#and it's fun to yell about while also still. y'know. enjoying the game | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

apompkwrites · 4 years ago

Text

reader impact || first meetings: unreconciled stars

series masterlist characters: scaramouche, fischl, mona genre: fluff summary: a game has been released entitled genshin impact, consisting of otherworldly abilities relying on the basic elements of nature. the game follows the story of an interdimensional traveling twin in search of their other half. along this journey, they meet different characters that live in this world. including you. notes: i'm sorry fischl and mona's aren't that good :(( this is actually my first time writing for them but i hope you enjoy <33

scaramouche's playthrough -

oof scara

scara scara scara

this boy hates his chat and at this point they don't care.

it's not like he'll badmouth them, right?

think ludwig.

that's him.

he's a very angy boy please--

as for what he does?

much like childe he'd do a lot of pvp games.

he's not too keen on showing off his personal life.

he prefers that boundary between his viewers and himself, y'know?

he honestly doesn't even understand why his viewers like him.

he knows he's a mean person and yet here they are :/

he doesn't take requests from his viewers he just kinda plays whatever he wants.

imagine his viewers' surprise when they see him streaming genshin--

they asked why a lot.

"it seemed cool."

this man just wants to play some good ol' anime games.

his chat calls him soft and he just glares.

anyway now he's actually playing.

he's not really into mondstadt's characters they're all... okay to him.

he feels a bit better in liyue.

not because it's pretty oh no no no.

because look at all the enemies outside >:))

he'll clear the whole field don't test him.

anyway, now onto the unreconciled stars event :00

this man really doesn't like katheryne--

anyway at this point he's tasked with find fritz, which he doesn't really want to do.

he sees the dude on the ground but that's only after he sees someone standing next to him.

and then he sees someone standing next to him :0

"is the guy on the floor sleeping?"

"i believe so. i've tried everything, but he won't wake up."

he will pause to look at your outfit.

it's so complex but it's so cool!!!

his chat suspects something's up but... he'll just snap at them like he normally does.

but he'll silently admire you <3

also yOU'RE T I N Y ! !

and then paimon points out your clothes and the cameras pans up your body--

"heh... and by "this person over here," you mean me, right?"

he will choose the "those unique clothes are quite beautiful" option in a heartbeat.

he doesn't care that his chat is teasing him, he just wants you to know :))

he's kinda sad when you leave, though...

"please come back soon..."

his CHAT HAS NEVER SEEN HIM SO SOFT BEFORE

skip to a few events later when the constellation is revealed to be leonard's.

the sudden cutscene catches him off guard because he's prepared to fight someone.

"hi! sounds interesting... mind if i join you?"

he won't say anything but he will physically relax at the sight of you.

you make this man soft please--

he's lowkey angry when his character is teleported away from you :(

(name): the sixth of the eleven fatui harbingers

HYPEHYPEHYPE

YOU'RE SO COOL!

of course he doesn't say that but his chat can tell that's what he's thinking.

this man's eyes go wide when you order the fatui around.

please help he really likes you. you're so assertive and cute and cool and just AGH--

fischl's playthrough -

fischl can and will do cosplay streams.

her fans like to watch her because of the "character" she puts up for the camera.

honestly she just does this because she genuinely enjoys cosplaying and bringing characters to life.

oz is the nickname for her pet bird :))

she definitely gets a lot of trolls in her chat that make fun of her for her cosplays and "dumb" way of speaking.

in which case she'll just yell at them using her "dumb" way of speaking.

she really does care about how people see her but her chat comforts her a lot after, so she feels better after a few minutes :))

the games she plays are very fantasy based and take place in worlds that don't exist.

once she gets into a game, she'd pick her favorite character and cosplay as them everytime she streams that game.

sometimes she does sewing streams where she actually makes her own cosplay with her fans.

they like to make it with her if they have the materials :D

genshin impact was a game her fans recommended because they actually want to see fischl cosplay the characters.

they will beg her to do the cosplay creation on stream.

(they defintitely know who she'll choose to cosplay but it's fine)

when she reaches the unreconciled stars event, she's really excited to learn about the fated meteorite granting sleep upon touch.

she's ready to go around teyvat in search of an answer when...

"katheryne! vassal of the immernachtreich, do mine ears deceive me, or didst thou cry out mine holy name in earnest supplication not one moment ago?"

some of her chat is obviously confused by your speech but her long time viewers can understand some of it.

oz, who fischl had brought with her to play, seems excited to see your familiar flying to you :)

fischl is just as excited as he is!!

please you speak just like her and you're voice is so nice and it actually sounds like the developers put thought into what the speech would mean in "proper speech."

"a pleasure to meet you again, katheryne."

YOU'RE FAMILIAR IS JUST AS COOL AS YOU ARE!!

some of her viewers will beg for her to skip through your dialogue.

when she sees those comments, she will purposefully let your dialogue play out, proceed to read out that same dialogue, and respond to you as if she was actually talking to you.

not just to spite them but because it's also a lot of fun for her <3

"it would seem the gods have blessed us with meeting such a well-respected being!"

translation: she's really excited to have met you.

as soon as you spoke she decided she would cosplay as you.

she's already planning out all of the materials she'll need and how much time it would take.

if your familiar is a bird, you best bet oz will be in her photo shoots for your cosplay.

most of the time you're on screen, she'll talk to her viewers about you in her classic chuunibyou style <333

she's really sad when it's time for you to leave :(((

"... goodbye, fischl. you are a good listener. i enjoy chatting with you. to be honest, most of the other adventurers in the guild only ever talk to me when they wanna hear (familiar)'s reconnaissance reports... this little journey we had... it was a great adventure. i'm just sorry that is has to end so abruptly..."

she might cry wait--

she relates to you even more now :(

"ah! what am i doing? i totally broke form..."

you're too cute pleas--

mona's playthrough -

mona does a lot of nightly streams.

it's very rare for you to catch her streaming with daylight.

she likes to share things about astrology while sitting outside drinking something warm.

she'll do a lot of nightly gaming streams as well.

mainly calmer games that people can vibe to in the background.

she prefers to keep her streams lowkey and chill, much like the life she wants to lead.

if only she had the money to do so...

yes, mona is still struggling with money even as a streamer.

she greatly appreciates any donations her fans give to her because she practically relies on them to pay her rent and daily necessities.

of course, it's not like she's completely struggling, just enough to barely get her by.

anyway, her fans ask her about playing genshin impact, inticing her with their talk about the stars and night sky in the game.

she's the type of player to take her time in the environment and take a lot of pictures of her character at night.

she's actually really excited when she hears about this new event centering around the stars and sky :D

soon enough, she gets around to the part where she is need of an astrologist.

she's HYPED to hear there's an astrologist in the game.

"someone looking for me? who is it?"

she will squeal, please.

look at you!!!

your whole design has stars and is space-themed and you're so cute and you're voice is so soothing ! ! !

she really likes listening to you talk about astrology because your voice gets even softer than before.

that scene where you go to the cliff??

please she has that scene as her lockscreen <3

you just look so cool when you start to do your process.

you're so focused and the way they animate your process in the game is beautiful.

and then the fatui harbinger interrupts one of your meetings :00

you grab onto mona's character and teleport away in a cloud of stars and specks of your elemental vision.

she's kinda embarrassed when you scold her about getting involved with the harbinger--

but not only are you really cool and awesome, you're super strong, too!

please be sassy more she really likes how proud you sound :))

910 notes · View notes

sineala · 4 years ago

Text

The gay Invaders

Hi, internet! Today I'd like to talk about one of the chronologically-first canonically-gay couples in Marvel Comics history: Brian Falsworth (the second Union Jack) and Roger Aubrey (The Destroyer). (I mean "chronological" in terms of in-universe timeline rather than RL publication date; I'm pretty sure Northstar is still the first to publication as far as unambiguously-gay Marvel heroes go.)

If you are a fan of reading or writing about Captain America being queer, you should care about Brian and Roger, because they were two of Steve's fellow Invaders in the 1940s, meaning that they are two of the people on the list of Steve's Old Gay Friends And Teammates, because, yeah, Steve sure had a lot of canonically gay friends during the war. Probably more than you'd think he would have had in the forties! (The other two are Percival Pinkerton, who's part of Nick Fury's Howling Commandos, and of course Steve's childhood friend Arnie Roth. Pinky is gay by word of Stan Lee, IIRC; Arnie was as canonically gay as DeMatteis could make him in the early 1980s, so they didn't say the word "gay" but it's really, really not subtle. Steve compares what Arnie feels for his "roommate" Michael to what Steve feels for his girlfriend Bernie. Yeah.)

I previously made a Tumblr post about Brian and Roger, rounding up some of the canonical evidence of their relationship, but that post is six years old now, and in the intervening years, Marvel has thoughtfully put the rest of the 70s Invaders run on Unlimited as well as the two Citizen V miniseries that star Roger and retcon his relationship with Brian as romantic. So I've read them now, and I've got panels.

Okay. I should probably begin by saying that Brian and Roger are not canonically gay in their first significant appearance together, which is in Invaders vol 1 #19 and #20, published in 1977. Roy Thomas does not seem to have intended them to be a couple, and they aren't canonically one in any of the original Invaders run. However, if you enjoy gay subtext, it's very nice.

This whole arc is the one that introduces Roger in modern canon. He's been brainwashed by the Nazis and the Invaders rescue him and get him back to his normal self. But in #19 we get his backstory in flashback, as related by Montgomery, Lord Falsworth (Brian's father; yes, MCU fans, the name should look familiar) and it turns out that Roger and Brian were basically best friends since childhood:

They were the dearest of friends!

Anyway, they both ended up captured by Nazis, they presumably changed their minds about appeasement as a policy, Brian got out and joined the Invaders, then they had to rescue the brainwashed Roger, and it's a fair amount of fun in a two-issue arc.

The subtext is even more prominent in Invaders #34, in which they find out that someone going by the Destroyer (which is Roger's codename) has been doing villainous deeds, and the Invaders worry that Roger's gotten himself brainwashed again. Brian immediately insists that it can't really be Roger because he knows Roger and Roger Would Never:

Unsurprisingly, Brian is right. It's not really Roger; Master Man is impersonating the Destroyer, and the villains have taken Roger captive, and the Invaders break him out and there is an extremely significant moment where it just so happens that Roger has to catch Brian, saving his life for a change, and they stare deeply into each other's eyes and Brian seems to be having difficulty finishing his sentences:

Some people who read this therefore concluded that Brian and Roger were extremely gay for each other. While ordinarily this sort of shipping is mostly confined to fandom, in this particular instance, one of the people who started shipping Brian/Roger was Fabian Nicieza, and Fabian Nicieza, as you probably know, writes comics for Marvel. I think you see where this is going.

However, first I must inform you that, sadly, Brian has been canonically dead for years. Captain America vol 1 #253-254 -- the two-parter about Baron Blood in the Stern/Byrne Cap run in the 80s -- establishes that Brian died in a car accident in 1953. (This is also the run where Joseph Chapman -- a friend of Jacqueline Falsworth's son Kenneth -- becomes the third (and current) Union Jack.)

(Roger then appears in a bunch of T-Bolts issues; I assume there's nothing interesting there on the gay front because I feel like someone would have told me. I should probably read more than three T-Bolts issues someday.)

So, anyway, in 2001, Fabian Nicieza wrote a miniseries called Citizen V and the V-Battalion. Roger, who is still superheroing as the Destroyer despite being pretty old by this point, is part of the titular V-Battalion, and he has a very prominent role in this miniseries. And in #1, we have the usual splash page of character backstory, and there's a very, um, interesting line there:

Regarding Brian and Roger's relationship, the narration informs us: "It sounds much gayer than it probably was."

This is interesting, obviously for a couple of reasons. One is that, up to this point in canon, as far as I can tell, literally nobody thought any of this sounded the slightest bit gay at all. (Other than, I guess, Fabian Nicieza.) The other reason is that, as we soon find out, it actually was as gay as it sounds. Thanks, Fabian!

In 2002, Nicieza wrote a second miniseries, Citizen V and the V-Battalion: The Everlasting. Issue #1 opens with a flashback set in 1953; specifically, we see Brian's funeral:

Roger is extremely sad, and when Lord Falsworth expresses his sympathy about the death of Roger's "friend" and saying that he knows how much this hurts him, Roger mutters under his breath that he doesn't have the slightest clue:

All is revealed on the next page, when one of the other characters tries to ask Roger about superhero business and Roger snaps at him because, as he says, "I just watched my friend die in my arms."

Except "friend" isn't the word he starts to say:

Yep. That would be "lover." So Roger nearly outs himself. So, yes, now it's absolutely canon. Hooray.

Later on in the issue, which is set in the present day, we have a couple pages of Roger staring at pictures of the two of them and continuing to be sad:

Yeah. They were a couple.

So the question you -- being a Captain America fan -- might ask yourself is, okay, did/does Steve know about any of this? (The reason I started looking all this up was because I wanted to know if Steve knew.) I don't know if we have a panel of Roger specifically admitting any of this to Steve (and if we do, I would like to know about it), but I would be comfortable saying that Steve probably knew back then -- because, well, he seems like the kind of guy who would actually have been fine with it in the 40s, what with all his gay friends -- and also that I can't think of a reason why he wouldn't know now. Because he's definitely worked with Roger again in fairly recent comics, and also Roger is very much out, these days.

In fact, New Invaders #4 (2004) opens with Roger attending Pride:

So, yeah, he's out.

(Then he has to fight, as far as I can tell, homophobic Nazi vampires. They're yelling slurs in German. Great.)

In All-New Invaders #10, which is from 2014 (and which is not the same series as New Invaders), Roger shows up to help out the Invaders, and in passing, he just happens to mention to another character (Joseph Chapman, the current Union Jack), that he is in fact gay:

He and Joseph don't really like each other much; as far as I can tell, their acquaintance in New Invaders consists of Joseph being vaguely homophobic and Roger being bitter about him being Union Jack because he actually wanted to be Union Jack himself to honor Brian's memory -- you know, that thing superheroes sometimes like to do to honor their dead superhero significant others, viz. Hank when Jan was dead after Secret Invasion -- and now Union Jack is this annoying kid and not, y'know, the love of his life. This exchange from New Invaders #4 seems pretty representative of their relationship:

Anyway, yeah, he's pretty obviously out.

Steve isn't actually present for this conversation in All-New Invaders, but he mentions in a later issue of this run that he knows what Roger and his pals have been up to, plot-wise, so I feel comfortable assuming that he's talked to Roger at some point in the previous ten years or so, and therefore, since Roger is completely out at this point in canon, there's no reason Steve shouldn't know now.

On an unrelated note, it's also a fun issue if you're a Steve/Tony fan because this is clearly running in parallel with Hickman's Avengers run, which means that he spends half a page telling Namor that he's mad at him and the rest of the Illuminati (but mostly mad at Tony because... he's just obsessed with Tony in this run, I guess?) about the mindwipe:

This is the sum total of my knowledge about Brian and Roger. No, wait, I know one more thing, which is that Brian was a character in the late, lamented mobile game Avengers Academy, in which he was also actually gay; Roger does not seem to have been there. There's a CBR article that you can read about the whole thing, which mentions some of these details from the comics in passing. (I have no idea why it says that their relationship was alluded to in the Stern/Byrne run; unless I missed something big, the only thing those issues do is establish Brian's death. As far as I can tell, no one is gay in them.)

So, yeah, that's Brian Falsworth and Roger Aubrey, the two gay Invaders. Steve sure has a lot of gay friends.

#posts i actually wrote

64 notes · View notes

letters-from-eros · 5 years ago

Note

Okay but like how about sakusa and kuroo with a tall s/o??? Like around (6'ft or sth because i lowkey feel left out lol) ,,,,,-all the love💜.

A/N: Yes! I'm sorry the whole short S/O thing is so overplayed to the point where u feel left out! Hopefully I can give my tall pples some justice

Pairings: Sakusa Kiyoomi, Kuroo Tetsurou x GN!Reader

Form: Headcanon.

Warnings: I cursed like once.

He can't really.. call you chibi-chan.. like he oh so desperately wants to...

His arm is like constantly wrapped around your shoulder because its easier to do that with someone that's the same height as him.

If you play sports cause you're tall he supports you and goes to your games if he y'know doesn't have a game/practice himself. If Kuroo can get by in the sport he'll help you whenever you ask

(And if its volleyball, you guys are helping each other out and its a lot of fun).

Presses his forehead against yours a lot

And forehead kisses. That's one of his favorite place to kiss you.

If you ever get bullied because of your height Kuroo will of course, roast them using big science words.

Like did you not get enough of *this nutrient* since you're so short.

Mans a geek and your height doesn't change that lmao.

Being tall comes with stretch marks more often than not, and Kuroo does not even bat an eye to them

He really couldn't care less, this is mr. Science man here. He knows its a natural thing bound to happen when you get tall, he might have a couple himself.

Makes sure you're having enough calories to sustain your height and all that. He's the kind of guy to check up on how much water you've been drinking so it's no surprise he's a little concerned about your diet.

(Not in an overbearing way, though)

Roast Yaku with him please.

Honestly you two might just pick up Yaku... Kuroo grabs his arms and you get his legs while he just yells.

Kuroo doesn't swing around though, you guys do it to just make Yaku mildly upset and place him at a different spot than where he was.

Help him put Kenma's PSP, gameboy, or phone at high places where Kenma can't reach

And watch Kozume go feral

Anyway, he hugs you from behind a lot and rests his head on your shoulder.

Kuroo is a fantastic hugger and you can't convince me otherwise. He'll make you feel extremely safe and protected all by just wrapping his arms around you.

Kuroo didn't really particularly care that you were indeed tall, but he couldn't help but like it to hold you. You were a teddy bear just the size of him, what's there not to like.

You still get Sakusa headpats don't worry

Hug him from behind and watch him squirm lmao

But he he grows to love getting hugged from behind though!! Shockingly enough.

He's touched starved and he eases his way into being able to be held by you. So it definitely becomes a thing he expects out of you once he starts liking it lol

So much eye contact!! If its not something you're good at giving that's alright with him, but he's still gonna be looking into your eyes.

Idk it just seems like one of his quirks to me

If you play a sport, he's gonna support you. I doubt Sakusa actually particularly likes sports asides from volleyball; so, he might not be that prone to play anything else with you

If you do play volleyball he'll help you practice every now and again, he doesn't see why not since its beneficial for both himself and you.

But even if you play a sport he doesn't enjoy, Sakusa doesn't miss any of your games if it doesn't conflict with his schedule.

He's not hard to pick out in the stands, he's sitting as far away from everyone else as he can. Also if he says he's gonna be there, he gonna be there. The last thing Omi is is a liar and promise breaker.

(This translates to general plans as well. For Sakusa to not live up to his word a catastrophe must've occured)

Really couldn't give a single fuck about any stretch marks.. Like he's so indifferent about them you can question if he even knows they're there.

Oh my god, he whispers a lot into your ear so much.

Like small things when you two are in crowded areas. Like you're gonna be confused if it's sexy or not because it'll just be pretty mundane things.

Omg THE LOOK OF DISGUST HE GIVES ANYONE WHO MAKES FUN OF YOU FOR YOUR HEIGHT

You know the one

The one he gives to the "unclean"

Its honestly golden. The expression he makes will make you instantly forget what the short-stack said to you.

Anyway, he rests his head in the crook of your neck/shoulder to look at whatever you're doing

You're the only person he lets into his personal space, don't let that go to waste.

175 notes · View notes

all-you-need-is-paul-mccartney · 4 years ago

Text

Across the Universe II (Paul McCartney x Female!Reader)

Find Part One Here

A/N: I just checked chapter 1 and I literally put it up over a year ago. Shit. I just wrote a part 2, and finally got ahold of a computer to post it. I hope you's enjoy it. my last chapter had like... 20 likes altogether, so hopefully this chapter will draw some readers in.

Summary: Paul makes it to the Princeton campus where he not only reunites with his cousin Vick, but he meets a fellow stoner named Max. From there, the boys indulge in some Ivy League Hospitality.

WARNINGS: Drinking, swearing, smoking psychoactive substances (Cannabis), just dumb college guys doing dumb college shit. also, it's probably got mistakes bc I suck at revising

This is just a statement clearing up that none of these characters are mine except for Vick. Everyone else belongs to those who were involved in and/or collaborated with Julie Taymor in making the Across The Universe film (2007)

I'll rate this one a T seeing as the substance use isn't THAT bad.

"Vick Hoffner?"

"Try across the way, man. I think there's a Vick of sorts there."

Paul simply nodded at the stranger before turning on his heel and making a beeline to the next apartment, his hands fiddling with his useless book of contacts.

What was the point of giving me your number if you won't even pick up the phone?

He sighed, and rubbed his eyes tiredly with the palm of his hand. He'd been hitchhiking for two days just to get to the Princeton Campus, and then a few hours going through the closest rented apartments to locate him.

This was apartment number 9.

And it was nearing one AM.

Paul rapped weakly at the door, silently concluding that this would be the last place to check before finding somewhere to sleep until the next morning.

The door swung open, and Paul was face-to-face with this college kid who seemed to be about his age. He had unkempt blonde hair that curled around his ears, patchy stubble, and big blue eyes hazed over with the red assault of cannabis in his system.

Despite this, and the nearly empty beer bottle in his hand, the guy looked like he was keeping it together pretty well.

Paul cleared his throat, and raised an eyebrow. "... Vick Hoffner?"

"Nah, man. He's out at the moment gettin' drinks," the guy paused, and looked at Paul for a moment.

"Hey, hold on, you're not... Vick's cousin, are you?"

"Would it be an issue?" Paul asked sarcastically, to which the other guy responded after a laugh, "Nah. I just can't wait for him to get back and find out you got the better looks."

Paul just rolled his eyes, a smile on his lips. "Probably don't matter. He's the brains n' so is me brother. 'S what really matters; though I take pride in this thing." Paul pointed teasingly at his face.

The other guy smiled, pulling two cigarettes from behind his ear. He offered one to Paul, and he claimed the other. He lit the both of their cigs, and they each took a long drag after Paul scanned the apartment hallway for any angry tenants who happened to be against smoking indoors.

"So... does Vick's "pretty boy" cousin have a name?"

Paul nodded like the fact that he had a name was astounding information, but he smiled genuinely before bringing the cigarette back to his lips. "It's Paul."

"Max," The blond shoved his hand out, and the boys shook hands firmly. Max eyed Paul again."Where's that accent from, Paul?"

"Same place as me," Paul answered as he shoved his free hand in his pocket, blowing out smoke a moment after. "Liverpool."

"But why come to America?" Max gestured Paul into the apartment as he spoke, closing the door behind them. "Kill someone? Were you on the run from the cops? FBI?"

"'Sounds like you'd be one to know 'bout all of that." The boys took a seat on the couch in the centre of the room as their cigarettes slowly burned away as they chatted.

"Hey, hey, I've barely ever been in trouble with the cops, but I have pissed off every professor in Princeton, and have broken several campus windows."

" 'nd... you're proud of it?"

"I'm an adrenaline junkie, what can I say? Smashed nearly forty five windows and despite being Princeton's number one vandalidm suspect, I'm still not expelled. Y'know why?" Paul leaned in a little, enough to catch the dank scent of weed, and Max lowered his voice. "... because they can never prove it's me."

" 'nd why is that?"

The answer to Paul's question burst right through the apartment door.

"There's three more of us, and it could be any of them!" One of which, Paul could surprisingly recognize.

"Vick. Long time no see," Paul rose to his feet, and Vick, who'd set a six-pack of beer on the coffee table between them, greeted his cousin with a friendly hug and some "how are you"s.

Despite being an intelligent young man, Paul noticed that Vick behaved a little less like how he used to: polite, conservative, and proper. It was suspected that his behaviour changed because his newfound freedom at Uni allowed him to experience and access things that he would have been otherwise restricted from when he was younger.

Booze was one of them.

Dope was another.

In fact, he wordlessly cracked open a beer for Paul, and handed it to him like he'd asked for a drink in the first place.

Paul wasn't a huge drinker. It was never a vice of his, or anything like that either. He got shitfaced every once in a while for fun.

But when he brought that aluminum can up to his lips, Paul would never have guessed that it would have led to the night it did.

Five minutes after Vick and his buddies returned, Max brought out the roach Paul suspected he was sucking on before he got there.

With enthusiastic cheers from around the room, Max lit the sucker up, took a nice drag from the hot remainders of the joint, and passed it on to Paul.

Paul looked at the roach, almost as if he was confused. No one had asked him if he'd ever smoked before, but Max and the others yelled hurriedly over top of one another, instructing for Paul to suck in quickly and hold the smoke in for as long as he could.

It resulted in a coughing fit, and encouraging pats on the back from the other guys. Vick ended up taking the roach next, and Max reached out across the table.

"Have another one of these, my friend," he slid over another beer after cracking it open just moments before, despite the fact that Paul wasn't quite finished his first drink.

"Y'know, the more you cough, the higher you get? Pretty fucking sick. Like a win-win, man. You don't cough: You're high. You cough: You're super high."

As time went on, and Paul nursed his second drink more responsibly than the first one, things, ironically, started making less and less sense to him.

At one point, he was talking to the guy sitting across from him, and he just stopped talking for a whole ten seconds before turning to Max and asking "what the fuck was I just talking about?"

"Who fucking knows." The blond's shoulders shook as he tried suppressing his laughs, but eventually Paul just burst out into laughs and uncontrollable tears.

And everyone followed suit.

He had absolutely no idea how he got there, or how long he'd been there for, but sitting before Paul were now two empty Tankards. A waitress just set down another to him, and collected the table's empty glasses.

They were in a bar.

Max sat beside Paul as he watched Vick spectate the other two guys play pool.

For the life of him, Paul couldn't remember those guys' names, despite knowing he was told multiple times in the last few hours. To be fair, being drunk and stoned is a perfectly reasonable explanation as to how one forgets another's name. He supposed it didn't exactly matter, anyways.

"So, you got any hot sisters abroad I should know about?" Paul gave Max a funny look but it may have been because it took so long for Paul's brain to register what had been asked.

"... No. Do you?"

"I've got two younger sisters; one's eight, and the older one's a little on the uglier side," though he didn't say it, Max's little smile indicated to Paul that he was joking about the last comment.

Paul and Max watched the boys play pool a little longer until the eight ball was pocketed.

"Wanna play?" Paul's head snapped to his left, and he nodded at Max's offer.

The other guys traded off, and Vick continued spectating. Max made the first break, and Paul watched as the cue ball rolled right into one of the pockets. Well, it seemed to have been only him to notice, because Max's eyes were instead trained on a brunette woman passing the two.

She looked over her shoulder to wink at Max, and rather than gouging his reaction, she simply walked off and took a seat alone in the corner of the bar.

"Do you believe in love at first sight, McCartney?"

"Well, I'm sure that it 'appens all the time. Never 'appened to me, personally."

"You just need to find the right one, my friend.." Max trailed off again, eyes still locked on the bird in the corner. He was slowly inching from the table and toward her. Max eventually just set the cue on the table and completely abandoned their game to talk to this girl, who flashed him a flirty smile with her bright white teeth and painted lips.

Paul watched Max amusedly, taking a swig from his beer and memorizing the moves Max was putting on his lady friend, who was clearly enjoying his company.

Maybe Paul wanted to get better at approaching certain women. He knew how to flirt, and be charming. It's not like he'd never had girlfriends. He'd had his fair share of girls in his teenage years, and he had Molly now back in Liverpool.

But Paul, at this moment, in his crossfaded brain, realized that he didn't want to attract the women he had been anymore. Just from her visual appearance, and how she was reacting to Max's charming flirts, Paul could sense an airiness to her personality. She was always smiling, inching closer, initiating physical contact by nudging his hand with her own, the list goes on.

Hell, even on her happiest days, Molly would be reluctant to kiss Paul, but he'd excuse her behaviour because she was just a regularly bitchy person who hated public displays of affection.

Or hardly any affection at all, it seemed.

Needless to say, Max returned to the table five minutes later with a phone number and a big red lipstick stain on his cheek. So to celebrate, the gang decided to go golfing.

"Here she is, Window Way," Max introduced Paul to the roof of their apartment building. The other boys started giggling at the name "Window Way". Each guy had their own club, Max held a bag of golf balls, and Vick carried another six pack.

Max set his things down and took in the crisp night air as Vick opened yet another beer for each of the boys. Max took a can for him, and one for Paul, and proceeded to show his new buddy just why he called it "Window Way".

"A Driver will send a ball..." Max pointed his arm straight out in front of him, his finger pointing right towards the windows of the Princeton Campus library.

"...Straight towards the school," Paul finished. He turned to look at Max. "You guys do this every night?"

"Paul, I do this all day. I barely go to class anymore."

"Hey, Max! You tee first!" One of the nameless guys called out to them. Max brandished the widest of grins before rushing to grab his club, a ball, and a green tee from his pocket. "Hey, Paulie, wanna help me out by holding my tee up?"

"Well, how'd I do that without gettin' hit?"

The other boys started laughing again, and Paul was genuinely confused until he found himself lying on his back seconds later, and the bottom of the tee between his lips, which only got heavier when Max set the ball down onto it.

If he were sober in this moment, Paul would not have been this comfortable with someone swinging a golf club full force towards his head and then trust their judgement regardless of their in intoxicity that they'd hit their target...

It was a good thing Max had been doing this for a long time, because wow, did that ball ever fly.

Paul watched in stoned disbelief as the ball soared far off into the distance and over the roof of the library. And while no one had seen it, they certainly heard the shatter from the other side of the building.

And that's when all five boys ran away from administration retired back to their room to light up a new joint Vick had also brought home as a surprise. They all sat around and lazily talked to one another about how crazy Max's shot was, and while some of them were falling in and out of sleep, Max insisted they all stay up to watch the sky change colour from the courtyard.

Paul didn't know how he stayed up any longer than he did, but he pulled through like a trooper, and they all watched the sky change as they lay down in the fallen leaves. But as soon as they all came back to their room for a final time, Paul dragged himself in exhaustion to the living room chair to sit, but he just slipped out of it onto the floor, and that's when his body decided to turn off on its own.

The other guys dropped to the ground or onto the furniture like dead flies, and within ten seconds of the door closing, the room was quiet.

And it stayed like that for nearly ten hours.

Paul woke up that evening with a raging headache and multiple trips to the bathroom to be sick, but now three things were certain for him: He definitely had one hell of a time, he definitely wanted to hang out with Max a lot more, and that evening Paul definitely got by with a little help from his new friends.

------------------------------------------------------

A/A/N: alrighty, if this chapter doesn't do too too bad, I'll see about continuing this story. I've got chapter 3 pretty much done as well, I'm just in the midst of revising it. If you want more, by all means, PLEASE let me know!

#across the universe #paul mccartney #the beatles #paul mccartney x reader #macca #george harrison #john lennon #ringo starr

30 notes · View notes

tangleweave · 4 years ago

Text

Crimson Tide (Drabble / RP)

[ @illbringthechaosmagic ]

An anonymous person has been taunting Stephen that a loved one has been taken captive...

Stephen Strange was not a patient man. He didn't like it when things came slowly, but he had learned how to deal with slow processes, as long as he could be assured of rewards down the line. Even less than slow progress did he like things that threw him off his rhythm. To be interrupted in his work was to invite his wrath, and by the Fates, could he be creative with his wrath.

That had been long before the car accident and the Sorcerer Supreme thing.

But now, the odd woman who had come to him to explain to him, in interestingly explicit terminology, that Wanda was being held prisoner... not only was she an interruption, she was an active irritant. An antagonist? No... not for him. To qualify as an antagonist, there were several things that needed to happen, not the least of which being a need to demonstrate a direct threat. So far she had shown him no evidence that she posed any harm whatsoever, and certainly not within the welcoming room for Kamar-Taj, where two other sorcerers stood at polite but firm attention in the corners.

She was seated in the wooden chair dead center of the room, legs crossed, hands folded in her lap. Her dusky skin and wavy black hair shone in the sunlight that filtered through the ceiling slats. Her accent indicated she wasn't Nepalese, though she could easily be from India or some other adjacent region. She seemed curiously calm for someone in his presence who knew the things he was capable of.

Fine. If she wanted to play mind games, he could play them too. He moved to a cabinet and withdrew a pair of long yellow leather gloves, the cuffs of which were adorned with delicate sigils of black and gold. He had his back slightly turned as he began to don them.

"What now?" he heard her taunt. "Does the great Doctor Strange mean to get blood on his hands?"

He glanced towards her with eyebrow arched as he slid the second glove on. "Obviously not," he said, "otherwise I wouldn't be gloving up."

She thrust her chin out towards him. "You don't frighten me."

"Of course I do. I'm a doctor. Being attended by one is inherently frightening. It means there's something wrong with you. And there must be something deeply wrong with you, in particular, if you thought you were just going to waltz in here, declare that you're holding a friend and ally prisoner, and then not make any demands in exchange for her release." He held up his hands, palms towards himself. "Hadn't you heard? This is Kamar-Taj, where I had my operation to restore function to my hands. These are examination gloves. We don't have the kind of funds needed for single-use non-latex, so we go for longevity instead. After we're done with a particularly... messy... procedure, we use a sodium hydroxide solution to rinse off the pairs we do have. But don't worry, it shouldn't burn your skin too badly, long as I don't touch you for more than a couple seconds."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You are a doctor. Your job is to not harm others."

"Oh, I see." He frowned and tilted his head at her. "Remind me again, what year is it? 2024? That means my medical license lapsed, uh... six years ago. Y'know, shortly after that niggling little part where half the world vanished. And saving all the people that were left over, that was an all-hands-on-deck situation. Things got ugly, if you'll recall. Besides, what do you call it when a surgeon cuts someone open with a scalpel? Surely you would think that was causing harm... but in the pursuit of reducing greater harm, when removing a tumor." He laced his fingers together tightly, securing the gloves about his hands. "Wonder how many you've got." He began slowly stepping towards her.

"There is nothing wrong with me!" she protested, and her legs uncrossed. "I wished to ensure I had your attention before making demands."

"Don't worry, you have it," Stephen assured her. "And you were right about one thing, this doctor doesn't make house calls. So glad to be hosting you today. You're my first patient in months. The last one still hasn't healed up quite right."

"I am no patient!" she said indignantly, shifting in her chair as he continued to advance.

"Then we have something in common, since I'm exactly the opposite of patient," he returned, and he cupped his hands toward each other. A crackling cat's cradle of golden dimensional energy appeared, and when he pulled his hands more broadly apart, it stretched with them. Orange sparks snapped from the strands. Stephen frowned. "Well, what do you know, there's still a little hydroxide solution on the gloves after all." He shrugged. "That's fine, it should all burn off pretty quickly."

She got to her feet. "Your Cauldron of the Cosmos!" she blurted. "It is a relic stolen from the pyramids of Giza--"

Stephen whipped one hand out; the strands of energy wrapped about the woman and sizzled as they touched her, eliciting a shriek. He closed to within inches from her face. "It's an artifact forged by Agamotto the All-Seeing approximately eight thousand years ago. I'd say try again but I don't think your clothes have that kind of time. Where's the submarine?"

A crease formed between the woman's thick eyebrows at the absurd question, but the heat and crackling from the energy whips surrounding her were beginning to convince her of the threat he posed. "I... I don't..."

"Sure, sure, you don't know." He dismissed the whips, then noted the burn scarring on her clothing. "Mmm. That'll be hard to get out. I might know a tailor or two." He gestured at the chair. "Take a seat or that pantsuit's going to look like it went through a king-size waffle iron. And I don't even want to think about what it'll do to your hair."

She glowered at him but did as directed. "What do you mean 'submarine'?" she asked.

"Well, if you don't know where it is, there's not a whole lot of reason for me to explain it to you, is there?" he responded. "Sure makes you look like a schlub, though. Obviously you're not in charge, you're just following directions from whoever it is giving them to you. Whoever they are, they need to up your clothing allowance, and update their K&R policies. It's in my favor, though, they couldn't send an actual professional to negotiate for the Cauldron. I could have given the all-American line... 'I don't negotiate with terrorists.' Definitely what a Sorcerer Supreme dreams of saying to someone." He waved a dismissive hand. "That's fine, though. I've got another movie line I can hand you. 'I've got ways of making you talk.' Impressed?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I am no amateur. I have been immunized to truth serums and measures intended to force me to speak truth against my will. Even you cannot coerce me."

He scoffed and gave her a mirthless smile. "Truth? Who said anything about that? I want you to lie your ass off."

She frowned. "What...?"

He brought both hands up, fingers twiddling unsteadily in odd snaking motions, and gleaming neon-blue energy appeared in the air between them. His hands didn't meet -- one wrist hovered above the fingers of the other -- but the energy they conjured twisted unevenly in a warbling circle that settled about the chair. The thick strands of plasma braided around one another, and once the circle was fully enclosed, the space within was consumed with fierce blue light.

"A sorcerer of Kamar-Taj would refer to this as a Ring of Raggadorr. But a Dungeons & Dragons player would call it a Zone of Truth... with a Strange twist to it. While you're within it, you can't refrain from answering my questions, but instead of wasting my time trying to figure out whether you can actually resist a Zone of Truth, I've sealed you within a Zone of Lies. You're completely incapable of uttering the truth. And when I ask you questions, whatever the truthful answer is, you'll be giving me precisely the opposite one, or as close to the opposite as you're able." He flourished with one hand. "So, test question, do you know my name?"

"...no." The woman looked flummoxed at the answer coming from her own mouth.

Stephen smirked. "All right then, progress. Now, you're in charge of this operation, aren't you?"

"...yes."

"Where on the ladder are you?"

"The top."

Stephen chuckled. "Oh, honey. They really don't pay you enough for this gig, do they?"

"I am paid extremely generously."

"Yeah, that much is obvious."

She stood up from her chair and tried to take a step forward. The blue light surrounding her crackled much in the manner of a Star Trek forcefield, and she jumped back as if having been shocked. She cast a look at Stephen. "I wish to remain in this space eternally!"

Now Stephen had to raise a gloved hand to hide his widening smirk. "I'm considering it," he quipped. "This is a lot more fun than I imagined."

"I am also enjoying it immensely!" she shouted.

He poked a finger at her. "Try saying it with a sarcastic bend to it, if you can, I wanna see how deep this spell goes. Does it affect just your words? You're yelling so I can tell you're agitated, at least."

"I am not agitated! I am free to walk out of this enclosure at any time and I do not fear your powers!" She crossed her arms under her chest and glowered at the floor.

"Well, if this isn't a reflection of parenthood, I don't know what is," Stephen remarked. "But while this is entertaining, I have some actual work to do. So let's talk submarines. Your bosses work out of one, don't they?"

"...no."

"I see. And if I looked all over the world for it, there's only one place I would never find it. Where is that place?"

"...the Laurentian Abyss."

He arched an eyebrow at her. "Are you telling me that I can find the submarine in the Laurentian Abyss?"

"No, that is not what I am telling you."

Stephen had to try very hard not to crack a smile. "How very Red October of you. I think the Cauldron of the Cosmos can probably help me along from here... though I'm curious why you would even want it at all. Is there anybody among your employers and co-workers in this little venture that could even use it?"

"To the best of my knowledge, everyone there could. The Cauldron is of no particular fascination or consequence to my employers. They are not at all fascinated by its purported abilities. They would prefer to have Wanda, as a person is far more stable a commodity than an inanimate object. Should you refuse to surrender the Cauldron, my employers are not prepared to brainwash her for their purposes."

He scoffed. "Thought so. You know, you actually make it a lot more convincing now that you can't even say it properly. Should've tried it like this before, you'd have gotten my attention even sooner. Tell you what, you can hang out here while I get this problem sorted out." He turned toward the east hall, which would eventually lead him to the portal door that connected to the New York Sanctum.

"Wait!"

He turned back to her with his eyebrow up again. "Yes, what?"

"I do not wish to know how you knew of the submarine."

This time both eyebrows went up and he rubbed his temple. "Vishanti help me, I'm actually starting to get used to this," he muttered. Then he looked at her more directly. "It's not what you lied about, it's what you told me truthfully. You said straitjacket and shock collar. That's how Wanda was kept secured when she was a prisoner aboard the Raft. The only people who would know that was a successful method are people who saw it in action. But the Raft is stationary. Eventually someone would come knocking. The only way to keep a prisoner like her off the radar is to keep her moving. And aboard an underwater craft, even if she breaks loose, where would she go? Especially as far down as the Laurentian Abyss. So... submarine made the most sense."

The crease in her brow only deepened further. "I understand completely how you were able to make such deductions."

"Yeah, sometimes I even amaze myself." He glanced to the other two sorcerers in the room, then gestured at the woman. "Make her comfortable while she's waiting. But you're welcome to have a little fun with that spell while it's still active."

Without another word, he stalked his way up the hall and found the entrance to the New York Sanctum. A variety of obstacles to the matter at hand pervaded his thought process. If the submarine was indeed in the Laurentian Abyss, it meant that it was so deep, opening a direct portal to its interior would be a death sentence to anyone aboard; the bends would see to that. It needed to be forced to surface, and its own crew made to decompress the interior. He chewed his lower lip in thought. How would he get them to do that?

He was five steps away from the Cauldron when he stopped in place and rolled his eyes. Duh. He'd seen the damn movie. Simulate a radiation leak. It's not as if he was a Master of the Mystic Arts and claimed control over a vast breadth of energies.

"Thank you, Tom Clancy," he murmured as he approached the artifact.

#illbringthechaosmagic #muse: strange

14 notes · View notes

fydream · 5 years ago

Text

a/n: hi yes! another differently formatted chapter! word count is 2.2k, so it’s not that long. also this semi-proof read sorry (meaning i did proof reading and editing while writing it but i didnt give it one last over view.. again, sorry) hope u like it! :D

You sigh as you swing your legs back and forth from the countertop you were sitting on. Currently, you, Renjun, Chenle, and Jeno were all at Hyuck's house hanging out. Your sigh catches the attention of Renjun which prompts him to ask "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." You say, trying to brush it off.

He furrows his eyebrows. "It's not nothing. If it's bothering you this much why don't we talk about it?"

You pout at him, hoping he'll pick up a sign that you don't want to, but still he insists that you tell him what's wrong.

"Well.." You mumble. "Jisung said he wanted to talk to me tonight.."

"Sorry, what?" Renjun asks. "I didn't hear you."

"Jisung said.. he wanted to meet up to explain everything." You say, a little louder this time.

"Jisung what?!" Renjun exclaims, getting the attention of everyone else in the room.

You sigh in defeat as you watch Jeno tense at the name of his ex-friend.

"What's this about Jisung?" Jeno asks.

"Nothing." You mumble, trying to find something else to talk about.

"No no, it's okay. I won't be upset." Jeno reassures. "What about Jisung?"

"He wanted to clear up a few things with me." You answer, glancing at the clock propped up on Hyuck's kitchen wall.

Donghyuck seems to notice how fast your eyes move and asks "Tonight?"

"Yeah. In like an hour or so actually." You confirm.

"Are you sure you want to go?" Renjun asks you.

"Well.. yeah. I kinda want an explanation."

"Are you sure?" Chenle asks. "Like, one hundred percent sure?"

"Yeah?" You nod, confused on why they seemed so concerned with you meeting up with Jisung again.

"Why?" He asks.

"I literally just told you why." You answer, annoyance prominent in your voice.

"Okay." Chenle says, backing off, hands raised in defense.

"Do you, uh, need a ride?" Donghyuck asks, hoping to clear the air a bit.

"Yeah, sure." You agree, hopping off the kitchen counter. It takes him back a little, he wasn't expecting that kind of response, especially that quickly.

"Oh, uhh, now?" He asks as he watches walk towards his hallway.

"Uh, yeah?" You say as he looks at his two friends and his boyfriend confusingly. They shrug in response. You can hear Chenle say "Hey man, you offered to drive. Not us."

You pause in between the end of the hallway and the entrance to the kitchen to watch the four boys start to quarrel.

"Jeno, you'll come with me, right?" Donghyuck asks and Jeno shoots him a look.

"Are you insane?" Jeno responds. "I don't wanna talk to him."

"You're not going to talk to him. Y/n is."

"Okay, then I don't want to see him."

"Fine." Donghyuck scoffs, before turning his head to look at Renjun and Chenle who were already saying no.

"What are you gonna do?" He asks them.

"We're gonna watch your house. Duh." Chenle responds.

"Actually. They're gonna watch your house." Renjun corrects, pointing at Jeno and Chenle. "I'm going to watch Chenle."

"Whaaat!! That's not fair!" He protests.

"I trust Jeno more than you." Renjun retorts back.

Donghyuck sighs in defeat. "Fine. Just don't do anything stupid." He says, turning to walk towards you and you can see the three boys cheer behind him. It causes you to giggle, and Donghyuck is just happy you're happy.

Once out of his house and into his car he asks you where you're going. You tell him not to worry and that you'll just give him the directions on how to get there. It only worries him more.

"I dunno y/n. It seems kinda sketch."

"Listen I know you don't trust the guy, but you trust me, right?" You ask.

"Yeah.."

"Then trust me, that it'll be okay."

"Okay." He sighs. "You lead the way."

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay?" Donghyuck asks as you step out of the passenger seat to his car.

"Yeah. I'm sure." You sigh.

"Okay.. Just. Call me if you need me. I'll be nearby, okay?"

"I'll be fine, Hyuck. Don't worry."

"Whatever you say.." He mumbles before rolling up his window and driving away.

Walking to the only other human like figure around you, you start to wonder if Jisung is really worth your time. Sure you missed the time you spent together, all the hours in the library studying and having stupid debates over the simplest things like, the best ice cream flavor, or how to write the number eight. Yeah you missed it, but was it really worth going back to? You could do these with anyone, even the new friends you've made so far this year. But for some reason, it was different with Jisung.

Maybe it's because you did like him. Or maybe it's because he was really different from your other friends. Yes you love Hyuck, and Renjun, and Chenle to death but it was nice having someone else to talk to, someone who didn't know everything about you, someone you could make different memories with.

"You came.." He says. It's not loud, but it's not quiet either. It's enough to snap you out of your thoughts though.

"Yeah." You nod. "I wanna know.. the truth. And only the truth."

"Do you promise to believe me?" He asks.

You don't respond for a second, you just stare at him with a blank face. You can tell that his eyes are shaky and you can't tell if he's about to cry or not.

"I don't want to make a promise I can't keep."

Needless to say, you could practically feel Jisung's heart shatter.

"Okay." He nods. "Where do you want me to start?"

"I don't know? The beginning?"

"Oh.. Right." He mumbles. "Well um.. You- You see.. It started like- uhm- like."

"So are you gonna tell me or are you just going to keep stalling?"

"Uhh."

"I mean. I can wait, I do have all night for your information." You spit, crossing your arms. "Do you? Or do you have another date planned after this? Y'know, one where you lied to another other girl too?"

"I- What? I don't have another 'date' after this.." He defends. "I've.. I've been alone for the past month and a half.. What are you talking about?"

"So I've heard."

"Look." Jisung sighs, you notice that he looks tired. "I don't wanna fight. Can we just start over?"

"Okay Park Jisung, we can do whatever you want." You scoff. "Hi! I'm y/n l/n, I came to have a conversation. Are we going to have one, or not?"

"You want me to start at the beginning?" He yells. "Fine then! I'll start at the beginning. I'll tell you whatever the fuck you wanna hear!"

"It's true! In the beginning of the school year I was bored and was looking for someone to date. But then I met you! And you were different!"

"Oh yeah? Well I bet you tell that to every girl you meet!" You yell back at him.

Ignoring what you said, Jisung decides to continue. "For some reason something clicked with you. I don't know what it was and I don't remember when, but something just clicked. You really were different. I started enjoying your company a lot more and everything just felt right.. around you."

"This is bullshit." You mumble before turning to walk away. Part of you didn't want to leave because you knew what he was talking about, something clicking. The other part of you decided that this was probably all a lie. "If he's lied to me before he'll do it again." You think trying to convince yourself to leave.

"I'm sorry, Jisung." You sigh. "I really want to believe you, trust me, I do. But you've told me things before.. and you lied to me about them. So who's to say that you aren't lying to me right now?"

There's no response. He just looks at you and you can see the small bits of hope leave his eyes. "Okay." You sigh with a nod before turning to leave. You get pretty far away when you hear him yell your name in attempt to get you to stop walking away from him. "Before you go.. can I please just tell you something?"

You let out a tired sigh. "What is it?"

"You don't have to believe me." He starts. "But you remember that night we spent together? The one right here? In this exact spot?"

You nod. "You mean the night that you lied to me?"

Your words sting, but he decides to continue anyways, trying his best to not show how much that hurt him.

"I meant everything I said that night.. All those words I said were true y'know.." He whispers. "I miss you."

"I miss seeing how your eyes lit up.. And I miss seeing your smile.. I still see it every now and then, but it's not directed at me and it just hurts. I miss our silly disagreements and how we'd drag them on for what felt like ages. I miss driving you home because even though they were silent drives I felt safe and comfortable with you there. It didn't have to be loud like when I drove around with my other friends. I miss the little dates we went on, and ye-yes you'll never hear me say it again but they were all dates. I miss that day at the mall.. before everything went down. Do you remember?" He asks.

You nod again. This time it's smaller and more subtle.

"Y'know.. That's the day I started realizing I liked you." He admits.

Closing your eyes you whisper, "Stop talking."

But he doesn't listen. He just continues.

"You were playing some dumb game.. I don't remember if it was a claw machine or ski ball but it was something.. You were so focused. You even stuck your tongue out a little.. you got so into it."

"Stop talking." You say again, louder this time.

"You looked so pretty.." He sighs. "And you were so excited when we raised enough tickets to get a bag of candy for ourselves. They kicked us out because we sat on the air hockey table, remember? I don't know if they'll ever let us back in there, but it was fun while it lasted." He laughs.

"I said stop talking!" You practically yell, turning to face towards him.

"Why?" He asks, giving you a sad look.

"Because I don't want to remember that day." You sigh.

"Why?" He asks again.

"I don't wanna say why."

He takes a step closer to you. "You can tell me anything."

You sigh in defeat.

"Did you feel it too?" You ask him and he nods.

"So you know?"

"I do."

"Then why do I have to say it?" You ask.

"Because if you say it, then it's like you're accepting the truth."

"I don't like how you know what I feel." You mumble to yourself as he takes another step closer.

"What if I don't.. say it?" You ask.

"Then just give me a sign." He says.

"Do you miss me?" He asks. By this point the sun has gone done, and if weren't only you two here you probably wouldn't have heard him.

You nod. "I do."

"Are you mad at me?" He asks.

You nod again. "I am."

"That's okay." He says. "I understand."

This time, you take a step back.

"Do you wanna be mad at me?"

Instead of responding this time, you ask, "Why do you get to ask all of the questions?"

"I never said you couldn't ask any." He says while you shoot him a glare.

"Okay then." You start, deciding you were going to play this little game with him. Taking a step forward you ask, "Why did you choose me?"

He shrugs. "I dunno. You were new."

You scoff at his response. "Predictable."

Thinking of a better question to ask him, you say, "How can I believe you?"

"You can't." He responds. "You just have to trust me. Do you trust me?"

"I do."

He nods.

"Okay."

"Do you trust me?" You ask him, breaking the pattern you two have created.

"I do." He says, echoing your answer.

You nod.

"Okay."

"So.. What now?" He asks.

"What do you mean?"

"What do we do now?"

"Ah." You sigh. "That's what you meant."

"Well.. Yeah." He says. "I don't know if you know this but.. this is the closet we've been ever since.. what happened. Yet it's still the furthest we are from each other."

"Can you just shut up, for once?" You ask, voice playful in tone.

Jisung hears it and he gives you a small smile, liking the sudden change in atmosphere. "I dunno.. Will I?" He jokes.

"You're silly." You say, while a smile starts to form shortly after.

"..Can we start over?" He asks, and you can tell he's being serious.

He looks scared. Nothing like the same boy who you saw just a second ago, the one who was starting to be comfortable with you again.

"I'd understand if you didn't want to. Or if you don't want anything to do with me anymore after this. I just thought.. it'd be the right thing to ask."

"Do you promise not to break my heart?" You ask.

"Only if you promise not to break mine." He responds with a smile.

"No promises." You say, grabbing his hand and interlocking it with yours.

"Hey!" He exclaims. "You can't do that!"

"Yes I can. I just did."

"I'll take this as a yes then?" He asks, a giggle following afterwards.

"Yeah. You can take this as a yes."

✰ how to be a heartbreaker

↳ so what happens when park jisung, the school’s infamous fuckboy runs into the new girl at school? out of boredom he decides it’ll be fun to have someone new to play with, but little does he know, she’s learning how to be a heartbreaker.

168 notes · View notes

cazziamo · 6 years ago

Text

Runaway [8]

requested: no lol

group/member: EXO/ Baekhyun

word count: 5.9k

summary: All it takes is being at the wrong place, at the wrong time for you to be dragged back into the world you had tried so hard to leave behind.

[a/n]: aaaaaand i’m finally back lmfao so to make a long story short i rlly have no idea where this story is going so i just kinda write?? and whatever happens happens and well,,,,,,, this happened. unedited bc we die like men also i’ve had no sleep

warnings: violence, mentions of drug/drug use (marijuana), alcohol, smut (finally bitches)

When you say the boys bickered the entire way to the fair, you meant the entire way. Baekhyun was being as annoying as ever, teasing both you and your brother constantly. You were used to it but Tae was not, and the fact that his temper may have been quicker than yours started to show. Everything you said just seemed to make it worse, so you decidedly kept your mouth shut for most of the walk, but there was no stopping the grin on your face.

"And just what are you grinning at?" Your brother whipped his head towards you, lifting his hand to push at your forehead. "Wipe it off your face, you look dumb."

"I just missed you." You said, a little surprised at your own tone. "I haven't seen you in a while and so much has changed again recently that it's good to do something... normal, y'know?" You ignored the way your brother side-eyed you for a moment, the corners of his lips tugging down into a frown. He didn't say anything, but you knew it was enough to clue him in. He'd always been too smart for his own good.

"You said we had a lot to talk about." Tae said it bluntly, not asking you in any way. He stopped walking and turned to face you directly with furrowed brows. You stopped also, but with much more hesitance than he had, grateful that the streets had emptied out and there were hardly any people near you. "Is it what I think it is?"

"...yeah." You answered honestly, keeping your eyes locked on his. "But it's not exactly how you're thinking it-"

"I don't care how different it is, you promised!" He hissed angrily, grabbing at the sleeves of your jacket. "You promised me no more, that you were done-"

"I was!" You yelled. Baekhyun, who was being strangely silent, began to look around, and so you made sure to quiet yourself. "I was done, but I didn't have a choice this time. I would have been killed." You explained in as little words as possible, hoping that your brother would let it go for now. "That's why I said we had to talk about it, but can we have just a couple of good hours together before we go back and deal with this shit? Please?"

The tendons in your brother's neck jumped as he grit his teeth, jerking his body to the side, where his eyes landed on Baekhyun. "And how is he involved?"

"Later, please." You hated how exhausted you sounded, how 'emotionally tired' practically dripped from your words. But it was enough that your brother seemingly let it go, his shoulders sagging with the long exhale he gave. Without another word he turned and continued walking, leaving you behind. Baekhyun came around to your side and nudged you forward, looping his arm back around your shoulders. Your brother hadn't gone too far ahead, having stopped to wait for you guys at the corner, but once he saw you two were following he continued on his way. It was reassuring that he was still going to the fair with you, and hopefully it meant that he would be just as forgiving later when you actually explained. If he wanted nothing to do with you, then he would have already been gone. He's always been the type to stick to his guns, whether the people involved were strangers, friends, or family.

"You don't have to stay while we talk later." Baekhyun didn't look your way after you spoke, and for a moment you were worried you had spoken too lowly.

"Do you want me too?" He asked in response, again not looking your way at all, and somehow that bothered you. You still didn't understand why he was acting so differently around you, and you knew that there was no merit in what he told you earlier. Of course he had been teasing you, because who admitted to a crush so casually after so little time knowing that person? And in public in broad daylight?

You weren't a virgin by any means, but your actual romantic experience was next to nothing. Your parents had never had a good relationship so there were no early examples to draw from, and the older you got the less of a chance you had to find something for yourself. If it hadn't been for the fact that you were forced to go to extreme lengths for your family, then maybe you would have, but it was hard to have crushes when you're surrounded predominantly by older, mean, ruthless men and a whole lot of bloodshed. There were one night stands all the time, so it wasn't that you were unsatisfied, but you didn't know how to tell genuine interest from anything else.

As far as you knew, Baekhyun could just be wanting to keep an eye on you, make sure you wouldn't try to bail, or he was trying to get close to you to convince you to give up the key. He was just invested because of his pride, not because he actually wanted you. There had been too many incidents, too many accidents and 'I didn't mean it's and altercations because you had been dumb enough to trust a man in your line of work.

Even still, you found yourself answering Baek with "No." You wet your lips and couldn't help but bite onto your bottom one anxiously. "I would honestly feel better if you stayed, I guess."

"Then I stay." His answer came quick, and his voice was firm when he said it, like he wasn't going to change his mind for anything. He stopped walking and used the arm on your shoulder to stop you also, turning to face you. "Don't worry about that for now, anyway." He reached upwards and pushed your hair back, lifting his other hand to smooth the frizz down at the top, before leaving them resting on your cheeks. Either you were beginning to blush or his hands were just very, very warm. "We're gonna go to this carnival, have some fun, get some food, and then figure it out as we go, so get stepping." He turned you to face forward again and shoved you lightly, making sure to fall in line with you after. It was enough to make you laugh, deciding to do as he says and just deal with everything as it happens instead of ruining the time out by stressing. Besides, who knew when you would be able to leave the hideout like this again, so it was better to just take advantage of it.

By that time, you guys could finally see the fair at the corner, and the awkward form of your brother leaning against the gates of the entrance. He had already bought his wristband and had it looped loosely around his right wrist, his left hand fiddling with his phone. As the two of you hurried over to join him, Tae stood fully, shoving his hand roughly into his pocket to pull something out.

"Here," His hand shot out towards the two of you before you were even fully there, and you saw two more wristbands dangling from his hand. "Hurry up, I want to ride the Zipper first." Without another word, he turned and went through the gates, flashing his wristband when the attendant tried to stop him. You moved quickly after him, fastening the wristband around yourself as you darted through the gates, Baekhyun close behind on your heels.

The lines weren't too bad tonight, and you guys were able to quickly get on the rides that you wanted. True to your word from earlier, you sat next to your brother on almost all of the rides and Baekhyun didn't say a word about it, just settling himself in the carts behind you or even skipping the ride altogether. He claimed that the Zipper would make him way too nauseous and resorted to being the bag man of the trip, to which your brother certainly wasn't complaining. Tae would just pile his jacket into Baek's arms and throw his little backpack at him before getting into line without a word. You knew that he was just giving you and your brother the time together, and you really were thankful for him letting you out. You didn't know if you two would be in trouble with Suho later, but hopefully once the two explained everything he would let you off easy.

The three of you rode most of the rides there (thanks to the wristbands) and played quite a few games in between, which is where Baekhyun really became useful. It came to the point where you couldn't even see Baekhyun's hair over the pile of giant stuffed animals in his arms, of which only two were yours. The other few of them belonged to your brother, who surprisingly had very good aim (it must have run in the family). Tae seemed to be enjoying himself well enough, your usually rather stoic brother cracking more than a few grins throughout the night. It was nice to have the time with him, and the longer you spent out, the less you minded Baekhyun being there with you.

It was after you caught your brother stifling his third yawn in about twenty minutes that you made the suggestion to leave. He blinked at you with bleary eyes and agreed with you, and it was then that you felt the anxiety begin to bubble in your stomach. Grabbing a few of the stuffed animals from Baekhyun, the three of you left the park and headed towards the train station; your brother lived only two stops away from where he worked, which was one of the reasons why he liked the job. He said it was a pain to find work somewhere else since everywhere else was too far, but you had the sneaky suspicion your brother just liked the tips he would get from the university girls.

Usually anxiety made you feel like everything was moving at a snails pace, slow and steady to the point you felt like you would go insane before anything happened. Today, it felt like everything was sped up, like someone had pressed the nitro boost on the train to make it accelerate at an alarming rate. Things were moving too fast for you, and you were scrambling to make a plan for when you spoke to your brother, but your brain was too overcrowded with worst case scenarios and blow out arguments to even start. The two stops passed fast enough that you felt you had only just sat down, and then a few blurry moments later your brother was putting his code in for the door to his apartment. He kicked off his shoes at the door and left them where they landed, trudging in to plop onto his armchair. You followed behind him, taking the time to put his sneakers on the rack and placing yours neatly by the edge before following him into the living room, Baekhyun right behind you.

As you situated yourself on the side of the couch closest to your brother, he began to speak. "So, please, enlighten me as to how everything is different this time, and how the bozo on your left is involved."

Baekhyun huffed indignantly but otherwise stayed silent, wisely redirecting his attention somewhere else. You ran a hand through your hair, mussing it up before flopping it back down to your lap, huffing yourself. "It's different this time because I didn't have a choice, Tae. I didn't even go willingly this time, I was knocked out and taken. Saw something I wasn't supposed to, and the option was do as they said or die. If I'm being honest, I told them to just kill me, but then the asshole just smirked at me and told one of his guys to take me to my room. And then some people from Owls showed up at my apartment and shot the place up and that's how I got sucked back in." You weren't sure how much you had actually breathed while spitting that out, and if how you were panting was anything to judge by, you didn't think you had. "And then I got used as bait and we took down the guys who were trying to kill me but then they said that they knew you and I didn't have a choice, Tae. I did what I had to."

Your brother was completely silent while you spoke, only blowing a strand of hair out of his eyes when you had finished. "And him?" He asked, jutting his chin towards Baekhyun.

"I was the one who brought her in." Baek spoke before you could, and effectively telling your brother the one thing you wouldn't have mentioned. "I had a deal outside of her apartment building, and she came home right in the middle of it. She put up a good fight, but I got her and now here we are."

You shifted nervously, picking at the fabric of your pants with eyes that flickered back and forth between Baekhyun and your brother. Your brother leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, running his hands through his hair and messing it up. "So you're the reason we're going through this shit again?" He huffed, standing up straight out of the chair. He only took a few steps forward, but everything about him screamed that he was a second from snapping. "You-" His voice was raising and he aggressively pointed at Baekhyun, stepping close enough this time that his fingertip was inches away from Baekhyun's face. "You are the reason that everything has gone to shit again?"

Baekhyun's face was steeled- a dangerous sort of calm as he reached up and moved your brothers hand out of face. "Yeah."

The hand that Baekhyun had moved away suddenly curled into a fist and flashed forward so quickly you would have missed it if not for your hyper vigilance in the tense atmosphere. Baekhyun's head had snapped backwards, one arm reaching backwards to steady himself on the back of the couch and the other flinging forward to grab onto your brothers shirt. He pushed himself off of the couch with his legs and used his momentum to shove Tae backwards. Tae tripped over the coffee table and fell backwards, Baekhyun quickly getting on top of him. Baek's knees were on your brothers forearms and he was sitting on his chest to keep him pinned. Your brain finally kicked in and you lunged off the couch, throwing yourself across the table to tackle Baekhyun off of him, and as soon as Baek's weight was gone, your brother rolled over and got up, swinging at Baek again.

"Tae, stop!" You yelled, trying to grab his arms, but he shook you off roughly and went after Baekhyun again and again. Grabbing his arms again, you tried to pin them behind his back but he shoved you this time, sending you crashing into the table.

"You motherfucker!" Tae screamed, throwing his leg out to kick Baekhyun in his side, who managed to grab his leg and yank him to the floor, rolling on top of him again. "You fucking asshole, do you have any idea what you've done?" He bucked and threw Baekhyun off of him, shooting up onto his knees to drive an elbow into Baekhyun's chest. The two continued to grapple on the floor until you had finally had enough, anxiety and adrenaline and upset all bubbling forward until you abruptly sat on the couch and burst into tears.

Your brother was just venting, and you knew it, but for some reason you couldn't focus on anything other than the fact that despite all of the attacks on him, Baekhyun had yet to retaliate against your brother even once. Every move he had made towards Tae was purely of defense and attempts to pin him, and it showed you a different side of Baekhyun. Maybe you were being self-centered in the whole situation, thinking things were because of you when they probably weren't, trying to make yourself into a victim when you most likely didn't have a right to be, but there was a part of you that believed Baekhyun was trying to spare you as much in the situation as possible.

And the situation was one that honestly scared you, and wondered where your brother had been keeping all of this rage and sadness bottled up inside of him. He was screaming about the times before and how things had been so, so good, and it broke your heart. You knew he wouldn't ever turn out the way you had, that he wouldn't make the same rash decisions you had at his age, but watching him throw perfectly formed punches with a brutal amount of force behind them made you think about the circumstances in which he had learned them.

The two stopped almost immediately, both freezing in place before turning to look at you. Your brother managed to scramble over first, fixing his hair with one hand and using the other to awkwardly pat your shoulder.

"You two are such assholes!" You blubbered, gesturing vaguely between the two of them. "This- this isn't what I wanted, I just wanted you not to hate me and cut me off and-"

"I don't hate you." Your brother rushed out, almost slurring his words with how fast he tried to speak. "And I'm not gonna cut you off or anything so just- just don't do that." He gestured to your face, cringing away from you after. "Just don't cry, I don't know how to handle people crying."

So you cried more. "I didn't have a choice, Tae, they knew where you lived!"

"I know, I know." He frantically tried to soothe you. "I'm not mad at you, I just don't want things to be like before-"

"I didn't have a choice then either, Tae! Neither of them were working and we were starting to get eviction threats, for Christ's sake. I did what I had to!"

"You left me-"

"They threw me out! Beat the shit out of me and then threw me on the streets in the middle of the fucking night." Your voice broke again, and it was then that Baekhyun slumped down on your other side, his arm finding its way onto your hunched back, his thumb gliding gently. "I was fifteen, too young for a real job and no where else to go. I didn't have a choice, Tae. I just did what I could to make shit work." There was a long pause after you finished, the silence of the room filled with your shaky breathing and sniffles.

"Well, it didn't." He finally said. His voice was harsh and firm and he turned to glare down at you, lips pursed like he had something more to say. Instead of speaking, he just licked his lips and huffed, turning on his heel and walking down the hallway, leaving you and Baekhyun in the wavering silence of the living room. Wavering because you were trying to pull it together, to turn the sobbing into silence, relapsing back into cries every couple of tries. Baekhyun was still being quiet, not getting too close as you worked through your shit, and eventually you had pulled it together enough to speak clearly.

"I guess that's our cue to show ourselves out." You said with a shaky voice, rubbing the palms of your hands against your legs before patting them and standing.

He reached out and grabbed one of your hands, cupping it in both of his before grabbing the other one and covering it. "You're shaking," He murmured, sounding like he was talking more to himself than he was to you.

You shifted your weight awkwardly, pulling your hands from him and shoving them into your jacket pockets. "Can we just go already?" You whined, already moving towards the door. He trailed after you, putting his shoes on halfway before following you out of the door and fixing them as he went. He came up behind you and tried to pull your hand out of your pocket, but you yanked yourself away from him and quickened your pace, eager to get home and sleep and forget about all of this as soon as possible.

______________________________________________________________

A few hours, a good cry, and a fat nap later, you found yourself waking up in the near middle of the night. You had skipped dinner after your explanation to Suho (who looked like a disappointed father when you returned) and went right to your room, and you could feel the effects of not eating coiling in your stomach after so long. Still in your clothes from earlier, you stumbled out of your room and headed towards the kitchen.

The light was already on in there, and the sliding door that lead to the smoking room was open a few inches. You ignored it, pouring yourself a glass of water and heating it up in the microwave for some tea. Rummaging around in the fridge yielded nothing but leftovers and small snacks, so you settled for kimchi and cold fried rice, eating while your tea steeped. It wasn't until you had shoveled your first large bite of mixed food into your mouth that you heard the muffled cursing from the room beside you. Cheeks still puffed from the food, you stood and made your way over to the door and peeked in.

You were surprised to see Baekhyun sitting there, an open bottle of whiskey and a tall glass filled halfway with the said drink next to him. He was fiddling with something in his hands, and as you opened the door wilder and walked in, you realized he was running his lighter down a barely lit joint.

"Damn," He hissed, putting it out before attempting to relight it, and even from where you were standing, you could see how his form hunched in the chair and how his hands were shaking. He hadn't even noticed you were in the room yet, showing you just how smashed he was, so you walked over to him and snatched the joint from him, setting it in between your lips and pulling to light it. After you exhaled the smoke and checked to make sure it wasn't canoeing like before, you passed it back to him. He took it and immediately inhaled deeply, exhaling through his nose before hitting it again and passing it back to you.

"What are you doing, Baek?" You asked him quietly. "I thought I was the one with midnight breakdowns around here."

He laughed humorlessly, a quick scoff that made you sit straight. "I needed everything to stop for a little while." He replied, taking a long swig of his drink. "Was too loud." He mumbled.

You reached over and took the bottle, dragging it to your side of the coffee table before taking a long sip, wincing from the burn after. "Wanna talk about it?" You ashed the joint and passed it back to him, but your only answer was a long groan as a soft thud as his head hit the table.

"I fuck up everything in sight." He whined, lifting his head just enough to take a long puff before setting it back down again. "No matter where I go, I fuck things up so I feel good and then it bites me in the ass later."

"What'd you do this time?" You asked, barely managing to hide the amusement in your voice, although any that you felt was immediately squashed after he spoke next.

"You." He moaned miserably, burying his head in his arms. You didn't know how to answer and just decided not to, watching the ashes fall from the end of the paper and flutter to the floor. "I've never had to deal with this shit before. Anyone I've brought in, I've never been close to like this. I didn't just see what I did to you, but I had to face your brother and see what I did to him too. And I can't fix any of it, can't do a damn thing about it."

"Why is it bothering you so much, Baek?" You leaned over and placed your hand on his head, threading your fingers through his soft hair and running your hand through it to soothe him. "I'm not mad anymore, I've accepted it."

'Because I have big feelings for you. I don't wanna name them yet because that shit scares me, but I do." His free hand reached upwards to cover yours on his head, stilling it. He didn't turn to look at you, but somehow you got the feeling that he wasn't as smashed as you had thought.

"What feelings?" You surprised yourself by asking.

"Sappy shit." He spat out, sounding almost angry. "I like your face, but I like your smile more. I like your eyes and your stupid nose and your witch cackle laugh and the weird snort you sometimes do when you try not to laugh. I like how much you like penguins and sharks and how loyal and strong you are. I like how hard you've worked to take car of your brother, and how you're trying to take care of me now. I like how excited you get when you talk about shit you like because you're just so fucking cute sometimes that it disgusts me, and then I get disgusted by how much I like liking you. It shouldn't be like this but it is and I know shit won't go anywhere because I fucked your life up again, and it doesn't matter if you don't hate me for it because I already hate myself." He rambled on and on, stopping only once to take another insanely long drag of the joint, followed by an even longer swig of his whiskey, draining the glass.

"I'm only gonna say this straight because of how drunk you are, it's kind of hard to get embarrassed." You smiled, reaching with your other hand to take the joint from him and place it down in the ashtray. You pulled both of his hands away from himself, pulling him into a straight sitting position and locking eyes with him. "I'm pretty sure I like you too. You annoy me but it's only because the things you say make me embarrassed, and I hate how I can't react the way I want to around you. My heart does fucking flips in my chest and I feel like throwing up all of time because I'm stuck between wanting to touch you and wanting to stay away so I didn't catch these feelings, but obviously it didn't work, because here we are."

" 'M drunk," He whispered, slurring his words slightly. His eyes were cast aside, avoiding yours as best as she could, so you grabbed him by the cheeks and forced him to look at you.

"You are, but that doesn't mean this isn't real." He leaned into your palms, turning his head to the side to press a light kiss to your hand.

You laughed lightly, starting to draw your hands back. Baekhyun followed your movements, rising on wobbly legs to lean over the coffee table towards you, slumping clumsily towards you. His forehead knocked into yours harshly and he lost balance, nearly falling on top of you, but you were quick enough to steady him and laughed breathlessly. His eyes were closed, his breath warm as his god damn whiskey breath smacked you in the face, but the tension in the air was enough that you ignored it, moving your eyes from his closed ones to his lips, and you decided to hurry up and just do it, surging upwards to close the gap.

His reaction was instantaneous- his arms flying up to your back, one of them sliding upwards to wind itself tightly into your hair. His mouth slotted sloppily over yours, using his hand in your hair to angle your head to deepen the kiss. He stepped around the small coffee table, managing not to lose contact with your body, instead pressing himself against you. The space between you two was minimal, reduced to nothing as he absolutely dominated the kiss. It was hot and heavy and aggressive, like a stretched out rubber band that was about to snap at any moment.

Baekhyun spun your bodies around, taking up where you had previously been sitting on the chair and yanking you down onto his lap. The hand in your hair tightened, pulling your head back sharply and breaking the kiss, allowing Baekhyun the room to mouth hotly at you neck, pressing open mouthed kisses and laving his tongue down to your clavicle before moving back upwards to bite down near your pulse point. You keened, moaning airily at the sensations. Your hand flew upwards, grappling at his shoulder to find purchase, to steady yourself in the too fast and too intense situation.

The hand wrapped around your waist slinked lower, his hand coming down to palm your ass, gripping it roughly before moving back to your waist, pulling your hips down to grind harshly into his. You were turned on enough at this point that the smallest bit of pressure sent your nerves haywire, and feeling his already hard length pressing into you sent your body up in flames. Your breath hitched, choking on the groan that rose in your throat, and you could feel the vibrations on your neck from Baekhyun's satisfied hum.

"So eager already." He murmured, pulling back from you to stare at you with hazy eyes. His hands never stopped moving, one moving back to your ass and the other trailing to your front to palm your heat through your jeans. His hands would fiddle with he button of your jeans before trailing down to your center, putting pressure against you as he dragged his hand back upwards again to the button. "Want me to touch you, baby?"

"Yes," you breathed, shuddering on his lap. "Please, Baekhyun."

He hummed, flicking open the button and pulling down your zipper far enough that his hand fit in, and he wasted no time in touching you. His fingers dragged roughly over your panties before finding the edges, wiggling his hand past the band and right onto your soaked mound. "So wet, so hot." He said, fingers gliding across your clit with ease, sending you bucking into him. "Want you so much, wanna bend you over this table and fuck you stupid right here."

You groaned , placing your hands behind you on Baekhyun's knees to steady yourself, leaning back to there was more room between the two of you. He started to tug at the waistband of your jeans, and you lifted off of his lap so he could tug them down for you. He was frenzied now, moving so quickly that he didn't bother taking your pants all the way off, leaving the jeans and panties dangling from one of your ankles. Instead of sitting back on his lap, he flipped you over and pinned your body to the couch, stuffing two fingers inside of you.

Your hips bucked, forcing Baekhyun to put his hands on your hips and push to keep you still. A long, feral moan tore from your throat, one arm flying into his hair to grip tightly. His fingers were long and thin, reaching deeper parts of you that you could never reach yourself, and as he crooked his fingers inside of you, you felt like you were melting into the couch.

"Please," You begged, voice breathy and words slurred almost to the point of in-coherency. "Please, Baek, need more." You groaned, attempting to roll your hips into his. He didn't respond, opting to move instead. Without a word, he slid his body down yours until his face was directly in front of your sopping heat, and you watched him lick his lips once before diving in.

The second his lips wrapped around your clit and sucked your body caved in on itself, body twitching at the sudden over-stimulation. His fingers were thrusting in and out of you at a rapid pace, his wrist flicking skillfully to drag them along your inner walls in rhythm with his swirling tongue. He was eating you like a man starved, and had you not been so many sheets to the wind, you might've been embarrassed at the obscene noises the two of you were making.

Your body shuddered, walls fluttering over his fingers as he pushed you closer to the edge. You whined desperately, writhing on the couch underneath his onslaught. "Gonna come on my fingers, baby?" Baekhyun suddenly sat up onto his knees, putting more force behind his hand. "I want you to, wanna see you dripping all over my hand, wanna see your face all fucked out underneath me. Would you like that, baby?" Moaning loudly, you nodded frantically, eyes screwed shut. You could feel the pressure building, the coil in your stomach burning bright red with the heat you were feeling You just needed one good push, just a little more to send you over the edge, and Baekhyun didn't disappoint. His other hand trailed upwards from where it had been occupied with your breasts, up to your throat where it curled around it, fingers squeezing with just enough pleasure to have your head tipping back and hips stuttering.

Everything was building up, it was reaching a peak so intense that it almost scared you. You had never felt like this before, not this fast, and most certainly not just from someones fingers. His thumb rubbing on your clit, his fingers hitting all the right spots inside you, and his had wrapped around your throat was finished off by his single word. "Cum." And you did. You did so strongly that you swear you blacked out for a moment, eyes squeezed shut tightly enough that white exploded behind them, Your body arched higher than it had before, shuddering and twitching as he continued his onslaught, high pitched whines flowing continuously from you.

"Good girl." He said, slowing his thrusts gradually, letting you ride out the last bits of your high. He pulled his fingers from you slowly, dragging them over your clit and sending you whining, body twisting to get away from the near painful sensations. His hand reached up to smooth over your mussed up hair, and even as your body shook from the aftershocks, your eyes slid closed. You were trying to catch your breath, but Baekhyun was trying to clumsily detach himself from you. Eventually he did so and disappeared for a moment, returning shortly with a few tissues.

"Let's get you cleaned up and in bed, baby girl." You hummed in complacent agreement, not yet having the energy or will to move. He carefully dressed you back up, not bothering the button your pants all the way, however, as he attempted to help you up. Both of you were still shaky, but the experience seemed to have sobered him up enough that he could support your weight. The two of you made your way back into your room, Baekhyun flopping onto your bed while you slowly changed, before settling in beside him. As the two of you situated yourselves, intertwining legs and maneuvering arms around, you realized that this was a type of complacent you hadn't felt in a long time, a content, calm, and happy feeling settling inside your chest. It was with this warmth, this content inside and out, and in Baekhyun's arms that you drifted off to sleep, for once not worried about tomorrow.

200 notes · View notes

noctuascion · 5 years ago

Note

Got another cryptage prompt if you feel like writing 💕: there’s been quite a lot of Mirage taking care of Crypto, so I propose to you Crypto taking care of Mirage 👏🏻 Elliott is either sick or injured or just feeling particularly depressed and Tae helps comfort and help him. Does his best to cook Elliott some food, make sure he’s comfy and resting, tend his wounds/get him some tissues/cuddle him. Just crypto loving and taking extra care of his boyfriend when he needs it 🥺

Mirage deserves to be pampered as well. Crypto wouldn't mind. But thank you for the prompt!! I'll totally write this for you. 💞✨

Elliott Witt is a brilliant man. He could explain the intricacies of his holographic tech without issue, discuss other types of technology with an expert mind, and was capable of tricking his opponents with a well-placed decoy and hiding within the shadows.

Elliott Witt is also an idiot. He's nearly caught the entire kitchen on fire, broke Park's incredibly expensive laptop (he definitely paid for that in numerous ways) by tangling his legs in a blanket and falling on it, and his moments of stupidity are only doubled whenever he's on a team with Octavio, which causes issues aplenty with whoever they're paired up with (Park is usually the unlucky third member, and he always ends up just on the verge of hitting them with a rock).

Perhaps that is why Elliott had ended up where he currently is, put on temporary bedrest due to a broken ankle, a sprained wrist, a couple broken ribs, and a minor concussion.

Octavio had been trying a new stunt out just outside the drop ship. Ajay had yelled at him not to, but the daredevil didn't appear to care any. The stunt consisted of avoiding an arc star whilst riding a grocery kart through a ring of fire as he was holding a watermelon. Frankly, absolutely no one understood why he was doing that—just that he was doing that.

Surprisingly enough, though, it all appeared to be going as planned, the jump performed almost flawlessly and the arc star avoided without much issue with the watermelon still intact. Octavio just hadn't thought about Park and Elliott coming home early from grocery shopping.

The look on Park's face when Octavio collided with Elliott at such high speeds was enough to rival a man who just witnessed a bomb go off in a hospital.

Elliott couldn't quite remember everything that happened. He remembered Park kneeled over him, trying to keep him from falling unconscious. He had no idea where Octavio was, what happened to him, just that he was in a lot of pain and that, for some reason, Park looked a lot like an angel, haloed by the sun above him. It was definitely the image he wanted to die to.

He was still unsure if he fell unconscious or if he just didn't remember anything, but he definitely remembers waking up in the hospital wing, Octavio laughing beside him as Ajay angrily scolded him for being irresponsible. It was all fun and games until someone actually got hurt—and someone innocent at that.

Park had been at his bedside, watching as the two argued, but he immediately moved to look at his boyfriend when he woke up. He looked relieved, asking if he was okay, the typical worried boyfriend things.

Taking up a bed in the medical bay didn't suit the trickster, so he was very carefully moved to his room, where he could get rest and ease the anxiety he felt being around so many needles and beeping machines.

The trickster was laid out in his bed, watching TV. There wasn't anything interesting on, so he wasn't exactly retaining any actual information provided on the screen. There was a strange aspect of the whole thing that felt… lonely, like he was forcefully isolated. He got visitors (everyone signed his cast—well, except Revenant, Alexander, and Park), but he still felt all alone in his room, nothing to keep him company aside from his merchandise.

Company soon walked in his room in the form of his boyfriend, the man carrying a few bags that contained whatever he purchased from the store, sporting a tank top and slacks that gave him a lazy but cute look. Elliott preferred tank tops on his lover: it was easier to hug him without a big jacket on; plus, he had cute arms.

"Hey, sugar smack," Elliott greeted, trying to shift into a sitting position without causing pain. The grunt and grimace of discomfort was enough of an indicator that it didn't go too well. "Ow. Okay, not trying that again. Uh, whatcha got there?"

"Try to sit still. You won't get any better moving like that." Park set the bags on the floor beside the other's bed, sitting on the edge himself. "Here," he then said, rustling through the bags, "you haven't eaten today, so I brought you stuff."

"'Stuff,' huh? What kinda stuff?"

"Food stuff."

"… Not butt stu—?"

Park smacked a hand over Elliott's mouth, letting out a sigh. "No. You have broken bones and a sprained wrist and you still think about that?"

Elliott gently pried Park's hand away from his mouth with his good one, sporting that usual charming smile of his. "When am I ever not? But, for real, whatcha got, shortcake?"

Rolling his eyes, the hacker slipped his hand out of the trickster's and returned to the bags. A vine of washed black grapes was produced, followed by a bottle of chocolate milk that had Elliott feeling better already.

"Oh shit. Choccy milk."

"… Yes. Choccy milk."

He set the bottle on the nightstand, holding the grapes up and plucking one from the vine. Before Elliott could reach out to accept it, the hacker surprised him by gently pressing it against his lips. There was a notable look of surprise on the trickster's face, eyes widened with brows raised ever-so-slightly.

Meanwhile, Park's face was growing more and more like a tomato, his usual look of sheepishness creeping onto his features. Initiating romantic gestures wasn't the hacker's forte, lacking any real knowledge on how exactly to do it without looking like a bumbling idiot, but every effort was enough for Elliott. It made him smile, even when the other messed it up completely. He wasn't perfect, as much as Park wishes he was, but it never mattered to him.

Right now, all that mattered was indulging in this sweet gesture provided, opening his mouth up to invite the berry inside. Before he bit into it, he decided to tease the other a bit by nipping on one of the synthetic fingers belonging to his lover. As expected, he pulled away almost instantaneously, face scarlet and glaring at the amused trickster.

"You're gross."

"Mmhm."

"And you're weird."

"Yup."

"… You're the worst."

Elliott chuckled, chewing on the grape with satisfaction drawn all across his visage. "You're so cute."

"Eat your grapes, you idiot."

For a little while longer, Park fed the other, Elliott eating up the attention (and food) without complaint, content to not have to lift a finger. He also drank a bit of the provided chocolate milk, but Park hadn't helped him drink it, probably because Elliott can only see that ending with it being poured all over his shirt.

After the small snack, the hacker leaned over Elliott's prone form, hands reaching up to gently cup his cheeks, and pressed a small kiss to his forehead, the trickster relishing in the affectionate contact so rarely given by his shy lover. It was always enough to make him smile.

"Gibraltar was making lunch for everyone," Park said once he moved to press his forehead against Elliott's, thumbs gently rubbing against his cheekbones. "I'll grab you something from the kitchen, okay?"

"Make sure you grab something for yourself, baby." Elliott's hand moved to gingerly wrap around Park's waist, his own lips pressing a kiss to the other's nose. "Just 'cause you're watching after me doesn't mean you shouldn't watch after yourself."

"I will."

"Good! 'Cause, if you don't, I'll get out of this bed and throw you back in the kitchen until you eat something."

"And hurt yourself more?" Park scoffed in amusement before finally detaching from the holographic expert, rising from the bed. "I'll be back in a moment."

"Be back quicker. I already miss you." A dramatic arm laid over Elliott's forehead, head tilting back slightly and expression displaying a faux sorrow. "It's so lonely here without you, my love."

"Whatever you say."

Elliott watched as the surveillance expert left the room, leaving him to relax in his mattress and enjoy the rest of his chocolate milk.

It took awhile for Elliott's injuries to fully heal, for his wounds to mend, but, the entire time, Park was at his bedside, providing food, company, and whatever care requested of him. Once he was healed and feeling better, however, Park had immediately offered to go out on a date (he never invited the man out for dates!) with the other, his voice, and Elliott, not one to pass up such excellent opportunities, requested the movies.

It wasn't a perfect date by any means, since Elliott accidentally walked into a glass door that caused his nose to bleed, but Park was there, tissue in hand, and holding back his chuckles Elliott wouldn't trade the man for anything in the world; he's probably the only person alive who'd deal with him for as long as he has and still nurture an injured nose as well.

"Y'know, I think you're actually an angel," the trickster had said with his head tilted back, feeling the other's half-synthetic hand run through his hair, the other holding a napkin to his nose and applying pressure.

"Mm. Am I now? I think I'm just used to your moronic tendencies."

"All right, jerk. See if I'll ever take care of your bloody nose."

"You won't have to, because I'm not stupid enough to walk into glass doors."

"Ouch, babe. My pride."

#and then crypto walked into a door and broke his nose #lmao #anyway!! thank you so much for the ask!!!#i'm SO sorry this took so long ahhh #i just hadn't been feeling the desire to write #i'll try to get these out quicker chjsjw #also long post #becausd i physically cannot use the 'read more' function #please impliment it tumblr #apex legends #crypto #tae joon park #mirage #elliott witt #cryptage #lenardo does a write

59 notes · View notes

marithlizard · 5 years ago

Text

Thoughts on RWBY v7 finale, “The Enemy of Trust”

Okay, finale, it's you and me. I've heard some eyebrow-raising things. Let's see what you've got.

Neo vs JNRO! My money's on umbrella girl, even at four to one.

Oscar's really getting along with this team. I won't be surprised if sometime next volume they officially invite him to be the P(ine) in the reborn JNPR.

Yep, short and sweet. She had a bit of fun there, and she was never in any danger.

I'm really appreciating the option to watch the fights at half-speed on the RT site and actually catch some of the clever moves.

Cinder's fighting style is quite different here than it was in all previous volumes. Remember the bow, the telekinetically controlled black glass shards, the Maiden fire and the giant sword? Right now she's leaping about acrobatically in melee with two short swords. If the face was different everyone would take this as an entirely new character. I get that it's cool to try new things, writers, but I miss the consistency.

So she specifically despises the privileged elite of Atlas. Can't blame her for that.

Okay, consistency or not I have to admit the aerial combat is visually fantastic. Winter's gryphon and Penny charging Cinder from opposite sides, followed by fire and ice colliding, wow.

Background music also doing its usual stellar job.

Penny says "I...disagree" in exactly the same tone of voice Adam used, and for exactly the opposite reason. That's a cool parallel and I'm sure it was intentional.

Oscar lagging behind out of breath. He's smaller and younger and is years behind everyone except Jaune on training, it makes sense. Also probably not using Aura to recharge stamina like the others.

Oooh, I knew it wasn't Nora instantly by the body language. Neo moves very distinctively, it's great.

And she's had lots of practice in imitating the person you love at the right instant to make you hesitate. Poor Ren.

You don't normally yell "Drop your weapons!" and simultaneously open fire unless you are intending to kill rather than capture. I guess the soldiers are assuming that Huntsmen will survive any kind of damage a normal person can dish out. Which is...not a safe assumption for Oscar I don't think. Ugh Ironwood your stormtroopers are dumb.

Ren is crying oh no

Annnnd Neo just toddles off with the lamp. I love that short officer with short ponytail look on her.

FRIA WAKES

and she is AWESOME

(Her eyes are the same blue as Ironwood's, it does make you wonder. We never learned her last name. )

Ren with an understandable lack of perspective. He's thought of Huntsmen as the pinnacle of combat badassery all his life, when really it's just a benchmark of competence along the path. I suspect there aren't many people alive who could defeat Neo, outnumbered or not, and most of the people who can are god-tier.

Maria's kept a low profile all volume because she has no patience for the high-level strategy and arguments and politics, she sure as hell isn't going to run grunt missions, and she'd last ten minutes in a room with the General before smacking him in the knees or possibly the nuts. But she was ready to charge in with the logistical support the instant that arrest order went out on the net. I just...love her. She is the best.

"I was supposed to protect the power of the Maiden until I was ready. I worry I may have lost track of time...but you can tell James that I'm ready, now." People were worried that Ironwood was holding Fria prisoner, forcing her into a sacrificial death. But the way she says that makes it very clear that she wasn't pressured. He specifically told her when you're ready. And he waited as long as he could.

Ironwood apologizing to Winter with so much regret in his voice. Look, you may hate him, but the writers don't, that's abundantly clear. And I don't either. This is a classical Greek-style tragedy unfolding before us, a good person being destroyed as their inherent fatal flaw meets the worst possible circumstances for it.

Oscar descending in the elevator, standing just like Ozpin. That is an eerie sight. He's going to imitate Oz as much as he can because Ironwood has been asking for Oz all along. ...and it's going to backfire as a strategy, isn't it.

"And....whom do I have the pleasure of speaking with?" "Still just me." But you're leaning on your cane as you walk just like Ozpin did.

Someone suggested applying Blake's "embodiment of a word" idea to all the characters, and the word I thought of at first for Oscar was innocence....but it's not, is it. Oscar is the embodiment of sincerity. He means every word of his offer to reconcile. How could anyone resist?

...Apparently Ironwood can. And I see it, I do. If this is a chess game, then protecting the king - the relics - is ultimately the only thing that matters. All the other pieces are expendable. Oz and Oscar and Ruby represent the opposite approach: every piece matters, and what's most important is not to win the game but to preserve the board, to keep it all going.

(If they'd told Ironwood all the way back in ch2 that as far as they know Salem can't be killed, would he have adjusted his perspective? I believe he would have, but not all the way. There's a fundamental difference in mindset. Lois Bujold talked in one of her books (Brothers in Arms I think) about how people are drawn to the romance of the hard choices. If you've believed all your life that hardship and painful sacrifice are necessary and inevitable, you get proudly attached to them in a way, and you tend to be skeptical, at best, of anyone who claims they can be avoided. I've been thinking about that a lot this volume.)

Uh.

WHAT.

You were having an argument, a heated but peaceful one. Why would you suddenly draw your weapon and shoot a teenager off the edge of a cliff? One who was offering no physical threat to you at all and who you could certainly have overpowered and arrested? You arrested Watts, who was trying to kill you, nearly destroyed your kingdom, and made you nearly tear your own arm off. Why would you murder Oscar?

You wouldn't. This makes no sense, just like Clover and Qrow fighting each other instead of teaming up against Tyrian makes no sense. I was hoping there'd be context in this case but there just isn't. The RWBY writers wanted dramatic scenes here and they didn't think the fans would care about anything else as long as it looked cool.

And this is new in v7, IMO. While I've certainly had some quibbles with the writing in past volumes, I don't remember anything remotely like this. Nothing so huge that I can't handwave or rationalize or say that it's a minor story element. I'm a Watsonian, not a Doylist; I hate having to say that something is just plain bad writing.

Ugh. Okay. Moving on.

That's a fast-regrowing Grimm arm.

I was expecting Penny to say "No, it's not me, it's supposed to be Winter," but she's really hesitating. After the conversations they've had she's not sure the power should go to Winter. There's nothing personal about it, no ambition. Penny has been acting exactly as a Maiden should from the moment Fria first saw her, her every instinct to protect and help.

Uh, y'know, Winter, you could SHOOT CINDER during the many seconds she's writhing in helpless agony there. You don't have to stand there and wait till she's ready to fight again. Sigh.

That said, the sequence of Oscar falling, power building in him and Penny, the silver eyes etc is stunning.

(that little twirl Oscar does, like a shoujo magical girl. cute)

holy carp there are still ten minutes left.

I don't think you're correct about fear being the common denominator, Oz, but I'll shut up and enjoy your very fine speech.

Winter makes her choice...and she's not surprised that Penny chooses differently. Opposed to the heroes or not, I do think it's a good thing for her to stay at Ironwood's side. Somebody sane needs to be ready to take over there sooner or later.

Penny getting support from Ruby and Weiss, yay.

This can't be easy for Pietro. He's loyally helped Ironwood for decades, and he's not exactly in good shape to live the outlaw life.

Cinder, continuing to piss off her only ally. Despite being the antagonist in a boss fight she felt...weirdly irrelevant at the end of it. So much so that she just quietly left when no one was looking.

"It's gone." Well, now that's an interestingly vague way to put things, Winter. Are you protecting Penny? Withholding information from your boss is, as we've seen, not something he reacts well to.

Watts has an implausibly nice cell with a beautiful view.

I think that's a quarry Oscar has fallen into, or perhaps the outskirts of a mine. He and Oz have a LOT to talk about and I would really love to actually see the conversation next volume, writers. For a change.

ooooookay yep that's a flying murder behemoth whale. I was expecting to be reminded of FFX's Sin, but it's got a vibe more like the whale from Pinocchio. My vote for a name is therefore Monstro.

Someone's dressed to impress her ex.

....Hmmmmm. You know, I didn't see an actual army of flying monkeys. Is there one? Is it inside the whale, or in that black cloud? Or does Salem have something else in mind?

"Fear" does seem like a song from Oz's point of view, but I don't feel it expresses his - or their - personality. It's not the image song I'm still waiting for. But then, quite a few characters still haven't gotten theirs.

Well. I'm on board for volume 8, hopeful the writers will make better choices, and curious to see how we're going to START a volume with an ultimate boss encounter. That's not a thing I've seen a story do before.

#rwby #spoilers #v7 spoilers

11 notes · View notes

sir-adamus · 6 years ago

Text

Jack was always awful

so there’s this general (and frankly bizarre given there’s plenty of easy access to the context) consensus in the fandom that Jack was actually a decent guy until the Pre-Sequel (and that everything is Lilith and Moxxi’s fault blah blah blah, yeah yeah, we get it you’re very transparent)

but here’s the thing like, the series itself doesn’t agree with you, so let’s put things in chronological order:

Before Borderlands 1

- murdered his first wife (oh sure he claims Angel did it, unable to control her powers, but he’s also a self-serving liar and canonically gaslights her, “he’ll try to guilt you, to make you think it’s your fault”, so calling bullshit on that), and oh how convenient that now he gets to exploit Angel’s abilities for his own ends afterwards

- Jack forces a very young Angel into a ‘chair’ and forces her to use her abilities for his own gain in climbing the corporate ladder by having her pretend to be an AI, using the death of her mother as an excuse - she is in there for the rest of her life until her Vault Hunter assisted suicide and she is under his near constant control (she’s not even allowed to swear)

- murdered his second wife (oh yeah he claims she ‘bolted’ in TFTBL but the first time we heard about her, in the mission “Get to Know Jack” in BL2, it’s stated that she disappeared after finding out about Angel, and Jack strangles the guy who brought her up)

Borderlands 1

- made Angel manipulate the BL1 Vault Hunters so they’d open the Vault and unleash the Destroyer (and release Eridium, which he was planning for); when she questions him he yells at her to shut up - to put that in full context, he used Angel to trick the Vault Hunters into releasing an alien superweapon that would’ve killed everyone on the planet if they hadn’t killed it

Before Borderlands The Pre-Sequel

- used the eye of the Destroyer to construct the Eye of Helios, a wave motion gun, with the intent on using it to commit genocide on Pandora (yeah just an FYI - building a giant laser powerful enough to nearly blow up the moon to target ‘bandit camps’ when Jack defines a bandit as anyone he doesn’t like - doesn’t make him look like a good person)

- briefly dated Moxxi, she dumped him when she realised what a sociopathic monster he was beneath his ‘nice guy hero’ facade (he also blew up her Underdome for this, though whether that was before or after the Pre-Sequel is left unclear)

- started hiring for body doubles, like Timothy Lawrence, who had their bodies reconstructed to be identical to his and bombs implanted in their faces to prevent tampering with the permanent alterations, and forcing said doubles to sign NDAs preventing them from even saying their own names

- begins mining Pandora for Eridium (and refining it - the Slag runoff from the refinement is used to charge the Eye of Helios), which reduces part of the landscape into a craggy wasteland spewing lava, volcanic ash constantly raining down (the Slag runoff of Eridium refinement is also just dumped all over the place, polluting the planet further)

this was all before Jack made his first chronological appearance

Borderlands The Pre-Sequel

okay here we go, Jack makes his chronological debut here

- loses his temper and murders the Meriff after the latter tries shooting him in the back and misses, yells “I was gonna let you live you dumb bastard, what is wrong with you?!” before commenting that it felt invigorating

- gonna just make a whole sub-thing for Felicity:

when Felicity starts having doubts during the ‘build a robot army’ plan, Jack dismisses her like he’s not even listening because he’s more focused on getting what he want, he then proceeds to casually threaten Gladstone Katoa (”By the way, last guy who double-crossed me's got nothing but a bunch of bullet holes and a stupid look on his face. Get me?”)

later when Felicity suggests just copying her because she’d find it much less terrifying than being uploaded to the Constructor, Jack asks her to clarify how much less terrifying - “It's the difference between brain surgery and being scanned.” - Jack just says he’ll ‘think about it’

Felicity complains that she doesn’t enjoy killing, he just waves that off by saying he doesn’t enjoy it either

he then orders Felicity’s mind wiped because copying her would take too long, offers a half-hearted apology when he says Elpis can’t wait, and then tells Gladstone to “Keep the military stuff, anything that can help us in a fight. Trash the rest.” Afterwards he doesn’t even care that he’s just had Felicity killed because he got his cool robot army

- ejects Gladstone and a couple other innocent scientists into space because one of the scientists still working in R&D might’ve been a traitor, so he killed all of them just to be sure (well he had his Vault Hunters do it but same diff) - what a hero. he then immediately tries to turn it around like he did everyone a favour - “Y'know, if I hadn't airlocked those scientists, one of 'em mighta turned those defenses back on just as you were walking through. Woulda fried you like a skag steak. Think on that.”

- this is the point in the story in TVHM where Athena admits she’d been suspecting she’d been working for the bad guy for a while

- kills Zarpedon because he gets bored of listening to her when she’s trying to explain what’s in the Vault on Elpis

- Moxxi tricks Jack and his Vault Hunters into blowing up the Eye of Helios, telling Jack she should’ve done it a long time ago because he’s a “power-hungry psychopath” - “I've been watching you, Jack. And behind that smile, behind that hero complex, there's something wrong about you. If you come down from Helios alive, a lot of decent people will live to regret it.” Jack screams that she, Lilith and Roland are no better than bandits because they destroyed an alien superweapon that he wanted to use (so i really don’t get why anyone was sympathising with him on this)

- Jack grows increasingly savage and unstable following this as the metaphorical mask starts slipping; ranting about how he’s going to ‘deal with them all’, threatens his boss just for asking for an update, then talking about how he wanted to use whatever’s in the Vault to kill Roland, Lilith, Moxxi and “all those sons of bitches”. he then loudly threatens Tassiter’s life after he calls to say he’s fired again (and like, okay, Tassiter’s an asshole, but he’s ‘dickhead boss’ asshole, he’s not ‘strangle you for talking shit, being in the same room or just for breathing’ asshole, which Jack is). it all comes to a head after he gets the treasure in the Vault and it shows him the Warrior and how to get to it (use Eridium to charge the Vault Key using a Siren as a catalyst), before Lilith punches the relic into his face, scarring him and destroying whatever restraint he had left - he plans to scorch Pandora in fire

- Jack makes good on his threat to Tassiter, strangling him to death and taking over Hyperion

- Claptastic Voyage - Jack sends his Vault Hunters after the H-source code that was buried in Claptrap’s virtual mind by Tassiter. full of access codes, prototype schematics and all sorts of Hyperion secrets. he uses it to destroy Claptrap’s product line and to add insult to injury, kills our Claptrap - who’d been retrofitted into a Vault Hunter. only reason he survived was the Shadowtrap (the true AI behind Vaulthunter.exe that Claptrap’s base AI overrides) keeping him functioning, his own incredibly robust chassis (as a result of being INAC and the Fragtrap) and Hammerlock finding him

Before Borderlands 2

in no particular order

- kidnapped Tannis and tortured her for days to make her give up the Vault Key

- started injecting the Eridium he’d refined into Angel to increase her power in order to charge the Vault Key faster - this also left her so reliant on Eridium that cutting off her supply would kill her in less than a minute

- started forcing his scientists to experiment on the population of Pandora (’bandits’), often by threatening and blackmailing them, like he did Dr Samuels by holding her wife hostage. this experimentation resulted in Psychos like Krieg, as well as other mutants

- the aforementioned experimentation also makes up Tiny Tina’s backstory - her family was taken there and while she escaped, her parents are dead or worse

- he destroyed New Haven, a central location from the first game, trying to flush Lilith out. Helena Pierce was forced to relocate her people to Sanctuary - she didn’t make it, and Jack made fun of her face scarring for good measure, and a number of New Haven citizens in the process

and a lot of others that i can’t remember the specifics on

Borderlands 2

oh jesus christ

- literally blows up a train to try and kill the Vault Hunters at the beginning of the game

you know what there’s just too much in BL2, i’ll just stick to the main ones

- captures Mordecai’s beloved companion Bloodwing, mutates the crap out of her and then blows her head off - later puts her decapitated corpse on display in his city Opportunity

- forces Angel to manipulate the new Vault Hunters into taking down Sanctuary’s shield so he can blow it up

- when Angel gets sick of him and communicates with the Vault Hunters against his orders to try and help them stop him, he starts torturing her

- kills Roland, steps over Angel’s body to gloat and then caps that off by capturing Lilith, hooking her up to Angel’s Eridium injectors and starts stabbing her because the Eridium makes her heal quicker

- summons the Warrior intent to kill everyone on Pandora so he can ‘civilise’ it

Tales from the Borderlands

- first thing he does is threaten to kill people

- second thing he does is to try and strangle Rhys

- everything following that is trying to manipulate Rhys into doing what he wants; he only cares about Rhys so far as he cares about his own continued existence (i mean he outright tries to kill Rhys as soon as he’s not in his cybernetics anymore)

- he actually becomes even more of a textbook abuser here, because he’s constantly trying to isolate Rhys from the others

- if Rhys trusts him, he’ll goad Athena into attacking Cassius, which he’s very excited about - and makes sense when you consider how she reacted to him killing Gladstone and those scientists on the possibility that one might be a traitor. he wants her to attack someone who had nothing to do with the order to kill her sister to make a hypocrite out of her

- nearly everything he says is a lie to manipulate Rhys; he never means a word of it and it’s always serving his own interests

- right up to the end he never accepts responsibility for his own heinous actions and is constantly pawning off blame and fault to others

and that’s not even nearly all of it. tl;dr, just cos a guy says he’s a hero, doesn’t mean he is one. actually, if someone has to point out what a great person they are all the time? that just means they’re full of shit

#Borderlands

110 notes · View notes

slothcritic · 6 years ago

Text

Dragon Ball Z Abridged - Episode 4 Review

Hit-or-miss introduction makes way for some golden moments.

The opening skit for Snakeway to Heaven has a satisfactory comedic weight to it, though upon re-watching it for this review, I noticed an editing mistake I had never noticed before, despite becoming a fan of the series in 2012. When Goku falls off Snake Way, the scene actually freezes on that frame. It wouldn't be noticeable if the truck itself hadn't frozen as well. Small gripe but I thought it was an interesting observation to share.

[Title Sequence]

Goku's scream carries over into the first few seconds of the intro and resumes near the last few seconds, which I found to be a well played editing decision.

Once Goku has stopped falling, we're treated to an amusing take on the filler ogres from hell. The blue one is given the Swedish Hansel-und-Gretel accent while the red one speaks like a German or Austrian. And puritan as ever, KaiserNeko made sure to use the original, unedited footage. It would’ve been funny to see them maybe have a scene or two with the ogres wearing their different HFIL shirts, or maybe a bit more fun poked at the Ocean Dub, but no such luck in this scene.

TFS doesn't spend too much time on this scene at all, really. It’s filler, and so nothing here really matters to the story aside from laugh-factor. The comedic nature of this first scene is that it’s rushed. Goku swindles the two ogres out of a fight, like he’s trying to swindle the show into skipping this filler arc, as he immediately guns it for the exit... and then stops?

It would've been a much more emphatic punchline if the scene had changed right here. Instead we have an awkward stop-and-go motion to the scene they're trying to orchestrate and it feels stilted. A lot of this scene after Goku finds the exit I find to be entirely unneeded. Raditz has already been established as being in Other World so the callback here wasn't necessary, the special King Yemma fruit could be argued for having no plot relevance as it never existed in the manga, and we didn't really need that post-Goku scene to get the hint that these ogres were very chummy with each other when it came to subjects like oil wrestling and speedos.

But then, where would they put that great joke about the Blood Fountain? And the small dialogue about Dabura I did find risible as a fan of the original DBZ, despite my usual curmudgeonly take on yet-to-be-established jokes. Like many things, this does get much better as the series continues, eventually turning some moments of sequence-breaking into moments of well-crafted foreshadowing. This is just a funny pointless joke, and a nod to fans of DBZ, that has no impact on the actual story of DBZA itself.

Again, this isn't too much of a big deal. Just a whole work-with-what-you've-got bizarre scenario likely due to bizarre source material. Yet this was all deemed funny enough to edit, voice and keep in the episode instead of trimming it out like the other 90% of this mini-arc. I'm not convinced the presentation was done to par, but I do feel that the inclusion of "Goku in Hell" is necessary for the sake of tying loose ends together. Also, it would've been a far more egregious decision to have that cold open end in a do-nothing cliff hanger. So, a goofy scene and perhaps iffy writing, but not terrible.

We then return to the person who has so far been the breadwinner of the series, and Piccolo hasn't let up on either the humor or Gohan. Kind of a contrast to how somber he is in the show. It's not whack-a-doodle humor, it's exaggerated frustration and exasperation, which lands almost dead-center on my humor nexus.

But even better than Piccolo has to be this next scene - Debatably the first "meme" or seriously quotable moment in the show's history: Popo's Pecking Order.

On paper this doesn't look like it'd be necessarily funny, but when you attach to it a very do-nothing character like Mr Popo and turn him into a sadistic dictator, combined with the special emphasis and excellent delivery of the line, it's simply outstanding, and raises the bar for this entire episode.

Now I've said before that the source material of Z shouldn't factor into the end product that is DBZA. If I were to show this episode to my mother, I shouldn't have to show her all 291 episodes of Z so she can understand it. The show should be able stand on its own. That's not to say parody should have zero factor in the writing of this, or that there should be zero references at all, ever. By god what a silly thing to imply. But people can still enjoy Spaceballs even if they haven't seen Star Wars.

However, in the case of Mr Popo, DBZA does a good job of setting up Popo in the same way Z does. He initially speaks in a low, subdued tone, and is spoken of by Kami as some kind of adviser, or perhaps a respected peer, but as someone who is indirectly and respectfully implied to be below him. After all, it's called Kami's Lookout, not Popo's Lookout, and Kami is literally regarded as "The Guardian of Earth" while Popo just appears to be... there.

That all changes the second Kami leaves the outdoor area and Popo is entrusted with the reigns of the new Z Fighters. LISTEN UP, MAGGOTS!

The Krillin Owned Count also chimes three in this scene, and shows its first signs of picking up momentum.

Back on Snake Way, Goku gets eaten by the head of snake way, which leads into Jadoshin's palace. This is such a quick, cheesy, quirky but funny edit that I'm not sure what to say beyond I enjoyed it. It just hits you and then boom, you're in her castle.

The joke of Jadoshin being voiced by Solid Snake (Princess Snake, Solid Snake, on Snake Way) seems like a bold strategy but I think it's one of the better jokes they've committed to that ended up being really good, at least this early on. The voice even lends itself to the awkward dialogue that would've simply lost its charm or fallen flat otherwise.

Unrelated, but one of my favorite lines from the dub happens in this scene, where Jadoshin's attendant simply says "I've got something to show you. And it's my gun.", and then kills herself with it. I didn't expect to see that in this scene, but a small part of me did hope.

When Goku finishes up in the hot springs (with a Metal Gear Solid box gag to boot) and tries to leave, Jadoshin then states that she wants Goku inside her. Goku is confused, of course, and smash cut to Goku flying for his life from a massive green fire-breathing snake trying to eat him.

Jadoshin however still has the voice of Solid Snake even in this form, complete with periodic grunts as they maneuver through the air. This eventually transitions into Jadoshin saying waka-waka, and the backdrop changes into a Pac-Man map. The Pac-Man skit was perhaps a bit overdone, with Goku finding meat instead of the normal fruit, but on the whole this was a very "solid" scene.

During the Ozaru scene, I feel like Piccolo just screaming "MOOOOOOOON!" in the DBZA Kai version is funnier than the "Stop mocking me!" we got in DBZA proper. Also, donkey kong barrel, really? It's not bad, but it's an "oh, brother" moment, like hearing a very bad pun.

When Gohan transforms back into his human (or Half-Saiyan technically) form, his junk is censored with a Dragon Ball. This is an interesting contrast in philosophy over the years, as KaiserNeko explained the decision "to not censor baby dicks" in a Episode Breakdown livestream on the Broly Abdridged movie, where Broly's baby wiener can be seen uncensored in a few scenes of that movie.

The episode ends with Goku continuing down Snake Way, having tied Jadoshin up into a tangled ball, prompted the GAME OVER screen and someone yelling "Princess Snaaaaaake!"

Conclusion

Despite my lackluster thoughts on how Hell was handled, this episode had a lot going for it compared to it's predecessors! Most of the episode was spent on two strong scenes, and while I didn't think the Ozaru scene was anything special, it didn't feel out of place or off-kilter, but provided more insight and I suppose world-building into the relationship between Piccolo and Gohan and the constant reminder that they're training to eventually face off against the Saiyans. This is further reinforced by Stinger #2 with Nappa and Vegeta en route to Earth.

This was almost opposite to Episode 3, which I felt had strong bookends. While I didn't find the end of this episode to be bad, it was simply "alright" when compared to the Popo and Jadoshin scenes. Characters are starting to have stronger internal identities instead of simply being parodies of their original counterparts. Though it is noteworthy, and rather obvious, that this only applies to characters with speaking lines. Tien, Yamcha and Chiaotzu made their first appearances but had nothing to say. Maybe it would have been cluttered or detracted from the pacing of the Popo scene, but it may prove challenging to properly attach sentimentality to these characters in the short few episodes they have before the inevitable happens.

Because y'know, nobody watched Dragon Ball.

Score: 73

Passing Thoughts

I liked that Stinger #1 dealt with the actual ramifications of DESTROYING THE MOON unlike the series proper did. I guess it was just no diff for the Dragon Ball world?

"He made a horrible mess of the blood fountain." "Looks fine to me." "IT USED TO BE WATER!"

"I killed everything here with my bare hands. Including the bear hands." -Pictured in the top left of the frame are actual bear hands.

"Stop grunting, it's creepy!"

"CLOTHES BEAM!" and “That is easily my most metro attack.”

#slothcritic #dbz #Dragon Ball Z Abridged #tfs #teamfourstar

8 notes · View notes

docholligay · 7 years ago

Text

Thanks for kind words behind the cut

sphinxfeathers replied to your post

“I’m a little nervy about the con/my life right now, so if anyone had...”

Your stories always make my day. Having been a fanfic reader and writer for many years, I’ve seen a lot of people come and go in the fandom and your writing is by far the most amazing and emotional. I hope someday that you write a book and I will be able to enjoy it.

Thank you so much, this is so kind

verbforverb replied to your post

“I’m a little nervy about the con/my life right now, so if anyone had...”

Your fiction always makes me smile. Your non-fiction always makes me think. Your eye for detail in both is incredible, and I find the way you describe the craft of writing incredibly interesting and useful as well. And writing aside, you're kind of an amazing role model and also hilarious, A+ would yell at about eurovision again.

Thank you so much and I swear if the UK ever wins eurovision (AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA) I’m going to be there and we’ll figure out a way to go.

@themiscyra1983 said:

Your canons have supplanted actual Sailor Moon and Overwatch canons for me, and did so BEFORE J.K. Rowling finally drove me into full on ‘death of the author is a valid practice we should all as fans adopt like crazy’ mode, so that’s the regard I hold you in, and I’m sorry I can’t come to Toronto but I’m sure you’ll be awesome.

Thank you so much! I love so much, because I am vain, when people tell me I *am* Overwatch to them, and this is the first time I’ve ever heard it about sailor moon and I am THRIVING.

@skylineofspace said:

I find your honesty and integrity incredibly admirable, and your advice and example has helped me a lot to be better and more satisfied in my own life. Have fun at the con, and be there very slightly nicer Michiru we all need.

ahaha, THANK YOU. THis was so sweet.

rhiorhino

replied to your post

“I’m a little nervy about the con/my life right now, so if anyone had...”

Idk if like this is weird or cheesy or w/e but I really look up to you a lot, as like a writer and a person, and I've gotten a lot more confident pushing myself to talk about wlw and stuff just from saying "my friend doc and her wife jill" "my buddy, her wife is a vet and-" y'know, stuff like that. It's really helped me push myself to be more open, through you kind of? I really appreciate your frankness and willing to be open about hard truths and what's *needed* Not just what's *wanted* I’m like a super anxious and “shaky pink thing” in general but just being in chat with you and jet and everyone, y'all were immediately welcoming and funny and I really enjoyed myself tonight. It was super fun!!

No,this isn’t cheesy, this is LOVELY, thank you so much! And you were a delight!

@notesfromtheidiotbox

I enjoy your writing and bought Overwatch partially because of them. I adore your fried chicken recipe. And I enjoy that you take no shit from anyone including yourself. You intimidate me, but I still like seeing your thoughts on things even if I haven’t heard or, or even have any interest in them. You are truly unique. The hard-drinkin’, straight-shootin’, fast-writin’, femme-as-hell-but-tough-as-nails, Lesbian Queen O’ the West. -The one, the only Doc Holligay! Yeehaw

THANK YOU SO MUCH also that part made me laugh so hard ahah.

@sittingoverheredreaming Your writing had honestly made me such a picky reader, you’re one of the only authors anywhere that has a style I’m super into (I love how artful you are and how much your phrasing and word choices make me think) AND content that I’m starving for. There’s so few works that make me feel the way your fics do. I’ve had maybe a handful of novels and short stories ever even come close. You’re amazing, as a writer and as a person.

I feel so weird about whether I’m a good writer or not, and this is so wonderful and affirming andlovely. Especially since I know you studied writing too!

madegeeky

replied to your post

“I’m a little nervy about the con/my life right now, so if anyone had...”

You're one of the most talented writers and brilliant public speakers I've ever had the honor of interacting with. Listening to you speak about something your passionate about is mesmerizing in a way I've never experienced before. I could listen to you talk about the things you love for hours.

Thank you so much this was so kind!!

I am also, and will forever be, angry that you made me love Tracer and her Winston so completely and utterly. Because that’s just how good your writing is: you dragged me kicking and screaming into a fandom I don’t even play the game for. And I’m so happy you did because I love Tracer and Winston and this world you built. But I’m also still angry. ;)

AHAHAH YES YESSSSSSSS THIS IS MY LARGER GOAL IN LIFE (and her Winston, god do you know how to kill me)

Your writing is so beautiful and so glorious. I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again, but you have a way with images that’s breathtaking. Your fics are so amazing and intricate and beautiful that I don’t read them when I’m sick because I’m scared I’ll miss something and I don’t want to miss anything. I currently have a while backlog and I’m so very excited for when I can finally catch up.

Thank you so much and thank YOU for always leaving such amazing comments.

You’re one of the bravest people I know. Sometimes, when I know I need to do something but it seem too big and too scary, knowing that you’d do it even if you felt the same way helps me get it done. I admire your gumption tremendously.

WELLNOW I HAVE TO BE BRAVE AND DO THIS DON’T I

@taperwolf I like your writing: fiction, nonfiction, and scribbleage. You’re consistently interesting, entertaining when you want to be. I think of you when I think of good people.

Thank yoU!!

@paksenarrion-reader you taught me a lot, and pushed me to seek out more knowledge. Thank you for that.

Thank you!!

@shavedjudomonkey You’re a person I look up to. I don’t always share your opinions, but you’ve helped show me that that’s okay, and if I’m going to believe the things I do, I need to be willing to step up and defend them.You’ve also encouraged me as a writer. Thank you.

No, cause if you agree with me then you’re stll not doing your research and thinking about stuff! I totally WANT you to come to your own conclusions and disagree sometimes!! Thank you!

@Mizunosakura You’re an amazing writer, whether it be non-fiction, fanfiction, or commentary, they’re all amazing to read and really engaging. You’re honestly a super interesting person and I always love all your posts even if I suck incredibly when it comes to commenting.

Thank you so much!

@keyofjetwolf Whoever bid on those Metallica cassette tapes hasn’t paid yet, and I’m pretty sure now they aren’t going to, which means I made less than ten bucks on about thirteen hours of feverish hard work. That comes out to about 77 cents an hour, but doesn’t factor in the fifty cassette tape shipping boxes that I bought in an act of both obscene optimism and critical overestimating. In conclusion, I spent half a day peddling my garbage to no one and paid for the privilege, THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT

Everyone was very sweet but you took the prize for something that made me laugh no less than every single one of the three times I read it.

#sphinxfeathers #verbforverb #rhiorhino #madegeeky #tumblr replies is being REAL garbage so apologize for the weird formatting #thank you all so so so muh

9 notes · View notes

light-sins · 8 years ago

Text

SeptiplierWeek (Day 6)

Remember when I said I wouldn’t write more ? Yeah, I lied. I couldn’t help it. All of the days combine to make one story.

Characters : Markiplier + Suicidal!Jacksepticeye Prompt : High School Event hosted by : @septiplierweek Chapters : [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [x]

“Sean ? Sean, are you listening ?” A voice snapped him back to reality, and he lazily opened his eyes, turning to the therapist in front of him. “Yeah, sorry, I ah…zoned out there for a Sec” he yawned, stretching. The tiny Box Tim plush sat comfortably on his lap, smiling as always. She sighed, but offered him a gentle smile. “It’s alright, Sean. Let’s just focus on something else for now” she leafed through the booklet. Honestly, she was very happy with the progress he had displayed. Perhaps in a few months, he could even start working again. But the heavy bandage around his neck made her hesitate. Maybe. She just left it as maybe.

“You said you had another persona, called ‘Jack’, right ?” She looked at him, watching as he nodded, smiling. “Yeah, was a high school thing” he told her, stretching. “Well, maybe you could tell me about then ? How was high school like ?” She inquired. He was about to continue when Mark came in, twenty minutes late. “Sorry, sorry, did I interrupt ?” He asked, turning to look at the two of them, who had changed their attention to him. His face flushed pink, starting to list out a pile of excuses like traffic and work, but she just smiled and waved him to sit down beside Sean.

Originally, she had been Counselling him alone, but found that being around Mark helped Sean open up a lot quicker and smoother. If there were tears, Mark could comfort him and soothe him. If Sean felt bad, guilty or hesitant, he was the one who slowly coaxed him. She had insisted that it was time that perhaps Mark could take care of Sean on his own instead, but she could see the hesitation and worry in himself. “What if i fail him again ?” He had told her. “What if I can’t choose what’s right for him ?” And with that, their sessions continued.

“So, uh, what’re we doing ?” Mark asked, still a little embarrassed from his sudden yell when he burst in. “We we’re going to talk about high school” she informs. “Mostly about this ‘Jack’ persona” she adds, preparing a pen in case she needed to take notes on their behaviour. It was always heartwarming to see how their love worked, despite the problems they both had. Then again, all relationships had problems. It was the way they tried to help one another with them that made her so happy to see them every week.

“Well, why don’t we get started !”

High school was a time that wasn’t too hard for either of the two boys. Or, that’s what it initially appeared as at least. Other than the acne, and the occasional problems with trying to fit in and the ‘girls and guys’ kinda thing, it was pretty normal, only… it was hard for Sean to stay ‘normal’. And, the fact that his name wasn’t Sean during then. His name was Jack, and he was so much more different than he was as an adult. Teenage Jack was called a lot of things by his friends. Mostly cause he only had one. Jackadork and jackaboy were his favourites during then. Mark had a tendency to just call him 'Jack’ though.

“Hey ! Mark !” His voice practically boomed through the room, and his accent was still fresh in his voice. He still wasn’t so used to a new country yet, but he was making good progress! “Hey !” Mark responded the call with a high five, exchanging a complicated hand greeting they had made up at the end of last year. “Ready for tonight ?” Jack couldn’t hold the excitement off his voice, practically jumping in his spot, making the other laugh. “Of course I am ! Are you nervous ?” He teased the Irishboy, grinning. “Of course I am ! It’s our first time streaming on twitch, who wouldn’t be nervous ?”

“It’ll be just like we practiced !” Mark assured with a smile, slapping his shoulder. “Oh yeah, sure. I Guess I should trip over my computer wire again ?” Jack joked lightly, smiling back. “Maybe this time your content would actually make someone laugh” he responded with one of his own, filling the small room with laughter.

It was Jacks birthday that night and they had wanted to celebrate with a full game fest online, and figured it would be fun to stream it too ! Their growing channel was slowly speeding up to a hundred thousand people and it was getting more and more fun by the day. So many happy comments and viewers who cheered them on. It was always so heartwarming to see, and he loved to read the comments with Mark. Well, he loved spending time with Mark in general. And honestly… he was a little confused on how he felt.

It was weird, actually. He felt so nervous when he was around and he couldn’t help himself but want to be even closer. He loved how he laughed and how much he smiled and the way his jokes, no matter how self-deprecating, always made him laugh and never made him hurt, because he knew Mark never meant them. It was fun and they loved making those jokes, even if they were crude.

But being around him also roused a lot of questions about himself. Jack wasn’t actually ever sure if…if he liked girls. Of course, he never discriminated being friends but… the idea of kissing another girl, no matter how beautiful he imagined her, never appealed to him. He got anxious as the days gone by. Why was he like that ? Was there something else wrong with him ? He started panicking and started getting worse and worse. But of course nobody could ever tell.

After school, Jack and Mark bought arm-fulls of snacks. Cookies, chips, sodas. Anything fat and tasty. They had even bought lots of coffee for the drink lover to enjoy. Plus, it’d make sure he stayed awake. And after a few hours of setting up at Marks home, by the declared time, they were ready. They turned on their web cams, tested their mics and their headphones were on, grinning as they sat beside each other, Mark on his computer, and Jack on his laptop.

It was a little slow as it began, but neither really cared. They had fun, playing horror games, some fun multiplayer and made jokes about some really bad romance novel games, and the night just kept going with around a few hundred watchers. There had been no mention of his birthday either, because Jack was the type that never really liked himself to be publicised or anything. He liked to keep to his friends who could say those words to him, and they’d always mean so much more than the small texts that appeared. But…nobody had wished him birthday yet. It made him a little sad, but, he knew his friends still cared. He just wished they would call soon…

Halfway through, Mark mentioned he was going to take a piss. “Yeah, not subtle at all” Jack rolled his eyes, continuing the game, occasionally checking the twitch chat. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves at the stupid comment Mark made at least. A lot of people were just chatting and watching and making random comments. A few minutes later, he heard Mark yell for him to help him with something.

“What ? Ya want me to help hold yer dick while ya piss ?” He got up, pausing the game as he did. He was halfway through the room when Mark came in, holding onto a sleek, expensive black video camera. The name Jack was engraved beautifully at the side and on top sat the most dainty green bow he could’ve possibly found. “Thought I forgot ?” Mark’s smile seemed to glow, giddy with his own form of excitement and relief at how stunned Jack was. “What kind of Friend would I be if I didn’t remember your birthday ?”

The chat exploded with exclamation marks and 'Happy birthdays!’, before there was the click that signalled someone had used a word that triggered their sound effects. “Happy birthday, Jackaboy !” He heard Singes voice came through, followed by Amy, Ethan, Felix, Marzia, Tyler, Bob and Wades. Everyone he had called a Friend wished him a happy birthday and when one clip ended, a new random one would play. Jack felt his cheeks flush red, staring at the computer in stunned silence. They hadn’t forgot…did… did Mark plan this ?

He turned to Mark again with a playful anger to ask the same question, but that golden smile silenced him again, the camera pressed into Jacks hands. And throughout all the noise in the room, filled with voices of the people he cared about, Marks voice was the loudest.

“Happy Birthday, Jack”

“I don’t want to go home…” Jack muttered, leaning against the couch in Marks home. It was the end of the short school holiday and he dreaded returning home. He didn’t want to, for more reasons than just to have more company with Mark. He was…afraid of going there. He didn’t want to hear his foster parents scream his name, and he didn’t want to bear the harshness of his dad. He instinctively rubbed his arm, hidden away under the sleeve of his shirt.

“Me neither, but…y'know, everyone has to go home sometime” Mark smiled at him, patting his shoulder. Of course, he could never understand Jacks fear of his own house. It was something he thought was personal and he didn’t think it was anything as bad as it actually was. He had met Jacks Mother and Father once or twice and thought they were kind people. But, under closed doors, they were from another world.

Jack didn’t reply for a while, silent and holding onto the crumpled pieces of paper they had been working on for a while. Blue prints, or really just shitty designs for two character plushies, but he just kept staring at it. “…I don’t want to go home…” he repeated, quieter this time. Mark turned to look at him with a small smile but before he could convince Jack again, he noticed the silent tears drop onto the piece of paper, staining it. That was when he noticed something was wrong.

“Jack..?” He gently nudged him, putting his hand on his arm. He got even more worried when he flinched, tensing up. Something was horribly wrong. “Why don’t you want to go home ?” He finally asked. The answers that followed took hours to get, and the next few weeks felt like months. Nothing felt right anymore. Everything suddenly became clear to him. Why Jack seemed to always flinch when someone yelled, why the first few times he met him, he seemed to take a step back when offered a high five. How did he never notice ?

The next few weeks, was filled with careful planning. Mark stored Jacks clothes and all in his house, along with belongings like pictures and anything he needed. Only necessities and personal valuables. And throughout those weeks, he found out why Jack had always been so secretive with his money and owned so little. The computer had been something Jack worked months to buy, because it was his only happiness in his stressed household. And a phone, nothing else. Most of his clothes were thrown to Jack from his deceased older Brother, who had been a biological child.

The easy part was getting Jack into Marks house. The hard part was getting proof. Jack had to alternate into his own home, filled with dread and fear each day to record how his family was like, and each video clip made Mark sick to the core. How could he had lived like this for so many years, he would never know.

School was hard now too. Mark and Jack had to pretend everything was okay and find a teacher to help. Eventually, they found a teacher they thought could trust, a woman who was a counsellor in school. They told her about the abuse and she seemed to agree to help. So they relaxed a little and schooling continued and each day got a little more hopeful.

Until… Jack didn’t come to school. The entire day, Mark was anxious and fidgeting and chewing on his nails. He had never missed a day before, and with his parents background… Mark was anxious. But Jack had told that if this ever happened, he’d text him, and he’d know if he was okay. So during recess, he escaped to a safer place and checked his phone with shaky hands, finding a message from Jack to fuel his relief. But the text that had been sent only paralysed him from the inside out.

“Help me��

Mark held onto Jacks hand, trying to give him the strength he so badly needed. His blue eyes were dimmed in fear, watching the court speak. His parents were both bound, heavy with charges and they displayed the videos Jack had so carefully and secretly recorded. He could feel the weak teen tense and whimper, and he didn’t hesitate to pull him into his arms, hugging and patting him to calm him down.

“Don’t listen to it…” Mark whispered to him, covering his ears, holding him close. “You’ll be okay…you won’t have to live with them anymore…” he murmured. He could see his own friends casting worried looks to Jack. No one had suspected something like this to be happening in Jacks life. No one had ever thought it could be possible with how cheerful and excited he always was. He always looked like he was…happy. Not the crying, trembling man they all saw now.

This was not the Jack that they knew.

“It’s been three days, are you sure ?” Mark asked, resting a hand on Jacks shoulder. “I’m sure. I don’t want this…brand anymore. I don’t want to be 'Jack’ anymore” he muttered, holding onto him, as if to ask for support. “I know, bud, and I support you. It’s your name and…if you really want to, then…” he passed him the legal documents. “Make sure you choose a name you love, alright ?” Mark smiled, letting go of him, waiting outside as Jack left the room, because he knew when he came back, Jack would cease to exist. Because Jack was a dead name, something that had been manifested to be the happy, cheerful screaming Irishman. The man that suffered abuse and never spoke out. Jack was an old mask, and it was time to throw that away.

When he came back, he seemed to have had a load lifted off his shoulders, and he wasn’t Jack anymore. Jack was gone, and Sean had come back. And Mark knew, Jack or Sean, everyone would love him just the same.

#Septiplier #SeptiplierWeek #fanfiction #Long post #writing #fluff #agnst #Day6 #suicidal!jacksepticeye #Jacksepticeye #Markiplier

73 notes · View notes

starlightkeybright · 8 years ago

Text

persona 5 writings/spoilers?

i call this one “i like guys”

Goro had been helping out the Phantom Thieves in mementos for a short while, since they cleared the palace and had some extra time, the thieves decided to show Goro how they work in a different part of the metaverse. it certainly wasn't fun to be cramped inside the "mona-car" as the others put it, but he had to admit there was something about just exploring mementos with the others that he actually liked. chasing down and fighting random shadows, not having to worry about any alerts going off, and the whole ordeal just feeling overall...relaxing. since they had no end goal, besides finding targets and getting as far as they could that day in mementos, there was an overall feeling of relaxation that certainly never appeared in the palace. so he guessed he could appreciate that. it was also interesting because Akira was more prone to talk to shadows in mementos, mostly to get more money out of them. he rarely took chances in the palace, preferring to just obliterate them so no alarm would happen. one time however, was...more interesting. Goro was one of the ones on the front lines, along with Haru and Ann, and Akira of course. Goro did overhear a couple times how the others worried about Akira always leading and in all the battles, but that if they brought it up with him, he'd just shrug and say he was fine. sounds like him. they got a small group of shadows on the ground and took their places; surrounding the shadows and pointing their guns at them. the shadow in front began pleading and asking for mercy as usual, and everyone waited for the possibility of Akira's signal to attack. “h-hold on a sec! maybe we can talk things out!" Akira was quiet for a few moments, clearly debating on if he wanted to spare these shadows. finally he said, "ok, let's talk." Goro relaxed just the tiniest bit but kept his gun pointed towards the shadows. he usually didn't care about what the shadows had to say, none of it was important anyway. but he had to pay attention to order to see Akira's signal. "s-so uh...i got a girl back home, you know, and it's her birthday today." Goro glanced over at Akira in time to see the smallest smirk appear on his face before speaking. "happy birthday to her." "y-yeah! so it'd be a great idea for you to let me go, y'know. i'm sure a guy like you knows what it's like, right? having to deal with a lot of ladies at once." "i like guys." Goro stared over at Akira, and he could tell the other two were staring at him too, but he didn't flinch. Akira said it without hesitation and with a straight face. what...? he's not...he can't be serious, right? "oh, uh...i mean...sure, whatever." the shadow mumbled as it was clearly caught off guard. "i like that guy." Akira continued, nodding over in Goro's direction. Goro almost dropped his gun in shock, somehow managing to keep his grip tight on it, but now his hand shook. he prayed to whatever and any god that was listening that his mask hid any redness that was on his face right now. the absolute fuck does he think he's doing? is this a game to him? he's just saying that- of course he doesn't really. he's catching the shadow off guard, that's all, it means nothing- he noticed the shadow glance over at him (while trying to ignore the other team members staring at him now). "eh, if you say so buddy, i think you could do better." such a comment, from a shadow even, shouldn't have stung Goro, but now here he was. suddenly wishing desperately to disappear. he noticed Akira didn't answer however, and looked over at him. Akira was quiet, his smirk from earlier gone. and then Akira slowly smiled, and Goro felt a shiver down his spine at the sight; it was not at all a friendly smile. it was the smile Akira would often wear while they were in the metaverse, he enjoyed way too much beating up shadows and running around palaces, but there was something different about this smile. it was more malicious than usual. but Goro knew what it meant, and he prepared himself. "let's go!" Akira yelled, and everyone quickly moved in to perform their all-out attack.

after they spent a good amount of time in mementos and everyone was getting tired, they went back to the entrance. most of the rest of the group crowded together to discuss various things about their latest outing and what they could do and prepare for next time. Goro only sometimes took part in these discussions, for several reasons. however, there was still something he wanted to do. "leader, may i talk to you for a moment? alone preferably." Akira was luckily standing a bit away from the others looking at his phone and looked up at him. "of course." he nodded at the others (more at Makoto since she noticed) and stepped further away from them. though they didn't have total privacy with the rest of the group still there, even several feet away was good enough. Goro followed him and stopped by him, sighing. he collected his thoughts about what he wanted to ask, figuring out where to start. "why did you say that?" "say what?" he knows, he's just being coy, Goro thought, narrowing his eyes for a moment. "to that shadow, that you like guys and," Goro glanced over at the group and lowered his voice a little. "that you like me." "because it's true." Goro glared at him and was glad at the moment they were having this discussion in the metaverse where his mask could hide part of his face. "you- i can't tell right now if you're lying to me or if you lied to that shadow. i assumed you were just saying things to catch it off guard." "i wasn't, it's all true." "you don't like me," Goro quickly spat out before thinking. "yes, i do. i think i know what my feelings are more than you do, detective." Akira added with his smirk- that fucking smirk-and a wink. Goro felt his face go more red as he further glared at the phantom thief leader. "you-" "i'm sorry that it came out like that when it did, that wasn't exactly how i planned my confession would go." Akira cut in, shrugging. "but it's not a lie, it's the truth. i like you, Goro." you can't possibly like me, Goro wanted to say, along with so much more. but words failed him at the moment and he sighed in defeat. "can we...talk about this another time? maybe not in mementos?" and with not the others right there to possibly eavesdrop. Akira smiled, a kind smile, which gave Goro mixed feelings. "sure thing, stop by the cafe tomorrow if you can." "i might have some free time," Goro muttered. "good, let's get out of here then." Akira waved and walked back over to the others and said something to them, but Goro was too lost in his own thoughts to hear it. i have to wait until late tomorrow to get more out of him? what bullshit. Goro shook his head, taking a deep breath to help calm himself (it barely worked), before stepping over to join everyone else in leaving for the day.

#yo first time writing in goro's pov #it was important to do for this one dkfjg #also just imagine after this is a good lengthy talk in the attic that ends in hugs and even small kisses cuz Akira can't help himself and he #he's also a little shit lmao

1 note · View note