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#even if they don't sell a lot there is ALWAYS a lot to keep an eye on
nalyra-dreaming · 2 days
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it's a weird question and maybe you won't be able to answer it but you have visibility and maybe someone will be able to answer me.
Why it would be weird to have had a black or mixed race Nicolas in the 17th century France but not a South Asian man like Armand? I'm not trying to create conflict I'm just wondering.
I don't have anything against the casting of Joseph Potter as Nicky and maybe Lestat was referring to their similarities in their personalities.
Hey,
not sure if I'm (fully) able to :) (and if anyone wants to add on, please do!), but I think it boils down to the "color conscious" vs "color blind" casting.
Louis could be black (and Claudia) because the time shift to NOLA in the 1910s allowed it for the story to only do this very small time-shift (all things considered!) and keep Louis backstory intact(!) and also keep his "owning people and selling them out" profession also intact despite the change. It's essentially the same character - just more. (And thankfully so!)
Armand the same. Armand can be recast like this because the area he is from was contested back then, and in any case (since we do not know yet if they changed that, maybe) Marius bought a (trafficked) sex slave. The racial change adds more - but doesn't actually change (that) much of the backstory.
Nicolas... I'm not saying there were no black people or mixed race in France back then (of course there were) but for the main story to play out? It probably wouldn't quite work, I wrote about that here re Lestat and Magnus' selection criteria, too.
Because this show doesn't "just" cast color blind - it includes the racial aspects, considers them. They have impact and are important for the story.
THIS (among a lot of other things) IS what makes IWTV so incredibly good.
And to close this - YES - Lestat was referring to their personalities! This is how he compares them in "The Vampire Lestat":
"He had Nicki's grim intensity, his rebelliousness, his tortured capacity to believe and not to believe, and finally to despair. Yet Louis gained a hold over me far more powerful than Nicolas had ever had. Even in his cruelest moments, Louis touched the tenderness in me, seducing me with his staggering dependence, his infatuation with my every gesture and every spoken word. And his naiveté conquered me always, his strange bourgeois faith that God was still God even if he turned his back on us, that damnation and salvation established the boundaries of a small and hopeless world. Louis was a sufferer, a thing that loved mortals even more than I did. And I wonder sometimes if I didn't look to Louis to punish me for what had happened to Nicki, if I didn't create Louis to be my conscience and to mete out year in and year out the penance I felt I deserved. But I loved him, plain and simple."
Nothing about his actual looks in there :)
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Found a very cool pastel cat sweater at the bins but I have literally nothing that matches it well, so I always struggle to make outfits with it lol
#ootd#pastel#I really really want to SELL CLOTHES I keep talking about selling clothes.. its just such a process..hhhhhhh#Because you have to take pictures. edit the pictures. list them somewhere. write descriptions. choose a price. advertise the fact you listed#it somewhere. Repeat with literally hundreds of items (since I get bulk clothes at the bins and etc.). I have a lot of cool stuff that I thi#nk people into similar styles would want to buy. and I always need money to fund art and healthcare expenses and eventually moving to a diff#erent place someday. replacing broken electronics. etc. etc. So a wise decision is 'well sell a lot of the old clothes you have'. It is so#difficutl with my specific functioning issues though since it's such a long process and also packing things up. taking them to the post offi#ce etc. takes timing since I always have to be driven by roomates and stuff. etc. etc.#I think the way I was considering getting around this was to sell clothing in 'packs' like.. A pack of 5 or 6 matching items the same shade#of pink. or all green items with flowers so it's the same 'nature theme'. Or even selling full outfits or something. so that way I can kind#of bundle items. Instead of the effort of photograohing and listing literally 50 individual items. Turn them into 5 packs of 10. Or 10 packs#of 5. etc. ? But I think I never got too far with that because I was uncertain how that'd actually go over in terms of whether people would#buy groups of items instead of just individual. Especially whole outfits or something like. I think you'd get a wider audience giving people#more individual choice to choose seperate things instead of putting them together and going 'this is just what you get' or etc.#but I could also see it being cool. You already have some guaranteed stuff that matches. They have a theme. Especially if it's something you#like. Love brown themed mori kei items? here's 5 of them already together. etc. etc. etc.#ANYWAY. Came to mind because as much as I love anything with cats on it that's a light color. I also am chronically warm natured due to my#health issues so I overheat immensely if I wear sweaters. even in the winter I don't wear that many layers lol. So a sweater like this is ju#st impratical for me outside of taking one or two outfit photos with it. but I don't think I could ever actually wear it even if I really wa#nt to. But it's nice! and very cool!! so a good candidtate for selling. Give it to someone who would be happier to have it than I would in#the sense that maybe they could actually WEAR it lol.#ANYWAY... rhgh#everything......... difficult.......... whye#Also sweater is too hot for me and doesn't match anything I own even though it's perfect and I love cats..... whye....... cruele world#self
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victorluvsalice · 3 months
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-->Fortunately, chatting with the other customers went a lot better. Hell, Smiler not only managed to ring up Geoffrey Landgraab for a box of tomato sauce, they even got some money advice in the bargain (judging by the Focused moodlet they had after the interaction)! And the hits just kept on coming --
Alice finished up her workout in time to ring up Emilia Ernest, Victor’s dueling partner from the last episode, for a box of cheese (because even if she can't greet customers, she can apparently finalize sales – logic!), then – after a bathroom break – went out to have some zoomies as the Fury was starting to get a little high from her being cooped up in the break room all this time. She then returned and plopped down by one of the planters for a nap, only to be chased back inside the break room by the rain. Can't have wet werewolves stinking up the joint!
Victor sold some Playful scent to Lily Feng and a box of vegetarian MREs to Ukupanpio (one of the Sulani mermaids) before his growling stomach forced him to take a quick break, grabbing Cameron’s abandoned microwave pastry (which wasn’t great but at least filled him up), before returning to sell a Purple Parallel flower arrangement to Annette. Which I was frankly glad to see, as the flower arrangements did NOT seem to be garnering a lot of customer interest before. Come on, guys, we have so many flowers...
And Smiler, of course, was the selling MVP, ringing up Cameron Fletcher for a box of mayonnaise; Venessa for an Energizing scent; Penny for box of meat substitute; and Nalani for a box of veggie MREs! All while managing to ignore the fact that Judith Ward was visiting and the paparazzi were taking pictures of her in the bathroom. XD At least now I’m sure customers can use it! We also had Yuki yank a quill fruit out of one of the produce fridges, though the game really wasn’t fond of her doing that, spitting out an LE. I’m not sure my game likes some of Brazen Lotus’s mods, unfortunately...might need to consider a mod folder clean-up in the future...
-->Anyway – by this point, it was getting a bit late in the day, and everyone’s enthusiasm for the store was flagging. Victor took some time to magically clean the produce stands and the bathroom sink before going for a nap on the break room sofa, while Alice similarly did a little more working out, licked herself clean, then curled up on the break room floor for a snooze of her own (as her werewolf instincts were demanding another one). Smiler was still keen to talk to people, but as it was getting to be about 6:30 PM in-game, I figured it was about time they closed up and had them do just that. Final totals of the day – eleven items sold, for a total profit of $4,932! Not too shabby. AND it wasn’t quite as laggy – the game still had a nasty habit of pausing when customers grabbed items or when someone was trying to clean up out-of-stock signs, but it wasn’t NEARLY as bad as it was the last time I played the store. Seems like having less for sale did actually help in that regard, yay! :) Anyway, I was all ready to pack it up and send the trio home –
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maiko-san · 3 months
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Catnap + Dogday x Reader ( Part 5 )
<<< Part 4 , Part 6 >>>
Relationship : Fluff
Warning : ⚠️ Mention of blood / gore, human experiments ⚠️
Plot : You were sleeping until you woke up and realised you weren't in the infirmary anymore
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Catnap has made his decision, he decides to pay you a visit. Even if it is just a mere minute.
This is the only time he disobeyed The Prototype, surely his god would understand, right?
He had pleaded The Prototype to spare you out of all humans in the facility.
The Prototype accepted it but he won't assure about your survival during the massacre. Whatever happens to you will be Catnap's responsibility.
How about he convince you to join him? To be in the team and follow The Prototype?
It makes Catnap feel happy at the thought of the person he loves joining the team.
Just you and him, might even Dogday if he ever joined the group.
Wait...What if you refuse? Surely you wouldn't, right? If you refuse then he will force you. Yeah, definitely because he wants you safe.
Even it means dragging you down to the deepest and darkest of the Playtime Co, just to keep you safe.
As soon Catnap reaches the infirmary, he peeks his head in the room only to find it empty.
"...Star?"
You weren't in the room, where could you have gone to? Then, his nose picks up a familiar scent.
No...it cannot be.
His pupils dilate as he quickly crawls through the vents and makes his way towards the laboratory.
.
.
.
.
.
You hear voices around you which causes you to wake up.
All you see was the white ceiling instead of the colourful ones, you tried to move your body but you couldn't.
"You're finally awake"
You turn your head to the source and see one of the higher ups, a man in lab coat. You've seen him before but where...?
.....
If you remember correctly, you've seen him in the organisation chart and also on the papers you always work on.
"Dr. Sawyer...?"
"Oh, so you know me... interesting"
In his hand, he held a clipboard. He jotted something on the paper before looking down on you.
You are confused.
What's happening?
Where are you? What is this place? Why are you....here?
"I'm sure you have a lot of questions on your mind. You are in the Bigger Body Initiative programming room"
"Bigger...Body Initiative?"
"We've been monitoring you for quite a long time, now. It's quite hard to find someone that is compatible with our program. We have finally found a suitable host for our newest mascot, you are...perfect"
"Host...m-mascot? W-what are you saying?!"
You have to escape. If you stay you will never know what they will do to you!
Then, the metal doors before you open and came in a doll....
An angel doll with a pair of wings and a golden halo on top of her head, the doll is very beautiful like an angel as it is.
"All the children needed now is an angel to protect them, guide them and help the Playtime Co flourish. Your personality will become handy and guide the children to a better future for the company"
Every word he's saying, you don't like it one bit....
Dr. Sawyer leaves the room, saying you should get accustomed to the doll first.
You begin tugging on the belt on your wrist but they are too tight. You stare up at the ceiling above you.
You cannot escape....
You don't have anything on you to help you escape.
You slowly take in your surroundings, there is a table next to you full of operating equipment, which makes you pale.
Are they going to dissect you and sell your organs?!
Hell no!
"Help! Please!"
You cried out for help, though your voice fell into deaf ears. Tears start pouring out from your eyes, is this how you will die?
Plap, plap, plap.
Your ears pick up a pitter patter on the floor, you look down only to see a plush version of Catnap staring up at you with its beady black eyes.
Did...the plush just....moved?
Then, it tilts its head causing you to flinch in surprise.
The plush begins to climb on the table and hops on to you, you begin to panic and close your eyes, waiting for the pain to come.
Clack!
The straps on your wrists were loose and you open your eyes to see Catnap plush gnawing on the leather strap on your ankle.
Freeing you.
With your hands free, you quickly unstrap the belt on your other leg and hop off the bed. You walk over to the door but it won't open.
"F*ck!"
You begin to look around and notice a vent but it's high up, you can't reach it even if you climb on the table.
What are you going to do?!
You feel a soft tap on your ankle and you look down to see Plushnap, nudging your leg before pointing up at the vent.
You told it you can't reach it.
Then, Plushnap does a throwing motion before holding out its tail and stretches it with its paws.
It doesn't take you long to know what it was thinking.
Now, you hold Plushnap with your strong hand as the toy wraps its tail tightly around your wrist.
"Are you ready, buddy?"
*nods*
You give your best swing and throw Plushnap towards the vent as it tail stretches like a rope, the toy grabs hold on to the vent door as you begin to tug on its tail.
The vent door snaps open as you watch Plushnap crawl into the ventilation system, before you know it. You feel yourself being hoisted up.
How can a plush pull a full grown adult?!
Once you enter the vent, you feel arms dragging you and your face slams into rough fur.
That smells like lavender.
"Catnap?"
"Star....are you alright?"
You pull yourself off from the tight embrace and meet face to face with Catnap.
Before you could question him, he bites the back of your gown, holding you like you are a kitten and begins to crawl fast through the vents. ( you were so close to slip out of the hospital gown since it's just a piece of thin cloth )
"Catnap! W-what's happening and what is this place?!"
"....Not now, must.....get you... somewhere safe...stay quiet or...they'll hear us .."
Even though Catnap crawls through the vents fast, he doesn't make too much noise thanks to his soft paws and being lightweight unlike the other smiling critters. He was built to be silent so he doesn't wake up the sleeping orphans while he does his patrols in the night.
You look through the gap of the vent doors to see people in lab coats.
Who are these people? You know they have a science department but....these people are.....different.
Then, your eyes widen when you pass a vent door. You see a dissected body of a child....
Your hand slaps your mouth, you were horrified at the sight. Next to the dissected body is a bloody toy that has organs in it.
Are they...putting human organs into toys?
What kind of madness is this?
Are they...no, are they using the orphans for sick experiments?!
All the sudden, the alarm went off.
"Did they know?!"
"....No"
"Containment has been breached. Experiment 1006 has breached containment. All personnel please evacuate immediately and go towards the nearest evacuation centre, this is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill"
Catnap then tosses you over his shoulder as you wrap your arms around his neck.
"Hold...me...tight...."
The feline slams his paw on the vent door and jumps down on the ground.
You see people running around and being attacked by....the toys.
Your eyes widen in horror at the sight of the toys biting and clawing onto the scientists, tearing and pulling on their skin. You could see flesh and muscles, even bones!
There's so much....blood.
Suddenly, something covers your face and it was a mask. You try to pry it off but something doesn't let you do so.
"Must...wear mask..."
Catnap said into your ears, you see a thick cloud of red smoke coming out from his mouth and it begins to fill the entire hallway.
Some of the scientists begin to drop down after they inhale the red smoke. You watch as the toys begin to bite down on their motionless body like a pack of hungry hyenas.
You were breathing heavily at the horrific sight, the small toys had come to life and kills everyone.
You can hear bloodcurdling screams in the distance, some were calling for help.
Catnap's eyes look at your form, he can see your pale face through the mask and your entire body shaking like a leaf. He has to do something, he didn't expect it happen now.
Maybe ...using the red smoke on you could help you...just a little whiff.
He can manipulate your dream, yeah. He makes sure that everything was a nightmare.
Yes, he will do it.
"Catnap?"
You feel the mask loosen and the smell of the red smoke begins to enter your airway. Then, you start to feel drowsy and the next thing you know.
Everything turns black.
A/n : I'm sorry for not updating for a long time, I had a writer's block for the past days. I apologise for that 😭. I know this is a short chapter and I will do better next time, I hope this stupid a** writer's block goes away soon.
For those who send me asks, I will answer them soon.
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rebouks · 6 months
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Keeping Lag to a Minimum...
I was chatting about a few things I do to combat lag over on discord and realised I do quite a bit of maintenance to reduce lag/load times. I decided to write em all down and before I knew it, I had a big ol' list. Here's hoping it helps!
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Save/File Tips:
Clear your caches (located in the same spot as your mod folder fyi) I usually delete the onlinethumbnailcache, avatarcache and localthumbcache caches every time I exit the game, the main one to delete regularly is the localthumbcache file, they're just temporary files but it can get pretty big after a while.. if you're having any mod issues, particularly ui ones, it's always worth deleting that to see if it helps.
Remove any saves you're not using from your saves folder, and keep an eye on save file sizes. In my experience, any saves over around 30-40mb start to get a bit laggy. Things that bump this size up are the amount of townies in game and the amount of lots/objects in the world.
Regarding the above point, I regularly bulldoze lots I don't need anymore, just to save the game from having to cope with extra shit to load in the background and reduce save file bloat.
Similarly, I delete a lot of unnecessary townies. Also, try to keep the amount of outfits on townies to a minimum, ain't no townie need four swimsuit outfits, the game will thank you..
If you have cheats enabled you can usually shift-click/delete object on things like random coffee cups or stray cupcakes sims foolishly drop around the world (or eat em.. whatever tickles ur pickle) just get rid!
Whilst we're keeping objects in game to a minimum.. I try to clear sims inventories now and then, including townies. You can do this via mccc even if you're not currently playing that household by heading to MC Cleaner -> Sell Sim Inventory/Sell Household Inventory. RANDOM LUMPS OF CLAY BEGONE!
Think of a save file like a lot.. the more objects in it, the laggier it gets! Try your best to remove anything or anyone unnecessary where you can.
Hit "Save As" instead of "Save" now and then - the more you overwrite a save, the more chance it has of going wonky, treat your game to a fresh one now and then and remove the old one from your saves folder (maybe don't delete it right away in case you wanna roll back, keep it somewhere safe).
If you can (although ik it can be a pain) set up a new/fresh save, you'd be surprised how bogged down old ones can get! For legacy players, it's usually best to do this whenever you have a small family to save yourself some pain, since you can just save the household and take em to a new save (you will lose sims inventories/household inventories/relationships with sims outside the household tho so beware! Pictures/other collectables can be saved to a lot however, and you can always cheat back relationship bits etc.. bit of a last resort but new saves are shiny and fast!)
Make sure your Screenshots/Video folders are empty - move em somewhere else, it works, trust me. If you have a lot of custom music installed try n' clear some of those out too.. the smaller that Sims 4 directory is, the better.
Delete any last exceptions/last crashes (same spot as your mod folder again) you don't need em unless you're planning to upload em somewhere for help.
Settings Etc:
If you get a bad lag spike, opening the main menu and/or saving can randomly stop this. If it doesn't, try exiting the game, clearing your localthumbcache and restarting.
Clearing all notifications from the game panel can also help.
If you can, close all other apps and background apps you don't need whilst playing, ts4 is super memory hungry so it can definitely help.
The GraphicsRules Override file by Simp4Sims can reduce lag/latency and make your game look a little better in the process!
Srslysims Simulation Lag Fix mod can help reduce lag too (if you've altered the game speed via mccc tho, don't use this unless you plan on resetting it to default).
If you aren't keen on, or barely use a pack, consider disabling it.
Not ideal, especially for those of us taking screenshots, but lowering the graphics settings whilst playing definitely helps.
If you use re/g-shade, consider switching it off whilst playing and only turn it on for screenshots.
A clean and tidy pc/laptop runs better in general. Remove anything you're not using/don't need anymore to free up space, remove temp files, clean up your folders now and again etc etc.. especially that dreaded mod folder, speaking of...
Managing Mods:
SORT OUT YOUR MODS FOLDER FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.. skdsjdjs it doesn't have to be immaculate but at the very least try n' clear it out now n' then. Also try to separate your script mods/overrides from the rest, patch days don't need to be so stressful ;-;
Personally, I don't merge my mods; if something breaks it's much harder to pinpoint! It makes it easier to find/delete specific mods too.. and let's face it, there's usually one or two items in that set you could do without lmaooo.. also, don't think it helps much tbh! Yeah you could say the game doesn't have to work as hard to load merged files but that's debatable, it's still the same amount of items/polys at the end of the day ¯\(°_o)/¯
If you like merging files and/or see results from doing so, you can merge stuff you definitely know you're never getting rid of, especially CAS/BB stuff.. but steer clear of merging gameplay/script mods! If a merged file seems to be the culprit when using the 50/50 method, try unmerging it and 50/50ing it again! You might not need to get rid of everything if something's borked.
Bulk Rename Utility can be used to remove all spaces and special characters from your mod files, the game doesn't particularly like loading those so it'll thank you.
The Sims 4 Mod Manager is a great way to sort through your mods, you can easily see, move and delete files from here (not great for build/buy, poses etc as thumbnails are usually missing, but great for CAS stuff). An extra hint with this that I've noticed is that if any of my mods get renamed with [D1] at the beginning after looking through them via the mod manager, it means it's a duplicate file so you can get rid.
I also use the Sims 4 Tray Importer to help me sort through mods. Simply save a sim/lot with any cc you don't want and find it in the importer, you can then go through all the cc in the cc tab and delete/sort it (I also use this to sort cc if a bunch has the wrong tags etc, makes it easier to find in my folders by saving em to a lot or w/e - it also spots duplicates which is handy).
It's a ballache, but the 50/50 method is tried and tested if you're having issues.
I like to keep an abandoned cc folder tucked away somewhere, that way you can remove mods willy nilly without stressing about losing them. If you change your mind, you can always grab it back!
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werecreature-addicted · 8 months
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Ok but being in poly relationship with 2-3 werewolves and essentially being a little pack. They are all so insanely overprotective and don't let anyone even glance in your direction, it's scary dog privilege to the max. And since your bed just isn't big enough to accommodate these three massive men you often end up sleeping in a cuddle pile and it's even better if they're transformed and they keep you all warm and cozy.
And it's already difficult to take one werewolf cock but they will spend entire night if it takes getting you wet and loose enough to take them all (three holes for a reason and all that) And all of them will nip and bite and rub their scents on you. And sure sometimes they can get little snappy with each other, particularly when it's close to rut, but they love you and they love each other and you couldn't be more happier and more satisfied
This isn't the typical werewolf fantasy but oh my god If I had 3 werewolf boyfriends I could move furniture so easily. That's what sells this fantasy for me. I could move my bookcases effortlessly. Anyways, sex or whatever.
The "Alpha" of the pack always gets to take you first, your pussy at least. The other two can take his sloppy seconds. All three of them snap at each other and growl as they each try to fit their heads between your legs to eat your pussy. Your poor clit gets licked raw by their rough tounges.
It takes a lot of prep to take them all at the same time. All of them are so big, and none of them know the meaning of gentle lovemaking. you've never felt as full as you feel with three werewolf knots in you.
You're really just a toy for them to use, you can hardly move when you're pinned between all three of them, so many hands grabbing at your hips and your breasts, and at the back of your head, pushing you to where they need you to be. Shoving your head down into their crotch making you gag a little on their cock while the other two move your hips for you.
They all take good care of you once they pull out, a warm washcloth to clean you up, lots of snacks, and water for you. Lots of cuddles, of course, and lots of praise from your boys about how good you did.
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1.7k / 21 / soap soulmate au, part 2
...
Unfortunately, Ghost finds you before Soap does.
Ghost yanks you by the elbow, cuffs around your wrists, dragging you to an unmarked military vehicle, pistol in hand.
"Where are you taking me?" you ask him.
He shoves you into the back seat and slams the door, gets in on the other side and starts the car up. You right yourself, having been shoved hard enough for your ribs to bounce off the leather seats.
He answers without looking at you. "The base." Curt, cold, and pissed. He drops the gun barrel-down into the cup holder.
"We just left the base."
"Huh. So we did." He keeps his eyes on the road. "Ain't that funny."
There’s a chance he’s not 141. As if there’s some other brick shithouse of a man who wears a skull balaclava around.
You shift in your seat. "What do you want from me?"
“Nothin' that'll feel good, I can tell ya that." He rests his elbow on the center console. “We’re gonna have a long talk."
"And then what?"
“Dunno. Maybe a bullet. Depends on how much you piss me off. Got a lot of questions to ask you first.”
Great.
You look around. This isn’t a police vehicle. Barely a military vehicle. There’s no barrier between you and that gun in the front seat cupholder. But you’re not an idiot. He knows you won't go for it, too, but he wants you to try.
You lean back, looking out the window at your side. "You can still turn yourself in. You don’t need to resort to hostages.”
“I made my choice. Not a difficult choice, considering how corrupt Shadow Company is."
“Orders are orders.”
“You always follow orders to arrest your friends, no questions asked?”
“When there’s good reason to.”
"Good reason, my ass. You're just a mindless dog, doing whatever Graves says. You think he'll protect you from the consequences of his actions? He'll toss you to the wolves in a heartbeat if it means saving his own sorry ass."
"That's not true."
"It's the mercenary way, innit. Sell yourself to the highest bidder and tell yourself orders are orders."
You brace one boot on the other, slowly working one foot free from inside. "Military’s the same. Only difference between us is you're salaried."
“I fight for a cause. Can’t say the same for your line of work. All you know how to do is gun targets down for cash and a little approval from your boss. Pathetic.”
Your heel slides loose. “No cause is clean. You can’t tell me you’ve never seen corruption in your line of work. Or a bad call. Or an unnecessary death.”
He grips the wheel, glaring at you in the mirror. “Doesn’t make it right. Sure as hell doesn’t mean you turn a blind eye to goddamn betrayal in your own ranks.”
“Some bureaucrat in a suit fumbling the bag and trying to right wrongs doesn’t make us corrupt. Graves knows what he’s doing—"
"So you knew."
Your jaw snaps closed mid-sentence. Shit.
He's staring right at you in the rearview mirror, eyes so cold they could freeze the breath in your lungs. "You knew about Shepherd. Didn't you?"
You swallow, looking away from the mirror and out the window. Your left foot finally comes free, and you shift subtly to brace your heel on your right boot, beginning to work your right foot loose next. "Doesn't matter."
“You followed orders to turn on your own allies, knowing they came from Shepherd. Knowing all he cares about is covering his own mistakes." He grips and re-grips the wheel slowly, as if he's thinking hard about picking up that handgun and ending your life in a ditch somewhere. "Welcomed us into a slaughterhouse for a fistful of cash. Bet you sleep real easy at night."
You trust Graves. He’s never steered you wrong. You were doing the right thing by following orders. That mantra is stuck in your throat. You want it to be true, but then there’s Johnny.
Ghost hasn't mentioned him by name. The Shadows never found him—he got away—but you don't dare let yourself think about the implications of him being alive and knowing about you. You put it out of your mind as soon as the thought surfaces, even. You made a deal with yourself that you'd never dwell on it again. Much less ask his very hostile squadmate about it. You’re not about to offer your arteries up to a butcher.
"Shepherd is in your chain of command, too."
"Not anymore. You and yours made sure of that."
"You didn't have to defect. Commander Graves asked you to come quietly. You would've been fine. You didn't do anything wrong, right?” You hear an edge in your tone and blunt it back down. "You didn't have anything to hide. But you turned it into a firefight."
"You realize you’re defending the bastard that sold out me and my team. You think I'd lay down, let him put us in some jail cell to rot for the rest of our days? I've seen too many people follow orders, trusting that everyone above them has their best interests at heart. Seen more than a few of them get punished at the hands of men like Shepherd. I'm not giving him another chance to betray me.” You still feel his eyes on you in the mirror, but you don't look. "You never once stopped and questioned what you were told to do? Or did it not matter because your loyalty was to your company, not the right thing?" His voice is flat. "That's the difference between me and you. I don't look for excuses to feel better about my actions. And I damn sure don't turn my gun on my allies.”
Your stomach curls with discomfort. "You had a choice. You knew how this would end for you."
"Rather be a wanted criminal for the right reasons than a gun being pointed at whoever Shepherd wants dead. And wouldn't you know it--I'm in damn good company, too. Turns out sticking to a moral code earns you a little more loyalty than payin’ cash. But you want to know what the best part of being a criminal is?" He taps out an odd little tune on the wheel, but there’s nothing warm or cute about it. The loaded gun would be friendlier to contend with. “I don’t have to follow Shepherd’s orders. I’m free to deal with this little problem as I see fit, and no one can tell me I’m wrong. If I kill some mercenaries who would arrest me on sight, that's just the unfortunate collateral damage that comes with my newfound freedom and your buddies following orders."
You consider that for a long moment. “So when do you plan to kill me?”
"Depends on whether or not I like what I hear in the next couple of hours. Might change my mind in that time. Might not." He takes his hand off the steering wheel to lean back a little. The road is empty, stretching long into the horizon. "The more I hear you talk, the more I feel like shooting you just for the sake of it. But I've got too many questions for that, so..." He lets the implied you live for now hang in the air, then taps the wheel again. "We'll see how the rest of this convo goes."
You manage to slide your right heel free. You glance up to see him looking at you in the mirror again. Your heart skips. You think he's caught you. But he doesn't say anything, and you realize he's just examining you, mulling something over.
“I don’t know what you think I can tell you, but I don’t know anything,” you say.
“Why don’t you just stay quiet and think about all that stuff you don’t know. Maybe we’ll starve you until you talk; maybe we’ll grease your palms. That’s how you operate, hm?”
He’s trying to make you angry, make you take the bait, but you don’t. You know what you are.
You keep both feet carefully lowered into your boots so as not to rouse suspicion. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry you and your buddy got hurt.”
That seems to catch him off guard. He frowns. A beat passes where he doesn't say anything, just watches you. Not angry or suspicious, just... calculating. "Not worth much. And his name is Johnny. But you knew that, didn't you?"
You look away. Ghost's cell phone rings.
The sound pulls his attention away from you. He glances down at the display with a frown.
"On with Ghost." A short reply. "Yeah, I got her. About three hours out." He glances at you once as the person on the other line says something else, but after a few more seconds, you can tell he's more concerned with what they're saying than with you.
This is your chance.
With his eyes fixed on the road, you silently pull your cuffed arms under you, lifting your feet deftly through the loop of your arms.
You glance down at the gun one more time. He’s holding the phone with his left hand; driving with his right. Still, even with your hands in front of you, you’re cuffed. You won’t have a chance if you go for that gun and he gets it away from you. It won’t end well.
Plan B, then.
You push your feet back into your boots and slide yourself behind his seat.
"Hey!"
Drill Sergent voice. Busted.
He hits the brakes, drops his phone, and reaches for the pistol.
You slam your feet into the back of his seat, sending him crashing forward and trapping him between the seat and the wheel. The horn blares. The car jerks and runs off the road.
Cuffed hands in front of you, you throw your weight against the driver's side door and grab the handle. He reacts, but not quick enough, his gloved hand snatching at the space where yours were a second after you get the door open.
You dive outside, crash to the ground, roll ungracefully away from the back wheels as they roar past, and use the momentum to get back to your feet. The car keeps rolling, driver's side door still open. It's still moving fast, and you landed hard. That's going to hurt in a minute. Not yet, though.
You run.
...
part 1 / [part 2] / part 3 / part 4 / part 5 / part 6 / part 7 / part 8 / part 9 / part 10
more Soap / masterlist tag
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AITA for scamming my ex out of an extremely valuable virtual pet?
🐓🥤to recognize. This might be a very long post with a lot of added context for a very niche hobby and a very small actual conflict.
I religiously play a virtual pet site called Chicken Smoothie. It's a pretty old site as far as virtual pet games go, starting back in 2008, so there is a pretty solid established site economy. Just for some context, Every pet on the site has a rarity, ranging from "OMG So Common" to "OMG So Rare", being the most common and most rare respectively. But there are rarities within those rarities, where some OMGSRs can be worth more than others based on species and demand. For example, an OMGSR dog from 2008 will be worth more than an OMGSR rat from 2008 despite being the same highest rarity and year, because people prefer the dogs over rats. These pets can get extremely valuable. You can't sell them for real money (according to site rules, but of course there's a black market), but the site has its own virtual currency you can buy (with real money) and trade for called Chicken Dollars, and you can also trade a valuable pet for other valuable pets. It gets very complicated, with the community coming up with its own set of value terms each pet can have. I'm not getting into specifics there, that's not important.
Every year, on December 18th, CS has gift boxes you can adopt from. These gift boxes can contain any rare pet from any previous year, including special "Unreleased pets" that you can only get from these Dec 18th boxes, with a very slim chance. These unreleased pets are some of the most valuable and rarest in the game.
Recently, I had seen my ex posting on the forums. I didn't know he had an account, he had made it within this year, long after I got the fuck away from him, and I only knew it was him because he uses the same username everywhere. This person had groomed me, physically abused me when we were together (we no longer live anywhere near each other, thankfully) and has always been emotionally manipulative. He does not know I play, and he wouldn't recognize my account as me. I took a note of his account and left it be for a while, until December 18th hit and I took a peek at what he had got. And what he got was one of the new Unreleased pets, which currently at the time of writing this only looks like a box of cereal. (Most pets on the site have growth stages.) And even better, all his groups were open for trade, so I took a chance and sent an extremely terrible trade. I told him that this pet would only be a recent rare, and I offered him a "Very Rare" rarity (but not very valuable) pet from 2018, telling him I was overpaying. (In the CS community, this is known as Ninjaing, and it's Not A Good Thing To Do). I didn't expect him to accept it, I at least thought he'd be smart enough to ask in the trade advice thread that is literally pinned on the home page for December 18th, but he didn't. He took my word for it and accepted the trade, and now I own an unreleased pet that will eventually end up as an OMGSR.
What I did was not a bannable offence. He will not get his unreleased pet back. The CS mods are laughable at worst, incompetent at best, and don't do anything to stop scamming. They have an "eh, sucks to be you, sorry, be smarter next time" mentality when people get scammed (Which is insane because there are literal single digit aged children allowed on this site!!!)
After taking a bit to think about it, I do feel a bit guilty because I really would not do this in any other circumstances. I hate scamming. I did what I did out of anger and contempt, and I do feel a bit guilty because in essence, I scammed a new player that didn't have much else and didn't know any better.
I'm still keeping that unreleased cereal box no matter what though
What are these acronyms?
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singswan-springswan · 2 months
Text
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ficlet under the cut
The crate tipped with a sudden lurch and broke open on the ground. Zuko spilled unceremoniously with the motion. Inelegant. Graceless. Normally his movements held much more regality, but he'd been kidnapped and stuffed in a scratchy box and out of the water for some indeterminable length of days, so cutting himself some slack here felt appropriate.
It wasn't much brighter outside the stupid box. His scales were dry, his head was killing him, and the floor held a pleasant cool against his mounting fever. He really needed water soon. Every part of his body felt... scratchy. Discomfort would escalate into pain, and then asphyxiation. He would suffocate if he dried out. Idly, he wondered how long it would take. The humans seemed to know. They hadn't acted worried yet.
"Our latest bounty." The voice looming over Zuko was muffled in weird places. "I thought it might spark an interest. You collect fire fish, isn't that right?"
Zuko bit down a hazy groan and fumbled to prop himself up. The loss of the tile's cool against his cheek was one he mourned, but there would be time for relaxing when he found a way out of this mess. He could barely think straight. The humans—the pirates who'd ransomed him from the girl in blue—were standing guard around him now. He could see their boots. They were facing all the same direction, same way the voice was talking towards, and Zuko turned to observe.
The surrounding space was large, a room, and very dimly lit. This wouldn't normally be an issue, being that he was a mer, but his headache made his eyes lazy and bad at adjusting to the dark. If he squinted, he could see the ripple of light along the walls. Blue. Weird. In the direction of the pirates' attention, something like the outline of a table was visible—as large and imposing as the room itself. A single shadowy figure occupied a seat on the far side. He looked weird with the backlight. Zuko's vision was getting spotty.
He didn't get much chance to scan the rest of the surrounding space, because the pirate captain decided to be a jerk and grab his hair. It'd long since escaped its neat topknot, now bunching and sliding strangely in dry heat. The pain and the change in angle made Zuko rapidly lose sight of the shadow man.
"This one's quite a specimen." The pirate tilted Zuko's head back, baring his throat—maybe as a joke; it was always hard to tell if humans knew the significance of such a display—and lifted him enough to catch the light. So their potential buyer could get a better view.
Zuko would like to rip the pirate's skin off and feed it to him, but he was weak with dehydration, and his previous struggles against the man's crew had left him exhausted. All he managed was a low hiss. If humans could understand mer speech, he’d be cursing them as soundly as possible. Someone was standing on his tail. Not that it made much difference. He doubted he could have swung it if it wasn't pinned.
"I've seen a lot of the fire mer in my day, but this one's real pretty. Don't feel bad turning the offer down. We'll keep 'im if you won't." His crew laughed. Bastards. Zuko could hear the leer in the pirate's voice. It made him dizzy with anger.
Then a low grind echoed softly, and the humans cut their chatter short. Zuko distantly registered the shadow at the table moving. What made that noise? Was it his chair? He stood, rounded the massive table, and drew closer. All Zuko could see was a dark, unfocused blob. Vaguely humanoid.
"Yeah, don't be shy! Come get a closer look!"
The fist in his hair tightened. His scalp burned. The fins all down his back shuttered, and a stinging ache began to form in his gills. He needed water. He needed to get out of here. He shouldn't have wandered so close to the shore, even if that pretty girl in blue seemed so friendly at first glance. She did sell him out to these pirate scum. He should have known way better.
Even standing an arm's length away, the lighting continued to cast shadow on the pirate's potential client. It could be reasoned, then, that Zuko and the humans around him were washed in the room's best luminance. Certainly his scar could be seen clear as day. Maybe his tail was pretty, but there were parts of him imperfect. Maybe the stranger wouldn't want to buy him for that. Maybe Zuko would be stuck with these idiot pirates forever.
A smooth voice came from the stranger. "Release him."
"Sure, sure."
The pressure on Zuko's scalp vanished. He collapsed to the cool tile with no more grace than before, even further disoriented, and with a worse headache. He grit his teeth in frustration. That bastard was still on his tail.
Cool fingers tilted his chin up before he could lift his head on his own again; he hadn't seen the shadow man crouch down. Startled, Zuko yanked back and hissed a second time. He made sure to reveal far more fang and fan far wider with his fins; he just wanted these stupid humans to stop poking and grabbing him however often they pleased. Was that too much to ask? He wasn't an ornament. And he sure as heck had no intention of being a pet.
The stranger's face was close, and shadowy, and out of focus. Zuko's head was killing him. The room spun.
"The shape of the fins—” The stranger’s voice began.
“Really something, isn’t it? Never seen a mer so fancy before.”
There was a beat of silence, then the cool fingers returned to Zuko’s jaw and held him firmly in place. He growled. It didn’t make a difference. He was exhausted and hot and vulnerable, and everyone could tell. There was no way to stop them from doing as they pleased. 
“There’s a scar.”
“Wasn’t us, mate. Looks like the beast’s had it for a while. I think it adds to the aesthetic, don’t you agree?”
Zuko glared. It was the sort of one-sided remark he’d only accept from Uncle Iroh, though Azula had made attempts to express similar sentiments in that weird way of hers. He’d always hated the scar. At least the monster who put it there was dead now.
The stranger gave no comment. He reached another hand out and pushed Zuko’s hair aside, away from his eyes. Zuko did his best to meet the unfamiliar gaze as steadily as possible, despite the awkward backlight. He was being stared at. He refused to show how unnerved it made him. His trembling and fever didn’t help much in that regard.
Finally, after a dreadful length of scrutiny, the shadow man spoke. “How much do you want for him?”
Zuko could hear teeth in the pirate’s smile. “How much are you willing to pay?”
“Ten-thousand.”
Zuko didn’t know how humans calculated their currency. He’d assumed mer in general to be expensive, but they called him a stupid something fire fish, and it sounded like exotic. Even so, the pirate captain seemed shocked. He let out a high chuckle.
“Well! Show me the gold and you’ve got yourself a deal!”
The stranger waved an uninterested hand over his shoulder, and another grinding sound reverberated through the floor. Zuko couldn’t see the source of the sound with multiple different shadows clouding his vision. Judging by the pirates’ hushed tithering, their payment had been offered.
“Excellent! Pleasure doing business with you, as always.”
“Zaheera will see you out.”
The group broke formation around Zuko and floated away, whispering excitedly. Though they’d been awful to him, he couldn’t help a flicker of fear at their absence. At least with the pirates, he knew they’d avoid causing permanent damage. He knew they’d want to sell him for the highest price possible. Now, he had no idea what to expect. This stranger could have any number of sinister plans in mind; Zuko had certainly heard the horror stories. All young mer were warned about the brutality of humans, and now he was at the mercy of someone who really wanted him. This was bad.
The stranger let him go, and the world tilted as Zuko crumpled. He was very dizzy. And angry. And he really wanted to sink his fangs into human flesh.
But when he turned (against his better judgment) to snap at his new captor, a firm hand was already pushing down the back of his neck. The same way one might handle an unruly pup. Zuko was too tired to be insulted by the gesture. He wasn’t a pup anymore, but a move like that with the human’s advantage was enough to subdue even a full-grown mer.
“Watch out with that one!” The pirate’s faint voice called back. “Quite a monster at full strength. He killed two of my men when we—”
“Get out.”
The heavy thud of the door confirmed their absence, though the human didn’t seem to pay any attention to it. He ducked another snap of Zuko’s teeth, and ignored his crackly snarl, and slid his arms beneath scratchy scales. The world tilted again. Zuko would consider puking if he wasn’t so close to blacking out. The human was carrying him. Impressive. Zuko was heavy outside the water. His fins trailed the floor as they moved, but he was very much in the air, solidly in the man’s grip. Almost cradled, even if he was too big for the pup-hold to have effect a second time. The use of such familiar techniques should have rung a bell in his mind. Zuko’s headache and exhaustion wouldn’t let him dwell on it.
After a dizzying stretch, something wonderful happened. Zuko heard water. The noise was still muffled, and it faltered clarity with every stray tilt of his head, but Zuko knew what water sounded like. He’d been fantasizing about it for the past few days.
There was a splash, and with distant elation, he felt his fins trail. He wasn’t lucid enough to hold back the happy trill.
“I know.” The man huffed, and it rumbled through his chest. “I know—those bastards.”
The water rushed up around him, deliciously cool, salty, clean. It took Zuko up to his gills to realize he’d been lowered into a pool of some kind. It was shallow, but not cramped. He drew a deep breath. That felt very nice. The hands were gone. 
He didn’t bother confirming he was alone before passing out soundly.
<~><><~>
Zuko was alone when he came to, and his headache had finally retreated to the realm of faint discomfort. Incredible what a good long sleep in water could do for one’s health. The pirates hadn’t put him in a tank. They were mad about what a fuss he caused the first time they brought him aboard, and they’d rightly concluded he’d be easier to handle if he was dehydrated and exhausted and dizzy. They’d doused him with lukewarm buckets every few hours, just to keep him from dying. Zuko was relieved to be back in water now. Even if trepidation about the uncertainty of his new circumstances wouldn’t let him relax.
The pool he’d been placed in was shallow; he couldn’t move without some part of his tail skimming the surface. It was still comfortable in spite of that. The edges spanned a decent length, so he could turn with ease, and the basin interior was cut from smooth, white stone. His fins shone stark against it. The pool itself seemed to be laid into the ground, flush.
Zuko scanned his surroundings while he waited for something to happen. He still seemed to be indoors. The walls here weren’t as high as the one from before—from the sale pitch—and most of them were made of a clear material. It shone with sunlight from outside. The rest of the space was occupied by greenery. The taller ones reaching the ceiling had been planted in beds in the ground, surrounded at the base with bushy, leafy shrubs, and brilliant flowers, and crawling vines. The faint sound of water also trickled through the maze, but Zuko couldn’t see the source of it from where he was. It was peaceful. Uncle would love this place.
But Zuko hadn’t forgotten how he ended up here, and he had no illusions about being treated fairly, even if he’d been left undisturbed in such a pleasant area. He had to keep his guard up. He was being held against his will. He was trapped on land with no way to escape or get home. He didn’t have much experience with humans, but so far they’d only beaten him, used him, or treated him like a pretty ornamental object, and he had no reason to believe this behavior would change soon. He had to be prepared for the worst.
In truth, he really wanted to murder someone. The urge had become so intense during his captivity with the pirates, and he hadn’t had a real outlet, being close to dying of dehydration. Now that he was rested, his jaw nearly ached to bite through bone.
He spent the time waiting for an opportunity by pacing around the pool. The space didn’t allow for much more than tight circles. Still, it was better than sitting around stewing in all his problems. 
Mother was probably worried by now. Him being an adult with a life of his own didn’t stop her from worrying that he wasn’t home every day. Azula didn’t feel the same. Azula would kill for him though; she’d done it before.
Eventually, after what seemed like an hour of thinking to himself and going crazy for it, the faintest vibrations thrummed through the water, and Zuko froze. Footsteps. Someone was approaching. 
He lifted his head above the surface. The sound drew closer, brushing through the plants with a practiced gait. Zuko coiled his body. There was deliberation in the person’s movement. They knew he was here. They were coming to see him. The likelihood that he’d be attacking an innocent servant or something alike was low, and that brought him a hint of reassurance.
When the human came into view, bathed in green filtered sunlight, stepping out to the pool’s edge, Zuko took an entire second to appraise the figure. Tall. Male. Dark hair, luxurious silk robes in green and pale yellow. When he spoke, it was the same smooth voice from the shadowy stranger that paid for him.
“Hello.”
Zuko didn’t wait any longer. He launched himself at the human with a vicious snarl. His vision was red. His heart was pounding. How dare they treat him with such contempt? He wasn’t some prized bounty. He wasn’t an ornament for some rich knave’s garden. He wouldn’t take this insult and abuse lying down, and if these humans continued to assume so, they were in for a shock.
To some degree of satisfaction, the man did seem shocked to be bowled over. The air left his lungs in a massive wheeze, and his eyes went very wide. He was also—however—quick. He reflexively shoved Zuko’s head away when Zuko tried to bite, and he managed to lurch free enough to dodge an elbow to the face. 
“Wait!” The man yelped.
But Zuko had a size advantage, and the man was on his back, and Zuko really wanted him dead. He slammed his shoulders into the grass, pinned his legs with his tail, made another attempt to remove the throat with his teeth. This time, the man brought his arm up in a hasty block. Zuko was too busy biting down to be upset he’d missed his target. Blood and the creak of bone filled his mouth.
There was a shout of pain. “Wait wait—Zuko, stop!”
The words pierced his hazy red anger like ice through fresh snow. Zuko froze. Even being slightly feral at the taste of blood and festered indignation, he rapidly came to his senses and dropped the arm. His mind spun. 
How did this man know his name? The pirates didn’t know. The pretty girl in blue didn’t know. And he wouldn’t be able to tell them if he wanted to (which he very much had not). It wasn’t a lucky guess. No one shared his name that he’d ever met. So why—how could a random human—
“Get off!” The human fumbled to shove Zuko’s face away. His sleeve was ruined, and rapidly turning red.
Zuko slowly obliged. The man didn’t seem angry. He only seemed annoyed, even as he bled profusely from an arm that might be broken. There was something unnervingly familiar about the twist of his scowl. He shuffled sideways and sat up.
“Spirits, kid, you’ve got a strong jaw.”
“I’m not—” Zuko cut himself off before he could complete the retort. The human wouldn’t understand him. The human knew he wasn’t a kid. Zuko was very obviously a full grown mer. 
“You could have let me explain myself before trying to kill me.” Why did his scowl look so familiar? The man untied a sash of his fancy outfit and wrapped his arm with clinical efficiency. Then he looked up to meet Zuko’s eye, and his scowl faltered. “Are you okay?”
What.
Zuko stared. Was he seriously… asking if Zuko was okay? There was blood in the grass and in his robes and he might have a concussion and his ribs might be bruised and Zuko would at worst have a sore jaw. He shifted back warily. In his experience, crazy men often did cruel things. 
When he made no move to respond, the man sighed roughly and looked away. “Guess I should have waited on that tea. Zaheera will be by with some shortly.”
“What?”
What on earth was he talking about? Tea? Of all things? How did he know Zuko’s name and why was he so relaxed about the bite on his arm and why did the slope of his nose look so familiar and why was he talking about tea in the blood and the grass?
“You were always more civil with it around.”
Okay, now Zuko was thoroughly weirded out. He wished he had an exit. An escape route. He was stuck on land in an unfamiliar house and the closest thing he had to sanctuary was a fake pool of water barely deep enough to sleep in. This was freaking him out just the slightest.
“You’re nuts.” He said. Just to say it. The man wouldn’t understand the words or the insult in them, but Zuko was sick of just sitting around not saying anything, waiting for stupid humans to come to the right conclusions.
For his effort, he was rewarded with the faintest thaw of the man’s grumpy expression. It looked amused somehow. “And why is that?” He asked.
What.
A trace of alarm made Zuko flinch. “...Because you’re… talking to me.” He probed. Just to see. Humans weren’t supposed to understand.
“Why would that make me crazy? You’re real, aren’t you?” He glanced at his sleeve, now mostly red. “I’m pretty sure you are.”
Zuko blanched. He considered backing away, back into the pool. The safety it offered was purely psychological, but it would be something at least. It’d be better than lying vulnerable on the ground next to a crazy person. His fins twitched.
“What—but—you understand me?”
“Of course.”
“But humans aren’t supposed to understand.” From what he’d heard, humans interpreted mer speech as primitive and animalistic: nothing more than a series of harsh vocalizations strung together. Zuko had demanded an explanation for the phenomenon when he was younger. After all, mer understood human speech just fine. No one was able to give him a satisfactory answer.
“Well, I’m not human.” The human said. “Technically.”
“Then what are you?” Possibly a witch? Zuko had heard of their strange abilities. Or maybe he was a spirit. In which case Zuko was screwed. He probably couldn’t get away with attempted murder on a spirit; he’d totally be cursed or something. It could also be a shapeshifter of sorts, from the myths.
But the man quickly dispelled any outlandish theories. For the first time that Zuko had seen, a flicker of hurt crossed his features. It made him look older than he likely was. Haunted.
“Wow Zuzu, you don’t remember your favorite cousin?”
No.
No, he definitely didn’t mean that. Zuko didn’t have any cousins. Not for eleven years. And there’d only been—one. Just one. Now there weren’t any.
But looking closer, Zuko could see why the scowl looked so familiar. He saw the same face in the mirror. And this man wasn’t human, clearly, even if he had legs in place of a red streaming tail. In place of the gold ribbon fins their family shared—that he must have recognized when he first saw Zuko. 
He knew Zuko’s name. Zuzu. Azula tried to call him that—maybe out of nostalgia—but it belonged to them both, and Zuko hated to hear her say it because there was only one person who tried to bring them together like that, and hearing her say it reminded him of… of… a dead man.
Except he couldn’t be dead. He was right here. His blood tasted very real.
“Lu Ten?”
He looked so much like his father when he smiled. “Yeah.”
Zuko gaped. That felt like the only appropriate thing to do. Maybe the dehydration actually got to him, and this whole series of events was an elaborate hallucination. Maybe Azula spiked his tea with a psychedelic for her weird sense of humor, and he was hallucinating. It was too strange. This didn’t make any sense. Zuko’s cousin was dead, and if he wasn’t, wouldn’t Uncle know? Would Uncle have cried so hard so many private times if this was real? It felt so real.
“How did you get that scar?”
“How are you not dead?” Zuko’s head was spinning, though thankfully not from dehydration. He wasn’t sure if this was worse, actually. “Uncle thinks you’re dead.”
The comment earned him a flinch. “There’s actually a good explanation for that.”
“Which is?”
“I’m cursed.” Lu Ten squinted into the middle distance, looking uncomfortably close to being emotional. “To live as a human. And I can’t… go near the sea. I tried. It almost turned me into sea foam.”
Zuko dropped his head into his hands and groaned.
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tonixe · 5 months
Note
I dare you to do the darkest, dirtiest, most disturbing shit with Coriolanus peacekeeper
⤑ GRIM REAPER
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A/N: I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE! UGHH, I love possessive coriolanus, he is so sexy when he has authority, man I love him.
WARNING: p in the v, non to dub-con, love bombing, gaslighting, fear, hitting, kidnapping, coercion, hair pulling, bondage, forced mudpie, oral sex (male receiving), jealousy, cum eating. *** coriolanus being possessive and obsessive.
PAIRING: Peacekeeper!coriolanus x district!reader
WORD COUNTER: 2.5k
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Born into the district—born into a life of hardships and pain...you were luckily born to two parents, and though you weren't financially stable you managed to enjoy a happy with your family. You had 3 siblings you had to look after, and whenever your parents went off to work, life was stressful but every time you got to see their faces smiling you were also satisfied.
When you got older you got a part-time job, at the vendor selling food, it was owned by an old couple who graciously gave you the job, though it wasn't a lot of money you took to support your parents. They asked to take a shift that was deeper into the night, so you accepted the offer, needing the money. Holding yourself up at the cart, waiting as you called out for customers, feeling yourself getting tired as the second. Stretching your arms out, as you looked further into the night. The night there were more Peacekeepers out, inspecting the district, it slightly made you feel apprehensive at the armed men walking through the area.
Your eyes hesitantly look and watch their movements, brushing the dust off your aprons, fixing your hair as your hair stuck to your neck from the humid air. Hearing footsteps inching near you, as you looked up...you felt your heart dropping in automatic dread, at the blonde Peacekeeper in front of you. You cleared your throat before speaking up to him, "Could I interest you, Sir?" you asked, your voice quivering as you spoke just to keep a positive tone. You felt his eyes raking you. He nodded, "I'll have that" He pointed, as you nodded. His eyes looked at you as you wrapped it up, "Have I seen you before?" He questioned, you looked up at him, "I don't think so..." You smiled at him, as you quickly boxed it up. "Enjoy, Sir" You put your hand out gesturing for him to take the box, "Thank you," He said, taking the box from your hand, and you felt his rough hands against yours.
You watched as he took his leave...you finally got to breathe, releasing the pending oxygen in your lungs and exhaling through your nose.
From the simple exchange, Coriolanus found himself visiting you at your vendor stall. Though, your introverted nature, you reluctantly started talking to him. You told him little things about your life, but he was smart enough to connect the puzzle pieces that you told him and connect it back to your life. He found your coquettish antics cute...and after your shifts you found yourself spending time with him, and often the districts were hot and humid, spending time by the lakes.
His sky-blue eyes took the appearance of your disheveled form, but he found you still captivating—from your dress strap falling to your shoulder and your light dress sticking against your wet skin. He wanted to take a picture of you to save the memory...but Time after time, he found himself getting slowly addicted to you...his visits got frequent, and he would deliver little gifts or care packages to you such as medicine, food, or water. You were grateful for him doing this, but you didn't want to feel like a burden to him, at first you were hesitant to take the gifts but he would ensure that it was a gift for you.
You didn't think about the kind gestures he would do for you, but you would always thank him for what he did. Soon, his obsession with you was like a disease, it kept on spreading and spreading over time, every time he closed his eyes, it would be just you, even when he worked on his daily tasks, his mind would be infected with pictures of you. He would always prefer to be stationed somewhere near you, he would be observing you as you worked, he hated when you talked to other men that weren't him, and his obsession with you was unhealthy, It felt like he couldn't last a day without or seeing you, sometime he would show up unannounced with a bouquet of roses in his hands surprising you.
The first time it was a nice gesture, and you loved it but it started again and again, his presence was almost suffocating to you, and when he asked you the question, you felt fear of saying no to him. But you knew if you were to say 'yes' it would get worse, so you told him to give you some time to think about it, he nodded but you knew he was displeased.
You had a plan to just run away, but you knew sooner or later he would catch you, you shivered at the thought. Knowing that your family would be harmed in the invasion, your ear perked at the sound of the door, you dragged your feet to the door, opening it up. It was him, a bouquet of roses in his hands, his Arctic blue eyes staring at you. It was haunting, he cleared his throat before talking, "So..have you made your decision?" every word he said made your heart pump faster, your flight response ringing alarms through your body to run.
"Coriolanus..um" you stopped mid-way, looking at him in his eyes, "I do thank you for what you do for me, but—I barely know you, and I don't think we would..be good together" you finished your sentence, feeling an eerily feeling in your gut, "Why" that all he said, you looked again at him. It looked like a shadow was cast, his bright sky blue eyes that he looked at you with, were darkening as he spoke.
"For all I do for you, you choose to deny me" The volume of his voice increases, and you force yourself to look at him as he yells at you, he laughs for a short while, before grabbing your jaw, "I protected you, I have done everything for you" you eyes watered from his grip, "I think you should leave, Corio" you whispered, it felt like whip when you used his nickname in that sentence, he released your jaw. His hand was in your hair down, pulling you down, as you felt tears threatening to be produced, his rough hands pulling on your hair, making your scalp hurt, "Corio..please!" You exclaimed, he started to say something else, every word uttering from his word was like venom to an open wound. He threw down the bouquet of roses onto the floor
Your knee felt weak as you fell down onto the floor, hearing his footsteps receding, and the sound door being slammed closed. Tears dripping down from your cheek, the bouquet of roses on the floor, as the petals were scattered on the floor, it was some sick remember of Coriolanus. Days passed, and you saw roses on your doormat, every day it would happen, and you felt fear looming over you.
Every time the color would change from pink to a deep red, they varied every day.
But you went back to your job, selling at the stand to the deep of night, noticing the tie, you quickly packed the cart up for tomorrow and rolled it back to where the old couple resided. You sang to yourself as the wheels of the cart rolled against the broken concrete before you knew it, you felt a hand wrapping your torso, and something else like cloth suffocating you, you tried to scream, but it went deaf in your throat, succumbing to the cloth as you closed your eyes, fainting into the strangers hands.
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Your eyes fluttered open, as your eyes wandered around your surroundings. You felt your legs numb, as you tried to stand up, but couldn't, looking down at yourself, rope wrapped around your body. You tried not to move from the friction of the rope hurting you.
Your ears perked at the sound of footsteps,. "Your finally awake, my dove" He walked towards you, taking a knee when he got a good look at you. His fingers caressed your cheek, "We were meant for each other, Y/N" He whispered, you started shaking when his hands lowered, and you turned yourself away from him before he withdrew from him. Before he grabbed you by your jaw, forcing you to look at him, "Do I scare you, am I that ugly that you don't want to love me, Y/N" You shook your head immediately, "Then why.." He growled, and you felt tears on your cheeks, "Don't try to use your crocodile tears on me, Y/N" He glared at you.
You looked away from him, as you sniffled, "Fuck, you don't know what you do to me.." he traveled his finger over your lip, parting it, as you stared at him. Before he kissed you, his tongue forcing itself into your mouth, you felt yourself crying more, as you bit down on his tongue. He withdrew from you, the trail of blood on his lips. His haunting chuckle echo in your ear, "You fucking bitch" He held his jaw. He stood up from the floor, looking away from him.
You heard the sound of belt jingling, your eyes widening at the sight, of his cock in his hand, "Corio, no..please' you begged, your felt yourself crying more, his footsteps inching near you, he slapped his cock on your cheek, it was degrading. "Open," He said, and you felt your lips trembling at the size, "N-no" you whispered, and he repeated himself again, you turned away before he pried your lips open and forced himself into your mouth, making you gag. His hands were in your hair, as he dragged you against his cock, fucking into your mouth. Salvia dripping down from your chin, his groans ringing out in your ears.
"Fuck, you're doing so good, sweetheart" He looked down at you, as your tears filled your vision, he smirked looking at your vulnerable form, before he thrust himself into you. You felt his hot load going down your throat, "Swallow" He said, and you obeyed, The bitter taste coating your mouth, his hands caressing your cheek, "Good girl" he smiled at you. Before he released your jaw, your eyes looked down at the floor, before you heard him tucking himself into his pants.
Days passed,
He treated you with kindness, gifting you a rose, and caressing your back as you lay on his lap, but you managed to convince him to remove the rope around your body. He would braid your hair, comb it, and treat you like a doll. It kept on happening, you started worrying about your family if they were currently looking for you. "Coriolanus, can I visit my family, please" He stopped combing your hair, and he down at you, "Do you deserve it?" He asked, "Please" you begged, sitting up as you looked at him. He breathed out, looking away from you.
"I deserve it, you kidnapped me against my own will!" You stood and yelled, he just glared at you, as he stood up. His height towering over you, "You don't need them at all, I..can give you what you need. you don't need them" He yelled at you, grabbing your shoulder as he forced you to look up at him. "No, I never asked for you to do anything, you came up to me. You did this just to do it, Coriolanus" You yelled at him, finally using his full name instead of the nickname you gave me, you felt your cheek throbbing, his hand harshly hitting you, before he grabbed you by your shirt, "I will fucking kill you and your family if you leave me, Y/N..do you hear me" He lowered his voice, you were shaking. His eyes softened at you crying, before he held you not a hug and you held him, his hands rubbing your back, soothing you.
"Just not now, Y/N.." He whispered and kissed your forehead, you felt sick to your stomach. The next day, he apologized to you, and you were forced to accept, he covered you with kisses and love, and gifted roses.
A month passed still being caged by Coriolanus, but you got some freedom from him, but you weren't allowed to leave a tall. he had surveillance on you. He always reminds you that he loved you, did kind things with you, and surprised you with flowers like he always did. Red roses everywhere,
You stared at the window, it was fairly getting dark, and no signs of Coriolanus coming back. You wanted to escape but knowing the consequence would be horrible if you committed the act, before you heard stomping from the door, your eyes looking at the furious Coriolanus in front of you. "How many men, have you slept with Y/N" You got up from your feet, looking at him incredulously, "What are you talking about?" before you felt a sting on your cheek, "Don't play dumb with me" He yelled at you, "How many" He repeated himself, "I —none, I didn't do anything, Coriolanus" you sniffled, before he took a fist of your hair, pulling you towards him, "Don't fucking lie to me, Y/N" He growled, "I'm not lying, please" He hit you a second time, this time it was worse, feeling your nose bleeding from the impact. He started dragging you to the bedroom, where he forced you to sleep, throwing you onto the mattress of the bed, you heard him taking off his belt, forcefully tying up your hands above you.
"Coriolanus, please' you screamed, kicking your legs everywhere, "Please-please, stop" you cried as he got on top of you, taking off your pants and panties in the same quick motion. Aligning himself against, before you felt himself inside of you, it was painful, horrible. He moaned against you, as he forced himself into you and out, thrusting his hips against yours, you screamed at him, hitting him on his biceps to stop.
Your screams were deaf to his ears, as he fucked himself into you, his cock tearing everything inside of you, "Please" you heaved, hitting him, his sky-blue eyes staring at you. Time passed slowly, purposely you felt, before he cummed inside of you, you screamed for him to stop and pull out but he didn't. You lay there motionless, dried tears on your cheeks and naked in front of him, "Don't touch me" you cried, flipping to the side away from him. He called your name again, but you ignored him, holding yourself, you rolled yourself into a ball and cried to yourself until you fell asleep.
When you woke up,, you didn't see Coriolanus, you looked at yourself, your bottom still exposed, a reminder of at the ordeal that happened yesterday. You stood up, putting back your underwear and your pants, before walking out of the bedroom, rubbing your eyes still tired. There was something on the table, as you walked, it was a bouquet of fresh roses and a note attached to it with his handwriting.
You covered your mouth, and you fell to your knee and cried to yourself, knowing that he wouldn't let you go...the roses he gifted you are just a reminder of his torment.
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lihhelsing · 8 months
Text
Part 2
Unknown number: Hey
Steve is sitting on the couch, he has Top Gun playing in the background just because he wanted some noise. The house feels empty whenever Robin has a different shift than him.
The message comes from an unknown number and he just watches as the three dots appear. It’s probably someone trying to sell him something but he’s so bored all he can do is watch. 
When the message finally comes through, Steve feels his stomach dropping in surprise, a small rush coursing through him. 
Unknown Number: It’s Eddie. The guy who was rude to you for no good reason? You know, the one who thought you were being an asshole just to embarrass himself in front of the hottest guy he had ever seen? 
Unknown Number: God, I sound dumb. You probably don’t remember me but it’s Eddie. 
Steve remembers. Of course he does.
Unknown Number: Anyway. I’m making it worse, aren’t I? I just wanted to apologize. I can delete your number after this, but I felt like I owed you. You didn’t do anything wrong and I was a bitch. Sorry. I’ll leave you alone now. 
Steve doesn’t want to be left alone. Without thinking he dials the number. Feels like messages aren’t the best way to handle the situation. 
“Hi,” Eddie says a little out of breath after the third ring.
“Hey,” Steve says back. There’s a smile threatening to bloom on his face because Eddie sounds flustered and Steve kind of loves it. “Sorry I called.” 
“Sorry I messaged,” Eddie says back and Steve chuckles. 
“I’m glad you did,” he says and he swears Eddie’s breath hitches. 
“I’m glad you did, too.” 
Steve had been debating whether or not to message Eddie. He’d told the story to Robin and she laughed at his expense as usual, but then she shrugged and said Steve should let it go. It wasn’t his fault the guy got played and Steve shouldn’t feel guilty. 
He didn’t. He just really couldn’t stop thinking about Eddie. 
After a beat where neither of them says anything, Steve decides to tackle the elephant in the room.
"So, uh, I'm really sorry about the whole catfish thing. I don't know why someone would be this mean."
Eddie hums on the other side of the line and Steve thinks this is it, maybe he'll offer him an excuse and hang up and actually delete his number, but Eddie surprises him. 
"It's ok, you know. I should've suspected it, honestly. There's no way someone as hot as you would be interested in someone like me."
"You keep saying that and yet I remember giving you my number anyway," Steve says playfully. 
"Yeah, 'cause you were feeling sorry for me." Eddie says back and Steve actually scoffs. 
"Well, no. I actually thought you were pretty cute," Steve shrugs even though Eddie can't see him. He's never that forthcoming but there's something about Eddie that keeps pulling him in and he just wants to see where this is going. 
"Pretty cute, huh? I'll take it."
"I can tell you what else I thought when I first saw you over… Dinner?"
Eddie's laugh fills Steve's ear and it's a glorious sound. 
"You want to take me to dinner?"
"Yeah, of course. If, you know, it's not too weird. I know I'm not the person you thought you were talking to but maybe I can be cool too."
Eddie hums again and Steve thinks he's probably debating if it is too weird. He's also oddly curious about the whole thing but he has no idea if Eddie would want to talk about it. 
"Yeah, ok. We can do dinner."
Maybe he's going to find out. 
X
Steve has always been good at first dates, but this thing with Eddie doesn't really feel like a first date. 
After their awkward first call and Steve asking Eddie out on a date they just started texting. A lot. Because of Steve's crazy shifts at the coffee shop and Eddie's weird hours at the bar he worked on was kind of hard to find a time for their date, but it was like neither of them was in any rush for that. 
Steve discovered he was a little obsessed with finding out things about Eddie. Like how he always dreamed about becoming a rockstar but actually loved his job at the bar and creating different drinks and just getting to meet different people all the time. He also told Steve about his uncle, who he loved with all his heart, and how his dad had disappeared from his life right after his mother died. 
Talking to Eddie was easy in a way Steve had never known with anyone else and he really enjoyed it. He particularly liked the little night time routine they created. Steve would call Eddie whenever he got home, knowing Eddie was just getting ready to go to work, and they would talk, sometimes until Steve was fast asleep in his bed and Eddie was driving to the bar. 
But after a month, Steve is itching to see him. Even if it's just so the two could talk in person, he kind of wants to look at Eddie and take notes on all the little things about him like he'd done so many times with every picture Eddie had sent his way. 
So he calls Eddie and tells him Robin finally agreed to switch shifts with him next friday so they can go out. 
Steve leaves out the part where he had to promise to do her chores at the house for a month and had to make up some story about needing to see a doctor. She hadn't been budging whenever he said he wanted to go out on a date with Eddie because she kept telling him she couldn't miss her classes just because Steve wanted to get laid so, yeah, a little lie wouldn't hurt. 
"So, Friday. It's a date?" Steve asks a little nervously on the phone. He's already showered and is laying in bed with his hair dripping wet. Too excited to talk to Eddie to bother blowing out his hair. 
Eddie hesitates. Steve hears in the way his reply takes a minute to come. In a second he second guesses everything. Maybe Eddie had been talking to him just to realize Steve really wasn't the person he thought he was talking to. Maybe Eddie-
"Steve?" Eddie asks on the phone and Steve gets brought back to reality. "Sorry. Don't overthink this…"
Too late, Steve thinks. He says, "so it's a no on the date?"
"What?"
"You don't want to go on a date with me," he doesn't ask now. "It's fine, Eddie. It was worth a shot and it's fine if you realized you didn't-"
"Oh my god, will you shut up? Of course I want to go on a date with you. It's just… You know, I'm weird and messy and I talk too much and you're… You know. You."
"I'm… Nothing special."
"Now, you and I both know that's not true. I mean, you're hot. I won't lie, I started talking to you because I had never had a guy that hot talking to me and wanting something with me. But now I see you're so much more than that. I just… I don't want to disappoint you. What if you don't like me in person because I'm awkward and too skinny and talk too loudly and dress weird and-"
"Now you are overthinking this. I gave you my number and I asked you out on multiple occasions and I just… Really like talking to you. I would very much like talking to you in person over dinner. And then maybe inviting you over to my place so we could keep on talking, maybe. We could, uh… You know, fall asleep on the same bed for once."
Wow. Steve has no idea where all of that came from but he realizes he means it. 
Eddie's voice comes out a little strangled when he speaks, "Just sleep?"
Steve coughs, feels himself blushing. What is up with all that? Why is he suddenly acting like a high schooler? 
"So is that a yes on the date?"
"Yes, Steve. That's a yes on the date."
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cremedensada · 1 month
Text
Yandere Filipino Mythical Creature
content warning: physical torture (not sure if it counts as torture , but the character is definitely in pain) , implied character death
It's the afternoon. It wouldn't be until a few more hours now until the sun sets into the horizon, but you're not worried about walking home at night.
Sure, this street was incredibly known as a hotspot of supernatural events, but that was practically all superstitions. Wherever a gigantic balete tree grew, a lot of people immediately decided it would cause hauntings and whatever. You never understood why they feared it - it was just a tree. You've walked down that path time and time again, and nothing weird or crazy happened. Except, perhaps, for the unexplainable feeling of dread, hairs on your skin standing up as a voice in your mind whispered and murmured about the feeling of being watched.
Walking outside the local convenience store, you count the remaining coins you have left after buying a bottle of soda. After quite the stressful day, you definitely deserve to splurge a bit, future you can fuck themselves.
A wrinkled hand grabbing your wrist jolts you out of your reverie, and you look up - gazing right into the haunted eyes of an elderly woman.
"'Gang," she murmured, "I sense the presence of an evil spirit taking an interest on you. You need to be careful."
You blink.
Yes, you never understood why the elders especially believed in the supernatural - everything had an explanation, after all. But perhaps it's because of how they sell the stories - the looks in their faces, the tremor in their hands, and the sheer insistence in their voices. That, perhaps, is what fuels the fear and continued beliefs.
"Po?"
"Kaluy-an ka sa Dios," she says, mournfully, "don't walk by the balete tree down the street. Take a detour."
She points towards the street ahead of you, the gigantic balete tree standing proudly amidst the busy-ness. A few people congregate around the base of the formidable tree; some, you recognize, have started to settle down and drink. Everyday, the drunkards start drinking earlier and earlier.
You turn towards her, and it's clear she's awaiting a response. Her eyes unnerve you - her gaze permanently looks stricken and focused, like she's looking at you and at the same time past you, looking at something incorporeal.
"I'll be fine, po," you reassured politely, giving her a smile that you pray to whatever deity that it looks comforting and not awkward nor fake. "Thank you for your concern."
You hope that was enough to placate her.
It was, kind of. She nodded and relaxed, but the fear remained in her eyes.
"They've been getting even bolder these days," she mutters, turning to rummage through her leather bag, "not many kids your age seem to believe us old folks anymore. Pah!"
You swallowed down the sigh. Yeah, you were wondering when the whole 'kids these days' script would start. You almost expected it now.
The old lady hands you a small bottle, inside it is a clear liquid - it looked a little bit more viscous than water.
"Keep it with you at all times. It'll keep you safe," she instructed, before hobbling off.
You look down at the tiny bottle in your hand before shrugging. You have no clue how this will protect you or whatever, but sure, you suppose. Your mother raised you to not be disrespectful of gifts from the elderlies even if you have no fucking clue how to make use of them.
You continue on walking, crossing the street and towards the pathway passing by the balete tree. It looks bigger up close, it always does. The feeling of dread bubbles up once more, but this time, your hands shake.
Perhaps you were unconsciously affected by the old lady's warning than initially thought.
You pause right in front of the tree. Your heart beating like crazy in your chest, and what was once just mere murmurs in your mind now felt like screaming, a buzz in your ear annoyed you - your instincts told you it was dangerous.
At that moment, you considered heeding the old lady's words. Sure, it'd be quicker to reach home this way, but with how your instincts were acting...
"Hello? Earth to stranger - are you okay?"
You jolted, heart racing. Standing in front of you was a stranger - a man smiling down at you. He seemed amused at your surprised expression.
"Sorry, sorry. I got lost in my mind for a sec," you reasoned with an embarrassed smile.
The stranger laughed lightly, the sound of his voice making your heart flutter unusually. You take a good look at him while he laughs.
His hair was dark and fluffy, too good to be looking that effortlessly natural. His skin could only be described as sun-kissed, glowing beneath the remaining rays of sunlight.
The stranger looked at you once again, his gaze intense as if committing your image to memory. Brown eyes, flickering into gold whenever the light hits just right.
"The name's Kaizer. Just call me Kai." He looked ethereal.
Out of politeness, you give him your name as well. Kaizer smiles.
"I know," he says, "I heard the people here mention it in passing. Want me to walk you home?"
The feeling of dread returned tenfold, the tiny bottle in your hand felt heavy. "It's fine. I'll be on my way—"
"Oh, but I insist," he continues smiling, "come on now, you don't believe in stories about how spooky balete trees are, do you?"
You take a step forward. It feels as though your body is moving on its own.
"I mean, if the tree was so scary, then why are people always hanging out around here?" Kaizer gestures to the few people lounging at the base of the tree. The drunkards you spied from before were still there, laughing and slurring their words as they passed a shot glass filled with beer to each other. A group of women were gathered as well, gossiping mothers and aunts - you presumed - paying you two no attention as if you weren't there.
Before you could respond, you felt the tiny bottle in your hand crack. It broke with a loud shatter, though miraculously your hand remains unharmed as you checked and fussed for damage.
Kaizer flinched at the sound, wincing before schooling his expression back to a smile. "What was that? It smells horrible."
Does it? You bring your hand to your nose and sniffed. Nothing. "I don't smell anything."
"Yeah, I figured," Kaizer retorted.
You have no idea what he means by that, or anything at all. You open your mouth, a question on the tip of your tongue—
Kaizer turns to look at you and beams once more. "Here we are!" He gestures to the black painted gate, the familiar house looming behind it. Your house.
Since when did the two of you arrive here? Not even a second ago you were both still underneath the tree. It usually takes you about five minutes more to get here.
You look up at Kaizer in confusion, and he seems to understand why. He merely smiles, reaches out to graze his fingers against your cheek and barely holds out a shuddering sigh. "Don't go out tonight, yeah?"
With that, he walks away - back to the balete tree. Perhaps he lived nearby the tree, which is why it was there where you met him.
You never thought to ask him how he knew where you lived.
——————
It was midnight. Gloria hobbled down the street. At the back of her mind she prayed that the young individual she spoke to at the front of the convenience store heeded her words.
Never in her seventy-five years of being alive had she sensed the presence of pure evil lingering around a mortal like it did with them. Alas, she wasn't as strong as her ancestors, so the little bottle containing the oil meant to protect them was all she could do.
She turned left and halted. The balete tree stood at the other end of the street, the atmosphere was eerie and cold.
Gloria turned back, retracing her steps. She pulled another bottle of the oil that she keeps for her own protection, and studied it. It was bubbling. A little bit, but it bubbled nonetheless.
The presence of a spirit was around the area.
She continued to hobble away, heart pounding as she kept glancing down the bottle and towards the path in front of her. Left, right, right, left — the balete tree stood at the other end of the street. The oil bubbled violently, like water boiling on the stove.
She turned again, eyes darting from left to right, behind, and forward. Something was after her now. The spirit was stalking her like she was its prey.
Where was she heading? Where should she go? Why was she even out in the streets at this hour?
The moment of clarity hit her the moment she finally reached her destination.
The giant balete tree stood in front of her. Gloria doesn't remember being out here in the first place.
"Are you lost, madam?"
Chills rose through her spine. The oil bubbled violently, before the bottle cracked in her hands. Sharp edges of the broken glass bottle broke through her skin.
Gloria turned to look, and her knees shook. She couldn't describe what she was seeing. The lady let out a choked sob, barely resisting the urge to claw her eyes out.
Kaizer stood in front of the pitiful lady, not a look of concern on his face. He spared her no sympathy as she fell to her knees.
"I gotta hand it to ya, madam, those oils you make to protect yourself from us is powerful," he says, hands in his pockets, "wonder how long it took for you to create something like that to ward off the likes of us. Too bad it doesn't work on me."
"It should have," Gloria refuted despite the despair in her voice, "it should have repelled you, you demon—"
She choked again, clutching at her throat. Something was preventing her from speaking, like someone had her windpipes in its grasp and ever so slowly tightening it.
"Sorry to disappoint," Kaizer approaches Gloria's kneeling form, "actually no, I'm not."
An unseen force pushes Gloria to stand up, up, up, until she can barely feel the ground beneath her feet. The hold on her windpipes continues to tighten.
"It took me so long to create a corporeal form, madame. I wanted to look perfect in their eyes," he spoke reverently, a look of awe on his face as he reminisced the memory he had with you, "I finally got to meet my darling today. Escorted them home like a gentleman would."
Gloria let out a guttural howl, devastated at what he said. Kaizer shoots her an irritated glare in response, and the grip on her throat tightens considerably.
"Mind your manners, madam," he chastised, as if he was not taking the form of an individual much younger than Gloria herself, "did anyone ever tell you not to interrupt people when they're talking?"
Gloria swallowed a sob, afraid of what he'd do to her if she were to say anything.
He looks at her with scrutiny before sighing. "As I was saying," he resumed, the smile once again returning to his face, "it felt like a dream come true. How funny, I bet you didn't think spirits like me are capable of dreams. We're actually capable of a lot of things."
Kaizer snapped his fingers, and the force keeping her afloat dissipated. Gloria slammed back down the ground, groaning in agony as pain flared through her feeble body. She didn't say a word other than letting out sounds of pain and whimpers, afraid to find out if he'd choke her again.
Gloria sobbed as Kaizer – the evil spirit that he truly was – grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her head to meet his gaze. Red, gleaming and viscous, like blood.
"Listen here, Gloria," Kaizer hissed, the utterance of her name has her paralyzed with fear, "I will not let anything, and I mean anything get in the way of my beloved and I. Do you understand that?"
He looked at her like anything other than an absolute yes would not be accepted. She nods.
Pleased, Kaizer lets go of her. "Good."
Gloria weeps freely now, shaking and crying out in fear as the demon in front her merely stood and watched her despairing on the ground.
She looked up, meeting his gaze despite the struggle and the pain in her muscles pleading her to stop. At the back of her mind she knew, there was no way she'd get out of here alive. She would die in the demon's hands.
"Why are you doing this?"
Kaizer blinked, pretending to consider her question before smiling. A smile that would probably make someone's heart flutter. A smile that made Gloria's chest fill with dread.
Kaizer settled with a response: "Wouldn't you do anything for love?"
With a blink of an eye, Gloria found herself in the middle of the street. She could barely register the harsh bright headlights of a car speeding towards her before—
—————
It's the afternoon. It wouldn't be until a few more hours now until the sun sets into the horizon, but you're not worried about walking home at night.
Mostly because you make sure to be home before sundown.
You walk out of the convenience store, yawning. Today you had decided to treat yourself to another juice bottle; at the back of your mind you considered to try and not spend more money this week, especially your savings but you were never one to follow through.
You glance towards the street ahead of you, the gigantic balete tree standing proudly amidst the busy-ness. A few people congregate around the base of the formidable tree; some, you recognize, have started to settle down and drink. Typical.
Whatever, you could care less anyway. This would not be the first time you had to pass through the drunkards. At least they're too busy wasting the afternoon away drinking than harass you.
Nevertheless, you grip the strap of your bag tightly, and breezed across the street. You passed to the other side safely, passed by the drinking men without issues, and passed by the balete tree.
You let out a relieved sigh before continuing on your journey. A part of you wonders why you felt as though someone was staring at you - heart pounding in your chest as you willed the feeling to go away. It was probably due to the stress and tiredness that made your mind to conjure up such thoughts.
Back at the balete tree, its inhabitant watches you walk pass, unaware of its presence. Soon, it would show itself to you. A form that you would find pleasing to look at - something that would be able to touch you and approach you and talk to you. Just you wait.
—————
Translations:
'Gang - dear (affectionate term to younger individuals, commonly used by the elderlies)
Kaluy-an ka sa Dios - May God bless you
Honestly at this point I don't care if any of this doesn't make sense I just want to write something lol
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kaleldobrev · 9 months
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Please Don't Leave
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Pairing: Dean Winchester x Fem!Reader
Summary: Dean's lucky to have you in his life and honestly doesn't know what he would ever do without you
Word Count: 2k
Warnings: Cursing (3x), Fluff, Vulnerable/Angry Dean
Authors Note: The gif makes me sad | This might seem a little non canon but at the same time I honestly feel like Dean would react this way (fight me if you want, but I said what I said) | I just love this man so fucking much | Dream/Flashbacks are in italics | If you liked this, don’t forget to like & reblog. I really appreciate it! Feedback is always welcome ♡
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Dean didn’t have a lot of consistencies in his life, but you were one of them. Out of everyone he had known in his life, you were one of the only people that had remained with him through all the heartbreak, all of the death, all of the blood, sweat, and tears that this life had. You had been through it all with him: Sam going to Stanford and leaving him behind, his fathers death, him selling his soul, the year that Sam went to Hell, the year the two of you were in Purgatory, the few months he was a demon, his bloodlust fueled by the Mark, him being possessed by Michael. He had an endless list of things that the two of you had been through together, things that would cause any normal or rational person to throw in the towel; but not you. “You can’t get rid of me Dean Winchester, not even if you kill me yourself.” You had joked. And that was something that he had almost done – and on several occasions too. And yet, you never left him. “I guess I’m just stupid.” You said. “Or maybe the sex me and you have is just that good.”
The sex he had with you, now that was something. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced; and he has had quite a lot of sex during his lifetime (not that he bragged about it of course). When the two of you initially met, it was only supposed to be a working relationship, a friends with benefits sort of deal. But eventually it turned into more. He wasn’t sure where him or you had gotten your wires crossed but they did; and it turned into you and him always finding each other at the end of the night regardless of the different men and women that had hit on both of you at the bar you two were at.
The sex used to be quick, usually done in either a drunken haze or after a tough hunt. But it eventually turned into something that either one of you would initiate through soft touches: a kiss on the forehead, a simple hand hold, or cuddling into each other. Once, in the middle of sex, he wasn’t sure why he had said it but he did. He kind of just blurted it out. “I love you.” Now that was something he never thought he’d ever say during sex before. But here you were beneath him, staring up at him with those doe eyes of yours that you frequently had during sex and said, “I love you too.” It was something he didn’t expect.
Dean didn’t know what he could or would possibly do if you weren’t in his life; and that was something he didn’t want to think about. But it was something that has been an unavoidable thought as of late. Waking up to you was one of the worst but best things after a nightmare of losing you. He would wake up in a panic, his heart racing, sweating; afraid that you were gone for good this time. But without fail, every single time you would be right there next to him. Either sound asleep or awake enough to tell him, “It’s okay, I’m right here.” He would always reply the same way. “Just…please don’t leave.” It was a simple yet complicated sentence. “I’m not going to. I’d never leave you.” Those words that you always uttered back should have been comforting to him, but it was just an empty promise – even though he knows that’s how you never intended it to sound. In your heart you loved him deeply, and he knew that. He knew that you’d never leave him; the two of you have been through everything together. But when it came to this life, it was hard to make and keep promises like that.
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“Dean, I just can’t do this anymore I’m sorry.” Your words had cut into him like a knife. Like he’d been shot hundreds of times. The torture he received from Hell combined with the loss of his mother was child’s play compared to what he was currently feeling. He just started blankly at the two duffel bags at your feet as you stood in the doorway of the room the two of you shared. Well, formally shared that is. “Aren’t you going to say anything?” You asked, your question snapping him out of whatever trance he was in.
“There’s nothing to say.” Of course there were hundreds, no thousands of things that he had wanted to say to you, but he knew that he couldn’t say any of it. As much as he wanted to beg for you to stay, he wasn’t going to make you stay. Once you made up your mind that was it; there was no convincing you.
You looked at him with a confused expression. “You don’t even want to know why I’m leaving?” You asked, and Dean simply shook his head. “Why not?”
“It doesn’t really matter.” He tried to keep his voice even, to make you believe that he was okay. But he could tell that you knew he wasn’t (you knew him long enough to know when he was or wasn’t okay).
“Dean.” You said, your voice sounding more heartbroken than his.
“It’s alright. You don’t…you don’t have to explain yourself.” He said, taking a seat on the bed you two once shared.
“I feel like you deserve an explanation. We were together for almost twenty years Dean.” You sat down next to him on the bed. He had just wanted to push you away or wrap you in his arms. Two completely differently reactions, but that’s the way he felt. “Dean.” You touched his shoulder and he flinched, you quickly removed your hand. “I love you, and I know you know that but –”
“Please just…stop talking. I really don’t want to hear what you have to say.” His voice was more hurt now, and he could feel himself trying not to say or do anything that he was going to regret. He wanted to cry, but he didn’t want you to have to see that, despite seeing him do it so many times before. “Just, leave if you’re going to leave.” You didn’t move, simply just staring at him. “Go!” He snapped, and that’s when you got up.
You walked over to your bags, slinging one over your shoulder and holding the other one in your hands. “Goodbye Dean.” You said, before walking out of the room. For a while he heard the sound of your boots down the hall, but they suddenly became faint, almost inaudible. The Bunker door opened and closed again. You were gone. Gone for good this time.
“You said you’d never fucking leave.” He whispered to himself. “Said you’d never fucking leave me.” He pounded the bed with his fist. “You fucking lied!” He got up from the bed and he felt himself start to lose control; no longer in control of the emotions that had been building up when he had started watching you pack up your bags.
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Dean woke up abruptly, sitting up. He was panicked, his heart racing. His breaths were heavy, his chest moving up and down. He rubbed his face, trying to fully wake himself up. There was no way he would be getting back to sleep for a while; not after that nightmare. “Y/N -” he began to say as he looked over to his right side; your side of the bed. You were gone. “Sweetheart?” He asked, his hand reached out and touched the emptiness next to him: it was cold.
He looked up at the door to the bedroom which was slightly ajar. The only light in the room came seeping in from the hallway. He didn’t remember having the door open, the door was always shut whenever the two of you slept. Despite how safe the Bunker was, sleeping with the door closed added an extra layer of safety, not just for him, but for you as well.
A shadow appeared, blocking some of the light. He reached over and opened the drawer of his nightstand, slightly gripping his gun that he always kept there. Before he could fully wrap his hand around the weapon you squeaked inside the room and shut the door again quietly. A huge amount of relief washed over him in that moment as he let go of the gun and closed the drawer. “Dean?” You questioned, upon hearing the drawer close. “Baby are you okay?” You asked, walking to sit on his side of the bed. He looked at you as you placed a hand on his cheek. Your eyes full of worry.
“You were…” his eyes flickered to your side of the bed that had been empty when he woke up before looking back at you again. “You were gone. When I woke up you…”
“It’s okay. I’m here.” You reassured him, your voice calm.
“Where did you go?” He asked tiredly.
“The bathroom. I really, really needed to pee.” You said, Dean chuckled a little at your comment. “You know I wouldn’t willingly leave you right?” You reassured him again. You felt him nod in your hand.
“I know.” His voice sounding just a hint sad. “I uh, I feel stupid for freaking out.” The sentence was a whisper.
“There’s nothing to feel stupid about Dean.” Another reassurance. Dean had every right to react the way he did; he had lost so much, even before you had met him. You had been with him through everything. Witnessed so much loss and endured just as much. “Was it a nightmare?”
He nodded. “Yeah. It was the…the one where you break up with me.” You hated that one just as much as he did.
“I’m never going to break up with you. I love you too damn much.” You said, giving him a smile. You crawled into bed next to him getting underneath the covers. “Come here.” You held out your arms for him, and without hesitation he went into them. He wrapped his arms around your torso and rested his head on your chest; your arms wrapping around the back of his neck. Your fingers started playing with his hair, gently massaging his head.
The two of you sat there in silence, both of you with your eyes closed. You weren’t sleeping, but you were unsure if he was. Even if he wasn’t, his breathing was starting to get more even, he was starting to calm down. Hearing the sound of your heartbeat always calmed him down. “Y/N?” Dean asked.
“Yes my love?” You asked, opening your eyes.
He looked up at you briefly, tiredly. “I know I don’t tell you enough but…I’m really lucky to have you in my life. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you.” He kissed your neck, as that was one of the only spots he could currently reach.
“I’m lucky to have you in my life too.” You responded, giving him a kiss on the top of his head.
“And Sweetheart?” He asked again.
“Yeah?” You asked.
“Thank you…thank you for not leaving me.” His voice sounding a little pained. The sound of this sentence had broken your heart a bit. Leaving Dean was never an option for you, no matter what had happened between the two of you. Being with him wasn’t easy, but you couldn’t imagine being with anyone else. He was your person, the love of your life, your soulmate. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” You kissed him on the top of the head again, and you could feel his smile.
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That night, Dean didn’t have another nightmare, but he did dream. He had one of his favorite dreams; one that always gave him a sense of calmness and normalcy. The two of you would be just lying in bed together watching some random horror movie on tv. It was something that the two of you have done hundreds, no, thousands of times, so there would be no reason why it would be his so called favorite dream. What made it his favorite though was purely based on one small detail, a detail that made it known to him that it was in fact a dream: wedding rings would be on both of your fingers.
Someday maybe, he thought.
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Tag List: @roseblue373 @beansproutmafia @queenie32 @deanwanddamons @missy420-0 @jackles010378 If you'd like to be on a tag list, just message me!
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roosterforme · 3 months
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How Old Are You? | Bob Floyd x OC
Summary: Bob only gets one birthday every four years. When his wife, Molly, realizes it's almost Leap Day, she throws him a party any nine year old would love. And it's the perfect celebration for a thirty-six year old, too.
Warnings: Fluff, adult language, implied smut, 18+
Length: 2500 words
Pairing: Robert "Bob" Floyd x Female OC!Molly (this story accompanies The Curveball)
Check my masterlist for more! Thank you to @mak-32 for the beautiful banner!
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Bob was half asleep in bed, post orgasm, when the weird conversation started. "So technically you're about to turn nine? Even though you'll be thirty-six? Is that right?"
He cracked his eyes open again as he watched his wife stretch her arms above her head, her nipple piercings glinting in the soft candlelight that had their bedroom aglow. She was nibbling on her lip, and he could practically see her mind working.
"Yeah," he answered cautiously. "Why do you have that expression on your face, Mo? Like you're plotting something scary?"
"I've never plotted something scary a day in my life!" she told him before leaning down and gently biting his bicep. "I was merely considering what I should get you for your special day."
"I don't need anything," he replied quickly, remembering the naked cowboy statue wearing glasses that she gifted to him last year.
"Well," she said, drawing out the single syllable. "That's where I think you're wrong, Bobby."
"Molly, I don't even want anything." Then he had an idea that he hoped would throw her off. "How about you get some pretty new barbells or rings and let me play with them?"
She rolled her eyes. "That would be a gift for me."
He shrugged as she draped herself across him. "Kind of for both of us when you really think about it."
Her soft lips found his jaw as she whispered, "But it's not every day you turn nine, Coach Cute Glasses. You deserve an extra special treat."
He shook his head in exasperation and said, "I'll really be thirty six though."
"Not according to the calendar." She kissed him sweetly before climbing over him to get out of the bed. "I'll go check on Charlie and Flora one last time before we go to sleep." Bob watched her slip his discarded undershirt on and smooth it down over her gorgeous body, perhaps a little more filled out now that they had two kids.
He reached for her hand and said, "Mo, we really need to sell the condo and get a bigger place. They can't share that tiny room forever."
Even though she told him all the time that she loved the condo and didn't want to leave it, she was finally starting to come around. "I think I'm ready to admit that you might be right about that, Uncle Bob."
"Really?" he asked, jolting up in bed.
She nodded and hummed. "Yes. Besides, your birthday party would be a lot easier to plan if we had more space to accommodate all the guests."
Bob groaned and flopped back down again, and Molly removed his glasses for him. "I don't need a birthday party," he insisted. "I just want a nice, quiet evening with you and the kids. Maybe your sister, Ev and Bradley, too, but that's it."
"We'll see," she replied before leaving the bedroom with a wicked smirk on her face.
----------------------------
"Can you get to my sister's house by noon on your birthday? For your party?" Molly asked as she watched Bob feed a mashed up banana to their one year old daughter. 
"I thought we ended that discussion with us both accepting the fact that I do not need a birthday party."
"Yeah... it's too late for that," she replied easily as she and Charlie both ate their own dinners. Molly's favorite hobby was keeping her husband on his toes. She figured his life would be sad and boring without her in it, and since he chose to be with her, he must have a deep-seated love for nonsense. She always made sure to bring it out for him, especially for his birthday. 
He gave her a stern look. "It's just a small party, right?"
"Sure, Bobby."
"I don't believe you."
"Oh come on," she whined. "This is your first real birthday since we met!"
She knew he would crack. He gave her what she wanted the vast majority of the time anyway, but when she whined for something harmless, it was always hers. 
"Fine."
And with that single word, Molly executed the most epic ninth birthday anyone could ever have. She called the vendors. She ordered the piñata. She invited the guests. She procured a balloon arch. And on Bob's birthday, her own sister and brother-in-law were looking at her with shocked expressions from their back deck when she started setting things up at eight in the morning. 
"I thought this was going to be a small party?" Bradley asked as he watched her assemble the red and yellow balloon arch. 
Molly just laughed. "That's just what I told Bob. I lied. The pony should be arriving soon."
"Pony?" gasped her sister. "I'm sorry, I must have misheard. Did you say a pony is arriving?"
"Yes," Molly said, speaking a little louder now to make her point. "How the hell are we supposed to have a cowboy birthday party without pony rides?"
Then Everett came tearing out onto the back deck, still in his pajamas, shouting, "Someone is bringing a horse around from the driveway!"
"See?" Molly asked as the pony and handler appeared in the backyard. "Ev is excited. He has good taste."
"He's ten!" Bradley snapped as he went running across the yard. "Is this thing going to tear up the grass that I spent months watering so it looked this nice?" But as soon as he saw how excited Everett was to pet the cute animal, Molly knew her brother-in-law would be on her side. It was just her sister glaring at her now.
"Whatever you mess up out here, you need to clean up. That includes the horse poop!"
"It's just a pony," Molly assured her, although the animal was a lot bigger than she expected. And yes, it was actually pooping. "It's fine. It'll be fine."
She was hoping it would be fine.
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When Bob buckled Charlie and Flora back into their car seats in his truck at Myers park, he checked the time. It was almost noon. "Oh god," he groaned as he opened the driver's door. He had no idea what to expect, but the text from Bradley about how he was going to need help filling in the hoof prints in their yard next week had him on edge.
"Birthday party!" Charlie cheered from the backseat as Bob pulled out onto the main road. Molly had been talking about it so much, their son kept saying it over and over.
"That's right," Bob told him calmly. "But I'm pretty sure Mommy went bananas over the entire thing."
"Nana!" Flora crooned before she burst into tears. He should have known better than to mention her favorite food right in front of her like that. So he drove to his sister-in-law and brother-in-law's house with one delighted child and one who was crying hysterically. When he pulled down their block, there was absolutely nowhere to park, and there was a horse trailer parked right in front of the house. 
"Oh, no. No no no. Molly, no," he whispered. When he got closer, he saw the massive banner hanging on the porch that said Happy Birthday, Cowboy Bob. He had to squeeze his truck into the driveway behind the familiar blue Bronco while he gaped at the sight before him.
"Horse!" Charlie screeched. He wasn't wrong. There was some sort of pony walking around the backyard with Everett perched on top of the saddle wearing a cowboy hat. "I want the horse!"
"Okay," Bob told him as he shook his head and climbed out of the truck. He walked around to the back of the house with one child in each arm, and thankfully when Flora saw the pony, she stopped crying, perhaps out of fear. 
"Bob!" Molly shouted over the classic country music that was playing as she popped out of the enormous rodeo themed bounce house and ran to him. Literally everyone he'd ever seen in his life seemed to be here, and they were all wearing cowboy hats. Everyone from work was here. Like everyone. Cyclone was wearing a cowboy hat and drinking a beer. Bob thought he saw the doctor that Molly worked with who delivered both of their children. His parents and both of his sisters were here. His niece Piper was taking a turn riding the pony. There were indeed hoof prints in the yard.
Then Molly was somehow in his arms along with both kids, and she was kissing his neck as she said, "Happy birthday," in a voice that would have been a lot more appropriate for their bedroom. 
"Mo," he said, shaking his head. "There's a pony. It's making Bradley look constipated." 
She just rolled her eyes in response. "He'll get over it as soon as I offer to watch Everett for a few days over spring break so he and my sister can go away and do nasty stuff to each other."
Bob just smiled down at her and said, "You told me this would be a small affair."
"I guess I lied. Oops. Come say hi to Phoenix." She dragged him up onto the deck where Natasha took both kids from him with a kiss to his cheek, and then Molly was yanking his shirt over his head.
"What are you doing?" he asked, standing there in his undershirt with his glasses askew. But as soon as the words were out of his mouth, she was pulling another shirt over his head. It said Birthday Cowboy, and there was a number 9 that looked like it was shaped out of rope.
And that's when everyone started hugging him and running around to get him drinks and chat with him. Mickey was wearing cowboy boots and a cow print vest. Maverick was teaching the kids how to line dance. Bradley's scowl had started to ease up since Everett seemed to be having the time of his life. 
"Happy birthday, Uncle Bob," Everett said when he walked over. He hugged Bob and added, "Your birthday party is my favorite birthday party ever, and I can't believe it's in my yard!"
"Thanks, Ev," he replied with a laugh as he watched Molly and Flora dancing with Javy. "It is pretty cool."
"Happy birthday, Bob," his sister-in-law said, handing him a card. "You can open it later. We got you opening day tickets for the Padres. Also, I'm so sorry that my sister is so chaotic, but you should have known what you were getting into when you started dating her."
Bob accepted another kiss on his cheek. "She really can't be stopped once she gets going." 
"It's a waste of time to even try. Might as well sit back and enjoy the show."
He did, and the looser he got, the more fun he started to have. He pet the pony while Piper rode around on it. He smashed open a cowboy piñata with one of Everett's baseball bats. He jumped in the bounce house with Charlie and Everett, and Bradley even joined them.
"I'll help you fix your yard next week," Bob promised as Everett did a backflip. 
Bradley just laughed and said, "It's hard to be mad about it when Molly just wants everyone to have the time of their life. You're very lucky. Also, I don't know how you deal with her on a daily basis."
Bob laughed, too. "Sometimes I just take it one hour at a time."
"Get ready for cake!" Molly shouted, and it took five people to carry out the biggest sheet cake he'd ever seen in his life. It was cow print and decorated with boots and spurs, and said Happy 9th Birthday, Cowboy Bob!
After he blew out the nine candles he reached for Molly. "Thank you," he whispered, kissing her softly. "I didn't know I needed a ninth birthday party, but I guess I really did."
"You're only a kid once, Bobby," she replied, smiling against his lips.
"You do know I'm actually thirty-six, right?" he asked, pulling her snug against him as her sister started to cut up the cake. 
"Not according to the calendar," she responded, patting him gently on the cheek. "Your mom and I had a lovely conversation about how terrible you look for your age."
He tried not to smile, but it was useless. "I'm actually having the best day, Mo."
"I knew it all along."
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Both kids were sound asleep as soon as Molly tucked them into bed. Charlie went on a sugar high and then crashed, and Flora was played with and held by seemingly everyone at the party. They would probably sleep for a solid twelve hours. Which was good, because Molly wanted to give her husband the rest of his birthday presents. 
She found him in their bedroom where he was opening up the cards he got with a soft smile on his face. "You have so many friends," she told him, and he turned to look at her. "Everyone loves Bob Floyd."
He actually blushed which made her want to rip all of his clothing to shreds and have her way with him. He shook his head slightly and said, "Everyone loves the amazing Molly Floyd and her beautiful imagination."
"Bobby," she moaned softly, taking the card from his hand and wrapping her arms around him. "Tell me more about how amazing I am."
He laughed and whispered, "You threw me the equivalent of a kids' ninth birthday party, just because you could. My dad participated in the pie eating contest. My mom learned how to line dance. Bradley almost popped a vein in his forehead. It was wonderful."
She sighed in contentment. "In four more years when you turn ten, we'll be in a bigger house, and we can host your party there. But we'll have to wait and see if you're still into cowboys or if your interests change, Kiddo. Now will you please open your present from me? And put on your cowboy hat? I've always wanted to suck a real cowboy's cock."
Bob grinned. "Molly, you suck my cock when I'm wearing my cowboy hat all the time."
"But you've never had assless chaps before."
Bob let out a strangled sound, and when he opened the box that was wrapped in cowboy paper, there were in fact assless chaps inside. "Please, please, please put them on," Molly moaned. "God, I feel like it's my birthday."
As soon as she started whining, he always gave her what she wanted. It was impossible not to. Five minutes later, Bob was standing in the middle of the bedroom wearing the chaps, his birthday shirt, and his old cowboy hat. Molly was panting and biting her knuckle, already obviously raring to go down on him, which just made him harder.
But she took a step toward him and then stopped, a devilish smirk on his face. "Now wait. I'm having a bit of a moral dilemma with you in that shirt. How old are you again?"
"I'm thirty-six," he replied blandly. 
"You sure about that, Cowboy Bob?"
"Molly! I'm thirty-six!"
"Okay, okay. Just checking," she said, reaching for the bottom of his shirt. "But let's just remove this anyway."
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I had a blast revisiting these two! I'm so deeply in love with Molly. I hope you enjoyed Bob's birthday celebration. Thanks for reading! And thanks @mak-32 and @beyondthesefourwalls
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evilminji · 10 months
Text
:T Hello there, Thought(tm) of the day...
I? Just remembered that Constantine's "Laughing Magician"(?) title is... f*ckin HEREDITARY?
Like?? As in The Constantine Meances have been out here, harrasing divinity and demons alike for GENERATIONS on behalf of a Good Time, the Lols, and probably Humanity if they can be arsed and you make a good case.
W... What chance would there even BE of at least like? HALF those f*ckers(conflicted but affectionate) NOT becoming Realms Ghosts? With the sh*t they're exposed too? With THEIR luck??
You think DEATH can trick them? Take them away for good? Take away the local Rat B@stard, Tricks Gods Just To See If He Can, Fate Is My Second Mistress and I Cuckold Glory On Your Mother's Bed, Constantine?
They run down main street, *ss in the breeze, wearing someone else's shirt and two shoes that don't match, not a stitch else, like run away lovers. Let Death TRY and catch them. Sorry, Luv, it's not them, it's definitely you.
..........I bet they're the wooooorst~~✨️
No joke, I bet they set up a whole *ss TOWN of Constantine.
Where the odds are in THEIR favor, gods fear to tread, and reality straight out stops working right. Like Diagonal Ally for B*stards, extended to a whole floating island. Everyone's related. It's Chaos. They can barely stand each other. Would sell each other for a toothpick.
Mess with ANY off them... and you can kiss your afterlife good bye.
They have NO neighbors because both no ones dumb enough to get NEAR them AND no one can stand to be around that many Constantines at once. The physical Manifestation of Fate wants to take the whole LOT of the handsy F*CKS to court for child support and a restraining order.
Somehow... they keep getting Earth Booze.
They SHOULDN'T have access. It's been anywhere from decade to centuries since they died. Millennium for a few. Howms't The F*CK, do they keep getting cheap gin and vodka? Bourbon and beer? Even the odd fruity cocktail for funnies.
Please... PLEASE! Tell the Zone at large, that their innate birthright powers STOPPED at Death. They... they are just REALLY good at smuggling right? Excellent con men?
Tell us they can't f*ckin PREDICT AND INFLUENCE Natural Portals!!!
*smug sipping noises from a large room full of Dead @ssholes*
Okay... They Won't Tell You~ 🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺 *siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip*
Now! I hear you ask? Why are John's Terrible, Terrible, God Awful Ghostly Relatives relevant? Absurdly powerful as they are... they seem to take the afterlife as an extended "Ha! GET F*CKED, DEMONS WHO WANTED MY SOUL!" Vacation/Family get together.
Minded their business and expected everyone to mind THEIRS, or ELSE.
Didn't give two solitary SH*TS that Pariah woke from his little nappy-poo to cause a tantrum. After all, in their family? When DOESN'T some "great and terrible Power That Be" get itself in a snit? Meh... it's baby Johnny's turn to clean sh*t up. Best of luck to 'im~!
But THEN!
They must've been drinking... making out with their equally terrible and bamf trainwreck significant others... sitting around playing "who can cheat best at cards"... when? Huh.
Never seen the Fate and The Odds... STRANGLE like that.
Billions of billions of What-Ifs, Maybes, Could-bes, and more... suddenly YANKED towards a single spot. The allowance of Only One Outcome. Almost like what they can do, but... not, WRONG, per say...
Just... impossible.
There's NEVER.. JUST one way this plays out. You can control the big notes. The script. But the details and set dressing will always decide themselves.
NO ONE can just... Decide What Will Happen. And yet?
...............was....... was that Little Johnny? Has to be. Right? Where's his old man? Oi! Was that your Kid??! John's closest relatives are baffled. Nope. They can still feel him laying a beat down on some demon in Norway. So then? Who?
How?
Well mark them CURIOUS(tm).
They decide to actually get up. Put their various drinks and cards down. Put pants on. Somebody's done something... INTERESTING(TM) and they want to know what's up. So? Off they trot.
It's traumatizing for everyone who sees them. The Constantines have breached f*ckin B*stard Containment and are spilling into the Zone. On this! The DAY Pariah Waged A War! THEY JUST GOT RID OF HIM!
And Danny? His everything hurts. The Eyeballs are starting to come out of the woodwork and ARGUE about him like he's not even there. He's DANGEROUS blah blah blah. Give them the crown. Right now! Etc etc.
Somethings telling him not too.
It's... it's HIS isn't it? Has been for centuries and seconds. And... and... everyone one of him is King. There is only one of him. The Zone covers all the multiverse and all of the Hims that were and aren't here and helped and... and...! His head is starting to hurt.
But the more they try to push him to hand it over, the less he feels like unhanding the dang gaudy thing. No. His now. He'll use it as a DOOR stopper if he dang well feels like it! Stop yelling.
Then all these blonde ghosts saunter in... and all he can think is "F*ck. I think they noticed."
Huh?
@stealingyourbones @cyrwrites @bjurnberg @the-witchhunter @hdgnj
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seospicybin · 7 months
Text
DON'T THEY KNOW IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD?
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PART I
Lee know x reader. (s,a)
Chapters: Part II
Synopsis: Making a contact with an ancient object, you meet a demon who takes form of the man you desired and forces you to commit terrible acts to stop the world from ending. (14k words)
Author's note: I indulge myself with a spooky fic and demon Minho in it. Read with cautions and enjoy x
Based on an episode of Black Mirror. Content warnings: Violence, gore, mentions of abuse, assaults and graphic imagery. Reader's discretion is advised!
"Carving is easy. You just go down to the skin and stop." - Michelangelo
-
Oh, no! You're doing it again.
When you think you're talking in your head, you're actually talking loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. It's even worse that your voice is echoing in the big chamber of the empty gallery.
They seem to not care about it or pretend to because Kim has just walked in to check everyone's work. She's your friend from art school turns an art dealer and she has a way to control everyone around her.
"I told you to let us do it for you," she says, clicking her tongue at you and crossing her arms in front of her chest.
The gallery is having some of your pieces of art displayed for the exhibition tonight and you want to make sure that they're presented the way you envisioned it.
You carefully step down the ladder and stand next to Kim, looking at the sculpture you made of a man holding an arrow with an apple stuck at the end of the arrow.
You hear Kim dreamily sigh then look at you, "You're going to sell..." She pauses to emphasize the word she's going to say next, "Big!"
Money isn't the reason why you create these sculptures but you need it in order to keep being able to do this. You have no idea how expensive a block of stone is!
The reason why you made these sculptures is because this is what you love doing: envision your imagination onto a block of stone and you carve it to bring it to life.
Why did you choose stone as the medium? Because they're durable, stubborn yet resilient. It takes time to create one sculpture but once you've seen the result, you forget about the hard work behind it.
Kim puts her hand on your shoulder and snaps you out of your reverie, "Stop worrying about your sculptures," she says.
She turns you around to force you to face her and puts her other hand on your shoulder, "Go home. Get dressed. Put some color on those cheeks. Have a pre-party with a glass of wine or two."
Dressing up sounds like a lot of work, you'd rather stay in your dungarees and striped top, "Can I just wear these?"
It's like she has just heard someone dies, Kim's hand flies to her temple and screws her eyes shut for a second, "Trust me when I say that the people coming tonight wouldn't expect the artist behind these magnificent sculptures to look like Chucky," she says with a sneering smile.
She squeezes your shoulder and tilts her head to the side, "And that's me putting it the nicest way possible because you're my friend."
It's still a mystery how you ended up friends with someone like Kim, she's the opposite of what you are, an extrovert, a tolerable narcissist, she likes attention and is forthright to the point it's borderline insolent. You're so used to her audacious way of treating you and the blunt words that come out of her red-lipped mouth.
She's been like this even before you met her and you are the friend who likes to suffer in silence, you think that's why you became friends. Nevertheless, Kim treats you better than she treats anyone else for that matter.
That explains why the gallery staff are so afraid of her. It's always best to get out of her way unless she wants you to be there. You pick up your bag from the floor along with your jacket.
"I'll go then," you meekly say.
She grabs your elbow before leaving, "Go home," she says with a glare.
"Home. Not your studio," she says again, making it clear to you.
She knows you well enough to know that you like spending your days in your studio instead of your apartment. You sling the strap of your bag on one shoulder, "Go home. Get dressed. Come to the exhibition late," you repeat the things she wanted you to do.
Kim smiles and gently cups your cheek, "Good girl. Now go!"
Once you get home though, you spend hours just sitting in the emptiness that lingers in your apartment that is too big for one person to live in it.
This is why you prefer to stay in your studio, you like to keep your head occupied rather than being alone with your thoughts like this.
And your thoughts, they're mostly of unkind things and...
Your phone rings from inside your bag and steers your mind back to your head. Without having to look at it, you can tell who it is. There are no other people who call you daily except, well, if it's an emergency call.
"Are you getting ready yet?" Kim goes straight to the point.
"Uh... yeah, I just showered, I—" you jolt awake from lying down on the sofa.
"I'm having problems picking what to wear," you add a laugh in the hope of sounding convincing.
There's a wave of laughter from her end of the phone call before Kim talks to the phone, "Stop joking. Do you like it?"
You get completely confused because she suddenly compliments herself out of the blue, "Huh? What?"
You can hear her dramatic, low sigh and you can imagine her subtle eye roll as she's doing it, "The dress. The one I hung in your closet," she tells you.
You quietly trudge your way to the closet and open it to find the said dress.
"Yes, it's beautiful!" You hurriedly say, not wanting to let her get suspicious as she waits for a response.
"Aren't you lucky to have me as your friend?" she exclaims, sounding so confident with her words.
"I am the luckiest," you tell her as you observe the dress and already regretting hastily approving the dress as you notice it has a plunging neckline.
"I know," she brags and her smirk flashes through your head.
In the background, you hear something is calling her and Kim answers with a shout, "I'm coming."
She dramatically sighs before talking to you, "Work is calling. I'll see you tonight, okay?"
"Yeah, sure, see you tonight!" You're more than relieved to end the phone call with her.
It's too early to celebrate as she hasn't ended the call yet and she always ends the call first. You have an inkling that she'll call your name.
Indeed, she is.
"Hey, don't forget to take your meds, okay?" She says.
That's probably the only yet the most endearing thing she does to you and what makes her your friend.
"Yeah, don't worry about it," you tell her.
It's time to fully assess the dress and you're in awe of how much skin you'll show if you're wearing this. Of course, you have the option not to wear but it all comes down to wearing the dress or facing Kim's wrath.
The former seems to be the safer choice and also because you're not a confrontational person, you like to avoid conflict.
Not wearing the dress means you're going straight into conflict and you don't want that.
With a defeated spirit, you put the dress on even though you have no idea how to move in such a tight dress. You summon up your below-average make-up skill for tonight and put some colors on you.
Not forgetting Kim's words, you take your medicine and wash it down with a long gulp of water. You give yourself a few minutes as you wait for the medicine to work while you sit on the couch holding a glass of water in both hands, staring out at the view from your apartment.
Kim insisted you take this apartment when you're okay with living in the studio. Not only that it's too expensive of a place to live on your own but a big place only makes you inexplicably lonely.
However, after seeing the view from up here, you feel like you're not part of this world in the most humbling way. Seeing the city and the buildings look like pieces of block makes you realize that they don't matter that much. They're all just... material things.
You sigh as you get hit by a wave of melancholia and you take it that the medicine is working.
-
Uncomfortable walking out of your apartment in your dress, you put on a coat as you leave the apartment with the sounds of your heels clicking against the floor.
The owner of the building passed away yesterday, there are so many guests visiting the penthouse where he lived. The first elevator that arrives on your floor is crowded so you skip on getting on that one. You patiently wait for the next one to arrive while clutching your purse in front of you.
A minute later, the other elevator arrives and the doors slide open, you see there's someone else inside. You believe he's been from the penthouse from how he dressed in all black.
You look down to avoid eye contact and step inside, standing at the back of the limited space while trying not to look at the man's face on the reflection from the mirror that walled the elevator.
Arrived in the main lobby, the elevator dings open and the man doesn't waste time but walks out with hands shoved inside his coat pocket.
You fix your coat before stepping out and you feel your feet kicking on something, it's clattering across the floor. You bend down to pick it up, something that you guess is a pocket watch.
Your first thought is that it belongs to the man and you look around to see if he's still around to give it to him, but he's nowhere. It's as if he's gone with the wind.
"Miss, your driver has been waiting outside!" The concierge informs you from behind his desk the second he sees you.
"Yes. I'm coming!" You hurriedly shove the pocket watch inside your purse.
As Kim instructed, you come late to the exhibition and it's already filled with people dressed so impeccably for the occasion. You take a deep breath before entering the scene that is the least you wanted to be.
You take your coat off and hand it to the girl handling the coat check, along with your purse. You feel naked even though you're not, but it's not just the dress, being in the crowd is not your forte.
The first thing to do in a situation like this is to find Kim. You avoid making contact with everyone you're walking past as you look for her in the crowd. It's not hard to spot her when she's always the center of attention anywhere she is.
"There she is!" She gasps the moment she sees you're coming her way.
She puts away her champagne flute and walks up to you, embracing you like the trophy you are, "My rising star!"
Kim puts her hand on the small of your back and smiles brightly while discreetly judging your look.
"Isn't she amazing?" She brags you off to the group of people she's talking to.
You can only sheepishly smile next to her and avoid everyone's eyes.
"She is the artist behind those magnificent sculptures," she adds with that saccharine smile of hers.
They're starting to throw praises at you and you can hear all of them talking at once, making you more uncomfortable staying in there.
You take a step back but Kim's hand does not allow you to escape, she glances at you and takes the cue.
"Excuse us," Kim says to everyone, "Enjoy the exhibition!"
Kim steers you away and pulls you aside, before you can comment on her choice of dress, she snatches the chance from you.
"You could've picked nicker shoes," she whispers through her gritted teeth at you.
You automatically look down to see your heeled shoes which you think match the dress you're wearing.
"I–I think it's—"
She cuts through your words, not giving you a chance to explain. She grabs you by the elbow, "We have no time to change it," she says, then steers you somewhere.
As Kim continues to brag you around like you're the art piece instead of the artist, you start to get that feeling that she's using you.
As a matter of fact, she used you to propel her career as an art dealer. Ever since you agreed to let her sell your art for you, her career took off.
You're more than happy to be of help but she does everything extra and she's been taking you to meet a lot of people that their faces started to blur and it's getting overwhelming that you need to get out of it.
"I'll just—" You barely finish your sentence when you walk away and find somewhere to gain some composure.
You keep walking until you find the restroom and push yourself inside, lock yourself in one of the stalls just sit on the toilet, and just breathe.
You hear the ruckus outside the stall and someone probably needs to use the toilet, you reluctantly get up to start heading outside.
The plan to leave unnoticed comes to a failure when Kim is already there right outside the restroom, "Where have you been?"
You take a deep breath to calm yourself and try to explain, "Kim, I don't think I can do this anymore. I—"
Then again, she never let you finish your sentence, "One more. I need you to meet your new potential buyer."
You grip the side of your dress and you feel like tearing it apart, "No, Kim. You know how I do with people, I don't— I just want to go home," you desperately tell her just to let you go when you're an adult and can do whatever you want.
Kim lets out an exaggerated huff and sends her fringe flying off her forehead, crossing her arms in front of her and you know what's coming for you.
"You think I'm doing this for me?" She asks.
Actually, yes. The initial plan is to sell your art but in the end, she makes it all about her.
"I'm doing it for you!" She says, turning it all on to you. She always finds a way to turn it all on to you, making you feel guilty and defeated.
Talking back to her means that you're saying yes to war and you don't want to fight a losing fight. You fist the fabric of your dress trying to suppress the anger brewing inside you.
"Just one more person," you meekly say.
Her face softens at the sign that you're once again giving her the power, "That's right. Just one more and I'll let you go."
You finally let go of your dress and you wipe your sweaty palm down the back of your dress as she guides you back to the gallery.
"All you have to do is stand next to me, smiling and explaining your art to people," Kim instructed like that wasn't what you've been doing all night.
Except that she forgot that you need to fake all of that.
Kim takes you to one of your sculpture displays and three people in suits have been waiting, talking with drinks in their hands.
"Hello, gentlemen," Kim says with an extra polite voice that makes you shudder at how fake she sounded.
"Heard you're looking for the amazing artist behind these beautiful sculptures?" She continues, presenting you like you're the one who's about to get sold, not the sculpture.
One of the three seems to be the one in charge with a stance that oozes confidence and power, a smirk that only someone who grew up with a silver spoon stuck to his mouth can master. He looks years older than you but his face shows no fine lines but that's just because he never had to frown in his life.
"I adore your art so much," he praises with a teeth-baring smile.
Kim turns at you and introduces him, "This is Nicholas de Ville from the de Ville family."
The way she enunciated his last name only means that this person holds importance and she expects you to impress him.
He holds his hand out next with an expensive, shining wristwatch decorated his wrist, "I'm Nicholas de Ville. You can call me Nick."
He may seem nice and polite because all privileged people learn manners but they only apply that lesson in real life occasionally.
You take his hand or else Kim will force you to do it. You shake his hand for a while and accidentally meet his gaze as you try to take your hand back.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. de Ville!" You say as politely as you can.
"Nick, please!" He insists with a smile.
"And the pleasure is all mine." He adds with a smile that says so many things and they send a chill down your spine.
Kim lets go of her hand and lightly touches you on your arm, "Mr. de Ville wants to know more about your sculptures so..." she quietly pushes you his way.
Nick courteously laughs and says, "Would you be kind enough to give me the tour?"
You consider it for a moment but seeing Kim's glare, you know you have no option.
"Yes, sure, I would love to," you answer with a strained smile.
"Great! Please, lead the way!" Nick says.
When you think the other two are coming with you, it's just you and Nick, walking through your sculptures and you explain each one without trying to bore him like Kim has taught you a few times.
"... it's inspired by the Greek mythology. The apple in the arrow means that when it comes to love, we know no rules, we follow our desires—"
Nick is too busy looking at you instead of looking at the sculpture you're tirelessly explaining to him. Guessing that he isn't interested, you stop talking altogether.
"I'm sorry if I'm rambling," you sheepishly say to him and keep looking at the sculpture.
"No, no, that's okay," Nick says with a smile and takes a stand close to you, also looking at the sculpture.
"Your art is as beautiful as you," he says.
You're getting uncomfortable at how close he is with his elbow brushing yours. You nervously swallow air and lowly mutter, "Thank you."
Nick takes it the wrong way. He takes it that you're replying to his flirtation when you thought he was earnestly complimenting you, he starts to place his hand on your shoulder.
You reflexively shrug his hand away but that only sends his hand down to your back where he can touch your exposed skin. As his fingers make contact with your skin, you take a step back until his hand drops.
"I'm sorry," you regret apologizing for something that you didn't do wrong.
He looks at you as if he didn't just do something wrong or touch you without your consent. You feel repulsed by yourself and take another step back, "I'm sorry, I just need to—"
You keep walking away, away and never looking back.
-
The musty smell and dust that hang in the air welcome you to the studio.
You take your dress off the first thing you do when you get there and put on any clothes you can find in the dresser, a black T-shirt and worn-out jeans.
You put your earrings inside your purse and the pocket watch you collected earlier spills out of it, falling onto the couch.
You're intrigued to see inside the locket to get a hint on who the owner is, you're trying so hard to open it with the strength you have but it won't budge.
Exhausted from trying to open the antique-looking object, you give up and walk over to the sculpture you're working on. You put the pocket watch down on the table next to your carving tools, then pick up a chisel and a hammer.
For every hit of the hammer, you feel like unleashing something that makes you feel lighter and lighter and makes you hit the chisel harder and harder.
You eventually get exhausted and take a step back, leaning against the table while looking at the unshapen block of stone in front of you.
You grope around for a bottle of water and take a sip, putting it down as you wipe your mouth after. Your fingers nudge something as you place your hand on the table, it's the pocket watch blinking under the fluorescent light.
It seems to be calling for you, inviting you to try and uncover the mystery inside.
Looking at the small chisel next to it, you decide to give it another try by prying it open with the chisel. You slip the sharp end in the crack and use your strength to push it open only for the chisel to slide to the slide, cutting the side of your finger.
You drop the pocket watch as blood drops from the wound onto the table. It's not the first time you injured yourself, you know what to do. You go to the bathroom, wash your finger under the running water then grab your first aid kit from the drawer.
After tending to your small injury, you decide to not continue working when you're angry. You take another sip of water and lie down on the couch.
With the quiet that hangs in the room, you slowly drift into sleep.
-
SEVEN DAYS TO THE END OF THE WORLD.
The darkness greets you even though you have opened your eyes.
Pretty sure you kept one of the lights on when you went to sleep but it's all dark now in the room, you can't see anything but lights that shine through the cracks of the blinds.
You slowly get up from the couch to turn the light on, carefully walking to where the switch is, and once you flip it, lights flood the room.
The first thing you see is the pocket watch that is now open, you walk over to the table and pick it up to see inside that it's just a normal watch but it doesn't have numbers on it like all watches have.
You close it and see that your blood tainted the lid, this time, you can easily open it without a hassle.
"Hello!" A voice says.
Surprised to hear a voice coming from it, you drop it back onto the table. A moment later, you laugh it off, thinking that you misheard it considering that you just woke up from sleep.
With hesitancy, you pick the pocket watch again and look at it. Your thumb wipes the glass cover of the watch.
"Hi, Hello, I'm Minho. I'm a demon. You anointed this talisman with your blood so now we're bound together and—"
It speaks again and in response, you hurl it across the room until it hits the wall and drops onto the floor. You stand there, frozen on your feet, and wonder...
"Look, I've got a whole introductory speech here," the voice says again, coming from the part of the room where the pocket watch is.
For protection, you stand behind the open bathroom door and look at the pocket watch talking like a lunatic you are.
"We got to work together," it says.
You whimper hearing the voice again and you know that it's real, you're not making this up.
"Can you pick me up? Just pick me up. Come on, pick me up! Please?" It demands.
You take cautious steps to get to where the pocket watch lies on the floor.
"That's it, come on. Come on. I won't bite, I promise. Come on," it says as if it could see that you're coming to pick it up.
You swallow air and slowly bend down to pick it up from the floor, holding the pocket watch in your hand.
"As I was saying, you anointed the talisman and the rules are you've got to carry out three human sacrifices over the next seven days or else the world is going to end," it speaks again.
That's a lot of information to take in, not to mention that you're already having a hard time wrapping your head around the fact that the pocket watch is talking to you.
"W-what?" You breathlessly say.
"If you want me to help you, you need to permit me entry."
Entry? That sounds like a bad idea. You just stand there and look at the pocket watch.
"Do you permit me entry? Yes or no?" It asks.
You shake your head and convince yourself that maybe it is not real.
"You have to say yes. Just say the word yes."
This is not real, you tell yourself out loud.
"Or let's do this, if you say yes, I'll... I'll stop, okay? I'll go away. You'll never hear from me again like this didn't happen." It persuades.
This is not real, this is not real, you chant in your head.
"Just say yes. Say it! Say it. Say it. Say it," it chants louder and it starts to fill your head, endlessly echoing.
You want it to stop so you impulsively say, "Yes."
The chants stop and the light flickers off, filling the room with darkness again. You whimper in fear as the pocket watch starts ticking in your hand.
You hear something deeply breathing a few feet from behind you. Curious, you spin around on your feet to see what it is, but you can't see it as it's lurking in the dark
However, you feel good about not being able to see it as fear creeping up inside you. You walk backward until you hit the wall behind you.
"Hey, come on, what's the matter?" The thing says as he takes a step forward, revealing his form to you.
The first thing you can make out the shape of that thing is two long horns on his head and two red eyes.
"All right. I lied about going away," he says in a deep, growling voice.
"My regular appearance is a bit too much for this realm."
He takes a step back and disappears in the dark. After a while, he takes another step to the front and has already taken a different shape. He looks normal now, as in looking like a human and not just any human, he looks like...
"I peered into your soul and apparently, this is a physical look you find appealing so..." he says with his arms spread out and a proud grin on his face.
"I don't know. Let me have a look!" He walks over to the mirror hung on the wall next to you.
He looks just like the sculpture you made, he has a sharp nose, chiseled jaws, and a hair color as intense as red roses go. You feel a mix of fear, awe, and confusion inside and it's getting overwhelming.
He leans close to the mirror and fixes his hair, "Wow!"
He seems impressed by how he looks, "Okay, isn't it what you want?" He turns to you.
Not getting an answer from you, he smiles, then says, "Uh... I mean, I can work with this."
You can only whimper with your mouth parted open, having a hard time wrapping your head around this situation. If it's happening or not, is he real or not, did you take your meds or not?
"You have to calm down so we can talk. Just talk to me!" Minho says, noticing that you're in a state of panic.
For a split second, you see his eyes flash like those belonging to feline creatures, gleaming like two marbles in the dark. You can feel cold sweat on your back as you slump down against the wall until you're sitting down on the floor.
He squats down in front of you and reaches for your head but you're quick to dodge away from it.
"You know, we have got to work together," he assures you.
It's not fair that he has a face that came from your imagination, it gives you a sense of familiarity that lures you to give in. However, you're not sure if you should be giving in to him.
You bang the back of your head to the wall, close your eyes, and repeatedly chant like it's a mantra, "You're not real. You're not real. You're not real."
But that is not enough to expel him. You open your eyes and still find him there. hand and a grin.
"Like I said, we have got to work together," he tells you again.
To give you the space to gather your thoughts, he walks around the studio while talking, "You marked the talisman. I don't make the rules."
With the lights turning back on, your eyes can easily follow his figure going around the room and looking at the sculpture you're working on.
His fingers slowly graze the rough surface of the carved stone and then he turns his head at you.
"Basically, we need to deliver three human sacrifices by next Friday or else it's..." he informs you again as if you haven't heard him the first time, "burning skies time."
You can feel anxiety rising inside you and your throat is closing up, making it harder for you to breathe.
"I sense you need convincing. Uh..." Minho walks up to you again and offers his hands to you.
You look at his hands for a moment before letting him help you to get up from the floor. You imagine your hands reaching for fragments of your imagination but instead of that, you feel his warm skin and firm grip as he hoists you up until you're standing on your feet.
If he's not real then how can you hold him?
He looks at you for a second to make sure you're okay then nods, "Let me show you how this will play out, alright? What will happen if we don't succeed," he says.
He walks to stand behind you and puts a hand in front of your eyes, "You ready?" He asks, his hot breath fans your neck as he speaks.
You're not sure what he's asking you to get ready for. You're not even sure if you're living the reality right now.
"Ready?" He asks again and once again his breath tickles your ear.
"3, 2, 1!"
As if you're being transported to another time and place, you open your eyes to see fire. It's the studio but it is on fire.
"This is what we're dealing with!" Minho says but you can't see him anywhere.
Fire is everywhere and you can feel the heat of it burning your skin and thick smoke filling your lungs that you start coughing, retching for air.
"Scorching wall of flame. It's agonizing death for all and so on," he continues.
You're flailing around to get air, walking to the window to open it only to find it hot to touch and you see that the whole city burns with you. You hear people screaming and sirens blaring everywhere but anywhere you look, it's just blazing fire.
You get away from the window until your back hits the table behind you and snaps you back to reality. Your head turns to the side and see Minho there, leaning against the table next to you.
"See, burning people they smell like... a burnt slice of meat on a griddle. It's better if you dissociate from it," he coyly says.
The images are so vivid that you feel the need to escape it, run away from here and so you do. You make a run to the door and he's already standing there next to it.
"If we're being honest, I don't want the apocalypse to come about any more than you do," he says.
You turn the knob and open it, running through the hall that leads to the exit door. Yet Minho is already there too.
"So let's stop it happening, you and me, mmh?" He says to you.
"All we have to do is deliver three sacrifices in seven days," he pops at the end of the hall.
You yank the door open and find him standing outside the door.
"It's only three killings," he says with a malicious laugh.
You rush to climb down the steps trying to escape what you know is like trying to get out of your head, it's inescapable.
"Animals don't count. You have to do humans," Minho informs at the base of the stairs.
You hurriedly unlock the iron gate and pull it open, running into the street in the middle of the night but of course, he's already there too.
"We can do like one kill a day but I'm good with one kill in two days and—"
You decide to go the other way from where Minho is standing and just aimlessly walking to avoid him. You know the neighborhood but not as good as when it's at night.
You walk down the stairs that lead to the riverbank, feeling more afraid of Minho instead of being mugged at night.
"That is fewer people than die falling off ladders in the same time period," Minho magically appears on the stairs, leaning against the railing.
"You'd be less lethal than a ladder," he adds with a sly smirk.
Your eyes are watery either from the cold wind or the anxiety taking over you. You sniffle before talking to him, "If I talk to you, you're real so I'm not going—"
You walk away before you can finish your sentence and walk along the riverbank, hugging yourself.
"Well, we started conversing already so that ship has sailed."
You can't believe that he's still following you when he knows exactly why you are trying to get away.
"No, it hasn't," you persist when you know he's right.
"Oh, oh yes it has," he talks back with a mocking tone.
You stop on your track and grunt in frustration, bending down to pick whatever is close to you.
Minho stops walking as well and says, "Don't worry. We're a team. I'm on your side, you know?"
He takes a step forward and keeps talking, ignoring that he's the reason why you're so frustrated.
"Let's just get kill number one under your belt, mmh?" He says in a softer tone.
You turn at him, your finger pointing right at his sharp nose and sternly tell him, "You can stop it because I am not killing anyone!"
You take a deep breath to calm yourself down and try to face him again, "You're not real so I don't why you keep talking to me," you snarl.
Minho coyly smiles at you and calmly responds, "That's what I'm here for. Moral support!"
He takes even a closer step to you and lowers his voice, "So, just hold on to that rock and hit someone with it!"
You get confused by what he said, "What rock?"
He eyes your hand on your side, "The one in your hand, love!" He answers.
You don't even realize you've been holding it until he pointed it out. The moment you know, you can feel its weight in your hand.
You gasp in surprise and glare at Minho, "I'm not doing what you say."
You hear footsteps coming from under the bridge and turn around to see a middle-aged man, "Are you alright, Miss?"
But Minho sees it as an opportunity, he stands and looms behind you, whispering evil things into your head.
"Mmmh... yeah," he hums in victory.
"He's perfect. No witnesses. Talk about beginner's luck," he whispers to you so close that it feels like he's living inside your head.
You feel his hand resting on your shoulder as he further persuades you, "Just one quick pop to the head and you're done."
For a second, you wanted to do what he said just so he could stop bothering you. However, the conscience in you is talking you out of it.
You walk toward the man and try to seek help from him, "Please, make him stop!" You say, gesturing to Minho who's standing right next to you.
The man looks confused by what you said and asks, "Make who stop?"
Disoriented by what's real or not, you keep looking back at Minho, then at the man, getting pushed to where you hit your limit.
The man walks up to you, feeling more concerned for you that he asks again, "Is everything alright?"
The relentless demon he is, Minho stands close next to you and whispers, "Would it help if I told you I can see into this man's soul and he absolutely deserves to die?"
This time you know it's his way to get what he wants, to get you to do the deed. You look away and hastily shout, "Shut up!"
Yet Minho keeps talking about the man as he's giving you a stare, one that you're way too familiar with, and convinces you that he thinks you're crazy.
"He has a wife and a daughter, you want to know what he does to them?" Minho's words hold intense hatred in them like you can feel the bitterness of it on your tongue.
You look at him to see if he's just tricking you to kill the man, "Don't trust me? Well, get a load of this!"
Minho covers your eyes with his hand again and this time, images of the man abusing his wife and daughter over and over again that you can't bear to watch anymore.
He snaps you back to reality again and says, "You'll save them both from years of pain, shame, and guilt."
Fueled by the rage from what you've seen through Minho's vision, you launch yourself at the man and hit him hard on the head, sending him tumbling to the side and into the river.
You stand there watching his body sinking into the water until the air stops bubbling to the surface of water and that's when you're certain that he's dead.
The man is dead.
Despite the shock, you manage to walk away while still carrying the rock in your hand, and once you realize you've been holding to it long enough. You throw it into the river then break into a run back to the studio.
You vomit everything into the toilet bowl once you're back in the studio, retching nothing but saliva and air.
Minho is standing at the doorway of the bathroom as he says, "It takes some used to but a couple more of that and I'll be out of your hair," he says.
You flush the toilet and sit on the bathroom floor, looking at him with teary eyes and the shock that hasn't left your body yet.
He pulls out the pocket watch and shows you that the Roman number written inside has gone one line, "See? One line has gone which means one sacrifice registered. Two to go."
You get up from the floor and drag yourself to the couch, feeling so drained by whatever has driven you to do unimaginable things, one that you thought you'd never done in your life.
-
Morning has passed but you can't find the energy to live for the day.
You're lying down on the couch watching the sky turn brighter with every hour passed. It hasn't sunk in yet what you did last night. It feels like a dream but at the same time, you can still feel the weight of the rock in your hand.
Minho has been quiet but you know he's lurking in the room and he decides to interfere by standing in front of you.
He tips his head to the side and asks, "How long are you going to stay like this?"
He then sits on the other end of the couch and says, "Well, you have to, at least, do whatever it is you do as a sculptor. You can't have people getting suspicious."
How come he takes it lightly? How did he get so calm after telling you to kill a man and watch you doing it?
"Fucking shut up!" You shout at him.
Talking to him makes everything unbearably real and it makes you recollect what happened last night. The guilt, the disgust you feel for yourself, the blood on your hands, you can see everything now under the daylight.
"I killed a man," you croak, saying it hurts that tears start to crawl out of you.
"I've killed someone," you meekly say with a tear rolling down from the corner of your eyes.
"Yeah, but that was hours ago," Minho nonchalantly says.
"I keep feeling the crack of his skull on the rock," you pause to sniffle and turn to look at Minho, "I did that."
But he wouldn't get what you feel because he's not a human in the first place. Minho is a demon.
"It's your fault. You're not even—" You stop talking because it's no use to talk to an entity that knows no compassion.
You brush your hair to the back and deeply sigh. Turning your head at Minho again to ask, "Why is this happening to me?"
You use the heel of your hand to press on your eye to stop crying, "I'm not a bad person."
"No, no, no," Minho quickly denies.
He moves to stand behind the couch and leans close to you, "It wouldn't work if you were. It has to be someone corruptible," he explains.
Your forehead wrinkles and forms a questioning look on your face, trying to make sense of what he said.
"If you think about it, what's happening here, it reflects really well on your character," he says with a smile.
What he said only assures you that you are a bad person. What you did is the reflection of what you truly are, a bad person.
You nod and wipe your wet cheek with the back of your hand. You get up to sit on the couch and grab your purse, rummaging inside to pull out your phone.
"What are you doing?" Minho asks with a panicked voice.
You dial the police line on your phone and show it to him, "Calling the police."
He jolts on his feet and sits next to you on the couch as you hit the call button.
"But why?" He asks.
You can hear the dialing tone ringing so close to your ear, "So they'll arrest me," you simply answer.
Minho nervously chuckles, "Then you won't be able to do the other sacrifices," he reminds you to rethink your choices.
"Good!" You shortly respond, trying to stay in your right mind this time.
"Then the Apocalypse will happen and billions will die. I know, I know, I get it. You don't want blood on your hand but if it saves billions..." He's babbling, desperately trying to stop you from turning yourself in.
The way he puts it that way, he makes you choose the lesser between the two evils. 
"Hello, police department, may I help you?" The operator speaks on the phone.
Kill three people who deserve it or save billions of innocent people?
You find yourself hanging up the call and putting your phone away, once again failing to do the right thing.
"See? You're a good person!" Minho says as he exhales in relief.
To be honest, you don't know what's good or bad, right or wrong anymore. It's one big blur to you.
You feel frustrated once again, you feel like a failure but on the bigger picture, you're trying to stop the world from ending.
But can you really save everyone?
-
You can't wait to dwell on everything in the comfort of your apartment. Before you can do all that, you need to set boundaries with him. You face him and look him right in the eyes, "I have six days to kill two more so please, give me a break for now."
Minho gets quiet for a moment before nodding in agreement, "That's fair."
Feeling the need to wash yourself from whatever it is clinging to your body, you get a shower and take your meds to help you decompress while sitting on the end of your bed in your bathrobe.
"I don't know why you take those pills," Minho says as he enters your room.
You quietly sigh at him and say, "Can you at least give me a few minutes until it's working?"
"Want to wash it down with wine?" He offers, showing the bottle of red in his hand.
You shake your head, "I can't drink alcohol after taking antidepressants," you answer, not sure why bother answering him.
"That sucks!" He says and puts the wine bottle down on top of your dresser, "I was thinking we could celebrate our first kill."
You feel a little faint at the mention of the word kill and celebrate being put in one sentence. You climb onto the bed and pull your duvet, "I need to rest."
Minho appears at the end of your bed, looking down at you with his dark, wide eyes, "That's right. We have a lot to do tomorrow."
"Can you turn the lights out for me?"
"Certainly."
The room turns dark but you get a newfound comfort in it.
"Goodnight," Minho's voice caresses your ears like a spring breeze.
You don't want to get used to this but you feel inexplicably at ease that there's someone else with you in this vast emptiness.
"Goodnight, Minho."
-
SIX DAYS TO THE END OF THE WORLD
You jolt awake to the sounds of your phone ringing on your bedside table and you know who it is without having to look at the contact name. Your fingers are tapping the phone screen as you squint your eyes to make sure you hit the accept call button.
"Yeah?" You ask as you put the phone on the side of your face while you're lying on your side with your eyes closed.
"You're still sleeping?" Kim asks, noticing the sleep in your voice.
"Mm-mmh," you hum in answer.
"You know what time it is?"
"I don't know. Nine or ten?" You wildly guess by how badly you want to go back to sleep.
You hear her sighing from the other line of the call, "It's almost 2 in the afternoon," she says.
You force your eyes to open to check the time yourself and see that it is indeed two in the afternoon.
"Oh?" You innocently gasp.
Realizing that may piss her off, you hurried to shift the conversation elsewhere, "Yeah, uh... why are you calling again?"
You fear that she's going to be mad about you abruptly leaving the exhibition or worse if she knew about Nick. You hold your breath, anticipating her answer.
"Oh, yes, I have good news," she says with a smile that you can feel from your end of the line.
"You sold four sculptures, darling!" She squeals.
That's exciting news but you don't have it in you to participate in that excitement, yet you feel relieved you can properly breathe at ease.
"That's... That's great!" You meekly say while raking your hair to the back with your fingers.
"I've been calling you since yesterday, you know that?"
"Oh? I, uhm..." You take a moment to think of an answer.
Summoned a demon? Found out that you have seven days to the end of the world? Killed someone to stop it?
"I needed—"
"Never mind!" She rudely cuts you off, "Guessing from how tired you sounded, you must be going straight back to work, huh?"
The sculpture is still a chunk of unshapen stone but yeah, you worked on it just a bit. Well, a work is a work.
"Yeah, I-I did," you sputter your answer yet thankful that all of her guesses are off the mark.
"I'll come with the paperwork tomorrow. For now, you can rest now or work some more, knock yourself out," she says, couldn't care less about what you're doing now that you've made money and she got to feed on a few percent of it.
"Thanks, Kim!" You say, because it's better to always be on her good side.
"Oh, come on! We both working hard," she kindly refuses but you know she feels entitled to this.
"Let's have a dinner to celebrate," she suggests.
"Yeah, yeah," you half-heartedly answer.
"Talk to you later, okay?"
"Okay."
"Bye!"
You don't even bother to say it back knowing that she'll hang up right after she said her bye. Since you've woken up already, you sit up on the bed and pull your knees up, hugging your feet as you gather your thoughts.
In your peripheral vision, you see a flash of red from the doorway of your room. You turn to look and see Minho standing with the side of his body leaning against the doorframe.
The all-black outfit he's wearing makes his honey skin glow and his hair look like a blazing fire under the sunlight. He smiles once he notices your eyes are on him.
"Morning, sunshine!" He sweetly greets you with a smile that is a little unsettling but a whole lot attractive.
He crosses his arms in front of him, exposing the veins coiling his forearms, "Oh, wait, it's way past noon," he says with a grin.
Looking at him only reminds you of the responsibility you're carrying on your shoulders: saving billions of people from being incinerated.
"Are you always like this or...?" Minho asks, breaking the silence that hung in the room as you think of the dire situation you're in.
Minho approaches you and stands at the end of the bed, "You can't stay in all day. We only have five and a half days left," he reminds you of the time-sensitive quest you're in.
The only way to save those billions is by killing three people. That's the only thing on the pro list, there are just too many cons, mainly on the killing part. The only good thing that comes out of it so far is that you only need to do two more killings.
God! What have you become?
"What should I do?" You hopelessly ask him even though it's a bad idea to ask a demon such a question.
"Just carry on as usual so the people around you don't get spooked," he answers.
It's you and him, him and you, there's no one else you can seek help from.
Minho is right. You can't just sit here and watch the day goes by or else the thing you've done would come to a waste.
You slowly scoot over to sit on the edge of the bed and rub the sleep of your eyes, not ready to face the day when you know you only have six days left to stop the end of the world.
"And while we're going on about the day we can decide who to kill next," Minho adds.
The devilish grin looks beautiful on his sculpted face but everything he says sending a chill down your spine.
-
"Oh, an old lady!" Minho exclaims as an elderly lady enters the elevator.
You silently watch as he scoots closer to her and smells her head, "She smells like... oh! She's sweet."
You silently groan in the corner watching what he's doing.
He places his hand on the lady's shoulder and says, "She can't stop thinking about the end though. She can't wait for it to come."
He looks at you with that wild grin plastered on his face, "You'd be doing her a favor."
You lightly shake your head at him to make him stop playing around the poor lady but he doesn't get the clues.
"She dreams of death. Even now—"
"Shut up!" You say through your gritted teeth.
The old lady turns to look at you, "What is it, my dear?"
You quickly put on a smile for her, "Oh, nothing," you politely say.
Minho walks up to stand next to you again and whispers in your ear, "Just do it. No one will miss her."
"Shut up!" You whisper back while throwing daggers with your eyes at him.
"She's nearly dead already!"
Thankfully, the elevator dings open and shoots his idea down as you step out of the elevator.
"We need to start to pick someone!" He persists as he follows you walking in the lobby.
Minho is such a nuisance.
It's hard to ignore him when he keeps talking, making remarks about everyone he sees, and constantly around you the whole time.
It's when you're working on your sculpture that you get to immerse yourself in your work and disassociate from reality.
All you hear is the slamming sound of your hammer on the chisel and pieces of stone falling onto the floor. Looking down at the mess you made, you spot one particular piece of stone lying close to your feet. You stare at it for too long you get the recollection of that night.
The weight of the rock in your hand, how you bashed someone's head with it, and the splashing sound of the man falling into the water, all of that vividly playing in the back of your head.
You stagger backward and drop your chisel onto the floor, the clattering sound echoing in the spacious studio.
"I've been meaning to tell you this," Minho appears from behind the sculpture, startling you.
"We should order food," he suggests.
You put away your hammer and take off your mask, walking to the mini fridge to get a bottle of water.
"You're a demon. You feed on..." You think for a moment to finish your sentence as you unscrew the cap of the bottle.
He snatches the flyer stuck to the fridge door and asks, "Pizza?"
You close the fridge and walk over to the couch, plopping yourself down before chugging some water into your system.
"You need to eat so you can—"
"Kill?" You finish his sentence.
Minho scrunches his nose and sits on the armrest of the couch next to you, "I was about to say think but yeah, that too," he says.
You untie your pinafore and throw it aside, he isn't wrong to say that you need to eat. What's the point of saving the world if you're going to die of starvation?
You let out a sigh and grab the flyer from his hand, typing the numbers on your phone screen.
"Cheese pizza, please? With a lot of pepperoni!"
How can you believe that he's a demon when his choice of pizza topping is like a toddler's?
-
"Good evening, Miss!" The concierge greets you as he sees you enter the door.
"Hi," you greet back, impatiently wanting to get back to your apartment to dwell on your fate again.
"Miss Kim came by and dropped something for you," he informs, taking out a big envelope from your mailing box.
There's a faint sound coming from the small TV tuned to a news broadcast when you come to the desk to collect it.
"Here it is, Miss," he slides the big brown envelope across the shiny surface of the desk. There's a note on top of it which you immediately recognize as Kim's.
You open to do a quick check on what's inside when you hear a glimpse of the news from the TV.
"...man found dead in the river has been identified as Ben Watson, a financial officer of a bank company, leaving a wife and a seven-year-old daughter who has been notified about his tragic death..."
You glance at the small screen and see the photograph of the man you killed that night. You can't possibly be wrong about this when you remember the horror on his face as you lifted the rock before swinging it hard to his head.
"Is there anything wrong, Miss?" The concierge asks.
You snap yourself out of your daze and put the envelope close to your chest as if someone about to steal it from you.
"No, no," your voice is quivering in panic at the sight of the man you killed.
"Thank you," you abruptly the conversation with gratitude and walking fast to the elevator.
The warm water doesn't work to calm you down when you're tainted inside. You feel filthy, inside and out. You feel sick seeing your reflection in the mirror.
You've been holding your medicine in your hand but you need something stronger, you ditch the pill and run to the kitchen.
You pull out the wine you have in the kitchen cabinet and drink it straight from the bottle, chugging it like it's water. You gasp when you stop drinking, taking the bottle with you as you sit on the sofa while you're still in your bathrobe.
"This is how you're going to end the day?" Minho asks, taking the bottle of wine from you to take a sip.
"Can you stop talking about killing for just—" You choke on air as anger bubbles up inside you.
Minho holds his hands up in defeat and leans back on the sofa next to you, "I'm just saying..." he meekly says.
The silence only resides for a minute until he speaks again, "Look, the earlier you get it done—" he stops talking when you shoot him a glare.
You take the bottle of wine from him and take a long gulp, a drop of wine escapes the corner of your mouth, dripping down your chin.
You aggressively wipe it with the sleeve of your bathrobe and recline on the sofa, looking out at the city lights that look like pinpricks in the dark of the night.
"I'm crazy..." you sadly remark.
Those words remind you of a sobering fact that what people think of you: crazy.
Ever since you were still an art student, people often found you talking to yourself in class, always in your little world with your imaginary friend. That leads you to this solitary life because normal people avoid crazy.
"People are right about me. I'm crazy," you state again, and saying it out loud makes your heart aches.
Minho turns his head and looks at you with his dark eyes that weirdly provide you warmth, "You're not crazy."
But why would a normal person kill a person because a demon told him to? You don't even know if he's real and not a product of your imagination.
"I'm a murderer..." you say with a heavy sigh and an even heavier heart.
He scoots closer until he sits close next to you, his shoulder bumps with yours on the big sofa that could fit five people. He looks at you and gently says, "Yeah, but not a crazy one."
Minho has a way of looking at bad things positively. You chuckle at the irony of his words. You can't tell if you should be happy that you're not crazy or sad that you're indeed a murderer.
He slumps down on the sofa to be on the same level as you, also turning his head to look at the view, "Want to know something?"
Instead of answering, you take a sip of the wine. You know he'll keep talking even if you refuse him.
"This is actually my first assignment," he shares.
He drops his hand on the space on the sofa, merely inches away from yours, "It's more of an initiation, sort of earning my wings."
You look at him and get a little taken aback by the proximity you can see yourself in his eyes. You almost forget what you were trying to say to him, "What are you trying to say?"
You look away because he looks exactly like the one you envisioned on your sculpture, divinely beautiful that it's hard to comprehend.
"I'm saying that I'm new to this too," he answers.
Again, you can't tell if you should be happy or sad to know that. Strangely though, you find comfort in his words.
You look at his hand splayed so close to yours and it evokes the curiosity in you that needs to be fed. You gently flip over his hand and gently slip your fingers on the spaces between his fingers, you can feel the warmth and the roughness of his finger pads on each finger.
Minho is real, he's real, you perpetually assure yourself.
You glance at him and he's looking at you, your eyes meet in a tender gaze.
"Are you real, Minho?"
You're aware of how much that question weighs. If the answer is no, you know the insurmountable pain you brought onto yourself.
He slowly blinks and you can see his dark lashes fanning out so beautifully. His crimson-red lips open and says, "I'm as real as you want me to be."
Words aren't enough to convince you. With the despair filling your heart, you lean in and innocently put your lips on his. It's a kiss that feels more than just a physical act, one that you didn't know you needed.
After getting the reassurance that you need, you pull away. However, the hand lingering on your jaw tells otherwise. He touches your face with just his fingertips yet it's enough to send a tingle inside.
Slowly, he leans in to kiss your closed eyelids ever so softly and before you know it, he brings your face closer to place a tender kiss on your lips. 
And for the first time in your life, you feel the warmth no one has ever given you.
-
FIVE DAYS TO THE END OF THE WORLD
"You wake up early!" Minho says as you dress up to get ready for the day.
You ignore his words, continue collecting your things around the room, and put them into your bag.
"Are you trying to match your clothes with me?" He says, looking at your all-black outfit while sitting on the headrest of the sofa.
This morning, you woke up on the sofa still in your bathrobe and a blanket covered your body. The first thing you remember is you kissed him last night and somehow, it convinces you to keep going with the quest.
However, you still feel conflicted with what you do. You need to make sure of one thing.
"How about this handsome fucker?" Minho asks, pointing to the other person riding the elevator with you.
The man looks indeed handsome, he dressed so impeccably when it's only ten in the morning. He catches you looking and smiles at you.
You politely smile back and look away only to face Minho who's standing on the other corner of the elevator.
"He'll be losing his hair at the age of 32 and spends the next 29 years taking it out on his wife," he whispers even though no one can hear him but you.
The taxi ride to the hospital only takes fifteen minutes and you know where to go right away from the array of flower arrangements outside the separate building from the main hospital.
"Please tell me you're not doing what I'm thinking?" Minho asks in a concerned voice.
You wish to be able to shut him up for a few minutes until you can find what you're looking for. The hall is packed with people in black attire to what you can safely assume are the guests of the mourning family on the two funeral services being held by two different families.
You read the sign that leads to the Watson family yet pretend to be the one visiting the other family. Before you can sneak into their funeral service, you see someone taking the daughter outside.
"This is a bad idea!" Minho panickly says.
It's kind of alarming to hear because it's the first time he sounded genuinely concerned. You follow where the little girl is being taken and turns out, she's being taken to the park outside, probably to avoid her feeling overwhelmed.
"You're not a relative. People will get suspicious of you!" Minho nervously whispers.
You come over to the two men chatting and kindly ask for a cigarette even though you don't smoke. You stand at the other side of the door and take a drag of the smoke to be seen convincing.
"I know you're worried..." Minho sighs.
He stands next to you with his head hovering close to your ear. He takes a breath before talking, "She's not in mourning. She's not not mourning," he says as you both quietly watch the girl sitting on the bench and drinking a juice box.
"Happy that it's finished but sad that he's dead. But it has finished!" He emphasizes the last word.
You take another drag and accidentally do it excessively, sending you into a coughing fit.
"You spared her another five years of it. A lifetime of therapy," Minho explains, "a lifetime!"
You look at him to see if he meant what he said. He's a demon after all, the vision he forced you to see could be misleading, a trick to make you do what he says.
He looks back at you and smiles, "She's a mom at 29. A nan at 57," he shares.
See? He knows how to comfort you even though you don't ask for it. You give up on pretending to smoke and stab the cigarette butts onto the big ashtray. You shove your hands into the pocket of your jacket and start walking away to the parking lot.
"Why are you telling me this?" You curiously ask.
He nonchalantly shrugs as he walks next to you, "I just thought you'd like to know."
-
"Did you see that?" Minho shouts as he leisurely watches TV with his feet up on the couch.
You pretend not to hear him and continue sculpting, hitting the hammer harder, louder to drown out his voice. As if he read your mind, he appears behind you and places both of his hands on your shoulders.
"You should see this!" He insists, steering your body and making you watch the TV.
It's a broadcast of night news about climate change and he magically changes the channel to show news about nuclear testing.
"It's manifesting. Do you understand?"
Minho keeps switching the channel to show you every bad there is happening in the world, everything that shows the sign that the world is close to ending.
You lightly shrug him off and say, "We got this kind of news a few years ago but—"
Minho holds you by the shoulders and shakes you awake, "This is real. We don't have much time and you're the only one who can stop it!" He reminds you of the harsh truth.
Somehow that only makes you question why you have to be the one to bear such responsibility. Billions of people on earth and they chose you?
"I'm not ready yet. I'm—"
"Don't you want to see that little girl live her peaceful future?" Minho asks.
This is where you know he's being the demon he is, using your weakness to his advantage and making you give in to the temptation.
It's not so much a temptation when you have no other options, it's killing or being engulfed in flames on Friday. You muster up your courage and think of something to do.
The first killing was what Minho said it was: a beginner's luck, the man happened to be there and an abusive bastard, even in his grave, he shall not rest in peace.
This time, you plan to do it meticulously and without mistakes. You walk to the kitchen and pull open the drawer, taking out a knife you occasionally use to cut your sandwiches.
Minho shakes his head in disapproval of your choice of weapon, "You're not a knife person," he concludes.
You look at him, demanding an explanation behind that haste conclusion.
"It's messy. You could hurt yourself," he explains.
That sounds right. You put the knife back into the drawer and look around the studio to find potential killing weapons.
Minho leans into your side and whispers, "Let's choose something that is more you!"
You look at him and see that he's eyeing the table full of your sculpting tools.
You pick up the medium chisel and show it to him to seek his approval. You meet another disapproval as he strongly shakes his head.
"It's too specific. They'll know it's you. You're the only sculptor living in the area," he gives you an insight into how the devil's mind works.
You must admit that he just saved you from making a mistake. You pick another weapon that you're familiar with but also gives you the upper hand to do the killing. You pick up the hammer and turn around to show him.
A smile rises on his face as he nods in approval, "That's you! You're a basher!"
You bring the hammer close and observe it, it feels good around your hand since it's a tool that you work with most of your life.
"You've had the practice now. It'll be easier this time," Minho says with a sinister smile.
You want to believe his words so much but the nerves get to you. Your breathing becomes erratic once you realize what you're going to do with the hammer.
Minho puts his hand on the small of your back and holds you steady, "Liquor courage! That's what you need! Booze!" He suggests.
"I don't keep any alcohol in the studio," you meekly say.
Considering that sculpting involves a lot of sharp objects, it's wise to not keep anything that would dull your focus.
"Also, I just took an antidepressant an hour ago," you inform him.
"Oh, shit!" He curses and leans his body to the back, against the table.
Minho crosses his arms in front of him, then rubs his chin as he thinks of something. He then leers at you with a smirk dancing on his face, "Well, do you want a drink?"
-
There's a bar a few blocks away from your studio.
You got here in need of liquid courage and there's plenty of them here. You plan to only consume enough alcohol just to calm the nerves but not too much to lose your focus.
It gets you anxious to step into a new environment. You decide to go straight to order drinks.
"Whiskey, please?" You say to the bartender with a handlebar mustache.
Bartenders tend to remember the faces they have seen and yours must not have registered into his memory bank. He puts away the cloth he's holding.
"You want ice with it?" He asks.
"I'll have it dry," you answer since you came here for the alcohol, not for refreshment.
"Easy, love. We have work to do," Minho reminds as he props a hand against the countertop.
Knowing that one drink wouldn't be enough and you don't want to bother the bartender again for a drink, you decide to double.
"Make that two, please!" You hurriedly say before the bartender starts making your order.
"You don't have to get one for me," Minho grins at you.
The bartender takes another glass with him to finally fill them with your choice of potion.
"I didn't," you whisper back at him.
You immediately pay for it and bring your drinks with you to the empty spot in the corner of the bar, hidden behind the pool table.
You slowly sip your drink and feel it running through your system, stripping a layer of senses off of you, making you less aware of your surroundings.
"Okay, you see anyone tasty?" Minho asks as he sits next to you.
He cranes his neck looking for the next human sacrifice among the people who are enjoying their concoctions. His finger points to the guy with a beanie and drinking a pint of beer.
"Oh, that one perfect!" He exclaims.
He stacks his hands on top of the table and leans forward as he further speaks, "Burglaries. Mostly target the elderly. What do you reckon?" He turns to you for opinions.
The alcohol is not quite there yet so you take a longer sip. You feel the alcohol burns your throat and you wince from the bitter aftertaste.
"No?" He asks as he looks at you.
You know he's asking about the human sacrifice, not the alcohol but the answer is the same, "No."
Minho moves on. His eyes are pacing around the room to study people and check their backgrounds with his evil power.
He taps your shoulder as he finds his next candidate, "See that girl with the pints?"
You can easily spot the girl with curly hair, carrying two pints of beer in her hands.
Minho leans in close to your ear to give his intel, "She went on holiday when she was 12 years old and saw her sister drown in a swimming pool."
He suddenly lowers his voice as he tells you the rest of the story, "She could have pulled her out but she just stood there and watched."
Maybe it's true that people are the scariest.
They may look ordinary and good and all yet inside, lies this darkness that they buried deep inside them. If Minho hadn't told you, you would have taken her as a pretty girl with a nice smile and nothing more.
Minho pulls at the sleeve of your shirt and points to another guy, talking to his friend by the pool table. You're about to wave him off again until the guy turns his head and you know who it is.
"How about him? He likes to secretly film girls by drug them and once he—"
"Sent a girl into overdose," you finish his sentence.
Everyone knows who Tim Shaw other than a student in our faculty and more importantly, people know what he likes to do to innocent girls yet no one dares to make him take responsibility for what he did.
Until one night, he drugged a girl and left her on the cold floor of a club, unconscious. There's no evidence that he drugged her or it was he drugged, ended up with him getting dropped off of all charges.
You have one more drink to finish and you gulp it in one go, wanting to use this opportunity to get back for what he did to that poor, innocent girl.
Minho triumphantly smiles, knowing that you have set a target on Tim's head.
"I think we have a contender," he concludes.
-
Tim is exiting the bar and you take it as an advantage.
You don't need to lure him out, you wait a minute before you follow him outside to not seem conspicuous. Once you're outside, you look side to side to see where Tim is going.
"Perfect location. No witnesses," Minho answers as you both find him turning to the back of the bar.
Tim seems to hear your rushed footsteps and turns around to see you. He seems to be taken aback and you doubt that he'll recognize you. Being crazy has its advantages, you're off the asshole's radar.
You nervously laugh as he looks at you. You quickly think of something to say, "Oh, my God! It's really you, Tim!" You say with fake enthusiasm.
"I'm sorry but who..." he gets all defensive.
"I'm—" You don't know how to explain yourself other than 'the insane one from art school'.
"Oh, wait, you're that girl, the sculptor, the... uh," he brakes before he can say the infamous title of yours.
"The freaky one?" You playfully say.
He bursts into laughter and nods, "Hey, don't get me wrong. I like freaky," he says.
Minho points to the carts of empty bottles and gestures for you to use them instead of the hammer inside your bag that weighs your shoulder the longer you're carrying it.
"I was just getting a drink but it doesn't feel good drinking alone," you lie even though that's how you prefer to enjoy your poison.
"Yeah, I bet," he says with a grin that showcases his whitened teeth and malicious intent.
"How about drinking at my place?" He offers.
"Home turf. Even better," Minho comments, appearing behind you.
You don't want to seem desperate to be with Tim because honestly, you're just stalling to find the perfect opportunity to kill him. It's time to put what you learned from Kim into practice.
"I, uhm..." you rub the back of your neck and shyly smile at him, "I don't think that's..."
As you pretend to consider his offer, he's secretly checking you out. His eyes travel up and down your body, you bet he thinks of lewd things even though you're dressed like a bible salesman with the same outfit you wore to the funeral service.
He takes a step forward and smiles at you, "I live not far from here. You can easily crawl back here if you think I'm a bad drinking partner," he seduces.
Tim must have thought you were as gullible as the other. Oh, he has no idea the surprise you have for him!
"If you don't mind, yeah," you say with a low giggle.
"Okay," he says with a triumphant smile.
His house is indeed only two blocks away from the bar and he keeps boasting about how he owns a house from his inheritance and the rising price of property these days.
"Please, come in!" He lets you into his house.
You step on a crumpled beer can as you enter the living room and are horrified at the amount of trash littering the place.
"A few friends and I watched a football match last night," he concisely explains.
He takes off his jacket and hangs it on the coat rack, "How about we drink in my room?"
You uneasily glance at Minho and he nods. You look back at Tim then put on a fake smile for him, "Yes."
He leads the way up the stairs and you follow him, climbing the steps with the hammer getting heavier and heavier inside your bag.
Tim turns around and sees you being hesitant, "There's no need to be shy now," he says with a lopsided grin.
You respond with a smile, keeping your head tilted up, and continue climbing up the stairs.
"Now!" Minho orders.
"Hit him with the hammer now!" He says again so close to your ear.
Your head snaps in his direction and hisses through your gritted teeth, "Shut the fuck up!"
Tim catches you talking and looks over his shoulder, "What's that?"
"Can't wait to see the bedroom!" You lie and add a giggle to sound convincing.
He smirks at you before pushing the door to his bedroom, "Come on in!"
His room is less messy than his living room in which he helplessly tries to make it seem tidy by flattening the pile of his duvet.
"You can sit down here," he says, patting the space next to him on the bed.
"You're not really going to have sex with him, are you?" Minho asks as he quietly watches you from across the bed.
A deadly glare is enough to answer him and he immediately refrains from pressuring you.
"I was just checking," he adds.
It's when you're in his bedroom that you start to fear Tim, not when you know what he is capable of. But at the same time, it fuels your hate fire, it reminds you of the reason why you need to eliminate scum like him.
"You keep your alcohol in your room?" You ask.
It's obvious that he took you here for different intention. He's taking you here for the sole reason that is to ruin your life.
"Oh, yeah, the drinks," he smacks his lips together and awkwardly paces in the room.
He reaches for the portable speaker on top of his dresser and turns it on, "You can wait for the drinks while listening to music," he says.
You nod, "That sounds nice!"
He gets out of his bedroom and heads back downstairs. While he's doing what you believe is spiking your drink with substance, you think of a plan on how you're going to kill him.
First, you take the hammer out of your bag and practice your swing. You get panicked with each second passed and haven't found a way to catch him off guard.
The footsteps on the stairs signal you that he's on his way here. You decide to do the classic way by hiding in the back of the door, planning to strike him from behind.
You see his figure entering the room, carrying two glasses of drinks in his hands, "It's your lucky day because I found a bottle of—"
Without thinking, you swing your hammer hard and hit him right on the side of the head. It's a weak blow and you can see that from how he's staggering backward, still conscious.
There's no turning back now that you have done it. You come charging at him, attacking him while he's still disoriented from the first blow.
He collapses onto the bed and not giving him time to recover, you keep hitting his head with the hammer with blood splattering the bed and wall with every swing of the hammer going onto his head.
You whimper as blood gets on your face and see that Tim is lying cold on the bed, dead. However, you land another blow just to make sure you've done it and leave no room for mistakes.
"You're good, you're good," Minho says from across the room.
That's when you stop and take a step back. It feels like your soul has left your body, you suddenly feel drained and the hammer drops onto the floor.
You look at the mess you made, the bloody mess and dead body, your life that is once far from all of it. Your throat suddenly closes up and you find it hard to breathe.
After a moment, Minho gets to your side to say, "You can't have that lying around," he's eyeing the bloody hammer lying on the floor.
With your mouth gaping for air, you bend down to pick it up and shove it back into your bag.
"Cleans anything you touched," Minho instructed.
You take a handkerchief from inside your jacket and use it to wipe surfaces you probably made contact with even though you're sure there aren't any.
You leave the bedroom after wiping the handle of the door and make a turn to the stairs when you hear the front door creak open.
You peek from the top of the stairs and someone is turning the lights in the kitchen.
"Get out before he sees you," Minho whispers.
It's bad when he needs to whisper like that even though no one can hear or see him, but you. The adrenaline is still pumping and you make the most of it by bracing yourself to make a run down the stairs and to the front door that is only a few meters away.
You take a deep breath before quietly descending the stairs without making any noise. You can feel your heart beating in your ear yet you keep going as the door is only a reach away.
You successfully land on the base of the stairs when your bag accidentally hits a flower pot, sending it breaking into pieces on the floor.
"Tim?" The man calls.
He looks at you with confusion drawn on his face, "Who are you?"
It's too late for you to break into a run as he sees your face and officially makes him an eyewitness. You can't leave an eyewitness, at least, not until you've done all three human sacrifices.
Is it necessary to kill him though?
You can think and consider as much as you want but it all comes down to the one question: kill or end the world?
-
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