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#the family that died died because of someone who thought arson was a good idea
sleepyowlwrites · 2 years
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Dirt in the Doing | a WIP introduction
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TITLE: Dirt in the Doing (usually all in lowercase) GENRE: vague futuristic grunge, ci-fi (city fiction) SETTING: alternate earth, alternate asia* TROPES: found family, man vs. self, childhood trauma, mental health issues, revenge, forgiveness, anger (mis)management TRIGGERS: violence, mental illness, bad coping mechanisms, abuse, manipulation, attempted assault, drug usage
STORY:
If he's being honest with himself, Jet doesn't have any long-term goals. He thought he wanted to study law, he thought he wanted to be an activist, he thought he believed in something. Now he's busting his hands everyday in a garage and on other people's faces. Jet has no plans, and therefore nothing is disrupted when his twin brother appears back in his life after several years of no contact. Nothing, except his ritualistic habit of being angry, taking it out on someone who maybe asked for it, maybe didn't, and then continuing to be angry after the rush dies down.
Copper doesn't judge him, but he does want to get to know him again, which is hard, considering Jet is stalling on the process of getting to know himself.
And then Rune shows up, at first seeming to be his spiritual twin and then his complete opposite. She's got plenty of her own demons and anger issues haunting her, and despite preferring not to meddle in other people's lives, Jet decides it would be good idea to help her with what's chasing her instead of confronting his own issues.
It turns out that both things can and probably will happen at the same time and it's really hard to deal with someone else's trauma when you're ignoring your own. At the very least, while Jet is emotionally dealing with his trauma, he does get to physically deal with Rune's which comes with the added bonus of punching people, something which Jet is already good at.
Awesome.
THE CHARACTERS:
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Jet, 22
Rune, 25
Copper, 22
Shadow, 21
Moss, 29
Yarrow, 20
Hawk, 23
Max, 27 (our main antagonist for the story)
Cam, 24 (our secondary antagonist for the story)
PLOT AND KETTLE: in the absence of Jet being willing to act out his own story, he's working on Rune's, which involves no less than: a drug dealer, a fighting ring, too many people's traumas to count, his twin trying to have emotions with him, a stale murder investigation, accidental arson, petty crimes, a mediocre mortal enemyship, a really, truly serious enemyship, and rent.
STUFF THAT IS NIFTY: Rune has a million secrets. Max has a superiority complex and too many young people addicted to multiple highs. Hawk is too afraid to investigate the mysterious deaths of his parents. Shadow is homeless. Copper is relentless in his kindness but also in his guilt. Moss can't care for the whole world so he tries to at least care for his friends. Yarrow exists in that strange state of perpetual coasting. there are are more moments to be found in the quiet, but unfortunately too many more to be born out of danger.
STATUS CHECK: in either the 0 or 1st draft, depending on how much sense it makes by the end
*I said alternate asia because I've imagined all the characters as being vaguely asian-coded, a carryover from when this wip was fanficion for a thai series for about 2500 words
taglist: @writingonesdreams @zoya-writes @selene-stories @enchanted-lightning-aes and my other muses @klywrites @ren-c-leyn @diphthongsfordays @myhusbandsasemni @drippingmoon
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StackedNatural Day 175: 2x21, 13x22
StackedNatural Masterpost: [x]
May 10, 2022
2x21: All Hell Breaks Loose (Part 1)
Written by: Sera Gamble
Directed by: Robert Singer
Original air date: May 10, 2007
Plot Synopsis:
Sam and other "special children" are abducted by the Yellow-Eyed Demon and taken to a ghost town, where the ultimate battle must start.
Features:
Sam disappearing, Ava and Andy’s return, all the special kids, an abandoned ghost town, the arson of The Roadhouse, Dean’s first/only vision, special kid Hunger Games, Ava’s villain monologue, Sam’s first death. 
My Thoughts:
You know what? I love the psychic kids plotline. I’ve said this a million times, we all know this. I know it doesn’t fit perfectly with the season 4/5 angel and apocalypse plot, but I think you can twist it enough that it doesn’t ruin continuity the way SOME THINGS (looking at you, Lebanon) do. 
First of all, Lucifer has been locked away since almost the dawn of time. It’s possible he didn’t tell Azazel absolutely everything about the plan for the apocalypse and that Sam was meant to be his vessel. If he did know everything and he could convince Sam to murder the other special kids, that might have helped twist his soul or his morals to the point that he would willingly submit to being Lucifer’s vessel. Either way, the special kid hunger games are a super fun plot point.
I love the set piece of Cold Oak. It’s super spooky and has the right ambience for this kind of episode. I love Ava and how clean her grift is, how good she is at acting. She’s my biggest argument for the hunger games being a way to turn Sam into the kind of person who would say yes, to be honest. She was a normal person forced into an insane situation and she did things to survive that completely changed her. 
I love that Sam is the one to find the knife that kills him, and that his inherent goodness and inability to kill someone, even someone he thinks deserves it, is what gets him. Plus Dean’s theme plays as he dies in Dean’s arms…
I can’t believe the Roadhouse only lasted one season of this show. It feels like such a huge thing in my memory, I guess because Ellen and Jo stick around for a few more seasons. The monkey toy that comes in and out of focus when Ash is talking to Dean on the phone is also seen in Dean’s (fake) heaven in the finale and in Dean’s fake bar in Nihilism when he’s trapped in his fantasy of settling down. 
Notable Lines:
“You’re the one I’m rooting for. [...] Welcome to the Miss America pageant. Why do you think you’re here? This is a competition. Only one of you crazy kids is gonna make it out of here alive.”
“Better than mother’s milk.”
“I'm the undefeated heavyweight champ.”
“We’re gonna patch you up, okay? You’ll be good as new. Huh? I’m gonna take care of you. I’m gonna take you care of you. I’ve got you. That’s my job, right? Watch out for my pain-in-the-ass little brother?”
Laura’s (completely subjective) Episode Rating: 9.7
IMdB Rating: 9.2
13x22: Exodus
Written by: Buckleming
Directed by: Thomas J. Wright
Original air date: May 10, 2018
Plot Synopsis:
Sam and Dean devise a plan that will save innocent lives. Meanwhile, Jack continues to wrestle with the consequences of his decisions.
Features:
Mary punching Satan in the face, the beginnings of Chief Sam, Jack meeting bio-dad, archangel family reunions, the German Castiel that I had erased from my memory, a school bus full of apocalypse refugees, Gabriel’s actual death. 
My Thoughts:
I hated this episode! The pacing was bad, the dialogue was bad, and everything interesting they tried to do was so poorly executed as to be worse than useless. 
German Nazi Castiel sucks so bad, I had forgotten that this was the episode he was in and it was an extremely bad surprise to see him again. I’m a big subscriber to the idea that Apocalypse World Cas should have been using Claire as a vessel instead, which would have made Cas’ moment with himself way more interesting - we already know that he hates himself, so I think having to kill someone that looks like Claire would be way harder for him. 
The other worst part of this episode is right at the end as they all escape into the main world. It’s structured so poorly. Trying to both give Gabriel a big sacrifice AND let Sam basically spit in Lucifer’s face undermines both. There’s no reason for Sam and Dean to be standing around watching the archangels fight - all of the other people are already through the gate. Gabriel even says he’s going to buy them time to get through, and they make no move to actually run to the portal. They might as well have busted out the popcorn. So Gabriel dies for nothing, and then they finally run, and THEN Sam gets to shove Lucifer back. 
If Gabriel was going to be tossed aside as a character like this, they shouldn’t have brought him back in the first place. He spent the entire time being powerless, so he didn’t serve a purpose in the narrative in that sense. His sacrifice was wasted - they should have allowed his death in Hammer of the Gods to stand, since it actually helped them and gave them the tools they needed to stop the apocalypse. 
If they wanted to do a plot where “maybe Lucifer is right and misunderstood”, they could have done that - in theory, it could be really interesting! But it needed to take place over way more episodes and show us way more of what that was doing to Sam emotionally and mentally, especially if there had been a scene where Dean trusted Lucifer over him. Double points if Lucifer is in a new, cooler vessel, so the slate feels clean even when it isn’t. Or just write him better, either would work. 
Notable Lines:
None I cared about.
Laura’s (completely subjective) Episode Rating: 1.8
IMdB Rating: 8.3
In Conclusion: WILD range in quality today.
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geothefafa · 3 years
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I hate seeing my triggers pop up cus I feel like I can’t just ask ppl to tag their shitty jokes and the other half of the time it’s something so harmless I feel embarrassed asking for it to be tagged.
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Hey. Thanks for answering my last ask. I did like Tom/Lily back at my day (lol as if I'm that old) but to be fair...any ship with Lily is better than Jilly.
One question. What you think of Hinny and Luna x Ginny? Cause nit gone lie I think Luna x Ginny has more potential than Hinny. But maybe is because I love the trope "pop falls for unpop"
... I’m not sure I’m supposed to feel as insulted as I do that I apparently barely cleared the very low bar that is Jily. 
Moving on.
I’ve given most of my thoughts on Ginny and shipping here.
Harry/Ginny
To sum up for what you’re asking though, I think Harry/Ginny is a complete disaster. Oh, Harry’s the only one she has eyes for but... it is not a good relationship.
Both of them are attracted to the idea of one another and barely seem to know who the other is.
In the case of Ginny, she tries to be someone who she thinks Harry will be attracted to. She takes note of what failed with his relationship with Cho and goes out of her way not to be that. All of her actions in the sixth book are geared towards desperately getting Harry’s attention. More, she projected this heroic persona onto Harry Potter that she never seems to see anything beneath it.
Harry for his own part... likes Ginny’s skin? His attraction to her in Halfblood Prince is one of the weirdest things I have ever read. He seems to lust after her, sort of, we get this green rage monster that throws a fit every time he sees Dean Thomas with Ginny. However, he really doesn’t know much about her and proceeds to barely spend any time with her even when they start dating. That he leaves her in Deathly Hallows is very telling, and very chilling to me. Not only is Ginny not a part of “the gang” and not invited to their club house, Harry is effectively leaving her to be taken hostage by Voldemort. This doesn’t bother him, at all, but then nothing really does.
I also think Harry’s gay (he spends a lot more time drooling after attractive men in canon then he does attractive women), he just doesn’t know it.
So, I think his and Ginny’s marriage is likely a disaster. Ginny has affairs all the time as nothing works out the way she thought it would but is too in love with the fame, the money, and the dream of being Harry Potter’s wife to ever leave. Harry’s utterly oblivious to his wife cheating on him and has to have it pointed out by James Sirius. Harry doesn’t believe him.
I’ll put it like this, their marriage is worse than Ron and Hermione’s. And that, my friend, is a low bar.
A Tangent: Ginny’s Not Popular
I’m actually going to argue that Ginny’s not at all popular. In fact, I imagine she’s actually severely disliked. Harry’s just too oblivious to notice.
So, first, Ginny is the youngest sister of the Weasley family. We see the hit this has on Ron, who has a massive inferiority complex, but we don’t see what it means to Ginny. What we can assume though, is that she’s known, and that the instant she walks into school she has a reputation that’s not necessarily good.
Percy, her brother, is that smarmy asshole prefect.
Fred and George are those assholes who constantly prank everyone. Some think this is hilarious, usually when they’re not the victims, others aren’t too keen on this.
Ron’s that guy who’s constantly getting into trouble with Harry Potter, is a known dumbass who doesn’t even have a working wand in his second year (wizards are elitist like this), and earns hundreds of house points at the end of the year for committing arson.
All of this will feed into how people perceive Ginny before even meeting her. For better or for worse, she is a Weasley, and that means people will see her a certain way.
And then Ginny has the worst first year imaginable.
She isolates herself and pours her heart and soul into a diary. Every second she’s spending talking to Tom Riddle is a second she’s not making friends. More, Ginny’s behavior becomes more and more erratic as Tom Riddle begins to possess her. She starts missing classes, acting strangely, etc.
And I think it’s damning that no one noticed.
No one is watching Ginny, no one is even around her, so if she disappears for a few hours and wakes up covered in blood in the bathroom, nobody knows. Had Tom not written a message informing the entire school that Ginny had been kidnapped, no one would have noticed, Ginny would have died down there in the chamber and it would have been days until someone, maybe, put it together.
Ginny in her first year has no friends.
And then it’s too late.
We see with Harry that people in Hogwarts form friendships fast and they rarely change. You get your clique in you first few weeks of Hogwarts, and if you’re unlucky like Hermione then it takes a few months and a troll nearly killing you to find your group, and then you stick with that group.
Ginny comes back second year, everyone already has their best friends, there’s no room for her. She tries to integrate into a group, they just give her weird looks, and more remember her as that sickly lunatic.
Because remember, that she was possessed is not known beyond a few people. It’s never publicized, and most probably think Harry or Hagrid was behind the Chamber of Secrets Fiasco II: Electric Boogaloo.
So, you get a bunch of kids who don’t want to hang out with Ginny. And, Hogwarts houses are so insular, that Ginny can’t really go and hang out with anyone else.
For all that Ginny joins the quidditch team, for all she joins the DA, I don’t think she ever really has friends. She’s just the youngest and weirdest Weasley.
And then comes her fifth year.
Ginny decides she’s going to date every guy in Hogwarts to get Harry’s attention. Now, good or bad, this is going to get Ginny a reputation, a very negative one. To the male Hogwarts population: Ginny’s an easy lay. To the female Hogwarts population: Ginny’s that bitch who will steal your boyfriend.
Halfblood Prince will not make Ginny any friends.
Ginny/Luna
It has more potential than Harry/Ginny but I personally don’t think it’s going to happen.
Like everyone else, Ginny looks down on Luna, which is a bit hilarious as per the above I don’t think Ginny’s rolling in popularity either. Luna’s weirdness is tolerated at best in a sort of, “Oh, look how cute and nuts she is, let’s pat Luna on the head.”
More, as I explained in the Ginny shipping meta linked, Ginny only has eyes for Harry and I think it would take a lot for her to look in any other direction. And to go for Looney Lovegood instead?
Part of Harry’s appeal is that he’s Wizarding Jesus, he’s important, wonderful, charming, a prince in Ginny’s eyes. Luna’s that batty girl who lives down the street and has radishes in her ears.
I just don’t see Ginny ever going for it.
As for Luna, she’s hard to get a read on, but I believe she’s fully aware of what different people think of her. She’s a very kind and generous person who overlooks this for her friends, but in a romantic partner... I think Luna is waiting for someone who truly understands her or if not that then at least truly likes her.
I don’t think that will ever be Ginny.
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chocominnie · 3 years
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Desperado — 09 (M) | JJK
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Pairing: Badboy!Jungkook X Reader
Summary : A messy situationship at it’s finest. You don’t even know whats headed your way, just even engaging in the slightest within him. See, he has an assignment to complete. A mission granted by his father thats do or die. You just so happen to be a major pawn in that assignment. He didn’t mean to take an interest in you. Surely it was an accident right? Only except. you hold much value in this game that he’ll do anything to complete it. Oblivious is what you are. Poor thing. Poor.. Poor thing.
Genre: Mature/ Mafia!Jungkook
Trailer: xxxxx  preview 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08
Word Count : 7.3k
Warnings : This honestly isn’t for the light hearted and the weak…High angst, usage of drugs, drug mentions, mental illness, switch!jungkook, Brat reader, possible stockholm syndrom, kidnapping, assault, death of side characters, murder, weapons, usage of weapons, masturbation, physical violence, blood, alcohol, weed, unprotected and protected sex, spanking, honestly its a lot of aruging…
Copyright: please do NOT repost, translate, or modify my works in any way, shape or form, on any platform. If found doing so , it is considered as plagiarism and appropriate LEGAL action will be taken
TW : Suicide, Body Hanging for display.
Her hair moves so flawlessly and the her breasts spill over the mini triangle bra with each sensual move she makes. The way her waist and body whines against the pole could leave absolutely anyone in a trance.The rhythm of the music blasts in the air and she’s directly on beat to it, not missing anything through the song playing. 
The led lights are dimmed low enough in a red color, but enough for everyone to see. Shes uncaring at the men in the room sizing her up in her designer high waisted thong that hugs her hips very well, showing off her round, plump ass. That was what she wanted, the attention all on her while they throw hundred dollar bills for her. 
“ Who knew someone could get down and dirty like that.”
To no suprise, Jimin, the ladies man but heartbreaker for sure, enters the private room and closing the door beind him. He throws a stack of money towards her, as he was the seemingly late one to the meet-up. 
“ Jungkook is late, he’s never late. What’s taking him so long?” A grumpy Namjoon says, looking down at his apple-watch. It’s half past 10 pm and usually he’s the first one here.
“ He’s probably sucking up to yn-”
The girl turns her head sharply towards the boys, overhearing what they said. She furrows her eyebrows at them, “ Why would he be doing that..”
Taehyung lets out a small groan. “ Because Mr. Lover boy has gotten himself a crush. The worst part is, she’s his target for this mission.”
“ Shut the fuck up. I don’t have a crush on her, i’m just doing my job.” A semi-loud voice roars through the doors. Everyone stops to look at the sudden intruder and to relief it’s him, Jungkook. 
Of course he has to lie about that. He knew for sure he caught himself up with you and the feelings were strong. Though the big bad mafia boy catching feelings for his target is highly uncommon, and Jungkook doesn’t know the consequences.
“ Jungkook..” The girl says, frowning at him with her hand on her hips. He takes a seat on the couch and tilts his head at her to go on. She rolls her eyes and shakes her head at the young boy. “ You fell for her.. so what about us?”
It isn’t hard to say that he doesn’t have any more feelings left for the girl. She and him both knew what they agreed upon. The pair had history together, sexual to be exact. Romance was hardly there if he were to be honest. She’d began actually working for Won-Shik, under this club they’re in now which is owned by him, a year ago. Jungkook had entered the club once when he was considered a minor, but that was to pass a message along to the girl from his father. He was told to go straight in and straight out. Of course, he did the exact opposite. Sat around looking at all the half naked women that night as the music blared loud. 
It wasn’t until his phone rang and it was Casper telling him to hurry up and come back to the car, is when he finally decided to get up and look for the girl. When he did find her, it was over with for him. The girl was, and still is, stunning. One of the many foreign girls in the club but she’s the one that stood out of all. She wore nothing but a small outfit as she danced on the pole. Her beauty mesmorized Jungkook that night as he watched her dance in awe. Soon enough she came to him showing her her dimply smile and perfect teeth.
He was stunned alright. She knew he looked to be too young for the club so she asked him his age. He told her, and thats when she nearly called security on him until he told her who he was and affiliated with. The message was passed along accordingly to her, she got the memo. Jungkook though, kept coming back to that club and always going to where she was, following her around the club like a lost puppy. She enjoyed his time, as all she did was sit and talk with him and that turned out to not be enough for him. He wanted her, and she insisted that he was too young for her. 
So Jungkook did what any other person would do when feeling rejected, he started to present himself like a true man and mafia boy. The gym was his favorite place after that and he buffed up very well. That jawline of his got sharper and his personality gained more confidence and dominant by the time he turned nineteen. He of course kept going at her, shooting his shot anytime he could and yet kept getting denied. It wasn’t until his nineteenth birthday is when he begged her telling her how bad he wanted her, and that lap dance he kept suggesting months before. Since it was his birthday and he was legal, she gave him what he wanted but that still wasn’t enough for him. He wanted her underneath him bad. The slight age gap between them didn’t phase Jungkook at all. What he wants, is what he gets. 
And he did.
And kept getting it, and getting it, and getting it since then. 
“ Relax baby, I’ll still be coming around you know that.” His voice is smooth, smirking at her.  He wasn’t going to be coming around as much, but he knew that would disappoint her. 
She purses her lips and begins walking towards him and sits directly on his lap, straddling him. Jungkook can’t push her off the way he wants to because it would confirm the crush rumors from the boys about you. So he lets her sit there, uncomfortable as hell for him. 
Namjoon clears his throat to get the rest of the group attention. It’s nearly 11 pm and Crystal has been blowing up his phone ever since he stepped foot in the club. He told her beforehand about the meeting, but she wanted him at her apartment by at least 1 am. 
“ We all know you love yn, but remember who you are Jungkook.” Namjoon says, glaring at the boy who returns the glare back at him. “ Fuck you. Like I said, im just doing my job.”
“ If you were doing your job Jungkook, there’s no way in the hell that it should take you this long. “ Jin retaliates. He knows hes right.
By this time, Jimin had finished preparing seven perfectly rolled blunts filled with the most finest imported weed. He places them onto the tray, taking his own and then passing the tray to Yoongi. Each of the boys take their own until it reaches down to Jungkook who takes his and puts the tray back onto the table. 
“ Enough about her. I was summoned to go over the details for the next seven days. “ Jungkook groans, sparking his blunt and inhaling. He passes it Melanie, who takes it to inhale as well. 
A malicious smile comes upon Yoongi’s face as he exhales the smoke into the already fogged up air. One thing he loves to talk about is torture. One of bangtan’s best walking torture device to be known.
“ Tonight we are starting.. I say you let me go first.” Yoongi pauses, taking a long inhale of his blunt. “ I’m coming for their trade transaction place. Arson, let me burn the bitch down and then fuck around with their father.”
It’s a good idea. Sending a message after burning it down straight to it’s opponent. Fire is Yoongi’s thing, and that’s his signature marking in the Bangtan Boys. The father of the shooter was one of their dealers, until the shooter’s father fucked up by taking money out of bangtan’s cut little by little. The boys knew about it, they waited for the perfect time back then to take action. Of course, giving them a mission to complete.. or so he thought. The mission was a false one. Created by Jungkook to catch him off guard. Jungkook used some of the mafia men on Won-Shik’s side to set up a trade off of drugs, decieving the shooter’s father by thinking they were just setting up a regular mafia trade from another gang. The trade was complete, but their protection was no more. Needless to say, the men didn’t even make it back to their cars. It was a bloodshed war between Jungkook’s assigned men and their men. The point was to send a memo that the Bangtan Boys were coming for them, and coming hard. 
Everynight for two weeks unimaginable signs were sent to their family. Ranging all the way from several gunshot bullets going through their home, to severed heads of previous betrayers of the bangtan boys, sitting right on their porch. By now, all the other gangs in Korea knew not to have any business with them. 
“ Day 2 I want it. I’m going for the mother. That scamming bitch and her precious flower shop? I’m shooting it up. Whoever lives, lives. Whoever dies, dies.” Jimin shrugs, smirking as he leans back in his spot.
“ Day 3, for me I’m sending another message. One of their men is gonna die in my god damn hands. I’ll be sure to take a selfie and send it to the father. The body will lay hanging on that pretty little oak tree in their yard.” Taehyung says. The boys are roar with shock that he’s said that. Normally he doesn’t like touching a dead body, so it’s a change for him.
The boys continue listing off the days and assigned tasks for the rest of the night into the wee early morning. Namjoon left after his, of course going straight to his girls apartment. They don’t judge him, seeing as though the boy really is in love and knows when and how to handle it. He definately doesn’t mix business and his love life together, unlike his other hyung.  Soon enough the banter and socializing ends and it’s time for Yoongi first. 
Night 1
It doesn’t take long for Yoongi to find the place. The empty steets of Seoul have soon faded into just dirt roads with the city left behind. The humming of his porsche echos through the night time air. Yoongi takes one final turn, making sure to pull into the place slowly like a true hunter keeping it’s eye on its prey. It’s not a full house tonight, even better. 
Taking the jug of gasoline out his car, he carries it with ease up to the empty warehouse. The wildlife outside don’t make a noise. As if they know who’s approaching and just shut right up. Forty degrees fahrenheit outside and lastnight’s snowfall piled all around.The darkness outside is haunting, anything could pop out at any second to kill the man. That doesn’t scare him at all. Darkness is always what he crave. Inside and out. 
“ Sir.. do you want us to go in with you?” 
Yoongi stops dead in his tracks. He’d almost forgotten about the back-up men Jungkook ordered for him. It’s not like he needed them anyways, but since Jungkook can’t be there with Yoongi, that was the next best choice. 
Rolling his eyes without turning around,“ No. Wait in your cars. I’ll handle it on my own.”
Just like that. The boys are off like lightening. Yoongi takes one final step towards the two double doors, and begins to pour the gasoline at it’s starting point. Usually, he’d go from the inside out, but seeing as though he wanted them to scurry out fearing for their lives, this is the next option as well. Soon enough, the enire jug is empty and he’s now poured all of it around the outside of the warehouse. Leaves crunch with every step he makes back to the starting point. Part of him hopes they can’t hear him from the outside. It’ll ruin the plans. 
The lighter in his pocket feels so smoothe against his palms as he reaches for it. It’s one of his signature ones with his initials on it. An andrenaline rush runs through his veins as flicks the ignition with his thumb. The flame all bright and orange as he stands there infront of the building. It’s going to be a damn good night.
Without hesitating, Yoongi runs his fingers through his hair and throws the lighter right onto the gasoline puddles. The way the whole ring of fire lights up infront of his eyes makes him laugh hysterically while watching the whole building go into flames. The loud crackling sounds of the now decomposing warehouse jumps him back into reality. 
He heads right towards the big tree next to the right of the warehouse, leaning on it with one foot up against it with his hands crossed. That sinister smile doesn’t leave his face. He enjoys the view of the men from the inside running out as fast as they can. Some falling in the ring of fire in the process. The fire is no match for any human as they try to stop drop and roll. Ha, as if that would work with a 15 foot fire consuming the warehouse. The dead bodies pile up on their own, just burning in the fire over their simple mistakes of falling and thinking they would survive the fire.
Until the golden egg comes out. He’s furious as runs out perfectly, as if he’s been through this, without managing to catch on fire. Yoongi chuckles, leaning off the tree. “ Kang Dong-Woo.”
Usually Yoongi would use the honorfics to people who were much older than him. In this case though, he doesn’t deserve honorifics. 
“ Min Yoongi.” He says, harshness laced within his voice. Dongwoo frowns when nearing the man. He knows what Yoongi is capable of, and that’s what sets his fight for flight into action.
“ Let’s get straight to it. Your daughter is after our leader. She seems to be doing the dirty work for you yeah? Did you not train her enough? Of course you know she wont be able to live after this right?”
Dongwoo laughs right into Yoongi’s face as if he was joking. It angers Yoongi, so he grabs Dongwoo by the shirt and drags the man over to the fire where he kicks the back of his legs to where he’s kneeling inches away from it. 
“ I don’t think this is a laughing matter, Dongwoo.” He growls, tightening his grip around Dongwoo’s arms that are behind his back. “ You want to die?”
“ She’s gonna fuck you all over.” He growls.” You may think she’s not capable of finishing off you guys one by one, but she is. I raised and trained her since a kid. She’s stronger with more energy than me. She’ll kill you all when you least expect it.”
Yoongi rolls his eyes at him.” The dumb bitch can’t even shoot right. Going for someone else knowing Jungkook would save them is an ameteur move. Should’ve went straight for his damn head.”
“ I’ll make sure she’ll bring you guys hell Min Yoongi. All of you. Tell that shit to Jungkook and his daddy for me alright?” He mocks, laughing again at the boy to taunt him.
Yoongi doesn’t care for it. He’s had enough of this foolish talk. With one swift move he kicks the man’s back making him fall down to the left side, away from the fire. He’s lost it. He’s totally lost it at this point and there is no going back. Kick after kick after kick, he doesn’t stop. No. Not until the Dongwoo is sure to cough up blood. The crimson liquid poors from his mouth as he lays there. No remorse is felt.
Besides, the bastard bitch needed to get the message. Consider it message recieved. 
Night 2
The flower shop is full, but not full to its entirety. There's tons of different bouquets and arrangements set around the pretty shop, from what he can see from the outside. It’s almost closing time, an hour left. Jimin’s fingertips grip on the steering wheel, anxious but patient to make his move. He’s running off of pure adrenaline and 2 cans of monster that are crushed and sitting in the passenger seat. Waiting isn’t his forte and he’d honestly like to get this show on the road now.
The moon is out and shining bright tonight. A sigh escapes his lips when he glances again at the shop. The only reason he’s not done it yet is due to the fact that there is a child and his mother inside. Rule number 2 of Bangtan, injure no child. The price to pay if you were to break the rule? Simply it would cost you your own damn life.
As if time would of went any slower for the boy, the child and his mother finally made their transaction and made it out of the store, heading across the street to continue their journey of shopping. It’s go time.
He knew to come prepared with his bulletproof vest and full face ski mask, long Sleeve black shirt to cover all the markings he has and also the two tattoos on each of his arms. He knew that the little lady wouldn’t be so dumb to not carry, or at-least have someone inside that would be her undercover security. Considering who her husband is, there’s no way she won’t be protected.
Oh how innocent the people look to not know what’s coming next. Jimin loads his Glock 19 with golden bullets that have Bangtan Boys initials and symbols on it just before pulling his mask down and getting out the car. He makes sure to signal his back-up men to create a distraction so he could make his entrance. Sure enough, a loud boom in the near distance of what sounds like some type of construction falling, echos loudly. It turns heads from all around to look where the sound came from, making it easy for Jimin to slide into the flower-shop.
Not a sound made by him. He draws his gun and pulls the safety off the trigger, then cocks it. Eyes are all on him as his eyes shift around the room looking for his target. There she is, eyes wide in the middle of a transaction for two middle aged couple. His eyes set into hers, lowly smiling and pointing it at her. The way everyone frantically screams and cries out doesn’t phase Jimin, no. It just encourages him even more as he starts firing shots mid air, shooting any and every person in sight for the hell of it. Bodies drop to the ground, and the bloodbath begins.
Jimin doesn’t hesitate to step over everybody, eyes still set on his target. The middle aged couple’s shrieks were cut short by their bodies dropping to the ground with three shots each to their hearts.
“ Park J-” He cuts her crying off with a finger to his lips, daring her to say his name in public. She gets the memo. “ I wouldn’t if I were you.”
The barrel is pressed against her temple as she trembles with fear. He cocks his head to the side, smiling at her when he taps the gun against her head harshly, repeatedly. “ You know why I’m here.”
“ You kill me and she will murder you all.”
Jimin chuckles, “ That’s what you guys think. We don’t have time for your gimmicks. It was you guys who stole money from us. Why did you think you’d still be protected from the law from us? Getting your daughter to go for the leader first is dumb, like the rest of you.”
“ We almost went to prison for you guys, remember that? We needed that cut money from you guys to pay off our legal fees. Thats why we stole. We completed your dirty work while trying to pay off the fees, its the least you guys could of did as a reward.”
“ That’s not how it would’ve worked. You fucked up. All of you.”
With two shots to the leg, she falls into Jimins arms. He rolls his eyes and throws his body off of him and onto the floor. It’s going to be a headache trying to explain to the dry cleaners why there is blood stains on his designer ripped jeans.
Night 3
It was too easy, way too easy. It took nothing to lure that man right into Taehyung’s trap. Nothing but a simple few slick comments made to him for him to get a riled up at the wrong person. Taehyung had spotted the man prior heading into the park with a small duffle bag. He assumed it was for a night trade off for some other person who had delivered drugs for him. Nontheless, it was merely too easy to pose as the alleged person who completed the mission. 
A rookie. That guy must’ve been a rookie. 
When the money was handed off to Taehyung, he tossed it to the side and struck the man down. The two did fight on the concrete floor for a bit but the man was no match for Taehyung’s quick moves. Taehyung’s pocket knife dances around the man’s throat as his body is pinned to the ground. 
“ Rookie mistake not verifying if I’m the real one.” He chuckles, pressing the blade against the mans neck. The man pleads for his life but it’s no use. Message must be sent, that it’s no way you’ll fuck around with Bangtan and escape.
“ You know, I would’ve trained you more than Dongwoo. Letting the weakest link go run an errand? Ha. Your boss set you up for that one.” 
Although the man is merely innocent, it doesn’t stop Taehyung from slicing into the man’s neck. A blood curdling scream comes out, but soon hushed over as his will of breathing and screaming is cut. It’s music to Tae’s ears. 
The body is transfered per request of Taehyung to his back-up men. It’s not like him to touch a bloody dead body. So they take him into the back of their car and follow Taehyung to the residential house of the shooter. Nothing more than 10 minutes away. 
The lights are cut off in the neighborhood. Not a sound made other than the two cars coming down the street. Everyone seems to be at peace and quiet in their homes. Sleeping to say the least. Upon arrival, Taehyung parks his car right infront of the house. The back-up men drag the bloody body out the car and onto their lawn, placing it right under the oak tree. 
Taehyung takes the rope be brought along with him, and begins to tie multiple knots around a sturdy branch from the tree. When done, he wraps some of the rope around the dead boy’s neck, tying it into a slipknot and hoists him up high into the air. 
The body dangles from the tree like a flag waving in the sky proud and high. He signals for the boys that the assignment is done and that they’re free to leave. Taehyung though, he just sits back in admiration of his work. It’s been a while sinice he felt this way. So he stands there soaking it all in. 
Message recieved. 
Since it’s been three entire days of hell, Jungkook knew his day will be approaching faster than ever. If only it could get here faster though. Truth is, Won-Shik isn’t too happy about Jungkook’s plan still not being complete. At this point, the father is going against him any chance he gets to just get this over with. 
Luckily, tonight he’d be able to meet with his father again with some good news. It hasn’t been brought to his attention yet about your father being in Taiwan. With the technology of Won-Shik’s men, your father could be brought here within 12 hours tops. 
“ Father.” Jungkook says, entering his office doors. The boy fixes his leather jacket upon entering and places his hands back into his pockets. “ I have news.”
Won-Shik is one to not play around with. Interupting his office time is a big, big deal. One is to not enter without it being urgency. That rule still applies to the heir of the company. “ It better be damn good because your plan isn’t getting anywhere Jeon Jungkook.”
Won-Shik takes his glasses off and sets them to the side on his desk. Its full of papers and photos of himself and Jungkook when he was a child. His favorite one right in the middle, where Jungkook had just ate some cherry flavored ice cream and his lips were all red as he smiled for the camera showing his two front teeth. It reminded him of when Jungkook was easier to manage rather as to now where he’s a damn menace.
“ Taiwan. Her father is in Taiwan. I don’t think it’s Taipei though.. he’s hiding so a city wouldn’t be ideal. I say search the mountains first, then the city.”
Bringing this proposal to the table meant that Jungkook wanted to atleast gain his father’s trust back. Hell, he wanted all this to be over with by now because you were driving him crazy to the point where he’s beginning to actually forget who the hell he was and why he was assigned this mission. The plan was not to fall, but to complete. He’d be lying if he wasn’t knee deep in love with you right now. It all comes down to him protecting you from his father at this point. 
“ So your little plan is suddenly working huh.. still doesn’t mean she gets to run free Jungkook.” He says, smirking at the boy to challange him. Jungkook knew that. Once it’s proven that your father is the snitch, all of the family dies.
You’re innocent. Too innocent to know that or to be even tangled in that mafia mess of his. Part of him wishes he never met you and never had been assigned this mission. Then everything would be so damn different and emotions wouldn’t be caught up in this. From the moment he met you, he knew it would be hard. You have always held a special part in his heart. Only because you acted just like his mother. Sweet, but sassy and it hurt him a lot on how you remind him of her. You even word your words just like her, even when upset. Everything about you, is just like her. 
It was hard to not get attached to wanting to get to know you more. Somehow he thought that if he got to know you, he’d somehow fill that hole inside him of his mother’s disappearance. As if you were going to be his new replica as you would be the one to put a band-aid on that hole to patch it up. 
Here you are, not knowing you could die any moment and it will all be thanks to Jeon Jungkook, who couldn’t save you fast enough. 
“ I know. But she’s innocent. She doesn’t even know her dad worked with us. I swear she doesn’t.”  Jungkook bites his lip in hopes that there could be someway to save you by the hands of your father.
 “ I dont care!” He roars, jumping out his seat. Jungkook flinches, backing up a bit from the sudden outburst. “ You know not to mix business and pleasure. You reap what you sew. You get to pay the consequences.”
Jungkook knew that though. 
“ Father-”
“ Nothing more. I’ll have my team start the search right now. You on the other hand, get you god-damn shit together Jungkook. You’re the heir, not a damn lover-boy. Got it?”
It is no use of arguing with him. Jungkook looks down at the ground and nods his head yes just before Won-Shik dismisses him. It’s going to hurt. Seeing you dead. He hopes for a miracle can happen, that your father will not be the snitch. That you and him could live happily ever after. There will no be any happily ever after about this situation though. One will die. Just a matter of who it will be. 
The vibrating sensation in his pocket snaps him out of his trance. An incoming call from Namjoon. It’s alarming since today is Namjoon’s day of hell, and only one thing could be happening right now if he’s calling for Jungkook. 
There’s been a mistake.
“ What is it Namjoon.” 
“ She fucking outsmarted me. The bitch caught on to where my location would be for the next kill. I don’t know where the fuck she is Jungkook.. this is bad.”
Jungkook sighs heavily, closing his eyes while letting out strings of curses come from his mouth. Shit couldn’t get possibly worse than this right now. Namjoon said he’d wanted to go straight for the killer and bust her up a bit. Give her some words and a branding on her. He had wanted to do it with a knife, carving the initals of Bangtan Boys into her upper hip. Namjoon had zero problem tracking her next location down, as he had been keeping an eye on her all day. To him, it seemed as if she would be heading to an orchestra shop in the city. Every step she took, Namjoon took it too. 
Until she rounded the corner to go inside the shop and she wasn’t there. There wasn’t any outlet. The shop was on a dead end street surrounded by other shops that they both had passed. There was no way she didn’t go back, he would of saw it. He saw her go into the store, so she had to be there right?
Wrong. You see she knew all this time that Namjoon was followering her while in disguise. The orchestra shop where she led him to, she knew the owner. They were good friends. She had spoken to him asking if that she could use his upstairs office to read over some of the newest edition of music pieces for her to practice. He obliged, and she made up there in time before Namjoon came inside.
Up there, she’d be lying if she wasn’t scared to death. All this week the boys had definately given her hell. Each day with zero remorse. It was taking a toll on her for sure. Taking up this assignment by herself wasn’t something easy but she wanted to prove to him that she can be just like him. That she wanted to work with him too to take down Bangtan for decieving them and leaving them in the dust. 
She can’t do it. The boys are to expierenced for her. It’s a bad mistake that she cannot come back from. You see, she thought it would be easy to befriend you and become close to you after you’d laid eyes upon Jungkook your first day here. She knew you’d soon fall for him, like any other girl did, and that would be her easy acess to him from you. It was all planned beforehand. To be quiet and observe you and your moves with him. In her mind, Jungkook needed to die first. The boys can’t function all that well without him, so that would be the weak spot to take advantage of if he would’ve died when she knew he’d take the bullet for you. She coudn’t shoot him first, it’d be too straightforward and blunt. 
It was going all well. Deep in the inside she was jealous of you as well. Sungmin had been her crush for years, they even almost dated. Until you came along and he left her in the dust for you. Sungmin is everything she wanted in a boy, but you took that away from her. Her chances to date him ruined by you. It hurt everyday to see him head over heels in love with you, when that was just her at one point before you came along. Not only that, but she seen the way you play with Sungmin’s emotions. It made her upset that you do that. Sungmin’s love is a drug, whether it be friendship love or romantic, nobody can get enough of it. 
All this stressed her out to her max. Her family being hurt because of her, her mom unable to walk for the next few weeks is all because of her. Only cause she cannot complete this task she brought onto herself. As if being in danger because of Won-Shik and Bangtan wasn’t enough beforehand, she just made things worse all in all. There is no way out of this for her and her family. So it’s time to just accept it and say goodbye to it all and start a new life. 
“ I’ll find her. You wait at the base and I’ll report back to you guys after I find her. When I do, you will come and finish your damn task Namjoon. Do you hear me?” Jungkook’s beyond pissed at this point. If it wasn’t for him, the boys would be lost as fuck without him.
He shoots Casper a text, letting him know that he is to follow him closely as he searches for her. To his luck, Casper was already outside his apartment building in his car. Not long after he pops those contacts in and changes his outfit again, he’s cruising the streets of Seoul in his midnight purple lamborghini. 
The pain in his shoulder throbs with each turn he has to make with the wheel of his car. A little pain medicine would of helped beforehand, but rushing to get this shit over with was more important. This bitch definately has it coming. It’s been taking Jungkook these past few days to not just up and kill her. No that would just be too easy. Torture and marinating her to lose her shit at the last minute is something so satisfying to him. 
The streets of Seoul soon end behind him and the Mappo Bridge comes into view. It had been an a whole hour searching around the areas of where she could’ve been, including where she was last seen. No sights of her at all. She’s good at this for sure. Text messages are sent back and forth between the boys and Jungkook. They’re all on edge, tired, and frustrated at this chasing game that they’re all playing.
He’d almost missed it. The body walking alongside the side-walk of the bridge with their head hanging low and hoodie on. It’s the hoodie of his school, but most importantly it has their class graduation year on it. It has to be her. Jungkook flashes his hazard lights on, letting Casper know to pull over with him. 
It’s now or never.
After sending the text to Namjoon, he’s out the car and jogging towards the suspect. Height, body type, and shoes match the alleged identity. It seems she’s too into something to notice the extra footsteps behind her. He can’t do anything to her though, it’s not his night. 
“ Kang Minlee.”
She stops dead in her tracks as if a ghost had called her name. Frozen, she stands there contemplating on running or staying. If she runs, she’s dead. If she stays, shes dead. 
“ You think..” He pauses, grabbing her arm and turning her around to face him. Her face is red from crying and her glasses all fogged up from underneath her mask. For a split second, Jungkook does feel regret. 
Killing a classmate of his wasn’t something he’d ideally let happen. But it’s far too late to not have her killed off. “ You think that running away is the best option?”
Minlee trembles underneath his grip, “ I made a mistake. Please just let me go. Let me and my family go and we’ll leave you alone forever.” She breaks down into tears, placing her hand over his in attempt to let her go. 
It didn’t hurt Jungkook to see her like this. All in all it just feels weird to him. Weird to have one of his classmates begging for her life to be spared from the gruesome events to come. 
“ You know I can’t do that.” It honestly can’t be an option at this point. It’d be better to just continue out her days of hell with her family. “ You came for me, that means you die.”
Finally she jerks her arm back from his still in tears as she starts to back away slowly. Jungkook knew that she wouldn’t run. Not in this case. Letting her cry it out was the best way, hell it’s the only way because Namjoon would be here any minute to brand her. It would mean she belonged to Bangtan after that, and she’d have to keep quiet as they planned out her death.
Her sudden movement from the ground to climbing up the railing of the bridge alarms Jungkook. She cries louder when Jungkook comes closer to getting her down so he stops. Suicide? Right now? What happened to being all big and bold? It confuses Jungkook as to why she would take her own life right now. Either way she’d still end up dead and unhappy if Bangtan would kill her or she’d kill herself. 
“ Jungkook!” She semi-yells, pointing to the direction behind him as another guy approaches them. Just in time, the sound of Namjoon’s car can be heard from afar. He’s getting close.
The guy she’s pointed to is Casper, who’s also alarmed at the fact that she’s close to the edge right now. Jungkook holds his hand up at Casper for him to stop right there and shakes his head, meaning that it’s too risky for Casper to step in right now. Casper nods and Jungkooks turns back to the scene. 
“ Don’t you think that I’ve suffered enough? Everyday you guys give me hell. My mom can’t walk because of you guys, and my dad has health issues. You left us in the dust when we needed your support the most! I was almost put up for adoption a year ago because of you!” She sobs, wiping her never ending tears with her hoodie sleeves. 
Jungkook doesn’t know what to say, or do. It’s not like him to have sympathy over a rival. It’s just not in him at this very moment. 
Minlee continues on, “ Yn? She took what’s mine. My Sungmin. She plays with his heart and it hurts him a lot. I wouldn’t have did that. But no, he’s head over heels in love with him. I got left in the dust when she came along and it looks like everyone loves her, including you Jungkook. My friendgroup does anything and everything she wants because she’s just oh so little miss perfect. That was supposed to be me!”
There it is. The jealousy. Jungkook would have never known it. It’s all news and shock to him. Sungmin and Minlee? Didn’t seem like a match to begin with. 
Her dramatic meltdown continues on, but Jungkook allows it. Namjoon will be here any minute to sneakily get her down. Where is he and why the hell is he taking so long?
As if on cue, Namjoon pulls up to the scene and immediately gets out his car running towards the girl. Jungkook waves his hands for him to stop, eyes wide with a finger to his lips. The last thing he wanted was for the girl to jump. A death from their school? Surely was to be put on him and his boys. 
Namjoon stops infront of Jungkook’s car, confused as to what’s going on. Jungkook mouthes to him the words suicide attempt. That’s when Namjoon gets it and decides to let him handle getting her down. 
“ Yeah it was meant to be you. But I plan to take Yn away anyways. Then you and Sungmin could come together again.” Jungkook’s convincing isn’t convincing enough, she doesn’t buy it at all.
“ If I get down I’m going to die. There is no escaping that within the next few days i’d be dead in your hands. I made a mistake and there is no going back. Spare my parents. Let them live. I’m the one that started this. I’ll be the one to finish it.”
The girl lifts one foot off the railing and leans backwards. Jungkook’s breath hitches along with Namjoons. No. It wasn’t supposed to end like this. 
“ Kang Minlee!” They both scream, running towards her. It’s too late though. Her body falls gracefully down as all three of them watch over the railing. She looks peaceful, a smile on her face while her body is sprawled out in the air.
Inches before she hits the water, the three of the boys look away with only the sound of dense water splashing to fill their ears. Namjoon sighs, putting his hands against his head. Jungkook stands there in complete shock. Casper, well Casper just shakes his head knowing the two boys weren’t prepared for that.
“ We fucked up Jungkook.”
“ I fucking know that Namjoon.” His voice cracks. It isn’t like Jungkook to cry. No not at all. Especially for a target like that. At the end of the day she was human and she did what any daughter would do for her family.
 She was also your friend.
You hadn’t heard about her death yet the next day. It’s a normal saturday morning for you. This time you’d decided to go to the cafe with your laptop and write your essay for your Psychology class. The cafe is nice, it’s cat themed and has some pretty kittens running around the outside of the kitchen and customer service area. 
As soon as you order and sit down with your Caramel frappe you spot a white kitten laying near you on the floor. A smile comes upon your face when it comes to you when you call for it. They don’t have these in Canada. Cat Cafes. The kitten lets out his purrs when you rub his back as he lays across your lap. The nametag says Mochi, a cute name for a cute kitten. 
Minutes seem to pass by without your knowledge. You’d been too into typing to hear the news on the tv being broadcasted live. It wasn’t until you heard suicide of a teenage student on Mappo Bridge. That got your attention.
You listen carefully as the news reporter goes into detail of how the body was found. It had gotten caught on a rock as the stream moved it around. A mother had found it with her kid as they walked across the bridge that early morning to look at beautiful water. It saddens you to know someone took their life. Maybe if that person had access to getting help, they’d live to see many more days. 
When they announce the name and show a school picture of the student, the look on your face drops. 
Minlee. It’s Minlee on the screen. Its all too much for you right now. Your stomach twists and turns along with your hands that begin fidgeting. She seemed so healthy and happy these past few days when you saw her. It didn’t add up. It wasn’t going to ever add up to you that you had just lost one of your new friends.
Packing your things up in a hurry, your phone begins to go off with a bunch of text messages at a time. You know it could be the groupchat. What you wanted to the most right now, is to go home to cry and calm down. You shove everything in your backpack and place the kitten back on the floor nicely before taking off towards the door. You bump into somebody on the way out, causing them to drop a picture in their hand. The two of you both reach to pick it up, but they pick it up first before you.
“ I’m sorr-”
You’ve seen her before. Long curled hair, big dimple on her left cheek, and bangs. 
There’s no fucking way. 
182 notes · View notes
bonny-kookoo · 3 years
Text
Bunny Boy Cases: “Hold Your Breath.” (⚠️☁️🔪[❤️]) JJK x Reader
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Pairing: Jeon Jungkook x Reader
Genre: YandereAU!, psychological horror, hints of romance
Tags/Warnings: graphic description of murder, asphyxiation/choking, arson, home intrusion/invasion, do NOT read if you feel uncomfortable with ANY of the Tags
Summary: some things can’t be forgiven.
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Contrary to what one might believe, Jungkook actually doesn't like killing all that much.
It's messy, it's violent- he knows that if you could see him like that, you would probably never look at him the same way you do again. He doesn't like the idea of involving himself into someone else's business to the extend of ending their life's altogether- he doesn't care enough for others to really have them bother him to that extend.
But sometimes, there's exceptions.
He had known from the start that when he got away, he wouldn't let things go until he knew this person had perished. Ideas of murderous intent had spread in his brain like a raging wildfire- like radioactive lava it had burned through his body, infecting every muscle with the rabid need to get his hands on the guy that had managed to invade his personal space; the little castle he had locked you in, the golden cage he had so carefully crafted for you.
Someone had invaded that space- infesting it with fears that you've never had before.
Now, of course, being the absolute angel you were, you never outright said it. But Jungkook had seen the change in your behavior ever since that day; you were hesitant. You were checking the windows numerous times a day, showered less long than you did before- all signs that you didn't feel comfortable in his home anymore.
Something had to happen.
His car made a weird ticking noise as he drove around the building complexes he knew this demon lived. He should really get that checked out, but it was probably nothing he couldn't fix himself.
After all, he knew how to fix things he broke himself.
He sighed a bit as he stepped out his car; the black facemask he wore making his breath taste stuffy. He probably shouldn't store them in his glovebox, considering his car wasn't the most sanitary thing around. His hood over his head, his glasses fogged up a little as he fixed the position of the mask a bit. Lately, his eyesight had worsened a little- forcing him to wear them again so he could make sure to not make a mistake simply because he didn't like his glasses.
He couldn't screw this up. Who would care for you if he was ever to go to jail?
The mosquito bite on his calf was itching inside his boot- but it was nothing compared to the itching of his inner dog ready to turn feral as he finally made eye contact with the window of the apartment he knew a life would be taken in. Getting in and out would be easy enough; it was dark, the middle of the night on a thursday- no one would think about this jobless guy sitting on his ass inside his crappy apartment during this time.
Jungkook doubted that anyone ever thought about this pathetic being at all.
But who was he to talk really? After all, he had been this low before as well- he had simply found you along his way. His ray of sunlight, breath of fresh air. The reason he was still alive and doing the things he did at this point.
He really loved you.
And he knew you'd understand if you were ever to find out about this. He did it for you, for your safety, for the piece and comfort this guy stole from you. He was only fixing things and giving you back what you had lost because of this selfish creature. Those were the only real thoughts he had as he used one of your hairpins to open the casing of the doorlock to the strangers apartment. Sometimes he was a little bothered by the korean way of securing their apartment doors- it kind of took away the opportunity to lockpick like in those movies he watched as a kid.
What a bummer.
Instead, he had to live with the simply chime of the pin pad as he opened the door quietly. Slipping inside, he scrunched his nose at the stale stench inside-
Jungkook hated strong smells.
To imagine that this pig had seen you made his blood boil even hotter. He could make out some light in one corner of the room; some trash TV still on display as the person on the sofa seemed to be asleep. Quite honestly, Jungkook wanted to click his tongue in annoyance at this. He had expected at least some amount of fun with this- but he would have to keep it quiet tonight anyways. Wrapping the rope around each of his hands for good grip, he simply walked up behind the mid-aged man.
He had no family, at least none he was in contact with. Less for Jungkook to worry about.
He hated the weird gurgling sound the man exhaled as he pulled the rope backwards- successfully cutting off the man's air supply as he looked frantically for the attacker. Jungkook grunted a bit at the force, but his training had really paid itself off after months and months to no end.
There was no way he'd loose this little battle.
And for the younger man, it had always been quiet interesting to see how people died. He had never shied away from the topic like other people would- instead he had always been intrigued by it, in a way. Just like now, as he stared down towards the man he had already forgotten the name of, turning blue just like it was always depicted in literature and movies. He could practically see the guy pass- and decided to make sure, by pushing his boot against the couch, pulling one last time with bigger force.
Until he heard the satisfying crunch.
Technically, this was done now.
But Jungkook liked things clean.
dropping the rope, the black dressed boy walked calmly into the kitchen- scoffing at the unwashed dishes piling up in the sink. It just added up for him that he had done a good thing after all. The man had clearly been wasting away at this point- what he did had simply been natural selection.
He simply shouldn't have done what he did.
Red lines covered his palms where the rope had dug into his skin, as he grabbed kitchen towels and baking sheets from wherever he could, placing them over a power strip close by- tampering a little with it, before he saw the first towel turn black. He stayed until smoke filled the apartment, the kitchen already brightly lit by flames as he watched the carpet leading to the now lifeless body catch fire as well.
That would have to be enough.
Slowly, Jungkook walked down the stairs, uncaring about security cameras at all- after all, he knew exactly how they worked, and at what angle they watched the hallways. Just a step to the side, and he would be unseen.
Sometimes, his hobbies really paid off.
He closed the car door and drove off again, yawning as he thought about his bed, where you would wait for him to return. Now, he would be able to sleep calmly again, and when you would see the news, you would as well. He felt accomplished now, even though his clothes smelled weird now. He did what he had to at the end of the day, and no one should judge him for that.
Walking into a small bakery, Jungkook used some of the money in his pockets to buy something sweet for you. He craved it as well- and he'd always share with you. The lady behind the counter smiled at him, making him return the gesture as he pointed towards the pastry he would like- the elderly woman carefully packaging it before chuckling. "You okay, young boy?" She asked sweetly, and he grinned a bit sheepish, before he stood up from his half kneeling position.
"Ah- yes" He answered. "Just a small mosquito bite."
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stardustincarnate · 3 years
Text
YOU SHINE LIKE THE STARS, YOU LIGHT UP MY HEART // Touta Matsuda x Reader
word count : 2585 genre : fluff <33 (stargazing with this pretty boy!!)
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It was a sight to behold—the empty of clouds but shrouded with twinkling stars with the right distance from one another. They were visible in every direction. What a perfect night to stargaze. You had just gotten out the yard of your family's house, accompanied by a cup of hot milk and cookies. Unfortunately you forgot to bring your eyeglasses so you had to head back inside—a surprise welcoming you when you saw someone who didn't belong in your house.
"Touta? What are you doing here?"
That was a little... impertinent. You felt guilty. It wasn't like you weren't happy to see him, you were just shocked. Plain shocked.
"Hey [Y/N]! Haha, good evening!"
He was a bit skittish, maybe nervous. You noticed how clammy his forehead was, with the reason being just finished looking at you through the loophole in the kitchen wall. "It's been a while. You look.. dazzling.. as always."
"If your definition of dazzling is someone who looks like a zombie who's just gotten out of bed, thank you." You smirked, wearing your glasses. "What made you come here anyway? Isn't it late? It's your day-off today?"
"Yup. Thought of visiting a.. friend. You see, I—I really missed you! Work hasn't been the same since you le—"
"Hm, I know that tone. Come on Matsu."
"Hey! It's not that I'm complaining! I still like my job, it's good. But it could be better if you're with us, despite your never-ending bad mood. Hehe..."
"Ooh, so you missed me, that's why you're here. You wanna catch up."
"Of course?" He sheepishly rubbed his nape. You smiled slyly and hummed, trotting back to the yard.
"Come. You're obliged to."
Matsuda followed, hesitant to sit beside you on the grass, only until you pat the space beside you. He kept on constantly shifting his legs as you munched on your cookies, offering him some. You two ate in silence, looking at nothing in particular as the night breeze hit you. The wind's eerily ethereal howl rung in your ears, blending with the faint sound of the television from inside.
He pursed his lips and looked at you, blushing while waiting for the right time to speak. You thought the same thing even without looking at him. After some time, you spoke, immediately cutting yourself off as he did the same. Of course, that's bound to happen.
"You go first."
"You're my visitor. I know you wanna ask me some things."
He fidgeted the hem of his shirt. "How.. How have you been?" You snorted, shaking your head fondly. "I'm fine, I guess. Nothing interesting though, really. No thrill in my new work plus my bitchy subordinates. I swear, Matsu, if I get full, they'll know I'm the worst of their kind."
"Show them who's boss [Y/N]! You do look scary and mean after all.. I mean—"
"Hey! I'm not as mean as I look like! I only am to Satan's spawns."
"I-I was kidding—"
"Chillax, of course."
"But at least you are actually kind and can cope with me."
"And your stupidity." You jested. He flushed pink and frantically shook his head.
"What's your new work anyway? Am I the only one among your peers who doesn't it yet?"
"Nah, they've no idea too. I'm currently working as a hotelier. But I think I'm... Is old-work-sick even a thing? Something like that."
"What hotel?"
"Not too far from the station. You just gotta grab a taxi and voila—you're there. Hm, why ask? Thought of visiting me frequently? Eh? Eh?"
"N-No! I mean.. why not? Just thought of.. visiting you during my free time, just to, you know, chatter with you. Because—because you boost my mood.. in some sort of way."
You felt your heart melt. "Aww, I'm happy. You do the same to me. And you know? I've thought of visiting you in the station as well."
"Really? You should! I—I mean.. only if you're free of course. I've been feeling out of place lately. They're still nice but I don't know. Maybe it's just me..."
"They're preoccupied with work, that's why they barely interact with you. Focus on your work, it'll make you less lonely." You said, plaintive.
"But I am focusing.."
"No, hocus focus! Not focus focus. You know what I mean?"
"That's vague, but okay?"
"And yeah, if I visit you, it won't be very frequent. I'm sorry Matsu, even if I want to. I don't want to get scolded by the inspector or the chief. I don't wanna get you in more trouble too. Even though I'd often, er, miss you, too."
The words came out, unbidden, and you mentally smacked your forehead. His eyes softened as you stared at him. He smiled, and you could tell that he was still restraining himself because even his eyes were smiling, his ears turning red. You found his smile cute and rather infectious. You cleared your throat. He averted his gaze elsewhere, mumbling.
"Why did you have to quit.. I wish you had stayed."
You sighed then pursed your lips. "Me too. But my parents don't like it anymore. Well to begin with, they never liked the idea of their only daughter being involved in a perilous job. But the arson was what really ended it all."
Matsuda looked crestfallen after you'd mentioned it. He clenched his fists. He could still remember that day vividly—the day you almost died. He remembered how he struggled to not look at the criminal because he was afraid he might start thinking of doing unjust things to the person who almost killed you. He sighed.
"I should've stayed with you. That would've never happened."
"No no, chin up Matsuu! The fire didn't even fully touch me 'cause even it was intimidated of how hot I am compared to it." You chuckled, casting him a wistful glance. "I was reckless. My bad. And that recklessness led to that. So take it from me. Think thoroughly before you act. I wouldn't want the same thing happening to you, you reckless bean."
"Noted Madame!" He laughed.
You smiled and looked up the sky, tapping his shoulder moments later.
"Yes, [Y/N]?"
"You stargaze often?"
"Not really. I can't remember the last time I did. Do you like stargazing?"
"Needless to say. I often do it. You should, too." You nudged his shoulder with yours, your proximity making you blush. You both threw your heads back and stared at the stars in silence. You began making random patterns. Matsuda giggled as he found one that looked like the initial of your name.. or as he had tried to convince himself.
"This peacefulness, it's my dolce vita! Nothing but the question of how many stars we could count. I can do this for hooours."
"Your neck will turn numb.. Mine's already feeling a little.. eh."
"There's no need to worry when we can just lie down."
You could see the redness of his cheeks after hearing that. You could almost giggle.
The two of you lay down on the grass, him spacing out a little. His shoulders were tense, his heart banging his sternum that he was afraid you'd hear just how loud it was. But eventually he relaxed when he saw you not minding the proximity at all.
Matsuda looked up, his smile growing larger and larger the more stars his eyes caught. But he had completely forgotten the counting-star-thing you said.
The night was silently still. Television from the inside had been turned off so the only noise you heard even from the distance was the sound of nature. You controlled your breath, afraid that it might disrupt the stillness. You began to grow lethargic from all the star counting. Alas, you gave up and stopped at number 42.
You looked to the side to see what progress had he made. None at all. He was not only staring at you—he was smiling! Looking at you like you are his world!
Once he realized you were also staring at him his face turned beet red. He wanted to look away, but how? There were you, exchanging stares of adoration. Hah. All that was needed was a label.
You had the strongest urge to lean in and kiss him. Kiss him? Oh [Y/N], control your thoughts! Sigh. If nothing would miraculously interrupt the stare session, you'd really kiss him.
Nothing. Nothing. The universe was in favor of you. And you know the drill.
You took the opportunity to face him and lift yourself up from the grass. Your stare could've frozen him on his position. He was going to explode in mushiness. It's almost like the wind was all it would take for your lips to press.
You rested your elbow on the grass and gently caressed his hair. You cupped his cheek with your other hand, your thumb circling it. You closed your eyes, praying you wouldn't fail this one. You did it slowly on purpose, but seemed like Matsuda opposed that. He inclined and cupped your face, kissing you.
But only for a mere second.
Your torso clumsily fell flat partially on him and the ground because of your initial awkward position. And you didn't even feel the kiss because of your forgotten eyeglasses.
"Aha...haha... Uhm—[Y/N]—you okay?? I'm—"
You sat up and boldly chuckled in spite of looking like a four-eyed tomato.
"That went veeeeery well."
"So.. ah.. the thing earlier.. moments ago—" It's as if he was trying to convince himself that it really happened. And he couldn't contain his infectious smile and laughter anymore that you were sure reached the entire neighborhood.
"What waaas that!"
You laid your glasses aside and tossed yourself at him. He fell on his back with you on his top, your legs in a tangled mess. As he wrapped his arms around your waist, he wheezed.
"I hope you're not dumb at this stuff because I hopelessly am."
"Whaddaya meaann?" You were certain he was teasing you. You clicked your tongue.
"....Silly! We're a couple now!"
"HAHAH—wait—you're not joking?? Are you?? No??"
"Do I look like I am?"
"Hah-hah, as in, you're serious-serious? [Y/N]??"
"Do I look like I'm not? Idiot of course I am! You want me to take it back?"
"Nonononono—" you tried your hardest not to cackle, "—I mean of course I do, but—ah! Stupid mouth! Uhm—well—if that's the case then why should I decline when I really like you for—for a long time now!"
"I'm going to pretend to be shocked. But I—I like you too.. I was just waiting for, uhm, you, to, uhm, confess to me, but that sounds so unlikely.. So, thank you for staring?"
He stared at you eagerly.
"Darn it, that wasn't cool! Nonono—you know what I mean, don't you...? You stared at me, and I wanted to kiss you, and then we're here.. And and—"
"I love you!"
Matsuda hugged you tighter as you became stiff and red with what he just uttered. It's either you move and explode or you don't, so you didn't.
I love you ...
He loves you. And he means it.
You squeezed your eyes shut and bit your lower lip, though unable to restrain a smile.
You cleared your throat.
"M-Matsu... Do you want to stay the night here?"
"Oh, no! Actually.. I should be heading home by now. I've got work to do tomorrow morning."
"Awh bummer I forgot.. Well, let me assist you back there."
"Thank you. I'll.. I'll visit you more often, I promise! Ah—ahem! It's one of my duties now that I'm your boyfriend.." He rubbed his nape, shy in proclaiming. You blushed.
"Hey, but you can't just disappear from your work otherwise the chief will beat your ass. Besides, you're a baby! Can't have a baby constantly slacking off his work, can we?"
"Hey! I am a tough police officer! I'm far from being a baby like you!"
"Ohohoho look who's whining like one!"
"I—If you keep saying that I really won't visit you!"
"Fine with me. I'll just find others to hang out with."
His sulky pout fueled your eruption of cackling. You put your head on his shoulder and wrapped your arms around his waist from the side.
"I'm only kidding! Of course I only have my eyes set on you!"
"That better be true.. or I will arrest that man trying to steal my girl." He squished your cheeks. "Oh, and that reminds me—I have something to say to you.."
"I bet on my life it's gonna be one of those pickup lines.."
"No no this is a good one, promise! Ehem. Are you a cr—"
"DON'T! I just know what you're going to say! No no no!"
"I haven't even s—"
"I heard that pickup line way to many times already! Don't you dare!"
Matsuda sighed. "At least I tried.. I just wanted to make you smile.."
You shifted behind him, back-hugging him and patting his tummy as you rested your chin on his shoulder.
"There is no need for that when just seeing you can already make me smile.."
Matsuda grinned, placing his hands above yours.
"I didn't know [Y/N] was so cheesy."
"H-Hey! At least it's not as bad as that 'are you a criminal cause you stole my heart' thingy you were going to say!" You protested. He laughed loudly as a response. "Psh. Time to go home now, officer."
"Uh...?" He looked back at you and your position.
"Go go go."
Still confused, he started walking through the backdoor, with you never letting him go. It was not an ideal position, and when he passed by your parents in the living room to bid them goodbye, they only snorted, unable to believe your clinginess.
Once you two were near the front door, you let go of him.
"Goodnight Touta. Please be safe on your way home. Text me as soon as you get home, okay?"
He opened the door, nodding. "Don't worry [Y/N], I will. Although.. I might be safer if you give me a lucky charm."
"What lucky charm?"
He pointed his cheeks. "...Here, please?"
"Aw I thought you'd never ask!" You leaned closer to peck his right cheek. But instead of his cheek, it was his lips that you kissed. Matsuda had turned his face a millisecond just before your lips could press his cheek. You couldn't help but smile in the kiss. He was, too. Eventually you two pulled away, with triumph written all over his face.
"Touta.. You.."
"Ahaha... Is that the time? Oh, byebye [Y/N]! Thank you for the lucky charm. Goodnight, dream a little dream of me!"
He kissed your cheek before leaving your house, looking back every now and then as he walked away, and still waving goodbye to you. You smiled and shamelessly threw flying kisses at him.
You closed the door once he was out of sight, leaning your back against it dreamily. You thought, that night couldn't get any better. You glanced to the right, your parents whose eyeballs looked like it would come out of its sockets greeting you. You laughed and shook your head before they could say anything, and then headed to your room.
And maybe you did dream a little dream of him that night...
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writersrealmbts · 3 years
Text
Take This Road
Description: Part of the summer #btswritingbingo, hosted by @bangtanwritingbingo​! For road trip.  You've taken an unusual turn in your road trip, and your new passenger is the primary cause.
Warnings: casual discussions of arson and murder
Posted: 07/31/2021
Tags: Jungkook x reader, sort of mafia au? sort of gang au?, road trip au
idk what genre this is: 1,503 words
A/N: This one was really fun
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Too many snacks.
You had too many snacks for one person.
So...was it fate that brought your passenger?
Or was it the fact that he shoved someone under your tires as you were driving past?
“So...remind me again where we’re going to dump this body?” You asked.
“He’s not dead.”
“Yet.”
“Yet. If he does die...well, there’s a nice floating bog not too far from where I live that could work. Or I could use him as a decoy body in a housefire.”
“Oooh, I know this one,” You chirped, turning the volume up and singing along with the radio.
Your passenger, the one that wasn’t dying, was soon singing with you.
It did strike you that maybe you shouldn’t be so casual about the fact that you were transporting a dying person with the person who had tried to kill him using your vehicle, but honestly...you kind of were guessing that the guy you ran over may or may not have been abusive and you didn’t really feel like asking.
“Such a good song,” Your passenger sighed. “Oh, I don’t think I told you, but I’m Jungkook, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you Jungkook, y/n.”
“Nice to meet you. Sorry to change your plans.”
“No problem, really. I was kind of bored. If you want any snacks, feel free to grab any. Any but the chocolate covered pretzels. Those are mine and I will shove you under my tires.”
“Understood. So, should I explain why I tried to kill him?”
“I mean, if you like. Do I need to turn here?”
“No, it’ll be the next one. So, that guy is actually a loan shark. Except, when you can’t pay in cash, he takes people.”
“Ew.”
“Yeah. I was hoping he’d be helpful and tell me where he sent my friends, but...well….” He glanced back as the other man began to groan softly. “Oh. He’s waking up.”
“You tied him up, right?”
“Yeah. I owe you a roll of duct-tape and some zip-ties.”
“Don’t worry about the zip-ties. I’m not really even sure why I had them. Anyway, he took your friends?”
“Yeah. So I’ve been trying to track them down ever since. And then he told me tonight that one of them had died before he even sold them and I guess I saw red.”
“Well, I’d be concerned if you thought my car was purple or green.”
“True,” He tried a few different snacks before settling in with one. “Anyway, if he died, no big. If he lives and tells me what happened to them, awesome. I’ve got enough leads to carry on without him if I have to. What about you? You’re taking all of this surprisingly well.”
“He kind of struck me as an abusive bastard, to be honest. And that’s while looking at him half-dead on the road. But nah, I’m just sort of wandering around. I recently quit my job, and I’ve been on a road trip in the interim before my next job starts.”
“What’s your new job?”
“I’m working for Taiji International. Personal secretary to one of the higher-ups.”
“Isn’t that the one with suspected Mafia affiliations?”
“Possibly. I could probably poke around and see if they have any idea about your friends for you.”
“That’d be cool.” He sighed. “It looks like he might live.”
“Have you ever been to Keirishiro?”
“No. My parents always told me it was full of Mafias and gangs.”
“Exactly. He’s probably affiliated with some group. Which means they’re probably after you.”
“Probably….”
“So, we put him in your place and burn it down. They’ll find out it’s him, no problem, and then there’s just the question of where you went. No one would expect someone so wholly unconnected to you to be hiding you, or helping you.”
“But the fire….”
“Is the easy part. Frito’s bag near some outlet or appliance. Leaves no trace. Set these aside.” You pulled the bag up and tossed it at him.
“What about your road-trip?”
“Oh, I thought we could go to Keirishiro after burning your place down. That’s where my job is. You can stay with me. We’ll work on disguises for you, and I’ll find out if my work is associated with a Mafia or not. Then we can go from there. Hopefully they’re not associated with this piece of work.”
“You grew up in the Mafia, didn’t you?”
“Nah. I just spent way too much time working customer service.”
“Oh, I love this song,” He turned the radio up again, jamming to the song on the radio.
You thought the trip ahead of you would be quite pleasant with Jungkook for company.
“We’re going to pretend we’re dating, right?”
You hummed. “Actually, we might need to pretend we’re married. I sort of lied and said I was getting ready to be married which was why I wanted so much time before I started this job.” You rolled your eyes. “I was just going to say, ‘oh, it fell through and I was so heartbroken’ but a fake marriage would suffice.”
“Okay. Sounds good to me. With any luck, even if people know about me they may not know what I look like, so I might be able to pass as someone else. Then I’ll be sure to sell the part. And when the time comes, we split amicably.”
“Works for me. Go fifty-fifty on chores?”
“Mmmm, sixty-forty, I might not be able to swing as much for rent as you.”
“Ah. Between jobs?”
“Kind of. Something about endangering coworkers.”
“Oof. Yeah. We’ll see if we can find someone to forge an identity for you, that way you can get a job if it’s safe to show your face.”
“I might know a place. Got any CD’s?”
“CD player is broken and the last CD put in was a kids CD. Don’t touch the CD player. On the one hand, I know twenty children's songs. On the other hand, I would like to throttle whoever broke the CD player because I know twenty children’s songs.”
“Got any drinks?”
“In the cooler, behind your seat.”
“Ah!” He unbuckled and reached around, getting drinks for both of you. “I’m thinking: maybe instead of burning my place we just clean it out and dump him in the bog, whether dead or alive. That way we don’t draw unnecessary attention to me.”
“Fair. Okay. Then where am I going?”
“Stay on this road for another...five miles?”
“Map in the glove-box.”
He pulled it out, unfolding it and taking a few moments to gather his bearings. “Yeah, about five miles, I think. It’ll be the third road on the left.”
“Okay. Feel free to mess with the temp controls, I tend to keep things cooler than they need to be.”
“I’m good. Might channel surf, though,” He said, waiting until you had nodded to start trying other stations on the radio.
“You have a license?”
“Definitely.”
“Great. We can take turns driving, then.”
“Works for me.”
“Uuaaaghhhh...wh--what?”
You glanced in the rear-view mirror. “Oh dear.”
Jungkook quickly got up to deal with the passenger. “Didn’t expect him to wake up.”
You sighed. “Poor soul, he just didn’t know what hit him.”
“Better than he deserves,” Jungkook muttered, holding up a notebook. “I forgot to mention, I got his ledger from him. There are lots of names in here.”
“Ugh. A bog is almost too good for him.”
“Almost,” Jungkook agreed, sliding back into his seat. “You understand the danger we’re getting into, right?”
“Yeah. I do.” You gestured to your backpack. “Front pocket, there’s a bag with some jewelry in it. There should be two rings. They were my parents. But they’ll do.”
He followed your instructions, pulling them out. He slipped your father’s onto his ring finger. “Fits well. Here you are, my wife.”
“Why, thank you, husband,” You said, taking your mother’s ring and slipping it onto your ring finger.
“So...what happened to them?”
“Hmm? Oh, no, they’re fine, but my father can’t wear rings because they make his fingers swell and my mom broke her ring finger so her ring didn’t fit anymore. They tattooed rings on their fingers instead.”
“Ah. So...your family is alive...and you’re still okay with this?”
You considered what to tell him. “My parents are private investigators.”
“So, this is….”
“Definitely not something they would want me doing. They’ve never been a fan of me sticking my nose into dangerous situations. But...you know. When both of your parents are private investigators….”
“It’s in your blood. Cool. I’ll follow your lead then.” He smiled, kind of peeking down at the ring. “I’ll be a supportive husband.”
“And I will be a loving wife,” You answered, sharing a smile with him. “This could be a lot of fun.”
“It really could.” Jungkook grinned and leaned back in his seat, staring at the road ahead. “Next road.”
“Right.”
You looked forward to where this journey led you.
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myonechicagoworld · 3 years
Text
CHICAGO FIRE – FIREWORKS (S01E18)
                                            [car door shuts]
Gabby Dawson: Hey, Chief. I just thought I’d… catch you before
                            shift started.
Chief Boden: You caught me.
Gabby Dawson: Uh, good morning, first of all.
Chief Boden: Morning.
Gabby Dawson: So obviously I heard what I heard last night. And I
                            guess I’m just trying to figure out what to do about
                            it now that it’s kind of out in the open.
Chief Boden: It’s not out in the open.
Gabby Dawson: Well, I mean it’s out in the open for me, because I
                            don’t know if you’re aware or not, but Pete and I
                            are dating.
Chief Boden: I’m aware.
Gabby Dawson: So you may also be aware that Pete’s become
                            increasingly convinced that people are keeping
                            secrets from him about his dad, vis à vis…
                            Are you gonna tell him what’s going on before he
                            hears it from Kelly’s dad?
Chief Boden: Benny Severide is not gonna be coming around 51
                       anymore.
Gabby Dawson: Still, Pete is gonna keep digging until he finds out.
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Chief Boden: Gabby, your dogged inquisitiveness…is one of the
                       qualities that makes you such an effective paramedic.
                       But it is of no use to you in this matter, which is a
                       private one.
                       If you care about Mills like I think you do… drop it.
                       I’ll see you back at the house.
                                           cutscene
                                  [food sizzling in pan]
Benny Severide: Hey.
Kelly Severide: Morning.
Benny Severide: Morning. We got scrapple and we got eggs.
                             Grab a seat. There you go.
Kelly Severide: Thanks.
Benny Severide: So, um… Whoritsky’s offered me a teaching post,
                             and I’m-I’m thinking about doing it. Figured I
                             could come down and see you ever couple
                             weeks, hang out. What do you think?
Kelly Severide: Sounds good.
Benny Severide: Will probably have to spend one more shift at the
                             house. Kind of re-familiarise myself with a couple
                             of things. So why don’t you tell Boden I’ll be there
                             about noon.
Kelly Severide: What the hell’s going on with you and Boden?
Benny Severide: Look, Wally and me, we go way back. He and I,
                             one minute we’re at each other’s throats and-and
                             the next I’m helping to put a new deck on his
                             house, okay? This is nothing new.
                             Look, I promise you, I-I’ll be a choir boy, okay?
                             A mute choir boy.
                                                  cutscene
Chief Boden: Keep that 2 ½ on the roof line. I don’t want a flare-up
                       spreading to other buildings.
Kelly Severide: Oh, hey, sir, sir. You’re gonna want to stand back,
                           okay?
Man 1 (Owner): It’s my restaurant, are-are my employees safe?
Kelly Severide: (into radio) Hey, Casey, you got a search status?
Matt Casey: (into radio) Building’s clear, just opening up the ceiling.
                      Pop a couple of these tiles.
                                               [tiles breaking]
Kelly Severide: Building was empty, your people are out.
Man 1 (Owner): Son of a bitch said I’d pay. I never thought he’d go
                           this far.
Kelly Severide: Yeah?
Man 1 (Owner): Ten years without a grease fire. I opened four
                            restaurants in the union, suddenly he sees money.
                            I refused to sign. They send this thug!
Kelly Severide: Sounds like you’re gonna want to talk to CPD.
Man 1 (Owner): What good would that do? This guy’s not gonna
                            stop until I’m-I’m ruined or dead.
Lady 1 (Owner’s Wife): [sobbing]
Matt Casey: (into radio) Okay, Chief, we’re almost done. Send in
                      engine for the wash down.
                                            [ceiling crashing]
Firefighter: Whoa!
Joe Cruz: Casey!
                                                   - title -
Peter Mills: Lieutenant!
Tumblr media
Joe Cruz: Mills, get out of here!
                 [grunts]
                                     [glass shattering]
Joe Cruz: [groans]
Chief Boden: Hit him with the hose!
Joe Cruz: Come on!
                                     [water spraying]
Joe Cruz: Lieutenant!
Tumblr media
Matt Casey: [grunts] I’m okay [pants]
                      Thanks, Cruz.
                                        [water spraying]
Matt Casey: Seriously, it’s fine. It didn’t burn through my gear.
Leslie Shay: Then what’s this?
Matt Casey: Ow.
Gabby Dawson: Hold still. It’s just a first-degree burn.
                            Will you give me that bandage?
                            Couple more seconds of whatever that was that
                            dumped down on you, it wouldn’t have stopped
                            at the jacket.
Leslie Shay: [sighs] It smells like fuel.
Otis Zvonecek: That’s ‘cause it was. Homemade gasoline fire
                           bombs in the ceiling.
Lady 1 (Owner’s Wife): [sobbing]
                                                  cutscene
Matt Casey: Back door was kicked in. It’s not like whoever did it
                      was making an attempt to hide it was arson.
Man 2 (James Whoritsky): CPD said they’d back seat to my office
                                             on this one.
Kelly Severide: On that union rep who was threatened by the owner
                           of the diner?
Man 2 (James Whoritsky): Yeah, your owner, Stuart Tuxhorn, filed a
                                              complaint against a, uh, Lou Krinsky
                                              last month. We’re checking it out, but
                                              with a case like this, the evidence is 
                                              circumstantial at best.
Kelly Severide: [chuckles] Yeah.
Man 2 (James Whoritsky): Did I say something funny?
Kelly Severide: Yeah, this union guy, if he’s connected to city
                           politics, you can’t tell me that someone isn’t
                           already trying to get this buried.
Chief Boden: Look, we’re good here. Just keep us posted.
Kelly Severide: Can I talk to you a sec?
                           My old man wants to come by the house again.
Chief Boden: Kelly, I don’t think that’s a good idea.
                                            [door closes]
Kelly Severide: Whatever business you guys got, that’s your
                           business. But he said he’ll be a choir boy and
                           it’s-it’s one more shift.
Chief Boden: Here’s the deal, Kelly. I don’t know what your dad
                       has told you…
Kelly Severide: He hasn’t told me dick.
Chief Boden: Some guys when they retire and they come back
                        around the job, for some reason, they gotta tear
                        it down. I’m no psychologist, but your dad, he’s
                        always been really adept at tearing things down.
                        So that he’s the only one left standing. He has a
                        take on how Peter Mills’ father died, and it’s
                        untrue. And that would hurt Pete if that were
                        thrown in his face. I will not allow your father to
                        do it. So it would be in everybody’s best interest
                        if you were to meet your father in another house.
                        So… you can tell him. Or I could tell him.
                                               [cell phone rings]
Benny Severide: Hey.
Kelly Severide: Hey. Uh, my buddy Jason Baseden over at Squad
                          One, you remember him?
Benny Severide: Yeah, sure, I remember Jason.
Kelly Severide: Well, he heard you were in town and he was…he 
                           was…he was, like, “get your old man over here!”
                           It’s a newer house, all the latest bells and whistles
                           and I can stop by later if we don’t get a call. So…
                           so stop over there, okay? Jason’s expecting you.
Benny Severide: Yeah, sure, of course. No problem.
                                               cutscene
Gabby Dawson: Hey.
Peter Mills: Hey. Um, hey, don’t be jealous, but, uh, Dolores down
                    at the records department of the academy… I sent her
                    a gift basket of cookies and brownies, just trying to
                    butter her up to try and get information on the fire my
                     dad died in, and… it worked. She sent me over the
                     Battalion Chief’s original report. And I am starting to
                     see why Boden and Kelly’s dad don’t want to talk
                     about it. Two firefighters dying and the other
                     fire-fighter’s wife was pregnant with her first child.
Gabby Dawson: Tough to relive through, you know?
Peter Mills: Yeah.
                     Well, Dolores is still searching, she’s gonna send me
                      anything that she finds.
                                              cutscene
Joe Cruz: [growls]
                                       [dog growling]
Leslie Shay: Hey, guys, what does ‘ebullient’ mean again?
Joe Cruz: No idea.
Mouch: Bull-like. To resemble a bull.
Otis Zvonecek: Means cheerful and energetic.
Mouch: Or that.
Leslie Shay: All right, thanks.
Otis Zvonecek: Why?
Leslie Shay: One of these guys used it to describe himself.
Matt Casey: Any guy that describes himself as ebullient, you don’t
                      want his sperm.
Leslie Shay: Yeah, right. Thanks.
Mouch: How much longer you gonna be on this donor kick?
Leslie Shay: Until I find the right guy.
Mouch: And you can just look at ‘em on your computer.
Leslie Shay: Mmhmm, like I’m doing right now. Correct.
Mouch: I admire your gumption. Most other people would, you
              know, keep that behind closed doors.
Leslie Shay: Every time Cindy gets pregnant, Herrmann plasters her
                      sonogram images all over the fridge. And what? I’m
                      supposed to hide in a corner?
Mouch: I said I admire your gumption.
                                      [phone vibrates]
Leslie Shay: Well, thanks.
Matt Casey: Hey Heather.
Heather Darden: I was in the neighbourhood.
Matt Casey: Great.
Heather Darden: Hey, um, did you notice an earring in your truck?
                             I’m missing one.
Matt Casey: Uh, I didn’t see it, but I can… I can take a look.
Heather Darden: Thank you.
                              Oh and by the way, Saturday the kids are staying
                              with my parents and I was planning on having
                              dinner with one of my girlfriends, but her dad’s
                              not doing so hot so she had to fly out to
                             Jacksonville. But I’ve already got that night free
                             so I was thinking, why don’t we grab dinner?
                                            cutscene
                                         [alert beeps]
Benny Severide: (over PA) Smoke eater in the house!
Kelly Severide: God damn it!
Benny Severide: Donut man in the house!
                            Donuts, everybody! Donuts!
Firefighters: Oh, hell yeah!
                              [indistinct shouting and cheering]
Benny Severide: Come and get it!
Kelly Severide: Hey, what happened to going to Squad one?
Benny Severide: I didn’t want to.
                            Come on, you guys, let’s get a donut.
                             Hi, Wally.
                             You know, I used to bring those to the ladies
                              in arson all the time. One of them, Ruthie,
                              she didn’t have anything personal in her office.
                              I mean, nothing. Not a family photo, nothing.
                              All she had behind her desk, right in the middle
                              of her tack board was this quote, “If you can’t
                              do anything about it, don’t worry about it.” And
                              I am, like, “Man, this Ruthie is locked into some
                              higher level stuff,” right?
Chief Boden: Benny, can I talk to you real quick?
Benny Severide: Yeah, just a second. So anyway, Ruthie retires
                             and I go in to say goodbye and I look at the
                             board and the quote is still there. And I say,
                             “Hey Ruthie, you forgot your quote.” And she
                              says, “That’s not mine, that was here when I
                              moved into the office.”
                                                   [laughter]
Benny Severide: All this time I thought she was like this oracle
                            or something, you know? Anyway, I kept the
                            quote. What the hell? Couldn’t hurt.
                             Lead the way, boss.
Chief Boden: You’re not welcome here.
Benny Severide: Yeah? Is that why you have my son hustle me
                             down the road?
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Chief Boden: You are not welcome here.
Benny Severide: 25 years on the job, 15 of them in this house.
                             Nobody tells me when I can come and go!
Kelly Severide: Whatever you two are trying not to bring attention
                           to, guess what? You’re bringing attention to it.
Benny Severide: We got this, Kelly.
Kelly Severide: No you don’t!
                          He wants to stay here one more shift, that’s it.
                          Can you keep your mouth shut while you’re
                          here?
Benny Severide: Who the hell are you to tell me to…
Kelly Severide: It’s a yes or no question!
                                       [knocks on door]
Matt Casey: Lou Krinsky, restaurant workers local 553 is here.
                     Looking to talk to us.
Chief Boden: We’ll be right there.
Matt Casey: Do I need to turn the hose on you guys?
Chief Boden: We’re good. We’re fine. We’ll be right out.
                        Hmph. You always had all the answers.
                        But I’m gonna tell you, this is your only shift. You
                        try and show up again for a second, I will put an
                        ass kicking on you 20 years in the making.
Benny Severide: Ooh! You still got it, Wally. I was starting to think
                             all those bugles had turned you into a big
                             marshmallow.
                             It’s the way it’s always been with me and him.
Kelly Severide: You didn’t own this house. You rented it. And I’m
                           here now, so show me some respect.
                                            cutscene
Man 3 (Lou Krinsky): Just curious why a report coming from this
                                    house has the arson department trying to
                                    finger me for burning down a restaurant.
Matt Casey: That report conveyed the owner’s statement to us,
                      that’s all.
Man 3 (Lou Krinsky): Oh, okay. Well then, I would like to make
                                     a report. Tuxhorn… rapes baby seals.
                                     Put that in the report, have him have to
                                     defend it.
Chief Boden: This is between you and the fire investigations.
Man 3 (Lou Krinsky): Yeah, and it got that far because you
                                     guys took the word of some sweatshop
                                     owner over that of a fellow union brother.
                                      Why don’t you show some courtesy, talk
                                       to me first.
Kelly Severide: We’re not talking about a busboy who got fired,
                           Lou, this is serious business.
Man 3 (Lou Krinsky): I know. I’m being accused of starting it!
Kelly Severide: We just wrote down what we saw and heard.
Man 3 (Lou Krinsky): [scoffs]
Matt Casey: Guy’s a skull cracker.
                                            [door closes]
                                               cutscene
Leslie Shay: You’re awfully quiet? Everything all right?
Gabby Dawson: All right, let’s… let’s say that if you knew
                            something… What?
Leslie Shay: Nothing.
Gabby Dawson: No, no, no. Don’t give me that. What? What
                             is it?
Leslie Shay: Um…
                      [chuckling]
Gabby Dawson: Ohh… ohh…
Mouch: Oh, goodness gracious.
Leslie Shay: I’m not here to judge you.
Mouch: [stammers] I didn’t… see, that… when… when the…
              what?
Leslie Shay: I’m not here to judge you. I just want to know how
                      it works.
Mouch: Who else knows?
Leslie Shay: No one.
Mouch: Dawson?
Leslie Shay: Just Dawson.
Mouch: Oh Shay.
Leslie Shay: Don’t worry. She’s sworn to secrecy. But, Mouch, I
                      gotta ask. Six foot? 175?
Mouch: I aged out. It was my understanding they were gonna
              take that down.
Leslie Shay: Fine. Look, I got a million questions I’m gonna ask
                      you. Can I? Please?
Mouch: [sighs] Okay, I’m ready.
Leslie Shay: Great. First off, the sperm. Did you…
                                [fire alarm buzzes and blares]
Mouch: Oh!
(Over PA): Truck 81, Ambulance 61. Restaurant fire.
                                          [sirens blaring]
                                          [horn honking]
Kelly Severide: Mr Tuxhorn.
Man 1 (Owner/Tuxhorn): I never should have told you ‘cause
                                           he’s gonna bury me now.
Kelly Severide: Stay back.
Lady 2 (Bus Driver): I’m the one who called. I was making my
                                   stop and I saw a man on fire running
                                   through the restaurant.
Chief Boden: Okay, no one goes in. Hit it from the window. Quick
                       takedown. If that driver’s right, this is gonna be a
                       recovery.
                                         [water spraying]
Matt Casey: (into radio) Cleared the dining room and bathrooms.
                      No bodies. Moving into the kitchen.
Kelly Severide: Guess I don’t need to remind you to keep your
                           eyes on the ceiling.
Matt Casey: That’s exactly what I’m doing.
Kelly Severide: Hey. It’s the same entry point as the last fire.
Matt Casey: Wherever he is, he’s long gone.
                      (into radio) This is Casey. Building’s clear.
                                         [door swings open]
Kelly Severide: Uh Casey…
Matt Casey: (into radio) We need a medic.
                                      [indistinct radio chatter]
Gabby Dawson: [grunts] Let’s turn him over.
Leslie Shay: [grunts]
Gabby Dawson: Agonal breathing. Fire may have scorched his
                            lungs.
Matt Casey: How bad?
Gabby Dawson: I don’t know. Airway looks pretty fried.
Leslie Shay: His arms are burned. Can’t get a line in. He’s got
                      minutes at best.
Gabby Dawson: We move him or lose him. Give us a hand?
Leslie Shay: On three. Very gentle. One, two, three.
Gabby Dawson: (into radio) 61 to Main, let Lakeshore know we
                             are two minutes out with a burn victim.
Leslie Shay: Dawson…
Gabby Dawson: (into radio) 61 to Main. Cancel that. Victim is
                            DOA. We will transport from scene for safety.
Dispatcher: Copy that 61… [continues indistinctively]
                                               cutscene
Man 2 (James Whoristsky): Well, we verified it. Krinsky’s alibi
                                                clears him from the second fire.
Matt Casey: Come on, he’s union muscle. He could have had
                      one of his knuckleheads torch both places.
Man 2 (James Whoristsky): I’m not arguing with that. But as
                                               of now, we don’t have actionable
                                               evidence.
Chief Boden: I got a drawer in the morgue full of evidence. I
                       don’t care if the man inside is homeless or a
                       CEO, he didn’t deserve the death he got.
Man 2 (James Whoristsky): Oh, and I think he did? Come on,
                                               give me a break.
Kelly Severide: The guy who owns these restaurants is fearing
                           for his life.
Man 2 (James Whoristsky): We need proof. Do I really need to
                                                explain arson investigation to you
                                                guys? It take a while.
Kelly Severide: Let’s go back to that second fire and look around.
Matt Casey: Yeah. All right.
Kelly Severide: Cool?
Chief Boden: Yeah. Take your dad with you.
Kelly Severide: Chief, he gave his word that he’d keep his mouth
                           shut around here…
Chief Boden: I know he’s a pain in the ass, but he’s a hell of an
                        arson investigator.
Kelly Severide: Oh yeah.
                                           [door closes]
Peter Mills: You know, I could cook you up something if you’d
                     like.
Benny Severide: Oh, that’s all right. Thanks, though.
Peter Mills: I didn’t know that you and my dad were on Squad
                    together. And um… the other firefighter who died
                    with him.
Benny Severide: That’s right. Ross McGowan. Two years on
                             the job. About your age. Had his whole life
                             ahead of him. Never got to meet his daughter.
                             A real shame.
Peter Mills: Yeah, I’m sorry to bring that up. I know it must be uh,
            ��        really hard to relive.
Benny Severide: Yeah. Never should have happened.
Peter Mills: How do you mean?
Benny Severide: Well, like you said. It’s hard to relive.
Peter Mills: Respectfully, Mr Severide, I get the sense that there’s
                    something you really want to tell me.
Kelly Severide: Hey. Let’s take a ride.
                                           cutscene
Leslie Shay: So, like the pamphlet says, you just…do it in a cup?
Mouch: No, uh, a…a gossamer-winged stork flies down and…
Leslie Shay: [sighs]
Mouch: Yes.
Leslie Shay: And have you had contact with any of the…
Mouch: With the kids? God, no!
Leslie Shay: Because…
Mouch: I’m Father Flanagan? No way! I treasure my privacy.
Leslie Shay: Damn. It just… seems so impersonal.
Mouch: Let me just stop you right there. My cousin Ted and his
              wife, Patty, they tried for a long time, couldn’t conceive.
              They decided to go the AI route, that’s shorthand for
              artificial…
Leslie Shay: I got it.
Mouch: Okay. So now they have a lovely daughter Elsa who is
              the light of their lives. And that family is filled with
              nothing but love, despite the clinical origins.
Leslie Shay: That’s beautiful. I…Is that why you became a donor?
                      Because of them?
Mouch: No. The cash. 125 a pop. That’s what they call a renewable
              resource.
Leslie Shay: I don’t know, man. Might have to figure something else
                      out.
                                            cutscene
                                         [door closes]
Benny Severide: So, Matt, was that Andy Darden’s widow I saw
                             you with at the academy dinner?
Matt Casey: Yeah, Heather. That was her. She just needed a ride.
Benny Severide: It’s good to see you guys haven’t turned your
                             back on her. That’s important.
Matt Casey: Yeah. Absolutely. I’ll take the back.
Kelly Severide: Both buildings were broken into from the rear
                           entry. Gas accelerants were used.
Benny Severide: Okay.
                             I don’t know about this teaching gig.
Kelly Severide: Why not?
Benny Severide: Job’s changed too much.
Kelly Severide: It’s almost exactly the same. It’s just better gear.
Benny Severide: Well, the people have changed is what I’m
                             saying. Back when I came up, you fought a
                              war at 18. You had kids by the time you were 22.
                              You’d live a life. You were a man. Now these kids
                               are coming straight out of their parents’
                               basements to the firehouse. What the hell can I
                               teach somebody like that?
Hadley: [indistinctive chatter]
Benny Severide: Like him.
Hadley: [laughs]
Kelly Severide: Who? Hadley? He’s fine.
Benny Severide: Yeah. Okay.
Kelly Severide: They still have wars. People still pop out kids. I
                           don’t know why you gotta piss on everything.
Benny Severide: Rubber. From the sole of a sneaker. That bus
                             driver was right. Somebody was on fire and
                             running through here. What was the homeless
                              guy wearing?
Kelly Severide: He had boots on.
Benny Severide: Then we’re looking for somebody else. It
                             wouldn’t be him.
Hadley: So this thing collapses and knocks us down… [laughs]
Kelly Severide: Hadley.
Hadley: Yeah?
Kelly Severide: Quit playing grab ass, would you?
Benny Severide: Look at this. You see that? Pry marks. This door
                             wasn’t breached from the outside. Somebody
                             had a key. The owner or somebody he hired.
                             They let themselves in the front door and then
                              they pried this open. Make it look like it was
                              broken in from the outside.
Kelly Severide: You gotta be kidding me.
Benny Severide: Inside job.
                                               cutscene
Chief Boden: Thank you. Appreciate it.
                       15 minutes after the second fire was call in,
                       18-year-old kid walked into an urgent care unit
                        five blocks from the scene. He had second and
                        third degree burns. Claimed it was a barbecue
                        mishap. Memorial went and picked him up.
                        He’s there’s now.
Kelly Severide: I want to head down there and check it out.
Chief Boden: Kelly…
Kelly Severide: I don’t like getting lied to. I don’t like getting
                          worked. And if someone other than that union
                          guy got that homeless man killed, I want to
                          know.
Matt Casey: I got him covered.
Chief Boden: Hit it.
                                     [door closes]
                                  [knocks on door]
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Kelly Severide: What’s up, Omar? Lieutenant Severide, CFD.
Teen 1 (Omar): Oh geez. Damn barbecue. Didn’t know the gas
                          was on and boom. Lucky I’m alive.
Kelly Severide: Where were you standing?
Teen 1 (Omar): Right in front of the grill, trying to light it.
Kelly Severide: Then how’d you burn your legs?
Teen 1 (Omar): I don’t know. It was a big ol’ fireball, though.
Kelly Severide: Those aren’t barbecue burns, Omar. I’d know.
                           I’ve responded to 20 of them.
Teen 1 (Omar): I-I swear to God…
Kelly Severide: And they’re gonna test the shoes you were
                          wearing against the rubber fixed to the floor
                          in that diner and it’s all gonna go south.
Teen 1 (Omar): Why? For what? I-I didn’t do nothing.
Kelly Severide: A guy was killed in that second fire.
Teen 1 (Omar): No. No, no, no, man.
Kelly Severide: Look, I’m not a cop. I just want to know
                          what happened and I’ll help you any way I
                          can before the cops get involved. And
                          they’re gonna get involved soon.
Teen 1 (Omar): Okay. All right, mayb… there’s one thing
                          maybe you can help me with.
Kelly Severide: I’ll try.
Teen 1 (Omar): It was an insurance scam. Tuxhorn and his
                          wife wanted two of the diners to go down
                          and they was gonna lay it off on some union
                          dude who he was beefing with. And he
                          asked my dad to help him do it. My dad
                          owes him a lot of money, so he said he was
                          in to settle up. But my dad, he got a knee
                          replacement surgery last year and he ain’t
                          too quick. So I said I’d do it. I was pouring
                          the gas… I don’t know. Maybe the fumes hit
                          a pilot light or something. And I was just
                          running through the restaurant all on fire and…
                          Tuxhorn put me out and he took me here and
                          he said to say it was a barbecue accident.
                          Look, man, I’ll take the ride for it. I just gotta
                          leave my dad out of it. Can I do that? Can I
                          leave my dad out of it with the cops?
Kelly Severide: Don’t bring up his name.
Teen 1 (Omar): Okay. Thank you.
                                              cutscene
Mouch: Did somebody change his food, ‘cause there is
              something going on here.
Peter Mills: Where’s Herrmann?
Matt Casey: Bar management seminar.
                      You guys close to opening?
Gabby Dawson: Uh, a few weeks…hopefully.
Joe Cruz: Hey, uh, Shay, where’s your iPad?
Leslie Shay: Put it away for a bit.
Joe Cruz: Did you find a donor?
Leslie Shay: Regrouping.
Joe Cruz: So you’re not going the whole sperm donor route
                  anymore?
Leslie Shay: What is this, an interrogation? I told you, I’m
                      regrouping.
Otis Zvonecek: So, um, who asked who out? I’m just
                           curious.
Gabby Dawson: [laughs]
Peter Mills: Um, wait. You did, right?
Gabby Dawson: What?
Peter Mills: Yeah, you asked me to dinner that one night.
Gabby Dawson: Oh no, that-that wasn’t a date.
Peter Mills: Damn.
Gabby Dawson: What’s up?
Peter Mills: Dolores from Records, she sent me an email
                    earlier. I just… I can’t open it on my phone.
                    I’m… I’m gonna try it in there.
                                        [typing]
                                   [tense music]
                                      cutscene
Chief Boden: Hey, Kelly, great job.
Kelly Severide: Hey, thanks, Chief.
Chief Boden: You too, Benny.
Benny Severide: Thank you. I appreciate that.
                             How about I get a cup of coffee before
                             I take off?
Kelly Severide: All right.
Leslie Shay: Hey, you got a second?
Kelly Severide: Yeah.
                           What?
Leslie Shay: So how are you?
Kelly Severide: Um, what’s-what’s going on?
Leslie Shay: So here’s the deal. You know I’ve done
                      thorough research on this whole
                      insemination thing. And today I got… well,
                      I guess, uh, accidental window into how
                      the whole process works, and it really left
                      me feeling… hollow.
Kelly Severide: Okay.
Leslie Shay: And you know, I’ve been searching for the
                     perfect guy to be the father of my baby.
                     Someone honourable, strong, good looking
                     [chuckles] I mean, sue me. And maybe even
                     someone who would want to be part of the
                     child’s life. And someone who would want to
                     celebrate, you know, how beautiful it could be.
                     With me… a cool chick who’s not gonna freak
                     out and they’ll never have to worry about, you
                     know, me wanting a divorce or trying to take all
                     their money, or be a bitch or… [exhales] Kelly I
                     want to know if you’d like to have a baby with
                     me.
Kelly Severide: Look, Shay, I…
Leslie Shay: No, no, no. Let me finish. And we’d go through
                      the insemination process…
Kelly Severide: Um…
Leslie Shay: And… and yeah. Okay that’s it. I’m done.
Kelly Severide: I don’t… I don’t… I don’t know what to say.
Leslie Shay: That’s okay. I just… I just want you to-to think
                      about it.
Kelly Severide: I…
Leslie Shay: Thank you. And listen, if the answer’s no, I mean,
                      there won’t even be a hiccup between us. It…
                      it’s okay. It-It’ll be solid Always you and me.
                      Okay?
                                         [kissing sound]
Kelly Severide: Uh…
                                             cutscene
Benny Severide: Okay, that’s it. I’m outta here.
Mouch: Great to meet you, Ben.
Benny Severide: Good to see you again.
Joe Cruz: Such a pleasure.
Benny Severide: Good to see you.
Otis Zvonecek: Thanks for the donuts.
Benny Severide: Yup.
Matt Casey: Take care, Benny.
Benny Severide: Hey.
Peter Mills: Hey. Mr Severide, can I talk to you in private.
Benny Severide: Actually, I’m just taking off. It was nice
                             meeting you.
Peter Mills: Yeah, please… I really need to talk to you.
Benny Severide: Can you make it quick?
Peter Mills: Sure.
                    Um, the Lambert Tree Award. It’s the highest
                    award awarded to a firefighter. My father was
                    nominated and everyone up the line signed off
                    on it… except for you. Just curious to why.
Benny Severide: Some other time, kid, okay?
Peter Mills: Is this what you’re trying to say to me? Do you
                    feel bad about not signing off for it? That even
                    though my father was a hero… and even
                    though he gave his life…
Benny Severide: It’s an award for valor!
Chief Boden: Benny.
Benny Severide: He wants to hear it. I’m gonna tell him.
                             In the middle of that fire, your father
                             panicked and pulled off his mask, which
                             would have been his business, except
                             another guy died trying to save him. So,
                             no, I didn’t sign it. Because I could not in
                             good faith reward someone for
                             demonstrating cowardice…
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Firefighters: Whoa!
                      Come on, man!
                      Hey! Hey!
                      Come on!
Benny Severide: Unh!
                             [panting] You want to know why Boden
                             thinks your father wasn’t at fault? Do ya?
                             ‘Cause he’s an optimist, I guess.
                              I’ll see you back at your house.
Chief Boden: Mills… You are off duty until further notice.
                       Get your gear. Wait for Benny to get off site,
                       and you go home and you’ll wait to hear
                       from me.
                        Rest of you, get back to work.
Gabby Dawson: Hey, you okay?
Peter Mills: No.
Gabby Dawson: Look, I totally get what lead up to that
                            and I am so sorry, but you can’t just go
                            around punching people.
Peter Mills: My dad wasn’t able to defend himself. So I did.
                                  [locker door slams]
Peter Mills: [sighs]
                                         cutscene
Chief Boden: We were all real close. Henry and me. Benny.
                        Our wives. Then Ingrid and Henry, they
                        separated. My wife left me. It was during that
                        time. It just happened. Then I realised that
                        Henry might have still had feelings for her,
                        and I may have moved too quick, so I
                        stepped back just to see. And I was right.
                        Henry moved back in after a month. Ingrid
                        always says I broke her heart. So if you
                        think that there’s something that Peter needs
                        or wants to know, I’ll go to his place after shift.
                        I’ll tell him.
Gabby Dawson: Is what Benny said true?
Chief Boden: Not from where I was standing.
                                        cutscene
Heather Darden: Matt?
Matt Casey: Hmm?
Heather Darden: You have like, two utensils in this kitchen.
Matt Casey: Yeah, it’s on my to-do list.
Heather Darden: You’ve been busy, huh?
Matt Casey: Yeah, it’s been one thing after another lately.
Heather Darden: Have you been dating? Since Hallie?
Matt Casey: Uh, there was someone for a minute, maybe
                      less. Wasn’t the right time.
Heather Darden: Sorry to hear that.
Matt Casey: What are you gonna do? Damn that smells
                      good. First home-cooked meal I’ve had
                      since… I don’t even know.
Heather Darden: It sucks having to come home to an
                             empty house, doesn’t it?
Matt Casey: Yeah.
Heather Darden: We don’t have to be alone. We don’t
                             deserve to be. We’re good people.
                             Why can’t we be happy?
Matt Casey: Heather… I’m really glad you’re here. And
                      if it was under different circumstances,
                      believe me… but Andy was one of my best
                      friends. And he was your husband, and… I
                      think we should honour that.
Heather Darden: You know what? You’re right. Let’s just
                              count our blessings
Matt Casey: Dinner and a movie. Let’s get the movie ready.
                                           cutscene
                                     [knocks on door]
Gabby Dawson: Hey, bruiser.
                                        [door shuts]
                                     [kissing sound]
Peter Mills: What’s the word? You heard anything?
Gabby Dawson: Yeah. I, um, spoke to Boden briefly.
Peter Mills: What did he say?
Gabby Dawson: Well, he hasn’t heard from Benny so
                            the hope is that he doesn’t raise a
                            stink. If that’s the case, then hopefully
                            this thing will stay in house. Boden
                            says to just sit tight for now.
Peter Mills: That’s all he said?
Gabby Dawson: That’s all he said to me.
Peter Mills: Okay, look… can I just say that even though
                    I’m… maybe in a jam right now, I feel… I feel
                    lighter. ’Cause since forever I’ve been carrying
                    around this weight of not knowing. And I could
                    always just tell that there was something out
                    there that wasn’t being told to me. At least now
                    I can… I can move on.
Gabby Dawson: Hey… what Benny said isn’t true.
Peter Mills: I don’t want to talk about it anymore, okay?
Gabby Dawson: Baby, it’s not true…
Peter Mills: Look, I-I don’t want to talk about it anymore
                    [exhales]
                                          cutscene
Matt Casey: Heather.
                          [orchestral music playing on TV]
                                       [TV turns off]
                                          cutscene
Benny Severide: He’s just like his old man. It was Henry
                             Mills against the world. The guy always
                             had a problem. So if people want to
                             knock me for being arrogant or
                             whatever, let them. At least I was
                             un-conflicted. And in this job, you
                             better damn well have that going for
                             you, or you and your buddy’s badges
                             will end up on the wall at the academy.
Kelly Severide: Well, I didn’t know his old man, but I
                           know Peter. And from what I’ve seen,
                           the kid has heart. He has courage.
Benny Severide: Yeah, well I’ve seen your squad. Maybe
                              you’re not the best judge of character.
                                              [bag zips]
Benny Severide: Look, Kelly, I…I really did come down
                             here to spend time with you. I didn’t
                             mean for any of this to happen. And if
                             anything I did reflects poorly on you,
                             I’m sorry about that. I guess your old
                             man is just a guy stuck in his ways. But
                             hey… if you can’t do anything about it,
                             don’t worry about it.
                                         [door opens and closes]
                                                   cutscene
                                             [knocks on door]
Kelly Severide: Hey.
Peter Mills: Hey.
Kelly Severide: Listen, I know it’s been on your mind
                           and, uh, I think you’d be a really great
                           addition to squad. You’re gonna want
                           to take Hazmat Tech “A”, Vertical
                           Rescue and Building Collapse One. If
                           any of them are full, you let me know I
                           can…I can pull some strings.
Peter Mills: Really?
Kelly Severide: Really. Let’s push it, see what happens.
Peter Mills: Okay.
Kelly Severide: Great.
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                                         [chuckling]
                                            - end -
Definitions:
Scrapple = Also known by the Pennsylvania Dutch name Pannhaas or “pan rabbit”, is a traditionally a mush of pork scraps and trimmings combined with cornmeal and wheat flour, often buckwheat flour, and spices. The mush is formed into a semi-solid congealed load, and slices of the scrapple are then pan-fried before serving
Agonal breathing = Medical term used to describe struggling to breathe or gasping. It is often a symptom of a severe medical emergency, such as a stroke or cardiac arrest. The gasping associated with agonal respiration is not true breathing, but rather a brainstem reflex.
Hazmat Tech “A” = Hazardous Materials Technician course provides the essential knowledge, skills, and abilities to operate offensively or defensively at an incident involving the release of hazardous materials.
Building Collapse One = This course is extensively hands-on and prepares the student to operate safely and efficiently at a building collapse incident. It offers practice in cutting, breaching, lifting, stabilising, searching, shoring, packaging, and removing victims from a simulated collapse environment
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inkyjaguar · 3 years
Text
The History of Sapnap
The second installment to The King’s Final Battle Lore: Sapnap
Sapnap was born in Camarvan in Wheat Valley. He was born to a big family of fishermen who were one of the founders of the town itself. Sapnap was a bit of a wild child who got away with a lot of trouble because he knew the town’s alleyways inside and out. Most of the trouble he got into were things like pranks and scams on the smaller children of the town. Never something big enough to get back to his parents. With his family being very friendly and big, he knew mostly everyone in the town.
He grew up in town with his best friend George Lore who basically became his brother after George’s parents died. He and George were inseparable when it came to causing trouble. That wasn’t his only friend as George seemed to fall asleep alot. He was friends with almost all of the children in Camarvan but ran mostly with Punz, Alyssa, Callahan, and Purpled. He hung out with Tommy, Tubbo, Fundy and Jack but things got strained with them as they started to listen to Wilbur Soot more; an eccentric sorcerer. 
Everything changed for him when George brought back a friend from the wheat fields. It was a boy their age who needed a home and wore a mask. Sapnap asked no questions and his family adopted Dream as if he were one of their own. Sapnap and Dream became fast friends and he forgot what it was like when it was just him and George. Dream was a private person when it came to his previous life and Sapnap thought it was because he had come in from The Arctic; a snowy place filled with weird people. Not that Sapnap cared, but he was worried for the guy sometimes. 
But Sapnap knew something was really weird about Dream when he and Tommy found a ruin. When Sapnap was 15, they were playing far out in the forest when Tommy fell into a cavern. Sapnap jumped in after him and they found an overgrown city filled with weird carvings. They couldn’t read anything and the rocks around them looked complicated and dangerous. Sapnap felt strange in that place and could’ve sworn that he heard someone in there with them. He eventually was able to drag Tommy away from the place but not before Tommy grabbed a journal stating that it “looked cool”. 
When the two got back, Tommy and Sapnap told everyone about their discovery. All the other kids thought they were heroes and begged Tommy to show them to the ruins. Dream reacted differently. He grew silent and Sapnap got that same eerie feeling. Before he could talk to Dream, Dream tried to steal the old journal from Tommy. A small chase began. Even though Tommy was 12 and smaller than Dream, he could places Dream couldn’t. Sapnap tried to laugh off the whole thing as a prank, but as he flipped between helping Tommy and helping Dream in the chase around Camarvan, the mood surrounding Dream made his hair raise. 
The whole incident over the journal lasted 2 years with many other people joining into the impromptu capture the flag game between Tommy and Dream. And no matter how many times Sapnap pried into Dream, he never told him the meaning of the journal or why he wanted it so badly. 
That, was just the first of the many battles against Tommy’s crew. Tommy and his friends started to listen more to Fundy’s dad; Wilbur Soot. And Wilbur started to get more bold in his decisions. Wilbur’s family was another founding family in the area as well and so Sapnap’s family had a messy history with theirs. Wilbur’s family had always been gifted with magic and over the generations, that magic had been used for both good and evil. In this generation, it seemed that Wilbur used his magic for more evil purposes. 
Wilbur gained a following in the village with his ideas of “new magic” and “better politics”. Tommy, Tubbo and Fundy were all his devoted disciples. Sapnap’s family, and Sapnap, were the ones who eventually forced Wilbur and his new gang, which turned out to be half the town, out into the surrounding forest if they refused to listen to the rules set by the King of the Esempe Kingdom. 
One day, Wilbur raided. Sapnap just came back from fishing to find everyone running about. Belongings were being dumped into the streets, thieves were loading their pockets and Wilbur was standing amidst it all; shouting orders to continue looting. The one thing that Sapnap prides himself on is his energy and his boldness. And in the heat of the moment, he was able to find his friends and push Wilbur and his gang back. Him, Dream, Tubbo, Punz, Eret, Ponk, Purpled, Alyssa and Callahan were able to defend the village against that attack. It was Sapnap’s first real battle. He had dueled half-heartedly with Dream and Punz but this was the first time his emergency blade actually hurt. 
It was exhilarating. 
Wilbur declared his little colony L’Manberg the next day and Dream declared war against them for the sake of Camarvan. Sapnap considered himself Dream’s right hand man when it came creating attacks and planning traps. And they were winning. The respect Sapnap earned the energy he felt on the battle field was like nothing he had experienced before. But the most intoxicating thing, was burning. He loved the arson missions and the sabotage trips. He and Alyssa were the best when it came to quick burnings. The only times they were caught, was during the Burning of the Wheat Crops and when Alyssa was executed by Wilbur. 
They had separated after being discovered. Alyssa went one way and Sapnap went the other. The next time he saw her had been back at camp a couple days later; her body being delivered in a small box. It drove him crazy. Alyssa had been one of his best friends and now she was dead. He had gone to the woods and screamed his lungs out. At one point, he had passed out from the exhaustion of his mourning. And when he came to, he was surrounded by wildfire. 
He snuck back into camp after putting out the fire and was comforted by Dream about everything that happened. It was touching but when George woke up from another nap, he left. And Sapnap was alone wondering where that fire had come from. He reported it to Dream the next day; stating that someone set a fire around him while he had been mourning. 
The end of the LManberg came about in the form of Tommy and Dream facing off and Dream walking away victorious. But LManberg won its independence. Sapnap never understood. He and everyone else asked Dream how that happened, but he wouldn’t explain. And after a month of trench battles, the King arrived and declared the same thing along with Eret, a former ally turned traitor turned double crosser for them, being destined for the throne. Eret repaid his friends in kind and Sapnap was invited to train for knighthood in the capitol.
This was his moment of a lifetime. He was surrounded by respect, friends and training in what he loved most. Sapnap devoted himself to his work while training under Captain of the Knights, Puffy; everyone called her Captain Puffy. Even in the capitol, he made more friends. He met BadBoyHalo, Sam, Quackity and Karl. He even got to repair the damage he made with old ones; not Wilbur though. Never Wilbur. 
While Captain Puffy trained them, it was a goal of Sapnap’s to one day be as great as The legendary Commander himself; Technoblade. He trained in secret to one day be able to face him during the festival duels. Dream took notice. Now, Dream came with them to the capitol, but he split off and did his own thing. Even though he wasn’t an official of any kind, he was still allowed into the castle. When the whole group would go out together, Dream would tell them tales about his life as a mercenary. It appealed to Sapnap and it even took away some of his friends. Purpled and Punz both left the knights for Dream’s way of fighting. 
Dream offered him a place after Sapnap told him about his dream of beating Technoblade. Sapnap didn’t want to leave though. He liked talking with Quackity and Karl and eating with George and Tommy in the dining halls. But then, Dream offered to train him. Sapnap eagerly took the opportunity only for things to get worse. 
After his initial blackout in the woods during the Revolution, he had been having vivid dreams where he would burn everything he touched. Most nights, it amounted to nothing, but sometimes he woke up with soot surrounding him, or in the middle of a burning forest. When he trained with Dream, he would start blacking out in the middle of the training and wake up in a completely different stance than when he blinked before. Dream didn’t think anything of it, so Sapnap brushed it off. 
But he had a feeling something was off.
In a years time, Sapnap got promoted to Captain of the Guard; taking over the position from a Lazarbeam. When he got promoted, he stopped training with Dream; disturbed by the black-outs and feeling like it was connected with Dream in someway. That split his old friend group apart even though he tried to stick with George, he felt more comfort in his new friends. 
After a year of being Captain of the Guard, the reelection for LManberg happened. Sapnap supported Quackity and George with Karl. He felt like a different person whenever he was with Quackity and Karl. He loved George and Dream, no doubt, and they hung out but whenever he was with Dream, he fell into those black-outs. He wanted to tell Quackity and Karl about them but never found the courage. Everything was going good.
After the election and when Quackity was elected, Sapnap noticed George grow more anxious. After he heard he got sent to the Court Sorcerer, he went to help him and barely caught George on his way to The Badlands; BadBoyHalo’s home country. The only thing he could think of asking George, is to watch out for any mention of fires in magical blackouts. Sapnap couldn’t leave his post to figure out what was wrong with him either, but he could at least ask George.
He should’ve done more. 
A year after the election, Sapnap watched the kingdom grow more and more tense. Schlatt was going insane. Quackity was walking around with bruises. Karl disappeared for days at a time with no explanation. Dream was reported talking to the new rebelling state made by Wilbur called Pogtopia. And Sapnap was starting to hear a voice in his head. 
It started after George left and Quackity and Karl grew distant. He didn’t think much of it until it started to chant for him to burn everything he touched and saw. It grew too much at times when everything he could hear was the voice screaming at him to burn. But it was always there. 
Everything seemed to falling out beneath him. And then George came back from The Badlands and Dream called a meeting in the throne room. When George came in, Dream announced him King. Technoblade objected. Captain Puffy told Dream off. Quackity cheered. King Eret stepped down and George stepped up. 
Sapnap swore his allegiance to his friend that day but he knew that Dream was more than what he showed though.
Sapnap rearranges his schedule to stay by his best friend and king even while the voice tells him no. By while he stays by George’s side, he becomes his keeper for the narcolept. Every time someone found George asleep, they called for him. And most times, by the time he found George, Dream was there to scoop up their friend and take him to a chair or bed. Sapnap knew that George trusted him and Dream was his best friend, but Sapnap didnn’t like Dream taking George away like that.
And even while Sapnap tried his best, he still wasn’t there when Technoblade attacked George. Dream was. Dream was always a step above him when it came to defending George it seemed. 
It wasn’t a question anymore when the battle with Pogtopia came closer. Even though Quackity defaulted to Pogtopia, Sapnap stayed with Karl and Dream in defending Schlatt against Tommy and Wilbur. His heart wasn’t in it but the voice in his head was. Even though he was fighting a battle around him, his mind was going through one as well. Every other moment he was either slashing with all his might or holding back; switching between chaos and mercy. So when it was over, when Technoblade betrayed everyone and Wilbur died by Philza’s hand, Sapnap was just glad to take Quackity and Karl back to his place and lie down for a bit. 
Everything seemed peaceful after that. Peaceful was relative but there were no wars and so Sapnap considered it peaceful. George ruled over the Esempe, Dream disappeared, Tubbo was the new ruler of LManberg, and Quackity and Karl moved in. The voice in his head almost disappeared and with that, he revealed what he had been going through. Quackity and Karl were more supporting than ever and for once, Sapnap felt safe to fall asleep again. 
It was Karl who gave him the news though. A year after the Pogtopia battle, a year of peace fell away when Camarvan burned down. His family, his house, his history. All gone. He knew the voice left for a reason, but he hadn’t thought it would be this. There was only person who was associated with fire. One person who blacked out and woke up surrounded by flames. Sapnap was the only person who could burn everything and not remember.
But it was Tommy who was arrested. Tommy, who was thrown into Sapnap’s jail, and who yelled he doesn’t remember anything. In the jail, Sapnap couldn’t let someone else, much less a friend, take his fall. So he promised Tommy that he would get him out of there. When George called Tommy into the courtroom, Sapnap defended Tommy; swearing on his position that he was innocent. George gave an offer: Tommy must help George break his sleeping curse.
George never told him about a sleeping curse. It didn’t matter right now but Sapnap wanted to talk to him about it later. Shortly afterwards, Tommy, Tubbo, Sapnap, George, Quackity and Fundy go off to break the curse. George had figured out that his sleeping curse was connected to the ruins by Camarvan Tommy had originally gotten the journal from. And while on their way there, Dream joined them. 
After barely seeing him for a year, Sapnap was surprised to see his old friend. He had changed. They both had changed and Dream seemed to know it. Right before the ruins, Dream confronted him about the voice and the burning. He knew. Somehow, Dream knew about the burning dreams and he didn’t help Sapnap at all. Sapnap had been right all along. 
But they were working together and so Sapnap stored his feelings aside and helped George. He helped him find the ruins and an anicent lab filled with weird symbols. He gave clothes to the weird enderman hybrid as well. And when Dream freaked out and started to yell after they entered the lab, Sapnap stood up to his old friend. This could help George and if Dream was standing in their way then Sapnap would remove him. George sent Dream away though. Told him to never come back and they found something in the lab that when Tubbo roughly translated, could cure George. And it did. 
When they got back to the castle, Karl came hurtling out; talking about Dream returning. They all rushed into the throne room to find Eret on the throne again. This was the last straw. 
Sapnap threw in his shield to the throne and left with Quackity, Karl and George to start El Rapids; a fantasy dream between the four of them. It grew. And Sapnap watched from afar Tommy getting exiled and Tubbo picking up the pieces. Still, they all plotted against Dream; trying to find a way to get Eret off the throne and Tommy back. 
After a year of scheming and building a state that was actually bringing people in, Sapnap felt stronger than ever. Their militia was trained. George wasn’t sleeping as much and he was with his favorite people in the whole world; people he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Karl was finally telling him about where he goes for days at a time. He goes to a place called The InBetween and reveals he is a sorcerer to him and Quackity. And Sapnap couldn’t have been prouder of Karl. All those stories he tells at night when Sapnap is drained, might be true. And the hero of all of them, is his own Karl. 
And then the invitation came. Tubbo was throwing a festival celebrating LManberg. Karl forgets about the festival on the day they leave. Sapnap tries to remind him but Karl doesn’t remember the invitation at all. He feels feverish and so Sapnap puts Karl in bed and promises to be home soon. Whatever was happening, wasn’t good. 
The second festival goes off without a hitch, until a nether portal opens up. Dream, Techno and Tommy step out with wither skeletons and tnt alike. It’s a bloodbath from the get go. Everyone who has ever held a title is there, and the knights are back in the capitol. Sapnap tries his hardest though. He goes after Dream with George. But at one point, he hears Tubbo yell from behind him and sees Tommy overcome the President. Sapnap has to leave. George can handle Dream just fine, it’s Tommy that needs his help.
Tubbo is screaming about dreamons and Sapnap can do nothing but let his voice for fire and violence let loose. He battles with Tommy, trying to yell sense into him but the Tommy he hears sounds like someone who is conflicted; scared. He yells at Tubbo for betraying him and yells at Sapnap for being too nice. There’s only one thing he can think of to snap Tommy out of this. He takes Tommy by the shoulders and throws him off the broken balcony. Tommy screams in terror and Sapnap will never forget that face of betrayal of his friend. Tubbo is the one who grabs Tommy. And with his iron armour on, Tommy reacts in pain before going limp altogether. 
Sapnap pulls the blonde up with Tubbo and watches Dream and Techno run from the fight. He would get them though. He would see them in prison. 
George is shaken up. Everyone is. 
But George leaves El Rapids; saying something about dreamons. Is that what is happening to Sapnap? The voice in his head? The dreams and sleepwalking?
In no time at all, Dream is found. Tommy remembers something from exile after some recovery. He doesn’t take no as an answer when everyone gears up. So Tommy leads the charge. They storm Dream’s base and arrest him. King Eret sentences him to Pandora’s Vault and before Sapnap can say goodbye, Karl grabs him from behind. 
Karl is pale and shaky and Sapnap didn’t even want him to come  but Karl insisted. Right now though, he looks like he is about to pass out. He begs Sapnap to run with him and Sapnap does; without question. They run. They don’t stop at El Rapids and keep running until they find an old house that looks like a mushroom. When they arrive, Karl collapses.
Sapnap brings him back to health but Karl is faint. Sapnap builds up the tiny house and what’s left of El Rapids follows him until a new state is built again; Kinoko is what Karl wants to call it. Quackity is gone as well. Sapnap can’t get ahold of him no matter how much magic he buys. Quackity has disappeared and Sapnap doesn’t want to fear for the worse but he does. 
And the voice returns. Sapnap works tirelessly to write down Karl’s memories and build up the state to keep the voice away but at night, it tells him that he has failed Quackity and he will fail Karl. 
George comes to Kinoko with a mission a couple months later. He’s convinced that Dream is possessed and maybe that is why Sapnap is having problems. George wants to cure Dream but he needs help; he needs a guard. And who better than the old Captain of the Guards? He agrees and leaves Karl in the care of his cousins. 
The team forms: Sam, Tommy, Tubbo, Sapnap, BadBoyHalo, Quackity, Fundy and Ranboo. They should’ve had more but that makes them slow. Sapnap is always on alert. Dream has changed since prison. He changed even before prison though. Dream still taunts. He teases that he knows how to cure Karl and how to fix him but Sapnap can’t listen. He can’t listen because Quackity is alive.
Quackity is angry though. He claims that Sapnap and Karl ran off without him and they did, but Sapnap argues the same. Sapnap tells him about Karl but Quackity doesn’t want to hear about it. It brings Sapnap pain to bring it up but Sapnap has a letter he wrote to Quackity long ago when they first separated and he gives it to him now. He can’t think properly with the voice in his head but he hopes that maybe past Sapnap can. 
They go back to the ruins of Camarvan and find a summoning circle. BadBoyHalo, Tubbo and George start their ritual and Sapnap catches on fire. He feels like he’s burning and it doesn’t stop. He can’t stay awake as the voice screams in pain as well. When he wakes up, Dream is someone else; someone without the mask.
And he feels clear. He feels as if his head as been swabbed of cotton balls and that it’s shiny and new. He feels great when he returns to Kinoko and so his heart drops when Karl is doing worse. It’s too much. He can’t keep treating Karl on his own. Karl is moved to the castle where George reigns as the new king with Prince Tubbo and Prince Eret at his side. 
And then there’s Clay. 
A new person who used to be Dream. Someone else who looks and sounds like Dream but holds no memories. It’s weird and it takes getting used to but Sapnap was raised to make everyone feel welcome. And like that time when George dragged the masked boy from the wheat field, Sapnap takes Clay in with open arms and no questions asked.  
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Hiii!!! I have a question that i'd love if you could answer, but no pressure! Do you have any tips on writing Kate? or more specifically, are there any things that you keep in mind when you're writing her? just any kind of advice you feel like sharing for someone writing her :) (((ik that every writer is different in their interpretations of characters in fics, etc, but i'd really love to hear any thoughts you'd be willing to share!))) <3
This is an incredibly flattering ask, first of all, so thank you! also this got hmmm very long so i apologize. the adderall wore off and now the gremlins in my brain are knocking everything off the shelves in search of dopamine
And it seems like you already know this, but I’ll say it anyway: your mileage may vary. My interpretation of Kate is really personal, and I have often, knowingly or unknowingly, used writing Kate to work through some of my own traumas. so like, advice number one, feel free to work through trauma via Kate Bishop
keeping that in mind, here are the four things I keep in mind when writing kate:
her trauma
Kate’s been through a lot of shit. For me, focusing on this was a way to work through my own trauma and mental health issues, but even if that’s not your jam, it’s still something to keep in mind. She’s survived rape, her mom has died, her dad tried to kill her AND she found out he was a lying douchebag, she’s been a government fugitive twice, she’s seen her best friend die in front of her, she’s been hit by a car. So there’s a lot of mental health stuff and physical health stuff. I have depression and PTSD and anxiety and panic attacks and dad issues, so that’s something easy for me to focus on that also is supported by the text. Don’t be afraid to lean into a mental health thing, or the fact that she has also canonically gone to therapy. I like that combo when writing about Kate—that she deals with a lot of trauma baggage, but she’s also works through it
The physical trauma stuff also helps when remembering that she’s a soft squishy human unlike a lot of the people she hangs around with. It’s easy for me to imagine she’s got a bum knee or chronic pain issues. I’ve written concussion stuff specifically because I remember having post-concussion syndrome and it made sense that she would have it, too? Though now that I’m thinking about it, the physical issues from avengering is an idea I’m going to have to revist while leaning more into “what if kate couldn’t do archery because of an injury” because that taps into some issues I’m still coming to terms with!!
But basically, going through all of that—even just some of that!--impacts how you view yourself, how you move in the world, how you relate to other people, etc. she’s been through a lot! 
her age
this is probably where I differ from a lot of other kate writers and again, it’s probably just personal? Because lbr I project HARDCORE on to Kate, so seeing her as “my age” is kinda my go-to. I love the idea of teenage superheroes growing up and having to adult. And mentoring younger superheroes. And getting mad at the avengers for doing a TERRIBLE job of it.
dueling headcanons aside, keep in mind that Kate is young in relation to the Avengers, but old in relation to her team. For me, the age differences between her and her team influence how Kate sees herself as a leader/role model/etc. In the comics, it seems like Kate does better taking care of herself when she has other people to take care of or set a team-leader-y example for. If she’s on her own she is literally getting hit by cars and committing arson.
(Since we’re here tho I do think of the Young Avengers as Millennials, and for me that’s a very important part of the whys of them becoming superheroes. Because—stick with me here—based on their ages when they first showed up they all would have been….what, in like 3-7th grade on 9/11? Obviously I don’t know how old you are, or if you remember/were alive for 9/11 and the aftermath, but I can’t imagine that not influencing their desire to become superheroes, even if they don’t realize it themselves.) 
However you see Kate’s age, it’s important to think about how it influences how other people see her and how she sees herself within her team.
her team!
who kate is with a team and who she is without a team are VERY different things. if she’s with the Young Avengers for most of your story or working solo might affect how...for lack of a better phrase...how much of an on fire garbage can she is.
Kate loves her people. How does she relate to them? Who is she closest to? Why does she date people on her team? Is that a good idea?
For me, Kate and Eli’s relationship is always important, even if it doesn’t make it on screen, so to speak. That they both led the team, that he quit, that they dated—how do they relate to one another? Are they friends? Awkward exes? Are they working together?
Is the team on hiatus? Do they have a group chat? Is Kate everyone’s emergency contact? How much does she confide in them, or does she feel the need to be the Strong Team Leader at all times? How does that impact her friendships? How did losing Cassie affect her leadership style?
These are her friends! How do they impact her life?
she’s a badass
this might seem like a given, but seriously, kate is a total badass. She can dance and fence, she knows how to use swords and batons, she’s super strong and swole. She has canonically committed arson. I think it’s canon she has a photographic memory? She’s a small business owner. She loves explosives and military grade weapons thanks to Deadpool, who, canonically, thinks she is awesome. She’s good schmoozing, she’s good with people in general. She has a nemesis! She’s the captain of a spaceship! Kate Bishop is cool!!!!!!! even if she doesn’t know it. or act it. she’s awesome.
Other things to keep in mind:
Lots of people play with Kate’s race. What if she’s white? What if she’s Jewish? What if she’s Eastern European? What if she’s white and Japanese and Navajo? What does that say about her family? What was growing up like? How does being not-quite-white or white-but-the-wrong-kind-of-white or white-but-not-really change how she moves in the world? (for the record, I usually see Derek as run-of-the-mill white dude, so how does that impact her? How does that change the relationship he had with her mother?) I don’t always, and I don’t have the experience to do those stories justice a lot of the times, but I think race and religion are important to consider a bit when writing Kate. 
(particularly with the current US political climate, and who her friends are, it’s just really interesting to think about. Like, you KNOW Kate is at a BLM protest kicking a canister of tear gas back at the cops and literally putting her body between David and the pr*ud boys or whatever.)
Also? Kate has opposed registration of superheroes twice now. You could definitely lean into that and her political activism potential.
Kate has a sister.
Kate is sex-positive
Clint is a very important part of her life
She knows how to commit arson and blow stuff up, can probably speak several languages, is flexible and strong and VERY SMART and also somehow can’t figure out how to illegally download music. She’s a wonderful combo of intelligence and dumbassery. Don’t feel like you have to make her all one or the other!
Don’t feel like she needs to be straight. Or cis.
and of course, write the story you want to, or need to. I think Kate’s really great for that--she’s got the potential to be a lot of things to a lot of different people. what do you need her to be?
I hope this was informative and useful! i have no idea if it actually will be, or if it’s too much...me? let me know! and thank you for the ask!
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itsbenedict · 3 years
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Two-Faced Jewel: Session 5
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A half-elf conwoman (and the moth tasked with keeping her out of trouble) travel the Jewel in search of, uh, whatever a fashionable accessory is pointing them at. [Campaign log]
Caught up in a blood feud between the villages of Wheat and Barley, Saelhen and Looseleaf are tasked with investigating a recent death. Their investigation takes them to a spooky tower owned by the local crazy torture wizard, which- hey, why was this guy not considered a suspect, huh? He's a crazy torture wizard!
Last time, the group was introduced to Malath Kanthalga, matron cleric of the village of Barley. She has no trust for outsiders- but she was willing to let Looseleaf lend a hand in proving once and for all that the scoundrels of Wheat were responsible for the recent murders.
To that end, the party is led a ways down the road to the farmstead of Roos and Gera Nicksickle, an elderly halfling couple which was recently slain.
En route, Looseleaf sizes up the farmers Malath has been arming, to see if any of them seem to have combat experience. There's one lizardfolk farmer who seems more comfortable with the armor, and holds his pitchfork like a spear. She makes a note of that.
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They arrive, and are met by Lester Jawhold, a doughy-looking human man who's standing guard over the body out in the field, accompanied by a number of vicious-looking hounds. With permission to search the crime scene, some investigationing occurs.
Saelhen gets some basic details- the body was pierced through the chest with a four-pronged weapon, as described. Plus, there are the remains of hastily-erased footprints in the dusty soil- bootprints, it seems.
Looseleaf uses her animism magic to get a more direct picture of the incident. The corpse, recently dead, has a dead-corpse spirit that retains some information thanks to the emotionally volatile nature of recent events. The cause of death... being suddenly pierced through the heart, from the front, by a strange four-pointed weapon that induced extreme pain. It appeared to strike from out of thin air. Nothing about the corpse indicates a memory of seeing an assailant.
Indoors, the other victim, Gera, is found dead on the floor of the kitchen. It seems like the cause of death is the same, but... Looseleaf's animism reveals that her vital organs are intact, and she appears to have died of shock from the extreme pain.
All Saelhen finds from searching the house is... an empty cupboard with a recently-unlocked lock, and a mattress removed from its bed. Plus some of the same bootprints from outside.
Looseleaf has the idea to search the house for the victims' boots, to compare with the prints found outside. And what the search reveals is... there are no boots. They didn't own any. They were halflings. So their house being covered in dusty bootprints... well, it implies someone else was here and murdered them, which rules out the "a weird knife sort of inexplicably teleported into their chests" theory, at least.
The only real clue they have to go on is the extreme pain experienced by the victims. This suggests...
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Malath gives a little exposition on the torture wizard- apparently he considers himself a savior, who through his experiments intends to vanquish pain itself- and surely torturing a few unwilling test subjects will be worth it, if he succeeds. Malath doesn't seem to consider it likely that Lumiere is the culprit, for the same reasons as Thalath- but jokingly suggests that perhaps Lumiere might have some information on who stole his torture tools to commit murder with.
Looseleaf: "So," Looseleaf asks, "if we're going to the tower wherein dwells a torture wizard, what can you tell us about what we might expect to face there? Ravenous horrific alchemical experiments ready to eat our faces? Traps? Magical servitors? A portal to another realm full of horrors?" Benedict I. (GM): She looks briefly surprised. "No, I... though I haven't been victim to him myself, I would warn strongly against confronting Lumiere, unless you're all much more seasoned than you look. None from our village have been able to resist him when he decided our consent was no longer worth trying to wrest from us." "Those who have been inside the tower might have more information for you, if you're fool enough to try." Looseleaf: "Well, team, you've heard the mission dossier, I guess. Do we think we're fool enough to try?" Saelhen du Fishercrown: Saelhen Fishercrown is not fool enough to try. Unfortunately, Saelhen isn't getting to be Saelhen right now. "...I imagine that we have no other recourse." Benedict I. (GM): Vayen looks... almost gleeful, insofar as his face betrays any expression. Looseleaf: Thanks for the vote of creepiness, edgelord.
Saelhen opts to kill annoying helicopters with one stone, and suggests that the team split up to gather information on the tower from the townspeople. She also suggests that Malath personally keep an eye on Vayen, as the least-trustworthy-seeming member of the group. Good persuasion means it works, and Vayen goes off to interrogate Lester Jawhold while the rest of the team heads into town to ask around about Lumiere's past victims.
First, on the way back to town, they speak with Chitch Ssarzar, the lizardfolk with the apparent military background. He's got one hell of a sob story for them!
Saelhen du Fishercrown: 24 PERSUASION (8) all i do is win Benedict I. (GM): That'll do it- Chitch is pretty horrified at the implication that you're actually trying this, but with sufficient reassurance, he'll spill his guts. He came to Grain back when it was just Grain, twenty-odd years ago, hoping to raise his infant daughter somewhere less dangerous than the Cutthroat Islands. Then, during the fire, his daughter was kidnapped by the wizard, and he tried storming the tower to get her back. He got captured, strapped to a rack, and had his flesh flensed and healed and flensed and healed repeatedly. At one point he thought he'd get a reprieve, when the wizard's teakettle went off and he went downstairs to get some tea- but the flensing knives just kept going, by themselves, without stopping. He never saw his daughter again. He was eventually released, and thanked for his service, and by that point he was too traumatized to ask Lumiere what happened to his daughter, in case it provoked him to torture him more. He's pretty wracked with guilt over the situation.
They get a rough description of the first few floors of the tower, up to the torture room. Plus, some exposition on the town's history:
Looseleaf: Okay. More questions: this time, asking about the town. It was called Grain, once? It split into two towns and now Barley hates Wheat? There was a fire? How did this all come to happen such that a single town turned in on itself? Benedict I. (GM): Yes- either 28 or 29 years ago, he forgets exactly, there was some feuding between farmers growing different crops. The ones with less fertile soil, sandier towards the southeast and closer to the mountains, had some kind of grudge against the landowners with more fertile soil, and it was this whole political infighting nightmare he didn't understand, as he was new in town. Then the dragon attacked, and... he's not entirely sure what happened, because accusations were flying left and right, but apparently some people tried to use the dragon attack as cover to commit arson against their enemies? Saelhen du Fishercrown: DRAGON Looseleaf: A FUCKING DRAGON Benedict I. (GM): And most of the town burned down, and when it came time to rebuild, nobody wanted to build near each other- and there was some sort of weird religious split between Family and Harmony so that most of the Harmony people decided to go grow wheat on the worse land, and the Family people went to go grow barley on the better land. He'd never been super involved with the split, as a newcomer, and spent the early rebuilding period being tortured- Barley was just the closest civilization after he was set free. Looseleaf: Mmmmm. A tragedy, all around, gods-damn. Saelhen du Fishercrown: caused by a dragon. a dragedy, if you will.
Then it's off to visit the innkeeper, Cassie Zeishus.
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Benedict I. (GM): When you reach the inn, you meet Cassie Zeishus, the innkeeper. She tells you about the time she visited the torture wizard to see if her husband was there. Looseleaf: Oh, yeah, you know. Just, a conjugal visit. To the torture tower. Benedict I. (GM): Apparently her husband, kind of a good-for-nothing out-of-towner she married largely as a charity case, kept on gambling and trying to sleep around and doing general sleazy vice stuff, and was miserable in a town that didn't want to indulge him- and she's pretty sure he faked getting kidnapped by the torture wizard to escape it. Saelhen du Fishercrown: as one does definitely not victim-blaming Benedict I. (GM): This was corroborated by Lumiere quite pleasantly answering the door and telling her no, he hadn't seen hide nor hair of this Arnie fellow, and would she like to come in for tea? And her saying no, no thank you, and walking away. Looseleaf: Huh. Benedict I. (GM): She doesn't know why the guy let her leave, despite a propensity for forcing people inside and torturing them in the past. She chalks it up to having been very intimidating towards him.
Saelhen also tries to inquire about Kensa, Thalath's sister, who's apparently in some sort of dire straits here. She doesn't want to give away that she's asking about Kensa deliberately, so she takes something of a garden path of conversation, about Malath and why the townsfolk call her "Mother". Eventually she gets to Kensa, who apparently weaves cloth and sells it to the general store, where she can be found around this time of day. (She's apparently got something going on with the shopkeep's son.)
Looseleaf: these affairs might not be something we can intervene constructively in. Saelhen du Fishercrown: I mean, Saelhen's definitely abducting this child Looseleaf: gosh, well, when you put it that way, how could we not. Saelhen du Fishercrown: let's visit the general store! saelhen enjoys cloth.
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At the general store, they find... not really any evidence that anything bad is going on with Kensa. She seems... fine? Also six feet tall and jacked as hell, because she's a goliath and their twelve-year-olds are just like that?
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Kensa notices Lady Noeru de la Surplus' fancy silk dress, and fangirls over it immediately.
Benedict I. (GM): "Whoa, is that silk?" "I don't know if we have any silk in the back, but-" "Silk?" the girl by the window asks. "Ohmigosh, you have a silk dress? Ohmigosh, how much did it cost?" Saelhen du Fishercrown: "Ah." Saelhen expected a little more resistance than this! "15 gold, when I bought it." Benedict I. (GM): "Whooooaaaa..." She's looking the dress up and down with obvious envy. "Nnnnngh, but I don't have... fifteen gold..." Looseleaf: oh my gosh she wants to buy it
Benedict I. (GM): "It's- hang on, if I get ten, will you sell it?" "I can probably get ten! And I'll throw in a replacement!" "Not silk, but-" "Uh, Mr. Teller, do you still have last week's stuff in the back?" Looseleaf: this kid's great Benedict I. (GM):"It's good, I promise!"
Saelhen, being a con artist and kind of a jerk, turns down the offer, but skillfully reframes the issue by exploiting Kensa's love of textiles to get it repaired on the cheap in exchange for a swatch or two of the fabric. Great... job...?
After interrogating the townsfolk, Looseleaf has a bright idea- she wants to buy a climbing pack to scale the tower from the outside. It costs her extra, since new stuff has to be custom-forged overnight (a remote farming village like this doesn't have much call for climbing packs), but she gets it.
Vayen comes back, with testimony from Lester. It's not much they didn't get from Chitch- just a note that apparently vegetables were chopping themselves in Lumiere's kitchen.
Looseleaf: i should get some food too maybe! anyways all this is really pointing hard to 'the four-pronged stabby painblades move on their OWN'. it's not clear who's BEHIND it, but it's pretty obvious now that all the clues point towards the stabbies being the culprit.
-
The next morning, they head out to the tower. They notice a couple things: one is a sign that reads: " KEEP SHOUTING",
and the other is a bunch of broken glass and rubble strewn across the ground. Looking up, they notice the sixth floor seems to have had a large window smashed open. Weirdly, less glass on the ground than you'd expect if it'd been smashed open from the inside.
Looseleaf's Animist class can Detect Magic, sorta, and it's pretty clear to her that the front door is magic- so rather than fall for an obvious trap, she puts her plan into action. She can jump 30 feet up with the aid of her wings, so she's able to jump straight to the third floor and try to drive a piton into the stone to drop a rope for the rest of the party.
Here is a list of problems with that plan:
Looseleaf has tiny little sticklike moth arms, which exert insufficient force to drive pitons into stone with no leverage.
Breaking a window to attach the rope to instead results in a broken window.
Inside the broken window is a spindly suit of armor covered in nasty spikes, which immediately springs to life and turns to face whoever just broke a window next to it.
Also an alarm goes off.
Looseleaf is able to get the rope secured before the living armor attacks her, and jumps back out the window- as a moth, she essentially has Feather Fall on at all times. Still, going in through that window presents a problem.
They've noticed something, though- the automaton doesn't seem to be chasing them out the window. It's just standing there, staring down at them. This... gives Looseleaf a bright idea.
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Orluthe has to make his grapple check with disadvantage, given that he's trying to snag this thing with his halberd with one hand while clinging to the side of a building by a rope, but luckily this thing botches its own roll thanks to its patented "stand perfectly still because there are no intruders in the building" maneuver.
It takes a bunch of fall damage from hitting the ground, is knocked prone, and the remainder of the party immediately unloads on it on a surprise round with crits for a bazillion damage, killing it before it can move.
This was a really good idea!
Too bad there was another one just inside, which Orluthe is now alone with!
...Wait, no, he's a giant wolfman in football armor and he suplexes the other one out the window, where the exact same thing proceeds to happen to it. Okay. Cool.
With that, the party makes their way inside. Whatever the alarm was, it seems to have died down, physically- whatever was powering it petered out. Plus, Looseleaf's magic detection means there's no way they could get caught in any traps!
Any magic traps!
Saelhen fails her perception check while walking across the room to a treasure chest and hits a tripwire and a net falls from the ceiling, trapping her and Oyobi! I bet this would be a really dangerous trap if there were, say, two menacing spiky robots bearing down on them trying to kill them while they were defenseless. As is, though... it's a minor inconvenience.
After this snafu, Saelhen tries to pick open the chest, only to find that the lock is a) quite well-made, and b) itself trapped, with a poison needle in the locking mechanism designed to go off if a lockpicking attempt fails. She just barely gets her fingers away in time, and opts to leave this treasure chest to loot later, after they're done here.
The stairs up from floor 3 seem to be blocked off by a translucent red magic barrier, so Looseleaf resumes the original plan. She stands on the windowsill of the third floor, and just flaps up to the fourth floor, looking inside and this time unlocking the window telekinetically from the inside, rather than breaking it and setting off an alarm.
When she opens the window (to the torture laboratory), some more very scary torture robots immediately go after her, as do a variety of flying knives that have quite a bit of movement speed and stab her repeatedly.
Maybe this idea had some flaws.
Next time: Looseleaf hopefully doesn't get turned into moth sashimi by animated torture implements! More dungeon is crawled! Some jerk falls down the stairs and it's hilarious!
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theadrogna · 4 years
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This comes under the heading of better late than never, and many apologies to @singledarkshade​ for the lateness of this response to the Dream Movie Challenge. So, we were given six actors from our favourite TV shows/movies, a wildcard actor, and a random item. We had use these actors and the object to create our own movie.
I give you a supernatural romantic comedy, starring Matt Ryan, Elizabeth Henstridge, April Bowlby, Taika Waititi, Ellen Page, and Woody Harrelson. With a special appearance by Merryl Streep.
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Synopsis:
Max Webster is working as an investment banker in London, making huge amounts of money that support a lifestyle of clubs, bars and one night stands, until his boss and mentor commits fraud on a huge scale. Max is implicated, despite knowing nothing. He loses his job and not a single other bank in the city will touch him, meaning his career is effectively over and he’s rapidly going broke. Just when he thinks things can’t get worse, he is told that his sole relative, his estranged paternal grandmother has died and left him property in Brighton.
With nothing better to do and hopes that the property is worth something, Max heads to Brighton to tie up his grandmother’s affairs, dreading his time outside the capital and increasingly depressed about life. Upon arrival he meets Poppy Fletcher, his grandmother’s lawyer who was the one who contacted him about his grandmother’s death. 
Max discovers that his grandmother was the proud owner of the “Worst Wax Museum in Britain”: The House of Wax. Only a handful of the wax statues look like who they’re supposed to be and the rest are like someone sculpted celebrities that they’d never seen. The museum is barely making enough to keep it afloat. He begins to make plans to sell the museum and at least make enough to pay off his Grandmother’s debts. Enter Cooper Farnsworth, rich American businessman, on the run from the Mafia after a dodgy deal went wrong. He desperately needs to make money fast.
But Max finds out that his inheritance is rather unusual in a number of ways...
For starters, there aren’t many wax museums where Meryl Streep hands out advice and enjoys watching the footy on the night watchman’s TV when the punters have gone home for the night. But it isn’t just Meryl, all of the waxworks come to life thanks to an old book of magic that is powered by the signatures of the guests and the messages they leave. The less visitors there are, the less magic there is to keep the waxworks alive and things have been getting desperate lately until only a handful of the waxworks have the necessary magic to come to life.
The waxworks tell Max about how his grandmother desperately tried to bring in more people, but her failing health meant that everything fell apart. Max discovers how his grandmother loved the museum and also loved him, despite her outwardly cool demeanour. He had thought that she didn’t care that he left Brighton, but Amelia unearths the letters that his grandmother wanted to send but didn’t have an address to send them to.
Max realises that he can’t sell the wax museum after all, and he enlists Poppy’s help in finding a way to keep it going. In the process she also discovers the secret of the museum, and Max and Poppy discover that they’re falling for each other. Meanwhile Cooper is plotting to get Max out because the listed building is worth more than Max is aware, especially with some of the period features.
The finale has Cooper breaking into the museum to destroy the waxworks, but Steve, the night watchman sounds the alarm. Cooper accidentally starts a fire and there is a desperate fight to save everyone from melting. Max and Poppy rally everyone to deal with the fire, and Cooper is arrested for arson.
The publicity from the fire actually brings in more customers, Max updates the museum with new exhibits, deciding to focus more on local history and tell the stories of the people who live in Brighton. He’s cleared of any wrong doing at the bank and Poppy helps him sue for wrongful dismissal. He uses the payout to finance repairs to the museum and more and more waxworks come alive every night as the visitors pour in.
And Max never thinks about leaving again, because now he has a family, albeit one that includes Meryl Streep, Amelia Earhart and Margaret Thatcher but he doesn’t mind.
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Max Webster (Matt Ryan): Max lost his parents when he was young and was raised by his paternal grandmother. The two did not get on and he left home as soon as he could for university and then the big city. He always had a love of risk taking and wanted to be rich, so he studied finance and got a job in banking. He spends his time closing deals in a highly stressful job during the day and then out on the town in the evening. He has very few friends, all of whom are from work, and he very rarely sleeps with the same woman twice. He has a very shallow outlook on life and everything is about money.
His life is changed by inheriting the House of Wax and discovering that his memories of his grandmother are flawed and desperately inaccurate. He deals with the unusual House of Wax that his grandmother created and his grief at her passing. He comes to realise that not everything in life is about the next deal or how much money can be made.
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Poppy Fletcher (Elizabeth Henstridge): Poppy is a lawyer and is responsible for executing Max’s grandmother’s will. She’s the one who hand Max the keys to the House of Wax and sees the look of disappointment on his face. She is very efficient and competent, loves the town she lives in and knows everyone on her street. She mourns the loss of Max’s grandmother, and has no idea that she was anything but the eccentric, elderly owner of the House of Wax. She doesn’t like Max at first because of his attitude to his grandmother and his version of her doesn’t seem to be the same as the woman she knew.
She ends up spending a lot of time with Max as the property sale becomes more difficult and after a while, she realises that he’s not at all the image that he projects. She starts helping him to get back on his feet and renovate the museum. Then she discovers about the magic book and she realises that she can’t let Max deal with the situation on his own.
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Florence Nightingale (April Bowlby): Florence doesn’t look like the picture that hangs next to her in the slightest. Even her period dress is somewhat suspect. She prefers to wear much more recent clothes and is doing online first aid courses at night. She’s slightly haughty and thinks she knows best.
She can see that Max is depressed and grieving when he arrives. She’s one of the driving forces behind getting Max to take better care of himself and to talk about how he feels. Once the museum is safe, she works at becoming qualified as a therapist and sees patients online, writing an agony aunt column for the local paper.
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Amelia Earhart (Ellen Page): She likes to pretend that she’s actually the pilot that she was sculpted to be. She’s very much her own person though, feisty and fun loving. She has no idea how to fly a plane, but has a flight simulator that Max’s grandmother gave her and is a computer game ace. She has the high score and no one can beat her.
She is the first waxwork that Max discovers is alive and persuades him that he isn’t hallucinating. She takes him to see the others when she realises that he’s the grandson of the previous owner.
She ends the film playing games in esports tournaments and winning, much to the amusement and delight of her fellow waxworks.
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Steve (Taika Waititi): The night watchman of the House of Wax. He’s always known as Steve and no one knows his full name. He never really seems to go home, he’s just there. Max is very confused by him at first, but eventually realises that he’s another waxwork. He was one of the first created and no one is ever sure who he was supposed to be, at the end of the film it’s discovered that he’s supposed to be Genghis Khan, but like most of the other waxworks he bears no resemblance to his original. He is quite protective of the museum though.
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Cooper Farnsworth (Woody Harrelson): An American property developer who is interested in buying the House of Wax and turning it into flats. He moved to the UK, to get away from some people who didn’t like him much (actually he double crossed the Mafia). He gets increasingly desperate to buy the House of Wax when some of his former business partners catch up with him, threatening Max and Poppy if they don’t sell up, but he never finds out the real secret of the museum. He thinks he’s hallucinating when he sees the waxworks move and fight back during the finale. He’s dragged away shouting about moving statues and charged with arson.
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Meryl Streep (herself): She is modelled after the three time Oscar winning actress and is the only waxwork who looks like she is supposed to. She’s something of a leader of the group, checking in with everyone to make sure that they’re doing okay. She’s concerned about the fading magic and trying to keep everyone’s spirits up. She offers very good advice to Max about how to run the museum, most of which Max ignores to begin with because he thinks he knows better. Later we see her taking on the museum accounts and running the financial side of the museum with Max listening carefully to her. He may have been a banker but those skills are very little use when it comes to book keeping.
Additional actors:
Arthur Darvill as David Bowie - Can actually sing, sounds nothing like David Bowie. Wants to be Major Tom and follows NASA on Twitter. Tom Ellis as Paul McCartney - Can also sing and taught himself to play the piano. Duets with Bowie to entertain the rest of the group. John Boyega as Frank Bruno - Hates punching people, is a total softy. Ryan Reynolds as Salvador Dali - He once tried painting and decided never to do so again. He prefers reading and writes poetry. Eccentric. Celia Imrie as Queen Victoria - Knows everything that there is about Queen Victoria. She misses Albert who hasn’t woken up for a while now due to lack of magic.
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betweentheseseams · 4 years
Text
For Christmas, my aunt gifted me a DNA kit. I’ve always thought they were a bad idea (Where is all that info being stored? What unethical things can a company owning the rights to so much DNA possibly do? Why do white people need to know so badly how white they are, to the point that we created the ultimate Buzzfeed survey to confirm our whiteness? (If you didn’t know, Ancestry/23andMe and the like aren’t especially helpful for non-white folks, due to lack of testing in largely non-white groups. There’s a whole lot more to study on that and I highly suggest you take the time to read up on it)). That being said, most of the adults in my family have done the tests, mainly to appease my aunt, who is essentially our family historian and takes her role very seriously. I had considered the idea of doing one over the years. I never met my biological father. My mother separated from him before she realized she was pregnant with me, and although he was aware that she was pregnant and I had been born, there was no communication there and she met and married my stepfather shortly after I was born. He was my dad growing up, until I turned 18 and we became estranged, after I realized how incredibly toxic he was as a person and he basically disowned me when he discovered I wasn’t interested in following his rules and very racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, and highly uneducated ideas. It caused a lot of issues within our family, but for the most part things have been relatively calm in the 10+ years since.
Fast forward to Christmastime. I had expressed interest in finding out if I had any other siblings, as well as my medical history, to my mother and my aunt. I wasn’t particularly interested in knowing anything about my biological father. Over the years, my mom has mentioned that he wasn’t a particularly good person when they were together, and the last information she’d heard of him was that he’d been arrested for arson at some point in the late 90s. I’ve never really given him much thought, and, as a child, whenever anyone realized that my stepfather wasn’t my actual biological dad, I was extremely vocal in pointing out that I only considered my unknown biological father as the “Sperm Donor”. But the idea of possibly having other siblings, and wanting to have a more complete medical history was compelling enough to me that I sold away my spit and rights to a company.
Come March, I got the results back and sent my aunt a text so she could connect me to our family tree in the app. She immediately went into super detective mode, and within a day found my biological father and several other family members. She confirmed that I didn’t have any other siblings, besides the two I already have, and that I had a living grandmother, several aunts, and a few cousins. She sent me photos, articles, and social media links, and I expressed to her that it was very overwhelming and while I appreciated it, I needed time to process it all. I tentatively went to my biological father’s Facebook page that he shared with his wife, and was extremely underwhelmed by what I saw. This man, a stranger to me, could’ve rivaled the dad who raised me in his ass-backwardness. He might possibly be the only MAGAmaniac in all of Vermont (obviously not, but you know what I mean), and as I already wasn’t interested in knowing him pre-test, this basically confirmed to me that he wasn’t someone I wanted to know. When you’re already a card-carrying member of the Shitty Dads Club™️, do you really need another one?
And that was that. I basically wrote that part of my life out of my mind, as it didn’t have anything to do with me or my day-to-day. The knowledge of having a living grandmother wasn’t appealing to me, as my Momaw (stepfather’s mom) passed four years ago, and was the most amazing grandma and best friend I could have possibly asked for. I feel lucky that I was able to have something SO good come from that connection, along with my two siblings. I don’t need another grandparent because I hit the fucking jackpot of unconditional love and support and guidance with Momaw. I didn’t feel like I was missing out by not knowing anyone else from my paternal biological family, either, as my mom is the youngest of 10 and my family is already massive as is. So it all came as a bit of a surprise when my aunt messaged me out of the blue in early July to inform me that she had taken it upon herself to reach out to my biological father and not only inform him of my existence (which he already knew about), but also sent him photos of me, along with my phone number. Something I neither wanted nor gave her permission to do. Something I hadn’t even expressed interest in. And after telling her yet again that it was overwhelming, she continued to allow this line of communication to stay open, and brought my mother into the mix.
According to my biological father, he apparently believed both my mom and I were dead. He says my maternal grandmother told him that the two of us had died, and he sunk into a deep depression over it, which has followed him for the past 29 years. Never mind the fact that he was in contact with a couple aunts and uncles over the years and so obviously knew that my grandmother had lied to him (if she ever even did so. We can’t know, as she passed when I was 3), or the availability of the fucking internet and basic Google search. In his own words, my aunt reaching out to him and “informing” him of the existence of his nearly-30 year old daughter “blew his whole world open”. Insert infinity eye roll emojis here.
As you could already tell, I was both upset that my aunt broke my trust in such a huge way, and thoroughly unimpressed by what she was sharing from him. I spoke with my mom about it several times, expressing how much my aunt had hurt me and frustrated me with her actions, and her choosing to take matters into her own hands and speaking for me. That might be the biggest annoyance for me of all, that she for some reason felt compelled to speak on my behalf for something I had no interest in or desire to explore, and took the option of some anonymity from me. My voice is my most important belonging, and having someone deign to speak for me infuriates me. And although my mother listened to me expressing how upset the whole thing made me, I found out a week later that she herself had been in contact with my biological father.
That was a kick to the ribs. She and I had spent years working on and building a relationship of trust and support, after a childhood and early adulthood of never being able to trust her. She was largely absent through a huge portion of my life when I needed her most, and it has taken years for me to build up my trust and faith in her. If you had told me ten years ago that my mother would become my best friend and confidant, I would have laughed my throat raw. But life is funny, and she did. And then she broke that trust in such a painful way, even after hearing how much my aunt’s choice to reach out to my biological father caused a massive rift between us. And Mom chose to create her own. For the first time in years, I didn’t want to speak to or see her or hear from her. I made that clear to her, and kept my distance until I could calm myself enough to speak to her without saying something that could irreparably damage our relationship. I reiterated that I had no interest in knowing my biological father, that I didn’t want to hear from him, and that it was a huge betrayal by her to continue speaking to him and fostering any sense of hope in him that I wished to have anything to do with him. Although things have been tense the last couple weeks, she and I have slowly been working through it.
And then tonight, as I arrived at work, a text from an unknown number popped up. A long text, from my biological father, who chose to ignore what my aunt and mother were supposed to have told him, that I didn’t want to have any contact. He introduced himself and reiterated his story about my maternal grandmother lying to him about Mom and I dying, said he wanted to get to know me and show me all the love he has for me, and that from what he’s heard I’m a lot like him. Things that I have no interest in hearing, don’t take to heart, and don’t feel particularly moved or motivated by. And I’m just. Exhausted.
Exhausted.
I don’t want this connection or half-assed truths or unbearable weight of expectations that have come to land so heavily on my shoulders.
When you sign in to take your DNA test, there is a disclaimer that you might find out information that could be upsetting and lead to more questions than answers. That continuing with the test could cause problems in your family and person life.
They weren’t kidding.
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composereggwrites · 4 years
Text
Love will not break your Heart (but dismiss your Fears)
Chapter 2: just let me go (we'll meet again soon)
Fandom: The Magnus Archives
Rating: T
Characters/Ships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan Sims, Georgie Barker/Melanie King, Alice “Daisy” Tonner/Basira Hussain, Gerard Keay, Gertrude Robinson
Additional: Reincarnation AU, Soul Bond, Team as Family, Autistic Jon, Post-Canon Fix-it, Childhood Friends, Hurt/Comfort
They stand in the Panopticon, fire raining down from the sky, as the Eye stares down at them.
Jon takes Martin’s hand in his.
A wedding, a death, a fire, and Tim.
Chapter:  1 | 2 (below)
Ao3: 1 | 2
They stand in the Panopticon, fire raining down from the sky, as the Eye stares down at them.
Jon takes Martin’s hand in his.
“Are you sure you want to do this, Martin?” he asks, one last time, because fear has made a home in his heart. A palace in his bones.
“Jon,” Martin says, looking him in the eyes, so full of determination, filled with warmth, with love. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Sap,” he mutters, but a smile creeps onto his face nonetheless. “We’ve already left the message for the girls, and well… This is really it, isn’t it?”
“Got cold feet?” Martin asks with a laugh.
“Always,” he snorts. “You’ve felt them when we’ve slept. You’re the space heater between the two of us.”
Heart beating in his chest, Jon takes Martin’s hands. The world is crumbling in every direction. A year of this hell has been far too long. Searching, aching for answers, for a way to fix the devastation he has wrought-- no, the devastation Jonah Magnus used him to usher into the world.
Jonah Magnus, who, like the rest of the institute, is no more than a pile of ash at their feet now. Martin had been quite happy to have the honor of setting that blaze.
It’s touching, in a way. Finding the answer on how to set them both free, and Martin chooses to do it for him. No more ash on Jonathan’s hands.
(He’s more than a little fragile, at the end of the world, but he could’ve been the one to do it. The one to bring Magnus to the ground. That he didn’t have to means more than he can express with words. Martin has always been looking out for him, even when he was too much a fool to realize).
The Web’s strings hang heavy in the air around them, coated with the remnants of their old life, of their meeting. But the Mother of Puppets doesn’t have control of all these ties. Jon’s body is linked to everything now, the perfect conduit of fear. The lynch-pin in this hellscape. Take him out, and the rest crumbles. The issue is in managing to kill a near-immortal Archive.
Martin has always been his anchor. He never needed that rib, Jon gets that now. And this is something they can use. Here.
“Martin, I love you,” Jon starts. “You keep me grounded. When I start to fall apart, you hold me together. Even as I dealt with the end of the world rather badly, you drew me back out of my shell. I promise to be at your side forever more, I promise to return the favor. You are not just a caretaker, you deserve to be taken care of, and I will be there for you. I am here, with you, as we stand, united.”
Martin is already tearing up, as his hands shake in Jon’s grasp. “Jon,” he says, with a waver in his voice. “I love you. I know, it was a long time coming. Back when we were both researchers, I thought I could ignore this little crush, because that’s what it was. But you’re so kind, underneath that abrasive exterior. You pretended that nothing could get to you, that you at most tolerated the people around you, but I could see through that.”
He takes a shuddering breath. “I’m with you, until the end of time. I tie myself to you like I’ve done a hundred thousand times before, in less words. In actions. Every step we take together has brought us here, bound to each other at the end of the world, and I wouldn’t do this any other way.”
The strings around them pull taught, smash them together. Jon clings to Martin. Holds him tight as the web holds them tighter. It hurts, the Eye observing this, burning through them as he clings for dear life, but observation just makes it real. The Web tries to resist, but Jon pulls harder, pulls the strings of his own design, and lets them bind.
A thousand stars scream in the sky, but the roar of the still-burning fire is louder. The pounding of his heart in his ears louder still. Or maybe that’s Martin’s. He can’t really tell anymore, as their hearts beat to the same tune, in the same time.
As the pain dies down, he can feel Martin, there in his chest. An ache subdued by his presence at his side. A new hole carved and filled with love, with his anchor.
Jon laughs, hysterical, for just a second. Tears on his cheeks until Martin puts his hands on his shoulders, steadying him.
“Ready for the next step?” Martin asks, worry flooding his voice, and oh, he can feel that in his heart. All the concern for him, bubbling over the edges of the pot. It makes him gasp, legs trembling, and all he can do is grip Martin back. It’s all he can do to not drown in the Tsunami of Martin, the whirlpool with them both at the center.
“Give--Give me a second, yeah?” he whispers. “Don’t tell me when.”
“Oh,” Martin replies, no doubt feeling the outpouring of gratitude. “Yeah, alright.”
They hold each other. Letting the waves of emotion crash down, drowning out the fear, out the pain. Held close together. This is what matters.
Then--
Pain.
Sharp, biting pain. Driven into his chest.
Blood meets his lips as he coughs, his own sharpened rib embedded in his heart, by Martin’s trembling hand.
As Jonathan Sims falls, he holds Martin’s hand, and wishes he could muster the energy to wipe those tears away.
“Don’t worry,” he whispers,  as the door in his mind becomes a vacuum, sucking all the fear out of him, waves of love and safety and peace replacing the frostbite of terror. “We’ll meet again, yeah?”
Martin nods. He sits down by Jon, and kisses him, ignoring the iron taste. Ignoring the poison that he takes from Jon’s mouth.
The fire closes in, and consumes them. But there is no fear. No pain.
The world bends.
 Good cows stand in a field, and no Eye bears down from the sky. No people scream in terror on that day.
Four bodies are found dead in The Magnus Institute, and the world dreams of a year that never happened. A year of fear and pain burying itself deep in their hearts.
A year that will never come to pass.
 And Jonathan Barker-King wakes up.
---
Jonathan has always been an odd child.
Georgie and Melanie knew this when adopting him.
But that doesn’t change the fact that one night, when he’s twelve years old, Melanie can feel him shaking her awake.
She rolls over, facing him. “Mm, what is it?” she murmurs, knowing the shaky hands as someone who is afraid.
Jon’s voice is heavy, edged with static, and Melanie wishes she could see his face, as he says, “There will be fire. We need to leave.”
That gets her out of bed, kicking Georgie awake.
“Mel, what’s wrong?” her wonderful, sleepy wife groans.
“Up up up, now! Phone Basira, tell her we don’t know how much time we all have, but we need to go.” She tries to keep her voice level, urgent but hushed.
It gets Georgie up, at least. Springing to her feet. “I’ll get the emergency bags. Fuck. Alright. Guess it couldn��t last forever.”
Melanie makes sure she’s holding Jon’s hand, as she leads him back to his room, digging out the always-packed travel bag hidden there. Filled with clothes and food and money, and for him, some books he’s shoved into it. “Pack up your laptop and anything else you want that will fit, alright?” she says, soft.
“Got it, mom,” he replies. “Go take care of what you need to. I’ll be out in five minutes. That’s the plan, yeah?”
She nods at him. “Very intelligent, you are.”
And then she dashes, grabbing her own bags and the keys, tossing them all in the trunk of the car. Important documents, keepsakes she knows they wouldn’t be able to bear losing, anything irreplaceable. From the the meowing coming from the back seat, it sounds like Georgie had managed to catch The Admiral and bundle him into the cat carrier, too. The stubborn old cat refused to die of old age or illness, but Desolation’s flames might be enough to do the trick, and none of them would want to risk it.
There’s sounds from the house next door, and that reassures her that Daisy and Basira are up now, no doubt going through the same protocol they’d set in place for just this event. Hopefully it’s a fluke, but they can’t take that chance.
If it’s the past coming back to haunt them, with fire and flames, then they can’t afford to wait.
In ten minutes Georgie is at the wheel, and the car roars to life. Basira is getting the last of the Hussain-Tonner bags in their car, Martin bundled away in the back no doubt.
“Can I say goodbye?” Jon whispers, and Melanie sighs.
“Sorry, kiddo, but we gotta go.” She reaches out, holding his hand between the seats, as they peel out, headed far away.
He’s quiet, solemn. After five minutes of quiet, he sighs. “That’s alright. I’ll see him again, someday.”
“Yeah, no doubt about that,” she whispers back.
The next morning, their houses are on the news, as they watch in their hotel room, a hundred miles away. A fire, a roaring blaze, arson. But no bodies to be found.
“It was Jude, no doubt,” whispers Georgie, while Jon is fast asleep.
She nods. “Guess we tested our luck too long, staying in one place like that. If Jon hadn’t… Known. Then we might’ve been dead by now.”
“I’m worried,” Georgie sighs. “About him, about Martin. They-- We’re right, yeah? They saved the world together, and it involved a soulbond. They were both absolutely miserable before they saw each other that first time.”
Leaning her head on her wife, Melanie says, “Yeah, but… We’ll just have to make do, for now. Keep an eye out on them both. I think it might be a good idea to keep them separate, no contact, otherwise they’ll be sneaking out to the car some day and meeting each other halfway.”
Georgie snorts. “That’s absolutely something this Jon here would do. We’ve really spoiled him, huh?”
“From what I understand, we’ve been parenting just fine,” she says back, a roll of her unseeing eyes. “It’s his grandma who gave him all that childhood trauma last time. And a Leitner, what the fuck? How do you let an eight year old get his hands on one of those?”
That gets a full blown laugh. “Yeah, alright, you’re right. We’ve probably fucked him up somehow, but he’s not nearly as fucked up as when either of us first met him. Man, he needed some intensive therapy.”
---
Tim Stoker looks at the new-hire one time, and after the thought of I’m going to flirt with him so much passes through his head, another pops in of, wait that’d be weird--
Why?
He stares. Jonathan, the name tag reads, and why is that so familiar?
“Welcome aboard the library crew, my man!” He says out loud, giving a casual grin. “What’s a pretty boy such as yourself doing here?”
“You’re quite the flirt, Tim,” he says back with a laugh. “Sorry, not in the market right now. I’m not really… I’m not interested, mostly.”
He holds up his hands. “Hey, all cool, no worries, Jonny-boy.”
That gets a snort. “Call me Jon, nothing like that, please.”
“Got it, boss. Still haven’t answered my question,” he says.
“Oh, well…” Jon takes out a pen from his pocket, and twists it around his fingers, spinning to and fro. “I’m going to be working down in the archives, mostly. Gertrude’s taking me on as an… Well, an intern, I guess? Assistant? It pays decent, and it’s my chosen field, so… It’s a good chance.”
Tim nods. Opportunistic. Not many people get to work with good ole’ Gerty. “She works in the paranormal department yeah? That oughta be fun.”
“Parapsychology, specifically,” he says back. “With a focus currently in the not-apocalypse. Lots of info on that still to be gathered.”
“So you’re interested in spooky stuff, awesome!” Tim laughs. “You gotta tell me all the weird things. We should do a scary movie night sometime together.”
Jon stares at him, as if trying to piece together some mysterious puzzle. With big eyes, intense eyes, meeting his, looking into him, in a way that he hasn’t felt since--since--
A nasty migraine is forming in the back of Tim’s head.
Jon looks away.
“Sure, why not? You're off shift now, though, right? You should get to your class.”
“How did you--?” he starts to ask, but Jon has already descended the stairs into the archives.
 The pain doesn’t go away, as he makes his way through math. It’s all numbers and easy problems. A blur as the teacher speaks, and he can’t focus. There’s something he’s forgetting. A nagging sense at the back of his mind, and he’d ask Sasha, or his roommate Martin for some help, except that seems like a very bad idea right now. He doesn’t know why. But it does.
Crashing onto his bed as soon as he gets back to his dorm is the best idea. Martin will assume he’s been out having fun, and he can sleep this stabbing agony off.
 It almost works, too.
 Fire, fire, so much fire.
Danny--who is Danny?-- Danny dead. The world a mess. Revolving around him in Stranger ways.
Falling apart.
Sasha is Not Sasha. Jonathan Sims is a Monster.
Martin is a stubborn fool.
The world blurs.
Explosions ring in his ears.
 Tim Stoker r e m e m b e r s . . .
 Shooting upright with a gasp, Tim stumbles out of bed. It had only been a few hours, but if anything the migraine has gotten worse.
He runs to the toilet, puking up whatever's in his stomach from that morning. Dizzy as another wave of nausea hits.
“Fuck,” he mutters.
There’s a knock on the door, and Martin -- Martin Blackwood, Martin Hussain-Tonner, fucking Martin -- is there, asking if he’s okay, in that kind way he always has.
“Yeah--” his voice cracks. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry. Just some bad food.”
“Alright,” comes the reply. “Let me know if you need some help.”
“Got it,” he croaks. And then he’s alone.
Sitting on the cold tile, he holds his head in his hands, groaning.
He needs to contact someone.
Who?
Jon--? No. Not Jon, not yet. It was Jon’s presence that did this to him, no doubt, but he didn’t seem to actually know Tim.
Gertrude, maybe?
Fuck it, Gertrude it is. He has her number, she’s his boss, after all.
^Hey, Gerty, I think my head just died. Absolutely exploded with pain. Not coming in tomorrow.^
Not the most formal, but she hasn’t minded before.
^Well, I hope you feel better, Tim. Remember to check in if you’re staying out too long. It’ll be a circus here, otherwise, if we’re understaffed.^
“Fuck,” he hisses out again, because she definitely remembers. And she knows what happened.
^Mind filling me in on how the circus is doing?”
^They’re all in bits and pieces. It was quite the display, or so I hear. I have the tapes, if you want to listen to them.^
Of course she does.
^Sure, I’ll grab them on my next shift, sound good?^
^See you then. Feel better, Tim.^
 He does.
Looking at Sasha now, it’s bizarre. A deep pit in his stomach, knowing he forgot her, believed the Not!Sasha had been her for so long. It doesn’t sit right.
As he makes his way down the steps to the archive, he finds her following. A few feet before the door, he turns to look at her.
“Need to speak to Gertrude too?”
She blinks, crossing her arms. “If I do, it’s none of your business.”
A snort escapes him. “Learning how to be abrasive from our lovely head archivist?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.
“You know, he wasn’t really that bad. I mean, I totally got killed during the worm thing, so whatever you went through, I guess I still need to find out, but… He was trying his best,” she says, nonchalant as she picks at her fingers.
“Did seeing him give you the worst migraine of two lives too, then?”
“Absolutely. I thought I was dying. Turns out I had!”
They both start to laugh. He bumps his shoulder against her. “God I missed ya, Sash. Things went whack without you there.”
“Did the two lovebirds ever manage to work out their problems?” she asks, rolling her eyes.
“Not before I got exploded! Shit got weird. Honestly, you missed a lot of stuff. I--Well I’d fill you in, but whatever tapes Gertrude has will probably do that for me,” Tim says, gesturing back to the door.
“Listening party?” Sasha suggests, as she steps forward to open it.
“Sure, maybe the trauma of listening to our own deaths will be easier with a friend and some good wine. Gotta be at your place though, cuz Martin doesn’t know.” He steps in with her.
Gertrude looks at them, a box set on the empty chair. “Take it, have fun. I believe it’ll do the job enough to fill you in.”
“Thanks Gerty! We’ll get them back to ya’ when we’re done!” Tim says, giving a wave as Sasha scoops up the box. He can feel her hatred of the nickname, but it’s far too late to stop him from using it now.
 They pick up on tape 39, conveniently labeled in order by Gertrude no doubt, for Sasha’s sake.
It’s awful.
She’d been spared the paranoia, the depths Jon had been plunged into.
They stop on tape 50, for the night. It hurts too much to keep going.
---
Jon wakes up from his nightmare.
Shaking, terror coursing through his veins. Memories he can’t remember. He’s not a fool.
Reincarnation was part of what he’d studied, while looking into parapsychology. No conclusive evidence, of course, that’s impossible to get. Almost everything presented as esoteric is false. The most true subjects tend to involve the apocalypse, and even then, it’s not a sure shot.
But they always involve dreams. Dreams of memories. Past lives mean past memories, trying to find their way to the present.
And his dreams have been getting worse.
But that’s ridiculous, right? Utterly ridiculous. He’s being superstitious. Gullible. There’s never been proof of reincarnation adequately presented. To think he had a past life is to give into the folly of the people he criticizes.
(He knows, deep in his soul, that some things are true. He can’t discount everything.
But there’s no need to let this knowledge consume him.)
Jon sighs, sitting up. It wouldn���t do to dwell on this, not when he has a test today that he needs to last-minute cram for.
His phone lights up by his side, though, and he picks it up. Blinking blearily at the screen in confusion before yesterday hits him.
^Hey Jon! Good morning! How are you doing?^
From the contact of Martin!!
A smile spreads over his face, dragging him out of bed and through his morning routine. Food. Toothbrushing. Clothes. Heading out for his class early, instead of almost late for once.
^I’m good, Martin. I have a test today, soon. Going to study for that. How about you?^
The reply comes almost instantly, which drops a small pit in his stomach, because martin’s first text had been two hours before Jon had gotten up.
^I’m good too! Thanks for asking! I’m working on an essay right now, but nothing super important.^
^Well, don’t let me keep you from your work.^ He’d feel bad if he were the reason Martin got a bad grade. It’d be awful.
^Nah, I don’t really need to worry about this class. I’m passing with a 96% right now, and I’m one of the only people who talks in class. Like, during the discussions and all!^
^Teacher’s pet, are you?^
Jon can picture the little laugh Martin does at this, scrunched up nose and crinkled eyes. ^Better than failing, that’s for sure. You’re absolutely someone who sits in the back of the class and does his best to avoid conversation, though, aren’t you?^
He chuckles, smiling. Then he rubs his neck, glancing around as he walks to make sure no one is staring. There’s the usual bustle of people, but no one looking at him. Just leaves falling in the breeze, and the nip of the autumn air. He’s good, so far, but it’d be dangerous to keep this up inside.
(He might not care, because this is Martin. Self-consciousness be damned.)
^Yeah, you’ve got me pinned.^ he says back.
^I hide behind my laptop screen whenever I can, studiously take notes, and never talk to another living soul if I can avoid it.^
^Wow, what a nerd :P^
^Can’t believe my best friend is a nerd :P^
Jon has to take a second to pause, sigh, and roll his eyes, because Martin, please. ^You mean the same friend who would spend hours recounting books he’d read to you in perfect detail? Or the friend who once asked their teacher for more homework because he was bored? That friend?^
^Absolutely.^
^What a shock.^
^I’ve been completely betrayed by your sudden nerdom that has arisen in the past 11 years that I have totally never encountered before.^
That tugs a full-fledged laugh out of Jon, and he has to duck onto a less-used path behind a building to hide for a full minute, because Jonathan Sims does not randomly laugh at his phone in public.
When the coast is clear, he keeps walking, and slips into the building with the ease of someone whose had classes in it for three years already. He navigates to his classroom and takes his (unofficial) seat in the back, pulling out his notes and pretending like he’s studying, not thinking about Martin.
^I feel like I’m not the only nerd in this conversation.” The text sends as a quick reply, and then he follows it up with: ^Also, in class now. Going to study. Chat later?^
^Of course! Let me know when you’re free! See ya :D^
He rubs his face, setting his phone to silent and in his bag, trying to scrub away the blush that must be rising to his cheeks.
Martin is… So Martin.
Over the past decade Jon had wanted so much to reconnect with his old friend. An ache in his chest, screaming until all he knew was the noise, yearning to find him. Fixated on the missing piece until the misery became background radiation in his life, his new normal. Settled deep in his bones. Uncomfortable weight buried in his skin, just enough to fade into his usual, everyday pain. There, but not the focus.
 (Not usually. There were some days, some nights, where the loss of Martin dug its claws in. His body full of hooks and they pulled. As if trying to tug him closer. Back to Martin.
He almost followed it, a few times. Deep in his mind, a haze of the gaping hole, guiding his feet onto an unknown path. But he never went far. Always turned around and walked back home. His moms raised him well, he knows better than to be alone.
College the first year was scary. Terror welling in his throat. New people, new places. Too many unknowns.)
 One small, niggling little voice in Jon’s head, a voice filled with the needles of anxiety, had tried to tell him that Martin wouldn’t be the same. That if they ever reunited, Martin wouldn’t care about him. Or maybe, maybe the years had warped his thoughts, his understanding of who his friend was. An idealized image instead of the real person.
But he also remembers Martin fretting over him when Jon fell ill. Spending the night out of worry, sneaking in through his window to bring him medicine at midnight.
He remembers Martin listening as Jon rambled, and then rambling in turn. Jon knows so much about spiders to this day, because Martin had found a book and read all about it to him.
He remembers the poetry, still scrawled in notebooks and on pieces of paper he refused to throw away. Packed into that bag as from the fire they escaped.
That voice in his head never held any real sway.
But it’s nice to be proven right, for a change.
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oh-theres-a-woman · 4 years
Text
Peaky Blinder OC: Dorothy Helen Townley
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Pronunciation: 
“Dor-o-thy Hel-en Town-ley”
Nickname(s) or Known As:
Dorothy - Her legal and birth name. 
Dot - Affectionate nickname fleshed from Dorothy’s family and friends. Though, the young woman was known to get rather annoyed at strangers addressing her by the nick-name. 
Apricot - A pet name for her back in York when she made bombs and explosive devices out of her favourite Apricot jam tins and jars. The local papers always recorded her at the Apricot Bandit in some articles. 
Apricot Bandit - See above for such information as to why…  
Helen - Want to start problems with Dorothy call her Helen, it was her grandmother’s name and she despised the woman. Her grandmother was a nasty abusive alcoholic that enjoyed to pick on Dorothy in spite of everything right she tried to do. The nick-name originally came about around the time Dot reached the age of puberty and began to resemble her grandmother, it wasn’t meant to be a insult because her grandmother was rather beautiful in her early days. It just hit something raw with Dorothy like rubbing salt into old wounds. 
Cut Throat Princess - Being the only female of the York Cut Throats, and the younger sister to the founding brothers. It was originally a nickname that was made to mock Dorothy, though when she rose quickly within the ranks of her brother’s ranks and showed the men was she could do it became something in a form of respect. Very rare for Dorothy to hear about that nickname anymore since that’s a part of her old life. 
Miss Townley - A formal way that people in Birmingham address her. Mainly people that don’t truly know her very well speak to her in this manner, but it doesn’t bother her much. It just has come done to a cultural thing since in York, she learnt that she was only addressed in that manner when in trouble with her parents or police. 
Date of Birth:
25th April,1895 (24 years old)
Birthplace: East Fremantle, Western Australia.
Nationality/Ethnicity:  Australian, Anglo-Saxon Descent. 
Quotes:
“Don’t fucking call me Helen, Gene. Or I’ll give you that dental work you’re in need of. Brush your teeth with a brick, mate.” 
“So… You’re stupid enough to make me think I believe you?” 
“Freddie and Gene are alive?”
“The war changed something in me, I no longer enjoyed the thought of returning home. Because half of my family were already dead, and the whole town of York wouldn’t have given a shit.”
“It was sad you know, pitiful watching so many men die… Some of the nurses took pity in them and just happened to give them too much morphine.” 
“A kiss with a fist is better than none…”
Occupation: Currently - Barmaid at the Garrison, Birmingham. Ex-co-owner of the Garrison, recently transferred the property into the name and ownership of Thomas Shelby.
Formerly - Specialist Nurse dealing with; amputations, shell-shock victims, surgeries and general procedures.   Loyal gang member to the Cut Throats of York,ranking was as a gunner after showing effective aiming skills and knowledge of operations of hunting rifles, and pistols. Farm hunter, often going out shooting kangaroos to make sure they don’t destroy the family crops. 
Reliable Skills:
High level of education - mastering reading, writing and mathematics.
Capable of making bombs and weapons for junk. Much like different types of bombs from the cheapest and crappiest of materials. Example is her famous apricot jam jar/tin bombs.
Established skills in bookkeeping, and insurance paperwork.
Weapons of Choice:
Luger (Parabellum) - Semi-automatic pistol → Stolen from a German officer that came through one of the field hospitals she was working on in France. Rather easy for her to shoot people at close and medium distance of range, only grows harder with the distance between her and the target.
Lee-Enfield - Bolt-action rifle → Was her go to weapon back in York or hunting kangaroos on the family property. Used one once to shoot and kill an officer that assaulted her, shot was successful.
Piano Wire - Choice instrument to strangle someone by garrote, easy enough for her to conceal. Was a formal way of execution for the Cut Throats.
---
Social Status: Wanted felon; by Western Australian Police - Under charges of; 
Murder → One police officer and a few others notable members of the community, other victims unknown.
Arson → set fire to the police station, town hall and post office. During conflicts with the town’s council at the time.
Assault → While involved with one of the many gang related riots in York, young Dorothy Townley was charged with assault in two counts against police officers trying to remove her from the scene.
Automobile Theft → In the company of one of her brothers, Miss Townley identified which of her seven brothers the calprate was… At age fourteen, Dot and her brother Frederick hotwired some bigwig’s chair taking it for a joy ride. After all it wasn’t everyday they were able to score such a nice car to drive around in.
Larceny → Stole food as a child because there was never enough to eat in the house growing up.
Receipt of Stolen Goods → During the days of working with the Cut Throats in York, she often took and kept the books on what was stolen and brought to them for transporting. It normally was the normal booze, cigarettes and illegal drugs at the time.  
Forgery → Making up fake official documents regretting the private matters of the Cut Throats. Printing money, materializing documents (altering them to her needs), intended to deceive other gangs trying to take over her turf.
Marital Status: Single - Never really had any notable serious relationships other than an engagement to a man named Ralph Edward, whom died during the war.
Issue: Nil. Miscarried; one.
---
Townley Family History: Born on a respectably nice Autumn day in East Fremantle to a rather unknown couple from the rural town of York a couple of hours outside of Perth. Very shortly after the complicated birth of their youngest child, and only daughter whom they named; Dorothy Helen Townley. Raised to be a considerably normal child, between a faithful wife and an alcoholic husband that struggled with his liquor and debts. The family lived in the small shire of York, some hours travel from the city. Youngest of eight children meant Dorothy had a lot of proving of herself for her father that worked hard most days, and drunk heavily at night. 
Though Dot’s father loved her, he had a funny way of showing it. Possibly because of his short temper and the rumours floating around that Dorothy was actually the illegitimate daughter of the police sergeant in the area. That had something against Ramsay Townley, and her mother sweet Alexi Townley. A child conceived by the sergeant when Alexi Townley was trying to bail her husband out of jail after a drunken brawl. After all, getting her husband out called for a price.
Alexi has tried to keep Dorothy’s father a secret and was truly lucky that her husband never questioned it. Truthfully, he already knew the pain his wife went to get him released from prison. Yet, he accepted Dot as his little girl and a Townley so she wouldn’t have any connection to the monster that harmed her mother. Though, Ramsay’s mother was another person despised Dorothy’s very existence. Dorothy’s grandmother was rather abusive to the only Townley girl, the bastard of the town’s police sergeant. Lucky the girl survived to see her homeland Australia officially become a country when she was the ripe age of six, as the elderly woman had made many attempts on her granddaughter’s life in the years before. 
Spending more time with her brothers and father on the field. Dorothy formed a rather strong bond with Frederick (the eldest) and Eugene (third born) who knew of their half-sister’s parentage. The three eldest brothers knew too well about what had happened to their mother that night and vowed the day their sister was born they’d protect her. That started with bringing her into the loop of their gang at a rather young age, so they could protect her fully, as well as their comrades. Before long she was hunting on her farm, and sitting in on important meetings regarding expansions and riots against the police. Her youngest known age for being arrested was then at eleven years of age after the police busted her brothers at a meeting and noticed her sitting in. Reports on her criminal file first detailed the girl as a shy and timid girl, holding the sleeve of her eldest brother Frederick, refusing to speak on interview. This was the start of more troublesome behaviour with the girl. 
Blossoming into a rose protected by harsh thorns (her brothers) Dorothy learnt many of many useful talents she had. Such as creating jam tin/jar bombs for raids, and attacks on places the Cut Throats planned. Servicing as a device to harm and lower numbers of rivals and police who were in the area at the time. 
By the time seventeen rolled around Dot was a respected member of the “York Cut Throats”, taking a claim over bookkeeping, as well as, the job of being their sharpshooter. Her skills with a bolt-action rifle from a long distance couldn’t be trumped by anyone else, so she became their primary for assassinations. Her rate of crime had run aground when she had been found for first-degree murder in a serial number of offences, the charging officer that brought her in was her biological father. Said officer of the law proceeded to interview Miss Townley in a fashion till his measures became violent and he attacked the young woman. Reported gunshots were heard from the station, and when other officers investigated they found the man dead. The young woman in a state of distress and worse for wear. 
To silence the Townley's’ and remove Dorothy from hanging other officers that felt pity for the young woman enlisted her to stay as a home for troublesome women. Where she was educated and taught the workings of a high profile nurse. Something the young adult woman had no idea would come to use so soon after completion. At the first light of war, Dot was sent off to the Gallipoli on the Ottoman Peninsula. Where she nursed broken men and saw her seventh and sixth brother slaughtered. Once more she went to making bombs out of tins, in hopes that she’d kill the Turk bastard that murdered her brothers.
After the withdrawal of Gallipoli, Miss Townley was moved to the Western Front. Believably broken by what she had seen in the bosom of the Turk’s lands. But then, she meets a kind soul a young soldier that held her heart and taught her to smile even in the shitty situations the war gave. Quick in their engagement, they longed for the war to end so they would be married. Yet, fate didn’t wish for them to be together in such away. Young Ralph Edward was killed in action. By the end of the war Dot’s family connection was broken, and her lover was gone so she decided to move to London in hopes of a new life. IN hopes to learn more about her dearly departed Mr Edward through his family, and the environment he used to live in.
---
Brief Personality Traits:
Australian Mateship - A quality that became well-known by most soldiers that worked alongside Australians in the First World War. Dot holds the cultural idiom rather highly as it holds many values of importance to her, such as; equality, loyalty and friendship. As it's a new era, Dorothy hopes that the world would adopt more of the following values as it will hopefully give most an era of peace with that. 
Larrikin - Dorothy Townley is noted to be a rather mischievous young woman. Often considered uncultivated by members of higher society, she’s seemingly rowdy when comfortable around the right people, but always has a good heart. But she is also referred to as the other common meaning, which is a hoodlum or rough gangster, due to her rather decorative history and mysterious current. 
Endurance/Courage - The war tested many, and for the case of Dorothy, it tested her level of courage and endurance because in most people’s eyes she was still a child. Though she has a very well build for tolerance when she was forcibly removed from her home in York, and thrown into a house for troubled young women so she could learn some skills that were of better use. During the time she was trained to be a nurse, it was the last thing the young woman wanted to do and she tried to desert her detainment a few times, only to be caught and punished later on down the track. 
Her courage has come into play when times have been trying for her safety. This would include the time she was attacked by a drunk police officer in York, and she shot him dead after being dragged to the local hotel. Dorothy faced hanging until the true nature of the police officer was released and she was sent away to a home for troubled young women. Her brothers helped instil courage within her each time they were granted a chance to visit her. 
((OOC--Model is Unknown, if anyone has her name please let me know so I can source it))
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