#yet since top players can’t just follow the fucking rules this shit will probably keep happening

[slicksquid]

time and time again competitive splatoon players knowingly ignore the rules and lose their fucking minds when they face the consequences of not following the rules

#it’s just really ridiculous #sure it IS kind of scummy to rulebook AFTER the set but you know what could have avoided that?????? #not using an alias #it’s literally less effort to follow the rules #and you KNOW IPL’s general rules on aliases #you will not get away with it #it’s just so stupid how this keeps happening #OR #JUST MAKE YOUR IGN SOMETHING NORMAL #LIKE YOUR NAME #IF YOU ARE A COMPETITIVE PLAYER MAKE YOURSELF IDENTIFIABLE #like seriously this past SOS after people harassed IPL into letting up on alias rules #this fucking guy FM (literal criminal and predator who keeps trying to sneak back into the community) played and won #yet since top players can’t just follow the fucking rules this shit will probably keep happening #do you want to have majors?????? do you want tourneys??????? #stop making the TOs hate their lives

[my-emotional-self]

Toxic Love Chapter 7

Pairings: Steve Rogers x Reader, Bucky Barnes x Reader, Steve Rogers x Reader x Bucky Barnes

Summary: Finding out your soulmates were Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes was one thing.  But when someone from your past comes back to haunt you, you have to figure out if a relationship with two super soldiers is something you really want to pursue or if you’d rather go back to your comfortable single life.

Series Warnings:  18+, Swearing, Angst, Fluff, past mentions of rape, self-harm, attempted rape, domestic violence, stalking, death threats, possible Dark!Steve?, Steve will be an asshole a LOT in this series but I don’t know how dark it will get, explicit sexual content, mental health issues, kind of A/B/O dynamics but not really (no they are not actual wolves, more like the hierarchy), mentions of suicide, flashbacks of suicide, nightmares

A/N: There will be no taglist for this story!  I apologize in advance!

8 Years Ago – Age 17

“Y/N, do you know why you are here?” the shrink asked from across the large desk.  You looked down at the typical uniform of a patient at a psychiatric ward.  Yes you knew why you were in here.  A few months ago you witnessed your father’s dead corpse hanging in your living room.  The next thing you knew you were writing a suicide note of your own and your foster parents found it before you could do anything.  Now, you were stuck in a psych ward, probably until you at least turned 18.

“Yep,” came your short response.  

The shrink glanced down at her papers in front of her, going through all of your notes.  “We want to help you as best we can Y/N.  You’ve been through some very traumatic experiences in your life and you’ve witnessed a great deal.  We are going to get you all the help you need.”

3 Months Later

“Have you heard of Borderline Personality Disorder Y/N?” your psychiatrist, Dr. Wang asked.  

That made your head snap in her direction.  Here you were, still stuck in the psych ward after three months and you weren’t sure why.  “I’ve heard of that, yes.  But I thought I was just depressed,” you mumbled, chewing on your fingernail.  

You were clinically diagnosed with depression shortly after coming here.  

“Well, that’s what we originally thought at first.  But the longer you’ve spent time here, the more I and the rest of the staff have discovered it is BPD.  You’re intense mood swings, combined with your ongoing feelings of emptiness and the intense bouts of anger you have are all signs of BPD. We are going to switch up your medications and that will really help with your mood swings and anger issues.

~~~

 No matter how hard you tried, sleep never came to you that afternoon.  You tossed and turned all afternoon in your bed and nothing seemed to be working.  Not only that, but you were really starting to get more irritable as the day went on and you knew it was time to change the dosing of your medication.  It was like clockwork, every year to year and a half. The only problem was that you couldn’t leave the tower without Steve, Bucky or an anyone else.  How were you supposed to get an appointment with your Psychiatrist if you couldn’t leave the tower alone?  This only increased your anger and frustration as you got out of bed to get ready.    

You brushed your teeth and put on a some jeans and a t-shirt, not really caring what you threw on. All of the specific clothing you wore for work was in the closet of your game room along with your makeup and accessories.  

Upon leaving your room, you saw Steve and Bucky sitting at the island in the kitchen of your shared apartment.  They both looked deep in thought over some paperwork and you assumed it was for work.

Grabbing a bottle of water from the kitchen, you were about to head into the elevator as you didn’t want to disturb them, but Steve spoke up and caught your attention.  “Where are you off to?”

“Oh, umm, I’m heading down to my game room.  I’m going to work tonight,” you mumbled out as you pressed the button for the elevator. You noticed it was on the ground floor and it would take a few minutes to get to your level.  

“What time do you plan on being done?” Steve questioned.  

You huffed in annoyance, already irritated as anger began to creep through your bones.  “I don’t know.  Whenever I get done,” you snapped.  Immediately you felt regret, but sometimes your emotions got the better of you when you were in dire need of a medication change.  

“Hey, what’s with the attitude?” Steve commanded as he got up from his seat and stalked over to you, hands on his hips.  You noticed Bucky looking at you from his seat with furrowed brows.  They had never seen you angry like this.  You were always so compliant and easy going.  

“Look, I’m sorry.  I’m just tired is all.”

Steve looked at you sharply, his lips in a thin tight line.  “Alright.  Just make sure you get to bed at a reasonable time tonight.  Promise?”

“I promise,” you answered back.  

~~~

In the comfort of your game room, you quickly got to work.  Digging through your closet, you decided on a light pink tank top that said ‘Gamer Girl’ in black letters with two gamer controls on it.  Since your webcam only showed your top half, you threw on a black pair of cotton shorts to be comfortable.  

Next, you put your hair up in space buns, making sure they were situated just right so they wouldn’t be in the way of your headphones.  You put on your typical game night makeup: bright pink eyeshadow with dark smoked out liner, some mascara and blush and you were good to go.  

Turning on your monitor, you began to power everything up and once that was done, you logged in. Immediately your followers started putting in their messages off to the side and you smiled as you read them. You always tried to read as much of them as you could.  

As the night went on, you knew you should pack it up and listen to what Steve said; getting to bed at a descent time and getting rest.  But you were having way too much fun tonight and so were your followers. It was one of the best nights you’d had in months and not just money wise.  

Ignoring the clock you continued to play and interact with your followers with the microphone that was attached to your headphones.  Every so often you would glance to your messages box and see what some of them had said.  Most of them were cheering you on but of course you always had some haters in there as well.  

It was when you noticed the screen name of one of them that made your blood run cold.  JSmith20. ‘It can’t be’ you thought to yourself, trying to keep as composed as possible as hundreds of people were watching you game in this very moment.  

John’s last name is Smith and he always told you how his favorite number was 20, because that was how old you were when you met him.  No, but he’s still in prison.  He hasn’t gotten out.  He’ll be in there for many more years to come.  It had to be one of his friends right?  The same friend that had been delivering those letters to your old apartment.  ‘Yes, that’s right.  It’s just one of his friends trying to torment you’ you thought to yourself.  

Then, the person behind that screen name typed a message into your message box.  

Hey babe.  Do you miss me yet?  I can’t wait to see you – J

Yep, your composure went out the window reading the message.   Then another message from him popped up.  

I see you are no longer living in that little one bedroom apartment.  Did you really think you could up and move and I wouldn’t be able to find you?  Oh babe, how cute.  I will find you and we will meet again soon.  I promise – J

As you stared at the words on your screen, you heard groans from the other players on your team.  You had just lost the game.  

“Shit,” you swore, anger bubbling up inside of you.  “Fucking damnit!”  You slammed your fist on the desk.  

You rarely lost games. Losing always put you in a foul mood. But because of already being irritable and your emotions on over drive, losing just made everything worse.  

Looking at the clock it was just before five in the morning so you logged off and shut everything down.

You took your hair out of the buns, immediately feeling the tension in your head ease.  Ever so quietly, you opened the door and poked your head out into the hallway.  It was bitch black so you used your phone as a flashlight and tiptoed to the elevator. Before pressing the button on the elevator, you paused.  What if the noise of the elevator woke up Steve or Bucky?  You had promised Steve that you would get to bed at a descent time and seeing as it was just about five in the morning, well, you kind of figured you’d be in trouble.  

Instead, you opened the door to the stairs which was situated right next to the elevator.  At least taking the stairs would be much quieter.

You climbed the stairs up a few levels until you reached your living level and you waited on baited breath for a few moments.  Nothing. Nothing but silence.  As quiet as a mouse, you snuck through the door and dashed to your room, thanking your lucky stars that the palm scanner didn’t make any noise.  

You took a nice hot shower, washing off all of your makeup and the stress of the last few hours.  As much as you wanted to forget John messaging you, it wasn’t going to happen, neither was any sleep.  

Rather than even bothering to get into bed and try to relax, you sent an email to your psychiatrist letting her know that you would more than likely need a dose change on your medications.  Frantically typing away at the email, you explained how you were beginning to get irritated and it was harder for you to control your bouts of anger.  

Luckily for you, Dr. Wang was an early bird and she emailed you right back.  She wanted you to come see her for an appointment and your heart immediately dropped.  That wasn’t going to happen as one of your rules was that you weren’t allowed out of the tower by yourself.  And as much as you liked Darcy, you couldn’t trust her to go with you and not say anything to Steve or Bucky.  

Typing out your reply, you explained that you were unfortunately not able to meet in person and if there was anything else that could be done.  After you hit sent, you began to pace in your apartment, clearly on edge with everything going on.  You just wanted to feel better; you hated feeling this way.  It was as if you weren’t in control of your body and you definitely weren’t in control of your emotions.  

A notification came through your laptop and you rushed towards it, almost tripping over your feet. As you read her words, you could have cried right then and there.  She had agreed to a phone call appointment and she had time right now to discuss things with you.  

Grasping your phone, you dialed her number.

“It’s good to hear from you Y/N,” Dr. Wang stated as she answered the phone.  

“Oh Dr. Wang it is so good to hear your voice.”

She let out a soft chuckle. “Yes, it has been a little over six months since we’ve last spoken.  How are things going with you?”

“Where to begin,” you started off saying.  You let her know that you indeed met your soulmates and had moved in with them. You went over the rules that Steve had given you and she made you feel better as she stated she had seen way worse rules.  Hell, she said your rules were like a walk in the park compared to some she has heard.

“Alright, now, let’s get down to business.  How are you feeling these past few days?” she asked curiously.  

“Ugh, not good. Moving was stressful but I have been feeling really irritated over the last few and I’ve had a few bouts of anger rush through me that makes me want to punch something, but I’ve luckily been able to hold back on that.”

“What about any risky behaviors such as reckless driving, spending sprees, binge eating, drug abuse or sabotaging anything positive in your life?”

“Not yet,” you stated. You knew the routine.  She was going over all the symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder to see what has changed with you.  

“Ok good.  How about any intense fears of abandonment or rejection?”

That question always hit you like a punch to the gut.  The only reason you had stayed with John for so long was because of that right there. He purposely wouldn’t let you see Dr. Wang or he wouldn’t take you to get your medications refilled and because of that, you were starting to feel those feelings; not wanting to be abandoned no matter what.  

“Nope,” you replied.  

“Ok then.  I am going to increase the dosing on your current medications but I want to warn you.  Without you coming in and personally seeing me and without getting some blood work done, I don’t know how well this dosing is going to work, if it will work at all. We might need to discuss changing the medication all together,” she stated.  

“I understand Dr. Wang. And do you think maybe you could prescribe some sort of sleep medication for me too?”

“I can prescribe a one week trial of a sleeping medication for you.  After that, I really need you to try and come see me in the office and we can discuss that further.  Now, did you want me to send these prescriptions into your regular pharmacy?”

“Yes, that would be great. Thank you so much Dr. Wang.”

“No worries at all Y/N. Give the office a call and get an appointment set up.”

“I will.  Thanks again.”

Now that you had your medications all taken care of, you had to figure a way to leave the tower so you could get them.  

#steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x you #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers fanfic #steve rogers smut #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes smut #dark!steve rogers #dark! steve rogers

[sannflwrr]

Cat Ears

Author: sannflwrr

Pairing: Jungkook x MC

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: cursing, use of guns, mild description of a gunshot wound, mutual pining lol, MC has a helmet with cat ears

Summary: In a world of cute bikers and exhilarating city nightlife, Jungkook finds himself running from trouble when he encounters a bitter ex. A blessing disguised as a curse, his long-time (and current) crush arrives just in time to save him. Will he have the courage to confess to her, or is this yet another attempt at failed love?

Jungkook knows he made a terrible terrible mistake. It probably was not a good idea to enter the casino where his ex fling usually spends her evenings. That’s where they had met, though it had been a while. She hates him, Jungkook doesn’t really care about her enough to have an opinion. But he knows she hates him, yet he chose to enter the casino where she’s at. And he chose to piss off the owner of this said casino, knowing well that he definitely cheated during gambling, and that the owner happens to be his exe’s older cousin. Apparently they are close. Apparently her enemies also happen to be his.

So, it definitely makes sense why Jungkook is running a mile a minute down the windy streets of the city, half laughing and half crying. He’s definitely in a predicament, originally knew where he was going, but not so much anymore. Why does he choose to voluntarily throw himself in these situations? Maybe the thrill. He doubts it though, there is nothing exciting about ten bad guys chasing after you, definitely armed and well built. His shoulder has already been grazed by one of their appropriately aimed bullets, and though it hurts like shit Jungkook does not let the pain slow him.

Things change of course, when he reaches a fork in the road, buildings obstructing his view on where exactly each direction leads. The one on the right leads to darkness, and the pathway on the left leads to darkness. He can definitely see them catching up now, each second only lessening his lead over them. Things change of course, when I show up. Peering over a rooftop, I laugh at his current situation before hopping down from the roof to the concrete, readjusting for a moment. Jungkook looks at me in shock, about to ask what the hell I’m doing here before I yank on his wrist, pulling him into the left path. Then we’re both running this time, I’m surprised that I keep up with him.

“Fae.” He breathes out still in mid sprint, and looks at me desperately. “What?”

“Watched this whole situation from the roofs.” I explain, pulling him into yet another skinny alley, just to catch a breath. “Made me laugh honestly. Now what did you do this time?”

He has big eyes, ones which are still looking at me in surprise. Did I just confess to stalking his little chase from the beginning? Yeah. Does that mean that I admitted that I actually keep an eye on him? In my eyes, it does, but Jungkook is pretty dense. I doubt he’s seen through my actual intent on the words.

“Ex.” He groans. “Cheated.”

“You…you have an ex?” I ask, this time it’s my turn to be surprised.

“No! No. She’s a past fling. Got pissed at me when I broke off whatever the fuck we were doing, haven’t spoken to her in months.” He doesn’t know why he’s rushing so fast to explain the situation to me. Well maybe he does, scratch that. Jungkook definitely knows. “Showed up at the casino where she usually is, kind of caused a scene by cheating in bluff, she already had a grudge so that made it ten times worse when they caught on. Sprinted when I got the chance.”

“Sounds like a bitch.” I muse, scanning the coast. They’ve run past the both of us now. Any minute, they will come back to this specific hall. Jungkook and I have around thirty seconds tops to run. “You had me there for a second. I didn’t think you were the type to have exes.”

He scowls. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Player maybe?” I tilt my head, grinning at him teasingly. I notice him inhale when I nudge my nose closer to his face. “Maybe you’ve never actually dated someone before.”

There is something about me, I guess. Jungkook does not know what it is, but it’s been there for a long time. Like a small pink glow, only growing brighter with every moment he spends with me. It’s not a crush, though it used to be.

Nah, Jungkook is in between the stage of falling and fallen.

Then my face shifts back to seriousness, stepping back as if nothing had just happened. Maybe it’s an excuse to myself of keeping my hand closer to his, I tug on his wrist, fingers deftly looping around his skinny one, then pull him further down the alley.

“My bike is further down, maybe three or four blocks away.” I whisper, careful that it doesn’t echo around the buildings near us. “You always wanted to ride it, didn’t you? Now’s your chance.”

“You want me to drive?” He gapes. Jungkook is normally pretty suave, has a smart mouth and knows how to keep his calm and cool. Around me though, that does not seem to be the case. He seems borderline ready to either piss his pants or kiss me. I wouldn’t mind if he did the latter, to be honest. “Drive your bike?”

“Why not?” I snort. “But rules are that you have to wear the helmet. No buts.”

“It can’t be that bad.”

I laugh again, only to be cut short when we hear the yells of This way! following shortly after us. He curses to himself, and it’s his turn to pull me into some random corridor. We keep doing this, slowly confusing his pursuers. Even if they did catch up, if they did find us, I’m positive we would be able to take them. Jungkook is pretty strong. No, he’s really strong. I know how to fight, my style is totally unorthodox but it works. Consists a lot of screaming and acting like a madwoman, but it has a high success rate. We could take them, but then I notice the graze on Jungkook’s shoulder.

“They’re trying to shoot you?” I ask, shocked. “It’s not that serious!”

“She really hates me Fae.”

“Why?” I look at him pointedly, the expression which he does not like to see. It’s hot when directed at others, but Jungkook winces when I force it at him. “What did you do? Did you knock her up?”

“No! I don’t know, she told me that she liked me…wanted to take things to the next level. I guess I rejected her pretty bluntly.” I mumble.

“And why did you reject her? Not that I really need to know…” I trail, now more curious than annoyed. Because of you! Jungkook wants to yell in my face, and practically declare his infatuation for me. How much he thinks about my freakishly crazy laugh, the fact that I drive a motorcycle in itself rather than a car, that I’m honest, I don’t pick sides, don't choose favorites. Everything about me screams badass to him, in a non-seductive way. Screams the fact that he is totally bananas for an unpredictable and crazy girl. A ridiculously pretty girl.

“We should go.” He mumbles close to my ear, then starts up into a jog once more. “How far?”

“The block over.” I finally say, unsettled by his sudden choice to evade the question. “Jungkook?”

He turns around once, and I toss the keys. “Go crazy.”

“I love you!” He shrieks, before hooting loudly and bolting off in the same direction. His statement has a platonic undertone to it, I know, yet it makes my stomach flip in a way that it hasn’t before. Maybe it’s the fondness for him, I don’t know. I push it aside, and pick up my pace, catching up to him where he stays seated at the front of my bike.

“Cat ears?” He asks, gesturing to my black and purple helmet. Two large cat ears sprout from either sides of it, a cute accessory. “Seriously?”

“I told you. Rules and rules.”

“So be it.” Reluctantly, he places the helmet over his head. I try to stifle a laugh at how he looks, knowing that he’s glaring at me from underneath it. I press the button which lowers the shield.

“To be fair, Jungkook. You actually look a lot cuter in it compared to Jimin.”

“Jimin?” He questions, then narrows his eyes. “You let him ride your bike too?”

“Yeah I was drunk. He took me back to my place.”

“Is that where we’re going now?” He asks quietly after pulling up the guard, looking ahead at the exit. I prop a leg over the bike, fixing my hair momentarily in the mirror. His head shifts to look at the bike mirror, then back ahead.

“Yeah.” I nod. “Can't go to your place obviously, they’ll be expecting that.” He starts the engine. “Besides, you’re injured.”

“I’m fine.” He mumbles, though pretty muffled under the helmet. I scoff. “Yeah right. If you don’t get that looked at, you definitely won’t be fine later on.”

Maybe he would’ve said something snarky in response, but Jungkook doesn’t. Instead his breath hitches when my arms slide around his waist, wrapping him in a tight hold. I hesitate for a second, then rest my chin on his non-injured shoulder.

“You sound nervous. Don't be; I wouldn’t have let you drive my bike if I didn’t trust you.”

Then Jungkook starts moving. Good timing too, just as he begins to twist the throttle, the goons reappear for another encore. I retract one of my arms from him, sweeping down to the compartment hidden near Jungkook’s leg.

“You have a gun?” He asks, awkwardly accelerating at an odd incline. I turn back to shoot at the nearest one to us. Catches them off guard. I snort in satisfaction, with the distance he’s already covered, it’s safe to say the two of us are out of aim for them. Especially with the trivial handgun. I put back in its original spot.

“Yeah. Second Amendment and all.”

“Remind me to never piss you off.”

“I don't think you could if you tried, Jungkook.”

Content with my words, I chose not to say anything for the remainder of the ride, just taking in the colors and lights of the city as we pass. Thousands of thoughts race through Jungkook’s head, simmering him into silence. I have never hugged him before, this would be a first. Though it makes his insides do a weird jig, it doesn’t sit as well knowing that Jimin also got to drive me on my bike. And since he has this silly little crush on me, maybe it’s the fact that Jimin got to drive me home which makes him jealous.

He knows the way to my house, since he’s been by a couple times before. The first time was when I had people over for drinks. That had been fun, Jungkook was surprised I even thought to invite him. But Jungkook doesn’t know how much I think about him too. Though I don’t say it aloud, I think about him quite a bit. The second and last time was when I had asked him to pick up some things for me from the drugstore nearby. My bike was at the mechanic for maintenance, and it was too cold to be out. Though he does not have a bike, Jungkook does have a car.

He parks the vehicle smoothly, and I move away from him. I don’t speak the entire way up, careful not to attract any noise or attention. After unlocking the apartment door, I shove Jungkook inside first, before glancing both ways warily, and shutting it behind me. The tension is obviously there, even I can feel it. Jungkook’s eyes follow me wherever I move, even from flipping on the lights, to heading straight to my closet. After pulling out a hoodie, I chuck it back at him.

“Take off your shirt. After I wrap your shoulder, you should put this on instead, it’s clean.”

“Is this mine?” He asks softly.

I falter, then nod. “Yeah. You don’t remember giving it to me?”

“No I do. I’m surprised you still have it.”

Something about those words, I don’t like them. Why would he think I would deliberately give it away? His hoodie? Maybe I give off the impression of a dismissive girl, who doesn’t look too much into the small things, but I do. Jungkook doesn’t know how much I like that specific sweatshirt. Is there anything special about it? No. But it smells like him, and I happen to like how Jungkook smells. It feels like he’s in the same room as me, even if he’s off on the other side of town, running away from his ex’s bodyguards.

“Why would I give it away?”

“I don’t know…” Jungkook finds himself mumbling, suddenly unable to meet my intimidating gaze. “didn’t think you really wanted it. Most people keep clothes they like.”

“You read into me too much.” I mutter, more to myself than him. “No Jungkook, I like the hoodie.” I wear it a lot, but I don’t include that part to him. Jungkook has an ego, and I don’t want to take any part in raising it from its bed. When he pulls off his shirt, the sleeve caked in dry blood, I grimace at the ugly sight.

It’s not really that bad, considering there is no bullet lodged anywhere, but there is blood. After disinfecting it, but to his discomfort from the constant stinging, I wrap his shoulder in a white gauze. His arm is hard under my fingers, yet another reminder of how muscled this man is. When I step back, he looks over to inspect my work.

“Impressive.”

“You still should see the doctor.” I respond, definitely concerned. “That is a lot of bleeding.”

“Sure, whatever.” He’s in the middle of pulling the hoodie over his shirt when he pops the question. “Hey Fae…can I crash here for a little while?”

“Yeah, of course.” I don’t hesitate in my response, simply moving from the couch to my kitchen. The fridge door is cracked open, I raise my half finished soda can to my lips. “Stay as long as you want.”

“Thanks.” I don’t look in his way, so I don’t know if he’s looking at me. But he is, definitely following my small movements as I continue to drink from my can. He has a multitude of questions he wants to ask. Would I be mad if he told me he had a big fat crush on me? Would I be mad if he kissed me? Do I possibly like him back? Rather than be blunt like Jungkook normally is, he takes a completely different route.

“Do you like Jimin?”

He notices me almost spit out my drink into the sink, though the visual is funny — in another situation he would have laughed — but this question makes him nervous. I look at him in disbelief.

“Jimin?” When he nods, I blink. “No I don’t…why?”

“Oh.” Jungkook glances away, taking a particular interest in the photo frames on my wall. “Dunno’. I was trying to figure out whether he liked you or not.”

“There’s no way he would.” And I sound pretty insistent. “No possible way. I’m pretty sure he’s into that one dude who sings at the karaoke bar.”

“Oh. Really?”

“Yeah. Ask him about it, maybe he’ll actually tell you. He wouldn’t tell me a single thing about it when I tried bringing it up when he was here the other day.” I sigh. “And well, even if he had, it wouldn’t work out. I don’t like him like that.”

“Oh.” He repeats. I glance at him for a longer time now, wondering if he’s going to say anything at all. When he doesn’t, I don’t even bother to cloud my disappointment. Turning away, I chuck the can into my recycle bin, taking a hand through my hair.

“Okay!” I slam my hand onto the counter, then plant myself down on the couch next to him. Jungkook seems startled by the sudden loud noise, and even more so now that I’m only a couple feet away from him. “Talk now. Why are you acting so weird?”

“I’m not.”

“Okay let me rephrase.” I take a deep inhale. “I don’t know if it’s just me reading into it too much, but you seemed way too hesitant to tell me why you ended things with your past fling. And that weird cold shoulder you gave when I mentioned Jimin driving me to my place?” I stare up at my clock on the wall. “I mean normally people are completely blind to mutual pining, but for some reason with you and I can completely see through you. Just be honest with me Jungkook; do you like me? Because honestly when you were wearing my helmet earlier today I was trying so hard not to kiss you.”

He blinks, twice, very wide eyed. Looks like that motherfucker Bambi, I just want to squish him. Then glances at me.

“Was I that obvious?”

“To me; yeah.” I snort. “I didn’t understand at first though, I thought you were just going through mood swings.”

“How did I not know that you…” He breathes, cheeks definitely a darker shade of pink. “How?!”

“Well, I did get pretty pissed when you mentioned an ex. Did you not notice?”

He shakes his head woefully.

“Well,” I trail off. “I don’t know. Kinda’ wanted to punch you and then punch that bitch.”

“That’s hot Fae. I’m already imagining it.”

I laugh, about to say something, but that’s forgotten when he kisses me. Good, what a hopeless idiot. I was waiting for him to make a move, looks like he finally did.

#jungkook #jeon jungguk #bts jeongkook #jungkook the badass biker #lol hes bambi #biker au

[philosophiums]

hmmmmm so..... i wrote an aftg volleyball au....... 

@ravenvsfox this is mostly your fault.... also please know that i actually drew out all of the rotations with the players so that i could keep track of them (for the whole ass two rotations i wrote skdjbkjsbdvsf) and buried myself in actual volleyball rules to make sure i wasn’t fucking anything up. anyway pls enjoy

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The ball comes over the net, cleanly past Andrew’s head. Despite his lack of motivation, his hours and years of training tell him to go for it, to stick his arms out and get low and move in for the receive. But for the first time in his life, he’s on the front line, and putting up impossible serves is no longer his job. He stays still, hands loose at his sides, and just watches the ball.

The world always slows down when he’s on the court, like movements through water. He feels the vibrations through his feet, sees the motions of his teammates as both blurry shapes and sharp images. For idiots like Kevin and Neil, he imagines that everything speeds up. All they care about is spiking the ball, touching it as much as they can, and to do that they need to run. They get hyped, they get high off the weight of the ball smacking into their palm, they flood with adrenaline after the success of a clean kill. Andrew imagines it’s just a chase for them – greyhounds running after a cloth rabbit.

But for Andrew, only his thoughts move that fast.

“Aaron!”

“Got it!”

Aaron hasn’t played libero since early last year, even though the color of his uniform proclaims him as such. Except for the first couple games when Andrew hadn’t quite figured out his medication rotation, Andrew’s been the main libero for the Foxes since their freshman year. But Aaron’s knees give way and his heels take his balance like he’s played the whole set and then some. It’s not a natural talent, but it’s far from indifference. Andrew’s watched him practice, and he’s never fallen behind.

The ball goes up, and Andrew moves from the center front, watching the curve, the spin, working through in his mind how his fingers are going to have to be splayed to catch it. This is different from practice, when Kevin would just toss the ball before going in for the spike, but Andrew’s played libero his whole life; he knows how to catch a ball. His body moves, and his mind keeps spinning three steps ahead.

He knows what positions the other team – the Cavaliers – started in, heavy in the front as they prepare to block, but maintaining two receivers on the back line for any balls that might make it through.

The Foxes are in a good defense rotation, which means that their front line is a little lacking, prepared for blocking and not necessarily ready for any powerful spikes. But Kevin’s already moved up from the back right into a more central location, prepared to use the non-dominant hand he’s been strengthening all summer for a back attack. Kevin runs first tempo, and he likes a toss high enough that he can see over the blockers and get a read on the layout of the other team.

Nicky’s taken a step back from the net, ready for a block receive if it should be needed.

Matt seems ready, too, set up to the far right in a position that would let him pull off quite the wipe if he got through. He’s a strong spiker, but he has a bad habit of jumping too close to the net, and his long arms make straights a challenge. He knows the toss likely isn’t going up for him given his position and its relation to Kevin’s, but he’s ready to jump anyway. Andrew knows from watching Renee that Matt prefers his tosses high and tight, and half of a hand length ahead of what could be considered standard. He also runs first tempo, and the fact that he’s hit in a few points over the course of the game means there’s a blocker on him – that’s one less on Kevin.

And then there’s Neil, who isn’t waiting for Andrew’s toss and has already taken off, racing up to the net from the back end of the ten foot line, angling himself in the wide open right side. He’s trying his hardest to get a blocker to chase him, but he hasn’t hit a spike the whole match, and he’s no longer serving his purpose as a decoy.

He runs at minus tempo.

It’s no wonder Renee can’t properly set to him, and it’s no wonder he can’t trust Renee to give him the toss he needs. Most people would say that Neil should adapt to Renee – hell, Wymack already yelled at him to slow down – but in volleyball it’s the spiker who takes charge of the attack. It’s the spiker fighting in the air for every point. The setter’s job is to make sure the spiker has good footing when they take off.

Renee refused to back down from the challenge in practice, but today she didn’t seem to trust her tosses enough. Her fever and chest cold may have had something to do with it. Her holy high horse lost them the first match, but Andrew made a promise and a trade with Wymack.

The second match is theirs.

Andrew’s never set to Neil, has never set to anyone other than Kevin, but the reckless idiot has already jumped, and he’s wide open.

Maybe.

The ball settles on Andrew’s fingertips, and he cradles it for only a moment before firing it off at Neil. It’s a fast toss – too fast, really, but there’s no other choice. He has to get the ball to a fool who’s already in the air.

With a smack, Neil’s palm connects with the ball, and it collides with the floor in the massive gap in the Cavaliers’ defense.

For the first time all day, the supports for the Cavaliers fall quiet, a string of unsettled murmurs the only thing trickling down to the court. Words of disbelief come in from the Foxes’ own sparse supporters, too, and it feels like every person around Andrew has suddenly leaned in for a closer look. On the side lines, Wymack is on his feet fast enough that Andrew’s eyes move to him for a second, just to make sure he stays where he’s supposed to be. And then his gaze goes back to Neil, whose back is to Andrew, head bent enough that Andrew can see the red roots escaping the dyed brown of his hair.

But the stunned silence only lasts for a few breaths, and then the Foxes start yelling, going crazy over a play they weren’t expecting. Phrases like “what the fuck was that” and “holy shit” punctuate the general chorus of excitement, a one syllable sound that keeps getting louder as time draws on. Andrew doesn’t get swept up in it.

Neil turns around and lifts his eyes from his red palm, finding Andrew through the commotion of Matt and Kevin running at him. His eyes are wide; Andrew thinks if they were any wider he might be able to make out the ocean of blue hiding behind the brown of his contacts. The surprise plays on his face clearer and more honest than Andrew’s ever seen him. He’s shocked, Andrew thinks, over being handed the trust of an unlikely toss. It was reckless, since they’ve never tried it before, and he expects a few stern words from Wymack and Kevin once they’re off the court for longer than a time out, but for now, he’s going to sit in this moment.

Andrew can hide behind the logic of Neil being wide open all he likes – his brain still knows what this uncommon feeling in his chest is.

A perfect hit. A moment of shared trust.

Andrew walks up, and Neil pushes past Matt to meet him halfway. There are several dozen snide things Andrew could say about Neil’s style and obsessive focus, about how he shouldn’t be blaming anyone but himself for the lack of tosses he’s received thus far in the game. But he just cocks his head instead, enraptured by how Neil has managed to stack yet another mystery on top of all of his lies. One more thing for Andrew to unfold.

“How was it?” he asks.

The Foxes fall strangely silent, as if the miracle play never happened. They never expect Andrew to care or offer to change. They don’t know him at all.

Neil curls his fingers into a fist. “Perfect.” This is the first time they’ve said anything to each other since Columbia. The wild grin that takes over Neil’s face is worse than the drugs, and Andrew both wants it to stop and isn’t ready for the withdrawal.

He turns his gaze away, towards the net and what lies beyond. The Cavaliers look confused but unshaken, probably chalking up the spike as nothing more than a desperate stroke of luck – the rash motions of an animal backed into a corner. It’s their turn to receive anyway, so there’s no doubt they believe they can get the point back. They may be right. Maybe it was a fluke. But the ball has never felt better in Andrew’s hands.

The first referee chirps his whistle, and the Foxes make their way back to their positions, rotating once clockwise. Matt’s up to serve, but Andrew’s not going to look. He’s watching the Cavaliers, wondering where Matt’s serve is going to go and who’s going to spike after the setter gets the ball. He knows his block height isn’t going to be good enough, probably not even for a one touch, but Nicky’s in the front now and Neil’s steady as a fucking hurricane in the center of the court.

“Nice serve!” Dan calls, back on the court after Aaron swapped out. They won’t need a libero right now, and Dan’s good defense for a chance ball.

The whistle blows, and Matt’s serve goes over clean.

Andrew’s fighting his drug-fucked brain, but it’s not hard to think when he’s on the court, when the ball’s in play and everything slows down to a speed he can process. Volleyball can be surprising, but it’s systematic – three chances to touch the ball, a receive, a toss, a spike. He’s going to have to work on his vertical if he wants to stay on the court as a setter beyond this game.

Does he want that?

The Cavaliers receive Matt’s powerful jump serve, and he broke their pattern but the ball still goes up. The players connect for a quick.

Neil shoots from the center towards the left corner, plowing towards Nicky as he follows the ball like he’s magnetized. And christ, he’s fast. He’s up in the air before Nicky, fingers splayed and arms stretching.

“One touch!” Neil shouts.

How, Andrew isn’t sure. He hasn’t even moved yet.

“Chance ball!” Kevin goes in for the receive, hitting it up cleanly towards Andrew, who moves into position in just a couple of steps. With all three of the Foxes’ powerhouse spikers on the back line, the blockers for the Cavaliers are more spread out along the net, preparing to read block, perhaps even preparing for a back attack. Nicky’s in a good position for a quick and has one blocker on him, so the chances of it getting past are good, but the Cavaliers keep up defense even on the back line, so the chances of it getting picked up again are also good.

Andrew looks at Kevin and wonders if he could fight his way into a point from the back line with a hand he hasn’t fully mastered yet. 

But it’s Neil who sings to him again, his body cutting air as he runs along the net in search of a place free of blockers. He’s already a blur in Andrew’s peripheral, just a flash of orange and black planting his feet and jumping as high as he can. There’s no one marking him, so there’s no reason to try so hard, but Andrew doubts Neil knows anything except fighting, except being dialed all the way up for as long as he can sustain his stamina.

Maybe the last toss was a fluke.

Andrew wants to know for sure.

The ball settles against his fingertips, and he bends his hands until the ball is cradled completely. The motion doesn’t even last the span of two breaths, but he thinks he can feel each fingertip as they settle against the synthetic leather. Neil’s nearing the peak of his jump, and no one’s ready. Andrew lets the ball fly.

It’s not perfect – he’s new to this, and no amount of thinking can make his hands work perfectly every time. But he knows where Neil is, and he knows how to get the ball there. It’s low and a little short. Neil sees that, too, and in the fraction of a second he has to hit the ball before it goes flying into the stands, Neil adjusts his arm and smacks the ball down.

He lands, and his hands are already in fists, a delighted yell rising from deep in his lungs and ripping out of his throat. He whirls on Andrew and he looks wild, hair sticking to his forehead and temples, teeth bared.

Goosebumps slide along Andrew’s arms and down his spine. His heart jumps like he’s in freefall. A pipe dream. A new drug. That’s all Neil is. But he jogs over to Andrew and refuses to let him come up for air.

“It’s so fast,” he says, a safe distance away, but he’s shining so brightly that Andrew feels like he should take a step back, anyway.

He holds his ground. “Nice cover.” Most spikers would have been able to grab a poor set, so Neil’s hand connecting with the ball isn’t anything to fawn over, but the speed factor makes it more impressive. This is Andrew’s only concession.

“Neil!” Nicky runs up and barrels into him, excitedly wrapping around him as if that was the winning point. They have another ten to go; Nicky needs to calm down.

Andrew turns away, wondering if his shaky body is going to last the whole game. It’s his turn to serve after the next play, but he’s never practiced so they’ll have to give up that point. Then he’ll be on the back line, and his training as a libero is going to hinder him being able to set, because if he gets the receive up they’re fucked.

Why does he care?

“Andrew.”

He turns back, looking at Neil, who managed to shove his way out of Nicky’s enthusiasm. The look in his eyes is as greedy as it is deadly. “Let’s do that again.”

#the foxhole court #aftg #tfc #the foxhole court fic #anyway this is like 2.4k and i wrote most of it on my phone bc my brain wasn't working #enjoy #i'll likely also post it to ao3 tomorrow #my fics #aftg volleyball au

[barbariccia]

Jacob: Tough son of a bitch. Didn’t think he’d be up yet.

man, shepard is just so happy that garrus is up and about again, it makes my heart squeeze. ;w;

garrus’ armour is pretty much shot to hell and back, but in true fucking estinien fashion he’s not removing that shit for love nor money - and his face is pretty screwed up as well. he’s got a bandage patch on the right side of his head and neck from now-on, but he’s up and moving, and that’s what’s important.

Garrus:  Nobody would give me a mirror. How bad is it?

Shepard: Hell, Garrus, you were always ugly. Slap some face-paint on there, and no one will even notice.

Garrus: Ha--ah! Don’t make me laugh, damn it. My face is barely holding together as it is.

Garrus: Well, some women find facial scars attractive. Mind you, most of those women are krogan...

jacob salutes and leaves you guys to catch up, and the moment the doors close behind him, garrus starts voicing his concerns.

Garrus: Frankly, I’m more worried about you. Cerberus, Shepard? You remember those sick experiements they were doing?

Shepard: Right now, they’re a necessary evil. I need their resources to get this done.

also, you know, they built us back from nothing and are holding that above our heads, not to mention provided us with a ship and a crew and an AI that would all tattle.

garrus tells us that whatever he’s needed for, he’s fit to do, and he’ll go settle in at the forward batteries of the ship, which will be his main hangout spot during me2, and you can be sure i’m running right after him to have our 2-year catchup session.

i guess considering what happened to the last normandy... yeah, you really can’t.

Garrus: I thought I’d seen every weapon in the galaxy in our fight against Saren. Mercenary work showed me otherwise. And now Cerberus rebuilds the Normandy with a few upgrades to boot. I wish we’d joined up with them sooner.

Shepard: We haven’t joined Cerberus. They’re funding our mission. That’s all.

Garrus: Relax, Shepard. Just a figure of speech.

the translator in the omni-tool doesn’t always work for idioms and the like, leaving turians and humans particularly at a disadvantage with one another considering their cultural differences. it’s pretty cute that garrus has gotten this one right and that shep’s the one misunderstanding.

Garrus: I can’t exactly doubt your judgment. Not after I got my own squad killed.

Shepard: What did your merc squad do? It didn’t sound like you were available for hire.

Garrus: You saw OMega -- it was full of thugs kicking the helpless. I formed my team to kick back. We weren’t mercenaries. At least, nobody was paying us. We made money by taking down slavers, pirates, or gangs that went too far.

Shepard: Doesn’t sound like you made any friends with the gangs.

Garrus: I got three separate merc bands to work together to take me down. My manager at C-Sec would be impressed. It was simple. We’d hit their shipments, disrupt activities. Get under their skin. Make them angry. They’d come charging right into our well-prepared killzone. Crossfire and snipers, clean and surgical. They never stood a chance.

Shepard: Sounds like you were just another gang.

Garrus: Then I’m saying it wrong. We didn’t shake anyone down. No civilian casualties. That was our rule. Every member of my team had lost someone to Omega’s gangs. We weren’t out to get rich. We were out to make thos bastards think twice before murdering someone in the street.

garrus was going cowboy cop toward the end of me1, where we tracked down someone that wasn’t arrested and dealt with in a manner of his liking... but he seems to have taken a step back once the grudge was dealt with and figured out a way to carry on dispensing justice in a manner that wasn’t just going out for revenge. kinda. sure, his team all had grudges against the gangs of omega, but... they probably weren’t the only ones. not that violence for violence’s sake is acceptable, but i can see his reasoning well enough. make the gangs unable to function, pick off the main players, and there’s less problems to deal with on omega.

... he is forgetting that at the top of the chain is aria, though, and in a power vacuum in gang-controlled space it’s likely that someone else would have stepped in without too much fuss and carried on what the main three gangs were doing in the first place, though.

Shepard: Tell me about your squad.

Garrus: There were 12 of us, including me. Former military operatives, C-Sec agents, the usual. Had a salarian explosives expert. Pretty sure he’d spent time in the STG. My tech expert was a batarian, believe it or not. Not the friendliest guy, but he could hack any system ever built.

Shepard: How’d you end up fighting mercenaries on Omega in the first place?

Garrus: I trained to become a Spectre after the Normandy was destroyed, but it didn’t work out. Too much politicking at the Citadel. Nobody was willing to take risks. Omega was filled with criminals nobody else could touch, and there was no red tape to slow me down. It was a perfect fit. People here needed someone to believe in. Someone to stand up to the local thugs.

Shepard: That explains how you started. How’d you end up with a squad?

Garrus: Not too different from how you formed your squad to fight Saren, actually. You prove that you get things done, and people join up. Mercs who wanted to aton. Security consultants tired of playing by the rules. I gave them hope.

Garrus: And now they’re dead. Shows what I know.

Shepard: I’m not sure I understand. What happened?

Garrus: Sidonis asked for my help on a job. When I got to the meeting point, nobody was there. By the time I got back to our hideout, the mercs had killed all but two of my squad. And they didn’t last long.

Shepard: Are you sure it was a betrayal? Maybe they took Sidonis out first.

Garrus: No. I’ve put out feelers with some old contacts. He booked transport off Omega just before the attack. He also cleared out his private accounts before he left. He sold me out and ran.

Shepard: Know where he is now?

Garrus: No, his trail vanished after he leaves Omega. But I’ll keep hunting.

garrus’ evolution from wanting to find and kill dr saleon to wanting to find and kill sidonis is... really not that far of a stretch, actually. he’s a very emotional character, despite what we’re told about turians - that they’re militaristic and follow rules rigidly. his desire to do what’s right drives him as a turian, sure, but under it all there’s a sense of morals that’s completely unwavering. saleon was a bad person not just because of his illegal operations, but because what he was doing ran so counterpoint to what garrus considers moral and correct that the only way to deal with him, in his eyes, was to find him and put him down to keep him from doing it more (since the authorities were clearly no help). and it’s the same here - whatever sidonis’ reasons for his actions, garrus only sees one path before him.

it’s realistic, and it’s dangerous. who watches the watchmen, indeed - at what point does garrus realise that this is how he deals with what he deems immoral? when does death for death cross the line?

naturally, garrus’ loyalty mission is all about sidonis and the typing up of loose ends, so we’ll be coming back to this later on.

#mol plays me2 #squad: garrus

[wordywarriorwrites]

Chapter 3: Sleight

Masterlist: The Boss of Brooklyn A03 Link Author: @wordywarriorwrites Summary: When it comes to being The Boss, James Buchanan “JB” Barnes rules with an iron fist. For him, there’s no room for sentiment, and certainly no time for distraction, even if it is in the form of an old flame. Steve Rogers had bowed out of the life a long time ago, but a twist of fate brings him right back into the fold, and face-to-face with a man he once loved. When a game of cat and mouse turns into a matter of life and death, both will be forced to decide whether they’ll be loyal to the business, or faithful to each other. A/N: Bucky Barnes Mob Boss AU. Stucky. For: Star’s Multi-Fandom Follower Celebration & Sherry’s Fall Into You Challenge. Warnings: Language, violence, drug use, alcohol, smoking, explicit sexual content, illegal activities.

After surgery, Natasha was wheeled into a private room at NYP/Weill Cornell Medical Center, and once it had been made clear she would make a full recovery, Bucky called a meeting.

Five plastic chairs situated around the bed; every pair of eyes narrowed; each mind determined. Out of all the potential outcomes, none of them could have anticipated this, and it wasn’t just because Steve had chosen to defend himself.  

Natasha was dutiful, cautious, and extremely versatile. She’d carried more than her fair share of the water and had never shirked or shied away from any of the endless lists of tasks and responsibilities they’d given her. Over the years, she’d become the Queen in their metaphorical game of chess, was welcomed and respected in every territory, and was often the envoy, enforcer, and enticer. She was integral to the Families and invaluable to Bucky.

She’d also never been injured this badly before and that put them all on edge.  

“How did this happen?” Wanda inquired quietly.

Thor grunted, “We know how it happened.”

“We need to focus more on the why instead of the how,” Tony remarked.

Clint nodded in agreement, “If I’m being honest, I was glad to hear he’d returned, but now…”

As comptroller, Maximoff was most concerned with finances. Odinson, in his capacity as recruiter, was having trouble getting the fresh meat to settle down. Stark made sure law enforcement on their payroll turned a blind eye to Steve’s return, but this had drawn a lot of attention, and as a result, Barton had been forced to place a temporary hold on all incoming and outgoing product.

One thing they could all agree on was that the matter needed to be approached with even more caution. They still didn’t know the whereabouts of the deceased senator’s wife, nor the motivation behind Steve’s aiding in her escape. Bucky had assumed he’d returned for the funeral, but whether or not that was his primary reason for staying in town was unknown. Nevertheless, Bucky admitted he’d made the mess, and told them he would clean it up.

Clint was tactful when he pointed out they’d tried it his way and it hadn’t gone well. When Bucky asked for suggestions, Thor threw out the obvious option of having someone else finish the job. Wanda alternatively asserted that if he intended to let Steve live, he needed to be placated. Tony decreed it was best to keep enemies close and that Bucky should simply seduce him. Clint recommended backing off and giving Steve a wide berth for the time being.

Bucky sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. While everyone continued to discuss how best to resolve the brewing conflict, he averted his attention to Natasha, who had woken up mid-way through the conversation. If anyone had the right to an opinion, it was her, and when he held up his hand for silence, everyone quieted down.

“Natasha?” Bucky prompted.

“Use him,” she rasped. “Make him an ally again.”

He’d never considered bringing Steve back into the fold, but it was the most practical way to resolve things. As the Families had never formally voted him out, he technically still had a seat at the table, and could return to it at any time. If Steve did return, things would change, but adjusting parameters and expectations wasn’t the issue.

Steve was a natural leader and would’ve been Boss had he not left. Loyalty and tribute were given and paid to the Families as a whole, but Steve inspired a level of fanaticism and devotion that Bucky just could not replicate. Though the title alone commanded respect, Bucky knew some considered him a placeholder; there were big players who’d been waiting for Steve to return, and if he was welcomed back, there would be a power shift. Even though Steve had never expressed a desire to run things, it was a mantle Bucky, if pressured, would be forced to let him have.  

War and peace, love and hate, progress and tradition – they were often two sides of the same coin, one that had been flipped many times over many generations. As head of the Families, it was left to Bucky whether or not to toss it in the air again, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to. It was a gamble, a fifty-fifty chance, and he wasn’t the type of man who enjoyed playing the odds. He tried to look for a clear outcome, but the tide kept shifting, the waters were murky, and he couldn’t yet see in which direction the wind would blow.

“We tried the stick,” Wanda gently reminded him. “Let’s see if the carrot fares better. I’ll reach out.”  

Bucky inclined his head, “Very well.”

With the decision made, the others departed, but Bucky remained. He scooted his chair closer to the bed and when Natasha held out her hand, he took it. She’d been hooked up to an intravenous analgesia pump, but had yet to use the medicine, and that meant both her grip and her words were fierce.

“Whatever you do, don’t fuck with him,” she warned. “I don’t know what Steve’s up to, but I can tell he’s changed, and he’s dangerous. You watch your six, you hear me?”  

“I’ll be as careful as I can be.”

“Have you said anything to the press?”

Bucky hummed noncommittally, “They believe it was an attempted robbery gone wrong.”

Natasha nodded, let go of his hand, and depressed the button to release the morphine, “Good. Now, go away – you got shit to do and I need rest.”

If anyone else had dismissed and dictated to him like that, Bucky would have broken their jaw, but since it came from Natasha, he just smiled. Even with a foot dangling over the grave, she still busted his balls, and because she was the only real and true friend he had, he didn’t fight her.

The drive back to the penthouse was a slow one because of traffic and when he finally pulled into the private parking garage, he was exhausted, irritated, and starved. The guard at the desk greeted him politely and Bucky waved back. It was a quick, smooth ascent to the top floor, and when the elevator doors parted, he stepped into the foyer, and was greeted by an unexpected albeit not entirely unwelcome visitor.

“In the span of twenty-four hours, you’ve botched a takedown and you let me get the drop on you,” Bruce stated blithely. “Didn’t I tell you to change the security code after I installed the system?”

Bucky rolled his eyes and gestured toward the kitchen, “What do you have for me?”

Bruce tossed a folder onto the island’s marble countertop and gave him a rundown on Steve’s activities. The man was good at keeping a low profile, but he was able to piece together some of what Steve had been up to while he was away, and squeeze a bit of information out the people who’d been helping him stay under the radar since his return.

“Steve is independently wealthy now, but where the money came from is a mystery,” Bruce informed him. “If the olive branch Wanda plans to extend involves cash, it’ll be useless. He’s got holdings and properties both in this country and abroad. I can’t find any red flags and it all appears to be legit.”

Bucky furrowed his brow and opened the fridge, “And the plot thickens.”

“Sam admitted he stopped in, but wouldn’t give details on what was purchased,” Bruce explained as he accepted a beer with a nod of thanks. “But knowing what Wilson keeps in that back room, Rogers is probably armed to the teeth.”  

He flipped through the photos and the intel, “I want to know who else he’s visited and where he’s holed up. And find out where he’s hiding that fucking widow.”  

“He knows how to avoid being seen, so, it’s not an easy task. It’s going to take time and cash.”

“Money you can have,” Bucky told him as he headed for the living room.

Bruce followed and sipped his beer while Bucky keyed in the combination to the wall safe. Once it was opened, he collected a few stacks, and handed them over.

“Grease palms and keep digging,” Bucky insisted.

“Will do.”

If anyone could find a needle in a haystack, it was Bruce, and Bucky knew he could rely on him to get it done. The man was a genius with a mind that absorbed and retained information like a sponge. Publicly, he put his Ph.D. to good use via publications and giving lectures at various universities; privately, he helped the Families by being a shadow in the world of data collection. Skeletons in closets, economic shifts, voter mindsets, new product on the street, backroom deals, who was getting up to what behind closed doors – Bruce knew it all, and on the off chance he didn’t, he always managed to find out.  

Bruce tucked the money away, tossed the bottle into the recycle bin, and as Bucky escorted him out, he strongly urged him to reset the alarm code. As soon as the door was shut, he did just that, and went back to the living room.

Exhausted down to his bones, he plopped down on the couch, loosened his tie, and kicked off his shoes. Cellphone in hand, he mulled over what to order for dinner, and after he decided on Italian, he closed his eyes, and settled back into the cushions. He must’ve nodded off for a moment, because when the doorbell rang, he nearly jumped out of his skin.

“Alright, alright,” he muttered as he rushed for the door.

Bleary-eyed and absentminded, Bucky didn’t check to see if it was actually his food delivery, and within seconds, he was made to regret it.

He saw the fist that barreled toward his face, but wasn’t fast enough to block it or duck out of the way. Bucky was hit with such force that his head snapped back and he fell right down onto his ass.

Blood gushed from his mouth and nose and the copper-flavored taste rolled over his tongue and slid down his throat.  There was only one person in the world who could ring his bell like that, and when he looked up from his prone position on the floor, he cursed.

“Hello, JB,” Steve deadpanned. “Mind if I come in?” Chapter 4: Erstwhile  

Everything: @jennmurawski13​​ @nerdy-bookworm-1998​​

Steve Rogers: @patzammit @hearttoearth​​ The Boss of Brooklyn: @star-spangled-man-with-a-plan​​ @jamesbarnesappreciationsociety​ @captain-rogers-beard​​ @lilliannaansalla

#stucky fanfic #stucky drabble #stucky fanfiction #stucky oneshot #stucky imagine #stucky smut #mob boss au james barnes #mob boss au bucky barnes #steve rogers x bucky barnes fanfic #steve rogers x bucky barnes fanfiction #steve x bucky fanfic #steve x bucky fanfiction #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky barnes fanfiction #steve rogers fanfic #steve rogers fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #marvel fanfic #the boss of brooklyn #wordywarriorwrites

[jmespottuh]

❛  if there’s one thing the gods love, it’s tragedy. with wings that burn and boys who fall. ❜

* ╰   brandon arreaga  ;  17 ;  he/him  —— wow, james potter sure has changed. i guess he is feeling isolated from the other gryffindor members. guess you can’t really blame them. i still remember them being so charming & incisive now they just seem dependent & inexorable.  guess being a  pureblood isn’t helping matters much either.  i’m hopeful though. they’ll be just fine.

links: pinterest, stats character parallels: bellamy blake ( the 100 ), shane madej ( buzzfeed unsolved ), jake peralta ( brooklyn nine-nine ), stefan salvatore ( the vampire diaries ), scott mccall ( teen wolf ), steve harrington ( stranger things )

james henry potter ( named for two his two grandfathers, maternal and paternal respectively ) was born on april 4th, 1960 to two of the most loving parents a child could have.

fleamont and euphemia had been trying for a child for years. they’d been together for basically all of time, having been that typical good-looking, well liked couple in hogwarts that everyone always just assumes will get married ( spoiler alert: they did ), however had had to postpone kids due to fleamont’s brief stint as a professional quidditch player for eight years following their graduation. after that, they would try every month for a child, and after many years of disappointment, eventually gave up. it was during this time that fleamont developed the sleekeazy hair potion which only added to their immense wealth. 

finally at age forty-one, they were surprised with the arrival of james. obviously, they saw him as their miracle child, and as such he was pampered and completely spoiled from the moment he was born.

i cannot stress enough how much this spoiled upbringing shaped james into the person he is today. if you’re wondering why he was ever an arrogant prick, it’s because he was always used to getting absolutely everything he ever wanted. he grew up with money, he grew up with fame and with every bit of attention he could garner, and so it was really no wonder he was a bit of an asshole by the time he started at hogwarts.

obviously, james had a pretty cushy childhood, and as such, shit didn’t start getting real until he started at hogwarts. 

it took all of three seconds for the hat to sort him into gryffindor, and i guess you could say he pretty much considered himself to be the gem of the house. he was the absolute epitome of a gryffindor, basically considered him the poster boy and all but expected everyone to love him.

really did not help his ego to know that everyone did.

in typical sterotype-gryffindor fashion, james hated slytherin. he had always been taught growing up that purists were basically the root of all evil, and his father had had no qualms in lumping all these people in with the house of the snakes. james and his friends took a particular disliking to severus snape almost immediately for the poncy way in which he seemed to believe he was superior to all for his intelligence and his house status, and this dislike only grew when lily evans was tossed into the mix, too.

for basically the first four or five years of hogwarts, james really was that stereotypical arrogant asshole that he’s often made out to be. he always got everything he asked for, he was incredibly popular and incredibly intelligent, he had the most amazing friends and his eyes on the most amazing girl. he was set!! shit was good!!

shit was not good, though. definitely was not.

despite having known of remus’ furry little problem since second year, things didn’t really start to settle in james how awful it was until third or fourth year. he hated seeing his friend in pain, he hated that he couldn’t help, and so he rallied the boys to put into action their worst plan yet!!!!

becoming animagi!!!!!!

it took fucking forever, obviously, but by the end of fourth year they did it!! we stan icons

except then in fifth year shit hit the fan again in just, like… so many ways

first, it was the whole severus ‘mudblood’ situation. honestly, james was absolutely furious. he’d always hated snape but this just made everything 1000 times worse. even if it had happened to anyone else, he would have been fuming. but for it to have happened to lily like… yikes. 

this was also a horrible time for james though because lily rejected him for the thousandth time. like, look, what a yikes thing to think when she was just called a mudblood, but frankly he was sick of being rejected and he was sick of being the asshole who kept pressuring her so that was the breaking point — he gave up on her. 

and tbh, he changed a lot from here on out. grew up!! became a better person bc he saw how horrible snap was and decided he was sick of horrible people!! saw, recognised and acknowledged that just bc he was hot and intelligent and rich he wasn’t always going to get everything he wanted ( see: miss evans ) and just generally learned that oh shit the world doesn’t revolve around him!!!

oh and then there was that whole thing with sirius and snape and remus the werewolf and ohhhh boyyyy…. that infuriated him. 

he loves his bros so much and y’all know he would die for them, but to see his friend abuse remus’ pain and suffering for his own gain was heart wrenching. it just pushed him further to pull him in line, to realise that not everything was about games, or petty rivalry, or ‘ getting the girl ’ — life was heartache and mistakes and it was never going to go the way he wanted it to.

now look, this isn’t all to say that james is now a super strict, super intense, brooding weirdo. he’s still a bit of a child, and he’s still a bit of an arrogant prick, but ultimately what wins out is his morals — every time. he wants to lead the world to a better place, without war and without hate, he wants everyone to have the same opportunities he had as a kid and he wants nothing more than for blood purity to be eradicated.

get that shit outta my house!!! gross!!!!!!

now in his final year, james is always flipping between taking his role as head boy deadly serious and turning it into one big game of mischief. he’s still a marauder at heart, after all, and has definitely abused his power sometimes for the benefit of fun and games, but when it comes down to it, he can be very strict and lowkey paternal. the leader really just…. popped right outta him, it came to play and it came hard, and really you’d think he’s minister for magic with how serious he treats it sometimes.

i hate him.

the disappearance of one of his best friends, one peter pettigrew, landed james to flop pretty fucking hard on the side of seriousness. once you spend months without knowing where your best friend is, thinking he’s dead, you’re bound to start to lose a bit of that which once made you smile. it was this piled on top of what james had already been feeling which led the head boy to start finding ways he could join the revolution within the walls of hogwarts --- it’s been bloody hard but james is determined to make a difference, to make sure no one else he loves suffers in a war that they never asked to fight in the first place.

anyway here’s some fun facts that didn’t fit up top

james is a lot less intense with his hatred for slytherin’s. he has come to recognise that not everyone from that lifestyle is going to be the same, not everyone who grew up a certain way or was sorted into a certain house is going to think with a deadly mind, and while he’s still a bit wary, he’s a lot more relaxed about it, especially as head boy ( gotta at least pretend shit’s fair !!! )

he’s very dependent as in like… boi cannot go a week without his friends. he is used to having people to bounce off, that’s always the type of leader he has been, and as much as he would probably be amazing at anything on his own, he’s never really tried. too scared!! i hate him!!!!!

super unforgiving. like, if you have gotten on his bad side…. i’m sorry. it is going to be very difficult to return from there. his moral compass is pretty black and white, you’re either good or your bad, and if you’ve done something he considers bad well sucks to be you, i guess. sorry not sorry.

takes his quidditch very seriously tbh. so many people have told him he needs to be a pro like his dad, but he’s like haha fuck you i know what i wanna do ( hint hint: he wants to rule that goddamn auror office, make that shit far more efficient then he thinks it is now ). but srsly, he’s so intense abt the game and it really like… idk gets him in the zone, keeps him level-headed in amongst all this chaos. 

he’s smart. i guess. straight a’s and shit idk. just very naturally intelligent, finds everything he does easy, like.. really is that asshole who is just good at everything he does.

#incantareintro #| ❛ the shackles of a martyr. ❜ ( character study. ) #enjoy this rambly mess of a recycled intro that most of yall have read before fsjaklg

[ardenttheories]

Pesterquest Volume 7 notes, all locked under the cut as usual. As a side note, I once a fucking gain didn’t get my achievement for completing the Route, this time Terezi’s, so. Fuck me, I guess.

EQUIUS

Reader’s remembering more without truly remembering it now. The trees, garden, caves, and mall were some of the “most recent” places they’ve been to in Friendsim. 

Oh. Reader’s home is the shitty little crumbling building they stayed in during the events of Friendsim. I don’t know what’s sadder; that they still don’t know who they are enough to know where home is, or that everything they know about themself is centred around Friendsim - the events of which they still don’t remember. 

The bitterness they feel at that is sad. They really don’t have a home outside of that, huh?

“You freeze like an anime protagonist” - hm. HM. I don’t trust like that. 

Equius freaking out at the sight of Reader and actively trying to NOT punch them is sweet. Also, funny as hell.

Oh. That’s. That’s a lot more horse than I was expecting.

AURTHOUR. MY GOD YOU LOOK A LOT BETTER LIKE THIS. Although, nice hint to the theory that Reader is a lusus-like being, with the Reader comparing themself to Aurthour. 

Did Equius just fucking growl? This poor fucking idiot doesn’t know how to react to Reader’s non-apparent bloodcaste. You fucking himbo just relax.

Of course they made the fucking “there are two wolves inside you” meme about horses and Equius wanting to get yelled at/yell at

How to befriend Equius: like milk and horses, because apparently that makes you High Status, and not just a very lonely idiot who’s so stuck up his own ass about the Hemospectrum that he can’t see the people around him through the bullshit.

Equius has a lot of gamer shit? Interesting. 

Two points:

Reader’s typing style is so fucking cute, and this is the first time I think we’ve seen them type proper. This seems significant. Like, they’ve got a voice now, and it’s distinctive and them and not us. Looks like they might be taking control a little?

Additionally, we just got to see Karkat’s Knight of Blood powers at work; essentially enforcing that Equius befriend Reader and complete the Bonds that they’re trying to desperately to set up, while also allowing Equius someone to be “real” with by stating that Reader exists outside of the Hemospectrum. It’s also just really sweet to see Karkat talking about Reader like that. 

Equius really just. Doesn’t know how social interactions work. I think he relies on the Hemospectrum to explain shit for him, because he seems genuinely uncomfortable with the idea that there’s no formula to follow. Especially since he’s giving that power to Reader - that says a lot about how out of his depth he is. Even the dumbass little “I command it” is funny. He’s so out of his depth and he’s trying to pretend that he knows what he’s doing still. 

Equius doesn’t have it in him to actually kill people, which is genuinely sweet but also says a lot about why he’s so conflicted with the Hemospectrum. He’s really not cut out to be a Highblood the way it says he should be. 

Oh. Oh my god, he’s so excited to see Nepeta. He was shaking with excitement at the prospect of being able to see her. 

OH NO HE COULDN’T GO. But how interesting. “Stop trying to skip ahead”. So why did that work with Gamzee (albeit Karkat then chickened out)? Because we never actually saw Gamzee, and it’d probably work with Nepeta? 

The text wasn’t coloured but I’m curious if this is Dirk now. Doc Scratch sure as fuck doesn’t swear like that, and as far as I’m aware he’s the only one with narrative control within the main canon/fanon, besides Alternate Calliope. The fact that the thing is trying to keep everything to a strict plot would definitely suggest it. Though if Dirk is T-Posing in a hallway on the Theseus just to talk to Reader, I’m going to flip off the handle. 

Equius knowing what narrative control is just threw me through a fucking loop, but I’ll play along. Lets pretend that actually makes some sort of sense, because either he figured it out in that short moment without even knowing what Retconning is or why they were being blocked, or he just. Knows. Which, I suppose as an Heir of Void he might? He inherits Secrets and the Unknown - so maybe him knowing isn’t so odd at all.

Confirmation that Equius doesn’t know how to act outside of a society and is, in fact, very uncomfortable with not knowing but envies how the Reader is just somehow capable of that: confirmed. “How do you know where you belong, or if you belong.”

That’s. Some good advice from Reader, honestly, but also sad? They’re defining themself through their relationships again. I hope this means they’re figuring more out about themself this time. Also that this helps Equius - to figure out that he can define himself and not allow other shit he doesn’t really vibe with define him. Especially if he makes his own community. 

Oh. Equius tries to hone his strength in order to figure out why he’s a biological freak. “Reigning in an aberrant traint and defining” himself by it. And he doesn’t know which rules he likes following and which he doesn’t know how to ignore - he’s just as lost about himself as he is about everything else. 

“He looks like he might be about to tell you the story, but somehow you keep not learning the lesson where you should just chill and experience something instead of leap to try to figure it out before it happens” - is it just me, or does this narrator not sound like any of the others. Usually they sound like “Reader”, or like Hussie in the comic, or sometimes like the characters, but this... doesn’t. This is that narrative figure admonishing Reader for the previous timeline. Which is a little more interconnected than the last ones have been, and a whole lot more obvious.

“It’s like there’s narrative precedent for this moment existing in more than one plane of truth”. I actively love how that shows A) that there’s multiple timeline-based reasons for the loss of Equius’ horn and B) that trying to view a Void Player’s past isn’t easy because they’re just that naturally hidden.

TEREZI

Oh my god. Terezi that’s so fucking extra.

I’m assuming that means she’s talking to Vriska? She’s seriously mad. Madder than in the comic. I like the fact that we get to see more of her emotions during this whole phase now that there’s no plot to hinder.

Reader pointing out that the Alternian legal system is brutal in a way that’s just completely fucked up and also not typical of how Terezi seems to be as a person, but also highlighting that she doesn’t seem to see that there’s an issue with the system because of its laws and logistics she knows to a T that perfectly align with what Mind is? HELLA. That’s what a Seer do, babey! She learns her Mind from the law, THAT’S her Benefactor, and then she figures it out for herself!

Terezi being confused about the game, expecting him to ask about team leaders and shit, shows that - potentially - Reader’s actions have irrevocably fucked up her powers as a Seer of Mind. Or at least that she’s not looking at the right Options anymore, because she doesn’t know what they are.

(Also, Karkat not shutting up about Dave? Valid.)

TEREZI KNOWS THE HYPOCRACY AND IS JUST DOING THE SAME THING AS TYZIAS I’M GOING TO DIE. She can’t save everyone but at least she can save them for now, until she gets to a point where she can save everyone.

So that weird ass area is “an ambiguous nexus of metaphysical realities”. Definitely a place that doesn’t really exist yet sort of does. Interesting that they haven’t been thrown out yet, though. Maybe because Reader wasn’t really trying to go anywhere? They just remembered, and aimlessly used their powers. 

Gamzee called Reader a “themster” and I am wheezing.

Terezi realising she blamed Vriska for shit they did together when she knew it was something their fucked up society made them do, and realising she’s not exactly innocent herself, is really fucking sad. Kids shouldn’t have to go through this sort of shit. 

The thing watching them is approving of Reader taking Terezi back to Vriska? I’m wondering if it’s either happy because they’re continuing the plot, or because they’re fixing things. That hulking T-posing figure isn’t there anymore - and it seems a lot more demure. So maybe this entity is something else?

Oh, Terezi admitting she had fun hurting other people and getting upset over it is sad. Shows a lot about how screwed up Alternia is that they make murder fun for kids until it’s just completely normal for them to do. 

Best way to explain a Seer of Mind: behind the person everyone calls the Leader, controlling the spotlight. 

Oh FUCK yes. Vriska and Terezi are Scourge Sisters again, but this time against the people who really goddamn deserve it. I think this was cathartic for both of them. The blame they’ve been placing on themselves isn’t entirely gone, but it is a little better, and they’ve got no reason to go killing innocent trolls anymore against their own desires. 

Hints towards VrisRezi are also back, and I think they both really needed that. They don’t have to be rivals, as fun and as tale-told as it’d be. They can work together and be themselves and go against the shit they’ve been told is normal and that they’ve been justifying their whole lives. And these girls are gonna be healthier and happier for it!!

Not as much external plot in this one, but I get the feeling that Nexus is going to be showing up a lot more and becoming much more important. Interesting, too, that there’s (I think) two entities out there; one trying to stop Reader from skipping ahead, and one that was just watching to see what’d happen. That, or it’s the same entity - but I get the feeling one wants to stop Reader while the other wants Reader to progress in their own way?

On top of that, I really don’t know how to feel about how much of this narrative felt Dirk-esque. I might be paranoid, since a friend of mine pointed out that Friendsim led up to the Epilogues/Hiveswap and onward into Pesterquest, so Pesterquest must be leading into something, too. She thinks it’s Homestuck^2, and I kind of hope so, because if we get ANOTHER game after this I might die... but I wouldn’t be surprised, either. 

#pesterquest spoilers #long post// #ardenttheories #ardent liveblogs

[tumblunni]

Random list of still WIP npc charries I need to make for this game, yo

* Mayor Grandma The Ultimate

Not actually anyone’s grandma but like... Everyone’s Grandma. That whole ‘village elder as a goddamn force of nature’ kind of character. She’s the Big Good. She’s this tiny unassuming gran who had a history as a legendary hero and is now the super amazing mayor who can solve goddamn anything and defeat any threat against the village and just... HOLDS US ALL WITH HER GRUMPY LOVE I’m imagining her like the protagonist’s gran in The Wee Free Men, or Granny Weatherwax from other discworld books, or the grandma from Summer Wars, or the grandma from Jade Cocoon 1 who even turned out to be literally the deity of badass grandmas who came down into mortal form to slap the shit out of some fools. (The “grim midwife of life and death” is a really fucking badass title)

Anyway she isn’t actually technically the ‘mayor’, she’s just like.. village elder under old country rules, but Regis is the duke that was sent down to Officially be ruler of this province. Officially. It’s just that absolutely everyone knows that the duke is just a figurehead and Ancient Powerful Gran Of The Old Ways is the real power behind this well-oiled machine of a town. Even Regis knows, lol! The previous duke was a total asshole that got served a slice of humble pie by gran and they were fighting at every turn, but now Regis and Mortimer are the Comparatively Less Stuck Up Noblefolks and the town is better off for it. Still, even if Regis isn’t evil like his brother, he’s still a bit foppish and occasionally stupid about what it actually takes to run a town. So they do come into conflict sometimes, but mostly its like BFFs quarrelling instead of the old Shephard Grandma Brings The Wrath of The Heavens Upon Rich Man No Matter How Many Rich Man Guards He Has, Seriously We Found One Of Them Upside Down On Top Of The Roof How Did That Even Happen

And then also i think that she might have a larger role in Blair’s plot cos Blair is kinda like the new Village Hero In Training. But she’s INTENSELY reluctant about it! Not cos she doesn’t like being buff as fuck and punching through walls, but because she doesn’t think she could ever be better than supergran. Cos like.. “yeah I’ve got the muscles but I don’t have the brains, how could I ever cope without you?” She gets really fucking sad at the very idea that supergran might be retiring, and like.. might die someday. So it’s someone who’s clearly qualified for the role repeatedly rejecting it and bringing up more and more perfectionist excuses why she isn’t ready yet, just because she cares so much for her mentor figure and wishes she could fight the tide of time. And that’s how Blair became the Miss Perfect rival type character, and why she’s so humble and oblivious of her own strengths. Also I think this same plot would have links to mortimer and sorrel too, because there was An Event that happened 15 years ago that was what caused mayorgran to start feeling as if she’d hit her limits and the town needs a new Hero. Apparantly ~something~ happened that was like.. the one time mayorgran ever found a problem she couldn’t solve. And also at that time mortimer and sorrel used to be childhood friends, since they’re cousins, but suddenly sorrel’s mum fell in status amoung the noble family and there was a huge upheaval of the town’s status quo. What exactly is this mystery...?

ALSO! she must have a big hat i just want her to have a really big hat (mayorgran, not sorrel, she’s fine with her medium hat)

* Sorrel’s mum

(and Regis’s sister and Morty’s aunt. It IS cousins when someone’s the son of your mum’s sibling, right? I can’t remember all the rules for first removed and stuff...)

Generic Mom. She’s just so NICE! Isn’t she nice? Don’t you agree? For some reason she had a falling out with Duke Regis in the past, and now she lives in comparative poverty and like.. no press statement has ever been released on WHY this happened, and everyone’s become rather distrustful of Regis because of it. What exactly is going on?

I kinda wanted to leave it vague at just this, cos you can’t exactly talk about her at all without spoiers. So yeah the next paragraph is gonna not reveal exactly what happened in that backstory, but it’ll talk about this character’s personality and what it.. actually is, I guess..??

SO...

...

...

A kind of over the top cloyingly “nice” person who really isn’t. A bit of Umbridge and a bit of an overbearing soccer mom. Like.. at first you’ll be wondering ‘why is Sorrel so self hatey when her mom is so nice to her’ but then it becomes clear that’s not what’s really happening. Mom only supports when you act how she wants you to, its a classic ‘living through your children’ situation where she pushes her kid way too far to achieve some goals they never wanted in the first place. And she’s a bit of a moral crusader, like she’s just.. SO convinced that she is ‘nice’, and that if she just acts ‘polite’ and ‘mumsy’ and cute and harmless and follows all the feminine stereotypes it balances out any horribly not nice things she does. Because she’s ‘not that kind of person’. Anything she does is good because she’s good, yknow? And anything Sorrel does is bad if it shows any sort of personality outside of what her mum has so kindly picked out for her, I mean why would you be so selfish, seriously! She kinda always lives like that, seething with resentment and selfish desire and looking for excuses she can use to paint someone as Bad so she is Justified in feeling superior to them and/or ruining their life. And her Nice facade covers up a lot of rather bigoted attitudes she holds, in addition to all the abusiveness. Ones that can be far more insidious cos she delivers them in such a Nice way and appeals to Logic and Compromise and oh but You Know, Everyone Knows, Isn’t It Just Natural And Biological, look at them getting Emotional. She’s very much the archetypical horrid nobleman that we were all so grateful that Regis wasn’t. Except she’s also way more devious and able to hide it beneath a relateable facade, so she can get these stupid naive townsfolk to do stuff that only makes life harder for themselves for the sake of like.. mythical trickle-down benefits that don’t actually exist. And oh, Sorrel, you know you could pass so well for a good Narcian lady if you dyed your hair, you know? Not like Regis’s filthy child. (She says, even though she also married a foreigner, just one from a majority white country...)

Basically she’s just gonna be a detestable monster, and the only pure evil person in the plot. And even more evil because she does such a good job hiding it, and has been able to spread her toxic influence to so many victims undetected for so long. Cos seriously, the story starts off with her being treated as a martyr and people clamouring to replace Regis with her, and it’s just gonna be So Damn Uncomfortable in retrospect when you do a second playthrough and see even Sorrel’s friends completely oblivious to her mum’s evilness. (″Friends? Honey, you don’t HAVE friends. Well, who do you need except little old me?”)

Also I was thinking randomly as a subplot there could be a thing that her mum was in charge of the town library once, and her planned renovations fell through and now the town doesn’t have a library at all, just this big abandoned building and The Enduring Shame. It’d be a good example of how she handles things, cos this is an Enduring Shame for Sorrel and not her. from Sorrel’s perspective she thinks that her mother trusted her with a big responsibility and she fucked it up and thus deserves the scorn. But really her mum just threw a sinking ship at her so she could take the blame, and then was all like “OH THE POOR GIRL IT WAS JUST TOO MUCH RESPONSIBILITY, PLEASE DON’T BLAME HER”. Spreading all these negative rumours to encourage Sorrel to never try and be independant ever again, but in a sneaky reverse psychology way so she could still look like a loving mother. But anyway this is how Sorrel ended up running a Secret Underground Library, her one form of rebellion against her mother’s control. She rescued as many books as she could when the library went under, and now she keeps them all crammed in her room and tries to spread them around without leaving any threads back to her. Cos she knows that her mum is super trusted, and that even good people can’t be trusted to keep secrets from her, and nobody would believe her if she tried to explain why it needs to be secret. So instead she just plays it off as if she’s just another person receiving books from the ghost library, and she’s totally searching for an answer to this mystery too, honest! It’d be a sign that you reached high friendship level with her when she’s like.. able to believe that you’d believe her if she told you her mum abuses her. And the first step of that is ‘hey remember that library we were questing for? its literally under my bed.’ Welcomes you to the secret trapdoor book heaven and you have a strangely romantic evening going OOOOMG FIRST EDITION TOLKEINS (or whatever the equivelant is in this universe XD) But it probably still takes her a while after that to open up about exactly why the library has to be secret, and to come to terms with the fact that she really doesn’t deserve how her mother treats her. So I’d definately give you an opportunity here to Fuck Up Massively by telling the mum about the library, yup. Gotta torment the player every now and again! XD ...but I mean if you’re reading this you know all the spoilrs so you’ll be fine, lol

* Quincy’s grandma (or possibly grand aunt?)

A stern and super professional businesswoman who has a bit of a quarrel with him over how exactly to balance profit vs like.. morality. She’s not a BAD person, her business isn’t so profit-heavy that its like all the actual atrocities you see in mega corporations nowadays. But she’s very distant from her customer base and also from what it’s even like to be poor. And she doesn’t believe that such minor things to improve the shopping experience would like.. actually change anything. What is ‘brand loyalty’?! What is this principle that if people are able to live more comfortably they’ll be able to spend more money on luxuries?? She used to be less greedygrump once, but she gets more jaded every year and keeps bumping money higher and higher up her priority list, abandoning things that used to seem important. And similarly she’s become super ‘I don’t need anyone, I’m better off being alone’, and developed this strained relationship with her grand-nephew. I think maybe I could add another layer of sad to this, woo! I think she raised Quincy alone after his parents were Giant Assholes and ran off. Probably stole a bunch of the family money, probably left her with a failing business that they’d ruined with all their selfish decisions over the years, and an angry mob out for blood against the brand name. And Quincy was very sickly as a kid, so she had to work a lot, leading to the distant relationship and obsession with profit. But she’s become so obsessed and paranoid of losing her money even after it became less of a death sentence, and she just keeps working super hard even though now she has time to spend with her family. And she gets scared seeing Quincy grow up cos she remembers how his parents turned into absolute monsters when she used to trust them so much. Being distant is better than getting hurt again... and god damn why does he have his mother’s eyes...

So yeah, they’re a bit estranged, and you can potentially help with that, woo! But mostly during the main game you’ll just hear about her cos everyone is like ‘oh, are you from [grauntie’s brand name]? why don’t you have this thing, she always has it’ and Quincy is like ‘no, this is my own store.. we’re a small business.. but umm, we’re cheaper..’ He’s trying to step out from under her shadow and prove that her philosophy is wrong, so maybe he can bring back the loving grauntie that he remembers from his childhood. i think maybe the ending could be that she turns up to inspect his new shop and they have some sort of merchant showdown and like... even if Quincy loses he still ends up proving her wrong because she sees just how much everyone in this town cares about him and how he’s improved various parts of their life by bringing access to these imported goods and just generally being a supportive community member. Maybe there are some things more important than profit...

Oh and also I think she was the one responsible for helping out Blair and Dionne when they were running from their abusive parents, and that’s why the two of them are the most friendly with Quincy at the start of the game. They hadn’t seen each other since they were kids, and Blair is kinda like I Owe You A Blood Debt, Is There Anyone You Need Me To Stab Grauntie looks back on this as a moment of weakness tho, and that’s why she stopped keeping in touch with them, she’s embarassed she used to be so sentimental. Cos like.. she spent so much money helping set up these girls with their own house and she lost out on a business opportunity (it was a property she originally purchased to turn into a franchise store) She can’t stop thinking about how tight the funds were around that time and how if she messed up she could have lost her own kid for the sake of helping some other kids... But then she turns up in town and its like Oh No I Walked Down The Street By Accident *gets buried in blair hugs* And she can’t stop crying seeing how much they grew up, and then they’re all like “we’ve been trying to send you a cut of the cafe profits for the last seven years!” and she’s like “NOOOOO, KEEP IT” *even more embarassed at doing even more irrational sympathetic actions*

Also possibly she could get a crush on mayor grandma cos they are both grumpy badasses of opposite? Strength gran vs wisdom gran!

+++

so yeh i made a bunch of grans/demigrans of various kinds, and now I am thankfully satisfied with this story’s gremp quotient

#test game thing #but should i add more grandpas too?? #regis kinda counts as one even though his role in the plot is as a dad #but i mean you could give him grandkids if you pick his son as your love interest route! :3

[toomanysurveys9]

What was on your mind mostly today? things i had to do today, like pick up a package from the post office. wyatt. jacob. lots of other stuff.

If someone looked on your bed, what would they find? right now, blankets and two pillows.

What’s on your schedule for tomorrow? surprise party for one of my cousins at 9:30 pm. that’s about it. other than that, i’ll be just hanging at home taking care of pups and wyatt.

Are you nice to everyone? for the most part, yes.

Is it possible to be single and happy? well, yes.

Is it easy for people to make you cry? right now it probably wouldn’t take much.

Did you sleep alone last night? nope. i haven’t slept alone in a very long time.

Do you play with dead bugs? no. gross. who does that???

Honestly, are you dating two people? i am not.

Do you think things will change in the next 3 months? i’ll probably be working but that’s about it, besides wyatt getting older and growing...

Have you ever slept in the same bed with someone other than family?   well, yeah. my husband and i have shared a bed every night since he turned 18 pretty much.

Do you want to see somebody right now? jacob.

What if you had a baby with the person you like? i did have a baby with him. and he’s the cutest. :)

Are you happy? yeah, i would say so.

Have you ever tripped in public? i do that all the time.

Is there anyone who doesn’t like you? oh, plenty of people.

Have you ever sat in the back of a police car? no. but i have sat in the front.

Are you stubborn? i definitely can be.

Do you tend to hold a grudge? not generally i guess.

What’s a fact about the last person that texted you?   he’s a welder.

Has anyone called you perfect before? it’s possible.

Where is the biggest scar on your body? my right elbow.

Have you ever been told you were amazing? i guess so.

Would you date someone who was addicted to drugs? not likely.

Are you trying to avoid liking somebody at the moment? nope.

Do you trust all your friends? not really, no.

If you could go back and change something in the past 5 months, would you? i’m sure i could think of some things i wouldn’t argue changing. i fuck shit up all the time.

What pissed you off today? thinking about vaness and michelle and all the bullshit.

What was the last thing you cried about? jacob made me feel like i’m sucking at being a mom but i’m not. i’m doing damn good, and i’m pretty much the only one who really takes care of wyatt. jake goes to work and comes home and plays video games with a headset on.. i can sometimes get him to hold him for me so i can go bathroom or cook.. he sometimes changes diapers too. jacob doesn’t really do well with babies i guess..

Who was the last girl you talked to? my 14 year old sister.

Do you know anyone who drinks a lot? yeah, or at least, used to.

Who sits next to you in English? i’m not in school anymore.

Ever talked to someone who was drunk? many, many times..

Have you heard a song that reminds you of someone today? yes i have.

How late did you stay up last night and why? we went to bed around 11:30-12.. that’s when wyatt was done eating and sleeping.

Do you know how to properly use grammar in a sentence?   it might not always seem like it, but yes, i do.

Are your parents very protective of you? yeah, they’re pretty protective, even though i’m 23 years old.

Will you be in a relationship in the next couple months? definitely.

How many drugs are in your system?   none.

The person who hurt you the most calls and needs you, do you go? probably not, honestly..

Is it easy to pretend everything’s okay for you? i think i’m pretty decent at it. most of the time, everyone thinks i’m totally okay.

Are you afraid of losing the last person you talked to on the phone? not really..

Do you think you are a good person? i don’t think i am, no. although i’m not a horrible person either.

What do you want right this second? my diploma and transcripts so i can get a job i actually want when i get one.

Do you think it makes him weak if a guy cries? of course not!!! guys are just as human as girls and have every right to express their emotions too. it’s bullshit that society tries to make it so they can’t..

Have you ever cried cause you were so mad? definitely has happened.

Could you last in a relationship for over a year?   obviously. been with jacob over eight.

Who were you with on your birthday? jacob and family.

Have you ever crawled through a window? i have.

First person to talk to you in 2014? i don’t remember. probably my parents or siblings or jacob.

Do you miss your past? yeah. or, parts anyway. i miss being close to some people and the way some things were.

It’s 4 in the morning, your phone rings, who is it? i wouldn’t know.

Do you have anything interesting planned for the next week? not especially, no.

Who was the last person to text you? Do you know when that person’s birthday is? my brother. and i sure do. september 11.

What were you doing 4 hours ago? i was just getting ready to leave my house to got to the post office and whatnot.

Is there a certain song that you can’t stop listening to atm? not really.

Tell me 3 things that your friends don’t know about you. i’m not sure there is anything...

What is something that people often give to you as a gift? books. gift cards. money.

Do you tend to hold on to a lot of stuff you don’t need, just because it has sentimental value? most definitely do that. drives jake nuts. we have a couple boxes of stuff because of that..

What is something that reminds you of your ex? none honestly.

Has the last person you kissed ever cried in your arms? not in my arms, no.

Which would you prefer to receive as a gift - flowers or chocolate? probably flowers. i don’t eat much chocolate. flowers are pretty.

When did you last take a shower/bath? Do you wash your hair every time? not even going to lie, it was sunday. i never get to do much to take care of myself.. i might see if i can get a shower in tonight though since we’re going out probably tomorrow night.

Would you prefer to be somewhere else right now? i’m okay here i guess.

Do any of your followers on Tumblr have your phone number? no. well, i take that back. a couple of my sisters follow one of my blogs and they do have it of course. they never get on tumblr though.

Will you be going out tonight, or staying in? tonight we’re hanging at my parents’ house a bit because i have to do some laundry and try to get some sort of health insurance for wyatt. my dad’s going to help us look at options. on the plus side, my mom is making dinner.

How many times have you been in love? once truly.

If you were heartbroken, who would help you pick up the pieces? i don’t know that anyone would, because i probably wouldn’t talk about it in “real” life..

Apparently, it’s very common to crave chocolate around the ‘time of the month’; do you ever get that craving? not really chocolate but i tend to eat a little more, and will never pass up sweets. lol.

What was your last reason for crying? i already answered this.

How would you feel about dating someone who had a reputation for being a player in the past? Do you think that players will ALWAYS be players, or is it possible that they can change? i mean, if they showed me that wasn’t still who they were, i wouldn’t care. it’s totally possible for most people to change.

Did you sleep well last night? not especially. little man was up every couple hours to eat, and a little before 4 am it took a couple hours to get him to go back to sleep after i fed him again.

Is your bedroom big enough for you? it’s an okay size i suppose.

Are you looking forward to seeing someone soon? jacob when he gets off work.

Ever had a one-night stand? no. those aren’t my thing.

Is anyone flirting with you? no. that doesn’t really happen anymore.

Have you ever felt pressure to do anything you didn’t want to, like smoking, drinking, or losing your virginity, before you were ready for it? If so, how did you deal with that? yeah, i’ve been pressured to do things, but i generally still didn’t do whatever it was.

Do you consider yourself to be an intelligent person? Why/why not? i’d say i’m pretty average in intelligence.. i’m not super smart, but not dumb either...

Who would you most like to be stuck in a lift with? probably jacob because he’s good at keeping me calm most of the time.

Is there anyone you’d HATE to be stuck in a lift with? christian, jason, matt, or tito are at the top of that list.

When did you last talk to the person you love/like? What did you talk about? this morning. just goodbye and told him to have a good day.

Have you ever seen your father cry? yeah. not often, but it sucks when it happens.. either parent, really.

How would your parents react if you got pregnant? my mom was thrilled but my dad was a little worried i think because the world we live in today and whatever. wyatt has them both wrapped around his little finger though already now.

Do you/did you keep to your school’s uniform/dress code? i followed our dress code for the most part except some of the more ridiculous rules, like about where holes were allowed to be on pant legs.

If the last person you kissed said you were the only one they wanted, would you believe them? yes. i would.

What was the highlight of your summer? this summer hasn’t come yet.

The last time you threw up, was it because you were hungover? nope. i had to take the glucose intolerance test when i was pregnant and after my blood got drawn, i threw up all over the bathroom at the doctor’s office.. it sucked.

Have you ever seen the film ‘Wake Wood’? What did you think of it? i have no idea what that is.

Are you confused about anything atm? Is there anything bothering you? Or, is everything good? not really confused about anything at the moment. only things bothering me is i’m tired and some financial things and other things i don’t want to talk about right now.

If you say ‘I’ve had enough’ or ‘I’m done’, do you always mean it? not always i guess.

Who was the last person that invited you to their house? i honestly don’t remember. probably tito but he just wanted to try to get in my pants. turns out he is a super shitty person who pretends to care but he really doesn’t. probably should have figured that out sooner, but i give out way too many chances.

Have your parents ever told you about any alternative names they considered for you, or the name they would have chosen, if you’d turned out to be a boy? not really.. i probably would have been jonathan if i had been a boy.. that’s what they named my brother.

Are you friends with any of your exes? nope.

Have you ever had to make an emergency phone call? yeah. once when my brother and parents were fighting.

If you’re in a relationship, how is it going? If you’re single, are you looking for someone? it’s going alright for the most part.

What language do you like the sound of? i don’t know, really.

Think about the last guy, outside of family, that you had a conversation with. Do you find him sexy? does jacob count even though we’re married and technically have started our own family? i guess since he’s technically my family along with our son, he wouldn’t. that means it’d be the cashier at the gas station, and i can’t say that i found him all that attractive, so no.

What do you think is an assumption that someone could make about you, just by looking at your Tumblr? Would this assumption be correct? i don’t really know to be honest. and it depends which blog or whatever they’re looking at.. this one, they’d probably think i’m mostly okay and normal.. i don’t think that’d be correct..

What’s the most attractive physical feature of the person you love/like? his eyes.

Do you consider yourself to be a strong person? Why/why not? i’m definitely not strong physically and i don’t think i’m all that strong emotionally either.

Tell me about a special moment you’ve had with the person you love/like. when we got married. it was crazy stressful but once it started, it was amazing and everything i wanted.

What are you doing tomorrow? cousin’s surprise party probably at least for a bit. everyone wants me to go so they can see wyatt. lol.

#survey #surveys #personal #question #questions #random