#and another thing about people who get smug/mad at characters for being 'stupid' for what ultimately is 'not knowing that they are in a

[donotalwaysbebatman]

Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent #4

First of all. Why is Cyborg just standing there doing nothing? Does not pass the lamp test. Why? (We know why.)

But then Jon-el follows Lex over to the Batbunker, and, like, what, he can just do that? They have no security? Their number one concern on the planet is being caught by Superman and they didn’t so much as check a camera before letting a Kryptonian right in? Because Jon-el has way fewer powers than Kal, and he doesn’t even look like he’s trying to be subtle, honestly.

Also, why is Harley so weirdly out of character? She’s so flat, like someone was trying hard to write a boring-ass manic pixie dream girl and failed at that because he’s never talked to a woman in his life. Also. The fucking art. Why is she dressed like a porn parody? And why does her face look Like That?

Then! Jon-el is like. Ah-ha! Lex Luthor is evil! He’s trying to stop Superman! As if Jon-el didn’t have a whole “emotional” revelation last issue where he realized Superman was evil??? We literally already established that??? He’s been looking for a way to stop Superman! So why the hell is he trying to get mad at people who also want to stop Superman? Especially since! If Superman is Evil then Lex is probably Good, stands to reason!

(Ugh, Harley is being obnoxious again. Fuck, people, she’s not an idiot, she has a PhD and/or MD in literally how the fuck people work. She’s a genius. And they’ve literally been talking about another universe’s Superman. Fuck’s sake.)

Then he’s like “oh hoo hoo do you think you could stop me” um, yes. An entire team of superheroes against an idiot baby who refuses to train and can’t even punch good? With only half the powers of Good Superman, who’s a lot less powerful than Evil Superman? Yes. They could beat you easily you whiny little World’s Specialist Boy.

But also, even if they couldn’t? Why would he say this? This is so out of character for Jon-el, who is not generally just a smug douchebag? He wasn’t as a kid. Why would he be now that he’s had the trauma of being held completely powerless? Makes no sense. This is such an edgelord comment that some reddit bro who thinks he’s cool would say for no reason.

Another thing to note is that, while there are technically women here, they just stand there and do nothing. They could literally be removed from the story without replacing them with anything, and you probably wouldn’t even notice. Not even just to think, hmm, was there something here before?

Also. Why is Jon-el so mad at Batman? Literally not established, also a weird thing to say about him. Batman is not really known (in canon or in meta) as being a particularly judgemental hero? And the only person he’s really been particularly ‘shoot first ask questions later’ towards at any point in Rebirth is Jason, who Jon-el has no reason to care about? Or even have talked to at any point; it would actually be weird to find out they’d interacted at all. You could argue he’s standing up for Damian, which I think the story is trying to set up, except that Bruce doesn’t really do that to Damian? And insofar as he does, Damian would never complain about it to Jon, both because there’s become a distance between them too large for personal conversations, and because he wouldn’t air family business even to his best friend.

Also, giving Jon-el some kind of bizarre Mary Sue power is just stupid. He’s already Superman. Making him more powerful is only going to cut off avenues of narrative. He should be a character who feels like he can never live up to his dad simply because he’s less powerful, and it should be used as the metaphor it’s meant to be: alienation from both culture of origin and culture of habitation, as a second generation immigrant.

Now Babs is like ‘omg who is this guy who knows my secret name!!!’ as if a) Superman doesn’t already know her secret identity, and b) they weren’t just talking about alternate fucking universes. And then he describes her as if her only importance is her fucking heteronormative romantic potential! That’s why he trusts her! Because he’s relegated her to a love interest and nothing else! My god, dude, this is an alternate universe where you can’t even trust your own father, and you trust someone you’ve barely met in your own universe because she’s hot to some dude who taught you to punch real good???

(And, while I love Haly, this writer tooting his own horn is objectively annoying.)

And what is his specific problem with Batman? It doesn’t make sense!

Now Alfred is out of character as hell, too, all some personality-less English stereotype. He loves tea! He hates fighting and sass! What the hell. Why have you replaced Alfred with a robot.

Also, the whole, “haha whoops, I didn’t think of that” is just... not Lex’s character? I know I have a particular vision of Lex, but even in the strictest canon, the things that remain consistent: he’s a genius, and he apologizes to no one. Of course it’s thought through how it looks. And why doesn’t he talk in a charming way? That’s his whole personality!

And, again, he’s horrified they’d make him fight his father. Even though that’s what it established last issue that he has to do. And he’s been looking for a way to do it. That makes no sense! It’s introducing conflict for the sake of conflict, not to move the story along! What, did they tell him he didn’t have enough pages or something, he just made up a whole issue that says nothing? And he just trusts things he find out from people he’s already learned he can’t trust. Like, he still believes them, even though he’s already figured out those people are fascist dictators who kill people to keep the world “safe”.

And, like, Alfred, sure, I can buy that Jon-el trusts Alfred, he would’ve interacted with him for a while before he got trapped in a cave, but, again, why does he trust Babs? And definitely why does he trust either of them in an alternate universe that already demonstrated he can’t trust people just because he knows them on his own world.

Then Damian. Why is he. So weird. Why is he talking like that and why does he look like that and what the hell is he wearing. He’s somehow completely out of character while also replaceable by a fucking lamp. And if anyone should be the person that Jon-el trusts completely and would do whatever he said, it’s Damian, so why wouldn’t he just take Damian’s word for whatever’s going on? And since Damian clearly trusts Superman, and Superman clearly likes Jon-el... I don’t know, it all just feels, again, random for the sake of added conflict without actually telling a story.

Now Jay is the absolute worst part. And I say this as someone who reads only for Jay. Because in a world where Superman is evil and everyone is constantly terrified of him, even from just seeing the symbol... why would Jay just happily let one of those in? Why would he then spill his secrets or tell the actual truth about how he feels about the government? Do you think gay people think with their dicks at risk to their lives, livelihoods, and families, Tom???

Plus. It actually would’ve been an amazing character/relationship building moment, if we’d gotten to see Jon establishing that Jay could trust him. Little details he’s learned about how Jay likes his coffee, or his fondest childhood memory. Things that would establish an intimacy between them, the idea that they know and care for each other. Instead of just skipping over everything interesting to talk about Superman again, who we already know is evil. And then he’s flirting? Again. Terrifying godlike agent of a fascist government.

And why is Jay drawn like he’s twelve?

[mammonshuman92]

- It Takes Two -

(Mammon x GN!MC)

Genre: angst/hurt/comfort

WARNINGS: alcohol, drunkenness, cheating, **

** There is a moment where a character is drunk, and someone makes moves on them, character is too drunk to realize it’s not who they thought it was. Groping and making out, no penetration; character doesn’t consider is SA. I apologize if it is offensive.

Ya better hurry up, or we’re gonna be late!” Mammon was pulling you by the hand down the hallway to your first class of the day.

“I wasn’t the one who overslept because they kept saying “just lay with me for 5 more minutes.”“ You said, giving your best impression of him.

You’d become best friends rather quickly after your arrival in the Devildom, practically becoming attached at the hip instantly. It didn’t take long for that light, warm feeling to invade your heart. Now you’d been dating for a few months and had become even more inseparable.

“Details, details!” He responded, laughing.

The two of you came barreling through the door with only seconds to spare before the bell rang; hand-in-hand, laughing like fools.

You took your seats across the room from each other, being the professors current punishment for Mammon talking to you during class.

As you sat down you felt eyes on you and looked up.

A few succubi were not so casually looking at you and whispering.

It wasn’t uncommon though. I mean, you are a human in the Devildom. You also live with the 7 rulers of the underworld. You’d gotten quite used to people whispering about you. You decided to ignore them, and pay attention to class. Whatever they were whispering about was surely nothing you hadn’t already heard circulating throughout the gossip mill.

Throughout the day, you noticed the same group of succubi whispering and giving you looks. They even giggled a couple times. You tried your best to keep your cool, but it had been going on all day and it was really getting under your skin.

What is so damn funny? You thought to yourself.

The final bell rang and you couldn’t be happier. Now you got to put the day behind you and go home with Mammon. Tonight is movie night. Cuddling and eating junk food is just what you need after a day like today.

You rushed to the usual spot where you meet Mammon. Seeing his face would definitely make you feel better right now, but he wasn’t there yet. 

He must have gotten hung up in class or something.

You leaned against the wall, pulled out your D.D.D. and started surfing Deviltube to pass the time. You were so engrossed in your video that you barely noticed that same group of succubi walk past.

Until they made sure you noticed them, that is.

One girl bumped into you on purpose, sending your D.D.D. to the concrete, via crash-landing.

“Stupid human.” She sneered.

You rolled your eyes and bent down to pick up your D.D.D. It’s nothing you haven’t heard, quite a bit actually, since coming to the Devildom. She’d have to try a lot harder than that.

When you stood back up, the succubus in question was standing in front of you, arms crossed with a smug grin.

“Do you think you’re special?” She asked, looking you up and down. You didn’t respond and resumed your scrolling through Deviltube. Ignoring her made her mad.

“As soon as he gets tired of you, he’ll move on to the next one.”

Excuse me? 

“I don’t think MY relationship is any of your concern.” You said sweetly, slapping on your best fake smile. You looked around them, desperate to see Mammon walking up, but he wasn’t there.

Where is he? 

She was practically laughing in your face. 

“He made me feel special too.” Her words, full of venom as they left her lips, triggered something in your brain.

Flashbacks of your first day in the Devildom came rushing back. Specifically what Satan had said after Mammon made his grand entrance.

“Whenever he takes a liking to someone, they suddenly find themselves awash in money. But from what I hear, if he decides to break it off with someone, that wealth evaporates. They’re left without a Grimm to their name.”

The memory made your chest feel heavy. 

Could that pertain to people as well? They said a pure soul is like a shiny gem. What if..

“Everything he’s said to you, he probably already said to me.” She spat.

Your head was spinning, a knot forming in your throat. Her earlier words replaying in your mind.

“As soon as he gets tired of you, he’ll move on to the next one.”

What if..? No.. He wouldn’t do that...would he?

You quickly got so lost in thought as anxiety started to take root, plaguing you with ‘what ifs’ and hypotheticals, that you almost didn’t notice when someone stepped between you and the succubus. Putting a hand on either side of your face, he tilted your head up to look at him. Irises the color of tropical waters, instantly melt away your anxiety, calming the angry sea inside you.

“Let’s go home.” He whispered with a smile. His voice was soft, but you could see the anger in his eyes. He slung an arm around your shoulders and turned to start walking toward the House of Lamentation.

“We weren’t done talking.” She said vindictively.

“Don’t ya have anythin’ better to do?” Mammon snarled, glaring at the succubus.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes, leaving with her friends.

By the immense tension you could feel between them, you could tell that they had indeed been together at some point.

The walk home was quiet, which left you with ample time for your thoughts to run wild. 

Did she know him like you do? His little habits and his favorite things? 

Did she stick up for him when his brothers were dogging on him? Or afterward when he was down, did she try her best to drown out their hateful words with affirmations of love?

Did she play with his hair while he laid on her stomach, arms wrapped tight around her middle after he loved her? Hold her in his lap as he rubbed soothing circles on her back when she was sad? Whisper sweet nothings to her when he thought she was asleep?

...Did he love her?

-

“Whoa! Did ya see that, MC?!”

The two of you were curled up on the couch in Mammon’s room, watching a movie on his projector, just like you did every week.

Did they do movie night?

It shouldn’t be bothering you. Of course he’s had other partners. He’s been alive for thousands of years.

And you’ve had other partners. So what? No biggie. That wasn’t the issue.

The thought of him saying the same things, doing the same things with someone else...loving someone else, is what bothered you. It hurt to think that maybe you really weren’t that special; another weak, insignificant human, just like all the rest.

But the things she said kept playing on a loop in your head.

“As soon as he gets tired of you, he’ll move on to the next one.”

“He made me feel special too.”

Could she be right?

“Babe, are ya okay?” He had paused the movie and was now staring at you expectantly.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah I’m fine.” He saw through it quickly.

“Ya know, you’re not good at lyin’. What’s wrong? If ya don’t like the movie we can watch someth-”

“That girl earlier, at RAD? Is she your ex?” You didn’t want to bring it up, but you had to know before your thoughts could torment you further.

His face fell and he sighed heavily. “I was wonderin’ when you were gonna say somethin’..”

You remained quiet, watching his face, waiting for him to begin talking.

“We were together a long, long, time ago. Nothin’ serious. I broke it off when I realized she was only around for what she could get outta me. She didn’t take it too well.” He explained, his expression turning sour. “She had a different story, huh?”

“She didn’t say much really, except once you get tired of me you’ll move onto the next one. That I’m nothing special because everything you say to me you’ve probably said to her.” You said, keeping your eyes down as you fidget with the hem on your shirt.

He started laughing.

Your head snapped up, looking at him in shock.

“What’s so funny, Mammon?” You asked, getting a little irritated by his reaction. He stopped laughing when he looked at you and realized you were serious.

“Ya don’t actually believe her, do ya?” He scoffed, getting offended.

“No? I don’t know..” You replied, not meeting his gaze. Of course you wanted to believe him, but you already felt like you weren’t good enough for him, and that succubi’s words just watered the seeds of insecurity in your brain and helped them flourish.

You had always been the opposite of his brothers. You always believed Mammon, even when everyone else was against him. You were always on his side. Ready to stick up for him no matter what. To hear you now, was like a slap in the face.

Mammon’s face distorted in pain. And anger.

“What? Whaddya mean ya don’t know?” His voice was soft, “Ya don’t trust me?” He asked, meeting your gaze.

“Mammon, that’s-”

He shook his head. “No, I get it. A few bitter words from some random demon and now my words mean nothin’. “ He jumped up from the couch, making a beeline for the door.

“What about the last few months, huh? After all the time we spent together you think I’d do somethin’ like that to ya?” His voice cracked on the last sentence. He paused; hand on the knob as he stared at the door. You heard a small sniffle as his other hand came up to angrily wipe his face.

“I thought ya knew me better than anyone.” His voice was barely audible, but you could hear the hurt. He felt betrayed.

And with that he left, slamming the door behind him.

When he didn’t come back after an hour and wouldn’t answer your calls, you grabbed a few things and headed to your room. You still felt uneasy about the whole “his ex confronting you” thing and after what had just happened, you just wanted to be alone. 

Your bed seemed huge and your room felt odd. It’s not like you didn’t spend time in there anymore, you just didn’t usually do so alone. The silence was deafening.

I shouldn't have doubted him. He used to try and hide his feelings, although he was bad at it. But since we got together, he doesn’t hide how he feels about us to anyone.

You thought of all the times his cheeks had flushed scarlet when you caught him staring at you. How he sits and endures scary movies because they’re your favorite. The way he will randomly bring you your favorite snacks or other little gifts because he was thinking about you. Relentlessly tickling you just to hear your bright, uninhibited laughter. That even in his sleep, he has to be constantly touching some part of you, or he gets restless. 

You slowly drifted off to sleep, with tears staining your cheeks.

-

“Have you seen Mammon?” 

He never came looking for you last night and he wasn’t at breakfast. He even skipped RAD.

Asmo shook his head, “Not since yesterday. Did something happen?”

You decided to fill him in with all the details. He is the Avatar of Lust after all, so surely he could give you some advice regarding love.

He gasped dramatically, “No she didn’t! What a tart!”

“I know I shouldn’t have doubted him. He’s never given me a reason to, but I don’t know. She just got in my head, I guess. Poked at some insecurities.” You explained. “I haven’t seen him since he stormed off.”

“He won’t pout for long, he never does.”

“It’s more than just pouting. I hurt him just like everyone else. He feels betrayed.” You said, voice small.

You just wanted to pepper his face with kisses and profusely apologize for ever doubting him. Why did you ever let some random succubus get to you like that? To make your trust for Mammon falter, even slightly. Did you honestly believe he would toss you aside after he got what he could out of you? Really? 

Satan said it too though, in the beginning. That when you’re with him you find yourself drowning in gifts and the like, but once he outgrows you, you’re left with nothing. That’s the Greed.

You refuse to accept it though.

You know Mammon, better than anyone. He has changed so much since you came here. He’s not the same demon he used to be. He is more than just his sin.

“When he is ready, he’ll come back. He always does.” Asmo said, placing a hand on your shoulder, giving you a warm smile.

“Now, let’s go and change! You are depressing me and it’s ruining my skin. We are going out tonight!” He was practically vibrating with excitement. You, not so much.

“Ugh, no way Asmo. I’m not in a party mood.”

“Nonsense! It’s exactly what you need. We will have some drinks and dance and you’ll feel better. You’ll see.”

You relented, knowing that once Asmo got his mind set on something like this, there was no getting out of it. Maybe a few drinks really would make you feel better.

-

“Trouble in paradise?” She said, motioning to the drink in his hand.

His clothes were dishevelled, his hair mussed, eyes red-rimmed and puffy. He looked like he’d been through the wringer. Felt like it too. He’d been in the private lounge at the club for a little while now, nursing drink after drink, attempting to drown his sorrows.

“Go away.” He growled, turning his attention back to his drink.

“Is that anyway to greet an old friend?” She asked innocently.

“Nah, but it is a good way to greet a snake.”

“Ouch.” She put a hand over her heart, feigning hurt feelings.

“Haven’t ya caused enough problems? Leave me alone.”

She scoffed, plopping down onto the couch next to him.  “Oh, come on Mammon. You’re this hung up over a human?”

“Don’t talk about MC.” He snarled. In one big gulp, he swallowed the remainder of his drink. No matter what kind of situation the two of you were in, he wouldn’t let someone, anyone, say anything cross about you. At all.

“Oh, come on. You can’t seriously say you don’t miss being with me. A demon.” She leaned in close, her lips next to his ear, “Not nearly as fragile as a human. You can be as rough as you want..” She purred.

He jumped up from where he’d been sitting, attempting to get away from the succubus. “Get the fuc- Whoa.” He slurred, staggering slightly before quickly sitting back down, head lolling back to rest on the back of the couch. His vision was pretty blurry; the room spinning. He closed his eyes, hoping it’d help. 

Even in his deeply inebriated state, you were all that was on his mind. The feel of your hand running through his hair, lightly scratching at his scalp. The warmth of your body pressed against his, your lips; soft and delicate like rose petals, leaving small kisses across his face before finally meeting his lips. The bubbly sound of your laughter, beautiful like music. The way your eyes shine every time you see him, even if he only left your side for a tiny moment. 

After the fight you had and leaving the way he did, and now being away from you a whole day, not hearing your voice, feeling your touch, he was ready to go crazy. And although he did sneak back into the house after he was sure everyone was asleep, and slept in the backseat of his car so no one would find him, it wasn’t the same as sleeping next to you. He missed you.

But, it was more than that. He felt so incredibly stupid for reacting the way he had. If he were in your situation, and felt how you did, he would’ve had questions too. You love him, and all you wanted was a little reassurance that he in fact does love you. Man, does he love you. More than he’s ever loved anyone or anything.

With the attention span of a tuna sandwich, mixed with the levels of alcohol in his system, and being so deep in his thoughts of you, he hadn’t noticed the sudden shift of weight in his lap.

One hand found its way to the back of his head, fingers tangling in his hair. The other hand resting on his chest, slowly moving down his stomach, intently feeling every muscle. His mouth opened slightly, a breathy sigh escaping. He had missed you so much, your touch lighting his skin ablaze, craving you more and more.

Your hand moved lower, earnestly caressing his growing stiffness. Your lips crashed into his suddenly; hungrily, your tongue brushing his bottom lip. His hands moved up your thighs before firmly gripping your hips, grinding you against him.

Small alarm bells were going off in his head, something didn’t seem right. You didn’t giggle like you always do when he grabs your hips. Your kisses seemed sloppier than usual too.

He tried opening his eyes, blinking lazily several times. The room was still swirling around in his drunkenness, making it nearly impossible to focus.

Your hand moved to his pants, undoing the button and zipper. He removed a hand from your hip and grabbed your wrist, but didn’t attempt to move your hand from his swollen boxers. As he was about to break the kiss and suggest heading home and picking up with this make up where you left off, he heard a voice nearby.

“What the hell?!” They shrieked. 

Asmo?

“Mammon..?” You barely choked out.

That was your voice. He’d recognize it anywhere; the musical sound gently floating into his ears as it always did. But you sounded like you were crying..

And it didn’t come from the figure straddling his lap. How is that possible? He’s been making out with you, getting pretty heated actually, for the last several minutes.

He broke the kiss with you, confusedly turning to his left and blinking several times until his surroundings started to come into focus.

There you stood in the doorway of the private lounge with Asmo next to you, your eyes wide as s tears streamed down your cheeks, gaping at him in horror.

The alarm bells that had been going off, the red flags popping up trying to warn him that something wasn’t quite right, were about to become very clear.

- part two coming soon! -

[shiny-jr]

you might've talked about this before, but who's your favorite character?

mine's gotta be ace, i like my men a little stupid

Ah, I think now would be best to go over my general thoughts of the cast since I have answered this before. Although my list of favorites is pretty much the same, I can go into more detail here. So of course, this will be a long post.

HEARTSLABYUL

Riddle Rosehearts

5/10. I think he's okay, but he's not my favorite. I do like how he gets angry, I think it's funny when his face goes red and he goes from cute rosey dorm leader to looking so mad that he might explode. But that's about it. I don't feel any empathy for him backstory wise either, so he's kinda meh.

Ace Trappola

8/10. Anon, I too like my men stupid. Why do you think I like himbos so much? While Ace isn't always dumb, he does have his moments where he's obviously missing a few braincells but he's also observant. He's a little jerk but I can't hate him. I do like how smug he is sometimes and he's definitely the type to annoy the heck out of you if he likes you. I don't know, something about how they made him unlikable in the prologue then he steadily became more nicer(?) really just made me like him even more.

Deuce Spade

7/10. I don't know why, but I don't like Deuce as much as Ace. Don't get me wrong, he's a little dumb too and I like that. He's also nicer especially in the beginning, and I love his relationship with his mom and how he even recognizes his own faults and wants to improve. I think that's all great. But there's something about him that isn't as charming to me as Ace is.

Cater Diamond

9/10. I say I don't like extroverts and then this guy is so high up... Whatever. I think he's neat. I like to imagine him as a guy that kinda talks like a valley girl, which is funny to me because I know a lot of people that talk like that so it's something familiar to me. Also he's kinda flirty and energetic, but not in an annoying way, you know? He can be smug and mischievous too, so I got to give him points for that. I just think he's the kinda guy I'd admire from afar and I'd think of him as amusing.

Trey Clover

3/10. Ehhhhh... I liked him for a while then I realized he was pretty basic with not much good development. The only thing that I can think of when I write him is baking, fedora, and chill (but not very fun) bf vibes. Ace was right on the dot when he was criticizing Trey about how he treated Riddle.

SAVANACLAW

Leona Kingscholar

4/10. Another character I don't have many thoughts for. All I think of him is sleep, and uh... mean? Yeah, I don't know what else. Yes, yes, he's pretty and all but there's gotta be more for me to like a character. Plus, I'm not about the violent characters unless there's more to it then that. But I can appreciate how he's not a completely good person but he's not entirely bad either.

Ruggie Bucchi

7/10. I'm gonna give this guy an extra point because this little fella was one of my favorites when I was just getting into twst. I like his laugh, it's cute. Also how he's generally selfish and his background ties in with his character. Although I wished he would've been a little more selfish, especially with Leona (namely when Leona was attacking him before the overblot). Since in the movie, the hyenas basically killed Scar for betraying them. Not that I wanted something that extreme, I just wished I could've seen Ruggie fighting back a little more.

Jack Howl

7/10. The boy. The goodest of boys. I did not like him during Savanaclaw's chapter, but Octavtinelle's chapter really helped improve my opinion on him. Also the chats and little extra parts with their cards. I wanted to rank him a point lower because I despise athletics and I'm usually not about tsunderes, but I genuinely like Jack when he's being a pal. Maybe I'd take away half a point if I could.

OCTAVINELLE

Azul Ashengrotto

8/10. So far, he's had my second favorite moment of snapping (aka, the moments before overblot). That and combined with the fact that, besides Ruggie, he was also one of my first favorites (although that's not really the case anymore). I think his character is really interesting and his backstory is possibly my favorite at the moment. I like his design, his aesthetic, his greedy and cunning personality, but also the fact that he has weak parts like his insecurities and crying. Just overall, a really fun and interesting character.

Floyd Leech

9/10. Okay, I'm also a sucker for tall characters and sometimes, heavy emphasis on the sometimes, extroverts. Some extrovert characters annoy me, but others catch my attention. I like how this dude is basically feral, a literal menace to society and campus. And the way he talks just sells it for me?? The shrillness in his voice, how his volume goes up and down, the laid-back sound of it. It's great, love it. And the fact that he grows bored, he can be snappy and irritated one second and happy and excited the next? It's very interesting to me.

Jade Leech

4/10. Ehhhh... He's basically Sebastian from Black Butler in disguise but instead of liking cats he likes mushrooms. I didn't even like Sebastian. I know everyone simped for him but honestly? I did not see the appeal, at all. He just unnerves me. He does have a good line here and there, but I feel like if you gave the line to Floyd he'd make it funnier or more amusing in someway.

SCARABIA

Kalim Al-Asim

7/10. Honestly, if I saw more of him, it would probably be a little higher. Sunshine lad. Love him. He's great. He's got the characteristics of a protagonist, but not one I dislike and I usually end up hating the good guys. Kalim though? He's too nice to hate. He's a teensy bit dumb, so he get's a point for that. Also his design is neat, I think he looks amazing and it really contrasts with Jamil's look with the hair and all.

Jamil Viper

8/10. I'm going to be honest, I did not care for Jamil at first. But as it got closer to his overblot and him snapping? Amazing. Yeah, he has my favorite moment when he snapped. I love when a cool and calm character just has had enough and goes wild for a bit. When he finally yelled at Kalim and just yeeted them?? I was cheering a bit for him. God, I can't put into words how much I love when he snaps and just becomes prideful, loud, letting his thoughts and emotions out after so much time. It's wonderful. His design is a little basic, but then I started liking it. In a way, it makes him look cunning, and helps Kalim stand out when that's what Jamil disliked.

POMEFIORE

Vil Schoenheit

3/10. Yeah, I said it, I don't like Vil. From the beginning to the end of Pomefiore, even to parts of the Ignihyde chapter released, my opinion has not changed. I just really don't like characters like him? Who cares if he's pretty? That ain't helping him. I felt zero empathy for him when his backstory was happening. Although I will admit, his overblot design was... something? It started growing on me eventually. But I do like how he takes responsibility for his actions. Who knows? Maybe the rest of the Ignihyde chapter will give him a few moments that will change my mind of him.

Rook Hunt

9/10. He's eccentric, okay? He's a weirdo, a very amusing wacko. Oh, did I mention that I write yandere? And he has HUGE yandere potential? The whole thing about him with beauty and love, the hunter deal, his weirdness, his skills, his stalking tendencies, he's just a bit of a walking red flag and I love that. Also he talks funny, and I laugh at that. I like the way he talks, eccentric man with fancy words amuses me very much.

Epel Felmier

7/10. Relatable little guy. Why makeup? Why fancy clothes? Why do these weird useless little traditions? I get you, my guy, I really do. Also he's a little feral too and I think that's great. You wouldn't suspect it from him by looks alone, but he's a wild little guy from an apple farm. That concept alone is amazing. Also from the recent event, I'm floored by the fact that he's exactly like his grandma by looks and personality. That made me like him even more.

IGNIHYDE

Idia Shroud

10/10. The boy. The fire gremlin himself. Every time this guy get screen time, I'm astounded each time because he either makes me laugh or he does or says things exactly like me. Dislikes extroverts? Check. Wants to stay inside all day? Check. Would rather just not talk? Check. That's why I am dreading his backstory and when he snaps, I'm genuinely a little scared of it because I feel like it's gonna hit way too close to home. Oh, but aside from that, I was gifted his little nendroid figure and he guards my manga stash.

Ortho Shroud

8/10. Good robot child. He's such a good brother, always looking out for Idia?? He obviously does a lot for him and they're very close since Idia often does things he doesn't want to, just for Ortho. I hope we learn more about him soon. Also praying for him to be involved in some tragic past with Idia.

DIASOMNIA

Malleus Draconia

4/10. Before y'all say anything defending Malleus, let me explain. I think Malleus is a little basic. NOW HOLD ON. Don't get mad yet, let me finish. He's like... just the dark and brooding prince that has a soft spot for the MC. That's it. And it would work if they put more detail into it, but like... I still think he's boring? And super overpowered, that alone annoys me like you have no idea. Who knows? Maybe his chapter will improve my opinion on him but for now, I don't like him.

Lilia Vanrouge

8/10. Now this? This is just great. I love his concept. "Short young looking guy with dyed hair goes to a school with his adopted son, BUT this guy is an ancient fae that talks like an old man but acts like a teenager sometimes and he likes video games, hard rock, bagpipes, and is a terrible cook-- don't forget he was a feared general of war at one point too!" If you told me this and I had no idea about twst, you'd probably get me to play by this alone.

Silver

6/10. Ehh, he's a little basic too but I kinda relate a bit to him? Thought process wise at least. That's the only reason why he's not getting a 5. Don't know what else to say, we don't know much else about him but he's pretty chill.

Sebek

5/10. Honestly, a teensy bit annoying. We get it, you're a simp knight for Malleus. It's a double-edged sword. It's amusing to see his efforts for Malleus but when he's talking about it with others it can get irritating sometimes. Also his whole thing against humans. Like, dude, you're half human, right? So just please, shut up for one minute. But the thing about his dad being a dentist and his mom being a respected fae noble and falling in love? It's funny, I love that.

[wint3rs]

DANCE, wilson&barnes.

(a/n: this was requested by my friend, maddy! y/n is going to be wearing a dress, but feel free to imagine what you’re wearing! and this one is messy and long as hell..)

– summary : three’s a crowd

– warnings : mentions of cigarettes, curse words, sexual tension, mentions of choking (in a sexual way ofc)

“you’re putting me through what?” you were the last one to arrive at the new compound. “agent y/n, we need you to go undercover with wilson and barnes for the next mission.” sam was leaning against the wall, with bucky next to him. they both had a smug expression plastered on their faces. “but i’m suspended!” you argued. fury only stared at you, waiting for you to surrender.

“fine.” for a split second, you saw bucky smirking even more. you rolled your eyes, not wanting to give him the satisfaction he wanted. “now that you’re all here, listen to my briefing. if you have any questions, ask each other.” sam, being the patriotic man he was, nodded.

“the three of you are going to tokyo. there is a briefcase containing SHIELD's old files, on project BIRDFLIGHT – a machine that could kill anyone with powers, now in the hands of mr. arthurs." fury opened a tan-colored file in front of you. "arthurs... familiar name." you said. "that's because he used to work in galactic science division back in 2012." fury replied, flashbacks filling your head. “oh! the creepy dude?” fury seemed to nod at your question.

you shrugged your body in disgust, as you remembered him. “and that’s where the three of you come in. intel says he’s going to sell the old projects to one of the most wanted man in CIA, his codename is silverparks, but of course – they couldn’t find him.” you knew exactly what was going to happen.

“wilson and barnes will pose as y/n’s business partners, y/n you own a weapon factory somewhere in eastern europe – you get close to him, you handle the files. barnes will take silverparks, wilson will get arthurs.” the three of you nodded in unison. “remember, this is an undercover mission. you can go now, get ready. the jet will be here at 6.”

fury left the room, leaving you with sam and bucky. it had been a while since you saw them, and every time you meet – they will always flirt with you. “so…” sam spoke up first. “it’s good to see you again.” you glared at him. “don’t even start, i’ll break your neck.” he chuckled. “see ya later then baby.” sam winked at you.

“aren’t you going to follow your stupid boyfriend? i need to read arthur’s files.” instead of leaving, he went closer to you. “doll, you haven’t forgive me at all, huh?” bucky raised an eyebrow. “no, and i won’t.” you gritted your teeth. “you had your chance, now fuck off.”

you had history with the winter soldier, it didn’t take long for you to forget him, that was when sam came along – but you didn’t work out because of your agent life. “if i had another chance to wrap my arms around your neck, i’d do it all over again.”  you were left flustered and embarrassed by his statement. “oh my god this is going to be a mess.” you muttered to yourself.

the ride to tokyo was painful for you. the boys argued about who was sitting next to you, even if it was only the three of you inside the jet. “i want to sit next to y/n!” sam elbowed his best friend. “no, i’ll be sitting next to y/n.” he barked. “no, sit your ass down somewhere else.” sam added. “boys, you’re both pretty. go sit somewhere else, this jet could fit the entire fucking avengers.” and in the end, none of them sat next to you.

tokyo was one of your favorite places. it. was peaceful, you haven’t visited the city after the blip, so this was your first time being back. “we’re staying at the clint’s old hideout?” sam asked, gaining your attention. “yeah he gave me his key, it’s well kept.” you replied, unlocking the place.

“we’ll be here for 2 days, please don’t trash the place. you both can take clint’s room, i’ll be on the couch.” you announced. “no, no. what kind of person am i to let you sleep on the couch?” sam shook his head. “alright then i’ll sleep with y/n and you can sleep on the couch.” bucky suggested. “like hell i would let that happen!”

“okay how about the three of us just fucking camp out in the living room? is that fair? if i hear you two arguing again, i’m gonna fucking choke you.” you threatened them. “kinky.” sam blurted out. “ugh!” you groaned.

you hated how you were going undercover with the two horniest men as your partners. “just talk to y/n about this, i’m sure they will understand.” “okay.” they were talking but as soon as you stepped out the bathroom with you red velvet dress, their eyes were on you. “whew.” sam whistled, making you shoot glares at him.

“with you looking like that, i wouldn’t mind abandoning the mission and take you out on a date.” bucky was obviously flirting with you – but you didn’t bother to look at him. “shut up, fury’s calling.” you picked up the call and turned it to loud speaker mode. “this is going to be a quick message, but y/n, you’re in charge. don’t fuck this up or i will suspend your ass again.” before anyone could reply, fury ended the call.

“well that was quick.” you walked to the front entrance. “y/n can we talk for a bit?” there was tension in the air and you could smell it. “what do you want? we’re gonna be late.” you were ready to walk out to the car, but he gripped your hand tightly.

the two of you held eye contact, “buck, calm down.” sam said, intervening. “what bucky wanted to say i- is, we should put everything behind. this mission is really important, and if we let our emotions get into this… things are going to be complicated, you used to be our y/n, fun and cheery.” he finished.

“oh really? me getting my emotions involved? tell that to this man in front of me! no really, ask him! and have you seen yourself? your eyes haven’t left me since i walked in to the compound! me? getting my emotions tangled? go fuck yourself.” things were heated.

“are you done?” sam raised an eyebrow. “yes.” you replied, sitting down on the couch. “how do you feel?” sam asked once again. “fine.” you admitted – feeling free of your built up anger. “see, you needed that. we good now?” you took a second to regain your emotions and nodded.

the car ride was silent, you felt bad for bursting out. you finally had the guts to speak up to them. “i’m sorry.” they both didn’t say anything. “the reason why i was an asshole to you both because we didn’t work out-“ “you did date sam?” bucky cut you off. “i thought you knew?” you were as confused as him. “no i didn’t! what the hell man, y/n’s mine!”

“no what, y/n is mine!” sam argued. “you’re both not mad because i blew up on you?” “nah, i’m mad because he dated you!” bucky pouted. “and i’m mad because he dated you too!” and with that, you felt like the old you. the one they used to know.

clubs used to be your things, you thanked god that the deal was going to be held in your type of scenes. it didn’t take long until the three of you arrived at your destination. it wasn’t packed but it was full enough for someone to make a deal unnoticed.

“according to intel, silverparks should be here in an hour, and arthurs in thirty minutes.” bucky said, looking at his phone. “we have 30 minutes to spare.” sam walked to the bar and ordered drinks. “really? we just made up and you want to drink?” you chuckled. “it’s a celebration.” you pulled out a pack of cigarettes, offering sam and bucky.

“pussies.” you shook your head. “hey! i’m not a pussy for taking care of my lungs.” bucky took a shot of his alcohol. “very funny.” the lights were dim and you weren’t able to see their faces clearly. not lying to yourself, you do find them hot.

bucky was staring at you, again. his eyes were filled with lust that you once knew. you smirked and nudged him, “you wanna take your thirst to the dance floor?” teasing bucky was always fun. “i don’t dance y/n, you know that.” “that’s lame, fine. i’m taking sam.”

on the other hand, the man was giddy when you dragged him to the dance floor. the music was loud, encouraging you both to dance. “come on sam, don’t act like you don’t want this!” with that, his hands were already on your body. “30 minutes won’t be enough!” “then make it enough!” you smirked.

the winter soldier stared at you, lust still filling his eyes. you knew he was never one to dance in clubs, but with what you’re doing – he had to step in. sam was all over you but in a blink, he was replaced by someone. his hands were cold and it made your shiver.

you were now in the middle of two men who were going to eat you up anytime soon. sam was always a fun person to hang out with, he was charming and always knew how to make people laugh – but this sam was different. he was controlled by his lust and that made him hotter than usual.

bucky was always shy and a well-kept person, unlike his best friend. it wasn’t publicly known that this man was the definition of A Horny Teenager, but you’ve seen that side.

their eyes were still on you, but before they could do more than just grinding their bodies on you – a familiar face entered the club. “2 o’clock, let’s get him boys.” they stopped their action and went back to character. “after we get this job done, we’ll finish what we started.” you encouraged them. “now, let’s go.”

[maddiwrites]

Secrets of the Shore (Chapter 3)

Pairing: Pogues x OC, Eventually JJ x OC

Summary: This is just my rewrite of the show Outer Banks with my own twist by adding another main character which also happens to be John B’s twin sister.

Note: I’ll be honest, this isn’t my best chapter, so please don’t judge too harshly I swear it gets better!!! (: Again, forever grateful for all the kind feedback. I truly appreciate it. If you asked to be on the tag list and I accidentally forgot, please let me know! 

Word Count: 4.3k

Warnings: Slight insinuation to sexual assault.

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 & Chapter 4

Like I said before, I'm good at advertising. Although the cell phone towers are still down, making it harder for me to get the word out about a party in the boneyard, I still know how to get around to the other teenagers on this island.

I sneak in an hour of surfing on the beach, afterwards finding Tourons and even some Kooks. These are the best people to go to when you want word to get around. They're rich and live for gossip. They have the internet and cell phone service, which means they can text their friends and send out tweets. And that is exactly what they do when I'm finished talking to them.

Later, I go with JJ and John B to get the kegs. As they work their magic, somehow securing two, I walk around the lot where most kids who live on the Cut hang out, hoping to score cheap booze from a stranger walking into the beer and beverage store. I use to spend a lot of my weekends here when my dad first disappeared. A small part of me still wants to. It was so easy to forget about my life falling apart when I was too wasted to form a complete sentence.

I tell them about the party and tell them to tell their friends and so on.

As I expect, the empty boneyard fills up quickly. To Kie's dismay, almost every kid has a red solo cup in their hand instead of a reusable one by the time the sun sets. Music and the chants of people playing drinking games fill my ears like a bird chirping on a Sunday morning.

Beer dribbles down my chin and onto my pink v neck crop top. JJ has his arm linked around mine, also chugging his drink, trying to down his before me. However, I beat him by one gulp and slam my cup on the sand as triumph.

"Seriously, Mar?" Kie scolds. She picks up my cup and throws it away.

JJ just smiles at me, maybe even looks at me with some kind of pride. It's hard to beat JJ in any drinking match, but I'm his biggest competition. I usually lose against him, but sometimes I have my nights where I'm undefeated.

He points his finger at me, pretending to be mad without losing the smile on his face. He takes a menacing step forward and bends down to lift me over his shoulder. I squeal in surprise and laugh against his back as he swings me around in circles.

When he sets me down, I shove his shoulders playfully. "Looks like you've finally met your match." JJ just shakes his head. "Get me another beer, loser?"

"You're lucky you're cute." He winks.

You can't understand the Outer Banks without understanding the boneyard. It's kinda like a three-layer burrito. There's us and our friends, working-class derelicts. Then, there are the Kooks, the rich second-homers. They're mostly from pouncy-ass boarding schools, just rich trustfarian posers. Our natural enemies. And then, there are the Tourons. Totally clueless. Here for a week on vacation with their families. Chum for the sharks. They're usually my first pick. A night with no attachments and a more than likely chance I'll never see them again.

I walk past Kie, who's sitting on drift wood talking to someone about zodiac signs and horoscopes. And when I pass Pope, I hear him talking about dead bodies and how TV doesn't portray the biological condition of them accurately. I giggle to myself when I see who he's talking to. A really pretty girl who wasn't expecting to get an anatomy lesson from the boy next to her. I make a mental note to work on Pope's flirting tactics.

As I make my way to the back of the beach, I see Sarah Cameron leaning off a fallen lifeguard stand. Her boyfriend, Topper Thornton, is right there with her, trying to get her to come down. Sarah Cameron's known as the Kook princess. Kiara's best friend in the ninth grade, worst enemy in the tenth grade. None of us know why she started hating her all of a sudden. She doesn't like to talk about it so we don't bring it up. However, John B works on Sarah's dad's boat thanks to me.

My teeth clench together at the sight of both of them. The two of them and their friends are the worst Kooks of all. Bad memories prickle my brain like a million tiny needles and the palms of my hands sweat against my solo cup.

I walk to the back of the beach and lean against a tree that's as close to a palm tree as this island is going to see. I like being back here when the sun goes down.  It gives me the perfect view of the party. Watching people laugh and have fun because of a night my friends and I put together makes me feel satisfied. Like I did something to make their day a little more enjoyable.

"Now what's the life of the party doing back here all by herself?" A voice that makes every muscle in my body turn to ice says.

I force myself not to look in his direction. My hands clench tighter around my cup until it bends and beer sloshes on my hand.

"Trying to avoid grimy wandering hands from pompous pricks," I say through clenched teeth. I'm surprised my voice isn't as shaky as I feel. "Go away, Rafe."

Rafe Cameron ignores me and moves to stand in front of me. His blonde hair is slicked back with a gel that's probably more expensive than my entire outfit. He's wearing a salmon pink button up shirt and white shorts. The sight of him makes me sick and I don't know if I want to drink more heavily or throw up and call it a night.

"Oh come on, Marleigh. Let's not pretend like you don't want to finish what we started."

I stand up straighter, feeling bile rise in my throat. "I'd rather rip both of my eyes out with a spoon." My insult wipes his stupid cocky grin off his smug face. At first I take it as a compliment, but the look in his eyes chills me to the bone. "Get out of here, Rafe. I'm not going to tell you again."

Rafe jerks forward and pushes me back into the trunk of the tree. His forearm presses against my chest, right below my collarbone. I try fighting him off but he's surprisingly strong. His eyes swing back and forth with craze, his pupils large and dilated. He's gotta be on something. Cocaine maybe. I've heard rumors.

"You think you can talk to me like that? After what my dad did for your friends?"

"Your dad only helped them in hopes to cover up the mistake that you made," I seethe, trying to push him away again. I try to keep my breathing even and my eyes unblinking. I don't want him to think I'm afraid of him. Even though I'm scared enough to vomit on his two hundred dollar shoes. "I owe you nothing." There's a pause as Rafe considers his next words carefully. So I push even harder. "You know, if you keep bringing it up, people might overhear and start to talk. I don't know if even your dad could buy the entire island's silence."

"You seriously think you can threaten me? You're nothing but a dirty walking piece of trash Pogue. No one will believe the Cut's biggest whore." Rafe shakes his head. "Remember that next time you think about talking to me like that."

His words cut through me like a stab in the chest, but I try not to let him see that. I push against him, keeping my face pinched and my eyes unwavering. "I'm not the same girl I was eight months ago," I say, finally pushing him away from me.

Back then I was a messed up girl who's dad had just left after a big argument that resulted in him thinking she hated him. All I wanted to do was drown myself with drugs and alcohol in hopes to forget about him, even if that meant following Kie to a Kook party when she was trying to roll around in the Kook life. I was easy to manipulate and take advantage of...easy to hurt. But not anymore.

"You think I'm above hitting a girl?" Rafe breathes heavily, his hands clenched to his side. I struck a nerve. One more and he might actually attack me.

"No," I say honestly. "I don't think you're above anything...or anyone. Including me - a dirty walking piece of trash Pogue." I use his words against him.

Rafe jerks forward and raises his hand to hit me and I'm ready for the blow and a fight back, but someone's voice forces us to halt, stopping us like she just pressed paused on a movie screen.

Kie watches us with wide eyes and glances back and forth between us. She looks both scared and angry. Rafe doesn't even bother looking in her direction. He's more disappointed that she got in his way.

I stand up straight again and walk past him, making sure to shove him backwards with my shoulder. Kie wraps her arm around mine and pulls me in close as she guides me away from him. She looks behind us one last time to make sure Rafe isn't following us. When the coast is clear, she stops and turns to look at me with a stone cold expression.

"What the hell was that?" She says, trying to read my face. "Are you okay?"

I can barely hear her behind the screaming in my head. Dirty walking piece of trash Pogue. The Cut's biggest whore. Who would believe you?

"Fine," I shrug, feigning nonchalance. I look back to where I was just standing. Rafe's gone, but the nausea he left me with isn't.

"Marleigh."

"Seriously, Kie. I'm fine. Just some unresolved built up resentment coming out full-fledged. I can't say I'm surprised. Now that summer's started, we're probably going to see a lot more of them."

Kie sighs and looks at me sympathetically. I hate that look.  "You should tell the boys."

"What? No way!" I snap.

"What if he -"

"He's not going to." I glare at her.

"Why won't you just -"

"So they can think of me as some pathetic little girl who needs protection from some self-centered Kook? Besides, John B and probably JJ will go after him and the last thing either of them need is charges pressed against them."

The noise of people yelling at one another and some cheering stops Kie from fighting back with me. We turn to look towards the water, seeing a crowd form around two people fighting. Dread creeps up my chest. If I had one hundred dollars, I'd bet it all that one of my friends is the center of attention in that crowd.

Kie and I run to them, pushing ourselves to the front. My breath hitches in my throat when I see who's involved. John B and Topper are fighting ankle deep in the ocean, each one getting a few good punches in.

"John B, stop!" I yell. I don't care who started the fight or why Topper deserves to get beaten to shit. If John B gets caught, the two of us are more than screwed with DCS.

"We're suppose to be incognito, remember?" Pope yells at my brother next to me.

"Babe!" Sarah yells at her boyfriend, jerking back and forth, trying to grab him by the shirt to pull him back. But his movements are scrappy. Sarah would just get hurt.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" The crowd around us cheer like it's a high school wrestling match and not my brother, the one that threw them this party by the way. I can't believe people find this as a source of entertainment. Half of them wouldn't even last a second if they were the one's getting beaten to a pulp.

Topper gets the upper hand and throws John B into the water. I flinch from the pain that must of caused to John B's back.

"Hey, John B, don't make me drown you like your old man, all right?" Topper says.

In that moment my vision turns red and a switch flips in my body. I picture my hands around Topper's neck and him begging for me to let him go - him taking back those words.

When I step into the water to reach him, arms wrap around my waist, stopping me from going forward. I glare at the blonde Pogue and try shoving him away from me but that only makes his grip on me tighten.

"JJ, let me go," I grunt.

"Sorry, pretty girl. Can't do that." His lips are so close that I can feel his breath.

John B tackles Topper to the ground and punches him in the face again.

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

"John B, let it go!" Kie screams. "Stop, you guys!"

Topper kicks John B's feet from under him and just like that, JB is back in the water. The Kook kneels next to him and punches my brother across the face before shoving his head into the water.

"Topper stop!" I yell.

"Come on John B!" Pope yells.

Topper lets John B come up for air before dunking him back in. I feel my chest tighten when I realize what Topper is going to do, whether he means to or not.

"JJ, please! He's going to kill him! JJ!" I cry against his hold.

"Come on, Man!" Topper taunts John B, keeping his head under water.

I'm going to kill him, I think. The second JJ lets go, I'm going to rip Topper apart.

"Topper, stop! No!" Sarah cries.

"Pope!" JJ says, swinging me around before pushing me into our other friend's arms. "Hold her."

"What? No!" I fight back but even Pope is stronger than I give him credit for.

JJ disappears to God knows where and I'm left watching like a stranded duck. I feel useless, like I should be doing more to help my brother. Everything I said to Rafe only minutes ago goes straight out the window. Maybe I am weak and still a girl who needs protecting.

Then the world freezes. JJ holds the gun we found in the motel to Topper's head, not only making Topper pause, but the rest of the crowd too. Pope releases his hold on me and I stumble away from him. I only watch the scene unfold in front of me with wide eyes.

"Yeah, you know what that is," JJ says, clicking the safety off the gun. "Your move, broski."

"Come on!" Pope yells. "Chill dude!"

"Stop! JJ!" Sarah cries. "Put the gun down!"

"Did you say something princess?" JJ turns towards Sarah and points his gun at the sky.

"We're good. We're good." Topper stumbles away from my brother to stand in front of his girlfriend.

The second he backs away, I'm in the water helping John B. I pull his upper back into my lap and push his hair out of his face. He coughs up a couple gulps of water before relaxing against me.

"Kie! Can you check your psycho friend, please!" Sarah yells.

"Okay, everyone, listen up!" JJ addresses everyone else who still watch in fear. "Get the hell off our side of the island!" He fires two bullets into the sky, causing people to shriek and cry around me.

"Are you crazy?" Kie yells at him. "Why do that?"

"I'm saving his life, okay?" JJ yells back at her.

When people begin dispersing, Pope runs into the water to help me lift John B back to shore. He's in a daze and barely able to stand on his own.

The four of them help me drag him back to the Chateau, the party long forgotten. Kie covers John B with blankets and places a glass of water on the nightstand for when he wakes up. I don't say anything as the night wraps up. I'm not mad at JJ like Pope and Kie. He did what he had to do to save John B. Topper could have killed him and the police would probably chop it up as an accident and I would be left with no family.

"You guys should go," I say.

I just want to be alone. Between Rafe and Topper, all I can think about is sleep so I can wake up to a new day. Start over and try again.

"Are you sure?" JJ asks, looking between my eyes to find any sign for him to stay.

As much as I want JJ to stay the night and let me cuddle into him like the night before, it's best if I'm alone. So I reluctantly nod.

"You can stay at mine tonight, JJ," Pope offers.

I offer a weak smile before turning around to lock myself in my room. When I hear the door to the Chateau close one last time for the night, I sigh deeply and stare up at my ceiling. I'm restless, anxious, sweaty. As much as I want sleep, sleep doesn't want me. I toss and turn hoping for a wave of darkness to hit me but it never does.

I glance at my clock. 3:04 AM. I roll my eyes and groan to myself, pushing myself up against my bed's headboard. I tip toe out of the Chateau and make my way down to the dock. I dip my toes in the water and lay back against the wooden slacks. The moon's half crescent illuminates the water, dark with a mystery glint. It's cold against the night, feeling refreshing against my skin.

Even my mind isn't tired. My head wanders with different thoughts. Rafe, Topper, Scooter, the gun...my dad. His words echo through my ears like a skipping record. The night before he disappeared he told John B and I that he might have to vanish for a bit. This only caused a major fight to brew between my father and I whereas John B only nodded and said okay. I think this is why John B still holds on to hope that he's alive somewhere.

John B was always the loyal one to my father. Although they fought almost as much as my dad and I, they were quick to move on and pretend like it wouldn't happen again. Even though it always did. He tried to help my dad keep me on track with school, friends, and other activities. Most of the time, he just joined in on my antics. Sometimes I regret not giving my dad enough credit. He was a single father to Pogue twins with the distraction of his own obsession. My last words to him haunt me every day I pass his office.

"I hate you!" I screamed. I didn't give him the satisfaction of seeing my tears. I wanted him to know I was strong and that I didn't need him. I think my main intention was to hurt him like he hurt me, but I would do anything to take it back.

                                                  ~ ~ ~

I wake up to the low rumble of an engine and the crunch of gravel underneath some tires. I blink away the sleep in my eyes, looking out into the marsh. The sun is above me, warming the entire island with it's summer heat so early in the morning.

My back aches as I sit myself up. I twist to find the noise that woke me up.

"Shit," I curse when I see the cop car parked in front of the Chateau.

Sheriff Peterkin sees me walking up my yard and waits for me to approach her before barging into my house. I squint against the morning light. Even though I'm not in the mood for a pop in, I actually like Peterkin. She's the only one I trust to do her job right.

"I hope you brought some coffee," I say before opening the door for her.

"This will be quick," She says. I watch her eyes scan my kitchen and living room judgmentally. "Where's your brother?"

I point to his room. Peterkin gives me a look to go first. I sigh, knocking twice on the door before letting myself in. John B is still passed out. Half of his body hangs off the bed. His left eye is officially black and blue, a mark I know Peterkin won't subtly ignore. It's the first thing she sees and gives me a sideways glance. I cross my arms and look away.

John B blinks up at us when he hears our footsteps. His brows furrow in confusion, sleep still fogging his head.

"Get decent, sweetie," Peterkin says. "We need to talk."

As we wait for JB to get dressed, I sit on the pull out couch in my living room, fumbling with my thumbs until he appears, dressed in an open button up and swim trunks. He glances between Peterkin and I for some answers but neither of us give him any.

"Sorry to break in like this," She says, pacing the floor. John B stands next to me with his arms crossed. "But DCS called. They wanted me to check on you. See how you two are doing." Neither of us answer. "So, how are you, besides -" She points to JB's shiner and I hold myself back from rolling my eyes. So far so good!

"Oh, no, I'm - I'm great," John B says, shrugging like our life is just full of rainbows and butterflies. "Yeah, fantastic. Uh... thanks for coming by."

Peterkin just smirks. "I'm so glad to hear you say that, John B, but I heard a few things that worried me. Let me see if I can remember. Oh yeah. One of the things I heard was that your Uncle Teddy, your guardian, hasn't been in the state for three months."

"Yes he has -"

Peterkin cuts me off. "You don't have to say anything. I know it's true. I called the school. They said you used to be a good student," She says, looking at John B. Then she looks at me. "You not so much. But John they say now you're failing all your classes."

"No. No, I'm only failing one and it's history. He's a dick. He's out for me - "

"I heard," Peterkin continues, not giving a damn about John B's bullshit excuses, "there was a fight on the beach yesterday, and a gun was involved."

My eyes snap up to look directly at Peterkin. I feel my heart drop to the pit of my stomach. What else was she going to ask? Would JJ get in trouble? Are we going to jail?

"Okay, gun?" John B plays dumb. "No. Did I get in a  dustup? Yeah, but was there a gun? No. No way," He scoffs.

"That's okay I know who it was. I'll get to him. All I'm worried about right now is making sure you're in a safe home."

"Yeah," I say. "Super safe."

John B knocks the table next to him. "Super sound, sturdy. You know?"

"Uncle T's coming so..." I say to get John B to stop talking. He's a lot of things but a good liar isn't one of them.

"That's what he told you?" Peterkin looks at me with a raised brow.

"Yeah."

"If he is coming," Peterkin picks up a cigarette and sniffs it. "I think you should be allowed to stay."

"Thank you."

"But if I stick my neck out for you, you have to help me. Tit for tat."

John B tilts his head in confusion. "What - what does tat mean?"

I squeeze my eyes shut and let my head fall back. I swear I'm going to buy duct tape to keep this boy's mouth shut.

Peterkin ignores him. "Let me see, how can you help me? Oh, I know. So, a body was found in the marsh yesterday. Were you in the marsh yesterday?"

"Yeah," I decide to answer. "We were fishing for some drum."

"You catch anything?"

"Nah, we were skunked."

"Strange," She says, not believing me. "Fishing's usually good after a storm. All sorts of things get stirred up. You come across a wreck yesterday?"

"No." My heart falls deeper,  but I try to keep a straight face.

This makes Peterkin sigh and she glances between the two of us. "You two are skimmin' just above the surface. Now, down here is foster care, juvie," She says, dropping her hand to about knee length. "Pretty big drop for smart kids like the both of you." She moves her hand to eye level. "Up here is you and your little friends doing whatever you want. Outer Banks...or foster care on the mainland." I let her threat swim in my brain. "You one inch above the surface, Routledge. If I was you, I'd start flapping my wings." She looks at us one last time, no longer wanting to play games. "Now, you sure you didn't come across a wreck yesterday?" She looks at John B who's more likely to blab than me.

I look up at my brother, warning him that he needs to lie.

He shrugs his shoulder, the lie sliding across his tongue like silk. "Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure."

Peterkin looks between John B and I and nods slowly. "It's better if you didn't, you understand? I'm gonna look the other way as long as you stay out of the marsh." She runs her finger along the wooden kitchen table and rubs the dust between her fingers. "I got dogs living better than this. You might wanna think about cleaning' up."

Peterkin lets herself out without saying goodbye. John B and I don't say anything until her car pulls out of the driveway and only then do we just share a look that says how screwed we both are.

Tag List: @notyourcupofteax @acvross-the-universe @jjmaybankzz @jeeperky @realistic-breadstick @moniamaybank @urbinoutfiters​ @brebear121​

[erekiosuncreativeideas]

The Part-Time Puppeteer - Chapter 08

<= Chapter 7

Summary : Lukas gets a chance against one of the biggest actors ever known.

Also available on AO3 : https://archiveofourown.org/works/23828971/chapters/81316792

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The duel you had all been awaiting for... THERE IT IS. I hope you'll like it !

Thank you, Tumblr, for making this chapter so fucking hard to post, I appreciate it, really. /s

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Chapter 8 - “So you came back... As I had planned.”

The role of the Moonjumper was both an interesting and a boring one- at least, this is what Lukas had thought to himself while he had been learning his lines. It wasn’t that this character was a bad one, no, far from it. But he was… Predictable, unoriginal in some ways even. The young man hadn’t noticed it really, while simply reading the text in his mind. But once he had said the lines out loud… This is when it started to get apparent. Of course, he had told himself he was merely a law student, so what could he know about fiction and how to interpret it? He was no specialist in that field. And yet, this is the impression the role gave to him. Not a bad one, but not a perfect one.

In short, there was room for improvement. However, this hadn’t been on his mind, or not for too long. After all, he had other preoccupations other than thinking about that. The first one had been to learn these lines, and the second and most important one… Was to teach that bastard of an actor that sometimes life could get back at you for your attitude.

And apparently, now was the moment for it.

With a wave of confidence caused by his anger towards the diva, Lukas opened his mouth and put a start to what seemed to be a duel between the two of them.

-“So you came back,” he murmured with a little smile, moving the puppet upwards, as if it were looming over Hat Kid or, in this case, MJ: “As I had planned.”

-“You took something from me,” retorted MJ, with a determined intonation that was completely different from his arrogant, usual self. This man was no doubt a very skilled actor. Even if he looked nothing like a little girl… He still managed to give the same vibes, by his movements, his expression and his voice. It was truly impressing, though the student couldn’t care much at the moment.

He needed to focus, to get himself in character… In this very instant, the young man was a mysterious and powerful entity who had been imprisoned in his own dimension for centuries. He was a monster that would lure his victims in, never for them to be seen again. What did he do with them? The script wasn’t clear about that, though there were traces that hinted he would turn them into puppets.

Quite a scary thing for a kids’ show.

The student was struggling to move the puppet with precision, due to how it was made. It was the same kind of puppet who had strings linking it to a wooden cross. It was practical in a way where he didn’t have to touch the puppet directly to move it… But on the other hand, it meant that he couldn’t do precise or specific gestures with it. This meant he would need to put extra effort on his acting, so that it would compensate the lack of gesture he could do.

Well, he hoped this wouldn’t be too noticeable… Trying his best to make the puppet raise its hand, he continued playing:

-“Oh, you mean this, perhaps?” Having no props on the scene with him made it less immersive, but thankfully, the rest of the dialogue was enough for everyone to understand what the Moonjumper was talking about: “This hourglass of yours… A powerful artifact, yes?”

Lukas’ tone was calm, reserved, but it wouldn’t last- later in the scene, the Moonjumper would become more agitated. Actually, the directives on it didn’t say he was going to get mad, per se. Still, when he read those lines, he was… Disappointed in the entity’s attitude. For a bad guy, the latter was way too mild, too nice, and… Not threatening enough.

Not frightening enough.

-“That is none of your business,” the diva replied, his tone more aggressive. His stance had tensed, giving away how important this object was for the main character, and how crucial it was to get it back.

-“Oh, is that so?” Lukas made the puppet tilt its head to the side, approaching MJ dangerously. His tone had turned icy, bitter, as if what the main character had said weren’t such a good idea: “I believe it is quite my business, on the contrary, young child,” his murmur had lowered in volume as he made another step forward.

-“It’s mine!” MJ’s voice had talked back, his expression showing a mix of anger, despair, and persistence.

-“Is it? Is it, really?” he snarled in response, starting to raise his tone a little- this was the time to put his improvisation on the table. At this point, it was make or break: “Maybe you’re lying. Perhaps you stole it. Who is there to say? Do you even know how much I need it?”

The diva in front of him seemed taken aback by him not respecting the stage direction completely. It didn’t last long, and soon enough, the hint of a smirk could be seen on the other’s face, even if just for a second. It quickly disappeared, as the actor didn’t want to break character. But Lukas saw it, and it simply enraged him.

At least, his fury in the next moments was not going to be faked.

-“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” the ‘little girl’ screamed at him, getting closer to confront him: “This isn’t a toy, this isn’t… Some weird stuff that you can use for yourself! It’s… It belongs to me, to… To my people!”

Okay, this was it, this was the most embarrassing moment of this whole scene. God, he wanted to cringe so hard just thinking about what he was going to do, but… This exact thing was the reason he got the role to begin with. So, realistically, it meant… That it was maybe his secret weapon.

Shit, that sounded so fucking stupid.

The student let out a snort, one that started to get louder and louder as seconds passed. This wasn’t supposed to be anything more than a cruel giggle, but… This scene was the finale, was something people had to remember after seeing that episode. It had to be… Intense! Full of passion, as Grooves would say, he supposed. And so… His mind conjured a picture he would never, ever forget.

MJ falling down the day before. MJ getting angry, humiliated before the entire crew, losing his job against a nobody, a simple stagehand who had been hired the same day. And, just like that… Lukas burst out laughing, his hysterical giggles echoing all around, sending shivers to the spectators as it continued. For years, the young man had been shamed for his way of laughing. His entire childhood had been spent hiding that part of him from the others, so he wouldn’t be judged and mocked for something he couldn’t even control. And here, for the first time of his entire life…

Lukas was laughing without being (too) scared of the way people would react in consequence. This was… Absolutely freeing, to feel like he could be himself, just a few instants…!

-“You think I see this as a toy? Don’t be silly, young child… This,” he spoke again, his voice dark, lifting the doll’s hand again: “… Is my salvation, the key to my esca-”

-“Okay, cut, that’s enough,” Lukas was interrupted by a familiar voice, the investor’s. His face paled up- wait, they hadn’t finished the scene, why would that man stop them? Did… Did he do wrong? He gulped down, starting to regret taking initiatives. What was he thinking? If he had a script, it was to respect it! Why did he choose the riskiest solution?! Couldn’t he just stick to the plan?!

He turned to the investor, a look of fear and confusion written all over his face. At his sides, MJ’s acting mask fell, only to be replaced by a smug expression, as he approached the student. Leaning towards him, so that only he could hear, the actor whispered:

-“You didn’t even respect your text,” the diva mocked him: “What, you thought it was a good idea to improvise? Or were you just too stupid to read the stage directions?”

Lukas glared at him, gritting his teeth- but his arch nemesis was right. He had taken initiatives and, in hindsight, this really hadn’t been the opportunity for it. This was an exam, a duel, in which they both had to prove who was a better actor. When would a good actor question a director’s orders?

The young man’s cheeks blushed both in anger and embarrassment. His eyes fell on the Conductor and DJ Grooves- both looked disappointed and perhaps a little angry. They were most likely thinking that he had just wasted a golden opportunity- he didn’t think he had acted badly, he was pretty sure his laughter had been a great addition, but his wasn’t about that.

It was about respecting the directors’ wishes, which he hadn’t done.

In an instant, Lukas’ attitude went from confidence to utter embarrassment. Oh, how he wished he could just hide underground, never to be seen again. Next to him, in comparison, MJ was simply beaming. In the distance, Mike’s expression was a mix of sadness and frustration. As for the rest of the crew… Lukas just couldn’t look at them.

It was too much. His anxiety was eating him from the inside, feeding on his self doubts, on his fears, and on how much he wanted to get out of here. Please, couldn’t he hear that he was downgraded to being a stagehand again?

The wait was unbearable.

The investor had remained silent for a few seconds, staring into space. Eventually, his eyes went back up to the two actors, and he sighed, visibly conflicted. But conflicted about what? There wasn’t anything to be conflicted about! The young man clenched his fists, trying to focus on the pain of his nails scratching his palms instead. The longer it lasted, the more he could feel his emotions getting out of control. If it continued, then… Well, he could already feel some tears making their way up to his eyes.

Oh, no, no, please, no, not in public- not next to MJ, out of every-fucking-one!

His mind went silent as he saw the investor looking at him, his face serious. This was it.

-“You don’t fit the role,” he said sternly, and Lukas felt his heart sink in his chest- he knew it, he fucking knew it, he shouldn’t have tried to take risks! This wasn’t his forte, he should have stuck to rules like he always had!

-“Well, isn’t that a surprise,” a sarcastic scoff left the actor’s lips at his sides, only making the student feel even worse than he already was: “Who could have ever thought hiring a stagehand to do some professional work was a bad idea- oh, yeah. I did,” the asshole’s voice became serious, sending huge and bitter “I told you so” vibes.

God, Lukas just wanted to punch his face so bad…! And the humiliation he was feeling wasn’t helping him either- fuck, fuck, he could feel the urge to cry getting harder and harder to suppress.

The investor raised his hand, his expression still as serious as before:

-“I’m not finished,” he interrupted the other’s celebration before crossing his hands, lost in thoughts: “This… Is not something I had expected, I have to admit that much.”

-“Wha-” MJ seemed confused and tilted his head to the side, frowning: “What do you mean?” he pressed the older man, visibly not liking where this was going. Lukas was just as confused as him, not really understanding where the other was getting at. And, to be fair, so was everyone else in the room, especially the two directors, who exchanged a perplexed look.

What the hell was going on?

It took approximately thirty, long seconds for the investor to find his words, and he crossed his arms, looking back at the student.

-“You don’t fit the role, because this character doesn’t fit you.”

There was a short silence in the room, before MJ broke it, an insincere smile taking place onto his lips:

-“I’m sorry,” he snorted sarcastically: “This role doesn’t fit him because he doesn’t know how to act,” the jerk enunciated, as if it were obvious- and it was. Still, the other shook his head and tapped the script resting on his legs with the back of his fingers.

-“No, he does. But his acting doesn’t fit a character like this,” he explained better, and he opened the script to continue: “See, I only got to read the script before, today is the first time I’m seeing it actually being rehearsed. And it made me notice that… This character isn’t good. In fact, he’s bad.”

This last statement cast a chill in the room, making people frown in confusion and incomprehension. However, for the two directors, it was more than that. It was more pronounced, more… Visible.

-“Wh- What d’you mean?” the Conductor exclaimed, holding his own copy of the script and flipping the pages frantically. DJ Grooves was more reserved, but he was clearly furrowing his brow, shaking his head:

-“But… But we sent you the script a few times, and you validated this version,” he retorted: “I don’t understand why suddenly this character is bad to you.”

The investor pointed at the two young men on the scene, his head turning back to look at the directors:

-“It’s one thing to read the script, and it’s another to experience it. The Moonjumper is bland, he doesn’t have any personality, he looks like any other bad guy, he feels… Unoriginal. I’m honestly feeling like I was watching something made by teenagers.”

It was clear that this last sentence deeply offended the two men, and Grooves had to grab the Conductor’s arm, so that the latter could keep his mouth shut. But, oh, it was obvious they wanted to talk back. Still, it was best to be polite with the person funding your entire project.

-“Which is why you need a good actor,” MJ tried to interject, placing his hand over his heart as he tried to persuade the benefactor to choose him instead. But he was soon cut short by the man’s voice again, disagreeing with him:

-“No, MJ, you don’t understand. This character is badly written, and this puppet,” he nodded to the object still in Lukas’ hands: “… Is too scary for kids. On one hand, you have this character without any personality, and on the other, you have this puppet which design has to change.”

At the mention of the puppet, a familiar person moved across the crowd to join the conversation. Without much surprise, it was Mike, whose expression showed concern and confusion:

-“W-wait,” he called out to the investor, not knowing what to do with his own hands: “I don’t… I was asked to make a scary puppet, I-”

-“And you did way too much. Furthermore… Our friend here had some trouble moving the puppet around,” he pointed to the student, whose face paled up as everyone’s eyes glanced at him. Oh, shit, no, he didn’t want to be implicated in this…!

-“This puppet wasn’t made with the idea of interacting with props. It can’t hold things and even if it could, it seems complicated to make it express emotions or body language. In short, I want the puppet to be redesigned entirely.”

Mike’s face paled at the investor’s decision, and Lukas couldn’t blame him. It was months of work thrown away like it was nothing. He was about to say something against it, but MJ beat him to it, defending his brother for the student’s greatest surprise:

-“And you had to wait until it was finished to say something about it?” the actor’s tone was getting more aggressive as he gestured at his brother: “He spent nights working on that! And you decide to just… Scrap it away?!”

Lukas… Really hadn’t expected the other to care, especially with how the latter had thrown the puppet to the floor the day before. Then again, they were twins, and Mike did seem to care about his brother… So maybe the feeling was mutual, just… Unbalanced, perhaps?

-“I know, and I take full responsibility for that,” retorted the man with determination: “The other reason I want a redesign is that I want this character to change. I want another one instead, one that is original, and not… The typical cliché of a bad guy.”

Before MJ was able to talk back, the Conductor interjected, his expression really showing he wasn’t liking anything that was being said at the moment.

-“Are you serious?!” he finally snapped, his Scottish accent more audible than ever: “Do you expect us to rewrite the entire thing?! After all the time it took us?!”

Grooves tried to calm the Conductor down, but it was in vain. All he could do was to push him lightly to the side, before the other reacted violently by shoving him back, not wanting to be touched, especially by him. Still, that got the message across, and DJ Grooves got the opportunity to talk:

-“It’s… Not possible to rewrite anything, the deadlines are too short for our budget and-”

-“In that case, if this is the way to avoid a catastrophic show, then I’ll fund this project for a little longer. But I do not want to see my money being wasted on some poorly written story,” he sighed, obviously aware of how much his words had irritated the entire crew, who was now glaring daggers at him: “I know I am responsible for saying that too late, which is why I will give you more time and money to adjust tactics. But this,” he gestured to the puppet and the script: “… Has to change. I’m not asking for a complete rework of the script, but I want us to talk about the modifications we need to implement.”

After the announcement regarding the deadlines being postponed, the crew did lose some animosity, though it was still very much there, especially for the two directors who had to rewrite a good chunk of what they thought was a final version. Mike, in comparison, looked much more disappointed and sad than anything else, which made Lukas feel bad for him. He wanted to comfort his friend, trying to encourage him- but before he even could, MJ’s voice rose again in the room, catching everyone’s attention once more:

-“And what about the original problem, hm?” he urged the benefactor: “If there’s no Moonjumper anymore, then… What about the new character?” He then gestured at Lukas as if he were showing something disgusting- and yeah, that was pretty insulting: “You’re not… Going to choose an inexperienced stagehand for a major role, are you? You need someone who knows how to act, not… Not someone who can’t even respect the stage directions!”

The student gritted his teeth again- but he couldn’t deny the last point, as it was true. Then again, that didn’t mean he couldn’t defend himself:

-“At least, I respect other people,” he mumbled, loud enough for the diva to hear. Unsurprisingly, the latter turned to him, his eyes wide and his expression furious:

-“Excuse me?!” he retorted, outraged: “I know what acting is, and it’s following the script!”

-“Oh sure, that’s clearlymore important than being a decent human being!” the young man rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. This seemed to be what made the actor snap. The latter rushed towards him, his fist raised, prepared to hit- but thankfully, Mike knew his brother enough to anticipate it, and he dashed to grab his twin by the waist, stopping him.

-“MJ, cut it out!” yelled the puppet maker, and Lukas couldn’t help but be taken aback, not used to seeing Mike so… Angry. And yet, it was barely enough to keep MJ from trying to punch the student- he was trying to break out of his brother’s hold. Lukas couldn’t help but step back, in case the actor did manage to shove his twin aside. But it didn’t happen. Instead, the diva slowly lowered his fist, glaring at his rival with pure hatred in his eyes.

-“Will you pleasefucking stop?!” the benefactor’s loud voice called out to the group. When they all turned their head back to him, his face showed nothing but anger and annoyance. That sent shivers down Lukas’ spine, and he tensed, facing the man again like a well-behaved child. Next to him, MJ glared at the man before rolling his eyes, soon imitating his arch nemesis. Mike, upon seeing his brother had calmed down, let go of him and made a few steps back as well.

Okay, seemed like this day was getting as agitated as the previous one… Was this going to be the case for every single day? He… Didn’t know if he could handle that.

The investor let out a long, exaggerated sigh before pinching his nose, irritation written all over his face.

-“I’m… Ugh… Okay, fine. For this new character, and my decision will be final… I want the newbie on it.”

Lukas’ heart stopped beating, his eyes widening in astonishment. Wait, wait, wh-

-“What?!” the diva’s voice soon echoed around them, his tone enraged and scandalized: “You can’t be serious, he’s just-”

-“I said that my decision was final,” the benefactor reaffirmed his choice, giving the actor a very stern look of disapproval: “And if you’re unhappy with that, then you are more than welcome to leave. If you finally decide to act like an adult, then I will give you another role. But let me tell you, MJ, you’re on thin fucking ice, right now.”

The diva shot him yet another glare, his fists clenched and trembling from how livid he was. Both of them seemed to try and assert their dominance over the other… But eventually, MJ looked away and stormed off, kicking a chair as he moved through the room. It took him only a few seconds to reach the door and slam it behind him, leaving the set after another tantrum. Mike, just like the day before, quickly followed him, most likely to comfort him or at least calm him down.

In the meantime, Lukas was just… Existing, barely realizing what had been said to him. This… This was a dream, right? He was still in the workshop, taking an impromptu nap, this couldn’t be possible in real life…! And yet, it was all very real. In the back, the Conductor and Grooves seemed to have conflicted emotions: on one hand, they were very upset by the idea of rewriting a good part of their story, but on the other hand… They wouldn’t have to worry about that asshole’s attitude anymore. Still, they seemed just confused as him as to why he had been chosen. Yeah, seemed like improvising wouldn’t have been a good idea, but… Maybe in this particular case, it helped to highlight the Moonjumper’s lack of personality.

In a way… Probably not something to do in the future from now on.

Suddenly, the student was brought back to reality as he felt a hand over his shoulder, and he jumped, not expecting the sudden contact. He looked in front of him, his eyes focusing on the person he was facing: the benefactor. The latter still wasn’t smiling, and his expression was still irritated, but it didn’t seem directed at him at least:

-“Well, congrats, I guess. You did good.”

Lukas remained silent for a moment, not knowing how to answer or what to say. Eventually, he stammered a quick “thank you”, his mind still having trouble to process what had just happened.

He had the role- holy shit, he had managed to get the role, and against MJ at that!

The man pulled away and turned to the directors, telling them things Lukas could barely hear over the cacophony his minds was making. Still, inside him… A feeling of pride and accomplishment was growing, enveloping him. A wave of excitement followed, and it was hard not to jump around in pure joy and satisfaction.

Maybe this day wasn’t so bad after all…

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=> Chapter 09

[electronicdelusionstarlight]

Boethia’s Bidding

Many people remember Mephala’s cut quest from Skyrim, about Baalgruf’s kids being corrupted by the Daedric Prince’s whispers and slaying their own father. It leads to a general worsening for the hold since Baalgruf’s brother is a far worse Jarl than him, even if he does instantly join the Imperials as soon as he gains power, and ends with you betraying one of the few Jarls who trusted in you from the very start in a far worse way than you would be able to do in Vanilla by siding with the Stormcloaks.

Everyone knows about that cut quest.

But how many people even ever heard about Boethia’s Bidding till this post came along?

Boethia’s Bidding is a cut continuation quest for the vanilla Boethia’s quest, Boethia’s Calling. After slaying her former champion and gaining the Ebony Mail, the prince will appear to you and ask you one final show of power and loyalty to them.

You will need to go to Solitude, and slay Jarl Elisif as she’s wrecked by Paranoia and fear at the plots happening all around her.

It’s a very stealth/speech oriented quest. Boethia’s machinations have left Elisif a nervous wreck, locked up in her room and armed in fear of potential assassin, unwilling to see anyone, the security in the palace tripled.

You will either sneak inside (in which case if they find you in a “forbidden” zone the guards will turn hostile) or you can talk your way inside to the steward, and convince to let you talk to her as her friend/thane, or even become her personal bodyguard, all the while being escorted by at least ONE guard.

It seems like an interesting, stealth/assassin oriented quest honestly, but I’m not here to talk about this.

So, you get inside Elisif Room, posing as her bodyguard, and she tells you this.

Image Description: Elisif Direct Quote from the cut quest: "I'm glad they finally believed me. About the assassin I mean. It's been so hard since my Torygg passed. No one takes me seriously. So how's this work exactly? Do you just kind of stand there on the look out? That's what Bolgeir does. Well, he sort of looms more than stands. Bolgeir's loyal, but even he doesn't do what I ask. Case in point, this whole assassin thing. Well at least I have you now. Look at me ramble... Well, I guess I'll go about my business sulking in here. You can stand over there in the corner watching for assassins."

No one fucking takes Elisif seriously. Ever. The steward will berate her suspicions when you ask him about assassins, and everyone will simply go “grief must have make her go mad, poor girl.”

Everyone underestimates her and shit, and you MIGHT think this quest is trying to remedy on that, especially since her worries are funded, instead it seems the only way you can end this quest is by killing Elisif.

After you do it, Boethia will appear and congratulate you for your doing, and... seemingly give you nothing but their respect. Erikur (The thieves guild plant) will become the new Jarl of Solitude, hence him having Jarl dialogues and the Jarl title in game (I always assumed he was supposed to be the Stormcloak Jarl, but this makes it even worse somehow).

The quest is unfinished so we don’t know what would Elisif’s death bring to the also unfinished Civil War questline.

We have to keep in mind a couple things tho, such as Boethia’s shrine being very close to Winshelm, and Stormcloak Alligned guards and soldiers commenting on how their cause seem to have been favoured by “Daedric Nobility” itself... when they are not calling Elisif a bitch rotting in oblivion that is.

Since we know for a fact from Elder Scrolls Legends lore that Boethia was directly supporting the Thalmor War Effort, it’s not difficult to say who actually asked the prince for Elisif’s death, or why would they decide to support the Stormcloaks in such a way. Erikur, the new Jarl who has close commercial ties with both the Dominion, the Empire, the Thieves Guild AND the Stormcloaks, is ALSO heavily implied to have had an hand in the assassination, without however tying it to the Dark Brotherhood for some reason.

We can also be glad they didn’t decide to add this quest to the game either. Elisif is already an INCREDIBLY wasted character in Vanilla, to waste and ruin her even more by simply fridging her out of nowhere and with no reward, only to then have her be cursed by her enemies as the man who plotted her murder seats on her throne all smug about it.

There is also another thing we need to keep in mind however, and that’s for the possibility that this, again, unfinished quest is missing other possible options. Boethia tells you a very specific line when you finish this quest after all:

Image Decription: “Remember always this: You need answer to no authority, neither mortal, nor divine... As you will it, so it shall be.”

The divine part is particularly important. Boethia is demanding for you to do their bidding (title drop), yet at the same time they claim everything should be done by your own free will. Maybe there IS a way to finish the quest without killing Elisif, to spite the Deadric prince by your own free will and not kill her.

Erikur is involved, so say there actually IS an assassin in the Blue Palace among the many, seemingly useless thanes and housecarls in Elisif court, among all her servants or guards? Maybe you have to beat them to the time to kill Elisif, or in turn you can also save her from them. You save Elisif, expose Erikur who is put in Jail/executed, his sister becomes the new Thieves Guild Plant for their missions, and Elisif now either trusts you alot and is willing to follow your advice and shit, or better yet has finally understood that she needs to be her own woman and shit, meaning that if this happens before season unending in season unending she will be far more assertive and will be far more proactive alongside Tullius, but in case of Stormcloak victories she will also die (In which case Erikur gets in power) as she attempts to assassinate Ulfric and probably dies in the process. (which you can stop or not, in which case the rebellion is in shambles even if Skyrim is indipendent now, and everything sucks even more than it would under Ulfric since the next in line for the throne is Galmar).

Either way after you find the second assassin and actually save Elisif (Maybe have hearts and apples involved for some nice Snow White symbolism? Important for later), either gaining her trust or making her a shrewder ruler as a result, maybe even both, Boethia will appear to you when you are finally alone.

They will congratulate you to have “outplotted” the lord of plots, much like Hircine congratulates you for hunting the hunters during his own quest, and for having followed your own free will, especially after having literally murdered a guy who had started doing the exact same thing (following his free will rather than Boethia’s orders), which would make you either incredibly stupid or incredibly far sighted, since now Elisif is on the path to become a ruler following the spirit of Boethia’s teaching, if indirectly, and you will be her trusted advisor, the only one who believed her when she realized there was a traitor in their midst, giving you (and Boethia as her champion) much power in turn.

Of course, this is me giving Todd way too much credit. The quest was probably as set up as it was in the scripts to the letter because Bethesda can’t stand the thought of a Girlboss winning, it was just never implemented, and all this new way to end it was never intended to exist, but you know, it’d be really nice if we did something with Elisif outside of the way she’s already treated in canon.

It’d be cliche in a way, and it’d be not as well written as I wished it was, but it would still be SOMETHING MORE than the way she’s treated in canon.

You know... Elisif the Fair... becoming Elisif the Girlboss. Under Boethia’s blessing. And with the Dragonborn kneeling at her side as her vizier and enforcer.

A Wicked Hunter befitting of the Fairest Queen of them all.

Wouldn’t that be rad?

[kahtookmylife]

Just dance party with the exhibits

Plot: Okay, so basically, everyone is in the same museum in this and they decide to throw a just dance party.

Characters: Ahkmenrah, Nicky, Amelia, Al Capone, Napoleon, Kahmunrah, Ivan

Warnings: None

THIS IS FAAAR AWAY FROM CANON. PLEASE DON’T COME AT ME FOR THIS. THANK YOU. ^^

Okay, Ahkmenrah wins nearly every single one. He is the King of this game. 

Ahk can do this for the whole night, so you better not challange him. He also likes the harder ones. Like Isidora, Scream N Shout (extreme) and Moskau. He’ll get tired, of course, but at least he enjoys it. 

He will do a little victory dance after every single time he wins. Whenever he does that, the other exhibits just roll their eyes, especially his brother. Ahk doesn’t want anyone to feel bad for not winning tho, so he compliments his opponents on how good they were. 

He only stops dancing when he is thirsty. Ahk will get either water or some juice and instantly go back for some more. Everyone just starts wondering how he has so much energy. Like, others can only do two or three in a row, but he is just there, dancing for hours. 

The second best player is Nicky. He is also the one who wanted to play the game in the first place. Nicky is pleasently surprised that Ahk wins most of the time, but he enjoys the game too. 

When he doesn’t play, he’ll record others playing, because he thinks that they are funny when they struggle. If his father has to go somewhere, he’ll make sure to send him some videos about the current battles. There are some exhibits that would like him to delete those videos, but he won’t and they can’t make him. 

Nicky is the one who chooses the dances. He won’t make anyone’s life easy, of course. When he chooses an extreme dance, everyone feels like they are going to die. Even Ahkmenrah thinks that too many extreme dances are way too tiring. After he sees that everyone is tired, he puts on some easier dances. 

The third best player is suprisingly (or not) Al Capone. He doesn’t have the best dance moves, but at least he knows how to move very fast. Al is a pro at Little Swing! After all, that’s very similar to what he did when he was still alive. He’s so smug about beating Ahkmenrah at this dance! 

He likes to dance with Ahk tho, because he wants to beat him. He actually can beat him in some cases, but most of the time he loses to him and Nicky too. Even like this, Al enjoys this game, but after some time he becomes tired and just sits down and watches others dance. 

If another dance comes on and people mess it up, he will laugh at the mistakes. When the exhibits tell him to get a better score than them, he does get up and tries, but sometimes fails. If he doesn’t fail tho, he’ll be like “I told you.” and everyone just rolls their eyes. 

The next one is Amelia, because she was alive aroud Al’s time, so she knows a few things about dancing. The only reason why she is in the fourth place is that she won’t dance that much. She likes the game, but she isn’t too fond of it. She likes Little Swing and Dragostea Din Tei, but doesn’t really like the other dances. It shows when she dances to something she doesn’t really like. 

Even like that, her and Al actually make a very good pair. Little Swing is their favourite dance, so they will dance it multiple times together. Amelia only wins after Al becomes too tired to dance normally tho. It’s not that she isn’t good at dancing, Al is just simply better at it. 

After a few songs, she will sit down and watch the others. Either that or she’ll talk to Nicky. Amelia is interested how this stuff works, so she’ll ask the only person that knows. Nicky tries to explain how they make the game, but it’s hard, since Amelia is kinda old and doesn’t understand a lot of stuff that’s in the 21st century. 

The others didn’t really dance that much, but Napoleon will dance a few times. He only does the easier ones, that doesn’t involve fast movement. He doesn’t really like dancing to fast songs, but Nicky asked him to at least try it. Napoleon enjoys most of it, but there are some parts that he didn’t really like, so he kinda just stops in the middle of the dance and explaines that it’s stupid. 

Al starts teasing him about not being able to dance normally, so Napoleon shuts up and dances through the whole song, just to show Al that he can. This ends up in them fighting, but thankfully Nicky and the others can calm them down. After the fight, he sits down and watches the others play. 

When Napoleon gets bored of just looking at the other exhibits, he either starts talking with Kah and Ivan, or just goes for a walk and comes back a few minutes later. He admires these dances too, but he is just used to waltz and these are nothing like it. Napoleon doesn’t judge anyone liking to dance like this tho. 

Kah would be the next one, because he will only dance one time and it will be because he wants to show that he is better, than his brother. He actually loses the game and is angry about it, so he sits down and doesn’t do anything for the whole night. Well, at least he doesn’t dance. 

He talkes with Ivan most of the time, since both of them find this rather stupid (only Kah, but Ivan agrees with him, so he doesn’t make him angrier), so they have a casual conversation while the other are dancing. Ahkmenrah tries to make him dance some more, but Kah acts like he doesn’t even hear his brother. He is still mad at him for the game and everything else. 

When his brothers starts dancing to Dark Horse, he just sits in the backround looking at the screen and thinking that this is not even close to what Egypt looks(ed) like. He’ll start criticizing everyone and every song because he has nothing else to do. Kah will get bored easily, but he can’t go anywhere because the others don’t trust him that much. 

Ivan probably won’t dance at all. He is just admiring everything from afar. Ivan would dance with someone he loves to his traditional music, but not to this. Other than that, he enjoys looking at the others having fun. Ivan actually congratulates the winners every time, because that’s how he tries to be a part of this. 

He mostly talks with Kah and Napoleon tho. Whenever Ahk wins, his brother will just start saying that he would be way better at this. Ivan just listens to him and sometimes agrees or disagrees with Kah. After he had enough of Kah talking about his brother, he starts talking about something else, so Kah finally calms down. 

Whenever Al starts teasing Napoleon, Ivan steps in to defend him, but of course, this ends in a total disaster. At least he tried tho. Him and Kah then start talking shit about Al’s behaviour. They just like to criticise him. 

[bunnirs]

Scarlet Crossroads:

Chapter One: 113

Next

Scarlet Crossroads Masterlist

Running away was almost second nature to you by now.

Maybe running was a harsher word than what was needed. Well, for better word, avoiding seemed to fit your situation better. You didn’t run because you were scared, no, you had nothing to be scared of. You just didn’t like to take responsibility over the fact that you were a monster.

It was no secret that you were dangerous. You walked around with your head held low, your expression hidden from everyone. They couldn’t tell what the hell you were thinking, but your aura gave them a hint, and they didn’t want to know.

Your aura was immense. Almost suffocating to those who got too close. Your hair was kept behind a bandanna, seeing as even the slightest strand would distract you. You wanted complete control over your body, and getting aggravated over one tiny baby hair seemed a bit much.

You could say the bandanna was kin to one that one of your ‘partners’ had, though you didn’t like to admit it. In fact, anything that reminded you of them seemed to set you in a bad mood.

As if your thoughts betrayed you, that was the only thing you could think about.

The Phantom Troupe were people you had known since birth. They stood in as the family you never had. In a way, you even had a brother, who just happened to be the leader of said troupe. To your relief, you weren’t blood related, but blood never really mattered between the troupe. You all were stuck together. Like glue.

You felt a large amount of guilt over the subject. They gave you everything, and yet, you couldn’t stand to be near them. You never had the freedom you wished for. They always stuck to you like dogs, their attention almost unbearable.

Chrollo Lucilfer was to blame for this. Your brother, the infamous leader of the Spiders, seemed to think you couldn’t handle yourself. In all honesty, you could. You had one of the strongest abilities compared to those of the troupe, and since you weren’t a member, they seemed to trap you inside their web. They used you for missions sometimes, finding your power quite fitting. You hated it. You weren’t some pet for them to use.

They liked to say you had a rebellious streak. You’d leave, they’d send someone after you, and you’d come home. You were nothing but a rebellious teenager in their minds.. and it pissed you off.

You couldn’t stay mad at them though. You were the youngest, and happened to be their boss's little sister. They worried and cared for you, that much was obvious. But them treating you like a baby? That got old quick.

You didn’t want to be seen as a child. You wanted to be seen as an equal. You were just as strong, just as dangerous, but they didn’t seem to notice. No, they just didn’t seem to care.

It was all bullshit though, and it made you chuckle darkly to yourself.

The familiar ding of a bell brought you back from your inner turmoil, and your eyes focused on the small screen in the elevator. It read ‘B-100’, most likely standing for “Basement 100”, but with your state of unsettlement, you could be wrong. But of course, you weren’t.

The screeching of the doors could be compared to that of cats on a black board. Maybe it was your sensitive ears, but it was painful as it shook the elevator as a whole. You gritted your teeth, your eyes rolling as you grew annoyed with yourself.

You didn’t know why you were so angry, but you were. This whole situation fucking sucked.

The real reason behind you taking the Hunter exam? You wanted a license so you could go somewhere so far, the troupe couldn’t bring you back. Maybe they wouldn’t be able to find you. That would be too good to be true though.

The bandanna on your head felt heavy, almost like the guilt that seemed to turn within your stomach. Maybe leaving them forever was too harsh. Maybe you’d visit, just for old times sake. While you, Chrollo, and the Troupe had your fair share of disagreements, you still were a family right?

Goddamn why was it so hard to make a decision?

Maybe because they decided all of yours for you.

No. You needed to get used to working alone. You needed a break from them. You couldn’t depend on them for answers. You would most likely outlive them.

Keyword of that statement? Most likely.

Your aura had failed to calm down, roughly thanks to your realization of helplessness. The dark red aura had transformed into shapes that resembled spikes, clearly influenced by your mood.

The elevator seemed to finally open all the way, making the aura suddenly shoot in all directions, disappearing. The trip down felt like hours, and it seems being trapped in a small room didn’t help.

The cold air hit you, and that made a chill run up your arms, settling at your spine. You breathed out, taking your first step off the elevator.

Before you could even get through, you bumped into something.. or maybe even someone?

Stepping back a little, you saw who fell victim to your lack of awareness. Standing multiple feet below you was a small green man, his name tag reading ‘Beans’. Who in their right mind would name their son Beans? Certainly no one with standards.

“Hello, my name is Secretary Beans! Please, take this number and put it on. Thank you and Good Luck.” It seems with that, the short jelly bean of a man waddled away, a tag now left in your hands.

He left before you could thank him. You mentally thanked him, not really feeling up to making conversation, especially with someone who’s name made you want to cry.

Now back on topic, you looked back down to the tag in your hands, studying its content. It read ‘113’. How peculiar. It seems with new found curiosity, you decided to step through the elevator again. Hopefully nothing would stop you this time, fearing that the elevator would crush you alive.

As your shoe met the cold, dull concrete, the aura of another seemed to catch your attention. Standing only a few meters away from you was the owner of said aura, and the mere shock was enough to send you into orbit.

Why the hell was he here? Did Chrollo send him to watch you? No, was it to stop you from taking the exam? You couldn’t fathom an answer good enough it seems.

So why was Hisoka Morow, Troupe Member number 4, standing in front of you?

“What a coincidence in seeing you here… Y/N.” His signature grin struck something within you, and you broke out into a coughing fit.

How you’d love to wipe that smug grin off his face.

Truth is, you knew about Hisoka’s quarrel with your brother… and yet, you didn’t mind. Maybe it was the fact that you had a mutual liking to each other, or the fact that you wanted to see what your brother looked like with a broken nose.

Of course you wouldn’t allow your brother to actually get killed. There’s no way you’d allow that. But in hindsight, there’s no way he’d be defeated. He’s too strong for that.

Whatever it was between you and Hisoka, you didn’t like it. It was almost as if you and him were the same.

What a load of shit though. You and him? The same? Just the idea of that made you laugh.

Hisoka seemed shocked at your distant gaze, the dull laugh leaving your throat sent shivers up his spine. “Oh? What’s so funny?”

You snapped out of it, looking at him with narrowed eyes. “You look like an idiot.” You grimaced, looking at his choice in clothes. “What are you supposed to be? A roly poly?”

“Oh I’m truly devastated. Not even the darkest cloud could compare to the depression that just hit me.” Hisoka teased, his smile widening, his long fingernail poking into your forearm. You were sure if he pressed any harder, he’d break skin.

“You’re getting off on this.. aren’t you?” You stated, your voice holding a certain calmness that certainly didn’t fit the situation at all.

“Oh how low of you to expect such a thing from me? Your dear friend, might I even say, family?” He removed his finger, a card slipping into his vacant fingers. The sound of paper cutting through air would’ve startled you if you were a normal person, but to your dismay, you weren’t normal.

“Gross.” You muttered, catching a stray card that had just flown towards your face. This man was truly testing your patience. Could he let you get away from the elevator at least? “No way in hell are we family.” You said sternly, a growl almost forming in your throat.

“So you’d settle on friends then?” Hisoka smirked, his eyes narrowing as his eyes trailed down your form.

“No.” You grumbled, pushing past him. “You’re more like a fly if anything. Annoying, loud, and stupid.”

“Oh how you wound me.” He faked a frown, his eyes crinkling up as his nose scrunched, his tongue grazing over his lips as he flipped a card in his hand. “Do try not to die alright? Chrollo would be very disappointed you know.”

“Is that anything new?” You pondered, but you were already too far ahead for him to answer, much less hear you.

The truth was clear as day, if you continued to live like this, you wouldn’t outlive the troupe at all. Which is why, you’d get your license, show it to the troupe, and leave.

You immediately concluded those thoughts, now emptying them from your mind. Dwindling on something so far in the future seemed like a waste of energy, and you really needed that right now. It seems you have an exam to plow through.

SOOWEE MAMA HERE’S CHAPTER ONE OF MY LONG KURAPIKA X READER UMMMMM 

JUST TY GUYS SO MUCH FOR CHEERING ME ON AND SUPPORTING ME!! i FEEL LIKE THIS ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH FOR Y’ALL BUT I JUST WANTED TO GET THIS OUT FOR YOU OMG OMG OMG

FUN FACTS:

 THE BANDANNA Y/N IS WEARING IS THE SAME TYPE OF BANDANNA FEITAN WEARS AROUND HIS MOUTH. Ever since Y/N was little, she’d try to steal and wear Feitan’s bandanna, so he got her a matching one. (He stole it of course but it’s the thought that counts)

Y/N’s badge number is 113 for a reason! If you look up Chrollo’s actual theme song, you will notice that it is called “1/13″. I also made sure this number wasn’t used by any of the important characters in the Hunter Exam!! So it checks out!!

Y/N is also aware about Hisoka being a fake member! Seeing as she’s not an actual troupe member, she sees no right in outing him. Besides she finds it funny omlllll.

Y/N is 17 years of age!!! She’s a literal teen so she will not be in any sort of ship with Hisoka/Illumi/Feitan/Ect. 

THANKS AGAIN OMG OMG OMG ILY

[paceypeternathanslawyer]

Dawson being an insufferable, evil prick in Dawson’s Creek 3x03 (None Of The Above)

1. We open with a scene of Dawson and Eve in his bedroom 

Dawson: First things first. Movie night we're supposed to watch movies.

Eve: I prefer TV.

We have painfully been forced to watch Dawson watch movies and not just any movies... the movies HE wants to watch for the past two seasons. One movie night when someone else chooses what to watch and Dawson can’t imagine that they would do something that he “King Dawson” wouldn’t want to do. He then proceeds to be an insufferable snob and turn up his nose at her choice of TV show and TV shows in general. What else is new?

2. One of the reasons he hates Felicity is because she’s “chatty?” Fuck you Dawson! That toxic viewpoint that a boy who’s chatty, i.e. Dawson, is gregarious and charming, but a girl who’s chatty is a handful who should shunned by any self respecting man.

3. Dawson: You know, which is, in general, my complaint about television. It's not reality, it's perfection. I mean, nobody ever blows it or gets tested in any real way or ever makes the wrong choice or bad choice or...

I see why Dawson doesn’t like TV now.... he’s never seen a TV show. Seriously though, I have never seen a show where the characters are “perfect” and “never make bad or wrong choices” that show literally does not exist. 

4. Dawson brings the PSAT test answers to the whole group and proceeds to dangle it in front of them, even going so far as to encourage them to take advantage of it. He tempts Joey by mentioning how doing well in the PSATs would help her get a scholarship and then later in that episode he gets all mad at Eve for quote un quote tempting him when he himself was doing the same thing to his “friends.” What a fucking hypocrite. But what else is new?

(Little side note. When they have to leave the classroom and leave the PSAT test results on the table.. they come back and we see Dawson looking under the table. That makes me laugh every time. As if the test results just walked off the desk by itself. It either walked off the desk or someone took it. Either way, your not gonna find it under the desk 😂😂 )

5. Eve: It didn't disappear, Dawson. Somebody took it. 

Dawson: How do you know that?

Again... Dawson... you carefully left it lying there in the middle of a table. Of course it was taken, there’s no other option.

6.  Dawson: Whoever stole the test give it back. 

Jen: Well, wasn't it already stolen, Dawson?

Jen makes an amazing point. Dawson expects everyone to follow his idea of morality and follow his every command when he himself touted around a stolen test and tempted everyone with it, insinuating that it should be used. But now when it’s taken from him, suddenly his strong moral code can not allow them to have it.

7.  Dawson: She didn't tell me to do anything with that test. 

Joey: I bet when she offered you that test, you didn't fire one ethical comment her way, did you? It's just your friends who have to sit here and-- and suffer through the Dawson Leery morality play.

Another good point. Any chance Dawson can have to make himself feel morally superior to his “friends.” You know what? He probably brought that test to them in the hopes that someone would steal just so he could psychologically abuse them and make them feel like trash.

8.   Dawson: Here's the deal: I'm gonna leave my locker unlocked. Whoever has the test will put it inside by 5:30 today.

 Pacey: Oh, come on, Dawson. The petty thief among us already left the crime scene. They're not gonna return that thing now. What's the incentive? 

Dawson: To do the right thing.

To do the right thing?!?! So the right thing is to give a test to Dawson and Dawson alone with no idea what he’s gonna do with it? He could use it for his own self alone. How is that morally right? Because Dawson said so? And Dawson is surely the arbiter and decider of everything that is or is not morally right. Technically the right thing to do is for the thief to keep it and then burn it... right Dawson? 

9. Eve makes one comment about how one of his friends probably stole it and Dawson immediately thinks of Pacey. Truly showing what a horrible friend he is and how little he really knows about Pacey. Pacey is not the kind of person who would cheat on a test. He has not written one word on tests, he has even blatantly fallen asleep in class during tests. He just truly does not care enough to cheat and anyone who knows Pacey even the slightest, would know that.

10.  Friends, huh? Friends, you know, that word "friends"... it's an interesting word. It implies that you would actually believe your friend when he's telling you something. 

Dawson: When he tells me the truth. 

I hate that line by Dawson because in it he has shown his hands and put Pacey in a position where, no matter what Pacey says, Dawson’s not gonna believe him. Pacey said himself that he didn’t take it and Dawson says he’ll believe him when he tells the truth. Dawson has made up his mind and nothing Pacey says to defend himself is gonna change that.

Pacey: When he's tell-- ha ha! You want to know what I find so very amusing about this situation? I mean, what i think is so really, really rich about all this is that you yourself were capable of stealing this test. All right, you thought about it. You didn't throw that test away. You didn't give it back to Eve. You brought the test to us!

Dawson: No. I wanted to consult the people I trusted to determine what the best thing was to do. I never thought that anyone would be so weak or so self motivated to actually swipe it. (Trust? Hmmm his idea of trust and mine are two totally different things... but okay then, spew your bullshit if you want Dawson. Also weak and self motivated? Fuck you Dawson! You know nothing about Pacey)

Pacey: Weak and self-motivated, huh? Now, which one of those 2 colorful adjectives would I be? 

Dawson: You are who you are, Pacey.

Pacey: Yes, I am, Dawson. And so are you. You, Dawson Leery, are a self-righteous son of a bitch who cares more about his rose-colored defunct 1950s belief system than the people who fail to live up to it, huh? (👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 You tell him King Pacey)

Dawson: Interesting choice of words, coming from a smug, cold-hearted son of a bitch who just dumped his girlfriend after she begged him-- pleaded for an ounce sympathy! (SMUG?! COLD HEARTED?! Andie cheated on him!! Fuck you Dawson. Isn’t a friend supposed to support his friend? This makes me think the part in S6 where Dawson says that even before the whole Pacey/Joey/Dawson drama that he realized that Pacey hadn’t wanted to be his friend for a long time. Funny because I seem to recall Dawson being a horrible and vile “friend” to Pacey for seasons and seasons before Joey and Pacey began a relationship)

Pacey: At least I didn't send her father to prison. (Number 1, I don’t think this was out of line. I’d like Dawson to explain to me how this factually inaccurate)

Dawson: No. You just made her go crazy. (This is way out of line on so many levels and Dawson wasn’t even drunk. Even if what Pacey said was out of line... number 1, Dawson started it by calling him a smug and cold hearted son of a bitch for being betrayed by his GF. Number 2, what Pacey said was correct. Number 3, Pacey was drunk. Dawson has 0 excuse. What he said here was evil to Pacey and belittling to Andie and her mental health struggles that have nothing to do with Pacey)

11. Dawson: The only thing I can come up with is you, Eve. You happened to me. You and that stupid test. Look, Eve, I accept my blame in this, but don't even try to tell me that you didn't know what giving me that test would do.

No, Dawson, you do not accept your blame. You never accept your blame in anything. It is not Eve’s fault at all. Yeah, she gave you the test but she did not make you do or say anything you said over the course of this episode. That’s on you. 

[xxtha-blog]

Traits People in the Fandom like to give Dream that instantly turn me away from their comics.

Wow, that's a long title. Okay, did you ever just want to hear me complain? If so, you came to the right place!

Im on a little salt bregade right now with my exasperation at lack of enjoyable Dream content in this fandom so this isn't some in depth analysis post or some if you give Dream these traits, you're a bad writer and need to stop. No. This is just a: here's some character traits people commonly write Dream with that severely conflict with the character I love him for, thus making me incapable of enjoying whatever 'Dream' they're writing because to me it doesn't look like Dream at all. And also why I don't like it and why I think this happens so frequently. And because this is just my opinion, you can either agree or ignore me. (And I mean, second one is a good option lol)

Jerkish - The classic asshole Dream. The one that says 'all this bad things that happened to me? Pffttsgsf I don't want to be a better person so I'm going to be a dick to everyone else.' This is probably the most common and usually comes with a lot of the other traits I'm about to mention

Sarcastic - This ones not that bad and if it's the only one I'll usually be fine with it, but he isn't sarcastic or passive aggressive, his closest trait to this is that he's stubborn. He's not going to shoot back something to make someone upset or because he's mad at them, even Nightmare, he's going to say something that might contend with someone for the purpose of making that person think about the bad or negative thing they're doing and won't stop until the person is either rethinking their originally negative position or is growing too negative for it to be rational to keep pressing and will try something else. In one it's a good intention, and with sarcasm it's this 'I need to get back at them and I don't care if it helps the situation or makes it worse' intention. And Dream is always the former.

Violent - The Dream that's always ready to get into a fight no matter what. Talking calmly? what's that?

Unsympathetic/Insensitive - this one is super easy to slip by the radar of a lot of people, so I often get people who ask me why I don't like certain ways people write Dream and it's usually because of this. This is him not understanding or sympathizing with someone else's situation even if it differs from his own, mainly for harmless things. People not wanting to do something because they're uncomfortable and Dream being written as trying to get them to do it to the point they get upset. A negative or toxic stubbornness, so to speak. Which really sucks because Dream is one of the sweetest most sensitive character I've seen and it gets rid of all that nuance.

Egotistical - :( I really don't like this one. It's your typical, I'm better than you, (usually toward Nightmare). It makes me sad. Combine unsympathetic and egotistical together and you get the jerk Dream that hates negativity and thinks negative people are bad.

Ableist - Hear me out, this isn't the same as people saying canon Dream is ableist for like, not being friends with Ink? (Wheeze). it's the type of Dream that purposefully targets someone's mental illnesses in cruel or unfair ways, usually Nightmare.

Neglectful - The Dream that says fuck protecting positivity lmao. And I need not say more.

Cowardly - The Dream that either won't own up to the problems he caused, pretends he never caused problems, and/or won't do anything to stop problems occuring.

Underhanded - the type of Dream that won't talk shit to someone's face but will make either subtly or blatantly mean comments about them behind their back.

Stupid - The type of Dream that makes decisions that will clearly cause the suffering of a lot of people for stupid reasons and/or the type of Dream that couldn't solve a 2x2 rubix cube and relies on everyone else to solve things for him because people think lack of knowledge = stupidity in the original. Which isn't true.

Selfish - The type of Dream that makes decisions that will clearly cause the suffering of other people for selfish or self absorbed reasons.

Controlling - I see this one so much and it hurts me. It's most likely due to people trying to make his desire to do good negative in this way, but directly conflicts with the fact it does no good if he becomes a toxic asshole with it. It's the type of Dream that won't let anyone do anything he doesn't deemed 100% positivity approved and becomes a toxic, controlling, manipulative asshole. Usually with a relationship bonus. ;')

Dense - Another negative stubbornness. A Dream that can't see when something's clearly making someone upset.

Overbearing - a branch of insensitive and stupid. the 'Everything is great! Isn't everything great! You're suffering? No! Everything is great and happy, be happy! I'm ALWAYS happy' Dream. Toxic positivity.

Irritable - The Dream that gets really angry at people for some reason? Normally because they're being negative or just not taking him seriously. This contends with Dream's canon in the sense that instead of getting angry he gets more sad/upset rather than some dry anger, and only when someone is being really cruel. I never like seeing a purely angry Dream. I'd rather him break down into tears, asking quietly why someone is doing this, instead of scream insults at them. Because we all know taking your anger out on someone helps solve problems and doesn't escalate situations.

Venegeful - The Dream that won't stop until the people who have wronged him or are doing wrong are either punished or dead. What's helping people be better, am I right?

Unforgiving - The Dream that never forgives people for wrongdoings and/or actively brings up past mistakes for no good reason, or just to get back at someone, usually to Nightmare. Often used as some moral superiority complex.

Smug - whenever he's right, he'll make sure you know it.

Overlycompetitive - the sore winner that wants to challenge people all the time, that'll rub it in their face when he's better. A subcategory of smug. This isn't to say canon Dream is never competitive, its just to say he isn't a dick about it.

I think a lot of people give them these traits because they think he's not 'flawed' enough. Like, they don't see to understand that 'good' traits can be flaws, or as we've seen here, think Dream's other good traits should be made into even more flaws, which directly conflict with his core morals and motivations.

I know a lot of people just write him like this for fun, and that's fine. I like Swap Dream by song-song-a actually, I think he's cool. There are a couple of exceptions where it's set up well enough that this isn't the Dream I know that I dont get fucking whiplash while reading. I'm not saying its wrong to write him like this, I'm just saying it's not enjoyable for me.

For the most part, it turns me away from the comic, or au, or am, almost instantly. I'm not interested in reading about Dream becomes an asshole edition 600. and it wouldn't be a problem for me if almost anyone wrote him well like every other character gets the liberty of.

Like, I also hate Chibi Blueberry but at least there's a ton of good Swap content out there so I'm not here talking about Chibi Blueberry lol.

Anyways, I'll probably add more traits if I think of any, so if you're trying to write Dream close to canon, you can use this as a what not to do post I guess. Otherwise enjoy my rant xD.

[flamehairedwritings]

The Fiancé: Chapter Three

Characters: Steve Rogers x Female Plus-Size Reader

Rating: The whole series will be E, 18+ Only

Summary: A lie about your best friend at a Christmas party spirals into world news, but a previously unknown threat leaves you having to now live the lie of Steve Rogers being your fiancé.

Originally based on the prompt ‘Character A’s ex will be at the Christmas Party A is attending. Character B poses as A’s fiancé,’ by @alloftheprompts.

A/N: The whole series will include swearing, alcohol, threat, violence, protected sex, and more tags to be added!

The Fiancé Masterlist

All Works��Masterlist

Read on AO3

Please don’t copy or steal my work, and please don’t post it on any other sites; credit does not count.

You, Me, and The World

“Right...”

She’s looking at you, you’re looking at her.

“I didn’t tell anyone else,” she whispers after a few, silent moments.

“I believe you, Dolly, it’s all right.”

You’re internally panicking, externally, actually, too, probably, from the way she’s looking at you. You open your mouth, then close it, then open it again after taking a breath.

“Right. If you could just tell her that... I’m in a meeting right now... but that I will call... her back.”

Dolly nods slowly. “Okay... All right...” She nods again, and then closes the door and you watch her run towards her desk.

You sit back and stare at your computer screen. The article is still up, and you can’t stop yourself from continuing to read it.

Update! The lucky, lucky lady of Cap’s dreams is Y/N, Head of Marketing at June & Mayflower Publishing! A regular old person, we’re glad Cap is so down-to-earth! Our sources say they’ll be announcing the date of the wedding within the next couple of days, and we’re so excited!

Along with the update is a picture of you, taken from your Instagram account. You’re smiling into the camera, mid-laughter, a cocktail in your hand.

Oh my God...

You feel your phone buzzing in your bag and jerk forward, fumbling as you try to unzip it quickly. Grabbing your phone, it’s a number you don’t recognise. Expecting a call from a new client today, you answer it without thinking.

“Hello, Y/N speaking?”

“Hi, Y/N! I’m calling from Stars Today, congratulations on your engagement! I was just wondering if I could have a quick—”

You hang up, dropping your phone onto the desk and put your head in your hands as you groan, your eyes closed.

This isn’t happening, this isn’t happening, this isn’t happening...

How did they get your phone number? How did this even get out? Joe? Gwen? Someone else who had overheard your huge, stupid lie? You wonder how Steve is—

Your eyes snap open.

Steve.

Oh my fucking God.

You grab your phone again and unlock it, tapping and swiping quickly to find his number. Dialling, you hold it to your ear, biting at your lower lip. It rings, and rings, and rings... and goes to voicemail.

Shit, he probably can’t hear it while he’s jogging, or he has it on silent, or whatever, oh my God, this is insane...

Hanging up and locking your phone, you sit back, your gaze lifting to the window. The office has filled slightly, more and more people arriving and, yes, they’re all glancing in, murmuring to each other. They’re smiling, they’re all happy and delighted, but you just feel your heart sink lower and lower.

No, right, none of that, just clear it all up now, just go out there and say it was a lie, suck it up and feel humiliated for ten years, it’ll be fine.

Pushing your chair back, you clear your throat as you move around your desk, clutching your phone in one hand. Opening the door, you step out and people are already looking at you. Clearing your throat again, you inhale a breath and smile as they instantly go quiet.

“Hi, everyone, uhm...” You shift your stance as your gaze sweeps the room, everyone silent. “I’m sure you’ve all heard what has been said in the tabloids and I just wanted to—”

“You bitch!”

Any other time you would have been offended, but now you just want to curl up and die because of how overjoyed the voice is.

Bridget Sanderson, your closest friend in the office, and D.C besides Steve, marches through the door, pushes through the small group and grins at you, their mouth open.

“You engaged bitch! I knew something had to be going on! How could you not tell me?!”

You exhale a faint, and you feel like you’re about to faint, laugh and shake your head. “Oh, well, actually, Bridge’, and, uhm, everyone, you see the thing is—”

“So you’re giving the Monday morning pep-talks now, huh?”

Oh my God, will everyone please stop turning up to work on time.

CEO of June & Mayflower Publishing, and your boss, Yvette Adebayo arches an eyebrow at you as the group parts for her, removing her gloves.

“Oh, no, I was just—”

“Can I see you in my office?”

“Yep, absolutely.” You smile as she nods and heads for her own office. You follow after her, somewhat meekly.

Yvette is no-nonsense, hates a fuss, a scene, is the classiest woman you’ve ever met, and you hate disappointing her. That’s not to say she’s mean or cold or anything that the world labels assertive women in leadership roles as, you just bloody love her. As much as you love yourself, God, you want to be her.

Closing the door to her office as she removes her coat and hangs it up, you clasp your hands together, trying not to play with them nervously. Sitting down, she looks at you, folding her arms.

“So.”

“So...” you parrot, stretching the vowel out.

She arches an eyebrow.

Sighing, you drop your hands. “Oh, Yvette, this is a fucking nightmare, I’m not—”

“I know, I can see that it is, I’m not here to chastise you for not telling me or anything like that—”

“Yvette.”

She pauses, her eyebrows raising slightly as you’ve not once in your three years of working together interrupted her or used an exasperated tone. You probably look as helpless as you feel, too.

“Yvette, I’m... I’m not engaged.”

Her eyebrows rise higher. “... You’re not?”

“No.” You feel your face warming in embarrassment as you launch into your explanation, “It was just a stupid lie I told at the party to make Joe jealous.”

“Joe was there?” she frowns.

It’s not the most pressing of matters to address right now, but then you remember she hadn’t attended the party, knowing her employees wouldn’t fully relax with the big boss there.

God, she’s amazing.

“Yeah, he said Adam invited him as a plus-one. I suppose he’s back for the holidays to see his family, too.” You shake your head slightly, embarrassment returning. “And I just... whenever I see him or think about him I get so mad, he was such a pretentious asshole even when we were going out, I was actually working myself up to break up with him when he put in for the transfer which was a blessing in disguise and—”

“So, you wanted to get one over on him,” Yvette cuts you off from your rambling.

“Yeah, well...” You pull a slight face. “That kind of makes it sound like I used Steve... which I did...” You pull a face again before closing your eyes and pressing the heels of your palms to them, groaning. “Oh, God, I’m such an awful person...”

“No, you’re not, Y/N,” Yvette insists. “Joe was always an ass, thinking he was better than everyone, so I can completely understand why you would want to have a moment of superiority.” 

“That still doesn’t make it okay, at all.” You fold your arms, blowing out a breath. “He just... He looked at me like it wasn’t possible. Like I couldn’t have Steve Rogers fall in love with me, or someone like him, and I hated that. Even when I was dating him there was always something about him that just... Made me feel like he was doing me a favour. That he was so amazing and a complete catch. So just once, for one second, I wanted him to think, ‘God, I missed out... She is worthy, she is incredible’.”

“Y/N.” You gaze meets Yvette’s as she leans forward. “You are worthy. Period. No matter what. Whoever you decide to be with, they’ll be damn lucky and they’ll know it.”

“I know, I know, I tell myself that and believe it most days, but...” You sigh heavily. “I used Steve. I did what everyone else does and put him on a pedestal and used his status and his iconography to just get back at my stupid ex when I’m supposed to be his friend. Sure, he’s a super-soldier and a, you know, super-hero but first and foremost, to me, he’s my friend and a human being. And I dismissed all that for one tiny, stupid moment of wanting to feel smug.” You can feel tears starting to fill your eyes.

Wiping at them quickly, you blow out another, slightly shaky breath.

“Y/N,” Yvette says gently, “It was a dumb thing that you did, but a human thing. You made a mistake, and we can rectify it.” You watch her as she turns her computer on and straightens her back. “We’ll write a press-statement that we can release, it doesn’t need to give specifics, just that there’s been a misunderstanding, and then you can tell everyone you actually know as little or as much as you want.”

God, you are actually about to cry, she’s just the absolute bloody best.

A smile pulling at your lips, you wipe your eyes again. “Thank you, Yvette. I mean it, you really are—”

“You fucking bitch!”

God, I wish Bridge’ would stop calling me that— 

As Yvette’s eyes widen, though, and you turn to look out of her window to the office floor, you realise it’s not Bridget. A young woman, sobbing, steps out of the elevator. People stare, frozen to the spot, because this has never happened before, security in your building has always been incredible, and why would someone trespass on your floor? She’s striding across the room, too fast for people to clock on and react, pointing at you.

“You bitch! You don’t deserve him, he’s better than you!” she yells, thoroughly and completely distraught, but all you can do is remain frozen in your spot.

You can hear Yvette shouting into her office phone, demanding where security is, when four of them are suddenly there, shoving people out of the way and one of the men grabs the woman when she’s only a few feet away from the door. She screams as he wraps his arms around her to restrain her, hauling her back and having to lift her slightly. She just kicks her legs out, thrashing and trying to get free.

“You bitch, you bitch, you bitch!” she screams over and over and over, and you’re still frozen.

The security man drags her back towards the elevator, another man accompanying him, and the remaining two, a man and a woman, continue towards you. The woman opens the door, shaking her head as she steps inside.

“We’re so sorry, there’s just so many of them down there, she must have just slipped through. Are you okay?”

You stare at her.

“There’s more?” Yvette asks.

The woman looks to her. “Yeah, they just started turning up, some are fans, some are paparazzi.” Her gaze returns to you. “Again, we’re so sorry, we’re increasing our team for the foreseeable future, it won’t happen again.”

You think you might actually faint now. 

“Okay. Thank you,” you hear yourself saying.

The woman nods and steps out of the room, pulling the door shut behind her.

“Y/N, are you all right?” Yvette asks gently as you turn to her, your lips parted.

“Uhm...”

When you don’t continue after a few moments, she nods and moves around her desk towards you. “Take the day off. Alice and I’ll draft a statement later. Is there someone who can come and pick you up?”

You nod a few times as she squeezes your shoulder gently. “Uh, yeah, there’s someone I can call.”

—

Natasha Romanoff beams when you exit the elevator and approach. Beams. She’s smiled at you before, sure, several times, but this is a beam. And then she opens her mouth.

“Oh my God, I’m so glad you’re telling people now!”

I’m fucking sorry, what?

Before you can mutter that this is actually not something you’re quite ready to joke about yet, she throws her arms around you and hugs you tightly. “Oh, I’m just so happy!”

You just stand there, holding your bag, as she rocks you, having never felt so confused in your life.

“Uh—”

“Right, yeah, no time, let’s get you home, huh?” She’s no longer beaming when she pulls back, instead looking incredibly sympathetic in a way that doesn’t make you feel any better. Patting your arm, she looks behind you and nods at Yvette and the two security guards who have accompanied you down into the private underground garage that belongs to the building. “I’ll take it from here, thank you.”

Dropping her hand, she moves to her black Corvette a few feet away and opens the passenger door, holding it open for you and gesturing for you to get in. Looking over your shoulder at Yvette, you manage to return her smile before heading to the car. Getting in, you place your bag on the floor between your feet as Nat closes the door, and buckle your seatbelt before closing your eyes, exhaling a long breath. You open your eyes when the driver’s door opens and Nat slides into the seat, closing the door.

“Nat, I—”  

“What an exciting day. You must be so over-joyed!”

She’s beaming at you again as she starts the engine after buckling her own seatbelt, but something about her tone tells you she isn’t actually joking around.

“Nat, do you—”

“Oh, I’m sorry, are you okay? It must have been terrifying with that woman getting in.” She looks genuinely concerned this time as she steers the Corvette up a ramp and onto the main street level. 

“Uh, yeah, it was actually, but, uhm, I—”

“It’s all right, we don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” She pauses for half a second to check the street as the barrier lifts before she turns onto it and, fuck, you forgot how fast she drives. “We’ll just get you home, then you can relax and we’ll do what we can, okay?”

“Yeah, right, okay, but—”

She turns the radio on, turning the volume up a few numbers, and taps her fingertips against the steering wheel. “Have you spoken to Steve?”

Your heart sinks at the reminder of him and how this must all be affecting him because of you. “No, not yet,” you murmur, playing with your hands in your lap. “Have you?”

“Yeah, he can’t wait to see you.”

He must be fucking desperate with how fast you’re going.

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, he’s at your place, popping open a bottle of champagne I should think.” She glances at you, beaming again, and you just frown.

What the hell is going on.

Something tells you, though, to not broach the subject again, so you lean your head back and mutter, “Yeah, I’m gonna need a fucking drink.”

It doesn’t take long for Nat to reach your apartment, and you still don’t understand how someone can be a fast and safe driver. You’re about to say as much, because you can’t do a single journey with her and not, when she parks in front of the building. Right in front of it. You pause in unbuckling the seatbelt you had been gripping, frowning at her, because she never does this as your building also has its own underground garage, and she loves her car.

“Nat, what about the garage?”

She unbuckles her seat belt and reaches over you to the glove compartment. “Oh, I won’t be staying long.” She pulls a box out of the compartment, closes it and sits back, opening the box. She opens the box to reveal sunglasses and puts them on. Sunglasses.

Leaving the box on the dashboard, she smiles at you and pushes her door open, stepping out. Grabbing your bag and doing the same, you watch her as she closes her door and looks up and down the street. Then, she looks to you as you close your door, her smile lingering.

“Come on, let’s get that drink, shall we.”

You reach the front doors of your apartment building first, and unzip your bag, searching for your keys. As you pull them out, Nat takes your bag from you, her smile still there.

“Here, I’ll hold this for you.”

“Okay.” Deciding to just go along with whatever is happening until you’re in your apartment, you turn and unlock the door. Faint Christmas music plays over a small speaker on a wall, and the building guard, Aaron, who you’d say you’re quite friendly with, looks at you from his place by the mailboxes as you enter and you nod at him. He nods, then gives you a thumbs up as he grins.

Oh, God.

“Way to go, Y/N! I had no idea!”

“Yep, okay, Aaron,” you murmur as your face heats and you stride towards the elevator. Nat is close behind you and you press the button to herald the elevator as she stops beside you. Then, you glance at her, frowning.

She’s searching through your bag, opening pockets and unzipping compartments.

“What are you doing?” you murmur, raising your eyebrows as she takes the spare pens you always keep in your bag out before slotting them back into their compartment.

“Nothing,” she says without even looking up at you.

Right.

Your jaw moves as the elevator ‘ding’s and the doors slide open. Incredibly grateful to find no one inside, you step in and turn to the buttons, pressing the button for your floor as Nat also steps in.

The moment the doors close, you turn to her, your hands going to your waist, your keys digging in to you even through your coat. “What the hell is going on, Nat?”

She doesn’t say anything, continuing to search through your bag. Your eyebrows raise as you release a scoff of disbelief because she’s ignoring you.

“Nat?”

Finally, she zips your bag back up and lifts her head, holding it out to you. You can’t tell if she’s satisfied or unsatisfied, and she’s silent, her gaze holding yours. Taking your bag, you shoulder it and press your lips together. You’re angry, confused, definitely dissociating somewhat, but something else is starting to creep up now. Fear.

The ‘ding’ of the elevator makes you jump slightly. Nat’s through the doors first this time, beckoning you to follow. You do, gripping the strap of your bag tightly. Your keys are biting into your skin as you shift them in your hand as you walk, and you find the key to your front door, Nat pausing by it. You unlock it, glancing at her. Her eyes are on the hall behind you, her features expressionless. Your heart pounding, you push your door open. Stepping in, you lift your head and pause, finding Sam Wilson stood in your living room area.

He turns and grins, holding his arms out wide.

“Y/N! Congratulations!” he laughs as he moves towards you, and your bag falls from your shoulder as you hear Nat close the door behind you.

As his arms go around you in a hug you would usually be delighted to return, you just stand there, again, feeling tears of irritation start to prick at your eyes because what the hell is happening. 

You’re speaking before you even realise. “Can someone please tell me what in the absolute fuck is—”

“All right, the place is clear.”

Steve appears from your bathroom, making you break off, your eyes darting up to him. Sam releases you then, holding your shoulders gently, his smile gone. “Y/N, are you all right?”

You look from him to Steve, your lips parted. “No, I’m not. What the hell is going on?”

Nat moves around you and pushes her sunglasses onto her head as Sam drops his hands. “Sorry about all that, Y/N. We’ll explain in a moment.” She raises her eyebrows at Sam slightly, gesturing him over to the large window that looks down onto the front street of the building. “Sam?”

Giving you a reassuring smile, though you absolutely don’t feel reassured, Sam follows her, leaving you standing there, looking at Steve. His arms are by his sides, and he exhales a breath as he moves towards you, an expression you can’t describe on his features.

“Y/N—”

“Oh, Steve,” you quickly interrupt, unable to bear whatever he’s about to say, good or bad or disappointed, because no matter what, this is your fault. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean—”

He shakes his head, his hands replacing where Sam’s had been, warm and light. “Y/N, are you okay? Nat messaged about what happened at the office, I’m glad you called her.”

You look at him in disbelief, your hands having found his chest at some point. “Yeah, I’m fine, are you okay?”

A corner of his mouth lifts, softening his features instantly as his thumbs stroke your shoulders. “I’m fine, Y/N, I—”

“Really? You can say if you’re not, I would absolutely understand, actually you should be pissed off with me, Steve—”

“Y/N, Y/N, it’s all right,” he says gently, having heard, as you’d tried not to, the slight cracking in your voice. He draws you closer, his arms going around you in a warm embrace.

You realise, in that moment, that neither of you hug very much. You see each other so often that all you greet each other with is a hello, or you just high five when something exciting happens. Hugs are reserved for when you’re thanking each other for a present or when... You can’t really think of any other time. Even when you have a cry, you’ll both sit down and he’ll pat and rub your back, and you’ve never seen him cry at anything more than a movie, so.

God, we should hug more, this is nice. 

“So...” Sam’s voice has you pulling back, Steve’s arms falling from you as you turn to him, a smile tugging at his lips. “How did this happen, or do I just not have my RSVP yet?”

You tilt your head, your lips pressing together. Yeah, you’re definitely not ready to joke about it yet. You might not ever. 

“Well...” Moving to the couch, you take a seat as you blow out a breath, your face already warming again. 

Here we go, my now permanent state of embarrassment continues.

They’re all looking at you, Sam leaning against the wall, glancing out of the window every now and then, Nat sat on the arm of the couch opposite you, Steve standing between you and Nat, his hands in his pockets.

Clearing your throat, your hands on your knees, you lick your lips. “So... When Steve and I were at my work party last Saturday, my ex-boyfriend was there and I told him that...” You take a short breath, glancing at Steve before deciding to settle your gaze on the coffee table. “... Steve was my fiancé, because...” You just can’t bring yourself to say it. “... Well, I don’t know why, really.” You move on quickly. “So, when I got to work today, Dolly said Gwen from work overheard me saying it to Joe, so she could have spread it, or Joe could have, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t thinking—” 

“Joe is the ex-boyfriend?”

You gaze darts from where you had been looking at Steve to apologise to Nat.

“Yeah. He lives in Chicago but he’s back for the holidays, I’m assuming.”

“How long were you two together?”

“Only a few months—”

“Did he ever meet Steve?”

You frown lightly at her. “Only at the party, why?”

Her hands are clasped together, her eyes fixed on you. “What’s his last name?”

“Havers. Joe Havers. Why?”

“When did he start working at your place? When did you start seeing each other?”

You look at Sam, who’s looking out of the window, then to Steve, who’s looking at the ground, then back to Nat. “About a year ago. We started dating a month after, and then he broke up with me when he transferred to the Chicago branch the August that’s just gone. Why—”

“Did he ask you out? Pursue you?”

You release a breath, your frown returning. “Yeah, and I guess, but, like, in the way you would when you want to date someone—”

“Did you ever meet his family? Friends?” She’s unrelenting, expressionless.

“Well, no, but he never met Steve during that time, either—”

“Did he ask to?”

“No.” You exhale in frustration, your jaw moving. “Look, what’s going on, Nat? You’d said you’d tell me.”

She lifts her hands slightly. “We just have to look at every option, Y/N.”

Your frown returns as you look at them. “Option for what? Who spread it?”

There’s silence. Your eyebrows raise. Sam meets your gaze for a second before looking back out the window, Steve’s still looking at the floor, and so Nat, once again, is your only option. Your eyebrows rise higher as she tilts her head.

“Y/N... We need you to continue being Steve’s fiancé.”

You stare at her, your lips parted. “... I’m sorry... What? Why?”

As slight as it is, it’s the first time you’ve seen Nat look uncomfortable. “You’ve already encountered a rather... over-zealous fan, and, we’ve got intel that suggests some... unsavoury characters are using the chatrooms and blogs that they operate to track Steve’s whereabouts.”

 You arch an eyebrow, releasing a breath and not quite knowing what to address first. Irritation blends with anger and you focus on that because you don’t want to feel anymore afraid than you already are. “’Unsavoury characters’? I’m a big girl, Nat, you don’t have to sugarcoat whatever this is.”

She glances at Steve for a fraction of a second. “All right, terrorists. Terrorists are using chatrooms to plan to assassinate Steve.”

Your mood shifts instantly. A coldness sweeps over you and fear envelops you as you look at Steve, who is finally looking at you, your eyes wide. “Why the fuck would they want to do that?”

Steve opens his mouth but Nat gets there first.

“Steve is America’s greatest living symbol. Can you imagine what kind of message it would send from any group should Steve be killed?”

You look between them all, your mouth open. Nat continues after a moment, not liking the idea of that statement hanging in the air.

“We need you to spend this week doing what happily engaged couples do. Cake tasting, wedding dress shopping, visit venues, hold hands, look completely in love, all of that so that we can see who turns up and who follows him.”

You close your eyes for a moment, your brow furrowing, before you release a breath and look at her. “So, I’m... I’m, we’re bait?”

Nat’s features soften. “Y/N, you and Steve couldn’t be safer, I promise. We’re going to move you both to a new apartment with proper security, the place’ll be watched around the clock and it’s only until Saturday evening.”

“Why Saturday?”

She rests her hands either side of herself on the arm of the couch. “We’ve been hearing chatter that that’s when they’re planning to attack, at the party with the world watching. So we need to identify who they are before then. Obviously.”

“Right.” You stare at her for a few moments before your gaze drops to the table. You haven’t quite been able to get a handle on your breathing for the last hour, but now it really is difficult. Your hands are gripping your knees, and you have to swallow hard to stop the bile rising in your throat.

“Y/N, you don’t have to.” Your eyes lift at Steve’s quiet tone. Then you realise what the expression is; regret.

You release another breath. “Are you kidding me, your life is in danger, why didn’t you tell me this?”

His mouth lifts a fraction. “It’s not exactly what I want to race home and tell you about.”

Your chest tightens. You make your mind up instantly. You look at Nat.

“I’ll do it.”

She nods, giving you a small smile. “You can’t tell anyone it’s not real, and be careful when you’re speaking on the phone, they could tap it.”

Ah, so that’s why Nat had checked your bag and Steve and Sam had been checking your place, and probably why Steve hadn’t answered your—

Oh, shit, wait...

Your shoulders drop slightly. “Oh, my boss knows.”

“Yvette?” Nat slides her phone out of her pocket as she looks at you.

“Yeah, I spoke to her earlier, before the... fan, and she asked me how I was and I told her.”

“Right.” Nat arches an eyebrow, tapping something into her phone. “Can she keep a secret?”

“Oh, absolutely.”

Nat smiles at your fierce certainty, locking her phone and keeping ahold of it. “We’ll need to speak with her, anyway, let her understand the severity of the situation so she won’t trust anyone. That’s good actually ‘cause you’re gonna need to take the week off work.”

Your heart sinks. “What, why?”

“You need to spend every moment with Steve, and I think this would be a natural thing to do. We can have a press release put out saying you don’t want your work bombarded like earlier, you won’t be able to concentrate—”

You raise your hand, pointing a finger. “Hang on, I can multi-task and work under any conditions.”

Nat’s lips twitch. “We know that, Y/N, I’m not discrediting how good of a worker you are, we just need the rest of the world to think that.”

You bristle slightly as you press your lips together, your shoulders dropping again.

Her amusement vanishes, her features softening. “It’s just until Sunday, then we can let everyone know the truth. This is a great chance for us to find these guys, Y/N. We wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t important or useful, but you can still say no.”

There’s a long pause. You glance at Steve, he’s still got that same expression, almost pained. You could say no; you think it would almost relieve him if you did. You know him well enough by now that he’s probably full of regret for putting you in this position by being your friend.

Well, Steve, I get the guilt card on this one, it was me who put us in this position.

You've always known the risks of being associated with him and being his friend. You’ve never spoken about it with each other but you’ve just always known, it’s how his world operates. But he wanted to be your friend and you wanted to be his, so why the fuck shouldn’t you be. Something that had come up in one of your first, long, late-night conversations is the sense of loneliness you both feel. Sure, you have friends, both of you, and you both work in very people-orientated careers, but... Loneliness just seems to linger, uninvited. You’ve never felt that loneliness with Steve.

And now some fuckers wanted to kill him.

You look at Nat. “Yeah, I want to do it.”

She gives you another smile, nodding. “All right.” Rising to her feet, she folds her arms. “I guess we got some packing to do, then.”

You’re about to look at Steve, hoping to reassure him that you really do want to do this, when Sam lets out a low whistle.

“Well, Nat... Think there’s gonna be some scratches on your fancy car.”

Pushing yourself up from the couch, you move to the window as Nat tuts under her breath, and join Sam. Your stomach flips as you gaze down and see the crowd of people on the street, surrounding her car and staring up at the building or at the entrance. There’s a couple of news vans, too, reporters and their cameras hovering by them, gripping their microphones and glancing up every few seconds, waiting.

Oh my God... There’s gonna be three people in this so-called relationship; me, him and the world.

—

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[thefloatingstone]

We’ve gone from Self-Isolation to Quarantine and in some places to gradual relaxation phases, but that doesn’t stop the need for more nonsense you can watch on youtube while you wait for things to get back to normal. And recommending things and making lists are some of my favourite things to do but I have not yet figured out how to start or structure a video myself, you guys get another rambling tumblr post of things you can watch on youtube.

This time I’m once again just gonna recommend individual videos rather than full channels like I did in part 2.

Part 1

Part 2

In no particular order; 

LOCAL58: The Broadcast Station that Manipulates You

I recently started watching the Nexpo channel when I went on a binge of creepy youtube videos. Most of his videos are really good although the ones where he himself goes into theory crafting can be a little asinine. However, this video is REALLY good. And before you get nervous, LOCAL58 is not a real TV station. LOCAL58 is a youtube channel created by the same guy behind the Candle Cove creepypasta. This video by Nexpo covers the various episodes of LOCAL58 and discusses them. Just be aware going in that this is abstract horror, and will probably get under your skin regardless if you’re unaffected by certain topics or not. although cw for suicide mention.

I also recommend most of the rest of this channel, although be careful where you tread. I don’t recommend his series “Disturbing things from around the internet” as it can sometimes include real life crime, abuse and such caught on security cameras. Everything else is really good tho. (although I was really annoyed by his 2 videos on KrainaGrzybowTV)

The Search for D.B. Cooper

LEMMiNO has a new video out covering one of the most unexplained crimes in the past century of the US. LEMMiNO is the guy I’ve recommended before who did videos on the Universal S. He is very down to earth and not someone prone to conspiracy or even really that fanciful of thinking. (He’s like the one person I feel covered the Dyaltov Pass incident and was confused by why this was even a mystery because if you read the Russian Autopsy reports and documents associated with the case it’s all pretty logical and easily explained)

D.B. Cooper is the name given to a man who, in 1971, hijacked an airplane with a bomb, asked for a large sum of money, and after receiving it, parachuted from the plane and was never seen or heard from again.

The Austrian Wine Poisoning | Down the Rabbit Hole

Down the Rabbit Hole also has a new video out, this time covering the Austrian Wine Poisoning event from 1985. A scandal that involved literally the entire country of Austria, affected multiple countries, and forever changed the way wine was made world wide. As someone who is generally pretty allergic to most artificial substances this one made me personally very angry. But luckily, it has a happy ending and a better world for us all... if I could drink wine which I can’t do anyway.

The Turbulent Tale of Yandere Dev - A Six Year Struggle

The Right Opinion is another channel I only recently subbed to after watching his cover on Onion Boy. I put off subbing to him simply because of his channel name and I thought it meant he would come across as smug and elitist. Luckily this seems to merely be one of those “I chose a bad channel name and now I’m stuck with it” type of situations. (IHE has a similar problem).

Anyway, I have a weird interest in bizarre internet personalities, so I’ve been enjoying his channel as he simply discusses and presents a timeline of events of certain individuals. In this video, he covers the developer behind the much maligned Yandere Simulator. It’s a tale of hubris, arrogance, immaturity, and an unwillingness to accept your own shortcomings due to ego.

Oh and there’s a meme game about Japanese school girls with anime tiddies in there as well.

The Most Relaxing Anime Ever Made | Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō

Kenny Lauderdale is a youtube channel which is slowly becoming bigger which I’m very happy to see. He exclusively covers anime and live action Japanese television no younger than the mid 90s (as is the case with YYK) and which usually never saw a release outside of Japanese Laserdisc. I do wish his videos were a little longer, but if nothing else his videos serve as an excellent starting to point to find some older and underappreciated shows... or hot garbage fires. In this episode he talks about the 2 OVA episodes made based on one of my favourite manga, Yokohama Shopping Log. A Post apocalyptic anime about an android who runs a coffee shop outside of her house, and the quiet solitude of living in a world of declining human population, brief encounters with travelers and other people, and just... existing. The anime was never released outside of Japan and is only available on Japanese VHS and laserdisc.... but hey guess what!! Somebody uploaded both episodes, subbed, to Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2HCVOH6DtA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqSTwfkobME

YMS’ slow descent into madness as he uncovers just how bullshit the Kimba Conspiracy is

I’m linking a full playlist for this one.

YMS is busy planning his review on the “live action” Lion King remake as the original 1994 movie is probably his favourite movie all time (and also self declared what made him a furry). As part of the 2 hour review, he decided to what all 2000 hours of Kimba the White Lion just to mention how The Lion King potentially stole the idea. ....until he actually watched all 2000 hours of Kimba and realised that if you actually WATCH Kimba, it has VERY little to do with the Lion King at all apart from having the same animals in them because AFRICA. Watch as one man slowly loses his mind as he realises just how stupid this conspiracy theory is, just HOW DECEITFUL and straight up LYING people can be. People who write BOOKS. People who teach LAW AT UNIVERSITIES. Because NOBODY bothered to actually watch the entire show and just parroted the “Disney stole this” lie which got started by like 2 salty fans on the internet.

The man set out to just mention how Disney stole an idea, and uncovered one of the most infuriating rabbit holes on the internet. Screaming for SOMEONE to provide him with sources or evidence.

YMS will be publishing his full Kimba documentary this month which he has said is around 2 hours long before he continues to work on the Lion King one.

Science Stories: Loch Ness eDNA results, Poop Knives, and Skeleton Lovers

TREY the Explainer has a video giving us some updates in Archeology from 2019. In this video he discusses the findings of the eDNA results conducted on the Loch Ness to see what animal DNA the lake contains which will tell us what living animals currently inhabit the lake, ancient knives made of poop and if this is a real thing that could have existed, and a skeleton couple found buried together which were at first thought to be lovers, then revealed to be both male, and then how in this instance we cannot let our modern sensibilities dictate what we WANT this burial find to be, but to look at the evidence as presented to us and place in context finds of this nature. The worst thing an archaeologist can do is look for proof to a theory they already have.

The Bizarre Modern Reality of Sonic the Hedgehog

Super Eyepatch Wolf is back and he’s here to talk to us about the very very strange existence of Sonic. a 90s rebellious ��too cool for School” answer to Mario, a lost idea as the world of video games changes and culture shifted, a meme and punching bag amplified by a unique fanbase and poor quality games, a transcendence into a horrific warped  idea of what he once was, and modern day and where Sonic and his fans are now. As usual Super Eyepatch Wolf knocks it out of the park.

Kokoro Wish and the Birth of a Multiverse: A Lecture on the Work of Jennifer Diane Reitz

I don’t even sub to this channel as I’m not entirely sure what Ben’s usual content is about. But every now and then he has a “101″ class, where he explains to a room full of his friends in a classroom setting (complete with Whiteboard) an internet artist and oddity, the timeline, and what it is they have created. (wait... didn’t I say this already?). Unlike TRO however, the 101 classrooms are not a dark look into disturbed individuals (although the CWC 101 is debatable) nor is it a “lol look at this weirdo” dragging. Instead, of the 3 he’s done so far, it’s usually a rather sympathetic look at some of the strange artists on the internet who through some way or another, left a very big cultural impact on the internet space through their art. Sometimes they may not be the best people, but their work is so outside of what we’re used to seeing that just listening to him run you through these people’s internet history is fascinating.

In this episode he talks about Jennifer Diane Reitz. And although it is titled Kokoro Wish, the lecture is more about Jennifer’s larger work back in the early internet when being a weeb was unheard of, how being trans influenced her stories and characters, and her world building that is so rich and in-depth with it’s own ASTRO PHYSICS it puts any modern fictional world found in games or movies to shame.

Jennifer is not exactly a nice person... and in many ways can be seen as dangerously irresponsible, but she created something truly unique in a way that you kinda struggle figuring out if it’s terrible or a work of genius.

Anyway I think that’s enough for now

[k-k-keroppi]

t ya’ll i was watching dr who speeches cause i needed a good cry, and i have a take (may or may not be hot idk). If every companion was immortal, they would all turn into the master, i think. 

under the cut, cause its a long boi

Like, the doctor and the master were best buddies, they did everything together, and even to the master, who obviously is also part of the species with the stars in their hands, the doctor could show the master so much more that the master could ever see on their own. So the master formed such an incredible bond to the doctor, and vice versa, but then the doctor left. They grew morals one day and left the master alone (except more complicated ik). And we’ve seen what happened to the doctor when they travel alone, with the whole time lord victorious, the laws of time are mine, i could be so much more thing.

And we’ve also seen what happens to the companions that he leaves behind, the ones that survive. Rose built a whole fucking time machine to drag herself along a dimension to get back to him, amy and rory give up everything so many times to travel with him, once you’re with the doctor its obviously so difficult to do anything else, because they’re so wonderful. 

The master is simultaneously the doctor and the companion in this situation. He has the same power as the doctor, and he uses it to chase the doctor across the fucking universe because they miss them.  The doctor made other friends to fill the hole left when each one leaves, the hole that was created the first time they left someone (the master), but the master never did. The master never traveled with anyone the way the doctor did, they never made another connection like they one they had with the doctor, and it drove them mad. 

they decided that if they can’t have their old relationship back, then an antagonistic relationship would have to do, fueled by the raging anger of being abandoned by the most important person in their lives. So the master hurts people and starts wars and burns planets just to see the doctor again because the doctor left them, the doctor left them alone and now if they have to hurt then everyone else has to hurt too. ‘time lord victorious’. 

but then with missy, the master changes a bit, and she’s sick of the stupid game they have to play, that she invented, she just wants the doctor back. Like with the cybermen in heaven sent (i think) she does all of that, all the death and war and corruption just to force the doctor to see that she isn’t his enemy, she isn’t different to him. she just desperately wants him back, and she’s not interested in the good or the bad of it anymore. And when he takes the bracelet, and tells her thank you, they have a conversation and there’s no malice in her voice, there isn’t any smugness. her aim was never to corrupt the doctor, she didn’t want to hurt him, she just wanted him to see her, properly. that they’re still compatible.

and then on the cyberfarm thing with not-saxon-john-simm, when the doctor does his speech asking her to stand with him there are tears in her eyes, because she desperately wants to. and she was going to! she shot her own previous regeneration just to make sure that she could stand with him with no consequences, they were both finally ready to abandon the stupid rules they had made up, and then she got shot for it. 

I can’t remember where, but i saw a post that said that the latest master’s anger was the anger of someone who  had been hurt by their own kindness, and i agree with that. I think that Missy finally wanted to be good, not because she believed in it, but because it would make the doctor happy, and that attempt to bridge the gap got her shot, and she lost the chance to be with him again. 

and then he regenerated, and he was not better, he was not good, he was so so angry, because if this is what kindness gets him what’s the fucking point, if kindness hurts this much why should i bother, who’s gonna make me!

so he goes back to being a dick, but even while he’s being a dick he’s still desperately missing the doctor, you can see it because he texts her! what villain who hates the hero decides to text their enemy like their best friends?! I can only imagine how conflicting it must have been for the master to text the doctor, to have a relationship with her again. It must have proved to him that the doctor could love him, that character wise it was in both of them to care about each other, but it was the outside that was the problem. the electromagnetic field of reputation that pushed them further apart while their hearts pulled them together (sorry for the prose). And you can see that he loves her, even without the destruction, even without all of that shit, (a good quote for that is the one on the Eiffel tower ‘when does this stop for you?’ ‘why would it stop, how else would i get your attention?’) because of one thing he does. all the other timelords dress in their traditional dress, the doctor doesn’t look like any of the other time lords except the master. Because the master, despite consistently mocking and ridiculing humans, repeatedly calling them the doctor’s ‘pets’, dresses like humans anyway, just like the doctor does. so either he does that to show the tiniest slither of kinship, even when their fighting his clothes scream ‘look look look, we’re the same’, or he does it because he’s jealous that the doctor spends so much time defending earth, she loves humans even though they hurt each other, even though they’re cruel and mean and spiteful, just like him, so he dresses like them too, because he’s jealous of the affection she gives them. even when they’re not on earth he dresses like that.

i saw another post that said with dhawan!master he was having an identity crisis for the first time, and i agree with that too. I think that missy’s kindness and readiness to join the doctor, as well as the relationship he had with her as o had shaken him, and proved that that the doctor could love him if he was just kinder, and he alternated soft and hard throughout the series. it was like he didn’t know what he was supposed to be, he couldn’t figure out the right answer, he was stuck between his anger and his loneliness. After so long of it simmering away, his need for the doctor has finally bubbled over, and he doesn’t know how to cope with it, because enemies isn’t enough anymore.  

Another thing i think was that I think the master is afraid of the doctor being better than him. they were always equals on Gallifrey, outcasts together, messing things up and bunking off school, always wrong but wrong together. but when the doctor left, all scared of fighting and afraid of killing when the master didn’t have concerns like that, i think it planted the seed that the doctor was better, the doctor was too good for he master. and over time that festered into anger and abandonment and insecurity and everything else, but with everything the master did to hurt the doctor, every planet he destroyed, it was just one more way to prove that the doctor was better. and so he was in so deep into this hero villain dynamic that he never wanted, but he can’t stop now, he cant stop running and making the doctor chase him, because if he stops then he’ll have to face what he’s done and there isn’t a way out, so he has to keep going. if he admits that he was wrong, he would have to ask the doctor for forgiveness and i don’t think the thought of being told, to his face, that the doctor can never forgive him, is one that sits lightly with the master. 

anyway, the point of that paragraph is that’s why he destroyed Gallifrey. he found out that the one person he made a real connection to, the most important person in his life, the person he has destroyed worlds just to see, wasn’t that same as him. It was conclusive, scientific proof that the doctor was actually, literally better than him. It was black and white proof of all the fears he’s had since the doctor left him, because before that point he could have been making it up. but then he saw that and it was all true, that doctor left him because t=he could never be as good. and not only does it ruin any hope of a relationship, it ruins the memories of their old one as well, because a friendship like that among equals an incredible connection, but a friendship like that with such a gaping hierarchy means pity. 

and not only did they ruin the relationship of both the past and the future, but they hurt her. Despite everything, the master loves the doctor, and its up to you whether you think that means romantically or wholly, but he loves her despite everything he’s done, and now he’s found out that they hurt her, they lied to her, exploited her, used her, and he wants them to hurt for it. He’s still so furious, and not even necessarily at her, but she is the only person he has who has ever really cared about how he feels. and now he doesn’t know if that was out of pity or love, and he’s angry at, for, and around her all at once, and he just needs the doctor back but he can’t get to her. he’s being pulled in about eighty different directions, as is the doctor, and he simultaneously wants to hurt her, look after her, ask for her help, protect her, forgive her, fight her, he’s so confused. 

Idk, I’m not saying the master is a good person, and I’m not saying the doctor is either, and I’m not saying that the doctor needs to forgive him, I’m just saying that i don’t think either of them really want to hurt each other, and somewhere down the line they both got confused and took wrong turns and couldn’t figure out how to get back to each other. And the doctor’s response was to keep walking her path and hope to find him again, and the masters response was the bulldoze the walls in between them. and, carrying on this metaphor, when the doctor felt bad for the walls he had destroyed and tried to rebuild them, the master took that completely the wrong way and his abandonment consumed him. kinda like Spinel.  

[thinkyoureholy]

Soul Eater [10]

[A/N: side story time!!!! lololol a little break from the stress of dealing with Lucifer for Y/N but this one might be a bit more annoying to deal with...😣]

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Pairing : Jung Yunho / [fem] Reader

Genre : Angst, Violence, Language, Fluff, Smut, Character Death?, Demon! AU

Words : 5.6k

Pt 1. Pt 2. Pt 3. Pt 4. Pt 5. Pt 6. Pt 7. Pt 8. Pt 9. Pt 10. Pt 11.

≫ ──── ≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫ ──── ≪

-Yunho’s P.O.V-

I walked beside her, holding the umbrella up to cover the both of us, but mostly her. I felt the rain hitting my shoulder, but I didn’t really care, I didn’t want her catching a cold. Wait… Can demons even catch colds? I shook that thought from my head the moment it came, chuckling softly to myself.

“What’s so funny?” She asked, glancing over her shoulder, stopping in her tracks.

I shook my head, but the smile refused to leave my face. I gazed at her in silence, my eyes taking the features of her face, all of them already burned in my memory. 

Over the past few weeks, she’s done a complete one eighty with me. She’s a lot nicer, patient, and a bit more affectionate.. but she still had her moments. 

It was a bit weird to get used to, but I soon just accepted the change. I had to admit, it was nice, but at the same time, I missed when we used to argue over every little thing. It’s one of the reasons why I fell for her as hard as I did. Our arguments were always over something as miniscule as me breathing too loud, or her rolling her eyes the moment they met mine. I really just accepted the change without much fight, because I didn’t know how long this peace would last. There haven’t been any more run ins with demons or Lucifer for that matter. It’s been pretty calm, I’d say too calm, but right now, I’d rather live in blissful ignorance than live in constant paranoia. 

She scoffed softly under her breath, looking me over with skeptically, “Weirdo.”

And with that she turned around, ready to take a step, but stopped, with her gaze falling to the floor. I raised a brow at the sudden action and looked down as well, seeing a small gray kitten rubbing its head against her leg. I opened my mouth to say something, my sight flickering up to her face, but I stopped myself the instant I saw a faint smile on her face. Without a word, she crouched down, petting the kitten gently. I stood in silence, shocked by her actions, my mouth beginning to move before I could think to stop it.

“I didn’t know you were a cat person…”

“Hmm?” She looked up with a quizzical look in her eyes, my words taking a few seconds to process in her mind, “Ah, well.. unlike people, I like animals, a lot actually. They deserve more than these rotten humans do that’s for sure.”

She carefully grabbed the kitten, cradling it in her arms as she faced me properly, her fingers still petting the top of the kitten’s head, “No offense to you that is. Don’t get me wrong, you’re still as rotten as can be, but.. you’re tolerable than most.”

I chuckled at her words, giving a slight shake of my head, “None taken,”

I reached out to pet the kitten as well, frowning slightly at the feeling of her wet fur, “How long do you think its been out here for? The poor thing is soaked to the bone.”

“I don’t know, but..” She trailed off, lifting the cat up and looked underneath it, “She is definitely not staying out here for any longer.”

“What do you say about coming home with us? We’ll get you dried off and feed you some good food, what do you think about that?” She asked the cat in a slightly higher pitched voice.

I couldn’t help grinning at her tone of voice, my smile growing the moment the kitten meowed, as if she was talking back. My eyes stayed glued on her as she unzipped her jacket, placing the kitten inside, sharing her warmth. The sight alone was enough to send my heart soaring. Damn.. I’ve got it bad. I don’t remember the last time I ever felt this happy, just being in someone else’s presence. In that moment, all I wanted to do was tell her how much I loved her, but, I held my tongue, thinking that I should find another time and place to tell her.

-Y/N’s P.O.V-

I watched Yunho interact with the kitten in the store, a small smile on my face when he held her up to sniff at the toys, making her choose which ones she liked best. The smile didn’t stay long on my face, a frown replacing it as I glanced over my shoulder. I made it seem like I was looking at something on the display next to me but I wasn’t. I smirked at the small glimpse of yellow, the aura unmistakable. I couldn’t help but scoff at his attempt to hide. I had picked up on him the second he started trailing us. Just how stupid does he think I am?

“Hey Yunho, I’m gonna go check something out a few aisles down, shout for me when you’re ready.” 

Yunho simply nodded at my words, not even sparing me a glance. I let out a breathy laugh, reaching out to ruffle his hair before going to the back of the store. I leaned against the far wall, crossing my arms over my chest as I waited for him to show himself, but as I thought, he wasn’t going to comply so easily.

“Come out while I’m still being nice about it.” I called out to him, hearing him chuckle before he stepped out into view.

I narrowed my eyes at the sight of him, trying to control myself as I spoke through my teeth, “Why are you following me?”

“Who says I’m following you? I just happened to run into you, nothing more, nothing less.” He responded, unable to stop the sly smile tugging on his lips.

I flashed him my red eyes, seeing him show his yellow ones in return, “Answer me properly before you really piss me off. What the hell are you doing here?”

He grinned, shoving his hands into his pockets, “I’m just curious is all. I wanted to see if the rumors were true, and to my surprise, and delight, they were,” He took a step with each word until he was standing directly in front of me, “With how feisty you always were, not to mention how quick you were to anger, I’m surprised it took you this long to awaken.”

He leaned in close, ghosting his fingers over my cheek, just barely touching me. I set my jaw, grabbing his wrist in a death grip. I squeezed his wrist tightly but he didn’t show any signs of pain.. instead, he chuckled softly, his eyes shining brightly.

“If all you wanted to do was confirm something you already knew, then leave.” I spat, digging my claws into his skin.

“That’s not all I wanted. I willingly volunteered to watch over you and report everything, but.. Luci doesn’t need to know my real intentions.” He said in a low voice, a dangerous glint in his eyes as he stared into my own intently.

“What-”

I was cut off by something pressing firmly against my lips. I froze under his touch, too shocked to do anything, and when I finally came to my senses, he had already pulled away, moving back and created enough distance between the two of us that I wouldn’t be able to reach him fast enough without using my powers. I stared at him wide eyed, my blood boiling in my veins the longer I stared at him. How--how dare he?!

“Have you gone completely mad, Natsuki?! What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!”

He laughed quietly to himself, brushing his hair back as he grinned smugly, “It’s been a long time since you’ve called me that. Its refreshing being called something else other than Greed.. I’m glad you picked out such a good name for me,” The smug grin soon turned into something resembling affection, “I wanted to see what you were like with that human, see with my own eyes how he was able to get into your heart, when I couldn’t.. Y’know.. It’s a huge fucking blow to my ego to see how different you are with him.. It makes me want to wring his fragile little neck with my bare hands.”

“Touch him and I swear I’ll make your life a living hell.” I growled, fighting with myself to stop from shifting fully in the store.

“Aw c’mon, don’t be like that. I know you’re Wrath now and everything, but you’d never actually hurt me.” 

“And what makes you so sure about that?” I questioned. 

He snickered, something now in his eyes that I couldn’t quite recognize, “I was the only other man aside from your wretched husband, that you’ve ever loved.”

I paused at his words, grinding my teeth, “I never loved him.. or you for that matter.”

He grinned at my words, “Really now? I don’t believe that.”

“Believe what you will, I don’t really care, but I’m warning you now, if you value your life you won’t lay a hand on Yunho,” I threatened him, glaring into his eyes. Seconds later, my gaze softened, “Natsuki, what we had, it’s been done and over with for a few decades, forget about it. This isn’t even you talking, it’s your greed, that’s the only thing you’ve ever been capable of feeling-”

“You’re wrong.” he said hastily. 

His voice was soft, almost too quiet for me to catch his words, but I heard them loud and clear. The emotion in his tone coming through more than anything, but I dismissed it entirely, I had no time to waste on him. He’s the deadly sin Greed for fuck’s sake, and he’s acting out on what he knows best. Whatever he’s trying to tell me is his selfishness talking, nothing more.

“If you have any sense of self preservation, you won’t show up in front of me again, or I will kill you. For Yunho, I’d turn the whole world on its head. So do yourself a favor, and wait patiently down in Hell. I’ll be there in a few months, but until then, I don’t want to see you again.” I spat out. I turned on my heel to leave, but I guess someone had other plans.

I felt Greed’s fingers wrap around my wrist, stopping me from taking another step. I looked back, ready to deal some damage, but the look on his face made me stop. 

“Y/N, wait I-”

“Y/N I think I have everything! Where are…” He trailed off as he came into view, his eyes scanning over my face before he moved over to look at Natsuki, the smile on his face faltering.

My gaze flickered from Yunho, then back to Natsuki, but the moment my eyes caught sight of Natsuki, I began to panic. The aura surrounding him darkened, his grip on me loosening as he gave Yunho a death glare. He took a step forward, but before he could do anything I stepped in front of him, hoping he wouldn’t shift suddenly. 

“Stop, did you already forget what I just told you?! I only give so many warnings before I actually go through with it!" I harshly whispered, keeping my voice low so Yunho wouldn’t hear me, “Leave before you do something you'll regret, and before you force me to do something I really don’t want to do.”

Yet, it was like everything I said to him went in one ear and out the other. His eyes were still glued to Yunho, as if he heard nothing else around him. I cursed under my breath just as I reached out to place my hand on his chest, knowing he’d look at me the moment I touched him.. and I was right. A split second after I placed my hand on his chest, his line of sight was back on me, his aura returning back to normal as his shoulders relaxed.

“Natsu please, I’m begging you not to do this.” I pleaded with him, watching his face soften the longer he looked into my eyes.

My threats weren’t working on him, and I didn’t want to kill him in the middle of a store with some many innocent bystanders. I knew the only way I could get through to him is if I basically begged him, and as much as I hated it, I had no choice. Luckily for me, he agreed, nodding his head without uttering a word. He sent one last dirty look at Yunho before he vanished, my hand falling back to my side. 

I inhaled deeply before turning to face Yunho, seeing the kitten stuffed into the pocket of his hoodie, her head just barely sticking out. The sight of it caused a small smile to settle on my face. I looked up to meet Yunho's gaze, frowning at the unasked questions in his eyes, but he seemed to swallow the urge to ask them. He closed his eyes for a moment, exhaling deeply, before he made his way over to me, grabbing my hand with his. The warmth of his hand made an instant smile dance on my lips. 

"I won't ask anything right now.. but, I'd like some answers as soon as we get home." He said softly, his tone of voice soothing and pleasing to my ears.

I nodded, unable to form words as I was thinking of how to explain this to him. The relationship between Greed and I was.. complicated? That’d be putting it lightly...

-

"So you and this Natsuki guy, had a fling? For hundreds of years?" Yunho asked, trying to wrap his head around everything I just told him, "I wouldn't necessarily call that a fling..." 

I frowned, sinking further into the couch, careful of the kitten who laid soundly asleep in the crook of my neck, curled up perfectly so as not to fall, "Well that's what it was. Neither of us wanted to establish what our relationship was, we were content and that's really all that mattered.. but, I found out something that ended things between us for good."

"And what was that?" Yunho questioned.

My gaze drifted down to my lap, memories flooding my mind, "He was the demon I sold my soul to."

If I was to tell him all about Natsuki, then I had to tell him about the man I married when I was human. Just the thought of him made me sick to my stomach. All my memories from my time as a human we now crystal clear.. No holes, no black spots, just vivid images of my twenty years as a human. I shook my head vigorously. No, no that story can wait, right now all I had to do was tell him about Natsuki.

-Eight Hundred Years Ago-

I scoffed, scanning the dark haired man from head to toe before side stepping him and walking away. I grit my teeth when I felt his fingers wrap around my wrist, his claws digging into my skin. I hissed out in pain, turning around to retaliate, but stopped when I felt another hand wrap around my free arm. I glared at the unknown man, unfazed by the yellow eyes staring smugly into mine.

"Let her go." He said, his voice calm.

"But--but sir-"

The yellow eyed man snapped his focus over to the man, "Are you talking back? To me? Ah," He grinned devilishly, placing his hand on the man's shoulder, "That's not a good idea..” he tsked, “I suggest you listen before you get under my skin." 

The man paled, immediately letting me go and taking a step back. He stumbled over his own two feet, bowing his head quickly before he took off running. After watching him run off, I turned to the man that was still holding my wrist. I yanked my arm out of his grip, cradling my under arm close to my chest, trying to inspect the damage, but it wasn't that bad. The claw marks left behind were already beginning to close up. I looked at him, up and down, but said nothing as I turned on my heel and began to walk away from him. I heard him chuckle before he suddenly appeared in front of me, his yellow eyes glowing brighter than before.

"What? No thank you?"

"I didn't ask for your help." I said bluntly, as I went around him and began walking away, but like before, he appeared in front of me, stopping me.

"No, but I helped anyway. It's proper etiquette to thank someone that helped you." He replied, the same smug look from earlier on his face, "Do you even know who I am?"

I sighed heavily, wiping the blood off my arm absentmindedly, "Again, I didn't ask for your help, and quite frankly I didn't need it, but if its a 'thank you' that you want to hear, then thanks I guess.. Also, no, should I?"

His eyes glowed the brightest at this point, an amused smile tugging at his lips, "The color of my eyes don't remind you of anything?"

I stared into his eyes, bored with this conversation, "A cat."

The smile on his face grew until he couldn’t hold it in anymore, and broke into fits of laughter. I stared at him, confused by the sudden outburst, momentarily forgetting about leaving here. I stood by quietly, waiting for him to stop laughing, but.. he took quite awhile. I didn’t get it though.. what was so funny? Was he insane?

“A cat.. that-that was a good one,” He let out, still laughing, but it had subsided a bit until he finally stopped, the cheshire grin still plastered on his face, “Fine, I’ll give you a hint since I’m feeling generous today. It’s a color that represents a deadly sin.”

I kept silent, his words not registering in my mind. Why was he so desperate for me to recognize him? As if I’d know all the demons in hell. especially a deadly sin? Is that meant to scare me or something? I scoffed at the thought, becoming impatient, my annoyance started to grow.

I must’ve stayed quiet for too long because his grin slowly turned into a frown, his eyes seeming to dim as he spoke, “You really have no idea?” he faltered. 

I shrugged, already having lost interest in this whole conversation. I just wanted to go home. I always hated being down here longer than I had to. 

He chuckled once more before he shifted fully, showing me his true form. I took in the sight curiously; my eyes raked over his wings and down to the horns that sprouted from the sides of his head, then down to his yellow cat eyes, his sharp canines, and finally down to the claws on his fingers that seemed two times longer than just a minute ago. Still even after seeing this, I was more or less unimpressed. Was this form meant to scare me?

“I’m one of the seven deadly sins, Greed, to be more specific.” He boasted, sounding prouder than he should be, for being one of Lucifer’s favorite puppets.

I rolled my eyes, trying to stifle the laughter that crawled its way up my throat, but a snicker managed to escape. I clamped a hand over my mouth, putting a hand out in front of me.

“Sorry, sorry.”

“You dare laugh at me?”

I swallowed the laugh that was so close to falling from my lips, surveying over him, amusement clear in my eyes, “No, I’m just laughing at the fact that you think I’ll bow at your feet in terror just because you’re a deadly sin.”

“Why you little-”

“Look, Greed, it’s admirable that you’d even try and frighten me just by stating who you are, but I could care less. I’ve gone up against Lucifer himself and I’m still standing, so a measly sin like you does not invoke even the slightest bit of fear in me. I’ll give you some credit for the horns though, they were a nice touch. Now if you’ll excuse me I have some business to attend to.”

-Present Time-

“He didn’t go by Natsuki back then?” Yunho asked, picking up on the fact that I had called him ‘Greed’ the first time I met him.

I shook my head, wondering if what I was going to tell him was even worth mentioning it, but after a few seconds I figured it wouldn’t hurt, “Sins aren’t given names, they simply go by the sin they represent. However, he always wanted a name, and after some begging on his part, I finally gave him one. No one else knows that I gave it to him, so I’m the only one that’s ever called him Natsuki.”

Yunho frowned at my words, but I didn’t really pay any mind, going on to tell him about how our relationship progressed, and then how it ended almost a half century ago.

-Six Hundred and Fifty Years Ago-

“You’ve been getting on my nerves for almost two hundred years, don’t you get tired of being annoying?” I asked picking up the pace, but not going fast enough to the point where he couldn’t keep up.

“It’s an art I’ve mastered over the years.” He responded lightly, a sly smirk on his lips.

I rolled my eyes but said nothing more. I heard him chuckle faintly, walking beside me. Truth be told, I didn’t hate having him around, but there was no way I’d ever tell him that. Of all the demons I’ve met, he alone was the only one I didn’t want to kill seconds after being in his presence, excluding Mingi, but he was all over the place and rarely stayed in one country for long.

“Well it is an art only you can perfect, Natsuki.” I mumbled, missing the look that crossed his face, “What are you even doing here? Didn’t you have another job to do today?” 

“Aw you remembered?”

I scoffed, moving a tree branch out of the way as I ducked under it, but let it go once I walked through, the branch hitting him in the face. I bit down on my lower lip the moment I heard him curse, whining about the impact.

“I only remembered because I was thrilled to know I didn’t have to deal with you for a full twenty-four hours.” I grumbled, ducking under another branch, but I tripped over the root of the tree, already falling to the floor.

I cursed and braced myself for the impact but it never came. Natsuki had reached out and caught me, his arms wrapped securely around my waist as he pulled me up, his chest pressed against mine. I looked up at him wide eyed, seeing something I had never seen before swimming in his yellow eyes. I couldn’t find the strength to push him away, and quite frankly I didn’t want to. As much as he annoyed me and pushed my buttons until I wanted to rip his innards out with my bare hands, I couldn’t deny the fact that he was incredibly handsome, but again, I’d never tell him that.

Along with his yellow feline eyes, he had perfectly shaped brows, silver-no, pure white hair that came down to about his ears and always styled to perfection, not a single hair was ever out of place. His nose, well the only way I could describe his nose was if I compared it to a button, I honestly have no idea why, and the rest of his facial features weren’t super sharp or defined, but they complimented his whole face.. So much that it kind of irked me how perfectly his face was shaped. 

With his chest pressed up so firmly against my own, I could feel the muscles his shirt was hiding underneath. As if he could read my thoughts, he flexed his arms ever so slightly, pulling me even closer, which I didn’t even think was possible. However with that single action, I was snapped out my stupor. I placed my hand on his chest and tried to push him away gently but he wouldn’t budge, 

“Natsuki…”

The sound of his name must’ve snapped him out of it,  but he didn’t move to let me go, instead he did something that I never expected him to do. It had been so long since I had been kissed, and I mean properly kissed. The way we sealed deals never counted for me since it was just business, but this.. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the way his lips felt. I didn’t try to push him away. Instead, I found myself pulling him in closer and deepening the kiss. The groan that rumbled deep in his chest finally brought me to my senses, pulling away seconds later. He leaned his forehead against mine, breathing heavily, his eyes closed shut and a tiny smile playing at his lips. 

I looked over his face, my eyes darting around and taking in all of his features. Was this okay? Would this even lead to anything else? Did I want it to lead to anything? Questions like this echoed in my head the longer I stared at him, neither of us uttering a word. Yet the moment my eyes landed on his lips, my thoughts suddenly went quiet, a soft sigh falling from my lips.

“Ah, fuck it.” I muttered before clutching onto the collar of his shirt tightly and pulled him forward, reconnecting or lips.

-Present Time-

“We had kept it a secret since it wasn’t really anyone else’s business, and because he wanted it that way, I didn’t find the need to fight him on it. I later found out he wanted to keep it a secret to protect me, but I didn’t see it that way and I don’t think I ever will.” I  recounted, unable to meet Yunho’s eyes, as I thought back to what finally tore Natsuki and I apart.

-Fifty Years Ago-

“What’d you want to see me for?” I asked, as soon as I walked into the room, seeing him sitting in his usual spot on his makeshift throne.

He held up a hand, almost as if telling me to keep quiet, while he messed around with what seemed like a remote. I inhaled sharply through my nose annoyed, but kept quiet. Any other day I would’ve walked out, but I didn’t want to get another beating, having  enough of those this week alone, so I stayed put. Five minutes later I was still standing there, clueless as to why he called for me in the first place. 

“Are you going to tell me why I’m here or…?” I trailed off. 

He didn’t respond, instead he just started cursing, resorting to just pressing every button on the remote. If I wasn’t feeling so irritated at the moment, I would’ve laughed at how much difficulty he was having. I was really close too, until sounds started coming from the wall. I watched closely as part of the wall was being replaced by a large television, with a video playing. I squinted at the screen, trying to figure out what he was trying to show me, but soon I recognized the room in the video, it was the one I was currently standing in and in my place stood Natsuki.

“What-”

“Just watch.” He said, cutting me off and turning up the volume.

And so I did. I watched with curiosity, staring intently at the screen.

“How are things going?” 

“Not bad, she took a bit of work but she’s been docile for a few centuries now.” Natsuki answered with a smirk, his eyes flashing briefly, “I thought I’d have to work a little harder, but as expected she couldn’t resist me, I mean who could resist these good looks?”

Lucifer chuckled softly, leaning back further into his seat, “She doesn’t suspect anything?”

“Not a thing. If she doesn’t know about our plans then she has absolutely no idea that I’m the demon she sold her soul to. If she did, all of this would’ve been more difficult but as we thought her memories are taking longer than others to come back to her. That serum does work wonders, my lord.”

I stood there in shock, my whole body growing cold at what I had just seen. There was no mistaking that that was Natsuki in the video, but I still didn’t understand. What did he mean by their ‘plans’? Had he gotten close to me because he was ordered to, not because he genuinely wanted to? Has he been playing with me.. this whole time?

“Why--why are you showing me this?” I asked, my voice breaking, my vision beginning to blur with tears.

He simply shrugged, his lips curling upwards ever so slightly, “He’s making you a little too docile. You’re losing the fight I’ve been fond of since day one. Whatever plan he and I had doesn’t interest me anymore,” He gave a small tilt of his head before waving his hand dismissively as he rose from his seat and began walking out of the room, “You’re free to go, do what you will with the information you now have.”

I stood completely still for a minute, unable to move, that is until I heard his voice. I clenched my hands into fists at the very sound of it, a single tear managing to escape, but I held the rest of them at bay. I felt his fingers on my arm, jerking my arm away from him in an instant. I looked up into his eyes with nothing but pure rage on my face.

“Don’t fucking touch me.” I spat. 

He frowned, already reaching out to touch me again, but I shoved at his chest roughly, sending him into the wall. I stood in the middle of the room, breathing heavily as the anger in grew the longer I looked at him. I needed to get out of here before I killed him.

“Y/N what the hell?!” He cried out, wincing as he took a step towards me.

“When were you going to tell me?”

“What? Tell you what?” he asked, confused. 

“That you were the demon I sold my soul to! That you’ve been plotting with Lucifer behind my back!” I shouted, watching his face pale at my words.

He took another step towards me, trying to stutter out a response, but he was at a loss for words. I scoffed at the look in his eyes. The bastard actually looked conflicted.

“I could forgive you being the demon I sold my soul to because I did that willingly, but you-” I cut myself off, my voice raw with emotions as I tried fighting back the tears that came back to my eyes, “I can’t forgive you for plotting with him, not him. You know the kind of shit he puts me through, and I’ve never asked, nor expected you to interfere, but for you to be apart of it…”

I couldn’t even speak without wanting to burst into tears and snap his neck at the same time. I wanted to ask him if any of it ever meant anything to him, if he ever felt anything for me, if all his words to me were his own, and not thought up by anyone else to manipulate me. Yet I didn’t, I couldn’t.

“Y/N, please.. I can explain everything. Just give me a chance, yeah? Don’t--Don’t do what you’re thinking of doing, please. I can’t lose you, not when I worked so hard to have you.” He basically begged me, his voice cracking the longer he spoke.

I set my jaw, taking a step back, “We’re done here. Be grateful I didn’t kill you.”

-Present Day-

After telling him everything, Yunho and I just sat in silence. I was staring blankly at the coffee table only a few feet away, my eyes void of any emotion. What happened next caught me by surprise. Yunho had wrapped his arms around me, pulling me onto his lap. He picked the kitten up from my shoulder, and set it down on the couch next to us gently, wrapping me back up in his arms moments later. 

“What are you doing?” I asked softly but didn’t try to move.

“Hugging you.” He said so obviously.

“Why?” I asked, a lump forming in my throat the longer I stayed in his embrace.

“Because you seem sad.” He said, squeezing me in his hold, resting his chin on my shoulder, “I hate to admit it, but it sounds like you actually loved the guy. I can’t even begin to imagine how that must’ve felt.”

I didn’t say anything in return, not really knowing what to say really. So I did the only thing I could think of, and I turned in his embrace, hugging him back just as tightly.

And so we stayed like that, all through the night. It was the most comforting thing I had ever experienced. He was warm.. This was an emotion I thought I had felt centuries prior running through my veins, but it had never been like this. 

As much as I was enjoying the moment, I couldn’t help but have this nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach. Natsuki, no, Greed must’ve shown himself for a reason but why? Why now? After keeping his distance for so long? What the hell was he after? 

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Tags : @chanyeolol @j-oneracha @boredmay21

[asterekmess]

S3A - E3

Hiya, back with another episode of the rewatch. I am...not looking forward to this episode. *deep breath* here we go.

Read More’s save sanity

Hey, so I know this is a really heavy first bullet point...but isn’t anybody else uncomfortable with the image of a black boy running around out of his mind with fury and bloodlust and going after little...white kids? Am I reading too much into this? I know Cora’s running around too. I just...whatever, I’m just gonna keep my mouth shut.

Straight from way too heavy to way too light. So that girl dropped a big jar of fireflies, but they say that fireflies that actually glow aren’t native to California, which would mean these are part of the whole magic thing going on, and at the end of the whole firefly thing they get rid of all the fireflies. So...what if someone finds that jar and opens it?

...nevermind the jar opened up somehow...

Okay, listen, I have a petty and biased hatred for this moment with Scott. Like...is it so hard to say, “I had to get the kids he was chasing away from him?” It’s not like they don’t have time..they just stand there in silence for a while. I also hate the savior pose he strikes there with the kids clinging to him. Like, I get that it’s a very common trope. I still hate it. I use the anti-scott tag for a reason, let me be salty.

why te fuck does Scott FLOAT in the intro?

Lydia has seriously emptied an entire bottle of ibuprofen? She should be dead. Or at least at a hospital. She’s too smart not to know how dangerous it is to take ibuprofen (even the recommended dosage) for too long at a time.

Lydia...Lydia knows about werewolves now. Did no one tell her about this whole escape plan for the betas? She could’ve helped.

Cue the shitty SFX running. Y’all look ridiculous.

Man, come on. Are you seriously telling me that Derek never played hide and seek with his siblings? Like, they’re werewolves for fuck’s sake. Derek never did fake chases through the woods? He tracked PETER for christ’s sake, all the way across town. He was like yards behind him before he got shot that one time.

This show relies a lot on character’s losing time and just finding themselves places. Jackson losing time, Lydia losing time. Lydia losing time again, but in a new way. Later, it’ll be Stiles losing time. I’m just saying, it happens a lot.

It’s fucking august in California. Does it actually get that cold? Poor Lydia’s nose is always red cus she gets forced to wander around in the dark and freezing. I can see her goosebumps when she kneels next to the pool.

I know it’s gotta be hell on her voice, but I think it’s so interesting the way Lydia screams and how it has to jump around the chords before hitting that one note. I don’t know why I find that so interesting. Guess it just reminds me of a wolf howl. Seriously, look ‘em up. Weirdly similar. GO  Holland!

What do you mean the last memory that she had of her mother, Scott? You should’ve told her RIGHT THEN. Right off the bat. There was TONS of time between her getting bit and when she died. You should’ve told Allison right away. Fuck you, you had all of spring break!

god fucking damn it now I’m crying again. Erica, sweetie...Derek honey...

I’m trying to get past the tears to enjoy this romancey stuff, with the candles and the lil lamps, and the LOTR references. I’m really trying.

This is totally not what I should be thinking about while watching the two of them make out, but like, so does Caitlin not go to their school? She just sort of appears a couple times, but Stiles doesn’t seem to know her. Maybe she went to the same school as Heather?

don’t like bugs don’t like bugs ew ew ew ew

Hi cora!

Isaac! You’re somehow feeling better, even though you were apparently out of commission like an hour or two ago...wait huh?

I gotta say, okay, listen I just can’t help it. I know this is serious, but that lil smirk on Isaac’s face? I don’t think he looks smug, personally, I think he looks like he’s about to go play, go rolling around in the grass and leaves, playing with a pack member. He’s been alone for so long this summer, what with Jackson leaving. he’s had no wolves to play with (cus’ we know Derek’s a grump). As worried as he’s gotta be, I bet he’s having funnnnnn.

I..uh..Cora what sound is coming out of your mouth? That..that does not sound like a wolf. That sounds like a wild cat of some kind. Wolves don’t make that screechy noise. They bark and growl, like the sound that came just before. That doesn’t even sound like a roar. Who gave you cheetah sounds?? You’re canine, not feline. Come on they did SO WELL with Derek’s sounds-- No. NO Do not tell me they gave Cora cat sounds cus she’s a chick. I’m gonna fight someone. (For those of you interested, if you scroll to the bottom of this webpage, you can listen to wolf growl snippets and they’re such good quality (I think the bark snippet is broken tho). Listen to those whimpers and whines too, fucking fascinating. I love wolves. Such beautiful animals.)

Cora with Isaac and Scott attacking her and growling at her: “Fuck you, I’ll bite you!” Cora with Derek just growling at her: “BYE bro!”

Stiles, honey! I missed you! Literally, just the sound of your voice makes me feel better.

Scott, Seriously, Derek just said you haven’t tracked either of them anywhere near the pool. You’ve both been following them all night! Yeah, they’re dangerous, but they couldn’t get to the pool and back in time to fight you! I”M GONNA SMACK YOU. DOn’t use that fucking patronizing tone of voice when Derek is TELLING YOU FACTS.

OUR fault? OUR FAULT? I’m gonna fucking *kicks a chair and storms off, grumbling* *Spins around, cus fuck it i’m gonna yell. it’s my post.* NONE OF THIS is DEREK”S FAULT. NOne of this is ISAAC’S FAULT. Fuck dude, I’ll even say that it’s not Scott’s fault! If it’s anyone other than the Alphas’ fault, it’s Allison’s, but tbf she thought she was helping.

DEREK SHUT YOUR PRETTY MOUTH. I swear to god.

ARE YOU FUCKING JOKING? DEREK WOULD NEVER SUGGEST MURDERING BOYD AND CORA. NEVER. He thought Cora was fucking dead and he just found out she’s alive! HE WOULD NEVER. NEVER. FUCK YOU. FUCK EVERYTHING. *Throws a plate* YOU KNOW YOU ONLY FUCKING WROTE IT SO THAT YOU COULD SHOW OFF SCOOT MCFUCKFACE’S SUDDEN FLIP IN MORALITY BY HAVING HIM SAY THAT “KILLING ISN’T THE RIGHT THING TO DO” OH REALLY Scott? REALLY? Killing is bad? YOU DIDN’T THINK SO WHEN YOU SPENT MONTHS attempting to commit PREMEDITATED MURDER of a GUY WHO WAS ALREADY DYING. MONTHS. Scott. FUCK YOU. FUCK THIS SHOW. 13 minutes in and I’m already about to chuck my laptop across the room. MY CAT WON’T EVEN CUDDLE ME ANYMORE I’M SO ANGRY.

And now I’m really fucking sad, cus’ I hate watching this poor girl get told she’s just hallucinating.

WHY does everyone go shopping at fucking 8 pm in Beacon Hills? What...Chris you don’t even have a day job.

I don’t...I don’t understand this scene with Isaac. Like..what exactly are they trying to imply? That he thinks she’s hot? All he’s seen is her raging around with fangs free and glowing eyes. And yeah, some people definitely think that’s hot. But like...that’s just so...what? I choose to read this scene as him just wondering about Derek’s home life. Like, “Since when do you have siblings? Why don’t you tell me these things? I have an aunt?”

WHAT DO YOU mean “Your world?” CHRIS YOU GREW UP AS A HUNTER. THIS IS YOUR WORLD TOO. He was YOUR dad. You’ve been a part of this WAY longer than Scott! Don’t blame the werewolves for ruining your life! THAT WAS YOUR DAD and YOUR STUPID HUNTER CODE’S FAULT.

OKay, listen, I have so many issues with this I need a therapist to mediate my conversations with it. FUCK YOU TW for bringing in Chris. I dont’ give a fuck if he’s experienced or trying to redeem himself. He is a HUNTER he has Slaughtered Derek’s kind for his entire life. He may want to do the right thing, but the right thing definitely doesn’t involved him Standing in front of Derek and forcing him to listen to hunter PROPAGANDA BULLSHIT. I’M SO FUCKING MAD. This was so inappropriate, holy shit. SO far beyond okay. Even the CONCEPT that werewolves wouldn’t be as good at tracking other werewolves as hunters are is fucking stupid. You said it yourself, Chris they can follow scent up to TWO MILES AWAY. Wolves can track their prey for weeks without losing the scent. Just because Isaac stepped on some footprints doesn’t mean he’s incapable of finding them. And what’s all this shit about them “Being able to rely on their human half”? NO? First off, minor detail. Werewolves aren’t half wolf, half human, dumbass. They’re all werewolf. AND The show has said like Ten TIMES that they can’t access their human form/the thought processes they would normally have during a full moon without an anchor, and Boyd and Cora are effectively anchorless on this moon. This is just utter bullshit and I’m so goddamn angry I don’t even know how to process it. “If you’re not trained like me you have no idea this print is Boyd’s” YEAH THEY DO. THEY CAN LITERALLY SMELL IT.  DEREK ALREADY IDENTIFIED THE TRACKS. FUCK you.

ALSO. Getting REAL SICk of people slicing their wrists every time they need a little blood for a ritual or for bait. YOU CUT THE MEAT of the arm. ON THE BACK. WHERE YOU WON”T HIT a VEIN. DUMBASSES.

WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK DO YOU MEAN NINE YEARS DEREK? YOU’D BETTER MEAN CORA WAS NINE YEARS OLD, CUS’ THE FIRE WAS SIX YEARS AGO. and what do you mean you don’t have a lock on her scent? you’ve been following it just fine all night! Wolves remember human scents decades later.

Booooo, i hate the entire concept of wolves going mad on a full moon. It’s lazy and boring. Wolves are not vicious animals, they’re shy as fuck. THey don’t attack without reason. Werewolves should be the same. Full moon’s enhance their wolfishness, so it should make them MORE SHY. The moon should enhance whatever they feel, rather than just making them mindlessly aggressive.

“Primal apex Predatory satisfaction”? seriously? Shut the FUCK up Chris, I’m really fucking sick of your hunter bedtime stories.

....i hate this woman.

Casual reminder that Isaac wouldn’t suggest Killing boyd. Ever. I fucking hate these writers.

yeah yeah, running scene. blah blah blah.

See, I never really understood those fics where Peter just refuses to give anyone any info. He tells Derek what’s up constantly. He didn’t lie or hold anything back when he helped Derek figure out what was up with Jackson or how Jackson needed Lydia to be cured. He walks right up to Derek and says “Hey, so those Alphas clearly want you to join them and that means they’re trying to make you kill your own pack” Peter helps Derek all the time. He’s just a dick while he does it.

Look, I love this moment with Peter, his “Let Scott be the hero of his morally black and white world. You and I, we live in shades of gray” lines are so good, and they speak so much to his character and personality. And he’s right. But I hate that they built the scene around Derek planning to kill his own pack, and following Scott around doing as he asks. I just hate what they do to Derek here.

The dog whistles suddenly have no effect on their hearing? Love it.

Take a second to bring up a plotline you won’t explain for ages. I vibe with that, so long as it is eventually explained.

OOh, suddenly BHHS has a football field?

Not gonna cry, not gonna cry. FUCK I’m crying again.

I just...dude I’m over here trying not to completely lose my shit and cry like a baby, and Stiles is in the middle of panicking and losing his oldest friend and he still puts the dots together. Like. Jesus christ this boy.

NOW Derek? You choose NOW to take Every Single Step down the stairs? JUMP.

...what is this a cartoon? Glowing eyes in the dark? one too many sets? Yeah, yeah, I get it, they’re supposed to look like fireflies.

Why did you stop to look at each other after blasting them? Just go.

OH, yeah, of course Scott has to be the one to hear the extra heartbeat. Scott. Not Derek. Not the ALpha who’s senses are heightened above the a Beta’s. Not DEREK the ALPHA who has a PACK, which makes his senses even stronger that that. No. Scott. The omega. Because he’s like an inch closer to the door. Yah. Sure. That makes sense. SUre.

Dude I wish my high school had that much backup supplies free for the teacher’s to grab. Also, I hate this woman.

WHy were the lights off in the boiler room if she was in the back grabbing stuff? That..what?

OH. I forgot, so Caitlin’s out of high school? She’s...what, 18? 19? Okay, fine, I’ll take that.

Oh stop faking Jennifer, fuck you.

Crying again. dont’ mind me. This is Derek. Not choosing to kill his beta or his long lost sister. Choosing to die himself instead. THAT is Derek (it’s self-sacrificing and it’s because he gives his own life no worth, but it’s still him.)

HOW IS IT DAWN? THAT WOULD BE like 6 HOURS of standing around! Or did the sun not set until like 10 pm? Hm? This show has no concept of time, and werewolves are very time oriented. Someone take away the show from the writers. They’ve lost their privileges.

I hate this. I hate that Isaac shouts for Scott. Not Derek. That’s just so fucking dumb. I’m so tired of it. I’m just so fucking sick of it.

I don’t even wanna look at this. I hate this woman so much.

YOU REALIZE that the third Virgin was Taken. The third virgin is DEAD. the sacrifices have been made, and now Jennifer has control over people. This is where she starts controlling Derek. Right Fucking Here. He loses his agency the moment they touch, if not the moment they make eye contact or he gets in range. I hate it. I HATE IT.

BOOM. Episode three, and Stiles already has the villain after next figured out. He’s past the Alphas now. 

Final Thoughts: I’m angry, I’m tired, and I honestly got very little joy or interest out of this whole episode. I hate what this show did to werewolves and how much insane Scott glorification there is and how every little thing HAS to be about Scott. Scott’s relationship with Chris. Scott saving the kids. Scott’s the one Isaac calls for. Scott’s the one who hears the heartbeats. I get that he’s the main character. I also hate that he’s the main character. It’s just so sad and pathetic and boring and just....ugh. I’m going to bed. I will try for another episode or two tomorrow.

(I promise I’m okay. Just go listen to the wolf howls for me in that link, huh? Listen to those beauties and imagine how amazing a wolf show could have been.)