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#meanwhile the second Fantasy one feels like it could very well be a depiction of Ornstein and Anor Londo from somewhere far away

sugar-petals · 3 years

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Club Daemon (m)

PAIRING. merman!baekhyun x vampire!reader

↳ PLOT. You join a club of half-demons all hailing from different supernatural species — and find an unexpected love.

↳ WORDS. 27k

TAGS / WARNINGS ⚠️ eventual smut, jealousy, explicit bloodsucking sex (mutual oral, vaginal), fangs kink, pining, groping, femdom!reader, angst/action, neck fixation, rough sex, fantasy au

The room is filled with smoke, but not from any cigarettes. Somewhere around here, or so you’ve been told, must be the entrance to actual hell.

A gloomy spiral staircase headed for the core of the earth, kind of rusty and gleaming in red, fog everywhere, you get the idea. But so far… that’s none of your business. And either way.

The architecture in the part of the mansion you were invited to elegantly pools into a massive door of brass and copper. An embossed piece, amazingly sculpted — a hundred years old or more.

The center depicts a translucent emblem that appears to be strangely double-headed. Two facial profiles. One gazing east, the other, west. What exactly that’s supposed to mean: You have no idea, but you get the gist. Some kind of Greek mythology visual going on there.

Doesn’t look like hell, does it.

You approach the door with slowed steps, tug your blazer into a comfortable fit at the lower hem. Had a mint? Check. Documents? Check. Posture? Semi-check. Adjusting necessary. Back straight, firmer walk. Done. Hopefully. As long as you don’t have to take those reckless stairs down south, you’re surprisingly ready for this. And what kind of preparations can you take for this kind of encounter in the first place anyway.

Beside the door, a concierge behind a luxurious, bulky table lifts his golden-framed glasses. They’re exceptionally thin and round, making their wearer appear like a wise, yet prying owl. Mister Mark Lee, apparently, going by how Taemin described him to you.

Oh God, Taemin’s pointers saved your life finding this place. He’s been so forthcoming and took the time to explain as much as he could. The moment makes you reminisce a little. Your eyes lose focus.

Meanwhile, fully in the moment, the conscierge seems to cloud himself in the mystery of his dark green suit without any words. A man as groomed as this very Victorian penthouse. And this very borough, and this very carpet you’re standing on. Greeting you with a nod as understated as can be.

It’s not like he’s treating you like air — he simply keeps the certain reserve you’d expect from a nocturnal bird. Or so it seems. That you’d be scrutinized you already expected, but this way feels a bit uneasy in the chest. If you’re the mouse to the owl, you want to move on past that door as fast as you fucking can.

You try to continue standing straight and hand him your letter as inconspicuously as possible. Oh, that damn piece of paper that turned your life around. A little ‚good evening‘ barely leaves your throat and Mister Lee presses a button underneath the table top after gazing over the document nearly thrice. Following his insistent eyes, you leave your phone on the table altogether, and now have virtually nothing to hold onto. You opt for putting your hands in your navy blue pants pockets. If that’s any good around here, staying a little hellishly casual.

‘A very good evening indeed,‘ is what Mister Lee’s eyes seem to reply.

The door shifts open with a dull, booming sound. Very well then. You stagger inside toward what’s hopefully behind it — suddenly feeling so terribly exhausted. Hazy. You don’t know how it hit you. So many scents. Impressions. Movement. Space. Eyes. Heartbeats.

You try hard to focus on the first candle you can see around, and you do find one, and it does ground you. After their split-second delirium, your feet anchor on the carpet now, and the scenery pulls you back to breathing. Now, the bigger picture becomes a lot clearer.

There are several men settled everywhere across the room that opens before you so luxuriously. All dressed in the finest of garments and polished shoes, donning the most annoyingly impeccable haircuts on top of that. Everything about this room screams dignity, and haughtiness, and a hefty bank account.

But you can’t deny another, stronger hunch. The presence of one gentleman in particular sends a chilly feeling down your spine. You can’t tell who it is now. You just know that somebody here is very different. Dangerously so.

Between armchairs, chandeliers, blood-filled cups and side tables, you spot arrangements of night-blooming jasmine and daffodils. Large and opulent, really catching your eye with their elegant trumpet shapes.

Perhaps, and you really have no clue whether that’s a good theory, to suggest that however solid teak and mahogany this entire interior might be, there is still life and scent in it. But it’s all… so carefully curated. Too deliberate to be authentic in the very least, and that’s what is making you tense up so much. You know very well that nobody in this room, if it weren’t for this meeting, would be preoccupied with flowers. Except maybe Taemin. But he’s half-elven, so that doesn’t count. Elves love jasmine.

Meanwhile, you suspect that the cups with blood were purposely brought in to catch you off guard pretty much right away. To test your self-control, get you startled, or lord knows what. Power games in this club, you’d not be surprised. But the scent really is so overbearing. You become all light-headed. Whatever they set up for you here, it’s already working. You feel like falling asleep in the middle of the damn night.

The fumes, and the candles, and the daffodils—

„Wong Yukhei,“ a voice finally pierces through the mist inside your brain.

You perk up. It belongs to a figure seated in the deeper middle of the room. A dark-haired man, noticeably tall and baritoned, with full lips, immense shoulders. In fact, a frame to behold all tailored in matte black. Down to the pointed oxford shoes, laced up in a very brisk way as if someone pulled a corset very tight.

„Yes—?“

„Half-lycan. Club president. Have a seat.“

Now you know why he speaks first.

It’s like you’re frozen on the spot. Judging by how muscular he is underneath that very suit, especially around the upper body, you don’t want to catch a glimpse of what happens when the moon says hi. Half werewolf it is. No wonder his hands are huge like paws. You don’t have to count one and one together to know that this guy could go casual beastmode and rip the room’s door in half.

„A... alright.“

Stammering like a fool isn’t something you planned but comes out as a sheer reflex. To distract from the awkward tone, you resort to looking around. You wonder if the club is in full attendance. Because who knows, they could await some more people like you later on. There are actually quite a few empty seats to choose from. A dozen, perhaps a bit more. Each with a filled cup on a table, right to the brim, one more flavorful than the other.

Since the president didn’t gesture towards any seat in particular, you find yourself having to make an intuitive choice. Whether that’s some werewolfey ‚where does she put up her territory?‘ personality quiz or whatever… is unimportant because your nose is already telling you precisely where to sit anyway. In fact, obnoxiously so. It’s itching like crazy at most of the scents except one. You realize — at least that you can rely on. There’s that one cup you want to be close to. Ignoring it would probably torture you for the entire night so you give into it.

Taking the empty chair at the chimney fire on the right side of the room comes naturally. And: With several eye pairs resting very firmly on you. But your attention is elsewhere already. The blood in the goblet of this particular table really does smell like the most delicious thing. There’s something magically attractive about the consistency. You can feel with your whole body just how amazingly juicy and welcoming the drink is. For a strange reason, it seems like it’s almost iridescent. You’ve never seen that before. Everyone in the room has the current pleasure of watching you being smitten by a fucking drink.

There’s no way they didn’t see you lick your lips like a first class pervert either.

Whatever first impression you’re giving them, it’s one that makes a part of you mentally run out the door again. Poor Taemin thought you were a promising invitee. You feel bad for disappointing him already. Slave to your instincts, how on earth are you even supposed to sit here in the finest and highest of company. Creating sexual tension over a glass of blood in a millionaire’s club or whatever.

Still, against all odds, the other part of you glady reclines in your seat, sleazy like a retired Russian oligarch on his yacht. Because that means: Smelling that heavenly scent up close. Hell, just fuck everything else. It’s the most gratifying thing you’ve come across. Did they brew you a damn magic potion or something?

You have a hard time snapping back to the conversation and realize everyone is still intently looking at you admiring your cup as if it’s a prime time television event with Zac Efron in it. Which you now force yourself to break from. Not so gladly this time. You really want to have a sip, but Yukhei’s pressing gaze demands you to make your move. You wonder why his eyes are so livid, but again realize that he probably doesn’t need the moon to be wolf-like, does he.

„So you were the one who came up with inviting me, then?“ you say, and the words come out much more bluntly. It surprises you. Since you skipped the introduction and small talk altogether, maybe your mouth thought, why not strike a direct tone. Just being in the vicinity of something so mouthwatering makes you feel on top of the world out of literal nowhere. You’re about to lose your train of thought again that Yukhei fervently shakes his head.

„It was Baekhyun’s suggestion. A terribly daring one I thought,“ he says. „Thank him that we agreed to meeting you in person. In fact, he was very adamant we’d do so.“

You look around the assembly, hoping to find clarity about whoever prompted the invitation letter. Since nobody seems to put anything forth, you quiz yourself on who of these gentlemen looks like a Baekhyun, and why nobody is reacting. Everyone’s literally sitting there like marble statues.

According to Taemin, getting an invitation to Club Daemon is not only something that excludes the general public, but also merely a fleeting ‚rumor‘. Not even a neighborhood legend if it came down to it. Because on more official papers, this guild does not exist. Whoever wanted to invite you was indeed taking a notable risk — to the president’s nuisance, on top of that.

Oh yeah. Now you’re at the edge of your seat.

„Eh. I’m afraid Baekhyun cannot meet you in this particular setting,“ Yukhei breaks into a lop-sided smirk. You’re shocked he’d pull a dismissive face like that. So openly, like he simply doesn’t give one damn all of a sudden. Strangely enough, it still doesn’t take away from just how nobly he’s dressed. It’s seriously messing with your head. Or is it the goblet?

„So, this setting, um—“

You look like Yukhei just spoke in a different language now. Stifled laughter among the guild members. At least they’re reacting now. That’s progress. But you’re even more confused and stuff your hands back into your pockets.

„See. Carpets are typically not Baekhyun’s favored grounds. He’s half-merman,“ Yukhei continues, very much composed in his seat now just as before. And it finally registers.

Oh man.

You can’t spot some giant water tank in this room or anything of that kind. There’s no way he could just casually hang out here. Of course he can’t greet you in the club. Sweet Jesus. You have too much blood and flower scent around you.

„But not to worry. You’ll get to meet your sweet benefactor,“ Yukhei leans back, the smirk growing even wider. „Baekhyun can speak to you in the club bathroom from time to time. If he’s not out there playing around in the bays like the kid he is.“

„I see? Uh...“

You shift back and forth in your seat. Even if your brain somehow tries to piece that information together, keeping your eyes off the chalice is so hard all over again.

You can’t lie, it’s even starting to get you hot and bothered from the toes up. Gritting your teeth is all you can do not to gasp out loud. Literally, you’re one moan away from semi-public indecency. That is, if human law applies to this room. Going by how everyone is so keen to see you react, it probably doesn’t. Your ears are telling you that pretty much everyone is holding their breath right now. Untouched orgasm at 7:30 PM? Wasn’t on your plan either. But looks like you’re headed for it. You wonder if Yukhei has been planning to set you up for this and—

„We didn’t put this up to confuse you, Y/N. Please feel free to drink. We want you to feel welcome here,“ a second, innately friendly voice addresses you now, parting the silence like a vintage knife through warm butter. It’s much softer than Yukhei’s, as if laced with honey.

Immediately, you recognize the sound. It is Taemin.

Seated to Yukhei’s far left in a flawlessly upright posture. Blond and lavish, dressed in a type of brocade tux. It seems to be a mix of burgundy and golden pipings in the fire light, but you could be wrong. With good reason and regard to most members present, the room is kept very dark. In fact, the atmosphere couldn’t be any more controlled. Nevertheless — finally reuniting with him is such a relief. You already want to thank him for averting a full-on catastrophe.

„Taemin! It’s good to see you again,“ you finally break the tension. Your tone loses all discomfort, your face brightens. Taemin gently bows in response. His poise lights up the room, and you even manage to detach from the chalice.

„The pleasure is ours. It’s great to see you again as well.“

You recall. The memory is still so vivid. He was the one who brought you the letter in the late evening. You were sitting on your balcony scrolling through your phone feed and boom. There he was, sitting — even seemingly glowing or whatever it was — in a cherry tree. With his pointy ears and an envelope for you, the exact invitation Baekhyun had suggested. As far as you can remember, he’s been elected as the Club’s vice president very recently.

Taemin explained a lot of the club’s incentives to you on the balcony. Even if you did manage to drop your phone in shock at his appearance, his open approach had you packing up your bags for the mansion in a matter of two days. Seems like the club knows who to send when they don’t want to intimidate possible recruits. If Yukhei showed up in that dark suit and the low brow, you probably would’ve turned into a bat and headed for the forest. Well, or something like that. Meanwhile, Taemin feels like you’ve been familiar for decades.

„Do drink. It is handpicked for you!“

„Thank you, Taemin,“ is all you can say, and turn back to your drink with shaky hands. Finally. And well. If Taemin offers it, it can’t be wrong. It’s far too late to ignore it anyway. You already grab the base of the chalice like you’re holding on to dear life.

The first sip is so hasty, Yukhei almost has to laugh out loud. Or is it a laugh? Taemin frowns right at him, but you’re too busy chugging to notice. Hawthorn, lotus, apples, water lily, chestnuts and vanilla. So many nuances, too little tastebuds and too little words to describe it. You’ve never tasted blood of such a quality. For free. Not one pause to breathe, it just goes down like fine liquor.

Everything in your body starts to feel completely alert. Whoever this blood belongs to, whatever is going on, this is the most thrilling feeling you’ve experienced in a while. It’s like floating inches above your seat. Your face is feeling all heated as if the chimney fire burns your cheeks. Your skin is normally pretty cold and stays that way if you think about it.

At the same time, you’re surprisingly refreshed on the inside. The blood left a minty trace on the back of your tongue. You know the men are watching you, but you can’t help but ride the high of the taste for a few seconds with your eyes closed. Once the rush is fully over, you slack in your seat. Open your eyes. And sigh out. Goddamn.

If that means to feel welcome here, then you’re more than convinced. Taemin knows how to serve an aperitif. Everything about your body feels relaxed. You bet your pupils are more blown than Yukhei’s dick in his freetime going by how he sits and watches your reaction. Manspreading is an understatement. Wolfspreading is the new thing. Literally, what on earth happened. He’s glowering at you like you just stole the keys to the glitzy silver sportscar that’s parked in front of the mansion and without a doubt must be his. Your eyes aren’t deceiving you even if the light is so dim: He’s straight-up gotten all angry to the point of gritting his teeth.

But there’s also something that tells you he’s afraid.

„Now, you probably want to know why we’re interested in you, right,“ Taemin gently continues once you put the empty chalice down and make very needed use of the napkin already placed next to the cup. Heartbeat: Speed of a bullet train arriving at a station.

„I’m starting to see why.“

Most of your exhaustion is actually… gone. Out of the blue. You’re feeling much more perceptive, much faster in every move. Maybe Edward was right with his personal brand of heroin. You just never knew because you had 5 Pounds 50 blood from TESCO’s every day until now. So that’s that.

„We didn’t find a novice in twenty years,“ Taemin says. „Nor a half-vampire for that matter.“

In passing, he ushers a slender-looking butler towards your table. Casually, as if he did it a million times already. So far, using the shade of the lighting, the butler had been blending in with a velvet curtain until now. You ask yourself if you’ve actually noticed him or not. You can’t clearly tell which is strange. But then again, going by the course of events until now, not really.

„Right,“ you reply, trying to focus on Taemin — without much success. The butler simply looks too striking. He uses a large carafe to refill what probably measures up to another quarter liter into your chalice. He looks at you with sheer intent, it’s Yukhei’s gaze times ten, almost like it’s bundled into a lazer. Instead of being excited about the refill, you find yourself trying to desperately decipher the butler’s look. It’s not wolfy this time, that’s for sure. It’s something far, far different. It’s something deeply scary.

The butler lingers. It takes five seconds too long for him to return to the curtain. There’s that feeling again. That hunch from before when you came in, so much stronger now. You’re shivering. The man looks so serious in his crisp red suit, with the pin stripes and a golden pocket watch at his lapel. His aura is so freezing cold.

„Meaning, our guild could urgently use a new addition,“ Taemin keeps on speaking, with Yukhei closely listening to how he puts his words. In the meantime, the butler stands completely still in the dark, merging with the curtain almost completely again. But you can tell his eyes are on you. His frame looks so skinny at a distance, but you can tell he’s much stronger than that. Lord knows Yukhei might not be the only one who could break the door in half.

You hold on tight to the napkin in your lap. Where you thought you’d feel elated, you’re all sober now.

„Twenty years is a long time,“ you comment, a lot more dryly this time.

Even in a club where nobody ages by human standards, this could be quite a frustration. Looking around, you begin to understand why the invitation was such an urgent matter and there are many more empty seats. All the members look very established and at home to say the very least. Nobody here appears to be a novice.

„It is,“ Taemin replies. „You can see why we wanted to talk to you.“

„Yes. I can. Thank you for considering me. It was a bit out of nowhere but, I guess there’s no way to do it differently.“

Taemin nods. Meanwhile, Yukhei remains visibly displeased in his center seat, with his expression growing much darker by the minute. You can’t tell whether he didn’t like you downing the blood so fast like a post-diet Dracula or how Taemin explained all of this to you now. You don’t have to wonder for a long time, though.

„That we expand our assembly with a half-vampire out of all possibilities— was not my idea,“ Yukhei taps his fingers onto the lion-shaped armrests of his chair. The poor fellas probably have a hard time carrying his frame, fragile as they look. Taemin, on the other hand, is as nonchalant and petite as you got to know him. Like a feather on his seat, he sways his torso ever so slightly while he listens. Then, he reaches over to pat Yukhei on the shoulder with a wide, reassuring smile.

„But you were still delighted that Baekhyun found someone, didn’t you.“

„You make it sound like a public holiday. Eh, we’re recruiting, Taemin.“

„You didn’t take too long to agree to sending the invitation at all. Back when Kai joined, you needed five months to say yes. And he’s half-lycan himself.“

„Because Jongin was a grade A stupid bastard… and still is,“ Yukhei darts an even lower gaze to a particularly shaded corner of the room. Whoever this guy Kai is, he’s sitting right there and grins his life away. Now that you set your eyes on him, you’re about to piss your fucking pants.

Even behind a particularly large array of jasmine bouquets, his silhouette looks the most powerful out of all the club members despite him not being as tall as Yukhei. Where you would’ve called the Yukhei ‚strong‘, Kai was first and foremost athletic — head to toe, with a looming frame. He’s kept silent for the entire time, but he sure listened well.

„It’s a competition, Yukhei,“ the silhouette crosses his legs, laughing. „Whoever is bastardly enough is qualified for being the club president. Sounds like I’m headed right for it. But you’re also knee-deep. Knee-deep, I’m telling you.“

Kai’s voice is much lighter than you thought it would be, but the way he speaks commands instant respect. Yukhei’s answer is a mixture of a growl and a huff, but it’s so blended together that it’s becoming hard to distinguish to your reeling ears. All you know is that the atmosphere in the room feels like a string ready to snap.

So that’s what half-lycans are all about, then.

In case they’re about to fully out-bastard each other, you take another sip to distract yourself. You hear your ears pulse even more. The blood really is delicious and takes your mind off. To your surprise and relief, Yukhei squarely turns to the assembly with a much more point-blank attitude in his movement now. Kai remains entirely ignored.

„That she’s not part of a vampire clan and we couldn’t find possible members for so long is the only reason she’s here, that’s all.“

„Enough a reason,“ Taemin smiles even wider, and puts more soothing into his phrasings. Kai’s unsettling presence doesn’t seem to faze him the very least.

„We’d be happy to have you join us if you’re inclined,“ he now addresses you again. „I’m sure our talk about the training and formal things will bore you, though. I reckon you want to be introduced to your kind first.“

„Oh…“

Your kind.

That explains a lot. A whole damn lot, to be exact. You can’t help but suck in air, but it’s less awkward than you thought. In fact, your reaction brings some life into the room. Looks like everyone has anticipated this. Yukhei’s eyes narrow. Kai seems even more alert. You feel like a lab rat new to the cage.

„You felt his presence when you stepped in, didn’t you,“ Taemin asks, his head tilting a bit to the side.

You did. The half-elf looks confirmed in his statement.

„It’s him, right,“ you direct your eyes toward the curtain, but don’t dare to lift your gaze any further.

The butler.

He’s been sticking out like a sore thumb.

You felt him since the very first moment.

„Yes,“ Taemin says.

Your suspicion, or rather, what your body told you from the beginning with every shiver and every fiber, was entirely right: With an interpretation you couldn’t grasp just then. But now you do. Your intuition didn’t lie.

„Ma’am. Pleased to meet you. Lee Taeyong,“ the butler strikes a surprisingly fluid introduction. You freeze up again. It’s very unlike his stiff positioning, stepping forth from his usual waiting place so his face is visible to you in candle light entirely at a bit of a distance. Lee Taeyong. His face… really is sharp.

„I was expelled from my clan 80 years ago,“ he disposes of his tray to speak freely now. His voice is so deep, it almost resonates in your ribcage. But then, you see something vulnerable in him. You don’t know what it is.

„Expelled?“

„You can imagine. They found out I wasn’t full vampire,“ he continues. Now you do see them. His fangs. You should’ve noticed. Damn. „That’s how I got here.“

And now you actually get what happened. Taeyong is an outcast. Looking past his teens, 150, 170 years, a tenth of Taemin’s age at the very least. And he’s half-vampire who’s been on his own pretty much: Just like you. That’s something that still didn’t sink in yet. Your kind. The butler of Club Daemon.

No wonder he took his time pouring the blood into your chalice and looked at you like you’re some kind of revelation. If the cups in the room smell only half as delicious to him as they do to you? He has admirable self-control just standing there at the carpet without losing his mind.

You shift forward on your seat — as does Yukhei, unseen to you. Almost automatically, your tone becomes more tense.

„So what happened?“

„I didn’t know my entire family history until that point. I was orphaned,“ Taeyong expands, his mimic controlled. „The clan was all I knew. I never thought I could have any demon heritage. Literally any. For decades. Until my father showed up. It was…I didn’t know he was that far up the hierarchy.“

Your jaw drops. He has to be kidding you. That can only mean one thing, there’s only one person he could refer to.

„You met Satan personally?!“

Dead silence in the room. You could hear a pin drop. In fact, an elven hair strand.

„I wish I didn’t,“ the butler finally says. With a more silent voice. You can tell he has to cave in, force himself. „He gave me this.“

Taeyong begins to slowly loosen his tie. Taemin already averts his eyes. The butler goes on to reveal a left collarbone so scarred, you can’t bear to look at it for very long yourself. The tissue has been deeply torn. The bone, presumably broken twice, healed in an odd way on top of that. You feel the pain in the very same spot within your own body.

Taeyong doesn’t have to tell you that the altercation left his arm fully paralyzed. You just know, like you could sense his presence from far away already. Meeting his father changed his life forever in the worst way possible. Now you understand why Taeyong does the butlering in the club — he can keep his left hand behind his back at all times.

„His father rejected him,“ Yukhei says, sterner than ever. His anger has faded, and an extreme seriousness begins to sink his brows.

„It’s that — Neither my clan nor demon folk really want me present,“ Taeyong’s face is even more barren of an expression now. He’s bottled it all up, it’s hard to watch. It sounds like he hasn’t spoken about this for years. „This was the only place I could go at that point. Yukhei was very helpful. I hope you can feel the comfort of being accepted here like I do.“

„I… don’t understand why Satan would disapprove of you so much, Taeyong.“

„Some demons willingly get together with vampires,“ Taemin steps in now, careful in his intonation. „But Lucifer rarely does. And, only when he’s drunk. If you ask him on a normal day, and I know this sounds harsh… he despises most of pure vampires, and half-breeds even more so. He is also Yukhei’s father.“

„He is?!“

Now you’re almost falling off your chair. That Yukhei’s father must be one of the higher-ups in the demon ranks was already a no-brainer, but this —

„Idiot cast me from hell the second he found out I can grow these longer than his silly horns,“ Yukhei points at his mouth, baring all teeth now. Even in their natural shape, they’re already razor sharp, sporting clearly prominent fangs. Even your canines, and those are hardly used and worn down, aren’t as slicing as his. When he says he can grow them that long, you fucking believe him.

„He’s… not been the most accepting dad to say the least,“ Taemin folds his hands in his lap. “And doesn’t stick up for any mistakes.”

„’Cause he’s an insecure ass,“ Yukhei makes a disgusted grimace. „Fucks around and then gets mad at what he’s done. Vampire girls he sure likes when he’s doing one of his stupid orgies. But not the consequences. He’s so easily threatened. That’s almost funny.“

You’re stiffer than ever now, glued to your seat. Not in a million years did you think there was some serious family drama going on behind those fancy suits.

„So that’s why this club exists. Satan can’t handle us,“ Kai adds, kneading his thighs. Looking much more detached, almost demure. You can tell that Taeyong’s speech hit the underbelly of everyone in the room. That even Kai looks so sunken catches you off guard. „We’re half this, half that. I mean look at us. Yukhei and I could never be part of a pure wolves pack. Never. We can’t mingle with demons either. They doubt us in any place. Shitty situation.“

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Now, the double head emblem on the embossed door makes a lot more sense. It’s not just for the aesthetics. Two faces going into opposite directions. Always torn. Always the onlooker, yearning from a distance. Unable to go in either direction. Seems like you’re in the right place. Or the wrong one: Because you bet this assembly is the very eye of the storm.

„Why did Satan not try to attack the Club yet? Isn’t there even a stairway to hell in this house?“ you ask. If Satan got pissed off by Yukhei’s or Taeyong’s abilities, several people of that kind in one place sounds pretty much the ultimate provocation. Installing a designated hell door with smoke all around even more so.

„He sure wants to,“ Kai shrugs, again, smirking in this very distinct way. He builds himself up again, and the teasing undertone in his voice strengthens back to normal. „But he’s afraid and doesn’t know about half of us. You see… Hellboy has no way of gauging what expects him. Even if he fucking hates us and wants us dead in a ditch, whatever. We know him inside out, too. Even more than he knows us. I’m sure he doesn’t want to face Taeyong now that he’s not young and weak anymore. He only exploits way down the hierarchy. He knows he can win there.“

„Makes… sense. Sort of— preying on vulnerable people.“

That an insecure hell boss is the reason this very club has formed? Seems to be a better explanation than you thought. No way so many species could stick together otherwise. How you’re in a room with two high functioning, protein-powered lycans both standing over six feet is already a miracle. Just sitting there sipping your bloody drink. There’s even an elf guy. That’s some surreal shit, even Salvador Dalí wouldn’t believe it.

„And, um. Saying that there’s a hell door is a joke Taemin pulls on every recruit,“ Taeyong scratches his head now.

„Everybody thought that Mark was vaping but he actually put up a room difuser down the hall,“ Kai adds. „He’s using essential oils in there since a couple weeks. So sometimes we do have some fog round that area. But there’s no actual stairway or anything. It’s a club tradition... a hoax.“

Your what-the-fuck expression must be hard to beat right now.

„Er. All right then. So much about hell smoke.“

A whole damn prank. Taemin is not as angelic as he looks, is he. Still part demon, after all. It really felt like there was an entrance to hell around when you arrived here. Taemin’s little giggle right now doesn’t worry you as much as Yukhei’s grunting.

„So much about a hoax,“ he growls back. „I wish we actually had that door so I could go beat his ass.“

High functioning, protein-powered lycans with daddy issues. You never thought this club had major drama. Your lips think its time for another comfort sip from your chalice. Blessed thing you have that one. Because all this… got you into something bigger than expected. Eating shrimps on a terrace with some fellow half-breeds on a cozy Sunday evening? Nothing of that kind. Rating Christopher Lee movies and signing up on vampire tinder together just for fun? Nothing of that in sight.

„So, naturally. That we can recruit you is a good feat,“ Kai continues. „You might grow very strong in training.”

“Strong in training?”

“Vampire half-breeds are always up for a surprise. You see how Taeyong is like. He can open jars even I can’t crack. With just one hand. Long as we have a balance of power with hell, the Club is quite safe. Even from my father.“

Looks like what you got yourself into is a Cold War that coincidentally involves people from Down Under — but it’s not Australians.

„Are you Satan’s son as well, Kai?“

Kai shakes his head quite firmly. Just how stark his face structure is becomes visible when Taeyong puts a candle into his vicinity, helping you gauge Kai’s outline much better, which is a bit more reassuring. The butler seems to almost read your thoughts. Your initial shiver gladly has been in decline ever since Taeyong spoke up. And you do believe he can open those jars.

„My old man? Mammon.“

„Mammon? Ugh.“

You can already guess what this is all about. You don’t need to wait a second for Kai to go on a rant.

„He’s a fucker, fucked up, a fucking twat, and fucks around even more so than Satan,“ Jongin kicks his left foot, looking mighty grumpy in the candle light. „I’m sure you know what he’s in charge of. He likes fear and chaos. To say the very least.“

You sure can imagine. Mammon governs the most powerful resource on the planet. Or rather, what people do with it, so… you already don’t have to know anything more than that.

„Talking about him is of no use,“ Yukhei intervenes. „Lost cause, wasted time. What I wanna say is. The vampire clans also don’t know much about us either,“ he now points at you. „That’s our advantage. And the reason why you will have to quit most of your regular life if you agree to be a member. Or take a serum that will make you forget about meeting us. At least, up to the point where you received the letter. I know this is quite a severe change. You can imagine how discrete we have to be. Given everything you heard.“

Yukhei looks dead serious.

Well, alright then. The case is clear. This is legitimate big business.

Club „Most Hated Half-breeds“ Daemon. Outsiders, all of them. The first rule is: You do not talk about Club Daemon. A guild for the All-Transylvanian Rejects, the crossovers from hell gone hiding, the MIB of supernatural creatures. And all just because big daddy Lucifer loves to host an infernal orgy every now and then and never heard of a condom. It’s crazy. So much information intake, it’s time to sort your thoughts.

You take a deep breath, let the blood chalice dance in your cupped palm. Sweeping the remaining liquid at its very bottom, rhythmically. Sweet lifeline. You observe how the drops run as if nothing else in the world existed. And still, you have crystal clear hearing, and your voice is again becoming firmer. It’s the effect of the drink, you can feel it. Such good stuff, really.

„It’s not that I didn’t anticipate it. Taemin said something along those lines when we met. I get why you have to be discrete,“ you hum. Even telling you about the serum before any other information would give away too much. „I’d be back to square one anyway.“

Taemin nods at you.

„We’ll always be between elves and demons, mermen and demons, vampires and demons, werewolves and demons… This club wants to protect anybody who’s caught between chairs. We go to great lengths with secrecy. I hope you will join us in our cause. It’s a new life. Lucas has great plans for us.“

‚Lucas‘ seems to be Yukhei’s club nickname. Taemin appears to confide in him a lot even if he will smooth out his blunders. Meanwhile, you remember how Taemin talked to you about his own parents on the balcony.

Apparently, none other than Beelzebub is Taemin’s father since over ten centuries. His latest habit seems to be blowing up his son’s phone with strange texts about recent hell politics. If that’s not enough, he asks about what he’s doing all day. It really is a new level of hell-icopter parenting. No wonder Taemin learned to be so appeasing in all situations.

„There are also ways of us finding out who your parents are,“ Taeyong comes to rest his right hand on your shoulder. Carefully, as if asking if it’s okay to touch you. You let him, without much care. Simply by— well, what is it, instinct?

Particularly Yukhei seems to observe this moment with much intent. Monitoring with piercing eyes, wild and deep. Trying to see through you at all cost. Surveying whether you’re a suitable club member, fair enough. But you seriously begin to wonder why he’s trying so damn hard to get into your head. He wants you on his side, sure, why’d he stare like that all the time?

Meanwhile, you don’t even know much about yourself except that you find veiny necks extremely appealing. Duh. So what’s there to analyze. You’re still kinda new to this. Blunt how Lucas is, wouldn’t he tell it to your face if he knew something you didn’t by now?

„At least, your demonic heritage,” Kai finishes the butler’s thought. “It’s not an easy discovery, however.“

Taeyong’s hand really does comfort you. But the thought of involving yourself in family affairs feels more than daunting and spoils the moment more than you want to. It’s something you could avoid until now thanks to simply not knowing much about your background. But apparently there’s no way to run from it.

„You might wanna anticipate that shit,“ Kai cracks his neck from side to side, then adjusts the sleeves of his white camisole. You’re suddenly so very well aware that he can probably see and smell your hesitation from a mile away. „Because when pa from hell shows up to see what’s going on? Preparation is better than being sorry. You gotta know who you’re dealing with. Art of war 101.“

Kai pointing at Taeyong’s battered left side reminds you all the more that lifting the veil is probably better than hoping for the best. If Satan happens to be your dad as well, you’re in huge trouble should he ever find you. Kai is right. Without allies and any knowledge of what you’re dealing with, you’d be lost.

Not to mention that Taeyong and Lucas would be your half brothers. Among probably a thousand other people. You didn’t walk through this door to get instant patchwork family. It would be a whole town of siblings now that you think about it.

If Satan has been even busier than that, which you’re sure of, that could mean an entire nation of people related to you somewhere overseas. Most of them being far from half-breeds. Why? Because Satan still preferred his own kind if he wasn’t completely hammered.

„Sounds like a nice prospect,“ you mumble, arms tightly crossed. Thousands of demons all out for your neck. Joining a notorious club network would certainly hide your identity much better than you hanging out in your small apartment in the middle of nowhere behaving like an average citizen. Glorious. You hate everything.

Which one person, as always, disagrees with.

„He makes it sound more dramatic than it is. Especially in this club you are more secure,“ Taemin softly adds, swiping a blonde strand from his right eye. „You must understand. Kai is in charge of defense. We all have our tasks.“

„Figured as much.“

„We all specialize in something we’re really suited for. Depending on our species, usually,“ Taeyong picks up Taemin’s point, and you begin to understand.

On the balcony, Taemin had even mentioned a gryffin member who worked as the designated club driver. Mister Ten as they called him, who was always out and about for a gazillion tasks. From hell mail to picking up tailored suits to doing the shopping to frequenting hospitals and various butchers for… leftovers.

Taeyong being an older vampire would require very specific blood (type A respectably, whreas you preferred O), and both Lucas and Jongin are in their wolf prime. Kai being slightly older but all the more active by the looks of it. So, just like Baekhyun, Ten seemed to be busy tending to that all the time, nowhere to be seen nor even mentioned. Which was a little… suspicious.

But the ‚everyone has a task‘ seems to be a big deal. And: Everybody is set up to take their spot very seriously, in their supposed element. Being the VP suits Taemin just like being the butler really suits Taeyong. Even Yukhei, you admit, has the exact leading, head-on personality, although mixed with a lot of tempers, that his position would require. And Kai — his body doesn’t lie. Of course he is in charge of defense.

„We would strive to find out your ideal role in the club, too,“ Taemin says. „Kai thinks about this scenario from a combat perspective, but know that cases like Taeyong’s are extreme ones. We’re used to this but you don’t have that struggle. It’s probably like different worlds at the start but don’t let it phase you.“

You exchange looks, and Taemin gives an empathetic nod. His face is really gentle. It seems trustworthy. Again, you notice how his diplomacy helps you the most right now. It’s a bit cryptic, but it’s the type of classy conduct you were expecting to find in the club. You’re damn glad he’s here. Half-elves simply have a different kind of wisdom.

„I guess,“ you look at Taeyong. „It’s an extreme case because he was part of a clan, right, and I wasn’t.“

„Smart,“ Taemin takes up a porcelain cup from his own table and guides it to his lips. It appears to be some sort of elven elixir inside of it, light blue and sparkling. Maybe that’s the source of his maturity or something. „This is exactly the reason how so much conflict was possible in the first place.“

„Right.“

„You grew up with adoptive parents after your mother’s passing. It was unfortunate but also a hidden feat of luck later on,“ Taemin balances the cup between his elegant fingers. „Nobody from hell could find you. You didn’t show many abnormal traits. Nor were you close to any clans that fostered your abilities or spread the word. But especially the former. You grew up in human ways. Your abilities weren’t worked with.“

„Which we can do for you now if you want to,“ Taeyong clears your table off the empty goblet. Instead, he puts a booklet with a red ribbon around its hard cover just there. „In a more covert way that doesn’t arouse any attention.“

„Can we really do it so secretly?“

He really did read the concern out of your face all over again.

„Yes,“ Taeyong emphasizes, then directs his gaze toward the fireplace. „For any half-demon, half-vampire, this is the place to develop herself. We want to honor both sides and work with it. As good as we can.“

„All other approaches usually fail because they’re one-sided,“ Taemin raises his tea cup indicating towards a thoroughly disgruntled Yukhei. You get what the elf wants to say by that.

Yukhei — another extreme case, perhaps the most severe. From a certain perspective, you can imagine how being antagonized by his father and wolf packs at the same time would motivate Lucas to run a club like this. And what would motivate him to act like this, anyway.

Leading Club Daemon with a velvet gloves approach? It’d be more dangerous than an iron fist mentality. Although it feels so clear to you, past the nebula of the blood cocktail, that Yukhei completely turned this aggressive style into a hyperbole. But you never know what or whom he’s doing it for.

Even at such a young age. You are convinced he really can’t be anywhere near 30 years of equivalent human age even if his height and way of dressing makes him look so settled. His overall presence on top of that: Whatever training they have to offer, it must be compelling.

At this point, you can only say to yourself — fuck everything. And lords knows the whole club is green of envy. No wonder they’re staring at you like that. You grew up so unbothered, your life is a joke compared to theirs. You were ignorant about way too many things about yourself. Looking at how everyone here embraces their origin, not developing your abilities was a full-on heresy.

„I’m actually considering it,“ you browse through the booklet, directing all attention in the room at you so keenly. Taemin sits at the edge of his seat himself. The paper feels luxurious between your fingers. As a first page, the name of who assembled the booklet’s contents is printed in bold. Mark Lee, conscierge, Club Daemon. 1999 edition.

The text details several time lines, diagrams, and fact lists about vampire-demon halfbreed history, on top of outlining a program featuring traits that a club novice could develop.

Sprouting and care of demon wings. Usage of blood banks. Defense against crosses and garlic. Cities with high vampire populations. Types of claws. The culture of hell. Demonic Spells. Battle Gowns. Impact of ‚Twilight‘ on public perception of Vampires. Symbolism. Vampiric Reflexes. Christopher Lee Movie Analysis. Avoiding Exorcism. Communication with hell hounds. On Hunting and Forests. Fist-fighting Lucifer. Evolution of Ancient Vampire Dress Codes. Fang safety. Hierarchy of hell. Nutrition. Choosing a castle. Strength development. The list is nearly 200 bullet points long.

And the majority of training, it states, is supervised by Kai. Even the lessons on Vampires and Sexual Relations. Other lessons are conducted by Taeyong and Mark, mapping the more theoretical contents.

Most of the listed training units feature things you never knew you could possibly try let alone perform. Some lessons are even more vital than you thought they would be. Things your apartment life wouldn’t have to offer in the very least. At this point, walking out the door would be a grave mistake for an entire variety of reasons and you trust your instinct. The only thing that makes you bargain is not the elephant — but the big and bulky alpha wolf in the room.

What to do about Yukhei.

Given the hardliner choice between serum or a complete new existence, it’s a question you’ll have to postpone. Interestingly enough, even though he was lycan through and through, Kai doesn’t bother you nearly as much anymore after the initial shock effect faded.

So what is it about Lucas. Even more things you’ll have to find out, then.

You’re nervous with the booklet in your hands, but you can’t complain. The two cups of blood in your system have given you more courage to look the four of them in the eyes.

„Considering what: Joining for the cause or the heritage?“ Yukhei crosses his arms at the solar plexus. His eyes are so probing on you, but you keep your head straight. You very well know that he’s testing you with this one.

„Both. And I want to know my role, too.“

The president seems to ponder for a bit. Then, he hums. More placid than before, you note. He actually seems satisfied with that answer.

„Then let’s start out,“ Kai rises from his seat alongside Yukhei, and both walk towards the red curtain in big strides. Taeyong sweeps it to the side, revealing a heavy door to another room.

Unlike the rest of the house, or at least the parts you’ve seen so far, this area has no embellished walls or ceilings. Not a spark of luxurious colors, either. No dark materials, no curtains, no dutch paintings, just concrete everywhere. It looks heavily worn, but strangely, doesn’t seem to be a relic like the fireplace room’s wooden tiles. All lighting is purely artificial. It seems part gym, part studio, and all furniture is solid metal, minimal, angular. You’d never expect such a modern, plain grey room to be anywere around the house. It smells like a damn hospital in here.

„Our training grounds,“ Kai paces around the area, clearing it and turning a knob that seems to activate floor heating. „The second safest place in the manor.“

„What’s the safest one, then?“

„We have a bunker downstairs. Flood-proof, radiation-proof.“

And Satan-proof, you don’t have to guess.

„Oh wow.“

„It’s unused so far when it comes to catastropes,“ Yukhei roughly pulls off his tux jacket and hangs it over a steel chair. Given how he stretches his arms, you figure it’s to gain some mobility. Or… to show off his huge build to impose his authority and intimidate you which surely is working. „But we do run it as a makeshift jail.“

„You’re keeping criminals in here?!“

„If you’d call Kai a criminal,“ Yukhei raises a brow.

Now you understand. The bunker is actually not meant for somebody else unless the situation calls for it.

„You’re isolating yourself during full moons.“

„You got it,“ Kai nods. „Nothing gets in, nothing gets out. Two days. I got used to the cold down there. And Yukhei locks himself in here with a pile of meat.“

„I…see.“

So that’s why the concrete walls look so damaged despite not seeming that old. If you look close enough, it’s actually not hard to imagine how there’s massive strength and claws at work here. And there must be plenty of things to desinfect afterwards. Hence the hospital smell.

But then again, Lucas is not the one who gets put in the bunker downstairs. If that one is the safest room, Kai is in all regards the strongest. Which makes sense given his task here. But something about it makes you shift from one foot to the other. If Kai has to jail himself in an atomic prison, what a fucking beast are you even dealing with?

So this is with who you’ll train with, then.

„Nothing you’ll see anything of,“ Taemin clasps his hands, bringing your mind back to the image of meat piled up all over this room. „The member’s private rooms are way up on the 3rd floor. You’ll be situated there as well, in whatever free room you choose. They are very pleasant suites. The interiors are selected Victorian antiques. It’s not like around here.”

“Thank you, Taemin. That sounds great actually.“

“And— we can always predict their transformations without failure.“

„The suites have steel doors as well,“ Kai adds on. „Easy to lock from the inside. We’ve had centuries to think all of this through.“

„Reassuring…“

„Mind you. In case you feel you get a bad craving, you’re doing the same thing Kai and I do,“ Yukhei re-ties his left shoelace, foot placed on the metal chair like a 6’0 Napoleon. „It’s not like we aren’t the only people who have to protect others from ourselves.“

You don’t like the tone he’s striking and try not to look into his direction. As if you’re some crazed vampire lord with a body count and not a bloody amateur. Whatever cravings he’s talking about, it’s hard to imagine how you’d go absolutely buckwild on a concrete wall whining for blood.

„With half-vampires, well… It can happen,“ Taeyong helps Kai pull off his jacket as well. „But lycans still have to take more prevention if I may add. Simply because their whole being transforms and they’re gaining unexpected strengths from it. Vampires hardly do. Our strength is present always. We naturally learn how to deal with it each day. Lycans have exponentional and way more erratic powers in a shorter period of time.“

Now that puts it into perspective. You exchange a thankful glance with Taeyong. The butler gives a composed smile. Yukhei sees that and huffs. Looks like someone’s been projecting.

„We’re dealing with threats from the outside, better check the ones from the inside,“ Kai says, shrugging. „We can’t change that we’re aggressive species but we can lock a door ten minutes before shit goes down. Early risk detection. That’s gonna be a lot of what you’ll learn in the programme anyways.“

„Pragmatic, I guess,“ you scratch your chin.

And he’s right. There’s nothing else the members could possibly do. Unleashing someone outside of the manor into the surrounding woods sounds like an overall bad idea. There’s a town somewhat nearby, fifteen minutes down the road. And as a matter of fact, you’ve never heard of suppression pills for half-demons on the market. Each species would need a different concoction: Tailored exactly to them in a long chemical process. Given the variety of Satan’s harem, that equals pure scientific madness.

Yukhei cracks his neck, puts the steel chair back in its spot. „We hope so. What reasons you’ll have to lock your suite for we’re about to find out.“

Three minutes later, you’re face down on the center table of the room, Yukhei pulling off your blazer. Even if you thought it would be much more unceremonious, he seems to do it rather slowly. In the meantime, Taemin rings a little silver bell. The sound is shrill and obnoxiously piercing. Seconds later, the concierge enters the room with a clipboard, introducing himself fully now.

Oh shit, you almost forgot about the owl guy.

„Mark Lee. Bookkeeper, treasure master. Half-goblin. I also do our finances.“

Joining the club officially unlocks a whole new level of information, does it.

„Bookkeeper, I see?“

„Yes, we do keep a secret chronic.“

„Oh, alright? Spanning for how long?“

„Older than this house. I’ll introduce you to the archive next week, in fact. Welcome to Club Daemon, Miss. I’ll be documenting the findings of this test.“

Then, he turns to put down your phone on another table. First you missed it, now you don’t even care. Mark’s sudden appearance has you all wondering. He’s different now. Maybe his initial silence was very much connected to the exact level of secrecy Taemin has been talking about.

Mark comes across much more high-spirited when he talks, and his face appears youthful once it comes into motion. You give a little ‚mh’ as a rather distracted reply, and he begins a lightning fast scribble on his board, using a golden pen that looks like it’s worth your apartment.

Meanwhile, Kai’s interest seems to gravitate entirely to your shoulder blades. He goes about tapping the skin and muscles surrounding the bone, even pulling down the backside of your tanktop by an inch, causing you to hold your breath. He circles the spine, presses too fingers in at either side. He’s surprisingly subdued, but still quite hands-on. It’s not hard to feel that he has experience with examinations like that. In fact, Kai has the touch of a modern day chiropractor. Whatever you should think about that you don’t know yet.

It makes sense he’s in charge of all things physical. And — that the first thing he’ll do is get your wings to grow and work, wherever they may be inside your back right now. Lord knows what kind of reflex or trigger is needed to make them sprout. Mark, in full haste, keeps on checking off boxes on his board and hums, cocks his head every now and then.

Yukhei only seems to care for another area altogether. He holds up your ponytail to take a closer look at the back of your neck. You glare at him for pulling at your hair more than you thought was needed. Taemin volunteers to take up that task instead, with Yukhei going on scanning the nape. His hands are so large and grip at your shoulders, it feels like you’re some kind of prey being handled. Taeyong has no problems reading the discomfort on your face and clears his throat, prompting Yukhei to slack off at least a little.

„It won’t be anything painful,“ Taemin says. „We’re looking for any birth marks to appear.“

„Birth marks?“

„It shows up when other demons or half-breeds are around. It usually gives away who you’re related to. The color and shape show which rank your demon parent had. Not to worry.“

You chant a little thank you, Taemin inside of yourself as a way to keep yourself together and nod.

„Yukhei and Taeyong have large black markings that resemble a lighting shape if you will,“ Mark now speaks up. „Taeyong’s is so noticeable, he always wears his hair past his shoulders. And Yukhei mostly uses a high white collar.“

How fitting. You didn’t expect anything else if you’re honest.

„So I should cover it as well, right?“

„You shouldn’t tie your hair up this way so it can be seen,“ Kai says. „You can be glad it hasn’t alerted anyone yet.“

So… that’s why Yukhei did not seem to be very happy with your ponytail. You’ve been utterly reckless without even knowing. If there was someone who didn’t think it was a tattoo, you could have caused some major issues. But before you can apologize, the president already shakes his head.

„Well. You can keep that silly hairstyle. Because there’s nothing on that neck where there should be something.“

„What?“

„Not one mark. I’ve pressed every spot, there’s nothing. The birth mark should be visible already anyways since we’re here. Our presence activates it.“

Commotion. Yukhei lets go of your neck, Taeyong begins inspecting the area very hectically instead, joined by Kai. Mark seems to be in the most confusion right now and gnaws on his lips.

„But Baekhyun clearly said she has demon descent!“ Taemin interjects. „He sees such things the best!“

„Baekhyun… Little fish only wants her here because he has an eye on her,“ Yukhei grits his teeth, looking like he’s ready to kick the steel chair into a corner. „Swims around and invites anybody he fancies long as they have some decent fangs.“

„Yukhei!“ Taeyong cuts right back.

„I knew something wasn’t right,” Lucas keeps shaking his head, now seeming even more convinced. “Not a drop of demon blood in her.“

„What are you saying!“

Taeyong’s stoic face is turning livid now. You never thought he could turn this angry.

„Stop kidding yourselves. Get the serum, Taeyong. All that jazz we’ve been doing… I’m fucking tired. I told you it wasn’t my idea to invite her.“

Yukhei curses an entire string of very canine-sounding things under his breath and Taemin tries to hold him by the shoulders. The whole room feels like it’s about to explode. Taeyong doesn’t look like he’s ready to comply in the very least. Instead, the butler starts baring his fangs with a defiant snarl. Mark shouts out loud.

„Don’t—!“

„Are you deaf? Get the serum, bloodsucker! We’re not playing around anymore!“

Yukhei begins grabbing Taeyong by the collar. His eyebrows start to become fuller, and his teeth begin to crack, growing rapidly. Taeyong, eyes turning blood-shot, fastens his left hand behind his back. He positions himself to bring forth a powerful fist about to shatter right through Yukhei’s face. Alongside Taemin, you struggle to get up and reach them in an attempt to hold them apart. But before either of them can strike out—

„Wings! Her wings!“

Exclamations from all sides. Everybody turns to Kai. Panicked, he rests his hands just inches over your kidneys. Mark screams, loud enough to make Lucas shift his attention. Meanwhile, Kai gestures everyone back to the table.

„Here! Look here, now!“

Incredulous, Yukhei lets go of Taeyong’s suit and jumps right beside Kai. He pulls up your tank top to expose the lower back completely. Mark drops his board and pen. Yukhei’s hands roam all over the area that Kai mapped out through the fabric. And yes. Now you’re feeling bumps there, too. A painful tear pools at the bottom of your spine. The adrenaline of the situation didn’t make you realize.

„They… they’re unusually low,“ Mark chops his words, eyes wide and crouching behind Yukhei as if petrified.

„That means they’re large,“ Kai puffs out. „Look at the color, too. White, grey. They’re spotted in red. I’ve never seen anything similar. As if they’re bloodied.“

You can’t believe your ears, wind on the table. „Spotted wings?! What’s that about?“

„It’ll be even more visible when they’re spread. They’ve been hiding really fucking well down there,“ Kai says. „It’s very unlike any wings of ours. And I can’t get them out, all we did was locate them now.“

Great. You have special snowflake wings.

„Really?“ you’re pretty much staring like Mark yourself now. Kai affirms.

„It’ll take a trigger event that sprouts them. I don’t know what yet. Too early to say.“

„But what does the color mean, then?“

„Our wings are all some kind of… well, auburn. Neither Satan’s nor Mammon’s children have colorings like this. Only Taemin’s are blue.“

„But that’s regular for elves,“ Taemin adds.

A churning knot of panic seems to grow inside your gut. The fact that Yukhei keeps on groping about your back is starting to tug at your nerves as the cherry on top.

„Why, why are they like that? What is this?“

„Y/N,“ Mark inhales sharply. „Please calm down, we only—“

„And why are you touching me like I’m some kind of science object? Who am I?“ you shout at Kai and Lucas, prompting Taemin to slowly pull away both their wrists from the table. In this moment, you could jump either of them.

„I’ve, I’ve only heard of one case with such wings,“ Mark begins, but ends up choking up a cry. He’s shaking all over, takes his glasses off. „If you… turn her around…“

Yukhei doesn’t have to be told twice.

„So her mark is elsewhere? Isn’t it? She’s from a different family altogether?“

Mark nods.

Lucas swiftly flips you on your back. You can’t even blink and you’re already watching the ceiling with five faces right up close above you.

„Let Taeyong do this,“ Taemin begins to urge Yukhei. „Lucas, you shouldn’t touch her now.“

That you need Taemin’s words for Lucas to hold himself back is starting to bother you. Him just grabbing you by the hips and turning you around felt more than strange. You imagine how in his mind, you’re probably a sizzling steak in a pan that he wants crispy on both sides and you don’t like it. One thing’s for sure: You’re not here for being werewolf dinner. What the hell.

What’s been on your mind even more is that Kai is not even half as annoying despite being so full of protein himself. With his chiropractor hands all over you on top of that. Is it that they’re from different families? Wouldn’t you dislike Taeyong as well then? He’s from the exact same corner of hell, after all. What exactly makes Lucas so pushy to you keeps on preoccupying everything you thought of until now as a bottom line. It’s not like you can ask him directly why he behaves like an asshole.

Three minutes pass. Lucas has stepped back from the table, watching like a hawk. A bit more composed, Mark picks up his pen and clipboard. He still can’t concentrate on writing. Taeyong gently probes each of your legs and ankles, even pulls your shoes and socks off to look at the underside of your feet. Finding nothing, he moves on to survey your wrists by smoothing over them, sending Yukhei an evil eye for grinding his teeth. Looks like someone doesn’t like others touching your soft spots.

Kai watches reactionless, seemingly deliberating. He’s in a different headspace, you can tell. Taemin helps Mark with ticking off boxes on the paper. Taeyong turns your jaw to either direction and slightly upwards to inspect the underside. He glides two fingers over your temples, and also asks you to open your mouth. He counts through your teeth with his digit and moves your upper lip to look at your fangs. Taemin emits a large ‚wow‘ when he does, and Yukhei growls out loud. Kai looks visibly interested, although he still seems to piece something together in his head.

„Extremely durable and angular,“ Taeyong says. „I’ve never seen this shape.”

„Me neither,“ Kai props up his palms on the edge of the table.

„Nobody in any clan I knew had fangs like that. Not even the elders. They’re so sharp… it must be inconvenient often,“ Taeyong requests a measuring tape from Mark who pulls it out of his left suit pocket.

„It is. Shreds every toothbrush,“ you mumble.

Taeyong glides his finger all across your gums above both canines, pressing on the root of each tooth. It seems to get a nerve inside your jaw going, and again your breath becomes shallow. He measures, dictates the unintelligble results to Mark. For some reason, you find whatever he’s doing strangely pleasant. Meanwhile, Lucas has been prowling around the table with a heavy gait. You adapt Taeyong’s method of sending him eye daggers.

„Can you put your story-telling on halt? This isn’t some vampire underground bar at Friday 12 PM,“ Yukhei grunts back at you and Taeyong. „Just say whatever the fuck this means. Shouldn’t you search for the birth mark?“

„Can’t quite tell now,“ Taeyong, sounding rather absent-minded, goes on counting through your teeth each. He’s feeling about like it’s a box of jewelry.

Beside being an obvious difference to what your mostly human high school mates sported — if you could call them that, high school makes everyone inhumane — you never thought your fangs were anything out of the norm. There weren’t many people you could compare them to in your small home town in the first place. You only saw vampires on late night TV at best.

There’s a strange tingle that spreads across your body now. It’s unusual having someone so comfortable with your teeth.

Your first and last boyfriend headed right for the door when it came to kissing. As if stung by a hornet almost, a complete change of mind. Meeting you at a festival he thought the idea of dating a vampire was „pretty sexy!“. He paraded you around at his birthday party two weeks later, you thinking he was actually proud of you rather than only himself.

You later realized that he just wanted to appear like the bravest guy in the world. To gather his guy friends complimenting him on the ‚spicy catch you got there!“. And maybe, you suspected, also making the female guests compete for him with some one-upmanship towards you. If he needed you to attach any value to himself, what value did he have himself to begin with? It still feels like a bad decision because you said yes to someone like him.

He liked the exterior, but doing the actual dating with all that it entails he had seemingly underestimated. It’s not like you expected him to use any tongue or try a blowjob. Why would you? Doing that would always be a stupid idea for both. Did he think you would purposely hurt him? Or did he just leech off everything he could get until he had to be responsible and deal with limits? Crazy vamp is what he last called you, and you never heard from him again. No texts, nothing. Does your pussy have monster teeth, too? Just go back to your cave or wherever you came from.

„If you forgive me saying so. They really are pretty,“ Taemin chimes in, then urging Mark to note something down. You take a moment to realize he means your teeth. Mark seems to have a lot of trouble snapping out of his daze at first himself, but begins to immerse himself in sketching and documenting after a while, ruffling his hair like a mad scientist. Lucas regularly gazes over his shoulder and you can tell he’s one grumpy wolf.

„We can show you how to keep them in shape and do a proper bite on someone who agrees on it. But you probably even tried something along the lines, right,“ Taeyong says, and Kai nods, probably wanting to say the same. It seems to be nothing out of the ordinary going by their expressions. But the question makes you more nervous than you actually want to.

„Honestly, I… didn’t bite anyone so far,“ you shake your head, unable to meet the eyes of anyone at the table. You hate the feeling of shame that kicks in almost by itself.

„Come on folks, that’s the first thing you smell about her,“ Yukhei boldly announces from his wandering spot around the dumbbells.

Way to go. You realize how comments like that are exactly why you’re so nervous. He’s already acting holier-than-thou again.

„I only ordered cheap blood online,“ you try to muster a shrug. Acting indifferent is at least helping you to say literally anything. „All legal but artificial.“

And disgusting, but that’s another story.

„Not hard to tell either,“ Yukhei laughs out. „Takes a blood virgin to down a whole liter of the real deal in five minutes. You were staring at that cup like you’ve gone mad. The difference to cheap blood is quite intense, isn’t it? Wanna see your face if you get a willing neck for the first time. Priceless.“

Something coils up inside of you. Eye daggers aren’t enough at this point, are they.

„Don’t get rude, you dog… Do you like spying on others or what?“

„Come on, come,“ Taemin steps in, ushers Yukhei towards the steel chair. He leans in, speaking in a low tone to the president. „Little more tact and privacy with a novice. Your dad would thoroughly enjoy this.“

„Would enjoy what?“

„Us creating discord in the club without him having to do crook a single hoof.“

You’re starting to think that ‚Vice President‘ means nothing but ‚group counsellor‘. Fine by you, but Yukhei has been rubbing you the wrong way from the very start. That he tried to attack Taeyong and called him names isn’t something you’ll just ignore. You’re growing increasingly more tense. That there doesn’t appear to be a way to take matters into your own hands is even more frustrating.

„I think… there’s a reason you’ve been living a more isolated life than most vampires,“ Kai interrupts your thought as well as the ongoing banter, trying to strike a more rational tone. He returned from his thought process, ruffling the long hair at the nape of his neck.

„Okay—?“

„See. Most half-breeds with the same father will find each other. Almost automatically. Look at Taeyong and Lucas. And all vampires will get picked up by clans, their scouts. But in your case… I think you have been purposely avoided. By both clans and demons.“

„What does that mean now?“

„My theory is, I… I suspect. Your father,“ Mark looks up from his clipboard, „is someone who hasn’t exactly been Satan’s ally.“

„My dad is — some kind of, Lucifer’s enemy?“

„Maybe. It’s likely. So, the clans would use to trust your father lot.“

„Does that make any sense?“ you frown at Mark, who hastily continues. You still don’t get why that has something to do with how you grew up completely uninvolved in clan affairs.

„His affinity for vampires was much higher on top of that, unlike Satan.“

„Get to the point!“ Lucas taps his feet on the concrete.

„I, I think that’s why you were born,” Mark carries on, pushing up his glasses. “He got together with a vampire. But he has been mingling with a lot of arch angels as of recently as well. Your father, I mean.“

„Okay? But how would you know?“

„The reasoning is this,“ Mark reads from the clipboard. It seems like he has been working on some kind of theory. „The clans don’t like the archangel’s power nor their politics. And the angels don’t really like us as a club either. Simply because we’re half-demons and have offsprings of Satan among us. I know that’s, that’s really complicated, so—“

Whoever Mark means in all of this word spill, your father is evidently a huge trainwreck already. Who’s against who now? It’s all so hard to understand.

„That all doesn’t sound very good,“ you grumble. „Are you sure your theory holds true, Mark?“

„It all sounds like he’s pulling that out of thin air,“ Lucas says. „Angels and whatnot. That’s some random bullshit.“

The conscierge looks rather overwhelmed with your question and can’t quite get a word out at first. Taemin encourages him with with a little supportive eyebrow raise.

„What I know is. By the signs your… body has. We have to keep you safe here and build your strengths at all cost. Because something’s going on,“ Mark eventually continues, earning strong approval from Kai.

Then, Mark addresses the president, much more fragile in his voice, but still secure in his judgement. „Lucas. If we give her the serum, Satan could someday get her if he musters up the courage and the helpers. Which I think he will. That won’t end well in any scenario. The club is in danger. Do you understand? Putting her out there is a bad idea and she doesn’t want it either. She wants to be a member and that’s instinctively the right thing at this point. Baekhyun happened to spot her now out of all times with good reason, I think.“

Lucas seems to ponder back and forth now. He props down on the steel chair with crossed legs, palms in the back of his neck. He looks genuinely concerned for the first time. You find yourself starting to nod along to Mark in the meantime. You like when he speaks like this.

„Thank God you’re here then, Y/N,“ Taeyong says. „It’s important you get to know more about yourself. It creates a lot of chaos otherwise. For you the very most, unfortunately. We have to admit that joining the club probably makes it worse. But we can’t know what would have happened if you never found your way here.“

„Yeah, I guess.“

„Your heritage is probably much more… controversial I would say. I hope you don’t take this to heart too much,” he continues. “We’ll still have to find out more. But it’s something else we’re not accustomed to so excuse any crudities.“

You can imagine. If your dad is yet another person having beef with Satan, and there’s even people from heaven involved, things are bound to get icky.

„So, where is my birth mark, then?“, you exhale, voice growing with an acute panic. „Do you know my father’s name or not now?

“Um...“ Mark stares at his own feet.

“Is all of this a fraud? And what can be more controversial than having Lucifer as your dad?“

Taeyong and Mark are looking at each other far too awkwardly not for you to notice. Kai crosses his arms and sighs out.

„Come on, you two are suspecting something. Tell us.“

All attention is now on Taeyong and Mark who are a puddle of sweating embarrassment.

„We have to… Well…“

You feel like a patient about to receive the most embarrassing surgery. Yukhei roams around the table murmuring and fuming.

„What is it now? What are you avoiding?“

„…pull up the shirt to see the birth symbol,“ Mark spouts in one go. „It’s located in the middle of the chest.“

So here’s the reason for all that tiptoeing and stuttering.

„And I thought you’d need my period blood to paint an ancestry sigil or something,“ you roll your eyes right at Mark who looks like he’s sinking into the ground right before you.

„That’s actually what we wanted to do next,“ Yukhei licks his fangs.

Taeyong, as if lightning struck him, immediately kicks him in the back of the knees. Everyone turns their heads. Judging by Yukhei’s awkward, reaching step forward and no signs of retaliation, Taeyong has some serious leg strength going despite being so lithe. You never thought you’d see his butlery composure begin to crumble either.

„Stop making weird jokes. You’re a dog just like she said.“

Taeyong’s tone is so cutting, Mark breathes out as if he was the one getting kicked.

„Technically not wrong.“

„You got what I wanted to say, Lucas.“

„Can’t hear you mumbling through your stupid old fangs, brother. I’m fucking proud of being a dog.“

Yukhei does an even more obnoxious werewolf-brand wink that makes even Kai cringe a little. Taemin looks like he’s slowly dying on the inside.

While they’re all continuing to throw out retorts, you cut the debate short by pulling up your tank top. Must be the courage from getting your teeth praised.

Today’s braless day, but anyways.

Mark immediately starts crouching again, and Kai’s mouth drops wide open. Taeyong collapses right on the floor. Taemin buries his face in his hands.

„It… It is as dramatic as Kai said!“

„What is it now? Can’t you guys handle some breasts or what.“

You look down on yourself. And— soon freeze as you see the large round marking right on your solar plexus. Red as blood and crudely outlined.

„What the fuck is that!“

You get goosebumps. The mark has never been visible before. Whatever work Kai did on your back pressing all sorts of points, it must have activated not only your wings, but also this particular spotting. It appears to be shaped like a medal emblem, depicting a snake and a centaur or whatever creature in bold zigzag shapes.

„The sign of King!“ Mark shudders through his tears. The temperature in the room seems to drop, and the scent of jasmine smells like rotten coal. The sign glows red and large on your chest, and not even Yukhei is looking at your breasts now.

„We’re so fucked, man!“ Kai pulls at his hair. „What are we gonna do!“

„Wait! Wait, what is this!“ you pull at Mark’s suit, urging him to speak on. He can’t properly gather himself the very least.

“I can’t say—”

“Tell me, Mark! What is this sign!“

„Be, Before Lucifer… became the prince of the underworld. It was like this.“

„Like what?“

„There was a King who ruled the 9th circle of hell. For over a million years.“

„Who is that guy? He’s my dad?“

„Yes. He never left. That was, until Satan overthrew him after being cast from heaven. The King purposely decided not to come back and expand his influence elsewhere. He’s now a free-walking spawn of hell. The guy who’s technically… actually the boss. Satan is just tolerated but The King has the actual powers. You can guess… look at how large the mark is.“

„I am the King’s daughter?“

„You are,“ Mark contines. „The daughter of King Belial.“

He can hardly pronounce the name without everybody flinching.

„He’s the original guy in charge,“ Taemin bends to help pick up Taeyong, who’s breaking out in a cold sweat. Whatever is glowing on your chest, it’s something out of the Club’s league and that thought alone drives an equal sweat on your face. Belial, you’ve only heard that name sparsely, somewhere, and you knew hell had kings, but you didn’t know it was a very real tale.

„Satan was expelled from heaven for his pride,“ Kai picks up Mark’s point, but his voice is just as shaky. „So he took on hell and drove out your father after a decade-long war. And, plenty of tricks, dark magic. The King first settled in a radical vampire clan who thought he’d be the ultimate weapon to get back at Satan. And Belial thought he’d had an army now, too. But the arch angels also took interest in the King for that same reason. They wanted to fight Satan, too.“

„Didn’t Mark mention the angels earlier? What’s going on with them?“

„They don’t like vampires, so they lured the King away from the clan to only collaborate only with them.“

„So there’s a triangle going on!“

„Belial hasn’t really retaliated or done anything since then, but we’re thinking that he’s plotting something big together with God,“ Kai continues. „Against anything demonic that they set their eyes on. Not just Satan.“

Your head is spinning. Now God’s involved in this shitshow, too. It just gets worse with every new thing you find out.

„The foe of my enemy is my friend. That type of idiot logic,“ Yukhei says. „And Belial was stupid enough to fuck a trash vampire in the process. And you… are the result that we have to deal with now.“

„As if I can help it! You shut your mouth!“ you jerk up to lash out at Yukhei, but Kai steps in between you. He’s as fast as he is strong, and an impenetrable wall you can run up against all you want. And Kai isn’t foolish, either. He grabs you by the shoulders with extended arms to keep your fangs as far away from him as possible. All Yukhei has to do is step back.

„Stupid— because that got your mom killed,“ Kai says, teeth gritted, but sounding much more sensible than his stance suggests. „You gotta understand. Satan wants to eradicate or silence anyone associated with Belial. To avoid a revenge and losing his position!“

„Then you’re right that he’s a prick…“

„My damn words,“ Yukhei shrugs behind Kai, adjusts his tie. „Now put your tits back and sign Mark’s form, you’re part of Club Daemon without further notice anyways.“

„Wha—“

„Now listen closely madam,“ Yukhei burges past Kai to build himself up above you.

„I’m not gonna say this a second time,“ he throws the blazer at you, and you awkwardly catch it. Kai steps out of the way to let Yukhei step even closer to you. The grit in his eyes is too commanding, untouchable. Mark backs off against a wall, and even Taemin gives up on stopping Lucas. Only Taeyong lingers close behind the president, surveying his every move.

„Since Satan is an illegal worm on the throne and the King prefers to sip ambrosia with God, you happen to be the only legitimate heir. The literal, official ruler of hell. And as we saw, giving you the serum would cause even more trouble. You might even get used against us or yourself. You get me? We have enough trouble and craziness with all this! Do you understand that? From now on: You’re doing exactly as I say.“

„Why are you the one to declare all that now? Yu—“

„No objections. Training starts today.“

————————

„Your wings are so nice,“ Baekhyun smiles, turning twice in his bath tub. The water gently rises, bringing some foam to the corners. If you squint a bit, it actually sparkles. You’re feeling laid-back with the scent of fragrance sticks and candles lingering in the bathroom now. Tangerine, a bit of lemon. A pocket-sized music box strums away on the sink. The melody is foreign to you, but it feels nostalgic and welcoming. There are almost a dozen shell-shaped metal soap holders all around and pointy quartz clusters frame the two mirrors on either side of the room, creating an endless loop of reflections. Yours excluded, which always seems to amuse Ten even if he’s already used to it from Taeyong by now.

A snugly dim lightbulb screwed into a large pink lamp shade right above you spreads some warmth, as does a fluffy carpet underneath you. The vapors of the room become visible as little ascending particles in the light and you wonder how hot the bath water must be. Unlike the chairs in the main hall, the one you currently sit down on cross-legged is meant for comfort solely. A pink and poufy 50s relic, put there specifically for you since it’s Friday.

„Ah…Baekhyun. I forgot you see them for the first time,“ you settle, while he turns again. You find yourself laughing at how cutely Baekhyun spins. That this is the way mermen express their excitement and adoration you learned only last week.

„And, your fangs have grown so big!“ His cheeks are bright and giddy, and his tail glistens from all the soap he tossed around in the water for almost half an hour now.

„I’m on my 50th day of training now.“

„Ooh, that’s so impressive! You’re doing great for sure!“

„I don’t know if I do. But there are some results at least. Kai made me fight Yukhei with bare hands and they came out,“ you wriggle your either wing, and make their tops touch the ceiling. Ever so slightly, you don’t want to break anything around here. Baekhyun’s little bathroom paradise is too carefully assembled to pull any stunts in here, and it’s your Friday night safe haven for long talks and even watching movies on Mark’s tablet. Now, it doesn’t take a lot of stretching to do so in the first place. At this point, wearing your wings out this way is starting to feel natural, even if the way that they shift your balance is still new. They are red-white and stringy, feathery, and spotted just like Kai had predicted.

„He was in his full form, right? You’re really brave you did this.“

„It’s a strange thing sometimes. It’s like I followed an impulse.“ you say, shrugging a little. „I guess — Blame it on instincts.“

You really hoped he would buy that dodge, but it’s a futile try.

„Hey, I mean it. I’m proud of you. Really.“

You push a few hair strands out of your eyes. He’s not going to let you off the hook until you admit it, or maybe it’s only you so fearing to say that, and making it so awkward that he notices.

You don’t want to bare yourself but also don’t want to leave him in the dark about how much his words have been building you up over the last few weeks. It’s almost been two months since you first saw Baekhyun on Mark’s video call, discussing where to relocate the club chronicles after a shelf randomly collapsed. Even a fraction of him on screen made you hold your breath.

Maybe it’s because a whole lot of your ancestors were — although surely snobby and even aristocratic — so bite-first-talk-later and rather reserved folk staying in the shadows that accepting or never doubting flattery is hard for a vampire of your generation. And maybe it’s time you muster up something else than either extreme end of that aristocracy or that terrible shyness.

„Thanks for your compliment,“ you stare at the tips of your fingers that clamp around your knees. „Matters a lot, okay.“

Baekhyun props up his head on the edge of the tub in response and looks at you all blushed. He’s playing with the blue crystal penchant around his neck, and his light purple hair falls into his face in wet little waves until he shakes it. The strands are so thin and plush, they prop up all dry again so fast, as if by magic (which it likely is). His cheeks are so glowing when they’re rosy, you notice every time you see him, but today even more so. To the point where, and you feel it in your gut, your confidence becomes so shaky all over again.

„But don’t praise me too much,“ you say. „It’s only doing what I’m supposed to do and what I’m made up of, I think. It wasn’t that hard.“

„Not as hard as defense against crosses and garlic, isn’t it?“

„Damn right, that was something ese,“ you nod. „But there are much bigger problems.“

„Is there something that preoccupies you as of lately?“

Baekhyun blinks a few times with a falling smile, and you contract in your chair.

„I feel like… It’s so hard to say.“

„I won’t hold anything against you, okay. I just hate seeing you preoccupied night til dawn. That’s not right.“

„It’s…Yukhei is treating me like some kind of tool. Just fostering me because that means a hybrid demon sits on the throne of hell. It feels too much sometimes. Like I have to dance to the beat of his track all the time, you know.“

„I’m sorry. Lucas can be really zealous. I hope he’s not demanding too much from you.“

„Or… training me like a machine. I’m really not a dog’s toy. I don’t think that’s what made my join all this. I don’t have as many problems with my heritage as with the way he takes so much control. It’s… one-sided. And I feel like I should be above that already and just do my thing anyway.“

Baekhyun’s expression sinks even more now, but there’s also something single-minded in it.

„As long as you truly wish to take that position in the 9th circle, you can do as you please,“ he says. „Look at how strong you are. I don’t even have to tell you that. As I know him, Yukhei wants to protect his kind. Including you, that’s why he trains you so hard and wants you to have influence. I know it’s an ironic thing. That you have to be his subordinate now to be his superior in the future. He sees himself as a founding father, so he coaches us. His strict ways are not for everybody.“

„I guess,“ you shrug. It doesn’t sound illogical to you. Having a half-breed in charge of hell would raise the status and safety of Club Daemon immensely, and Yukhei does behave like the club is his child. „I just don’t like it when he uses his position too much without caring about how I want to go about it. I know I’m new to this, but I still have preferences. And the training is for my sake, he’s the one who emphasizes that the most but it feels like it only serves him. Telling him that is like, like— talking against a fucking wall, I don’t know.“

„That doesn’t sound good. I think that you inspired a lot of respect in him. Lucas is afraid of many things.“

„I feel that.“

All too often. When he trains you. At dinner. During any hand-to-hand practice. And especially: On Fridays, where he is tense all day.

„That the pack order is so wired into him doesn’t help. There’s always only superior or subordinate to him, he doesn’t know anything else. The social order of vampires is less defined than that.“

The roles, the hierarchies. You often find Mark talking about it.

„I try to understand it but our ways are so different. I don’t know what it is. Yukhei should know that vampires aren’t responsive to this alpha thing the very best. And I don’t think anyone in Belial’s family for that matter.“

You’ve seriously been wondering how Lucas was donning his big bad wolf attitude. That he was intimidated behind all that jazz would come as no surprise to you. But this type of explanation would be too… simple. Too easy, for all those intricacies, the weirdness of his behavior.

„If you look at it from what he does rather than what he says. He spends a lot of time developing your skills and puts all of his energy into the project,“ Baekhyun’s gaze drops from yours now. „To be honest… I’m jealous of him.“

Now that makes you swallow hard. It implies way too much for you to process right now.

„I don’t, I don’t think he likes me,“ you vehemently shake your head. „Or at least not in a way that feels good to me. And that’s what counts. He’s making me grapple with hell hound holograms and box with Kai until dawn under his supervision. I’d rather be here and discuss with you. It’s really valuable.“

„Ah… thank you.“

Now that you’re on a roll, saying it is easier.

„I’m really glad you were the one who scouted me. I really wish I could be here more often. And, you put a lot of effort into this. You think it’s just talking but it’s important for me.“

The last part you say with a much more subdued tone, but it doesn’t lose its meaning to Baekhyun. That he looks flustered is an understatement. He wriggles his shiny tail and it actually changes its color to light pink, matching his flush.

„You know, it was more of a coincidence. I was counting shells at the beach, I saw you coming out of a pharmacy at the quay. I haven’t told you that, have I?“

Back in May. A very breezy, sunny late afternoon.

„Taemin said something along those lines, but not in detail, no.“

„You had these huge sunglasses on. And so much sun screen. And a big hat. You came out with six packs of iron supplements and cranberry juice in a transparent plastic bag. I couldn’t quite believe it.“

„You really saw it that clearly?“

„Merman eyes can see even in murky water. Kai has trained me to read people at any distance on land.“

„And how did you see that I’m part demon?“

„You had a crop top on.“

What?

„I mean. Come on. That half-vampires like crop tops is clear to me. Taeyong is wearing them all the time. But don’t other people do that as well? Isnt’t that a little—“

Baekhyun starts giggling.

„The sun was hitting your back while you were opening the lock of your bicycle. I could see the wings folded underneath your skin.“

„Oh man,“ you puff out, reclining in your seat. And you thought he was going for a reach. „Okay, I get it. I hope nobody else saw that.“

„It can easily look like some kind of tattoo,“ Baekhyun shrugs. „At least someone who has no idea about demons wouldn’t have realized anything. And it was only visible for a split second since you weren’t standing upright.“

„Okay… that’s good I guess? Just me walking around in a crop top at the bay. Nothing suspicious going on.“

You’re ready to chastize yourself for being so careless, but then again. Arguably, you don’t have eyes on the back of your head. And on top of that, it took someone as trained as Baekhyun to discover your sleeping wings showing in a matter of one blink or two.

„It’s likely that your wings only started growing this very year. I really need you to realize. This didn’t happen in twenty years. I was never as fascinated in my entire life, I—“

And by saying that, Baekhyun’s pupils become heart-shaped, and pretty much everything else about him turns bright red. The hair, the tail, the lips.

Oh.

Looks like you’re starting to understand why Baekhyun didn’t just casually mention you to Yukhei to send out an invitation, bar half-breeds being a rare occurance and highly sought for by the club.

„I called Taemin with my shell phone right away so he could inform the club,“ Baekhyun stutters on. „I’m sorry we’ve been observing you that way. Many half-breeds don’t know that they are.“

„You didn’t do it to hurt me,“ you shake your head, gather yourself, and take Baekhyun’s hands in yours. They’re so pretty and slippery. „You don’t have to apologize. It’s been a lucky coincidence.“

He saw you in the right moment and it decided everything.

„I’d not be here without you, that was very needed,“ you add. „Lost and found, you know. I gotta be the one to say thank you.“

Baekhyun firmly squeezes your hands and looks you deeply in the eyes, even more so than before.

„We’re the ones who have to say that,“ he says. „We didn’t have many good prospects before you. Maybe we can have a better chance being half-breeds in the future. Don’t think of yourself as Yukhei’s chess piece. That takes away all your importance. I think he’s trying to tell you that, too.“

„Maybe. But just know that if he’s so invested in me the way you say, I couldn’t reciprocate it.“

You look down, retreat your hands. Baekhyun reaches out of the tub to cup your chin upward very gently.

„This whole werewolf-vampire feud thing,“ he starts in a low tone. „You don’t have to buy into it. It’s not good for our club’s unity.“

You cast down your eyes. „I know.“

„If we fall apart, that makes us very vulnerable to the outside. It’s important that you stick together, and… he really likes you.“

„Baekhyun—“

„You have an easier time with Kai, right. If you approach Yukhei the same way, that… could be beneficial to your bonding.“

„Bonding?“

You don’t like where this is going. All of your alarm bells are going off right now. There’s cold sweat starting to stick to your shirt at the back of your spine.

„It’s kind of an unspoken codex,“ Baekhyun sounds much more understated now, his eyes become droopy. „If there is a female half-demon with claims to the 9th circle, a mate from the guild may accompany her. But it has to be someone from the upper rank.“

„What!“

„Yukhei is the highest in our hierarchy... He might become your consort. He said to me he’d be ready to do it.“

„Yukhei as my mate? How do I know nothing about that!“

The shock in your voice makes Baekhyun rolls up in the bathtub and his tail turns into a lifeless green. You’ve never seen him so small.

„Because… because he can’t say he likes you.“

„I beg your pardon?“

„It’s all bound to happen because of his status, and yours, and— As I said, it’s an unspoken law. It doesn’t really matter if he confesses or not.“

„Are you kidding me now?“ you jump off your chair. Your wings knock over a ceramic vase in the bathroom cupboard right above the sink. It comes down splintering. „Why on earth does Yukhei push me around like some political… genetics… preservation tool!“

„It, it is not the intention—“

„I don’t want to mate with Yukhei! Not because he’s the president, not because I need some fitting husband apparently, not because he spends a lot of time with me, not because of his money or because he cares a lot about preserving half-breeds, and especially not just because he likes me.“

„You— You don’t?“

Baekhyun’s eyes are wider than when Mark first saw your spotted wings, well-knowing he was dealing with a more delicate subject of the chronicles. But this was something that would turn the annals of the club upside down entirely.

„We’re not compatible. Not in the least,“ you frown. „Did you assume I did?“

„Of, of course! I mean in your position, who else would come to your mind? It’s such a given from both of your sides, I didn’t… even think about it. Please, I didn’t want to offend you!“

You settle on your chair again, fold in your wings. Cross your legs, lean back. An overbearing feeling of depletion makes your whole body ache.

„You know. That’s the thing with tradition. Nobody thinks about what they actually want. They just follow a program to satisfy some stupid custom. To soothe their ego, their morals, I don’t know what. But that leads them in the opposite of being satisfied. Because it’s against their real wishes. Doing away with quite a few traditions without causing much damage would be entirely possible, wouldn’t it.“

„I think traditions do serve someone,“ Baekhyun shrugs. „Many people.“

„In this case, only one person. Hint: tall lycan man who wants to fuck me. And take me as a wife which I didn’t even know until now. And how would I if he’s yelling at me about putting away my tits as if I’m some chunk of trash.“

Baekhyun stutters, decoiling not one inch from his position.

„Didn’t he do that in front of others?“

„Yeah, but why are you asking?“

You can’t help but put some sharpness into that reply. All that mating monkey business is reeking of bullshit.

„Lycans are, well you know it. Really possessive. He wants you for himself, he… he’s affected by your body. Everyone can see that. So, everyone automatically thought he’d just, sooner or later make a move on you, you know. You’ll be exclusive to him.“

„You really think that Yukhei is territorial over my fucking tits.“

„On the outside he was acting grumpy that it was a half-vampire coming to us out of all races. But he sent out Taemin with the club invitation letter in a matter of a day. The fastest he ever wanted to get someone to join was when I scouted Ten as our chauffeur. Ten had all the qualifications and he’s half-harpy, they get on with lycans very well, but Yukhei was deliberating for two weeks.“

You shake your head.

„He sent it out because the club direly needs extra manpower, a new element, whatever, that’s why. He literally said so.“

„Yukhei ordered to send out the invitation only when I told him that you’re a good-looking… woman.“

You’re gasping for air. Can this get any worse? This has got to be a bad joke. It sounds like Yukhei literally wants to own you.

„Is he— that desperate?“

„He’d not mate with any full-lycan or half-human half-lycan, or humans altogether,“ Baekhyun shakes his head. „And how could he, he’s the president and protector of the only demon half-breeds club there is. Anything else would be out of character.“

„So me being in need of a mate because of all this heir thing… serves him well and he’s already planned all of it and treats it as a given in the club. All behind my back.“

You could rip out all your hair at this point. You curse him. This dirty, sneaky, cunning wolf guy.

„From his perspective, it makes sense. Nobody else in his shoes would do it differently. He didn’t mate at all yet. We respect that he will take that only chance because he has the last say, you saw that. If a lycan runs a club, we go by lycan ways.“

All you can do is plant your face on the edge of the bath tub and puff out a deflated noise.

„So I’m the only fuckmeat in sight. To get rid off his virginity.“

Oh God, no. This has got to be a terrible dream, even the club’s chronicles pre-1689 aren’t as tragic.

„Yukhei’s instincts are going crazy since he reached maturity. Kai already mated earlier in his life and takes Beta status. I guess that’s why you get along a little better. But with Yukhei… he’s so depraved, he’s even ready to mate with a half-vampire.“

„I saw how hostile he can get with Taeyong…“

It still pains you. That Yukhei would go at him with full fangs and claws even if Taeyong is so severely marred was a punch in the gut. You don’t doubt Taeyong’s strength, and you saw he was ready to defend himself properly and resolutely. But it showed a lot of true colors and you thought about it for many nights.

„Exactly. That he said he’d be your consort tells you how much he needs somebody. He’s even ready to bury the rivalry and also contests anybody of your race. Taeyong is competition to him.“

„Jealous possessive alpha looking for a trophy,“ you bury your face deeper in the enamel of the tub edge. „Baekhyun. I fucking swear. You’re giving me even more reasons not to get with him. He’s even dragging Taeyong into all of this.“ Taeyong, who made you feel so at home and comfortable with being half-vampire. Who was very open with you and had exactly the integrity and dedication and utter class a club member needed to have. A confident, quiet strength and rolemodelship that you could always look up to.

„So talk about unity,“ you grit on. „And I’m only tolerated to Yukhei. If I’d be a guy, he would’ve sent me an invitation after like 5 years, wouldn’t he? Yukhei cares a lot less about halfbreeds than he pretends. How would I get with this guy if he’s such a mess. Never ever.“

„You actually wouldn’t?“

„Come on! If that’s not clear at this point. No degree of Yukhei wanting me means I want him. Man, what the—! He’s planning my life as if it’s his factory. He’s making chaos out of everything.“

Hell, Yukhei must be more than insecure if he reached that level of entitlement. And you only get to hear it from Baekhyun? He’s not just insecure, but also a coward. Just how much he’s living in his own bubble is hard to fathom.

„But, it’d be an honor for you to be with the president. Is there a reason you don’t like him back?“

„Baekhyun. I don’t give a fuck about his arranged marriage thing. He has no respect. I want someone else.“

„I mean, I… You’re free to choose from the assembly. You’re the Queen of Hell. You can do whatever you want.“

„Apparently not.“

You cock not one, but two brows right at him. Baekhyun seems entirely confused. It’s so strange to you how he doesn’t seem to catch on in the very least. Yukhei really must have threatened the other club members. Nor does he seem to take your role seriously in the very least.

„Is there someone you want to mate with, then?“

„First time someone ever asked.“

You straighten your posture and tap your fingers on your knees. Admittedly, you’ve probably picked that one up from Kai.

„The guild accepts any of your wishes. It’s just a recommendation or a tradition that—“

„Yeah yeah. A dumbass expectation. Disguised as some… guideline. And everyone’s parroting it just because Yukhei is the boss. I don’t like that, okay. I’m not on board with his personal agenda. Because it’s shitty. Full stop. I’ll shove his bonding schtick up his ass until it comes out of his ears.“

„Ah, I, I see. I get it now.“

„Understand, Baekhyun. Rules have to be adapted to the benefit of those they concern. Are we agreeing on that?“

„That’s only logical!“

„So you get that I have someone in mind that I want to have a consort. That person is not Lucas. You see that the benefit would apply here, that, you know, I mate with that other person instead.“

„Sure! Do you need any help with selecting somebody? Wouldn’t Kai be a perfect match? You’re both so strong! Or Taeyong. You have great chemistry! Mark is very impressed by you, too! Haven’t you seen how shy he is?“

You want to sink into the ground on the spot. It just goes on and on. Man, you need a 500-year coffin nap with extra dust and spider webs and no garlic in the radius of ten kilometers.

„Baekhyun, you, you are… God damn…“

You can’t say it. You can’t.

„Always glad to help,“ a bright smile lights up his face once again. His tail turns back to a very familiar turquoise.

And just when he decoils himself to his full size—

It happens.

„Ah! What was that!“

Baekhyun begins to jerk up and winds. You panic. The surface of the bath water colors with red almost right away. He grabs his tail in pain. You dive either hand into the tub to pull up his tail.

„It’s a splinter! It fell inside the tub!“

„From the vase?!“

„Yes, it’s, it’s…“

„Are you okay Y/N? You look different!“

He seems more shocked about that than the fact that he just got pierced.

„It’s…stuck here. I’ll pull this— out and… and. Very carefully, and…“

Your hands work on their own. There’s nothing in your mind that has to direct them. The piece of ceramic is easy to remove from his scales, nor is the cut too severe at all. It’s not even two fingers long. But he’s bleeding. He’s bleeding. It’s unbearable. You mindlessly cast the splinter into the sink and look at your hands, and the water, and his tail.

„Are you really okay? It really doesn’t hurt a lot!“

„Baekhyun,“ you slide forward from your seat and linger at the edge of the tub, facing him. „I can’t take this shit anymore. Please.“

„Oh my god. Your eyes are going red! Should I call for Taeyong? You’re looking really sick!“

„Don’t you understand. How, how are you not seeing it,“ you clutch at the bath curtain, dizzied, and it’s like you’re seeing double. Baekhyun tries to keep you upright in his arms that wrap tightly around you. But your head has lost all its stability, tipping way forward. You’re face-to-face, forehead-to-forehead with him now, a frantic, salivating mess. Your lips feel so swollen and pulsing, it’s hard to keep them pressed together at all.

„I’m… I’m not sick. I’m not. Hush— Listen to me now, Baekhyun. I don’t want anyone else’s blood. You’re the one I wanna mate with. I want yours. And not just a little bit of it.“

Open mouths. You gape at him, he stares right back. You’re already expecting him to call for Kai to drag you into the serum room. So much about Club Daemon.

To your surprise, he doesn’t. Instead, he begins to blink like he just heard the most incredulous news, pulling away from the embrace. He looks at you in earnesty.

„Why didn’t you just say that right away?“

Baekhyun turns the brightest shade of pink all over yet. „I never thought you’d like me back this way.“

„Really?“

„Of course…“

„God,“ you laugh, „oh God.“

„And who said you can’t drink all you want from me? That’s literally what I was gonna offer—“

You are already shoulder deep leaning into the water with your arms grabbing hold of his tail. Some of the water even gets into your nose and it’s terribly soapy from Baekyun’s shampoo, but saturated with enough blood to knock a tidal wave of adrenaline right through your system.

This is the freshest and warmest you’ve ever had it. It’s feeling like a shark in the water. The lithe red clouds wavering through the tub loosely clinging to your face and lips makes you go weak in the legs. It tastes sweet like actual candy. And it’s so, so… familiar. Being surrounded by all that cherry pink water is better than a coffin nap and no garlic pizza combined. This is way too good. You can be glad your air is running out and the wound begins to close behind scales getting back into order.

„Wow! You can hold your breath for a long time,“ Baekhyun gasps when you surface.

„I didn’t,“ you cough, and take two minutes to gather yourself. But not exactly because of that much water getting inside of you. Rather, the blood is showing its very effect already. „The wound should be fine, um,“ is all you can say, but Baekhyun only smiles in reply.

„Oh? You don’t look full in the very least.“ he swipes his hands over his wet neck and pats it. „Try it here!“

Oh please no, not the patting and the slapping. It brings all the best veins out, oh fucking no. But he continues to do just that. At this rate—

„Can’t guarantee I’m not getting really horny.“

„Huh? If you’re not I’d be worried. Didn’t you say you want to mate with me?“

„Well… yes.“

„I’m just really honored, I need a little moment.“

„You don’t have a problem with me just… vandalizing your neck?“

„Isn’t that what it’s for? It doesn’t suck itself.“

Baekhyun, with the most innocent little expression, continues just as before kneading into the sides of his neck. His long… tan, glistening piece of art neck. You probably look like a starving wet poodle preying for a bone, and then there’s him in the tub, sparkling like a water god with his beautiful cherry hair and droopy brown eyes.

With every smack on the side of his neck, your pants squarely decide to get a little more soaked. Maybe because it sounds like you’re already fucking. Maybe because his neck is bursting with everything a girl needs. It doesn’t suck itself, huh. And your canines are in best shape because you floss them twice a day just like Taeyong said. Uh oh.

„I’m so sorry I… I think I’ll tear you up.“ Why does it have to be so long and throbbing. His smell is turning your brain inside out and back again. „God Baekhyun, you’re tormenting me.“

„Hey, not fair! That’s your job,“ he’s pouting again, and probably begins to realize he’s been doing more prep than most porn stars nowadays because the kneading stops. Without much further ado, Baekhyun squarely beckons you to climb into the tub.

„Are you really ready—“

„Don’t worry, Taemin is great at cleaning the tiles. He actually loves doing that.“

„I want to make this enjoyable to you, Baekhyun, so…“

„I don’t know, you don’t have to please me or anything,“ he shakes his head. „That you like me is already overwhelming enough.“

„A bite is serious business. I still want you to enjoy it like I do.“

„If you want that. Just, just do it harder,“ Baekhyun wriggles himself up, pinker than ever. „If we’re doing it unprotected… I want this properly.“

Finished off with a shy smile. This guy is making you go times more nuts than the first raw blood you had in that chalice. You start to understand what Mark really meant by recently mentioning how Baekhyun’s parents gave him „A certain inclination“. A well nymph and Asmodeus, demon of lust, combining? That could not possibly create anything less than somebody so enticing.

„Baekhyun, always tell me if I should stop, I, I try to rein myself in, okay. You’re too delicious…“

„My veins stop swelling, just bite already,“ he sways his tail, keeps on rubbing into in throat again with his flat palm. „Just don’t worry. You’d have a hard time draining me. You saw my body just heals itself fast.“

„Yeah. Merman thing. Mark said that.“

„You can also fuck me if you want to.“

„Baekhyun, you really don’t have to offer yourself just because my body is going crazy.“

„But I’d really enjoy it. How aroused are you?“

„In all honesty… Bram Stoker novels level horny.“

„I’m not gonna leave you like that.“

And something in his tone tells you that Baekhyun has it all figured out.

As much as your wobbly legs permit it, you get into the tub more or less elegantly. You already want to apologize for mounting him that way, but Baekhyun squarely sits you down on his crotch with his hands on your waist. That his wrist and knuckle veins have gotten the word does not go unmissed by your tunnel vision. All those pulsing underarm serpentines… leading your gaze upwards, and more, and more. Up, up, until you cannot rip your gaze from his puffy little throat. Baekhyun lets out a content little hum and lifts his chin. You really get the full damn view.

„Sorry teeth, I’ll devirginize you. No more blood oranges,“ you babble to yourself, and you can tell your brain just switched off all inhibition. You never thought you’d be slurring your words about what types of emergency fleshlights you use, all in a bath tub with a merman. „About time I pop my cherry boy.“

„Exactly right,“ Baekhyun proudly huffs, and leans back. With his Adam’s apple bulging out his throat even more, you lose all trains of thought and just grab him by either side of his head. You sink your teeth in as far as the power in your jaw can drive them, and going by how his pulse is beating inside your ears, you drilled them in pretty damn hard. Oh fuck. Beginner’s mistake. A huge gush comes out to spritz against the back of your own throat, and you almost pass out from the incredibleness of the taste.

It’s too much at once. You’re hanging by a mere thread. All your body does is follow whatever its instinct dictates. Grabbing Baekhyun by his hair is all you can keep track of, shoving your teeth right up his throat again all dissipates in a blur because your entire mouth is dripping full with him. He’s moaning so loud right now, his neck vibrates along.

„Yes…!“

You don’t want to be a weakling. And, get yourself to swallow for the first time — but then. regret it right away. His blood melting down your esophagus is like a liquid marriage proposal on the Eiffel tower. You don’t know where the noise comes from, but the birds are singing. Once it’s down your stomach and pooling there, you’re already high as fuck. Grinding erraticly all over Baekhyun’s more than steel hard boner that parts upward through the scales of his crotch. He’s really giving you all the best things.

You bury your whole face in his neck. No more neatness. All you do is let your tongue loose and drag your mouth all over his face, and his chin, and his lips, and his jaw, and all of his neck. Every angle, every side, every nook and cranny until your mouth is bursting full with all of his sweet-tasting sweat and pinkish blood that has thinned out with the water dripping from his gills. If it wasn’t diluted, you’d probably forget your own name.

You melt your teeth into his pulsing skin. A vibrant image opens before your inner eye. You’re getting visions of the beach and you as seen through Baekhyun’s eyes. And then— Baekhyun from an outside perspective, swirling through the water the moment after he saw you walk at the quay for the first time. Singing so beautifully, your ears are ringing and you never want to hear anything else.

His blood is all over your lips and chest, your training print shirt. You admit you’re tempted not to ever wash that thing even if Taemin politely asks you to or Yukhei calls it crazy. You want it to be as sullied as a white shirt can possibly get. What must be your eleventh bite in a row gives you a particularly big shot right to the tongue. It’s so much, Baekhyun’s blood starts running out of your nose, only to get back onto your lips that suck up all that candy right away all over again.

Being all drenched in Baekhyun’s nicely bloodied wonder shampoo water and your own horny leaking shit at the same time, your pussy is double wet and way, way too ready to get stuffed up with all that merman dick. You never thought that he would be any larger than your thumb, but you’re mistaken.

„No wonder Yukhei has been keeping you outside the club so often.“

„You can have it as often as you want, eight times a day, I’ll manage to be there, don’t worry.“

It’s so stiff and glides into you so easily, you groan out loud and loose a whole portion of blood from all that open mouth. It sprinkles over Baekhyun’s little nose and lips, and makes his way down to his belly. The scent is turning your brain upside down. You find yourself hooked on his nose, sucking and licking it with your pussy reaching the meaty base of what’s all the way inside you now. All the precum he’s leaking into you is taking its time, but comes down to cream you up when he starts moving. Really smudgy thrusts from below, several big fat fillings from above that you can have your fun gargling on the back of your tongue. Baekhyun knows what makes you happy. You squeeze every bit your can get out of his throat and plunge your teeth inside of him far enough to feel his vocal chords vibrating during his moans. You don’t wanna damage those. So you decide to switch things around a little and slip off his cock. It’s grown a lot inside of you and peaks out the water still brimming. The whole tub gets a taste of soapy foam mixed with Baekhyuns semen and lord knows how much delicious red cherry juice that you’ve been milking out of him. Oh god, you feel like cumming. You turn Baekhyun underneath you so the back of his head comes to face you, and you bow down to violently bury and seesaw your teeth in his nape like a lion shaking a little prey animal. His little helpless moans are so melodic and out of this world, you do notice you forgot your own name. Well, he can tell you afterwards so, no problem. For now, you made him completely yours. You don’t miss how Baekhyun didn’t reach down to get himself a hand but has grown even harder.

Going by how much he’s been begging you to do your carnage on him, and you’re tempted to ask him, you know for a fact Baekhyun would probably fanboy like mad and ooze his cum all over the place if you broke his neck altogether, but you decide that’s probably way too edgy for now. And too much, hello. His body can heal anything in a matter of five minutes, doesn’t mean you have to challenge it with a clean snap during the first time. That’s a schtick for the later fucks, maybe a birthday. Just when you find that what you’re doing with his little nape all between your jaws is way too sick for a novice, a string of tiny „please, please, please!“ noises spurs you to sink in deeper and even work your tongue just like it’s a french kiss.

„Oh woah, ah! Do it, do it more!“ His pleasure screames and demands for roughing him up leave no second for a pause. At this point, you’re just digging in and he’s all the way close to going off like a bomb. Taemin doesn’t just have to clean the tiles alone, there’s gonna be sperm everywhere. Probably even as far as the door, and that one’s all opposite to the bath tub and four meters away.

Now that you’re so snugly penetrating with your fangs pierced in around his spine from either side, you notice how Baekhyun has successfully corrupted you into a sadistic freak. The more blood seeps into your mouth, the lewder your slurping gets, and the tub water has long gone from pink to very crimson like it’s the type of apples Taeyong loves to test his fangs on pretty much daily just for practice. You swallow again, and this time, a wave of Baekhyun’s sexual fantasies crashes down on you.

Looks like since you’re closer to his central nervous system, you’re tapping his entire stream of thoughts. However this works, it’s giving your pussy severe missing-cock-disease. Drinking and swallowing repeatedly makes the visions even more vivid. The images are so vast and animated, you can hardly keep up. His face, buried between your thighs. His tongue, dragged all over your legs. You riding his tail like it’s thighs. A big gush of semen between your breasts. You slobbering blood all over his cock and making good use of its protruding veins. Images of you cumming and screaming his name. Baekhyun screaming even louder because he can. Baekhyun sucking his fingers and you licking his wrists clean. Baekhyun cumming inside you and everything bursting right out because holy shit, that’s a lot.

You want his dick and properly connect to his lips for the first time now, so you ease your teeth out of his nape, much to his protesting. You cave in and give him another bite, and make it brutal so he begins squeaking and gasping that he’ll cum. Now that you have him there, you can venture a second try and turn him around. Because you’re afraid of blowing up the second you sit on his cock again, so you start with his lips.

Kissing Baekhyun is all you expected and even more than that. Even if you’re so saturated with his blood that your taste buds are on fire, you can still clearly taste how sweet he is. Everything about him is so delicious and he’s so cute. All that pleasant taste and the gentleness of his tongue has you riding up and down his cock in less than a minute. Busy like a New York high rise elevator. Gentleman he is, Baekhyun retorting with his own thrusts feels nothing short of whipped cream consistency fucked into you with a headspin-inducing mega girth. Where he mustered that one from, only Neptune knows.

Since the entire water is ripe with his blood, that can’t go without pumping some of it into you. You’ve never found yourself horny all over your period even if the scent does make you tingle, but now, somebody else’s blood squeezed into you? Your legs feel like doing somersaults. You’re probably asking for too much, but you hope your walls soak it all up, his pre-cum included. Hell, if all that mixture shoots up in your womb, you’d probably be on a permanent high for one week. Who would have thought. This giggly little merman has turned you mad and lawless.

It doesn’t take for very long that Baekhyun’s tongue has been wrecking a havoc of pleasure between your fangs and has started bleeding after deliberately giving himself a small little prick with them, you want to get bursting full with his cum now, you can’t wait any longer. You lost your breath so it takes a few seconds until you can verbalize it, but when you do, Baekhyun doesn’t take even half a minute to have you pussy bubbling with a particularly scented load of deliciously fertile semen.

It’s such a huge amount, you have to hold onto his upper arms. Baekhyun breathes like he’s curently swimming a marathon, and has his eyes closed to concentrate on giving you the best to the best. What makes you moan is just how wildly his cock is throbbing and pumping against your cervix, that girl has never seen an avalanche of white stuff like this, she’s so lucky she gets to see this up close. Baekhyun has sunken so deep into his orgasm, he’s starting to mumble some kinds of magic words. Which seem to be directed at keeping his dick hard and keeping the cum flowing just like that.

„Shit, I want that in my mouth,“ you promptly decide, and pull your all-loaded pussy off, causing leakage all over the water. You turn to prop his cock between your lips, and Baekhyun makes it no secret that he won’t hesitate sucking his creampie right out of you. So while you’re busy sliding your tongue up and down all that veiny shaft, Baekhyun glides his nose and chin between your slippery pussy lips. The stimulation of his tongue has you twitching and stuffing his cock even deeper until your mouth is nothing but filled except a few remaining spots.

His cum is all fizzy in your mouth, it’s the most addictive thing. You decide that all that vanilla ice cream needs a juicy strawberry sauce to top it off. You do exactly what Baekhyun’s steamy fantasies displayed to you. That you lock your horny fangs deep inside of Baekhyun’s cock and squeeze him out by the liter for sperm and cherry milk is already having your eye lids flutter because you’re that stoned. Not to mention that you will smell like candy to the lycans and certainly also Taeyong for at least a whole month.

You’re the farmer, he’s the maple tree, and Baekhyun’s blood the runny, sugary syrup. The mix with his semen tastes like you bite right into a large fresh lemon and melon popsicle. and swallowing comes easy once you got into the rhythm of his continuous little bursts. Your stomach is telling you oh babe, I adore you for this. It’s stuffing full a) with the one thing is needs and b) the other thing it loves. All while Baekhyun’s bloody tongue is having a party on your clit and you can’t help but heavily rock your pussy all slapping up against his face.

The friction is unbearable, it makes you sopping wet on top of already being shot up with a ton of cream. Which now faithfully drops right into Baekhyun’s awaiting mouth and his nostrils along the way. He just snorts it up, gathers it on his tongue, then swallows it down like it’s a mild cold. The noise is so disgusting, it’s so sexy. You didn’t know mermen were this hardcore. You bet your fangs Yukhei can’t do that.

Baekhyun keeps on slurping on your creampie like it’s a desert pudding, and puckers his brazen lips to suck your clit between giving it little kisses and licks. The point where you forgot not just your name but your hometown and birth day is already passed, with Baekhyun indulging your pussy like that, you even forgot about planet earth being a thing. His petite „Aw pretty“ and „So tasty“ noises have you clenching up and wildy deepthroating whatever impossible length of his dick is still left.

It’s oozing out too much to deal with at this point, so you just let it flow into the bath water. Your mouth being so slobbery, Baekhyun’s cock pulsing in and out of it causes a wet, hollow noise. It’s strangely satisfying and dirty to hear, you just love it. The blood seeping into your mouth makes you spiral even deeper and resorting to drift off into a wonderworld again, blowing big pink cum bubbles while you’re dreaming of Baekhyun in a groom suit out of nowhere.

Swimming at the edge of a pool, he’s stroking your hair and admiring your skin that seems so completely without any veins. Cut to Baekhyun standing in the kitchen with an apron making pancakes, drizzled with what can’t possibly just normal strawberry sauce. He perfectly balances himself on his tail to stand upright, and you’re wearing a Christmas sweater signed by Christopher Lee and Bela Lugosi.

Image three, Baekhyun massaging your feet with his pretty hands while you watch Nosferatu Reloaded on television. He whispers sweet nothings but they mean everything to you. Image four, a big house with a nice water system inside, and on top of that, a really shapely coffin that smells so dusty and snugly by just looking at it, you’re enamored with no return. Oh my god, there’s a moth plague in that house, too, and the garden grows nightshade!

Swallowing the remaining semen, thick and marshmallow-y as it so savoringly is, you shift back to your senses. Shit, that was a ride. You have a hard time letting go of his cock, but he’s not sustaining it with a spell at this point. Rather, it closes back behind his scales. Probably regenerating, you sucked and performated the shit out of it. Preoccupied, Baekhyun is still busier than ever making your pussy his personal oozing face grave, he’s particularly enjoying the digging part with the tongue. You promise to unearth him once he’s zombiefied, can’t let the poor tiny merguy just drown in there.

To think that he could do all the things you saw makes you furiously thrust back and hear his face smack into you. All of the cum he pumped into you is slathered all over his mouth and makes it all the easier to get all the clit stimulation you want from his bottom lip in particular. That he catches a hang of it and moves right along doesn’t help with your arousal. Your entire lower body is so heated and bustling, any south-Texan bat cave is a joke compared to that.

You hardly catch a direct glimpse of what’s going on, but from the reflection in the tiles you can see that Baekhyun’s hair has changed its color to how it naturally grew according to Mark’s seemingly random chronicle recital on Monday. Baekhyun only ever does it when he’s really serious about something and vulnerable enough. You can tell be picked up the pace and makes sure not one lick will miss.

With that level of determination, Baekhyun is sure to earn your moans and shaky thighs after a mere minute or two. You think that because he’s part demon, his tongue is… a bit longer and pointier and stronger than the average merman’s. It’s simply how the genes tend to mix and your clit very well feels that. The way he’s driving in the tip of the tongue in rapid sequences that resemble Ten’s piano suites, you’re tipped over the edge hard enough to grab at his tail not to slip from the massive tremble that rocks you.

Your orgasm rolls your eyes back to places even ghouls could dream of, and the amount of pleasure is so strong that your hearing and vision sets out for a solid ten seconds. You just scream and moan and scream again, and Baekhyun’s face gets one massive cum shower all over again. He’s not shy to move his mouth and head around like a madman, so your cum ends up being stuck in his hair altogether. Through even more frantic sucking and kissing, he seeks to prolong your high for another fifteen seconds of blissed out grinding against his face. You drank so much blood, you

By now, your face must look so blown up with all that cum and Baekhyun marked up so relentlessly, even if his bite marks have closed by now, Kai must think you switched roles going by your scents.

„Really sorry for my big cock.“

„Your blood… does it cause random hallucinations or something of that sort, can you direct it in any way?“

„It causes prophetic visions in some cases, if you experience it clearly as an image it will come true. Did you see something?“

„Um. Lots of things. Let’s say I… liked what I saw.“

„Actually, don’t tell me. I like being surprised.“

„Doesn’t it take 50 years until the egg fertilizes?“

„47, 48 is usual. Mermen cum is really slow but it’ll get there.“

„Nice. Isn’t the firstborn always a girl?“

„Yep.“

„We’ll name her after the song that’s always on the human radio, what is it again. Janine?“

„Jolene I’m thinking. I think it was that kind of song.“

„Yeah, I like that. And in the meanwhile we have some time, do we.“

„We can just go on like that. What are you thinking?“

„Shit, shit. I’ll suck you dry, Baekhyun, you don’t even know.“

„My blood regenerates the fastest among all half-species. Shouldn’t be a problem.“

„And what will we do about Yukhei’s mating drive?“

„Don’t worry. He’ll smell it.“

You pull the bathtub plug with a heavy heart and begin washing Baekhyun down. The blood doesn’t seem to stick to him very easily, which is as unsurprising as you not getting it off your own body. Even with his whatever pricey merguy body scrub thingy thing that’s normally used to keep gills and scales in shape. Resorting to staying bloodied for the day is nothing you’ll particularly hate, though.

Ten minutes later, you find a very unsettled Yukhei standing at the window of your designated club office, not able to meet your eyes for more than a second. In that expensive black tux, and you… in your bathing robe with blood all over your hair, and just a pair of Baekhyun’s sparkling light blue and silver ‚i ♡ dolphins‘ socks he borrowed you. He can’t wear them anyway, but they were so cute that he ordered them online.

Very much naked underneath all that, and water running down your legs in drops, alongside— something that does not feel like water. You already plan to hop right back into the shower and do the rest of the cleaning. The sex is great, but vampire hygiene is a pain in the ass sometimes. The scent must be killing him. You don’t even have to sit down for the word spill to start.

„Y/N.“

„I told you I don’t like you sneaking in here.“

„After working out. And, you know my senses are always heightened after this…“

„What is it now, hellboy. Just cut to the chase.“

„Please let me talk for a minute. I came walking by in the northern corridor,“ he starts out low once again. „You talked about your wings sprouting and you were being open with him. So—“

„You listened to us!“

He keeps his lips tight, not granting any reply.

„Piece of shit, you! You’re an all-round asshole.“

The water contained in a silver jug on the office table goes right over Yukhei’s head. He doesn’t react, lets you poor it all over him stoically. You hope it’s particularly cold. Since the water is silver-infused, it stings him, but he takes it.

„I can’t switch my nose and ears off, even at such a distance. It… it just reeks, alright. I just heard what was going on without intending. The talk, the— I didn’t know what it would develop into.“

„From start to finish. Am I right?,“ you dig your nails into your palms. „And you didn’t just walk off like you fucking should. So stop blaming your ears or what topics we started out with or whatever! You talk about mating behind my back, you eavesdrop, you invade my office just like this. Do you think that’s gonna make me marry you on the spot?“

All the magical afterglow — ruined. You cast the jug into a random corner and prop down at your desk. Yukhei wipes the wet bangs out of his face and turns from the window to face you now.

„I’ll stop with all this. Okay. I don’t want to treat you like a crusade machine against my dad or just to satisfy me. I’m sorry if I’m like you said. I’m just a stupid voyeur. I really didn’t want to.“

Yeah. Of course.

„If I spied on you? You’d be kicking me out in a hearbeat,“ you cross your arms and leave them in deadlock. „And what, you’ll stop what?“

„Training you for your position and fighting dad’s army.“

„Eh.“

„I know very well that’s Kai’s job and mine.“

„No shit, Yukhei.“

„And that we should defend more and not just plan the attack. You don’t enjoy the training as much as the normal recruit. You said you’d rather be talking with Baekhyun and that you chose him as a mate.“

„You’ll change your program?“

„A lycan will respect a no. We’re determined but not a creep. And my nose works perfectly fine.“

„What?“

„I’ll be realistic, I don’t think I could satisfy you like him.“

Now that sounds very different from all he’s ever said. You turn your chair toward him and stare Yukhei down.

„I’m listening.“

„I’m not stupid, okay.“

„Inaccurate, but go on.“

„You’d… bite me once and either I bleed out if I control myself or go wolf when I don’t. That’s lose-lose.“

„So you got that all of a sudden,“ you murmur. Yukhei just keeps on talking. It’s almost a prepared monologue.

„I’m a wolf, okay. I only get it when I smell it.“

„That’s some weird shit but fair enough, Mark says that too.“

„You smell like you had almost nine liters in one go. The whole fucking mansion feels like a butchery just opened. How many times did you bite him, fifty, sixty?“

„As if I’m counting. Do you count down when you drink water? You have it easy, you’re normal when you’re not in the moonlight. I’m vampire all the time.“

„What I try to say is. I don’t boast that much regenerating ability even if I wish I had.“

„And you realize that only now.“

„I came here to be honest. I gravely underestimated Baekhyun. You bit his nape and he really enjoyed it.“

„Well thanks for the information. About my private business…“

Yukhei’s senses must be really sharp to discern all of this. He might have stood in the bathroom in person. And if he knows it, Kai does tenfold if he was anywhere near the house. His senses are time-tested and four times as trained.

„I know that doing a bite like that is a big deal in half-breed… couples.“

„You’d find that inacceptable for me to do on you, wouldn’t you.“

Silence again. You tap your feet. Yukhei ends up nodding.

„To the extrent of how you reacted when I grabbed you by the hair. We’re not much different. Trying to make someone ours. Call me possessive but you’re also territorial. You didn’t just bite his neck tonight.“

„You understand why I said we’re not compatible. then.“

Yukhei remains silent for a while after that.

„The tension between our kinds has a reason.“

„No way. Never thought of that. Totally groundbreaking news.“

„We’d probably kill each other when we fuck. Simply because of what we naturally do. We’re suited for other species. Baekhyun matches you very well with his abilities. I admit that even if it hurts my pride.“

„One man’s trash another man’s pleasure.“

„You’re not trash. You know you’re my MVP here. And Baekhyun is going to please you well himself. He’s not as selfish as I am. He’s 290 years old, he’s very experienced.“

„Your instincts are really dying for a mate, don’t they.“

„Just like you deflate to a literal zombie when you’re not drinking, I can’t go without my pack hierarchy being complete. You go stupid when you sense blood, I go stupid when my senses aren’t challenged and I have to suppress my form. It’s that easy.“

„Now tell me something I don’t know.“

You comb your fingers through your hair. It’s kind of comforting right now. Yukhei comes to sit at your desk now himself, opposite to you.

„I should have left you to your own devices when you picked your spot at the fire place already.“

„What do you mean?“

„We left you seven empty places, right.“

„So that was not a coincidence.“

„We spiked each cup with a blood probe of each member. Enough to emenate a scent, but small enough not to have you figure out which cup belongs to whom. Especially not in a room with so many people was it possible to tell that apart so it worked.“

And of course they put up flowers to further confuse you. It was all planned.

„Did you… you…“

„It was a test. I made it so that if was covert enough and fair to everyone.“

„Fair? What the hell did you do with me!“

„Find out whose blood you like the very most. It was my idea. I wanted to see if I have a chance with you or not.“

„That’s insidious.“

„You picked Baekhyun’s probe right away. And you even drank a second cup. That should’ve answered my question by that point.“

That’s why the blood in the cup was so strangely shimmery. You knew that was familiar when you slept with Baekhyun, but couldn’t connect the dots entirely because there was so much soap in the water.

„And you still kept on talking about mating with me?“

„I didn’t know about your heritage before you came to us.“

„So?“

„That gave me a second chance that I hoped you would reconsider. Because it’s tradition tha—“

You smack Yukhei right across the face with your right backhand.

„Never say that word again.“

„And you said you’re here to tell the truth anyway. It’s a shallow excuse to get with me.“

„I’m not denying that, Y/N.“

„It’s been clear to you who I like since our first words. You’re acting like you can bend me to your wishes. You tested me and knew I wasn’t into you. Why?“

„It’s like when you couldn’t take your eyes off your cup. We’re not far apart with our instincts.

„I never said that’s a lie, Yukhei.“

„You can’t expect me not to get the hots if you’re lying there on the table without your top on. And I already controlled myself. I did my best, alright.“

This man is infuriating. You wish you had more silver water to splash him with.

„Taemin was right, Taeyong should’ve done the examination. Touching me fucked with your virgin head. You’re just hunting some one-sided dream looking for some omega girl that fits into your ideology thing.“

„Well you’re right.“

„Unfortunate.“

„But at the same time at least acknowledge that I realized we wouldn’t fit together. I changed my mind about that prospect okay, I’m trying.“

„That you’d make the worst blood bank ever is already clear.“

„I really wouldn’t.“

„Just know that the next time you’re trying to own me or do your wolf stalking shit. Or try to mess with Baekhyun. I’ll be skinning your hairy back with Taeyong’s 17th-century silver dagger and use you as a mud boots doormat.“

„I’ll control my senses as good as I can.“

„Leave away the last part of the sentence.“

„I’ll control my senses.“

„Ma’am.“

„I’ll control my senses, Ma’am.“

„You’re one desperate little shit. Club president and you need to be trained like a rowdy dog. How old are you again?“

„Last time I checked, 21.“

„Not surprised Kai still calls you a puppy and Ten thinks you’re a giant baby.“

„I say, found your own club if you can’t handle it.“

„That would put it back to square one. The only problem is you being horny for the wrong person, the rest are only consequences.“

„As if I can control what my nose tells me. And you know that the very best.“

„You’re still mad your own test backfired,“ you remember the cups put up in the fireplace room.

„Is it wrong wishing you would’ve chosen my blood?“

„Yes, after I clearly made my pick.“

„Then that’s that.“

„That’s that.“

„So what are we gonna do?“

„You cut your wolfy shit, that’s all. It’s creepy. And don’t annoy Taeyong either. You got me? Just stay in your own lane.“

„If I can.“

„Are you the president or are you not?“

„Fair enough.“

Taeyong rings a bell, and you gather for some tea under the backyard Wisteria. Shrimps are served, and Taeyong even bothered to prepare a minestrone that’s wonderfully dark red. Lucas savagely chews on raw chicken wings, Ten relaxes in a hammock, Mark writes, Taemin knits, and Baekhyun plays in the nearby pool, watching and listening and chatting, upbeat as always.

Kai arrives the very last in his post-jog showering robe, but greets you the very loudest in front of everyone.

„Hey, hey! I heard you waterboarded yourself to get some soapy red juice!“

Some confusion at his word choice, some giggles.

„So that’s been making the roun—“

„Amazing! That’s my girl,“ Kai burst out and pats you on the back so passionately, it feels like a freight train hits you.

„O—okay?“

„That greed is all I ever wanted to bring out in training! Where was that determination when we peeled garlic? I tried every method in the book to get you to that point!“

Awkward silence among the members. Then, some shrugs. Mark seems to be the only one who doesn’t get it. Figures, half-goblins don’t have hyper-developed senses. Thank God, his innocent soul. The club chronicles would be filled with details of you doing all sorts of things in a bath tub because Mark never leaves out anything unless he’s currently dropping a pen out of nervousness. Which doesn’t happen anymore.

„Kai, um… I still don’t think you understand what really motivates a vampire,“ Taeyong scratches his head, with you well-aware that he can smell merman blood across the entire house without even trying himself.

„So, what is it, then?“ Kai puffs himself up, arms crossed. „I’m the fucking trainer of how many species again? I should know best!“

It doesn’t take two seconds for a heated discussion to break out. The Venerable Pyramid of Essential Vampire Needs — which author defined it the most accurately? Which peer-reviewed vampire journals are trustworthy? Which interviewed populace is the most reflective of all vampirekind? Serbia, Romania, Turkey, Russia, Greece, overseas?

Everybody wants to weigh in: Taeyong and Mark at the forefront, with Kai and Lucas saying the exact opposite of what they expertly claim just because. Ten starts trolling them with made-up facts („a vampire’s #1 need is premium cellar dust!“), Taemin unsuccessfully tries to calm everybody down with a theory that considers all perspectives, and the tea gets colder and colder.

In the meantime, you squat down at the pool and muse over Baekhyun’s hair in the wind. You twirl it and tell him he’s gorgeous. He whispers just how good you smell. Why debate about essential vampire needs when it’s all right before your eyes.

Thinking about it. It was all about which relationship was mutual. That’s what the decision had been all about, and yes, it had been crystal clear from the very start. Lucas desperately wanted you, but it was one-sided. Mark was flustered by you, but didn’t make a move, nor did you have feelings for him. Taeyong you loved, but his age and mentor status were incompatible with turning it into a relationship. You understood him, but it was motivated by an admiration — there was a pedestal, which again made it one-sided. Ten was a mystery, it wasn’t clear on either part, and leaving each other guessing was no good sign instead of going about your ways. Kai was a compelling man, but had his piece of cake and aspired to different things. Baekhyun — he loves you and you love him.

A powerful engine revvs in the nearby garage, then, the motor stops. Onto the Wisteria jogs Ten with a huge bag of groceries.

„Hello, hello!“

Everybody greets him and picks their favorite snack from his bag. He really thought of everything. Yukhei and Jongin get a huge pile of meat from the car trunk’s cooling box. As a crowning finale, Ten presents you with the latest newpaper. The front page splayed out on the Wisteria’s main table causes everyone to steer and gasp.

SHOCKING!

SATAN’S HEAVENLY RETURN

Ruling hell too stressful after all?

„Rumor has it the King finally got bored of chatting with God and kicked out Satan from the 9th circle without much further ado.“

„No way!“ you toss and turn the newspaper. Five whopping pages are filled with cover story details.

„So dear horned guy went back to where he came from,“ Ten shrugs, then points at the snapshots all over the newspaper. „I mean look at it. This is all just a big ole jealousy drama.“

Who knows God talked some sense into Lucifer.

„I know that dad was getting envious about the King associating with the arch angels,“ Yukhei says. You start to get why. Satan had the privileges of being an archangel for who knows how long until he reached puberty and rebelled or whatever.

„Doesn’t that mean dad has the throne back now?“ you ask.

„Yup,“ Ten turns to page three, where @king_beli’s instagram feed is filled with selfies of the 9th circle, posing with Sisyphus, and throwing peace signs in a sulphurous-looking throne hall. 666,000 likes after just 6 hours. If that’s not a good sign.

You keep on debating how exactly Satan got kicked out so effortlessly until Taeyong rolls in a little swirly metal wagon after the tea is finished. On top of it: An almost ancient relic that Alexander Graham Bell probably built himself.

„Sir, the Hell Telephone might be a good idea right now.“

„Your turn Y/N,“ Yukhei declines, ushering Taeyong to bring the wagon to your side of the table. You dial and wait roughly half a minute.

„Sorry, I was partying,“ a voice creaks through the old speaker. „How can I help? Isn’t this Club Daemon speaking? Is it who I think it is?“

„Hey dad.“

„It is!“

„Hello. You’ve heard about me, then.“

„Yup yup! That you’re Yukhei’s personal dog trainer is what Kai wrote me on Whatsapp! Did you really pour silver water on him? That’s funny as hell!“

„Oh God.“

„I say that a lot these days as well, man. Sorry, we have some music blasting here by the way!“

„Hey dad, what actually happened with God and Satan?“

„Ah, long ass story. Satan chickened out recently, hell is one hell of a job you know. New job opportunity for me. But you gotta take it easy and have fun.“

„I can tell.“

A spitfire verse of what sounds like Megan Thee Stallion is currently pumping through the telephone. Ten grooves right along in his hammock, smiling way too ominously. You can tell he knows every bar by heart. He’s been listening to the human radio way too much during his errants.

„I’m only stressed because the furniture is terrible.“

„The what?“

„In the years of my absence, horned geezer got a little too creative with the design, you know. I’m more of a romantic.“

„So… you just moved in there just because.“

„You could say that, yeah!“

Confused shrugging among the club members. Belial keeps on babbling and blasting something else at the other end of the line. It must be K-Pop or something like that.

„Talk about romance, I hear you have a mate?“

„Yeah dad, it’s Baekhyun.“

„Oh him? I’ve heard of that guy! The merman!“

„He’s really sweet.“

„Make many cute demon babies alright. That would be so adorable. I’m all ready to cuddle wuddle them. I actually came up with baby name suggestions.“

„Dad!“

„You know, 80 years ago. I met your mom…“

„Dad, I don’t wanna hear your love stories. Rather tell me what happened to mom. What did Satan do?“

„Listen here. That was a stupid rumor Azazel was spreading because he’s a gossip man!“ Belial rages at the other end of the line. „Your mom was 8906, alright. She died of diabetes. You got adopted by humans she found trustworthy and planned to be your caretakers.“

„That was all planned?!“

„You were… a bit too young for hell back then. She wanted to leave you the choice later on in life whether you want to be in a clan or come here, or neither of that. I know being a half-breed isn’t easy. And you should get into all these worlds by your own devices. I learned about all of this only much later you see. I’ve been hanging out in the clouds for some time. It’s pretty chill there. But now I’m happy to hear from you.“

„Yeah.“

„If you got anything you need paid? Rent, marriage, car, diapers? Just ask me when needed.“

„I dunno…“

Looks like your dad is a rather forward thinker indeed. Well, least he thought it through.

„If you need it spontaneously and I’m not available, just force Yukhei to give you some pocket money.“

„I don’t have to force him. He already does that without me even asking.“

„That’s what I call a great president!“

„He literally thinks my bank account is free real estate where he can dump anything. I can’t even manage all that,“ you roll your eyes, with Yukhei grinning his most satisfied smile at the end of the table.

On the more unsatisfied end, Kai is about to jump up and sock him in the chest. You know damn well his salary hasn’t been increasing since Yukhei discovered his unsolicited Sugar Daddy hobby. You can buy Baekhyun some extra cotton candy now, but you’ll have to figure out a way to transfer some pocket money to Kai yourself. Now really, he’s been training the shit out of you.

„Even better! Cheers to him. He’s too straight for his own good sometimes though. Anyways. You can drop by as soon as we cleaned up here. We’ll open the circles of hell completely next month.“

„Okay, that’s good news!“

„Once you get pregnant, make sure you two find a flaming cave apartment on the east side! You really wanna raise your kids here. Hellraiser, get it?“

„The east side is too hot for Baekhyun. His tub water would just evaporate, man.“

„Oh! Then the west side. A nice penthouse with panoramic views on a volcano. You’ll get a baking Pompeii face mask every time you’re stepping out! There’s so much ash raining down, your kid can do snow angels on every pavement. Don’t worry, I’ll pay for everything.“

In the meantime, the party guests are blasting Caramelldansen in the background and louds clapping numbs your ears.

„Dad…. you realize you have a lot of clown energy, right? Do you even hear me?“

„Talk about clowns, actually,“ the king carries on completely unbothered. „Mammon really wants to see Kai too, I think he’s missing him. He’s calmed down a little after the Corona crisis messed with his bank account.“

Commotion at the table. Kai almost chokes on his cold tea.

„That’s unexpected… I thought he’d never do that.“

„Yeah aw, I know,“ your father says. „Satan has spread a lot of fake news while he was here, you see.“

„We’re glad to be welcome then? That sounds like a good idea to meet up some time. Maybe for a day or two.“

„Strike! I convinced you!“

„Yeah, you did…“

„Few of you saw hell back in the day, right?“

„Yukhei, Kai, I dunno who else, Ten I’m guessing.“

Nods from the hammock. Wouldn’t be strange if Ten was a regular hell driver.

„Oh Ten! Greet Ten from me. His instagram is what I aspire to. Ten is the coolest. Even the ghouls I know don’t have that kind of fashion sense.“

„Will do.“

„And— about aspirations. We’ll be talking about your heir thing when the time is right you see, I know you want to know about all of this.“

You perk up, as do the club members.

„It’s a thing for the future. I’m not hellbent or anything,“ you say, tongue in cheek.

„Hah! You’re funny. I see we’re agreeing on this. You’re very busy with Baekhyun, right. Love is priority. Hell later. This place is a lot to handle anyway.“

„…exactly.“

„I know my daughter and I didn’t even meet her yet!“

Taeyong does a little aw noise in the background and even Yukhei has to smile.

„I’ll probably tell the same stories you do and blast the same music in a couple years, I can see it coming.“

„And that’s when you’re ready for the throne. Remember—“

„Gotta keep it easy and make it fun.“

„You got it. Until then, live a tense life man, that’s also needed.“

„Dad, what the hell!“

„I actually mean it. Leave it to your old man to get this 9th circle popping in the meantime.“

You get the image of your father watching youtube music videos all day and trying to keep up with the latest slang words on twitter.

„Okay, crazy old man.“

„At your service!“

It almost makes you laugh how the old generation of full-breed demons is completely gone wild and the youngsters are the opposite. Well, except the half-lycans, but they’re always living on the edge anyway.

„Can I speak to Mister Lee as well? Is he around?“

„Mark or Taeyong or Taemin? We have a lot of Lees.“

„Um, the butler guy.“

„Taeyong, here it goes. See you dad!“

You pass the hellephone, Taeyong poises himself.

„Hey there, young man!“

„Not that young. 552, Sire.“

„Hilarious, you can’t even get a Styx boat license around here at that age. Anyway. Got some news for you.“

„Yes, Mister?“

„Mammon recently splurged on the latest robo fancy schmancy tech stuff from Japan for no reason. I guessed you would want to try one on.“

„Pardon— Try on what?“

„Oh, a prosthetic exo-skeleton I mean. I heard you had beef with the loopy guy. Just drop by whenever.“

„A prosthetic arm aid?“

„Well yes!“

„That’s… that’s very kind of you.“

„No problem! Is the your Professor X available to speak to as well?“

„Of course, Sire, one moment,“ Taeyong composes himself, but you can tell he’s still processing it.

Everybody is on the edge of their seat.

„Hi down there,“ Lucas takes the speaker and leans back in his seat very laxly. Compared to how defeated he looked in your office, his posture is much more unwound now.

„Hi up there, Lucas what’s good?“

„Doing mighty fine these days. You gave us a good headline.“

„Oh, you’re very welcome Mister President. There’s headlines about me?“

The King sounds genuinely surprised.

„Yeah. You’ll have to add me in Kai’s Whatsapp group or give me your number. I’ll update you on these types of things.“

„Note down 1666 2666 3666, and I have some updates for you as well.“

Mark and Taeyong instantly start scribbling the number into their vest notebooks, meanwhile Lucas swirls the tea in his cup around.

„Shoot.“

He begins drinking it.

„Mister Cerberus’ daughter graduated today. Canine sciences. Lovely girl, calls herself Circe, you know, like the evil witch. Very intelligent person. She’s looking for a job and a mate in the upper world. I told her about the Club’s situation and you know, gossipped a little. She says she’s interested in you.“

Lucas spits out the tea.

„Sorry, what?“

„Hey, do you really think you’re not a man in demand? Anybody who studies werewolves knows about you. And you have free membership spots, or is that information outdated?“

„I-Is she a half-breed?“

„Of course, do you think Mister Cerberus would date another demon? That would make no sense! Hell, wouldn’t that be beastitality or something? Is it that what you call it?“

„Uh… Bestiality I thought, Sir.“

„Anyways. I haven’t seen Cerberus with anyone else but werewolves.“

„Werewolves are the closest genetically to hell hounds, Mister President,“ Mark leans in confidentially to brief Yukhei. „It’s good conduct for them to date.“

„Oh, uh, I get it.“

„So, do you want to meet her or not?“

„We, we have free spots all the way!“

„Great then, I’ll send her up the staircase now. She’ll be there in a minute or so.“

„The stai—!”

#baekhyun smut #baekhyun #superm #super m smut #sub!baekhyun #super m #super m x reader #superm fanfic #club daemon #female reader x super m #super m fanfics #long post #baekhyun x reader #exo #exo smut #sub!exo #sub!superm

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mrmallard · 3 years

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Boston Legal Curated Watchlist - Season One

Boston Legal is a courtroom dramedy that aired from 2004 to 2008. It stars James Spader as Alan Shore, a plucky champion of the underdog who tilts at windmills with incredible charm, and William Shatner as Denny Crane, a gun-toting, cigar-smoking fatcat with an ego the size of Texas.

The show is set within the offices of Crane, Poole and Schmidt as the cast tackle an assortment of cases, from the deathly serious to the absolutely ridiculous. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll probably retch a little before it's all said and done. It's Boston Legal.

---

This is the first installment of a curated watchlist I'm putting together. The purpose of this watchlist is to collect all of the best episodes of the show, and to cut out the ones that are either outright bad, extremely sleazy or which have otherwise not aged well.

It should go without saying, but this list is my opinion and I accept that people may feel differently. Leave a reply with any episodes I missed that you want to see represented, and I can amend the watchlist if I agree.

Right off the bat, though, I can say that season one is one of the most cohesive seasons. I found myself going like "oh yeah, THAT episode!" for a majority of the season, and two thirds of season one is on this list. It hits its stride at episode 8, starts firing on all cylinders at episode 11, and it has the hottest streak of episodes all the way down to episode 17.

For season one, this watchlist is a formality. If there was any season that you should just outright watch, season one is it. And the ones I miss actually set up a lot of Denny Crane's character arc - so I would go as far as to prompt you to use this guide as a starting point to test whether you'll actually like the show, and then decide whether you want to commit to a whole season or not.

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Disclaimer: this show ran between 2004 and 2008, during George Bush's second term. The characters are sleazy and sexist at times, and the depiction and discussion of such issues as LGBT rights have a long way to go - though I would argue that season one has an episode that is significantly ahead of its time in that regard. And while the show can be a sleazefest, it does has a liberal slant.

I enjoy the show for its solid heart and great character interaction, but this show is very much a product of its time and I want to give a fair warning to potential viewers that it should be viewed within that context.

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Episode 1: Head Cases

Description: Edwin Poole, a named partner at the law firm Crane, Poole and Schmidt, has a mental breakdown. This comes as a shock to Denny Crane (William Shatner), a fellow named partner, who has to contend with losing a friend at the office.

The question is raised as to how long Denny has to go before he suffers a similar fate - he's seen as bloated, egotistical and past his prime. Despite being a legendary figure in the profession, he tends to be a liability as much as an asset to the firm nowadays. Who'll hold out for longer - the firm, or Denny Crane?

Meanwhile, Alan Shore (James Spader) settles into his role at the firm. He finds a few familiar faces, as well as opposition from firm hotshot Brad Chase - a former marine, staunch conservative and vocal critic of Shore's demeanor and courtroom antics.

Why it made the list: It's the first episode of the show. It introduces Alan Shore and Denny Crane, it sets up the character dynamic for most of the series's runtime, it has a courtroom scene that defines the sort of jokey bluster the show will be known for, and it kickstarts Denny Crane's character arc. Episode one is essential viewing.

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Episode 6: Truth be Told

Description: Alan represents the husband of his old crush Samantha, who's running for mayor. He flirts with the idea of getting back together with her as the case unfolds.

Convinced that he's slipping, Denny takes a test to determine whether he has Alzeimers.

Why it made the list: My recollection of this episode is a bit foggy. The main reason I picked it is because it's an early episode dealing with Denny's mental health - as far as I'm concerned, it's essential viewing.

But upon scratching the surface, this is also a good early episode depicting one of Alan Shore's old flames. This episode works best in tandem with episode 5, which leads into Denny's plot in this episode.

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Episode 8: Loose Lips

Description: Alan Shore is tasked with defending a mall Santa who was fired when his perchant for cross-dressing is made public. Convinced he won't be able to win, Brad makes a bet with Alan that he'll lose the case.

Lori, another attorney at the firm, is drawn into her therapist's concerns about a client who may be at risk of killing his wife. Lori wrestles with morality and doctor/patient privilege as she debates whether to inform the client's wife about his violent fantasies of killing her.

Why it made the list: This episode is the reason this list is being written. It is the best episode of Boston Legal up to this point, and it's one of the best episodes of the entire series in my opinion.

First of all - the mall Santa character is played by Jim O'Heir, who would go on to play Jerry in Parks and Recreation. That's a novelty of the episode, but he also puts in an incredibly powerful performance as a person who deviates from heteronormativity in an era where it was still very taboo to be such a person - or even to depict one in a serious, sympathetic manner on primetime television.

Which leads into my second point: this episode is incredibly sympathetic to Jim's character. Not only is he a crossdresser, which is depicted as him being a sexual deviant by his employer (and thus grounds for dismissal) - but he's a mall Santa. There's an added layer of scaremongering in that he works with children. And yet he's depicted as nothing but competent, caring and sympathetic, as opposed to furthering the stereotype of the gay pedophile that has dogged the queer community for decades.

Alan Shore has nothing but respect and empathy for this man, and he does everything in his power to get his job back by proving his competence at the job and his natural affinity for the role against the charges of degeneracy and wrongness levelled at him by his employer.

Another reason why this episode is so good is that it pays off a joke from the first episode. Without spoiling anything, Alan's first case involves a courtroom antic devised by Denny Crane. This episode sees Alan utilize the same courtroom antic on Denny's advice - essentially christening himself as a disciple of Denny's larger than life style of practicing law. It begins a theme of legacy that goes on until the end of the show.

A fourth reason I love this episode? The plot with Lori is fantastic. Alan and Denny are the main guys in this show, and other characters tend to fall by the wayside. But other characters have moments of brilliance as well, and this episode is Lori's time to shine.

To sum up - the A-plot was ahead of its time in the kindness and respect it shows to a character who would be a queerphobic butt of a joke in another show, and the B-plot is a thrilling argument between professional ethics and moral duty. All in all, this is a dynamite episode with very few weak parts. It's an excellent episode of television, and arguably a Top 5 episode of Boston Legal.

Caveats: Despite all the praise I just heaped upon this episode, it didn't entirely escape the trappings of its time. And it manifests in a form that the show will continue to be tested by - Denny Crane.

Denny is a gun-toting Republican, and he's unabashedly homophobic. This is demonstrated by the fact that he drops the case due to his bigotry and openly admits how uncomfortable he is about it. It's that dismissal that drives Alan to pick up the case in his stead, and as I mentioned, the show goes on to knock this storyline out of the park.

Alan is depicted as a more lefty type of character, more on the precipice of the new PC atmosphere that was coming in at the time. He's not a leftist persé, more of a left-leaning moderate the longer the show goes on - especially exemplified in the way he treats women - but Denny is a Bush-loving, Cheney-idolizing Republican fatcat. That's the POV he represents, wholly and entirely.

A big part of the show is how he and Alan get along despite their differences, but it does involve Denny expressing bigoted points of view at times. But please understand that his viewpoints are depicted as regressive and oafish by other members of the cast, tying into this conflict between the great Denny Crane of old and the liability that he is today.

And it should be emphasised in the face of that point that the show still shows Jim O'Heir's character with more dignity and respect than the contemporary atmosphere of the time it was made in. Even with Denny's objection to it, this episode is greatly resonant to this day, and I genuinely do believe that it was ahead of its time.

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Episode 9: A Greater Good

Description: The firm takes the case of a woman who's taken out of a clinical trial for a drug that could cure her terminal disease.

Tara, a love interest of Alan, is able to glean privileged information for a case by flirting with opposing counsel in a bar. However, Lori points out that they can't use that information without risking disbarment.

Why it made the list: It's a great early episode of the show, particularly for the B-plot with Lori and Tara. But the A-plot is a good mystery plot - why was the client taken off the drug? Was it out of prejudice or bias? She has a terminal illness - should she not be allowed to take the drug at great risk to herself? So you're wondering about the true nature of the study and the drug. The eventual outcome of this plot is pretty good.

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Episode 10: Hired Guns

Description: Alan Shore takes the case of a woman whose estranged partner keeps kidnapping their children for the holidays despite their custody agreement. After winning the case, he's confronted by the man at work, who takes him hostage in the middle of Crane, Poole and Schmidt and threatens to shoot up the place after killing him.

Why it made the list: This episode has one of Denny Crane's best moments. A lot of his character up to this point is unchecked braggadocio, which is entertaining to watch despite his outdated viewpoints. But this episode is where the zany nature of both the setting and the character really takes hold as Denny takes matters into his own hands. Must-watch episode, hands down.

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Episode 11: Schmidt Happens

Description: Crane, Poole and Schmidt has three named partners. The first one is Denny Crane, one of the stars of the show. The second one is Edwin Poole, whose mental breakdown kickstarts the first episode of the series. So who's Schmidt?

Answer: Candice Bergen.

This episode introduces Shirley Schmidt, Denny Crane's one that got away. She begins her run by firing a prominent cast member, cementing herself as a force to be reckoned with.

Why it made the list: Shirley Schmidt is a central character of the show from this point on, so this episode is essential viewing. Candice Bergen is a great addition to the cast, and her introduction bumps the rest of this season up a notch.

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Episode 12: From Whence We Came

Description: The firm defends a school superintendent who fired two science teachers who refused to teach creationism. Alan has concerns about his new secretary.

Why it made the list: This episode is important because under Shirley, the firm isn't just taking wacky feel-good cases any more. They're a law firm, and they need to make money. So they take cases like this, where they have to be the ones who are essentially defending the teaching of creationism in schools.

But the show doesn't necessarily depict Creationism as a positive. The narrative around the case is about the rise of the religious right, and the ethics of teaching something that goes against scientific evidence in a science class.

In all, it muddies the ethics of the characters that we've come to expect, but that doesn't mean that they're in favour of what they're meant to be defending in court.

This episode is also notable for introducing a recurring character named Catherine Piper - played by Betty White! That alone is worth tuning in for.

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Episode 14: 'Til We Meat Again

Description: Alan Shore starts a bar fight while out on a date with Tara - he's pushed around by a big guy who he could never hope to beat, so he starts paying people $100 each to whale on him. The man subsequently sues Alan for aggravated assault.

The firm takes the case of a steakhouse operator whose steakhouse has been shuttered. Concerns over Mad Cow Disease has led to a growing concern over red meat as a whole, which led to the business's closure. As he and Shirley learn more about Mad Cow Disease, Denny becomes convinced he has it - rationalising his love for red meat as a potential cause of his mental health concerns.

Why it made the list: Mad Cow Disease becomes an important touchstone for the Denny Crane character. Whenever he does something eccentric? Mad Cow. Whenever he acts inappropriately or forgets something important? Mad Cow. So this episode is essential viewing for that.

But what's significant about Mad Cow Disease is that its symptoms mirror the effects of Alzheimer's when it manifests in people. A few episodes ago, Denny took an Alzheimer's test - a driving force behind his character is the concern over whether he's slipping, and what his ultimate legacy will be. This episode is essential viewing.

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Episode 15: Tortured Souls

Description: Shirley asks Alan to try a case with her where they need to defend a police officer charged with torturing a detained suspect for information.

Catherine befriends recurring character Bernard, who's appeared in several previous episodes.

Caveats: I'll admit that it's been a hot second since I've seen this episode, and I remember feeling very on the fence about it. They're defending a police officer who tortured a detained suspect - what the fuck is that doing in a silly, irreverent show like Boston Legal?

It's an especially hard sell in today's climate, where intense, systematic police misconduct is widely discussed and the reputation of the police force has taken a beating. Even if the core message is that the police are fucked up, does anyone want to see a show where a police officer who tortured a detained suspect gets defended by the main cast? I don't blame you if this premise turns you off the show.

I'm recommending this episode because it's another episode showcasing this early trend of Shirley taking on morally murky cases for the sake of the firm. It's ruthless - she's taking any means necessary to get the job done, which is to secure clients for Crane, Poole and Schmidt, which the firm needs to keep its doors open. It's an important facet of her character.

It's also interesting to see what this does to other characters who try these cases with her, despite having a strong distaste for the position they're arguing for. Alan tends to be more of a puckish rogue at this point, taking on a lot of cases that appeal to his values and to a clear sense of justice. And as later episodes show, overextensions of the law are one of the causes he chooses to fight against.

So why would Shirley pick him - the quippy character everybody's rooting for - to defend a police officer who tortured a detained suspect for information?

That's the intrigue of the episode.

Why it made the list: I went over some reasons just now, but I also want to mention Catherine Piper's relationship with Bernard. Betty White's story arc at the tail end of season one is a highlight of the season, and it's worth watching.

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Episode 16: Let Sales Ring

Description: Milton Bombay is a legend in his field. A man with public recognition, an immaculate legacy and immeasurable respect. A man who's considered an equal and a close friend of both the bragadocious and self-absorbed Denny Crane, and the ruthlessly successful Shirley Schmidt.

Milton Bombay wants to be cryogenically frozen so that he may be revived in the future, free to continue his legacy in an era that can accommodate his advancing age. And as cryogenic preservation isn't legal in Boston, he enlists the aid of Crane, Poole and Schmidt to make his dream a reality.

Alan and Chelina, an attorney who joined the firm a while back, are tasked with representing a conservative teen who thinks that his school's refusal to air Fox News is unconstitutional.

Why it made the list: The Milton Bombay plotline is fan-fucking-tastic. The A-plot concerns incredibly weighty topics that affect both Shirley and Denny, which I won't reveal out of fear of spoiling the episode's plot. Ageing plays a part in it, as does legacy. It's a very good plotline, and both William Shatner and Candice Bergen knock it out of the park.

Caveats: I remember this episode bugging me with the Fox News plot. I have nothing to say specifically because I can't recall it too well, but I would advise viewers to keep a wide berth in regards to the B-plot. The show is occasionally a bit iffy - as we'll eventually see in season two with a character I heavily dislike - and I think this is one of those occasions.

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Episode 17: Death Be Not Proud

Description: Alan accompanies Chelina on a case in Texas involving the death penalty. Chelina's client insists on his innocence, but he's days away from execution and they don't have a lot of hope in saving his life. Alan is a certified wildcard at this point - if anyone can pull this off, it's him. But how will he fare in a Texan court?

Why it made the list: This is another serious, gritty episode of the show. The stakes are incredibly high - a man's life is at stake, and Alan Shore is the last line of defence. This episode has it all - drama, action, perhaps even romance???

It's also the season finale of the show, and season finales tend to be pretty okay. And much like other episodes in this guide, it sets precedent and it builds towards future episodes.

Caveats: This episode can be a tough watch. It's not just the death penalty; racial discrimination also comes up as a factor in the client's arrest and placement on death row. It's a heavy episode, and I advise caution to people who feel like the subject matter may be too much for them.

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Overall, season one of Boston Legal is incredibly solid. There's so much charisma and mirth, and a lot of stuff I grew to dislike about the show hadn't manifested in a big way yet.

I didn't mention him at all, but a big shoutout to Rene Auberjonois as Paul. He serves as a straight man to Alan and Denny's lunacy. He's often in league with Shirley, and overall he's a very memorable part of the cast.

The thing about Boston Legal's cast is that people tend to drop in and out over the course of the show. By season two, almost half the cast is shifted around. Lake Bell has already left the show at this point, and the waning screentime of the supporting cast signals their imminent demise. But on the bright side, it makes room for a bunch of new characters - Julie Bowen has a prominent role in the show, years before she got huge on Modern Family. It's all a matter of preference.

#boston legal #james spader #william shatner

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rukakikuchi · 4 years

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Dreamcatcher “Scream” MV analysis and Dystopia storyline theory

Or…

How Gahyeon (unintentionally) messed everything up!

Okay, all joking aside, I do think that Gahyeon does play a focal role in the story for this latest comeback. And these are all just my theories based on how I interpret the story shown in the MV, so keep an open mind when reading!

So without further ado, let’s get right into discussion of Dreamcatcher’s latest comeback!

…

With “Dystopia: The Tree of Language” opening up an entirely new storyline outside of the “Nightmare” series we had been following up until now, we must disregard what we have received from previous Dreamcatcher lore and examine the new possibilities for what could come next.

In the previous storylines we’ve gotten for Dreamcatcher, Yoohyeon was a focal role in the story of the “Nightmare” series.

She was the one who killed the spider in “Fly High” that led to everyone becoming cursed and was the catalyst for her eventual fall to darkness.

From “You and I”, to “Deja Vu”, Yoohyeon was a major focus of the story.

But now, it appears that Gahyeon is the one serving as the catalyst for what we see happen in “Scream” and might become the main focus of this new “Dystopia” storyline.

But before we talk about Gahyeon and her role in the story, let’s see what we can gather of this new world we see in the music video.

Welcome to Dystopia

The world we see being depicted in “Scream” is a setting unlike anything we’ve seen thus far in Dreamcatcher’s music videos.

While some videos had a few fantasy elements, notably “Deja Vu”, they primarily focused on horror/thriller themes and imagery (ghosts, curses, witchcraft, etc.)

But “Scream” has much heavier emphasis on the fantasy elements; specifically, dark fantasy, since it still contains the darker, horror concept that has been consistent with the group.

In the “Nightmare” series, although the girls are seen performing rituals and apparently dabbling in witchcraft, they were never actually called witches.

They were “Nightmares”, girls who were cursed by a strange dark force, some of them corrupted or possessed by this entity, to be trapped in a never-ending dream.

But in “Scream”, there is no doubt they are now a real circle of witches. We see the girls not only wearing matching robes that you’d see a coven of witches wear (and we’ve seen them wear before in “Good Night” and “Fly High”), but Siyeon and Yoohyeon actually release magic from within them.

JiU in particular seems to have a strong connection to the titular “tree of language” that appears throughout the video, several scenes of her shown in a temple that might represent the inside of the tree itself.

Considering JiU is the leader of Dreamcatcher in real life, perhaps she is the guardian of the tree, and gathered allies to help her protect it, thus forming Dreamcatcher.

In fact, if we look at the album story spoiler teaser...

We see two girls on opposite sides of the tree. A girl with white hair, who we shall discuss the identity of in a bit, and a girl with dark hair, who I believe is JiU.

In any case, the tree is clearly an important part of their world, and may likely be the source of the girls’ powers. But more than that, the tree is also connected to the power of words and language.

JiU actually said during their rooftop VLIVE: “When people say good things, the tree bears white fruit, but when they say bad things, it bears black fruit.”

Perhaps this tree actually holds ancient archives of every event in history, or that it holds a great influence over everyone and its presence is what keeps peace and balance in the world.

And JiU, as the guardian spirit of the tree, helps it bear fruit of good, virtue, and light, and protect the balance with the fruit born of evil, negativity, pain, and darkness.

The very first thing we are given at the start of the music video is this…

“One day suddenly the light did not come, People forgot how to say good things.”

This means something catastrophic happened that influenced the power of the tree of language, disrupted the balance, and thus changed everything in their world. People began to spread words of hatred to those around them, because something had corrupted the tree.

The world which was once a “utopia” became a “dystopia”, and chaos and war erupted everywhere.

And I think it was Gahyeon who did this, but why and how?

Pandora’s box opened

When they released the album story spoiler teaser, we were given a glimpse of the story that “Dystopia” is telling us.

We see a little girl, reading from a book as words seem to flow out from it. Perhaps this book is connected to the tree; it contains great power and influence due to the words written in it.

However, we then see a darkness within the book start to flow out and drain away the girl’s lifeforce. Eventually she dies, but from what we’re shown in the teaser, it appears she is either reincarnated as or possessed by something sinister.

(From this moment henceforth, we shall refer to this being as “the spirit of evil”.)

What if that book wasn’t meant to be opened? That whatever contents it held weren’t meant to be read because it could corrupt a person’s heart and unleash a great evil. (Think Pandora’s Box.)

More importantly, who is this girl supposed to be? Is she supposed to represent a younger version of Handong, who wasn’t present during the video?

Frankly, no, I don’t think that’s the case. Because we do see Handong’s presence within the video. There is one dancer who is wearing a full face mask, dancing with the girls, and clearly is meant to be for Handong when she eventually returns.

So at the very least, we can assume she is also with the others as a member of Dreamcatcher, perhaps using the mask to hide her true identity.

And although we don’t see her, it’s very likely she will be incorporated into the story once she returns, so we’ll only know what Handong’s role in all of this is once that happens.

So for now, let’s just assume this little girl is someone else entirely. We see the girl is with Dreamcatcher, but they all appear sad when she dies.

They clearly cared about her deeply, but I just can’t figure out the relationship quite yet. Was she someone they were teaching magic to, or was it more of a familial bond, like a little sister?

We get these shots of JiU and Yoohyeon in the snow (which is often used to symbolize death), as well as shots later on of SuA in a black dress and umbrella. This shows all the members are in mourning over the little girl’s death.

However, I think Gahyeon takes the girl’s death the hardest. She doesn’t want to accept the fact that she’s gone; she wants to bring her back.

This leaves her vulnerable to the spirit of evil’s influence, as it lures her into the tree of language.

JiU can sense that something sinister has awakened, and hurries to try and stop Gahyeon, but as we see later, she didn’t make it in time.

When Gahyeon reaches the center of the tree, she finds a glowing crystal with strange symbols and a purple mist surrounding it. I think this represents the heart of the tree and source of its power.

Perhaps, under the influence of the spirit of evil, Gahyeon believed she could use the power of the crystal to change the events of the past and bring the girl back from the dead. But that’s an impossible wish, one that could never be granted.

And the moment Gahyeon touches it, it shatters and that’s when everything starts to go awry.

The inside of the temple represents the inside of the tree turns red, meaning it’s now starting to become corrupted by the spirit’s influence.

The purple flames that surrounded JiU (which represent the tree’s power) are red as well.

Strange red markings start covering the walls.

And a red burst of magic energy is unleashed from the tree. (Even the leaves turn blood red).

This is even reflected in the dance shots, as we see the girls dancing in a room lit up in red light, and choreography itself, as in the second chorus, Gahyeon stands at the center while everyone circles her and points at her.

So what happens now that the spirit of evil has corrupted the tree?

Seeds of evil

Although she might have had the best intent in mind, Gahyeon’s attempt at trying to revive a lost friend caused more bad than good. Because of this, her friends end up falling victim to the spirit of evil’s influence as well after it corrupts the tree.

During the first chorus, we are given a sequence of images:

Siyeon’s eye opening...

A vortex of dark purple clouds...

Siyeon walking through a forest covered in thick purple fog...

A black-and-white starry vortex...

SuA in a black dress, mask, and umbrella...

Another vortex of clouds, this time red...

The shot of the red hallway (look above).

Back shot of SuA’s umbrella...

And finally, a back shot of Gahyeon, though at a tilted angle. She’s in the same hallway, but this time it’s all white, meaning it was before the tree got corrupted.

Speaking of SuA, we also get a shot of her running through that same hallway, while being chased by a dark shadow. I believe this to be a result of the tree becoming corrupted by evil, and is now spreading to corrupt the girls.

SuA tried resisting it, but it clearly overpowered her.

Yoohyeon could sense there was danger, too, and tried to find her friends.

Now, as the darkness of the corrupted influence begins to erode the tree and spread to the girls, their memories become affected as well.

We are given shots of Gahyeon and Dami in black and white. I believe these are false memories of the two being implanted in the girls’ heads; a fake Gahyeon who spreads hurtful words, and a fake Dami who spreads lies.

This leads to Dreamcatcher breaking up.

JiU is trapped in the tree of language, Dami feels betrayed by her friends suddenly turning against her, while SuA goes to fight in the war.

Gahyeon feels immense guilt for what happened. Meanwhile, Handong goes missing (evident by her mask being left on the ground).

However, not all hope is lost.

Siyeon and Yoohyeon both feel deep down that their memories must be wrong, so they each go searching for answers on their own.

Siyeon searching through the thick fog is symbolic of her searching through her own memories, trying to find out what really happened, while Yoohyeon just wants to reunite with her friends.

So… What’s next for “Dystopia”?

The next chapter

This section will mostly just be predictions for how the next comeback will expand upon this new storyline.

Like mentioned previously, I believe that Gahyeon will play a big part in the story, as we saw her act as the catalyst for everything that went down in the video.

And as for Handong, there’s a chance that her inclusion following her return could add an interesting twist to the story, depending on what they decide to do with her role.

I also believe this new “Dystopia” storyline will continue to focus heavily on the dark fantasy aspects, and hopefully the next comeback can expand on this new world.

All we can say for now is... This is just the beginning.

I hope you guys enjoyed this analysis!

Until next time, sweet dreams! 🌙😴

#Dreamcatcher #KPop #Music #Theory #Analysis

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ask-the-fnaf-nightguards · 5 years

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One couple splits and becomes two:

(A little fanfic i decided to write. Hope you like it.)

Mike walked into the room. He was hanging out with Jeremy who lived in his house, since he yet did not have the money to live in his own, or so Jeremy claimed. He was afraid that he’d have to leave Mike if he got the money. Though for now he lives together alongside Mike and his girlfriend Doll.

“Oh, hey Mike. How’s it going? Where’s Doll?” Jeremy asked him. “Well Jeremy. Don’t freak out, but we actually broke up.” Mike replied. “Huh? But why?” Jeremy asked a bit jumpy anyway. “Don’t worry. The two of us are still friends. Me and Doll just figured out that we were more friends then lovers.” Explained Mike. “She even jokingly said she’d take the job as my babysitter.” He added with a half-annoyed smile. “Well you do need one!” Cheeped Jeremy, who ended up getting a nogie by Mike. Jeremy did his best to try and squirm out of Mike’s hold, but he was to strong. “Okay, okay! I give, i give!” Jeremy said with a chuckle, and Mike finally let go of him.

Jeremy tried to fix his now messed up fluffy hair. Mike stood up and went out to make something to eat.

A bit later, after they’ve eaten they both sat down on the couch yet again. “Do you plan on trying to chase love again, or are you happy enough with having just normal friend-love?” Asked Jeremy Mike. “Well, i have had my eyes on one person. I was originally going to ask Doll if she was up for a poly-relationship. Though now i’m kinda single so i guess i could ask him.” Replied Mike with a smile. “Him?” Asked Jeremy curious. Besides Doll could he not recall Mike looking at or for any other person like that. “Yeah. He’s such a sweet guy. A bit on the shy side and a bit of a nerd, but that’s not necessarily bad, kinda cute actually.” Mike continued. “You’re sort of a nerd to with your pokemon collection.” Teased Jeremy. “Don’t make me ban your mangos again, like when i discovered your betrayal.” Mike teasingly-threatened. “Oh come on! I am allowed to enjoy Digimon, i gave you at least 21 pages on why Digimon is NOT a ripoff of Pokemon and that such an argument is utterly stupid!” Retorted Jeremy. Mike just laughed at it, Jeremy was so cute when he got angry. “Anyway, who is this dude?” Jeremy asked still with his adorable pouty face. “You.” Mike replied simply with a cookie smile. Jeremy began to blush beat red. “W-what!?” He stammered out confused, sure he had a bit of a crush on Mike too, but he never thought that Mike had it the same way. Jeremy did find Doll beautiful too, but he saw her more as a friend than a crush really. “You heard me. And while i may not be the sharpest knife, i have seen you giving me certain looks and how you sometimes behaved around me.” Mike said with a smile, trying to act cool. “B-by that you mean Doll pointed it out for you.” Jeremy answered back, trying to regain his footing. Mike did blush a bit at this, since it was actually true. “Heh, got me there dude.” Mike said and ruffled a bit with Jeremy’s hair. “So what do you say?” He added on. “Hey, cut it out!” Jeremy chuckled while pushing Mike a bit. “A-as for what i say? W-well sure, if you don’t mind. I-i’ll try my best.” Jeremy answered. “You don’t need to “try your best” when you already are the best.” Mike said giving Jeremy a little kiss on his forehead. Making Jeremy squeak and jump a bit.

Mike leaned on to Jeremy, now both laying down, while Mike hugged him as if he was a teddy bear. Jeremy just let it happened, he was to flustered and happy to say or do anything about it.

“Do you think Doll will be able to find someone?” Jeremy finally asked breaking the silence. “That girl got talent and is very smart and has charm. I’m sure she’ll find someone special for her and i wish her luck.” Said Mike, smiling at the thought of both him and Doll being happy with a special someone. Maybe if Doll found one, they could go on a double date? They were still close friends so the idea sounded fun.

Meanwhile, at the library that Doll works at, she was just sitting by one of the book iles with fantasy books. She was on break and decided to read a bit. She was in the middle of a series called “Deltora’s Quest”, an australian book series.

Doll heard someone approach her and she looked up. In front of her was a tall woman with bushy-fluffy hair that went down her shoulders and a bit down her back. Her eyes were gray, and she wore an armless red dress with spots of a lighter shade that went just below the knees. Her arms showed signs of muscles, though she wasn’t wrestler buff, still clearly strong though. “Excuse me, can you help me? I’m looking for something to read, but i don’t know what i should pick.” Asked the lady her.

Doll took a few seconds before she woke up again as she was gazing at the other woman. “O-oh sure. What genre or type do you like?” Doll asked a bit nervous as she realized she had just been staring at her for a couple of seconds.

“Well, i like it when there’s a bit of a series plot, but still have enough room for interactions and funny moments when it doesn’t feel out of place.” The lady replied.

“Well, i have a few suggestions for that. If you follow me, i could show you a little list.” Doll suggested and stood up.

“Sure thing.” The lady replied and followed her.

“If i may ask. What’s your name?” Doll asked.

“The name is Mahogany.” She replied with a little smile that almost made Doll melt.

-Time Skip-

Some time has passed and Mike and Jeremy had taken a date to a dance party. Here they met Doll who so far was by herself. They had a little chat and a good laugh. Mike invited Jeremy out for a dance and the other man accepted and went along.

Doll sat back and watched them. She then noticed that Mahogany was there too, looking quite happy and ready for the party. She and Doll had talked every now and than, and Doll quickly discovered that Mahogany was pretty good at punching, rapping and smack talk. Not that she minded, keeps things from getting boring, and she did feel secure around her. Mahogany was currently wearing a neat suit and tie instead of a dress. It honestly fitted her pretty well. Mahogany saw Doll and a smirk crawled on her face as she walked up to her. “May i ask the lady on a dance~?” She asked, putting on her charm as well. Doll simply nodded and accepted her hand, the two than went out on the dance floor and began to rock it out.

Jeremy pointed at Doll’s direction. “Hey Mike, look! Doll is dancing with someone.”He said and Mike looked over. “That’s the boss’ daughter! Wonder how that’s going to work out.” He said, as he knew that Mahogany was one tough lady. She did throw around with Vincent a couple of times when the idiot didn’t know when to quit his funny business. He was happy that Doll found a new friend, and maybe a lover as well.

-Time Skip-

It’s been a few weeks since the party, and Doll and Mahogany had gotten to know each other better. Mahogany had invited Doll over to show her, her home. It was medium large, so not a super rich house, but still a bit rich. Doll got permission to look around, and so she did.

Doll by either accidental luck or natural instinct found Mahogany’s room. She took a quick look in one of the large wardrobes and found different outfits. There was the suit she wore to the party. There was also a security guard outfit, though Mike never mentioned her working as one. A cowboy outfit with hat and boots included. Something that looked like a casino outfit with a bit hat. Something that reminded of either a librarian, office worker or secretary outfit, including glasses and a hair tie. There was even a outfit that looked like Garnet from Steven Universe, glasses included. The thing that made Doll blush and quickly shot the wardrobe shot was when she saw the bunny suit. It was to late though, the image of Mahogany wearing the bunny suit had already drilled itself into her head and she couldn’t get it out.

Mahogany soon entered and she saw Doll standing in front of her wardrobe, and she had an idea of what happened. A little plan brewing in her mind. “There’s some coffee in the living room. You can go and take some of you want.” She said simply, like she didn’t know what had happened.

“Okay, thanks Maho.” She replied and left the room. She couldn’t help but feel Mahogany’s eyes follow her. She knew that she knew. Doll was in the living room and had poured herself some coffee, when she heard Mahogany come walking and she almost dropped her cup on to the floor. Her face started burning furiously as she saw the other woman. For she was now wearing the bunny suit, and she looked better in it then her mind had depicted.

“So, do you want a show, or should i perhaps serve you instead~?” Asked Mahogany teasingly with a flirty tone as she walked closer to Doll, who simply said “yes”, not giving an answer to which one she meant. This was going to be an interesting night.

AAAA THIS IS SO CUTE??? PART 2 PLEASE?

#This made my heart worm #I like how you had a part with doll and mahogany <3 #fanfic #fnaf #submission

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paulisweeabootrash · 5 years

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First Impression: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime

I started writing up this review with the intent of shelving it for this year's end-of-year cleanup (yup, I intend to make that a yearly thing), but the more I watched, the more I felt it deserved a longer writeup. Especially given how popular and well-received it was, because frankly I don't think it lives up to the hype. So shapeshift into a more comfortable form as we talk about...

...That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (2018)

Episodes watched: 14.

Platform: Crunchyroll.

The victim of a freak stabbing, a nice but forever-single 37-year-old has his dying thoughts — from wishing he weren’t feeling pain to wishing he could have a shot with many women in his next life — granted as wishes by a mysterious voice. The voice turns out to be "Great Sage", a sort of... user interface(?) of a fantasy world that functions according to very RPG-like rules. Generic monsters vs. named human and humanoid heroes, powers that can be acquired and leveled up, that sort of thing. Those "granted wishes" come in the form of a new body, that of a slime, impervious to many things and able to absorb the abilities of other monsters by engulfing them, which he can apparently use either to literally eat them or to keep them alive “stored” inside him (which sounds... horrifying) — "analyzing" them using the Great Sage and gaining the use of their abilities in either case. Granted the name Rimuru by Veldora, a godlike dragon he befriends (and then eats in order to carry him around), our slimy protagonist goes out into the world to explore and fix other people's problems. Monsters, as we soon see in much more detail, typically have no names and minimal organization or skill, and once named, "evolve" into more powerful variants with not only superior strength but also the capacity to use superior magic and technology. It's an interesting mechanic/premise that really feels like it would be at home in an ancient etiological myth.

It starts off feeling very much like watching a pretty good adaptation of an RPG or maybe point-and-click adventure, as the plot progresses mainly via Rimuru using items and abilities he has incidentally acquired for unrelated reasons to stumble into and complete quests for other characters. It bounces wildly in tone from fantasy combat to ecchi to adorable wholesome content, and I assume at some point there will be some kind of confrontation with or followup on the human hero who imprisoned Veldora in the first place? But for the first five episodes, it's mostly "ooh what's this?" followed by a sort of self-imposed quest to create a goblin nation-state from the ground up by naming everyone, taming the dire wolves who are threatening the goblins, and importing technology from the aforementioned named humanoids. Then it takes an abrupt turn for the serious, laying on us three episodes of backstory about Shizu, a character who I can't really talk about at all without spoilers, but that short arc was engaging and resulted in Rimuru finally being able to take on a humanoid form, which turns out to be a great disguise in future episodes.

Meanwhile, the vague world conquest plans of majin (a term used here to refer to powerful humanoid magic-users) and demon lords having been taking shape in the background, as a vast orc army is steamrolling through every weaker group of monsters it can find. The next few episodes focus on a group of oni, ahem, ogres (but they’re totally traditional Japanese depictions of oni) who join Rimuru's village after their own is destroyed by the orcs and an underground civilization of lizardpeople who attempt, in a hilariously clumsily and overconfident way, to join forces with Rimuru's followers against the orcs. The oni are pretty great, especially Rimuru's secretary/bodyguard Shion and scout/diplomat/spy/whatever Souei, as is the unassuming goblin Gobta, who has frequently been the comic relief up to this point but becomes important to the looming conflict.

The lizardpeople/Rimuru-followers alliance is eventually formed and the show tries to make their war against the orcs epic and dramatic, but... here it largely fails. This arc is full of tedious repetitive exposition about the same characters and tedious repetitive exposition about the same characters and tedious repetitive exposition about the same characters and tedious repetitive exposition about the same characters, as if they expect the audience goes into every episode having forgotten the events of the previous episode and even several recurring characters' names. Add to this some sudden new abilities getting pulled out of Rimuru's and others' asses, increasingly frequent jarring tone shifts from scene to scene, combat scenes where everyone is stationary and stupid, and cap it all off with a "boss fight" that only gets started after some villainous exposition monologuing worthy of Dragon Ball Z and an exposition dump flashback about the orcs that raises more questions than it answers, and at this point I'm only still watching to find out where the hell it goes from here. This feels like a bad adaptation of a game now... but maybe a bad adaptation of a good game. Maybe it would work better, honestly, in RPG format. It's not like this doesn't have potential as a premise. But I don't get the hype, because I really don't think it lives up to it.

W/A/S: 4 / 5 / any random number 3–8, depending on episode / !

Weeb: Like I said about Death March, "not weeb so much as geek". But this is getting a higher weeb score than that because some basic elements (such as, uh, the main character himself) probably come off as really weird if you've never played any of the Dragon Quest (a.k.a. Dragon Warrior) games, which are responsible for the generic low-level slime monster we know today. Not to mention that this show's versions of orcs, ogres, and demons are more like depictions of those various races in other Japanese media than they are like the Germanic/Anglosphere/Tolkien-influenced fantasy canon.

Ass: Rimuru likes boobs. He likes to talk about them. He likes to cuddle up against them. He checks out everyone. He's... a sad old virgin. Expect gag boobs and gratuitous camera angles, but not all the way to anything sexually explicit.

Shit (writing): Again, it really does feel like we're watching Rimuru complete a series of quests or puzzles to advance through the predetermined areas of a game. Which is probably the point, but that doesn't work quite as well as a storytelling technique when the audience isn't actually figuring out how to complete those quests. The sudden tone shift for Shizu's three-episode story arc and the weird exposition dumps throughout feel like they're trying to cram a lot of source material into relatively few episodes and it's not going well — which is odd considering that they got a 24-episode season instead of the more typical 13. And considering that the source material has been going in some form or other for five years prior to the anime (it originated on Shōsetsuka ni Narō, the same self-publishing website responsible for a great deal of the last decade’s epidemic flourishing of isekai, including the above-mentioned Death March and Re:ZERO).

Shit (other): I like the character designs. And they did a great job in particular making Rimuru expressive despite not... uh... having a face. But the animation is sometimes embarrassingly bad, especially in action scenes — I swear, there was a fight at like 4fps at one point, the CG orc army is just painful to look at, and the "battles" between the orcs and lizardpeople are mostly just them staring at each other and then occasionally weakly thrusting a spear forward.

Content: Brief surprisingly violent shots, given the often-silly tone of the show.

-----

Stray observations:

- I said Rimuru pulled new abilities out of his ass, but... wait, do slimes have asses? Can he form a temporary ass, like a comb jelly?

- Rimuru is not only lusting after the various elf and oni women; he is also obviously attracted to Souei, one of the male oni, and this is not played as being surprising or gross or funny in-universe, so, uh... yay bi representation... I guess...

- PS: I continued watching (even though this is frustrating) past the episodes this review covers, and I just want to add that I hate the pegasus knights. Nobody had the sense to equip them with either ranged weapons or large melee weapons like lances. They just fly around with swords that wouldn't be able to reach their enemies unless they pull up right alongside them. This might make sense if they attempted a charge and attacked at point blank, which is the entire point of the distinctive cavalry saber, or maybe they could even dismount to fight on foot, and use the ability to fly for extreme maneuverability getting to a particular point on the battlefield? Nope. The closest they come to either of those tactics is to just fly leisurely towards Charybdis's open mouth without even unsheathing their swords in ep. 19. WTF? Look, I'm hardly a military expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I think these pegasus knights were dreamed up by someone who has only dimly heard of the concept of cavalry of any kind and hasn't spent more than a few seconds thinking about how you even can use horses in war, let alone bother to look up even a basic overview of how armies actually historically did.

#weeaboo trash #anime review #first impression review #that time i got reincarnated as a slime #disappointing bi representation

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Disney+ Christmas Movies for Kids: The Best Family Films to Watch this Holiday Season

https://ift.tt/2WazCa1

It’s the time of year when you can’t enter a store without hearing those familiar holiday jingles as your shopping soundtrack. With many families reducing their gatherings this year, it’s a good time to snuggle up, stay in, and share some Christmas movies with your kids. Here are some of the best that Disney+ has to offer.

Lego Star Wars Holiday Special

This season’s brand new holiday special features the cast of the Star Wars Sequel trilogy celebrating Life Day. Rey feels she’s failing Finn as his teacher in the ways of the Jedi, so she seeks out an ancient technique at an old temple—which sends her through Star Wars history, witnessing moments in the training of Anakin, Luke, and Obi-Wan. When Darth Vader follows her from the second Death Star, chaos ensues, and a chase through the various Star Wars properties—including The Mandalorian—brings her back into conflict with Kylo Ren, once again with Luke Skywalker at her side.

Meanwhile Poe, Finn, and Rose host a Life Day celebration with Chewbacca’s family on Kashyyyk. The nods to the original (and deservedly maligned) Star Wars Holiday Special are sure to delight viewers who suffered through those very long two hours. While a rendition of “Jingle Bells” in Huttese will entertain, it’s Finn finally getting his Jedi training that makes this special really standout. Now, if only we could see that in live-action…

Once Upon a Snowman

Also new to Disney+ this season is a new short featuring everyone’s favorite snowman, Olaf. This new tale is set during the events of Frozen (also streaming on Disney+, along with its sequel and its previous holiday short “Olaf’s Frozen Adventure”). After Elsa creates Olaf and continues up the mountain, Olaf is left wondering who he is and what he’s supposed to do with himself. He’s also after a nose, but when he arrives at Oaken’s (where viewers get a quick glimpse of Anna, Kristoff, and Sven), there are no carrots left.

Various nose possibilities reveal how Olaf came to love summer, and why the wolves ended up running after Kristoff’s sleigh. If you’re planning a full family movie marathon, these four related films and shorts will make for a fun event! Top it off with the Arendelle Castle Yule Log as a background for your family celebration.

Noelle

When Kris Kringle is ready to retire, his son Nick plans to take over—but when he can’t handle the pressure, it’s up to his sister, Noelle (played by Anna Kendrick) to save the day. Originally slated for a movie theater release, Noelle instead became one of the first original films to be released straight to Disney+ when the streaming service debuted in 2019. While the film has gotten mixed reviews, Anna Kendrick as a female Santa is enough fun to make a great family movie night.

On Pointe

Missing your chance to see The Nutcracker live this year? Disney+ is taking viewers behind the scenes with this brand new, unscripted series. Over six episodes, the show follows ballet dancers auditioning and preparing for the performance of The Nutcracker in New York City. Episodes start streaming on Dec. 18.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

If the behind-the-scenes of the ballet doesn’t fill your Nutcracker craving, you can also stream The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, starting Dec. 4. This twist on the original ballet features a young Clara traveling to a land her mother created where toys are brought to life. The Sugar Plum Fairy convinces Clara to go retrieve a key from Mother Ginger, who is at war with the other kingdoms, so that the other realms can be safe. With plenty of nods to the original ballet, the fantasy features music from and inspired by Tchaikovsky’s famous score.

Babes in Toyland

For another film full of toy soldiers, the classic Babes in Toyland is an option that parents may remember with either full nostalgia or terror—in no small part because it’s one of the creepiest family Christmas movies this side of The Nightmare Before Christmas (also streaming on Disney+).

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The strange plot features a pair of lovers who are separated by a villainous wretch who wants the woman for his own bride. When the lovers end up in Toyland, they end up offering to help the Toymaker, whose toys have been destroyed. The Toymaker has also made a shrink-ray, but when the villain gets control of it, it’s the hero who gets cut down to size. It’s a strange film that may or may not hold up well to the test of time (some stereotyped references to the Romani people definitely do not hold up). But it’s an old classic that may be enjoyed by a new generation.

Miracle on 34th Street

Fewer films are as classic as Miracle on 34th Street, which, as another Den of Geek writer pointed out, is as much a Thanksgiving classic as it is a Christmas film. In the movie, the real Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn in an Oscar winning role) is hired as Macy’s Santa and ends up spreading goodwill and cheer despite the commercial nature of his position.

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The woman who hires him, Doris (Maureen O’Hara), has raised her daughter, Susan (little Natalie Wood), not to believe in fairy tales, so when Kris tells Susan he is the real Santa, she worries that he’s mentally ill; but Doris’ neighbor, a lawyer named Fred (John Payne), has more faith, and ends up representing Kris in a case to prove he is the one and only Santa Claus. While there have been remakes of this film, the old 1947 classic, which is the version available to stream on Disney+, still stands out as a Christmas favorite.

Pluto’s Christmas Tree

Speaking of holiday classics, this 1952 short is another familiar feature, with Pluto vying for Christmas Tree superiority against Chip and Dale. Although it’s always fun to root for those two rascally chipmunks (who were such great characters they went on to star in their own Disney afternoon show, Chip and Dale’s Rescue Rangers, also available on Disney+), Pluto’s need to protect his Christmas with Mickey is really relatable. Of course it ends with the message that sharing makes the holiday more worthwhile, and everyone wins.

Santa’s Workshop

For an even deeper dive into Disney’s collection of animated shorts, this 1932 celebration of Santa and his elves features some wonderful bass voices and elves reminiscent of Snow White’s dwarfs. The assembly line work is clever, with dolls getting their curly hair because the elves scare them with spiders, and checkerboards painted with checkered paint. Because it was made in the 1930s, it does feature outdated depictions of gender and some ethnic stereotyping among the toys, but it’s interesting to see how far Disney’s animation has come since those early years!

Winter Sports Shorts

Though technically not holiday titles, Disney has made several animated shorts featuring winter sports over the years. “Mickey’s On Ice” is an ice skating story where Mickey shows his skills on blades, and Donald’s prank on Pluto goes awry (warning: there are depictions of tobacco products).

“Donald Duck Hockey Champ” pits Donald against Huey, Dewey, and Louie in a hockey game that quickly becomes an extreme sport. The boys are brattier here than their Duck Tales incarnations, and the cartoon violence rivals Looney Tunes, with plenty of wacky antics and draw laughs. The Art of Skiing is classic Goofy, featuring his typical attempts to follow the narrator’s advice (and fail completely).

Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas

In 1999, Disney collected some of their newer shorts into a holiday special just over an hour long. Huey, Dewey, and Louie wish every day was Christmas and have a Groundhog Day style learning experience in “Stuck on Christmas.” The second short, “A Very Goofy Christmas,” features the Goof Troop version of Goofy with his son, Max, celebrating their holiday together with all the expected mishaps. Max struggles with the idea that Santa might not be real—and nearly ruins Christmas for both of them.

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“The Gift of the Magi” is a retelling of the O. Henry story, in which both Mickey and Minnie give up something precious to give the other the perfect gift. Each of the shorts runs about twenty minutes—almost long enough to be a special on their own—and short bridges, presenting each one as a present beneath a Christmas tree, provides the segues between them.

Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas

This 2004 special moves from the traditional 2D style of animation for Mickey and his pals, depicting them closer to their styles in Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Like Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas, this collects several shorts as well. “Belles on Ice” pits Minnie and Daisy, who are best friends, competing for the spotlight in their figure skating performance. “Christmas Impossible” shows Huey, Dewey, and Louie first ruining Christmas for Donald, Daisy, and Scrooge, then ending up at the North Pole to save it.

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“Christmas Maximus” features a Christmas between Goofy and an adult Max, who brings home his girlfriend for the holiday. “Donald’s Gift” features a Donald bah-humbuging his way through the holiday, but eventually discovering that bringing people together is the way to find the Christmas spirit. Finally, “Mickey’s Dog-gone Christmas” is another Pluto and Mickey story, but when Pluto almost ruins Chirstmas, he has to go all the way to the North Pole to make things right—and seeing Pluto flying with reindeer is sure to please!

Prep and Landing

One of Disney’s newer animated Christmas specials is the Prep and Landing series, in which high-tech elves have to save Christmas for everyone. The original special features two elves—a grumpy veteran, Wayne, upset to be passed over for promotion, and an idealistic rookie, Lanny—whose mission goes awry. In the sequel, Prep and Landing: Naughty vs. Nice, Wayne and Lanny return to recover specialized North Pole technology that has fallen into the hands of a naughty kid hacker. The mix of spy adventure and traditional Christmas elves is clever, and these computer animated films make a nice counterpoint to the more traditional 2D specials.

Mickey’s Christmas Carol

While Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol has been told in many versions, and Ebeneezer Scrooge has been played by many actors, one of the most memorable of these is the version with Mickey Mouse as Bob Cratchitt, and Scrooge McDuck playing his namesake. The special, which runs 26 minutes, first debuted in 1983, so the nostalgia for children of the eighties runs very high. It’s also just a fun adaptation, particularly because there’s no character more perfect to play Scrooge than Scrooge!

The Muppet Christmas Carol

It just isn’t Christmas until Kermit, Gonzo, and the gang sing “Wherever You Find Love, It Feels Like Christmas.” In this version of Dickens’ classic, Gonzo plays Charles Dickens himself, narrating events, while Kermit and Piggy play the Cratchitts, and Robin, Kermit’s nephew, plays an excellent Tiny Tim. The human cast here, led by Michael Caine as Scrooge, is also excellent, and the mix of Muppety humor and optimism fits the classic story perfectly.

A Christmas Carol (2009)

For an all-human version of the Dickens classic, Jim Carrey’s A Christmas Carol rounds out the Disney+ retellings. Here, Carrey stars (in heavy CGI and motion capture) as Ebenezer Scrooge, with Colin Firth as his cheerful and Christmas-loving nephew, and Gary Oldman as his beleaguered clerk Bob Cratchitt. Other members of the cast include Cary Elwes, Bob Hoskins, and Robin Penn, making this one a star studded adaptation.

Home Alone

The Home Alone reboot may be a topic of heavy debate, but the original is up on the streaming service in all its nostalgic glory. The story is about a boy, Kevin, who is accidentally left at home by himself in the chaos of the annual huge family Christmas trip, and who ends up defending his home from burglars (through Looney Tunes level violence and Rube Goldberg-like traps).

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Kevin’s adventures continue the next year when he manages to get on the wrong plane for the family vacation in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. (A third installment, Home Alone 3, features a different child also outsmarting a gang of criminals, and doesn’t take place at Christmastime.)

The Santa Clause

Fans of the Toy Story franchise may recognize Buzz Lightyear in the voice of the man who becomes Santa in this series of films, starring Tim Allen. When Santa Claus falls from Scott Calvin’s roof, Scott has to put on the suit and take on the mantle of Santa, much to his son Charlie’s delight. Scott then has 11 months to put his affairs in order before he comes to the North Pole full-time—but it’s going to take Scott that long to accept that it isn’t all a dream. Allen returns as Santa in The Santa Clause 2 and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause for a possible Santa-centered movie marathon.

Other Holiday Celebrations

While Disney+ doesn’t feature any films for holidays other than Christmas, two Disney series feature episodes of other holidays celebrated at this time of year. In Even Stevens season 1, episode 15, the characters celebrate one “Heck of a Hanukkah.” The Proud Family celebrates the “Seven Days of Kwanzaa” in season 1, episode 11. Viewers can hope that this will expand to full on feature films in the future, but for now, these specials do offer a little diversity for the holiday season.

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sage-nebula · 7 years

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hey so i saw someone vaguely translate the argument between lillie and lusamine in today's ep and apparently it amounted to lillie being mad that lusamine evolved her clefairy without her consent and lusamine's answer amounting to "well technically it was my clefairy that i gave to you and also your reason for not evolving it was stupid" and? is it wrong for me to hope that pokeani will give us like (cont.)

more of this? like. lusamine being overly smotherly and lowkey selfish and overbearing and those aspects of her get more and more pronounced as an early warning sign that she’s not the ally the other characters think she is? like it’s pokeani there’s so many things that could go wrong here but the fact that this argument was bad enough that even sato and kukui notice that lillie is NOT here for her mom’s shit and that sumo-ani has been p. good with developing relationships make me hope.

Well, first of all, if that’s the same clefable that Lusamine has in the games, then it can go get fucked, tbh, because that clefable gave me the hardest time in the final battle. Not because it kept killing* my pokémon, but because it wouldn’t fucking die, none of my attacks did significant damage to it, and it kept healing itself and it was just The Worst™. So honestly, Lillie, you dodged a bullet there, because that clefable is a fucking bastard.

(*No, I do not nuzlocke. This is just an expression, not meant to be taken seriously.)

On a more serious note (because yes, the above is supposed to be a joke, please don’t take it too seriously, anyone), hmm … honestly, I don’t know!

It’s hard to judge because the PokéAni is inconsistent across the sagas in many ways. There are some constants that we can always count on: Ash will always leave all of his pokémon sans Pikachu behind when he goes to a new region, he will never win a game League, and he will always have at least one (1) of the new region starters as a mainstay on his team, so as to promote the new generation to kids. But aside from constants like that, the PokéAni tends to change its narrative style each season (and Ash along with it, but this post really isn’t about him). For instance, the first two seasons ever produced—and the first season itself in particular—are markedly different in tone from everything that followed, even when compared to the Johto seasons of the OS. The Johto seasons were more formulaic; they’re chock full of episodes that are very same-y and that you can skip right on over without losing anything of value. Meanwhile, the Kanto season was really treated as an adventure; it was less about showing Ash going through the game journey, and more about showing him on a journey, period, even when it included messier aspects like the kids being lost for two weeks on the way to Vermilion City, and being completely caked in dirt by the time they finally arrived, longing for baths and laundromats. Similarly, the Kalos saga is markedly different in tone from the Alola saga. The Kalos saga took itself more seriously, and so while there still were moments of comedy and some typical anime expressions here or there, by and large it was more … I don’t want to say realistic, because it still is a modern fantasy anime, but you had a lot less exaggeration in terms of animation style. By contrast, the Alola anime doesn’t seem to take itself nearly as seriously (at least right now), and the animation is a lot more exaggerated and over the top. Compare, for instance, animation sequences of the twerps falling asleep thanks to Jigglypuff’s song in the OS to the same situation in SM. Yeah, a lot of it is due to the fact that their animation budget is much higher now, and the technology they have to work with is much better et cetera, but a lot of it also has to do with a tonal and style shift.

So with all of that said, it’s really hard to predict what this saga will do, because we can’t exactly use previous sagas as a concrete frame of reference. We can try to make guesses … but it’s hard, because each saga is so distinct, they all have different things they were trying to accomplish. Just because one saga might have followed through doesn’t mean that this one will, and vice versa. And even though it’s been about a year so far, I feel that the Alola anime is still a bit too young to make a call, especially since …

Well. We all remember what happened in Kalos, don’t we?

Lysandre was a realistic depiction of an abuser. The emotional abuse he layered on Alan, and the way that he lied to, manipulated, and used him like a tool is blatantly obvious, despite the cordial way he behaved around everyone else. As a result, and speaking as someone with C-PTSD from abuse myself, the C-PTSD that Alan has is also very obvious, and is also a realistic portrayal. Lysandre was an abuser, Alan was his victim, and this is obvious to everyone except those who purposefully refuse to see it so they can have an excuse to keep trashing all over Alan the way they do.

And for the most part, PokéAni handled this well! Like, I was legitimately impressed with how well they handled it! Again, Alan’s C-PTSD was extremely well portrayed. His severe depression was extremely well portrayed. In XYZ044, we see that this has (more than understandably) hit such a critical mass that Ash essentially talked him down from suicide in their garden discussion, even if the actual word was never spoken. (Like, has Ash ever looked that anxious when asking someone to promise him to battle again in the future? I don’t think so. Let’s be real, like pretty much everything else in their relationship, it really was not about the battle.) And yet, despite all of that being done so well, despite it being portrayed so well … the PokéAni writers decided “fuck this lmao” and ruined it in all the episodes that followed by sweeping Alan’s issues completely under the rug, disrespecting his boundaries and wishes once again in a way that actually triggered me in XYZ045, and sending him off on a journey again in the last episode of the saga. They were doing so well, XYZ044 was actually a perfect conclusion for him, and then they … ruined it all at the last second, as they are wont to do.

So I mean, if we follow that as an example, then it’s perfectly possible that they could continue doing a great job with Lusamine, that they could really show how she is inarguably an abusive parent, how she doesn’t care about Lillie’s wishes or boundaries … and then ruin it all at the last second by “redeeming” her and having everyone decide that she’s not really abusive after all. Or maybe they won’t continue doing a great job, and her following appearances will be disappointing because they’ll pull an OS and forget that they were supposed to be keeping up with this subplot. (I mean, this isn’t really a subplot and so I doubt that will happen, but to be honest, any one of the subplots in the OS could have been a main plot, and they chose not to do that, so like …) It’s really hard to say. The PokéAni writers proved with Misty’s and Brock’s cameos that they can do anything at this point. Almost everything is fair game. (Almost. Ash is still never going to win a game League. People need to just give up on that dream.)

That said, I’d say that if you’re enjoying it now, then enjoy it now! Enjoy it while you can, for as long as you can (and hopefully forever). At this point, like I said, anything can happen. I don’t think it’s wrong to hope for just about anything at this point. (Again, just about. No League wins, no eleventh birthdays, et cetera.) So keep watching and keep enjoying; might as well make the most of it while it lasts. :)

(On that note, “technically it’s my clefairy that I gave to you” fjdksjdf fucking yikes. Bullshit like this is why I adamantly maintain that Lusamine is the most realistic depiction of an abusive parent the series has had to date. Ghetsis is cartoonish compared to Lusamine—a caricature. Aside from the fact that Lusamine’s “you betrayed me when all I ever did was give you love” line in the games pretty much mirrors the last conversation I ever had with my biological mother, my biological mother used to hold Shiloh like that over my head all the time. She hated the fact that Shiloh and I were so close, so she used to threaten to get rid of her, telling me that she was going to all the time so that I’d step in line and behave, justifying it by saying that she was the one who gave Shiloh to me, so she could do whatever she wanted insofar as keeping her at the house or not. Of course, she was also fond of the “I brought you into this world, so I can take you out of it” line, but tbh my own life has never mattered as much to me, so that never scared me as much as threats to Shiloh did. So yeah, Lusamine telling Lillie that the clefairy was actually hers, legally, is just … yiiiiikes. There are so, so many ways in which Lusamine is written as a realistic abusive parent. It’s what hands down makes her one of the utmost, absolutely most vile villains the series has had yet.)

#em-exceeds-change-zearu

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abigfatbug · 7 years

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Adimyos, Land of Greenery and Giants Ch. 1

This is technically Chapter 2, but I’m treating the first post as just a prologue. That post is >>>here<<< This is not where you want to be if you want realistic stuffing and more moderate size/weight gain. This is a story about royalty, Big Fats, and serious musclechub, plus fantasy elements. There’s gonna be sort of kind of an actual plot coming up soon, just with a lot of obviously kinky stuff thrown in. As before, there’s a Google Docs version >>>here<<< if you don’t wanna deal with reading something long on tunglr.hell. From now on, this will link to a folder containing all currently available chapters of Adimyos.

Tanos woke up one morning in a huge, extravagant bedroom with mostly white walls and a large, very sturdy balcony with sliding glass doors that let in a great deal of light. He had a soft, luxurious, expansive bed that seemed rather awkwardly enormous for just him, as he’d been expected to grow into it. He was only wearing loose, puffy white pants, with bare feet and no shirt. He stretched, rolled to the outer edge of his bed, and sat up, feeling almost immediately hungry upon waking up. He was actually glad for that as he gave his soft, modest pot belly a squeeze, trying to see if it’d gotten any larger or softer lately. He’d been working hard on his appetite, so hopefully he’d see progress soon.

As usual, it was a hot, humid, sticky sort of day, but it was pleasantly cool in the castle. With the sheer mass of Adimyosians, especially the Adimyosian royalty, avoiding overheating was a big concern even with the fact that they were used to heat and high humidity. Fortunately, they had an excellent ice trade going with a northern region, and there were both some mages capable of magically inducing cold, as well as some tamed beasts with the natural ability to do the same. The royal family in particular had access to many of their own ice dragons and mages, although they always had to be foreigners or using foreign relics of arcane power, because Adimyosians were never born with the ability to use elemental magic. Cold-enchanted stones, each a bit larger than someone’s head, were placed throughout the whole castle to help cool it. They were exceptionally high quality, so the magic in each stone could last a few years without any issue. To an outsider, the castle might actually be a bit chilly, but it felt heavenly to the Adimyosians.

The magic possessed by Adimyosians was subtly and passively interwoven with their natural biology instead, helping to explain how they could accrue so much height, fat, and muscle without ill effect, or how they could gorge themselves to such incredible extents. When very hungry, even an average Adimyosian man could eat thirty to forty pounds of food in one sitting without discomfort, or more if they pushed themselves. And in spite of their completely indiscriminate eating habits, even eating things that could poison other races, all Adimyosians were very hearty and healthy. Regardless of gender, they were as strong as oxen, and they’d gone centuries without a notable plague, even when outsiders carried foreign bacteria and parasites.

Before anything, Tanos went to a large, ornate cage near his bed, where one would expect to see some sort of bird… Instead, it housed a dragon the size of a small housecat, with a long neck and scales colored iridescent blues and violets. Two long, lightly curled prehensile barbels trailed from the sides of its head. “Morning, Vizzi.” Tanos said to it, as he opened the cage The small dragon replied with a high trill before impatiently bringing its barbels together and producing a small shock that hit Tanos on the knuckle. “Alright, alright, I know you’re hungry...” Tanos said, as Vizzi immediately escaped the cage and got outside through a small opening in the wall about ten feet from the ground, which acted as a sort of “dragon door”. Although only a tiny thunder dragon, Vizzi was still a very intelligent and prideful creature, so he preferred to get food by himself. Honestly, Tanos knew the little dragon would’ve unlocked the cage himself if he’d taken too much longer, but Tanos discouraged that because it made him worry about the little dragon. He needed to be inside when it was dark at all costs. There were plenty of nocturnal predators awaiting him if he got too sure of himself at night Tanos went into his personal bathroom to prepare for the day, walking past cabinets full of various equipment for dealing with beasts much larger than Vizzi, and the weapons he liked to train with. Once he made it, he took a good long look at himself in a mirror clearly made with someone far larger and taller in mind than him. He couldn’t help but sigh at the sight of his body, even though a mainlander would definitely scoff or give him a jealous glare if they ever caught him acting unsatisfied. But to the Adomyosians, he was nothing but a small, meek young man. He’d been told more than once that “At least you still have a beautiful face,” in various soft, optimistic, or outright pitying tones. He flexed in the mirror, an action that showed off bulging muscle that would surely intimidate or impress almost any mainlander… But to Adomyosians, they were barely anything special at all. There’d been plenty of thirteen or fourteen year olds already more substantial than Tanos. Even scaled down a bit so they’d be at his height, most Adimyosian men would still have larger muscles than him. Perhaps he was still too active to grow properly… He’d have to try lowering his activity more and keep trying to push his appetite further. Tanos cleaned himself up and changed clothes, although they were almost the same, just a bit fancier and with the addition of a thin, clingy black top, decorated with ornate gold patterns, showing off most of his arms, and purposely only going to his belly button. Tanos stood and left his huge room through the equally huge door, which opened into the extra wide hallway. Fine paintings and sculptures decorated the whole length of it, typically depicting fantastic beasts and massively fat and muscular people, often warriors and historical figures. He made his way to the dining room, which was absolutely colossal, and one of the finest rooms in the whole castle. His parents and siblings all sat around the utterly huge table, which was packed and thickly stacked with all manner of luxurious foods that were nevertheless rapidly disappearing into everyone’s exceedingly round, heavy, corpulent stomachs. Tanos took an empty, oversized seat next to two of his older sisters and immediately began digging into the massive, fully stacked plate already prepared for him, thanks to the very real danger of them stealing his plate before he could get to it. Attendants nearby had to continually help keep everyone clean and get them refills, as they ate so ravenously that even their relatively “refined” eating style still generated quite bit of crumbs and messiness. Tanos plowed through his first plate of food without much issue, feeling just the slightest bit proud because it had to have been about ten pounds of food by itself. After all, it was more like a large serving platter than any dinner plate a mainlander would be familiar with. He’d packed all manner of rich, fatty delicacies into his stomach, such as thick, sugary jam on rich biscuits, the dense, fatty meat of dragons, tender ham, sausage from only the best fed cattle, sweet, dense bread, an unusually rich and high-carb breed of potato, pancakes with decadent syrup, and dense, creamy milk with an enormous fat content. Even the fruits on the side were unusually rich in fat and sugar compared to mainland fruit, with their juice and flesh being refreshing, yet thick and syrupy, or sometimes buttery in taste and texture. Adimyosians were always more than happy to adopt different foods and meal ideas from other cultures, often adding their own twists to make it even richer and fattier. Adimyosian tastes were quite different from the norm, being highly indiscriminate in what they would eat, but having an exceptionally high enjoyment of anything especially rich or dense with calories. Eating was naturally highly pleasurable and rewarding to any Adimyosian, and they were natural-born gluttons. Even something like a solid stick of butter could be a delicious snack to an Adimyosian’s greedy pallet. Tanos pushed himself to have a second fully packed plate even as he noticed the chefs and servants bringing out a second massive table full of food, and most of his family members had already plowed through several plates each. Huge belches and pleased moans began to erupt from the others as they continued to gorge themselves. However, there was barely any talking at all, besides some enthusiastic cries for more. The second plate was already becoming far too much for Tanos, and he had to painstakingly push himself to clear it all. In the end, he managed to put away about twenty pounds of especially rich food, totalling over 20,000 calories, but that was still rather pathetic compared to the rest of his family. By time he was finished, his firm, bloated belly looked absolutely pathetic next to his family, all still ravenously devouring more and more food. Meanwhile, he could only sit back and rub his stomach, burping to relieve the pressure. By time the rest of the family had finished, over an hour had passed, and everyone just sat languidly in their huge chairs, unable to move at all. The servants cleaned up the massive piles of plates and whatever meager scraps were left, leaving the family to digest. With everyone being far too busy during the meal, afterwards was the only real time to talk. After all, they always ate until they could barely move anyway. “It’s so nice that you don’t eat very much, Tanos….” one of his older sisters started, before pausing to let out an enormous belch. “It saves food for us!” “Thrin, don’t tease him. He did a good job this time, he looks more full than usual. Maybe he’ll finally get his growth spurts soon,” his other sister said, a bit younger but kinder than her sibling. “Besides, when have we ever not had enough food?” “Honjya, you’re always doting on him. Tanos is the same cute little twig of a brother as always, isn’t he? Needing to be stuffed just to have a belly half as big as Masu’s empty belly was at that age… No matter how you look at it, he’s just the prince of twigs!” “I am not the prince of twigs!” Tanos said defensively. “Mainlanders have said I look strong!” “If you’re a twig, mainlanders are nothing but strings! Being bigger than those pale, scrawny, ugly men is just the bare minimum of beauty!” Thrin countered. “Men from the mainlands aren’t so bad. It’s really cute how they think so highly of themselves even though they’re so tiny and fragile. They’re like naive little kids.” Honjya said. “I suppose so. One of those depraved skeletons tried to touch me without permission once. I broke his wrist just by grabbing it. It really is incredible how they even survive, being so soft,” Thrin said. “If you’re calling them skeletons, how can you turn around and say they’re soft? Clearly, we’re much softer than them,” Honjya said with a laugh, squeezing one of her massive, oozing lovehandles for emphasis. Just the short laugh made her gelatinous breasts and belly wobble noticeably. “But in a good way! We’re soft and beautiful, like the most plush and luxurious fabrics. They’re just metaphorically soft… Really, I suppose brittle would be the better word,” Thrin said disdainfully. “Shriveled, brittle little skeleton men who we always have to play nice with when they’re the ones who came trying to ransack our home in the first place…” “Don’t be so harsh right after a meal, Thrin. Just relax and let your stomach work, or you’ll become ugly,” came a deep voice from beside Thrin.. “It would take more than that to ruin the beauty of a princess, Lamtu,” Thrin said dismissively to her older brother. “Even a twig like Tanos couldn’t become ugly from something so trivial,” Thrin said. “After all, he’s still got a few suitors who are confident they can manage to fatten him up!” “You should be more like the others,” Lamtu said, motioning an enormous but very plush arm to them. Sure enough, their five other siblings were asleep after such a filling meal. Some days, if they could get away with it, they’d do literally almost nothing but eat and sleep. “Mom is asleep too,” Honjya said with a giggle. Her mother, the queen of Adimyos, was a gorgeous but extraordinarily large woman, with a height of 8’4 and a weight of nearly 4,000 pounds. She was peacefully dozing right across from them, her belly gurgling contentedly with the massive several hundred pound feast packed inside. Really, the incredibly wide and plush woman was still more than fertile enough to continue having healthy heirs. Due to having some of the finest Adimyosian genes in the land, on top of the natural health and vigor of their race, she still looked almost as youthful as her daughters despite being in her 40s, but she and the king had mutually decided it was best to stop at nine children. After all, if she got pregnant just once or twice more, the resulting weight gain would surely make her immobile. She already relied on her great height, extra large frame, and fantastic Adimyosian strength to remain mobile at 4,000 pounds as it was. Still, it wasn’t an easy task, and she often had attendants following her to keep her steady with each wide, ponderous step. Immobile royalty wasn’t unheard of in Adimyos, or even particularly uncommon, but the queen wasn’t in a rush to get there. The king was next to her, every bit as incredibly stuffed and overfed. He was somewhere between being awake and asleep, apparently fighting the desire to go to sleep after a breakfast that partially involved eating a whole roast pig on his own. He weighed almost the same amount as the queen, but looked somewhat less flabby and elephantine thanks to being a foot taller and having much more muscle on his frame. So, technically, it was the queen who was the fattest in all of Adimyos, but the king was no less stunning. His long, wavy black hair was in a thick, voluminous ponytail, and he wore a massive, ornate crown embedded with precious jewels in many colors.

The king and queen were considered the absolute pinnacles of beauty and desirability. Every day, their already naturally gorgeous skin and faces would be tended to with only the finest lotions and oils. Still, it was intentionally not enough to completely stop the formation of stretchmarks, which were merely another sign of beauty to Adimyosians. The queen’s breasts were still unbelievably round and surprisingly perky for how massive and heavy they were, atop a massive, gelatinous double belly with a center fold so deep the queen had a tendency to store extra snacks in it, or in her enormous cleavage. Her black bra was absolutely enormous, but comfortable and finely decorated. It was practically the only thing she wore on her upper body besides a thin, skimpy, silky top that was somewhat translucent and didn’t even attempt to cover her stomach. On her colossal lower body, with hips so amazingly wide and a butt so globular and massive that she needed the widest seat at the table of all, she just wore a long white floral patterned skirt that had a split from the thigh down so it wouldn’t be outgrown too easily. She wore a beautiful crown of living flowers, able to be maintained without magic because they were naturally air plants regardless. They were secured to a tiara made of high quality, finely engraved wood, with valuable gems set into the whole length of it. As Tanos tried to leave the breakfast table, Honjya suddenly seized his arm. Even though Tanos was far from weak, and he could tell Honjya was being rather gentle, her grip was inescapable. “You’re not finished yet, are you Tanos? We still need to bulk you up so much!” Honjya said. Tanos gulped, dreading what was coming next, but he didn’t resist. He knew he needed it. Honjya called two servants over, and they almost immediately knew what had to be done. Tanos watched them with a mixture of anxiety and envy. They were each hardly even seven and a half feet tall, and yet they both looked much bulkier, better fed, and better suited to be princes than him. The only advantage he had was a prettier face. They came back in only a moment with some twine and a funnel, along with a massive pitcher of something. Tanos quickly had his hands tied behind his chair and the funnel forced into his mouth. He was getting used to it by now, as it’d happened at least once a day for the last month. It wasn’t anything particularly unusual, he was just taking part in the latest scheme to force him to fatten up. It was working, to an extent. He’d gained eleven pounds in the last month, but that was hardly anything compared to his siblings, even though he should’ve been able to fatten up much quicker than them without the need to support the nutritional demands of so much fat and muscle, along with the energy required to remain strong and healthy in spite of extreme obesity.

Still, Tanos couldn’t help but wince as the pitcher was tipped into the funnel, and he was immediately forced to pack a thick milkshake into his already full stomach. He struggled to even breathe as he forced himself to focus on nothing but swallowing. The mixture was painful and overwhelming before he finally started to find some relief about a third of the way into drinking it, thanks to the herbs inside. They were designed to soothe an upset stomach as well as relax and elastify muscles and tissues, allowing his stomach to stretch further than it could on its own… And hopefully, leading to permanent capacity increases over time. Still, it was an arduous and painful ordeal. There was a whole gallon of the thick shake mixture in the funnel, and it was somewhat denser than water alone, so by time he finally forced it all into his stomach, he’d added more than ten pounds and perhaps 25,000 more calories to his heavily burdened stomach. Still, the main theory as to why he could only grow so slowly with such extreme overfeeding was that his body was in an unusually prolonged unique phase of Adimyosian puberty known as the Great Shift. Essentially, the Great Shift was a preparation phase. The body was using up a disproportionately ridiculous amount of energy and not adding much more size or mass during this phase because it was busy converting the young Adimyosian’s body into a stronger and tougher body that could effortlessly endure heights, weights, and digestive burdens that would normally be impossible and highly dangerous and unhealthy, as well as being capable of safely gaining weight much faster, and building far more muscle than would be possible for a normal human. Normally, an Adimyosian was supposed to have already completed their Great Shift in the range of fourteen to sixteen years old, sometimes even sooner, but it seemed that Tanos’ body was simply running very late with it. Fortunately, they’d ruled out curses or some dormant disease or defect in the bloodline, so now it was simply a matter of waiting out the unusually long Great Shift. In any case, making sure the subject always had as much nutrition as possible was known to make the Shift conclude faster, so even though the force-feeding was difficult and only making slow progress so far, it would help either way.

Tanos rubbed his stomach and belched loudly, now packed with over thirty pounds of food at once. His bloated midsection growled and bubbled uncomfortably, still aching and pulsing with mild pain even with the stretching and relaxing effects of the shake. It looked like he was about to deliver triplets, jutting out a full foot in front of him, but he couldn’t help but feel rather embarrassed. The servants were merely normal Adimyosians and even they could easily and happily eat the same amount of food in one sitting, with no help from a stomach-stretching painkiller shake, getting only pleasantly full rather than painfully overstuffed. Honjya slowly rubbed his stomach with a large, soft hand. Tanos often noted that even her fingers were fat. “You did really good this time, Tanos! That was the entire pitcher! Would you like me to carry you to bed?” Honjya said. Tanos let out another huge burp before answering. “Yes, please…” he said, his breathing labored. He was honestly rather embarrassed by the offer, but he was too full to try and preserve his dignity. “Okay! Today, you can just eat and sleep all you want… Soon, you’ll be as big as us,” Honjya said caringly, as she stood and then proceeded to lift Tanos bridal style, as if he were only the weight of a small child, and not a 240 pound man with over thirty pounds of food in him. “Thank you…” Tanos mumbled, although his face was burning and he couldn’t look directly at her. As kind as she could be, it was still incredibly embarrassing to be carried around like a little kid by a 1,500 pound, 8 foot tall sister who was older by only a year and a half.

It wasn’t exactly the fastest way to travel, but Tanos was back in his room soon enough, as Honjya gingerly placed him on his bed, although it was rather awkward due to her size.

“Sleep well, Tanos,” she said warmly, before waddling back into the hallway. Tanos, barely able to move on his own while so full, quickly fell into a deep sleep while absentmindedly rubbing his aching, jutting stomach. It was progress, but he still had far more to face than just painful funnel feeding and the struggle to gain more weight.

#bug writes wg #adimyos #chub kink #wg fic #weight gain

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roidespd-blog · 5 years

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Chapter Thirty : MY OWN STORY

This is the end of our journey. I could have ended it with a one-two punch Stonewall-Pride extravaganza but I’m going with a more personal coda, if you’ll indulge me.

A BOY’S OWN STORY

I haven’t always known I was Queer. I guess there were signs — how I would prefer to play with my sister’s barbies than with my own construction toys. How I could be extra sensitive with benign day-to-day details or the fact that by the age of five, I knew “Pour que tu m’aimes encore” by Céline Dion by heart. “So Alex, you’re a faggot, right ?”. That’s what a schoolmate said to me during recess. I said “No”. I was 10. I didn’t know. How did he know if I didn’t know ? Is sensitive a synonym for gay, even when you’re too young to even have pubic hair ?

I started masturbated at the age of 12 and it didn’t took long before my thoughts were directed towards the male body. I ignored it and pretended it was just my mind wandering in unexpected and irrelevant places. I would do my dirty business with La Redoute catalogues, looking at the male models in underwear then switch to their female counterparts at the very end when I knew I was close. Same thing with my imagination. Penelope Cruz was my go-to fantasy beard. I was ashamed of my sexual orientation. Worst, I was ashamed of it before I could understand it. That’s the tricky part : society doesn’t teach you how to be Queer but sure makes you aware that it’s not the norm.

I didn’t know what gay was. In movies, homosexuality was always depicted through huge clichés, what I called in my articles the “Cage aux Folles” dogma. I couldn’t identify. Or maybe I rejected the notion very quickly and swore never to approach this level of absurdity. Internalized homophobia before you even understand what internalized homophobia is.

I fell in love with my first boy when I was 14 years old. He was 2 years older, not that handsome (back then) and so unattainable. I’ve known that dude my whole life. For a long time, I said to myself that one-sided love wasn’t love. I do not believe that anymore. Feeling are valid whether they’re reciprocated or not. Of the five men I fell in love with in my life, only one didn’t love me back (and another is still TBD). But he’s the man I loved the most. The pain that followed was real and undeniable.

I didn’t act on my feelings towards boys until college. In high school, I told myself I wasn’t gonna do anything with anyone until I knew for sure what I was (laugh). I turned down a couple of great girls, one became one of my closest friend in this world. There was one incident involving a girl faking drunkenness in order to inspire pity and having her ways with me at a birthday party. I was… 15, I guess. I was not into it.

A shy boy, I socially bloomed in high school due to my involvement in drama classes and a new “fuck-the-world” attitude I cultivated through a longer hair cut and a collection of converses of every color imaginable.

The day I found out I graduated from high school, I went to town with a few friends. We (barely) drank and had our PG fun. There was this boy. I didn’t know him at all as he was a friend of a friend. I was very intrigued by him and made sure to present to him what I considered my best self (mute and mysterious, I guess). When it was time to go home, we all packed ourselves in my friend’s tiny car. There wasn’t enough space for all of us so the guy was lying on floor in the back, myself in the middle seat. I don’t know what got into me, but I started putting my fingers under his shirt and caressing his lower back. Gently, like an accident. When he didn’t react, I went further. That’s when I felt his fingers on my ankle. As I got to explore more of his back, he quickly went up my pants and caressed the entirety of my leg. So erotic, you have no idea. He was the first to go home. We didn’t exchange phone numbers but he sure helped me get IT. Once alone with my friends in the car, I said “I like boys”. That was it. The electricity I felt all around my body was unchallenging. No one was shocked. No one cared. Back to our regular scheduled programs.

HOW TO BE A GAY MAN IN FOUR LESSONS (OR MORE)

The first and only real mistake was trying to define myself through my sexuality.

My first boyfriend was… let’s call him Paul. Paul was the sweetest. A very short, very elfish (not healthy, ELFISH) little dude that tried his best to give me space in our relationship to explore myself. I said tried. I was willing to lose my virginity as a bottom but it wasn’t meant to be. I became a top. Oh, but it is a nice memory. It is so rare to be a gay man and lose one’s virginity in a good way. He introduced me to his friends who found me “too country” and “fat”. Do we have to talk to each other every day ? Are nicknames necessary ? Do I love you or do I prove constantly that I love you ? Coming from a broken father/son relationship, affection towards men wasn’t easy shit. Lust, yes (though a restrained version of what lust can be). Feelings were there but I found myself incapable of materializing them the way Paul wanted me too. I broke up with him. We got back together. He then broke up with me. Back together again. We called it quits soon after. Too many variables freaked me out. I was an 18 year-old who knew nothing, Jon Snow style.

I met a couple more guys, experimented with casual dating and hookups, bottomed (wasn’t my thing). Then I met Thomas — I’m not even going to invent a name. That bitch needs to be called out. I fell madly in love with Thomas. Five days in and we said “I love you” to each other. That relationship made me come out to my mom. I just didn’t realize that I was being manipulated into loving someone. He made an effort to be extra needy and to push my Superman complex to the max. After falling for him, he told me he visited several psychiatric facilities. He tried to hurt himself more times that I can honestly remember. By the time our relationship ended, I was more a nurse than a lover. I broke up with me after he cheated on me with someone else. But not just cheat. It went from a Friday night “I’m gonna see a friend for the weekend, it’s been a while since I saw him. It’s gonna do me some good” to a Monday morning phone call “Well, he wasn’t a friend. We slept together, now I love you both and I don’t know what to do”. I made it easy for him. By Monday night, pictures of him with the other boy was all over his Facebook page. Thomas broke me in pieces. And I’m not even gonna talk about me going to the police for harassment months later. Triste vie.

That’s when I became a whore.

Not immediately. It took a few weeks of crying to go in that direction but then I was full on. I quickly moved to another city and for the next three years or so, I slept with everything with a dick that moved. Short guys, tall guys, fat ones, skinny ones, effeminate dudes, masculine cunts, three ways, public, top, bottom, ALL. OF. IT. I was unable to feel anything for those guys (some were great and deserved a lot more) but damn, did I fuck them. All of them.

I learned a lot from that time period. First, I can be great at certain sexual things. Won’t tell you which ones. Second, it gave a lot of satisfaction mixed with a sense of true emptiness. I ignored the emptiness back then but I knew why I felt satisfaction. It wasn’t the orgasms. It was a feeling that I was doing exactly what I was supposed to do AKA being a gay guy having lots of sex. I saw it on TV. I saw it in porn. I knew it to be true. I was being the right kind of gay. 22 and still stupid enough to believe it.

When I moved to Paris, I fell in love twice. First with the city. Second with Pierre. In a way, he was the best of them all. Unfortunately, we met at the wrong time. Remember, I was a whore. Not that I cheated on him per say, but the need was there. Paris was giving me so much more land to cover. I met friends that partied hard. I started taking drugs. Lots of them. Festivities would last three days in a row. Sometimes four times a week. I lost 25 pounds just by being poor and high. Meanwhile, I was living a fantastic relationship with a somewhat adult man. I moved in with him for a couple of months. He was a painter and being with me helped him find inspirations. He bought me a note book and pushed me to start writing again, encouraged me to reach my full potential. But fuck my life, I had to make a choice : domesticity with this great guy (who had already been through what I was going through) or FPD (Friends/Party/Drugs). I broke his heart and entered a downward spiral. I went back to my whoring ways. I went all races, all ages, all sizes, just… all. I even was in a weird throuple for a few weeks. Drugs were taking a toll on my health and my friends weren’t supporting me the way I needed too. Six months after the break up, I reserved course. I cleaned my act, found a new job, moved into a new apartment by myself, cleared my phone from those friends’ numbers. This part of my life taught me two lessons : That I could be loved and valued for exactly who I was and that I could throw in all away for the sake of living that sweet Parisian Gay Life.

I met Jack at a time when my life was going really really well. I had been accepted at film school, I was making new friends from work, I had a perfectly stable life and newly-found good spirit. I do believe I inadvertently seduced him by singing Taylor Swift’s Blank Space at a party. I fell hard for that man. I viewed him as the perfect specimen, the epicenter of everyone I went through in the past seven years. I willingly gave him everything : a place to stay when he was looking for a new apartment, my time, my heart, my soul. I wasn’t able to keep anything for myself. It was all for him. Although I knew from the start that I was getting fucked, I didn’t care. He never loved me. Why ? That’s for another story and perhaps for him to tell you. He didn’t leave me heartbroken. He left me destroyed. To a point where I didn’t recognize myself. I’ll say it again : D.E.S.T.R.O.Y.E.D. That’s what happens when you give so much and receive so little in return. My friends had to pick up the pieces and didn’t know what to do with them. Neither did I. I went back to whoring for a short time but this time, it got dark, y’all. I fucked the wrong people. I put myself in the wrong situations. I took the wrong drugs. I kept on wrecking what was left of me.

LIFE IMITATES ART, ART IMITATES OTHER ART, ART IS ART, LIFE GOES WITH WITH FLOW.

For the following two years, all of that cured me of love and sex. I didn’t/couldn’t want either. I focused on my work.

I started writing and directing short films that talked about love between two men (a musical fantasy), how one can destroy oneself by not accepting who one is (a one-shot suicidal fantasy) and finally, a 16-minute movie about trying to figure out your place in the Queer world (my masterpiece, easy to say, right?).

In retrospect, what I couldn’t do in real life anymore (exploring and answering questions), I did it in fiction. In Faggot (and Other Semantics),there are themes of homophobia, internalized homophobia, clichés, dating apps, sex, violence and identity. I’m not saying it’s the greatest movie of all time, but it’s good. That’s why it’s so heartbreaking that I still haven’t finished it.

I used the excuse that I didn’t have enough money. Well, no I have some money put aside thanks to my friends. I though to myself that I was just lazy but fuck, I proved to myself this past month I wasn’t. So, I’m scared to finish it. Not just having to move on artistically (though it is a big part of the fear) but also, It’s kind of the end of a journey. Well, a big chapter anyway. The movie was made when I was the most wrecked version of myself. I touched subjects that are so personal to me and felt like I finally got some answers out of my questions. Finally…well, I don’t know. I went back to thinking I’m a lazy cunt.

Since then (two years), I did something every Queer person should do : I’ve explored our History. I started making research for Faggot back in 2016. I bought a couple of books, mainly “Faggots” written by Larry Kramer and “Le Rose et Le Noir” written by Frédéric Martel. The truth is, we don’t know our History. How can we ? History tried to erase us time and time again. And when real tragedy stroke, people who couldn’t have shared this History were let to die. Unlike all of the other communities, Queer people are not born into a Queer environment. Humans from all races and backgrounds are raised and can receive heritage from their peers. Some of that heritage are in books you get to read in school. What History book talks about Stonewall ? None. We, as Queer people, are cursed with the task of reinventing ourselves generation after generation. Is it so surprising then that we keep on losing ourselves along the way, trying to figure out our identity ? I had to go and search for information, nothing was giving to me openly. I’m so glad I did.

Learning our past taught me so much about how to live my present. That’s why I started to write these articles this June. I wanted to give my fellow Queers a metaphorical anchor to throw into this ocean we call Life so that they can take a closer look at the world that came before, the one that is being built right now and perhaps, what’s to come. It’s a small gift. The best I can do with my restricted reach but here we are.

Today, I told you about my own story. I came back to it with all that baggage from years of research into my Queer Heritage. I see things a bit more clearly now. In the hopes that maybe, if you deem it necessary, you will be able to do the same.

I’m signing off. Yours Truly,

The Queer King.

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qrhymes · 7 years

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Death Note (2017) –What means being a good adaptation?

Keep the soul, the spirit of the original work.

I know this answers is vague and not really a factor in the goodness of a movie ‘cause you can still be faithful to the original themes of a work and still suck (The suckiness can take a plenitude of forms), however I firmly believe that the first step to be called a good adaptation (not necessarily a good movie or series or whatever) is breath the same air and meaning of your source material even if the plot, the story or even your character change in the process (That’s the reason that the so called “Spiritual adaptations” are a thing).

So, what are the elements that this movie needs in the first place to be called a good adaptation?

The original Death Note, to me at least, it’s a story about how “absolute power corrupts absolutely”; you give the power to decide who lives and dies to a teenager that subsequently becomes, in the spawn of a few day, in a full time sociopath (And yes, one of my absolute problems with the original is the lack of a natural transition between Light and Kira, but you can argue that that was the point) with a god complex.

I know that a lot of people see the series as a study of morality, a conflict between ideologies; the means justify the end, etc. However I have never been able to see this part of the conflict because the series never explore it’s moral dilemma beyond the superficiality of “Is It right to kill criminals?” that is and interesting and deep question that could sustain an entire work however the thing gets reduced to a “if you are not with me you are against me”.

Death Note is juvenile work and its simplicity in how develop its main question proves it…however, even if its wannabe main theme its underwhelming, Death Note still has a lot of goods and greats during its run.

The hypocrisy and the delusion of Light are great pieces for a tale how power corrupt, the entirely Kira cult, our perception of justice and the hypocrisy in those system it’s another interesting point, Ryuk as the wild card of the series is fantastic, the entire Kira task force is amazing and, at least for me, the great savior of the series.

L becomes what Light never could, a morally gray figure, that actually have weight in a morally ambiguous story of the meaning justice and what is right. L may be in the role of the traditional good guy, however he’s selfish detective that only take the cases that he finds interesting, a man that keeps in line with the law but is not afraid to push that lines to its limit, despite his gimmicks and status as a Sherlock Holmes 2.0 L comes along as a very flawed individual, not really seeking justice for the hundreds of thousand, but just challenge for his intellect. The Kira case is a passion project from him…Not really what you could call a hero, however in this kind of work it’s exactly what we needed, a hero antagonist with a lot of shades of black, whose sheer charisma and personality make, maybe not a paragon, but a compelling and lovable character that a lot of people, me include it, fell in love with.

Finally Death Note is a great mystery series, a tense police drama with genuinely thrilling mind games, an incredible pace and an overall fun ride with a ton of memorable scenes and twist, Death Note is a lot of thing and addictive as fuck is one of them, the flow of the series is so good and that is one of the better aspect of the series, what makes it so accessible is a well put and enjoyable show…so how many of these points got checked in the movie.

…Well Ryuk was…actually pretty great…

Ryuk is easily the best part of this movie, he is creepy, unsettling, menacing but also a lot of fun to have around and his character is the closest to his counterpart. I also like how the movie treats him.

He is different; less cooperative, less friendly, more malevolent but still this guy that it’s doing what it’s doing just for the lulz, and his final delivery “You humans are so fun” close his character in a really high note.

And yes, a lot of the credit goes to Defoe’s performance. I don’t know if he gives a fuck about the source material but it doesn’t matter, he is having a blast with role and so are we.

So Ryuk was fantastic…the rest of the film not so much.

There are a lot of issues here, but in general we can summarize all in two great issues. First, the movie it’s afraid to actual challenge the audience, is a tame product, one that goes for the secure route, lacking a lot of the boldness of the original material.

Even if you want to think the best of Light, he still was playing at least the role of anti-villain, someone that has do what he has to do to accomplish his objective, it’s his choice to use the Death Note, to kill criminals, the people that chase him and even his own followers when they stop being useful to him (And don’t we forget the sheer placer that the guy has with out-smarting his opponents. Yes you can argue that some kills were a necessary evil, however he enjoy some of those kills too much for someone that was still claiming that was doing all of that for the greater good). And yes, the ultimate power to kill is a factor of seduction, of course. However is still a choice that Light makes on its own…here he has to be convinced to use the note, first from Ryuk invoking dream like sensations and power fantasies and then by Mia which apparently is getting off from using the note…I mean, leaving aside that Light was probably asexual and aromantic, him using the note here feels more like he trying to impress her that trying to clean the world from criminals and yes, I don’t buy that part of his characterization in the original work, but that part built up in his hypocrisy.

Meanwhile here Light it’s treated more like a victim of circumstance, that tries to avoid targeting innocent people and just going as far as I goes just because the influence of Ryuk and Mia

Apple anyone?

This what I mean that its more tame or secure, the movie goes all the way trying to make Light likable, justifiable and innocent that forgets to add the aspect that make his original counterpart interesting, either as the idealistic young man that falls from grace trying to make the world a better place or the hypocrite, self-centered teenager that justify his murder rampage with delusions of justice. Both are great in the own right, Light Turner however, he is just another protagonist.

However trying to make Light good is just one side of the badness of this movie, the other side is, well, make L look like the bad guy.

As I said before, the magic of L is that he pulls out the character that Light never could and it is just painful seeing get butchered in this version.

L in this version is just a weirdo that likes sweets a lot, seats in weird positions and covers his faces, and yes the original L was that…in the surface.

That’s the second biggest problem of the film; it’s an adaptation of Death Note, but just in the surface.

L was great not because he was quirky or adorkable or hot, he was great because he has a role in the story, he was a contrast to Light (A contrast that doesn’t exist in this version), a perspective in the meaning justice (a side that not is precisely completely innocent or even all that lawful or good) and an interest take in the hero-antagonist.

In the movie L gets stripped from his “sympathetic inspector antagonist” and demoted to a full “inspector Javert” trying to murder Light in the quart of the movie. L it’s just another detective, there is not substance to his character, he wants to resolve the case ‘cause this is what he does. The only attempts to go with something with him is his breakdown after Watari is killed but that twist just make his character even more cliché, becomes it striped him completely of his anti-hero status to become the villain…I mean the secondary villain for the sake of…the Hollywood Formula?

This L is not really a bad or a shitty character, his problem, in the same way that with Light, is that he is just another character, unmemorable, bland and lacking any kind of role or meaning aside of being a secondary antagonist

I would talk about Mia/Misa, but her character it’s so far away of her original depiction that it would be pointless.

Mia is a weird thing really. Not only is her introduction forced as fuck.

I mean the whole scene was something like “Hey wanna see me kill some random people”.

But the really confusing part just comes in her character. I mean what is she? A sociopath? Is she drunk with power? Is she using Light for that reason? Or the Note just makes her wet? And then the movie makes her the Big Bad, with a really stupid plan and a death also kind of stupid. A twist for the sake of a twist that only serves to cement Light as a great schemer in the last minute…as a character she was the worst in the whole film. She was in the movie because she was Misa counterpart but she has no purpose other than make Light more likeable.

…

Do you remember how tense a suspenseful the anime/manga was? There is not of that here.

Death Note was thrilling supernatural drama, with a lot of twist and turns, mind games and, overall, a great police series. As I said in the begging one of the best things of Death Note is how its flows.

Death note 2017, it’s not a mystery, it’s not a police drama, even the supernatural elements are reduced to their minimum…And it comes down to the begging, the great problem is that this is just a very tame superficial adaptation, the note, the candies, the shinigamis, the KEIKAKUs, but without the substance or the style (Even the genre) that make the original first half so great.

#Death Note #light yagami #ryuzaki #L #Kira #netfix

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hellofastestnewsfan · 4 years

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Parks and Recreation has only been off the air for five years, but what a five years it has been. When the NBC sitcom about a tireless, obsessive, irrepressibly kind public servant—Amy Poehler‘s Leslie Knope—and her beloved colleagues aired its finale, on February 24, 2015, America had a very different collective self-image. A global network of Ebola fighters had just won a tough, worrisome but nonetheless decisive battle against that deadly virus. After a devastating summer of police violence, the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement at least seemed poised to effect positive change. As pop culture was making unprecedented strides in trans representation, an unstoppable queer rights movement was about to make same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states. Our first black President still had two years left in his second term, and Donald Trump was four months away from officially kicking off his campaign. The idea that the best way to represent a red state like Indiana—home to Parks‘ fictional city of Pawnee and the titular department Leslie helps run—was as a hub of cheerful, multicultural, bipartisan progress didn’t seem that farfetched.

But by April 30, 2020, as the show returned to NBC for a one-off reunion special to benefit Feeding America, the national mood had—to put it extremely mildly—shifted. In contrast to post-racial Pawnee, we’ve had to contend with a fresh wave of white nationalism and xenophobia; “kids in cages” is not a phrase I can imagine coming out of the mouth of anyone in that city’s government. #MeToo has all but squashed the notion that a woman could rise to a position of power without encountering some form of sexual misconduct. (That reckoning eventually came for both series regular Aziz Ansari and—to a far greater, more disappointing extent—frequent guest star Louis C.K. “I don’t remember when I heard the rumors about him,” co-creator Mike Schur said at the time. “But I’m sure it was before the last time he was on Parks and Rec. And that sucks. And I’m sorry.”) And a country where Leslie Knope works in the Department of the Interior, a position to which she ascended in the finale, is not a country that could be blindsided by the novel coronavirus. Her gentle, scrupulously informed competence can’t exist in the same universe where entire news cycles are devoted to parsing whether the President suggested drinking bleach.

And so the reunion takes place not in the real Indiana or America but in a sort of utopian alternate Indiana, USA—one that has also somehow fallen prey to the COVID-19 pandemic. Scripted by Schur with a handful of the show’s original writers and filmed via smartphone from each social-distancing star’s home, the half-hour episode is a collage of video chats and local news programs. Leslie has, of course, instituted a daily “7 PM phone tree” to make sure all of her former co-workers, spread out across the country though they may be, are mentally as well as physically healthy. Her loving husband Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) is now a Congressman but still possesses the manic nerd energy to imagine Cones of Dunshire spinoffs.

Meanwhile, Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman), logging on from his/Offerman’s wood shop, boasts that “I’ve been practicing social distancing since I was four years old.” Treat Yo’ Self pals Tom (Ansari) and Donna (Retta) are indulging in tropical Zoom—sorry, Gryzzl—backgrounds; Tom has been brainstorming such quarantine-themed inventions as “a clock with dials that just move randomly.” April (Aubrey Plaza with a bikini top draped over her head) and Andy (Chris Pratt), wild imaginations intact, are thriving in isolation. Because Ann (Rashida Jones) has gone back to work as a nurse, she and Chris (Rob Lowe) are quarantining in separate areas of their home. No one wants to be the one to check in on office scapegoat Garry “Jerry” Gergich (eternal good sport Jim O’Heir), whose ineptitude with technology does not disappoint.

Leslie and Ben’s appearances on local news programs, to dispense bleach-free advice on best coronavirus practices, offer an excuse to bring back some other familiar faces—not just demented talk-show host Joan Callamezzo (Mo Collins) and awkward anchor Perd Hapley (Jay Jackson), but also beloved guest stars like Jon Glaser as devious dentist Jeremy Jamm and Jason Mantzoukas’ ridiculous fragrance magnate Dennis Feinstein. With apologies to Sweetums heir Bobby Newport (Paul Rudd), who opens the episode from his family’s “private fox-hunting estate” in Switzerland, and the captive Tammy 2 (Megan Mullally, taking full advantage of the fact that she and Offerman are actually married and sheltering together), the best of these surprises is a commercial from Ben Schwartz’s Jean-Ralphio. Coiffed and scarfed to the nines, all he has to advertise is his own his phone number. “I have been banned from Cameo,” he explains, in song, “for doing my videos naked.”

Is anyone in the special actually sick with COVID-19 or mourning loved ones who’ve died of it? Of course not. Jerry’s Season 5 “fart attack” notwithstanding, Pawnee is not a place of illness and death. Its only fallen hero is miniature horse Li’l Sebastian—and you’d better believe the Parks Dept. alums are still broken up enough about that loss to close out their group chat with a rousing rendition of Andy’s tribute song, “5,000 Candles in the Wind.” In the end, despite the social distancing that the reunion had no choice but to depict, Parks is exactly as we left it five years ago: light, funny, comforting but willfully naive, and ultimately more appealing for its cast and the chemistry they’ve somehow retained than it is convincing in its worldview.

Even in its heyday, Parks and Recreation was pegged by some critics as a “liberal fantasy” and faced criticism for its “childish optimism“—both fair assessments, as far as I’m concerned. Most of us probably decided long ago how we feel about the show’s limited range of emotions, its inability to imagine a harder, crueler reality. (Wouldn’t a real-life Ron Swanson, staunch libertarian that he is, be grumbling about the overreaches of a hysterical “nanny state” these days?) Watching the reunion special, I found I could still enjoy its bighearted comedy, albeit less as optimistic realism and more as utopian science fiction.

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newstechreviews · 4 years

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phooll123 · 4 years

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New top story from Time: The Parks and Recreation Reunion Was a Sweet, Slight Dispatch From an Alternate Universe

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