#which actually does loop around to making it seem strange | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

just-j-really · 5 months

Text

Unsoulmates AU, part two!

Part one is here.

Hob isn't exactly expecting to run into his not-soulmate again. The man doesn't text him after Will's engagement party, not even to provide his name, and after a week of valiantly staring at his phone and willing it to buzz Hob is forced to admit that maybe he hadn't been serious.

It stings. For once it would have been nice to have someone realize he means it when he says that soulmates are bullshit.

But he's too busy to dwell on it, much. He has sets to build and an anxiety-inducing new job to get used to and about seventeen different hobbies he's accidentally abandoning.

He's at a party with some of Will's Strange Art Friends, digging through the top shelf of Will's absurdly tall cabinets, when a deep, familiar voice asks, "What are you doing?"

"Banditry," Hob says cheerfully, once he's finished not concussing himself on the cabinet door in shock. "Will promised me he'd bought some of 'those gross licorice things only I like' but he was really unclear about where they are." The cabinet he'd been rummaging in is clearly not the place, being full of expired soda and electrical tape, so Hob closes the door and leans over to the next one. "Did you come in here for snacks, too?" he asks, when there's no response from behind him.

"No," his not-soulmate replies, blandly. "I was hoping for a moment alone." His tone clearly implies that Hob's presence is ruining his evening, and Hob should either leave the room or cease to exist immediately.

"Ah," Hob replies. It stings, again, even though that's utterly absurd and he barely even knows this man. "I'll be gone in a sec," he adds, because he'll be damned if some asshole sabotages his Snack Quest, "just let me find my licorice."

The man- Hob should really get his name if they're going to keep running into each other like this- sighs loudly, but doesn't make any sort of verbal objection to Hob's continued presence. Hob ignores him, and resumes his Quest.

It takes three minutes of stony silence, but Hob eventually uncovers the licorice in a bowl on top of the fridge, which is not even close to being 'in one of the cabinets', Will. He's about to retreat from the kitchen with his prize, when the man says, "You actually do know Will," in a tone of utter confusion.

"Yeah," Hob says, slowly turning to face him. The man is sitting sprawled on the counter, his bearing almost regal except for the part where he's staring at Hob like Hob is a dog who unexpectedly started doing calculus.

"How???" the man finally asks. Hob can hear the extra question marks in his voice, even if his tone stays even.

"Used to date his archenemy," Hob says, with a shrug. "We stayed friends after Kit moved."

If anything, this seems to confuse the man further. "Or we became friends after Kit moved, anyway," Hob adds, possessed by a desperate need not so much to fill the silence as to keep voicing his thoughts. "Up until that point I'd wanted to support my boyfriend and all, but then he left and I wanted to keep building sets so I started to work with Will instead."

"You. What?"

"I volunteered to help build sets at that little theater Will used to work at," Hob says. "That was how I met both of them, actually. But then Kit and I started dating and that doesn't actually matter to what you were asking, does it?"

To Hob's utter bafflement, his not-soulmate nods at him to continue. Again, 'regal' is the only word for the gesture, even though he's sitting on a grimy counter in the nasty, yellowish lighting of Will's kitchen.

So Hob makes himself comfortable against the fridge and starts again, detailing the entire stupid saga of Kit-and-Will-and-Hob-making-the-whole-thing-much-worse-in-an-attempt-to-be-a-supportive-boyfriend. And at some point he swerves off into just talking about Kit-and-Hob, which is nice, because most of his friends were there for Kit-and-Hob, and don't find his sappy reminiscing terribly interesting.

And somehow that loops all the way around to how he was technically working for the government at that point, which, of all things, was the root cause of him getting on speaking terms with Will again. That and Kit moving, although it is really weird talking to Kit now because he can't avoid talking about the fact that he's accidentally befriended Kit's mortal enemy-

"You're still in touch with him?" Hob's not-soulmate asks softly.

Hob turns to fully look at him and regrets it immediately. Over the course of his ramblings, he'd moved from the fridge to the counter next to his not-soulmate, so that he could sit down and also easily share his licorice.

This means that his face is much closer to his not-soulmate's than he'd expected it to be, and for a moment he's lost in the blue of the man's eyes, the open intensity of his gaze.

"Oh. Uh, yeah," he says, when he's managed to remember the question. "The breakup was..." he trails off, looking for a word, and finally settles on, "amicable?"

His not-soulmate gives him that little 'go on' nod again. And Hob knows- he knows- that he should get some higher standards, but the quickest way to his heart is, and always has been, prompting him to keep talking, and he can feel himself falling as surely as he can feel the blush overtaking his face.

So he tips his head toward his not-soulmate, so that he can keep his voice low and still be heard above the crowd in the next room, and says, "Faustus got picked up. And like half of the filming was going to be overseas, but I couldn't leave London, at least not right then." His not-soulmate gives a look that isn't so much 'confused' as 'entirely uncomprehending,' so Hob adds, "I'd messed up my knee real bad." He gives the offending kneecap a hard tap and immediately regrets it. "Long story. I spent most of that summer in doctor's offices. And hospitals. So. 'Quit your job to travel with your boyfriend for a few months' was not really an option, for me. And he didn't want to do long-distance. So we broke up."

"Your soulmate left you alone, in pain, because he 'didn't want to do long-distance'?" Hob's not-soulmate asks. There’s something raw, close to pity but more tender, in his face, which makes Hob feel unbelievably guilty for laughing at the question.

"Oh, god, no," he says, with an expressive wave of his hand. "Kit wasn't my- No. Met his soulmate while he was filming Faustus, actually, otherwise we might have-" And then Hob shuts that sentence down, hard, because the breakup itself doesn't hurt as much as that part.

"Anyway," he says, and is about to ask if his not-soulmate wants to hear the story of how he busted his knee, it's pretty funny, actually-

"But if he wasn't your soulmate-" his not-soulmate asks, leaning toward Hob.

There hadn't been much space between them in the first place, is the thing. And now Hob's not-soulmate is leaning even closer, staring at him like an entomologist studying a particularly fascinating insect, and leaving Hob with exactly two options: tilt his head up, just a bit, and kiss him, or succumb to gravity and fall backwards into the sink.

"Hey, Hobs, I just realized-" Will says, walking into the room. He proceeds to choke on his own tongue, while Hob's not-soulmate jerks away from Hob like he's on fire, and Hob gracefully avoids the sink by falling off the counter entirely.

Will is the first to regain his composure. "Oh. Morpheus," he says, nervously, "I thought you left."

Hob looks sharply up at- at Morpheus, apparently, biting back a litany of questions. It makes sense that his aloof, mysterious stranger is the same aloof, mysterious stranger that Will credits for editing his first successful play to the point that it was a success. But with the way Will talks about Morpheus he'd been half-expecting a deity.

"I did not," Morpheus says. He's back to looking bored and regal, not a hair out of its artfully disheveled place, which is just rude given that Hob is still in a heap on the floor.

"Well if you're planning to stick around," Will says, "I'd been meaning to ask you about Midsummer-"

Morpheus' eyes light up, and he slides off the counter and sweeps out of the room, Hob clutching his candy in both hands to stop himself from physically reaching out to say, No, wait.

Will, at least, lingers for long enough to mouth, "Sorry," and shrug, before following him.

"What the fuck was that?" Hob asks aloud, when he's left alone with his bruised dignity.

The cabinets have no response.

He's not sure what he's expecting after that, but it certainly isn't for Morpheus to text him, Would you like to meet for coffee? the next day.

Of course Hob says yes.

He's smarter about it, this time. Makes sure he's seated in the café, with a double espresso and a plan, by the time Morpheus comes in. He doesn't even ask so what the fuck was that when Morpheus sits down next to him, no matter how much he wants to.

Instead, he says, "Why did you ask me to come here?" with all the frustration he'd felt the exact moment he'd hauled himself off of Will's kitchen floor, knee protesting viciously, trying to make sense of Morpheus, who'd willingly listened to him talk for close to an hour and then left without bothering to say goodbye. It's a step above what the fuck was that, but not by much.

"Because I'm interested," Morpheus says, his voice low.

"In. Me?" Hob asks.

"In your experience," Morpheus says, with more exasperation than Hob thinks is really fair for someone who just said he was 'interested' while staring at Hob's lips. "I want to know what it's like. Dating without looking for your soulmate."

Ah, Hob thinks. At least that makes sense. He's aware that avoiding his soulmate makes him an anomaly- sure, actually Waiting For Your Soulmate is less common these days than it used to be; plenty enough people are willing to have casual relationships in the meantime, but even then in the meantime is an implicit part of the equation.

He can accept it, if Morpheus' 'interest' in him is purely curiosity, as long as he knows where they stand.

And, to be honest, the fact that Morpheus is curious at all is... gratifying. Most people aren't even that.

So Hob downs his drink, grins at Morpheus, and proclaims, "It's fucking brilliant."

[Part Three]

#dreamling #unsoulmates au #my fic #I am renaming this universe because i feel like 'anti-soulmates' gives the impression that i think soulmate aus are bad or something #I do plan to write more of this #I have like. an outline and shit #but I cannot make any promises about when i will do that #i've got 17 WIPs and 0 attention spans

175 notes · View notes

patrasche-enjoyer · 8 months

Text

I suppose it is neither unfair nor untrue to say that Subaru craves connectivity to other humans, something that was certainly fostered by his youth, which was plagued by loneliness and isolation due to his more than complex relation to his father, his imposter syndrome as well has his anxiety disorder, all of which came to their worst climax in his high school years.

Of course, as soon as he is reincarnated and can "start from zero" as the title of the series would imply, he takes the opportunity to reconnect with others, as many of us would do too. However, due to the inherently isolating nature of RBD, he quickly falls back into his old habits of searching for connectivity without actually baring his true self to others. Of course RBD isn't completely at fault for such behavior, Subaru still carries wounds from his past, he never confronted his issues nor did he unlearn harmful habits, even with a "fresh start", it was impossible to truly get better.

[Side note: I do really enjoy that re:zero does not just take into account Subaru's previous life, but also the hardships he had to face back then and doesn't make them seem like lesser struggles in comparison to his newer problems]

Of course, caring about someone deeply and them forgetting about you entirely, as would be the case with RBD, could, at its worst, break almost everyone. So it is not strange, in fact, that Subaru, who is already starved for connectivity, would come across as near obsessive over the people he cared about, especially from the perspective of others who do not remember him from previous loops.

My man Otto doesn't have that fucking excuse tho, he saw Subaru for like a minute and was like "hey is anybody gonna obsesse over that?" and not wait for an answer, my man is ready to kill not just himself but eradicate entire fucking countries for Subaru, there is clearly something wrong with him and being around Subaru clearly unlocked some awful part of his brain

#re:zero #natsuki subaru #otto suwen #this isnt actually supposed to be some analysis i kinda just wanted to sound smart to make the punchline hit #it isnt wrong persay #but if u did any amount of character analysis in school u would know that im basically just stringing together bullshit #also im kinda operating on 2h of sleep here so if this doenst make sense yes it does <3

164 notes · View notes

sideshow-cellophane-blog · 7 months

Text

Flirting With Pranks

Because I wanted these two to laugh and be happy together

"Gale!"

"Astarion!"

The pale elf doubled over in his bout of hysterical laughter. He dropped his book on the ground in favor of holding his abdomen, which was tingling as his nerves were toyed with. He tried to fight the bubbling laughter before giving in to the urge - it was too strong. The tingling was turning into invisible yet solid touches, pinching up his hips and sides.

Astarion collapsed to his knees. "Whahat the FUCK Gahahale?! It tihihickles!"

"It does? Good! It's supposed to."

Astarion slapped a hand over his ear as some invisible soft instrument flicked over it. "Whyhyhy?!"

"I wanted to hear you laugh, darling. And I wanted it to be fun for you." He put his hands on his hips with a satisfied grin. He had never seen Astarion so out of control - the elf had flopped face-first to the ground and was writhing. "It lasts about as long as that laughing curse you keep casting on us in camp."

"Yohou're awful!" Astarion squealed as the tickling moved into his armpits, and his legs kicked out in wheels.

"I can't help but notice you aren't begging for it to stop, darling. Where does it tickle most? I want to know so I can focus the magic there."

Astarion was not about to tell Gale the magic all seemed to jump around his worst spots, making him spasm and twist in his giggle bouts. He couldn't, and didn't dare, imagine what it would be like for all of his worst spots to be tickled at once. His arms went up and down as his hands tried to soothe his tingling skin. "Fuhuck you!"

"More experimentation it is. I don't mind! You had me cackling like a damn loon yesterday, you know? Wyll and Karlach got the best cuts of meat for dinner and I got bone broth. Clear. Bone. Broth."

"I'm sohohorry!"

"Well yeah, you are now."

"Aha! Heh. Heheh…" The tickling slowed and disappeared, leaving Astarion panting hard on the ground. He was not left alone for long though - Gale sat himself down on the other's thighs and wriggled his fingers into the exposed stomach lying before him. "GAHAHALE!"

"I had no idea you were actually ticklish dear, I simply must try this for myself."

"Oho no you dohohon't!" A struggle ensued, or started to, because Astarion was still a panting mess from the magic tickle attack. He tried to grab Gale's hands as they snaked up his sides and to that bottom rib, but he was too clumsy and panicked to stop the wizard from making him cackle. He squeezed his eyes shut and caved as the other played his ribs like some instrument. "Nohohoho! Gale, haha, GAHALE, stahp! NAHAT THERE! THAT! HAHA! FAHACK! Yes, yehehes, gohoho bahahack dohown! Get awahay FROM OHAHAHA! THEHERE!"

Pinches turned into loops and swipes, then stopped, and Astarion's cackling slowed to gasping giggles. He managed to open his eyes and give Gale a pleading look.

"Your real laugh is adorable, you know that?" He said fondly.

"Yohou're an insufferable asshole."

"Are you going to stop casting that laughing spell on us around camp now that I perfected one of my own? Because I can tickle you all day long, darling."

"I…" His smile faltered as he thought, and it returned as a playful and practiced smirk. "As awful as that was, darling, I think it is awfully strange that you created such a playful spell just for me. That wasn't designed to be a one time use, was it? I mean, here you are, on top of me-"

"Oh my gods Astarion."

"And you know? I rather like the attention. And I think you want to make me laugh. Keep making your teasing, playful spells for me Gale, it makes me feel special. Now get off of me so I can exact my revenge when you least expect it."

"It makes you feel- oh you do want another round is what it is? Projecting your feelings onto me, like you aren't the one making us laugh first, I see right through you," His hands began to glow, but the vampire had time to recover. Astarion twisted and threw Gale off, and they wrestled for control. "I'm not giving in!…NO!" Giddy giggles filled the air as they jabbed at each other, and Gale found himself weakening to protect his sensitive stomach. "I'll blow you up you ass, you get that finger OUT of my AHA! SHIRT! "

"Found the tickle button," Astarion had gained the upper hand, literally, and kept wiggling his finger in Gale's navel. The wizard's hands fell to protect himself. "Now we…are…on…the saaaame page. I may be ticklish, but you seem to be far worse off than I. Is that why you felt the need to cheat with magic?"

Gale was giggling too hard to answer. The tables had turned and he was drained from his earlier magic use.

"This is fun dear, and now that I know you're enjoying yourself here too," Astarion paused to admire the man below him. He ran his hands over Gale's stomach to soothe his nerves. "Well," he chuckled. "I prefer being the one to make you laugh. Remember that next time you start a fight I will always finish." He collapsed beside Gale on the ground. They caught their breath together, and Astarion broke the silence once they were quiet again. "So can you teach me that spell? I want to see if Lae'Zel is-"

"No."

"But-!"

"I hate wasting a revival scroll, dear. If that power were in your hands this whole camp would either be at your mercy or I would have to keep bringing you back after they kill you."

"What if I only use it on you?"

"Even worse. If you want to tickle me you have to be brave about it."

"A challenge…I accept. Now cuddle me, if the group isn't back by sundown we can keep playing."

"Gladly, darling."

142 notes · View notes

spaceless-vacuum · 1 year

Text

Fandom‧˚｡ﾟ･° ｡✎ Legend of Zelda (age of calamity)

Pairing‧˚｡ﾟ･° ｡✎ Yandere!Calamity x reader

Word count‧˚｡ﾟ･° ｡✎ 3618

Summery‧˚｡ﾟ･° ｡✎ another prompt list thing, but this time its the revamped yandere alphabet ask game wich you can find here. i answered all of them and got a bit carried away.

Misc‧˚｡ﾟ･° ｡✎ not proofread at all I dont want to and you cant make me, stalking, kidnapping, Calamity has issues with the royal family and Zelda, i couldnt decide to place this before, during, or after the events of the game so its all a bet on which.

Affection: How do they show their love and affection? How intense would it get?

He is attached to you at the hip. It kind of throws everyone in for a loop because he follows you the same way he does the princess. Just trailing you around and making sure you get to your house safe, oftentimes he'll even go inside to make sure that you're safe there too. He doesn't involve himself in your life at first, rather hes just happy to be able to spend time with you, even if you aren't aware he's there. It can be a bit strange at times with the way he doesn't talk and just stares off into the distance or the way everyone seems to talk about the two of you even when you're not even that close yet but he seems to enjoy spending time with you. It’s hard to push him away when all he’s doing is escorting you.

Which is where things start to shift. As he gets more comfortable with you he will start to open up more. It's easy to see where his knightly training begins and doesn't really stop (he joined them around the age of twelve or something?) but he isn't always some silent statue. Rather once he starts to open up it's hard not to notice.

The way he starts moving less mechanically around your house. Slouching on the couch next to you or mumbling curses under his breath when the food doesn't turn out just right. He makes the conscious choice to put on this facade to the public and around others so much so that when he takes it off he is already confessing his love to you. It’s impossible not to notice this fact with the way he is always around you and never says why. Just that he has a desire to keep you safe.

How intense this is is how much you fight back. Won’t allow yourself to be seen with him? He'll follow you from further behind. You avoid him? Impossible, he'll just ask around and say it's an order or something. Lock all your doors? He's already requested another key from a local smith. No matter how far you get he's not that far behind you. Especially not after the towers rise and he gets to teleport all over Hyrule.

:readmore:

Blood: How messy are they willing to get when it comes to their darling?

Yes. I feel like he would be almost numb to violence to the point that the only thing that stops him is his knightly training. He can't just fight someone out of the blue, he has to reason that they deserved it because they were terrible people already. This isn't hard for him to do but he does have to make a few steps to reason out what they've done however most if not all of it is done clean and efficiently. The war claims another life and no one bats an eye.

Cruelty: How would they treat their darling once abducted? Would they mock them?

Absolutely not. Not even in a joking manner he finds that even when you jokingly pick on the ones you love it doesn't actually show that you love them; being kind no matter what is far more important than taking the time to get in a quick joke.

That being said he just does not care at all if you fight back or kick and scream because he sees it as a natural response to the situation. You won't win any of the fights and no one will ever hear your screams but he does understand why you're scared and he gives you your space. It's like having a new cat in the house. You can follow them as they explore their new home but picking them up may get you scratches!

Darling: Aside from abduction, would they do anything against their darling’s will?

He would get a kick at making you dance with him by coercing you or promising to give you a small privilege back in return. He never gets the chance to dance a lot at the balls and parties that are thrown in Hyrule castle because he has to guard the princess but he loves to do so. Makes him feel like a proper knight courting someone and he likes to treat you with proper chivalrous attitudes and gifts while pretending this is a normal relationship.

Exposed: How much of their heart do they bare to their darling? How vulnerable are they when it comes to their darling?

After the fighting is done he's a lot more open with how much he hated the part he played in the war with how useless he felt the whole time. Later he starts looking back on events like getting the mastersword and realises that everyone was wrong about him and he did do a lot of work. The fact that everyone sweeps him under the rug never goes unignored but he doesn't try to fight it much because to do so would mean fighting years worth of politics and the royalty of this decade being worse than Wild’s because they never had to admit that their plan with the guardians was the wrong way to go (cough Zelda cough) which means that any complaints fall on deaf ears. They won so that's all that matters, right?

If it's during the war he’s quiet and doesn't talk but it's really easy to tell what's on his mind. From the way he collapses next to you after a few days away fighting on the front lines or how he can't let go to say goodbye because he just ended then more minutes of this. You own his heart and it's written all over his actions but he doesn't say it much. You can tell what's up with him but not enough to know the details; all you can see are the broad strokes.

Fight: How would they feel if their darling fought back?

He does not care. You need time to adjust and that much is clear just don't hurt yourself or try to start an actual fight and you'll be allowed time and space to process your new arrangement.

Game: Is this a game to them? How much would they enjoy watching their darling try to escape?

Trying to escape or even planning an attempt is one of the worst things you can do with him. Calamity as a yandere is aware of his actions but just delusional enough to believe that you love him regardless/can learn to love him regardless. I feel like he wouldn't just up and abandon his duties but if you ran away he would have to until he could get you back. This is the most heartbreaking thing you can do with him because he needs the balance between home and work life and you were that outlet and after you leave he has to make a choice between his own selfish needs and his duty as a knight and hero. Regardless of what happens and if you're successful at walking away or not he will have a meltdown and the fallout if he manages to catch you will be severe. Even if it's not your fault someone has to take the blame for his leave of absence and he can hardly explain you away now can he?

Hell: What would be their darling’s worst experience with them?

Depending on the type of person you are it can be one of three things his lack of expression on what he wants from you, him being unaware of how his manners and actions can come off as cold or cruel, or the fact that he truly does not care what you say to him he's convinced you're in love with him and just need time to settle down.

Like on one hand not knowing what this person wants from you and him never expressing it is scary but there's ways to work around it. His noncommittal town and the way he shrugs after every question is annoying but not hostile. The militaristic attitudes and cold gleam in his eye scares you more than how uncaring he is. It's unnerving how whenever you have a thought about acting up he stares at you with a wolf's grin; almost daring you to try him so he can show you how little it would matter.

Lastly it's the delusions that get you the most. The way he acts as if this is just a nonuniform household where the homelife will just slowly get better. He expects you to be a stay at home lover with all the benefits that come with it. Hell sneaks up behind you for a kiss goodbye and gets confused as to why you move away. Him sneaking into your shared bed at night gives you a heart attack each morning because you never heard him come home much less slip into bed. Each time you show some amount of fear or hesitation genuinely doesn't register why you're upset at first. Like there is a literal brick wall between the man and what he's done. Of course he knows and the wall starts to crumble at times but is it staying up safer for you than the alternative?

Ideals: What kind of future do they have in mind for/with their darling?

A two story house with a white picket fence or the two of you travelling around Hyrule together without a care in the world. A vacation really. He just wants to live with you and get to know you and always have you by his side. Really as long as you're there with him he can settle into just about any routine.

Life isn't always so kind however. He is both tied to the royal family as a knight and unable to leave until the war is packed up, cleaned up, and the remains are nowhere to be seen because of his role as the hero and it being his job to help sort out this mess. Before and during the war he's too focused on trying to keep it all from falling apart that he can hardly give either of you a relaxing life away from it all; and afterwards he can't leave just yet. Maybe in a few years or something. Link will have to wait and see what the future holds.

Jealousy: Do they get jealous? Do they lash out or find a way to cope?

Not only does this Link get really jealous but his way of coping is to just get a house somewhere away from everyone. Deep into a forest so that your only contact is his type of jealousy. It’s not really his fault he just can't help it. With all the monsters roaming around now, the calamity acting up, and the yiga clan assassins Calamity can not and will not risk losing you. Not his shining star.

Kisses: How do they act around or with their darling?

Silent guardian or loving husband. He has two modes and I think that about sums it up. He is either falling back onto his knight training and acting like a blushing mess around you while trying to be quiet and cordial or he's holding onto you from behind layering kisses onto your neck talking about what to bring on the picnic he's planning. Once he comes out of his shell it’s hard for him to go back in. Link’s just so in love with you acting like you're already married feels so natural. The calming effect it has on him is another reason for locking you away from the rest of the world. He can hardly risk losing you, not after everything that's happened.

Love letters: How would they go about courting or approaching their darling?

Time spent together is both a love language and a stalking habit for him. It may seem like he's acting out of the blue or like everyone knows about how he feels except for you and that's because he has far too much anxiety to approach you at first. People will see how he acts around you and connect the dots but he would rather fight a hundred boblokins than approach you so his main task is to stay out of your sight until he feels safe. Once he's over the pounding in his chest when he gets close he'll start to just hover around. At this point it's up to you to talk to him or make the first move because this man will do nothing to announce himself. He'll just follow you around until the day he kidnaps you and the whiplash will be so staggering due to the fact that he just assumes you'll happily live with him.

Mask: Are their true colours drastically different from the way they act around everyone else?

Sort of? This isn't to say that his real personality is hiding away somewhere; rather , he does open up and talk to you more than he does other people. Zelda sees it sometimes, Revali likes to tease it out of him, and the other champions see it the most due to the time they all spend together. It's not like he enjoys hiding or or his knightly demeanour is a facade but he does have more to him hiding away until it feels safe to let it free again.

Naughty: How would they punish their darling?

Calamity would say that the punishment needs to be fitting of the crime so this would change depending on what you've done and the severity of the damage. Running away? You'll be chained to the bed or a wall until he's certain you won't again. Fighting him too much? Exposure therapy you have to lay with him on the bed for several hours while he cuddles you and plays with your hair. Got caught with a weapon? He'll take away all sharp objects including forks!

Oppression: How many rights would they take away from their darling?

As many as it takes to get the job done. Link knows that you won't be happy as he slowly strips you of your autonomy but if he has to for the two of you to have a happy ending together he will.

Patience: How patient are they with their darling?

He’s patient up until it starts becoming a problem. You can do whatever you want until it starts to have consequences. You can shout and holler all you want but if he gets a headache, you start to lose your voice, or if it gets a bit too loud and he's worried someone will hear you he'll put an end to it.

Quit: If their darling dies, leaves, or successfully escapes, would they ever be able to move on?

Nope! Even during the war with how many people just went missing or were lost to time he never gives up hope. He knows that you're out there somewhere. There's no way someone as sweet as you was left to rot in some field without him. The gods themselves would have to come down and relay the information before he would accept it.

Regret: Would they ever feel guilty about abducting their darling? Would they ever let their darling go?

He feels bad about the negative ways it seems to have affected you but he doesn't actually feel bad about abducting you. Just that he understands why you're upset and hates to see you in pain. You wouldn't be let go but he can be convinced to give you a shooter leash, to the point that the collar has almost fallen off. It takes a long time because he doesn't trust easy but Calamity can be talked into giving you free time alone and the option to walk around as you choose as long as he trusts you to stay one hundred percent.

Stigma: What brought about this side of them (childhood, curiosity, etc)?

A mixture of how he was raised and needing an outlet for his emotions. That isn't to say he needs an outlet for negative emotions, far from that there's plenty of enemies on the field, instead he has all these soft spots he doesn't feel safe showing anyone but you. Kidnapping you is a knee jerk reaction from him due to having this strong feeling of adoration for this diamond among coal.

Joining the knights while twelve years old, thrown into the world of politics with no prior knowledge, trusting the higher ups absolutely only to watch as their plans fail and collapse in on themselves, and knowing that everyone sees him as a figure rather than a person makes you the anomaly. You're so sweet and kind and you don't even make fun of him or talk behind his back. Your smile feels so real that he can't let go. He needs you, he needs to feel like himself again.

Tears: How do they feel about seeing their darling scream, cry, and/or isolate themselves?

It hurts him but all of your actions as long as they seem like an appropriate response for the situation make him hurt but he can hardly stop you unless it becomes an issue. You need your time to heal and adjust just like he does. If he stopped you it would only send a message that your emotions aren't important as his comfort around those emotions. A situation he's all too familiar with; so he lets you do as you will so long as you stay happy and healthy overall.

Unique: Would they do anything different from the classic yandere?

Calamity would bring you so many trophies from his time spent in the war. A lynel horn from one that snuck into an outpost. He tells you exactly what happened and how he defeated it, and oh so happily shows off the blood stained trophy while you wonder if someone so sweet looking could really do something so violent. He'll keep them around the house along with a collection of other items that he's gathered over his time travelling around Hyrule. He likes to bring you parts of the outside world so you don't grow depressed while trapped inside the house.

Vice: What weakness can their darling exploit in order to escape?

There are times he lets his guard down and those show that it is an option to try and get away, but let's be real here he can never truly let his guard down because of the stress of the world literally self destructing around him so it's pretty much impossible unless he's not around. Maybe the time he spends away from you is his biggest weakness but he can always get you back can't he?

Wit’s end: Would they ever hurt their darling?

Not on purpose. In his mind it's his job to protect you at all costs, no matter who he has to get through! Hurting you even as a form of punishment is not an option. He will find other ways around the issue because he could never bring himself to hurt you. Doesn't mean he can't intimidate you.

Xoanon: How much would they revere or worship their darling? To what length would they go to win their darling over?

Oh ok so this might get a little sappy but he spends every moment he can daydreaming about you. When he picks up an item he thinks about showing it to you so you can see the same things he does. He'll attempt to include you into every little part of his life because that's how he wants you to treat him. He wants to get to know everything about you because all those little details about you fascinate him and make him fall deeper in love with you. Watching you stand across the kitchen choosing your favourite mug makes his heart skip a beat because he knows it's your favourite and he made you clean it so you would have it this morning. His acts of love language are acts of service (such as watching over you or proving himself as courageous enough) and giving you love in the same way he wants to be loved.

He knows he can't bring you along on his adventure but he still wants you there. He can't place you in danger but him being Link is more than a title to him and the way that everyone treats it as a thing someone can fit into rather than who he is as a person makes him upset. This is to say he would like to bring you along on trips to camp and show you the countryside like he could have in breath of the wild but he is unable to in this timeline. Making bringing you items from his trips back the only way he can break this barrier without leaving you in or near an active warzone.

Yearn: How long do they pine after their darling before they snap?

Several months. He can last a few months before realising you are the sun to his moon and he has to protect that light or else he might lose it forever.

Zenith: Would they ever break their darling?

No! He doesn't want you to break, he wants you to love him as much as he loves you. This might not be entirely possible but he knows you can try. Maybe if all things work out you can even have a somewhat normal relationship if you don't mind all the rules you have to follow. It is dangerous to go alone after all.

#eye write #yandere legend of zelda #yandere link x reader #hyrule warriors age of calamity #hero of the calamity #link x reader #legend of zelda #yandere x reader #Calamity #ask game #yandere alphabet

148 notes · View notes

marypsue · 8 days

Text

I've also got three The Lost Boys AUs that I've been chewing on, only one of which has deigned to offer me anything like a 'conclusion' or even a 'plot':

It turns out that impaling a vampire does count as a first kill. As long as Michael doesn't taste human blood, though, there's still enough him left in him not to turn fully cold-blooded killer. However, a guy's still gotta eat, which is how he ends up teaming up with the Frogs to keep the Boardwalk vampire-free - and his larder stocked. This works for about eight years, until Star comes back into town, looking for help again - somebody's left a newspaper article on her doorstep about a group of kids on a surfing trip to California who'd been murdered. One of them is still missing. And Star and Michael both once knew the missing kid by the nickname Laddie. Somebody knows what happened that summer in 1987, and they're looking for revenge. And the vampire Michael thought was his first kill might not actually be all that dead...

It turns out that impaling a vampire doesn't count as a first kill, and it doesn't matter what a stake is made of so long as it pierces the heart. In the aftermath of canon, everything is normal again - until one night Michael suddenly finds himself back in the cave, with a terrifyingly familiar hunger in the core of him, surrounded by people who should be dead. Something's gone terribly wrong - nobody remembers the ambush at the cave or the fight at the house, his family are pointing crossbows and water pistols full of holy water at him, Star's not speaking to him, David's implying that the sun will crispy-fry him and that he's killed, and worst of all, Max is still dating his mom. Also, Michael's having strange dreams in which he's trapped inside his own reflection - which is made even stranger by the fact that vampires, apparently, don't dream. It takes the combined brains of three comic book nerds to work out what seems to have happened - somehow, Michael from the canon timeline has swapped bodies with the Michael from a timeline where he gave in at the bonfire. And he has to figure out a way to take care of Max and save his family in this timeline and get back to his own, fast, before the other him has a chance to ruin everything Michael had to kill for.

Westworld-inspired/time loop AU where the Frog brothers visit an escape-room-style attraction on the Santa Carla Boardwalk in the nebulous spacefuture, where the point of the game is to figure out which of a cast of artificially-intelligent meat-robot actors is behind the killings taking place in a 1987 version of the Santa Carla Boardwalk. For less paranoia-prone players, it'd be a fun immersive game. For the Frog brothers, it's an excuse to stake everything in sight (requiring them to restart the narrative multiple times), and a short descent into madness and questioning the nature of their own reality and cognition as the 'hosts' slowly become self-aware around them. Also, vampire bites can be used to transmit data packages, and I get to make fun meta jokes (the 'escape room' was previously skinned with a storyline based on Solarbabies, the movie Jami Gertz and Jason Patric were in together before TLB!).

#that last one is the closest to having an actual plan but I need to rewatch the movie to get the order of some events straight #and to pick out some lines of dialogue that I can use verbatim #normally I dislike that in fic. especially if it's whole scenes being reproduced with verbatim dialogue.#HOWEVER. when you're trying to drive home the eeriness of rehearsed repetition in what should be an original conversation?#the lost boys #the lost boys 1987

13 notes · View notes

averys-happy-space · 24 days

Text

was doodling the cinema trio and realised some design parallels & contrasts between all of them and thought id put it into a post because why not

design-wise fang and maisie are actually really really similar, ive always thought this but i didnt realise just how similar they are until i started listing all of it to someone i was talking to on discord

both wear sleeveless tops

both wear loose/puffy high rise pants, both of which are also cuffed at the bottom

both wear gloves

both have the popcorn logo somewhere on their design

both wear sneakers (whereas buster wears boots)

could argue both have unnatural/dyed hair colours, though i googled it and apparently it is possible for dark skinned people to be naturally blonde but its just v rare... rare enough that i reckon this point still stands

both have golds + reds as their accent colours - buster sorta has this but its much less obvious/striking compared to the other two

this makes it sound like buster is the odd one out which he v much is at least design wise. but he has some similarities with the others too:

all 3 wear something around their foreheads (bandana, sun visor, headband)

all 3 wear blue pants of varying shades

maisie and buster both have a tool (fire extinguisher / film projector) where fang does not

fang and buster both have something slung over one shoulder (suspender, film loop). theyre on opposite shoulders too (something something one completes the other)

and then there's the differences / contrasts:

this one blew my mind when i realised it but fang is mostly primary colours (red yellow blue) whereas buster is mostly secondary colours (orange purple green). feel like this point isn't that strong though if you consider that buster also has black & grey + blue jeans too, and fang's hair is arguably more purple than dark blue. but i still thought it was interesting enough to mention anyway. also, maisie is a mix of both palettes (red yellow blue / purple black + her skintone is an orangey brown).

fang's hair is made of sharp edges, while maisie's is categorically rounded, and buster is somewhere in the middle where he shares fang's sharp edged bangs but his hair curls around the back, making it more rounded like maisie's

they all have different eyebrow shapes (triangle, rectangle, oval). could probably make an argument for this being reflective of their personalities with fang having the most sharp edges (most aggressive, reckless, confident); maisie being sharp in the sense of being very perceptive, responsive, quick witted but still less intense than fang; and buster being the softest, most shy, most protective

their personality is reflected in their playstyles too which are all starkly different - fang is aggro, maisie is control, buster is defensive. also means their trio can be a well rounded team in 3v3s too (which they were until maisie and fang got nerfed lol)

lots of cool design choices. knowing the release order was fang -> buster -> maisie can also help explain why buster is so distinct from the other two as well i think. because stuff like the popcorn logo seems like a strange thing to leave out of his design until you realise oh, the designers probably weren't thinking of having that be the logo of the theatre the trio work at until maisie came along and they realised it'd make a good logo/emblem.

there is also something to be said about fang and maisie being so similar because at first glance you'd think they're complete opposites - one is reckless and carefree, the other is literally a safety coordinator. that's definitely the impression you'd get from watching the animations from maisie's release as well. but maisie's bio admits that she lowkey enjoys dangerous situations and i think deep down she is actually very similar to fang in that they're both thrill seekers. she's still far better at keeping a level head when things go wrong than he is though

buster and fang being opposites is also really cute, at least to me. opposites attract and all that. i also think buster's actually a lot smarter than the maisie release animation gives him credit for, especially considering he was able to customise a film projector from the theatre for his own personal use. writing this now though i think one thing they do have in common is they're both pussies lol. as much as i hate the willow release art where fang is in shelly's arms, i do like the idea of him being a total wimp, just because it directly contrasts against all his other personality traits. buster is also clearly easily spooked if you look at his release animations in the ghost station. but he still saves gus in that one animation and i think thats indicative of his bravery - he'll always do the right thing even if it scares the shit out of him. fang, uh... probably not as reliable for that lol

#might be the mayor of yapperville with this post #incredible what my brain can do when it wants to think about anything other than school #brawl stars #ave rambles

13 notes · View notes

naivesilver · 4 months

Text

Self-fulfilling prophecies, or: I think Rumple and Blue messed up big time, folks

Disclaimer: I am a comparatively recent OUAT fan, so while smarter people probably thought this through before I even watched the show, I have never seen it happen and thus can't know if I'm stating the obvious. Please bear with me, this is going to be a long post.

So prophecies! OUAT has a lot of those. There is an entire wiki section about them, and most of the early ones are offered to us by Rumpelstiltskin, because as we know, he gained the power of foresight from the Seer. But what exactly did said Seer tell Rumple, when she relinquished her power to him?

What we gather from the (cryptic) explanations that we get is that with foresight, you can see all the ways the future might untangle, and practising+physically approaching the time of the events make you able to discern which of those paths will ultimately be the right one. Bae's destiny after the Seer's first on-screen prophecy proves that while the future is highly dependent on people's actions, they cannot forcefully steer it in the direction they want - Rumple thought he could avoid losing his son by crippling himself, but in doing so he followed EXACTLY the road that had been paved for him.

We don't know, however, what would have happened if he hadn't spoken to the Seer. SHE knew, presumably, that by drawing him close she would put the doubt in his mind, but it's unclear whether he would have still left his son fatherless by dying on the battlefield or something entirely different would have happened. We don't know - and Rumple doesn't, either.

Here's the catch, though: everything he does in the first few seasons follows the same pattern of that night in the army, blindly assuming that it makes a difference. He micromanages every main character's life because he sees them as pieces of the bridge he HAS to build to reach Bae. He doesn't account for things going wrong because he thinks they can't, and he's fucking EVERYWHERE anyway, so nothing can slip out of his fingers.

But what if THAT is what actually cements this timeline as the "definitive" one? The Seer told him he would find his son again, he could have simply bid his time and waited knowing this would be the result anyway. When his first apprentice disappoints him as the curse-caster, Regina and her grudges still happen, after all. He probably didn't need to do anything to ensure it - if he'd just leaned back and spun his little wheel, the future would have come around on its own, one way or another. But he doesn't, and instead sets in motion a very specific chain of events, and thus the show happens.

Why would he do that? Maybe he didn't learn how to parse through his visions correctly and he thinks this is a "will be" future and not a "can be" one. Maybe that first prophecy didn't teach him anything, and he still thinks he can cheat destiny (as proven by the fact that when learning that a boy will be his undoing, he refuses to accept it, believing he can just kill said boy before it happens). Maybe he thinks he's like MCU Doctor Strange, who sees thousands of possible outcomes and makes sure the one that leads him to Bae the quickest will happen. I have no clue. But what I think has happened is that for any of these reasons, he made this destiny happen by KNOWING it would happen (or believing it would, as you'd have it), thus fulfilling the prophecy by willingly acting on it.

So Rumple fucked himself over, big deal. We have seen it happen multiple times after s3. But you know who else might have unknowingly led the future where she thought it'd go, in this endless loop we have just described?

At this point in the story we don't really have proof of whether Blue has prophetic powers of her own or she's just going off Rumple's words, but it does seem to me that the way she's telling the story has a bit more nuance than his version did during the Charmings' visit to the cell. So either she went back to pry further, from a man that she generally does NOT trust...or somehow, she's autonomously privy to details most of the others don't have.

But what does she DO with that knowledge? Does she work with what she has to guarantee Emma will fulfil her destiny? Does she trace very clear boundaries for everyone to stay within to adhere to her plan? No. She lets Geppetto convince her to lie. She allows him to risk jeopardizing the safety of an ENTIRE kingdom in the span of five minutes, which makes no fucking sense considering she has never shied away from weaponizing her influence for the sake of what she thinks is the greater good (which in turn is what made people think she was the villain all along, but I digress).

Moreover, some of my friends once had a discussion that, everything else aside, made me realize how fucking dumb it was of Blue to just LEAVE when Geppetto had threatened to do as he pleased with the wardrobe. What kinda preparations did she have to do, literal HOURS before a curse where she would lose all her free will and magic anyway? It was pointless at best, detrimental at worst, and the way I see it, PREMEDITATED to begin with, because while I utterly despise Blue and would have no problem calling her an idiot, this would objectively be a bad move. She could have literally lied to Geppetto about what kind of person could go in the wardrobe, or used magic to prevent the worst from happening. She has done similar things, before AND after that moment.

If she indeed knew, either because of Rumple or her own abilities, how shit was "meant" to go down, it's not too far-fetched to assume she might have acted accordingly in an attempt to guarantee the success of this plan. Even if there had been other possible paths to take, e.g. worlds where Emma might have gone to the LWM with either of her parents, and EVEN IF Rumple hadn't already prevented those variables from happening by that point...if Blue thought the only way for it to work was to stick to the timeline she had envisioned, then there was nothing anyone else could do.

To sum up this theory: Rumple sees the chain of events that develops through show canon, and either decides or mistakenly believes it will be made true, putting all his effort into ensuring it does. Blue makes the same mistake (depending on how you see it, obviously) and instead of forcing people's hands to change the course, allows Geppetto to make what she thinks is an unavoidable decision. By doing so, BOTH of them fulfil what they think is an already written future, but might have still only been one of the various options available among endless variables.

Besides, if they HAD realized that they'd fucked up in hindsight, I doubt they would have admitted to it. It would have been too late by then: knowing them, they would have felt forced to stick to their guns, to avoid considering the possibility to have made a mistake - ESPECIALLY Blue, who was already responsible for the start of this avalanche, what with giving Bae the bean and suggesting the curse to Rumple. It's hard to believe they would have been able to live with themselves, if they'd taken the option into account.

And in the end, what are the results of this proactive decision? Rumple and Bae's reunion is angry, unsatisfying and with catastrophic consequences for the whole family. Emma grows up alone, forced into a destiny she did not sign up for, having been ten minutes old at best. And as for the third victim of prophetic crimes...

Without these beliefs, solid or imaginary that they might be, there is a chance nothing would have gone as we know: the 28 years gap might have meant something else entirely, a lot of people would have been spared the pain, and an external hand would have prevented Pinocchio from being sent on an impossible mission, with a baby and no tools to navigate this world in his hands. Another child lost to the Land Without Magic as a pawn in a game played by two magic users who each thought they were outwitting the other - at least Emma got to grow and heal throughout the show, as an ADULT.

Did Pinocchio?

(OOF. This is almost certainly not what the writers had in mind when they planned the plot of this series. I am, unfortunately, aware of that. But I still think it's worth being put into words as a theory - I probably didn't formulate it as coherently as I hoped, but maybe the message will still filter through, despite the fact that I am 1) overtly verbose 2) tragically Italian. Unforgivable sins, both of them LMAO)

#FINALLY I've been thinking about this for two years #and I've probably typed it in the most stupid way known to mankind #but hey at least it's done #ouat #once upon a time #rumpelstiltskin #blue fairy #neal cassidy #august booth #ouat meta #ouat theories

18 notes · View notes

jokersenpai-thenavigator · 1 month

Text

Oxenfree

*Spoilers for an 8yo game!*

Oxenfree’s story isn’t terribly complex. It takes maybe 4 - 6 hours to beat, depending on how much of the collectable content you’re aiming to grab. Game play primarily consists of walking around the island, talking to your friends, and fiddling around with your pocket radio.

But DAMN does Oxenfree do well in its execution.

The aforementioned radio, as your primary means of interacting with the island, is an amazingly implemented mechanic. You can go through the entire game, only using it for its intended purpose, and it is entirely valid.

But.

If you take the time to scroll through the radio stations in different locations - even outside of the “anomaly” areas - you’ll get little pieces of information and world building.

Music stations exist, though they only play music from the 1940’s.

Certain stations in certain places will broadcast messages in Morse code, which, coupled with the opening call signs from the anomaly stations and the freaking beats in the game’s main music track, led to an ARG back in 2016 when the game was released.

Sometimes, you’ll get clips from old interviews.

And sometimes…you’ll hear yourself. Having conversations that haven’t happened.

And that’s just the radio mechanic.

Another main gimmick of the game are time loops. You’ll occasionally get stuck in a loop, only able to escape once an old magnetic tape player appears, allowing you to break through the frequency of the loop. The time loop will visually appear on the screen as almost VHS quality static, like the world around you is physically being paused and rewound each time you make it to the edge of the loop.

The screen distorts with static, gets flipped upside down and your dialogue choices reversed, still images of nautical blueprints and old photographs flash for a brief second. In the background, seemingly innocent trees and stones will twist and distort into towering monsters, eyes glowing bright against the darkness of the island, there for only a second, leaving you to wonder if you actually saw something, or if it was just your imagination.

There are moments in the game where Alex’s reflection will speak to her, giving her advice. At the moment, the information seems…strange. Nonsensical. You tell yourself to let Jonas speak to his mom - who is dead. You tell yourself to let Michael know to stay with Clarissa - despite Michael having died years ago.

The information doesn’t make sense…until you approach the end of the game. And then you have to decide whether or not to believe your reflection, and make your choices, until at the very end of everything…after everything that you’ve experienced in your play through, everything you’ve learned…you have to tell your past self what to do. The entire time, it was you.

The game ends, your futures are set…and then, as Alex is narrating her closing statements…the audio distorts. Alex says that she has to pick up Jonas for Ren’s trip to the island. The screen gets staticky, and goes black.

And then fades in on Ren, describing the history of Edward Island.

You are on a boat.

At the beginning of the game.

And you are aware that you’ve been here before.

**Link to information on the ARG, because HOLY SHIT I WISH I COULD HAVE BEEN THERE FOR THIS!!! https://wiki.gamedetectives.net/index.php?title=Oxenfree#:~:text=The%20Morse%20code%20in%20the,to%20go%20to%20Edwards%20Island.

#video games #oxenfree #review i guess #or not so much a review but me squeeing about it to myself #spoilers on an 8yo game #srsly tho #i do wish i could've gotten in on the arg #this game is so good #i also had a thing about whether or not the dog images were a dr who reference #bad wolf and all that #time travel and whatnot to stop your past selves and all #but i haven't seen anyone else go there so

9 notes · View notes

prettyskitty973 · 1 year

Text

<A video is imbedded:

The shot opens over a large grazing pasture. The sky is grey with rainclouds although it seems to be more of a drizzle than proper rain.

Whoever is holding the camera doesn't say anything as the video starts, but rather switches the angle to landscape view before focusing the lens on a flock of mareep and flaffy in the distance.

'Go to work.' A strange phrase out of context, but after a few seconds a manetric appears running at full tilt towards the flock, away from the camera man. The mareep immediatly begin avoiding the dog 'mon, which takes a wide arc around them and causes the entire flock to begin moving towards the camera.

The cameraman turns away and a hand is seen opening a gate, and dragging the wooden barbed wire fence outwards. The camera turns back to the manetric, who has successfully manuvered the mareep into a position where most of the flock willingly wanders into the open gate.

As the dog mon loops around the right side to 'motivate' stragglers, a single large teal colored mareep makes a break for it off the left side. The free hand of the cameraman comes up and a sharp whistle almost peaks the mic. The manetric perks up, notices the runaway and almost effortlessly intercepts the rebel.

The mareep puts up a fuss - to the point of releasing what could easily be recognized as a thundershock to most trainers.

The manetric seems unaffected by the attack - and has an almost unimpressed expression on its face - before baring sharp teeth and escorting the sheep back to the open gate with snarling and not a small amount of snapping at at its heels. (A trained eye would also notice that not once does the manetric actually touch the mareep - the bites are placed where the pokemon was, not where it would be.)

After the last sheep is secured behind the fence, and the latch shut, the cameraman gives the manetric a pat on the head, and the command 'Stand Down.'

The dog 'mon begins trapsing across the empty field, and halfway through lies on its back and does a good old fashioned victory wiggle in the grass.

End Video.>

@team-violence. Aggression >:)

#irl pokemon #pokeblogging #working pokemon #Pads the Manetric #team calm #team violence

29 notes · View notes

shittingtears · 2 years

Note

hi! can i request viper, reyna and cypher confessing their love to the reader? im never able to find something for viper and i really love ur writing style, so that would be lovely! thanks in advance!

Confessions

Viper, Reyna, Cypher x reader

Mentions of a gun shot wound

Sure thing! I'm glad you enjoy my writing style, you don't know how big I smiled reading this, thank you so much 😢❤ hope you enjoy!

Viper

• Although cruel, there's a spot in her that's been longing for you, to tell you how she feels.

• If she likes you, she really likes you, no in between.

• And if she wants something, she will make sure she has it.

• At first was in denial about her feelings.

• "This is a distraction to my work." "These feelings are childish."

• Thought her feelings would disappear, but now she's far down too deep.

• When she's accepted how she feels, she starts hinting things and talking to you more.

• Pushes her pride down and confesses to you, but not before weighing out the possible outcomes.

• She isn't scared of rejection, but does not want to tarnish the relationship you both had before.

• Definitely daydreams about you in her lab and just being there with her.

• Most likely would confess out of nowhere and be really blunt about it.

----

The other day Viper had request for your help in her laboratory, which is why you're now sitting and watching her mix some sort of chemicals together.

For awhile now Vipers been inviting you at least once a week to her laboratory, saying she needs help with some sort of project.

But whenever you're there she just asks you to hold a jar or to write something down, easy stuff.

Not that you didn't enjoy her presence.

You watched as her gloved hands skillfully measured out liquids, picking up the beaker of who knows what before noting down an observation.

Too caught up in watching her do her thing you didn't notice her calling for your attention.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked, tone flat, strangely you could hear.... concern?

You quickly dismissed the thought, dating Viper? Never happening.

"It's nothing, just spacing out."

Shamelessly, a smirk grew up her face, "You know, you're really cute."

Your eyes went wide and jaw dropped, face on fire. You were too stunned to speak.

She set her stuff down and looped around the table, removing her gloves before tilting your chin up with the tip of her finger.

You saw how her eyes looked down to your lips before looking right at you.

"I like you, come to my office tomorrow if you'd like to go on a date with me."

----

Of course you came to her office.

----

Reyna

• Very passionate about you for sure.

• Likes you? No, loves you, and she's sure of that.

• Much like Viper, although cruel and monstrous, she has a soft spot for you.

• Makes it obvious she likes you, always saying something good about you whether it be on the battle field or not.

• Seems to be playful about it, which gives off mixed messages. 'Does she like me or...?'

• Already is aware of your interest in her, which is a boost to her being so bold around you.

• Will do anything to protect you and keep you safe, even from herself.

• Which is why she avoided actually confessing.

• But since she liked you so much she couldn't help but flirt.

• Wasn't aware of how her mixed signals are frustrating you.

• Only ended up confessing when she was made aware.

----

You sighed as you laid on your bed, staring up at the ceiling as your thumb and pointer finger pinched the bridge of your nose.

You knew it was childish to be this upset, but it's hard not to be when the person you like will constantly flirt with you for weeks but not explain anything.

You were confused, 'Does she like me like that or is she just being friendly?'

But friends don't say 'I wanna eat you up in more than one way' in Spanish...'

Your face went red remembering that day.

You flipped to plant your face against your pillow and started to kick and punch out of frustration.

You stopped when you heard a knock at your door.

A groan slipped past your lips as you reluctantly stood up to open it.

"Yes?" You pat down your disheveled hair, not really caring about being seen like this.

"Oh uh, you good?"

"Not now Phoenix, what do you want?" You said with a scowl on your face, today was not your day at all.

"Woah, wrong side of the bed I see. Brimstone said we gotta meeting in 5." He held his hands up defensively.

"Ah." You remembered, "Okay." You shut the door in his face before rushing to look less like a mess. Hopefully looking good will make you feel good.

----

You were now sitting with the rest of the agents, mood just as sour as before.

"Now since everyone is here..." Brimstone started the meeting right away.

----

"And that's it for that, you all can go now." Everyone got up to leave, including you before you felt a hand on your shoulder.

"Hola, Y/N, you look tired today? Up thinking about someone?" She had a playful grin on her face as she said so.

You stopped in your tracks and look her dead in the eye, something you never found yourself being able to do before.

"Yeah, actually Reyna. I was up all night thinking about you, happy to hear that?"

She frowned a bit, the woman was too stunned to speak. That was highly uncharacteristic of you.

"It's so frustrating." You rant, "Do you like me? Like as in like-like? Because I like you a lot and it's hard when you keep sending in all these mixed messages."

"Well then I'm happy to let you know that I'd like to take you out on more than one date."

She didn't think you'd ever say anything like that, which pushed her to confirm how she really feels.

And only now did you realize what was happening when her lips formed into a wide smirk.

----

Cypher

• He's a lonely guy, probably swallowed up in the countless secrets he holds and painful memories of the past

• But when he sees you it's like life isn't so bad.

• Realized his feelings the day he noticed that around you he didn't feel so lonely anymore.

• Has lost his family, and can't afford losing whatever relationship he has with you if he were to tell you about his feelings.

• Fears rejection big time.

• He also doesn't feel like he wouldn't be able to give enough.

• So he kept that all to himself for awhile.

• Until he couldn't.

• Doesn't confess to you out of choice.

• Instead, he confesses to you under the pressure of a situation.

• But that doesn't mean he doesn't mean it.

----

You were hiding behind generator in A site of Ascent, eavesdropping on enemy Brimstone and Jett. Thankfully, they didn't know you were in site.

Today's mission was to collect info and leave, make sure to not engage in fights until absolutely necessary.

The best person to be with for this mission? Cypher.

You looked over at his camera as it started to blink red.

It looked towards you as you heard a voice over the comms.

'How is it going over there?'

You gave him a thumbs up to show that you were doing fine.

Until a bullet went through the box you were behind and right into your arm.

Your eyes widened in shock, too stunned to speak as you gripped the hem of your shirt in pain.

'Fuck fuck fuck.' you thought, heart racing. 'They know I'm here shit.'

"Oops! Sorry Brim, didn't mean to shoot." Enemy Jett apologized.

Your eyes went big, relieved to know that they weren't aware of your presence.

You begin to asses your situation holding back grunts of pain to not ruin the mission. 'I can handle this.' you repeated over and over in your head, as if to convince yourself.

A circle of darkness started to cloud your eyes and your ears rang, head spinning as the voices faded away.

Too tired to worry about them finding you, your eyes threatened to dropped shut before you heard two bangs and the plop of bodies hitting the ground.

You looked up at Cypher who quickly dropped down from heaven, rushing to help you out.

"Hey hey, no, don't close your eyes wake up." He grabbed the sides of your head and shook you.

You hissed in pain and glared at him, "But I'm sleepy let me sleep."

"I will not let you sleep forever!" He said, voice laced with anxiousness as he wrapped something around your arm to lessen the blood loss.

"Sage come in as fast as you can we need a healer in A site." He said over the comms while he checked for any more wounds.

"I'm fineeeee."

Your eyes started to shut close again, causing him to panically expose himself.

"You can't die now I like you too much!"

"You wha-"

You were cut off when Sage hurriedly came from heaven to shove an orb in you.

----

Now in the safety of the blinding white infirmary at base, you couldn't forget the words Cypher blurted out to you when you were still the brink of death.

'Should I bring it up to him or....'

You heard a knock before someone walked in.

"Y/N." He shut the door behind him, sitting himself on the stool next to your bed.

"Look-"

The both of you interrupted each other.

You gave him the signal to go first.

Get cleared his throat before continuing.

"About what I said back there, I'm sorry if it makes things between us awkward. It's not my intention to make you uncomfortable." You could hear the sincerity in his voice, causing you to frown.

"Will you take that apology back if I ask you to go on a date with me when I'm out if here?"

You watched as his head shot up, no longer looking gloomy.

#Valorant #Valorant x reader #Viper Valorant #Viper x reader #Reyna Valorant #Reyna x reader #Cypher Valorant #Cypher x reader

339 notes · View notes

gaywatch · 7 months

Note

I need more music to listen, so unleash your reccomendations

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh dear I never get to talk about music enough so pardon me if I explode all over you

(Links are to songs that are both faves and good places for a newcomer to start.)

Taylor Swift - Yeah yeah she's a household name but no kidding, she has 10 albums spanning several genres and I can guarantee you that she has at least some songs that you will permanently add to your rotation. Google around for a good place to start and dive in (...or just ask me because I will gladly help you out).

Taemin - He's been known as 'the Michael Jackson of kpop' for years now, but what's wild is that he started at Michael and has since grown into a dancer and performer all his own. The only kpop artist I fully stan. His singles never. ever. miss.

Delta Rae - Incredible folk/country/Americana band from the state I live in with male and female vocalists. They are criminally underrated because they were liberal country artists before that was even remotely possible. Seen them live twice, met them twice, they are the most genuine people and outstanding artists.

Amanda Palmer - Originated as The Dresden Dolls, a duo that invented the 'punk cabaret' indie subgenre, and has been a solo artist for like 15 years at this point? Intense piano, intense lyrics, intense everything (the linked song is the anthem for girls with daddy issues). Objectively the most personal lyrics I've ever heard. Voice may take a second to adjust to. Not made for mainstream and doesn't want to be. One of the most important artists to me, personally.

Marianas Trench - Pop/punk perfection (but also simply genre chameleons) with a musical mastermind at its core. One of the best vocalists. Most albums end with an opus arrangement of the songs that came before and it's life changing.

Pink - People don't realize how powerful her vocals are and how incredible her lyricism can be. A pop icon. This bitch raised me, forever grateful.

Halsey - If all you know is Without Me and Closer, you haven't heard Halsey. Every album is outstanding but hopeless fountain kingdom doesn't have a single misplaced sound. It's pretty freakish actually.

Chvrches - Sheer and utter synthpop perfection, every single song. The one I linked is one of my favorite songs of all time, period.

MUNA - Queer girls making queer indie pop. Great lyrics, immaculate vibes. Recently opened for Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour, and well deserved.

The Midnight - 80s/90s synth like you can't even believe. Saxophone for days.

Imogen Heap - A genius and pop legend. Her greatest song was sampled in something god awful and got meme-d to death, I don't wanna talk about it. If a pop artist does breathy vocals, 95% chance they're doing it because of Imogen. She sang me happy birthday. Haven't been alive since.

Rina Sawayama - THIS BITCH. Falls under pop but never met a genre she couldn't master. Stayed in the game into her late twenties (which is geriatric by pop standards), when she finally blew up a bit. A variety of sounds, some of them strange, but all of them brilliant in one way or another (even if you don't personally vibe with it).

Troye Sivan - Twink icon whose first two albums were as gay as they were pop brilliance. I don't care much for his newest work, but you might.

Alice Merton - She's the girl with that Roots song from a few years back. Two albums now, both genius. Unique voice, varied sound but with a distinct Florence oomph to it.

Ava Max - UN. DER. RATE. D. Classic, anthemic pop. Vocals for DAYS. Music so infectious you have it on loop for days. So much more than Sweet but Psycho.

Kesha - I prefer recent Kesha to her classic dance pop madness, personally. She grew into an amazing artist who can blend her weird ass dance flavor with her more mature sounds in a way that doesn't really seem possible.

Bishop Briggs - Nobody has a voice like this. A sort pop/alternative vibe that can be anthemic as easily as it can be dark.

The Chicks - Icons for a reason. Their most recent album, written by the main lyricist after leaving her husband of 20 years for cheating on her left right and sideways, is one of the best break up albums of all time. Period.

The Civil Wars - They only lasted long enough to make two albums, but both are flawless. Nobody will ever harmonize quite like them. Folk/country in the most *beautiful* way possible.

Evanescence - 2000s rock with with a stunning female writer and vocalist whose melodies are simply beyond compare when we're talking about their stuff from 2003-2006. Goth, dramatic, hard hitting, cathartic.

Freya Ridings - Adele but make it a touch more contemporary. Gorgeous deep voice, lots of ballads but her up tempo stuff is just as good.

Billie Eilish - If you haven't heard her first album yet or her early EPs, you need to. Nobody that young should have that much of a grasp of music and her place in it.

Foxes - Underrated pop queen! I have yet to hear a bad song from her, but her latest album is quintessential synthpop mastery.

Jukebox the Ghost - Piano pop/rock. It's actually too much fun to listen to them, tbh.

Kelly Clarkson - Listen, her latest album follows directly after The Chicks' on the string of ultimate divorce albums we've gotten from pop icons lately. I've loved Kelly forever, but in bits and pieces. Her latest album is her strongest project to date, easily.

Labrinth - I do not comprehend what this genius does with music. Electronic, experimental, metaphorical, personal, just something else. Did the music for Euphoria, but his first solo album was an experience and a half.

Lorde - Everybody tells you to listen to Melodrama because you should.

Maisie Peters - Everybody calls everybody else 'the next Taylor Swift,' and they're wrong. It's this girl.

Marina and the Diamonds - SUCH a unique voice, lyrics that are way too smart for mainstream pop.

Patrick Wolfe - A deep-voiced violinist who released a pop album in 2011 that I still listen to because I'm a sucker for pop laced with classical instruments and it's just that good.

Owen Pallett - A higher-toned violinist with more of an indie approach, coming up with concepts and melodies that would go well with an A24 film.

Emilie Autumn - Violin-fueled industrial/pop/metal, often with Victorian leanings. Visceral lyrics on mental illness, depression, bipolar, suicidal ideation, sexual assault, sometimes with a satirical bent or through a historical lens. Voice might take a second to get used to, it's unique and she does unique things with it (including "ugly" sounds on purpose) but once it clicks it clicks hard. Opheliac and Fight Like A Girl are good starting places.

The Veronicas - Underrated (yet oddly influential?) pop icon twins from the early 2000s to now. Killer voices, KILLER pop.

#GW Asks #Music Recs #...for starters lol

15 notes · View notes

yanderes-galore · 2 years

Note

I request yandere hank (from madcom obv) with an agent from A.A.H.W darling

Yeah sure! My first actual Madness Combat request that isn't the Emoji game stuff I did ^^. Enemies to One-sided Lovers let's go-

I hope it's good! First time writing Madness and all-

Yandere! Hank J. Wimbleton with A.A.H.W! Darling

Concept

Pairing: Romantic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Attempted murder, Kidnapping, Implied stalking, Manipulation, Intimidation, Forced relationship, One-sided love, Murder/Death mention, Sadism.

- You're already miserable as is....

- The A.A.H.W has poor working conditions and you're already under the constant threat of being murdered.

- Via the Auditor, Hank himself, or an experiment gone wrong....

- You're already rather on edge in your suit, the weapon you wield being a basic handgun.

- You are aware your purpose is to be fodder.

- Yet you don't have a choice.

- When you finally meet Hank J. Wimbleton, you give it your all.

- You do what you can when it comes to damaging him.

- You at least show more skill than other agents your rank....

- Enough to win mercy from the murderous man.

- Hank doesn't talk much and he himself isn't too sure why he hasn't killed you like the rest.

- You have mixed emotions about the position you're in, he can tell.

- Even when you're pinned to the floor, his weapon pointed at your face, you hold your gun at him.

- Even when you know you'll die either way you persevere....

- Which may have been what made Hank leave you be.

- Mercy is normally never in Hank's vocabulary.

- He takes joy in mowing through Grunts like they were nothing.

- However, here he is, gazing thoughtfully at the now unconscious agent in front of him.

- He leaves you be, continuing on with his goal whatever it may be.

- Hank's sudden act of mercy scares you.

- What will the Auditor say about this?

- Is Hank just saving you for later?

- What made you catch his eye?

- Hank is a very hard Yandere to read.

- You won't entirely know why he likes you, he just does.

- Completely by chance it seems.

- This is not the first encounter you have with him, either.

- Far from it.

- You'll meet him again, this time with somewhat better gear.

- Then you'll see, once Hank catches sight of you, he ignores everyone else and beelines it for you.

- Others can try to stop him, you can also try to run, but he has a goal.

- He doesn't care about the other Grunts or agents. He'll end them with ease if they try to stop him.

- He wants this one.

- Hank wants you.

- Once he catches you he just... stares.

- His grip is tight around you, you hear faint pants from behind his mask.

- Hank likes to look at you.

- Even if you are on opposite sides, you trying to kill him and failing miserably, he finds himself adoring how you feel against him.

- Sure, you're fighting him when he pins you in a secluded place....

- But you're just so pretty to look at.

- You didn't think your job could get any worse.

- Yet now you are learning that Nevada's most wanted is obsessed with you.

- Hank plays this little game of chase for awhile before he finally shifts to just, stealing you from your place of work.

- You can't tell if you're relieved or terrified....

- You were almost used to the threats with working for A.A.H.W.

- Now you had to figure out if you could survive with Hank breathing down your neck and dragging you around Nevada.

- Hank's also incredibly close to you all the time even if you fight him about it.

- He's like a strange cat.

- Observing you and yearning for you to touch him for affection.

- Your touch surprisingly calms this murderous beast.

- Even if you're aggressive he finds it cute and funny when you pound against his chest/back.

- Don't worry about Deimos and Sanford not trusting you, Hank makes it clear why you're here.

- Hank's weird obsession over this one agent actually throws the two for a loop-

- Hank also doesn't want the agency finding you, fearing they'd terminate you.

- So you're forced to give up that suit and shades you grew accustomed to-

- Instead you'll be given clothing he managed to collect. (Probably from dead bandits or something-)

- That way no one can find you/recognize you.

- No one would want to mess with who Hank cares about anyways, unless they have a death wish.

- You aren't sure if your odds for survival increased or decreased after this.

#yandere madness combat x reader #yandere madness combat #yandere madness combat hank #yandere hank j wimbleton

120 notes · View notes

blackbutler-readerinsertsandjunk · 10 months

Note

can u do Grell Sutcliffe with a s/o who is always tired and works a lot (they can be a reaper if u want) and finally gets time to spend with grell??

it's me, I'm the tired works a lot bitch

and God I need to sleep all snuggled up with Grell, I'm pretty sure it would solve 99% of my problems <3 <3 <3

Honestly, GRELL has been looking forward to the day that they and (Name) have some time off together.

Sometimes it seems like all the two of them do is work. Grell slacks off as much as possible, but sadly enough, (Name) is a hard worker and falls asleep shortly after getting home at night. Grell supposes they can’t blame their poor dear… it’s just frustrating, being wide awake for hours while their other half is fast asleep.

Today, though, they’re finally off for a day at the same time. Grell doesn’t work today, and thank God, neither does (Name). Grell really should have something bigger planned than they do; strangely enough for someone like them, a quiet day around the house sounds more perfect than anything else. Currently they’re cuddled up with (Name) on the sofa, reading the latest romance novel that Grell has decided is their favorite.

About the time their own eyes start to feel a bit heavy ― perhaps they’ve been working harder than they thought ― is when they notice their lover nuzzling against their neck. It seems like (Name) is starting to get sleepy despite the fact that it’s barely afternoon.

The morning was kind enough, lunch is done with, and now it feels as if all the work they’ve both been up to has caught up with them. Grell blinks a few times in a desperate attempt to keep themself from drifting off. It’s fruitless, though, as an insistent yawn interrupts them when they try to read the next line of the book.

“Let’s not fight it,” (Name) sighs, followed by a yawn of their own. “We’ll be sleeping together, at least… that’s something, isn’t it?”

Grell lets out a soft huff before they close the book and set it down on the side table. It’s followed in short order by their glasses, chain and all, then they gently guide (Name) down so that Grell is lying on top of them. They prefer it this way… it makes them feel delicate and cared for, when their lover loops an arm around their waist. “Yes, well… I suppose, technically, it is indeed something.”

They close their eyes, and they have to admit, they’re glad that they’re getting to fall asleep with (Name) instead of carrying them to bed and then slipping in once (Name)’s already been asleep for a while. There’s something rather romantic about using their treasured day off to laze around with the person they love.

“Mmh… a nap isn’t a bad idea, anyway. You and I need to stop working so much.” They nestle their face into that incredibly secure spot between (Name)’s neck and shoulder which always makes them feel safe. “We’ll still get up in time to do something else together, I’m sure. Love you, darling.”

(Name)’s other hand strokes affectionately through Grell’s hair, and it’s one of their favorite feelings in the world. “Love you too, sweetheart.”

Maybe it isn’t the way the two of them intended to spend their day off together, but neither of them is actually complaining about how it’s turned out.

#Black Butler #Kuroshitsuji #Grell #Grell Sutcliff #scenario #romantic #fluff #domestic #slice of life #AAAAAA I LOVE THEM I wanna take a nap with them ;w;#one hell of a queue

12 notes · View notes

averagejoesolomon · 2 months

Text

lmao, good luck you guys, I'm crying for so many different reasons rn. Please have so much fun with this one. If you're new here, you can read all of Full Circle on Ao3. Enjoy!

Chapter Eight

Matt’s never found a safe house shower that’s left him satisfied, but this one does a decent job of washing the Bolshoi down the drain. He gets a full ten minutes before the hot water runs cold, which gives him just enough time to find the start of a plan in the grout between each tile. The middle of his plan comes to him in the steam-shrouded path between bathroom and bedroom, while the end reveals itself at the bottom of his go-bag, right next to his favorite pair of wool socks. By the time he finally spots the passports, he already knows exactly how to sneak them out of the house, and exactly how to get them back.

Rachel's left the leather messenger bag completely unattended, looped around a golden hook on the back of the bedroom door. It hangs with a lopsided lilt, slouching under the weight of nearly a dozen different identities, and Matt reckons he could reach right for it. Pluck it from the hook and strap it over his shoulder. Take it before Rachel even knew it was gone, and leave her with all the plausible deniability in the world.

Except he hasn’t made up his mind quite yet. And anyway, he really ought to put on some pants before he fully commits to violating the Espionage Act.

“Oh.” It’s the last voice he wants to hear right now. It’s the first voice he wants to hear, always. Both. “Sorry, I didn’t realize—”

As the door swings open, Rachel stops short in the archway, her hair still wavy and wet with the smell of sage and lavender shampoo. He sometimes forgets—although he doesn’t know how—just how many freckles she has when she’s not all made up, especially in the summer months. He can always tell when she’s fresh off the plane from Italy, or France, or Spain, betrayed by the hundreds of little spots sprinkled across a sun-kissed red. He sees that same rosy color in her cheeks now, although that’s probably got less to do with recent European excursions, and much more to do with the fact that Matt is wearing nothing but a towel.

Matt blinks, unsure of the protocol in this particular situation. “No trouble,” he says. “You, uh, looking for something?”

“You.” Rachel doesn’t blink. Not even once. “I was looking for you.”

She seems to have that much covered. In fact, she’s looking at him more than she’s looking for him, with all the same attention to detail she brings to every other facet of her life. Dark eyes slip across his torso like she’s taking in the layout, making note of every entrance, every route, every room she wants to hit along the way. In this particular department, Matt’s got nothing to hide—a clandestine lifestyle does plenty of favors for a fella’s core strength, to say nothing of all those dawns spent lagging behind Joe as they run laps up and down the Mall—but it’s strange to be on the receiving end of such a tactical and overt scan. Stranger still that he might like it.

He really likes it, actually.

The longer her look lingers, the more he’s able to settle into his own enjoyment. There’s a physicality to her gaze, as tangible as if she reached out to touch him. Her eyes brush across his chest, trail down his obliques, and wrap around his middle just in time to work their way back up again. Matt’s always been a good, wholesome looking guy, according to his mama and every girlfriend he’s ever had. But this moment proves he’s got the kind of looks that make a girl like Rachel Cameron stop and stare, which is a whole new level as far as he’s concerned.

“Well, you found me,” he says, unable to bite back a broad grin. He has to catch himself and straighten his features into something more serious. “And, uh”—he clears his throat—“keep finding me, seems like.”

She flits across his collar, down his shoulders, biceps, forearms, hands. “What?”

Matt lets out a huff of a laugh. “My eyes are up here, Ace,” he teases, throwing two guiding fingers toward his face. “Not that I can’t appreciate a wandering eye.”

Finally, she blinks like she’s making up for lost time. One, two, three, right in a flustered row. “Sorry,” she says, and he swears she’s turning redder. “Oh my god, no, sorry. I just—I didn’t realize you had so many scars.”

Now it’s Matt’s turn to feel the flush rise to his face, not because he minds her looking, but because he didn’t realize she was looking that closely. He’s never been asked about his scars before, not least because few people ever see them. Outside of his own reflection, Joe’s the only one to know when Matt adds a new cut to his collection, and that’s only because Joe’s usually the one stitching him back together. He’s never had to answer for the menagerie of pink and silver marks puckered across his skin. Never had to explain why he seems to be more scar than not.

Matt doesn’t consider himself to be a nervous man, but something about Rachel noticing all of his long healed hurt gets his heart all twisted in a tizzy.

“Yeah, well,” he says with a shrug. “Knife wound here, gunshot there, a questionable tussle with a Spanish bull—you know how it is.”

“That’s not funny,” she reminds him.

“Wasn’t joking,” he promises, but this doesn’t console her the way he hopes. He tries another approach. “I’m sure you’ve got your fair share.”

She won’t stand for it. “That’s not a fair share, Matthew.” She eases closer, one step at a time and thoughtless in a way she never is. “Look at you. How many knives are you going to take to your side before you learn to cover it—and are those cigar burns?”

Her attention starts to feel sharper, infused with equal parts scrutiny and curiosity. Rachel’s the type of person who likes to understand how things happen, and he can feel her calculating the angle, force, and method behind every last mark. It’s a dangerous game, trying to guess all the ways a guy’s been wounded. Leaves too much room for the imagination.

“That’s the thing about the Russian Mob,” he says, trying to cut through her conclusions before they go too far off the tracks. “Once they get their hands on you, they’ll make you talk one way or another. Sometimes that means taking cigars to your chest for six hours straight.”

These scars are courtesy of low-level mobsters—that much is true. He leaves out that one of the mobsters was a Circle informant on the verge of switching sides, before he was found dead in his apartment a day later with a suicide note written in someone else’s hand. After a night like that, Joe had to haul Matt out of the country via cargo plane to avoid suspicion at customs.

What Rachel doesn’t know won’t hurt her.

Finally, she trades tangible looks for real, honest touch. Her fingertips grace the field of burns from left to right, silently counting as she goes—twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two—before she lands on the mark just an inch from his heart. “Doesn’t look like you did much talking.”

Her hands are warmer than usual, but Matt still fights a shiver. “I try not to make a habit of it.”

Her eyes finally meet his, with that same appraising severity she spared for his scars. She studies him, intently, before saying, “I know that about you.”

They’ve had this same conversation before—or one like it, at least—on the procedural, bureaucratic training grounds of Camp Perry. He remembers a younger Rachel waiting for him after four long nights of sleepless, shivering, hungry Hail Marys and only now, years later, does it occur to him to wonder why she was the first one to greet him. “You never told me,” he says, “what they did to you. Back in training, when they took us all away and…”

Her hand falls, but her gaze does not. “That’s need-to-know.”

Matt tries, “What about want-to-know?”

“Matthew—”

“What did they do, Rachel?”

They’re right on the verge of one another, ready to fall straight into whatever shared past, present, and future they have. An answer sits at the edge of her lips, hesitant, and he could wait a lifetime just as long as she keeps looking at him like this—chin up to meet his height, eyes wide and wanting, her breath rising and falling just inches from his own. He likes the way she fits at his front, likes how his broadness compliments her petite frame, likes that she ain’t afraid to get right up in his face and tell him how things are.

She takes a step back.

The only thing that keeps Matt from reaching out, wrapping an arm around her hip, and pulling her firmly back into place, is the fact that he’s got socks in one hand and a towel in the other. That, and he’s pretty sure that Rachel’s hands are actual, registered lethal weapons. He’s got no choice but to let her pull away. “I came in here to tell you that Townsend will be sleeping on the sofa.”

“You…” It’s a Cameron family specialty, to change subjects so abruptly it leaves his head spinning. “Uh, okay. Suppose I can take the floor.”

She works her way across the room and plucks a silk scrunchie from the nightstand, slipping it around her wrist. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she says, pulling up her hair with that special one-two-three movement women do. “You’ll take the bed.”

Sage and lavender waft through the room as she twists her hair into a bun with all the casual magic of Houdini tying knots. “I already told you,” he protests. “My mama would kill me if I let you—”

“I’m also taking the bed.” She keeps herself busy by fluffing the pillows and straightening the wrinkles from the quilt. “It's a queen. I don’t really need the whole thing to myself, do I?”

This is phrased like a question, but coming from Rachel, it sounds more like an irrefutable fact. She has that effect, always speaking with enough certainty that everything she says sounds like a universal truth. Usually, it’s in Matt’s best interest to take her at her word, but this one will take some extra convincing, on account of how it sends his stomach flipping.

“You and me?”

“Yes.”

“In the same bed?”

“Yes.”

“At the same time?”

“Matt, please don’t be a boy about this,” she says. “Abby and I share all the time.”

If Matt were to name all of the differences between Abby and himself, they would be here well into the night, the most notable among them being that Matt ain’t anyone’s sister. “You don’t think this is maybe a little different, than you and Abby?”

She glances up at him, a challenge in her eye. “Why?”

There it is again. That edge that sits between them. Over the years, they’ve become experts at dancing along this particular cliff side, and Matt doesn’t have the guts to jump first. Instead, he hooks two fingers through the strap of his bag and starts toward the door. A retreat. “I’m going to get changed.”

“Change in here.”

“Rachel—”

“I’m leaving,” she says, all innocence and throwing her hands up to each side to prove it. She’s already following through on her promise by the time she says, “Get dressed. Get settled. I’ll work out Townsend’s watch schedule with Abe and Grace—are you okay to take him for an hour or two?”

What Rachel doesn’t know won’t hurt her. “Sure.”

She closes the door as she goes, leaving the messenger bag swinging on its hook. Its buckles scrape against the wood, back and forth, back and forth, and Matt knows he has a decision to make. The more he thinks about it, the more it comes down to the same two options he always runs into: Joe or Rachel. Except this time, the answer ain’t so obvious.

For now, all he can do is follow the instructions he was given. He towels off, gets dressed, and meanders back to the main room. Abe’s made bedtime tea and tries to coax Matt into a cup. Grace has found a deck of cards and challenged Townsend to a game of War. The couple share a sickeningly long kiss before Abe retires to the bedroom, leaving his wife on the first watch shift.

It’s late and getting later, but Matt doesn’t recognize the evening for what it is. Throughout his career, he’s spent so many nights fighting off sleep that he doesn’t realize how tired he is, until Rachel calls to him from across the room. “Matthew,” she says. “Come to bed.”

She’s standing in the doorway of their shared bedroom and, for a moment, Matt spots a flash of everything he wants in the world—Rachel Cameron, freckle-faced and hair tied, beckoning him to sleep. Rest. Be, right beside her. It’s enough to stop his breath. It’s enough to get him up and moving without a fight.

They navigate by moonlight creeping through the cracks of closed curtains. Rachel slips into her side of the bed, and Matt fumbles into what is apparently his side. The mattress groans, and the frame squeaks, and while Matt admits this is an upgrade from the hellish loveseat, he still can’t find any comfort. He clings to the far edge of the bed, giving Rachel ample space, stiff as a board while he stares up at the wood paneled ceiling.

But slowly, slowly, her warmth seeps through their shared blankets, and his must too. Her low, even breaths fill the spaces between his own. He begins to unwind, one muscle at a time, until enough seconds have passed and enough sleep has taken over that he asks, voice heavy, “Rachel?”

And she responds, “Mmm?”

“What did they do?” he needs to know. “At Camp Perry, what did they do to you?”

He can’t see her through the darkness, but he’s got this crystal clear memory of her with a black eye, waiting for him with worry woven into her every feature. Her answering voice perfectly matches the version of her in his mind’s eye. “Nothing.”

“Fine, don’t tell me.”

“I mean it,” she says, vowels drawn out and sleepy. “They didn’t put me in a training cell. Didn’t starve me, or freeze me out, or beat me. I just had to…sit there, knowing that I didn't fight hard enough. Hell, I didn’t even have to do that—I was free to go about my day.”

He lets his head fall to the side, pressing past his pillow until he spots her silhouette. It’s a perfect profile. The curve of her cheek, the slope of her nose, and round, easy lips. “But you didn’t,” he guesses. “You couldn’t.”

She turns to look at him now, and he can feel her gaze, even if he can’t see it. “If my sister’s screaming behind a door,” she says, “I’m going to be on the other side of it, trying my damnedest to get it open, even if I know it won’t make a difference.”

That’s what Rachel does. She covers Abby. She covers her father. “Yeah.” And now she’s covering him. “I know that about you.”

It doesn’t take much, to cast an exploratory reach toward her side of the bed and come back with her hand in his. Her fingers are back to their usual chill, like the first day of fall after a blazing hot summer, and he likes the way their palms fit together. She must too, because she squeezes once, twice, testing the feel of it.

“You waited for me,” he goes on. “After Abby was released, you were still there, waiting for me.”

There’s a hitch in her breath. He can see it in the rise of her chest. Hear it interrupt the steady beat he’s long latched onto. “Yes.”

And maybe his own breath hitches, too. “Why?”

One more time, they find themselves on the edge of almost. Except this time, Rachel’s tired enough to fall. “I liked you.”

He smiles. “You had a funny way of showing it.”

“Maybe I didn’t like you yet,” she admits. “Maybe I just liked the idea of you. Maybe I hoped you could become someone great, and maybe I hoped I could be a part of that.”

“Am I?” he wonders. “Great?”

“Better,” she says. “You’re good.”

It wouldn’t mean anything coming from anyone else. But because it comes from her, it means absolutely everything. “You’re a part of that, y’know.”

She gives his hand another squeeze and laces her fingers between his. Before long, she falls asleep like that, and Matt reckons her touch could keep him pinned in place until his very last breath. For the first time in his adult life, he understands why his pops is always praising simple pleasures.

And by God, he really is in love with her.

This is a revelation that comes at exactly the wrong time, although, if he’s honest with himself, it has slowly and steadily snuck into their years together. In hindsight, he realizes this is exactly how it’s supposed to happen. It’s impossible to fall in love with Rachel Cameron overnight, because there’s too much to her for any one person to love all at once. She ought to be savored, piece by piece, laugh by laugh, fight by infuriating fight. She ought to be discovered—taken in time, taken in stride, taken by surprise—rather than given without effort or care. To love Rachel is to know her, and understand her, and anticipate her every word.

He decides, then and there, what he’s going to do. Dozing off at her side, he takes sleep where it will come. The hours pass and soon it’s Matt’s turn to watch over Townsend. He carefully slips out of her hold, shakes the kid awake, and takes the messenger bag from its golden hook, trying to be the good man Rachel Cameron thinks he is.

#full circle #THIS KID #IS GONNA KILL ME #I'm fine #nothing is going to go wrong #(except I know what's coming and uh)#(well)#(buckle up)

6 notes · View notes

anonymouslyangsty · 1 year

Text

@chinchillasinunison

(for those out of the loop, this is about Chinchillasinunison’s HEARTBREAKING Project:Eden’s Garden fic, A Swan in Coyote’s Skin. You should read it. And if you’re REALLY out of the loop, this is a fanfic for the Danganronpa fangame Project: Eden’s Garden. You should play it. )

So. I ADORED your P:EG fic to bits, and I've been trying to figure out how to make the case happen. Because yes, it’s an AMAZING idea for a death, but it’s a hard murder to actually get to trial.

So suddenly there’s a body, burnt so badly that you can’t easily identify the victim (though you’ve got reason to think it’s Eloise from the clothing remains). And it just so happens that the prime suspect is the guy who constantly wears a mask. Who, in addition, suddenly can’t talk!

So...yeah, the first thing anyone would do is want him to take off the mask. And I don’t think that’s me being biased because I KNOW it’s Eloise, but because it’s just common sense (especially with Eva there, who seems very good at seeing through lies). And once they start asking for the mask to come off, it’s over.

The only way I can see getting around that is if they don’t know Jett was at the crime scene, which means Mark has to lie. Which is obviously a bad idea for his continued survival, but I wouldn’t say it’s out of character.

Mark is pretty defeatist in the prologue. He’s going to have a horrible time mentally in the game, and if we’re assuming the predicted Jett Mark bonding happened, Jett’s probably Mark’s only friend in the garden. I don’t think it’d be out of character for Mark to lose hope upon suspecting that his friend is a killer.

Because honestly, they’re all in hell. They’re stuck killing each other until only two are left, and they don’t even know what’d happen to the two who make it. And someone like him, someone who doesn’t have a talent that’d help him survive whatsoever, doesn’t really have a good shot of making it.

Two people surviving isn’t much better than one really; Desmond already pointed that out when their situation was revealed to them. Why shouldn’t Jett be the one to make it out?

And Mark making the decision to sacrifice himself and the rest of the class for Jett has an added tragedy to it, because that’s not even Jett. Because Jett would NEVER want Mark to do that, because Jett spent so much time trying to keep Mark hopeful. Now Eloise has killed Jett and the hope Jett tried to create.

But! How the hell does Eloise get away with not talking? If Mark lies, the class has no explanation for Jett’s silence. And if Mark tells a half truth, saying that Jett got injured but not placing him at the crime scene, it’s still pretty suspect.

Mark’s talent might be useful for this specific issue actually. He not only makes music, but he makes remixes. Remixes, which are all about changing the source material to sound different. Is it a stretch to say he could make himself sound like Jett through voice editing? And Jett isn’t the smartest guy in the class, so nobody’d bat an eye if he were slightly quieter in the trial than usual.

I think it’d be hard to pull off, but possible. Mark voice edits a bunch of lines for Jett, then (somehow) uploads the lines to Jett’s watch (or some other device). Then Jett uses that during the investigation and trial. Which is very limiting, but it’s better than being silent the whole time.

And hell, Jett’s car accident could be used as an excuse. Of course he’d be quieter after someone as kind as Eloise died! And of course, since he was in such a horrible accident, he’s probably got a phobia of burning alive! So it makes sense he’d be a bit quiet. And hey, if Jett sounds a bit strange, that’s just the helmet.

(also, other benefits of Mark lying: 1, it’s terribly sad to see him work so hard at something that’s going to get him killed! 2, it’d make Eloise feel horrible, which adds to the tragedy! I do love making my favorite characters endure hardship!)

#project: eden's garden #Jett Dawson #eloise taulner #Mark Berskii #danganronpa #tw: suicide #Given Mark's mindset of: If anything happens to Jett I'm killing everyone in this game and then myself...AND SOMETHING HAPPENED TO JETT

20 notes · View notes