#and the John wick mode thing

[10piecechickenmcnugget]

full quotes under the cut!

“Fuck this family reunion. What do you think you're doing? You're just sitting here, happy, after everything you've done?”

"I'm done with this guy, I'm fucking done. All he does is manipulate. He lies. He destroyed my UFO. He thought I'd work for him. You think everyone's just gonna listen - "

"I've not yet forgotten Quackity's heinous crimes against my heritage. The UFO explosion is a crime which I will not, and cannot forgive. I've been trying to get closer to everyone in order to appear friendly. However, Slime appears to be Quackity's new puppet. Disappointing. I notice the weekly pattern. This puts a dent in my plan to seize power through friendly diplomacy. I have to change my strategy. I'll have to strategize through Slime and try to squeeze him out of any valuable information. And when the time seems right, I'll do whatever I have to do."

"I really wouldn't thought I would have said this, but maybe you are right. Maybe we are on the same page. Because, sure, as much as wealth, money, diamonds, that's great! But I do agree... that I think it would better for both of us if we went down in history."

"-And I really-I really wanna elaborate that I don't think there'll ever be a point in time, where I respect you as a person."

"Everyone knows about the- the Purpled house! I mean... every... y'know... you look around... and like "Oh yeah! The Purpled's house, couldn't imagine the server without Purpled's house!" Everyone remembers it! No one would notice if it was blown to smithereens... Hm... blown to smithereens."

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't just kill you right now."

"Bad, to be frank with you, Quackity just had the better price."

"I am Switzerland. Keep that in mind, guys, I am Switzerland, it is true. I don't fight unless I have to. But when I do fight, I will win."

honorable mentions: “I’ve never heard you say a single truth” and “fuck”

[teecupangel]

How would the assassins react to meeting John Wick?

I was thinking if this should be a Modern Day AU or if it’s John Wick timetraveling kind of thing. Modern Day AU would probably be easier because if John Wick timetravel, he’d probably adopt a dog and live a simple life somewhere he knew would be peaceful (plus, the man deserves it)

So for this one, they meet John Wick during different times in his life.

Altaïr would consider him to be dangerous and would go down the rabbit hole trying to find him to check if he could be part of the Order. This ends up with him finding out about the Continental Hotel and that’s a whole other thing that he now has to deal with.

Ezio wants to recruit him because he saw his skills and thought “I can help him get better”. Every time their paths crossed, Ezio’s full on recruiter mode. Everybody else jokes that he has a guy crush. Ezio would agree. “I have fallen in love with him the moment he put a bullet between the eyes of my own target.”

Ratonhnhaké:ton has some kind of silent agreement with him if they cross path. You go your way and I go my way. He does consider him to be a good hit man (the Brotherhood does not like to call them ‘assassins’) but he also knows how annoying it would be to be focused on because of mistrust (Altaïr) or because they wanted your skills (Ezio).

Desmond actually met him when he was a bartender during one of John’s mission. He knew something was different about him and thought he might be an Assassin… but no. He wasn’t. Desmond honestly let out a sigh of relief when John said he was a contract killer, much to John’s amusement.

Edward crossed paths with him before John Wick became a contract killer. He was actually the first one to try and recruit him but John Wick turned him down. Ezio goes to him whenever he’s turned down and Edward just laughs. He and John did go drinking once and John told him he did wonder how his life would have been if he had agreed to Edward’s offer.

Arno is always polite around him and sometimes ask if they could team up. John always reject his offer though. Whenever he does, Arno would send his location to Ezio who would know immediately it’s John Wick related… because Arno can be quite petty XD

Jacob absolutely tried to recruit him and his way is more joking and a bit flirty. He would tell Evie that he was not flirting with the man. Evie would just raise an eyebrow at him then turn to John to apologize for her twin’s actions.

Bayek tried to recruit him once but stopped when he said no. The last time they met, he learned that John had given up his life as a contract killer to be with the woman he loves and Bayek wished for him the best. (we all know how that ended)

Basim and John first met when they were both just starting their careers in their respective ‘industries’. The next time they met, John noticed that something was different about Basim. Basim just laughs it off and tells him that he hadn’t changed. He just became who he truly was before.

[multific]

Being Vincent de Gramont's Wife - Headcanons

Warnings: smut

You were much like him

A sadist hungry for power

He met you through Winston when he sent you to take care of a problem in London with him

Winston said you were his best

Better than John Wick

And you didn't disappoint

Working with you was so easy

As if you two have been working together for years

Vincent originally didn’t want your help

But seeing the potential in you, you proved him wrong

You were a true professional

While you did enjoy teasing Vincent or his men, as soon as the situation got real, you were in focus mode

And that really got Vincent's attention

Your focus

Your talent and determination

You were good

Really really good at what you were doing

One evening, he invited you for a celebration

Celebration for your win

And Vincent certainly didn't expect the wine-red dress you decided to wear

The one that showed off your curves perfectly

It awakened a side of Vincent he didn't even know existed

He soon found out that his hand fit perfectly to every single curve on your body

Neither of you was patient enough

It became a night of true celebration

After that, Vincent asked for your help more and more often

Soon, you were married

The couple everyone feared

The Marquis and his wife

Vincent absolutely loved the fear people felt whenever they realized you two were after them

You were unstoppable

The two of you had an effect on each other

An effect terrible for your target but amazing for you two

Vincent often commissioned matching clothes for the two of you

You were a classy woman

Even the way you held yourself spoke volumes

The way everyone’s eyes were on you as soon as you entered a room

Vincent had the same effect

You loved the finer things in life

And the finest thing was possibly Vincent himself

He was tall, handsome, powerful and incredibly skilled

Skilled both in combat and in bed

First, you were convinced your marriage was about power and fear

Fear, which your name put into people

But lately, you weren't so sure

Vincent was rather gentle with you always but his eyes never changed

But nowadays they did

He seems to be smiling more when you are there

And you also noticed a change in yourself

You always loved to cook

So, whenever you did, you would always make sure that Vincent would also receive a plate

Sometimes you would even serve him food yourself to make sure he eats

Then lately, he would come to the dining room

Knowing your schedule well, and when you ate, he was there for every meal

Sometimes you two talked, sometimes silence filled the room, either way it was comfortable

Sex also changed

It used to be all about control and getting each other off

But lately, you noticed it became more about the touches, the kisses and the slow and deep movements

You never let him cum inside before

But now, you found yourself craving for the feeling of him finishing inside

You loved how close it made the two of you feel

And soon, you couldn't deny it any longer.

The two of you were in love

And you both knew it

Taglist: @fleursirvart @greenarrowhead @thisismysecrethappyplace @sincerelyfan @theoneanna @aestheticsandmarvel @rororo06 @castellandiangelo @destynelseclipsa @spilledinkindumpster @capsiclesdoll @puknow @alwayshave-faith @alex12948 @lxdyred  @imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl @anonymoussherlockandmarvelgeek @praline357 @trshngyn @avengers-r-us @violet-19999 @top1bbgloak   @manduse   @jacalineiscomingforyou  

Vincent Taglist: @l4venderia

~Masterlist~

ˇAO3ˇ

DO NOT STEAL, PLAGIARISE, REPOST OR TRANSLATE ANY OF MY WORKS  

[feinv]

the thought of john wick being a girl dad makes my heart melts 😞

“you are too young to have a kid. you don’t even want children,” i whisper to myself as i continue writing this on the verge of a sob. john wick as a girl dad <3

i wholeheartedly believe john wick was put in this world for one reason only, and it’s to have a loving wife and a daughter.

ᯓᡣ𐭩 he is so devoted to his family, always putting the two of you first. oh he has a business meeting in twenty minutes? well too bad, because he is cancelling, his little princess wanted to play some more.

ᯓᡣ𐭩 you will often catch him in ridiculous outfits, like dressed in all black professional suit with a pair of fairy wings on his back your child made him wear. or cute hello kitty hair clips in his dark hair. and he doesn’t mind!! whatever makes her happy :)

ᯓᡣ𐭩 expect to be showered in compliments by your child too because that’s what she sees john do all the time “mommy you are so pretty!! daddy is always right,” and you are like :<

ᯓᡣ𐭩 this man has all the money in the world, he would spoil his child to the brim. every barbie doll, every cute dollhouse, whatever she wants. besides that, he would always put in time and effort, and not just buy things. he will absolutely build a small treehouse for her, sit down to play and draw, watch ridiculous amount of cartoons.

ᯓᡣ𐭩 a strict parent, but in a sense that he doesn’t get mad or yell, he just makes the kid respect him! he would be so patient with her, calmly explaining why doing such thing is wrong and how can she fix it. he didn’t have the best childhood, and he would hate to turn out like people who raised him, so he would often get too worried and ask you if he is treating her right or being too strict with her.

ᯓᡣ𐭩 being graced with an energetic child often gets you exhausted by the end of the day. but he is there for you :3

“john, i cannot keep up after her. she is like. on full battery mode all the time,” you huffed softly, a happy smile on your face as you dropped your head to his shoulder.

“get some rest. i will stay up with her,” he chuckled lightly, giving you a goodnight kiss before going back to living room where the mini version of him already set up all the games they were going to play for at least two hours.

ᯓᡣ𐭩 it’s the least he can do for you. he doesn’t think he will ever be able to repay you for everything you gave him: love, home, family, and purpose. he will always be grateful to you that you not only chose him to be your life partner, but also trusted him enough to build a family with him, and he will spend the rest of his days with a sole purpose of bringing happiness to your faces <3

[milehighmegs]

Good Omens Playlists

So I've seen some pretty wonderful Good Omens playlists on Pinterest, most of which are based on music in the show (especially Queen, natch), songs that say how Zira & Crowley feel about one another or describe them as characters.

In the wake (double meaning totally intended) of S2, I wondered: how do they feel about each other NOW? We've all been there. The sad love songs, the sleeping all day, entire pints of ice cream while watching romcoms... but mostly the recounting of how it all could've gone so wrong, what we wished we'd said & done, and what we wish we could say now.

Since Zira & Crowley definitely have communication issues (Nina & Maggie were SPOT ON in their convo with Crowley), I imagine they would have an easier time telling each other their feelings through other means. I'll admit, there's a bias here: this is what I would do, so of course I project onto these characters. But isn't that the beauty of fan art? We put ourselves into the work/live vicariously through them because we have such a damned hard time saying want we want & need and how we feel in plain language? Mostly because such complex feelings are REALLY REALLY hard to explain to ourselves, let alone to another person. But art- writing, music, imagery- can say what we struggle to put into more direct words. Music is an enormous part of who I am, so I often find that the songs of others say perfectly what I feel I never could.

On that note (pun only slightly intended), I've created 3 playlists: one for Crowley, one for Zira, and one for the both of them. The individual playlists are meant to reflect the 5 stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance. There are elements of other stages within the songs meant to correspond to a particular stage, even coming full circle (it seems like acceptance, but there's a hint of denial in there, etc.). The joint playlist is of songs I imagine would make the memories of each other start to creep in (or totally gobsmack them in the feels) when they hear them, or things they wished they'd said/want to say to each other.

So without further ado, here are the playlists:

Crowley's Heartbroken Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6LyYnip9XuZqcRIEsiDSwz

Zira's Heartbroken Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3YUi13sTfPSR99R1dB2XVY

AziraCrow's Heartbroken Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/48NpfV42Y8LTVSFsui8zl2

For those of you who don't have Spotify, here's what's on the playlists:

Crowley 'Never Tear Us Apart' - INXS 'Bad Romance' - Lady Gaga 'Love Don't Live Here Anymore' - Madonna 'Cosmic Love' - Florence + the Machine 'As It Was' - Hozier 'I Found' - Amber Run 'Wicked Game' - Chris Isaac 'Dancing On My Own' - Calum Scott 'Halo' - Depeche Mode 'Falling' - The Civil Wars

Zira 'i love you' - Billie Eilish 'And I Am Telling You' - Jennifer Hudson 'You'll See' - Madonna 'Somebody That I Used To Know' - Gotye 'Someone Like You' - Adele 'Boys Don't Cry' - The Cure 'Un-break My Heart' - Toni Braxton 'For No One' - The Beatles 'Comfort' - Julia Jacklin 'I Will Always Love You' - Whitney Houston

AziraCrow 'I Have Nothing' - Whitney Houston 'Nothing Compares 2 U' - Sinead O'Connor 'Torn' - Natalie Imbruglia 'Hopelessly Devoted to You' - Olivia Newton John 'In A Lonely Place' - Bush, the Tricky Remix 'With Or Without You' - U2 'Don't Let Go (Love)' - En Vogue

'Don't Speak' - No Doubt 'Here With Me' - Dido

A note on the playlists: I know that Zira wouldn't listen to most of this if any, and Crowley would outwardly cringe just thinking about some of these. The point wasn't to choose songs that they'd go out of their way to hear, it was to capture the feelings they'd be going through. Crowley's songs are a bit darker: more minor keys, moodier atmosphere, etc., while Zira's are more sad but lighter & gentler (except maybe 'And I Am Telling You'; that's a straight-up "aww HELL NO YOU AIN'T GONNA FUCK THIS UP THIS IS HAPPENING YOU KNOW WE BELONG TOGETHER"... well, the song says it pretty well).

I 'd love to hear any thoughts about this, agree or disagree, love or loathe, hate that you love it... What would you put into a ZiraCrow playlist?

Hope you enjoy it!

[darkmasterlistyouneveraskedfor]

July 7/23 Masterlist Update

✅ - finished 🆕 - new series

Series

Marvel

The Little Things In Life (Steve Rogers)

Never Too Late ✅(Steve Rogers)

Outside the Lines 🆕(Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes)

All the Good Girls Go To Hell🆕(Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes)

Watching, Waiting…🆕(Bucky Barnes)

In the Summertime🆕(Helmut Zemo)

Take Shelter🆕(Thor)

No Time This Time🆕(Tony Stark)

Other Fandoms

Who’s The Boss?🆕(Lloyd Hansen, The Gray Man)

Wildest Dreams (Andy Barber, Defending Jacob)

River Below (Rafe Canerom, The Outer Banks)

Only Yesterday 🆕(Nick Fowler, The 355)

Laisse tomber les filles ✅(Lee Bodecker, The Devil All the Time)

Don’t Speak🆕(Andy Barber, Defending Jacob)

To be alone with you🆕(Clark Kent, DC)

Multifandom

Pretty Petals (Multifandom)

Crushed (Colin Shea, What’s Your Number; Jonathan Pine, Night Manager)

One Shots

Marvel

Graceless (Steve Rogers)

Other Fandoms

Through the Eye (John Wick)

God Mode (God The Bounty Hunter, Ghosted)

Double Trouble (Lloyd Hansen, The Gray Man; August Walker, Mission Impossible: Fallout)

Drabbles

Series

Marvel

Drawn Together🆕(Steve Rogers)

Wallflower✅(Thor)

One (Steve Rogers)

Hide and Seek 🆕(Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes)Watching, Waiting…🆕

Resistance (Bucky Barnes)

Other Fandom

Unexpected (Lloyd Hansen)

Multifandom

Sweet Treat Epilogues🆕

The Club AU🆕

One Offs

Marvel

Make You Feel My Love (Bucky Barnes)

Other Fandoms

Paradigm Shift (August Walker, Mission Impossible: Fallout)

Let’s Have A Picnic (Lloyd Hansen, The Gray Man)

Multifandom

Song Lyric Drabble Requests (Multifandom)

[callmearcturus]

okay so PC Gamer just scattered a bunch of catnip for me with an article about What If Each Fallout Game Were A Movie, Who Would Direct It and I am going to read this live and judge it

because I'm having a relapse, we all understand this

A focused, mature, pressure cooker of a movie that is short and stylishly violent? Better call the director of John Wick to take the directorial reigns. Personally, I find Leitch's movies tend to have rather underwhelming final acts, too, and also have a penchant for ending abruptly when you feel more could have followed, so he's the perfect fit for a game that's incredible until it very quickly ends without much fanfare. John Wick movies don't tend to be very wacky either, often depicting the hero's world as very serious (despite the ludicrous premise of the fiction), so again this feels a strong and apt choice for the OG Fallout. A Friday night action movie.

HMMMMMM. I feel like I disagree on the mode I would want FO1 to be in. Like, yes, you can play it that way, but FO1 is famously one of the first games to make Speech arguably the most important skill to have in a video game, so I dunno. I love Leitch and feel like while his sense of realistic-yet-stunning action is a trademark, I think the use of locations is even more of his thing, and when I think about memorable locations, I think more of FO2 than FO1.

I feel like I would give FO1 to some hyper-realistic scumbag who is more obsessed with Process than Enterta-- oh. Nolan. gdi I'd give FO1 to Chris fucking Nolan, him whomst I loathe.

Who better to direct this expansive and often wacky depiction of the Fallout universe than the director responsible for epics such as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 12 Monkeys, Brazil, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and The Man Who Killed Don Quixote? Gilliam loves a good road trip in his work, too, which fits with Fallout 2's Highwayman-based exploration, and his penchant for vast vistas with wacky and absurd details feels perfect. The combat scenes wouldn't be as slick as Leitch's Fallout movie, but characterisation and a more rambling, philosophical, off-beat narrative would deliver. Plus, Fallout 2 even has a Bridge Keeper encounter that directly references Monty Python and the Holy Grail, in which Gilliam starred. Watch on a Saturday night for a bit of everything.

......... I straight up cannot argue with that. No notes.

For a movie based on a game that is focussed almost entirely on squad-based combat in urban environments, combat where soldiers die in terrible ways and the horrors of war are all too apparent, I feel the director of The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow is perfect for this. Fallout: Tactics would be a war movie with a very tight focus and strong characterisation for just a handul of lead characters. Tense and at times adrenaline-inducing due to the flashes of extreme violence, but interspersed with soul-searching dialogue from its grizzled, war-scarred leads, this would be an erudite and focused Fallout war movie. Watch on a Monday or Tuesday night.

Looking at Bigelow's list of works is how I just now learned she also did Strange Days, so I think it's fair to say that this is giving her way too small of a pick. Give her FO1 and give Leitch FOT.

It would be so bad. Forget about A-bombs, everyone in the movie would drop an F-bomb every other line. Don't watch on any night.

Fucking weak-ass pick. Think about the history of how FO:BoS happened, i.e. they were trying to slap the Fallout license onto a completely different style of game without any respect for the source material. They swapped out Nuka Cola for Bawls product placement.

Give it to Zack Synder.

As the game that properly introduced V.A.T.S. system slow-mo to the Fallout universe, with kill shots shown off in glorious bullet time, there can be only one director for a film version of Fallout 3: the master himself, John Woo. Woo's stellar action movie work in titles such as Hard Boiled, Broken Arrow, Face/Off and Mission Impossible 2, among others, means the action in this game is off the charts. Slow-mo radiated doves and all! Woo handles the post-apocalypse war vibes well, too, thanks to his work on Windtalkers, while he communicates the hero's awakening into the future thanks to previous on Paycheck. A good fit for Friday night, thanks to the action, or midday during the weekend due to a longish, war movie-style runtime.

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

holy shit i cannot argue with that, that's genius. absolutely fucking yes. i think that's a perfect fit.

also, like, FO3 and Woo have the same "problem" for me, in that they know exactly what they are doing, it's just not my cup of tea, but there is a solid identity there.

yeah, fucking do it, give FO3 to John Woo.

SHUT THE FUCK UP

WHO WROTE THIS ARTICLE, AND DID THEY WRITE IT FROM MY FUCKING ATTIC?!

Casinos, gritty environments, extreme violence and heist movie vibes mean I think of Guy Ritchie for this film adaptation. Ritchie's also a fan of slow-mo combat shots, too, so we've got the game's V.A.T.S. system represented well, too, while the game's macho factional warfare as undertaken by factions like Caesar's Legion and the NCR, is right in keeping with Ritchie's love of gang-based conflict. There's not much romance in New Vegas, either, which is a weak spot for Ritchie, but as shown in movies like Sherlock Holmes, Snatch, The Gentleman, and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, he's good at holding together movies with various interconnecting narratives. His work on Aladdin also shows he can handle the comedic and wacky aspects of New Vegas, too. A mid-week action-comedy treat.

/rubs face

I am unfortunately a massive fucking fan of Ritchie movies. this is so powerful.

i think........... Ritchie is so thoroughly uninterested in saying anything philosophically profound, you cannot give him The Most Profound Fallout Game. like, I want to love this idea, I really do, but no.

....................... You need someone with snappy dialogue that actually means something, who is willing to veer into borderline magical realism, who loves an overdressed set, and who can manage a lot of different characters with well-reasoned motivations.

I think you need Rian Johnson.

OR DO I JUST WANT RIAN JOHNSON TO MAKE A VERSION OF "DEAD MONEY" THAT DOESN'T SUCK? WHO COULD SAY.

I feel Ang Lee is a good choice for a Fallout 4 movie adaptation, having good form in handling large and sprawling fictions with plenty of characters and side-stories. Just look at films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Life of Pi as an example of this. He's got some form with action, too, thanks to his work on Hulk. There's probably more romance/relationship offering in Fallout 4 than in any other Fallout, and Ang Lee has form here too. The result, though, is a movie that ends up being a bit flabby and unfocussed at times, despite technically bringing more to the table than Fallout 3, and being funnier and lighter overall. Watch on a day off due to a chonky runtime.

what are you fucking talking about, Ang Lee's best movies are Brokeback and Sense & Sensibility, and his worst are probably Hulk and Gemini Man. Fallout 4 is the one where Bethesda just stopped pretending to give a shit about story and roleplaying, instead pivoting the game into a skinner box of tightly-honed but ultimately soulless mechanics.

I'm not even trying to mock Marvel, but I feel like the MCU's Design-By-Producer-And-Executive-Oversight is actually the answer here. It doesn't matter who directs it because the main voice will be a board room.

oh shut upppppp

Fallout Shelter would in some ways be the most obvious setup for a movie: the self-contained story of a vault-dwelling society, interspersed with the surface adventures of random dwellers. Sounds a bit like the TV show when you put it like that, which is why there's only one Nolan for the job: Christopher! Yes, fresh off Oppenheimer it is time for Oppenheimer 2, focusing on the aftermath of all-out nuclear war (hell, Cillian Murphy can even have a cameo as a brain in a jar, I'm that generous). Moody, intense, riven with twists you didn't see coming, and with all special effects done for realsies, this movie could only ever be rad. The only downside is that, like the TV show Silo, you'd spend an awful lot of time indoors.

absolutely fucking not. the thing about Nolan is that his shit is so meticulous, it like.... pitches past hyper-realism and lands in this weird uncanny valley of "he wouldn't fucking say that" but it's for a character you've only known for ten minutes.

FO: Shelter is about emergent storytelling that feels almost accidental rather than arranged or scripted. you need someone who is hands-off the script but can capture a.... good moment..............

oh god, it's JJ Abrams, isn't it? god dammit. or, frankly? Spielberg. so I'm saying no to the director i hate and offering instead two other directors i dislike, but for different reasons.

yeah. yep. that's what i'm doing.

SPITTAKE

As an MMO that takes many aspects of the Fallout universe to the extreme, it feels a movie version of Fallout 76 would be akin to a huge-budget, climatic MCU movie where it really helps if you've had previous with the series to get most enjoyment. As such, I feel the Russo brothers would take the reigns for Fallout 76. The result would be a jack-of-all-trades action-adventure that borrows bits of every previous Fallout to make something that appeals to a lot of people but, after watching, doesn't go down as something you'd rewatch for most all of them. Big, bright, wacky and action-filled, there's no doubting though that you get a spectacle and fun, though. Watch in two sittings over two nights (as the movie's runtime is 3 hours 47 minutes).

no. fuck you. i reject your premise. the Fallout game that shipped with no NPCs and expected the story to be entirely conveyed by set-pieces, environmental design, and audiologs?

resurrect Tarkovsky and give us FO76, desolate and beautiful with environmental shots that last seven minutes without a cut. because the only good thing about FO76 is the setting, the amount of effort put into building the actual space, so I want 90 minutes of film and seven pages of script.

Russo Brothers, get tf out of here

[numberonenat]

i asked chat gpt to make a playlist based on my candy love characters...

here's part 1 and 2: dateables hsl / others

>> PART 3 <<

hyun:

"chasing cars" by snow patrol

"say something" by a great big world

"fast car" by tracy chapman

"boulevard of broken dreams" by green day

"how to save a life" by the fray

"back to black" by amy winehouse

"rolling in the deep" by adele

"hotel california" by eagles

"the scientist" by coldplay

"teardrop" by massive attack

"skinny love" by bon iver

"wicked game" by chris isaak

"let her go" by passenger

"losing my religion" by r.e.m.

"hallelujah" by leonard cohen

rayan:

"you're beautiful" by james blunt

"hero" by enrique iglesias

"truly madly deeply" by savage garden

"just the way you are" by bruno mars

"falling slowly" by glen hansard, markéta irglová

"i'm yours" by jason mraz

"un-break my heart" by toni braxton

"amazed" by lonestar

"everything" by michael bublé

"kiss me" by sixpence none the richer

"latch" by disclosure, sam smith

"all of me" by john legend

"i don't want to miss a thing" by aerosmith

"i will always love you" by whitney houston

"your song" by elton john

priya:

"girls just want to have fun" by cyndi lauper

"man! i feel like a woman!" by shania twain

"toxic" by britney spears

"no tears left to cry" by ariana grande

"super trouper" by abba

"hit the road jack" by ray charles

"meant to be" by bebe rexha

"new rules" by dua lipa

"god is a woman" by ariana grande

"thank u, next" by ariana grande

"break up with your girlfriend, i'm bored" by ariana grande

"dancing queen" by abba

"believe" by cher

"roar" by katy perry

"firework" by katy perry

chani:

"sweet dreams (are made of this)" by eurythmics

"lovesong" by the cure

"bela lugosi's dead" by bauhaus

"blue monday" by new order

"lullaby" by the cure

"tear you apart" by she wants revenge

"personal jesus" by depeche mode

"the killing moon" by echo & the bunnymen

"strange mercy" by st. vincent

"a forest" by the cure

"nocturne" by siouxsie and the banshees

"love like blood" by killing joke

"crimson" by edge of dawn

"cry little sister" by gerard mcmann

"temple of love" by sisters of mercy

honestly this was my second try, the first ones were so bad i had to ask again...it's way better but still not good lmao

i'll make a part 4 if chat gpt colaborates.

[transpersian]

Deep Cover

(copied from my twitter thread)

Alright. I got my unhinged time. Back to being regulated and strategic.

Apologies for my manic state over the past couple of days. For the past 2.5 months, I leaned into my most subservient, self-hating, self-blaming state from my past to make her feel in control.

It broke me.

I’m not here to hash out my history of trauma, but let’s just say I’m used to being in survival mode. I let the part of me that still felt for her grow like a weed, trying to carefully prune it so it didn’t overtake everything else. I gave her that power with careful limits.

The guilt I felt was real; I don’t want to do this. I want her to stop. But until she does, it’s necessary.

Alongside my love, the dissonance of guilt led to many, many breakdowns. I have friends who sat with me for hours in those calls as I lamented what Poppy could have been.

Add the additional stress of my strained trust and relationships with friends, including a half dozen that cut ties completely.

Add the viciousness people constantly spit at me anonymously on Tumblr.

Add my whole-ass personal life, which is its own nightmare of complications.

This has been hard, especially because I didn’t expect it to last more than two weeks. Especially when Poppy genuinely started to trust me. Defend me against her friends. Against Zena.

She promised she wouldn’t abandon me again and she didn’t. That’s particularly potent w/ BPD.

I still handled things.

Part of me worried that if she offered to run away from all this with me, I would’ve been tempted. People would finally be safe from her and I’d be in the toxic relationship of my nightmares.

But my principles kept me true. My love for Hela kept me true.

To help keep those feelings in check, I’d regularly read back through the documentation I was still working on. Especially Spawn’s screenshots.

I’ve literally worked myself to tears dozens of times to keep focus on what I’m fighting for.

Was this healthy? Nah.

But it worked.

I don’t need everyone to agree with what I did, or how. I just hope everyone at least sees that it’s not something I just do casually. This was a dark art, learned from many years of surviving people like PZ. I had to break this shit out like John Wick’s buried stash.

I was deeply uncomfortable with how good I was at it. I started to feel bad about it a few weeks in. I used that guilt to feed into my facade. The lines began to blur more and more.

I wasn’t going to betray my people, but I started to lose it for a while. Actual derealization.

I did accomplish useful things in there, but I can’t share them for fear of endangering them. Just know that I’d do it all over again. It was worth it.

I have a wonderful support network. Beyond just trauma bonding, I love these people. I trust them with my life.

But that last push, that desperate series of attempts to get Poppy to accept even one tiny bit of responsibility… that broke me.

Her saying that my love for her wasn’t real unless I betrayed my friends? That hurt. Telling her that she’d destroyed me and her “I don’t care?” God.

I leaned into the crazy on that last conversation because, frankly, I wanted to. I wanted to let all of the rage and fury and madness that I’d felt over all of this out.

Not just what she’d done to me. Everyone. Dozens.

And it felt good, y’all. It felt good to get theatrical.

So when I finally came out of it… that energy carried over.

I became the crazy ex-girlfriend they said I was, just for a bit. My strikes were still pointed, but yeah, I dove into the vibe.

Sorry about that.

It’ll take time to heal properly, but I’ll be okay. Survived worse.

Point being, I just wanted to make a statement discussing my recent behavior. I’m not proud of it, but I don’t regret it.

I’ve been so controlled with my emotions about all of this for so long. Please forgive me this indulgence.

I went under right before people started finally listening. It was kind of intoxicating to say things publicly and finally get so much support and visibility.

But if I’m going to continue being a prominent voice in this whole debacle, I need to be better, and I will be.

I am.

So… back to work. Back to healing.

Thank you for trusting me. It means the world.

It’s so fucking good to be back. 💜

[on-my-vigilante-sht]

Forced Love IV

John Wick x Reader

Summary: Arranged marriages aren't uncommon in the crime world but John Wick never expected to be forced into one with is boss' daughter.

Chapter Summary: John returns to his old life just to finish some business

Warnings: Minimal use of Y/N, canon level violence (if it's in the movie it's here), medical stuff

Word Count: 5.7K

Masterlist

As the taxi pulled up to John’s home he didn’t suspect that anything was amiss. But as soon as he stepped out onto the gravel driveway, he noticed some haphazard tire marks but he brushed those off as just being from a careless delivery driver. As he went up to the door his alarm bells started going off and started to revert back to assassin mode. The door was left slightly ajar but most horrifyingly was the blood left on the door handle. Without a critical thought, he immediately began to shout his wife’s name, not considering his own safety or the fact that his yelling could give away his position. He just needed his wife right that second.

He opened the door, immediately seeing the crumpled body of his wife lying in the living room with a knife sticking out of her chest. He was immediately running over to her to check her pulse. She had to be alive. No deity would be so cruel to give him something so wonderful only to take it away after just seven years, right? Despite the fear and pain icing his veins, he felt the most relief he had ever felt when he found his wife’s pulse still going. It was weak and erratic but still there. He was immediately pulling out his phone to dial 911 while keeping his fingers on her pulse, making sure it didn’t disappear.

“911 what’s your emergency?” the operator’s voice answered.

“My wife was stabbed, she’s still breathing but it’s bad,” he called into the phone, forgetting all his formal training.

“Okay sir, the ambulance is on the way. What’s the address?”

John gave the operator his information, the entire time trading between gently slapping his wife’s face trying to get her to wake up and making sure she was still breathing. And after only a few minutes, paramedics were bursting through the door. He nearly killed one for pushing him out of the way but he kept himself in check, remembering that they were saving his wife’s life. It was also at that moment that he realized he had been crying.

Seeing as John wasn’t about to let his wife out of his sight and he was in no shape to drive, the paramedics let him ride in the ambulance. He held her hand the entire way to the hospital, only letting her go from his sight when they arrived at the hospital and doctors immediately began surrounding her, bringing her to surgery immediately.

John sat in the waiting room for hours with no updates. He went through a range of feeling absolutely nothing, to fear, to regret, to guilt, to sadness, to absolute blinding rage. It was only after being numb for an entire hour that he decided to call his father-in-law. He figured that even if they weren’t in contact, Viggo would still want to know about this.

“John, I didn’t think I’d be hearing from you at all,” Viggo answered.

John didn’t even bother with pleasantries. He was too devastated and exhausted. “Viggo, there’s something you should know. I uh- came home today to find Y/N…” these were the hardest words he ever had to say, “lying in a pool of her own blood with a knife in her chest. She was still breathing and she’s in surgery. She’s been in for a couple hours but no one’s given me an update which I guess is a good thing,” he rambled.

Meanwhile, Viggo was still trying to process his son-in-law’s words. “She was in her own blood? How much?”

“I don’t know. She was also covered in bruises.”

Viggo sighed, the weight of the world weighing on his chest. “I know you’re retired and trying to stay separated from this life but give me an update as soon as you can.”

“Will do. Bye,” John bid before hanging up. Viggo put the phone down, rubbing his face exasperatedly. Sure, his daughter had been essentially dead to him because her husband wanted out but he held no ill will towards them. He never thought this would happen to her though. Not in the crime world and certainly not in her newfound retired lifestyle.

“What was that about?” Iosef asked, having expected to get a call about his sister’s death.

“It seems your sister was attacked,” Viggo answered his son. “She’s alive. She’s in the hospital but-”

“She’s alive?!” Iosef cried in shock. He had stabbed her in the chest and basically broken every bone in her body, how was she alive?

Viggo’s face immediately darkened. “What did you do?”

“Nothing!” the boy immediately shrugged off.

“What did you do?!” he demanded again, now standing up. When his son didn’t say anything, just looked like a guilty dog, the mob boss began pacing around angrily. “You idiot. Why would you do that to your sister?”

“Because you were going to pass my birthright onto her!” Iosef defended like a child. “You always gave her stuff to do and me nothing.”

“She is retired!” Viggo cried, wondering how his heir ended up so stupid. “She was never going to take over. I only gave her responsibilities so you’d get your shit together. Now look what you’ve done!”

“What? She’s in the hospital? She’ll recover and learn to stay away.”

“And once she’s recovered she’ll tell her husband—the man they call Baba Yaga—who did this to her. You remember when she was stabbed right? The men behind it took three hours to die. The man who ordered it was made to dig his own eye out.” As Viggo told the stories of The Boogeyman, he stepped towards his son with every word. Iosef continued to back up until he couldn’t anymore as he realized just how deep of shit he was in. “Get out of my sight while I deal with your mistake,” he spat. His son needed no more encouragement as he left the room with his tail between his legs.

Viggo sat down, taking a deep breath before calling Avi in. Once his right hand man was in his office, he got to the point. “Iosef tried to kill my daughter but he couldn’t even finish the job,” he spat. Avi didn’t even have the chance to process his boss’ words because he was already barking orders. “Send twelve of your men to Wick’s house. Once he’s there, eliminate him. Otherwise he’ll drag my son through an even slower death than Alexi Petrov.”

Avi couldn’t believe the words he was about to say. “And your daughter? Should we eliminate her too?”

Viggo thought for a moment. She had been no use to him ever since she retired. Technically, she wasn’t a threat. The only real threat was her husband but he knew John had taught her a thing or two and she always had a slight rebellious streak. “If you must, you better pray you kill her husband first.”

~~

The entire two weeks Y/N had spent recovering at the hospital, John had been there too. The second doctors had wheeled her out of surgery, John quite literally never left her side. The doctors explained that she had had extensive internal bleeding due to crush wounds from blunt force trauma. And that while the stab looked bad, it was no more than a flesh wound because her sternum had kept the knife from doing any real damage.

As for when she woke up, one of the first things John asked her was who did it. And when she responded with her brother’s name, all John could see was red. He wanted to scream a million curses and go rip the idiot’s head off but he kept his cool enough to listen to his wife’s reasoning. And just like him, all she wanted was to be near her spouse.

After two weeks she was released and, miraculously, had mostly healed. She had just had to deal with some residual bruising and a lot of soreness but otherwise was fine. Her brother’s paid friends had managed to crack a few ribs but nothing extensive enough to keep her immobilized for the two weeks. Despite the good news, John was still treating her like she was porcelain. He insisted on helping her in even the smallest tasks. For the first week he wouldn’t even let her feed herself.

“I’ve got you,” he assured, his arm around her waist and her arm pulled over his shoulder.

“I’ve got it,” she insisted, standing up with ease. It was painful but she could do it without assistance.

John backed off, looking at her with guilty eyes. He hadn’t been there for her the day she was attacked so he needed her to know that he’d always be there for her for the rest of time. That he’d always take care of her.

The mood was somber as they drove back to the house. Y/N just stared out the window, watching their once completely safe town pass by. She had thought this was her heaven but her brother tainted that with his paranoia. But she kept those feelings under wraps. She knew it would break John’s heart even more if she voiced her newfound discomfort with this town because he was the one to find it. He thought this would be a safe home for them.

Once he pulled into the garage, he was helping her up into the house. “You want anything? Water? A snack? I can go get food if you want?” he offered, desperate for a way to make this better.

“I’m fine,” she assured. “I’m just gonna lay down.”

“Okay, I’ll be up soon,” he assured. He watched her worriedly as she climbed the stairs. She leaned heavily on the railing but otherwise seemed to be doing okay. He couldn’t believe she survived such a savage beating and was half dead just two weeks ago. The bruises that encompassed her entire body were a sick reminder of that.

Heading down to the basement, he found a sledgehammer. Going over to the slab of concrete that was different from the rest, he brought the sledgehammer down hard. It immediately cracked the concrete, prompting John to take another swing and another until he finally found the cases he was looking for. He hauled them out of the dust covered hole, through the cracked concrete. He opened the first case, finding part of his arsenal and most of his gold. Hi wife had begged him not to retaliate in the hospital but he couldn’t just let this go. Her own brother tried to kill her over a misunderstanding and if Viggo had a single functioning brain cell left, he’d hand his son over.

As he continued going through his things, the phone began to ring. He knew who this was, the only people who had the basement landline’s number were people of his former life and no one would be calling except for his father-in-law. He picked up the phone, not saying a word. “Hello, John,” Viggo’s voice came over the line. “I assume Y/N has told you about her attacker.” John didn’t say anything. The next words out of his mouth better be that Iosef was tied up, waiting for a bullet in his skull. And the fact that he hadn’t called for two weeks didn’t escape his notice either. “John?” the Russian mob boss’ voice called over the phone again upon not hearing a response other than breathing. “Let us not resort to our baser instincts and handle this like civilized men, to move on-” His words halted as John hung up the phone.

He grabbed two pistols and extra magazines as he went upstairs. Based on the phone call, Viggo was prioritizing his son over his daughter and that meant eliminating any threat to Iosef. He went to his room where he found his wife sleeping, the soft noise of his footsteps not waking her. He left one of the guns on the nightstand next to her just in case she needed to use it. Going into the bathroom, he took a shower to wash the sweat and concrete dust off of himself before getting dressed. As he was tying his tie, he saw movement surrounding the house. His in-laws were here. With one last look his wife, still sleeping peacefully in bed, he grabbed his own gun and the key he had kept locked in the basement.

As he stepped out of the bedroom, he could hear them making their way into the house. But first, he turned, locking the door to the bedroom before tucking it in his jacket, right above his heart. They’d have to kill him if they were going to hurt her and he had survived much worse than this.

It was the first shots heard right outside her bedroom door that began to stir Y/N from her sleep. Her exhausted brain managed to ignore them for a moment before she heard the loud thud of bodies hitting the floor. Her brain finally put the pieces together as she realized someone was in her house again. She immediately turned towards her husband’s side of the bed, finding nothing. It looked like hadn’t even gotten into bed. She heard more shots and more bodies falling. How many people could possibly be here? But all she knew is that as long as she continued to hear shots, John was still alive.

She crept towards the door in only her nightie, intent to somehow help her husband. She could just stay out of the way and if she needed to, she could help. There were clearly multiple intruders, eventually they were going to gang up on him. But upon reaching the door, she found it locked or jammed or something. She struggled with the door for a few seconds, trying to force it open before realizing there was definitely a better way to go about this. As she was looking for something heavy to break the handle off with, she found the gun John had left her. Grabbing it, she went over to the door, beating the handle with the butt of the gun but it did nothing. With a grunt of frustration, she took a chance, shooting the handle. The bullet lodged itself in between the door jam and the locking mechanism, surprisingly weakening it enough so she could break it open.

Once she finally got the door open, she was immediately greeted with two bodies on the stair landing just outside her door and another on the stairs. She carefully crept past them, rushing towards the front of the house where she could hear struggling. Her path there was littered with other bodies but she paid them no mind, hurrying towards the entranceway. There, she found a masked man on top of her husband, trying to send a knife into his throat. She did the only thing she could think of, lifting the gun she shot hurriedly. She was by no means a trained gunman so the shot went into his shoulder rather than his head but it was enough of a hinderance to the masked man that John was able to easily flip him onto his back before sending about five bullets into his head.

“John,” she cried as the gunfire stopped. She didn’t even realize she was crying until she felt a tear drip from her cheek onto her chest.

“Y/N, oh my god,” he returned in an almost broken voice. He was immediately scrambling up, pulling her into his arms. He pressed her body into his, cradling her head against his chest. “Did they get into the room?” he asked.

“No but I heard the gunshots.”

“You should have stayed there,” he reprimanded lightly.

“I know but I wasn’t about to let you get hurt.” John sighed, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, just embracing her for the moment. “Were these my father’s men?” she asked.

“Yes,” John answered reluctantly. How do you take learning that your father chose his other child over you? He couldn’t imagine what his wife was feeling right then. “But no one’s gonna hurt you. I swear.”

“But what about you?” she asked, pulling out of his tight grasp to look at him. “My father didn’t send twelve men to kill me. He sent them to kill you.”

John’s jaw clenched. “Go upstairs and start packing. We’re going to the Continental. You’ll be safe there.”

~

By the time they arrived at the Continental hotel in the heart of New York City it was morning. As the pair pulled up to the hotel, the valet held open the door for her. She thanked him as John rounded the car, carrying both their bags in one hand. He handed the keys off to the valet before taking his wife’s hand, walking into the hotel like a celebrity. As they walked through the entranceway up to the desk, the people idly chatting in the lobby quieted down, looking at the pair. Both of their beat up appearances didn’t escape anyone’s notice but one rumor would start circulating soon. The Wicks were back.

As they approached the desk, the found a woman being checked in by the doorman. They both recognized her from their lives before they retired, both of them having crossed paths with her as individuals. “Good seeing you again,” she greeted the pair like they were casual work acquaintances.

“Perkins,” John replied, nodding in acknowledgement before stepping up to the desk.

“I have you for two nights,” Charon greeted.

“Depending on business, it may be more,” John replied. Beside him, his wife shifted uncomfortably. Two nights of hell, maybe more. John was on the warpath now and nothing she could say could ever stop him.

“Of course, sir.” John then pulled a gold coin out of his pocket before sliding it across the counter to Charon. In return, he passed them a room key. “Room 818.”

“Thank you,” she smiled before grabbing one of the bags before John could take it.

Later that night, after they had eaten and Y/N had attended to her husband’s wounds, John came out of the bathroom, having changed into a new suit. “Stay here,” he told his wife. “I have some people I need to talk to.” But before he could walk out, she caught his hand.

“Hey,” she began, stopping him. “Just, be careful. I know you made my father what he is but he’s still powerful and you’re still human. Just remember your promise to always come back to me,” she made him swear.

“I will,” he swore. “I love you,” he said, pulling her in for a kiss.

“I love you too,” she returned once he had pulled away. As he headed out the door, she watched him go reluctantly.

After a few stressful hours trading between pacing, checking her phone, and trying to watch tv, the door to the room finally opened. “Oh my god,” she gasped, watching the way he limped and held his stomach.

Assuming she was talking about the blood, he was quick to assure her. “Don’t worry it’s not all mine.”

“John… I-” she was at a loss for words of how to deal with her seemingly suicidal husband. “What are the injuries?” she asked as he sat down on one of the chairs.

“Bullet wounds to the vest,” he emphasized the vest part, “so probably some bruising. And a stab in the lower stomach.”

She sighed, checking the stab wound first. “That’s the same place as mine. We should make sure none of your organs were ruptured,” she said, already grabbing the hotel phone. She ignored John’s protests as Charon answered. “Hi, could you send the doctor up to room 818? Thank you.”

“Why would you do that?” John asked. “I’m fine, I don’t need a doctor.”

“Because John fucking Wick is not dying from a fucking kidney infection. And if you’re so intent on revenge you’re getting some pain meds,” she reprimanded.

John looked like he wanted to argue but he suddenly deflated. “Thank you,” he said. “You’re the best wife I could ask for.”

“Yeah well, who else would shoot up The Red Circle for me?” she joked. A knock on the door prompted her to go up to the door, letting the doctor in. “Hi,” she greeted, “he’s at the table.”

The doctor thanked her before going over to the table. “Hello Mr. Wick, nice to see you again,” he greeted. “What can I do for you?”

“You too,” John returned, looking reluctant to exchange the same pleasantries with yet another person. “Just a stab. My wife wanted to make sure it didn’t puncture anything important.”

“Smart woman,” he remarked. The doctor got right to work, inspecting the wound. “Well, good news is it’s just a flesh wound, it didn’t cause any internal damage or bleeding. I’m just gonna have to stich it up.”

“So what sort of movement am I looking at?” John asked the doctor as he worked. His wife’s disapproving look didn’t escape his notice though.

“Well, if you’re looking to heal, then keep it marginal,” he warned sternly. “However, if you still have business to attend to take two of these beforehand,” he advised, handing John a bottle of pills.

“Thank you,” he said, the smallest hint of a smile creeping onto his face.

The doctor only nodded. “The stiches will tear and you’ll bleed. But you’ll still have full function. Do you need anything for the pain?” he asked, getting up.

“No I’m fine,” he assured despite his wife’s worried looks.

“Thanks, doc,” she wished as the man left. Once he was gone, she moved from her place on the bed over to the seat in front of John. “Please, I’m begging you to stop,” she pleaded. “You’ve killed like 40 of my father’s men, is that not enough for you?”

“Y/N, your brother tried to murder you and then your father took his side. How can you be okay just letting them walk free?”

“Because the man I love is avenging me alone,” she said in a strangled voice. “My family has an army protecting them. Forgive me if I have some fear that this will end with you in the back of Charlie’s van and I’ll be left with what? A dead husband and a family that tried to kill me. Can we please just cut our losses and disappear?”

The assassin clenched his jaw. She had a point but he couldn’t just let the people who hurt the only person he cared about go free. It wasn’t right. Besides… “We can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because your father put a hit out on me. Two million dollars.”

Her heart sunk. “What?” She couldn’t convey the level of hurt or betrayal she felt. Her own father put a hit out on her husband?

John watched her process the information. She was just now starting to understand how he felt. How neither could just let the person that threatened their spouse go. He continued to watch her very rapidly go through his own process of watching his wife practically die in that hospital bed and now, she was getting angry and set of vengeance. “Okay…” she said softly, giving in. “What’s the plan?”

“Right now, we’re going to sleep because this is the only place we’re safe.”

“Right… no business on Continental grounds,” she mused.

“C’mon,” he urged her, standing up only to lay back on the bed. She followed, laying on his uninjured side so she could rest her head on his chest. “You know I’m always gonna protect you, right?” he said into her hair.

“I know. Just wish I could protect you more,” she mused.

“You do,” John assured her. “I don’t know where I’d be if not for you but I can’t imagine anyplace good. And if I die-”

“John!” she cut him off, not wanting to even entertain the thought.

“Just listen, this is important. If I die, come here. Marcus will find you and take care of you,” he promised. She didn’t respond, unsure of what to say. She just cuddled into her husband more, holding him impossibly tighter.

They must have dozed off because suddenly there was a small explosion next to John’s ear. Recognizing the noise as a missed bullet, he immediately rolled over, covering his wife’s body with his. “Wha-” he heard her voice come from underneath him when he heard the glass room divider above the bed shatter, raining glass down on them.

He threw his body off the bed, dragging his wife down with him. The bullets continued flying, shattering the windows at the end of the bed as John practically pushed his wife under the bed. “Stay there!” he ordered.

“Hey John,” a woman’s voice rang out. They both recognized it from their former lives and as the woman in the lobby.

“Perkins?” John called.

“Thought I’d let myself in,” she quipped as she tucked herself against a dividing wall to defend herself from any gunfire. As she rounded the corner to shoot at her target, he used his makeshift arms sling to force the gun out of her hand. He then forced it up to her neck, trying to strangle her with it. “I never knew Ms. Perkins to get out of bed for less than three.”

“Viggo’s giving me four to break hotel rules,” she answered as she broke out of his grip.

Y/N watched in horror as they continued to struggle through the room. She was trying to decide when coming out of her spot would be useful or just a hinderance. Two was better than one but she had absolutely no combat training beyond the basic self-defense John had taught her. If she came out from under the bed, that’d just remind Perkins of her presence and then John would have to worry about both himself and her.

As they tumbled out of sight and she was considering what she should do, the phone rang. Probably a noise complaint. Assassins were surprisingly civilized and expected a certain level of decorum. She crawled out from under the bed just about half-way in order to grab the receiver. “Hello?” she answered.

“I apologize for calling you at this hour,” Charon’s voice came over the phone, “but we have received a number of grievances from your floor concerning the noise.”

“Sorry, we’re uh-” the sound of the door crashing open caught her off guard. “John is dealing with an uninvited guest.”

“Are you in need of a dinner reservation, perhaps?”

She peaked around the dividing wall, finding John with Perkins in a headlock, gun pointed at her head. “Um… maybe. Either I or John will let you know.”

“Okay, have a good evening, Mrs. Wick,” he bid before the line went dead.

She scrambled out from under the bed towards the hallway at the same time as another guest. Except he had his gun pointed at the back of John’s head. Thinking quickly, she found a gun on the ground that must have fallen in the scuffle. She cocked it, pointing it at the back of the man’s head. “Drop it,” she ordered.

Hearing her words, John turned around, finding his wife pointing a gun at an old friend. “Hey, Harry,” he greeted.

“Hi, John,” he returned. Upon seeing the friendly encounter, John’s wife lowered the gun. The man turned to face her. “You must be Mrs. Wick, Viggo’s daughter.” He turned back to John, “I thought you were supposed to be the guard dog.”

“She returns the favor sometimes,” John explained. “Hey, you keen on earning a coin? Babysitting the sleeping one?” he asked, gesturing to the unconscious woman.

“Catch and release?”

“Catch and release,” John confirmed.

They helped Harry get Perkins tied up in his room before they headed towards a lead John had gotten from Perkins.

“Where are we going?” Y/N asked.

“Little Russia,” John answered. “The church where your father keeps all his most important assets. I’m gonna lure him out.”

“Okay… what do you want me to do?” They pulled up to the rear side of the church, parking in a back alley a few buildings down. John didn’t answer for a few seconds, seemingly deep in thought. “Go up to that building’s roof,” he pointed at one right across the street from the church. “I’ll give you the sniper rifle. Once I start ambushing them, you can give me cover.” Her eyes widened at the responsibility he bestowed her. He never let her do anything when it came to his work. He tried to keep her from it as far as possible. Seeing her shock, he explained. “I realized that if I was going to make decisions that effect you, then you also have a right to act.”

She sent him a grateful smile. “Thank you, John,” she said, a hand reaching up to cup his cheek, her thumb stroking over his beard. “No let’s go burn my father’s empire to the ground.”

After thirty minutes of just sitting on the roof, John finally made his move. She watched him gun down a few of her father’s men before anyone could react. She responded by taking aim at one, firing. She missed but shook it off. She was mostly just there to create enough chaos so John could get Viggo alone. She took aim again at another one of her father’s guard. She smiled in success initially as she landed a bullet in his head. But the smile quickly dropped as she realized she had just killed a person. She had ended his life prematurely. What if he had a life outside of his work? What if there was someone waiting for him at home just like she waited for her husband. Hell, she very well could have known the man she killed. He could have been one of the men that had protected her in the past.

She only snapped out of her guilt-ridden haze when she heard a loud crash. Looking down, she found John sprawled on the ground, a few of her father’s men quickly subduing him. “John !” she cried. She had to get down there. Maybe her father would listen to her.

As she started collecting her things, a voice cut her off. “C’mere pretty girl,” the sick voice of one of her former bodyguards came. She scrambled to aim her weapon and managed to pull the trigger but she was too slow. The man had enough time to dodge it and as she tried to aim again, he got in close enough to knock her to the floor. He pushed the rifle away from her as he pinned her to the ground. “Hey, I got her,” she heard him call into a mic. “I’m gonna need backup. No way I’m gonna be able to get her down the fire escape by myself.”

She continued to struggle against him, but he simply rested his bodyweight on her, effectively trapping her. “Let go of me!” she demanded.

“Y’know, I much prefer you before you married Wick. You listened back then.”

“Yeah, well, he taught me a thing or two,” she spat back.

“Please, you’re just a spoiled brat who wants to piss of daddy,” he taunted. “Did you think you could actually just let your husband fight your battles for you and kill all the people who used to protect you without consequences?” He reached a hand out, squeezing her jaw. “This is just a temper tantrum and because of you, your husband will pay the ultimate price.”

“He’s gonna kill you,” she swore. “And if he doesn’t. I will.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

By now, his backup had arrived and she was having her hands and ankles tied up so she could be carried down the fire escape without much of a fuss. When they finally reached the cars, she made sure to send a harsh glare at the man that had put out a contract on her husband. He marched right up to her, sending a smack to her face. “I raised you better than this. Look what you caused,” he gestured to the tainted state of things around them.

“Your son you never bothered to raise caused this,” she spat. “And then you took his side over mine when he tried to kill me.” All of a sudden she was feeling all the hurt and betrayal she hadn’t been letting herself feel for John’s sake. She broke down right there in the parking lot before she heard a faint order from her father to just put her in the car. They laid her down in the rear seat as one of the men got in the driver’s seat and her father sat in the passenger seat. She had no idea where she was and all she wanted was John. Viggo attempted to speak to her a few times but she was crying so hysterically, full of so much pain she had been pushing down, that she couldn’t even hear him. As her world faded to black she put it together that she was in the midst of a panic attack.

Masterlist

[ashlingiswriting]

20 Questions for Fanfic Writers

thank you for the tag, @drabbles-mc 🥰

1) How many works do you have on AO3?: i have 275 on AO3.

2) What's your total AO3 word count?: 773,676. Life willing, I'd like to hit a milli one day.

3) What fandoms do your write for?: Literally so many? not in any particular mode rn, just struggling my way through a The Bear (TV) longfic. historically my biggies were: peaky blinders, exchange fandom (aka just writing gifts in a bunch of diff fandoms for fanfic exchanges), narcos, and now i'm jus drifting

4) Top 5 fics by kudos: This...is not what i expected???

The Truth — Apollonia x Michael Corleone, ficlet

Ten Things — Alfie Solomons x reader, 8.7k

Oblivion (Never Been A Better Reason) — Venom/Eddie Brock, 7.2k

STREET SMARTS! — Charlie x Harper (from Set It Up), 1.3k

The Intern — M'Baku x black reader, 13.8k

There is just...there is no rhyme or reason to this. Or pattern. God I love fandom so much

5) Do you respond to comments?: Yes! I try to answer them all, although sometimes I hoard comments on a recent chapter of a longfic so I can reread them, which is...silly, cause I can still reread them once I've replied to them? I should be better/swifter about this.

6) What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?: I spent an inordinate amount of time coming up with a shortlist. This is not what the question asked for, but I'm listing them anyways because I couldn't narrow it down any further.

last rites. — Horacio Carrillo x reader, 4.6k

in for five years — Mick Moynihan character study, 1k

not right/not enough — Javier Peña x Horacio Carillo, ficlet

The End — OFC x OFC, 2.2k

Oblivion (Never Been A Better Reason) — Venom/Eddie Brock, 7.2k

7) What's a fic you wrote with the happiest ending?: I have a handful of total fluffies, I think? This is one.

Peach — Astrid Leong/Goh Peik Lin, 2.4k

8) Do you get hate on fics?: Not that I can remember, though I have experienced a few stunners secondhand through friends who have gotten some real weird/inaccurate/racist stuff.

9) Do you write smut?: Yes! Badly.

10) Craziest crossover?: I couldn't choose.

this is the last time — Avatar (animated 00s children's TV show) x Mad Max: Fury Road (R rated 2015 dystopian action movie)

the pale orange skirt in the Continental lobby — John Wick (recent gritty action movies) x Marie Kondo RPF (reality tv show about supremely pleasant small woman who teaches organizational skills)

One thing about me is that I'll treat a crack crossover dead serious.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?: No, thank goodness! I'd be so upset.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?: Yes! I only allow translations to be published on AO3, and I prefer people ask first. I've been translated into Mandarin, Russian, and Bengali. Pride and joy <3

13) Have you ever cowritten a fic before?: Ohhhh yeah. The big ones are:

The Pack Survives cowritten with herequeerandreadytofight, 54,597

A Bit of Heart Left cowritten with shoshe_anders, 53,034

heart full of love and murder cowritten with herequeerandreadytofight, 38,520

I find that it's way easier to sustain longfic with a partner. We go back and forth writing a paragraph or two, then handing it over again. Nobody is in charge of specific characters, both partners can just do whatever they want (with communication, ofc).

14) All time favorite ship?: I have no idea, tbh.

15) What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?: Anything I've tagged "Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued" on AO3 while holding back tears. Plenty. No further comment. 😂

16) What are your writing strengths?: i

17) What are your writing weaknesses?: Smut and fight sequences. Anything where it's primarily description of 2+ bodies doing extremely important and physically precise interaction. Yeesh! Yuck. It's hard.

18) Thoughts on dialogue in another language?: Speaking as a reader, my first preference is that a fic be all in one language, regardless of what that language is. After that, I like when there are entire chunks in another language. My least favorite type is when the whole fic is one language, but then inexplicably there's only a few words, or just random very simple sentences in another language. If the characters themselves very naturally go from language to another in their canon everyday life and it's a characterization choice, then I'm sometimes into it, but again I prefer it if it's done realistically, i.e. it's not all just one language with only swear words or only basic words thrown in of the other language, but rather reflects how bi- or multilingual people really go in and out of different languages with each other (like my aunts and grandmother, for example). As a writer, I don't envision myself mixing languages in a fic unless it's for a very specific reason. I've done an all-Spanish ficlet, but I doubt it was good. I particularly admire people who regularly publish in languages other than English and Mandarin, and I wish I could support them via commenting more, but I'm just not properly fluent.

19) First fandom you wrote in?: A Jason Bourne x East Indian original female character fic in a composition book as a child, never shared with anyone. My OFC wore purple a lot and their meetcute was her spying on him and then having to save his life when he almost choked to death on a chicken bone.

20) Favorite fic you've ever written?: Can't pick just one, yet again. Oblivion (Never Been A Better Reason) I love because I feel I was able to sublimate my feelings and experiences during that time into a work of art. The Bride and do i know you? both because the longfic experience of working on it over time and accumulating readers and interacting with them and genuinely feeling that I'm creating something for people who care about it is just...really meaningful to me.

[askagamedev]

What if any technical reasons are there that more PS5 and Series X games do not support offline co-op and multiplayer modes? It seems that while yes, current gen games are more demanding, current gen hardware is exponentially more capable than past generations. Why not just add a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th viewport into the world and let people game together? Any relevant answer would be appreciated. If none, I'll just assume my suspicions are correct and you are under some NDA about this. The breaking of which would result in being blacklisted and hunted down by John Wick himself. Thank you.

Let's assume that we have no technical limitations - infinite memory, infinite CPU and GPU cycles. We can run as many viewports as we could possibly want. What else could be holding us back? Here are a few game design considerations that make split screen a non-trivial task, even in a scenario where technical limitations don't exist.

Aspect Ratio

When we are designing a game, screen visibility and aspect ratio are important. Look at this screenshot from God of War Ragnarok:

The framing of the cinematic is absolutely focused on showing the characters and their difference in size on screen, with the point of focus being Mjolnir in the very center. You can see at a glance how much bigger Thor is than Kratos. That's completely intentional. Now let's see it in split screen. First, let's split the screen vertically:

I tried to retain the "gist" of the original shot. We're still centered on Kratos vs Thor with Mjolnir in the center of the frame. I tried to keep as of both characters in frame as I could. Clearly, this shot doesn't have anywhere near the visual impact of the original. You just can't see much of either character. We retain the struggle in the center of the screen for Mjolnir, but we lose the visual representation of the characters' sizes. Now let's try splitting the screen horizontally instead:

Once again, I tried to fit as much into the frame as I could. Now we can't see enough of either body, it's so squashed down. We can't see the relative size of Mjolnir either. We can't even see how tall Thor is because his head is getting cut out of the frame.

It's pretty obvious that this shot is meant to be viewed at a specific aspect ratio. Halving either dimension simply won't work, significant rework must be done in order to do this. But what if we retain the original aspect ratio by dividing into fourths?

It's better - we can at least see all of relative sizes of each other. But the characters themselves are much smaller, especially because we don't sit close enough to the television in order to get the same effect. But let's move on. There are other issues.

User Interface and Screen Size

Things get worse when we have to put UI on the screen too, because we can't shrink our UI or text to 1/4 of its original size in order to maintain the screen aspect ratio. Here's another screenshot from God of War Ragnarok, this time with combat UI:

Let's try splitting this screen vertically:

I've done a quick and dirty copy/paste job for the UI elements and maintained their relative size on screen. We're already losing out on a lot of peripheral vision in combat. Since we can't scale the UI, observe how it is taking up significantly more screen space too. We have to show two of every UI element, not one... and they can't really be scaled down or they'll be too small to see. Now let's see it in horizontal split screen:

Now we have the peripheral vision... kind of... but the UI is still eating a lot of that screen space and we're losing significant amounts of vertical screen space. This might be ok in a game where enemies show up to the left and right, but not if there are often enemies coming from above or below. The UI screen space problem gets significantly worse when we run it in four viewports while maintaining UI screen size:

Everything feels so much more squished and tiny, even when running at the same aspect ratio as the original. It's a fundamentally different experience, because you're seeing so much less of the world in the various split screen modes. God forbid we try to have any kind of subtitle display in four-way split screen.

These are two specific constraints with splitting the screen. There are more problems I haven't gotten into, like directional audio no longer working because we've got multiple simultaneous player locations or handling menu navigation gracefully in split screen. This is not to say that it is impossible to make split screen work - it is absolutely not impossible. What I am saying is that it is not trivial to make it work - we can't just turn on two/three/four viewports and call it a day, not without inadvertently causing a significantly worse player experience in many regards. These kind of challenges must be identified, designed for, and fit into the development budget.

[Join us on Discord] and/or [Support us on Patreon]

Got a burning question you want answered?

Short questions: Ask a Game Dev on Twitter

Long questions: Ask a Game Dev on Tumblr

Frequent Questions: The FAQ

[silverynight]

Sooo I just watched the new scream movie (no spoilers) but it made me think- Tanjirou in a slasher movie? Yes. Like imagine Nezuko and Tanjirou are victims to the "slasher", but through the help of their nine friends, also known as the pillars at their college, they're able to overcome it! So everyone sort of gets back to their life, until, obviously...the slasher returns! Of course, naturally, he attacks Nezuko and Tanjirou (sigh, it's difficult being the main character😂).

"Nezuko, call Giyu-Kyo, SOMEONE!" Tanjirou says as he holds the door closed, stabbed in his shoulder. Nezuko quickly runs to the other room, picking up the phone and trying to call as Tanjirou holds off the slasher. I feel like this would be an interesting spin off😂but feel free to ignore! I just get excited from new things and it gives me way too many ideas 😂

And just to make things more complicated (or interesting) as soon as they hear their Tanjirou is in danger they go full John Wick mode on the serial killer for trying to hurt the sunshine.

And even though is a slasher movie they all survive because they have to date Tanjirou. 💕

[abyssal-debonair]

I've been playing Fortnite this week for the first time in a few years. Well, I'm not exactly sure how long it's been since I last played the game. I think it was midway through Chapter Two, maybe? It was at least before things went crazy with the collabs, new gimmicks, and the lore I doubt I'll ever get caught up on at this point. Apparently Peely has been kidnapped and Jonesy has gone all John Wick over it.

It's like every round I'm discovering something new. I'm also not dying as much as I thought I would. I won two solos back to back without freaking out and screwing myself over. Granted, I am playing on the zero build mode, though it still seems preposterous that when before I seldom reached the final 50, now I'm consistently reaching the final 10 with several kills and getting spectated to see if I'm hacking.

Either the playerbase has gotten worse or I wasn't as bad as I thought I was?

But I can still get pump shotgunned in the face and near instantly die, so some things never change.

[jcksonfields]

Task #14 Merrock Wrap

TOP FIVE MUSIC ARTISTS

Drake.

Tupac.

blackbear.

MGK.

Mac Miller.

TOP FIVE SONGS

Nonstop by Drake

Sicko Mode by Travis Scott

Waffle House by the Jonas Brothers

Lose Control by Teddy Swims

Popular by the Weeknd and Madonna

TOP MOVIES SEEN IN THEATERS

Oppenheimer

The Nun

Spiderman Across the Spiderverse

Creed III

John Wick Chapter IV

TELEVISION SHOWS BINGE WATCHED (old or new!)

The Office

House of the Fall of Usher

The SSapranos

The Bear

Breaking

Breaking Bad

TOP EVENTS ATTENDED IN TOWN (event tag!)

Winter Fun Party

Railway 5K

FIVE FAVORITE THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN 2023 (personal, or in the world!)

Reconnected with old friends

Turned 27

Partied with best friends

Personal Training job took off

Merrock Rangers made the playoffs

[words-after-midnight]

Character Songs

Thank you @toribookworm22, i absolutely LOOOOOOVE music tags! 💕

Tagging: @i-can-even-burn-salad, @minutiaewriter, @arijensineink, @angelsofprey, @rsdan, @winterandwords, @frostedlemonwriter, @nanashi23, @btranwrites, @klywrites, @ls-daydreams, @sunset-a-story, @catchingbigfish

Rules: Choose one of your characters and list songs that fit them.

Doing this for Gabriel (Life in Black and White's protagonist) because I have by far the most songs for him, lol. ❤️

We'd be here all day if I listed all of them, so I'll pick 30 in no particular order:

1. TV on the Radio - Happy Idiot

2. Joy Oladokun - Breathe Again

3. Chris Isaak - Wicked Game

4. Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek

5. R.E.M. - Losing My Religion

6. Mumford & Sons - White Blank Page

7. Mumford & Sons - Broken Crown

8. Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

9. David Bowie - Cat People

10. Florence & the Machine - Ship to Wreck

11. Coldplay - Clocks

12. Gordon Lightfoot - The Watchman's Gone

13. Sarah McLachlan - Fallen

14. INXS - Afterglow

15. Rock & Hyde - Dirty Water

16. Maroon 5 - Harder to Breathe

17. Gary Wright - Dream Weaver

18. Elton John - I'm Still Standing

19. Stain'd - It's Been a While

20. Finger Eleven - One Thing

21. Depeche Mode - Strangelove

22. Depeche Mode - Wrong

23. Glass Animals - It's All So Incredibly Loud

24. Mumford & Sons - The Cave

25. Supertramp - Take the Long Way Home

26. Evanescence - Going Under

27. James Taylor - Fire and Rain

28. The Killers - Mr. Brightside

29. The Goo Goo Dolls - Iris

30. Sufjan Stevens - John My Beloved