Tumgik
#none of these are actually super super my favourite but i thought it would be fun ah
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love procrastinating going to bed and then suddenly thinking about how I need to give at least one of my characters VERY strong opinions on different animal species RIGHT FUCKING NOW
#Local Spider Yells At Clouds#like??? characters having strong opinions about things that mean jack shit is just really fun to me#I'm gonna try to think of some animals each character would like and dislike real quick off the top of my head#first thought: Gamma is probably both fascinated and deeply terrified by deep sea fish#like!! he thinks the fish themselves are pretty neat!! (it helps that Alice makes freakier looking things on a regular basis)#but everything about WHERE THEY LIVE freaks him the fuck out#man is hydrophobic already!! learning about water pressure and what it could do to a person might make him pass out#very next thought: Lydia probably likes frogs. I feel like they're not her FAVOURITE animal tho. top 5 definitely#very strange that I'm saying that while also having no idea what her ACTUAL favourite animal would be but eh. that's how it goes sometimes.#she probably likes tree frogs the best because those are peak Silly Little Guys#none of these are STRONG opinions tho!!!! I want a character who's either ride or die for a very specific animal#or a character who looks at this particular animal and goes ''I want this bitch GONE FROM EARTH''#...actually I just realized. I gave NONE of the Realm kiddos animal-loving as a core trait#HOW did I do that???? I MADE THESE FUCKERS WHEN I WAS STILL A KID AND WAS WAITING TO BE ABLE TO VOLUNTEER AT THE LOCAL ANIMAL SHELTER!!#TWO OF THESE BITCHES STARTED AS STRAIGHT-UP SELF INSERTS AND NONE OF THEM HAVE ''LIKES CREATURES'' AS A MAIN CHARACTER TRAIT?????#the easy answer would be to say Lydia or Dylan but. that's the easy answer.#oh yeah make the super-friendly character care about animals a lot. real original there me#...aw it'd be sad if it was Cynthia#because. no memories. any pets she had back on Earth are long forgotten by now.#and because of her role in the camp she'd probably never let herself get a pet either... never rediscovering her love for animals at all#this started with a dumb one-off thought about how I need to give my characters more stupid hills to die on#and ended with me remembering just how damn depressing Cynthia's memory wipe really is as a plot point lmao#it's just like. remembering that she used to have a LIFE before all of this!!#she had passions and joys and all of it got THROWN IN THE TOILET due to circumstances beyond her control!!!#and because of a choice she made herself she has no idea there was ever something else her life could have been!!!#...then again. maybe that was the point.#anyways!!!!!!!! sorry for the blog being dead for a bit lol#getting back into writing now so I'll probably get the queue running again shortly!!
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d3arapril · 5 months
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modern!ellie headcanons
my take on modern ellie. why? cos i love her 🙄 pls enjoy! feedback appreciated as alwayssss~ <3
✧ warnings: brief we3d mention but other than that, none! just ellie being ellie. safe for all audiences!
ellie was quite reserved when u first met and now ur dating she can still shut down sometimes but she's working on it
she's quiet if she doesn't know u...if ur close... ur gonna wish u weren't
literally NEVER shuts up sometimes?? she can be like one of those wind up toys and chatter on and on for HOURS if she's in the right mood
knows random facts about the most obscure things
"babe did u know that there are more than 60,000 tree species on earth??" *silence* "uhhh.... thanks el?"
CHRONICALLY ONLINE!!! knows every meme under the sun, would still use xD un-ironically if u didn't bully her for it
her tiktok screentime is probably like 7 hours a day bc she could spend endless hours just laying in bed scrolling, u get home from work/school and she's sent u 30 messages. u watch every single one <3
she's fairly active on instagram but doesn't really care about followers etc... just posts random photos whenever she feels like it and has several photo dumps dedicated to her fav pics of u. has a highlight called ‘❤️’ with pics of u
would comment on other ppls tiktoks but not post her own vids.. she’s a bit of a troll sometimes LOL
bites her nails/fingers all the time til they bleed... it's a habit
u got her the nail polish that tastes nasty to try and help her reduce the amount she bites her nails but she just started enjoying the taste of it 😐
"i thought this was supposed to taste bad???" she'd ask u with a thumb shoved in her mouth
so obviously gets bitches but is so oblivious to her surroundings and doesn't notice people ogling at her whenever you're walking around together
however if people are looking at u?? its on sight
gets very jealous very easily and has a mad short temper. lowkey toxic sometimes
will wear an 'i love my girlfriend' t-shirt without even being asked because..she loves u..duh?
leaves u notes all around ur home... u open the fridge and she's written on the empty carton of milk that she left in the fridge :/
'i love u ps were out of milk :('
wears flannels/hoodies, vests/plain tshirts and baggy jeans (maybe skinny jeans if she’s feeling crazy. u tell her she’s outdated) with converse every day. 'lesbian uniform' she calls it...
carabiner queen but doesn't actually have any keys attached to it, just keychains... her fav is the spiderman one she won at the arcade. also has a fidget cube attached. Locked And Loaded
tobey maguire is her favourite spiderman :) closely followed by andrew garfield. she says she’d probably have a crush on him if she liked boys. also loves wanda.. obviously
listens to old 2016 rap.. fetty wap has been in her top 5 spotify artists for the past 2 years
also listens to deftones (her fav songs are teenager and cherry waves btw)
uses wired earphones still because she can’t let go.. they’re busted and chewed up to hell but somehow are still going strong
i’m a strong believer that ellie would LOVE watching berleezy and quotes his videos ALL THE TIME. it's "..and bricked.... hello!" whenever she sees u looking nice (which is all the time to her)
knows all the fnaf lore (somehow?? shes never even played it)
super light sleeper, always tossing and turning and she's actually fallen out of bed several times bc she gets so ridiculously restless
always sleeps in until she only has around 15 mins left to get ready. is somehow rarely late
she has no skincare routine but has perfect skin 🙄 just washes her face with some random cheap face wash she found on sale and moisturises when she remembers. she also doesn’t use conditioner bc she ‘doesn’t believe in it’ but has soft hair? tf
always staring at u? she frowns a lot but when she looks at u her entire face softens and she has that lil half smile that she doesn’t even realise she’s doing
u guys have an intricate secret handshake that she practised in her own time so she could get it right
her journal is full of sketches of u, poems about u… girl is so in love sometimes it scares her a lil
made a scrapbook for ur birthday full of everything she’s kept from everywhere u have been together, she even kept the stickers from ur starbucks drinks and stuck them in there <3
wrote a lil song for u and waited until ur bday to sing it to u for the first time… she got so embarrassed straight after so she just hid under the covers
big ol stoner! if u dont like weed she won’t smoke when she’s with u but if u also smoke/don’t mind she’ll loooove to smoke w u. gave u her fav grinder as a token of her love
tried to make special brownies but u both burnt them to a crisp 😔 el tries so hard to be optimistic (for once) “it’s fine babe we can just eat it anyway” “ellie it’s literally crumbling when u touch it…”
tried to stick n poke herself several times but couldn’t commit so she just has unfinished pieces on her upper thighs
loves head scratches and pants like a dog when u scratch the right spot
is this emoji 🧍🏼‍♀️ frequently
that’s all folks (for now……) …. i love her
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thevampywolf · 2 months
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𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥
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☆ Genre: Domestic, school, slice of life, angst, fluff
☆ Warnings: None
☆ Request: No
☆ Characters: Noah + his friends, Angeline, Chan, Y/N, Sky
☆ Word Count: 9.3k
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Noah didn't believe in love at first sight.
He found the notion of it fickle and somewhat unethical … he didn't understand how someone could possibly fall in love based on someone's looks alone.
It was funny, really. All the books and music and movies he had been exposed to since he was a toddler all celebrated the fairy tale like stories of love at first sight. It was everywhere. The idea of love at first sight was such a popular theme amongst humanity that it seemed perhaps true love was only present at first glance. And perhaps that was why people seemed so desperate to experience love the way it was portrayed fictionally - after all, if it was as hyped up as it was, it must be a completely attainable goal.
But maybe it was more than that; maybe it was possible to feel a sudden connection upon first glance, to feel that one knew the other person from somewhere before.
Noah doubted it, however. He had never been one to follow that trail of thought. It seemed bizarre to him that one could develop feelings for a human's outer layer, rather than get to know their inmost qualities first. Perhaps it was to do with his lack of experience in romance … but Noah didn't understand people who fell for looks. After all … what would happen when the looks changed and warped with time? Would the feelings also change and warp? Would they fall out of love?
Noah's favourite love story was his parents’. He had quizzed them about their meeting countless times before, their stories beyond fascinating and much more appealing than the fictional stories floating around him. Perhaps it was because their story was real, and not a work of fiction … but there was an element of rawness and realism to their love story that Noah enjoyed far more than the fictional stories he had heard and read.
Though at times it did seem to Noah like his parents’ was embedded and threaded with a long string of miracles. Each time Noah had been exposed to a new piece of information from his parents, Noah realised the importance of loving someone for their soul, rather than their outward beauty. He knew a pretty face would fade quicker than the speed of light … but the way one's eyes softened when they gazed upon their lover - the way his parents looked at each other - would last forever. It was the hearts and the souls that were connected with one another when the love was real. Not the touch of skin against skin in the spur of a heated moment.
But then again … what if people could fall in love with the lock of gazes, too?
What if everything he had ever thought about love was wrong?
Noah didn't realise how hard he would fall for Angeline.
Nor did he realise just how much it would turn his entire world upside down when he did.
*☆*☆*
“Oi!”
Noah turned around just as Matthew hurtled himself at him in a flurry of aggressive body spray.
"There's a new girl," Matthew hissed, slinging his arm around Noah's neck. "Apparently she's super fucking hot."
Noah frowned. He slapped Matthew on the back of his head and immediately ruffled his friend's feathers. "Don't fucking objectify her. How many times do I have to say that?"
"Sorry, dad," Matthew muttered. The fourteen year old sighed, a wistful smile on his face as he walked with his best friend to their first class of the day. "I wonder if she's in our class?"
"I hope for her sake, she's not," Noah said dryly. He slid his headphones down his neck and wrapped the long cord around his phone. "You're like a vulture."
Matthew frowned. "I just want my first kiss already."
At that, Noah softened slightly. "Well … save your first kiss for someone who you actually love. Don't just kiss someone because everyone else is doing it. You'll probably regret it later.”
“But I wanna know how it feels,” Matthew whined.
Noah wrinkled his nose. “Mushy, I bet. And wet.”
Suddenly Michael appeared behind the two boys. He pushed himself into the middle, crushing the both of them as he slid his own arms around their shoulders. Michael had been working out slowly alongside his father from time to time, and Noah smiled when he felt the slight difference in the shape of his friend's biceps around his neck.
"The old man being an old man again?" Michael inclined his head towards Matthew as he side-eyed Noah. "What are you again … fifty seven? Give or take a few?"
Noah scowled. "I'm just saying."
"Loosen up a little bit, Bang," Michael said, playfully messing the boy's hair up. "You don't need to be so … "
"Uptight?" Ryan offered helpfully, falling into step beside them.
Noah scowled. "I am not uptight. My dad says - "
"Yeah, yeah, your dad is a real gentleman, we know," Matthew groaned, making Noah smile. "He swept your mum off of her feet with his incomparable charms, and now they're living happily ever after in their perfect house with their perfect children - "
"Fuck off," Noah laughed, kicking out at his taller friend. “We aren't perfect.” And then, "Do you think I'm uptight, Lukey?"
Lucas shrugged. His attention was diverted; he was reading a magazine, and Noah furrowed his brows trying to make out the fine print beside the couture fashion models.
He smiled.
"I think you're sensible," Lucas said. "I also think Matty is a whore."
"What the fuck are you reading?" Matthew retorted, snatching the magazine out of his hands. "A fashion magazine?"
Noah tutted. He grabbed the magazine and handed it back to Lucas before tackling the former boy with his hands.
"Stop being such a cunt," Noah grunted, Matthew laughing as he was shoved into the nearest wall. "Let him read his fashion magazines if he wants to. There's nothing wrong with men reading fashion shit."
Matthew giggled. "I'm teasing, Mr Old Man."
The group of boys entered their classroom, playful chattering a steady stream amongst them as they made their way to their seats. Their maths teacher wasn't there yet, and the students that were already in the room had engineered a loud hubbub that echoed off of the walls.
"What's her name, anyway?" Noah asked, dumping his bag onto the floor.
"I don't remember. Ang … Ang something? Angie? That's such an old name," Matthew snorted, slumping over his chair like a sack of potatoes. His uniform was already a mess; his tie was nowhere to be seen, and his P.E shirt was a stark red under his unbuttoned white shirt.
"You're gonna get a DT again," Noah shook his head as he pulled his notebook out from his bag. "How many have you had this week?"
"Five," Lucas offered helpfully in his soft voice. "Not including the ones at lunch."
"Seriously Matty, do you enjoy detentions?" Michael asked as he hooked his football under his arm. "Don't you wanna hang out with us?"
"It's not that I enjoy them," Matthew grumbled. "I'm just not very good at avoiding them."
Noah flipped his book open. "Well, try harder. We can't really practice as a band if a member is always fucking missing."
"Yes, dad," Matthew grinned. "Whatever you say, dad."
Leaning over the back of his chair, Ryan turned his gaze onto Noah's desk. He had produced a slice of toast from somewhere, and he crunched into it as he tried to read Noah's handwriting. "New song?"
"I'm trying," Noah muttered, clutching at his head with his slender fingers. "The words don't sound right. They sound like shit."
"You're being too hard on yourself," Lucas said. "Take a break. Go back to it later."
Slumping back in his seat, Noah groaned. "You're probably right."
The door to the classroom opened again, and the boys looked up. A girl stepped into the room; she looked a little lost. Her eyes briefly scanned the room's layout, though her face remained as blank as a sheet of paper.
"Ow!" Noah suddenly yelped, jerking in his seat; Matthew had just stomped on his foot and simultaneously jabbed him in his ribcage. Exasperated, Noah stared at him; he quickly realised what had caused his friend to react the way he had, and he sighed, a small smile growing on his lips.
"I think that's her," Matthew hissed, nodding towards the girl at the front of the classroom. "Offer her the seat beside you."
Noah tutted. "Why?"
"Because she's looking for a free seat!" Matthew pressed on, shaking his friend's hand arm. "Don't keep the lady waiting."
From beside Matthew, Michael stifled a wheeze.
Noah let out a laborious sigh.
"Hey … are you looking for a free seat?" Noah called out; the girl in question turned to look at him, and something unreadable flashed across her eyes.
She nodded.
"There's a free one there, and there's one here," Noah pointed to the front corner, and then to beside him. "I think someone's drawn a dick on that one though."
The girl peered over the desk; there was indeed an explicit Sharpie drawing on the back of the seat, and the girl's lips twitched.
She walked towards the empty desk beside Noah and quietly pulled the chair out before seating herself.
The five boys blinked at each other.
Noah couldn't remember the last time they had been so quiet.
"What's your name?" Noah turned to the girl, trying to break the awkward silence that had fallen on them all. "I'm Noah."
"Angeline," the girl said. "And I don't like boys."
"Oh," Noah said slowly, just as Matthew hid a guffaw. "That's okay. There's lots of gay people - "
"I'm not gay," Angeline interrupted, turning her face to him. "I just don't want to talk to you."
"Oh," Noah said again, blinking slowly. "Okay. Sorry."
He turned away again, his cheeks flooding with heat. He knew he shouldn't have listened to Matthew. Things always went wrong when he took his advice.
"Nice one," Matthew sniggered under his breath.
Noah looked up at him. The glare in his eyes was so intense that Matthew immediately piped down, clearing his throat as he reached for his own notebook.
*☆*☆*
"Hey … Noah, was it?"
Noah turned around; he was alone, his friends all heading towards different lessons for the second period.
Just as well, he thought to himself. He was suddenly in no mood to converse with anyone.
Angeline stood behind him, the same impassive expression glued to her pale face. Noah blinked at her through the curls on his forehead as he slung his backpack further up his shoulder
"Yeah," Noah said.
"I'm sorry about what I said earlier," Angeline said quietly. Her voice was soft, almost silent, and Noah had to listen carefully to decipher her words. "I didn't mean it."
Noah shrugged. "No harm done."
She looked uneasy suddenly, and Noah cocked his head to the side.
"Did you need something, or … ?"
Angeline pulled out a sheet of paper. Noah stared at the top of her head with mild curiosity as the girl looked down at the paper. Her hair was a hazelnut brown, and it fell around her shoulders in bouncy waves when she looked up again.
" … Do you know where this is?" Angeline asked him, pointing to the room on her timetable.
Noah leaned in slightly, trying to read the words on the paper. He caught a whiff of something floral and stepped back again, suddenly feeling too close to her.
"That's actually my next lesson," Noah said quietly. "I can take you there, if you want?"
Angeline looked up at him. She looked unsure.
"We don't have to speak, I promise," Noah offered. It caught the girl off guard and she suddenly smiled; Noah was taken aback. He didn't realise how much a single smile could light up a person's entire face.
"Okay," Angeline nodded.
Turning around again, Noah began to walk down the corridor. Every now and then he briefly looked over his shoulder to make sure Angeline was following him, and wasn't getting stuck in the throngs of people. He kept his promise and kept quiet the entire time, and when they approached the English classroom, Angeline seemed considerably less agitated than she had appeared in the beginning.
She took a seat next to him like in the previous classroom. Noah was surprised; for someone who had made it so clear that she hated his sector of humanity, she did have a strange way of showing it.
He bit his lip. He pulled out his notebook again, flipping to the back where he started to scribble across the page in his looping scrawl.
Words flew out of him in a way they hadn't earlier in the morning; he had no idea where they were coming from. All he knew was that he suddenly felt like writing a dozen songs there and then, and he watched as his hand seemed to move of its own accord. The paper was soon filled with words and he turned the page over, continuing to dump his thoughts onto the other side.
He hadn't a clue that Angeline was quietly watching him with curiosity growing in her eyes. He also had no idea when she looked away, not wanting to accidentally read his words and intrude on his privacy.
Almost half of the lesson had passed without a word shared between the two of them. Even when the class was talking amongst themselves as they worked, Noah and Angeline were silent. The silence between them was heavy; not exactly awkward, but uncomfortable nonetheless. It made Noah jittery. A trait inherited from his father, the boy had a habit of making small talk to fill in any potential voids.
"Can I speak?" Noah finally asked, leaning back in his seat. He couldn't keep it in any longer - the intensity of their quietude was making him incredibly restless, his knee almost banging against the table from how hard he was bouncing his leg up and down.
Angeline didn't look at him. But she did smile slightly, her pink lips turning up at the corners. "Okay."
"You won't stab me with that pen, right?" Noah eyed the fountain pen in her hand; it was a deep copper colour, the lid on the end and the nib scratching against the paper as she wrote.
To his surprise, Angeline laughed. It was a soundless laugh, more like a scoff - but it was progress, and Noah's eyes widened slightly.
"No," Angeline said. "That's not my style."
Noah's lips twitched. "What's your style?"
Angeline shrugged. She tapped her pen against her lip as she looked to the screen at the front of the classroom. "Slowly choking someone to death in a flower field?"
Noah wasn't expecting that; his eyes widened further, and for the first time in a while he was completely robbed of his words.
"I'm joking," Angeline was laughing again; her cheeks glowed a rosy colour as she shook her head in amusement, looking down at her paper once more. "Just wanted to see your reaction."
Slowly regaining his thoughts, Noah blinked. His mouth broke into a grin and he slapped a hand over his face. He was alarmed when he realised how hot his skin was against his palm.
"Remind me to never go to a flower field with you," Noah said. And then, "Not that we'd ever even end up in a situation like that. You know … because you hate boys."
Angeline set her pen down. She paused. "I didn't mean that. I mean … I did, but … I was exaggerating. I don't hate all of them."
Noah raised an eyebrow. The girl shook her head, smiling softly.
"I'm not going to confide in you," Angeline said. It made Noah smile again, and he mentally gawped at himself.
What was wrong with him?
"I wasn't offering to listen," Noah retorted; he was smirking when Angeline stole a surprised glance at him, and her face broke into a pretty smile.
Noah bit his lip. "But I mean … if you wanted to talk I would listen."
"Yeah, but I don't want to talk," Angeline continued. "You're the last person I'd go to if I wanted to get something off of my chest."
Laughing under his breath, Noah nodded. "Oh, yeah. Me too. You're the last person I'd listen to."
Noah couldn't help but feel proud when Amgeline started to giggle. He felt he had successfully pulled her out of her cold shell, even if it was a momentary triumph.
He wished it'd last a while. He had a feeling he could get used to the sound of laughter.
"Your friends seem … interesting," Angeline said suddenly. "Do they usually stamp on your feet?"
Noah snorted, suddenly embarrassed. He rubbed a hand over his face. "You saw that?"
"You yelled very loudly," Angeline said.
Noah smiled. She did have a point.
"They're alright," Noah shrugged, spinning his pencil around in his fingers. "Bit annoying sometimes. They're like brothers to me."
"Even the one who stomped on your foot?"
"Especially the one who stomped on my foot," Noah said.
They sank into a mild, quiet atmosphere again. Though this time, it wasn't heavy. Noah's mind was racing. He pulled his notebook towards himself again and blindly scribbled a few more phrases that tumbled out of his brain.
He rubbed the nape of his neck, flitting his gaze to the girl beside him. She wasn't looking at him; her head was turned away, her hands rifling for something in her bag.
"Angeline?" He asked quietly.
She froze. She paused before sitting up again, staring at him.
"Yes?"
"What are you doing at lunch?" Noah asked.
Angeline blinked slowly. For some reason the smile had completely melted off of her face, and the cold blankness had returned in the centre of her eyes.
"Eating food, probably," Angeline stated as she slid her books into her bag again, clearing up her desk.
"Do you want to eat together?" Noah asked.
Squinting at him, Angeline swung her bag over her shoulder. "Why?"
Noah was suddenly very perplexed; he had no idea what had happened in the past two minutes, but he felt stupid. He was so close to getting through to her …
"Well, you're new … " Noah trailed off. "And … well I thought things were going okay, no?"
"We barely spoke," Angeline said. She was holding onto her bag strap peculiarly tightly. "Look … I have to go. Maybe I'll see you around."
Scrambling his books together, Noah shoved them into his bag. He almost stumbled over the legs of his table and chair in his hastiness. "Wait - Ang - "
The classroom door slammed shut, leaving a very confused, slightly hurt Noah, staring dumbfoundedly at the space Angeline had been standing in.
*☆*☆*
It was quiet at their lunch table.
Unusually quiet.
Matthew, Michael, Lucas, and Ryan stared at Noah in silence. Noah was picking off small pieces of the bread that comprised his sandwich, and instead of eating them, he dropped them into the growing pile on top of his sheet of foil. His eyes were slitted as he stared into the distance, a dark shadow seemingly casted over his pale face.
Matthew pursed his lips until he resembled that of a duck. He swallowed down more of his pasta before clearing his throat.
“So … how's that song coming along mate?”
Noah blinked. “Huh?”
“The song you were writing. This morning,” Ryan prompted. “Did you finish it?”
Noah nibbled the edge of a leaf of lettuce. “Oh. Yeah.”
“Cool,” Matthew nodded. It was an awkward gesture, and Ryan's facial expression became one of sympathy as Matthew visibly blanched.
Matthew despised awkward silences. He didn't particularly know how to resolve the current one, however; it was new, something he had never experienced amongst his friends before.
Annoyed suddenly, Michael slapped his hand down onto the table. “Alright. That's it. Noah, what the hell is wrong with you? You're molesting that sandwich as if it's ruined your life.”
Noah dropped the bread. He pushed it away with a scowl.
“I'm fine,” Noah stated.
“And there are pigs flying outside,” Matthew drawled. “I can't believe you … you're already head over heels for the new girl. Love at first sight, aye?”
Noah stared at him, taken aback.
Matthew shrugged. “Only explanation that makes sense.”
“I'm not head over heels for her,” Noah kicked out at him. “She's just … “
“Everything you ever wished for?” Michael offered helpfully.
Noah scowled. He pushed his chair back and stood up, grabbing his bag. “I'm leaving.”
He turned and left before his friends could say anything else; they stared after him with curious eyes, shrugging at each other.
Ryan sighed. He pinched a slice of tomato out of Noah's vacated sandwich and nibbled at the edge of it. “Poor guy has never had a crush before. I don't even want to know how he'll act when he's in actual love.”
*☆*☆*
The next day Noah arrived at school an hour early. He slumped himself onto the beanbag in the corner of his favourite practice room and rested the neck of his guitar against his leg as dropped his head back against the wall.
He hadn't slept a wink.
And he didn't even have a clear idea as to why.
Flipping open the notebook he had stashed in the back of his backpack, Noah landed on the hastily scribbled lines he had come up with yesterday. He peered at them with a frown. His writing was so smudged and so intangible that he could barely make out more than half a sentence; frustrated, Noah dropped the book and groaned loudly just as the door opened.
“Oh, sorry,” Noah looked up as Angeline walked in, her eyes dark in the shadows as she looked around. “Thought I heard a dying whale in here. But it's just you.”
Noah stared at her. He then let out a bark of laughter before dropping his face into his hands.
“Why are you here so early?” Noah asked her.
Angeline blinked. “Why are you here so early?”
“I asked you first.”
“So? I asked you second.”
Noah smiled. He dropped his head against the wall again and let his hands dangle in-between his legs as pulled his knees up to his chest.
“Couldn't sleep,” Noah said. “Came to practise some new stuff I was working on.”
He picked his notebook up and rifled through the pages once more before dropping it into his bag. “I can't read what I wrote though. So … I'm just sitting.”
Angeline inclined her head in acknowledgement. A brief silence passed between them both before Angeline dropped her bag down onto the floor a few feet away from Noah. She sat down beside it much to Noah's surprise, and he was even more surprised when she pulled out a paper bag. It was stained with faint grease spots and Noah watched curiously as Angeline retrieved a single pain au raisin.
“Keep staring at me and I will poke your eyes out,” Angeline commented without looking at him. She removed a raisin from the top of her pastry and deposited it into her mouth before turning her gaze towards him.
Noah looked away. He also smiled, unable to keep the expression off of his face.
Angeline had gotten through a few bites of what Noah suspected was her breakfast before she spoke again. She licked the icing off of her fingertips as Noah sidled his eyes to her again.
“Don't call me by my full name,” Angeline said.
Noah raised his eyebrows in confusion.
“Yesterday,” Angeline elaborated. “You asked me to eat lunch with you. And I … “
“Declined to answer?” Noah prompted.
Angeline shrugged. “It wasn't because I didn't want to eat with you. You called me Angeline. And it caught me off guard.”
Noah casted his mind back to the previous day. He remembered how he had thought he was doing so well, tentatively bonding with the strange girl and her slightly intimidating eyes … but his feeble attempt had shattered when he had called her name for the first time.
He felt a sudden pang of guilt inside of him.
He really had done something to upset her.
“I'm sorry,” Noah said quietly. “But I mean … it's not like you told me not to call you that. You just ran.”
Angeline picked another raisin off of her pastry. “I guess. I'm sorry too.”
Noah stared.
For some reason his brain had already solidified the idea that Angeline was perhaps the sort of girl who wouldn't apologise unless she was very, very wrong about something.
“What do you want me to call you instead?” Noah asked.
Angeline paused. She shrugged, picking off another raisin and nibbling the icing off of it.
Noah smiled at the movement. “How about … Raisin?”
“Raisin?” Angeline echoed. She looked down at her pastry in bewilderment. “Really? You're going to name me after a dehydrated grape?”
“Dehydrated grape … “ Noah repeated under his breath with a crooked grin. “You look like you really like those dehydrated grapes though.”
Lips twitching, Angeline broke off a piece of her pastry. “I love dehydrated grapes.”
“Raisin it is, then,” Noah mused. “Ray for short?”
Angeline turned to look at him. The light brown of her eyes twinkled like copper in the early sunlight escaping from the folds of the blinds, and Noah found himself vaguely devoid of breath as he looked back at her.
“Okay,” Angeline whispered.
“Okay,” Noah nodded. “Ray.”
Angeline smiled slowly. She looked away, then, and dusted off the small flakes of pastry that dotted the collar of her shirt.
Noah reached for his notebook. Flipping to a new page, he scribbled two words in the centre of the paper and circled it aggressively.
Pastry Girl.
*☆*☆*
It had been two weeks since Noah and Angeline's early morning interaction.
Noah hadn't seen Angeline since.
*☆*☆*
“Why do you look like that?” Matthew asked.
Noah raised an eyebrow. “Like what?”
“Like … that,” stealing a mirror from the pencil case of the girl beside him, Matthew raised it to Noah's face. The girl kicked out at Matthew and Matthew hastily returned her property just as Noah rubbed his eyes from the glare that had struck him from the ceiling lights reflecting on the mirror.
Before he could reply however the door opened and all the students looked up; Angeline sidled into the classroom with a dark expression clouding her eyes. She dropped into the seat beside Noah without a word and soon the staring had turned into quiet whispers, the students all turning back to their work.
Noah didn't drill his gaze into her the way everyone else had. He wanted to; in fact he was itching to talk to her. But he looked down at his desk instead, pulling a scrap piece of paper towards him before scribbling across the centre of it.
Wordlessly he slid the paper onto Angeline's desk. Noah watched out of the corner of his eye; the girl picked the paper up and scanned the writing briefly.
Wanna get lunch together, Raisin?
Blinking, Angeline tore the note in half, and then in half again. Noah's face turned into one of slow horror as he watched her shred the note into smithereens before blowing them away like sad confetti.
*☆*☆*
Y/N had just set the last piece of fried chicken down onto a large tray when Noah trudged into the front of the house. She turned around with her husband and they both smiled happily as their gaze landed on the fourteen year old.
“Just In time! Fancy some fried chicken?” Y/N asked cheerfully.
Noah forced a smile in his parents’ direction. “No thanks. I'm not hungry. I'm going to my room.”
Without another word, Noah made his way towards the stairs, his bag dragging on the floor as he moved.
Y/N and Chan stared at each other.
“Did he just say no to fried chicken?” Chan broke the silence first. His face was one of puzzled disbelief as he picked up a fried chicken leg. “That was Noey, right? I'm not hallucinating, right?”
Sliding a plate under her husband's chin as he bit into his chicken rather aggressively, Y/N's eyebrows creased. “Did you see his face? Poor boy looked exhausted.”
Chan nodded. “Do you think something happened?”
Y/N pressed her lips into a contemplative thought in response.
“What if it's … a girl?” Chan mused with the rise of an eyebrow. He suddenly grinned, his eyes sparkling. “Can you imagine? Our Noey having girl trouble.”
Y/N couldn't help but giggle. “Do you really think a girl is capable of making him look like … like that?”
“Like death?” Chan offered helpfully.
Grinning at her husband, Y/N picked up a piece of chicken for herself. “I'll go check on him in a bit. He might need a bit of space.”
A few hours had passed since Noah came home. He had spent them all slumped in his room, hunched over his desk. His hair fell in his eyes as he scribbled in his notebook in annoyance; pencil flying, paper crinkling, Noah was breathing hard when he finally sat back and tossed his pencil to the side.
He almost jumped out of his skin when he heard a gentle knock on his door.
“Noey? Baby, can I come in?” Y/N called out softly.
Noah dropped his head into his hands. He rubbed his temples before slumping back in his seat again, plastering a calm expression on his face
“Yeah.”
Noah watched the door open. His mother walked in with a smile on his face and a plate of food resting on one of her hands.
“You must be starving,” Y/N mused as she set it down on his desk. She ruffled her fingers through her son's hair and kissed his forehead. “What are you writing?”
“Just … stupid stuff,” Noah shrugged. “Thanks for the food.”
Y/N nodded. She leaned casually against the wall and folded her arms loosely over her chest as she watched her son poke at his food.
“Noey?”
Noah looked up.
“Are you okay, my love?”
Noah smiled at her. “Yeah. Just … tired.”
“Well,” Y/N smiled wryly at him. “That's what happens when you stay up all night instead of sleeping.”
Chuckling under his breath, Noah picked up a chicken leg and bit into it. “I can't sleep at night.”
“I'm not surprised,” Y/N shook her head. “You're just like your father.”
They fell into a soft silence, Noah beginning to give in and finally properly eating his food. A short while later Chan popped his head into the room and he started to chuckle when he saw them both.
“What are you both doing? Is this some sort of silent meeting I wasn't told about?” Chan asked as he sidled inside.
“I'm eating,” Noah commented.
“And I'm watching,” Y/N explained.
Noah grinned. “Not creepy at all.”
“Well, I'm going to watch you too,” Chan chuckled as he sat down on the edge of his son's bed. “Do you want some more chicken, kiddo?”
“I'm okay,” Noah shook his head. “Hey … I have a question though.”
“For me or your mum?” Chan asked.
Noah shrugged. “Both. What do you do when someone gets mad at you for saying their name but they forgive you and then two weeks later they completely ignore you?”
Y/N and Chan blinked.
“Do you … wanna explain … ?” Chan cocked his head to the side.
Noah leaned back in his seat and shoved his hands into the pocket of his hoodie as he swivelled side to side in his chair. He bit his lip as he blinked at his parents, wondering how to turn his feelings into comprehensible words.
“There's this new girl at school,” Noah began.
Unbeknown to his son, Chan excitedly jabbed Y/N in the small of her back. It was a gesture that spoke of triumph and Y/N pressed her lips into a thin line to prevent herself from bursting into giggles.
“She's … weird,” Noah said.
Y/N furrowed her brows. “Weird how?”
Noah shrugged. “Very quiet. Doesn't speak to anyone. She got mad at me for using her first name the day we met. She didn't come to school for two weeks. And then … today … “
He trailed off and shook his head. “Nevermind.”
“No, go on,” Chan prompted softly. “What happened today?”
Noah looked frustrated. “I thought we had started to become friends. But I passed her a note and she ripped it up, dad. She ripped it up and threw it on the floor.”
Chan stole a knowing glance at his wife as he was suddenly remembered of their earlier years.
Y/N's lips twitched.
“What did the note say, Noey?” Y/N asked.
Noah flushed ever so slightly under his pale skin. He sank into his hoodie and mumbled through the top of the fabric.
“I asked her to eat lunch with me,” Noah said. “Because she doesn't eat with anyone.”
Y/N frowned. “She didn't say anything?”
“Nope.”
Chan folded his arms across his chest, chewing his lower lip in thought. “Maybe she … read it wrong? Maybe she thought it said ‘don't’ eat lunch with me.”
“Dad.”
“Sorry, sorry,” Chan started to chuckle as Y/N slid an amused glance at him. “Maybe she doesn't trust you? I mean … she's new, right?”
Noah's face darkened. “It's nearly been a month.”
“Give her some time,” Y/N said softly. “I think she's … she might have a guard up. And she might not be the best at communicating it.”
“What do you mean?” Noah frowned.
“Well … sometimes people can act like that if they've been hurt in the past,” Y/N explained. “They might ignore the people around them, or act like they don't care. Sometimes they might get triggered by being called certain things or being in certain situations because it reminds them of a bad memory.”
“Or maybe she really hates her name,” Chan chimed in, making both Y/N and Noah laugh. “Or she might hate lunch. Maybe both.”
Noah grinned. He sunk further into his chair and sighed, suddenly feeling very tired. “Are all girls this complicated?”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
Chan and Y/N both looked at each other; they burst into laughter and Noah smiled fondly when his father slid his arms playfully around his mother's waist.
“Guys are complicated too,” Y/N grinned as she patted Chan's arm. “But I think when you truly care about someone, you automatically understand them better. Who knows … maybe you'll end up good friends with this girl. And she might not seem as complicated anymore.”
Noah wrinkled his nose as he began to roll his pencil around his nimble fingers. “I really, really doubt that. She might hate me.”
Chan resisted the urge to grin. “I don't think so. You haven't done anything to make her hate you.”
“I breathed,” Noah scowled.
“That's disgusting,” Sky suddenly bounded into the room, catching her brother's last words. “Why would you breathe on someone?”
The family started to giggle at Sky's contribution to the conversation; the atmosphere around Noah had considerably lightened, and his mouth turned up at the corners as he pushed his perplexities to the back of his mind.
*☆*☆*
Clutching a paper bag in his hands as he vacated a small café on his way to school the next day, Noah inhaled slowly. He tried not to let his mind flood with anxious thoughts. He could smell the scent of the buttery pastry in the bag, and the boy's stomach churned with the emotions swimming in the pit of his stomach.
Once Noah stepped into the school building, he headed towards the empty practice room he usually resided in when he was early. His heart lurched when he pushed open the door and he slowly scanned the room with his gaze as he stepped inside.
Angeline was curled up in the corner of the room on a small beanbag. Her jacket was thrown over her shoulders like a blanket and her head was bent at an awkward angle; her eyes were shut and Noah's facial expression became one of surprise as he realised she was fast asleep.
He bit his lip. Noah wondered if he should wake her up, or if he should leave her to sleep; but upon seeing the dark rings below her eyes when he padded towards her, he decided on the latter. The boy slumped onto the floor beside him and set his bag down, placing his pastry bag next to it before pulling out his notebook.
Noah wasn't entirely sure how long he was sitting there for. Alternating between jotting down words on his paper and texting his friends, he barely noticed when the girl beside him stirred awake and almost jumped out of her skin when she saw him next to her.
“How long have you been here?” Angeline whispered.
Noah turned to look at her. There was a deep current of exhaustion running through her eyes and Noah felt a pang of sympathy thud through him.
He didn't respond to her question. Instead he moved his arm to the side and retrieved the paper bag before holding out to her.
Angeline blinked down at it suspiciously.
Noah started to laugh under his breath. “Just take it.”
Tentative, Angeline reached for the bag. She peered inside of it and her eyes widened in horror when she felt a sting at the back of them; before she knew what was happening, the girl had burst into silent tears and Noah froze at the sight of her.
“A - are you … okay?” Noah hummed nervously. “Did I do something wrong again?”
At that, Angeline let out a stunned bark of laughter. She curled her legs up to her chest and dropped her forehead against the tops of her knees in defeat.
Noah swallowed thickly. He usually prided himself on being relatively good at comforting people; but for some reason he had no idea what to say or do to ease Angeline.
He didn't want to push her even further away.
“I'm sorry,” Angeline mumbled against the curves of her knees. “I'm sorry, Noah.”
Noah felt his ears grow warm.
The only other time Angeline had used his name was when they first met.
It was incredibly startling.
“Why are you sorry?” Noah asked quietly.
Angeline sat up again. She leaned her head against the wall as a tear rolled down her pink cheek. She looked drained, and Noah fought against everything inside of him to make sure he didn't throw his arms around her in a hug.
“I'm a shitty person,” Angeline breathed. “And … you're not. You're kind. And it makes me angry.”
Noah examined her face carefully. “You're not a shitty person.”
Turning her large brown eyes on him, Angeline's face crumpled. “You don't know me.”
Dropping his head, Noah rubbed the nape of his neck. He picked his phone up from beside him and unlocked it before tapping on the screen.
He held it out to Angeline. “Can I have your number?”
Angeline's eyebrows shot up into her fringe. “What?”
“I … “ Noah smiled awkwardly. “You're right. I don't know you. But … I'd like to. I'd really, really like to.”
Angeline's eyes glistened as they pooled with unshed tears. “Why?”
Noah shrugged. “I don't know. My gut is just telling me it's the right thing.”
Looking down at Noah's phone, Angeline bit her lip. She took it from him and carefully input her number before handing it back to him.
Noah smiled inwardly with a burst of joy. He sent the girl beside him a small message, and his heart flipped with satisfaction when he heard her phone buzz beside her.
She hadn't given him a false number.
It was a start.
“Did you put poison in the pastry?” Angeline asked a short while later. When Noah looked over at her, he was surprised to see her smiling back at him.
He couldn't help but chuckle. “No.”
“Can I eat it?” Angeline questioned him.
“It's yours,” Noah grinned. “I bought it for you. Eat it whenever you want to. Raisin.”
Angeline's smile deepened. She reached into the paper bag and pulled out the pain au raisin and after briefly examining it, she carefully tore it in half.
She held out one half of it to Noah.
A lump in his throat, Noah couldn't keep the flush off of his face as he accepted the pastry, and the two of them sank into a comfortable silence as they finished their halves.
*☆*☆*
"Stop - stop," Noah groaned in agitation as he yanked at his leather jacket. It was caught underneath two of his band members who had decided to fight each other; Matthew landed heavily on the leather, the material squeaking under him. "You cunt … I just finished painting this … if it's smudged I'm going to eat your left kneecap for brekkie tomorrow."
Matthew howled with laughter as Noah glared at him. "Why my kneecap? Do you enjoy bones or something, you fucking dog?"
Noah shook out his jacket with a mild frown as Matthew and Lucas high fived each other, clearly amused at the question. Noah couldn't help but grin too after a moment, and his right cheek dimpled considerably as he sighed at the pair of them. "You're a menace."
It was the night of their school's winter show, and Noah and his friends were getting ready in one of their school's music rooms. They were going to perform a number of songs - and for the first time, they planned on introducing a few of their original songs.
Noah was slightly terrified. It wasn't the fact that half the school would be watching him that scared him; it was the fact that all their parents would be there too. Noah adored his parents; they were closer than most families, and for that exact reason, Noah felt slightly jittery when he thought about their possible reaction when they heard his songs for the first time.
He sincerely hoped no one would catch on to the true meaning of the lyrics he had written.
Lucas cocked his head to the side just then, and he surveyed the dressing room with curious eyes. Ryan was sitting on a small stool in the corner, playful music from his favourite game escaping his phone. His brow was creased as he jabbed at the screen with his thumbs, and he groaned under his breath a moment later as he sagged further into the seat
"Where's Wazowski?" Lucas asked, looking for their friend Michael. "He's late. He's never late."
"Maybe he forgot," Ryan said. He looked up mildly. "That'd be pretty shit."
"Nah, he can't have forgotten," Matthew interjected as he flung his arm around the back of the sofa. "He'll be here. Just wait. I give him … three … two … one … "
As if on cue, the door to the small music room swung open and Michael walked through the door. The four friends cheered at the sight of him, and Matthew grinned widely before hurtling himself at Michael.
"Wazowski! Thought you weren't coming mate," Matthew said.
"There are girls," Michael breathed heavily in response. His eyes seemed to stick out of his skull as he leaned against the nearest wall, his chest rising and falling rapidly. "Everywhere. They're screaming."
Noah folded his arms across his chest. "What do you mean?"
“They're all lined up waiting to go into the hall. They're waiting for us,” Michael elaborated. “I think I even saw someone wearing a t-shirt with Noey’s face on it.”
Noah bit his lip. He didn't particularly care about who was waiting for them; there was only one girl on his mind, and there was no way she'd be there.
They hadn't spoken in almost a year.
After three years of a very rocky, very tumultuous friendship, Angeline had disappeared again. Noah was used to her disappearances. Expected them, even. But the usual few weeks had soon turned into months, and with no message from her and dead calls from his end, Noah had begun to slowly accept that he would never see her again.
The thought was like a rose thorn pricking his skin before burying itself into his body.
From the side, Matthew watched his best friend carefully. He knew Noah like the back of his hand; he instantly noticed the flicker of hope in Noah's eyes upon hearing Michael's words.
Matthew sighed sadly under his breath. The day he saw Angeline again, he would be sure to give her a piece of his mind for hurting one of the kindest people he knew.
“My face?” Noah asked. “How did she even get a picture of my face?”
“You have fans,” Lucas laughed from the other side of the room. “I don't blame them.”
Noah shook his head.
"Had to pick up some new drumsticks on the way," Michael was explaining why he had been late, and he pulled out two sticks from behind his ears, making the boys snort. "Accidentally sat on them."
"Fuck me, how heavy is your ass?" Ryan asked from the corner of the room. "How'd you manage that?"
"Phone was in my back pocket," Mike shrugged. He waved his hands around, the drumsticks almost poking Matthew in his eyeballs. "Forget it. Noey, mate you look weird."
Noah scowled; his hair wasn't styled properly yet and he was in a vague state of undress. He found his belt hanging around Matthews neck like a makeshift necklace, and he slapped the back of his friend's thigh with it in annoyance before hooking it through the waistband of his leather trousers.
"You look weird," Noah muttered as he slid his arms into his jacket. He was satisfied that the paint hadn't cracked along the grain of the leather, and he turned to his side, peering over his shoulder to admire his handiwork. A tangle of red roses, looping song lyrics and clusters of stars hugged the majority of his back like an intricate storyline, and Noah grinned at the sight of it. It looked much cooler than he had thought it would, and he adjusted the lapels of his jacket before running his fingers through his unruly curls.
"That's insane," Michael whistled through his teeth as he observed Noah's artwork. He narrowed his eyes as he leaned forward. “Are those … lyrics? Our lyrics?”
Noah grinned. “Like ‘em?”
Michael was about to respond when the door to the practice room flew open.
“You guys ready? We're starting soon,” one of the members of staff who was in charge of the event popped her head into the room with a smile. “Oh, I love that jacket. Very suave.”
“Suave,” Noah repeated with a laugh. “Thanks.”
“So suave,” Matthew mocked his friend once the woman had left. He lopped his arms around Noah's shoulders and pretended to kiss him, Noah immediately pulling back and kicking him in the shin.
“Give over you idiot,” Noah grumbled. “Are you even ready? You look like a mop.”
Matthew grinned. He tossed his head back and peered at his friends through his narrowed eyes. “I enjoy looking like a mop. I want to be a mop when I grow up.”
Michael shook his head as he tuned into the conversation. “You're always talking and yet you never say anything useful, you know that right?”
“You sound like my mum,” Matthew stuck his tongue out at Michael. The group had begun to vacate the room and they walked down the corridor towards the doors that led into their main hall's side entrance. “That's all she ever says to me. She says I'll never find love because no one is gonna want to put up with my bullshit. Direct quote.”
Noah firmly patted Matthew's shoulder before using his fingers to shake out his curls. “Don't worry mate. I'm sure there's someone out there who would die for your bullshit.”
“I wouldn't be so sure … “ Ryan grimaced from behind the group, making his friends laugh.
Approaching the hall, Noah's stomach started to lurch. He couldn't stop his mind from wandering, and he inhaled under his breath, trying to clear the vivid images from his brain.
“You okay?” Matthew murmured a moment later. He leaned closer to Noah and gently touched his arm. “Not gonna pass out on stage, right?”
Noah smiled. “I'm fine. Just … thinking?”
“About Angeline?”
Turning to look at the blonde boy, Noah swallowed thickly. “No.”
“It's fine if you are,” Matthew shrugged. “I get it.”
“It's not fine,” Noah grumbled. “It's almost been a year. I should have forgotten her by now.”
Sighing, Matthew grabbed Noah's shoulders and stared at him intently. “Look, we're almost due to go on so I can't say as much as I wanna say. But mate, no one can forget someone that quickly. You love her. You're not gonna forget her like that … and honestly, I don't think you should forget her.”
Noah looked down at his boots. “I don't love her.”
“Stop lying to yourself,” Matthew tutted. “The more you deny your feelings the harder you're making it for yourself. Just accept it, bro.”
There was no time for Noah to respond for they were soon ushered onto the stage; it was loud in the room, and uncharacteristically dark for the main space in the building. The large lights had been dimmed and instead someone had strung up rows of LED lights that flashed hues of violet and fuschia at the five boys. Tiny piccolo lights dotted the room, and Noah had to squint considerably before his eyes slowly adjusted to the dramatic change in lightning.
“Hi,” Noah waved his fingers and flashed the substantially sized crowd one of his contagious grins. “We're The Cyber Lads.”
The crowd cheered; once the noise had begun to subside, a voice called out to him.
“Hi! I'm your dad!”
The crowd burst into laughter. Noah couldn't help but burst into quiet laughter as he saw his father grinning up at him, clearly proud of his statement. From beside him, Y/N was shaking her head as she laughed and Sky's face was one of pure second hand embarrassment as she did her best to sink into the crowd.
“Hi dad,” Noah snorted with laughter. “Everyone, say hi to my dad who is clearly feeling very bold tonight. And to my sister, who looks like she'd rather be anywhere but here.”
Chan waved his hands around in alarm as his face turned into one of embarrassment just as the crowd chorused a loud greeting to him. Sky meanwhile had the expression of murder upon her face, and her eyes drilled lasers into her brother's face as he smiled innocently at her.
“Anway, I'm Noah,” Noah said, grabbing the crowd's attention again. A loud cheer echoed in the hall again and Noah's face flushed pink as he turned his head to his side, grinning at his friends. “And these guys … well I'll let them introduce themselves. I'm kind like that.”
The room filled with laughter again, and Noah's friends took turns to introduce themselves. As they were doing so, Noah looked out to the crowd. He looked around casually, a twinkle in his eye; but his gaze soon landed on a figure near the back, and as Noah slowly made out familiar features in the shadows, the eighteen year old felt his heart drop, and his body freeze.
Angeline stared back at him with her round eyes. She looked much the same, but different; her hair was longer, her face sharper. There was a soft smile on her lips, and it grew as she folded her arms across her chest, the sleeves of her floral dress moving like water in the shade.
To Noah, it felt like the entire world had stopped. It was just Noah and Angeline staring at each other, the loud chatter around them completely silenced. Noah's fingers tightened on his microphone stand as his breathing became shallow, and he was completely unaware of his bandmates trying to get his attention as he continued to stare off into the distance.
Chan frowned. He looked to his wife who appeared just as worried as he was; she followed Noah's gaze and together Chan and Y/N managed to spot Angeline at the back of the crowd.
“Is he okay?” Chan murmured to his wife.
“He looks like he just saw a ghost,” Sky prompted helpfully. “Didn't his girlfriend like … disappear?’
Chan's eyes widened. “Girlfriend?”
“They're not actually together,” Y/N hurried to say before Chan's eyes fell out of his skull. “Don't worry, you didn't miss anything.”
“Nearly cried,” Chan started to chuckle. He looked towards his son again, his face softening as he registered Noah's facial expression. “Poor kid. He looks … “
“Traumatised,” Sky said.
“Oi!” Michael hissed from his seat at the drums from behind Noah. “Snap out of it!”
Noah jumped. No longer distracted, he realised the crowd was staring at him with curiosity, and his family were wearing expressions of pure worry as they watched him.
He cleared his throat, rifling a trembling hand through his hair.
“Sorry,” Noah said. He grinned widely, his eyes crinkling and glowing amber under the stage lights. “I got distracted. You all probably know what it's like to zone out in the middle of nowhere, right?”
His light question immediately transformed the audience's mood and a chorus of agreement rippled through the room; Chan couldn't help but smile at his swift recovery, and he turned to Y/N to comment on how proud he was of their son.
The band flew through the majority of their songs without any problems, and with Noah forcefully pushing Angeline to the back of his mind, they managed to capture the crowd's interest almost immediately. Noah couldn't keep the smile off of his face as they clapped energetically after the second to last song, and he leaned into his microphone again, waiting for everyone to fall silent.
“I … “ Noah wrapped his hands around his microphone as he looked out onto the crowd. He had been so sure of what he was going to say for the last song; but now that Angeline was watching him, he felt like anything that he could say wouldn't be enough. He looked directly at her, hoping for some sort of answer in her eyes.
But she stared back at him, her face as impassive as ever.
He couldn't help but chuckle to himself. He looked down at his shoes and paused for a moment before speaking again.
“I want to dedicate this last song to someone,” Noah said. His grin was crooked as he looked towards Angeline again, every one of his words aimed at her and her alone. “I've known this person for a while. They're … complicated. I think they hate me.”
The crowd started to laugh, and Noah smiled back; he was relieved, in a way. They didn't seem to understand what he was actually saying, and Noaj wondered if perhaps it was better that way.
“I guess we're all complicated, in our own way,” Noah continued. “I guess this song is a reminder that just because you feel like the whole world is crashing down on you, it doesn't mean you're alone. You're never alone.”
Noah was speaking directly to Angeline, though the crowd didn't know that. They listened to him with interest as he continued to watch Angeline.
Her impassive face had dissolved. Her lower lip was caught in-between her teeth, and she hugged her arms to herself, her eyes starting to blur.
“The song is called ‘Pastry Girl’,” Noah said with a smile as he adjusted the guitar in his arms. “I hope you like it.”
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butdaddyilovehim-hs · 6 months
Text
Stars Around My Scars: Part I
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Summary: Y/N and Harry meet by chance on the street and Harry just so happens to be Y/N's longtime crush. Sparks fly between the two but there's just one problem... Harry has a girlfriend. Featuring our favourite 1D boys and soft Harry <3
Word Count: >1k (super short to set up the story) Warnings: none
Based off this ask
"Liam you forgot the candles!” 
“They weren’t on the list Y/N.”
“But it’s a PARTY, of course we need candles?!”  Y/N rolls her eyes at her roommate who sits unbothered on the couch, stuck in the latest round of whatever new game he had bought.
 “They. Weren’t. On. The. List.”
 “Ok. Fine.” Y/N sucks in a deep breath before grabbing her keys. “I’ll go get them. You’re lucky we still have time before the party tomorrow.” 
Liam groans in response and Y/N rolls her eyes again before heading to the store. Party planning is not for the weak. She isn’t quite sure why she’s taken on such a large responsibility especially because it’s Niall’s 30th so she can’t mess it up. But he’s one of her best friends so obviously she had to throw him a party. And then her idea of a small gathering spiralled out of control and now it’s a surprise party with over 100 guests. It’s not like Liam and Louis have been much help because well… Liam would rather be doing anything else than helping her plan the decor and Louis can’t keep a secret to save his life so he doesn’t even know about the party. Y/N has over a million things to prepare before tomorrow and getting these candles was definitely not on her to do list for the day. 
She rushes out of her car and into the party store, grabbing the first packet she sees, pays for them and rushes back out to her car. However in her rush, (and due to the fact that she was looking at her phone) she slams into someone. Hard. Said someone grunts softly at the impact before reaching out a hand to steady her.
“Oh my goodness, I am so sorry I wasn’t looking where I was going, I didn’t mean to- holy shit.” 
“No worries love. You alright?” The man in front of her smiles, making sure she’s regained her footing before gently letting go of her. 
“Oh I’m fine… it’s just. Well. You’re Harry Styles.” Y/N can hardly believe her eyes. Her first thought is that his eyes are even greener in person. Her second thought is that he’s even more attractive in person and that’s saying something because he was pretty damn good looking in his pictures. And in the posters Y/N used to have (still has) on her wall. 
“That would be me. You look really familiar love. Have we met?” His voice is low and slightly raspy and it sends a flurry of butterflies to Y/N’s core. 
“Um well no. But I’m Liam’s roommate so maybe you might have seen a picture of me on his instagram or something? It’s really lovely to meet you. You’re… taller than I imagined.” Y/N wants to die. It’s like she’s forgotten how words work all of a sudden because her childhood crush is standing right in front of her and he’s smiling at her like that and Y/N doesn’t really remember how to breathe either. 
“You’ve imagined?” He sends a smirk her way and Y/N’s knees almost give out. 
“I didn’t mean it like that.” She blushes and Harry chuckles at how flustered she is. 
“Well anyway, it’s nice to properly meet you… I’m so sorry love, I don’t remember your name.” He winces as if it’s something he should have committed to memory. 
“Oh. It’s Y/N.” 
“Y/N! That’s right. Pretty name.” He tests it on his tongue and she shivers slightly. Y/N decides she only wants Harry to say her name from now on. It certainly sounds pretty coming off his lips. 
“The boys mentioned you were living in LA? What brings you to London? Just visiting or…?” 
“I’ve moved back actually. I bought a new place and my uh girlfriend and I just moved in a few days ago.” He runs a hand through his hair and Y/N can’t place the slightly sheepish expression on his face. Girlfriend. Of course he has a girlfriend. He’s Harry fucking Styles. She’s probably a model, Y/N thinks to herself. Blonde, skinny, legs for days. 
“Oh that’s… wow. I’m sure the guys will be thrilled to catch up with you. I’ll have to let them know I saw you.” Y/N offers him a weak smile. She isn’t exactly sure what she was hoping for. For him to fall in love with her on the street and whisk her off to his apartment to have his way with her? Actually that’s exactly what she was hoping for. 
“I’m throwing Niall a surprise birthday party.” She blurts out, filling the silence. 
“Oh really? It’s his 30th yeah?” 
“Yeah it is. You should come. If you like. No pressure. You could bring your girlfriend?” 
“Sure we’d love to. It’ll be nice to see the guys again.” Harry perks up at the invitation. 
“I’ll get your number off Liam and text you the details if that’s ok?” 
“Nah, I’ll give it to you now. I’ll surprise all of them by showing up.” He pulls his phone out of his pocket. He rattles off his number and Y/N quickly enters it into her phone before sending him a text so he has her number too. They say their goodbyes and Y/N finally makes it to her car, sitting in silence in slight disbelief as to what just happened. She’s staring, slightly dazed out of the window when her phone buzzes.
 (1:05pm) Harry: Send me the details! Lovely to meet you :) 
Harry Styles is texting her. 15 year old Y/N would have passed out by now and current Y/N isn’t really sure she’s got function in her limbs.
A/N: This is something just to tide you guys over until I can get part 2 of obsession out!! My laptop died on me so it's taking me a bit longer I'm afraid. BUT I adore you all for loving that series so much, and I hope you enjoy the start of this 😘
If I haven't added you to my tag list because I've missed your message or forgotten, please message me or comment! Reblogs and feedback are always appreciated xo
Tags:
@lukesaprince @harryspirate @walkingintheheartbreaksatellite @lilyrmason12 @styleslover-1994 @stylesfever @kathb59 @indierockgirrl @bxbyysstuff @gills-lounge @lomlhstyles @opheliaofficial07 @stylesmoonlight12 @babyiamperfectforyou @velvetballaspark @harrys-flower @macy-tpwk @mema10 @jerseygirlinca @daphnesutton @rafaaoli @allthelovehes @lovrave @tenaciousperfectionunknown @namelesssav @hsonlyangelxo @smartcookee @laurenstears
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ayoitspatricia · 1 year
Note
Hi do you still write for disney's descendants? if so can you do headcanons of being siblings with the VKs? and if possible the siblings came with them to the school. sorry for my bad english
Being siblings with each VK + going to Auradon with them would include :
IM BAAAAACK!! It has been a while since I have posted so I am currently working through requests :)
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Mal :
Homie would be overprotective af
This lady ain’t having any Auradon dweebs getting you on her watch
Always encouraging you to be the best version of yourself
Or in Maleficent’s case the worst
Y’all are not that big on boys, girls etc before Mal meets Ben
Mix and matching leather jackets
Being the biggest chaos causes wherever you guys go
Finding it hard to be positive about school when Mal wants you to be miserable about it all
Her helping you to control your powers which are cool im gonna be honest
Sharing differences and similarities with Mal
She just wants to keep you safe from bad people in the world
Ironic for a VK right?
Especially from rats in Auradon
Feeling pressured by your mom when she wants you to steal the magic wand
Liking Ben and not finding it difficult to adjust to being good
Evie :
Now this one encourages you to interact with others
She wants to get you as far out of your shell as possible
Cause poor girl ain’t got a clue what will happen if you all get caught stealing the wand
Wanting you to get a partner
But asking them lots of intimidating kind questions if you do
Doing group sewing + art!
Always trying on each other’s clothing
Having matching magic mirrors
Creating a Chad hate club
Evie being the favourite child but always defending you
Going on shopping sprees when you arrive at Auradon
Trying hard to empress everyone
But then realising that it is really impossible
Evie wanting to dye your hair
Her chasing you around with the hair dye
Actually secretly wanting to be good from the beginning
Carlos :
Always being super close to each other
Thing 1 = you / Thing 2 = Carlos
Actually quite liking dogs
Lol your brother did not like that one
Until you got Dude obviously (you was his fav)
Always having super fluffy jumpers or cardigans
Enjoying sweet treats with him at midnight
Literally menaces to the cooking club
Softest member of the VK’s
Collecting stuffed animals to annoy Carlos
Then proceeding to throw them at each other
Fairy Godmother actually really liking you
You going into Remedial Goodness 101 early so you both can have a chat
Honestly loving the Auradon vibe
Cheering Carlos on when he plays Tourney
+ shipping him with Jane!!
Literally acting like kids the whole time
Wanting to open an animal club in Auradon
Tbh you was already sliding to the side of good as soon as you arrived
Jay :
My mans is on a whole other level of protective
Like you thought Mal was bad
Whether your on the isle or in Auradon this boy has your back
Him always glaring at the boys whenever they look at you for too long
Even at poor Carlos, who has no clue what is going on
Teaching you how to steal
Reminding your father of Jasmine
You + Evie + Mal are the perfect trio
Doing laps around the museum to try and find any lamps
Not your proudest moment ngl
You plus Lonnie equals BESTIES!!
Jay making you always watch him play sports
Stealing his beanies all the time
Hiding in spots around Auradon so he has to try and find you
You best hope that none of them princes disrespect you
Cause they gon get an ass whoopin
Honestly not caring about whether you’re good or not
As long as you have your brother and your friends
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angelst4re · 1 year
Note
tattoo!artist!jamie tattooing his full fucking name near as possible to your reader’s cunt (this was one of the prompts listed by someone else and you)
okay so this was and still IS one of my favourite ideas ever. and i really wanted to write and post it tonight so i'm hoping and praying that it doesn't feel rushed at all! although i think i did spend more time searching for this video (below) than i did writing it :( and yes i had to make the gif myself bc i couldn't find it anywhere :')
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Good Girl- Tattoo Artist!Jamie x Reader
summary: you lose a bet against jamie...
warnings: jamie and reader are friends with benefits! NSFW! smut, oral (reader receiving), sex toys, briefly mentioned pain kink? (that probably has a name, i'm too tired to think rn!)
note: NOT PROOF READ </3 this fic is super unrealistic, let's just pretend everything that happens here is safe! (i also don't know how tattoos work, i've mentioned this before haha) also it's almost Jamie's birthday :) i might post a super cute fluffy fic for his day :)
As you walked from your car into the tattoo studio, you thought about what led you to this decision. It was such a terrible idea, but you lost a bet after all, you had to do it. 
When you and Jamie were out at a bar, he had made a bet that the bartender would ask for your number. You had told him that was stupid! Clearly the bartender had seen you were with Jamie, he wouldn’t dare ask for your number! Would he? 
He did. And that is what led you into this, all because you lost a bet. 
You sat down in the waiting room, pulling your tiny skirt down as it was barely covering anything- not that anyone would see, the tattoo studio was closed, it was only you and Jamie there. 
“Ah, I see you’re on time.” Jamie says with a smirk, leaning against the door frame. He wore a black t-shirt and had his hair pushed back, a pair of circular glasses resting on his face. 
He motioned for you to follow him as he led you to a room, you picked up your bag and followed him, your heart racing in your chest. 
“I can’t believe you agreed to this,” he chuckled. 
“Well, I can’t say no to a dare, can I? I’m not a pussy.” You tried to act like you weren’t terrified, like your hands weren’t shaking as you slightly bent down and placed your bag on the floor. 
“Whatever you say,” he snickered, “shit there’s no gloves in here… I’ll go and get some from another room. Get yourself comfortable, darling- oh, and you might need to take that pretty thong off.” He added before leaving the room. 
Shit. 
You knew he was going to tattoo somewhere close to your cunt, that’s why he told you to wear a skirt, but you didn’t think it would actually be there. 
Swallowing the last of your dignity, you slipped off your red lace thong, throwing it towards your bag before lying down on the table, adjusting the pillow a few times before you were finally comfortable. 
“Sorry about that, it looks like we need to order some more gloves in,” Jamie said as he returned, shutting the door behind him, “you ready, love?”
You nodded your head, followed by a quiet “yes.” 
He got all the equipment ready before pulling a chair up beside you and lifting your skirt up at an agonisingly slow pace. His (now gloved) thumb rubbed just inches above your clit, and it felt cold, causing your hips to buck slightly, arousal now replacing your anxiety. 
“Baby, I can’t have you moving about whilst I do this, okay? Stay still for me.” 
You have known Jamie for 6 years now, and in that time you had been fucking on and off, in and out of relationships with other people, you’d spend weeks together and then not see each other for months, but one thing was for sure- you were his and he was yours. You would always come back to each other in the end, so you knew you wouldn’t regret this. 
“Are you ready?” He asked one final time, before turning on the damned machine. 
You let out a gasp as you felt the needles working into your skin. You had gotten tattoos before, but none of them had ever felt like this. Although it hurt, you liked it, but you wished you could feel some stimulation on your clit. 
“Jamie,” you whimpered, screwing your eyes shut. 
“Yes, darling?”
“Can you… can you…”
“Can I… what?” He asked, stopping abruptly. As if his patience was running short. That’s when his eyes dropped, focusing on your pulsing heat. “Awhh, was that turning you on, baby?” He mocked. 
You nodded your head in shame, and he just laughed, getting ready to continue. You quickly grasped his wrist, stopping him. 
“Jamie, please, I need-”
“What? What do you need?” 
“Can you touch me?” You asked, growing shy as you realised how desperate you sounded. 
He smirked, placing everything in his hands down on the table beside him, pulling one glove off before spreading your folds with his index and middle finger. 
“Fuck, you’re soaked.” He gasped, running a finger through your folds, before focusing on stroking your clit. 
You threw your head back, you were so worked up already that just his finger on your clit was enough for you to cum, but then he asked you, 
“Did you bring what I asked you to?” 
“I did… it’s in my bag.” 
When he removed his hand from you, you let out a whine, you were so close to your high before he moved, wheeling his chair over to your bag. He chuckled at the sight of your panties, taking them and slipping them into his pocket before pulling the item out of your bag- the baby blue dildo he had bought you. 
He wheeled himself back over to you and without warning, you felt the toy rubbing against your heat. It was soon covered in your slick and Jamie grinned, pushing it inside of you slowly as your nails dug into his wrist. 
“Shit…” You whimpered, “feel so full.” 
“Is that what you needed, darling?” He asked, leaving the toy inside you as he got a clean glove out, “poor little slut.” He chuckled, picking up the tattoo machine again before continuing his work. 
As he spelled out the ‘J’ and ‘A’ of his name, he couldn’t help but watch as your cunt continued to pulse around the toy, your clit begging for stimulation. He held your legs apart, stopping you from rubbing your thighs together like you so desperately wanted. 
He had now spelt out ‘JAMI’ and decided to just spell his first name, he would then give you what you needed. It was driving him mad watching your pretty pussy beg for his attention as he worked above it. 
When the ‘E’ was finally complete, he took off his glasses, wiped down his work and applied something to it, your mind was too fuzzy to think about what it could be. 
It felt like your prayers were answered when you felt his lips wrap around your clit, catching you by surprise. 
“Oh my god!” You whined, your hand coming down to tangle your fingers in his hair. 
He sucked harshly on your clit, needing to see and feel you release. He slowly pulled the toy out of you before pushing it back in, repeating this action until your thighs trembled either side of his face. 
“Fuck! Fuck, I’m gonna… Jamie, please! Can I cum…”
“Of course, baby. You were such a good girl,” he says against your pussy, the two of you felt euphoric, as if you could get high on sexual tension, “cum for me, darling.”
With one harsh suck of your clit between his lips and the feeling of his teeth grazing your sensitive nub, you came with a loud moan. He worked you through it, pulling the toy out of you and placing it on the table beside him, his mouth moving down to ‘clean’ you up. 
As his tongue now prodded against your hole, you felt his nose graze your clit. Your body shuddered at the touch as you were currently extremely sensitive, he loved this. Seeing the reaction it caused, he purposely did it again, a little harder this time, causing you to grab his shoulder and attempt to pull him away. 
“Enough, too much, please…” you babbled, and he placed a kiss on your clit before lifting his head back up, looking you in the eyes and giving you a smile, you smiled back lazily as he stood up, searching the cupboard for something. 
“Would you like to see it?” Jamie asked, handing you a mirror. 
You held the mirror down, noticing the sticky mess that was your cunt, and then the tattoo above it, reading ‘jamie.’ 
“Do you like it?” He asked, in an almost teasing tone. 
“I guess,” you smirked, sitting up. 
“Don’t stand straight up, darling. You’ve been lying down for a while, let me clean you up properly first.” 
You remained seated as he retrieved some wipes from another room. When he returned, he spread your legs again and cleaned up the mess he caused, trying his best not to touch your clit. 
“Wanna come back to my place?” He asked as he cleaned you up, as if this was the most normalest thing that had ever happened. Your eyes were level his crotch as he stood above you, and you noticed he was hard underneath the restriction of his jeans, you tilted your head and gave him an innocent smile. 
“Sounds fun, why not?” You said, standing up and collecting your bag, “only if you plan on giving my underwear back, that shit was expensive.”
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omgpoindexter · 4 months
Note
any nurseydex fics on ur mind lately? I find myself thinking about them more lately but seem to have read everything for them!
to be honest i’ve not been reading too many new fics lately, i’ve mainly been writing. hopefully some of my own fics will be out there and on your mind early next year!
but here’s some from the amazing folks on this here site that stay on my mind. most of them aren’t new, i’m not very good at keeping up to date, but hopefully there’s something new for you here that you’ll love!
under the cut because this got long <3
a comprehensive guide to not talking about it by @alocalband
Nursey tried to kiss him.
Derek Nurse tried to kiss him.
The more Dex thinks about it, the more absolutely ridiculous it sounds.
one of my favourite fics of all time. just perfect. read anything by them actually, they’re all brilliant! this one though, i revisit it so often i could recite it by now.
to be alone with you also by alocalband
Will and Derek spend their junior year learning how to live together, learning how to be friends, and, eventually, figuring out that they'd like to be more.
im not going to list all of their fics (even though i could) but this one needs listing. always on my mind.
marie, hold on tight (and down we went) by @petedavidsonscock
Nursey says, “I’m melancholic as fuck right now, bros.”
Chowder opens his mouth to prompt him to continue, but Dex elbows him and mutters, “Don’t encourage him.”
short but so, so sweet. they’re best friends!!! also poor chowder. his endless over it-ness is one of my favourite nurseydex tropes
counting stars (what we could be) also by petedavidsonscock
Nursey has spent the last four years pretending to believe in astrology to annoy Dex. But with graduation coming up, the bit has to come to an end. Luckily, Dex is probably going to take the news in a really chill, normal, casual way.
this made me laugh out loud. nursey would totally do this and it would absolutely play out in this exact way. hilarious
in front of the same bathroom mirror by @geniusorinsanity
It's not surprising that sharing a room changes things, but neither of them expect the most important conversations in their strange, awkward friendship to happen in their shared bathroom.
(Or: five conversations Dex and Nursey have in a shared bathroom, and one in bed.)
UGH! just something about nursey and dex learning to live alongside each other and talking about the important things and being BEST FRIENDS. and kissing. obviously. this is another fic i reread every month or so
too much (extra) by @denois / @sexydexynurse
Dex nodded, not moving his gaze from the path in front of them. "Well, if there's anything I can do to help, I've got your back."
Snorting, Nursey's mouth let out the first words he thought without his permission. "Not much you can do unless you're going to date me."
i was smiling all the way through this and so i think more people need to read it. it’s super cute. dex wooing nursey is honestly one of my fave things because he deserves it!!!!
kiss my chapped lips and call me yours by @omgdexnursey
Dex prefers things that are easy, simple, and straightforward.
Nursey is none of those things.
angst warning, but also CUTE WARNING. this is a really sweet story. because nursey is SO MUCH and dex doesn’t get it until he does. but them learning to take care of each other and being soft… i need a minute
i’m sinking fast (it’s alright)
Dex blinks up at the ceiling a few times, trying to reckon with himself and the constant loop of what are we doing what are we doing what are we doing spinning through his dehydrated brain.
When he turns his head, Nursey's already dozing off. Dex sighs, gazing back up at the ceiling, puzzled by the warm press of Nursey’s leg against his, the very insistence of them sharing a bed.
Friends don’t do this, he thinks.
the character development in this is just. i love it. the journey through the seasons, the passage of time… gorgeous
i’m a fire and i’ll keep your brittle heart warm by @jennybeantime
It's senior year and No, Dex is Not attracted to Nursey and No, he is Not going to do anything about it.
use a taylor song as your fic title and you’ve got me. obsessed with how soppy and cute this story is. obsessed with dex having absolutely zero self control. obsessed!!!!
can’t hide from you like i hide from myself by @andtimestoodstill
In which Dex has only applied to jobs in cities that Nursey has applied to grad schools in. They are Not Together.
oh gosh, their banter and interactions in this are so charming, chowder and the others included. even the arguing (there’s arguing!! angst warning!!!). i really enjoyed this, i never read much later fic but this is a great example. adorable
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shinsou-rii · 1 year
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PRESS PLAY - an 0T7 series
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synopsis! an enhypen mini series in which shinsourii writes her faves as her faves or shinsourii writes enhypen as some of her favourite beabadoobee songs!
pairings! enhypen x reader (i’m p sure none of them have gender specified?)
genre! angst, fluff?, romance
warnings! each individual fic will have their warnings labelled at the start if there is any needed
authors note! hello welcome to my first mini series :) i have actually had this planned for a couple of months now,, but i got super busy and so never got round to posting it but now that it’s half term it’s the perfect time 🤗 these are all quite short fics i’m sorry and some are longer than the others (not intentionally),, but hope you enjoy pls reblog + leave feedback i’d rlly appreciate it!
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HE GETS ME SO HIGH - lee heeseung
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summary! it was hard being with heeseung, especially when no one was allowed to know about it. it was even harder to realise that really you didn’t mean as much to heeseung as you thought you did, and it was just embarrassing to know that he had you completely hooked with there being nothing you could do about it.
word count! 797
READ HERE
DISAPPEAR - park jongseong
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summary! you and jay were okay right? you still loved each other right? of course you did… except you didn’t, the jay you knew, he’s disappeared.
word count! 323
READ HERE
TALK - sim jaeyun
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summary! your favourite day of the week, with possibly your favourite boy?
word count! 368
READ HERE
HOW WAS YOUR DAY? - park sunghoon
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summary! it was nice to try and catch up with old friends, or well exes in your case. it’s not as nice to be constantly met with his voicemail every time…
word count! 388
READ HERE
APPLE CIDER - kim sunoo
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summary! you and sunoo definitely don’t like each other like that, it would be crazy right? that’s definitely not why you’re wearing the jumper he totally didn’t say looked good on you…
word count! 383
READ HERE
DON'T GET THE DEAL - yang jungwon
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summary! you were both still in this relationship for different reasons but it was clear that only one of you realised this…
word count! 289
READ HERE
ANIMAl NOISES - nishimura riki
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summary! you remember the mornings when you and niki would have fun together, mornings are horrible now. maybe they would be better with him back, but that’s wishful thinking isn’t it?
word count! 373
READ HERE
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taglist! (OPEN) @wanna-live-yn-life @hoonieeverse @belovedxiao
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Gay wrongs tournament, round one of the losers bracket
Propaganda:
For John and Jack:
So, they both are literal murders. One of them is a little bit more insane than the other. Okay, the little bit part is not right, totally insane that is John, yes. But gonna love him though. He had been in rehab for alcohol, drugs, sex and murder. Don't kiss him, he might be wearing poisoning lipstick. They are canon mlm. They had been stuck in a two week time loop for five years, which was like leading a married life for them. They didn't actually marry, but they were partners, both in business and sexually. They worked together for an time agency. Then Jack's memories of two years were erased and he left. He went into  independent self deployment, doing scams using his knowledge of future events. After that he build an alien hunting institute in Cardiff, Wales. When John and Jack see eachother again after years, you don't know whether they will they kiss or fight. They do both. Did I tell you that along this story Jack became an inmortal who can't stay dead? No matter how or how often he dies or is killed, he keeps coming back to life. This is all very scraping on the surface, but oh boy, would it be at least a novella to describe them.
They worked together in the Time Agency where they did horrible things to the extent where Jack had two years of his memory stolen so that he couldn’t know what he’d done. They were also in a time loop together for five years where they canonically thought of each other as the wife (John was a good wife :3), and were basically married. Then they had a divorce arc and they both separately went rogue from the Agency to become conmen, although they still worked together/clashed on occasions, always still with that spark of passion. “Frenemies with benefits” Jack called them once, although John preferred “my lover, my rival, my nemesis and destiny. And bane of my bloody life.” Canon finds us where Jack has tried to reform and be a better person, but John is still chasing cons, and all he wants to do is bring Jack back to the stars with him, back to the crime and the glitter of the galaxies (it doesn’t work and he shoves Jack off a building but Jack got himself immortal so he’s fine <3) anyway I am very normal about them xoxo
In John's introduction to the series he shows up on a roof where some guy is mugging someone, grabs him by the throat and dangles him over the edge of the building while this guy begs for his life before dropping him just because he felt like it. When John and Jack interact for the first time in the show there's a super cool guitar riff, very evil western vibes, they walk up to each other, look deeply into each other's eyes, make out, then start throwing punches to Blur's Song 2. In one of the audio dramas we're told about various times where these two conned people, stole a bunch of money and gold and gems and stuff, then had sex with whoever it is they conned before (sometimes) killing them. When Jack devided he was done and left John to die John escaped and married the queen of England (Victoria) then locked Jack up somewhere to take his life force and live forever, destroying the timeline in the process. John has tried to kill all of Jack's friends at least twice to have him all to himself. He found Jack's long lost brother and when the brother turned out to be a terrible person with a vendetta against Jack John did everything he could to save Jack. Their relationship is canon but very one-sided most of the time
just this video
For Dina and Ellie:
They do justified murders, but murders none the less. Is it really that bad to kill a few dozen people with your gf if your trying to get revenge in this big horrible world?
Spoilers, but Ellie decided to go on a big old revenge murder spree and Dina was a super supportive girlfriend and went right along with her. The two of them killed A Lot of people together. Admittedly Dina eventually tapped out on the whole revenge murder thing eventually, but I feel like they definitely need to be in this tournament.
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averys-happy-space · 2 months
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putting this here more for myself than anything. i wanna be able to look back at it in a year and see how its changed. explanations for each section under the cut
ship i loved at first sight: tara x piper. i don't know what the ship name is. taper? pira? pira seems nicer lol. anyway, tara used to be my favourite brawler (and is still up there in my top 5) and i think the first time i saw tara x piper fanart was on reddit. it was by Xpyray and i swear to god ive never fallen in love with a ship faster. their art is so fucking good and they dont rlly draw brawl stuff anymore but i still follow them cuz their art is so so so pretty (please go follow them if youre reading this). anyway so yeah thats how tara x piper became my fav ship.
ships i initially didn't like: rico x piper, shelly x colt imma be fr at the start i didn't really Get these ships. but after watching some of the official animations and learning more of the lore, i started to appreciate these ships more. i don't love them or anything but they can be cute
ships i don't like anymore: sandy x nita, leon x jessie, sandy x leon there is no real reason for this other than the fact that i simply stopped liking them as i grew up. as i was making this i realised that when i was younger i used to like the ships with the kids/teens more, but now i'm 17 and i'm just not interested in them anymore. i guess thats what happens when you grow up lol. these ships are still cute, but i just don't engage with them anymore
favourite popular ships: mandy x chester, fang x buster so a bit of background, i actually quit brawl stars for a while, i think after the gale brawl pass. i dont really remember why, but its probably because i just got bored of the game lol. i think that also played into why i'm no longer interested in the same ships as before. anyway, i came back this year during the bizarre circus brawl pass and accidentally fell in love with these two ships. honestly, i'm not even entirely sure why i fell in love with these two ships in particular. chester definitely caught my eye when i came back to the game because a) i love clowns b) i love a good troll c) i love the random XD energy chester has and d) he has super interesting & fun game mechanics. i have no interest in mandy really but then i saw One suggestive mandy x chester fanart that went hard af and suddenly i was on board lmao. on the other hand fang and buster were two characters that i took some time to fall in love with, but now they're my favourites lol it's so strange. i really don't know how it happened.
favourite rarepair: amber x maisie i was looking at a diagram of all the trios so far because i was brainstorming ideas for who to include in a fanfic and as i was looking at it, suddenly it Clicked in my mind that amber x maisie would go hard af. like think about it. overconfident fire entertainer who gets so swept up in performances that she forgets about safety x safety coordinator with a fire extinguisher for an arm who secretly likes being in dangerous situations? come on!!!! im surprised more people havent thought of this pairing cuz as soon as it clicked for me it seemed like such an obvious pairing to do. but then again they've never interacted in any animation/promo material/etc so i guess it's not a pair people would just think of without prompting. but it's so fucking good!!!! more people need to get in on this ship.
controversial ship: none here's the thing. i don't know any controversial ships that i can see myself shipping. the most controversial one i know is probably edgar x colette but i see them as siblings so i don't ship it nor do i engage with fanart of them. edgar and colette ships in general are probably controversial seeing as both of them don't have canon ages and it's vague enough that people are always talking about whether they're adults or minors. but i personally see both of them as older teens so i don't ship them with anyone. (to me, they're too old to hang out with the kid brawlers but also too young to hang out with the adult brawlers. it's weird because there's no other brawlers where i see them as teens, so in my mind edgar and colette both have 0 shipping potential)
ships i want to become canon the most: amber x maisie, fang x buster they're my current favourite ships. what else to say.
comfort ship: fang x buster i think about them All the Fucking Time. lowkey i started to project on fang a bit just cuz i like him so much. i don't even know why or how i started liking him this much but he's my favourite brawler now and it's horrible. i think the seal in the coffin was @/giveittomegay's fanart of them. THEY'RE SO FUCKING CUTE. like omfg. confident, charismatic chinese immigrant who just arrived at starr park x introverted insecure white guy who doesn't know how to approach others. slowburn where they become closer through working at the cinema and buster realises he's fallen in love basically immediately but fang hasn't realised his own sexuality (has had crushes on girls before so always assumed he was straight) and doesn't realise he's in love with buster until maisie straight up tells him. fang's confidence means he jokingly flirts with buster all the time because he thinks it's funny to tease the guy and make him flustered but doesn't realise buster gets flustered because he likes fang. fang is fucking stupid. also, i think using fang x shelly here as a conflict plot point would be so good. like, fang seeing a pretty girl and approaching her, flirting with her, etc. i like to think fang is dense as fuck and would genuinely believe he's in love with shelly despite buster occupying 90% of his thoughts because his thought process would be something along the lines of "oh, i just think about him a lot cuz he's my best friend, i'm sure this is all regular, normal bff things". and buster just fucking dying inside but not saying anything because he thinks it's none of his business and he shouldn't interfere in fang's love life. MAISIE WATCHING ALL THIS HAPPEN AND WANTING TO MURDER BOTH OF THEM FOR BEING SO DENSE. like ohhhhhh my god there is so much potential here it's fucking insane. side note: fang doesn't have anything against gay people. i like to think maisie x amber comes way before fang x buster, so fang knows gay people exist and like he is perfectly fine and comfortable being around them, he's just so stupidly dense that he doesn't realise HE is gay (or more specifically bi). he also assumes buster is straight because default sexuality and whenever fang makes jokes based on this assumption buster never corrects him. because buster is a pussy. god. i want to write this fanfic so bad but i'm so fucking bad at writing dialogue it's insane.
ships that deserve more attention: amber x maisie, brock x bibi, barley x bull, max x janet LET ME COOK HERE OKAY. amber x maisie i already explained above. brock x bibi (i call them bibrock) is because it's noted in bibi's bio that she's secretly a huge nerd and i think it would be super cute for her to have a bf who she can indulge in nerdy and geeky shit with. to me they're both massive comic book fans who become close by playing all the superhero video games together before branching out to other games. they're console gamers btw and they get SUPER competitive whenever they're playing against each other. but they also do play coop games where they work together. usually brock is the one who does a lot of theorycrafting and tries to minmax his grind so he can get all the resources in the most optimal and time efficient way possible, whereas bibi prefers just going into fights and wrecking havoc lol. barley x bull is because they're both restaurant owners/servers (barley has his bar, bull has his diner) and i think they would bond over shitty customers and interesting food/drink recipes. they're both also familiar with having fights break out in their establishment and are fully capable of shutting fights down, even if it means getting their hands dirty. they think they're on opposite ends of the spectrum but they're actually more similar than they realise. for sure a very slowburn romance (especially because i think bull would be denial about liking a fucking robot lmfao) max x janet is because they're both celebrity entertainers. yeah, that's it. no but seriously i see max as someone who puts up an outgoing persona in public and is generally a very hyper, high energy person but at the same time, she tends to keep people at a distance because she's scared of intimacy. before janet, her closest friends are surge and meg. surge kind of Knows something is up with her because every time he tried to ask about her past she clammed up and gave noncommittal responses. he worries about her but doesn't know what to do about it so he just tries to make her happy in the present. meg is a kid so she doesn't realise anything is wrong lol. hanging out with meg and surge makes max happy and she considers them family, but she still has a wall up around her true self. janet is the one who is finally able to help max come out of her shell and address her past trauma. it also helps that max thinks janet is very pretty and desperately wants to kiss her. this is canon btw don't question me.
first otp: tara x piper | current otp: fang x buster i basically said all i have to say about these ships so yeah. that's it.
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beautifulpersonpeach · 8 months
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I definitely want to back up that anon who thinks jimin is still in the kitchen! In truth I think all the boys are and will be for a long time. I see chapter two as the introduction of their solo careers meaning "hey we are gonna be bts but also be ourselves sometimes too" I think every solo moment we've seen is the beginning which I'm for one super excited about. Imagine a wave of brilliant solo work one year and then phenomenal group work the next. Chapter two is barely a year in and it's already a visual and musical feast. I think jimin loves quietly preparing so he can wow us when he feels the time is right and while I too get tense with the constant radio silence I know it's cause he'll blow my mind the second he wants too. I hope people who feel as if Jimin didn't get a chance to show his true might feel comforted in that he will never ever stop wanting to gag tf out of us. And I think the sentiment holds the same for bts.
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Exactly this. Up until a few months ago I thought this was well understood, seeing as how BTS has operated till now, but clearly I was mistaken.
For posterity’s sake, to beat this dead horse one final time:
Would it be nice for each member’s release to not have any of the issues they’ve had? Of course. But it’s possible to inform the company of said issues, address what we can for issues due to various platform errors not due to the company, while not losing sight of the fact this is only 2023. We’re still only in 2023. As in, we’re literally just one year into Chapter 2, none of the guys are older than 30, and they keep saying they’re in this for the long haul. And this is the same group that has shown over a decade that their plans are most often and best executed in multi-year stints.
It’s bizarre to think a member’s solo career is over or even damaged at all in any real way because of one or more problems that happened during their first solo release. It betrays such a myopic, winner-take-all mentality that you have to be in a very specific headspace to fully buy into.
Jimin is clearly happy and working. He’s not blind and is seeing what is working for other members and what isn’t. They’re all checking out each other’s solo endeavours from time to time, cheering each other on and I’d say making notes on what they too could try, what works and what doesn’t.
If there’s one thing that’s become clear to me over the years, and even more so in Chapter 2, it’s that BTS is a team. A real team. I’ve seen a lot of k-pop groups over the years and there is no group today, present or past, that would reach the heights BTS has if any of the members sought to harm or sabotage or lord shit over the rest, with or without help from the company. None of the BTS members would put up with that shit. Their egos are too big, they’re so obviously their own people, very ambitious and so aware of it that I really wonder if people actually listen to these men when they talk. They know exactly what they’re worth, and they trust that all the other members know it too. If BigHit showed any real favouritism, BTS is the last group to allow that if it’s not something they themselves have already agreed to.
They all know what they’re doing. And if they don’t, then they’re the only people with the tools to figure it out. All the angst and anguish over this or that happening in fan spaces, has no real effect on these men sitting somewhere in Seoul planning out everything they’d like to do as solo artists and as part of BTS.
That’s my takeaway after watching them for as long as I have. I could be wrong, but I’ve not seen anything to suggest that yet. I’m not sure how long you’ve been in the fandom Anon, or what you think about other issues, but it’s nice to see you and the other Anon share this perspective. It’s a view that’s widely accepted in the fan spaces I’m in outside of Tumblr, but one that is sorely lacking in this space right now.
For no reason at all, one Jimin that I hope one day shows up in Chapter 2, 3, or 4:
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Sidebar - A friend (who isn’t religious) was asking another friend recently about religion, because she’s now desperate enough to seek divine intervention for Jimin to find blonde hair dye, and to love it again.
We all know his best hair colour is black, but it’s just as true that a solid case has been made for him being a natural blonde.
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Okay, that’s it today from my gallery.
That colleague i mentioned the other day, the one that recently got into BTS and now biases Jimin, we’re meeting up this weekend with my other friend, the musician that watched the Grammys with me last year and fell in love with Jimin. That’s an example of two people still finding out about Jimin, falling in love with his music and him as a person, and starting to support him. None of the noise online actually has any real bearing on the impact of real life people still learning about Jimin through his solo music and through BTS, and becoming his fans maybe for life.
If anyone finds themselves feeling overwhelmed in fandom, please zoom out. Please take time away and get some perspective. Everything I’ve said is obvious, none of it is rocket science or gleaned from any special insight. The noise online can suck you in, to prevent that, please detach, go back to their recent and old interviews to hear what they each feel about Chapter 2 and their solo work, listen to all of what Jimin expressed during his promotions, the good and bad. You’d be left with fewer anxieties. At least, that’s the case for me.
Thanks for this, Anon.
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dianaladrislovebot · 3 months
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gone headcanons that have popped into my unhinged little brain, part 6
hey there, so since i’ve been rereading the series/writing this fic i’ve had nothing but hc/theory brainrot so you’ll only be getting hc posts for a while. we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled program of incorrect quotes at some point i promise
this first (technically first two) hc isn’t something i induct into my thinking all the time it’s just a thought that i enjoy no matter how sad it is
caine’s parents had always struggled with having children, so they ended up adopting caine instead. they moved to london (where caine’s mother is from) for a few years because they feared connie, who was still young, would come back for him. he slips into a british accent sometimes when he’s angry (i just think this sounds funny can you imagine british caine)
caine’s mother fell pregnant a few years later and they managed to keep the baby. the second the baby, named chloe, was born, caine was sent to coates immediately so they could focus on doting on their “real” child. now that they had a biological child, he was rendered useless in their eyes.
astrid has scary good skin care. girl has never had a pimple in her LIFE.
since they lived together (+ sam) post fayz, diana helped astrid write her book. astrid only knew so much from her point of view, and diana helped her fill in the blanks from the other side of the court.
caine’s a ridiculously picky eater. he will push his food around and make sure none of it touches before he’ll eat it. very particular about what he will and won’t eat. this is because he’s ridiculously autistic.
also hates crust. diana and drake used to take turns eating his crust at coates
alternatively, sam is a human vacuum. he will eat quite literally anything you put in front of him because and i quote, “food is food”.
drake is afraid of butterflies. he thinks they’re gross. i have no basis for this ink and i just think it’s funny
caine’s favourite colour is yellow. him owning that yellow vest was not a coincidence.
alternatively, diana’s is a royal purple and drakes is (suprising no one) red.
caine is super squeamish, despite his constant need for war. hates blood, hates all kinds of bugs. he took one look at that’s bugs face during the bug battle in plague and was ready to book it.
drake really wanted to die in a super fucked up and for his case to go unsolved so he could end up on buzzfeed unsolved. he was disappointed when he realised his immortality probably prevented that.
drake’s a complete feral in snow. he absolutely adores snow. it’s the only time anyone sees him act like an actual well adjusted person (sort of). he turns into an excited child when it snows
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walshball · 5 months
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Good morning Walshball Nation here are my personal predictions for the England squad call up this afternoon. Any deviation and clearly Sarina has gone senile and they need to put me in as gaffer /s
1. Kirby’s BACK IN IT LADS. God we’ve missed her. Please Sarina, please. Super Fran Kirby is the spark we need, we’ve often felt a bit sluggish/hesitant in attack and that girl is absolute lightning. Give our strikers a kick up the arse.
2. Lucy in the squad but kept on the bench. Listen, I’m being realistic. Sarina will be calling Lucy Bronze to the England squad when she’s 45 and tracking back in a mobility scooter. And to be fair I think she’s got a lot to offer in terms of experience, morale, and guiding the younger players. A Jill Scott type figure. Emotional support animal. Whatever the fuck her and Keira Walsh have going on. Let her go on holiday to Belgium but LET THAT KNEE REST. I just know her physio has grey hair.
3. Obviously my dear sweet Mary Earps is number 1, as the rest of England’s keepers are deeply unserious individuals unfortunately. And none of them are getting any fucking minutes. Roebuck, girly, blink twice if you need help. This does make second and third keepers a tricky pick- I’d actually love a Keating call up, she’s so young but I think throwing her in at the deep end would be really good for her. Maybe Sandy’ll get a look in? Or maybe Hampton’s reign of terror continues, idk. GK Union looking like Game of Thrones atm.
4. Some fresh blood. Look, if we’re going to let Aunty Lucy have some time in her deckchair we need something a bit zippy on that right wing. I’m talking Le Tissier minutes, I’m talking Charles minutes. But mostly Le Tissier. Let that girl commit GBH against some Belgians and somehow avoid bookings bc she’s just a big ole sweetie. Scary player. Come to Arsenal.
5. The Old Favourites- can’t lie gang, Mead’s just not ready. She saved our arses on Sunday for sure, but for her second match after injury to be an international fixture is too much. MAYBE a super sub? Idk I’m hesitant. Let her ease back in. I would fucking LOVE, and I mean LOVE, for Nobbs to be in this squad, and to start, and to score a goal and for everybody to say “wow Jordan Nobbs we forgot how good you are and we’re sorry you got left out in the cold”. She needs a win. Heartbreaking to see a good player just continually get forgotten about, SARINA. But then I’m not sure it’s too likely, seeing as she’s somehow not even getting good minutes for fucking Villa. Maybe if you put her on you wouldn’t have 0 fucking points?? Just a thought Carla! Just spitballing here! #JusticeforJordan #NobbsNation
Nothing else will really be in contention because Sarina only plays the same 11 anyway. Maybe Toone gets benched because she’s having a mare this season. Who can say. Either way I’ll be drinking.
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marimayscarlett · 6 months
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"Mutter" Era Richard is the reason I became a Rammstein fan in the first place, to be honest.
My goodness, I had the biggest crush on him back then! :D
I still find his look in this era to die for, but looking back we know that it was not the greatest time for hin (the fights in the band, his marriage began to crumble, he has found out about his son at this time and was heavily addicted to drugs). That's why, looking back, I want to give him the biggest hug in this era. But well, when would I not like that? ;)
I just find it incredible how well he has aged. Not just his look… He had therapy and much more so that he can be the man he is today, and that I find super strong and quite wonderful.
Hello dear anon, thank you very much for this ask! It's always quite interesting to read about the thoughts and experiences of fans who are a lot longer part of the fandom than I've been!!
First and foremost, I can absolutely understand why you've been drawn to Mutter era Richard - I mean look at him:
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I'm especially weak for Mutter era Richard in one of my favourite gigs, the concert at the Velodrom in Berlin 2001, it's just unreal 💜
When I entered the fandom in 2015, the facts about his hardships, personal problems, drug usage during this era were already widely known, so I've always had and have these in the back of my mind while watching anything related to the Mutter era. You are right, he went through... a lot. Too much. All these different hardships in his life happened kind of simultaneously and really most likely hit him like a brick wall. My heart aches when I read about him talking about working under drug influence like non stop editing of a bass line for 8 hours straight (interview with the german news outlet Die Welt in 2009) or while hearing him talk about his depression and relationship with his mother, which really scarred him (interview with the German TV channel VOX in 2010).
All the more admirable it is that Richard found the strength and even had any strength left to go to therapy, work on himself, come clean regarding the drugs, all the while being very open about it and kind of using his voice to inform about all these things.
This is one of the reasons I'm drawn to him. Of course, he looks extremely good and charming, but his willingness to work on himself, to better himself to lead a healthier life and be there for his family, his enthusiasm and determination and overall drive is extremely worthy of commendation I think. I don't want to venture too much into Richard's mental state and overall well-being since it's actually none of my business, but I just really hope and pray that he's in a good place right now mentally speaking 🫶
And yes, this man deserved and still deserves all the hugs, real ones and 'sending good vibes over the internet'-ones 🤗
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morningstargirl666 · 5 months
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Hey! I absolutely love your stories, and right now I'm super excited to see how TBBW will continue ☺️. I'm really curious how you came up/what inspired you to write everything about the werewolf lore and Klaus' dad being alive and quite amazing if I say so myself 🥰.
Thanks so much! And oh boy, is this a question. So, what did inspire me to write the werewolf lore and Klaus' father into the story?
Well.
That comes down to the very fundamental reason why anyone chooses to write fanfiction. I watched TVD up to s5, then I watched TO up to s3 and you know what I said to myself?
That's fucking stupid.
And then I re-wrote canon my own way out of a mix of rage and spite. Here's how:
First off - the werewolves in the tvd universe are so under-developed and shallow characterisations it wants to make me SCREAM. Like, at least for vampires, we have sire bonds and the intimacy of blood sharing, the implications that powerful vampires controlling big cities, little coffee shops with UV protected windows, the differences between daywalkers and nightwalkers - an idea of an actual SOCIETY out there. For werewolves? There's none of that. The ability to turn into a wolf on a full moon is perceived as a 'curse' by vampires and witches alike, their bite kills vampires and they've been hunted to almost extinction, and that's it. That's all we're given. There's some development in TO to do with packs and how they work, but again, very shallow writing. And again, TO, so it was centred around Hayley's werewolf journey not fucking, oh, I don't know maybe KLAUS MIKAELSON WHO IS PART WEREWOLF, THE ORIGINAL HYBRID???? So yeah. Not sure it even counts at this point.
[deeply inhales]
Sorry, it all makes me very angry thinking about it, as you can certainly tell. See, all that I can probably forgive because it is called The Vampire Diaries and not The Werewolf Diaries - makes sense they didn't spend as much time fleshing out werewolf culture and customs, the details of the species. But then. THEN they had to go bringing Klaus' biological father back from the dead - a man he never knew but probably longed to have known after his death, that little boy inside who always wanted a real father not an abusive shitbag - and then. They. Fucking. Killed him off.
Not only that but KLAUS killed him off.
Add the fact Klaroline was meant to be endgame, ENDGAME I SAY, thus, I was fuelled by such fury and spite I had to rewrite the entirety of tvd's s3-s4 because that, my friends, was the last straw and I could not live in a world where something SO stupid was left unchallenged.
So. It all began with Lycaon, really.
In TO, Ansel is the name of Klaus' father. However, I always thought it would be more interesting if his father looked more like Klaus (Ansel's actor, Lloyd Owen, doesn't look much different from Mikael, brown hair, chiselled chin, etc), for various reasons, mainly being it would be amazing to explore Klaus growing up thinking he looked like the sister that died before he was born, not knowing what his true father looked like and having no other reference since he didn't share Mikael's features. It's like, another layer of detail to him coming to terms with being a bastard. So, if I did bring in Klaus' father in with the name Ansel, readers would be forever associating the character with that physical appearance, which I didn't want. Knowing that, I decided to completely rewrite the entire character from scratch.
'Lycaon' is actually of greek origin - I did look at norse names, but none of them spoke to me, not like this one did. Lycaon just rolls of the tongue so beautifully, and it means 'king of wolves', which was rather fitting I thought. Makes Klaus a little lost prince almost, a reference to a favourite klaroline fic of mine, which expands beautifully on the werewolf lore: The Lost Prince and The Eternal Queen. The people of Scandinavia were travellers and conquerers too, famous for their navy, and with the Greek's influence in Europe, I didn't think it was too outlandish for a greek name to pop up. Like it's improbable, but lets suspend our disbelief a little on that front.
I can't quite remember what inspired Lycaon as a whole (it's been like, 3 years lol). I know I wrote that first chapter of The Little Wolf more as a way to get an idea out of my head. It wasn't about the klaroline then or any of tbbw's plot - even the rest of the little wolf's plot - which I came up with much later. It was just that scene, little Niklaus running through the woods and finding a wolf within them that felt oddly like home.
(And somehow, that one scene bloomed into what's probably going to become a 800k megafic, but isn't that how it always is, with writing?)
Going onto the deeper details of the werewolf lore... that's a mash up of everything I love about werewolves, honestly. There's inspiration drawn from other shows, of course, like Teen Wolf for example and even Twilight much to my shame (those books/movies are questionable okay but the werewolves looked BADASS) as well as just general myth and legend. There was some things I knew I didn't want to do, like make the wolf mates fated by destiny, something i've seen a lot in kc fics. That removes the romance for me, so in tbbw a wolf mate isn't a soulmate by supernatural force... they're a soulmate of choice. A mate is the wolf's first love, and the man's last - both sides have to fall in love, as one (which I think is much more poetic, no?). Which is why you have examples of Lycaon falling in love with Esther, while his wolf didn't - she wasn't his mate. I've also decided I'm going to take out the beta/omega werewolf dynamics in the edit I'm doing at the minute - originally I tried combining the fantasy werewolf pack dynamics (alpha, beta, omega) with real life wolf dynamics (wolf packs are actually families, an alpha pair being the parents of the other wolves). This is because the found family trope has me at the throat and the idea of werewolf packs being more like families? It's just such a romantic idea and I love it. So I'm changing that.
I'm always changing the lore, really. Always adding new things in. Currently, I'm rewriting the little wolf and adding some new scenes in, expanding on an idea I've had for a while and implimented elsewhere - that lycanthropy isn't a curse. It's like a....defence mechanism. It's not triggered because you killed someone - that's just a coincidence that can happen, vampire propaganda (cough, cough - Milkael's propaganda) that has spiralled out of proportion. Werewolves believe it too, because most packs and bloodlines have been decimated so catastrophically, many traditions and inherent knowledge has been lost. It's more like a trauma response? So if someone with the werewolf gene goes through something that ignites the fight or flight instinct, the wolf wakes and choosing fight. Because of course - this is werewolves we're talking about. It's more born of the idea that werewolves evolved (which I think is 100% more badass, like imagine prehistoric dire wolf werewolves people COME ON) rather than were a result of spell from some witch forgotten long ago.
But back centuries ago, before Mikael's blood feud, before the purge of werewolves, werewolf packs had this ritual? A rite of passage almost, a coming of age, that does the same thing - wakes the wolf. It's just been lost through the generations of death, destruction and fear. Or that's my headcanon of it, and you'll get a glimpse of the ritual in the little wolf, something that's happening in the background of a scene to expand on the lore.
There's so MUCH more to say about the werewolf lore. Maybe I'll reblog this and share more at a later time but this is long as it is. The werewolf lore is definitely a lot. Ah, the sacrifices I make for world building.
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elvenbeard · 7 months
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I was at Phantom Liberty Tour Cologne and this is how it went!
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Img: A screen showing Johnny Silverhand with tickets to the Phantom Liberty Tour Cologne and the title "Phantom Liberty Tour - 25. August 2023 Köln"
The following is 100% an expression of my personal views! I experienced the Phantom Liberty Tour event in Cologne as overall extremely positive, I had been very hyped about it in the weeks and days before, and CDPR did not disappoint me in any way shape or form with what they put together! For transparency, I didn’t have to pay for anything beyond my own travel costs and accommodation, everything else was included solely in my application for the event being accepted.
This post is intended as a way to give a glimpse into the experience to everyone who couldn’t go or whose application wasn’t accepted -and I just wanted to share my thoughts xD It was a very small and exclusive event with very limited tickets, and I still feel super priviliged to have been able to go there. I’m aiming to share my experience with everyone reading this now and give you at least a little peek behind the scenes of it all!
We didn’t have to sign any NDAs or such, we only weren’t allowed to take pics/videos or make audio recordings of the showcased gameplay!
If you’re also going to one of the upcoming events in your respective countries, maybe wait reading this until you’ve been there to not ruin any potential surprises! And also, if you don’t wanna be spoilered about anything Phantom Liberty as such, meaning, the actual game and story, but still wanna know about what the event was like: I will put a warning onto sections that contain spoilers for the gameplay, so you can skip those!
How me and my sibling even got invited in the first place
I only learned about this event more or less on accident when my sibling sent me a screenshot of an Instagram post about it XD So, big props to them for giving us both this chance! XD That was back in May, the post said “tell us why we should invite you to the PL tour in Cologne” in its sign-up form. I did, and then waited patiently to maybe hear back from them. Originally, after sending my submission, I received a reply saying that “if you’re invited, we (CDPR organizer team) will get back to you until August 4th “. In my submission I wrote something along the lines of that I’m relatively new to the game and fandom, but it quickly evolved into my new favourite video game and unlocked so much creativity for me, so that I’m making my own mods for it now, create art, and write. My sibling was a fan of the first hour, preordered the Collector’s Edition for PS4 back then, and now we can both simultaneously get hyped for Phantom Liberty. It would be an amazing opportunity if we could also attend this event together!
When I hadn’t heard back by then I accepted that I hadn’t been selected, was a bit sad, but it was alright. But then, a few days later while I was at work, I got an email with the headline “Hey Choomba” and I was like wtf? So, turns out, due to the insane amount of submissions they pushed back the notification day about a week. Around 1,500 people sent applications that the organizers all looked at individually, and only around 250 guests plus team members and special guests were actually present that night. I didn’t know about the delay in response, because I’m not active on social media beyond Tumblr… lemme tell you though, that was such a nice surprise, and I was super happy and would’ve been none the wiser had I not been picked xD
Due to the shorter timeframe though it was now a little harder to find a hotel still, as the PL Tour took place during Gamescom week. So, half of Gaming Europe was already in Cologne for that convention and hotels were scarce. On the one hand, it obviously made sense they put the date this weekend, so the devs already in Cologne anyway could swing by with ease. On the other hand, if you were, like me, definitely not from Cologne or the general area, a little more prep time ahead would’ve been nice.
Still though, my sibling and I still found a somewhat reasonable hotel and drove to Cologne in the early morning hours of August 25th!
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Img: The door to the venue with a bright red "Phantom Liberty Tour" banner above the entrance
(cont. below the cut, long post with many pics, beware!)
The Venue, the Queue, the Delay, the Tickets
The sole information we had in advance was an address, to bring our ID cards as they’d make sure we are on the guest list and are 18+ years old. The event would start at 6pm and last until 12am. It said that "cosplays are very much appreciated" so I went in casual cosplay as Vince, because why the hell not XD But that was it in terms of what we knew about what was going to happen.
At around 5.20 p.m. we were at the location given to us via E-Mail. Parking was eh, but alright, we found a space close by, and as we drove past the venue, they were just in process of setting up their flag and banner. So yay, we’re in the right place! :D
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Img: The black CDPR flag above the entrance :3
I was so fucking hyped, I couldn’t last in the car a second longer, so we just joined the queue and waited despite the occasional rain shower. We got talking a little bit with the people around us, there were some fellow modders, everyone was wearing some kind of merch, there were lots of fantastic cosplayers, too! Miles Tost, CDPR level design, was there and briefly talked to us all waiting patiently. Then we were informed that sadly there would be a little bit of a delay. I think at around 6.30 or so the queue finally started moving and at around 7 my sibling and I were inside the venue :D The reason of the delay is and was unclear, we learned later though that the guy responsible for the organization had set up something like this for the first time iirc, and therefore I’ll happily forgive the slight delay. Overall, the night was fantastic and I sure as hell couldn’t have done it better!
After checking our IDs, the lovely people by the entrance handed us our numbered tickets! One of the staff then asked us if we’d already played Phantom Liberty at Gamescom, which we hadn’t, so we also received one of those yellow plastic throwaway bracelets. Those who had already played it got a red one. The reasoning here was that they only had a small play area upstairs, so not everyone would be getting a chance to play the demo of the game, and people who hadn’t seen it yet would be preferred, to keep things fair. During the night some people with yellow bracelets would then be randomly approached by a member of the team and invited upstairs with a “mystery ticket”. I sadly didn’t get to play the game myself, neither my sibling, but we still got to see the gameplay anyway :3 We’ll get to that in a minute.
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Img: Mine and my sibling's tickets, front and backside respectively; the bottom text on the backside says "be careful not to damage this section as you may still need it over the course of the night!", both tickets feature prominent circuit board and barcode designs
CDPR also invited us to free drinks with little tokens, and there was a broad selection of non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages at a small bar! I would’ve loved for there to be something like a Johnny Silverhand or Jackie Welles to order, but I guess it wasn’t the Afterlife after all. Still though, free drinks, even if generic, pretty cool :D
Activities within the Venue
While we were queuing outside still, we’d also heard about various activities that had been offered at the Warsaw station of the tour, and those were different from what we could do in Cologne!
After receiving our tickets and everything we were free to explore the location for a bit, as the actual show wouldn’t start until 8pm (originally 7 pm but well… delays :D).
There was the main floor with a big, convention center style setup with rows of chairs and some bar tables. There was the huge screen, the bar, and a really cool netrunner chair for taking pictures that the cosplayers rightfully loved :D On the left side were also a small Xbox play area where you could test out some Xbox game pass games XD The event had tons of sponsors contributing something cool.
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Img: The main area of the venue right before the show begins, an industrial-style interior with bright red and white lights, and many people looking at a big screen at the wall featuring Johnny and a welcome text in German and English respectively
Next door was a little secluded area for a podcast to be recorded later during the night, as well as a booth where visitors could record video messages for the devs (I missed my chance here and that’s what I regret most about not doing during that night ;A; but I think/hope a lot of others present seized the opportunity to send some love to Poland for this amazing game and team <3).
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Img: A small square room with four high-end gaming PC stations sponsored by NVIDIA; the screens are currently showing the main menu screen of Cyberpunk 2077 - can I just take one of these home with me please?
Then there was the upstairs area with the gaming corner, as well as another little recording studio set up by an independent German filmmaker team who were documenting the development of Phantom Liberty! We could’ve also contributed to that, if we had wished to, but I preferred to stay behind the camera this time around xD Looking forward to watching the documentary though once it’s out!
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Img: a Netrunner chair replica surrounded by screens and gadgets
There was also an outdoors courtyard area serving as a chillout zone with food (vegetarian options available) and a really cool live medieval folk band playing songs from the Witcher OST :D The various walls on the inside were decorated with photos showcasing German cosplayers and works of fan artists, and those of them who were there that night were allowed to take their photos home as a little extra special keepsake!
Community Love
The community love was so, so real and despite being comparatively new to the game and fandom still I felt super at home and comfortable and welcome. Kind of like, “I’m in the right place”, if that makes sense XD
Speaking of community… while we were still outside in the queue my sibling pointed out to me that there was a Kerry cosplayer in the line behind us, and lemme tell you, I was fucking hyped and made it my mission to greet them over the course of the evening xD I’ve been to a few smaller, less gaming-focused cons this year and there were few Cyberpunk cosplayers, no Kerry so far, so this was my chance!
Turns out, the Kerry in question was none other than fantastic @ophani (you can follow her on Instagram as well and check out what she’s working on atm!) who had been one of the first Cyberpunk people I’d ever followed on tumblr after becoming more involved in the fandom xD So yeah, the fanboy moment was even more real once I’d realized that. Also, there with her, amongst others, was @korribancosplay (also on Instagram!! Go check out his fantastic work <3) who actually recognized me first for being there looking sorta like Vince. He recognized that specific V with that hair and tattoos from my art xD I was like whaaaah! Honestly, that was my highlight of the night hands down in regards to meeting fellow fans :D Again, big shoutout to you two for the lovely conversation and everything, we’ll definitely stay in touch, and I hope I can venture over to NRW again in the future to meet up! xD
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Img: Left, ophani as Kerry Eurodyne in his 2023 appearance <3, right, korribancosplay as Goro Takemura - I wish I'd brought a proper camera, blurry phone pics that I tried to somehow save through editing ftw :D
There were a lot of other amazing cosplayers, accompanying the two mentioned, and others as well that I didn’t all get to talk to but yeah… it was amazing seeing them all regardless and the love everyone poured into their costumes! Really got me hyped about getting back into cosplaying as well!
Let the Show Begin
But then it was finally 8pm and everyone gathered in the main showcase area.
None other than male V’s German VA Björn Schalla opened the show with a little speech (“I guess I don’t have to say who’s speaking right now”). That already sealed the deal for me in terms of “okay yeah, CDPR not playing games (figuratively), this is gonna be an amazing night if literal fucking Voice-of-V is here as a special guest”.
Then the German community managers joined for a little introduction and walkthrough of the schedule, as well as all the devs and CDPR team members present for the night came on stage to kick off the event officially with a big selfie. Shame on me for not really knowing who exactly everyone was, I’m too new and not as well versed in the who-is-who yet, but there were some very big names that people got super excited about so o.o
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Img: Left, Björn Schalla aka German voice of male V, giving a little introduction speech reading out loud some randomly picked names from the guest list; right, the CDPR team and devs at the venue on stage together
Pretty much immediately afterwards, Miles Tost came back on stage, and we got to experience about an hour of gameplay of Phantom Liberty! If you don’t want spoilers for the expansion, skip the next section until the “Spoilers end here” line! I will try not to take too much away, but I want to give an honest and thorough review of what I’ve seen!
SPOILERS START HERE
The Game Showcase – Public Demo
The way this worked was, Miles stood on the front stage and narrated through the gameplay shown on the big screen, while the German community manager (iirc) Ryan played the game following a predetermined route I assume. He very strictly showed specific features, locations, and took a few very specific dialogue choices, always omitting the blue optional ones and just going with one of the generic yellow ones. The V in the demo was a male corpo, and Ryan never chose any of the plentily available Corpo dialogue options (and I’m very thankful for that, so we as players get to explore those ourselves somewhere further down the line :3).
Miles mentioned that the build shown to us was around three months old, and the first half hour of the game we saw revolved around Songbird guiding V through Dogtown prior to Myers’ plane crashing. They showed some minor NPCs running shops, the new Ripperdoc interface, and so on and so forth. I liked the new Ripperdoc animation but would’ve loved it to be even more expansive than it was in that build XD It was more a “sits down, selects cyberware to buy, then sits back up again after a short black screen, wiggles briefly then ventures forth” moment. Not comparable to the first scene with Viktor, when V gets their optics installed in the main game, but it still adds a little immersion!
V was also wearing very funky purple tights (the same level of tightness as a netrunner suit, but textured sort of like crocodile leather? I have a mighty need for them), and very sporty white sneakers that I also didn’t recognize from the main game. Everyone in the room very much loved his extravagant fashion sense XDD
So far so good, V walks through Dogtown a bit more and has some fun banter with Songbird who is not there physically, but also not quite on the phone… Then the president crashes into Dogtown kind of how it was shown in one of the trailers, and V has to go and save her, obviously, fighting Kurt Hansens forces! Up until this point of getting to and saving Myers from the wreckage was part of the publicly available demo that could also be tested at Gamescom and that I think was also showcased in recent dev streams.
The Game Showcase – Extended Demo
BUT THEN we got to a screen that said “extended demo unlocked” and got to experience some more, so far unseen content!
There was a bit of a time skip, V now traveling with President Myers and trying to get her to safety. Then we quickly got to a scene I had been kind of anxious about: V having to take an oath to become a special agent working for the NUSA. Thankfully though: you didn’t actually have to take the oath as shown in the trailer, and I was relieved, because being forced to do that that would’ve ended the expansion for my V then and there XD You still get to work for Myers though, and then V actually ventured out to find Solomon Reed! :O
We got to see quite a bit more of Dogtown, which is much bigger than I had assumed o.o Like, big buildings, proper streets, etc. etc. - not massive, but also not small! It seemed to sort of seamlessly blend into Pacifica, maybe… But in the showcase we didn’t venture far enough to the limits of the area to really be able to tell how exactly it is integrated into the world. Also, no visuals on the new Badlands areas or anything beyond this little story mission, but I think for a showcase like this that would’ve been too much! Mr. Hands called about a gig though that he maybe shouldn’t have, interrupting Miles' speech a little XD I don’t recall the exact details, but it sounded like a "SOS: Merc needed" type gig. I’m super excited about that, too, there's tons to do in this area!
They also showed the new phone interface, as well as the completely reworked skill trees, which is something @darcidarlin asked me about!
For the phone interface I’m so so thankful! It was so much bigger and organized, much easier to handle and read.
About the skill trees I’m super torn in a way… they’re different and simpler now, but sometimes simpler isn’t necessarily better imo. I’m used to my current build and skills, I like the attributes, and I don’t really see yet how my old playstyle is gonna translate into this new version. Basically, what they did (or at least how it seemed to me) was replace the attributes with "Skills". There is a "Relic" skill, an "Edgerunner" skill, and so forth, at least I saw nothing labelled "Cool", "Strength", "Tech" in the way I'm used to, but the glimpse we got was too short and superficial to really get a good idea of the new menu layout and contents.
The combat they showcased looked very fun, but it was all very centered around hands-on fighting, guns, swords, heavy cyberware. They showed very little stealth and no hacking/tech, and me being a predominantly stealth/hacking/tech player I was a bit “meh” and beginning to wonder if I’ll still have fun with what’s to come in the same way I do now. They kinda quickly flicked through the skill trees and I almost had the impression they completely remodelled Tech into a Cyberware skillset now, with armor fully tied to cyberware as well… I really don’t know XD Right now I can do a tech-heavy build without getting chromed up to my teeth, and I’d like to keep it that way… But I’m not sure if it’ll still work out like this in 2.0. Not much info on Cyberpsychosis either, only that again, with Tech perks, you can increase your threshold in terms of how much chrome V can stuff into their body before suffering an "overload". My low-on-chrome but otherwise tech-loving V is crying a little bit about this change XD
But yeah, this build was 3 months old. And my impression of the skills way waaaay to brief, so it's likely I'm getting upset about nothing XD Specifically for getting a closer look at combat and skills I would’ve needed to test the game out myself, so take everything about this with a big grain of salt!
Next up Ryan made a savegame and they showed the reworked police system a bit. Calling his vehicle in the middle of Dogtown was hilariously difficult, as it kept glitching and crashing into some parked cars the AI just didn’t seem to recognize, always ending up lying on its roof xD Miles joked “Oh no, some glitches just persist no matter what we do… but I bet your car can’t do this!”
Once Ryan had finally managed to get into his car though he started shooting. When you commit crimes in Dogtown, the NCPD will actually not come after your ass, but instead Kurt Hansen’s Barghest, which is neat! They are similarly equipped and will put up a bit of a fight for sure. There is now basically a 5-star system like I know it from GTA, and as soon as you reach 5, MaxTac will show up and whoop your ass. And man, they did not mess around XD MaxTac is not unbeatable, V put up quite the fight and managed to take down a couple of them, but in the end he got overwhelmed and taken down xD It did take a considerable amount of effort and destruction and killing though to even get to five stars, so much so that both Miles and Ryan were getting a bit desperate about it taking so long. So yeah, you really kinda have to put some actual effort into even getting MaxTac’s attention was my impression, and I do like that a lot to keep it balanced!
After this little demonstration of the police system, V went on to find Solomon Reed and damn, the first encounter with him is so fucking cool… I will not spoiler it here, because yeah. Wait and see! I really loved it, Spy-Thriller vibes over 9000, they definitely hit the mark on that XD
There is also so so so so much lovely new banter with Johnny. He was very present throughout this second part of the demo and had a lot to say on his past as a soldier, which I was really hoping for!! So, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how deep it’s gonna get and even more so how it’s gonna end o.o
So much though to the gameplay I saw and my impression on it! There are more details I can share on request, so hmu via DM or ask if you wanna know more! There definitely were a lot of little choices in dialogues, and there seem to be a lot of choices that you can mess up that then have consequences, too :o High risk, high reward vibes, fitting for the high stakes this story seems to have.
One other random sidenote: the music is insanely beautiful o.o There was a new sort of action-packed background track for finding President Myers in Dogtown. And at the end of the demo there was another new song playing that was sort of… “dreamy, but in a dreadful way” sounding? A female vocalist, no actual lyrics, electronic music with similar vibes to the “V” main menu song, but quieter and calmer and sadder. My sibling found it annoying after a while XD But I really enjoyed it, and I kind feel like it could’ve been Songbird’s theme!
I got a question by @cheapcheapfaker about updated character models and animations that kinda fit into this section of the post! So… sadly I cannot answer it for sure because we only got to see the expansion characters and never ventured out of Dogtown (and I didn’t get to play the game myself to test out if it would’ve been possible to go and meet somebody else). What I can say is, I personally didn’t notice much of an update of Johnny’s appearance or facial animations at all actually. I know others did in regard to the same build of the game I got to see. There was no opportunity to ask, and a lot of questions that went sort of deeper into the territory of technical or story stuff, Miles wasn’t allowed to answer at that point. I think they played the game on the highest graphics settings, too, with path tracing on, which was also was something I’m not used to seeing with my rig. Johnny looked somewhat different to me actually, but not in an improved or updated way, more in a higher/different settings way.
What was confirmed during the Q&A though that followed on a different topic later (I made a post about it here already), was that they did go back and fix some voice lines in the main game that turned out weird in the German dub. And I read somewhere else before that “no system was untouched” for making Update 2.0, so maybe the other characters also received some minor updates and final polish. But nothing concrete sadly that was said or came up during my experience of the evening!
SPOILERS END HERE
Meet and Greet with German V
After the showcase of the game was over and some people had received mystery tickets to test Phantom Liberty on their own time, the crowd dispersed across the venue for a variety of activities. I tried to get into the “leave a message to the devs” booth, but it was occupied quite permanently, so I went back and then sat and waited for the Q&A, because that was super-duper down my alley, and I wouldn’t have wanted to miss it. In the podcast room next door some devs had come together to talk a bit more about the expansion as such, too, including Miles.
I had to gather all the fucking courage in my body, and I think being sorta sleep deprived and pumped full of adrenaline helped, but before the Q&A started, I went up to Björn to ask for an autograph and we very briefly talked. I got to tell him that I loved the way he played V so so much, lol XD I wasn’t very coherent, but he was very kind and funny, super chill guy!
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Img: My ticket now signed "Für Elven, von 'V'" and Björn Schalla's autograph - need to get a fancy frame for it asap xD
I’m so glad that after the Q&A, of which you can find the detailed content in this separate post I made already, I went up again to get a pic done with him and Localization Director Mikolaj! :D So yes, this was definitely my personal highlight of the evening’s program, maybe even more so than seeing the new exclusive gameplay!
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Img: Left, the Q&A with Björn and Mikolaj, right, Mikolaj and me and Björn XD
Raffle and Goodies
Towards the end of the night the live band that had been playing outside joined us in the main room (because, of course, the neighbors had complained about the noise… the peak Germany experience, the organizers got threatened with “we’re gonna call the cops if you continue playing music outside after 10 pm” x’D). But like this those of us who had been mostly inside watching the show at this point also got to experience the music a bit, which was very nice!
We were getting close to the end of the night already, and then people with goodie bags started walking in from all corners :O So I ventured forth once more to score one, but I think there definitely was enough for all, and at the end of this post I’m gonna show you what was inside :3
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Img: Me holding my roughly letter-format sized Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty paper goodie bag :3
The last item on the agenda was called “Quiz and Raffle”, due to the delayed start of the night though they decided to skip the quiz, or rather, do a quick run of some of the questions they had prepared. It was all something like “What was the name of the character that X called to take over his shift?” or “What was the sign above the location V had to go to during X section of the gig?”, so nothing super hard. You just had to pay a little bit of attention during the game showcase. But yeah, the quiz was skipped and instead the raffle prizes were handed out a bit more freely and damn… there was a lot o.o Displate had gifted a super limited edition illuminated poster, as well as several of their tarot card metal posters. There were gaming keyboards, custom Cyberpunk themed PC cases, some leftovers from the Gear store, figurines, and so on and so forth. Some of the bigger prices were given out via random number generator, where our individual ticket numbers were important again, others were just handed out a bit more freely.
Ryan: “Damn, I have so many gaming mice left, what am I gonna do now…” Random Audience member: “Can I have one?” Ryan: “Sure! :D” *hands them a mouse*
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Img: Ryan and Carolin of the German Community Management team at the end of the event with some closing words on stage
This part of the night was honestly just very lighthearted and funny, and I really felt entertained from start to finish XD There were no boring moments or situations where I was like “urgh, I wish we could just continue now” because even during the breaks I talked to people or was still recovering from a previous encounter or experience XD
The End of the Event
The event then ended pretty much on time a short while after midnight, some people had left a bit early to catch their trains, some lingered a little while longer. Lemme tell you, I didn’t wanna leave, I just wanted to move in and live with all these people forever in an amazing little Cyberpunk bubble. But I was also running on like 3 hours of sleep at that point, was extremely overwhelmed with so many positive experiences and impressions, and so we then left after taking some final snaps here and there and walking through the venue once more.
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Img: The exit of the venue late at night with the Phantom Liberty Tour Banner now glowing
10/10 would go again, it was a blast, and I wouldn’t have minded for it to go on another six hours xD Not that I managed to sleep much anyway that night, because my brain was still going BRRR from all the impressions and conversations and encounters (still is to a degree right now, but I’m slowly getting calmer again xDD)
The Goodie Bag
Finally back at the hotel I got a proper look at the goodie bag!! All of this was also included in us just *being* there, like, whaaat...
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Img: an overview of a variety of items featured in the goodie bag!
The goodies everyone got: a t-shirt with the Barghest logo in front and the Phantom Liberty Tour locations on the back. It was available in a lot of different sizes that you could ask for quite easily, and I hope there was one available for everyone and every body!
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Img: A bright red, VERY WRINKLED t-shirt with a graffiti-style Barghest logo on its front in orange, and a white and orange print with the Phantom Liberty Tour locations on the back
The shirt is 100% cotton and made in Poland, but it smelled really really bad, coming out of a plastic bag XDD Not gonna put that on before it goes through the wash. But the quality seems very decent, and the color and print are really nice ;A; Could wear this casually under a shirt or zipper hoodie without anyone even being able to tell it’s gaming merch, and I love me a versatile piece like that!!
Then there was a Phantom Liberty themed sticker sheet with a nice rainbow holo effect :3 Some factions, some people and places, some more generic stickers. It’s very pretty and I think I might actually just frame it together with my signed ticket XD
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Img: A holographic Phantom Liberty themed sticker sheet including faction and Night City logos amongst others
What I really really really loved though were these two Cologne-unique pieces: another sticker and a patch :O These seem to be 100% exclusives to the Cologne event, and I figure you can get something similar at the other events as well! Will treasure these like hell <3
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Img: A blue and orange fabric patch and a holographic black and white sticker showing the same design: Phantom Tour Cologne below a stylized moth
And finally, everyone got a little mystery bag within their mystery bag, containing one of 6 keyboard cap thingies (don’t even know wtf they’re called but they’re cute XD). They were modelled after the various ingame factions, even including Barghest I believe! :O You can swap them out with any key on a mechanical gaming keyboard. I got Maelstrom, my sibling had the Mox :D So you could’ve definitely swapped with someone else for your fave faction, but I was actually quite pleased with Maelstrom :3
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Img: Two small keyboard key replacer thingies... I don't know what to call them. One is red, featuring the head of a maelstromer on top, the other is blue, featuring the pink skull-head with bob haircut and bow of the Mox
So yes… that was my Phantom Liberty Tour experience! I apologize for the insanely long post, but I do hope you enjoyed reading it!
I tried to keep it somewhat concise and coherent and could definitely go more into detail about the gameplay elements we saw, the venue, the people there, and so on and so forth. So, don’t hesitate to hit me up with your questions :D And obviously, thanks so much for reading to the very end <3
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