#but if you wanted an update they have won the last three games so that's good | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cassiopeiasdaughter · 8 months

Text

the great war

Theodore Nott xfem!reader

part of the midnights collection

December 31st, 1998

Dear Diary,

So much has happened, I don’t know where to start.

The past month has been eventful, to say the least. As far as the Horcrux hunt goes, the boys managed to destroy two of them, almost one month ago, and Hermione thinks they’ll be going to Hogwarts by the end of January.

Hogwarts has been shut down, unofficially; classes have stopped and the only ones staying there are the teachers and the students who have nowhere else to go. Professor Lupin said that most of the muggleborns have fled the country with their families.

I worry about the boys going back there, especially now, it isn’t safe with Snape as Headmaster and the Carrows there. They shouldn’t be going there alone.

The attacks against muggleborns and muggles, are more frequent now than ever. There is a station on the radio, spreading news and updating the supporters of the Order.

From what we’ve been hearing, things aren’t going as well as we’d like them to. Moody says that, even if we destroy the Horcruxes and kill Voldemort, there will still be so many Death Eaters and werewolves left and they will try to continue his work.

Not to mention, the politicians who secretly support him. It just feels like no matter what we do, they will still keep appearing. So how will it ever end?

You feel panic creeping up on you again, and you stop for a moment, laying your head on top of your desk, hoping that if you shut your eyes, you will forget everything for just a few seconds. But you don’t. Instead you decide to focus on something else and you continue writing.

Andromeda Black has been visiting us, her husband is also fighting and her daughter moved in with us. And, in case it wasn't clear, she is Dracos aunt. I think she wants to fix their relationship, Narcissa and Andromeda were close growing up and from the way she talks about her sister I can tell how much she misses her.

Draco is the only person tying her to her sister- and her old family. I am sure she is proud of him. Proud of all of them.

We, have also grown closer to them, it is ridiculous to think how every time I’d stumble across Pansy Parkinson at school, I would feel anxious over the things she would say to me, but now- now we laugh together almost every night.

We all sit together and talk about school and our past, but only about the good stuff. Pansy makes fun of Theo and Draco, and how difficult they were back at school. How Draco would constantly talk about Harry when they sat in their common room.

She remembers how one time, Blaise invented a drinking game, where every time that Draco would mention Harry, they would take a shot of whatever alcohol they had. She woke up with a pounding headache the next morning next to Theo who looked sick and Blaise who had gone to the bathroom at least three times.

And worst of all, Draco was sober and kept on blabbering about quidditch and how unfair it was that “undisciplined-Potter” won almost at every game.

Pansy told us the other day that even if things go terribly and we all die, at least she made girl-friends and didn’t end up alone with a whiny Draco and a moody Theo- her words not mine.

Theo and I have also grown close this past month. After the last time I wrote you, he visited me in my room and asked if he could sleep here. I let him in and turned the rug by my bed into a mat. Anyway, he slept there that night, and the next one and everynight after that.

He says he doesn’t get nightmares anymore, he feels safe now; and he can fall sleep easier. And to be honest, I have also been sleeping better, ever since that night. It isn’t only easier for me to fall asleep, but when I wake up I feel safe, and I can calm down faster than when I am on my own.

I didn’t realize how much I craved to be near someone until Theo started sleeping here, how easier it gets when you have someone by your side.

He usually knocks on my door a few minutes before midnight, we lay in our beds and talk until one of us falls asleep.

He is kind and funny, and if it weren’t for the War I could fall we could be more than housemates-who-can’t-sleep-by-themselves and-need-eachother. But, we could die at any moment and living in a fantasy will not help me; and neither will getting my hopes up over nothing.

We spent Christmas morning together, we woke up very early, and those who were not on a mission were still asleep. He made us spiked-hot chocolate, and we exchanged Christmas stories, until the others woke up.

That morning he told me about his childhood and how he would spend Christmas with the Malfoys, because his father didn’t want him around.

He asked me about my childhood and I told him about visits at the Burrow, and that one year when I spent Christmas at Hogwarts; raiding the kitchen with the students who were also there; and then listening to Hagrid’s stories at night.

Last week, I think the day after Boxing Day, I heard him talking in his sleep. Usually, he is the one to wake me up, whenever I have a nightmare, but that day the opposite happened.

He was thrashing in his sleep and mumbling words that I can’t remember, he told me once that he dreams of Blaises death. I woke him up and

You raise your head and look outside your window as you recall that night.

You were on your knees next to him, desperately trying to wake him up. Tears were dropping on his cheek and he kept grunting as if he was in physical pain; you shook his shoulder hard enough that he woke with a deep sigh.

The look on his face haunts you to this day, it is something you never want to see again. You lightly grabbed his face and whispered “It was only a dream.”, but he didn’t seem to believe you. He looked at you in silence, and grabbed your wrist, willing you to stay there with him and not move.

After a few minutes, he let you go and whispered “I am sorry.”, you could have just gone back to your bed, he was fine, he had snapped out of it. But you felt something tugging at your chest, and you just couldn’t let go.

You grabbed your blanket from your bed and draped it over you, as you laid down at his makeshift bed. He was nervous at first, at how different this was, from your usual sleeping situation, but after a few seconds he laid next to you and guided you to rest your head on his shoulder, while he kept you close with his arms.

You slept in each others arms that night, but when the morning came you woke up alone with only his scent there to hug you.

You never spoke about that night, and you still pretend it never happened…

In a few hours it will be new years day. 1999. I feel numb, it almost doesn’t feel real. Time is moving and the world is changing, every day, but I feel stuck. I am stuck inside this house and in this war that no-one asked for.

I keep losing people and I can’t see how that is ever going to change. I just hope, wish, that the War ends this year, and the new millennia doesn’t start with violence and death. Is it selfish to also wish that I make it out alive, without losing anyone else that I love?

You hear a knock on your door and quickly hide your diary. “Come in.”, you say and the door opens to reveal Theo in his usual sweatshirt, holding his pillow with an apologetic smile.

It is the same look he has every night, he told you once that he feels awful for burdening you like this, and as he tried to leave your room you stopped him “I want you here, it helps me too.”, you explained and he laid back down.

“Hi.” You say softly and move to your bed.

You both lay down, you on your bed and he in his; but you are both on your sides, facing eachother.

“Theo?”, you softly ask and he replies with a “mm”

“Do you think it will end?”

“The war or the world?”, he asks yawning

“Both?”

“Yes.” , he replies softly

“Which one?”

“Both.”, he says as he rests his head on his head and looks up at you “I just don’t know, which of the two, we’ll get to experience.”

“What will you do, if you survive the war?”, you ask, wanting to change the subject before a full blown existential crisis hits you, minutes before the new year.

“It depends.”, he says seriously

“On what?”

“In your scenario, will you also have survived the war?”

“I hope so.”, you say with a laugh

“Well then, there is this house that I used to visit, with my parents, when my mother was still alive”, he quickly tells you “It is in the countryside and the healers said that it would be good for her health, to live away from the city.”

“I would go there, and you should come with me.” He says and earns a surprised look form you

“You can see the stars from there, very clearly, because it is so far away from the city lights”, he begins describing in a way that tells you that, this house and perhaps the memories he has from there are significant to him.

“And it is by the coast, so you can sit by the beach and forget about anything that troubles you. And it has a huge library, with so many books, you would love it there.”, he finishes, and you can tell by his movements and the way his eyes stare into yours, that he is getting tired as each minute passes.

“Mmm sounds nice.”, you reply slowly

“What about you?”, he asks then

“Hm, if I survive this war and you are still alive I’ll make you take me to that house, because now I am curious to see it.”, you say smiling, earning a smile back from him “You don’t go there anymore?”

“No, my father couldn’t visit it; after my mother passed, it reminded him of her.”

“Do you remember her? Your mom?”, you wonder

“No, not really. I remember she was kind and quiet. Maybe it is better she died, I don’t think she would’ve survived this war.”, he says now with a hint of nostalgia in his words

“You never talk about your parents.”, he points out, not in an accusing manner, but curious.

“Yeah, I- miss them, too much. I- it hurts talking about them.”, you say and it is true.

Whenever you think of your parents questions are shot at you; Are they okay? Are they safe? Will I ever see them again? It is easier to try and forget about them; for now, until it is safe for them to be with you again.

“It is almost midnight.”, Theo says, snapping you out of your thoughts

“It is almost new year.”, you exclaim “Come here, for the countdown.”, you ask craving the feel of someone near you.

He lays on your bed, facing you still, and instinctively he grabs your hands in his as he looks at you; opening himself to you, letting his emotions and thoughts show. Letting you see them.

“Will you really take me to your lake house if we make it out alive?”, you ask half-jokingly

“It’s a beach house. And yes.”, he replies seriously

“Then I will stay alive for that.”, you promise him. You will stay alive because the world is worth saving, you will stay alive because he gives you hope and something to look forward.

You will stay alive for yourself and the people you love, but also for him. The sound of fireworks snap you out of your thoughts.

The New Year has officially come. And the person you are spending this moment with is Theodore Nott, how could anyone ever prepare you for this moment?

What could they say to convince you that someday, you would lay in your bed with Theodore Nott, exchanging happy new year wishes and laying bare your souls to eachother. Exposing every dark thought and worry, opening your hands to receive the other persons concerns and fears.

“Happy new year.”, he tells you

“Happy new year.”, you wish back and look at his face more clearly now. You notice his eyes and how easily you can lose yourself in them, and you stare at his lips as if they are the medicine to cure your symptoms. Bring you back to life.

“Theo.”, you say; barely whispering

“Yes.”, he replies in the same tone, now looking at you like he can read your thoughts. His eyes scan your face, expectantly, wanting. As if he is starved.

His look is enough for you to lean in and whisper to him, when your lips are a breath away “For good luck. For the New Year”

And with that you close the gap between you two. He slowly closes his eyes and grabs the back of your head carefully with his free hand, pulling you closer to him. You place your hand on his shoulder, resting your body on him.

The way his lips kiss yours feels like a drug. This alone, is worth fighting for. To be able to kiss him, like this. And it is solely because when you kiss eachother, it feels as if a weight is lifted off your chest, as if his hands help you carry the stone to top of the mountain.

Normally, you would blame yourself for being weak; you should be able to handle things by yourself, you shouldn’t need others to survive, that is what your mind would normally tell you, and yes normally you would agree. But there is nothing normal about this life you are currently living.

So you keep kissing him and when his mouth travels south to your neck, causing you to let out a small sigh you don’t stop him.

“For good luck.” he repeats as he takes off your shirt and kisses your skin.

“For good luck.” you repeat as you pepper kisses along his jaw and neck, while he tugs at your hips to remove the rest of your clothing.

And, later when you lay together with your clothes discarded on the floor, with his arms around you; holding you impossibly close to him and his breath fanning rhythmically in your ear, tickling you softly, you try to convince yourself that it was in fact just for good luck.

A/N: feedback and criticism are appreciated and needed ⭐️🤍 This will be continued this has been poorly proofread so, I am deeply sorry for the mistakes 🫣

#theodore nott x reader #theodore nott #theo nott #theodore nott imagine #harry potter fanfiction #theo nott imagine #theo nott x reader #second wizarding war #AU #fluff #theo nott fluff

167 notes · View notes

number1jeonginstan · 7 months

Text

coffee- jeongin x reader (enemies to lovers)

part II part III part IV

wc: 1.1k words so far

cw: Just some swearing, I hope to have smut later on!

A/N: HIIIII this is actually my first time ever writing a fanfiction so I'm sorry if it isn't the best. I am always willing to take criticism to learn and do better! I'm going to make this a series and will definitely take suggestions on what will happen in the next part. I won't be the best at updating often because I am quite busy, but I really want to try my best! I really hope you guys like this so far!!!!

"I'm so sick and tired of his bullshit" you screamed taking another shot. "I don't understand why we have to be here", you whined at Sana. "You literally say that as you take a shot of free alcohol," she said while rolling her eyes. "Plus you look hot, just forget about him and drink with me!" she said while pouring you guys another shot.

What you were trying to forget was the devil himself, Yang fucking Jeongin. Something about him infuriated you to your core. Just the thought of his annoying perfect face and foxy eyes made your blood boil. You just don't understand, why he had to spill an entire cup of coffee on you, on the first day of classes nonetheless.

"Think of the devil and he appears," said Sana and you whip your head around. "Why does he have to be here out of all places" you screamed over the blasting music. “I mean it is his frat, so I don’t know why you think he wouldn’t be here y/n?” she shrugged. “WHAT” you screamed. “What do you mean it’s his frat? I thought it was SKZ’s and they never allow new members to join.”

SKZ is one of the most well-known frats at your college. The last time they let someone join was Seungmin and you had no idea why. Every member was either a singer or dancer, and Seungmin was in school to become a photographer.

“I guess they took a liking to him, plus he’s a music major” Sana sighed taking another sip of her drink, it was something pink and looked like it would give her the worst hangover of her life in the morning, something you would have to deal with being her roommate and all. “But seriously, you need to forget about him and get dicked down or something, how long has it been since you had a good fuck?”

“I think last…” Before you could even finish your sentence, Seungmin dragged you away from her. “There is my favorite little nerd,” he said while ruffling your hair. All you do is glare at him anger strewn all across your face but as soon as you realize it’s him a smile playfully comes across from your face. “MINNIE!” you yelled loud enough that the couple beside you guys could hear you above the music and glared at you guys. You punch his arm playfully and he glares at you.

“Why did you hit me? Don’t you need your knight and shining armor?” he giggled at you. You instantaneously respond with “You are losing at beer pong aren’t you?” It was something that he would always say to get you to help with something he was loosing. He pouted at you “I wouldn’t classify it as losing exactly, but I haven’t won a round and I’m already three games in."

Seungmin and you have known each other since High School, meeting in drama club, something he swears he was forced to take. Although he’s a year older, he’s always treated you as an equal, which is hard especially because of his personality. You guys have just clicked, and it was something you were so grateful for.

“So loser, how have you been enjoying college so far” he said while dragging you to the table where they were playing at. “Terrible” you reply, “this dick, who I think is part of your weird ass frat” he started laughing and you glare at him then continue “decided to pour his entire drink down the front of my shirt, right before class. And then instead of apologizing, he told me to suck it up and just buy a new shirt and then walked away. Like who the fuck is that arrogant?” you began to pout just remember what that dick Jeongin did.

“Awww come on, don’t pout, you will only get uglier than you already are” You once again glare at him, contemplating leaving him to lose, yet another round of beer pong. “I’m joking, and you know that you look amazing, let’s go play.” He knew exactly what you were thinking even though it’s been a while since you guys last talked.

As you guys reached the table, you were about to turn around and leave, because god just loves playing games with you. “Why are we playing against him out of all people, did you not just hear what I said or are you getting deafer as you age?” you asked Seungmin. A dude with an Australian accent started chuckling “Someone calling the Kim Seungmin old? I think I fell in love.” “Chan, if you don’t shut up I’ll take your glasses away, and we all know how bad you need those to see because your eyes are deteriorating with old age,” Seungmin spoke with no hesitation.

“Don’t be like that Minnie” who you now assume Chan to be. “Now tell us who your pretty little friend is,” he pouted to Seungmin while grabbing Jeongin. “Her name is y/n and she’s like my little sister, so you better not fuck her.” One thing about Seungmin is that he will always be blunt.

“Oh it’s you, that annoying girl that bumped into me the other day,” Jeongin said, finally acknowledging your presence. “ANNOYING?! You are the one that bumped into me and didn’t even apologize.” You yelled.

How dare he have the audacity to say that you were the one who bumped into you when he was the one who was on his phone and wasn’t watching where he was going?

“Why I-” Seungmin stopped you mid-sentence “How about we play a round and the winner can say they were the ones that got bumped into?”

“But he” you were about to say but Jeongin cut you off. “Fine, but when I win, you owe me 300 dollars for the shirt.” he grinned at you.

Your jaw dropped. THREE. HUNDRED. DOLLARS. For a plain fucking shirt. You look in awe at Seungmin, what kind of college student, freshman to be exact, has that kind of money? And on top of that, waste that much money on a plain white shirt. Seungmin bends over and whispers in your ear “he’s some sort of fashion influencer, he got the shirt for free so don’t worry too much okay. Just have some fun, now please help me beat them, I have to clean the bathroom for a month if I lose”

You knew how much Seungmin hated cleaning other people’s messes. He was such a clean and tidy person, but when it came to others, he thought that their mess was their mess. When you guys were in high school and your ex glitter-bombed your car, he did not even lift a finger because he stuck by that mentality.

“You are on Jeongin,” you said “and when I win, which I obviously will, you are gonna have to apologize to everyone here for being such a pretentious asshole” You grinned at him. “I agree to those terms sweetheart,” he said, “because I know I am not going to lose.”

#stray kids #skz #i.n skz #i.n #i.n x reader #straykids x reader #seungmin #jeongin #bangchan #skz smut #skz x reader #ju <3 writes

126 notes · View notes

yoyomindloops · 3 months

Text

Hypnotic DnD: Command

Bella remembered what psychic damage had done to her, how it made her feel. Outside the game, she was beginning to understand the full power hypnosis had on one's mind, while in the game her mind had been wrapped by Ma-Demon Daddy's tentacles. In some moments, it felt her mind was fractured in two or three places. She was here and in the game. Sometimes, she was back in the caves. She had her faculties and she did not.

Her pencil hovered over her sheet, HP. She had managed to bring her health from the encounter up to full with a short rest. Now she was taking another hit. She didn't want to admit to herself or the table that math was a little difficult for her to do right now.

Simple thoughts were hard to put together.

From the drool on her face, she must have been clocked out for a good minute. Bella wasn't sure what was the last thing she or her character remembered.

"What to you do?" Max asked.

"Huh?"

"You're top of the round, you won the initiative. What do you do?"

Bella looked down at the d20, seeing the 17 right there. She didn't remember rolling the dice. Or updating her hit points. Or what was going on.

He head rolled, eyes staring down on the pendant resting on her chest. It was pretty to look at and it was probably identical to what her character had chained on her neck. How many small things did each place in common had that her mind fractured to?

Maybe it was the pendant that tethered it all together.

"Bella?"

She blinked again, snapping back up at attention. Bella pulled the chain and held her arm out infront of her eyes - their eyes. "I cast command, level two. On Jen and Sam."

She needed to not take damage.

Jen rolled a 1. Sam rolled a 19.

Max pressed a button on his computer and whatever Jen had heard inside her brain caused her to cum and leak in her chair, she slumped and twitched from the echoes of the effect. "You're compelled to obey the one word command, Jen. Sam...it has no effect on you."

Fuck.

"Focus," Bella said, letting the gem like rock spin and sway. Jen's entire focus seemed to be on that pendant. Sam might have succeeded, but Bella had six words per round to speak.

"Focus on my voice. My words."

Something broke in her head, like tentacles pumping in commands, sucking out thoughts. But that was inside the caves or the game, she was at the table. And at the table, it brought a giddy sensation that Sam's mouth opened staring at the swinging, swirling, pretty pendant.

"Sam?"

"Huh?"

"Your turn." The sorceress blinked a few times, then continued her massage on Jen's head. "Finish off your friend," Was Sam's way to declare Jen's attacker, Crown of Madness still in effect. "I cast Psychic Lance."

Fuck...Bella was at a disadvantage for being drunk.

12 and 6

6+5+3

"I'm sorry, Sam fawned empathy with a playful out. Seven d6 rolled across the table. "A fifteen doesn't pass. 26 psychic damage straight into your mind. I want you to be overjoyed with what is in store for you. My movement is handing another Mind piercer to my ranger."

Jen rolled a natural 15, beating Bella's AC. "21 damage, 14 piercing 7 psychic" Her movements were automatic and mechanic. She didn't have to be told it was her turn she knew her commands.

The pleasure crown had told her so.

The nerf blaster hit Bella in the forehead.

She didn't need to do the math - her eyes rolled back as she fell forward on the table limp and like a ragdoll.

She was out like a light.

#hypnosis #hypnokink #brainwashing #mind control #mindcontrol #mindless #trance #empty mind #hypnotized #dnd #hypnoticdnd

91 notes · View notes

darklydeliciousdesires · 24 days

Text

Nobody's Girl - Chapter Three.

Check your girl out over here like Oprah. YOU get another chapter, and YOU get another chapter, and so on! I am seriously so flattered by everyone loving the story so far, and watching you all so rabidly consuming it makes me so very happy :)

With the time off work I have had recently, it's meant the story has virtually written itself, I'm up to chapter eleven in the writing, so what I thought would originally be a shorter series has turned into a longer one, meaning I can update more regularly. Well, I can only hope you like this chapter just as much as the previous two, and if you do, remember to leave me a little comment, or a reblog. You would have my eternal gratitude for doing so!

Previous chapters - One Two

Taglist - In the comments, please DM to be added/removed

Words - 4,300

Warnings - Adult content throughout, minors DNI!

Conversation. With a woman he wasn’t involved with. Truly, Luca couldn’t remember the last time he’d ever enjoyed such, but there he was on an otherwise quiet Thursday night experiencing just that. A soft flurry of snow gently drifted down outside, his apartment the warm cocoon he and Emily sequestered themselves within, sitting on the couch, mostly her sharing stories of her life before she’d literally fallen into his.

“I remember there was this one time, back when I first got caught up with them, I was taken for a game at this house in Queens. Joey had loaned me to his brother, Giacinto, but of course there was the issue of how he could get me in at the table. So, he made a bet on a bet, I guess you’d call it. Strode in there and announced that he bet each player two hundred bucks they couldn’t beat me in a game of seven card stud.

“Of course, part of the point of poker is counting cards, but I can do it faster and better, and I did. I won Giacinto five grand in one night, and most of the guys were pissed as hell that I’d beaten them, except for one. He was an older guy, thick glasses, big birthmark on his cheek. He told me I was every man’s worst nightmare, a pretty blonde with a brain, and he respected that.”

“That’s Jimmy Phelan, Irish mob from Philly,” Luca nodded, quite impressed that she’d grabbed his attention.

She clicked her fingers in remembrance. “Yeah, Jimmy. That was his name. I’ve met so many wiseguys that it’s hard to keep up with all of the names. I remember the ones who have curious nicknames, like Carmine the Boots, and Duck Foot Silv. I never asked how they got them, though.”

Luca knew, of course. “Carmine is the boots ‘cuz that’s what he does to those who earn it, fits ‘em with a nice set of concrete boots and sends ‘em off for a swim in the Hudson River. Silvio, they call him duck foot ‘cuz the guy was born with webbed toes.”

Her eyes widened, leaning forward in her seat. “Have you seen the toes?”

“I have,” he smirked, scratching his jaw,. “He does this trick, sticks a quarter on his big toe and flicks it about ten feet in the air.”

She snorted with giggles, sipping her drink and catching an ice cube to chew upon. The sound of her cracking it between her teeth did something to his insides that he couldn’t explain, but was very, very pleasant. “I bet he’s a good swimmer too, huh?”

“Guy don’t need no flippers, that’s for fuckin’ sure.”

He looked at her for a long moment, enchanted as usual by her loveliness. It was so easy with her. She knew exactly who and what he was, and she just accepted it without fuss, acting unguarded with him, rather than either trying to work him out or shrink in intimidation. It made a nice change, to simply experience a slice of normality like that, and especially with a woman. Most only wanted him for his money or the association of who he was.

Or his cock. He was famed for having one hell of a nice cock, after a woman he’d bedded had been very loud in her praise of it one time.

“So yeah, back to Jimmy being nice to me. He gave me a hundred dollars, said I’d earned it, being such a good card player. I was amazed, and I thought the cash was mine to keep, but not according to Giacinto. Copped a huge beating for that assumption, ended up with this.”

Hooking her finger into her mouth, she pulled her cheek back to reveal the empty gum space where her back teeth should have sat, Luca feeling caustic within. How hard must he have punched her to knock a both a double and fucking wisdom tooth out, he had to wonder, remembering how tough his own had been to have extracted by a dentist.

“Bastardo,” he hissed, picking up his drink and knocking it back, refilling it. “Ain’t no big man’s game, sluggin’ a broad. You wanna prove you have cojones? Fuckin’ walk up to the biggest fella in the room and crack him in the mouth. S’what I used to do whenever I got thrown in Sing Sing as a kid, not long after I arrived here from England.”

“Have you ever done serious time for your endeavours?” she asked, lifting the wool shawl where it had slipped from her shoulders, Luca wishing she’d left it. Any chance he got to view more of her beautiful, lily skin, and he shamelessly took it. It had been gnawing at him for the past fourteen days since she’d been there, chewing away at his resolve like a starving wolf.

Usually, he’d have made his move by now on somebody he coveted. Hell, his record was ten seconds upon seeing a woman he desired, walking up to her and brashly asking a simple, three worded question. “Wanna fuck me?” No woman ever refused him. With Emily, though, because of her sheer loveliness, as tempting as it would be to corrupt, he held himself back.

It was a fierce internal conflict he waged war with, his rampant libido dictating he simply take her to bed and bounce her on his cock until she screamed his name, the very little morality left within him castigating such, because of how innocent and sweet the girl was. He couldn’t tarnish something that lovely and pure with the infection of his darkness. Until he could come to some resolve, he supposed he’d have to simply deal with the juxtaposition of wanting to cherish her like a princess and fuck her like a whore.

She was a billion miles away from the latter, though. Hence the conflict.

Also, he got the distinct impression that she was still too scared of him. For the most part, she was settled around him, a little shy still, but definitely comfortable enough to open up to him and talk, just like she was doing on that particular evening. If he showed the weight of his desire for her, though, she’d surely bolt. The last thing he wanted was for her to flee.

“I did a few years for theft, when I was eighteen,” he eventually replied, once he’d managed to finally pull himself back out of his thoughts. “Few times being locked up here and there in the time between, too.”

“Don’t you mafia guys have the police on payroll, or something?”

That was another reason why he held himself back. Would she truly want to remain in the world she’d been held prisoner in, should he instigate anything with her? Then again, at least this time she would have a choice. “We do now, yeah. Hence why I ain’t seen a cell in a while.”

“I think I’d cry if I was ever arrested. Jail sounds scary,” she spoke, sipping her drink, her sweetness making his chest hurt. Why did she have to be the loveliest little thing he’d ever met? It was making him crazy, the want to protect her, the need to fuck her dirty, both colliding with the resolve that he’d solely keep here there until he knew all he wanted about the Calabrese family.

It was a resolve that seemed to fracture away with every second that passed in her company.

She’d given him very useful information so far, too. Safe house locations his guys had duly gone in and looted, details of deals that she’d been made privy to that he’d been able to scupper before they’d had a chance to come to fruition. Because of Emily, he had the upper hand in the war against the family who – in his mind, at least – needed to show respect and fall back into line.

What would happen when the well that was her information dried up, though? What, he was simply meant to let this beautiful little creature, this utter mythical princess of a woman unlike any others he’d encountered simply be on her way, and leave his life with a little less pure, iridescent sparkle in her wake?

He was glad of the distraction when a heavy fist pounding the door below interrupted their evening, Emily nearly jumping out of her skin.

“S’okay,” he assured her as he stood, resting a hand to her shoulder. “That’s Angelo, he has a habit of knocking like he’s the fuckin’ police.” He headed to the stairs, descending, opening the door but remaining out of her sight as he and Angelo exchanged hushed whispers. Luca appeared again after a few minutes, looking lamentable, but also angry as he pulled himself into his thick, black coat.

“I have to go out, something I gotta attend to,” he spoke, Emily rising to her feet.

“Oh, alright. When will you be back?”

He shrugged, not looking pleased at all. “Hopefully not too long, but don’t wait on me, alright?”

She nodded, and then completely on blind impulse, reached for his face, pulling him down to her tiny level and kissing his cheek. “Be careful.”

His heart all but broke the ribs covering it with the force of its rapid thuds. He winked, thumb stroking the apple of her cheek. “I will, doll.”

As he walked back down the stairs, he could still feel the soft press of her lips against his cheek, his pulse amped up from even the tiniest display of affection from his houseguest. He truly hadn’t expected it, and when he should have left the building with nothing but business on his mind, instead, it was only getting back to Emily again that occupied his thoughts.

Meanwhile, the girl herself flopped back onto the couch, sighing as she covered her face with her hands. “Oh, god help me. I want that man so badly!” she grimaced, groaning with discomfort. Truly, she didn’t know how the hell to play it, either, feeling so conflicted.

Sometimes, he’d flirt with her, but she was too shy to reciprocate it, meaning he’d pull back and cool down with how he acted around her. Other times, she knew only too well he was trying to wheedle information regarding the Calabrese’s from her, information she found herself giving, getting herself furtherly wrapped up in a world she knew truly wasn’t any good for her.

How much danger was she in, though, from her place beneath the albatross-like wings of Luca Changretta? Nobody would be fool enough to touch her. However, that was only if she became more to him than whatever she was, she supposed. Then again, he had told her several times already she was safe with him.

Falling into a silly daydream, she imagined him taking her in his arms, kissing her, those big, tattooed hands laying worship upon her, that sultry voice of his speaking his wants and desires. She let her mind wander for so long that she was still partially in a daze when she heard a rapid knock at the door, followed by the creak of it opening, the music no longer playing.

“Luca? It’s only me,” a female voice called, her heeled feet alighting the stairs. Before she could speak, a buxom looking redhead appeared, her face surprised as she took Emily in. “Oh, hi! I’m Maggie, and you are?”

“Hi, Maggie. I’m Emily, and Luca is out,” she spoke, picking up her drink and finishing it.

“Oh, oh alright. I must’a missed him leaving,” she muttered, holding two large jute bags in her hands. “I was just bringin’ up the takings to him, but I guess I can leave ‘em with you. You’re his new gal, right?”

She shook her head. “No, just his, uh, his friend.”

Maggie snorted, placing the takings down on the coffee table. “Luca don’t have gals who are just friends, sweetie pie.” She viewed her carefully, watching the way the young blonde blushed furiously, reaching for the vodka bottle. Only a tiny drizzle remained within.

“Damn,” Emily pouted, “I drank it all.”

“Hey, I gotta load of premixed cocktails I’d otherwise throw out. Fancy coming and helping me drink ‘em while I clean up for the night?” Maggie offered, suddenly feeling like she would be being rude to go and pour it all away, and leave the girl upstairs alone, waiting on a man who would likely be gone for hours. Especially too after she’d blatantly embarrassed the hell out of her by her assertion over her boss and his lack of female friends.

Who was she to judge? Stranger things had happened, she guessed, although she had to admit, she was very curious. If Luca wasn’t giving her a good fucking on the regular, then just what was she doing there? She had noticed her boss not present down in the joint for the last two weeks, with none of his usual rotation of females making their way up to the apartment. Curiosity demanded an answer.

Smiling, Emily rose to her feet, stuffing them into her shoes. “Sure, that’d be nice.” Following Maggie back down, she was ushered over to the bar, taking a seat on one of the high stools, the clean up in full effect as people swept, tidied and mopped, the band disassembling their instruments and returning them to their respective cases.

“Here, I hope you like Manhattan’s,” Maggie spoke, pouring a large measure into a copper mug and passing it over, topping off her own and holding it out. “Cheers, Emily.”

“Cheers.” She took a swig, the alcohol hitting her throat so hard, she almost coughed, the redhead throwing her head back.

“Sorry, sugar. I make ‘em potent!” she smirked, taking a soapy cloth and beginning to clean down the bar. “So, you and Luca. What’s the story, darl?”

Emily didn’t really feel comfortable with revealing the whole truth to a perfect stranger, even though obviously she was a trusted person by the man himself. She wouldn’t have been working in his speakeasy if she wasn’t. “I’m staying with him for a little while.”

“And you ain’t knockin’ boots with him?” she was then asked.

“No, definitely not,” she replied, taking another sip of the rocket fuel in her grasp.

Maggie raised an eyebrow, beginning to pick up liquor bottles from behind the bar and clean the runs and drips away with her cloth. “But you wanna, amirite? Everyone wants to fuck Luca, ‘cept me. I like ‘em a little prettier.”

Watching her wink as a cute, almost angelic looking blonde saxophone player walked past and waved goodnight, Emily caught her drift immediately. Turning back to Maggie, she shrugged lightly. “I mean, I don’t know. I don’t think I’m his type.” By that point, she’d seen a picture of Filomena, his ex-wife when he’d shown her some photographs of his children. She was dark haired, buxom, Italian and glamorous. Everything she wasn’t.

“True,” Maggie spoke, pausing to light a cigarette, her cleaning endeavours finished. “But men like somethin’ a lil’ different, they’ll find themselves urging for a taste of the unfamiliar when it’s presented to ‘em. You should give him a go, darl. I hear he’s good with his cock.”

It was an unfortunate time to take a sip of the lethal Manhattan, Emily half spraying it back into the mug at her brazenness. Maggie couldn’t resist in teasing further. “One of the dancers here was fucking him a while back. Said he was hung like a bull and had the stamina of a guy half his age.”

Emily felt herself shrinking with every word, Maggie throwing her head back and laughing hoarsely. “Oh, ain’t you a cutie! Gettin’ all shy. Sorry, I know I’m brash. I’ll behave.”

Perhaps having a female perspective into her predicament might be helpful, she then pondered. Maggie seemed nice, friendly, too. It wasn’t like Emily had a whole lot in the way of friends, either, no gal pals to run her thoughts by. “Okay, so the truth is, I do want to,” she began, Maggie’s face lighting up as she leaned over the bar, huddling close.

“Tell me more, sugar!”

Pausing, she took another sip of her drink for courage. “I want to, but I never have before. With any man.”

The barmaid’s eyes all but fell out of her skull. “Really?”

She nodded.

“But... why? Sex is amazing with the right guy!”

Just then, a door flew open down at the other end of the room, one of the dancers striding out, mid-tirade. “It’s the fuckin’ same with all you fuckin’ Italian jerks!” she screamed, the guy following her looking nonchalant. “All of youse expect us to fuckin’ suck dick, but when it comes to returning it, nadda, nothin’, no sale! Would it fuckin’ kill you to eat me out just once, Luciano?”

He shrugged, lighting a cigarette. “I ain’t about that.”

“Yeah, me and my thirsty kitty cat know only too well, you two-bit fuck! We’re done!” She was out of the joint in a blur of sequins and fury, Emily and Maggie sharing a wide-eyed look at having front row seats to such a show.

“Yeah, he ain’t the right guy,” the latter snorted, jerking her thumb in the direction where Luciano, one of Luca’s street guys had just walked in, softly cussing to himself in Italian.

“To answer your question, I don’t know, really,” Emily confessed, thinning her lips momentarily. “I’ve never found anyone I like enough to do it with, I guess. It’s like I’m a beacon for shitty guys with bad intentions.”

Her confidant didn’t truly know how to answer that, since Luca did seem to go through women like they were entering and exiting in a revolving door. However, there was a plus point. “Well, if you decided to, at least it wouldn’t be a lousy first experience for ya. He’s forty-three, the man has heaps of experience, so it wouldn’t be like my first. Two pumps and a squirt, baby. I was so disappointed,”

The women both snorting laughing, Emily throwing her head back as she truly began to cackle loudly. Oh, she was funny, this brazen woman who had taken her under her wing and plied her with lethally potent cocktails. While she was beginning to relax and find herself making a new friend, the topic of their conversation was walking into a speakeasy in Bushwick, his crew around him.

“Luca, glad you could join me,” Giacinto Calabrese spoke, leaning back in his seat. “Drink?”

“No thanks,” he drawled through the chew on his toothpick, “won’t be stayin’ all that long. So, Angelo here tells me you gotta deal for me, huh?”

His adversary gestured to a chair, Luca taking a seat, his eyes never leaving the man as he felt his mood darkening, looking at his hands. Those were the knuckles that had smashed the teeth out of her mouth. “I do, because you have somethin’ of ours we want returned to us, but I’m a fair man. I’m happy to exchange.” Lifting his chin, he pulled his cigarettes out, lighting one up. “Give me the girl, and I’ll walk away from the warehouses in Yonkers. You have my word.”

He rolled his tongue against his cheek, chuckling a deadly hiss. “Your word is worth shit, and Emily ain’t for sale, pal.”

“Oh!” The wise assed man laughed, entertained. “On first name terms with the little puttana now, huh? Wait, I can’t call her that, though. Bitch is more frigid than a fuckin’ nun!”

Luca remained still, but his eyes moved with all the intent of a predator locking onto its target, slowly pulling the toothpick from between his lips. “The fuck you just call her, stronzo? A bitch?”

“Yeah,” Giacinto laughed, “I called her a bitch, and...”

That was as far as he got before the lion that was the head of the Changretta mob pounced, grabbing his collar and pounding his head down onto the table, their respective guys all drawing their weapons.

“You’re outnumbered, fellas,” Angelo rumbled, tutting. “Put ‘em down.” The men fell back, all watching the scene unfold before them.

Luca loomed like a shadow of death, his hand holding Giacinto fast against the smooth, dark wood. “Did you call her a bitch when you knocked her fuckin’ teeth out? Did ya? Tell me, how hard does a guy like you have to slug a tiny little thing like her to crack the goddamned teeth from her jaw? This hard?” His fist met his face in a sickeningly strong blow, the piece of shit beneath his grasp grunting in pain. “This hard?” He punched him again, this time loosening one of the teeth he was aiming for, Luca hauling him up and beginning to lay repetitive punches to his face, Giacinto flying back to the floor.

With his rage pumping like water through a broken dam, Luca loomed over him, pulling a flick knife from his pocket and releasing the blade, holding it so hard against his cheek, his blood began to seep from beneath the press. “You ever speak her name again and I will cut your fuckin’ tongue from your head. The Yonkers warehouses are mine now, too, just for the fuckin’ gall of you. Give your fuckin’ father my goddamned regards, Giacinto.”

“Fuck you, Luca!” he spat, shame and rage coiling through him.

“Fuck me, huh?” he laughed, low and deadly. “Nah, kid. Tell me, you right-handed? You are, aren’t ya? It was your right hand you used to beat her, wasn’t it?” Wrenching his arm up, he grasped his wrist, bringing the knife down between his third and fourth fingers, beginning to slice through skin, sinew and tendons. Giacinto screamed, Luca holding the knife towards Angelo, needing both hands to grab the second and third, then fourth and fifth fingers, grasping hard before literally ripping his hand apart.

“Can’t go punching little girls no longer now, can you?” Standing, he left him screaming on the floor, looking to his guys. “Step down from the warehouses as of tonight, or I do worse to all six of youse.” With that, Luca and his eight cohorts left the speakeasy, heading back to their cars, Brooklyn bound. Entering his apartment just under a half hour later, he made sure he was quiet, not wanting to wake the beauty in his bed.

Hanging his coat and jacket, he unlaced his shoes, removing his tie as he walked over to the bed, just about able to see her outline there curled up, sleeping soundly. Reaching toward her face, he gently swept the platinum strands of hair that had fallen loose back behind her ear, tenderly stroking the apple of her cheek with the back of his fingers.

He realised right there that she could never again utter anything about the Calabrese’s, and he wouldn’t care at all. He didn’t need her for information. He just needed her to be safe.

The twisted irony wasn’t lost on him, though, that the very person she wasn’t safe from was the one whose bed she slept soundly in, but for very different reasons than what the Calabrese’s represented. He lingered there only a moment longer before going to the bathroom and undressing, pulling on his grey and white striped pyjama bottoms, heading for the couch.

“Luca?”

He actually jumped a little, hearing her soft voice suddenly sound through the dark. “Yeah, doll?” Turning, he watched her sit up, peeling the bed clothes back as she shuffled over, patting the mattress. “It’s freezing. You can’t keep sleeping on the couch. I don’t mind sharing.”

He hesitated only a second before walking over, climbing in next to her, his heart beginning to race. Her warmth was the most alluring intoxication he’d ever felt near to him, wanting nothing but to wrap himself around her, meld his body to hers, tell her in no uncertain terms that Giacinto Calabrese would never dare touch her again.

Lying there, Emily could feel the tension radiating from him, not knowing why he was in such a state, but sensing it all the same. Had something happened, while he was out, something to spark his temper, amp his ire? She felt him turn away from her, turning over herself and hesitating a moment before putting the advice she’d had from Maggie to good use. ‘Just move on him. You’re beautiful, sugar. He won’t turn you down.’

It wasn’t necessarily a sexual advance, as Maggie had been specifically advocating, but it was a step in the right direction. Wrapping her arm around him, she pressed herself against his back, resting her hand to his chest. Her heart almost leapt into her throat when she felt him grasp her hand, thumb stroking, placing a kiss upon her fingers.

He clutched her hand tight, feeling her breath flutter against his shoulder blades, his heart still hammering. If he turned to her, that would be it. He wouldn’t be able to hang onto the bull within him, goring against the very last of his soft flesh in a bid for freedom. Flesh that had softened for her.

He remembered how he’d felt, punching Giacinto repeatedly in the face, until he had expelled blood with every groaned breath, all for her, because of her, because no man would ever make the sweet little darling curled against him feel less than all she was ever again.

But still, he didn’t dare turn over. It’d be like Satan himself defiling the purest of angels. If only Luca knew, though, as he wrestled with the beast within, that the only thing the angel pressed against his back wanted was to feel the burn of his lust against her skin.

#luca changretta fanfiction #luca changretta smut #luca changretta x ofc #luca changretta fanfic #peaky blinders fanfiction #peaky blinders fanfic #peaky blinders smut #peaky blinders fic #luca changretta fic #nobody's girl #luca and emily

52 notes · View notes

pocketramblr · 5 months

Note

For the ask game, how about an au where Aizawa quirk is actually gene manipulation, everyone just assumed it was just quirk nullification cause the quirk factor was the only part he knew much about when he awakened it

Izuku just happens to ask more questions than quirk specialists

Aizawa casually says 'oh yeah, Erasure works by deactivating the plus alpha factor in the target, that's different than these bullets' in the meeting discussing Eri. Izuku is too busy being horrified about the poor kid to really latch on to what his teacher said until later that night. He goes to talk to him, and Aizawa is bracing himself for a repeat of his conversations with the other students and sending him to Hound Dog or All Might. But then Izuku says "hey, did you say your quirk alters a person's dna so it temporarily does not express certain traits??"

Aizawa blinks. "What." Izuku repeats his question. "Uh, yeah, i guess it does- Midoriya what are you doing?" (he's pulling out his notebook and furiously scribbling in it.) Izuku looks up at him and Aizawa (king of 'just shove all the bad emotions too far down to see and never speak about it') decides to indulge the distraction only because he does not want a Kamino 2 Electric Boogaloo. Izuku asks many questions, and Aizawa has answers to about one in three of them.

It goes unmentioned the next day, and Izuku refocuses on Eri. Then its raid time baybey! Annnnnd Aizawa takes a chrono-arrow for Izuku, getting captured. Chronostasis has a reason for keeping him alive, and Aizawa (slowly) tries to get info out. he sadly cannot break Chrono's arms, so he's got to be trickier. he (slowly) says that Chisaki would have just had Chrono shoot and take his quirk if they were worried about fighting it- implying Chrono should have been entrusted with bullets but wasn't- so they must want it. but (he continues, slowly, while Chorno sits bored on his back) between erasure and gene modification, they have what they want from Eri, so why take him too?

Chrono does take a second to go 'wait, gene modification?' because he and Chisaki never were sure how Erasure worked, but he's also not going to give his prisoner answers so he just says 'youre smart enough to know why a backup is still nice to have' and looks around impatiently for a sign that Chisaki won. When he doesn't get it, he shifts and takes Aizawa's knife. Aizawa remembers Izuku's question and thinks 'well. no time like the present' but since he's still blindfolded, he can't look at Chrono and try anything. He can, however, look at himself- as Chrono brings the knife down, he's suddenly impaled by a sword fish and also several hardened spikes sticking out of Aizawa's back which then immediately retreat as he winces- 0/10, do not recommend using your quirk on yourself the first time. His eyes have never burned this much before and that's really saying something.

"What the hell." Suneater barely manages to say as he drags Chrono off, still also holding up Mirio. "Frog girl. how long has your teacher had multiple quirks?" Aizawa gets picked up, answers no questions (he can think later about Izuku's questions on his quirk, or his report on Kirishima's quirk in the last partner project), and goes to erase Eri so Izuku doesnt cease to exist. He does not mention his true power to Mirio- he could, in theory, re-wire permeation into his body, but only until he blinks. He does not re-register his quirk to update the information. However, as he starts training Eri, he also starts practicing to see what else he can do.

#pocket talks to people #ask game #anon

47 notes · View notes

oreharuuu · 1 year

Text

To be One (3)

Summary: Avoiding the game went well for you for a few days. But a talk with a friend might change that decision for the better or worst

Warnings: none

A/N: woop woop! Part 3 y'all, hope you like it! I had fun writing this chapter so it's longer than usual. A few of the accounts i can't tag for some reason so im really sorry T-T

Tag list:

@atinytinaa @hoeranghae1117 @yoongiigolden @canadagoose-monbebe @hwal0v3r @kirooz @dream-in-progress @cara-18 @tr3asureyou @babygurl-hoshi @svn-ways2hvn @kpoplover17 @drunk-on-hwa @stopeatread @starillusion13 @honeyymon @potatoe-life @callmesoltera @kuleo26 @lino-se @darkfairy102190 @seongwin

For the past few days, you're trying your best on ignoring the game with work and socializing. Sure you may not be the most social person ever, but you do have friends.

At the end of the week, Irene and Seulgi invited you to brunch near their workplace. Wendy and Joy were too busy so it's only you three.

The anomaly however was Yeri didn't show up.

Hell she didn't even reply to your message when the incident with Hwayoung happened.

You debated whether or not to ask Irene or Seulgi, but your curiosity won over as you cleared your throat before looking at the two.

"So," You started. "Have you guys seen Yeri? Or... talked with her?"

Irene chewed on her croissant as she shook her head, while Seulgi frowned. "Yeri? No updates on her, but Wendy did say that she's busy with work right now so it's probably why she hasn't been active on social media."

"Or replying to your texts," Irene continued. "I invited her to join me for dinner a few days ago but no answer. So she must be really busy."

"Yeah. Probably because of the new game her company's about to launch."

"Give her some space," Seulgi shrugged. "She's always like this when she's in the zone. Remember last time when she blew up on Joy when she spammed her during a meeting."

You grimaced at the memory, remembering how big the fight was that it made Joy and Yeri didn't talk for a month.

"Believe me, I do not want to relieve that experience," Irene sighed.

Soon the conversation shifted from Yeri, from work to relationship problems; you're glad it's taking your mind off the game and Yeri for a while. Irene said goodbyes first when her manager called her, cursing under her breath making you both laugh in amusement. Seulgi left after an hour, promising to take you and Yeri out for drinks when you all have the time.

Walking back to your apartment, you bought some snacks to eat when you're working. Thankfully the project did wonders to your company, so you're only working light tasks with your coworkers whilst waiting for an update from your supervisor.

"—Yeah! And then she stupidly asked me if I still love her?! Ugh, as if!"

You laughed at what your coworker, Yeonjun, outbursts along with another one, Soobin. Both were also in your team when developing the project, and you got along pretty well so sometimes you liked to call them or have zoom meetings together to spend some time.

"Hmm, told you she was delulu. It's like she's in her own fantasy land that she created," Soobin hums as typing could be heard from his side.

"Yeah," You agreed. "Remember when she visited our work to state she's the new intern? Holy shit was that a fiasco."

Soobin laughed even louder as Yeonjun could only groan. "Man, how could I forget that? Supervisor Kim blasted my ear from having him yell at me for hours."

"Not hours," You and Soobin replied together. "It's only like, five minutes," Soobin continued.

"Felt like hours," He grumbled.

Doing your work whilst talking to them made the bad thoughts go away, especially one residing on the corner of your computer, but you ignored it. What you can't ignore is how your computer likes to glitch and freeze when you're working.

Well, not your computer perse, but the programs you're currently running likes to have problems when before that it's totally fine.

"What the—Are you kidding me?" You hissed as Photoshop didn't respond, making you groan as you slumped down on your chair.

"What? What's wrong?"

"My Photoshop is acting up," You whined.

"Ha! What're you doing on Photoshop anyway?"

"Making your ass even more uglier," You grumbled towards Yeonjun, who squaked in offense.

"Awesome. Can you send that to me after you finished it?" Soobin asked as the both of you ignored Yeonjun's yelling.

"Sure. Maybe I'll finish it today since I've finished my part of the work."

"Wait!" Yeonjun yelled. "You're finished making the poster and banner? You've already sent it to Supervisor Kim?"

"Yup, a few hours ago. So relieved I actually finished it since my computer has been fighting me the whole time."

"Soobin! How about you?"

"Actually thanks for reminding me to email my work."

"Am I the only one who hasn't finished yet in the team?" Yeonjun gasped dramatically.

You hum teasingly, before remembering that he was the only one not finished yet. "Actually, yeah. Eunchae and Chaewon finished theirs already."

"Fuck!"

"Honestly, Yeonjun," Soobin teased. "We're only supposed to make posters and banners ideas for the next event. It's easy."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Just say that I'm lazy and—"

Crackling noise from your headphones cut Yeonjun off, making you frown in confusion before clicking back at the call, noticing how it's still going but their voices have disappeared.

"Guys? Hello?"

No answer.

You shrugged before ending the call, whipping out your phone before texting both of them.

You: heyyoo seems like we got disconnected

Soobin: ???

Soobin: wdym

Yeonjun: (name) you're still on the call

You're heart dropped, tension started to rise in your body as you scrambled to text them back.

You: what?? I literally disconnected from the call like a minute ago

Yeonjun: well i mean...could be a lag? You're not talking

Soobin: let's just end the call

Soobin: wanna call again?

You huffed, glancing back at your computer. Shaking your head, you decided to decline his offer, stating that you need to check your computer first if you want it to work properly.

Yeonjun: aight, update us

Soobin: yeah and send me that picture of yeonjun

Yeonjun: TRAITOR

You let out a small smile, sighing in relief because of their antics. You decided to restart your computer, of course after you saved the photoshopped image of Yeonjun. After it turned on, you checked numerous times if it's starting to lag or freeze as you open websites, tabs, or even applications.

Humming happily when you found none, you're startled when a call from Yeri rang from your phone. But the call ended before you could answer, making you stare at your phone in confusion. A text from Yeri seemed concerning enough for you to accept her offer.

Yeri <3: hey

Yeri <3: sorry for not answering

Yeri <3: can we call rn?

You sighed heavily at the reply, your heart easing at knowing that Yeri's actually alive and not dead in a ditch somewhere. Well, that's a hyperbole but you can't help but feel like that when your friends disappeared from the face of the earth.

Waiting for the call to load, you anxiously bit your lip as you waited for her. When Yeri's icon appeared, you quickly turned on your camera, waving sheepishly as you smiled.

"Hey—uh, do you mind turning on your cam? If you don't want to, that's fine! No pressure."

You're only met with silence, but you waited patiently for Yeri to answer.

"Yeah, hold on."

Shuffling could be heard from Yeri's end, before you heard Yeri move around stuff around her desk. She did had a lot of clutter, but the sounds coming from the call seems excessive. You frown hearing plastic water bottles and what you assume to be cans of energy drink fell down, making Yeri curse loudly.

Yeri finally turned on her camera but you realized why she's so hesitant on turning it on in the first place. It's dark in her room, the only light present is from her own computer.

Boy, did she look like a wreck.

Eyebags deep enough to give a hint that she didn't slept for almost a week, hair disheveled like she didn't brush it everyday, her room being a mess like a bomb was dropped.

"Yeri," You whispered. "What happened?"

Yeri looked away as she bit on her thumb, shaking her head as she sniffed. Her eyes glisten with tears as she gasped before looking back at the camera. "I—I tried, I'm working on the game. Alone! My team disappeared when I needed them, and now they're gone!"

You're eyes widen, jaw slack as confusion started to plague your mind. "Disappear? Like, Johnny?"

"Yes! I don't—I don't know where they are right now. I've tried texting them, I've called them, zero! Zero answers! The company's launching an investigation about where my team went, why I'm the only one left!"

You flinched at her voice, sounding loud and angry yet so small. It's obvious it's taken a toll on her, yet you can't do anything except listen to her and try to support her in the best way you can.

"And get this," Yeri laughed maniacally. "The company still wants to me work on the game, alone! Can you fucking believe that shit? They're trying to find people who wants to work on the game but noo they're too busy gossiping about how Yeri's a whore, Yeri's a bitch! We can't work with her because she's too difficult!"

You frowned, yet confused at what she's saying. Yeri seems happy working there, everytime you went out for lunch or dinner she always praises how her company is so good and caring towards their employees, that even Wendy and Seulgi are complaining about how unfair it is.

"Yeri? Hey, what do you mean by that?" You asked gently, trying to calm her down as she's only one second from a mental breakdown. That seems to shut her up, her mouth agape yet no voice comes out, before she's quickly wiping her tears away. You sighed before leaning back on your chair, deciding to not push Yeri further out of her comfort zone. It seems like she's having a hard time, but you don't want to force her.

"No—no, forget about that. Let's just talk, I need your help."

"My help?"

Yeri nodded. "I need you to continue to play the demo game, (name)."

Your heart dropped to the ground, coughing to hide your uneasiness from Yeri. You did sent her the list of glitches, even so far as telling her you don't want to continue playing the game after the last incident. But now you're conflicted.

"I—I know you're hesitant to play it, but I've tried to fix the game as best as I can! Your feedback is actually helping me make things right, and I'm really grateful. But now that I'm the only one working on the game, I can't talk to others people about it to make it good."

Man, she really does know how to pull your heartstrings.

"So...can you play it again, (name)?"

You glanced nervously at Yeri, playing with your fingers as you're having a debate inside your head on what to do.

"Can't you just...send the demo to Wendy or Seulgi? I'm sure they'll be happy to play it. I mean more feedbacks are better, right?" You offered.

Yeri shook her head adamantly, her shoulders tense as she continued. "No! I can't, if the company knows I'm giving the demo to people then I'll be fired. It's supposed to be confidential and I broke the agreement when I gave you that demo."

You groaned, holding your head between your hands. Of course it's not that easy, you didn't even think about the consequences you'll receive when playing a game that's not even released yet. Taking a deep breath, you looked at Yeri before nodding.

"Alright, I'll do it."

You're hoping the game isn't so bad after she fixed it.

♡

Pacing around in your room was not a good thing to do, especially to ease your nerves before playing that damn game. It's already loaded, the cutesy theme song playing in the background as you're having a breakdown before you play it. Yeonjun and Soobin invited you to go have drinks together, but you lied, saying you were busy hanging out with your family.

You felt bad, seeing as they're actually close to you now, but they reassured you that you could always join them on their nightly movie nights next Friday.

You took a mental note, wanting to actually join them because everyone seemed busy with work and other things.

"Okay!" You yelled loudly, punching the air repeatedly before sitting down, clicking the start button as the game loads. "I can do this! I'm not a pussy!"

Day 3

"Shit, it's only day three?!" You hissed.

Not having any time to complain, the game loads you to your dorm, reminding you to take classes to earn more coins and items. Everything seems...fine. Then again, you just started the game, so you're expecting a jumpscare midway playing the game.

Cautiously clicking from classroom to classroom, the task of doing mini games kinda made you relaxed. You're still tense, waiting for Hwayoung specifically to jump and surprise you.

But that didn't happen.

Instead, you're greeted with a new face, well two exactly.

A boy so tall that he could rival Mingi's or Yunho's height, with slicked back brown hair and an easygoing smile. Next to him is a girl you thought is an AI character, straight long black hair with a beauty mark under her mouth.

"Hey, fresh meat!"

The boy's deep voice boomed through your speaker, making you wince as you turned down the volume.

"Did you see a cat nearby? White with black spots and a purple collar?"

You, of course, wanted answered no. Thinking an option will show up, you're surprised the text box from Yunho's encounter popped up, making your hands hover on top of your keyboard instantly to type a response.

No, sorry. I didn't see any cat, just got here |

"Damn, good luck finding it, Karina."

"Oh shut up, Johnny!"

Johnny? Named after Yeri's friend who disappeared? You push the thought away, thinking of it as a coincidence. You've never even see the guy, why act so worried?

"Really sorry to bother you. My name is Karina, this is Johnny. If you see a cat with the same description please call us! We can't let the principal know."

No worries, but why can't the principal know? |

"Because the principal is a loser who doesn't like animals, so he'll call animal control to solve the problem."

"Johnny! Shut up or Seonghwa and Hongjoong will hear you!"

You hummed, curious as to why both of them are mentioned.

Why so scared? I think Seonghwa and Hongjoong are nice people |

"Oh, no one's denying that they're nice. They're just...very strict around what to do here."

"Rules are rules, and for them everyone has to follow it. If not you'll end up like—"

Johnny didn't get to finish his sentence before the game glitches out again, making both of them freeze as Johnny's voice paused every now and then. You anticipated this, trying to hope that nothing scary happened. Thankfully nothing did, as Johnny only continued as if nothing happened. Like his dialogue was cut.

"—Yeah, good guys. But really scary when someone's not up to standards. Well their standards."

You could see Karina rolling her eyes, making you giggle at their cute interaction.

"Whatever. It's nice meeting you, new kid. If you ever want to hangout with us, find us at the club rooms."

Sure! I'll be happy to come by |

"Great! Bye then, (name)."

"Peace out!"

There's the feeling of relief bubbling inside you, the interaction between Johnny and Karina made you a bit relaxed to face off any of the boys right now. Heaving a big sigh, you continued to play mini games and looking around the school.

Not encountering any of the boys, you suck up your fear as you debated who to meet first.

"Maybe I'll meet Yeosang first. I haven't seen him after the first encounter."

Confused as to which place you're visiting first, you picked the library, seeing as you've never actually visited the location before.

Surprise, surprise, Yeosang was actually already there. Surprisingly enough, he's smiling in your direction.

As if he's been waiting for you.

But you brushed it off as a coincidence. Yeosang's character beamed happily when he sees you, waving his hand as he tried to be quiet.

The scene changed as now you're sitting besides him near the window, the light perfectly illuminating his face, making him even more angelic.

"Hey, haven't seen you in a while. You okay?"

The text box popped up again, making you assume that maybe the system could change after a certain encounter. Changing from options to actually typing out the response. Then again, it's really impressive at how fast and human-like the response from the characters are, sometimes even fast enough to make you believe you're actually talking to a human.

Yeah, just...got busy with personal things |

"Well, that won't do. You're new here, relax for a bit. It's not like you have other stuff occupying your life."

You felt like it's a jab to your own real life, but you shrugged it off.

"Anyway, I realized we haven't spend that much time together. So, I was wondering if you want to stay here with me? I wasn't really studying, just wanted some alone time."

Alone time? Then am I intruding? |

"Nonsense, I'm inviting you right now. So, do you accept?"

Of course you agreed, wanting to increase your relationship with him since his percentage was still pretty low when you started. Maybe you'll meet San after this, remembering how the last time the heart didn't pop up for him.

Sure! I have nothing to do anyway |

For the next few minutes, you and Yeosang talked about vague topics, favorite foods, favorite animals; harmless stuff. But every now and then, you had a feeling that a few of the questions are very...weird and invasive.

"Where do you like to spend time out of school?"

"Have you ever dated before?"

"Do you like to sleep with stuffed animals?"

The last question made you glance at a few of the dolls on your bed, before lying to him since your real life persona should be different than the one inside the game.

"Hmm, interesting."

Was Yeosang's only answer before going back to innocent questions like before. The change of questions made your head dizzy as you're typing out what answers would suffice since you don't want to tell things in your real private life.

Yeosang stopped talking after the thirtieth question, seemingly frozen before smiling softly at you. You noticed how his eyes turned blank with no emotions before switching it up in the last second.

"Well, look at the time. I have a meeting with Hongjoong about club developments, so I guess this is goodbye."

No worries, Yeosang. I had a great time with you |

The heart finally popped up on top of his head, you predicting the percentage would at least be more than five percent, but the final number made you tilt your head in confusion.

37%

"Holy shit," You gawked. "From 2% to 37%?! That's wild."

As you're looking directly at the numbers, you didn't notice how Yeosang's eyes shifted away from you, lookinv around as if he could see the room your in. His face still smiling, before his eyes shifted back to you when he noticed you finally snapping out of your daze.

"I'll go now, (name). Goodbye."

With that, Yeosang was gone from the screen, leaving you with an empty screen. Remembering where exactly to meet San, you choose the gym as the next place. The only reason you chose that location is because of how buff he looks under his uniform.

"Can't believe I made that assumption just because of how broad his shoulders are," You grumbled.

Lo and behold, San was actually there. At first you thought he meant the school's gym, as in for sports and other school activities. But your mind is blown away when you notice an actual gym near the school area. And God must be somewhere laughing maniacally to himself as you saw how San is basically drenched in sweat, making the flimsy material of his top clung to his body like a second skin.

"(Name)! Hey, what's up?"

San smiled so brightly that you physically have to look away as if the sun just hits your eyes. "Focus, (name)! Don't be tempted by his cute smile!"

Hi, San! Nothing much, I have nothing to do so I was strolling around. I didn't know there's two gym's, what's up with that? |

"Oh! Yeah, I guess the school wanted to blow some of the money that they have, plus a lot of the students here wanted a real gym of sorts."

Still, pretty fancy for a school to have like two gyms |

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

Time passed as you continued to have a conversation with San, having a great time as he's always so energetic and fun to be around with. Suddenly remembering of the items you have in your inventory, you decided to use it to San since the heart didn't pop up for him.

Hey, San! I have a gift for you |

It seems like San didn't expect you to say that to him, as his face turned bright red before he smiled sheepishly.

"A gift? You didn't have too!"

You clicked on your inventory, deciding on the cute teddy bear you got on your first day. Dragging the item from your bag, you placed it on San's character, resulting in him smiling widely as he now holds the teddy bear in his hands.

"A teddy bear! How cute, it even has a little bow. Thank you so much, (name)."

Suddenly the heart popped up, squinting your eyes to look closely as the percentage was shown to you.

58%

You let out a shocked laughter. "Damn, I didn't know the items were that helpful." You're conflicted whether or not the items were actually helping that much, or it's just the glitch happening again. In the end, your objective to raise your relationship status with San was already done.

"Um, (name)? Even though you're new here, I feel like you're perfect here. Like...you're the missing puzzle piece."

Weird thing to say after receiving a gift, but you'll go with it.

Come on, I'm not that important for you to call me a missing puzzle piece |

You noticed the pout on San's face, yet you saw how his face darkens for a second, as if your words annoyed him.

"Don't say that! A lot of us say that you're perfect! Even though you feel so far away, there's always a chance you'll be much, much closer to us."

"And it's starting," You groaned. Did the creepy dialogue really had to be amped up after Yeosang? It's as if the game knows these things scare and annoy you at the same time. But curiosity did peek out of your mind, wanting to know why exactly San phrased it that way.

What do you mean far? I'm right here |

"You know what I mean, (name)."

No? I really don't, it's like your saying I'm not physically here when I am |

"It's...complicated. I'm not supposed to even talk to you about this or Hongjoong will get mad. Just know that we're always here for you, and I really do hope in the future, we could be together."

You really do wanted his words to affect you as much as he intended too, but you're still creeped out by his choice of words that you can't help but grimace at the thought. There's a frown on your face as you noticed San looking quiet sad, almost changing from his hopeful expression.

What's wrong? |

"Nothing—just that, you seemed hesitant to be here with us."

Your frown deepened when he said that, as if he could look through your computer screen to see the facial expressions you pull. You glanced away for a while, head disappearing yet your eyes are still looking at him.

You might be hallucinating, but you really thought San's eyes seems to follow your every move, his eyes now off to the side where you disappeared. He's still standing like usual, but you noticed how his eyes are silently trained onto you.

Creepy.

Suddenly, you wanted to prove a theory that just popped up inside your head, actually thinking you're slowly loosing your mind over this game.

You silently grabbed your phone, pretending to scroll for a few seconds as you discreetly tried to look back and forth between San and your phone. Nothing suspicious happens, just that San's pout deepened as seconds passed by.

You needed proof. Especially considering what Yeosang said to you earlier.

You pressed Soobin's phone number, turning it on speaker as you waited. You acted nonchalant, tapping your fingers on the table whilst you still glanced at the screen. San's pout was gone, only replaced by a confused stare as he stands there.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Soobin! What's up?"

"Eh, not much. Why you callin?"

"Actually," You moved away, now sitting on your bed. "I wanted to invite you guys to my apartment! Maybe a movie night, you know?" You continued, voice loud enough so your target could still hear the conversation.

"Really? That would be awesome! I gotta ask Yeonjun first though, I don't know if he has plans or not."

You glanced at your computer screen, noticing San now looks tense and furious as he only stands there, as if he's forced to listen.

The change of emotions are really weird, since you haven't touched the game since your call. But you continued, wanting to see what happens.

"That's alright. We could have movie night next Friday, you could stay at my apartment."

"Ooh, like a sleepover!"

You laughed at his enthusiasm, "Yeah, basically like a sleepover."

The conversation continued on, before Soobin excused himself as he wanted to meet his friend in a few hours. Bidding goodbye, you ended the call, walking to your chair before sitting down.

You hummed to yourself, placing down your phone on the table as you typed your reply.

You're acting really weird, San |

You looked at him, hiding your wince as San's face didn't hold his signature dimpled smile. His eyes holds a certain anger, his jaw clenched in annoyance as his hands turned into fists.

"Why did you do that?"

His voice came out gruff, as if he's holding back a growl coming out of his throat. You decided to play innocent, tilting your head in confusion before typing back.

Do what? I just stood here, talking to you |

"(Name), please, don't do that. It hurts us when you do these kinds of things without thinking about our feelings."

A scoff came out of your mouth before you could stop it, feeling annoyed now.

Jeez, I didn't do anything! What are you guys even talking about? |

"Inviting those—"

You waited and waited for him to continue, but nothing happened. The sounds of crackling came out of your speaker for a few minutes, before it stopped. You saw San's desperate face still on your screen, pursing his lips as he looked away. You're wondering what's going on until Hongjoong appeared, smiling as he now stands next to San.

"Hello there, (name)! Funny meeting you here."

Thought you had a meeting with Yeosang about club developments? |

He seems surprised at how blunt you are, but his smile turned into a smug one as he placed a hand on San's shoulder.

"Ah, that. We're already done talking. Seonghwa is handling it now, so I wanted to grab San for a few minutes to...talk."

You frown, already feeling suspicious about how sudden Hongjoong appeared.

"But, hyung! I was—"

"We need to have a talk, San. The others are already waiting for us."

You grimaced at his tone, already feeling uncomfortable at how scary Hongjoong was now.

You guys should go, I need to meet with a few friends anyway |

"What friends—"

"San!"

You jump in surprise, eyes wide at Hongjoong's outburst. San closed his mouth before glaring at Hongjoong, to which the latter only glared back. They seemed to be having a conversation only with their eyes, the tense silence made you uneasy before it broke when San spoke first.

"Bye, (name)."

Yeah...bye |

In a matter of seconds, both if them disappeared from your screen. You groaned loudly at the headache forming inside your head, massaging your head as you closed your eyes.

"Can't this game be normal for one day?"

You quickly continued on day 3, wanting it to end fast enough so you'll be done for today. When night comes, you hurriedly exited the game, closing it before turning off your computer. You sighed, standing up as you walked out of your room.

"I need a drink."

♡

"The coast is clear," Yunho sighed when he no longer felt your presence inside his body, his posture relaxing a little as he sat next to Mingi. "She's gone now."

"San, you almost crossed the line today."

"Almost? He acted way out of line for her to feel suspicious towards us!" Wooyoung screamed.

"Fuck you," San hissed. "Yeosang started first when he asked stupid questions."

"Oh, believe me, I know. I've already reprimanded him enough," Seonghwa darkly answers, crossing his arms as he stared at San. "Now, it's your turn."

"You all can't blame me!" San yelled, standing up from his seat as he slams the table with enough force. "You all heard her! She's inviting other people, other men, to her home!"

"No one's blaming you, hyung," Jongho sighed. "But we need to act normal after she didn't show up for so long. Do you want that to happen again?"

Jongho was only met with silence from San, who looked away as he shook his head. "No...I don't—we don't need that to happen again. I feel empty without her, I can't stand the emptiness. That's why I had to stop her!"

"We all do," Mingi shrugged. "But we have to be patient, especially if we want our plan to go well."

"I just," San sighed, slumping down to his seat. "I don't want her to be with anyone else besides us. We all felt the connection when her face showed up in our eyes. I want her to be here with us."

"We know, San," Hongjoong sighed. "It's not easy to only be able to watch her this way. So far yet so close. It's torture for only being able to see her for only a few hours, even minutes, for just one day."

"Thank God we're able to access her computer freely now," Wooyoung added. "Not interacting with her was torture. But I know I can't just watch her from a far in the long run, that's why we need to stick to our plan."

"Well, if we want to stick to the plan we can't just pinpoint and blame San here," Yeosang frowned. "All of the other trash needs to act as well."

Mingi and Yunho snorted at the way Wooyoung growled, slapping his back teasingly. "What? Got reminded of Hwayoung?"

"After the little stunt she pulled...I can't even be mad at Wooyoung for killing her," Seonghwa shrugged.

"Fuck her for scaring (name) like that! I can't believe she'll corrupt her own data like that," San growled, Wooyoung nodding along with him.

"Less trash to be bothered though, sounds good to me," Yeosang shrugged.

"We still need to keep an eye out on the new ones," Hongjoong hums, looking at a few folders on the table. The names are written on the cover, Hongjoong opening one of the folders, finding a picture of Hwayoung crossed out with a red marker. "They're a risk, but they were essential on pushing (name) back to playing the game."

"Pushing (name)? More like pushing her friend," Jongho laughed loudly, making the others smirk in union.

"Can't believe at how easy she complied to us."

"More like backstabbing. It's obvious she thinks her life is better than our darling," Yunho answered, the pet name slipping up from him making the others tease him.

"Can you blame her? We targeted her remaining friends," San hums. "Then again, she's really fucking stupid if she thinks we could make contact with anyone if they haven't played the game yet."

"Whatever, we'll deal with her later when our darling comes to our arms," Seonghwa huffed.

"Deal how?" Wooyoung smirked evilly, Mingi snickering alongside Jongho as they discussed the best way to torture said girl.

Seonghwa shrugged, yet the corners of his mouth are pulled into a maniac smile. "We'll see later. She's trash anyways compared to our darling."

#ateez #ateez imagines #ateez x reader #poly ateez x reader #yandere ateez #yandere

221 notes · View notes

overtrred28 · 4 months

Text

Stargirl | matildas x original character fic [part twelve]

Words; 2.8k

Pairings; matildas team x astrid taylor (OC)

Warnings; swearing

A/N; sorry for the late update. also if you’re a follower of this series please link if i should continue this story on tumblr or if it’s easier to just read it on wattpad or Ao3. xx

masterlist

The next Matildas camp came around a few weeks later and this time it was in London, making Astrid very excited as she had never had the chance to visit before. But even though she was excited to do some minimal sightseeing, she was more excited to be playing for the Matildas again and continuing to show the coaches how much she was improving while at Hammarby. Though she really didn’t have anything to prove in regards to her footballing skills, the recent score sheets of their games showed just how hard she was working.

Between the last international break and this one, Hammarby had played 5 games and won 3 of them, thanks to goals by Astrid and Kyra. Astrid had started and scored in all games, proving her to be a consistent player who was able to help out the team in both halves of the game, scoring in either the first or last few minutes.

“ASTRID!” Kyra pounded on Astrid’s front door, Courtney standing behind her watching the time. The door finally swings open to reveal a dishevelled, panting Astrid.

“Will you shut up? It is five o’clock in the morning for fuck’s sake.” Astrid hissed at the older girl before walking back through her small apartment, Kyra and Courtney shuffling in behind with their suitcases.

“Well I wouldn’t have to be that loud if you had just been ready 15 minutes ago when we told you to be.” Kyra argued back, crossing her arms over her chest as she watched Astrid disappear into her bedroom.

“We do have to be at the airport by seven and it takes an hour and forty minutes on a good day.” Courtney nodded from her place beside Kyra, looking around at the small messes that had accumulated throughout Astrid’s place.

“I know that. I slept in and needed to finish packing, okay? Can we move on and get going then?” Astrid reappears with her bags and a large coat now covering her body, preparing for the cool weather of London when they arrive.

“Let’s go.” Courtney nodded at the pair, interrupting before more arguing would begin and she would have to listen to them bicker on the whole drive and probably the whole flight. Luckily because it was still so early, all three girls had fallen back to sleep on the plane and woke up a little more civil than before they arrived in London.

It was 10:30am when they landed in London and the girls had taken a bus straight from the airport to the team hotel to settle into their rooms, while the rest of the team had begun day one of training. Because of their flight times and recent playing schedules, players had been trickling in since last night, a few more still to arrive tomorrow or the next day, still leaving a few days to train as a whole group before their match against South Africa.

Astrid and Kyra had been given their shared room number and headed straight up, wanting to get rid of their bags as soon as they could.

“Mine!” Astrid once again snagged the window bed first, leaving Kyra the one closer to the door, sighing as she watched Astrid flop onto it. “I could do with a nap to be honest.” Astrid mumbled with her eyes closed.

“Nope!” Kyra pulled the tired girl up by her wrist from the bed, a small squeal coming from Astrid at the unexpected movement.

“Hey!” Astrid protested as she landed on her feet, still subconsciously holding onto Kyra’s hand as they faced each other very closely. “Why not?” She whined, looking into Kyra’s eyes.

“Because I know if you nap now then you won’t be able to sleep tonight. And then you’ll complain and keep me up and then we’ll both be tired and cranky tomorrow.” Kyra explained with a stern yet still soft look.

“Fine.” Astrid huffed, reaching down to the bed where her phone had landed. “Can we go explore then? Most of the girls are still at training for another hour and I’m hungry.” She smiled at Kyra.

“Let’s go get the others then, Stargirl.” Kyra turned to the doorway, holding her arm out for Astrid to link her own in. They made their way down the hall to Charli and Teagan’s room, collecting them and Courtney from next door to join their adventure.

They exited their hotel and began to walk the streets of London, marvelling at the beautiful architecture and historical buildings. Astrid’s eyes lit up as they walked through the city she wished to live in one day, feeling completely at home in this atmosphere.

Whilst they were walking, Astrid had moved from Kyra’s arm over to Charli’s, once again catching up after a few weeks apart. They had been together for Charli’s birthday not that long ago; the Hammarby players surprised the now 21 year old during a free weekend and celebrated her with Tegan, Mini and even Harper whilst down there. But even with how much time they spent apart, despite living in the same country, they immediately took off where they left, talking as if no time had passed at all.

The five of them stumbled into a random café and studied the menu once sitting down. They caught up even more whilst eating and talked about the two upcoming games and what they could possibly look like. After a very satisfying lunch they had begun the walk back to the hotel to hang out with the rest of the team now that their training session had wrapped up.

Astrid had been the last to join the team in the room where everyone else gathered, taking the time to get changed into something comfy before heading back down; and was it made known.

“Well, well, well. Look who decided to join the cool kids.” Sam had come walking over to where Astrid paused in the doorway, looking up from her phone to see the whole room of girls staring and smiling at her.

“Really? I don’t see any.” Astrid put a hand over her eyes as she searched the room, stopping at Sam’s face in front of her. “Yep. Definitely no cool kids here.” She frowned as she made direct eye contact with the captain. And within seconds Sam had put Astrid in a headlock and began rubbing her head as the younger girl squirmed in her hold.

“You think you’re funny do ya?” Sam was laughing at the girl unable to release from her grasp, the rest of the room watching the interaction between the two players. Sam and Astrid had formed a natural and strong bond instantly when Astrid first joined. Sam had seen a lot of herself in the once 17 year old striker and wanted to mentor and take her under her wing, ensuring Astrid made the right choices for her career to grow as a person and a player. They had a sibling bond that was different to the ones they had with everyone else, picking on each other endlessly but knowing it came from a place of love.

“I do, yeah.” Astrid spoke from within Sam’s tight grasp. Sam laughed and eventually let her go and pulled Astrid into a hug, the latter girl always happy to be reunited with who she looked up to so much. “Good to see you Sammy.”

“You too kid.” Sam spoke into Astrid’s shoulder, squeezing once more before letting go. “So being at Hammarby is treating you well aye? I’ve seen your recent games and I gotta say I was pretty impressed by that nutmeg a few weeks back.” Sam laughed before looking around the room. “Cait was too.” She nodded to the Arsenal forward and Astrid let out a smile, spotting Caitlin, Macca and Lani playing some form of card game.

“Thought I’d try something new.” Astrid shrugged her shoulders. Sam patted her on the back before excusing herself, being dragged into another conversation with some coaching staff members.

After a night of shared laughs and conversation the squad had dinner together and headed off for an early bed, Astrid more than happy to finally get to sleep after a long day.

The next morning after breakfast the whole squad had piled onto the bus to make their way to the training pitch for day 2 now that everyone had arrived and they could have a proper session. For the England based girls who trained yesterday it was more intense than those who were just coming into camp and off the back of games like the Sweden based girls.

Astrid was having a great session so far, on top of her drills and even reaching a new top speed in their monitored sprints. But because the coaches and physios didn’t want those fresh from club games to be overworked, after an hour they sent them off for a light gym session; which highly disappointed Astrid who would miss the end of match scrimmages today.

Day 3 quickly rolled around after a night of rest and they were on their final day of training at the Wimbledon Qualifying and Community Sports Centre before completing their MD-1 at Kingsmeadow tomorrow. Though Astrid tended to be quite goofy and silly during these camps, when it came time to train she was heavily focused on keeping in top shape for the games.

Everyone began to notice this about the young forward as of late, impressed with her dedication but confused about her lack of lighthearted pranks and laughter during their training sessions. Truth is she was just trying to keep up a standard she had begun to set for herself. And with her accomplishments so far at club and international level it was pretty high.

She felt the need to prove herself and her place in the Matildas squad because she was so young and inexperienced compared to the other players. She knew she would have to keep working so hard after her initial call up, because you don’t always know if you’ll get one when camp rolls around.

This anxiety of maybe not being called up again began just before this camp when she was back in Sweden. Because this camp was quite close to their last one, the squad was selected quite quickly so preparations could be made for flights, accommodation and other admin things.

Kyra, Courtney and Charli all got their call ups on the same day, telling each other instantly and they waited for Tony to call Astrid and celebrate all together. But that call didn’t come on the day everyone else’s had and it left Astrid confused and upset. The girls tried to encourage the youngest player and Astrid brushed it off, convincing them she was fine but she would be lying if she said it did mess with her a little bit.

A week passed and she finally got that call from Tony asking her to join them in London for the next camp. She was excited to be called up but still lost and worried as to why she wasn’t asked in the first place, considering how well she had been playing at Hammarby recently and during that last camp since returning from her injury.

That’s why she was pushing so hard in training today, and it’s safe to say everyone was impressed. She was slotting shot after shot into the back of the net during the drills and attacking strongly during the scrimmage they were currently playing.

She was all over the field, originally being placed up front on the left but drifting behind and in towards centre when needed to, stealing the ball back from her opposition with ease to then run at it alone and score 4 goals for her team. The final whistle blew, her team winning thanks to her. And although she had fun in the scrimmages, she was exhausted after this one, dropping her hands onto her knees, taking deep breaths into her lungs while feeling her friends patting her on the back as they walked past.

“You okay stargirl?” Charli’s voice appeared and Astrid finally stood, looking the blonde in the eyes as she handed her a water bottle. “You really pushed yourself out there, huh?” Charli shot her signature smile as Astrid squirted the cool water into her mouth.

“Guess so.” Astrid shrugged nonchalantly, hot in her shorts and t-shirt training kit even though it was only around 16 degrees celsius right now.

“Come on, superstar.” Charli wrapped an arm around her and they began to walk towards where the group had huddled around Tony and the rest of the staff. After praising their performance today, Tony applauded them and sent them off inside to do some recovery but before Astrid could leave the pitch, Tony caught her for a chat.

“Astrid.” Tony called to her, Astrid pausing between Charli and Kyra, telling them she’ll catch up.

“What’s up Tony?” She used a hand to block the sun from her eyes.

“I just wanted to applaud you on your hard work today and over the past few months. You’ve really gotten stuck right into it after your injury and I’m very proud of your progress.” Tony spoke kindly and Astrid felt her heart grow.

“Thank you, it really means a lot.” She smiled brightly at him, grateful for his kind words.

“You deserve it. You’re a real asset to this team and I’m so glad to have you here with us.” He politely held her free hand, squeezing it between his own.

“Glad to be here, coach.” She nodded, squeezing his hands in her own before excusing herself to join the team inside. That small conversation with Tony changed her mindset of this camp. They wanted her here and a part of this team and believed her actions made a real difference on and off the pitch.

For MD-1 they headed over to Kingsmeadow, aka the home of Chelsea. Astrid was excited to go to the grounds where legends had played and Sam could tell. Astrid was the first one to walk onto the pitch, admiring it when Sam caught up to her.

“It’s beautiful isn't it?” Sam was half talking to the cameraman filming them and to Astrid as well.

“Not bad Sammy.” She kicked the grass with her foot, looking around at the empty stands.

“So, when you gonna come join me and play on this every week?” Sam snickered and Astrid whipped her head quickly. The team had followed the pair and made their way onto the field slowly, walking past the two stopped strikers.

“Do you not know where my loyalties lie Samantha? London is red through and through.” Astrid stuck her tongue out, hearing the cheers from Steph, Caitlin and Lydia behind her.

“Atta girl!” Steph cheered, Astrid turning around to spot her, smiling at her before turning back to Sam.

“I have lost all respect for you.” Sam deadpanned before walking off to her team. Astrid just laughed out loud before sprinting to catch up with her, jumping directly on her back. “Get off me you jerk!” Astrid laughed while detaching herself from Sam’s back, now standing beside her.

“Have you not seen my childhood pictures? I lived in an Arsenal kit.” She crossed her arms over her chest, squinting at Sam through the bright sun.

“Whatever.” The captain waved her off and walked away from Astrid and the Arsenal players who had surrounded and laughed alongside her before they all walked back off to the rest of the group.

After a long and intense day of training the team headed back for their pre match team dinner of pasta and a night spent enjoying each other's company. But with focus pulling towards what could be a tough match tomorrow against South Africa, everyone headed off to their rooms for bed.

“Okay, predictions for tomorrow?” Astrid broke the silence in her and Kyra’s room as they laid in separate beds. Kyra placed her phone down, stopping her previous scrolling to look at Astrid. This had become part of their pre match routine whether they shared a room or not, speaking what their thoughts on the future match were and placing bets for the winning predictions.

“Alright. You,” Kyra points at Astrid in the mostly dark room. “Are going to score… a brace in the last… 20 minutes of play.” Kyra smirked at the other girl, Astrid raised her eyebrows.

“God, setting high standards are we?” Astrid scoffed at the midfielder before thinking of her own predictions. “You are going to start.” She paused. “Play the full game and have an assist.” She smirked in the darkness.

“You have a lot of faith in me.” Kyra laughed, Astrid joining in softly. “Loser has to take the winner out for lunch before the next game.” Kyra placed the bet, sitting up and closer to the edge of her bed to extend her hand to Astrid who was doing the same. With soft smiles they shook each other's hands, sealing the deal before lying back in their own beds.

“Goodnight Ky Ky.” Astrid whispered in the silence. She could just see Kyra’s face with the small moonlight that crept in through the curtains, a soft smile still lingering.

“Goodnight stargirl.” Kyra spoke into the room before they both drifted off to sleep.

to be continued...

#auswnt #kyra cooney cross #auswnt x reader #matildas #caitlin foord #charli grant #mackenzie arnold #steph catley #sam kerr #alanna kennedy #matildas x reader #courtney nevin

23 notes · View notes

manonamora-if · 3 months

Text

February Check-In

From here on out, we should be back on track - IRL be damned (crossing fingers with that). Unless someone throws another wrench...

Anyway, let's not think about the bummer stuff...

Here's to a hopefully "normal" month with stuff actually being checked off a list!

Onto the usual index:

Recap of last month’s progress

IF Events in the Next Month

Plan for the next month

Still long post under the break. If you want a mini version, head over to itch.io!

January Progress

Welp... there wasn't much of a list in the January Check-in, since it was the retrospective, which included the yearly plan. Still, I did make a mini one on itch. Put together we'd get:

Still play more IF and maybe review. ✅

Finish the edits of Harcourt Ch5 ✅ and coding ❌

Fix one of the semi-completed games: ❌either the Egg parser or TRNT (and make it a proper parser)

Complete the Seed/Shuffle-Comp entry✅

Honestly, not bad... The first one, obviously is done and dusted. IFDB says I posted 60+ reviews in January - covering the Short Game Showcase, the ShuffleComp, and the Recipe Jam helped quite a bit. And that also meant... I'm 3rd in the Reviewer ranking! Only 100 more to second place...

MelS and I finally stopped playing ping-pong with the editing of Harcourt (later than we wanted...), and I'm currently sitting down to edit the whole maze. I had hoped to be done by the end of this month, but it wasn't feasible... It was close - I only have half a dozen passages to code, to check it works, and do the formatting. I used to laugh at his complaining of working all the rooms for this maze (because he chose to do that many), but now I'm the one suffering... Don't do mazes... Or don't do 30+-room mazes... (I'm not joking here) Also: If all goes well, March/April should be editing of Chapter 6, June/July coding of Chapter 6 (+ re-edits of previous chapters), August/September beta/edits, October? completed game.

As for the ShuffleComp, I made it realllll close to the deadline. But (not so) strangers in the night was completed just in time! Aaaannnddd, got 1st place in the Use of Songs category! Yay me :D Also submitted to the SeedComp! and the Zach Jam.

As for fixing the parsers.... whomp whomp, didn't manage that.

Buuuutt:

I made another parser! Not Another Sad Meal is a slice-of-life cooking sim of easy difficulty (and clickable elements for help!)

Also made a Zine! CTRL+SHIFT+ZUT+ALORS Lost content meets weird technology. I probably will never make this game, but you can use it as inspiration if you want!

And spent a few days working on a collaborative virtual card for a friend. While that will never be made public (for obvious reasons), You can find the basic interface [here].

Also won kuddos of best puzzle for An Eggcellent Preparation (even though it kinda broken)!

So yeah... not huge updates for projects, but some good progress and a few mini-new games. I'm not expecting people to check those out... But it would be neat if you did!

What’s happening in February?

There's always something happening in the IF world. I don't think I ever find all that happens anyway... but. Here's the ones I know!

The Queer Vampire Game Jam ends in about three weeks. Got a vampire/human story with a LGBT+ cast? Then this is the event for you! (unranked) Also they are doing a fundraising/matching donation with submissions!

Obviously @neointeractives got you covered for Valentine’s with the Smoochie Jam: it’s all about kisses, love and romance (unranked) - Be also on the look out for the next Neo-Interactives mini-jam which is happening mid-March.

The SeedComp! (Sprouting) ends at the end of February. Come transform someone’s idea or asset into a new IF game! See @seedcomp-if for more info ;) (ranked)

Concours de Fiction Interactive Francophone 2024 se termine dans un mois! Viendez faire des histoires en français!! <3 (ranked, duh)

The Spring Thing is waiting for your intent to participate until March 1st! After that, the submissions are due in April (also ranked)

Got a cool talk idea regarding Interactive Fiction, narration, or gameplay? Consider submitting a proposal for this year’s Narrascope! They are still looking for people!!!!

Note: @neointeractives will have jams all year long. One a month/or so. And the next Planting Round of @seedcomp-if will start as soon as the results are dropped.

The PLANtm for February

Shortest month, and one busy months in events (I'm at the head of two... what am I DOING WITH MY LIFE....)... So much to do, so little time. But also, ONE EXTRA DAY THIS MONTH! :D

What are we hoping to do this month?

Play more games! Because there are a bunch of jams happening and a backlog of games I'm trying to clear. Also I want to get to that second IFDB spot! (1st won't ever be attainable...)

Finish the Code Ch5 of Harcourt. This is attainable. This is doable. I will finish... because I am already 80% done. MelS is working on Chapter 6 for this month - hoping to have a rough draft for me to check too by the end of the month...

Finish fixing The Roads Not Taken. This is your month. I swear I am manifesting it hard. This is happening. I will finish you. I'm sorry I've been avoiding you....

Jam Entry number 685470w8698... probably. Maybe do a Queer Vampire/Smoochie Combo. Maybe even a French Comp game?

ALSO: I will probably do an another AMA mid-Feb.

The 2024 To-Do List:

New year, new list. A more feasible one, according to January-Me.

The hopefully maybe easy to handle To-Do:

fix the bugs in EDOC + overall the French version to match

fix the bugs of TRNT + find a way to add the missing pieces (giving up on the translation)

fixing the interface of LPM and the popups + check animal interactions

figure out the One-Button JavaScrip/jQuery issue...

edit the loading screens of the completed tiny games to include the program/format logo at least.

The 'Need a Bunch of Content to update but it's planned!' To-Do:

Update my website (bunch new title - also I don't think the logo clicky thing work...) + redo my itch page

Finish TTATEH (MelS dependent - this year should be it - for real)

Finish Exquisite Cadaver (half-way mark by this summer - manif)

Finish P-Rix - Space Trucker (main path at least)

Update CRWL (it's been almost two years... I'm getting ashamed)

The Unlikely But it Would be Dope To-Do

Finish The Dinner as it was planned (and translate)

Finish In the Blink of an Eye as it was planned (and retranslate)

Finish The Rye in the Dark City

Fixing TTTT (at least fixing, maybe try adding some storylets)

And finally The 'It's impossible, but one can wish' TO-DO:

Remaster SPS IH (if I managed to start this after completing the rest... I'm going to eat a whole sheet cake).

Start the IFComp project (2025? Might end up being a ST?)

#dev log #progress #update #check-in #february planning #AMA incoming yall

11 notes · View notes

yjano · 1 year

Text

Never The Same.

Part 3.

Pairings: Jake x Mc.

Warnings: Swearing, violence, angst, smut, other pairings;), traumatic experiences.

Words: 5.7k

Author's note: Honestly, this story is going to be a big piece of work and a lot of angst. It's not connected to the game at all. Because I always want to try something new and newer. Read it only if you're into angst stories, please. Guys I already started writing chapter 4...But I might get a little busy from tomorrow so excuse me if I'll update later. Thank you.♡

Ding.

I smiled to myself as I heard the familiar ding of my phone indicating I got a message. I immediately knew who it was. After that night in the bar Lex and I had been texting a lot and I already considered her a close friend. We just matched well and I couldn't help but feel happy to have gained another friend besides Lilly.

Deciding to text Lex back later I silenced my phone and put it in my bag. I was currently on my way to the visitor's room of the prison once again. After I worked out some of the details of Jake's case I couldn't help but feel the need to discuss them with him. Of course last time I visited the prison. Jake had made it very clear that he did not like me and that he would do anything to complicate the case even more, which is why today I had a plan.

Last night I had spent the entire evening coming up with a strategy to get Jake to corporate at least a little. I had even texted Lex and asked her what she would do but she didn't turn out to be any help.

With a confident look on my face, I was waiting for the doors of elevator to open. I knew it would work this time, even though my client was one of the biggest criminals in the country. I was Jake's only hope, he didn't even have another choice than to help me.

As the familiar ding of the elevator sounded I quickly got out through the doors and didn't wait for the guard to follow me. I knew the way to the visitor's room myself. Within a minute I stood in front of the door which would lead me to the prisoner, except when I opened the door Jake wasn't sitting on the chair he was sitting in the last time I visited him.

With a questioning look on my face, I turned around to look for the guard who was supposed to bring me here to ask him where Jake was but before I could the door on the other side of the room opened with a loud bang. The first one to come through the door was a large and muscly guard. The man had big muscly arms and short red hair, overall he seemed perfect to work in a place like this.

When the muscly guard moved out of the door frame I immediately locked eyes with the person I was waiting for. Jake had once again a smirk plastered across his face and a challenging look in his eyes. A challenge I was keen on winning.

Jake might have won our last battle, but I was determined to win the war. His tattoos were still proudly displayed on his arms and hands but the black bruise around his left eye was new. I sighed softly, I could only hope Jake hadn't done something which could complicate his case even more.

Behind the prisoner, another guard came into view. He had a stern look on his face and even though he was way smaller than Jake he sure looked like someone who could kick some serious ass. Once all three of them entered the room both guards immediately went to stand next to Jake and placed him on the same metal chair he sat in the last time he got a visit from me.

As Jake was seated down, both guards immediately got ready to handcuff the prisoner to his chair but stopped when I interrupted them.

"You don't have to handcuff him to the chair you know, he's not an animal and I'm pretty sure he won't hurt me," I said with confidence in my voice. Both guards looked at me as if I had grown two heads, and I slowly started to doubt my plan. Was I doing the right thing?

To my relief, the guards walked away from Jake and while the big muscly man took a seat next to the door which would lead back inside the prison, the other went through that exact door and left but not before saying.

"I swear to god Dalton, if you even think about hurting her we won't hesitate to kill you." In return, Jake's smirk only grew wider.

"So, you're back, you have no brains do you?" Jake asked while he sat back on his metal chair. Both his hands and feet were still handcuffed together, but it somewhat made me happy that he wasn't handcuffed to the chair anymore. Even though Jake was anything but nice to me it didn't feel right to treat him like an animal, after all, he was still a human.

"Maybe I don't, but that's not what I am here for," I said trying to sound as confident as possible, but still with a hint of uncertainty lacing my voice.

"Listen, Jake, I'm not here to fight with you, I just want to discuss some major points I found while working on your case," I said and looked with hopeful eyes at him.

"I don't fucking care about anything you do Estrada, if you want to help me I suggest you stop annoying me and crawl back out of the shithole you came from," Jake said with a bored expression on his face and an annoyed tone laced his voice. I looked at him. The disappointment was visible on my face.

The fact that Jake still wasn't interested in helping me made me feel somewhat sad. Last night I decided to show Jake who was now sitting in front of me that I wasn't scared of him at all by telling the guards they didn't have to handcuff Jake to his chair. I had hoped to show exactly that. Turns out this was yet again another failure, the prisoner in front of me was unpredictable and had done exactly the opposite of what I had hoped.

"Look, I'm not here to annoy you, Jake, I'm only here because I want to help you, can't you be nice?" I asked, I was clearly on the verge of giving up. Jake's case was in less than two weeks and if Jake wouldn't corporate with me, I would surely lose it and Jake would be put on death row.

"Are you trying to make me laugh Estrada?" Jake asked with an angry tone lacing his voice. Suddenly his whole aura changed and he gave a scary vibe. Before I could fully process what was happening Jake stood up and leaned closer to me while he slammed his hands on the metal table in between us.

"Listen, Estrada. The first time you came to visit me I thought it was pretty fun to toy with you but now you are just annoying me." Jake said with an angry voice and an annoyed look on his face. The way he looked at me made me feel scared, really scared.

"You see the black eye I have here?" Jake asked while he looked me straight into my eyes. "That's your fault, Estrada." He said with a harsh tone and a scary look in his eyes. I didn't understand what was happening, I surely would remember it if I would have hit him. I knew for sure I didn't. I never even touched him. I didn't even dare to come near him.

"You see, I didn't want to come here today, but the guards forced me, and when I resisted some of them became violent, so you know to defend myself I slammed one of those fuckfaces head against the wall." He said with a cold look on his face. I looked at the prisoner with horror in my eyes. How could someone just slam another person's head against a wall?

Slowly I started to reach with my left hand for my bag, I wasn't staying any longer in this room with Jake in this mood and the guard not doing anything about it. As I felt the handle of my bag I clenched my fist around it and slowly started to get up, afraid that if I would do so any faster Jake would notice. As I was almost fully standing Jake suddenly stormed my way.

"Oh no pretty face you are not going anywhere, you still need to pay for the black eye on my fucking face," Jake said in a scary tone and within a second he stood in front of me and grabbed my collar in his hands. If I wasn't afraid of Jake before then I was now.

My heart started to beat rapidly and my whole body suddenly became completely warm. I was sure Jake would kill me any moment now.

I had a shocked look on my face as I saw how Jake slowly shortened the distance between our faces.

"If I see your pretty face one more time before the trial I won't hesitate to kill you," Jake whispered dangerously low in my ear. It gave me goosebumps over my whole body and I swallowed slowly. I had to get myself out of this situation, my head started to hurt and I started to feel dizzy. Fear crept up my spine and my eyes rapidly started to fill with tears.

Suddenly Jake got ripped away from me and I released a breath I didn't know I was holding. I watched as the big muscly guard who had been sitting beside the door pushed Jake in the direction of the door which lead to the cells. When Jake didn't corporate and started to attack the guard a few other guards stormed in through the door.

As I watched how Jake got dragged away I locked eyes with him one more time. The evil look Jake gave me made me swallow hard and once the inmate was out of my sight I made sure to leave the prison as fast as possible and never come back.

Was it too late now to back out?

I swallowed nervously as I looked at the big unfamiliar building before me. Last night Lex had texted me to come over this evening to do something fun and I gladly accepted. I had a super fun night with Lex back at the bar, so why not right?

The building where Lex lived was a huge skyscraper with black tinted glass, it just screamed luxury to me. In front of the door stood four big and muscly men in black suits, they were wearing black sunglasses and all of them wore an earpiece to communicate with whoever was on the other side of the line. They were placed in front of the entrance to make sure unwelcomed guests would stay outside and it made me a little nervous.

Why would a normal building have four security guards outside? At DW inc. We didn't even have one so why did this building?

I tried to swallow my nerves away and shook my head lightly as I tried to get rid of the thoughts before I began to make my way toward the entrance. Maybe the people who lived here were super rich and they secured the building to make sure no unwelcome guests could rob them.

As I almost reached the entrance I checked my phone one last time to make sure this was the address Lex mentioned in her text. As I confirmed it was indeed the address Lex had sent me. I decided to just walk up to the entrance. Lex probably already told the security guards they had to let me in.

Within two minutes I reached the entrance, but as I tried to go inside the big skyscraper I was immediately stopped by the guard closest to the entrance.

"Do you have an appointment?" The big bald man spoke with a bulking voice while he looked down at me. I swallowed and my heart began to beat rapidly in my chest. Jake was scary, but this man was doing a pretty good job at coming close to him.

"I got invited by Lex, I'm her friend," I said, uncertainty lacing my voice. I didn't know why but that man made me feel scared. It almost made me feel like I was doing something I shouldn't do.

Maybe it was because of the booming sound the man's voice made, or perhaps the fact that due to the sunglasses, the muscly guard wore I couldn't see his expression.

"Name?" The man asked again, startling me a little.

"Mc Estrada." I quickly said while I tried to get a glimpse of the expression on the big muscly man's face. I failed due to the big black sunglasses the man was wearing and I quickly looked down, the unsettling feeling still present. The man said something while he pressed a button on his earpiece and I guessed that would be how he could communicate with the person on the other end of the line.

"There is no Mc Estrada on the list of appointments, I have to remove you from the property." The muscly guard said, his expression still unknown to me. I raised my eyebrows and a confused look quickly made its way onto my face, I had double-checked the address and was certain Lex was supposed to live inside this building.

As I hung my head low and turned around ready to leave I suddenly heard something.

"No wait, let her in guys."

I suddenly heard the familiar voice of Lex. I quickly turned around and was met with the friendly brown eyes of Lex who I had texted so much. Lex looked exactly how I remembered her and a smile broke out on our faces.

All four guards looked a little startled at the sudden statement of the much smaller girl behind them.

"Of course, miss Torres." The guard who had earlier spoken to me now spoke to Lex. I looked at the guard with a questioning look. Miss Torres?

Lex quickly took my hand in her own and dragged me inside the expensive-looking building. When I took a look around the ground floor of the building I was amazed. Everything inside looked like it was made out of very expensive materials.

To my surprise though there were no normal people on the ground floor, just a lot of security guards. I didn't have a lot of time to think though as Lex was still pulling me towards some place still unknown to me.

Before I was fully registered where Lex was pulling me. I was dragged inside the most luxurious elevator I had ever seen. The walls were decorated with modern-looking white and black marble and the buttons looked like they were made out of pure gold. It almost made my mouth drop open. Lex quickly pressed the button for the 64th floor and finally let go of my hand.

"I'm sorry Mc, I forgot to put you on the visitor's list since I was really busy this morning," Lex said while a friendly smile started to form on her face. I smiled at her back. Without Lex, I wouldn't have known which floor I had to go to anyway so in a way I was pretty happy Lex came down to get me.

The elevator reached its destination pretty quickly and once the beautiful shining black doors opened both of us quickly got out of the elevator. We were now standing in a small white room with only one door in it. In the corner of the room stood a small table with a vase filled with black flowers in it.

"This is mine and Kaden's floor so don't worry about running into anyone except us," Lex said before she began to make her way toward the only door in the room.

I quickly followed her and couldn't help but look amazed at the sight in front of me. I was standing in a beautiful apartment with white walls and marble floors and the sides of the apartment were covered in huge windows. On the left side of the apartment was a huge black kitchen situated.

The kitchen looked spotless as if it wasn't touched anyone before and I couldn't help but let my mouth drop at the sight. Lex owned this whole floor?

Behind the kitchen, there was a huge dinner area with a beautiful white table and black chairs. The table was made for at least ten people. It was a stunning sight to see.

On the right side of the apartment was a huge black couch situated with a big tv in front of it. There was a modern-looking white table in between us which was placed on top of a blue furry carpet. On the couch were multiple white cushions with black flowers on it placed and it gave me a warm feeling.

My favorite thing about Lex's apartment though was the view. I took a few steps closer to the windows and almost lost myself completely in the view. From here you could look over almost all of Duskwood. The cars looked like tiny ants and the people driving them were even smaller. The lights of the streetlamps gave off a beautiful contrast and together they looked like small stars.

"So how do you like my home?" Lex asked while she walked towards the big black couch and sat down on it. She looked even smaller on the black couch than she already was. I smiled at my relatively new friend and walked over to take a seat on the couch.

"It's beautiful," I answered and I couldn't help but wonder how much this apartment would cost. Maybe one day when I would be a successful lawyer I would be able to afford a place like this. I slowly walked towards the big couch and took a seat next to Lex, while the impressed look on my face was still visible.

"So what do you want to do, Kaden isn't supposed to be home until 11 pm or so," Lex said while she went to the kitchen to get the both of us something to drink. My eyes immediately lit up when I saw her come back with two glasses of cherry red wine in her hands. Lex softly placed both glasses on the table in front of us and took a seat next to me.

"Let's just talk," I said whilst looking at her. Lex softly nodded.

"Are you doing any interesting cases at the moment Mc?" Lex asked whilst she picked up her glass and took a sip from the red liquor. I immediately thought of my client. Everybody in the country knew his name, he was known for being reckless and dangerous.

I was pretty surprised about the question Lex had just asked. It wasn't a secret I was Jake Dalton's lawyer, it would even be aired on national television since his capture was such big news. I looked at Lex who wore a small smile on her face.

"You know Jake Dalton, right?" I said in a soft voice while locking eyes with Lex. To my surprise, Lex started to laugh a little.

"Yup." Lex said while popping the p. "A little too well if you ask me." She softly whispered while a small smile made its way onto her face. I looked my friend in the eyes with a questioning look on my face.

"What do you mean?" I asked Lex, a questioning tone lacing my voice. I raised my eyebrows when I saw how Lex reacted to my question. I swore I saw shock written all over my new friend's face as if I heard something I shouldn't have. Lex however quickly recovered from the shock.

"Ah I just followed all of the news about him you know, nowadays it's all the newspapers talk about," Lex answered before she quickly picked up her glass of wine and took a big gulp out of it.

"Is it just me or is it getting hot in here?" Lex asked while she placed the glass of wine back on the table and stood up. "I'll go get a glass of ice, don't move okay?" Lex smiled while already making her way to the kitchen.

I picked up my glass of wine and took a small sip of it. Why was Lex acting so weird all of a sudden? I took Lex's absence as a moment to look around myself. I smiled when my eyes landed on a big framed picture on the wall. It displayed Lex getting a piggyback ride from a silver-eyed boy. Both of them looked extremely happy.

"So I'm back, let's talk about something else," Lex said when she came back in sight and quickly made her way onto the couch before sitting down but not before placing a bowl with ice on the table in front of us.

"That night in the bar you told me about your sister and how she meant everything to you, can you tell me more about her?" She asked while locking eyes with me.

I immediately started to smile when I thought of my little sister. "Her name is Sina and she is ten years old," I said and smiled at her.

"Do you have a picture?" Lex asked and I immediately nodded my head and started to unlock my phone. I smiled when I looked at my screensaver. It was a picture of me and Sina sitting next to other in a tree. It was taken last summer when I was still living with my parents. I turned my phone towards Lex who in response took it from my hands.

"You can see you two are sisters," Lex said while looking closely at the picture. "Where was this taken?" Lex then asked before she handed the device back to me. I carefully took my phone from her and locked it again before quickly putting it back in my pocket again.

"In the backyard of my parent's house," I said, happiness lacing my voice. My family truly was my happiness and I would do anything in the world to protect them.

As we talked a bit longer about my family and looked at some pictures on my phone we suddenly heard the familiar ding of the elevator sounding through the room. Lex looked up from the phone and turned around to take a look at the enormous clock on the white walls.

"Ah that must be Kaden, it's already 11 past 11," She said while turning around. I also turned around and started to look at the door which I remembered would lead to the room with the elevator.

Not even 10 seconds later the same door opened and through it came a boy with silver eyes whom I recognized from the pictures I had seen. He was pretty tall and wore a black expensive looking suit. His hair was slicked to the back and an expensive watch was proudly displayed on his wrist. Overall he looked powerful and I immediately knew how Lex could afford this apartment. The guy who had just came in had to make a lot of money if he looked like this.

The guy slowly turned towards us on the couch and smiled when he locked eyes with Lex. He quickly made his way over to her and leaned down.

"Hey, baby." He said before giving Lex a small peck on her lips. I looked at both of them with a smile on my face. The moment that guy had walked through that door Lex had done nothing but look at him with adoration in her eyes, they looked cute together.

I silently wished to myself to be able to have a relationship like that in the future. As the guy walked around the couch and took a seat next to Lex he locked eyes with me.

"You must be Mc, I've heard a lot about you." He said while taking his jacket off and laying it on the couch. "I'm Kaden, Lex's boyfriend," Kaden said while sticking out his hand for me to shake, a certain possessiveness lacing his voice. I smiled at him.

"I know, Lex here won't shut up about you over text," I said before I took his hand and gently shook it.

"So how was work babe?" Lex asked while she looked at Kaden. As the two locked their eyes I couldn't help but feel the tension between them, it was time to leave soon. Kaden shifted closer to Lex and laid a hand on her thigh.

"Fucking tiresome, ever since bro has been away I've been busier than ever," Kaden said while he rested his head on Lex's shoulder. He did indeed look tired, I of course had no idea what job Kaden had but he seemed exhausted.

"Hold on babe, just two more weeks until Ja-" Lex said but was cut off by Kaden slapping his hand on her mouth.

"Until my bro is back I know." Kaden finished Lex's sentence and I looked weirdly at the two. What had just happened?

Deciding it was time to leave I stood up from the big black couch I was sitting on and quickly finished my glass of cherry red liquor before placing the glass back on the table.

"I think it's time I'll head home, it's getting pretty late," I announced and both of them looked up at me.

Lex immediately jumped up from the couch and took Kaden's hand and began to pull him up.

"Okay let's go then, we'll bring you home," Lex announced before she grabbed my hand with her free one and started to pull the other two toward the elevator. I looked at Lex with a questioning look on my face. Lex noticed it and smiled.

"I can't let you use public transport at this time of the day, it's way too dangerous," Lex said before pulling both me and Kaden into the elevator.

Within a few minutes, all three of us were standing in the basement of the building. The basement itself was nothing special, just a dull grey parking garage. The cars who were standing in it however were.

I looked at all of the expensive-looking cars with eyes as big as saucers. There must have been around 20 to 30 expensive cars in the basement and all of them looked amazing. A black Ferrari, a red Mercedes, and a white BMW were the cars they were currently walking two.

As Kaden clicked the button on the car key he got out of his pocket the lights from the red Mercedes started to shine, indicating that was gonna be the car the guy was going to use.

All three of us quickly got in the car and fastened our seatbelts before Kaden started the car and took off, all while Lex typed my address into the navigation. Within a fifteen-minute drive, we were standing before my house, and another 10 minutes late Lex and I had said our goodbyes.

As I was sitting on my couch I couldn't help but smile at the thoughts of my evening. Even though Lex had acted a little weird it sure had been a great evening and I would love to do it again soon.

I softly blew on the cup of coffee in my hands. I smiled a little as I slowly saw the steam from the brown liquor disappearing into the air. I carefully took a sip of the cup in my hands before putting it back on the table in front of me again

I was currently sitting in a small restaurant in the middle of Duskwood. It had only a few tables and it was kinda cozy. I had made an appointment with one of Jake's victims and was hoping I would be able to find something which would prove my client's innocence.

Even though Jake didn't care about the case at all, I sure did and I was willing to do anything to win. I figured that if Jake wasn't gonna help me, I would just find everything out on my own.

I straightened my ponytail as I saw a tall girl with black hair walk through the entrance of the small café. I waved shortly at the black-haired girl to make sure she noticed him. A smile crept upon my face when I noticed the tall girl making her way to my table.

She took a seat opposite me and looked me straight in the eyes, something which made me almost a bit nervous. The black-haired girl had piercing green eyes in which I swore I saw a hint of sadness and small freckles under her eyes. The girl wore a tired expression on her face, her eyes had dark circles under them and I immediately felt sorry for her. This girl surely must have been through a lot.

I sighed softly. The girl in front of me was named Luca Perez. A pretty normal girl with a normal life, until Jake decided to mess a girl up. Luca had been present during a bank robbery at the bank she worked for in September last year. A bank robbery Jake was being accused of. A bank robbery I had to plead the guy innocent of.

"Thank you so much for coming Luca," I said to the girl in front of me. I had invited her to the café to tell me what exactly happened that day. The black-haired girl smiled a little and nodded. Luca slowly placed one of her elbows on the table and rested her head against it. The girl looked like she hadn't slept in days.

"Okay, as I told you on the phone I am Jake Dalton's lawyer, and I would like for you to tell me exactly what you told the cops that night after the robbery," I said before taking a notebook and a pen out of my bag. If I wanted to make sure I wouldn't miss anything Luca said I had to write it down as fast as possible.

"I don't know what to tell you to be honest, I'm pretty sure you've read the file about that exact day at least twenty times." The black-haired girl said while she gave me a sharp look. I grabbed my pen harder and forced a smile on my face.

"I did, but I would like to hear it from you," I answered, the fake smile still present on my face. Judging from the file about that night, I had expected Luca to be a fragile girl who was traumatized by the events that happened on the day of the robbery. If I had known Luca was anything but that I would have never invited her here today. What would be the point of today if she wouldn't tell me anything new about that day anyway?

"Here's what happened that day, your fucker of a client robbed the bank while wearing beanies and masks, held a gun against my head, and killed three of my colleagues," Luca said, clearly on the verge of losing her cool. I quickly wrote some details on the paper in front of me before trying to calm her down.

"Listen, I know you're angry and upset but I'm just trying to do my job, I would prefer it if we could talk normally to each other," I said, a calm tone lacing my voice. Even though Luca had barely said anything about the day of the robbery yet I had a feeling she would still spill some important details about that specific day if I pushed it a bit. Of course, I felt bad for her, Jake had ruined her life. However I was only trying to do my job, nothing more.

"You think I don't know what you invited me here for today huh?" The black-haired girl in front of me said while looking at me. Anger was visible on her face. I looked back at her with a surprised look on my face. What in the world was happening here?

"You only invited me to try and find mistakes in the story I told the police so that that fucker can go free." Luca now started to shout before standing up. It made me feel small. She was way taller than me and was practically towering over me.

"Let me tell you one thing Ms. Estrada, I won't tell you anything about that day and I will testify against Dalton." The black-haired girl said before turning around and walking out of the café. I watched as the black-haired girl disappeared out of my sight and sighed deeply.

That girl had been my last chance at getting Jake out of jail, and while the girl did give some information away, it would still be one hell of a job to prove the innocence of my client. I sighed deeply, why did everything never go the way I wanted it to?

I quietly decided to pack up my belongings and go home. I quickly fished out some money out of my pocket and put it on the table before leaving the small cafe. It was of no use for me to stay there after Luca left.

As I was walking towards the subway station on my way to DW inc. I got lost pretty deeply in my thoughts. I had thought a million times about how I could prove Jake's innocence but I never managed to come up with a solid plan.

The evidence was just too overwhelming, anyone who would think that Jake was innocent would be completely crazy.

Sure I did have the information about Jake and his gang using beanies and masks during the robbery, a detail that was not described in the police file. But even if I would be able to plead Jake innocent of that crime, there were still at least twenty more.

I quickly got ripped out of my thoughts when I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. I quickly got the device out and raised my eyebrows when I saw the caller id of an unfamiliar phone number. I quickly pressed the green button on my phone.

"Hello?" I said, curious about the other person who was calling me.

"I have information that could benefit your client's case, meet me tomorrow at 9 p.m. outside the Roses Hotel," The caller on the other side of the line said before I heard the familiar beeping tone indicating the person on the other side had ended the call.

This could either go well or wrong...

#duskwood #duskwood jake #duskwood mc #jake x mc #mc and jake #duskwood family #duskwood fandom #duskwood fanfiction #Spotify

45 notes · View notes

oneeyedcharactercompetition · 1 year

Text

Prelim Updates & Character List!

First, competing as a team won for all four prelim polls! Everybody's in, together! (For some reason I had a feeling the Naruto poll was a wild question, and with my practically non-existent knowledge figured Kakashi would win, but glad it's funnier this way lol)

Second, I have still neglected to organize the Portal prelims. Whoops. I'll probably figure that out today and post that tomorrow evening (5/1). Relatedly, I also realized I missed one more non-Portal prelim poll, so that'll go up at the same time (it's for Percy Jackson).

Third, uhh you guys probably want the character list huh. Don't know why I didn't do that in my original form is closed update. Here you go!

(One asterisk means they'll be on a team, two for the prelim I missed. Portal/etc will be at the bottom.)

Allison Ruth (Kill Six Billion Demons)

Annie (Skullgirls)

Asuka Langley Soryu (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

B.O.B (Monster Vs. Aliens)

Bazooka Joe (Bazooka Joe)

Breakdown (Transformers)

Brightheart (Warrior Cats)

Buck the Weasel (Ice Age)

Captain Hook (Peter Pan)

Captain Typho (Star Wars)

Catherine Foundling (A Practical Guide to Evil)

Celia (Monsters Inc)*

Chevalier (Worm)

Dark Choco Cookie (Cookie Run)

Demoman (Team Fortress 2)

Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)

Docm77 (Hermitcraft)

Dusclops (Pokemon)*

Dusknoir (Pokemon)*

Duskull (Pokemon)*

Ethan Nakamura (Percy Jackson & The Olympians)**

Every Dalek (Doctor Who)

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu (Danganronpa)

Garrett (Thief)

Glenn Close (Dungeons & Daddies)

Hero's Shade (Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess)

Himeno (Chainsaw Man)

Hua Cheng (Tian Guan Ci Fu)

Hudson (Gargoyles)

Hyakunosuke Ogata (Golden Kamuy)

Iris Clops (Monster High)

Iron Bull (Dragon Age: Inquisition)

Jack (Minecraft story mode)

John Silver (Treasure Planet)

Juno Steel (The Penumbra Podcast)

Kakashi Hatake (Naruto)*

Kaname Date (AI: The Somnuim Files)*

Kubo (Kubo & the Two Strings)

Kuruto Ryuki (AI: The Somnium Files)*

Laura Kearney (The Quarry)

Lila Bard (Shades of Magic trilogy)

Magnus Hammersmith I (Metalocalypse)

Man-at Arms (Darkest Dungeon)

Marie Mjolner (Soul Eater)

Merle Highchurch (The Adventure Zone - Balance)

Mike Wazowski (Monsters Inc)*

Midari Ikishima (Kakegurui)

Mizuki Date (AI: The Somnium Files)

Mr. Fischoeder (Bob's Burgers)

Nick Fury (Marvel)

Nifty (Hazbin Hotel)

Obito Uchiha (Naruto Shippuden)*

Odin (Norse mythology)

Pibby (Pibby)

Plankton (SpongeBob SquarePants)

Prismo (Adventure Time)

Qifrey (Witch Hat Atelier)

Rachel Duncan (Orphan Black)

Rae Morningstar (Fable SMP)

Red Beard (Asterix)

Redcloak (Order of the Stick)*

Rem (Death Note)

Right-Eye (Order of the Stick)*

Rose Copen (Y: The Last Man)

Rose Wilson (DC Comics)

Roy Mustang (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Sigma Klim (Zero Escape)

Spike Spiegel (Cowboy Bebop)

Tengen Uzui (Demon Slayer/Kimestu no Yaiba)

The One-Eyed, One-Horned, Flying Purple People Eater (song by Sheb Wooley)

The Virtual Reality Assistance & Education Core (SteamVR opening tutorial)

Tyson (Percy Jackson & The Olympians)**

Viktor Vasko (Lackadaisy)

Violet (The Walking Dead (S4 Game))

Vriska Serket (Homestuck)

Wolf O'Donnell (Star Fox)

Xander Harris (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Zuko (Avatar The Last Airbender)

Portal/Portal adjacent:

Alan (Aperture Hand Labs)

Anger Core

Atlas

Bill (Aperture Hand Labs)

Cake Core

Curiosity Core

Deceptive Devin (Aperture Hand Labs)

Defective Turret

Fact Core

Friendly Frank (Aperture Hand Labs)

GLaDOS

Grady (Aperture Desk Job)

Morality Core

P-body

Party Escort Bot (Portal/Lab Rat)

Rick the Adventure Core

Space Core

Turret

Wheatley

#one eyed character masterposts

17 notes · View notes

victorluvsalice · 23 days

Text

-->And then I looked at the party timer, and was like, “crap, no, I have to make sure that Smiler gets silver on this thing – where are the guests?” I quickly looked over the farmhouse, and found Cletus and Brian eating some leftovers from the fridge, and Myra upstairs – kindly fixing Smiler’s video creation station! Didn’t even know it was broken, thank you, Myra! (I mean, maybe SHE broke it, but at least she also fixed it!) Couldn’t find Cameron right away (I think he was eventually located just chilling in front of the house), so I resolved to have Smiler concentrate on the two in the kitchen, joining them and telling some jokes since that was one of the party goals. Though it didn’t actually complete until I had Smiler tell base game jokes, instead of vampire puns and special “let’s make fun of n00bs together because we both like video games” jokes. EAxis, you really gotta update some of these interactions... Anyway, the guests continued moving around seemingly at random, with Myra coming down for food while Brian wandered off somewhere (and Roxanne headed upstairs to use Victor and Alice’s computer for a bit – prooobably should lock it to just them), but Smiler persisted in making conversation with whoever was in the kitchen, and managed to complete the main goal of socializing with their guests by supporting Cletus’s facial hair. XD Bringing the party up to automatic gold! Yes!

Oh, and what were Victor and Alice doing during all of this? Chilling out alone in the party barn with Party Time the bot, dancing to the music and chatting with each other. XD I mean, that probably IS their ideal party situation, given they’re both supposed to be not that social. Alice eventually had to go outside and take a little nap to calm down her werewolf instincts, but she came back up to eat some hamburger cake provided by Party Time while Smiler wrangled their guests and got them all back in the party barn area. Mostly because there was one last thing that I wanted to do before the party ended –

-->Play a game! Specifically, Simbles, since I’d never played that game before! Smiler invited Alice, Brian, and Victor to play with them – Alice was a little late in joining as she was busy wolfing down her cake first, but she eventually found a seat and joined the others for a rousing game of Sim dominoes (where the “simbles” have geometric shapes on them instead of patterns of dots). Brian ended up leaving the game early, but Victor, Smiler, and Alice played past the end of the party, with Smiler winning. :) In fact, they won in multiple ways, because their party ALSO ended firmly on gold level (meaning they’ve won yet another stereo – I think I might just recycle that one straight of the inventory, why not), meaning they too managed to complete an aspirational milestone (FINALLY getting past the “Sir Gala Had” level of Party Animal) and thus fulfill their New Year’s resolution! :D Three for three, yaaay~

-->With both party and game over, though, it was time to do some clean-up around the house. Alice found some more spilled trash in the front yard (apparently a certain someone kicked over the trash can again while leaving >( ) and cleaned that up before emptying out the hamper, getting the clothes pile out of the yard, and starting a load of laundry (freshened by a daisy); Smiler washed all the plates their guests had left behind and cleared the spoiled food out of the fridge; and Victor fed Toothy after I stopped him trying to eat its cake. *shakehead* Victor, I already went through you getting nommed by a cowplant in my old save file – not interested in doing it again! Anyway, he and Alice then both proceeded to have leftover waffles while I stuck their various bits of produce and suchlike in the fridge – then got one of the giant oversized mushrooms OUT of the fridge so Victor could turn it into a seat. Because I just think that’s cool. XD The gang had a brief chat in the kitchen (with Victor and Smiler doing a little flirting as Alice cleaned up her plate), then Smiler went back upstairs for more video gaming time (on Victor and Alice’s computer again – REALLY gotta lock it) while Victor put the laundry in the dryer and Alice used the bathroom. I ended up leaving it on Victor Repairioing the downstairs bathroom sink after it broke while Alice was using it. XD

And there we are! One very satisfying day in Sims world! :D I’m so glad I was able to hit my goal of getting them all to hit theirs. :D And next time we visit, the gang will be celebrating Love Day! How will that go? We'll find out...

#sims 4 #the lazy save #victor van dort #alice liddell #smiler always #the one problem with parties in this house #the guests really do like to spread out #and there's actually not that many doors I can lock to keep them out of places #(though I probably should lock Victor and Alice's and Smiler's rooms #even if Myra entering Smiler's room was for a nice reason)#and I can't bar them from the house entirely #because the house has the bathrooms #so yeah #at least Sims looking for food meant that Smiler could at least always find SOMEONE to chat with #and get that necessary gold #ugh I HATE that the party-throwing aspiration does NOT count most of the new parties #the classic base-game aspirations need some SERIOUS updates #or at the very least the ability to recognize more DLC stuff #you know now that the game is 10 YEARS OLD #meeeeh #well anyway Smiler had a good party and that's what counts #that and enjoying seeing them play Simbles with Victor and Alice #they looked like they were having plenty of fun #we appreciate them having more group activities to try out #and a fun mushroom seat for outside XD #good stuff #queued

2 notes · View notes

thisdancingheart · 1 year

Text

I have clicked on the horrid website so you don’t have to.

First article, last year:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/18077960/benedict-cumberbatch-4million-castle-fronted-mansion/

Exclusive Benedict Cumberbatch eyes up £4million, castle-fronted mansion with 300-acre farm in south-west Laura Armstrong, Hannah Hope Published: 21:46, 26 Mar 2022 Updated: 9:49, 28 Mar 2022

NOMINEE Benedict Cumberbatch has been eyeing up a real-life role as a rancher – like his character in The Power Of The Dog.

The British actor is up for the Best Actor Oscar award on Sunday for his portrayal of troubled cowboy Phil Burbank in the blockbuster.

And we can reveal he’s showing an interest in a £4million, castle-fronted mansion.

The historic property has more than 300 acres of land attached to it and even boasts its own organic farm.

Benedict, who owns a home in London, where he lives with theatre director wife Sophie Hunter and their three children, is said to have been thinking of buying a bolthole in the South West for some time.

And a source in the village said: “Everyone around here is talking about it.

“Benedict has been seen here a few times in the last few months, either in the village or the market town nearby.

“He’s been wanting to buy a place down here for a while.

“If he buys the house it will be fantastic for the area and give everyone a real boost.

“The manor house and land have certainly seen better days so it would be brilliant if he injects some love into the property.”

If The Imitation Game actor buys the mansion, he will be able to relax in its extensive library and store vintage wines in the sprawling cellar.

There is also a swimming pool, cider orchard and land for grazing cattle — just like his film character Phil did.

He will also be able to bring his own features to the manor as it comes with extensive planning permission.

Benedict will be battling it out for the Best Actor award at the ceremony with Will Smith, Javier Bardem, Andrew Garfield and Denzel Washington.

And he is certainly a formidable contender after the movie won 12 nominations from the Academy.

Perhaps his recent house hunting is an optimistic bid to secure a grander location for his gong.

This weekend’s follow up and confirmation:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tv/21046724/benedict-cumberbatch-buys-8-million-mansion/

EXCLUSIVE

BEN'S NEW HOLME Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch buys £8.1m mansion with 355 acres of land Michael Hamilton Published: 21:50, 14 Jan 2023 Updated: 21:50, 14 Jan 2023

SHERLOCK star Benedict Cumberbatch has bought an £8.1million mansion with 355 acres of land.

The actor and wife Sophie Hunter agreed a deal on the country spread last May after eyeing it for two years.

Sources say the Somerset estate, which has an organic farm and cider orchard, is “totally private”.

The historic house has a Grade-II listed lodge built to impress King George III, who was a regular visitor in the late 1700s.

Cumberbatch, 46, distantly related to Richard III, also has a Gothic–style entrance arch, library and wine cellar to show off.

A source said: “It’s really lovely, secluded and peaceful, perfect for getting away from it all.

“Although the house is historic, it has all mod-cons.

“Locals in the nearby village know about the purchase.

“Everyone is excited about their new neighbours.”

Cumberbatch, who played Holmes in Sherlock, also has a home in London with theatre director, playwright and actress Sophie, 44.

The property was sold by estate agents Savills.

The Land Registry has only recently released the documents.

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

Conclusion, Benedict saw a property he liked in Somerset while he was there filming some scenes for DSITMOM. Just a guess.

#benedict cumberbatch

11 notes · View notes

theredbackpack · 11 months

Text

I saw Tisakorean live last week. I did not pay attention to the openers until right before the show started, but was blown away at the lineup: Texas Boyz, Yung Nation, and Trill Sammy with Dice Soho were the big names. Across these acts, you can draw a line from them to Tisakorean's new music. It was an incredible blend of circa-2011 blog-rap nostalgia that called to mind in the best way my nights at small sweaty clubs seeing eight rappers in a row over the course of four hours.

I don't know if you've seen the videos of Soulja Boy snapping, but I clocked it as a reaction to what Tisakorean is doing. It speaks to a trend/zeitgeist: concurrent to this is the embarrassing efforts to make "indie sleaze" a thing, which confusingly throws all manner of sounds and aesthetics anywhere from about 2004 to 2010 into a blender. The Dare kinda sound like LCD Soundsystem but they also remind me of mid-'00s detritus like The Bravery. I sense the same era rap music creeping on the margins: Homer Radio featured a slew of snap/dance music in a recent episode (#23, from April); indie sleaze nostalgia combined with "blog rap" podcasts point toward an endpoint destined to go just a few eras backward in time; the fact that 2003 was twenty years ago; this Druski skit that dropped the day I drafted this; and yes, Tisakorean's masterful album, Let Me Update My Status.

When Tisa appeared on the national stage in 2018, I thought he was riding the wave of a trend: regional dance rap that consisted of artists like Splurge and 10kcaash, alongside future footnotes like Lil Tecca. His 2019 debut, A Guide to Being a Partying Freshman, was met with a mixture of shrugs to light praise. A fun collaboration with Chance the Rapper seemed to seal his fate as a guy who would burn bright and hot but not for long.

The first time I thought "he has something" was 2020's "Bate Onna Bo" which weaved through so many movements in the span of four minutes it had to be the work of a musician with a real vision. By 2021 we got "Old School Cash" and "Silly Dude" and it was clear he was following his instincts and making the exact kind of music he wanted to make. This came to a head in 2022 with his EP 1st Round Pick and "Backseat," which was my favorite song of the year. Sometimes that's as far as an artist can go. But he pressed on: Let Me Update My Status underlines my thought that Tisakorean is an era-defining rapper in a time when artists make interminably long albums to game the streaming algorithm then disappear off the planet.

It may seem premature to call Tisakorean era-defining but that's where I landed. I don't mean he's sold the most albums or had the most hits, but in this age where you can have a few songs and leave no impact, that he's had an audience since 2018 is huge: that he's produced great music since at least 2020 is even more impressive. (While I never disliked his earliest music, it hits a lot better now in the context of his career arc.) A lot of people who liked "The Mop" may not be following him now, but artists who shed casual fans are probably doing something noteworthy. No one is good for three years, let alone five. I like Travis Porter more than your average person, but I'd argue at best they had a three year imperial phase. Now anyone starting a twitter reply with "buddy" doesn't know they exist.

The Atlanta snap/swag sound and movement from 2006 through about 2009 was a singular moment that came just as regional music was cresting (Houston famously in 2005, Three 6 Mafia won the Oscar in 2006), before blogs, before Drake. Early Gucci Mane was popping off and OJ da Juiceman became a household name within this precarious window. But as soon as all cool regional stuff became fodder for rappers on major labels and young hypebeasts like ASAP Rocky to absorb, it was over, which is why it's due for a renaissance.

It's getting harder to imagine life before smartphones, before omnipresent internet and connectivity, before literally every aspect of our lives was managed by at most three or four corporations. Kevin Durant's iconic BlackPlanet page might as well be the Dead Sea Scrolls as a relic of his personality expressed through that era of the internet. But any means of original expression becomes unlikelier as we get funneled into pre-ordained ways of being our ourselves, of consuming art and media and sports, to the fabric of our thoughts.

A few years ago Matty Healy described his life pre-internet the best I've heard it. It's not about the changes it brought, but that he cannot remember what it was like to live without it. He cannot remember what it felt like to feel things before the internet, and what it felt like to not have to think about the internet as he felt things, and that his life and experiences still had meaning. And this inability to remember will render us more vulnerable to exploitation, and feeling like we are not connected to our true selves.

It used to feel different to feel alone, to feel sad, happy, etc, without thinking about how to broadcast it. Even if you don't put yourself online like that, there's an inkling to want to. I took a ton of pictures and videos at the Tisa show and I put some in my stories, but I found I didn't want to share them permanently. They are for me.

Let Me Update My Status is a masterpiece in perfecting sounds from snap to crunk to mid-aughts Neptunes. It's a callback to a simpler time, which is nearly impossible to do without some subconscious argument we also need to return to simpler, regressive politics. What makes the album so invigorating is how thoroughly it plumbs the era as an aesthetic and sound, not just as an excuse to make goofy videos. Its accomplishment is how it demonstrates snap music as an organic form that was never a response to anything: it was not conservative in its values, instead it was a truly original and innovative Black American artform that took time to receive the respect it deserved. (Quick aside: yes there were people who always loved it and it was popular for a reason, but it was not considered a given until years later.)

In Kelefa Sanneh's Major Labels he says in spite of the liberal ideology at the heart of punk music, it was a conservative movement because art that aspires to either simplicity in its content (songs as political statements) or as a "return to form" (three chords and 4/4 time) is reactionary. The real-world impact of punk as ostensibly progressive expression was what came after it; it's Minor Threat and Green Day but also skinhead music. When mid-'10s revisionism took hold and people rightfully concluded "D4L were important" it took forgettable Big Sean and Kid Ink albums to get there; it took the critical adulation upon the arrival of artists as disparate as Kendrick Lamar, Future, and Waka Flocka Flame to get there; it took time to get there, to see what had shaped everything that preceded the moment as vital to the culture.

Tisakorean’s delirious ode to snap music locates within a specific timeframe from the past an emotional center and palette, finding new entry points into the sound, blending homemade beats with experimental forms as well as hyperpop to fashion an immersive triumph. There’s nothing one-dimensional about Let Me Update My Status and it also doesn’t conjure any Bush-era feelings of excess or doom, which it might do if it used nostalgia as a gimmick. I love Let Me Update My Status because it sounds exactly like how 2007 felt, and for me 2007 was a good year to be alive, using the internet not because I had to but because I wanted to.

///

Finally, Found Me Volume Two, released with my creative brother Fat Tony, released in February. Buy one here. It continues to be my favorite thing I do. I wrote about Lil Yachty for NPR. Read that here. I started a Linktree and will add to it when necessary; bookmark/follow me here.

#tisakorean

6 notes · View notes