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ewanmitchellcrumbs · 8 months

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The Perfect Send Off

Pairing: Billy Taylor x femme Warnings: Mentions of war, slight coercion and corruption kink, loss of (male) virginity, smut. Word count: ~2.1k

Summary: Visiting war torn London, while helping to evacuate her sister and her children back to Cambridge, a young woman finds herself checked in at The Halcyon, and catches the attention of their bell boy, soon to be soldier, Billy. Based on this request.

Author's note: No tag list. Please follow @fics-by-ewanmitchellcrumbs and turn on post notifications. Community labels are for cops.

“Billy, don’t stare!” Peggy chastises her son with a swat to the arm. “Help the lady with her bags.”

Her eyes move appreciatively over the tall form of the sandy haired young man in front of her. He offers her a tight lipped smile, obviously flustered, considering the shade of scarlet he’s turning, before grabbing her suitcases from the marble floor of the hotel foyer. “Sorry, Mum,” he mumbles awkwardly to the dark haired woman beside him.

“It’s Mrs. Taylor in front of the guests, how many times?!” She hisses quietly, before turning back to her with a charming, painted-on-for-the-guests type smile. “Welcome to The Halcyon, madam. Billy is one of our bell boys, and will take your bags to your room for you now that you’re all checked in. My name’s Peggy, I operate the switchboard. Please don’t hesitate to ring down if you need anything. I hope you enjoy your stay.”

She watches Peggy walk away, each click of her high heels growing quieter as she retreats, before turning back to Billy, who stands there expectantly with her bags in his large hands.

Oh, I certainly will enjoy my stay.

She had arrived in London by train from Cambridge that morning, intending to leave again with her sister and her children. Since war had broken out, the frequent airstrikes over London had made it too dangerous for them to remain, so they’d be staying with her until it was safe to come back - provided they had a home to return to.

It would take a few days for her sister to get packed and have the house and children’s schooling in order, so she’d be staying at The Halcyon until they were ready to leave.

She spares a sideways glance at the bellboy as they stand in the lift together, the reddening of his face from having been caught staring at her only just beginning to fade. He’s younger than her by at least a couple of years, but has chiseled features that make him look handsome despite his bashful nature, and he fills out the grey slacks of his uniform more than adequately.

The reason for her trip to London is a serious matter, but she figures there’s no harm in having some fun with it.

“It’s nice that a young lad like you gets to work with their mother,” she says with a sultry smile, as the lift travels upwards.

His eyebrows raise, blue eyes widening slightly as he turns to her in the small space. “Oh, I’m not a lad, I’m a man…I mean, working with me mum, it’s not forever. Expecting me draft papers any day now…miss?”

He looks at her uncertainly and she huffs a quiet laugh as they step out of the lift together. “Yes, miss is fine, I don’t have a husband.”

Billy presses his lips together and averts his eyes, nodding slightly.

“So, you’re signed up to draft,” she says as they reach the door of her room, “how exciting for you. You’ll have to pop by and let me know your posting once you find out, I’d love to know.”

He falters, the suitcases he’d been carrying thumping heavily to the ground as he stoops to deposit them over the threshold of her room. He straightens, clasping his hands in front of him, and looks at her apologetically. “Oh…yeah, course…yeah, I will!”

She holds his gaze for a few moments, enjoying his barely disguised panic, before she speaks again. “I’d give you a tip, but I’m afraid I’m unsure of which bag I’ve put my purse in–”

“Oh, it’s no trouble, honestly, don’t worry,” he insists hurriedly.

“Nonsense, I have to give you something,” she purrs, “will this do?”

She leans up and presses a chaste kiss to his cheek, watching him carefully as she settles back on her feet.

His eyes go wide, the scarlet hue returning to his skin as he battles to hide a grin, tugging at the collar of his uniform. She hears him mutter “bloody hell” beneath his breath, as his eyes dart nervously down the corridor.

She wonders if he’s ever kissed anyone before, based on his reaction to a mere peck on the cheek she supposes he probably hasn’t.

Oh, my stay here is certainly going to be fun.

“Was that to your liking, Billy?” She asks with a smirk.

“Oh…oh yeah…thanks,” he says, swallowing thickly and trying to regain his composure.

Adorable.

“My pleasure. If that’s everything then, I’ll see you later?”

He nods, retreating from the doorway and down the corridor, sparing glances back over his shoulder at her standing there, until he’s back in the lift and out of sight.

It’s nearly two days later when she’s heading back up to her room in the late afternoon, having spent the day with her sister, that Billy rushes towards her, eyes lit up with excitement and a wide grin on his face.

“I got my posting this morning!” He tells her excitedly as she puts her key in her room door.

“Congratulations, soldier,” she says with a wink, “got time to come in and tell me about it, or have you got to get back to work?”

“Just finished me shift, actually, so I’ve got time.” He loosens the strap around his chin of his Halcyon branded cap, removing it as if to signify the fact. His dark blonde hair is slicked back against his head, neatly parted to the side.

“Great, come on in then.”

Billy trails behind her, his hat held gingerly in both hands as he glances around the room.

“Make yourself at home, Billy.” She gestures towards the bed and he perches on the edge of it, while she takes the armchair opposite. She has never seen anyone look less relaxed and has to stifle a laugh at how rigid his posture is.

“So, about your posting–”

“Yeah!” He suddenly becomes animated again, leaning forward and gesticulating each of his words, “Came in the post this mornin’, tried to find ya, but you were out. I’ve been put on the anti aircraft guns! Can you believe it? I’ll be shooting German planes outta the sky!”

She watches him intently as he speaks, the curve of his lips, the brightness of his eyes. He exudes confidence when he’s passionate, not a trace of shyness to be found and it’s incredibly attractive.

“That’s very brave of you,” she says, “I expect your sweetheart will be worried for you though.”

“Oh,” he furrows his brow, his gaze downcast, “no, there’s no one…no sweetheart.”

“That’s a shame,” she drawls, her smugness at the fact barely concealed. “Tell me, Billy, are you a virgin?”

He widens his eyes, mouth opening and closing as he flushes pink from the base of his neck, all the way to the tips of his ears. “N-no…I’ve had it off with loadsa girls…”

“Billy…” she chastises in a stern tone of voice.

He sighs, turning his hat over in his hands, shoulders slumping. “Yeah, I’m a virgin.”

She moves to sit beside him on the bed, her hand caressing his shoulder. “Nothing wrong with that,” she reassures him, “but perhaps you’d like not to be? Can’t send you off to war, never having known the touch of a woman.”

He audibly gulps, staring at her in disbelief, so she takes the initiative, leaning forward and pressing her lips to his.

He freezes at first, she can feel him trembling all over, but he softens as she’s about the pull away and reciprocates, his hat slipping from his hands and landing on the carpet with a soft thud. His mouth moves clumsily against her own, over eager and inexperienced, yet there is something endearing about it. She longs to show Billy the tenderness he deserves.

“I–I don’t know what I’m doing,” he whispers nervously against her lips once they part for air.

“It’s okay,” she soothes him, caressing his cheek, “just lay back. Let me take care of you.”

He nods, moving back against the bedspread.

She takes her time stripping him of his bellboy uniform. Billy is undeniably skinny, but his long, lean limbs are corded with wiry muscle, his chest and shoulders well defined and broad as they’re revealed to her as she sheds his jacket, shirt and vest.

His chest rises and falls rapidly with anxious, shallow breaths, his eyes glued to her as she removes her own clothing. His lips part as she bares herself before him, trembling hands reaching out tentatively to trace over her naked flesh.

Her eyes widen with shock and admiration and she removes his briefs. She had not been expecting Billy to be quite so well endowed; his erection is thick and reaches almost to his navel, the ruddy tip glistening with arousal.

Billy hisses through his teeth, brow furrowing as she takes him in hand to roll a sheath over the length of him. She can tell from the way he twitches against her palm that he won’t last long.

“You okay?” She whispers as she moves to straddle him.

His expression is almost pained, only able to nod as he looks up at her with desperation in his eyes.

She sinks slowly down onto him, her jaw going slack at the stretch, hearing Billy groan beneath her.

“Oh…oh god…” he grits out, as her hips sink fully against his.

Trailing her fingertips over his bare chest, while giving herself a moment to adjust, she soothes him with a soft kiss.

He hums into it, his hips bucking slightly upwards and she pulls back with a grin, rolling her hips against his, delighting in the way his thickness drags against her sensitive walls.

He gasps softly, head thrown back against the pillows, a few strands of hair coming loose from his carefully waxed style.

“You’re beautiful,” he mutters.

His grip on her hips is vicelike as she rocks against him, she feels impossibly full and yet already anticipates this being an unsatisfying ending for her - she can feel him throbbing inside of her, as he pants hard beneath her.

Her backside slaps softly against his thighs once, twice, three times, and all too soon his eyes are screwing shut as he cries out in ecstasy, twitching as he spills into the condom.

She stills, gazing down at him as he opens his eyes, skin flushed as he gasps for air. He looks like a work of art, no shame or fear of making a fool of himself guiding his behaviour, just utterly lost in the moment.

“Sh-shit…sorry…” he whispers, as she climbs off of him. He pulls off the rubber and discards it in the bedside waste paper bin. “That was really quick.”

She smiles, guiding him back to her side and laying back. “It was your first time, that was going to happen. You’ll last longer next time.”

He grins down at her. “Next time?”

“If you want to, that is.”

“Course I do!”

He kisses her with more confidence, his hands snaking a trail down her body, squeezing greedily at her curves. After a few minutes of their languid kisses and caresses, she can feel him stirring to life against her thigh again.

“Could I be on top this time?” He whispers into her ear, settling between her legs, once he’s found another sheath.

She nods, sighing in pleasure as she feels him slip back inside of her. The change in angle and sensation of his weight on top of her heightens the feeling as each of his gentle strokes brushes deep within her.

While it feels good, it’s not quite enough to get her there, and as she feels his thrusts becoming less controlled, she knows she needs to help him to help her.

“Give me your hand,” she says huskily, taking it and guiding it between their bodies.

She presses his fingers to her pearl, guiding them to stroke her in quick, tight circles. “Just like that,” she tells him.

He’s quick to learn, stroking her in tandem with each snap of his hips. He groans low into the crook of her neck, stilling as he spends himself a second time, but the movement of his fingers never relents. The combination of his ministrations against her bud and him pulsating within her drive her over the edge, and she climaxes with a moan, clenching around Billy, causing his breath to catch in his throat.

He rolls off of her after a moment, throwing his arm behind his head and pulling her to his chest. “Could get used to this,” he murmurs with a lazy smirk.

“Won’t you get the sack?” She asks jokingly.

“Nah, leaving anyway, aren’t I?”

“Right you are,” she smiles, snuggling against him.

“You up for another send off then? I could die, y’know.”

“That’s manipulative, Billy!” She giggles, swatting his chest.

“Is it working though?”

“Yeah, yeah, it is…” she says quietly, feeling his fingertips dig into the soft flesh of her thigh.

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jack-kellys · 6 months

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this is literally all i've been thinking abt like fr

below the cut r my written notes bc they probably aren't legible but basically. davey spiderman. kath is veeeery harry osborn-coded. jack is cool friend/hot guy mary jane. antics will ensue. and then we have race crutchie and spot ofc:

davey: IS THERE ANYTHING BETTER THAN DAVEY "MOUTH' JACOBS SPIDER MAN. literally there isnt...

he fits the spiderman a little closer to miles than peter in terms of like.... the difference in tragedy in his life and especially how miles handles tragedy compared to peter. and also davey has a better support system of ppl who know off the bat. i think sarah would be cool as the "guy in the chair" role that's so funny to me... their comms banter>

jack: FEMME FATALE DAMSEL IN DISTRESS MJ JACK KELLY. IS such a look.

I'm mean and would give him a symbiote arc tho.

for now he's Spectacular!MJ in terms of vibes...

she's very smooth when she and peter meet and i think jack could embody the "future star of the stage" kind of persona but as an artist not an actor. as for why i'd give him a symbiote moment... mostly bc i don't think it fits davey very well as in idt his anger can be taken advantage of like jack's can and jack's desperation can. jack is not immune to manipulation like davey is LMAO... jack's desperation to protect ppl when he personally is in a bind isss... it is strong.

kath: KATH IS QUITE LITERALLY HARRY OSBORN. LIKE. BFFR. Thinking maybe spidey saves her and it's a scene and pulitzer gets protective in a fucked up way and like. Has her under lock and key afterward.

better yet if davey saves her almost accidentally/preemptively bc that's his best friend katherine but she didn't need saving, and since she was saved, (and pulitzer is a dick,) would totally not let her out of his sight/his company's sight as much as possible.

and tbh i'd probably keep the norman osborn alignment and make pulitzer a scientist while kath goes against this by being a journalist/someone who excels at humanities.

racer: RACE IS BLACK CAT IN MY HEART. could be Jack though.

bc jack is soooo... like he would. but race and stealing things and being snarky and feeling entitled to it is so true...adding some mobster flair to a homme fatale.. yea. ESPECIALLY because-

spot: SPOT IS VERY INSOMNIAC WRAITH. LIKE- VERY.

wraith is a character who is originally a cop.../at least one of the wraiths is initially a cop that works w spiderman and then becomes an occasionally murderous vigilante/punisher-esque character. which is rather extremely spot conlon. also it'd give race and spot rly good banter

now maybe my fav of them all- crutchie: Crutchie as a 20yr old pre-med researcher -> Dr. connors/the lizard moment. Also mentor Crutchie>>

i also think the injection thing would be more of an accident than a like...solution. like i think he's got his prosthetic and he's chill w it and is researching lizard limb regeneration for a final project and there's a the flash-in-the-chem-lab accident. but mainly crutchie being like 19. knew davey & jack & kath while he was in high school with them. very initial eddie brock is spectacular spider-man basically lets be honestt

anyway yeah this has been driving me. up a wall

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rallamajoop · 11 months

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Resident Evil's 2 and 3

It'll surprise no-one that I’ve been poking through some of the other games in the Resident Evil franchise – mostly just by watching through let’s-plays and cutscene compilations on youtube. And with the remake of RE4 finally out, it’s past time I got some thoughts down about them (because, as always, I have many). So let’s talk the previous two remakes in the franchise – RE’s 2 and 3.

Resident Evil 2 (Remake)

I have one big complaint about new!Leon, and that’s that he isn’t pretty enough. Call me shallow if you will, but the original RE4 Leon is iconic because he looks 100% like a guy who got lost on his way to audition for a 90’s boyband (I will grant you his goofy one-liners and ridiculous acrobatics help too), and new!Leon just doesn’t have any of that going for him. FFS, new!Jill looks like a supermodel – why can’t Leon be that pretty? This is not what gender equality looks like!

I want all that out of the way up front, because otherwise? I adore the new Leon! His story in RE2 is basically about him having the most OTT first day as a cop imaginable, trying to prove himself and make the best of an awful situation, and the writing and voice acting have just about nailed it. He’s naïve but not stupid, capable but inexperienced, and his chemistry with Ada is so good I came out of his scenario fervently shipping het, which I do not often do. Ada’s wonderful too: cool, badass, almost unflappable, but not incapable of accepting help (or getting attached to a certain rookie). I loved their dynamic so very much.

Mind you, Leon has excellent chemistry with just about everyone he gets to share the screen with, especially Claire and Marvin (taken from us too soon, alas – I loved Marvin too). But it’s Ada who defines Leon’s main narrative throughline: she swans into his story being so much more important and badass than his poor rookie-self, and barely has he convinced her to trust him before he’s learning he might have helped exactly the wrong person. So far, so cliched – it’s really the execution that makes the difference, and they nailed that too. And I can’t tell you how much I loved that Leon isn’t punished for his final moment of trusting-Ada-when-he-really-shouldn’t-have without spoiling more than I’d prefer to, but trust me – it was great.

What I loved most about the new Leon may really be more about what he doesn’t do: he never acts like Claire or Ada are any less capable of handling themselves because they happen to be female. He’s 100% there to help them in any way he can, because helping people is very explicitly his core motivation for getting into this line of work at all. But even in a scenario that could so easily have slid into sexist cliches about evil femme fatales and the men who have to put them in their place, I never got that vibe here. If you’re playing as Claire on your second run, Leon will even happily babysit Sherry while she goes off to handle the final-bonus-boss alone, and nothing in this rest of the game makes this feel the least bit out of character.

On the subject of gender though, I am judging the game hard for putting Ada in high heels. Now, granted, if anyone could survive the apocalypse in stilettos, it is Ada Motherfucking Wong, but c’mon – the original game gave her flats, and with all the time she spends jumping off high platforms and trudging through the sewers, is it so much to ask she gets a nice pair of boots or something? Save the heels for the alternate costumes, c’mon!

But that's just one half of RE2 ‒ time to talk about Claire.

Claire’s own campaign, alas, did not live up to Leon’s for me, for one big reason: it opens with a terrific hook, then tosses it overboard at the first opportunity.

History may be partly to blame here: apparently the original RE2 was well into development Claire became a Redfield, to tie the game more strongly to the predecessor. But either way, she's explicitly here to find her brother Chris, who's missing after investigating a bio-terror incident (ie. RE1) instigated by the same evil company responsible for the zombie virus now spreading through the city. That’s a great opening hook – so it’s beyond disappointing that we're barely five minutes in before Claire is unceremoniously told I’m sorry but your brother is in another castle, and has to find something else to do for the rest of the game. Claire's relationship to Chris is little more than trivia from then on in.

Instead, Claire’s story revolves around protecting this little girl she just met (Sherry), whose parents just-so-happen to be Umbrella scientists. Sherry’s father William has mutated into the monster that started the whole outbreak, and her mother Annette is now furiously working to find a solution. And sure, protect-the-little-girl worked for Ripley in Aliens, but Ripley also got the validation of proving herself not-crazy, putting her alien-experience to use, and punching an alien queen in the face. If the problem at the colony had turned out to be completely un-xenomorph-related, we’d be within our rights to feel let down.

Worse, Claire has known Sherry for barely five minutes before Sherry's on the wrong side of a hostage situation and Claire's completely willing to hike across a zombie-infested city to save her. There’s precious little time for them to build rapport before protecting Sherry has become Claire's only goal. It’s a pacing issue as much as anything else: had Sherry been introduced earlier, this would probably have worked better for me.

But what really doesn’t work for me about Claire’s campaign is that this feels so much more like Annette’s story than hers. Claire just stumbles in on events already in progress, and could have been just about anyone. Her big victory is in convincing Annette to take some time out from trying to save the city to save her own (now infected) daughter – and as heartless a mother as Annette is, I just don’t buy that Claire’s in any position to make that call. How many other little girls are out there dying tonight, if no-one finds a solution?

Possibly Claire’s story may have worked better in the original RE2, where she does at least find Chris’ diary, and the connections between his investigations and current events are more clearly spelt out. But in the remake, Annette is just so much more interesting to me than Claire (or Sherry) because she’s so much more flawed and compromised – and also the kind of ice queen who’s now ready to empty a shotgun into her monstrous former husband without much remorse.

There's certainly still stuff to like in Claire's campaign ‒ not least that between Claire, Sherry, Ada and Annette, this is a rare game where women account for most of the playable and/or story-centric cast. And Claire’s still a likeable character herself, but with Sherry as her own Ada-equivalent, she just doesn’t give her much to play off of.

But there’s a third story still to talk about in the realm of RE2…

Resident Evil 3 (remake)

Now, this is an odd one. By and large, the RE3 remake seems to have gone down poorly with fans for cutting significant chunks of the original game, and reducing Nemesis from a monster who stalks you relentlessly through semi-open environments to a monster to who mostly just shows up at intervals for yet another big-event-boss-fight. For myself, having only experienced this game via youtube, I felt more let down by character and plot.

What I did love about the game were all the little ways the story intersects with the events of RE2. In that game, Marvin warns you not to make his mistake, hesitating when faced with a zombie that was someone he knew. In RE3, we find out just who that zombie-mistake of Marvin’s was. It’s not just a neat little call-back, it’s heartbreaking in all the right ways.

The broader plot is fairly straightforward: Jill Valentine is trying to make it out of Raccoon City alive, hampered by the fact Umbrella have sent Nemesis to wipe out any surviving STARS members who can testify against them after the events of RE1 (yet more reason why Claire’s search for Chris should have been significant) and variously helped or hampered by members of an Umbrella mercenary squad (most of whom have no idea what their masters are really up to). Jill’s main character arc involves proving herself as capable as any of the men – more so, really – and more than a match for Nemesis.

This flounders for me for a couple of reasons.

For one, this is another RE that opens with a solid hook – Jill suffering a horrific dream about becoming a zombie – that doesn’t really go anywhere. Her PTSD really only exists in two cutscenes; the degree to which the outbreak in Raccoon City must be a scene straight out of her nightmares just doesn’t come across for me. The obvious ways Nemesis ought to be a conveniently-defeatable manifestation of everything that’s haunted her since RE1 felt badly undersold for me too. If Jill isn’t actively being sexily-brutalised by Nemesis, she’s just not scared of him. And when she does wake up mid-game to learn she’s been infected and survived – the exact scenario from the opening – she has no reaction to speak of.

I do appreciate Jill’s steely determination and willingness to put herself in danger to lead Nemesis away from other survivors, but those PTSD-dreams felt like something tacked in as an afterthought. Jill is an unflinching badass right up until we want to throw in a creepily-sexualised scene of some monster shoving its probiscis down her throat. And her final, triumphant, “I’m gonna take down the monster!” declaration is so similar to Claire’s from RE2 that you feel they’re running out of ideas.

Jill’s character design really doesn’t work for me either. This is a professional member of a special ops team: I can live with the game giving her the face of a supermodel, but why stick her with the body of one as well? Sheva got to have real muscle definition way back in 2009, and it sure as fuck didn’t make her any less gorgeous – even Jill’s own look back in RE5 and Revelations said ‘professional’ as loudly as possible. Why can’t we have some of that here? No wonder the mercenary team don’t take her seriously, she looks like an actress, not someone who’s used to dragging a grenade launcher through the mud. (I will grant Capcom credit that at least this Jill isn’t trying to survive the apocalypse in a strapless top – she’s still thrown into the action in her civies with minimal warning, but at least she gets to wear a proper bra this time. Look, it's something.)

Jill’s main partner/foil/presumable love interest in the game is Carlos, who – credit where it’s due – is very pretty in all the ways I wanted Leon to be (though he’s still built in all the ways Jill isn’t, you may note). He’s generally likeable, but character-wise, he’s just too straightforward to be very interesting. He takes the revelation that Jill was right and his employers are scumbags with mild shock, but he’s been so unambiguously on her side from the start that the reveal feels like a bit of a technicality. This is a game devoid of any twists or reveals on par with ‘Ada’s lying about working for the FBI’, or even ‘the monster is Sherry’s father,’ or any interestingly-grey figures like Annette. It has its moments, but it didn’t do much for me.

Maybe the greater problem with Jill’s story for me is that, of the three plotlines running through these two games, her goals are the most straightforward. Leon’s very explicitly driven by his sense of responsibility to the people of Raccoon City: to find answers and hold the perpetrators responsible. Claire’s at least nominally looking for her brother, who was investigating Umbrella. Jill’s really just trying to escape Nemesis and get out of the city. Leaning into her PTSD as a plot point could’ve lent a wealth of thematic weight to that, but in its absence, there’s just not much here that resonates for me.

Resident Evil 2 (Remake): The actual game

I wasn’t planning on actually buying and playing RE2, but I enjoyed Leon’s story enough to want to see it in context (and I was kind of hoping Claire’s might improve when experienced that way) – and then there was another Steam sale going, so I figured what the hell.

RE2 was a genuinely solid experience all up, though in many ways, it could only confirm for me that ‘true’ survival horror games like REs 2 and 7 are much less my thing than more action-oriented titles like 4 and 8. Having to worry so much about resources isn’t engagingly tense for me, it’s just annoying, and the uncertainty about what I can use now vs what I’m desperately going to need later sends my perfectionist streak into overdrive. Compulsively reloading saves every time things go vaguely south just produces an inventory full of healing items that I can't use in case I need them later later (though I probably won’t). Doesn’t help that my patience with fighting the same boss over and over in slightly different forms runs out pretty quickly.

Mr X, beloved as he is by the fans, was for me mostly just a minor annoyance. I have to judge Capcom a little for giving the player a ‘puzzle’ which involved moving three very large bookcases on rollers very slowly in a well-lit room so soon after the chase really begins, because the result quickly devolved into farce. Move one bookcase, whoops, he’s getting a bit close – better do another lap up the stairs and down the ladder again to give myself some space! All it needed was the Benny Hill theme playing in the background.

And playing the game properly mostly just drove home how utterly irrelevant he is to the plot. The idea that he’s been sent by Umbrella brass to wipe out witnesses is alluded to in one document, then never really commented on again, and he seems completely unrelated to all the Birkin-family drama that makes up the main Umbrella-plot. It’s disappointing how easily it feels like he could’ve been excised from the game altogether.

Such nitpicks aside though, I found a lot to like playing Leon’s campaign. The puzzle design and some of the weird internal logic genuinely impressed me in a way I haven’t gotten from any more recent RE title – and I loved the little tongue-in-cheek justifications for some puzzles, like a sewer engineer with a ridiculous chess obsession. Annoying as zombies could be, I have to appreciate the fact these are proper zombies, who will keep getting up again just when you least expect it. Leon’s standard kit of pistol-shotgun-magnum (plus-eventual-flamethrower and rocket-launcher-for-special-occasions) was familiar enough to work for me. Having grenades classed as secondary weapons (such a bugger to equip when you wanted them and so easy to waste by accident when you didn’t) did not work so well, and what red-plus-blue herb combinations actually do was frustratingly opaque, but so it goes.

I did not have such a good experience playing Claire as a B-campaign though, and not all of that was really Claire’s fault. The B-campaign runs you through most of the earlier story beats common to both campaigns on fast forward, covering Marvin and the police station – which makes sense on paper. In practice, I found it meant I had Mr X all up in my grill before I’d had any time to explore, gather resources, expand my inventory slots, and clear out some zombies, and he quickly went from ‘minor annoyance’ to ‘major frustration’. Getting anything done became a real headache. You’re also down one save point in the most central location for reasons unknown. I’ve been broadly aware or RE2’s A/B structure for years before I ever got into the series, but I’d never before osmosed that the B-campaign was playing the game on hard-mode.

The B-campaign also awards you a special bonus weapon – a pistol that takes higher calibre ammo and apparently does more damage. I say ‘apparently’, because I could not for the life of me tell the difference, except that now I was having to juggle another kind of limited ammo in my even-more-limited inventory slots, despite having to really squint to even tell them apart.

Claire’s guns also include a third pistol, which takes standard ammo but in larger clips, and an upgrade to her first gun which takes new ammo completely. There’s also a grenade launcher that fires two kinds of rounds: flame rounds that produce a huge and very satisfying conflagration, and acid rounds which, for me, mostly just seemed to splash lightly over enemies without interrupting their day. While Leon could craft ammo for all his guns, Claire couldn’t craft ammo for her bonus pistol, her upgraded-original pistol, or flame rounds for her grenade launcher. Her campaign is the first time in any RE game I’ve really come to appreciate being given an assault rifle, but that may be just because at least ammo for the thing was distinct and craftable.

By the second major boss battle with William (another perfect duplicate from Leon’s campaign), I was about ready to throw in the towel.

Alas, putting Claire’s story in its full game context did not improve it for me. If anything, revisiting it just drove new issues home. Chief Irons makes a terrific villain, but his section and the whole ‘Umbrella was experimenting on orphans!’ thing feels painfully disconnected from the rest of the game. Files you can pick up reveal that he’s been working for Umbrella all along, but neither Irons nor much else about the orphanage is well-foreshadowed before, nor really mentioned again afterwards.

Why is he after Sherry’s pendant? Presumably he knows it’s the key to a vault in the research facility, but how he knows and what he wants with the contents of the vault are left to your imagination. Me, I’d have cut the pendant angle altogether and suggested he wanted Sherry as a hostage to manipulate her parents, leaning into how that relationship has gone sour – only to have it backfire when monster!William shows up to infect his daughter (already implied, but something that could have been a lot more explicit). But the pendant was a plot point in the original RE2, so I guess we’ve got to shoehorn it in somewhere.

The issues I had with Claire’s story are all the more irritating because all the pieces to build something better are right there. Lean into her search for her brother – let her find those diary entries from the original where he talks explicitly about investigating Umbrella, the G-virus, and his suspicions about Chief Irons. Now Claire’s got all the reason she needs to go looking for the truth before it's buried for good under a zombie wasteland, run afoul of Irons, draw the attention of Mr. X, and meet Sherry on the way. She can and should still save Sherry, but it doesn’t have to be her whole motivation.

None of this takes away from how much I loved Leon’s story, or even his scenes with Claire. Honestly, another minor complaint would be that there weren’t more of those – it seems a real shame their stories don’t intersect in more places. My only other real complaint on Leon’s front here that his story in RE2 left me expecting so much more from him in RE4 than what we ultimately got – his dynamic with Ada especially.

But there, again, we’re getting into territory that so very definitely needs a whole 'nother post.

#Resident Evil 2 #Resident Evil 3 #Leon Kennedy #Claire Redfield #Ada Wong #Resident Evil #Annette Birkin #Jill Valentine #meta #RE reviews

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lesbianmarrow · 2 years

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i watched legends of tomorrow 5.03 “miss me, kiss me, love me” a couple days ago and then i watched it again today bc i just loved it so much!!!! solidly fun and entertaining episode that also sets up some of the plot junk and character arcs for this season. and the historical setting is so fun, they really make the most of it with the costumes and soundtrack and funny accents. this is what i want from a legends of tomorrow season premiere, and it took a few episodes but eventually the show came thru.

the team of ray, sara, and constantine was so fun. i especially enjoy seeing sara and constantine work together. you really get the sense that they understand each other on a level no one else does and i just love it so much. also wonderful seeing the dynamic between ray and constantine this episode. it’s pretty intuitive to pair them together because of their contrasting personalities, but given constantine’s angst over astra, ray seems like the perfect person to provide input and advice, since his whole thing is relentless optimism and that’s what actually convinced nora that she could choose a better life. if anyone can get constantine to believe in astra’s capacity for goodness, it’s ray.

while ray’s little subplot was the least compelling part of the episode for me, i do think it hints at something potentially interesting. ultimately the story is ray naively believing that there are some good cops in the 1940s LAPD, and having this illusion rudely shattered. this serves as a kind of foil to constantine’s storyline (which i would consider to be the main storyline of this episode), which results in constantine changing his mind about astra deciding that there is still hope for her. it’s notable that ray advises constantine to believe in astra even after ray’s police mishap - i think it makes ray’s optimism more poignant, since he remains steadfast in it even after it fails him in one instance. but after the events of the previous episode, where ray explodes rasputin from inside, i am kind of wondering if this episode is setting up a more lasting disillusionment for ray? i could be reaching but who knows.....we will see.........

now on to constantine. god this was such a good constantine episode. at first i was a little confused why the episode was spending so much time on this plot with constantine and the lady (i dont remember her name so i’m just gonna call her ms femme fatale), and then i realized it was meant to parallel constantine and astra, and then it all made sense! constantine knew something was suspicious with ms femme fatale from the moment they met, but trusted her to do the right thing, and was betrayed when she chose to seize power by any means necessary - a choice that ended in her murder. constantine tried to save her, but you can’t save someone who refuses to let go of their quest for power. and even though ms femme fatale betrayed constantine, it’s hard to blame her for trying to become powerful when society tries to render her so powerless. there are a lot of parallels to astra’s situation, and it makes perfect sense that after constantine fails to save ms femme fatale, he would decide that he has to try and save astra. this storyline fits into some extremely fun detective noir genre tropes while also providing real character growth for constantine and setting up his arc for the season.

speaking of genre tropes, i about lost my mind when sara tried to seduce the gangster. in the past, the show has tended to place sara in a more masculine role when revisiting history (remember sara lancelot?). but here we see that she’s able to play the feminine role equally well. i wonder if part of it is that the writers have gotten more confident and no longer feel that they need to show sara kicking ass all the time so that we understand that she’s cool and badass. which is not to say that her using herself as bait ISN’T badass bc of course it is but just in a different way. but like even beyond that there can be moments like constantine calling sara his secretary and sara making a face at him and like we get that she’s more than that sexist idea, we don’t need to make a big scene over it. we don’t need a flimsy “girl power” affirmation bc the show has done the work to present sara as powerful, and that isn’t threatened by her being belittled or pretending to be a femme fatale. anyway sara’s fluidity with gender roles means so much to me. also i thought her old timey accent was really funny.

i also have to talk about ava of course......i like her dynamic with mick, it’s sweet. would have loved to see charlie along with them but alas it was not meant to be. i’m glad that this season is addressing early on what it means to ava to no longer be time bureau director and instead be one of the legends, because obviously it’s a huge shift for her. it’s hard not to see it as kind of an unjustified demotion, but i also think it will allow her opportunities to grow as a person and that will be interesting to see. i liked how mick was trying to comfort her, and how that didn’t really help bc he is so different from her that she can’t take his words to heart. but then she sings her silly song and discovers that she does have a new freedom now and that is something to appreciate. it was so so cute how sara was cheering ava on and being so supportive even though ava’s singing was terrible. also how she was wearing ava’s scarf. they are literally girlfriends.

okay this post got WAY too long so i will save discussion of the tarazi family drama subplot for another post. but yeah i loved this episode so much, i’m guessing it will end up being one of my favorites of the season.

#legends of tomorrow #legends constantine #sara lance #ava sharpe #avalance #syl posts #this post is 1k words. embarrassing

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raguna-blade · 3 years

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Persona 5, Makoto, And Cops

So, like...We can all agree that it's weird that Makoto want's to be a cop in the game right? Aside from general cop bastardry irl, there's like precisely one police officer in the entirety of P5 who's at all a clear cut good guy and even he basically just says out and out, super explicitly that the cops are like...Not great.

At BEST, at BEST, they ensure the laws are followed, but that doesn't always equate to justice being served, and it is hilariously easy for them to be made into tools of opression, and to be made into stooges of people who want to do wrong.

Like Zenkichi out and out says “You really shouldn't be a cop.”

But Makoto still want's to be, despite knowing this, despite agreeing with this, and it's a weird gap right? Of perhaps everyone in the group, she should know best how following the rules and laws can lead to people doing pretty screwed up things if her little stint stalking and then blackmailing joker and company.

And she's just a student council president you know? It's not like she has anywhere near the same authority as a police officer, and unlike Chie who (for sake of argument here) has pretty objectively Upstanding Excellent Cops in her neighborhood except for you know the one who decidedly wasn't but P4 isn't really dealing with Laws and their problems, so them not leaning into law enforcement is a problem makes sense. Dojima is a just dude trying to do his best and even here the only other cop of note is uh...A straight up monster who abused his position of authority to get away with terrible things.

But back to P5, like...The game isn't subtle about it's feelings about law enforcement. Every Single Shadow is represented in the field by varying kinds of law enforcement operative types. Guards, knights, actual cops, prison wardens, etc etc. The Ultimate Big Bad basically posits that humans can't follow the rules and for that need to be severely punished and so laws and rules more or less end up being the big bad foe here.

The motivation to be a cop is well...Painted as whole heartedly misguided at best. We never get to know anything about Makoto's dad, and he's her inspiration for that goal, but at the same time, we get to see the other daughter who I think it's safe to say ALSO had him as something of a goal and...Sae also doesn't exactly come off as a perfect avatar of justice here either.

She very clearly WANTS to be, no doubt, and the massive shock of the games events does change her trajectory, but she's been deep down in the swamp of the system and she knows intimately that well...It's a shit show at best.

So i'm circling back to it as...Why? What's the deal here with what the game is going for theme wise? The idea of internal reform I suppose is being suggested, but the game's also make it remarkably clear that that actually won't work.

I'd say even textually, not even dipping into subtext, the game is out and out saying that you cannot reform a system from the inside like that when it's that far gone. Between P5 and P5S it's made abundantly clear that even what is functionally in a metaphysical sense a hard system check of things going out of whack law wise like the phantom thieves (what with their flipping of the table) they can't actually solve the problems of the system itself being super fucked. At best they can stop it from going full on malignant, but the cancer is still there. If the people don't actually band together to overturn things that are broken, especially when it is well within their hands to do, it's not going to improve, it's not going to get better. It's a delaying action at best.

Like the Phantom Thieves can't save everyone. Akira Konoe bluntly makes it clear when he asks them and the PT can only really go...No we can't. If we knew sure, but we don't possess the ability to do that. It's outside our ability entirely to do so for everyone.

So...Back to Makoto then. It's abundantly clear, I think, that she's very much of the mold of she want's to be a cop to protect people. That's what the job description is, even if that's not what it is in reality. And I think we can at least say that she's not so naive by this point to think that if she goes in she's going to be able to reform things, not by herself. It's worth noting that her intended goal is to become a Police Commisioner, and basically form her own police branch under her rules and regulations which...Fair. Fine. There's something to be said for being an apt demonstration but it doesn't actually fix the problem at it's core does it?

Which I think pushes this into the funky grey area of things because I don't think she's precisely...Wrong to want to do this. As stated, I think the games make it abundantly clear that one person on their own can't make radical and deep changes. You need people and momentum and everyone willing to work and all that.

Certainly, I think, it would be tremendously easier to reform an organization if someone in that organization is willing to make calls against what they're doing presently. But by the same token, it's also clear if you're entering an organization to try and change that organization it's uh...Not precisely a good bet. Now there's something to be said for being willing to try it I think. While the game doesn't exactly indicate how it'll go, we can imagine that following the events of the game that Makoto wouldn't be crushed under the weight of it all and change for the worse....Though the question of if she'd be able to make her goals a reality are a different question. She has allies in that fight for sure, between Zenkichi, Sae, and (from all indications) Kaburagi, there is at least some element of reform at play, but it's also well...

The big ass conspiracy didn't exactly come out of nowhere no? And the cops at every level more or less were compromised to some level or another, and this includes these prospective allies.

But then, I guess this goes back to the Phantom Thieves themselves. They're not able to actually fundamentally fix the problems at play. They stop the worst excesses certainly, the most terminal aspects of it, although in doing so they are very nearly destroyed outright and with barely a thought. In that spirit, Of doing what you can with what you can it changes the read on the decision at least somewhat.

The Daughter of a well decorated cop, sister of a particularly well known ex prosecuter now defense lawyer, in addition to being a top honor student type, certainly gives her a bit more leverage to attack the problem, especially in the sense of getting into a position to actually change things. To say nothing of Joanna.

Taking her awakening quote into consideration

"Have you decided to tread the path of strife...? Very well. Let us proceed with our contract at once. I am thou, thou art I... You have finally found your own justice... Please... Never lose sight of it again. This memorable day marks your graduation from your false self..."

and the general story the game presents of Joanna as one who rose to the top of the organization she was in and shook it to it's core (doesn't particularly matter how true that is in reality, merely what the game says for this instance) it's clear that indeed that's her gambit, if not the specific trickster archetype she's supposed to embody (as opposed to Joker's completely outside the law rogue, Anne's Femme Fatale, or Morganna's Layabout by Day Vigilante by Night as off the cuff examples), of someone who appeared to all eyes to be a harmless simple part of the system until it was simply too late for them to do anything about it.

There is a solid arc there, and a story to be told, and I think in that light makes the continued ambition make sense especially given what we're shown of well...Uh, everything to do with law enforcement in P5.

Now if they actually communicated that idea WELL is um...probably a different story. I think it's there to see, but I can easily see this being overlooked if this was the actual intent. Though, thinking about it, the way the various trickster archetypes are shown to function isn't quite as clear as it could be, though I think there's something to say for looking into that.

Later though.

#Persona 5 #makoto nijima #theme analysis

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lesbiancolumbo · 3 years

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since november is tomorrow i’m back with one last post about film noir. i barely got through half of my list last time, so consider this...... noirvember recs 2: electric boogaloo.

aka, the deep cuts.

the big clock (1948, john farrow) - this is a fun one. it’s ray milland vs. charles laughton! there IS, in fact, a big clock! it’s also a pretty damning look at the media industry.

the narrow margin (1952, richard fleischer) - i have been recommending this one to people for literal years, and NO one has watched it yet. please consider being the first. i think this is one of my favorite films noir of all the ones i’ve seen (and i’ve seen a lot). let me entice you: it is 70 minutes long and it takes place ON A TRAIN and marie windsor is the femme fatale! what else do you want! okay, well, how about you are on a train and you cannot trust literally any other person you meet on it. it’s a real potboiler, and i promise it will be worth your time.

on dangerous ground (1951, nicholas ray and ida lupino) - i am now going to talk about ida lupino. i think she is one of the most incredible actors AND directors. she pops up in noir a lot. she plays unhinged very well, and she can also play a tough as nails noir heroine. this might be my favorite noir of hers! it’s about a los angeles cop who can’t stop brutalizing his suspects that he gets transferred up north and ends up looking for a man on the run. ida plays the man’s blind sister, and she is incredible. another thing i love about this film is that it’s a winter noir, and we don’t see that too often! a perfect november watch.

nightmare alley (1947, edmund golding) - kind of very annoyed they’re remaking this, but whatever. the ending is one of the bleakest in the genre! which is saying something here. i don’t want to say too much about the plot of this one, so go in as blind as possible.

the blue gardenia (1953, fritz lang) - a staple of the noir genre is the accused man trying to clear his name. we see this so often in this genre, and what i like about this film is it’s the same premise, but it’s got a woman at the center. imagine you go out on a date and things get a little hazy. you wake up the next morning and your date has been found dead. did you kill him? did someone else? are you a killer? or are you just paranoid? anne baxter is incredible to watch here.

the hitch-hiker (1953, ida lupino) - hello! woman-directed noir about a killer hitch-hiker! hello! what else do i have to say?

phantom lady (1944, robert siodmak) - i like this film for the same reason i like the blue gardenia: it’s a play on the common “man has to clear another man’s name before he’s hanged for murder” trope we see a lot, but it centers a woman. this film is beautiful, and surreal, and strange. there’s an entire sequence involving drumming and it is intense and very sexual.

the big knife (1955, robert aldrich) - hollywood loves to make films about hollywood, and i could have easily recommended the OTHER film about hollywood. you know the one. i wanted to spotlight this take, though, because it is very brutal about the ways the film industry grinds innocent people down, chews them and spits them right out. the film was based on a play by clifford odets, who helped re-write a certain other damning expose into the ways the media industry destroys people. so, you know, it’s good!

the locket (1946, john brahm) - films noir often employ unique story structure, such as flashbacks... or flashbacks WITHIN a flashback. may i suggest this film, which somehow manages to have a flashback within a flashback WITHIN a flashback and yet it still makes sense (at least by noir standards). i caught this film on TCM on a whim a few years back and found myself struck by it. there are more notable names in noir than laraine day, but she made a compelling screen presence. also: robert mitchum has a small but fun little part here!

i never see these titles floating around on rec lists so if you want to have a bit of alternate noir programming to the ace in the holes and the sunset boulevards and the double indemnities, i highly recommend these ones. happy watching!

#movie posts

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rosevanhelsing · 3 years

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Wendigo

Chapter. 22

Vic arrived at Christmasland in no time, got off the motorcycle and hid, she wanted to go as unnoticed as possible until she reached what looked like the center of the park. She prayed to meet Charlie directly, or at least Millie… she even preferred to meet the car rather than any of the other children.

While Charlie was in her office, sitting in his chair and pensive as he watched the snow fall. He refused to believe that Vic hated him. No, he was sure that she did not hate him and she was willing to collaborate with him, to establish a bond with him ... he had perceived it in her eyes before saying goodbye to her. If she hated him and she wanted to see him dead, she would have left him to his fate, she would have let the Wendigo run over him with the truck, she would not have helped him again ...

Millie, who was reading the book Vic had given her, looked up and said enthusiastically:

- ¡Dad! ¡Vic Mc Queen is back!

And she ran away.

Charlie felt as if he had been slammed into the head with the autopsy hammer he used to use and got to his feet. He put on a robe over it as he was wearing only pajamas and peeked outside in case he saw her

Near the Russian Sled, the Christmasland roller coaster, Vic was cornered by several children, these were armed with knives and other sharp instruments.

- Look, she's the witch who wanted to destroy Christmasland!

- To her! Scissors for the drifter!

-I want her eyes!

-I want her nose ...

- Stop! - said a voice- It is Father who must punish her!

Millie stepped between Vic and the other children and hissed her teeth at them. The other children backed away, Millie roughly grabbing Vic by her arm and dragging her away.

- Come on, witch. You must be punished

Vic watched as Millie was dragging her from her but grabbing her by her clothes and he hadn't touched her skin, nor had she spoken a word from her since she had dragged her away. Millie watched and paused for a moment.

- I'm sorry I called you a witch, but I had to hide a bit but why have you come Victoria McQueen? And don't lie to me

- Easy, I have not come to destroy Christmasland or to harm your father. I just have to talk to him about how to take down a bad man.

- That bad man who almost ran over father?

- Yes, but how…

-Father explains everything to me now ...

Vic nodded but said nothing, Millie led her to Charlie's office and said pushing her into it:

- I'll be watching you. Don't do anything weird.

Vic knew that even though Millie hadn't attacked her and saved her from the other kids, she was still a little suspicious of her. She couldn't blame her, after all, she herself had come close to destroying Christmasland and her father.

The office was dark, but Vic knew Charlie was there, she could sense him, despite the silence.

- Come out of the shadows, Charlie, I know you're there.

Charlie grabbed her from behind and whispered into her ear:

- Well, well ... so you have dared to come to see me yourself ...

Vic put his hands on Charlie's arm to get him off her, it was one thing to have to ask him for help and collaborate with him, even admit that she had saved his life twice ... but she was not going to indulge him anything else.

- Charlie ... let go of me now!

Charlie released her and turned on the lights, there was also the fireplace light on. Vic looked at him, he was dressed in pajamas and a robe and he was looking at her mockingly.

- You weren't expecting me ... Vic mused

- No ... I honestly did not expect you to have the courage to come to Christmasland to find me. What happened? Did the Wendigo attack you?

-Almost right… Take a look at this, she said giving him a photocopy of the note the Wendigo had sent her.

Charlie took the note and read it

- However, you've already asked that cop for help, right?

- Just because Lou insisted. But I really don't trust them to stop it and you know why. Maggie knew it and she was never wrong. I have a plan, an alternative plan...

Vic told Charlie about her plan.

- So if the police fail, what do you think will fail, is that when you and I will take care of him?

- Yes. Remember that you must be in Boston for Halloween, at noon, at the latest. Me and Lou will drop Wayne off at Haverhill with my mother and then go to the Boston Hotel to change clothes.

- Change your clothes? Why?

- Because it's Halloween. I know that for you there is only Christmas, but not for the rest of the world. In addition to that party we have to go disguised as if we were in the 30s, in a gangster plan, femme fatale etc ...

Charlie rolled his eyes but said:

-I'll be there.

- Okay, we'll meet at the Hilton hotel to finalize the strategy. Would you mind taking us from there to where the party is held if necessary?

- In the Wraith? No problem, dear.

Vic nodded and said:

- Agree. See you on Halloween. But before I go I want to ask you a favor, a very big one. And I want this to stay between us

Charlie raised his eyebrow without showing any more expression, although inside he was overflowing with happiness as he interpreted that as a gesture of maximum confidence from Vic with him and said:

- What is it about?

- If the Wendigo kills me and Lou, I want you to do whatever it takes to protect Wayne. I want you to promise me for what you want the most ...

Charlie grabbed Vic's hands, theatrically knelt before her and putting his hand on his heart, he said:

- I swear by Christmasland that Wayne will not be harmed, I will protect him with my life. And so you can see that I trust you, I'm going to ask you the same favor- Charlie approached Vic's ear and whispered some coordinates- If I fall, I want you to free the children of Christmasland and my daughter. Especially my Millie.

- I promise Charlie.

Charlie stared at her, he had an almost irrepressible desire to kiss her and submit her right there, but it was not the time. Little by little she would be his, and that favor that she had asked him was a test. Proof that she already trusted him, enough to entrust him with what she loved most in this world, her son Wayne.

Charlie called the Wraith with his mind and said to Vic:

- Hide inside the car and she will take you to your motorcycle and the Shortcut.

- Thanks, Charlie. See ya. I'm sure we will defeat the Wendigo. Maggie's tiles were never wrong, most likely we don't have to take our oath.

Vic waited until she heard the car's engine, quickly opened the door of the shed and got into the car. Once there she lay down on the ground at the rear. N0s4a2, she turned off the interior lights and walked over to where Vic had left the motorbike. Once there, Vic looked out the window, checking that there were no children, and went out:

"Thanks, pretty," Vic said, closing the car door gently and running her hand over the long hood.

The Wraith's engine purred in response. The Rolls waved the lights as if to say goodbye and left. Vic got on her bike and crossed the Shortcut on her way home.

Meanwhile, Millie had entered her father's office.

-How was it, Father? Has Vic forgiven you? Have you made up?

- I think so, my sugar plum. Although I do not say so, I am convinced of it.

-How do you know? -She said hugging him

-Because she has sworn to me that if something happens to me, she will come looking for you and she will take you and the rest of the children out of Christmasland, although that will not happen ...

Charlie explained to Millie that he had planned, if circumstances allowed, to drag the Wendigo to Christmasland. Millie licked her lips and said:

- We will play with him scissors for the drifter ...

- I'm sure of it, my girl. And his head will decorate our new Christmas tree.

And telling himself, Charlie added:

- And Vic, in time she will become Mrs. Manx

#charlie manx #vic mcqueen

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nauseateddrive · 2 years

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4 POEMS by RP Verlaine

Another Stranger

The masks become a fetish, harder to breathe during sex with hands on each other's throats and hiding nothing in this perfect darkness of hookups and cinematic roleplay where we too often live wearing masks ‘til we say goodbye. Only our identities are pure.

*****

In A Friend’s Cellar

In a cluttered cellar never cleaned correctly, she isn’t nervous posing nude for a man she doesn’t know. I was told where to find her. As always, I let the camera seduce as she drunkenly navigates the cot where each faint stain is a memory paid and of pleasure. The sex, a gift I will unwrap gently as she becomes like the others. Another for the collection, at least for me. I turn the camera off and she kisses me while her neighbor that paid, who knows what I do, anxiously awaits.

*****

Diagnostics

“I don’t know you, but you’re too quiet, much too quiet. And since you’re not stupid, at least I don’t think you are… it makes me think you’re a perv or worse, a serial killer” said my date from a dating site.

All the while staining her teeth with blood of the filet mignon I bought her, cooked rare.

*****

Invisible Attempts

The lines of coke I inhale from Melinda's thighs, it is all a waste.

A taste of dating another cop who tells me she wants to quit drinking, dating another cop who tells me she wants to quit. Outside every street, or beneath escapes circumstance through the sunlight in the shadows, inside every woman who owns the moment. I keep forgetting to breathe until it's over, until she forgets my name is the 4th or 5th on her list fed to surveillance cameras. Melinda leaves to bartend incomplete men cheap liquor halfway mends who compete for her attentions, unlike me who can’t be alone. I call the cop who says she wants me because I disappear. I'm a ghost, a flicker across her eyes when the whiskey closes them and she can’t be alone, asking if I can be a ghost again tonight, these days.

She says it’s all the company she can take.

Rp Verlaine lives in New York City. He has an MFA in creative writing from City College. He taught in New York Public schools for many years. His first volume of poetry- Damaged by Dames & Drinking was published in 2017 and another – Femme Fatales Movie Starlets & Rockers in 2018. A set of three e-bookstitled Lies From The Autobiography vol 1-3 were published from2018 to 2020. His newest book, ImaginedIndecencies , will be published in February of 2022.

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introvertguide · 3 years

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15 Badass Movies for a Fun Time at Home or with Friends

There is a buzz in the air as COVID-19 vaccines are rolling out and the hope of having a movie night with friends is again becoming a reality. Watching alone isn’t as fun because I want to talk to somebody about what I have just seen. A full theater does not agree with my introvert nature because somebody screaming or laughing or talking on their phone will ruin it for me. Watching with a fellow cinephile or two is perfect. But what to watch first? People have been stuck inside, so fantasy and alternative worlds have been overly popular. All I do is talk over zoom for a living. I think what I need most right now is a movie about realistic people with realistic skills that go into a situation and just wreck house. I need a badass movie. What is this “badass” movie you might say? Well, here are some basic criteria: 1) There must be a tough lead character who kicks butt while spouting one liners and doesn’t need superhuman powers (high levels of peak skill with speed, aim, or strength is OK if they are plausible in the real world), 2) most of the characters (good and bad) must be likable, admirable or at least memorable, 3) the lead must face and defeat overwhelming odds against them, and 4) extra points for memorable one liners. Also, I am only dealing with human protagonists (sorry Terminator), but slightly superhuman opposition is acceptable. This list is by no means exhaustive, it is just an example of some badass movies. So in no particular order:

1) Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

To start off the list, I want to mention the most well known American badass. Indiana Jones is a smart guy with a gun and a whip. He is rugged and punches guys in the face. He has weaknesses but works through them to get the job done. Harrison Ford was in his early 40s for this role and had this tough-as-nails and seen the world kind of feel while still being young enough to fight hand to hand. Any of the first three films featuring Indiana Jones would work here, but this is the original and it started the fun. Easy to watch. Easy to cheer for. Great movie. You can’t really go wrong with any age or group with this one.

2) 13 Assassins (2010)

This movie is extremely badass but not for everyone. This is one of the goriest films I have ever seen as 13 warriors kill off a couple of hundred soldiers and the evil leader that they guard. The movie was directed by Japanese extreme horror icon Takashi Miike if that means anything to you (hey made Audition and Ichi the Killer). The movie has gallons of blood, but also an amazing story of redemption and honor. There are tons of scenes of a single warrior taking on dozens of soldiers and managing to overcome. Not for everyone, but still very much a badass movie.

3) The Raid (2011)

This is an Indonesian action thriller with the word action in bold. The film is directed by Gareth Evans and stars Iko Uwais as part of a small police force that tries to take down an old building that houses a drug lord and his violent gang. It has a lot of what I like in badass movies: one-on-one fights between the lead and almost superhuman villains, long well-choreographed scenes, a banging soundtrack, ridiculous weapons, and ridiculous gore. The fight scenes in tight places and the use of the environment for weaponry is amazing and the sound design makes sure you can feel every punch. The lead character should have no chance, but he makes up for it with skill and being a pure badass. This movie is one of the few that I would describe as having non-stop action.

4) Jon Wick (2014)

When did Keanu Reeves become so cool? I grew up with him being part of the Bill and Ted duo. He decides to learn martial arts and play a god-like being in the Matrix movies and then becomes a one man wrecking crew? I guess he is a badass because he does it so well. Keanu plays a retired hitman who is wronged and decides to go back to work for vengeance. He just won’t stop coming and seems to constantly survive out of pure hatred alone. There are 3 films in the series and any one of them will impress. Pure fun too watch.

5) Casino Royale (2006)

When I was asking around, there were many people who thought that James Bond was the ultimate badass. I disagree in that many of the older films show Bond as overconfident with the assistance of many people. In fact, Q is more of a badass in many ways than James Bond. However, when the series was taken back to its roots with the last book that had not been made into a serious film and made darker, it reached badass levels. From the parkour chase to a poisoning to an extreme torture scene, this was not like any James Bond movie before it. Roger Craig plays a much colder lead who gives no quarter, much more like what the greatest secret agent would have to be. Heavy on violence but light on gore, this film is more for all audiences than other films on this list.

6) Desperado (1995)

What makes this movie is not all about Antonio Banderas and Selma Hayek. It is that every other character is memorable and badass as well. The street standoff with Bucho’s men versus El Mariachi, Quino, and Campo is iconic. El Mariachi murders everyone in a bar with precise skill. The rogue assassin Navajas with all the knives played by Danny Trejo. Nothing but extreme shoot outs and fight scenes with a ridiculous variety of guns and explosives. I think what makes this movie so amazing is that all these amazing assassins are incognito and, when they suddenly produce an arsenal out of nowhere, it is always a pleasant surprise. Quino and Campo are amazing when they bring their guitars.

7) Pulp Fiction (1994)

Truly the role that made Samuel L. Jackson into the ultimate badass. He and his partner Vincent are hitman that keep running into the worst situations. The thing about the film is that everybody is so cool. The characters are cool, the music is cool, the dialogue is cool, hell even the diner featured in the movie is cool. The movie only spans a couple of days (in completely separate segments shown out of order) but packs in 7 distinct situations that are all berserk. From the mind of Quentin Tarantino, this movie is dripping with the best characters traveling through the best story. Highly recommend.

8) Leon: The Professional (1994)

Also known simply as The Professional in the U.S., this film features the debut of Natalie Portman. It is directed by Luc Besson at his best period, right between La Femme Nakita and The Fifth Element. The lead is actually a quiet hitman who reluctantly takes a little 12-year-old girl on as an apprentice to become a paid assassin. Her parents were killed by a corrupt cop and she wants Leon to help her exact revenge. He is an absolute badass and somewhat of a caring surrogate father to the girl. Unlike a lot of the films on this list, the premise is not simply kicking butt in a bad situation. There is serious character growth. Apparently you can be a caring parent and a cold-blooded murderer...and that is badass.

9) Kill Bill (2003)

Being a badass is not exclusive to men and The Bride is a prime example of this. She survives a shot to the head, kills deadly assassins, slaughters a gang, and takes on a crazy school girl bodyguard. She is tougher then any lead I can think of and she has the bad attitude and sense of vengeance that makes for a badass. Combine this with the soundtrack and beautiful cinematography associated with director Quentin Tarantino and you have a beautifully violent movie in which the hits keep coming. Even on this list, the fight scene between the bride and Gogo Yubari is insane. Also note the nod to Bruce Lee with the bright yellow motorcycle suit. Beautifully badass film.

10) Aliens (1986)

In nature, there are few things more dangerous than a mother protecting their young. A mother will fight you to the death and make sure that, at the very least, you won’t be able to go after her kids. Now imagine an alien planet covered with hostile beings created in the mind of James Cameron and Stan Winston and you have a setting made to create a real badass. In the beginning, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is just desperate to survive and barely knows how to use a weapon. She meets a little survivor named Newt and then has a real reason to become aggressive. She and a group of marines fight through a station filled with super destructive xenomorph aliens made straight from nightmares to save this kid. The transformation is truly amazing and culminates in a mech suit versus a giant queen alien and it is extremely badass.

11) Army of Darkness (1992)

Far and away the funniest movie on this list, this is the third film stemming from Evil Dead and again stars Bruce Campbell taking on the deadites that were raised by reading from the Necronomicon. The opposition is the undead evil that faces the world which makes the violence very unrealistic. This was early work from Sam Raimi and features a variety of different shots done to the extreme. What really makes this film stand out is how Bruce Campbell is amazing at delivering a one liner. His classic quips have been used as fun Easter eggs in video games like Duke Nukem and World of Warcraft for decades. The quintessential horror comedy and a perfect example of a badass.

12) Die Hard (1988)

Apparently, I am a big fan of single characters that need to work their way through a building of villains using mostly intelligence and the element of surprise. Throw in some one liners and I am all for it. That is exactly what this is with Bruce Willis crawling barefoot around a 40 story building and fighting off a gang of villains. The movie also has Alan Rickman as the main bad guy and he is chewing the scenery. This is a great example of being a badass, but it is too bad that the follow up sequels were so poor. Definitely stick to the original and let the rest pass by.

13) The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966)

An OG of the badass movie genre, this is some of the best of Sergio Leone and the spaghetti western. Instead of one badass, this movie has three different leads that are all amazing. You have the good, Clint Eastwood, who is an amazing shot and a heart of gold under a rough exterior. You have the bad, Lee Van Cleef, playing an conniving assassin that will kill anyone that he doesn’t have a use for. Finally, you have the ugly, Eli Wallach, as a desert rat that will do anything to survive. They all gain information about a gold stash and need to work together to get it, but this creates a vortex of cheating, undercutting, and straight up murder. Clint Eastwood is more of the classic badass with his cigar, hat, and poncho, It is an iconic look on an iconic character in an iconic movie. That is what I call badass.

14) Ong-Bak (2003)

This less of a badass movie and more houses some of the most amazingly badass fight scenes that can only be described as badass. This movie introduced the great Tony Jaa to the western world and showed the high flying nature of Thai boxing and Muay Thai in general. The main character is entered into a street fighting tournament and the moves include a flying double knee drop and a full splits kick. If the whole movie was the tournament, it would be the best movie that ever existed. The variety of opponents makes the fighting even better and the cinematography is top notch. Tony Jaa is truly badass in this film.

15) Dredd (2012)

Not the crappy version with Stallone, this movie is seriously badass. It features Karl Urban who is helmeted for the entire film (as Dredd would be) taking on a 200 story mega slum filled with residents that want to shoot him dead. There is a drug dealer high up in the building and she locks down the entire compound with instructions to kill Dredd, who only has his rookie partner to help. He takes on random resident mobs, groups of gang members, and even a trio of mini guns that have bullets that can rip through walls. He has a smart gun with a bunch of ammo that he uses judiciously to kill everybody. This movie was seriously underrated since it had not been that long since the garbage Judge Dredd came out in 1995. The 2012 is a far superior movie, being much more violent and dark instead of having Rob Schneider as the comedy relief (not badass).

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I know there will be a lot of opinions about what makes a badass film and what movies i didn’t add. Feel free to add your own movies or critique my choices. I will stand by my choices, however, and recommend any of these films for a night of cheers and badass action.

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notanotherloki · 3 years

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TRAILER ANALYSIS - PEOPLE

Second verse, same as the first. Let’s do people now!

Jacket Loki -

Jacket Loki is working with the TVA (for now), and is probably early days in the plot. The jacket both represents his connection to the organization as well as their control and othering of him (see: the label VARIANT on the back). The buddy cop portion of the show. It also feels like a lot of the comedic bits happen (in the trailer at least) with Jacket Loki, and it makes him seem more light hearted (or naive almost) than No-Jacket Loki.

Can’t wait for Hot Topic to start selling the jacket.

No Jacket Loki -

End game Loki. Post Betraying the TVA. As you can see he gets real roughed up (Look at that bloody cut on his arm!)

At some point Jacket Loki will start picking up knives and lose the jacket during his attack against the TVA. He eventually switches to a sword in the Cracked Palace, which we suspect is late game

We don’t really know what he’ll be up to at this point, but it’s at least clear there’s less openly comedic beats with him. He’s also only shown with Mysterious Flip Women / potentially the redhead, noticeably without Mobius, the Judge, or even Dr Who Loki.

I also wanna talk about this screenshot, I didn’t know where else to bring it up. I’m not sure where this is and who he’s fighting. As the uniforms don’t match the time cops but, they have the glowy stick? Also, this is both No-Jacket Loki and Loki With A Sword which I believe is SUPER late game.

Dr Who/Hooded Loki -

This is the “Loki” Loki has been tasked to find. The trailer does nothing to give this away but It is important to note we have not actually seen anything to confirm this Loki is, indeed Loki.

We are calling him Dr Who Loki because we think he’s been surfing the timelines for a while now. If he actually IS Loki, there’s still definitely a big reveal to happen with his appearance, since they didn’t show us his face even after they told us it was “him” in episode 1.

Loki-For-President -

Potentially an alternate timeline Loki? I don’t know how Jacket Loki could get to this point and I don’t see why Dr Who Loki would take this detour? The space they’re in is completely anachronous in all kinds of ways.

It seems like a perfect thing for a 3rd Loki to have been occupying his time with. Also, note the completely different outfit -- we haven’t seen him in that particular vest before, let alone with his helm again.

However, DB Cooper flashback has shown that strange outfits may just be flashbacks we havent seen in the MCU but this is a weird one I wouldn’t know where to place. It feels like unlike with DBCooper we would have known if Loki was running for president, especially with such an iconic get up lol.

Can’t wait to buy one of those “Loki For President” Buttons! (Personally I can’t wait for all the “WHOOPS ALL LOKI” memes lol - Mod Sapphire)

The Judge -

Not much to add honestly, just clear she’s a recurring character as Ep 1 didn’t establish that.

C-20 -

Seems to be a defecting time cop? She’s clearly wearing time cop armor but attacking another time cop in the trailer. I’m going to guess she shows up during a Ren Faire episode. It looks like a fair was going on in the background behind the shot of the Variant jacket, and it would explain the comical candy-cane lance.

Mysterious Flip Woman -

The trailer made EXTRA sure we could not see this lady’s face and that’s how you know she’s important. I know she’s not C-20 because C-20 has long dreads. But I’m only speculating these three images are the same lady.

In all three images she has a sword on her hip (doesn’t seem to be Loki’s sword, different shape. That would have been interesting) and 1 & 3 have rrrooougghly the same hair length? Hard to tell. In image 2 she was wearing a hood. It’s easier to tell in the video than a screenshot alone. And it’s not the same as Dr Loki’s cloak. But again it’s certainly not C-20s hair. That’s all I have to go on connecting these three.

I will note it’s interesting in image 3 that Loki seems so relaxed. He’s a very uptight character who relies on his front, so either they’ve been through a lot at this point or it's just been That Kind of Day. (Also reminds me too much of End of Evangelion - Mod Snail)

My crackpot theory is that she is ALSO another Loki, just on a more femm day lol - Mod Sapphire

That’s about all we got for now. Since typing this all out I’ve found a few other smaller trailers with new stuff too but I don’t know if we’ll dig into those as much. As a final note this screenshot is DEF late game. I’m excited to see who it is that fucks up the timelines (maybe Dr Who Loki? Are these just any timelines or Lokis?)

#loki series #loki spoilers #theories #trailer analysis

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calmcilstoybox · 3 years

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Retribution (MCambion/FChangeling)

slightly NSFW for murder crime scene.

This is part of a Cambion detective/ Changeling Femme fatale story from a dnd campaign I’m part of.

Reblogs greatly appreciated

(I also love reading comments I promise you’re not bothering me I’m asking for feedback)

Around 1700 words

It had been a maid that reported in the murder on a cold rainy morning. Mary De Silva said she arrived early in the morning for work, and went upstairs to start cleaning. Then found her employer dead. Screamed, and called 911. However it was the name of the deceased that truly got Borden’s attention.

Duragon.

This sent a cold chill down his spine as it had been yesterday afternoon since he’d heard from Mercedes. She had spent the night at Adramar’s, and hadn’t come into work or called in either.

“Boss? Everything alright?” Detective Aldrich’s voice pulled Borden out of his thoughts.

“Everything’s fine, for me anyway. I can’t say as much for the recently deceased. I’m going to the crime scene.Put a fresh pot of coffee on you know how I like it.” Detective Whitechapel was aware of his vocal tone and pitch as he spoke. Luckily, Aldrich didn’t push. He hummed in acknowledgement of what Borden had said before heading to the break room.

Calmly walking out of the station and to his car was an exhausting exercise in self control. Once he had the keys in the ignition Detective Whitechapel called Mercedes’ phone and closed his eyes praying she’d pick up.

But the other end of the line was dead. Panic was setting in now. He shifted gears out of park and drove the exact speed limit over to Duragon’s. This was perhaps not the best idea given the rain. At the moment however Borden did not care.

The sooner he found out what had happened last night the better. Then, he could go directly to Mercedes’ last known location to check on her.

As expected there were other cops on the scene. The exterior had been taped off as officers from other departments waited on homicide. Detective Whitechapel parked on the street and went through the yellow tape up to Duragon’s front door. He used his eldritch sight to look around, but so far there was nothing. Nor was there any obvious sign of breaking and entering. So the detective examined the door itself.

Even on closer inspection he didn’t see anything that gave away how they got in. So, Detective Whitechapel walked around the house looking at the other windows, and the back patio. Yet still there were no signs of a forced entry.

Borden knew that the maid had a key to get in. But it seemed almost impossible to him that she had something to do with the crime. There weren’t many things that could kill a Mafia Don Especially an orc, who were notoriously tough to begin with. As Borden made his way back to the front of the house he approached Officer Anderson.

“I’m assuming you already checked for prints?” The homicide detective inquired, feeling like he already knew the answer.

“Only finger prints we found matched Mary Da Silva, she’s the maid.” Detective Anderson replied, shaking his head.

“I’ll need to examine Duragon, depending on how long he’s been cold I can determine how much time our perpetrators had to clean up. This could be a difficult case to solve.” Borden groaned and rubbed at his wrist. He walked up the front steps again and turned the door knob stepping into the house.

The decor struck him as something Mercedes would call tacky. Not that the detective really had an eye for interior design. To him it looked decently wealthy. But he couldn’t pinpoint what about the place made it tacky.

He glanced over his shoulder and closed the door behind him. Ms. De Silva had told them already that Duragon’s corpse was upstairs. But Detective Whitechapel wanted to take a look around on the first floor.

Again, his eldritch sight wasn’t showing anything magical. On this floor at least, when Borden looked up that changed. He could tell two things were magical on the second floor.

The detective went from room to room on the first floor looking for anything he missed. But, there was simply nothing out of place. Not even any fingerprints. The entire place almost seemed too clean. He would have to question Ms. Da Silva about that to see if this was the normal standard of cleanliness her employer expected. Or if a different kind of professional was behind this. Still, part of Borden did admire how polished and pristine things were. Even if it would make figuring out who got to Duragon first even more of a challenge.

Detective Whitechapel made his way up the stairs. He dusted the banisters for fingerprints, there was one set. Borden lifted the prints, though he was already expecting them to match with Ms. Da Silva.

But he didn’t want to make any assumptions just in case. The detective went right to the room where he’d detected magic. He was hit with the heavy stench of Chlorine.

“There goes the blood trail.” Borden mumbled looking around the room. One thing that stood out to him immediately was that Duragon’s arms were restrained behind his back. He recognized the restraints as the same handcuffs they used to hold dragons. Whoever the perpetrator was; they weren’t taking any chances with Duragon getting loose.

The second most obvious thing to the Cambion was that there were patches of wall paper missing. The bare wall underneath smelled heavily of bleach.

“One way to remove blood splatters from the walls…” Borden looked up at the ceiling and saw that it had been touched up as well. While the crime scene had been professionally cleaned, Duragon’s death had all the hallmarks of a crime of passion. It wasn’t a clean kill, and it hadn’t been quick.

As Borden examined Duragon’s body he determined that the mob lord had been bound and tortured until he succumbed to his injuries. The body was also in rigor mortis.

He had been dead a while.

“I wish I had gotten to you first. But we won’t tell the others about that will we?” Borden snarled sticking his hands in his pockets as he leered down at the deposed mob lord. The detective walked away from Duragon and over to a set of drawers. He took the top drawer out and felt around on the bottom of the compartment it fit into. There was nothing there, despite him seeing illusion magic coming from the oak furniture. So he tried the second drawer.

Then finally the third underneath this drawer was a playing card. Borden recognized the geometric black and gold leaf pattern on the back of the card as an in-house set used by a casino frequented by high rollers.

Detective Whitechapel flipped the card over. It was the King of Clubs, where the club was a King Cobra coiling its body in the shape of one. Borden’s hand was already shaking and he nearly dropped the card before a message appeared hovering slightly above it.

In the finest example of cursive penmanship Borden had ever seen. Were the words Hello Whitechapel in shimmering gold ink. The Cambion’s sunset colored orbs didn’t blink or look away from the card until the illusion faded. Then he slipped the card into his pocket.

Back outside Borden walked over to Officer Anderson and held out the prints he took.

“These were the only prints I could lift from anything in that house. Professional hit, Duragon was tortured to death. Everything scrubbed down. Barely any magic used to cover their tracks. Just a pair of our dragon restraints used to keep the victim from fighting back.” Borden paused for a moment to let Anderson take the prints.

“Should check inventory back at the station, see if any are missing or if another precinct is missing any. Need to find a key for those because I don’t think bolt cutters are going to work to get them off Duragon. I need to go write up my report.” Borden glanced toward his car.

“Shit…thanks for the help, uhh good luck with that. We’ll finish up here.” Officer Anderson said, looking over the prints before continuing, “These are Ms. Da Silva’s.”

With that, Detective Whitechapel crossed the threshold of the yellow tape once more and returned to his car. He dialed Mercedes’ number again to no avail. He tossed his phone in his passenger seat frustrated before driving to Adramar’s.

Borden parked in the driveway this time before climbing out of his car and going up to the door. He knocked three times quickly. Then waited, Borden noticed the curtains move to the left of the door. Then it opened a few moments later.

Mercedes’ eyes were red, her hair was a mess and she was uneasy on her feet leaning heavily on the door for support.

“Borden? But I wasn’t…” Mercedes stopped herself, and backed out of the doorway holding it open for Borden.

“Get inside before anyone sees you” From her tone of voice, Borden knew she wasn’t asking. He stepped inside and Mercedes quickly closed the door behind him, locking it back.

“Baby what happened?” Borden took one of his gloves off and caressed the side of her face. While his eyes lingered on the king cobra pendant on her necklace.

“Hitmen came from Adramar last night. I heard them come in, and managed to pull them off of him. But if I’d gone to our place…” Mercedes started tearing up.

“How is he doing?” Borden wiped them away as they fell without thinking about it. His mind was on the playing card he’d found, or rather it had been left for him.

“Adramar’s going to be okay, orcs are tough. He’s just asleep right now. I stayed here to keep an eye on him in case anyone came back.” Mercedes stepped forward and promptly tried to bury herself in Borden’s chest. He wrapped his arms around her.

“Why didn’t you answer your phone? I tried calling you when you didn’t show for work.” “I’m sorry Borden I couldn’t find it; fell on the floor in the scuffle. I’m not strong enough to lift the couch and other stuff to look underneath.” Mercedes almost whispered she didn’t look up either.

Borden’s gaze softened underneath the mask, “I’ll help you find your phone.”

What he wasn’t going to do was tell her that Duragon was dead, or that he knew exactly who was behind it at least, not yet. Now Borden was expecting an extremely busy day at homicide as more of Duragon’s men were reported dead. He wasn’t making any assumptions. It was clear as day that this was a synchronized strike to take Duragon’s entire operation out at once.

The fact that any one man had the kind of power to pull this off both impressed, and horrified him.

#noir fantasy #noir fiction #monster love #monster lover #demon exophilia

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pastelpaperplanes · 4 years

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Calling in a favor - Part 1 - Cops and Mob AU

A plot bunny got loose last night and after checking with Pastel, I wrote the first part of what looks to be a multi shot. Be aware two of my OC's are gonna be characters her alongside those already established for this AU.

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Slag was going to go sideways soon, and Megatron had borrowed time to try and prevent it.

It had all started with that new hire, that gorgeous siren with an aft that was just sculpted for high cut attire the entertainers at his nightclub wore.

Orion Pax.

A sweet, soft spoken mech who’d practically stumbled through the door one day in loose fitting yet still somehow fitting attire, and half begged for a job as if he was begging someone not to kill him.

At the time Megatron had thought little of it, he was young, the scene would scare him off in a day or two.

One night in and the young mech with lips perter than those he’d seen on some femmes, which became even more optic catching with that red lipstick, and he was the new favourite of his patrons.

Megatron hadn’t minded, more than happy to accept the uptick in patrons who wanted to see the new singer/dancer his club had to offer.

He’d joined his patrons more than a couple times now to admire the new view, and found his lap full of the young mech on more than one occasion, very eager to please his new boss this one, and the view was always so much better up close.

Once the patrons were gone, he’d made a habit of giving Orion one last drink on for the night, on his personal limitless tab, which he always got a rather timid ‘thank you sir’ from the bot who was always so much meeker and timid off the stage, from there just a couple words were exchanged before Orion was off for the night.

Megatron swore the mech shrunk when his stage persona faded away, or at least, he was always trying to make himself seem small, less likely to draw attention.

A good trait to have really.

Alas, it was hardly enough to keep Shockwave off the young mech.

Now again, Megatron was no fool, few tried so hard to get on his good side without ulterior motives, and there was a high chance he was a very dedicated to the act informant for the Elite Guard.

But there was equally a chance that he really was just a poor sod laid off from his old job by the current mess of an economy Iacon faced and in desperate need for the money to keep the tiny apartment that he lived in, the place had been scouted by some of his mechs to check the story, and everything came through that the mech was telling the truth about being just that desperate for a job.

Shockwave however, was not so easily convinced, and no matter how many times he’d warned the one opticed mech to not cause a mess with the new employee, it felt like he was pulling on a slipping lead, and Shockwave was the enraged hound he was trying to keep from slaughtering the poor innocent pup he had set his one optic on.

He’d caught the mech twice now threatening to make sure that no one would find Orion’s body right to the rightfully terrified mechs face.

He’d had stern words for the mech, but he could practically see them going in one antler and out the other as that one red optic glazed over.

Shockwave was unfortunately in that mindset of ‘he was right, and he’d prove it’.

A state that, in any other situation, Megatron more than welcomed, it certainly kept the spilt energon off his servos, but this time, when the mechs target was Orion’s fresh energon, well, he was having to put his pede down.

At the present moment he was locked in his soundproof office, he had shoved a slug of extra credits to Orion and told him to get a cab home instead of walking, using the credible excuse of the mild acid rain outside to get him safely back to his shoddy apartment as possible.

Then he’d kept Shockwave behind by giving him every menial locking up task he could, the shady dealings done for the cycle it was mostly cleaning up the nightclub.

Shockwave had vocalised his displeasure once during that time, a withering glare and Lugnut snarling from the main door the behemoth stood by swiftly shut him up.

Shockwave knew him hounding Orion had put him on Megatron’s ‘I tolerate you because you’re useful’ list, and he was going to have tread very carefully for a while to get back off that list… but it still stung to realise that his boss really was that far gone under the siren spell of that mystery bot claiming to go by the designation ‘Orion Pax’.

Eventually Megatron ran out of tasks for Shockwave to do, and finally released the mech for the night as well as telling Lugnut to go home, Strika likely had dinner ready for him, he passed them bot a slug of credits to pay for the over time before he retired to where he was now, in his locked office trying to figure out what to do.

He couldn’t keep this up, having to keep an optic on Orion and Shockwave each to make sure the later didn’t find a way to do in the former when he wasn’t looking. It didn’t leave much of his attention for everything else, and that could become very costly if he wasn’t careful...

He couldn’t get rid of Shockwave, he was too useful, and knew too much to just let go.

And he was not his brother, he would never kill a mech like Shockwave over something like this, it was a waste of use.

Orion was an innocent mech who just wanted to earn enough to keep his helm above the slag of this world, and he doubted he’d recharge well if he just let Shockwave have his way and offline the entertainer for the apparent crime of being able to do his job…

He brought the tips of his digits to his optics and rubbed, trying to get the residue buildup out of the seams around his optics.

As he pulled his digits away, his optics landed on the one picture frame he had on his desk.

It was a picture from his younger vorns, back when Megazarak ran the show and he was second in command.

Leaning on the back of each of his broad shoulders, where the two bots he knew that, through the molten slag of the pits, and the emptiness of space, would always have his back.

Sol and Neb, abbreviations of their longer full designations, split spark twins who he had befriended by happenstance when they had stumbled upon him beaten half into the slag of a gutter.

They’d been dressed all fancy, out for a night on the town to have some fun.

They’d been pulled into the fight Megazarak was still embroiled in when they tried to help him to his pedes, bleeding sparks he’d assumed at a time.

Then one of the mechs who’d way laid him had grabbed Sol by the neck and well…

That was the cycle he learned just how quickly an enraged femme could offline a mech with the heel of their shoe.

The stiletto had gone right through the optic and pierced the processor, dooming the mech to the Well right sharpish.

Neb hadn’t even missed a beat, put her shoe back on, just as her twin had pulled out a wicked looking switch blade that had some very nasty hooked edges to it.

The greying mechs friend didn’t take well to his friend being done in with a shoe.

He’d charged.

Now Megatron hadn’t been in the best state, and when things started to really move, it had become a blur he couldn’t follow, past a rather noticeable spray of neon pink as the mechs neck was slit across the front and sprayed all over a nearby wall.

He’d passed out completely from the helm trauma not much later, and had woken up in a very nice hotel room all patched up and Megazarak scowling and pouting on a very plush chair not far from the equally plush berth he was on, med-patches slapped on haphazardly, he had assumed as a result of Megazarak being a terrible patient and their ‘saviors’ not really having much experience with first aid.

They’d come in not long later, introductions had happened, and somehow, they’d never lost touch.

He quickly learned they were the all or nothing types, once they were on your side 100%, there was no wavering in their loyalty, and their morals were very flexible when they didn’t come to other femmes or sparklings.

Some of the things he’d seen them so easily do to mechs had floored him in a way that sometimes still put a chill down his back strut.

What really mattered was, when the time came to pick a side between him and Megazarak, they hadn’t even hesitated to stand by him.

Megazarak barely put up a fight, it would have just prolonged his death, and there was no point making the tragedy of the situation stretch out any more than it had to.

Not long after that though, they had come to them, and told him, rather flatly he remembered, that their sire, a famous starship captain, had been diagnosed with a terminal and rather fast acting disease he’d picked up when traveling with his mate and ship to one of the distant colonies.

They had at most an orn to spend with their creators before both returned to the well, their carrier would follow their sire’s spark at most a cycle after their mate passed.

He’d hugged them as tight as he could, and promised to stay in touch, they all knew what this meant.

The inheritance would come, and with it, the family’s starship fleet.

Saying the twins came from wealth would of been a laughable understatement.

But the facts stood.

Family meant too much for them, and it was their duty to follow the family legacy as the captains of the fleet, specifically the flagship.

A new one, built for them on orders of their sire.

They’d depart Cybertron within the orn of their creators passing, and likely only return to Cybertron, let alone Iacon, infrequently for the rest of their cycles.

He missed them dearly, but he was also happy for them.

They were the only two bots he knew, who’d been able to bow out in grace from the Mob, and not have anyone come after them.

Mostly because of how much terror they’d instilled into the sparks of those who lived through their time being his left and right hand.

The more he thought back on the good times, the more an idea formed in his helm.

He needed an outside opinion, someone's view of things that didn’t have a major bias in the current situation, but who still knew all the background context to understand the severity of the situation he’d found himself in.

He picked up his phone, and dialed the number he had long since memorised.

It rung twice before it went through, a bubbly, yet sultry voice coming over the line, if he was anyone else that voice alone would have had him smitten.

::This is Nebularburst, Co-Captain of the Transgalactic Flagship Polaris speaking, how may I… Mega! You called!::

He chuckled. “I see you noticed the call number.”

::Oh hush you caught me off guard! Normally you send me and Sol a com message saying you want to call first!::

That was true. “I apologise, I was in a bit of a hurry to call you… something has come up… and I need an outside opinion to help me make the right decision.”

Neb’s tone shifted from the happy babble she’d started with to a tone he recognised as her ‘down to business’ manner. ::I’m all audios.::

So, he relayed the situation, from hiring Orion Pax as an entertainer, to that night where he had to hold back Shockwave for over two joors to make sure the mech wouldn’t try and catch the poor scared half witless entertainer on his way home.

Neb dutifully listened to the whole sworded tale, and waited for him to finish before she spoke, and the moment she did, he knew she had an idea.

He’d known her too long not to know how to read her by her voice alone, they’d been able to do little else for decavorns now.

::You have his work contract in your office right?::

“Of course, I have it right here… why?”

::Is it the same kind of contract we’ve been using since Sol suggested it?::

Oh, oh now he saw where she was going, he checked the fine print, there it was, tucked away innocently enough. “It is… tell me Neb… I wish to cash in a rather large favour from you... when will the Polaris next be docking on Cybertron?”

::Within six cycles actually… we were hoping to surprise you with a dinner while Polaris is taken through the motions. But this situation is more important than a nice meal out to catch up…::

“Next time perhaps… if we do this, you’ll keep him safe?”

::Of course we will! Hmmm… wait… hold up… Sol’s just saying something over the bond… oh… oooh! Oh my Primus! Mega! We’re so proud of you!::

He wasn’t going to lie to himself, her sudden burst of excitement over the line startled him.

“What?! What are you talking about? Has something happened?!”

::Happened? … Oh… Oh Megaaaa… don’t you see what’s happened? No… no of course you haven’t… you’re pride and work have gone and given you a blind spot again... :: She paused to sigh. :: I guess I’ve got to spell it out to you over the com and not get to the see the face you’re about to make when I say it…::

That wasn’t good, he was already flinching back a bit, bracing for impact.

::Hmm… Mega, my dear old bricks for a processor friend… you’re… in… love…::

----

Hope you like it Pastel!

#I HAVE #NO WORDS #NADA #ZILCH #OTHER THANBBBRBRUH #this is perfection ommmmmmfg #you really REALLY out did yourself jesusFIVKINGCRHIST #you talent is just off the shits i hope you know that #god.DAMNB #THANK YOU #transformers #fic #submission #cops and mobs creations

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coffeeastronaut · 3 years

Note

Haruka + Kiryu <3

sorry lucy cas beat you to the haruka punch 😔 i have a lot to say however so get ready for round 2.

haruka:

Sexuality Headcanon: i said lesbian last time to now its bisexual [is indecisive] but she defo leans towards girls. femme for femme legend

Gender Headcanon: i think her and kiryu bond over transgener moments :) you probably shouldnt let a kid help w t shots but well ! (or at least when shes older i mean. not till shes like. 14 or so) i think they do their hormones together like at the same time. they help each other with it

A ship I have with said character: head empty. um elaborating on the girls she crushed on it was like. [meeting another idol] oh no shes pretty [meeting a street dancer] oh no shes pretty [meeting a classmate] oh no shes pre-

A BROTP I have with said character: i think shes probably closest with ayako @ the orphanage since they both tend to take on caretaker rolls :) they both call the other on over working but never themselves so its good that they have each other

A NOTP I have with said character: theres thisnone throw away line in 5 when she meets a palm reader where hes like (after a slew of correct readings) oh ur romance line is doing great ;) and the only thing i can think that is supposed to mean is like. akiyama???? which makes me want to kill someone preferably whoever wrote that

A random headcanon: shes got a a little devious streak >:) nothing major but when she makes those little remarks that are a bit too on the nose well... she knows exactly what shes saying lol. none of her siblings ever prank her either bc they know it would start a war. she never starts it tho

General Opinion over said character: i really just :) haruka :) yayyy :) i never rlly understood like comfort characters or really latching onto characters but now. yeah i get it

kiryu:

Sexuality Headcanon: gay gay homosexual gay

Gender Headcanon: hes trans but in a like. he defeated gender its over now kind of way. he finished it. no-op he just does a lot of pushups (+t)

A ship I have with said character: uhhh idrk. saejima and him make me smile i think they could be a good goofy couple but like you dont notice unless you really know them both. its like [slight smile while looking at each other] haruka: no pda please its gross

A BROTP I have with said character: im stupid as fuck i deadass forgot abt majima ‘twin flame’ goro for that last one. he can be his terrible bestie instead i think they hit each other (bonding activities is throwing bicycles at your friends 💛). fr tho i do think they make nice friends :)

A NOTP I have with said character: head empty im choosing to believe people are normal. wait actually the cop. not a good pairing at alllll theres no chemistry and the age difference is 🤢. i think its interesting to think abt like what she REPRESENTS for him in 2 re: his own desires + a life outside the yakuza (which this is already covered by haruka but its said in a different way here thats interesting but. whatever i digress) but the like textual actuality of them being a couple is. i mean well you saw it so

A random headcanon: i think ive said this before but i think its so fuckin funny of him to have his first proper crush be on pocket circuit fighter. its not reciprocated obvi but like kiryu bro you dont even know his name (yet). and then when he sees him again in 6 w a wife and child hes like 😔 damn i missed my chance 😔 shouldnt have waited over 30 years 😔

General Opinion over said character: fuck yeah dude i adore this guy i really do :)

#i love speaking and talking thank you for the oppurtunity

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sailorbellewrites · 4 years

Text

More Than You Can Chew

characters— taehyung x reader (aka kiddo) (ft. members of bts)

summary— taehyung has been (not so quietly) obsessed with the young rapper who eats glazed donuts at the corner table every saturday night for some time now. but everyone thinks dating her is biting off more than he can chew.

information— one shot. fluff. femme reader. character inspired by megan thee stallion, cardi b, and lil’ kim. longer than previous works. same universe as “no limit”, now titled the baking news au. there will be a second part to this titled jawbreaker, which will be released later this month.

warnings— strong language. mean & aggressive characters. casual mentions of sex and sexual behavior (but no smut because i’m shy). excessive mentions of the color pink. vague mentions of other celebrities and influencers. taehyung is an adorable tryhard.

more than you can chew—

On the outside looking in, Yoongi was kind of an asshole. He didn’t speak much and when he did, he never had anything nice to say. His face was void of most emotions, except for the sour expression that would develop when Hoseok laughed too loud in the backseat of your car. The happiest you had ever seen him was when the aforementioned male got too excited during a cypher and fell off the stage. Yoongi laughed hysterically for 30 minutes, much to Hoseok’s annoyance. He spent more time in the studio than he did with his fiancée, a fact that resulted in her calling off the wedding three times in the past year. He always wore black, even in the dead of summer. On the inside looking in, he was much worse. That’s why it’s all too easy to tell him “no” when he asks for a favor.

“Awww, come on Kiddo.”

“Fuck off.”

“I never ask you for shit—”

“So why ruin a good thing and start now?” Yoongi rolls his eyes at your words, body falling into the chair across from you. You eye his limp form slowly, appraising the black hoodie and ripped jeans combination he often gravitated to. He looked good, you had to admit. He always did. Yoongi had the bad boy aesthetic down pat, to the point where it came off as effortless. It wasn’t any wonder as to why girls threw themselves at him during club appearances. If you didn’t know what he was really like (and if he wasn’t dating your friend), you might have tried to bed him too. But you mostly envied Yoongi’s appearance, envied how easy he made dressing and rapping and just about everything look. You were always walking a fine line between putting forth too much effort and being called a try hard bitch or putting forth too little and being accused of looking for a handout. You sighed; being a woman in your industry was tough. “Where’s Hope?”

“DJ owes him money or something. He was pissed.” You shake your head, knowing just how intense an angry Hoseok could be. While you could only count on one hand the amount of times you’d seen him truly filled with rage, each new moment was much more scary than the last. The last time ended with him put in handcuffs, though you were able to talk the cop out of actually taking him to the station. “Not important. You need to do this thing for me.”

“No.”

“I’ll make it worth your while.”

You snort at the cheesy line he deploys. “I’m telling your fiancée you said that.” Yoongi shrugs, as though he was not at all scared of his lover’s wrath. As much as he claimed to hate the drama of their relationship, he often did nothing to stop it. In fact, you would find him actively stoking the flames. You suspect he gets off on it. “You’re such a dickhead. You know you don’t deserve her, right?”

“Whatever. If you do this thing, I’ll buy you donuts everyday for a week.”

You slam your hands flat on the table in front of you, using the extra stability to lean yourself closer to him. “You buy me donuts everyday for a month, original glazed only, and you pay full price,” you bargain in a low voice. You are fully aware of how ridiculous you look, perched on the table like some low level gangster, but you can’t find it in yourself to care. Shame was a feeling no longer within you.

Yoongi scoffs in disbelief, shaking his head before you even finish your proposal. “I have never paid full price here and I’m not gonna start now.”

You push yourself off of your table, throwing your hands up in the air. “Take it or leave it!”

“You don’t even know what I want you to do.”

“Take it or leave it!” You repeat even louder.

Yoongi curses under his breath, knowing he’s caught between a rock and a hard place. He shoots a quick glance behind him, instantly met with the wide expectant eyes of the bakery worker now playing cashier. Looking back at you, he sees you pretending to check your nails—long, pink, and sharp—as though you were bored by him. He scoffs again, wondering why he let his partner drag him into this situation before stating, “Okay, fine. Two donuts, everyday, for a month. Will you do it?”

You smirk, crossing your arms in victory as you lean back in your chair. “Sure. Now what am I doing for you?”

“Going on a date with your hero.”

Kim Taehyung has had a crush on you for some time now. It was no secret to anyone who frequented the small yellow bakery; he’d been smitten from the first day—or rather night—that you walked into Baking News. You looked like a model as you strut through the building, high waisted leather pants accentuating your curves and cleavage pushed up to ten in a lacy pink crop top. You ordered two original glazed donuts before he could even stutter out the pun filled greeting Seokjin had come up with, smirk settled on your lips as though you knew just how much you affected him. When he gave them to you half off because it was so close to closing, you called him your hero. He thought your voice sounded like honey. Taehyung was caught in a trance the rest of the night night, and quickly found himself being wrapped up in thoughts of you every time you walked through those glass doors.

He’s asked you out a few times. Movies, cafes, museums, and the park were all on the table for you to pick up at any time, but you never did. You had every excuse under the sun for why you couldn’t go out with him; you were always too tired, too busy, too unavailable. It made sense, in some ways. Rappers were like that. Or at least, that’s what he told himself to ease the sting of rejection. He held onto his hope that you would eventually say yes because, in truth, you had never given him a concrete “no”. Attached to every excuse of why you couldn’t go out with him was the promise of a “next time”. That “next time” is what kept him going, kept him giving you half priced glazed donuts even when it wasn’t closing time, kept his attraction to you alive.

Naturally, though, he got tired of waiting. Seeing Seokjin’s relationship flourish right before his eyes only made him want you more. He wished he could sit you on the counter and kiss you until he couldn’t breathe, wished he could bring you to the kitchen and “ice cakes” (if he was using Seokjin’s terminology). Taehyung was tired of being kept at arm's length. He couldn’t understand what he was missing; what you didn’t see in him. He knew you found him attractive. He heard you say it to Yoongi’s girlfriend before, hearing your “definitive ranking of the Baking News men” as he wiped down the table behind you. But attraction clearly wasn’t enough. Not for you, it seemed.

Luck was on Taehyung’s side one sunny Sunday morning in April, when Yoongi’s girlfriend rushed into the shop with an embarrassed look on her face. He had known the girl people affectionately called Boo for years, having gone to college with her and her sister, but they weren’t close. She was much more attached to Jungkook (in spite of her relationship with Yoongi), having spent lots of time outside of the bakery walls with the younger man. Thus, the beeline she made for Taehyung was strange; even stranger was the desperate plea she frantically whispered in his ear asking if he could give her two dozen glazed donuts and two cups of hot chocolate for free.

“You know I can’t do th—”

“Okay, but just lis—”

“Boo, my boss would kill m—

"I will lose the maid of honor at my wedding if you don’t do this for me!” She shouted out in clear cut frustration, only to slap her own hand over her mouth in shock. She looked around the bakery pitifully and, noting all of the eyes trained on her, lowered her voice. “Look, Yoongi and I got into it at the club last night—bad. He threw my wallet somewhere. We couldn’t find it. I’ll pay you back when I get all my new cards, I promise. You know I’m good for it. But if I don’t bring some kind of peace offering to her, she won’t be in the wedding.”

Taehyung’s eyes squinted in confusion. “I don’t get why you need donuts for this friend when you’re fighting with your boyfriend.”

“Well he’s my fiancé for starters.”

“Sure, sure,” Taehyung responded with an eye roll, motioning his hand for the woman in front of him to continue.

“And… I may have forgotten that I was her ride back home. She ended up walking by herself… in the rain.”

“Jesus, what the hell is wrong with you?” Taehyng chided, now understanding the source of her odd behavior. “I understand why your friend would want to quit your wedding. You’re an asshole.”

“I am not—listen, that's not the point. The point is… I need the donuts and the hot chocolate. That’s the only way I can start getting back on her good side. If I don’t, she’s never gonna talk to me again. She holds a grudge like you wouldn’t believe. She’s worse than Yoongi.”

Taehyung clicked his tongue, not exactly moved by her story, but knowing she wouldn’t take another “no” easily. “Why don’t you ask Jungkook? He won’t get fired, no matter how much he messes up. It’s too high of a risk for me.”

“I would, but she says you’re the only one who makes the hot chocolate right. Something about always putting caramel or cinnamon in there and that Jungkook doesn’t know how to do it. It has to be you.” Taehyung’s throat dried up at her words, understanding that this friend wasn’t just some random girl with a donut obsession; this friend was you.

Taehyung liked working the cafe side of the bakery more than the others. He didn’t hate icing cakes or kneading dough, but he thoroughly enjoyed the interaction that came from making the quick drinks and packaging small desserts. He could also keep his eye on you more easily when working the counter. That’s how he learned that you loved warm, sweet drinks, particularly when you were having a bad day. However, you found the bakery’s hot chocolate missing something; so Taehyung started experimenting with adding extra flavors to your order. When you told him that you liked the vanilla/cinnamon combination the best, he always made sure to add those for you, regardless of if you asked for it specifically or not. He didn’t do this for anyone else though; didn’t care to see anyone else smile the way you did when you lifted the cup to your lips and took a sip. So it had to be you that Yoongi’s girlfriend was talking about, because you were the only person who got special hot chocolate.

“Okay,” Taehyung said, voice confident, “I’ll get the things ready for you now. Should take about five minutes.”

“Wait… really?” The woman asked, a big smile spreading on her face. “Oh my god, I’m so relieved. You are saving my weddin—no, you are saving my life! I’ll pay you back in like a week, tops. I promise! I’ll even pay extra.”

“You don’t have to pay me back,” Taehyung said quickly, throwing his hands up. “I’ll cover it. Money is not that important. It would be like 15 thousand at most. You don’t need to stress over 15 thousand.”

“Oh,” she responded with a pout, voice deflating. “Well… I can’t do nothing… that would be using you. I’m not Yoongi; I don’t use people. What can I give you to pay you back if not money?”

Taehyung shrugs, unsure of what the woman in front of him could possibly give him before it dawns on him. “A date.”

“A date? With me?”

He scoffs. “With your friend. Get her to agree to go out with me just once and we’re more than even.” For a moment, Boo looks as though she is going to say no. Taehyung knew it would be a hard sell for you, not only accepting your friend’s apology, but then agreeing to go on a date to pay for that apology. But he can see her resolve strengthen and she gives him a firm nod.

That’s how Taehyung ends up sitting across from you on a chilly Tuesday night, watching you fiddle with the tangled up wires of your earbuds and phone charger. Your studio was small, but brighter than Taehyung anticipated. The walls were white, lit up by pink fairy lights that had small polaroid photos pinned between each bulb. The love seat and rolling desk chair you were currently sitting in were a pale grey color, but held bright pink and yellow throw pillows. On your desk were two white computer monitors, a set of studio monitors, a pink MIDI controller, a black control surface, and a set of rose gold over ear headphones with the word ‘kiddo’ engraved on each side. The whole space was, for lack of a better term, girly. Far girlier than you had ever presented yourself to Taehyung; but, as you told him, the design was on purpose.

“They’re so dark all the time,” you murmur, followed by a short ‘ah’ as you finally get all the cords untangled and manage to plug in your phone. You turn in your chair to face him, annoyed expression on your face as you continue, “every single one of them have these ugly black walls and stupid pictures of naked girls all over the place. I swear, half of them are hard every time they record. It’s suffocating and awkward. When I finally got the money to get my own studio, I had to make sure the space prioritized my comfort. You know?”

“I do,” Taehyung whispers back in awe. He decides he loves listening to you talk. Your voice was already the sweetest that he had ever heard, but your way with words was even better. The way you put words together always garnered a reaction from him, even if you weren’t trying. It wasn’t any wonder why you became a rapper. “How do the guys in your crew feel when they record here?”

“Hope doesn’t mind it, but everyone else thinks it’s excessive. I get it. It doesn’t fit the whole Kiddo image.”

“Why do they call you Kiddo, anyway? That’s nothing like your real name.” Taehyung asks, placing his elbows on his knees and holding his own face in his hands as he waits patiently for your answer.

You hum as you think of it, mirroring his pose in your chair and Taehyung didn’t think you could get any cuter than you were now. You were a far cry from the barely there outfits he often saw you wear in the bakery before (or occasionally after) performances, wearing a pink sweater dress that was two sizes too big if the way it swallowed you up was any indication. He just wanted to hold you in his arms, but he wasn’t sure you were there yet. It had only been two hours that he had been in the studio in which you insisted the date take place and you had kept your physical affection to a minimum. At most, you poked his shoulder and cheek when teasing him about the puns he had to say when taking orders at work. However, the conversation flowed so naturally and you hadn’t asked him to leave yet; he was sure the night would end with you feeling something more for him than before.

“You know the movie Kill Bill? The main character’s real name is Beatrix Kiddo.”

“You named yourself after a movie assassin?”

“Oh no. That would be so generic and cliche. Suga actually picked out the name. When I first started out, I was going by something completely different. But I covered this song called "Chill Bill" that got a lot of attention a couple years ago and someone commented that I… I think they said I killed or murdered the beat like Kiddo or something. I can’t really remember the exact thing too well. Anyway, Suga thought that it would be a good voice tag and then the tag became a nickname and… well here we are. I’m Kiddo now.”

“Can I listen to the song that inspired the name?”

You sit up abruptly. “Hell no. That song is awful. I’m so much better now.”

“You can’t invite me to your studio and not let me listen to your music. Be a better date,” he teases, causing you to release a small giggle. “You have to let me listen to something at least. What are you working on?”

You shake your head with a small smirk, turning back to face your desk. Your hand grips the mouse and you click around on one of the screens as you move to pull up your latest song. However, you still question him, asking, “Are you sure you want to listen? It’s kind of raunchy.”

“I can handle it.”

“My lyrics aren’t for the faint of heart, Taehyung.”

“Give it to me,” he requests excitedly and you instantly press play. He lets out a loud laugh as soon as he hears the lyrics, instantly understanding their intent even though they are in English. Your warning was more than necessary, as you spit out graphic depictions of sexual acts in a cocky tone of voice. The dichotomy of your current appearance with the words coming out of the speakers only makes him laugh harder, as his brain fails to connect the two personas together.

You stop the song, turning to face him with a shocked look on your face. “Are you really laughing at my music? Seriously?”

“No, no!” He chokes out, waving his hands in the air to show his innocence as his laughter winds down into sporadic giggles. “It’s not like that. I don’t think it’s bad. I’m just surprised by it.” He can tell from the look on your face that you don’t believe him. And Taehyung isn’t sure what comes over him in that moment, but he suddenly finds himself rocking forward to cradle your face in both of his hands as though he was handling fine china. You tense in his grasp, but make no moves to pull away as he whispers, “Don’t look at me like that. I wouldn’t lie to you. The song is good. You just look so much… softer than that song right now. It caught me off guard; but I would never laugh at you. I like you too much to do that.”

His sincerity has you reeling. Although he stopped speaking, he doesn’t let you go. Instead, his eyes study your face like you’re a piece of artwork, committing every new detail he finds to memory as though he’s worried that he’ll never see you again. His eyes finally settle on your lips, becoming lidded as you are able to guess what he wants.

“Are you going to kiss me?” You question quietly.

“I want to. Are you going to let me?”

“Yes.” He gives you two slow blinks before he bends his head down to slot his lips against yours.

It’s soft at first, the gentle pressure of his lips coaxing your own open as though he’s still asking for permission. When you angle your head up to move your lips against his better, he lets out a small whimper that sends a shiver up your spine. It continues on like this for a few seconds before he slips tongue inside of your mouth. All hell breaks loose within you then, as you wrap your arms around his neck to get closer to him. This act causes him to finally release your face, hands dropping to your waist. The kiss gets deep, tongues wrestling with each other as he fights against you to take the lead. When the struggle continues for longer than he would like, his hands firmly grip your waist and pull you forward off of your chair until you're straddling his thighs. He wins the battle when he pulls your hips down at the same time that he grinds his hips up. The friction is more intense than you were prepared for, only then remembering the only barrier between your center and his jeans was a thong you had slipped on in haste. He repeats the action once more before pulling away with a big gasp for breath. You rest your forehead against his as you take in deep breaths of your own. You make note of his expression—satisfaction.

“So is this date as bad as you imagined it being?” He whispers against your lips, fingers running up and down your back gently as he breathing finally calms.

You pout at his question. “Why would you ask that?”

“You avoided it for so long.”

“I… I was… I don’t know,” you stutter out, unsure of how to respond to the call out. It’s hard to think when the room is so hot, when he’s still so close to you, when his crotch is still pressed firmly against your own. “I just didn’t… wanna make things awkward?”

“Are things awkward now?”

“Not really. No.”

“So what do you think?”

“About what?”

“About dating me.”

“You ask a lot of questions, Kim Taehyung. It’s been one date.”

“I just know what I want,” he responds seriously, voice dropping an octave as he makes eye contact with you and holds your stare. “I like you. I like you more now than I did before. I want you. Do you want me too?”

“I… yeah. I guess I like you too. We can… Let’s see where this goes.”

“Here.”

You jump up to your feet at the sound of a familiar deep voice. Looking up, you’re met with the sight of a pink cardboard cup wrapped up in pale, ring clad fingers. “You came,” you note, reaching for the cup as you get your first real look at Taehyung that night. He easily lets you have it, hand slipping behind your neck to pull you into for a quick hug. He releases you with a kiss to your temple, a lazy smile sitting on his face that you admittedly find more attractive than you should. You often found yourself wishing that he wasn’t so outwardly handsome; dealing with an attractive partner always causes issues.

“You thought I wouldn’t?” He questions. You shrug. Taehyung was easily the most attentive person you ever dealt with. You woke up to emoji filled good morning texts every morning and didn’t hit your bed without a sweet phone call wishing you a good night. He commented on every picture you posted to Instagram, was five minutes early to every date, and sent food to your studio when he knew you were too busy to eat something real. You would have felt suffocated by his intensity if not for the lackadaisical way he went about being with you: most dates ending on his old couch, watching mind numbing TV shows as he cradled you in his arms to talk about nothing. He made you feel precious and that worried you. You were left wondering how he would treat you when he finally realized you weren’t worth your weight in gold.

“What’s this?”

“Hot chocolate.”

“Why?”

“Boo told me you were stressing.”

“Does this have cinnamon and vanilla in it?”

He rolls his eyes at you in a mock display of annoyance. “Doesn’t it always?”

“My hero,” you coo gently at him, voice upping in pitch as though you were speaking to a child. He doesn’t mind your patronizing tone, responding with a megawatt smile that would make even the most stoic person happy. You take a small sip, letting out a small breath some of the tension you were feeling begins to melt away.

“What were you doing back here?” Taehyung asks, concern pulling at the edges of his words, despite how casual he attempted to sound. He was never good at hiding his emotions when it came to you. You liked that. He never left you guessing at where you stood with him.

“Hiding,” you answer honestly, not ashamed of your actions. You had been crouched behind the club for at least twenty minutes, going over your lyrics and the performance blocking in your head again and again. Rehearsals hadn’t gone well, with Hoseok’s nerves shot due to the knowledge that his favorite producer would be in the building and Yoongi still pissed about some argument he had gotten into with his girlfriend. You also weren’t at your best, anxious about having Taehyung in the audience. He had seen videos of you performing before, but he had never been in the audience. You didn’t know what he would think of the environment and the people that it attracted. He claimed he didn’t scare easy, but everybody did.

“Hiding from what?”

“Just people. You know how I feel about people.”

“You must be glad I’m not just people then, huh?” He joked, hand sneaking over to yours and lacing your fingers together. You let out a non-committal hum that has him tightening his grip in faux warning. “Stop pretending that you don’t like me.”

“What time is it?”

He looks at his watch. “11:34.”

“I’m on in like 40 minutes,” you told him, moving forward to pull him to the front of the club. He lets you lead him, submitting to you more easily than most men would in his situation. Whereas many of the men who found themselves lucky enough to get close to you tried to wear you like an accessory, molding you against their form to make them appear more interesting than they were, Taehyung found solace staying in the background. It was nice.

“There you are!” Hoseok yells as you approach, his voice far higher in pitch than what was normal even for him. He stands in the center of your crew, wearing a distressed look on his face as he scolds you with the same intensity of an overworked stay-at-home mom. “We go up soon. Where have you been?”

“Hiding.”

“Not the fucking time for hiding dumbass,” he snaps at you, making Yoongi laugh.

The palm of your hand disconnects from Taehyung’s and lands on Hoseok’s chest with a loud thwap before you can blink. The following five hits are more deliberate though, punctuating your words as you shout, “Don’t call me a dumbass!” Hoseok lets out rough grunts at the hits, responding with a harsh shove that sends you flying back into Taehyung. You let out a snarky laugh.

It had taken Taehyung some time to get used to this aspect of your relationship with your friends. They all treated you as though you were one of the guys, pushing and shoving you around with glee in spite of the fact that some of them were much bigger than you. You always matched their energy though, whether physically or verbally. You never backed down, which is why they seemed to respect you. Still, it was hard for Taehyung to watch you roughhouse with them. He was afraid there would be a day it would go too far, although you were adamant that you could always handle yourself.

“Alright now, children, let’s calm down,” Yoongi said in a condescending tone. “We have to work soon, no fighting on stage.”

“Are you ready?” Hoseok asks, ignoring Yoongi’s words.

“Are you ready?” You parrot back, much to his clear annoyance. “I’m not the one who forgot my lyrics today. Are you ready?”

“Let’s just go inside,” Yoongi groaned out, making his way towards the entrance of the club in a way that demanded everyone else follow suit.

A VIP section of tables is where you lead Taehyung, sitting him down in a seat next to Yoongi’s girlfriend. “You should be able to see us really well from here,” you note, playing with the rings that adorn his fingers. “Nobody should mess with you either. If they do, tell her,” you instruct, nodding your head towards your friend currently having her own private discussion with Yoongi, “because she’s worse than me.”

“I heard that!” The girl in question yells back. You roll your eyes and press your lips quickly against Taehyung’s own before you make your way to the stage. “Oh fuck, who invited them?” The woman sitting next to him mutters angrily, pointedly staring at three men who walk into the section and take a seat at a table adjacent to where Taehyung is seated. He doesn’t recognize them, though it’s clear from the way others in the section tense up that they aren’t welcome guests. He makes a decision to ignore them, focusing his attention on the stage where a DJ continues to play popular hip hop songs from abroad.

Suddenly, the lights on the stage brighten up and the music comes to a stop. The DJ begins hyping up the crowd for the upcoming performance and Taehyung is stunned at the amount of excitement people show when your name is mentioned. It multiplies ten fold when a spotlight finally highlights your place on the stage and the performance begins. He’s mesmerized. You handle yourself well. You seem to know exactly when to draw attention to yourself and when to step back and let the others shine. It’s clearly calculated, but you make it look easy. It’s hard for all eyes not to be on you, though. You’re the only woman on stage and the hot pink crop top you’ve chosen to wear makes you stick out amongst the rest of your crew dressed in all black. When you happily dance around Hoseok as a distraction to make the man stutter out his lyrics, Taehyung can’t help but laugh.

“She’s good, right?” A voice asks, forcing Taehyung’s attention away from you. Next to him stands a large man, muscled arms crossed at his chest and covered in black tattoos. He holds an unimpressed gaze as he stares at the stage, as though he’s seen it all before. “He freaks out everytime she pulls that little stunt. He’s so whipped for her. She needs to just fuck the poor bastard already.”

“Excuse me?” Taehyung asks at the same time that Yoongi’s girlfriend shouts, “Why are you over here?”

“Calm down, Boo,” the man states with a light chuckle, eyes still on the stage. “Just here to support my girl.” The man then turns his gaze to Taehyung, “But I guess she’s your girl now, right? I see you all over her Instagram and Twitter. You must be really giving it to her good. She never posts about who she’s fucking.” Taehyung tenses at the man’s words, but does not offer up a response. The man looks back towards the stage with an amused laugh. “Didn’t think she would fuck pretty boys though. Her type is a little more… tough.”

He knows he’s being tested. It has happened more than once. As much as the guys you hung around pretended that they didn’t care about your dating life, they were actually extremely protective over you. There were endless threats whispered into his ear when he found himself in your studio during actual recording sessions. It never bothered him, though. He found it a bit heartwarming that men who would push you down to get the last piece of chicken would also fight for you so easily. But this was different. The man standing beside Taehyung eyes you like a predator stalking prey. It makes Taehyung’s skin crawl.

The performance ends with a bang, the energy in the room still electric as you make your way off the stage. The pride painted on your face as you are stopped by various people in the crowd warms Taehyung’s heart. It’s the happiest that he has ever seen you. You and the guys practically bounce back into the section, still riding the high of a successful performance. However, your happy steps slow to a crawl when you realize who is standing next to him. Of course the one person you didn’t want to see would find his way over to Taehyung. You could see the agitation in Taehyung’s face as the two exchanged words.

Sensing your apprehension, Hoseok throws his arm around your neck happily, leaning most of his body weight on you. “I can punch him if you want,” Hoseok offers lazily, as though it would be all too easy. It would, but you knew that the aftermath wouldn’t be pretty. “If your pretty boy won’t do it, I mean. It’s been a while since we’ve been in a real fight.”

You shudder slightly under his hold as you remember exactly what happened the last time you got into a fight. Hoseok was still banned from two clubs over that incident. “Calm down, Hope. I don’t wanna get kicked out of another club.”

“No fun,” he whispers in your ear. “Are you gonna go in there and save him?” You release an annoyed scoff at the idea because it’s nowhere near your job to rescue a grown man. “I wonder what they’re talking about,” Hoseok muses. “If I had to guess? Probably your weird bathroom sex kin—oof!” You cut him off with an elbow to the ribs, sighing in relief as he removes himself from you. “Go get your boyfriend before he’s not your boyfriend anymore, asshole.”

“Fine.” You make an effort to straighten your back and set your shoulders back before you start the short journey to where Taehyung is seated next to your ex. You slip your arm through Taehyung’s when you make your way there, only mildly surprised by how quickly he tangles his long fingers through your own and pulls you closer. You ex smirks at the interaction, pleased by the effect he had. “Hey,” you say much more confidently than you feel.

“Well if it isn’t our favorite girl,” your ex barks out happily, throwing you a wink. You can’t help but roll your eyes. “Me and your friend here were just talking about you.” Taehyung quietly grunts at the word ‘friend’ beside you, but neither of you make a move to correct the person standing in front of you. You knew responding to the minor dig would only further feed his ego. “We both had a lot to say.”

“Only nice things, I hope?” You ask, your question pointed more at Taehyung. The boy offers you a reassuring smile in return causing you to let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding. You could only imagine the things that had been said, both true and untrue.

“I was telling your new friend here all of the things we used to do together. He couldn’t believe how wild you used to be. I’m so surprised by how much you’re holding back on him, love. That’s so unlike you.”

“Don’t call me love,” you respond almost robotically. It had become an automatic response to his continued usage of the pet name in recent months. In actuality it had been years since you were with the heavily tattooed man, but Taehyung had no way of knowing that. Past relationships were one of the few topics both of you agreed to stay away from. It would only cause more problems.

“Don’t exaggerate for my benefit,” Taehyung suddenly speaks up, eyeing the man thoughtfully.

“Hmm?” The man hums out.

“Lying is only gonna make you look like more of an asshole.”

“You wish I was lyi—” Before the man can finish his retort, you hear your name being screamed out over the thumping bass of the music. Turning your head, you see a red faced Hoseok running towards you.

Concern is etched on his features as he rushes out, “We gotta go.” He keeps shifting from left to right like he’s ready to escape from the confines of the roped off section at the drop of a dime. “Yoongi threw a couple bottles and the managers are not happy.”

“He threw a whole bottle?” Taehyung asks in shock at the same time as you shout, “He threw more than one? Again? Fuck me! Why?” Your ex laughs loudly at the news, himself having been a part of a few bottle throwings when he was with you.

“The same reason they always get us kicked out of places,” Hoseok explains with a frustrated eye roll. “You think at this point he would stop inviting exes to shows. Let the rejects stay where they are, right?” Taehyung snorts at Hoseok’s pointed insult towards your ex. You give him a grateful smile for the diss. “Anyways, we gotta leave before they ask for their money back. This gig is paying for my new equipment.”

“Noted.” You tug Taehyung up out of his seat quickly, before turning to your ex one last time. “We gotta go. It was not nice seeing you. Die.” Then the three of you quickly make you way out of the club before things can get even more tense.

The couple is still arguing outside when you exit the venue, Yoongi’s hand firmly wrapped around your best friend’s wrist as she screams at him to let her go. Yoongi’s knuckles are bleeding and you wonder if he cut himself on the glass or punched a wall again. You know better than to ask at this moment. Trying to stop them was a recipe for a disaster. “Fuck this. I’m going home,” Hoseok says frustratedly. He turns to you, forcing a hopeful expression as he asks,“See ya tomorrow?”

“Yup. Don’t be late.” Hoseok nods at you twice and winks at Taehyung before he crosses the street and disappears into the night.

“Does this always happen?” Taehyung asks suddenly, eyes still on the couple as Yoongi starts to yell back about who actually crossed the line. Taehyung knew that they fought, but he never understood the extent of it. Seeing it in person was a completely different ball game.

“Every single time we go to a club,” you say with a shrug, dropping the hold you have on his hand. “Perks of dating a rapper, I guess. Relationships don’t do well in this environment.” Taehyung’s eyes snap to you at the implication of his words.

“But Yoongi and his girl have been together for years right? It can’t be all bad.”

“And they fight all the time. She breaks up with him constantly. I mean, she’s been my friend for longer than she’s known him and it’s still hard for her to handle all of,” you stop, waving your hand around the wannabe rap boys dressed in baggy clothes, the club, and the drunk girls stumbling down the block before continuing, “all of this. And it only gets worse the more popular you get. No one really wants to deal with this.”

“I do,” he says, not even taking the time to consider your words. “I think I could handle it.”

You eye him carefully, cocking your head to the side as you formulate a response. The truth of your lifestyle was a bitter pill to swallow. Love was often the first casualty of Hip Hop, whether rappers liked to admit it or not. You weren’t sure if your words would ruin the good thing you had going with him. “Taehyung, you saw my ex. All that animosity between us comes from him being insanely jealous of the people around me. He couldn’t handle it.”

“I’m better than your ex.”

“Okay, but it’s not just jealousy that comes with this. Do you really think you could handle guys constantly hitting on me? Slapping my ass on stage? Calling me a whore in diss tracks? Trying to spike my drinks or give me drugs?”

Taehyung moves to wrap his arms around your waist, pressing the front of your body against his own. He sways gently with you in his arms, pressing soft kisses to your forehead as he thinks. Finally he settles on, “For you, I could handle all of that and more.” He pulls away from you slightly to stare into your eyes deeply, before leaning into to press a kiss against your lips. He pulls back once more to whisper against your lips, “I just want to be with you. I don’t care about the rest.”

“Hmm… you really are my hero.”

authors note— there will be a continuation of this couple’s story called jawbreaker released later this month. jawbreaker was originally meant to be a part of more than you can chew, but it ballooned past what i imagined and i need more time to finish. hope you enjoyed this and will read jawbreaker when it’s released.

#taehyung scenarios #v scenarios #bts scenarios #kim taehyung #another long one #kim taehyung scenarios #taehyung fluff #v fluff #sailor belle writes #au: baking news

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