressions, Daichi jumping up from the couch but making no move more than that. Too afraid you’d get scared again and close the door in their face.

“Stop...” you whispered. “Just stop, please. Go away!”

“Oh, [Name]...”

As if your words had no meaning, as if they weren’t true to what you were feeling, Suga didn’t hesitate to push the door out of the way to you. You were back in his embrace, shivering and near tears as he pulled you tightly against him and you face into his shoulder. The embrace of a protector, of a lover. But to you, it was nothing more, nothing less than the torture of a madman.

Just as much was the additional hand you felt against your arm. A warm palm rubbing over your skin, holding you. “We’re not angry,” Daichi assured you, but you had doubts about his truthfulness. “Just let us know how we can make it better!” Suga added, his arm becoming a painful presence in your back, fingers digging into your body as if you were butter and not a being out of flesh and bone.

Was there even one thing that could make it better? Was there just one thing they could have said that would improve this situation? “Let me go,” you whispered, pretty sure only Suga could hear your faint voice in his ear.

“No,” he sighed, almost pleasurable so. As if it made him happy that your heart shattered in your chest, the drumming of it being a declaration of breaking to you. “We love you--” he started, turning his face slightly to kiss your temple tenderly, his hand on the back of your head blocking any way of escape.

“--so we can’t do that,” Daichi finished for him, and you risked looking up from Koushi’s shoulder to face the man. His eyes showed the sweet sight of your disheveled form in your reflection and the admiration both of them had for you when they looked at you. But as he stood there in the door, it was almost like he was saying--

“Never,” Suga sighed. “You can never leave us, do you understand?”

Pushing you away from him by your shoulder, you met Suga’s loving gaze, but beneath the shine in his eyes, the malice hid. The knowledge that this was wrong, but it was all he desired, and the same desire was eating him up alive. You didn’t want to know what happened with his sanity if by now you could see the madness by a mere glance into his face.

“[Name]?” he urged, his fingers digging into your shoulders, and even a helpless glance at Daichi didn’t help you out of this dilemma, for he stood in the doorway unyielding, his lips slowly but surely curling into a reassuring smile. For a moment, you wished they had been angry. Screamed at you, or threatened you, because you had to admit that their silence and care were much scarier now that you knew how the two of them really were. But what could you possibly do? When even running away as far as your legs would carry you didn’t work, what else was there you could do? You gulped before you answered, an exhausted, scared sound escaping your lips.

The two of them relaxed, exchanging a meaningful glance between them before they pushed you further back into the bedroom, and you began to pray for the morning to come soon.

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entertainment · 4 years

Photo

Entertainment Spotlight: Bethany Antonia, Get Even

British actress Bethany Antonia plays Margot Rivers in Get Even, a new thriller series adapted from Gretchen McNeil’s Don’t Get Mad books. The show follows a group of girls who come together as DGM (Don’t Get Mad) to expose school bullies; when they realize they’re being framed for the murder of one of their targets, they set out to uncover the truth. Bethany spent her formative years in rural France, before returning to her hometown of Birmingham, UK, as a teen, and landing her first role in a short film of The Tempest for The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. She went on to land roles on TV in BBC’s Doctors and Channel 4’s Stath Lets Flats, and in the film Pin Cushion, which premiered at the 74th Venice International Film Festival. Bethany is an advocate for social justice issues such as the Black Lives Matter movement, LGBTQIA+ rights, veganism, wildlife conservation, and sustainable living practices.

What kind of research did you do for the role of Margot? Had you read the books before taking the role?

I read both of the books! I read them once after my first callback for the show, and then again while we were filming. I absolutely love the books. There’s something so special about doing a series that’s based on a book and flying through trying to find out what’s going to happen to your character. Margot is also the only American in a British school, so I spent a lot of time thinking about her background and trying to piece together what her story was before we meet her as part of DGM.

Margot is described as shy, but she’s also the brains behind a group that seeks to stop bullying. What drew you to the role?

I got attached to Margot right off the back of reading the audition sides. Her character is everything I wished I’d gotten to see more of when I was younger. A young black girl who is shy, into gaming, and isn’t sassy or argumentative in a lead role? Sign me UP. I just adored the concept for the entire show. I loved the idea of these four teenage girls setting up a secret society in their school because straight away, I saw the bigger picture of what they were doing. It’s telling young girls to stand up for what they believe in and not to be afraid to take matters into their own hands despite living in a world that repeatedly tells them to do otherwise. It felt so empowering, and I was just so determined to be a part of it.

When you hear Black Excellence, what or who comes to mind?

Black Excellence for me is confidence. It’s power and resilience. It’s excelling in your particular area of the industry and leading by an example that others can follow. When I think of black excellence, I think of Michaela Coel, a woman who is completely changing the game in the industry right now. I have been a massive fan of hers since watching her first show, Chewing Gum, but I am so glad she is getting the global recognition she deserves off the back of I May Destroy You. It was one of the best pieces of television I have ever seen.

What role do you think film/tv/radio should have regarding social realities in Britain? What needs to change?

I think that every single form of media should be an accurate depiction of the world we live in. Any individual should be able to tune in at any given time and see themselves represented in some way, shape, or form. Anything less than that, and we have failed. We have been failing for a really long time in Britain. Tuning into the media has felt like an artist painting a blank canvas paint with little droplets of colour for effect for too long. We need to move away from the idea that the stories of white, straight, slim, able-bodied people are the only stories that need to be told, and start reflecting the realities of our country, which is so beautifully diverse.

How do you deal with a bad day, and how do you like to celebrate the good ones?

If I’m having a bad day, I like to do a complete reset: switch off from social media for a few hours, take a hot bath with a face mask or two, pamper myself, listen to a podcast or read a really good book, eat some of my favourite foods, and just take care of myself. Finding time to practice self-care for yourself is something I think is really important. So I do a complete brain reset and remind myself that tomorrow is a brand new day, and none of the day’s bad-day energy has to carry itself onto the next. I like to celebrate the good ones with my family and friends around me, making sure I’m really present and enjoying the moment, being grateful for whatever it is we’re celebrating.

Do you have any advice for young Black women looking to get into acting?

I’d love to get a whole room full of young Black women together and just tell them over and over again that they’re enough. This industry can feel impossible to break into for most up and coming actors, but for Black women, that’s especially true. It’s hard to envision yourself in a career that hasn’t been visible for you. Breaking down the door is only half of the battle. Once you’re in, there’s a million and one more challenges that come as a direct result of being a Black woman. I’d tell them to find confidence in themselves and their abilities, the kind of confidence that comes from within that nobody can take away from them, even if they have to fake it at first. I’d tell them to be proactive and take their careers into their own hands, to look into what they’re doing now and consider if it’s truly benefitting them for the kind of work they want to be doing. And finally, I would tell them to cling onto their love of acting with everything they have. Even if it feels like you’re not hitting the kind of goals you want to be hitting yet. Nobody can take your love of this craft away from you.

If you could choose any book that you’ve read to be adapted into film or tv, which book would you choose, and who would you play?

I read an amazing book recently called While I Was Sleeping by Dani Atkins, and I’ve not stopped thinking about it for weeks. It’s about this young girl named Maddie who wakes up from a coma thinking a few minutes have passed, but actually, six YEARS have passed. She was due to be married and have a baby, and she wakes up to find that her whole life has essentially happened without her while she’s been asleep. In my head, the whole book has already played out as a film over and over, with me as Maddie, ha! It could be so beautifully adapted.

Which song always manages to get you up in the morning?

“You Can Get It If You Really Want” by Desmond Decker. Every single time.

Thanks for taking the time, Bethany! Get Even is now streaming on Netflix.

Photo: Michael Shelford

#entertainment spotlight #blackexcellence365 #bethany antonia #get even

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themaribatpit · 3 years

Text

Jasonette July Day 10: Light

Written by: The Maribat Pit @jasonette-july-event Prompt: Light Rated: T A/N: This is just a fun silly story.

"Aren't we a little old for this?" Marinette wondered aloud, the three of them decided to move to Gotham city after they finished Lycée.

"We live in a world with superheroes, magic, and literal aliens, but you don't think there's anything spooky about Wayne Manor?" Alya cocked an eyebrow, Marinette shook her head.

"I hate to agree with Marinette," Chloe sighed, "but maybe getting in trouble with the local billionaire is probably not the first thing people do when they move to a new city".

"Hey, you're the one who said there was something off about them." Alya argued.

"I said one of them looked like his son who died a few years ago." Chloe reminded her. "Besides, when I met this person, he seemed bored by the whole thing. Probably counting the number of drinks he could down until it was over." "So you're just mad he didn't want to talk to you?" Alya joked.

"I think the only words he said to me were, 'do you have a light?' and nothing else." Chloe recalled. They both looked up to find that while they were bickering, Marinette was gone. "See, Marinette thought this whole thing was so stupid that she just walked away and left us here." Chloe scoffed. She would have been right, had Alya not seen Marinette climbing down the other side of the wall.

"What are you thinking?" Chloe hissed.

"Bring me back a souvenir" Alya called, before Chloe clamped her mouth shut with her hand.

Marinette looked around the old manor house, as she felt the crunch of gravel beneath her shoes. It was certainly the kind of place people thought of when they imagined a place that housed a literally bloodthirsty coven of vampires. As she came to a pair of large double doors, she looked back to see that Chloe and Alya had gone back to arguing. There was no turning back now, as she pushed open one of the heavy doors and let herself in.

She didn’t know how to feel when she found out that the big, grand, old manor house was also dark and empty. She also thought it was dark, but didn’t want to alert anyone by turning the lights on. Marinette saw there was a candle on the side table, probably used because it smelled nice more than anything. She picked up the candle and took a little whiff before lighting it with a small lighter she kept in her handbag. Gently and quietly, she decided to explore the grand old house. Maybe find something to prove to Alya and Chloe that she had been inside. Jason preferred to keep to himself in the library, Bruce and the others were away attending an event that he and Alfred were exempt from. It means that he got to sit by the window and immerse himself in yet another slow burn gothic novel. Most likely one involving a Byronic hero and the ingenue who is drawn to him like a moth to a flame. At the very least, it meant an afternoon where he wouldn’t be disturbed by Bruce, Dick, Replacement or Demon Spawn. His plan was cut short, however, when he heard the creak of the door to the library. Jason took one look and saw that it wasn’t Alfred. For one thing, this person looked more like a small young woman. Was she Replacement’s secretary? No. For one thing she was dressed in casual clothes, and secondly she was carrying a small candle in her hands. She carefully set it down on the library table, trying to keep it as far away from the other books as possible. Marinette set foot inside what looked like a library inside the house. She set the candle down on the library table, and was startled to find that there was, in fact, someone in this house. “What do you think you’re doing?” He asked, Marinette swallowed as she tried to think of an excuse. “I uh, I’m here because,” she stammered, the man staring down at her raised an eyebrow. As if waiting for whatever excuse she came up with and knowing full well it would be a lie. “I spent the night here, and got lost on my way out.” Marinette spluttered, if they were anything like Chloe described, at least one of them would be the type to bring girls back here. Though if Alya’s vampire theory was true, who’s to say that the girls who entered this house ever left. Still, she had to give it a try. “Alright then, with who?” he asked, there was a smirk on his face, as if to say “this was going to be good”. Marinette’s mind scrambled for a name that Chloe might have mentioned, “Tim?” she said. “Was that a question or an answer?” the man asked. “Little Timmy the usurper isn't one to bring girls in.” “How would you know?” she asked, “I mean he’s one of the youngest CEOs in Gotham City, never mind the world”. So that’s how she was going to play it. Jason was slightly disappointed, if she was going to lie about spending the night here she could at least make it sound believable. She wore a pink bunny rabbit hoodie and a pair of jeans with some pink flats. It was cute but not flashy enough to make her excuse believable. Besides, nothing and no one made their way in or out of Wayne Manor without Alfred knowing. “Well when you put it that way, why don't you tell me, what were you and Timmy doing last night?” Jason asked, the jig was up, he gave her points for creativity. If she answered anything besides “watch in horror as Tim drank his 10th espresso” it was game over. Instead she said nothing, because she didn’t do anything. “So why did you really come here?” he asked, smirking down at her. “Who sent you here? And this time, name someone who actually has a chance with a girl.” Jason joked. “No one, well,” Marinette stammered, she really didn’t want to throw Chloe and Alya under the bus. “One of my friends thought she saw you at a party, and thought you looked familiar. Another friend thought you were a vampire, for some reason, I don’t know and…” Marinette realised how silly this was all starting to sound. If she had any dignity left, she would run for the front door and consider moving to Metropolis and never show her face in Gotham City ever again. “You had me at ‘vampire’, so what, your friends want you to come back with a hickey?” Jason asked, the young woman’s face turned beet red. “N-no, not exactly, just proof that one of them is right or wrong, I guess.” Jason found this absolutely hilarious, she wasn’t entirely wrong. He just didn’t have the fangs or the shapeshifting powers. If someone could keep him in his next coffin by putting a rose stalk on it, that would be nice. If he was going to be legally dead, he might as well have some fun with it. Chloe and Alya were pacing the outside of the manor, worried that someone walking past would think that they looked suspicious. Moments later, they saw an elderly man hold the door open while Marinette skipped out the front door. Alya and Chloe watched in amazement as she waved a little polaroid photo in her hand. “Where were you?” Alya asked, “were you in the house or the pocket dimension?”. “It took me a while, but I managed to get you this,” she whipped out the photo for the both of them to see. In her hand was a polaroid of the boy that Chloe had met at the gala, only this time he was standing in front of a mirror with no reflection. Upon seeing the photo of the man without a reflection, Chloe felt faint, while Alya grabbed the photo for a closer look. “See, see? I was right”! she cheered. Chloe placed a hand on a nearby lamppost “This isn't something to be cheering about! We need to get out of here!” Marinette watched as they argued while keeping her real gift close to her chest, a little card that said “an invitation from a vampire to come back and visit sometime -J”. Marinette smiled as she pocketed the note, listening to her friends bicker all the way home.

#jasonettejuly2021 #jasonette #ml x dc #maribat

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wakaoujisenhime · 3 years

Note

May I please request some angst with Kise being busy with basketball and modelling career neglecting his s/o? Additionally his s/o thinks he's cheating on them and just a big misunderstanding. Thank you very much 😊❤️

A/N: Even though I am quite late, happy Valentine’s Day! This actually got longer than I planned it to be, but I hope you’ll like it nonetheless! (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

Tags: Kise x reader ✅ angst ✅ fluff ✅

━━━━☆ ━━━━☆ ━━━━☆

Misunderstanding - Kise x reader

If someone had told you that you’d become the Kise Ryouta’s girlfriend some time ago, then you wouldn’t have believed it.

Kise was a young face everyone would’ve recognized if they had seen it somewhere in public. His blond hair was partially at fault for that as well, but the main reason for his immense popularity was his side job as a young model for different fashion and makeup brands. On top of that, he had been a part of the legendary Generation of Miracles, a group of six young and talented basketball players who each had an extraordinary and never-seen-before skill that could turn every game around. He was very fond of this sport and wished to steadily improve himself at every possible opportunity so of course, it was a given that he’d continue his training even after middle school.

Thinking about this handsome man and all of his achievements made you wonder just how lucky you were for being able to call him your boyfriend. You still couldn’t wrap your head around the fact that the two of you went to the same school and were in the same grade, but never mind that, what surprised you the most was the moment he’d asked to meet you and then sheepishly confessed his interest in you and the wish to be by your side as your boyfriend. It was such a surreal situation that you couldn’t help but nod throughout the entirety of it.

The two of you didn’t know each other that well at first so the process of finding out everything possible about the other was quite fun and really made both of you forget about the stressful part of your daily lives. At first, you had expected that Kise was your typical playboy who’d just confess to anyone who met his preferences, but as time went on you actually saw past those prejudices of yours and were pleasantly surprised at how different he was than what you had imagined. He was a very caring, gentle, and nice guy who’d do anything to see you smile and hear you laugh or giggle. He made you feel like you were the only person in the entire world and that there was no one else he’d rather spent his time with than you. The surprises he prepared for you on special days such as Valentine’s Day or your own birthday were mind-blowing as well.

You of course made sure to always return that amount of love you’d received and his adorable reactions were the reason you felt like you’d fallen in love with him yet another time.

Everything was working out perfectly and the two of you were as happy as can be, but life, unfortunately, likes to ruin perfect moments like these...

The two of you were now third-years and Kise was slowly starting to think about his future plans, so he began taking on more modeling gigs during his free days, some of these even overlapped with the days on which you had planned a date. You were pretty understanding at first and even told him that you didn’t mind, but as these date reschedulings began occurring every single time it really made you sad. In fact, you were so sad that as soon as Kise mentioned having an upcoming free day you simply nodded and whispered a silent ‘I see.’

Nevertheless, you kept on visiting him during his basketball club’s training sessions and watched him steadily improve his performance with each passing day. His bright smile after every basket made your heart throb and a couple of weeks ago you would’ve interpreted it as a positive feeling but now? It simply pained you. Negative thoughts flooded your mind and is if that wasn’t enough, a group of his fangirls stormed the field moments after the referee had blown his whistle three times.

“Kise-kun, please look this way!!“

“Kise! Can you please sign my t-shirt?“

“C-Can I have your number please!“

Sights like these weren’t uncommon and you were used to ignoring them, knowing that Kise wouldn’t do anything that might upset you or his fans, but as of late situations such as these annoyed you. You sighed, stood up, and left the gym.

“(Y/N)! Wait up!“

At the sound of the familiar voice of your best friend, you obeyed his plea, turning back to the young man who was running up to you.

“Yukio! What’s wrong?”

He stopped right before you, greeting you with a small smile as he rubbed the back of his neck in slight discomfort.

“Is...Is something bothering you? Or more like...has everything been alright as of late? N-No that’s not it...Do you-”

“There’s no need to beat around the bush Yukio and you know it,” you say with a small smile as you gently bump your fist against his arm, “just tell me what’s been bugging you.”

He sighs in relief and you see how some tension leaves his shoulders as he asks you a rather surprising question: “I’ve noticed the tension between Kise and you, so tell me...what’s up with that? Do I need to step in and help you out with something?”

Yukio was quite perceptive, especially when it came to your and Kise’s relationship, he always made sure to keep up with your well-being since he knew how carried away your blond boyfriend could get. If it were any other occasion, you would’ve told your best friend what had bothered you so much, but now that you reflected on it, it seemed a rather meaningless reason for you to be upset over so you just shook your head lightly and brushed it off. Your counterpart on the other hand just squinted his eyes in suspicion but decided to let it go for now.

“Just make sure to tell him if something is worrying you, ok? Remember, communication is the key to every relationship.”

And with those wise words, he bid you farewell and jogged back to the gym...

“Hey...(Y/N)-cchi? Would you like to go on a date next Saturday?”

“..? Excuse me?”

The two of you looked into each other’s eyes with equally surprised expressions and not short after you both burst out laughing.

“I’m sorry Kise, I just didn’t expect you to invite me on a date, that’s all.“

Your boyfriend sat down next to you and took your hand in his own, gently caressing each of your fingers as he let his eyes roam around your facial features. Looking at him being that deeply lost in thought made you wonder just what was going through his mind. Usually, he’d try and avoid dating you in public or when it was still daytime because of the potential rumors and scandals it might start, so you couldn’t help but wonder just what brought this sudden change. With a rather sad-looking smile, he brought your hands to his lips and gently kissed your knuckles, his action causing your cheeks to redden ever so slightly.

“Hehe, sorry (Y/N)-cchi, it’s just...we haven’t been able to spend much time together and I need to tell you something important as well, so I thought that a date might be the best solution for this...”

Nothing he’d just said sounded good to you. Kise was rarely a person who’d organize something according to things he’d like to tell or discuss with you so the idea alone was a massive red flag for you. And yet, you couldn’t ignore the seriousness with which he’d approached you, so despite the uneasy feeling that was building up within you, you put on your best fake smile and nodded.

——

“Oh my god did you read today’s news?“

Stop it...

“I just can’t believe it and here I thought that he was a down-to-earth type of guy!“

But he is, I swear!

“You guys are exaggerating! He’s a playboy, you can see that from a mile away!“

N-No, you’re wrong!

“Did you guys actually know that these were actually some long-term fans of his from way back when he first debuted?“

So what...? I’m sure there must be some backstory to this...

“They could’ve at least picked a better and more hidden-away location than a love hotel right at the center of Shinjuku...“

Maybe they had a photo shoot around that area!

“Ugh, he makes me sick...and to think that I shared my book with him once.”

Please don’t say that...

“I feel sorry for his managers and teammates. Who knows what these poor souls have to go through because of this.“

T-That’s一

No matter how many corners you turned, stairs you climbed, or rooms you entered, everyone was talking about the same thing: Kise. The moment you had woken up, your phone was full of notifications, questions, and missed calls, but before you could even comprehend what was going on, one particular message had caught your attention.

♡ : I’m sorry (Y/N)-cchi but I won’t be coming to school today. This is all just a big misunderstanding...trust me

It was then that you had noticed the big headline of your phone’s news app:

MODEL KISE RYOUTA CAUGHT RED-HANDED! IS ONE NOT ENOUGH? Steamy adventures in front of Shinjuku’s most famous love hotel!

It had been such a massive slap to the face, that the entire morning was foggy to you, reality hit you the moment you had stepped on school grounds.

Gossip. Rumors. Lies. Disgust. Aggression. Madness. Sadness.

No matter how hard you tried to avoid any ill-meant word from your classmates, you just couldn’t escape. Your belief in the man whom you called your beloved, the one who promised you that you’d always be the one in his eyes, the same one who swore that this endeavor was nothing but a misunderstanding, was starting to waver.

Suddenly everything started to make sense.

His distant behavior towards you, the increasing amount of modeling gigs he took on, your surprise visits during his training that he’d loved so much went unnoticed and that important topic he wanted to discuss with you on your next date. Everything.

You felt how all those negative feelings you had accumulated during these past few months started to come forth. Just as you were on the verge of tears and wanted to do nothing but fall to your knees, scream and cry you came across Moriyama and Yukio.

“(Y/N)! There you are! How long do you think I’ve been looking for you?!”

The tall man alongside your best friend was quick to notice that you were quite distraught and immediately took a hold of his captain’s shoulder and squeezed it slightly. You truly appreciated that these two were looking for you and intended to calm you down or encourage you to think positively and rationally about this, but right now you couldn’t manage to listen to their kind and caring words, so you apologized, thanked them, and headed straight towards the rooftop, the place where Kise had confessed to you.

As if on cue, your phone began vibrating and as you looked at the screen you saw that the incoming call was from no other than the man who’d been on your mind since the early morning.

“K-Kise...?”

“(Y/N)-cchi! Thank god, you picked up! I’m sorry for the short and sinister message this morning, but I had to clear some things with my managers first bef-“

“So your image was once again more important, huh?”

“W-What...?”

Before you could stop yourself from saying something you’d regret later, your mouth was unfortunately quicker.

“Lately I hardly recognize you, Kise, it’s as if you’ve become an entirely different person. First, you confess your love to me all sheepishly, blushing from head to toe, then you treat me like I’m the center of the world and the only reason you live for, but as of late you’ve been prioritizing your work more than our joint time. I tried to be understanding, I really did, but if you asked me out just so that you could fulfill some kind of goal and boast to whoever with it, then I’m really the wrong person for this.”

Nothing but silence came from the other end of the line, so you took this as a sign to continue.

“Listen, Kise, I don’t need nor expect you to adore me as if I’m some kind of deity, but I at least would like to know what the backstory to today’s tabloid news meant...and I sincerely hope that you aren’t going to trot out some lame excuse because I wouldn’t be able to handle it.“

“...(Y/N)“

“I’ll see you this Saturday Kise.“ you whispered as you ended the call without waiting for his answer.

——

You looked at yourself in the mirror, dreading what this date would mean for your future with the blond young man. The entire week-long you had deliberately avoided him in order to keep your thoughts as rational as you could and not let them get influenced by neither your feelings for him nor the supporting words of your friends. It was hard to ignore the guilty and worried stares he sent your way and whenever you saw the vicious glares others gave him, it really tugged at your heartstrings, but somehow you managed to withstand any possible temptation.

During the bus drive to the city center, you once again looked at the screenshot you took of the article that had caused you so much despair over the past few days. The blurry photo showed a tall blond man who was without a doubt Kise, trapping some girl whose face was covered by pixels between himself and the wall of the love hotel while the second one was pulling on his dark blue jacket, the same one which you had given him as his last year’s birthday present. Judging by the image alone it did look like Kise and the two girls were on their way to the rather flashy establishment, but your boyfriend couldn’t quite hold himself back and decided to start on the fun beforehand.

Cheating, huh...?

You bit your lip and thought about it. A famous and perky guy like him already had a stable fangirl club that followed him at each step so him feeling tempted during your time as a couple wouldn’t have surprised you in the slightest and yet it pained you so much that you could’ve started crying right then and there in front of all the other people that were sitting in the bus with you.

The city was brimming with people left and right, exiting and entering shops and restaurants. Today should’ve marked a happy occasion since it was the first public date the two of you had ever planned while the streetlights were still off. You had agreed to meet right in front of a small cafe that was close to the station and wasn’t one of the popular hangout spots so that you could at least have some sense of privacy. Each step you took fueled your anxiety of what was about to come and no matter how many deep breaths you took, you just couldn’t calm your raging heart down.

You finally saw a blond head sticking out among the crowd and just as you were about to raise your hand and wave to him, you halted. Kise was apparently not alone and had come alongside yet another girl who was constantly clinging to his arm, trying to get him to move.

“What did I even expect...?”

The crowd before you started to disappear and the two of them finally came into full view, but so did you. His yellow eyes met with your glassy ones and you could immediately see how regret and sorrow distorted his already distressed face.

“(Y/N)-cchi, wait...i-it’s not what it looks like..!”

You felt something warm fall down your cheeks and without paying it any mind you simply turned around and began walking back where you came from. Kise’s desperate calls for you to wait up were ignored and whenever his voice seemed too close to you, you sped up but he was too persistent. Despite the dense crowd you constantly walked amongst he never lost track of you.

(Y/N)-cchi! Please wait!

It’s all a misunderstanding, I promise you!

Listen to me, please!

(Y/N)!

You were trying to isolate his desperate pleas to such an extent that you hadn’t noticed the park you had just walked in. There were barely any people who strolled around this small yet beautiful piece of nature. The thought of elderly people walking their pets here, children running around and couples occupying the benches made you imagine just what excellent spot this would’ve been for a proper first date...

The young man behind you had used the time you were lost in thoughts to close the distance between you, but as soon as had returned from your small daydream and noticed how close he was to you, your body involuntarily urged you to run. And you did.

N-No, wait...!

You were fully aware of what you were doing, and you felt terrible for it. Kise’s leg had been injured for quite some time and he was told to not overdo it, which meant that he had to renounce running for most of the time so that he had enough energy and leg power left for his basketball matches.

And yet why..?

Why was he running after you as if his life depended on it? As if it was the last point his team needed for victory? Why?

You stopped sprinting and swiftly turned around. The man who had been an arm’s reach from you didn’t expect your sudden halt and collided with you, but luckily he caught you just before you lost your footing and pulled you towards his heaving chest. His trembling arms wrapped around your body and tightened their grip.

“Finally...”

The way he hugged you made all the wonderful and sweet memories of your life with him came up, leaving you with no other option but to return his embrace with the same amount of love.

“Kise...are you crazy? Why did you start running after me with your injured leg?” you asked after a short while and even though your question was intended to sound like a lecture, it ended up having a worrisome tone instead.

“This small amount of pain is nothing compared to the pain I made you feel these past few weeks.”

A small smile adorned your lips, but at the same time, you had to continuously think about all the things that had happened in this week alone, causing your smile to vanish almost immediately. You wanted answers and you needed them now.

“Kise, please...I want you to-“

“Explain. Yes, I know.” he interrupted and slowly backed up, looking you directly into your eyes.

After he’d taken hold of your hands, he began by defusing the situation that had transpired some mere seconds ago. The girl that was tugging on him was apparently a fan of his who’d drunk one too many beers. She’d unintentionally run into him and had almost lost her balance, but as caring as he was he held onto her and that’s when she had found out his true identity. Kise tried to keep her as silent and calm as possible, but that was easier said than done. The moment you had arrived was when she had started pulling his clothes, pleading him to come to her house and sign all of her merch.

“So about that article...on that day we had a photo shooting in Shinjuku and I was asked to take a break so I wandered about and that’s when two girls came from the love hotel. I wasn’t disguised so they immediately recognized me and tried to ask me out and whatnot. They were so persistent that I told them about you...they thought I was lying and then...”

You saw his sudden change in demeanor, his jaw muscles had tensed up and his grip on your hands was harder than earlier. Kise was rarely mad at something or someone, but what you saw before you, that anger and unspoken hatred were a first for the normally cheerful young man.

“They began insulting you, saying how you were together with me just because of my looks and nothing more. How dare they talk you down to their level? Just who do they think they are?!”

You expected any random excuse but seeing him get so worked up for your sake made your heart ache and now that you knew the backstory, the pictures made more sense. Your lover explained that he’d lost his temper and had pushed the girl who’d trash-talked you against the wall, warning her to keep her mouth shut before he really lost it. Meanwhile, her friend had tried to get him away from her by pulling on his jacket, and apparently, that’s when one of the passersby shot the photo. He took a short break after telling you that and then out of nowhere he brought his face closer to your own.

“(Y/N)-cchi...that’s not all. Do you remember our phone call when you told me that I’ve changed?“ he asked and waited for your confirmation before continuing, “...well the reason I didn’t call you first and had to deal with my manager is that we considered making my relationship with you public.”

“Wh-What...?“

“I’ve had enough of people trying to flirt with me and not believing when I say that I’ve found the perfect partner already. You see...graduation is just a few months away and after that I wanted to concentrate more on our relationship, hoping that maybe you’d like to...to live together with me.“

If you weren’t shocked enough before then his proposal just know had given you the finishing blow. Your heart was beating so fast and so loud that you feared he could’ve heard it.

“Was...was this the reason you took on so many jobs?”

He noded in embarrassment. “I wouldn’t feel confident enough to propose such an idea when it seems so far away and unrealistic, so I wanted to gain some sense of stability and independence before I asked you.”

Kise continued his explanation, but you didn’t catch most of it since you were so lost in your thoughts. The man before you had taken so many overtime shifts, had sacrificed so many of your dates, had gotten himself in a scandal for your sake, and yet here you were doubting him and doing something so childish like running away from him. You bit your lower lip and jumped into his arms, silently apologizing to your lover for your presumptuous behavior. He simply returned your embrace and kissed your temple.

Sometimes, misunderstandings such as these do have their benefits...

#knb scenarios #kise x reader #kise ryota x reader #knb fluff #knb angst #━𝙺𝙽𝙱 #━𝙰𝙽𝙾𝙽'𝚂 𝙴𝙲𝙷𝙾

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didon · 3 years

Text

Rashta, Navier and the true villain of The Remarried Empress

Listen, I don’t like Rashta. I don’t think I really need to explain why as most people clearly don’t. I think that she’s using very underhanded techniques to get what she needs and more. Because we all need safety and she comes from a place and status where she clearly need reassurance and that’s understandable. I find her annoying though because of the way she act and how she manipulate people. That’s my opinion. Navier clearly isn’t the only one she has hurt though so we can maybe stop using a sexist term like “Mary Sue” to describe her. The same way we need to watch our language about Rashta.

Now, I do believe that most of the hate should go on the Emperor even though it won’t because fandom is always more willing to hate on a “handsome” man rather than on any woman no matter how beautiful they are. Especially if they uses that beauty like Rashta does which was very common and still is. Not only is he the one truly being an ass to his wife, but he could have easily had people teach Rashta how to behave from the get go. Instead, he enjoys her ignorance because it satisfy his idea that he is this great person that everybody would love if they met. He cannot understand why Navier hasn’t fallen for him, despite not loving her himself, and need someone to reassure him that he is the gift to humanity he was probably told he was a thousand times growing up. He’s the true villain because he hurts both of the women, uses them to get what he wants, etc. For those that have read to the right part, let’s remember what is divorce plan actually is and how ridiculous it is.

I don’t think though that people should blame Navier for being “cold” (not that I’m seeing it here but still). She’s a young woman who was raised with an immense amount of pressure on her and she was probably taught that every single one of her actions have consequences. They actually do because whoever she talks to can be seen as favored and therefore will probably boast about it. The clothes she wear have an influence, her hair, etc. She can’t even unburden herself on anybody because that would be seen as weakness and as the Emperess she’s not allowed to have any. She has “everything” but not really because she is alone and not allowed to truly want or need for anything. Heck, people would probably talk if she were to express anything because how dare she need/want for anything, her who already has everything. She’s not even allowed friends that don’t work for her per her husband driving them away. She’s a bird that’s locked in a cage at all time and yet isn’t allowed to sing because it would make the free birds outside cry. She didn’t choose her life either, she was forced into it by her family.

That wasn’t my point while starting this though. I wanted to ask since when did slavery = bad become a hot take? I get that this is fiction, etc. but what is fiction but a reflection of our world and our values. Yes there are places were men can have multiple wives and mistresses and the women can’t say anything about it, but that’s not the case in South Korea. We’re also not talking about adultery. We’re talking about the very fact that somebody can “own” another’s life and impose their will and desire onto them. No matter if it’s fantasy or anything like it, it’s never okay. I don’t know in which universe people live but seeing an abject crime against humanity done and go “but it’s fiction” isn’t a good reasoning. The same way pure racism isn’t okay because of “fiction” or abuse isn’t okay for the same reason. I get that Rashta isn’t the most pleasant character but still. Especially since we are told here that she might be paying for someone’s else crime. Imagine how ridiculous that is. Your ancestor stole a loaf of bread or flirted with the wrong woman and the leader of your country decided that generations after them must pay for them. I know we are told that only a true “horrible” crime result in slavery but that all depend on the leader and their view of what categorizes a horrible crime. For some historical leaders, being born was a crime. That’s not counting a mad leader deciding to make their enemies disappear by selling them into slavery. Does someone really deserve to be treated as less than human because they or their parents did not agree with the political leader?

Rashta is a victim of that and is a villain sure but at least we have actual reason for her doing what she does. She evolved from the naive and trustable person we met at first, but how can she not when she’s trust in a political world with no idea how to swim in it. She’s also very much aware that her origin make her less in everybody’s mind around her. Now, does everything she does is okay or the right course of action? Of course not it isn’t. She quickly loses her innocence and start playing the game just like everybody else but she doesn’t deserve hate for that. The same way she doesn’t deserve hate for trying to survive in a world of sharks. It’s not a question of not trusting the Emperor, which she is right to do by the way seeing how he’s treated his wife and how others are treated for doing less than she is, but a question of trying to come out of all of it with her head on her shoulders and enough to live on. Does she eventually get greedy? Maybe and in my actual opinion yes, but she didn’t start wanting to steal a husband and a kingdom from someone else. Men are constantly manipulating her and using her for their own wishes and she can’t turn toward any of the ladies either because she is very much aware of how precarious her situation is. Unlike Navier, she can’t rely on being raised for the role of mistress or even her losing her status causing a political problem. She’s a nobody being used by rich men as a plaything and trying to not come out as a loser. She might be going at it wrong, but she was never taught how to do it right and you have to remember all the men that are filling her with lies and mistrust. Because pretty much every single of her “schemes” have come from a man telling her a lie or giving her a bad advice.

What I think is very interesting in this webtoon is the duality of Rashta and Navier because in a way, they end up in similar situations. They are both women that have to survive court and nobles being faker than plastic while men are trying to use them for their own gains and who have nobody to truly be able to turn to. Eventually, Navier gains people like that, but the tragedy of Rashta is that she doesn’t. She might think she can trust some people, but none of the people around her truly have her best interest at heart. The best thing for her would have been for Navier to take her under her wing while Rashta refuses to be the Emperor’s mistress (I can never remember his name sorry). By having the very same position that grants her the “security” she so need and desire, Rashta put her best ally in an enemy position and that’s what’s going to be her downfall. She might be annoying and pushing it sometimes, but we know she will drown because she’s never been taught otherwise. That’s why the true villain will always have to be the Emperor because he’s not only the one who pitted the two women by taking one as a mistress while married to the other one, but he never took the time to truly help his mistress, expecting others and especially Navier to do so for him. He could have brought her back to the palace as a guest only and Navier would have probably taken Rashta under her wing like she does for many others, but by making her a rival to Navier, he destroyed any chances she had to be able to leave him and survive which I think was something he did deliberately. There’s no way he wouldn’t have known that this would be the actual ending. He wanted to keep Rashta bound to him until he was done with her otherwise he would have asked Navier to help set her up with housing and maybe even a job. Instead, he probably held her status and her gender against her and decided to use her beauty for himself.

The lesson of this story in my opinion isn’t that beautiful women shouldn’t be trusted or that you have to be pure of heart and your history a blank slate to be worthy or anything like that but instead a lesson for women on who to trust and that we are stronger together than separated. It’s also a very clear lesson on how appearances can be wrong and it asks us the reader to truly wonder what makes someone a villain. Does wanting to survive in a hostile world make you one? Does not wanting to let someone take what is yours and what you have worked for your entire life does? Or does wanting to use others for your advantage, control them and force them to need you make you a villain?

#the remarried empress #tw: slavery #cw: slavery #navier #rashta #emperor i can't remember #Rashta isn't being painted in a good light for sure #but she's not the true villain of the story #she's not the real antagonist here #she's just another one of his victims

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crossedvenom · 3 years

Note

if you want to could you write a small little love at first sight trope with bakugou, sero, and denki 😅😘 if you have time and all that ofc !

Yes Ofc I can🖤🖤 I got a little caried away writing these. They longer than expected.

ty for the request (人 ◕ω◕)

_______________________________________________

Bakugo was walking down the halls with his fists balled in his pockets. He was currently resisting the urge to hit something or someone. He doesn’t know why but ever since he woke up it felt like the world was trying to purposefully piss him off.

The hallway was mostly quiet apart from the occasional student passing by. Everyone seemed to be in the lunchroom. The silence did nothing to help the growing rage that was Bakugo. All the silence did was make him think about all that went wrong that day.

First, his alarm didn’t go off so he was late to class, Then “That damn Deku” had the highest test grade in the class for Mr. Cementosss’ idiotic Math test. Whenever Midoriya beat him at anything it was an instant way to sour his mood.

It felt like Kaminari and the rest of the bunch were more annoying than usual. They kept on bugging him about meeting this general studies student. He doesn’t know who they were and he doesn’t really care. But if he didn’t show up Racoon eyes would never let him hear the end of it.

So here he is walking to the general studies classroom with a pounding headache to meet up with everyone. He’s just going to drop in, cram his lunch down, and leave.

He slowly slid the door open but you guys were so rowdy and loud that you didn’t even notice him step in. He absentmindedly started looking for this mystery person and he almost immediately found them.

It’s cringey for him to even say this but the world almost seemed too slow. He felt his fists unclench and he couldn’t even hear the hammering in his head. He just stood there like a dope staring at you. You were laughing and messing around with the rest of the group.

There were a few rays of sunlight that seemed to leak past the barely open curtains and reflect off of your skin. Making it seem like you were glowing.

‘what was he mad about earlier?’ He can’t seem to remember.

I’m that moment to Bakugo he found something that seemed untouchable, you seemed untouchable. He wouldn’t know he was experiencing love for the first time. at least not yet.

He starts to walk towards you the group.

“Kachan!” Denki slaps him on the back as he walks past. Bakugo didn't even yell at him like he usually did when Denki used that stupid nickname on him he just sat down.

He didn’t listen when Mina was asking everyone if they wanted to go to the mall this weekend or when Denki was talking about new video game releases. He was just zoned in on you.

He’ll figure out why his hands suddenly get so sweaty when you’re around and why he has the sudden urge to impress you eventually.

And when he does it’s like a “Well Shi-“ kinda moment. He’ll love you in his own way. Insults and spicy food:)

——————————————————————————

“Man, what happened to the weather?” Sero stuck his hand out from under the bridge he was taking shelter under and into the pouring rain. “And it was such a beautiful day too..”

He decided that he had a long enough break. So he pushed some wet strands of hair back and put his helmet back on. It was his third month of becoming an official sidekick. He had graduated from Yuuei a few months prior and was finally out on the field known as the Taping hero ‘Cellophane’

Slinging around he was surveying the area but it seemed like he was on autopilot. He was just waiting for the time he could go back to the agency and dry off. His patrol ended in an hour or so.

he was pulled out of his trance when he heard giggling.

‘That's weird’ he thought and began to move in the direction where it came from

It wasn't a creepy laugh but he usually heard the silent curses of people trying to get out of the rain. So obviously when he heard this he had to investigate. That's when he came across you.

You were one of a kind for sure. While others seemed to curse at the sky or let the gloomy weather ruin their entire day you seemed to bring joy out of it. Wearing a big smile and absolutely soaked to the bone, you tilted your head back and stuck your tongue out trying to catch a raindrop in your mouth.

Sero’s eyes widened in amusement watching this adult do something so childlike. He started to take in your appearance. The wet strands of hair sticking to your face and the drenched clothes clinging to your body. He felt the chill of the rain leave his body. It was replaced with a sense of ease

He could have sat there all day if he hadn't noticed your now paranoid behavior you were looking around franticly like you were looking for something.

Little did he know you were actually looking for him. Not specifically but you had felt a pair of eyes on you and the feeling of being watched was not a comfortable one. You went to pick up your bag and head home.

Sero noticed you were about to leave, he didn't want you to leave

This was his sign to make a move and stop gawking, he at least needed to know your name. Just about the moment that he was about to swoop in and introduce himself, there was a distant ‘boom’

His head flung around and saw a large cloud of dust not too far from here. Police sirens could already be heard. He looked from you to the obvious sign of a villain attack.

He debated whether or not to head into the fight a little bit later. Surely there was plenty of other hero's to help. All he needed was a couple minutes to say “H-

He had a job to do he would worry about finding you later. Before he could talk himself out of it, he forced himself to drag himself towards the danger and away from you.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hours had passed and everything had finally settled down the villain was in custody and he had finished his report and could clock out. The villain had a water quirk and was using the stormy weather to his advantage.

But that wasn't important even though he was exhausted from a long day he had to go back to that park. A hope within told him that you had stayed there, that he still had a chance to introduce himself.

But by the time he had arrived at the park.

You were already long gone.

——————————————————————————

Denki finally turned off his consul and crawled into bed. He plugged his phone in and looked at the clock

2:34AM

Wow...he’s in bed earlier than last night!

He can’t help it though he met an online friend a couple months ago and ever since his sleep schedule hasn’t been the same. He’ll get on at 8 and say he’s going to go to bed before 11 but when he sees you join the party...A couple more minutes won’t hurt? But who is he trying to kid? The minutes turn into hours but it doesn’t feel like it. Not with you at least

He doesn’t even need to look at you to know that you’re someone special. You guys are best friends. He thinks about you in class, at lunch. Bakugos threatened to rip his lips off because he talks about you so much.

So he can’t help but smile and feel giddy when he recalls his earlier conversation with you.

“There’s a new Arcade opening up near my house and I wanted to go with some friends but they don’t exactly enjoy those kinda things” you spoke into your headset half asleep.

“Oh really? Funny cause there’s also a new Arcade opening up a couple blocks down from my school.” He’s half brain dead as well not putting much thought into it.

“Yeah, It’s a cheesy name like Austin’s Arcade. It apparently has like Go-Karts and Roller skating-“

“Oh the place that’s opening up near me is also called Austin’s....”

“.....”

“....”

If you guys weren’t awake before you sure are now.

“Holy crap! Wait you live near me! We should totally go together!”

“Yeah!”

Denki was smiling like an idiot after months of endless late-night talks and getting to know each other. He’s finally going to be able to see you.

——————————————————————————

He was walking down the street glancing up from his phone every now and then to make sure he didn’t run into anything. Many times he debated whether or not to turn back he was so nervous but he didn’t know why.

You were so easy to talk to and he was so comfortable around you so he didn’t get why the closer he got to the Arcade the faster his heart seemed to speed up. And why was he constantly checking his reflection in shop windows to make sure he looked alright. He’s never cared about these types of things before.

This was his last turn and then he would be able to see you. It's not like he hasn’t seen pictures of you but something about the real thing is different.

He quickly typed “here🕺” and sent it to and then put it into his pocket. He looked around for you and there he saw you, you were standing just outside the entrance cluelessly looking around for him in the busy crowd.

He tried to step forward to go talk to you but he just took a moment to take you in and admire the view. The light breeze was blowing and just barely moving your hair. It was the perfect day for this clear sky and warm weather that seemed to envelop him in a hug and it smelled like the many food carts and stands on the street. It was busy since it was opening day. But even with all these people, you seemed to stick out from the crowd to him.

But then you spotted him. Making eye contact, your (E/C) eyes seemed to take his breath away. The small smile that overtook your mouth when you saw him make Denki’s heart do flips. He was definitely blushing just barely though Denki knew how to keep it cool.

You picked up your bag and waved him over. He caught his breath and began to walk towards you. He had a smile on that could put All Might's signature smile to shame. He stepped in front of you

“Hi I’m Denki”

You giggled “it’s so weird not hearing your gamer tag”

And the day begins...

#bnha sero #mha imagines #mha #mha bakugo katsuki #bakugou x you #mha denki #denki x reader #sero x reader #denki kaminari #bakugo katuski x reader #fluff #bhna x you #sero x you #bakugo x reader

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dreamteamfanblog · 3 years

Text

The fact that even the Dream Smp Wiki acknowledges the founding of The Badlands as the festival without acknowledging the stream where Skeppy and Bad literally formed the Badlands (they even named it that stream) way before the festival. Which. Is a shame. Because I really like that stream. Bad's assertion that "The Only Important Side's Skeppy's Side", the way they giggled and reveled in their plans as they discussed how "Maybe the most amount of fun we can have is the chaotic kinda fun~", and I kinda got chills during that giddy "We play the sides against each other and take it all for ourselves!" speech. Like. Man. I remember getting so psyched over that stream and all-caps screaming about how cool it was.

So it's kinda sad to me that nobody seems to know about that stream. Like, it's nothing new, there were hardly any posts whatsoever about it when it happened and literally every time I mentioned that they were going on a villain arc I got multiple confused comments and questions. Then everyone seemed confused about whether Skeppy was even a member for the longest time and even when he was included it was "under the assumption that he's teamed with bad cause in what world aren't they teamed lol" rather than because Skeppy and Bad literally planned their little team together long before other members were even a thought in their minds, and it surely speaks to their characters, that Bad so easily proclaimed Skeppy's side the only one that mattered and slid his idea by Skeppy as an equal before he even thought of a plan, before he even thought of a name, something they did together.

And like, I just clicked on The Badlands wiki page for unrelated reasons, and even that page lists The Festival as the start of The Badlands and lists Bad, Ant, and Awesamdude as the founders even though Bad and Skeppy had formed their own little faction they called The Badlands with just the two of them long before the others entered because the two of them are all that matters to them, really, and in what world does Bad while in his right mind launch such an ambitious project without his Skeppy already by his side.

"The only faction that matters is the Skeppy faction"

The Badlands was their plan, their faction, created with so much giddiness and excitement by the two of them for the two of them, for each other, with the idea in mind that this was all that mattered, whatever else came from their little scheme.

And I just really really like that whole stream. I really like how thoroughly it displays that nothing really matters to them besides each other. I really loved their energy and their giddy excitement and affection throughout the planning with one another was in equal parts a further reminder of how much they matter to each other and an indicator of how disconnected their emotions are from the world outside each other. They agreed to do this for the fun of it. Not even a hunger for power, not some sort of resentment, not as well intentioned extremists, not for any reason but that this is the most amount of Fun we can get out of all this. As if the lives of other people were a game to toy with. As if they lacked empathy entirely for the people their "fun" may hurt. As if they could only see each other.

And god i've been sitting here including this stream as a peak moment for them both and including this in my thoughts on the Badlands dynamic generally because hey, doesn't it strike anyone as odd that Bad and Skeppy were whispering and giggling about how much fun they were going to have and openly discussing plans and expressing a complete lack of care for like Anyone else because as Bad outright said there's not really a thing outside of Skeppy that matters to him in the slightest, and that goes both ways....and yet when Bad approached Sam and Ant it was under the pretenses of solidarity, of 'outrage' over the festival and how Schlatt had gone too far, not a word to them about how the little world domination scheme and The Badlands as a faction long predated this conversation and the moment in which Schlatt took things 'too far'. Isn't it odd that none of this is mentioned to them. That Bad presents this idea as if he and Skeppy hadn't already formed not only the faction but the plans to facilitate conflict and snatch whatever they wanted out of the ruins? That he wasn't chattering away about the Fun they'd have when he proposed the idea to them? That he let them believe they were forming a new group on the spot in reaction to Schlatt? I don't even really think Bad let them in on the plan until a few days before the war despite having planned this all out with Skeppy only days after the election? That Bad let them take for granted their position as neutrals, and then as supporters of Pogtopia, only informing Ant and Sam of what had been the plan since before they'd joined the faction a few days before the event? And even then, he spoke of power, and of how they couldn't possibly stand in support of either faction after everything. He never spoke of the fact that this started as a little game. Because Bad was bored and didn't much mind what entertaining himself through chaos and bloodshed would lead to for others, so long as he maintained Skeppy's favour. Which is something Bad didn't relay to the others.

And looking at the way Bad treats their 'rise to power' for so long, it's all incredibly in line with his little game. I mean, half the time he's not even optimizing strategy here. He doesn't tell Ant or Sam his plans until it's happening, he suggests alliances and pulls away from them with ease given no real rhyme or reason, he abandons threads shortly after he pulls them and leaves a tangled mess of yarn on the floor rather than weaving together any truly effective plan, he negotiates for things he knows he can't get and never seems to bothered when it doesn't pan out, he's never entirely honest with Ant and Sam, even, if i'm being honest. He pushes for land and power and all, that's something he makes moves towards, and is something he's honestly really effective at getting, but it's all regarding so lightly. Like he doesn't care. Like it's all so much fun, just like he and Skeppy had planned for it to be.

And Bad literally continues to not care about much of anything and is very much amused by the goings on of the Smp.

Until he loses the one thing team that actually mattered.

Skeppy's team.

And I mean, yeah, the egg's influencing Bad right now, but the egg isn't actually complete mind control, and the things Bad does are still things he's choosing to do. His attempts to harm Sam. Puffy. Quackity. Everyone who'd ever considered themselves close to him. The way he spoke of power. Of taking over. Of a future for the eggpire, something those around him bought into, even those who believed him powerhungry and mad. Plans much like the ones he'd spun for Ant and Sam a million times before, even without the egg. Plans that were still no more important to him than they'd been during his little games earlier on, because Bad didn't intend to take power for the Eggpire, Bad intended to toss whatever the egg wanted at it and would be glad to sit in the ruins of whatever the egg left behind with Skeppy at his side.

The egg arc is all about Skeppy. He allowed himself to be infected to be with Skeppy, he's chosen to do all of these horrific things to his friends and to innocents and to children without hesitation for Skeppy, the only thing Quackity ever said that had him take pause was when he asked "if the egg can give you anything you want, why don't you have skeppy", the closest Bad's been recently to defying the egg was when Skeppy brushed him aside for it at which Bad lashed out at the egg, Bad insists that the egg will give him something nobody else could. Skeppy's his focus. His center. The only thing that matters.

And Skeppy's ALWAYS been.

Like, god, these things aren't new. The fixation on only Skeppy mattering, the lack of concern for everything else, the willingness to deceive and hurt even those who love him, this was all established in that very first stream when Bad proclaimed Skeppy to be the only side that mattered and they chattered enthusiastically about faction names and the fun they'd have at the expense of anyone and everyone else. This has been A Thing since the moment Bad actually like...became a character at all way back right after the election when he proposed a faction for the two of them. They planned then to recruit others as well, but the faction was there's, the faction was them, no person, no goal, no moral code, none of it was as important as their duo, their bubble, the badlands is Bad's show for Skeppy's amusement and the other people involved are glorified sock puppets who think they're special or that they matter. Nothing in Bad's motives or even really his morality or feelings towards other people has shifted much. It's always been Skeppy. Skeppy, Bad's own heart. Skeppy, Bad's life. The one thing that matters. The only thing that's changed is that before Bad was smiling, setting the world ablaze to see the way the light would reflect off Skeppy's eyes while they laughed about it, and now his Skeppy's gone, and I can guarantee nothings going to stop Bad from burning the rest of the world to the ground if it means getting him back. No other motivator, moral code, or loved one will stop him. Because there aren't any. Because there never were any to begin with. There was never anything besides Skeppy.

And that's just Really Cool and I feel like a lot of their story is at least slightly recontextualized by knowing how The Badlands were actually formed and it makes me sad how little it's thought of that from the beginning it was Skeppy and Bad and nothing else meant a thing. Cause that's a really unique situation with their characters and I need The Badlands being Skeppy and Bad's thing first and foremost above all else acknowledged more often cause it was them from the beginning guys-

#dream smp

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platypanthewriter · 3 years

Text

Road Trip

Maybe call this your royalty/road trip prompt, @awickedplacethisis, it’s much shorter! Harringrove April prompt day 14, Road Trip

Once upon a time, in Westfield Indiana—not far from Indianapolis—there was a very, very large mansion, almost a castle, where there lived a family named Harrington.

There were servants inside the mansion, and servants outside the mansion; caddies to attend the golf course, and six crews of gardeners: two for around the reflecting pools, the rest for the grounds, and a tree surgeon on retainer. There were specialists for the indoor tennis courts, and the outdoor tennis courts, the outdoor swimming pool, and the indoor swimming pool.

And over the garage there lived a chauffeur by the name of Hargrove, imported from England years ago—together with a Rolls Royce—and a son, named William, or Billy.

It was a different world, for Billy Hargrove, watching the Harringtons through the bushes, or getting out of his father’s car—little Stevie Harrington wore suits, and rode horses, and sometimes, when his parents were on holiday, little Stevie Harrington would invite Billy to play.

Steve was a general, in these games, or sometimes the president, and Billy was, as ever, whatever was required, whether that was a dragon, or a magic steed, or a princess. When Steve’s parents came back from wherever they were, Billy saw him only from the garage windows, again.

The Harrington parties were otherworldly, for Billy, watching from the apartment over the garage. Billy folded his arms over the railing, watching the orchestra, and the fireworks—and sometimes Steve would climb his tree afterwards, with stories.

“I brought you something,” he would say, leaning to sit a folded linen napkin on Billy’s windowsill, containing three chocolates, or sometimes, “—they’re too busy to give me a kiss goodnight, Billy, so I came to you.”

He fell out of the tree, once, and Billy yelled, and then Steve was forbidden from climbing trees, and forbidden from waking the staff in the dead of night. He tried to climb it, still, with his cast, until Billy hid with the window closed. Steve called softly, and then more softly still, as Billy plugged his ears under the window, until finally he went away.

Steve ignored him, after that, until Billy made a paper airplane, stood on the edge of his railing out of sight of the car pulling in, and threw it when their fathers looked away. Steve saw it fly into the hedge, snatched it, and stuck it in his jacket, but he didn’t look over. Billy didn’t hear anything until Steve ran into the garage two days later, looking around wild-eyed, and waved to him, then hauled him into the hedge around the side.

His cast looked grubby—probably from climbing trees—and the hand not in a cast clutched tightly at Billy’s wrist. “Why wouldn’t you open the window,” he muttered, huffily.

“You might fall again!” Billy whisper-yelled back at him, but it was too good to see Steve to stay mad at him, so he hugged him as hard as he could, cast and all.

“I’d rather fall than not see you,” Steve said, and Billy swallowed, squeezing him tighter.

“I—I’ll sneak out. We could meet in your garden,” Billy said, meaning the grounds, and Steve shook his head.

“They’ll send you away. They caught my mother’s maid by the pool, at night, and they sent her away.” He thought. “I’ll write you letters,” he said, pulling away to stare into Billy’s eyes, and squeeze Billy’s hands, even though they were covered in oil. “I’ll leave them under the driver’s seat. You’ll have to be fast.”

“I’ll find them,” Billy told him, nodding, and that whole summer he found pictures of their games, and stories, and once, a picture of Billy himself, and Steve, holding hands.

That was before Steve was sent away to school. He was different, after—they were both older, but his eyes didn’t look for Billy, and he invited different people to the pool, his friends in their tailored suits, with no oil stains. Friends who would not be sent away.

Steve would come around while Billy was fixing cars, though, and brush his hand around Billy’s waist as he bent over an engine, or slide the trolley out to pull Billy from under the Rolls Royce as Billy changed the oil, and feed him sweet and unusual fruit. Billy stared up at Steve Harrington’s smile as he tried mango for the first time, licking it from Harrington’s fingers as he laughed, and then star fruit, and papaya.

Billy still watched the parties—Steve’s parents’ parties—from a tree, swinging his legs as Steve laughed, and flirted, and occasionally came over and leaned back against the tree, holding a glass of champagne up where Billy could reach down and take it.

Once, when Steve’s dance partner wandered over, he kissed her, whispering and laughing. Billy clenched his fingers against the tree’s branches for long minutes until they’d wandered away, and then he swung down. He went to bed early that night. His pillow was nearly enough to block out the music, and even the fireworks, until he heard the sound of a knock at his window.

He opened it on Steve in his suit, and Steve crawled in, right inside Billy’s room, with his creaky old floors, stained curtains, and the picture Steve had drawn of them holding hands, before he’d been sent away to school.

Steve stepped forward and kissed him the way he hadn’t done since they were children. Billy stared at him, half sure he was asleep, shivering a little with the open window in only his wifebeater and shorts. Steve’s hands were warm around his biceps.

“Wish I could dance with you,” he whispered, then brushed a kiss against Billy’s mouth again, and Billy inhaled in a quick jerk of his lungs. Steve leaned in again, and the floor creaked, and Billy pushed him back towards the window.

“Ssshhh,” he whispered, his fingers sinking into the silk of Steve’s cuffs, and the warm folds where his shirt was tucked into his trousers, under his jacket. “Sshhh…” he muttered again, letting Steve tilt his head, and kiss him softly, his mouth a little open so Billy couldn’t help chasing the warmth.

“You really want me to go?” Steve asked, laughing against his lips, and Billy snorted softly.

“Of course I don’t,” he whispered back.

The next dance, Steve came and leaned against the tree, held up some champagne, and said, “Meet me at the indoor tennis court.”

“...I’ll get fired,” Billy whispered, laughing, and Steve was quiet for a long moment.

“...I’ll understand if you don’t come,” he said softly, tipping back the champagne, “—but I’ll wait until the orchestra stops.”

Billy thought about what his father would do, already, if he was caught in the tree—what Steve’s mother would do if the chauffeur-in-training startled party guests, wandering around in work clothes—but he set his jaw. When everyone gathered around to hear Steve’s father speak on the podium in front of the fountains, Billy snuck off along the hedge—inside the hedge, within view of the house, his heart pounding—and then lingered outside of the tennis courts.

Steve arrived a few minutes later with a whole bottle of champagne, and slid his fingers through Billy’s, tugging him inside. “Why didn’t you go inside?” he asked, bending to sit the bottle down, and then sliding his hands around Billy’s waist.

“...I don’t know,” Billy laughed, who’d only ever been allowed near the courts to clean, or pick up balls. “Want to show me around?”

“This is where I play tennis, to keep me occupied, when I’m missing you,” Steve told him. “This is the wall that makes it so I can’t see your house…” he whispered, and Billy laughed, and slid his arms around Steve’s neck, holding him close. After a few minutes of just...molding against each other, sighing with relief, Steve’s head jerked up, his smile widening in the soft reflected light from the party. “Here,” he whispered, “—this is the song I had to dance with somebody else, when you were right there, in the tree.”

Billy laughed again, shaking his head in disbelief. Steve grabbed his hand, lifting it like a dance, and slid the other around his waist, kicking at Billy’s feet to get them to move. “I don’t know how,” Billy told him, squinting down at his feet, and Steve kissed him again, missing his mouth, laughing, and leaning to try again.

“I’ll show you,” he whispered, counting. After a while Billy realized Steve leading meant he wouldn’t get to spin him around, so he spun Steve anyway, and Steve staggered, yanking him along.

“...he’ll notice you’re gone,” Steve said, finally, as they lay next to each other, panting in their backs, passing the champagne back and forth for swigs. “I’ve kept you too late.”

“I stayed,” Billy told him, leaning over for another soft kiss, and then another, because Steve Harrington was his, at least for a few hours.

The next day, Steve came out while Billy was washing the cars, and leaned against the wall in his tailored suit. He had a weird-looking fruit—dark red, and not very...plump looking, and he carved at it with a penknife as Billy worked. The purple juice stained his fingers.

“You know the story of Hades and Persephone,” Steve said, idly, and Billy thought about it, wiping sweat off his face.

“...he stole her, didn’t he?” Billy asked. It had sounded scary, as a child, reading from the huge illustrated book in the Harrington’s massive echoing library, but he thought, now, maybe he understood. “So they could be together. And her parents rained destruction on them.”

Steve grimaced. “...this is a pomegranate.”

“Oh,” Billy said, intrigued. He rinsed his hands and head off, pushing his hair back to see Steve open-mouthed.

“Come here,” Steve whispered, and Billy came over, and they risked just one kiss, in the middle of the garage, with their fathers both away at work. Billy could barely make himself let go, but he backed away, after, and leaned against a car. “...I thought I’d bring you some seeds,” Steve said, softly. “So you’ll stay with me.”

Billy dug his fingers into his own crossed arms, laughing. “Sure,” but then, when Steve held out the six tiny, bright, faceted seeds, he swallowed. “...six doesn’t seem like enough, now I see how many there are. Give me half.”

Steve grinned, glancing up at him with a wry smile. “That’s fair,” he said, nodding, and they counted them out on two plates. Steve held the odd one up to Billy’s mouth, and he leaned in and ate it, his tongue brushing Steve’s fingers. He helped Steve wash the juice off, after, sliding their fingers together.

When Steve began to work at his father’s company, Billy became his chauffeur. He waited for Steve Harrington every morning, and every evening, and Steve sat in the back, watching him in the rearview mirror.

When Steve bought a car, he took Billy along, and on the way home, he asked him to pull off of the road, into a field. The stars were bright, and his kisses were warm, and Billy helped him lay out a blanket.

Billy wondered, as he fumbled with their belts, clumsy with kissing, whether it would ever happen again.

It didn’t.

Steve wanted ice cream, occasionally, or dinner, and asked Billy to join him, but he worked very early and very late. He still sometimes pressed a quick kiss to Billy’s lips—if no one was looking, if he wasn’t running late—but there were no lingering touches, except one time.

The girl Steve had kissed under Billy’s tree was the daughter of another CEO, and their engagement was announced on the local radio. Steve stared straight ahead, his jaw clenched, and then told Billy to use the back elevator, and come up to his office, right away. When Billy got there, Steve locked the doors, and pulled Billy along to the bed behind the kitchenette. He didn’t say anything, he just slid his hands up under Billy’s shirt, and followed them with his mouth, kissing softly up Billy’s stomach to his chest, and then across his collarbones, as Billy wriggled out of his clothes.

They didn’t unlock the door all day, no matter whose voice came through.

Three weeks later, when Billy climbed in the car and suggested Steve’s favorite cafe, and then the office, Steve said no. He sat looking out the window, his eyes far away.

Billy waited silently, full of dread. “...Mr. Harrington?” he asked, finally, and then, because his voice gave out, he cleared his throat. “...do you have...something to tell me?”

“No,” Steve said, smiling—sadly, Billy thought, and he clenched his hands on the wheel. “...I think I just want to drive. South.”

“...yeah, okay,” Billy said automatically, and then, as was ingrained, “—sir.” Steve snorted a laugh.

As they passed through Carmel and then Indianapolis, Steve slowly relaxed, finally asking Billy to stop for breakfast when he was already an hour late for work. It wasn’t Billy’s place to ask, and he hardly wanted to remind Steve they were not where they were supposed to be, but something must have come across in his eyes as he chewed his bacon and watched Steve, because Steve’s smile went tense again.

“It’s all handled,” he said, sipping his coffee. “I think we can take a little road trip, don’t you?”

“For how long?” Billy asked, his fork freezing in midair, imagining just—spending time with Steve, walking, maybe. Going to a movie theater, he thought, huffing a laugh. He wondered whether Steve Harrington had ever been in a movie theater.

“I’m not sure,” Steve said, glancing up at him with an impenetrable expression, and Billy’s heart hurt, a little, because Steve Harrington had never been a difficult person to read.

After breakfast, Steve slid into the seat next to him, instead of the back, and rested his hand on Billy’s as he shifted gears. Billy could hardly keep his eyes off it.

“How long is this road trip,” he asked, keeping his voice even, and Steve laughed, grimacing.

“Depends on you,” he said.

I ate half of the pomegranate, Billy wanted to say.

Steve directed Billy into the garage next to a tall, narrow blue house with a long, wide porch and white trim, and Billy’s heart started to pound. “...is anyone else staying here?” he asked, cautiously, as Steve unlocked the door, and he shook his head, watching Billy’s face. They wandered into a fine living room, Billy thought, though sparsely furnished. As they wandered through the kitchen and upstairs, Billy pushed open a door on a room with a small, plain bed, and his things. His shoes, his trunk, no longer in the little apartment he shared with his dad.

No longer overlooking Harrington House.

“My friend Buckley has a house near here,” Steve said. “She told me this one was coming up for sale,” he said slowly, glancing at Billy. “...I could afford it.”

Billy was...happy, he thought, probably. “You’re...leaving me here?” he asked, his eyes stinging, and fixed on the plain little room. “You—you’ll visit. Sometimes.”

“I’m—no,” Steve said sharply, grabbing his arm, and Billy yanked away to sit on the squeaky mattress.

“You want me gone before the marriage, then,” he whispered. “I get...a few days? A day,” he bargained, glancing up at Steve, and setting his jaw. He wanted to swear at Steve, for—for being everything he wanted, he guessed. And everything he couldn’t have.

“No, no, I’ve broken off the engagement,” Steve said, grabbing Billy’s hands, “—and I’ve quit. I have a new job, Billy.”

“What,” Billy asked him, hoarsely.

“I’m disowned,” Steve said, laughing, his voice unsteady. “I’ve convinced my father I’m too difficult to reason with. I’m out of the will. I will live here. I bought the house with my money, from Mother.”

“Here,” Billy breathed, staring around again, and then at Steve’s face.

“I hoped you would like it here,” Steve told him. “I wanted to show you, so you could—road trip here. Come down on weekends, maybe—”

“You packed my things,” Billy reminded him. “Is this a little road trip, or—”

“This could be home,” Steve told him, smiling tensely. “Come see our room.”

“...our room,” Billy laughed, disbelievingly, as Steve drew him down the hall, and into a wide, high-ceilinged room with a massive bed.

“Our room,” Steve repeated, smiling against Billy’s lips, as Billy took shaky, bewildered breaths. “Who would question a single gentleman having a gentleman?”

The other Harringrove April prompts I’ve done

#harringrove #Harringrove April #Steve's the richest boy in the state probably #Billy's a chauffeur #They pine

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