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cboffshore · 3 months

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introducing there's a light on: a character playlist experiment

Or: what would happen if I made a Nadakhan character playlist, but only let myself use Fall Out Boy tracks?

Tracklist and notes below the cut, as usual.

A word before we begin: This is both a very intense character exercise and a very casual affair. Very intense in that each song here was heavily vetted over a period of a few months (and, of course, we know I've been doing Nadakhan character work for years on end now), and very casual in that the decision to create this playlist was a quick one, almost a joke. I chose Fall Out Boy for no other reason than, thanks to a new album release and concert cycle in 2023, the fact that I was very into Fall Out Boy. It was a good choice, though; FOB harbors a lot of unique, complex themes that lent themselves nicely to this project. There's also the unique meta angle of lead singer Patrick Stump performing in a style that ordinarily doesn't pair with the genre FOB calls home and pulling it off pretty much flawlessly, which is a neat parallel to Nadakhan's entire origin story.

Some of the songs here are so on the nose you'd think they were written for Nadakhan; others might be here for a single, perfect lyric, or even just Vibes. I should also note that there is no particular order to these songs. I could very well have lined them up to match his seasonal arc, but as a nod to the common critique (and astute observation) that Nadakhan is pretty erratic, I let each song fall wherever it lay while I was tossing them into the playlist. I'll do the notes for these in order of the playlist for ease, though. Additionally, these aren't comprehensive notes - truly, I could write an essay for a lot of these individually. (Please, please, please ask me about songs on here. I might have more to say.) For now, these are just the strongest correlations I picked up.

Of course, I think the best way to get through this playlist is to go listen and just... think about his character. Drop the preconceived notions and the runaway fanonization. Think of what he does, and when he does it, and who's close to or far away from him.

Enough of my blabbering. You're about to get enough of that from Pete Wentz's poetry.

"Love From The Other Side" opens with sweeping, mysterious orchestral work that crashes, hard, into angry drums and screaming guitar work. From there, the entire song acts like an overture for the rest of the playlist: themes of growing up, getting out, and feeling out of place. The lyric that cemented this song's place on the playlist ties into Nadakhan's relationship with his father, as well as his hidden self-esteem issues as he tries to live up to his final promise: "This city always hangs a little bit lonely on me, loose/Like a kid playing pretend in his father's suit." I also particularly like the bridge line "Give up what you love before it does you in" - a gorgeous little nod at the end of the season, where what he works so hard for does indeed drown him.

"Baby Annihilation" is a unique one - fully spoken word by Wentz, with a surreal, dreamlike backing track. I chose this one for its impressive lyrical parallel to a line Nadakhan speaks during the finale: "But you know what they say: if you want a job done right, you gotta do it yourself." After the fact, however, I thought it sounded a little more like someone else - possibly Jay - talking about the experience itself, or perhaps Nadakhan himself looking in after everything crumbled. It's less of a song and more a series of cryptic observations that I can't quite break down - which parallels how I feel about analyzing Nadakhan. There's always something that feels a little off.

"My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark" is classic FOB, and again, opens with a delightfully parallel line that lights up like a caution sign warning you what Nadakhan's main tactic is: "Be careful makin' wishes in the dark, dark/Can't be sure when they've hit their mark, mark." Tonally, this one is fast, angry, and strong - it sounds like fight music, honestly. It's an anthem all around, complete with layered group vocalizations in the back that remind me of an entire crew singing at once.

"27" is the single most Nadakhanish song I have ever, ever heard. I could go into extreme detail on every line here (and honestly, maybe someday I will!), but I think his attitude towards his crew and how he hides his plans from them is best summed up with this sequence:

My mind is a safe And if I keep it then we all get rich My body is an orphanage We take everyone in Doing lines of dust and sweat

This is one of those songs you need to put both earbuds in for and just... listen. Nothing else. Hands in your lap and think of him as a character, and suddenly every line should fall into place. (Also, sick guitar solo!)

"I've Got All This Ringing In My Ears And None On My Fingers" is here for a very specific part: the first verse. While the whole song is a nice fit, I absolutely have to highlight the opening few lines, because... wow, if this isn't a perfect fit, I couldn't say what is:

You're a canary I'm a coal mine 'Cause sorrow is just all the rage Take one for the team You all know what I mean

I shouldn't need to explain this one too much. (Also, yes, this is what I named that essay after.) After this point, the lyrics touch on themes of desperate (if ill-fated) love, followed up by wailing vocals in the closer and some very iffy-sounding cheering that fits well with his desperation to be someone.

"Bishop's Knife Trick" was one of the first songs that I knew had to make it onto this playlist. Most striking is the repeated line "The glow of the cities below lead us back/to the places we never should have left," which reminded me both of the floating landmasses and of Nadakhan running away from home. I also think the bridge, with its hourglass imagery and themes of desperation and refusal to let go of the past, is beautifully fitting. This, too, has a haunting, grand tone to it: lots of echoey effects and dramatic chords and reverb.

"West Coast Smoker" includes two very important components for this project: a line specifically about being the last of one's kind ("I'm the last of my kind/and that's all that should matter to you") and a female guest vocalist. The former line ties in nicely with Nadakhan's superiority complex, that belief that he deserves more power than he has simply because he has any power at all (and the whole realm collapse thing, too). The latter, however - in the form of Debbie Harry of Blondie - is a neat little meta thing that I only recently noticed. The first time I ever heard this song, I thought the backing vocals were Stump doing some weird falsetto, or maybe someone else entirely from the band. Honestly, I could barely even hear those vocals. Turns out, that's not the case! When I learned the truth, my entire perception changed. In a similar way, once you realize how much of Nadakhan's story (and all of Skybound) is driven by women (regardless of how they're treated), you never quite see it the same again. Nadakhan's motivated by an undercurrent of female influence in the same way that Harry's vocals lend something unique to this track.

"Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet" starts strong with a nice parallel to Nadakhan's signature persuasion tactic: "When he walks into the room, the walls lean in to listen" and only gets better from there. My favorite part of this song is the infamous "Wish I didn't, I didn't..." sequence that culminates in a very apt line: "Don't just want to be a footnote in someone else's happiness." We know Nadakhan's bitter about having to make other people's dreams come true by virtue of who he is; in an attempt to single himself out, he twists that power, ensuring he makes it out of the footnotes and into the main text of everyone's story. Finally, I love the line "It's a sign - what if you peaked early?" Because he did, in fact, peak early. Twice, actually. First, his heyday before his imprisonment; then, as Flintlocke points out, the brief period where he fully controlled the skies and had already won. Oh, and the fact that the entire song reads like a man trying to convince someone he's trying to woo to leave their existing relationship for his sake? Sounds familiar...

"Heaven, Iowa" is desperately, gorgeously sentimental - a simple, surreal plea to be remembered well, and to be loved. This specifically ties into the moment in the season finale, where he desperately (and apparently repetitively) asks Delara if she still loves him: "Tell me, when the party ends/Will you still love who I am?" (Once again: crashing guitars and layered vocals add extra depth. I love the way this one shifts from simple maraca backing to absolutely wild, desperate percussion and backing choir.)

"I've Got A Dark Alley..." is another sentimental one, maybe a little more platonic or even introspective, that examines failure and disappointment. It also reflects, quite simply and beautifully, how Nadakhan pushes people away and digs his own grave by refusing to let others in:

And the record won't stop skipping And the lies just won't stop slipping And besides my reputation's on the line

"Heaven's Gate" is one of the very few genuine love songs FOB has ever crafted, and it's perfect for what little of the Nadakhan-Delara dynamic we see. There's the rebellious imagery of breaking into heaven, but the lovely faith of knowing one's partner will help them out; there's a near-obsessive note of devotion. It's even a waltz! Most fitting, though, is the line "everything else is a substitute for your love," which I think nicely represents how Nadakhan brushes off his relationship with Delara early on. Sure, it fuels so much of his plot, but he hides it by just keeping busy and hoping those actions all help him in the end.

"Sophomore Slump or Comeback Of The Year" is both confident and insecure - trying to convince the listener that the singer is something special, but being a little too desperate about it at points. I added this one specifically for the pairing of "I'll keep singing this lie if you'll keep believing it" and "the best part of 'believe' is the lie," both of which are desperately repeated. I also appreciated the the bitter remembrance of better times: "the kids you used to love/but then we grew old."

"The (Shipped) Gold Standard" is a restless track, flipping between memories, doubts, impossible future plans, and a desire to be honest without the ability. I do hear Nadakhan's fear of vulnerability here: "I wanna scream 'I love you' from the top of my lungs/but I'm afraid that someone else'll hear me." Oh, and the whole "business of souls" bit, which occurs in a bizarrely angry section of the otherwise very smooth song - almost like the mutiny breakdown.

"From Now On We Are Enemies" is so, so much. "A downward spiral, just a pirouette/Getting worse til there's nothing left" is an apt summary of his story, for starters. Beyond that, this song is somewhere between a confession and an analysis, a self-critique, in fact. Just... go listen to this one. Seriously. Every line here works. There's desire, there's hatred, there's fear... it's delicious.

"The Music Or The Misery" is here specifically for the line "I am indifferent (yet I'm a total wreck)/I'm every cliche, but I simply do it best" as a neat nod both towards his hypocrisy at calling Jay an avoidant coward despite doing the same thing and his meta origin as a mashup of classical literary and pop culture sources.

"Jet Pack Blues" is also only here for one specific part (as well as its overall melancholic tone and church chimes). That would be the weirdly pointed "Did you ever love her? Do you know? Or did you never want to be alone?" that occurs multiple times and reminds me immensely of Jay's accusation in episode 60. Although I like to believe that Nadakhan's love for Delara was genuine (and inf act the only thing keeping him tethered at all), it's never definitively answered, and it haunts me. Was he using her? Was she using him? Was it ever real love, or was it an excuse for power? Jay was onto something, honestly.

"Pavlove" is a song with a weird, weird history. Up until very recently, the only official way to access it was to own a specific version of the album it served as a bonus track on; otherwise, piracy! Or the one YouTube listing for it. Anyway, I like the history of this song as fun nod at the limited knowledge of Nadakhan post-Skybound - he might be a historical figure, but besides Jay and Nya, nobody else has those direct memories of interacting with him so recently. This one works lyrically, too - "I want to make you as lonely as me" and "I'm not ready for a handshake with death, no" both reflect his vindictive yet terrified personality. And all the mirror imagery! And "It's three drinks too late to talk to anyone but myself" indicating his tendency to hide things? Perfection.

"So Much (For) Stardust" is "Love From The Other Side" after it's been put through an emotional wringer. If "Love..." is Nadakhan immediately post-release, "So Much..." is him watching his world collapse and realizing that maybe, just maybe, he messed up and wasted his time. It's got themes of lost confidence and insecurity, and the painful truth that sometimes, you do need to lean on others - a fact Nadakhan refuses to accept that then ends his reign. He also attempts to get back to his glory days, which is gorgeously reflected in the lyrical callback to the first track on this playlist:

In another life you were my babe In another life you were the sunshine of my lifetime What would trade the pain for? I'm not sure

I used to be a real go-getter I used to think it'd all get better

Most painfully, I love the way this song ends as a parallel to how Nadakhan's plans crumble. First, the instrumentals fade out; then, the backing vocalists, until it's just the lead singer pleading with a musical void.

"Chicago Is So Two Years Ago" is a weird, weird way to close the playlist, which means it's great that this isn't any sort of meaningful order. This a little more upbeat than other tracks here, but the themes of homesickness, avoidance, and bitter nostalgia remain. Also, this is where the title of the playlist comes from:

But there's a light on in Chicago And I know I should be home

Just remember: Chicago and Djinjago have the same number of syllables. Do with that information what you will.

#lila speaks #ninjago skybound #ninjago nadakhan #analysis freak lila back on her bullshit #Spotify

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carriagelamp · 5 months

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My internet died for about half a week this month, so I had a really peaceful few days where I had an enforced excuse to do nothing but relax and read when I got home from work. It was incredibly zen and I really sank into my books that week.

The Call of the Wild

A classic novel that I’ve always meant to read. I was sick and headachy this month and decided that this was the perfect sort of relaxing, narratively rich book to listen to. I really enjoyed it, would recommend. It follows a dog named Buck who’s snatched from his home in southern California and is shipped off to work as a sled dog in the Yukon, where a need for strong dogs to help transport goods over the snow and ice makes them very valuable. Buck has to learn how to survive in this harsh environment as everything from the weather, his fellows dogs, and his human masters seem to fight against him.

A Complicated Love Story Set In Space // How To Bite Your Neighbour and Win A Wager

Putting these two together because my experience with them was pretty similar. For both I was intrigued by the title, got them from the library on a whim, and didn’t really mesh with either. I didn’t really get far enough in either to give much of a review, they just didn’t vibe. A Complicated Love Story Set In Space set up a scenario that didn’t really interest me — not surprising, I’m picky about my scifi — and How To Bite Your Neighbour and Win A Wager just had an… odd writing style to it. It very much feels like it’s main goal is to be a kinda horny about vampires which, if that’s what you want, all the power to you, but it’s wasn't doing it for me. I had to suspend way too much disbelief for the scenario to function.

Indiana Jones and the Cup of the Vampire // Indiana Jones and the Curse of Horror Island

A pair of choose your own adventure books I found at a used book sale. I picked them up out of sheer amusement, and they were basically what I expected and paid for: cheesy 1980s adventure stories with Indiana Jones as a nominal protagonist. They were both varying degrees of improbable, ridiculous, and racist so YMMV but they were fun to play with while I was down and out on the internet front.

The Kootenay Kidnapper

Eric Wilson is a classic Canadian author who writes children’s mystery/thriller novels. I’ve never read him before and decided to remedy that. At this point I choose to withhold judgement until I read another… I’m not sure how I felt about The Kootenay Kidnapper. It had some nice descriptive language, successfully raised the tension from time to time and made me really try to piece together who the villain was, but then also had some strange dead zones as well. The whole thing read a bit like a 1990s stranger danger PSA which was also… weirdly nostalgic? But also just weird. Would try another.

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation comic v3

I continue to be a MDZS simp, this is not news.

The Radium Girls

I don’t read much nonfiction, but this book was so narrative in its writing that I seriously couldn’t put it down. Kate Moore took a historical event (the girls that were paid to paint watch dials with radium paint in the early 1900s) that had been written about in scientific and legal styles, and instead retells it with a primary focus on the girls themselves. You follow a variety of real life women over the decades and learn about the all the machinations that went into them being horrifically poisoned by radium, and how that changed the very foundation of American workplace safety. Super engaging, unspeakably appalling.

Scott Pilgrim v1/2

My brother and I started watching Scott Pilgrim Takes Off on Netflix and… wow, it is not what either of us was expecting but we are loving it. We’ve both been big Scott Pilgrim fans since the naughts. Since I haven’t reread the series in years I decided I should pick it up to help notice the differences between the original series and this new show — I have the big, coloured omnibus version, so I reread the first collection of stories which amounts to volume 1 and 2 of the original.

Scott Pilgrim is one of those comics that if you’ve somehow never read then you really need to, it’s one of my all-time favourites. It’s a story about Scott Pilgrim, a young adult who’s awkwardly trying to figure himself out, combining a coming-of-age slice-of-life with magical realism. The mysterious girl he meets, Ramona Flowers, can travel a subspace highway through Scott’s dreams — of course, don’t they teach Canadians how to do that? Huh, maybe it’s an American thing. Scott is known to be the best fighter in the province and when he defeats an enemy they explode into a pile of coins. One of the Evil Exes has Vegan Powers, and another can summon demonic back up dancers. This story just does whatever the fuck it likes and I adore it for that.

Heaven Official's Blessing v3/4

I continue to be TGCF simp, this is not— seriously, the series continues to be excellent and I only get more and more invested in not just Xie Lian and Hua Cheng, but also in the side characters that are introduced. I was thrilled to have Shi Qingxuan become a bigger player in book 4, and really liked the whole plot with the Venerable of Empty Words and Black Water. Please, someone, help this guy…

The Wind in the Willows

Another classic I had never read that I decided to pick up. It was excellent, I can see why it’s stayed so beloved over the years. Though I love a good cute-animals-in-lil-clothes-living-cute-lil-lives story, so I was an easy sell. It was much more tame than the likes of Redwall, but had a bit more going on than the likes of Brambly Hedge — it keeps you very engaged, but never raises the stakes so high that it stops feeling light and comforting. It is essentially a collection of stories that follow Mole and Rat, a pair of friends that live together on the river, through the seasons and the various misadventures they and their friends go on.

The Woman They Could Not Silence

Since I liked The Radium Girls I decided to pick up another one of Kate Moore’s books. This one follows a woman who was intentionally committed to an insane asylum by her husband, purely because she was intelligent and outspoken, refusing to be cowed to his opinions or beliefs. This story details her time in the insane asylum, the abuses that the patients suffered, and how she came to fight the laws that allowed for such abuses to be perpetuated in the first place. A fascinating read about a historical figure I had never heard about before.

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sinnohlunarfestival · 3 months

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Special Event: The Tale of the Sacred Beasts

"Is everyone seated? Then....I will tell you...the tale that lies within this book."

The tome in question had Hisuian style origins, with how it was uniquely bound and the way the characters were written on the cover -- what could be seen, anyways, beyond the luminescent paint splattering the book..

Yris called forth the other shrine maidens who would help her tell the tale. They opened up their Pokeballs and out came a team of Eeveelutions, all ready to go.

SCENE MUSIC; LISTEN TO THIS FOR AMBIANCE!

"Do you know the origins of the Zodiac? Most know the simple legend where a god calls them to a party and a clever Bidoof rides on a Bastiodon in order to get ahead of everyone. One by one until twelve arrived. This tale is similar as it calls forth the twelve you know well from our festival."

Espeon and Umbreon worked together, creating light and shadows which made the forms of the twelve spoken of.

Little Bidoof, strong Bastiodon, rebellious Luxray, swift Lopunny and more, until all twelve of the Sinnoh Zodiac were named.

"Long, long ago, Pokemon were known as magical creatures, before humanity came to understand them more and referred to them by the names they do now. They were revered as forces of nature and not to be trifled with..."

Vaporeon made water, using Hydropump and crashed it against Flareon's Flamethrower in order to create an effect similar to crashing waves and a searing hot day. A call towards nature and its prowess.

"Despite these differences, humans and Pokemon were able to co-exist."

A Leafeon steps up, making great use of its Petal Dance in conjunction with Espeon's Psychic controlling the shape and form of the flowing petals. They take on humans shapes frolicking beside flowery Pichu and Pachirisu. But then the light, the beauty and hope came crashing as an artificial darkness descended and a slow, creeping red light appeared.

"A great evil showed itself one day and the ancient world was put into chaos. A star fell from the heavens and crashed into the land."

Flareon up again, burning all the formed Pokemon and humans into dust and cinders.

"At the behest of one lone brave human, twelve Pokemon stood up against the evil that had sprung up upon Mt Coronet. One by one, they fought against this evil -- Fire, Water, Ground, Electric, Dragon and more -- these twelve encompassed so many elements and so many strengths together, that they defeated the evil and sealed it away within Mt Coronet. Each dealt one blow, in the order you all know well...."

Their forms once agains sprang up in light and shadow: Bidoof, Bastiodon, Luxray, Lopunny, Garchomp, Steelix, Rapidash, Grafarig, Ambipom, Starraptor, Houndoom, with Mamoswine dealing the fatal blow within the shadow puppetry imagery.

"For their bravery, they were named the Sacred Beasts by the Great Sinnoh. Protectors of this ancient land who band together once a year to continue sealing away Mt Coronet..."

And that was it. That was the story. It sort of ended abruptly, but the audience was at the mercy of Yris after all, and she seemed to only allow whatever information she wanted out.

The Eeveelutions return to their Pokeballs, their part in telling the tale done.

Yris looked out to those gathered here to hear more about the book that had been recovered and gave a mysterious smile.

"It is said that there are plates dedicated to each Sacred Beast, each member of the Zodiac, peppered around the base of Mt Coronet. And to disturb them means to disturb the evil slumbering within Mt Coronet to this day...where do you find them?"

"Hmmm....well this book does have a few clues, as they are hidden for safety. Of course...it's all just a story. There would be no harm in actually visiting those spots..."

"There is another tale within this book, but I think that's enough stories for today..."

#sinnohlunarfestival2024

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sapphire-heart-tippy · 10 months

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I'm not even done with the original Sapphire Heartverse fanfic (written anyway, but I know how I want it to end), and I already have ideas for the sequel, starring mine and Vanilla's son, Ramon

Okay so here's some quick info!

In case you don't know, here's the fic of how we found him

The reason the main story is called The Sapphire Heartverse is because that's my stand's name!

I think this ahem... "brief summary" covers everything

Alright, now that we have everything situated, let's go right into it!!

The original Sapphire Heartverse has two alternate endings, the good ending and the bad ending. The good ending is the canonical ending, the bad ending is what could plausibly happen if the couple didn't make it out of there alive.

I'm still debating on what to call the sequel. Something having to do with Ramon's stand Sugar Crash maybe? I'll figure it out, I might do a poll with all the different names I came up with!

Anyway, the sequel takes place 15/16 years after Vanilla and Tippy got married and found Ramon. So they're a little older, but still have the same ol' style (different designs, however).

Ramon is now a teenager, and got his stand Sugar Crash when he was about 10 years old. He's a typical edgy teenager, wearing dark eyeliner, painting his nails black, giving the finger to society. His teachers are in for a surprise when they find out that his fathers are exactly like that too. Unfortunately, Ramon gets in trouble a lot at school and might face expulsion. Vanilla and Tippy have a serious heart to heart conversation with their son. It's difficult being a teenager, but also being a teenager who has a stand and going to an all stand user school. They try to tell him that you can still defend yourself without breaking the rules and using your stand.

Vanilla and Tippy had to follow a similar rule while working at Dio's mansion. They teach him how to fight without using his stand.

Unfortunately, this doesn't end well either. Ramon defends his friend from a bully using his own fists. This doesn't sit well with the counselor. She suspends both Ramon and the bully from the school. Vanilla and Tippy go up there and end up making things worse. Now they have a reputation for being a family of delinquents.

To make things even worse, Vanilla and Tippy end up arguing a lot more because their bakery isn't making enough money to pay bills. Ramon has never seen them upset with each other before. Ramon overhears one of their arguments and they say something about how they should ask "him" for help again... Vanilla is especially nervous about this. Everything goes silent. Vanilla explains that "he" has helped them out before but he doesn't want to face "him" again.

They have no choice.... Ramon knows something is up. Over the next few days, things are more calm, but... his fathers are acting a little strange. Happier and more upbeat than usual, in a very bizarre way. Ramon goes to school and tells his friends about everything. One suggests they might be drug dealers and they're high on something. Ramon goes back home and sees his fathers cleaning up the house. They give him tickets to a concert he really wanted to go to and tell him that he can stay out as late as he wants that night.

This isn't exactly new, but... something is very off about this interaction. Ramon goes to the concert with his friends and heads home around 2am. Why would his fathers want him to stay out as late as possible? Don't they care about him anymore?

Ramon decides to sneak back in the house to see if they really are selling drugs or something... it's something even weirder.

Ramon hears 3 men laughing. One is Vanilla. One is Tippy.... and one.... is a man who sounds eerily familiar. Ramon can't quite put his finger on it, but he feels like he's heard that voice before. Ramon uses Sugar Crash to glitch into a wall and listen in on the conversation.

The mysterious man is very poised and feminine, yet super masculine and strong looking. He sips wine from a glass daintily and tells Ramon's fathers that he has been waiting for their return to Egypt for years. The man says that trouble has stricken the mansion and he would rather have it taken care of by the people he knows will fix it. Plus, the mysterious man has found somebody who might be important to Vanilla.

Vanilla is very confused by this, considering the fact nobody has ever really been important to him besides all of those who are in the house right now. The mystery man reveals that he knows somebody who is a blood relative of Vanilla. How he knows this? ... His blood tasted the same as Vanilla's....

Ramon's eyes widen and he is frozen in place with shock and fear. The man flips his blonde hair over his shoulder while speaking casually. Ramon is trembling at how equally casual his fathers are at the mention of blood drinking from this man. The man stands up and looks Ramon in the eyes... it seems.

Ramon is in between the wall, not visible to anyone, but Ramon feels like this man with piercing amber eyes, golden blonde hair, and flawless porcelain skin is staring deep into his soul. The man smiles, revealing two razor sharp canine teeth. A sudden flashback enters Ramon's mind. He has seen this man before... he just can't pinpoint when he has seen him. But the grin that man has made was the exact face he remembered. The man turns around to continue speaking to Ramon's fathers about the plan. He has recruited others for this task, including one of Vanilla's supposed relatives. They come up with a plan, but they can't just leave Ramon here by himself.

"Bring the little one with you! Where is he? I would like to see how much he's grown.... it's been what? 14 years? How old is he now? 16? My god, it's been so long since I've seen the little darling." Said the man... that's when Ramon realizes... that's him. That's the man. He hasn't aged a single day since Ramon had seen him. They tell him that he should be out at a concert with his friends. The man looks slightly disappointed. As he pours another glass of wine silently... he asks with a bit more seriousness in his tone,

"The child is a stand user... isn't he?" He swirls the wine around in his glass, "Why else would you allow him, a teenage boy, to go out and about at this unholy hour? Unless he has something to protect himself with? Hm?"

Vanilla and Tippy sullenly nods their heads and confirm.

"I told you so." The man take a drink and sets the glass down, "You know what needs to be done. Bring the boy to Egypt with you. Ice," the man gazes deep into Vanilla's eyes.

"Yes, sire?"

Sire? Ramon thinks to himself, is this guy royalty or something?

"Do what you did with your beloved. You will train him. You will work him to the bone until I find out just what his stand is capable of. Considering the fact you both are," the man uses finger quotes, " 'void dwellers', the boy might be one himself. Watch him closely."

"Yes, sire... very good, sire." Vanilla nods his head, feeling ill. The man smirks,

"You three will be my most powerful allies. Hmhmhm... Oh my my my my my..." He shakes his head, grinning and showing his full pearly white teeth, "You are not to tell him why you're there until I give you the right, do I make myself clear?"

The two men nod. The blonde man walks around, softly touching the counter. He leans in on Vanilla's ear and whispers,

"You're my favorite servant... I put my full faith in you once again."

Ice has his eyes closed, his cheeks are flushed but he resists feelings buried deep inside of him. The man touches Vanilla's right bang,

"Hm... you never decided to let it grow out, hm, Ice?" He chuckles and releases Ice. "Oh and.... Jonathan says hi... hmhmhm." After a while, the mystery man leaves.

Ramon is terrified. He's going to Egypt but his fathers are hiding some sort of dark secret from him...

What the hell is going on?!

(to be actually written one day!!)

#sapphire heartverse #sapphire heartverse fanfic #ramón cabrera ice jjba oc #tipvans #tw drug mention

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justapillowpetpanda · 18 days

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'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire' review: Kaiju Meets Camp

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is a movie packed with thrilling action and cringe-worthy dialogue, as two iconic Titans team up. A majority of the film proves how much fun there is to be had by combining kaiju action with camp. Once again at the helm is director Adam Wingard. The film stars Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, Kaylee Hottle, Alex Ferns, and Fala Chen. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is now in theaters and IMAX.

Credit: Warner Bros. Legendary Pictures pits the almighty Kong and the fearsome Godzilla against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence—and our own. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire delves further into the histories of these Titans and their origins, as well as the mysteries of Skull Island and beyond while uncovering the mythic battle that helped forge these extraordinary beings and tied them to humankind forever. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqrpMRDuPfc

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Review

Whenever a new kaiju-style film is unleashed for audiences to consume, there are bound to be those who want the genre to follow the same style each time. Legendary and Toho won’t develop the same Godzilla film and that’s completely fine. Not all of their films stand the test of time with some being more cringe than camp.

Credit: Warner Bros. I miss being excited like a little kid for the movie theaters. The absence of over-the-top blockbuster thrills has been rough. Listen, I could easily be that critic who speaks to you like you have no authority in what constitutes “good entertainment”, but I’ve met those people and I never wish to be like them. I loved the parts of this film that brought a unique perspective into the kaiju territory. This story had a lot of heart and embraced the campy parts that naturally come with enormous titans and monsters being involved.

Credit: Warner Bros. In an interesting twist, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire had a lot of accessibility in how the story was told. Discussing the film with my partner, a long-time kaiju fan, after seeing it on the big screen was enlightening. They pointed something out to me about the potential accessibility for the deaf community with this film. Although I lack experience living life without hearing, this thought is significant. There’s something so important in the facial expressions and small details in storytelling whether between the actors or the ginormous apes. It speaks to the very essence of humanity when these aspects of a film are done well because they signal to storytellers how to move forward with their craft. Godzilla vs Kong: The New Empire was a visually stunning film that utilized the setting of Hollow Earth to its fullest potential. Hollow Earth helped expand the story and its design was gorgeous. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-H52B3rFik Leaving the theater, I kept focusing on how campy Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire was and how much better it made the experience. If they had gone for something soaked in dread and dramatics, it wouldn’t have the same impact. I fell in love with the story that was written for Hottle’s character, Jia. Some of the dialogue felt rushed, being thoughtful in one moment and then cringe-inducing in another. The dialogue may have not been fantastic, but it was decent enough for this type of film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oboOTop0KL0 The lack of explanation for the main characters from previous films being absent has been a common theme in these Godzilla and Kong films from Legendary. At this point, I can understand it won’t be magically fixed, and we won’t necessarily know where past characters have gone. In a film like this, you have to truly suspend any disbelief because not much with make sense outside of basics (gravity, government secrets, etc). While that happens a bunch with these films, there were some slight missteps regarding simplifying some of the explanations or scenes explaining more detailed mechanics of Hollow Earth. This is not a perfect film, but then again those can be a rarity. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is a kaiju blockbuster filled with memorable moments, gorgeous designs, fantastic cinematography, and full of camp that evokes the era of kaiju being ridiculous men in costumes crushing miniature towns.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Review:

7/10

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#Godzilla #godzillaxkong #godzillaxkongthenewempire #kaiju #kingkong #legendaryfilms #moviereview #review

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tilbageidanmark · 1 month

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Movies I watched this week (#167)

(I've gone overboard again this week!)...

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'A spectre is haunting Europe, the spectre of communism...'

The Young Karl Marx is my second film by Haitian Raoul Peck (After his 4-part documentary about colonialism 'Exterminate all the Brutes'). An historical German biography about the birth of the labor movement, with lengthy discussions of the political theories of the time. It's so refreshing to experience an unapologetic look at the revolutionary ideology of class struggle, improving and uniting the impoverished workers and taking down the exploiting bourgeoisie. Vicky Krieps is lovely as Marx's sexy and supportive wife. 7/10.

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Chan is missing, my 3rd by indie filmmaker Wayne Wang (After 'Smoke' and 'The Joy Luck Club'). Made for $20,000, this detective story was his solo directorial debut, and the first 'important' film about "ABC"s ('American Born Chinese') and other Asians living in Chinatown. I lived in San Francisco in the later 80s, and this brings back very fond memories to a long-forgotten time.

🍿

2 by Tricia Cooke:

🍿 Tricia Cooke is an editor, who worked on many of the Coen Brothers' films (together with "Roderick Jaynes"). She's also been married to Ethan Coen for 30 years (in an open, "non-traditional" marriage, according to Wikipedia).

Drive away dolls, the new comedy was written by her and husband Ethan, but without brother Joel. It's a "Lesbian road trip", in the raunchy tradition of 'Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!' and 'Bad Girls Go to Hell'. Andie MacDowell's foxy daughter is a free-spirit just looking for uncommitted, good time, but eventually falls in love with her girlfriend Marian. The romantic scene when it finally happens plays well to Linda Ronstadt's Blue Bayou background (but then, anything would!). The first 10 minutes were a bit confusing, but once they started driving, it got funnier (especially with the UNG soccer team 'basement party', and the Big Lebowski-style dream sequence). With time, it will earn its higher place at the Coen cultish pantheon.

"Who are you?"... "Democrats"...

🍿 Eve, (2008) an unexpectedly poignant story, Natalie Portman's directorial debut. A young woman visit her very old grandmother Lauren Bacall, only to intrude on her romantic dinner with very old beau Ben Gazzara. With score by Sufjan Stevens. 7/10.

/ Female Director

🍿

"...I'll see you in my dreams..."

First watch: First season of Twin Peaks. I've seen 4 of David Lynch's surreal films before ['Blue Velvet', 'The Elephant Man', 'Wild at Heart' and 'Mulholland Drive'] and none of these made me a fan. But I like to keep an open mind, so I gave this, his most popular work, a try. However, like many old classics you see for the first time many years after their production date, its charms were completely lost on me. I can see what a radical breakthrough it was for network television in 1990, but today it feels like the antics of a straight-forward Soap Opera with an added, pretentious 'quirk' to every move and character. The coffee fetishism, the dancing midgets and log ladies, the absurd police procedural, the eclectic twists and supernatural dreams. With every episode I hated it more. The mystery of who killed whom, or the obviousness of everybody sleeping with everybody else, were utterly uninteresting. I really wanted to like it, but after 6 arduous episodes, I had to just admit that it's not for me. 2/10.

But I always loved Angelo Badalamenti's theme, and I often listen to it on loop.

🍿

"I feel so low that I could get on stilts and walk under a dachshund"

It (1927), my first silent film with the original 'Manic Pixie Dream Girl', Clara Bow. "It" being basically sex appeal. Pre-Code, sassy and cheesy. This version is 'Colorized'.

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"You notice things when you pay attention", and “We won’t be like them”.

Another frequent re-watch of my most cherished romance film, In the Mood for Love, with incomparable couple Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung. Her sad beauty, in these exquisite high-collar Qipao, and unrequited longings, are etched on my heart. With 2 different musical themes, the famous 'Yumeji's waltz', and the Nat 'King' Cole Spanish Boleros: I want to find an analysis of when and why each one was used. The 3rd act was unbearably sad. And what is exactly the meaning of the Cambodian coda? 10/10. ♻️

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4 Winning and Nominated Shorts from Last Night's Oscars (plus 11 more):

🍿 The Last Repair Shop - deservedly - won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short this year. (Video Above). A quiet story about a shop that maintains and repairs the 80,000 musical instruments used by students of the Los Angeles school district. It's about mending broken things so they can be whole again, performed by people who were also broken, but are now whole.

Similar and even better than the 2017 Oscar nominee Joe's Violin. One of the best films I've seen so far this year! 10/10.

🍿 The previous short directed by Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers was the wonderful A Concerto Is a Conversation, about jazz pianist Kris Bowers' relationship with his grandfather. Nominated in 2021. 9/10.

🍿 The Queen of Basketball was another Ben Proudfoot short which won an Oscar in 2021. Their trade in stock is a well-told emotional human interest angle. This one is about a black woman who was college basketball superstar in the 1970's. Heart-warming.

🍿 Proudfoot's 2021 Almost Famous: The First Report told the story of a Louisiana reporter who broke the story of the Catholic church sex abuse scandal, but who did it in the 1980's. He was too early, and eventually got a mention in 'Spotlight'.

🍿 War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John and Yoko, a lovely alternate World War One animated short about two soldiers from the opposite sides playing long distance chess with the help of a carrier pigeon. Won this year’s animated short.

Also, Dave Mullins previous story, Lou (2017), another Oscar nominated Pixar pre-feature item. It's about an anthropomorphic Lost & Found Chest, at a school yard identical to the one Adora used to go to her first 6 years. 7/10 and better than many of the later Pixar shorts.

🍿 The ABCs of Book Banning was nominated in 2023, but did not win. It features intelligent kids of 7-15 questioning the mass removal of books from schools and libraries, mostly about race, women and LGBT topics. Knowledge is power and the American Nazis who ban books have their eyes on much bigger prizes.

/ Female Director

🍿Island in Between, another terrific nominee from this year, about the Taiwanese islands of Kinmen. Made by a Taiwanese filmmaker, who reflects on his family relationship to china, Taiwan and the USA. Got me to listen to the songs of Teresa Teng again.

🍿3 by Jay Rosenblatt: "What do you want to do when you grow up? What are you afraid of? What is power? What are dreams? What is most important to you?" Nominated for the 2022 Oscars, How Do You Measure a Year? hit me very hard. New father Jay Rosenblatt started recording his daughter on her 2nd birthday, asking her about her life, and continued doing it every birthday until she was 18. My Adora Project didn't end so positively. Another 💯 score on Rotten Tomatoes. 10/10.

🍿 In Jay Rosenblatt's 1998 Human Remains, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Franco and Mao share details about their intimate lives, what they like to eat and drink, their sexual preferences and bowel movements, likes and dislikes. Personally banal.

🍿 When We Were Bullies, a third reenactment by documentarian Jay Rosebnblatt, about a personal incident from his elementary school days, when he and others bullied a classmate. It gives some unpleasant ‘This American life’ vibes, but ends tenderly with a simple “I’m sorry”.

🍿 The Elephant Whisperers won the 2022 Documentary short with 💯 score on Rotten Tomatoes. An Indian 'Animal Planet' style story about an indigenous couple, caretakers of baby elephants at a large national park and elephant reserve. I wish it was me.

A couple of hundred years ago, most of the world was the space where animals lived, tigers, elephants, birds, monkeys. Then humans killed them all and took their place.

/ Female Director

🍿 The girl and the tsunami is an Argentinian animation about a 12-year-old Chilean girl who saved her island community in the 2010 tsunami.

🍿 Snif & Snüf, a little geometrical animation, by a guy who worked on 'Bojack Horseman'. It's a similar concept to Břetislav Pojar's Czeck award-winning Balablok from 1972, where squares and circles fight to the death.

🍿

Jim Jarmusch/Tom Waits/Rosie Perez X 2:

🍿 "Tasty Porcinis..."

Re-watch: The Dead Don't Die, his slow, absurdist apocalyptic comedy about flesh eatin' Coffee Zombies. Full of meta-connections and allusions to a cinematic universe: Sam Fuller, Cliff Robertson, Patterson, George Romero, and breaking the fourth wall ("Jim gave me the whole script!")

An ensemble piece with a special 'Thank you': 'Would anyone object if I gave credit to Atilla Yücer?' Such a Jarmusch thing to do! ♻️

🍿 Night on Earth (1991) is an anthology about 5 unrelated taxi drivers in 5 different cities, and the clients they pick on the same night. I found it irritating, and the rides in Los Angeles, New York, Paris and Roma couldn't end fast enough. But the last story which took place in Helsinki, as the morning was about to break, was sad and powerful. Jarmusch was a friend of Aki Kaurismäki, and this influence might have helped.

🍿

Craig Ferguson X 2:

🍿 “Congratulations, Mr. Stuart. You are tonight’s lucky Scotsman.”

Saving Grace, an well-written, well-played and funny stoner comedy, about middle aged widow Brenda Blethyn whose irresponsible husband left her in an enormous debt, forcing her to grow marijuana in her greenhouse along with her pot-loving gardener Craig Ferguson to avoid losing her large country house in Cornwall. 7/10.

🍿 I’ll be there (2003) was the only film Ferguson's wrote and directed (and rather competently). A sentimental but enjoyable story of an aging has-been rock star who discovers that brilliant teenage singer Charlotte Church is a daughter he didn't know he had. A different slant on my favorite theme from 'After the Wedding'. It ends with a perfect 'Happy End' when she sings 'Summertime' on a stage, whose lyrics sums up very nicely the whole movie.

🍿

I watched Larry David's Clear history last week, but I felt like laughing at it again. David is such an unbearable asshole, but it was a solid comedy. Now I'm considering seeing 'The Fountainhead' with Gary Cooper, which is mentioned as part of the joke.♻️

🍿

"Those aren't pillows!..."

After seeing again the "I want a fucking car" clip, a re-watch: Planes, Trains and Automobiles, the classic Thanksgiving dramedy with the classic 'Odd couple' plot. ♻️

🍿

René Laloux, who directed the amazing 'La Planète sauvage', followed it up with another psychedelic, experimental movie. Together with bandes dessinées artist Moebius, they did Time Masters in 1982. I had a very hard time with this worthless science fiction story. Except of a few sparks of visual poetry here and there, it was more like a terrible, boring 'Time Wasters'. 1/10.

🍿

I watched the super-light French comedy My Best Friend's Girl from 1983, but only because it features a young Isabelle Huppert. She plays a sexy, promiscuous temptress, who seduces 2 best friends at a ski-resort, so much so, that they both go crazy over her. Nothing wrong with some frothy ménage à trois, as she was glamorously prancing in revealing negligees for most of the time, but this was terribly-written and unwatchably juvenile. 1/10.

At least, I discovered this recording of Nirvana's 'My best Friend's Girl'.

🍿

Throw-back to the "Art project”:

“War is Over” Adora.

🍿

(My complete movie list is here)

#movies #the last repair shop #oscars

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hectormcfilm · 5 months

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ATTACK ON TITAN RANKINGS

Despite only recently writing a 5000 word analysis of all 4 seasons of this exceptional TV show I’m not done talking about it. Since I have fully reviewed the show and given my opinions on its highs and lows I now want to take some time to deeper analyse the openings and the music.

I mentioned the music briefly in my main review, claiming I didn’t think season 4’s music was as good as the first 3 seasons mainly because Sawano’s soundtrack is just unrivalled in the anime industry. Attack on Titan easily has the best music in anime history, having in my opinion the third greatest soundtrack in Television, only just behind Game of Thrones and Succession. Attack on Titan’s music manages to combine tracks of pure unbridled excitement and hype, songs made for intense and action and thrills with unbelievably emotional and well written lyricism spanning three different languages. The best pieces of music throughout the show for me are: YouSeeBigGirl T:T, Apple Seed, Before lights out, Ashes on the Fire, Barricades, Cost of Freedom, Vogel im Kafig, Beast Titan, Zero Eclipse and so many more. I listen to this soundtrack non-stop.

7. Jiyuu no Tsubasa

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The second of opening of the show is the only opening I dislike, everything else even if it is low down on my rankings is of a high standard and has a lot of great qualities. This opening I just find very dull and repetitive, it doesn’t capture the same excitement of the first opening but also doesn’t reach the beauty of some of the later ones. The lyrics are all pretty standard, the chorus is triumphant but doesn’t compare to any of the others for the levels of hype. Visually this one has the repetitive style of an image fading over another, most the images not really meaning anything, it also uses a lot of CGI which I’m really not a fan of. This opening just isn’t as vibrant or exciting as the others and is overall forgettable, reflecting how this section of the story is also the most forgettable.

6. The Rumbling

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This opening has become very popular in the fandom but I don’t completely understand the hype, I think it is a pretty good opening but I have some problems. To start with I simply prefer the WIT art style and think it works better for openings, secondly I am not a big fan of heavy metal music so this song is very much no my style, I also don’t think the part of the song used is the best part. Despite saying that I enjoy the visuals a lot, especially the shots of each Titan shifter very desaturated, cutting between them and their titan. I also love the shot of Ymir floating and flashing as the tree flickers in the background. Overall it fits with the tone of the ending arc very well.

5. Red Swan

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This is where I think all the opening become amazing, this one is easily the most emotional opening. I really like the song and appreciate it uniqueness to the others, being more slow and profound compared to the usual hype. Visually I like seeing the characters reflecting on their younger years and especially adore the shot of young Eren bashing into his older self. However, I simply don’t think this opening has as much to offer as the ones above it since it doesn’t create the same instantly recognisability and passion.

4. Shinzo Wo Sasageyo

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This is easily the opening which creates the most mystery, showing the Titan’s face within the wall and having the sequence of the best Titan running with multiple animals and a dinosaur, completely confusing the audience as it its origin. Similarly, it gives lots of subtle hints towards certain twists like Reiner and Bertolt not being part of the triumphant team line up. This opening also has the most impressive piece of action, having the scouts charging Titans on horses, then seeing Mikasa and Eren lunge in the air, Mikasa grabbing Eren spinning him and throwing him as he transforms, its unbelievably impressive and gorgeously animated.

3. Shoukei to shikabane no michi

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This is definitely the most underrated and underappreciated opening, I have lots of bias towards it as it takes place during the Return to Shiganshina, my favourite arc but even without bias think its exceptional. The use of colour in this opening is striking, the sky and borders have an intense green and blue colour palette, with some rainbow effects as well making the opening feel like a painting. This also has lots of hints towards the reveals later in the season and I love the reverse technique used in the end, taking the audience back to the basement. This is also my most listened to song out of any Attack on Titan opening, I love the raw excitement it creates.

2. My War

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When this opening first released I wasn’t a big fan, I didn’t like how different and almost unrelated it seemed however over the past two years my appreciation for this opening has grown exponentially and this and no.1 are very interchangeable for me I adore them both. This opening is easily the most atmospheric and mysterious, giving the least away and not even showing any characters faces. The completely white background and lack of details add a disorientating and confusing effect reflecting the horror and confusion of war. The contrast between the vibrant multi-coloured explosions almost appearing like fireworks to the blank backgrounds is visually striking. The music is also so haunting, sounding like a children’s nursery rhyme at first but combined with some electronic elements, screaming and rock, creating an idea of destroyed innocence, it is brilliant. Finally the ending shot of Eren’s titan looking like a beautiful sculpture is just perfect. Similarly, the way every human and living creature is a lifeless statue who’s animation style contrast the background creates an effectively disturbing atmosphere.

1. Guren no yimiya

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Despite this being the first opening it stays the best, there is definitely some nostalgia and bias in this decision but the first opening is just undeniably amazing, turning into one of the most iconic and beloved openings of all time. The music is perfectly exciting, the visuals introducing every aspect of the worldbuilding, illustrating how terrifying and imposing the titans are as well as how impressive the ODM gear is. This also has the best climax of any opening building up the Eren killing a titan, creating a mini narrative within an opening which is very impressive. I just love this opening pure and simple.

#Youtube

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biggest-gaudiest-patronuses · 3 years

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actually since sherlock holmes is in the public domain there is nothing preventing all you fanfic writers from publishing & selling. i want someone to traditionally publish a new collection of mystery stories where holmes & watson are canonically banging

#no listen. i want them to be MYSTERY stories written in the original style #same writing style. similar plots. it's a mystery driven story very similar to the originals #but holmes & watson are married. and it's just treated as a side detail #maybe with a single smut scene thrown in just bc i think it'd be funny #i would buy a copy

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pebblysand · 2 years

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[FEBRUARY ‘22] - THE LIFE/WRITING UPDATE NO ONE ASKED FOR (AND SOME QUICK LINKS)

happy february everyone! i hope you’re all doing well. i had a very good january actually, full of skiing holidays, general catching up with friends, chilling, ect. as you’ll see below, i didn’t do much reading/writing this month, but i think we all deserve a holiday, every once in a while :)

Anyway, before diving into more life/writing updates, here are some quick links to different blog pages you might not see on mobile :

FIC MASTERLIST

FIC RECS

WRITING ADVICE

ORIGINAL PIECES

OPINION PIECES & ASKS

FINANCIALLY SUPPORT MY WRITING (thank you!)

[NOTE: i am currently not accepting prompts]

Castles (chap 11) ETA: man, i don’t know. i haven’t touched the file since putting out last chapter, sorry.

links extended a/n-s: chapter v ; chapter vi & vii ; chapter viii ; chapter ix ; chapter x

[more life/writing updates under the cut]

WHAT I’M READING:

books:

i'm almost done (as in 26-pages-left) with enfant de salaud. i considered trying to finish it specifically for this post but this little thing called time got the best of me today. i'll talk about it more at length in next month's post but generally, it's a powerful book, but not my favourite from this author. i'm aiming to finish this one and get through 1984 on my kindle this month, but as i explained in last month's post, i'm not holding my breath on my reading anymore at this stage.

fics:

i’m still reading: knowing where to look by ala_baguette and still enjoying it. aside from that, i honestly haven’t touched anything since last december, my tbr is getting longer and longer - i really need to get back into the groove. i’m currently sort of looking for some seamus/dean content, something that would be a bit deep and interesting and my vibe? if anyone has recs in store, let me know.

WHAT I’M WATCHING:

it’s funny, after months and months of watching almost nothing i enjoyed throughout the pandemic, i’m finally back in action with tv shows. i really missed the enthusiasm that a good show can bring. also the next season of peaky blinders is coming up in february (for the love of god let them give us the release date goddamn it), so i’m very excited for that.

in the meantime, here’s what i watched in january:

dexter, new blood: forget everything i said last month. don’t watch it. no need. no fucking point. i’m so mad. i don’t even want to talk about it.

stay close: as a writer myself, i have so much love and admiration for harlan coben and for the way he’s managed to develop a style of writing and fiction that is so recognisable. i basically grew up on his crime fiction and i turned on stay close not knowing it was one of his shows, and within five minutes, i was like “oh, this was written by harlan coben, wasn’t it?” it’s a good show, the actors are good, the characters interesting. it’s not the best crime drama i’ve ever watched, but i was definitely hooked. hc has a very specific way to drop in details and clue in his viewers/readers trying to find out whodidit/whathappened and i’m usually so used to his fiction i’ve gotten pretty decent at catching the hints (hello, safe), but here i couldn’t figure it out until almost the end. overall, a very good show if you’re into crime dramas.

mare of easttown: i’d added this to my to watch list after listening to the my dad wrote a porno podcast because they were promoting it and honestly, it’s a beautiful show. i watched it with my mum and we both really loved it. kate winslet is virtually unrecognisable in it, and all the characters just have so much depth and struggle and will to live. this is also built on a murder mystery and i kind of saw the final twist coming from miles away, but i also feel like the crime story is a bit of a subplot in the show, second to the relationships and the character development, which are absolutely incredible. watch this if you like strong, atypical, female characters, faithful depictions of female friendships, and stories about grief.

rules of the game: this is for all my silk fans out there, as it’s maxine peake’s newest venture. it’s … good? fine? i watched it all on sunday evening (it’s only 4 episodes); i’d read rather bad reviews going in so i was a bit worried, but i kind of see what happened to this show, now. on the plus side, it tackles a lot of themes i’m interested in (workplace sexual harrassment, the #metoo movement, mental health, etc.) and has a lot of decent actors in it. one thing i really enjoyed was that they put a lot of attention to tiny details of women’s “everyday” lives. for example, one of the characters struggles with substance abuse following a sexual assault, and at her first na meeting, a member of staff welcomes her, says “we’re all family, and everyone’s very nice. just stay away from the old creepy men who want you to explore all the twelve steps with you alone.” and it’s very cleverly treated as a joke in the series, but there’s such an underlying theme of “jesus christ, the patriarchy really is everywhere” that i thought was very cleverly done. i also loved the way they tried to explore the idea of how women themselves, who have been victims of predatory behaviours, can also become accomplices, and hos the world’s not all black and white around this issue. this being said, as i’ve read in many other reviews, the main issue with this series is that there is a planet-sized gap between maxine peake’s acting and a) the rest of the cast and, b) the general plausibility of the plot. her portrayal of the main character is just so good, and the rest of the show is just so meh, with so many cliches and incoherences, that it creates a weird inadequacy in the story. she carries the whole show on her shoulders, but she can’t possibly fix all of its problems. there is so much struggle, subtlety, humour, tragedy in her character and her acting is just so much better than everyone else’s, that all the other characters come out incredibly bland. the general plot of the show is also rather cliche - i sort of wish they’d have done this over 6/8 episodes rather than 4, i feel like they’d have been able to explore the complexities of the themes more. overall, though, if you’re a maxine fan like me, i’d definitely give it a go.

i also watched the hp reunion at the beginning of the month which brought so much joy and fluffy feelings to my heart. i loved it. i’m also one-and-a-half series into smother, which is an irish crime show - series two is airing on rte right now so i’ll probably do a full review next month. i’ve also started euphoria and … i don’t really get the hype? like, i might finish it, i might not, and i don’t know if it’s because i’m too old for it. i’ve seen a lot of “adults” say the show had too much sex/drugs in it which shocked a lot of people, but tbh, i don’t really care about that. my main issue with this show is that the characters are so fucking bland and the plot is so fucking sloooooow. i feel like i’m literally slugging through, like every bloody episode is the exact same (though, you could make the point that teenage life is incredibly repetitive, as i remember it) and at the end of the day, i wouldn’t care much if the main character actually did od. the webcam girl plot is funny and interesting but not very new, and neither is the ***spoiler alert never saw that one coming*** secretly gay football quarterback jock, haven’t we seen that story a million times? i genuinely feel like the only interesting character (and the reason i’ve stuck with the show so far) is the trans character portrayed by hunter schafer, whose acting and complexity is so much above everyone else’s. i’m mildly interested in her and couldn’t give a fuck about everyone else, so i’m not sure how long i’m going to stick with this just for her, if i’m honest. it’s a good show to watch… while staring at your phone half the time. look up every couple of minutes and you won’t have missed much except a dick pic or two and really, i don’t need more dick pics in my life, thanks.

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO:

i’ve been on a the kooks binge all month as i went to see their gig last saturday and wanted to remind myself of their songs beforehand. the gig was honestly one of the highlights of my month - they played all the old classics like seaside and naive, and the room was buzzing with excitement - i think it was most people’s first post-pandemic gig. i’m going to see the dandy wharols in london in a couple of weeks so i need to get onto their playlist now, haha.

WHAT I’M WRITING:

as i said above and kind of anticipated last month, i took january off writing. i was really tired at the start of the month, then i got a cold, then went on holidays, then tried and failed to do something about one of my best friend’s asshole, abusive boyfriend, and my mental health hasn’t honestly been the best.

however, the @thethreebroomsticksficfest is having another fest in march, for which i am going to try and finish that seamus/dean fic i’ve had sleeping on my hard drive since last june. this has postponed castles plans a bit as i’m not sure i’ll have time to work on both this month, but that means you should at least see something new come out on my end soon-ish.

WHAT I’M DOING:

man, so many things have happened/are happening this month. for one, i’ve quit my job and moving onto a different one next month, with about three full weeks of freedom in between. with that time i intend to 1) write, 2) get through my never-ending list of errands and life admin shit i’ve been putting off the past few months and 3) i need to do a lot of painting work on my apartment which definitely needs a refresh. as i’ve mentioned, i’m also going to london for a long weekend (any recs welcome!) and starting my new creative writing class TONIGHT - for which i am so bloody nervous; for real, i can’t deal. oh, and i’ve gotten totally, completely, and wholeheartedly addicted to wordle. i have a feeling this break is going to pass in the blink of an eye.

sadly, as an end note, i’d also like to dedicate this post to a kind, loving and funny french bulldog named boris, who passed away very suddenly at the age of three, just a few days ago. boris was one of my best friend’s dog, and one of the bestest boy i knew. i saw him grow up, hung out almost every day for the first year of his short life, and have remained very close since. although boris wasn’t my dog, i’m just incredibly heartbroken over this, and of course, so is his human. my little boy, i don’t necessarily believe in heaven for us humans, but i do reckon there has to be a dog heaven somewhere. you all are too perfect not to. so, i hope you make loads of friends there (don’t growl too much at the other boys, please, there’s enough girls for you all), get all your favourite beds and tug toys, and buckets of those cashew nuts you used to love. here on earth, we all miss you terribly. i know that wherever you are, you can see how sad your mamma is, and i know you wish you could cuddle in next to her. we’ll help her through this, like you helped us through so much. sleep tight my love.

lots of love,

pebblysand.

#february 22 #monthly post

11 notes · View notes

jaeminscoffee · 3 years

Text

The midnight man | l.ty

Pairing- Lee Taeyong x reader

Mentions- Lee Donghyuck, Na Jaemin, Liu YangYang, Nakamoto Yuta, Seo Johnny, Kim Doyoung, Ten Lee, Lee Dong Wook.

Genre- Horror!au, angst, crack, part fluff.

Warning(s)- Evil entity!Taeyong, Manipulation, Major character death (lmao you'll actually punch yourself towards the end), sexual themes suggested, impulsive decision making, talks with religion.

Word count- 11.83k

Synopsis- 'Lust though pleasurable, innocent and vice, thee shall stay loyal to thy partner regardless of wants. To betray thy partner is to deceive thy people and hence the kingdom. Thou shall pay for thy soul shall remain wandering, driven by the desires but, shall not be able to feel the human love thou took for a grain of salt. And all who shall follow thy steps shall face the same wrath.'

@kpopscape

This story is pure work of fiction and therefore doesn't speak about the mentioned members' personality in real life. I, in no manner, am trying to encourage hate speech towards the members so please don't come at me. This story was written using a mix of a bunch of urban legends and few made up by myself and therefore it isn't going to be spoken about the same way as it is in google. I also worked really hard on this piece and it's by far, the longest story I've written so feedbacks would mean a lot!, also it could get a little boring since i took time to focus on the side characters too. Make sure not to repost my works and sign it off as your own because that's a little disheartening and mockful towards the writer. So all credits reversed to @jaeminscoffee 2020©®

If anyone here doesn't know the story behind the midnight game, then read on! Because I've described it throughout the story! Happy reading!

29/10, Thursday, 10:57PM

"We need to do something this halloween man, Y/n come on!"

Your friends all collectively whined as you constantly kept rejecting their proposal.

Halloween is bullshit. It's overhyped and in all honesty, childish. You'd rather prefer staying home than go house to house and make a fool out of your existence. Not to mention you were all past the age of trick or treating. And to add on top of that came all the sugar rush you'd all go through at the end of the day. "For the last time, Hyuck we're not dressing up like crewmates and going trick or treating. I've got other things to do for the love of god" you grunt, rubbing the scrunched up skin to soothe the pain at the temples. University has been acting up again and so has life. "If your 'other things to do' is binge watch high school musical then no, you have no other better things to do" Yangyang bites back.

"It's just, I don't feel like it anymore, alright? It feels too weird going out asking for candies when we're all literally 19 and above. It's time to up the notch." you say, plopping down.

When Haechan called for an emergency meeting in pure 'among us' style back at the guys' dorm, you'd expected it to be about something along the lines of having to console Jaemin or someone for having been stood up on a date. What you didn't expect was to have the boys prepare an entire presentation on who'd dress up as what character from among us and who'd be the impostor, do a little play and then say 'red is sus' and then ask for candies. What made it worse was that you thought they were just pulling a prank on you when in all reality, they were dead serious which made you go, 'oh, oh they aren't pretending to be stupid, they're just in their original form.'

"It won't be that bad, doll. It's a genius plan if you ask me" Jaemim chirped in on the conversation finally after looking back and forth between you, Donghyuck and Yangyang caught up in a meaningless fight. "I don't see how any of this is genius, Jaem. If this plan's anything, it's stupid." You pull out your phone after making your way all the way to the headboard of Jaemin's bed. "How about we try out one of these creepy pasta games?" Yuta finally spoke up. Jaemin's brother, an early graduate, senior and of course a dear friend of yours. Yuta, despite the age difference between your classmates and you, had little to no trouble blending in with the tiny group of yours. Probably the only one who didn't behave like a toddler and the most sane one according to you. Yuta's been an amazing planner since junior year where you first met Jaemin, Yangyang and Donghyuck who then proceeded to introduce you to their senior friend group that consists of Yuta, Johnny, Doyoung; Donghyuck's cousin and Ten. You guys had a friendship the entire campus was envious of. But two year after you getting into the university, the seniors had to graduate. But that didn't stop all your bonds from staying as strong as ever. Not even after Ten got his posting in a town a little far away from the one you guys lived in. The distance didn't change anything between you guys and you were as close as you could ever get.

"Creepypasta?" Donghyuck inquired, looking straight at the guy who aimlessly scrolled down the screen of his device as Yuta didn't even bother looking up while passing the confused boy a nod. Sitting up cross legged from his previous side sitting posture, Yuta showed his phone screen to Donghyuck, who immediately got surrounded by the other two while you stare at the oldest in the room, slightly intrigued by the idea. "Creepypasta's like these horror-related legends that have been copied and pasted around the Internet by people who're too bored for their own sake." you explain as Haechan took the phone out of Yuta's hand who agreed to your explanation. "I read some sick games that I kinda wanna try out and see for myself," he said, looking at you with expectations and then the rest who seemed too immersed in surfing the website.

"Yuta, you of all people should know better than to think all these made up crap's real" you say nonchalantly.

Yuta's a huge skeptic, and so were you. Which is why you got along really well despite the mentioned age gap. The night gatherings back at the boy's dormitory or the girls (in this case, girl, yours) would always end up in narration of on spot made up stories of all genre, mostly horror because apparently according to Jaemin 'Rom-com's overhyped, sci-fi won't be fun when you narrate it out loud, mystery can easily turn boring, comedy, meh i guess, but a good horror story narrated properly, -yes, like you, Haechan- while adding jumpscares here and there could actually result in y'all being too scared to use the bathroom on your own'. And yeah, you'd startle here and there but the stories weren't believable enough for you to actually be scared. On the other hand, Haechan and Jaemin were scaredy cats. Literal toddler's who're so gullible, you could literally tell them there was an alien invasion news flash two minutes ago and they'd be hiding under their bed. And then there's Yangyang, he just doesn't care. He goes along with the plans solely for the fun of it and for the other's' (Haechan and Jaemin) reaction. "That's the point. I don't" he shuffled around to shift closer to you,

"Which is exactly why i want to try them out"

Maybe it's the feline that crossed over his body, maybe it was the fact that his spirit just wasn't ready to leave the human realm yet. Maybe it's the mourning of his family or maybe it's him himself knowing full too well his potential was truly wasted due to the fast departure. Whatever it was, his spirit was definitely made restless.

The world is a cruel place where harsh actions are always sugar coated by honey like words. It's how he knew the doings of his people were wrong that made him disappointed. The practices of the people, his people, were stupid, meaningless and only harmful to the human kind. They fend off the satisfaction of their almighty even if that means that there needs to be sacrification of their loved ones, their nemesis, or them themselves. And it was his ancestors fault for starting all these practices.

Passed down generations from generations was the curse put on the first of their bloodline by the princess he'd defied to go out and be ruthless by disregarding his duties as a husband, a father, a member of the royal courts and as a human being.

Lee Dong Wook. The root of all evil, the main reason the males of the family line faced the same wrath as him, all cursing at him but one namely enjoying his role. The pagans, dating back to the roman times era had a very, let's say, interesting method of punishing. The said lords they'd worship, the people following the religions had a strong belief that nature is sacred and that the natural cycles of birth, growth and death observed in the world around us carry profoundly spiritual meanings. Gods and goddesses of life, or say, death or anything else that exists beyond life and death, they believed in all.

The doings of his ancestors started off innocent. Sacrifices to the lords of goodness and tranquility, a peaceful life by the towns and outskirts, forgiveness for wrong doings and of course, happiness. It's how any religious rituals would go about and all were happy until the said betrayer of the group came in with that curse of his. 'The doings of his shall be repented for all the men following shall be the one paying it,'

At first glance when the man returned back to his royals, there were little to no suspicions of a curse being casted on him. He seemed normal to his family, his people except for the occasional forcing people to do something they despised. And it wasn't just the men of the family instead, it was all. But mostly the men, unless the same sin were to be committed by the females. Obscure behaviors have been asked to follow starting exactly at midnight to the witch's hour be it hurting your loved one, your enemy, doing sinful things, allowing self to get manipulated and mostly, shortening their own life time in the human realm. It was all unexplainable. Why was he asking people to do things like this but most of all, why are they even listening to him?

It wasn't until they discovered that Dong Wook, for one, was never the one who returned home. On a second note, he, 'Dong Wook' mainly only targeted the men whose doings were similar to his that was fueled by the same sin that had him going. Which only remained undiscovered. The curse was unbeknownst to all still, Dong Wook himself remained undiscovered. Or proposed by the elders of the community, his body remained undiscovered while his spirit roamed restless among the people.

The pagan romanticists are, in most cases, ignorant of the “paganism” they praise—the redeemed paganism of Christianity depicted in the transfigured water of the True Well of Life. Wrestling with the Greek gods, however, leads us to see the hyper-anthropomorphization of the gods with one intention in mind—justification of sexual lusts and displays of power over the weak.

The oldest written account of the Greek deities is from Hesiod. His Theogony, literally “birth of the gods,” charts out the genealogies of the major and minor deities in two branches. The first set of gods come into existence without sex. The second set of gods come into existence with sex; often very graphic and violent sex and they continue to have violent sex after their birth.

As Hesiod continues to describe the birth and death of the gods and great monsters of antiquity, the chaining of Prometheus to his eternal torment is described. So too is Hades’ rape of Persephone. Battle is depicted left and right, and “a terrible din arose from their dreadful wrath, and the work of power was revealed”. Lust, sex, and war reign supreme in Hesiod’s telling of the birth of the gods. Moreover, it is from this brutality and carnality that Hesiod gives them praise—only those with enough cunning and ambition are worthy of having the praise of the muses.

That the gods birthed through sexual lust are themselves lustful was not missed by Christians of the pagan community. Though St. Augustine received the Romanized version of the Greek myths, he goes to great lengths and laborious pains—using the pagans’ own prophecies —to highlight the moral depravity of the gods in Confessions and City of God.

His sin, after all the years, was lust and the want to dominate.

'Lust though pleasurable, innocent and vice, thee shall stay loyal to thy partner regardless of wants. To betray thy partner is to deceive thy people and hence the kingdom. Thou shall pay for thy soul shall remain wandering, driven by the desires but, shall not be able to feel the human love thou took for a grain of salt. And all who shall follow thy steps shall face the same wrath.'

Oh, how lust was a dangerous feeling.

29/10 continued. 11:28PM

It's how you all circled around in the living room like any other day that was comical to you. Instead of reading out your own made up story, it so happened to be the Creepypastas Yuta screenshotted for what he wanted to try out and see for himself. It wasn't even his idea to read them out. Haechan and Jaemin's 'too curious for their own sake' selves were the ones who wanted to read it out loud. "How about we sit in the order of who's gonna read out what and when?" Yangyang suggested, standing up from his seat. "Yuta read out the topics and we'll pick randomly."

"No fun! Hold up," Haechan did some pretty exaggerated hand actions before getting up and heading to his room, well, Jaemin's room to do who knows what. "Okay? I'll get the candles!" Yangyang said, him getting out of his seat too, "And I'll go get the bible, jesus christ" and Jaemin was out of his seat too. You look at Jaemin in a funny manner, as though questioning him with your eyes if he's actually going to get a bible or not, "What? I don't want to die young, I'm too hot for that" he said, before following Haechan's steps to his bedroom, "Yikes, you aren't going to die dude"

"Okayy, I'm back, make way bitches" Haechan dictated to which he earned a few groans and a smack on the ankle from Yuta, "Jaemin! I can't find the candles!" "It's beside the Reese's cups! Second rack inside of the refrigerator!" Jaemin says while walking back up to your tiny circle with an empyre comic in his hand and a cross pendant dangling off of his neck, "That's a bible?" you question. "Shush, do not question the power of avengers and fantastic four." Jaemin replies, holding the comic up close to his chest. You all collectively dismiss it with a concerned look directed towards the male, "Are we not going to question the fact that Jaemin keeps his candles inside the fridge?"

"So here's what we're going to do, I've got these tiny papers which have numbers from 1 to 5,because we're five people and I've folded the paper into chits, once i toss it, we pick random sheets and the number you get is when your turn to read is, any objections?" Haechan explained, "Even if you have any, keep it to yourself because I don't care" he bites in again while juggling the folded sheets in a closed palm while the other supports his body by it being planted behind him. "Okay I'm back with the candles" Yangyang finally joins in on the circle, completing it, "You took that long to find one candle?" Yuta asks, "No i was eating the reese's cups" he replied, wiping his hand on your jean clad thighs earning him a loud whine of 'Eww that's disgusting man' and a little too far from soft smacks on his shoulder, "You piece of sh-" Jaemin starts, "Okay all, Focus!" Haechan cuts him off, ready to throw the bits onto the space between the five of you in front of the now lit candle (Thank you, Yuta), and so he tossed it a little high up from the ground, letting the paper fall of his palms and onto the floor while being cautious of not throwing it anywhere near the flame.

"Now let's arrange ourselves according to the numbers, who's number one?" Haechan asks, Yuta raises his hands while pointing at where he's sitting, "I'm not getting up, y'all arrange yourself so that the person going second is to my right and the last person would be to my left", you all look at him nonchalantly, "What?" with a shake of your head, you proceed calling out numbers, "Number two?" Haechan shoves Yangyang back to take his place beside Yuta, "bitch." Yangyang seats himself beside Haechan, followed by Jaemin and lastly, you.

"First, Yuta!" Jaemin slurs the elders name, receiving a death glare from his cousin. Nevertheless, Yuta cleared up his throat and switched his attention to his phone screen, "The first urban legend is from Japan, ironically." He states as a matter of fact, "It's called Aka Manto."

"Aka manto is an urban legend related to toilets—particularly those in elementary schools.-"

"Is that why you take a relatively long time inside of the bathroom? Are you, you know? Tickling pickles with Aka Mant-ow! Sorry!" Yangyang was wasted as he was tackled onto the floor by Yuta, while the rest of you cracked up, "Now let's get a little serious, come onnn!" Haechan whines.

"This phenomenon is known all over Japan, with countless variations on the same theme. It usually takes place in a specific stall in a specific bathroom in the school. Usually it is an older or seldom used bathroom, often in a stall with an older style squat toilet. Often the fourth stall is the cursed one, as the number four is associated with death." "I'm so glad our university has only two stalls," Jaemin chimes in, suddenly grasping the cross pendant.

"Most stories follow this general pattern: while at school late in the evening, a student suddenly finds him or herself in desperate need of a toilet. The closest restroom available is one that is normally avoided by the students; it is older and less well-kept, separated from the rest of the school, and is rumored to be haunted. But with no time to search for a different restroom, the student enters. He or she does their business, and when they have finished, they reach for the toilet paper only to find that there is none. Then they hear a strange voice" Yuta looks up from the phone screen, "“Do you want red paper? Or blue paper?”"

"None bitch, give me the classic white,"

With a roll of his eyes, Yuta continues, "If the student answers, Red paper, moments later, they're stabbed and sliced up violently that blood seeps out of them, painting the walls of the stall red and it soaks up into their body, making them appear red", "And if the student responds blue paper, then their blood is going to be sucked up dry, leaving them dead and blue-faced on the floor."

"But! If you try to outsmart Aka Manto, by replying to question with, i don't know, "Yellow paper" then too, dead is inevitable, you will be shoved onto the floor where the spirit is said hold your head down in the dirty toilet water until you drown and well, die" Yuta ends with a shrug of his shoulder, "Seems pretty bullshit to me" and you agree alongside, though, it could be a little creepy if the existing legend did turn out to be true. "Okay next!"

Yuta leans back a little more, pressing onto your side which you took as an invitation to lean on his shoulder. When you did so, all Yuta did was beam at you and wrap his arms around you to keep you close after handing the phone over to Haechan, "If you want me to start reading you have to give it up for me. Give me the grand welcome that i deserve" the lad said in a childish voice which again only earned him a few smacks and half hearted applauds. "So this one is apparently called, the one man hide and seek" though all narrations were being taken on a lighter note, the mood set in the room gave you enough space to picture the stories, added to that came the factor that Donghyuck knows exactly how to narrate what.

"The "One-Man Hide and Seek", also known as the "One-Man Tag," is a ritual for contacting the dead. The spirits, which are wandering restless on the Earth, are always looking for bodies to possess. In this ritual, you will summon such a spirit, by offering it a doll instead of a human body." He lowers his voice while focusing solely on the screen.

"The warnings say that if you have any psychic abilities, you may feel unwell or be prone to accidents during the ritual." He raises his eyebrows, looking at all four of you in a curious manner. The things you need for this game seems lowkey sketch"

"One stuffed doll. It must have limbs, Rice, enough to stuff the doll full. One needle, and one crimson thread. One pair of nail clippers. One sharp-edged tool, such as a knife, glass shard, or scissors. One cup of salt water. Natural salt would be best. A bathroom, with a bathtub and some form of counter. A hiding place, preferably a room purified by incense and ofuda. There must be a TV in there." Haechan's face contorts with each requirement for the game. Letting out a defeated sigh, he hands the phone over to Yangyang, "Of all the stories i could've narrated, i got chosen for this and for what? Just to contact stupid poltergeists. Just play a ouija board and go"

Giving Haechan a sympathetic pat on the back, he takes the device. Looking through the screen he cracks up a smile, "Alright, listen up closely. This is an Urban legend classic"

"The Slender Man-" a bunch of 'aahhs' of realization resonate through the room

"-is a supernatural creature that is described as appearing as a normal human being but he is described as being 8 feet tall and he has vectors or extra appendages that are described to be as sharp as swords. The creature is known to stalk humans and cause many disappearances. He is described as a shadow creature that has a missing face. The creature fits into many mythologies in legends from nations such as germany and celts which brings up the possibility that he could be real." Yangyang pauses to add in a little more life to his reading while all of your paid full concentration to him

"A man named victor Surge found this legend and made his own version of it which he called slender man. The slender man is not exactly evil according to mythology but victor Surge’s version shows him as an evil creature that stalks humans to kill. In mythology he was actually trying to save you from a painful death by taking you to the underworld early." he ends, placing the phone down in front of him, screen down. "Kills you to save you from a death and collectively shortens your lifespan? Seems legit to me" Jaemin chimes in while the rest of you chuckle whereas Haechan pouted at the device in front of his friend, "I should've gotten that story"

"My turn!"

"So, ahem-" Once the focus is all on him,Jaemin looks down onto the device containing his part of narration. "- This is an urban legend about a girl named Daruma who was a young Japanese woman that died in the bathroom, which upon entering to take a bath, it stumbled and her forehead ended up against the edge of the tube, destroying it the brain, at the same time that her eye embedded in the tube , leaving it in consequence, one-eyed key and later , dead by bleed out." "Oh god ouch" You hiss as though your forehead was the one that hit the edge, " Her appearance as described is apparently; black hair that is entangled, her clothes rotting and made shreds. She only has one eye. Her left eye is completely open and injected with blood." "That's gruesome," Yangyang adds, earning a nod from Jaemin who's eyes were still fixated on the screen. "And apparently there's a ritual that you can follow to summon her into your house for twenty four hours straight" At the silence, he continues. "I'll shorten it, so you have to begin it right before your bedtime, shed all your clothing and enter your bathroom, turn off all the lights and fill in your bathtub, climb into it while being seated facing faucet, close your eyes and start washing your hair while chanting "Daruma-san fell down" and keep chanting that until you're done washing your hair, and yeah don't open your eyes."

"If you did it right then you'll get this image of a japanese who'll slip and fall in front of you. Even if you hear a noise behind you, do not open your eyes, no matter what it takes, Ask out loud, 'why did you fall in the bathtub' and let that hang in the air. With your eyes still closed, get up and out of the tub and be careful not to slip and do not drain the tub. Go to your room, don't turn the lights on, shut the bathroom door closed and sleep. Wake up the next day and carry on with your day and you'll apparently feel her presence alongside you all day. She'll constantly try getting close to you, when she does, scream 'Tomare!',"

"That means stop," Yuta adds to which you all hum in understanding.

"To end the game, capture her gaze from over your shoulder and say 'Kitta' which means 'I cut you loose' while swinging your arm in a chopping motion. If you followed the procedures then you'll be rewarded but if not then, run. That's all it says here" He stops, looking a little shaken at how he created an image of it all in his mind. "They didn't say how to get rid of her if you fail following the procedure?" you ask

"No." Jaemin shrugs it off

"Alright boys, my turn"

30th October, Friday, 10:53PM

It's probably how you read out your part of story telling, or it was how he felt the game was a little too unrealistic that had Yuta hooked onto the urban legend.

Yuta found himself at his dorm doing a little more research on the midnight ritual. A backpack already consisting of all the elements required for the game, 'could it really be played just by one person?'. Whatever it was, he really wanted to do the game. He wanted someone to accompany him, of course. But knowing his friend group, not many would be ready to play it alongside. Doyoung was probably busy preparing his resumes for his job interviews. Johnny's all the way back in Chicago for a little family time. Ten was a little too far from your town so he'd feel bad calling him all the way over just to perform a probably demonic ritual. Donghyuck and Jaemin are out of the question, they'd obviously say no. Yangyang has a company party to attend as the heir. And you had to study for your test on Monday so he didn't really feel like disturbing you though, he did inform you that he was going out to have some fun and that you could join him anytime. Closing his laptop with a sigh, he gets up and walks over to where his bag was sprawled across the floor, picks it up and makes his way out of the studio apartment like dormitory after grabbing his car keys.

Not like he believed it was real, it's incase if the legend turns out to be even the slightest of reality, he wasn't going to get his dormitory haunted, instead opting to perform it at the house he grew up in, his childhood house. That was left abandoned ever since they moved out months before his younger brother was born after his father had an episode still unknown to him inside the place. It was convenient enough to perform the ritual in and no one lives there anymore, and it was just a few minutes from where his house was anyways.

Reaching the place and swinging the backpack over his shoulder, he makes his way into the surprisingly still intact house. Not much time to waste, looking around, Yuta slowly made his way up the wooden stairs, the wood creaking with each step he took to prove the existence of this house dated long back. The guest room shut lock from lack of human souls even when they used to live there. The paintings still hung off of a single screw, nostalgia hitting him straight as he recalled the one time he was playing catch with a neighbor's kid and ended up breaking the glass frame. The wallpaper's adhesive seemingly had gotten weaker from how they had started coming out from nooks and crannies of the walls. The place, without doubt, looked a little creepy but nonetheless felt homely.

Switching on all switches from the main controller that was in the control room right by the end of the hallway, the entire darkness was replaced with light as the bulbs shockingly still seemed to function. The warm white colour of the lights took Yuta all the way back to his growing up years, missing all the fun he'd had there and all the memories he'd created. He, though grew up mostly by himself from how busy his parents were on the weekdays and sometimes the weekends, missed them more now that they live far off in Japan with his mother's family. Especially now that he was in the place they spent the most time together in. Shaking his head, he had no trouble navigating his way to his childhood room. Where he set the bag down.

He reached out to his back pocket to get out his phone, switching it on as the screen illuminated, 11:28PM, the screen read. To kill the time, Yuta set up all the items required in place to proceed the ritual smoothly. He pulled his laptop out of the backpack once he was all set to maybe watch something on the internet. It being other peoples attempt at the ritual he was about to perform.

11:55PM.

Yuta inhaled, having only a few more minutes until he had to proceed. He recalled your words,

"Alright boys, my turn" You snatch the phone out of Jaemin's hand who seemed really immersed in finding out more about the legend he just read out about, earning a pout from him. "I was reading" he let out in a whiny tone immediately going stoic after receiving a 'do i care' look from your end. "Okay, so the story I'm going to read out is called the midnight man, or the midnight game" You scroll back and forth through the pages the oldest of the group screenshotted. "From what he's gathered, there's not much backstory, but apparently it's a ritual or mostly a punishment that the pagan's use to punish the betrayer of the group who failed to stay loyal to their lords or the group. One of the people of the religion will summon the midnight man to an abandoned house where they lock up the said betrayer who'll then be put through god knows what by the midnight stranger," You stop to look up from the screen to look at each of your friends before letting out a sigh.

"My take on this though is that it's highly impossible since the rules here state that once you start the ritual you aren't allowed the leave the place until the game is completely done unless you want the midnight man to follow you around for as long as you live, so unless the midnight man actually favored the pagans, there's no way they could punish the betrayer without one of the loyal ones passing away along with the one being punished" you state, "But what if, it's the midnight man that they preach? You know, like, they could be praying the midnight man" Haechan adds in a point which seemed to make sense, "That's possible too"

"Why would someone preach an evil entity? That's so sketch" Jaemin asks perplexed. "They did a lot of sketchy things back in the days, Jaem. I wouldn't question it," Yuta chirps. "Is there any other backstory given about the midnight man?" Yangyang finally speaks up, "Well not really, but when i was taking screenshots of this it apparently started with a curse on someone whose identity is unknown to most. There was no such thing as the midnight game or ritual until the said bewitched man came back into town. I only know up to there, but there are high chances that he's probably the origin of the ritual." Yuta explains. "Why does Y/n get the best always, that's so unfair" Haechan's dramatic self whines while leaning onto Yangyang who rolled his eyes but nonetheless threw his hands around the latter's shoulder, "Anyways, the procedure for the ritual is given here."

"You need one candle, a lighter or a match box or anything that ignites fire, a piece of paper, something to write with, a sharp object, it could be a pin, it just needs to be something sharp enough to draw blood, a wooden door, and salt for protection-" You read out, "Now why the fuck would they need blood," Jaemin asks, shaken up. "That's for them to know and us to find out"

"Here's how the invitation for the midnight man goes. Begin prior to midnight,"

Yuta stood up from his bed, and walked up to the backpack on the floor, picking out the papers he'd brought along and took out a blunt pencil.

"Write your full name- first, middle, and last- on the piece of paper with your writing implement." He wrote syllable by syllable, Nakamoto Yuta. "Prick your finger with the pin and squeeze until a drop of blood appears. Dot the blood on the paper and allow it to soak in. Turn off every light in your home." He took out the small safety pin he brought along from his jean pocket, pressing his fingers hard and pricked into the skin as hard as he could, keeping in mind to not draw too much blood. Yuta let the droplet fall right in the space between his last name and first.

"Place the paper with your name and blood on it in front of the closed wooden door. Light the candle using the matches or lighter and place it on top of the paper. If you are using a taper, make sure it is placed in a candle holder." He walks up to the door and places down the paper with his name and blood on it, with the half melted scented candle he brought along. Yuta took out his phone once again, 11:59. "Knock on the door 22 times. The final knock must occur precisely when the clock chimes 12am. Open the door; then blow out the candle and close the door. Relight your candle immediately." He starts to knock on the door, drumming on the dusty wood, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22.

He checks the time once again, 12:00AM.

He leans down to pick the glass jar containing the candle, relighting it,

"I welcome you."

Taeyong loved the tiny creatures in the human realm. They were so naive and so, stupid but weirdly smart at the same time that made playing with them ten times more interesting. The callings from them, or the way they say it in the human realm, summoning the spirit was the only way he could gain access to enter the place. Summoning wasn't even necessary. Saying his name out was more than enough for him to go up to you. Midnight man, midnight stranger, midnight visitor, pagan's god, What not had the human's named him.

The only one besides his ancestor of said curse that enjoyed the power of punishing people was Taeyong himself. The youngest of the bloodline and the freshest of pagan's spirit, he loved the power he had. Sure he had no access to love, instead besides lust and range he felt nothing, maybe amusement too, but none other than that and he seemed perfectly fine with that. Human's always seeked lust more than love either way so he found no problem in being void of feeling a vulnerable emotion. Instead, he found love pathetic. Watching human's from where he lived, he'd seen all from men and women seeking love by going to heights of trouble only to waste away your remaining life with one partner. Leeching off of pleasure at times when you had a significant other. He always got a hearty laugh from all of that. According to him, if you want someone, get them. Instead of tailing them and trying to be a goody two shoes, just make them yours in a way that's inevitable for them to fall for you. Control how they feel. Easier said than done since he was the only one with the ability to do so, 'how fucking pitiful'.

So when he saw you and your small group of friends discussing about him, laughing at all the assumptions you made along the way, he wanted each of you to himself. "My take on this though is that it's highly impossible since the rules here state that once you start the ritual you aren't allowed to the leave the place until the game is completely done unless you want the midnight man to follow you around for as long as you live, so unless the midnight man actually favored the pagans, there's no way they could punish the betrayer without one of the loyal ones passing away along with the one being punished" you're smart and that was intriguing to him. He liked the way you thought of things and the male beside you too, you both seemed to take tales of him as a grain of salt and that, besides angering him, made him feel the want to prove himself to you. Taeyong found the other three cute, seemingly scared of him just the way he liked it.

His ancestor's who held the same power as him, the curse actually, came to be known as said lord because of their power of manipulation and to inject in their worst nightmare into their minds that had the people divide themselves into groups. One that believed the power they had was for the good and considered them to be their god, their savior. And the other being the one's scared of their power and the fear that the same faith would bestow upon them that had them pray for forgiveness for sins they never committed. So your friend had the point a little, but it was inaccurate. They believed him. Believed Taeyong and feared his power. He loved people bowing down in front of him, eyes trembling and body shivering. It gave him a sense of dictatorship. And he had set his mind to have both of you non-believers fear him.

Having been brought up with little to no love, Taeyong followed down the same path as his great grandfather. Not having enough time to feel the vulnerable emotion, he chose to go down the path of pleasure and power play. His powers though, seemingly stronger than the past generations, probably due to the fact that he was young, ruthless and free of care. He could make himself appear physically in the human realm in any shape and form, though he always preferred to go in his original, but less scarier form. His visuals were out of the world. He didn't have to scare people to make them obey, instead all he had to do was pretend to be there and just be himself and that only made humans seem even pathetic to him.

"Relight your candle immediately"

12:01PM, The main event.

"Keeping your candle in hand and your salt and matches or lighter close by, begin to move about your home. Should your candle go out, you must relight it within the next ten seconds. If you are successful, continue moving about your home. Do not stop moving until 3:33 am. If you are unsuccessful in relighting the candle, immediately surround yourself with a circle of salt. Remain inside the circle until 3:33 am. At 3:33 am, it is safe to stop moving or to step outside your circle of salt. You may also turn on the lights. The game Is Over."* You conclude. Hissing slightly at the sudden pain by your shoulder that was exposed from the minimalistic clothing you'd adorned, the stranger looking over it all smirked to himself. 'Got it'

Yuta opened the door again, mindful to keep his phone back in his jean pocket along with the lighter and of course, the salt be brought along. Starting from the end of the hallway, nothing seemed to change except now, the eerie silence was starting to bother him, 'Just 3 hours to go,'. He didn't miss a single corner, walking room to room, corner to corner, mindful to stay inside all the way. The temperature of certain rooms seemingly lesser than others. A cold pocket.

"There are few warnings too," you swipe the image to go to the next one, "At 3:33 am, the Midnight Man will leave your home. After he has left, you may safely end the game. Do NOT turn on any lights during the game. Do NOT use a flashlight during the game. Do NOT go to sleep during the game. Do NOT use a lighter instead of a candle during the game." Check. He had a lighter on him just to relight the candle anyways.

Taeyong, following the guy seemed to be quite impressed by his bravery. Not even the slightest of shaken up as he proceeded to walk about the villa. That's good, no slip ups and he seemed too good to mess anything up either ways, and that bored the entity. Where's the fun if he just succeeded?

To avoid the candle from going off at the sudden flickering, Yuta covered it up the best he could with his hands and checked around whether any windows were left open. Darkness engulfed the surrounding all of a sudden, the lad being taken aback, 10 seconds. He rushed to take out his lighter, 9, pressing the button repeatedly to ignite the flame only to get a small blue flame instead, huh? 8, running back full speed happy that he was in the premises of where his backpack is, he pulled the spare lighter, a brand new one out of the side pocket, 7, repeating the same process of flicking the button over and over, 6 until a bright orange flame engulfed the dark room, 5, he immediately grabbed his candle from besides the bag, 4 reaching in close by the wick, burning himself slightly in 3-, the process. Yuta heaves out a sigh of relief, while the spirit laughs at the frantic boy. 'He's cute.'

For a breaker, he took out his phone, looking at the time that seemed to pass by quickly throughout the ritual, 2:47 AM. A little more while to go until he'd finally get it over with. "Do not attempt to provoke the Midnight Man during the game." You ended for the nth time that night, "Which idiot would-" Yangyang asks "Haechan-" Jaemin pretends to cough while blurting out his best friends name, the mentioned feigning offence while tilting his head to the side, tongue poking at the insides of his cheek. "Seems like that's pretty much it." you shrug while the older guy beside you leaning back on both of his hands, "I kinda wanna try that out" Yuta raised his eyebrows at you. "Halloween night? We all go together" you chirp in, both of you whipping your heads to look at the three perplexed boys. "Uh, I have to water my fish on halloween? She'd get pretty thirsty". Jaemin's eyes wandered about, coming up with an excuse, "And I gotta walk my rock yo, physical fitness." Haechan adds, "Can I bring my fish along? She could use some exercising".

"Come on guys, it won't be that bad, we'll stick in a group?" You pleaded, trying your best to muster up the cutest puppy eyes. "I'm down" Yangyang shrugs. You do a tiny seal clap, looking expectedly at the other two, Yangyang and Yuta doing the same. "We stick together?" Haechan asks, to which the three of you nod your head,

"Alright then we're down too"

[3:04AM 30th, October. ]

A few more minutes left until he'd succeed, Yuta was starting to grow tired of constantly roaming. He'd usually not the one to wear out that quickly, but for a reason unknown to him, he felt utterly sleepy, tired, hungry and just wanted to lie down. He decided to take a small break, the candle still light, dangerously flickering but yet still intact. Yuta sat by the foot of the stairs as Taeyong looked at him with the same cocky smirk on his face, contemplating whether to pop out or not. 'Maybe let's make it subtle? '

Taking up the form of a black humanoid figure, Taeyong makes his way towards Yuta whose eyes seem to be dropping low with each passing second. Upon hearing the sounds of footsteps Yuta looks up, a hand on his forehead from the sudden throbbing headache. Letting out a loud yell at the figure in front of him that disappeared almost immediately, he rushed to grab his lighter again. The sudden temperature drop made him shudder. Taking out the new lighter, he pressed the button again and again as the time limit started to exhaust, 6, at a successful fire, he reached for his candle, only for the flame to go off when it neared the candle wick. "what the fuck.." 5, "come on.." he stated in a rushed voice, sure that he just saw whatever he saw once again. Finally flicking the button one last time, he succeeded in lighting the candle.

Contrary to popular belief, the midnight man didn't always radiate death. Sometimes he just messes around with the humans because the underworld could get a little boring. And as the curse states death and wrath is only to be faced by those who sinned and the boy playing right now seemed to be of no threat. All Taeyong wanted to do was get the guy to believe in his existence. Skeptics were like an insult to him. So if he had to prove himself and his existence on his own, then so be it. He gets some pretty good experience out of it anyways.

Yuta stood up immediately, remembering the warning's you'd stated, "Do not stop moving until 3:33am", walking back up the stairs, he took out his phone to check the time, 3:29am. Almost.

The same sounds of footsteps resonated from behind him, Yuta took an immediate U-turn. Going back down the stairs and roaming the empty, dark hallways, making sure to enter each and every room, keeping a mental note to thank his parents for having a slightly confusing infrastructure. The wax was almost completely out in the glass jar, but he had to hang in there for a little longer than 2 more minutes when he felt something brush his shoulder, much similar to how a friend would drape their hands over his/her friends' shoulder. He could've brushed it off as anything if it weren't for the sharp pain he felt right after the feeling of someone touching him. He's getting the proof he wants. Almost as if someone pulled his hoodie, Yuta stumbled back, letting out a shaky scream, tripping on his own foot, landing butt down onto the floor, catching a glimpse of the same humanoid figure he'd been seeing. He needs to get out of there.

Stumbling back onto his feet, Yuta bolted it upstairs, grabbing his phone once again to check the time, 3:32am. Reaching his room, he set the candle down right beside him, vary of the windows and doors, starting to back his backpack, the sounds of rushed footsteps running start to where he is ringing through his ears, hands shakingly packing his bag. Keeping the candle closeby, contemplating whether to draw a salt circle or not since there was only less than half a minute left when the same humanoid figure neared him with fast footsteps, reaching by the door frame with a loud agonizing scream only to disappear immediately.

Not realising the stress of tears flowing and the tresses sticking to his forehead, Yuta looked at the door frame in a perplexed yet confused manner. What the fuck was that.

Taking out his phone once again while grabbing his backpack, laptop and the car keys in the other hand, 3:34 am. He'd made it through. After reaching the front door, not even bothering to close it, he rushed to his car, starting it before pulling up your contacts, seeing the messages he'd never sent you.

Yuta san 1:39am: The boys said they won't make it tomorrow, it's gonna be just you and i

Y/nleE 1:43am: Why not?

Yuta san 1:45am: Dk, they said they aren't interested. So come near xxxx tomorrow at 11:30. I'll meet you there.

Y/nleE 1:48am: Coolsies.

Yuta san 3:38am: Y/n don't come here, gather the boys and meet me by Haechan's dorm tomorrow. The game's no fucking joke.

And with that he started driving away quickly to his dormitory, not once looking back at the house to see a human. Or a human like figure standing there, A bright red hair standing out due to his blood drained looking pale skin. A smirk on his face

Message not delivered.

31st October, 22:37PM, 2020.

Today was a weird day,

Having all plan's set two days before, you'd make sure to keep yourself ready for whatever you and your friend group were supposed to do today. You finished up all your assignments earlier that day to keep yourself free from afternoon and on.

The weird part was that, no matter how much you kept your phone for charge, each time you tried calling one of the guys to ask for the sudden bailing out on plan, which is a shocker because they've never done that, your phone kept switching off. You could've gone all the way to their apartment, well, dorm, but you decided to wait until later to do so. Maybe a few minutes before leaving to the place Yuta texted you so that they'd have no choice but to come along. Since your last time texting with Yuta, you hadn't heard from him. Granted, he did text you quite late at night saying he's going to do god knows what and to tell you of the sudden plan change, but you hadn't heard from him after, that being weird since he literally lives a floor below yours, he could've come any moment but nope. You kept a mental note to tell him off later.

You took out your phone once again to check if they'd sent any messages or missed calls only to have an empty chat box, other than that of your other friends that is. Added on top of that came the constant pricking feeling on your shoulder blades from the last day you hung out with the boys. The pain would appear randomly and it would be hurtful enough to draw blood, which is weird considering the fact that you kept yourself away from all sharp objects and had a full sleeve covering the area.

One stone, two birds. Taeyong's motto.

After having interfered with your phone, your friends, trying to keep you away from them until you'd go through the same as your other skeptic partner, Taeyong made sure that Yuta would be sick enough after returning home to keep him from even getting up from his bed. Temporary paralysis. Your other friends, of course they tried reaching out to you, only for him to cut the service to keep you away from them for a while. They got easily distracted from you ignoring their texts as they were focused on reaching out to Yuta.

Unknown: Hey Y/n, I'm Yuta's friend. He told me you aren't replying to his texts so asked me to do so.

Y/n: Who's this?

Unknown: Oh! I'm Taeyong! A close friend of well, your friend XD.

Y/n: Nice to meet you, Taeyong. I'm Y/n but it seems like you already know that.

Unknown: Yeah :). Yuta's on his way here and told me that you'd be joining us? Are you nearby?

Y/n: He left? No, actually, I'm just leaving my place. I guess I'll meet you there?

Taeyong: Meet ya :)

[23:22PM, 31st October, 2020 continued. ]

Hailing a cab to the address Yuta had sent you with his friends, Taeyong's number saved on your phone in case the later won't pick up, you left your place. Still feeling a little eerie from how Yuta just decided to leave you behind when he could've just offered to go together, which is pure Yuta style. He probably wasn't in the best of moods but he could've at least texted you letting you know of his departure from the apartment building.

The journey to the given address didn't take that long surprisingly. A little towards the outskirts of the town in a much aloof part but nonetheless, doable. It's not like you'd be alone there any ways. Paying for your fare, you took your purse, brushed your fingers through your hair to tame it a little from the ride, and turned towards the building, jumping slightly at the bright haired guy sitting by the front porch. Adorning the simplest of fit, a black knee slit jeans, with a graphic tee and a black leather jacket with a chain or two. He, in no doubts, was ethereal. His pale skin stood out the most in the street light if you could call it that and his lips seemed a little drained of blood, eyes hollow yet captivating when he looked up from the dirt below him to you who still stood yards away. Smiling, he got up, making his way towards after brushing off the invisible lint from his jeans, "Hey" he offered you his hands for you to shake upon reaching you. "Hey..? Taeyong, right?"

Wanting so badly to smirk, he only looked down with a silent snicker, looking up immediately to not look suspicious, "Yeah, Y/n..?" you nod in response, shuddering from the coldness of his skin, "Have you been out for too long? You're freezing," you exclaim, looking at him with a guilty expression and taking a mental note to hit Yuta for not arriving earlier. "Oh no, i just reached a minute or two prior to your arrival." you nod in understanding, withdrawing your hands from his hold, "By the way, Yuta called me a few minutes ago, telling me that he wouldn't make it and to just carry on" Taeyong said, looking at you with his eyebrows raised at your confused, innocent expression, his humane form threatening to change into his original form. "What? Why? It's like,-" you look down at your wrist watch, "11:50! And he's bailing out now?", smiling at you in fake sympathy, he replied, "he said he had other things to take care of," "But you said he'd left the place and was on his way here?" you ask, hands on either sides of your hip, "Last minute plan changes" Taeyong shrugs, "Anyways, let's get inside?"

He pointed towards the front door with both his hands, gesturing you to go forward first. And so you do. You offer him a smile before turning your back towards him and making your way towards the old house, the door seemingly open. Climbing up the stairs with caution, humming at the sound of dried leaves crunching up below your feet with each footstep. Taeyong stood behind where you two had introduced yourselves for a few minutes, a few more minutes. "Taeyong? Are you not coming?" you turn around slightly, looking over your shoulder at lad standing still, "Yeah, I'm coming" he replied soullessly, still standing his group until he saw you open the door ajar and then took his first step forward. Not bothering to go too quick.

The insides were simple, very very simple yet magnificent. The flooring seemed to be that of wooden finishing that creaked with each step you took, implying that of how old the infrastructure must be. You look around in awe, clutching at the sling bag that you carried along. You go corner to corner, not bothering to look behind to see if the friendly stranger was hot on your trail, instead seemingly being captivated by the olden time-ish wallpapers and paintings and antique pieces that the wall adorned. Taeyong on the other hand was just growing restless, 4 more minutes until he could play his next victim, he was growing frantic. He did follow you inside, instead opting to walk the opposite direction as you, towards where he'd hidden the paper with your crimson blood and name written on it, contemplating whether to just tear it and carry on proving his existence to the female in the room. 3 more minutes, he bit into his lips, "Taeyong? Look, i found something!" He heard you scream.

Puffing out a breath of frustration, Taeyong replied "Coming!" and he walked out of the room, hands in his pocket towards where you stood by the bottom of the stairs, looking at the lighter in your hand that seemed relatively unused. "I found lighter down here" you look at him with a tiny pout evident on your lips, looking back and forth between the candle and the guy, puzzled. "It must be some thugs who came here to smoke or something" He shrugged it off, taking the lighter out of your hand. It must be you over analyzing things but without a single light turned on in the villa with only your flashlight acting as a source of light, but Taeyong looked even more lifeless than before. Eyes dark ebony and dangerous, somehow intimidating, lips adorning a bright shade of red in contrast to how you saw it the first time, and his aura had seemingly darkened. 2 more minutes. You shake your head and walk up the stairs and towards a room which has it's door wide open. Choosing to lay out your things there, you stretch out a few stiff limbs, "So, me and the boys were planning on doing the midnight game, you know. One of those stupid creepy pastas? I can't believe all of them bailed out on me last minute," you speak particularly to no one in the room, assuming that Taeyong was listening to you, whose ears only perked up at the words midnight and stupid. Midnight. 00:00Am. The devil smirked to himself. Midnight, at last.

"I mean, Yangyang, Jaemin and Haechan came off as no shock to me- they're the other friend's by the way, but Yuta, it's weird for him to at least not let me know." You keep going, scrolling through your phone screen, only for it to load suddenly, No internet access. Sighing, you pull out offline downloads, "Did he tell you anything else? Like if he's feeling unwell or something?" you ask, letting the question float in the air, waiting for a reply. Getting known even after the passing of a few seconds, a minute too maybe, "Taeyong?" you stand up from the bed, well, the bed frame and make your way outside, "Tae?" you look left and right, searching for any moving soul when you feel your phone vibrate in your hands, and the sound of notification resonates through the eerie silence. You look down at the device in your hand, one new message from Yuta san and an immediate black out of the screen. Impossible.

You remembered full well charging your phone to a hundred percent before leaving your dorm. Hell, you even kept it on airplane mode your whole cab ride. Shrugging it off, you keep your phone beside your bag and then proceed to go out to look for your new friend? acquaintance? You didn't even know how to classify him as yet. "Tae, if you're trying to scare me, I'll give you heads up, it doesn't work on me." you chuckle, walking to the room beside the one you were previously lounging in. "It's past midnight and we both seem too uninterested to try out whatever we were supposed to anyways, how about we just head out?" you start, looking down at your wrist watch which displayed 00:09 on the screen in neon green. "I mean, it was stupid enough that my friends and i even decided to try it out knowing it's some made up shit to scare some seven olds, probably" you continue, feeling as though you're talking to the walls at the lack of response. "Taeyong, come on. I'm growing bored."

"Tae-" "You know, the way you logicised made it seem like you're smart enough. It was impressive," you hear his voice, a little too hoarse and plain for your liking, he continued before you could muster up a reply, "But seems like you aren't all that smart after all, seeing how you believed a total stranger and are even ready to spend time with him." you look around the place, only hearing his voice but his figure to be nowhere near you, "Taeyong, what are you talking about?" you head out of the room you currently stood in, jogging to catch his voice.

"It was a little angering you know? The way you spoke about me and my followers, it was disrespectful. And I could've taken you then and there, but what to do. You seemed too cute to take your soul without a small game? Is that what you humans call it?" You feel breathing fanning the nape of your neck and a cold air following it right after, making you turn back, "Your friend got his share of play" you whip your head forward, finally seeing the male in front of you, standing by the door frame of a connective hallway, you swore you felt his presence behind you though. His infamous smirk still adorning his features. Figure a little more towering and intimidating. If you thought he couldn't have seemed more lifeless a few minutes ago, then his appearance now only seemed to prove you wrong. "So it's only fair if you got your part of the play too, right?"

"Taeyong, you're only making your existence weird for me, let's go if you're done." He only tilted his head in amusement, "Oh it's only about to get weirder, darling" You turn back to face a blood red shot eyed male, well, Taeyong, eliciting a gasp from you, you look over your shoulder to see the place where Taeyong stood a blink of eye ago. "How..did-" His chest visibly vibrated from the hearty laugh he let out, "How did I do that?," you step back as his voice dropped even lower, only for you to bump your back into something rigid, something cold, making you let out a yelp as Taeyong seemed to stand still in front of you, "I can do a whole lot of things," you feared turning back, the insides of your stomach hurdling around as whatever was behind you reached their arms up and held you still in a vice grip. "Y/n!" you hear a voice scream from downstairs, "Y/n! Come out! We need to get out of here!" you recognize the voice as that of your friends, Yuta's.

You squirm hard to loosen the person's grip on your shoulder. Once succeeding, you bolt down the stairs, skipping a few steps, tripping now and then but nevertheless making it down without landing face first as you hear Taeyong's laugh thunder throughout the place. You take a turn to reach the front door, where Yuta stood in all his glory. You immediately run into his embrace, ignoring how his body seemed just as cold as the one you felt from whatever Taeyong was, "Y-yuta, he's sick, let's go, we need to go!" you try pulling Yuta's body a little closer to the exit, only for him to stand his ground, wrapping his hands around you even tighter as he caressed your hair, "Oh, Y/n.." your body goes stiff as your eyebrows furrowed in confusion, that sounded nothing like your best friend, "Yuta..?"

You try pulling your head away from the nape of his neck to look at him, "No darling, it's 'stupid made up shit''," his body vibrated once again from the laughing against yours, as you feel yourself growing scared each passing second. You try mustering up all your strength to bring it to his sides and push him away when you feel a plush yet cold muscle press against your neck, only for it to go futile. "Still made up for you?" you feel a sharp pang of pain flow through your nerves, result of him biting the skin in a manner far too away from soft, "Taeyon-g- lord--midnight man, whatever you are.. I'm --sorry" you say in a hushed voice, scared that if you voiced out a little louder, he'd pounce at you. You feel him nibble at the soft skin, making you whimper, "Oh no, darling, do not apologize. Your doings really intoxicated me. Kept me entertained for a while."

"But now, it's angering me to know a feeble creature as you kept poking fun at my people. At me. And I want no more than to turn you into something belonging to me. Who'd worship me the way 'my people' do." He whispered against the area, lifting his head up and leaning down, making sure not to let go of his grip on you, "oh no, pretty girls aren't supposed to cry. Tsk tsk, what is this, Y/n" His eyes bore holes onto the crown of your head. "Look at me." he acted on making you look at him faster than you could, "Could you beg for forgiveness? Give me a piece of yourself?" he inched closer to your face, a small snarl escaping his throat at your scared and trembling figure, "Or you could just be my queen and come below with me, and you'd not have to cut down your lifespan"

"Are you turned on by all of this, Y/n? Or is it out of fear?" you let out a shaky breath as the tip of his nose touched yours, "Because i can smell you from here and oh," he let out what sounded like an animalistic growl, "Is it delicious.". "Taeyong, please let me go.. I'm sorry. I really am, just please don't hurt me,-" you let out a whine of pain when you feel his other hand knot his fingers in your locks and pull it back with much aggression, immediately planting his lips onto your trembling once, bearing his fang like teeth into plush flesh to draw out blood, earning a loud high pitched scream from your end as you try your best to push him away, futile once again. His hands tighten their grip at the waist while his other hand pulled your head further back, latching onto the firm skin of your neck, treating it with the same aggression, puncturing through the skin with his teeth as your hands go limp beside your body, nevertheless, letting out a whimper from the harsh treatment, which, in all your defense couldn't be help since you still are a human with all emotion any human would feel, that including lust. You feel his cold lips curve into a smirk against where blood flowed out, lapping it up with his tongue as you feel your vision blacken the more as time went by.

"Oh darling you're no different than me.."

4th November, 19:48Pm, 2020.

"She's awake!!" you blink multiple times to get accustomed to the blaring lights in the room, a comfortable white filling your eyesight. You move your head towards the side to find all your friends sprawled out on each side. A drip connected to your hands making you squint in confusion, "Can you hear us, Y/n?" you feel your shoulders being shaken as jolt, "Hey? Yeah i can hear you, why won't i be able to?" you ask, confusion still laced in your voice, "Because you hadn't responded to us the last time we called you. And because you've been laying dead the past few days" Jaemin spoke up first, earning a smack from his elder brother

"Why didn't you stop when we screamed your name the other day, Y/n? You literally weren't breathing the day we found you" Yangyang inquired and stated, "And why did you leave us all on seen??" Haechan added, "Most of all, where were you even??" Yuta spoke. You hiss at all the questions being thrown at you as you try sitting up by the inclined hospital bed, "Screamed? Didn't respond? I left you on seen? That's highly impossible and where was i??" you stare blankly at the plain wall in front of you, trying to remember any such episode. The more you strained your head, the more clueless you grew. Your throat starts to grow dry so you turn your neck to check if there are any water bottles nearby, only for a sharp pain to flow through your nerves at a particular spot in your throat. You yelp at the sudden pain, "I'll get the doctor," Haechan rushed outside, when you reached out to touch your neck, feeling it with the tips of your finger, feeling in the swollen skin, the dried up blood when it all hit you. Your eyes grow wide as you start shaking, for it to be first noticed by Yuta, "Yuta, that house! The game, it's all real! I saw hi-him, his name! I swear he's real!" growing concerned at your sudden frenzy behavior, Yuta kneeled down beside your bed, holding your non-injected hand giving it a comforting behavior.

"Calm down, angel. Tell me point by point," he encouraged you to take in a long breath, as Haechan rushed in along with the doctor whose face was half covered with a doctor's mask, "Doctor, he-he's probably out for me, you need to get me far away from here! Please" you beg with your eyes stinging with all the tears, "No one's going to get you from here, Ms. Y/n, you're safe here" You pause your frantic actions for a while. That voice sounded a little too familiar for your liking, making you think you're over analyzing everything again. The doctor gestured to your friends to leave you up to him to have a doctor to patient talk. All of your friends nodded in understanding, giving you one last reassuring smile before collectively leaving the room.

The doctor, once after making sure that everyone left, removed his mask to reveal the oh so familiar smirk and the hair protector, rustling the same, familiar bright red hair with the same familiar pale fingers of his. Your eyes widen, mouth falls wide ajar

"Oh wait, there's one last warning, Do not assume that the Midnight Man has left your home for good at the conclusion of the game. I'm for real done now" You laugh at your friend who snatched the phone away from you,

"Pleasure to meet you again, darling"

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itsmyara · 3 years

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Playing Cards (SFW Fanfic)

Pairing: Chrollo/Machi (yep!)

Word Count: 1.7 k

Warning: Hisoka acting psycho.

Note: I've recently talked about Kuromachi with @takkarulz and it reminded me of this VERY old fic. It was supposed to be the first chapter of a story about Hisoka's first mission with the Troupe but I don't think I'm gonna continue it. Oh, and it was originally written in Portuguese, so maybe something got lost in translation. I hope not but sorry if it did!

The prey was aware of the bloodlust that emanated from his pores. Hisoka was bored when he felt that random aura and left in pursuit. Granted, it wasn’t a strong aura, but the relative abstinence made him lower his criteria. Any less-than-a-minute fight would offer some relief. The prey was already running ahead, looking back at him now and then in despair. He was sweating, breathing heavily, tripping over his own feet. It was a shame. Even so, the predator felt that in that aura there was an impulse to try to fight back, a courage that could spring from adrenaline and give him some precious extra time to live.

He focused entirely on instilling fear in him, as a favor to awaken that trace of hidden strength, and as a favor for his own sadism.

Fear and death roamed the desolate streets at night, accompanied only by concrete walls, garbage cans overturned by mangy dogs, and abandoned souls, drunken and empty, who wouldn’t dare to approach the source of that terrifying bloodlust.

Hisoka's expression was already inhuman.

The victim turned a corner, looked around, started to run faster. Perhaps he was close to home and struggled to reach it, with that false feeling that at home he would be safe. Poor fool. The predator licked his lips, he wouldn’t allow the prey to gain distance from him. In fact, he didn’t intend to let him free for too long.

Thirsty for action, Hisoka dashed and jumped to reach him faster but when he was in mid-air, something stopped his body, suspending it far from the ground, and a third presence was revealed. A woman fell gracefully in front of him and as soon as her feet touched the ground, her hands pulled a thread, making him realize that the trap had tightened around his body.

The pink-haired woman boldly stepped between him and his victim, and when she looked up and glared at him, her blue eyes were unfazed by his bloodlust. The victim stopped for a moment to try to understand what had happened, but he wasn't stupid enough to stay.

Soon it was only he and her.

Hisoka smiled and sought a comfortable position within her trap. It was worth exchanging the weak prey for that woman who either mastered zetsu very well or knew how to take advantage of his distraction to catch him. Either way, she was incomparably stronger.

“Well, well... and who are you?” His voice sounded mischievous as his eyes sparkled, studying her carefully.

She kept him in her threads without difficulty, as they crossed the deserted street trapped to the side of two buildings, forming a web that closed around him in the center. A spider web. She was skilled and agile to prepare that engineering in such a short time. Besides this, she also had that delightful demeanor. So under control. So cold. So full of an unshakable self-confidence. It wasn’t someone to be thrown away. Maybe he would keep her to play with, little by little, instead of killing her at once.

“I have a message from the boss,” when she said those words, Hisoka understood and closed his eyes. He definitely would have to save her for later. “Midnight at the sanctuary of St. Levi. If you’re too busy hunting mice, you will suffer the consequences.”

A crooked smile grew on the magician's face. Suffering the consequences was what he wanted the most, but not in the way they used to apply them.

“Will the boss be there?” He asked, but his question was ignored.

“I think you can get out of there alone.”

It was the last thing she said before disappearing into the night.

There was a possibility that Chrollo would attend the meeting, but there was also the possibility that it would end up being just another spiders’ meeting that would kill him with boredom at once. He had recently joined the Phantom Troupe for a single purpose, and so far he had successfully avoided childish robberies and meaningless missions, no matter who showed up to try to intimidate him.

An Ace of Hearts took shape between his fingers and he used it to slash the tangled threads that held him. To his surprise, not all of them broke on the first blow, demanding one or two more hits for him to break free completely.

He thought that maybe this time it would be worth it to show up at the meeting if she were there.

***

Their current hideout was a mansion away from the city and with a reputation for being haunted. The abandonment of the building made it cold and fragile, but there was a certain beauty in all those aged memories left by the corners, and in the way nature was taking over the place little by little. In a few years, the creeping plants will probably take it over completely.

Machi entered through the backdoor absolutely quietly, just in case. Soon she realized that there was someone in the basement and she walked down the stairs, equally silent, to find Chrollo sitting on an old wooden chest. By candlelight, he analyzed something on a table in front of him.

“Fascinating... whoever lived here, was someone impressive. It is not by chance that this house has a reputation for being haunted,” he whispered when she approached but kept his gray eyes fixed on the objects spread on the table.

In that room, Machi noticed opaque crystals, rusty metal objects that were supposed to serve very specific uses, animal skulls with horns, and some books so old and yellow that she thought they would turn to dust if she looked at them for too long. She stood next to the boss and realized that what captured his attention were cards, similar to a playing deck, but more numerous and richly illustrated even though -- like everything in that basement -- they were in dull colors.

“Did these objects serve any ritualistic purpose? They must be flooded with nen,” the energy of the place was somewhat obscure, and she thought that maybe this is why he felt comfortable there.

“I haven’t found any trace of nen in this basement,” he said, causing a brief expression of surprise in her. Fascinating, really.

Chrollo finally looked at her, his expression calm and pleasant. His eyes were more mysterious and dark than the energy of the place. By far more fascinating. Eyes that caused her the same feeling, again and again, after so many years.

Perhaps because she was so close that he could feel that commotion inside of her, or perhaps because he was feeling comfortable in that environment, he placed one hand on her waist, while the other held some cards.

“Sit here with me, as we used to do when I read to you,” he said, invoking the past and leading her gently so that she sat on his right thigh.

The memory stirred the feelings inside her even more. She was so young when she found him, a beautiful, intelligent and kind boy, as young as she was, who talked to her, played with her, and cared for her. Chrollo was always different from everyone else. He had ended up awakening in her still innocent heart that dream that he was a prince charming and that they would marry someday, even marriage being such an abstract concept in Meteor City. It turned out that the commitment she had made to him was far greater than that of a marriage.

Enjoying the moment, she rested her arm around his shoulders and studied the cards ahead more closely now.

“Are these tarot cards?” She asked, vaguely recognizing a couple of drawings.

“Yes, it’s the most valuable thing I’ve found here. The style is so unique, each card is a work of art by itself.”

Her eyes met an Arcana and she leaned over to pick it up, almost instinctively. The Fool, with his extravagant clothes and gestures, looking at the horizon from the edge of the abyss, projecting himself to it with nothing to hold him back -- from the infinite fall or from the flight to the horizon. Her intuition led her to believe it would be the first option.

“How was it with him?” Chrollo asked, noticing the card she was looking at so attentively.

“He's strong, I ended up having to set a trap with more aura than I've expected,” she replied almost automatically, only managing to return the card at the end of the sentence.

“He wouldn't have listened to you any other way.”

"No," she confirmed, and then they looked at each other. “The decision is yours, danchou, but I wouldn’t trust him.”

“This is why you didn't bring him here. You’ve decided to wait until tomorrow.”

Chrollo hadn’t told her to take Hisoka to him, he had left the option in the hands of her interpretation. Since the magician was one of them, he belonged -- in theory -- to that place with them, and it would have been natural for her to invite him. But it wasn’t.

Machi knew that sometimes Chrollo let her interpret his orders because he trusted her judgment. And in addition to not having taken him to the boss, she also left promptly so as not to be followed.

“You have been more receptive to new members before,” he said softly.

And the fact that he pulled her to him gently to place a kiss on her temple softened his speech even more.

“Sorry, he seemed to have a special interest in you,” she spoke in a slightly serious tone. Intuition. Concern.

Something that made him snicker as his free hand touched her hair.

“Don’t worry too much, Machi.”

That was the end of the subject brought up by the card. Soon he would touch her thigh and his hand would roam her body. Soon he would show her how comfortable he felt, to the point of allowing himself to enjoy the tenderness that Machi dedicated to him right from her lips, her skin, and her embrace.

#kuromachi #chrollo #machi #hisoka #chrollo lucilfer #machi komachine #machi komacine #hisoka morrow #chrollo x machi #machi hxh #chrollo hxh #myarawrites

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translations-by-aiimee · 3 years

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Dig a Grave to Dig Out a Ghost - Chapter 24

Original Title: 挖坟挖出鬼

Genres: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Supernatural, Yaoi

This translation is based on multiple MTLs and my own limited knowledge of Chinese characters. If I have made any egregious mistakes, please let me know.

Chapter Index

Chapter 24 - Inside Story

"Sorry." Lin Yan mumbled to the boy's back. He wasn't sure why. No one could see Xiao Yu, which always made him a little anxious. Lin Yan hesitated and for the first time took the initiative to reach out and touch Xiao Yu's statue-like fingers and whispered, "It's lonely, isn't it? Of all the people in the world, I'm the only one who can see you and I treat you badly."

Lin Yan stared at the endless highway outside the window and sighed: "Sometimes I think that, if a person walks down the street but seems invisible, desperately waving and no one responds, desperately shouting and no one hears, this feeling will definitely drive a person crazy. When I sit alone in the study room, I often feel that everyone’s excitement has nothing to do with me. I can’t wait to rush into the crowd and shout that I’m dying alone. If there is a person, no matter who he is, just that he's willing to listen to me patiently, I would have held on to him with a death grip; a sad, loving and even desperate grip."

"But I can't tell anyone. No one wants to admit that they're lonely. They always put on a show to satisfy their pride. They show off their awesome life to others while crying behind closed doors. People are such strange creatures."

Xiao Yu lowered his eyes and grabbed Lin Yan's hand. He put it to his lips and kissed lightly, as if comforting.

Lin Yan turned his head silently. The children at the snack bar were making noise, and the street shop windows were covered with small heart-shaped papers of various colours. Lin Yan looked through a few of them, and some of them were written in highlighter about who they love and who they're waiting for. Some wrote blessings to pass the exam. They were notes of immaturity and youthfulness, the purest and most beautiful wishes.

Everyone had their own wish, whether it was simple or complicated. Their dissatisfaction with their lives making them write out their wishes on paper, hoping that one day the gods can see them. Lin Yan thought silently, people who don't know each other always shine brightly, but only when they are familiar with them do they know their weaknesses. Just look at him, his family was well-off and well educated, but he had never dared to admit that he didn't like girls; look at Yin Zhou, he's from a perfect family but only willing to be a prince in the virtual world; then there's A-Yan, who can't even be a normal person in the eyes of others. Lin Yan gave a wry smile, who would listen to their prayers?

Probably because of the high school student's whistleblower, a group of children at the next table were pointing at him. Someone said something about being a psychopath. Lin Yan smiled indifferently. He took a note from his pocket and wrote a line: "I hope I can successfully help Zhou Jintian find his father." He put the note under a piece of fluorescent paper with a heart drawn on it.

He heard about a child's wish today.

He, Yin Zhou, and A-Yan had snuck into the morgue to search for answers after finding the boy’s record. The old man at the door was basically deaf. Lin Yan yelled the three syllables of the kid's name so loudly and the old man didn’t hear him. A nurse doing some cleaning suddenly intervened and asked him if the child hadn't left yet. He put down the broom and said pitifully.

"I know that kid, his grandma and I are neighbours. His mother died a few years ago. His father was too busy with work to care for him. The child lived with his grandma. One time Jintian had a severe fever and his father came back to see him. Jintian never forgot about it. One day while his grandmother was not there, he fell off of a balcony on the third floor, thinking that his father would be able to accompany him to see a doctor if he fell. As a result, the child lived a short life. His internal organs ruptured and caused heavy bleeding, and he passed away after a few days after being sent to the hospital."

"The ashes are buried in the most expensive cemetery in our city. I went there on the day of the funeral. It's a pity that his father was on a business trip abroad. He didn't rush back to collect the body until two days after his son's death. He didn't see him in the end." The nurse sighed. "I heard that the child kept asking about why his father wasn't coming in his confusion. The doctor lied to him that he was already on his way. As a result, the child lay on the bed and looked out the window every day, and even kept his eyes open when he died."

This story made Lin Yan feel a little heartbroken, but A-Yan said that this kind of soul was easy to deal with. There was no resentment and didn't want to harm anyone. As long as he found the person he was obsessed with and burned paper in front of the grave and talked with him often, he should be gone. But the child’s ghost was the most simple and persistent. If that person didn't come, the child would turn into a grieving spirit after waiting for a long time, which was extremely difficult to deal with.

"G-Ghosts have more of a heart." A-Yan was rather lost when she said this.

Ding. Lin Yan's cell phone went off. Yin Zhou sent Zhou Mo's detailed address and contact information. He turned out to be a local, living in the most remote area of the city, about a three-hour drive away. Lin Yan swallowed the last bite of his spicy and sour noodles and threw the nuts in the soup into his mouth. He curled his lips and said to Xiao Yu: "Let's go. This time, the task is to help the kid find his father. It is much easier than dealing with you."

As he spoke, he grabbed his wrist and walked out, and couldn't help but blow a whistle and laugh as he drove, thinking that if only all the troubles were like today. No matter how bad his luck was lately, his family was always warmly affectionate.

Zhou Mo's family was at the fine line between the urban and rural areas. When he arrived at the destination indicated on his GPS, Lin Yan thought he had gone to the wrong place. In front of him was a rather imposing villa with a sign on the door of a European-style courtyard: private residence, outdoor surveillance. Lin Yan couldn't help being secretly stunned. For a man who owns such a house in this rich city, even if his child is hospitalized in the United States, he was rich enough to go back and forth every day. How could he not even get back to see his child for the last time?

He parked the car outside the courtyard. Lin Yan woke up Xiao Yu, who was dazed in the passenger seat, coaxed him and said: "I know you're upset when I drive you away, but this is something I need to do well, so don’t make trouble later, alright?" He leaned on the cushions and said casually: "I really understand the little boy's mood. When I was a child, my parents were also busy. I only go home once a week. I would cook my own food and sleep on my own. I was afraid of the dark and I always wanted my parents to suddenly come back."

"But I know my parents also missed me. Although they were busy, they didn't forget to buy a bunch of delicious foods every time they went home." Lin Yan changed his position and lay on his side, catching a strand of Xiao Yu's hair. He circled it around his fingers and said excitedly: "Although people and ghosts are different, a father-son reunion is always something to look forward to, right?"

Xiao Yu nodded. He pecked his lips on Lin Yan's face, and slowly said, "Let's go."

"Young Master Xiao, you're finally willing to talk to me. It's so hard to please you." Lin Yan muttered and opened the car door.

The owner’s yard was very delicately maintained, with various seasonal flowers in full bloom. He could smell the warm fragrance floating in the summer night while he waited outside the door. Not far away, there were many koi squeezed close to each other in a shallow pool, the sound of water splashing when they shook their heads and tails making people feel unspeakably calm and relaxed.

Lin Yan waited for a few minutes. A woman dressed as a nanny ran out of the villa and looked at him vigilantly through the hollow courtyard gate. Lin Yan explained that he had come because of Zhou Jintian, and the nanny ran back again. This time it took a full 20 minutes for the door to open. Lin Yan adjusted his shirt and walked across a path paved with pebbles. He rang the doorbell of the small building.

With a squeak, the Victorian-style heavy wooden door opened a gap, and a middle-aged man poked his head out of the door and hesitated: "You are?"

Lin Yan smiled politely: "My name is Lin Yan, a student at X University. You're Mr. Zhou, I came for your son Zhou Jintian." He said respectfully and handed over his student card. The owner checked in confusion, and after confirming that there was no problem, he opened the door a bit wider, but still had no intention of letting him in.

"My son just passed away some time ago. What do you want?"

Although it was backlit, Lin Yan still saw the typical businessman expression on the middle-aged man’s face; snobbishness, arrogance, and calculating. He only wore a purple bathrobe with a belt tied loosely around his waist. His chest was exposed and his body was slightly fat, but he could see that he had a good foundation when he was young. Now there was a bit of fat under his ears, so he didn't like to exercise, or his only exercise was golf.

A rich man covered in his armour.

"I'm sorry about your son. It's like this. I have a relative who's hospitalized in L Hospital. . ." The crystal ceiling lamp in the main hall of the villa was shining and blinding. Lin Yan tried to organize the thoughts in his mind, but the middle-aged man suddenly interrupted him. "You work somewhere, right? I paid all the money that should be paid to the school, the hospital and the cemetery bills have also been settled, and I don't owe anything to the commissary, so what are you doing here?"

Lin Yan hurriedly explained: "No, no, you misunderstand. It's not about money. I know this sounds ridiculous and you might not believe it, but your son's ghost is still in the hospital and he's waiting for you to visit him."

The middle-aged man's expression grew strange, and he held the doorknob as if he was about to close the door: "You're sick. What about my son's ghost? Jintian was buried long ago."

Lin Yan frowned. How could such a father exist? Hearing something about his son, even if it wasn't reliable, there was no way he could just immediately disregard it.

"This is the case; do you know why Jintian had an accident? He always felt sorry that you didn't get to see him before he died. Up to now, his soul has been unwilling to move on. He's attached to my relative's daughter waiting for you to come back. You may not understand, but a little girl being possessed by a ghost is in a dangerous situation." Lin Yan gesticulated anxiously: "Just like in the movies."

"If you don't go, Jintian's ghost will never be able to reincarnate. After a long period of time, not only will he suffer, but he may also harm others. When that time comes, for the safety of my relatives and her daughter, I'll have to disperse your son's soul." Lin Yan was in a cold sweat while talking. If he had said this kind of stuff a month ago, he would've thought he had brain damage. He thought he was cheating him out of some money, but what else could he say? Your son’s strong brainwaves caused a disorder in the hospital’s electromagnetic field, causing an innocent thirteen-year-old girl to develop hallucinations and die?

The middle-aged man frowned. He pulled his right hand back from the door frame and tightened the belt of the bathrobe: "Tell you what, I know about this. I’ve been busy lately. You can contact my secretary. Tell him how much money you want to send Jintian away, and I'll ask him to write a check."

"I said this has nothing to do with money. If you don't meet him, no money in the world could fix this!" Lin Yan really got angry this time. Was there something wrong with this guy's brain? How could he only think of money when it comes to his son?!

"Dad, what are you doing? Mom is calling you!" A five or six-year-old boy suddenly ran out from behind the middle-aged man, hugged his waist and acted like a baby. He saw Lin Yan standing at the door and started sucking his thumb, looking at Lin Yan with a pair of black grape-like eyes wide open. The middle-aged man lovingly picked up the child and placed him on his shoulders. When he looked at Lin Yan again, he put on an impatient expression.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Some mage? You're at my doorstep at night, talking nonsense, and I'm calling the police if you don't leave!"

"Who's been at the door for so long? Another bill collector? I've got no money, tell him to go the same way he came." The door was suddenly yanked open and a young woman in the purple bathrobe stood in front of Lin Yan with an imposing attitude. Her figure was slim, snowy breasts hidden behind a lace corset, and her sharp eyes were like a blade scraping Lin Yan.

Lin Yan's argument had been completely disrupted by the battle in front of him and he stammered: "Uh, I, I'm here about your son, Zhou Jintian. . ."

Before he could finish, the woman instantly changed her face and said in a high voice: "There's no end to this. How much money has been spent on the seed left behind by that yellow-faced woman? From the best hospitals to the most expensive graves; his son cut his own life short and didn't fight to survive, yet he's still shoving his way into our lives?" After speaking, the little boy was shoved in front of Lin Yan: "Okay, this is my son, he's the only one!"

After speaking, she didn't care about her husband's ugly face and slammed the door with a bang.

Lin Yan clenched his fists and stood in the dark doorway, chills in his heart.

He didn't know how he got back into the car, but when he looked out the window, he felt that the whole villa suddenly became ugly, and even the blooming roses in the yard looked like abscesses. He never believed that there were parents like this that existed. He thought that familial love was the warmest, strongest and most unshakable emotion in the world, but this time he really saw the indifference and coldness of the human heart.

Don’t test humanity, don’t, because it was simply unbearable. Lin Yan sat in the car seat and tried to slow his breathing, but his anger still grew, and all Xiao Yang's grieving and crying face appeared in front of him. How much did a child need to miss his father to have the courage to jump off of a third-story building? If his spirit in heaven knew what had unfolded here today, would he feel like his death was all for nothing?

Lin Yan slammed his fist heavily against the steering wheel.

A cold hand lightly touched his face. Lin Yan twisted his head and said hoarsely, "Xiao Yu, don't mess with me. I don't want to coax you now, I just want to beat someone up." He kicked the clutch hard and said: "Fuck this guy!"

Xiao Yu patiently tugged Lin Yan's wrist and wrenching his shoulder to make him face him. His eyes were vicious: "What do you want to do?"

"What can I do? Go back and let A-Yan find a way to make the little brat forget that he has a father!" Lin Yan gasped.

Xiao Yu shook his head, glanced at the outline of the villa in the night, and slowly said, "I'll do it."

"You mean. . ." Lin Yan looked at Xiao Yu blankly, and suddenly understood what he meant. After a long silence, he bit his lower lip and said, "Before this, I always thought I was kind, that there was nothing I couldn't bear, but. . ." Lin Yan stared at Xiao Yu: "I just want to be a fucking asshole! He deserves it!"

"Xiao Yu, I don't care what tactics you use. Before noon tomorrow, I want to see him come to the hospital to apologize to his son!" Lin Yan said viciously in the dark cab.

Xiao Yu squeezed his hand and whispered, "Don't worry."

#dig a grave to dig out a ghost translation #dig a grave to dig out a ghost #danmei novel #danmei #yaoi novel #yaoi #bl novel #chinese bl #chinese novel #english translation

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