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#like it’s not a cash grab guys ffs
chemicallady · 6 months
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I'd like to say something at this point.
I'm reading here and there that some of you are changing their vision about Noah or reaching the point to ask yourself if you still want to be a supporter of him because of what that blog said about him.
I believe that what happened between Noah and this person is probably true, I don't have any reason to doubt about her. But.
As we say in Italy, you can't fully believe to a story if you ear just one-side bell. Noah doesn't have the chance to tell his side of the story because he has better things to do than care about gossip. More than that, it's a human being. We have to look at the big picture. I don't want to defend him at all costs, I actually really don't care because untill he will be a decent person in public (not saying bullshit like Ronnie, for instance) and continue to be polite to his supporters, we are cool. I think I'm far older than more than half of the rest of this (sometimes really bad) fandom because I was a teen in the years of the emo wave. You maybe don't know about the Used, early MCR, Radke himself, Oli Sykes before Sempieternal...
They were drugs addicted. Always drunks as skunks. Pissing on people, throwing mic stands in the pit, get FULLY NAKED on stage (I'll never forgot about this, Quinn Allman). They did some awful shit in front of they supporters and to their supporters. Things that nowadays would get them canceled. You have no idea (maybe, or maybe you have) of what was Warped Tour 2005. Or maybe it was 2004? I can't recall.
Bad Omens are TODDLERS compared to this people. Innocent, pure babies. They are nice, extrovert maybe but nice. No one can deny that. They dont do drugs, they dont get drunk on stage or fuck around this supporters. They have an healthy routine in tour, they are teaching people to not fucking fight, they don't fuel fights! Its NORMAL in metal to have a couple of injuries at concerts. Collateral damages. I was nine at my second concert and I saw Slipknot. One dude broke his nose in the pit. Blood everywhere.
It's not a fucking Hannah Montana show. Those dudes are suppose to be badass. Noah is not pretending to be someone else or faking a new personality. He is doing is job and he is delivering pretty good shows. In no time he will grab his crotch around moaning like Oli, give him fucking space to express himself and be feral. Like any other metal artist.
Another thing.
Bad Omens vip experience is not expensive. I don't have interest in buy vip pass for 30 second of nothing, I'd rather wait after the gig is over. I met so many artists this way and usually they are more appreciable if they don't have to move to the next city. BUT the costs is not that high. I bought vip pass for LP once and I had to work 3 months to save enough for it. And I was still living at my parents'!
The merch is high quality, they make new pieces every time.... that's their way to get real cash guys. During a tour you have to pay tons of shit: the venue, flights, hotels, your crew. And you pay in advance most of the time. I don't think they are rich bitches rn. They are doing fine probably but still many of them lives with friends. Having flatmates is many time a signal that you can't afford Ronnie Radke house in Paradise Palisades.
I heard that they weren't really nice during the set in Canada. Maybe Montreal or Toronto. Someone felt bad, someone dropped a surfer I don't know. I didn't follow this I here for dirty smutty ff. If I want to see them play I have tiktok. By the way you have to know that most of the time you can't see shit from stage. Because you have lights in your face pointing your eyes. So probably noah just say a crow surfer falling and thought 'here we go again, this people has no fucking etiquette', and he left the stage. Or maybe who owned the venue asked them to do so in case of emergency.
BTW there is no fucking etiquette at their concerts. I stand with him if he's pissed off about that. It's not that hard to understand that you have to stay at the sides if you're not used to metal shows or you don't want to be pushed. Other people is ruining your experience or maybe its simply not for you. I grew up in the moshpit and that's how we like our shit. We have no time for filming or make tiktoks, we live the moment (we, people who like metal music, I'm not gatekeeping. If you wanna learn how to survive the pit and enjoy the experience just message me.)
So, to sum up.
My point is that every one of us has that friend that was a dick with one or more girls we still love him because we know that he's a weirdo an not a bad person.
My advice is stop being obsessed with Noah and just enjoy his work. You dont know him, you cant tell. Don't believe everything, stories are getting bigger and bigger everytime their are told, and think about the fact that straight guys are mostly jerks. They take more time to mature and act like adults. We know that Noah is in therapy now, he open up about it, so he is aware that he is not perfect.
BECAUSE HE IS NOT. HE IS A HUMAN BEING AND HUMANS MAKE MISTAKES.
That's it.
I don't want to fuel fights as well but please stop being ridiculous and acting like he is insulting you personally. It's fine to be delululu but your pushing the limits.
Peace and love.
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autopotion · 3 months
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*These are not official groupings, just mine.
EARLY (1987-1993)
Mainline games released: I, II, III, IV, V.
Other notable releases: the Legend series, Mystic Quest
Established the formula & series mainstays--job classes, summons, chocobos & moogles, etc.
These games were relatively simple at first, but soon became trailblazers for epic storytelling in RPGs--especially IV (or initially II in North America).
Pixel guys.
Mostly known by their many (many, many) remasters and remakes.
Modern audiences might find their stories rote and their gameplay unnecessarily difficult, but they still enjoy a tiny, vocal fanbase.
GOLDEN (1994-2001)
Mainline games released: VI**, VII, VIII, IX, X.
Other notable releases: Tactics, Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon, Anthology, Chronicles
With the formula established & with the more powerful hardware of fifth- (and later sixth-) generation consoles, FF pushed boundaries and graphical limitations to produce their most ambitious games (and marketing campaigns) yet. You might say they succeeded, for better or worse; Final Fantasy VII is generally considered to be the very first AAA video game.
The era that the majority of the FF fanbase on the Internet is most nostalgic for, a fact that might inspire either your own misty-eyed recollection of the good ol' days, or an overwhelming desire to snap the rose-tinted glasses. Or both.
Saw the first of many (many, many) ports across different systems--in part to give English-speaking audiences access to the early games they missed, but also as blatant cash-grabs.
Modern audiences who have no nostalgia for this era often voice that they find stylized 3D polygons much more difficult to acclimate to than the pixel guys.
**FFVI could arguably fall under the early era. If I'd made this poll fifteen years ago, when the division of fans between VI and VII was much more stark, that's where I would have put it. However, this poll is also about how modern audiences tend to think about their favorite FF games, and FFVI enjoys a nostalgic fanbase on par with those of the other games of the golden era. Search for it on any "best FF games of all time" list and you'll see what I mean.
COMPILATION (2002-2008)
Mainline games released: XI, XII.
Other notable releases: Crystal Chronicles, X-2, Compilation of FFVII (Before Crisis, Crisis Core, Dirge of Cerberus, etc.), FFXII: Revenant Wings, the Tactics Advance series & the War of the Lions remake of the original Tactics, the DS remakes of III & IV, the first Dissidia. (Also of note, though not directly beneath the FF umbrella, was the introduction of Kingdom Hearts.)
The era of sequels, remakes, remasters, crossovers, and extended universes, shepherded by the Square Enix merger. Only two mainline games were released in this period, and the one that was not an MMO was an entry in the newly-formed "Ivalice Alliance" (contrary to the desires of one of XII's principal developers, Yasumi Matsuno, who left the project before it was finished).
While of course we've seen plenty of sequels & remakes since, this era went all-in on expanding Final Fantasy to the behemoth it is now. FFVII, its golden child, was showered with prequels and sequels. Crossovers were all the rage. Even games that were not strictly "Final Fantasy" games were retroactively roped into one of the existing canon masses, i.e. Vagrant Story into the Ivalice Alliance.
This was also the boom of handhelds, like the PSP and the beloved DS. Mainline games were saved for the heavyweight home consoles, while other titles were dispersed across the smaller systems.
Very few "new" worlds with no preexisting ties to the other games (outside of the shared banner of Final Fantasy) were created in this time, XI and Crystal Chronicles being the few exceptions.
If you enjoyed seeing the games you loved from the 90s getting more content, this era was a delight. If you'd rather the original entries were left alone, it was a painful sign of things to come.
EXPERIMENTAL (2009-2015)
Mainline games released: XIII, XIV (twice)
Other notable releases: XIII-2 & Lightning Returns, Type-0 (also a member of XIII's Fabula Nova Crystallis series), Dissidia 012, the Theatrhythm series, the first expansion for XIV (Heavensward), Record Keeper, Brave Exvius
FF's darkest era. XIII was the first time FF tried something new since XI--brand new world, female protagonist, fresh spin on the old ATB formula--and it fell just short of catastrophic. XIII and its sequels were not well-received (though whether this negative backlash was "deserved" is another story). The game that would later become XV was originally intended to be Versus XIII, an entry in Fabula Nova Crystallis. Between XIII's poor reception and Versus XIII's fraught development, this didn't happen.
The initial release of XIV, on the other hand, was catastrophic. It was so bad that the entire thing had to be rebooted.
The good news is XIV's reboot, A Realm Reborn, did so well that XIV is widely considered one of the best MMOs of all time. The reboot is also one of the earliest examples of video game "rehabilitation," in that a dramatic change or update to the original game transforms a negative experience into a positive one, and thus scrapes back the good will of the player. (No Man's Sky is a non-FF example.)
The virulent criticism of XIII has softened over the years, and it enjoys a small, dedicated fanbase.
You started to see FF dip into mobile games at this point, too.
MODERN (2016-2023)
Mainline games released: XV, XVI
Other notable releases: World of Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, Dissidia NT, Dissidia Opera Omnia, Final Fantasy VII Remake, the pixel remasters of I-VI, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Reunion, Crisis Core: Reunion, a slew of expansions for XIV
The long-anticipated release of XV heralded a new age (as well as a movie and an anime). In contrast to XIII, XV was very popular, and put FF back on the map. People loved the boys' road trip.
XIV is still going strong. I don't play MMOs but I'm happy for them.
The remakes & remasters are back, and looking more realistic than ever (if you're into that sort of thing). Look at how many individual pores you can see on your old favorites' faces! The most successful of these is the Final Fantasy VII Remake, which is not a remake as much as it's a conversation with the original game, a move that both drew in a new audience and softened (some of) the diehard og-VII fans who disliked the rest of the Compilation.
Stranger of Paradise is an odd duck attempting to evoke the uncanny valley weirdness of the PS3 era. YMMV on if it worked.
The modern FF games step further out of the boundaries of what an FF game is, dropping ATB combat in favor of real-time action that's all the rage these days. In a first, XVI doesn't have any party members. For the folks who've grown tired of ATB and crave the fast-paced action of the modern day, XVI was a hit (though, I've heard, it failed to deliver on the story).
The endless conversation about whether FF ought to be evolving this far outside of its "formula" (whatever one believes that to be) might feel tired to the average FF fan. But, going forward, it's worth talking about the ways in which FF has neglected to evolve, or even gone backwards: such as the dev team of XV stating that the inclusion of women would cause their core bros to act unnaturally, thus why there are no female party members in the game, or the dev team of XVI deliberately not including a diverse cast because their fantasy game is inspired by medieval Europe.
Tell me which era you voted for in the tags, and what your personal favorite FF game is!
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snowddeong · 2 months
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Already had an idk how long hour rant session with Sarah about this shit but I'm still so annoyed so part 2 lmao
It's so profoundly frustrating and discouraging how itzy continues to be mistreated in every fucking facet you can imagine for the sin of literally being successful, talented women.
They're literally div 2's bottom line but the company acts like they're doing the girls a favour by even posting about their cbs on the accs that were literally made to promote itzy. We are just now getting some semblance of tiktok freedom 5 years into their career meanwhile idols that debuted after them have their own instagrams and their juniors in the same company have more freedom on all sorts of socials. We've confirmed that div 2 flubs so many of their opportunities for who knows what fucking reason after what happened with the CK Yeji event. And most importantly everything to do with Jisu — never fucking protecting her in any way, overwork, stifling her and the other girls' creativity, not utilising her voice well and every other fucking stupid thing they've done that's definitely made what she's going through so much worse. The girls are a cash grab to that fucking company (to the point we literally first learned about the cb and tour in the same post that was announcing Jisu's diagnosis) and they're not even allowed to express any frustration or sadness over that because "that's not professional" and they'd probably lose everything they've worked so hard for.
If they look sad you're not supposed to acknowledge to it or sympathise with it or treat them as human beings because it's "funny" to joke about how they want to get off work and anyway they're idols who gives af about idols anyway right? So called midzys are more concerned about making unfunny jokes than actually getting to know these girls. Every mf will say "ot5" then turn around and straight up hating certain members. Dehumanisation has become so fucking normalised in midzyville but then mfs will act surprised that the company gets away with this very obvious exploitation and mistreatment. If you view these human beings as a product that you can say whatever tf you want about on sites that you know they frequent because "it's just a joke lol" ofc the mfs presenting them as a product are going to benefit from it 😭
Then you have fuckass bitchass shitstain mnet and their hate boner for itzy. The largest number of most viewed videos on choom, the first choom performance to get more than 50 million views that's still consistently gaining more and more views, the first mix and max vid to get 50 million that's also still gaining views and gagged the kpop space so hard that Bebe Rexah released a korean specific version of break my heart myself and performed at fucking kcon because of Ryujin and Yeji, and their MAMA 2021 being the most iconic performance of that night (to the point that mnet decided to call back to it again last year mind you). You'd think wow hey these guys get us views let's be nice to them and keep them around.... but nah, deleted their iconic fucking performance that gave their boring award show relevance, deleted their debut stage, don't invite them to choom anymore, didn't even send ryeji their trophy or record something for Yeji when she got hers and then the bullshit that went on today lmao. Like it's so fucking obvious and you have to wonder WHY ffs
I have nothing against the group that won even though some of their stans are the most disgusting scum of the earth but like surely.... the numbers did not make sense. Even if you say itzy's digital points were too high okay fine that's just affirming that mnet isn't very honest with their numbers. They deleted itzy's untouchable stage for who knows what fucking reason then uploaded it later with reset views. How tf am I supposed to believe all this was above board when we've been beating that fandom in voting CONSISTENTLY even if they mobilised fandoms to help okay fine but did they enlist the whole of stantwt or something lmao how tf was the difference that great? Why were the sns scores so fucking weird when itzy untouchable shorts have consistently more views? Why is it "cope" or being a sore loser to call foul play when there's so much pointing to it being that AND mnet has a history of rigging??? The only real answer is it's because this happened to a girl group and specifically because this happened to itzy. They released one song people didn't like and suddenly deserve every terrible that happens to them is deserved and just "midzys complaining about nothing". And when it gets to a point where even the girls seem visibly frustrated and dissapointed? "Nah they just want to go home early lol don't read too much into it don't care"
This is so long and I feel like I could go on forever but tldr I just wish better for them man 🫠 every group is unique and important in their own way but itzy are really once in a lifetime performers. I know there's no such thing as a perfect world where everything goes smoothly especially for girl groups but fuck is it too much to ask for a little respect on their names and for everyone to leave them tf alone at the bare minumum 😭 itzy is the only group under div 2 just fucking do your jobs lmaooo
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soapyghost · 1 year
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The Masked Man Pt.2
A Ghost x Reader FF
CW- Smut, Language, Bj, degradation/praise kinks, bdsm, dom! ghost, sub reader, pretty much anything dirty it gon be in this boi
I stare down at my hand. This is so not real, its not happening. I feel my face turn red with both embarrassment and anger. Who the fuck did this masked military douchebag thing he was? He thinks one little make out session behind a bar was enough to get you to come to his hotel room... I mean he was right, but still. I slip the card back into my pocket and head inside to finish my shift. I go back out front to see if they're still there but the whole group is gone. You go to collect the cash you see on the table and see a note haphazardly scribbled on the bottom of the receipt. Call me it read with a number next to it- and a terribly drawn bar of soap. Must be that John guy. I crumple it up and scoop up the cash, at least they were good tippers.
I finish my shift in a lust filled haze. Was I really about to go to the hotel room of some strange man whose face I had never seen? This is how I get murdered. But I mean if I get some good dick on the way out it might just be worth it. I say my goodbyes to the crew and head out to my car. I shut the door and shudder. I'm really doing this. I head over to the nearby hotel that the key is for and slip in through the back, no way in hell was I going to let the receptionist see me. That would be too much. I take the elevator up to his floor. I wander down the long hallway and finally come upon the room number on the hotel room card.
I can't do this. No. This is too much. I chicken out. I get down on one knee and go to slide the key under the door. Just as my hand passes the key under the door it opens. I gasp as I feel the heat of a body in front of me. I slowly look up and sure enough, its Ghost. I can see a smile in his eyes at the sight of me. "Don't you look pretty on your knees?" he asks in a low growl, almost a whisper. Before I can even stand up to protest he grabs me and lifts me off the ground like I weigh nothing. My head is spinning. He shuts the door with his foot and saunters with me still in his arms over to the bed where he sets me down gently. I try to regain some kind of control over this situation and blurt out "You know I was actually looking for that Soap guy, he left me his number". The second I finish my sentence his hand is on my throat, "Don't you ever say another mans name in my presence" he commands. My eyes widen and I'm sure he can feel me gulp. "I'm going to kill Johnny later" he spits, "Now, where were we?". He flips me off the bed and onto the floor on both my knees and stands up. God he's so tall. I take my time soaking in every inch of the perfect body of Ghost. "I-i don't even know you're name" I stutter as I see him undoing his belt. I almost drool knowing exactly what is going to happen. "Simon. You won't forget it. You'll be screaming it all night" he says has he rips off his belt and undoes the zipper constricting his long hard cock. He grunts as he removes it from his pants, the glisten of precum on it distracting me. I reach out for it and lick the tip ever so lightly. "Someone's eager" he groans, as I stick his head in my mouth savoring the taste.
I spend a few seconds just getting used to the size of him in my mouth, wondering how the fuck I'm going to take this in my mouth let alone my cunt. "Now be a good girl for me" he whispers as he takes me by my hair and jams himself all the way down my throat. I stifle something that's a mix between a scream and a moan. Tears form in the corners of my eyes but God, does it feel so fucking good. I can feel myself becoming a puddle in my panties. I take his long shaft up and down in my throat, finally a use for my lack of gag reflex. I look up at him and his eyes are shot with lust. "Didn't expect that from you baby girl" he grunts as he picks up the pace. I've never been so happy to be throat fucked in my life. I finally started matching his pace when he rips himself away from me. My throat already raw and I notice I'm literally drooling everywhere. I didn't even hear the knock on the door, but apparently he did. He grabs me and shoves me in the corner while putting a finger up to his mask indicating I should be quite. I couldn't help but stifle a giggle. He zips himself up and heads over to the door. He opens it just a crack before I hear John, "Ghost! I heard you talking to someone in here. Did you manage to get that babes number from the bar?" he asks with almost too much interest.
Shit.
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accursedvoid · 3 years
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The entirety of Europe (ft. Australia) when American ‘eurovision’ is announced:
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weaselle · 2 years
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i really really really want a superhero movie or show written and directed in partnership with at least one physicist.
I hate the way they portray super hero powers. Like, idc if your hero shoots big bolts of electricity out of their hands, i’m not going to say that’s impossible, i’m going to suspend my disbelief, but if you tell me it’s electricity and then show them using a bolt of it as a rope to lasso a guy’s leg and trip them I’m gonna be mad. And I have, in fact, seen a show do this.
And super strength? I saw a scene where a guy with super strength catches a helicopter by the bottom skid rail thing and prevents it from taking off, and ffs, it doesn’t matter how strong you are, if you only weigh a couple hundred pounds and you grab ahold of an air craft, it’s going to lift you up with it -- the only thing your super strength is going to do is let you hold on super tight while it super flies away with you.
No matter how invincible you are, if you step in front of a train moving at full speed you do not stop the train. All that happens is your super powers prevent you from dying when you get yeeted away like a ball hit with a bat. To stop the train by hitting it head on, you’d either have to weigh many many tons, or be generating huge amounts of opposing momentum.
And somebody needs to explain how some basic phenomena like explosions and electricity and fire and stuff work. Like, you’re standing in the middle of a raging fire and you’re fire-proof? that’s great, but do you breathe oxygen? because most people who die in fires don’t burn to death, they die of not being able to breathe. And you can’t just make a computer controlled lock open or an ATM spit out cash by zapping them with a big hit of electricity... also, did you just plug earth tech into a never-before-seen alien space ship and have it interface perfectly? No. 
Anyway, super hero movies and tv shows do SO MUCH of this bullshit and I hate it. I want to see what it would actually be like for someone to have super powers, thank you.
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pedritobalmando · 3 years
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La valse à mille temps
Summary :  Benny Miller isn’t just a customer, he is a complex combination you didn’t understand
Pairing : Benny Miller x f!reader
Warnings : everything here is vague because I am a lazy writer, but there are some references to PTSD and injuries
Word count : 2.3k
A/N : This is my first attempt to the writer wednesday, and I wanna thank @autumnleaves1991-blog and @clydesducktape for giving us the opportunity to improve ourselves and be seen !
I haven’t written in a while, my english is bad, and I am so so sorry for this crappy ff. I hope you like my ideas though I am not a really good english writer. Maybe I should write in my maternal language before translating to make it make more sense, idk... You tell me please
{masterlist} {taglist}
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The first time Benny Miller came to the drive-in, he was arm in arm with a gorgeous blond girl and asked for tickets for a horror movie. Typical, you thought. He might have been planning for her to get scared and to lean into him, a perfect plan you had seen in action too many times as you had been working there for quite some months now. You did not know him back then, and he just appeared to be like all of your other customers. Still, more handsome than average. At the exact moment your eyes landed on him, you felt weak, shy and hot at the same time. He was perfect, or at least he seemed to be. His hair was not too dark nor too bright, his eyes looked like a fantasy you could drown in and his smile, his fucking smile he never took off… This smile might have been the thing about him that disconcerted you the most, it never left your mind for 3 whole days before you came back to reality : he had been a customer just like the others, he would never come back, and even if he would, the fact that he was accompanied meant something. A guy like him could never be single. So you just forgot about him, and this little physical crush soon left your heart. Just another handsome customer.
The second time Benny Miller came to the drive-in, it was a month after his first visit, when he was long gone from your mind. But seeing him rekindled everything you had felt a month ago. Because of his smile, this fucking smile that never left him. As he took his tickets, you couldn’t help but notice how good he seemed to be with who you assumed was his girlfriend, as he had brought the same girl as last time. His hand never left her back even as he struggled to pay, and his smile widened as she put her head on his shoulder. You felt a strange hint of jealousy rising in your stomach, which you felt guilty of : as handsome as he was, you didn’t know the guy. Or maybe were you just jealous because you would have also liked to be this genuinely loved by such a gorgeous man ? This day, you heard her say his name : Benny. It turned around in your head for a whole week, along with his smile.
The third time Benny Miller came to the drive-in, he seemed different. Maybe because he indeed was. His lip was cut, and he wore a black eye. Even his cheekbone seemed darker. He didn’t seem too embarrassed or confined by it, though you perceived how is smile was crooked. Anyway, even his girlfriend didn’t look worried about this. So you just let it go, wondering how he’d look the newt time you’d see him.
And that didn’t happen for quite some time as the fourth time Benny Miller came to the drive-in was 2 months then. The first thing you noticed was the girl at his arm. Not the one you used to see him with. Jealousy directly rose in your stomach once again, wondering what he had been up to and imagining how you could have been this new girl.
“Two tickets for Dirty Dancing, please.” Ah, he had changed t strategy, no more going for horror but romance. You gave him his tickets, and never looking back, he left to regain his car.
You saw him only five days after that when he came to the drive-in for the fifth time. You didn’t recognize the girl he was with, and when he asked for 2 tickets for Dirty Dancing, you frowned. “Again ?” You had always had trouble thinking before speaking, liked to think you were a passionate girl and were directed by your instinct. Or maybe were you just dumb.
Benny’s mouth was half opened, surely by surprised. He had come here to see a movie, not get judged. Especially not in front of the girl he was hoping to go back home with tonight. “What ? What does she mean, again ?” Her face was turned to Benny, and the poor truly seemed concerned. You had just made a mistake, and you felt bad about it. As genuine was your crush on this Benny you did not know a thing about except for his name and the movies he came to see, you ddin’t want to put him in awkward situations even though they could result in him being ditch by some girl you wish you were.
“Huh ? Uh, no, no sorry !” Quick, think of something, anything. “I just… You look familiar. But, you know, I see so many faces every night, I get lost. Yeah, yeah that’s it.”
But it didn’t appear as if the girl trusted your last words. You gulped, gave them their tickets, and quickly said goodbye. “Good viewing !”
And if you thought it would be all for the night, and that you’d be cleared until a week or two depending on how well it would have been with that new girl he brought, oh boy you were so wrong. You had just cleaned and close everything and took your bike, ready to leave, when you were caught by surprise by a deep male voice that burned your cheeks. “You ruined my shot tonight.” Your heart skipped a beat as you did not need even just a second to recognize Benny’s voice. He’d been waiting for you, and just to tell you this ? Guess he was a bitter person.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to presume anything, I just… I don’t know, you usually never come to see the same movie twice.” You shrugged and felt the urge to flee, but your legs couldn’t move one bit. Might have been the attraction he was crashing on you, fucking telekinesis powers or whatever.
“You don’t have a car ?” This had nothing to do with the initial subject, but fuck you were glad he changed it. Your eyes fell on your bike and you crinkled your nose.
“I don’t have my license. Trying to save money working here.” You confessed. You did not have the chance to count on your parents money, and wanted to avoid loans as much as possible.
“You work in a drive-in and you can’t drive ?” He laughed.
“Well it’s a drive in and not a I drive you in.”
“Touché.” A few seconds of silence and he finally talked again. “How about I drive you home ?”
“Oh, no.” You shook your head. You didn’t know what took him to ask you that, was it sympathy or pity, but you didn’t want to bother him. “Thank you, but I’ll be fine.” Maybe you just should have taken the opportunity, but as handsome as he looked, and as fast as your heart beat, he was still a stranger.
When Benny Miller came to the drive-in for the sixth time, you felt small. You were still embarrassed by the way you had made his new girl run away, and the fact that he had offered you a ride. But everything about you left your mind when you saw the estate in which he was. Once again, his lip was cut, he had a black eye, and his cheekbone was blue and swelled. But there was more. One of his ears was all red, he limped, and had a bandaged wrist. Benny Miller wasn’t just one of your customers, but you had really no idea who the fuck he was.
“Hey.” He sadly smiled, and you were too disturbed to answer him. “Four tickets for Braveheart, please.” Benny saw the way your eyes were stuck on his wounds, but he preferred not saying a thing about it. He wanted to wait for you to be too curious to finally ask what the fuck was going on with him, even though he wasn’t even sure that day would come. And you didn’t say a word, but you couldn’t stop thinking about it either. Benny Miller was nothing but a complex combination you didn’t understand.
The seventh time he came to the drive-in, he was with a blond guy that looked much like him, and looked way more excited than when he was with any other person. He looked cute, you thought when he greeted you and asked you tickets for a war movie. “On the house.” You found yourself saying without thinking, as he handed you cash. You pinched your lips as soon as the words fell from your mouth, heat rising in your cheeks. The other man chuckled, winked at you and grabbed Benny by the arm before going back to the car. You left a sigh fall when they got out of view, mentally noting to take these two tickets out of your paycheck.
Later that night, when the checkout was closed and you were doing a tour to check if everything was going well, you figured it wasn’t. Benny Miller was sat in a corner, far away from the screen, alone, and his breathe made you frown. It was going unusually quick, and sometimes muffled.
“Hey.” You approached him, unsure about what to say or even how to say it. If he was feeling bad, you didn’t want to worsen things. “Something’s wrong ?”
He lifted his head, and that’s when you noticed the tears that had drown his cheeks. Despite the pain you felt in front of such a scene, you liked the idea that he didn’t feel obliged to hide his suffer. He was crying, and he didn’t care that you could see that. “T’s’okay, thank you.” He murmured, and you felt even more pain from his side.
You decided to sit beside him, he would ask you to go away anyway if that was what he needed. “I know, this movie sucks.”
He laughed, and finally a small hint of joy rose in your stomach. “Yeah, I guess it does.”
“Wanna talk about it ?”
“Not that much, no.”
You hummed in response, wondering what had happened for him to feel this bad, but said nothing more. In fact, you two stayed there, sitting beside one another, in pure silence, until the blond tall guy he came with finally arrived. He took his hand, lifted him, and after a simple “thank you”, he was gone.
The eighth time Benny Miller came to the drive-in, you had just closed it, key still on the lock of the checkout when he greeted you and you screamed by surprise. “You’re a little late, Benny.”
“I never told you my name.” He cocked one of his brows.
You just shrugged. “Heard it from some girl you came here with. Why you here ?”
“Reflex !” He laughed when throwing you something.
It’s only when you catch it that you discovered it was keys. Car keys ? “Okay, and…?”
“We’re going for a ride. You’re driving.”
“I told you I don’t have my license.” Or did he want you both killed ?
“I’ll teach you. We stay here, in the parking lot, and I show you some things. You in ?”
“Fuck yeah I’m in !” You laughed. You didn’t know how he had figured you hated riding that stupid bike, maybe a hint of deception in your eyes when you had first confessed to him you couldn’t drive, or a stroke of luck.
The ninth time Benny came to the drive-in, he showed up a few before closing time and seemed a little out of himself. Limper, weaker, and full of wounds. Again. He talked with you about small nothings until it was time to close, and offered his help. You tried to say no, but gave in when he insisted : you didn’t really want him to go, so as he pleased.
That was the time when Benny Miller went from stranger to friend. In his tiredness, you thought, he had started to confess a little too much things. His past in the army, how he knew he wasn’t stable but couldn’t do anything about it though he had tried, the nightmares that could never leave his fucking brain, the sounds of shooting and view of blood, the heart he put in MMA as he thought violence was the only answer, or how getting punched felt like a revenge from life for all the bad he had done under orders, how he deserved physical pain just as much as mental one, his brother who helped others in need when he could not even help himself, his friend Pope who could never seem to stop as if doing so would stop putting a meaning to his life, his friend Frankie that he loved to death but was afraid of becoming in the future, all those girls he flirted with because he was too scared to be alone and have no one to support him. You listened to every word he had to say, proud of the trust in you he had and stressed by all those feelings he put on your shoulders. Benny Miller was more than just a customer.
The tenth time Benny Miller came to the drive-in never happened, because he never came. He was gone, leaving you with just memories of him and bribes of conversation that went wild in your head. Maybe he had never been real, maybe was he just a ghost that you crossed path with.  Maybe as he so scared of his own person that he didn’t want you to feel responsible for who he was, after everything he told you. Or maybe he thought that after knowing the truth you would never want to see him again. Oh how wrong he was. Because Benny Miller was not just a customer. And that was why the tenth time he didn’t come to the drive-in would be the first time you would come to one of his fights. Because this wasn’t over, because Benny Miller wasn’t just Benny Miller.
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ringmyheart · 3 years
Note
Hey was wondering if I could get something for lookism characters with an older s/o, like they're 3-4 older. Please do goo, Jake kim and Scott kwon.
Good luck with the blog🤩🤩🤩
Goo Kim
When you get into the relationship, of course he knows ur age and that you’re a few years older than him, and at first he doesn’t mention it but once ur like just a little bit closer he’s probably gonna poke fun at the fact
Because there’s nothing wrong w u being older it’s just that in all the stereotypical or general movies or shows or books it’s like the older person in the relationship is usually the like stronger or more providing person ends up being the oldest in the relationship and ur not useless in the relationship at all but he’s out there like killing ppl and raking in thousands a day at like 19 😭
If ur walking around in public and someone stares at u for a little longer or one of the ten geniuses is looking at u just casually he’ll get up in their face and b like “whaaat?! Do you know who you’re staring at? That’s your elder over there!! Show some respect!!”
He definitely sends u cringy texts like “how’s my favorite 21 year old 😍😍😍😍” and it’s clearly somewhat condescending but he means it endearingly simultaneously
If u don’t know something that he asks u he’ll raise a brow and go “really? A four year head start and u can’t tell me that 🤨” and it’s all good fun but he’s always gonna say stuff like that
And this is all unprompted, if he knows ur actually kinda like insecure for whatever reason that ur older than him, maybe bc he’s already getting cash like crazy at his age, he’ll either start making fun of u relentlessly OR if ur serious about it he’ll cut it out of course and never mention it again. He might try to make u feel better by being like “don’t worry!! Physically and mentally im probably years older than you 😘” and it doesn’t really make u feel better probably but he kind of tries
It’s honestly no big deal to him what ur age is, but if he knows u don’t like him mentioning it so much he will bc he likes to be annoying LMAO and whenever u accomplish something he’ll be like “did u see what my s/o did?! My 21/22yr old s/o?! At their old age they’re still kicking it!!” And ur in NO means old but he just wants to strike a nerve in u and fight in public for fun
But when u put him joking about it aside, it really doesn’t mean anything in the relationship honestly. He doesn’t feel like there’s a certain way for things to go nd just goes about things normally, and he doesn’t really see people older than him as wiser or anytning so he’s not gonna like go to you for advice or ask you to figure things out for him just bc ur older
And honestly u don’t even need a job anymore bc ur gonna b together for a long time and he makes SOOO much money so if u hate ur job or college u have the opportunity to do what u want in life without worrying ab the pay bc he makes it all for u
And yeah he’s pretty stingy w money besides being filthy rich but when or if u need it he’ll give it to u ofc and he wants u to pursue what u like too so he’ll even go to ur job or college and just inform them “btw (y/n) isn’t gonna work here anymore” for u and gets u a job as whatever u want. He beats up ur boss so u can get promoted or something but if u ask about it he’ll deny it anyways and it’s like who else would beat tf out of my boss and he shrugs
Or if u like ur current job or college he’ll threaten the school or ur boss LMAO and have them give u more money or make u pay less or promote u
Even tho ur older than him he sees himself as the like leader of u two ?? Like he’s a really joke-y guy on the exterior but behind the scenes he is doing all the like hard stuff so u don’t have to. Like he sees it as he helps u and if u never offer much help or advice he doesn’t gaf, it’s like he helps u and in return he gets u LMAO
If u like ur job or college, don’t wanna quit and don’t want him threatening ur superiors he is like the number one customer of u guys
Like if u r working retail or as a cashier he is always going to that store nd buying stuff nd funding ur business and he gets chairman choi to do so too
Or he’ll just buy ur company or college LMFAO and suddenly sales r booming and u don’t know why r ur classes r so much easier
Yeah ur older than him and the twelve geniuses but he doesn’t let u near them 😐 he doesn’t want u to be a part of that type of business and honestly keeps u away from it besides maybe gun bc he’s always around him but that’s it
Like he doesn’t want u anywhere near his business or that type of stuff and if ur curios about it he says “u will understand when ur my age” or something LMAO so u will stop asking. It’s like the 1 time he’s suddenly rlly serious
If anyone else mentions how ur older than him in a demeaning way he’ll def be mad it’s like HE can make fun of u but no one else can, like ever. He will fight them nd win even if it’s just on the street or something
He’s threatened like two of ur friends behind ur back bc they made fun of u once and u mentioned it LMAO
He makes u do taxes (does he even do taxes ????? LMFAO) but if he does he makes u do them bc suddenly he thinks ur so much smarter and wiser
If he’s in a rut and needs ur help and it’s something dumb like he lost something he’ll b like “cmooon ur so much smarter than me 😣😩 ur like 21 u would know this for sure” to make u do it and he uses flattery
None of the ten geniuses know ur name bc he’s tryna keep u safe lol
If ur ever in a situation somehow vaguely similar to one he’s in and he needs help on it he’ll ask u what u did, and if u say something surprisingly smart or wise he’ll be kinda surprised bc I feel like he’s cocky and doesn’t think others can help him that much but u do
But overall, it means nothing to him and it doesn’t matter how much older u r he’s still gonna feel like the protector
Jake Kim
It REALLY means nothing to him. Like he honestly never mentions it and ur like does he even know??? Bc a guy like him who’s like a leader of a whole enterprise type thing gang usually seems like he’d wanna be the elder in a relationship so ur like “... u know I’m like 4yrs older than u right?”
And he’s like “...yeah? Was that important or something?” And just blinks at u so ur like ... never mind
Honestly he probably makes u a bank account and puts money in it to surprise u on ur birthday or something like a little fund thing and he has a bank account on the side for u that has like thousands of dollars
If u ever feel bad or weird that ur older than him bc he is so successful and younger than u, he wonders why it even matters??? Who gaf??? And he’ll just hug u or something and is like pls don’t even worry about that... wth
If u ever feel petty bc he’s so much more successful than u bc it’s like when u have a hobby that u love and then a kid ends up being so much better at it than u but SO much worse bc he has like millions at like 19 💀 then he’s like okay but it’s OUR little enterprise now since we r together to assure u. He’s not cocky about it at all
But he won’t offer for u to join or try and help him out in making money even if he’s got to or it’s vital bc he also doesn’t want u involved w Big Deal at ALLLLLLL either, u could literally b like the smartest person in the world but once ur his s/o he probably doesn’t want u involved in his business at all
He does assume ur kind of wiser than him bc of ur age, so he’ll ask u for help or advice more often
Tbh regardless in a relationship he probably doesn’t leave any work for u to do like he does everything the financial stuff the living stuff everything so it doesn’t matter if ur older than him or if u see it as ur responsibility bc of that he’s still gonna bring in the money for y’all
Like he’s gonna take care of everything even if ur older so there’s no pressure for u to “act ur age”
Never brings up the fact that ur older than him, but maybe once in a fight it got bad and he yelled “ffs ur 21 u should know better than this!!” And that hurt ur feelings or something so from then on he just never ever mentioned it
And when others mention it he makes a cut throat motion like “stfu😡” bc he took it as u not liking ur age being brought up rather than u not liking it being held against u but it’s still kinda sweet how he tries to preserve ur feelings sm
If ur in college or something, he tries to help u w hw and stuff and he’s rlly educationally smart I think like he might’ve gotten bad grades but he understands quickly
And eventually he’s just doing ur hw for u LMAO
One time he probably accidentally wrote “Jake Kim” on the top of ur hw and u had to explain to ur professor why that happened
If u work, he probably also bribes ur boss or something to give u a raise and promotion or if u wanna move jobs but r scared of the low pay he feels like it’s a dumb fear bc he is clearly rich af, like u probably don’t even need a job 😭😭
Ur allowed to since ur in ur 20s legally but he doesn’t like or doesn’t let u go around casinos bc he’s seen firsthand how bad gambling is and he has the money to compensate if u ever get into gambling and lose a lot but he just doesn’t want u to feel guilty or get addicted
Like if u pass a casino and wanna go in and r like hey wanna check it out he just grabs ur hand and keeps walking and is like “let’s not” and probably asks u at one point to pls not get into gambling
If ur kinda petty bc he’s so much better at fighting than u despite being younger he’s like u don’t even need to fight I can literally do that for u???? Bc he feels like the only reason U would ever need to fight is to protect urself so if u wanna do it for fun he’ll teach u but doesn’t take it that srsly
He maybe made like one joke ab ur age or sent u a meme he saw ab relationships but u left him on read and it was just a bad joke or something but yeah overall he really refrains from bringing up ur age like ever 😭😭
He thinks ur insecure bc ur getting older or something and that’s y so he might start going like “looking youthful today 😀👍” every morning to u and ur like oh hehe thanks ????????
If someone else ever voices that they think it’s weird ur older than him he’ll fight them too like first he’ll go “(y/n), is this ur friend ?” Like he did w jiho and if ur like no he’s like oh :)) and then punches them or something
Doesn’t tell u stuff ab his business and ur like I’m 20-23 I can handle it and he just refuses anyways and will leave u in the dark bc yk won’t even risk it
Someone in Big Deal might be like “use ur s/o to help us work nd get money since they’re old they seem professional” he kicked them out immediately ur not touching that shit
But generally, he doesn’t care about it at all, and honestly just cares ab u and not ur age
Scott Kwon
He definitely uses u to get into places only ppl 20+ can enter LMAOO
He’ll have u walk in first and then slip in past u and if he gets caught he grabs u and goes “THIS is my s/o!!! They’re clearly of age, and I’m their s/o so clearly I am of age too 😤😤”
Ur banned from like 50 bars because of this like there’s a little “if these two come and ask u to enter their bar DO NOT LET THEM ENTER!!” Wall for y’all
He might try and hide in ur coat or something to get in but it never works
He definitely makes fun of ur age in a cocky way like haha... an older person wanted to get with ME. Little old me. And he feels like hot stuff bc of it for sure
Brags about it a lot like will take out ur photo and goes “u see this?? My s/o?? Yeah they’re in love w me and THREE YRS OLDER... hold ur applause guys” and it boosts his ego sm
He sends u scarily recent memes or jokes on the internet ab older s/o’s if there r any, and eventually when u go on his Instagram at least 1/3rd of his feed is just ageist jokes
If it really hurts ur feelings, he won’t tell any jokes ab it and won’t mention it ever again but will continue to utilize ur age to do things he can’t at age 18-19
He feels proud that he’s making sm money and is such a good fighter despite being younger than u bc he feels like it makes u look up to him so he’ll boast about it like he’ll punch something and go see that babe????? I can do that and I’m only 19!!! And ur like omg that’s so cooollll!!!!! <3 and his heart just swells
Pays for anything u want like buys u everything u ask for or just look at tbh, and also feels like u have no responsibility just bc ur older and seees himself as like the “leader” if the relationship and has a sense of duty to helping u and everything
Steers u away from trouble ASAP too it doesn’t matter if u can hold off on ur own, if he sees guys that just look mean he and u r walking the other way and ur like bro what?? And he just lies and is like I liked the sunset this direction or smmn and he doesn’t confide in u ab scary things
Bc yeah u can probably handle scary or threatening news but he’s not gna risk it regardless
If he’s rlly stressed ab something that can’t endanger u he won’t tell u that much ab it but might vaguely describe his predicament and looks to u for help and comfort and u just listen and he feels so much better afterwards and he’s telling u all this and ur just like mhm uh-huh :) and so he starts confiding in u more
But ruins it by going like “damn old ppl r good listeners 😆” and ur like STOPPPPPPP
Everyone in God Dog knows ur name age face and occupation bc he’s always talking ab u LMAO
When he was younger and didn’t have that much leniency with the law he made u his legal guardian so he can do what he wants and he tries to use u to get him to do stuf by pointing to u and going “they’re my legal guardian and they say I can drink all this!!” And ur like “no I absolutely do not???!!!!!” And he thought by doing that he’d get anytning but u prioritize his health 🙄 and he’s annoyed but secretly loves it and loves u doting on him nd worrying ab him and his well-being lol
In general, he rlly doesn’t care that ur older than him. His only big concern I. A relationship ever is how he can keep u safe bc he’s in pretty like tough stuff, and he’ll make fun of u but in all good fun and loves u sm
Thank you for the request, and thanks for the wish of luck <3 I’ll the my best w this blog!! I’m not that good at writing for Jake Kim, btw, because his character can kinda confuse me sometimes but he seems to be popular so I hope I get more requests of him so I can get his character down and write him properly. 💘I hope this was what u wanted 😭
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zuffer-weird-girl · 3 years
Text
Hauting existence (Chapter one)
Summary: She lived with a negletful life, choosing one way to survive this despicable kind of life, disowing her own name to something she decided to take as her own name,  “ Tsuyoi”, meaning of strenght. So this way she could at least have someone to count on, herself. While him had the good luck, born on a hateful and abusive familybut adopted by a kind yet strict agricultor... raised with morals.
Funny thing how these two actually manage to know each other
Chisaki Kai x reader
Warnings: I will see only if the feedback of this fic is good to continue, if not oh well that’s life. It contains beating, mental and physical abuse, curse words, prostitution, sexual assaultt and rape... need I say no more?
either way, enjoy.
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You closed the door of the man’s car with a laugh. Winking at him as he cursed under his breath at receiving a call from a woman, probably from his wifem you didn’t doubt it.
“Best reply your sweatheart~!” You giggled at his desperation as he drove the car far away from the post. Adjusting the wig in your head as you walked until the street, being greeted by your “friends” as they whistled and looked at you getting to your usual “spot” as always.
“Rough shift tonight huh?” you heard a femine voice from beside you as you rolled your eyes and smirked at her.
“Kussaku-san.” You greeted as the older woman snickered and poked your shoulder with her fist.
Those weren’t your given names... Yet, no one would ever know your name as far as you et them. Kussaku could be Akemi-san while in day as she took care of her teenager son... a ngrateful one for that matter. She was ony a bit older than you but sadly worked on the same breadwinner as you...
“How many did that old man gave to you for one round?”
“Bastard is a married bussines man, so I charged him triple.” You waved the bills at her face as she laughed in shock.
“You’re such a evil little thing!”
“I do it for survival, just like all os us.” You spoke more seriously as the others left the place, leaving you and Kussaku to chat a bit until no “clients” apperead...
“If no more appear I’ll have to get back home with only 500 yen...” The older woman sighed and you had the slightest pity over her until she adjusted her purse on her shoulder “I have to get goin’ see ya Tsuyoi!” 
You snorted, supporting your weight on only one leg as you watched the cars pass bu the street... A van got closer and stopped by the gas station... You arched an eyebrow up until you saw a man getting out of the car, tall and buff frame with a mask on; the color of his hair was an oak and what caught your attention the most was the gold in her eyes. You smirked, bitting your bottom lip as you walked elegantly towards the man, ocasionaly wiggling your hips.
Supporting your self on where the man was picking some gas fro his car you smile devilsh.
“Heyy~” You purred, finally catching the attention of the guy as he looked down at you. One of his brown eyebrows up. “Wanna have a goo time handsome, for such a full course meal I will only charge the tiniest bit.” You licked your lips while looking up and down at his body, adoring how even despite him having a mask on how embarresed he got at your words, yet still stuck on the same stoic expression.
“My apologies, not interested.” He placed the cash on the balcony and gave you one look before leaving, you furrowed your eyebrows before trailing after him.
“No? Well, maybe is because you don’t want to dissapointed your wifey or girlfriend then?” You snorted as he stoppe, but soon got shocked when he gave you a look over his shoulder.
“Pardon. I guess maybe someone cant take “no” as an answer?”
You frowned and scoffed at how his cheeks liften up slightly, showing that dammed smirk beneath that mask of his.
“Full of yourself.” You mumbled as he rolled his eyes and got in his car as you chuffed, knocking on his window. “At least give me a ride back home will ya?”
The man looked at you with a deappan look, before sighing and unlocking the passenger door as you chuckled in victory and got in despite his annoyed look as he drove.
“Not much of a talker daddy’s boy?” You smirked from your seat, seing how his gloved hand tighten on the wheel as he breathed in and out slowly.
“Usually I dont give rides, esoecially for, well, your type of person.” 
“uhuhuhu!” You laughed in sarcasm at his words “I poked at the sting didn’t I??”
Although your lips parted in shock as a chuckle escaped hismouth looking at you from the corner of his eyes.
“I know what you’re got. And let me explain that was not what I meant, I usually don’t give rides for strangers... idiot.” He snorted at your scoff and continued driving. “You have a name?”
You looked at him with a devilish smirl, so maybe he was interested...
“Tsuyoi.” you almost purred your name as he scoffed.
“I meant your real name idiot.”
“Oi! More respect towards my name will you?! You got a problem with my name so say it instead.’
“Is a adjective this, not a name.”
“Well mister gramatic, is MY NAME.” you talked back as he pinched his nose with one hand as the other stayed tight on the wheel.
How much would you will be owning to that guy for this..?
“Where do I drop you off anyway?” you didn’t catched his wordsas you saw a car getting too close to your liking, and even before you could even coment something the car got in the side of the man, and hitted with such a brute force that made you scream and the car to fly out of the street. You heard the man shouting a curse as the car rolled in the dirt as you were throw out of it and landed on the grass with a groan,
“Fuck...” You groaned, touching a place on your fprehead and wincing, seing the fred velvet fluid on your fingers... You looked behing you and saw a masked man throw some liquid in the car and a bit on the grass from a safe distance before you widened your eyes at when them took a phosphor and dropped into the ground before walking away.
You cursed and got up from the grass to gasp at seing the man still on the car, passed out.
“SHIT!” you screamed and took off your heels to get to the upside down car and try to take off the seat bell out “MAN FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WAKE UP!“
Unknown to you was that you lost your wig and your truly hair fell as you shaked him and pulled the seat bell, wakening him up as he groaned before widening his eyes at seing you, how beautiful he found you on your true nature and how much you looked like a.. a
“Angel..?” he muttered as you screamed and begged him to move.
“SIR PLEASE WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE IS GOING TO EXPLODE!” you cried as he finally come to his senses and strated t figet to get out.
‘I’m trying! Its stuck”“ he shouted as you panicked seing the fire getting close until you let put a gasp, grabbing a knife you always carried for protection on your abandoned purse and cuted the seat belt out of him as you pulled him out of the upsided down car.
“COME ON!” You grabbed his arm and pu on your shoulders as both of you tried to run, only to the explosion to happen, sending both of you straight to the ground.
You got up, looking mortified at the scene in front of you as the man besides you groaned and got promped into his his arms as his eyes widened.
“For the love of...” He mumbled as you looked at him.
.
.
.
Continue...?
“That will be all Chisaki-san.” the woman spoke while giving him a paper as he looked over at it, looking over his shoulder to see you were gone.
His feet moved on his own and found you at the exit of the hospital, not getting why he finally got to breath again at seing you standing there.
“You seem like a magnet for trouble.” He sighed as you looked at him before rolling your eyes.
“I can say the same for you... The van was yours, I could have died because of you, ya know?” You mumbled as he stood tall besides you with a arrogant aurea that surely pissed you off to no ends.
“Yet you didn’t.” He spoke nonchantly, hands stuffed on his jacket as he mantained looking at you, until you clenched your teeth and snapped.
“Stop staring at me like that!” You shouted as he remained unfazed by your attics “ If you got nothing to pay for it or to complain about it so just leave dammit!”
“Can’t a person just look at something because is beautiful?” You gagged in your words at hearing him speak so nonchantly before seeing him, even witha patch up on his forehead still looking so good and beutiful, smirking, fucking smirking at you “Cat got your tongue brat?”
You narrowed your eyes at him and pointed a finger at him as you spilled acid with your words.
“Listen, you little shit. Just because you paid for my consultation to see if I had any broken bones doesn't mean you can at least have the fucking audacity to talk to me like that, did you hear me right?” you growled as he glred back at you, but soon a snort came out.
“Whatever you say.. brat.” You scoffed and marched your way away from him as he looked at you “To your concern, my name is Chisaki, Chisaki Kai... a true name. Hope to see you around.. Tsuyoi.” you could hear the snicker behind his voice as you flipped him ff and got on your way home.
If only you knew you would be crossing paths with this misterious man again...
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ladylynse · 3 years
Text
Whirlwind (SQ fic): Jake should be used to ominous predictions by now. Randy should know better than to blindly follow McFist. Adrien should think twice before sneaking away. And Danny should’ve expected something like this when he got that phone call.
Chapter 11 [FF | AO3]
Previous | Timeline post
-|-
7:43 PM
The girl—dragon, if Rotwood wasn’t crazy, though McFist wouldn’t put money on that—squirmed in his grip but couldn’t break it. “You don’t have to keep playing these pranks on me,” he said loudly, not missing the side eyes and whispers from the others around them. At least the crowd had thinned; this was the sort of publicity McFist Industries didn’t need.
“I don’t know you! Let me go!”
Smart kid. Unfortunately for her, she’d come to him, not the other way around. Someone must’ve seen her do that, and that same someone would be telling others, and word would spread, protecting him from what would otherwise be a very problematic situation.
“Honey, I know having a stepfather can be an adjustment, but please don’t do this in public. We can talk once we get home, okay?”
“No!” she cried as he pulled first one foot and then the other free of the ice with violent twists. He ignored Rotwood as the man tugged on his first leg in an attempt to free it; McFist was happy to throw Rotwood money if he had anything that might be of use, but this girl was a solid lead on the NYC Ninja. She’d had a Ninja Cold Ball. The Norrisville Ninja left behind a plethora of throwing stars and rings and whatnot, but McFist doubted any ninja just handed out those throwing balls.
He eyed the bulging pocket of her hoodie.
If it was full of what he suspected, maybe the NYC Ninja had handed her all those things.
Assuming the NYC Ninja wasn’t as much of a fool as the Norrisville one could be, for all that McFist couldn’t seem to catch him and keep him, this girl must mean something to him. Be a sister of the Ninja, maybe, instead of a dragon. Rotwood might not have things quite straight; the Ninja wouldn’t just hand out weapons to little girls willy-nilly.
The girl opened her mouth to scream.
McFist jerked her towards him, her breath leaving her in the rushed surprise of a squawk instead. He hugged her close, burying her face in his stomach to muffle any subsequent shrieking attempts and holding her there even as she tried to drop to her feet and roll away. “Listen,” he said softly as the crowd began to turn away from them again, “I’m not in the business of hurting kids. I just want a bit of information, and I pay well for it.”
He felt her tense and, against what might be his better judgement, he pulled back and dropped down to her level. He kept a firm grip on her as he pulled out a wad of cash with his free hand. “I mean it. You tell me where you got that Ninja Cold Ball, and this is all yours.”
Defiance had replaced fear on her face, but her dark eyes betrayed nothing and stayed fixed on his own, even when Rotwood managed to get his first foot free with a grunt.
“Don’t listen to her lies,” Rotwood puffed as he strained to pull his second foot out of the ice. “The dragons, they have all sorts of gadgets and magics. It was probably not this Ninja Cold Ball at all!”
This time, the girl glanced at him, and when she turned back to McFist, she was chewing her bottom lip. Then she said, “I got it from a ninja.” One hand snaked out to grab his money, but he kept hold of it even as she tried to tug it free.
“Where?”
She stopped pulling and considered him for a second, cocking her head, and then she said, “I can show you.”
Show him, not tell him. That was more promising. Might not be an outright lie, and he could hold his own in a fight if it turned into an ambush. If it was a wild goose chase, then he had her, so he’d still be farther ahead than he was now. He let her go and then peeled away half the bills in his hand, giving her some and pocketing the rest. “Show us both now and you’ll get the rest—plus a nice bonus if you can tell us anything else. And even more if you hand over the rest of your stash.”
She frowned at him but made no denials. “I don’t want him to come,” she said, pointing to Rotwood. He slipped at that moment, cursing quietly, and McFist winced. He couldn’t really blame her, but assuming Rotwood had any marbles left, he might be able to come up with something useful on the Ninja front, and Viceroy could use some more ideas when it came to WNDs in case the Robo-Dragon went the way of the Robo-Dog. If it didn’t, though, and he got it finished fast enough for McFist to test it out on this NYC Ninja? Viceroy would be getting a bonus he didn’t have to argue for.
“Too bad. He’s coming.”
“I don’t have to show you.”
Attitude. Bravado. But she didn’t strike him as a street kid or even a recent runaway, so McFist didn’t mind taking the chance of calling her bluff. “He comes or I just take you over to the police and let you show them all the weapons you’ve got tucked away.”
The widened eyes and sharp intake of breath seemed to come at the same time, but she didn’t run away like he’d thought she’d might.
Instead, her eyes darted skyward, but before he could find what she’d been looking at, she said, “Fine. But he catches up. I’m not waiting for him.”
McFist rolled his eyes and reached over to smash the ice around Rotwood’s stuck foot with his mechanical hand.
“Why did you not do that earlier?” Rotwood cried, but he was getting easier to ignore; the girl was letting her fear get to her, since the flash of it she’d let him see looked real enough, and that demanded more of McFist’s attention at the moment. He could work with that.
McFist held out his hand—his left, thinking she might shy away from his right, and he could hold her easily enough either way. She frowned at him but took it, shooting another nervous glance at Rotwood. He wondered if she was wary of him because she actually knew him or if she simply thought he had a few screws loose. Honestly, he wouldn’t fault her either way. Just because McFist thought the man was useful, didn’t mean he thought Rotwood was the sharpest tack in the box.
“Lead on,” McFist said to the girl. Over his shoulder, he added, “Ninjas do that kind of thing all the time. Thought you could use the practical experience.”
“Practical experience?” spluttered Rotwood as he stalked up to them. With his longer strides, it didn’t take him long to catch up. “You are ignoring my very practical experience with dragons and letting that one lead you right into her nest.”
“Didn’t think dragons had nests.”
“Trap.” Rotwood’s voice was clipped. “I mean a trap. Perhaps I should not have been so quick to offer my services to you, if you do not value my expertise.”
“I’ll value it once you prove it,” McFist returned. “You know full well that I can uphold my end of the bargain, but I don’t know that you can do the same.”
The girl’s pace quickened, but she said nothing.
She was listening, though. If Rotwood was remotely right about her, then she had the potential to be dangerous. Somehow. It was hard to think of a cute little kid as dangerous, though. Or as a dragon. Her hand didn’t feel remotely scaly, but then again, Viceroy was convinced the 800-odd year old Norrisville Ninja was a current high school student, so McFist was willing to give Rotwood the benefit of the doubt.
He was not willing to give up a clear lead to the NYC Ninja before Rotwood had proven himself, however.
That would just be foolish.
“She is leading us away from the crowd!” hissed Rotwood. “If she wants us away from here, should we not ask what she’s trying to keep from us?”
“Ninja wouldn’t stick around in a crowd like this,” McFist said as Rotwood started to grumble. “Not if he’s smart.”
The girl kept walking, rarely tugging on his arm except to steer him. She didn’t try to slow. She didn’t try to bolt.
She might be trying to lead them away from something, but McFist hadn’t seen anything, and from what he’d heard from the NYC Ninja, the guy was as quiet as the Norrisville Ninja was. Which is to say, not at all.
If they were leaving the Ninja behind, he wasn’t fighting anyone or they’d hear it.
Still, once they were through the bulk of the crowd and weren’t passing within five feet of someone anymore, McFist said, “Why don’t you tell me how you ran into the Ninja?”
She rolled her shoulders in what might’ve been a shrug and mumbled, “He fought the dragon, didn’t he?”
He had, but she could just as easily have overheard that.
It didn’t explain why she’d singled him out.
Come to that, none of it explained why she’d singled him out.
Judging by how she’d recoiled from Rotwood, it hadn’t been him, even if Rotwood was right and they knew each other.
“Why me?”
This time, she slowed and glanced back at him. “What?”
“Why pick me?” He pulled her to a stop, looked pointedly towards his prosthetic arm, and added, “I’m not the guy singled out as harmless. So why, out of everyone in the crowd you could’ve come to, did you pick me?”
She dropped his hand and chewed her lip again.
“He told you to, didn’t he? The Ninja? That’s why he gave you the weapons? So you could bait me? Or pretend to be him if that didn’t work?”
“The dragon must be back there,” Rotwood declared. “That’s why she wanted us to leave. We have to go back!”
“No!” she cried, and McFist knew that whatever the truth, Rotwood was right in thinking she’d wanted them gone. “I just…. I…. Rotwood, please.”
McFist turned to Rotwood. The man was wearing a manic grin. “You admit it then, yes? That I am right about everything?”
“No,” she said, and his face fell into a frown. “You don’t know the half of it. That dragon isn’t a dragon.”
McFist blinked and tried to figure out what she wasn’t saying, but it was worse than some of the things Viceroy came out with.
Rotwood moved so he could loom over the girl. At least, that’s what McFist thought he was trying to do. The man didn’t do looming particularly well. It looked awkward. His chest was puffed out too much, especially when coupled with the odd angle he had to tilt his head to peer down at her through his glasses. McFist was pretty sure he could do a better job than that. Viceroy certainly could if he put his mind to it, but McFist figured Mad Scientist University might’ve had a class in that kind of thing, so it didn’t really count.
“It’s Professor Rotwood,” he said. “And if you do not want me to tell the world everything I know, then you should tell me everything you know. That is a fair trade, yes?”
-|-
7:43 PM
Randy was yelling something again, and Adrien wished he would stop. Randy might be used to fighting people who were too consumed with one thing or another to think straight, but Adrien knew exactly how smart akumatized people were, and—
“Get behind me!” Adrien screamed, reaching out to drag Randy into that position when the other teen didn’t obey quickly enough. Randy squawked in surprise, but Adrien was already spinning his staff to dissipate the streak of fire. His staff was clipped by the dragon’s talons a second later and sent flying; he hadn’t managed to pull back enough, even if he’d prevented it from being taken into her clutches entirely. By some miracle that never seemed to occur around Ladybug, his staff didn’t spin off the roof or otherwise wind up terribly far away. He’d be able to get it later, if he could just loop around those air conditioning units and—
“I think you need another Ninja Hydro Hand!” Randy shouted, rolling out from behind his meagre cover. A fist of water caught Susan’s tail a second later. It barely slowed her down, most of it crashing onto the roof and making Adrien hope Randy didn’t try pulling out of one those electrifying balls. Was Susan faster than before? Randy wasn’t slower, so—
Susan roared, her lashing tail managing to break free of Randy’s attack and sending some of that water back towards them. Adrien dropped and rolled, as much to get away from the attack which was undoubtedly coming as to avoid getting wet if Randy did pull out some questionable weaponry in the next breath. It’s not that he begrudged the help; he needed help right now. He just…. Randy wasn’t Ladybug. A fight and a half didn’t tell him enough about Randy’s fighting style to be able to anticipate his attacks and see how well he coordinated those attacks with those who were helping him, even if they were only acting as distractions.
Of course, that might be because Adrien had no idea if Randy was used to fighting with a partner.
Well.
That was a lie.
If Randy fought with a partner, they had a very poor partnership, unless Randy’s job was to try to keep all the attention on him while his partner went in for the— Not kill, necessarily, not if Randy was used to dealing with a similar sort of situation as Adrien himself, but the final blow. Only, Randy had been more than happy to jump at the opportunity to break the Critic’s pen, and he just didn’t move like he was used to fighting with allies.
He wasn’t a stranger to it, but Adrien was sure it wasn’t the norm.
Randy had also clearly never fought a dragon before, if he thought a bit of ice around Susan’s hind claws from Randy’s latest volley of Ninja Cold Balls would be more than a match for the sheer amount of muscle Susan possessed in this form. Not to mention the fact that she could breathe fire. And, likely as not, had fireproof scales. It had looked that way when Randy had thrown the first fireball, at least, and why wouldn’t a dragon have fireproof hide? It only made sense. Even if dragons usually didn’t, Hawk Moth would happily supply an upgrade to increase his chances of winning.
Adrien kept low, dashing for the air conditioning units on all fours while Susan was distracted by Randy. A Ninja Air Fist met a torrent of dragon fire as Adrien took shelter behind the nearest unit; some of the flames flashed his way, carried by the wind instead of being immediately put out by it. The heat that still rolled over him must have fried the electronics of every unit up here, and the sheer amount of damage they were doing—
Adrien winced as he heard the chain of explosions caused by Randy’s Ninja Boom Balls, even as he used the cover to creep toward his staff.
None of this was going to get repaired.
Not by any miraculous move on Ladybug’s part, at least.
Adrien couldn’t afford to think about that, though.
Useful a distraction as Randy was being, he couldn’t hold Susan off forever. Not alone. But Adrien? Adrien had something she wanted—or, at least, something that Hawk Moth wanted. Randy was doing a phenomenal job of keeping Susan penned where she was, using elemental attacks every time she tried to take to the air, but she’d go through Randy to get to him if she had to. Especially since, at the rate he was using his Ninja Balls and Ninja Throwing Stars and everything else, he’d run out of ammunition sooner rather than later, which might even be Susan’s intent, so that she could focus almost entirely on Adrien. Unless Randy had an unlimited supply of weaponry? Why hadn’t Adrien asked? If he’d been thinking….
But there hadn’t been any more time for questions.
Adrien might not be able to explain Susan’s earlier disappearance, but he could explain her return. He recognized that drive in her, the focus of her attacks. Even if she had more of herself left in her than Hawk Moth’s usual victims, Adrien had seen how people got…twisted. Even if it was subtle, it was there. Desperation turned justification turned for the greater good and it’s only the end result that matters or I’ll do anything in exchange—
She’d still made a bargain with Hawk Moth, dragon blood running through her veins or not, and she’d be bound accordingly.
He just wished he knew for certain why Hawk Moth had come here and what precisely he was looking for; having a clear thing to protect beyond his own Miraculous would give them an advantage. Any concrete information would help. He was operating entirely too much on guesswork, because Hawk Moth wasn’t supposed to be here, he was supposed to be back in Paris where Ladybug could effectively neutralize each akuma—
Susan had too much room to manoeuvre here. They were out of the way of civilians, sure, but she still had the advantage. Neither of them could fly, and Randy didn’t have the added bonus of night vision (to Adrien’s knowledge, at least). Besides, if Randy’s elemental attacks exhausted him—another thing Adrien hadn’t thought to ask earlier—then there really was only so much time that he could be an effective fighter before he would need to recover. Furthermore, Adrien couldn’t risk using Cataclysm except to get out of some kind of non-organic trap—and maybe not even then, if he risked bringing a building down on someone—which meant he was left fighting with his staff. Since his opponent was a dragon, his staff was better suited for defense or getting leverage, especially as said opponent wouldn’t be hurt by a small bit of metal flung at her.
Well.
Maybe not.
He and Randy knew perfectly well that the plan was for Danny to get the necklace away from her (using his quick flight speed and optional tangibility), but she didn’t know that.
Taunt, run, feign, distract.
Adrien smiled as his fingers closed around his staff. Planting it firmly on its base in front of him, he extended it and let it carry him a good ten or so feet above Susan’s current height, which was already about twenty or thirty feet from the rooftop. Fortunately, Randy had been able to hold her at that height, even if his elemental attacks hadn’t been able to push her back down. “Hey, dragon lady,” Adrien called, suddenly realizing he didn’t know what name she’d taken, if she’d taken one at all, “aren’t you a little focused on the wrong hero in the cute black number?”
Sharp eyes turned to him, ignoring Randy entirely. “My name is Dracona,” she hissed.
Dracona.
Not Susan, whatever Jake wanted to think.
Adrien swallowed but kept his thoughts off his face, plastering on a wide grin instead. “Then how about we play a little game of cat and mouse?”
He let the staff become ungrounded. It teetered for a second before slowly tipping as the wind caught him. Dracona snarled and gave her wings another ferocious beat, pushing her further into the air—
—but not pushing away an all-important flash of red as the Ninja’s scarf lashed out to wrap around her neck. Adrien only caught a glimpse as he fell, spinning so he could better spot his landing on the next building over, but he saw Randy’s wild swing bring him up and around Dracona’s neck, landing him squarely on her back at its base.
Adrien couldn’t suppress a grin as Randy let out a whoop of joy, even though it was nearly swallowed in Dracona’s growl.
And then Adrien’s feet touched down on the next roof, his staff already retracting, and he began to run.
-|-
7:44 PM
“That can’t be a good sound,” Danny whispered to Jake as Jake flew higher, relishing the fact that he didn’t have to take care not to circle over busy areas while Danny was making him invisible.
This was made more important by the fact that Danny was right: it hadn’t been a good sound.
Also, they weren’t the only ones who had noticed Susan’s roars. Jake didn’t need dragon eyes to see the stream of people and vehicles below, flooding away from the gala and towards the danger. Some of those vans below had to be various news stations, which meant the moment Danny left him to play jewellery thief, it was entirely too likely that two dragons would be caught on tape.
The Dragon Council would definitely take his powers away for this. And maybe not just his, if they figured Gramps or Fu or someone should’ve stepped in before he let the situation get this far. That wouldn’t be fair, but they didn’t always care about fair.
They hadn’t listened when it came to removing Chang from the council, despite the fact that Jake knew G had been pushing for it. Why would they listen when he tried to tell them that everything that had happened here wasn’t anyone else’s fault?
“We just need to move fast, yo,” Jake said. He kept his voice at a normal volume despite the wind—Danny might not have sensitive dragon ears, but he did have one of his ears pressed against Jake’s neck—and hoped that if it was loud enough for Susan to overhear them, even from this distance, she’d be too busy to pay attention.
Truth was, if her ears were sensitive enough to pick up their conversation, they were also sensitive enough to pick out the sound of Jake’s wingbeats, even above the noise rising from the streets below.
They could see the fight now. It was dead easy to trace its path; concrete still scorched, after all, and lots of places were doused in water. Not to mention, Randy wasn’t exactly stopping long enough to pick up any of his thrown weapons, even the ones that weren’t too bent to reuse. Light pollution meant the night sky wasn’t completely dark, either, and it was easier than Jake would like to pick out the spinning silhouette of his mother against the golden glow of gathering clouds.
And, apparently, Jake wasn’t the only one with a passenger clinging to his neck.
The passenger was Randy, judging by the leaps the other shadow was making with the assist of a pole. Randy must be holding on for all he was worth, as Susan was doing everything in her power to shake him loose. Randy would be far too close to her necklace for comfort if she was going to do everything she could to protect it, and—
He’d be fine. He could hang on long enough for them to get there and help, even though Jake wasn’t flying as fast as he could since Danny clearly wanted to say his bit before they got there.
“What’s more important?” Danny asked as Jake climbed, intending to wheel closer from above and hopefully stay unnoticed. “Keeping the existence of dragons secret from the non-magical world or beating this Hawk Moth guy?”
Jake didn’t bother to hide his snort. “Both. I’m gonna save my mom.”
“Yeah, but….” Danny hesitated. “Saving your mom just means winning this battle. And Hawk Moth is in her head if she’s fighting the good guys. You know that. Which means you don’t know what she’s gonna do when she sees you.”
“I’m not sitting this out. You know that.”
“Weren’t you told you’d need the help of your friends to do this?”
“Yeah, help. That doesn’t mean I have to take a back seat while you guys do all the work.”
“Doesn’t mean you need to stay in dragon form, either, if having more than one dragon on the scene gets dicey when it comes to pretending the magical world doesn’t exist.”
“Say what?”
“The thing Randy’s book told him. To cleanse the soul, one must first clear the mind. You can do that just as well as a human, and then you won’t let this Hawk Moth guy know that dragons are real. If he hasn’t already guessed it, I mean. It didn’t sound like he could just pick knowledge out of people’s brains, so your mom might’ve been able to keep that under wraps.”
Jake spread his wings to catch an updraft, even though he’d slowly been circling downwards. “He has a Miraculous. If we know about them, there’s no way they don’t know about us. Not when they know how to keep off our radar.”
“Doesn’t mean that guy specifically knows about you, or how much influence dragons have on the magical world, or anything else like that. I mean. Look. I can try to overshadow your mom instead of just grabbing the necklace and flying away. I don’t know if she can throw me out, but it’ll buy us some time, and it would shake her up enough for you to talk to her. And that might draw out Hawk Moth. He’s obviously connected with her somehow. But if you’re dragoned up when he crawls out of wherever he’s hiding, we can’t even pretend all this dragon stuff was his magic. So if you st—” Danny broke off.
He’d seen what Jake had seen.
The dragon ahead of them had shifted mid-flight, her form shrinking back to the all-too-familiar silhouette of Jake’s mother.
Jake tracked the falling figures with his eyes as he sped towards them, and he wasn’t surprised when Danny left him and flew ahead. He was the faster flyer; he’d get there first. That knowledge did nothing for the sudden terror in Jake’s stomach, though. The two were falling together, maybe still tangled in Randy’s scarf. He couldn’t see any butterfly, and maybe there wasn’t one, since Nino was diving towards them, trying to catch them before—
A flash of blue fire lit the sky, and the dragon surged upwards again, catching Nino in her talons.
Jake reached the scene a precious second after Randy’s wild descent had halted, and Danny flickered back into visibility as he rose to meet Jake.
“She ruined my scarf,” Randy complained, gesturing at the tattered red cloth. “If her magic messes up my suit magic and it doesn’t fix itself, you owe me for that, too.”
Jake just stared at him, wondering how he could even think about something like that right now.
Whether or not Randy could accurately read dragon expressions, he could certainly read the look on Danny’s face. “What? I think Nino planned this. He had that planning look on his face, right before he fell and started the chase again.”
Instead of telling Randy he wouldn’t know Nino well enough to recognize a planning look on his face, Jake glanced below. The sight of the people beginning to gather was enough to pull a growl from his throat. He winged quickly to the rooftops, Danny following with Randy. “Climb on,” he said, crouching down so Randy could clamber up. “If he’s changing his own plan on us, we’re not going to be left behind.”
Randy swung up with ease even as Danny said, “You know plans never work out like they’re supposed to.”
Sure, but that didn’t mean Jake had to like this one. If this really was the plan, it was entirely too self-sacrificial. More likely, it had been a mistake, and Randy just didn’t want to admit that to himself. A mistake like this was bad.
Granted, a mistake like this was also par for the course.
“Let’s just hit her hard and fast when we catch up,” Jake said as he took to the air again. Danny moved to fly beside him, reaching out to keep a steady hand on Jake’s neck. Invisibility really was handy. “She’s got the Miraculous of the Black Cat, which Hawk Moth wants. She’ll lead us to him, and then we can take them both down.” He glanced in Danny’s direction. “Um, after we save Nino.”
“You want me to get him out of there before I try anything else? Overshadowing included?”
“What’s overshadowing?”
“One of Danny’s many fun tricks,” Jake deadpanned. “And, yeah, you’d better. I don’t think Nino would appreciate it if we tried to wait for an opportune moment and his identity got compromised because something went wrong first.”
“You don’t think he’d rather we took out Hawk Moth?”
“I think I’d rather give up one of our identities than his.”
“I mean, if someone has to, I can,” Randy said. “He won’t know me. Nobody knows me. I’m not anyone important and, well, it won’t matter in a few years anyway.”
Jake tried to parse Randy’s meaning and briefly wondered if he had time to ask what that meant when Danny said, “You weren’t thinking of me or Randy, were you? You plan to reveal yourself. You’re really fine with Hawk Moth knowing you’re a dragon?”
“I don’t have a choice.”
Knowing Danny, he was going to protest that, but Randy cut him off before he had the chance, saying, “I don’t see her. I think we lost them.”
It was an obvious change in topic, but Jake took it for the lifeline it was. He spread his wings further to take advantage of another updraft and wheeled around, listening intently. Ear of the Dragon was good for more than just eavesdropping, and— There. Wingbeats. He was right. He picked up the pace, Danny easily matching him. “It doesn’t matter. We know where she’s going.”
“We do?”
“Yeah. Fu updated me on the dragon sightings earlier, but it didn’t click until now. If she was fighting this, then she was running away from Hawk Moth. Then she came back to him and found us. Meaning we were near him, even if we didn’t know it.”
“And you can see or hear her, right?” Danny asked. “So you know she wasn’t just on her way past us to the other side of the city or something?”
“Right. She might be a dragon now, but I’ve been a dragon for longer. My knowledge is practical, not theoretical.”
“I still have it best as dragon rider,” Randy crowed, letting out a whoop. “This is the cheese! Can you go any faster?”
He was fighting the wind now, so going faster without using the air currents to his advantage would mean tiring faster, not to mention giving up all remaining semblance of discreetness, but— “Race you back to the gala?” he asked Danny.
Danny dropped his hand, returning them both to visibility as he flashed a grin at Jake. “You’re on!” he called, speeding ahead, and Jake caught a brief glimpse of Danny’s ghostly tail before he vanished from view entirely.
(next)
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snarkwriteswrasslin · 4 years
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Could I get a Cash headcanon? Can't help myself. However you want to do it.
I apologize right off the bat because IDK much at all about Cash Wheeler, but I will gladly try it out? Just.. so you’re forewarned. I don’t know him that well beyond him being in FTR and part of AEW now...
So, now you know. Let’s give this a try, shall we? These are going to be kind of tame, given I do not know that much about Cash quite yet. So, I hope that’s alright?
Tag Squad:
@kyleoreillysknee @rampagewriting @writertoo18 @thatnerdwriter @wrestlingismyguiltypleasure @chasingeverybreakingwave @unabashedwrestlefics @heelsamizayn @missjenniferb @adampage @cabotcoves @cowboyshit @dietwrestling 
[ tag list doc ] [ masterlist ] [ keep ‘em coming - they’re super fun ]
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┎ Pretty much a giant teddy bear, tbh. V. soft. He’s a total different person than he is in the ring. Always cuddling ( and grabbing the booty, lol.) and giving you little kisses.
-- Among the elite crowd of “probably gives the best hugs” in my book, tbh.
┎  A total switch. He doesn’t honestly have a preference when it comes to being in control or not, he just kinda goes with the flow and reads the situation. 
-- but when he IS in control, whew. he takes his time, even if it takes all night. He’s not stopping until you’re beyond satisfied. Will do his best to screw you into the mattress.
┎  Idk why but.. I feel like he’s very vocal - read, growly, in bed. Also loves to talk dirty to you during and more than once, people on the other side of the wall at hotels have hit the wall and told the two of you to pipe down and go to sleep ffs.
-- adding to the noise factor, he’s been known to go at least two rounds. So, yeah... ya’ll are not the most popular hotel room neighbors between that and the noise.
┎  Definitely the kind of  guy who rarely forgets an important event, no matter how big or small. The only time he does is if he’s got a lot on his mind and then, you’re there to kind of... Pry it out of him.
-- because believe me, I strongly feel like he’d keep it to himself because he doesn’t want anything to make you upset or unhappy, he doesn’t want to ruin the mood when he’s finally getting to spend time with you.
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toshisae · 4 years
Text
call me baby
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summary: in which chenle gives you the entire world in exchange for some love
genre: crack, fluff and another pinch of angst 
theme: ceo!chenle (sugardaddy au but without the sexy shit its just he buys you things in exchange for you loving him ok? ok) 
word count: 2.8k
author’s note: HIIIII ITS BEEN A LONG ASS TIME SINCE I WROTE SOMETHING SO HERES THIS also theres no sexy time unless the sexy time u want is going on an endless shopping spree then this fic is for u!! its just another crack idea i had lol and this is just to get rid of writers block or smth despite having this in my drafts for the longest time
you know how people say not to chat with random strangers from the internet?
because it’s terrifying and shit??
well you never listened 
here you are on a friday night on your phone
looking for some 40 year olds to troll
on this sugar daddy app you randomly found one day
not like you needed money or whatever
you lived with your brother jaemin who’s a doctor
so i guess you could say u’re: $$$$
and it’s just that you have nothing to do
what’t the worst that could happen right?
ding!
your phone vibrates in your hand
it looks like you’ve matched with your designated sugar daddy
“congratulations! you’ve matched with 6chittaphon9”
you looked at his profile and saw that he’s a 23 year old dancer
not up for it, you swiped left
“give me the good shit bro” - you tell the phone
you clicked the globe icon on the bottom of the screen
it switched you to a radar where it scans for possible sugardaddies who use the app
a little later your phone dings again
“congratulations! you’ve matched with zhong$”
and when you clicked on his profile,,
you let out a big big gasp 
he’s a 18 year old ..
looking for.. sugar babies??
if you were drinking something then you would’ve spat out that liquid real quick
you swiped to the right and sent this dude a message
“hi”
ok so chenle right
chenle is the youngest billionaire in the world
bye kylie jenner oof
after his father’s passing, his company, zhongs inc. was in his hands
his father’s last wish was to have chenle get married at a young age
but chenle obviously didn’t like that idea
he wanted to experience a normal teenage life where he parties, drinks, date some random girls or whatever a pesky teenager does
so he found himself downloading a sugarbaby app
also just for the lolz like c’mon this is chenle the king of clownery
the c in chenle means clownery wbk
he had the money, the looks, almost anything you need for a man
so he quickly made his account
and not a minute later he already matched with someone named ‘<y/n3’
he sees that this y/n person already sent him a message
so obviously he replies
“hello”
you: asl?
chenle: 17 / m / seoul; u?
you: same except im a female
chenle: well ain’t that obvious
on the outside you bursted out laughing
you: ok capt. crunch so would you like telling me your name or is it confidential
chenle: i mean, i guess its kinda confidential but the company wont know anyway but im zhong chenle 
you: ????? are u important or sumn
chenle couldn’t believe his eyes
chenle: um.. im ZHONG chenle
you: whats so special with your name
chenle was actually quite glad you dont know about his name or his background
chenle: nothing so wyd
it didn’t take awhile for you two to get along 
since you two had the same type of humor and age
you: why are you on this app tho if you are “young and rich”
chenle: i could ask you the same question
you: its friday my dude and im bored 
chenle: well,,,,,,,,,,, idk my friend recommended it to me
you: you’re friends with a bunch of old people?
chenle: nO I MEAN YES?? I MEAN NO 
you: ... are u fucking with me
chenle: no i’m not fucking with you, im talking to u :D 
in the end chenle asks you if it was okay that he’ll send you some money for fun
chenle: yk this app is about sugardaddies looking for sugarbabies right so lets make the most of it and give me your paypal or venmo and ill send you some cash for talking to me <3 
you: wtf chenle no its fine!!! i had lots of fun talking to you and this app is just a whole ass joke but im glad i met a new friend here but its okay dont send me some money !!!!!
chenle: nooo think of it like i’m treating you out for some dinner so please allow me 
you: still ! i wont let you,, till i get to see you so i know youre not some 40 year old i still think you are
chenle: how many times do i have to tell you im really 18 years old ffs but sure, when are you free?
on the inside youre just like: ASJDHJHDUIADHASJKDAHAHD WHAT THE FUCK
you: uhh i have school so i’m always busy hehehe
chenle: then i’ll see you in your school, what school do you go to?
this kid doesnt know when to give up
you: hhhhhhh i guess then i’m free tomorrow 
chenle: GREAT! I’LL SEE YOU ON HONGDAE here’s my number boo
and there you have it
your first unofficial meet up with zhong chenle himself
you were too much in thought about meeting him you didnt even notice jaemin standing there with pizza in his hands
“what are you staring at sis?” - jaems
“uh nothing” you snatched the pizza from his hands
fast forward to tomorrow
you were getting nervous to meet chenle
“hey where are you going?” jaemin takes a peek of you in your room
can he stop scaring you like that
“going out” - u 
“going where?” - jaems
“hongdae”
“cuteee do you have a date today?” he wiggles his eyebrows at you
“no-”
“are you going out with that pizza delivery boy?!” jaemin suddenly gushes
“jeno?” you ask him
“yeah that one” - jaemin
“no, i’m just gonna go shopping” you brush him off
jaemin shrugs and gives you some pocket money to spend
“be safe and have fun” he closes the door of your room
after safely arriving in hongdae, you sat somewhere thats not that crowded
who knows if this chenle person is famous right
so there you were waiting for him to text you or something
and just like that, your phone rings
it was an unknown number
but you answer anyway
“hello this is chenle, may i ask if you are in gongcha right now?” 
you looked around the people who’s passing by hoping to see someone fancy looking holding their phones
suddenly someone stops right in front of you
“found you” 
with that, chenle hangs up and sits across the table from you
“hi, i’m chenle” he gives his hand out for you to shake
and man, you were shookt
he looks like an ordinary teenager 
or a hypebeast for this occasion 
“o-oh .. h-hello” you bow
chenle suddenly laughs at your reaction 
his laugh is beautiful 
“don’t be nervous baby, i mean no harm” he smiles
his smile that totally made your heart melt
“how could i not? you’re the youngest billionaire out here” you gushed
chenle shushes you after the billionaire part
“sorry about that, it’s just i don’t like it when people tell me that” he tells you casually
ok humble king
“have you ordered yet? if not let’s order right now, on me” he grabs his wallet from his pocket and heads inside gongcha
after taking your orders, you two sat outside again with your drinks
“so y/n.. tell me about yourself” chenle takes a sip of his drink
“well, like i told you last night, i’m a student in college and i live with my brother who’s a doctor and that’s about it.. what about you, mr. zhong” you giggled
“first of all, don’t call me mr. zhong. you can call me lele instead and i love music and i like to play the piano and sometimes i sing” he shares, showing off his pearly whites
and after some many more conversations with him, he finally asks you an important question
“ok last question” he laughs, “i know it’s kinda weird but i really like your company and i know we met through a sugar daddy/sugar baby app but would you like.. stay with me..?” he asks cautiously
you stared at him with wide eyes
“i’ll pay for everything you want.. just,, stay or keep me company..?”
you kept quiet, just in shock on what just happened
“it’s okay if you don’t want to, just forget that i asked” he laughs awkwardly
“no it’s okay, i’ll keep you company but please please don’t pay for everything. i can pay for myself” you tell him
“why not? i got money, i can spoil you with gifts” he looks at you confused
“if you can’t remember, i’ve got a brother who’s a doctor and i guess we’re loaded too you know” you roll your eyes at him
“pfft okay then so.. where were we” 
and with that you guys carry on your conversation 
months has passed and you’ve been with chenle through everything
every time something happened in his company, you were there comforting him or just keeping him sane through out everything
and within those months, you’ve seen different sides of him as well
like the serious side of him– when he’s in business meeting and you’re his plus one 
aside from his secretary of course
the funny side of him– when he’s cracking jokes to literally everyone
sometimes he takes days off in the midst of his own company just to pull pranks on his secretary, renjun
and of course, his vulnerable side– when he feels he can’t do what his father left him, the family legacy
there were night where you had to stay over at his place just to make him calm down or just to make sure he’s sleeping or eating well 
and tonight was those vulnerable nights of chenle
here you were in his room, on the floor holding his hand as he rants about how his day turned to shit 
“it’s just so.. hard you know?” he opens up, “when everyone expects you to follow a certain life but i’m not all about that business shit life! i want to sing or fucking play the piano or do some teenager shit not this paper work life!” his voice cracks at the end of his sentence
“ah shit i’m crying in front of you again” he laughs, wiping the tears 
you don’t say anything but held his hand tighter
“thanks y/n.. you’re the best” he smiles down at you
“anything for you, chenle. that’s why i’m here for you right? to keep you company” you smile back
“can you.. come up here with me” chenle motions for you to sit beside him on the bed
you agree and climbed up
chenle sits up awkwardly, staring at you.
“woah this is the first time i had a girl on my bed” he giggles
“then i’m honoured” you laugh
suddenly your phone vibrates multiple times
you take a look and its your brother looking for you
“who is it?” chenle asks
“it’s my brother, he said i should go home” you slowly push yourself from his comfy bed
“no, it’s late. i’ll take you home first thing in the morning” 
“i don’t want to be a burden to you lele” you say shyly
“you’re never a burden to me y/n” chenle smiles again
that night, you slept in his very arms for the first time
you wake up earlier that him and decided to prepare breakfast for him
you set the eggs and bacon on the table with orange juice
you smiled at your efforts, hoping he’d like it
chenle woke up in distraught since you were no where in sight
he was in his pajama pants and he rushed downstairs to check if you were still there
and thankfully, you were
you were on the dining table, waiting for him with breakfast ready
“good morning” he grins, face looking brighter than ever
you smile back at him, “good morning to you too, sleepyhead. help yourself with some breakfast”
chenle takes a seat and sips on the orange juice next to him, “did you make this?” he asks
you nod, “for you” 
you could’ve swore you saw him blush for a moment there 
and with that, you two ate in peace, just enjoying each other’s company
a few days later
you couldn’t make it to chenle’s office since you had classes and it was exam week 
chenle was obviously very lonely that week
even his own secretary checked up on him cause he was awfully quiet ever since you came into his life
“so how are you and y/n huh” renjun casually asks chenle who was busy reading papers on the table
“we’re doing great” chenle replies nonchalantly 
“are you two going steady now?”
that question made chenle halt to a stop on what he was doing
renjun notices that chenle turned quiet
“i never asked her to be official” chenle gasps, scaring renjun in the process
“wha-”
“renjun hyung can you get me the biggest bouquet bundle you can find” chenle rushes
renjun nods and grabs his ipad, looking for what chenle requested
“fuck.. what did y/n wanted again” chenle asks himself, trying to remember the bag or things you told him about
“call jisung and tell him we’re going to the mall” chenle tells renjun yet again, rushing to the elevator so he could go to the mall with his best buddy
“so what are we buying your special someone again?” jisung asks chenle who was busy pacing around the mall
“y/n said she wanted a bag but i cant remember what was it” chenle tells jisung who just looks as lost as he was
chenle ended up going to every luxury store they had in the mall
like louis vitton, gucci, prada, balenciaga, fendi
you name it he went there and bought one bag each
he even went to some make up stores thanks to jisung’s suggestion
surprisingly he had a girlfriend who was a makeup artist and puts make up on jisung’s face when they have nothing to do
and of course, chenle followed what his best friend suggested
now they were on their way back to your place cause you just texted chenle that you were almost done with your exam
chenle and jisung unload his car and went straight up to your apartment that you shared with your brother
and your brother answers the door
“uh chenle? what are you doing here?” jaemin answers the door
chenle stood there in shock once again, “jaemin hyung? you’re y/n’s brother?” he stares at jaemin confused.
jaemin nods slowly before realization hits him, “you’re the person y/n is seeing?!” 
chenle nods uncertainly, slightly offended you never told jaemin about him but quickly shrugs it off. 
“well surprise! now can you help us with this? i’m asking y/n to be my girlfriend when she arrives home” 
jaemin immediately steps in and helps the two boys
after an hour or so, everything is now set into place
now they were just waiting for you to arrive
chenle stood there with his usual work attire which was a formal suit, holding a big ass bouquet and the paper bags right behind him
“jisung how do i look?!” chenle looks at jisung who was showing him two thumbs up
“dashing bro, she’ll say yes in no time”
and as if on cue, you walked in
and to say you were shocked to see chenle standing there 
“lele! what are you doing here?” you covered your mouth in shock as you saw the never ending line of paper bags right behind him and the bouquet he was holding
“i’m here to ask you to be mine” he replies, staring at you once again
“does my brother know you’re here?” you look around your living room and you spot jaemin in the kitchen, watching the entire thing go down
“yeah. why didn’t you tell me he was your brother” chenle pouts, but shakes his head as he hands you the bouquet
chenle clears his throat once again, “na y/n.. would you be my first and last girlfriend?” he closes his eyes tight, waiting for your response
“i would be honoured” you take the bouquet off his hands and jumped into his arms
“about time you asked her” jisung comments in the background
“baby look, i got you some gifts!” chenle puts you down and shows you the abundant amount of things he got you
you smacked him in the chest, “what did i say about you giving me expensive gifts!” 
“let me spoil you, please? you showed me how loving someone wholeheartedly is priceless, and i want to return the favor in my own way” chenle shows you his infamous puppy eyes.
“lele you’re making me cry!” you tear up, hidng your face in his neck
“also because i can’t remember the thing you told me you wanted a few days ago so i had to compromise” chenle giggles
you were happy
and he was happy
who knew an app could bring you two together and end up like this
the end!
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retphienix · 4 years
Text
Maybe I’ll go OFF at some point and really doll out what this game makes me think but I just wanted to touch base on the FF7 remake.
The short of it?
I Am Enjoying It But The Game Simultaneously Infuriates Me.
For pretty much all the reasons I suspected before release. This format sucks and since I’m looking to touch base on my worries more than my praise it’ll SEEM tilted to the negative, which it is, please don’t assume that’s all there is to this but here-
Pros:
(mostly good) FAN SERVICE TO DEATH’S DOOR AND BACK. Gorgeous because it’s square and that’s what they do (read as: Waste money on and push away from RPG gameplay) Fun gameplay.... mostly. And I mean that. Mostly, as in like 90-95% fun gameplay. This game is less final fantasy and more Yakuza in Midgar. I’m serious. And that’s good.
Cons:
Because fanservice- THIS GAME IS MILKING THE EVER LOVING CRAP OUT OF FF7. I mean it when I say it’s genuinely slow paced and dragging its feet because it wants to milk every living second of time from what FF7 concisely told decades ago. You likely won’t HATE how slow it goes, but as you think on it it really bothers me how much this is just dragging Midgar along because they arbitrarily decided it had to be a full 30+ hour experience, IN FRIGGIN MIDGAR.
Gameplay has problems! Dumb ones! Namely in order to more optimally play you will likely be switching characters every THREE SECONDS because AI controlled partners have terrible AI! They don’t use spells outside of Auto- spells (auto cure being the only one I’ve seen in this entry) and MAYBE cure outside of that? But I was likely imagining things. Them not using spells or abilities wouldn’t be a deal breaker (since commanding them is easy) but the problem is this and I mean it: The AI refuses to build bar. That’s it. That’s the man issue. You need bar to cast anything, the AI sticks their thumb as far up their ATB as possible and spend combat blocking for 6 seconds, swing for 2, block for 6, repeat. It’s extremely annoying when you see ranged characters like Barrett or Aerith just standing there when they should be building and spending bar like crazy. ONLY THE PLAYER CHARACTER WILL EVER EFFECTIVELY BUILD BAR, WHICH MEANS ONLY THE PLAYER CHARACTER WILL BE ABLE TO CAST ANYTHING EVER, So you must switch frantically in combat if you want to be effective, or just say screw it and put near everything on PC and switch when you want someone to build bar to cast cure once or for Barrett to FRIGGING USE HIS OVERCHARGE FREE CAST ABILITY, it’s infuriating and honestly makes other gameplay decisions pointless- Oh sick I can have them cast a spell when I do? Oh wait they will never have bar ever so it’s just another level of micromanaging needed.
The industry practice of taking a finished game and splitting it into multiple entries, stroking your ego as hard as possible to milk it dry for a 30 hour experience, and selling it multiple times thanks to multiple parts- is pretty gross and I can already feel myself being annoyed that if I want to beat FF7 I’ll have to buy who knows how many games. I’m down for the fan service, I’m annoyed that I already beat this game decades ago for the price of one game, now I have to do who knows how many. Fun.
Other stuff. Camera is too darn close even a max range, it’s a literal headache in close corridors and guess what Midgar is made of since it’s a tight knit city/trash city? Yep. Running around Wall Market is both breath taking and vomit inducing thanks to that.
While most of the fanservice is handled very well, wonderfully even, some is just kinda dumb. Or rather, it’s repetition makes it feel kinda dumb, like Barrett doing the FF victory fanfare? Cool! Him doing it during multiple cutscenes as well as a random proc during combat finishing as well as just because sometimes? Okay guys we get it, it’s FF. Please stop, it’s actually downplaying Barrett as a character and instead using him as a vehicle for reference stroking.
Stop taking control from the player to focus the camera on something we clearly already saw for 12 seconds longer than literally any human brain would need to see what is going on. It happens a LOT in this game. Not a TON, but a LOT.
Moogle Medals are a waste of potential. They initially appear to be a collectible kinda like TinyMedals in DQ but instead of being a set number in the world (like a good amount of DQ games) they randomly spawn (like some DQ games that usually incorporate randomly generated maps). That’s not a deal breaker, but it does make them lose a ton of meaning very. Very. Very quickly. You have to go out of your way to get some of them and then find out they spawn infinitely in boxes or can be farmed with a minigame you literally don’t have to play as they are a participation reward. Coulda been a fun collectible with nice rewards like (stretch but bare with me) the coins in RE7 but instead you just farm them up and get the rewards and move on with no reason to look back.
Plenty of other stuff. On both ends honestly. Clearly I wanted to rant about it a bit, but I’m 30 hours in and having fun? So? There’s that? I clearly LIKE it, but I can’t say I love it since that’s, well, not why I came here in the first place I guess? Maybe I’ll change my tune soon. I probably will. Multiple times. But more or less what I’m saying is: Before launch this struck me as a cash grab. It’s not, really. It also struck me as an ego stroking game that will milk the heck out of FF7 to a degree that might devalue FF7 in general. It. Feels like I was right about that.
It’s not bad. I won’t say that. I thought it would be. I really thought it’d be all glitz and graphics and terrible “We hate RPGs because we’re modern Square” gameplay but no. It’s great gameplay with some faults, great sights and fanservice with some faults.
It’s, well. Imperfect, but pretty great, and nothing really is perfect anyway?
I just still hold a lot of misgivings. The AI being a small one, and the financial practice of milking your golden goose to death to make, what? 300 hours of gameplay when RUSHING because you make 10 friggin “Full games” and call them each a part of FF7?
That part bothers me plenty. I love FF7, I don’t really like seeing it milked this hard to charge multiple times for stretched thin, but fun and pretty versions of what the original offered.
It’s conflicting. Good game. Has me hopeful and worried that they don’t milk it to death before they finish the stretched out narrative.
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davidmann95 · 5 years
Note
Spidey’s leaving the MCU. Thoughts?
It’s been fascinating watching the discourse evolve in real time from “This is terrible” to “If you’re bummed about this it means you tacitly endorse Disney consuming all of culture” to “hey, Into The Spider-Verse somehow managed to escape Sony, so why should we think this will end up like their last 3 live-action Spider-Man movies that were clearly considered far higher-priority than that and treated as such just like this will be?” to “this is definitely all a negotiation tactic”. Given the last time word about a possible MCU-Sony deal pertaining to Spider-Man that Sony was cool on leaked the public outcry got them to turn around and make a deal within 3 months, I’m thinking the latter is probably more likely than not, but by no means guaranteed.
So in principle, in pure abstract principle, if it goes through, it doesn’t have to be a failure. Spider-Man being removed from the MCU doesn’t have that gigantic a reverberation through it because Spider-Man himself is a bit player in-universe, and even if I’ve been right and Norman Osborn was planned as the villain for a Secret Invasion/Dark Reign Phase 4 arc, he could easily be replaced with the likes of Ezekiel Stane. Far From Home could easily work as a final coming to terms with and farewell to those elements on Peter’s end, given one of its big messages ends up “don’t be Iron Man, be Spider-Man”; with him on the run and presumably disavowed by S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers, and Happy no longer seeing Aunt May, a third Spidey flick wouldn’t have to contort itself too horrifically to make internal sense as a direct sequel to the previous two without directly mentioning Stark or the other superheroes. The initial report says Jon Watts is staying onboard as director, and even if they want to shoehorn Venom in that could play out reasonably enough given, again, Peter’s on the run and would need to take what help he could get. Spider-Man and Venom vs. Kraven could be a perfectly decent movie without a single reference to Ant-Man. It could really even work *better* than way without having to wrestle with any involvement with the larger universe, or pressure to conform to house style.
In practice, if it happens, it’s probably going to be a fucking nightmare. The reasons for which are best represented by this guy:
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Presumably even as we speak, devoted method actor Jared Leto is breaking into a bloodbank to greedily gobble up a pint of O negative previously bound for a children’s hospital in preparation for his performance as Morbius, the living vampire. Alongside Venom 2, whatever’s up with those Black Cat and/or Silver Sable movies, Sinister Six, and goddamn Nightwatch, ‘Sony’s Marvel Universe’ proceeds apace, and now they get to actually use the centerpiece character as they please to lend this all an air of legitimacy rather than desperate scrambling with a gaggle of hopeless D-listers. And does anyone - anyone - truly imagine Sony’s Spider-Man movie is going to be allowed to meaningfully center around anything but servicing the theoretical franchise? Because if so I want nothing more than to meet you and pick your brain to see how someone still believes in the inherent decency and dignity of man as powerfully as you, you sweet summer child.
So yeah, if this goes through it’s gonna be at best a deeply compromised movie in service of a bad idea. How does it all end up? I think in large part, it might actually lay in Tom Holland’s hands. Probably this is a dumb suggestion - there’s contracts and him probably wanting to ride out his biggest meal ticket and the studio egos that clearly played more of a role in this than money in the first place - but could Holland just threaten to walk if this goes through? Because this is a weird, specific situation where that threat would have tremendous leverage in a way it normally wouldn’t.
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If Hugh Jackman had left halfway through Fox’s X-Men and they’d had to recast, or RDJ after Age of Ultron, that’d have been a tremendous blow to those series, but because it was a shared universe there still would have been all the surrounding major players and narrative architecture to let fans know it was the same thing they hopefully already liked. If Holland leaves however, it’s not that Spider-Man Disney set up for them anymore. Without the connection to the MCU, his face would be basically the one remaining major signifier to the public (sorry MJ/Ned, I’m talking Captain America-level ‘major’) that this is the Spider-Man they already really liked to the tune of a billion dollars. If they have to recast it wouldn’t even matter whether or not they formally rebooted, because even if they continued directly from where Far From Home left off, to the world at large this immediately becomes just another Amazing-style cash grab not affiliated with anything they like, an X-Men/DCEU second-tier super-franchise and one that screwed them out of better Avengers movies down the line to boot, and Sony would loose…hundreds of millions, I imagine? So yeah, leverage. And if Holland realized he had it and has an agent or manager or whatever who gives decent advice I have to imagine he’d use it: worst-case scenario they boot him, he goes out on a high note and already has other projects lined up like Uncharted rather than lashing his burgeoning career and reputation to a sinking ship. Best-case he gets more Avengers paydays plus substantially higher-grossing solo movies after all.
So as I see it, four potential outcomes, in what I’d consider order of likelihood:
1. This is all grandstanding and everything’s gonna be back to normal next month.
2. Holland stays, Spider-Man: Homeless performs substantially below what Sony was somehow hoping for in spite of everybody’s best efforts because these are the same genius producers behind Amazing plus now the mastermind behind X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and it returns to Marvel with its tail between its legs in time for Peter Parker to swing into Avengers 6 and ask where everybody was when he was getting framed for mass murder.
3. Holland threatens to bail, factions within Sony realize how much they stand to lose here by severing the rebuilt positive public association that’s the entire basis for how they think they can make this work - without that they’re back at square one where they reached out to Marvel in the first place - cooler heads prevail and a new deal is struck.
4. Holland’s bluff is called or the idiots who wanted this in the first place can him of their own accord because they think they can and should make a complete fresh start work. A new Spider-Man is cast, and while realistically the movies blow there’s less pressure to reverse this due to the cleaner break; unless there’s a boda-fide total flop Spidey remains out of the MCU’s grasp for the foreseeable future. Until Disney just flat-out buys Sony, to be clear.
So I think pretty much however you slice it this ends with Spider-Man still in the mix, albeit he may be going on hiatus from the big leagues for a bit; there’s some poetic irony there about him leaving just as the FF and X-Men arrive, the MCU stymied at the last from finally getting all their IP under one umbrella. Though I don’t know that I’d exactly count this as any sort of anti-corporate victory when either way Disney still gets all other Spider-Man stuff and merch sales that any movies will still drive, and either way Sony gets Spider-Man filmwise, so the only major outcome is we just might be stuck with shittier movies. A somewhat serious question if it goes through though: would all future editions of Infinity War have to have Holland edited out of the box art because they’re not allowed to advertise Spider-Man anymore, and likewise Iron Man scrubbed from the covers for Homecoming?  Will reissuings of Homecoming/Far From Home have to have the MCU precredits montage taken out (meaning no more orchestral reaction of the 60s theme in them!)?  I guess Disney has some experience in this sort of area with Who Framed Roger Rabbit so they’ll have protocols, but presumably when they lay it out to the head of Sony he’ll laugh at Marvel for having the hubris to try and advise them or thinking they have any say on the matter, and then turn around and immediately step on a rake.
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onewhoturns · 4 years
Text
wip wednesday 4/8
so there’s well over 100 pages of this au now, so have some more of it
-
“Why do you think you wouldn’t be someone’s first choice?”
“I mean, I guess I can understand being Kai’s first choice. I told him about-- I freaked out, I just-- I stalled out… I don’t know.” Alex shakes her head, frustrated at trying to figure out her words. Finally, when she speaks, there’s a hard edge of cynicism hidden under her seemingly lighthearted sarcasm. “I told him my brother died. Sad girl gets a kiss. You can’t exactly send someone home after that.”
“But he put you as his top pick-- allegedly.”
Rolling her eyes, Alex shrugs, hands gesturing with quickly building nervous energy. “I don’t know! I can’t figure it out. This whole game is beyond me. I don’t get it.”
“You were someone’s top pick, Alex.”
Again, Alex shakes her head, stubborn. “I’m a novelty.” 
Delia is quiet for a minute. Alex turns to her, brows raised in challenge. Finally, Delia asks, “Want to stop for now? Come back for confessional later?”
It takes her a second, but only just. “Yeah.” One deep breath, and Alex forces herself to calm, at least slightly. “...Yeah. I need a minute.”
“Come on, I’ll find you a room.”
-
“Go ahead and set up, I’ll get Carla.”
Jonas nods, heading into room 3 as per usual. He must’ve missed Ben, cause the sound equipment is half-set, the boom up but the wires and box still in the case. Unpacking his gear from the trip to the second location, it’s a surprisingly quick set. Maybe it’s just become habit over the course of the week; the set-up, the framing, the balance, all that. 
“12, start rolling, she’s coming in hot.”
Yeah, Carla can do that. With the rig set, it’s easy to start recording and adjust the stand enough to aim for the door. He’s feeling pretty good, pretty confident, when the door opens again. 
And then, of course, his stomach sinks. 
“Oh. Hey, you’re back.” Alex’s surprise is evident, and her immediate hurt and quick shift to awkwardness. 
Fucking liars. Manipulative fucking liars. He’s not doing this again, he said he wasn’t gonna do their dirty work. 
Alex is slow to step in, eyes narrowing with a kind of wary confusion. “You ok?”
Fuck. Fucking- fuck. And now she’s said that, and that’ll be more proof of some kind of rapport for the producers, and-
Jonas quickly pivots the camera front again, shaking his head, face stony. Shit. Shitshitshitshitshit. He looks back to Alex, whose look is only more questioning. She’s pulled a hoodie on over her dress from the elimination. 
She opens her mouth to say something and Jonas quickly shakes his head, eyeing the mic.
-
Right. Right, they can’t talk for whatever bullshit reason. Alex’s confusion shifts to irritation because what the fuck, ignoring her? When she’s left in a room, awkwardly perched in front of two silent people? When they’d been chatting so easily before? What the fuck. 
She lets out a short breath, closing the door behind her and leaning back against it, arms crossed over her chest. “Where’s Delia?”
“Same place as Ben, I expect.” His tone is chilly. 
Alex’s lips twist, holding herself back from asking why are you so mad at me?
-
“Get her in the chair, 12.”
Fuck you.
Jonas’s hand goes to the comm in his ear, but he hesitates before he can pull it. He has a bad temper. He knows that. He can’t lose his job over it.
Instead of pulling it, Jonas just crosses his own arms, looking down at the ground, silently fuming. 
Alex taps her foot impatiently. Finally, she just bundles the fabric of her sweatshirt around her mic, closing her fist over it to whisper. “This is stupid.”
Jonas is still looking at it. Then he realizes that, if this is a set up...
He holds up a finger, turning, and flips open the soft top of the sound equipment case. Of fucking course. His head falls back with a short angry sigh, and turns back to Alex to gesture to the boom mic, open handed. This is why. All the time.
Uncovering her mic, Alex takes a breath. “Give me a minute.” Her voice is calmer than she looks, and she bundles the mic again, crooking a finger at him. 
No. Not going to happen. 
Alex raises her eyebrows, challenging, and frees her mic again. “I’m gonna talk. Just give me a minute.”
That’s a threat. As proven when she covers her mic again and once more gestures him over. 
Jonas rolls his eyes to the ceiling, and he’s not sure if he’s looking for mercy from God or from the Control Room upstairs. But he gives in. 
Alex’s eyes shoot to the boom mic, and she gets herself into the opposite corner, continually beckoning him closer. Even when he stops a foot away she gives him a pointed look and gestures closer. In any other situation, the exasperated look she sends him - tugging her ear and pointing at him - would be entertaining. He can only give her a quizzical look. 
-
Oh my god, you idiot. 
Miming is obviously not going to work. He takes a wary half step forward, and she gives up on trying to get her point across, just reaching up to loop her hand around the back of his neck. 
Jonas pulls away immediately, looking angry, and Alex throws her head back in frustration. 
Point to lips. Point to ear. Grab him by the collar. 
-
Yeah, he’s not happy about this. But she’s going to say something eventually no matter what. So he grits his teeth and backs her into the corner, ducking to whisper in her ear. “We’re not doing this ever again.”
“Why aren’t you talking to me?” Somehow she manages to keep her voice almost completely silent. She’s doing better than him.
He tries not to hiss his answer. “It’s complicated. It’s not my job.”
“I thought we were friends, Jonas? What the fuck?” The f’s, the s’s, the k’s; her breath tickles his ear. It’s distracting. 
“It’s. Complicated.”
“I want to talk to you.” Her hand in his collar tightens.
“Ff-” Ow. He shuffles a half step closer, hands bracing on the wall to keep her from banging his head into it, moving his face alongside hers instead of in front, until her hands are trapped between them to keep her grip in his collar from strangling him. “Fine.” He’s pissed. “On the record? Talk.” It’s hard to keep his voice soft, and there’s a bit of gritted teeth audible in his last sentiment: “But it’s not my job to talk back.”
“Fuck your job.”
Where the hell does she get off- “Fuck you.”
Her tone is tart, straight into his ear, more air than sound: “Buy me dinner first, asshole.” 
“12, get her in the chair.”
Motherfucking-- Jonas’s hands ball into fists before he pushes off the wall, pulling out of her freshly-loosened grasp, and gesturing angrily to the chair in front of the camera. 
-
She’s still irritated as hell. Jonas is more angry than she is, though, that much is apparent. 
He’d been close enough that Alex could see - could hear - the monitor in his ear. 
Letting her hoodie drop from around her mic, Alex’s eyes narrow at Jonas, who turns back to his camera. One deep breath in... Closing her eyes, she tries to remember what she’s supposed to be talking about. She focuses on clearing away the irritation that has her lips pursing and toe tapping in her slippers (no need for heels when that won’t be on camera). 
Finally, she smoothes her face to something more guarded. She’s still not great at hiding her irritation, but that’s how she left the last interview as well. Chair time. 
“Where were we?”
-
Jonas is shaking his head, arms once more folded over his chest. He’s not here to feed her questions. “Can’t tell you, I wasn’t here.”
“Right. I’ll try to remember, then.” 
His head tilts back again, and he starts pacing. 
“So… I got called last. Or - third. Meaning… two guys somehow were stupid enough to think I’m a catch.”
Jonas kicks a leg up against the wall in the corner, shooting her an unimpressed look. 
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He’s not gonna talk. He’s not going to. Just shakes his head.
After a pause, Alex rolls her eyes. “Anyway.” She looks down at her hands. “What did I say before? At the very least, Kai gave me a pity point?”
“Why are you like this?” He can’t stop himself. 
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It’s not a pity point.” 
-
She’s not trying to get snappish, but- “People don’t put me first, Jonas. That’s not how my life works.”
And Jonas just shakes his head. Fucker.
“You know the Frankie story. You heard about Cash-- the guy from Eugene.”
“Cash?” 
“Don’t--” Alex puts her head in her hands. She hardly has a breath in before she groans. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes,” she mutters. “I just…” She’s about to rub at her eyes when she feels the false eyelashes and has to stop herself. “I don’t know.” Her tone is clipped. “I don’t know what to say. I’m not a person people choose, I’m a person who’s convenient.”
He’s quiet. She glances up to see if he’s even still paying attention. He’s still propped up in the corner. Alex slumps in her chair, pulling her legs up and slinging an arm over the back, sleeve-covered hand running over her lips- “...Shit.” She stares at the smear of makeup on the fabric for a second, then just leans her head on her arm. “...I hate this.”
The room is quiet for a long few seconds. 
She shakes her head again. “Like- this doesn’t make sense to me.” Already having ruined the fabric, Alex chews at her cuff for a second before straightening. “I feel like I should be happy and excited about this. And I know there are times where I would be - and I know I probably will be, eventually, because,” her tone is bitter, “-my whims are ever fickle - but right now, I don’t know. I guess I get initial attraction, that makes sense to me. I think I’m pretty conventionally attractive. ...In like… an alternative way.” Her eyes have darted off to the side and she lets out a short irritable breath. 
“I get that they want to fuck me.” It’s blunt. “But I don’t know how I could possibly be more desirable than these other girls.” Alex shakes her head again, taking a deep breath, settling into calm again. A sort of resigned peace, as her body stills. “Who knows. ...Maybe they’ll come to their senses next week.” 
Another long breath and she nods, gradually. “Right.” She looks to Jonas, face clear. “Am I good to go?”
He shrugs, so she doesn’t move. Finally, he speaks. “Not gonna wait for Delia?”
“Why should I? She’s not coming.” Alex doesn’t even look at the camera again, just standing up. “She did her job earlier. Now you’re doing yours.”
-
Is she really-
As soon as Alex is up, Jonas turns off the camera. She’s got one hand on the door handle but he grabs the other - quick, and lets go immediately -  holding up a finger again as he steps to the sound monitor to turn off the boom. 
It’s his turn to grab her by the collar - well, grab the mic, smothering it. He doesn’t have to whisper this time, though his voice is still low. “I told you it’s not my job, Alex, I didn’t ask for this-”
“I’m not mad about it.” She looks a little offended, but that might be because he’s got a hand closed around the neckline of her dress. “I like talking to you. I’m mad at production for lying to me.”
Jonas’s brow furrows. “What do-”
“I expected Delia, and apparently they never meant for her to show.” So she knows what she’s doing. 
...Does she? Or maybe she does and she just trusts production not to catch all the little details. Or maybe she didn’t before but now she does? Or maybe she doesn’t understand the implications about their previous discussions?
“Let go, I need to get back out there. If you want to talk, find me later.”
“How the hell do I do-” But she’s already backed out of his hold, and then the door is open and shut in seconds.
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purpleswans1 · 4 years
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Izuku’s Feud with the Yakuza
Another addition to my Villain!Izuku AU. For Villain Month day 11. The prompt is redemption, but I think I used the prompt very liberally... BTW this is the second time I’ve posted this section, I wasn’t able to format the original correctly, and my computer complained every time I tried to edit it to add links.
Read also on FF and AO3
It all started with what was supposed to be an easy robbery.
Izuku had noticed a certain casino with an unusual security system. He’d suspected that it had some less-than-legal activities going on behind closed doors, but didn’t consider the implications of that until it was too late.
A couple of days before they planned to rob the casino, Toga had stealthily extracted blood from a random businessman. It was just a small syringe, small enough that the target wouldn’t notice what the girl who bumped into him was doing, but large enough to get the blood Toga would need for 2 hours of transformation.
Now, Toga was walking towards the seedy casino disguised as the businessman, pretending that she was stressed and wanted to gamble.
“Just got my paycheck, now all I need is to play the odds and I’ll get enough to retire!” She gruffly told the man in line behind her.
“I thought I told her to stay inconspicuous,” Izuku said even though there was no way for Toga to hear him. “We don't want them to notice anything is different, and we definitely don’t want them paying attention to her.”
“She’ll be fine,” Uraraka insisted. “Toga’s used to this kind of stuff.”
“I know, I know.” Izuku said. “Just remind me to get her some inconspicuous communication device for her to wear so I can give her instructions when she’s on missions like this.”
Dabi raised his eyebrows. “You mean like a cell phone? We’re already using that.”
He was right. The audio Izuku was currently hearing came from Toga’s phone, which she had called Izuku with before they started. Izuku’s phone was currently on mute.
“I mean like an earpiece,” Izuku explained. “I may make one hidden as an earring, but I’d prefer one that was either invisible or flesh-colored.”
Around that time, Toga wandered into the casino and started to scope out the place. Izuku had told her to find the security room, where all the security and bank information would be. There wasn’t a door directly in the back, but there was a side door that wasn’t as well decorated as the other doors, so she decided to start with that one.
The door opened to stairs leading down. Toga followed the stairs to the bottom, where she saw a crowd of people surrounding a large metal cage. She couldn’t see what was going on, but there were a lot of growling sounds. To the side, she saw several dogs packed into too-small cages, covered in matted fur, flees, and blood.
Poor puppies. They look so cute covered in blood, but they also look miserable, Toga thought. I’ll ask Izuku if I could release them as a distraction.
On the other side of the room, she saw another door. None of the patrons where passing through it, but she did see a security guard use a keycard to open it.
Bingo.
Near a side wall, Toga found a broom closet. She grabbed one of the brooms and went to linger in the shadows on one side. After a few minutes, another security guard came her way.
As soon as he’d passed her, Toga hit him on the head with the broom handle. Swiftly, she caught the unconscious guard and dragged him into the broom closet, shutting the door behind her.
It was a cramped, dark space, but at least it was private.
She pulled out her phone to give Izuku and update. “I’ve knocked out one of the security guards. I’ll take some of his blood and his security card, which should let me in the back room.”
On his end, Izuku turned off mute. “Good job. Find some way to clear out the room, then put us on speaker.”
“I will,” She confirmed.
Toga emptied the contents of her fake-clothes pockets, including a trusty pocket knife. She used the knife to make a small cut in the guard’s arm. Several drops of blood decorated the cut, and she was quick to lap them up.
A few moments later, Toga left the broom closet, now looking like a security guard in this place. She easily slipped the security card in the slot and opened the door to a room filled with computers.
Two other security guards were watching monitors in the room. Well, no big deal.
Toga pretended to be relieved. “I’m so glad I found you guys! The boss is upstairs, he wants to speak to you.”
The two others looked up with wide eyes. “Overhall is here?” one asked.
Toga had no idea who that was, but nodded anyway.
The other security guard stood up. “Come on Kaname, I’ll show you to the private rooms. I only hope that he’s in a forgiving mood.”
Once the two had left the room, Toga sat down at one of the monitors and pulled out her phone.
“Okay Izuku, you’re on speaker,” she said after putting it on speaker.
“Good. Put the flashdrive I gave you in any of the desktops. If there are multiple computers there, you may have to try several, but I’ll be able to check each of them individually.”
Toga took the flashdrive out and did as she was asked. Shortly afterwards, the mouse on her monitor started moving on its own, bypassing passwords and opening programs all over the place.
Izuku’s tech skills are really great, Toga thought.
Eventually, Izuku spoke through the phone once again. “Okay, I’ve found the accounts. Let me just transfer the money, shouldn’t take more than a minute. By the way, do you know anything about these “kennels” that have cameras?”
“Oh, that must be for the doggies being kept here. That reminds me, can I try to free them as a distraction before I get away?”
“Did you say that there are dogs being kept there?” Uraraka asked. “Why would they…”
“They were all covered in blood, but looked really miserable. Can I, Izuku?” Toga asked again.
“Dogfighting,” Izuku said. He sounded like he was seething, something she’d only seen him do around Shigaraki before. “That’s what they’re doing behind closed doors. Don’t worry Toga, we’ll help the dogs escape. I think I can unlock their cages from here.”
“Yay!” Toga said. She spun around in her chair, which led to her eyes catching something on the floor in the corner of the room. “Hey guys? I think I found a safe.”
“What kind of safe is it?” Izuku asked.
Toga walked over to the safe and kneeled down. “Just a standard turning dial. Should I try to open it?”
“Leave it. We don’t know the combination, and I don’t want you to make noise trying to break it.”
Toga looked at a little slip of yellow she saw on the side of the safe. “There’s a sticky note here with the number 5, 15, 25 on it.”
“...In that case, go ahead and try it.”
Toga tried it. The safe opened.
“Well, there’s a few stacks of cash in here, as well as a gun with amo. Want me to take it all?”
“Wow, yeah, please do.”
Toga grabbed an empty briefcase from the floor and started shoving the money in it. “You got it, Izuku.”
“Good. Okay, the money has finished transferring. I’m going to open the kennels in a moment. Get the flashdrive, get out quickly, and take the long way to our hideout. Got it?”
Toga closed the briefcase, stood up, and grabbed her phone. “Got it.”
Outside the door, she could hear the clang of metal, followed by loud barks and screams. She pulled out the flashdrive and calmly power-walked out of the casino. When she passed the broom closet, she stealthily dropped the access card so her victim could find it later.
She got away scot-free, or so they thought.
--------
The next day, Izuku pulled out the new gun and ammo Toga had brought back. He wanted to sit on their new funds for a couple of days, but Toga had demanded a present for completing the job, so he gave her some cash to go shopping. Spinner had decided to join her and get some fresh air. Dabi had gone out to find another place they could make their hideout, since Izuku didn’t want to stay in someplace that All For One technically owned any longer than necessary. The only people still in the hideout were Uraraka and Izuku.
Izuku studied the gun. It was very similar to what he was used to: semi-automatic pistol with 12 in the clip and 1 in the chamber. The bullet size wasn’t the 9mm he used with his usual gun, so he’d have to keep a couple on hand to compare when he restocked. Still, there were enough in the box that once he’d loaded the clip half the box was still left.
He pushed the clip in and made sure the safety was on before walking away with the gun. “Uraraka, I’m going to shoot in the basement,” he shouted to the only other person in the house.
Uraraka looked up from the computer she’d been watching videos on. “Oh, okay. Want me to come with you?”
Izuku shook his head. “It’ll be loud, and all I’m doing is shooting at tin cans. Not the most interesting training, to be honest.”
Uraraka shrugged. “If you say so.”
Izuku descended the steps to the basement. He wasn’t sure why this particular warehouse had a basement, especially one this big, but he was grateful for it. The basement stretched out far beyond the boundaries of the building and probably even several blocks, giving Izuku a long concrete tunnel that suited him just fine as a shooting gallery.
He’d already set up makeshift targets from old tin cans about 10 feet from the entrance, so all he had to do was aim and shoot.
Bang!
The first bullet missed, significantly to the right of the target. Izuku was about to shoot another round, but he noticed some discoloration on the ground where the bullet hit.
He walked up to the target. The trajectory of the bullet was marked by a deep read, similar to blood. The bullet had traveled quite a distance, but it wasn’t hard for Izuku to find it on the ground several feet from the target. The bullet had split along the sides and squished on impact, opening up like a metallic flower.
Along the splits, Izuku found a thick, red liquid.
It it is blood, Toga will be able to tell.
Izuku decided to store the bullet in a plastic bag so Toga could look at it later. He was walking up the stairs to store it when he heard a loud noise from upstairs.
Izuku ran up to see what was going on.
Two men were standing in the entranceway, having thrown the front door off its hinges. They were both wearing plague masks. One was a large wall of muscles with long white hair. The other had black hair, but didn’t look particularly imposing. Izuku knew enough about the world of villains to know the smaller man was probably the greater threat, especially with his air of superiority.
Uraraka was standing in front of the unexpected guests. “What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded. “Who do you think you are?”
The smaller man spoke first. “I am Overhaul, the leader of the Eight Precepts of Death.”
Izuku had heard that name before and laughed. “The Yakuza? Come on, you don’t seriously think anyone is scared of you gangsters anymore!”
Overhaul’s eyes jumped to Izuku and narrowed. “You’re going to regret that. We originally came for retribution and to return the items you stole from our casino, but now you’ve insulted our honor.”
Izuku only rolled his eyes and laughed harder. “You really need to increase your security there, by the way. A sticky note with the lock combination right next to the safe? Really?”
Overhaul turned to his companion. “Kendo, teach him a lesson.”
Kendo, the larger man, nodded. “Sure thing, boss.”
Kendo took off running towards Izuku, but he only took a couple of steps before Uraraka flew towards him and knocked him back. Her air-powered jet shoes shot both her and Kendo into the opposite wall.
Izuku was glad he’d gotten her into the habit of wearing her support equipment all the time, even when resting.
A single hand hold followed by throwing the large man into the air ensured that Uraraka had the upper hand in the fight. It was hard for people with physical quirks to attack with zero gravity.
“Tck,” Overhaul turned to Izuku again. “I’ll just do it myself then.” He then took off running towards Izuku.
Shit, Izuku realized. I have no idea what their quirks are.
He turned and led his attacker to the other side of the room. Overhaul followed, gradually gaining distance. Considering how much Izuku had trained this was rather impressive, but not impressive enough to be his quirk.
When Overhaul was a few seconds from touching Izuku, he snagged Toga’s favorite pillow from a nearby bed and blocked Overhaul’s touch with it.
The pillow scattered into a million fragments, feathers and threads flying everywhere and hindering both fighter’s views. Izuku took the opportunity to jump on top of a table and climb up a shelf just out of Overhaul’s reach.
It’s a good thing he did, since a few seconds later the pillow miracuously came together again.
“Ah, so that’s how your quirk works,” Izuku said. “You’re able to deconstruct and reconstruct things you touch, correct?”
Overhaul glared at Izuku. “Yes, but you should know that’s not my only trick.”
Quick as a flash, Overhaul pulled a gun out of his jacket and fired at Uraraka. Right after impact, she fell.
“URARAKA!”
“Don’t worry, she should recover with time.” Overhaul said.
Izuku didn’t care. He’d forgotten until now, but he was still holding the new gun. Without thinking, he fired it at Overhaul.
It missed the heart by a wide margin, but still hit the Yakuza boss’s side.
Overhaul winced in pain, but surged forward to touch the shelf Izuku was standing on.
Nothing happened.
Overhaul raised his eyebrows. “Oh? So you’re already using those bullets?”
Izuku had no idea what he was talking about, but pretended he did and said, “Yes. They’re very useful.”
Overhaul gave Izuku a calculating gaze.
“Oi! What happened here? Get away from my friends!”
A flash of blue flames shot across the room and forced Overhaul to back away.
Dabi was standing in the destroyed entranceway, looking as effortlessly casual as usual.
Overhaul’s eyes shifted between Izuku, Uraraka (who had started to stand up again), Dabi, and Kendo. He must have realized he’d lost the advantage.
“Kendo, we’re leaving.”
“But Boss, I wanted to rough them up more!” Kendo said.
“You’ll get another chance,” Overhaul said, “But for now, we have more important things to do.”
Izuku couldn’t resist the urge to snort.
Overhaul gave him one last look. “You’re getting away with it now, but don’t you dare consider stealing from the Eight Precepts of Death again. You will regret it.”
He then turned and led Kendo out the door, brushing shoulders with Dabi on the way out.
Once they were out of sight, Izuku climbed down from the shelf.
“I’m gone for a few hours and you guys manage to get in a fight,” Dabi said. “Seriously, who were those thugs?”
“The Eight Precepts of Death, the Yakuza organization that owned the casino from yesterday,” Izuku explained.
Dabi sighed. “Only you could accidentally piss off he Yakuza. I thought those organizations had lost power with the age of quirks?”
“You and me both,” Izuku walked over where Uraraka was clutching her calf. “How bad is it?”
“Not bad, at least, I think.” Uraraka said, biting her lip “It’s just a graze, but something still feels off…” She leaned down and touched her shoes. “My quirk… It’s not getting lighter. I think my quirk stopped working!”
Izuku frowned. That was worrying, but might explain why Overhaul wasn’t able to finish the job after Izuku shot him. If the bullets these Yakuza used were the same as the ones Toga picked up yesterday, then Overhaul must have lost his quirk when Izuku shot him. The fact that Overhaul didn’t seem too worried about this meant that Uraraka was probably going to be okay eventually.
“Come on, let’s get that bandaged up.” Izuku lead her over to the couch. “Dabi, did you find a new place?”
“Yeah, there’s an old house for sale about 10 minutes from here. It’s not in the best shape, but should only cost us about half of what we got from the casino job,” Dabi explained. “I guess you want to move sooner rather than later?”
“Yes. I’ll move the money through a couple of dummy accounts to make sure they can’t trace it, but we should be able to buy the new place by this evening.” Izuku said, pulling out some bandages to wrap up Uraraka’s leg.
“Well, you should make sure they can’t track us there with whatever they used to find us here,” Dabi said. He noticed the box of bullets on the table. “Hey, are those from yesterday?”
Izuku looked at what Dabi was talking about. “Yes. I was trying out the gun this morning, but I’m starting to think there’s something special about those bullets.”
Dabi emptied the box onto the table. Bullets rolled around the table and fell on the floor, but Dabi was only interested in the empty box.
He shoved the empty bullet box under Izuku’s nose. “Doesn’t that look like an electronic tracker?”
A small red light was blinking at the bottom of the box. There wasn’t much encasing it, but it should be enough for a little circuitry.
Izuku scowled. “You’re right. Do me a favor and destroy it?”
A puff of blue flames later and it was done.
------
Izuku had planned a while ago on meeting with a local support gear supplier to refill Uraraka’s air canisters, order more syringes for Toga, and get more bullets for himself. However, the morning after they moved hideouts he didn’t start the meeting with any of those requests.
Instead, he slapped a wad of cash on the table. “I’ll give you all this right now if you can tell me the location of the Eight Precepts of Death’s headquarters.
The supplier raised an eyebrow, but was more than happy to provide that information.
----------
“You know, all this sneaking around is more of Toga’s thing,” Dagi said. “Why didn’t we bring her?”
“She wanted to look after Uraraka,” Izuku reminded him. “Besides, we shouldn’t need her quirk for this.”
About a week after the confrontation with Overhaul in the old warehouse, Uraraka had gotten her quirk back but still wasn’t in fighting shape. Izuku would never say how relieved he was when she made her blanket float by accident, but getting shot in the leg would put her out of condition for a while longer. Toga had felt so guilty for not checking for trackers when she brought stuff home, so she’d gone above and beyond to make Uraraka’s recovery as comfortable as possible.
Izuku, though, had thrown himself into getting revenge on the Eight Precepts of Death and Overhaul. A few innocent questions to the local small-time villains and Izuku had gathered plenty of information on both the major members and their business practices. Apparently they were trying to dominate the underground again using drugs that enhanced and removed quirks, and held a monopoly on both quirk enhancers and the quirk-erasing bullets.
To be honest, it kind of reminded Izuku of how All For One had maintained a stranglehold on villain society for so many years by taking and giving quirks as he saw fit. Izuku knew how much power that could potentially bring, and wanted to make sure the Yakuza couldn't keep it.
Or, better yet, he wanted to take it for himself.
That was why Dabi, Spinner, and Izuku were here now, sneaking into the Eight Precepts of Death’s compound. Toga had given all three of them training on hiding their presence, so they should be able to slip in undetected and destroy the supply of drugs and special bullets. Hopefully they'd get some critical manufacturing equipment as well. Even better, Izuku was hoping to take pictures of their bullet-making process so he could reverse-engineer it.
Spinner, who had been crawling on the ceiling until now, dropped down in front of Izuku and Dabi. “There’s a door to the left,” he whispered.
Izuku nodded. “Let’s check it out.”
Just around the corner where spinner had said, Izuku found a closed door. It wasn’t locked. He opened it, but what he saw made him stop in his tracks.
It was a little girl’s room. Izuku had expected to find a stockpile of weapons, drugs, or the labs they’d use to make those things. Instead, he saw a rainbow painting, dolls strewn all over the floor, and a pink bed.
On the bed, a little girl with a horn looked at Izuku with fear in her eyes.
“A-are you… Is he…” The girl was trembling, but tried to voice her question. “Does he need to unmake and remake me again?”
Unmake and remake? Izuku wondered. That sounds like Overhaul’s quirk...
Suddenly, what she was saying clicked in Izuku’s mind.
“Dabi, Spinner, go on ahead. Take pictures of anything you think I’d be interested in, and destroy any stockpiles you can find.” He said.
Izuku heard the two of them leave, but didn’t take his eyes off the girl. He walked slowly towards her, holding out his hand.
“Don’t worry, I’m not with Overhaul,” he said. “My name’s Izuku, what’s yours?”
The girl looked at his hand wearily and didn’t move. Eventually, her quiet voice said, “I’m Eri.”
Izuku gave her a comforting smile. “Hello Eri. Do you mind if I sit next to you?”
Eri did not respond, so Izuku went ahead and sat on the bed.
“Does Overhaul unmake and remake you a lot?” he asked.
Eri looked down at her hands, but eventually nodded.
“I’m sorry to hear that. I’m sure it must be painful.” Izuku reached a comforting hand out and gave her a one-armed hug.
Surprisingly, Eri didn’t flinch. She actually started to lean into his arm some more.
“Do you want to leave here?”
Eri looked up at Izuku in surprise. “I.. Can I leave?”
Izuku gave her a comforting smile. “If you want, I can take you away from here. There’s already five people in one house so it might not be as comfortable as you’re used to, but at least Overhaul won’t hurt you anymore.”
Eri clutched his hand, holding onto it with more strength than he thought her small body could muster. Her eyes were wide with hope. “Please, please, please! I don’t want to be unmade anymore!” She was on the edge of sobbing.
Izuku held her close, shushing her. Looking at Eri, he couldn’t help but remember when he was young and All For One had just taken him in. Did he tremble in fear as much as Eri?
No, he probably hadn’t. All For One hadn’t been actively torturing him.
Izuku tightened her arms around Eri and lifted her off the bed. She was so light, Izuku suspected she’d been malnourished.
“Try to be quiet,” he whispered. “I don’t want anyone to notice what I’m doing.”
Eri nodded and put a finger to her lips, the universal symbol for “quiet.”
And so, Izuku walked out of the Eight Precepts of Death’s facility with a little girl in tow, leaving Dabi and Spinner to destroy the drugs and bullets.
For some reason, they weren’t able to find the process to make quirk-destroying bullets.
---------
“Aw, aren’t you the cutest thing!” Uraraka squealed at the sight of Eri.
Dabi, on the other hand, gave Izuku a hard look. “Izuku, why did you have to take her home?”
Izuku rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
“Aw, Dabi, you’re just jealous that she’s so cute!” Toga said.
“Umm…” Eri fidgeted with her nightgown. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to be a burden…”
“No, no, no you’re not a burden!” Uraraka said. “Dabi’s just being a stick in the mud. By the way, it doesn't look like Izuku brought any of your clothes with you. Would you like to get some new clothes?”
Eri fiddled with her nightgown some more. “If you want.”
“Hm… you can’t go to the store in that nightgown…” Toga considered. “Oh, I’ve got it! Eri, come with me real quick.”
Toga led the tiny girl up the stairs to the bedrooms.
Once the girl was out of earshot, Izuku turned to Dabi. “Overhaul has been using his quirk on her. Regularly destroying her body and putting it back together. I couldn’t leave here there.”
“I see,” Dabi suddenly turned away from Izuku. “Well, there’s also the fact that she’s a kid growing up in the ‘care’ of a villain organization…”
“Dabi!” Uraraka hissed.
Izuku couldn’t figure out what they were implying, but before he could ask Toga returned with Eri.
“Ta-da!” Toga said, showing off Eri dressed in a black t-shirt that was so much bigger than her it worked like a dress.
Izuku recognized the design. “Isn’t that my shirt?”
“Well, you’re not using it right now,” Uraraka said. “Besides, it looks so much better than that ratty nightgown.”
Eri shuffled over to Uraraka, apparently to show off her clothes. Something made her trip and hit Urarak’s hurt leg.
“Ugh!” Uraraka grunted in pain from the impact.
Eri immediately jumped back. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
“Oh, no, it’s fine sweety,” Uraraka assured her, sitting up from the couch. “It was an accident, after all…”
Uraraka froze. Something was different. She unwrapped the bandages around her leg. The wound was completely gone.
Somehow, Eri’s bump had healed her.
“Wow Eri! You have a healing quirk?” Toga asked.
“N-no, that’s not it.” Eri was trembling again. “It’s dangerous. I ‘rewind’ people, and it can make people completely disappear by accident…”
“Well, that just means you need to learn to control it,” Uraraka said.
Eri was close to tears now. “But I can’t control it. The only person who can control it is Overhaul, when he uses me to cleanse the world of quirks…”
Izuku’s breath caught. Is she saying…?
Swiftly, Izuku kneeled down so he was eye level with her. “Eri, your quirk is your power, nobody else’s. Overhaul won’t touch you again, and I know you’ll figure out how to control it with time.”
“But… But what if I hurt someone?” Eri asked.
“We’ll be careful, and I’ll help you get a handle on it. Okay?” Izuku said, patting her on the head.
Eri still looked concerned, but didn’t protest.
“Hey Uraraka, since you’re doing better, how about you take Eri and Toga shopping? She needs clothes, after all.” Izuku said.
“Right! That’s a wonderful idea,” Uraraka said, bolting up off the couch. “Come on you two!”
“Yay! It's a girls-only outing!” Toga cheered, taking Eri’s hand and following Uraraka out the door.
With the girls gone, Dabi and Spinner went to their rooms to catch up on sleep. Izuku though, grabbed a particular gun and the corresponding bullets and walked down to the old hideout where his shooting gallery was still set up.
One by one, Izuku emptied clip after clip of the quirk-erasing bullets. They destroyed the cans and stained the whole place red, but Izuku just kept shooting until the last bullet made from a little girl’s suffering had been spent.
This was his redemption.
-------------
The next day, the Mustafu police force received an anonymous tip about the source of illegal quirk enhancing and erasing drugs. They forwarded this information to the Nighteye agency, where All Might’s successor was still interning. This prompted a raid on the Eight Precepts of Death’s facility, where the hero LeMillion defeated the villain Overhaul.
The public at large didn’t think too much of this, but Mirio and Sir Nighteye both thought it was too convenient, especially since none of the Yakuza and tried to use their quirk-erasing bullets. They asked to interrogate Overhaul about this, and the police granted their request.
“Someone took the child. My guess is that green-haired kid with a smart mouth, but I can’t say for sure,” Overhaul said in response to questioning.
"The child?" Mirio asked.
"What green-haired kid?" Nighteye asked instead.
Overhaul scratched the side of his face. "The girl is none of your concern, but if you must know she's the Boss's granddaughter. Now for the green-haired kid, he's apparently the leader of a new small-time group of villains. I don't know his name, and I wouldn't have even concerned myself with him if he hadn't stolen some quirk-erasing bullets from me. He didn't even seem to realize what he'd done, but still made himself a nuisance."
"You still haven't explained what this has to do with your lack of resources," Nighteye pressed.
Mirio want to ask about the girl again, but let his mentor take the lead.
"A few days ago someone broke into our facility and destroyed our entire stash of bullets and drugs. They burned them and scattered the ashes so even I couldn’t reonstruct them. They also took the only source I had for the quirk-erasing bullets. I investigated, and found out that some green-haired boy had been asking about our operations. His description matched someone I’d recently caught stealing from our legitimate businesses, so I planned to track him and his gang down, but you showed up first.”
“You say this boys took your source for the quirk-erasing bullets. Is it possible he’ll try to create his own?” Nighteye asked.
“I doubt it. But if he does, well, that’s your problem isn’t it?” Overhaul responded.
“Would you be willing to tell us what you know about the green-haired boy and his gang?” Mirio asked, “If nothing else, so we can save the girl.”
Overhaul gave Mirio a calculating stare for a few moments. “I’ve only seen three of them. I don’t know what the green-haired boy’s quirk is, but he is skilled with a pistol and has a deep understanding of the underworld and how it works. He’s got this brunette girl in his group, and her quirk somehow lets her and the people she’s fighting float. The last one I only saw a glimpse of, but his body was covered in burn scars that may have been because by his blue-flame quirk. Is that good enough for you?”
“It’s a decent start,” Nighteye said. “Mirio, let’s go.”
As they walked through the walls of Tartarus, Mirio turned to Nighteye. “Did you get enough information?”
“Not even close. Overhaul is definitely hiding something,” Nighteye pulled out his phone and started texting his sidekicks. “There’s a good chance we’ll learn more if we can find that green-haired kid and figure out if he really did destroy the stash and steal the source of those bullets.”
“And the girl?” Mirio asked.
“Again, we need to find the green-haired kid before we can judge.” Nighteye suddenly stopped, a look of shock on his face. “Mirio, did you notice how Overhaul started talking about the girl but quickly changed to talking about the source of the bullets?”
Mirio's heart sunk. “You think that’s because they’re the same thing?”
Nighteye started walking faster. “I don’t know for sure, but we have to find that green-haired boy.”
Unfortunately, the Nighteye Agency’s investigation on this matter proved fruitless for about a month. The most they got were a few rumors about a kid collecting support gear, but they never led anywhere.
That is, until a green-haired boy introduced himself and his friends to the world by attacking Endeavour.
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