#although. do think there was a silver lining in a fandom sense where this caused some retroactive appreciation for messy conflicts in | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fandomsonrequests · 4 years

Text

𝖆𝖓𝖔𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖗 𝖘𝖊𝖑𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓..? [𝖕𝖆𝖗𝖙 8]

fandom: ATEEZ

characters: prince! park seonghwa

reader: fem! knight

word count: 3.5k+

summary: It was time for another Selection. No- not a Selection for a bride but rather a well-trained knight to keep Prince Seonghwa safe after a failed assassination attempt. You, a blacksmith’s daughter, manage to make it to the elite group of knights worthy and skilled enough to protect the crown prince after months and months of training. This alone catches Seonghwa’s eyes- in more ways than one

a/n: yAAAYY it’s finally here! part 8! it’s still a long ride so please forgive me if updates are getting slow ;^; school is really kicking my ass. plus there were flooding and typhoons that happened in my country so I lost internet for a few days. But thank you again for those who stuck by ;^;

taglist: @iwanttohitmyself @barcelona-sergei @minihongjoong @i-purrple-u @taetae123094 @jeonartemis @jibaxja @theoinkypiglet @sparklychangbin

↞previous ♛ next↠

Seonghwa walks alongside Hongjoong as they head towards the Queen’s parlor in the East Wing of the palace. Sometimes he wondered why the palace had to be so big- it was quite a walk to get from one place to another.

“How was Hae-seong’s class?” The shorter asked after a long moment of silence.

The Prince looked over to his friend with a bit of a hesitant look. “It looks fine... Although I think he was in a bad mood today.”

“Oh please; when isn’t that old fart in a bad mood.”

Seonghwa guffawed at the term his friend used on the Duke, clasping a hand over his mouth at that.

“You needed me, mother?” He asks as soon as he enters the Queen’s parlor.

It wasn’t a very large room but it was no less grand than the others. Paintings of past ancestors and the recent royal family hung in golden frames along the mauve-colored velvet walls of the parlor. A white marble fireplace was built in the center, a wide mirror hanging above it. In front of the fireplace were two plush couches, of course in a mauve shade, with a white and silver table placed in between the couches.

His mother was quite picky with color combinations.

The Queen turns her attention from her Ladies-In-Waiting and to her son, beaming a rather large smile and patting the space next to her on one of the couches. “Come sit.” She invites him.

Seonghwa greeted the other ladies in the room and sat next to his mother. As soon as he does that, the Ladies-in-Waiting, save for the eldest one, take it as their cue to leave the room and give some privacy for the mother and son.

“Seonghwa,” The Queen starts taking her son’s hand into his. “Your father and I have been planning something for you.”

Another thing?? When will these surprises end?

“Since your father planned something similar to a selection for your personal guard, we decided that we won’t be holding a selection for your bride.”

That caught the young prince off-guard. It has been a tradition that dates back several centuries that their family line would have a selection for the spouse of every royal offspring. That was how his mother met his father. His father came from the kingdom near the oceans and the docks and managed to win the Queen’s heart amongst all the suitors.

But it made sense for them to forgo that tradition. The assassin that slipped into his room came from a different kingdom. His parents were just taking precautions by calling the whole thing off.

Sure it would cause some small (or maybe even large) disputes between the allying kingdoms but ties were already shaky the day Seonghwa was meant to be assassinated.

“Then I suppose I’ll be marrying someone within the kingdom?” Asked the Prince to which he was answered with a nod.

The Queen took her son’s hand in hers and ran her delicate thumb against the back of his knuckles. “We’re still deciding on who you will marry but so far, we think Hae-seong’s daughter would be a good match for you.”

Oh, her.

Hae-seong was blessed with three children, his middle child being his only daughter: Ayeong. She and Seonghwa were around the same age, with him being just a few months older.

It wasn’t that Ayeong was mean or anything, it’s just that he didn’t have the best memories growing up with her. He remembered taking a massive liking to her when they were younger. He was around fourteen or fifteen years old when he confessed his feelings to her, right under the large oak tree that grew in the prairie at the back of the palace.

To his dismay, she didn’t return his feelings. She fancied one of the young knights-in-training then. Despite the unrequited emotions, he still respected her and tried not to look so heartbroken around her. But ever since then, he’s been avoiding her around the palace.

He wondered if what took place back then would affect his parent’s plans for both of them.

“Oh.. does Hae-seong know about it?” Seonghwa prompted.

“No, not yet. We plan on telling him. I don’t think he would be opposed to it though. And besides, you’re good friends with her, I’m sure you don’t mind.”

He gives a slightly strained smile at that and just bowed his head. “Whatever you think is best, mother.”

“Thank you, my dear.” She leaned forward and kissed his forehead. “Well, that’s all I wanted to tell you. You may go back to where you were.”

“I think I’d like to stay here with you for a while, mother.”

The Queen smiles fondly at that. She couldn’t help but take his cheeks in her hands and give them a pinch, making her son protest in slight pain. He may have grown up to be a strong, intelligent, and handsome young man but in her eyes, he will always be her baby: wide curious eyes and a spirited laugh tumbling from his crooked-toothed smile.

“That’s all for today. You may head down to the dining hall for lunch before going to the courtyard for your lessons with Byron.” Hae-seong dismisses the class.

It’s only been a few minutes since the class had ended and they were already drained. Hae-seong talked too fast for their liking. At first, he would stop and go back to something they missed when someone pointed it out but eventually he grew tired of that and kept speeding through the lesson despite the class’s protests.

“I just want a break,” Raviv sighs, rubbing his temple to soothe his incoming migraine. “That was so much information to absorb.”

“I think he’s purposely trying to make us fail.” You say in a hushed tone.

Your friends nod in agreement. They suspected that the duke didn’t want them there but this kind of attitude coming from him furthered that suspicion. Lunchtime went by in a blur and now the whole group was standing in the middle of the courtyard, awaiting for Byron to come.

Though you were hesitant when it came to academics, you felt much more confident in this area. You’ve never really fought with swords but your brother had a habit of play- fighting with you, so you knew a thing or two about having to defend yourself.

You glance over to the quarry-workers from your village and other mountain villages. A few of them were joking around and showing off their strength by butting into each other. You couldn’t blame them, some probably did that to shake off their nerves. But you knew there were some that just really liked to show off.

Like Michael. He was… nice when he wanted to be but he caused a lot of trouble back in Trelark. He always found himself in a kerfuffle and never really learned to back down even when the situation called for it. He was the type of guy who bets his pride with high stakes.

Others seemed apprehensive; one of those people was Amihan. She wrung her hands together in anxiousness, her fingers playing with the hem of her shirt. People from the mountain were deemed as tough- especially since the living conditions there were less than ideal. But Amihan grew up in the lowlands, she was afraid she didn’t live up to those sayings.

“Hey,” You call out to her in a quiet voice. She turns to look at you, her brows creased. You offer her a gentle smile and a nod before mouthing the words, It’s okay.

Her shoulders relaxed a little but you could see that her whole frame was still tense.

A few minutes later, Byron arrives with a few other knights who were pushing two carts of sturdy wooden swords to be used in your lessons. The group of delegates grew silent at the sight of the practice weapons before them, reminding them that this was real and it's not just fun and games anymore.

“I hope you all had a good lunch,” Byron says with a warm smile.

His welcoming deposition was enough to lessen the heavy tension in the area. It was such a contrast to the cold and annoyed aura Hae-seong displayed earlier. It was, albeit abrupt, a nice change.

“In case you all forgot my name, I am Byron. You don’t have to call me sir, or anything. My name is enough,” The man said, his voice loud and clear over the courtyard. “Most of your training here at the palace will be held with me so you don't have to worry about Hae-seong breathing down your neck.”

A few delegates sighed and chuckled in relief at that, eliciting an amused huff from Byron.

“Although it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t do well in his class. Always strive for the best no matter what situation. Now, I think I’ve talked too much. Find a partner- preferably someone your size or strength- and we can begin our lessons.”

You glance around to find a suitable partner for the lessons. Usually, in situations where you need a partner, you would ask Siyeon to go along with you or vice versa. But in this particular situation, you had to look for someone else.

It’s not that you were incredibly strong as a person but you packed a harder punch than most girls your age. You didn’t want to hurt your best friend.

“Hey Raviv,” You call out to your other friend. “Do you have a partner yet?”

“Not yet. Do you want to be partners?” He asks as he approaches you.

You couldn’t help but laugh a little. “That’s why I asked you if you had one.”

You bumped your shoulder with him, a little greeting for him, as soon as you reached each other. He slings an arm over you and ruffles your hair, only for you to end up swatting his hand away.

Siyeon was paired with another girl from your village, Gahyeon was her name if you remembered correctly, while Amihan was off to the side with one of her friends from the lowlands.

As soon as everyone was paired, the other knights that came with Byron started handing out the training swords. It was much heavier than it looked but not as heavy as the weapons you handle back at the smithy.

Your fingers curled around the leather-wrapped handle as your other hand held the “blade” part of the sword. You couldn’t help but admire the craftsmanship of the sword, even if it was wooden. You gave it a couple of bounces and twirled it a little to test out its weight. You look up when you hear Raviv give an impressed whistle, looking at you with pride in his eyes.

Your face immediately heats up in embarrassment, dropping the sword to your side after.

“Try not to kill me later, please.” Your friend teases as he knocks his sword with yours.

Before you could respond, Byron calls out for your attention, making all of you turn to him. He had a training sword of his own in his hold, his sword pressed into the gravel beneath his scuffed boots. “We’ll start with the basics today. I hope by the end of our lessons for the day, you all get to learn a thing or two. And don’t get too discouraged if you can’t get it right today. You still have a month to learn before the grading.

“Anyway, let’s start.”

The sound of wood crashing against wood and several shuffling feet echoed around the courtyard and floated up the palace walls. It could be heard from inside the palace although muffled by the layers of stone that made up the walls.

Seonghwa walked down the hall, curious to see how the training was going when he saw a young man curiously watching the delegates train rigorously through a large window, peering down into the courtyard. He could see Byron walking around with calculating eyes as he takes note of each delegate’s stances.

“San,” The prince calls out with a grin, making the young man jump in surprise.

San’s cat-like eyes turn onto him. “Prince Seonghwa, you scared me.”

“Oh please, you can drop the formalities. It’s just us.”

San shrugged with a chuckle, allowing the older male to stand beside him. “I’d rather be safe than sorry, hyung. Especially after Duke Hae-seong gave me an earful when he heard me address you so casually.”

San was the son of one of the earls in the king’s court. It was only natural that he and San would end up as friends since San practically grew up in the palace.

“I guess,” Seonghwa hums as he watches the delegates.

Their swords clashed against each other as they practiced the strikes Byron had shown them earlier. Many of them looked like they could hold their own fight, pushing on despite the fatigue they felt in their arms and the sweat that slid down their skin. But there were also several of them that flinched and cowered when the training swords came towards them.

“They look promising,” San says, pulling the prince out of his thoughts. “Especially the ones from the city-towns.”

And it was true. Usually, city-towns like the Capitol had Fencing as an optional part of the curriculum in their education only because they were able to afford the materials and maintain it. Other regions weren’t as fortunate to be blessed with this kind of lesson; although, technical skill can be outmatched or be on par with street smarts.

Seonghwa’s gaze landed on a particular person. It was the woman from the day before. She still had that intense look in her eyes as she brought her training sword against her partners. Her movements were strong yet fluid, albeit less graceful than the other knights but no less powerful.

He watches as she shuffles away from blocking her partner’s strike only for her to come swiftly at him. He notices how her once concentrated expression shifts to a more joyous one when she finally intercepts her friend’s attack and strikes the air near his vital spot

“She’s good.” He blurts out, making San quirk his head in curiousness.

“What was that hyung?”

Seonghwa’s eyes widened when he realized that he’s said his thoughts aloud. His cheeks flush a bright red, spreading all the way up to his ears. He clears his throat to clear the awkward air around him, the smirk that San was sending him didn’t help.

The younger male follows his gaze and his smirk grows wider. “Ooohhh, her. Oh yeah, she’s definitely good. I think she’s better than you, hyung.”

“Oh haha.” Seonghwa laughs dryly with an amused roll of his eyes.

San chuckled in return and kept his gaze on the woman Seonghwa seemed so interested in. “I think she’d last long with this training,” he remarks. “I’m going to bet she may even be your bodyguard.”

The prince hums in acknowledgment. “You think so?”

“I know so, hyung.”

Seonghwa glances again at the woman and lets San’s words sink in. He could never really tell if she would really end up as his protector but he had a good feeling about her.

By the time the delegates were done with their first day of training, the sun was starting to set. The sky turned from a bright blue to the crisp rose-gold color of the evening. The usual sounds from the Capitol quiet down as the day comes to an end.

Several people were sitting on the ground, catching their breaths while their swords lay on the dirt beside them. Others were leaning against the pillars of the courtyard. The air around them felt heavy as every ounce of energy drained out of the delegates.

Byron chuckled at the sight. “You did well, all of you.” He says as he watches them pick themselves up from the ground. “I hope you don’t feel so disheartened after today because this is just the beginning.”

You groan in exhaustion along with the other delegates. Right now, using the word tired to describe what you felt would be an understatement.

“We’ll continue again tomorrow. Make sure to wash up before you eat, you’ll be measured to have uniforms tailored for you.” Byron dismisses you all.

As you all line up to return the training swords to the racks, Siyeon stumbles in line behind you. “My arms are gonna fall off.” She mumbles into your shoulder while her arms wrap around your waist.

“At least you’re alive.” You reply and lean your head onto hers. “But at this point, I just want to eat and shower.”

“Oh, you said it.”

You feel so worn out as you allow your feet to drag you back to the girls’ quarters to wash up and change for dinner. Your mind grows blank and the rest of the evening happens in a blur. You didn’t even realize how late it was into the evening until the smell of food stirred your senses.

You didn’t eat in the dining hall this time. You were led to a smaller, more simple room. It wasn’t as grand as the dining hall but it was large enough to fit all of you.

“Are we really going to eat here..?” You hear Michael grumble to his friend. “I was really enjoying the dining hall..”

“Well of course we’re going to eat here. We aren’t of the royal family or part of the court,” Someone from the city-town sneers. One of the girls looked at everyone else like they’re worms to grovel at her feet. You never really liked her- and how she was acting right now giving you all the more reason not to. “So I suggest learning your place. Don’t get comfortable yet.”

That successfully managed to keep Michael quiet. But the tone that city-town dweller used ticked you off. You were never really confrontational unless pushed, so you kept quiet. You opted to just offer Michael a sympathetic smile before walking over to an available seat.

“Fucking highlanders..” She mumbled to herself as they passed by you.

You turn over to her, glaring daggers in the back of her head. You hope that one day karma gets to her and she’d eat up the words she tossed at your friends.

As dinner comes to an end, Mina enters the dining hall with a few people carrying some fabrics and measuring tape trailing behind her. You turn your attention to her and give her a small wave to which she responds with a bright smile and a slight bow.

“If I may have your attention, delegates.” She calls out in her clear voice. The hall becomes quiet and all attention is focused on her. “You’ll be having your fitting for your uniforms today. Expect the uniforms to arrive in two weeks.

“Now if you’re done eating, kindly line up. The tailors and seamstresses shall be measuring you.”

Half of the delegates stood and walked over to where Mina was, awaiting their turn to be measured. You wondered what kind of uniforms you’d be provided- and why it would be made so fast. Siyeon always told you that making one shirt alone took quite a while. Aside from that, the type of fabric and the design of the clothing would affect the process too.

“I hope they don’t put us in super stuffy uniforms like some royal guards,” Amihan says from across you as she finishes up her meal. “I feel like I’ll suffocate.”

“Oh yeah like the ones with the neck collars. Those seem stuffy.” Raviv adds, mouth halfway full with his mashed potatoes.

You hand him a napkin to wipe his mouth with before speaking up. “I think those types of uniforms are just for show.”

“Goodbye, practicality hello death,” Siyeon smirks, earning a playful shove from Amihan.

Little by little, once they were done being fitted, the delegates filed out of the dining area and went back to their rooms. Your friends went ahead since they were tired and you were one of the last people to be measured.

You waved goodbye to Siyeon, shouting after her to not leave her wet towel on your bed again, and walked up to the seamstress. Once you were done, you thanked her and walked back to your room.

Luckily the dining area wasn’t too far from your rooms so you didn’t get lost on the way back. Although, you did take your time walking. The palace was so different at night, especially with how the torches that lined the walls cast a shadow against everything (or everyone) in the hall.

It was a little eerie with the silence and everything but it also held some sort of ambiance to it. The soft golden glow from the torches made the enormous palace seem warm and cozy, especially on a night as cold as this.

By the time you reached the girls’ quarters most were already in bed and asleep. Very few were awake, sitting on each other’s beds and whispering away. You go through your usual nightly routine and crawl into bed, a relieved sigh escaping you when your tired muscles relax.

You blow out the candle on your bedside table after pressing a quick kiss to the pendant your father gave you and let yourself drift into sleep.

77 notes · View notes

hanyohime · 4 years

Text

A Broken blade 🗡️ , Rainbow Children 🌈 🦋 and the Root of all Evil🌳

Yashahime Ep. 2 and Ep. 3 (preview) observations and altering theories:

So some of my previous theories were a bit off, like Towa’s sword being found because of some reaction to Setsuna’s Eye/Golden Pearl. However, it is still unclear if the sword itself has some special ability or if Towas Silver Pearl is projecting energy into it. We saw how in Ep. 2 her sword breaks on the Three Eyed Mistress, but in the Ep. 3 preview you can see her with the blue blade of light that was advertised in the promo posters. I do not think that this light is coming form the power of the pearl per se, as the glow from her eye is White/Silver but the energy emitting from the broken blade is Blue. I believe this light/energy is coming from Towa herself, from an unrealized power.

I have a theory that sword in its broken state is how she will rid or help individuals possessed by the demonic roots. Perhaps she will even be cable to do this without having to kill the host directly, much like the Tensseiga and the demons of the underworld. I also have this idea that her sword will be able to cast things into the rainbow corridor because they have to get rid of the Three Eyed Mistress somehow in the next episode, but I don’t have much to go on that yet... I think the sword will eventually be repaired, I believe Moroha will direct Towa to someone in the past to repair the blade. It will most likley be the mystery character who is yet to have a name, as they are seen in the promo poster with a similarly wrapped weapon, just like Towas sword. I think it would be pretty cool if it remained broken and the blade is just this mysterious blue energy that projects out from the hilt.

Side note: Despite my initial theory being wrong, Towa does find the sword in modern times but it seems to be some sort of relic, perhaps from the Higurashi shrine? She says it belonged to Ashikaga Yoshiteru which, according to some google sleuthing, is one of the most prominent Shogun of the Muromachi period of Japan. In Ep. 1, we were introduced to the Deputy Shogun, Ogigayatsu Hiiraga Danjo. How I interpreted this information is that the Ogigayatsu this is just another clan within the Ashikaga or allied with them. It also says that the Ogigayatu clan is defeated by the Hojo clan, and the Ashikaga clan was driven out of Kyoto by Oda Nobunaga. This means the girls will be in a time where there is a lot of clan conflicts, and sociopolitical problems in general. It was mentioned that the surrounding provinces (villages?) have been fighting, in the Ep. 1 flashback.

In the preview for the next episode we see that Towa will be possessed by a demonic root parasite that attaches to her face, most likely to get a hold of the Silver Pearl. I believe this thing was attached to the Three Eyed Mistress and is perhaps what caused her to rampage the local villages. There are a couple points in Ep. 2 where she begins to glow purple, much like the demon/creatures the girls are facing off with in the opening song. This makes me believe Root Head, who appears to be anchored to the sacred tree, must sprout root like creatures to do his bidding around the surrounding villages. This is quite worrisome as it seems that no one will be safe from these parasites. I have a feeling this will cause a lot of problems for the girls in their search for answers as they, and the company they keep, will be easy targets as they roam the land with 3 pearls. I bet stronger more fearsome demons could also be possessed in efforts to stop the girls from fixing the past, maybe even ones we are familiar with. Root Head could also be causing a lot of the clan conflicts in the surrounding villages, so that he can generate more fuel (AKA human heads) and gain more power. Yotsume, who I assume is working with Root Head, was already able to infiltrate one clan. Who knows if there aren't other allies of Root Head with other clan leaders, trying to spur on the blood shed. Just something to think about.

I believe The Three Eyes Misstress is most likely being used as a pawn to search for pearls, and it could be because of her strong ability to sense them? What I found very interesting was her saying that the pearl had demon powers, which makes me wonder about the theory of Kagome creating them. I believe she, as a priestess, would not have the ability to specifically create demonic pearls. So right now I am leaning more on the idea that they were already in existence beforehand. It also makes me wonder if the OG crew are sealed in them or they were thrown into the rainbow corrido like Towa was? But this doesn't explain where Sessomaru and Rin are if the twins have those pearls... but I’m not opposed to the idea that our beloved missing characters are in different time lines or realms in pearls form or not.

So it is now apparent that the pearls were created BEFORE the night of the fire as Towa, and presumably Sestuna, had the pearls in their eyes when they were very young. If Im going on the theory that Sesshomaru is the Silver Pearl and Rin is the Golden Pearl, something must have happened to them before the girls have the pearls, more in the past than we expected.

Another thing is that Towa mentions that they lived in the forest for a long time? I have noticed a lot of people interpret this as they lived alone in the forest, but in the english subtitles she simply states that they lived in the forest. I don’t necessarily think they were orphaned, someone had to have raised them and clothed them, but who?! Something else I noted was that Setsuna does not have her Monomoko with her when she is little, so it definitely is given to her after the fire. Does Sesshomaru save her? I have read some people suggesting that Sesshomaru may not even know he has daughters, but I don’t think this is likely because how would Setsuna receive her Mokomoko if she hadn't met him? The fandom have also been noting on how it was strange that these two girls ran around the forrest and there doesn't appear to be any demons around that may be threatening to them. I have a thought, perhaps this is an area that has been eradicated of demons from not only Inuyasha and crew, but Sesshomaru, so that his children can roam and live freely. I have a feeling that Sesshomaru will have more of a status role in the series, perhaps he reclaimed his fathers domain? I only think this because the girls are referred to as princesses, and why in a series that has put down half demons so much would they be addressed as such if it were not for their lineage? Something else that keeps nagging me is that perhaps the days of demons are coming to an end slowly? Or perhaps the scene below is an altered memory?

Another theory thats a bust is Moroha and Setsuna knowing each other, which is something I can not wrap my head around. How would these two girls who have such similar careers, never cross paths, and meet for the first time now after 10 years!? Although, I believe that Moroha meeting Setsuna for the first time and calling her “Setsu-chan” is what actually triggers the Golden Pearl in Setsuna’s eye to start glowing. Something about calling her by this nick name may be triggering a memory, perhaps there is a lost memory of Moroha calling her “Setsu-chan” when they were young and the annoyance she feels towards it is giving her some kind of nostalgia for a past she can’t remember.

Kohaku appears to know Moroha in a way, as she has made some kind of a reputation for herself as Beniyasha. He addresses her as “dono” in Japanese which I was told meant that he is showing her respect as an equal, most likely professionally. In english it was translated as “Lady”, which confused me but the Japanese version makes more sense. But how does Kohaku know her? Does he know who she really is, or have they had run ins with each other in the past? I would assume as leader/chief of the Demon Slayers he would keep track of reported bounty hunters slaying demons out side of his devision. But it appears he doesn't know much about her abilities as he was surprised she had sealing arrows.

Hisui also does not appear to know anything about her as he says “a demon and a bounty hunter?, as if he could only sense that she has demonic energy. So it’s safe to assume that Hisui and Kirara do not know/remember her, this could even be the first time they have met in person, and he only knows descriptions of her, but he does refer to her by name. I am a little concerned at Hisui’s haste to attack Moroha, despite her explanation that she was simply there waiting for her bounty, it definitely shows that he feels little respect for bounty hunters. At first I thought he was judging Moroha for being part demon... This made me wonder about his childhood, does he have some memories of something traumatic, perhaps a demon making his parents and maybe even his sisters disappear? However I doubt this now because of his familiarity with Setsuna and of course Kirara.

The one theory I'm most disappointed about is Hisui potentially not having a rainbow pearl. Because the Three eyed Mistress was able to sense Moroha’s and the one in Setsuna’s eye so easily, but made no indication that there was another present as she chases Hisui, Kirara and Setsuna towards Kaedes Village. So I now I have reason to believe that the largest bead on his prayer beads on his left arm is not a rainbow pearl. However! I am not completely dismissing the idea. I like to think that the prayer beads are actually concealing its power for the time being, at least until Hisui has his own moment where memories trigger a reaction from the pearl. Fingers crossed.

Whether it’s a pearl or not, I am still going with the theory that Hisui is spiritually inclined like his father. I think Hisui will play an important role in finding some of the pearls, specifically the coral and blue pearl. I hope as they set out for answers that Hisui and Kirara will be joining the girls. Hisui and Setsuna seem to have a solid working relationship (the ship has sailed folks!), and I am excited to learn more about what kind of personal relationship they have as they were most likely raised together in the demon slayer village. I have a theory that it is Hisui or Kirara who finds Setsuna during the fire which is how she eventually ends up in the demon slayer village and under Kohakus care. When it comes to any potential romantic feelings forming between Setsuna and Hisui I can see Setsuna being a little more indifferent about it and Hisui struggling hopelessly to gain her trust as more than just a fellow demon slayer. It would be really funny if he is the exact opposite of his father when it comes to love and has NO game what so ever.

Moroha seems familiar with the Rainbow pearls and the time tunnel, calling it the “Rainbow Corridor.” But how does she know about it!? After passing through the CorrIdor she also expresses that she feels weak, what would cause this? Is it Root Head draining their energy? Setsuna also seems to be having a hard time getting out of the Three Eyed Mistress’s hold, perhaps she too feels the effects of the time travel. This is completely different from the time passage Kagome went through, it must be specifically linked to the pearls (the name kind of gives that away). How much does Moroha know about this corridor? Another theory could be that she has seen this happen before to others, perhaps she recalls the events that caused the disappearance of our main characters but her memories are also altered. Before Moroha and Setsuna are pulled in, the tree (Root Head) actually speaks to them stating that it had not felt the the presence of the pearls for 10 years, so Root Head also knows or their existence, again firming the theory that they were in existence before the incidence that causes everyone to disappear and for memories to be altered. Perhaps Yotsume observed the creation or gathered information for Root Head on the Rainbow Pearls and set out a plan to collect them, and maybe in the past starting a fire was a part of this plan. Another thing is Root head says he is returning to THIS world, what could he mean by this? What world could it be returning from... curious.

With all of this, I am now convinced that almost everyone has had their memories tampered with, in one way shape or form, and some more than others.

Once again, that all I got for now! I’ll probably edit this post a few times tbh

This post goes out to @hanmajoerin @kumikodiary @inukag @viva-el-belt-libre @d-o-v-e-y @companion-for-who @biancam70 thanks for going theory crazy with me!! <3

#hanyo no yashahime #inuyasha #kagome higurashi #Sesshomaru #towa higurashi #moroha higurashi #moroha #half demon princess yashahime #Beniyasha #yashahimeprincesshalfdemon #hanyou no yashahime: sengoku otogizoushi #towa #Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon #Yashahime #yashahime theory

56 notes · View notes

impracticaldemon · 4 years

Photo

The Shopping Expedition (or, A Gift for Theo) by impracticaldemon

Fandom: Ikemen Vampire Characters: Theodorus (Theo) van Gogh, MC; also Arthur, Comte Canon Setting; Canon Characters Words: ~ 4500 [Also available on AO3 and FFnet]

A/Note: Written for Theo’s (Cybird) birthday on May 1st. Happy Birthday Theo! This wasn’t intended to be so long, but I had too much fun writing the Theo x MC interactions. The story assumes that MC has been there for a while already, but there isn’t yet an established romantic relationship.

~Imp

______________________

The Shopping Expedition

Cuff links? Nice, but boring. Gold tie pin? He did wear a cravat when necessary, but I wanted something distinctive. Watch chain? …I couldn’t remember what he used to tell time, although he probably did carry a pocket watch; after all, he was always in a hurry to get somewhere. Heh—the thought put me in mind of the White Rabbit from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and the image of Theodorus van Gogh wearing bunny ears and a fluffy white tail made me snicker.

It was the day before Theo’s birthday, and I was getting a little—make that a lot—stressed out over what to get him. I mean, he had everything he needed, between what Monsieur le Comte provided and his own income. But I’d recently realized that he had very little in the way of personal keepsakes—things he treasured for more than being useful or necessary. I wanted to find him something special, maybe even something that would make him smile.

Theo had been rude to me from the moment we’d been introduced. So why was I trying so hard to find him a memorable birthday present? I suppose it was the little things he did in between mocking my (alleged) naiveté and impugning my intelligence. He noticed how hard I worked, for instance, and respected me for it—even checked up on me a few times when he realized I was putting in late night prep work for the next day. He paid attention to what I was doing, and acknowledged legitimate improvements. Mind you, his compliments were often buried among his criticisms, but they were sincere and on-point. And maybe it was my imagination, but there had been a lot fewer insults lately.

I left the jeweller’s—the fourth such shop I’d been in—and frowned down at the paving stones. The sun was already low in the sky, and I’d promised not to stay out past dusk. Paris wasn’t a safe place after dark, and a lot of areas weren’t safe at any time. Or so I’d been told, over and over again, by various residents of Chez Comte, including Master Theodorus.

“Planning to take root and grow leaves?” Snarky comment, snarky tone, big presence.

“Good afternoon to you too, Theo, and how are you today?”

[READ MORE BELOW CUT]

I looked up—quite a ways—and saw the expected sky blue eyes and irritating smirk. His hands were shoved deep into his pockets, as usual, which made it feel like he was looming over me. Other shoppers detoured around him without more than a quick glance of annoyance, with the exception of one belligerent young man who called him a rude name that he automatically returned in kind. They glowered briefly at each other, but there was nothing in it—just an ordinary exchange of ‘civilities’ in Paris of the nineteenth century. Or any century, come to think of it.

“Seriously, though, you going in or out?” Theo indicated the shop behind me with his chin.

“I’m fine, thanks. It’s a nice day, and I don’t often get out to see the city. Haven’t needed the umbrella so far.”

Eyeroll. Sigh. “Give it up already, would you? Are you here with Sebas? Little pups like you need a handler—and maybe a leash. You might get into trouble, otherwise.”

Right. Why was I trying to find him a birthday present again? Oh yeah, because there was a heart of at least tarnished silver in there somewhere, and… well, I preferred to not think too hard about the rest. I gave him my best ‘the customer is always right especially when they’re not’ smile. As a travel planner and occasional tour guide for status-conscious co-patriots, I’d had a lot of practice.

“I’m out on my own today, I’m afraid. Napoleon and Isaac gave me a lift into town, but otherwise I’m completely unsupervised. How about you? No big brother around to remind you to play nicely with the other children?”

Sadly, I wasn’t able to get a rise out of Theo, although his smirk faded into something closer to genuine amusement.

“What happened to the polite little girl who first arrived at the mansion? I seem to remember somebody who stuck to ‘please’, ‘thank you’, and ‘I’m sorry’ most of the time.”

“Well, I didn’t get the best first impression of the tenants, and where I’m from, civility is often the best defense.” I was going to add more—about lecherous writers and their syrup-swilling friends—but time was getting short, and not only did I still not have a present, but I was starting to wonder what was going on with Theo. It was unlike him not to be twitching with impatience by this point in the conversation. “Hey, Theo?”

“Hm?”

“Not that I don’t appreciate your company, but what’s up?”

“What do you mean? I happened to be in town and saw you blocking traffic—thought I’d better wake you up before somebody knocked you down and stole your lunch money.”

I ignored the usual challenge to my maturity and life skills. “But now we’re both blocking traffic, and you’re always in a hurry when you’re on business.” The image of the White Rabbit with his giant pocket watch came to mind again, and I added: “You know—‘I’m late! I’m late!’ and all that.”

Theo frowned, apparently not catching the reference. It occurred to me that I might be quoting the movie, rather than the book—and would Master Theodorus have bothered to read something as whimsical as Alice in Wonderland?

“I’m never late for business appointments, hondje–what’s with you?” Before I could reply, he went on. “Believe it or not, you have a really terrible sense of self-preservation. I was just trying to look out for one of God’s dumb creatures, you know?”

“Sure.” Amazingly, the insult rolled right off me. Maybe I was finally getting used to him, or maybe it was the dawning awareness that he was genuinely concerned and couldn’t bring himself to admit it. “So, are you staying in town for dinner, or heading back?”

“Haven’t decided.” Theo shrugged. “The real question is, how are you getting home?”

“A carriage? I mean, that’s normal, isn’t it?”

“Napoleon or Isaac meeting you?”

“No, why?” Great. Now I had no birthday present and I was starting to feel nervous. “I can always fend off the cabbie with my umbrella if there’s a problem, okay? Anyway, I know this is usually your line, but I have to get going. I still have something to pick up, and—for safety reasons—I’m not supposed to stay out after sunset.”

“…I guess I’ll go with you,” Theo grumbled. At my look of surprise, he shoved his hands further into his pockets. “You’re almost useful now, that’s all. Be a waste for something to happen to you when Sebas finally has you halfway trained.” More quietly, he added, “Still don’t know what they were thinking, letting you out on your own...”

I stared at him, torn between irritation and confusion. After a moment, his eyes flicked away from mine. I thought there was a hint of red in his fair cheeks, but the late afternoon sun made it hard to tell.

“Look, Theo, all joking aside, I’m not a child, and I think I can manage to take a carriage home on my own.”

“Who says I’m joking? What part of ‘Paris isn’t safe’ isn’t getting through your abnormally thick skull? Look, you’re wearing nice clothes, and you’re obviously carrying money. Sure, you’re probably okay shopping on your own during the day, but taking a carriage out into the middle of nowhere just as it’s getting dark? I couldn’t believe it when Arthur mentioned—” He broke off abruptly.

“What does our literary Lothario have to do with anything?” I demanded.

“Just—it doesn’t matter, okay?” Theo was scowling, now; it was a familiar, if not especially charming expression. “The point is, travelling home alone is asking for trouble, and you’re already trouble-prone.”

“Trouble-prone?”

“Well, you managed to get stuck in le Comte’s door—that’s a first. And just—ugh. If you have something left to buy, we should get moving. Besides, you’re still blocking traffic.”

Before I could find the words to properly express my aggravation, there was a polite cough at my elbow. A neatly-dressed, middle-aged man had opened the door behind me, and was looking inquiringly between Theo and I.

“Madame, Monsieur… I do not wish to intrude upon a lovers’ quarrel, but perhaps you would be so kind as to find a more appropriate location?” He bowed politely. “You see, Monsieur is rather, ah, formidable, and it is not good for business. I’m sure that you understand.”

Theo shot me an exasperated look, put a hand under my elbow, and dragged me away. Since I couldn’t do anything about it without causing a scene, I went with him, calling an apology over my shoulder to the shopkeeper.

After we’d gone a short distance, I tried to yank my arm free. I wasn’t successful, but at least it got my cranky companion to slow down. Once we’d reached a quieter spot, Theo finally let go. We were both a little red, and this time it definitely wasn’t just the light.

“You—”

“What the—”

Theo shoved his hands back into his pockets. I would have crossed my arms in response, but I had a bag in one hand and an umbrella in the other.

“Theo—”

“Hondje—”

I decided to let him go first. It had occurred to me—as annoying as it was—that he might have a point about the wisdom of taking a hired carriage back to the mansion on my own. There was no way to call ahead, and the stretch of road between the outskirts of the city and le Comte’s residence was uninhabited and surrounded by forest. While I was confident that the residents of the mansion would hunt down anyone who harmed me, it made no sense to put myself in harm’s way unnecessarily.

“Why didn’t Napoleon make arrangements for you to get home?” Theo asked at last, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “He usually fusses over things like that.”

“I don’t know.” I thought about the trip into town, and added, “I got the impression that he thought it was already taken care of. He reminded me to stick to the one shopping district, but that was it.”

Theo suddenly went still, as though something had occurred to him. Then he scowled again, but it didn’t seem to be at me, for a change.

“Who gave you the money to take a carriage back to the mansion?”

“Le Comte—well, technically I suppose it was Arthur…” I paused, thinking it over. “Arthur came up to me shortly before I left to tell me that le Comte had asked him to pass along the money for the trip back. I was a bit surprised, but it didn’t occur to me to be worried about it.”

Theo muttered something in Dutch that I didn’t quite catch. It sounded rude, but when I raised my eyebrows at him he just hunched a shoulder and growled, “Arthur, not you.”

“You think Arthur set me up?” That made no sense. “But why? I mean, he’s the one who told me—”

I bit off the rest of the sentence, since I’d been about to tell Theo that I’d been looking for a birthday present for him. Arthur was the one who had recommended the particular shopping district and given me directions. I’d reluctantly consulted him about possible gifts for Theo, since they appeared to be friends. I would have preferred to ask our resident angel—Theo’s brother Vincent—but he’d been working non-stop on a painting for the past several days.

“Let me guess.” Theo had stopped scowling, although he didn’t look happy, either. “Somebody—probably Arthur, since Vincent’s been painting—told you about my birthday, right? And you got it in your head that you should get me something, because you would. Then Arthur suggested where to shop—he knows I like a lot of the artisans in this district. Sound about right?”

“…Maybe. But you still haven’t explained what you are doing here.”

“I told you—I had to be in town anyway, and somebody had to look out for the ignorant puppy.”

“I really wish you’d stop it with the pet references. How did you know I’d gone into town and was coming back on my own?”

“Arthur.” Theo grimaced. “We were chatting in the front hall, and he mentioned that he was concerned, because he overheard that the coachman wasn’t returning to town for you. When I said you were probably coming back with Napoleon or Isaac, he made a big show of remembering that Napoleon and Isaac were staying in town late tonight. Bastard.”

I continued to stare at Theo, as the bits and pieces started to click. It was beginning to sound as though Theo had rushed into town entirely for my sake—so that I wouldn’t have to travel home alone. Even stranger, Arthur had been able to wind him up with a pretty suspicious story—maybe because my safety was at stake? Normally, Theo was as sceptical as they came. …Not that I was feeling warm and fuzzy just because Theo had panicked over me or anything.

“What are you grinning about, hondje?” The glower was back, probably because Theo hated looking like he actually cared about anyone other than Vincent.

“Nothing.” For some reason, I couldn’t get the smile off my face.

“Just remember that if you had half a brain, and weren’t so reckless, you’d cause a lot less trouble.”

“Right—because it’s my fault that Arthur set me up just so he could mess with you.”

Theo didn’t respond; he seemed to be deep in thought. Then he hastily pulled out a pocket watch and muttered, “Damn, I really am late, now.”

I stifled a giggle, as the image of Theo the White Rabbit came to mind once more. “Hey, Theo?”

“What?”

“I’m sorry if you ended up missing something because you were looking out for me.”

He looked startled, then replaced the watch in his pocket and turned away, running a hand through his bright copper-brown hair. “It wasn’t a big deal. Otherwise you’d be on your own.”

“I still appreciate it—thank you.”

“Well… just remember that you owe me one.” He still wouldn’t meet my eyes. “You still had somewhere you needed to go?”

“Yeah. Do you mind if I go into that bookstore?” I pointed across the street. I was pretty sure I’d been there once before with Sebastian, who was picking up an order for Leonardo.

“Whatever you want is probably in the library at the mansion, you realize.” Despite his words, Theo immediately set out towards the store. I hurried after him, unable to repress the thought that it was a lot more comfortable being in nineteenth century Paris with somebody—especially if he happened to be moderately intelligent and good-looking. Having a glare that parted crowds like Moses parting the Red Sea was a bonus.

I was fortunate enough to find what I wanted, and quick enough that even Theo couldn’t find fault with me for wasting his time. When I rejoined him outside the store, he was idly flipping through an art book, criticizing the publisher’s choice of paintings. I could tell that his heart wasn’t really in it, though.

“So, I guess we should get home then?” I asked.

“Yeah, let’s go. I’d suggest eating out, but Sebas is probably waiting for you, right?”

To my surprise, he held out an imperative hand for my bag, which now contained a neatly-wrapped two-volume set along with the bits and pieces I’d picked up earlier. For some reason, I didn’t try to refuse, even though the bag wasn’t especially heavy.

“Thanks…”

“Sure.” He offered his elbow, and rolled his eyes when I stared at it blankly. “Take my arm, would you? Last thing I need is for you to trip and twist an ankle now that the light’s going. And stop looking so surprised—makes you look even more out of it than usual.”

“Uh-huh. Have you ever considered not adding the insults? I hear it can do wonders for people’s opinion of you.”

He looked down at me, smirking. “Why would I care what people think?”

“You care what Vincent thinks.”

“He’s my older brother, and an artistic genius. He’s allowed to have opinions.”

“Right…”

We were walking steadily toward the nearest area that was likely to have coaches for hire that would travel beyond the city limits. I hated to admit it, even to myself, but it was nice to have an arm to lean on, especially since my feet had been sore for a quite while thanks to the uneven cobbles and hard paving stones. I’d done more walking than I’d anticipated, and late Victorian fashions in ladies’ footwear were elegant, but not especially comfortable.

“Oi, hondje! Don’t fall asleep until we’re actually in the coach, okay? Or are you hoping I’ll carry you?”

I stifled a yawn, and realized that Theo had a point—about falling asleep on my feet, not about wanting to be carried. Because I didn’t. Why would I?

“Oh jeez… Come on, we’re here now—up you go.”

I let him help me into the carriage, and settled myself decorously on the forward-facing seat. Theo joined me a moment later, having spoken to the driver. He sat down beside me, and stretched his long legs out in front of him as much as space allowed.

“Go ahead and nap if you want,” he told me, pulling out a notebook and pencil. “Maybe I can get some work done if you’re not babbling at me.”

“I don’t babble.” At least, that’s what I tried to say. A yawn got in the way, and Theo snorted. I narrowly resisted the urge to stick out my tongue at him. Too bad I really was feeling sleepy, though.

We reached the mansion very shortly after that, from my perspective. I didn’t remember much from the trip itself, which was just as well—or so I told myself. For one thing, when I woke up, I was leaning on Theo’s chest, and his arm was around me. Moreover, he’d obviously taken off my hat for me, which was just as well, since otherwise I’d have been skewered by the ten-centimeter-long hatpins. I felt stupidly pleased about that, as well as comfortable tucked up against him, which was embarrassing. Best not to remember how it had come about.

Theo’s face was scrupulously neutral when I sat up just as we were reaching the mansion. He just… totally ignored whatever had happened. Not that anything had happened, but still. I jammed my hat back onto my head, and tried not to yelp when I poked myself with a hatpin. Theo snickered.

“It’s on backward. Might as well leave it off—you’ll look a little less untidy that way. Though I guess at least it covers up your hair…”

I wanted to try for icy disdain, but instead I found myself missing his warmth beside me. Apparently, he noticed something in my expression. His finger lightly brushed my cheek, which suddenly felt very warm indeed.

“You shouldn’t look at me like that, hondje,” he muttered, only partly to me.

“Wh-why not?” This time, I tried for aloof. What came out was anything but.

“Well… you look like you wouldn’t mind being kissed, and it is almost my birthday.”

“You’ve been spending way too much time with Arthur!” Why was I leaning toward him, instead of grabbing my things and hurrying out of the carriage?

“That must be it.”

The touch of his lips on mine was electric. Okay, what was going on? I mean—really?

There was a respectful knock on the carriage door, and Theo’s fingers dropped from my cheek. He grinned at me, but I couldn’t read the emotion behind it.

“Look on the bright side. The driver was bound to think we’d been up to something, since your hair’s such a mess. At least this way you’ve gotten some benefit out of the embarrassment.”

“What?! Theo!”

Of course he opened the door at that moment, and it was plain that the driver thought exactly what Theo had predicted he would think. Ugh! It was mortifying, but at least the man was a stranger, and hopefully I’d never see him again.

The same couldn’t be said for Arthur, Sebastian, and le Comte, who met us as we came into the house. I’d tried to tidy my hair and replace my hat while Theo paid off the driver, but the expressions on the three men’s faces when they took in my appearance suggested I hadn’t done a very good job. I came to the conclusion that I’d have to kill Arthur, just to avoid ever seeing the smug, self-satisfied look ever again. At least le Comte was back to his normal, pleasant self after a bare instant; Sebastian raised his eyebrows at me suggestively—naturally, I ignored him.

Unlike me, Theo was completely self-possessed. He handed me my bag with a casual, “Try not to drop it, after all that.” Then he nodded to le Comte and Sebastian, and dropped a hand on Arthur’s shoulder. I thought I saw Arthur wince, but if so, any pain wasn’t enough to offset his amusement. He winked at me as Theo marched him out of the front hall towards the games room.

“Are you alright, chérie?” Le Comte appeared to be genuinely concerned, so I reassured him that I was fine.

“You’re late getting back,” murmured Sebastian. “You’ll have to tell me all about it while we work on dinner.”

“Or not,” I murmured right back at him. I bowed to le Comte. “Monsieur le Comte—here is the money that Arthur gave me, from you, to pay for the journey back from town. As it turned out, I didn’t need it.”

“From me? No… it’s not mine. But why don’t you keep it, since it appears that Arthur’s been up to mischief again? The least he can do is help to pay for your parcels.”

When I tried to protest, le Comte smiled gently at me. I accepted my defeat graciously—after all, there was some merit to his argument. After a few more pleasantries—which helped to soothe my ruffled feathers, I admit—I went upstairs to change and put away my things. Le Comte accompanied me to the second floor, and detained me briefly outside my door.

“Did you find what you were looking for? I gather you were trying to find a gift for Theodorus.”

“Oh…” I hesitated, then nodded. “Yes, I did eventually choose something, thank you Comte. It came to me when I was looking at watch guards—I thought maybe a sturdy but elegant gold chain would suit Theo, you see.”

“That makes sense. But I take it that you didn’t get the chain?”

“No… I wanted something more unusual.” I decided to confide in le Comte—he struck me as good at keeping secrets, and once I told somebody, I was less likely to chicken out. I reached into my bag, and pulled out the wrapped parcel. “Open it, and tell me what you think—if you don’t mind. I’m sure it’s completely the opposite of what Theo would ordinarily read, but that’s why I got it.”

“I’m intrigued, ma petite. But if you mean that you chose something other than a technical work, or an art book, then I congratulate you. It’s perceptive of you to realize that he could use something to shake him out of his tendency toward ‘all work and no play’—other than drinking with Arthur, that is.”

“Well, to be honest, that was only part of it.” I made sure that le Comte followed me into my room, since with my luck, Theo would come up at exactly the wrong moment if we stayed in the upper hallway.

“Now I’m even more curious.” Le Comte deftly untied the string that secured the parcel, and folded back the brown wrapping paper to reveal two illustrated books. “’Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’… and ‘Through the Looking Glass’.” He looked up at me, and I let out a sigh of relief when I saw the approval in his warm golden eyes. “I wonder what our ever-practical Theo will make of these? An excellent choice, chérie. And no doubt you feel a certain kinship with Mademoiselle Alice? Although I think you chose a more dangerous world to fall into, as it were.”

I returned his smile and shrugged. “Maybe. I’ve had a number of frightening experiences here, I’ll admit, but I’m not sure that Wonderland sounds all that pleasant. At least nobody here has threatened to cut off my head for refusing to play croquet using live flamingos.” When le Comte laughed softly, I added, “But you’re right that I do feel a bit like Alice at times.”

Le Comte flipped idly through the first book, admiring the illustrations. Naturally, I’d made sure the artwork wouldn’t attract outright derision from the birthday boy.

“Tell me, chérie, what was your other reason for purchasing these books? I thought it was because of Alice, and your situation here, but I gather that’s not it.”

“Oh—yes, you’re right.” I took the book from le Comte and flipped back several pages to one of the first illustrations, which showed a well-dressed rabbit with a large pocket watch and an air of panic about him. Underneath, the caption read: ‘Oh dear, oh dear. I shall be too late.’

Le Comte stared at the White Rabbit for several seconds without comment, and I began to feel anxious again. Any resemblance to a certain hyper-busy art dealer was apparently all in my head… Then the polished, ever-courteous, impeccably-dressed man beside me snickered audibly.

“Comte?”

He closed the book, leaving it between my hands, and bowed politely. “I wish you all the best, ‘Alice’. If you can get Theo to slow down and enjoy himself, even a little, you will have done him a true service.”

I nodded, but didn’t know what to say. Who was I to tell Theo to slow down, if he was doing what he wanted to do? We had a tenuous connection at best, although the afternoon’s events had suggested something more. Was there more? Did I want there to be? What could I—or should I—read into that barely-there kiss?

When Sebastian arrived at my room twenty minutes later, sounding half-concerned and half-annoyed, I still hadn’t moved, and I still didn’t know the answers to any of my questions. The only thing I knew for sure was that I clearly had Theo on the brain. I apologized to Sebastian, put ‘Alice’ into a drawer to wrap later, and finally got changed. It was time to concentrate on the job at hand, and not Theo’s unusually protective behaviour, or a stray kiss.

[END]

_______________________

A/Note: Were you amused? Entertained? Please let me know what you thought! Feedback is an author’s bread and butter when it comes to fanfiction. ♥ There may or may not be a sequel, depending on my time, other writing commitments, and reader interest. For now, this story is published under my one-shot collection “Teatime Tales from the Mansion”

#ikemen vampire #ikevam #ikevamp #ikevam theo #theodorus van gogh #ikevam fanfiction #imp writes

46 notes · View notes

flymetothejoon · 5 years

Text

masked (m)

pairing: drummer!jungkook x reader genre: smut, angst, hidden identity warnings: alcohol use, sexual content, foul language, adult themes, mentions of death, dirty talk, public sex, fingering word count: ~8k description: Silver Tooth is a local rock band that is becoming so mainstream that seeing them live is almost impossible. It isn't until your friend scores a new position as a guitarist that you find yourself indulging in the craze. Although their songs are catchy, Silver Tooth's popularity is attributed to one main factor— their mysterious and dangerous masked drummer.

...................................................

Standing in a long line outside a sleazy bar was definitely not your idea of an ideal Friday night, but when your friend finally catches some type of break after landing a guitar position in the infamous band Silver Tooth, it became a priority to come out and support him.

You can't help a scoff of distaste from leaving your lips as a drink spills onto your sneakers. You mumble quietly to yourself and shake out your foot, only to step back down into a foaming puddle of dirt and alcohol. You can barely see the damage that was done from how dark and misty the air is. Your best friend, Fia, erupts in laughter at the altercation, but you sigh to yourself.

You weren't fond of the night life in your town, and as much as you hated to admit it, you wanted to enjoy it. You were tired of hearing all the rave reviews and stories from peers about how much fun seeing Silver Tooth play live was. You had to push aside the rumors and your fear to get here.

"I thought the whole point of him being in the band was that we wouldn't have to do this," you complain, gesturing to the chaotic line.

It has been nearly an hour of waiting in this beer infested swamp of an alleyway. You'd think that after many months of Silver Tooth's growing popularity that the employees at The Waypoint would figure out how to work by now. You grimace as the smell of weed and garbage engulf your senses.

Fia is quick in a defense. "I already told you that we can't go backstage because of him."

"Because of Slash?" you ask for clarification.

Slash is their drummer. He's well known because no one knows who he is; he conceals his identity using a skull mask and a stage name. You've only ever seen pictures of him— or his body, rather— in the articles online. He's the main reason why you are apprehensive about coming out tonight.

Fia nods, "we can't see who he is."

Even without knowing who he is, publicized medias have made it their mission to tell the general public; newspapers have plastered everything and anything about Silver Tooth in the entertainment section. The mystery behind the mask has enticed their audience. The newspapers portray Slash as being dangerous and horrific, and the rumors surrounding him serve as a testament to his danger. It brings an unwelcoming feeling to the pit of your stomach. Slash is mentioned in all rumors regarding disappearances, murders and shady business.

"...shouldn't we be worried for Hoseok?" you question her. Your friend is now assumed to be in the lion's den with this guy. He's been practicing nonstop with the band for the past few weeks.

"No," Fia rolls her eyes. "I'm sure those stories are just for publicity."

"They could be true," you mumble.

There's something eery and unsettling about the atmosphere surrounding the band. This is obvious just by the look of their venue choice; The Waypoint is the grimiest bar, yet it is the only place Silver Tooth ever conducts their shows. It's a pity, really. That's why it's almost impossible to get a ticket— the bar is compact and located in a bad part of town.

You can't tell if it's excitement or nervousness that you feel when the line starts to move into the bar. Your throat feels dry and the preconceived attitude towards tonight has started to eat at your insides. You follow behind Fia in conscious steps after you present your ticket to the bouncer. A bright green band is slapped around your wrist, indicating your admittance to the afterparty.

Immediately you're welcomed by dim lighting and a crowd that pans towards the small stage at the back of the bar. You don't realize you're clenching your first on the back of Fia's shirt until she turns around to look at you.

"Relax," she chuckles. "Just wait until you see Slash play."

"You've come here before?" you gape with wide eyes.

It's then that your body is jostled forward by the influx of people coming in behind you. Both you and Fia are pushed along with the rest of the crowd, and it's as if no one cares about getting a drink as they fight for a spot closest to the stage. Fia is one of those people, pulling you along with her to evade the other Silver Tooth fans. You stumble over your own feet a couple of times before catching your breath.

Fia looks at you, and you force a smile to assure her you're okay. You aren't. You are already standing in another puddle of alcohol and chips; the sensation of crumbling food is enough to make you want to go home. People continue to shove you forward even though there is no where to go. Your thighs are scraping against the edge of the stage.

"Murder me, Slash!" a girl screams during the momentary silence.

Everyone in the crowd erupts in cheers. You can't believe it, eyes wide again because the people around you reference his murdering accusations so lightly. It doesn't comfort you at all; they're fans. They don't want to believe it. But you do.

"He's everyone's favorite," Fia tells you, presumably reading your expression. Her voice gets muffled slightly from the chatter around you.

You lighten your own mood by saying, "maybe Hoseok will change that."

The two of you start laughing at the thought of your mutual friend. Hoseok has been passionate about guitar ever since he was young. Given the breakout success of Silver Tooth, you were proud of him for chasing after his dream; however, you still worried that the reputation following the band would affect him. You worried that the reasons there was an opening for him would result in the same demise. The only thing you could hope for tonight is that somehow your mind would be changed.

Your heart jumps when the sound of a fumbling microphone fills the air. The speakers are too big for the tiny space, and the sound echoing from the sound system causes you to flinch each time a tap is made at the microphone. The crowd is restless and rowdy; they cheer for almost everything.

"Who's ready for a show?" the man on the stage asks with great enthusiasm. His voice blares into your ears through the microphone. The feeling of bodies behind you has yet to stop, and only gets worse as the crowd erupts into more loud screams.

You're squinting at the MC until you realize that you know who he is— Siwon. He is the owner of this shit-hole that you're standing in. He's partially responsible for why you will probably have to buy new sneakers after tonight.

"It is my honor to present to you a band that feels like they could be my sons," he says. "Their loyalty to only playing at The Waypoint has continued through all of their success. I am so proud to manage these dickheads."

The crowd enjoys everything this man says. Fia glances at you with a knowing expression. She leans into your ear. "He was the first person to let them play in public. They haven't left since."

"Humble of them," you remark sarcastically.

This man is only here to appease the horrifying rumors about Silver Tooth and touch some heartstrings.

"Have an open mind," she nudges you. You glance at her touch and notice the flask she is offering.

"I didn't realize you were such a fangirl," you joke, but there's truth in that. You had no idea Fia found guilty pleasure in standing in a sweaty, head banging mosh-pit.

You exhale and shrug to yourself before backing down a large sip of the stinging liquid from the flask. It burns the back of your throat, but nothing could hurt less than your dignity at the moment. The alcohol is wet against your lips when the cold metal leaves your mouth, and Fia doesn't waste a moment to do the same.

You smile at each other as the low sound of guitar starts humming throughout the air.

Surprisingly, no one in the crowd cheers. All is silent besides the strumming guitar. The lights have turned an icy blue, and seemingly from the shadows of the stage walks out the lead guitarist. You don't know his name. You glance behind you at the crowd, but no one is moving. The blue hues of light have cascaded down on each stranger's face, but their facial expressions almost look hypnotized. For a moment you feel as though that could be canon, but suddenly the guitar starts to pick up slightly and everyone puts their hands in the air.

Looking back at the stage, it's as if it is a one man show. The guy's fingertips are moving so fast yet so slow on each string of the guitar. You are intrigued by his skill, and the melody is addicting as well. Your heart is racing along with the building tempo of the music. It's then that another guitar joins with a large, dominant strum of one of the chords. It's Hoseok.

"Oh my God!" Fia gasps, only glancing at you for a moment to not miss anything.

The two guitarists appear to be riffing against each other. There are still no cheers from the crowd; you feel like you're missing out on an inside fandom ritual. The music is filling every inch of the place, not sharing with any other sounds. You catch your jaw agape before snapping out of the intense haze. The calmness doesn't last for long.

The lights suddenly turn a crimson red simultaneously as a loud bang of the drums erupts. The spotlight is on him. The crowd goes wild with shouts and cheers.

Oxygen evades your pores and you hitch a breath from the back of your throat. You're scared to swallow or move; chills rack up from your spine but you force yourself to stare. Slash has made his appearance merely five feet from you, and you can't seem to grasp the touch of reality for a moment as your eyes first lay on him. You feel scared, in some deep rooted, bedtime nightmare sort of way. The presence of the dark and ghostly features of the skull mask have presented themselves as a trigger for your fears. It excites you.

Silver Tooth's main vocalist has finally appeared, and once his mouth opens to start the lyrics of the song, the crowd is jumping up and down with wild hands and yells. You can't stop staring at Slash; his arm muscles are already glistening in sweat as they work seamlessly to guide the two drumsticks. His masked head is nodding as he plays— it looks effortless.

"Come on!" Fia tugs on your arms to get you to jump along with her.

You can't help but do it. The music is better than you expected from an underground band like them; your body starts to jump to the beat, and your hands are in the air before you can stop yourself. Alcohol is partly to blame for your excitement, but the band is still impressive nonetheless.

You feel guilty for not watching Hoseok, but your eyes are trapped in a Slash fantasy world. Every inch of his exposed body has got you hooked. Knowing there is a boundary between you two has given you much needed relief.

It's the last song on the setlist and you're soaked in sweat before you know it. You can feel the strands of hair sticking to your neck, but the chaotic and crowded atmosphere that you hated in the beginning has now fueled you to keep going.

The crowd is chanting the words to the song, and one part in particular causes the whole bar to get involved. Slash then stands up from his drum set.

"What's going on?" you look at Fia worriedly.

"It's just a thing he does," she assures you nonchalantly.

You're terrified as the masked ghost makes his way to the edge of the stage. The guitar is still going on without him, but his covered eyes are now searching the crowd with his arm extended out. Your eyes can't help but travel downward to critique the rest of his body. You're mentally having a panic attack at the sight of his muscular physique— now especially including his thighs. Fitted in a white sleeveless tee and tight, leather looking pants, he has gotten you more worked up than you want to admit.

"Me!" shouts begin from the strangers beside you in the pit.

Me? What are they volunteering for?

You lose your breath again when he jumps down into the pit. Surprisingly, no one rushes at him. Everyone in the crowd moves aside for him to walk freely. Your eyebrows raise in shock at the fact that Slash is now walking just beside you. You back away into the people behind you in fear of him singling you out. There is a looming sense of fear plaguing everyone in the crowd. They feed off of it.

"Murder me!" the girl from earlier yells again.

It's a bizarre feeling to watch someone's expressions when they have no facial features. You're forced to examine his body language, and from the sound of the girl's words, he tenses only for a moment before figuring out where to go next. You're holding your breath as you watch him; various people are leaning over others just to touch his shoulder lightly, and others are trying to get him in the background of their selfie. You are standing in shock still— just staring. Each time Slash turns to a different section of the crowd, the people flinch back slightly.

Slash hands a girl across the room his drumstick. The moment he releases the object, she collapses into her friend's arms. Slash doesn't notice, however, because he has already climbed back on the stage to jump around with the rest of the band as the song comes to an end.

"He must go through a lot of drumsticks..." you trail to Fia with a dry throat.

"I wanna fuck myself with his drumstick," she replies vulgarly in a drunken slur. You giggle along with her insanity.

You feel breathless when the setlist ends and the lights go out on stage. Fia's hand is in the air to get Hoseok's attention, and he gives a happy nod at the two of you when he sees her.

Your eyes fall to Slash; his outline is just enough to see him through the darkness. You wait patiently, wanting to catch him taking off his mask, but of course, he doesn't. He is spinning the one drumstick in his hand as he walks off the stage along with Hoseok, the lead singer, and the lead guitarist.

And that's that: your first eye-witness account of Silver Tooth. You don't know whether it's the alcohol or the experience that has made you feel so happy.

"What did you think?" Fia asks you. You can barely understand her slurring mess of pronunciation.

The performance was enough to distract you from your ruined shoes, so you reply, "I liked it."

The crowd is already funneling out. The stage crew has begun to dismember the equipment to make room for the DJ, and when you check the time, it's close to one a.m. The two of you make your way near the bar. You're relieved to lean against a table and catch a breath. There is already a small group of people ordering drinks at the bar, all wearing afterparty wristbands like you and Fia. They must be friends of the band members.

Fia is stumbling over herself to sit on a stool. "I can't even remember what my last name is."

"What?"

"I drank... way... too much," she mumbles. "Anywho, what'd you think of Slash?"

Her insinuating tone of voice and small nudge towards you makes you roll your eyes. The pulsing alcohol in your body isn't enough to make you forget how terrified you were of watching him. It was a weird feeling.

"The mask is terrifying," you admit your thoughts in a slow response. Your words are turning to mush and you can barely get your thoughts in order.

"Apparently he doesn't take the mask off even in the bedroom," she giggles, "if you know what I mean."

"If he's pulling girls with a fucking mask on, then what am I doing wrong?" Hoseok interjects with a bright smile.

Fia's drunken emotions cause her to show a big reaction at the sight of Hoseok. She cheers as if he has just won something, clapping at him with a large smile.

"You were amazing!" she exclaims. "I didn't even notice that Yoongi was missing."

You shift uncomfortably in your seat at the mention of the disappearance. It bothers you that everyone, including your best friend, is acting like this dark cloud following Silver Tooth is something to just be brushed aside. It isn't the matter of just someone going missing— it was that it was someone in your town. You could be next.

"What's wrong?" Hoseok notices your drop in expression.

"Noth—"

Fia interrupts you, "she's worried Slash is going to murder you."

"What the fuck?" Hoseok chuckles.

Your influenced mind has gotten the best of you. "You know what? Yeah, I'm concerned. He scares me."

"It's just a mask—"

"Is it true that he has a bunch of scars and shit underneath it?" Fia interjects.

You huff, "probably from his victims trying to escape him."

It can't be a coincidence that the news reported a skull mask at the place where the old guitarist had been last seen. Unfortunately Slash has never been convicted; anyone can put on a skull mask. You wish you knew more about the mysterious guy. With the distance between him and what you know about him, it made you fearful. You wish it made Fia fearful too.

"Don’t listen to the media," Hoseok scoffs playfully.

"Bad things happen all over town because of him! People getting robbed, beaten, murdered."

"Not because of Slash!" he defends.

Your drunken hand flies up in an exasperating gesture, "how do you know for sure?"

"Careful," an unfamiliar voice interrupts the conversation. "He can probably hear you."

Your heart drops for a moment at the joking stranger. When you look over towards the voice, relief still doesn't rush in; walking towards you is the main vocalist and guitarist— everyone except Slash has made their appearance. It's incredible how attractive each member of this band is. They join you at the table.

"Who the hell cares what he's done anyway. Have you seen his body?" Fia raises her eyebrows.

You can't help but laugh stupidly at your friend's comments. Finding amusement in her total disregard for her well-being is easier than worrying. You're trying to enjoy the night, just as you told yourself before getting here. It's difficult.

"You're not going to introduce us?" the lead guitarist says to Hoseok.

"Oh," he laughs. "Right. Namjoon and Jimin, this is ___ and Fia."

"You should bring them around every week," the singer, Jimin, says slyly. With his dark hair pushed back, and his lean body being exposed through a half buttoned down tucked shirt into jeans, you can't help but blush from his remark. He leans his elbows down on the table in front of you.

Your cheeks heat and you glance away awkwardly to hide your expression.

"Amazing set, guys. Really. I'm a huge fan," Fia compliments them. "And those clothes. I love the tight fitted pants. Especially on Slash."

"You can thank Taehyung for that," Hoseok replies.

"Slash isn't the party type?" you ask. The curiosity has gotten the best of you.

The band members are silent for a moment too long after your question. It isn't until the guitarist, Namjoon, clears his throat with a semi-panicked yet calm response that the silence ends.

"He doesn't come to these things," he says.

Jimin adds with a smirk, "he's too busy finding his next target."

Is he joking? Wide eyes and a panicked feeling overcome you after Jimin's words.

"Who?" a stranger asks.

Everyone at the table looks up. Approaching is yet another pair of men, only this time you have never seen them before.

The one who interjected himself into the conversation is carrying a bunch of drinks over from the bar. Jimin's smile grows and he raises his hands in praise.

"Finally, Jin! I need a fucking drink," he cheers.

The man you only assume to be Jin places the drinks down to the table. His accomplice is quiet and doesn't say anything when he takes a seat across from you. The unnamed man's demeanor is dark and reserved, yet his glinted rounded eyes are somewhat innocent and kind. He has his bottom lip tugged under his teeth, clearly detached from the table of people. His dark hair frames over his face, and intense eyebrows are knitted tightly as he palms a shot glass. You look away quickly when his eyes catch yours. Your heart is racing.

"We were talking about Slash," Fia answers Jin's prior question. You can't help but feel as though the air has gotten tense. Your eyes flick to Jin.

"Ah," he nods. "Don't know him. I'm just the sound guy."

His dismissive response doesn't sit well with you. Jin can't possibly be trying to play it off as if he doesn't know Slash's identity. He was just backstage for the entirety of the night.

"Surely it gets a little hot under that mask," you say.

Jimin starts chuckling after throwing back a shot, "it might be ventilated."

"That piece of shit mask is, like, from the dollar store," Namjoon says and the entirety of the table erupts in a fit of laughter.

You cross your legs, taking a shot from the table and downing it quickly to calm your growing nerves. You don't know why the idea of Slash has made you scared, but you surely can blame the dim lighting and funky smell of the bar for heightening the feeling. Your alcohol influenced mind makes it feel as though you could be on the set of a horror movie. There's an anxious sensation at the end of your nerves.

"We should chill with the jokes," Fia wraps her arm around you and you flinch in surprise. Her drunk arm is like deadweight on your shoulders. "This one here is frightened of your drummer."

You grow timid at everyone's eyes on you. The image of Slash standing so close to you at the edge of the stage is replaying in your head; his built body and intimidating presence is making your skin crawl. You can't help but wonder if the fear has excited you more than frightened you. What has happened to fear protecting you from danger? Why are you more intrigued now that you've entered this infamous lion's den?

You blink from your thoughts, only to make eye contact with the man sitting across from you. His expression is composed and unaltered; it almost appears that a smirk is going to spread to his lips, but your breath staggers when a voice disrupts and you're forced to spare your attention.

"He's a quiet guy," Jimin assures you. "Wouldn't take him for the aggressive type."

"Not even in bed?" Fia leans forward in a soft, drunken purr, almost whispering at Jimin. "Is it true he fucks with his mask on?"

"Why? You into that?" Jimin matches her tone.

The two of them are leaning into each other and everyone is watching them as their lips meet hungrily. You roll your eyes at the two of them with a laugh. Leave it to Fia to find someone with the same twisted fantasy mind as her.

"I would take him for the aggressive type," Jin widens his eyes. The conversation has continued without your best friend and her new fling.

"You would?" Namjoon questions.

"Yeah," Jin nods. "He can break his drumsticks in just one hand."

"He must be practicing for when he does it to people's fingers," Namjoon chuckles before another shot is thrown back.

The one unannounced member of the small group has now decided to get up. He stands silently, almost going unnoticed until you catch a glimpse of his absence from the corner of your eye. He hasn't said a word all night, and now he is quietly maneuvering his way over to the bar. When you look down at all the empty glasses on the table, you decide that drinking water would be your best option. You stand.

"You want anything?" you ask Hoseok before departing.

Hoseok glances at the bar in thought. His eyebrows raise ever so slightly before he turns to look at you; a subtle look has marked his features but he just shrugs with a shake of his head.

"No," is all he says.

The music almost feels louder as you make your way over to the bar. With ease you are able to get yourself there, proving the "time heals" narrative true as the alcohol is finally starting not to absolutely overtake every decision you make. You lean your body against the counter, almost brushing against the unspoken stranger from earlier. He has taken a seat, sitting alone and in his own silence away from everyone else. You can feel his eyes on you as yours chase after the bartender.

"You're staring at me," you bravely say. You don't look at him as you sit down.

A scoff leaves his lips and you're forced to face him. A low chuckle hums from his chest. "Does that scare you?" He asks; he is clearly mocking your expressed fear from the conversation earlier.

Thinking back to the chilling articles and your friend's safety has aroused your paranoia again. You have to admit that alcohol has made you a bit over the top in your feelings. Small worries have now become legitimate fears.

"N-No," you stutter.

"I've never seen you here before," he says lowly.

Your eyes can't help but scan his face. He has a beautiful structured jaw, and every slight movement made with his eyebrows and mouth seem hard and striking, yet he still somehow manages to give a soft and charming aura. His almond eyes are dark and rounded, staring at you mercilessly. It's intimidating, and you swallow hard at how attentive he is towards you. He looks fake; an illusion of perfection.

"...you remember everyone?"

He exhales. "I'd remember you."

The comment strikes a part of you that had been dormant until now; his voice is so smooth and captivating much like his overall presence. Heat spreads to your fingertips and chills send down your spine. The sensation is enough to make you nervously bite on your lip. A breathy laugh escapes you to mask your easy reaction.

"It's my first time seeing Silver Tooth," you say shyly. "I-I'm friends with Hoseok... the new guitarist."

"Just friends?"

You clear your throat at the unwelcoming thoughts now evading your subconscious. The bartender finally decides to pay mind to you, and you're thankful for the distraction as you order a glass of water. You need it. You're starting to feel hot from this sensual, timid conversation that is brewing with this stranger.

He must sense your apprehensiveness, cutting the tension by introducing himself. "I'm Jungkook. I'm just the sound guy."

A smile spreads to your lips at his referral to Jin's introduction.

"___," you tell him. "Just the friend."

"Not a fan?" he questions.

"To be honest, I was actually scared to come tonight," you admit. "I've read so many things about Slash... and it really influenced my opinion."

Jungkook's expression is masked. He doesn't allow his facial features to give away what he's thinking. "But?"

"The music was great," you nod. The cold water feels like a breath of fresh air as it hits your tongue compared to the stuffiness of the atmosphere in the bar. You've probably inhaled enough grime and soot to kill you.

"And what about Slash?"

His question fades into the background of your attention as he leans slightly into you. His broad shoulders are enough to relish at as it is, but now he is showing physical interest when he leans his arm on the bar. Your thighs tighten in an involuntary attempt to convince yourself you're not into him.

You blink. "Hm?"

"Slash," he repeats. The drummer's stage name leaves his lips like a word that shouldn't be spoken. "Still scared of him?"

His question slices at your nerves. Jungkook's eyebrow is cocked at you, and you can tell he is finding slight amusement from teasing you about their masked drummer. Thoughts about the mysterious man have gotten you intrigued again. The same intimidated rush of feeling you experienced when he jumped down into the crowd has returned and your pulse is evidence of that.

"Yes," you breathe.

"But you liked it, hm?"

"I-I was very impressed," you reveal. "The way he plays... I couldn't stop staring. I respect that he works so hard against... adversity."

Jungkook himself looks impressed by your answer. He is frozen for a moment before his hand is on your thigh; his eyes are attentive to your reaction. You lick your lips and shy away from his gaze for a moment to stop yourself from audibly responding to his touch, clenching your thighs from the unwanted sensation that has sparked in-between them. Your skirt seems like a weak defense at the moment, but you aren't sure if you want to be defensive.

His words are breathy and you're falling deeper as he continues to speak. "You'd come back just to see him?"

His fingertips are cold against your heated skin. They move only slightly when you shift in the seat, and you can't stop your breath from hitching at how immensely turned on this guy is making you. You've never felt so swayed by a stranger before— you wanted him. He has something about him that is too hard to resist.

"Yes," you reluctantly agree. "Only when I'm not thinking about being tied up and abducted."

Your attempt at a light joke causes Jungkook's touch at your thigh to become a bit more rough. You shouldn't feel excitement, but you do. He is so tempting.

"That's a shame," he whispers. You find yourself leaning in more to hear him, "tying you up is something I'd very much want to do."

Your mouth falls agape at the words. Suddenly it feels as though his touch his everywhere, and every inch of your body has now ignited in a cold sweat and plethora of ecstasy. His hand at the bar has now clasped the one you had on the counter. His touch is so delicate, a slow burn of sensation that starts at your fingertips and ends with your dampening underwear. You're biting your lip to control yourself.

"You're fearful, but I know you'd want to," he whispers. You're frozen at the close proximity of his face. He smells of fresh cologne. It's almost like he has just showered.

"You do this every week to a new girl?"

A smile pulls at the corner of his lips after your question. Your eyes narrow to peer down at them; they look so plump and soft. You're tempted just to lean in, given he would probably want that, but you don't. You don't want to let go of this anxious feeling— the anticipation for what could happen.

"No," Jungkook replies. For some reason you believe him. "Only ones that follow me around and then accuse me of staring."

His words are filled with slight amusement, but the way he is staring at you gives you an intense feeling. He is very good at making you feel noticed; even the way his stare dances back and forth between your lips and eyes as you speak gives you butterflies in your stomach.

"I was curious," you tell him.

"You're curious about a lot of things," he notes. "Curious about me... curious about Silver Tooth... curious about... Slash. Yet, you still showed up."

"Your point?" you raise your eyebrows at the insinuator.

"You're not scared," he concludes. "Scared people don't involve themselves."

"You're right," you play along with him.

You have a feeling that this will all just end in some smooth pick-up line. Your smirk grows and you place your hand over his on your thigh. He seems surprised but controls his reaction. With a gentle sigh and a knowing look at him, you press your lips to his ear.

"Maybe I do want to get tied up," you tighten your hold around his hand as you speak, bringing it higher and against your inner thigh. He doesn't waste a moment to expand his palm and grip your skin in his hold roughly. The material of your skirt hitches upwards.

"Be careful what you wish for," he warns.

His tone of voice seems much too serious for your playful one, but the goosebumps on your skin aren't prejudice. He is affecting you with every sensation.

Your thighs close around his hand and he shifts in his stool to place his knee between them, prohibiting you from closing your legs. Your eyes awkwardly look back to the group of people you left, only to realize that no one is paying attention to you. You are alone with this new man, fooling around at the bar. You don't typically do this with people you just meet, but Jungkook is an exception. He is doing all the right things.

"I'll do it here, I don't give a fuck," he grumbles against your skin. His hand slides further up towards your heated core and you gasp when you feel his fingers against your underwear.

Your eyes go wide and you push at his chest lightly to stop him. His hand freezes in place and you fight the urge to squirm. If you move, you will only excite yourself more. You didn't think your teasing would lead to him wanting to do it right here.

"No?" he frowns.

"No," you breathe. "Not here. I'm not like that."

He chuckles. "Not like what?"

"Easy."

Jungkook shakes his head at you. His small breath fans your face as he replies, "I'm finding it hard to get you to play along with me, baby."

The endearing title falls from his lips and your throat dries. You shouldn't be falling into his spell so easily, but it's impossible to fight it. By the looks of the way his eyes can't leave you, it appears that both of you have entered a trance that is impenetrable.

"You want me to play along?"

"Ah," he realizes. "You want me to beg? I will. I've wanted to sink my fingers into your aching pussy since the moment you looked at me."

You're searching for air, but you can't find any. Your cheeks heat at his vulgar language and your body reacts before your mind can, hips moving forward against his hand. Jungkook releases a sharp breath of pleasure when he realizes what you're doing. Your chests are touching as he uses his body to shield others in the room from seeing what his hand is doing to you.

His strong grip pulls your stool closer to him. Your mouth falls open, and you bite on your finger to stop a moan after feeling him press against your throbbing clit. Jungkook's fingers slide into your underwear seamlessly, exposing your wetness to his every touch and command. You find yourself leaning into him.

"You like to be told what to do," he coos into your ear. "You're fucking soaked. Is it because I scare you?"

"N-No," you moan.

The loud music is swallowing your sounds. Your hips can't help but want to rock against him, but Jungkook's free hand is forceful and rough, not budging to hold you against the stool. The restriction only makes you want to moan louder.

"You shouldn't ever be scared of me. I can't resist touching you," he murmurs. "I want this pussy to be mine."

"It's yours," you breathe heavily.

Your mouth falls agape and you bite down on his shoulder to stop yourself from being too overwhelmed with sensation. His thumb is moving at a wavering pace against your clit, rubbing circles and hitting every spot that makes your toes curl. You jolt forward into him when you feel a finger inside you.

"Yes," you moan, "keep going."

"Beautiful," he purrs at you, "You're so tight for me. Only for me, right?"

You squeeze the material of his shirt in your grasp when another finger enters you. His thumb continues to tease and roll against your clit. The naughtiness of the surrounding sounds of the people at the bar has enthralled your mind. The thrill of not knowing if someone will see you strangely makes you even more aroused. Jungkook is humming in satisfaction at your responses to his touch.

"Yes," you nod with a breathless response. His dirty words are so hot falling from his deep voice. "Fuck, Jungkook... only for you."

"Mhm," he grunts pompously. "You're such a filthy girl, letting me do this to you here."

"I-I don't... ever do this," you cry out.

You can hear his fingers as they push in and out of your wet folds. You bite your lip and bring him closer to you to stop yourself from being too loud. The cold metal at the bar has become ten times colder due to how heated your skin is becoming. Your mind is in a lull; it feels like hours have passed and yet time is going so slow; torturously slow, from the skillful use of his fingers.

"For me you did," his lips are at your ear, only this time he places a kiss there. He is growling into your ear, "My curious baby. Mine."

"All yours," you practically cry as the pressure becomes too much. You have no problem adhering to his possession kink as your core aches and pulses for his touch. Your lips are swollen and throbbing from how harshly you are biting down.

A heated sensation erupts through every nerve in your body. Jungkook's hold on you tightens as you come undone against his hand, whining out into his shoulder. His lips are on your neck, nibbling at your sensitive skin harshly. You suck in a breath and dig your fingers into him. You can feel your heart against your chest as you come down from the high; the room is spinning momentarily.

You are lifeless against Jungkook's muscular body. Your palm can't help but slide against him; his arms and torso are rock hard and solid, obvious signs of fitness beneath all the dark clothing. When you finally look at his face, he is cutely flushed as well. His fingers retract from inside you and you whimper. The wet skin at your neck feels chilled as the air hits it, and the stinging sensation tells you there will most likely be a love bite there tomorrow.

Your chest is heaving and you lean against the bar counter. No one surrounding the two of you noticed what happened, but it doesn't change the slight embarrassment you feel. Nevertheless, the thrill of what happened has stained you— you are exhilarated.

"___!" Fia's voice slices through the air unforgivingly as your name leaves her mouth.

Jungkook distances himself from you thankfully. You're quick to compose yourself and fix your skirt, swiveling around in the stool and downing the last of your water.

"Ah," she squeals. "You'll... you'll never believe what I just did..."

"I think I can," you laugh at the irony.

"I just fucked Jimin three times in the bathroom. Three times."

You're stunned and don't know what to say. There is no way you are going to tell Fia what you just did. Part of you doesn't want to share the intimate moment— not because you feel embarrassed, but because for some reason it was kind of... nice? In the nicest way getting fingered at a bar by a stranger could ever be. Now you felt as though you were just making up excuses for yourself; you're drunk. He was as well. You fear that your hangover tomorrow will prove that this was a mistake.

"Wow," you smile for her excitement anyway. "How was it?"

"Let me tell you," she gapes with a dainty smile, "that tiny man is packing."

The two of you erupt in giggles at her description. Fia is swooning so hard that you think she might faint. It isn't until she glances at your location that she shows a worrisome expression.

"Have you been sitting here alone this whole time?"

"No, I'm with—"

You cut yourself off when you attempt to gesture to the stool next to you. Jungkook isn't there, and you can't believe how distracted you could've been to possibly not see him move. It's almost like when he escaped from the table earlier, except somehow then you caught him just in time. Your eyebrows furrow and your eyes scan across the room. He isn't here.

Where the hell did he go?

"Hey, you guys ready?" Hoseok's voice drags your attention away from looking around. When you finally stand from the stool, your knees are weak. You gasp at yourself and stand stationary for a moment to compose your balance.

Both you and Fia manage to walk towards him. His guitar case is at his feet and the low mutterings of the men behind him are filling the air as the DJ has cut out. You check the time— it's 2 a.m. The bar is closing soon. Drunk muttering and girl's giggles are heard from the distance. Your eyes can't help but continuously look around. What the fuck?

"No, like..." a drunken Namjoon slurs at the table. "He could’ve totally murdered that girl."

"Bullshit," Jimin says dismissively. "He was at practice all night."

"Only takes a minute to stab someone," Jin shrugs as if intervening is none of his business.

"Convince me," Jimin prompts Namjoon and Jin. All of them are drunk off their asses and barely making sense.

"I don't know," Namjoon mutters. His words are forming together and his hand is wavering with an almost empty glass of beer in his hand. "Have you heard from her? 'Cuz I sure as hell haven't."

"She was tired of seeing your annoying ass," Jimin jokes.

Fia and you look at each other with alarmed expressions. Suddenly you feel the urge to cry. Namjoon's drunken thoughts could very well be the truth, and just thinking that a murder could've just been on stage entertaining you in a crowd has got you feeling absolutely sick to your stomach. You fear for Hoseok's life; Slash sounds sketchy and untrustworthy. He isn't someone you want Hoseok hanging out with.

"Guys, chill," Hoseok mediates.

"Just speaking my mind," Namjoon puts his hands up defensively.

"Why do you guys stay in the band then?" You demand an answer. Tolerating a killer has never been high on your list of things to allow.

Jimin and Namjoon are too drunk to recognize your anger. Their smiles grow and they look at each other before chuckling loudly; Jimin's hand starts patting at Namjoon's chest and he shows off a cocky grin.

"We're gunna be famous, baby," he gloats.

You scoff.

"___, they're drunk," Fia places her hand on your arm. She is mumbling out her words weakly. Drunk environments aren't the best place to confront issues.

Hoseok awkwardly grabs his guitar case before you can cause an altercation. It could be possible that you are projecting your frustrations from Jungkook's disappearance onto the words of a bunch of drunk men. You have been insinuating Slash's criminal behavior all night, and their drunk conversation could very well be stemmed off of that.

"This is fucked up and scary," you tell Hoseok as the three of you are leaving the bar.

"They were just trying to entertain themselves," Fia assures you, but it isn't assuring. She doesn't know anything. She is too into the band to think anything could be wrong.

"You guys are giving me a fucking headache," Hoseok whines at the two of you.

"I'm worried for you," you frown.

"Don't be," Hoseok sighs. "This band is my break. Finally."

You have no choice but to nod.

The moment your ass sinks into the taxi, you can't help but groan in release. Your head feels heavy and the night feels as though it was longer than just a mere five hours. Alcohol has its way of creeping up on you— but could it have been the culprit for creating a fake man at a bar who pleasured you?

No way, you convince yourself. That was definitely real. What the hell is his problem? You can't believe that you just did that with a complete stranger. He ghosted you within an hour of interacting.

Your sulking stare out the window is interrupted by the buzzing of your phone. The bright light of your screen is hard to focus on, but when you finally do, your heart skips a beat.

unknown [2:23 AM] — still scared of me?

#masked #fanfic #bts fanfic #bts #jungkook #jungkookau #smut #bts smut #bts au #drummer jungkook #drummer #band #bts x reader #jungkook x reader #jk smut #flymefic

1K notes · View notes

racefortheironthrone · 5 years

Text

Thoughts on House of X #4

Over the halfway mark!

Look At What They’ve Done Infographic:

Suprisingly for an issue that, in retrospect is the climax of the standard superheroics part of House of X, this issue starts with an infographic, which turns out to be one of the more controversial in HoX/PoX.

Foreshadowing what’s going to come at the end of the issue, the tone is already different from the pseudo-academic objectivity of earlier infographics, although the term “mutant erasure” evokes the activist-inspired, post-cultural turn work of critical race/gender/sexuality studies, which is something of a stepping-stone.

By contrast, describing Wanda Maximoff as both “the pretender” (does this mean “not-really-a-mutant” or “not-really-Magneto’s-daughter” or both?) and as associated with the Avengers is incredibly politically pointed, which speak to a particular kind of mutant nationalist identity that bears a good deal of grievance towards even benevolent human institutions.

Similarly, the term “human-on-mutant violence” is way too evocative of real world debates over racism and police violence to be accidental on the author’s point. It’s a depressing thought, but the 616 probably sees a lot of “what about mutant-on-mutant violence?” derailings, maybe as many as creep up in threads about HoX/Pox here...

So let’s get at the controversy: can Bolivar Trask be blamed for the Genoshan genocide? Contrary to a few voices in the fandom, I would argue strongly for the affirmative. As we see from his initial appearance, Trask created the Sentinels entirely out of racial paranoia/hatred; moreover, Sentinels have no purpose other than A. destroying all mutants and B. subjugating the human race along the way. Cassandra Nova’s actions on Genosha absolutely followed the Trask playbook of both father and son, and indeed relied on Larry Trask’s assistance to carry it out, making it a Trask affair from beginning to end.

On a final meta note, this infographic really speaks to the outsized impact that Morrison’s New X-Men and Bendis’ House of M had on the X-line for the last 15-20 years.

Observation-Analysis-Invocation-Connection:

But before we get to the punching, we get one burst of Hickman’s fascination with singularities and transhumanism, where for the first time we really get an example of how the Krakoan biological approach is going to work, showing us a surprisingly complicated biomachine:

Trinity (who runs the Secondary/External Systems part of Krakoa) uses her technopathy to gather intelligence from human mechanical systems: the Aracibo Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, “re-tasked SETI radio telescopes," both of which are real things, and the “Dyson solar observatory,” which isn’t.

Beast (who runs the Overwatch/Data Analysis part of Krakoa) uses Krakoan biocomputers and his own scientific genius to “extrapolate that data into an actionable forecast,” to deal with the delay caused by the immense distances between Krakoa and Sol’s Forge.

Professor X and Cerebro handle the direct Connection between Krakoa and the away team, while the Cuckoos link Trinity, Beast, Storm into a psychic link with Xavier, which means all of the parts of the system work seamlessly even as Storm handles the Invocation of visually representing Jean Grey’s thoughts.

If you step back and think about it, this is an astonishing technological feat: with minimal reliance on machine technology, Krakoa has established a NASA “KASA Mission Control” that can send data across half a solar system almost(?) instantly.

That’s before we even get to the whole secondary purpose of the system, which is to allow Professor X and the Five to resurrect an up-to-date version of anyone who dies on the mission, which is one hell of a life-rope.

Thematically, we see a really sharp distinction between biological and mechanical transhumanism/singularity: “KASA Mission Control” is described in biological terms, “function[ing] as a singular organism,” and also in religious terms, with “eight of us acting as one” explicitly labelled as “Communion.” And yet...the eight people involved retain their separate personalities and identities and no separate, artificial intelligence is created.

Should We Fear the Worst?

And across five hundred million miles, all Krakoa gets is bad news. Archangel and Husk, the redshirt’s redshirts on this mission, are dead before they do anything; Nightcrawler has some level of “internal injury,” and Wolverine almost had his arm blown off.

Incidentally, page 7 is where something of a problem crops up with Jean Grey’s characterization. As people have noted, Jean Grey starts off in the passive communications role (indeed, she’s even reliant on Monet to do that job) and doesn’t really improve from there. With the added context of her wearing her Silver Age miniskirt costume, it’s all a bit sus, especially if you’ve been reading a much more self-possessed, confident, and all-around more powerful version of Jean Grey in X-Men: Red. For a while, many of us were thinking that Jean is a younger backup, but that seems to have been Jossed by the resurrection ceremony in House of X #5.

Better characterization abounds for the men: following their conversation from the previous issue, Cyclops and Wolverine have different perspectives about the question of whether to continue on with the mission (another key element of the special ops/espionage thriller genre). Cyclops emphasizes pushing on to make Warren and Paige’s sacrifice meaningful, Logan agrees but rather because of the existential stakes of the mission. There’s an interesting parallel there between Xavier and Magneto and means vs. ends.

Following the catastrophe, Nightcrawler successfully inserts the struje team, while “Jean and Monet will stay to maintain our connection with Krakoa;”we know know that part was crucial in more than one way, but it is a continuation of some troubling gender dynamics.

Meanwhile, despite being “technically...just an observer” (and doesn’t that ring of all kinds of Cold War proxy wars), Omega Sentinel takes action to prompt Dr. Gregor into retaliation, similarly playing to the nationalistic theme of “if you don’t, he will have died for nothing.”

Orchis’ retaliation doesn’t go so well, as we see Wolverine carving his way through an AIM securtiy team and Nightcrawler bloodlessly tying up two scientists (note the further emphasis on differing personalities and values; whoever these X-Men might be, they’re not mindless followers) towards popping two of the four constraint collars.

Unfortunately, this is followed up by a couple pages of more Jean Grey being awfully Damselly: yes, she’s holding open the connection, but she’s coded as way more helpless and indecisive than Monet (who gets to go out like a badass defending the shuttle), and the line “I dunno what to say, Marvel Girl. Try harder” really sums it all up. So far, this is reading a lot more like Stan Lee’s Jean Grey (but not Jack Kirby’s) than Chris Claremont’s.

With the tension ratcheting ever-higher, we see Cyclops succeeding at his mission, while Mystique...doesn’t and then gets promptly blown out an airlock. The “habitat” connection and the odd business with her getting “turned around” despite having the plans for the base in her head like everyone else is highly suspicious (it might suggest the use of a Krakoa flower, but no one’s ever suggested what her motivation would be for doing so), but it’ll have to go on the list of plot threads that weren’t resolved in House of X.

In a development that really ought to be troubling to more people, Dr. Gregor throws away whatever moral compunctions she has about waking up a potentially violently insane A.I because “I don’t let them stop us. No matter what,” a potentially existential downside to Omega’s strategy.

Do Whatever It Takes:

Having reached the “darkest moment” in the story diagram, Professor X orders his students to “do whatever it takes” to prevent Mother Mold from coming on line. This prompts Cyclops to give the order to Nightcrawler and Wolverine to jump out into unprotected space to sever the last constraint collar. All in all, we’re following the traditional beats of the special ops/espionage genre pretty closely, down to the team leader’s moral anguish moment.

Appropriately, we then get a quiet moment where Kurt and Logan contemplate whether or what will be “waiting for us on the other side.” Even knowing what we know now about the resurrection system, there’s still a good deal of weight to this moment, because in a way this Kurt and this Logan are going to die and whether they’re the same Kurt and Logan who will be reborn is a matter I’ll take up in Powers of X #5 along with the difficult topic of the philosophy of identity. (I’m going to leave aside the question of them having gone to literal Heaven and Hell in the past, because my Doylist position is that those story threads were probably a bad idea and my Watsonian No Prize is that you can’t remember the afterlife once returned to earth.)

Surprisingly, things get only more metaphysically weird when the two teleport outside and Wolverine starts chopping his way through the last arm. Mother Mold wakes up and immdiately starts talking about Greek mythology. Mother Mold’s interpretation of the Titanomachy is a little choppy (as we might expect from an insane A.I): on the one hand, if humanity are the Olympian gods as the creator of the Sentinels and the mutants are the Titans because of “their spoiled lineage” (this doesn’t quite work, because the Titans preceded the Olympians), then the Sentinels being “Man” makes sense. And as someone who’s written his share of college papers about omniscience/predestination/free will in Greek myth and drama, there’s a plausible anti-theist position whereby human beings might “judge and find you both wanting.” (Although that language is too Book of Daniel for the Greeks.) On the other hand, if the Sentinels are man, them having “stolen your fire” doesn’t work either - humanity was given fire by the Titan Prometheus - unless the argument is that Wolverine is Prometheus because he yeets Mother Mold into the sun?

Regardless, it’s a very ominous note for Mother Mold to go out on, because the consistent anti-human/Olympian tone suggests this insane A.I might hate humans way more than it hates mutants.

With the day seemingly saved, we transition into the Rogue One scenario where Cyclops is murdered by a vengeful Dr. Gregor and Jean is torn apart by Sentinel drones.

As gruesome as all of this is, I think it does play a very important role in explaining a good deal of Charles Xavier’s change of mind with regard to human-mutant harmony and assimilation. While this incident didn’t prompt any of the decisions that he’s made along the way - this mission is happening post-Xavier’s announcement and a day before the U.N vote, making it quite late in the X^1 timeline - I think it does a good job of showing us the kind of thought patterns that have led Xavier to this conclusion. In addition to everything he’s seen from Moira’s past nine lives, which only lend a greater sense of urgency and the fear of inevitability, Xavier himself has experienced the deaths of “our children” over and over again as the founder of the X-Men, and clearly both the direct trauma (keep in mind, he’s hooked into the minds of all of his X-Men as they die) and the pain he feels at humanity’s apathy/atrocity fatigue, goes a long way to explaining why he’ll make the decision that integration and assimilation are no longer viable options.

For all the crap that people sometime sling at Hickman over his use of charts, I will say that the way that “NO MORE” weaponizes them by extra-textually demonstrating the breakdown of the facade of calm objectivity is incredibly effective.

#xmen #xmen meta #house of x #hoxpox

17 notes · View notes

iheartgod175 · 5 years

Text

A Guide to LOST SONG - Part 1

AKA The anime that made me love Konomi Suzuki

When I stumbled across Lost Song on Netflix, I didn’t know what to expect. The style looked vaguely interesting, and I could tell immediately from the title that it had something to do with music. So I gave it a shot.

And boy howdy, am I glad that I did. This anime is not flawless, but there are so many things I loved about it that it almost outweighs the bad. It exposed me to Konomi Suzuki, who I absolutely love now. And it made me love Yukari Tamura even more, if that was possible. The fandom is small, but it’s passionate in sharing its excitement and knowledge of this anime. And for a while I thought of doing a review, but it hit me to do a guide for the anime to introduce others to it.

So, let’s get into the bare bones of this anime, shall we?

(I’ll be writing my own synopsis since the one on Wikipedia is terrible)

(NOTE: LIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD!)

The Plot

We have two protagonists, Rin (voiced by Konomi Suzuki in her first acting role) and Silver-Haired Nanoha-I mean Finis (voiced by Yukari Tamura). Rin is a simple country girl who’s adorably ditzy, loves to eat food and most of all loves to sing. Finis is a beautiful but clumsy and airheaded songstress hired by the Capital to use her songs to aid the kingdom’s war effort. Both of our female leads have the ability to sing Spirit Songs, songs that can manipulate the four elements of the world and bring about miracles. Both of them have problems related to their singing: Rin’s grandfather, Talgia, forbids her from singing for mysterious reasons, and she finds support from her older sister Mel and younger brother Al, the latter of whom wishes to go to the Capital to become a scientist (despite his numerous failed inventions). Finis’ songs, while vital to ending the war, severely shorten her lifespan, and she is seen as nothing more than a tool of war by the Capital’s war effort, namely by the prince, Rudo Bernstein (more on him in a bit). The only people who see her as a person are her servant Corte and Henry Leobolt, a knight assigned to protect her by Prince Rudo.

Certain events--the burning of Rin and Al’s village and the deaths of their sister and grandfather, and Finis and Henry’s forbidden romance amidst the war--set the stage for Rin and Finis to finally meet. Will the last song be one to save the world...or destroy it?

The Characters

Lost Song has a host of characters, both male and female, that have an important role in the story and all get their own time to shine (although some characters do get the short end of the stick, as I’ll explain in part 2).

I’ll be breaking them down as best as I can, hopefully with as few spoilers as possible!

**NOTE: I’ll be using the Netflix translations for their names until further info is revealed (like how to actually spell them correctly)

Rin

A village girl with a passion for singing

Greatest wish is to travel to the capital to sing at the Star Song Festival

Blessed with an amazing voice, but is banned from singing by her grandfather

Possesses a mysterious power to both control the elements and create “miracles” with her songs

Loves her family and friends dearly

Blames herself for her sister’s and grandfather’s deaths as her song led Bazra to her village

Occasionally ditzy, gluttonous and sometimes hard on herself (due to the aforementioned deaths of her family), but is otherwise a sweet, selfless girl who tries to understand others

Will recklessly throw herself in danger to help those in trouble

Finis

The Capital’s Songstress who is also referred to as a goddess by the capital’s army due to her Power of Songs

Also blessed with an amazing voice (YUKARI TAMURA, DUH)

Her songs are used for war, so she is seen as a weapon by many of the Capital’s elite, namely Prince Rudo

Continued use of her songs shortens her lifespan, a fact known to her servant, Corte

Falls in love with Henry Leobolt, a knight assigned to protect her during the war, due to him treating her like an actual person.

Is eventually forced to kill people with her songs so Rudo won’t kill Henry

Very airheaded and has NO sense of direction, but is otherwise a sweet woman.

Al Hawkray

Rin’s adopted younger brother and Mel’s biological younger brother

An aspiring inventor and scientist whose inventions sometimes fail at the worst possible time

Constantly points out how things involving songs are scientifically impossible

Travels with Rin to the capital after their village is destroyed and his grandfather and Mel are killed

Despite his bad luck, several of his inventions have proven to be useful as weapons (ie. his Star Bombs)

Greatly admires Dr. Weissen

Often the butt of everyone’s jokes, much to his annoyance

A little salty with his companions, but cares for them nonetheless

Has an unrequited crush on Rin

Pony Goodlight

A former Court Minstrel who travels around the country

Rin and Al’s first companion

Left the Capital and her job for unknown reasons

Is also a pretty good singer (her VA, Chiaki Takahashi, is Azusa from iM@S after all), with a knowledge of many Legendary Songs that she teaches to Rin

Likes to think of herself as mature, but can be somewhat temperamental

DOES NOT like to be called old. Or ugly.

Also hates bugs

Likes to drink and gamble

Has the hots for Henry Leobolt (calling him “Hottie” on several occassions)

The Lux Sisters (Monica and Allu)

Allu is the oldest, with short red hair and red eyes

Monica is younger with brown hair that covers one eye, and wears a strange rabbit suit

They are Rhythmists who were working for the capital to manufacture Echo Devices for the war

They originally went to the capital to become Minstrels in the Court Orchestra, but gave it up to earn money to heal their mother’s blindness

When Rin heals their mother with the Song of Healing, they join Rin, Al and Pony on their journey to the capital

Allu is the braver of the two, but can come off as rude and harsh to those who meet her. Very protective of Monica, and has a habit of randomly drumming on objects at times

Monica is quieter, cowardly (having a habit fo falling asleep when in danger) and speaks very little. Is also a very good singer and can imitate any song perfectly after hearing it just once

Both are good friends with Rin (who healed their mom) and often tease Al (much to his chagrin)

Mel Hawkray

Rin and Al’s older sister

The only one who supports Rin’s singing talents, and is said to spoil Rin a little

Dies in the first episode, but appears a few times (in Rin’s dreams), and is mentioned by both Rin and Al

A sweet, nurturing woman who loves her siblings

THE MOST underused character in this whole show

Corte (pictured on the right)

Finis’ servant, who serves as a mother figure

Is practically glued to Finis’ side, though Finis loves her just as much and can’t function without her

Is always worried for Finis’ safety, but will put her life on the line to protect her

Supports Henry and Finis’ relationship

Dislikes Prince Rudo (then again, who doesn’t like him?) and knows of the danger he poses to Finis and Henry

Talgia Hawkray

Rin’s adoptive grandfather and Mel and Al’s biolgical grandfather

Kind old man, honestly, but is strict, especially with Rin

Bans Rin from singing for unexplained reasons, which causes a strain in their relationship

Also dies in the first episode, but appears later on in some very important scenes detailing Rin’s past

Along with Finis and Rin, he’s a fairly important character (if minor)

Henry Leobolt

A knight from the famous Leobolt family who is Finis’ bodyguard

A strong, brave and caring man who sticks with his ethics

He owns a family sword that is said to never break or rust, and is a master swordsman who can take down a whole army

Is wholly against war, but will not hesitate to defend himself, his men, or those he’s sworn to protect

Falls in love with Finis, and as a result is moved to the frontlines by Rudo as punishment, but manages to survive and command his own team of men

Knows of Finis’ curse and hates to see her suffer for his sake

Dr. Weissen

An eccentric old man who happens to be a renowned physicist, inventor and scientist

Has a croissant on his cane for random snacking (no, really he does)

Crotchety at first, but is actually a kindhearted old man

He originally did research to help people, but was then forced to build weapons of war under Rudo’s rule

Lost his entire lab, his assistants and his inventions to the Capital, which made him lose hope

Takes on Al as his assistant after Rin restores his lab and becomes his mentor

Prince Rudo Bernstein IV

The prince of the Capital

A cold, heartless, ruthless person who will kill those who oppose him in a heartbeat

Is disliked by many of the populace (and for good reason)

Is engaged to Finis (who dislikes him)

Hates Henry Leobolt, especially after he falls in love with Finis, and tried to kill him by putting him in the frontline of the war

Uses Finis as a tool of war, and eventually convinces her to use her songs to kill people by threatening to kill Henry

Bazra Bearmors

The General of the Capital’s army

A ruthless man who uses others for his personal gain

Is rivals with Henry Leobolt and tried to kill him several times throughout the show

Destroyed Weissen’s lab and also killed Rin’s grandfather

A powerful swordsman who can go toe to toe with Henry

The only other characters I can think of are the men that eventually join up with Henry after Rudo puts him on the frontline, but they’re minor, and not even the official site lists them as characters ^^;

Part 2 will kind of go into a bit more details about what to look for in the plot following episode 7, where things REALLY get kind of crazy, as well as my general opinions on the characters, the music and the general tone of the show.

If this mini guide had you interested in the ainime, then that’s great! I’m hoping that more people catch on to watching Lost Song. It really needs more love!

~iheartgod175, out!

#lost song #lost song anime #netflix anime #I'm doing my absolute BEST to not spoil this show for those curious enough to watch it #But yes #This is a long post about me gushing over this little known but lovably flawed anime

57 notes · View notes

reconditarmonia · 5 years

Text

Dear Trick or Treat Author

Hi! Thank you for writing for me! I’m reconditarmonia here and on AO3 (and have been since LJ days, but my LJ is locked down and I only have a DW to see locked things). I have anon messaging off, but mods should be able to contact me if you have any questions.

Far From the Madding Crowd | Simoun | Spinning Silver | The Strange Case of Starship Iris

General likes:

– Relationships that aren’t built on romance or attraction. They can be romantic or sexual as well, but my favorite ships are all ones where it would still be interesting or compelling if the romantic component never materialized.

– Loyalty kink! Trust, affectionate or loving use of titles, gestures of loyalty, replacing one’s situational or ethical judgment with someone else’s, risking oneself (physically or otherwise) for someone else, not doing so on their orders. Can be commander-subordinate or comrades-in-arms.

– Heists, or other stories where there’s a lot of planning and then we see how the plan goes.

– Femslash, complicated or intense relationships between women, and female-centric gen. Women doing “male” stuff (possibly while crossdressing).

– Stories whose emotional climax or resolution isn’t the sex scene, if there is one.

– Uniforms/costumes/clothing.

– Stories, history, and performance. What gets told and how, what doesn’t get told or written down, behavior in a society where everyone’s consuming media and aware of its tropes, how people create their personas and script their own lines.

Smut Likes: clothing, uniforms, sexual tension, breasts, cunnilingus, grinding, informal d/s elements, intensity; stories whose resolution isn’t the sex scene.

General DNW: rape/dubcon, torture, other creative gore; unrequested AUs, including “same setting, different rules” AUs such as soulmates/soulbonds; PWP; food sex; embarrassment; focus on pregnancy; Christmas/Christian themes; focus on unrequested canon or non-canon ships.

—

Fandom: Far From the Madding Crowd

Character(s): Bathsheba Everdene

One thing that always sticks in my mind about this novel is the way Hardy calls Bathsheba “the young farmer” just as he refers to the men as farmers - which, just saying, is more than most people writing about this story can do - and so, that being the case, what I’m most interested in is something about Bathsheba as farmer. One day in the life or four seasons in the life or five plantings/harvests in the life, or pseudo-academic fic about a case study of a woman farmer in the Victorian era, or a conflict between the farm and nature that Bathsheba has to decide how to solve.

Feel free to bring in other characters if it suits what you’re trying to do, but what I’m really looking for is a focus on Bathsheba’s work, determination, and process of learning. (I like how Bathsheba's relationship with Gabriel ends up playing out in canon, but I don't want shipfic.) Other ideas: something like a merchant ship AU (as the first alternate setting that came to mind where it would be not exactly the done thing for her to captain her inherited ship and make commercial decisions herself - although I do have to point out that contrary to popular belief, there were a lot of women on shipboard in the age of sail, may this be useful - but also where nature and luck/fate are as influential as they are in the original setting), or something in which the land, superstition, and ritual are more overtly magical.

I've only requested treats for this fandom, so I would prefer that the outlook of the fic, including if you decide to incorporate non-canon magical or spooky elements, be ultimately positive. A seasonal treat would be right up the alley of this request. I'd also be into interactive fiction.

—

Fandom: Simoun

Character(s): Neviril, Paraietta, Mamiina, Rodoreamon, Yun, Dominuura

This is a perennial request for me and anything would make me very happy. I'm so interested in how the war changes all the characters and their relationships with one another, how Everything is Beautiful and Then Shit Gets Real but amidst the war-is-hell there's still the creation of bonds of trust and loyalty and chances to do what's right (the bits with the Plumbish priestesses, for instance). Every character gets a chance to develop and make choices that are all brave in different ways. Would also be curious about post-canon (what happens if Neviril and Aeru make it back to the main world when war is brewing again, but Neviril has no one from the old cohort to lead because they can’t fly anymore?) and/or about magic and time weirdness retconning character deaths or disappearances.

I've requested either tricks or treats here. For tricks I'd prefer "dark" to "cynical" - throw as much shit at them as you want in terms of war-is-hell and weird magic and time horror, but I believe that the characters mostly want to do what they believe is the right thing and help each other. My treat preferences are, I think, more about thematic focus than content - if it's slice of life, how is that life striving towards their ideals even in small ways? (Helping the war orphans, flying the Simoun, growing a garden?) If it's more about Things Happening, in the war or whatnot, what do those things show about their growth or the changes in their relationships? I would also be super into interactive fiction.

As far as ships go, I'm on board with most of the canon ones (no romantic/sexual Dominuura/Limone, please) but have a small soft spot for postcanon Paraietta/Rodoreamon as well.

—

Fandom: Spinning Silver

Character(s): Miryem Mandelstam

I love hard-headed, practical, ambitious women who get into adventures because of, rather than in spite of, those qualities, and so I love Miryem and her good sense, pride, and rules-lawyering. I’m really interested in what the book does with power - Miryem’s real-world power of accounting and hardheadedness becoming magic in the Staryk world, being a queen in one world while belonging to a disenfranchised minority in another. What happens when Miryem is back in the human world, post-canon? I never got the impression that she’d be happy just avoiding the whole question of the town’s contempt for her by finding power elsewhere - what’s it like if she comes back a queen? (Can she use the mirror from Irina to do an end run around the whole Persephone setup and travel back and forth whenever she wants, and if so, what sorts of plot would make that fun to play with? If not, that’s still fine.) Or, what are some adventures in the Staryk world where she could use her Accounting Powers, other than the post-war rebuilding the book talks about? Or tell me more about Miryem practicing Judaism in the Staryk world, and the application of Judaism to that world and those customs that we get some hints of (that’s a hell of a diaspora - what would the rabbis think of it?).

I'm very uninterested in Miryem's romance with the Staryk Lord unless you feel like making it f/f, so while I don't require you to retcon it or break them up, I don't want a fic focusing on it. If you're interested in shipping her with Irina or Wanda, I have some previous prompts for them in my "dear author letters" tag. (These may also be relevant to platonic fic that includes Irina or Wanda - like Wanda becoming a magical gatekeeper to Miryem's land or having the "magic" of reading/writing that Miryem gave her become magic-magic in the Staryk land, or Irina and Miryem's different ideas of who their commitment as queen is to - but there's more detail and prompts in the tag.)

I'm happy to receive either tricks or treats for this fandom. I'm explicitly okay with a story in either category involving anti-Semitic prejudice, but would prefer that the dark/scary elements in a "trick" fic come from supernatural horror rather than the human capacity for racist violence. I suppose treat fic would be about finding or making one's place in the world, the place where you can use the powers that you've got and make your world safe for yourself and others around you.

—

Fandom: The Strange Case of Starship Iris

Character(s): Sana Tripathi, Arkady Patel, Krejjh, Brian Jeeter, Rumor Crew, Agent Park

I just want MORE of any or all of these people because I love them - Krejjh's dashing pilot thing ("feast on my leavings, mortality! I am danger on wheels and those wheels are rooOOOOLLING!") and what it masks, Brian's geekery and humanist passion, Arkady's tough outside and squishy center and Sana's soft outside and iron center, the crew-as-found-family, Park's fifth-cup-of-cold-coffee burnout and wry edge. Slice of life? Their backstories? Things they like or get excited about? (More about the music they like to listen to/sing/play!) Arkady and/or Sana (or other crew members) on missions off-ship, or the crew all facing a problem or a heist together? Dwarnian customs (and Krejjh introducing Dwarnian customs to their friends and how they maybe pick some of those up - or adopting human customs and how they're different)? Park adjusting to the crew and them adjusting to him (and what's his role going forward)?

I've requested treats only for this fandom, no tricks - I'm totally fine with characters' angsty pasts and angsty present feelings being included, but I'd prefer that the overall mood of a fic that involved angst be one that focused on a better future, bonds with others, a cause to believe in, etc.

I ship Arkady with Sana (that loyalty kink!), but I don't mind if a fic includes Violet/Arkady (after all, it is canon) as long as it's not shipfic/focused on their romance. Brian/Krejjh is good too.

#dear author letters #starship iris #simoun #far from the madding crowd #spinning silver

1 note · View note

randomfandomimagine · 6 years

Text

Waiting For Superman (Clark x Reader)

Character: Clark Kent

Fandom: Superman (All Media Types)

Categories: Gender Neutral Reader, Songfic, Angst With A Happy Ending, Hurt / Comfort

Warnings: A bit angsty and sad

Word Count: 3,2k words

Summary: Y/N is having a rough time, so when she is saved by Superman she thinks that things wil start going differently for her.

Note: I’ve been watching a lot of Lois & Clark and I wrote this having in mind Dean Cain’s Clark, but you can read this with any other iterations of the character in mind, I tried to keep it vague.

He was your only hope, he was the only one capable of saving you. Only Superman could rescue you from that perilous situation, and you prayed that he arrived soon, otherwise the burning building would collapse on all of you.

The chaos around you faded away as your mind began racing. You couldn’t focus, too deep into my own panic to think about anything else. All of a sudden, you were literally swept of your feet and nestled into two strong but gentle arms until you were carried outside.

Just as you looked up to your savior, you met with his kind eyes as he carefully set you down on the ground. You were relieved but also exhausted.

“Superman” You uttered in awe, taken aback by his breathtaking presence.

“Are you alright?” He asked with that softness that characterized him.

“Yeah” You breathed out, slowly realizing that you were right next to Superman and that he had saved your life.

He then nodded, smiled at you, and flew away. You felt almost empty with his absence, but tried to focus on recovering from the adrenaline and anxiety that you were currently going through after your life was endangered.

“Y/N!” A familiar voice called out, and soon enough Clark was running your way. “Are you okay?!”

“I’m fine” As his hands worriedly fell on your shoulders, you rested yours on his arms. “Superman saved me”

It was the perfect end to the perfect month. Like you hadn’t gone through enough stress already, you had just gone through a life or death situation. If it weren’t for Superman…

“Come here…” Clark was still worried as he hugged you tight, providing you with a feeling of safety that could equal the one of Superman’s presence. As soon as he let go of you, he put his jacket over you and an arm over your shoulders. “I’ll take you home, come on”

You absently nodded, still in shock after the incident. Nonetheless, you were reassured with Clark there by your side.

All the exhaustion washed over you like a wave when Clark sat you down on the couch. You sighed, wanting to go to sleep yet being afraid of having nightmares about what happened, about all the stress that you had gone through lately. You wanted Clark to stay with you all night, but at the same time you wanted to be alone and don’t let anyone see you in that state.

“Are you feeling better?” He asked as he slowly sat down, not to startle you.

“I said I’m fine, Clark” You looked up at him and showed him a weak smile.

“You just went through a traumatic experience, you don’t have to pretend you’re okay” His arm rested over your shoulders once more, kindly bringing you closer to him and fondly rubbing your upper arm. “It’s completely fine to be affected by it”

“Lois has been in more trouble than me and look at her” You muttered, feeling self-conscious about the whole thing, about being so overwhelmed by it all. About Clark’s concerned and persistent stare.

“But Lois is stubborn, she’s more… Lois” Clark chuckled, causing you to chuckle a little too.

“I’m okay, Clark, I promise” You patted him in the chest. “I just need to rest”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m suuuure”

“Okay, but call me if you need anything, I’ll be here faster than Superman”

“I doubt that” You laughed a little, figuring that was his intention.

“Sleep well” Clark left a small kiss on your head as he stood up. “You know where to find me”

You nodded, feeling too exhausted to even reply. Clark kept staring as he headed for the door, almost not wanting to leave you on your own. When you smiled at him once more it seemed to reassure him. Even if, even if you felt a little bit empty when the door closed behind him.

Wishing this horrible week ended already, you grabbed a cushion and hugged it close to your chest. Hopefully next week would be better. You looked out the window, looking up to the stars. In a strange way, you felt like you needed Superman to save you again. Feeling so lost and vulnerable, so scared and overwhelmed, he seemed the only one to rescue you even from yourself. All your life you had been okay without him, but lately… you needed a Superman. It felt like his magical existence could solve it all.

“I might see him again” You told yourself to ease the nerves. “He’s probably just busy somewhere else, saving the day”

She’s been locked up inside her apartment a hundred days She says, yeah, he’s still coming, just a little bit late He got stuck at the laundromat washing his cape” And she smiles, oh the way she smiles

You couldn’t stop thinking about Clark too. Although you’ve had your suspicions for a while now, that day it all clicked in your head. Especially now that you were over the initial shock and fear and your head was clearer, you made the connection. Clark had showed up a second after Superman left. How did he know you were there? Was it too much a coincidence that Superman knew where you were and saved you and right after, Clark appeared too?

There were many clues that led you to think that Clark was Superman, that they were the same person. First and foremost, the fact that they were the same height, built and they had the same eye and hair color. The logical part of your brain told you that Clark Kent couldn’t possibly be Metropolis’ superhero. A shy, clumsy, mild-mannered guy? Being the most charming, confident and super hero of them all? It was unlikely, that was for sure, but… it still gave you something to think about. Surely people close to Clark thought the same thing at some point, you couldn’t be the only one. Lois, for example, must have her doubts for sure.

You shook my head, driving those complicated and exhausting thoughts away at the moment. Instead, you just sighed and smiled at nothing, just imagining about the idea of Superman coming along with that characteristic magic of his and sweeping you off your feet again to fix everything.

The next day you felt a little better, even if you had a restless sleep and strange blurry dreams of flying men in red capes. The first thing you did was pass by the Daily Planet to visit Clark and everyone.

When you came in, you were received by the usual frantic movement of all the journalists working, but didn’t see Clark at first. You did run into Jimmy, though, who immediately greeted you.

“Hey, Y/N!” Jimmy put a hand on your arm. “Clark told me about yesterday, how are you?”

“Much better, thank you” You smiled at him, endeared by his concern. “Where is he, by the way?”

“Oh, he went out with Lois, but they should be back soon”

“I’ll wait for them then”

“What are you doing here, shouldn’t you be home resting?”

“No, Jimmy, I… didn’t really want to be alone” Truth was, alone in your place you just ended up eating your head about everything that was going on, and about the crazy theory that Clark was Superman.

“I see” Jimmy pursed his lips in a somewhat awkward gesture. “Well, you know you’re always welcome here”

“If Perry doesn’t think I’m distracting you, that is” You joked to relief the awkwardness despite your mood. The both of you laughed at the silly comment in spite of it all.

“I have some work to do, actually” Jimmy shrugged. “Some errands to run, but it was great seeing you”

“You too, Jimmy” You watched as he walked away, leaving you completely alone. Inevitably, you returned to your complicated thoughts.

You were so confused, nothing made sense at all. Thinking about Superman made you... sad. You had always looked up to him and got excited at the mere thought of meeting him. And there was also your farfetched theory. But when you finally met Superman, it was… underwhelming. Sure, he was still amazing, kind, selfless and charming but… something was missing. You couldn’t couldn’t pinpoint what it was. Maybe you were overthinking, your life felt like such a mess lately.

“Look who’s here” Clark’s kind and friendly voice got you out of your thoughts.

“Hello, Clark” You feebly waved back at him, plopping down on his chair.

“Y/N, what a surprise to find you here” He grinned. “It’s been a while”

“I know I’m around here a lot” I shrugged a little. “Is it bad that I want to see my best friend?”

“Not at all” He quickly picked up his papers and went through them, fast and efficient like he was.

“Do you mind taking a little break?” It was getting on your nerves that he was so busy, was it that bad that you needed some attention? Everyone had so many things to do while you were just… idle.

Clark lifted his gaze from the papers and nodded, even though a frown had formed on his brow. He probably noticed something was off about you. He focused his attention on you as he leaned on his desk.

“Sure, what is it?” He patiently asked, curious, but overall, concerned.

“I don’t know, I’m just… restless…”

“Are you okay?”

“I… don’t know”

“What’s the matter, Y/N? Is it because of what happened with Superman?”

You averted your eyes and shook your head, not understanding your own feelings. Whenever someone asked if you were okay, your first instinct was to reply you weren’t, but… you didn’t want to admit it. It had been a rough time lately and you didn’t know how to recover from it, how to put yourself together and take control of your life again.

“Maybe it is about Superman…” You admitted, feeling comfortable enough with Clark to share it. “It was like the last straw, you know?”

“But… silver linings…” He mumbled, not really wanting to upset you. “You met your hero, right?”

“I did, and maybe that’s the problem, Clark” You sighed, feeling frustrated and exasperated. “He was just so… super… Too... too super!”

He squinted his eyes and carefully watched you. Seeing as you grew silent, he only nodded in the end.

“It wasn’t what you had imagined” The way he said it told you that he had read you perfectly well. It wasn’t only about Superman, nothing right now was like you had imagined. You were disillusioned with your whole life as it was at that moment.

“Like, say… you, for example” With your words, his eyebrows shot up in surprise. You kept on talking, wanting to test his reaction. “You’re no Superman, but you’re so kind and selfless too… You actually are so alike”

Clark didn’t reply at first, he just stared in awe

“We… we are?” He chuckled awkwardly, fixing his glasses.

“Yeah! I mean, physically not that much. You resemble each other but he’s so much taller and stronger than you, no offense” You looked away deliberately, watching him with the corner of your eye and seeing a unique outrage in his expression that amused you. “But it’s how much you two care, how you’re brave and thoughtful and just… kind”

“And what was the point you were trying to make, Y/N?” He interrupted with a soft smile.

“Yeah, sorry. What I meant was that I felt lost and I looked up to Superman, hoping I could meet him and then things would be better! And then I met him...”

“I’m sorry, Y/N, I don’t understand what you mean”

“I mean that he appeared and he was just gone just as fast! I blinked and he left just like that, but he didn’t take my troubles away. I don’t know, it’s stupid...”

She’s out on the corner trying to catch a glimpse Nothing’s making sense She’s been chasing an answer A sign lost in the abyss, this Metropolis She says "Yeah, he’s still coming, just a little bit late" He got stuck at the Five and Dime saving the day”

She’s talking to angels, counting the stars Making a wish on a passing car She’s dancing with strangers, falling apart Waiting for Superman to pick her up In his arms yeah, in his arms yeah Waiting for Superman

You shook your head in silence, knowing how you weren’t making any sense. Clark gently put his hand on your shoulder. When you looked up and met with his kind eyes, you saw a small smile had also formed on his lips.

“It’s not stupid” Clark raised his eyebrows, as though making sure you were paying attention. “You’re clinging to him because he’s someone you admire, he’s something pure and good in your life while everything else isn’t right now”

Your eyes suddenly became watery and a lump formed in your throat. That was how easily he could see through you, how simply Clark could tell exactly what you felt and almost read your mind. He was your best friend after all, but he knew you even better than you thought. Even better than you knew yourself.

“You know what’s the difference between you and him?” By that point you were starting not to care if he was Superman or not. “You stay”

Your words seemed to have an impact on him, because he frowned in deep thought. He knew what you meant, he knew that you were aware of the fact that Superman wouldn’t stay to hang out with whoever he just saved, he had other people to save, other things to tend to. After saving someone, he left. He had to.

Clark, on the other hand, stayed because this was important. He stayed because he cared about you and he would stay when you were upset, to comfort you and be there for you. That discovery, however, didn’t make you feel better. Your hero couldn’t save you. Not always.

Clark didn’t say anything, so you just stood up and kindly patted him on the shoulder.

“Sorry to bother you like this, Clark” It was nice that he listened to you, but what could he do to help? There wasn’t much more to do. “I’m better now, I promise”

“Y/N, wait” He called you, but you were already on my way out. “Y/N!”

You needed to stop living in a fantasy where Superman would come to the rescue. No, you needed to live in the real world. And for that you needed to do it alone.

You looked at the TV, even if you weren’t really watching it. Complete apathy had taken over you, you didn’t feel like doing anything. You didn’t know what to do to cheer up, you were so lost and hopeless that you ended up settling for resignation. Nothing was the way you imagined: your, Superman... not even Clark, who you used to believe was Superman.

Metropolis was a big city, lonely for someone like you, who dreamed big but also fell high from where your place in the clouds.

Someone suddenly knocked at the front door, so you lazily stood up and opened the door. You were surprised to see a familiar and kind face. He was holding a big pizza box in one hand and a bunch of movies in the other hand.

“Clark…” You uttered in awe, not quite understanding what he was doing here. “What…?”

“I won’t take a no for an answer” He came in and put the things over the table, then turning to you with a big warm smile plastered on his lips. “You can’t just say no to movie night”

“Movie night?” You managed to let out, still puzzled. “Since… since when?!”

“Since right now” His smile grew even brighter than before. “And you wouldn’t just ask me to go away, right?”

“Clark…”

“That’d be rude, and I know you’re too polite to throw your best friend out like that”

“Clark!”

“What?”

You had to chuckle at his goofy demeanor, still appreciating his efforts. After all you did have an idea why he was there, why he presented himself without a moment’s notice with pizza and movies.

“What are you doing here?” You crossed your arms and observed him intently.

“I told you, movie night” He innocently shrugged his broad shoulders.

“With what purpose, I mean”

“To watch movies, obviously”

“I know that”

“Then why do you ask?”

“Clark, seriously!”

He let out a light chuckle himself and walked closer to you, acquiring a somewhat serious but still soft expression. His big hands then softly fell on my arms.

“I’m your best friend, I wanted to be here for you” He shrugged again, as though implying it was that simple. “I wanted to stay”

Clark gazed into your eyes, and you could tell just by that simple look that he had read you like an open book. He knew you were struggling, he knew you felt hopeless, and he didn’t want you to. That was why he was there, to keep you company so you wouldn’t feel lonely, to distract you, to cheer me up, to comfort you and just be there. To stay.

“Damn it, Kent…” Tears burned in your eyes. “You and your stupid and beautiful selflessness”

He let out an amused guffaw at your words, but didn’t think twice to engulf you in a hug. Clark’s embrace felt comforting, reassuring, safe. You felt protected from everything, including that cruel world that had been mistreating you lately.

“Sorry that it took me so long to realize, Y/N” His hands rubbed circles in your back, bringing you even more warmth and comfort. “I was just a little busy, I should have noticed before”

“It’s okay…” You said in a strangled noise, fighting the emotional tears. “Thank you”

“You’re welcome” He gently squeezed you against his strong torso, and you hid your face in his chest looking for further comfort.

It was cozy there. You were was happy being held by Clark, feeling his warmth as he comforted you, giving you his absolute support and affection, things that you badly craved and needed. You smiled, genuinely, for the first time in days.

You didn’t care about anything else, not even if your theory was correct. So what if Clark were Superman? What if Superman were Clark? What if they were the same person? Whether they were or not, Clark was Superman for you in the most mundane of ways. You had been waiting for Superman, the alien with the cape and super strength, but you were received with this instead, and you preferred it.

As Clark lovingly hugged you, you knew he was Superman without the cape. And not because he was capable of rescuing you from a burning building, but because he stayed. Because he was there when you needed him most.

She’s talking to angels, she’s counting the stars Making a wish on a passing car She’s dancing with strangers, she’s falling apart Waiting for Superman to pick her up In his arms yeah, in his arms yeah She’s waiting for Superman

To lift her up and take her anywhere Show her love and climbing through the air Save her now, before it’s too late tonight Oh like the speed of light And she smiles

#clark kent x reader #imagine #oneshot #superman #superman imagine #superman oneshot #clark kent #clark kent imagine #clark kent oneshot #reader insert #not requested #songfic #faves #hurt / comfort

146 notes · View notes

quartusbellum-blog · 6 years

Photo

SARA for the role of REGULUS BLACK using the faceclaim NICOLE MAINES.

I am very excited about your portrayal of this character! Not only have you given life to the plots hinted at in the skeleton, but you’ve threaded new layers of meaning into Regulus’ story. I can’t wait to see them explored on the dash!

ooc details

Name: Sara

Age: im a fandom grandparent

Pronouns: they/them

Activity Level: I’m around every day and enjoy making a mess of things in game

Other: No triggers though my character might end up triggering others. I’ll make sure to tag.

Acknowledgement: I acknowledge that the themes of this game may include triggering elements. I also acknowledge that my character may be harmed, coerced, or even killed (with player’s consent) during paras/events or may cause harm to or kill others during paras/events. Yep here4themess

჻ ჻ ჻ ჻

general ic details

Name: Regulus Arcturus Black

Age: 19 | January 23rd

Ships: Regulus is rather aromantic in manner so a romantic is unlikely. Even still, I’d be happy to try any ships, any nonromantic ships etc. Warning: please read the whole app prior to seeking a ship with Regulus given that any sort of romantic/nonromantic/sexual ship might contain triggering experiences.

TBH my dream ships are probably more found family/family oriented… polyamorous with an asexual asshole who is a little skew?

Gender/Pronouns: publicly Regulus is still he/him but there will be a blending and fucking up of pronouns as Regulus explores and comprehends her gender (likely ultimate ending but nonbinary is also possible). This is different then how i sometimes write trans characters because in this game one aspect of her narrative will be the concept of growing up and understanding she can be who she wants to be. Even if Regulus knew from a young age (which not all trans people do), Regulus would have innately rejected the idea because of the pride his mother has(d) in having the two heirs at a cost. This became even more pressing when Sirius left his role as heir and it landed to Regulus–suddenly Regulus’ choices shrank even more. Its only in death that she has started to comprehend that there are choices now.

So pronouns will be flying ALL THE WAYS but mostly reflecting how the character is presenting EXTERNALLY to others. FC will remain static but may not be used all the time due to the lack of stable presentation.

For this app He/Him were used exclusively as up until perhaps the past year Regulus presented exclusively as he/him.

Headcanon for transitioning Attisgalli Corrective Draught.

Face Claim: please provide two face claim options.

Nicole Maines

჻ ჻ ჻ ჻

bio questions

Please note, while this game is “canon” up until the start of the Wizarding War it does not stay canon and it’s quite divergent at the start of the game.

biography:

The Black Family is too old of a family line not to have gotten… muddled (never muddied) in the past. It shows on the family tree in little notations (a dark red swirl like an ink blot on their shoulder for vampire) or in burn-marks where a person used to be (for scum of the earth traitor). Sometimes, Regulus’ mother sniffed when explaining this, certain family members couldn’t do what needed to be done.

A little pruning never hurt anyone–not any more then a little cultivating did.

Regulus and Sirius Black might have been half brothers but that was simply the most prudent action their parents could take to make absolutely certain the bloodline continued. Sure, children that shared both parents blood would have been ideal but with Druella only providing girls and Orion not providing any… Walburga Black was always very good at problem solving. Perhaps the only problem she failed to solve was her eldest son Sirius–or maybe she almost fixed it with Regulus.

If Sirius Black was loud and brash and bright–Regulus was the opposite. He was a late talker and when he did start talking it was almost always a last mumbled as a last resort. It wasn’t that Regulus wasn’t intelligent but that he struggled to organize his thoughts and provide them to others–something that continued through childhood, through Hogwarts, and beyond. He preferred chess and finding patterns within potions, charms, and even Quidditch to social obligations.

Prone to being misunderstood when he did attempt to make friends (he wasn’t threatening that girl, he was warning her so she wouldn’t be hurt), Regulus over values any and all friends or family he has. As such, any disowning, death, or friendship breakup has been taken incredibly personally. Its no excuse, and Regulus knows that now more then ever, but the need for connection and purpose helped drive his passion for Voldemort. Regulus believed in what Voldemort was fighting, becoming a Death Eater would provide a structure that Regulus knew he would need outside of Hogwarts while learning how to manage the Black family vaults and investments, and there was a social aspect, too.

For all that Regulus was good at strategy and understanding how seemingly fragmented pieces of information fit together: he was too slow to understand what Voldemort’s real goals were and what they ultimately meant for his family (and the wizarding world, but his family, of course, was paramount). Regulus Black never woke up one day and started believing muggleborns were ‘okay’ or that his innate belief system was wrong. He woke up one day and realized that the few people he cared about were in danger in a way they did not, could not, understand.

The vampire blood was easy to get, although he hardly thought it would work. He had long since been in the habit of visiting Narcissa and feeding the prisoner James Potter. Adding a fail safe into James’ layers of memory charms was not easy but necessary. Most likely, even with the blood, even with over a month of planning, Regulus was certain he was going to die.

Which he did. It just didn’t stick.

It’s been almost a year since then and Regulus isn’t sure if it was the potion, the vampire blood, the way he died, or if he’s finally just turning into his mother’s child in ways he never wanted to–but Regulus Black can’t seem to get a grip on his emotions, or his tongue, the way he used to. In some ways, though, its a relief–like finally being able to peel off an ill-fitting skin for something new.

჻ ჻ ჻ ჻

my character is:

Please Provide the Following

A Belief that is Wrong

Please Describe a Belief your character has that is wrong. It can be something we, as players, know is wrong (ex. prejudice against werewolves ). Alternatively: How is your character lying to themselves (and how is is it shown externally).

Regulus has always had something about organization and if he thinks about it too much even he would have to acknowledge that it’s a lie. But Regulus generally doesn’t pay that much attention to the reality surrounding these habits, only the relief it brings him. His clothes are always pressed–even in his closet of a space with the Radical Alliance. The robes are cleaned, and charmed pressed, and hunt up in a very specific order. His bed is exactly one inch from the left wall. The trunk he keeps things in is under the bed and must not touch any of the posts or the wall. He keeps things perfectly separated inside the trunk. He counted the flur de lis on the carpet between his and Sirius’ bedrooms over and over and over again as a child. He can tell anyone how many panes of glass are in the windows at Hogwarts and even differentiate between wings of the castle. These habits (because, of course, that’s all they are, all they will ever be) didn’t start out so all encompassing but as Regulus grew up, as life became more complicated, choices too limited, finding ways to control it (even illogical ones) seemed to be the only answer.

If things are clean enough. If things are the right number. If he stops counting at the right moment, if he taps the right pattern : everything will be fine. There’s arithmancy in everything, he tells himself, because life has always been more bearable when he believes it to be true.

Job

Is Regulus Black Doing Anything? He isn’t sure, really. Certainly he doesn’t have a job–he’s never worked a traditional job a day in his life! He’s no longer a Death Eater. Can he continue to look after his family’s finances if he is, in a sense, dead?

Does he want to be alive? –Regulus wonders this sometimes, believing it not to be any sort of suicidal ideation but a simple, obvious question. Should he be alive? The answer is no.

Does he want to be–he doesn’t know.

As far as anyone knows (particularly Remus but also Marcus and Narcissa), Regulus Black has no job and is doing nothing but trying to pour his scrambled eggs of brain and impulse control back into some semblance of viability. Underneath that, Regulus Black is trying to pour his scrambled eggs of brain and impulse control back into some semblance of viability…and remember just what his next steps were supposed to be regarding the horcrux.

ooc questions

Writing Sample:

He’s at the stairs. Not the grand stars at the front of the house that fork and twist along the side of the foyer–but the back stairs. Servants stairs his mother would hiss if she saw them except none of their family have ever employed household staff.

House elves are bad enough, his mother says in his ear and Regulus jerks, expecting to feel her breath on his cheek but–nothing. Its nothing.

“I’ve food for the prisoner.” He says but its pointless because no one is listening. No one has been listening since Peter Pettigrew. Since Dumbledore. Since James. It is a mistake but they haven’t realized it yet.

He’s stood too long, frozen above the narrow staircase with a silver tray. Someone will see you–the thought hisses through his mind and Regulus knows, suddenly, with a clarity he’s been lacking: its not real. It’s not a part of this. A dream? The idea s fleeting and wilts under a brush of light as the curtains behind him are pulled open.

“Then go ahead, darling.” Narcissa says.

The memory jerks, skitters, speeds up.

“I’ve food for the prisoner.” He says. “I’ve food for–”

Regulus is down stairs and the food is gone, shoved to the side. The lip of the tray is pressed into his ankle but Regulus ignores it because–James.

“Listen to me,” Regulus is saying. It’s strange, like none of this is real because he can’t feel any of it. The words fall from his mouth because where is his tongue? His wand is tight in his left hand, the swirls carved into its handle cutting into his palm. He should smell blood, he thinks.

There’s nothing, though. The room is bleary with weak autumn light from a small window about ten feet above them. There’s a bed but James isn’t allowed to use it. He’s on the floor. Regulus is on the floor. No, he’s straddling James–James can’t move during this or else–or else.

James tenses under him and Regulus grabs a fist full of James’ fraying robes. “This is serious.” The robes are too tattered to bruise when Regulus’ jerks them. He can’t strangle James (and wouldn’t even if it would be a mercy)

“Why should I?” James, the fucker–it had been a month and he still had that smirk except there’s blood at the corner and this time (not the first time) Regulus can feel his stomach growl at the sight of it.

“It’s important.” Regulus has his wand pressed at James’ temple and his mouth brushes James’ cheek when he leans in to whisper. “You’ll thank me later.”

Regulus Black has never been good at mind magic.

When Regulus wakes up, he tastes salt water and bile.

Exploration:

Please share three things you’d like to explore. This could be a character changing sides, darker themes, or basic fiction tropes.

Family Lines: I think this game provides a particularly interesting set of circumstances regarding possible family lines. First there’s Narcissa and her condition–how did that happen? Possibly Regulus, trying to manage his life post cave and fucking up again ( or maybe it was a blessing?) I like to headcanon that maybe Alphard was a vampire and thats where the blood came from (open to other options). Speaking of, how has Walburga doing? And then there’s, of course, Sirius and all the brother’s baggage which is made even more complicated as (if this set up is accepted) Regulus sort of used Sirius’ best friend as a last will and testament–not that James remembers it yet. Last, … does Regulus even count as a live anymore and if not who has inherited ?

A Family Curse: The Black family has never exactly been known for its cool head and steady hands but Regulus, for all his somewhat muffled anxieties, has mostly stood out as awkward but not particularly memorable. In fact, it’s safe to say without his last name (and grades) Regulus probably wouldn’t have gotten much notice at all. That has largely changed now, although Regulus has trouble pin pointing why and how. There are a lot of factors, many of which no one else knows, and Regulus should care about that. He should be highly concerned–but those concerns evaporate before he can even generate a game plan to consider addressing it. Most seem to assume that its just Regulus taking after his mother. TLDR I’m interested in seeing what information he drops (likely not entirely clearly) without thinking it through and how the changes in demeanor and method impact both those who grew up with Regulus Black and those who didn’t. Don’t worry about wangst, I’m much more interested in throwing weird or intense tings at others then have Regulus mope.

Choices mixed in with all of that, Regulus has found himself well and truly on his own about making choices for the first time in his life. Sure, Remus might have ideas on what he should do, and Sirius, and Marcus, and Narcissa—but all of them have different goals, different expectations of what Regulus could do and in the end, Regulus doesn’t have to do anything. At the onset the only thing he does know is that he must do something about the horcrux…but how? When, where, and why? I want to see how different interactions with various characters might influence those choices and how Regulus handles managing his own reigns ow for better or for worse.

Gender: its so easy to boil gender and trans experience into one narrative but so often things are far…messier then that. Regulus is a character who hasn’t felt the ability to think overly hard (or pursue if he has thought of it) alternatives to gender even if the Wix Community at large is accepting (people turn into frogs, after all). This game provides a unique chance to explore gender through the lense of a character who is learning and failing and not overly confident (or overly feminine) but genuine in that (at least) if nothing else. Also, does being a vampire effect Attisgalli Corrective Draught?

Extras:

Anything else you’d like to provide?

#quartusbellumaccept #marauders roleplay #lsprg #hp skeleton #hprp

5 notes · View notes

iimaginedragons · 6 years

Text

album review

“pray for the wicked” -- panic! at the disco [2018]

the highly anticipated sequel to the commercially successful “death of a bachelor” album by emo pop punk gone alternative band panic! at the disco is here, and i decided that it would be the perfect start for my new album review segment. i’ll break this down track by track in a moment, but first, some background and overall impressions.

although i can’t call myself a longtime panic! fan as i only really discovered their entire discography less than a year ago, i definitely enjoy their music a lot. i’m kind of glad that i wasn’t there from the start, since i was able to really enjoy “death of a bachelor” when i first found it without having any attachment to their previous sound, since i hadn’t heard it before. if you saw my chaotic rant about p!atd a few days ago, i ranked my favourite albums of theirs, “a fever you can’t sweat out” taking the top spot with “death of a bachelor” in second. from what i’ve seen within the fandom, this seems to be an unpopular opinion since they’re so different. since i absolutely love these two very different eras of panic!, and i figured that this put me in a perfect place to await “pray for the wicked”; i felt ready for basically any sound and i also felt like brendon was really going to hit his prime as the sole remaining member of panic! especially after a “début” of sorts with “death of a bachelor.”

however, as a whole, i felt let down by this album, especially after such promising singles. although there were many positives in “pray for the wicked”, it was also riddled with problems all throughout. here’s my opinion on each track along with my analysis of what went right and what went wrong on this album.

#1 -- “(fuck a) silver lining”

when this song was first released a while ago along with “say amen (saturday night)” i really only thought it was “okay”. i think that compared to the big roaring chorus and instrumentation on the other track, this one fell sort of short. however, after more listens, i really came to appreciate the bass in the verses, the brass on the chorus, as well as the vocal hook on the chorus, which i initially didn’t like because the lyrics “fuck a” felt awkward to me -- now, however, i feel like i’ve absorbed the beat of it a little more and i actually really enjoy it. also, it took me several listens to hear brendon’s high notes in the ending chorus since i was initially so irked by and hung up on the “awkward” lyricism, but they’re absolutely incredible. say what you will about his music, but this man can sing. the whole idea of this song, of nothing ever being good enough or totally okay despite silvers linings also really grew on me. overall, i think this is one of the strongest tracks on the album and it’s definitely a song that i’ve been and will continue coming back to listen many times around.

#2 -- “say amen (saturday night)”

i was very glad this song came on right after “(fuck a) silver lining”, because this one impressed me right off the bat and still does to this day. the vocals are clean, the subtle guitar fits very well, and the brass in the chorus works within the heavy alternative beat in this amazing way that p!atd can do. the long high note is obviously impressive as hell, but i also feel like the bridge’s low notes deserve some praise too. this track feels like a strong evolution from the style in many “death of a bachelor” songs, such as “emperor’s new clothes” and “crazy=genius” which are among my favourite panic! songs of all time partially due to their thickly produced alternative choruses. i think this is truly the song that got me the most excited for the new album because it’s so grand and well-mixed. it was smart of brendon to release this one first, commercially speaking, as it got really positive reviews. sadly, i feel like it ultimately came to bite him in the ass as hardly any other songs on “pray for the wicked” were able to live up to this one.

#3 -- “hey look ma, i made it”

here’s where we unfortunately start getting into some problems. the album was obviously going very well so far, but i was especially excited for the first song that i had yet to hear, and man, was i ever let down. i feel like since this is a positive anthem with a shoutout to his mom, fans will jump all over this song; not me, sorry. we have some lukewarm vocals over a synth riff that just doesn’t do it for me at all, and a simple mellow pop beat, which is really not typical of panic! who i’ve always found to have excellent percussion, or else enough of the other things to make up for weaker drums. i also find the lyrics weak and tacky, your usual motivational, shrug off the haters and follow your dreams song. the vocal melody, especially, in the verses, is beyond dull to me. i really don’t like the “boo-hoo” before the chorus -- that’s probably what i detest the most about this track. i know it’s meant to be funny and it’s obviously sarcastic, and who doesn’t love sarcasm, right? this, however, isn’t sarcasm done right; it’s sarcasm done lazily and stupidly. brendon could have come up with a clever line or something like we all know he can, but no, we’ve got “boo-hoo”. i don’t like the trap-inspired beat on the second pre-chorus and the final chorus either; it doesn’t fit the song. i can’t say that there are many panic! at the disco songs that i would skip when listening to an album, but this is certainly one of them, unfortunately.

#4 -- high hopes

i enjoyed this one a lot when it first came out, since i get major “death of a bachelor” vibes from it. although it encorporates many aspects of mainstream pop (which isn’t inherently a bad thing of course) such as the clicking percussion in the intro, it is done well because it is cohesive with the rest of the production, notably a far more varied vocal melody, a hook that’s actually catchy, and excellent brass, all of which the previous track on the album totally lacked. although this is another motivational anthem, the lyrics aren’t awkward to me and the rhymes flow far better; they feel natural rather than forced (a fairly common problem on many tracks of this album). i think for me the vocals really make this song, as well as again, that heavy chorus. i love that acapella bit near the end, then the entrance of another typical pop build up for the rest of that chorus before finally landing into the chorus’s final renditions. i’ll stress this again: the drums, horns, and vocal melody are crafted well enough to surround and embellish the mainstream pop aspects of this song, make it different, and increase its substance; that, to me, is what alternative music is all about. this is also among the strongest tracks on the album for me.

#5 -- roaring 20s

the start of this song really caught me off guard, but i immediately had a good impression about it. i’m really gonna discuss the lyrics on this one because i’m super conflicted on it. immediately i got a “don’t threaten me with a good time” vibe, especially with the phrase “this is the strangest of summers” and the previous lyrics. however, the following lyric, “maybe i’ll medicate, maybe inebriate” is super problematic for me; this is one of those instances where the rhyme feels forced and a bit basic. same with “maybe i’ll smile a bit, maybe the opposite” -- i mean the syllables are counted just right, the words are similar and simple... it just feels extremely weak to me, as if literally any novice songwriter could have written it. i find the pre-chorus very good, and the ensuing hook “this is my roaring 20s” is fine as well, but let’s talk about “roll me like a blunt ‘cause i wanna go home”; i hate it, i think it’s absolutely stupid and it could have been tweaked just a tad to make sense (i mean, it comes up later as “roll me a blunt ‘cause i wanna go home” which makes a hell of a lot more sense and could have a deeper meaning -- is he only at home when he is high? it would totally work as the regular chorus line for the whole song if the vocal melody was altered just a tad). it’s unfortunate because i was willing to overlook the simple rhymes earlier because sonically, i find this song very catchy and unique (love the 20s vibe), but man, those lyrics... i will say this, though: it has been bothering me far less with more listens -- the sound is gradually making up for the poor lyricism everywhere (it only gets worse with the second verse). time for a huge positive score though, probably the best thing that came out of a non-single song on this entire album for me: the slowed down, 20s take on the second last chorus. i find it so incredible, well-placed within the song, and perfectly executed. it sounds authentic enough but somehow also fitting in a modern alt pop album -- i don’t know how he does it. for me, it makes the entire song worth listening to; i soldier on through the shit verse lyrics just to hear what i find to be a huge sonic achievement for not just this song or album, but for panic! in general. as i mentioned earlier, there’s also that modified lyric in the chorus that sounds far better. i kind of wish that every chorus had been like that sonicallt, but i don’t know if it would have had the same incredibly exciting effect that it had on me the first time i heard it; thanks to that, this track is the only non-single one that i’ve really been listening a lot. also, a little sidenote i just thought of: this is really the “stay frosty royal milk tea” of this album for me; i really like it sonically but the lyric issues are cringey -- let’s hope i can eventually overlook them as i mostly have with the fall out boy track.

#6 -- dancing’s not a crime

this song kicks off with a really exciting vibe aside from the obnoxious chopped electronic sample -- i like the guitar and brass as well. i’m really not a fan of the chorus, i mean lyrically it’s weak, but as i’ve been stressing this entire time, if you have enough of everything else to embellish a weaker part of a song, it can work, especially with the amount of layers there are in alternative music thanks to heavy production; here though, it just doesn’t work for me, as the drumming and bass are pretty weak as well. i’m not a fan of brendon’s vocals on the chorus either, he sounds like he is straining too much (i have heard people give the same complaint about “high hopes” and a few other p!atd songs on other records as well, which i can understand, but i guess it’s really up to personal interpretation because i personally love the vocals on “high hopes”). i think my biggest problem with this entire song is that i find it very tacky. i understand that he was sort of going for a broadway vibe on certain parts of this album, which works in some places and not at all in others; this is one of those “others”. the issue isn’t really that the song’s about dancing which in and of itself has come to be seen as a tacky theme in music; it’s more so a lack of effort in trying to make it not tacky that saddens me. the brendon that we’ve seen over the years has written of pretty common themes in music such as sex, cheating in relationships, drugs, and partying in general, but has done so in such refreshing unique ways. i’ve personally always admired his ability to make a party song that’s always a bit “too deep” to be your typical party song -- a prime example of that, again, is “don’t threaten me with a good time”; sure, it’s goofy at times, but it’s clever and it also has this dark, almost sad undertone, as if conveying already the regrets of the following days. here, however, i hear only a surface level song that tries too hard to be a jam and not hard enough to be an actually well-rounded song.

#7 -- one of the drunks

what i just talked about in terms of party related lyrics applies very well again to this track. the verse is very basic and very un-panic!-ish -- to me it sounds like something maroon 5 would write (and i really don’t mean that as a compliment). the guitar and beat in the chorus are alright, they’re mellow but in a good way this time -- i honestly don’t really have any particular problems with the chorus, but it’s also nothing special either. another one of my issues with these verses though is the very short, choppy statements; i mean, he’s not even writing fucking sentences. if you’re into that, then it’s okay i guess, but personally i like full or half sentences rather than just individual or very small groups of words just being sort of tossed around, you know? i like a cohesive statement; doesn’t have to be a story with perfect flow, but i don’t mind some sense of time and direction rather than feeling as though i am floating around in this cloud of space where words are just being chucked at me left and right with what seems to be very little thought behind them. this style of lyricism also reminds me of lots of current trap and trending hip/hop, which i find to be very weak genres lyrically-speaking. i think this song also tried to convey that “hidden sadness/depth within the party song” that i mentioned earlier, and although i do kind of feel it in the chorus, i find the vocals and production don’t convey it as well as they could have. i don’t like the bridge, but it does make that last chorus pop a hell of a lot more. this one isn’t a song i’d purposely skip, but it wouldn’t really be my first choice to listen to at any point either.

#8 -- the overpass

again, another track with an extremely promising start. that brass, those bongos... and then our typical high energy p!atd breakdown, followed by some awesome vocals and bass -- i mean i was feeling very good about this song, probably better than any other non-single start that i’d heard on the album thus far. i like the sound of the chorus, but i wouldn’t call it grand either -- i’m also not a fan of the repetition right at the start: “meet me, meet me, at the overpass, at the overpass”. i know brendon is clever enough to fill that in with some variation; it feels lazy. the vocal run before the bridge is clean and beautiful, yet the strings (which i felt lacked both quality and quantity on this album in general) on the bridge reminds me a bit of a watered down “(fuck a) silver lining” and i dislike the way brendon articulates those lyrics. although it isn’t super impressive and got a pretty positive reaction out of me initially mostly because it’s preceded by two bummers and a problematic fave, this is honestly not a bad song. there isn’t too much that’s really “wrong” with it (as you saw, i was being pretty fucking nitpicky), though of course, “not a bad song” is not a great compliment in comparison to what we are used to saying about panic!’s work.

#9 -- king of the clouds

despite being the shortest track on “pray for the wicked”, this song undoubtedly makes up in quality what it lacks in length. i was initially annoyed at brendon for dropping a fourth single since we already knew that the album was only going to be eleven songs and it was coming out in like a week anyways, so i tried to boycott it so as not to spoil the album for myself -- two minutes later i was listening, and i fell so hard for this absolute jam that i couldn’t even be angry. the acapella intro with all those layers sounds heavenly, especially as i am lucky enough to own a solid pair of beats headphones through which to experience it. that electric guitar lick hooked me immediately and i was just immersed in this song from then on out. heavy alternative production dominates, reminiscent for me of "friction”, “gold”, “smoke and mirrors”, “i’m so sorry”, and a few others off of imagine dragons’s “smoke + mirrors” album, a deliberately overproduced alternative record that just so happens to be my personal favourite of all time. the roaring chorus just demands to played at full blast. the lyrics are decent; not as existential as brendon intended them to be, but catchy nonetheless. the “below the sun” rhyme sounds, again, a bit forced, but within such a powerful track i can forgive it. the strings are really awesome here (probably their best spot in the entire album), and the outro vocals are great as well. this all sort of brings on an interesting idea for me; if you’ve been keeping up with panic! lately, you may have heard brendon discuss the making of “king of the clouds” and the fact that it was created very quickly and added to the album only an hour before their due date. for some reason, it just bothers me that my favourite and one of strongest songs on the album was created in so little time, whereas tracks like “hey look ma, i made it” were done way before and are far inferior in quality to me. it begs the question of what the fuck was he doing the entire time before the creation of “king of the clouds”? i mean “say amen (saturday night)” and other previously mentioned songs are strong and i can see time being dedicated to writing and producing them, obviously, but if it took brendon the rest of that time (aka any time way longer than it took him to make “king of the clouds” and the other strong songs) to craft something like “dancing’s not a crime”, i'd say that’s honestly kind of sad. i don’t mean to insult brendon’s work ethic; i just find that for the creativity that we know he still has to this day thanks to the “death of a bachelor” album as well as songs like “king of the clouds”, it’s disheartening to see final products like the mediocre at best songs i’ve described above. anyway, this is my personal favourite song off the entire album, i think it’s very well done.

#10 -- old fashioned

after what i just wrote on brendon, i feel kind of guilty because i love and respect him so much, so i really wish i had something nice to say right now about this next song... yet we open on this low horn type sound that i’m really not a fan of. thankfully it fades into the background, making place for a verse with a guitar style that sounds like it was sampled directly from the second verse of “say amen (saturday night)” -- the lyrics are okay in the beginning, yet the chorus is weak and the strings don’t fit the rest of the song at all. the “dead and gone so long, seventeen so gone” hook sounds like everything that is wrong with current mainstream pop. then for the bridge, we mix this broadway-like sound with nice brass, which works, but then we’ve also got the “say amen (saturday night)” type guitar and our current basic beat, getting this strange combination that really doesn’t work sonically for me. also, “get boozy”? like... really? i’m sorry, but to me that’s a pretty pathetic bridge. overall, this song is just not very exciting, and i don’t understand the thought behind so many of the sonic transitions, especially that final chorus. this is among the worst on the album for me.

#11 -- dying in la

my immediate thought with this one was “good on panic! for ending on a ballad again” as it really worked on their last album. this track begins relatively well with some nice piano (a little too broadway for my taste, but i can understand the appeal) and good vocals. however, it quickly goes downhill from there for me. maybe it’s because i was expecting another “impossible year” which is an incredibly difficult feat to top, and maybe it’s because i prefer mournful themes to dreaming, hopeful ones. either way, this song really fell short for me. i was good with it despite the cheesiness until the “dying in la” line where brendon hikes up his vocals -- i find it to be completely unnecessary and a huge turn off for the song. yes, he had been channelling his inner broadway on the album but it was subtle; this time all i could think of was some cheesy dreamer’s musical, with this song being the main character’s turnaround point where they then get shot into the wonderful life of stardom thanks to all their hard work and the fact that they believe! ...awful. i just can’t do it. i know this song is meant to be sad by talking about all these washed up people who came to this big city with their larger-than-life ambitions and simply turned into partiers, drug addicts, or whatever. it’s really a great idea for a theme and i would love a song about that, but broadway musical style is not the way to do it. the entrance of the strings really just kind of ended it right then and there for me; it felt like it was trying so hard to be dramatic, while i was sitting here just rolling my eyes. obviously brendon’s vocals are good, but i just can’t deal with the childishness of this song. this level of cheesiness is (and to me, has always been) beyond brendon; he’s always just been so above that, better than this. “impossible year” is somewhat cheesy, yet it’s way more raw and real than this staged shit. i don’t know, i feel like the fans are going to fall for this one as well because it’s meant to be sad and it’s the only ballad on there. for me, all it did was make me feel this aching melancholy for the better p!atd slow songs, such as “the end of all things” or “far too young to die”.

overall, the strong points in “pray for the wicked” for me truly laid in the singles and a couple of other songs. general layered production was decent though a bit muddy at times, the use of brass, horns, etc. within a variety of beats was admirable and refreshing despite it not paying off each time, and the overall cohesiveness of the album is the only thing it has on “death of a bachelor” which is a bit all over the place in terms of musical style. i think that it is really thanks to the consistent utilisation of those trumpets, saxophones, etc. that “pray for the wicked” feels more like an album.

however, the negative points in “pray for the wicked” aren’t few or small enough to simply overlook quickly. yes the album is cohesive, but as a whole it is relatively forgettable, with very few standout songs. there is an unfortunate immaturity and simplicity in terms of lyricism and some sonic aspects of the album that i’ve never really seen from brendon, which is really disappointing for me. certain songs also blatantly outshined others, which would be fine if those “others” weren’t as weak as they are; it’s as if all efforts were thrown into a select few songs and the rest were just tossed in there for length. although i praised the use of brass throughout the album for its uniqueness and its ability to make the whole thing sound far more collected than their previous album, i also think that it might have been overused, as it was dragged into settings (notably beats and some strings and synth arrangements) that really did not require it or sound good with it at all.

i could see this album growing on me as i listen to it some more, since i find myself to become a bit of a “lazy listener” if that makes sense; to a certain extent, i’ll absorb the awkward lyrics, weird sounds, etc. and sort of set them aside and just listen, if there’s enough of a song to salvage despite all those mistakes. “roaring 20s” for example is so catchy that i’ve already been listening to it a lot and really liking it, whereas i don’t know if i could ever genuinely enjoy “hey look ma, i made it” or “old fashioned” at all since for me the blunders in those are just too prominent and/or numerous. only time will tell, i guess.

in terms of my ranking for this album in comparison to the rest of p!atd’s work, i’d rank “pray for wicked” last along with “pretty. odd.” (which i don’t even like to count in my book because it’s just not so my style at all that i feel guilty judging its quality).

essentially i had been hoping for further evolution from the great sound of “death of a bachelor” and the singles made “pray for the wicked” seem really promising; unfortunately the rest of the album fell extremely short for me.

i’ll probably get murdered by fans for this, but my final rating for this album is a 4.5/10.

i think i’ll keep doing some more of these in-depth track and album reviews like this with both new releases and old favourites. if there’s anything you’d like me to review (even if it’s not in my tags at all), feel free to just drop a song or album in my ask anytime and i’ll get it up there asap, obviously crediting you in the process.

---mel

9 notes · View notes

nekumiko · 6 years

Text

Stay Mythical

Fandom: Bangtan Sonyeondan (BTS)

Genre: Romance, Fluff, Angst

Rated: T

Words: 1, 745

Chapters: 1/5

Series: Fairytales, Twisted

Summary: Jimin falls for two things he shouldn't: dance, and a person.

The seagulls squawk as they fly over the lone ship in the ocean, over the lone passenger choosing to be away from the party as she was too entranced by the deep blue mystery below her.

Until everything goes black.

“Very funny, Taehyung.”

Taehyung removes his big hands from her face with a scoff. “No honorifics?”

“Nah.” She smirks.

“Let’s see you try that on Seokjin-hyung.”

“Oh, don’t worry. He acts the part well enough.”

“What are you saying? I’m the better big brother!”

She raises a brow.

Taehyung pokes her cheek. “I wouldn’t force you to go back to the party, and instead would accompany you in your mermaid watching.”

She swats his hand away. “I don’t know if you’re being sincere or sarcastic, but as long as I could stay here, then I guess I’ll agree for now.” She relaxes against him as she turns back to the sea. “Thanks.”

“Though, I do have to tell you that the old saying where having a woman on board brings bad luck is not true.” He peers at her with an amused smile at her sudden flustered state. “That’s why you’re here, right? Come on, we’re not at the age of pirates anymore.”

“Well, maybe I just don’t like parties…” she trails off, looking away. “Also, you’re wrong about me looking for mermaids.”

“Oh. Then I guess I’d oppose you there too.”

She groans. “Okay, genius, then tell me how your mermaids can reproduce without mates.”

“Simple. They’re the asexual types of fishes. We’ve been over this before.” Taehyung grins at her, to which she rolls her eyes. “Well, let’s say there really are mermen. But mythologies say they look monstrous from the get-go.”

“So? At least they exist.”

It’s his turn to raise a questioning brow.

“Hypothetically, of course.” She nudges him before looking back at the ocean with a dreamy sigh. “It’s just unfair. We’ve only ever known mermaid tales. But why? Are women merfolk the only ones brave enough to interact with humans? Bold enough to desire to exchange their tails for legs? Is there, like, an ingrained mindset among their men to be content with life underwater?”

Taehyung doesn’t answer.

She looks back at him.

“You know, with the strange things you spout—“

She cuts him off with a scoff. “You, mister, are one to talk.”

Taehyung laughs. “Okay, let me rephrase. With our unique train of thoughts, we are lucky enough to be in a still-traditional family who arranges marriages, or else we’d end up forever alone.”

“Lucky? Sure.” At Taehyung’s questioning look, she sighs. “Let’s just eat some cake.” She grabs his arm from the railing and starts to lead him back.

Taehyung only lets out a chuckle.

“I guess you succeeded, huh? Better big brother, my ass.”

He raises his hands to his chest. “You did not hear anything from me. Going back to the party is purely of your own free will.” Taehyung smiles then, hooking an arm around her shoulders. “But don’t worry! With Oppa by your side, you won’t have to be lonely anymore!”

“You’re so cringe-y!” she almost screeches, fake-shivering.

As her brother laughs again, they disappear into the crowd, but not before she gives one last glance at the sea.

“Jimin-ah, wait up,” a deep voice calls, albeit monotonously.

“You’re not even making an effort to hurry up, hyung,” Jimin pouts.

“You are absolutely right.” Yoongi smirks when he reaches the younger’s side. “What are we even here for, anyway?”

A booming noise sounds from above, making Jimin light up. “That. I’ve been hearing it for hours already.”

“Oh, man. Don’t tell me this would be your first time witnessing fireworks.”

“Of course it isn’t!” Jimin puffs his cheeks out. “Fireworks means there’s a party!” He points ahead.

“A party?”

“Oh, man. Don’t tell me this is your first time to hear that.”

“Are you being smart with me now?”

Jimin laughs and waves his hands in front of him in denial. “No, hyung. Just follow me?”

“I am not going to indulge you in your kinks again.”

“Don’t say it like that!” Jimin reddens. “Let’s just go.” Jimin then resorts to pulling his hyung with him, though it’s not like Yoongi would even put up a fight.

Reaching the anchor, they poke their heads out of the water.

“You dragged me up here for this?”

“Can’t you see? They’re having so much fun! They probably eat delicious food—“

“That is definitely seafood. Jimin, have you turned cannibal? I might have finally found the perfect excuse to stay away, then.”

Jimin purses his lips, to which the older boy laughs. Choosing not to point out that they themselves technically eat fish as well, he turns back to the yacht. “Well, they also have good music.”

“Nah, not my type.”

“I’ve always wanted to dance to good music,” Jimin continues, almost overlapping with Yoongi’s mutterings.

“You can dance.”

Jimin looks down at the water that’s turned black with the night, effectively hiding his glorious silver tail. “I can’t dance like they do. I can’t, not without legs.”

Yoongi peers at him. “But surely you’re not stupid enough to want to be human just to dance.”

Jimin has to admit that that stings, but he laughs, although it comes out sounding nervous. “Come on, hyung! Don’t be silly. Of course not! You know me well enough! What makes you think of me like that?”

“I know you well enough.”

For a second, Jimin almost falters. “Let’s just swim closer, okay? Looks like something’s about to happen.”

“Stop it, Taehyung!”

“The birthday girl has to dance!”

The claps and cheers of the crowd have her groaning. “Better big brother? Really?”

“Come on, you can do it! Even just a snippet of the new routine you’re working on with Hoseok-hyung?”

Noticing that Taehyung had already pushed her to the center, she sighs. “Fine.” To her far left, she nods at the DJ.

Slow electronic music starts up. Left to her own devices, she closes her eyes, and then begins to move as the music picks up. As best as she could dance in a flowy dress, her knees fold into each other, her arms criss-crossing in front of her chest before her torso twists to her right and she stretches out, as if reaching for an invisible person. She steps back hurriedly, looking like she is being pulled away, then stops to execute a fouette turn twice, thrice. With both feet on the ground again, she leaps back to her right, arms raised above her head. She lands at her starting point, and her hands trace down her torso to hug herself as she sways side-to-side.

Lightning flashes overhead and thunder loudly echoes.

“Jimin?” Yoongi shakes his friend’s shoulders. “Jimin, calm down!”

The music cuts off.

The anchored yacht begins to rock as the winds pick up harshly. Waves violently crash against all its sides, the motions strong enough to start tipping the vessel.

People on board scramble to get life vests and emergency boats. It’s only a matter of time before they jump into the water and find supposed-to-be-mythical creatures hanging around. They’d be too busy with saving their lives, of course, but Yoongi would not take chances.

And Jimin has to come to his senses, anyway.

Yoongi yanks his friend back down with him and swims away the fastest he’s ever swum in his life. But it doesn’t take long before he feels Jimin pull against him. He halts.

Jimin’s eyes had stopped glowing. “W-what happened, hyung?”

“You lost control, Jimin.”

“What?” Terrified, the boy tries to swim back up.

Yoongi tightens his hold on him. “We have to go. You can’t do anything now.”

“But hyung—“

“You don’t know how to stop the storms you start just yet! What’s important is that you stopped making it worse. Now, let’s go.”

Yet movement from their left still stops them both. They turn back to the sinking boat as the weight spirals deeper down the ocean.

“It’s her.”

“Jimin.”

“She was at the center of the boat, so she must have had a hard time getting a life vest from the chaos! And no one might have noticed that she’s not with them anymore! Yoongi-hyung, I need to save her! I caused all this anyway, right? No one should die because of me! I’m sorry!”

But Yoongi had already let go even before Jimin finishes. He watches with dread as the younger merman darts back through the pitch-black sea.

She has never liked parties. But spending her birthday – more specifically, her coming-of-age—at the place that has always fascinated her had enticed her into agreeing to Taehyung’s idea.

Taehyung. Her last memory of her brother is of him screaming her name as her hands slip from his when a large wave had hit them, causing her, who unluckily wasn’t able to get a life vest in time, to fall down, down, down…

Her chest constricts. Alas, her body decides to take an involuntary breath, immediately filling her lungs with water. The already-dark water grows blacker until she could not see anything anymore. She becomes detached from her body.

And suddenly, she jolts back to full consciousness, making her aware of the simultaneous pressure on her chest and soft touches to her lips coupled with air blown into her mouth.

She almost coughs out her insides as she forces to get rid of the seawater she’s consumed. It exhausts her, so she lies back down on the wet sand once the fit subsides. As she greedily inhales air, her eyes adjust to the early morning sky, a midnight purple mingling with orange and pink.

And then the face of an unfamiliar man pops into her line of sight. Her savior?

Her eyes drift down, then widen.

Topless. Not that it’s a rarity for her to see a guy in this state, it’s just that… he’s really cute.

I almost died and that’s the first coherent thought I’d have. Wow, what a hoe. She then tries to understand why he is parading around without a shirt at this hour. The only thing she could come up with is that he must be a lifeguard. A really silly lifeguard.

The man, meanwhile, had been staring so curiously at her all this time.

She finally musters up the strength to open her mouth to croak out her thanks.

But something wet and scaly brushes against her hand.

#jimin x reader #park jimin x reader #merman au #fairytale au #nekumiko's fairytale series #nekumiko

4 notes · View notes

ensigntilly · 7 years

Text

Magnetised (chapter 1)

hey y’all ya boy is back with some gay shit

Fandom: Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Summary: Jacob saves a young boy's life but ends up stumbling into more than what he intended Word Count: 1,770

Read on: AO3

Jacob had been on edge all day. Ever since Starrick’s death, he had been going through London, in what he described to Evie as a “clean-up operation”, taking out rouge Blighters that were still hiding in the shadows of the city. It had seemed like a good idea to begin with, but it was quickly becoming more of a chore than a job.

The sun had just begun to set, creating an awe-inspiring ombre effect over the Thames that most people had come out to see. And Jacob saw this as a perfect opportunity to catch any Blighter scum. He was perched on top of a rooftop overlooking the docks. People below him roamed about, although from high up Jacob was they just looked like bobbing heads, occasionally stopping to admire the view. Lovers sat on the benches in front of steel railings to watch the ships move in and out of the Thames, arms wrapped around each other while others trotted along with hands shoved into pockets and head bowed, navigating the back streets and alleyways of London with ease. Streetlamps were just coming on now, creating shadows along the brick walls of buildings and shedding more light on dirty dealings that were occurring in London. Across the street, a bar fight has broken out between a few men and punches were thrown blindly until police parted them. And Jacob sat and watched them all.

Even as night drew near, the city didn’t fall asleep. And neither did Jacob. The city was uncomfortably quiet, and Jacob was considering returning to the train hideout and sleeping on his sofa in one of the carriages while Evie and Henry stood unbearable close to each other pondering over pieces of crumpled paper. Jacob sighed and stood up, ignoring the pain in his knees and he jogged down the slope of the roof. From there however, he noticed something. On the other side of the street, a boy, no older than seventeen possibly, was being followed by a Blighter. The Blighter kept his distance from the boy, and Jacob could only assume this was to not arouse suspicion from the public, and he stopped to look into shop windows and pubs every now and again before pursuing the boy once more. If anything, this Blighter was more of a pest than a genuine threat. But he was a pest that needed taking care of.

Jacob dropped back down onto one knee and remained perched on the roof, following the Blighter’s movement with an eagle eye. There was just something about the movement of the Blighter that made Jacob’s skin crawl with distaste- it was a sly walk, but oddly casual and collected (and Jacob had never understood how they could wear such ever boots without making a sound). It was a walk that promised something else than what was on the surface. Jacob watched as both the boy and Blighter turned into an alleyway, which was adjacent to the house Jacob was on, and walked towards the docks. Out the corner of his eye, Jacob saw the Blighter’s hand twitch, before a flash of silver caught on the moonlight and hit Jacob’s face. Jacob’s body immediately went rigid- the Blighter had a knife. How had he not noticed before? How had he not even suspected it? It would be a quick and perfect kill; creep up behind the civilian, stab them in the back and as the body was spasming around, hurl it into the Thames.

The boy, who was still seemingly oblivious to the Blighter stalking him, stopped in the middle of the alley to fix his clothes, holding his coat tighter around his small frame and pulling at his sleeves to cover his hands. He looked so fragile and flustered. Behind him, the Blighter had caused the sea of people surrounding the docks to part and stumble away in fear, all eyes drawing to the knife digging into the Blighter’s palms. Yet the boy never looked back. His entire body was trained on the metal railings as he stepped out of the obscured alleyway and into the night, the Blighter trailing behind him. The boy stopped suddenly once he reached the barrier. His upper body was flung against it and his head aimed towards the steep, muddy embankment which led into the Thames, the surface of which was lit up by the moonlight, causing white streaks to dance on the top.

The Thames was empty at that time of night, the boats that previously populated the river with passengers littering the decks had scattered into other lands, making the expanse of water seem vast and as if it disappeared down into fathomless depths.

Footsteps echoed throughout the docks as the Blighter positioned himself directly behind the boy, completely blocking Jacob’s view. The knife still lay in the palm of the Blighter’s gloved hand, but his fingers had closed around it, gripping it tightly in such a manner that Jacob knew what was going to happen next. In that moment, Jacob didn’t think about why the boy had not turned around yet nor why the Blighter hadn’t attacked him. Jacob didn’t actually think any coherent thoughts in that moment. He stood up hastily. Ignoring the creek of roof tiles as the slid down the side slope, he crouched down on the ledge of the roof, his hands shifting to his belt so he can grab his kukris. From above, it was clear that the boy’s hands were shaking violently, his hold on the metal railings turning his knuckles white and his entire body trembling horribly.

As soon as the Blighter’s hand twitched slightly, Jacob hurled himself off the ledge, flattened the Blighter on the ground, and drove his kukris straight through his back before lifting the man’s head back to create a gash across his throat. The Blighters head lolled to one side and made a sharp thump as it hit the ground.

Jacob stood up after a second. His knees and hands were covered in blood. The Blighter’s blood had begun to weave its way around the cobblestone paths of the docks, spilling into the road. It wasn’t until Jacob looked up did he realised that the boy still had his back turned and sobs were not silencing wracking his small frame. Tentatively, Jacob reached a hand forward to lay on the boy’s bony shoulder.

“Are you okay? Not hurt at all are you?”

The boy immediately jerked backwards, stumbling over a stone that was jutting out of the ground and his arms failed about at his sides as he struggled to keep his balance. He fixed his mussed hair and straightened his thin-rimmed glasses, not once meeting Jacob’s gaze for a second. There was definitely something odd about the teenager and Jacob cocked his head to one side as he peered into the boy’s eyes. He had a very small and rounded face, and almost a comedic blush plastered on his face. His eyes were a shining blue and even though his lips were just a mere line, Jacob found them strangely endearing, and Jacob didn’t deny the fact that his eyes always found themselves resting on those lips. The entire boy was endearing too- his tweed suit was a few sizes too large for him and draped carelessly over his shoulders and drowning him down to his knees. His waistcoat was buttoned up so tightly that it could easily be cutting of the boys breathing. Beneath Jacob’s scrutinising gaze, the boy seemed even smaller than before. Jacob blinked a couple time before taking a slow step towards the boy. The boy eyed him warily.

“Excuse me, what’s your name?” Jacob asked.

“Edmund.”

“And how old are you?”

“Nineteen.”

Jacob nodded and rubbed his hand along the stubble on his sharp jawline. An awkward silence fell between the two of them as Edmund bit his bottom lip nervously and Jacob fiddled with his jacket buttons. He didn’t want to pry on the boy’s privacy, but Jacob wasn’t one to just let something like this slide without any suspicion raised.

He glanced up in time to see Edmund taking a few steps back, his eyes now meeting Jacob’s. They were deep blue ocean eyes; eyes that had more below the surface than what was revealed. Maybe Jacob could let himself drown in them. It was then that he noticed that Edmund had backed away more, and was now stood in the shadows of a building, his body cowering in on itself as he stood.

Jacob reached out and grabbed Edmund by his wrist, and pulled Edmund closer to him again. He tried not to think about the was the Edmund’s breath was tickling his lips, or how Edmund’s own looked incredibly inviting at that moment and how easy it would be for Jacob to lean down and for their lips to meet and he would kiss the boy breathless and he could take him into a bar and they would be happy lovers drinking cheap beer that had a statistically high chance of killing them both. Maybe afterwards he could bring Edmund to the train hideout and hover above the younger boy and leave adorable little marks along his neck and jaw for his parents to find, all sense lost in an ecstasy of love and lust. After he could wrap the boy in his arms and hold him tight as they both drifted off to sleep, buried deep in warm, comforting blankets. In hindsight, that idea didn’t seem so bad to Jacob. He was snapped out of his daydream by Edmund’s voice.

“Listen I don’t know what you want with me but I can promise you Sir, I have done nothing wrong. I didn’t even know that guy and I was just coming down here for a stroll on a nice Sunday night because that’s what boys my age do. I wasn’t-”

Jacob raised a hand and Edmund clamped his mouth shut. Jacob eyed a pub across the street, one that only had a few drunk business men stumbling around outside and a bartender who just served drinks and didn’t care much for what came in. It was a perfect place for itching information out of a nineteen-year-old boy who nearly was brutally murdered.

“You’re not in trouble, I just want to talk to you. Shall we go?”

“Go where?”

“Follow me.”

Jacob outstretched his hand, offering it to Edmund, who took it gingerly and proceeded to follow Jacob through the alley, the tension between the two boys gnawing at the stone walls surrounding them.

17 notes · View notes

dannyphantomrpg · 7 years

Text

Visual Aid: 107 Danny Phantom Facts

So I did this again.

(It’s what keeps me occupied when my husband’s asleep and the tablet pen is charging~)

((This one was barely longer than the 10 Years Later, Part 2, but it took all day for some reason...))

Let’s get this thing started~

Hey everybody, Butch Hartman here. I am so excited today because I'm teaming up with Channel Frederator today to talk about my show, Danny Phantom. Can give you the inside scoop.

You guys remember the fandom? Are you kind of curious about the show? Well, relax, we've got something for everybody here as we talk about the 107 facts about Danny Phantom.

For example, did you know that the 2005 Michael Jackson trial was actually features on Vlad's TV on one episode? It's there.

107 Facts: Danny Phantom.

001 Danny Phantom was created by me, Butch Hartman, after I had previously worked on the Fairly Odd Parents with Nickelodeon.

002 When making the show, I drew a lot of inspiration from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Ghostbusters.

003 The title Danny Phantom was inspired by the titles of 1960's cartoons like Jonny Quest. More specifically, I wanted to create a title with a real first name, followed by a last name that was also kind of an action word. Some of these alternative action words were "Danny Thunder" "Danny Lightning" and "Danny Power". "Danny Phantom" was the name I went with cause I thought it sounded the coolest.

004 Some of the alternative first names I had for our hero included "Billy Phantom", "Kenny Phantom", "Jackie Phantom", and "Davey Phantom". I think you'll agree they don't quite have the same ring as "Danny Phantom" does.

005 I came up with the concept for the show Danny Phantom while driving a moving van from Las Vegas to Los Angeles with my mother. Unfortunately, she was more fascinated by the sight of a desert tortoise, than the birth of a new, awesome Nicktoon.

006 Before settling on a superhero show, one of my first concepts for Danny Phantom was a bit more in the main Ghostbusters. It was called Danny Phantom and the Specter Detectors, and it would have focused on a powerless Danny and his friends hunting down ghosts, using an array of ghostbusters-like gadgets.

007 Danny Phantom was pitched to Nickelodeon executives over dinner. Execs treated me after they ordered more episodes of Fairly Odd Parents, and they happened to ask me if I had any more ideas for TV shows. And, yes, being treated to nice dinners is definitely an appreciated perk.

008 There's some early concept art of Danny showing a surprising design. I originally drew him with the Superman-type body, which was basically a lot of unrealistic buff muscles. I reverted to the slimmer design when I decided it's be more interesting to portray Danny as a fourteen-year-old kid.

009 I decided Danny should be fourteen years old because that age is kind of a bridge between childhood and adulthood. It's more of a period of self-discovery which certainly fits the theme of Danny learning to live and control his ghostly abilities.

010 Danny's skinnier, final design, was the collaborative effort of character designers Steven Silver, Shannon Tyndall, and - surprise - me.

011 Unlike many other cartoon characters, Danny has five fingers. Take that Timmy Turner.

012 You may notice that when Danny goes ghost, only his hair turns white and his eyebrows stay black. They're actually meant to be white as well, but we all thought the white brows made Danny look like an old man so we, uh, kept 'em.

013 Sam and Danny were originally meant to share a psychic connection, so one would know where the other one was at all times. But I scrapped this to keep things simple. Only Danny was finally to have the superpowers.

014 Danny was originally gonna have a pet owl named Spooky that would be able to track ghosts. I scrapped the concept as Harry Potter rapidly gained popularity. I didn't want his series to be constantly compared to the boy wizard.

015 I wanted to give Danny a really cool ghost motorcycle to use as his primary means of transportation, but then I realized that giving a motorcycle was pointless because, you know, he can fly really fast.

016 The father-son duo of Jack and Danny Fenton are a reference to Jack and Danny Torrance from The Shining, which explains why Jack Fenton constantly accuses his children of being ghosts.

017 I gave Danny an older sibling because, unlike Timmy Turner, I felt that Jazz Fenton would make Danny feel less in control at home and give him somebody to contend with. I thought this lack of control would make Danny's experience with his superpowers all the more satisfying for him.

018 Jazz Fenton was named after a character in John Byrne's 1990's comic book Next Men. I always thought the name Jazz was cool.

019 Tucker Foley's name is a combination of actor and comedian Chris Tucker and Eddie Murphy's character from Beverly Hills Cop, Axel Foley.

020 Danny's teacher, Mr. Lancer, is named after a family restaurant in Burbank called, you guessed it, Lancer's.

021 Vlad Masters was originally going to be a vampire, but Nickelodeon execs thought making him a Vampire could lead to some pretty violent territory and I thought that too. So he was changed into a ghost.

022 A remnant of this scrapped concept can be found in his villain name "Vlad Plasmius". Plasma is found in blood which, you know, vampires kind of have a thirst for.

023 I refer to Vlad Masters as Danny Phantom's Lex Luthor. Like Luthor, Vlad uses his wealth to exert his power, or at least some of it. He also has a personal connection to Danny that gives him the upper hand in most scenarios.

024 Danny's love interest, Paulina Sanchez, is a parallel to Superman's love interest, Lois Lane. Both characters have no romantic interest in the protagonist because they have a crush on the protagonist's superhero alter ego. Lois loves Superman, but not Clark Kent, and Paulina loves Danny Phantom, but not Danny Fenton. Paulina: But you still have no shot with me Oh, the cruel irony.

025 Danny's ghost sense is identical to Spiderman's spider sense. Both senses alert their respective heroes whenever danger is nearby.

026 The parallels of Spiderman don't end there. Dash Baxter is a parallel to Peter Parker's football playing bully, Flash Thompson. Not only do Flash and Dash bully the protagonists of their universes, but they idolize the protagonist's superhero alter ego without realizing the hero is actually the person they bully. Their names both words that describe their quick movement and rhyme with each other.

027 The ghosts of Danny Phantom's world aren't the spirits of the deceased as ghosts tend to be in pop culture. Instead, they're monsters from another dimension. We call them ghosts because it's easier to say and it's more appealing than saying monsters from another dimension.

028 Danny's hometown, Amity Park, is a tribute to the settings of a few famous horror stories. Amityville, Long Island is the location of the famous haunted house known as the Amityville Horror. But Amity Park is also named after Amity Island, the location of the book and Steven Spielberg film Jaws.

029 Danny's high school, Casper High, is named after Casper the Friendly Ghost. Hey, if we hadn't added all these paranormal references, you may have forgotten the show is about ghosts.

030 Quite a few key members from the Fairly Odd Parents had a hand in making Danny Phantom, including writer Steve Marmel and art director Bob Boyle.

031 One of the major differences working on the Fairly Odd Parents and Danny Phantom was the latter series' more serial format containing everything from character arcs to recurring story lines. Danny Phantom embraces storytelling angle by making the episodes 22 minutes long as opposed to Fairly Odd Parents whose 22 minute run time consisted of 2 eleven minute episodes.

032 One of the most challenging aspects of creating a superhero show like Danny Phantom, was giving all the superhero tropes a unique and interesting twist. We wanted to keep the series fresh an unique.

033 I originally wanted to cast a fourteen year old boy for the role of Danny, but I couldn't find anybody that sounded heroic enough. That heroic voice I searched for was ultimately provided by David Kaufman. Before playing Danny, Kaufman broke into the realm of voice acting when he played Marty McFly in Back tot he Future: The Animated Series.

034 David Kaufman kept his audition for Danny as a CD in his car that he would listen to towards the beginning of the show whenever he drove to the studio to record. He did this to remember what Danny sounded like in order to immerse himself into the character efficiently.

035 I wasn't the only one Kaufman's performance left a deep impression on. His daughter, Grace, calls him Daddy Phantom.

036 Sam Manson is played by actress Grey Griffin. I basically made an effort to include her in every show I created back then. Thus far, she's played Vicky in the Fairly Odd Parents and Kitty Katswell from T.U.F.F. Puppy.

037 Tucker isn't the first loyal friend Ricky D'Shon Collins has played. Before hunting ghosts with Danny, he helped TJ Detweiler keep balance and order on the playground as Vince LaSalle in Disney's Recess.

038 Maddie Fenton's voice actress, Kath Soucie, has essentially crafted a career out of voicing cartoon mothers. She played Dexter's mom in Dexter's Laboratory, Betty DeVille in Rugrats and Miriam Pataki in Hey Arnold.

039 Danny's father, Jack, is played by legendary voice actor Rob Paulson, who's played iconic roles like Yakko Warner, Pinky, Carl Weiser, Experiment 625, Donatello in the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Raphael in the old one, and way too many more to mention here.

040 Although Mr. Lancer is far from hardcore, his voice actor, Ron Perlman, has played quite a few characters throughout his career that redefined the word, He played Hellboy in the Guillermo del Toro films of the same name and he voices Slade Wilson, also known as Deathstroke, on Teen Titans, as well as the Lich in Adventure Time.

041 Valerie Grey was originally played by Grey DeLisle for the episode My Brother's Keeper before renowned voice actress Cree Summer was chosen to take over the role. If her name doesn't sound familiar, you've probably heard her voice as Penny on Inspector Gadget or maybe even as Susie Carmicheal on Rugrats.

042 Valerie isn't the only one that's had a change in her voice. Dani, that's Dani with an I, was voiced with two different actresses through the series. She was played by AnnaSophia Robb in her debut episode Kindred Spirits. The role was then taken over by Krista Swan in the episode D-Stabilized, which was Dani's second and final speaking appearance.

043 Tara Strong plays two of the show's recurring villains: Ember McLain and Penelope Spectra. This is definitely not the first time I've worked with her. You probably know her best as Timmy Turner in the Fairly Odd Parents, which proves she can effectively play both the hero and the villain.

044 Every celebrity guest in the show was cast as a ghost, similar to how celebrity guests would play villains on the 1960's Batman series starring Adam West and Burt Ward. Some of these celebrities include Particia Heaton from Everybody Loves Raymond as the Lunch Lady, and Matthew St. Patrick from Six Feet Under as Skulker, and Will Arnett from Arrested Development as the Ghost Writer, and Martin Mull as Vlad Plasmius.

045 These celebrity voice actors typically played their ghosts for a limited time before different voice actors took their roles. Sometimes as soon as the ghost's second appearance. Series Kath Soucie took over the role of the Lunch Lady and Kevin Michael Richardson became Skulker.

046 Tucker's dad, Maurice Foley, is voiced by Phil Lamarr who voices Hermes Conrad on Futurama and Samruai Jack on Samurai Jack.

047 Mark Hamill plays Undergrowth. He's, of course, best known for playing Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, but also as countless voice acting credits, including the Joker and Fire Lord Ozai.

048 The ghost child Youngblood was played by actor Taylor Lautner when he was just nine years old. Lautner would later be featured in everybody's favorite love story Twilight. Wait, who wrote that? Do I have to say that?

049 Danny's ultimate enemy, Dark Danny, is played by Oscar-nominated acting legend Eric Roberts. His impressive resume includes everything from the Dark Knight to the Cable Guy.

050 The first recording session for Danny Phantom took place on November 21, 2002, about a year and a half before the show premiered. The first episode to be recorded was also the first episode to air: Mystery Meat.

051 In fact, Danny Phantom premiered on April 3, 2004, right after Nickelodeon's annual Kid's Choice Awards.

052 Unlike many other animated shows, the cast of Danny Phantom recorded their dialogue in the same room together. David Kaufman described the experience as something akin to a stage play.

053 It takes the actors around 3 hours to record dialogue for a single episode. David Kaufman knows that shouting "I'm goin' ghost!" so many times made his voice hoarse by the end of the day.

054 In the episode What You Want, I voiced a football announcer that also looks a lot like me except he's, you know, a cartoon. I mean, he looks a lot more like me than Dr. Bender does. I hope.

055 The theme song we hear today wasn't the only one recorded for the show. An alternate version got so far into production that an alternate opening sequence was storyboarded all the way around it. The alternate song sounds very similar to the final product with different lyrics that focus more on explaining Danny's abilities.

056 The theme song was changed because Nickelodeon wanted it to tell Danny's origin story. This way, new views wouldn't feel alienated when watching the show for the first time no matter what episode they started out with.

057 Luckily, changing the lyrics wasn't an overly complicated, make-10-calls, logistical nightmare since I wrote the lyrics of the theme song. Both of them actually.

058 I based the show's theme song after the song The Invisible Man by Queen, one of my favorite bands.

059 One thing I learned from working on the Danny Phantom theme song is that your first idea isn't always your best idea, and to never stop pushing yourself until you've made something truly awesome. You're welcome for that halfway through burst of inspiration.

060 I also co wrote another fan favorite song Remember, performed by Ember in the episode Fanning the Flames, which also happens to be my third favorite episode. Yes, my third favorite. I am very, very specific.

061 Danny Phantom was the first show to be produced by my very own company, Billionfold Inc. which was co-founded with my wife. Billionfold comes from a biblical term, hundredfold.

062 A single episode of Danny Phantom took approximately 10 months to produce, stretching all the way from pre-production to post.

063 While the pre-production phase took place in Burbank, California, Danny Phantom's animation was done by a Korean animation studio called Rough Draft. Rough Draft's resume includes work done on other animated classics like Futurama, The Simpsons, and SpongeBob SquarePants.

064 The individual villains found within Danny Phantom's rogues gallery was based on ideas that I had. Ember McLane stemmed from a pitch regarding an episode about music fads, and the effects they have on teenagers. The Lunch Lady was generated from my very astute knowledge that students tend to hate school prepared lunched.

065 Vlad is a Green Bay Packers fanatic because Danny Phantom's story write, Steve Marmel is a cheesehead himself. We nearly got sued for this, but luckily Marmel was smart enough to make the team colors of the Danny Phantom Packers gold and green instead of green and gold.

066 One scrapped running gag Marmel wanted to incorporate was that Vlad's home would be blown up after every encounter he had with Danny, but this recurring joke was mainly lost in editing.

067 Had the series gone on, Danielle would have been taken in by the Fentons, effectively becoming the younger sister of Danny and Jazz.

068 Technus was intended to have another upgrade, Technus 3.0, in the episode Identity Crisis. The design was scrapped after we decided the upgrade didn't really fit anywhere in the episode's story.

069 The addition of Danny Phantom's logo later in the series was the suggestion of Nickelodeon executives, who thought he needed a symbol akin to heroes like Batman, Superman, and Spiderman. But perhaps more honest reason was because the execs wanted to make the hero more marketable.

070 Danny officially became 99.99% marketable in the season 2 episode, Memory Blank, in which Sam gives him his D logo.

071 The series score was composed by Guy Moon, who is also responsible for the music heard in the Fairly Odd Parents.

072 When Guy Moon and I met to discuss a soundtrack of an episode, I would usually sing over the episode in progress to give Moon an idea of how I wanted the music to sound. Moon would bring a camera to these sessions and record my, admittedly, unskilled singing to remember my instructions.

073 Not everyone can become a half ghost, half human. If Sam or Tucker had gotten caught int the middle of the Fenton's malfunctioning Ghost Portal, it would have likely killed them.

074 Wulf is fluent in Esperanto, a language created in 1887 by Dr. Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof, perhaps better known by his pseudonym of Doktoro Esperanto. Esperanto was created in the hope of replacing every language in the world as the one universal language. Judging by the fact that this video is in English, you can probably guess how that plan worked out.

075 The episode titled Shades of Grey is obviously a play on Valerie's last name, but the title could have a much deeper meaning. The term "shades of grey" refers to an unclear position on the scale of good to evil, usually somewhere in between. This certainly applies to Valerie, as she doesn't necessarily fight ghosts for good or evil. but for her own personal reasons.

076 During Shades of Grey, Danny names the ghost dog Cujo. Cujo's also the name of a horror novel by Stephen King about a dog bitten by a rabid bat, which turns the dog into a cold-blooded killer.

077 The green glowing, double bladed melee weapon Maddie uses to slay the legion of Vlad's monsters in Maternal Instincts is practically identical to Darth Maul's double bladed lightsaber in Star Wars Episode One, save for the red color.

078 Because I know everyone loves multiple Episode One references, the the title of the second season's 9th episode The Fenton Menace is obviously a play on the title of everybody's favorite Star Wars film, the Phantom Menace. Yes. Everybody's favorite Star Wars film.

079 To continue the Star Wars nods, the Danny Phantom universe has its own line of popular toys called Space Wars featuring characters that resemble Chewbacca and R2D2.

080 Some of the computers in the Danny Phantom world have pears in the back of them which you probably guess was a nod to Apple computers. Timmy's dad in Fairly Odd Parents has the same symbol on his laptop.

081 Save for the creepy pictures of Maddie, the programs and icons on both Danny and Vlad's computers are exactly the same, in the exact same order.

082 Skulker's hunt for Valerie and Danny in Life Lessons closely resembles the plot of Richard Connell's famous short story "The Most Dangerous Game". Much like the story, Skulker kidnaps two very skilled humans on his property for the sole purpose of hunting what he considers to be the most challenging prey out there, or, the most dangerous game.

083 Mr. Lancer spouts the titles of books in place of shouting swear words. Some of these exclamations include The Great Gatsby, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and Moby Dick, which is about as close as we'll be getting to colorful language on a Nicktoon, except for maybe Ren and Stimpy, or Rocko, or SpongeBob. We're slick here at Nickelodeon.

084 In the episode What You Want, Paulina transforms into a popular anime cat names Sayonara Pussycat, who resembles the character Hello Kitty. But Sayonara is actually a rather dramatic and final sounding word for "goodbye" in Japanese.

085 In Teacher of the Year, all 13 levels that Tucker shows Technus are based on the eight worlds from the 1990 NES classic Super Marion Bros. 3. The level 0 glitch is a reference to the infamous Minus world from the original Super Mario Bros.

086 Before sending Danny into the Ghost Zone in the episode Prisoners of Love, Tucker can be seen playing Space Invaders on his PDA.

087 Valerie Grey lives on 461 Elm Street, an obvious reference to the classic horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street. She'd probably stand more of a chance against Freddy Krueger than the other kids in the Street as well.

088 Johnny 13 and Kitty's voice actors, William Baldwin and China Phillips, are a married couple in real life. The knot has been securely tied since 1995. Way before they were cast.

089 In Fanning the Flames, Danny quips "Do you take requests? How about Beat It." in addition to telling Ember to hit the road, Danny's referencing Michael Jackson's classic song Beat It. Good one, Danny. And good one, me.

090 Michael Jackson makes a more obvious cameo in the episode Infinite Realms where he's seen in at his 2005 trial while Vlad is flipping through channels.

091 When we see Tucker's report card in What You Want, we learn that Tucker is not only highly proficient in computers, but sewing as well. If Danny ever needs a suit redesign, he who he can call. Not the Ghostbusters, they'll likely kill him. He should call Tucker.

092 The Groovy Gang and Scaredy Cat from The Million Dollar Ghost are an unsubtle jab at Mystery Inc and Scooby-Doo. An additional fact fact for you guys, I actually worked for Hanna-Barbera, the animation studio that created Scooby-Doo.

093 The secret government organization dedicated to eliminating paranormal entities known as the Guys in White are obviously a parallel to the Men in Black who essentially do the same thing but with evil extraterrestrials.

094 I've gone on record saying the reason Danny is not shirtless when he's at the water park is because he gets sunburned very easily.

095 We can all infer that Sam has good taste in films. For instance, a poster for Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange can be seen in her room.

096 In Memory Blank, Sam wants to see Trinity of Doom, a movie starring Femalien, the female version of Alien that’s a Predator, not a Xenomorph, you uncultured swine!, Terminatra, the female Terminator, and Nightmerica, the female version of Freddy Krueger. I'd still go see that.

097 Danny has a birthmark that's shaped like the state of Florida.

098 Timmy Turner's favorite comic book hero, The Crimson Chin, appears at the Ember concert as one of her many adoring fans in the episode Fanning the Flames. I officially sanction your conspiratorial speculations.

099 In the episode What You Want, Danny and Tucker can be seen playing an arcade machine titles Crash Nebula. Crash Nebula is one of Timmy Turner's favorite heroes of the Fairly Odd Parents. The plot thickens!

100 The cross referencing continued over into the Fairly Odd Parents, too. In Poulter Geeks, a wanted poster for Danny Phantom can be seen in the ghost hunting basement of Timmy's parents.

101 Or you guys could be thinking about this all wrong, and Danny could just be a fictional hero. In the Fairly Odd Parents Crash Nebula special, Danny can be seen on the back cover of a comic book. The truth is out there.

102 If Vlad were real, Steve Marmel would have made him the happiest half man/half ghost on the planet. The writer purchased a brick at Lambeau Field, the home of the Packers, and engraved it with "Someday I will rule - Vlad Plasmius".

103 David Kaufman's favorite episodes tend to be the ones in which Danny spends time with one particular member of his family and the plot strengthens their bond and understanding of each other. He cites the episodes Maternal Instinct and My Brother's Keeper as prime examples.

104 Like every great superhero, Danny Phantom has transcended into the realm of video games. His first outing was a Game Boy Advance adaptation of The Ultimate Enemy, a 2D side-scrolling beat-em-up ordeal.

105 The second was called Danny Phantom: Urban Jungle, which was released for both Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS and it was a side-scrolling shooter.

106 There was once a Danny Phantom themed ride at the indoor Nickelodeon Universe theme park at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. Danny Phantom: Ghost Zone's design was that of an Ali Baba. In other words, it consisted of a stationary horizontal gondola with a 360 degree swinging pendulum. Unfortunately, the rise was taken down in 2015.

107 Danny Phantom ran for three season, from 2004 to 2007. A total of 53 episodes were created for the series. The news of Danny Phantom's cancellation was not well received by the fans at all. The Danny fandom took to the streets of New York City and protested outside of Nickelodeon's building to bring the ghost boy back into production. Unfortunately, to no avail. But thank you. Seriously, thank you.

Ok, guys, thanks so much for watching. Hope you guys enjoyed it, 107 facts about Danny Phantom. Don't forget to like and subscribe to the Frederator Channel.

#yt closed captions kept putting dash's name as - and i thought it was hilarious #and fact 27 is where it all goes downhill #fact 27: it's not a show about ghosts #fact 29: it's a show about ghosts!#if I misspelled any of the names i'm so sorry #there are just so many of them #huh only 106 facts #i wonder what happened to fact 94 #it is a mystery #i was gonna do images too #but they weren't anything special #enjoy your wall of reading voice actor's wiki pages #butch hartman #channel frederator #107 facts #danny phantom #reference

9 notes · View notes

emilyplaysotome · 7 years

Text

Part 7 - About Last Night

Down the Voltage Rabbit Hole is an ongoing story about our MC, who could easily be anyone in voltage fandom. She woke up in hospital bed only to discover that she’d somehow been transported Voltage universe:

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6

Part 7 - About Last Night

For the third time in four days, my head pounded, except this time I only had myself to blame.

I should have ensured that the meal ended before the cake, before the wine, and before my resolve had been shaken. If I’d been strong enough to end it when I should have, I would have been waking up in my own bed right about now, instead of the bed in Soryu’s penthouse.

Reflecting back on it now, the entire night had been designed to seduce me. Similar to the MCs of this world, I too was unable to turn my nose up a delicious meal - especially one that was free.

Back home, my friends and I had what I fondly referred to as “our restaurant club”, which consisted of a monthly get together at the latest up and coming (or high end) New York City restaurant. We’d splurge far beyond our means in the shared interest of tasting the best NYC had to offer. I had dined on everything from the nine-course chef’s tasting menu at per se, to Mario Batali’s down-to-earth pastas and pizzas at Otto, and as a result, the opulence of the spread Soryu had prepared for us was not lost on me.

The entrees ranged from familiar Western comfort food that he had no doubt ordered to put me at ease (such as hamburgers, french fries, and pizza), to Japanese delicacies (in case I was feeling adventurous) which he walked me through, such as namako (sea cucumber) and fugu (blowfish sushi). It was fairly miraculous that I had been able to resist at all, considering the fact that while I had been working hard to convince myself that Soryu as a man was not “real” in the sense I required, the food very much was.

The one silver lining of last night had been that I’d at least had the good sense to keep things platonic...other than the part where he held my hand and we gazed into each other’s eyes...

...Barf.

How had I allowed myself to get so swept up in the moment? It wasn’t like me...although, when I began to think about it, kind of was. I chalked my inconsistent behavior up to my inner Gemini, who caused me on occasion to transition from calculating and deliberate to whimsical and careless.

I lay in bed, eyes not quite ready to be opened, as I oscillated between scolding myself and attempting to justify my actions. I told myself that in the grand scheme of things, hand holding was fairly inconsequential considering it was something grade school children did without second thought. The more I thought about it, I began to feel pretty confident that I could play the entire night off without any hurt feelings.

After all...he’d asked me to have dinner with him and then decide. Just because I’d decided to sleep on his offer, didn’t mean I wasn’t ultimately going to take him up on it.

Once I’d worked this all out in my head, I rolled over, opened my eyes, and almost screamed bloody murder.

Soryu was curled up next to me, sleeping soundly, which was odd because I knew for a fact that he had not been there when I went to bed the night before. Sure I had been drunk, but I hadn’t been the kind of drunk that I’d been with Hiroshi.

I reached my hand out and gingerly poked his cheek as I sat up, creating some space between us.

“Yo, get up.”

Groggily he batted his eyelashes at me as his eyes adjusted to the morning light, and he smiled that kind smile which had the power to render me helpless if I wasn’t being careful.

“Good morning.”

“Don’t give me that crap,” I said forcefully, putting my emotional walls back up. “Why are you in my bed?”

He rubbed his eyes, as if he were a little boy, and innocently said, “Honest mistake. I was pretty drunk last night.”

I knew that was a lie. Soryu Oh didn’t get drunk. Soryu Oh was a man who could hold his liquor. He was just making an excuse to get close to me, and I needed to do what I couldn’t bear to last night and push him away.

“Oh, well....thanks for everything, but I’d like to live in employee housing now.”

I found myself unable to make eye contact as I said the words, so I don’t know what he actually looked like when the reality of what I said sank in, but I’m pretty sure it must have been heartbreaking to witness. Like the coward I was, I stared at the covers until he left the room, closing the door behind him. I could hear him speaking with Eisuke in the other room as I got dressed, making good on his promise.

I knew it was all my fault, and I couldn’t tell what was making me feel worse - my hangover or my actions.

It didn’t matter though. I couldn’t sit here forever, wallowing in my poor choices, so I forced myself to get up and began to gather what few belongings I had.

Once everything I owned was present and accounted for, I looked at the empty suite and said a silent goodbye to it, which I knew was illogical on my part as I’d be back to clean it in the days to come. I recognized the fact that I felt a bit of gratitude towards this room which had offered me a bit of comfort in what had otherwise been a traumatic few days. As it sunk in that I would never live here again, my overly sentimental feelings towards the penthouse began to make sense - not only had I developed an affection for the space, but also the man who inhabited it.

Before I could fully comprehend what was happening, my guilty conscience went into overdrive, and instead of vacating the room I found myself rummaging through the suitcase I had just packed. I found the small piece of silk fabric Tauxolouve claimed was a thong, and left it under Soryu’s pillow.

I started to leave again, but then began to worry whether or not it would be too hidden. In order for my sins to be absolved, I needed Soryu to find the thong and return it to me in the way I predicted he would.

After staging the balled up thong in a few different locations, I finally settled on the corner of the bed that we had shared last night. Convinced that the contrast created between the black silk and white bedding would set my plan for redemption in motion, I took one last look at my carefully art directed thong, and left the room.

Kenzaki allowed me a half day to get settled in my new digs and I have to admit, living alone again was pretty awesome. The room itself was as I’d expected - a small studio apartment that would have felt claustrophobic to anyone who hadn’t been conditioned to deal with small spaces. Fortunately for me, New York City real estate had prepared me for such a room, and I quickly felt at home.

The room had all the necessary furnishings provided, and it had seemed that either Soryu or Eisuke had instructed whoever prepared the room to include a few sets of bedding, in addition to a television, and laptop. I didn’t have much stuff, so it was a fairly easy move for me, and after no time at all found myself moved in. I glanced at my phone and saw I had a few hours to kill before I was required to be in at work. There was a lot I wanted to do, but if I’m being honest, it was hard to think about anything other than Soryu.

Obviously he had gotten under my skin, which bothered me, since I logically I acknowledged that none of it was real. Everything he did, and everything he was - it was all an elaborate ruse to get me to fall in love with him, and what made me even madder was that it had only taken a few days to for me fall under his spell.

Was I that pathetic, that starved for attention in my old life, that I would allow myself to fall so quickly for a man that I knew was an illusion?

I sighed, mulling it over in my room, half-euphoric with an unfamiliar love sick feeling, and half-disgusted by how weak I was.

After an hour or so of wallowing on my new bed, I decided to attempt to be productive by adding phone numbers (if available) to the places I planned on visiting. Once that was done, I found myself on the phone with the Sanno Corporation, setting up a date to tour the office, followed by a few more calls, including one in which I impersonated a concerned parent in order to visit the grounds of Seishun High School. Before I knew it, I’d set up several appointments and it was time to go to work.

I put on my uniform, and for the first time, in a very long time, worried over whether or not I looked ok.

“I’m here to clean!” I exclaimed cheerfully as I entered the lounge.

I’d been procrastinating a bit - handling the suites first, full well knowing that the entire group was present. They were in the middle of planning the upcoming auction, and spoke about it freely with the understanding that I possessed no knowledge of hotel’s shady dealings. Their candor surrounding the discussion of the auctions surprised me. Considering they had only known me for a few days, it struck me as odd that they would speak so freely about their plans in my presence. Perhaps they figured that I was insignificant, or that their fragmented manner of speech made it unlikely that I would put together the clues that hinted at the hotel’s dark underbelly. Regardless, it still felt rather careless to me.

With the bidders completely engrossed in their conversation, for the first time since I’d arrived at the Tres Spades, they ignored me completely. I took advantage of this opportunity to go about my business (hurriedly tidying as the room magically reset itself) while attempting to inconspicuously listen in.

As Eisuke alluded to disposing of someone who had begun asking too many questions about the ins and outs of the auctions, I stole a glance at Soryu and reminded myself that he was a bad man, in charge of a dangerous, underground crime ring that murdered people on a regular basis. Just because this world felt familiar and safe to me, didn’t mean it actually was. I had to operate with caution moving forward as it seemed entirely possible for me to perish in this world, just as it had been in mine.

“You wouldn’t want to date John Wayne Gacy or John Gotti,” I whispered, trying to convince myself, “and you definitely don’t want to date him.”

My time spent cleaning went quickly (as it usually did in this world), and with the exception of Eisuke asking Soryu fairly pointedly if he had a date for the auction (he said no), very little happened.

Actually...that’s an over simplification. They talked about an upcoming heist, murdering at least two individuals that they felt posed a threat to their auctions, and wanted Kishi to look into Soryu’s file at the station, as Eisuke was concerned by the Ice Dragons’ recent drug activity arousing the MPD’s suspicion. However, as a woman who was desperately trying to control matters of the heart, Soryu’s lack of date for the auction jumped out at me more than the terrifying reminder that I was literally working for criminals.

I was about to excuse myself when Eisuke called me over and asked me to make him a coffee. I protested at first (that’s not really a maid’s job), but soon remembered how futile arguing with Eisuke Ichinomiya is. From there, the orders started coming in - a tea for Baba, juice for Ota, bourbon for Mamoru.

Only Soryu stayed silent, and followed me to the drink cart to prepare something for himself. I got to work, as did Soryu, and after a brief, uncomfortable silence he broke it by asking, “Did you settle in ok?”

“I did, thank you.”

“I...you left this.”

With that he thrust the thong I’d left behind into my hands.

I’d done it as a favor to him - as an apology for treating him so poorly when he’d been nothing but wonderful to me. He didn’t realize it though, but he would soon enough, and I knew exactly what I needed to do from here.

“Oh gosh,” I said, pretending to be ashamed. “How embarrassing.”

I made sure to not pocket the thong as fast as I would have normally, because I knew like a moth to a flame, Baba would appear any moment.

“Is that what I think it is?”

He obnoxiously patted Soryu on the back and for once, I felt in complete control of the situation.

“Baba,” I pleaded quietly. “Please...don’t tell the other guys. Okay?”

I made sure that the insinuation we'd slept together came across loud and clear. I watched Baba’s face quickly transition from disappointment to a sort of smugness that could only be meant to antagonize Soryu. It occurred to me that I had triggered something in this universe that changed Baba’s role from a potential love interest to a mischievous, fun loving, tension breaking side character.

He nodded with a wry grin, and trotted back to the couch, taking what would most likely be a permanent seat next to Ota.

While he did this, I pretended to be relieved, but in actuality knew that the second I stepped out of the room, Baba would reveal what I had hinted at to the rest of the men, and all Soryu needed to do was go along with it.

Soryu didn’t understand this though. He stood before me, red faced and clearly befuddled. Just as I’d done with Hiroshi, I lightly touched his shoulder and got on my tiptoes, bringing my lips close to his ear.

“Feel free to go along with it,” I whispered.

“Go along with what?”

“You know…” I trailed off and gave him a suggestive look, which caused him to turn a bit redder. “Consider it my farewell gift to you. We’re even now.”

Soryu’s eyes widened slightly, as he came to grips with what I’d done.

I watched as the wheels spun behind his eyes as he realized that I’d left the underwear behind on purpose, and blushed an even deeper shade of red when he realized that I knew what the rest of the men knew, but never said - that Soryu Oh was a virgin.

Sure, he was many things, but being a virgin was the one thing that the bidders, should they ever want, could hold over his head. It was something that he found to be a bit embarrassing, as a 28-year-old man, and a gangster no less, who was constantly surrounded by sex and illusions of sex.

I’d put two and two together fairly quickly, between Eisuke’s initial certainty that lodging with Soryu would make me most comfortable as a woman with a boyfriend. Eisuke had made it clear that day out of all the bidders, Soryu would never touch me, and when I’d pressed him, insinuated he’d never seen his friend in all the years he knew him touch a woman, so it was doubtful that he’d start now.

My conviction only grew after Soryu told me about his past - having never been in love or casually dated. Since he’d also expressed that he’d never patronized a prostitute, it was clear that his sexual experience was limited to whatever he did on his own time, without the mess of a flesh and blood woman that he’d lose interest in “after she opened her mouth” as he had so bluntly said that night.

From behind me I could hear snickering, and I watched as Soryu’s face relaxed. He gave me a small nod, to the point that anyone else who hadn’t been watching us closely would have missed it, and with that, he walked back to the couch carrying the drinks I’d prepared for everyone.

I left room, quietly closing the door behind me, with a clear conscience but my heart aching ever so slightly. This was for the best. I needed to keep moving forward. I didn’t have time to pine over Soryu Oh right now.

I needed to get to Conte before I missed the dinner rush.

To be continued…in Part 8!

If you’ve enjoyed the story, please show your support by sharing it with a friend or buying me a coffee! My goal is to create an original web series so if you like my characters please consider donating something to help me get it made.

Thanks for reading :)

@lone-wolf155 @mysticdaddies @01paige01 @picchebianca @hifftn @lexlesnik @jasminwild @laurameg99 @wickedtiff @aenonymousse @icedragonsprincess @nicok97 @ariaspencer1028 @vasl-97 @kingdomzeldaquest @saphirepearl @galaxyinqkxy @sone9yoona @frywen-babbles @whitedragonblade @scorpioslover @thesassyscribbler @liebengirl @secretotomelover @nitelotus @kpkarlee @callmesinner

(Hope you’ll check it out too - the other parts are up top! @plloo2013!)

#voltage fandom #voltage fanfic #voltage fan fiction #kissed by the baddest bidder fan fic #kissed by the bidder fanfic #kbtbb fanfic #kbtbb fan fiction #soryu oh #eisuke ichinomiya #ota kisaki #mitsunari baba #mamoru kishi

70 notes · View notes