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scribblingfangirl · 3 years

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WRITTEN WORDS & WHISPERED WISHES | Julie and The Phantoms - Luke Patterson

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Author’s Note: I wrote this fic for an old fandom of mine and thought I could re-write/re-use it to finally get started on my JaTP bingo card (because my creativity and originality are nowhere to be found) - I hope you enjoy, yet I’m still sorry in advance? (song’s Poet by Bastille but slightly adapted by me)

word count: 1.9k

prompt: ‘Song Fic’ on my @jatpbingo bingo card

summary: It took several sleepless nights, days of throwing up and feeling bad and the pressure of cuddling with Luke to finally discover that you were pregnant.

warnings: teen pregnancy, character death, a very hastly scribbeled down fic idea (this was not beta read (or read over in general) so typos, inconsistent grammar and other faboulous little annoyances (if anyone loves to read my fanfics and would like to volunteer as my beta reader I’ll kiss your feet))

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It had been a few weeks since you, well... since you had seen another room rather than your classrooms and your own four walls. You even missed your kitchen and living room. But especially, you missed the boys' studio.

Today, however, has been a good day. You had managed to eat properly without feeling sick and were starting to catch up on some shortly due essays, papers and homework assignments, so you wouldn’t need to do them when feeling utterly sick again.

Luke had come to visit you (or tried to) a few times, needing to use his charm at your door, as you told your parents that you didn’t want him to see you. Your hair was a mess and unkempt, it pained you to stand for a long period of time (so you reduced the times you washed it to a minimum), your eyes had dark circles under them and you were exhausted even if you didn’t do anything the whole day long.

“I brought you food. I know that your fridge only knows like three meals”, he had said once quietly, putting the tray with the steaming meal on your bed, gesturing for you to move a little, so he could sit beside you.

“You mean to say that I and/or my parents only know three meals”, you had coughed laughing and refused to move. You didn’t want him to get sick too.

“No don’t,” you had muttered when he started to push you to the side, “I think I might have a bad bug and Sunset Curve can’t function without its lead vocalist and guitarist. And I can’t eat anyway.”

He had looked at you, confused and concerned. “Still? Alex told me you were able to keep your breakfast in, and I thought that meant you were on your way of improvement.”

“Some illnesses take longer to go away. I just didn’t want you to check on me because things like a normal cold or a little stomach bug can pass without unnecessary medications even if it takes longer.”

That had been two weeks ago. But today, when you were finally looking presentable again and were even able to open the door yourself, it wasn’t Luke that was visiting you.

“Oh… it’s you guys.”

“Geez, thanks Y/N. No need to kill us with all this kindness,” Reggie said laughing and sniffed, “Uh! Smells amazing. Pizza?” Without any hesitation or warning, he entered your house and vanished into the kitchen.

“Pizza? Wow, you must really be feeling better. I remember you throwing up on me a week ago when I tried to feed you chicken soup,” Alex smiled, hands in his pockets and not moving until you invited him in.

“Oh no,” hiding your face in your hands after you closed the door behind you both and groaned. “I’m so sorry about that. Again. Tell me how much the cleaning bill was and I-”

“Chill Y/N, relax. You’ve seen me at my worst and now I’ve seen you at your worst. Sure, I was still way more elegant and not as weak as you, but you just gave me a reason to finally get rid of those shoes.”

“No Alex! You loved those sneakers!” you said horrified.

“Just kidding. Give me 50 bucks and we’re even. Or, you know, better yet, come back to the studio and help us get rid of an overly clingy Luke. Now that you’re better, pleeeease, give him some cuddles!”

You giggled. “You know you have two perfectly fine arms to hug him with as well, right?”

“Yeah!” He said, raising his voice. “But not ALL the time. And I want to be appreciated for myself once too! Not just because I am the only one available to give hugs as an ‘emergency solution’!”

“You make it sound like you actually let us hug you dude, don’t lie,” Reggie muttered through a mouthful of Pizza, throwing himself on your couch.

Throwing Reggie a stink eye Alex turned to you again. “Anyway… You and I will go to the studio now. Yeah?”

“Well”, you stocked, not sure if you could talk to them about it. You had hoped for a few more days to think it over. “You know… It might actually not have been a bad bug, but rather a big bug that I caught.”

At their confused faces, you sighed. “I’m a few days, or even weeks... late”, you mumbled the last part so quietly, you weren’t even sure if they had heard you (if they even knew what you meant).

You were definitely not expecting Reggie to be the one to answer. “Do you want me to drive you to the hospital or do you just want a pregnancy test first?”

You didn’t know who of them had told Luke, or when, but after a few minutes of waiting in the hospital’s waiting room he came barreling in, beanie askew on his head and guitar case on his back. His searching eyes found yours in a haze and you could basically hear the question in his gaze ‘Are you?’. Silently you shook your head, averting your eyes.

Alex offered him his place beside you and Luke grabbed your hand while you waited. A few moments later your name was called and the nurse brought you and Luke to an empty room and told you to wait again. She came back a few minutes later and Luke moved to the side of the bed and held your hand again.

You didn’t feel the cold gel on your belly. Didn’t feel the way Luke was almost crushing your hand in his. Didn’t hear the words the nurse said. You only heard the faint heartbeat of your baby. You were pregnant.

Luke was beaming, looking at the screen where you could see the ultrasound of your baby, but he also looked at you with a little bit of fear in his eyes.

I can't say the words out loud So in a rhyme, I wrote you down Now you'll live through the ages I can feel your pulse in the pages

Even though you were only in your eighth week and not really showing yet, Luke wouldn’t allow you to wear anything else than his oversized hoodies, sweaters, pullovers and flannels (the ones that still had sleeves. And okay, fair enough, it might also have been because he absolutely loved to see you in his clothes.)

He was like an eagle watching over you, flying down as soon as you were doing or were going to do something he didn’t approve of. He even almost convinced his and your parents to move into your room so he could reach you faster in case of an emergency. (It was a clear no from both parents and he even got grounded for that idea - though later on, you learned from Alex that it was because he had said ‘Why not? It’s not like I can impregnate her again!’)

Of course, your parents weren’t happy about the situation, but they weren’t about to throw you out on the street. They both loved you and Luke (after all, they did fall for his charms one to many times), but they never really spoke the words out loud, never really talked about the fact that you two were going to be parents, a family at such a young age.

And Luke and you? While he was acting like an overprotective husband you both weren’t really talking about it either. You both were terrified about the fact that you were going to raise a child while Sunset Curve was trying to make it big, while you were still in High School and it still seemed more like a dream to you both, a dream from which neither of you wanted to wake up and face reality.

That’s why you started to write the letters. Or in Luke’s case - lyrics. Letters to future you’s, letters to your unborn child telling them about your adventures, your experiences and feelings. It was a way to tell yourself all the reasons why it was okay that you were going to be having sleepless nights filled with the cries of a baby, telling you that it was all going to be worth it.

And for the first time, while writing those letters and lyrics, it was as if both you could feel your baby.

Your body lies upon the sheets Of paper in words so sweet I can't say the words So I wrote you into my verse Now you'll live through the ages I can feel your pulse in the pages

Time went by fast. You remembered the first time you felt the little kick very well, as if it was yesterday, but at that time you still could somewhat see your feet and now you couldn’t even stand up anymore without somebody’s help.

School was weird, but you had the boys to help you through it.

You started to draw little babies beside your letters, trying to imagine the different looks it could have. Would it have your hair or Luke’s? His eyes and your nose? Your eyes and his smile?

And then you started to write your letters and lyrics around the baby, making it look like it was cradled by your warm words, hoping that whenever you wouldn’t be able to hold your child, it would be able to read your letters and feel the love, because you surely did.

How could you have known that in just a few weeks these lyrics would be the only words your child would ever ‘hear’ from their father?

I have read you with these eyes I've read you with these eyes I have held you in these hands

You had never seen your parents looking so fragile and broken like the night they came into your room to tell you the boys died.

And then, the next thing you knew was that your son was born. The doctors and nurses said that it was the stress, the emotional overload of being told that your friends, your loves, the father of your child died that caused your water to break.

That’s why it was Bobby and not Luke that was by your side that night and held your hand. It was Bobby, the normally strong and grumpy teenager, that was smiling like a little kid that just got told it would get to eat as much candy as it wanted.

His eyes were glistening with tears as the nurse handed him the little bundle of joy and he started to sway him - Luke - slowly back and forth, knowing that you were too tired to hold him at the moment.

“He is beautiful”, you murmured as he took a seat beside you, his gaze still fixed on his nephew, because obviously, he would be Uncle Bobby (though not for a very long time), “Just like his father.”

You didn’t hear Bobby’s answer as you fell asleep and dreamed of Luke, tucking you in and kissing your forehead before he dedicated himself entirely to the new tiny human in his arms, singing a sweet lullaby.

“We have written you down. Now you will live forever and all the world will hear you and you will live forever. In eyes not yet created, on tongues that are not born, in ears not yet listening. I have written you down, now you will live forever and Sunset Curve will sing about you.”

#luke patterson x reader #julie and the phantoms x reader #jatp #julie and the phantoms #luke patterson #luke patterson imagine #luke patterson one shot #luke patterson oneshot #julie and the phantoms imagine #julie and the phantoms oneshot #julie and the phantoms one shot #jatp imagine #jatp one shot #jatp oneshot #my writing #viascribbles

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alpacaparkaseok · 3 years

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7 Secrets <pt. 11>

GENRE: Soulmate!au BTS!

WARNINGS: whole lot of uwu that’s what

WORD COUNT: 4.8k

I just...no words. I’ve been wanting to get to this point for a hot minute now, so I’m glad we’ve made it. No, this isn’t quite the end. Although we’re getting there. *cue tears* Have a happy halloween this weekend! <3

By the time we make it back to the house it’s nearly evening, seeing as Jin decided to take a detour and get lost. Kyung-soon didn’t mind, she took the opportunity to re-listen to Seventeen’s new album. And then listen to it again.

We’re nearly there when we get a call from Taehyung. Jin puts it on the car speakerphone.

“Hyung! Where are you?”

“We’ve been lost, that’s where-” Jin cuts Kyung-soon off with glare.

“We were hiking and enjoying the island. We’ll be there in ten minutes. Are you guys getting ready to eat?”

As if on cue my stomach growls. Our last meal was this morning, and the granola bars have only held up for so long.

“Yeah, we’re finishing up with the food now. Guess what we’re doing tonight, though?”

A few voices can be heard in the background. It sounds like utter chaos at the house. The sound of it brings a smile to my face.

“What? What are we doing?”

“Production team just finished editing the final episode! We’re going to project it on the side of the house and watch it!”

I nearly choke, Kyung-soon turning around and staring at me in horror. Namjoon chuckles, patting me on the back while I recover.

“That was...fast.” I mumble. The production crew must have been working overtime in order to finish up the final episode so we could watch it on our trip.

Kyung-soon is in the middle of involuntarily cringing. “Oh no, this is going to be horrible. So cringey.”

I nod in agreement, Jin reaching over to grab Kyung-soon’s hand. The houses pop up in the distance - we’re almost there.

“Just pretend that it’s somebody else,” Jin tries to reassure his soulmate. “I promise, it’s really not bad. We were thoroughly entertained.” He grins at Namjoon through the rear-view mirror.

“Yeah, and besides, you guys have seen plenty of weird content from us. Consider this an even playing field.” Namjoon adds.

“Ok, I’ll see you - huh? Oh, Ichika says hi. Alright, see you in a second.” Taehyung cuts the call.

↔

The side of the boys’ house has turned into a temporary movie screen. Taehyung is in the process of popping popcorn while Jungkook and Jimin are giving a detailed overview of three years worth of episodes.

I think they’ve forgotten that we were very much a part of those three years. After all, it is a documentary about us.

Aera sits beside Minsuh, the two of them grinning like cheshire cats at their soulmates. They look like they’re thinking the same thing that I am.

“Yah, so where did the last episode leave off?” Aera questions, raising her eyebrows at Jimin.

“What, you don’t remember what happened two weeks ago?” Himari asks, chuckling.

Aera shrugs her shoulders. “It’s been a busy week for all of us, I can hardly remember what happened two days ago.”

Namjoon emerges from the house, a couple of blankets in hand. His eyes scan the small crowd before landing on me where I stand beside Seohyun. I’ve been trying to get a feel for how her and Yoongi’s conversation went earlier, but I don’t dare ask anything too direct with Yoongi right there. He holds her hand, looking content as she explains how she tried and failed at painting.

“Where did the last episode leave off, Joon-ah?” Hoseok asks when Jimin and Jungkook have a hard time remembering the finer details. Namjoon is in the process of spreading a blanket out on the ground, motioning for me to come over.

“Umm…” He chews on the inside of his cheek for a moment before snapping his fingers. “Aera had just pitched her new designs, and everybody made dinner for her when she got home. Then they were just getting Beth’s room ready for her to come back.”

Aera blinks as though just remembering that she has an actual job. A job she’s really, really good at.

“I can’t believe you forgot about that!” Aera feigns offense and Jimin freezes in his spot, eyes wide. “That’s my whole career we’re talking about, Jimin!”

Jungkook gives his friend a pat on the shoulder before walking over to plop into the seat beside Minsuh.

“I-I remember it now…” Jimin pouts, looking at his soulmate with puppy eyes. Aera glares at him, never one to give in easily. In fact, Aera is the fiercest when it comes to these kinds of things.

If I remember correctly, I’ve heard the boys state on several occasions that Jimin is absolutely terrifying when he’s mad.

“Hey,” Namjoon grabs my attention from the show up front. “Wanna sit? I got us an extra blanket for if we get cold.”

“Perfect.” I settle down on the blanket, laughing as Jimin tries his best to escape Aera’s wrath. She’s currently moving his chair to the opposite end, as far away from her as possible.

Minsuh turns around to look at me, her eyebrows wiggling mischievously. “Are you ready for this cringefest?”

Namjoon chuckles, settling down beside me. The butterflies in my stomach kick things up into high gear just from sitting beside him. He checks the time on his phone, his new background pulling my attention away for a moment.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I sigh. Namjoon places a comforting hand on my knee, smiling at me when he realizes that I’m looking at his lock screen.

“It really is that bad usually. I swear.” I roll my eyes, knowing a lie when I hear one. “Hey,” he nudges me. “Let’s see your new phone background.”

I excitedly fish my phone out of my pocket, already chuckling at the thought of our candid photo. Showing it to Namjoon, Minsuh and Jungkook wander over to see what we’re laughing about.

“Oh my gosh, that’s so cute!” Minsuh gushes, laughing at me. “I’m guessing you learned today that Beth is terrified of heights?”

Namjoon nods, shooting me a pitiful look. “I sure did. I’m pretty sure she bruised one of my ribs in the process.”

Jungkook proceeds to ask Namjoon about the hike, sounding like he wants to venture out there tomorrow. Jin and Kyung-soon come back out with Tae and Ichika, all of them carrying a couple of bowls each filled to the brim with popcorn.

“Movie time!” Jimin shouts from where he and Aera disappeared around the house. A moment later he appears with his chair in one hand and lugging a disgruntled Aera along with the other.

As soon as all the popcorn is distributed Yoongi flips on the projector from the back. A moment later the song “Psycho” by RedVelvet blasts through the speakers, and the episode begins.

“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe they actually made that the theme song!” Seohyun shouts, already laughing as she and Minsuh appear on screen. Little title cards appear above their heads from where they study in the library, lost in their textbooks. I grin, all of this appearing a little surreal.

“I can’t believe we actually have a theme song!” Himari says. She’s the next one in the opening credits, trying and failing to flip a pancake. “Oh, come on, that’s how they introduce me?” Hoseok laughs beside her, his eyes darting from the screen back to his soulmate.

Next is Ichika, and I notice Taehyung scooting a little closer to her and she hides behind her hands. She’s opening the door to the apartment, her lopsided smile greeting the cameraman as she invites the cameras inside.

“This is the best part!” Jimin shouts.

The cameras follow Ichika inside the apartment and catch their next victim for the opening credits: Aera.

She’s clearly in a rush, probably running late for work. Careening down the stairs she freezes once she sees the camera, quickly pushing her hair out of her face as she waves before rushing out the door.

“See, told you it was the best part,” Jimin mumbles, Aera dissolving into a fit of giggles beside him.

Namjoon scoots closer, adjusting so that his right shoulder is just behind me. “Ready for the next part?” I can hear the smile in his voice.

Kyung-soon and I appear on screen, and I can hear my friend groaning from where she sits with Jin. We share a look across the way.

We’re sitting on the couch in the living room, locked in an intense game of rock, paper, scissors. Kyung-soon wins, and she throws her hands up in triumph right as our title cards appear. I get up wordlessly, walking straight out the door.

Despite how strange it is to be watching the documentary after all this time, I find myself shaking with laughter. Maybe we are kind of entertaining to watch, after all.

“Do you remember what we were playing for?” Kyung-soon asks me.

“I think it was over who had to call the takeout place.”

She laughs, returning her attention to the screen. I find myself avidly watching as well.

Episode basically from here until just before the end, enjoy! (actions/dialogue in real time will appear in as normal text, whereas the documentary is in italics)

Himari and Aera sit in the kitchen, both of them staring down at their breakfast. Himari glances up at Aera, noticing her worried expression.

“I’m sure they’ll call you soon. Anybody who turns you down is a complete idiot.”

Aera nods, not saying anything. Jimin reaches out to hold Aera’s hand. Minsuh comes in from down the hall, stretching.

“Morning,” she says around a yawn. “Any news A?”

Himari answers for her friend. “Not yet. What do you have going on today?”

Minsuh reaches for a bowl, waving at the kitchen camera like she does every morning. “Nothing much. I think Seohyun and I are going to study for a while, she’s going to help me prep for an exam I’ve got coming up. What about you guys?”

“Ichika and I have lessons. Want to join us, Aera? Brush up on your Japanese?”

“No,” Aera shakes her head. “I’m going to start getting Beth’s room ready.”

“Oh!” Himari grabs her phone from her back pocket. “That reminds me, I have to call that little punk.”

I gasp at Himari, my friend giving me a shy smile and shrugging.

Himari places the phone on speaker while the other two girls quietly eat their food and wait for me to answer.

“Was this the day before I flew out?” I ask no one in particular.

“Yeah, I think so.” Himari responds. Suddenly my voice cuts through the audio, and I physically cringe. Namjoon chuckles, reaching a hand up to steady me as I rock back against his chest.

“I knew you were going to call me,” I say, and Himari rolls her eyes while Minsuh snickers. “What’s up?”

“Are you all packed and ready to go?” Himari asks.

“Yeah, I think so. My flight leaves in...six hours. I’ll start heading to the airport in a couple of hours so I get there on time.”

“Hey, when’s the last time you logged anything?”

It’s silent on my side of the line for a while. “Er...a while.”

“Do I even want to know?”

“No, probably not.”

“Well this is me calling you and telling you to do your log before you leave. BigHit sent us some of those questions, answer them if you don’t know what to say.” My voice starts to cut in but Himari cuts me off. “I mean it! If you don’t I’m making sure you sleep on the couch when you get here.”

My sigh is audible, Aera looks up at Minsuh with the ghost of a smile.

“Ok, will do. I’ll log it as soon as I get off this call. How is everybody?”

Minsuh pipes up. “Hey Beth! We’re good!”

“Am I on speaker? Hey Min! Who else is there?”

“Just me,” Aera says, leaning closer to the phone. “I’m about to clean up your room so there aren’t any cobwebs. It’s been so long since I’ve seen you, B. I miss you.”

“Aw, I miss you too A. You don’t have to worry about my room...but make sure nobody has stolen my Jeju Island photo. Where’s everybody else?”

The camera jumps to another location, answering my very question. Kyung-soon is walking up to a nice looking apartment, double checking some files before kindly greeting a couple. She must have had a client.

Again the camera jumps, this time to a different continent where I’m settling down before my camera as I record my first log in months. I’m sitting at my kitchen island in my apartment back in the states, a picture of all the girls and I hanging on the wall behind me.

“Hello camera, it’s me again. Sorry for not logging in a while, I’ve been busy. And now I’m about to leave in a couple of hours to catch my flight to Seoul.” I look at my phone before me, reading something off of it. “This will be pretty quick, but I’ve got some of the questions BigHit sent me, so I’ll try to answer a few before I have to leave. Sound good?”

I scroll through the list of questions, eyebrows furrowed as I try to find a good one. “Hmm, it looks like these have gotten more and more personal over the years. I guess I’ll go with this one: ‘what do you look forward to the most returning to Seoul?’”

Shuffling in my seat I bite my lip as I stare down the camera. “I think I just get excited to be back with everybody. I know I don’t usually say anything like this, but I really miss them when I’m gone. I’m kind of stranded out here in the states. It’s hard to be here and know that all six of them get to stay together while I jump around from place to place. At least I’ll get to stay for a solid six months this time around, maybe more. Just depends.”

Namjoon fidgets behind me until he’s directly behind me. Slowly he pulls me back against his chest until I’m laying with my head tucked under his chin.

“Wow, this one’s intense. Should I just answer it? I doubt anybody will actually ever watch this. I feel like my logs are pretty boring. It says, ‘if you could go back and say anything to yourself three years ago, what would you say?’”

I lean back against my chair, pushing my hair out of the way. “I’m not sure I would really say much. There was just so much going on, it was information overload. I remember when I woke up the next morning, I thought everything was a dream. My sister had no clue, so I just left her a note and left our hotel to go on a run.” I laugh a little, recalling the memory. “I probably looked so crazy! This white girl running around Seoul like a maniac. I finally got to a point where I stopped, and finally was starting to calm down. Then, ha! Oh my gosh I remember this like it was yesterday, seriously. I checked my phone and saw that I had a notification from Weverse. It said ‘RM commented on so and so’s post’ and I lost it. Right there in the middle of this random park I started bawling. I was so overwhelmed.”

Namjoon’s grip tightens on me, and I take a deep breath. I’d honestly forgotten that I’d even done this log, I really didn’t think they’d put it into the documentary.

“So if I could go back to three years ago, I think I’d go to that moment and just give myself a hug. I was so terrified and had nobody to talk to. I’d hug myself, and say, you figure out how to keep moving forward. Just enjoy the ride, because it’s a crazy one.”

The screen fades out, my voice still narrating as I talk over the others girls’ actions. Kyung-soon is helping that couple to sign some paperwork.

“It’s definitely been crazy, but I’m better because of it.” I narrate and Kyung-soon gives an award winning smile to the couple, saying her goodbyes before heading back to her car.

Now we’re watching Minsuh laugh about something with Himari in the kitchen.

“I don’t want to think about where I’d be without my soul sisters, they mean so much to me. I really never thought I’d meet people as amazing as them in my life.”

Aera is in my room, sweeping and straightening my photo of Jeju Island.

“Sometimes I still wonder if there’s been a huge mistake and I’ll get a call from BigHit saying that I don’t actually have a soulmate. Things are so good that I think they may be too good.”

Seohyun jogs in a park, making faces at the camera each time she passes in front of it.

“But I’ll just keep living this dream for as long as fate will let me.”

Ichika struggles up the stairs to the apartment, grocery bags all over the place. The camera shakes as it’s set on the ground, and the cameraman assisting her.

“And as for the last question for this log… ‘if you could say a single sentence to your soulmate, what would you say?’”

Suddenly we’re back in my apartment, where I give a side smile to the camera.

“Hey Namjoon, wanna go out sometime?” Winking at the camera I lean up and turn it off.

The screen goes black, and then words cut across the screen.

Final Installment- Episode 132 “Finally.”

Everybody comes back to life as the introduction to the final episode ends and the rest of the episode starts up. Namjoon leans down to whisper in my ear.

“I’m sorry for making you cry in the park that morning.”

I shake my head. “I can’t believe you’re apologizing for that and not for trying to kill me earlier.”

My body shakes with Namjoon’s laugh, and we settle down to continue watching the documentary before us.

Kyung-soon stands in the living room with a huge mass of balloons before her. Minsuh comes up behind her, staring in awe.

“That’s a lot of balloons.”

Kyung-soon nods, biting her bottom lip. “Do you think it’s too much?”

“No, I think it looks great. Just, how are we going to get them into the car?”

“I have no idea.”

The two of them discuss possible game plans as Himari wanders in looking at her phone.

“Ok everyone! She’s over the ocean between us and Japan. We should probably get going. Wow,” she finally notices the balloons. “Looks good, Soon-ah. Don’t fly away, though. Seokjin would be so upset.”

Footsteps sound as the other three girls come in, each one’s attention going straight to the balloons.

“Ha! That’s amazing.” Ichika says. “She’s going to die when she sees that.”

The scene cuts to the airport, the girls anxiously waiting at the bottom of the stairs. Himari once again checks her phone for my flight information.

“It says that the flight landed fifteen minutes ago, she should be here any second.”

Aera nudges her. “Yah, you’re acting like your long lost lover has finally returned.”

Himari raises her eyebrows. “And?”

“Oh, there she is!” Seohyun shouts, and sure enough I appear on camera. Hat down low and a mask on I wave at everyone. A few people pause to look at all the commotion before continuing on.

Namjoon whispers to me again. “You look like a celebrity with your hat and mask.”

I chuckle, watching my reunion with the girls that only happened earlier this week. “I felt like one, too.”

My soulmate lets out a breathy laugh when the girls start teasing me, asking me what my reaction would be if he were the one to pick me up from the airport.

“You know, I’ve noticed that you’re really good at avoiding teasing.”

“I’ve had lots of practice.”

The documentary skips to our apartment, the girls hanging out in the living room debating whether or not to wake me up or let me sleep.

“I’m going to wake her up, she’s probably starving.” Aera says, and Minsuh follows her out of the room. The other girls remain in the room, Seohyun talking about one of her classes.

I nearly fall asleep in Namjoon’s arms, it’s so comfy. What brings me out of my stupor is the distinct sound of Seohyun’s rendition of “Mic Drop” and everybody laughing along with her.

I watch as we enjoy the show, Kyung-soon announcing to everyone that we’re going on ahead. Suddenly I jolt up, Namjoon jumping at the sudden movement. I remember what comes after this.

“What’s wrong?” Namjoon asks. “Did you see a bug?”

“No…” My attention is pulled into the documentary as Kyung-soon and I quietly converse. “It’s just - that was a hard night for me. That’s all.”

I can feel Namjoon’s eyes assessing me but I refuse to look at him for fear of him seeing right through me.

“If you’re uncomfortable we can go inside,” he offers.

Finally I look over to him. He calmly returns my gaze, awaiting my answer.

“I think I’m fine for now. Just, don’t judge me, ok?”

Namjoon nods fervently. “Never.” Extending his arms out, he pulls me back into his chest. “Let me know if you want to leave, and we’ll go.”

Kyung-soon and I appear on the balcony of our apartment, where we both study the stars above us.

“I can’t-”

“You have to. Beth, please don’t lock us out and keep all of these feelings to yourself. You don’t have to tell us every little thing, but you need to talk about it. Just because you don’t say it out loud doesn’t mean that you won’t feel scared or worried anymore.”

The tension is palpable as my sobs cut through the silence. I’m pretty sure Namjoon stopped breathing.

“I look at our boys, and I feel like they’re already complete. They have each other, they have ARMY, they’re complete. They have no idea that soulmates are even a thing, let alone that they have soulmates. There’s a part of me that’s mad about that. Mad that for the last three years I’ve been waiting for a man that is already happy without me, that is already more loved that he can even fathom. Mad at freaking Mr. Bang, because he refuses to tell them until the ‘time is right’. It’s been three years! And I’ve picked myself back up and tried my hardest to continue on in my career, and it’s fulfilling. I have the most amazing friends in the world, my family is so loving and supportive, and I love my job. So why do I feel so lonely?”

Namjoon wraps his arms around me tightly, and I feel that strange ache in my chest again. This time, though, it aches and aches until it cracks. With it, come the tears.

Like a dam come undone the tears flow from my eyes as the echoes of my sobs from the documentary cut through the night. Namjoon holds me tighter, tighter until he’s all I can feel.

“You know what, come here.” Namjoon says, his voice thick. He stands, pulling me up with him. We’re near the back, so nobody really notices us as Namjoon pulls me away. He leads me around my beach house until we’re completely blocked from view. The audio from the documentary follows me, and I keep my eyes trained on the ground as the tears blur my vision.

Namjoon finally comes to a stop, his hands resting firmly on my shoulders. I can’t bring myself to look up at him, thoroughly humiliated at one of my most vulnerable moments being on full display.

“Beth, look at me.” I shake my head, angrily wiping away my tears. He reaches up to catch a tear as it rolls down my cheek. “Look at me. Please.”

Again I shake my head, completely mortified at the situation I’m in. Wasn’t this supposed to be a fun trip? Worry-free?

“Ok, that’s ok. You don’t have to.” Namjoon moves to grab my shoulders again. “I just need you to listen to me. Can you do that for me?”

I clench my teeth as I nod, trying so hard to keep in my sobs.

“Alright. I am so-” his voice cracks and he takes a moment before speaking again. “I am so sorry, Beth. For all of it. For making you feel that way. I wish - I just wish we could have avoided all that heartache and pain. You were so strong, for so long. You still are, I can see that. From the second we first met I saw that you are strong and the most incredible person to ever walk the earth. I might be a bit biased,” I croak out a laugh which seems to spur him on, “but nobody can change my mind about you. I was lonely, too. Did you know that? Even with all the love I receive every day, I’m still lonely. Do you know how infuriating that is?”

Steeling my nerves I peak up at him. My heart twists further when I see the tears running down my soulmate’s face. He continues on, paying them no mind.

“I felt like there was something so wrong with me, but I learned with time that it’s normal. Everybody feels lonely. It’s a horrible feeling, and confusing sometimes. Especially when it feels like you have every reason to be happy. But we’re human. This is part of our human experience, as much as it sucks. Beth,” Namjoon rests a hand under my chin when my eyes fall again, gently urging me to look up at him. “I don’t feel alone anymore. That’s because of you. Just seeing you, I feel like everything is going to be alright. Do you see how amazing that is? I’m not lonely anymore. Please, Beth.” He releases a shaky breath, the earnestness in his eyes bringing a fresh wave of tears to my eyes. “Let me try. I don’t want you to feel alone anymore. Let me in,” Namjoon gestures to his heart, “and I swear I’ll never leave.”

Staring up at him, I know he’s telling the truth. I can tell he means every word he’s saying. But I have to know. I have to ask.

“You’ve been promising a lot of things,” I mutter, inhaling sharply as the tears rush down my face. “Are you sure you can keep all your promises? Please, Namjoon. Please don’t promise me something you can’t keep.”

Gently brushing the tears from my face, Namjoon leans in. Slowly, and close enough that I can see the light reflected in the tears still on his face. My heart, limp and weak as it may be, jumps at the close proximity.

“Do you mind if I make another promise?” Namjoon whispers before his lips brush up against my cheek. I freeze as he licks the salty mixture from his lips before moving to the other side.

“N-no,” I mumble.

Just there, the only warning I have is the feeling of his warm breath before he sweetly kisses away the remaining tears on my other cheek.

He pulls away just enough to look into my eyes. “I promise that I will never make you a promise that I cannot keep.”

Eyes drifting down to my mouth he tilts my head up ever so slightly. My eyes drift shut of their own accord, the only thing keeping me tied to the earth being Namjoon’s hands that hold me like I may break at any moment.

The first brush of his lips takes my breath away, the feeling so light that I wonder for a brief moment if this isn’t all just in my head.

Slowly he deepens the kiss, just enough for the salty tang of my tears on his lips to seep into my senses. The bittersweet taste has me reaching out to him, hands fisting the material over his chest. I cling to my soulmate as he clings to me, and even the world slows for a moment in order to accommodate this moment. Fate has never been my friend, but in this sliver of time I feel that it has been uncommonly kind to me.

By the time we pull away, resting our foreheads together, the ache in my heart has subsided. Namjoon’s hands slide down to my waist, holding me in place. As if I’d go anywhere.

I look up at my soulmate only to find his eyes still shut, drinking in the moment. Taking the precious seconds fate has given me, I study him out. Bliss suits him.

As though feeling my gaze, his eyes slide open. A small smile crosses his features, and the word that I have come to associate with Kim Namjoon over the past couple of days reappears in my mind’s eye, hanging over us like the stars in the sky.

Perfect.

Previous - Next

Taglist is open! Happy Halloween this weekend everyone! Thoughts? They finally kissed! (lol, finally. they’ve known each other for what, two or three days?) I love these two. Stay safe and healthy!

taglist: @mae-musicbitch @taylorroe3 @heartblackerthancoffee @eusticenatalie @agustneeds

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dragonrajafanfiction · 3 years

Text

Genji Heavy Industries (Part 5) Hell

In this part of the plot of the game and Novel several things are happening at once. The scene I felt was most relevant to our MC is the scene I picked.

This scene is not in the game. Please enjoy.

Chu Zihang coughed low in his throat next to Caesar and that man’s killer’s aura subsided. You could finally breathe again. You weren’t upset with Chisei Gen and you had nothing against him. You barely knew him at all. Caesar Gattuso just had a bad habit of getting emotionally invested in every single person he came across and that’s why you were here, disguised as Hydra Executive Bureau members, helping Hydra move -- while at the same time, being surrounded by armed guards who would shoot you full of holes and ask questions of your corpse.

Chisei Gen was here with Masamune Tachibana and were talking in Japanese while observing the moving process. You keep your eyes low, maintaining that careful methodical pace that would make sure that you all got on the elevator with the fiftieth box so you could leave to escort that shipment and escape..

Caesar successfully got on the elevator and the operator yelled “HAI”. As the elevator descended, you caught the sharp flash of Caesar’s blue eyes, as though, with that look, he could slash the man’s throat.

Next was Chu Zihang. It would take ten more minutes of work for him to get on the elevator and Mingfei was getting a bit distracted. He was interested in what Chisei and Tachibana were talking about, being the only one who spoke Japanese. While reconnaissance could be handy, the survival of the team was more important. If you survived, you could come back. So you approach him where he is dawdling and lightly nudge him with your elbow..

Chu Zihang successfully boards the elevator. He gives you a two fingered salute as he descends down the shaft and disappears.

You’re next.

Working steadily, you pass by Lu Mingfei. “I want to say I’m sorry.” You murmur in a low voice. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you… and tried to hit you. That was wrong.”

Mingfei looks at you with a confused expression. “No… I messed up. I almost ruined everything.”

“I’ll explain later…”

“HEY YOU!”

Both of your heads look in the direction of the voice. A man in a dark windbreaker was gazing directly at you! Your heart stills. He’s saying something in Japanese but you can’t understand.

“He’s telling you to put the box down and follow him. He has another assignment for you.” Mingfei is looking at you with a face full of tragedy. “Little Sister…” He whispers. “Please don’t die.”

You smile at him and take his hand and give it a squeeze. “It’s okay.” You whisper and turn away to follow the man in the black windbreaker. You give a sharp bow in front of him. He presses a button on the elevator that you came in on, and it opens. He hands you a small brown paper bag and gestures that you should get in the elevator alone.

Your mind is racing. Caesar and Zihang were already gone and there was no way to get in touch with them. They would just wait for you expecting you to come down the elevator. Lu Mingfei would have to tell them what happened. Knowing Caesar, he wouldn’t leave the place without you and would probably search the building and continue to risk his life and everyone else’s lives! You had to find another way to get to them.

You turn around to face out of the elevator and don’t let your emotions show. Lu Mingfei is trying to work, but he’s pale, terrified and alone. You smile calmly at him as the door of the elevator closes.

From the moment the elevator door closed, the screen showing the floor you were on suddenly went out. The lights and the music in the elevator shut off. All the floor buttons were disabled, and the word "HELL" lit up in red above the door.

Your heart rate jumps and you try to press the door open button but it’s too late! You’re already descending, and fast!

You try every button but nothing works! Finally, you look up through the ceiling. Just as you’re thinking about escaping through the top, the elevator slows, and the lights come back on.

The lights reflect off the bronze doors like a mirror. Behind your reflection is the fuzzy reflection of a human shaped shadow. You reach for your pistol extremely fast, but a strong grip takes hold of both your wrists.

With a mighty twist, the person in the reflection turns you around, shoves you against the elevator doors and presses his lips to yours in a passionate kiss!

Your muscles jump and you try to escape, but his scent fills your nose. You recognize his hair. You go from resisting him, to embracing him and pulling him closer.

How did he get here? Where did he come from? You want to ask, but he doesn’t allow you to speak. He kisses you as your knees buckle and your back slides down to the elevator floor. When he finally lets you go, he smiles, watching you tremble filled with a strange tingling you don't understand. There is a satisfied glint in his golden eyes. “Good. I wanted to make sure I got to you before those other idiots did.”

You catch your breath for a moment. He was dressed smartly in a suit and patent leather shoes over his bare feet. A black serrated army knife was on his belt. He rested one hand over his bent knee, crouching in front of you. As always, that clever smile that hid an inside joke was on his delicate features. He really did look quite a bit like Lu Mingfei. But you decide Z is much more handsome. But you were alone when you got into the elevator. How did he get here?

“How do I know you're really here and this isn't a dream?” You ask.

His eyebrows raise. “Is this the type of dream you would have of me? You’ve grown up…”

You huff with amusement. “I’m serious. Lu Mingfei has proof of his guardian angel. I want one, too.”

His eyes travel the length of you and his smile fades. “I’m no guardian angel. But if it's proof you want...” He leans forward on his hands and nuzzles your neck tenderly. But then at that moment he bites down hard and you cry out in pain.

When you touch where he bit you, your hands come back with a small streak of blood on them. Z licks his lips slightly. Your heart beats faster and you feel a bit dizzy. You’re drawn to him far more than any of the ‘idiots’ on your dating game show. “Z… I think I love you…”

He wrinkles his nose. “That’s because you don’t know any better. I’m always curious. How does a human know what exactly ‘love’ is? You could throw yourself body and soul at them and they reject you. Or you can bite them and they call it love. It’s silly.”

The elevator continues to descend and you don’t know how to answer him. “I just want to be with you.”

“Then just say that.”

“Where are we going?”

He smiles again, showing his teeth. “Hell.”

You roll your eyes. “I know, stupid. I mean in this elevator.”

He chuckles, a little birdlike.”Ke-ke-ke…” and again you delight in making him laugh. He sighs and settles next to you. You’d dropped your brown paper bag and he handed it to you again. “Here. It’s food. Eat it. You’re going to need it.”

Inside, is an apple and a small sandwich labeled “egg sando”. It was good and suddenly you feel your hunger roaring like a beast. As you devour the food, he reaches up and gently runs his fingers over your hair, much like you did to the little black kitten in Chizuru.

At the bottom of Genji Heavy Industries, deeper than the Iron Dome Shrine, in absolute darkness, a deep red "ならく" is lit up, which is an elevator light.

The word "ならく" is an exotic word derived from the Buddhist scriptures. Naraka is the deepest part of hell, the infinite fall of the void. The evil spirits in Naraka can never return to the human world, but experience an eternal fall into a bottomless pit.

The elevator door opened. You and Z, two black shadows, walked into the darkness where no one could see. Except for the faint sound of the ventilation fan turning, there is only dead silence here.

The wall ahead suddenly lit up. The giant wall seven or eight meters high emitted an eerie blue light. A closer look will reveal that it is actually a huge water storage tank. The wall is a glass made of hundreds of pieces of glass of about one square meter, between the glass is a narrow metal frame. Above the water storage tank, a several meters in diameter turbine and filter is installed. The volume of this storage tank is comparable to the giant fish tank in an oceanarium built to house manta rays and whale sharks. The general water supply pipeline simply can not provide enough water, so it takes water from the sewer. Sewage filtered into this storage tank, and then pumped away with the turbine when the water was changed, re-entering the Iron Dome Temple system.

The two of you lie on the ground under the glass wall, the blue light illuminating your faces. Z’s posture is reclining upright on his elbow, like those Greek boys carved in alabaster in the Parthenon, from a certain side he looks rather feminine, but from your angle he looks handsome like a young god. You’re lying on your back, looking up at him, staring into those golden eyes.

“Someone once said that the aquarium is one of the top places to go on a date.” He said, stroking your hair.

“Is that what this is? Odd timing…” You murmur.

“Well, you are a very busy woman and many men are looking at you now. Caesar Gattuso jumped in the rain from the top floor of the dorm into a moving convertible to stake his claim. Am I supposed to wait until the mission is over for me to make my move?”

He was right. For as much as the Takamagahara Star-Heart contest glorified looks, money, and pure carnal instincts, what pulled you to Z was the sense that he would stand over you and snarl like a lion. Once he had you, no one would be able to take you away.

“It’s just a show, Z. Are you being jealous?”

“I’m communicating… that’s what this is.” He pressed one finger to your forehead in an odd gesture. “Anyway, the date's over, we have work to do.”

You sit up.

“Use your Soul Skills. We are at the deepest roots of the Heavy Industry Building down here. I need you to cause an earthquake for me. Go for Magnitude 7 or 8.’

You’re silent for a moment. LIke any high level skill, it required considerable amount of practice and skill to wield without causing enormous amounts of unnecessary damage and death. Chu Zihang’s Royal Flame could be wielded like him, in various ways, like pottery in his hands, but he could only control it so much. Without injuring himself and others.

S-Level Skills like yours not only could cause excessive levels of death and destruction, but also came with sequelae, side-effects to the user. In order to create a Magnitude 7 or 8 you would not escape these side effects. But you would do your best to minimize them.

You place your hands on the ground and focus, slowly working your spiritual energe through the floor, through the meter thick slab and down into the bedrock formed by millions of years of heat and pressure. As it goes, so does your mind. The ground becomes like a skin, and you can feel the rubble of the subway, and the rush of the fierce waters in the Iron Dome in a steady vibration. A golden color lights up your dark eyes like a the headlight of a motorcycle in a tunnel that eventually fills the space until its entirely glowing yellow.

Z peeled off a piece of gum and stuffed it into his mouth, facing this empty water storage bin. He was not anxious at all. The sound of rushing water came from the depths of the water storage bin. Some kind of large aquatic animal swam at high speed, leaving a series of swirls with its long tail. The boy fished out a laser pointer from his sleeve, and after opening it, a red laser dot appeared on the glass wall, which cat owners often use to amuse kittens. The boy slowly moved the laser pointer. The light drifted, and gradually attracted the attention of the aquatic animal. It swam closer and closer. There was not one, but a group of large fish. The big fish put their heads against the glass wall, staring at the red dot.

Their faces were so pale, they looked like floating corpses that had been floating in the sea for dozens of days.

The group of fish with human faces peered through the glass at the human world, some expressionless, others with mouths turned upward, seemingly smiling.

They are not all the same. Most have long tails and scaly armor, some look like sphinxes with animal paws or have uncanny organs attached to them. Some have huge sharp claws and knife-like bony fins, and, when they breathe, the cracks at the base of their necks open up to reveal deep red, gill-like structures.

The boy turned his wrist slightly. The sphinxes twisted their bodies delicately, chasing the dots of light and swimming fast, like a group of obedient pets. The entire tank stirred and a dark golden skeleton came up from the bottom of the tank. The shape of the skeleton was between human, fish and flying birds. It was obviously the same kind of sphinxes. It seemed that these sphinxes do not mind eating their own kind when they are very hungry, and the dark golden skeleton is covered with teeth marks, as if cut out with a logging axe.

Z turned off the laser pointer and approached the glass wall. The sphinxes that had lost their chase scattered.

The size of the tank is almost equivalent to a small underground lake in the rock formation. The filtered groundwater is still clear, but once the sphinx swims far away, it is no longer visible. Only a smaller one was left, swimming in the waters near the glass wall, still seemingly trying to find the mysterious spot of light. The boy pressed his palm against the glass wall, which was half a meter thick from the reflection of the glass, and was made of huge glass tiles.

Your Soul Skill has reached depth. Earthquakes were typically created when two broken slabs of continental plates floated on currents of magma, collided, and pressed together until the pressure was too great and then they slipped. There were many such faults in Japan. The skill was to find the one that would create the right amount of slip in the right location, and at the right depth.

Forcing an earthquake was like forcing open a stuck door. You leaned into it, gradually increasing the pressure against it to force it to move. If the door was inclined to move anyway, it wouldn’t take much force and the slip wouldn’t be too great and the earthquake would be small. But to create a great earthquake was to reach the limits of your control. Only a well stuck plate could create something like that. You had to force great pressures on the plate and, when it finally moved, it was like a door swinging open uncontrollably. It would be easy to turn a 7.0 earthquake into an 8.5 earthquake by accident.

You could jostle Genji Heavy Industries… or you could destroy all of Tokyo, depending on results you could not predict. In order to best guess how to apply pressure you had to increase the spiritual roots in the ground to make sure you had maximum sensitivity. And therein lie the danger to you. It was like burying your mind into the ground, your brain. If you poured enough of your thoughts into the earth, then you couldn’t be aware of your surroundings. You might lose track of how much brainpower you have dedicated to the task and little by little, the ground would suck your mind dry of thoughts and Caesar would find you in the depths of Genji Heavy Industries, completely braindead.

The sphinx pressed its face against the glass wall to observe the boy's palm, and then its appearance became clearer and clearer. It is actually a female with long dark hair, a deathly pale but beautiful face, with faint traces of minimally invasive plastic surgery between the eyes and eyebrows.

"You were beautiful," Z said softly, "when you were still alive."

Pretty only in that face, the sphinx was deformed from the neck down, the lower half of its body fused into a python-like tail, the remnants of its feet vaguely visible.

In the mythology of the world, this image of the sphinx repeatedly appears, from the ancestor of mankind, Fuxi Nuwa, to the Three Emperors, and Five emperors of the Taihao. Emperor, "Zhuangzi" was seen by the Duke of Qi Huan in purple clothes wearing a vermilion crown shaped like a half man and half snake. In the "Shanhaijing" there are multiple mentions of a "human face with a snake body and red, straight eyes.” The god of Zhong Shan, ZhiYin, the so-called "Naga" in Sanskrit, the so-called "Medusa" in Greek mythology, and even the group of snakes whose names have been lost in the Mayan pantheon ......

They are between gods and demons, symbolizing seduction and ultimate mystery. Mythologists still find it difficult to explain why such monsters appear so consistently in various myths. If they could take a look at this "beautiful" monster, they would understand that their ancestors had indeed witnessed similar things crawling, swimming or lunging in front of them. They were so hideous that they could never be a species that God would make, but only a joke played by the Devil on man. This impression was like a lightning bolt that exploded in the minds of the first people, and they passed it on from generation to generation as a myth.

Z lit up the laser pointer, the point of light appeared in the heart of the forehead of the sphinx, like a bright vermilion mole. The sphinx's ghastly white face was suddenly lit up. If you didn't look at the ghastly lower half of the body, it could be described as charming. It stretched out its deformed claws to grab the red light in the glass wall, although its claws are hard, but only in the super-hard glass scratching out a toothsome sound. However, it couldn’t grasp the red dot! Suddenly, became furious, and issued an inaudible roar at the young man. Its huge mouth opened to reveal sharp teeth as dense as thorns. This is when you can clearly see it's horrible mouth structure. On each side of its delicate cherry lips is a barely discernible slit extending to the ear. When it opened its mouth as if the entire cranium opened!

"You're getting ugly like this." Z said.

The sphinx's hiss lasted only a few seconds. The giant claws coming from behind dragged it back to the middle of the tank.

Z extinguished his laser pointer and watched the killing in silence as a dozen sphinxes surrounded and killed the smaller of their kind. They bite down on their prey’s body parts, swinging their long tails wildly, using tremendous twisting force to tear the prey apart. The prey and predator together formed a strange fleshy flower, a demon flower with snake-like petals, each one twisting and swaying as red blood smoke rose to the water's surface.

"How ugly, this world." Z said faintly, his face devoid of sorrow or joy.

You finally make your choice and your eyes glow in the dark. You open your mouth and let out a loud moan, as though you were giving birth and push! You push harder and harder and your cries grow louder and louder!

A soft popping sound ran through the entire glass wall from top to bottom, the metal frame supporting them twisting and distorting rapidly. The feeding sphinxes also noticed the change in the glass wall and swam over, leaving their bloody food behind, as if the prisoners had heard the iron prison door slam and would have looked in the direction of the door in unison. Glass wall is shaking. First, a huge glass tile fell where water pressure topped out against the metal frame, then more glass tiles fell off. Each is a square meter square and half a meter thick. Pushed by the force of several tons of pressure, water sprayed out through the gaps more than ten meters away.

Z produced a white silk handkerchief from his coat pocket and dabbed the sweat forming on your forehead with gentle touches, like a husband comforting his birthing wife. “You should protect yourself.” He says softly.

You grit your teeth and nod. A thick wave of soil and rock smashes through the meter thick slab and rolls over you both to form a barrier.

A few seconds later this transparent wall completely collapsed and tens of thousands of tons of water broke through the dam, carrying an unknown number of sphinxes with it.

#Dragon Raja

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sabraeal · 4 years

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Hypewired Unsolved Drinking Game, Rule #2: Shirayuki Despairs Over Obi’s Life Choices

Rule #1

Written for @ruleofexception on the occasion of her BIRTH. I thought this would be more ghost hunting and less metrics, but I should have known I couldn’t resist a premise-building chapter.

[Shirayuki] Have you ever heard of the Gardner Museum Heist?

[Obi] Oohhh.

[Shirayuki] *laughs* What was that?

[Obi] Oh, nothing, nothing. It’s just... I love heists.

[Shirayuki] You love heists? *laughs* No, I take it back, that doesn’t surprise me at all.

[Obi] *laughs* Come on, who doesn’t love a good heist?

[Shirayuki] This one *is* known as the biggest art heist of its kind.

[Obi] Oh ho ho ho. You’re saying all the right things to me.

The thing about haunted houses-- the real kind, not the ones that hire teenagers to wear stage make up and hold fake chainsaws-- is that they’re hard to book.

“Oh, in my hometown, they hired ex-convicts,” Obi says in the same casual way he says anything vaguely terrifying about his childhood, “and they gave them real, working chainsaws.”

Her jaw drops, face still plastered to her phone’s screen. Soft jazz worms into her ear. “That can’t be true. That has to be a-- a rumor or something.”

“Nah, nah, the farm had a work program with the local prison. I think sometimes they did seasonal work too?” He shrugs. “I don’t know. But it definitely made the hayride more popular. Gave it a real element of danger, you know?”

Shirayuki stares. “And they gave them real chainsaws?”

“Well, they only revved them a little.” He twitches his shoulder, as much of a shrug as he ever gives. “One time a guy hopped on the cart and chopped the bale next to me, but I mean, I probably deserved that.”

She might be sitting down, but oh, she could really do to sit down again. Harder. Mentally. Emotionally. “And you’re sure these were ex-convicts?”

“Yeah, probably.” Not an endorsement ringing with confidence. “I mean, I’m sure they were in for non-violent crimes, at least.”

There are two wolves inside of her, and one of them is pleased to hear about a local business working to place disadvantaged community members, and the other-- well, the other thinks that maybe everyone should be a little more solid on the whole non-violent convictions than they are.

Before she has the chance to suggest it, the phone clicks, and a pleasant female voice says, “Hill House, Donna speaking, how may I help you?”

“Oh, hi, yes,” she fumbles, “I’m Shirayuki calling from Hypewire. We would like to talk about booking your location.”

“Hypewire?” Donna pauses, the good long kind that means she’s probably from a generation that prefers to read its news on paper, and not from a website that has an option to react with emojis. “Oh, did you want to do an article on the house?”

“Ah, something like that.” Obi arches a brow, lips twitching as he crams another Funyon between them. He’s far too distracting to have around while she needs to have thinky thoughts, especially if he’s going to make faces at her. “I’m the producer of Hyperwire Unsolved, and we were wondering if we could possibly do a, ah--” she coughs-- “an investigation? Of the house? For the show?”

“Oh, Hypewire Unsolved!” The woman laughs. “My nephew loves you guys. But don’t you do true crime?”

[Sender]: [email protected] [Recipients]: [email protected] [Subject]: Re: Episode Filming

Thank you for your interest in our venue for an episode. Some of our interns are big fans of your show! However, we have to admit some confusion, as we were under the impression you were a true crime show…

“How’d they get that impression?” Higata grunts, hunching further over his keyboard. His screen in the only light in the editing bay, castling a ghastly glow over his face. “The art department just sent me six different aliens to pick from for the Roswell episode, and now we’re Serial? Come on.”

Shirayuki sighs. “I know. But it seems our more popular episodes are the ones about collar bombers and serial murderers. At least by the metrics”

Higata might only be twenty-six, but he’d be right at home at the VA buffet with the way he grumbles. “You know His Highness over there was talking to me about making true crime and supernatural separate seasons. Something about...keeping views and organizational groups or something.”

“Huh.” She sits back, nibbling on her lip. “It would certainly give me more of a focus each season. What do you think?”

“I guess it’s fine. Two editing credits for my resume for one show’s work is a good deal.” He overlays a shadowy police sketch into the video, shoulders rounded and tense. “What do I know? I just sit in the dark and pick which ghostly visage I want to layer over your audio.”

She leans in with her sunniest smile, squeezing his arm right above the elbow. “And you’re so good at it!”

“I am.” He’s too much of a professional to look away from his work, shifting the same image three pixels over and then three pixels back, but his bicep relaxes beneath her grip. “I am a top tier spooky face picker. All the commenters say so.”

She blinks. “Oh? They do?”

Higata twists in his seat, gaze somehow even more incredulous in the lack of light. “No, Shirayuki, they don’t. But they should.” He gestures to the screen vaguely. “They mostly just talk about how much they want to fuck Obi.”

“OH.” There’s some information she really, really didn’t need. “That’s um, ah--”

“Your job, according to roughly half our fan base.” His mouth hooks into a grin she does not enjoy. “What do you say, Lyon? I think we could break the bank if you kissed him once on camera.”

“I-- I mean--” it’s a ridiculous request, clearly a joke, but her heart is pounding so loud in her ears she can’t hear her own thoughts-- “that’s not really w-what the show is about.”

Higata laughs. “That’s what you think.”

“What does who think?”

Shirayuki jumps straight out of her chair.

It’s not an exaggeration; there’s literal air between her butt and the seat, and when she lands again, the soft cushion makes the most obvious whoosh noise in existence, only worse, since it’s slow too. No obnoxious whoopee cushion womp, oh no, just an endless, air pump whoosssssshhhhhh that’s as blatant as a rattlesnake in the silence.

“Obi!” His lean shadow fills the doorway—wow, is he actually that tall?—and his head tilts, just enough so that his eyes shimmer gold. “I—nothing! We were, um, nothing?”

“We were talking about true crime,” Higata supplies, darting her a pitying look, “and how that’s what everyone thinks we are. Winchester House just emailed back.”

Obi grimaces, teeth flashing white in the dark. “Ah, great. Another one of those.”

“Yeah,” she sighs, deflating into a slouch. “I could talk about Big Foot until I’m blue in the face, but everyone thinks I have nuanced opinions about Jeffrey Dahmer.”

One narrow brow arches toward his hairline. “But you do have nuanced opinions about Jeffrey Dahmer.”

“I just think animal mutilation is probably a sign things aren’t going right in your life and someone should have noticed.” She waves her hands, at a loss. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to explore a supposedly haunted house.”

His lips twitch, right at one corner. “For a skeptic, you’re really into the idea you could see a ghost.”

“Stories are part of the human experience,” she explains primly. “We use them to understand what feels inexplicable. And ghosts are part of how we compartmentalize death.”

“Or they are the remnants of people who died too soon.” Obi pushes himself off the jamb, sauntering over to where they sit. “Or whatever bad juju is left by human misery—hey, that’s a sweet mugshot. Who’s it supposed to be?”

Higata squints. “I keep thinking it might be Shiira? But the cheeks are all wrong.”

“Huh.” Obi leans between the two of them, nose hovering mere inches away from the screen. His arm presses into her shoulder, too warm. “Brecker.”

“Brecker?” Higata tilts his head. “Oh yeah, I see it now. He’s not gonna like that.”

He huffs out a laugh. “Good thing he doesn’t watch joyless tripe like Unsolved then.”

“Yeah.” Higata snickers, raising the opacity. “Good thing.”

Obi settles back on his heels, hand gripping the back of her chair. She dares a glance up, and there he is, watching her with one of those looks she doesn’t know how to read. “Don’t worry, Lyon,” he says, thumb rubbing at the plastic back. “The season’s only just started. Give it some time.”

“I’d love to,” she mutters, tilting her head back, resting it on his wrist. “But try explaining that to Izana.”

[Obi] I’m just saying, there’s no sexier crime than a heist. ...Well, I mean, that doesn’t involve actual sex.

[Shirayuki] *wheeze*

[Obi] You know what I mean.

[Shirayuki] Do I? Am I finding out too much about you right now? Is this how you get seduced at parties? Girls just cornering you and telling you about high-profile robberies?

[Obi] *laughs* This is absolutely not how I get seduced at parties. Unless you’d like to try...?

[Shirayuki] . . .

[Obi] Besides, it’s not like this is just a regular robbery. Heists don’t happen to normal people. Just the rich ones.

[Shirayuki] Well, this *is* a museum. It’s for learning purposes.

[Obi] Oh, like all that stuff actually *belongs* to a museum anyway.

[Shirayuki] Actually...this time it does!

[Obi] Wow, now there’s a mystery I want to investigate.

“We want to capitalize on the energy from this season.”

Izana isn’t a man who lounges; his mesh office chair is relentlessly ergonomic, only a few aggressively rolled lumbar supports away from a torture device. But still, he gives off the energy of a cat lazing in a sunspot, already gotten into the cream.

“Unsolved has always had excellent metrics, but since the premier--” he glances pointedly at Obi-- “they’re unparalleled by any other digital media Wisteria has put out on any of its platforms.”

Obi sprawls in one of the wire-frame chairs Izana has out, far too big for its delicate frame, every inch of him as still as the grave. Except for his one, bouncing knee, practically vibrating as he asks, “That’s...good right?”

“Very good.” Shirayuki may not be a metrics person, but working with Zen gave her more than a passing acquaintance with what success sounds like. “I think he’s telling us...we’re his cash cow.”

Izana’s lips lift into a smirk. “Just so. You’re more popular than Stand the Heat, and that’s saying something.”

It is saying something-- Obi’s show consistently has the most hits and the highest likes-to-views ratio. It’s been the backbone of Hypewire’s digital media section since it premiered last year, and now-- now Unsolved has passed it. If the graph Izana’s laid out is right, they’ve passed it by...a lot.

Shirayuki sneaks a glance at Obi as he leans over, taking in the numbers. She can’t move, can’t even breathe as he stares, eyes rounding as he understands what’s happening.

He rips the paper off the desk, shaking it at her. “Do you see this?”

She blinks. “Y-yes?”

His mouth breaks into a grin, like a Labrador who has found a particularly giant stick. “We’re awesome.”

“Oh,” she breathes, and wow, this is really not the time to think about the-- the Abayan effect, even if that smile makes it extremely hard not to. “Okay.”

“We should have you on the show.” His knee bounces a mile a minute, words barely keeping pace. “See if that makes the ratings draw even.”

Shirayuki stares at him, but there’s no hint of sarcasm, no undertone of agitation. For all intents and purposes, it seems as if he’s just...inviting her on his highly rated cooking show.

That can’t be right.

“Not a bad thought, Abayan,” Izana hums, fingers tapping at the desk. “Turn that in to me with the rest of your proposals for next season.”

Obi grins. “No problem, boss.”

“Wait.” This is all happening too fast; it’s all too much. Three weeks ago she was scrambling for a new co-host, and now she’s sitting next to Hypewire’s media darling, talking about how she needs to be on his show for his ratings. “I don’t-- we shouldn’t--”

“Oh, can you not cook?” Obi smiles, and it’s-- entirely too much. “Don’t worry, Lyon, you’ll be on top when I’m done with you.”

“N-no!” she chokes. “I-- I’m the daughter of a bar! I mean, my grandparents--” ugh, four years to get a journalism degree, and she still can’t word good-- “they owned a pub.”

“Great.” His teeth flash, half-feral. “Then you’ll know how to follow my lead.”

“I think,” Izana says, tipping her a speculative look, “that Shirayuki is less worried about her prowess in the kitchen, and more about what these sort of numbers might mean to a show like Unsolved. Isn’t that right?”

“Ah, I mean...” It’s terrible how good he is at his job. “It’s all so...quick. We’re still editing this season, and already I’m working on the ideas for next one, and I have to not only write scripts but also scout locations, and Higata is already stretched thin--”

“We’ll get you another editor.”

Her jaw drops. “W-what?”

Izana folds his hands, so calm, and tells her, “We’ll get you another editor.”

Shirayuki stares, mouth utterly dry. It had been a struggle to get Higata last season; after Obi had roasted the idea during Pitch Fight, Hypewire’s higher-ups had been loath to put any actual support behind Unsolved. Only his dogged enthusiasm-- and flagrantly working on the project behind their backs-- had gotten him on board after the pilot took off. And now Izana Wisteria was just handing her someone else. Personally.

She reaches down and pinches herself. Yep, this is-- this is real life. Somehow.

“You want to-- you mean that--” she gulps-- “you want to give Unsolved a team?”

He nods, brusque and efficient. “I can get you another researcher as well. Or if the locations appear to be a problem, perhaps a personal assistant?” He lifts a hand, a Wisteria shrug. “Just let me know your needs, and I’ll see what I can do.”

“Unless it’s time, right?” Obi asks wryly. “That’s straight out.”

Izana’s mouth stretches into the barest grin. “The internet is instant, I’m afraid. You have to strike while the iron’s hot. I hope--” he fixes her with a meaningful look-- “we are all able to make the best of this opportunity.”

kisskissfall4luv: does ne1 no f this guy is gonna b here 4 the hole sesson? i luv Zen but i lik the nu guy 2 hes so funny!

kayla0202: I hope he is! I never thought I’d like something as much as Stand the Heat, especially a show about aliens and weird crime, but Obi and Shirayuki make me tune in every week! How long are Unsolved’s seasons again??

unsolvedjunky42: There’s only one other season, and that was 12 eps, though a lot of those were 10 minutes long, and these ones are averaging 17-20min. It looks like Obi Abayan is credited as co-host for the rest of the season: [follow link] So glad he signed on, I thought Unsolved would be dead in the water without Zen but Obi brings a whole new dynamic I didn’t ever realize the show was missing.

zenluvr999: i no were only 3 eps in but i think im gonna need a new name lmao

“Ah, I understand, but we really are looking to--” Shirayuki clenches her stress artichoke, its plush petals ballooning out from between her fingers, and stifles a sigh. “Yeah, I see. Thank you.”

The call cuts off with a beep, too cheerful a sound for its finality. Another opportunity lost. Shirayuki spills over her keyboard, groan lost beneath the function keys.

“Going that well, huh?” Kihal barely spares her a glance, but she does pull aside a headphone; the way editors show they care. “Tell me again how much you love this job.”

“I do love it,” she insists, muffled by the cool metal of her desk. “It’s just...so much work.”

“You know, we could just get that personal assistant.” Higata drops his headphones around his neck, settling back in his chair. It creaks beneath him, protesting his slouch. “I still can’t believe you said no to that.”

“We don’t need another team member.” Shirayuki lifts her head, just barely, to give him a warning glance. “We already have Kihal. That’s more than enough.”

“Really? We still have half a season left to edit, you have another season to write, and you want to tell me we couldn’t use another set of hands?” His eyebrow twitches up toward his hairline. “You just love making all those phone calls, huh?”

“It’s not that.” She rolls back, lifting herself upright. Her spine reminds her sharply that it doesn’t like doing that, that it was having a fine time as she was, but if there’s one thing Shirayuki knows how to ignore by now, it’s a complainer. “Unsolved was my idea to begin with, and if we can’t do the proposal we submitted last week, it should be me who’s to blame for it, not some poor intern.”

“She’s so cute,” Kihal coos across the cluster. “She’s got morals and everything.”

“That’s rich, coming from you,” Higata deadpans. “Didn’t you unionize the Yuris office?”

Her teeth flash predator white between the crimson stain of her lips. “Why do you think I volunteered to work this gig?”

He sighs, long-suffering. “See, this is the problem: the both of you like working too much. It’s getting in the way of having someone fetch my coffee for me.”

Shirayuki levels her best glare at him, the one she’s honed from one too many long nights in the editing bay. “If we had a PA, their job would not be to get you coffee.”

“If we had a PA, their job would be to make these stupid phone calls so Shirayuki can get actual work done,” Kihal informs him with a playful superiority than makes his eyes roll. “Instead of spending all day in a fugue of sadness and misery because no one will take her seriously.”

Shirayuki almost protests—there’s no fugue, and if anything, the rejections just make her more desperate and determined, but—

Her list of high-profile options has been reduced by a half, red lines spiking through some of her best hits with no relief in sight. She is about two seconds from eating her feelings through the oversized cinnamon buns in the company vending machine, and a fugue state is starting to sound like a preferable way to spend her afternoon.

“Ugh,” she decides, and lays down again.

“There, there,” Kihal croons, patting her back across their desks. “Someone will have to give you the time of day at some point.”

“I’m getting calls back.” She rolls over onto one cheek, thoughtful. “People are fans of the show! They just...don’t think we’re serious.”

Kihal scoffs. “About what? Aliens? Ghosts? I’ve been fielding queries all morning from Shuuka asking which direction we want to go for The Alexandria episode.”

“It’s the whole ghost hunting angle.” Higata leans over, liberating her artichoke from her grip, tossing it between his hands. “If I want to be fair, which I don’t, but here we are—it’s a new direction for the show. I guess it could be confusing to people used to our format.”

“I know, I know.” She pillows her chin with her hands, letting out a sigh. “I just wish one of them would give us a confirmation instead of—“ she waves her hand at her empty schedule—“all this.”

“They will.” She doesn’t know where Higata unearths all this unearned confidence, but she’s glad one of them has. “Let this season run its course. Zen was never big on the supernatural episodes, but these ones with Obi...people are definitely going to pay attention.”

He wouldn’t be saying that if he had to suggest waiting to Izana Wisteria. “They’re already paying attention to Obi. I’m always getting asked if--”

“If I’m as handsome as I look on screen?”

The thing is-- she’s not expecting it. One minute she’s sprawled across her desk, and the next Obi’s purr is tickling her ear, and--

“Ow, fff--” his gaze darts over where he clenches his nose-- “fudge. Sicles.”

“Nice save,” Kihal deadpans. “Now if only you could do that in the first minute of every video.”

“What can I say,” he honks, rubbing his nose. “I’m an off-the-cuff kind of guy.”

“You’re a ‘ruining our monetization’ kind of guy,” she shoots back, though she pushes over an abandoned chair for him to sit on.

“Oh, Obi!” Shirayuki yelps, hands hovering on either side of his face as he sits. “I’m so sorry! I was just--”

“Surprised, yeah, got that part.” he lifts his fingers, wobbling the bridge of his nose. “No harm done.”

“Good thing,” Higata mutters, “that face gets views.”

“Oh please.” Obi grins, devastating as always. “Chicks love a broken nose.”

Kihal barks out a laugh. “When it comes to you, chicks love breathing.”

He shrugs, sliding into a slouch. “Still no luck, I’m guessing?”

“None,” Shirayuki confirms. “Though people have been saying they enjoy the new season.”

“The concierge at the Roosevelt says you’re a lot cuter than Zen,” Kihal offers, needlessly.

Obi’s grin widens, wolfish. “You don’t say.”

“Maybe you should start using that Abayan charm to get us some bookings,” Kihal suggests wryly. “Earn your keep around here.”

“Please, I earn my keep. I’m the eye candy.” He winks. “Besides, I’d be happy to, but the big boss over here always tells me--”

“You don’t need to worry about it,” Shirayuki says, “it’s really my job--”

Higata waves a hand, long suffering. “You see the problem.”

“I do.” Kihal settles back. “Well, if you really just need a place...”

“I’ll take anything at this point,” she says to the particleboard of the ceiling. “Even if it’s just a haunted hole in the ground.”

“All right, well--” Kihal grins, sheepish-- “my condo is haunted.”

[Obi] So you’re telling me that this is just some crazy lady’s house, filled with all her stuff?

[Shirayuki] Isabella Stewart Gardner was a socialite and a philanthropist, *not* a crazy lady.

[Obi] Right, okay, but...she did turn her house into a museum, and then made everyone promise not to touch it. Not exactly what I think of when someone says ‘stable.’

[Shirayuki] Because she *curated* it, Obi!

[Obi] So what you’re telling me is that she knew that from forever to the end of time, she would have better taste than everyone else on the planet.

[Shirayuki] *sputtering* W-well--

[Obi] No, no, you’re right. I retract the crazy lady thing. Because that’s *baller*.

[Shirayuki] *laughs* O-obi!

[Obi] I want to be that lady. Like that is shade from the grave.

[Shirayuki] . . . . She also was personally friends with Monet.

[Obi] SEE? Life goals.

“So,” Obi hums from around a dumpling, his chopsticks already rooting for another, “what do you think?”

Shirayuki looks up, halfway through a very un-dainty bite of her own. “About--? Oh! I can’t believe they’re only fifty cents each! Where did you find this place?”

Despite his reputation on camera-- forward-facing, casual, intimate-- Obi isn’t someone who looks at people head-on. She’ll catch a glance sometimes, or maybe a considering look from the corner of his eyes, but for the most part, he’s always moving, eyes darting around to watch who filters into a room, or at the cars moving outside, or staring down the squirrel that likes to scratch at their window.

So when he looks at her, gold eyes trapping her as thoroughly as amber, she notices.

“Well,” he says after a long moment, “when you run a food show, people do give you some hot tips. But, ah--” he rubs at the back of his head, ears pink at the tips-- “that wasn’t really what I, ah, meant.”

Her mouth rounds. “Oh.”

His hands raise, chopsticks knitted under his knuckles. “Though I’m glad you like it! It’s, ah, one of my favorite places too. I just thought that you might have some, er--” he grimaces-- “thoughts, about the whole haunted condo thing.”

“Oh! That.” She taps her chopsticks on her plate, trying to gather her thoughts. “I just think...I don’t know. It’s not a bad place to start, but I just wanted...”

She blows out her cheeks on a sigh. “The ghost hunting is a new aspect of the show, and I wanted us to come out strong with an actual location...”

His mouth curls at a corner, too knowing. “And having us just carry around proton packs and talk about cold spots in a friend’s house isn’t really going to do much for our supernatural cred?”

“Yeah.” She slumps against the chair, defeat. “That. But I also feel like beggars can’t be choosers, and no one else is telling us yes, so...”

He nods, mouth pressed into a thoughtful line. “So there’s no rush to say no.”

“Right, yeah.” She glances at him from the corners of her eyes. “How about you?”

Obi blinks, eyes fluttering wide. “Me? This isn’t really my--” he hesitates, mouth working, starting a half dozen words-- “ah, I mean, I think...it’s smart. You’re right, a bigger place will give us more credit, but if one doesn’t come through then we have to start somewhere. Besides,” his mouth tics at a corner, twitching toward a smirk-- “I’ve always wondered whether she’s bikini or boyshorts.”

It’s only when her chin hits her chest that she realizes her jaw has dropped. “We’re not there to look in her underwear drawer!”

“Well, we’re not at work for her to look in my gym bag either,” he replies, sour, “but she did anyway.”

“She already said that was an accident--”

“--a likely story--”

“--That’s not what I meant anyway,” she admits with a huff. “I wanted to know if you were okay with the whole, ah...” her shoulders round, shy-- “metrics thing.”

“Metrics?” His head cocks, quizzical, but then-- “you mean, the stuff Izana showed us weeks ago?”

“Two weeks ago,” she corrects, heat flaring on her cheeks, “and, um, yes. I just...you’re not mad?”

Obi stares. “About what?”

“Unsolved.”

He shakes his head. “You’re...really going to have to be more specific than that.”

“The ratings.” She pokes at a dumpling, miserable. “Stand the Heat-- that’s your baby isn’t it? You pitched it and everything.”

“I...did?” he says, brow furrowed. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“It’s just-- Unsolved is doing better.” It’s not bragging, she knows that, but it feels like it. “And it’s-- it’s okay if you’re, um, upset about it. You’ve been doing this for--”

“OH.” Obi coughs, suddenly looking anywhere but at their table. “No, I really-- you don’t need to worry about that. At all. Please.”

She stares. “Obi, it’s okay. I’m not going to take it personally if you--”

“Kid, please,” he begs, holding up his hands. “It’s nothing. I mean, yeah, if Stand the Heat was on top, I’d be happy. I mean, I was happy when it was on top. But, this is...” his fingers twirl his chopstick mindlessly-- “this is good, too.”

“But--”

“Listen, I know you may find this hard to believe, especially with how we, uh, met, but I wasn’t kidding when I said I was a huge fan of the show. Not even a little. Understated it, in fact.” The tips of his ears flush. “So, uh, it’s kind of cool that I joined my favorite show, and now it’s super popular. That’s sort of the whole fanboy dream, right?”

“O-oh!” She stares down at her hands, willing them to stop trembling. “I, uh...I didn’t...I didn’t really think of it like that.”

“Yeah, well, now you know you don’t have to worry about it,” he says with a laugh. “I’m living the dream here. Not only am I on the show, but I’m more popular than the last guy. And I get to take the cute host out to lunch and call it business. The only square I need to finish fanboy bingo is getting to ki--”

His teeth snap down, so loud she hears the click. “Haah, never mind. Hey look, is that the waiter? Could we, ah, get the check?”

[Sender]: [email protected] [Recipients]: [email protected] [Subject]: Season 3 Hard Proposal

Is there any reason this isn’t in my inbox already?

Shirayuki closes her inbox with a grimace. “Ah, hey, Kihal?”

Her editor looks up, brows raised. “Yeah?”

She licks her lips, bracing herself. “Just...how haunted do you think your condo is?”

#obiyuki #akagami no shirayukihime #snow white with the red hair #my fic #ans #buzzfeed unsolved AU #ghost hunting got pushed back for FREESTYLE FLIRTING #so i'm sure none of you will complain #but also I had lots of thinky thoughts about how i didn't want to push aside the show aspect to do just the romance #since the manga focuses hardcore on her career #listen guys the second chapter of fics is always the hardest because then you're thinking of TONE and OTHER STRUCTURE THINGS #esp since i wasn't sure if i would expand this beyond a one shot #so i had to decided if this was gonna be straight up rom com business #or whether i wanted to be shirayuki making this show work as it sort of grows beyond the two pony operation she had before #and also here is her hot co-host she keeps accidentally flirting with oh no #obviously i'm going the second route here #so ENJOY

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asterekmess · 4 years

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S3A - E1

Okay, instead of making like massive reblogs of thoughts as I have them for the episodes, I’m gonna just make a massive bullet point list that I’ll add to throughout the episode, so you get One post per episode instead of “Like all nine million of them.”

I put Read-More’s because I care.

Thoughts (of which I have far too many):

I’m in the first ten seconds of the fuckin episode. Why the fuck is Braeden electrocuting Isaac? Like, look, I wanna like Braeden. I have issues with her entire moral system, but I still wanna like her cus’ she saves Isaac. But...how am I supposed to do that when the literal first thing she does is electrocute my boy??? He’s knocked out, not DEAD (not that that’s how shocking someone’s heart even Works) and it’s not like she needs to trigger the healing process. He’s already got Gaping slash wounds on his chest. He’s hurt enough. ALSO. “Be quiet”?? R U Serious? You’re electrocuting him. YOU try being quiet with fucking jumper cables on your chest.

The CGI...is so bad. Oh my god. What the absolute fuck. it looks like Sharkboy & Lavagirl. And why aren’t Ethan & Aiden’s claws doing anything to the bike?

I AM CONFUSION. If the twins don’t have to take their pants off to do the Transformers shit, why do they have to take off their shirts? Can...can I just skip that? Make the big bad werewolf wear an ugly hybrid of two of their stupid ass sweaters? Or do Ethan and Aiden really just like being shirtless that much? (I wouldn’t put it past them)

What is with Braeden and the electricity?

The writing in this show, what the fuck? “I thought I told you to hold on” EXCUSE ME, ma’am. He literally just passed out. His bad I guess.

Guess who has to add the anti-scott tag to this now? Anyway, I hate that Allison’s bit in the intro is her kissing Scott and then drawing the bow. Like, they’re broken up. They don’t get together in this season. Why are they kissing in the intro? That had to have Totally pissed off Scallison fans.

There’s my boy, holding up lizard tattoo designs. Pls tell me he took a pic and sent it to Jackson with the caption “It’s YOU.” Like, yes, way too soon, but man it’s fuckin funny.

This tattoo artist is a good-ass salesman. However, p-sure he’s not a good-ass artist if he had to wrap Scott’s arm up That badly. Like...they have stuff for that. Fuck, the one I got on my ankle, they used SaranWrap and Tape. Just needs to be kept out of the open air for a bit. You don’t need like eight layers of gauze. I do feel for Scott tho. That tat probably cost him like $50-75 before the tip. Oof.

Eyyy, time to be salty. Ya’ll know I love Allison, but does it get any more clear that she totally bailed on everyone after the warehouse? She went to France! She doesn’t even know what happened to Jackson after he got cured. ALSO. Lydia says “Derek taught him the werewolf 101.” Not Scott. Derek. XP

Lydia, honey, leave Allison alone. If she doesn’t want to go on the double date, go alone and make it an orgy. Fun, right? Wait, no. Don’t. You’re 16. Don’t do that!

When exactly did they “agree to give each other the summer”? She said “I’m breaking up with you.” he said “I’ll wait” and then she cried into her dad’s arms. Like...why didn’t we get to see this apparently incredibly important conversation? (maybe because it didn’t happen??)

I fucking LOVE the “I’m just gonna say hi. HEYYYYY! You know....they probably didn’t see us.”

The most horrific thing about that moment was the bad CGI.

I WANNA POINT OUT how cute it is (in a like, sad way cus’ she’s terrified) that Lydia is close enough to Stiles now that she immediately goes for his side and they like insta connect with the eye contact. Not in like a Stydia way, but like, they’re close. she trusts him and goes to him when she’s scared, even though he’s human and you’d wonder if she shouldn’t go to Scott instead, since he’s the werewolf.

SCOTT WHY ARE YOU TOUCHING THE DEAD DEER. Your ability to smell chemosignals/sense emotions has nothing to do with touching. Stop poking the dead animal.

Wait, WHY is there a full moon in that shot? The full moon isn’t for like a week! I COUNTED.

...what? Why the fuck does Braeden think Scott’s an Alpha? Why tho? Like, seriously? WHY? He’s not an Alpha yet. Nowhere near it. And if she knows bc Deaton told her (i think he was the one who hired her) then shouldn’t she know he isn’t one yet? IF SHE KNOWS that she can tell Melissa abt werewolves, WHY doesn’t she know that Scott’s Melissa’s son? Where is the LOGIC?

Scott’s morning routine is giving me Legally Blonde vibes. ~my perrrfectt dayyy, nothing standing in my wayyy~

I can’t tell. did Allison get highlights, or straight up dye her hair brown?

This sweet moment between her and her dad. Yes. Pls.

I will admit, I like getting to see each of their mornings.

Lydia...who are you fucking? Honey, you’re sixteen. Why isn’t whoever the fuck is in bed with you also getting ready for school? What.....the fuck?

Completely different Beacon Hills High School set. I really can’t blame the writers for that.

Wtf Davis? You list Erica and Boyd as being 17...since when? They’re supposed to be entering their Junior Year of high school. They would be 16 GOING ON 17. ANd what the hell do you mean Erica’s birthday is August 16th? She said in the last season that she’d “Just turned 16 a month ago” that was Spring semester. ???? Come on, guys. Seriously. Writing 101, getting to know your characters. I don’t know anyone writing a novel who doesn’t know the exact birthday of their characters. Plus, they cut 2 in. from Gage Golightly’s actual height, while adding an inch to Sinqua’s (according to google, which isn’t always reliable) Whatever. Boooooo.

Uh...that principal was threatened by the Argents. Victoria herself promised to torture him if he didn’t resign. Why does he look so surprised by the fucking sword in his office? For that matter, why is he at the school at all? He KNOWS the Argents attacked him. This should cause problems!

Honestly, Lydia, I love you. Like, go for it. Nothing wrong with not wanting to date and just wanting to have fun. My issues stem from YOU BEING 16. Yes, teenagers have sex. But this is ridiculous. Why is there so much sexualization? I knew a grand total of like....two teenagers who had sex at 16? and like one who did at 15 (which they say in canon she and Jackson were banging before her birthday). Like, it’s not nearly as common as y’all are making it out to be. Knock it off.

WHEN DID MELISSA MEET ISAAC PROPERLY? WHEN did that HAPPEN?

....so why didn’t Derek answer the phone? They literally never explain? He shows up, so...why didn’t he answer?

I’m SO InCredibly Disturbed by Jennifer having everyone’s phone numbers. HOW? In What Way is that REMOTELY appropriate? WHY did no one question it? Why didn’t STILES or LYDIA question it?

So tiny, bugs me so much. He didn’t turn his phone off. He turned his screen off...is it that hard to have him do the right one?

uhhh. Werewolves can smell other werewolves. Wanna tell me why Isaac can’t tell a werewolf just walked in the room? An ALPHA no less?

why TF are Kali’s iris’ and pupils so fucking massive?

So...what was the deal with the birds? Don’t they say later that Jennifer like summoned them? So they aren’t from the Alpha pack scaring animals? And also, how would the Alpha pack be scaring animals if they’re like, in the middle of town? They said in S1 that “wild animal sightings are up” like what 75% or something? “As though something is scaring them out” but that made sense, bc we knew Peter was running around in his full-shift (it’s a fucking full shift, it’s just fucked up) in the woods. But these Alphas aren’t, they’re integrating. So is it Jennifer that the animals are afraid of? Like, does she have sPoOkY aura or something?

More bad CGI.

WHy is no one responding to the woman stumbling around in nothing but a hospital gown?

ONCE AGAIN. Werewolves can Sense Werewolves. SCOTT you sensed Isaac in a BOYS LOCKER ROOM. DUKE IS RIGHT THERE. WHT THE FUCK?

angry smoker doctor “Why don’t you wheel this joker out of here?” “I’m gonna go smoke” Grrr

Sir. clearly your mask wasn’t tied on appropriately. it shouldn’t just Fall Off when you touch it. there are Protocols! STOP THE SPREAD. also, someone wanna tell me why none of these alphas can keep their claws in? A lil flashy flashy red eye would’ve done the trick just fine.

Okay no, seriously what the FUCK is up with these contacts, you guys? THEY”RE MASSIVE???

Ugh, can I just *swoons* “I’m an Alpha!” slice “So am I.” That is just so fucking smooth. Woo. I feel so safe ohmygod. PLUS. Derek KNOWS Ennis. I can’t imagine how satisfying that had to be.

Uh, Derek, honey. You’re Isaac’s legal guardian. You can just Sign Him Out of the hospital. With clothes and everything. What are you doing?

Honey, what do you mean the county took it over? If they were gonna do that they’d have done it six fucking years ago. Unless you gave it to them, it’s still yours? I did the research. Like HOURS of it.

What do you MEAN there’s a magic healing herb that helps with Alpha wounds? Since when do Alpha wounds need extra healing, I thought they just took a lil longer? ALSO why is it growing INSIDE your house???? SCOTT. Isaac is fucking UNCONSCIOUS. Can your tattoo fucking WAIT A MINUTE?

I have so many questions. WHY does Braeden know who Allison is? If Lydia’s immune to magic, WHY is Braeden able to bruise her? WHY can Braeden DO magic? and WHY is Chris allowed to take Lydia out of school?

ALLISON you had Geometry LAST YEAR why are you holding a GEOMETRY BOOK??

ohhhhmygod, Derek. Derek. DEREK. Your eyes are pretty on a normal day. That little Blink and ruby reds thing? Ohmygod. I just. I wanna take a picture and just stare at it BUT. how tf does this whole red eye thing work? You can see in the dark....but now you also have x-ray vision? You know, I could believe it was thermal vision...maybe? If Scott was still healing for some reason maybe the tattoo would be brighter? Otherwise I have no idea what is going on.

BUT SCOTT”S NOT 18??? He’s Still fucking 16, or even 17, but not 18. WTF? He needs parental consent in the first place (i should’ve mentioned this in the other note abt the tattoo)

uhh...seriously? When someone breaks up with you and tells you not to talk to them anymore...why do you need a reward for doing as they asked? Like, yeah, you’re sad, I feel that. But making it a ‘reward’ sounds kinda weird. You know what makes it really easy not to text the ex that doesn’t wanna talk to you? Delete her number.

WHY THE BLOWTORCH? SOMEONE WANNA EXPLAIN? Peter’s not covered in tattoo from when he was literally burned alive, why the FUCK would a blowtorch create a black tattoo on Scott’s skin?

DEREK. HONEY. Why would Stiles be able to hold Scott still??? Scott’s a werewolf.

All this bullshit to explain away Posey’s tattoo that he got. Like, damn dude, we all like tattoos, but you have a job that needs bare arms on the regular. That was kinda rude.

Where did braeden get clothes? I forgot to ask.

uhhhh. Ephemeral might technically work in that sentence, but that’s still really awkward.

WHY THE FUCK DID YOU DESTROY HIS DOOR? YOU FUCKING ASSHAT. And WHY the instant fucking grr face? “why’d you paint the door?” uhh, leave him alone? He can do what he wants? It’s his house? Also, don’t get all fucking rude about the alpha pack. He told you it was a rival pack.

KALI. PUT SOME FUCKING SHOES ON. JESUS.

Why exactly does Scott see the symbol and INSTANTLY put together that it’s got anything to do with the Alphas or the animal attacks? Where is the logic jump there?

What exactly was the POINT of popping your claws if you were gonna kick her in the face???

UH, Melissa? Why didn’t you tell Scott that there was a whole other person with Isaac?

What is with the face touching, Duke? I’ve never known a blind person who actually wanted to rub their hands on my face to ‘find out what i look like?’

Really not a fan of all these weird jumps and camera angles with the awkward reflecting.

WOah WOah. Allison gets to PAINT her APARTMENT? Wtf kinda BULlshit is that? My landlord won’t let me do that. Rude.

I know they’re imprisoned and it sucks, but they’ve been there for four months, they had to have gotten bored. Do you think they broke into any of the security deposit boxes to see if anything was left behind?

Last thoughts: They really went for it with this episode. I have plans to change a lot of it. Hopefully I can mesh the changes with the general plotline.

#personal #TeenWolf-Rewatch #anti-scott mccall #for safety reasons

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jeremys-blogs · 4 years

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Aravos: A Better Sauron?

If a show is going to be given praise like "the next Avatar", then it's safe to say that it's got some lofty expectations to live up to. Thankfully, Netflix's Dragon Prince has thus far managed to impress with it's three seasons. Is it indeed as good as the epic Nickelodeon show? It's hard to say, but I am certainly enjoying what I've seen of it, and with rumours of further seasons coming I'm definitely looking forward to more of its world and, more importantly, its characters. And characters are exactly what I want to discuss here today. Or, to be more specific, one character in particular. Aravos, an Elf who, despite only making his appearance from the second season onwards, has slowly worked his way to becoming pretty much the main antagonist of the entire show. While not being much in terms of a physical presence, he has nevertheless made a massive impact on the events of the story, having served as a man-behind-the-man to the show's initial villain, Viren. And given how the show's third season ended, it's pretty clear that the creators of this wonderful story have a lot planned for this guy, so only time will tell exactly what we'll be seeing from him in future.

But as I was re-watching some episodes of the show, something occurred to me. Aravos, and the way he acts and makes his plans happen, are a perfect representation of how I always imagined the character of Sauron from Lord of the Rings to be. Now, a little context. In the years leading up to the famed LOTR trilogy by Peter Jackson, there was a wave of revived Tolkien appreciation here in the UK, and I, who was just about twelve at the time, was encouraged to seek out and read the original book trilogy. So I found them, read them in a couple of weeks, and absolutely feel in love with Tolkien's works, followed by me reading and loving any other Tolkien books I could find. When the films came out, I was as hyped as you could imagine, eager to see all of these characters I had come to adore so much. And like so many others, I felt that Jackson didn't disappoint. The films, to this day, remain some of my all-time favourites, and a rightly-regarded high point in the history of cinema. However, despite that praise, there was one point about the film that, to this day, I've never been entirely satisfied, and that was the portrayal of the story's main antagonist, the Dark Lord Sauron.

Now, don't take this to mean that I think that Jackson gave us a bad interpretation of this baddie, because that's far from the truth. After all, these films do a great job of selling us on the idea that terrible things will happen if this guy wins the day, and that look of his, both his awesome armour and the now-iconic fiery eye are now etched into pop culture forever for good reason. In terms of making a terrifying far-away evil overlord, Jackson and his team did a fantastic job. However, as someone who was virtually marinated in Tolkien stories by the time the movies came out, I couldn't help but be disappointed at seeing that they'd rather under-selled what was, to me, the most interesting aspects of his character. Namely, that this wasn't just someone who wielded great power and was an intimidating presence, but that he was also someone who possessed great cunning, intelligence and a terrifying ability to coerce people into doing bad things. He wasn't just a conqueror, he was a schemer, a tempter, a being who understood people and what they desired, offering them exactly what they wanted or what they wanted to hear in order to ultimately benefit himself above all. And while Jackson's interpretation was good, those aforementioned qualities never really stood out in the films.

Now, I realise that comparing a relative newcomer to fiction like Aravos to a famous literary villain like Sauron is no easy thing, and it's made all the harder when you consider that there's actually very little we know about the former so far. But what we have learned about him is quite telling. First and foremost, he is imprisoned for the entirety of Dragon Prince thus far, and is only able to interact with others either through a magic mirror or through ghostly images of himself. Where his prison is, we don't know, only that he was put there hundreds of years ago by Avizandum, the late King of the dragons. As for his crimes, again that's unknown, but the show has hinted that he might have some connection to humanity's first acquisition and practice of dark magic. And if that's true then it's especially damning as it was an act which ultimately led the Elves to see humans as dangerous, and was the inciting incident that caused the two races to be at odds with one another. He's also known to have little love for his own kind, as he not only helps humans to war against them, but in the few instances we've seen Elves become aware of him, they have been utterly terrified of him.

At this point, anyone who has ever gone deep into Tolkien's writings will likely know exactly where I'm going with this, as this admittedly-incomplete picture of Aravos is starting to sound remarkably similar to the official backstory of Sauron. He too was a being of great power whose actions led to him falling out of favour with a higher power, and he too has been reduced to a situation where he can no longer interact with others, having to rely on agents and underlings to see his will enacted. They both have a historic conflict with Elves and, both in the past and the present, have a career in manipulating humankind to go down dark and self-destructive paths. Granted, the details will certainly differ, but in the broad strokes their backstories are close to identical. Now, this is all with the understanding that Dragon Prince hasn't actually finished yet. There are still many questions surrounding Aravos and his motivations, so it's entirely possible that, when more light gets shed on him, all of this will be completely wrong on my part. But as things stand right now, with us knowing what we do, there can be no denying that both he and Sauron have a lot in common.

However, while they may have similarities, they are incredibly different in their execution, as my earlier words probably gave away. Sauron, and not just in Jackson's adaptations but in virtually all on-screen versions of him, has had a lot of his more manipulative tendencies tones down. Now, in all fairness, those traits were never at the forefront of his character at the time of the LOTR books, but even so, a massive reason why he has as many followers as he does is because of his role as a deceiver. We can of course assume here that he's lying and tricking people off-screen, but as in all things it's always better to show and not tell. We're told that he's out there doing bad things, but that will never be as effective as witnessing him doing it with our own eyes. However, by contrast, Aravos is very much doing his thing while we're seeing him. Every piece of advice or subtle nudge in this or that direction is something we're witnessing first-hand, and since these manipulations are something that has, as of the latest episodes, managed to effectively grant him an entire army to wreak havoc with, I'd say he's as good at his job as Sauron supposedly was. So, if nothing else, we at least now Aravos has successfully managed to be a more prominent presence in his respective fantasy story.

Once again, I must clarify that I do not feel that Jackson and the other people behind the LOTR films did a bad job of recreating what Sauron was said to be in the books. They set out to create an iconic and intimidating fantasy overlord and by God they made one. Their films have stood the test of time and are rightly remembered by millions across the world. But if I'm going to be bare-my-soul honest about this, when I look back, I was genuinely expecting this world-ending foe to be more of a presence, more of a direct hand in the events than he ultimately was. He's still a good villain, even a great one, but to this day I still hope to one day see a version of Sauron that's what I thought I'd get after I read the books all those years ago. And Aravos, to be perfectly blunt, is pretty much exactly what I was hoping for in terms of that type of enemy for our heroes to face. Dragon Prince, much like Avatar before it, has done wonderfully in creating a remarkable cast of characters, good and bad alike, and Aravos is certainly top tier when it comes to the latter category. Where they ultimately go with him and the story as a whole is anyone's guess, but for this moment I am thoroughly looking forward to seeing more of this mysterious shoulder-devil of an Elf.

#essay #writing #my stuff #netflix #the dragon prince #lotr #aravos #sauron #lord of the rings #tolkien

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ikesenlemonadestandstories · 4 years

Text

Level 5

How’s it hanging HoneyBees! Did you enjoy the shorts? I hope you had as much fun reading them as I did writing them! I’m back from my break and back on that grind so here’s to the New Year!

Tagging: @loudartanimeeclipse

Master List here or search the tag Ikesen AFK

Warnings: None

Happy Reading, T~

Level 5

The moment the music changed, and you got the directive to start, you advanced your character towards the base. It wasn’t a hard task; Sasuke had been correct that your movement stat was desirable to quickly get across a battlefield. So you did what you could, taking down baddie after baddie until you reached Art.

“Art, I’m on your left flank.” You notified him through the com system.

“Much obliged Wild. I’ll do what I can to cover you from a distance.” He spoke, and you watched in awe as he took down the barrier for the beast to his left. Creating the perfect opening for you.

Quickly you re-equipped and took a swing with your new lance, earning yourself a critical hit. Happily dealing 81 damage, three times more than intended, to take out the remaining health bar on the bird that had been threatening to attack the base.

“Nice kill.” You received a compliment from Art over the mic.

“Would you look at that. Wild took the first kill from War.” Tiger mused.

“She’s clearly less useless than the rest of you.” War sounded a little agitated, but he couldn’t completely hide the compliment from you either.

“I do what I can.” You snickered. “That mean I can stay?”

“Fine,” War spoke. “the rest of you better show your worth as well.”

“Too serious, you’re too serious,” Yuki spoke up following the comment.

The rest of the battle went by swimmingly. The group of you quickly out-maneuvering the beasts that flooded the field. The fight had been enlightening, Sasuke had some crazy sticky fingers. Managing to get into every chest and steal at least one item from every beast he encountered. Yuki had a vast range, and his lance skills, coupled with his high resistance, made him hard to take down. Rose’s faith magic was all-encompassing, able to heal up to half the field at the same time while still being able to deal damage with the few reason spells she knew.

War was an absolute nightmare, and you sincerely hoped you never had to fight one on one with the man, his high magic stat and might skill coupled with his already absurd sword abilities were a terrifying combination that made him nearly untouchable. Destroying everything before it even got a chance to land a hit. Tiger was so incredibly slow, but when he did catch something, or something was dumb enough to put itself in his attack range, it was basically done for. With the highest defensive stat you’d ever laid eyes on and the sheer power he put behind the swing of his ax if you weren’t a mage, you had zero chance of taking him down.

Art was incredibly masterful in his craft, his reason range nearly double that of most mages you had gotten to know over the past week. You found yourself wondering if it had to do with his level. Then again he had some of the weirdest magic you have ever seen, that coupled with high resistance to any outside magic and an abysmal defense stat, the man was a literal glass cannon. Though that did mean he needed more protection from physical attacks. That’s okay, that’s where you came in! Exceeding in dexterity and speed, you were nearly untouchable and, with the right weapon equipped, almost always got a double hit. A deadly combination if you did say so yourself.

With the mission having been completed, the group of you warped back to town to split the earnings and divvy up the rewards earned through battle. This was where having a team came in handy, lord knew you weren’t going to use that ‘Class A battle-ax’ you had picked up after defeating that random bird monster.

“Nice job today, everyone. I’d say we made a killing. We were rewarded 15200Q to split amongst the group of us. I’ve allotted each of you 14700 with the remaining 500 being awarded to Wild who took MVP in the battle.” Sasuke spoke uninterrupted, for once, into the microphone.

“Congrats (YN), you did awesome!” Rose exclaimed through the com system.

“Way to go, numskull,” Yuki spoke up behind her.

“Ah, so Wild’s name is (YN). Quite fitting for our warrior goddess.” It wasn’t until Tiger spoke up that you had realized what Yukimura was yelling at Rose for.

She had accidentally given everyone your name.

“Does this mean we all have to introduce ourselves?” Art asked.

“You all know who I am,” Sasuke stated blatantly.

“Thanks for being helpful, Sasuke,” Yukimura replied, even more exasperated. “If anything, I’d say Rose has to tell us her name, but she already did that.”

“I was actually sort of wondering if you all knew that was her name already or if it was just called her that by chance.” You asked, not particularly perturbed that they had your name. A name was a name, it’s not like they knew your face or could identify you in person.

“Kenshin,” War spoke over the noise.

“I guess we’re doing this? I’m Yoshimoto, it’s been a pleasure fighting with most of you thus far.” You could hear the formality in his voice trying to mask his exasperation, and you tried not to giggle.

“I go by Shingen,” Tiger spoke up, following Yoshimoto’s intro.

“You all know who I am, but just in case, it’s me, Yukimura.” That introduction you laughed at. “What’s so funny!?”

“Did Rose out your name too? Or did you all know each other beforehand?” You asked through tiny gaps, trying to control your laughter.

“No! I did not!” Rose spoke up, the pout evident in her voice. “This was the first time I’ve given away anyone’s name besides my own.”

“I wish I could make fun of her for that.” Yukimura quipped, “I went to school with Shingen and Yoshi’s his cousin.”

“Yea, Yuki and I go way back,” Shingen said, clearly proud of their friendship.

“Kenshin’s pretty well known on this and a few other gaming servers. Sasuke sort of got paired with him by chance in another game, and they’ve been grouping off ever since.” Yukimura explained how the other two knew each other.

“The three of us were already playing together when Sasuke asked if he and a friend could join,” Yoshimoto explained. “Shortly after, Rose joined the group. While we knew she was a friend of both Sasuke and Yukimura, we weren’t sure exactly how they knew each one another.”

“Neither of them is particularly great with females, so we were curious to see what sort of girl our darling Rose was.” Shingen snickered as he simultaneously made fun of the boys and complemented Rose. “Thankfully, she’s a top-notch healer.”

“You’re quite the addition to this team as well (YN),” Sasuke spoke after listening to everything that was being said.

“We are well rounded.” Kenshin agreed, albeit begrudgingly. “It’s not awful.”

“Ah, see. Even Kenshin likes her.” Shingen spoke up, right as a window jumped into view on your screen.

*Fine_as_Art1156 has invited you to join his party. Will you join?*

Without a second thought, you hit accept, a smile on your face as the words “Welcome to team Kasugayama” appeared in bold across your television.

#Ikesen #ikemen sengoku #ikesen afk #ikesen modern au #ikesen reader insert #ikesen gamer au #ikesen long fic #my story

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maevefiction · 5 years

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Your Light in the Mist - Chapter 42

We left the Gold Coast on February 13th, returned home for two days, then were off again…first to Berlin for a screening of ‘The Night Manager’ with a Q & A session, then on to Vietnam, where shooting began the day after we arrived. The entire experience there was life-altering, in a way. The people, who were so kind, generous, and welcoming, and the locations, some of which had never before been filmed, were majestic and evocative of a land time had, to our benefit, forgotten…but most of all, the opportunity to immerse myself in a culture I had little knowledge of was humbling, and miraculous, and I made every effort to be out and about with every spare moment I had. When production wrapped in mid-March, Jordan announced that he was planning on relocating to the area, and I found myself just the tiniest bit jealous. There was such a sense of peace there, despite such a tumultuous upheaval in the not so distant past…a testament to the human spirit, our ability to keep pressing onward, to continue to live, and even thrive. A lesson in perspective, I suppose.

Tom was due in Los Angeles on March 20th for a photoshoot, so we opted to go directly there instead of heading home to London and then back out again. The 21st was booked with interviews, which would be followed by the official ‘I Saw the Light’ premiere on the 22nd. This was the first time I’d be walking a red carpet with him, other than the brief appearance at the Cube. Though Tom normally preferred the Beverly Hills Hotel, we were staying at the Loews Hollywood due to its proximity to the Egyptian, where the screening would be held, and Sadie’s Kitchen, the venue chosen for the after party. Our room was on the 15th floor, modern décor in shades of grey, white and burgundy, with a view of the Hollywood sign…currently packed with a team of stylists, garment bags and rolling racks making me feel like a sardine in a tin. Granted, a very lovely tin, but a tin nonetheless. Tom was almost ready to go, his bright blue suit complementing his eyes perfectly, black necktie offering a bold contrast to his white dress shirt. I was still in my skivvies, one of the gals taping me into my strapless bra ‘just in case’. Despite the opportunity it created for an epic wardrobe malfunction, I was totally in love with my gown. It was strapless with a sweetheart neckline, gradient purple, near black at the top, fading to pale lilac midway down in the front and plum in the back. The skirt was floor length and full, and both a portion of it and nearly the entire bodice were decorated with silver vines and leaves, cascading downward like a waterfall. I’d opted for dark purple heels, on the thick side because I figured there was less of a risk of tripping in front of the press line that way. Around my neck was my tourmaline necklace, and my hair had been pinned up in a loose bun. As I pondered what food choices awaited me at Sadie’s, the gal announced that my tits were secure and I was instructed to step carefully into the gown, zipped up, and released into the wild to fend for myself. Tom’s hands descended upon my shoulders as I inspected the contents of my clutch one final time, making sure I had a room key, my cell phone, tissues and a Snickers bar.

“You look gorgeous, as always.”

I turned my head to meet his gaze. “You don’t look half bad yourself.” He grinned, releasing me, and I spun around to get a better look at him. “Mmm. That is a nifty suit. To the left…to the right…where will…aha, LEFT. What’s that, eight out of ten or something?”

“I didn’t realize we were collecting data. Will the results be in the form of a bar graph or a pie chart?”

“A fifty page thesis, actually. Available for sale on Amazon. I figure we can fund our retirement with it.”

He laughed, interrupted by his phone chirping. “Car’s here. Let’s roll.”

“Walk. I’m going to walk. Probably. Rolling sounds like ‘a YouTube Star is Born’. But I suppose that could fund some shit too…”

We exited arm in arm, piled into the elevator with a bunch of other fancy people I didn’t know, then climbed into the black SUV waiting for us. It was still light out, the day bright and sunny. Our vehicle was sixth in line when we pulled up to the Egyptian Theater, and my jaw dropped at how old-school big-glam Hollywood it looked, the red carpet lining the courtyard, velvet ropes and press wherever I looked. It was far from my first rodeo, but it was the first time I’d be at such an event in the capacity of ‘movie star’s plus one’. A low whistle escaped my lips.

“Wow, so we’re like, really doing this. Surreal, Tom. Sur-REAL.”

He took my hand in his, pulling my attention away from what I could see outside the window. I smiled at the sight of the excitement written all over his face. “It is that, positively. And I’m…I’m…well, I’m like a live wire, Maude. Crackling and vibrating and super charged with energy because I’m not walking this one alone, you’re going to be right by my side and…” He let go of my hand, flinging both his up in the air and waving them around jazz-style as he grinned. “I. AM. UNCONTROLLABLY EXCITED!”

I leaned in to kiss his cheek, quickly wiping the lipstick I left behind away with one of my tissues. “My god you are just too cute. Does this car have a sick bag? Because the cute is going to make me barf, for sure.” I mock-gagged.

He continued to grin like a fool as he pointed to the window behind me. “We’re up! It’s time! Let’s go, my lady. LET’S GO!”

Before I could ask for a moment to get my shit together, he was out of the car, the roar of waiting fans greeting him as he ran around to my side and opened the door for me. I took his proffered hand and stepped out into the daylight, the roars growing louder, our names being shouted above the din by press and onlookers alike. As we made our way down to the entrance, Tom stopped to sign and take selfies as long as time would allow, and then it was time for us to strike a pose. The flashes were the worst part, a ceaseless strobing that made it very difficult to focus, but mid-way through my eyes and brain seemed to adjust and I found myself having a really good fucking time mugging for the cameras with the man of the evening. The interviews were a blast, Tom taking the lead and doing most of the talking, pulling me in here and there when it was someone he’d interacted with on previous occasions or mentioned my name. We were like a comedy improv team that sang on command, and by the time we made it into the actual screening I was totally high on fun. Not exactly the right vibe for such a serious, angsty, sad movie, but in the end I was grateful I went into it with a boost because the ended pregnancy talk scene was difficult to watch even though it was the second time around. There I sat, holding back tears with Tom’s hand in mine, shaking, and me rubbing his wrist with my thumb. As soon as the credits rolled we were ushered quickly to the car, and then it was off to Sadie’s. I was a very intimate setting, the décor an eclectic mix of woods, stones, metals and glass. The food was a bit too micro for my taste, and there were moments when I seriously considered grabbing an entire tray of hor d'oeuvres and making a break for the coatroom. Tom had been indulging in champagne all evening, and Rodney’s band was in the house, so I knew that it wouldn’t be long until an impromptu jam session occurred. I’d avoided going to the bathroom since we left the hotel, and the three sodas I’d guzzled made it impossible to postpone any longer. I kissed Tom on the cheek, leaving him with the drummer whose name I’d been given but could absolutely not recall and headed for the rest room. Fitting into the stall was the first hurdle, turning around was the second, and it actually got more and more complicated every step of the way until my hands were full of fabric and my ass was on the chilly seat. Figuring out how to wipe was the Rubik’s cube of the process, and I stared at the toilet paper dispenser for an untold amount of minutes. I heard the band begin to play Move It On Over, heard them finish, then start up with Long Gone Lonesome Blues. Tom’s yodeling snapped me out of my stupor and I bunched all the fabric in the crook of one arm, tore off the necessary quantity of sheets with my free hand and took care of business like a boss. As I thanked the gods for auto-flush, I unlocked the stall, dropped the fabric back in place and propelled myself outward…right into Lizzie, who was wearing a far more practical dress that wasn’t all floaty and poufy and just waiting for an accident to happen. She grinned.

“So? Enjoying the party? Or did you come in here to hide like, you know, I DID?”

I laughed. “So far, so good. Nice to know it’s not just me who seeks refuge in bathrooms, though. But this time it’s a legit visit. Which was terrifying.”

“Maude, there are more dresses in my closet that I wound up buying because they were unfit to return then I care to count. Wine, toothpaste, hair gel, lipstick, chocolate, things I don’t even know what they are and probably don’t want to…and lemme tell ya, I know all the best bathrooms for hiding in SO many cities all around the world. The private ones with really loud fans are just…” She sighed. “Perfection.”

Washing my hands, I nodded. “Oh yeah. Peace and quiet. If they only came with a Do Not Disturb sign…”

“Oh my GOD, there’s a bathroom in a restaurant in Toronto, I can’t remember the name but I know where it is, I can see it…damn…anyway, they HAVE that.”

“No they do not.”

She nodded, walking to the stall furthest from the door. “Yes they do! Best twenty minutes of my night a few years back.” Turning, she waved. “Okay, I’m goin’ in. If anyone’s looking for me…”

“I have no idea where you are.”

She blew me a kiss. “Bless you.”

As I re-entered the chaos, I was hit with an extra-loud, slightly slurred version of Hey Good Lookin’, and I couldn’t wait to round the corner and see Tom in action. And take a video. Which I’d totally post on Tumblr because surely it was something the entire world needed to see. The band had set up on one side of the dining area, which had been cleared of tables, and they were surrounded by cast and crew, some standing and clapping, others dancing. Tom was easy to spot, and as I worked my way through the crowd, I noticed that there was a woman hanging on him, her arm resting on his shoulder as she shimmied to the beat. She was waiflike, incredibly thin and tall, taller than Tom, even, in her white stilettos, her white mini dress so short I didn’t think it would be possible for her to sit down without putting on one hell of a show. There were triangular cut-outs at the waist, and her platinum blonde hair hung halfway down her back. Her eyes were huge, greenish-grey, and beautiful, the stand out component of her heart-shaped face with its perfect Cupid’s bow mouth. I’d never seen her before and had never asked him to point her out in the film, though I now recognized her from it, and as I registered that it was the woman he was terrified of running into, and that we’d forgotten the possibility of her being there, or at least I had, my heart began to pound in my chest. Claudia. Right there, in front of me, rubbing up against my fiancé.

As the song ended everyone cheered, and she placed her hands on either side of Tom’s head, turned his face towards hers, then kissed him squarely on the lips in far too intimate a fashion and for entirely too long. I heard a few gasps, but they were eclipsed by the roaring of my heartbeat in my ears, and I fought the urge to scream as I watched him gently push her away. He turned back toward the crowd, stone-faced, and when his mask slipped almost imperceptibly I knew he’d spotted me. I wanted to run, flee the scene, disappear into the night but this was a party full of his co-workers, part of the promo, and doing so would certainly hit the gossip rags in a flash and had the potential to damage the success of the film and so I stood, and I faked a smile as he walked toward me with the woman who possessed a cache of sex tapes starring them both at his side. Once they were two feet away, she opened her clutch and pulled out what I knew to be a hotel room key, as it bore the same logo as the one in my own. Her voice was a much higher pitch than mine, volume just loud enough for both Tom and I to hear when she spoke, pressing the plastic rectangle into his hand.

“Here’s my key. Panorama suite two. I’ll see you shortly.” She turned to me, smirking, then back to him, gesturing in my direction with her thumb. “You can bring her too, if you want, even though she’s not exactly my type. That giant cock of yours more than makes up for it.”

She grinned widely at me, then walked across the room, hair swaying back and forth as she rolled her hips, finally vanishing around the corner and into the hall that led to the exit after what seemed like forever. I heard Tom say my name, and I looked up, but I stared at the knot in his tie because I couldn’t look him in the eye. He took my hand in his, which I permitted, and after his first ‘good night’ it dawned on me that one, I should do the same because two, apparently he’d decided it was time to get the fuck out of there. As soon as we rounded the same corner Claudia had minutes earlier, I pulled my hand from his. Neither of us spoke then, and when he began to do so in the car, I silenced him with a terse ‘not now’.

The ban continued as we entered the hotel, and throughout the elevator ride. Once the room door was closed and locked behind us, I held up both hands, palms toward him.

“Tom. I’m going into the bathroom. I’m going to take this dress off. I’m going to take a shower. I’m going to try and calm down and return to some sort of quasi-rational version of myself. You are going to stay out here.” I could feel the rage bubbling up, words I shouldn’t say spilling out of my mouth. “Unless, of course, you’re planning on joining Claudia, which, FYI, I am NOT.” I took a deep breath. “I’m sorry for that. That’s exactly what I’m trying to avoid. I’ll be out when I’m ready.”

Once safely tucked away, I focused on each individual detail of every task. Zipper down. Dress off. Hang up the dress. Tape off. Bra off. Underwear off. Water on. Test water. Step into shower. By the time I’d dried off, I once again understood that the man on the other side of the door loved me, and that I loved him, and trusted him, and that we needed to discuss what had happened because there was a side to this story I’d yet to hear, and doing or saying or thinking anything without having that knowledge would be unreasonable. And wrong.

He was sitting on the floor, jacket and tie off, shirt unbuttoned ,back leaning up against the bottom of the bed with his knees up and his head in his hands. Hearing me pad across the carpet, he looked up at me, his forlorn expression shifting briefly to one of desire, which baffled me until I realized I was naked. Knowing that he wanted me in the midst of all this was strangely comforting, and empowering. I pulled a robe out of the top dresser drawer, wrapping it around myself as I walked to the bed and sat down, his body to the left of my own. His gaze was cast downward again, and I reached out and began rubbing the back of his neck, speaking softly.

“Will you sit with me and tell me what happened?”

He nodded, rising quickly and joining me on the mattress. His eyes met mine, and he inhaled deeply.

“I had no idea she’d be attending. I didn’t even think to ask. If I’m honest, I hadn’t given her a single thought in months, not until we watched the movie here, and even then the possibility of her turning up didn’t even cross my mind for more than a few seconds…and I pushed it away as me being paranoid. As soon as I started in on Hey Good Lookin’ I felt someone to my left, which wasn’t out of the ordinary as people had been all around me since we began playing, but the someone was incredibly close, and at first I thought you’d snuck up on me and were going to join in, but when I turned to look it was…her. And there I was, in the middle of a song, in front of everyone, and I wanted to stop and get away from her but…”

It was my turn to nod. “In front of everyone. I know that feel.”

He shook his head. “I told myself to remain professional, to keep going, and I thought if I pretended that we were filming I’d be fine. Then she…she…she kissed me in front of everyone, and I just couldn’t believe it and she just kept going and I wanted to shove her off me but that would have looked…and so I did it as normally as I could and the whole time I was hoping you were still in the bathroom but then I saw you…” He paused. “And when I started toward you she came WITH me and then the keycard and what she said…then watching you keep yourself together when I knew you were…I’m sorry. So, so sorry. If that kiss makes it online…my god. I’m sorry.”

His head was in his hands again, shoulders shaking as he wept, and I recognized that this experience had been so deeply traumatic for him that he didn’t quite realize it yet, his unconsciously focusing outwardly serving as diversion. I wrapped my arms around him and held him to my chest, stroking his hair until he quieted enough to listen. When he was able to look me in the eye again, I began to speak.

“Thank you for explaining. That’s essentially what I thought had happened, and, I’m very sorry it happened to you.” His left brow rose. “What she did was so completely inappropriate…I mean, that’s not really surprising, but…yeah. Is it okay if I go through my thought process here?”

He half-smiled. “Yes.”

“Obviously, there’s a component of jealousy. That hit me first. This beautiful woman that’s been intimate with you kissed you right in front of me, and you look amazing together, and she’s tall and blonde and skinny…and the way she presented the keycard to you made it seem like you had an arrangement, a plan in place. Most of way back here all what was going through my mind was that you’d been secretly contacting her and set this all up. But, then I reminded myself exactly who, and what, she was to you, and the jealousy turned primarily to anger, directed at her, but there was still enough jealousy left to generate some serious nastiness on my part directed at YOU. And, like I said before, I wanted to avoid that because it was likely baseless and unwarranted, the jealousy. So I showered, and I listened, and DAMN that anger is way worse now and you should probably keep that room key far the fuck away from me…” I took a deep breath. “Sheese. Again, I’m very sorry this happened to you. However you want to handle it, I’m here to help. Whatever you need, okay?”

He reached out to touch my face, letting his fingertips drag across my jaw and down my neck before grasping my hand.

“I wasn’t even thinking of anything happening to me. I was afraid of what you’d think, and…”

I entwined my fingers with his. “I know. And I appreciate that. We’ve been through some shit, my dude, and I’m a runner. Or, I was. Now…you’re more important than my internal bullshit struggles.”

A smile lit up his face, but it faded quickly, replaced with fear, then sorrow, then anger over the next several silent minutes as he stared at me.

“Maude, all I know in this moment is that I’m finished being afraid of her. I remembered what you said back in New Orleans, our options, and…well, it’s time, I think, for her to know that what she views as having the upper hand…isn’t. Not anymore.” He ran one hand through his hair. “So. I’m going up there, and I’m going to deal with this for once, and for all. Unless you think it’s utter madness to do such a thing.”

My mouth dropped open as my brow rose. “Oh, it’s madness, alright. But I like it. Hmm…”

He laughed, then poked my collarbone softly with his finger. “Ah, a plan is afoot, is it?”

“No. A plan is a plan. Not a foot.” He groaned and covered his eyes briefly, gaze returning to meet mine as I continued. “Okay. Several things to consider here. Ideally, you’d do this alone. Are you comfortable with that?”

“Well, yes and no. Going in, absolutely. But when I visualize reaction scenarios, I am concerned that a situation might arise that would result in an unfavorable outcome.”

I snorted. “Yeah, as in her recording the entire exchange and then heavily editing it to paint you in a…a…let’s go with ‘negative light’.” He nodded. “The hotel security feed would take care of pinpointing when you entered and when you left, but everything in between is up for grabs, and that’s not acceptable. Having a witness seems warranted, but who’s the witness? Am I the witness? Does my bias preclude me from being reliable in reporting the truth?”

Tom nodded again. “Likely, yes. But you’re the only witness available who’s privy to all the details of the history involved, and I wouldn’t trust anyone else to maintain any sort of confidentiality.”

This was something I had zero desire to participate in, for a multitude of reasons. It was pre-Maude, and in that aspect, none of my damn business. But since Claudia’s future actions could significantly impact my life, even if said impact was short-lived, that made it potentially my damn business. Then there was what I knew…what she’d done with him, and, far worse, what she’d done TO him. Unsettling at best, rage inducing at worst…in other words, I’d be walking into a situation wherein keeping myself in check was questionable, but of the utmost importance. And there it was, another lightbulb moment in the life and times of Maude Gallagher-soon-to-be-Hiddleston. I chuckled, and he stared at me, confused, head tilted to the side as he attempted to discern what was amusing.

I patted his knee. “I’m just laughing at my own stupidity, because I totally forgot that I’m a member of your PR team and thus have a rather valid reason to accompany you since part of the discussion will include…PR. And it ALSO gives me a reason to behave myself. Total coup, right?”

His arms wrapped around me, kissing first one cheek, then the other. “Oh, yes. Check mate.”

“No, that’s just the check. The checkmate is me recording the whole exchange on my phone, which will be tucked in my bra. Or somewhere.”

He pulled back, eyes wide. “Isn’t this a two party state? I recall you mentioning that…”

“Yeah. It is. But that won’t stop me from leaking it if the need arises. You know, someone could steal my phone at any given moment. It’s totally possible. I’m forgetful. I leave things behind ALL THE TIME…”

“Maude, you are deliciously fiendish. And I love you so.”

“Aw, thank you, baby. And I’m a total hypocrite, because I just admitted to being willing to do what I believe she shouldn’t. Anyway…criminal prosecution for this sort of thing is very rare. She could sue, of course. But I don’t think I care. Do you care?”

“I do not.”

“Cool. Hopefully we’ll never need to use it.” I rose, both hands finger-gunning in his direction. “Let’s do this.”

He stood, tugging at the fabric of my robe. “Should you dress first, do you think?”

I glanced down at myself. “Oh. Right. This is not one of my ‘don’t fuck with me’ ensembles.”

Snorting, he began re-buttoning his shirt. “Quite the opposite, actually.”

“Thomas. I’m struggling to keep a firm grasp on my professionalism. Cease.”

“Firm grasp, you say?”

I pretended to not hear him and searched my travel wardrobe for something that would work, in the end opting for black leggings, a fluffy, grey, oversize turtleneck sweater and my Birkenstock boots. As I caught sight of myself in the mirror on the way out the door, I decided my choices were just the right mix of business and badassery…but a V-neck would have made hiding the phone a whole lot fucking simpler.

****************************************

There we stood, outside Panorama suite number two, me turned away from the door with my shirt lifted and bra on full display as I wedged my phone into it and hit record. Tom and I exchanged a few words, and then it was Titty Time again. I was relieved to hear the playback was nice and clear and began another session, putting a finger to my lips to let Tom know we were on the record, so to speak. He knocked loudly, then even louder when there was no immediate answer. When he paused, a clicking that could only be high heels on tile was audible, its increasing volume indicating the wearer was travelling in our direction. The door swung inward to reveal Claudia, now clad in white lingerie, a lacy bra, bikini panties, garters and filmy white stockings, all paired with the same white stilettos she’d worn to the party. She placed one hand on her hip, smirking widely.

“Well, well, well. Hello, Tom. I expected you to turn up, but not…” A thumb with a fuchsia fingernail jerked in my direction. “…her. Not exactly a pleasant surprise, but, whatever. Come on in. I’ve gotten off with my vibe three times already but I’m still SO fucking horny. Just one kiss from you, that’s all it takes…mmmm…”

Tom held up a hand, palm towards her. “Stop, Claudia. Right now. Control yourself until we’re behind closed doors, for god’s sake.”

She bit her lip. “Oh my, someone’s feeling forceful. Must be my lucky day!”

We walked in past her, and she followed after closing the door and engaging the slide-bolt lock, stopping in front of the not-so-mini mini bar to face us.

“Anyone else want a cocktail before cock?” Neither Tom nor I replied. “Well I do. I need one. Who wears a turtleneck to a threesome? Christ.”

Tom’s jaw clenched, then released as he spoke. “I’m afraid you’ve misinterpreted the reason for this visit, Claudia. Hint, it’s not for a threesome. I’m only here to have a conversation with you, one we should have had quite some time ago. Maude’s presence is due to the fact that she’s a member of my PR team, and will serve as my advisor if necessary.”

She was stunned, silent, and the fingers she’d wrapped around a bottle of rum went white with the strength of her grip. When Tom noted it didn’t appear as if she’d reply, he continued.

“I’m not going to waste my time re-hashing the past, but I will say this…I made it abundantly clear that we were done when I discovered you were secretly filming our encounters. When I also made it clear that I didn’t love you, and pointed out that I’d never given you any reason to believe our relationship was anything more than purely sexual in nature, you threatened me. You threatened to provide a detailed account of our interactions to my family and friends, you threatened to publish all of the videos you’d made online, and you threatened to ruin my career and make my life a living hell.”

She’d done several double takes during his speech, looking at me, then back at him, then back at me, as if she couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact that I might be aware that something had transpired between them. She finally relinquished her hold on the rum bottle, lifting her hands in surrender. “Tom, that was…I was…I just said all that because I was angry. I didn’t mean it.”

He scoffed. “Really? You didn’t mean it? Yet you accepted a million dollar payout from me?”

“I thought we had a future, Tom. Together. The money was like…alimony.”

“I’m not even going to dignify that with a response, Claudia. What I want you to know is that from this day onward, you are to come nowhere near me. If for some reason we find ourselves at the same event or function, don’t approach me. Don’t speak to me. And most of all, don’t fucking TOUCH me. If you refuse to comply, I will not hesitate to file a restraining order against you.” He took two steps closer to her, his face now inches from hers. “Do you understand?”

She didn’t respond, and he repeated the question, his tone far harsher, volume ratcheting up five notches on the dial.

“DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”

Crossing her arms, she sneered at him. “You know, I still have all those videos...it would be such a shame if they went public and Maude found out what kind of person you really are…”

And there was my cue. I pulled Tom backwards and away from her, then stepped in front of him.

“Maude is acutely aware of the contents of ‘those videos’, Claudia.” Air quotes. I felt like an Office Space character for a second, and really, really wanted to tell her that if she would kindly fuck off and die that’d be great. “Opting to publish them is entirely your choice to make.”

Her laugh bordered on hysterical. “So you’re fine with ruining his career and making yourself a laughing stock? That’s cool. I’ll totally publish them then.”

I shrugged. “Be advised that there will be repercussions that will affect you personally and professionally if you choose to take such action.” She opened her mouth to speak, and I held up my hand to cut her off at the pass, my right index finger pointing up toward the ceiling. “First, since you’ll be violating the terms of the NDA you signed, a suit will be filed for breach of contract wherein we’ll be requesting both expectation and disgorgement damages. That means you’ll be on the hook for repayment of the one million dollars you received as a settlement, as well as any lost revenue Tom incurs as a result of the breach. Secondly, criminal charges will be filed under California’s Revenge Porn Law, which defines said revenge porn as the publication of nude photos or videos of a person one used to be intimate with, without their consent, with an intent to cause serious emotional distress. Each video that was filmed in the state of California would incur a penalty of a fine in the amount of $1000 and up to six months in jail…based upon Tom’s estimate as to video quantity, you’d be facing a prison sentence of up to ten years. Thirdly, and lastly, criminal charges and a civil suit will be filed for your violation of the Invasion of Privacy act. California is a ‘two party’ state when it comes to audio recordings of confidential communication in situations and locations wherein there’s a reasonable expectation of privacy. Audio that’s a component of a video is covered under this particular statute, and penalties include a fine of up to $2500 and a year in jail. Long story short, Claudia…do you want to wind up in jail? Because publishing those videos is how you wind up in jail.”

While I spoke, I’d witnessed her face first going pale, then gradually reddening until it reached a final almost-purple hue. She was shaking with rage, and I just stood there, certain she was going to attack me Dynasty lady-feud style. But she didn’t, pausing, instead to digest what I’d said as best she could and find a way around it. Her eyes, now more grey than green, narrowed as she spoke.

“My attorney will drag out your breach suit for years, and if you win, I’ll hide all my assets and file for bankruptcy and you won’t see a dime, ever. As for the rest, there’s no proof Tom never consented to filming. Same with that distress bullshit. My word against his. I’ll take those odds, and when I’m acquitted of all charges I’ll sue YOU guys for damages and take even MORE of Tom’s money.”

Raising my brow, I leaned in a little closer to her. “Tom saved all your texts and voicemails. Every. Single. One. They’re tucked away, safe and sound, on the very phone you sent them to.”

If Tom hadn’t been paying such close attention, the highball glass she picked up and threw would have hit me right in the face. He’d jerked both of us to the side, and the glass shattered when it hit the wall. With me in front of him, he propelled both of us toward the door at top speed, slid the bolt and pushed me out into the hallway, slamming the door behind him in the midst of the sound of more shattering glass and her screams of ‘get out, GET OUT’. We headed for the stairs, not wanting to wait for the elevator, rushed back to our room, entered and locked our own door, both of us unsure as to whether we were pleased, frightened, or a bit of both.

I reached up under my sweater to pull out the phone, hitting the stop button to end the recording. Tom placed his hands on my shoulders, eyes on mine.

“Are you all right?”

Nodding, I felt my mouth twist into a half smile. “That went better than I expected, honestly.” I stood on my toes and planted a kiss on his left cheek. “Thanks for rescuing me from death by assorted beverage containers. How do you feel?”

His eyes shifted down and to the side, then returned to my face. “Relieved. Like I’ve gotten some closure, and that I’m no longer at her mercy. The fear, the anxiety in regard to my past actions becoming public…that’s subsided significantly. But there’s trepidation present, resulting from her expression of violence towards you, which I’m not quite sure how to handle.”

I slipped my phone into his pocket as I wrapped my arms around his torso. “She just realized she’s powerless, and she was NOT happy about it. Probably best to let it go and hope she finds a new hobby. Or a good therapist. Or Jesus. Something.”

“Maude, if that would have hit you…”

“It didn’t, though. I’m fine, you’re fine, and…that was over the top, wasn’t it? Was she aiming for me? Or you? Or the wall? Wow, I’m kinda freaked out now.”

He pulled me to his chest, kissing the top of my head. “I’m sorry. I knew her behavior as I experienced it was abnormal, and I shouldn’t have involved you.”

I leaned back, reaching up to caress his cheek. “You realize I knew too based on your description of your experience, yes? I’m glad I went with you. She would have spun that visit in the worst way possible, Tom, if the opportunity presented itself. Now she can’t, and I’m glad for that. As for the rest…we have a plan in place if she releases the videos, and we’ll follow through with it. She knows now that you’re no longer afraid of that happening, and that you’ll fight back, and I’m thinking maybe that will take all the fun out of it for her.”

A heavy sigh escaped him. “I hope that’s the case, my love. Truly I do. And I’m not going to dwell on it, because allowing her to diminish our joy is akin to giving her precisely what she wants, and she’s stolen enough already. This shop’s doors are closed. Permanently.”

“That’s an excellent way to look at it, Mr. Eternal Optimist. The doors are closed and the shop’s in the rearview as we travel the road ahead of us into our future.”

He simply stared at me, a small smile upon his face, his eyes once again full of all those things that made me both weak in the knees and disgusted with my sappy-ass self all at once. I rolled my eyes.

“Man, you’ve gotta lay off that adorable shit. We’ve got three months to go until the wedding and when you look at me like that…I just want to say fuck it and go find a judge and do it, like, right now.” Next came the tears shining, ready to spill over. “No. Oh my god, not helping, Tom. NOT. HELPING.”

He laughed. “I’m not even sorry.”

“Color me thoroughly unsurprised.”

“I’d rather color your inner thighs with love bites.”

“That can be arranged.”

Less than an hour later, we were spooning, and I felt his breathing change as he slipped into sleep. I lay nestled against him, wide awake until near dawn, trying to force myself to stop thinking about Claudia. Her actions seemed, as I reviewed the evening’s events, to indicate she hadn’t quite…let go. Far from it, actually. I wondered what she actually wanted, after so much time had passed. Was it more money? Was it revenge? Was it still…Tom? Was it all three, perhaps? And then I found myself wondering how far someone who behaved as she had tonight was willing to go in order to get it. Whatever it was she wanted. And it shook me, so I sang our wedding song to myself in my head until I calmed down, finally dozing off reminding myself that things which were terribly frightening in the dead of night were often immediately vanquished as nonsense by the light of day.

#your light in the mist #chapter 42

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greatwhiteco-blog · 5 years

Text

day one.

First off, there is nothing here you haven’t read or heard a thousand times before. Whether it be in a self-help book, a podcast, or you’re grandmother’s life lessons. I have no business to be writing anything. My grammar even sucks. Buttttt I have a goal. Thank you Rachel Hollis. I have a goal to write and continue writing because life is messy.

I’ve tossed the idea around to write a book. Great idea right. No. I have no idea what to even write about unless it’s myself so I think journaling is a good start. There. This is a journal. A place to breath after my job drains all the compassion I have and my four year old throws a tantrum that I will most likely be able to vividly recall in 30 years. Refreshing and basically a place to dump the shit that I need to get out of my head.

So who am I and why would you ever care to read on? I am no one special. I have faced trials and tribulations the same as everyone else. My anxiety which sparks up too much likes to remind me I am different, unpredictable, and a lot of times unworthy. I fight with myself almost daily to get up and take a shower.

Wow. It’s terrifying to put this out there. To admit such things. Depression is no joke, my friend. Whether it’s seasonal depression or the kind that chases your every single thought - I hear you. I feel you. I completely understand you. Maybe you have hit the point where you can acknowledge this and are working on it. Yay girl! Self care is life and SO important unless you’re 13 and positivity isn’t cool. In that case, you have life to live and shouldn’t be on here anyways. Go learn what a sock bun is and get ya self some blue wet and wild then come chat.

Some people can function normally and not think about themselves every 30 seconds. Then there’s my kind of people. The ones who have such negative thoughts. Not a single thought either that you can stew on. It’s like pressing rewind on a VHS video tape in the early 90′s. Scenes from the film fly by on the screen. Little to nothing makes any sense and your brain can’t keep up with such high speeds of images to process what’s happening in the story. Oh and it’s rewinding. You aren’t looking to the future with your sidekick anxiety. No you are forever hashing out the details of events that have already happened. Over thinking and analyzing situations that have happened. Like there is not a damn thing you can do to alter the outcome. Done. Final. No more. Period. But here I am two years later stewing over a comment someone made to me, blaming me for their drug addiction.

Let’s chat on that. Let’s get this shit off my chest. Dump site, right? Drug addiction. What a fucking roller coaster. That’s moot point at this moment. The true point is two years later. That’s 25 months. 100 weeks. 740 days. I knew at the moment shit hit the fan that I wasn’t the one to blame. I didn’t force or cause anyone to make such piss poor decisions (resentment I still have. Could ya tell?). I knew, but I still blamed myself. Crazy, right? I still blamed myself for maybe being so horrible. Like I didn’t smile enough, keep the house clean enough, wasn’t “happy” enough. Whatever bullshit I could think of to place the blame on myself, I did.

So. Fucking. Wrong. I did not cause the drug addiction. It had been going on for 13 years prior to me. I could have been the most ideal person for this guy and he still would have made the choices he made. Let’s repeat that last sentence. He still would have made the choices he made. Nothing, not a damn thing I did or said was going to change that. Therefore, it sure as hell won’t matter 2 years later.

Just this morning on my ridiculous long drive to work, I was listening to the Mindset & Motivation podcast by Rob Dial. Good shit if you need a quick boost of energy. He gets straight to the point with realistic tips to help you change your mindset and therefore you habits and therefore your life. Dial discussed the top 5 things you need to stop doing at this very moment so you can achieve the best life possible. One of which was you have to stop living in the past. You wouldn’t drive a car while looking in the rearview so why would you even bother trying to steer your life to happiness and peace while looking back at all the bad shit that got you here? I suck at reversing so I’m re-examining my mindset.

Please tell me other people get this. The racing mind, the self loathing. Please tell me other people are trying to make changes in their lives, in their mindset.

So again why bother to read my rambles? Well I’m a sweary twenty six year old, living the good life in Maine. I’ve got some good stories and some pretty shitty ones. I’m just beginning my story. The greatest journey I have yet to take. To find happiness and peace in my own way. I don’t ever plan to shit rainbows and eat cotton candy (I absolutely HATE cotton candy! Don’t get me started on cotton balls). I plan to find peace in the sound of a tattoo gun as my bones are rattling from whatever design I came up with a half hour ago. I plan to find peace at the tip of my kayak in the middle of a lake in complete silence. I plan to find peace in teaching my four year old her letters and how not to take shit, but always show kindness. I plan to find peace where I learn to love myself. I plan to drown out the negative thoughts I encounter by the minute by coming to the conclusion I am worthy.

ya get my drift? hollah at ya girl in the comments.

#selfcare #anxiety #depression #letstalkaboutit #letstalkaboutmentalhealth #greatwhiteco

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mothric · 6 years

Note

Bugs

STORY TIME. or, How Bry Became The Bug-Loving Moth Princess She Is Today.

so, lil child Bry liked bugs. in fact she was fascinated by bugs.

in theory.

I definitely loved worms, like, to an extent that I grossed out my second-grade teacher by collecting a bunch of them in an insect carrier and shoved them in her face gleefully shouting LOOK WHAT I FOUND!!! :D :D

roly polies were cool, too. they could join the party.

sadly, I had too many unfortunate run-ins with a) wasps, b) bugs that looked harmless but then bit me (re: Asian beetles), and c) cicadas I thought were dead until I got too close and they made LOUD NOISE, and all of this made me scared of pretty much every single flying insect I couldn’t immediately identify and confirm was 100% harmless. (like fireflies. fireflies are sweethearts.) as for non-flying bugs, I really only liked to ogle everything not-worm and not-roly-poly from a safe distance, Outdoors Only. finding so much as an ant in my bedroom would make my entire stomach turn inside out.

this didn’t get much better with age.

high school Bry once had an anxiety attack because there was a bug on my lampshade and I didn’t know what it was and I was terrified it would fly into my face and bite or sting me. when I walked up to squish it, its antennae moved to point at me, and that just absolutely horrified me. like I was shivering and tears and snot were running down my face. it was the worst.

then I made friends with a hippie artsy dude who asked me how I would feel if I was an ant and some big ol giant decided I had no right to live just because I happened to be lost and confused and in the wrong place at the wrong time. I watched this person repeatedly scoop up ants or moths or spiders with great care and gently set them back outside, and I thought, I want to be that gentle, and I resolved to get over my fears as best I could.

that was 6 years ago.

NOW. I’m not gonna lie and say I don’t still shiver at centipedes (I don’t think I will ever like those) or that I don’t get startled when I hear something buzzing around my room, fearing it’s a wasp. and like, I do kill pests, because I’m not an idiot.

but!! I have come a LONG way in my appreciation for bugs and insects of many kinds!! I’ve gotten my childhood curiosity back! I poked a cool bug on my screen door earlier today and didn’t startle when it flew away! I find jumping spiders cute! I love moths!! and if I have to deal with a bug in the house, it’s no longer a terrifying ordeal that makes me want to throw up! I can just walk right up to one and inspect it and decide if I want to put it outside or not! I never used to be able to do any of that!!! (following bug blogs and forcing myself not to blacklist has also helped.)

tl;dr, 95% of bugs used to scare me, especially if they were indoors, but now I am at least 80% the gentle bug lover I always wanted to be and I’m growing more confident by the day. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!!!

((tl;dr tl;dr, I’m like Batman. but with moths.))

send me a word and I’ll tell you a fact about myself! (and I’ll try not to make it a novel!!)

#I know this was supposed to be a fact not a story #but listen #I'm really proud of myself ok #I conquered my FEARS #I G R E W #and I feel like people need to know where I came from #y'all need a frame of reference for ''moth princess'' and all the bugs on my blog #anon #whee #thank u kind friend #about me #bugs #creeping things #text post #jun 2018

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elizabethrobertajones · 6 years

Text

13x17 watching notes

*vague muffled noises*

Expectations: got to come down from an all-time great episode but it's Davy so I'm not worried about a huge drop off, and I'm legitimately intrigued, of all things, to meet Asmodeus written by someone other than Buckleming. Davy in season 12 briefly fooled me with 12x15 that the Crowley and Lucifer subplot might be worth watching, alas to no greater end as no one else wrote it for the rest of the year really. But in any case, he gets the honour of writing Gabriel so much better him to sell me on it than Buckleming :P I am therefore far more prepared to have Gabriel back on these terms and conditions...

The MoL recap skipped showing Cas with popcorn and I'm automatically deducting an entire out of ten score. This episode may end up being perfect in every other respect but would only get 9/10

They also didn't show Cas booping Ketch to sleep for no reason other than it being funny. 8/10

NOW: "1925"

This is super illuminati. Aka what Dean was worried about in 8x13 when they were first snooping around the Bunker... to this point, they never discovered anything worse than racist old men, or the weird British chapter. No signs of SERIOUS cult activity among the Americans, rather than it being a supernatural book club with a heroic purpose.

Leave that poor flapper alone.

Er are they literally doing the same spell? Terrified flappers make the WORST interdimensional travellers.

Honestly, though, the illuminati MoL aquarian star is super cool in a really spooky way

TENTACLE

Retroactively makes me wonder about 6x21 and if HP Lovecraft's friends were MoL and up to some nonsense. Obviously that was purgatory not an AU but it's all curiosity and who knows anything about all this stuff :P they all probably just want to see monsters, you know. The show's presentation of Lovecraft definitely made home look like the profile of a MoL they use later when these are a thing.

DEAN, LEAVE YOUR BROTHER ALONE. If he's sleeping on the table he's overworked and doesn't need this nonsense :P

Sam... go to bed.

Since their mom is still in an AU I'm taking over

Considering Dean has coffee he probably came in here with coffee, saw Sam like that, and went to get post it notes. If Sam was alert he'd be questioning that Dean's coffee was already on the table when Dean is pretending to just come into the room.

Oh no re: 6x21 - Dean called it Kryptonite.

How are there always more rooms in the Bunker? ... I have like 9 messages from Trisscar I haven't been looking at but suddenly I can guess :P

It appears to be opposite 7d, meaning this may be 7c, and a boring archive room rather than room 7b, which is the smaller archive room with a DUNGEON behind it

Dean is great in the research montage

Also that implies Sam had the post it notes the entire day, which given the half life of post it note glue is stretching credibility :P

Uh... They need to be more careful about just assuming random glowing rocks people dig up in the holy land are definitely the thing they are looking for.

I mean the cold open seems to imply it genuinely IS, but that's no excuse for being like glowing rock + glowing rock = success

Jinkies!

*sexy driving montage*

Okay this place is both spooky AND unlocked. Maybe because Jensen doesn't have another flip over a fence in him, but it's also pretty ominous about the useage of this place.

I love how in the modern age you just put the coordinates of your creepy destination into your phone and follow it and then get out at the first abandoned building dead on the spot and be like welp google told us to go get murdered by cultists here so

"Ask questions get answers" Are you not going to ask about the EYE?

That's a disturbing lack of concern for something essentially thematically "alter the sigil alter the spell" - the MoL vs the weird cultist chapter which clearly has a difference from the one they're used to because of the different symbol. Whatever level the MoL Sam and Dean know about, knew in turn about these guys, whether they disowned or quietly let them get on with it or what... this is not meant to mean the same as just casually finding another home base...

Just dropping in for a cup of tea and a seal of solomon

Uhoh the books all over the floor don't bode well

"Looks familiar, huh?"

*Sam finally spots an eyeball aquarian star* "Except for that"

you don't say

"Great. More books."

"You love books."

Honestly Dean kinda does and half of this goofing off from earlier was performative... He DOES find some types of research super boring but that doesn't mean he doesn't read for fun and also retain information well from books and hit the books when necessary.

Sam's just much more driven right now, meaning that Dean's being played off in contrast as mostly normal. Aka not wildly driven to do the reading himself, which in turn isn't just a usual character trait but shows how desperately Sam's at it.

uhoh those photos look like kidnappable flapper research

Sandy Porter :D

I hope that's supposed to say "age: 23" but I can't unread it as "eyes: 23" and the handwriting is weird.

SOLOMON 1917

I think we have found the thing... now the question is did this weird cult appear BECAUSE of the seal or was it they were already weird and they ended up bagging it for their experiments?

Their letter header already has the aquarian eye...

Sam/Jared casually breaking everything on the shelf

why did they leave that take in

Oh I guess he had to make noises to make Sandy start yelling for help

(I assume it's her or something that LOOKS like her)

I love Dean's photographic memory. And when we get flashes of him remembering stuff on screen like this

Sam's like What the Fuck

Aha it's Ketchmodeus time

Arthmodeus?

I love how Sam n Dean are wearing grey and they plop Dean's bi plaid over Sandy's grey flapper dress.

(She's called Sandy with blonde hair and Mary's middle name is Sandra)

Query: where WAS Dean keeping the plaid, or did he go up first, get a rope and a shirt and then we skipped all the stuff where they get a lil person who can't just hop up and reach the manhole cover again out of the hole in the ground :P

She's also skipped ahead in time from being a flapper and is now a millenial, possibly possessed by an Elder God hence the long life etc :P But she and Mary share the backstory in a way of being transported out of their right time

Is Ketch reading one of Crowley's old books from when he was raising Amara? Pfft. It's not uncle hoppity but it is obviously for a child, and is a way of demeaning him... He's reading it probably out of both boredom and spite... :P

... But the demons are apparently too fussed about cat videos to pay attention to him...

wha t is this episode

I have to admit at some undisclosed point I went to yoga, fell asleep on the floor in a rec hall and have since eaten my weight in chocolate avacado cake and coffee, so I am fairly addled :P

Oh, yep, Asmodeus is beefing himself up with angel juice, who EVER would have guessed it

it also reads like an addiction, and as this was introduced in season 9 around the time of Crowley's demon blood addiction and Dean with the Mark and Cas eating grace, it's almost surprising the needle was only ever implied to be for extraction.

But now we have Lucifer eating grace, and Asmodeus injecting it - the question is if he's addicted to it or not.

I'd assume as well if this was planned from the start, his colonel sanders look might also have been, social commentary aside, because the wanted a demon dressed all in white and looking clean and shiny like an angel

*demon minion comes blundering in a minute late* "I tried to stop him!"

This is absolutely 100%, no, 1000% vagueblogging Buckleming and how idiotic the Hell plot is and I am living for it

Poor squeaky Gabriel

They take Sandy to the most retro diner they can find... Inside, we meet patrons and staff with names immediately, before the Winchesters enter... The apparent owner, Joanne, amused by "Buck and Amy", one of her staff and a teenage boy, then says she'd hit it with Buck if Amy won't, which is SUPER creepy... Her cook apparently doesn't speak English or speak at all, so she feels free to say horrible things in front of him

Buck looks vaguely Jack-like just because he's a teenage boy with floppy hair

They really are easing her in slow with the modern age, this diner is decrepit, but just this many electric lights is enough for now >.>

Plus, they arrived in a car from the 60s

And she's messing with an ancient jukebox

This is adorable

i mean there's some high level creepiness in the diner, which I assume is Still Too Local and they ought to have crossed state lines...

I wonder at this point if their immediate vicinity to Asmodeus's lair is relevant. They'd know from Cas now that he's still using it. I mean, do you detour in your road trip to an ancient MoL bunker because you know the demon currently running Hell is camped out just down the road?

They're getting Sandy the meatloaf... Pretty sure that was what Mary said she got from the Piggly Wiggly in 12x02

Oh great, people who tattoo the aquarian eye on their arms. "Marco"'s name is in quotation marks.

HE CAN SPEAK

"Wait, these men of letters were the ones who... chained you down there?" Sam, you KNOW the MoL aren't perfect... are you really going to struggle with this? :P She was in THEIR secret Bunker chained up in the secret bunker's secret basement, surrounded by corrupted Aquarian stars. It's like 99% likely this was an inside job, especially as it's the longest pay off for a character defamation fraud ever otherwise :P

More tentacles!

Okay, look, you guys need Mary back and on your side because I swear to god if she goes into the bathroom and gets kidnapped because you're an all dude team then I'm going to scream.

you NEED women to support women because sometimes we really do go to the bathroom in a pack to avoid being kidnapped by cultists who want to feed us to tentacle monsters from another dimension

Oh no, they're all just being poisoned so they can be ritually murdered later

Aw "pet angel" again. Gabriel is overhearing this intel, so he knows the Winchesters are alive, doing shit, and Cas is still alive and doing shit with them... All good basic intel you should probably not let the one angel who cared about them in season TWO know. I mean, Azazel and Gabriel are the ONLY players who cared about them back when the status quo of the world was still in balance - from season 3 onwards everyone wanted a piece of Sam, and Dean's soul was rapidly heading towards breaking the first seal so everyone now had a stake in them. But Gabriel? He's a total hipster about bothering the Winchesters when they were wee little babby hunters to see if they were up to the task... and found they were.

Now he's back in canon I'm going to be evaluating him as carefully as I can with such a retconned and fandom beloved and fanon-bedecked character, and I think in our advantage for having him back, he's in a state we've never seen him before... genuinely in trouble :P

And Gabriel peers curiously through the bars as Asmodeus starts explaining their plans

"It's time we talk about us" please stop trying to make Ketchmodeus happen

A shot of them from a million miles away, a million miles between them, sliced off by a pillar. Ketch standing in the light. Asmodeus in the dark with yellow candles around him.

I am pretty sure this room is 10000x more candle-y than before.

When I was doing my rewatch of the early seasons a few summers ago I was so amused by the bajillion candles, a trend which died out with the colour format of the show changing, and any time a character shows up who needs a billion candles (e.g. Abaddon in 9x02) I get disproportionately excited that they *understand* the show :P

In this case, Asmodeus really needs all the links back to the start he can get, because he's a new, weak demon, one specifically called out in 13x12 of being the weakest of Lucifer's creations, and here shown juicing up on poor Gabriel, all a meta commentary on him being a rubbish character inserted as the last of the retconned princes of hell, his literal strength as a character weak and flimsy when it comes to caring about him, because after all the show has been through, retroactively adding ancient powers is a serious problem about "where were they before?" and so many of them need to have been lost, disinterested, locked away, buried and hidden and forgotten. In Asmodeus's case, possibly just looked over and neglected, and he's been having a pissy sulk about not being invited to the apocalypse for the last 10 years, since we know nothing about where he was before, but he's at least seemed to have his liberty and he waited out every single major player more powerful than him, and is appearing as a desescalation of a threat as a big bad so ridiculous the show is mocking him for being comically weedy, petty and out of touch or useless, or plain stupid. Even *Buckleming* seem aware he's an idiot at times.

And now Perez is writing this fucker and I actually have to character profile him >.>

Anyway Ketch is talking about their relationship, Asmodeus is trying to escalate his control over Ketch to "owning" him and pushing his luck really - Ketch being humiliated with the kid's book is a power play but Asmodeus really sucks at power plays and plans and all round... doing things...

I love watching Ketch get beaten up even if it is Asmodeus

Ah well

Was Asmodeus almost scary?

I mean, I suppose if we were supposed to care about Ketch a bit

After season 12 it's more like... Can we just have everyone beat him up once?

Dean is also stuck on the MoL being tweed wearing and harmless

And Sam avoiding carbohydrates... like... at least he ordered a couple of plates of food but he is a Big Guy, he needs to eat more than this!!

In some ways it reflects their endgame, e.g. Dean is still self-destructing and you could imagine either sticking a middle finger to any higher purpose supposed to affect him, or else bitter that he is never allowed off the ride... away from that, just the belief that it's winning to be killed by food rather than a monster. And he's been killed on the job enough to know the difference.

Sam, keeping himself sharp, suppoesdly (even if he is falling asleep on the table) and keepnig healthy long term, which may or may not be to some eventual endgame, that he plans on winning

I swear if anything skeezy happens to Buck...

Oh good, he's just noticed the cultists first while the professional hunters are busy eating... Maybe we all just get locked in here or something

Aaaand Sam's asleep on the table again. This is why you carb load

I guess no one's sticking post it notes on him this time

ALSO if it's that fast acting and the service is so slow here, you have a problem :P

The cultists' robes are similar colour to the wait staff uniform

I love the new fight coordinator

Cmon Sam, you only had one bite

Whoops he's being kidnapped

where is Sandy???

Nice one, eldritch flapper! :D :D

She has the "i just killed someone" look so I figure that whatever the monster did to her, she's not totally lost to it

Are they just keeping Sam as a hostage exchange? They're still just surrounding the diner...

At least Dean knows how to make a weapon out of anything

oh dear sweet cinnamon roll "we have to call the police!"

... Yep, one of the cultists is part of the local police. At which point me, having written a novel with red-robed cultists running around a town sacrificing girls and secretly being local authority figures is like... welp...

Aw, Dean, don't go charging after Sam. He already was like no don't go to the creepy bunker alone.

At least weigh your options and get a lay of the land first :/

I mean I would assume they want Sandy in exchange which means not happening, but...

Yep, they want the monster/god

Sandy is not very much of either :(

"our family was men of letters" "so was ours..." "kinda"

Okay so they want a clean start with this God, from another dimension, which is exactly what Michael wants, and it's currently in the Mary mirror.

Oh boy

"oh boy" indeed, it ate everyone and they bound it again, but it's still inside Sandy... Glowy purple eyes which is pretty ominous. She's also a Rowena mirror in a sense, including the monster, and there would be an interesting meta after this probably, when it's all said and done, to compare the scale of bound, hungry women

in this case, they accidentally made a devouring mother goddess which is more like... Amara... But it wants a mate

Aaaand the MoL banned all the members who were involved in this nonsense. See, you guys literally have the box of members who were banned... Bit of digging on the history of this chapter house and it would be like, dude, a dozen of these guys were banned for SUMMONING AN ELDRITCH MONSTROSITY

Ow, wow, Asmodeus has 4 vials of archangel grace knocking around... he seems to really have an issue here if he needs that much, constantly

menas stealing Gabriel from him will dry him out quickly, but also motivate him to get him back, unlike how he's just like pfft whatever about losing Cas and Lucifer

He and Ketch are getting deep and philosophical... First of all, I am a little concerned that Asmodeus is OOC for not having the depth of thought of a teaspoon, and very little will get me interested in their inner lives in any case because I refuse to let Ketch be made sympathetic on the grounds that he's a dick and I'm allowed to draw a line.

Anyway they're having a conversation about a MoL code which means these stories sort of metaphorically overlap and that's weird and I'm not certain how to handle thematic balance with them because we're actually exploring what it means to be a legacy here, and all the different toxic threads that each family is upholding etc

Fortunately Asmodeus keeps calling Ketch "boy" so the squicky Ketchmodeus I fear is just enough to keep me on edge through this scene :P

(to be clear, I don't fear it in the show so much as fearing that fandom will Kylux latch onto it and everyone will be shipping the shit out of it to an intolerable level, despite the aforementioned emotional ranges of teaspoons for these boring racist-coded white dudes)

But there's some blah about redeeming Ketch which is making me very nervous they're going to try

The was Asmodeus talks about Ketch belonging to him makes me wonder that whatever deal they struck to get into this partnership, there's some magical connection, more than just this emotional weakness that Asmodeus is talking about exploiting. Mostly because one is nuanced and one will be appropriate for Buckleming to play with, should they choose to acknowledge another writer's continuity.

(And I think half the reason Dabb's banished them to a separate plot is that they disrespect others' attempts to write the story that in leiu of collaboration, he's stuck them over here to do their own thing where they can't mess anything up...)

oh no don't send Buck out there with a kitchen knife

What is Dean doing? Amy and Joanne can't be in control of this situation??

That sounds very un-feminist of me but they did just send Buck out with a tiny weeny knife, like, not even a steak knife

Awhooops, the more the other MoL cultists talk, the more they sound like they're just managing a mistake their grandfather made, and Sam and Dean blundered into it as the bad guys, inadvertently "rescuing" Sandy (WHO I STILL LIKE) in their own quest for personal gain. Aka selfish actions beget consequences

Oh, that's a lot of dead cultists.

Oh, Sandy no don't eat Buck

RIP Buck

Dean is still distracted trying to do whatever to save Sam, and while stockpiling weaponry has missed both Sandy slipping away AND Joanne and Amy sending Buck out to get eaten

AAAH LEAVE DEAN ALONE

Also it's so unsettling having a monster wandering around in one of his most iconic shirts... I'll have to worry about that later but yikes. The imagery is unsettling to say the least. It's a really memorable one.

DRAMATIC EYE CONTACT between Ketch and Gabriel

Trying not to think about how that looked weirdly like the Claire Kaia intro eye contact

To be fair they've looked at each other a bunch and whatever Ketch thinks of Gabriel, they've had time to form their opinions of each other

He presents his undamaged side of his face to Gabriel while realising he has to free him

This is a hilarious rescue. Ketch isn't good at being a convincing good guy and Gabriel is freaked the heck out

Understandably, I wouldn't go with Ketch

Although idk maybe Gabriel is too traumatised to notice that Ketch was having a personal revelation of sorts

I am so disappointed that "if I had half your power" line didn't lead to Ketch being like "... but Asmodeus does" and grabbing the spare vials from the box he was keeping it all in. Maybe he took it with him

should have been a seduce the bad guy to steal the vials while he sleeps thing

... oh shit, they got me

Okay, the archangel blade works on other things... it's clearly potent

Sam nearly got frying panned by creepy Joanne

Meanwhile also in much older women going for young lads (proportionately), Dean has been picked as ideal mate material, in a season where he's already been whammied with a love spell, and just last episode Cas got married.

How comes all this imagery keeps hittnig them?

I ask the void

when today the void is represented by Eldritch Flapper Sandy from the void.

Okay, I don't know how to spell her eldritch name, but "star of madness ravager of galaxies mother of faceless hordes" is hecka cool

I'm sad that Sandy is dead but this eldritch thingy is still sorta badass

Mittens just told me this is set the same place as the open of 6x21, the same place HP Lovecraft is from, so that confirms my musings at the top of this :D I am delighted

She just misses her love from another universe.

"It's like a hallmark movie... with tentacles!"

that is not a deal breaker for Dean, I think

Anyway. Dean being confronted with this sweet love story. Now he will be the host to an epic, galaxy-crushing romance! Awww!!

She's gonna lay eggs in him though

i hope that's a dealbreaker

Also the whole... possession threat... when we've had spoilers jensen's playing something else

I assume not this guy

WHERE DID THE MOL GET THIS ANGEL GRACE BTW?

I feel like this has to be Gabriel again unless Raphael or Michael fucked up at some point and we're gonna find out later, just from the fact only one of them wasn't bound for most of human history or in Heaven, but actually slumming it on earth

We know literally nothing of Gabriel's history except that he dated Kali so there's that

Okay the tentacles are a deal breaker, Dean's grossed out

UHOH SPACE TENTACLES

Bye bye eldritch flapper... you were fun

(RIP Sandy)

Guess they will go back to ravaging stars together in the darkness

ALSO I really hope there's a way to STEER THIS FUCKING SPELL

elizabethrobertajones Huh. Tentacles are the dealbreaker for Dean who knew after 13 years there's something weird and kinky he isn't at least curious about :P

elizabethrobertajones Oh wait never mind "not that there's anything wrong with that" he is a consentacles guy

mittensmorgul BAHAHAHAHA

mittensmorgul He's not gonna kink shame

Also Dean is wondering if there's a way to steer the spell as well

Okay so they actually know how to work it - you can only go to AUs you already have a part of, and a time limit which will be for drama when they finally open this thing...

Do they have to bring this back to them afterwards? I hope so :P

Dean coming down the stairs joking about nearly being an interdimensional booty call after collecting one of the spell ingredients directly mirrors Cas coming down the stairs yelling about how he had to get married to get one of the OTHER ingredients.

I LOVE their Ketch reaction

Okay so Gabriel has said nothing all episode, and I assume Ketch is about to produce him, so the question is... how does Gabriel introduce himself? What's the play? These are the questions I am most curious about because this episode has been defining a lot of characterisation for the previously woefully undercharacterised Asmodeus, fleshing out WTF is Ketch's deal right now, and now Davy has the abilityto set the course (hopefully) for Gabriel.

We have 5 minutes to go

Oh hey he's still bloody and has his mouth sewn

he's just... hauling Gabriel into a chair

Like you do get how this looks suspicious, mate

And Sam and Dean are like uuuuh he's dead so wtf

Which is my reaction too so get to the backstory snap snap

Gabriel's eyes are so panicky I'm worried he's gonna be half-mad

Oh dear, "we need his grace" and Gabriel is like FUCK THAT SHIT YOU'RE NOT EVEN SAVING ME AND IF I'M ACTUAL ME AND NOT AN AU VERSION I FUCKING DIED FOR YOU ASSCLOWNS WHAT THE FUCK. UNSEW MY MOUTH AND LET ME HAVE A BATH

well "HMMM!!! HMM!!!!!!!!! !!!!!"

But I can read subtext

Ketch is just giving them EVERYTHING

they don't even know what that blade IS

Hey, gabriel, just smash your forehead on the grace vial and eat the grace

it's not dignified but who cares :P

Ketch came to the "only safe place he knew" aka a MoL bunker, which, after all, is very very safe. He has to bargain with Sam and Dean, knowing their spell, because "i saved this random archangel I found" isn't probably convincing enough on its own???

LOL "Dibs on the top bunk?"

"no"

"Deal"

Dean... sweetie... you do remember all your subtext with Ketch last year? You know you can't just agree to him taking the top bunk like that?

You're even negotiating either side of the war table again

ALSO WHY IS EVERYONE GETTING KETCH SHIPPING STUFF TODAY? UNSUBSCRIBE

And Dean will let pretty much ANYTHING happen to get Mary and Jack back

the question is, Cas must be at the farmer's market or something all episode because he wasn't there when they were researching and he wasn't there to stop Ketch coming in, so... where is he?

Anyway Dean is speaking on his behalf re: getting Jack back

Sam seems to want to do this on their own and Dean is making compromises again to get what they need

So, uh, Gabriel?

Aw, the Sastiel shippers will be happy, Sam was the one who ended up freeing his mouth, which is probably symbolic regardless, re: giving the Trickster back his main weapon

Omg Dean is ready to go before Gabriel says a word. Dean. Chill. Cas isn't even HERE.

And that makes me feel like whatever Gabriel has to say to break his long silence is even more important that Dean interrupted it (it's gonna not be, now, isn't it?)

"Shouldn't we wait?"

"Why?"

CAS YOU FUCKHEAD

"We have everything we need, everything else is just burning daylight"

Dean is again trying to leave Sam behind to manage things, and go in and do it alone. Dude, you literally nearly had eggs laid in you by an interdimensional flapper, you need to think about this.

LOL Ketch wants to go with them because it's safer than staying here being hunted by Asmodeus

I mean fair enough, and he's scarily competent

But it's making it look to Sam like Dean would rather have Ketch around than Sam???

Also WHERE IS CAS?

"I don't care if he dies. I'm sort of rooting for it."

Crack episode next where because Dean has interdimensionally travelled before, he ends back up in French Mistake Verse where he's Jensen and Ketch is DHJ (again? see also: 13x07 notes) and they have to get back before they can do the dramatic stuff

Anyway Dean is doing the sacrificial play, Sam watches his cholesterol so he has to stay on earth

I can't believe they're just opening a portal in the library and for 24 hours there's just a glowy back and forth hole there

But of course, as long as Dean finds Jack, the time limit doesn't matter

I can't believe Ketch is his BFF for the rest of the season

I can't believe Gabriel didn't SAY anything

What is he going to SAY next? I WANT TO KNOW

I am unbelievably frustrated, because now it passes it on to Buckleming again, and for all I know Davy thinks the whole Gabriel thing is silly, or is nervous of writing the iconic character so he just shoves it all off on them to break canon as they please and he gets something suitably dramatic and tension building and intentionally frustrating out of it but at the end of the day he doesn't have to directly ENGAGE with the Gabriel is back story, and it's all gonna be Bucklemninged next week

Aurgh.

Auuuurgh.

#13x17 #season 13 spoilers #my stuff

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jetzelda · 6 years

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Deku’s Descent into Despair

Junko Enoshima decides it’s a grand plan to give a world of Despair another go. She teams up with the League of Villains. And her target? Izuku Midoriya

“So, for all those reasons I just explained, you should understand by now just how powerful a weapon despair can be.”

The bar was silent as Shigaraki, Tomura, and the obscured man through the small laptop took in the young girl before them.

The girl was the societal definition of beautiful. Long, gorgeous pink hair pulled up into to wild pigtails on top of her head. Smooth unblemished skin that seemed to glow in the light, shown off perfectly by her short skirt and rolled up sleeves. Her bosom was ample and emphasized by a bra peeking out of her shirt that pushed her breasts up and together. She had long red nails that seemed perfect for clawing. Honestly, she would look like every other super model, if not for the disconcerting color choices for her ensemble, red and black, the two out of place hair clips of teddy bear heads in her hair of black and white, and that unhinged light in those sparkling blue eyes of hers.

Shigaraki’s knuckles rested beside father’s hand upon his face, propping him up against the bar while he slouched on his stool. “…I want to kill her.”

Instead of being frightened or enraged, the girl laughed. It was high-pitched and in a way- haunting. “I’d love you to try.” She said sincerely when she gained her breath back.

Shigaraki sat up straighter, a move in preparation for attack. “Now, now.” A voice intoned from the screen. “I believe her theory and plan has some merit.”

Shigaraki stilled in his attack, before slumping back in his seat. “Fine. If that’s what Sensei wants, then you can live.”

The girl actually openly pouted at that. “Awww. No conflict? How boring.” If she noticed Shigaraki’s irritation at her response, she showed no sign of it. “Oh well, that’s fine.” A sinister smirk spread across her face and her eyes once more gleamed with that unhinged light “It would be a shame if either of us died before I could show you how to spread true Despair.”

“Welcome to the League of Villains,” Sensei’s voice spoke from the camera once more. “Junko Enoshima.”

Long red nails clacked in a rhythm against the bar top. “So that’s the sports festival.” Junko mused. She was seated beside Shigaraki, re-watching the fights and events with him.

“Yes.” Shigaraki responded. He pointed to the screen as the explosive blond one. “This one is our target. He fought during the award ceremony. Clearly he’s upset with the system. And that anger, persuading him to switch shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Nah.” Junko dismissed immediately. “He’s far too headstrong. He’s set on his path and it’d take more than a conversation to sway him.”

Shigaraki’s brow twitched beneath his father’s hand and he glared at Junko. “And you’re so good at reading people?” Junko just smiled charmingly at him, like she did when she decided she was right and wouldn’t be swayed. “…Fine. Who would you pick?”

A long red nail pointed at the freckled face with a mop of green curls on top, “I want that one.”

Shigaraki scoffed, scratching his neck. “That one? That All Might poser?” He growled. “I want to kill him though.”

Blue eyes gleamed. “No, he’s perfect. Didn’t you see? He got that Fire-Pop kid to use his fire. He was a rising underdog. He-“ She tapped the screen. “-is an inspiration in the making.” She licked her lips. “And nothing brings such beautiful despair than crushing hope as it starts to bloom.”

Red eyes took in the female. She was manic and just about salivating. Like a chef at the butcher shop, choosing a live animal to be slaughtered for her meal.

“….I still want the exploding one.”

Midoriya reflected on how amazingly fast EVERYTHING EVER COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG on this camping trip.

Villains showing up brought the test of courage to a screeching halt. Izuku once again pushed himself past his limits to save Kota from Muscular. And then he learned from the villain that Kaachan was the primary target of this attack! Apparently, Izuku was a secondary target of the attack, but muscle head seemed to think he could just kill him and Kota and claim to have never seen him (Izuku sure showed him).

But the cherry on top of this huge pile of crap was that Mister Compress that actually caught Kaachan! It was quick thinking that lead him to this moment of being flung with Shouji and Todoroki right into the group of villains preparing to be extracted.

Izuku was flat on his back after that blond girl attacked him. Shouji was fending her off while Todoroki dealt with the one in the black jumpsuit. He scrambled to sit up, breathing heavy and brain working fast. He was in so much pain, but it was irrelevant right now. He was more focused on getting to his feet and understanding why the scarred one and the one with Kaachan so relaxed right now??

A breeze brushed the back of his hair. He looked up into the baby blue eyes of a tall, pink haired girl towering over him with some kind of helmet. Her pigtails flowed behind her back like ominous flames. “Hey cutie.” He got no other warning before the helmet was shoved upon his head.

“What-?” His injured arms raised slightly, as if to remove the object.

“Don’t bite off your tongue sweetie.” He heard the girl advise before his world turned red.

The fight was brought to a halt by an awful, blood-curdling scream. Every head was turned towards the sound. It was disturbing. Izuku Midoriya, for that was who it must be, was upon his knees, shaking and thrashing as if he was being electrocuted. What could only be surmised as the cause was the new, and disturbing helmet upon his head. It probably wouldn’t even be called a helmet if it did not, in fact, cover the entirety of Midoriya’s head. It was a teddy bear head, evenly split into black on one side and white on the other. And while the white side was normal enough, the mouth of the black side twisted up into a horrible sharp toothed smile complimented with the eye being twisted and jagged and glowed a sinister red.

“Midoriya!” The two classmates of the boy yelled out to him. Their distraction cost them dear. They were easily batted to the side by the villains they were engaged with moments before.

Junko Enoshima just grabbed her prey by one of his injured arms. She hummed along to the screams of agony as she dragged the boy with her to the villains. The scarred one with staples in his skin arched a brow. She just smiled at him.

A black portal appeared behind the villains in the clearing. As they prepared to leave, a beam of light shot out and struck Mr. Compress’ mask from his face, knocking the two marbles from his mouth. That six-armed kid grabbed one. Dabi grabbed the other. And then the villains were gone.

When Katsuki Bakugo came back to awareness, he was strapped to a chair with his hands in heavy iron manacles that completely covered his hands, disrupting his ability to use his quirk. He heard voices, and choked, cracking screams.

“I wanna shut him up.” He recognized the voice of that hand covered fucker from USJ.

“This is normal.” A new, female voice dismissed. “There’s four stages. Screaming is one, and probably the longest.”

And the screams-it took Bakugo and moment, but he recognized that scream.

His eyes snapped open. That handsy fucker was there, with only one hand on his face this time, standing next to some pink haired chick. And on the floor between them, the bear head threw him for a moment, but the clothes and those awful mottled colored arms were still Deku’s.

“He!” Bakugo snapped at them. “What the fuck’re you doing to him?!”

Blue and red eyes set upon Bakugo. “Oh, you’re awake.” The woman regarded him with a bored air before turning back to Deku.

The handsy fucker scratched his neck. “Ahhh, see, his screaming ruined my set up. I had it all planned.”

A catty, manicured hand waved at the air. “It was a terrible set up anyways. I promise this will be so much better.”

Were they ignoring him?! “HEY!” Bakugo roared. “DON’T FUCKING IGNORE ME!!! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING TO DEKU?!”

“Now they’re both loud.” Handsy complained.

The bitch just blinked at Bakugo before smiling. “Deku? Is that an insult for him?” She turned to Deku and squealed. “Deku-chan! I love it!” Bakugo felt sick.

“How do I even know this is working?” Handsy crossed his arms impatiently.

The pink bitch rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll show.” She pulled the bear head off Deku. The eye on the head stopped glowing red and Deku stopped screaming. And fuck, did he look awful. Deku was paler than Bakugo had ever seen him, panting heavily to reclaim the air he lost with his screams. There were obvious tracks of tears down his dirty face, and even a little bit of spit leaking from his mouth. His green eyes were wide and unfocused. He looked absolutely wrecked and terrified. Not even in his many years of watching and picking on the Deku had Bakugo ever seen him like this. It made his stomach twist uncomfortably at the sight.

“Look.” Those freakishly long red nails forced Deku’s open wider, snapping his green gaze up at the two villains. “Take a good look, do you see it?” The handsy fucker crowed closer to Deku.

“What am I-Oh…What is that?”

The woman released Deku, and he jerked his head down so his green curls hid his gaze, still gasping harshly. “That’s the despair setting in.” The bitch responded cheerfully. “It’s going faster than I predicted, he must already have had some stuffed away deep inside him. That should speed up the process by some hours.”

Despair? In Deku? What the fuck were they talking about?

“Now, back you go~!” The bitch had the helmet and was lowering back down. And Deku shifted back and fucking whimpered. “N-No. Please-! Now more! Please don’t put it back on!!”

The bitch fucking sighed as if someone grabbed her junk! “OHhhh~ I do love that sweet despair.” She was fucking twisted! Her eyes shined like some psychopath. “Hold him for me?” She asked the handsy fucker sweetly.

And handsy grabbed Deku by the neck and shoulder, keeping his pinky raised on both hands. “No-No! Please NO!” Deku fucking begged.

“HE SAID NO YOU PSYCHOTIC BITCH!” Bakugo jerked in his chair. But he was strongly secured.

Deku’s watery, terrified eyes flickered to Bakugo. “K-Kaachan-!” That was the last thing Deku said before the helmet was back on and those screams started again.

“Ugh. He’s so loud.” Handsy fucker COMPLAINED AGAIN.

“It shouldn’t be long now.” The bitch ASSURED CALMLY. “Next will be sobbing.” Her boots clacked against the floor as she walked AWAY FROM DEKU and towards the stairs. “Get me when he’s quiet or laughing.” She threw over her shoulder.

Handsy started to leave Deku and follow the chick. “I guess I’ll just wait to talk until after.” He told Bakugou in passing.

THEY WERE JUST LEAVINNG DEKU INJURED AND SCREAMING IN AGONY ON THE FUCKING FLOOR.

“DON’T FUCKING LEAVE HIM LIKE THAT!!” Bakugo screamed at the two that disappeared up the stairs. “FUCKING COME BACK HERE AND TAKE THAT THING OFF HIM!!! YOU HEAR ME?! TAKE IT OFF HIM!!”

Bakugo screamed up at the ceiling over Deku’s screams for almost half an hour. He finally gave up when no one came and his throat started to hurt.

It took an hour for Deku’s screams to quiet, not because he was done screaming, but because his voice was cracked and raw. It was two hours since the fuckers left when Deku broke into quiet sobs that felt like punches to Bakugo’s chest and gut. Deku was right fucking there in some kinda agony and Bakugou could do nothing about it.

It was three hours after the fuckers left that Bakugo actually manned up enough to try and talk to Deku. He tried quiet at first, and progressively got louder when Deku failed to respond, to the point Bakugo was screaming at him. But it had no effect. Either Deku couldn’t hear him over his own crying, or that fucking bear head kept him from hearing Bakugo.

It was almost five hours after those fuckers left that Deku finally went silent. It was worse than when he was screaming. Only the sound of their own breathing echoed in Bakugo’s ears. It was eerie. And Bakugou remembered what the bitch said. This was the third stage of whatever the fuck they were doing. That meant whatever was happening was almost done.

“Fuck, don’t do this Deku.” Bakugou gritted his teeth. “Don’t do this! Don’t let them win!” It was against literally everything he said these past ten years, but “You’re fucking stronger than them and you know it!” Bakugo couldn’t stand the thought of losing to anyone. But right now thinking of Deku losing and giving in to whatever than pink haired bitch was planning was worse than Bakugo losing.

Deku didn’t respond. Bakugo kept taking at him, praying somehow that he was getting through, that Deku was hearing him (A part of him knew he wasn’t, a part he stamped out harshly).

Talking continuously distracted him. He hadn’t noticed the next hour pass.

“Awww, did you talk at him all night?” Bakugou’s head whipped around to watch that pink descend the stairs like some kinda fucking model. “How cute. You care. I might be able to win this one for you, too, Shiggy.”

The handsy fucker was right behind the bitch, with that hand still on his face. The fucker grumbled. “Don’t call me that. And keep your hands to yourself. He’s my achievement.”

WAS THIS A FUCKING GAME TO THEM?

Bakugou glowered at the villains, keeping his mouth shut, as much as it pained him. He didn’t want to give them any more leverage.

They both bypassed him anyways for Deku. Handsy fucker tilted his head. “He’s silent.”

“I said that would happen, didn’t I?” The bitch crouched in front of Deku. She tilted her head so it was almost resting on that Bear head. He was about to scream at her when she placed a finger to her smirking lips. “Shhhhh.”

It took a moment, it was so quiet to start, but he heard it. It was soft chuckling, slowly rising in volume. It was coming from Deku.

Handsy straightened up. The bitch pulled the helmet from Deku’s head.

Bakugou lost his breath and feeling in his stomach.

Deku was fucking smiling and giggling. And neither sound was sane. Oh no. Deku’s smile was stretched too wide and looked like it might break his face. There were black bags under his eyes worse that that sleepy fucker from the shitty sports festival.

And his eyes.

Holy fuck, his eyes.

They fucking glowed with a light that managed to be a sickening pink and red at the same time. And Bakugo would swear on every pro heroes’ name that Deku’s fucking pupils had turned into endless swirls.

And then Deku opened his fucking mouth. “Awww~ I liked that.”

WHAT. THE. ACTUAL. FUCK.

The pink haired bitch fucking squealed in delight, flinging the bear head away. It landed somewhere in the bar with a metal clang. Red nails stroked lovingly across Deku’s face. The bitch gazed into Deku’s eyes, and he gazed right back, as if either were the only thing in each other’s world. “I knew Despair would look beautiful on you.” She cooed. “Deku~Chan, my baby~, Are you going to help mommy bring Despair to this big old boring world?”

And Bakugo would never forget the shock he felt when Deku cooed back. “Of course, mommy.” _ SO this was spur of the moment. Apologies for any spelling errors and grammar. May continue this one if I have more brain babies or if it’s liked enough.

#Jzprompts #bnha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #CrossOver #danganronpa #midoriya izuku #deku midoriya #katsuki bakugou #junko enoshima #Despair #Bakugo swears a lot

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boatspeak · 4 years

Text

Some of my favourite dramas from the past half a year, ranked:

1. Because This is my First Life

k-drama, 16 episodes, each 1 hour long

So sensitively and personally written. I was sucked into the storytelling and felt as though I was seeing these scenes through the eyes of the characters. Bravo to the scriptwriter; as I was watching it I felt, ah, she must have drawn from some intensely personal and important place. It was not a story anyone could have written. Because This is My First Life follows the stories of three BFFs as they experience, and grapple with, love and marriage. It does not shy away from the complicated sides of these issues - the societal, monetary and financial pressures that love and marriage cannot be separated from, the difficulties of communicating with others honestly yet sensitively. There are some frustratingly incorrigible people in the drama (like sexually harassing superiors), but most of the time the conflicts play out between good people who care for and support each other, yet inevitably butt heads because they have different - and equally valid - views of life. Is it wrong to want to marry and start a family? Is it wrong not to? It was painful at times, I think I cried for some of the characters. Not because they were pitiable, but because sometimes in life there is no right or wrong; you have to make tough choices and it hurts but you have to keep your eyes open and keep watching; keep walking. For the literature lovers out there, especially those who might be sick of gratuitous (often cheesy) quotes inserted randomly into dramas, well, good for you! Characters in Because This is My First Life read and are impacted by (real life) books, and you can see how the books they’ve read influence the way they think, act, and communicate with each other. It’s very realistic and mirrors the way you might consume and digest books in your own life outside of the drama. Oh, the PPL is also wonderfully done and actually contributes to character building. 8-9/10.

2. Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu (I’ll be serious in my next life)

j-drama, 12 episodes, each 1/2 an hour long

One woman, five sex friends. I know. I know it sounds messy and melodramatic and angsty. I hesitated for the same reasons as well. But when I finally got over it and watched the damn thing (very bingeable, totalling at only 6 hours), I regretted not watching it sooner. Raise wa Chanto Shimasu is a breath of fresh air. Most of the characters, whether hypersexual or asexual, are pretty unabashed about it, and I love their self-love. Want to have sex? Go for it, gurl. Don’t want to have sex? Also no problem. The title is an apt one and showcases this message of acceptance. We might have bones to pick with our current lifestyles, but welp, we’ll just be serious in our next lives. As one of the characters said at the end, “we all became independent, working adults, I think we should be proud of ourselves”. Much needed affirmation in a world of moralising, slut-shaming, virgin-mocking, and expectations to get married and settle down.

Warning: one of the characters in a bi/gay relationship is pretty vocal in denying his sexuality even in front of his partner, and a trans woman was harrassed at one point. These were discomfiting for me.

3. The Fiery Priest

k-drama, 40 episodes, each 1/2 an hour long (or 20 hour-long episodes)

Action. Comedy. Kim Nam Gil, who won the Baeksang for this role. Honey Lee. Badass babe. Ahn Chang Hwan, who was so realistic at playing a Thai immigrant my friend who studied Korean for three years didn’t even realise he was Korean. Father Han. One reviewer said he was a literal angel, and I concur. Most dramas leave you with at most three or four characters you really like; this drama makes you fall in love with the whole gang. Everyone has a backstory, or some hidden side that you didn’t expect that just adds so much more dimension when revealed. Where some might find it hard to balance the weight of action and the levity of comedy, dipping too deeply into angst or farce at times, The Fiery Priest manages the tone really well even as the plot deepens and our characters have to deal with deep-seated traumas. I have nothing more to say to promote this drama except, how could you pass on Kim Nam Gil doing action plus comedy MINUS tragedy and the moustache?

A final note: Technically, The Fiery Priest is a stronger drama than Raise and should deserve the no. 2 spot. The former deals with bigger issues like corruption, morality and forgiveness, while the latter is more light-hearted and deals almost entirely with personal choices. However, some issues Raise touched on were really important to me and came at a time when I really needed affirmation to believe in my beliefs, so it edged out The Fiery Priest in my heart.

4. 传闻中的陈芊芊 (The Romance of Tiger and Rose)

c-drama, 22 episodes, each about 45 minutes long

甜。This drama is just Sweet with a capital S. What a refreshing watch, especially for women. I loved not having tugging battles between two men. I loved the respect given to consent. I loved having so many smart and capable women who have conversations with each other that do not revolve around men. I love how the male lead wasn’t hung up on Male Ego and gave his wife space to be herself and make her own decisions and mistakes. A rare gem. I’m sure I will revisit this when I’m tired of the usual ドキドキ tactics involving possession and pulling around

(If you can read Chinese, I suggest watching it on the 腾讯视频 app with 弹幕 on. I found it pretty hilarious, meaning I laugh-cried so hard in the middle of the night my neighbour knocked on my door to ask if I was ok.)

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

A quick rundown of the dramas and films I’ve watched so far in 2020 so you know the pool I picked these four from:

Penguin Highway

good watch. super cute. I cannot over-emphasise how cute the penguins were. It got me into a penguin phase and I’m not out of it even after 7 months...

ぼくは明日、昨日のきみとデートする (My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday)

good watch. bittersweet.

わたしに××しなさい！(Watashi ni XX Shinasai/Missions of Love) movie and drama special

would pass on the movie (which cherry-picked from the manga but unfortunately left out a lot of important character developing scenes so the relationship didn’t make as much sense as it did in the manga)

but the drama special. Whew. I watched the drama special twice. It’s trashy good. Because it’s basically a spin-off to build hype for the movie, it doesn’t have to follow the plot of the manga, instead taking on the format of a (very cheesy) otome game. So you have all these ikemen saying clichéd toe-curling lines like “I am also a man you know” and getting stuck half-naked bReAthInG HeAviLy in cabinets together but instead of playing it seriously (as the movie would do because it’s supposed to make you feel like they are falling in love), the main character goes huh??? wtf are you saying?? at her otome game screen, which is so realistic and just cracks me up. definitely would rec.

ごめんね青春！(Gomen ne Seishun/ Saving my Stupid Youth)

hmmm. so-so? Leading lady Hikari Mitsushima is pretty, cool, and fits the bill of gap moe. Ryo Nishikido is also pretty believable (once you suspend your disbelief that somehow all his students think he looks dorky and are not gushing over his ikemen-ness). Unfortunately, relationship development between the otp happened too late and too suddenly.

Он – драко́н (On Drakon/ He’s a Dragon/ I Am Dragon)

a pleasure to (re-)watch as always. Lovely visuals.

Tokyo Ghoul: S

decent! Great performance from Shota Matsuda as the Gourmet. He’s definitely a draw-point for this movie - you can see him being featured heavily in the trailers.

Strong Girl Do Bong Soon

great drama, would rec! 7-8/10. Points docked for all the digressing they did with monks and gangsters. I loved the otp’s dynamic, how healthy their relationship was. One line that struck me was, “Do you know how you’ve found the right person? When you see yourself in their eyes, you look happy”. It was a reminder that while these are obviously fictional characters, we can and should form relationships where our partners are as supportive of us (and us of them) as our dear otp, and not to settle for less. Also loved the fact that smol Bong Soon is so strong and no one can manhandle her >:-) 10/10 also to rookie actor Jang Mi Kwan, who was absolutely terrifying as the villain. How is he only a rookie??

Because This is my First Life

see above

The Fiery Priest

see above

선덕여왕 (Great Queen Seon Deok)

hehe I watched it (again). As great as ever. Somehow cried more than I did the previous two times I watched it? Took me a week to get over one of the characters (even though I already went through all that heartbreak the first two times I watched this..) Sayang... Definitely has a special place in my heart. Available in full on youtube with subs.

传闻中的陈芊芊 (Romance of Tiger and Rose)

see above

来世はちゃんとします (Raise de wa Chanto Shimasu)

see above

覆面系ノイズ (Fukumenkei Noise/Anonymous Noise)

pretty good! Adapted from a manga but very film-like with its color-corrected shots, many cut-scenes to birds and crashing waves. Shison Jun was great in his intense scene, Ayami Nakajo has the most manga-looking face I’ve seen and Koseki Yuta is my bb as always hahaha he’s appeared in, like, four dramas on this list.

博多弁の女の子はかわいいと思いませんか？(Don’t You Think Girls Who Talk in Hakata Dialect Are Cute?)

YES!! I DO!! Wholesome drama packed to the brim with hometown (Hakata) pride). I also loved Okada Kenshi going around looking for Ramen shops hahaha. Now I want to see him host a food discovery show. 8/10. Would rec!

帝一の國 (Teiichi no Kuni/Teiichi’s Country)

面白い。Interesting watch! In which a bunch of high school boys in an elite school take their student council elections very seriously and attempts at political hijinks ensue. Suda Masaki and his pals somehow make over-the-top super seem natural. I don’t know how they do it, but it’s pretty good. Peppered with interesting reveals and counter-reveals along the way.

男子高校生の日常 (Daily Lives of High School Boys)

I liked this! It delivers on what it’s supposed to. As a film, it is very film-like. The background is given a lot of weight in this film, and the director “shows, not tells”. The conversations of our characters are situated in the chatter of their schoolmates, you hear random snippets of conversations drift around, you see the school situated in the mountains, piles of decorations around the hall. This helps in conveying the “daily” nature of what happens in the film - not some life-changing adventure, but a warm high-school memory that is pretty like a paper star in a glass bottle. The boys are also very lovable and dorky in their high-school roles.

ピーチガール (Peach Girl)

not bad. Typical shoujo manga adaptation storyline, even if the leading quartet do well in their roles. Nagano Mei was especially memorable for me out of the typical shoujo heroine roles I had previously seen her in. Inoo Kei also really looks like a boy from a manga. He has a lot of exaggerated actions, but he pulls them off really well.

突然ですが明日結婚します (Totsuzen desu ga ashita kekkon shimasu/ It’s Sudden But Tomorrow We’re Getting Married/ Everyone’s Getting Married)

pretty decent. It’s not mind-blowing, but it’s definitely not bad. (Or you could flip it around and say it’s definitely not bad, but it’s not mind-blowing).

ヲタクに恋は難しい (Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku)

disappointing. I really wanted to like this film for Takahata Mitsuki and Yamazaki Kento, but there were too many useless musical scenes.

同期の桜 (Doki no Sakura / Our Dearest Sakura)

Hmmmmmm. About colleagues who become inspired in their work and lives because of their colleague Sakura. I wanted more love but that’s not the main point of the drama so it’s not their fault. It got a bit repetitive towards the end, and I felt there wasn’t enough character development. Another drama I really wanted to like more than I did, because I was looking forward to seeing Takahata Mitsuki, Ryusei Ryo and Mackenyu work together.

Tokyo Coin Laundry

A mishmash of lost souls meet at a coin laundry. A short drama about running away, making choices, and moving on. Katayose Ryota might have been cool in My Brother Loves Me Too Much, but this was where I first saw him and I prefer him in this. I enjoyed this a lot and even drew a postcard based on this. 7/10.

兄に愛されすぎて困ってます (My Brother Loves Me Too Much) drama and movie

ok don’t judge; I watched this because my friend said it was pretty good. Katayose Ryota IS pretty cool in this, and Tsuchiya Tao brings to life the quintessential image of the Japanese girl, but if you’re watching this for “so cheesy it’s actually good” I would point you to the Watashi ni XX Shinasai drama special instead. If you do want to watch this though, you should watch the drama before the movie, because they are not standalone.

Nodame Cantabile

What can I say? Classics are classics. 8/10, would rec. This is my first time seeing Ueno Juri acting, and she’s so believable as quirky Nodame I wondered if this was her actual personality. Straight out of a manga. There was potential for messy love-drama, but this drama took the high road and focused on proper character development instead. Thumbs up! They also did really well in “showing not telling” us the OTP’s relationship development. Rather than declarations of love, you can see it in the little caring gestures and almost subconscious smiles. I liked that too. Though maybe I’ll dock a point for how they treated gay expressions of love - “he’s a man you know” and icky faces - and how much casual manhandling there was against Nodame (exaggerated flying punches... maybe that’s how the manga wrote it?)

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multsicorn · 6 years

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stanley cup coming out thoughts

[possibly up for revision! who knows. if not, we can ~agree to disagree.]

But I can’t seem to accept or believe that Bitty has an obligation to come out to his parents before he comes out to the world, or that Jack has an obligation to tell his team, his agent, etc., that he’s going to come out now before he does.

It would be nice, it would be probably helpful, it might possibly avert negative reactions of all sorts... these things are absolutely true, and I’m up for diving into them fictionally!

Whether it’s Suzanne being hurt that Bitty’s been hiding this from her, and guilting Bitty about it, making the issue into ‘didn’t you know you could trust me, am I a bad mother.’ - Which I think is in-universe the most likely thing to happen, though it’ll be glossed over super quickly if present at all on screen.

Or whether it’s George going ‘I was mad last night, but now I’ve moved on to being disappointed, you do realize that by doing this without talking to anyone you’ve made the fallout on everyone many times harder.’ And Jack feeling like this is unfair, but the rest of the locker room having mixed feelings.

But the point is that - one of my favorite things to think about in relation to omgcp has always been, just because you might need something from somebody, doesn’t mean they have to give it to you. (er, this is mostly in relation to jack/parse, but the principle applies everywhere.) Bitty and Jack coming out like this might hurt some people and frustrate others, people they care about, even, but it’s still.. their lives. Their choice.

re: this being objectively a terrible time and place to come out.

For Bitty, that’s almost entirely about his parents not knowing yet, right, but he’s been wanting them to know, and hasn’t been able to tell them. Coming out like this is so much more doable, probably, than doing it directly to them in any way... and it shouldn’t lastingly affect the type or degree of supportiveness (or lack thereof) they give him.

For Jack: either he comes out sometime or he comes out never. (I would bet strongly that before he fell for Bitty, he wasn’t planning on coming out till after it wouldn’t be too big a deal. Which means, maybe, ever). But if he’s in love, in this committed relationship, then either he’s in the closet and he’s looking over his shoulder all the time to see whether he might be poking a toe out by accident, or... he comes out, and has to get shit from other teams, referees, media, whatever part of ~the whole world~ he sees... but at least he’s not terrified of being accidentally (or maliciously!) outed, anymore.

So! If he were to come out, what better time than when he’s proved all the doubters wrong? If he can win the Stanley Cup, he proves that he really belongs, there’s no doubt, etc. And he already has an A as the rookie, and he got the game winning goal, and the Conn Smythe!, and the Cup, like... if there’s one moment when he’s on top of the hockey world, it’s here and now, there and then. What better time to say, ‘oh, and also, I love my boyfriend, so if you have a problem with that, f you.’

(I DID NOTICE by the way and I’ve been predicting that this would happen since forever - that Jack came out to the world by saying, or, actually, by demonstrating, that he has a boyfriend, not by ID-ing himself out loud as either bi or gay. I suspect that he’s never going to label himself onscreen in the comic, and this reluctance is interesting to me.... /sorry, tangent over.)

So, it would seem to me like a GREAT time for Jack to come out, save the factor of not giving his team or agent any fucking warning, which he should’ve done, but I bet he was probably too full of complicated fears, and I get that, and, further, it’d be just as true at any other time... I’m not sure how ‘planning’ would be s’posed to help, anyway. The league, the media, hockey fandom, etc., is gonna have just as much homophobia in it no matter what he and/or his team do!

EXCEPT, there’s this thing about hockey culture. (I gather from reading and osmosis - I don’t know that much about hockey!) You’re not supposed to “draw attention to yourself.” ... Here, I just googled “hockey” “draw attention to yourself,” and look at this quote from The Hockey News. 2015:

As for why no NHL players have come out yet, [Patrick] Burke [founder of You Can Play] believes it’s more a hockey culture issue – the team is always more important than the individual and you never want to draw attention to yourself – than anything to do with fear of acceptance. “There are a lot of people who know ‘out’ retired players,” he said. “Those players just don’t want to do a newspaper article on it. I mean, we’ve had players criticized for high-fiving too exuberantly.”

*screams quietly*

FIRST OF ALL, (unless there’s more than one such incident), those players who were criticized for high-fiving ~wrong~ were P. K. Subban and Carey Price. (Their personal celly was banned by their team, the Habs, it was crazy!) It is... not a coincidence, surely, that these are two of the biggest PoC stars in hockey, which is numerically an overwhelmingly white sport. So... when it says ‘don’t stick out, fit in,’ it really means it, so much more so, if you’re not white.

Or if you’re marginalized along some other axis. (You already ~don’t fit in!~) Which, of course, everyone now knows Jack is...

To me it seems ridiculous, outrageous, that coming out would be bad cause it’s ‘taking attention away’ from the rest of your team. No one would want all that sort of attention; it’s not their fault they would get it...! But I’m not immersed in ~hockey culture.~

Where people would absolutely say ‘just like a -’ (well, I don’t want to write the rest of that sentence, but you know), ‘gotta be the center of attention all the time, can’t let ordinary people alone,’ and then some really gross sex metaphors., (and okay, i am making myself feel sick now, but, that is the world!)

And so you’ve got... I don’t even know WHAT sort of situation, where of course George and Marty and Thirdy and them are frustrated cause Jack gave them no cues as to what to say or do in this scenario, there’s no coordination, what interviews do we grant, we all wanted to be off elsewhere enjoying our summers, etc....

But also the press is being REALLY GROSS about Jack’s “selfishness” in making the Falcs’ first-ever Stanley Cup win “all about him” by kissing his boyfriend, cause like, it’s not like EVERY OTHER PLAYER who had one kissed their girlfriends or wives the exact same way.

And JACK, himself, also had a whole arc through the first couple years of the comic, of focusing on his own play to the exclusion of his team’s, epitomized in ‘it was a lucky shot’ and culminating in ‘learning to be a team player.’ ... BUT, that was with the Wellies, not the Falcs. With the Falcs, we’ve seen him again beating himself up over his play in the playoffs, as if it wasn’t a team effort! ... maybe he ‘knows’ better, in some sense, but focusing on things being all about you, a referendum on your inadequacies, even when you should know they’re not, is, in both my experience and my reading, a common issue with anxiety.

(I would bet he takes his anxiety out on other people on the Falcs, the same way he did with Bitty when they first met. That he’s not that great of a team player, off the ice, even though it’s not about this thing, and that there’s some doubts in the room as to whether he’s earned his A.)

And then, THE COMIC, weirdly, though it includes quite a few of the Falcs as named and repeatedly-shown characters, also seems to be treating the Cup as a one-person victory. Jack gets the GWG, and the Conn Smythe, and is the only one we actively see working on and worrying about the games, though we see the others just ~around!? So.... it both adds bits of evidence to ‘boy has a self-centered approach,’ and, seems to justify this because a Jack-centered narrative of the playoffs is ~correct.

(And, I mean, clearly I’m being Jack-centered, when the narrative wants me to be Bitty-centered instead! All sorts of biases and layers going on here.)

I am not sure how to sum all this up. Just - that Jack has totally, demonstrably, been guilty of selfishness vis-a-vis his teams before, and there are bits of reasons to think that he probably hasn’t stopped!, and also that I don’t think, personally, that coming out at that time, in that way, is fair to label as ‘selfish,’ (though it’s a shitty situation for George and the team!) and also, that I bet Don Cherry et. al. are talking about how ‘selfish’ Jack and Bitty are right now in a sickeningly homophobic way. But that doesn’t invalidate any of the earlier clauses in that sentence... it just complicates things. Can you call your teammate out on his self-centered-ness, (like, throughout the playoffs), when that’s blasting from every hockey TV thing? Would you still want to? I sure as hell wouldn’t.

... and what are narratives, #we just don’t know.

#questionable cake #omgcheckplease #I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DOING OTHER THINGS THAN WRITING THIS

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