#about how damaging your fucking thought crime bullshit is to literally everyone

[krokonoko]

I’m getting messages about it again, so I can only repeat myself:

we do not take kindly to the purity police round these parts. I do not care what your taste in fictional content is. it also does not define your morals.

if you disagree with that, you are free to unfollow me.

#tumblr I beg of you #watch a single show that isn't Steven Universe or She-Ra #let me introduce you to the exciting concepts of horror movies and first-person shooter video games #and how loving the Saw movies does not make you want to take people apart irl #I also beg of you to speak to a single psychiatrist #about how damaging your fucking thought crime bullshit is to literally everyone #but especially neurodivergent people #you go around laughing at anti vaxxers and climate change deniers all day #but you are literally just as anti science as these people #and I've had it with that attitude #purity wank

[rnelodyy]

c!Dream and the rules

(/dsmp /rp, all names refer to characters, not content creators)

I think one of the most striking parts of Exile is something that I rarely see talked about, and it’s Dream’s rules. Or rather, how his rules were made to be used as justification to hurt Tommy.

The thing about exile is that, outside of the initial rule of “Don’t go back to L’Manburg”, Dream never told Tommy the rules, yet constantly operated under the assumption that Tommy already knew them, and had accepted them. The rules also changed constantly, without Tommy ever being notified until he was already in trouble.

The second time Dream told Tommy to put his armor in the hole, he didn’t tell Tommy to do that right away. Instead, the conversation went like this (slightly edited to remove stammering and unrelated dialogue).

Dream: Do you have, uh… something you wanna put on the floor here? Tommy: Yes. (drops two pieces of red concrete as Dream digs a hole) Dre-eam! You’re evil. You’re evil. Dream: Anything else, Tommy? Tommy: Nope! Dream: Oh c’mon, I know there’s something else you wanna drop down here. Tommy: (panicking slightly) No, there… (messages BBH “take this and run”, throws him the disc BBH had gifted him earlier) Um… I don’t reckon there is! (pause) Dream: Okay, are you suuuure? Tommy: YES. Dream: Alright… How ‘bout your armor, Tommy? Tommy: Well, no, this is- I actually earned this myself. Dream: I know you did! Tommy: Leave me alone. Dream: Just drop it in the hole, Tommy. Tommy: Wh- no, NO, you can’t just come and demand things from me! I’ve been exiled, I’ve done your shit, what do you mean?! Dream: (sing-song) Tommy… Tommy: What? (Dream hits Tommy with his axe, taking over half his health) Tommy: (screams, drops his armor) OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY!

The only rule Tommy was aware of at this time was that he wasn’t allowed to go back to L’Manburg. Dream had taken his armor the night before, but there was no indication that he expected Tommy to do this constantly. Taking his armor upon initially arriving at Logstedshire made some kind of sense, allowing Tommy to keep it would run the risk of him trying to fight his way back into L’Manburg. Taking his new, very shitty armor (seriously it was an iron chestplate and a pair of golden leggings he got from a ruined portal chest) made no sense at all, so the fact that Tommy was confused and refused to cooperate at first isn’t unexpected in the slightest.

And the thing is… Dream was aware of this fact. Throughout the conversation, he never really sounded annoyed, and was actively teasing Tommy at times. This isn’t a good thing btw, it’s a sign that he was fully aware that Tommy didn’t know what he wanted from him, and that that would create a situation where Dream could “put him in his place” as it were.

If you’re a parent, and your kid does something that’s not allowed, without knowing it’s not allowed, you don’t start off with a beating. You sit them down, calmly explain the rules to them and explain why those rules are there, then send them on their way with the knowledge that they shouldn't do it again.

This interaction wasn’t an instance of Tommy acting out and Dream correcting him. This interaction was a trap. Dream set Tommy up to fail by not telling him the rules beforehand, and when Tommy offered even the slightest bit of resistance and asked why he needed to drop his armor, Dream jumped straight to beating him. It’s a powerplay, plain and simple.

This is demonstrated again with the destruction of Logstedshire. Dream got pissed that Tommy disobeyed him by having hidden chests with gear under his house, and retaliated by destroying everything Tommy had built, destroying every item he’d collected, killing his pet and only foodsource, barring him from the Nether, banning everyone except himself from visiting, and telling him to start over from scratch after a whole lecture about how Tommy betrayed him.

Again, I wanna point out some specific lines from this lecture that illustrate my point very well.

Dream: You were lying to me! You were lying to me. Tommy: No- Why was I lying?! Dream: What do you mean, why were you lying?! Tommy: I wasn’t hi- I wasn’t- Dream: You hid things in a chest knowing they were things I wouldn’t want you to have! And you hid it in a way that way I would never find it!

Except Tommy didn’t know that. The contents of the stash were all items that Tommy had obtained previously without any issue (diamonds, emeralds, iron, ender pearls, some pickaxes, and some purely sentimental items like flowers, a jukebox, and pictures of Tubbo and L’Manburg). In fact, the vast majority of them came from Tommy’s aboveground storage, which Dream had full access to, and had looked through before!

Dream also never said Tommy wasn’t allowed to hide stuff, and there was nothing to suggest he didn’t want Tommy to keep secrets from him.

There’s been a theory floating around for a while that Dream knew about Tommy’s item stash beforehand, since it was a very strange place to dig a hole (like, right in front of the house in the center of Logstedshire itself, instead of out in the plains where the TNT wouldn’t damage any structures), and Tommy had previously forgotten to cover up the entrance ladder. While Dream hadn’t looked inside the house, he would’ve definitely heard Tommy place the block back.

If this theory is correct, then this was yet another trap. Dream knew Tommy had a hidden room, and instead of just saying “hey, I don’t want you to have a hidden stash, go put this back and fill in the room” (which would’ve still been bullshit btw), he went COMPLETELY ballistic, destroyed EVERYTHING Tommy had, and while doing it, kept admonishing Tommy for betraying him, said shit like “I thought we were friends”, and even accused him of preparing to attack Dream. Again, a powerplay.

Hell, even the exile conflict itself is this! Tommy was exiled for griefing the king’s property while being a high-ranking official in L’Manburg. Except Fundy, the then-president’s son, CONSTANTLY griefed Eret’s shit after the L’Manburg war, ranging from ripping down one of their towers to “shrink” it, filling another tower with water, and multiple elaborate plots to steal the throne from under their nose. But apparently, between all of that shit and the exile-conflict, the rules were silently changed, meaning Dream could exile Tommy for breaking a couple blocks and placing some rude signs in George’s house. Even the punishment itself was changed without warning, as Tommy went from being exiled from L’Manburg to exiled from “everywhere that’s ever been touched.”

...I was originally gonna make a different point here. I may put it in the reblogs, because I still think it’s very interesting. But, in the middle of writing this essay I had to stop because it was late, then I spent the entire next day packing up because I’m in the middle of a move. It's now the next evening, I'm sat in my new room, on my camping bed, I opened this doc because I pretty much forgot what I typed, I reread it, and then I realized… This isn’t an isolated series of events. This is a pattern for Dream.

Before Tommy first joined the server, there were only three set rules: no stealing, no griefing, and no killing people. Except by that point, those rules weren’t enforced at all. In fact, Dream broke all three at once at one point, by killing George and burning his diamond armor because he didn’t feel it was fair that George got to run around in full diamond when everyone else still had iron.

Tommy joined the server, and broke the rules like everyone else. He stole shit, broke shit, killed George for funsies… and he got exiled for it. Seriously, they dumped him in an empty snowfield for breaking rules that nobody had enforced for weeks. So technically, the Exile-arc isn’t even the first time something like this has happened to him!

During the events that would eventually spark the Disc War, Sapnap stole a bunch of Tommy’s items (including the only Netherite chestplate on the server at the time), and told him he’d only give the stuff back if Tommy helped him with a conflict he had with Ponk. Long story short, Dream tried to intervene and was killed by Tommy and Sapnap, and Dream stole Tommy’s discs to force him to apologize. He then kept the discs, and the Disc War followed. Sapnap, despite being the aggressor and arguably forcing Tommy to participate in the conflict, was never punished.

This proves not only that the rules can change whenever Dream feels like it, but that they’re arbitrarily enforced. Dream refuses to punish his friends for the same crimes he endlessly fucks over Tommy for.

L’Manburg was created in part because of the fact that the rules were unevenly enforced. Tommy, Wilbur, and later Tubbo were repeatedly killed, stolen from, imprisoned, and even held hostage for very minor crimes, while the people killing, imprisoning, kidnapping and stealing from them were able to do so without impunity.

This was also the point where Dream just started making up new rules; there was no rule against having governments on the server, or making a separate area where Dream’s rules wouldn’t apply, so Dream banned governments, and used this new rule as an excuse to kill them, take their items, and tear their land to shreds.

And that’s another thing: the punishments for breaking Dream’s rules are INCREDIBLY harsh.

Kill him non-canonically one time? Your most prized possessions will now be dangled over your head and used to hurt you for the next few months.

Make a country with different laws that doesn’t infringe on anyone’s territory, has no desire to expand, is explicitly pacifistic and open to trade negotiations? You’ll be forced to fight a war you’re in no way equipped to fight, you’ll be betrayed and murdered and have your land destroyed in front of your very eyes until you literally have no choice but to surrender.

Mildly vandalize the king’s house, which nobody else has ever been punished for? You’ll be dragged into court, exiled from your home, and subjected to weeks of abuse until you believe that all of your friends hate you and you actively want to kill yourself.

Hide some stuff in a secret chest? Your only shelter will be exploded, your pet/only food source will be killed, all your items will be destroyed, you’ll be banned from the Nether, and none of your friends will be allowed to come see you.

This is all such disproportionate retribution it’s ridiculous. It’s like punishing someone for speeding by blowing up their car with a ballistic missile.

So to sum up: Dream’s rules are arbitrarily enforced, and he can just straight up make them up on the spot if he feels like it. Sometimes, he won’t tell you a rule exists until you’ve already broken it, and you’re treated as if you broke it out of malice instead of genuine ignorance. And if you do break a rule, and he decides you have to be punished, it will always be a punishment so harsh it doesn’t even ATTEMPT to fit the crime.

I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty fucking corrupt and tyrannical to me.

When people say Tommy deserved exile, or made Dream spiral into villainy, or abused Dream somehow (seriously I’ve seen this take multiple times and every time it makes my brain melt) by breaking the rules, I would invite them to take a step back and ask themselves, why did that rule exist? Did Tommy know it existed? Was it enforced for everyone other than him as well? Does the punishment fit the crime?

Dream has a bad habit of making up rules, or enforcing old ones that were never enforced before, to punish those who threaten his power. None of the Dream Team were ever punished for anything, despite committing the same crimes as the L’Manburgians. That is, until they founded Mexican L’Manburg (i.e. went against Dream’s rule), at which point they were attacked by Dream and George was dethroned for “not being neutral enough.”

Tommy should’ve faced consequences for what he did. But those consequences should’ve come naturally, and been carried out by the people he hurt. Like, if Dream hadn’t intervened, griefing George’s house would’ve resulted in George griefing Tommy back in revenge. In fact, he DID do that, by turning Tommy’s entire house into granite and putting the Jump In The Cadillac picture on his front lawn.

These are natural, proportionate consequences. Exile was none of that. The Disc War was none of that. Everything that happened to L’Manburg was none of that.

Dream’s rules and how he enforces them are inherently corrupt and tyrannical. To pretend it’s anything but is disingenuous at best.

#dream smp #dsmp #dsmp analysis #c!dream #c!tommy #tommyinnit #dreamwastaken #i had a COMPLETELY different point that i wanted to make but then i thought about it and went w a i t #uhhh if you wanna hear my original point lemme know i guess #anyway c!dream is such an interesting character! i hate him! #little green bastard man #c!dream critical

[bigskydreaming]

If you were editor of Nightwing's book ever since at least the start of Rebirth to today and you were given free reign, what would your story mandates?

Oh no, this is dangerous. LOL. Hmm, I have no idea what to shoot for here, so I'll try to keep it to ten. That's reasonable right? Ten is good. Yeah. Is fine.

Okay, so, in no particular order:

1) Let Dick be competent 101. None of this him having to play hype man for every other character to pop up in HIS title bullshit. Nope. That's not what they're there for. He's the lead man, LET HIM BE THE LEADING MAN. Like sure, everyone has their areas of expertise, he doesn't need or have to be the best at everything, blah blah blah.....but its about the nuance. All of that is kinda lip service because the thing is, you don't go into MOST comic books and NEED to be reminded of that because the lead characters of those books are all constantly getting saved or shown up or chastised by every guest star in their books, you know? This is a very weird, very niche phenomenon very specific to Dick's character, and I'm super over it. I'm here to read about the guy who has literally been doing this longer than most superheroes twice his age. The guy who's been doing this since before he hit double digits. The born acrobat. The destined ultimate warrior or whatever of Gotham's Ornithological Society Of Murder and Pretentiousness. Gimme that guy. And that guy doesn't need to be 'humbled' every other page, because the thing is, he's not some egomaniac to begin with so the everpresent need to humble him doesn't actually come off as humbling! It just comes off as pandering and not even to actual fans of the actual character, so its like.....wyd DC.

2) Let other people take responsibility for their own crap with Dick rather than always just expecting a mea culpa from him. I'm so unbelievably tired of the words I'm sorry from Dick. I love personal accountability, so I never thought I'd have to say this about a character, but enoooooough. They have made it completely in character for this dude to apologize to everyone ELSE for being brainwashed, getting amnesia, being KILLED, like.....the amount of things he's groveled for forgiveness for when he didn't actually do a damn thing wrong or worse yet, was the ACTUAL victim of is like....pretty damn staggering. And meanwhile, there's nary a peep of apology from the people who regularly insult or belittle him, get physically violent with him, take advantage of him or take him for granted, etc, etc, etc. Its entirely too one-sided and imbalanced, and the pendulum needs to swing the other direction, like YESTERDAY, and in a fairly big way, IMO.

3) None of this Baby's First Social Justice Awakening 101 crap. I'm sorry, but no. Especially not when you go out of your way to acknowledge that Dick is Romani, only to then turn around and act like he's only JUST had his eyes opened to an awareness of like, classism and poverty and the real struggles people face day to day? Sorry not sorry, but especially for other white writers out there, do not use people of color as self-inserts for dipping a toe into Learning To See Past Privilege. And especially when talking about a character who has a history of being actively abused and hurt by the system and institutions of power, or hell, even leaving out that particular origin story, who has still been out on the streets helping people since he was a literal child. You can not tell me that this is his first face to face experience with social issues, or the first time he's had the inclination to try and address those head on. (And its also particularly egregious that the people second-guessing Dick in his own title and giving him reality checks or acting like they have more of an awareness of all this than he does like, happen to all be white? OPTICS. LEARN ABOUT THEM. COMMON SENSE. GET SOME.)

Know what would actually be a better way to approach this? Flashbacks. Show us Dick running into situations that make him think back to a case when he was still Robin, when he and Batman had started fighting over their approaches to things, actually SHOW us those conflicts and how their viewpoints had started diverging, and how much of that was due to Dick not having the same experiences as Bruce, or the same standing in society, no matter what house he lived in. THEN you can jump BACK to the present, with the reminder/awareness that this is something that isn't NEWS to Dick, but that he in the past felt he was forced to make his peace with as something he wasn't in a position to do that much about....only NOW, he's in a very DIFFERENT position, and suddenly it just hits him how he's still acting like he did when he was limited in resources or in having to be part of a chain in command or having to factor other responsibilities into things....now he ACTUALLY has the power and the resources to make meaningful change in the ways he ALWAYS wanted to, but maybe just needed time to figure out HOW.

Like you know what would have made Shawn Tsang's story arc so much better? If Dick didn't just remember her as the Pigeon's one time teenage sidekick he'd briefly fought as a kid, but like.....if he remembered her as someone he and Bruce had FOUGHT about. Because he didn't agree with sending someone to juvie for defacing public property as a form of political protest, when it was someone's LIFE who was going to be irrevocably damaged by that while the damage to the city could be fixed with a check, and what made Dick any more deserving of Bruce's leniency and faith in his potential or underlying goodness than Shawn?

But he was still a kid himself back then, and when Bruce responded with his usual conviction, talking about the importance about rule of law and etc etc, Dick just didn't have the words to get through to him then, to get him to understand that this wasn't just Dick not getting it because he was too young, it was BRUCE not getting it, that Dick was literally just saying well he wasn't too young to have been in juvie himself, and of the two of them, he's the one who has experience there so why was Bruce's opinion on whether this was the punishment that fit the crime the one that got to hold more weight here? When Dick's the one who knows what that punishment actually LOOKS like beyond the abstract, for whom it was a reality that still haunts him in ways that even defacing a few statues of some rich old fucks doesn't deserve?

Or hell, go back FURTHER than when he was Robin. Idk where any of those posts are, but I've always wanted to see something where Dick maybe runs into someone he remembers from his time in juvie, maybe a guard who is like, the source of the reasons Dick mistrusts figures of authority and is so hung up on independence and not being under anyone's thumb, or maybe someone who was in there with him, another kid who looked out for him when he didn't have to, etc. Gimme Dick tackling head-on his firsthand awareness that there's no rehabilitation to be found in a jail for kids, when most of those kids don't even need rehabilitation in the first place and only did what they did in order to survive or escape from worse situations or like, were there purely because of racist cops, etc. Let him go after THAT system, driven by personal experiences and memories that maybe only hit him in full after recovering his memories from the Ric Grayson arc, like they're things that he put in a box in his mind a long, long time ago because he didn't have the spoons or reserves to deal with them when he was a kid still so traumatized in so many ways, like, something had to give and so he put all those memories away for another day and just....never got back to them because life kept hitting him with new and fresh trauma every week.

But now something has him thinking back to those early days in Gotham, and reminding him that not everyone had a Bruce Wayne willing and able to give them an out from that place or acrobatic skills to escape it on their own, and like. You want to do something about the cycles of violence in Gotham and Bludhaven? Why not start with the places that literally MANUFACTURE cruelty on an institutional level, that teach kids that no matter what they did to get put there, even if that was nothing at all, they're all going to be treated the same way and given no reason NOT to do whatever it took to be top dog in a dog eat dog world by the time they got out.

There's SO many better approaches to social awareness in the Batbooks than what we're seeing, and like. Sheesh. The bar is way too low.

4) On a related note, if I'm editor of the Nightwing book, the FIRST thing I'm doing is making it a priority to find a writer of color for that book, ideally someone of Rom descent. Its waaaaay past time to let a Romani writer take the reins on Dick, Wanda, Pietro or Doom, aka some of the only prominent Romani characters out there? You can't tell me that there aren't talented writers who identify as Roma who would be more than willing to add their perspective to Dick's archive of narratives, and if an editor's gotta go looking for them? Go fucking look. DC and its fans have milked a lot of mileage out of the idea of Dick being Romani with very little in the way of nuanced storytelling to show for it in the past twenty years, and if DC wants to trot out little reminders that Dick is Romani every couple years, like in the form of a freaking line that has no follow up or expansion to any degree and is offset by an internal monologue that otherwise reads as incredibly privileged, the least they can do is TRY to expand on that with the narrative perspective of someone they claim to be representing via that character.

And no, this isn't gatekeeping, this is prioritizing. Its not about preventing other writers from writing this character, like just for the hell of it, its about being proactive about finding a writer who can write specific aspects of this character that have long gone unaddressed or poorly represented. And like. Okay. Its not easy breaking into the comics industry for anyone, but its particularly not easy for marginalized writers. Most every major comic book company just recites 'make your own stuff first and then show us that' but when you're a writer specifically, finding a compatible artist to partner with on creator-owned indie stuff first, when those artists are in the same position as you are and apologetically and understandably tend to have to take paying work over yours if you can't pay except on the back end, like....there are a lot of hurdles to getting your start in comic books, and while there are more and more marginalized writers in comics these days, DC and Marvel kinda fucked up, because you know what?

After being told 'make your own first, then we'll talk,' writers DID do just that....but then found out that well, due to the ease of online distribution and access these days, for any writers who CAN find an artist to partner with, its a hell of a lot easier to get their content out there these days WITHOUT a major publisher behind them.....and for a lot of marginalized writers in particular, its worth it to keep full creative control in exchange for smaller circulation. Especially when they don't have to deal with editors 'softening' their work to make it more palatable for audiences that quite frankly aren't necessarily their primary target. So yeah, marginalized voices are becoming more and more present in comics, but Marvel and DC for the most part are keeping the same voices centered they always have, and what these voices have to say is becoming less and less relevant and outdated. Because much like this arc from Taylor, even when they DO dip their toes into story matter that's of interest to wider audiences, they're doing so to a degree that still puts them years behind the conversations everyone else is having.

5) The same holds true of disability representation. I stopped reading Taylor's run for a lot of reasons but his way of responding to people unhappy with his depiction of Babs was a key one. If I'm editor on a book, and someone tweets at one of my writers that their depiction of a disabled character was hurtful because it feels like they're doubling back on everything Babs has ever said about not being defined by or ashamed of her disability and now its being treated like a dirty little secret, and that writer's response is essentially to just laugh at them and say there's nothing wrong or ableist about their writing of a disabled person, TO a concerned disabled person? That writer's ass is getting fired. Full stop.

Either you give a shit about this stuff or you don't. Don't pay your readers lip service about how important social issues are to you and how much you care about using superhero narratives to inspire people on these matters if you're gonna turn around and show your ass the second you don't feel comfortable and prioritized by the conversation, like it wouldn't exist without your oh so valuable contributions. ESPECIALLY if you don't identify as sharing the same identity of the marginalized character you're writing. You are a guest in someone else's lived experiences at that point, and you think you've got the right to belittle and talk down to the people who LIVE THERE? Fuck off, my dude.

6) Re-center Dick as someone who the superhero community RESPECTS. I love seeing Dick depicted as someone who has an awareness of his own limitations and an appreciation for what others bring to the table, and so I'm not opposed to him calling on others when he needs to.....but I also would like to see more of the opposite. But not in the way we usually see it these days, where he's asked to come help with a crisis and then usually second-guessed the whole way, and then sent back home without so much as a thank you when its done. Yawn. Sorry. I've read that story by now.

You know what story arc I freaking LOVED as a kid, back in the 90s? In Green Lantern, when Kyle Rayner first became the sole GL, one of his very early arcs, before he ever joined the JLA or anything....was him realizing how little he knew about being a superhero. He was like, my predecessors all had a full fledged CORPS to teach them everything they needed to know, but I had a few lines of exposition from a funny little blue guy in a red pillowcase and then I was off to the races. That's not good enough. There's so much I don't know about being a hero, I don't even KNOW what I still need to know.

So he went on kinda a superhero training roadtrip. He went to Metropolis to ask Superman for advice, he went to Batman to learn from Batman and Robin (Tim at the time). He went to Wonder Woman, Sentinel (Alan Scott, the first Green Lantern), etc, etc. And in the end, Kyle very much became his own kind of hero who wasn't just a pastiche of all those other heroes and the advice they gave him, but like....this put him on the road to that.

And I'd love to see something like that happen in Dick's solo title. We've seen him train in a team setting, we've seen him train the other Robins.....I'd love to see like, young superheroes from OTHER books, not ones created by the title, but like names people actually recognize from other franchises, like, guest star in Nightwing's book to learn from HIM, specifically. I wanna see something where Wally looks at the latest speedster and is like, you know what, if you really wanna be the best hero you can possibly be, then Nightwing's who you gotta go to, because there's no one I trust to make a better hero out of someone than him. I want the newest kid on the JLA block to worry that people aren't taking him seriously because of his age or experience, and he's always hearing them talk about Nightwing and how young he was when he started and so if anyone knows something about how to gain the respect of your older superhero peers, that's the guy to talk to.

Gimme Dick's couch being crashed on at various times by a half dozen new or upcoming young superheroes who all heard or figured out that if they really want to up their superhero game, Nightwing's the guy to see.

7) Bring back Bea. There's no long paragraph expansion on this, its really simply. Bring back Bea. She was one of the freshest breaths of air in Dick's supporting cast in ages, most of the current run is based off her character direction in the first place, she's literally the best suited TO help Dick in this venture, and the reasons they gave for writing her out of Dick's life were all bullshit and they just wanted to focus on his previous relationships, which would be fine if they didn't fall into the same two endless cycles of bring back up, go nowhere with, awkwardly avoid each other for years, rinse and repeat. Like. Bring back Bea, please and thank you, the end.

8) Focus on new villains. Heartless is meh, but the idea of new villains is still better IMO than rehashing Blockbuster, Zucco, etc. Like, nostaglia ain't it. If I want to read Blockbuster fucking up Dick's life, I can do that. They're called back issues. The thing is, love it or hate it, the Blockbuster arc WAS iconic. It left its mark. And anything that doesn't leave just as much of a mark, if they're going to bring him up again, is just gonna be a waste of time, you know? It'll just dilute his overall presence when like, what he was - worked fine as is. We don't need Round Two.

The trick to good villains, IMO, is they have to speak to a fight that needs fighting.

What I mean by that is....the best villains are those who resonate on a more instinctive level because they embody something that already exists in a reader's mind as a conflict that needs fighting. Like, if superheroes exist, if the embodiment of larger than life presences and forces devoted to protecting the world from various things are real....then their villains need to embody the kinds of fights or conflicts that NEED larger than life figures to combat them, at least on a one to one level.

Look at Superman and Lex Luthor. Superman at his core embodies the strength of community. He's the ultimate hero of the people, his essence is that he was the last survivor of a doomed race who was raised by two honest, hard working people to see the beauty in just being ONE of them, in using what he had on behalf of all of them and not just himself. In contrast, Lex Luthor is basically the embodiment of capitalist greed, of excess, of the entitlement of being able to have anything with a snap of your fingers and thus assuming that gives you divine mandate to make the kinds of choices that he sees as only his right to make.

He hates Superman, ultimately, because Superman is the WRONG savior of the people. He wants their only savior to be HIM, half the time he honestly believes he's saving the world FROM Superman, but just as often he's perfectly content to be the villain and not shy about it....because Lex Luthor's ultimate motivation is he wants everyone to know when he's dead and gone that LEX LUTHOR WAS HERE. He genuinely doesn't care WHAT his impact or legacy is at the end of the day, just that it exists and it overshadows most everything else...because all that really matters to him is the irrefutable proof that HE mattered. And thus at their cores, Superman and Lex are perfectly opposed. Ideally situated to eternally be in conflict, their own forever war, because their core natures are incompatible. They CAN'T compromise, without compromising themselves and essentially ending up as someone totally other than who and what they are already.

And you can go down the list. The Joker is the chaos to Batman's order, while Mr. Freeze is the stagnancy of that order taken too far, he's what you get when you freeze everything in your grief and refuse to let anything go on, anything new grow, because that would mean having to admit once and for all that what you're mourning is really gone. Two-Face is the ultimate embodiment of Man vs Self, a once good man at war with his own worse nature, and reminding everyone who looks at him how easily they could fall to the same fate.

And so on and so on. What Dick needs, is more of the same. Like, as much as I'm not a huge fan of Talon stories, I maintain that the Court of Owls were a great foil for him - just they tend to be poorly used in canon as well. But I also think how poorly they come off in canon has a lot to do with canon not really touching on WHY they're such a perfect foil for Dick....and that's Dick's history with being outside the system, mistreated and even exploited by the system. Because the Court, their core concept, is they ARE the system. They are entrenched, enfranchised, institutional power, passed down through generations, dynastic control that is a perfect counterpart to the dynastic power of the Wayne family, embodied in its youngest generation in the form of Bruce's FOUND family, the children he adopted regardless of whether or not his peers found them deserving of that honor. The Court, and their entire....thing...about the Gray Son, is the entitled fury of those denied something they deem theirs simply because they WANT it, and who will burn the whole world down rather than admit defeat or let someone else have it instead.

And that resonates. It could resonate a lot MORE if DC would actually lean into those concepts and allow Dick to explore how the Court are nothing he's not used to, they're literally made up of the same people who have looked down on him ever since he came to Gotham, but now they're actually a face and a name put to all those attitudes, something he can literally FIGHT BACK AGAINST. The Court are literally human-sized embodiments of everything and everyone who's tried to confine Dick since his parents' deaths, tried to define him without his permission, tried to make him other or lesser than who and what he is.....and who thus now exist in a form that Dick can literally BATTLE. So that he doesn't HAVE to just take this stuff lying down.

Thanks to the Court, he doesn't HAVE to just passively accept it, that this is just how life is, that some people are going to view him this way and think this about him and there's nothing he can do about it. He CAN do something about it, in superhero stories. He can kick its ASS, in the form of the Court of Owls and everything its members think about him and intend for him. He can refuse to bow down to them, to accept their mark on him. He can say lol, no, and then blow their shit sky high, ideally with a little help from his family. He can BEAT them, in this incarnated form, and in doing so, even though he can't beat everything they stand for and represent, that victory still matters, still means something symbolic to readers it resonates with.

And that's what we need more of. Villains created specifically to embody concepts that are diametrically opposed to Dick and what he represents. The system, yes, but also villains who embody the kind of tyranny and control he fights back against in his constant battles for autonomy and self control. Villains who embody the 'new hopes' of a second generation just like Dick himself is the focal point of the hopes embodied by the second generation of heroes. I'm actually not the hugest fan of multiversal constant Dick Grayson, but I might like it more if he had an opposite number there, someone he was specifically contrasted with. Idk.

But you get it.

9) Dick having a social life. Gimme the Titans and his siblings showing up JUST to show up. We have room enough for at least a couple pages every other issue where we just get to see these characters having some breathing room, taking a beat to stop and be something other than just a superhero, to be human as well. There's more to life than 24/7 fighting, even for them, and that's largely been lost in modern superhero comics, which kinda sucks, because that was what made most of the more iconic and lasting dynamics between various characters like, STAND the test of time. The larger than life battles between good and evil might be what many of us come to superhero comics FOR, but the relatable back-and-forths and ups and downs of their private lives spent with friends and family tends to be what keeps most of us coming BACK. And lately its all just mission, mission, mission, and I'm like blah, blah, blah and its like, meh, meh, meh. Y'know? Give the guy some down time, and let his friends come spend it with him.

10) Boone. This is purely self-indulgent, but if you know anything about me, you know my obsession with Robin: Year One, Dick's brief time at Vengeance Academy, and the hate/hate relationship he has with his brief frenemy from that period, Boone aka Shrike. This character has SOOOOO much potential to be Dick's true archnemesis and rival, and like. *Sobs* I can't get into it all again. Its too much. I can't do it.

Okay, I absolutely can. And will, probably. But like. Later.

BONUS ROUND:

Other thing I would absolutely insist upon if I were Nightwing editor....

GET THAT FUCKING MEME SHIRT ABOUT BRUCE SLAPPING DICK THE FUCK OUTTA HERE.

Like. Seriously. WHAT THE HELL. Why would you double down on THAT? Why is Babs STILL wearing it? (Last I checked, like I think I saw it in a scan from last issue? I'm pretty sure its still there? If not, forget this entire rant, and I am very embarrassed. Okay not that embarrassed. I don't really care if I'm wrong here but like, in case I'm not)...

WHY. Who thought that was funny? No, seriously, on behalf of any other abuse survivors who like me are SERIOUSLY not amused, who the FUCK thinks its FUNNY to have one of Dick's best friends sporting a shirt that no matter what it represents IN universe, to readers OUT of universe, is always going to call to mind the fact that this meme only freaking EXISTS because of all the times DC has obliviously and without acknowledgment written Bruce abusing his children, including the BFF that Babs is literally wearing that right in front of.

Like omg do you hate her, DC? What other possible reason could you have for thinking that would be a cute, funny thing for her to wear around the guy getting SLAPPED, by his DAD, in your shirt's iconography.

Okay I'm done.

LOL.

Sorry, that last one was brewing for awhile. Deep breaths. Woo.

[cosmicjoke]

Ugh, effing GOD, I swear with each chapter, my hatred for Zeke grows more and more.  I’m up to 119, and the entire sequence with Falco and Colt was just... sickening.  Zeke’s really trying to act like it’s such a burden to him, to have to turn Falco into a Titan and kill Colt in the process.  It’s absolutely appalling, the way Colt pleads with Zeke to just wait until Falco is out of range before he screams, not even asking him to give up on whatever his plan is, but just asking him to wait, reminding him of the entire reason Colt agreed to inherit the Beast Titan in the first place, because he wanted to protect his family, and still, STILL, Zeke is unmoved.  But the most disgusting thing, I think, is how Zeke says to Colt, “You care for your little brother.  As do I.  So it is truly a shame.”  Alright, back up just a second here.  You know what this is?  It’s called hypocrisy folks.  This is, once again, Zeke absolving himself of his crimes by framing them as mercy.  This is, once again, Zeke installing himself as a martyr, taking on the burden of hard and painful decisions to do what’s “right”, because, you see, he’s really a hero, just doing what needs to be done to save humanity.  So even though it might seem heartless and cruel and mercenary for him to turn on all of his comrades and use them without hesitation against their wills, murder them all and leave them psychologically damaged for life, no, no, no, you’ve got it all wrong!  Zeke is doing this out of compassion!  Out of love, and care, and mercy!  See, he cares about Falco JUST AS MUCH as Colt, and he really is so sad about having to then turn Falco into a fucking Titan so he can sick him on Reiner, really very upset about literally using him as a tool to achieve his goal of him and Eren touching.  And see, because Zeke tells us he cares about Falco, we’re supposed to believe it.  And we’re supposed to believe that it’s really Zeke who’s the one actually suffering here, by having to hurt the ones he supposedly loves and cares for.  By having to kill people who trusted him and believed in him to the very end, and still, despite everything, cared for him, enough so to try and talk with him and show compassion towards him.  Because it’s all for the “greater good”.  And what is that greater good?  Oh, the euthanization of an entire race of people, that’s all!  Making sure no one can ever reproduce again so that an entire race of human beings goes literally extinct.  Deciding that the lives of entire, unborn generations are so worthless, that he should get to prevent them from even taking place.  That’s Zeke’s greater good.  Zeke is the heroic one, because he’s willing to take on the burden of this pain all by himself, the burden of stabbing every person who ever cared about him in the back, and doesn’t that just make him so special.  See, by MAKING people suffer, that’s how Zeke is going to save them from suffering!  What a genius!  What a noble, good, and kind man!  This is how he frames it.  This is how he sees himself.  He won’t just own up to the things he’s doing.  He won’t admit that they’re terrible, or define what he’s doing for what it actually is, won’t own any of it.  He redefines it all as some noble and heroic deed, frames it all as his noble and selfless sacrifice, his great gift to mankind, his generosity and kindness.  I guess him getting off on crushing people beneath boulders is just a manifestation of that kindness, huh?

Alright, I think I’m gonna puke.

This mother fucker.  

Guess what?  Actions speak louder than words.  And all of Zeke’s sad frowny faces aren’t going to convince me for a second that this bitch actually cares at all, about anyone, or anything.  He’s so completely delusional, that he’s convinced himself of his own line of bullshit, that by murdering people, he’s saving them from suffering.  That he’s saving people from suffering by robbing them of their agency, their future, their lives.  And that he doesn’t actually have anything to be sorry for, because what he’s doing is mercy, and he’s the hero, because he’s the only one who can do what it takes by betraying everyone who ever gave a shit about him and believed in him.  Colt says to Zeke that “The Zeke I know would never bring children into this.”, and that reveals everything, doesn’t it?  Because, see, Zeke’s ALREADY brought children into this.  He already got two of the three warrior candidates killed in Liberio, could have and even intended to kill Gabi and Colt too, in the process, would have killed Falco, if Eren hadn’t kept him with him and Reiner in that basement.  He’s already gotten children into this by deciding that he was going to rob every future child of even being born.  

The Zeke Colt knew, the Zeke Colt BELIEVED in, was a lie, and always was a lie.  He really thought, by reminding Zeke of their connection, reminding him of why he became a Warrior in the first place, reminded him of the bond they all shared, that Zeke would realize what he was doing, remember how much he cared about all of them, and stop.  But Zeke didn’t stop, didn’t even hesitate, or consider for a moment what Colt was saying or asking, because the truth about Zeke is that he’s never connected with another, single human being in his life.  He’s a severe sociopath, who feels nothing for anyone.  He just said “Oh, what a shame.”  and then turned Falco into a Titan and killed Colt on the spot.  He took the information Colt willingly shared with him about Falco ingesting his spinal fluid, and USED IT, intentionally turning Falco into a Titan then and there because he knew it would be advantageous in getting Eren to make contact with him.   It’s Zeke saying “Then it is truly a shame.” that makes me sickest of all, because once again we have Zeke acting at regret, pretending he’s sad and hurting over having to kill two children, like it’s such a burden to him to have had to do something so awful.  If you ever needed proof of Zeke’s egotism, of his utterly self-centered world view, well, here it is.  It’s his own pain that matters in this scenario, see, his own sacrifice.  It’s too bad about Falco and Colt, but I’m the one who’s truly suffering.  Fuuuuuuuck yoooooouuu Zeke.  

Zeke does this shit again and again.  He did it during the battle of Shinganshina, when he killed countless soldiers, swinging wildly between uncontrollable rage and glee as he treated killing them like a game of baseball, literally using them as scapegoats for his anger at his father, to spouting off about how “sorry” he felt for the very people he was murdering, about how pitiful and sad their lives were, and how he was truly doing this for their own good, if only their little minds could comprehend his grand, genius vision.  Oh, poor Zeke, how awful the burden of uniqueness must be, to forever be so misunderstood.  Boo fucking hoo.  He did it again in the forest with Levi, after turning 30 soldiers into Titans and musing to himself about how deeply he regretted having to do it, how he didn’t want to, but how he had no choice, because Levi could “never understand” him, while in the next breath mocking them and Levi, bragging about how there wasn’t even a fight, laughing about it and weaponizing it in an attempt to hurt Levi even further.  And he does it again here, claiming he cares about Falco, and then turning him into a Titan and using him as a tool.  This guy is the biggest, most shameless hypocrite in the history of ever.  Everything, and I mean everything out of his mouth is a lie and a manipulation.  Doubletalk and deflection and delusion.  He doesn’t mean anything he says, other then his obvious, deluded belief in himself as some kind of uniquely special hero who’s going to save the world through his brilliant understanding of all it’s problems.  Even if he has to create those problems himself, apparently.  

I just can’t with this guy.  I can’t.  His sense of self-aggrandizement, delusions of grandeur and self-centered egotism, coupled with the obvious pleasure he takes in hurting others, makes him a rank piece of trash.  I don’t care what anyone says.  That’s what he is.

#shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #snk 119 #meta

[dercolaris]

Friendship

Fandom: Batman Arkham Verse

Characters: Edward Nygma, Selina Kyle, Bane

Relationship: Edward Nygma & Selina Kyle (Friends), Edward Nygma & Jonathan Crane (Romance)

Genre: Humor, Friendship

Word length: 2031

Warnings: No warnings

Status: Complete

Short summary: The Riddler wanted to ask Catwoman a very serious question for more than three weeks, but can’t somehow find the right moment. Maybe this night?

Song: https://youtu.be/ghb6eDopW8I

"May I ask you a question, my dear?" The Riddler raised an eyebrow and wrinkled his nose, only glanced at the woman next to him for a short moment. She gently stirred her own drink with a metal straw. A small smile graced her full lips. The inventor took his own glass again and took a sip of the bitter Campari. He usually preferred other drinks on such boisterous evenings, but Oswald seemed to have some delivery bottlenecks due to the bad economy. Edward stretched a little and finally replied in amusement: "Technically this was a question already, but I don't want to be like that today and allow you one more. Go ahead, Selina, what do you want to know?” The thief chuckled, then sipped the blood-red cocktail in her hand. The Iceberg Lounge was unexpectedly full that night and literally overflowed with thirsty visitors. This was mainly due to Two-Face, who was looking for new henchmen and who was, provocative as Harvey was, conducted these 'interviews' in Oswald's club. The Penguin let the former prosecutor have his way this evening – but only with an eager gnash of his rotten teeth. The black-haired man suppresses a burp. At some point all this gang activity would escalate completely and cause a gigantic bloodbath in Gotham City. The Riddler smiled at the thought. The clock was ticking on this delicate matter and everyone could feel the increasing tension between the gangs, but nobody dared to say a single word about it. It has been ignored or even denied, especially by the large criminals of the underworld. Harvey and Oswald also played this perfidious game a lot in public. Outwardly, the fallacy could arise that they were something like friends. That was, of course, total bullshit. Before Edward could think further about the intricacies of organized crime, Catwoman asked curiously: "Do you really think you are making the right decision, Eddy?"

The addressed person frowned and turned completely to his companion. The thief had crossed her legs and was staring at him, her green eyes boring deep into his blue ones. The Riddler brushed a sweaty strand of hair from his forehead and replied coolly: “Haven't we had the subject two dozen of times, Selina? Yes, damn it, I'm pretty sure.” The black-haired woman clicked her tongue and tilted her head slightly. She slowly cupped her knees in both hands. The inventor turned his attention back to the Campari, but could still feel the intense gaze of the Cat on him. After a few seconds she replied almost teasingly: "I really don't want to attack you right now, but you shouldn't take such an important step lightly and rush it, sweetheart." Suddenly a loud roar came through the Iceberg Lounge, followed by unpleasant noises of breaking glass . Apparently a heated battle broke out between some of the foolish candidates. Typical. The tinkerer sighed in annoyance and hissed angrily: “Selina, I really respect your opinion, but you are slowly crossing the line of being ridiculous. I've been with John for over three years and we really thought about the marriage. I still think it's a shame that you don't like him at all, but that doesn't stop me from finally marrying him.” The thief visibly rolled her eyes, then winced in surprise. A beer glass had thrown onto the marble counter out of nowhere and cracked apart next to the anti-heroine. Some shards slid across the bright stone. Selina snorted contemptuously and carefully wiped the debris from her side with a handkerchief. She ran her hand through her short, black hair and spoke sceptically: “I just don't want you to make a serious mistake. After all, we are friends, Eddy, and I can take the liberty of expressing my concerns. That has only marginally to do with Johnny himself. You're just not a type for marriage."

The Riddler chuckled, barely audible, and flicked a shard into the bar area. For this action he earned an almost withering look from the overwhelmed bartender. Edward chuckled softly and carefully placed his elbow on the counter. It crunched slightly under his dark green jacket. The black-haired man propped his head on his hand and replied a little more calmly than before: “How do you want to know that, Selina? I am a loyal soul and I do not dream of leaving John. He practically cannot find a better husband. Plus, I'm hopelessly romantic and I love this whole wedding-related show. It's a performance to my liking.” The thief shook her head slightly. Her next question was hard to beat in terms of sarcasm: "Should Jervis also tailor you a pretty frilly dress for your big day?" The inventor put out his middle finger elegantly to his companion and growled loudly: “Absolutely. In pink with neon green, glittering highlights. I want to be the most beautiful bride in Gotham – wait, what am I talking about here? All over the world, of course! Sometimes I really wonder why we're still friends, Selina.” The anti-heroine began to laugh out loud at this reply. She emptied her glass with two more sips and lasciviously waved the bartender over to her. He blushed at this gesture, his attention being solely on the black-haired beauty in front of him. Selina ordered a long drink and pushed the empty glass to the young guy. When the bartender prepared the drink with a happy smile, the Cat replied mischievously: “Who else in your small circle of friends has the guts to tell you the unvarnished truth in your face? In addition, we harmonize better than probably 90 percent of the imbeciles in the infamous underground. "

Edward couldn't help but chuckles with her. He added to this statement with amusement: “At least we haven't killed each other yet, although that has more to do with my clear superiority over you than a questionable sense of friendship. Even so, there seems to be a little bit of truth in your words.” The thief, pretending to be indignant, sucked in breath and gently slapped the inventor's arm. He grinned a little wider and finally burst out laughing together with Selina. It felt incredibly good to laugh with the black-haired woman. It took almost a minute for both of them to calm down somewhat. Selina smiled amused and spoke calmly: “It's hard to imagine that we've been friends for over eight years. Time goes by way too fast.” The addressed person shrugged and sipped at the Campari. The dispute in the club had meanwhile been resolved with sheer force of arms. Silence returned slowly between them. Both villains were again ignoring the overall loud music and background noises. Edward pulled his tousled hair. He stroked his three-day beard and mumbled softly: "There will certainly be a few more. At least I hope." The tinkerer was getting restless. There was something he had to ask the thief that evening. There was no getting around it. The Riddler was about to start speaking again when a strong arm went around his neck. Catwoman was also taken into a loving headlock and gently choked. An inappropriately loud voice nestled painfully in the ears of those present: “Mis amigos! Why are you drinking so slowly? Today we want to celebrate the imminent downfall of Joker together!” The two villains gasped helplessly in the firm grip, lightly hitting the attacker's muscular forearms. Bane finally released them and started laughing, giving Edward a hard pat on the back, causing the inventor to accidentally drop his glass. The muscle mountain apologized in a good mood: “Lo siento mi amigo. The next drink is on my name!"

With these words, Bane trudged happily away. The two friends looked puzzled and were speechless for a moment. After a while, Selina finally mumbled confused: “The downfall of Joker? That would be new to me. Do you know anything about it?” Edward shook his head. He ordered another Campari from the bartender and rubbed his slightly damaged neck. Bane was incredibly strong, even without the damn Venom in his blood. The tinkerer took a deep breath. His question still hadn't been asked. The black-haired man turned slowly to the Cat and began to speak cautiously: “I have no clue, but the Clown doesn't interest me at the moment. My thoughts are completely somewhere else and ... “ The inventor stopped abruptly. It was unlikely that she would say yes. Selina frowned and probed: "And where exactly are you right now with your thoughts, Eddy?" The Riddler was getting queasy. The Campari on the counter from the poor bartender came in handy. Edward took a sip and played with an ice cube in his mouth, then slid it back into the glass. Why did he actually bother to ask the thief? The answer would be no. He sighed softly and hesitantly replied: “My thoughts are with John and our wedding, you know. And that's why we're here today, Selina. I wanted to ask you something. In person, of course.” Catwoman slowly set her glass down and waited patiently for the question. It was slowly starting to shine in her eyes. Apparently her curiosity was aroused and tied to a certain expectation.

The tinkerer took a very deep breath and turned back to his companion: “I wanted to ask you if you – well, you know. I mean – oh fuck it. Selina, would you like to be my maid of honour?” The anti-heroine's mouth opened slowly. At that moment she seemed speechless. As if on command, the music took an uncomfortably long pause. Edward blushed suddenly and struggled to keep eye contact with the Cat. The 'No' would come. Absolutely. No question. How could he have believed for a moment that Selina would accept his request? The thief's calm voice tore him from his thoughts: "Yes." The Riddler was about to snort and apologize for his stupidity, when he froze. His eyes reflected pure confusion. The tinkerer stammered softly: "What did you said?" The addressed woman suddenly smiled happier than ever before. Small tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. The black-haired woman repeated a little louder: "The answer is yes." Edward could no longer hide his surprise. He asked cautiously: “Are you serious, Selina? You will do it?” Catwoman nodded at the question. The black-haired man blinked in surprise and forgot to breathe for a moment. Gradually he broke out of the freeze and began to smile. The inventor spoke as if in a trance: “You actually want to do it. I'm speechless. Selina Kyle will accompany me to the altar. No lost soul in the underground will believe me.” In the background the music had started to play again, as well as the loud conversations between the candidates and villains. Before Edward could say anything, his companion suddenly ordered champagne from the young guy at the bar. The thief grinned broadly and replied happily: “I can't let my best friend alone and, above all, without female support on his way into a happy marriage. That would be irresponsible of me.” Two champagne glasses were filled with bubbly alcohol. The tinkerer was still stunned.

He rubbed his neck and replied almost tearfully: “Yes, absolutely irresponsible. That wouldn't occur to you in a dream, would it? You old hag.” The anti-heroine chuckled in amusement and put her arms around the Riddler's neck. He returned the hug without hesitation, clawing his fingers firmly into the woman's shoulders. He tried convulsively to blink away the emerging tears. They held each other for almost two minutes when Selina slowly released the hug. The Cat took one of the glasses in her delicate hands and handed the second to the inventor. He carefully lifted his glass and shouted to his companion, overflowing with positive emotions: "To our friendship, a hopefully perfect wedding and many more happy years in Gotham City!" The thief smiled mischievously and followed the tinkerer's gesture. She let her glass bump gently against his. Together they enjoyed the chilled alcohol and the unusually beautiful atmosphere in the Iceberg Lounge. Both villains for that brief moment forgot the heavy weight of their lives, bathed in a rare moment of happiness in the sleepless city of crime.

#DC #Batman #Scriddler #Riddlecrow #Edward Nygma #Selina Kyle #Jonathan Crane #Bane #Riddler #Catwoman #Scarecrow #Pre Arkham Verse #Love is in the air

[curechocolattymilk]

TES V OC Thingie

[Got tagged by @jessaryss​ ! ]

Pause your game! Wherever your OC is in their game currently, tell me about their story so far.

✧✧✧ General

Current Level: 56

Name: Jeer-Tei Perdes

Name Meaning: Literally got it from a name generator lol. But lore wise it was a name gifted to them in honor of an Argonian who served beside Tei’s mother during the Great War

Pronouns: They/Them

Age: Early 30s where they are story wise???

Race(s): Argonian

Place of Origin: Hammerfell

Pick A Theme Song For Them: oof that's tough... From a Crowded Wound or maybe even Firstwake? If you really played around w personal interpretation/the lyrics that is haha

✧✧✧ Locations

Where Did You Begin Their Game?: Argonian Assemblage, Windhelm (Alternative Start)

Where Are They Currently In Your Game?: Whiterun

What Are They Doing There?: Just finished attending a party held in their honor (Post Blood of Kings)

Homes?: Breezehome, Proudspire, Lakeview & Autmnwatch

# of Locations Discovered?: 274

Dungeons Cleared: 104

Misc. Quests Completed: 87

Favorite Areas and/or Locations: Falkreath / Lakewview Manor. Both areas are where Tei heads off to in order to collect their thoughts/feel some sense of calm.

✧✧✧ Main Quest

Are They Dragonborn / Do They Know It At This Point?: Yes & yes

How Do They Feel About Being Dragonborn: It's...complicated, being thrust into the role of savior by gods of the Cult, which in turn are followed by the folk who see you lesser than them. Tei already has a dislike towards the Divines, this doesn't really help lol

Main Quests Completed: 21

Where Are They In The Main Story Line: Alduin's dead, currently trying to ignore the Civil War as long as they can before the Empire forces its hand into forcing them to join their ranks

Dragon Souls Absorbed: In total overall? 147. The amount currently stored in Tei? 45

Words of Power Learned: 64

Shouts Mastered: 21

Favorite Shout: Firebreath / Dragonrend

✧✧✧ Combat

Most Used Weapon(s): Daedric war axe OR Dragonbone battle axe. Tei technically has both on them at all times during adventuring, alongside a shield, so which they used depends on the situation/which they grab fastest.

Combat Style: Two/One-handed tank. Main tactic is to rush in, cause as much damage/chaos as possible to shake up the opponent, & clean up what the ranged attackers of the party (usually Rumarin, Inigo and/or Lucien) weren't able to deal with.

Armor Type / Level In It: HEAVY ARMOR BABYYYYY (Level 100 + 35 extra points via enchantments)

# of Training Sessions: 99 in-game, lore wise its a lot of self-teaching/keeping their skills learned from Hammerfell sharp. Some of these are magic but lore-wise this doesn't happen cus Tei is not a magic user, save for shouts. I just did those in-game for exp OR so I can help Lucien raise his magic skills :'D

Who Taught Them?: In-game?? Fuuuck so many npcs. Lore-wise? They learned this from their schooling in Hammerfell, going off the canon-lore that it's p much expected for everyone to have a grasp on combat & weaponry! Though they did learn a few things from Kaidan & Anum-La.

Favorite Enemy Type: Dragons! Despite the fact Tei does not have the best magic resistance, it's one hell of a challenge they love to meet.

Least Favorite Enemy Type: Automatons, because of a bad experience with them as a child. Also Undead, because they were raised not to disturb them & it just feels so wrong having to fight them/go into tombs.

People Killed: 945

Animals Killed: 749 (Hunterborn makes hunting fun lol)

Undead Killed: 766

Automatons Killed: 105

Daedra Killed: 136

✧✧✧ Magic

Favorite School(s): None, actually. Destruction is okay though....they guess

Most Used Spell(s): Firebreath or Dragon Aspect. Tei doesn't consider shouts spells though. It's totally different guys shut up they ain't no smelly mage gods

Spells Learned: 9 in-game, mainly due to the spells you're kinda forced to learn for some quests/the ones you automatically know

Items Enchanted: 19 (Tei technically doesn't enchant, and wont next playthrough for sure I wont give in this time >:[ )

College of Winterhold Quests Completed: 8

Where Are They At In The Questline?: Main quest is done bcus i dont like seeing unfinished quests in my journal lmao. Tei's involvement is completely different from canon though in my take. Moreso was hired as a guard for the expedition & was, unwillingly, dragged into the rest of the mess. Is not offered the Archmage position, that went straight to Tolfdir.

Opinions on Magical Guilds (Arcane University, Winterhold, Psijics, Synod, Radiant Dark, etc.): As they get older, they tolerate the guild & magic users more n more, BUT, Tei grew up in an environment that frowns upon the practice of magic, & it shows. They mainly mistrust necromancers/illusionists & still hold onto that belief that reliance on magic, especially for combat, is a weakness.

Bold words for someone with shit magic resistance.

✧✧✧ Crime

Current Gold: 10,640

How Did They Acquire Their Gold?: Odd jobs, selling a lot of the items they made/harvested from smithing & hunting (jewelers are their go-to hirers bcus Tei is great at getting things like ivory), Dwemer ruin diving (they refuse to loot the tombs), also yknow....being part of the Dark Brotherhood helps

Largest Bounty On Their Head: 11,240

For...?: Unfortunately they did not stand down when they were being falsely accused of murder in Markarth. First time Tei called down dragons (Sahrotaar, specifically, Tei managed to get command of Miraak's dragons post-Dragonborn) to absolutely smite some fools.

Current Bounty: None! They're good at not getting caught/threatening and/or bribing guards. :)

Locks Picked: 15 i think?

Jail Time: 1, Cidhna Mine

Jail Escapes: 1, teamed up w the Forsworn lol

Murders: 28

Assaults: 307....In their defense people keep getting in their way during dragon attacks

Items Stolen: 37, most of them from the nobles of Windhelm

Thieves Guild Quests Completed: N/A (wont be doing this storyline unless i cant find a mod that'll let me get the shouts locked behind it)

Dark Brotherhood Quests Completed: 20

Where Are They At In Those Questlines?: DB is completed main arc wise!

✧✧✧ Relationships

Relationship Status: Married to two lovely fellas

Current Companions: atm? none

Housecarls: Lydia & Rayya

Friends (outside of party): Zora Fair-Child, Inigo, Lucien, Anum-La, Morndas, Aela the Huntress, Nazir, Babette, Scouts-Many-Marshes, Isobel, Madesi

Children: Khash, Chases-Starlight, Ram-Ku. (going of where Tei is now - Otero & Mei come around later on in Tei's story!)

Romantic Interest(s): Kaidan & Rumarin.

Sexual Orientation:

GAY

✧✧✧ Religion

Pantheon: Yokudan, with a hint of Hircine worship in there

Patron Deity(ies): From the Yokudan pantheon: Tei mainly views HoonDing as their main patron, but also prays to/pays respect to Satakal.

They are also Hircine's champion.

Daedric Quests Completed: 3 (Hircine, Vile, Dagon - the last Tei didn't really help, moreso pissed off)

Aedric Quests Completed: 1 if you count the whole Alduin thing I guess?

How Devout Are They?: Tei is rather devout, esp to their Yokudan patrons, praying or making offerings daily. They aren't the type to really push it in your face though, but have no issues answering questions one might have.

How Do They Feel About Talos Worship?: Deep down they acknowledge & admit trying to ban worship is terrible, but....Tei also lets their bias/experience with Windhelm, the Stormcloaks & especially Ulfric kinda cloud over this. If the Nords want their old ways so damn much, why fight for a divine from the Imperial Cult? Why not go back to the actual old ways? No, this isn't about worship, not to the men leading this so-called rebellion, they just needed something other than their racist bullshit to fool the common man into throwing their lives away for the nobles sitting comfortable in their thrones.

Also during their whole thing of getting into their role of dragonborn, they get a bonus 'fuck this dude actually' towards Talos, Ysmir, whatever the fuck he calls himself. (tldr; it sucks but good luck hearing Tei say that fully)

✧✧✧ Politics

Gray-Mane or Battle-Born?: Neither, ask them again they will punch you for the love of Ruptga they get asked that every time they enter Whiterun.

Stormcloaks or Imperials?: Also neither, Tei hates em both n think they can all choke. Unfortunately they were forced to join the latter due to, yknow, calling dragons & causing massive damage in Imperial territories during isolated fits of rage and the group being more aggressive in wanting something in return for "letting it slide"....oops

Opinion on the Thalmor?: Oh absolutely despises them, they loudly complained having to work with them during the CW & would go out their way to disrupt their plans/piss them off. Sneaking was an option they did not take during the Embassy quest, if it helps paint the picture.

Opinion Of Ulfric Stormcloak?: Tei doens't say they hate people often...but they sure as hell hate Ulfric. Again, their experience in Windhelm added to this heavily, how both the Dunmer & Argonians were treated like shit, with no help whatsoever from the Jarl or guards when the local Nords targeted them. It's still up in the air if I keep this for Tei's story, but I have it where they knew Chases-Starlight's parents, who were killed. When Tei went up & demanded justice/an investigation, only to be brushed off because it "wasn't a priority," it completely destroyed what little empathy or hope they had left for Windhelm as a whole.

Opinion of The Empire?: Cowards too weak to continue fighting back against the Thalmor, in their opinion, & holds these views they grew up with even when being strong-armed into aiding them. If anything they're at least attempting to use their influence to hint towards a rebellion against the Thalmor, but the Empire could also full-on dissolve & they could give less of a shit.

Civil War Quests Completed: 0

✧✧✧ Personal

How Are They Doing? Need Some Juice? A Nap? A Hug?: The whole event of Blood of Kings has fucked with their head, to say the least. It's the starting point of Tei's eventual spiral. So uh...yeah they're not sure how they're doing everything they knew about reality was kinda challenged & they don't rlly have anyone to talk to about it so its cool, its fine, its all good.

A nap is probably needed, not sure about a hug theough they're super flinchy rn

Days Past In Game: 196

Hours of Sleep: 846

Food Items Consumed: 1833

How Many Playthroughs Have You Done With This Character: Tei actually is an older character from the 360 days so uh...maybe 5 at most? This playthrough & their S:EC one coming up when the mod releases being the main ones focusing on their story

Overall How's Your Level Of Fun: Alright I would say! I just been stepping away from Skyrim more often lately to avoid burning out from it

Must Have Mods To Play This Character (for story or other reasons): Ordinator, Wintersun Faiths, Immersive Armors, Sarcastic Player Dialogue, 3DNPC, Inigo, Lucien Flavius, Kaidan 2, Khash the Argonian, Alternative Start, Leviathan Animations, Beast Race Body Paints, Beast HHBB, Apocalypse Magic, Deadly Dragons, Growl: Werewolf Overhaul, Pronouns, uhhh....idk what else without actually listing my current modlist lmao

----

And that's it for Tei! Anyone who wants to do this go on ahead!

#tes v #tes v skyrim #last dragonborn #ldb oc #jeerteiperdes #tes #skyrimblogging #oc meme #long post #character meme #finished this just in time for me to start registering for my online courses neato #also its almost 12am so if you notice any misgendering of tei (calling them he) lmk im tired haha

[tev-the-random]

What it Ursa took her children with her? - Pt.2

As we were saying:

Little over year has passed since the family arrived in Hira’a, and fateful news gets to them: Ozai remarried. His new wife is someone who is honoured to marry the Firelord and doesn’t mind the fact that his head is so deep up his own arse- anyway, and they are expecting a child, who is to be the Firelord’s legitimate heir.

Azula’s hopes and dreams are shattered. At age ten, she is quite literally being replaced in her beloved father’s life. It’s like she’s never even existed, and she can’t help but wonder what she did wrong.

Zuko is also upset, of course. All those years when Ozai told him he was unfit and worthless come flooding back. But somehow, he already expected things to turn out like this. Unlike Azula, he wasn’t so deeply feeding on hopes that things would go back to normal. He sees it more as a situation that was out of everyone’s control.

He convinces Azula it’s not her fault, and these kids will still be trying to understand and defend their father later down the road. There must be a reason for all of this, right? They start thinking of a reasonable scenario…

Ursa just feels sorry for the poor woman who has to deal with Ozai now.

So we get a timeskip: about three years came and went. Zuko and Azula – treated as kids and not as weapons – lead a peaceful and happy life whenever they’re not thinking of their father and everything they could be doing out there.

They have become known local troublemakers in their spare time. Kids know better than to challenge them, people know not to leave flammable goods out in the open – a strict policy regarding fireworks has been established after a chaotic incident – and failure to keep an eye on them this one time led to… well, let’s just say that the town is still unsure of whether or not they’re is being haunted by evil spirits.

They aren’t allowed anywhere near Forgetful Valley, but bold of you to assume they never tried. In-jokes arise.

‘No, I’m serious: that tree’s face looked exactly like yours, Zuzu. You really should befriend it,’ Azula mocks, remembering a particularly ugly tree they encountered in their adventure.

‘Sorry, I wasn’t looking at it. I was busy looking for whoever it was that asked you,’ Zuko retorts. ‘Since Forgetful Valley has all the kinds of crazy stuff.’

‘Maybe we should go back and look for your impulse control, then.’

‘None of you are going back in there,’ Ursa reprehends. ‘It was very irresponsible of you. Forgetful Valley is a dangerous place, you could have gotten hurt!’

‘Your mother is right, you know?’ Noren comments. ‘I’ve been to that jungle before, and it’s definitely not a playground. But I swear…’ He makes a dramatic pause. ‘I once saw Ursa’s sense of humour in there.’

The kids burst out laughing while Ursa sighs. ‘Since you can find such amazing things in the valley, dear, why don’t you go back there and find yourself actual funny jokes? I’m sure my sense of humour will be around the same corner.’

*More laughter*

(IDK, I write crappy comedy, ok?)

They still have a bit of a hard time making friends. I wouldn’t say they are shy, but they definitely have a talent to say the wrong things at the wrong times, and it’s hard to make deep connections. Sure, they would play with other kids from time to time, but in the end, Zuko and Azula are each other’s best friend.

They’ve cleared an area by the beach that any Hira’a resident knows to stay away from when they’re training.

Azula discovered a great passion for theatre. Not only are her acting skills fantastic, she also seems to be naturally aware of what makes a good scene. People say she’s Noren’s Little Assistant.

She hates being called Noren’s Little Assistant. She would much rather be called Ursa’s Little Star, because goddamn is she a good actress and she needs everyone to know that.

Zuko is more of a plant-lover guy. Unfortunately, he hasn’t inherited his grandmother’s green thumb, and despite Ursa’s best efforts to teach him, it seems like everything he touches dies.

He has grown to show a way with animals, however. Any variety of frogs and toads love him; lizards of all kinds are attracted to him like he’s a magnet; furry animals big and small adore him and any type of bird-like creature seems to think he is the best human being in existence. But his favourite animals are still the turtleducks.

Back in the palace, Iroh eventually learns of Ozai’s bullshit and how he got the throne in the first place. And you know what? The time has come for Iroh to draw a line in the sand. He confronts his little brother, who confronts him back by telling him that, should he try to tell anyone in the Fire Nation the truth – that Ozai was a top-grade traitor who actually had no right to the throne –, no one would believe him. Since his brother won’t be sensible, Iroh decides that’s it: he’s fucking out.

Now a fugitive from the Fire Nation, he somehow winds up owning a lovely traveling tea shop called the Jasmin Dragon. Most people don’t even suspect he is the fearful Dragon of the West, because he’s just so nice?

You can bet he serves blends of tea from all across the nations.

The tea shop is also a good cover up for his exchanges with the Order of the White Lotus. He gives and receives information, and does his best to help villages to either defend themselves or evacuate during Fire Nation attacks.

One day a member of the White Lotus travels to Hira’a for one reason or another and finds Zuko and Azula. This person then sends a letter to Iroh.

Iroh comes to Hira’a to visit the family. He’s glad to see they’re ok, even if he can’t stay for too long. But long enough for some Quality Time – these kids have grown so much!

Iroh doesn’t know of Ursa’s part in Azulon’s assassination, and only assumes she knew of Ozai’s plan. But now, it’s time that her children learned a couple of things, and he is willing to teach them, so that when the time arrives for them to meet their destiny, they should be able to choose wisely and face whatever comes their way. So he asks the children to accompany him in his travels.

Ursa doesn’t want to let them go. They’re children, they should be here living a peaceful life, not meeting some grand, dangerous destiny! What if something horrible happened to them?

Iroh understands the pain of losing a child. He doesn’t want to make Ursa spend her time worrying about losing two, so he respects her decision and soon leaves the town.

But the siblings are not about to just sit here when they know they’re destined for something greater. What incredible knowledge did their uncle hold? Did their father have something to do with this? They always knew there was more to their fate than just living in Hira’a for the rest of their lives, and this is their chance; it’s now or never.

Zuko and Azula are about to sneak out and follow Iroh when Noren spots them. But instead of trying to stop them – he is well aware that he can’t – he gives them two masks and some advice about never forgetting who they were.

Why yes, I am saying that they eventually take the masks and become partners in crime, Zuko as the Blue Spirit and Azula as the Red Spirit, because parallels.

They catch up with their uncle and adventures and shenanigans issue as Zuko, Azula and Iroh cross the Earth Kingdom.

Now imagine this trio: two of the most awkward firebending teenagers travelling with their old tea-loving uncle, who spits proverbs like he’s made of them. The possibilities for both hilarious and heart-warming moments are endless.

Iroh thinks himself a matchmaker. Whenever he thinks he sees some romance going on, he encourages his nephew or niece to make a move. His flaming cupid arrows do more damage than good, yet he only has good intentions at heart. Teens all around the kingdom encourage you to stop, sir.

Their new life is even more humbling than in Hira’a, since they are constantly travelling. But they manage, and they know their uncle is nothing but wise… even if Azula is still quite arrogant and manipulative, and Zuko is impatient and hot-headed, which can lead to a lot of conflict.

Iroh teaches them both how to create and redirect lightning. Zuko is better at redirecting than Azula. Creating it, on the other hand, is a bit more complicated, and both of them get their fair share of explosions while learning. Neither of them really gets a hang of it – although Azula is better at it than Zuko, that’s not saying much – for they still have a lot of identity-related turmoil inside them that won’t let them grasp the energy.

Guess who else teaches them? Other members of the White Lotus. Both Zuko and Azula get some swordsmanship Skills™ from Piandao, some different (and somewhat unwillingly taught) firebending technics from Jeong-Jeong and a lot of things from Bumi, including but not limited to: creative thinking, the art of patience, strategic planning, dealing with pirates and a surprising amount of rocks-related knowledge.

Bumi adopted Zuko and Azula and gave himself the role of Second Uncle. You cannot convince me otherwise.

So one day, little over a year after the siblings joined Iroh, they wind up in a city where this big circus is performing. Uncle Iroh decides to take his niece and nephew to see it. And oh, aren’t they surprised by who they see performing?

Even though Ty Lee was essentially the only one between her sisters to befriend Azula – and consequentially, the only one to periodically spend time in the palace with her –, Zuko and Iroh still have a hard time distinguishing her from the six other girls who look exactly like her, uncertainly calling her all different names before Azula snaps ‘you idiots, that’s Ty Lee!’.

The acrobat is so glad to see her friend again, because damn: it’s been nearly four years since they last saw or even heard from each other! And Zuko, I thought you were dead? This is such a neat reunion, there’s so much for them to talk about! And sure, the circus has to leave soon and so do the siblings, but Ty Lee reassures them that, if they ever needed her, she wasn’t hard to find. This isn’t the last we’ll see of Ty Lee.

Azula doesn’t let it show, but she resents Ty Lee a little bit for choosing to abandon her noble life. She really wishes she could have had a choice.

Uncle Iroh tells the siblings stories about the war that would have some day mesmerized them. But now, his opinions about those events and what he did as a prince general have changed; that, along with what the family sees in their journey – all the horrors brought to innocent people – gives Zuko and Azula a new perspective on what they used to think was a greater good. It will still take a while for Azula to understand that no, these people are no lesser than her and for Zuko to understand why any of that matters.

Iroh eventually tells them the truth about Azulon’s death. Or at least, what he knows of it: their father killed Azulon, banished them, took the throne by force and planned to gain more power at the expense of everyone. This is a lot to take in, and the siblings don’t quite believe it.

After four years thinking about it, Zuko and Azula decided to take their mother’s early words – they went to Hira’a to be safe – and formulate what for them was a reasonable scenario. They believe that Ozai never actually wanted any of this to happen. The whole family had to have been in danger, be it due to some political, social or personal threat, and Ozai wanted to take it all by himself to protect them. So he sent his wife and children away, concocted a plan with Azulon to cover for them and, once Azulon died and left him the throne, remarried to keep appearances. To Zuko and Azula, this makes perfect sense. And they thoroughly convince themselves of that.

They initiate an argument, thinking that Iroh is jealous of Ozai.

Their uncle sees these children are starting to stray from their path, but he knows this is a necessary journey for them. They will never be able to deal with reality unless they face it.

The siblings leave Iroh, planning to head straight to the Fire Nation capital and find out what really happened. Maybe now that they are older, it would be a perfect time to come back home; they surely could defend themselves from any threats.

Of course, they’ll be very disappointed to know that Ozai was just a bitch and never actually cared for any of them.

I don’t have a full formed idea about how their reencounter with their father would go down, but I say Ozai would officially banish both his children from the Fire Nation for trying to cause a commotion – which could easily be perceived as a threat. Not only that, but Zuko and Azula are the children of a traitor; cue for Ozai revealing what happened that night four years ago, confirming that he was the one to kill Azulon with Ursa’s help.

I also think that, after that day, the Firelord would have discreetly helped spread rumours about Ursa that would drag her name through the mud in the Capital – was she cheating on Ozai? Was she selling Fire Nation information to the Earth Kingdom? Was she planning a coup against the Firelord? Her crimes change from mouth to mouth. In the end, no one would take Zuko or Azula back unless Ozai wanted it. But he doesn’t. Not now, at least…

But Ozai also decides to play with his options: he plants a seed of doubt in his children’s minds; should they prove themselves useful later on, it would only take pulling a few strings for them to come crawling back to him. So he tells them that they needed to prove themselves for everyone to see that they weren’t traitors like their mother. They needed to prove their worth so that he could accept them.

Ozai goes a step further with Azula and tells her that, before his demise, Firelord Azulon had a plan. A plan to bring her back and put her in the leading, prestigious role she was always meant to get. But they needed to wait for the right time. There is a right time, Princess Azula. Your hopes were right all along, they will come for you eventually if you prove yourself.

The siblings have a lot to think about while they’re leaving the Fire Nation. They idolized Ozai so much all these years. But the undeniable truth came crashing down on their heads, spoken by the man himself. What would they do now? They didn’t think it possible, but their harsh actions made things so much worse: they couldn’t come back to their mother, they didn’t have many hopes of running into Iroh again, they can’t even set foot in their homeland anymore; Zuko and Azula are all on their own.

Maybe it’s time to turn a new leaf. It starts with them being fairly neutral, not completely loyal to either the Fire Nation or to the rest of the world. During this period, they would argue a lot about what to do or where to go next, getting separated and going their own ways before destiny makes them stick together again, over and over.

They manage to get a few deals and own a few favours here and there, become known thieves as the Spirits, and maybe meet up with Ty Lee’s circus every now and again. Life is hard.

But there is one thing that is about to be a beacon in their darkness…

Time to catch up to the show. Oh, you thought I wouldn’t go there?

Part 3 coming right up!

(I know I said this would be a two-parter, but it got ridiculously long, so I split it again. Three-parter now.)

#I planned on posting this much earlier #But I've been having some technical issues #I suppose it happens #This is still messy #And it will only get messier #It would be one long fanfiction #Avatar the Last Airbender #ATLA #canon divergence #Zuko #Azula #Ursa #Firelord Azulon #Firelord Ozai #(Bitchlord) #Uncle Iroh #Ty Lee #King Bumi #Order of the White Lotus #Part 3 should be up in less than a week if I get time to post it

[yanderecandystore]

What do you think of a yandere who's had their s/o for months and the s/o has become relatively compliant but then they wake up one day in tears from a nightmare from something that the yandere did to punish them in the beginning and they are in tears and the s/o admits that they are terrified of them (maybe they feel guilty for being scared because the yandere has been so nice to them but they can't shake the thought of the yandere hurting them)

I can't tell if this is a request or not, but I would love to discuss this a little bit.

My simple response is: 💅🏻👁️👄👁️💅🏻 yess????

Bring the angst, bring the sadness. I love myself some depressing fanfiction lol.

Also, I'm sorry for not answering you earlier, I was dealing with some stupid stuff.

TW: past abuse, victim blaming/gaslighting? coming more from the victim broken mind, I'm writing this as my vision is starting to drift to dreamland (I'm tired as fuck, boo). Delusional thinking.

Taunting

Waking up to terrible screaming at night isn't new to you or your neighbors. After you moved to this town a couple of months ago, you noticed that everyone in this place is pretty much accustomed with this type of event.

This town is sadly, very unsafe. You're currently living in the most humble area of the state, where everyone is pretty poor and can't afford for better conditions.

It's a terrible place honestly, good and humble people are subjected to violence, while the rich can at least sleep "peacefully" without worrying too much of being the next victim on the news.

You suppose your "lover" didn't have enough money to get you two a better place. That's a funny thought don't you think?

He had enough money to kidnap you and bring you to another state, buy an apartment in a crime filled area, and even sustain you two daily.

But of course, you're not complaining, there is nothing to complain, you're only pointing out the reality of the circumstances.

But, that doesn't mean that you aren't grateful for all of this, of course, you're just being a little too logical for your own good.

You know that you can't complain about your new reality, after all, it could be worse. If you complained, things would only start worsening.

Although the daily screams would come from strangers being assaulted outside of your window, today it was different. It was you the one who screamed.

You woke up in a sweat, after having an oh so familiar nightmare.

You dreamed about your first 3 weeks being inside this place, this room. It was terrible, every time you shivered, every time you cried, every time you yelled and fought back, he would yell at you, he would slap you, and he would ignore you.

But which was the worst punishment? Was it when he slapped you like you were nothing? Was it when he yelled at the top of his lungs about how ungrateful you were? Or was it when he would let you starve for being a brat, and ignore all your pleads?

You guess the third option.

But the second one, was a pretty close one. Not because it hurted you badly to hear that, it did, but the worst thing was that you knew that none of your neighbors would come to the rescue.

A man shouting at someone on the other side of a wall, and saying ludicrous things like how ungrateful the person was being and that he could literally die just for them wasn't an uncommon thing. Why would they bother to do anything if it could possibly put their own lives at risk?

Of course they wouldn't do anything. No one ever did.

You look around your bedroom, he is not here, maybe he'll stay at his work a little longer, at least you hope so.

You feel like you can let your emotions out while he is not around, not that he has been aggressive lately, it's just that you don't want to say why you're feeling the way that you are.

You're afraid of things going back to how they used to be. You don't want that again, you really don't want that again.

You're alone in this bedroom, curled into a ball while trying to comfort yourself. Your sobbing could be heard through the thin walls of your apartment. Your mind was being plagued by the anxiety eating you inside, and as things couldn't get worse, you heard the front door being opened.

He was usually cautious as to not wake you up, but he felt a little too nervous of leaving you all alone for such a long time without saying anything.

To say that he was eager to see you, would be an understatement. Maybe he thought you would run away in the meantime, or maybe, he started panicking knowing how dangerous this town is, or maybe he just felt exhausted and wanted to sleep as fast as he could.

Anyway, he wasn't being too cautious on making his presence heard. You on the other hand, was trying to get back to your sleeping state, or at least try to not sound as devastated as you were.

It would be a shame if all these months of being well-behaved had gone into absolute waste. You just recently started teaching yourself how to say "lover" when mentioning him.

Your sudden good behavior of course, didn't go unnoticed. Through these months he tried to make the best that he could to make this situation more pleasant, as although being a delusional man, he isn't a blind one.

It wouldn't take two brain cells to notice how unfairly he treated you in your first month of being with him. Granted, that he only noticed that when it was far too long.

I guess he didn't really know how badly it has affected you, as he thinks your behavior may be changing not only because of survival needs but also, maybe, love?

At least he hopes so, like I said, delusional.

He enters his room after getting his shoes off, he didn't know you were awake until the sudden sound of his belt sent shivers over your spine. You whimpered, as you remember how he would constantly use the belt to scare you, daring you to do anything too bad.

He never used it like that, but, again, he really didn't need to. The shock was already there, the damage was already done.

"- [Y/N]?" He asked softly, like he always does. How come the man calling your name now sounds so different from the one in your nightmares?

Or rather, the one from 4 months ago?

You respond sheepishly, trying to imitate a sleeping state, but what actually came out was more of a frightened plea for mercy.

Of course this didn't go unnoticed, it never does. He came closer to the bed so fast you didn't really think of a way to respond.

How can you respond? How can you lie? How can you tell the truth?

If you lie, you'll probably get a slap, if you say the truth, you'll probably be yelled at. What can you say?

The panic in this man's face is clear as daylight, yet you're more terrified of making that face be upset, than comforting this man's concerns about your well-being.

Yet he hasn't given up yet.

"- Please, tell me what is wrong [Y/N]. I'm here for you."

That's… Pretty much bullshit. You know it, deep inside your heart that you can't just trust him.

You feel like you're walking on eggshells. Even if he tries to make you feel more comfortable, you only panic at the thought of making him upset again.

What a night, don't you think?

A delusional kidnapper and his broken victim, two messy people trying to sleep while having a breakdown. One can't understand the other, even if they really try.

You let him cuddle you as he thinks he can make you feel better this way, and while he does that, you look out through the window.

You feel like the stars above are taunting your pathetic situation.

🍭꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍰꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡🍮꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖🍭

#yandere #yandere x reader #sheep's stuff #yandere male #yandere x reader scenario #yandere fanfiction #yandere fanfic #yandere short concept #short fanfic #yandere scenario

[x-ia-n]

regarding cryaotic

like most that is, or was, in the fanbase, i... admittedly have been such a huge fan of cry for years, been watching his videos since 2011/2012. 

when i say that i’m devastated, i actually am. not to the extent of his victims, but as someone who found comfort in his channel, who supported him for so long... it hurts.

his recent upload in his youtube channel absolutely caught me off guard.

the first time i watched it, i was too sleepy to even comprehend the words he was saying and actually thanked him for being open to us, his viewers, about the topic. because, oF cOurSe, to me, it was cryaotic, the one who could do no wrong.

to me, it was cry, whom i found comfort in. who was one of the people i drew strength from to accept myself for my sexual identity.

it changed when earlier this morning, i watched it again, and finally finally understood.

and i was absolutely disgusted. took down my comment.

i’ve loved his videos since elementary school, and had the BIGGEST admiration for him. my most favorite Youtuber and gamer, literally the only one i stuck with. i had so much love and admiration for him, so hearing this? seeing all the tweets and comments and knowing how young i was watching his videos and adoring him so much? 

i just feel so weird and disgusted and actually sick to my stomach when i realized the gravity of the actions he’s did, even if it is online. online or not, these are real people who suffer from real damages.

every bit of me is saying “you grew up idolizing him, it’s difficult being presented with a new fact that completely destroys your perception of who you thought cry would be.”

nine-year-old me was so entranced by his voice and his personality and his laugh and was really convinced that this has to be the most gentlemanly, kind-hearted, big brother-esque person ever, for years and suddenly slapped in the face with cruel reality that cryaotic was not.

cryaotic deadass admitted to cheating on his underaged girlfriend by being in relations with minors-- doesn’t matter if it’s online, it’s still grooming. it’s not an excuse that you weren't aware of them being minors, it’s your responsibility to know.

you do not groom someone because you have “low-self esteem”, it doesn’t happen bc you’re “immature”.

grooming a child isn’t a mistake, it’s a crime.

i’m absolutely dumbfounded at the amount of people that think this is forgivable and coddling him in the comment section.

i grew up watching his videos, actually idolized the man.

you don't have the right to "forgive" him unless you were one of the victims.

big part of my childhood or not, he has to be held accountable for his crime.

miss me with that "he sounds regretful" bullshit, ever heard of voice acting?

"he at least came forward about it." in that video, he didn’t give the full truth about the situation. lying by omission is still lying.

he gave a half-assed apology video that was four minutes long.

seeing all those people defending him and excusing his behaviour is just as disgusting. stop this blind love and adoration you have for him. he groomed underage fans, used his position in youtube to manipulate and mentally abuse them. you people can’t just sit there and be like “dOnt wOrrY wE fOrGive You” or “wOw yoU’re sOooOOo bRaVe FoR teLLinG uS tHiS.”

because he’s not brave.

he’s doing the bare fucking minimum of admitting his wrongs.

...could you even call it admitting? he mentioned it like once in the video, and then proceeded to give out excuses.

the ones who are actually brave? the girls he manipulated and hurt. they’re the real brave ones. 

what he did was horrible and disgusting, he needs to be held fucking accountable for his crime. understand what he did and understand just how fucking terrible it was. he. needs. to. be. held. accountable. stop blindly defending and forgiving him.

yes, cry got me through literally the toughest years of my life. and as a fan [ex-fan], the worst part of this whole situation is feeling conflicted, because as many good memories i have of him, all of that is tainted now. i've been watching him for around eight years at this point and i was YOUNG when i started watching him. of course this hurts for everyone, but not as much as it does for his victims.

the only way anyone could convince me that he's changed is that if he takes action and turns himself in.

[i don’t regret supporting him in the past, but as of now, i can’t bear to watch his content or hear his voice anymore.]

#cryaotic #chaoticmonki #fucking shit #fuck him

[outerjjbx]

Jiara July Jubilee

Day 3, 28th of July- AU day

words: 4k

Kiara Carrera watched in disbelief as yet another Bilia set off the alarms at her parents’ grocery store. They turned visible with a sigh, revealing to her that it was a blonde, disheveled looking boy. He sulked to the front desk, stolen items in hand.

Bilias we’re constantly trying to steal. When powers, or Dicios, first arrived, they were at the top of the food chain. They could get or do anything without getting caught, and everyone else began to resent them for it. Technology that could detect them was made to prevent them from stealing or committing any crimes, which was fine, but it was the stereotypes that did the damage. The Bilias that didn’t do anything wrong we’re shunned by society, and therefore had to turn to crime to survive. It was a dangerous cycle.

“What’s the point of being able to go invisible when you can’t do shit with it?” the boy mumbled as he placed a collection of canned goods and non-perishable food in front of Kiara.

“Go rob some other place. Your type’s getting on my nerves,” she replied as she grabbed the items and stacked them neatly beside her.

The boy studied her with a furrowed eyebrow. “What are you?”

“Mare,” Kiara told him.

The way his face lit up at that was no surprise. Mares were the most desired Dicio, on account of both their powerful abilities and intelligence. Most figures of power were Mares due to their brains and hearts, and they created the perfect blend of kind yet respected leaders. Being able to move water was just an added bonus.

The boy’s eyes widened. “Ugh, that’s so cool! Getting to control water? I wish! Instead I’m just stuck as a stupid Bilia.”

“Turning invisible’s pretty cool,” Kiara shrugged.

“I dunno,” the boy scoffed. “There’s all this bullshit technology now, we can’t do anything. We’re basically human at this point.”

“We’re all human,” Kiara reminded him. “Literally the only thing that differentiates us is our Dicios. You’re acting like we’re completely different species.”

The boy shook his head. “We basically are. And Bilias? We’re fucking dying off. I swear, the world’s against us. How are we supposed to survive when we can’t steal?”

Kiara raised an eyebrow. “Maybe you could get jobs and buy things like everyone else? Just a suggestion.”

The boy laughed as if that was the most ridiculous thing he’d heard. “Ha! Easy for you to say when you’re a Mare.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kiara asked, feeling herself get defensive.

“You know what it means,” the boy said. “Everyone wants to hire Mares ‘cause you’re the smart ones. All the other Dicios have things that make them useful, especially y’all, but Bilias? No, we were literally born to steal, and we can’t even do that. No one wants to hire an invisible kleptomaniac, so we’re just forced to rot.”

Kiara watched him rant, taking in his words. “What do you need this food for?”

The boy deflated and looked down, his passion drained. “My mom is sick, and my dad is... complicated.”

Kiara frowned, studying his solemn expression, his blue eyes filled with shame. “How old are you?”

The boy shrugged. “Sixteen.” he smiled bleakly and read her name tag. “Why, are you trying to pick me up, Kie- fuck, how do you even say your name?”

“Kiara,” she hummed. “What’s your name?”

“John James,” the boy replied, looking proud. “But I go by JJ. JJ Maybank.”

“Maybank?” Kiara repeated. “As in Luke Maybank?”

JJ flinched at the name. “I guess. How do you know my dad?”

“He used to be friends with mine,” Kiara frowned. “He’s kind of public enemy number one around here. He stole shit from my dad, the owner, or something. I don’t know.”

Truthfully, she did know. Her father had gone over the story countless times. He was constantly ranting about how she shouldn’t trust Bilias, and about how Luke Maybank had ruined his life. They were best friends in high school; an unlikely pair. They opened a business together, a grocery store where Kiara’s mom and Luke’s wife could sell their fruits and vegetables. It started off great, a sweet grocery store full of fresh food and joy. Then Luke Maybank got busted for fraud and for stealing from the company, and Fresh Carrera’s became the depressing place Kiara knew and hated.

“That sounds like him,” JJ sighed. “I guess I should leave, then. Sorry for wasting your time.”

He turned to leave, but some sort of awful moral code made Kiara call out to him. She held out a can of chicken soup, and he looked shocked as he took it into his own hands.

“For your mom,” Kiara said. “I can’t give you anymore, or my parents will literally kill me, but you can come back some time.”

JJ was staring at the can in his hands like it was a million bucks, and he was holding it like it was a cracked egg. “Thank you so much, Kie..?”

“Kiara,” she nodded. “But you can call me Kie.”

JJ smiled. “Thank you. I’ll pay you back, okay? I’ll get money, I’ll-”

“It’s okay,” Kiara interrupted. “Just promise to come back, and we’ll be okay.”

JJ looked giddy as he nodded and practically skipped out of the store. Kiara watched him go, bewildered by the boy. She had never met someone like him; someone so confident yet reserved at the same time. He had ranted about life’s cruelty without even knowing her name, but struggled to accept a can of soup he was previously going to steal. He was an enigma.

—

Kiara was coming back from her break the next day when a familiar voice caught her attention. She looked over to her coworker, Sarah, who was smiling amusedly at a talking JJ, her head titled as she studied him. She was a Vorso, which was similar to a mind reader in the sense that she could see into peoples’ heads. Vorsos never got clear thoughts from people, though; it was just mixtures of emotions and colours, with the occasional memory. They were powerful, but often condescending and sometimes narcissistic. Sarah was alright.

“Y’all okay?” Kiara asked as she approached the pair.

JJ grinned ear to ear when he saw her. “Kie! I was just talking to Sarah here. She’s a Vorso, isn’t that cool?”

Kiara nodded. “Yeah, it is.”

“Wait, can you read me when I’m invisible?” JJ asked, practically buzzing with excitement.

Sarah shrugged. “Only one way to find out, right?”

JJ disappeared, and Kiara had to admit that it was weird. She has seen Bilias reappear many times after they’d been caught shoplifting, but there was something about seeing them disappear that was even more unnerving. It was hard to believe JJ was still there.

Sarah shook her head. “I’m not getting anything, man.”

JJ was beaming when he reappeared. “Really? Oh, that’s awesome!”

Kiara watched the pair smile at each other, growing unreasonably uncomfortable. “So, what have you guys been talking about?”

“Anything,” Sarah shrugged, giving Kiara a knowing look.

Kiara turned to JJ, ignoring her coworker’s stare. “Hey, I still have to hold up my end of the deal. Wanna go get something?”

JJ grinned and bounced away, headed straight for the canned goods aisle. The girls watched him go, both equally perplexed by everything about him.

Sarah lowered her voice as soon as he was out of sight. “You’ve known him for, like, a day and you’re in love with him? Calm down, Kiara, your emotions are spiky!”

“I’m not in love with him!” Kiara whispered back. “I am amused and interested, okay?

One thing about Vorsos were that they really didn’t have any boundaries. They knew exactly what everyone was thinking, so they figured they didn’t need them. That never stopped Kiara from wanting to shrivel up and die every time one of them read her.

Sarah raised an eyebrow. “Are you forgetting that I can see inside your head? And let me tell you, it is messy in there. You care so much for him, and- what is that, jealousy? I-”

“He’s coming back!” Kiara hissed, cutting the other girl off. Sarah smirked at the flushed look on her friend’s face and watched JJ round a corner.

He returned with what had to be the largest can of tinned peaches in the store. He smiled sheepishly at Kiara’s expression as she studied it, Sarah looking over her shoulder.

“You can have it,” Kiara sighed.

JJ jumped and clasped his hands together. “Thank you so much you absolute queen! Do you want me to stay, or should I haul ass?”

Kiara waved her hand. “You should probably get out before my dad catches you.”

JJ nodded and turned to leave, the giant can in hand, but paused and suddenly returned. “Almost forgot,” he said as he pulled out a piece of paper and grabbed a nearby pen. He scribbled something down and saluted the girls, leaving before they could read it.

Kiara couldnt help but smile as she pieced up the piece of scrap paper. She bit her lip as her cheeks flushed, praying Sarah somehow couldn’t sense what she was feeling.

Of course, Sarah just chuckled lightly and shook her head. “Not in love with him, huh?” she teased as she turned to go back to her counter.

Kiara didn’t bother denying it. She just clutched the paper tightly, feeling stupid by how flushed she felt but not doing anything to change it. She looked at the exit, where JJ had just left, and let herself enjoy the odd rush of happiness his actions has cause. She looked down at the number scribbled out onto the piece of paper and slowly typed it into her phone.

-

JJ and Kiara had spent almost the whole night talking. She was a wreck in the morning, struggling to get up despite the excitement coursing through her veins at the thought of seeing JJ. She had discovered the previous night that they had a lot in common; the only real differences were their Dicios and social stance.

Her parents looked concerned as they all sat down for breakfast. Kiara was picking at her food, too exhausted to even take a bite. She kept staring off into space, and she probably looked like a mess.

“Are you alright, honey?” Anna, her overbearing mother, asked gently.

Kiara blinked, barely processing the words. “Uh, yeah.”

“You look tired,” her father, Mike, cut in. “You don’t have to work. Do you want today off?”

Kiara processed that. She quickly shook her head. “No, no. I’m fine. I wanna work today.” She couldn’t risk missing JJ.

Mike nodded, but he didn’t look convinced. “Alright, but I don’t want you to overwork yourself. It’s Summer vacation, you can stop working now.”

“No, I don’t want to,” Kiara said. She has wanted to quit her job since the second her parents gave it to her, really, and was only working so she could afford to go on a wildlife retreat with Sarah. She had a new motivation to stay, though, and that was in the form of a tall, lanky, blue eyed boy. She couldn’t tell her parents that, though; not while knowing how much her parents would hate him. He was Luke Maybank’s kid, after all, and a Bilia. It was a classic Romeo and Juliet situation.

Kiara jumped when her phone buzzed, revealing a text from JJ that mentioned seeing her at the grocery store. She stood up, abandoning her breakfast, and waved her parents goodbye as she rushed out the door, ignoring their concerned shouts. She already had her employee bag with her, and clocking in early wouldn’t do her any harm. She knew that it was ridiculous to be so eager, and because there was still bound to be at least an hour before JJ arrived, but she couldn’t help her excitement.

She paused in the middle of the street as it dawned on her that Sarah was right. Maybe she wasn’t in love with him, but she definitely liked him. She had known him for two days and was running to the place she dreaded just for the chance to see him. She’d never felt that way about anyone before.

Someone bumped into her, alerting her that he has just frozen in a very public area. She turned red as she continued walking, acting more reasonably now that she had remembered there were people around. Every now and then, someone would look at her oddly, their eyes lingering for just a moment too long, and Kiara knew they were Vorsos sensing that she was overwhelmed. She brushed the stares off and and walked into Fresh Carrera’s, relieved to see Sarah.

“Woah, hey, are you alright?” Sarah asked the second she saw her. It was probably already clear that Kiara was a mess, but her emotions were sure to be a much more accurate teller.

Kiara sighed. “You were right. I like JJ.”

Sarah, grinned and gently pushed her arm. “Yeah, I know. I’m always right. But seriously, are you okay? No offence, but you look terrible.”

“None taken,” Kiara yawned. “I was talking to JJ all night. I got, like, two hours of sleep.”

“Why’d you bother coming in?” Sarah asked. “Do I need to remind you that you’re the owner’s kid? Your last name is literally on this building.”

Kiara blushed. “Yeah, but, JJ might be coming in today.”

Sarah smiled slyly and nodded. “Oh, I see. You’re waiting around for a chance to see your boyfriend, huh? Okay, okay. I see you.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Kiara said, adding a roll of the eyes for affect. “But, yeah, I wanna see him.”

“Me too,” Sarah grinned. “He’s cute. Absolute eye candy.”

Kiara gasped and pushed her friend’s shoulder. Sarah giggled and ducked away, preparing to push Kiara back when she stopped and a grin stretched across her face.

“Cutie’s here,” she said, her voice low so JJ, who was waving at the pair, wouldn’t hear.

Kiara spun around, her eyebrows furrowing as she got a good look at JJ’s face. There was a bruise blossoming against his cheek, accompanied by a small cut on the same spot. He was smiling so widely that she wasn’t even sure he knew it was there.

“What happened to your face?” she asked.

JJ shrugged. “Got in a fight with a Cursor. Cocky bastards.”

For a second, Kiara believed him. Cursors had the ability to move quickly, but they were as dumb as a rock and their egos stretched to Mars. It wasn’t too far fetched for him to have gotten in a fight with one, especially since he was a Bilia. It was when she saw Sarah that she realised something was up. She was staring at him, her head titled and her mouth slightly ajar, her eyes darting back and forth. She was seeing something, and it wasn’t good.

Sarah wasn’t saying anything, but JJ almost looked nervous that she would. The two were staring at each other, Sarah trying to decipher his secret as JJ tried desperately to hide it. Kiara just watched them, wishing she could see whatever was going on in their heads.

Eventually, Sarah looked away, shooting a concerned look in her coworker’s direction. Kiara returned the expression before she was pulled away by JJ, who was back to grinning like he usually would. She searched his eyes for a moment, trying to see whatever Sarah had. She wasn’t a Vorso, though, and there was no telling what Sarah had seen.

“Are you okay?” Kiara asked gently.

“Of course,” JJ quipped. “Are you? You look tired.”

Kiara’s chuckled. “Yeah, thanks to you. I was up all night because of your relentless texting, man.”

JJ smiled, knowing she was joking. “Oh, you loved it.”

The bickering continued for a while, eventually ending with JJ grabbing more peaches and going. She walked over to Sarah as soon as he was gone, the question on her mind obvious.

To her surprise, Sarah just shrugged. “It’s not really my place to tell.”

Kiara took those words in, trying to decipher what they meant. It was obvious Sarah knew what had happened with JJ, but she’s usually tell her everything. Sarah never stopped talking, and she over-shared everything she’d learnt. JJ’s secret must have been terrible if it meant even Sarah wasn’t letting it go.

-

Kiara was buzzing with excitement as she waited for JJ to arrive the next day, but that grew into worry as hours passed and there was still no sign of him. She texted him, a quick ‘where are you?’, and waited again.

And waited.

And waited.

And he never arrived.

The next day, the same thing happened, and it happened again the day after that. Kiara hadn’t spoken to JJ in three days when she began to get anxious. There were so many possibilities, each of them equally terrible, and just thinking about them made her stomach twist.

She rushed to Sarah, who was serving a shopper, and waited until she was done. Sarah noticed her distress and approached her slowly, looking concerned.

“What’s wrong?”

“I haven’t heard from JJ in three days and I’m really worried,” Kiara rambled. “I know he couldn’t have just ghosted me or something, but he’s not like that, you know? We’d only been talking for a little while, but I feel like I really know him, and this isn’t like him at all. I’m really worried, cause I don’t know what happened, and it could be anything. Like, what if he tried to shoplift and got arrested, and now he’s just sitting in jail with no one to bail him out? Or what if whatever happened the other day that you won’t tell me about happened again, but worse? Or-”

Sarah placed a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay. We’ll find him, alright? My shift ends in fifteen minutes, and we can leave then. I know some Bilias we could text in the meantime, they might know him.”

Kiara nodded, calming down as Sarah pulled out her phone and dialed a number. “Hey, John B? Yeah, it’s me. Yeah, yeah, I’m good, I’m fine, I’ve just gotta ask you a question. Okay, do you know a JJ? He’s a Bilia, like you. Oh, really? Great! Do you know where he might be? Wait, you haven’t seen him? Shit, we haven’t either. Yeah, he’s been stopping by at the grocery store. My coworker’s in love with him. Yeah, Kiara. He told you? Cute. But, seriously, she’s really worried. Do you know where he might me? Uh huh. Yep. Okay, thanks. I’ll see you soon.”

Sarah hung up. “Okay, John B says he’s gonna meet us with another friend, and then we’re going to drop by his house. They’re best friends, isn’t that such a coincidence?”

“Okay, that’s great,” Kiara said, “but did he say anything about what’s been up? Does he know what’s wrong?”

Sarah shook her head. “No, he’s just as clueless as us. He says JJ does this a lot, though, so you shouldn’t worry.”

“Where is he usually?” Kiara asked.

Sarah shrugged. “John B said they usually just find him at his house, or that he eventually wanders over to his place. I’m sure he’s fine.”

Kiara exhaled shakily. “Should I be this worried? Is it weird?”

“No, you care about him,” Sarah replied. “And he cares about you too. I can tell.”

The pair waited for a while in an uncomfortable and stressful silence. Sarah perler up when a van pulled up outside, and a tall boy with dirty blonde hair and a bandana around his neck walked out, accompanied by another boy that was talking about something the other wasn’t listening to.

“Hey, Sarah,” the first one greeted. “This is Pope, and you must be Kiara. I’m John B.”

Kiara nodded, and then waved at Pope, who smiled shyly and looked down.

“Can we go now?” Kiara asked, motioning to outside.

John B led them into the van. “You seriously don’t have to worry. He disappears a lot. It’s usually just family stuff, but he’s always fine. He’ll be fine.”

Kiara has never been in the Bilia part of town. They were secluded from everything else, living in small, run down houses. Her parents always warned her to stay away, and she’d listened until she met JJ. She had never believed that a Bilia could be someone she would care so much about.

“This is it,” John B said as pulled up in front of a small, one-story house Kiara would barely call a home. It was messy, covered in wild plants and cracked paint.

The teens all clambered out of the van, John B and Pope in the lead as the girls trailed behind them uncertainly. The boys looked around for a moment, circling the house quietly, searching for something.

“His dad’s not home,” Pope told them as they came back. “We can go in.”

Kara was relieved by that. She didn’t think she could face Luke Maybank, even if he didn’t know who she was. If he was as bad as her dad said he was, she didn’t ever want to meet him. She couldn’t imagine how hard it was to have him as a dad.

She froze, suddenly piecing something together. The bruise on his face, the terrified look on Sarah’s face. She didn’t want to think it was true, but was it his own dad that had done that? Her heart felt like it was going to burst from her skin, and she was about to spiral when her thoughts were interrupted by a quiet “oh, shit” from John B.

She hadn’t even noticed that they were in the house. Pope and John B were staring at something, but Kiara couldn’t see anything where they were looking. She looked to Sarah, who seemed just as confused as she was. John B knelt down, his arms outstretched, and the girls both gasped as JJ suddenly appeared.

He looked absolutely wrecked. His knees were pulled to his chest and his eyes were bloodshot and filled with tears. He was crying silently, but it turned into sobs as soon as John B pulled him into a hug. Kiara felt her breathing restrict as she watched, frozen.

“She’s dead,” JJ sobbed. “She’s dead.”

His mother. Of course. Kiara had almost forgotten, but it was one of the first things he mentioned to her. It was the reason she let him take the can of chicken soup, and why she told him to come back. It was the reason it had all happened, but she hadn’t even remembered.

She sat down beside him and began running her fingers through his hair. He leaned into the touch, and Kiara felt an odd swell of pride as he began to calm down. She gently ran her hand up and down his arm, bringing him closer to her as his breathing began to even out.

“Hey, watch this,” she whispered, taking out a small drink bottle she always kept with her.

JJ lifted his head, watching as she rose the water from the bottle and made it swirl around. She made it circle in front of JJ, making little shapes and patterns. He just stared at it, eyes wide and fascinated, as it turned into a little floating love heart. He looked mesmerised, tears forgotten, and the other three teens were in a similar state of awe.

She played with the water for a while, letting JJ tell her what to turn it into or where to make it go. Eventually, he was smiling, and Pope, John B and Sarah walked out of the room. Kiara head ached from how long she’d been using her Dicio, but she didn’t mind if it meant JJ was happy. She’d do anything to comfirm that.

“Thank you,” JJ said, his voice hoarse. “You’re pretty cool.”

Kiara let a single droplet of water fall on his nose, making them both laugh. “You are too.”

#jiarajuly #jiara #jj x kie #jj x kiara #writing #jiara july #madison bailey #obx netflix

[hollyxqx]

chained  //  yoongi  //  02

↪ PAIRING: Min Yoongi/Reader ↪ SUMMARY: Min Yoongi, a demon, has been ordered to protect you as punishment for his crimes; no matter what…and he’s not happy about it. ↪ WORD COUNT: 5k

↪ WARNINGS: general violence | rough sex | dark themes | more filthy demon sex

a/n: i’m sorry this took forever to get published. believe it or not it actually went through three re-writes, which is why i’ve added a third chapter. if you’re a little confused/surprised by this part don’t worry, all will be revealed :D  ALSO, I don’t know if anyone noticed but this story is heavily inspired by the show A Korean Odyessy, which I def recommend! thanks for being so patient and I hope everyone enjoys this part!

ONE | TWO | THREE

The next day when you awoke the first thing you felt was pain.

Not only had Yoongi really pounded you he'd bit your neck also. It seared with pain and you felt stiff as you rolled over. It had felt good at the time but you were suffering now. Your body ached.

You stood, slowly, your muscles screaming at you and started to dress. The words Yoongi spoke about your outfit the night before ringing in your head.  The mirror on your nightstand revealed a freshly healed, painstakingly obvious set of teeth prints on your jugular. Already there was some dark purple, almost black bruises forming. You slipped on a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie and made your way to your living room. Yoongi lay on your sofa, an arm slung across his face covering his eyes. You wondered if he was sleeping.

"Y/N." He slowly sat up, wincing a little. Definitely not sleeping, then.

"You're still here." You said, feeling a little awkward seeing as you literally had sex only a few hours ago.

"Something is wrong." You froze a few feet away from the sofa. He turned to look at you and his eyes were back to that fiery hazel colour you recognised.

"What's going on?"

"You're in pain and it's causing me pain." He held in a groan, face screwing up as he spoke. You noted the tattoo around his neck that was peeking out of the collar of his shirt looked as if it was glowing. Did it do that before? You swore it didn't.

"Didn't that happen before?" You asked uncertainly.

"Yes. But now it's tenfold. I can feel...everything."

You walked over to where he sat, keeping yourself a few feet away. For some reason you didn't want to get too close to him but you weren't sure why, something instinctual flaring up within you. "I'm not sure I understand. You're saying it's suddenly worse?"

"Yes." He looked distressed. Upon closer inspection he looked like he was sweating. "I can practically hear your thoughts y/n. That's definitely fucking new."

"You can hear my thoughts?" You repeated, astonished. It felt almost as if he was playing some ridiculous joke on you.

"I phrased that wrong." He shook his head. "Not literally, it's more like an instinct. It always was but it's so intense I can't even really feel what I'm feeling."

"Is this because we...we, uh, had sex?" You really didn't want to discuss this with him after yesterday, intent on just moving on like it never happened but you hadn't expected to see him like this.

"Don't flatter yourself, human." He scoffed. You instantly felt as if you were a few inches tall, ego thoroughly bruised. "It's because I ingested your blood. Human blood doesn't normally do this to me, I think it's - clashing, with the binding spell."

"Will it pass over time? You won't be like this forever right?" You asked curiously.

"I have no idea. This is new."

You thought for a moment about what to do. Yoongi had helped you out so much you only wanted to return the favour. However you knew nothing about his world, the rules that he was bound to or why you were even involved in the first place. So you took a shot. "Would it help if you left? You don't have to stay with me."

"I tried, y/n." He said. The hurt that you felt about him trying to skip out on you was palpable. "My skin burned more intensely with each step I got away from you. Even just you being in my proximity now has made a difference. It's not hurting so much anymore."

"Oh."

You were dumbfounded. None of this made any sense to you. Unconsciously you fiddle with the sleeves of your hoodie. What was going to happen now? What if this was permanent? You had to go to work at some point, it's not as if Yoongi could accompany you. How would you even begin to explain that?

"How is your neck? I can feel you're hurting. I did some damage huh?" His eyes flashed with something dark, intense and stormy. Instantly flashbacks of his body melding with yours burned in your mind's eye.

"It's sore." You admitted, absent-mindedly touching at it.

"I can help." He suggested.

"How?"

"Come here and take that hoodie off." He commanded. You didn't move at first, weary of what exactly his intentions were. Nearly an entire minute passed (which felt like an eternity when no one is doing anything) before Yoongi huffed and bridged the gap himself, yanking at the bottom of your hoodie, pulling it up and over your head.

You were left in your nightshirt from earlier and you were still braless. To say the least, you felt exposed. "What are you doing?" You asked as he tugged the neckline of your shirt to reveal you neck fully. His palm hovered over your injury but did not make contact. After a few moments a warm sensation surged through you, as if someone was pouring warm water on your neck. The feeling took over your entire insides, all the way to your finger tips and toes.

"That should help." He murmured.

Immediately your hand went to your neck. The skin felt tender but the scab of his teeth indentation was gone. You walked over to the small mirror that hung on the wall to see for yourself. The injury was gone, your flesh tickled pink from whatever magic he had used.

"Woah," You breathed. "Freaky. What else can you do?" You muttered, more so to yourself than anything.

"More than you'd be able to comprehend." He smirked meeting your gaze in the mirror.

"Well, either way - thanks." You told him. You turned around and reached for the clothing you'd just removed suddenly feeling vulnerable once more. Yoongi's hand darted out to your wrist ceasing your movements. Confusion washed over your features as gave him a questioning look. "What - "

"This is awful." He muttered. "I have this ridiculous desire to be close to you now."

"Oh, um..." You trailed off, unsure of where to even begin in response to that.

"My brain is just screaming at me to throw you on the couch and take you again, just like I did last night."

The blush that crept up your cheeks was instantaneous at his words. "Won't that make whatever is happening to you now worse?" You ask uncertainly.

"Honestly the urge to have you is kind of clouding my rationale here. I don't care if it does. I'll risk it." He drew you close to his lean body, pressing himself against you. You were almost in a trance as you went, unable to look away. "You smell like me." He hummed. His face was so close you felt his hot breath against your lips.

"Like you?"

"Like mine."

In a flash his lips are on yours and his hands on your waist. The kiss is hungry, perhaps even hungrier than the night before. He walked you backward until your body collided with the wall behind you, rattling a picture frame that hung there. Yoongi hiked up one of your thighs, wrapping it around his hip, pressing his visible hardness into you. Both of you let out audible groans of need.

"You really want to do this here?" You manage to get out inbetween kisses. "You know humans fuck in a bed right?"

He let out a breathless laugh at your joke. "We can do that later too if you want. Right now, I'm having you here."

Yoongi doesn't even wait to completely undress you, opting to shove your shirt up to your collarbones and your pants down. Your hands slid along the hardness of his chest, down his stomach and to the hem of his shirt, hinting at him to remove it. He doesn't think twice about it, tearing the garment off at lightning speed.

Now that he's bare you can see more of the tattoos around his neck. For a moment it distracts you but you're brought hurtling back to reality when he roughly pushed his cock into you, barely giving you any warning. "Fuck," You involuntarily gasped at the sensation. It was bordering on painful, given how hard he'd fucked you just a few hours ago.

"Shit, I didn't mean to hurt you." He stilled inside you as he gripped your legs that were round his waist.

"It didn't hurt." You lied.

"Y/n, I felt it. Don't bullshit me." He reprimanded. You wiggled a little, having now adjusted to his size. His cock twitched impatiently within you. "Better." He murmured, kissing you.

He began to push in and out of you, going at an uncharacteristically slow pace, watching your face carefully for reaction. His mouth was slack and he had that look in his eyes again; the one where he looked at you as if you were his favourite meal and he hadn't eaten in years.

"Feels good," You whisper, eyes squeezing shut in pleasure. "Keep going."

Yoongi pounded into you harder as you requested. You were crushed between his burning hot skin and the wall, but it wasn't a bad feeling. You felt protected. "Shit, you like this." He growled as his hips slapped against the backs of your thighs. The pleasure you were feeling radiated throughout him as well. "You like it rough huh?"

"I guess." You squeaked, barely able to manage a coherent thought and throwing your head back. It hit the wall with a dull thud. "Fuck - Yoongi." You moaned.

"I can feel how much you're enjoying my dick in you." He chuckled, nosing at your neck. You tensed, concerned he might bite you but as if he could read your mind he said, "Don't worry babe, I'm not going to feed on you. This time."

He pushed harder into you, moving your body higher up the wall. The new angle was glorious and you felt yourself getting very close to coming. The animalistic noises that fell from his mouth only turned you on more, the fact that he was eager to the point of letting go like that for you - for your body - was thrilling.

"I'm gonna cum, Yoongi!" You cried out as you felt yourself squeeze his cock, another intense orgasm courtesy of the demon fucking you. He was relentless, barely in control. You stared at him as he devoured you, noting how his eyes had gone back to that firey shade once more. You don't recall anyone ever having this much desire for you. It was overwhelming.

When he came a few brutal thrusts later he buried his face in your neck, practically growling your name into your skin. It was only when the high started to wear off you became aware of the vice grip he had on your thighs. There would no doubt be bruises there later.

"This feels too good with you." He groaned as he lifted his head up. You expected him to put you down but he surprised you with a gentle kiss to your lips, a stark contrast to what had just transpired. "I don't normally finish that fast." He laughed.

"Sure," You replied sarcastically along with a laugh of your own. "Put me down, I need to shower."

He slowly pulled his cock out of you and set you on the ground, smirking when you stumbled a little. "I can join you if you want."

***

Later that same day (after another two rounds of sex) Yoongi lay awake as you napped peacefully beside him. You were curled on your side with one hand under your head, thin sheet draped over your naked torso. You looked serene. He could feel it in his chest that you were content and as much as it pained him to admit it, that made him pleased.

He wondered what was so special about you. Why were you so unique that the universe had granted you blood that made him crazy? Without even having to test the theory he knew other demon's would want you too. Frankly, he was concerned none of them had ever gotten to you before.

They definitely wouldn't now he was here. He'd make sure of that.

You stirred beside him, unconsciously reaching for him in your sleep. Your hand made contact with his bare chest. He placed his hand atop of yours securing it there, even some amount of skin to skin contact felt good. He had anticipated this new strong connection to weaken over the last few hours but it hadn't. Yoongi was concerned. That was not normal.

As much as he knew he should have never fed on you, the last few hours of pleasure made him realise he would do it all over again if given the chance. He'd never felt that good before. It was intoxicating and he worried he'd never find the willpower to stop. He was supposed to be a protector, not your lover.

Who would have thought that a human would be Min Yoongi's downfall, he ridiculed to himself as he drifted off to sleep. Not him.

***

Eventually you had to leave. You had human responsibilities, Yoongi was more than aware of. Not that it made him any less grumpy at the prospect of the physical pain that would come without you. He had no choice other than to grin and bear it.

For some reason, alcohol helped the pain. Yoongi had found some in your kitchen cupboards. He had known that it worked for humans, so he was pleasantly surprised when it worked for the agony the spell was bringing him. Any relief, however temporary was welcome at this point.

While you were at work his plan was to feed. Having fed on you twice now he didn't want to risk a third time. It was clear to him that it took a lot out of you by the way your energy levels dipped. You seemed lethargic as you readied yourself that morning. Not only would it be unwise to drink from you, it would be downright idiotic.

Unfortunately, he was hungry, which meant venturing out into the world.

His time on Earth thus far he had fed hundreds of times, usually opting for some scumbag human that deserved to die or at least suffer, as if he was some kind of chaotic vigilante. He was very much looking forward to the thrill of a fresh kill as he made his way out onto the streets.

It would be considerably more difficult to attack in the daylight, but he was a seasoned hunter. The ability of super human strength didn't hurt either.

Yoongi staked out one of his 'regular' haunts. A cafe a few miles from your apartment that teetered on the bad side of town. He would people watch for a while until he saw his target. It didn't take long for him to find exactly what he was looking for. It took even less time to drag the unsuspecting victim around the back of some industrial buildings where he could rip their throat out in peace.

He threw the lifeless body of his victim to the ground with little regard when he had finished eating, feeling much more like himself. Spending so much time around you lately had disconnected him slightly from his true sense of self, something he hadn't noticed until now. He dragged the body behind a dumpster. When he had successfully hidden the corpse he turned round to face something he hadn't encountered yet on earth.

Another demon.

"Min Yoongi, as I live and breathe."

He recognised him instantly. The scar's on his face and hands, messy black hair and hooded eyes. Taehyung was rather infamous back in his world. Notoriously reckless, ruthless, with a  don't-give-a-fuck-attitude to boot. Yoongi thought he was an annoying little shit who caused more trouble than he was worth.

The first time their paths had crossed was when Taehyung antagonised a group of much older, much more powerful demons, almost getting himself obliterated in the process. Yoongi had reluctantly saved his life. Yoongi had also regretted it ever since.

"Why are you here on earth?" Yoongi practically growled, using the sleeve of his forearm to swipe at the wet blood staining his lips and chin. He spat some excess onto the floor.

"Checking up on you, brother." Taehying grinned lopsidedly, dark hair flopping in his eyes. His arms folded across his chest and all Yoongi could think about was wiping the smug smile off of his face. No doubt the younger demon was loving the fact that Yoongi had been exiled.

"No need, brother." He sneered, mocking the supposedly friendly term.

"Are you sure? How's that human of yours?" Taehyung's head cocked to one side. "Dead yet?"

"If she was, you would have gotten word already." His eyes narrowed. "What do you really want Taehyung?"

"Maybe I've got a message. Or maybe.... I just wanna mess with you." He laughed.

Yoongi rolled his eyes and made to push past him but not without giving him such a rough shoulder barge that Taehyung stumbled. "Fuck off." He muttered as he walked away.

"You're in trouble, Yoongi!" Taehyung called after him. Yoongi stopped dead in his tracks.

"What the fuck does that mean?" He hissed over his shoulder only partially looking at the other man. His fists balled at his sides.

"You think I can't smell that human stench on you? You've been a naughty boy Min Yoongi."

"I don't know what you're talking about." He lied. Did he really smell like humans? Perhaps it had been the months he's spent on Earth, but the way Taehyung was speaking sounded like insinuated something else.

"Intercourse," Taehyung snickered, putting on a posh voice. "Is not allowed with humans. You know that."

Yoongi was well aware of that. However given his banishment he didn't think the rules of the underworld were applicable to him anymore. How can you be punished for breaking the rules of a world you were no longer part of?

"Why are you telling me this?"

"You're supposed to protect that human." Taehyung began. "It's dangerous for you to be in a relationship with her. You don't know what will happen."

"I'm not in a relationship with her."

"Whatever it is you're doing with her is not right. You're not supposed to be so involved." He stressed. "You fed off her."

"What? How - "

"I can sense it, you're not you. The smell, your eyes, everything. I'm telling you this is dangerous. Stop it and do what you're supposed to be doing."

"Or what?" Yoongi huffed with a mocking laugh. "I'll get exiled, again?"

"I don't know...but I do know, this is going to end badly, brother."

Yoongi stalked off without another word, cursing Taehyung under his breath for the rest of the afternoon.

***

When you returned from work you’d expected Yoongi to be there, but to your slight disappointment he was not. He wasn't your pet, it would be beyond absurd to expect him to hang around for you, no matter how bizarre the nature of your relationship was. This was the first time you'd been apart since everything happened. It's entirely possible the last few days could have been some insane dream.

You considered yourself practical, logical and realistic. Yet everything Yoongi had told you, shown you had you completely doubting your entire belief system. Magic wasn't real - yet you'd seen it (or what you considered it to be). Demons weren't real - yet, again, you'd witnessed it with your own eyes.

The majority of your day you had been unable to focus properly, head spinning with all these revelations. Your work had definitely suffered as a result, thankfully the man you were an assistant to was far too busy to notice anything. You'd have to get a grip soon before did.

You went about your usual post work routine, making dinner, talking to friends and unwinding with some Netflix. The later it got into the evening you quickly realised Yoongi probably wasn't going to be making an appearance. Recalling how he mentioned being away from you caused him pain you hoped he was alright.

Unless he'd somehow found a cure, maybe. Then he didn't need to come back. The thought shouldn't make you feel as empty as it did. Even though he repeatedly referred to himself as the bad guy, he felt like some guardian angel to you and you were thankful for that.

The best you could do for now was to distract yourself and hope he'd show up soon.

*** Several days later you screamed out loud when you'd entered your bedroom to find Yoongi there, sitting on your bed, arms behind his head as he sat against the headboard. There'd been no word, no appearance, nothing, from him at all. Total radio silence.

You were used to these sporadic meetings but it still was jarring. "You scared me!" You exclaimed. Much to your chagrin he just laughed.

"I enjoy the element of surprise." He said with a grin. You remained in the doorway with a frown. "Miss me?"

"No." It was only a half truth. What you felt was a mixture of curiosity and a need to feel wanted again.

"Are you sure about that?" He cocked a brow at you with a smirk. "You forget how in tune I am with your feelings now."

You groaned internally. In all honesty that fact had slipped your mind in the absence of his company. You pondered if that meant that you could never lie about your feelings to him again. The thought made you vulnerable. "Is it...bad? Like the last time you were here?"

"Yes." He answered bluntly. "It doesn't hurt as much when I'm away from you though."

"Oh. Good." You're not exactly sure how to respond to that. All of this was new to you.

"I missed you." He says as he shifted to sit at the edge of the bed, eyes on you the entire time.

"That's a lie."

"Well, kind of." He said slyly. "It's the spell. It keeps bringing me back here."

"Maybe you should have stayed away." You shot with a glare. Being reminded that he's literally forced to be around you when you actually enjoy it of your own free will bites a little.

"I didn't want to."

"But you just said - "

"Come here." It's not a question but a command. You found yourself padding over to him, feeling like a scolded child. He pulls you between his legs, arms securing you in place on your waist. His hands push your shirt up where his lips trail over your stomach. "Want you." He mumbled. You tried your best not to react.

You're reminded with how strong he is when he literally picked you up and placed you on your back against the mattress. Yoongi kneeled over you and attempted to remove your shirt completely but you didn't comply. "Don't fight me." He cooed, squeezing your sides. "I can feel you want it too."

"You don't want to be here."

"Y/N, if I didn't want to be here I wouldn't." He kissed you as his hands traced your body. "It would be hard, but I could really stay away. If I wanted to."

The shirt came off along with his own and you were slightly annoyed at yourself for giving in so easily. "You fucked me and then disappeared Yoongi, it doesn't work like that." You managed to get out as you tried not to get too lost in the sensation of his body on yours.

"There's a lot you don't understand." He murmured, sliding your skirt off. "I had a warning. I stayed away to see if it made a difference. It didn't."

You had no idea what the hell that meant but it was quickly forgotten when your panties came off. It was ridiculous how pliant you were for him. You restraint had lasted all of a few minutes.

"I've never done this before," He chuckled as his face settled between your legs. "I've always wanted to. My kind just...don't."

"What are you - ohhh." He cut you off when his mouth connected to your center. You almost wanted to laugh at the fact that he was an absolute beginner. It seemed such a stark contrast to his snarky, cocky personality how could it not be laughable?

Except the more his wet tongue moved between your lower lips the more pleasurable it felt. You weren't sure if you'd actually be able to cum from it but god, did it feel nice. "It's really useful being able to feel what feels good to you." He flashed you a wicked look as he paused momentarily. "Good?"

"Good." You breathed.

He continued, learning as he went. It only got better the longer he licked and sucked and before long your back was arched, a hand tangled in his hair. He grunted when you tugged a little too hard. "Use your fingers Yoongi, please." You whined.

Moments later two fingers pushed their way into your entrance and you let out a loud. He lifted his head up to watch your reaction as he went. "Tastes fucking great." He said, a tongue swiping out to lick his bottom lip. "I don't know what I like more, this or your blood."

You had no time to give him a response, a breathy gasp fell from you when his lips touched you again. You were wrong before, you were going to cum from this. Yoongi's tongue flicked faster in sync with his fingers and you came hard, unable to even voice it to him. When he pulled away, he was grinning smugly, proud.

It was the first time since you began fucking that he'd actually done something that was solely unselfish, for your pleasure only. Maybe it marked a shift in your dynamic, you didn't know. Whatever it was - you liked it.

*** You fucked until you were sore, letting him feed off of you as much as he wanted as he came inside you. It all became a blur at some point. When you finally couldn't take anymore, he backed away easily, a blooddrunk smile playing on his lips.

"Are you staying or leaving?" You asked, as you laid next to him in your bed, both of you twisted in the now ruined sheets. "I'm not going to beg you this time."

"I'm too fucked to do anything right now. I'm staying. Whether you want it or not." He rolled on his side so you were facing. "I'm sorry you're sore."

"It's worth it." You gave him a half smile. "Can I ask you something?"

Yoongi's eyes were already lidded with sleep, blinking slower and slower. Maybe in this relaxed stated he'd be a little more honest with you. "Ok." He mumbled.

"Why me?"

His eyes blinked open. "Why you what?"

"Why were you assigned, or punished - whatever - to me?" You said quickly. "I'm literally nobody. How could any one of your...people, care about me?"

Yoongi let out a long breath. A hand reached for your waist underneath the sheets and tugged you closer. Your legs were touching. "I don't know. That's the truth. All i was told is that you were important for our future."

"What?" You almost laughed, the idea sounded so absurd. "Me? What do I do? Fly in like superman and save you all?"

"Maybe." He smirked. "Really, I don't know. I wondered myself, too. I was really surprised when I saw you."

"Could be my magic blood." You joked. This time there was no humour on his face.

"It might be. So you better be careful, I know what you're like."

"I'm always careful." Yoongi gave you a pointed look, remembering the time you deliberately put yourself in danger. "Okay, I'm mostly careful."

"Sure." He rolled his eyes.

"You never told me what you did to end up here." You felt brave after the first question and dared to risk another.

"All you need to know is I'm a fucking saint compared to how I was back home." He yawned.

Something touched you about the way he referred to whatever kind of underworld he was from as 'home'. Not once did it ever occur to you that that's how he would view it. To you it seemed so far fetched it couldn't possibly exist. To Yoongi it was home. A home he wasn't ever allowed to return to.

"Why?"

"I don't know what you're asking, human." He was falling asleep again.

"Why were you so bad? You seem pretty good to me." You whispered. His breathing got heavier and heavier as you waited for an answer. Before you knew it, Yoongi was fast asleep.

***

Unlike his surprise visit from Taehyung, Yoongi had some warning about Seokjin's arrival. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and a chill ran down his spine. His eyes shot open. Every sense was on high alert. You were fast asleep and he did his best to get away without waking you. He wanted Seokjin nowhere near you.

Yoongi ended up scrambling down the fire escape after hastily throwing on some clothes. However he never made it far. Seokjin appeared in the parking lot as if from thin air. "Get back here." He called lowly. Yoongi knew better than to disobey. He froze.

"What now?" Yoongi grumbled, meeting the older man's eyes.

"You didn't fucking listen to Taehyung!" Seokjin bellowed, voice like thunder. "Now I've been sent here to make sure you hear the message loud and clear."

"And what message is that?" He quipped before he could stop himself. It only served to enrage Seokjin more.

"Keep your dick and mouth off that human. Don't go anywhere near her. You don't have to watch her anymore. You're relieved of your duties."

Yoongi could only stand there dumbfounded and watch as Seokjin waved a hand, the tattooed spells that bound him to you slowly disappeared as if they never existed in the first place. He was beyond confused. "Am I coming back?"

Seokjin let out a mocking laugh. "You were exiled brother. That means forever."

"Why doesn't she need protected anymore?"

"You don't need to know. You've been ordered." Seokjin backhanded Yoongi so hard across the face that he fell down from the force. "Do as you're told."

masterlist

#bts fanfic #bts fanfction #bts angst #bts smut #min yoongi fanfic #yoongi fanfic #yoongi angst #yoongi smut #yoongi fanfiction

[iheardarumorxxx]

Alright, time for biology class, let’s go.

Except not quite yet because I have a continuity question: This might be a book to movie error, but this says that Emmett, Rose, and Jasper were pretending to be seniors, but in New Moon (definitely in the movie, but I thought also in the book), Jasper is there at school with Alice and Edward and Bella. So did Forks High flunk Jasper???

Anyway, Biology class.

would manage to pull out anything in his lecture that would surprise someone holding two graduate degrees in medicine.

Edward has two graduate degrees in Medicine. This makes all of the Twilight books look hilarious in retrospect, but makes the fourth one especially funny in a rage inducing kind of way.

The humans weren't smart enough to know that they feared me, but their survival instincts were enough to keep them away.

1) You said this shit already back in the cafeteria, and I didn’t buy it then, so stop repeating yourself, and 2) I will say again since we’re repeating ourselves: They stay away from you because you’re a stuck up, smarmy little asshole.

Still, from the place where Bella Swan stood, nothing.

If only, sweet Weirdo, you had taken this as a sign of what it truly is: Your sweet precious flower Bella is empty space. A placeholder where hundreds of thousands of guys, gals, and non-binary pals can slip in and make it their fantasy. Can’t do that if she has unique and interesting thoughts. (And no, dear readers, I do not consider Twilight Bella’s ‘unique and interesting thoughts’ because SM never mastered that first person POV and it never felt like we were actually in Bella’s head.)

There was no room full of witnesses - they were already collateral damage in my head.

Okay everyone (myself included) clowns on the fact that as soon as Weirdo gets a sniff of the blood, he’s plotting out the murder of his entire class, but if we could all just take a second here. 

Edward Cullen, the Vampire with Morals and A Heart Of Gold (according to the fanbase) gets a sniff of Bella’s blood and is immediately plotting out the murder of his entire class. No hesitation, no thought. This does not strike me as a man with a high regard for human life, as the books tried to tell me over and over that he was. If the line is still in there, this will get even worse later, but for now, I’m letting it rest on that.

I would also like to make a point about Vampires and their Instincts, but I don’t think this is the time for it. Not yet. So hold on to that thought for later.

the face I'd beaten back with decades of effort and uncompromising discipline

Remember that time Weirdo got pissed at Carlisle and fucked off to go people for a few years in a fit of warped vigilante justice?

Okay, the section is far too long to quote, but let’s talk about Weirdo’s little murder plot, shall we? At this point in the story, especially in this one as I am in Weirdo’s head, I’m supposed to think that he’s driven mad by bloodlust and in some kind of incontrollable madness.

But he’s sitting in his seat literally planning out exactly what the best route is to kill every single student in this classroom so that he doesn’t leave any wittnesses to his crime. He’s being detailed to the point that he can tell exactly how much time he has to do this. 

That isn’t driven mad by bloodlust, guys. That’s fucking cold and calculated. This man is planning to the second how to kill 20 people all at once without getting caught. It’s planned down to the detail. As hilarious as it may be to clown on Weirdo about this passage, please think about it. Think about the cold, calculating way he’s describing murdering innocent teenagers and his biology teacher just so he can drink Bella in peace. Please think about the implications of what kind of person Edward Cullen is, that he can so coldly plan something like that. 

In my head, Carlisle's kind eyes did not judge me.

I have a lot of feelings about Carlisle, and none of them are very nice, but I’ll save that rant and see just how he is in this book, since we’re gonna see more of him.

There is more of Weirdo’s woe is me bullshit here. I feel like it’s supposed to be dramatic and really get us into his Feelies about the Tasty Good Hooman Blood he’s wiffing, but it reads so much like a dramatic pre-teen diary entry that all I hear when I read it is ‘Waaaaaah! Why me? I hate everything, this isn’t FAIR!’

But I didn't have to breathe.

This is a very relevant and important point about the mythology of vampires in this canon. They don’t have to breathe. They literally never have to breathe and choose to do so anyway, and while I could understand that new vampires might continue to breathe because it’s a comfort of their previous life and a force of habit carried over, Weirdo has had plenty of time to lose the habit. And it is absolutely possible to not notice someone not breathing if you aren’t constantly staring at them waiting for the signs, so saying that it’s a tactic to blend in (especially when the Cullens do nothing in their power to blend in to begin with) doesn’t fly either. Weirdo goes on to make a point about how he relies on scent more than his other senses, for the hunt and for warning signs and all that, but he is in school, and if we go by the text, he doesn’t want to hurt the humans around him, so even if he does use his sense of smell, he has no reason to use it in a school full of vulnerable teenagers.

Weirdo calls Bella a Woman-Child and Thanks I fucking Hate It.

And once again, Edward is going into a lengthy fantasy about how to get Bella alone to murder her. I said it already but I’ll say it again. This isn’t fucking bloodlust, this is a cold blooded killer plotting his next kill. This fucker is Calculating. He’s plotting. If he was truly as bad off as he’s claiming, he wouldn’t have the brain power to be this cold and rational about it.

I played a CD of music that usually calmed me, but it did little for me now.

This is funny to me for a number of reasons. The first is my assumption that the CD he’s playing is that one with the DeBussy song on it. Symbolism and all that. But the second is that this is v much something that happened all throughout the Twilight saga with SM. She refuses outright to call things by name. She won’t say the names of bands, or search engines, and the only ‘product placement’ we get is the cars. I can’t tell if she did this to try and make her stories feel more timeless or because she was genuinely afraid of being sued or something for using specifics.

He's almost young enough to be my son. Too young to think of that way..

We get is SM, you want us to think your Pires are the most beautiful, amazing, alabaster angel creatures on the planet. But no sane, rational middle-aged school secretary is going to think of a student this way. It’s gross and creepy and makes me think extremely badly of Mrs. Cope if she’s having lustilicious thoughts about what she thinks is a teenage boy. 

like they've found some way to cheat in every subject.

I would like to point out that, at the very least Weirdo has found a way to cheat in every subject. Even taking into consieration the amount of times he’s been through high school and college, the guy can literally just pluck the answers right out of the teacher’s head. 

And we end Chapter One with a wimper. There are a lot of plot holes in relation to Alice’s visions, but they aren’t bad here, so I’ll leave them alone. The narrative of ‘Vampires do everything so much better than icky humans because they’re just the best and wonderful and great and amazing’ has already started happening, and now that we’re in the head on one of the Pires, I can only assume it’s gonna get so much worse. Here, it only really came up in the form of ‘pitiful, insignificant humans could never do that that I could.’ and the super fast driving bullshit that makes no sense because a car is not a Pire so it can’t just magically adhere to the warped Pire physics.

Anyway, that’s chapter one done. On to the next.

#sierra recaps stuff #ms liveblog #midnight sun #midnight sun spoilers #ms chapter 1 #long post

[dragon-writer]

Aaron Hernandez

Just finished the Aaron Hernandez miniseries. I don’t watch American “football,” so I didn’t know him. It was just up on Netflix.

By the first time you hear the slurred speech, I’m like, “Please don’t tell me this obviously brain damaged man is currently doing life in prison somewhere.” That was my first nightmarish thought and it turned into a horror show/suspense right off the bat because I didn’t know anything and I didn’t want to google it...

By episode two, it’s almost a comedy. Joker style. A comedy of very deliberate errors.

Parents who push their children in order for them to “make it” are good in a sense, but also kind of abusive, especially when you’re pushing them to excel at violent things. 

It’s not like God parted the skies and commanded Aaron to make it to the SuperBowl. It’s just an ego weak kid listening to his father. And then the Patriots with their military “football is life” bullshit just stepped in to keep it going... He’s just introjecting these neurotic drives one after the other at higher and higher levels because he’s talented enough to compensate... Nightmare.

I mean, I didn’t have to deal with trauma on that scale, but it’s a cold sobering moment when that disillusionment sets in and you realise that you’re physically and mentally irrevocably damaged because someone sold you on an idea. Because someone said jump when you were six and you just kept jumping till your twenties. 

And this is why I hate movies like Split that make dissociation seem like a magic trick that comes with cool powers. Sometimes, it’s as simple as breaking off a piece of yourself that doesn’t jump. That’s capable of anger and doing simple things like saying no. That doesn’t have to provide for anyone.That doesn’t have to represent a community. That isn’t being graded and statistically analysed. 

You create something that isn’t bound up in the same stranglehold you find yourself in.

We used to have a dog that they kept on a chain, day in day out, never barked, and they used to joke that if it ever got loose it was either going to run off or maul somebody. That’s what happens when you slip a leash and break out of an imposed routine of compliance. Sometimes you play cool and try to blend,  sometimes you go werewolf.

So yeah, I hate when abused, mentally ill or brain damaged people commit suicide. TVs, movies, real life, true crime. And then everyone is like, “The demon is slain!” as the sun starts shining down on Pride Rock once more. Fuck that. It might sound shitty, it might actually be shitty, but my moral stance is that it’s better to plan a homicide than a suicide. There’s that noble way of looking at it as if a suicide is protecting other people, but I mean, your own life and health has to be your number one priority. It’s like they say in MMA, protect yourself at all times.

And he’s in this sport where he’s being repeatedly injured while holding on to a ball, protecting a ball.. and it just occured to me, that the whole point of American football is using your body however violently to protect a ball because “Culture, money, entertainment...” 

And they made so much ado about the 40 million contract! How much of that did he actually get? Meanwhile his owner is worth something like 6 billion and he’s doing fine. Nothing traumatic going on there. He’s what, 80? Are there any stories about how dangerous it is to be an owner?

There were so many red flags. So many...

By episode 2, he’s just like... impulse killing. No planning, the most half-assed cover-up, and it’s sad because it’s just a really slow suicide all in all, but I’m still watching it because it’s really kind of unbelievable that it’s happening in the first place. He’s gone from shooting strangers to shooting friends to shooting people who were basically extended family, like a death spiral. So at this point, I’m worried for him and Shay and the baby...

And then he’s in prison for life, and for the nightmare that the story was so far, this is like a happy ending. I start coming up with possible endings... “Oh, so he got some therapy inside and he’s working in the prison library writing Harry Potter fanfiction or something. Gets at least monthly visits with his child...”

And then he kills himself and they’re doing slide shows on his brain in universities, like “Could you believe how fucked up the brain of this person was - this is so shocking! So he wasn’t just an evil killer? His brain was degenerated after a decade and change of chronic trauma in the name of a billion dollar industry sport that’s only played in one country? Wow?” 

Who gets to 27 with that kind of neurological degeneration undetected? Wouldn’t he have had access to the very best neurologists, psychiatrists, etc? It’s not some asymptomatic condition that springs up on you overnight. They didn’t have to cut his brain open after death to figure this out. 

And that’s off Medscape. You don’t need to be an advanvced pathologist to solve this mystery. And that’s why I think I’m upset at Netflix and whoever else made this for making a sensational drama out of it like there was some giant puzzle to be solved as to why he did it. All the rumours about his sexuality when the man’s already dead to garner more media attention and get people talking.

The man had stage 3 CTE. Giant-ass ventricles at 27. Record breaking. He’s the youngest person on record with such advanced degeneration. So maybe when he started shooting people on impulse it had less to do with his sexual experimentation and more to do with the fact there were holes in his brain. To feel yourself slipping away like that for years. Everyone’s fantasy on the outside, literally hollow on the inside. 

I mean, I’m looking at pictures of the man’s brain on a slab after midnight and reading the suicide notes he left like, “Well, he didn’t lose his spelling...”

What the fuck, Netflix? I needed a trigger warning on that.

I don’t want to hate on the sport, I just think it’s stupid. But then I follow another sport where a man was apparently fighting for years with one eye... Doctors let him fight with one eye even though his “good” eye isn’t all that good either...

It’s the same story of billionaires giving you shit pay for your life and organs. Same story of straw dogs. The only thing that made Aaron special is that he was young and good looking and his brain broke before his body so he wasn’t some irrelevant reitree. They didn’t juice him for everything he was worth so it’s all about wasted potential... 

The players at the end talking about how fine and healthy and normal they are... “Concussions never hurt me. Brain damage is a natural part of life. Thousands of us have CTE and we haven’t killed anyone...” It’s so disturbing. 

It’s like an ongoing international True Crime. 

So to end this note-to self rant, moral of the day - disappoint who you have to disappoint, hurt who you have to hurt. Don’t disappoint yourself, don’t hurt yourself. 

#aaron hernandez #chronic traumatic encephalopathy #neurosis #mma #ufc #michael bisping #american football #played in only one country #sports #traumatic brain injury #mental illness #tw: suidice

[saintambrose]

haha it’s US politics hours

listen, this tumblr has always been a fandom place since its inception and I’ve not really designated it as a space for political discussion because 1) I have several other avenues for that arena of discussion and 2) escapism was the theme here; but I’ve finally watched The Comey Rule and I have some THOUGHTS 

and I’m not really sure how active anyone is here anymore anyway, because I’ve not really been around as regularly as I was before the nsfw-ban shitstorm, so. Diving right in.

Probably my favorite thing was how it painted the American right wing as this faux-centrist bastion of impartiality at first, the whole circus with HiLLaRy’S EmAiLs being about how they legitimately believed they could play the angle that the emails were a threat to national security all while they knew damn well it was a huge big nothingburger (with a side of hatred of women) while doing that thing that right wingers have done since the Reagan administration where they malign anything left of fascism as communism (including basic human rights) and then, predictably, you have all these very furrowed-browed old white men sitting around a conference table being VERY CONCERNED that precisely the thing they wanted to happen came true and they are completely unprepared to do damage control on the mess they engineered because WHITE MEN ARE INCAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING THE CONCEPT OF CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR OWN ACTIONS. 🤣😂🤣😂

In all seriousness. I wasn’t crazy about Hillary either. I don’t like dynasties of any kind, royal or political. I don’t like establishment dems who are really just center-right in the real world while masquerading as left in backwards-ass bizarro-world USA. But I’m an old motherfucker now, I’m well into my 30s, I’m boring and watch CSPAN for leisure and shit. I read the reports coming out of the DOJ. One of my degrees is in political science, though admittedly, that’s the least thing that matters, in the scope of everything else these days. But it’s safe to say Hillary was unfairly maligned while republicans committing atrocities exponentially worse have been treated with kid gloves for decades. A very distinct double standard has been applied here for....longer than I’ve been alive, that even the most educated people on the left have refused to acknowledge for far too long. I watched that entire BeNgHaZi hearing (which is easily accessible on youtube, so there’s literally no excuse not to know the facts on this), and everyone knew -- everyone knew it was a bullshit smear campaign. 

So, this post isn’t so much a review of the miniseries more than it’s an indictment of the corruption of American politics. The most damning aspect being that, on principle, US politics has always had a problem with embracing progressive policy, and basic civil rights in general. That’s not news; people have known this for some time. But the thing that this miniseries really illustrated in a very cartoonish, yet succinct, way is that there are experienced professionals who hold the highest, most powerful seats of authority in this country who won’t bat an eye at dedicating their entire careers to denigrating common decency, basic human rights, and even constitutional law, while being absolutely incapable of conceiving the long-term consequences of these actions, who will then turn around and concern troll over the ashes of the empire they enthusiastically helped to burn down. It’s nauseating. It’s infuriating. It shows a pathological disregard for personal responsibility.

Everyone was so preoccupied with their massive turgid erection for hating the Clintons (and women) that no one saw they were enthusiastically living in a henhouse built by fucking foxes. No one saw the genuine threat. 

And, by extension, no one had the balls to acknowledge that age-old instinct of white men willing to engage in a scorched earth campaign simply to satisfy their worst impulses and entitlement complexes. 

Can you fit “Who cares if we’re screwing over several generations with corrupt court-packing and a flagrant disregard for checks-and-balances predicated entirely on the honor system; we just don’t feel like doing domestic labor or respecting women and minorities so we’ll continue expediting reprehensible policies that exploit the most vulnerable people in this country because we can’t compete in an authentic meritocracy" onto a campaign slogan banner? 

I sounded the alarms on this trend 20 years ago, meanwhile. My parents and I had just gotten US citizenship, luckily months before 9/11 and the patriot act; and as an outsider looking in, as someone who had risked their life escaping a dangerous regime at an incredibly young age, I saw the warning signs in the republican party even back then. Naturally, I was denigrated as an alarmist and a butthurt liberal. 

You know, I’ll acknowledge that as a white person, I’m not the average American’s image of what an “immigrant” looks like. My experiences here over the past couple of decades have thrown into sharp relief how “immigrant” is just a dogwhistle for racist bullshit, because people who concern troll about us don’t seem to have many problems with us white ones. But I came out of a communist country. I’m straight outta the eastern bloc. And I don’t think there are any words in any spoken language that can do justice to how insulting it is when americans try to americasplain communism to me. Bitch. Y’all don’t fucking know. You just don’t.

The point is, even back then, I could see the slippery slope republicans were tumbling down, and I can't say I derive any pleasure from being vindicated in such an extreme fashion. Like. I told y’all motherfuckers. TWO DECADES AGO.

People who aren’t familiar with US politics, and even long-term US citizens who for some reason feel like it’s a waste to pay attention to your own shit, seem to spend a lot of time trying to unpack what precisely went wrong. My observations came up with 1) the manipulative aspect of US history in public schools glossing over, and even omitting, the most gruesome aspects of the revolutionary war, the holocaust, and the cold war (and oftentimes, the cold war is NEVER EVEN COVERED, which is especially insulting to me, for obvious reasons); 2) the manipulative aspect of US history in public schools teaching kids that the Declaration of independence and the Constitution are unassailable doctrines of freedom and liberty, and, as such, after independence was won, no further activism to maintain democracy was needed so we can all just smoke a bowl and be complacent because all those authoritarian third world regimes we constantly ridicule and criticize can NeVeR HaPPeN hErE 😒; and 3) how limpdick both-sidesism replaced civil, comprehensive political discussion because the right spent so long abusing, denigrating, and bullying the left that it was just easier to play it safe and take the milquetoast ~centrist~ stance, which always, always, always capitulates to the lowest common denominator, which is always the oppressor. 

And generally just this age-old trend of holding the victims of systematic oppression to a higher moral and behavioral standard than the perpetrators of systematic oppression. 

Guys, I’m tired. I’m so tired. 

I’ve gotten a few questions over the years about why my writing is so angsty, why it always seems to follow the same themes; war crimes, PTSD, gore, torture. 

I already escaped one authoritarian regime. The USA promised us one thing, and then once we got here, it started emulating the very tyrants we worked so hard to get away from. A lot of people have no idea what that feels like. How much of a betrayal that is. Especially considering all the financial and legal landmines one has to navigate just to do it, and then we’re punished for that, too.

I write about PTSD because I fucking have it. I write about war crimes because I’ve experienced them firsthand - just as a victim and not the perpetrator. I so often write about soldiers committing them because I want to roleplay what it’s like to not be a victim for once. 

tbh writing a fucking Hamilton fanfiction is one of the most cathartic things I’ve ever done, but the extensive research I’ve had to do to be able to write this thing has been low-key traumatic. There’s a lot of historical material I’ve consumed that should have been covered at the most basic level of compulsory education, but conspicuously isn’t. And I know that’s a feature, not a bug. It’s by design. 

Democracy - and independence, freedom, liberty, justice, civil rights in general - isn’t just some final xbox achievement that you unlock and then just shelve the game and forget about it for the rest of your life. You have to keep grinding to maintain it, because there will always be selfish, malicious people out there who will dedicate their entire lives playing a long con to ensure you don’t get the same opportunities as them. For the love of god, stop playing the both-sidesism game. From someone coming out of the eastern bloc, I can tell you with great confidence that that was part of the propaganda campaign you were fed to keep you from engaging so they could install a dictatorship under your nose. Do some self-guided historical research, guys. It can be very illuminating.

Anyway. I’ve gone on long enough here, but damn, don’t screw this up again, guys. Today is the first day of early voting in Texas, and I’m going to do my duty. When I first came to this country, after experiencing the rigorous vetting process and labyrinthine legal requirements of US citizenship, I was led to believe that in exchange for that privilege, I was personally responsible for my own civic self-education. It’s so much more important than you've been led to believe. 

#uspol #long post #also uhhhh brendan gleeson really needs to win an award #i hope he's ok mentally after playing that role yikes yikes yikes #also 'why do your characters so often have alcohol abuse problems' uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[achristmasmovieaday]

A Movie for Christmas Day 2019

The Dirty Dozen (1967)

Today’s Themes: Uncomfortable Family Dynamics, Heroism, Sacrifice, Dealing with Assholes

At the end of the year, some of us have to grit our teeth and pull up our bootstraps and gather together around somebody’s house and deal with all the family shit that we have been avoiding all year long. Deal with the crazy uncle who voted for Trump, deal with the hyper-emotional sister-in-law that takes everything personally, deal with the shaky dog who gets scared with too many people around and shits all over the den carpet. We may put on our emotional armor and deflect all the arrows aimed our way without digging into our own quiver of damaging comments said with feigned innocence because we know how to inflict the most damage. It’s family, after all.

The Dirty Dozen (1967), directed by Robert Aldrich, features Lee Marvin as the crusty, take-no-bullshit, growls like a bear in his den Dad we all need at this time to deal with the bullshit, angst, anger, fear, and general bad attitudes everyone is armed with before they even get through the front door. A stellar cast featuring Charles Bronson, John Cassavetes, Ernest Borgnine, Telly Savalas and Donald Sutherland are all playing at the top of their game in this World War II yarn about bringing together a group of hardened, murderous, lying, cheating, men of questionable morals because they have all been sentenced to death or life in prison for various war crimes and have literally nothing left to lose. And it’s daddy Lee’s job to somehow, in the midst of all this shit, find common ground and make a family out of these terrible men so they can tolerate each other for one last mission or die trying.

As this is a film from 1967 and takes place in 1944, the women in the film are presented as ornamentation, neither seen nor heard from in any fashion until a sequence when the army goes into London and brings back a truckful of prostitutes as a reward for finishing the first phase of the plan. In the Christmas spirit, there is only dancing rather than fucking, good will toward man and all that. But in my own family gatherings it use to be the same with with us. The women disappeared into the kitchen and were never heard from again unless one of us kids was sent to the fridge to fetch another beer, and then summarily shoved out so as not to be underfoot. The women in this sequence are just as matter-of-fact and take-charge as the women in my family, so there’s that.

If you’re looking for the villain at the table - that one loudmouthed, self-satisfied, always-right uncle that you only see once a year and otherwise everyone ignores because why is he talking anyway? - you’ve got the preening Col. Breed, who is that one dude who has to remind you about Jesus, and how terrible everything is, and why can’t the world understand how smart he is and just do things the old-fashioned way when gay marriage wasn’t a thing and you could do whatever you wanted to with the non-white populations of the world, anyway? Happily, and quite satisfactorily, Breed gets his comeuppance in the most embarrassing way possible - in front of his own troops.

Like your own dinner table, when you look around at the faces you’re going to discover that some of them aren’t who you thought they were, while some of them are much worse than you imagined them to be. But there you sit, because you have to, assigned your own role in this mess, wanting more than anything else to be anyplace else other than where you are, but maybe by the end you discover that you like these people, warts and all, and understand that we all make choices in life, and living with the consequences and trying to choose the right way out is pretty much all one can manage.

Watch now

#xmasdaymovies

[secondchancesfic]

S.C: Chapter II

Art made by: @thatweriddoodlingllama

Superhero!AU

Fandom: Sanders’ Sides

Pairings: Parental Analogical, Platonical Anxceit, LarryxDot

Tags/Warnings: Cursing. Mention/Implied kidnap, one sided crush (DeceitxLogan), nightmares. Deceit. (If I missed something, please tell me) 

Words: 6385

Virgil and Gregory where inside their designated cells, avoiding the angry hero and other heroes in general. They both have been there so many times their names are written outside the cells so no one would use it. Usually angry heroes would chase after them but since those rooms cancel everyone’s powers, they tend to leave Gregory and Virgil alone.

The cells the young heroes where in weren’t even separated anymore, they dropped the wall a couple years ago so they could hang out together. Sometimes they sleep in there during slow days, spending time either talking or both doing their own thing like homework or lab works, other times Virgil stays there alone when he doesn’t feel like interacting with people.

It used to be a white cell until they decided to paint it between yellow and purple, it ended in a paint fight and some walls were partially purple and yellow and then there was one walls were the colors mixed and turn into a very distasteful brownish color. They don’t mind though, it was fun to make a place theirs.

2 beds where in each side and some of their belongings were spread in their respective sides; just a couple headphones and books, even certain clothes that probably needed to be cleaned. None of them were wearing their uniforms anymore; Gregory was wearing a flannel with yellow and brown squares with a loose strapless black shirt below and a pair of ripped jeans, he wasn’t wearing a hat anymore so his light golden blond hair was visible. Virgil was wearing a hoodie, with a black shirt that displayed an Artic Monkeys logo, and a pair of skinny ripped jeans, his purple bangs were falling in his face.  

Virgil was laying down in his bed, scrolling through his phone while Gregory finished organizing a file of the new “patient”. He got curious about what his friend was doing when he heard Virgil made some approving and disapproving hums.  

-What cha’ doing, Virge?- Gregory said as he stood up from the floor.

-Just… you know, going through tinder...- He said not paying much attention to Gregory.

Gregory turn his head confused and drop into Virgil’s bed. -If you wanted to meet someone, you know you can just give me a call and I will drag you around- He smirked.

Virgil rolled his eyes and smiled -It’s not for me, it’s for my dad –

Gregory sit down quickly. Too quickly. –What?-

Virgil looked at him rather confused. –I just think he needs to get out more and meet someone, I don’t want him to be… You know, like alone forever.-

-I…Get that, but he is always busy, don’t you think? It wouldn’t be fair for the partner- he said crossing his arms and not looking at Virgil.

-I mean, that’s kind of the point- he made hand gestures –If he gets a partner, he might find more reasons to get out of his office-

-Don’t you just go there and practically drag him out? –

-Sometimes, but lately he has been too focus working on a different project almost weekly. I think it’s the bullshit the assholes are saying. He thinks he needs to prove them wrong or something…- He continues scrolling through the phone.

Logan has tried his hardest to not show how those words and complains affect him, but Virgil is very perceptive and knows his dad is stressing himself out for nothing. The younger hero would know about stress for nothing. Virgil stopped scrolling at one profile and looked at the person.

-But, don’t you think if he goes out with a normal person, they could be in danger once they know Logan’s identity?- Gregory practically spewed.

-Huh… I didn’t thought ‘bout that…-

Virgil stayed silent for a bit, Gregory kind of let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

-They would have to get accustomed then. Look at this one- Virgil sit down and showed the picture on the profile. The picture showed a man wearing glasses, his eyes were pretty dark and his smile was wonderful and bubbly. His hair look like fluffy light brown cotton, and was wearing a light blue polo.  

Gregory made daggers at the picture. –He is definitely not right-

-Right? - Virgil thought Gregory was being sarcastic. -I mean, I’m not sure my dad’s type. I’m 100% he is not straight because he made a joke one time about being a flexible rule-

-He can joke? - Gregory asked surprised, getting distracted from the hate he thinks he should be feeling towards the stranger.

-And this guy seems pretty decent, let’s see…- Virgil scrolled down.

-Does he know you are doing this? Isn’t this too intrusive? - Gregory sit down, getting a bit nervous.

-You literally hacked into the police’s network to pull out what they looked in the internet and fax it to them and you call this intrusive? - Virgil smirk.

Gregory open his mouth to defend himself but he crossed his arms and stood up. Virgil continue to check the profile, apparently this guy loves animals and plants. He works as a teacher in an elementary school. Ok, cool. He seems pretty normal and alright. The eyes look weird though for some reason, or maybe it was just Virgil’s imagination.

-Do you think Blue Nightowl calmed down? - Gregory said while grabbing his file again. He tried to distract his mind with the information he was re-reading but it wasn’t working.

-Beats me- Virgil said saving the profile and standing up. –We should probably leave anyway, we already spend enough time here-

Gregory nodded. They left the room, locking it and starting to walk towards the elevator. Gregory was looking at Virgil’s pocket where he kept his phone. He didn’t exactly had a plan, but he sure as hell had an idea, the main problem being: Virgil never let’s go of his phone.

How could he be thinking on pairing his dad? How hypocrite can he get? Why did he suddenly think that was a good idea? Gregory’s mind was wondering and racing, he really hated that situation completely. It doesn’t have anything to do with the fact he has a crush on Logan, for a couple years now. A teenage crush that hasn’t left yet.

He knows there are several problems with that; the wide age gap, the fact that Gregory is best friends with Virgil, and the fact that Logan doesn’t look at him in other way but a lab assistant (for not making it even more awkward). He should have accepted at this point he will never have a chance with the older hero, yet there he is thinking of ways to sabotage every romantic intent.

Is it bad? Yes. Maybe… Logan doesn’t want anyone anyway, right? Gregory is just making him a favor… Yeah, a favor. Just a friendly friend favor for a friend, he isn’t jealous, he is just concern.

-Uh… Greg you ok? - Virgil asked looking at his friend.

-Huh?- Gregory look up at Virgil. –Yeah, why?-

-The…uh… File… - Virgil pointed at his friend’s hand.

Gregory didn’t notice he was wrinkling his file, his knuckles were white from the strong grip he had on it. He yelp and tried to straighten his file but it was already too late, he huffed and deflated. Virgil eyed his friend curiously.

-Are you alright? - Virgil asked concern.  

-I’m fine, I was just thinking- Gregory said as if it was nothing. –Say… Do you still have… that anti hack program I put in your phone?-

Virgil stayed quiet for a moment and looked at him with squinting eyes. –Yeah…Why?-  

-For no reason- Gregory said without a concern, “Ok, no worries I can just hack his laptop… Wait… I also put it there… FUCK”

-You are acting… weird… Are you sure you are alright? - Virgil was sensible, he would notice when someone was feeling off. He wasn’t good at comforting but he could listen; Gregory, however, wasn’t much of a sharer, he would keep a lot inside without telling anyone, and even if Virgil hasn’t seen him have a meltdown he still worries about Gregory.

Gregory notice Virgil was getting concerned. –Yeah! Totally fine, Virge. I was just thinking about work- he is so used to lying it comes naturally for him. He doesn’t want to stress more the walking panic at the everywhere, even if that makes him have meltdowns in silence.

Virgil looked at him trying to find any indication of a lie, once he didn’t find anything he sighed and smiled fondly. –You can talk to me, you know?-

-I know- He said smiling back then walked next to Virgil. –You should try worrying less about others. Why don’t you start dropping all the date for your dad?-

Virgil chuckled. –Seriously, what is up with you and the need for my dad to be forever alone?-

-He is a nightmare for every person, Virgil. Save the people from him- Gregory said sarcastically and Virgil laughed. They continue telling half jokes and laughing through the hallway.

 Logan was in his desk, organizing the pieces of metal from his bag. Once he finished he read the notes he took during and after the fight, it was a kind of a log for a reference. He was forgetful at times so doing this was a nice exercise.

“Search for another cafe” That café was Virgil’s favorite and now it was destroyed, Logan frown. It wasn’t of his liking but his son really appreciated it, maybe he could search for another place they both can enjoy.

“Make sure to give Dot her letter” Oh. Right.

Before Logan left the crime scene, he decided to talk to the officers to provide some information he gather and what the damages were. Chief of police, Larry Alvarez and Officer Thomas Sanders were in duty that day. They all know each other so it was easier for Logan to share what he knew. Unfortunately, being over familiar with each other, makes them more talkative and unprofessional. Thomas always saying jokes, getting laughs from Larry and groans from him.

Also, when Larry doesn’t forget, he makes Logan give his wife, none other than Green Wonder herself, a love letter. Yes. A love letter. Logan has tried many times deny that request, but Larry is very convincing. Now days he just extends his hand to receive the letter despite it being “a waste of his time”, mostly because he has to listen to Dot gush over his husband over and over again. Well, he doesn’t have too, but he thinks it’s rude to just walk away when someone is talking.

If Logan was completely honest with himself though, the fact that two people love each other so much makes his heart flutter. It’s nice to see that around him, even when he can’t exactly feel it himself. Happiness through love is a nice reminder of how the world is still a good place.

“Ew…” Logan mumbled in a pathetic way to shake those thoughts.  

“Keep an eye on the building”

Crimson appeared suddenly, he didn’t passed through the front door. The Café had stairs that went to an apartment part in the building, maybe Crimson lived there. It’s not important whether he was an employee or not, what it’s important is what exactly set him off to almost destroy the whole place.

In the past, he already had destroyed other similar structures, all being apartment buildings. The attacks seem random at first, until they started to increase. Now, maybe he really was just a pyromaniac, burning everything for the sake of it, but there were very strange circumstances around every strike.

In all the cases, there were no casualties since all the possible bodies disappeared once the fire was put out, if there even were there. Not only that, the fire only started in certain spots and things that would cause most of the smoke.

There was no smell of burn flesh which lead firemen to believe people didn’t died by being burned alive, asphyxiation was more probable but no one could be sure without a body. This made everyone, including Logan, confused.  

Now that the villain is under arrest Logan might be able to get some answers out of him and begin the proper procedure.

He has to admit, though, for being a very cruel villain due to his actions and tendencies, Crimson acted…odd at the café. Besides his sudden appearance, he made everyone leave, yelling desperately for everyone to run away.

Then after he was capture he was shocked, most probably due to not feeling his powers, later on started to act even more aggressive, spewing every threat possible. Pleading to be let go.

-He was caught, it’s normal behavior in guilty people…- he mumbled. He closed his notes and turn on a radio he had in his desk, it was in a news station.

- -ter the couple of months of fear and pain, the villain known as Crimson was finally caught by our favorite nerd, Syllogism - Logan frown and sighed. “Mender trapped him, it was Mender, god dammit…” he thought. If Virgil listens to this, he will be pretty pissed off. – There have been reported at least 20 people were inside the building during the attack, thanks to Syllogism, all the residents manage to escape safely-

“At least everyone is safe…” – It is a relief one nightmare has ended, however there’s still no answer about the missing bodies. Officers had stated they are still investigating the matter and will press the hero association on turning Crimson in for questioning –

Logan ponder about that. It’s not unusual for the police to want every captured villain to be questioned and punished, but this case was extremely weird and concerning. Why would Crimson need the corpses of people? If he even was completely responsible for that. What if he was working with someone else?

Logan stood up from his desk he wanted to interrogate him as fast as possible. He looked at the letter. Right… “As soon as possible”. Even though he thinks it’s kind of dumb, he never backs up from a favor. He holds the letter and gets out of his office. He needed to get his boss anyway. Talking about the devil.

-Logan! - She said completely serious, way off from her usual bubbly personality. –Why didn’t you came and tell me you capture that pyromaniac?-

Logan was taken aback but composed himself. –I was going to get you right now, and Virgil was the one capturing Crimson- He clear that up at least to his boss.

Green Wonder sighed. –Jee-muh-nattie, let’s get this over with. I hope he was placed in the strongest cell, I don’t want him starting a camp fire-

She said while walking off fast towards the elevator, Logan followed her up.

-I can assure you, I can make the interrogation myself if it’s too much for you Dot- he said keeping up with her, voice full of concern.

-I can handle him- she said with confidence

-I know, what I don’t want is you strangling the suspect with your roots- Logan clarified. Dot stop and looked at him with squinting eyes, Logan looked at her with one eyebrow raised.

-Just a little bit? - She asked half-jokingly

-No- the old hero said while looking at his boss deadpan.

Green Wonder sighed. –Fine. Although I don’t think my husband will be as fine as I am –

-Talking about him, he told me to give you this- Logan holds the letter and gives it to Dot.

Dot squeal in delight and practically snatch the letter from Logan’s hand. She continue walking while opening the letter, Logan kept a steady pace behind her.

Logan is very familiarize with his boss, after all, it was because of her and Larry that he knew about the association’s existence. Dot was already a member and Larry knew all about it: the villains, the heroes, certain necessary information about dangerous criminals, etc. So when Larry discovered Logan working in repair shop for phones, disarming and rearming a phone without touching it, he immediately told Dot.

She manage to convince the previous boss to let Logan in; back then they didn’t though nor appreciated Logan’s his intelligence and inventions, it wasn’t until he demonstrated his power of controlling and manipulating any type of technology that he was given a pass. Logan was immensely grateful.

The 3 of them used to hang out often, but now days Logan is mostly focus on his work and his son while Larry and Dot are between dates and sometimes go to a therapy session. That doesn’t mean they don’t talk, they send texts sometimes and let each other know what is going on in their lives. Logan cares deeply about his friends and he usually would answer quickly to them and his son, and if anyone needed anything he would stop everything he was doing and help them out, like the time he was told by Dot that she and Larry became homeless due to a fire in their building. They were few of the survivors in that fire, or at least few that didn’t disappeared.

Time passed; they discovered the fire wasn’t an accident but in fact caused by a villain who thought it was funny. The three of them wanted to take that bastard down. Even though they were very angry, they still had to follow some rules. Logan, being very objective, still believed that maybe something had to make the villain do what he did, so he tried to keep his hopes up in case he could help this person. Dot was the boss and had to put the example of the philosophy they’ve been trying hard to teach and Larry couldn’t just shoot the villain in the head, that’d be highly illegal.

-D’awwwwwww Larry~! - Dot squeal almost in a whisper and hug the letter completely stopping in the hallway.

Logan found it funny how in one moment she can be all lovey-dovey thinking about her husband and the next be ready to throw hands at a villain.

-Ahem-

-Oh right! - Dot said while putting the letter away.

They kept walking towards the elevator, they press the button that was for the basement like prison. The elevator begin moving.  

 The villain was in a cell, he was handcuffed and sat in a chair, fidgeting and looking around. He got tired from jumping to each side looking for a way out. His outfit match his name; he was wearing a dark red suit, with yellow fire silhouettes decorating across his shoulders and chest. He was still wearing his yellow mask; in many cases if the villain was wearing one, the heroes had to leave it intact due to keep some privacy to the villain. Something that stood up from his image was his hair, which would usually be lit on fire, but now you could see it was completely black. It wasn’t burned or anything, that was just his natural color.

The cell was completely white, it wasn’t empty though; there was a bed and a desk, a two way mirror was the only thing separating him from the security guards outside.

Virgil and Gregory walked in the hall and stopped at the villain’s cell, good think he can’t see them, since they aren’t wearing their masks.

-What are you two doing here? - said one of the guards.

-Taking the scenic view- said Gregory.

The guards chuckled. The younger heroes would usually talk to some guards, they would actually be pretty nice (nicer than all the other older heroes).

-So, Mender – the other guard said careful, they don’t want to display their real names in case the villain was listening. –Heard you help Syllogism capture this maniac-

Virgil smiled proudly. –It was easy, he had nothing on me-

Gregory smiled fondly. It was rare to see Virgil being actually social and show off his achievements. His focus turned towards the villain. He notice how Crimson looked desperate, turning his head everywhere while trying to get the handcuffs off.

                       “LET ME GO!” Crimson shouted.

“Calm down, you are going to be fine…” Deceit told him while taking him to his cell.

“NO!! LET ME GO! IF HE-!” Crimson paused. “I NEED TO GET AWAY FROM HERE, NOW! - He continue screaming while being slightly dragged by Deceit.

-Well, when you have a high rank hero on your side everything’s easy- One of the guards said chuckling. It was meant to be a joke, but it still sting. Gregory snapped out from his thoughts.

-Hey, I can fight alone! I was the one capturing him after all-

-Really? That’s not what the news say…- The guards look at each other questioning.

Virgil kept quiet and lower his head in frustration.

-Pshh… The news don’t always tell the truth, they just saw the aftermath of the fight- Gregory said trying to lighten up Virgil.

-But the people don’t know it was me…- Virgil said between mumbles.

-You’ll eventually make a name for yourself out there, Virge - He placed an arm around him.

Virgil sighed. They heard steps getting closer. Dot and Logan walked fast towards the cell, she notice the two younger heroes in surprise.

-Hey, kids. Weren’t you going home? - said Dot looking at them both.

Gregory and Virgil looked at each other, apparently no one told her about the explosive toilet prank Gregory made.

-We are leaving now-/-We were just hanging around- They both said at the same time.

Logan looked at them, making sure they were ok. Both heroes thought Logan was trying to analyze them, maybe he did heard about the prank, so they put up their calmest expressions.

-Very well, be careful you two- Said Logan fixing his glasses.

Virgil and Gregory passed through them.

-Virgil- Virgil stopped and looked at him, feeling slightly nervous. -You got the house key? - Virgil sighed in relief.

-Yeah, I always have it- he said smiling.  

-Can you wa- Logan was interrupted.

-Yes, I’ll water the plants, dad-

-Alright, and don’t forg- he gets interrupted again.

-We will close the door after we are inside. Don’t worry dad- It was a bit annoying yet endearing how his dad always made those questions, if Virgil didn’t knew he was adopted he could swear he got his over concern and anxious personality from Logan.

Virgil and Gregory continue walking towards the elevator until they left the basement. Now it was just the older heroes, the security guards and the villain.

Dot and Logan entered the villain’s cell. He looked up at them in shock and stood up quickly making the chair fall as well as making Logan and Dot jolt and stand in fighting positions.

-I-I need to leave. NOW! - Crimson stuttered his demand.

-You are not going anywhere, you pyromaniac- Dot said sternly and angry, gritting her teeth.

Logan looked at the villain curiously, then placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

-What’s so urgent that you need to leave now? -  

Crimson chuckled nervously and avoid looking at Logan. –I’m not telling you why, but I can tell you the ending for me won’t be pretty- he walked towards them but was stopped by the handcuffs.

Logan used his powers to make him back off, he walked behind the villain and placed the chair how it was before. Then he pointed to the chair and Crimson sat. Logan fidget nervously with his lab coat sleeve.

-Listen, we want to help you- Crimson let out an airy laugh. -But we need answers- Logan said while looking at the villain directly, in an almost concerning way.  

Crimson looked at him and then lower his head.

Dot took a deep breath and exhale calmly. –Why did you burn all those buildings?-

The villain kept looking at the floor without saying anything.  

-I’d really appreciate if you answered- she continued, trying to be as kind as possible.

Crimson let out a shaky breath and tried to look up.

-It was just a job…- he mumble, but he was clear enough to be listen by Logan.

-Job? What do you mean? - Logan asked.

The villain stayed silent and looked to the side. He wasn’t up of for talking. Dot and Logan looked at each other.

-Well then- Logan said while gesturing to Dot to go out before him.

-I’d be careful out there- the villain said.

Both heroes looked at him.

-This was supposed to be my last job, but it was mostly a precaution - He said looking grimace.

-I suppose you aren’t going to tell us what does that mean- Logan frown at him.

The villain look up at him, he looked tired. –Am I safe here?- he suddenly asked.

Logan looked at him baffled, was he scared?

-Why do you ask? - Dot asked first, now she was concern.

The villain bit his lips. He was getting nervous.

Logan started to analyze him: he was anxious, his whole body language was screaming that. They might not get anywhere if they push too hard. He seems scared too but of what? Or who?

-Alright. This is what we are going to do- Dot said suddenly. –We won’t ask you anything else for today. To answer your question, yes, you are safe here-

The villain sighed in relief. No one has ever looked so happy to be trapped there.

-Can you at least tell us what happened to the missing people? - Logan asked suddenly, the villain flinched. He didn’t want to look at Logan.

-They are still alive… for now…- he said hesitating.

Logan and Dot looked at each other; people were still alive, somewhere, but his ominous “for now” wasn’t reassuring. Why would he need so many people? Why would he even stage something like that? They got the answer of one part of the puzzled but it wasn’t exactly satisfying.

Logan snapped his fingers and the handcuffs disarmed around Crimson’s hands and were placed in the desk of the cell.

-You should rest- Logan told the villain who just stared in shock. With that, they left him alone.

Dot’s spirit was up, the villain was capture and they got good news, although they still had to search for this people, it was progress in this weird case.

-When should we announce the good news? - Dot asked Logan cheerfully.  

–What good news? - He looked at her puzzled.

-About the missing people?-

-Oh. Well if we knew where they were that’d be good news, Dot…- Logan said objectively, if Dot was someone else they would say he was being pessimistic.

-Oh you are right… Hmm… Maybe we should wait. I’ll program the interrogation with the police then- She sighed dreamily. –I’ll get to see my husband again- She giggled.

Logan chuckled.

-Oh! You should take a break Logan, or leave early- Dot said sternly while playfully hitting his shoulder.  

-I already took a break- he said smiling lightly.

-Yeah, but it got interrupted. C’mon, you should spend time with your son- she said cheerfully.

-I’m afraid I can’t do that, if you leave early today I would have to stay here to keep an eye out- he said seriously.

-You are right- she said snapping her fingers and smiling widely.

–I’ll tell Emile! Now go spend time Virgil! Today was supposed to be your day off- She said while pushing Logan rapidly towards the elevator.

Logan didn’t protest, he did promise Virgil to have that day off. And even if he was dreading the fact that his son might take the dating theme out again, he still love to have those times, since they both have been busy so much. And maybe he really needs to relax; that interrogation started to make him very anxious after all. That’s because he might have recognize the villain as one of his students, but he wasn’t sure yet. He will have to see next Monday.

 Gregory and Virgil were relaxing in the living room, Virgil laid in the couch scrolling in his phone while Gregory sit across him while using his computer. They stayed quiet for a while, that was what his usual “best friends time” was in general and both liked it, but Virgil looked kind of peeved to the hero.

-So…-

-So…? - Virgil said imitating his friend.

-You ok? - Gregory asked.

-Yeah, just…- Virgil didn’t look away from his phone and started scrolling furiously. –I’m fine…-

-Of course you are- Gregory said while rising an eyebrow.

Virgil suddenly stood up. –Ok, I might be pissed off. This was my first catch and I didn’t even get the credit! I fucking ran towards a psycho who would have burn me to a crisp if I didn’t think fast- he paced around the living room.

-Yeah, that was pretty stupid on your part- Gregory remarked.

-What else was I supposed to do? I don’t want to be his shadow forever…- Virgil huff and fell back in the couch. –It’s not the first time I don’t get credit for something…-

-Logan always tells you how great you are doing Virgil- Gregory said, it almost sounded exasperated. It isn’t the first time they had that kind of conversation, since Gregory was older he already had passed the insecure phase (that’s what he thinks) but he doesn’t exactly know how to properly reassure the younger hero that he is doing enough for himself and others.

Virgil didn’t looked at him and crossed his arms, noticing the tone Gregory was using. –Yeah… but- he gets interrupted.

-Look, I think Logan is trying to make sure you aren’t stressing out so much with your studying and all the hero duty – Gregory stated. –Trust me Virgil, I think that’s for the best. Just follow his rules, then, eventually, he will let you do whatever you want-

Virgil sighed. –Suck up- he mumbled. He gets a pillow thrown at his face. –Hey! - Gregory chuckled, and Virgil smiled fondly going back to scrolling.

Virgil still wanted to vent more, to express all his feelings out but understood Gregory had reached his peak; he was very social and all but he still got burn out, especially when he was doing his lab assistant work in the association with Logan and at his classes since he was also a student.

Still that doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel a little… uncared. He could talk to his dad but Logan tends to try to solve his problems instead of just listening.

Lately he has been placing all his thoughts in paper, drawing whatever thing he can think off that represents how he feels. He prefers painting though; mixing paint and placing it in the canvas relaxes him a lot. He paints with so many colors, turning it into an abstract piece or sometimes a landscape. But there’s a reoccurring theme in all his art; nightmares. Specifically one where everything is completely dark except for a light above of him; he is being dragged by shadow people and his dad, or at least who he assumes is his dad, tries to reach him but fails.  

He has talked to Logan about it because he thought he was once in danger when he was little; Logan assured him it wasn’t the case under his care but suggested it might be a repressed memory before he was adopted, so he told Virgil to go see a therapist. Said therapist is, surprise, a hero, or at least someone that works with the heroes; normal therapists wouldn’t be able to know the full picture behind their fears to be treated properly so it is very helpful someone like Emile Picani works there.

Other than that, Virgil doesn’t exactly have someone else to talk to. He has a hard time making friends, it is usually Gregory who makes friends and tags him along. Virgil doesn’t even make friends with them, they are just strangers to him. He knows he has people that cares about him; his dad loves him, Greg is with him and shows his affection in other ways but Virgil feels alone sometimes and incomplete. As if something was missing.

The door to the house opened and Virgil sat in the couch, Gregory just look up from his computer. Logan walked in and greeted them.

-Hey- said Gregory with a smile.

Virgil looked at his dad. –Did something happened?-

Logan was always amazed by his son’s intuition, he always manage to know when something was upsetting him. -Crimson was more ambiguous than helpful- Logan said while walking towards the kitchen.

Virgil stood up from the couch. –What did he said? –

-That’s classified- Logan said while smiling.

-Dad, c’mon- Virgil complained. –We should know if something’s up, to make the city safer or something- more than keeping the city safe, he was mostly curious to know what Logan meant by ambiguous.

Logan smiled fondly. –You are correct-

-Wait really? - Virgil said surprised. Gregory turn to look at them, closing his laptop before standing up. Logan usually doesn’t tell Virgil or anyone about the interrogations, just Dot and sometimes Gregory, so it was surprising for the both of them that Logan was going to share information first hand. Logan went to the fridge and took out a jar of jelly.

-All the buildings he burned were destroyed with a purpose. He was hired to do so by someone- Logan stated.

Gregory got closer to the table in the kitchen, Virgil had sat down.

-By who? - Virgil quickly asked.

-He didn’t say, but he did appeared to be disturbed and fearful- he went to the drawer to take out a spoon.

-Crimson shouted a lot to be let go when I placed them in the cell- Gregory commented.

Logan hummed while walking towards the table and sitting down, still not opening the jar.

-What are we going to do? – Virgil asked.

Logan kept quiet for a moment.

-We’re waiting. I don’t think this mysterious villain knows we have their lackey, and even if they knew, we won’t let Crimson go nor let the villain get his hands on him- he gets interrupted.

-They- Gregory said.

-What? - Logan asked.

-They are Non binary, they didn’t gave me their name but made emphasis on their identity- Gregory pointed out in a serious manner.

-Oh- Logan froze, a moment of realization but he wasn’t nor wanted to disclosed what he realized.

-Logan?-/-Dad? - Both young heroes stared at the older one.

-I…Uh, Apologize, I spaced out for a bit. Um where was I? Oh. I doubt this mysterious person would risk themselves to take Crimson out, and even though we should act fast, we have no idea where to search - Logan said puzzled and concern.

Gregory and Virgil looked at Logan, not knowing what else to expect. They don’t have much information, no one can exactly do anything but wait for something to happen. They silently hope it wouldn’t be as awful as Crimson make it sound.

-Well, guess that’s all then? - Gregory said. –When are we interrogating them again?-

-Dot wants to make an appointment with the police to have them interrogated, in the meantime we start the process- Logan said while taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes.

Gregory frown. –Before the interrogation? - Logan nods. –Why?-

-They needs to trusts us, I’m afraid they don’t feel exactly welcome there-

Virgil interrupted. –Good, they shouldn’t-

Logan did share a bit of the disgust his son was presenting but he couldn’t shake the upsetting feeling in his gut. –If they trusts us, we might get them to talk-

-What if we get Emile to use his telepathy on them? - Virgil commented. –Pretty sure he would agree if you explain the situation, dad-

-I doubt he would agree to do so under any kind of circumstance- Logan placed his glasses back on. –Besides, he would have to do so outside a cell, and it’s too much risk for everyone around-

Virgil flop down in his seat. Everyone kept silent for a while, they really did had to wait for something to come up at the end.

Virgil took out his phone and scrolled a bit.

-Hey, dad. You got a date on Friday- Virgil said nonchalantly.

-VIRGIL! - Logan yelled, his voice breaking a bit. This made Virgil laugh, Gregory would have laughed too if he wasn’t frozen in place.

-Cancel it! - Logan yelled.

-Nope, you have to go! - Virgil said while scrolling.

Logan groan. Gregory walked towards the living room and grabbed his computer.

-I’m out- He said while walking towards one of the bedrooms. –Night! - He shout.

-Night, Greg- Virgil shout back. Logan said good night but was muffled by his hands covering his face.  -Look- Virgil said while showing the phone.

–He seems pretty cool -

Logan stopped covering his eyes, he looked at the picture Virgil was showing him and… He had to admit, the person was good looking. He was kind of focusing mostly on the guy’s eyes and smile and hair. He was… pretty… and… Logan was staring for too long when he listen Virgil’s giggles.

-I knew it- He smiled.  

-Virgil, cancel the date now- Logan said while blushing profusely.

-Nope- Virgil giggled. He has never seen his dad like that, and it was pretty hilarious but kind of nice, his theory about his dad being a robot was debunked.

The older hero blushed a lot, he hold the jar of jelly and tried to open it but he was shaking a bit out of nervousness. He manage to open it and took a spoonful. Virgil was snorting. When Logan was upset or nervous he would start eating jelly like it was cereal, Virgil thought it was kind of weird but who was he to judge his father when he would look like a night crawler at 3 am while drinking coffee from the coffee pot.

Logan continue eating his jelly, he was nervous and… excited? The picture of that pretty guy was in his mind which only made him even more nervous.

Maybe he could try to go out just this once.

Prologue/ CH 1/ CH 2 / CH 3 /

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