Tumgik
#third draft completed
makaramon · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media
690 notes · View notes
fluffabutt · 11 months
Text
Decided to write another yandere prompt
Thank you @bellafragolina and @wertello for letting me bounce ideas off you
Gender Neutral Reader x Nanu/Guzma
More of a guess to see which one is the yandere, and this boy is long
assault and implied stalking
You walk down Route 17 in the pouring rain, when you walk into the Pokémart your sneakers squeak with every step as you walk towards the back room.
You lock up your stuff, and put on your apron, switch out with Cayden who looks at her student portal with such dread you don’t give her any grief when she forgets to log out of the cash register.
You look out the window to the one or two desolate street lamps you can see standing as little beacons home. Almost pitch black like the bottom of the ocean it feels like, and you won’t see the sunrise for another 8 hours.
You tell Cayden have a good night as her sneakers squeal in the wet tracks you left on the floor. You log into the cash register, and as you grab the mop and bucket punch into work.
This is the routine you’ve grown accustomed to for the past few weeks.
You’ll be here tonight.
And the night after that.
And the night after that.
For how ever long it takes you to save enough money to move off Ula Ula Island.
——————————————————————-
You get into the rhythm of cleaning the floors, some hokey country song about youth and friendship and pie plays over the store speaker system. You wish the owner would just spend the money to buy an official music service, if only because you realize you’re almost fond of how terrible it is.
You hear a thumping sound from the windows that damn near causes your heart to leap out your throat, but you turn to see your regular idiot Masquerain bashing it’s head against the flood lights on the exterior of the building.
So you sigh, roll the mop back into its place, grab the wet floor sigh and the push broom and start to walk outside.
You put the sign up and then walk out into the humid, muggy rain.
“Hey! Dumb Bug!” You say, pushing at the Masquerain with your broom under the extended roof so it’s wings don’t get any wetter than they already have.
The poor thing cries and whines until you turn on the portable lamp you hung there for it to mash it’s head against.
You just sigh before walking back inside, you have no idea how that idiot gets stuck here almost every night, but you don’t mind if that’s the only returning customer.
Route 17 doesn’t get a lot of trainers this time of night, and you’re thankful even though your ankles are already aching by the second hour. The owner doesn’t allow you to sit at the cash register so you patiently set an alarm on your Rotomphone for an hour and half from now for your break.
The sound of pounding feet run up from outside as you see a small cluster of Team Skull members burst in from outside with the chime of the automatic door. They keep their mumbled complaints to themselves as they look at you.
You just give them a wave while you check social media on your Rotomphone. You were paid to mind the store, and you could mind your business for free.
Team Skull was part of the reason you never saw trainers much less regular schmoes around route 17, it was their turf.
You didn’t understand the hype, a bunch of kids trying to rap at you wasn’t intimidating in your opinion. Even when the beatboxer was steady most of them still couldn’t rap on beat.
So you idly tap at your phone while they shuffle around through the aisles, arguing over chip flavors and candy bars. Your heart hurts a little when one quickly shuts down that argument with a “What’s the point? We can’t buy it anyway!”
You look up at the chime of the automatic door, and try to put on your customer service smile when you see it’s an adult.
You see a hunched over guy in what looks to be his mid 50s, grey hair matted down from the rain when he closed his umbrella. But it’s his eyes, and the dead stare he levels at you that gives you a sudden feeling of anxiety.
It’s broken when he looks away with a click of his tongue as he walks toward the Pokéfood section of the store.
You place a hand over your heart to try and calm down when you realize how quiet the teens have gotten since the guy walked in. They watch him with caution, a respect you haven’t seen them give to anyone.
You realize you don’t get paid enough to focus on that.
Even if the sound of his sandals clopping on the wet tile drive you crazy.
The ring leader of this small pack walks up to the register with purpose, and slaps down some 100 pokedollar hot dogs that you ring up. It’s some hushed arguing of who’s got how much while you stare blankly thinking of what your “dinner” is tonight, until they pool the total together with spare coins.
You pop the register, drop the coins into the necessary slot, and give the expected “Thank you for shopping at Pokémart” as they run back into the rain and up to Po Town… you assume.
Your guy ambles around for another 10 or so minutes hemming and hawing about the prices of the wet food cans and then walking to the front.
He plops about 10 cans of food on the counter and you start to scan them while he pulls out his wallet.
“Oh, and one pack of the Motostoke Reds.”
You give an affirmative noise and turn to pull a pack off the shelf. It’s when you turn back that you’re stuck with his very intense stare.
Like he’s expecting something.
What that could be you don’t know.
You just push the barcode under the scanner and tell him the total.
Outside of the grunts and young trainers, nobody really pays in cash anymore, so you’re surprised when he flips through a large wad of bills to pay with.
His tongue sticks out while he concentrates and hums the count.
You take the cash from him, pulling up the coins that you owe before dropping them into his open palm with his receipt.
“Thank you for shopping at Pokémart, have a good evening.” You say, rehearsed and robotic.
“Uh-huh.” He drawls, and finally walks out of the Pokémart, his sandals clacking against the tile as he leaves.
You just breathe a sigh of relief when he disappears back into the rain with a… Meowth umbrella??
It’s a super cute umbrella pattern. You want it.
Next paycheck.
The evening goes by uneventfully, mop the floor again, give the Dumb Bug a berry when you take your meal break.
You take out the garbage around five am when there’s just enough light to see and the rain has finally stopped.
You see a couple cigarette butts and grumble under your breath, but clean them up anyway.
The owner comes in at 6 and you clock out.
———————————���——————————————-
Another day, another night.
Same old same old.
Except for your old dude buying cigarettes once a week.
The times he walks in are sporadic but at least he tends to avoid coming in on your meal break. Same thing every time: wet food, pack of Motostoke Reds.
Except tonight he grabs some prepackaged Basculin rice balls.
You don’t know why that spurs you to actually talk to this guy.
“Oh, those are super good.” You keep ringing up the wet food cans.
He looks shocked at your voice but he gives you an appraising look.
“Is that so?” He trails off.
“Yeah, they’re pretty solid.”
He hums contemplatively, before you ring up his total and you give him back his change.
“Thank you for shopping at Pokémart, have a good evening.”
He gives you a smile, though it’s more of a shitty grin.
“You too.”
Then he and his clopping sandals walk out the door and into the night.
——————————————————————
You get a surprise visitor that week, a tall dude with bleached white hair and tats struts up to the cash register. It would’ve been more intimidating if he wasn’t soaked to the bone and his sneakers weren’t speaking with every step.
And you’re gonna have to fucking mop. Again.
He slaps his hand on the counter, and of course you jump because why the fuck is this guy trying to pick a fight at 2:20 in the morning.
“Gimme a pack of Motostoke Reds.” He orders gruffly.
You take a deep breath and grab the pack from the shelves, you scan the barcode and tell him the total.
He mutters under his breath some obscenities about how expensive cigarettes are getting and how bullshit it is as he rummages through crumpled up bills from his pockets.
You don’t get paid enough for this.
You notice he sticks his tongue out while he counts the money.
Huh.
“Hey!” He barks, your eyes dart up to his face. “You got any of those Basculin rice balls today?”
You nod.
You both stand there, silence.
What does this guy expect? You don’t get paid to go fetch, you get paid to stand here damn near all night.
“Over in the back over by the premade sandwiches,” you almost forget your retail politeness,” sir.”
He’s got a vein bulging in his forehead before he stomps to the back over by the sandwiches. Muttering fuck word after fuck word.
You think about your account balance, and sigh.
You pray to Arceus this guy fucks off and never comes back.
He slaps the rice balls on the counter and you give him the new total.
“Thank you for shopping at Pokémart, have a good evening.”
“Yeah yeah whatever.” He says shoving his purchase and his change into his pockets before stomping off into the rain.
Asshole.
You find even more soggy cigarette butts outside when you take out the trash.
—————————————————————-
The Asshole and The Old Dude pop in intermittently, along with different clusters of Team Skull members. Very rarely you get a couple of older trainers, veterans and martial artists who find some satisfaction in almost catching hypothermia from standing in the rain all night.
You make polite conversation with The Old Dude and the trainers that come in.
Every so often The Asshole walks in and asks for some bizarre food item, a rice ball, and his cigarettes. It’s starting to become satisfying to just tell him where to find it, since he still expects you to go get it for him.
His squeaky sneakers and sopping wet hair only make him look like a grumpy toddler.
You get more and more trainers coming in though, which keeps the nights busy even if you have to mop so much more often with all the water being tracked in.
You still hook up Dumb Bug with its lamp and a berry.
You still take your meal break at 3:30am.
You still take out the trash to find soggy cigarette butts, but this time there seems to be a collaborative art project because they’re leaving them in shapes.
You don’t think it’s one person, there’s more cigarettes here than in just a single pack of the stuff.
But you don’t stop the “Mother Fucker” you bark when you have to get the broom and dust trap to scrape them up off the sidewalk.
——————————————————
The new influx of trainers typically dies down around 1am.
But tonight seems to be dragging.
Your card reader malfunctions, so you have to hand write a post-it note to stick on the reader.
Cash Only.
Doesn’t mean that grown adults know how to fucking read apparently.
Yes, the card reader is down.
No, I can’t take any card transactions.
You’re almost pulling your hair out by the time a customer walks up to the counter and throws a fit.
The Asshole was an asshole, but this guy is the fucking King Asshole. Asshole to end all assholes, waving his hands like if he throws his shoulders out of socket you’ll get the card reader working.
“Sir, either you use cash to complete your purchase or leave, I can’t fix it-“
“This is un-fucking believable! This is the new kind of low The Pokémart brand has sunk to?!”
“Sir, you’ll have to wait to buy until the morning with your card when the owner comes in to reset it. I don’t know what else to tell you-“
“FIX THE FUCKING CARD READER!”
You typically are fighting the best of a migraine with the shitty fluorescent lights, now your ears are ringing with how loud he’s yelling.
“Oi. You buying this shit or not?!”
Oh great.
You pinch the bridge of your nose as you look past King Asshole to The Asshole looming behind him.
Good. Two assholes.
“I-I-“ King Asshole tries to get some traction to start his impassioned tirade like a pull motor.
“No? Get the fuck outta my way then.”
At least The Asshole isn’t yelling.
God damn does your head hurt.
“Oi!” The Asshole speaks up, snapping his fingers obnoxiously to get your attention. It seems King Asshole has left, and all of his purchase is on the counter.
Nice.
“Oh, yeah,” you blink to give yourself a quick reset before you start scanning The Asshole’s items.
There’s a heavy silence as The Asshole scowls and shuffles his feet before he opens up his mouth when you turn to grab his cigarettes.
“You okay?” He says gruffly, though with a pinch of softness you’ve never heard before. It doesn’t help the tears bubbling in the corners of your eyes.
Shit.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” You say, your voice cracking on the “yeah”, and you’re so fucking frustrated.
He just clicks his tongue and starts counting out his wadded up balls of bills.
You scan his cigarettes, and read him the total.
“Thank you for shopping at Pokémart, have a nice night.” You plop the change and his receipt in his hand.
He looks at you and you feel just so drained you just stare back. You don’t know what he’s looking for, but he turns around and squeaks back into the dark with the little automatic chime.
You walk to the back to take your break early, sighing and softly dabbing at your eyes while you eat your sandwich.
Fuck man, just a couple more weeks.
You just needed a couple more paychecks, and then you can leave and get away from this place.
———————————————————————
You find your cigarette savant has put a smiley face design today.
You mutter a quick, “fuck off” to nothing as you scrape it off the sidewalk.
The back of your neck aches. Like a weight settling there.
———————————————————————
You don’t see King Asshole, thank Arceus, but you run into rude customers occasionally. Aside from The Asshole.
You’d noticed a couple of blocked off areas, but you thought it was construction or something. The owner put a Pokémart on Route 17, there was probably some other developer willing to be stupid enough to build something else here.
Cayden is clocking out when she looks up from her Rotomphone and taps your shoulder.
“Did you hear?”
“Hear what?” You put on your apron.
“A couple of people have been getting attacked on the way back from the Pokémart.”
“No shit?”
“You didn’t notice the caution tape?” She gives you a look, but you just roll your eyes.
“I saw the tape, I just thought it was construction.”
“Who’d build anything out here- ah shit nevermind. But! Either way, be safe out!”
You clock in and meet her eyes. You feel a little floaty feeling in your stomach.
“You think it’s Team Skull?”
She sighs as she pulls out her stuff from the locker. Looking up trying to remember something.
“Nah, they have been pretty quiet since the whole Aether Island stuff. I think I read something about the victims said it was only one person.”
Oh good. Great. Fantastic.
“Cool I’m probably gonna get murdered after standing around here all night.”
“Probably,” she says with a snarky tone.
You put away your stuff and lock it up but you hear a quiet thump of the cash register counter and look in that direction.
Cayden gives you a serious look, you’ve never seen so much trepidation on her face outside of an exam or a paper. You feel your gut churn.
“Be careful okay?”
You swallow, and clench your hands to ground yourself.
“You too.”
——————————————————————
You scroll more on your Rotomphone than usual, trying to just pass the time out of your own head so you don’t flinch and look at whoever walks into the store with complete fear.
Even the thumping Dumb Bug does has you on edge. But it seems the Masquerain can sense your nerves after you walk out to turn their lamp on, because they flap over and nuzzle your face before they continue their bizarre little lamp dance.
You feel a little bit of tension ease, but you try to keep yourself busy nonetheless. When the last of the late night crowd dissipates you just stand with your nerves going haywire at the register.
It’s just you, the hum of the fluorescents, and the darkness outside. At least it isn’t raining.
Fuck.
Old Dude walks in today, and you’re almost relaxed listening to the clip clop of his flip flops against the tile. Even with the shitty country song playing over the loud speakers.
He brings his spoils over to the counter and you ring him up like usual.
“You seem tense.”
You were so startled, you almost drop the wet food can you scanned.
“Huh?” You look at him.
“I said,” he drawls. “You look tense.”
“Oh,” you let out a nervous laugh, and turn to get his Motostoke Reds. “Yeah, did you hear about the attacks lately?”
“Attacks?” He arches a very thick brow at you. Ugh you don’t want to talk about this anymore.
“Yeah, my coworker said people were getting attacked on the road back to Ula Ula Meadow. Isn’t that crazy?”
“Hm, that’s… unusual.”
“Yeah,” you say, the awkwardness makes you want to get out of this conversation so you can go back to standing at the register and panicking to yourself.
“Thank you for shopping at Pokémart, stay safe.” You say, change and receipt placed onto his open palm.
“You too. Oh, if you need any help,” he pauses standing in the doorway. Your interest firmly captured on him. “There’s always the police station up the road.”
You’d forgotten about that, mostly because you didn’t have any business walking towards Po Town at all.
“Uh, sure. Thanks mister.”
“Oh, you don’t know who I am do you?” He seems to give you that smug smirk. Though you wonder if he just seems to not know how to smile properly.
“Uh the dude who buys wet food and Motostoke Reds?” You say, your shoulders rising with a shrug.
“Yeah… we’ll go with that.” He says with a chuckle as he walks out.
“Oh… okay. Cool.”
What the fuck was that about? You sigh and count to ten before going back on Pokégram to watch shorts to focus on.
Even if you can’t seem to shake the feeling something is watching you.
—————————————————————————
Your shift ends with a heart made of cigarettes butts.
It makes you queasy.
——————————————————————-
The Old Dude and The Asshole visit more frequently.
The Old Dude seems to have fun forcing you into polite conversation. Talking about the frequency of attacks on the road, and you’re pretty sure it’s just to make you squirm.
He always smirks when he gets a reaction out of you. And your stomach drops every time.
The fucker seems to revel in watching goosebumps run up your arms.
And you’re almost thankful to see the asshole, until he starts to intimidate other customers in the line.
Any bad manners from customers are met with him loudly complaining about how they’re wasting his time to get them to hurry up. Only to… just awkwardly try to make conversation with you.
“Oi.”
“Yes sir?”
“Fuckin’, the weather…”
You just look at him, blinking. My brother in Arceus, what were you supposed to say?
“Yeah, it’s not raining tonight.”
“Yeah…”
Weeks of that.
Weeks.
Of the two of them coming in almost every night, to get the same stuff. To trap you in the same circling conversations.
It was sick.
The anxiety they were giving you left you barely able to eat.
You put in your two weeks notice quietly to the owner, tired of feeling like a Rattata being hunted by Meowths, counting down the days until you could leave.
For weeks the feeling of eyes on you at all times doesn’t leave until you go home after your shift.
————————————————————
You clock into your shift, getting a hug from Cayden before she leaves wishing you luck with your fresh start.
You go through the usual routine of the crowd, ignoring the bids for attention from The Old Dude. He just quirked an eyebrow before leisurely strolling back out the door.
And you turned the lamp on one last time for Dumb Bug. There wasn’t anybody on the route path, so you just sat and reminisced with the fluttering insect Pokemon. It wasn’t until you got up to go back inside that Dum Bug acknowledged you.
By grabbing your shirt sleeve with its delicate little grippers.
“Hey bud, it’ll be okay, the next person on Night Shift will be nice to you. Just don’t get hurt flying around in the rain okay?”
The bug just grabbed onto your shirt even further settling onto your shoulder. This dumb fucking bug and your dumb fucking heart so full of love.
“What fucking pair you two make.”
Ah. The Asshole.
You turn, putting on your retail smile to acknowledge him.
“Oh my apologies sir, I will ring you up at the counter, please give me a moment.”
“‘S fine- you’ve been building a bond with ‘er for a while yeah?”
You feel your heart stop.
You put your hand over your Rotomphone in your pocket.
“Hey! Don’t look at me like I’m some kind of bad guy, ey?”
You feel like you’re gonna throw up.
“Look just, alright lemme explain.” He says taking a step towards you.
You realize now how tall he is. How bulky he is.
How easily he could hurt somebody.
How blind you’ve been to the obvious.
The fucking skull pendant on the chain around his neck.
You never noticed.
“Hey,” he says and you hear a loud whine as your breathing picks up. “Woah wait don’t-“
Your Dumb Bug flaps quickly in front of you and oscillates it’s wings to unleash a horrible loud whine that has The Asshole clutching his ears with you.
Dumb Bug pulls you in the direction of your home but Asshole quickly steps to the side while getting his bearings to cut you off.
So you pivot: the Old Guy had told you there was a Police Station up the road right?
That’s where you run to.
“HEY! WAIT- agh, FUCK GET BACK HERE DAMMIT LEMME EXPLAIN!” He shouts after you, and you feel tears start to well up and run down your cheeks as you haul yourself up the hill.
Dumb Bug tries to chirp to cheer you on, especially when you can hear Asshole catching up with you. You let out the loudest scream you can before you’re cut off by him grabbing your collar and choking you.
You kick and jerk away from him as he pulls you close. He grunts when you manage to catch his shins and land a hit to his nose with a lucky flail.
Dumb Bug tries to start up another loud screech but Asshole holds you against him like a meat shield and your sweet little Masquerain clearly doesn’t want to hurt you. He’s got your arms caught behind you while you howl and scream for help.
“Gah-fuck! You couldn’t just- stop moving-“ he jerks you roughly enough to make your shoulders pop and you yelp at the pain. “Look all you had to do was let me explain-“
“Explain what?! How you fucking stalked me?!” You shriek, still fighting against his grip while he pushes you steadily up the hill towards the police station.
“Look I wasn’t stalkin’ ya- you weren’t being secretive about it!”
“And now you’re fucking assaulting me!”
He wrenches you back to yell in your ear.
“Because you ran away dumb ass!”
It hurts your ears, and all you can do is struggle and yell for help as he shuffles the both of you up the road. When you see the police station you get a surge of energy.
If you don’t get away from him now- god you don’t want to even think about what he could do to you.
So you lean back and stomp your foot on his toes as hard as you can. He grunts as the grip on your arms loosens when he flinches.
“DUMB BUG NOW!”
You pull forward, and Dumb Bug releases that horrible sound from it’s wings again, thankfully slipping out of Asshole’s grasp and you push one last sprint away towards the Police Station.
You manage to sprint towards the station, the faded white exterior with striped columns standing ominously with a few sconces lit up. Probably on a timer.
You beg to Arceus and the Tapus and whatever else can hear that somebody is in the building.
You slam into the blue doors of the entrance, making the windows rattle. You slam you palms against the door and beg for somebody, anybody to open up.
You hear multiple Meowths hiss and shriek while you pound on the door, begging through tears and gulps of breath for help.
You know Asshole wasn’t going to be distracted forever, that guy was the Leader of Team Skull, he had pokemon.
You left the poor Masquerain with a sicko.
You hope the poor thing was okay.
Eventually the lights turn on inside and you can see the shapes of the office interior through the clouded glass. A figure quickly rushing to the door backlit in shadow.
You heave a sharp gasp of relief as the door opens-
“Oh, thank you please- I’m being chased by-“
“Hey,” it’s his voice that makes you nauseous so quickly you sway on your feet. “Woah, hold on what’s got you so riled up?”
He clasps your shoulders in a firm grip to keep your legs underneath you.
You weren’t specific enough in your pleas for mercy, because the gods had gifted you the old creep as your beacon of hope.
“Oh look at you, you’ve been all roughed up. Scaring the clowder- tch, the boy’s so rough sometimes.”
You wonder if the universe had a specific grudge on you at this point.
“Oi! Guzma!” You look down at the badge on the old guy’s shirt, Police Captain Nanu, it says. You never had the desire to know anything about him before this point.
You were stupidly hoping you could ignore the both of them and leave Ula Ula Island.
“Yeah yeah! I get it-“
“Do you now?” You look into Nanu’s eyes as he speaks with his casual drawl. “Tears and bruises on the arms don’t imply to me that you in fact “Got it”.”
“Oi! They threw the first punch not me! Besides, I was busy grabbing this-“ he holds up your boarding pass for the morning flight out of Ula Ula Island, out of Alola. “Seems they weren’t going to tell us they were leaving.”
That had been in your bag. In your locker.
In the office.
Had he only just gotten to your stuff?
Or had he been rummaging through there this whole time.
Guzma holds Dumb Bug, unconsciously flopping it’s little wings as they jostle with each of his footsteps, and he finally leans down to get close to your face.
“It’s okay though, me and the old geezer ‘ere will make everything crystal clear.” He says with a mean sneer, a wild look in his eyes and you stand there and shake.
“Guzma, enough, we’ve got all night to help them understand. And besides,” Nanu says, his arm curling over your shoulder while Guzma opens the other door to flank you. “You’ve got every day afterward to accept your situation.”
95 notes · View notes
andorerso · 10 months
Text
can't help thinking about what a blow this is gonna be for gifsets and fanart and fanfics and all other fan-made stuff which are ALREADY getting less and less notes and reblogs
like awesome, now you'll post something and no one's even gonna see it? GREAT idea tumblr thank you
14 notes · View notes
lesbxdyke · 8 months
Text
So turns out that if you actively interact with the media that inspired your book, you work on your book!
Whodda thunk!
5 notes · View notes
gentaroukisaragi · 6 months
Text
Forgot about the third stanza of in flanders field, where after beautifully describing the humanity of his fellow soldiers, McCrae goes yeah and btw please keep fighting. I have seen so many dead people these last few days but I NEED to know that you guys are still fighting or i will not rest in peace
1 note · View note
goshdangronpa · 8 months
Text
“The beats of the beginning will stay the same.” That’s what I said last week. But rewatching justonegamr’s playthrough of SDR2 convinced me that “Starting the Game with Despair Disease” is a real misnomer. I want to break down the first three days of “I DISAGREE: An Ibuki SDR2 Protag Swap AU,” showing what those beats are like from Ibuki’s POV. Along the way, I’ll illustrate the impact that moving the Despair Disease to Chapter 1 would make, show how these events push her to the protagonist role, and even reveal who suffers from the disease in this AU.
Fear of Dying: The AU Narrative's Chaotic First Three Mornings
Morning 1
Ibuki Mioda introduces herself, excited for her very first day at Hope’s Peak Academy. She’s concerned that the school won’t take kindly to the newly minted Ultimate Light Musician’s shift to heavier styles, but otherwise she’s eager to make friends, have new experiences, and live her best life.
The first 20 minutes of SDR2 play out from her POV, with the same overwhelming disorientation. When Hajime faints, Ibuki assumes he dropped dead, foams at the mouth, and drops like a domino. Mikan Tsumiki wakes her up quickly, doing her duty as Ultimate Nurse.
Ibuki’s only out for a minute. Everyone’s still at the beach, making character introductions more like THH than the original SDR2.
An unseen moment from the latter narrative plays out: Byakuya Togami, the most clear-headed of the bunch, tells everyone to pair up and fan out. Ibuki takes her rescuer around the islands, eventually winding up in a supermarket. It’s there that they meet the now-revived Hajime Hinata, escorted by the chill and kind Nagito Komaeda.
The rest of the prologue plays out the same: everyone reconvenes at the beach, shares their findings, expresses unease. Usami pops up with presents as promised, and Ibuki’s first to dismiss the Usami Straps, then first to grab a swimsuit. She and most of the rest relax enough to take a dip … then Monokuma enters the picture. Ibuki doesn’t faint this time, but she does foam at the mouth again.
Morning 2
As she says in SDR2, Ibuki doesn’t sleep a wink out of sheer dread. She still tries to maintain her good humor, though she understands why it takes two separate visits from two different people to drag poor, terrified Kazuichi Soda out of his cottage.
Also like in SDR2, she totally approves of Byakuya proclaiming himself the group’s leader and protector. He seems reliable, and his presence is impressive.
After Byakuya shows everyone the suspiciously bomb-shaped countdown timer that appeared in Jabberwock Park overnight, Nagito makes the same speech about the need for everyone to strengthen their bonds. Unlike certain others, Ibuki doesn’t find it cringe. It becomes her motivation for hanging out with her classmates in her free time (as opposed to, say, playing music or napping). Let’s say she uses her FTEs to shoot the breeze with the delightfully dutiful kendo master Peko Pekoyama and get schooled at a favored hobby by the too-chill-to-function gamer girl Chiaki Nanami.
Evening 2
Just when she’s ready to take a pre-dinner nap, Ibuki hustles to the park for Monokuma’s little show. The reveal about the theft of their memories from their time at Hope’s Peak makes Ibuki foam at the mouth again. Mikan’s getting concerned for her health, but freaking out seems normal for such a freaky situation!
When Monokuma adds that there’s a traitor in the group, Mikan takes her turn to freak out, insisting it’s not her. Ibuki thinks nothing of the outburst, silently agreeing with Byakuya that the bear must be making it up. As with Hajime in SDR2, though, she can’t help thinking that because of Monomi’s tampering, Monokuma’s right about one thing: “You guys don’t really know anything about each other.”
As everyone heads back to their cottages, Ibuki catches up with Byakuya. She’s got an idea: if no one really knows each other yet, how about an icebreaker? They should throw a party, and Ibuki can provide the entertainment. Byakuya approves. Sleep comes a little easier, and she’ll send invites out in the morning.
Morning 3
Nagito doesn’t have time to hatch a scheme and send a threatening letter to Byakuya like in SDR2. Instead, the cast find him at the restaurant, where he accuses anyone in sight and thought of being the traitor, a robot, someone else in disguise, and other crazy conspiracy theories.
Kazuichi is already there, too, his boiler suit unzipped to reveal surprising musculature. The most cowardly classmate is now openly challenging Monokuma to a wrestling match, giving Akane stiff competition for sheer recklessness.
Chiaki must’ve gotten a really good sleep, because she’s hyperactive now. Worse, the gamer’s salty side comes out. Her surliness gives even the openly dangerous Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu pause.
All this might be easier to deal with if Peko Pekoyama was around. Fuyuhiko goes to fetch her, and Mahiru Koizumi - whom Fuyuhiko had implicitly threatened to murder the night before - sends Hajime with him. They have to carry her in: she’s too laidback and apathetic to care about anything.
It’s just been a series of upheavals for Ibuki. Each attempt at optimism and enthusiasm is completely rebuffed by forces beyond her control. Now it looks like several of her peers are already snapping! Then Monokuma reveals that they came down with a weird disease, and then Mikan calls for volunteers to help treat these patients. Ibuki immediately steps up. If there’s anything she can do to help - and to get some small bit of control over this constantly shifting situation - she’ll do it. And that’s how Ibuki Mioda becomes a protagonist. I’ll move on to how the Despair Disease progresses in the next installment.
Prev: Starting the Game with Despair Disease
Next: Group Bonding in the Time of Despair Disease
1 note · View note
cospinol · 1 year
Text
carefully skirting the issue of nerea in that last post, if he did die as per current canon it was 100% lorien’s fault but again lately i’m feeling like what if he Didn’t… letting him live undoes a huge portion of centre of the sun plot / setup but if i’m kind of overhauling all the anda and lyn stuff Anyways i can’t help but keep being like ok why not then
2 notes · View notes
Text
I always thought that being a good writer was about making words pretty, about writing scenes of fanciful prose one after the other until you have enough to make a book. ....And then I saw a reddit post (which I made a post about already here with screenshots) and it made me realize that no, writing is also about focus, organization, and discipline (things I really struggle with as someone with adhd). Writing a story is also about knowing how to put all the puzzle pieces (events) in the right order to tell the most effective narrative. It can be written kind of terribly in the first draft so that you can rearrange the events in the right order, and that sometimes it’s even preferable to write badly in the first draft because all the nice prose would likely end up getting cut anyway during the editing process. Writing in beautiful prose in a first draft can make editing harder because you innately don’t want to cut the pretty sounding words that you worked so hard on. Realizing this has felt incredibly freeing and is making me more motivated to write!
3 notes · View notes
ssluggishh · 2 months
Text
english 101. the self esteem killer
1 note · View note
harrysonlylover · 4 months
Note
ABSOLUTELY LOVED CHECKMATE!! THE ENDING??!!!?!! NEED THE NEXT PART ASAP 😭
Haha thank you so much, i’m glad you loved it🫶🏻
1 note · View note
samiferboy · 6 months
Text
more nyfic why not
(feat. Hey That's The Name Of The Story)
“Okay,” said Sam slowly, his mind still churning through it. “I…I want to believe you, that you helped me down there.” Lucifer perked up again and Sam grimaced, stop being happy with me, stop wanting this, just stop. “And I want to believe that you’re fine in your body, and you don’t want mine anymore, and that you just want to help me. I want to. But I can’t. Not…not yet.” This seemed to satisfy Lucifer, who sat back, more relaxed, and echoed, “Not yet. Well, all things considered, I think we’ve made some pretty big breakthroughs, Sam. And to think all it took was saving your life.” Sudden horror crawled up Sam’s spine. “You didn’t - that wasn’t - you didn’t -” Lucifer frowned, then laughed, waving a hand. “Oh, seriously? No, Sam, I didn’t sic demons on you. I’ve had enough of those things,” he said, curling his lip in disgust. “I don’t want any of them knowing I’m back. I like how your mind works, though,” he said, and leaned forward to flick Sam’s forehead. He barely felt it, but flinched anyway. “That sick little idea of yours didn’t even occur to me. Saving you, visiting you, this is all genuine, no manipulation needed, or wanted.” His bright blue gaze was full of affection, and Sam shuddered. 
1 note · View note
avocado-frog · 9 months
Note
Hi Isaac! 8. Is there any character you don't like at all, even though you've written them?
Hey!
I have plenty of characters that I use for general antagonists (a very long google doc page) but those are mostly just names and a few picrews if they're special enough. I have two characters that have been lurking in the background since the first version of the story. They're not in it anymore but i might give them a cameo later. been thinking about it
Out of the kids though.. Marcy. Literally she has nothing going for her. She has MAYBE six lines total, and the only reason she didn't get cut was because by the time i decided i wanted to, i had already posted the first chapter and I didn't want to edit her out. There's a secret twelfth character who got cut out right before I started posting and sometimes I find stuff I've written that still has her in it
1 note · View note
centipedelightning · 1 year
Text
me?? actually actively working on ch2?? unheard of
0 notes
burntoutdaydreamer · 6 months
Text
Weird Brain Hacks That Help Me Write
I'm a consistently inconsistent writer/aspiring novelist, member of the burnt-out-gifted-kid-to-adult-ADHD-diagnosis-pipeline, recently unemployed overachiever, and person who's sick of hearing the conventional neurotypical advice to dealing with writer's block (i.e. "write every single day," or "there's no such thing as writer's block- if you're struggling to write, just write" Like F*CK THAT. Thank you, Brenda, why don't you go and tell someone with diabetes to just start producing more insulin?)
I've yet to get to a point in my life where I'm able to consistently write at the pace I want to, but I've come a long way from where I was a few years ago. In the past five years I've written two drafts of a 130,000 word fantasy novel (currently working on the third) and I'm about 50,000 words in on the sequel. I've hit a bit of a snag recently, but now that I've suddenly got a lot of time on my hands, I'm hoping to revamp things and return to the basics that have gotten me to this point and I thought I might share.
1) My first draft stays between me and God
I find that I and a lot of other writers unfortunately have gotten it into our heads that first drafts are supposed to resemble the finished product and that revisions are only for fixing minor mistakes. Therefore, if our first draft sucks that must mean we suck as writers and having to rewrite things from scratch means that means our first draft is a failure.
I'm here to say that is one of the most detrimental mentalities you can have as a writer.
Ever try drawing a circle? You know how when you try to free-hand draw a perfect circle in one go, it never turns out right? Whereas if you scribble, say, ten circles on top of one another really quickly and then erase the messy lines until it looks like you drew a circle with a singular line, it ends up looking pretty decent?
Yeah. That's what the drafting process is.
Your first draft is supposed to suck. I don't care who you are, but you're never going to write a perfect first draft, especially if you're inexperienced. The purpose of the first draft is to lay down a semi-workable foundation. A really loose, messy sketch if you will. Get it all down on paper, even if it turns out to be the most cliche, cringe-inducing writing you've ever done. You can work out those kinks in the later drafts. The hardest part of the first draft is the most crucial part: getting started. Don't stress yourself out and make it even harder than it already is.
If that means making a promise to yourself that no one other than you will ever read your first draft unless it's over your cold, dead body, so be it.
2) Tell perfectionism to screw off by writing with a pen
I used to exclusively write with pencil until I realized I was spending more time erasing instead of writing.
Writing with a pen keeps me from editing while I right. Like, sometimes I'll have to cross something out or make notes in the margins, but unlike erasing and rewriting, this leaves the page looking like a disaster zone and that's a good thing.
If my writing looks like a complete mess on paper, that helps me move past the perfectionist paralysis and just focus on getting words down on the page. Somehow seeing a page full of chicken scratch makes me less worried about making my writing all perfect and pretty- and that helps me get on with my main goal of fleshing out ideas and getting words on a page.
3) It's okay to leave things blank when you can't think of the right word
My writing, especially my first draft, is often filled with ___ and .... and (insert name here) and red text that reads like stage directions because I can't think of what is supposed to go there or the correct way to write it.
I found it helps to treat my writing like I do multiple choice tests. Can't think of the right answer? Just skip it. Circle it, come back to it later, but don't let one tricky question stall you to the point where you run out of brain power or run out of time to answer the other questions.
If I'm on a role, I'm not gonna waste it by trying to remember that exact word that I need or figure out the right transition into the next scene or paragraph. I'm just going to leave it blank, mark to myself that I'll need to fix the problem later, and move on.
Trust me. This helps me sooooo much with staying on a roll.
4) Write Out of Order
This may not be for everyone, but it works wonders for me.
Sure, the story your writing may need to progress chronologically, but does that mean you need to write it chronologically? No. It just needs to be written.
I generally don't do this as much for editing, but for writing, so long as you're making progress, it doesn't matter if it's in the right order. Can't think of how to structure Chapter 2, but you have a pretty good idea of how your story's going to end? Write the ending then. You'll have to go back and write Chapter 2 eventually, but if you're feeling more motivated to write a completely different part of the book, who's to say you can't do that?
When I'm working on a project, I start off with a single document that I title "Scrap for (Project Title)" and then just write whatever comes to mind, in whatever order. Once I've gotten enough to work with, then I start outlining my plot and predicting how many chapters I'm going to need. Then, I create separate google docs for each individual chapter and work on them in whatever order I feel like, often leaving several partially complete as I jump from one to the other. Then, as each one gets finished, I copy and paste the chapter into the full manuscript document. This means that the official "draft" could have Chapters 1 and 9, but completely be missing Chapters 2-8, and that's fine. It's not like anyone will ever know once I finish it.
Sorry for the absurdly long post. Hopes this helps someone. Maybe I'll share more tricks in the future.
3K notes · View notes
lucidmagic · 8 months
Text
Repeat after me:
The first draft just needs to exist
The second draft needs to be functional
The third draft needs to be effective
The first draft just needs to exist
The second draft needs to be functional
The third draft needs to be effective
The first draft just needs to exist
The second draft needs to be functional
The third draft needs to be effective
Remember, the second and third can't happen if you don't have something to work with. Your first draft will always be shit compared to your third, but at least it exists. The worst first draft is an unfinished one. The best first draft is a just completed one.
You read books/stories not in their first draft form-- only in their finished form (third, fourth, sometimes fifteenth draft). So stop comparing your first draft with a final one.
So, just write--you can make it better later. Perfectionism is the greatest weight a creator can carry.
2K notes · View notes
ao3commentoftheday · 1 month
Text
I’m thinking about perfectionism again, specifically with respect to how it can skew your opinion of success and failure.
There’s this concept that comes up a lot when you read about issues like perfectionism: all-or-nothing thinking. It’s a trap that’s easy to fall into.
If you’re a fic writer falling into this trap, you might feel like you’re an absolute failure if your fic isn’t a 100% accurate depiction of the scene you see in your head with flawless grammar and zero typos. That is a, quite literally, impossible standard to meet and as a result of never meeting it, you probably feel one or more of the following:
lack of motivation
certainty that there’s no point in even trying
self-hatred or some other form of intense dissatisfaction with yourself and/or your skills
This is a completely logical way to feel in that mindset, by the way. Your standard for success is so high that you’re constantly a failure. If your standard for success is impossible to meet, then there is no point in trying. If there’s no point in trying, how could you possibly feel motivated?
In order to move away from those feelings, you need to move away from that all-or-nothing, black & white mindset.
One way to do this is by figuring out a new standard for success that actually can be achieved. For example, give yourself permission to have occasional typos in your stories. Gaiman’s Law states that an author will always find a typo the first time they open their published book. If even Neil himself has resigned himself to this fate, then hopefully you can too. If you managed to write your story then that’s a success and finding a typo after you’re done doesn’t turn that success into a failure.
Another thing that’s helped me is to think of every failure or mistake or dissatisfying result as a learning opportunity. If I’m not able to do something now, that doesn’t mean I won’t be able to do it at some point in the future. I just need to keep trying. Practice makes better. Practice also helps you figure out the things that are easy for you and the bits that are hard and where you might need some help - either from a fellow fan or from another kind of resource.
I think part of the reason why people can get so anxious about their fanworks is because we care so much about them. We love the characters. We love the world. We want to do them justice in our writing, and we want other fans to love our creations too.
It’s important to remember that all of us love imperfect things all the time. It’s not perfection that makes a thing lovable. It’s the heart that’s put into it.
There’s a lot of fear behind perfectionism. Fear of being caught doing something wrong. Fear of being shamed for a mistake. Fear that imperfection makes us unworthy or unlovable. Fear that a single flaw will ruin an entire work. Fear of failure.
If you want to be able to move through that fear, you need to be able to reduce it somehow. The most effective way that I’ve found is to stop writing with the goal of posting something online. Write for the sake of writing, without the pressure of showing it to someone else. That might help you to get out a first draft (or second or third) without that worry about being judged and found wanting.
If you’re not ready for positive self-talk or reframing the internal narrative (I get it. Been there.) then allowing yourself to be less than perfect in a place where no one else can see you might be a good first step.
And just because I think it’s important that you hear it from time to time: you are a wonderful, creative, amazing human being - mistakes included.
670 notes · View notes