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i-cant-sing · 3 years

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Daniel and YN part 9 🌗🌗

“Sensei, I think we have a lead on Daniel and YN.” “Tell me more, Tomura.” Shigaraki’s spine tingles when his master speaks.

His father figure, his sensei. Desperate to please, he pulled up the file his rat in the police station grabbed. “Last week there was an incident at the cafe in the pink district. There were several vases destroyed from an unknown explosion. The windows were cracked from trembling so hard. Almost all the footage tapes were melted, melted in the camera holder. When examined, the broken materials were giving off radiation. Radiation so bad it left a cop in the hospital.” “Interesting… you said almost all the footage?” “Yes. My rat got me the only tape that survived. When I watched it, I think I saw them.” AFO tilted his head. It was progressing faster than planned, but of course he was prepared for that possibility. Daniel seemed to be more subject to his emotions than his sister. Over the years AFO did not see an improvement on his mental development. It seemed that he would need to intervene sooner than expected if he did not want to lose his child to a hero. “Sensei. There’s also news that All Might and his protege are investigating the incident.” Now that was a complication. All Might and his other child should not be allowed total influence over the two. It was time to enact a different plan. One that involved seeing his past wife. “Thank you Tomura. I want you to keep an eye out for them. They are not to be harmed. I have to make arrangements. When you find them make sure you keep a nullifier on hand. In case Daniel needs to be calmed down.” With that, AFO hung up and opened a portal to the Midoryia household. He hasn’t gone by Midoryia for a long time, but even so he did not expect a warm welcome from his past wife. And when she opened the door to him, the look of worry on her face confirmed his suspicions. “They’re not here. Izuku is out trying to find YN. You can’t lash out at him or All Might. They’re-” “I plan to find them first. Izuku is not capable of handling Daniel’s quirk if they upset him. And you underestimate YN. She is very adept at hiding and defense.” “How would you know?” “Because I keep a watchful eye on all my children.” “All your..?” “Four years before we conceived Izuku, I donated my DNA for a little… experiment. The mother had a minor quirk involving radiation. From that pregnancy cane Daniel. Four years later, months after we conceived Izuku, I had my DNA donated again. YN was born from that.” “They 're just experiments to you?” “At first, yes. I did not plan to get attached. But I did. And I have been attached since. I was there when Daniel first displayed reminances of a quirk. I was there when YN learned to balance herself on a high wire. I found them when they were lost. I arranged for her mother’s job to move her to this district and apartment building. I’m the reason you gained custody of them if you recall the deal we made.” “I…” “My point is I may not have been there for Izuku’s life but I have been there for my other two. And I don’t plan to relinquish my children to All Might or those heroes. Is that understood, All Might?” Inko turned around to see her son and his mentor standing in the doorway. Both were glaring at the villain. Ready to ounce at him if need be. But without him she would lose the children. “Mom get away from him.” “Is that any way to speak to your father Izuku?” “YOU LEFT!” Before the fighting could get any worse Inko stood between them. “My baby, my love.” She turned to All Might and Izuku. “We may not like it but he is their father. And he probably would be useful to returning YN and Daniel safely. We have to sit down and figure this out. For them.” So with great tension, Two rivals sat across a dinner table along with a green haired boy and a troubled mother. All discussing the custody of two individuals that didn’t belong to them. 🌗🌗

Daniel and YN part 10 🌗🌗

Sometimes YN wished she had made more of an effort to make friends. Yes Daniel was her best and closest friend, but it would be nice to have a girl or boy her own age to talk to. Someone that she could talk about stupid crap with. She tried being friends with Izuku when she and her brother officially moved in with the Midoryia’s, but they never saw her or Daniel as their own people. Izuku never really cared that YN was great at math. The best in her class. That she had a tiny interest in math because the answers were always exact and never had to be debated. He didn’t bother to care that YN liked reading romance and horror stories, that she really liked cheesy murder mystery movies with a twist villain hidden in plain sight. Izuku knew those things about her, but he just wrote it down in his notebook and filed it away like she wasn’t a person. They were no better to Daniel either. He was treated like an incompetant child. Like he was stupid and a baby. Sure he was disabled but he wasn’t incapable of everything. If they bothered talking and treating him like a person they’d see how complex he was. They’d see that he was so talented when he painted, that he could find a focus on the small important details. That Daniel, while he couldn’t understand complex emotions, could create beautiful things. Daniel had a delayed mind, but he loved figuring out puzzles. Daniel loved pinwheels and painted windmills, loved when they spun to beautiful colours. But did they care, no they saw only a child that needed to be coddled and kept away from how beautiful the world could be. YN couldn’t help but tear up as she held her knees to her chest. Why? Why couldn’t Izuku have been the friend she needed when her parents died? Why didn’t she try harder to make friends when she was at public school? Why did she act so introverted and angry at everyone? Just as she was about to cry, YN felt two long arms wrap around her. “Why you sad?” “It’s nothing really. I just… I really miss momma and pop. I really wish they were here.” “....Me too.” So the two hugged tightly. For tonight and every night that will come, they’ll have each other. In another place, a skinny blue haired villain placed a severed hand on his face. Determined to please his master, his father figure, Shigaraki set out to find the two troubled teens. They couldn’t be hidden forever. Besides, AFO should be allowed to see his children. He was their father, by blood. Shigaraki wasn’t an idiot though. He knew that the incident caused a commotion for those hungry for power. Ready to use quirk off the Boy. Shigaraki made sure to send some of his underlings out to gather intel and report whether or not other crimelords had their sights and claws on the teens. He had to be careful not to cause a scene and bring the heroes upon them. As the cold night blew his hair slightly, Shigaraki pondered the situation. Sensei had a wife, and three children? But not all share the same mother. He didn’t raise his three children, but he looked after them. But out of all of them Sensei chose to raise Shigaraki. He felt special. Sensei wanted to be near him. Nonetheless, these two were family. His sorta siblings. And he would bring them home. 🌗🌗

Daniel and YN part 11 🌗🌗

Young Izuku had the foundations to be a great hero. He was kind, string in heart, brave, and a little stupid. Toshinori knew that he would make a fine owner of OFA. And when he trained the boy he saw the makings of a new symbol of peace. Inko was a beautiful woman, even if she was too anxious to notice. He felt this urge to love and protect her. And over the months with her and Izuku, they formed a genuine love. Toshinori was a little concerned at first when he met YN and Daniel though. He did not really understand why they were kept so sheltered and why they were so babied. YN seemed like a capable young woman. But like with Izuku and Inko, the more time he spent near them, the more he felt protective, loving, obsessive. “Ah, good morning young YN. How was your night?” “What do you think. You stole my switchblade.” Inko seemed to bristle a bit at YN’s angry tone. “Sweetie.. We just thought that you could get hurt. It’s for the best. You know that w-” “That you only want the best for me. Yea I heard the same argument over and over again. And each time it’s still bull.” Before either could reprimand her, she stomped to her room slamming the door. Mornings usually weren’t so great. Especially when the night before they had to make big decisions regr=arding her safety. On All Might’s days off he would spend time with the Midoryia’s, sometimes it would go smoothly and sometimes the mood couldn’t surpass a funeral. All Might felt that he should’ve noticed the signs that YN was going to run away sooner. Perhaps then he could have intervened and then the whole family could air out why things were the way they were.

The first signs had to be when YN kept interfering with the way Inko felt was right to take care of poor Daniel. “Come on Daniel, It’s time to go to the learning center.” “Oh sweetie, I forgot to tell you that we pulled Daniel out of the center classes.” “What?” When YN’s face turned, All Might could see that a screaming match would begin, well not really a match considering young YN would be doing all the screaming. He was just here to pick up young Midoryia but he couldn’t help but stop in. “Well it’s just that Daniel learns so much better at a home, and the center is full of so many people that would be mean to him. Besides, he doesn’t really need to be at the center when I can take care of him.” “Yes he does! How is he gonna learn to cook and clean and manage any type of money if you refuse to let him learn!?!” “Daniel’s mind can’t handle all the new information. He might start to panic and his quirk might-” “YOU don’t know a GODDAMN thing about him! About what is best for him! You wanna do what’s best for my brother?! Than STOP treating him like he’s completely incompetent!” Before she could yell another word All Might stepped in with his trademark ‘I AM HERE’ . “Now young YN that’s no way to speak to your foster mother. She just believes that someone more personal should be teaching Daniel these things. That's not so bad is it?” “But-” “IS IT?” “Fine.I’ll get my school work done early so that I can teach Daniel in the afternoon.”

With that the argument was resolved. If only that was the last time she lashed out at them. If only he prevented the biggest fight that broke out between Izuku and YN. “Will you stop pestering him about his quirk?! It obviously makes him uncomfortable!” YN had walked into the room seeing Izuku asking Daniel all sorts of questions about his quirk and how he used it. It would’ve been fine had he stopped at the first two questions, but he kept going on and on. Wouldn’t stop asking about the destructive qualities, or about how his mind sometimes couldn’t comprehend his own quirk. Izuku didn’t notice how uncomfortable Daniel was getting. “I was just asking him some questions!” “You were being a jerk!” Before Izuku could yell at her again, the table and the mirrors broke. Both turned to see Daniel staring furious and scared, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Don’t scream at my sister!” He spoke angrily. He was so brave, so ready to defend his baby sister. Daniel could’ve brought the whole room down, had All Might in his ultimate form not stepped and stopped him. All Might should’ve known not to grab him and held him down. He should’ve known that the constriction made Daniel panic. Made him destroy more things to make it stop. The screaming continued, until YN grabbed her brother and calmed him. They barricaded themselves in her room that night. And in the morning, the three tried to act like it didn’t happen. All Might took the kids out for the day. Celebrating Izuku’s placement in the hero program. The signs were there that day. The signs that they were going to run. That they were going to leave. If only All Might had seen the signs. If only Toshinori hadn’t gotten attached to them. 🌗🌗

Daniel and YN part 12 🌗🌗

Toshinori was a good man. He wasn’t perfect but he was a good man. He had a moral code and knew right from wrong. Though selfish desires sometimes took his attention more than the moral desires. He knew it was wrong to smother and coddle Daniel and YN, but he couldn’t help wanting to protect them. Even if they didn’t want it. He felt like Izuku, YN, and Daniel were like his children. He felt just as protective over Izuku as he was over YN and Daniel. But he couldn’t coddle him like the other two. He had a duty to Nana to pass on OFA, Izuku had to live up to that power now. And he was so dedicated to being a hero. Toshinori wanted to do right by all the kids. He felt that it was his duty to find his missing kids, and bring them home. Let YN know that he didn’t feel angry that she left. Let Daniel know that he was sorry. So before he could work with his arch enemy, he decided to learn more about the two. So that when they were found again, he could show them that he was ready to be a real mentor figure, a guardian. When he entered YN’s room, it was not what he expected. He thought the sullen looking problem child would have grunge posters, a dirty room, torn up clothes and what not. Imagine his surprise when he saw colourful mini lantern lights strung over the walls. A math book along with several romance and horror storybooks. Her bedspread was a mix of several pillows and a giant comforter. Something that he’s sure would look inviting after a long day. There was a fluffy rug that cushioned his feet. The curtains were dark and cut out all light. On her bookshelf there was a collection of old murder mystery and comedy movies. When he popped one into the small tv player, he felt a stronger connection than before with her. Laughing at the cheesy twists and overacting. She was more than just a quirkless victim. She felt like a daughter to him. Toshinori never understood why he never went into Daniel’s room before. Of course Inko was there. Holding Daniel’s favorite pillow. This room, like the other, was a window into someone that Toshinori never actually knew. For some reason he thought Daniel would have soft light wall colors and some doodles on the wall. But the walls were an earthy dark blue. His blankets were patterned with prints of old paintings. There were canvases of unfinished pieces of art littered around the desk and bed. Notes and papers of unconnected thoughts all tucked away in a drawer. He spotted a framed photo of what he assumed were Daniel’s parents. Hidden under his pillows. When he saw the ceiling, it was a mix of a starry night sky but had handprints all over. In various colors. Touching his own hand to the print, Toshinori felt a connection to the boy. It was like a click happened. He wasn’t just a boy struggling with his developmental disability. Daniel saw the world in colors and was just frustrated that no one could understand those colors. Daniel wasn’t an emotionally compromised person with a violent quirk, he was a boy who wanted to be happy and understood. That day, Toshinori finally felt the wall that was preventing him from really understanding these two was finally lifted. And had he been listening to his moral side he would’ve known to not pursue them. But his selfish side won that fight. With his new understanding came an ugly obsession. A protective instinct to hold and protect them even more. Whilst quirkless YN might be strong and smart, she was too emotional and easy to provoke. Daniel might not be safe out there either. He loses control when people don’t understand. But Toshinori understood now. He would keep his children safe. Izuku, Daniel, and YN. Even if he had to work with the devil. “I’ll bring you home. Everything will be okay. Because I am here.” 🌗🌗

Amazing work as always moon anon! The story has become quite interesting! Its inspiring me to write for platonic AFO, something that I've not talked about for quite a while. Him and well, Erasermic

#moon anon

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heyitsyn · 4 years

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Keeping Up With Seijoh Ep. 6

a/n: DKFJSLDKFSJ OMG YOU GUYS IVE LTR BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS FOR SO LONG AACCKKK!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

also, omg im screeching bc BAHAHAHA THERE IS GOING TO BE A SLIGHT PLOT TWIST YOU GUYS!!!!!

for more seijoh content, check this masterlist out!

anon:

- Ever since yn got lost during a trip to another school, the team made the rule that she has to hold one of their hands. Its probably so small compared against the boys. She got lost cause babie saw a cat

SKDLFJLSDKFJ EWWWWWWWW IM SCREECHING IN DISGUST RIGHT NOW LIKE THATS SO DIS COS TANG OIKAWA TOORU LIKE LEAVE MY GUY ALONE!!!!!!! #LETMAKKILIVE

lmao yep this is really happening

okay so anyways

you guys know how seijoh is like known around the prefecture right?

and we all know that nekomata and old ukai are like besties so they were talking over the phone right

and nekomata was complaining that his players were already fed up with playing against the same people and they wanted to be challenged and wanted new exposure to other players and all that jazz

old ukai was cackling at the other side bc haha youre actually begging me to find you new teams now?

but anyways

theyre like besties forever so ofc old ukai would help

and by help, he turned to poor zaddy keishin and told him to look for teams that could be sent up to tokyo and play against nekoma

‘what?! im already busy and i dont have time to scout-’

‘YOU WATCH YOUR TONGUE BOY! I CREATED YOUR FATHER AND WITHOUT HIM, YOU WOULDNT BE HERE TODAY!’

‘BOLD OF YOU TO ASSUME I WANTED TO BE ALIVE IN THE FIRST PLACE!’

family goals 😍😍😍

but keishin still listened to his grandfather and recommended seijoh as being the one to go as they are one of the hardest to beat opponents in the preferecture

but its more like he wants to hear about nekoma being destroyed by oikawa’s service aces and grovel at their feet since naoi always made fun of them saying country boys arent as good as city boys

LIKE PLEASE

anyways!!!!!!

nekomata got word of it and immediately phoned aoba johsai and talked to the coach

‘yes, i heard from an old friend of mine that you are quite strong’

nekomata praised, wanting and desperate to have them come up

‘and do you think your team is good enough to beat us?’

LMAO YESSSS GRANDPA IRIHATA!!! DRAG THEM KITTIES!!!!

WAIT NO THAT SOUNDS WRONG

but they settled on their disagreements and decided yep they were going to go up there and have a practice match

however

irihata and nekomata wanted their boys to be kept in the dark about who this team is as knowing them, they have sources to find them tapes of old plays

they wanted it to be a fair match

even the managers were being kept from it as they could easily be influenced by the players for that information

irihata walked into the gym and announced a team meeting to which they stopped

you sat down next to kyotani, who pulled you beside him and wrapped a protective arm around your waist

‘we have a practice match against a prominent team up in tokyo in 3 days. make sure you have your plays right and pat down as they are known to be quite an opponent’

the boys shouted a determined cheer and they all hussled back to practice

you were running around, tending to everyone with towels or medical tape

once you finally sat back down on the bench, you noticed your phone screen light up, indicating someone sent you a message

it was natsu

you swiped open and smiled softly at his picture

it a selfie of him in front of his school as you told him to send you a picture that he arrived safely

‘got here in one piece since im not ready to meet daddy satan yet’

i hate him you guys

after receiving news of his mother gaining custody of him, he cheered and was able to go back to tokyo without his father in the picture

lets just say,,, hes not nice

anyways

you were sad to let him go but you understood he missed his friends and his almost-boyfriend so you were able to say goodbye easily at the station

‘gross but im pretty sure katsuki would blow satan to smithereens’

‘hehe ;) he would’

‘N A S T Y’

you cringed but giggled and the team noticed so they tried hard to gain your attention back on them

‘aaa!!!!! y/n-chan!!! my leg!!!!’

‘i think i chopped off my finger!!!!’

‘my head snapped off my body!!!!!’

you rolled your eyes and placed your phone down before walking over to mattsun to help him snap his head back on his neck

finally, it was the day of the match

you were arranged to stay the night at tokyo to have a few practice matches with this unknown team

the team was arranged to meet at the train station at 9:45 since the train leaves at 10

you arrived the earliest to keep track of everyone and just because you were actually kinda excited

theres this weird feeling in your stomach that isn’t exactly bad but its,,, giddy

you sat on the bench, waiting for the team

they all started arriving one by one and you were doing a headcount for everyone but you were missing one

you checked your phone and you noticed he was getting late

it was already 9:54

you hate it when people are late to meeting time so you were slightly irritated

you dialed up your captain’s number and you stood up, pacing around

‘hello~~~~ y/n-cha-’

‘oikawa-san! do you know what time it is?! you were arranged to come here at specifically 9:45 but its 14 minutes passed that so where the hell are you? you better have a good excuse you piece of-’

‘aww y/n-chan oikawa-san is sorry’

someone whispered in your ear from behind and you flinched, surprised at the sudden person

oikawa wrapped an arm around your waist while his other hung up the call and you turned around, arms crossed while pouting at him

‘sorrysorrysorry!’

he apologized and you rolled your eyes

‘i swear, oikawa-san. if i find out it was because of your hair again-’

‘oi shittykawa! your sister just called me and you left the curling iron on, you stupid bastard!’

iwaizumi’s shout made oikawa sweat and pale

your eyes glinted dangerously

‘this is the last straw, oikawa-san’

you growled and he shot down to his knees and was about to start praying to you when the coach decided he had enough entertainment for the day and called everyone to gather around

‘heres your tickets. this train will get us there around lunch time so dont worry about getting hungry’

the shinkansen train had 2-person seating so everyone fought secretly amongst each other to sit next to you

literally, their private group chat was blowing up until early this morning at the shouts and yells of everyone caps locking their arguments as to why they deserve to sit next to you

the only one who didnt was mattsukawa issei

bc quite frankly, he didnt care who he sat next to and although it sounds nice to be next to you, he isnt exactly the comfiest to sleep on due to the obvious size difference

lmao like your head probably wouldnt reach his shoulders bruh

now youre not oblivious

or blind

so you noticed the glares of everyone as you all stood for the train to come

and you also noticed mattsun just standing there, bored, so you sneaked over to him, wrapping your arms around him

‘arent you excited, mattsun-san?’

he gasped quietly at your sudden appearance but he smirked

‘its nothing special. just another team that we’re going to beat’

you giggled at his confidence and you walked in front of him so you could properly be held by him

it was practically second nature now by the way he just opened his arms and you crashed into them, his own wrapping around your shoulders to hold you tight

‘i love your confidence so much mattsun-san’

he flushed red and furrowed his eyebrows, head turning to the side to hide the obvious effect you had on him

‘whats the point of playing when you cant be confident’

‘aaaa why are you looking away mattsun-san!!!’

lmao when the team saw you sitting next to mattsun, they all felt so betrayed like bruh

ltr kyo and iwa were about to go feral

oikawa was like ready to screech his ass off but one look from you made him shut up

‘i sincerely, really, truly hope youre just complaining about the seat hurting your flat ass, oikawa-san’

KDFJLSDKFJSDL Y/N NO STOP IT

it was kinda funny actually bc everyone was all pouting and sulky while you just have mattsun who’s smirking like ‘beat that’

SDKFJLSDKF I LOVE MATTSUN’S SMIRK LIKE PLEASE OMG

ofc he let you sit at the window bc you love window seats

like iwa, he also pulls up the arm barrier thingy and you shuffle closer to him and mattsun practically combusts

the ride isnt expected to be very long but you still found yourself sleeping during it

mattsun has his arm around your shoulder while your head is leaning against his peck man boobie

omg its so cute like he actually slides lower on the seat to help you reach his shoulder and hes slouching and back is hurting just for you

;’)

he was awake the whole time bc he couldnt sleep with his heart beating so hard it might rip out of his chest

ew thats kinda gorey

your hand was gripping his own and to pass time, he found himself fiddling with your fingers

an unknown smile appeared on his face at the obvious size difference between yours and his

a finger traced different and foreign shapes just to feel the softness of your hand and he combusts again when you unconsciously squeeze his hand

mattsun couldnt help but bring your linked hands up and kiss the back of yours

it was soft, gentle, and his lips lingered there for more than a second

then a sudden feeling of fatigue washed over him and he leaned his cheek against the top of your head

the last thing he remembers is the smell of your f/s (favorite smell) shampoo

then you guys arrived in tokyo

irihata had to personally wake you all up because even naoi fell asleep and everyone fell asleep

irihata gently shook mattsun awake and when the boy opened his eyes, the older man nodded over to your form

‘gently wake her up’

as if mattsun didnt already know

thats why he softly ran the pad of his thumb on your cheek that was exposed to the air

‘y/n~~’

he coos and your nose twitches, in between the border of dreams and reality

‘darling, wake up, baby bear’

FSDKLFJSDLKSDJKFJDSKLFJSDLFKSJDLF YOU GUYS I CANNNNTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

also im listening to kataomoi by aimer so that kinda influences the ‘darling

his deep voice that surprisingly reaches a level of quietness made your eyes flutter

your whole face scrunched at suddenly being woken up but the sight of mattsun’s genuine smile made you mirror it and cuddle closer for an extra dose of warmth

‘hmm, is my baby tired?’

he teasingly whispers and you nodded, snuggling even further and he gently cups your face

his hold had made your cheeks squeeze slightly together and your pout increased the cute factor

‘nwoooo dont skweeze demmm’

you slurred and he chuckled

‘hai hai’

‘kwiss it better’

you demanded and he full on laughed before moving his hands to your jaws so he could plant many kisses on your cheeks

the repeated kisses tickled so you giggled and squirmed

‘aaaaaa mattsun-san it tickles!!!’

your playful protests forced him to stop and allow you to actually sit up

as usual, your hair was a bird’s nest and mattsun attempted to settle it out

‘hah, y/n-chan your hair is like another being itself’

he choked out and you pouted at him

‘so mean! mattsun-san is so mean! baba-san! rescue me!!’

yahaba was known in the team to be the one who fixed your hair and you trusted him the most with it

hearing his name being called, the pretty boy dashed towards you and mattsun’s seats

‘is senpai giving you trouble again? come, honey, come to baba-san’

mattsun gave him a look for the younger’s passive agressive tone

oikawa immediately dashed over right next to yahaba

‘oh? y/n-chan! oikawa-san is here!!’

iwa and kyo growled

‘SHUT UP SHITTYKAWA!’

meanwhile irihata and naoi were just done

they just wanted to get off the train like is that such a big favor?

finally!!!!

seijoh was able to actually make it to the city and ngl, despite living in sendai, you were actually overwhelmed by the bustling city of tokyo

there were people all over the place and many cars and you were being pushed around

it didnt help that it was ltr lunch hour and a flurry of business people just flooded out of their buildings

you unconsciously gripped your bag and focused on just not tripping over people so your eyes were trained on your feet

then in the corner of your eye, you saw a tiny animal that was in danger of being stepped on so you ofc had to go chase after it

you shouted at some people to watch out and to not step on it

but then it disappeared

the moment you looked up, everyone was gone

you panicked and your head was turning from side to side

‘MATTSUN-SAN?! IWA-SAN?! KYO-SAN?!’

you shouted but it seems your voice wasnt loud enough

GIRL YOU GOTTA MANIFEST THAT BULLHORN VOICE

worry and dread bubbled inside of you but you stopped, just trying to calm down and think

then you saw the flash of white again so you hurriedly ran after it, not knowing that you were straying away from the city and towards the suburbs

you noticed you were now lost at the less amount of feet walking and this wasnt the city and you were now away from the team

taking yoru eyes off of the cat, you looked around to confirm your fear and that gave the cat an opportunity to disappear again

yoo crookshanks

huffing a curse, you pulled your phone out of your bag and dialed each

your phone wasnt reaching the boys and no one was picking up

what the heck

you ended up at some quieter and less crowded spot

like a neighborhood

you contemplated calling natsu as he lived in tokyo but tokyo was a big city and you were at some neighborhood so its highly unlikely he would know where you are

so you just walked around, looking for a place to sit and think like a park

then you heard a distressed meow

you were just walking and hearing that loud cry of help made you stop and immediately follow the sound

‘kitty? kitty?’

you called out even though you knew fully well they didnt understand you

but the cat cried even louder and you heard another cat

it was less higher pitched and honestly, you just felt like there was another cat

as you looked around, you saw the same cat you followed after and it bobbed its head at you as if asking you to follow him

‘you want me to go with you?’

the cat blinked then turned around and started walking

‘okay then’

you took the time to inspect the actual color of the cat

it was dominantly white furred but it had multiple colored spots, mainly yellow and brown

you eventually ended up at a large tree with a cat shivering on the biggest branch

it was black and had some fur sticking out at the top of its head and it looked young so its probably a kitten

you tutted and reached out your hand but it recoiled, hissing at you

BOI SHE TRYING TO HELP YOU WHAT

‘hey, i want to help you’

you softly said and maybe youre just doctor dolittle?

bc it stopped hissing and started whining instead

‘kenma-san! i swear i saw it just now-’

a sudden foreign voice made the black haired cat hiss again and this time, even you were counted as a threat

the appearance by the corner of two boys made you glare at them

one was freakishly tall with grey hair and scary green eyes while the other was shorter and had bleached hair that grew out

they both wore running shorts and black shirts and they looked like they were on a run or something

then you had a thought

this guy was tall

he could help

‘hey! you!’

you waved and the boys stopped, eyes wide

they pointed to themselves and you nodded

‘yes, silly! especially the tall one!’

the other had a flash of a glare that disappeared almost immediately but the ‘tall one’ happily skipped over

‘oho, hello chibi-chan’

KDFJSLDFKSDJLFDKSJ YES IM CONDENSCENDING

you puffed your cheeks out in anger at the nickname but this was not the time

‘that kitty up there is stuck. and i cant help it because its scared. and its all the way up there’

you pointed and he nodded

‘i followed that cat here too but i needed someone else. thats why i brought kenma-san’

your eyes shifted to ‘kenma-san’ who was focused on the other cat who also stared back at his spot by the tree

hmmm, they look kinda similar

‘well! we need to help it,,,,,, grandpa-san!’

taken aback by the nickname, the tall guy gasped while the blonde boy choked out a sudden laugh and you giggled

‘GRANDPA?!’

‘yea. you know cus you have gray hair’

you reasoned and he was about to retort when he stopped himself

‘no. we have more important matters in hand. kenma-san, come stand on my shoulders. chibi, use my jacket to catch it if it falls’

you scrambled to do your task but you heard kenma-san mumble

‘you cant tell me what to do’

‘oh hey! whats your name?’

you asked and the tall guy waved

‘im lev. haiba lev. first year’

‘kozume,,, kenma. im a second year’

‘oh! then nice to meet you! im l/n y/n!’

introductions had to be cut short as you all assembled

kenma wobbled while lev cringed at the obvious pain but they gritted their teeth and kenma lunged to grab the cat

but the cat jumped away, falling to the ground where it was caught safely by you

thankfully the jacket saved you from scratching but after a few soft whispers of reassurance, the kitty calmed down and it resulted in just shaking

‘its okay. we’re okay. i got you’

you were completely oblivious to the fact that kenma and lev were on the ground, bleeding after falling, or the shout at the distance

‘kenma! lev!’

‘Y/N-CHAN!’

you three turned to see two groups of boys coming from two directions

on the right had a guy with black hair similar looking to the cat on your arms

while the left had your familiar looking captain

‘oikawa-san!’

you shouted and he ran up, eyes wide with worry

‘where were you?! why did you run off?! you shouldn’t-’

he rambled but your eyes stopped at the appearance of your familiar pink-haired cousin

‘natsu?!’

you shrieked and he had an equally surprised expression

‘y/n?!’

he shouted

‘what-!’

he started but you beat him to it

‘why are you here?!’

you pointed to the people behind him

‘im,,, a manager. im a manager for my volleyball team’

‘volleyball,,,’

you trailed off

‘VOLLEYBALL?! NEKOMA?!’

you knew of your cousin’s school but you didnt think you guys would meet here

‘shes your cousin?’

someone piped up from the back and natsu nodded, still looking at you

‘oya? the apple doesnt fall far from the tree, then. hello gorgeous, the names kuroo tetsurou’

KSLDFJDSK I HATE THIS LIKE PLEASE HES JUST A NERD YET I WRITE HIM LIKE THIS I HATE MYSELF

‘HAH?! YOU BACK OFF!’

kyotani started but you caught him in time, holding him in your arms

‘nooo,, calm down, kyo-san’

natsu’s nose crinkled and his mouth curled

‘ugh, nice to see you too, brat’

‘BRAT?! YOU BASTARD!’

‘IM A THIRD YEAR, YOU BASTARD!’

kyotani was held back by oikawa and iwa while your cousin was with that kuroo guy and lev

you hurried back to the rest of the team and they each glared at you but they had an obvious expression of relief

‘do that again y/n-’

‘i know, makki-san. youll use a leash backpack’

lets just say its not,,, the first time youve been lost

‘new team rule. youre holding someone’s hand at all times. no matter what, always hold us’

yahaba scolded and watari nodded

meanwhile, mattsun grabbed your hand and gripped it tight

‘youre never leaving my sight again’

his tone was different from his usual playful and teasing voice

you knew he was very worried and that made you feel really guilty

‘im sorry’

you whispered and he pulled you to him, hugging you tightly

‘its okay. youre here right now and thats all that matters’

you nodded and you turned your head, leaning on his chest to watch oikawa yelling and shouting at this kuroo guy while your cousin and kyo were arguing and you chuckled

this was,,, chaos

‘dear god, you shouldve let me be lost for a few more hours’

you mumbled, smiling lightly when mattsun’s chest vibrated as he laughed

‘take me with you next time’

‘i will’

you hummed

‘Y/N-CHAN! YOU ARE NOT GOING NEAR THIS-THIS MONGREL!’

oikawa screeched, stomping his way over to you

you smirked

‘oi kuroo-san! lets hang out after the match!’

oikawa screamed

a/n: now that my nekoma manager is out, i can finally have a manager x manager interaction and uwuwuwuwu just wait until i finish the others and ill do that req anon sent in ;) if you sent it in, you know what im talking about ;)

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realdealrealtalk · 3 years

Text

Grand Army

I am in love with this show. I’ve heard people say it’s a Netflix euphoria which I kind of agree to disagree with, GA is more muted and realistic in a way. Not to say Euphoria isn’t real but the show is very dramatic in a sense. GA would actually happen in everyday life. Nothing was insane except for the bomb threat but honestly I’ve had a shooting threat called into my school multiple times so this is just the NY version of that. Anyway onto the characters:

Dom- amazing, beautiful, talented, hardworking, absolutely flawless 10/10

Joey- in the beginning she was a performative activist and self absorbed. She labeled herself an ally of POC then hung out with George and Luke who call their only brown friend every variation of racial jokes. She had an active hand in Owen’s suspension, how can you claim your for POC then act oblivious to how your influence as a white woman could impact a black mans’ future. After the meeting with the principal, she had the nerve to turn to Dom saying how she felt “really bad” about what happened. Moving past this, what happened to Joey was evil. She was assaulted/betrayed by the people she trusted the most in the world. She is stronger than any character I’ve ever seen. I was so proud of her for standing up to her abusers and confronting them. I’m so proud she started dancing again and I hope she gets the healing/justice she deserves. 8.5/10

Leila- I think her storyline/character is very complex and deserves an in depth review. I could make a whole post about only her. She was trash for blaming Joey because she was getting attention from Geo and Leila wasn’t. You never blame the girl and Leila should know better. However, I’m not going to pretend that George’s abuse of Leila was her fault. He is two years older than her and using her for sexual favors, it’s disgusting. Her treatment of Rachel throughout this entire thing was absolutely so selfish. It was Rachel’s sister’s day and all she could talk about was “he’s not texting me back”. I understand she is a freshmen and this happens a lot because high school is new and exciting but she needs to understand that her actions have consequences. Her battle with her identity as an minority adopted by white parents is so strong and I hope she comes to understand who she truly is. She called out her mom for her treatment of Asian women *chefs kiss* and started to think about where she comes from. HOWEVER, when she told the Asian girl in her class to “speak f*cking english”? How on earth can you struggle with knowing yourself/place as a minority then tell other minorities a racist phrase that is used to belittle their struggles? The white writers in charge of the show really shone through there. 6/10

Jayson-he went through a very big change during these nine episodes and I am proud of his progression. He never saw how he and Owen were different until Owen was sent away and it shook his entire world, which I thought was kinda wild because did he really not see the class disadvantages between he and Owen just because they are both darkskin black men? He did the right thing in the end and I hope it works out for him. 8/10

Siddhatha- I think he is a decent person overall. He did put a FRESHMAN on the “bomb p*ssy” list just cause he didn’t want his sister to be on it but one wrong doesn’t cancel out another. He did associate with the d-bags on the swim team but I believe it’s just cause they were his relay. I, personally, have to be friendly with T*ump supporters on my team and it freaking sucks so I get what he’s going through. His struggle with his identity was definitely one we’ve seen before, with a beard girlfriend, a forceful coming out, and unsupportive parents but he had a happy ending and I really love that for him. Him and Victor are the cutest and I hope freaking Orolov gets what he deserves. 9/10

Luke- I am the biggest clown there is. I was walking around saying, “Aww, I love Luke, I want him and Joey to be together, I’m only on the first episode but I hope nothing bad happens!!!”, like a freaking idiot. But yeah, he disgusts me and I hope he and the other three rot. He really had the nerve to tell Joey SHE should be apologizing to THEM?! LIke, wtf? No, actually, what the f*ck? -1000000000000000000000000000000000000/10

George- He is absolutely disgusting for using Leila the way he did. He deserves the worst for what he did to Joey and I hope he gets what is coming to him. -1000000000000000000000000000000000000/10

Tim- He can suck d*ck and rot for all I care,I didn’t like him from the beginning. It’s always the “nice guys”, the “feminists” who turn out to be the worst slut-shamers in history. He really got mad at Joey for being touchy-feely with Geo and Luke like she hasn’t always been this way, that’s how she shows her love and he knows that so wtf is his problem?! Oh yeah, raging misogyny. He sat there and WATCHED as Joey was being r*ped and then SLUT-SHAMED HER to the police? Let’s not forget he had THE BALLS to tell Luke and Geo they did rape her AFTER Joey left, then did coke/ whatever off his phone and begged Joey to talk to him. Absolute trash -100000000000/10

Anna- How dare you not believe your friend whom you’ve known for however many years then call her a liar and turn your back on her when she needed you the most. She’s a feminist until it comes down to her compliant, misogynistic brother then she’s right back to slut-shaming with the boys. Joey borrowed HER UNDERWEAR becuase her’s were RIPPED with BLOOD STAINS and Anna said nothing? When she asked if she needed a tampon and Joey said no HOW DID HER “BESTFRIEND” NOT CARE ENOUGH TO EVEN ASK QUESTIONS?! Same as her brother, she disgusts me and I hope she rots -100000000000/10

Grace- how tf are you going to turn on the girl who literally fished a c*ndom out of you? Like wtf? Not only is she a slut-shamer (quite hypocritical looking back) she’s a racist!! She refused to call Leila by her name or even show her a shred of dignity just because Leila, a BABY FRESHMAN, was getting attention from George . Trash -1000000/10

Orlov- He released Meera’s nudes and outed SId, he can choke. -1000000000/10

Meera- I’m in love with this woman. Didn’t take bs from anyone and was only ever supportive. Called everyone out on their bs and stayed a true feminist icon while at it. 10000000000000000/10

Let me know if you want more!!

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opheliasbrokenmind · 3 years

Text

heartbreaker - tommy shelby

hiiii, i’m back on my obsession with this man... i was going to write something short but then i couldn’t control myself and this happened. let me know your thoughts, feedback is always welcomed <3

and idk what kind of writing is this, since i find it hard & scary to write a full one shot but i know this isn’t a hc or drabble as well, i only hope you enjoy it :)) and i’m free for three weeks and i’m waiting for your tommy requests as always

gif is not mine, credits to the owner

being the most reckless teenage girl in small heath, it wasn’t a surprise you hung out with the blue-eyed princess, ada shelby

it all started when you were barely ten, going to the same school

soon you were sharing a desk and tons of laughs

even the teachers failed to make you silent. if they tried to separate you two, you’d cause a huge mess in the classroom

spending time at shelbys after a long school day, chatting all afternoon in her room, ada complaining about her brothers and you giggling at her words

one day you laid your hands on a book and it was it, you were telling stories to ada all day long

you started talking about how small the small heath really was, a tiny world which you decided to leave the first chance you got

then you were fifteen, a young soul with wildness, searching for every kind of trouble possible

ada on your arm, going on dates with boys you knew from school, sneaking out all the time

but ada wasn’t the same, thanks to her overprotective brothers. they believed you were a bad influence for her but your souls were bonded

and that never stopped john from taking you out a night, getting you a drink and kissing your lips

you weren’t looking for a strong relationship and neither did he so it was just a few days and a few more kisses, none of the family members knowing it - or you both thought that

you were hanging out with a boy for a few months, then you were over it in a day. next week, you were going to pictures with another guy, laughing and enjoying your life

ada insisted you spent many nights with her, you girls talking about everything and by the time you were seventeen, you thought her older brother tommy looked quite good

one night you woke up, walking downstairs to have a glass of water and there he was, sipping tea in the middle of the night

‘what are you doing, tom?’ you asked, your eyes still trying to adjust to the light as you frowned, wondering if something was wrong

‘i’m thinking. care to join me for a cup of tea?’ he suggested and well, who were you to say no?

you took the chair next to him and watched him bringing you a cup and pouring you hot tea. the view seemed and felt too regular to you, you’ve seen him doing the same for his siblings for thousand times

just before you reached for the sugar, he leaned forward and put the exact amount of sugar you used. you didn’t say anything as he looked at you, you watched his fingers holding the hot cup, knuckles almost white

‘what are you thinking?’ you asked shyly, you weren’t so close with him unlike other shelbys. john was a friend, arthur was like a brother but tommy? you didn’t know what was he to you

he was the brother who tried to keep ada on the line and you were the distracter. the young, reckless friend filled with passion for everything. you were excited about books, boys and anything life had to offer you

‘the war, the soldiers’ he said like he was talking about the weather

‘what? you’re not thinking about going there, are you?’ you frowned immediately, leaning in to look directly into his eyes

‘i don’t know, feels like i should be there like the other boys’ he said the truth and you grabbed his wrist, an annoyed look plastered on your face ‘are you serious? don’t act like a fool, tom’

his name sounded harsh on your lips, like the times he spotted you and ada at the pub, taking you back home as you resisted. even though he was seven years older than you, you were never afraid to say his name as you wished

‘do you think it’s a joke, y/n?’ he asked, his blue orbs focused on you, ignoring your glued fingers on his arm

‘your family needs you here, not in a shithole in france. you’ll go there and what? that’ll prove something to the people? or you’ll end up as a man with no grave? leaving these people here just with pain?’ you hissed, glaring at him as you let go of his arm

‘you speak like i don’t care about them. i want to protect this country so they’ll be safe’ he explained calmly

‘you can’t leave them’ you said but it came out as a whisper, you almost said ‘us’ instead of ‘them’. tommy watched you staring at the tea and he tried to guess what was going on inside your head

‘as if you like me, y/n’ he faked a smile in an attempt to cheer you a bit but it only made you angrier, ‘fuck you, tom’ you hoped he didn’t see the blush rising to your cheeks and turned your head away from him

‘that’s not what you’ve said to john, huh?’ he couldn’t control the words so when you heard him, your lips parted with surprise. ‘i don’t have to defend myself to you, that was two years ago’

‘i saw you two, then you broke his heart’ he let it out and you didn’t know what to say, ‘it wasn’t something serious and that was before martha, he looks very happy now’

‘that’s just what you do, right? breaking hearts and moving on’ his words caught you off guard and you thought he was trying to change the war subject. if he wanted to argue, you were up for it

‘it’s not my problem if boys are that fragile. maybe they should, you know, grow up’ you said simply, waiting for another smart answer

‘grow up and what, break your heart?’ he asked back and you found yourself smiling, ‘oh, no. i’m the heartbreaker here. they should look for a girl who’ll marry them and stand them’

‘wise words for a little girl’ he said as he smiled, a real one this time. ‘little girl? i’m almost eighteen and i remember, your girlfriend isn’t too older than me’ with the mention of greta, his smile fell off and you could tell something was wrong

‘what’s wrong, is she okay?’ you asked and waited impatiently for an answer. ‘she’s sick, i-’ he stopped and shook his head slowly, ‘i don’t know what to do, she’s not getting better, just worse and.. her parents don’t let me see her’

‘i’m so sorry’ you managed to say and when he looked at you, he knew you meant it. ‘why didn’t you tell....’ you were going to ask if the other shelbys knew but it sounded ridiculous in your head

‘i don’t know how to. whatever, i shouldn’t have told you, too’

‘you know, i’m not your enemy. yet it looks like you’re searching for more, huh?’ he was thinking of an answer but you weren’t waiting for one, you got up and walked to the stairs, leaving him with his thoughts

that was the last time tommy saw you, you disappeared for the next days and soon he found out from ada, your aunt passed away and you moved to london with your mom

unlike her shy, sweet sister greta, kitty jurossi was outgoing and she happened to be a friend of a friend of yours. before you left for london, you managed to persuade your mother to go and speak to her family

with that, tommy shelby was allowed to stand by his first love and hold her hand for three months until she closed her eyes and never opened them again

days after her funeral, he’d learn the reason why her parents let him stay with her. then he signed up for war, leaving without looking back. in the end, there was nothing for him to stay

meanwhile, you were discovering the london, meeting with new people and trying not to think of small heath. of course, you were missing your best friend but ada and you both knew you’d escape the small town with the first chance you got

ada’s response to your letter arrived months later, letting you know greta was dead and the shelby men were in france, fighting for the king

it made you sick for days, unfamiliar nausea bothering you all day, making your whole body ache. you were worried for the shelby men you grew up with and for the women waiting for their family

the war continued mercilessly and at some point you even thought about writing the boys a letter but you didn’t know what to say after leaving them without a word

then it was all over. ada wrote to you, telling you they all returned yet everything was different now. the way tommy turned and the lack of sincerity in john’s smiles. he used to laugh, you thought

you were living on your own in london when you got another letter from ada, it was bad news. apparently freddie was dead, which made you cry on the carpet on your hallway, remembering the boy ada used to talk about years ago. ‘now it’s just me and karl, y/n. i’m leaving this hell, probably coming to london’

but she forgot to give you a new address and you never dared to write to shelbys, asking about ada. you guessed they didn’t hear from her as well, since she left with a broken heart and rage

one day you couldn’t find a book at the bookshop so you made your way to the library, looking for a worker to help you. there she was, the best friend you ever had

‘ada?’ you asked and it was it, you were reunited. spending days talking about everything that happened after you left with lots of hugs, glasses of wine and cups of tea

you started to spend most of the week at her house and of course, karl loved you. it was as if you never parted away, you were happy again

she learned you were continuing your career as a heartbreaker with londoners. ‘heartbreaker, huh? is there anyone nowadays, y/n sweetheart?’

‘oh no, i used to hang around with a writer. he was saying i was his muse all the time and you know, it’s nice to hear things like that. then he left the fucking country, saying he wasn’t productive with all the noise in the city’

‘someone sounds angry’ she teased and you laughed, ‘i was but i don’t care much. i mean, i couldn’t leave here and move to the countryside, raising chickens. i need the wildness in this crazy city’

soon you were going to the parties together, good looking men and booze surrounding you all the time

it was your birthday when you went to have dinner at a nice restaurant, then met with your other friends in a nightclub

you would say both of you could handle your drinks but when it was almost midnight, you thought ‘fuck it, we can mess for once’ then the rest of it was a little bit blurry

you could remember the girls dropping you to ada’s flat and ada going to her room. you lit a cigarette and once it was finished, you thought how soft was the carpet at the living room. even it was an uncomfortable surface, you slept like a baby

that’s why you didn’t hear the knock on the door. then with a little force, it opened. thomas shelby walked in, cursing underneath his breath

he stepped in and saw a body laying on the ground, a woman, wearing a short silk dress and tommy walked to her with fear, his heartbeat quickening

then he realised it was you, after all those years. you were breathing, thank god. so he gently shook you, ‘y/n’ your name sounded like a pray on his lips

you sighed and opened your eyes slowly, only to see a man kneeling beside you and that man happened to have a face of a ghost from your past, tommy shelby himself

‘tom?’ you asked and you thought it didn’t feel real. ‘i’m still that drunk, huh?’ you chuckled softly but when you looked again, he was still there

‘it’s not a dream, y/n. i’m here and i see, you haven’t changed, not even a bit’ he sounded kinda angry, frustrated because the state he found you in

you frowned and watched him, ‘and here i was, thinking i got prettier’ he rolled his eyes but soon enough you were both smiling

‘you are’ he let it out and you stared at him, ‘that means i wasn’t pretty back then?’ this time his smile was wider, ‘i didn’t say that’ it was surprising you both, you were talking like you weren’t strangers now

it was weird yet comforting, familiar just like the last time you spoke, years ago. you could see he was a man now, a beautiful one with hands covered with blood you couldn’t see

and there you were, he thought. still a heartbreaker with an angel’s face

#i have no idea what i'm doing #just some tommy fluff (?) to entertain myself #tommy shelby #peaky blinders #cillian murphy #tommy shelby x reader #tommy shelby fanfic #tommy shelby imagine #peaky blinders imagine #peaky blinder fanfic

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vanillann · 4 years

Text

the red dress incident (edmund pevensie x f.reader)

it’s not in this request but they ask for #38!!! thank you for the request!! also kinda a modern au! also everyone is aged up but their is a bit of underage drinking.

warning: underaged drinking, creepy dude, the word hot used a lot, kinda ish slut shamming( DO YOU BEAUTIFUL), super long and i believe that’s all

“Lucy I don’t think this party is a good idea,” Susan stated from her spot on Lucy's bed.

Lucy stood in her closet, her finger tapping her chin. I laid across the floor of Lucy bedroom, a Rubik's cube in my hand.

“I kind of agree with Susan, we barely know the dude throwing it.”

Lucy shrugged and pulled a red dress from her closet, landing a top of my face.

“Here’s your dress (Y/N),” Lucy then pulled out a pale yellow dress, laying it on the bed with her all white tennis shoes.

“Thanks for that.”

I stood up, sitting beside Susan on the bed overlooking the outfit.

“Very Lucy.”

Susan nodded her head and looked over at me.

“Makes sense.”

“I can't help it. I don't like dark colors and leather jackets like you (Y/N).”

I shrugged and fell on my back, letting her soft blankets overtake me.

“Hey Lucy have you seen-”

I looked up to see Edmund standing in the doorway, his arms crossed.

“Why is she here?”

I rolled my eyes and looked up at Lucy's ceiling.

“I live next door and your little sister is my best friend, now please stop asking dumb questions.”

Edmund sighed turning back to look at Lucy.

“Why are you friends with her again?”

“Why are you in my room again?”

Edmund kicked off the doorframe, walking into the room completely. He picked up my red dress from the floor.

“Who's this?”

I waved my hand, giving him a deadpan look. He simply rolled his eyes and threw it at me. He then got on all four, looking under Lucy's bed.

“I left my wallet in her last night, have you seen it?”

Lucy walked to her dresser, pulling a leather wallet from her top drawer. He looked over at the wallet, standing up to grab it. Once he got close to her, she moved the wallet behind her back.

“You get it back once you apologize to (Y/N).”

I sat up, the wicked smile crossed my face in seconds.

“Lucy, that would be like Jesus apologizing to the devil.”

“I’m the devil in this, right?”

Edmund looked over his shoulder at me, his death glare better than it used to be as a kid. He gave me the middle finger looking back at Lucy.

“Why should I apologize to the girl who is a bad influence on my baby sister?”

Susan looked up at him, her face shocked. A stern “Edmund” fell from her lips but that didn’t stop anything.

“Bad influence?” I stood up from the soft pink bed, the sneaker gliding across the floor to Edmund.

“Yeah a bad influence, I mean look at this dress.”

He pushed past my shoulder, picking up the silk material from the bed with one finger, like it was going to bite him.

“I happen to like that dress,” Lucy pointed a finger at her brother. Susan grabbed the dress from his finger, holding to her chest.

“You’re mad that you know your sister is living to the fullest and you're stuck at home cranky all the time.”

I took a single step closer to him.

“I don’t think sleeping around is living life to the fullest.”

Edmund did the same as I did seconds ago, the room beside us felt like miles.

“At least people want to sleep with me.”

I took another step closer to him, noticing the small hit of hazel in his eyes now.

“Only cause that dress.”

He took a step closer while pointing to the dress Susan still held. Our noses were almost touched with how close we were. The anger breaths made the air around us both feel hot and steamy.

“You just hate to admit that this dress would look hot on me.”

“Trust me, I don’t think much can look good on you.”

I looked up at this wicked smile, the confidence I had moments ago gone. The anger bubbled inside of me.

“I'll finish getting ready for the party at my place Lucy, see you at 10.”

I moved to look over at Susan, a sad smile across her face.

“I think you’re very beautiful (Y/N),” Susan whispered as I took the dress gently from her hands.

“I know Susan, but you’re the hot one around here.” I gave a dramatic wink and left the room, waving to Lucy as I left.

The red silk dress hung from my waist, the leather jacket around me keeping me warm. The black combat boots made me feel empowered, but Edmund's angry face had me grabbing another drink from the cooler.

“Don’t listen to my brother, he’s just angry like he always is.”

Lucy held a water to her lips, trying to stay somewhat sober.

“Is your boyfriend here yet?”

Lucy looked at me, shaking her head and looking down at her phone.

“He’s in the bathroom, he’ll be out in a minute.”

I nodded my head, downing the rest of the drink in my hand.

“Three down, many more to go.”

Edmund sat in his room, watching the weird medieval drama play out across the TV.

The character came down the stairs in a bright red dress, Edmund looked away from the TV as he realized the color similarities from your dress.

The sight of your hurt face was on his brain since you walked out of Lucy's room earlier.

Suddenly his phone rang, he jumped so high in the sky he was surprised he didn’t fall off the bed.

The unknown number flashed across his phone, the confusion kicked in. He slowly answered, a quiet hello fell past his lips.

“I look so hot right now.”

Slurred speech took over the other line, (Y/N) voice could barely be heard over the loud music.

“(Y/N)?”

“Yes King Edmund, King of Opinions,” she gave a small giggle before a loud ‘off’ echoed throughout the phone line.

Edmund jumped up, now completely sitting up.

The sound of shuffling and groans were all he heard before (Y/N) yelled “Another please”, Edmund immediately jumped from his bed and ran into Lucy's room.

The small piece of paper with the address of the party sat on her desk table, just like Peter made her promise to do.

“I’m coming right now, stop drinking please.”

Edmund quickly hung up and grabbed his keys. The panic flooded him as he drove the 10 minute to the crowded party.

As soon as he stepped out of the car, (Y/N) stood on the porch with a small man standing beside her.

He touched her shoulder, to which he pushed away.

“I’m not that drunk bud.”

He finger ghosted over her shoulder again when Edmund finally reached them.

“I don't think that means do it again,” (Y/N) head snapped up, looking him over once.

“Told you, I look hot.”

(Y/N) tried to push off the wall, but fell to the porch. The guy beside went to pick her up, but Edmund quickly pushed the boy off. His anger was worse than it ever was when he was fighting with her.

He bent down and wrapped one of her arms around his shoulder.

“I got this.”

(Y/N) chuckled as he picked her up from the wooden floor.

“You wanted to see how hot I look, didn't you?”

Edmund looked at her cocky smile, her eyes completely closed.

“Why do you only ever describe yourself as hot?”

Edmund placed her in the passenger seat, closing the door and quickly running to the driver side.

“Maybe because I am.”

She shrugged and looked over at him, her eyes wide and happy.

“I always thought you were more than that.”

Edmund looked at the road ahead, knowing he could say anything since she wouldn't remember in the morning. The feelings from when he was a 15 year old boy came rushing back, the crush he had on his younger sister's best friend.

“We used to be friends, what happened?”

Edmund quickly looked back over at her, the memory of Peter dating Susan's best friend that ended horribly.

“Things got complicated.”

(Y/N) simply threw her head back, her eyes closing.

Edmund's house came into view, relief flooding his head. Without thinking Edmund passed the drunk girl driveway, pulling right into his.

Once parked,Edmund moved to grab her, the cute little smile spread across her face

“I like complicated things.”

Edmund sighed, quickly picking the girl up and walking into the house. He passed every room, heading up the stairs to his room. The same drama was still on from when he left.

He placed her on the bed, watching as she curled into his blanket.

He took his phone out his pocket, sending Lucy a quick text about you.

Suddenly a leg came in contact with the back of his own, his body went tumbling to the ground.

Soft giggles and sorry could be heard above him. He groaned, getting off his hardwood floor.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you, sorry.”

Edmund stood up completely, dusting off fake dirt.

“It’s fine, just my floor.”

“I meant every time I said mean things.”

He looked over at her, her sad smile playing with his soccer themed blanket.

“I said meaner things.”

Edmund didn't wait for a replay, leaving to grab the makeup wipe Lucy uses from the bathroom.

When he came back, looked up at him and smiled. He couldn’t help the blush across his face.

“I think you fell in love with me tonight.”

Edmund shook his head as he walked closer to the girl. He dragged the makeup wipe across her soft face, dark browns and gold covered the once clean wipe.

“I didn’t fall for you, you tripped me.”

She laughed, her arms grabbing onto his biceps. He smiled at her, the nice her brought all those weird funny feelings back.

Edmund always liked nice (Y/N), but she became very rare after her car accident. With her new found anger and Edmund crush that could never happen, the fights came easy.

Suddenly (Y/N) stood from the bed and marched into Lucy's room, yelling something about “soft pj’s”, to which Edmund let her be.

He waited outside in the hallway until the door opened, she looked so out of place in a bright baby boy pj set.

Edmund wrapped an arm around her shoulder to Lucy's bed. She quickly moved from his arm and wrapped herself in the soft blankets.

Edmund turned to leave before (Y/N) grabbed his hand.

“You never told me if I looked hot.”

Edmund smiled, squeezing her hand once then letting go.

“I would use words more like stunning and gorgeous, but sure. You looked hot.”

Edmund left the room once he turned the lights off. As soon as the door closed Edmund phone dings. He fished it out his pocket to see a message from Lucy.

Lucy: Sorry about that, please remove her makeup or she will be grumpy in the morning

Edmund smirked, walking to his medieval drama playing on the TV.

#edmund pevensie x reader #edmund pevensie #peter pevensie #narina #susan pevensie #lucy pevensie #prince caspian #narnia x reader

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drwcn · 4 years

Text

Not to bring up the distasteful teenager memory of Twilight LMAO, but yall remember that part of the story where it is revealed after Rosalie turns into a vampire she goes and devours every single one of the men who r*ped her.

Fierce Corpse!Qin Su coming for Jin Guangshan’s life.

JIGGY was always looking for ways to make a fierce corpse wasn’t he? Well consider this.

Madam Qin confronts JGY, but it was already too late. Qin Su was already pregnant. JGY, being the dumbest smart person, realized he has fucked up, but what to do? It’s not like he can tell Madam Qin he knocked up his own sister accidentally. Unknowing of this, Madam Qin then went to Qin Su to tell her the truth. Surely even if that degenerate won’t stop this marriage, once Qin Su finds out they are related, she wouldn’t go through with it.

Well, little did Madam Qin expect, once Qin Su finds out, she’s so overcome with disgust she takes her own life (canon compliant, I think? idk what that episode was about to be honest. I always assumed Jiggy drugged her to keep her quiet, but Qin Su was the one to take her own life. Jin Rusong is at best a ball of cells at this stage and abortion is a staple trope of cdrama don’t @ me. I take no criticisms.)

Well shit, now Qin Su is half a step away from death. Jiggy discovers this first, and is like O.O oh feck, but also... opportunity???? He recruits evil gremlin extraordinaire Xue Yang, and beginner’s luck takes them to a successful resurrection.

*cue Mary Shelly shaking her head from beyond the grave or... in the future....technically.*

Qin Su is rightfully like wtf JGY, but Jiggy is like aight sis i know you’re mad, but hey now that everyone knows what’s the deal here, I think we have a common enemy: Jin Guangslut. Should we kill him or should we kill him?

Xue Yang: yo so .... you still gonna get married or what?

Qin Su: if you even think about getting married i swear to god -

JGY: ....okay, how about “fake” marry. Once dear old Dad is dead, we can...idk have an amicable separation. I can even set you up on a date with a guy I know in the fierce corpse community. His sister is still in my basement come to think of it -

QS: what

JGY: what

QS: you are a fucking nutjob, Jiggy, you know that? I can’t believe I was attracted to you.

JGY: first of all that’s hurtful, but... hey at least you didn’t insult my mother.

QS: why would i? our mothers are innocent. *deep sigh* okay fine, how should we kill JGS, I vote for castration. Also *points to the black veins on her paste-y complexion* this is gonna be a problem.

XY: *quirk an eye brow* realllly starting to see the family resemblance now. Don’t worry I got make up to cover that up. Also gotta find you some blush, so you don’t look so ... undead.

JGY “so we get prostitutes -”

QS “No. Jiggy, I’m sensing some internalized classism. Let’s just sic Xue Yang on him and be done with it.”

JGY “....you were less bossy before.”

QS “I was also less dead before. Also, Xue Yang doesn’t mind, do you dear?”

XY *eating the candied pastries QS got him* “Nah, not at all, jiejie. I can wear a dress and get dolled up if you want, but I want silk and the dress needs to be tailored. Bespoke. *points to his plate* These are great. Do you have more?”

JGY: *facepalm* what have done.

QS: created a fierce corpse you can’t control. Karma’s a bitch, isn’t it brother?

QS “I feel bad for Chifeng-zun. If I had to sit and watch you and Lan Xichen make eyes at each other over the guqin day in and day out....”

JGY “Oi, you’re not even my real wife.”

QS “Doesn’t mean I can’t nag you. Also, you have an issue, you know. You can’t just murder your way to the top.”

JGY “I wasn’t -”

QS “Save it. If you give Xue Yang enough candy, he’ll tell you anything.”

JGY “NMJ is a problem. He disrespects -”

QS “You think maybe the reason he thinks you’re a untrustworthy little shit is because you are...an untrustworthy little shit? Also he’s always violent and aggressive towards you...yeah ‘cause you’ve been playing Terrible Temper Tango on repeat for weeks.”

JGY “.....................” *well sis does have a point, maybe i should re-evaluate my strategy “Then what do you suggest I do?”

QS: I believe Xue Yang calls it “when it doubt, fuck it out.”

JGY: ...............................you two need to stop hanging out together.

Jin Guangyao and Qin Su spend many nights in the secret chamber plotting together. Apparently the Jin crazy can both be inherited and developed. Qin Su decides her second life is rather nice, and having power is nice too, but she’d rather have some friends.

*Jiggy and Qin Su’s Ten Step Plan to Un-Fuck the Cultivation World*

Aka Jiggy’s illegal but necessary emergency U-Turn.

Step 1: Start playing some nice music ffs, and maybe when NMJ is in a better mood, the venerated Triad can be the venerated Triad. ;)

Step 2: start treating MXY better. He could be useful as a loyal brother.

Step 3: Sic him on Nie Huaisang. They seem like they could do well together. Also, the easiest way to get through to NMJ is through his little brother.

Step 4: Make Jin Guangshan disappear.

Step 5: Speaking of little brothers, they’re gonna have to eventually deal with Lan Wangji. Even Qin Su’s 78 year old grandma with cataract can see he’s just a liiiiittle hung up on Wei Wuxian, who is unfortunately....dead.

”How do you suppose we fix this particular problem?”

”Isn’t there some cultivator prisoner found guilty punishable by death in your single minded cleansing of your political enemies?”

"Of course. Go on I’m listening, mei-mei.”

”So while you were off being shady, I did some research. There is a spell. I think a potential trade off could be made if we bargain right. Their soul, which was forfeit anyway, in exchange for a lifetime of protection and financial stability for their families.”

“>:) dear sister, where have you been all my life I’ll never know.”

Qin Sun, “Just make sure they’re not too hard on the eye. Lan Wangji doesn’t seem to be the shallow type but one never knows.”

Step 5: Jiang Wanyin needs an emotional laxative like... last year. Look into resurrecting Jiang Yanli. Once she’s alive, all that Yunmeng Bullshit will resolve, and you will also have a Lotus Pier forever grateful for Jin Guangyao and Qin Su’s kindness. If that doesn’t work...idk get Jiang Wanyin a dog.

“Okay, hooow are you going to get a woman to give up her soul to -”

“Can we fierce corpse her? Wei Wuxian had a bunch of undead ladies hanging around right?”

“........worth looking into.”

Step 6: Jin Zixuan. Yikes -

JGY “I didn’t kill Jin Zixuan. Wei Wuxian did.” (note: CQL washed WWX of any responsibility for the deaths of others by making it so that the Song of Turmoil caused him to lose control. This, in fact, is not what is written in book canon. WWX did lose control by himself without external influence. I can cherry pick the plot points I want to keep.)

QS “..........but you sent him to his death.”

JGY “..........”

QS *Deep sigh* “Who can we throw under the bus this time for Jin Zixuan’s death, Jigs? Someone that won’t be missed...got it. Su She.”

JGY “He’s loyal to me, he’s an ally -”

QS “Listen here, once you resurrect Jiang Yanli and Wei Wuxian, you will have the eternal gratitude of Yunmeng Jiang and Gusu Lan. Who gives a shit about Su Minshan that simpering turd.”

JGY: True. *he’s understood by now that he could get rid of those who would talk shit, belittle, and disrespect him...but he could always do more with a couple of important influential people who would spread words of his goodness. Stubborn righteous cultivators like the Jiangs, Nies and Lans.* “Also Jin Zixuan’ll be an undead, not able to inherit. We’re safe.”

QS: “Exactly.”

Xue Yang: eating candy......... *eye roll*

Step 7: Because Step 6 didn’t work out, forget about Jin Zixuan.

JGY: “you know... maybe Jin Zixuan moved on.”

QS: “Would explain why we couldn’t call his soul back the way we called back Jiang-gu’niang.” Qin Su glances back at Jiang Yanli’s soul-infused clay body in the process of being reanimated (lifted this idea straight from Inuyasha - ahem- kikyo.) “It’s probably better this way. I don’t like the thought of sharing the control of Lanling Jin with more people.”

JGY: “Ah, blood of my blood you are indeed.”

Step 8: Reveal Jin Guangshan’s evil deeds. Once they kill Dear Ol’ Dad, they can just blame EVERYTHING on him and have him be the disgrace of the entire cultivation world, and them the unfortunate children left to do his bidding and trying the best they could to salvage what they can from his trail of ruins.

Step 9: Reunite Wen Ning and Wen Qing. Lie. Blame it all on Jin Guangshan who is too dead to argue in his own defense. If Jiang Wanyin finds out about Wen Qing...well, information gets around.

JGY “So about that Date.”

Qin Su: “Yes I distinctively remember you promising me eligible young men of the Fierce Corpse Community.”

JGY: >:) I’m here to make good on my words.

Step 10: Reap the benefits of a world restored.

#Anonymous #corie replies #qin su #jin guangyao #xue yang #corie fics #cql ideas

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quazartranslates · 3 years

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Welcome to the Nightmare Game - CH61

**This is an edited machine translation. For more information, please [click here]**

[<<< Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter >>>]

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Chapter 61: Witchcraft Sacrifice (XXX)

There was a loud roar, and the whole underground palace shook. Originally, because Qi Leren collapsed from the continuous loading, he sat down on the ground with soft legs. The pendant that Ning Zhou dropped was by his hand. He struggled to command his arm to pick up the pendant and climbed to the corner and sat down.

Not far away the situation had heated up, and the frost had spread to his feet at a terrifying speed, covering the surrounding walls and ground with a layer of frost and snow, while the light on Ning Zhou's short knife was waving into a silvery satin at an extremely fast speed, and the wall where it passed was cracked and destroyed. Among the dust and ashes, Qi Leren suddenly saw the illusion of a huge blazing angel, holy and majestic, just like when they were in the underground lake…

This time, it was a close battle. As for whether they could win... Qi Leren suddenly felt relief.

If they lose, just bury him here quietly, and let him slumber with Ning Zhou in this quiet underground palace.

The metal pendant held in his hand exuded coolness, and Qi Leren brought it before his eyes. He remembered that it was this pendant that released the Barrier of the Holy Spirit and gave the two of them time to breathe.

The round pendant had been broken, and it was opened with a slight movement of his finger, revealing a small photo of the woman with dazzling blonde hair and blue eyes almost identical to Ning Zhou.

Was it her? The blonde woman praying under the cross in the Barrier of the Holy Spirit, who was she?

Judging from their looks, she was definitely related to Ning Zhou. Was it her sister? But this looked like an NPC, didn't it …

His body was getting colder and colder, and tired. He had never loaded the file three times in a row. Qi Leren still underestimated the overdraft of using this skill continuously. His head was getting heavier and more painful, and he could no longer think, slipping in and out of consciousness.

The battle in the distance became more and more fierce, and the whole underground palace seemed to be destroyed. There was constantly fine dust and gravel falling from overhead. Qi Leren barely raised his head and opened his eyes. The stone dome overhead had cracked, and more fragments fell down, the dust floating all around.

Qi Leren knew he should avoid it, but he couldn't move at all.

The head of the flagstone was crumbling, with a ferocious shattering, shocking crack running more and more deeply, soon to hit him.

[Rain-Day Laundry: At present, the remaining sensing frequency is 0/3, and the cooling countdown is 23:59:59.]

Move quickly! Move!

Qi Leren wanted to scramble away a little, even if it was just a little, just to avoid the life-threatening one…

But don't even talk about moving his limbs, even blinking seemed to burn away his last strength.

His line of sight became blurred, and the voices became distant. He stared at the slate above his head that was like a slow sinking ship, falling a little into the abyss of death. There was another loud noise in the distance, and the overburdened joint finally broke completely. The slate flipped and fell from over his head, about to hit the immobilized Qi Leren.

Sometimes, sudden death is so unreasonable... Qi Leren smiled bitterly in his heart and closed his eyes.

One second, two seconds, three seconds... The expected pain did not come. Qi Leren opened his eyes slightly, and his sight was blurred. He could only faintly see two white figures, holding hands and standing in front of him.

The slate that almost took his life was lifted into the air by incredible power, and was driven to float slowly to the nearby place, and then fell to the ground with a crash.

What was this... What was going on?

Qi Leren blinked hard, trying to see more clearly. The white figures holding hands turned their heads and their faces were blurred like a fog. But Qi Leren just felt that they smiled at him. Then, hand in hand, they disappeared in front of his eyes.

"Ellie, Aisha..." Qi Leren silently read out their names. In fact, he hadn’t done anything for these sad sisters, but they still remembered his insignificant help after their deaths.

Thank you, thank you.

Darkness and tiredness hung over him, and Qi Leren held the pendant, with the farther and farther sound of struggle in his ears, and his consciousness sank into the barren abyss.

In his lethargy, Qi Leren felt as if he was lying on a small boat, and the surroundings were calm. Only slight waves brought about the shaking of the hull, and the regular rocking made his consciousness more lazy, and he wandered in the dream freely without scruple. He felt as if he had forgotten something important.

What was it…

It seemed that... it was an important person.

Ning Zhou!

Qi Leren woke up from a trance, and for a moment he thought he had been lying in the grave for hundreds of years, so tired and cold.

Ning Zhou was cradling him, her long hair messy, and a few strands of hair even grazing gently on his cheek, causing slight itching. She looked down at him with gentle eyes.

"Ning Zhou?" Qi Leren called out her name, and his voice was hoarse as if he had not spoken for several years.

"Are you awake? How are you?" Isabel's voice sounded from the other side, and Qi Leren turned to look at her with difficulty. She looked at him with some trepidation and finally breathed a sigh of relief when he woke up. "You don't know how scary Ning Zhou's expression was when she saw that the corridor had collapsed just now. Fortunately, after digging through the stones, she found you safe and sound, which is really great."

Qi Leren blinked his dry eyes and looked at Ning Zhou. Some of her embarrassment appeared on her face, and her earlobes were slightly red.

His tired body was suddenly injected with an incredible force, Qi Leren couldn't help laughing, and his smile was a bit silly.

"We won?" He asked confidently.

"Hmm," Ning Zhou hummed gently. After the end of the battle, she could finally stop worrying about the influence of skills and start talking.

The happiness of the surviving swept through Qi Leren’s whole body. He came down from Ning Zhou's arms. His legs were still a little weak, he didn't even have the strength to walk. With the help of Ning Zhou, he walked forward step by step.

The front was a mess, full of collapsed stone and destroyed sculptures. At the end of the corridor in the distance, it was supposed to be a closed dead end, but now it had become a huge altar. It stood tall there, and there were two rows of stone carvings lined up on the way to it. Each one was a young girl, and their appearance was fixed in their last moment before death.

The relaxed mood suddenly disappeared, especially when he saw the stone carving of the Ellie sisters -- he didn't even know where the sisters had died in the underground palace.

"If we finish the sacrifice, we can finish the quest right? Who will do it?" Qi Leren asked.

Ning Zhou shook er head, and her deep and sweet voice was like a graceful cello: "I will not give in to the devil."

Qi Leren recalled the ethereal and holy sanctuary in the Barrier of the Holy Spirit, and vaguely felt that Ning Zhou should be a person of great adventure and should belong to the Vatican.

"Then why don't I try..." Qi Leren decided to try whether S/L skills could fool the system.

"I'll do it." Isabel stood up. She looked sad but determined. "Now I can't go back to the village. None of the girls who were sent as sacrifices have ever returned. If I go back, they’ll definitely send me back. After all, I’m already a demon’s witch in their eyes.

"And... if I serve the devil and get strength, maybe I can see my sister again... I want to see her again.

"Thank you, if it weren't for you, I'm afraid I'd be dead now, not to mention if I would have found my memories from that year, thank you." Isabel smiled and calmly said goodbye to them.

"Have you considered it clearly?" Qi Leren asked her.

Isabel nodded: "Serving the devil may not be as bad as I thought. If I become stronger, I can protect the people I want to protect, my parents, my relatives and my friends. I don't want to see anyone die again... I want to give it a try anyway."

Isabel's mind has been made up, and Qi Leren has not said anything. If he were Isabel now, he would probably make the same decision. In this Nightmare World, ordinary human beings were too weak. If there was a chance to change their destiny, even if they became demons, there would be countless people willing to try.

"Good luck to you," Qi Leren blessed her.

The silent Ning Zhou also said: "Remember your heart."

Isabel's expression froze slightly, and then she smiled: "My heart has never changed."

As Isabel stepped onto the altar step by step, a light beam rose from the top of the altar, and an illusory figure could be faintly seen in the light. Ning Zhou's expression suddenly became solemn and her hand pressed on the handle of her knife.

Who was that? The Devil of Fraud?

Isabel had come to the front of the light beam, and though the figure shrouded in light and looked illusory, she easily associated her with the beautiful woman from three years ago.

The figure gave an inaudible chuckle, and the words were full of bewitching power: "Good girl, come to me."

Isabel's face showed a trace of fanaticism. She looked at the beautiful image with longing, and murmured like one bewitched: "I can finally come to you... Although I’m not the most beautiful and powerful one, I still won."

She walked into the beam and never looked back.

Almost at the same time, the system prompt appeared.

[ Player Qi Leren has completed the Witchcraft Sacrifice task. Mission completion is 50%. ]

[ A reward of 30 survival days has been given, and the coefficient of task completion is 1.5 times. Completed hidden task: Dusty Past. Reward for survival days is 10 days. Total reward for survival days is 55 days. ]

[ Data synchronization countdown, ten, nine...]

"Ning Zhou, when we’re back in the Village of Dusk, let's meet!" Time was short, and Qi Leren spoke quickly.

Ning Zhou's figure has been wrapped in the transmition beam, together with the blackbird on her shoulder: "Mm."

Qi Leren laughed happily: "The steel bridge on Sunset Island."

"OK."

[ ... Three, two, one, synchronization completion. ]

The teleportation was completed, which was different from the first time he came to the Village of Dusk. This time, Qi Leren was directly sent back to his home on Sunset Island.

During the mission in the main world, although his survival days would be frozen, other people's time was moving. Including the time he took to go to Makah Village, he had actually left the Village of Dusk for more than a week, and a thin layer of dust had formed in his home.

Qi Leren immediately rushed to the bathroom, reflecting his familiar face in the mirror. Not the girl in the quest, but himself.

He suddenly became uneasy. Would Ning Zhou be disappointed when he saw the real him? Could she accept it?

This uncertainty made Qi Leren anxious. After washing his face, he smoothed his hair nervously, and even fussed over a small section of cocked hair.

Tidying up his clothes and taking a deep breath, Qi Leren stood in the entryway and opened the door.

The setting sun suddenly came into view, and the familiar air with oil and the salty sea breeze entered his nose, bringing a familiar taste and a strange longing.

He began to walk to the steel bridge.

At the twilit seaside, seagulls hunted in groups along the coast, making a loud singing sound.

The sea breeze blew his hair tips and his heart.

Qi Leren felt uneasy and happy, thinking about all kinds of things Ning Zhou had done in the quest. The hidden happiness made him eager to share it with someone. After meeting Ning Zhou, he would have to talk to Dr. Lu and tell him that he was leaving the club!

With every step, the excitement was unbearable. Qi Leren's pace became faster and faster, and more and more urgent.

Every point and every drop of memory was sweet, even if it was that he was scared and flustered, even wandering on the edge of life and death, but everything was worth it, because in the end he got Ning Zhou's heart.

Recalling Ning Zhou's tears and kisses in the Barrier of the Holy Spirit, Qi Leren blushed unconsciously.

At that time, he had forgotten to feel it at all, but it didn't matter. There must be a chance in the future…

Without realizing, he had changed from fast walking to trotting, and finally he simply ran. The Sunset Island shrouded by the sunset and the shadows stretched by the setting sun retreated rapidly in his field of vision, and it was difficult for him to control this excitement as he ran towards his destination.

The steel bridge was just around the corner, and Qi Leren finally stopped, panting and scrambling to tidy up his clothes and hair, surrounded by people coming and going, and no one noticed that he was so nervous that he was about to explode in this lively place.

Ning Zhou probably hasn’t come yet, right? Qi Leren said to himself, looking anxiously in all directions, looking for Ning Zhou.

Sure enough, she hadn't come yet.

Qi Leren couldn't be said to be glad or sad. He raised his foot and walked from this end of the steel bridge to the highest point of the arch. He wanted to stand there and find Ning Zhou first.

At the top of the bridge, a tall man in a black trenchcoat stood there with his arms crossed, his back turned to him, as if he were looking out at the estuary connected by the river.

Qi Leren stood on the other side. The trenchcoat on the man looked very similar to the coat lent to him by Ning Zhou, which made Qi Leren slightly uncomfortable, and he couldn't help but look at the man’s back.

People came and went from one end of the bridge to the other, some talking and laughing, and some alone. This ordinary secular picture finally made Qi Leren feel like he was living in reality, instead of being bound by the cold and horrible underground palace like those dead witches.

Ning Zhou would come soon. How would he greet her? As he waited, Qi Leren had already thought about the scene when they met, until…

The sound of flapping wings sounded in his ear. Qi Leren looked up and saw the familiar big blackbird falling from the sky. It landed on his shoulder and shouted to him cheerfully: "The delicious food, the delicious food!"

There it is! The Goddess is here!

Qi Leren ignored the bird and looked nervously in all directions.

At the moment he looked up, the man in the black trenchcoat turned his body and looked at him in amazement.

Those familiar blue eyes suddenly crashed into Qi Leren’s.

Sharp outline, handsome face, and blue eyes that he would never forget until he died…

Qi Leren just looked at him, with the comings and goings of people laughing and passing between them, together in the happy mood. In this moment, all kinds of strange things he ignored in the quest emerged one by one, mocking him mercilessly.

At this moment, the two people on the verge of collapse asked the same question in astonishment: "You’re a man?"

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The author has something to say:

PS: To tell you coolly, Qi Leren and Ning Zhou are both straight men, lol. The very straight type. True love is a long road. You need to work hard to bend them from the straight road.

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Editor’s Note: BMBL, how do you expect to convince us that Ning Zhou’s straight when you’ve already established that he dual wields?

The art I’ve included here (as well as everything used in the blog theme) was done by coffeefox33 for the audio drama! Isn’t it pretty?

This is the end of the Witchcraft Sacrifice arc! We have a small interlude in the overworld, then it’s on to the next quest! Please look forward to it! （ʃƪ＾3＾）

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[<<< Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter >>>]

#Welcome to the Nightmare Game #欢迎来到噩梦游戏 #danmei

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perthshirecottage · 4 years

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Okay this wound up way longer than I thought it was going to. I was thinking about little Five in the apocalypse and finding Vanya’s book. Has anyone ever thought about how much Vanya’s book influenced Five and his perception of his siblings? Because I think about that and I haven’t really seen too many posts about that so here’s my two cents.

Five was only 13 when he got stuck in the apocalypse and yet he comes back acting like he knows these 29 years old versions of his siblings. Five obsessively reading the book actually explains why he comes back and immediately thinks every single one of his siblings besides Vanya are stupid and useless despite not having seen any of them in 45 years. The book would have been written to make Vanya the poor sympathetic victim and her father and siblings the villain of her story. 45 years is a long time and I’m sure Five has forgotten plenty of details about his siblings. He still has his own faded memories of the people he remembers and so he might remember bits and pieces that weren’t in the book but those memories would be influenced by the things Vanya had written and perhaps make him question if he was remembering correctly. Not to mention Vanya’s book is the only written account of the kind of people they became and Vanya made sure she was the only one who came across in a flattering light. Five would have read about Klaus and his spiral into addiction and how he stole and lied to his siblings. How Allison became even more shallow and vain. How Luther was almost cruel in his need to be the leader, acting more and more like dad every day. Deigo was selfish and only cared about making sure everyone knew he was better than them and he was angry and bitter when he couldn’t. And Vanya would have written herself as the saint who endured all of this only to be tossed aside like a broken doll that no one wanted. Of course Five is going to lean towards seeing things Vanya’s way. Her voice is the only influence he had on knowing who his siblings became. The only fact that Five would have kept alive outside of Vanya’s influence is that he loves his siblings. I don’t say any of this to diminish what Vanya went through. She *did* suffer. But so did everyone else in that house. And Vanya’s book would not have shown that because she didn’t think anyone else suffered the way she did. She thought she was treated horribly and abused while her siblings were living the high life of being extraordinary and that she had to be the martyr for living through that. So Five, young and impressionable and all alone would have had Vanya’s voice in his ear telling him all the reasons why she was the only good person in that house, the only one that was competent and could be trusted. Five would have felt more of a kinship towards Vanya than anyone else because her book would have endeared him to her. Unfortunately when he got there and Vanya didn’t believe him it went against the Vanya that Five had created in his head. Because none of Five’s siblings were quite the people that Vanya had portrayed in her book, not even herself. And Five has had to adapt to anything the world has thrown at him so he just rolls with it. He also didn’t have time feel any loss at his preconceived notions being wrong because, you know the apocalypse was in 8 days.

I don’t know the exactly what the kids’ relationships were like growing up, and I know that Vanya wrote about how Five was her only confidant. How he was the only one who cared, but that is the voice of someone who is 15 years past what happened and seeing things with rose tinted glasses. I know the popular opinion is that Five and Vanya were the absolute best of friends and everyone else was just sort of there, but that’s based on a head shake, a name called, what Vanya said, and the fact the Five went to Vanya first. That’s not to say that Five and Vanya were not friends, but I don’t think that Vanya was Five’s only friend. Because of their dad’s influence no one wanted to hang out with Vanya that much but since Five did that meant that he was her best friend. And Five left and so those are the memories that Vanya held onto to but I highly doubt that Five hung out with Vanya and only Vanya. The fact that Five had enough love and connection to endure 45 years of hell to get back to his entire family and not just Vanya shows that five had to have had an honest connection to *all* of his siblings. At 13 I’m sure that Five played with all of his siblings and had a relationship with each of them. In flashbacks he was arrogant and smart but also a little silly and playful and he wasn’t as stressed and mean as he is in the show because he hadn’t endured 45 years of trauma. And while yes, I do think Five was probably closer to Klaus, Ben, and Vanya, if only because Allison and Luther were caught and up in each other and Diego had latched into their mom, it doesn’t mean that Five didn’t hang out with people who weren’t Vanya. He would have bonded with everyone else over things that Vanya couldn’t understand. Vanya thought getting a tattoo would have been cool, and wanted one only because she was left out while everyone else knew how frightening and traumatic the whole thing was. Vanya didn’t endure training sessions and know how brutal those could be. She didn’t go on missions and experience how thrilling they could be when they went right but that also meant she never felt the panic and desperation and fear when they went wrong. Back to my point which is that Vanya would have only had good things to say about Five and how close they were. Vanya probably would have written about how everyone didn’t seem to mind that much about Five going missing because that gave them more room to shine and how she was the only one to make him peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches and leave the lights on for him because she was his best friend and the only one who cared about him. so of course Five is going to come out years later remembering how close he and Vanya were because her book would have influenced his memories. He wouldn’t as clearly be able to remember joking around with Klaus or sitting around complaining about training with Diego or those moments where he and Ben would sit in compainiable science while reading or how he and Luther would excitedly talk about whatever new science fact they had learned that day or how he and Allison would laugh over some of the more ridiculous articles that were written about the esteemed Umbrella Academy. Vanya’s account of their friendship would have made Five feel closer to her than anyone else. And I’m sure Five would have felt a connection to Vanya’s portrayal of complete isolation. Five understands on a visceral level what it means to be cut off from everyone and everything and he would have felt this kinship with Vanya over that as well.

Which brings us to season 2. Five still loves Vanya and wants to protect her, but Vanya also isn’t the same person he thought she was. She is more angry and vindictive than he thought. And the rest of the siblings aren’t quite what Five had built up in his head either. Klaus isn’t just a lying junkie, but also empathetic and sad. Diego isn’t just an angry number 2 but has a protective streak a couple miles wide. Luther isn’t just Dad’s lackey but is someone who just wants to protect his family but is floundering in figuring out who he is. Allison isn’t completely focused on herself but wants to be a better sister, a better person. Five is reminded more of the people he knew when he was 13. He is reminded that Vanya has some bad qualities but that those don’t diminish the good ones. He is also reminded that the others are not just the horrid useless people from Vanya’s book, but people who are hurting just like him (even if he still knows he had it worst) and who are good and loving people that he wants to reconnect with. And so seeing them in this new light and also realizing that leaving people out of the loop is what caused the last apocalypse, Five puts more trust in his family and tries to bring them together to stop this new apocalypse. He wants to be closer and work with and spend time getting to know this version of his siblings. In S1 when Five is given a minute to breathe because he thinks the apocalypse is over, he realizes that all he wants to do is grow up and be with his family. He wants to just be, without a mission, without an apocalypse. He is tired of fighting and clinging to rage to keep his adrenaline up just so he can function to get through his exhaustion and pain to save the world. He wants to connect to his family. He wants to know all of them. And Five is willing to do whatever he has to get the chance to truly know his siblings on his own terms and not through someone else’s skewed perspective. Five is even willing to fight Vanya because again, he is seeing that she is willing to toss away all of his hard work because she cares more about her selfish desires than going home which is all Five has wanted for 45 years not to mention the fact that he hasn’t had a single break in two weeks. Of course it’s not just Vanya, everyone does get sidetracked by their own personal problems and Five winds up just about losing his mind. Even older, younger Five shows that Five is automatically going to side with Vanya for destroying the world. This Five hasn’t been rejected by Vanya or seen her get angry or been reminded that his family is more than just the bad people in Vanya’s book so when he finds out that Vanya destroyed the world because she was ignored then he is like yeah that tracks. Five has seen all of his siblings too long through Vanya’s eyes and he deserves the chance to know them himself.

Five has lived far longer without his family than he did with them plus he was so young when he left that he wouldn’t have had that many years of concious memories. So Vanya and her book would have had just as much of an impact on his life as the apocalypse did.

#tua #five hargreeves #vanya hargreeves #the hargreeves #tua s2 spoilers #the umbrella academy season 2 spoilers #the umbrella academy

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starrynite7114 · 4 years

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snapshots: time’s up

A/N: My lovelies! I hope you all don’t hate me too much after the previous chapter. I do not think you will like me very much for this update, but at least I’m updating regularly, right?! <3

Honestly, I just want to thank you all. It’s been difficult lately and this has been my outlet for everything that has been going on. I’m truly honored that you all enjoy this story as much as I enjoy writing it.

The update is pretty long, hope you all enjoy this update. Next one should be up by the end of the week!

Love you all!

taglist: @iambabyharry ; @thegirlwhowritesfics

EZ shook his head as he watched Angel make out with some club hangaround. This was a familiar sight at this point. Ever since you left 4 months ago, Angel has been on a binge however, it wasn’t always like that.

At first, Angel had hope you were coming back. He frequently checked his cell phone to check if you had messaged him or anything, but it was radio silence. Still, Angel kept the faith you were gonna come home, to him. But then you changed your number and it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Angel completely changed.

He fucked any woman with legs around the clubhouse and Vicky’s. It was like Angel slept with all these women to spite you, that somehow, someway it would get back to you that he was sleeping around.

Right after he fucked these girls, he would be at his apartment drinking himself to oblivion. EZ stayed with Angel at his apartment to assure that his older brother wouldn’t choke on his own vomit or something. It was a vicious fucking cycle.

Yet, Angel still performed his club duties when he had too. When his duties at the club were fulfilled, his vicious cycle began. Bishop and Taza wanted to interfere, but they were letting Angel let it out. They knew he would eventually get over it.

No, they didn’t think Angel would move on, but they knew he eventually would snap out of this stupor and look for you. When that time came, they would let him do that just so they could get the old Angel back.

“Prospect,” Coco called out. “Shit, my bad, you ain’t a prospect no more.” Coco smirked. “Habits die hard.”

EZ looked over at Coco who was sitting right in front of him. “Sorry man, what can I get you?”

“Beer,” looking at where EZ was looking, he let out a sigh. “We need to find her, she’s had enough time to find herself.”

“You think she’s just trying to find herself?”

Coco nodded his head. “Yeah man, Chucky forgot to mention that he had seen Y/N leaving the clubhouse upset a month prior she left. Did some investigating on the club cameras and it was the day Adelita let us know she was pregnant.”

“And? Angel ain’t the father.” Gilly joined in the conversation as he grabbed himself a beer.

“Yes, but if she saw them together, she may have assumed.” Coco took a swig of his beer, moving so that his back was towards Angel. “He’s barely functioning.”

“You guys still have no leads to where she could be at?” All three of them have been trying to find you, but they had to admit, you were good at hiding. Rafael wouldn’t even budge. They didn’t threaten the guy, but they were so close to doing it. He obviously knew where you were, but they couldn’t fault his loyalty. Their patience was wearing thin though.

“Her sister won’t budge too and she honestly scares me,” EZ admitted, making the two men laugh.

“Yeah, she’s a number too,” Coco agreed. “She would never give up her sister and she seemed pissed off as fuck when Angel even came by. That’s why I know Y/N thinks Angel is having a baby with Adelita, the letter said it itself.”

“What?” Gilly never read the letter, but Coco and EZ did.

“In her letter, she said something about Angel having a family and she was happy for him.” Coco was your confidant in the MC. You were close to him, not as close as you were to Angel, but you confided in him when you had your troubles with Angel. That was why you running wasn't exactly a surprise, but he didn’t think you would ever be able to leave Angel. And to be honest, he was upset you cut him off. From what he understood, you still spoke to Leticia, but it was to check on her and even sent her money every once in a while to help out. He wished you didn’t cut everyone off, but he understood.

At least for now.

“I know, but Coco said it’s no big deal.” Leticia said into her phone as she walked in the clubhouse, Coco’s food order in hand. “Y/N,” she paused realizing her mistake. Quickly her eyes went wide as Coco stood up watching as Angel’s attention moved to Letty. “Let me call you back, I still have homework to finish.”

“Did you just say her name?” Angel questioned as he stood up, pushing the girl off his lap.

“Yes, I was talking to a friend of mine about Y/N cause she used to help me with my computer, whenever it crashed.” Letty cooly lied. “It just crashed so I need to use the computer at the front office, is that cool Bishop?” She turned to Bishop, hoping her explanation would suffice.

“Of course,” Bishop nodded his head, smelling the lie.

“You don’t do your homework, isn’t that why you have detention on the daily,” Angel could sniff the lie, but he knew he couldn’t interrogate Coco’s kid. “You’re lying.”

“I’m not, I have no reason to lie to you.”

“You have every reason to do so, you were always loyal to her.” Angel whispered the last word of his sentence. The ache came when the slight thought of you entered his mind. It was the reason that alcohol had become his confidant, the pain went away whenever it coursed through his system.

“I was, still am, but I’m not sure what this has to do with my phone call about homework.” Coco had to applaud his daughter. When she was committed to a lie, she was all out.

“Don’t fucking lie to me, you’ve been contacting her under our noses, the least you can do is give me her fucking number.”

Angel stepped towards Letty, she wasn’t standing down. Coco got in between them, shaking his head.

“Don’t even fucking think about it. My kid said it wasn’t Y/N. That’s the end of that.” Coco turned to Letty. “Let’s go, I’ll stay with you while you do your homework.” He turned back to Angel. “I’m gonna let this slip cause I know you miss her, but watch how you fucking talk to my daughter.”

Angel looked around the room, watching as everyone watched him. He sighed, walking out.

This was driving him crazy. At first, he thought you were coming back, you had to. There was no way you wouldn’t. You were dependent on him as much as he was on you. If he was missing you as crazy as he was, then he was certain you felt the same.

But then a month passed and you changed your number.

That’s when it truly hit Angel that you wanted to be out of his life. There was plenty of self-blaming at first stemming from his insecurities. Thoughts such as him not being good enough for you, settling for him, etc, it all went through his head. But then the anger would set in and your letter ran in his mind again. He didn’t do anything and if you thought that you two were done, you had another thing coming. Angel hasn’t stopped looking for you even though he wallowed in self pity half the time. He found himself spending time with his father more often, as being alone wasn’t good for him. Sleeping with all these women wasn't doing much for him, since half the time, he was too drunk to be able to do anything.

“You gonna get your head out of your ass and finally look for your girl?” Bishop questioned as he sat beside Angel on the steps that led to the clubhouse.

“Yeah,” Angel wasn’t as talkative as he was before and the club noticed. They made jokes at first, but they saw the effect your disappearance has had on Angel. Truth be told, this Angel sucked. He wouldn’t joke around with them as much. He could be mischievous at times, but they knew he was fighting to be himself. They never knew how much influence you had on Angel. Well, maybe they did, they just didn’t think you would ever leave for them to see how awful Angel could be without you around. To make matters worst, no one fucking knew why you left. “I’ve been looking for her, if I don’t, I’m gonna go fucking crazy.”

“Who have you asked?” Bishop took a drag from his cigar.

“Her sister, Rafael, I even fucking called Jake,” Angel hated that phone call with Jake. The surprise in his voice and when he said ‘she finally opened her eyes’, it pissed Angel off. How dare this worthless piece of shit say that to him. Angel hung up on Jake then, trying to gather himself. If he ever saw that motherfucker again, he was going to beat his ass.

“You called her ex-boyfriend?” Bishop wasn’t surprised at the lengths Angel would go for you, but he didn’t think he would call Jake. The Santo Padre president knew that you wouldn’t go near Jake. You were pissed at Angel, but you weren’t stupid. You were going to go somewhere Angel would never think of. Seeing one of his members in such disarray, it bothered Bishop. And Bishop thought of you as family as well, at this point, he just wanted to make sure you were safe. You wanted space from Angel, that was fine, but Bishop himself needed to know you were doing okay.

Bishop saw you as one of his own. He knew Angel could be an idiot at times and didn’t think before he did things, but he was almost certain that you didn’t need to leave to make Angel realize he fucked up.

“I was desperate, believe me, I regretted it instantly.” Angel took another drag from his cigarette. “I feel like I’m at the brink of insanity. I don’t know what I did wrong. Her letter didn’t really leave any answers, if anything, it just brought on more questions. What fucking family does she think I’m having? Or what fucking girl she’s talking about I should be with.”

“Women, they never give you a straight answer, it’s always riddles.”

Angel managed to chuckle along with Bishop.

“I found her.”

“What?” Angel looked over at Bishop, standing up, not sure if he heard him correctly.

“She’s at Flagstaff.”

Angel’s heart dropped.

No.

You wouldn’t.

You wouldn’t go to fucking Gabriel. You didn’t fucking know Gabriel.

“How’d you find out?”

“Flagstaff president called me, said that Gabriel has been hanging around with her.”

No.

Fuck.

You wouldn’t.

Gabriel?

All these thoughts were running in Angel’s mind. He knew this wasn’t a joke since Bishop wouldn’t pull his leg about something like this.

“Did he say if she came to the clubhouse?” Angel was proud of himself for keeping his composure. You didn’t leave him for Gabriel, this was all circumstantial.

“No, he goes over to her place often. He informed me since he didn’t want this to cause a riff between charters.” Bishop stood up as well, leaning against the column. “Told him that not to worry about it, I was certain that Gabriel was just looking out for your girl.” Bishop didn’t believe that, but he didn’t need Angel thinking the worst.

Angel nodded his head, placing his hands on his waist, his cigarette long forgotten on the floor. He took out his keys, making his way over to his bike.

“Angel, don’t be stupid. Think before you do anything.” Bishop warned.

“I’m just going for a ride Bish, I’ll be back in a few hours.”

He definitely was going to come back. After he cleared his head, he was taking Coco and Gilly and going to Flagstaff. If he had to drag you back to Santo Padre, he would.

He gave you time and now, your time’s up.

==========================

You walked around the grocery store, trying to remember what was in your pantry. Grocery shopping was always fun since you loved to cook, but with this branch of your company here being so new, you’ve had to work overtime and takeout has been your friend. Thankfully, it’s been dying down this past few weeks and you’ve been able to actually explore Flagstaff.

“Hey!” You shrieked as Gabriel placed 6 packs of steak in your cart.

“What?” He smirked. “I’ll eat it all for you.”

“You should at least share with your brothers,” you shook her head. And you meant his actual brothers since he had 3 younger brothers he was taking care of.

“I definitely will, we’re having a club party tonight, you should come.” Gabriel has been trying to have you come visit the clubhouse for some time however you’ve been reluctant. You didn’t want anyone else to know you were in Flagstaff. You ran into Gabriel by chance since one of your new coworkers was his younger brother. You took his younger brother under your wing and as a show of appreciation, he wanted to bring you home to dinner. And when you came, you met Gabriel outside and well, the rest was history.

You weren’t dating Gabriel, you didn’t want to date anyone from the Mayans.

It might get back to Angel. You’re sure he wouldn’t care, but still, you much rather play it safe.

Being friends with one of them should be fine, as long as you stayed away from the clubhouse.

“I’m good, I just want to relax after being so busy the last few months.” It was an excuse, sort of. You did want to stay home. You were a homebody. You just wanted to enjoy your Netflix shows and go from there.

“You know, we both know that you didn’t need to do overtime, you just wanted to keep yourself occupied.” Gabriel wasn’t going to lie and say he wasn’t happy you broke up with Angel. He wasn’t going to push you or pursue you just yet, but once you were ready, he had every intention of asking you out. At first, it was a schoolyard crush, but seeing you around his family, it further piqued his interest. He didn’t care if you were Angel’s girlfriend, he was in Santo Padre, this was Flagstaff. As long as Angel didn’t know you were here, you’d be fine.

Besides, you had specifically requested, begged Gabriel to not inform Angel of your whereabouts.

“Perhaps, but the extra cash definitely wasn’t terrible.” You wanted to change the subject. You’ve been good at changing the subject when it came to Angel, but it was getting more and more difficult. Your sister, Rafael and Gabriel haven't let up on it. They all have their reasons. Your sister was becoming annoyed by Angel and was applauding you from walking away from him. Though she has always been on team Angel and does not actually believe he cheated on you, your sister didn’t mind seeing Angel suffer. Rafael just didn’t want you and Angel wasting time when you two have wasted enough time in his eyes. Gabriel wanted you to face your feelings for Angel so you could fully move on, with him.

“Mami, listen,” Gabriel pulled you towards him, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. “I get it, you don’t want to talk about him, but we would have to eventually. I know you’re not ready and I’ll wait for you.”

“Gabriel, I,” you sighed. “I don’t think I would ever date anyone in the MC, Angel would figure out where I am and I can’t have that.”

“We can keep secrets, if that’s what you were worried about.” Gabriel knew it was wrong to pursue you. But you were no longer with Angel. You were single. There was nothing wrong with dating you, but he knew how deep you and Angel’s relationship was. Angel was going to make you his wife. There was a nagging voice in Gabriel’s ear, but he was willing to ignore it for you.

His club wouldn’t crucify him for this.

“It’s better we don’t, we’re friends, can’t we just remain that way?”

Gabriel chuckled. “Always wounding me with the f-word.” He didn’t want to push you either, he didn’t want to be that asshole. If he was going to be with you, it would be under your terms, he would never push you. His mother taught him better than that. “I’ll have you fall for my charm, you just wait.”

You laughed. “You’ll be surprised how good I am when it comes to not falling for pretty boys.”

“I’m not a pretty boy though, Ivan, maybe, but me, fuck no.” Gabriel’s younger brother Ivan was your co-worker. He was the second oldest between the four brothers and they had their sister, who was the youngest. She felt for her at times, but Gabriel and his brothers didn’t seem too overprotective of her. But make her cry and it was a whole different story.

“Sure, we’ll go with that,” you teased him as you two continued to walk around the grocery store.

You definitely appreciated Gabriel’s company. You were surprised that he stuck to you, but you figured that you truly did build a friendship with him while he visited Santo Padre.

“Has he tried contacting you?” Gabriel questioned as he helped you place some drinks in your cart.

“No, I don’t know, I changed my number, remember?”

Gabriel chuckled. “Right, sorry, I just assumed Angel would have found a way to contact you by now.”

“Doesn’t matter, I doubt he is, he has a family now.” You never truly went into details with Gabriel since no one knew of Angel and Adelita’s relationship prior to Los Olvidados becoming a part of the MC. You weren’t even sure if people outside of the Santo Padre charter knew about them. You didn’t want to throw the MC under the bus, so you kept the details as minimal as possible.

“It doesn’t make sense, Angel was far too in love with you to cheat. When they would make stops at Flagstaff, he would go straight to a room and talk to you. That was before you two were ever together.” Gabriel wasn’t lying. He knew he was technically helping him out, but he wanted this to be fair. “Maybe you misunderstood.”

“I know what I saw, can we please not talk about it?” Your voice was so little and it upset you and Gabriel. 4 months, you thought that would be enough time, but it really wasn’t. It was still a fresh wound. It was difficult leaving Angel, but every time you would even think of going back, Adelita came into your head. The baby she was carrying deserved to have a complete family and Angel deserved to have a family. You couldn’t provide that for him, you were strong enough to admit that and step away.

“I’m sorry baby,” Gabriel wrapped his arm around your shoulder, placing a kiss on your head.

You two finished off your groceries, with Gabriel pushing the cart for you so that you could concentrate on getting what you needed. After paying, Gabriel helped you place your groceries in your trunk. He was the one who noticed the roar of the motorcycles, his attention immediately going towards where the noise was coming from. He saw the back of their kutte and saw Mayans. They parked next to his bike which was a lane over.

He turned back to you as you placed the last of your items in your trunk. Handing you the last bag, Gabriel took the cart away from your car.

“I’ll meet you at your place. Stop by that coffee shop you like, can you get me the drink you always bring me?” Gabriel requested.

You raised an eyebrow at him, looking at the time on your watch. “They’re closing in 30 minutes.”

“Better get going then, least you can do by forcing me to push your cart around.”

“Gabriel!”

He laughed, placing a kiss on your cheek. “Go, I need some caffeine in my system.”

You shook your head at him as you got in the car. Thankfully, there was no car in front of you so Gabriel knew you were going to move forward, which you did. Watching till you exited the shopping plaza, he placed the cart at its designated area as he made his way over to his bike. He found Gilly and Coco just waiting for him.

“Gabriel, how you doing hermano?” Coco greeted him.

“Good, what brings you two to Flagstaff?” Gabriel questioned. He shouldn’t play stupid, he knew why they were here.

“We heard Angel’s girl was here,” Gilly answered, purposely referring to you as Angel’s girlfriend.

“Angel got a new girl?” Gabriel was digging, but Coco and Gilly knew better than to do anything to him. If anything, it would look bad on them to do something to him when this should have been Angel’s concern.

“Come on Gabriel, don’t make this harder on yourself.” Coco warned.

“Why would it be? I’m not doing anything wrong. They broke up, hence the reason she’s here.” Gabriel crossed his arms over his chest. “She’s not going back to Santo Padre.”

“That’s not your call.” Gilly didn’t have a problem with Gabriel, hell, he actually liked the guy, but his loyalty was to Angel.

“Look, she’s hurting, I don’t think her going back to Santo Padre is really going to do anything for her.”

“And keeping her here is doing exactly what for her?” Coco asked. It was nice to see you, he wanted to go up to you, give you some shit for closing him off, but he promised Angel that he wouldn’t approach you.

“Helping her move on, helping her start over without him.”

Gilly shook his head. “Again, that’s not your call. This was all a misunderstanding.”

“Yeah, we’ll see about that.”

==========================

“You must have been really thirsty, you just guzzled that drink down.” You teased Gabriel as you two made your way down the hall towards your apartment.

“Well, you had me pushing your cart and now I’m carrying your groceries, so of course I was thirsty.” Gabriel playfully snapped at you.

You laughed. “Didn’t know you couldn’t carry those groceries, I could have just done them.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Gabriel smirked.

He left Coco and Gilly at the shopping center and hurried to your apartment. He didn’t know where the fuck Angel was, but he had to let you know that the Santo Padre charter knew where you were. Maybe he shouldn’t have told his president he’s been hanging out with you, but he didn’t frequent the club much and they were suspicious. He didn’t need them sniffing around over nothing.

You walked into your apartment, Gabriel following in tow with your grocery bags in his hands. Seeing Coco and Gilly definitely gave him a fright. He wasn’t scared of them, but if they were here, that meant Angel wasn’t too far behind. Before you could walk in further, you stopped at your living room, surprised by your visitor.

"Hello mi dulce," Angel greeted you as he sat back on your couch, his eyes trained on you before shifting to Gabriel, his mouth in a thin line. You could tell he was holding back his anger.

"You should go," you told Gabriel, turning around to grab the groceries, but he moved it from your reach.

“You’re good, I’ll bring this to the kitchen,” he kissed the top of your head as he passed by.

“4 months, no contact, nothing. And I see you with another man, doesn’t that count as cheating.” Angel’s smugness made you angry. This was breaking an entry, who did he think he was breaking into your apartment.

“We’re over.”

“That’s a matter of opinion.” He shrugged. “Where’s Ares?”

“He’s at Gabriel’s, he has a backyard so I leave Ares there when I go to work.”

“You got our dog hanging out at his place now?”

Gabriel walked back in the living room. “What are you doing here? I didn’t hear about anyone coming from Santo Padre for a visit.”

“This is none of your club’s concern. Don’t make it your club's concern. Leave.” Angel was trying his best to not fight Gabriel, not wanting to bring any heat like he promised Bishop. But he was getting on his nerves.

“From my understanding, she’s no longer your girlfriend.”

“You misunderstood then,” Angel stood up then, making your breath hitch.

You’ve missed Angel and seeing him in the flesh, was proving too much for you. But you had to hold down your resolve. He has a baby now, you were sure of it. Adelita must have given birth by now.

You two were done.

“Let’s go,” Gabriel gently began pushing you out the door, but before you could even make it out, Angel blocked the doorway.

“I don’t think you understand, you can leave, but my girl is staying here with me.”

“She’s not your girl,” Gabriel stood in front of you, further aggravating Angel. Who the fuck did this motherfucker thought he was? You didn’t need protecting from him. “If she doesn’t want to stay here with you, she’s not going to.”

“Who the fuck do you think you are? You’re nothing to her. You think she’s going to be with you now that you presume we’re over? She’s always been my girl and nothing’s going to fucking change that.” Angel snapped. His hands were a ball of fist at his sides, trying to control his anger, but this was a losing battle.

“Angel, please leave.” You somehow found your voice.

He looked at you as you stood behind Gabriel. “No.”

“Please, I don’t want to see you. We’re done, we have nothing to talk about.” This was pathetic and you hated it, but you felt so small. You weren’t afraid of Angel, you were just afraid to hear what he had to say to you.

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but I gave you 4 months. If you think I’m leaving without you, you have another thing coming for you. Whatever is going inside that head of yours, it’s all a misunderstanding. I’m not leaving Flagstaff till you’re with me.” His gaze shifted over to Gabriel. “Thank you for taking care of my old lady, but once we clear this misunderstanding, I’m taking her back to Santo Padre.”

“Angel, we have nothing to talk about. If you want to talk to salvage our friendship, we can, I just need some time away from you. I need to move on from you so we can be friends.”

“There is no moving on, what part of I’m not letting you go don’t you get. I don’t know why you think I don’t fucking love you, but you’re wrong. I do.” Angel hated that Gabriel was here for this, but if this was the only way you were going to talk to him, he would live with it.

You didn’t want to have this conversation, especially not in front of Gabriel.

“Gabriel, can you please leave?” You requested.

“No, I’m not leaving you here with him.” Gabriel didn’t turn his back on Angel, he didn’t trust him.

“‘I’ll be fine, Angel won’t hurt me.”

“That’s not why I don’t want to leave you.”

You hugged him from the back, leaning your forehead against his back. His hand wrapped around yours that was resting on his chest.

“Thank you for being amazing, Angel isn’t going to leave and I don’t want you two to fight.”

The intimacy of this moment further aggravated Angel, but he couldn’t exactly hit Gabriel while you were holding him.

You moved away from Gabriel. He turned to face you, giving you a small smile.

“I’ll see you later mami, call me if you need me.” Gabriel turned back around and faced Angel. “If I met her first, she would have been mine, I hope you know that." Gabriel confidently told Angel.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, hermano," Angel smirked. “You can go fuck yourself though.”

Gabriel harshly brushed past Angel, closing the door behind him. Angel went to lock the door to assure Gabriel didn’t change his mind and came back in.

“Does he have a key to your apartment?” Angel questioned as he made his way back over to you.

“No.”

Angel nodded his head. “I don’t know what’s going on, but we’re going to talk it out. I’m serious Y/N, I’m not leaving Flagstaff unless you’re with me.”

And you knew Angel was serious, you just didn’t understand why he came after you.

No matter what, you two were done.

But you also knew Angel, he was the most stubborn man you’ve ever met.

This was going to be a long night.

#Angel Reyes #angel reyes fanfiction #angel reyes fic #angelreyes #mayans mc imagine #angel reyes imagine #mayans mc fanfic #angel reyes fanfic

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ceremcny · 3 years

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(STEPHAN JAMES, TWENTY EIGHT, CISMALE, HE/HIM. ) WILL JEFFRIES has been living in Clayton, Georgia for A YEAR. They are a PROSPECT FOR BLAZING PHOENIXS and currently working as a STACKER at FOOD DONKEY. They are known to be EXPLOSIVE & IMMATURE, but also known to be LIVELY & GENEROUS. I hope you are enjoying their time in Clayton, there is no place quite like home. ( egg, 24, aest, she/her. )

tl;dr: half brother to bash mcknight, has a short fuse n rlly just wants to be part of something tw: violence, brief allusions to depression

full name: william jeffries nickname(s): will, only his ma calls him william. willy, jeffs, he’s trying to get “fry”/“fries” going, as in... french fries, but it’s not catching on :/ age: 28 date of birth: 4th april, 1992 zodiac sign: aries hometown: nyc current location: clayton, georgia gender: cis male pronouns: he/him sexuality: bisexual religion: raised christian occupation: stacker at food donkey, prospective for blazing phoenix living arrangements: share house with five other dudes language(s) spoken: english siblings: four half siblings on his mother’s side; one half brother, bash mcknight, on his dad’s side.

grew up in the shadier parts of the bronx, with his half brothers and sisters. five kids in a cramped apartment was enough to make anyone mad, to not want to be home. his mum tried her best, she was just... struggling, and could never seem to get out of it. with a rotation of men coming through the door, will’s father being one of them, there was never a real sense of stability

but he had his half-siblings and they all just kind of raised each other. every now and then his father would pop in, take him for ice cream, promise him it would be better but it never was. his ma never got better, the kids never got easier, it was all... stuck. the only real change was how much hope Will had

went to high school, tried to keep his head down, study, but it never came easy for him. a little bit dyslexic, very angry at everything. in and out of juvie, in and out of bad shit with bad people was his childhood. too bored to really apply himself to anything.

was really good at running though, could outrun all the kids in the class. was promised it would take him far. but it didn’t. to go far you needed money, you needed the ability to dedicate your time and effort. Will barely knew how to spell effort, let alone put any in. it was a glimpse into a better life, but one he couldn’t be bothered to pursue

After high school he had a few solid, relatively stable years. He got a job working around cars, made a few friends who could be good influences on him. it was going okay until his temper got the better of him again, and Will’s left without a job, without his friends, stuck once again.

when his Pops shows up at his house for the nth time, Will, freshly 27 demands he takes him with him. he’s sick of waiting around, he’s sick of being stuck. his dad, of course, refuses. but he does press an address on a piece of paper into his hand and advises him that he has a brother. Will’s got brothers, he doesn’t need any more, all he wants is a parent to stick around, for his life to be a little less shit.

still, he finds himself packing up his bags, kissing his siblings on the cheek and heading south. maybe he didn’t need another brother, but at least this way maybe his life would be a little better, he can start fresh

head canons:

his shelve stacking skills are legendary, the fastest in the business. with quick hands and an eye for detail he makes what would be an mundane job into a competition. how many cans can he stack in under a minute? can he stack them in the shape of the eiffel tower? he can try. mans a mastermind... or he’s just really, really, bored.

also think he might use the food donkey as a ‘discreet’ way to sell drugs to customers. slides them a lil something extra when they’re getting their cereal

he’s a prospective in the way that he wants it bad, he wants it so. damn. bad. that feeling of belonging to something, being in it. what he lacks in skills he makes up for in sheer enthusiasm. he’s fast, he’s quick with his hands, and he’s not afraid to throw a punch by any means so it should go off without a hitch. hopefully.

the type to blame his circumstances on his parents, the people around him, everyone else than like,, realise how much trouble he personally causes himself

wanted connections

the Usual, u kno: best friends, give me idiots who joke around n love each other a Lot, fast friends, his half-siblings (wc!!!), friends from new york, flings/fwb, enemies w/ benefits, exes, i have this idea that he’s kinda hung up on one person but they don’t see him as a Viable Option (which is fair lmao), enemies - he rubs people the wrong way, and also is Very Easily rubbed the wrong way himself, regular customers, friends that had a falling out, party buds, one of his many roommates, people he’s super protective over, people he tries to stir up, or try to stir him up, i wanna see him get caught up in some bad shit and be like ‘ah fuck maybe this isn’t want i signed up for’

#vengeance: intro #this is a lil bit of a mess but #i tried sdhfids

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minervacasterly · 4 years

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First Protestant King of England, Henry VIII or Edward VI? (And why Edward VI's reign was no less important than his father's)

It is important to dispell myths about the most popular English dynasty, so I decided to briefly take on this topic. A common misconception until recent decades is that Henry VIII was the first Protestant King. In reality, it was his son who was the first true Protestant King of England. I’ve written about this before on my blog, building upon the research by great scholars like Chris Skidmore, Loach, and the short introduction to his reign by Kyra Cornelius Kramer. Besides taking after his father in intellect, Edward VI was fairly concerned with the state of the church of England but unlike his old man, he thought that the time had come to make it into the first true Protestant church of England, agreeing to the issuing of the book of common prayer and a revision of it two years later. Edward VI also frowned upon improper clothing. He loved to dance and watch sports, but didn’t think t0 was a good idea to indulge in these frivolities since the Evangelicals believed that this was a gateway to moral decay. (Don’t you just love those who interpret the will of god so good, that they conveniently forget about the passages where their savior rails against the rich and so on?) Edward’s actions had consequences and these, like the contributions of his reign, are often brushed aside in favor of his more famous father and sisters. One of them, was a rebellion in the North and his half-sister’s resistance to his new laws that forbade people to hear the Mass and forced the new English service on everyone. Long story short … lots of people hung, punished and lots of enemies that his councilors (who as always since people couldn’t point fingers at the king unless they had a sick death wish of some sort) were blamed and were punished for during his half-sister’s reign. Some of you might be pointing out that since Henry VIII was excommunicated and labeled a heretic by most of Christendom, that technically he was a Protestant king but no, seriously, he wasn’t. Henry was, despite these labels, still a practicing Catholic. He agreed to Gardiner’s articles of faith that criticized the church and validated his claim as supreme head of the Anglican Church, and God’s representative on Earth, and surrounded himself by obvious Reformists, but other than that, he forcefully kept everyone in line. Catholics who practiced the Mass or adhered to his new rules while still being loyal to their beliefs were tolerated, but if they pulled a ‘Thomas More’ where they denied the king’s supremacy or insulted one of his beloved wives (before he got tired of them, that is) then yes, off to the block with them!

As for Protestants … Ever heard of Anne Askew? She defended Henry’s actions, she thought he was some kind of Moses as his last wife -Kathryn Parr whom she was closely associated with- would paint him as in her two books (primarily in ‘Lamentations of a Sinner’) and then she defied her husband and Henry’s establishment, pushing for a more Evangelist agenda, and what happened? Oh nothing big … she just got tortured and then burned. As long as you played Henry’s sycophant you were fine. There is also a spiritual aspect that ties into his megalomania. As Henry became more obsessed with securing his dynasty, his focus on spiritual matters also grew. By the end of his reign, nobody could predict what the king would say or how he would act so everyone walked a fine line when they discussed important subjects. Kathryn Parr is one of them who learned this lesson early on during their marriage. If it weren’t for gentleness, and the friendship she established among prominent ladies in her household, her accusers would’ve succeeded in convincing Henry VIII that she was a heretic. She would’ve had a sham trial like Anne Boleyn and then beheaded or worse, burned like Anne Aske. Luckily for Kathryn Parr, she was one step ahead of them. Humbling herself before her lord and husband, she told him that she never intended to change his religious views but just challenged him as people did at the beginning of his reign, so he could stir her towards the right path since she was a woman and these things were too complicated for her to fathom, let alone choose on her own. She lived and continued to be a major influence on future Protestant leaders, such as Jane Grey, Elizabeth I and of course, Edward VI.

Edward VI was greatly influenced by his beloved stepmother’s religiosity and mourned her deeply. He referred to her as his mother. Kathryn encouraged his passion for books and aided his Protestant tutors in stirring him towards their faith, ensuring that he’d become the king they’d all be waiting for, that would transform England into a fully Protestant nation.

It was Edward who began to force religious codes on his people in a way that hadn’t been done before. His father cracked on religious houses on the basis of cleansing them from corruption and because of their disloyalty, and open defiance against his supremacy; but Edward made things worse. The monasteries that were sold to his father’s noblemen left many people begging on the streets while forcing others to adapt to their new environment. When people could no longer handle it, they rose up in open rebellion and like in his father’s time, these were brutally squashed. But here is where it gets interesting … Whereas Henry VIII is blamed for all the evils of his reign, Edward VI is not and the reason for this? He was a kid, don’t be so mean. Leave the poor tot alone. Fact: Edward VI died at the age of fifteen and by renaissance standards, he was not a little boy anymore. Even if he hadn’t come of age, he was not an innocent boy anymore who was oblivious to the world around him. In fact. When Edward VI found out that his uncle had been executed, he was like ‘meh … okay’. And sure, Thomas Seymour was a brash individual who thought he could get away with everything but even after he tried to kidnap his nephew, to act in such a manner and for an uncle who was married to your favorite stepmother and someone you claimed to be your favorite relative, that’s pretty cold. But it gets better. After Edward VI finally got rid of his tedious uncle and his irritating set of rules, Edward wrote in his diary (showing no emotion at all) that the former lord Protector died and that was that. Getting rid of Edward Seymour probably made the little critter sigh in relief because out of all his uncles, the Lord Protector was the one who always reminded him of his duties and responsibilities, not to mention all those rules and not letting him be king! How unfair! And then there was also that issue about the rebellions. Edward VI saw these people as traitors and agreed with Northumberland that they should be dealt with immediately but his uncle didn’t think that was wise, which was why people called him the ‘good Duke’ because they saw him as a friend of the people. Now that he was out of the way, his kingdom would not have to suffer any more dissenting voices, nor any threats of isolation or future skirmishes with Scotland. Edward VI was fully committed to the Protestant cause but convinced by Northumberland, he realized that he would not go far if he did not have any allies. And the whole campaign in Scotland had gone awfully wrong and with Mary, Queen of Scots in France, the only way to neutralize that threat was making an alliance with that country, betrothing him to Henri II and Catherine de Medici’s daughter, Elizabeth Valois. Sadly, Edward VI did not live to marry her or do more for the Evangelicals. He died and before he did, he wrote a paper called “my device for the succession” which became the basis to disinherit his sisters in favor of their cousin, Jane Grey. That opened a can of worms that could have easily escalated into another civil war like the wars of the roses but thankfully for everyone involved it didn’t and his sister won her crown fair and square. But as with every Tudor, once her sister became Queen, she began to make good use of the propaganda machine to portray her sibling as a puppet of Northumberland and other evil lords who had corrupted him and turned him against her. Why was this done? Same reason why people who rebelled against their kings often pointed their fingers at their councilors -because doing so against an anointed king meant that they were upsetting the natural order. It was only in extreme cases, when someone had enough support and belonged to a different dynasty, that they would point it directly at them. Edward belonged to the same dynasty as Mary, and a dynasty divided was bad business for everyone, especially for the first Queen Regnant of England who had inherited a divided country.

Mary I also did something else and that was appropriating some of Edward VI’s religious achievements in an effort to make Catholicism appealing to those who were still unsure whether or not they wanted to return to the church or side with the various groups within the Protestant movement. Sections from the book of the common prayer were added to a new set of prayers in Latin and English, and adapted in a way that didn’t contradict church doctrine. During his reign, Edward encouraged many poets and artists to express themselves. These would reenact passages from the bible, or create allegorical paintings that depicted Edward as England’s messiah, and all those who followed him as true Christians as opposed to the decadent Catholics who were portrayed as heathens.

Edward’s religious reformation became the basis for Elizabeth I’s reign who continued with many of these reforms. Although she did not go as far as Edward or his chosen heiress, Jane Grey, would have liked. Elizabeth I was far more pragmatic, recognizing that if she wanted to rule over a divided country she had to maintain some of the older traditions or else, she’d risk losing everything she had. Unlike her siblings, Elizabeth I wasn’t thought of as legitimate by many of her Christian peers. Ideological purity was a luxury that she couldn’t afford and in any case, she did not want because many Evangelicals didn’t like the idea of the supremacy of kings (or queens). Nevertheless, Elizabeth I built her religious establishment upon her brother’s by issuing a new revision of the book of common prayer and encouraging artists and poets to create works that extolled the Anglican Church and the Tudor Dynasty.

#Edward VI #Henry VIII #English History #English Reformation #dailytudors

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sarahwyland · 3 years

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It’s sick that there’s a version that Nick walks out on his kid or where Sabrina refuses to let him see him or her. It’s an AU I know you like writing angst, but keep the characters in character from who they are based on. Deeply saddened and just offended. Nick wouldn’t walk out on his kid. Nor would Sabrina refuse to let him near said kid. If you’re going to write the single fic go with the other.

I’m sorry you feel this way and I’d like to talk a little more about this fic idea because of some of the comments I’ve received about it. This is lengthy, but I feel it’s important, as a writer and a person, to dig into this more.

I do like to write angst. I like to explore the darker parts of our characters. Because they all have very dark sides to them. That’s what drew me to Sabrina - the depth and dimension of some of these characters and the boldness of the stories they told, particularly in parts one and two.

We like to focus on the love Nick and Sabrina have for one another, the attraction, the connection. But Sabrina has faced loss, abandonment (who else’s heart broke when Edward said he didn’t want her?), and Nick has faced a world of trauma, shown a tendency to lean on alcohol and drugs to cope. Hell, he committed suicide. Some view that as a grand romantic Shakespearean gesture. I don’t. I view it as someone who a hurt and darkness they couldn’t conquer. Sadly, I think we all know people who have lost their lives because their internal struggles were just too much. My mom’s favorite cousin is one of those people. He suffered from deep depression and PTSD. My stepdad’s nephew is another. He was transgender in a family that “doesn’t believe in that.” I will go to the mat over mental health, over access to care, and the stigma around speaking up when you’re hurting. Advocating for mental health is a big part of my life you don’t necessarily see on Tumblr.

As a writer, those dark sides, those things we each have in us, no matter how sunshine and daisies we are, are what gives our characters dimension. It’s what gives them an emotional journey and makes the reader/viewer want to root for them - or hate them. It’s what makes you look at a Nick or a Sabrina or a Prudence or a Zelda and see yourself in them, the good and the bad. I won’t apologize for exploring these darker parts or for tossing around thoughts and ideas with my “internet friends” about stories I may or may not share.

If this version of this story ever sees the light of day, it will likely not be in this fandom. I only wrote a handful of pages, exploring as I tend to do. At this point, I’ll give the characters new identities and write a manuscript or a pilot that will either live on my laptop forever or land me a Netflix deal.

On a more personal note, I, like many of you who also write, tend to “write what I know.” I know a lot about addiction and mental illness, not as a professional, but as a person who has been deeply affected by it. I have anxiety that tends to manifest itself at the most inopportune times. I’ve had panic attacks that have put me in the ER. I’ve alluded to the suicides that stemmed from depression my family has experienced.

A lesser known but not secret fact about me is that my dad, who I love and adore and will swear hung the moon, is an alcoholic. He’s been in the hospital due to alcohol withdrawal twice in the last year. The first time he nearly died. Delirium tremens (DTs) is a terrifying thing to witness. I imagine it was even more terrifying for him to go through. Two weeks ago, while I was posting prompts and updating ‘The Hunted’ and lamenting how I’m going to shoot a short film in a pandemic with all the COVID rules, I was also fielding calls from the other side of the country from my dad’s doctors, giving me updates and discussing his treatment plan moving forward, AA meetings, psychiatrists... I also had to sign an advanced directive for him - just in case.

I see him struggle with his addiction. I also watched him stay sober for more than 20 years, only to relapse when he lost his sister to a nasty battle with cancer a few years ago and then struggle to regain that sobriety. He’s a good man who works hard, has done well for himself, loves his family, takes care of his 93 year old mother, calls me to ask if i’ve remembered to get my oil changed (the answer is always no), but he’s also an addict and he’s done things I would have never thought he’d do while under the influence. Even 20+ years sober, he was always an addict.

And so, this very long note to say this fic would have been bigger than “Nick left his pregnant girlfriend.” It would have been a story about a man who has struggled with addiction, who made mistakes, who still carries the love he had for a girl with him in hopes that he can redeem himself in her eyes and be the man he so wants to be, and about a girl who faced loss and heartache at a young age, who tried with all she had to help the man she loves, only to learn the very hard lesson that you can’t help someone who isn’t ready to be helped. It would have told a story about overcoming those obstacles and making a life from the ashes.

You probably didn’t bargain for this long of a response, probably didn’t bargain for an answer at all. But for reasons I can’t wrap my head around, this single mom fic idea that’s popped into my inbox a few times over the last year from various folks causes chaos (no pun intended) and I felt the need to explain the rational behind a story that I doubt I’ll ever publish in this format.

I always encourage sharing of opinions. But I also encourage the sharing to be done with grace and kindness and for criticism to be constructive, feedback helpful. My inbox is open.

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country-club · 4 years

Text

Games #5

> Where Sarah tries to set you up with JJ but you end up texting with Rafe *gif not mine* Wordcount: 2.1k Warnings: none that i can think of, but let me know if you think of any

#1/#2/#3/#4

The sound of birds chirping woke you. Sunlight peeking through the curtains made the dark room light up. Your head and throat didn’t hurt as much as you thought, barely remembering last night. As you looked around the room, you noticed your clothes laying on a chair. You were wearing a shirt. Just not one you recall being yours. Though the room was big it didn’t look like much time was spent in here, as it seems to be rather empty. There was a big closet, a tv, a clean desk and a nightstand. Right, and the bed you were laying in. You sat up, finding the aspirin sitting on the nightstand next to a glass of water. Your phone was on there as well, charging. No texts or missed calls from your parents. Weird. There were rattling sounds coming from the door across the bed you were now sitting in. You froze in place as the door opened. You were at Rafe’s place; you remember that much. But to have Sarah walk in on you would be a hard thing to explain. This can’t be her room, it’s too plain. Maybe you slept in the guestroom, that would explain it. Luckily it wasn’t Sarah standing in the doorframe. It was a wet-haired Rafe wearing only boxers and holding a towel in his hands. Rafe quietly closed the door and froze when he noticed you were sitting on the bed.

“Morning.” You broke the silence between you two.

“Morning. I didn’t want to wake you.” The boy walked over the closet and put his towel down. Boy did he look good. He started grabbing clothes from his closet. Trying to be polite you looked away, having a few peaks, however.

“I hope I’m not a burden.” You said quietly, as you shoved aside the sheets and stepped out of bed.

“Don’t worry about it, I was just returning the favor. How’s your headache?” Rafe asked, buttoning his blouse.

“Lovely.” You joked, taking your clothes off the chair. It was awkward. Rafe stood there, almost completely dressed, his hair still wet. While you were holding your clothes, wearing what is probably a shirt of Rafe’s which looked like a dress on you, and your hair doing all kinds of things.

“Would, uh, would you like to take a shower?” You didn’t want to. But going home, looking like this and smelling like alcohol sounded worse. So, you nodded and Rafe opened the bathroom door for you.

“Thank you.” You whispered, before walking in. His bathroom looked like what you would expect it to look; swim shorts hanging on the towel rack, dirty clothes hanging over the laundry basket and a year’s supply of hair gel. You took a quick shower and got dressed. After putting the shirt you had slept in on his bed, you left his room. God would it be awkward if you walked into Ward or Rose right now. But staying in his room would suck as well. You found Rafe standing in the kitchen when you arrived downstairs.

“What’s cooking, good looking?” You regret the moment the words leave your mouth. Who says such a thing? What a pathetic way to flirt. Were you though, flirting? With Rafe Cameron?

“Cereal, would you like some?” You were starving, but it felt like asking too much. He didn’t stay for breakfast when he stayed the night.

“I was just about to head home.”

“Right.” He had a bit of sadness in the tone of his voice.

“Thanks, Rafe, for letting me sleep over and the shower.” Rafe nodded, as if to say, ‘you’re welcome’ or ‘I have stuff to do, please leave’. It was a shy nod, you’re uncertain.

“That’s what friends are for.”

Friendzone it is. You headed towards the door as you thanked Rafe once more.

“See you around, Y/n.” A smile formed on his face.

Little by little memories of last night came back to you. Over the course of the day bits and pieces popped up in your head, of the games you were playing with the Pogues and Rafe picking you up.

Your parents didn’t say anything about you not sleeping at home. They asked how your night had been and if you slept well.

Your mind was set on spending the day looking for a job and reading in the sun, questions forming in your head about last night. It was all hazy after you and JJ had finished the last bottle of alcohol at the chateau. JJ had asked you if you wanted to kiss him. The thought of kissing JJ didn’t sound bad at all. He has a good sense of humor and is very attractive. However, you spent the night at Rafe’s and that’s where most of your questions lie.

Your thoughts were interrupted by your sister’s yelling. Someone’s at the door for you. Once opening the door, you were greeted by Sarah.

“You must think I have nothing to do all day huh?” You joked.

“Do you?” You shook your head. “Exactly! I was just checking in; see how you were doing.” You told her you were doing fine and that you got home alright. Telling her about Rafe would probably not be the brightest idea.

Sarah and you hung out in your garden the rest of the afternoon. She had told you about how John B and her had gotten together and how she made up with Kiara after years. When it was your turn, you talked about your life before you moved; about your friends, school and your ‘ex’.

“Lucky for you, Outer Banks has some of the finest men.”

“You mean boys?” She laughed at your comment.

“Yeah I mean boys. What do you think of JJ, by the way?” There it was.

“We talked a couple of times, he’s cute.”

“He’s got a lot going on, but he’s a nice guy. He would totally treat you right.”

You knew that Sarah would try to set you up with JJ. He seemed like a nice guy, the few times you were with him. And you had promised to hang out with him sometime.

“Hey, Sarah, do you have JJ’s phone number?”

“Yeah of course, however, it’s faster to just go to his place or the chateau if you ever need him.” Sarah didn’t give you much information on the boy and went on about how Wheezie told her she found a trashy girl in her brother’s bed this morning.

It took you a second to realize that you were the girl. You tried to laugh it off.

“I just hope that whoever ends up dating my brother, knows what they’re getting into.” Sarah sighed. After a while your mother called for dinner.

“It was nice to hang out, just the two of us. I really enjoy hanging out with you, Y/n.”

You thanked her and returned the compliment. You walked with Sarah toward the front of the house and before she walked of, you asked: “What’s JJ’s address?”

After dinner you hung out in the living room. Going to the bathroom, a hazy memory popped up in your head; a little plastic bag with ‘white stuff’ falling out of Rafe’s pocket. It looked awfully familiar to cocaine. You didn’t want to ask him about it. Neither did you want to ask if he was the one to text your parents last night or undressed you. You already knew the answers. You didn’t resent him for it, you just wondered what’s going through his head.

Your phone lid up.

You should probably put a password on your phone

The text was from a random number.

It’s Rafe, by the way

Or not so random. Speaking of the devil. You opened the messages and replied:

Hello there, stranger

You stared at your screen for a minute. Nothing. As you put the phone back in your pocket you walked back to the couch and put on a movie. You parents and sister joined. You were focused on watching George Clooney and Brad Pitt finishing the heist in Ocean’s Eleven as your phone lit up. It was Rafe.

I hope I didn’t make it awkward this morning.

It was a bit tense, and him putting you in the friendzone made you a bit confused. You felt different around him and thought maybe he did too.

You move a lot when you sleep. I also didn’t think of you as a cuddler.

Hang on, what? This is probably the weirdest comment you have ever gotten. Should you like thank him? Wouldn’t that be even weirder? Eh, fuck it.

It’s fine and I’m sorry if I kept you up. I blame the cuddling on the alcohol..

That would have to do for now. Once you looked up, you noticed the film was over and your parents were getting up. You told them you would lock up tonight and told them goodnight. You put on some music and laid down on the couch, eyes focused on the screen in front of you.

Don’t worry bout it, y/n

The conversation barely started and was already dying. He must have felt the same way, you thought by his reply:

So, what are you up to?

You texted that you had just finished the movie and that you were hanging out by yourself. Followed by a text, asking him what he has been up to.

The sequel isn’t as good, tbh.

I’m by myself as well

Before you realized it, you had sent the text, telling him he should come over. Seeing as you’re minutes away, and it is summer anyways. He replies rather fast.

Be there in 5.

Your heart started beating faster. He was actually going to come over. In 5 minutes?! You were still wearing what was supposed to represent your pjs: an oversized shirt and yoga shorts. Okay, think. First clean up the couch. Brush your teeth and fix your hair, cause you’re looking a bit like Hagrid.

Instead of ringing the door, Rafe had texted you. Not wanting to wake your parents. You opened the door, seeing the boy wearing sweatpants and a shirt. Nothing special either.

“Hey”

“Good evening, y/n.”

You let him in and offered him a beer, which he denied.

“Just some water, please.” He walked around your living room, looking at the pictures your mom had put up.

After you had gotten two glasses of water, you walked back into the living room. Where you found Rafe already on the couch. You sat down next to him, unsure of what to say. Luckily, he did. Or so you thought.

“I, uh, I couldn’t get you off my mind today.” He didn’t make any eye contact. His bit his lips, right where your eyes were focused. “I don’t know why I said that, I’m sorry.” Now was your time to speak.

“Me neither.” His eyes made their way to yours. He didn’t look sad or tired, or under influence. He looked like a normal teenager, sitting next to the girl he wishes he has a shot with.

He placed his hand on your, his fingers dancing around on your skin. As if you had rehearsed it, the words left your lips at the same time: “Can I ask you something?” Rafe nodded, signing that you should go first.

“Why did you get in a fight the first night we met? When you were picking something up from a friend, were you.. you know, getting ‘stuff’.” The words left your mouth and Rafe’s expression changed. You didn’t expect him to tell you.

“I was picking up cocaine and got into a little argument with my dealer.” But he did. “Could you keep that between us?”

“Yeah, of course. I’m sorry that happened.” You were sorry he got into an argument, that he had a fight and was covered in bruises. Rafe looked confused at your apology.

“You don’t think I have a problem?”

“Everybody’s got problems, and everybody deals with them in different ways.” The corner of his mouth curled up, nodding at your comment.

“Thank you.” He mumbled.

You leaned over to him, fixing the sleeve of his shirt which had been curled up this entire time. Before you could sit back down, he held your arm in place.

“I was going to ask if I could kiss you.” He caught you off guard.

“Yes, please.”

And before you knew it, his hand made its way to your cheek. His upper body turned so you were almost opposite of each other. He placed his soft lips on yours and in that moment, you forgot all your worries, focusing purely on Rafe. Your hands made their way to his neck, pulling him closer as your tongues made their way out.

Your mouth made a ‘wow’ sound once his lips left yours. Rafe repeated the ‘wow’, only now pronouncing it like Owen Wilson would.

Your first kiss in Outer Banks surely was ‘wow’-worthy, and hopefully won’t be the last. A/N: Been gone for a while and i know this isn’t great but i’m trying, it’ll get better, i promise :) Will start uploading more again once my test period is over. Also, i wrote a Topper fic which got lost, but would rewrite if anybody is interested? (let me know please!)

Taglist @emmalvei-blog @sunwardsss @julialucena5 @popesscholarship @thefangirl05 @darlingchanse

#rafe cameron #outerbanks #outer banks #obx #drew starkey #rafe imagine #imagine

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blooblooded · 3 years

Text

Lee bullies some children

It was only out of paranoia that Lee Harlan did not vape inside of Kip’s apartment. Logically he knew that the chances of it leaving an odor were low to none-- after all, he vaped inside of his own home and never noticed anything. But he used cherry flavored pods and the risk of Kip’s mother coming home, noticing the smell, and confronting her children about it was too great so he always went outside to the landing when he needed a hit of nicotine.

If Police Commissioner Nguyen found out that a 22 year old man was habitually hanging out at her home unsupervised with her children and their friends...it was best not to think about what would happen.

Lee slid the glass door shut behind him to ensure that no vapor could get inside, turned and found that he was not alone. Kip’s youngest friends were out there. Well, not his friends, not really, more like the kids that hung around because they had to. Esther Bellamy’s twin siblings and their friend.

And Marty.

He didn’t know how old any of them were, only that the differences in maturity between them and 18 year old Kip were noticeable. The twins, Eddie and Evangeline, sat in two of the landing’s rickety old deck chairs, pretty and redheaded, unconsciously mimicking each other’s body language. Nervous, quiet Rome sat in another chair. And on the table between chairs was propped a tablet, the screen broadcasting Marty’s face from the mysterious outside land he came from.

They had clearly been chatting amongst themselves but shut up the moment Lee came outside. He smiled at them and projected his will to put them at ease with his presence, then leaned against the railing and took a hit from his vape.

Instantly, there was a problem.

“Are you fucking smoking?” Marty demanded. His accent was strange, round and musical and nothing like anything heard in Eden.

Lee exhaled. He didn’t understand why this kid had such a personal problem with him. They had met 4 times, and every time, Marty would try to incite him by accusing him of bad intentions. He didn’t trust him and nothing Lee said or did seemed to help. It was strange to not be liked instantly, usually his slight psychic abilities masked him from mistrust. “Relax, I’m vaping.”

Marty’s round face screwed up like it always did when he came across a term he did not understand. Dumb ass kid didn’t even know what vaping was. Where did he come from, that’s what Lee really wanted to know. How was he in contact with people in Eden? It was information he doubted he would ever get due to Marty’s hostility. He exhaled another cloud.

“Can you not do that around people?” said Marty.

Lee looked at the other teenagers and raised his eyebrows. “Is this bothering you guys?” he asked.

“It’s cool,” said Eddie, who was trying to lean his chair back on two legs.

“Whatever,” said Evangeline.

Rome didn’t say anything. He usually didn’t, it was hard to get more than two words out of him.

Still, it was all he needed. It wasn’t a no. Nobody ever said no to him. He smiled at Marty and continued to vape, enjoying the expression of pure disgust and anger he was receiving.

It dawned on him that he desired to make Marty angry at him. The novelty of pissing off someone who was thousands of miles away and helpless to do anything about it was good. Getting away with doing things he knew was wrong always gave him a little thrill, it was one of the reasons that he had been enjoying hanging out with Kip and all his underage friends so much. Not because he had any ill will towards them or wanted to harm them, but because he found it funny that he could if he wanted to. Most of their parents were powerful people, a police commissioner, a career capitalist, a member of the intelligentsia: all people he hated on principle. If he wanted to, he could really hurt them. Not that he wanted to. He wouldn’t. But he could.

This was different. Marty was just a fat little teenager on a screen. He had no power over Lee. He was not responsible for any of his suffering, his poverty, his frustration. The only thing Marty had was the inability to be influenced by his psychic abilities. The only thing he could do was watch. Lee thought about all the things he could make Marty watch. He felt the sudden and unnatural urge to hurt him.

There was no reason for that. Lee liked to think of himself as a good person. Still, this urge grew inside his heart.

“What are you guys doing out here?” he asked them. He pointed at a soda bottle one of them had drunk. “Playing spin the bottle? That puts Marty at a disadvantage.” It was just a little joke but he watched the twins’ pale faces blush and Rome’s posture change. He knew he had made them uncomfortable. “Kidding, kidding, sorry. Really, what are you talking about out here all by yourselves?”

“You should go away,” said Marty. His wavy black hair seemed to puff up as he grew angrier.

Eddie was the first to grow comfortable again. He leaned his chair back on two legs and held onto the table to balance himself. “We’re just talking about homework,” he said. He and his sister looked semi inhuman in the way that all genetically modified people looked to Lee. Artificials. The elite shelled out hundreds of thousands of dollars to ensure that their children would be beautiful, that unlike Lee, they would never have to worry about bad eyesight or crooked teeth. The Bellamy children all had clear, almost translucent skin and tall graceful bodies. Looking at them stirred up those old feelings of resentment at the knowledge that some people had a leg up on life from day one. He would always be treated differently than them. “We have papers due on social studies. I’m writing about the Prison District and stuff, you know. Jail. I’m going to ask Ms. Nguyen about it so I can get an A.”

The thought of the Prison District caused Lee to feel a chill down his neck and the short hairs there stand on end. Unbidden, he remembered the face of his mother; her sly smile and strong jaw resembled his own in his memories. But what memories did he really have of her? Few and far between. She had hung herself in her own cell when he was 12 years old, not long after being arrested, the reality of a life in a cage had been too much for her to bear and she had made the choice to evade that fate.

At 17, he had contemplated that choice as well. He took a drag on his vape to clear his head.

“Just ask Kip,” said Evangeline, so curt and unpleasant for a girl her age. “Don’t you remember Kip getting arrested in July when he spray painted that building?”

“That doesn’t count, Vega bailed him out before anyone even knew that happened.”

“It does too count, if you got arrested even for five minutes you would be crying like a baby. Kip’s good at talking about that kind of stuff.”

Silent, Rome sat there and picked at one of his fingernails. On the little screen, Marty rolled his big black eyes.

Lee considered ways of endearing himself to these children. He wanted to know that he was not a threat, that they could trust him so that they would not betray him to any adult figures in their lives. At this point, he could not risk it. He had to stay close to Kip, after all the work he had put in with the kid, he couldn’t just throw that away. He needed-- Yancey needed-- him so that Eden could become a better place. At the end of the school year, Mayor Malena would make a speech in the School District, and Kip’s cooperation would allow the United People’s Liberation Front to eradicate him and open Eden up for actual representation, not representation from a tyrant. For that to happen, he had to keep Kip on his side, and for //that// to happen, he had to keep Kip’s friends on his side.

Eddie Bellamy was still leaning his chair back and Lee felt the urge to stick out his foot and knock the chair leg so that he fell over. Instead, he smiled in a way that was open and disarming and tried to remember what he had learned in his Investigative Journalism course about building trust and credibility.

“I’ve been to prison,” he said, casual as anything. “I was in prison for 6 months.”

They all looked at him. Was this too much too fast? Or did teenagers think stuff like that was cool? He certainly had, at that age.

“Why were you in prison?” asked Marty, almost immediately.

Lee shrugged. “Because the system is unfair and oppressive. It discriminates against people who are poor.”

“Qu’est ce que ca-- What does that mean? That doesn’t mean anything, what did you--”

“Cool,” said Eddie. He took a handheld tablet out of his pocket. “OK so I don’t even need to talk to Ms. Nguyen, I can like, just talk to you and get this paper done before the weekend. Was it terrible? How was the food? Kip said they have to shower with everyone else in prison, did you have to do that? I would hate that.”

“Why are you even talking to this guy?” snapped Marty. “He just told you he was in prison, they don’t just send guys there on vacation! Can you listen to me for once, I wish that someone would just listen to me for once. Quit talking to him, he’s like 40 years old, you can just make things up and write them down, whatever he says is probably just as made up!”

“Can you calm down for once?” asked Evangeline. “Why are you always shouting?”

“Why would anyone even lie about something like that?” Eddie said blandly, typing on his tablet. “Let me think of some questions for you, Lee.”

Marty ground his teeth. “Rome,” he said pointedly. “Do you want to say something about this? Maybe about what you’ve been messaging me about this guy in private? Huh?”

It was clear that the heir to Prosperity Inc. did not like being around Lee, but was too anxious to say anything. He started to breathe in a fast, funny way. Lee raised his eyebrows at him and then looked at Marty. He smiled. It was a crooked smile because he could never afford to get braces. Marty’s face turned red.

“Do you really think I’m 40?” he asked him. “Really? You think I look like I’m 40? That hurts.”

The only response was a string of what was probably curses in the kid’s own language, and then the screen went white as he turned it off in a fit of temper.

Making him angry was pretty funny.

The next step was easy. Lee and Kip were in a computer lab, designing posters for an upcoming UPLF meeting. Due to the nature of what they talked about, Lee sometimes felt anxious about advertising the organization, but Yancey assured him it was fine. After all, they needed more people. More bodies.

Kip got frustrated by little things. He could not figure out how to rotate text the right way and was jiggling his leg. The small repetitive movements put Lee even more on edge. He put down his coffee and leaned over Kip’s workspace so that their shoulders touched, then took the mouse from him and fixed the poster easily.

“Thanks,” said Kip, who didn’t move away when Lee touched him. “I just don’t really understand art.”

“That’s OK. There’s nothing to get.”

“Yeah.” Kip kept jiggling his leg. He smelled like body odor. Lately he had been neglecting personal hygiene. Lee couldn’t imagine such a thing. He spent upwards of an hour getting ready every morning.

He couldn’t stop thinking about Marty and his round little musical language. What did those words mean? In Eden they were taught that the land outside of the 10 Colonies was uninhabitable, but that was clearly just another lie. Clearly there were people there, people with civilization. Civilization both unlike and like the one in Eden. Marty had mentioned a revolution, a civil war, while arguing with Kip, and Lee had felt his blood run hot.

He wanted to know that it was possible.

He wanted to know that the world could change.

And then, there was that part of him that was fascinated by Marty. Like the differences and similarities between Eden and the strange land that Marty came from, the two of them had their own similarities and differences. Such vivid similarities. Such stark differences. It wasn’t normal for a man in his twenties to feel curiosity towards a teenager, but Lee knew that his intentions were not inappropriate. He was, after all, a good person. He just wanted to know more. He wanted to prod, just a little bit, to get a reaction.

Kip was typing a short informative blurb for the poster but had misspelled the word commodification. Lee moved his hands away again so that he could correct him. “You don’t have that kid Marty’s contact info, do you?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Would you send it to me?”

The long pause that followed reminded Lee that this was a weird request. It hinged upon his assumption that Kip would do anything he asked him to, no matter how absurd, how obscene. Infatuation was a powerful motivator but the desire to protect others was a key part of how Kip Nguyen positioned himself in the world.

Another long second. Kip pulled out his communicator and typed into it. Lee’s own device pinged with a long string of numbers that did not match any in Eden.

He realized how much power he had over this young man. It was something he was unused to, but something that he wanted more of.

“Why--” Kip furrowed his brows, then looked back at his screen. “Why do you want to talk to Marty? I thought he didn’t like you.”

It was that obvious.

The truth was the best option in this situation. “I want to talk to him about the place he lives. I think they’ve accomplished the same thing we’re trying to do. They killed their oppressors, they made things fair for everyone who lives there. Can you imagine that? I want to know how they were able to do it so that I know we can do it. I just want to hear about a place that did it first.”

Kip was no longer jiggling his leg. He was spaced out, unfocused out of nowhere. Whenever he got this way, his expression turned flat and his eyes went glassy. Over the last few months, Lee had realized that Kip spaced out all the time, mostly when he felt stressed. He almost felt bad.

Was he putting too much pressure on Kip? Despite knowing that he was using him, he liked him a lot. He liked how outrageously passionate and articulate Kip was and wished that he could have been the same way at 18. At 18, Lee had been dweeby and ineloquent, still held back by the grief of losing his mother and the horror of what he had endured during his incarceration. He did not want to ever take away Kip’s ‘spark’.

“You good?” he asked carefully.

Kip shook himself. He clicked aimlessly on the keyboard. “Yeah. It’s just-- I don’t think Marty is very happy. You’d think that in a society where everything is fair, everyone would be happy.”

“It’s more important that everything is fair than for everyone to be happy.”

“Right. Yeah, I know. I mean, I know that. It’s stupid, I don’t know why I was thinking about that.” Kip deleted the strings of gibberish he had just typed, then turned so that he could face Lee. He was smiling but everything else was off, like he was forcing himself to look normal. “Marty’s weird. If you bother him or something, Ayda’s probably going to come after me, so can you-- can you be cool when you talk to him? I really don’t want Ayda getting mad at me, Case will get mad if Ayda’s mad. You know? Please just be cool.”

Lee put a hand on Kip’s shoulder to reassure him and projected his will in his direction. You think everything is OK, he thought. You think everything is just fine. You don’t think that anything is wrong. Then he gave Kip a few pats. “When have I ever not been cool?” he asked.

######

He waited a few days before calling Marty. It was the week before he had a long paper due, and he had his deadline on an editorial in the student paper. Life had to come first. His life was busy, between classwork, his job, and his position in the UPLF. So many responsibilities. Lee just didn’t have the time to call anyone, he barely even had time to sleep at night. The loans he had taken out to cover his school bills, combined with the measly wages he earned from writing were hardly enough for survival. Every day was a struggle, and in that struggle he had little time to think about a foreign teenager who hated him.

On Sunday afternoon, he had a little time. Lee’s editor at the student paper had messaged him with the revisions they wanted and he just didn’t have it in him to open his word document and read over everything he had screwed up. They liked him there, they just didn’t like his work. He could make people like him, that was easy. Making people like his ideas, making people like his vision of a better future in Eden, that was harder. He thought about Marty and the place he lived. He thought about Marty’s better future.

That was real. He could talk to someone who had lived through a revolution, who had entered a socialist society, and figure out what worked. He could write about what worked.

Certainly it would be easier than coming up with ideas on his own.

Lee reclined on his couch. It was the only real furniture in his studio apartment, apart from his bed. He often slept there. It was one of those rare occasions that he had not gotten dressed for the day, since he had not gone out anywhere he only wore a pair of thin sweatpants and a meat-packer’s union T shirt. He had not groomed his hair nor his beard and was wearing his old glasses. It did not make him feel good about himself. When he did not dress up and take care of himself, it reminded him that he was mediocre-- average frame, crooked teeth, mousy brown hair, brown eyes. Nothing special.

When there was nobody around to see him or talk to him, when he was alone, he was reminded of his mediocrity. The emptiness of it.

He pulled out his communication device and opened up the message where Kip had sent him Marty’s strange number. Again, he wondered how someone from the outside was in contact with Eden. Who else knew about this? What kind of trouble would West Agapama be in if the government caught wind of his daughters collaborating with outsiders? It was likely that Marty was only in contact with them due to Agapama’s alleged smuggling activities. While he shipped items from Eden to the Colonies of Serenity and Green River, it had always been rumored that his trucks ended up elsewhere.

Lee lingered on that number. He pressed it.

His screen flashed white a few times as his device connected to one that was hundreds of miles away.

Marty answered after only a few rings. Wherever he was, he was outside, because Lee could see blue sky and the blackness of the Rift. He could see trees, real trees, growing in the wild. Marty’s fluffy black hair was covered by a knit hat and he had a scarf pulled up to his nose. His cheeks were pink, perhaps affected by the cold air. When he saw who had called him, his black eyes went so wide that Lee could see the reflection of the kid’s communication device in them. “Ah, merde!” exclaimed Marty in a high pitch of surprise. “Comment as-tu--”

“Est-ce que ca-va, Mari?” A harsh female voice from off camera. Marty spluttered something in response and retreated a few steps, looking over his shoulder as he went. He got his back up against a tree and then glared daggers into his camera.

“Hi,” Lee said mildly, distracted by the landscape and Marty’s strange clothes. He had never been cold before, not really. He tried to imagine it. The temperature in Eden was regulated carefully to keep everyone comfortable.

Marty pulled the scarf away from his lower face with a quick, aggressive motion. “How the fuck did you get this number?” he demanded. “What made you think it’s a good idea to call me? Oh my god, you are a freak. I’m telling Ayda that you called me, you fucking psychopath, what is wrong with you?”

It was amazing that someone could switch between languages like that. Marty’s voice even changed when he spoke his own language, he lowered it when he spoke English. Lee smiled at him and tried to project his will, although he knew it would be hopeless on the other side of a screen. You want to talk to me, you want to talk to me, he thought.

Marty’s expression turned to disgust. “You’re staring at me,” he said. “I’m hanging up and then I’m going to figure out what I’m gonna do to you.”

“Wait, wait wait wait,” Lee laughed. “I just want to talk.”

“I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Just talk to me. Five minutes. What’s five minutes?”

“I don’t want to talk to you. Who gave you my number?”

“Kip.”

For a second, Marty’s face fell, his eyes darted to the side and he sniffed. Then he looked back at Lee and sneered. All of it was posturing, him trying to act big when he was just a little kid. Lee was familiar with the need to make oneself something that you are not. “Kip, huh?” said Marty. He exhaled through his mouth and his breath fogged. “Kip. Right, Kip is in love with you, of course he would do something shitty to me if he thought it would get him on your dick. Fuck you, and fuck him too.”

“Wow. Sort of inappropriate, don’t you think?”

Marty pulled his scarf back up over the lower half of his face, probably to mask his expression more than because of the cold. Small white specks were falling around him, landing on his hat and getting stuck on his eyelashes. “Inappropriate? Like you care. Inappropriate is you calling me when there’s nobody else around. Why is that, huh? You’re scared I’m going to tell Ayda’s dad you’ve been giving her alcohol? You know what he’s gonna do to you? He’ll peel off all your skin and break your teeth with a hammer and castrate you before killing you. You’re trying to manipulate me. You can’t trick me, you think you’re so smart but you can’t fool me.”

Teenagers were so stupid. They all thought that they had the world figured out but their brains weren’t even finished developing. Lee kept his face pleasant. “I feel like we got off on the wrong foot. I just want to talk to you about your life. I promise I’m not manipulating anyone, all your friends like me, I don’t know why you don’t. Can I just ask you a few questions?” He noted that they had already been speaking far longer than five minutes.

“‘On the wrong foot’, I don’t even know what that means,” replied Marty. He paused, thinking, and blinked away some of the white flakes that were falling on him. Snow? “I know for a fact that not everyone likes you. I’m not talking to you, I’m not telling you anything about my life because that’s weird. You’re weird, this is over, don’t call me again because I am blocking you, you creep.”

“Aw, come on, I just--”

The screen went black.

He had to laugh.

###

He had promised to buy Kip and his friends liquor and came through. Lee did not enjoy drinking much. At this point in his life, the novelty had worn off, and he found that drinking excessively dulled his senses too much for his taste. But teenagers were in to that kind of thing, and he knew that it would further endear himself to Kip, so he had complied.

About two hours into the night, Lee started to wonder if he had made a really terrible mistake.

They were all drunk. Well, except for Kip’s little sister, who didn’t touch the stuff. They were all drunk and the dawning realization of exactly how much trouble he was going to be in if anyone found out was starting to make Lee scared.

He watched as Ayda, Esther, and Rosaline sat sprawled in front of the television, clumsily playing a video game. They giggled as they repeatedly drove a virtual cart off the side of a brightly colored bridge, not seeming to care or realize that they were doing the same thing over and over again. Casey and Kassidy were sharing the same chair, Casey with her long legs twisted over Kassidy’s as she braided her hair. Casey’s eyes were half closed. Kip sat next to Lee on the couch, jabbering idiotically about something that Lee was not really paying attention to. The younger kids were off by themselves, he really wasn’t sure.

And Marty.

Marty’s little blue hologram face was visible on Ayda’s communication device. Every now and then, he would glance over at Lee and give him a poisonous glare.

It could be worse, Lee thought to himself, as he held on to his own barely touched drink for dear life. It could be worse. Nothing bad had happened, and most of them were well behaved, Still, he couldn’t help but think about how West Agapama would skin him alive and smash his face in with a hammer if he found out that his girls were getting drunk in the presence of a grown man, He wasn’t going to find out though. There was no way he could find out.

Well. There was one way. Lee looked over at Marty and their eyes met. Marty widened his eyes threateningly.

“That’s why it’s not fair,” he heard Kip say loudly. “It’s not fair. I don’t want to take all these stupid elective courses, just to graduate. Why are-- why are they making me do that? Just to graduate? When, when am I ever gonna have to know about bio-electrical engineering, huh? Did you have to do that, Lee? These stupid classes, did you have to take them?” He was slurring badly and his face was sweaty, his buggy eyes were completely unfocused. Alcohol interacted badly with his medication. Kip sat very close to Lee, pressing his knee against the side of his leg. “Did you?”

Lee quickly moved his leg away from Kip. “I don’t know,” he said.

Kip looked like he was about to lean his head against his shoulder. Under other circumstances, he might have let him, but with all of Kip’s friends around, the risk of one of them thinking poorly of him due to Kip’s intoxication was too great. Lee got off the couch and stood up, thinking about how sweaty and uncharacteristically nervous he was. This was different from a couple beers. If one of them got sick or hurt, he was going to be in serious trouble.

The apartment was trashed, with soda bottles and food all over the floor. At some point, Casey had shriekingly spilled her drink on the carpet, leaving a stain. It was only 8pm. Kip had said that his mother would be at work until late the next day, but Lee kept imagining Dana Nguyen walking in to all this. He paced around.

On the floor, Ayda put down her controller, then pulled herself up. Beside her, Esther and Rosaline had started to kiss, but Lee didn’t let his eyes linger on them for too long. God knew that he did not want to see a couple of horny teenagers drunkenly make out, he didn’t want to be responsible for that. Ayda wobbled on her feet for a second like she was going to fall.

“Can you make me another drink?” she asked. Her long dark hair was in tangles and her eyes were unfocused as Kip’s.

Lee tried to make his face appear calm and not anxious, thinking about how badly he had fucked up. What was he doing with his life? This wasn’t worth it. “How about some water?”

“I want another drink,” Ayda whined.

Marty’s big black eyes were fixated on Lee. “What do you think would happen if I called Ayda’s dad right now?” he asked, in his round little accent.

“Ha ha,” said Lee, humourlessly, imagining his own death.

“It feels like you’re about to try and molest someone. I just want you to know that I know Ayda’s dad’s number. So you don’t, you know, try to molest someone.”

“That’s a really dark thing for someone your age to be thinking about.”

“Ugh, Marty, gross,” said Ayda.

Over on the chair, Kassidy yelped as Casey sleepily pulled her hair a little too hard to tie off one braid. It made Lee flinch. He saw Esther and Rosaline get up and head towards Kassidy’s bedroom, giggling and still tangled up with one another. Best not to think about it. Lee became determined to regain control of the situation.

He looked at Ayda and put a hand on her shoulder in what he thought was an authoritative way. The action made Marty’s fluffy hair stick up. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll make you another drink if you go hang out with Kip. And give me your communicator so I can talk to Marty.”

“No. No, no, no!” said Marty, as Ayda complied and handed her device over. “Ayda, you stupid bitch!” But it was too late, she was not listening to him and had already flopped on the couch next to Kip, who seemed happy enough to have a new victim to talk at.

Lee took off his glasses and wiped the smudges on his shirt. He wanted Marty to be able to see his whole face and tell that he was being sincere. The kid seemed bad at reading expressions. Some people just couldn’t do it. He held up the device that connected Marty from his part of the world, so far away. Marty glared at him, but didn’t switch off his camera. Of course he didn’t-- he did not want to risk being separated from his friends. It was a profoundly lonely existence and Lee knew that he could exploit that.

“So,” he said, walking across the living room and to the Nguyens’ small kitchen. He lowered his voice even though he didn’t need to; nobody was paying attention to him. “I’m the first to admit that I made an accidental mistake.”

“That’s funny,” said Marty. “Because I feel like buying liquor and bringing it to Kip’s apartment is hard to do by accident.”

“It’s actually very normal for teenagers to party like this,” Lee kept his tone formal and educational so that Marty could not tell that he was scared. “It’s actually good that I’m here so that if something bad happens, I can do something about it.”

“You’re stupid on top of being a pervert. Give Ayda’s comm back to her.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Casey slump over on Kassidy, falling asleep. For all her big talk, it seemed as though she was a lightweight. Kassidy, whose hair was only half braided, appeared uncomfortable and awkward, but she didn’t try to move away. Lee made sure that the camera was facing away so that Marty could not see Casey passing out.

He looked at Marty. “I just want to make sure you’re not going to do something you regret later.”

“I could say the same thing to you.”

Lee gritted his teeth.

“Normal people don’t try to get teenagers drunk.”

On the couch, Kip said something that made Ayda laugh loudly, and her high state of emotion filled the apartment. An ease, or a lightness passed through Lee’s body. Even at his best, his psychic abilities would never match Ayda’s, he would never be able to affect people the way that she could. He shook off the warm, euphoric feeling that attached to him, wanting to stay clear headed.

He wanted to vape to calm his nerves, but knew that would enrage Marty further. “I’m actually only 22 so--”

“Ew.”

“Look, I’m just trying to reassure you that I have no bad intentions. I’m Kip’s friend, that’s it, it’s nothing more than that. I want to support him, he’s been through a lot.”

“Uh-huh, sure.”

“What do you want, you want me to promise that I would never do anything to hurt Kip? I’ll promise you, if you promise that you aren’t going to tell anyone’s parents. Do you know how mad they’ll all be at you if you did that? Everyone would stop talking to you.”

Judging from the expression of anger blooming on Marty’s face, he had struck a nerve. Hurt. Reality. But before Marty could make his undoubtedly biting retort, their conversation was interrupted. Eddie Bellamy approached from behind Lee and touched his elbow, startling him.

“Oh! What--” Lee spun around to face him, almost dropping the communication device in the process. He fumbled to keep his grip on it. Embarrassed to have been surprised so easily, Lee struggled to keep smiling, and pulled his glasses back on. “What? What do you want?” In his slightly tipsy, frightened state, he found it more difficult to stay pleasant around Artificials, and his discomfort around them was harder to hide.

“Uh…” Eddie’s pale face was flushed and he was wobbly on his feet. Lee’s heart rate skyrocketed as his body sensed an imminent disaster before his mind did. “I think Rome needs help. He’s throwing up.”

Lee’s fingers tightened around the communication device as terror flooded him. Forget taking a hammer to the face. Richard Prospas would string him up on a meat hook if anything happened to his kid. Terrible stories about the violence that company had perpetrated came swirling back to him. This was it. This was the bad thing that he knew was going to happen. It was his fault for assuming that if the younger kids sequestered themselves off out of sight, they wouldn’t be able to get in trouble.

“Oh, fuck you, Harlan.” Marty sounded scared and angry, presumably worried about his little crush. “Fuck you.”

Eddie’s lizard eyes shifted down towards the floor and he wobbled again. Lee reached out to hold onto his shoulder, suddenly worried that he would fall. “Yeah. He’s kinda freaking out, I think he had too much to drink.”

“I don’t think I gave you guys anything to drink,” Lee said through his gritted teeth. “You wanna tell me about that?”

“Uh…” Eddie blinked stupidly and Lee had to resist the urge to shake him. Usually Esther and her siblings acted like they were so superior than he was, so now, seeing one of them act so weak and stupid, Lee had to bite down his instinct to lash out. “Yeah. Rome brought some stuff from home, we didn’t want to be left out. I mean, we didn’t drink a lot, I think, we just-- can you go check on him? We don’t know what to do.”

The last thing that Lee wanted to do was go deal with a vomiting 14 year old, but there was no other option. This was what he had been scared of. He had told Marty that he was a responsible adult, and now he had to act like one. How hard could it be to make sure that some kid didn’t have alcohol poisoning and then bully him into not snitching?

This was his own fault. He had put himself in this situation where he had to act as a responsible adult, so he had to follow it through.

His voice seemed to come from outside of himself. “OK,” he said, very calmly. “I’m glad you came and got me. Why don’t you go hang out with your sister in Commissioner Nguyen’s room for now?”

“Eddie,” Marty said angrily. “Don’t leave Rome alone with this freak. I mean it, I don’t understand why you don’t believe me when I tell you that he hates you guys. He hates you. He hates Artificials. Don’t leave Rome alone with this guy.”

Eddie looked from Marty to Lee. Lee smiled at him tightly and patted him on the shoulder. You trust me, he thought. You trust me, you trust me. “Uh…” Eddie said, wavering.

“Oh my god,” exclaimed Marty. “You’re all so fucking stupid. Eddie, do not--”

It was too easy for Lee to turn off Ayda’s communicator and banish Marty from the apartment, leaving him in his isolated far-away land. Easy as anything. If the kid wasn’t so irritating, it would almost be sad. At any rate, Esther’s little brother was not about to cause any problem, a combination of childish pliability and Lee’s psychic suggestions saw to that. He watched him wobble off to Commissioner Nguyen’s bedroom to be with his sister, just as had been suggested. Easy. Easy as anything.

The communicator went down on the kitchen table. No doubt Marty would be frantically calling Kip, and if that did not work, Kassidy. He would not have any luck with either though. Lee sighed, pushed his hair out of his face, then went to the bathroom to see exactly what was going on.

#####

The next call came a week or so later. Lee had been expecting to talk to Marty again, he just hadn’t expected that Marty would be the one to call him. That was the kind of thing you couldn’t plan for. He looked at the light flashing on his slim metal communication device for a moment, then answered it, unable to hide the surprise on his face.

“What’s up?” he asked, like he was talking to a friend, instead of to a little kid who hated his guts.

Marty’s face was pink and angry. His eyebrows were so furrowed that his eyes had become black slits. Wherever he was, he was inside, perhaps in his bedroom. It was difficult to make note of his surroundings, since he had his face so close to his camera that his blackheads were visible. “You’re gonna leave Rome alone from now on,” he said, in what was probably the meanest voice he could muster, but his pubescent voice kept cracking humorously. “And I know you’re not gonna listen to me, but if you freak him out one more time, I’m going to call Ayda’s dad.”

Again with the empty threats. Marty was never going to call Ayda’s dad. He kept saying that he would, but had still not ante’d up. If he did that, if he followed through, he would lose all his friends. Loneliness was a stronger motivator than anger. Loneliness was even stronger than fear.

It was still early evening. Comfortable on his shitty couch, Lee was back in his sweatpants and a t- shirt. “What are you talking about?” he asked, laughing, but he knew what Marty was talking about.

“Don’t play stupid. Rome told me that you were bothering him when he was sick the other night, and that you called social services on his family. Why would you do that? You know that social worker pulled him out of class, asked him a ton of questions, then called his dad? Why would you do that? Are you stupid? What’s even wrong with you that would make you do that?”

The amount of care that Marty had for his friends, for people that he would never meet in person, was almost touching. Lee pushed his own hair back so that he would not appear so scruffy. He hated to think that someone would see him not looking his best, but there wasn’t anything for it now. “Right. I’m sure that in whatever backwards place you’re from, they never taught you about mandated reporting--”

“--I I know what that is--”

“-- but since I’m an adult, it’s actually my responsibility to report it to the proper authorities if I believe that a child is in danger. You understand that, right? You understand that I’m just trying to help.”

“Oh, tu essaies d'aider.” Marty’s face grew more pink as he got so angry he forgot how to speak in English. “Don’t mess with my head. You know what you did.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, then.” He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, a habitual gesture he hated because it made him appear dweeby, but was unable to break.

“Tell me that you’re going to leave everybody alone, even if you won’t leave Kip alone. You don’t understand what you did.”

Oh, Lee understood, and that’s why he had contacted social services in the first place. He took a hit off his vape pen, because he knew that irritated Marty, and felt the nicotine simultaneously calm and invigorate his body. “I think it’s interesting that you were calling me names for just being in the same room as your little friends, and now when I’ve been a responsible adult who has reached out to other adults because I’m worried about, oh, I don’t know, about how it looks like a kid is getting beaten at home, you’re still not happy. How am I the bad guy? What’s your problem with me? All I ever do is try to help people.”

“I understand what Rome’s going through. You don’t.” He said it so defensively that it took Lee by surprise. All this time, he had assumed that Marty had a crush on his quiet friend. He had not imagined that instead, Marty might relate to him. He had not imagined that someone as hostile and outspoken as Marty might see a piece of himself in passive, nervous Rome Prospas.

That was a piece of information that Marty should not have revealed. So much of his strange life in a far away Colony in the North was obscured by his hostility, but Lee’s curiosity about it could not be sated. It seemed that even under a socialist revolution, the lives of normal people could still be painful. Children there still had lives where they were not safe at home. It was something that could not be fixed by grand ideas. He exhaled a cloud of vapor. “Do you have parents?”

It looked like Marty regretted revealing so much of himself, even if it had been meant as a hateful jab. Much of the pink drained from his face. “I’m not telling you that.”

“You’re right. I don’t know anything about having a family that doesn’t treat me right,” Lee continued. Maybe if he opened up about his own life, he could gain a little trust. Even at this point, it was possible to do that. “I never had a dad. My mom killed herself when she got sent to prison. I was 12. She wasn’t the best mom, but I was still sad when she died. She loved me a lot. I miss her a lot. What about you?”

A flash of connection. For a second, Marty stopped scowling and his eyes were once again large and black.

In that moment, Lee could see that they were the same.

He continued, as carefully as he could, looking for cues. “She got pregnant with me when she was really young. Sometimes she didn’t know how to take care of me. I’d go to school in dirty clothes and stuff, that’s when social services got involved. They helped Mom learn how to take care of me better.”

Marty was still staring at him and it looked like the wheels of memory were turning in his head. Lee had him, he had found a weak spot, the soft underbelly.

“I remember the day they took me away from her, though, right before they took her to jail. I think about that every day.” He had not expected himself to be replaying the most traumatic moment of his life for the sake of connecting with this surly preteen, but there he was. His mother had refused to let go of him, he had been so scared. That one moment of fear and unfairness had propelled Lee Harlan through the next decade, and he had held on to that memory through every terrible thing that had happened to him since.

“I--” Marty opened his mouth like he wanted to respond, then seemed to remember exactly who he was talking to.

Gently, prying, Lee tried again. “You look like you want to talk about your mom.”

The small, fleeting moment of connection ended. Blood rose to the high points in Marty’s face again. “No. Don’t try to distract me. I don’t care about you, I don’t care about your life. I called you to tell you that if you even breathe in Rome’s direction one more time, I’m not even kidding, I’m contacting Ayda’s dad. You know, like a mandated reporter, or whatever you called it. He will kill you. You can keep perving on Kip all you want, I don’t really care, but if you mess with anyone else, I’m gonna get you. You’re gonna get what you deserve.”

“Not if I get you first,” Lee said blandly. “What do you deserve?”

The screen of his communication device went white. Marty was gone, disconnected. All his bravado, his childish little threats, for nothing. Lee was not scared of him. If he was truly going to do something, if he truly had it in him to call West Agapama, he would have done it already. Deep down, Marty did not want to do it.

Whatever it was, fear or some sense of connection, or perhaps obsession, would not allow him to do anything.

And Lee knew that he could use that to his advantage.

#writing

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