#anyways this is kinda about the shit going down with top gun

[koma-time]

.

[sp0o0kylights]

Steve and Gareth as Cousins, no longer a warm-up and now called Lifelines, part three! I’ll throw it up on A03 when I finish the fourth part. 

Prior parts can be read here: Part One / Part Two 

First things first, the most amazing @ sereinpetrichor managed to track down the OG Twitter thread this runaway train is based off of! 

It was this thread by @gatorthots, the Tumblr version of which can be read, here.  All blame for this idea firmly rests on their brilliant, plot bunny inducing shoulders. 

The other, follow up thread I mentioned was this one by Silas, whose tumblr name I do not know. 

As always and forever, shout out to the most amazing @chalkysgarbagefire​ who helps me edit/plot/pats my head while I’m crying in their inbox bc the words aren’t wording right. 

Warnings: Steve and Robin are canon (S3) drugged. I took a slightly (kinda sorta) more realistic approach. Vomit mention, canon threat of violence/guns (the Russian guards) Mention of pantsing/past bullying, Steve and Robin’s drugged asses not understanding personal space, Dustin’s canon...Im gonna go with assholishness? but like, I think its more than he’s a young kid and doesn't quite have the emotional growth/awareness yet in this kind of insane situation to know how to react to the whole address/torture bit (really who does)/its a defense mechanism--and Gareth sort of has a panic attack. 

Whatever the hell they had been drugged with, Steve and Robin went from 'giggly happy fun time' to 'vomiting into toilet bowls while loudly wishing for death’ awfully fast. 

Gareth was not an expert on drugs. He knew Eddie wasn't either (the guy never dealt anything stronger than your average psychedelic--had some agreement with his Uncle about only selling "the 70s basics") and repeated looks towards him proved Eddie was still trying to figure out what Steve and Robin were on. 

Answers hadn't exactly been forthcoming--Eddie's gently made attempts at ferreting out information had only caused more confusion.

Like why the two of them were so freaked out about a gate, or what had made Robin gasp, and then laugh so hard she cried when Steve had made a particularly rough noise then muttered; "Even that sounds better than Tammy Thompson." 

Either way, Gareth was mostly trying to figure out what the hell they were going to do, because sobering up in a busy, public mall wasn't exactly the best idea. 

"I regret," Robin tried to say, in-between gagging. "I regret--hrk--" 

"Me too." Steve moaned, head resting against the stall wall. Gareth, still caught up in panic, had been permanently regulated to door guard while Eddie alternated between sweet talking, rubbing backs and offering quietly whispered advice. 

"Let's go back in time and ignore the whole silver cat thing." Robin continued, slumping back down onto the floor. 

"Wouldn't have mattered." Steve muttered. "Dustin would have figured it out without us. Kid’s too damn smart." 

"So?" Robin grumbled, quietly thanking Eddie as he once again brushed her hair out of her face. 

"So he would have gone down there anyway, which means I'd be down there anyway." Steve concluded. "We shouldn't have gotten you involved though." 

He shakily pushed himself up, staggering to his feet and looking like bambi on ice while doing it. 

Eddie quickly came round to offer his help, hands spread as Steve groaned out a curse and clutched his head.  

The older took a step forward right as Steve lurched back, unbalanced and shaky. 

 "Oh shit." He said, eyes wide as he crashed backwards into Eddie, the latter catching him with a grunt. 

Despite the entire situation, Gareth found himself stifling a laugh as Eddie wrapped his noodle arms around Steve's chest, trying to hold the other up without falling himself. 

"Come on big boy, why don't we just siiiit back down." Eddie said, slightly breathless as he helped guide Steve back to the floor. "There we go…"

They did so outside the bathroom stall, Eddie sinking into a kneel as Steve sort of flopped down on top of him. 

Blinked a few times, like the drop had rattled what little sense he’d managed to recover in the last few minutes. 

A pleased noise came out of his cousin's throat, and holy shit was Gareth going to have blackmail for life, because rather than vacate Eddie's lap, Steve just turned around in it. 

Reached up with one finger outstretched and proved himself to be very much still under the influence as he touched Eddie's nose.

"Boop!" He said, and then giggled as Eddie dropped onto his ass in surprise. 

Gareth watched Robin as she took the whole thing in, from Steve's snickers to Eddie's shocked expression, eyes growing wide in excitement. 

He failed entirely to cover his own amusement when Eddie abruptly found himself with two sailors invading his personal space, each taking turns to boop his nose. 

“Uh.” He managed to get out, blinking rapidly and at a loss for words. “Ah.” 

Steve caught the metalhead’s awkward, red-faced expression and proceeded to drop his head to Eddie's shoulder, muffling his laughter against the man's vest. 

The helpless look his best friend sent him was one Gareth would remember for a long time. 

“O-kay.” Eddie said, frazzled, as Steve recovered far too quickly, turning to rest his cheek against a slim shoulder as he walked two fingers up Eddie’s battle vest and towards his hair. Likewise, Robin had discovered Eddie’s wallet chain, and had begun fiddling with it. 

One finger curled around a strand of brown hair and Eddie jerked his head, removing the tempting piece away from Steve’s hands. 

“I know you’re used to getting whatever you want, your highness.” He said, his own hand smacking against his waist before Robin figured out the other end of his chain ended in a handcuff, “But you of all people should know the hair is off limits.” 

Completely undeterred, Steve just gave him a loose, easy grin. “It’s so pretty though.” He complained, fluttering his eyelashes in a blatant attempt to try and turn on the ol’ Harrington charm.  “You can touch mine if you want.” 

Yeah, Gareth’s blackmail was getting better by the second. 

He might even get a new piece for his drum kit out of it, if this kept up. 

Free weed too, considering Eddie’s blush was now fire-engine red. 

“Man,” Eddie said in a clear bid to deflect the entire situation (and Steve’s fingers) away from his hair, “the last time someone called me pretty was right before I got pantsed—-is Tommy H hiding in one of the stalls again?” 

Steve picked his head up, confusion crashing down his face. 

“Did he do that?” He asked. 

Then, with growing horror; “Do you think I’d do that?” 

Eddie raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that your whole little court’s M.O.?” 

Steve sucked in a breath, looking downright hurt. "I wouldn’t do that." He insisted, eyes wheeling from Eddie to Gareth and back, as though hoping Gareth would back him up. 

“I’m not--I’m not friends with Tommy anymore.” Steve continued, voice growing smaller as he spoke. “I’m not friends with anybody anymore, except maybe Dustin.” 

It sounded so defeated; trodden on and subdued that Gareth stepped forward automatically, to do--something. 

Provide the fucking comfort his cousin was oft denied and hug the guy. 

As always, it turned out to be the wrong move. 

"Oh thank god." A kid said, seconds after bulldozing through the main door and nearly bowling Gareth over in the process. "I found them!" He shouted over his shoulder as swept into the room. 

“Speak of the devil.” Steve said flatly, and even drugged, he managed to pull himself back together from distressed to stoic in mere seconds. 

The curly-haired kid--Dustin apparently--stormed right up to the pile of humans splayed on the floor, hands on his hips. "What the hell. We told you two to stay put!" 

Steve rolled his eyes as Robin booed him. 

“Have you forgotten what’s happening? Or how we’re kinda in a Red Dawn situation?” Dustin continued, looking like he’d just escaped from a summer camp. 

The kid even had a walkie talkie clutched in one hand, of all things. 

“We know.” Steve and Robin deadpanned at once, before looking at each other; Steve pointing a finger towards Robin and Robin pointing one back. 

This caused the kids to trade their own long suffering, “can you believe this shit” faces. 

"We need to go, and the only way we’re gonna get out of here unnoticed is if we blend in with the crowd." Dustin said impatiently.  “Now come on Steve, get up already, you've had worse.”

"I really don't think I have." Steve muttered, but moved to push himself to his feet anyway. 

Eddie beat him to it, and he and Gareth both hovered nearby in case Steve was still unsteady. 

Thankfully, the kids' presence seemed to sober up Robin and Steve both. 

Not actually sober, that wasn't how drugs worked, but whatever was left of the fun was sucked right out of the bathroom, replaced by two teenagers who were sort of functional on whatever they'd been drugged with. 

Stress and adrenaline, Gareth knew, could overcome a lot of things. Including Russian "truth serum" apparently. 

“Yeah well you're lucky you got found by these guys and not anyone else. " Dustin continued pointedly, before turning his attention towards Gareth and Eddie both. "Thanks for watching our friends, but we've got them from here." 

Gareth made a sort of unhinged, disbelieving noise. 

 “No, no you do not.” He declared, anxiety clawing at his gut at the mere thought of abandoning Steve to two children. 

"I don't think you heard him." The girl stepped forward, braids swinging about her face as she lifted her chin and nailed him with a cold glare. 

 As if this entire situation couldn’t possibly get weirder, Gareth suddenly realized she had a helmet in her hands and knee pads on.

 "He said we got this. So scram." She flicked her fingers out in a dismissive sort of "shoo" gesture.

"And leave my drugged cousin with his new girlfriend behind!?" Gareth challenged right back, emotions far too raw and frayed to care he was snarling at a little girl. "I don’t think so!”

"Cousin!?" Dustin bit out, sounding almost betrayed for some reason, at the same time Robin who'd been climbing to her feet with Eddie’s help, shouted; "I am not his girlfriend!" 

Steve, clearly unwilling to entertain whatever fight was brewing, clapped his hands together. 

"Yes cousin, Dustin. It's a type of family member." Steve said, after they all flinched and looked to him. He at least looked steadier on his feet this time, though Gareth still lingered nearby in case he took a wrong step. 

"I know what a cousin is, Steve!" Dustin shot back. 

“Then why are you acting like a lunatic?” Steve complained, and Gareth got to watch in real time as Steve pulled on the persona he often wore in high school down around him. “You said it yourself, we don’t have a lot of time. Worse, I don't know if anyone saw Gareth and Munson here with us.” 

He jerked a thumb sideways in Eddie’s direction, not that anyone couldn’t figure out who “Munson” was. 

“They stay with us until we’re out of this mall.” Steve finished, before he started towards the door.

One step he was Gareth’s cousin, drugged and vulnerable because of it. 

The next he stood taller, talked smoother, took charge with an aurora that said he expected everyone to listen to him. 

It was fake as hell, but it worked. 

“I know you’ve got a plan Dustin, so spill it.” He commanded as he walked.  

 Dustin, despite all the squawking, did just that. 

xXx 

Of all the things Gareth had expected to see upon escorting their little ragtag crew out of the bathroom, groups of intimidating, mean looking assholes wasn’t on the list. 

He found himself repeatedly nudging Eddie in the ribs, unable to take his eyes off what was clearly a checkpoint as he staggered to a halt. 

It was one thing to be told people were after Steve and the “Scoop’s Troop” As Robin had jokingly named them. 

It was another entirely to see the security guard directly in front of him look over a woman’s ID before apologizing to her, a sleazy grin matching his oily pony-tail as he waved her on. 

They really were looking for someone. 

Not someone, Gareth realized in dawning horror.

Them. 

Robin apparently, came to the same conclusion seconds later, because she snatched Steve and Dustin’s arms both, hauling them backwards. 

“Argue about Dustin’s address later, we need to find a different way out.” She hissed quietly as she tried to slowly reversed direction, movements still a bit sloppy. 

She might have even gotten away with it, had Sleazy Pony-Tail not turned and made eye contact with Gareth right after she spoke. 

His eyes swept over him, then to the rest of the group, freezing like a cat that had spotted its prey.

“Abort, abort!” Dustin sputtered, wheeling about on his heel. 

Erica, whose name Gareth had learned when she kicked him in the shin after he asked why an actual infant was running around with Steve and Robin, pointed towards the escalators before she beelined over to it, ducking into the center and riding it down like a slide. 

Something Eddied was downright delighted to copy. 

Gareth might have enjoyed it himself, had he not been looking over his shoulder to see not one, not two, but four security guards giving chase--and gaining. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuckikity fuck.” He heard Robin chant as she shot past, Steve planting himself at the top as he made sure everyone got down to the next level before sliding down himself. 

"Do not let them leave!" One of the guards yelled to the others, accent clear as a bell. 

"Holy shit that guy's actually Russian." Gareth found himself saying as he skidded across the floor and bolted after the others, Steve hot on his heels. 

He had kinda expected the Russian thing to be some sort of drug influenced inside joke and not an actual, honest-to-God Soviet. 

Which led to the question of why the fuck adult men in security uniforms had drugged random teenage retail workers.

Food workers.

Whatever the fuck one called a two people who scooped ice-cream in sailor costumes. 

"There's another group up ahead!" Eddie yelped, swerving sideways and nearly taking Erica out while doing it. 

Noise erupted ahead of them in the form of foreign shouting and loud, harshly barked commands to “Freeze!”  

‘Oh hell no.’ Gareth thought wildly, as he caught the form of the giant fricken gun the guard closest to him held. 

“Split up!” Dustin howled, and before anyone could comment about how bad an idea that was, Gareth found himself being yanked sideways. 

Steve swore loudly behind him as Robin, who’d crashed backwards, pulled him in the opposite direction and in a second their group broke in two. Gareth, Eddie and Dustin going one way, Steve, Robin and Erica another. 

"This isn’t happening." Gareth muttered, words made in a sort of pleading denial as he and Eddie turned the corner and immediately vaulted over the counter of an Orange Julius. “I smoked or drank or did something and this is a hallucination that is not. Actually. Happening.” 

Dustin at least, was smart enough to dive around the counter instead of over it, sliding towards them on his knees. 

Eddie quickly yanked him down to the floor in-between himself and Gareth once he was close enough to grab, one hand going over the hat to shove the kids head down. 

Annoying or not, he was at least several years younger than them, and Gareth could practically feel Eddie’s protective instinct kick in as he kept his hand on Dustin’s head. 

Together they tried to silence their breathing as the guards’ shouting continued on behind them. 

What was worse than their noises though, was when they unexpectedly and suddenly, went silent. 

Gareth’s breath felt far too loud as the stillness gained a suppressive weight, pressing down harshly against him and making it harder and harder to inhale. 

‘Panic attack.’ He realized, thoughts a touch detached. ‘You can’t afford to have a panic attack right now.’ 

Not when it had a high chance of getting them all killed. 

Slowly he moved his own free hand, placing it atop of Eddie’s, fingers gripping down in a way that was no doubt painful. 

Eddie glanced over to him and Gareth thanked every single time he’d smoked way too much weed, because his best friend immediately clocked what was wrong. 

Turned his hand over, so that Gareth could hold onto it atop Dustin’s hat. 

It didn’t help with the knowledge that his very much still drugged cousin and his equally drugged not-girlfriend were also hiding somewhere, or that there was significantly more Russians than there where terrified teenagers (and one--whatever age Erica was.)  

Flashlights cut shapes into the wall overheard, trailing along the Orange Julius menu. Quiet voices covered even quieter footsteps and Gareth had the sudden realization the probability of there being more than one guard carrying a huge gun, was very, very high. 

Worse?

This part of the mall wasn’t that big. There were only so many places to hide, and as such, only so many places to look. 

Death comes for everyone eventually, but Gareth hadn’t exactly expected it to show up before he hit twenty.

Not that they could do anything but wait. Pray to God and the universe and any other higher power he could think of to intervene, head pressed hard against the wood behind him as the small noises drew nearer.

What he hadn’t expected was for said prayers to get answered in the form of a of a fucking car being thrown into the Russian’s like bowling balls. 

“Run!” Dustin shouted, and Gareth wasted absolutely no time in doing just that. 

The only goal on his mind was to find Steve, get out, and then have a very long discussion about what the hell this all was, in that exact order. 

[princessbrunette]

Foaming at the mouth for jealous controlling “Where do you think you’re going dressed like that” Rafe but something about “Wear whatever you want I can fight (and im strapped)” Rafe… 🥵

ok esp for girly reader who lives and breathes mini skirts and tiny tops (def not self serving… not at all…)

because you really expect rafe to be the first type. and to a degree, he is— if you’re going out alone that is. usually, you bow your head to it, because really — you tell yourself — he’s just concerned about your safety. there are some real creeps out there, and going out alone in a mini skirt is a sure recipe for disaster, right?

he’s bringing you to a party on the beach. you didn’t usually go partying with rafe, and he liked it that way — because that’s where he did the most business, cashing out on rich coke heads. you knew he wouldn’t be selling at a beach party, purely because anyone stupid enough to try and snort anything would end up ingesting a fuck-tonne of sand, and it’s just not the kinda complaint he’s in the mood to hear. you actually just get to hang out with him and his friends, and this excites you.

you test the waters, stepping out of your room when he waits in the living room leant against the shelf scrolling on his phone. you know it’s likely he’ll turn you right back around and send you changing due to the little pink co-ord clinging to your every curve. it’s cupping your tits and hugging your waist and leaving all but nothing to the imagination, but it’s been a while since you’ve worn something fun like that — so you try your luck anyway.

“m’ready!” you grin, sticking your arms out by your side all cute. he looks up from his phone, eyes all wide and vacant for a second, lips pouted in thought and briefly drops his eyes up and down your body.

“yeah, looks good kid.” he drawls, flipping his phone deftly between his fingers and stuffing it into his pocket. his eyes linger around your tits again before meeting your eye, walking towards you with a happy and simple smile, one that says ‘can we go now?’

your brows raise and you look down at yourself in surprise. “i’m surprised. you’re letting me wear this out?” you gaze up at him, lips twitching up. you think he’s making an active decision to be less controlling for a moment. he shrugs lazily, eyes flickering around the room as if to say ‘so?’ and with that he lifts the end of his button-up, revealing a glock tucked into his waistband.

oh.

“yeah i don’t think anyone’s gonna have the nerve to step out of line, a’ight? ‘look after my girl.” he steps closer to you, hand coming up to scratch affectionately behind your ears like you’re a dog. you don’t mind.

you stare up at him, all doe eyed and shocked. he thinks it’s adorable honestly, all scared over a little pistol. hell, you’d probably never even seen one in real life before, let alone this close.

“rafe…” you start unsurely, breathily, but he cuts you off, hand caressing your cheek, tilting his head down and raising his eyebrows.

“hey. you wear what you want with me, yeah? m’protected. strapped. it’s okay.” he enunciates, and well— you’re not really in the place to argue. you nod, still wide eyed and he gives your cheek an affectionate tap, squinting his eyes with a satisfied smile.

as imagined, rafes temper rears it’s ugly head one beer down, catching a poor boy a year or two his junior, eyes fixated on the way your ass was moving when you walked along the sand, unbeknownst to wandering eyes. of course, the boy ended up backed up against the pier with the cool end of the gun pressed into his jaw, terrified whimpers ripped from his throat.

“wanna look at my girl, huh? think i’m gonna let that shit run?” rafe is gripping the smaller boy by the collar, teeth grit, animalistic. your breath hitches, you think he may actually shoot this kid.

“rafe…” you call out urgently, not wanting to get too close.

“no! i—” the boy tries to argue, and you really feel for him, because rafe only presses the gun harder against his chin.

“no? better keep your eyes to yourself or i’m gonna be the last thing you fuckin’ see is that understood? is that understood asshole?” he grits out, eyes wet and watery from adrenaline.

“rafe! stop!” you call out, brows furrowed and tears brimming. he sighs, finally hearing you and steps back, not taking his eyes off the mortified boy infront of him. he stares until the kid grows the balls to run off, tripping and kicking up sand as he disappears to the other side of the pier where the rest of the party goers were. it’s only then he looks back at you.

“shit.” he sighs out, shaking his head, shaking himself off completely as he stares out at the moons reflection on the ocean.

you hug yourself, watching him mellow out a little. he tucks the glock back into his waistband, yanking his shirt out again to cover it.

“you’re not bringing that thing out again.” you accuse, pointing to his gun shape tucked into his pants. he blows you off, lifting a hand and walking the other way before turning back suddenly.

“i have to protect you, you understand? if i can’t bring this out with me you— you can’t bring that.” he lifts an arm, gesturing to your lower body. you stare at him in confusion before looking down. your… ass? was he talking about your ass?

“how am i supposed to leave my ass at home, rafe?” you argue, and as soon as the words leave your mouth— you can’t help but let out a giggle. you’re mad at him, yes — but the demand was funny, you couldn’t deny.

you think he’s gonna get mad, maybe wipe the smile off your face, but his sigh turns into a giggle too, looking away from you. the irritation from his face melts into something more boyish and young, his tongue sticking out between his teeth as he lets out a low chuckle. this only makes you chortle more, and he shakes his head, trying to hide his amusement as he waddles toward you on the uneven sand, holding out his arm and reaching you, bringing you beneath it into his side.

“alright, come on trouble.” he smirks, leading you back to the party. “y’still in a partying mood?”

[xxkissesforchanniexx]

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐆𝐨 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭

Pairing: Chan x fem!reader (zombie apocalypse au) Word count: 1.4k Genre: >.> i guess you could call it a scenario but its a series...? Warning: Guns... i'm bad at describing bloody scenes just run with it, Chan is a bit of a dick, mentions of ateez members >.> i think thats all here...?

A/N: Han smut will be released later. Also thank you for 500 notes on 𝐏𝐥𝐮𝐬 𝐎𝐧𝐞

Next

Chapter 1

You moved through the relatively quiet city. The world had gone silent a long time ago, since the thing started infecting people, they had claimed it to be a rabies mutation... but these people weren't dying to a fever or choking on their foam. They kept going, the only thing that would kill them was multiple shots to the brain, even that was risky, some of them didn't die to that anyway...

You saw a gas station that looked in fairly good condition, circling around the back, as you suspected, the staff door was open, you entered, gun at the ready, looking around you found most of the canned food gone but managed to find some chips, shoving them into your bag. You looked around the small store and made your way to the drink section, alcohol was gone, just your luck, you spotted a fairly large bottle of water on the very top shelf and jumped for it, cursing your height. You climbed the shelf and grabbed the water before jumping back down, squeezing it into your bag as you looked toward the medical area.

You looked around for pain killers, bandages, anything. Your eyes widened at the sight of one singular bottle of acetaminophen pills. You moved for it at the same time someone came around the corner. You put your gun up, the man put up his, eyes wide with fear. He wasn't too tall, with broad shoulders and a tired but sweet face.

"I kinda need that." He said, reaching for the pain killer.

You cocked your gun. "I don't think you do."

He pulled his hand back, his eyes registering you as a threat before he too cocked his gun. "You wouldn't understand."

"The world needs this shit." You huffed. "You're not the only one, plus I found it first."

He glared at you, dark eyes narrowing.

You turned as you heard something behind you. There was another man, with thin eyes and dark hair, his gun was also pointed at you.

"Chan." He said, his voice was fairly high. "Do you need some help?"

"Yeah." The first man said, grabbing the pain killers, it was a 2v1...

"You should leave," another voice made you look up, there was a thin but lean boy with bleach blonde hair on the shelf staring down at you.

The first man, Chan, looked at him. "Felix, get down before you hurt yourself.”  

The skinny boy on the shelf muttered and jumped down. The three had you surrounded. 

“Jeongin.” Felix motioned to your gun. “Disarm her.” 

The thin eyed boy, Jeongin, moved for your gun and you spun to aim at him, the first man, Chan, grabbed your arm tried to twist it, you elbowed him hard in the face, he cursed and stumbled, the third man, Felix, was about to jump on you when the sound filled the store. The groaning and heaved struggled breathing, you all froze in fear, a man missing half his face trudged into the gas station. You held your breath, it couldn’t see, both eyes were missing. Chan looked at you and motioned for you to stay silent, as if you were an idiot.  

You stood to your full height, quietly, gripping your gun tightly. Then the thin eyed boy, Jeongin, bumped into the shelf. The infected turned and started running towards the noise, the boy froze in fear and against your better judgement you grabbed his collar and pulled him back from the area. You slapped your hand over his mouth as the zombie waved its arms around before giving up and trudging away. 

Chan’s eyes were on you, wide and shocked.  

You released Jeongin and took slow steps back, pulling your mask over your face and running quietly out of the store through the back again. 

Chan was in shock, Felix was in shock, Jeongin was trembling as he tried to understand what just happened.  

“Who was that?” Felix asked, finally breaking the silence of the car. 

“I don’t know.” Chan squeezed the wheel tightly. “Jeongin.” 

The boy looked up.  

“What did I tell you about being careful?” Chan glared at him through the rearview mirror. 

“Sorry.” Jeongin said quietly. 

The car was silent again.  

After a moment Felix asked. “Did you get the pain killers?” 

“Yeah they’re-” Chan touched his jacket pocket, it was empty. He bristled. “What the fuck? They were in here.” 

Felix put his face in his hands. “Minho needs those.” 

“You think I don’t know that?” Chan grit his teeth as he remembered pulling your arm, you must’ve taken them from him then. 

“This isn’t fair.” Jeongin said quietly. “We just let her go.” 

“She saved your life.” Chan said. “Don’t bad mouth her for that.” 

The group went quiet again.  

They passed by a house where a tall man with big eyes came out running. 

“Chan-” Felix started. 

Chan pressed the gas. 

“We can help him-” Jeongin said before attempting to unlock his door. 

Chan put the child lock on. 

“Chan!” Jeongin shouted. 

The sound of a gunshot made Felix look back, his eyes widening. “It’s her!” 

Chan slammed the breaks and they screeched to a halt. He grabbed his gun and turned out of his window, seeing an infected rushing you and the man full speed. He shot it clean through the head. You looked up and his eyes met yours. The man you were with looked toward the car and tensed. 

You held up the pain killers. Chan frowned slightly. 

“We should, go get them...” Felix said quietly. 

Chan sighed and sat back for a moment, before putting the car into reverse. 

He stared at you. You stared at him. 

“Name?” he asked as you got in the car.

"None of your business." the man with you said.

Chan's eyes narrowed. "Then get the hell out."

"y/n." You said locking eyes with him in the rearview mirror.

"Hm?" He gave your companion a sideways glance.

"I'm not saying sh-"

You elbowed him. "This is Seonghwa."

Seonghwa's eyes narrowed at Chan.

"Felix." Felix turned from the front passenger's seat and smiled at you.

"Jeongin." He turned and smiled sheepishly. "Thank you for saving me."

"Don't mention it." You muttered.

Chan put the car into drive and you watched the scenery go by. "Where are we going?"

"Home." Felix said looking out the window.

Your brows furrowed. "Where is that?"

He smirked. "You'll see."

Chan shot him a glare.

Felix shut up.

Why was he being all friendly with you like you weren't just the person who stole a drug their friend so desperately needed.

"They aren't coming with us." Chan gripped the wheel tightly.

"Good." Seonghwa started.

You shot him a glare. "Why can't we come with you?"

"Too many people, not enough resources." Chan reasoned.

"Then why did you bother picking us up?" You snapped.

Chan stopped the car and turned to look at you. "My people come first, you took something I needed for my people, in what world am I obligated to help you."

You held up the acetaminophen. "We'll give you this, we need a place to stay."

Felix's eyes widened slightly.

Chan glared at you. "Keep your shit."

"Chan!" Jeongin sat up.

The man glared at the younger boy before looking at you again. "I don't need your stuff, I get you away from the red zones and you leave us alone."

"No need." Seonghwa pushed the door open and grabbed your arm, pulling you out. "Leave." He huffed.

Chan was about to press the gas when Felix blurted. "Minho's fever could kill him! What are you doing!"

"Yongbok!" Chan shouted.

You stared at them. "Who's dying?"

You looked at Seonghwa, his expression relaxed slightly.

Felix looked at you.

"Our friend.." Jeongin said quietly. "He has an infection, we've got the antibiotics and everything but the fever won't stay down."

You inhaled deeply. "You don't have anyone who knows how to deal with that."

Chan bristled.

"The best we've got can't do anything.." Felix put his head in his hands.

"Let me help you." You muttered.

Chan squeezed the wheel and looked at you. "Is that angry Pomeranian coming with you?"

You snorted a laugh at the name he gave Seonghwa. "He stays with me."

Seonghwa huffed. "I'd rather be a Pomeranian than a gorilla."

Chan gave him a disgusted look. "Get in." He rolled his eyes.

[vvatchword]

In Defense of BioShock Infinite

Although I had preordered BioShock Infinite with all its bells and whistles, I did not actually play it until January 2023. And lordy, I had me another Experience with a capital E. How the hell a bunch of urban Yanks could capture my experience as a queer democratic-socialist atheist struggling with her roots as a rural evangelical-cum-fascist is kinda magical, honestly. As to the game itself, it didn’t hurt how good it looked—the kickass skyhook gun battles—that novel setting—the complex characters—that delicious historical setting—that bloodthirsty critique of America—and to top it all off, they had pulled yet another Cassandra. Hell, speaking of which—not only was the game fun, it was fucking smart. It was intelligent, memorable, and meaningful in a way I hadn’t experienced in video games for years.

Now, back in 2013, when I had realized that I would be spoiled for Infinite, I left the BioShock fandom. After completing the game, I headed to Tumblr to re-engage, wagging my whole body like an excitable golden retriever, only to discover that BioShock Infinite was remarkably absent, and when mentioned, brutally derided. 

“I hate BioShock Infinite and all my friends do, too,” someone said in the tags under a post. 

I was utterly befuddled and deeply sad. I wanted to talk about BioShock Infinite! I wanted to dig into it, uncover unexpected ideas, learn new things, talk shit, make new friends—the full fandom experience. And instead I kept stumbling into hateful diatribes and super-charged disgust.

Obviously, I first looked at myself and my own judgment. Had I missed some obvious problem or misread some theme or dialogue? This wouldn’t be the first time I’d snapped down on a hook. But the more I thought about it, the angrier I got.

There are two parts of BioShock Infinite that are unquestionably terrible: the fridging of Daisy Fitzroy and the false equivalence of violence between haves and have-nots (lol what are the have-nots supposed to do, ask nicely?). Additionally, one could look at the use of real Native American tragedies as tasteless. Personally, I do not—in the same way that I don’t find it tasteless that real war victims were used as inspiration for Splicer deformities. This is what really happened; this is commentary on events that really happened to real people. 

At this point, I’m sure I don’t have to explain why two of these themes are Unequivocally Bad. 

Anyway, I thought that perhaps these were the reasons BSI had been condemned to Super Hell.

I was wrong.

How Criitcsim Werk

This wasn’t the fandom I’d made friends in over 2010. Hell, this wasn’t the fandom of 2013. This was a fandom made up of Babies. They were making their first coltish stumblings into media criticism and with it, dredging up the same brain-dead bullshit from Tumblr circa 2008.

Suddenly I was brought face to face with people who seemed to think that if a character couldn’t be likable or good that the story itself couldn’t be likable or good; that one bad element means the story is unsalvageable (lol u pussies); the implication that one is bad for liking it; the destructive juvenile insistence that media accurately measures its fans’ moral qualities en masse like an astrological sign. This goes far beyond simple like or dislike and plunges head-first into Puritanism: praying loudly on street-corners instead of quietly in a dark corner where God might hear you.

At one point I had a kid go off about how they wouldn’t take time to understand Booker DeWitt’s perspective because he had (fictionally) taken part in a genocide. (That same person said the Native American element had been employed for shock value, a thought that sometimes keeps me up at night, because it is legitimately one of the dumbest criticisms the game has ever received.) At another point I saw someone acting personally offended that (fictional person) Dr. Suchong’s (fictional) data was being stolen (in a fiction) by a (fictional) racist who would (fictionally) take credit for (fictional person) Suchong’s (fictional) inventions “while calling him slurs”. Sure, a better question would have been, “Why would the creative team opt to do this” rather than assume intentional racism from a Jewish creative director with an in-office multi-ethnic team in the year of our lord 2013, but why not handwave the choice with prurient moral dismay so your audience won’t beat you to death with bats? 

It was as though fans were treating these completely fictional characters as real people whose personal gods had opted to torment them, and that their tormentors merited the kind of censure that psychopaths should receive. As I hope all of you understand, this is fucking madness.

More than once I saw people posting about hating the studio or the creative director in ways that seemed intense, unreasoning, and excessive—notably an “I Hate [Irrational Games creative director] Ken Levine” stamp (rofl the more things change amirite). People get so performatively moralistic about it that I started wondering if I missed something big along the way. Was there some secret Voxophone I missed swearing fealty to baby Hitler or some shit?

Double Standards

At the same time, I was utterly confused. BioShocks 1 and 2 both featured some absolutely ghastly bullshit based on real-life horrors and a thick mix of complicated human beings—many of them victims who have become monsters. The fact they are grounded in historical tragedies is a huge part of their appeal. Hell, I don’t think those games would have had half their meaning without World Wars I and II and the threat of a third.

A gay man who feels so cursed by his orientation that he is incapable of intimacy and systematically destroys his ex-lovers—including the man he loves the most. A Korean who survived Japanese occupation and a Jewish Holocaust survivor repeat the violence and traumas exacted upon them and their people, subjecting a new generation to agonies unthinkable. Chasing the shadows of Bolsheviks, a Russian citizen becomes the brutal tyrant that he loathed. A rich lawyer with an easygoing drawl designs a concentration camp and systematically harvests hundreds, if not thousands of political prisoners, selling them out to medical testing for a quick buck.

But a Native man who destroys his own people and class to ensure his own survival and social acceptability is too far? This character is where people drew the line, so much so that the entire game is disavowed? Hell, if you’re just talking about Booker (rather than Comstock), he doesn’t have anywhere near the largest bodycount. If we were to judge on the metric of human misery alone, Booker wouldn’t even hit the top ten. 

Keep in mind that the most-discussed BioShock game on Tumblr is BioShock 2, and that one of the biggest fandom favorites is Augustus Sinclair—the easy-talkin’ Georgia lawyer who sells your character into horrors past all human comprehension, as he sold hundreds before and after you. Sinclair is a motherfucker so vile that BioShock 2 gives you no choice but to murder him. But Sinclair is also pleasant; good-looking to some; spends the whole game making sweet love to your ear; is one of the only true positive experiences you experience in a horror story. Unlike DeWitt, a man who is brutal and awful from step one, Sinclair is smooth and sweet. Unlike DeWitt, Sinclair’s victims are faceless, completely fictional, and carry no political or social baggage.

People fuckin’ ship this guy with Subject Delta, his explicit victim. He’s usually described as a squishy cinnamon roll. In most fanfiction, he often gets to escape to the surface and fuck Delta while helping raise Eleanor as Dad 2. It is rare that I find fanfiction that acknowledges his monsterhood in all its glory. In fact, I can only think of two.

Literacy Comes in Levels

My problem with the over-the-top hatred of BioShock Infinite is along the same lines as my confusion at Twilight and Harry Potter hate: there is so much worse out there (how much do the haters actually engage with media if they think this is that bad—yes, even considering the shitty creators themselves!), the hatred far outweighs the sin committed (in BioShock’s case, the truly bad bits are not central enough to derail the larger narrative), people don’t seem to hate it so much as they want to be seen hating it, fans want to enforce an unspoken rule hating it (bitches this is poison. Stop this), and there’s something about the hate that stinks of poor reading comprehension.

A great metric for general literacy is the newspaper. In journalism, you’re writing for the lowest-common denominator, which for years here in the USA has been about a fifth-grade reading level (about 10-11 years old, for my non-American readers). The AP posted an article a couple years back about how the general reading comprehension of Americans needs to be dropped to a third-grade one (8-9 years), and baby, I’m here to say it’s true. 

Most of the problem is that the American education system is shitty as fuck. The rest of it is from an extremely American disdain of intellectualism and the arts. People are not taught how to interpret art or literature—a difficult and subtle skill which involves accepting such truths as “multiple contradictory readings can exist and yet be simultaneously correct”, “the author can be a complete tool and still be right about things”, “the author can be a great person and still write horrifyingly incorrect bullshit”, and “worthwhile works can be ridiculously long and it really is your fault for not having an attention span”. 

Media criticism must be learned through trial, error, asking questions, confidently swaggering into a public space to announce your brilliant insight only to have your ass handed to you (usually by your older self ten years later), being willing to admit you swaggered confidently into a public space to state bullshit and then amending your bullshit only to produce more bullshit, and otherwise making a complete and utter cock of yourself. We are taught to fear and flee pain and failure, despite the fact this is how we learn and improve. Because we judge our value by whether or not we are “smart,” we are afraid of displaying that we don’t know something or might be mistaken–better not to try at all than to reveal ourselves to be fools. And yet the best way to learn is to crash up against someone else and be proven wrong!

American parents are terrified of hurting their children to the point that they spare them cognitive dissonance of any kind, disavowing difficult art—without any appreciation for the fact that art is how we provide safe spaces to explore key human experiences, better preparing us to face those difficult subjects when there are real-world consequences (sex, gender and social expression, grief, violence, predation, illness, interacting with people of different ideologies, whatever new issue is pissing off some smooth-brained old motherfucker somewhere). 

If parents and teachers aren’t teaching us how to interpret art, we’re probably never going to develop the skill at all, or crash unsubtly into it in a piecemeal fashion (hello it me). Another unfortunate side effect is that these readers tend to be blitheringly superficial: they are literally intellectually incapable of reading deeper than the uppermost layer of a text. The curtains are always blue.

And let’s not forget the role moral performatism plays in media criticism, which although faaar from new, has reached hilarious levels in the age of social media. What’s important isn’t understanding something, it’s finding something to symbolically burn at the stake so everyone knows God loves us: please keep loving me, please don’t hurt me, please don’t throw me on the fire—for performatism is not for outsiders. We long for human connection so fucking much that it’s more important to destroy what might point out our fallibilities than it is to let ourselves stand in the furnace and burn out the dross.

What do you think the point of BioShock Infinite was?

Emotional Machines

Let’s face it. Human beings give a lot more credence to how something makes them feel than they do its complex invisible reality. We are not logical creatures; we are emotional ones. Our logic is too new a biological mechanism to override something as powerfully stupid as our primal lizard brains.

Knowing this, let’s take BioShock’s most popular characters. The first two are Subject Delta and Jack Wynand, the protagonists of BioShocks 2 and 1, respectively; and why not? They’re the characters we play. In the first two BioShocks, whether or not you kill Little Sisters determines the ending you receive. In other words, Delta and Jack can only be as “wicked” as the players are. 

How do people want to see themselves? As good. What do people want to see around themselves? Good. (What is “good”? Uh, well,,,,,,) What do they want? Simple moral questions with simple moral answers. And in the first two BioShocks, what is moral is obvious: don’t kill little girls. It’s actually kind of insulting once you say it out loud.

In-fandom, Jack and Subject Delta are almost never painted as murderers or monsters, but as victims and heroes; I saw someone musing about putting Subject Delta on a “gentle giants” poll and I nearly choked on my own tongue. I only saw that musing because someone put Subject Delta and Jack in a “Best Fathers” poll. Nobody in-fandom really considers the “evil” or “complicated” endings as canon choices, despite those versions being fully understandable alternate readings, with a story that doesn’t make sense without them. (I don’t believe Burial at Sea is necessarily canon; in fact, I would bet good money that it is a huge middle finger lol, mostly because a number of brain-dead motherfuckers won’t take unhappiness for an answer.)

Most fandom art and writing is gentle, sweet, good: the symbolic healing of the damaged, the salvation of innocents, the turning of new leaves. These things are not just saccharine sweet—they tend to be unrealistically sweet. Now, far be it from me to demand these works cease. There’s a reason they exist. People write them because they need hope and happiness; I have enjoyed them greatly myself and intend to enjoy them in the future. But if y’all get to have your dessert, I demand the right to have my dinner.

The Colours Out of Earth

Let there be media where the opposite can also be true: where everything is unbelievably complicated and unforgivably fucked-up. Let there be characters who slide slurs into their speech without thinking. Let there be characters who destroy themselves in a thousand different ways, not all of them obvious, some of them horrifying. Let there be well-meaning people struggling with all their mights to do what is right only to destroy everyone around them and then completely miss the fact it’s all their faults. Let there be wickedness painted as goodness, superficial appearances accepted over essential and inherent values, denial of change and transformation, failure to accept that what is old must die and what is new must live, human stupidity and short-sightedness and cruelty in all their flavors. Let’s smash it all together and see how it plays out. 

Oh, badly? No shit! But “badly” isn’t the point. How does it play out?

Let there be a world of gradients—a place I can float from color to color, hue to hue, value to value, while attempting to figure out where, why, how, and by whom they transform—to taste concepts in a hundred different ways, test their textures by a hundred different mediums, insert them into a hundred different contexts. I need to understand why I feel the way I do; I need to understand morality in all its hideous, fragmentary glory. For I have been sold to a ideology of blacks and whites, and let me tell you: it prepares you for nothing, and it will always destroy what is most precious about human life.

I can no longer believe in a world where what is lost always returns, because that world does not exist. I have a reflexive need to come to terms with Finality: what I have lost, what I have destroyed, what will never return, what will never be better. I have a reflexive need to understand Transformation: what I am now, what is as of the present, what has risen shambling from the ashes, what turns to gaze upon me in the darkness. I need to understand what is wretched about me as much as I need to heal myself. How can I heal if I can’t understand how I have hurt and been hurt? 

I need to shine a light in the dark. Not to remodel it, not to destroy it—because I also can’t believe in a world where the wicked is destroyed forever—but to behold it, to learn from it, to view my own impact upon it, to accept how it has become a part of me, to learn how to do my best (because that’s all one can do). I must learn to love people more than causes, I must learn to love people rather than the act of winning, I must learn to love people rather than battle. I need to stand in that endless black with the lamp off and my eyes closed, letting the agony roll over me, burning with a fire that throws no light, rolling back and forth from an intense self-loathing to a fury at a society that destroys what is most valuable because it didn’t make them feel the way they wanted.

The Unforgivable

I believe that there are only two differences between Booker DeWitt and his equally cursed cohorts.

In the Hall of Whores: The Unmarked Slate

First, unlike the previous two games, where you enter the world as a tabula rasa and might roleplay as what you perceive as a good person, you are explicitly put into the shoes of a monster, and nothing you do can save you.

With other shitty BioShock characters, you are passively watching other people, and you are able to hold yourself apart. Sure, everyone else is crazy as fuck from using biological Kryptonite, but you’re too smart to end up a crazy fucking asshole like them! Sure, you are now technically a mass murderer, but those fuckers deserved it, damn it! 

“Look at this crazy bastard!” you say, rolling your eyes at the Steinmans and Cohens and Ryans and Fontaines. “It sure is a great thing I’m not a crazy bastard!”

You are able to escape acknowledging that you, too, in certain circumstances, might be the crazy bastard. You are being challenged to stand in the body of a person who has committed unforgivable sins. Imagine if you yourself committed those sins. Imagine what sins you have already committed. Imagine what brutalities you cannot take back. Imagine what horrors you have wreaked just by breathing.

“Ahhhh!” said players, probably. “What do you mean I’m not allowed to be good?”

Because that’s what the game was designed to do. Because “good” is a fucking cop-out and if it’s how you live with yourself wait until you find out you’ve been doing horrifying bullshit all your life without question. You can be evil by association through no fault of your own.

Original Sin

Second, the plight of Native Americans is a sin that non-Natives will always carry, and the socially conscious are aware of this even if they don’t know how to put it into words. The state of affairs being what it is, it is unlikely that First Peoples will ever be treated humanely, much less have their land returned. They must struggle for scraps of what is rightfully theirs while we lounge on their corpses. We cannot help but benefit from their destruction; we are made unwitting partners with our forebears; we steal the fruits of their lands and make mockeries of their faiths and identities. We have destroyed part of what made this world fascinating and unique and most of it can never be returned. Even if everything were to be made right tomorrow, their genocide is a sin that we will carry until we die, because the only reason we could be here at all is because they were killed. 

The obvious solution stands before us, but the powers that be are so much greater than we that we are effectively powerless, and achieving anything less than total restoration smacks of anticlimax. 

This is unbearable.

How can one think of oneself as a good person if one sees the good that must be done, but cannot achieve it? If one’s actions are meaningless? Goodness without action is pretension.

We are all Booker DeWitt. We have all set fire to the tipi. We swept the ashes away, we ignored the sizes of the bones, we built a CVS on their graves, and then we made statues and holidays commemorating Native Americans like the world’s cheapest “Thinking of You” card. We have de-fanged them, transformed them into cardboard cutouts, and set them up as cute little side characters in our sweeping American dream.

Booker is not a man. Booker is America and Americans—and America and Americans are monstrous: one part hypocrisy, two parts incessant violence, three parts constant peacocking, and four parts dumb as a stump.

The Monsters We Make

Outside of the message about “choice,” an enormous part of BioShock’s thematic ensemble is the creation of monsters. How are monsters created? Who or what is responsible for creating them? What do the monsters think made them the ways they are? Can a monster be saved? How? Is it enough to acknowledge you did wrong and want to be a better person?

Maybe most people are aware on some instinctive level of what facing one’s own monsterhood means. No one wants it. It’s not fun. It hurts. It’s embarrassing. It’s destructive. It’s admitting you don’t have it all together and might never, ever—that despite your best actions, you can have it horribly wrong at any point. In an age where we demand moral perfection, it demands vulnerability: you must admit that sometimes you’re the racist, the transphobe, the sexist, the nationalist, the classist, the homophobe, the violent, the wrong, the dumbfuck. 

Human beings are not built to be moral; human beings are built to survive. We so rapidly learn how to deal with our contexts at such young ages that we don’t have the time or capabilities to question why those contexts are the ways they are or why it is demanded we perform the ways we do.

In a very real way, BioShock Infinite demands vulnerability of us. It demands you look in the mirror and see what is monstrous in you—how you have been created—manufactured—a tool, a machine, a trained animal. It asks you to recognize that you can be a monster simply by association. And if we can’t look into the mirror and truly acknowledge that monsterhood, we run very real risks of becoming or enabling those monsters in one way or another.

Worst of all: perhaps monsterhood isn’t optional. Perhaps the monster was inside of us from the very beginning. It’s not a matter of if you become a monster, but when, under what circumstances, by whose hand. What is more, believing the “right” moral stances will not save you. Monsterhood can afflict anyone, in any ideology, any political stance, in any social movement, in any faith. The only element that can save you is to truly love other people, and even then, you can fail, for there can be states where there is no winner and ways to misread how best to treat another person.

Environment and Society: Context Will Not Be Denied

BioShock 1’s original ending is Jack-as-monster, regardless of how many children he saves, regardless of your feelings as player. He passes through the gauntlet of Rapture, but he has supped of its poison. And he wasn’t poisoned when he entered Rapture the second time—he was poisoned the minute he was conceived. He was born of it. He had no hope of ever escaping it—he never could have—he’d never had a choice to begin with.

No matter what choices you make in BioShock Infinite, Elizabeth will always kill you. Why? Because she has seen every world—every context—every limitation—every boon. And there is no way to stop what has been; there is no way to undo what has been done. The minute you have committed to a decision, you have split the universe; there is no telling what kind of person it will make you. In fact, there’s no telling which of your decisions will matter at all. Only Elizabeth can see because she is the unlimited future: your offspring stands before you, judge and jury, and you will have no choice but to accept her verdict, for despite your name, you are incapable of controlling how you are interpreted. 

Elizabeth sits across from you in the boat and stares without blinking. She sees a million million similar Bookers. Some are a little bit taller, some a little bit shorter, some a little heavier or lighter. Some more-resemble one grandparent or another. They have different colored ties. This one blinks when rain hits him in the eyeball. That one took a brutal beating back on the airship and one eye is swollen shut. That one can’t stop shaking; this one is unable to speak at all; one hasn’t yet lost hope, although even he doesn’t realize it.

They all lowered the torch to the tipi.

The baptism determined Comstock; what determined Booker?

Why Booker Is

In BioShock 1, characters are often stand-ins for larger concepts. Thus Ryan stands in as Ayn Rand’s Objectivist Ubermensch; Bill McDonagh as Andrew Ryan’s conscience; Diane McClintock as the citizenry of Rapture; Captain Sullivan as law and order; Frank Fontaine as the truest expression of Objectivism in its distilled form.

Who is Booker? Most importantly: why is he?

Booker is a fictional character with a brutal background based on historical events, alternative and true. Booker might be Lakota; Booker might have undergone forced Anglicization; Booker might have been ripped from his parents; Booker is a product of violence, perhaps literally. Booker is American exceptionalism distilled. Booker is the past in constant judgment of itself, unable to live with itself and unable to die. Booker destroys what is best in him and around him in exchange for belonging. Booker has sold the future to absolve his sins. Booker has sold his daughter because he is a fictional character in a work of fiction who needs to be propelled.

Booker is a shell, a sluice, an environment. Booker is the broken shape you are meant to fill, horrified. His internal shape should torture you as it has tortured him: the messy slaggy soul of a shitty tin soldier.

Does Booker take the baptism and become Comstock? If so, it might be his second one. His last name literally means “the white.” His first name can mean “author.” It is most likely his second name: an attempt to rewrite himself. And when he was unable to rewrite himself the first time, when the cognitive dissonance boiled at the edges of his skull, he found there was only one way to cleanse himself the second: to remake the world entirely. To force transformation on everyone else. To take vengeance on a world that could never love him, never want him—to create a world that has no choice but to love him. If he can’t change the world’s mind, he’ll change the world.

Note what he opts to do: to take the fight to the environment–to the unyielding universe.

Context Is Everything

It is no mistake that BioShock Infinite occurs in 1912: the sinking of the Titanic is often credited with ending an unfettered optimism, a period when the Western world believed technology had brought the human race into a golden age. With World War I—which would follow a mere two years later—came modern warfare and all the horrors thereof, not the least of which was the realization that humans had created a kind of war that could destroy the entire world. World War I also seeded the rise of the United States: much of the wealth of warring Europe—itself fat on the blood of subjugated peoples and stolen lands—would rattle into America’s coffers.

It is also no mistake that BioShock 1 directly follows World War II. With WWII came a heightened terror—that this war is not the last war, that there will never be an end to war, that war will go on expanding and expanding until it has consumed us all. World War III would not be denied: prettily packaged in the ideals of its children, it simply followed the utopians down to their underwater tombs. According to BioShock 1’s original ending, World War III is not a matter of if—it’s a matter of when.

But even more important than the history in the BioShock games are their settings. Mute leviathans, Rapture and Columbia determine all of your behaviors: from where you can exist in space to all of your desires and goals to how you choose to present yourself to how you opt to behave. Isolated in extremism—whether that extremism is the crushing depths of the ocean or the unbearable lightness of the air—most of their power is that they simply cannot be escaped. You can’t outrun them. They are everywhere. They are everything.

Like Lovecraft before it, BioShock acknowledges the greatest horror of all: you cannot escape your context. Your context does not only involve your immediate surroundings. It is also historical; contains zeitgeists from various cultures and subcultures; is filled with pressures both personal and impersonal, human and nonhuman. Many of these forces can hurt you. Many more can destroy you. What you do to survive depends very much on where, when, and with whom you must live.

Human beings are not built to be moral.

The Death of the Future

In the film Operation, Burma!, a soldier asks Errol Flynn: “Who were you before the war?”

“An architect,” says Flynn.

Who were you? Because that “you” doesn’t matter now. That “you” is irrelevant. So you’re an architect. What the war does to you; what these deaths mean to you; your past, your education, your loves and desires and forward motivation, the you that could have been outside war, the you that slogs alone into the brutal future—all completely irrelevant. Your forebears don’t care so long as you can bleed. 

Children are the manufactured tools of their creators—helpless before the enormous strength of their elders and the zeitgeists that enclose them, poisoned by their parents’ insecurities and flaws, utilized like weapons regardless of the cost—often with great love.

Consider something more than the traumatized culture: consider the society filled with traumatized children; consider the traumatized society. Consider channeling children through that trauma over and over and over again, if you can. Poisoned—poisoned—poisoned—all of us poisoned. Poisoned by those who loved us most. Poisoned by the people we trusted. Poisoned by the people who meant to make a better world.

I believe it is notable that creative director Ken Levine is Jewish; I have read from multiple accounts that the European Jewish diaspora was uniquely traumatized from the Holocaust and passed that trauma down upon their own families. I sometimes wonder if he saw that firsthand.

The fathers eat sour grapes; their children’s teeth are set on edge.

Choice: Player Expectations and Entitlement

For players who experienced BioShocks 1 and 2 with their multiple endings (Good, Bad, and “ok bye then I guess” respectively), it must have been jarring to suddenly reckon with being a monster. How often I see players grousing that nothing they do will change their wicked pasts! These players completely miss that the only meaningful choice had already been made, that it had nothing to do with the player at all, and even if they had been there, DeWitt was still unforgivable. The only way to go on was to bow out and allow the future to redefine herself.

Nobody was ready for that shit. 

Like it or not, BioShock 1 had set a precedent. Not everyone’s going to read up on creator intentions. If any keyword came blaring through the noise, it would have been “choice.” Most players only recognize choice by the ability to make it, not the absence of it, and most of them weren’t equipped to recognize that its lack was the point. The meaningless choices were commentary, and they were as much about the player as they were about DeWitt himself. Not every choice will be meaningful, will it? And there will be choices you make that will be momentous, but they will seem very small when you make them.

Because most players had experienced what they thought was a basic moralistic tale in the first two games, and would see Infinite not as reflection upon America’s destructive personality, its obsession with a meaningless Good/Bad duocracy, and the infinite, cyclical nature of violence, they saw Booker’s death as corrupted artsy claptrap.

“I did the good schuut,” they say. “I want the good schuut end. Where happy end??? Where treat :(”

Bitch the future is here. 

Time to die.

It’s Not Me, It’s You

Generally I despise essays that end with, “But the real fault lay with the clueless motherfuckers who played the game!” Often, if enough people complain, there’s something to it; the message has been obscured somehow. Details or explanations weren’t clear or intuitive enough, some mechanism isn’t working somewhere, some character needs to talk more or less, some setting needs to be transformed. O artist: stop whining and get cracking. If everywhere you go smells like shit, it’s time to look under your shoe. 

But sometimes it’s true that a piece of media is on a level folks aren’t equipped for. Think of every literature and art class you’ve ever had, if you’ve been fortunate enough to have one. There’s always someone scoffing in a back row, like here are all these jokers making more of something than they should. Similarly, some of you have been arguing with me this entire time, saying: “I just wanted a video game. I just wanted to shoot something and feel better and instead I get this bullshit ending that makes no sense.”

First of all, smart bullshit (and even fucked-up attempts at smart bullshit! Hi BioShock 2) gets to exist on this Earth along with Gmod and Roblox or Schuut Big Tits 84 (there are 84 tits and you must shoot them all. They explode into smaller tits) or whatever-the-fuck-else you think is a worthwhile gaming experience. Second of all, miserable bullshit also gets to exist, and what did you fucking expect if you played through either BioShocks 1 or 2? When you hear a football player quavering out in the darkness for his mom to pick him up, how’d that make you feel? What did you think was going to happen to Jack after pounding back the entire Plasmid library, the cancer cocktail that explicitly destroys the fuck out of its users? Third of all, if you missed the smart bullshit going on in BioShock 1 and didn’t think BioShock Infinite might be larger in scope in more ways than one, that’s on you. Fourthly, if you were simply satisfied with saving like, 15 kids from a violently-perishing city of thousands and call it good, I mean… is that really where your thoughts end? Are you really that fucking small?

It’s Not You, It’s Me

You ever meet those motherfuckers who talk shit about Shakespeare or modern art? And you’re just left there staring with dead eyes at this poseur who mistakes playing devil’s advocate for intelligence, cheek resting on your fist, thinking about the fanfic you’re writing, wondering who it’s for, remembering that all your smut-writing friends get ten times the viewers, and considering throwing yourself in front of a bus.

Yeah, there’s a personal element to this: the fact that BioShock Infinite is the kind of art I like and long for and want to make myself, the fact that the game was successful and yet the studio was closed, the way its DLC was so rushed that the story plopped out like half-baked mystery meat—realizing that the same forced rush was at 2K’s behest for BioShock 2, as well, and wondering how good art can ever be made in this unforgiving capitalist hellscape. The game was weirdly niche and I’m not 100% sure I’ll ever experience anything quite like it again. And with the whiners in this fandom, the loud ones controlling the narrative, some fresh brain-dead exec in some brain-dead publisher might be like: “We must keep it safer and simpler for these fuckin babby adult!”

Nah bitch nah. Naaaah. Cry some more while I enjoy me my fucking dinner. I’ll eat it while making loud smacking noises and keeping unbroken eye contact. Come here. Let’s look at each other. It’ll be like Lady and the Tramp but we want to punch each other. What truer form of love can there be here in the modern world?

I keep having to remind myself that this response isn’t new. I keep having to remind myself of my place. I keep having to remind myself why I write, why I read, why I like to experience art to begin with. It’s not for the reasons other people do it. Oh, I want the same emotional release as everyone else, I want the same rollicking plots, I adore the same tropes. I seek out everything and anything for a good time; I’ll read Moby Dick today and a smutty 5,000-word abortion with the world’s most suspect grammar tomorrow. I don’t give a shit if it’s low- or high-brow; there are all kinds of ways to have fun and there are all kinds of ways to engage with art, and lord knows I’ve done my share of smooth-brain criticism. The problem is that I’ve always wandered off by myself, sunk into an all-consuming reverie, on tracks that no one else ever seems to be on, and then looked up to talk excitedly about something only to realize I’m alone. And whose fault is that?

By the same token, maybe I haven’t talked enough. Maybe I spend too much time with my mouth shut. Maybe I haven’t stood up enough for things that are worth our time, worth talking up, worth setting on pedestals.

I tell you, BioShock Infinite will stand the test of time. It’s too good for this. It’s too good for you, warts and all. Some of you will grow to understand that; some of you won’t; many of you will shrug and go on with your lives (and this is fine; it is only a video game). But I’ve truly not seen anything like it. I can’t believe a mainstream video game was allowed to be so fucking brutal about the American juggernaut, and what’s more, that it sold like hotcakes. Plus, I can’t think of any works in recent memory that have struck me so close to my own heart. No creative work has made me start beating a monster’s face into a washbasin for ten hours only to lift her by the scalp and see my own eyes looking back.

Look into those eyes. See your own stupid impulses pouring out. Your own stupid excuses, your violences, your sins—your claws, your teeth, your costumes, your hilarious attempts at interpretive dance. The beast doth protest too much.

O, monster—behold thyself—and tremble.

[prentisssgf]

| forget me knots

| law and order svu

| casey novak x reader

| 100% just pure angst

| DNI if you’re 18, there’s themes of violence, guns, stalking and death threats, I am not responsible for the content you chose to read

| also this is my first time writing for svu so like go easy on her please

| 2189 words

"Case? can you come here for a second?" you looked up from your desk at the office, you had been busy all day that you hadn't even had a chance to thank your girlfriend for the flowers she gave you.

"What's up?" Casey replied nonchalantly as she and Olivia walked over to you.

"Oh hey Liv" you smiled at your boss gently.

"Hi Y/N is everything okay?" she smiled at you.

"Yeah I just wanted to thank Casey for all the flowers she's given me these past couple of weeks, it's just been so hectic I haven't had a chance to properly thank her" you looked over at Casey who sat on your desk next to you, you noticed she had slightly tensed up but you figured it was because she was too embarrassed that you admitted that in front of Olivia, you knew Olivia longer though and you knew that Olivia would be happy for you.

"Oh um yeah for sure" Casey leaned down to kiss the top of your head before walking back to her office.

You turned around to look at Olivia who just shrugged "I'm gonna make coffee does anyone want any?" you announced.

Only Olivia said yes but you made one for yourself and Casey anyway.

"Detective Benson, can I speak with you for a moment alone in my office please?" Casey stepped out of her office to ask Olivia, she nodded and made her way there.

You finished making everyone coffee, you left yours on the desk and brought the remaining two coffee to your girlfriend's office when you heard slightly muffled arguing? no it wasn't an argument? it was worry.

"Casey, Casey I need you to calm down" Olivia worried.

"Olivia, you don't get it" Casey sighed.

"Then explain it to me then" Olivia returned with the same sigh.

"I didn't send her the flowers" Casey almost sobbed.

"You-but who?-"

"I don't know" Casey shuddered a deep breath "look Liv, something's been going on but you can't tell Y/N that I know, you can't even tell Y/N alright?"

"I can't promise you that, if it's beneficial-"

"She has a stalker" Casey said point blankly.

You shifted quietly so that you could hear them slightly better.

"She's been getting letters from someone she arrested" you could see through the glass that Casey was rubbing her temples with her fingers and Olivia was perched on her desk "Frank McCool"

"Him?" Olivia shouted causing you to almost spill the coffee "we arrested that son of a bitch years ago"

"Yeah well he got out of jail 4 months ago, ever since then he's been sending her flowers, death threats, Y/N is a heavy sleeper and I'm not, so sometimes I could hear him come to the house and call for her, I would look through the window but-" Casey sobbed.

"The contradiction between the romantic gesture of the flowers and the death threats is kinda odd don't you think Case?" Olivia started to pace around Casey's office.

"Yeah I thought so too, until one day when Y/N was out getting groceries I had a good look at the flowers, that son of a bitch stuffed Lillies in there"

"Y/N's-"

"Allergic yeah"

"He would obviously know that if he was stalking here, I think Frank's trying to kill her, Liv come on help me here?"

"Shit" you muttered a little too loud. as your coffee was getting cold

"Honey? you out there?" Casey called out.

"Yeah but I accidentally dropped your coffee I'll get you a new one" you said hoping she wouldn't catch you in a lie.

"Y/N it's okay, just come in here for a second" Olivia called out, you put the two coffees in the bin outside her office and walked in.

"Hey is everything okay? am I in any trouble here" you half joked knowing exactly what was about to come.

"No, you're not in any trouble but you might find yourself in some" Olivia smiled.

"Huh?" you and Casey turned to face her at the same time.

"You have a stalker Y/N, it's Frank McCool, and he's dangerous, he's out to kill you" Olivia smiled as Casey grabbed your hand from the other side of the desk.

"What Olivia was trying to say is that we need to stay here, where he can't see us" Casey replied.

"We?"

"You don't think I'll leave you on your own now would you?" Casey smirked.

You closed your eyes and took a deep breath "so the flowers weren't from you?"

"Honey no" Casey called out "they were from Frank and he stuffed Lillies in there"

"I'm allergic" you locked eyes with Casey for the first time in that office today.

"We need to get the FBI here" Olivia nodded "if he's trying to kill you"

"Okay, Case will you stay with me I don't know if I can do this by myself"

"Sure" Casey smiled as she sat you down on her couch in the office.

A few minutes later you heard two FBI agents come in to Casey's office to talk to you, you looked up as your hand was still interlocked with Casey's.

"Hi Y/N, I'm Elle Greenaway and this is Jennifer Jareau, we're with the FBI, we just wanted to ask you some questions really quick alright?" the tall brunette smiled.

You hesitantly nodded as the blonde made her way over to you "tell me what happened" Jennifer smiled gently as she knelt down in front of you.

"I've noticed I've been getting a lot of flowers lately and I've been so busy that I forgot to tell Casey" you all looked over at Casey at the same time "my girlfriend, thank you for the flowers but then my boss, Olivia Benson, spoke with Casey and I overheard that she didn't send the flowers it was from the man who I arrested years ago"

"You did great Y/N" JJ smiled gently once more before she stepped up.

"Wait" Casey stopped her, JJ and Elle looked at each other before she carried on "She's been getting death threats too, he's also been stalking her and coming to her house in the middle of the night when she's sleeping, I'm not a heavy sleeper but Y/N is so when I'm there I can hear him knocking, he's never broken in but the reason I called the FBI in is because we think he's trying to kill her" Casey replied.

You looked at Casey dumbfounded before you had the chance to say anything Elle spoke up.

"What makes you think that he's trying to kill her?" Elle replied sternly.

"The threats on the letters are so disturbing and the flowers"

"Do you have the letters?" JJ replied "do you by any chance know who's doing this?"

"Um yeah I do, his name is Frank McCool and the letters, they're in my bag" Casey stood up and walked over to her bag that was over the other side of the room and took out a huge pile of letters, you flicked through the pile, some of them nonchalant but one or two describing in excruciatingly detail of how much he wanted to kill you, Casey put these two directly in the middle so you wouldn't see it.

"Casey" you whispered "why didn't you show me these?"

"I didn't want you to see" Casey replied honestly "these are too disturbing Y/N the first time I read them I threw up and I couldn't imagine how you would feel"

You nodded slightly, smiling at the fact that Casey wanted nothing more than to protect you.

"And the flowers?" JJ replied with a furrowed brow.

"When Y/N was out one day getting groceries, I took a deeper look at the flowers and he stuffed Lillies in there, Y/N's allergic"

"Okay, thank you guys, Y/N you did great" JJ repeated once more.

Casey sat back down on the couch and you didn't waste a second wrapping your arms around her waist, even though you knew Casey and your squad would do everything to protect you, you still felt like there would be a way you wouldn't come out of this alive, you thought of all the possibilities and it just made you spiral, you couldn't help but sob.

Casey managed to get you through your panic attack a while later, she stayed in the same position, even when Olivia walked through the door.

"They're doing everything they can right now Y/N but I'm afraid that you're gonna have to stay here for tonight I'm sorry" Olivia shook her head "just for one night honey I promise"

"I'll stay" Casey whispered to you.

"Thank you" you looked up at her and smiled.

☆

You woke up to a knock on you Casey's office door, you jumped slightly as you tightened your grip around Casey's waist, you looked up at her and she was already awake.

"Casey?" you noticed a hooded figure staring at you "Casey is that?-" realization set in as you were inches away from Frank McCool.

"Baby I need you to be really quiet right now can you do that for me?"

You nodded profusely before Casey got up to text Olivia telling her it was a life or death emergency.

"Come on, I know you're in there Y/N Y/L/N, I just want to talk to you" he drawled.

You squeezed your eyes as much as you possibly could before you felt a pair of hands around your waist, kicking and punching it you didn't even realise it was Casey, you sobbed even harder as she just told you that everything was fine and that the whole squad and the two agents you had met previously were on their way to you and would be there any minute.

You tried to apologize to your girlfriend for kicking and punching her, but she understood completely, luckily there was no injuries as you had missed her completely.

"Y/N I know you and your girlfriend are in there I want to give these to you" he held up probably the biggest bouquet of Lilies that was humanly possible.

"Oh God" you sobbed as you fell into Casey, her arm protecting you, her free hand was texting Olivia to hurry up.

"Fuck, Casey" you replied as she started slamming his hand against the glass of the door, seconds later he finally broke the glass and he let himself in as he twisted the doorknob on your side.

"Hi" he smiled at you sinisterly as he started walking closer to you, with a gun in his hand.

"Leave me alone please" you cried.

"But I just wanted to give you these" he pouted as he pointed back to the lillies.

"You think it's smart to come in to a police station and threaten a detective, when there's 6 other detectives and two agents here too?" Casey replied.

"Well I don't see them" he tilted his head as his gun was inches away from Casey's face.

"Turn around" Olivia shouted.

"Now you see them" Elle pouted.

"Come any closer and they both die" he announced to everyone.

"I don't wanna die" you looked over at Casey.

"You won't, I'll make sure that doesn't happen I promise" Casey smiled.

"I wouldn't make promises I can't keep" he turned around and aimed his gun at your head.

You didn't get to see who killed him but you saw his lifeless body on the floor, too shaken up to stand, Casey got up first and carried you out bridal style.

"Take her home Case, I'm giving you both 5 days off, that's a direct order"

Casey nodded, she started walking out and then saw JJ and Elle on her way out.

"Take my card, and talk to me when you're home" JJ smiled.

"Thank you both, for everything" Casey smiled.

☆

You woke up several hours later around 2pm on your couch as with Casey on the other end, she was on the phone to someone but you weren't sure who, Casey opened her arms out for you to lie on her lap, you did that while she was still on the phone, she played with your hair in one hand while holding her phone with the other.

"Who was that?" you looked up and smiled gently.

"Agent Jareau, I called her to thank her and Agent Greenaway for everything they've helped us with on the case" she explained.

"Casey I don't know what I would've done without you today" you sighed interlocking your fingers.

"Hey no, don't go there" she placed her phone down and tapped your temple making you both laugh slightly.

"I'm really sorry for hurting you earlier" you worried.

"It was a fight or flight response, I would've done the same thing, but you didn't hurt me I promise" she leaned down to kiss your forehead.

"I love you Casey Novak" you chuckled.

"I love you too, more then you know" Casey smiled at you once more.

[melinoelliones]

You had frequently seen Chishiya around the city, however he was always alone and acting suspicious, not to mention you had formed somewhat of a crush on the guy. You were also quite curious about him but could never seem to get close enough, until fate brought you two to the same game. Maybe you could finally get some answers.

2.1K Words

MINORS DNI/AGELESS BLOGS DNI/ANTI DC DNI/18+

Warnings: Slight choking, mouth covering, guns and shooting, unprotected sex, cursing, teasing, sex with small plot, hickies, one night stand?, filling up, dubcon???

Hi again, third piece of writing <3. Hopefully i’m gettin better at this LMAO. I kinda tried to put this in the storyline so it isn’t too off brand i guess, this is episode 2 season 1 spoilers for those who haven’t watched. Also it kinda flops in the end.... sorry from now ya’ll

“Where the hell did he go? I swear just had him” you mumbled, kissing your teeth, you had been following Chishiya around the complex for a while now but it was almost as if he had poofed into thin air. Every corner you turned led to another empty walkway, where was everyone anyway?

Shuntaro Chishiya was his name but who was he? You had seen him around the city before but he was always alone and looked like he was up to something, not to mention he looked scarily similar to someone you had known back in highschool, but that's besides the point, he was unusual and you needed to know more, what secrets was he hiding?

You had brought it upon yourself to find out as much as you could about him from a distance, but since this was the first game with him you couldn’t let the opportunity to spy on him up close slip through your fingertips.

Strolling up yet another empty flight of stairs you froze, your eyes locked on the man with the horse mask who was now facing you head on, you felt as if time itself had stopped. Your blood ran cold as your eyes flickered to the large gun in his hand, “p~please don’t shoot, please”, you pleaded, maybe this could work?

You watched on as he started to march towards you, “should’ve assumed this shit wouldn’t work on you”, you sighed frustratedly rolling your eyes, it was worth a shot though. You slid the disk you had hidden in your sleeve to your palm, eyes glued to the masked man who was starting to pick up speed.

As he carelessly attempted to aim his weapon you struck your palms together, the disk emitting a strongly condensed cloud of smoke which started to fill the stairwell. In the midst of his confusion you slid past him, throwing the disks remains behind you as a distraction, hoping he would think you had tried to run back the way you came.

Had you really forgotten what you were doing here? Your life was literally on the line yet you allowed yourself to let your objective slip your mind due to a random man you were attracted to spying on? Maybe this wasn’t your brightest idea.

Darting down endless walkways, all that filled your ears were gunshots and blood curdling screams from below, your plan to get him off your back had worked but at the cost of whose life, countless thoughts flooded your head whilst you fled, paying no attention to where you were headed.

Breathlessly you came to a halt, you had hit the top floor, end of the hall, the only way out was to cross the open stairs but even then you’d be out in the open. As if a wake up call, the gunshots continued, the shells ricocheting off the walls echoing through the stairwell, with no other option you veered towards the last door on your side.

“This is gonna get me in so much trouble for fuck sake”, mumbling to yourself you tried to grab the thin piece of metal from your sock placing it into the keyhole, you had no clue if this would work but at this point there were no alternative options. Your hands trembling as the sound of the man's footsteps grew louder pacing up the stairs, “cmon dammit work”.

You vigorously shook the metal rod, all critical thinking had gone out the window as the realisation that you may actually die right here started to hit you. As that thought popped up you felt the handle click, you were in, without another thought you swung the door open stumbling inside, letting the door close by itself to avoid any further noise.

You cautiously glanced around the room, it was almost as if it were a movie set, blank walls, chipped wood floors and no furniture. “I guess they weren’t expecting people to just walk on in he~”, you were cut off by a hand covering your mouth, your heart now pounding through your chest, was it the shooter?

Why didn’t you watch the door close? How did they get to the room so fast? Why couldn’t you hear their footsteps? A million questions swamped your mind.

You winced as your head started to rise slightly exposing your neck, the calloused hand against your mouth was pulling you back. Your body tightening in fear as your bodies met . A hand weaved its way over your stomach as a pair of lips ghosted just below your ear, their breath sending tingles down your spine, “uh uh uh, now what are we doing here my love?”.

You knew that voice from anywhere, it was Chishiyas. You allowed your body to melt into his as your heart rate began to soften. You could relax a bit now knowing who it was, what could he even want with you anyway, either way you knew you had a means of escape if needs be, Chishiya was not the strongest person by the looks of it.

A faint moan slipped through your lips against his hand whilst he trailed his fingers down your lower stomach with the other, you unknowingly pressing your lower half against his. “What are you doing my love?..... Oh? You like this huh?”, he murmured against your neck, laying a kiss or two upon it. “So… is this why you were always watching me from a distance? Or are you hiding something there?”, your breath hitching as he questioned you, how did he know, you always did your best to keep to yourself and stay hidden.

“Didn’t think I noticed you hmm?”, you could feel the cockiness in his voice against your neck as his kisses became a bit rougher, those were definitely going to leave marks but you didn’t care. “I wasn’t watching you?”, you had to lie, if he was to do anything with that information who knows what the higher ups would do?

His fingers paused at your core, you could almost feel their presence hovering above, “lie” he murmured against your collar bone, pulling your head up with his hand. The grip on your neck tightening as you flinched slightly, the new bruises were tender. As he slowly began to rub you through your already soaked underwear he chuckled, “I won’t bite, you can tell me the truth”.

“Now who’s the liar, the sore spots on my neck didn’t come from nowher~” you hissed as he increased the pressure on his fingers, the friction from them and the fabric of your underwear against your clit edging you closer and closer whilst you lightly rocked back and forth.

Chishiya definitely knew how to use his hands, you were ready to give in just from him playing with you through your underwear. “Cmon pretty girl, no need to be so secretive. If it makes you feel any better I was also watching you too. How could a random girl pop up out of nowhere and manage to survive all those challenges alone, who are you?” he joked, chuckling whilst coming to a halt.

You groaned as the early built up tension in your stomach started to slowly fizzle out, “did you do all this just to tease me?”. “Oh? If you want me so bad, how about I give you the real deal?”, his voice echoed in your ear as he placed a single kiss on your nape before pressing you up against the door.

You gently slid your front down the door, sticking your ass in the air showing your dripping underwear. As you shook your ass slightly you heard him chuckle to himself, he pressed himself up against your hot core, you could feel him almost poking through his tracksuit bottoms. “Well? Do you, or should we go finish that game outside”.

Chishiya ran his hand up your leg as you longed out your response, “please, I want this” you purred. “Hmm, very well then”, without another word you felt him lift up your skirts hem, pulling your underwear to the side with his fingers.

“We may have to make this quick” he muttered, aligning himself at your core, “What did you say~ oh my god” you choked out breathlessly, Chishiya had gave you no warning before crashing himself fully into you, your walls adjusting around him, you did not expect him to be so big.

“Try to stay quiet for me okay”, he teased as you pressed back into him for support, you let out a faint “y~yes” before allowing him to place his hands on your hips.

Chishiya slowly started to rock back and forth allowing every inch of himself to be taken in, his tip crashing against your sweet spot with no mercy. “Fuck, thzt feels so good”, you cried out in between his thrusts, as you looked down you could visibly see the impression of his cock sinking in and out of you.

“Quiet, they’ll hear you my love” Chishiya laughed out leaning forward, your moans getting louder which each hit to your sweet spot. You knew the sounds of your bodies colliding along with the moans would definitely ring through the apartment complex but in the moment you didn’t care.

As he leant forward you could hear his faint moans in your ear, cursing under his breath as he swung his hand around to your lower stomach. “I’m getting close, I don’t know how much longer I can hold ou~” you whimpered as Chishiya ran small circles on your clit, your own whimpers cutting you off. He wanted to watch you writhe under him, of course you weren’t adverse to this idea though.

As your moans grew louder and more incoherent, the sound of gunshots began to emerge from the other side of the door bringing the reality of the situation back into your mind. You were still in a death game, both your lives were still on the line once those doors open.

“You know, its almost like you want them to hear you. Does them potentially finding out what we're doing turn you on hmm?” Chishiya questioned cheakily through his own moans, increasing the pressure on his fingers whilst you attempted to swallow down your moans. The ever growing knot in your stomach was at its limit.

Chishiya could feel you tightening around him, “go on, cum for me pretty girl” he cooed. As if on cue you let the knot unravel, however he continued to keep a steady pace inside of you longing out your orgasm. You could feel your knees trembling as your body was getting tired but his light grunts in your ear were enough to help you muster enough energy to hold on.

“W~what are you doing down there? Cheeky one aren’t you” Chishiya hissed as you threw yourself back onto him, your wetness helping you slide with little effort, the sound turning him on slightly. You wanted to make the most of whatever time you had left with him as who knows when an occasion such as this would arise again.

“C’mon then Chishiya” you mewled softly, you could feel him twitching so you knew he was close. His thrusts became inconsistent as he cursed in your ear, pulling you into him.

“Oh fuck” you gasped, stuttering slightly as you felt him release inside you, his breathe staggered whilst slowing down his strokes. Your legs trembled as he began to pull out, both of your warm releases mixing inside you. “Well would you look at that”, you could almost hear the smirk emerge on his face as he stepped back leaving you completely, pushing your underwear back to stop you from dripping.

“How about you keep that wet underwear on for me, don’t want you to forget what we did do we” he teased, you didn't oppose as of course you wanted to remember this moment. Chishiya gave you a hand as he lent you against a free wall in the room.

Placing his hand on your chin he took in your heated face, “I still have an objective here and I also refuse to lose this game so my work here is done”, Chishiya stated plainly, showing zero emotion as he went to exit the room. Was that it?

You let out a faint sigh, steadying yourself against the wall as you also did have to finish the game at some point. “Hey!” he burted out in the doorway, “try to stay alive will you? Trust me, we have more to discuss, maybe you’ll be useful to me”, his eyes softed whilst closing the door behind him.

He wants to meet again? Perfect, attached or not you also had a mission. Chishiya showing emotion was not what you expected but it would definitely get you a pass when the higher ups ask how you got in this room in the first place. Your plan was going in the right direction. Playing the innocent card always worked on your average players but you expected more from him, maybe you could become his weak spot.

You grinned to yourself as you made your way to the door, “till next time Chishiya”.

[ruthytwoshakes]

Howdy everyone!! I got super inspired by @a-scary-lack-of-common-sense class swap au and wanted to try my hand at it!

I really love these designs!! If people like them too I’ll make some full refs and make some more content with them. I probably will anyway because I have so many ideas.

Under the keep reading I added wayyy too much description if you’re interested. You are interested you will read I’m using my evil mind magic to make you want to read

(I’ll address them by their names to make it less confusing btw. Pyro and Spy are called Demonan and Soldier though. I’ll name them one day probably)

For Medic and Heavy I kinda swapped their backstories and personalities. Misha is an only child who comes from a family of, fucked up to say the least, doctors. He lost his medical license for stealing the entirety of a patient’s skin. Misha is much more of a hardass with a superiority complex. Cold and callous. He takes himself and his work very seriously,, thinks he is very scary. The other mercs don’t really give a shit, which infuriates him to no end. He cares about his teammates! somewhere deep down inside ,, like really far down. Probably. Really attached to his tools, names them like how the original Heavy names his guns. He’s pretty fluent with English.

Ludwig is much more silly and caring. He’s the youngest sibling out of his 3 sisters, and took this job because he feels obligated to pay back his family for protecting him and helping him go through college. He’s not sadistic per se, more just, really loves the blood, guts, and carnage of war, and has a very morbid curiosity. He often accompanies the Medic when he's doing operations, if he's not already the patient himself. Misha adores how fascinated he is by all of it, and gladly answers and questions he may have. Very loud and extroverted,, his laughs can be heard from miles away. He kinda scares the other mercs, but he’s trying his best to tone it down. He has a horde of pigeons that just ,, follow him around. He doesn’t really know where they came from. His favorite is named Euripides. He’s intermediate at English.

For Sniper and Scout I kinda kept their backstories the same, they just had different personalities and life circumstances that led to them taking their respective jobs. Jeremy is the older brother of 7 little sisters. His mother had him when she was 16 and going through college, leading Jeremy to have to grow up fast. He and his mom have always had to pick up odd jobs to help pay the bills. One of Jeremy’s bosses took him out onto a shooting range one day and noticed he was a natural. He encouraged him to take up predator/invasive species control to help pay the bills and helped him get started, Jeremy eventually saved up enough to move to the northwest. As he got more skilled, some shady people took note and offered him some more,,, lucrative opportunities. He’s a hick with a slight Boston accent, making him all the more awkward. Pretty introverted, the only friends he's ever had is his little siblings. He’s quick-witted when he wants to be, but usually stays quiet. He seems pretty cold tough, but will change really quickly around little kids. Drinks way too many energy drinks to compensate for his insomnia.

Mick is an only child and basically the Australian version of Scout. Which is a terrifying concept!! he scares me. He’s a pretty extroverted guy, but was still bullied for his scrawny appearance and a lack of mustache hairs when he was little, so he devoted himself to becoming the best track runner in Australia. Also he couldn’t win a fight against anyone and he tended to piss off a lot of people, so running was a necessity. He doesn’t have any siblings, but he has a lot of older friends who treat him like a little brother. He likes to paint in his free time. Took the job to help support his parents and to explore the world, or just New Mexico. Annoying jock bastard. He wears those tank tops with the holes at the sides that just go all the way down,, not even a shirt at that point. Still throws piss at people because I think its really fucking funny.

Nobody quite knows where Soldier came from, not even herself. All she knows is that she’s a General, and a damn good one at that. Although his team would like to suggest otherwise. She’s loud and erratic, missing quite a few cogs in her brain. Not lead poisoned like the original soldier, I’m leaning towards a lobotomy that really melted his brain, soupe de cerveau or somethinf. Even though she lost her mind, she kept her great commanding skills and leads the team in attacks. He can be found planning and strategizing for the next round, or hanging out with the other team’s Demo. A bit silly, a bit goofy. Comically patriotic like the original Soldier. Parleys-tu Français, DO YOU SPEAK FRRRENCH ??? Non tu ne le fais pas, you don’t? FUCK YOU

Tavish and pyros personalities are a kinda combined? I just took little bits from both of them and squashed them together. Tavish is a pyromaniac hailing from Scotland. There’s rumors that he was the cause of the fire storm that rained down on Scotland for about a week, but he’s never confirmed or denied this. His voice isn’t all that muffled, his Scottish dialect is just so thick that nobody can understand him, except for Ms Pauling and Engineer like usual. Tavish can be pretty unstable and hyperactive, but an overall happy-go-lucky guy. Drinks responsibly most of the time! Still depressed! Lots of Molotov cocktails. His favorite animal is the Pegasus, and his life's goal is to find and tame one some day.

Dell is the same personality wise, just more like spy. So a bit more stuck up lol. He also shares the same care that the original spy shows for his team, as long as it benefits him along the way. Dell comes from a long family line of Spy’s that all worked for the Mann brothers, they stole Australium for them and kept them safe from other entity's that wanted to have control over the Australium too. His goggles have all that super cool spy stuff in them, night vision, cameras, a radio. Jane helped him add some new features as of late, . I'm not sure how to incorporate Dell's fascination with trans-humanism into this Dell quite yet. Maybe something to do with his senses? Name’s Spy. Spy Gaming.

Jane is pretty much the same silly little guy,, but now with 11 phds! And he’s not lead poisoned anymore! Nobody’s quite sure where Jane comes from, every time he’s asked he always changes up his backstory. He tends to slack off more than the original soldier, "A good hard-working American always knows when to take breaks!" He's also built a variety of raccoon-themed machines that get into mischief around the base. He and the Pyro are good buddies! He likes reading their stories, and gently encouraging them to write more. He's pretty strict when it comes to safety, and will come down hard on his teammates for messing around. THAT IS NOT OSHA APPROVED HEAD-WEAR MAGGOT!

Demoman is more like Tavish backstory-wise in this. They’re a midwesterner with way too much free time who blew up their family’s corn field by accident when they were little, oh and their parents. Their bio family crawled out from the remains of the farm and took them in after they proved themselves, even with their lack of tentacles and wings. (yeah their parents are the Great Old Ones, cthulhu guys, for sillies :3 ) They still like to do creative stuff (but adult-ified because adults are insecure about having fun for some reason.) like adult coloring books, or oil painting, or having adult tea parties. Demoland is a book that they're writing, and will TOTALLY 100% work on this weekend. They hate eye contact and have never been seen without their bombsuit on, except for Scout, but he can comprehend these otherworldy horrors perfectly fine so idk maybe you have a skill issue or something.

Heavy is Medic

Medic is Heavy

Sniper is Scout

Scout is Sniper

Spy is Soldier

Demoman is Pyro

Engineer is Spy

Soldier is Engineer

Pyro is Demoman

notes: I was thinking of making Dell Jeremy's father, but I didn't want to change up Jeremy's facial features too much, so Spy remains. Mick has that neck-mic thingy that soap from COD has because I was scrolling through soapghost on pintrest help. Soldier wasn't actually a general, I was thinking he was just somebody who knew too much. But after she got the lobotomy, I'm thinking she did something similar to soldier and tried to get into the military, and failed. Ludwig is the biggest on the team, with Misha having a more agile body type. Still a bear!! Just a bit smaller. This art is a bit old because I've been working on this since MAY?!?!??? ough. Maybe I'll swap some side characters as well! Pauling with Bidwell, Saxton with Helen, if ya want you could give me some suggestions 👁 👁 This is all Merasmus's fault some how, babygirl messes up the timeline for the sillies, the funny haha even. I love her <3333 Also sorry if the info for Jeremy is incorrect, I just thought it would be neat idk a whole lot about hunting.

[slashingdisneypasta]

Older!Horror Villains x Younger!Reader || Reactions

Reacting to: Someone at the store thinking that they're your grandparent- rather then your S/O. (Just something funny I was considering for Inkubus but decided to just do for all of them ^^ XD 😅)

Characters Included: The gilfs of the fandom 😅 ? I'm thinking 50 years and above. Captain Spaulding, Drayton Sawyer, Granny Boone, Inkubus, Jedidiah Sawyer, Luda Mae Hewitt, Mayor Buckman, Mental Manny / Manual Dyer, Peepaw Michael Myers, Norman Nordstrom, Otis B. Driftwood, Pamela Voorhees, Sheriff Hoyt / Charlie Hewitt Jr, Stuart Lloyd, the Taxidermist / Walter Harris and Winslow Foxworth Coltrane.

Warnings: Major age difference, bad language, sexual references, a really awkward misunderstanding...

Captain Spaulding: Spaulding's a pretty good sport about it XD In fact, he kinda enjoys it. Cuz then he gets to rub it in the persons face what a young, hot thing he's got going here with you and what- what did you say you had again?? Nothin'?? Yeahh, that's what I thought. Fuck right off, why dontcha?

Drayton Sawyer: Drayton goes so red and is about to blow his top. He gets enough shit from his brothers over this! He does not need one more moron bothering him about it! Fuck off! *Grabs you by the arm and storms off*

Granny Boone: "... Grandma, huh? Alright then!~ " *Turns to you* "Come here, sweetie, give grandmother a kiss~ " She's about to ruin that guys whole career 😅😅😅

Inkubus: Inkubus is not amused. Grandpa?? Absolutely not, no. He'll correct the person in the most embarrassing way possible.

Jedidiah Sawyer: Jed does not care at all 😅😅 The only person who's opinion matters to him is yours, so who cares if this guy thinks he's your grandpa? Fine then, he's your grandpa. So go and mow the lawn for him while he sits on the porch and has a sweet tea.

Luda Mae Hewitt: She's is gonna tear that guy a new one. Calling her old?? Son of a bitch, where is that persons manners?? She should set her damn sons on him.

Mayor Buckman: Sorry, Buckman cannot answer this question. He's too busy choking.

Mental Manny / Manual Dyer: Manny loves to correct people. He's got the biggest smile on his face as he goes oh you're mistaken- this is my beautiful partner. A little young, sure, but we sure don't mind~ Oh sweetheart, I think we're going be late for our dinner reservations. Shall we?

Peepaw Michael Myers: Like Jed he struggles to give a shit. Who cares??? He knows that he's not your grandfather and you know he's not your grandfather- that's all that matters. He doesn't care... but he does enjoy giving you a big kiss, with tongue, later when the guy sees you both again. He's a gremlin.

Norman Nordstrom: ... what? Norman is pissed at this idea, he hates it. He feels like a digusting predator (*cough* which he is, though not because you like him ^^) and it hits close to home. He's going to need you to set it straight.

Otis B. Driftwood: "... Ha! Okay, pal, check this out." He'll say, then turn around and basically make out with you right there in front of the guy. Otis is not amused at the poor insinuation and takes it out with lewd efficiency.

Pamela Voorhees: Again- not amused. As far as she's concerned, this total stranger has no business making disgusting insinuations about the two of you, anyway. So she'll ruthlessly take them down a notch with her words- and sweet smile.

Sheriff Hoyt / Charlie Hewitt Jr: "... you think you're funny? No I ain't their fucken grandpa. Didn't your bitch momma ever teach you to mind your business? Oh don't you worry, I can do it for her." Just- my friend- just keep him from taking out the damn shot gun.

Stuart Lloyd: "... oh... uh... n-no, actually- " Stuart forces himself to stutter through a quick explanation- but he wants to crawl into a whole and die (:

Taxidermist / Walter Harris: Gets the nervous giggles 😅😅😅 Doesn't correct them.

Winslow Foxworth Coltrane: Annnnd Foxy loves it XD He was already one kinky mother fucker- you can use this as foreplay. Let him smack your ass while they're still looking but call you 'Hon' or 'Sweetie'- he finds it funny and hot in equal measures.

[abitofboth]

some more owen carvour hcs because I’m unwell about him

he's meticulous when it comes to cleaning his guns. almost every night on a mission he will sit within the twilight and carefully take them apart and clean every piece. the same goes for his knives, brass knuckles, and any other weapons he happens to use.

he’s pretty consistent with shaving and cutting his hair; keeps his usual length, and a clean shaven face. when he’s going through a rough patch his hair will grow a bit longer and he’ll turn up to work with stubble.

post fall, his hair is down to his shoulders and he has a permanent 5 o'clock shadow.

he doesn’t play games he knows he can’t win. he was so certain that he was going to be the one to kill curt, not the other way around.

he can do tricks with his switch blade and he DELIGHTS in showing off for curt.

big fat crush on brandon shaw from hitchcock’s film ‘rope’. fucked up spy obsessed with his very own fucked up blorbo.

takes the piss out of curt for having a thing for james bond (“the name’s carvour. owen carvour.” “shut UP.”)

connected to that, curt loves the bond novels but can’t concentrate long enough to actually get through them. owen reads them out to him and does voices for all the characters.

he tells curt that “that secret died the night you left me for dead”, but I don’t think that he stopped loving him as soon as he fell. he hated him, yes, but he still loved him. some small part of him was still desperately clinging onto the hope that curt would come back and 'rescue' him from chimera for at least a year or two.

somehow manages to be kinda toxic with his own masculinity but also (in the privacy of his and curt's relationship) fucks with gender a little. for example, he doesn't allow himself emotional relief because 'men don't cry', but on the other hand relishes in being called 'princess' and owns a few lipsticks. loves leaving lipstick kiss marks on curt.

curt is pretty big on cars. he likes tinkering with them, fixing them up, knows all you could need to know about them, and has strong opinions on which ones are good and which ones are shit. owen couldn't care less- as long as it moves and it's not an ugly colour, he's happy.

he has doubts about his job and the governments he serves. where some spies blindly follow, he reluctantly trails behind.

the black and red leather jacket used to be owen's, but curt borrowed it one day and conveniently 'forgot' to give it back. owen has no complaints- he likes curt wearing his clothes and he barely wore it himself anyway.

he stands by the notion that british words and phrases are gospel, and american words and phrases are stupid and wrong.

known for a bit of a resting bitch face. he always looks pissed off, but is probably only pissed off 50% of the time.

older than curt, but only by a year or two.

he is kind to those with less power, and directs his rage to those in charge instead.

has a tendency to pull at his hair when he's super freaked out.

he has panic attacks more often post-fall.

he knows he's hot shit. plays on the 'british charm' when he's flirting with marks and it works every single time.

he knows a decent amount of french. not quite fluent, but enough that he can easily navigate most conversations.

spicy, don't look too close

he likes to take charge most of the time because it's owen, he loves having power in all situations, but he has a submissive streak in him. he doesn't like to admit that it doesn't take much to get him whining and begging.

phone sex. it's risky, but he likes it. transatlantic jerk-offs are key when your partner is in another country.

tops more often than he bottoms, purely because he thinks curt prefers it that way.

pull his hair and watch him melt.

likes when curt manhandles him. he has muscles, and owen wants him to use them.

he'll whisper filthy things to curt on missions with the sole intention of riling him up at the worst possible time.

he enjoys bondage regardless of who is the one being tied up.

[femmemortes]

My top five most brutal SAW traps even though absolutely nobody asked for my fucking opinion:

5 — Pound of Flesh, SAW VI

I feel like this isn’t a trap that’s talked about often enough considering the actual shit you have to do to survive it. I mean come on. Cut off enough of your flesh to survive? And it’s not even like there’s a set amount anyway, it’s a competition between you and another person to see who can do the most. No guidance as to what specific body part to cut off either. You just have to take the knife and just start going crazy. It makes having the punishment for not doing it look not as bad but, then again, actually thinking about having screws drilled into the sides of your temples? Yeah, no thanks babes xxx

Simone was a total badass just hacking her arm straight off like that and living. Just sent it all the way and won, you love to see it.

4 — Silence Circle, SAW 3D

If someone asked me to do this trap I would actually just kill myself instead. Gun in my mouth, bang, gone. Same with all of these to be fair but the fucking idea of the key on a fishing hook in your stomach? And that just raking up your insides as you’re trying to take it out? Fuck that. Fuck. That. I think the only thing that would make me do this would be the other person pulling out the string because if I had to do that shit myself? I’d just scream as loud as I could to make the spikes impale me instantly. I am not doing that shit.

This one gets bumped down a bit because we don’t actually see the visual of the hook going up through her? Which makes it an easier watch than the others on this list, but I still think it deserved a place here because of the sheer insanity of the entire thing.

3 — Bone Marrow Trap, SAW X

Fuck. This. Trap.

Actually fuck it. In my opinion this was the most brutal trap in SAW X. Yes, I know some people make arguments for the brain surgery trap being pretty brutal and yes taking out your brain is just… Wow. And I’ll agree it is bad. But you don’t FEEL your brain.

THIS ON THE OTHER HAND?

CUTTING OFF YOUR LEG AT THE THIGH? WITH A GIGLI SAW NO LESS? The amount of blood loss, the fact if you want to live just have to take that fucking saw to your leg and just DO IT? And then once you’re done you have to take that stupid little fuckoff tube and stick it in your bone and get the bone marrow out, which is ALSO PAINFUL???

Also the part where she grabs the gigli saw in-front of her with her hands… Fuck, just fuck.

Valentina really didn’t deserve to die here, I won’t lie to you. She cut off her leg, was taking out the marrow. I believe had the tube thing for the vacuum to measure how much bone marrow or whatever the fuck had been shorter, she would’ve lived. Yes she started later but like, come the fuck on.

2 — Venus Fly Trap, SAW II

I’m going to start this with, this trap being the first trap of SAW II is an actually insane tone shift from what we had in the first movie. Like, the only trap I really consider brutal in SAW is the reverse bear trap, but we don’t even see that one go off since Amanda survives it.

So seeing this shit right out the gate is just… Oh my god. Wow. Just wow.

This trap has always given me reverse bear trap vibes in appearance, it’s probably the whole thing of, it’s on the head, closes, shuts whatever. I don’t know but it’s got a similar energy to it.

First of all, the whole nails in your face thing? Yeah, hate that. But what I’m most concerned about is the KEY BEHIND THE EYE.

FUCK.

THAT.

SHIT.

The visual of him cutting into his eyeball with the scalpel? And you actually just have to fucking go at it and just… ugh. I was pretty torn between either this trap or the Bone Marrow trap for this kinda reason. Cutting off a leg or cutting open your eye? And honestly the eye is just. Worse. Like just digging into your eye to get out a fucking key? Like all things given, at LEAST I can turn off my brain somewhat while cutting off my leg. Just back and forth with a saw. I don’t even have to look!

THIS? WHAT I’M CUTTING IS DOING THE LOOKING. I STRUGGLE TO PUT ON EYELINER, HOW THE FUCK DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO THIS?

1 — The Rack, SAW III

There is a reason why people think this trap is the worst one. There is a reason and it’s fucking obvious.

You’re on a mother-fucking crucifix looking ass thing, legs and arms out, and if this other guy doesn’t take a bullet for you, your limbs are going to be twisted.

YOUR ARMS, LEGS AND NECK are going to be ROTATED 360 DEGREES. ONE. BY. ONE.

Oh and the guy who’s taking the bullet for you? It’s Jeff by the way, stupid fucking Jeff. So you have no chance xxx

The visuals. I can’t watch this trap without looking away, I see the limbs start turning and my line of sight is directly away from the screen. No.

No.

The image of twisting flesh and the fucking shot where you see one of his legs start to move?

NO.

AND HIS HEAD. HIS FUCKING HEAD.

NO.

I DON’T NEED TO EXPLAIN WHY THIS IS NUMBER ONE. FUCKING LOOK AT IT.

Honourable mentions under the cut:

Honourable mentions go to The Angel Trap and Ten Pints of Sacrifice. I didn’t include the angel trap because I feel like, while yes getting your ribs ripped out is horrific, you don’t really suffer much while alive? Which to me, the more they suffer while alive or trying to complete their trap, the more brutal it is. Ten Pints of Sacrifice isn’t on here because I was doing 5, had I been doing like 10 you would’ve definitely seen this on here. Oh and also, Needle Pit isn’t on here because I’m entirely unfazed by it. I hate to do Mandy like this but I just personally don’t really wince at it at all.

[shiroisotto64]

Carmine Headcanons

Benjamin

He’s always been described as green. Aka he follows the rules..mostly. Everyone has their moments am I right? Ben is respectful towards everyone and has a very eager air about him.

You wanna teach him neat military trick? He’s in. This leads to Ben and Baird spending a lot of time together. Imagine how much fun they’d have setting shit on fire? Exactly. And Baird finally has someone who actually tries to listen/understand his science talk.

He’d been real fun to be around. If your friends or together? He’s down to do things you like. Even if he hadn’t found it all to interesting before hand he’ll at least try to get into it for you. You like collecting antiques? He’ll save up to get you something whenever he can.

Gets real giddy when genuinely complimented. You noticed his tracking is getting better and say something about it? He’s touched! You think he’s getting real good at unjamming his lancer? Why thank you! He’s eats it all up and uses it as fuel to keep going.

With a s/o

Very respectful of boundaries. He won’t do anything without your explicit consent before hand. Including hand holding. He gets real shy when it comes to affection. He doesn’t mind it…but growing up with locust running around to kill you doesn’t leave a lot of time to get used to touch.

Ben would be super excited to genuinely spend time with you as well. Wanna walk around the yard? Sure, let’s go. Wanna eat lunch together? He’s damn there skipping to the hall. It’s so cute but the others definitely tease him for this. Marcus is just shaking his head in the corner but look closer he’s almost smiling!

Anthony

He needs to be put on a leash. He’s such a nerd. He’ll rant for hours about all the cool shit Marcus has done if anyone would let him. It’s funny how much he knows really.

Eager to train and get on the field. You can find him in the gym or shooting range. He likes the rush 1 and 2 he wants to stay sharp and be useful when called out. Rambles on the coms to. Marcus is normally the one to scold him to “shut the hell up!”

I feel like for some reason…he’d know a LOT of gossip around base..idk I can just feel it. Before you even tell him he already knows how the mission went. Luckily he’s open to talk about his missions too especially if he did something cool!

With a s/o

Likes no LOVES to show off. But he loses his cocky attitude when his gun fucks around and jams and oops he dropped it….ANYWAYS everyone has their days.

But lord help you cause it has to be nerve wracking being with him, he’s so eager and reckless at that. At least Ben follows orders Anthony just kinda forgets or gets wrapped up in the moment. He means no harm but still.

Clayton

He’s quieter than his brothers. Clayton just kinda chills there till he feels he needs to say anything. He’s more introverted prefers to keep to himself. He does have a sense of humor though. Albeit it’s a bit dry it’s there.

Clay cared a lot about his family especially his brothers. His affection is generally more quiet and shown through actions. A pat on the back here and a good job there. That’s his style even after the war he’s still kinda stiff.

He likes keeping his weapons in top shape. He’s found cleaning his guns and tags around the end of the week or right after a messy mission.

He’s not really picky about food or anything none of them are but I bet Clayton is the heaviest eater out of the carmines. Make him a hearty bowl and he’ll eat every last drop!

With a s/o

Wanna know if he likes you? Easy ask that man for a piece of his bacon. Regardless if he fussed about it or not if you get the piece at all you’re good.

If you’re the touchy type he’ll try to accommodate you. Like I said it’s not like they don’t like touch they just aren’t used to it.

He’s the touchiest when he’s tired. All of a sudden you’re being dragged to bed to cuddle. He’s a real heavy sleeper to! So good luck. Those big strong arms mean business once he’s got you there’s not escape.

@pink-apollo mentioned something about Clayton and dogs and I agree. I could totally see him with at least one large guard dog. But what’s better? A big dog and small puppy. LMFAO imagine the grub killer sprawled out on the couch with a yorkie or something. Adorable.

He’s not the jealous type but he is protective. Anyone giving you a hard time he’ll get it through their skulls don’t worry.

He does need a quiet moment to himself though, so if your the real clingy type he’ll get agitated if your constantly trying to hang off him, however he won’t yell he’ll just remove himself for you until he’s ready to be touched again.

[waitmyturtles]

Turtles Encounters Her First Full GMMTV Upfronts Experience: A Personal Journey Into GMMTV2024

LOL, I don't mean to be dramatic -- I was around a little bit (?) last November for the GMMTV2023 upfronts, and I honestly did not know what was going on, except to scream about Cherry Magic Thailand. Back then, I was much more of a Japanese BL gal (see: Cherry Magic), but now I'm down with the GMMTV scene, as it were, through my Old GMMTV Challenge project, and I'm ready to wax on deez trailers.

One huge overall note: YES TO DUDES NOT BEING IN BRANDED PAIRS. Your Gawins, your Ohms, your Thors, your Joss-es. YES. This is an exciting line-up to me to see the dudes getting mixed up. As much as I loved Be My Favorite, I don't need to see GawinKrist again.

I am stealing the formats of the wonderful @bengiyo and @neuroticbookworm to offer my thoughts on the trailers! (My list is literally gonna look like everyone else's list, LMAO).

FUCK YES

My Golden Blood: Joss, Gawin, Mond, Neo. Vampires. Blood. Baseball bats. LSKDJFLSJDFLKSJDGLKJSDLGKJSLDKGJLDSKF. The SFX are gonna be SO BAD. Joss sucking Gawin's blood will be SO FUCKING GOOD. I AM STILL SCREAMING. OBVIOUSLY.

Kidnap: Ohm Pawat's next BL. While he had previously said that he wanted Bad Buddy to be his last BL, the bullying scandal that he encountered this past year makes this decision a sensible one to get back on the brand engagement train. His co-star, Leng Thanaphon, is gorgeous looks like he's making a strong debut. I am very happy for Ohm, but I think I am a bit spoiled by knowing his previous non-GMMTV oeuvre so well (Make It Right, Dew, He's Coming To Me), and I'm feeling like GMMTV isn't pushing his acting chops as much as they used to. (Meaning.... I'd be okay if he left GMMTV one day to do more movies.) Time will tell, but I am happy for him -- he is a king of BL, the most prevalent actor on the OGMMTVC list, and this'll let him rebuild his career. He deserves it, and is a personal fave of mine.

Wandee Goodday: YO. So obviously this looks intriguing! But like -- I'd expect Golf Tanwarin to be doing this for another network. Full-frontal, heavy (HEAVY!) sex talk, smoochin' everywhere. I'm impressed GMMTV is going here. It's perhaps because I have Domundi on the mind heavily with my recent ZeeNunew education, but I have been feeling as of late that GMMTV has been choosing fluff and/or crap romance (SEE: DANGEROUS ROMANCE -_-) over... pure sex, as it were, and this is getting closer to a Domundi-style show than even where Only Friends went. I LOVE THOR. I LOVE THOR!!!! I'm excited for this, and me likey the looks of Inn.

On Sale: I am LOVING this new we're-not-in-school-we-are-just-insane TayNew era. And Jan is a FAVE FAVE FAVE of mine, and looks like she's gonna level this show the FUCK up. I'm SO INTO THIS.

Pluto: For sure I am watching this for Film (oh, and hi, Thor and Arm!). I'm not the biggest Namtan fan? I wasn't the biggest fan of her acting in Midnight Museum or UMG. Kinda flat. But she's at the top of the popular actress list at GMMTV, and it's great that someone of her prominence is flirting in the QL space. Film, though -- Film has CHOPPPPPPPPPPS and will likely eat this role. We might never get EarnPear, but this might be close.

My Precious: For NanonFilm, anything. But this is just the movie with more scenes, right? I don't know if it was ever going to get international distribution as a movie anyway. K. I'll buy it!

The Trainee: Tell me where I've seen OffGun do movie shit before -- and I don't mind the slight theme repeat. KapookPiploy, huh? I have not seen Vice Versa, but I really enjoyed Sea Tawinan in that. Gun crying, not surprising, but I officially stan OffGun because of Not Me, and I'll stand by this one.

UMMMM

My Love Mix-Up: See here for my initial thoughts. I came to Thai BLs from Japanese BLs. Kieta Hatsukoi was one of the first JBLs I discovered specifically through Tumblr. Japanese BLs are so varied -- and I think, when one is watching JBLs, to have a gentle/general sense of how sex is perceived/managed/dealt with in Japanese culture. I'm not gonna get into this too much here, but the ways in which Japanese and Thai societies deal with sex is very different. Anyway. I think my own mental dissonance on this conversation is coloring my thoughts on My Love Mix-Up Thailand/Kieta Hatsukoi Thailand. Pairs are not repeated in Japan (unless you have second seasons of the same show), and to have an established branded pair in GemFourth in Ida and Aoki's roles -- I'm just, I'm not sure. I don't want the show to feel pressured to go to a place it wouldn't go to without a branded pair. Will Thailand pay homage to Ida's unique and inquisitive demi identity? Can the branded ship economy manage that? I dunno. Let's wait and find out.

Summer Night: I'm going to be gentle on this one. I like that Phuwin takes on various het roles. I happened to LOVE HIM in The Warp Effect. And I like Bimbeam in here -- she actually showed some firm chops in 55:15 Never Too Late. Only if the schedule allows will I take this one, but I actually like the smell of it a bit.

Ossan's Love: What in the EarthMix. Ossan's Love was often cited as queerbaiting material for early Japanese BLs (EDITING TO ADD: just want to clarify that that statement literally came from my early days in JBLs reading Twitter; thank you to @twig-tea and @nieves-de-sugui for the clarifications in the comments!); I have never watched it, but understand its importance in the Japanese BL repertoire. I'm gonna remain sus on this until we find out more. (Although, I'm VERY EXCITED to see a channel like TV Asahi break out of the Japanese paradigm of not collaborating with other countries to get this on Thai TV air. TV Asahi and TV Tokyo for Cherry Magic are real groundbreakers, and I do dig that.)

Only Boo: When I was talking about this show with friends, and @neuroticbookworm said "Book's in this," I WAS LIKE, WHO'S BOOK? LMAO. Let me see Book away from Force for a GOD DAMN SECOND. I know we don't know anyone in here, but the actors actually seem strong! This was a fun preview.

We Are: Lots of couples. PondPhuwin, MarcPawin, WinnySatang, Aou and that other dude. What is this, a New Siwaj show? I might have enough to watch next year without needing to watch ANOTHER school drama. We'll see.

LIKELY NOT

Enigma 2: Not a fan of Win Metawin, and didn't watch the trailer.

High School Frenemy: I understand this is a K-drama remake of School 2013, which I haven't seen. I... am trying to understand the story here, but happy for View/June/Mark/Prom to be in a show together, and I'll pay more attention when the show's closer to airing.

HARD PASS

Ploy's Yearbook: Did not watch the trailer. I understand there's a storyline with Joong's character romancing his adopted sister. HARD. NO.

[radioactive-reactions]

good evening :)

would it be ok to ask the fallout 4 companions reacting to a sole who manages to get a tank working and takes it for a little cruise?

please and thank you!

Good afternoon! What a polite ask! You’re very welcome. To be honest, I’ve been expecting them to add (or, well, re-add) vehicles into Fallout ever since they made the move to 3D. I suppose there’s always Fallout 5...

Cait is all for it, going so far as to straddle the main guns and point out targets for the tank’s wrath as the Sole Survivor pilots it. Every shot threatens to buck her right off with its force- and only makes her manic grin all the wider. “Yeah! Get that radstag next- wait, fuck do you mean we’re out of shells?!”

Codsworth, more than anything, is just worried that the Sole Survivor is going to run themselves over- or worse, blow themselves up. He constantly hovers behind the tank, chiming in with advice that he surely thinks is helpful. “I beg you to think about this for a moment! The family Chryslus is one thing, but... oh dear.”

Curie is right beside Codsworth in fretting, nervously watching the tank trundle along while half-expecting it to spontaneously explode. “You... need a license to drive such a thing, non? Ah, it is very dangerous- it is not, what is the saying, legal for the street?”

Danse gives it a routine inspection, viewing it as yet another piece of useful pre-War technology to be catalogued, preserved, and never thought about again. “Dual 140-millimeter cannons, smoothbore. Depleted uranium penetrators. Four tread arrays, in good condition. This is a big find for the Brotherhood, soldier. Proctor Ingram’s going to have a field day with this one... you are donating it, correct?”

Deacon wastes little time clambering into the cabin, running his fingers over all the little switches and dials. He looks so at home in the tank that it’s hard to remember that he has absolutely no idea how to use it. “Who, me? Uh, yeah, I’ve seen one of these before. Seventh... Republic of Dave... Mechanized Division, man. It’s a real thing.”

Hancock insists on hotboxing the tank, reminding the Sole Survivor that he’s never had the chance to try it with an actual functional vehicle. What little smoke escapes it as it rolls along only convinces poor Curie further that a catastrophic engine failure has occurred. “It’s a symbol, you dig? We take this Army shit, we smoke up inside it? It’s like giving the Man a big, rolling ‘fuck you’. Trust me on this.”

MacCready takes every opportunity to ham it up alongside Deacon, recalling his time in the Gunners to more accurately imitate a military hardass... which lasts for about fifteen seconds once the lurching tank gives him motion sickness. “Is that insubordination on my crew, private? Drop and give me twenty... oh, God, once we stop. Can we stop?”

Valentine would whistle if he could. He’s not shy about getting up close and personal, nudging the treads with one of his well-worn shoes. “...Well, would you look at that? You fixed the only machine in this place more broken-down than I am. Kinda gives me hope.”

Piper joins the peanut gallery with X6 and Curie, already scribbling the rough draft of an article in her omnipresent notepad. “I dunno, Blue. Tell you what: you can ride around in the big metal coffin all you want, and I’ll tell you when you’re about to crash into a tree. Deal?”

Preston is more than a little nervous... but just as impressed, too. Still, he won’t go near the thing, preferring to have Sturges check it out on his behalf. “...Wow. Uh- wow. General, are you sure this sends the right message? We’re here to help the Commonwealth, not... you know, level it.”

Strong feels a bit threatened by the presence of something potentially more destructive than he is, and immediately tries to lift the tank to prove that he’s still on top. He manages to get its front end maybe half an inch off the ground before collapsing, shamed and indignant. “STRONG NEVER LIKE MACHINES ANYWAY. DON’T FIGHT FAIR!”

X6-88 just watches from a distance, thoroughly unimpressed with it all. “No. I don’t think it’s likely to be of any value. A competent asset retrieval team could take it apart in minutes.” Behind those dark sunglasses, though, his eyes are as wide as dinner plates... and is he flinching every time another explosion rocks his surroundings? A trick of the light, surely.

Dogmeat loves it. Of course he does. It stirs primal memories of chasing cars in his little brain- and this one is actually slow enough to catch!

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

ofmd s2e3 rewatch where i pause to jot down my thoughts and other random shit

squeezing this one in riiiiight before the next two eps drop lol. anyway these posts are about me processing these episodes and if you want to read them then that's cool too. but fair warning this is gonna be a fucking mess.

s2e1, s2e2, s2e3, s2e4, s2e5, s2e6, s2e7, s2e8

show opens on zheng leading a raid and INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH. this might be the first time we've seen a raid where like. the background music is kinda moody. and what's odd is that it has like the same level of comedically over-the-top violence and characters just having a casual conversation as like, the e5 cold open. but there's sad piano and strings doing tremolo in the background. i have no idea what this means.

god. zheng is so fucking hot.

i love olu's "no, no, sorry, bruv." and the FACE HE MAKES AFTER!!! so good

olu's a feminist

ZHENG IS SO FUCKING HOT

~champers?~ stede you are such a dork. i need to pinch ur cheeks.

yeah fuck the english!!

zheng saying "everyone's cracking down on the little guy" makes me wonder if the show is gonna do anything abt how the end of the golden age of piracy was like. a year off. which i only know from reading a few fics where the authors incorporated that into the plot. and there was the one trailer where we see zheng in jackie's bar while stede's giving everyone a speech so yknow what that might be where all this is going. big pirate battle at the end of the season, right?

another thing ive been wondering abt tho is just how much is this show gonna completely fuck with history. because like. is zheng yi sao gonna conquer the fucking caribbean. are we just going completely off the rails re: historical accuracy and inventing entire major historical events?? like crocs and pinocchio and pirates from different historical periods all existing at the same time and in the same place is one thing but if the characters like. overthrow england. then ofmd just straight-up exists in an alternate timeline at that point.

stede "the gentleman pirate kills with kindness" bonnet being so impressed with zheng is so cute to me tho

fhsjkgdhfushl oh my god when zheng snaps her fingers and stede hurries to refill drinks the other captain guy grins and flashes finger guns at stede and this is SO fucking funny to me

zheng being like "noooo it's stupid teehee" tucking her hair behind her ears ALSO very funny to me

whose job was it to make the letter N out of caviar for the title card in this episode bc it looks fantastic. got little serifs and everything

stede taking his towel duties VERY seriously and just. dropping them on zheng's desk for no reason. even olu is like "stede what the fuck are you doing"

obsessed with the running gag of stede being like "i always say that!" and other characters being like "no you fucking dont"

stede having zero impulse control and seeing the abacus and just being like "hey what the hell is this thing" and shaking it around. me too, king.

i wont lie tho part of me wonders if stede like. going overboard with towel duty and messing shit up is on purpose. like is he playing dumb so zheng lets her guard down just in case he needs her to think he's completely helpless?? bc at the end of the episode he does get one over on her and i assume it's partly bc she underestimated him. or am i just reading too much into it lol.

but idk it's weird that olu's like "ok stede zheng is busy" and stede's just like "im gonna shake this thing now teehee"

WAIT ALSO backtracking a bit. why were stede and olu shadowing zheng at the beginning of the episode. i mean olu i get, it's bc she has a crush on him (who can blame her) but what's the in-universe justification for zheng being like "yeah alright white boy u can come too"

stede's gay little run out of the room. GO GET YOUR MAN!!!!

awww the crew all look so sad at how messed up the ship is :( THAT'S THEIR HOME!!!

I KNEW THE GNOSSIENNE NO. 5 WAS GONNA KILL ME WHEN IT SHOWED UP IN S2 BUT THIS WAS TOO FUCKING MUCH. THE WAY IT TRAILS OFF AND WE JUST HEAR THE WIND ECHOING. FUCKINGGGGG CLAWING AT MY EYES

i love that there's knife stuck in the painting guy's dick. stupid gags like that never get old. also if that was izzy it's extra funny like what the fuck did he even do that for

also have we ever actually seen the outside of the door to stede's cabin like this before??? we saw those dutch guys get chased down this hallway but idk about. the door.

the crew is too busy feasting on raw bird like they're extras in a zombie film to hear stede calling for ed. love that.

the two people that the camera focuses on individually are jim and izzy. makes sense bc these are the characters who i think are gonna have the most important shit going on re: the fact that they all tried to kill ed.

stede's painfully awkward smile after "um... hi." i mean honestly tho what the fuck else do you say to walking in on this

oh shit jim was totally about to tell stede what happened tho. and then archie interrupted with "oh shit, you're stede?????"

this must be so fucking funny from archie's perspective tho. must've heard so much abt this guy and now she finally gets to meet the main character of the story she stumbled into about a third of the way through. and he's kinda just some blond guy.

stede sounds so defensive too tho when archie's like "i thought you'd be taller, charismatic, muscly" bc god that's exactly what he thinks he should be. i mean ok stede is charismatic in a very unique way but his whole e1 fantasy of having a beard and being all macho and badass was just putting all his insecurities on blast. and now archie is like "this is the guy blackbeard was so fucked up over?? really????"

shoutout to archie saying "got tired" when theyre all saying ed retired

also why was wee john in this shot. like not even just in the shot he's just sitting RIGHT behind stede listening to the whole thing. he doesn't have a single line.

stede rolling his eyes and ignoring izzy is so good. yes king dont take the bait

oh ok wee john was there so that we can see frenchie go over to him and give him a fist bump in the background while stede walks away to stare off into the distance

eddie on tha beach

piggie!

cave! remember when we were all like "CAVE KISS???? ARE THEY GONNA KISS IN THE CAVE??????" it would be funny if this is it for the cave. just off in the distance for one shot. cant actually tell if this is the cave they were posting pictures of last fall tho and idrc enough to try and figure it out

pig's name is ruthie. ed why did your subconscious name the pig ruthie.

why did ed's subconscious make hornigold tell him "open up for the cargo ship" ed your daddy issues are fucking insane

hornigold fully like rubs ed's chest for a second there. kinda a weird choice there.

"last time i saw you, you said you were gonna flay my skin and feed it back to me" man what is it with these pirates and forced autocannibalism, huh? i think getting flayed would hurt more but skin's probably easier to eat than toes so idk which i'd prefer. no i dont know why im pondering this either

smthng abt how this is ed hallucinating this whole bit where hornigold pinches his nose and force-feeds him soup is so funny to me. it's a metaphor for ed dragging himself kicking and screaming to therapy.

frenchie telling fang to stfu scjgdfchjxgk

fucking incredible line delivery from joel fry through the whole "it's quite hot, im burnin up here! should we go and get some coolin' bevvies?" bit. love it.

uhh line break

also bro auntie is dead-on about the guilt. i dont blame the crew at all for what they did but this + the whole bird-eating sequence bro. they all liked ed. they cared abt him. other than archie, they all knew him as a pretty cool person. like BRO im gonna have to make another post abt this but the trauma of like, someone you liked becoming so suicidal that he puts you in increasingly miserable situations hoping you'll snap and kill him and he keeps escalating it until you have no choice but to kill him for your own safety. but you know he was a funny and chill person before this. and you know he only did this bc he wanted to die. dude this shit is fucking heavy.

anyway cut to jimolu lol

bro what IS going on in towels. i love how stede just passes around towels for smelling. is this something people have done literally ever or is this just so we can have chloroform towels at the end of the episode

sorry i know in the last post i was sort of squinting at the bit where olu forgot how to pronounce china but the was he mispronounces eucalyptus is just so satisfying to hear i cant even be mad abt it

awwwwgh u can tell jim was scared to tell olu abt kissing archie

lmaoooo when jim says "i saw her boobs" olu's head WHIPS around and he's like "oh??" all wide-eyed dbhjgkhdfyjsk

naw im sorry this is cute. this is a cute tealoranges scene. yes it's jim telling olu abt how they hooked up with someone else but bro i LOVE relationships with this kind of comfortable discussion abt sex and abt relationships in general. i mean there's a lot more for them to talk about still but in a worse show this wouldve been a whole screaming match. instead we got jim saying "you're kinda the best friend i tell everything to" and joking about boobs and UGH. it's so cute!!!!

it's also so fucking funny tho. "i saw her boobs" "oh?? okay, nice" "both of them" "nope, too much" WHY IS THAT WHERE HE DRAWS THE LINE HFKHSGJKFKKJFHK

also when did jim see archie's boobs tho. like ok realistically they've seen each other in varying stages of undress just bc it's not that big of a ship and there's only so much privacy. but the funnier answer is that after ed kicked them out of the secret room and a few minutes later a gunshot went off (who did the rest of the crew think pulled the trigger, i wonder) and they think izzy's dead probably. and then jim and archie decided this was a good time to hook up.

wait i forgot abt the nebulous amount of time between the mutiny and stede walking in on them all eating a dead bird. who fucking knows how much time that was tho. but they could've hooked up then i guess

GNOSSIENNE NO. 5 PART 2 ELECTRIC BOOGALOO. IM SOBBING.

the song gets to play out more in this scene and ohhhh baby i missed this piano piece. also stede looks more annoyed than upset. he's just casually yoinking things out of the wall. and then he sees the ones on the ceiling and is like "really, ed?"

i think i said this in the tags of a gifset but izzy says "don't cry, bonnet" when stede's back is to him and i just think it's funny bc stede literally wasnt crying. he just looked kinda pissed off. izzy continues to not understand ed or stede even a little bit.

also i love how the music changes by just playing a minor chord and then there's like a spooky echo and then. no more background music.

i just realized izzy's crutch is literally just a mop he's holding upside down. this is funny to me for some reason

"he was a wild dog and we dealt with him like one" izzy hands racism moments

why does izzy even lie about this. why does he say "no i could never do that" when literally he did. he looked right at ed's face as jim hit it with a fucking cannonball. like. what fucking purpose does lying about this even serve. in what way does that benefit izzy. idgi

also ive heard that apparently ppl think he did this to spare stede or something but 1. why would he not want to specifically torture stede as much as possible 2. this is literally not sparing stede bc stede would spend the rest of his life scouring the entire caribbean hoping to find the island where they dropped ed.

RANDOM fucking idea tho but what if they did maroon him but it was on the island from 1x02. that wouldve been great for ed probably. get therapy from the old guy. have some coconut rum drink. chill out. oh well instead they shoved ed into a secret closet and left him there to die from a traumatic head injury.

hornigold calling ed "bro" was such a dead giveaway for me that this was a dream sequence or whatever. like from trailers and stuff i had already figured that this guy was hornigold and that he was probably a ghost or something but i think i mightve been questioning it a little bit at this point. but yeah anyway ed says "bro" and while obviously we dont know exactly what hornigold was like, he didnt sound like the kind of guy to say "bro"

i do love how hornigold's like "you worried you're insane?" and ed's just like "yeah a little bit!"

hornighost: you gotta move on or blow your brains out. or... we can make some soup. ed: yeah let's do soup.

wait stede told zheng that they marooned ed. and then zheng is like "well it's at least mutiny-adjacent" like no im pretty sure that's literally just a regular mutiny

bro rubio qian is so good at making faces

i love how ed's like "you ever thought about selling these shoes?" like who the fuck is hornigold going to sell them to. where does ed think they are.

OUGH RETURN OF ED'S HAIR ALL UP IN A BUN!!!!

ough... return of ed's trauma :(

ughughghuhguhughughgffffff every time i hear ed's voice in the bathtub scene i want to cryyyyy SOMEONE HUG THIS MAN I SWEAR TO GOD

also hornigold's mouth definitely moves in this shot where ed climbs off his body lol

hnnng... ed arm

oughuhgu and a strand of the wig came out of the bun WHY IS HE SO PRETTYYYYYYYYY

i cant believe for months i had my fingers crossed for the "person A thinks person B is dead" trope with ed hearing about the fuckery but instead i got it THE OTHER WAY AROUND. AAAAAAAAAAAHH

yo is hornigold wearing like. a flag. idk why i just noticed this but there's like a giant metal rung with rope tied through it holding his whole robe-ish situation together. is that a flag

very random thought but i love how tv shows just cut back and forth btwn plots and one plot might basically be one conversation but every time we cut back theyre in a different setting and we dont see how they got there. like the cut from stede walking in on the crew eating a bird to all of them back on zheng's ship eating soup. and now we went from ed yelling "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON" at hornighost's hut and now they're on a beach talking abt what the fuck is going on. why did they go there. who knows. doesnt matter.

ed is so fucking stressed abt being in the gravy basket. poor man is nervously playing with the big stick and trying so hard not to lose his cool.

damn he threw that stick really far tho. good arm.

im sorry but it's SO fucking funny how zheng is trying to seduce olu in this scene and she's like "whats the status of your boatmance is it... ongoing?" *unsheathes sword* like girl that's not seduction that's a full-on threat. i mean it's still hot dgmw but it's unclear what exactly you're going for here

YES STEDEY-BOY

loving the jaunty little escape music

archie and jim holding haaands

stede: you always say you have perfect aim black pete: ive never said that roach: you always say that lucius, throwing his beloved boyfriend under the bus: you said it today

buttons is so fucking loud fhjkhgyejkthfjkhg. ngl i relate tho

obsessed with the noise button makes when he slides across to the Revenge

and they use tea towels to slide over!! god stede really made the most out of his time in towels

~~

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE how olu is the one sitting on the desk with his legs dangling and kicking during this makeout session

also obsessed with how theoretically olu could've seduced zheng out of killing the crew and it's possible that none of this was necessary

wait i literally just realized that they stole the wheel not just so that zheng couldn't follow them but bc the Revenge didnt have one lol

ugh ed's tits look so good what the hell

ed in his head instantly associates the phrase "calico jack" with someone going "WHOOHOO" at the top of their lungs

oughu FUCK i did not fucking realize this but ed is taking hornigold's presence here as confirmation that he's not loveable. earlier hornighost said "you're afraid you're unlovable" but then when he's on the cliff and he's like "you brought me here because you hate yourself" ed is like "im not loveable." ohhhhhh fuck

and then hornigold is like "and you're afraid to do anything about it. but im not" and then throws the rock off the cliff. this is the shittiest part of ed's brain calling him a pussy for not killing himself and telling him he deserves to die. fuuuuuuuuck me.

oh boy okay. ed got yanked off the cliff. stede is heading into the secret room. idk if i even have anything to say about the mermaid sequence like i cant believe this shit is real. fuck. this is a fever dream. they really just... wrote this. filmed it. put rhys darby in a fish tail. FUCK

ok the two things i have to say about this. first: the fucking flashback montage in this sequence makes me stop breathing like every single fucking time. secondly: when theyre face-to-face in ed's mermaid fantasy there's a split second where ed sort of jolts forward a tiny tiny tiny half of an inch. and i have no idea if it's intentional. but it makes me think of how in the "you wear fine things well" scene ed TOTALLY STEPS IN THINKING STEDE'S ABOUT TO KISS HIM.

WRITTEN BY ALYSSA LANE AND ALEX SHERMAN. SHOUTOUT TO THOSE GUYS.

[marksbear]

Hi Mark 🐻

I really really like your Blog and your Stories 🤎

I wanted to ask if I may make a request? I've been thinking about Jake Seresin from Top Gun a lot lately and there are only your stories about him.

So, my request would be Jake „Hangman“ Seresin x Male Reader.

-> Jake and M/N are in a relationship, but Jake doesn't want to make it public and hasn't told the others either. He's always playing the playboy.

M/N comes to the bar and sees Jake flirting with a woman and he decides to "get revenge" and flirts with a man. Jake sees it all and becomes incredibly jealous.

Jake confronts M/N and they have a huge fight. M/N breaks up in tears and goes home. The gang try to help Jake and he tells them why he never said he had a boyfriend (fear of his dad).

The gang and even Maverick help Jake do something romantic. Jake orders M/N to the bar again and then blindfolds him. You go into the bar, which is decorated in a totally romantic way. The two eat together and talk. They finish dancing and Jake then leads M/N to the beach where the others are waiting and officially introduces him as his boyfriend.

Thank you in advance and I look forward to reading more from you. Aaaand I wish you a happy new year 🤎

Hey Anon! Thank you for liking my blog and all that means a lot to me! And I hope you like this one my friend!

And sorry for this taking so long! I meant to post it on new years but got drunk and shit and kinda forgot this was in my drafts! 😭

Warnings! Angst to fluff!,

JAKE SERESIN X MALE READER

Y/n was in a different squad. His squad was always going second after Maverick's squad. That means they always see them fly first and go to missions first.

One of the mission's Mavericks team caught them off guard and the navy needed Y/n's squad to save them.

And that's how Y/n met Hangman. Y/n thought he was irritating to save, but he dealt with him anyway taking him to safety.

Even though Jake didn't want to praise the other group he had to praise the leader. Sergeant Y/n L/n. He thought Y/n was pretty damn good at his job. The way he took care of his team and the way he showed why hes the leader was pretty good.

After they completed the mission Y/n and Jake had unrecognizable tension between each other. With all that tension in the room led to Jake cracking and asking out Y/n on a date. They spend almost everyday with each other not missing a single day without seeing the others face. Always sneaking off during classes or training to hang out.

The two were going great. Truly great. Their lives has been better with the other being by their side until Y/n tried to hold Jake's hand in public.

"whoa there Y/n." Jake moves his hand away very fast.

Y/n gives him a confused look and asks. "What? I can't hold your hand I thought we were dating-----" Y/n gets cut off by Jake covering his mouth.

"Keep your voice down..." Jake says in a hushed tone. "Look we are a thing. But not a public thing y'know? Jake adds moving his hand off of Y/n. Y/n stares at Jake like hes a ghost or something. "C'mon Y/n. Don't tell me you actually thought it was a public thing? Trust me we are boyfriends, but not like that."

Y/n didn't know why those words stung. To Y/n it's like Jake had just broken up with him. He didn't know why Jake started to treat him differently in public and private. Y/n's heart stung each time he'd think about it and especially Jake's words.

Since that day their relationship has had a crack. The sad thing is only Y/n saw the large crack not his boyfriend who looked like he wasn't and only saw the relationship as it used to be.

Y/n walks inside the bar in a good mood with some of his friends. Y/n finds an empty pool table and begins the game with some of his buddies. "Didn't think the little kids team was gonna be here." One of the girls say looking at Bradshaw and them joke around.

The little kids. Was your group's nickname for Y/n's boyfriend team name. Y/n looked up from the game and eyes widens.

Y/n grips the pool stick staring at his boyfriend watching Jake caressing a woman's lip with his thumb with a smirk. Jake leans in whispering in the woman's ear as she giggles and blush.

This wasn't the first time he saw Jake flirting with a girl. he always confronted him about it, but Jake always had an excuse and argument ready.

He was tired of his shit. If he wanted to play this game Y/n was gonna play it better. Y/n analyzed the room and got his eyes set on a man who looked good like he should be a model or something. "Play for me John." Y/n gives the stick to his friend and makes his move.

The man is sitting almost where his boyfriend is. Not close, but still close where you can hear the others conversation.

Y/n sits by the man moving his chair even closer to the man. The two hit it off kinda fast talking about all sorts of things. Once Y/n felt Jake's eyes on him he began to really make his move.

He began to give him compliments and little touches on the man. The man really did seem interested with Y/n flirting with him back even putting his hand on Y/n's thigh.

The man leans into Y/n whispering in his ear.

And that seems to finally get a reaction with Jake. Jake dismisses the girl saying "I'm not interested in you anymore." The girl looks hurt and heartbroken but walks away with some tears in her eyes.

Jake seems to move his chair around facing his boyfriend and the stranger's full attention on the two. Jake's jaw is tight as well is fist. Y/n side eyes his boyfriend sees his angry state and goes for the cherry on top.

Y/n gives the man a light kiss on the cheek. "Bye, hopefully talk to you soon?" Y/n says patting the man's back. The man gives Y/n a bright smile and a flirt wink before heading off leaving the bar.

Before Y/n gets to go back with his team he gets stopped by his boyfriend. "Y/n. What were you thinking flirting with that guy?" The blonde is gripping his boyfriend's wrist.

"What? I can't make friends." Y/n uses the excuse Jake always says when he confronts him. "It's not like we are a thing." That last line caused Jake to flip.

He shouts insults and remarks at Y/n not even caring about the tears in Y/n's eyes. "You're such an embarrassment. Theres no telling what people would say about me if they found out about you. And how could you be so selfish! Always trying to get me to come out Y/n I swear!---- " Jake stops his rant when he hears Y/n's choked sob fall from his lips and when he sees tears rushing down Y/n's face profusely no matter how much he wiped them.

Y/n storms out of the bar covering his face with his hands. Jake watches Y/n team follow after him quickly. "God. What did I do..." Jake's mind speaks for itself.

Hangman moves to the nearest window watching Y/n's team member hug him and open the car door for him. "What did you do Jake?" Phoenix asks looking outside the window beside him. The team all stare at Hangman.

After Jake tells them they all shout at him even coyote. Jake doesn't even try to defend himself knowing that he was in the wrong. "Why did you keep him a secret?" Fanboy asks shaking his head in disappointment."Yeah! Y/n is like one of the best people ever!" Bob adds in.

"Because of my father! Theres no telling what he will say or think if I come out and I have a boyfriend on the side of that."

"So, you were being a shit show of a boyfriend because of your father." Payback says starting to understand everything now. Hangman shakes his head yes.

"Someone call Mav. We gotta help this fool win his boyfriend back." Phoenix says with a plan already in mind.

TIMESKIP

Jake is standing outside the bar heart pounding out of his chest. The blonde begins to overthink his plan and himself. "What am I doing... he hates me now." Jake says covering his face with his hands and a sigh escaping his lips. His thoughts are so loud he didn't even hear a car pulling up and parking.

"Jake?" Hangman shoots his head up and smiles at his boyfriend. "Y-y/n you came!" Jake couldn't help but stutter when he saw him. Y/n wanted to just tear that smile off the blonde, but he knew he couldn't because he grew quite fond of that smile.

Hangman was nervous to give Y/n a hug, but thank god Y/n pulled Jake in his arms first.

The two stand and talk up a storm in front of the bar both of them honestly forgetting the harsh argument they shared hours ago.

"Are we gonna stand out here all day?" Y/n asks in a teasing tone which makes Jake remember his plan and cover Y/n's eyes with a tie. "Really a tie?" Y/n asks letting his boyfriend blindfold him. "Yeah do I have to bring up all the times you begged me to---" "Shut up!"

The couple laugh and joke around before Jake opens the bar door guiding his boyfriend in.

"Are you ready?" Jake asks standing behind Y/n getting ready to untie the tie. "Yes..." As soon as Y/n say yes Jake takes off the tie slowly and smiles to himself once he hears Y/n gasp.

"Jake! W-why did you do all this!"

"As an apology. I was being a real asshole and I messed everything up between us." Jake gets in front of Y/n before continuing. "You mean so much to me. I'm sorry Y/n I-I'm truly am---" Jake gets cut off by Y/n kissing him deeply on the lips.

Once the two pull away they let their foreheads rest against each other smiling and staring into the others eyes. Hangman pulls Y/n's hands dragging him to the bar.

"You did all of this?" Y/n asks looking at the romantic and beautiful scenery. "Of course I did!" Jake steals all the credit about working on the place even though it was mostly Bob and Maverick.

Hangman goes to the back of the bar getting f/n and handing Y/n's his own plate with a drink before he gets his own food sitting beside Y/n. "This is perfect. You are perfect." Y/n says eating some of the food.

The two talk about whatever is on their minds and cracking jokes. When the conversations get quiet it doesn't feel awkward at all it feels comfortable and loving.

"Do you wanna dance?" Y/n asks getting up walking to the jukebox. Jake downs his drink before getting up walking to Y/n standing beside him as he picks a song.

"Not this song Y/nnn." Jake groans seeing Y/n click on the song he honestly hates more than the whole world.

"You be the lady and i'll be the man." Y/n says with a smile putting his hands on Jake's waist.

Timeskip!

"Do you wanna meet my team?" Jake asks sitting on the floor with his boyfriend tired from all the dancing. "I already met your team Jake." "Yeah as C/n not Y/n Jake's cool and amazing boyfriend." Y/n becomes quiet staring at his boyfriend trying to see if hes joking.

"As your boyfriend?"

"Yes. As my one and only boyfriend."

"Hell yeah!"

"So what are we waiting for let's go!"

The two jump up from the floor and run out the bar hand in hand. "Are we seriously going to run to the beach!?!" Y/n asks with a shout.

Once the two arrive at the beach Hangman takes Y/n's hand giving it a large squeeze before turning around facing him. "Are you ready?" "Of course I am." They share one last smile before walking up to the group.

The group is quick to be silent giving the couple their undivided attention.

"Everyone. I'd like for you to meet my boyfriend Y/n." Jake says pulling Y/n in front of him.

THE END!