#but then winter kills his ass im im remembering right

[freak-accident419]

Good Tidings

Josh Futturman x GN!Reader

Summary: You and Josh barely have any time to yourselves due time traveling nonstop, trying to save the fate of humanity. However, being at the Futturman’s Christmas dinner party granted you two a fair amount of time.

Word Count: 2.9k

Content: 18+ Smut, MDNI, gender neutral reader (no genitals specified, it’s just vague penetration), cockwarming, lots of fluff, takes place during Future Man S1E6 “A Blowjob Before Dying”, too much shitty sex jokes n puns (im sorry) (not), giddy+silly+sweet love making, you think you are sooo fucking funny, more goofy than serious/lustful, you two are very much in love, more plot (high ass dialogue) than porn tbh

(A/n: Merry Christmas to those who celebrate!! Hope you enjoy this muahahaha and thank you all for your recent support! First smut written on this account, so be gentle with me please !)

-

You, Tiger, Wolf, and Josh were at the Futturman household, schedule disrupted due to the reluctance of Josh’s parents. They insisted that you all join them for their small Christmas dinner party. You were all sat down at the dining table, as well as the neighbors, Josh’s Uncle Barry, and Diane’s friend, Wanda (who was especially invited to perhaps keep Barry at bay).

While Tiger was mostly impatient and displeased with every mindless convo and laughter, talk revolved around several topics like DNA kits or Wolf’s strangely fascinating culinary.

You sat beside your boyfriend, Josh, slightly nervous about the time you were wasting. Ever since you’ve been dragged into the whole ‘Biotic Wars is real’ and ‘kill or be killed’ shit, you and Josh have been dealing with the worst, unimaginable shit ever. With the two of your adrenaline wearing off, you gradually processed everything that’s happened the past few days since you were never given a break. Hence the hand holding under the table as you two would seek comfort from one another.

But you attempted to distract yourself from the deaths you’ve witnessed and the near-death experiences you’ve had to your best ability by indulging in every conversation.

“Gabe, honey, tell them about—about the recent fishing trip we went on,” Josh’s mother, Diane encouraged to her husband with her sweet, achingly kind voice. You had so much respect for Josh’s parents, so it was pretty easy for you all to hit it off well. They loved you. In fact, they were heavily relieved that Josh had finally found someone, let alone someone as amazing as you.

Gabe let out a hearty chuckle as he prepared himself to tell the table his story.

“So, a couple of days ago, Diane and I went on a small fishing trip. And I remembered an old trick back in the day that attracted a lot of trout,” he explained as you picked up your glass of wine, sipping some generously. Diane smiled at him with a nod as he continued. “One of the very efficient ways to go about fish bait is blowing worms.”

You choke on your wine, holding in a laugh, coughing a bit instead as Josh looks at you with a knowing smile. “I’m sorry, what?” You asked, trying not to grin too widely. Did you hear that right?

“Blowing worms,” Gabe repeated, getting a confined chuckle out of you and Josh. “You inflate the worms with air, which makes them float instead of having your bait be at the very bottom. It’s perfect, especially near the winter time. Worked like a charm.”

“Ohh,” you gasp in wonder. You chuckle to yourself before you spontaneously say, “Yeah, actually, I think I did do that a few times. Blew a-a worm.”

You looked at Josh, thinking you were being hilarious, but he looked at you with surprised eyes and parted lips of shock that slowly transitioned into a smile.

“Really?” Josh’s father expressed with intrigue. “I didn’t even know you fish. You have someone teach you that method, or—”

“Oh, no, Mr. Futturman, I,” you speak as you occasionally switch from looking at him to Josh. “I think it’s a very popular method. It’s a pretty natural instinct, you know? Blowing worms, that is.”

“Wow, really? Always thought it was an old-fashioned sort of thing.”

“Nah, far from old-fashioned, it’s almost contemptuous!”

You did pretty well at suppressing your laughter, because you sounded really earnest. Josh covered his mouth, amused by your subtle humor.

“Joshy, we didn’t know that Y/n likes fishing. We could’ve taken them on our trip. In fact, we could’ve all went,” Diane suggests as she looked at Josh and then you.

It was like everyone at the table was blind to your immature, yet humorous implication. Except, of course, your boyfriend.

“Oh, no worries, Mrs. Futturman,” you insisted kindly. “I don’t usually fish. Plus, blowing worms can be very exhausting.”

“Y/n—” Josh reacted, but interrupted himself with a suppressed laugh.

“You think so?” Mr. Futturman raised an eyebrow. “I just stick a syringe in them, inflate it, and bam, it’s all thick and ready to g—”

You and Josh burst out laughing, holding onto the table and each other. You swore there were slight tears coming out of your eyes as both of your faces were red. You felt overjoyed to feel happiness and delight for the first time ever since your involvement in the mission. And you felt even more glad that it was your boyfriend that you fooled around with.

“Sorry, sorry,” Josh says after his laughter died down as the entire table was confused. “I just—We just thought about a, um, moment when—Um… Actually, Y/n and I did go fishing once. Isn’t that—isn’t that right?”

You nod and go along with it, detaining your giggles.

“Well, anyways, we actually did that method, and yeah, you’re right, it works like a charm!” He exclaimed with joy as his parents smile at him with approval and pride.

“Bet the worm was pretty small, huh?” Tiger jumped in wittily, however, in a coldly nonchalant manner.

“And pathetic!” Wolf blurted.

“Hey, even if that might’ve been true—might’ve—it-it probably had a personality, you know?” He reckoned with a shrug, making you laugh again.

***

“You are—are fucking terrible, you know that?” Josh quickly muttered under his breath as you two continued to kiss each other deeply on his bed. “Those were my parents.”

“C’mon, baby, admit it, it was comedy gold,” you giggle, pressing your lips to his once more by tugging his black, skinny necktie towards you as you remained sitting on his lap.

The dinner party was still going on downstairs. After a long time of looking at each other longingly at the table, you two decided to excuse yourselves in order to “prepare gifts for Josh’s coworkers that he forgotten to wrap” in his room.

When you guys rushed in his room, you couldn’t take your hands off each other, immediately making out once the door was locked. However, you then had to close all his blinds before you met him back on the bed. This wasn’t new to you, none of it was. The soft, warm orange that his room’s light emitted strangely comforted you, as well as being back on his soft, spacey mattress.

Was it a good idea to leave Tiger and Wolf alone with Josh’s family and company? Probably not. But you’ve taught them enough shit. They tolerate Josh’s parents, so why not a few other guests as well? And you’ll only be gone for no longer than five minutes, you’d hoped.

You bring your hands to his pants, attempting to unbuckle his belt. “Shit—What the—What the fuck is this?” You grumble, Josh laughing at you as you struggle.

“I think it’s—” He giggled, bringing his own hands to his belt, trying to remove it, pulling. “I think it’s stuck.”

“What the shit?” You wheeze. “Fuckin’—Fuckin’ cock block!” You continue to mess with the belt, trying your best to unbuckle it.

“Wait, you—you’re almost there, you—”

“Oh my god! Holy shit! I got it!” You let out a surprised gasp, quickly unbuttoning and unzipping his pants right after.

“Oh shit! Flawless victory!” He exclaimed, making you stop in your tracks, looking back up at him.

“You did not just quote Mortal Kombat because I successfully unbuckled your belt,” you raise an eyebrow, nevertheless amused by his dorkiness.

“Maybe,” he answered smugly.

“You’re lucky I am in love with you, otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have let that slide,” you chuckle.

“Oh, come on. You’d love my video game references either way,” he insisted.

“I’m serious, Josh, the amount of things I’ve let slide because I love you is kind of crazy. Let me just say, I am so glad I met you after the ‘apple juice’ incident that Ray told me about.”

“Ray told you about that?”

“He told me a lot of things. Mostly the embarrassing things. I think he wanted to freak me out, you know? Always thought I was too good for you.”

You pulled his pants off, throwing it carelessly down on the floor. Your lips attached once more as he snickered as you then cupped his face with your warm hands. You look at your lover, his big, brown, desperate eyes looking at you with utmost adoration. “Well, jokes on him, he was entirely wrong. You are so good to me, you know that?”

He smiles at you softly, and you could sense how flustered he felt to hear that (the blushing patently gave it away). “You’re the one who’s been on my side since forever. Even when you got involved in all this shit that you didn’t even have to be in. You-You could’ve called me crazy, and-and broken up with me, but you believed me and stayed by my side, even knowing that things were gonna get dirty. And they did, get really dirty.” Rest in peace Janis and Carl? Or, rather, die, you evil perf-cocks? Eh, doesn’t fucking matter. “You’re so good for me, sometimes I can’t believe you’re even real.”

You giggle sweetly as you give him another kiss, a quiet smack caused by your lips deftly leaving his own to speak. “Well, I’m here and I’m real, and I’ll always be there for you, baby,” you reassure. You were perfect for him. Indefinitely.

He smiled blissfully. “I love you so much.”

You two made out passionately until you were laying under him, the lower halves of your bodies bare as you discarded the necessary clothes.

“Do you think your parents and everyone else knew about the worm thing or are they just that… I don’t know… clueless?” You asked endearingly under your breath as your fingers entangle in his soft, brown hair.

“Hmm. Possibly,” he reckons, raising his eyebrows as he thought about it. “That was still kind of evil of you, though.”

“Me, personally, I thought it was hilarious.”

“Blowing worms?”

“C’mon, your father set himself up for that.”

“Tiger called it small,” he muttered lamentably. “And Wolf said it was pathetic.”

“Jeez, whatever happened to personality?” You chuckle softly.

He sighed. “They still sort of called me out.”

“Shut up. It’s average, to say the least. Doesn’t matter either way, you’re enough.”

“But—”

“Josh, if it bothers you this much, then just prove them wrong right now,” you reply with a laugh.

“As in—?”

“Josh, c’mon, we don’t have time anyways. They’re expecting us any minute because of that shitty made-up story excuse. I love foreplay, dude, but I’m pretty sure we didn’t acknowledge the time at all. Quickies are definitely not our cup of tea. Y—” Your breath hitched as you felt his tip prod at your sensitive entrance. He gave you a soft, comforting kiss on the nose. You looked into each other’s eyes deeply, then your lips crashed into each other’s as the two of you stifled your moans once Josh finally thrusted in.

“Y-You know you’re p-perfect just the—mm—way you are, right?” You ask gently, wrapping your arms around his neck.

He smiled at this, kissing your lips once more, beginning to move. Your heart fluttered each second you felt him thrust in and out, slightly and satisfyingly stretching you. His hips moved quite skillfully, but also slightly clumsily, which was nonetheless admirable.

Your usual soft moans and gasps would be replaced by stifled grunts and sighs, due to the company downstairs. As much as you wanted the whole world to know that Josh Futturman was yours and only yours, you also had dignity—plus, it was his goddamn parents downstairs.

You giggled as you felt his nose against yours each rough kiss. “Y-You know, however, I think the only complaint I have about you is the fact that you hate Super Mario Bros.” You point out with a chuckle.

“Y/n, in my—agh—defense, it literally makes no sense. Like, why would there be pipes that are—”

“Okay, why rely solely on logic and rationality, hm, Futturman? I thought video games were all about escape. It’s all just harmless fun.”

“Yeah, well, I’m much more into games with thought-out plots and challenges,” he remarked, making you roll your eyes playfully. “Anyways, it pretty much just got ruined for me even more when Tracy at the video game store talked about Luigi having a very hairy, Italian cock.”

You raise an eyebrow.

“Baby, I love you. However, your goddamn dick is currently inside of me. Please do not talk about Luigi’s theoretic hairy penis.”

“Noted,” he assents, going back to kissing you passionately, while moving slowly inside of you, yet deeper with each thrust. You let out a quiet, pleasured gasp as you felt him fill you perfectly, his hands lovingly gripping your waist to keep you still.

Your eyes closed as you indulged in the feeling of his gentle thrusts, him peppering kisses on your neck, softly chuckling under his breath. He guessed he was still in disbelief that he had someone as amazing as you.

“I… I still can’t believe someone as perfect as you would ever go out with a loser like me,” he scoffed, pressing more kisses against your neck and jaw.

“Hey, seriously?” You frown, holding his face in your hands once more, stroking his cheeks with your thumbs. “You are… a lot of things, Josh. But a loser isn’t one of them. Okay? You are so kind and funny and caring and thoughtful a-and—m-mm—amazing i-in general.”

“I—Fuck. I—I don’t deserve you,” he panted.

“J-Jesus Christ, sh-shut your fuckin’ rathole. Yes you do, baby. You deserve me as much as I deserve you.”

It was becoming harder to focus on your words as you continued to feel an increased sensation and pleasure as his thrusts quicken and falter. You let out a small gasp as you tense things up by wrapping your legs around his waist to bring him in even deeper. You two had been speaking and giggling to each other constantly that you didn’t even notice the lewd, wet, slapping against the skin that came from each heavy thrust. Josh grabbed one of your hands, interlocking your fingers tightly on the mattress beside your head.

“J-Josh, I—” You begin breathlessly.

“I know, me too,” he grunts as soft, inaudible whimpers and whines leave his lips while the movement of his hips stuttered. His rhythm was becoming unsteady, but it was also increasing in speed. “I—Y/n, f-fuck, I’m c—”

“Sh-shit, baby, I—” You pant as you felt closer and closer over the edge, every mere feeling increasing your stimulation. You bring your hand to cover your mouth and suppress any loud moans as you finally released, the knot in your stomach undoing itself as you sigh afterwards once your hand left your mouth. Josh came exactly right after you as his hips jolted for the final time, spilling his warm, white seed inside of you, burying his face in your neck to muffle a high-pitched grunt and acute whines.

You two were breathing heavily, kissing each other’s lips softly and lovingly after you both came down from your high. You two never moved from your position, still fragile and sore. Josh caressed the side of your waist under your shirt, his head resting in your neck as you moved your hand to play with his hair, holding him in your arms.

“This is probably the only time we’ll have together alone before we have to continue with the damn mission,” you figured, tangling his strands of hair in between your fingers.

“It’s bullshit,” he mumbles, his thumb continuing to rub your waist.

“Enjoy the moment while we can?” You suggested with a small chuckle.

“Yeah, I guess,” he sighed dejectedly.

A beat.

“Hm,” you hum thoughtfully.

“Yeah?”

“Nothing, I just… I like it whenever you’re inside of me,” you comment softly. This was probably the most affectionately vulnerable and honest you have been with him. Your tone lacked any intention for humor or lust; you were genuine.

He lifted his head up from your neck. “Seriously?”

“I don’t know. It just feels right. You know, as if you were, like, made for me exactly,” you whispered lovesickly, looking down at his sweet, plump lips to his profound, gorgeous brown eyes. “I wanna stay like this a little longer. You’re so perfect for me. I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” he replied with a smile, kissing your lips soothingly.

Then suddenly,

“Futturman! L/n! Get out of there, we gotta go now! Operation Cameronium!” Tiger called from the other side of the door. “Goddamnit. The fucking—tiny man—baby thing—is, just, really starting to piss me off. Let’s go!”

You and Josh looked at each other for a while in silence before bursting out into laughter.

“We-we better go before she considers murdering little baby Wallace,” you suggest with a soft smile.

“Yeah… Wait. Do you really think—”

“No…” You answer before he could finish his sentence. “I know she seems all stoic on the outside, but I feel like the past few days, she changed a bit. Empathy-wise. Slightly, at the very least.” Josh nods.

“I’m really gonna miss this,” he sighs.

“Me too. But don’t worry, once we fix everything, we have all the time in the world together,” you assert.

“Okay,” he smiles sweetly, kissing your lips before slowly pulling out of you, leaving you to feel empty and slightly bummed.

The two of you, with your clothes back on and hair quickly fixed, you waltzed downstairs with no problem. Your hands had been interlocked, faces a bit flushed as you smile to yourselves.

“You two sure look happy,” Diane expresses joyfully. “You really got into the Christmas spirit, wrapping all those gifts upstairs, huh?”

You giggled under your breath. “Oh, yeah, definitely, Mrs. Futturman. Uh, very much so. I really love Christmas, you know? The gift wrapping Joshy and I did upstairs and, you know, all the Christmas traditions. ‘Specially, ‘specially the yule log.” You look at Josh with a knowing grin as he just listened in, suspecting nothing at all. “Really makes you feel warm inside, am I right?”

[ma-lark-ey]

Lark Liveblogs Literature: THE SUNSHINE COURT BABYYYYY LETS GO JEAN

to begin: THE COVER???

The fucking NARCISSUS/DAFFODIL. Stop stop stop. Nora stop. She said it wouldn’t be a sun but I WASNT READY.

RESILIENCE. FIRST BLOOM AT THE END OF WINTER. NEW BEGINNINGS AND REBIRTH.

warning in advance for how many reaction images will be in this post. Miss Nora Sakavic has a way of making me unable to verbalise how devistated I am so I turn to goofy photos.

Also, just so we’re all on the same page:

it’s 1:20 AM. My roommate IS asleep. I am fighting the demons (downloading this book) but i am winning (it is queued on my kindle)

ITS DOWNLOADED LETS GO

Okay so context is that my Kindle is at 10%

I tried to go to bed and read this in the morning but I am

SO NOW I HAVE FRANTICALLY FOUGHT A WAR (figured out how to get this book) AND I AM READY FOR BATTLE (to cry over Jean)

ONE, TWO, THREE, LETS GO BITCH!!

Also my kindle cord is too small for me to properly lay in bed so im literally about to lay on my stomach kicking my feet like a middle schooler WISH. ME. LUCK.

CHAPTER ONE:

oh we’re jumping right in okay. god. hi baby :((

OH. I am just adding onto my #1 Riko hater agenda right now.

“The golden rule— not where the public can see” DIE. LITERALLY DIE TETSUJI

“The lack of broken fingers this time” THIS TIME??? JEAN. JEAN.

im so.

RENEE!!!

“and he had wasted them texting Renee a heads-up.” Nora please we’re only four pages in bro

Renee i love you im marrying you please give me a kiss. Mwah Mwah Mwah. She said “Bitch. Lay back down.”

currently also reading a batshit raven!neil fic and just. on the ground. about all of this.

stop the way I literally went “who the fuck is Nathaniel” Im too transgender for this.

Me, seeing the Abby content we need in this world:

Jean dont call that hellscape home bbg

Renee beating self worth into this man. ily

“Jean couldnt remember the last time he was allowed to wear color” LITERALLY KILL ME

Nora I need you to be less good at describing pain please and thanks

NOT THE BITING

DADMACK DADMACK DADMACK DADMACK!!

he fr be moving this man like a doll. love you wymack

tied him up with racquet laces I. h. lays on floor softly crying.

NOT THE DADDY ISSUES

Jean fr out here plotting 50 ways to kill his brother. he fr though Neil was the problem. no girl Neil just has no tact and autism rizz. Kevins the fucking snitch

no one:

Jean @ the Moriyamas;

“that man is years overdue for a head-on high-speed collision” YOU TELL EM DADMACK

CHAPTER TWO:

Jean please just sleep like a normal human man. God.

Even Jean be out here like “Kevins a little Chihuahua ass drama queen. Bitchboy. Wet cat man.”

Kevin: look, bro, if the 5’3 twink with enough daddy issues to make riko blush and chugs ‘fuck around and find out’ juice for breakfast can escape the moriyamas and not die, so can you.

Testuji. Testuji when I catch you. Tetsuji

Jean what the fuck makes you think anyone but Andrew Minyard will ever tell Neil what to do. Girl.

“If I am not a Raven, who am I?” A MOTHERCUCKING TROJAN BABYYYY

“I have to go to my next class.” I forgot they were in college deadass. Neil is straight up my age im gonna throw up.

Okay. It is. *checks time* 3 AM. I cannot keep my eyes open, which means i must put Jean away for sleep.

ITS IS NOON THE FOLLOWING DAY. I HAVE SLEPT. I HAVE TAKEN MY MEDICATIONS. TIME TO HYPERFOCUS BABY.

KINDLE SAYS WE HAVE 8 hrs 27 mins LEFT IN THIS BOOK. IM SAYING GOODBYE TO MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY. I’LL SEE Y’ALL AT DINNEE TIME. ITS JEAN TIME.

Hiiiiiii Thea….

“Good morning, Paris.” Now, the average man will see this as a reference to his frenchness. but real ones know Paris is prince of Troy, the man who married Helen of Troy & started the Trojan war.

do y’all think Jean has a french accent wait wait wait. obviously itd be very slight at this point but is it there. necessary question.

Assessing Thea like a fucking state exam right now. Neil could not have cared less about your ass I am gaining so much information

Hate of my life Riko moriyama.

CHAPTER THREE:

JEREMY FUCKING KNOW HI BAYYYBY

the way I literally got up and had to pace and stim for a moment even though I fully expected this. autism. my roommate is concerned. not really. she’s used to this she watched me read TKM and dramatically reenact the Ichirou Car Talk.

wow??? AFTG team actually seems happy and well-adjusted and friendly with each other??

Random Note: I’m currently watching Blue Exorcist & one of the main characters is a girl name Moriyama and I’m literally just sitting here like “This girl is way to nice and innocent to have that name.” Because she literally is the nicest girl to ever exist. Why is she cursed with the same name as my mortal enemy (Testuji)

“Tonight’s experiment was the icing on the cake, an invaluable experience no matter how it ended.” Jeremy, my love.

He has empathy… Never before seen footage. Y’all get the cameras!!

He’s so shaken about Jean,,, holding you so gently Jeremy. Here as a guy who knows nothing at all about Jeremy since I’m. so new here. but god.

Jeremy: are you sure a Raven can abide by Troja—

Kevin: Bro Jean is so pathetic he’s a bottom fr. He never disobeys an order

Jeremy: I. Okay you didnt have to say it like that, bro.

I will literally never stop respecting the Trojans strat in the final they really said. “If these fucks can win the championships with nine players, surely we can.” and then willingly got their asses handed to them.

“Xavier stumbled when he got the next serve off, and the Fox guarding him gamely hauled him back upright before running for the ball. It was a simple gesture, but it endeared Jeremy to them” I dont remember if this bit was described in tkm so i’m going to guess that’s Nicky or Matt. Aaron would fucking never.

Nah because like. Yes this proved to the Trojans how resilient the Foxes were, but it was also a message to the audience, yk? Like we know the Foxes were getting shit for their quick rise to the top after they pulled their shit together, but I personally think that the Trojans did this both for their improvement & for Foxes’ publicity. This game proved to the public at large how devastatingly *good* the Foxes were, because of their small size. The second best team in the league crumbled playing the same conditions the Foxes did *every game* and got to championships with. They proved that Foxes were, in fact, a D1 team who earned their keep.

oh hes got daddy’s money. Well. not. officially. yo what I mean.

“it was always best to have a paper trail” Neil Josten would have an anuerysm hearing those words.

Bye Jeremy I’m. Love you so much. Why do you feel like a sixty year old man in your early twenties.

“between seven and twelve students.” yikes.

“unfamiliar and accented voice.” I WAS RIGHT I FUCKING CALLED IY HES GOT AN ACCENT BABY FUCK YEAH

“you ever feel like— like you’re making a choice you cant come back from? But even knowing everything could go completely sideways, you’d make that choice every time?” okay so coming out allegories i could make aside, Jeremy is so… where to start with him. He reminds me of Percy Jackson. Endlessly loyal and selfless to the point its a bit stupid but endearingly stupid.

CHAPTER FOUR:

Okay so we’re alresdy hateflirting. noted.

Its also extremely sunny today in Podunk Hicksville where I live so it feels very On Brand.

“Jean had seen that smile in a half-dozen broadcast… He could picture it too easily, and he dug his fingernails into his own face in vicious warning.” Awww you think you can best the gay worms in your brain. goodluck with that Johnny.

“isn’t that reason enough to keep living? To rediscover simple delight one moment at a time,” keeping this quote for eternity

“enough sunlight to chase away Evermore’s shadows. They are willing to take a chance on you. Aren’t you?”

Kevin Day autistic king. taking this hesdcannon to my grave .

“the conspiracy theorists were working overtime” no girl they just aint stupid.

THEY DESTROYED HIS POSTCARDS…

CHAPTER FIVE:

I want to start keeping record of all the times Jean is like “[name] wasn’t decent enough to [thing]” because its SO funny. We LOVE a petty king.

also keeping track of all the insults he throws at Neil.

Neil likes to think he’s SUUUUCH a loner boy no friends angsty “dont speak to me” resting bitch face ass motherfucker. In reality he is a jack russell terrier — ceritifed jack russell owner who’s dog thinks hes soooo big and bad but said dog literally cries when you dont let him in the bed or say hi to people on the street

Jean is SOOOOOO dramatic 😭😭

Jean: Why would you let Kevin do this.

Neil: let him?? He did that on his own.

Jean: you’re proud of him for being a problem, arent you?

Neil: oh you fucking know I am, bitchass

“but other than his outstanding murder charge there was nothing interesting about that Fox.” i’d consider that very interesting information, Jean. Youre just deranged

“with milk, juice, and vodka dominating one shelf” that’s Aaron, Nicky, Andrew/Kevin in order. Im correct.

“There was an entire drawer dedicated to cheese.” Yeah that sounds like Nicky.

“Half the drawer was full of mini candy bars. Jean threw them all into the trash” bro Andrew is going to kill you in cold blood and not even Neil can save you.

Jean is SO dramatic. Give him Kevin’s crown.

Jean @ Neil during the final: ARE YOU WITHOUT INTELLIGENCE????? ARE YOU STUPID??? DO YOU WANT TO DIE??

Seeing the media coverage of the championship is the food I needed thank you Nora for this. I am eating it up. om nom nom

The sportscasters referring to athletes with their first name is batshit. What. why. huh. Absolutely not.

CHAPTER SIX:

Renee protecting Jean from discovering Riko’s death through media & not through them…

Everytime boys start fistfighting in this series I hear Roxanne from Megamind. “Ladies, ladies, you’re BOTH pretty.”

a) Jeans reaction to finding out was exaclty what I expected

b) I’m FASCINATED to know who called campus security. Jeremy?? Renee?? Someone in Fox tower???

Neil was gentle with someone other than Andrew? I didnt know he knew how to do that…

NEIL. NEIL JOSTEN. YEAH BABY

HES ROOMING WITH CAT AND LAILA??? YES YEA YES YESY

the Jean-Renee dynamic is so fucking important to me. MLM/WLW solidarity. theyre besties.

THEYRE SO IMPORTANT TO ME BRO.

Literally snuggling Jeremy

Oh he’s got Fox potential. Hiiii Jeremy. Give me the traumadump bbg

THEY/THEM??? DO MY EYES DECEIVE ME OR IS THIS AN HONEST TO GOD THEY/THEM PLAYER OH ILL CRY. ILL CRU RIGHT NOW

CHAPTER SEVEN:

Oh Jean. you’re about to have such a gay awakening babe i can feel it in my bones.

A FUCKING YOYO??? I LOVE HIM

“A mite bit hecked up” PLEEEASE JUST SAY FUCK /ref

OH HE WAS IN LOVE WITH KEVIN. INTERESTING INTERESTING INTERESTING.

autism coded lookingg motherfucker (stares at Jean.)

The chaos of Cat and Laila’s house is so fucking cute. Its about to be two lesbians and their distrustful pitbull rescue in this bitch and im ready for it.

CHAPTER EIGHT:

watching normal people discover the cult that is Evermore. Finally someone having a normal response to that madness. What the FUCK.

wait theres actually a cardboard dog i thought it was fanon joke.

oh my god there is actually a fucking cardboard dog. i.

jeans brain just got actually shattered by this living room. he cannot comprehend this.

Cat & Jeremy, realizing the cult rumors are real: I THOUGHT YOU WERE KIDDING! I thought it was joke! I even wrote it down in my diary! “Kevin made a very funny joke today!” I laughed at it later that night!

Okay, last night; I went to bed at 2:30 AM 45% through (college my beloathed). we’re back in business.

Jeremy is so disturbed all of the time. goofy ass.

“Loving something is not enough,”

“When was the last time you enjoyed playing?”

“ Irrelevant.”

Whats his shirt look like Jeremy. Jeremy whats the shirt look like. Jeremy. Whats the shirt look like.

Okay so I’ve reached my image limit for this post and I dont have fun reaction images on my laptop. so now I will post this & reblog with the rest of this book.

[sunshineman2-0]

Art Teacher!Reader x Math Teacher!Sanemi Shinazugawa x Science Teacher!Kyojuro Rengoku

Reader is black female

Modern A.U.

Tw: Kyojuro is kinda a creep here. Also Sanemi gets a little possessive. Both they ass are asses. Mentions of stalking. Your landlord putting someone in their place. Shinjuro being an idiot. He's not homophobic, just an ass. (Bare with him)

I dont condone any of the actions depicted. This is only for entertainment purposes only. This is your warning. Do not read if these subjects make you uncomfortable. And ffs do NOT make comments about how this isn't something you like to read. It happened on one of my other blogs and it killed the vibes I had to write. I WILL DELETE THIS BLOG IF I SEE IT.

You have been warned

Chapter 6: Whipping Pot

🔥🔥🔥🔥

Kyojuro sat next to you. Interested in your "play-date" with Shinazugawa and his dog. The younger brother was there, but Kyojuro assumed he was there only because Sanemi didn't have the courage to meet you alone. The older flame haired brother never had a problem with women. Usually because of Tengen, they would flock to him.... But Kyojuro never paid them any mind...

You were different. You never begged for his attention, nor did you chase him. He had been chased for... He stopped keeping count honestly. And when Tengen couldn't get a bite for Kyojuro, the music teacher gave up and shifted his attention to Sanemi.

But back to you. Your two toned lips, soft and plump. He always daydreamed about how'd they feel against his own... And he remembered the night at the club. He just only acted like he didn't. But the way you felt against him felt right. Your thighs so plush and soft. No other woman had felt right against him. Not when they held on to him, he pushed them away. They pressed against him while dancing, he would dissappear in the crowd.

He watched as you smiled about his competition. You were beaming, mostly rambling about the man's dog, Winter. Happy to know about Sanemi's situation with his PTSD. Kyojuro had to fight to roll his eyes as you started to talk about the other man.

"And then I went home! Well not fully home."

Kyojuro perked up at this. Alarmed at the fact that you didn't go home.

"My neighbors invited me to eat with them."

"Ah, your landlords?"

He asked stuff like that to show you he's paying attention. In reality, Kyojuro had followed you to the park. And them back to your apartment complex. Oh, it was easy to find out where you lived. The office women really liked him. Kyojuro could ask them anything and they'd tell him. Yes. He did break into your apartment, on the days he could manage to get away from home. Maybe you thought some of your clothes went missing?

You nodded at his question. Then you looked at your plate. It was empty,

"They're always letting me eat with them."

Kyojuro saw you eyeing his dessert, and slid half of it on to your plate. When your eyes lit up, he smiled. Allowing you to eat and clear your mouth. Then you looked at Kyojuro, your honey eyes shining at him.

"So what'd you want to do today? Or did you have any other plans?"

You had been out trying to do some grocery shopping, and he had "bumped into you". And insisted on treating you to lunch. He looked up and thought for a second.

"Not really. I can join you on-"

His phone began to ring, and he looked at the call. His father, Shinjuro's name popped up and he frowned. He looked at you apologeticly, and answered the call.

"Yes, Father?"

"Just say "dad" damn it." His father fussed, but continued, "pick me up some stuff. I need-"

Kyojuro cut his father short and smiled at you,

"Im on a date. I'll bring your things to you, when I've finished here, alright?"

He was going to get an earful and probaly a smack to the head, but you were the most important thing right now. After putting his phone back in his pocket, he stood up.

"If you'd like we can take a walk. Or-"

You smiled standing up with him.

"Maybe you should get home? I don't want to keep you all day."

Kyojuro frowned for a moment but then he smiled,

"Why don't you just come with me? Senjuro would be happy to see you. And you could meet my father."

He'd make the old man behave if he needed to. Kyojuro respected his father, but if the man started to make you uncomfortable or did any thing that was less than a gentleman... Well punishment would be handed out accordingly. Giving him a smile you nodded and linked your arm with his own. Kyojuro tensed for a moment, it wasn't out of surprise. He was trying to restrain the psychotic part of him that wanted to make you his right in that moment. When you felt him tense, you started to back away. He forced himself to relax, and gently pulled you back to his side.

"Forgive me. You just surprised me a bit."

You smiled at his explanation, and giggled, letting him lead you to his home.

💜💜💜💜

Standing at the door way, Kyojuro opened the entrance and let you walk through first. You both were holding groceries, and Kyojuro announced that he was home. Being sure to say that you were accompanying him. Senjuro rushed into the hallway, excited to see you and gently took the bags you had in your arms.

"Miss (L/N)!! Are you staying for dinner? If so, I've got something special to fix for us!"

You nodded at him and slid your shoes off, setting them next to Kyo's. Shinjuro made his way to the hallway.

"This is her?"

Kyojuro's face twisted in to a snarl, just for a moment, directed at his father. A silent warning to keep his mouth shut. You blinked at Shinjuro, unsure of what to say...

"I've told Father about you. Being new and all to the school. He likes to hear about my day, sometimes."

You nodded, a bit unsure. Kyojuro had never acted like this... You'd only seen it in small intervals... And it was usually over you... You just figured that it was because he was your friend and it just came with being around him...

"Ok. Calm your shit."

Shinjuro waved you both into the house more. And you followed a bit eager to see where Senjuro scurried off too. You heard him buzzing around the kitchen. He had music going, while he cooked, Senjuro was doing a little dance. You smiled, as he seemed to be in his element. Plus it was cute. Shinjuro just stared at his youngest son.

"Boy may have some sugar in his tank..."

He gave you a look and then raised his eyebrow.

"I dont think so. He's just happy to be cooking."

Shinjuro nodded, and smiled a bit. Then kept walking. Instead of following you walked into the kitchen and sat at the island. Kyojuro joined you and nudged you with his elbow.

"SEN!"

At his brothers bark, Senjuro threw the large spoon he had at Kyojuro.

"Dont do that! You know I'm easily spooked!"

Kyojuro caught said spoon and gave it a lick,

"The curry is coming along great! And I have to be sure your aware of your surroundings even at home."

He nodded, satisfied with his own answer, only to get a pinch in the ribs from you,

"Hey! Ow!"

"Thats not nice! Sen should feel comfortable in his own home!"

Senjuro, snatched the spoon from his brother and gave Kyojuro a light smack. Then turned to clean the spoon and retrieve a new one from the drawer. He quickly stirred the curry. You took a seat at the counter, and watched the teen cook. You admired Senjuro, he took up a lot of the house work while Kyojuro and Shinjuro worked. For a moment, you wondered what it would be like to be apart of the house hold here...

But you were snapped out by Kyojuro waving his hand in your face.

"(Y/N). Are you ok? You seemed abit out of it..."

His big eyes looking at you gently. You nodded and smiled at the man.

"Yeah! Just entranced by that delicious smelling curry!"

Senjuro smiled bashfully,

"Thank you... its just seafood curry..."

You nodded at him. Eager to eat. Shinjuro walked back into the room and sat on the other side of you. Looking you on the face.

"So. You datin my eldest?"

You snapped your gaze to him, speechless at the fact that Kyojuro's father would even ask that!

"N-no! We're jus-"

"Father. (Y/N) and I are just co-workers."

🔥🔥🔥🔥

Kyojuro's face darkened, and he glared at his father. A sign for the other man to shut up.

~~~~~

After dinner, Kyojuro walked you home. You thanked him profusely and he waved it off. Telling you it was fine. Once you scampered off, Kyojuro turned to leave but was stopped by Benimaru, one of your landlords. The elder man frowned at Kyojuro.

"You're the second man to walk (Y/N) home. What the hell do you want with her?"

Kyojuro stopped in his tracks and tilted his head to the side.

"Im just-"

"There are cameras all around here boy. I've seen you break into her apartment. The only reason why I haven't called the police is because I know (Y/N) would be a bit upset."

Shit... Kyojuro had slipped up in his eagerness to be closer to you... He put his hands up.

"I only broke in to return her things. She had left them at the school."

Kyojuro was trying to lie... But he could tell Benimaru wasn't taking any of it.

"Stay your ass out of her damn apartment. Or you'll deal with me."

The elder walked back into his apartment. Leaving Kyojuro to glare after him... He'd have to be more careful...

Uh... so it's been a while... I just lost the motivation to write. But this mf will get finished! And there will be two endings. One for Nemi and the other for Kyo. Thanks for reading. And any feed back is welcome.

[2dmenenthusiast]

Last Night on Earth Pt. 8

(Ethan Winters x Gn!Reader)

bye this part took a million years to write and im sorry!!! There's also no Ethan in this chapter since this covers the Not a Hero DLC, but he will be back in the next one or the one after! I hope you all enjoy it even though I'm not super satisfied with this chapter hah

Alsoo quick note for chris's characterization, im sort of switching it up a bit? They made chris super rigid in re7 and re8, which is understandable considering all he's been through and all that, but I want him to keep a bit of his personality from re5 and vendetta. So if it switches up a lot, thats why!

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

"Just so you know, if the mine collapses on us and we get trapped, I'm not giving you permission to eat me."

Chris sighed as you put your headgear on, switching to the nightvision to make sure it worked and promptly blinding yourself.

"Hopefully it won't have to come to that. You were debriefed, correct?"

You gave him a thumbs up while turning your rifle over, closely examining it. The weapon felt heavy and familiar in your hand.

"Lost contact with the first team, Lucas, the Connections. I pay attention."

Chris didn't seem amused at all. Just raising his eyebrows before diverting his attention forward.

"Just follow my lead and keep an eye out."

"Right. And if we end up weaponless and cornered I can defend us with the stick up your ass."

He huffed, and you straightened your shoulders as the elevator came to a stop, and you stepped back into the mine. You were immediately flooded with the not so far away memories of Eveline worming her way into your brain as the caves had collapsed around you and Ethan. The long claws of the monster that had slashed through your back, and apparently killed you. Your chest felt tight, shallow breaths clouding your mask as an overwhelming anxiousness clouded over you.

That’s right.

You died down here.

Chris’s hand landed on your shoulder.

“Hey. Are you alright?”

You gulped and quickly nodded, pushing down every instinct to run and silencing all of your screaming thoughts. Your breathing calmed, and you locked eyes with the Captain.

“I’m fine. Can we get this show on the road?”

He just gave you a look and walked ahead. You took that as your que to follow. You weren’t surprised to see a couple molded monsters still brambling around. Just because Evie was dead didn’t mean the mold wasn’t still alive. From what you’ve read, you knew she didn’t necessarily control it, she was more of a conduit.

You were quick to react when one stumbled around the corner, your feet stepping into a trained and remembered stance while your arms raised. Two silenced bullets took the monster’s head off. Chris said nothing.

Both of you worked as a team to take out any creatures you saw, and you were like a well oiled machine. Chris would go left while you went right, watched your six while you went ahead. Ethan was a good fighter for a man who’d been thrown into a situation he’d never been in before. But everytime you came across one of those things, a twinge of fear would spike through you before you had to force it down and push forward.

Now? You felt strong. Confident. Chris was a well trained soldier, one you could hopefully put your full trust in. And working with him reminded you of how damn good you used to be at your job. It gave you a sense of pride.

Of course, you deflated a bit when a molded came out of nowhere, and Chris absolutely annihilated it with a single punch to its head. He had barely even made a grunt of effort when its head squashed like a moldy grape on impact, and you were glad he couldn’t see your face through the mask, otherwise he’d see your jaw currently touching the floor. When he moved ahead without another word— like it was completely normal— and realized you weren’t moving, he stopped and turned to face you.

“What?”

“Christ, you punch fuckin’ boulders for a living?”

He cleared his throat.

“Uh—”

You moved past before he could properly answer, knowing you wouldn’t be surprised if the answer was yes.

Imagine if that was part of your drills.

“Alright, maggots! Give me twenty boulder punches!”

The mental image made you snicker, and you ignored the curious tilt of Chris’s head. When you heard a cough in the distance, it made you freeze. Chris silently pointed forward, his gun raised, and you followed him up a set of metal stairs and into a familiar room. You instantly recognized the grimy tubs and the smashed computer on the floor from when you found out Lucas was working with The Connections, and the memory made you clench your teeth. You held so much anger for that slimy bastard that it made your chest hurt.

What was different about the room, though, were the two soldiers clad in the exact same gear you both wore laying on the floor. One awake and clearly injured, while the other one lay prone. You assumed he was probably killed by one of the creatures lurking down here. Chris immediately moved to help, while you stood back.

“We’re gettin’ you outta here.”

The soldier shook his head. “Leave me. It’s too late,” he strained, and his head moved back to expose the explosive wrapped around his neck.

Shit.

“Chris—”

“We’re all walking out of here, alright?”

“I got news for you.” The body you thought was dead sat up and slapped something around Chris’s wrist, and you immediately recognized the voice. “That’s not gonna happen!”

Your gun was aimed at his head before you could even think about it, and so was the Captain’s, but Lucas quickly threatened to blow him up if he even tried anything. You wanted to scream, curse him to hell and blow his fucking brains out. But, you kept your cool with a shuddered breath. He couldn’t see your face under the mask. It was possible he didn’t know it was you.

He took off his head gear, and when he cast his gaze towards you, you almost froze.

“You. Get over here. Or I uh, might get a little trigger happy with this switch, here.”

His thumb hovered over the button to the detonator, and you hesitantly made your way forward. Securing a similar bomb over your wrist, you stumbled away from him before he could do anything else. Not like he needed to be close to you to kill you now. One push of a button, and you both were both done for.

How funny. You spent what felt like an eternity tonight barely making it out of this hellhole by the skin of your teeth, only to throw yourself back in. But, it was your choice. And you’d be damned if you let Lucas get away.

“Now you can try and take that off all you want, but I’d advise against. My hand might slip and uh… boom!”

Chris shouted his name while he pressed on the detonator, and the soldier’s head exploded in a visceral mess. The force knocked Chris on his back, and everything screamed in you to react. To do something. But you were scared to even move, not knowing what Lucas would do if you did, and too afraid to find out.

“Now here’s the deal. Y’all don’t follow me, and I won’t have to bounce your heads off the ceiling. The same goes for your other little soldier friends, too. Adios, muchachos.”

Lucas laughed, and as soon as he stepped out the door, particles and gas began filling up the room. Another one of your brother’s sick tricks. You grabbed Chris’s arm and helped him to his feet, while a female voice spoke through your earpiece.

“I’m picking up airborne spores. It’s the E-type mutamycete. Your mask will switch automatically to rebreather mode. Make sure you’re keeping an eye on your oxygen tank.”

“Thank you, beautiful, disembodied voice.”

You and Chris rushed through room after room to get away from the gas, the woman warning you whenever your tank got too low. It was like a race against the clock, the longer you spent in the infected air, the closer you were to infection and maybe death. Once you were finally free of the contamination, you let out a deep breath and noticed that Chris wasn't even phased. Of course, he's got a couple decades on you. He's probably been doing this almost as long as you've been alive.

"You should head back and get that bomb on your arm deactivated," the voice said.

"Absolutely not," you interrupted. Chris just gave you a look. "There's no time, we're not letting him get away."

He sighed, but didn't protest. "They’re right. We can't let him get a head start."

"Understood. Just be careful."

When she got off coms, Chris cleared his throat. "You're calling the shots now, I take it?"

"What? Can't give up control?"

He let out a huff that bordered on a chuckle, and wordlessly continued forward. You wished you could get a read on the man. He had obviously seen and experienced things you couldn’t imagine, working for an organization that dealt with dangerous bioweapons on the daily. If this was the man he is now, you’d like to imagine who he was before he was exposed to such a harsh life.

The further you got into the mine, the more you ran into those creatures and were exposed to contaminated air. You were surprised Lucas didn’t lay more traps for you along the way, but you guessed he didn’t need to when the sweet promise of death was currently strapped to your arm.

Finally, you walked into a larger room with abandoned mining equipment scattered everywhere, along with some type of control system in the middle. There was a clown face painted on it, a big red button making up its nose, and there were three metal shutters— two on your left and one on your right. Blue, red, green.

“What color you feelin’?”

“What?”

You pointed to each door. “Green. Red. Blue. Which one?”

Chris sighed. “Red, I guess.”

You gave a thumbs up and started towards the door, when Chris placed a hand on your shoulder.

“Stay behind me, okay?”

“Aw, look who wants to protect me.”

“Yes. From yourself.”

The shutter rose, and whatever humorous air lingered around you was immediately weighed down by the seriousness that suddenly radiated off of Chris, and you knew it was time to get serious, too. You immediately realized why he was deemed Captain. He oozed authority. Every move and action was purposeful and swift. Not to mention he was an absolute brute. He could probably wrap his arm around your head and crush it like a grape with his bicep.

Soon, you came across a gated cell door, and one of Umbrella’s men was locked behind it. His arms were trapped on either side of him in one of Lucas’s machines, and his clothes were covered in blood.. You could only imagine what horrible things he had planned for him.

“Hey, you alright in there?”

The man lazily lifted his head, letting out a pained groan.

“Redfield?”

“We’re gonna find the key and get you out, okay? Don’t worry.”

You hoped Chris was right. That you could save some of these men. But knowing your brother, you had a strong feeling that you wouldn’t. You wouldn’t voice that, though.

Taking an elevator up into another large area of the mine, an eerie feeling immediately shot through you, and you wondered if Chris felt it too. You also wondered how the fuck you were supposed to find a damn key in this place!

“Chris, I don’t—”

He quickly shushed you, and you paused. He shushed you?!

You opened your mouth to say something else, but stopped your own thoughts from spewing out when he pointed to a green crate. Dismembered mannequins sat inside, and an arm was taped upright with a single key dangling from the hand.

Oh.

Well now you just felt stupid.

Your arm reached out to grab it, but before your fingers even grazed the key, the crate was raised up high in the air and out of your reach. You dropped your hand to your side with a defeated sigh.

Of course.

“Fuckin’ asshole.”

“We have to find some way to get it down.”

He wandered off, you assumed to find the controls to bring the crate back down, and you shook your head. You solved enough of Lucas’s puzzles for the rest of your lifetime. You weren’t about to participate in any more when the solution was much simpler.

“Nope. Fuck this.”

Raising your pistol, you aimed carefully and pulled the trigger, watching the bullet hit the mannequin hand at lightning speed before the key fell out of the crate and into your open palm. You turned to Chris, who stood silently, and dangled the key from your finger. For your own satisfaction, you imagined his face was currently slack-jawed in awe.

The loud thumping behind you mixed with the ground shaking under your feet cut your celebration short, and you turned to see a large, smoking figure brambling towards you.

“Oh, fuck.”

This thing was way bigger than any other creature you had dealt with, smoke emanating from its white skin as it only seemed to get bigger with every step it took towards you. You both attempted to shoot at it, but you were immediately met with a message in the top left corner of your mask.

“HIGH REGENERATION TARGET UNAFFECTED.”

“Oh, that’s just awesome!”

As the thing got closer to Chris, you grabbed his wrist in a death grip and yanked him out of its path.

“We gotta run!”

The idea of running away didn’t seem to compute with him for a moment, but he had no choice as you were dragging him away and towards the elevator. You practically leaped inside and slammed your hand down on the button, slumping against the metal wall in relief once the doors slid closed and you began descending

“Your guys can take care of that thing. Holy shit.”

He wordlessly put his hand out towards you, and it didn’t click until you suddenly remembered that you went through all that for a stupid key. You placed it in his hand, and he didn’t hesitate to move forward once the elevator doors opened. The man was still in the same place you left him, (Of course he was. Not like he could just walk out of there.) and Chris quickly unlocked the door. You carefully examined the room as you went forward, making sure there weren’t any traps waiting for you to trip on, while Chris went to console his comrade. You didn’t like this. It felt too easy.

“Everything’s alright now,” Chris said.

The man shook his head. “That’s just what he wants you to think. I’m just the bait. And you both fell for it.”

Couldn’t have told us that sooner?

As soon as he finished speaking, the room began to fill with contaminated air, and Chris muttered a curse to himself. You noticed this strain was stronger than it was previously, your oxygen going down by the millisecond.

“Take my filter. Hurry!”

“But you’ll die!” 

The soldier shook his head. “I’m dead anyway.” 

He said it like he accepted it a long time ago, and you were hit with the familiarity of it. It was only hours ago you felt that way, too.

It was almost too quick to catch, but a spinning blade zoomed forward and began descending towards the man’s head. Chris screamed Lucas's name in protest and shot at his crude invention, but it was no use. So, you stood, and watched in horror as this man met an inevitable, painful death.

The blades sliced through his neck, and his head hit the floor with a disgusting thud as blood spewed onto the ground. You’ve watched plenty of people die, but you don’t think you’ve ever seen it done so horrifically. The sight made you nauseous. You couldn’t imagine how Chris was feeling.

You realized then not only was this a trap for you and Chris, it was also a sick show of control. Even if Chris wouldn’t die from Lucas’s gadgets, he still wanted the satisfaction of putting the man through hell by making him watch his comrades die. And that sickened you the most.

Does he ever talk about this stuff? Does he confide in anyone about what he’s seen? You hoped he did. After seeing what he has, you wondered if he ever slept. You couldn’t most nights after you went on leave, even less when your whole life and family was flipped upside down. You began to think about how similar you were. He dealt with bioweapons for a living, and you lived under the constant watch of one for three years. He probably had plenty of stories. Could probably tell you things you couldn’t even imagine.

You felt sorry for him.

Bending down, he took the high grade filter off the mask— since he clearly wouldn’t need it anymore— and held it out towards you. Your eyes widened.

“Are you serious? I can’t take it. You need it!”

He shook his head. “I’m not letting a civilian die!”

“And I’m not letting you die! This is not a negotiation!”

He said your name through gritted teeth, but as you watched your oxygen get lower and lower, nearing zero, you snatched it out of his hand and attached it to his mask before he could move away, the piece fitting in with a satisfying ‘click’.

“Are you insane?!”

You don’t know why you did it. Why you constantly felt the need to put the lives of people you barely knew in front of your own, but you never regretted it. Even if it meant your own death. You watched as your oxygen finally hit zero, and you swallowed thickly, ready to choke on your weak attempts to breathe.

But nothing happened.

You blinked in surprise. Why do you feel perfectly fine?

You imagined Chris was just as surprised by your lack of struggling to breathe, and you proceeded to lift your hands towards your mask. He snatched your hand..

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Just let me try somethin’, okay?”

He continued to protest, but you didn’t listen, the seal of your mask coming undone as you lifted it off your head and took a breath.

Nothing. Not even a cough.

“What the hell…” Chris muttered.

“Come on, there’s no time to talk about it right now. We gotta get out of here before your oxygen runs out.”

He nodded and followed you until you were back in the main area of the cave, but your mind was still reeling. Why weren’t you affected by the contagion? Was Lucas tricking you? No, that didn’t seem right. The goal was to kill you, not scare you. So what did that leave?

Were you…? No. There’s no way you were immune.

You didn’t realize Chris was speaking until he tapped your shoulder, and you blinked out of your zoned out state.

“Huh?”

“Can you explain what happened back there? Why didn’t you mention you were immune to the virus?”

You stuttered for a response. “I-I… I don’t know what happened. You’re about as clueless as me.”

Your coms came to life with the sound of a familiar female voice.

“It could be due to your prolonged exposure to the E series, your body naturally created the antibodies needed to fight the virus on its own.”

You shook your head. “That’s insane. That’s…”

You thought back to when Ethan said you died, how you came back and felt better. Then back to when you got the vaccine, and how you didn’t feel any effect. You must’ve already been cured when you woke up. Still, that didn’t explain the miraculous healing of your injuries.

“We don’t have time to dwell on it now. Keep your headgear on, though. We don’t want Lucas finding out that it’s you.”

You nodded and placed your helmet back on, while Chris muttered what he’d do to your brother when he found him.

“Just remember we need him alive, Chris,” the woman said.

You grit your teeth, trying not to let your emotions spill out. You knew that’s what Umbrella wanted, to get information out of him. But like hell you were letting him walk out of here alive. And you didn’t care who you pissed off by killing him.

Doing a quick ammo check, you and Chris decided the green shutter door was next on your list, doom settling deep in your gut as the door slowly screeched open. You were met with a short set of stairs leading through a narrow pathway, and resigned yourself to standing behind Chris. There was no way you'd be able to walk next to him in here.

The layout was almost like a maze, walking down one path only to turn and walk through an identical one. You felt like you needed a map to navigate this place. Of course, more contaminated air was blowing through the vents, but with your newfound immunity, you didn't worry about it much.

In the distance, from what you could see through the thick fogginess of the air, smoke began rising from the wall as mold seemed to congeal together to form a tall, monstrous creature. The smoke reminded you of the big guy you ran into earlier, and when you tried to shoot at it, the same message in your mask popped up.

"Shit, it's regenerating too fast. Normal bullets aren't gonna cut it!”

"I'm open to suggestions," Chris said.

Your brows rose in surprise. He did have a sense of humor! A very dry one, but still there.

Your coms buzzed to life. "You'll need RAMRODS to stop it from regenerating lost tissue. You have to fall back."

You frantically looked back and forth, the monster beginning to trap you into a corner, before you grabbed Chris's arm.

"This way!"

You had no idea where you were going, but anywhere was better than near that thing. You took down the hall and turned the corner, repeating the same thing over and over until you were sufficiently far away. You took a breath, and hoped to fuck you'd get out of this soon.

"You keep doing that."

You raised your head to look up at him. "Huh?"

"Pulling me out of danger. Like you need to protect me."

Your eyes slightly widened and you stuttered for an answer. "I-I mean… I was a soldier, you know."

He didn't say anything, just hummed to himself before walking on ahead. Faces flashed in your mind, and you squeezed your eyes shut as your grip tightened around your gun. Now wasn't the time.

You began to debate if you were lost as you went further into the mine, and you prayed to fuck that Chris knew his way back. 

“Did you know that was gonna happen?”

Your steps slightly faltered. “What do you mean?”

“Back there, when Lucas killed that man. Did you know he was going to die?”

The question made you pause, and you swallowed the lump that formed in your throat.

“Yes.”

He didn’t say any more, but you felt your answer was dissatisfying without an explanation.

“I grew up with that psycho, and I had to experience every sick trick he had once he was graced with Eveline’s influence. Once I saw that man, I… I knew he was doomed. I just didn’t want to say anything because even if I did, I knew you’d wanna try and save him anyway. I knew you wouldn’t just let him die without a fight.”

He didn’t speak for a moment, and you almost spoke again to try and fill the silence when he interrupted you.

“Would you have saved him? Even knowing all that, would you still have at least tried?”

You didn’t have to think about it as you nodded. “Of course.”

“Good. That’s all I need to know, then.”

The trip through the rest of the cave proved almost fruitless, minus the box of RAMRODS you found just chilling in a random room. You didn’t bother to question why they were down here in the first place, because at least now you had something that could deal with those high regen bastards. You were able to make your way back to the shutter entrance with little difficulty, only running into more of Lucas’s puzzles, as well as tiny little bug fuckers that you could only compare to something out of an old video game you used to play.

What was it? Half… Half something…

Whatever.

As soon as you went through the last shutter, you were immediately met with darkness. Your mask automatically kicked on the nightvision, and your sight was nothing but shades of green. When you tried to step forward, Chris put his hand on your shoulder.

“Wait.” He gestured towards the ground, pointing at the pressure plates.

Of course.

“Guess we gotta be extra careful.”

It didn’t take long to run into similar traps, including automatic gun turrets and fucking lasers. There was also a point where you and Chris had to shove around mining carts, your muscles straining whilst you used your legs as leverage to push them out of your way.

“God, this is fucking stupid.”

You gripped the handles of the last cart and shoved it forward, watching as the wooden wall beyond it gave away and revealed a hallway behind it with more lasers.

“He’s been watching too many spy movies, I swear.”

Crouching and stepping over the lasers, you opened the door at the end of the hall to reveal a room that was entirely filled with them.

“Yeah. Way too fuckin’ many.”

“Just try to focus on moving through them.”

Despite Chris’s words, that piece of logic was almost thrown out the window when he saw one of the missing soldiers lying in the middle of all the chaos.

“Marquez?”

You grabbed his arm before he could move. “Hold on there, big guy. Even if we get to him through all this mess, there’s no way Lucas is just gonna let us drag him out of there. We have to turn the lasers off.” You grinned to yourself and placed a hand on your hip. “I bet you're glad you brought me along, huh?”

“Something like that.”

“Fine, you stay here, and I'll shut them off.”

Chris shook his head. “Absolutely not. I’m not letting you—”

“Are you forgetting my background? I’m not just some helpless civilian you have to look after. Besides, I don’t need your burly shoulders bumping into every goddamn trap in here and setting something off.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Burly?”

“Have you looked in the mirror?”

You heard a distant cough, and were quickly reminded of where you were. Right. Injured soldier, needed saving, blah blah blah. Holstering your weapon, you were careful and precise with every move you made, being sure not to make any sudden movements. Fuck getting this far only to die by damn lasers.

You made it to the man with ease, avoiding touching him, but asking him to give you a sign that he was okay. He gave you a thumbs up, and you relayed it to Chris who stood across the room watching you like a hawk. Finally able to stand up straight, you walked over to the control switch and pulled it down, the lasers disappearing right after. You heard Chris let out a relieved sigh before walking over to the man and helping him to his feet.

“Hey, you still with us?

Marquez nodded. “Yeah, thanks. I was beginning to think we’d be left behind.”

“Please, he’s too stubborn for that,” you chimed in, earning a look.

Once he was standing on his own two feet, he began limping to the exit, and you and Chris remained close behind.

“Lucas is a fucking psycho. Not sure what’s worse— him or those things.”

“Definitely him,” you said.

Chris hummed. “Let’s just focus on getting you out of here.”

Beyond the door he took you through was a smaller room with a ladder leading upwards, telling you that this was the way out. As soon as the words came out of his mouth, the bomb that you both failed to notice on his neck came to life, a red light blinking furiously.

“Fuck! Get this thing off me!”

He was tugging and scratching at the bomb, desperateness and fear clear in his voice. And once again, there was nothing you could do but watch him die. His head exploded, blood spewing from the base of his neck as his limp body fell to the floor. Chris just stood there, looking at the lifeless form of his comrade, before both of your masks projected the image of your brother.

“Now, I don’t know about you, Christopher, but—” he stopped, eyes widening a bit before a sick smile spread across his face.

Shit.

“Ohohoho! Now this I did not expect. My dear ol’ sibling is working with Redfield.” He clicked his tongue. “How fun. I would’ve prepared somethin’ a bit more grand if I knew you were gonna be coming.”

Your eyes narrowed and your jaw clenched, but Chris wouldn’t let Lucas change the topic.

“Three of my men are dead because of you, Lucas. This ends, and it ends now.”

“I don’t think so. It’s about to be four— no, five dead soldiers in a minute,” he laughed, and his image faded to static.

It was only then that a timer appeared in your interface, counting down from ten minutes as the bomb on yours and Chris’s arms began blinking with the same red light. Panic settled deep in your stomach, and you heard Chris speak into his earpiece.

“Okay, we got a situation here.”

“We’re on it, Chris,” the woman said. “Head back to the central cavern and wait for further instructions.”

“Don’t let me down.”

“Ah, yes. I love waiting while my arm is about to be blown to smithereens.”

You did as the woman said and made your way back, running into creatures along the way that only seemed to be there to waste your time. Every time you looked at the timer, it only seemed to be going down faster, and almost a whole minute had gone by since you first looked.

Nine minutes. We got nine minutes. That’s plenty of time. Plenty of time to get this stupid fucking thing off of me!

“Alright, good news.”

Oh, hallelujah.

A couple images popped up on your screen. “Our video logs from the first unit show canisters of liquid nitrogen nearby. You might be able to deactivate the bombs by freezing them.”

She let you know that the canisters were behind the red shutter, and you wasted less than no time rushing through it. You knew it probably wasn’t smart to be going through the area so hastily, and that you should remain calm, but you couldn’t find it in yourself to. But when you looked at Chris, he was as cool as a cucumber. Like this was a normal Tuesday afternoon for him. You’d be jealous if you weren’t so focused on the death trap currently strapped to you.  

When a molded creature stepped in your way, grit your teeth and put three bullets in its oversized head, pushing its body to the side whilst it fell forward. When it landed and squirmed and your feet, you stomped your boot right onto its mushy skull, goo and viscera spraying the ground.

“Get the fuck outta my way!”

Chris grabbed your arm and tugged your forward, and as this section of the cave began to look more familiar, your eyes slowly widened. This is where that big fucker was that you had to run away from earlier. He was nowhere in sight now, but you didn’t bank on him not showing up eventually. You were never that lucky.

“The liquid nitrogen is just beyond that room.”

An anxious feeling crawled through your stomach and up your throat, and you looked at the timer again. Less than seven minutes. Okay, not bad. But, as soon as you tried to go beyond the room like the woman in your ear said, a stack of blue crates fell directly in front of you, effectively blocking your path. Words were crudely spray painted on them, and you almost broke a few teeth from how hard your jaw was clenching.

“EAT SHIT AND DIE!”

You heard something grotesque forming behind you, and didn’t even want to look. Instead, Chris looked for you.

“Well. That’s lovely.”

With an infuriated growl, you grabbed the AR that was strapped to your back and let bullets spray from the creature's middle and up to its head. If Lucas was going to kill you, he certainly had to try a lot harder than this!

You tried flanking the creature, but the area proved to be too small and too crowded for it to work effectively. It was full guerilla mode, and you gave it everything you got. There wasn’t a single bullet wasted, pumping everything into its rubbery form. The more you hurt it, the more the creature seemed visibly affected. Parts of its body began to split open, pouring blood and other viscous liquids that you didn’t want to hazard a guess as to what they were.

Fucking disgusting!

You were soon at its back, its eyes set on Chris, and fear spiked through you. The more he backed up, the closer it got, and he was going to be trapped in a corner soon if you didn’t think of something fast. You looked around, picking up an oversized rock out of one of the mining carts, and aimed at its giant head.

“Hey, ugly!”

The stone hit with a disgusting “thwack,” clattering to the ground as the monster stopped moving. Its feet stomped against the ground whilst it turned towards you, and let out a visible huff.

“Oh, shit.”

Chris desperately shouted your name as it barrelled towards you, swiping its hand against your side and sending your body slamming into a pile of stones. The glass of your head gear shattered on impact, oxygen hissing through the opening, and you gasped for air when white hot pain surged through you. You found it difficult to even breathe. With a pained grunt, you propped yourself up on one hand and gave a thumbs up.

“I’m okay! Just kill the bastard!”

He didn’t need to be told twice, leading it a sufficient distance away from you as he shot RAMROD bullets into its thick head. While you were concerned about how much time was remaining, you found yourself more concerned about the man fighting in front of you. You knew you probably didn’t need to worry, but you couldn’t help the deep-seated feeling from bubbling up inside you. And despite the pain you felt, you wouldn’t just sit and let him take care of the rest of this mess either.

Struggling to your feet, you took a shaky breath and resumed your attack on the creature, but were stunned into stillness when Chris landed an uppercut to the thing and sent it flying through the air.

Is he Captain America or something?!

Its fat limbs flailed, struggling to roll onto its stomach to get up. It didn’t make it that far before its skin began bubbling under the surface, and it exploded into mushy bits.

“Target down, Chris. Now find that nitrogen!”

She sounded as desperate as you felt.

Rushing up to the Captain, you both worked to push one of the crates over, your salvation just beyond it. Chris didn’t even give you the opportunity to let him go first, grabbing your hand in his instead and plunging both of the bombs into the liquid nitrogen. You could feel how cold it was through the thick fabric of your glove,and you flexed your fingers to make sure you could still feel them.

“That did the trick.”

“Take it off before it thaws and restarts!” she urged.

You gripped the bomb and yanked it off your wrist, throwing it across the room as the light began blinking again. It exploded as soon as it hit the opposite wall, and Chris’s own bomb followed suit. An immense weight was immediately lifted off your shoulders, and you placed your hands on your knees with a deep sigh.

“Thank fuck.”

“Hey.” Chris put a hand on your shoulder, prompting you to stand up straight and look up at him. “You okay?”

You nodded, lifting your hands to take off what remained of your mask. You didn’t notice it until now, but the pain in your side had slowly faded away, and when you pressed your hand against your ribs, you felt nothing but a dull ache.

What is happening to you?

“You ready for this?”

You locked eyes with the tinted glass of his mask and smirked, huffing out a quiet chuckle.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment for the past three years. I’m more than ready.”

Chris nodded, hand clapping against your shoulder.

“Alright. Let’s get this fucker.”

tagged: @taytaylvr @xdarkcreaturex

[pesterloglog]

Dave Strider, Jade Harley

Act 5, page 3024-3032

-- turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering gardenGnostic [GG] --

TG: hey

TG: welcome to the medium finally i guess

GG: hey!!!!!

GG: last time i talked to you i was asking for help and you were just nakking at me

GG: what was up with that bro???

TG: ok i dont know what youre talking about it was probably just some horrorterror chirping at you during one of your nap bubble mindfucks

TG: its not the point i just wanted to say

TG: i just saw you

GG: you did?

TG: yeah

TG: you appeared for a second

TG: shooting at an imp

TG: then you disappeared

GG: ohhhhhhh

GG: yes, i did get around during that battle didnt i?

GG: it was really intense!!!

GG: those stupid things are impossible to kill :(

TG: no you can kill them

TG: youll get better dont worry

GG: in the heat of the fray i didnt notice you!

GG: where were you?

TG: three places

TG: i remember seeing you twice before in different locations

TG: but at the moment im standing in the middle of this snowy goddamn field freezing my shit off

TG: just wanted to see if you were cool

GG: yeah im fine, thanks for asking!

GG: what do you mean you remember seeing me?

GG: was i jumping through time or something?

TG: no i was

TG: this is future me

TG: one of the future mes that is

GG: youre from the future?

TG: yeah jade thats what future me means

GG: :p

GG: john told me you have been doing some time traveling

TG: yeah

GG: that is.....

GG: really really awesome!

TG: its ok

TG: hey its pretty fucking cold

GG: i knoooooow

GG: it is a really neat place but its freeeeezing :o

TG: so im gonna go some place warm be back in a while later

-- turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering gardenGnostic [GG] --

GG: wait!

GG: dave!!

GG: uuugh stupid lousy cool dudes

-- turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering gardenGnostic [GG] --

TG: ok im back

TG: an hour later

GG: an hour?

TG: an hour for me

TG: a second for you

TG: i ran around for an hour got my ass some place warm

TG: went back in time

TG: picked up where we left off

GG: :O

GG: i can not believe how cool that is

GG: this is me believing neither that, nor its coolness :O

TG: yeah

TG: i guess im sorta used to it by now i dont think of hours going by the same way anymore

TG: i mean

TG: they are my hours but not everyone elses theyre kind of like private hours all to myself

TG: while everyone else is sort of in slow motion stuck in the thick of the alpha

GG: hmmmm...

GG: i dont know if i get that but ok!

TG: well yeah

TG: my thing is time yours is space

TG: pretty different things

TG: you GET things about space i dont

TG: or you will

GG: i will?

TG: yup

GG: ok........

GG: but anyway youre right, its coooold!!!!!!

GG: i have to go back inside

GG: i wish i had winter clothes

GG: and if i did, i ALSO wish that my wardrobifier didnt blow up with all of my beautiful clothes inside it :C

GG: im so horribly unprepared for this.... i have never even seen snow before, can you believe that!!!

TG: pretty believable since you lived on guam or wherever the fuck

TG: and also inside an active volcano

GG: derp yes dave that is so where i lived

GG: that is as biographically accurate as it gets about me!

TG: well ive never seen it either now that i think about it

GG: no???

TG: no

GG: isnt it great?????

TG: nah

TG: lavas better

GG: lava is NOT better than snow :|

TG: yeah it is lava and skeletal skyscrapers all melting and shit how is that not way cooler than

TG: snow and

TG: like

TG: more snow

GG: you cant play in lava, its no fun

GG: you can only die in lava

TG: snows a big chilly carpet of nobody gives a shit

TG: like old man winter spread around his nasty mayonnaise and turned the landscape into his personal asshole sandwich

GG: eww dave no

TG: when i look around all i see is the miles of unharnessed snowmen im just too damn cool to build

GG: no this is so lame

GG: i am hearing an insane and stupid guy say stupid idiot things while wearing dumb sunglasses for lame morons!

TG: whoa jade with the fucking haymaker

TG: i need to go look for my teeth on the canvas as soon as shit stops spinning and there stops being like ten of you

GG: heheheh

GG: why dont we play in the snow later

GG: as soon as you get some....................................

TG: time

GG: ..............................

TG: time

GG: ...................

TG: time then shades

GG: ..........

TG: time

GG: ...............

TG: time/shades lets go

GG: .......

GG: ....

GG: ...

TG: oh my fucking god

GG: ..

GG: .

GG: time 8)

TG: im not gonna play in the snow

TG: maybe you missed those credentials i flashed which clearly stated me being too cool for that

TG: like federally too cool

TG: my coolness is named after a dead president plus his middle initial to make it sound extra legit

GG: i know youre joking around, you are not too cool at all, you dont even think that

TG: ok

GG: brrrrrr

TG: i thought you were going inside

GG: i forgot :\

TG: well at least make some damn clothes

TG: something warmer why dont you alchemize some shit

GG: i cant!!!

GG: all that stuff blew up

TG: blew up

GG: its a long story that involves a pinata and a gun and a very naughty doggie

TG: i completely understand everything about that practically entirely

GG: so anyway, that reminds me ive got to talk to john!

GG: ive got to get him to make me some new gizmos...

GG: assuming thats even possible

TG: no dont bother john

TG: hes on like his fuckin

TG: wind mission or whatever

TG: getting all his ridiculous magic cyclone powers on and realizing his huge blowy destiny

TG: as the chump of shoosh

GG: john has magic cyclone powers?

TG: almost

GG: whoa....

GG: you guys are all so much better than me, i feel sooooo lame

TG: we all start out somewhere

TG: remember how i was scrambling up that tower to get that egg like an idiot

TG: what the hell was i doing

TG: i was like goddamn pooh bear in a tree reaching up his fat fuckin pooh paw for some mother fuckin honey

GG: heehee

TG: so even though im awesome now at one point i was plausibly likened to an autistic stuffed animal

TG: and you even knew what to do

TG: you told me how it worked all christopher robinning my ignorant ass about that egg

TG: but i was all like IM A LITTLE BLACK RAIN CLOUD BITCH WATCH ME CLIMB

TG: so maybe youre startin out with more sense than me

GG: maaaybe

GG: :)

TG: in any case egbert lost his computer and game disc

TG: so he cant do anything for you anyways

GG: oh no

GG: did he lose it in a magic cyclone?

TG: probably some shit like thats what happened

TG: but youre not completely screwed

TG: we just have to think outside the box here

GG: we do?

TG: yeah honestly i figured wed have to do something like this

TG: so i guess here we are doing it

GG: doing what??

TG: well youre my server player remember

GG: yes

TG: i need you to deploy something first

TG: in my apartment

TG: in a few hours ill go back there and we can continue this

GG: oh jeez, a few hours????

-- turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering gardenGnostic [GG] --

-- turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering gardenGnostic [GG] --

TG: yeah

TG: as in a few seconds

TG: im back at my place now

GG: fastest hours :o

TG: yeah

TG: now

TG: deploy the intellibeam laserstation

GG: but that costs so much grist!!!

TG: no it costs practically nothing

TG: check out how much ive got

GG: omg...

GG: what does this thing do?

TG: its mostly pretty stupid and useless

TG: but itll come in handy here

TG: it reads captcha codes

GG: on the back of cards?

TG: yeah

GG: but

GG: we can already read those!

TG: some are too garbled and complicated

TG: the human eye cant decipher them

TG: needs sophisticated scanning technology

TG: and artificial intelligence to figure it out

GG: hmm

GG: but isnt the whole point of captchas that only humans can read them?

GG: and not robots???

TG: yeah well

TG: thats why this is so dumb

TG: i guess some captchas are so incomprehensible cause the game thinks it would be too cheap to let you duplicate them

TG: like an anti piracy measure

TG: so the solution to the anti piracy measure is to override the anti spam measure

GG: anti spam?

TG: well yeah thats what captchas are for

TG: and theyre on the back of cards for a really good reason

TG: cause god knows the last thing youd want was some web bot being able to figure out the code for like

TG: a potted plant

TG: that would be fucking mayhem

GG: yeah obviously!

TG: but in order to effectively cheat here weve got to open pandoras spam box

TG: and release the laserstation into the world with its leering intellibeam

TG: now no captcha is safe youll have bots signing up for email accounts and duplicating potted plants and shit

GG: oh nooo

TG: basically robots are in control now

TG: which is good news and bad news

TG: the bad news is theyre all pornbots and theyve got LOADS of provocative material theyre just dying to share with us

GG: whats the good news?

TG: thats also the good news

GG: dave i still dont know what youre actually doing here

TG: whats it look like

TG: im duplicating my server disc

GG: oh....

GG: to give it to john?

TG: nah i told you were not bothering john

TG: hes got shit to do

TG: ill just install it

GG: but...

GG: you are already roses server player!

GG: and john is mine!

GG: not to mention im yours!!!

GG: can you really be a server player to your own server player?

TG: dont see why not

TG: we have to get creative here

TG: this games already so far off the rails what else is there to do but improvise

GG: but i guess

GG: i thought that john sort of.....

GG: HAD to be my server? you know?

TG: well he was

TG: he got you in didnt he

TG: but now hes not

TG: been a change of plans

TG: time to roll with it

GG: well youre from the future right?

GG: dont you know already if itll work?

TG: yeah more or less

TG: i never really studied how it went down all that closely

TG: i just figured when the time came to sort it out the right thing to do would be obvious

TG: like it is now

TG: managing the loops is a balance of careful planning and just rolling with your in the moment decisions

TG: and trusting they were the ones you were always supposed to make

TG: by now im pretty used to having my intuition woven into the fabric of the alpha timeline

GG: pretty smooth dave

TG: yeah i know

GG: shades for everybody

GG: 8) 8)

TG: thisll be the disc i use for your connection

TG: while the original will stay bound to roses connection

GG: so you will be the server for BOTH us ladies???

GG: you just keep getting smoother, i cant handle all this smoothness

TG: well technically

TG: i will be your server

TG: and past me will stay as roses server

TG: which is to say present me will

TG: the one in the black suit

GG: ohh...

GG: i guess that makes sense

TG: he can keep managing her for a while

TG: until she sorta checks out soon and becomes totally useless

TG: then he can start hopping around time like i did

TG: make a ton of money and stuff

TG: eventually become me

TG: and become your server player

GG: ok i think i understand that!

TG: yeah see its not hard to get the hang of

TG: in the meantime ill kind of loiter around this timeframe to help you out for a while

GG: yessss thanks dave <3

GG: um

GG: what do you mean rose will check out? :\

TG: dont worry about it just some more future stuff

TG: now i need you to go downstairs

GG: uhhhh ok

TG: im just going to cut right to the chase and upgrade your alchemiter so you can avoid a lot of bullshit

TG: ill give you some codes and you can punch cards and slip em into jumper blocks

TG: which are really the exact same codes you first gave me when we upgraded my alchemiter

TG: which seems like a hella long time ago

GG: it does doesnt it

TG: yeah but it kind of literally is for me

GG: how long?

TG: few days i guess

GG: ok thats not THAT long :p

TG: whatever

GG: yaaaaaaaaaaaay!

[away-ward]

Part 2, because im not done with my rambling lmao. This can be a separate topic, because it's not exactly about the same thing, but more like an explanation of part 1, but mostly just satire and observation about emmy's characterisation and interactions with others.

I dont know how to feel about the one i mentioned in Part 1, because I really love female characters who have flaws, even better when they have a great and believable arc about it (doesnt even matter if they got redemption or not), but this constant narration of emmy being "judgmental", we're always reminded of it, as if it's a fatal flaw, as if she has the worst character flaw than any others when we we kept on being shown how she wasnt at all each page we read, felt so unsatisfying, weird and illogical to me. I dont get the same satisfaction as when I read about Rika, Banks and Winter learning their own judging, internalised misogyny and changing for the better. Emmy's "judgmental" arc was so flat, i hated it. If PD really wanted to make Emmy a judgmental bitch, they should have at least made Emmy's thoughts and actions worse than 75% of Rika, Banks and Winter, combined. Thats the only way to go, because if I had Emmy as a friend, theres not much to her words that would be cutting to me, because most of them were true, people just dont like to hear it, and i dont always have to hear what i want to hear from my close ones, but then, Emmy IS a kinder person than me, lmao so take my opinion with a grain of salt. Like even when Emmy was "judging" these people yeah, I remember her making counter-arguments to temp down her negative arguments in her head about what was going on, and it was never malicious or evil. She was more analysing and critical, than maliciously judging, as the word "judgmental" implies. She wasnt even going after the people she criticises, at most, she made fun of them here and there, and they werent even as disgusting as her bullies, or Arion Ashby. It was so unsatifying to see. I thought we'll get a Nesta Archeron from Sarah J Maas' universe, or Silver from Rina Kent's universe, level of bitchy, but Emmy wasnt even half close to Nesta or Silver, and she got so many stones thrown her way. Before I read nightfall, i thought she was an evil bitch or something but then i read nightfall, and i was like, huh? Whats this? I fell in love with Emmy still, but not because of what i thought coukd be the reason to it: that she was mean, judgy and bitchy. Lmao, it was a very weird experience tbh. I fell in love with her character still, but at what cost? Hahahah.

No wonder Micah and Rory trusted her and took her side in the train, because Emmy was always just minding her own business, took care of others & only fought when necessary or under duress, which was probably very contrasting to the kind of people that Micah and Rory have probably met and had to deal with in the lives at home before and during Blackchurch with Aydin and Taylor (Micah being a son of a terrorist, watching innocents being killed left and right, and his mom being sixteen when she birthed him, and Rory a son of a rich high profile politicians, but had no one who cared enough to serve his brutalised sister justice so he had to do it himself, then he was sent away from it, kinda remindd me of The Glory, a Korean Drama about serving revenge for unjustice. Rory's character that we see when he was with Micah, Emmy and Will, especially, was also very contrasting to the way Alex described him to Emmy). When emmy said to the blackchurch gang about their rich privilege lives not having to worry about going home and work bare minimum wage or smth, it was made under stress, and everyone was shitting on everyone, aydin was even more violent towards Micah and Rory just because he was a loser ass bully. But even then, emmy's "insult" was only made after many threats thrown her way to assault her and some classist things said here and there to put her down like "oh yeah you wear something from target that my mom own", (which was sad because she knew her class without anyone mentioning it but it was kinda funny too ngl because aydins mom was girlbossing ebing aceo of a wel-known company, and he was being a loser ass flop bully in vlackchurch? Yea, i giggle a bit at the irony actually).

Unlike Aydin or Taylor, emmy didnt go out of her way to cause pain to others, even through others (like how taylor used aydins protection to hurt Micah, Rory and Will, but Emmy did the opposite and helped them instead), and i think these moments were the moments where Micah and Rory saw her character and personality the best, and was able to start to get along well with her, because even in duress, she took care of others, eben stranger like them first, before she did anything. Like cook for them, fight for and with them, playfighting etc., joke around with them, etc. She could literally just try to instigate something about Micah Rory to Aydin like what taylor did, but she never did, and like i said, she surprisingly get along with them and caring for them instead, so why wouldnt Micah and Rory NOT trust her, more than anyone in that train. Maybe even faster than when they trusted Will, lmao, no womder Will was sulky when they took her side, and had to take them on acar ride to show them around time. Even better when they found out Will was mad at a kinda embarrassing thing, because 1. he got dumped in high school and 2. she put them in jail because her abusive brother tried to kill her grandmere ☠️ it's so embarrassing when you think about it in their povs, they probably made fun of will and co. in their heads because didnt Rory asked will why emmy was here? And didnt will "mysteriously" said something like "oh everyone has a reason to be here", like WHAHHWHAHAHA thats so funny. I bet Micah and Rory were making fun if Will in private because of it before they slept beside mmy in the train, and continued to be her allied after for that prison break scene. And after all the good things they saw and heard she did, why the hell wouldnt she side with her? Like think about it yeah, maybe even Rory probably can see her struggles and relate to her about not having anyone to reach out to when something bad happened to her sister. And now he knew its because she wanted to save her grandmere when she was abused by her own brother? There was no reason to trust Grayson's annoying mysterious ass answer anymore, lamoooo, Ahhahaha! You see why this is funny, right? I cant be the one laughing here. I cant lie, everytime i came to Micah and Rory's scenes after the train, i kinda giggle a bit because wtf is going on with these guys? Why are they so dramatic? And they have a good and safe home and family to come back to, so why were they always complaining?

Anyway, coming back to that "emmy judgmental" discourse, basically, i already ran out of things i want to say about it because i think i already made it clear about how i thought emmy was like and how i wished her character was instead earlier, but some other cases of being judgy but not really: i remember Emmy talked to ella at school, and said soemthing that can sound kinda judgy to others, but really she was just saying "ok yeah, if thats your kinda fun, go ahead" but then she saw how ella's face changed and quickly made up for it because ella was just being nice, and it wasnt ellas fault for whatever that was happening then. When she saw damon in the train with winter and made a general assumption about his love life, saying something about damon being married and winter liking someone like damon. Was it not fair to do so, kinda? But damon himself had a history of treating girls like shit, and suddenly when she meets him again, he changed, so i dont think it's a bad assumption to make, because his change was drastic. 80% of kill switch he was shit to winter, but then she confessed, and he wasnt shit anymore?? This was also why i hated damon's arc, because the last 20% killswitch and the whole conclave damon was so??? As if PD wrote a whole different character. We disnt even see him slowly change, it's exactly like a kill switch, as if he was suddenly kinda good now? What the hell was that? It's so unsatisfying to see. Like winterdamon's conclave arc was literally winter being bitchier than damon, like what the hell was that? Maybe damon is the only person she"ll be bitchy towards, but still, why is this man suddenly soft? And out of nowhere he was shit to misha? As if misha wasnt the first to notice will's disappearance? Huhhhh? Anyway, conclave solidified my opinon towards damon's character arc: pure shit. Also, how was he suddenly better than michael? Huhhhh? Its so confusing, but then michael was shit too, i cant even imagine damon doing all that michael did to rika with his friends to winter, so i guess comparing them is really not helping anyone at all, lmfao!

+ your discussion with that Anon about Damon And Emmy being mirrors is kinda interesting 🤔 I feel like if Damon chose to build more than to destroy, he could be more like Emmy, and if Emmy chose to live in hell rather than heaven, she could be more like Damon. To me, Emory and Banks were more similar to Damon than Rika, because lf their personalities. But i can see why Rika was Damon said that Rika was similar to him instead, because what they wanted was to be the centre of chaos, but Banks just wanted to be safe and happy, and Emmy just wanted to be with Will, build things, and destroy things with her loved ones. But at the core, Damon and Emory's personality was more familiar than they would ever like to admit. In fact, i dont think they even noticed this, might even need one or some of their family members to point this out, only then, they might notice it. Because both are highly secretive loners, so it needs a lot to peel off their masks, kinda ironic that they were the ones who saw themselves in the other first before anyone even relise this. They're like foils to each other, so similar, yet so different. Maybe their dynamic is like Ill and Alex, but not quite either. Because i believe, Will and Alex was only mirrors when they enable each other, but in reality, they too, were like foils, like Damon and Emory, bcause what they want in life is different. Alex wanted to be rich, indelendent and fight against prejudice against her for being lower than these high class people yah, but Will always wante dto just do better and more. So even when these four are mirrors to their pain, there not parallels to their wants. Emory's wants and needs are the ones that are parallel to Will's, that's why they ended up together, because their main motive of life is very similar, to do better and go beyond everything.

Now, i also saw one of the latest anon post bout POC DN, but unfortunately, i dont think we'll ever get that from PD. I'm a POC myself, and i never expected or thought PD would go for this route, in fact, when i read DN, i knew the kind of fictional characters that im reading (everything that i cant relate), which i was very grateful for. Because i dont think PD had it enought in them, of the knowledge or sensitivity about POC or religions, to go about this topic. Ive read most of their books, and anything related to race, ethnicity, and religions are just a no-go for PD so far, and its totally ok, better for them to write what they can and want to write rather that asking for the impossible. The story is gonna come out ok, but was it honna be good? Idk. It's like a fish climbing a tree, can they do it? Maybe, but can a fish climb it well? No one knows. It was always implied in text that PD wasnt really interested to write these kind of things, and like i said, i think thats totally fine. Their niche is always about "doing whatever you want to the fullest", and even then, a lot of context are still very western-values (this observation coming from a non-western POC myself). I hope that anon understand that if they wanna find something POC related, better to find it from other POC writers instead, you can just search it up on tiktok for it, theres a lot of similar books with POC characters i promise, theyre just not as popular. I think With Cindy on Youtube made similar and good arguments about this POC thing in two of her videos for: deadly Education (?) by naomi novik, and that addie la rue book by ve schwab. You guys might wanna check it out about this kind of discourse if you're interested i guess.

Other than that, i like that anon's observation about wanting damon's love interest to be just as intense or razy like him, because i was expecing the same!!! Like, even rika was crazier than winter. You can take winter out of the story, and it still wouldnt change a thing, thats how useless her character waa in the series. Her character only serves the purpose of being Damon's love interest (LI). I thought inter was going to be fiesty as we get deeper into their story, but it never happened, and the one (1) time she was being mean to damon about his mom, she was being shit on by a lot of readers, as if damon did not soend the entire kill switch being horrible to her, especially in that haunted house. I expected more but she didnt even fight him much? Idk, damonwinter was just so unsatisfying to me not only because of damon, but also because of winter partly. So much potentially for her to bully the fuck out of damon and made him her lapdog or something you know, but it never happened! But i dont hate winter though, idk how anyone could hate her, but still, she still brought nothing for me. Even when she was soft, kind and nice, it wasnt intense. As annoying as rika was, at least she was in everyone's face about it, but winter was just? There? I guess? I love soft, nice characters, but i love them like i love Esme from the Bride Test and Eve from Act Your Age Eve Brown, like their softness, niceness, is just soooo deep you know, but winter was meh to me. For a book thats supposed to be about feeling everything the most apart from corrupt, kill switch didnt deliver for me for this reason, and also because the plot was shit. But then every dn book has shitty plot sooo idk.

Ok, I think thats all, i wanna say (me saying this after posting two separate essays about fictional characters, + response to unknown anon on the internet, lmaooo) and im interested to hear your thoughts about them. Those anons whose posts are mentioned, if youre interested to join in the discussion, please do join, and lets have fun having long anonymous "chats" like this, lmao (away-ward) only if dont mind of course. Anyway, I like to read your answers, rambles, agreements and disagreements with anons here, it's like im in a fun discord group discussions or something with people who ACTUALLY wnat to talk about anything and everything, rather than just "yeah, i dont agree okbye". So please, do keep posting long stuffs, im sure a lot of your mutuals here like and appreciate them if they might not say anything in the comments.

Have a good day!

Ramble away

Except... I’m kinda gonna derail you for a second because your comments got me thinking. Another reason why it bothers me that blackchurch happened towards the end of the series is that we don’t really get to see Emory act in normal circumstances. In Nightfall, she’s always stressed. She’s either dealing with her life as a teenager or she’s literally been kidnapped and dragged to an island to be threatened by men who are so bad, their families don’t want anything to do with them (at least as far as she knows). Like, we can agree that being judgmental is not the fatal flaw that the narrative makes it out to be, but then… what are Emmy’s real flaws? It can be a little difficult to determine because she’s always reacting from the gut in NF, not making decisions how she’d normally make them. And while I love that she’s quick and decisive enough to protect herself and deal with the situation, I’m kind of left wondering.

So I did some research and looked up character flaws to see which ones I can see in Emory, just so I have an idea. I think it’s important to note that any trait can become a flaw if it’s imbalanced, which is why it’s hard to tell under the circumstances. Who wouldn’t be off kilter in the same situation? Based on just a few lists (that are in my likes if any of you are interested and what to offer up your own), this is what I’ve come up with:

Argumentative – even if she did agree, she always had a comeback or never went along easily. I think she liked arguing in her literature class, as long as the topic didn’t hit too close to home. When they're disembarking the train, Will asks if she's going to stop fighting and she says never (something to that effect). Girl likes her verbal spars.

Blunt – she had a habit of saying things the way they came to her head, or what she was really thinking, even if it hurt someone’s feelings. She could also be opinionated, and offered what she thought without being asked. Even though it was often true, it wasn't the nicest way to convey the thought. In certain situations, she would speak first and then apologizing when it came out wrong.

Competitive – not always a bad thing, but I think if she didn’t have Martin holding her back, she could have fallen into the trap of taking things too far.

Critical – I think this is where people get her confused for being judgmental. She is highly critical of people. She has high standards for herself and those in her company, but she doesn’t judge others for their legitimate failings or mistakes. She judges them for not meeting the standards, especially when they have every opportunity open to them and the path cleared.

Maybe a bit of a perfectionist, but it’s hard to say. If so, it would go along with her competitive nature.

Maybe a bit stubborn, but then she’s been pushed around so much it’s hard to say it’s a flaw that she tends to dig her heels in when she can.

Maybe a bit aloof – the tendency to go off on her own/work on her own. But we’re shown that she’s willing to make friends, she’s just awkward at times because of her history. I think she probably found it easier with Micah and Rory because there was no need to explain. They had an in immediate understanding of difficult families.

And these are all guesses. Some are more accurate than others. But even reading through those lists, the amount of things Emory was not far outweighed the things she might be, even at her worst. It might have been nice if she had a real flaw, like a shining one, that wasn’t caused by her background and one she was unashamed of. But Emory is, I think, the only truly good person in this series. The rest are either morally gray or neutral, for all intents and purposes. Winter might come next. She’s not exactly neutral, but I still don’t see her has being as having as good intentions as Emory does.

Okay, thanks for indulging me. Back to your comment:

as if she has the worst character flaw than any others when we we kept on being shown how she wasnt at all each page we read, felt so unsatisfying, weird and illogical to me. I dont get the same satisfaction as when I read about Rika, Banks and Winter learning their own judging, internalised misogyny and changing for the better. Emmy's "judgmental" arc was so flat, i hated it.

I agree with this. I’m not sure if it was the situation or what, but what I did find is that the build up to what made Emory so bad was super anticlimactic because I just looked back and everything I read and was like “Yeah, her decision makes total sense to me. What do you mean this is the reason you’re mad????” I mentioned before what I felt Emory needed to learn, but even then these weren't the same as what the other girls had to unlearn to move forward.

It was kinda the same with Winter, to be honest. Like, I know Damon was mad that she didn’t come to his defense, but at the same time he did lie to her. He manipulated her senses, used the lack of her sight to his advantage, and deceived her into thinking he was someone else. Again, she did herself the disservice of sleeping with a man she didn’t actually know, didn’t even have a name, but even if he did give her a name, that would have been a lie. I don’t completely fault her for refusing to tell them anything. She felt violated. So yeah, she didn’t owe Damon anything. But in saying that, I didn’t feel like Winter had it as hard as Emory. She had friends she could rely on, people already on her side. The hardest I’ve seen readers come at her is that she’s boring or dull (but I'll be honest, I haven't looked that hard). This is so different from Emory, who I felt had more of a defense for her actions both before and after the “event”.

even when Emmy was "judging" these people yeah, I remember her making counter-arguments to temp down her negative arguments in her head about what was going on, and it was never malicious or evil. She was more analysing and critical, than maliciously judging, as the word "judgmental" implies.

Yes, exactly! She’s critical, sometimes to the point of making fun of them, but she’s not being malicious. She’s not trying to hurt anyone or planning to hurt them. And I think even if she wanted to, if given the chance, she wouldn’t take it. I’m not sure, but I think abuse victims are more likely to be re-victimize than to become abusers themselves? I think this would be true for her.

I thought we'll get a Nesta Archeron from Sarah J Maas' universe, or Silver from Rina Kent's universe, level of bitchy, but Emmy wasnt even half close to Nesta or Silver,

So I don’t want seem weird or anything (here on the being openly weird site) but sometimes I notice that people who are Emory fans tend to also like Nesta. Never having read the series, I’m not sure what the correlation is. Does anyone wanna feel me in?

I fell in love with Emmy still, but not because of what i thought coukd be the reason to it: that she was mean, judgy and bitchy. Lmao, it was a very weird experience tbh.

This took me a minute, but I eventually got it. So you were hoping for someone sarcastic and mean to put these men in their place, and instead you got compassionate and kind, and yet still put them in their place? But because her story was so genuine you still came to love her?? If so, I get it. I don’t know what I was expecting from Emory, but I wasn’t disappointed. However, I was a little shocked to see all the Emory hate. How could anyone hate someone so sincere as Emmy? But to each their own, I guess.

Emmy was always just minding her own business, took care of others & only fought when necessary or under duress, which was probably very contrasting to the kind of people that Micah and Rory have probably met and had to deal with in the lives at home before and during Blackchurch with Aydin and Taylor

Good point. I think Micah could see the kind of person she was before Rory even cared, but it does seem to be that once she was under Micah’s care, she was under Rory’s as well. Not that it mattered much in Blackchurch, considering they were the underdogs, so to speak. But it was an important line to draw. They saw the truth of her character and I think at that point, it wouldn’t have mattered what anyone said about her, they were convinced of the type of person she was. Like when they fell from the balcony and she had the mind to protect his head? I'm not sure I could have reacted so quickly and thoughtfully. And then to not doubt herself that she just saved his life when he could turn around a hurt her? She did the right thing because it was the right thing to do. And that speaks volumes.

but it was kinda funny too ngl because aydins mom was girlbossing ebing aceo of a wel-known company, and he was being a loser ass flop bully in vlackchurch? Yea, i giggle a bit at the irony actually).

I forgot about that, but it is really funny. It’s hard to take him seriously when I’m reminded that he threw his entire life away for Alex. I mean, I’m happy they’re happy and all that, but come on, man? You got sent away for refusing to marry the woman you don’t want, okay fine. That’s an okay hill to die on. But kidnapping another girl because yours is busy sleeping with everyone but you, almost intentionally avoiding you? Seriously??

And why did not one person apologize to Emmy? She forgave them, sure. But still. No, I'm not over it.

no womder Will was sulky when they took her side, and had to take them on acar ride to show them around time. Even better when they found out Will was mad at a kinda embarrassing thing, because 1. he got dumped in high school and 2. she put them in jail because her abusive brother tried to kill her grandmere ☠️ it's so embarrassing when you think about it in their povs,

Oh my gosh can you imagine their discussions! After hearing everything, they’re just side eyeing each other like 'did you hear that or am I crazy?' And when they’re alone, Micah’s just like “wait, did I miss something? Are they really mad because she was backed into a corner?” and Rory’s like “No you got it right.” Like neither of them can fully grasp or wrap their heads around this concept. And then they have to go to the wedding and hear about Rika… no wonder they were trying to grab the girls and run. They for sure mock these guys when they’re alone, or maybe even with Emmy who can’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.

Rory probably can see her struggles and relate to her about not having anyone to reach out to when something bad happened to her sister. And now he knew its because she wanted to save her grandmere when she was abused by her own brother? There was no reason to trust Grayson's annoying mysterious ass answer anymore, lamoooo, Ahhahaha! You see why this is funny, right? I cant be the one laughing here.

I can see this being the thing that solidifies Rory’s loyalty. Like, I never paid much attention to them (sorry, I know people love them. Sometimes side characters slip off the edge of the story for me), but now talking about it, I can see that Rory is loyal to Micah, and Micah feels something for Emmy, so now he’s protective of Emmy too. But only as far as it doesn’t put Micah in danger. Now, though, I can see this being the moment things shift for him and suddenly Emmy moves from secondary to a higher priority.

It is funny that Will got all sulky after that. From now on anytime Will’s like “This is a serious problem.” They can be like

“Really? Serious like the time you went to prison for crimes you committed and recorded, and then you tried to convince me that was Em's fault? Is it that kind of situation? Remind me how long her grandmother lived after that? Was it seven years?”

“…it was seven years.”

“Wow. Seven additional years with the only person who cared about her. And how long were you in prison for?”

Micah and Rory never fail to remind Will just what a drama queen he is.

When she saw damon in the train with winter and made a general assumption about his love life, saying something about damon being married and winter liking someone like damon. Was it not fair to do so, kinda? But damon himself had a history of treating girls like shit, and suddenly when she meets him again, he changed, so i dont think it's a bad assumption to make, because his change was drastic.

Right, we all make assumptions or judgments based on prior information. That’s just how humans work. But Emory also adjusted when new information became available. That’s why I don’t think she deserves to be labeled judgmental. She works off information and evidence she already has, not what she assumes to be true.

This was also why i hated damon's arc, because the last 20% killswitch and the whole conclave damon was so??? As if PD wrote a whole different character. We disnt even see him slowly change, it's exactly like a kill switch, as if he was suddenly kinda good now? What the hell was that? It's so unsatisfying to see.

Yep. There’s a tik tok somewhere in the damon tag that I rb specifically for this reason. I’ll try to bring it up again for reference. But yeah. I agree that he healed too quickly, and it’s not even that he ‘healed’ he just… fixed his ways? I feel like he should have still be a bit messy and manipulative. He was just sarcastic with Misha a little, but then he's never liked his friend’s family members. He didn’t like Trevor either (though, that proved to be for a good reason). Like, I bet if Kai had a sibling, he’d dislike them just as much. He likes Banks and sometimes Rika, and that’s it. Those are the only two valid siblings in his book. Stupid.

Anyway, I wanted him to cause problems and instead I got him softening the blow for when things went wrong and casually joking around.

I don’t know what you mean by how is he better than Michael. Do you mean to the readers? I think the readers just find him more dangerous than Michael and dangerous equals sexy in fiction. I will admit that he’s more fun to read and his character is more fleshed out, but that doesn’t make him a better “person” than Michael. Is that what you meant?

your discussion with that Anon about Damon And Emmy being mirrors is kinda interesting 🤔 I feel like if Damon chose to build more than to destroy, he could be more like Emmy, and if Emmy chose to live in hell rather than heaven, she could be more like Damon.

I see what you’re saying. Yeah, maybe 'reflection' isn’t the right word. I can see foil working, but I don’t know if PD ever intended for them to contrast each other like that. Still, I like the idea of them as a duo, however that works out.

I found it difficult to understand Will and Alex in NF, especially when she was saying things like “you’re my reflection.” I think it’s because we were so far removed, Will hardly ever gave clarification on what his relationship with Alex was actually like when they were alone. And then when she did show up, he had Emory on the brain, so nothing was the same. But what I thought was interesting is that I think Alex was trying to say they were the same. That she could hide all her pain under her smile, same as him, and no one would know. And like you said, they enabled each other, possibly mistaking that for strengthening each other.

But when we look in the mirror, our reflection is backwards. We don’t see ourselves the way other people see us. With a bit more pondering, there might be something there in that.

I was thinking the same with Damon and Emory – that they reflect the parts of each other no one else can see. But really, to compare it to Alex and Will, Damon and Emory would have to deal with their pain the same way, and as you said, they don’t. Damon destroys things and Emory tries to restore. So, they aren’t reflections of each other, but I think they can help each other and that’s the important part of a friendship.

Now, i also saw one of the latest anon post bout POC DN, but unfortunately, i dont think we'll ever get that from PD. I'm a POC myself, and i never expected or thought PD would go for this route,

 I wouldn’t expect it from PD either. Truthfully, it takes a lot of research and consultation, and it will still never be as good as an ‘own voices’ story. But what I do appreciate is them not changing or completely casting all white characters, if that makes sense. It would have been easy to squeak by with “their skin was golden” or “tan” or “dark” and never really label it. But they did give a clear distinction when needed. We know that Kai is Japanese, and we know that Emory is Jewish, and we know that Winter is blind (if we're talking about diversity, I think that gets to be included). They didn’t shy away from giving clear details like that. Could it have been done better? Absolutely. And maybe in the future, they will be able to do better. There’s always room for growth. It still never be as good as if someone from that specific race or cultural were writing the character.

For me personally, not shying away has been a difficult part of writing and something I had to learn for myself. I’ve never been openly criticized for it, but more of a self-reflection. Sometimes, when a character comes to me, they are just automatically a different race or background from what I’m familiar with. When I first started writing, it felt easier to soften those details, maybe try to hide it so no one could tell if I got it wrong. Eventually, I had to gain the confidence to not change the character, but instead do the best I can to do research and talk to people, maybe even let them read to see what they have to say, and then take their advice or correction.

I don’t know how PD builds their characters, but they didn’t shy away from including POC, so there’s something to that at least. And I know it’s not PD’s forte, but there is something more I would have liked from specifically Kai and Emory’s storyline. I can’t articulate it right now, so I might have to circle back to this another time. I think the Anon was just noting the lack of diversity within the story, and then when POC were brought up that wasn’t Kai or Emory, it was in a sex scene. I can see why that would bother someone.

I mean… I can see both sides of the discussion and both have valid points. The area that PD was writing about has mainly a white population, added to that, Thunder Bay has a population of about 10,000. So their private preparatory academy is going to be made up of mainly white kids. I think there should have been more than two (2) POC in the whole school, even if the kids were coming from a different town because it’s a good private school, but that’s just me. I don’t know what the class size was like. At the same time, they would have just been minor characters at most. Maybe members of the basketball team, or even Elle could have been something other than white. It would be hard to mess that up, and none of those characters were sexualized.

But then does that count as representation? Does it only count if it’s a main character? And do we consider PD the voice we want to hear a POC character’s narrative from? Like you said, they can do it, sure, but is it going to be good?

Much better to look for a POC narrative from a POC author. Like you said, they’re out there, they’re just not as popular.

Side note: I don’t often get over to booktube, as often that I’m on youtube, but I do love With Cindy when I do.

i like that anon's observation about wanting damon's love interest to be just as intense or razy like him, because i was expecing the same!!! Like, even rika was crazier than winter. You can take winter out of the story, and it still wouldnt change a thing

Same. I think the moment Winter lost me was when she did the dance to Mister Grinch. One, why are you using Michael and Rika’s engagement party for this, though I’m sure Rika loved it. And two, if you’re so scared of Damon, why are you mocking him publicly? It sort of ruined her story for me. From that point forward, I felt like she was always crying crocodile tears. I couldn’t take anything she said or did seriously after that because like... are you just lying to get your way?

As annoying as rika was, at least she was in everyone's face about it,

Very true. Like a tiny little dog.

For a book thats supposed to be about feeling everything the most apart from corrupt, kill switch didnt deliver for me for this reason

I hadn’t thought about that, but you’re right. What was all “this is red” “this is how black feels” who are you, tswift? Regardless, I felt nothing. As always though, I enjoyed Kill Switch’s past scenes more than it’s present. I like the scenes where he took her driving, and even though in NF I was annoyed that Em’s attention had to divert so that everyone can have their cameo, I didn’t mind her seeing Damon get the bike to take Winter on a ride. That was actually nice.

And on that note, as annoyed as I was, it was also like “em was so invisible that she notices everyone else but no one ever noticed her in their story… except for one person.” which was something to think about.

if youre interested to join in the discussion, please do join, and lets have fun having long anonymous "chats" like this, lmao (away-ward) only if dont mind of course.

I don’t mind. For me, it feels like I step up to the mic and shout into the void, and sometimes the void shouts back. Sometimes it’s crickets, and it’s like “what did I say?” but it's still fun.

It feels Like this:

It’s nice to know someone is reading, even if it doesn’t get any likes or anything.

Feel free to respond to each other. Just, as I’ve said, be respectful. Even if you disagree, don’t be mean or insulting.

Thank you so much!! I do enjoy reading your thoughts. have a great day!!

*bolded in paragraphs are not for emphasis but to help me in skimming a lot post for editing*

[princessselene126]

Aimery: *approaches*

Cinder: Jacin, I'm going to ask you not to do anything violent.

Jacin: What? What are you talking about? I only use violence as an appropriate response.

Aimery: Hello, Jacin.

Jacin: *turns around and punches Aimery in the face*

Cress, watching the fight: And this is?

Cinder: Aimery; they used to work together.

Jacin: *throws Aimery onto a table*

Cress: He seems to rub Jacin the wrong way.

Cinder: You think?

Jacin: *still beating up Aimery*

[vanishingcherry]

slytherin pt. 2

draco x reader

words: 5.8k

warnings: swearing, death, kissing (please comment if you see any other)

summary: you are harry’s younger sister, and got sorted into slytherin

a/n: thank you so much for 400 followers and 2k notes on part 1. im still new to writing so i tried my best, hopefully you like it! this is genuinly the longest thing i have ever written lmao (i havn’t double checked it, so if there are any mistakes please tell me)

part 1 

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

Your fourth year passed the same as the previous ones, your only comfort being that you actually had people to talk to now. With Draco Malfoy as your friend, the other Slytherins started to accept you, and instead of Harry ignoring you, it was the opposite way around this time.

Under Sirius’s instructions, he was trying to talk to you and understand where you had gone over the summer, but you avoided him completely, figuring he should have a taste of his own medicine.

Although Professor Umbridge was more often than not a pain in the ass, being in Slytherin meant that you got special privileges, later even joining the Inquisitorial Squad with Draco. 

Around halfway through the year, you were walking through the courtyard when an owl flew down to you, sitting on your hand. It had an envelope with it and u quickly took it from him, frowning. You never got mail. Who would you even get mail from?

You rushed back in to your dorm before tearing open the envelope. It was a letter. Your eyes drop to the bottom of the page and you blink, not believing who it was that sent you the letter. Lucius Malfoy? Draco’s dad?

You skim through the letter, putting it down in shock when you realise what exactly it was that he wanted. You sat on your bed, taking in a few deep breathes as you thought it through. 

Talking to Voldemort, or as the letter said ‘The Dark Lord’ would be different to say the least. He had tried to kill your brother, multiple times, he was supposed to be your enemy. Supposed to. 

Everyone else had thrown you away, no one cared, no one except Draco and his family. You were scared, you knew that if you declined, there was a possibility they throw you out too. You couldn’t deal with the thought of that, having to leave again, having no where to go. 

You quickly unrolled some parchment, writing a quick reply asking when and where you would be meeting Voldemort. You hurriedly sent it off when you heard Draco coming up the stairs, remembering the underlined note at the bottom of the letter saying that he mustn’t know. 

“You okay?” Draco walks in to your room, immediately flopping on your bed. 

“Yeah sorry, just finishing some homework.”

---

The year continues and you go back to Malfoy Manor with Draco during winter break. A few days into the vacation, you’re looking for a book in their massive library when Draco’s father comes up to you. 

“Ready to meet the Dark Lord?” Startled, you turn around and see him looking at you expectantly, waiting for an answer.

“Right now?”, you question.

“Yes. Follow me.” He turns around and walks away briskly, you blink a few times before following, walking fast to catch up to him. Mr. Malfoy had sent a letter back, saying that you would be meeting him during the winter break and that you were expected to come back with Draco, but you presumed it would be later in the month, not so soon. 

You end up at the basement, and Mr. Malfoy guides you through to a surprisingly lavish room. Right in the center stood the Dark Lord, Voldemort. You heard the door close behind you and realised that you were now alone with him. 

You stood by the door, watching as he walks towards you.

“Y/N. Harry Potter’s sister.” he says in a whispery drawl. 

You almost scoff. Even standing in front of Voldemort, Harry was all the mattered.

“You ran, left them. Why?”

You don’t say anything for a couple minutes, unsure of how you should reply. “They didn’t care about me, so I stopped caring about them.”

He doesn’t reply, instead stares at you for a couple seconds. Within the blink of an eye, a chair appears in front of you. 

“Sit.” He waits for you to follow his order. “I will be reading your mind. You will not attempt to block me out in any way or form.”

Without waiting for confirmation of any sort, he raises his hand above your head and you feel your eyes get heavy.

You are back in Grimmauld Place. The scene before you has a hazy quality, everything was brighter, shinier. In front of you is Harry and Sirius hugging, both looking extremely happy as everyone ignored you. 

It changes, now it’s a scene where you hide behind the kitchen door, trying to hear about their plans.

“Someone needs to be there constantly to protect it.”

“He’s definitely going to go after it.”

The door opens before you can hear anything else, and the faces of everyone staring at you from the table swirls into something else. The moment you left, the moment you decided it was enough. 

“Look Y/N, maybe it would be best if you just ate somewhere else. Your place it over there near the sink, you can go eat in the living room.” It was Harry. 

“What?”

“Y/N please just leave, we need to talk about stuff and you can’t listen to it.”

“‘Cause I’m a Slytherin? I thought family was more important that your fucking house.”, you shout at him, an incredulous expression on your face.

“No one here likes you. Can’t you see that? God, life would have been much easier if you’d never been born.” he yells at you.

When you open your eyes again, you aren’t in the basement anymore. You are back in your room, Draco sitting next to you, waiting for you to wake up. 

He realises you’ve woken up and immediately smiles, helping you sit up against the headboard. 

“Are you okay? Father said you fainted in the library, he found you on the floor.”

“Uh- yeah, yeah. Sorry my head is just hurting a bit. I’m fine.”

“Here”, he turns away, picking up a glass of water and a tablet from his side table, “have this.”

“Thanks.”

---

The rest of your school year was uneventful in comparison to the summer break. When Dumbledore left, things got much better for Slytherins, and Hogwarts became much more enjoyable. Being in the Inquisitorial Squad meant that rules such as “6 feet apart” didn’t apply to you, and you found yourself spending almost every waking moment with Draco. 

You spent a lot of time studying, him preparing for OWLs and you finishing up homework. Sometimes you caught him staring at you, smirking and whispering a “nothing” when you asked him what was wrong. 

You weren’t sure if it was because the amount of time you were spending together or something else entirely, but you found yourself staring at Draco a lot too. The only difference being that you were careful and he never caught you. His hair looked much better and for some reason you felt kind of happy when you saw the other girls jealously looking at you walk with him. 

One night, you were sitting near the lake when you saw Draco’s father apparate in the distance. You got up and walked there, wondering how it was even possible. When you got close enough, he grabbed your wrist and pulled you into the forest.

“Come with me. The Dark Lord requires it.”

“What? I can’t right now, someone’s going to look for me.”

“I’ll handle it, try not to puke.”

“Wha-” You were cut off by him apparating, taking you with him. You ended up at the ministry, walking behind Mr. Malfoy once again. It brought a sense of deja vu, but at that point you were just glad you didn’t puke, even though you really wanted to. 

He left you in a dark room, and told you to wait for him to come back. Confused, you ask, “Wait but you said that the Dark Lord wanted to see me.”

“No, I said he wanted you here.” With that, he apparates away, leaving you alone for a solid hour. You sit down, leaning against the wall and try to find something to occupy yourself with. Soon enough, that turns into you subconsciously smiling when you remember a joke Draco had made earlier in the day. 

All of a sudden, you see a bunch of Death Eaters fly in, when they land and turn back into humans, you realise they had people with them. Squinting your eyes to get a better look, you realise it was Harry and his friends, almost everyone he was close with was there.

You were hidden behind a rock, so they couldn’t see you, but you could see them clear as day, none of them had their wands and they were stuck, squirming in the grasp of the Death Eaters who held them. 

Harry was in the center, Mr. Malfoy in front of him, waiting for Harry to hand over an orb of some sort. However, before Harry gives it to him, flashes of white enter from the roof. You realise that it is the Order of the Pheonix, immediately starting a fight with the Death Eaters.

You quickly duck behind the rock, avoiding spells and curses being shot in every direction. You still didn’t understand why you had to be here, why did the Dark Lord want you here.

Nonetheless, you stay hidden, not like you could leave anyways, you hadn’t yet learnt how to apparate. You see Sirius dueling a Death Eater whose name you didn’t know come closer. You duck right on time, narrowly missing a Cruciatus curse that flew above your head. Unfortunately, you weren’t able to muffle a small surprised whimper and when Sirius knocked out the Death Eater, he walked around the rock and saw you.

Getting up immediately, you get your wand out, taking a step back, 

“Y/N”, he whispers, “Why are- how are you here. You have to leave, come with me.” He puts his want down, coming closer to you. 

“Don’t- don’t come closer”, you say, still holding your wand out in front of you.

“I’m- we’re sorry Y/N. Look I promise you won’t get in trouble, just come with me, it’ll be okay.”, he calmly says, taking small steps towards you. 

“Stop. You’re lying, you don’t- no one cares about me. They care-”, you point to Draco’s dad and all the other death eaters fighting, “- they accepted me when you didn’t.”

“Y/N, this isn’t what your parents would’ve wanted for you. They aren’t good people, they hurt others.”

“You hurt me. You and everyone else hurt me. They didn’t. You, you and Harry and everyone else, you are the bad guys.” You are shouting at this point, tears falling down your cheeks. 

Sirius looked around in desperation, trying to find someone who could help him convince you, but everyone else was busy, fighting.

When he looks back at you, he says a small sorry before hitting you with a spel you had never heard of. It was too fast for you to put up a shield and you felt yourself getting drowsy, falling to the floor. Just before you close your eyes, you see a bright green light hit Sirius, he crumples to the ground just as you go unconscious. 

---

When you wake up, you find yourself back in your room. The one in Grimmauld Place. Blinking a few times before getting up, you change into the clothes places on your blanket. You squint at all the light and realise that it was the middle of day, the blinds were wide open. You quickly closed them before leaving the room, carefully making your way down the stairs. 

You wanted to leave, but you were too tired, decided to take your chances with everyone else. You go downstairs and see that everyone is eating lunch. Harry is no where to be seen and everyone is more or less silent. 

Molly Weasley, Ron’s mom, notices you and tells you to sit down, setting a plate full of food in front of you, waiting until you were done eating to start talking. 

“I’m glad you are okay darling, we were all very worried.”

You nod, still confused, wondering why everyone was being nice to you. 

You were in the corner, putting away your plate when Harry walks in. Turning around, you see him look at you before looking away, ignoring your existence. You turn back, closing the cupboard before heading up to your room. Just as you are about to leave the door, he grabs your wrist, you stop, knowing very well what was coming. 

“This is all your fault.”

“Of course it is”, you reply back with sarcasm, rolling your eyes. “Nothing can ever be your fault can it? Always my fucking fault.”

“Sirius is de- he’s gone because of you. You- you killed him.”

“Yeah Harry. I’m the one that shot the killing curse at him. Sure!” You were tired of this, trying to pull your arm out of his grasp. 

“What did you tell them. You’re the one who told them everything didn’t you? A fucking traitor.”

“That’s no ones fault but your own. Maybe if you had enough decency to treat your own sister as a human this wouldn’t have happened.” Quickly, you snatch your arm out and leave before he can talk to you again. 

Rolling your eyes, you leave again, climbing up the stairs, feeling the deja vu. Something about that kitchen and you being in it must bring out the anger in Harry. 

Grabbing a few galleons you found on the table in the room next door, you leave out the window once more. Funny, you’d thought they would at least be smarter to give you a different room.

You take the Knight Bus to Diagon Alley, and once you get there, you get a room at the inn before renting an owl from the post office. You send a quick letter to Draco, explaining that you had been taken back to Grimmauld Place and were now in Diagon Alley. You hoped that the letter would reach Draco and not anyone else, giving it to the owl before heading back to the room to rest for the night.

The next morning you head down to Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour to get some breakfast, treating yourself. You see someone reading the Daily Prophet and find out that Dumbledore was back and Umbridge had been removed, returning to her job in the Ministry. 

When you get back to the lobby, you are informed that someone came looking for you and is in your room. Taking out your wand you cautiously walk up, letting out a huge sigh of relief when you see that it is Draco.

“Oh thank god.” He immediately pulls you in for a tight hug, giving a small kiss to your hair as he keeps you in his arms, not letting you move. 

A couple minutes later he moves back, still holding on to your arms. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“I- Yeah. I- we- I was back at Grimmauld Place, I just left.”

“Did they hurt you? What happened? Father he- he said that you were with him and then you ran or like left and he couldn’t find you. He’s mad, he doesn’t want me to be near you.”

“I- He took me to the ministry. I was in this room and there were all these Death Eaters and they had Harry and all his friends and then Sirius and Remus and all of them came and started fighting.”

“What? Why were you with him there? Did he force you?”

“No, I uh, I talked to the dark lord during the summer brea-”

“What.”

“- I told him everything. He like looked at my memories and found out about Harry and Sirius and everything”, you continued, ignoring his interruption. You kept your eyes on the floor, not wanting to see his disappointment. 

When he didn’t reply, you looked up, seeing that he was just staring at you. You couldn’t read his expression. “I’m sorry.”

“Why didn’t you tell me. I promised you that you would be safe at my house and you- you should’ve told me.” His voice was soft, but you could tell he wasn’t sure what to do, trying to hide his disappointment. 

“You couldn’t have done anything. The dark lord would have done it anyways.”

“Stop- stop calling him that. He’s not your Dark Lord, just, just call him anything else.”

“‘K, sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

The two of you sit on the bed, he made sure to hold your hand in an attempt to show you that he wasn’t mad, just didn’t know what to do next. You knew as well as him that you couldn’t go back to Malfoy Manor. Thankfully you had enough money to last a couple weeks before you would go back to school. 

“I- I care about you.” You can barely hear him, but it breaks the silence and for a second you’re confused. 

“I care about you too?”

“No, not in a friend way, in- like a- I don’t know, a more than friends way.” 

You are speechless. Did he really think that way? All this time? Did you think that way? Every single thought you’ve ever had about Draco goes through your head in a split second. All those times you’d looked at him, all the times you’d caught him looking at you. The way you smiled when he entered a room, the way he made your day brighter the moment he walked through your dorm door in the morning so that you could walk to breakfast together. He helped with homework, he let you talk and talk for hours without interrupting. 

You remember all the times he has smiled, and how him smiling just cant help but make you happy. All the times he was sad, and how that made you sad. All of it results in a single realisation to dawn upon you. You liked him. Maybe even more than that, but you wouldn’t let yourself think that far. 

“I’m sorry- shit. I- just forget I said anything it doesn’t matter.” He says hastily, getting up and smoothening his shirt. You didn’t realise you had been silent for more than a minute, blinking when you hear his voice, spanning out of your haze. “I’m just going to go then, you can send a le-”

“I care about you in a more than friends way too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

He slowly broke out into a smile that covered his entire face. His eyes widened in disbelief and he almost laughed, so happy that his feelings were reciprocated. 

You smile too, feeling giddy on the inside and outside. Before you knew it, he had grabbed your cheeks and kissed you. 

You had never been kissed before, it was a surprise, but a welcome one. After the initial shock you kissed back, your arms wrapping behind his neck, pulling him in. What felt like hours later, you moved away, breathing hard, you were sure your lips were red but at that moment, nothing mattered, nothing except Draco. 

Neither of you could stop smiling, staring at each other, memorising every inch of your faces, before leaning back in for a small kiss and repeating the cycle. He left later that night, promising to return soon. You would spend your nights waiting for him, finishing homework and buying everything you needed for your next year at Hogwarts. It would be a lot harder, granted, but with Draco officially being your boyfriend, you couldn’t help but wait for the year the start. 

---

All of Draco’s so called “friends” were now spying on him, making sure that you and him weren’t seen together. They would report back to his father in a moment if you were caught. You were disappointed when Draco told you, the last night before you boarded the Hogwarts Express, but the two of you decided to stay together anyways, neither of you were new to sneaking around. 

It made dating so much harder, and you were cursing yourself for not realising this last year, but it is what it is, and the two of you tried your best. You would often meet in the middle of the night in an empty classroom or the room of requirement. Draco had been spending a lot more time there, he claimed that it helped calm him down so you were more than happy when he asked you to go down there for the first time. 

The room was extremely cluttered, with small items found in every corner. There was a small sofa where the two of you would sit and talk, away from any prying eyes. Occasionally, you would spend the night there, falling asleep together on the sofa only to hurriedly sneak back to your dorms in the early hours of the day. 

One day, you decided to see what the room of requirement would look like if Draco wasn’t with you. You went during a free lesson and waited as the door opened. When you walked in, you realised that it was the exact same as all the times you spent with Draco. You look around a bit and notice a huge cupboard where the sofa usually was. When you walk to the other side, you see Draco.

He’s holding out his wand, whispering a spell and aiming it at the cupboard. He stops halfway through when he sees you. 

“Y/N? What are you doing here?” He sounds shocked, talking fast to cover up whatever it was that you just saw. You open your mouth to reply but then notice something dark on his wrist. His sleeves had been rolled up and you quickly walk forward, grabbing his arm and flipping it, letting out a small gasp when you realise what it was. The dark mark. 

“Draco.”

“I’m sorry. They made me. I’m- I have to find a way to get them in Hogwarts. I’m a death eater.” He talks fast, trying to get the words out, wanting you to hear everything before you left, or at least tried leaving. 

“You’re what? Are you serious? Draco tell me you’re joking.”

He looks down, staring at his shoes to avoid your glare. 

“You can’t actually be working for him. You could die!” You stare at him, worry and anger completely taking over your facial features. 

He looks up. “Like you didn’t? You worked for him too, you almost died too.”

“That- that was a mistake and you know that Draco. I didn’t have much of a choice.”

“And I do?”

You open your mouth to reply but pause, knowing that if he had said no to the Dark Lord, he probably would have been killed. Draco catches your hesitation and closes his eyes for a second, calming down.

“See. I don’t, I’m stuck in this whether I- we like it or not.”

You nod and Draco quickly gives you a hug, kissing your shoulder over your t-shirt, promising you that it would be fine, he would stay safe. 

You were worried out of your mind most of the time, watching him from a distance every time he would make an excuse to his friends, walking away and heading to the corridor that would take him to the room of requirement. 

One night, you are walking through the hallways at night, when you see Draco. He wasn’t heading to the room of requirement, but somewhere else. Curious, you followed him. He stops around a corner and starts talking. You poke your head around the corner and realise that it was Bellatrix. It has worked, he had done it. Stifling a gasp, you turned, back pressed against the wall as they kept moving, towards Dumbledore’s office. 

You wait outside, hidden in the darkness when all of a sudden the door opens and Draco comes out. Waiting for a few moments, you walk to him when no one else comes out. He was panting, holding his head in his arms as he walked around in circles. He looks up when he hears you, immediately tensing up in shock. 

“You cant be here”, he whispers in an urgent tone, “you have to leave before-”

The door behind him opens again, and out comes Bellatrix, Draco’s dad and two more death eaters whose names you didn’t know. 

“Shit.” 

Bellatrix smirked when she saw you, walking towards you and grabbing your wrist, her nails digging into your skin. 

“What made you think you could leave the great da-”

“Leave her alone.”

Looking behind her, you realise that it was Mr. Malfoy who has spoken. Bellatrix looks you up and down before releasing your wrist, leaving a couple drops of your blood behind from where her nails pierced through. She glares at Draco’s dad while leaving, forcing Draco and the other two death eaters to follow her. 

You are left once more with Lucius Malfoy and he walks closer, lifts his chin up and looks down at you. 

“The Dark Lord has decided to forgive you. Be thankful. Stay out of our way.” Within a second, he leaves, following his son out the room. 

An hour later you were standing outside, beside Draco as everyone mourned the death of Albus Dumbledore

---

6th year. You were constantly on edge. Part of you was glad that you had been “forgiven” by Voldemort, at least you weren’t being tortured like all of Harry’s old friends. On the other hand, you were guilty, knowing that the only reason you were safe is because everyone thought you sided with him. You didn’t, you were scared and wanted to be safe. That’s all. 

Snape became the headmaster and death eaters became the teachers. All you learnt was dark spells, with the occasional practical lesson where you would be forced to use what you learnt on the first and second year students. Every single time that happened, you found yourself back at your dorm, sobbing as Draco sat next to you, rubbing your back at an attempt to consolidate you. 

He hated seeing you sad, knowing that he was partially the reason this was happening. You felt worse, wondering if you had just sucked it up and stayed at Grimmauld Place, this never would have happened. 

Since you and Draco could openly date now, he was constantly kissing or touching you in some way or form. Whether it be holding hands or just his hand on your leg, he made sure you knew that he was there. And you were grateful. You weren’t sure how you would’ve made it through your 6th year without him. Often, you would help him study for his NEWTS, him returning the favour by helping you with your homework. 

Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors would often stare at the both of you, sending looks of annoyance and hate, but as much as you wanted to, you couldn’t do anything. 

“Just ignore them darling.”, Draco said one night when you told him about it. “They don’t understand. Even if we try to explain they won’t listen.”

You were discussing something you had heard from Pansy when a couple 5th years knocked on your dorm door. 

“The headmaster requires everyone’s presence.” 

Frowning, you and Draco get up, smoothening out your robes before heading out, joining the other Slytherins preparing to head downstairs. All four houses were stood there together, waiting for what Snape had to say. 

“If anyone knows about the whereabouts of Harry Potter, step forward. Now.”

Murmurs break out all over. Harry Potter? Here? You stay silent, Draco was confused as well, so it was obvious something was wrong. 

Just as Snape starts to threaten everyone once more, you see a student run out and stand in the middle. Upon close inspection, you realise that it was Harry. He was here?

Snape takes out his wand and points it as Harry, but before he has the opportunity to say a spell, almost every single Gryffindor comes and stands in front of him. 

Behind you, the doors open and you find yourself looking at the Order of the Pheonix, you also go and stand in front. Essentially, Harry had almost 50 people between himself and Snape. 

Professor Snape is still, figuring out what to do when you see Professor McGonagall move out and point her wand at Snape. 

They break out into a duel, spells flying as all the students, including you, duck and stay on the side. Ultimately, Snape gives in, leaving through the window as McGonagall smiles in pride. 

You grasp onto Draco’s hand as the entire hall breaks into talk, celebrating the fact that Snape was gone. All of a sudden, a girl from Hufflepuff screams, covering her ears. Soon everyone else can hear it too. Voldemort. 

“Give me Harry Potter.” Voldemort repeats that again and again, promising safety and mercy to everyone should it be done before the clock strikes midnight. 

You hear a fellow housemate in front of you complain after Voldemort is done. 

“Just give him to Voldemort. What does he even matter.”, she shrieks. 

All the other houses protest immediately, throwing insults your way as McGonagall tries to restore decorum. When she finally succeeds, she provides a solution. A solution to her anyway. 

“The Slytherins are to be sent to the dungeon.” Professor McGonagall announces. Her statement is followed by another round of applause from all the other houses. Your house is forced down, following Filch, back to your common room as everyone else prepares to fight. Partially, you were glad, you knew that if you were up there, you and Draco would have been forced to fight. You prefer the scorn of your school compared to the thought that Draco might get hurt. 

The blasts and shouting could be heard all the way in the dungeon. Most of you sat in the common room, waiting for someone to come get you, waiting for some news. You and Draco are sitting together on the couch, you resting your head on his shoulder as you watch the flames dance in front of you. 

A while later, everything went silent, everyone looked to the door expectantly. Filch came a few minutes later and the Slytherins were let out of the dungeon, and you grabbed Draco’s and and ran, getting back up to ground level.

You head to the Great Hall, seeing dozens of students injured, some even dead. Stifling a sob when you see a couple friends lying in the stretchers, you run away, not wanting to look at all the blood and gore anymore. Draco follows, letting you cry into his shoulder as he keeps kissing your forehead, feeling the exact same thing as you. Not 5 minutes later, you hear a bunch of people leaving the hall. 

Walking outside to see what was going on, you gape when you realise that it was Harry in Hagrid’s arms. He wasn’t moving, he looked dead. Next to him was Voldemort, laughing as he celebrated the death of the only person who could kill him. 

Spotting you and Draco, he beckons the two of you to his side. Draco moves almost immediately, not wanting to anger the dark lord.

“What are you-”

“Come with me.”

Feeling the gaze of everyone on your back, you follow Draco, quietly joining the ranks of death eaters. The dark lord stops Draco, giving him an awkward hug as you watch with bated breath, before releasing him and letting him walk and stand beside you. 

As Voldemort continues his monologue, Draco slips his hand between yours, and you grasp on to his hand tightly, conveying to him every single emotion you were feeling at that moment. 

“It’s okay. We’ll be fine.” He tries his best to be reassuring, but you can hear the tremble in his voice. 

He turns to you, about to add more, but all of a sudden theres a lot of commotion at the front. You stand on your toes, trying to see what was happening.

“Oh my god.” Harry was alive, blasting spells everywhere, trying to run from Voldemort who was sending just as many back at him. 

Everyone scatters, death eaters attempting to help Voldemort as all your classmates from Hogwarts do their best to stop them. You feel Draco nudging your shoulder through all the chaos. 

“Come, now’s our chance, we have to go.”

“We have to help them fight.” You respond stubbornly, wanting to stop anyone else from dying. 

“They don’t want our help. There’s nothing we can do, we have to leave, now.”

You look back, seeing everyone fighting, Hogwarts burning behind them. Then you look at Draco, his eyes are urging you to accept his outstretched hand. He looks back at his parents, who are waiting for the two of you to join them and leave. 

Closing your eyes for a second, you place your hand in his and then run with him, catching up to his parents before apparating away, back to Malfoy Manor where you would be safe and happy, with Draco. 

---

10 years later...

You follow Draco through King’s Cross, holding on to your son’s hand as Draco holds on to your daughter’s. He’s pushing her trunk in front of him, looking back occasionally to make sure you hadn’t gotten lost. 

There were hundreds of wizards and witches on the platform, half of them crying and waving as their children board the Hogwarts Express. Draco quickly places the trunk in a pile near the train and walks back to you. 

Your daughter is almost jumping in excitement, quickly saying bye to the two fo you before running into the train. You roll your eyes and smile, walking towards the train and talking to her through the window. 

“Remember to write okay? We’ll send you letters every week, and remember to go to all your classes and if you feel even a little bit sick go to-”

“Yes mum, Madam Pomfrey, you’ve told me already.”

“Ok good and remember-”

“I remember, don’t worry. I want to go find somewhere to sit now.”

“Ok then, bye, we’ll see you during winter break.”

“Bye mum! Bye dad!”, she shouts, looking behind you and waving at your husband. Without any hesitation, she runs away, looking for people to make friends with. 

You chuckle before heading back to Draco, who has your son in his arms. The two of you stay on the platform, watching as the train rolls out of the station. 

“We did good.”, you whisper.

“Yeah.” he replies, looking down at your son and then back at your daughter through the window. “We did.”

---

Taglist:

@budugu @venomsvl @lucifersdear @darkenwolfie @louyoursins @falcvns @bbylime @marigold-morelli @josie-jovan @nyenye @daddyslittlevillain @simpingfortoomanypeople @additi @readingwhileitrains @mystarlightswiftt @idkwhatmyusernam @alohastitch0626 @thereallordvoldermort @cinnamongyals @punkpoprules @cursedandromedablack @blackqueens01 @millesawaybb @underratedmage @sassystay-bunny @maylaysia109 @hhesperidess @ionlyeverwantedtobeyourequal @unabashedtheoristrunaway @multi-fandoms-stuff @blossom-cream @kaverichauhan @sebastiansstanswhore @capswife @simplysharonnn @ackerfem @feitanett @shut-it-you-winged-rat @freckledmuffin @sombrioinvernoemveneza @whyamihere96 @missryerye @slut4youuu @kaitebugg03 @tsibba01 @80sand90sismysoul 

it wasn’t letting me tag a couple people, so im very sorry. ill try again and see if it works in a couple days

[nobutfredweasleytho]

YOU JUST DON’T LISTEN(F.W)

Summary: Fred’s ex girlfriend writes him a letter to explain the how him using her wrecked her emotionally.

Warnings: angst, like a lot of angst, depressed Y/N, mentions of self doubt, a little swearing, mentions of parents not loving correctly, used reader. Let me know if I missed anything.

A/N: Major thank you to Gabriella @onlyfreds for being an amazing person and encouraging me to write whatever this mess is. I am forever grateful to you

(The font is terrible Im sorry im just getting used to working on tumblr)

Fred Weasley checked the muggle clock on his nightstand. 10:30 AM. His mom will call him for breakfast anytime now. He has been awake for quite some time if he can even count the 30 minutes he tried to sleep but couldn’t, not when every time he tries to close his eyes his mind and eventually dreams are clouded by her. By the last time he looked at her, how devastated she looked, How her face was wet from her tears and her eyes bloodshot red, but the thing Fred will never be able to forget is her voice. How raw and vulnerable she sounded while saying the most horrible thing’s anyone has ever said to him, but he can’t blame her, he has no one to blame but himself because in the end it was he who caused all of this and now its come to bite him in the ass. He hears the door open and his twin brother George enters.

“Mom says breakfast is ready and she wants you downstairs. She says she’ll drag you herself if you don’t show up again today.”

“Tell her I’m not hungry and I’ll come grab a bite later.” I really don’t feel like being surrounded by other people right now. Not in this pathetic state I’m in. Besides it will take me willpower I don’t have to not hex Ron into oblivion.

“Well she will not take no for an answer and I wont either. What’s done is done now and you’ll have to face the world someday so start with your own family because everyone down there is worried sick about you and the least you can do is show your face once in a while so they know you haven’t died of starvation or sleep deprivation.” George has worry written all over him and I’m sure the rest of the family has it too. I feel even more like shit for worrying them.

“Fine. But I come back here if she is mentioned are we clear?”

“We weren’t gonna mention Y/N anyway now lets go moms worried sick for your dumbass.”

Breakfast was going smoothly with Ginny and Ron being exited for Quidditch season, Harry and Bill discussing the unfortunate events of the Triwizard tournament last year, dad asking Hermione about a rubber duck whatever that is, but the most shocking thing is mom asking me and George about the joke shop products. George is doing most of the talking but still the fact that shes even asking is awesome. I was finally feeling peaceful this whole winter break until I heard a hoot outside the window.

“I thought it was Tuesday but since mail is here does it mean its Friday already? Oh how fast time is going.

“No Arthur honey you are right it is Tuesday, Bill or George can one of you see if that owl has the owners name attached to it and bring whatever letter he has here to see who is it for.”

Bill got up from his seat and went to the window next to the countertop to look at the mystery owl. “Do we even know a Y/N Y/L/N?”

The room went quiet. The only thing that could be heard was the owls hoot asking for its treat. Bill seemed not to realise this as he took the letter from the owl, gave him a treat and sent it on its way.

“To Fred Weasley from Y/N Y/L/N… Who’s Y/N is she the girl you’ve been crying over this whole time huh Freddie?” Bill chuckled but I just grabbed the letter. I had no time to even be mad at him because once again my mind fogs up with only her. I couldn’t help but feel relieved and the happiest I felt in a long time. She has forgiven me. Y/N forgave me. That has to be it. Why else would she send me a letter?

“I had a great time with you guys but there’s important matters for me to attend so I have to go to now. Thanks mom the breakfast was amazing as always.” And with that I sprinted towards my room, locked the door and examined the letter in my hands. It was a bunch of them in here. I went to mine and George’s worktable threw some papers that were on top of it to make room for these letters and carefully opened the envelope.

The first thing that I grabbed was a photo. It was a polaroid of me and Y/N on the Gryffindor common room. Happiness filled my heart when I started remembering this night. I looked at the back of the polaroid and surely enough there was a writing on it.

Fred and Yn on the Gryffindor common room at 1 AM the night she turned 17. Listening to ABBA’s “Dancing Queen”. Picture taken by major 3rd wheel George Weasley.

Tears filled my eyes when I remember this night. It was the night I looked at her the way I always should have. Not as a replacement of someone who didn’t care about me.

The next one was also a polaroid photograph but this one I don’t remember being taken. It’s a picture of Y/N teaching me how to play the guitar. I can make up that we are in her dorm but not more as the picture is taken in black and white. I look at the back and surely this one also has a writing on it but the handwriting doesn’t look familiar at all.

A drunken Y/N accompanied by a even drunker Fred trying to play the guitar in the middle of the night. If I fail my charms exam tomorrow I’m killing you both but right now you two look adorable. Picture taken by Cho Chang.

The third one is an actual letter. I chuckle looking at the handwriting. Always so precise and not even one line out of place. I always thought Y/Ns handwriting always contradicts her hot headed persona but it’s actually really cute. I start reading the letter and my heart stops.

Dear Freddie,

I can only imagine the shock that receiving a letter from me would cause you right now especially after our last conversation.

But I have a lot to get off of my chest and I wont be able to move on if I haven’t said it all. Call me a coward but I was really scared to ask you to meet me so I can say it in person, but maybe that’s what I have always been. A coward. A coward because I get scared when someone wants to enter my life, a coward because I hate trying new things at the expense of failing, a coward because I should be able to confront people who brought darkness and sadness to my life.

But one thing I will admit Fred Weasley is that I wasn’t a coward when It came to loving you. It was the first time that I let someone come into my life and heart the way you did, and it will probably be the last. Throughout our “relationship” if you can even call it that as it was more of you customizing me to be her, to be someone I’m not. But that’s why you even talked to me is it, because I reminded you of her.

The signs were right in front of me and I feel stupid enough not to have seen them. But I guess people are right when they say love is blind. Love is such a funny thing to me as the first time I experienced the right kind of love was through you. But that was me creating stuff in my head. You didn’t love me no, you loved the idea of me. But I loved you. I loved you more than anything or anyone I have ever loved, I loved everything about you. But you just don’t listen. You don’t listen to anyone around you. Not George, not your other siblings, not Lee or any of your other friends for that matter, not your professors, but most importantly you don’t listen to me.

You didn’t listen when I told you that the love my parents gave me was only because I reminded them of my brother, the love my old friends back home gave me was one of interest. Everywhere I go no matter who I talk to no one will love me for me. I came to accept that until I met you.

You were funny and crazy and brave and oh so gorgeous. You were basically everything I looked for in… well everything. In a friend or in a partner it doesn’t matter. I thought you saw me for who I am. A broken teenager with issues but that at the end of the day was deserving of love. Oh how wrong I have been but no more wrong than you. You knew this but you just didn’t listen.

That makes us both horrible people now does it. Me who thought you were some kind of savior or some kind of saint and selfishly wrapped myself around your love and you who used me because I remind you of your ex girlfriend who broke your heart. But mine is excused I feel like and yours isn’t.

You would have kept me going for who knows how long just so you can live your imaginations you had for someone else.

Did you think about her the first time we slept together?

Was I not enough for you Freddie?

Was I too clingy too soon?

Is it my hot temper that gets the best of me?

So many questions will be left unanswered on my end because frankly, I never want to speak of you again. Sure I am deprived of love but I will not take it if its not directed directly at me.

I still care about you and will continue to support you and George on whatever you set your mind into. I was waking through Diagon Alley last week and saw this little store with a “for sale” sign. It’s right in the middle of Diagon Alley. I hate how my first thought went that you would have loved it but I seem to do that a lot recently.

I’ll get dressed and think would Fred love this skirt or this shirt.

I start applying lipstick and I’ll think will Fred love this color.

I start eating and I’ll think does this look good enough that Fred would’ve stolen a piece of it when I’m talking to Ginny.

I don’t even know why I am telling you this. How pathetic I’ve become clinging into someone that doesn’t want me.

Anyway I’ve probably bored you enough with my ranting but I wouldn’t have been able to move on unless I said everything that felt heavy on my heart. I also attached some photos I thought you’d like to keep seeing as now you can see yourself with Kayla without having the burden to be near me.

Say hi to your siblings and Harry for me.

Have a nice life,

Y/N

[sgtjbbhasmyheart]

Drunk Texting Is(n’t) Bad for Your Health- Chapter One

Series Summary: Talk about your unconventional meet-cute! Bucky receives a text by mistake requesting he prove he's not Reader's sister. The easy dialogue between Reader and Bucky sparks a natural friendship, but could it lead to more? Bucky still deems himself unworthy of any form of affection or love. Reader is hellbent to prove him wrong. With the help of some (meddling) friends along the way, Bucky may get his happily-ever-after after all.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Word Count: 2101

Chapter Warning: Bad Language Words, tiny bit of angst

A/N: I started this on AO3 awhile ago. Now that I have a blog dedicated primarily to just Marvel/Bucky, I thought I’d add it here, too. Enjoy!

DO NOT copy or replicate without my permission.  

Bucky heard his phone buzz as he was tugging a butter-soft tee over his head. He glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand next to his bed as he worked his arms into their respective holes.

9:36

Steve was long in bed already, so the text most likely wasn’t from him. Sam was on a me me kick-- No, what did he call them? Memes!-- of a disgruntled cat which he swore reminded him of the super soldier. He wouldn’t be surprised if it were him. Or possibly Nat. She picked up the new issue of Guns & Ammo the other day and was sending him pictures of a Mossberg MC1sc 9mm she was drooling over.

Smoothing the body of the shirt over his torso, Bucky ambled over to his bed. He snatched up the phone from the navy blue comforter and flipped it over. To his amazement, the text wasn’t from Sam or Nat. Or even Steve.

(917) 460-5480 work thing boring af. kinda tied one on. might be late meeting you tomorrow

He blinked several times at the message, uncertain how to respond. It was a wrong number, right? Bucky hadn’t made plans with anyone for tomorrow that he could remember. Plus, everyone he knew had the same work thing. And it was rarely boring.

Definitely a wrong number.

He set the phone down near the clock, choosing to ignore the text. Hopefully, whoever this person was, figured out quickly they were texting the wrong number and moved on.

Bucky pulled back the covers before climbing into bed. His body melted into the mattress, muscles relaxing for the first time since breakfast. Training had been non-stop all day today. It felt good to just be, for once.

He grabbed the book he was reading off the nightstand and opened it to the spot he left off. He cleared his mind, as best he could, and concentrated on the words on the page.

A few pages in, his phone vibrated alive again. Another text message.

(917) 460-5480 sis dont be mad youd be drinking too if you had to sit thru one of these business dinners

Bucky sighed. He had hoped his radio silence would have clued this person into their mistake. Wishful thinking. Before he could punch out a reply, another text came through.

(917) 460-5480 timmons is droning on about this new client. kill me now

He quickly typed out a reply:

(917) 308-3117 I think you sent this to me by mistake.

Bucky watched the text indicator pulse as this unknown person worked out their response.

(917) 460-5480 haha very funny sis

Bucky huffed at this person’s disbelief, thumbs working on typing out his next message.

(917) 308-3117 I’m not trying to be funny. I can’t be someone’s sister when I’m a man.

He set the phone down on the nightstand again, hoping this person finally took a hint. He opened his book back up to the current page, taking a deep breath.

The room’s silence was broken again by the loud thrumming of his phone skittering across the surface of the black wood veneer.

(917) 460-5480 how does kevin feel about this so close to the wedding???

(917)460-5480 will you still need a wedding dress or will you just get a tux???

(917) 460-5480 am i still your maid of honor???

Bucky chuckled at this girl (no, young woman) asking the essential questions.

(917) 308-3117 Your sister did not get a sex change. Yes, she will still need a wedding dress. Yes, you are still her maid of honor. Like I said before, wrong number.

An almost immediate reply came through.

(917) 460-5480 prove it

Bucky grew slightly irritated at the insinuation. Why couldn’t she take his word for it? He exhaled loudly through his nose.

(917) 308-3117 How?

A few moments passed before the device juddered in the palm of his large hand.

(917) 460-5480 selfie

Bucky blanched at the request. He could feel the color drain from his face, only to immediately heat with a blush. A selfie? That is the last thing he wanted to do.

Although he’d been exonerated for his crimes as The Winter Soldier, he still knew about the dislike people felt about him as a person, in general. They couldn’t get past the brainwashing or other persona. God knows he still struggled with it.

He couldn’t go broadcasting his face through texts to a stranger. What if she was one of those who didn’t understand he had no say in what he did or what happened to him under Hydra’s control?

What if he ignored the solicitation? He could do that. Maybe even turn off his phone.

She did seem the type to be very persistent until she got what she wanted.

True to form, another text rang through.

(917) 460-5480 i will keep texting until i see your manly face

One corner of his lips quirked higher. Yup, persistent.

He navigated to the camera app on his phone and switched it to selfie mode. He stared at the damp locks falling to his shoulders. His beard would require a trim soon, but it wasn’t scraggly. Luckily, he’d had the hindsight to shave his neckbeard in the shower earlier.

Was he considering this? Some girl says jump, and he asks how high?

He combed metal fingers through his hair, blowing out a breath.

(917) 460-5480 im waiting

Bucky growled at the text, running a hand over his face. “Okay, okay. Give me a second,” he said to his phone. He held it up to head height, half an arm’s length away.

Click!

He previewed the picture, assuring himself it didn’t reveal too much. It was, somehow, off-center, containing a bearded chin and half a smirked mouth, one nostril, and a half-lidded eye.

Before he could talk himself out of it, Bucky pulled the messaging app back up and then sent off the picture. He tossed the phone aside, not wanting to watch the taunting blinking dots as he waited for a reply.

The picture was barely recognizable, but someone like Steve or Nat could tell it was him. It would be okay. No one would know.

His phone vibrated violently near him on the bed. Bucky cautiously plucked the device up, debating whether he wanted to read her reply. What if it said, “Holy shit! You’re The Winter Soldier!”? The hope of this woman thinking he was just some regular guy knotted up his stomach. He didn’t know why he cared so much about whether this stranger thought he was The Soldier or not. He had no control over who believed the lies perpetrated as truth through the media. He could only wish for the best.

He blew out the breath he was holding in and eyed the phone’s screen.

(917) 460-5480 is it fair to say men shouldnt be allowed to have long eyelashes??

Bucky laughed and immediately thought of poor Steve.

(917) 308-3117 You should see my buddy’s. The girls swoon and complain at the same time.

He quickly added to the message thread:

(917) 308-3117 Am I correct to assume you believe I’m a man and not your sister?

The response was swift.

(917) 460-5480 oh shit ur not my sister

(917) 460-5480 this isnt 9173083447?

Bucky laughed again, the tension in his chest slowly unfurling.

(917) 308-3117 Unfortunately for you-- no.

(917) 460-5480 ugh im such an idiot sorry for the shit i said

(917) 308-3117 Don’t worry about it. I had a good laugh at your expense.

(917) 460-5480 oh god now i feel like a bigger ass

Bucky suddenly felt like backpedaling. He hadn’t meant for her to feel bad about her mistake. It was cute in a roundabout way.

(917) 308-3117 Please don’t be embarrassed. It was the highlight of my night.

(917) 460-5480 me forcing u to prove ur a man was the best part of ur night??

Bucky thought for a moment. Was it the best part? The training sessions had become monotonous lately, even with the new agents. The team hadn’t been on any missions in a few weeks, so it was pretty accurate to say he was bored around the compound.

(917) 308-3117 I suppose it was. Work’s been a little slow, and there’s only so much training you can do before it becomes tedious.

(917) 460-5480 training? r u in the military? ooh, r u an athlete??

A laugh bubbled up from his chest. It was comical to see her try to guess his profession. His selfie hadn’t announced who he was to her after all.

(917) 308-3117 Something like that.

(917) 460-5480 so mysterious! r u some assassin who needs to keep his identity secret? is that y ur selfie only showed a quarter of ur face??

He paled at the implication. Maybe she did know and was yanking his chain. How did he block numbers again?

Another text came through from the mystery woman:

(917) 460-5480 not that i mind u have a luscious mouth

Bucky guffawed at the comment as flames rose beneath the skin of his cheeks. He hadn’t remembered blushing this much in such a short amount of time in decades.

(917) 308-3117 How much have you had to drink tonight, doll?

(917) 460-5480 doll?? what r u my grandpa??

He chuckled again. God, he was old enough and then some.

(917) 460-5480 enough to not want to shoot my brains out but not enough to know this dinner isnt a party

(917) 308-3117 Maybe you should get back to your dinner? I don’t want to get you into trouble.

He regretted the text the second he pressed send. Was he trying to get rid of her? No. Or was he looking out for her? This person he knew nothing about. She was more entertaining than the recurring nightmare he’d been having for the last week, that's for sure. He'd cling to this unknown to avoid slipping into that black abyss.

(917) 460-5480 aww does the military-trained assassin athlete mchottie not want to talk with me anymore?? 🙁

(917) 308-3117 No!! I’m honestly concerned you’ll be reprimanded if you pay more attention to your phone than Timmons.

The last thing Bucky needed was to feel more guilt, especially if it was at the expense of someone’s livelihood. His shoulders were already heavy enough.

(917) 460-5480 thats sweet but dont worry ur pretty little head over me timmons wouldnt last a day w/o me

(917) 460-5480 timmons may be the boss but i run that office

He simpered at her swagger. He could only imagine what kind of office she worked in because, again, a total stranger. Did he want to get to know her more, or was this a one and done thing? Would she wake up tomorrow and want to continue the conversation or blow him off for the drunken mistake her first text had been?

Bucky stared at his phone for several more minutes, pondering precisely what he was doing and what his expectations of the night were. It’s not like he was going to meet her in person, right? Was he that delusional? He was an Avenger now. He didn’t get a social life. Not that he had one before but still.

He was startled from his reverie as the phone shook in his hand.

(917) 460-5480 did i scare you away??

(917) 308-3117 No. Just thinking about tomorrow.

(917) 460-5480 shit a military-trained assassin athlete mchottie must have a lot to prepare for mentally ill let u get ur rest

He smiled at the gesture. If only she knew.

(917) 308-3117 Send me a text when you get home. I want to make sure you arrived okay.

(917) 460-5480 such a gentleman! i don’t want to wake u if ur asleep tho

(917) 308-3117 I doubt I’ll be sleeping, but it’ll help ease my mind.

(917) 460-5480 alright ill shoot a text ttfn

(917) 308-3117 ttfn?

(917) 460-5480 ta ta for now god u r a grandpa

(917) 308-3117 Yeah, yeah

Bucky’s mouth split into yet, another grin as he set his phone down once again on the nightstand. He picked up his discarded book and found his place on the page. After a few minutes of re-reading the same paragraph over and over, he slipped the bookmark into the gutter of the book. His mind was too preoccupied with the thought of some random girl in the city at a boring work dinner. He realized he hadn’t stopped smiling since they temporarily said goodbye.

Maybe there was a good chance this conversation would carry into tomorrow.

CHAPTER TWO

[voidselfshipp]

Howdy Nova I wanted to invite you to gush bout whichever f/o is on your mind currently ✨🧡! They all love you so much!!

Tex @tex-treasures

Hello texie!!! How are you?

Well!!!! Thanks for the invitation, im gonna use this as an excuse to scream about my The Kane Chronicles f/os.

First up is Horus, ft: my face hc for him

1) I love the fact that hes a dense mf, he doesnt get sarcasm and its HILARIOUS.

2) even tho hes power hungry, hes still pretty chivalrous and protective of Carter even if they butt heads from time to time.

3) the fact that he uses a pigeon host and calls them "well adapted to modern civilization" and eats the left over Cheerios from khufu

Also, the possibilities of fluff with bird like stuff like ruffled feathers and making birb noises? Cute!

Fave phrase of him " my strategy is to hit the enemy until they lay unconcious, if they get up, hit them again, repeat as Many times necessary"

(The Next pictures up to amos belong to @/feesshies)

Okay, here we go, khonsu time!

I might say that all of his scenes are super funny, starting by the fact that ra calls him "moon pie" and im so close to making that my nickname for him.

1) the fact that hes got power over time, And that nut kicked his ass in setnet enough times to form 5 complete days. Its so FUCKING funny.

2)his introductory scene is fucking ominous as fuck 100/10

3) hes the rich boy aesthetic and im here for this 100%

4) that one phrase where he goes "I havent eaten a soul in...what month are we in, march?" LIKE WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!

favorite phrase" "Ha! I bet you 5 more minutes worth of moonlight that im perfectly sane!" (Hes not...)

Tatter tot (s)

1) his introductory scene in the first book. Marvelous.

2) the fact that he sends the kane kids to Elvis' house and is happy they thrashed the place

3) in the second book where Carter says "come on tot! Cant we do something for you? Like thrash Elvis' house again?!" And his answer is "tempting" DOES HE HAVE A HATE TOWARDS HIM LIKE???

4) hes the adhd mood. All the times he get distracted are so cute.

5) the fact that he knows a hieroglyph to give someone intestinal problems. I love him. AND HE USES THEM IN BATTLE TOO? ONLY MY MAN!

6) how casual he is about his own death, "oh yeah ill last for about two more days, oh would you look at that just in time for the winter solstice, ha! That cant be a coincidence!"

7) HIS EYEEESSSS. THE FACT THAT HE MAKES KILLER BBQ RIBS. HE PLAYS THE GUITAR AND IS WORKING ON THOUSANDS OF THINGS AT THE SAME TIME.

8) his dramatic build up. And hes the only god whose normal and deserves rights

Fave phrase: "khufu you are right! We arent in Memphis egypt!"

Okay. Buckle up. Here comes the big boys.

Set/evil day/the best comedic relief in book 2

1) he was the perfect antagonist for the first book.

2) the second book when he starts imitating amos??? Ugh!!! Just imagining him in that suit makes me blush!

3) hes so FUCKING funny and charming.

4) his exit in the first book is fingerguns shooting at sadie like a kid angy at his mom.

4) un book 3 when amos is kicking ass using his powers.

5) when he says to Carter "im gonna help your uncle learn the path of sett" I can imagine how it would sound and its so FUCKING badass. Only imagining it I get goosebumps.

6)he breaks 6 jars on menshinkovs Head and its so funny.

7) how whiny he gets when menshikov traps hom in the malachite jar.

8)" Come on amos! I just want to strip the skin off their faces" thats how the phrase goes. I cant remember. But AWOOOGA--

9) when Carter asks to him if they names setne after him and he just laughs.

10) the hc where him and khonsu are bffs. YES please.

11) my fave detail is that when sadie screams "i bet sett is having a laugh seeing Us try and not kill ourselves" and the book describes the air getting chilly and the floor rumbling as If someone was laughing way way underneath. Such a cool detail.

Fave phrase: "your uncle amos also has some of my qualities, im like that improvised jazz he likes so much. Order within chaos"

AMOS!!!!!

1) hes so dramatic in the first book. Ominous.

2) the fact that Carter has a picture of him playing the saxophone. Just imagining it makes me warm and fuzzy.

3) hes so gentle and suave. Sweep me off my feet.

4) the fact that he controlls sett and its like the biggest fuck you to his past trauma.

5) the fact that he becomes a fatherly figure 🥺🥺🥺🥺

6) he uses a red pinstripe suit affirming his connection to sett. Its such a fuck you moment to those that were like "HES USING SETTS MAGIC EW KILL HIM" TRY AND MESS WITH HIM NOW BITCH.

7) hes a gentle leader and I love that.

8) his character growth.

AND LOOK HOW GOOD HE LOOKS IN THE GRAPHIC NOVEL OF THE FIRST BOOK.

The foreshadowing of him being possesed by sett in the reflection of the teacup. Showing His reflection in red

How kissable he looks!!!

His fit. His suit. His gloves!!!! His hair!!!

For some reason the way the bridge of his nose is drawn it makes me want to kiss it.

The feather on his hat. Yes king

Fave phrase: I cant remember any at the top of my head!!! But he has some pretty good ones

Hes just the best honestly. Many kisses for him and the rest

They all make me feel warm and fuzzy and I love them sm!!!!!!

●Moots only ok to rb!

Thanks for the ask!!!!

[tanakavox]

A look into the multiverse chapter 5

Soooo. Due to post limit im gonna have to reblog this post with the rest. Just tell y'all when you wonder where the rest is lol. Anyways intro for Winter is done by ExiledDarkness. Everything else is all meeee! On with the post.

A flash of light blinds everyone in the room. As it dies down, Winter Schnee is shown to be standing in the middle of the room.

"Winter?!" Weiss exclaims in shock. The rest of the cast, except for Qrow who groans in annoyance, keeps silent as Weiss explains to Winter about the situation they're in.

Winter nods. "I see. How interesting. I usually wouldn't do something like this but it appears that I have been given no other choice."

"Yeah, that seems to be the case with everything going on in my life." Jaune says while scratching his head.

The screen's light flickers on again and shows a boy setting up his computer and putting a helmet on his head. The sound of the computer starting up is heard.

"Link start!" With those words a flash of light appears with lines of color streaking across the screen.

"That voice sounded familiar …" Winter muttered to herself

"What was that Winter? Weiss asked, turning to her sister.

"Ah. It's nothing"

"Ah. Sword art online." The boy thinks to himself, sighing wistfully. "It's been a while since the beta. Wonder if they change anything?

A man in his early 20s with white hair looks and sees that ads plague the area around him.

"Oh c'mon guys, really? That's just disgusting." The man said to no one, his disgust at the ads was apparent.

"Yeah, seriously. That's just annoying. Qrow said with a grimace.

"Active Adblocker" A screen appeared in front of the young saying it was 29.99 for the Adblocker DLC. The man chuckled darkly. "I'm gonna burn this F***r to the ground.

"Please do!" Nora said a manic grin on her face.

The scene cuts to Blond man with long hair being tackled by a pig, the man blonde groaning in pain.

"That's Sun." Blake said almost immediately.

"How can you tell? Yang asked.

"I just know."

"Well he just got his ass kicked by a pig." Jaune said, laughing a bit

"Wow, Congrats. You were defeated by a pig." The white hair man was there looking down at Blonde unimpressed.

"F**k you man, that's like a pig from hell! The blonde cried, looking at the boar in terror.

"Really?" The white hair man smirked, and picked up a rock and threw it at the boar's ass killing it. It exploded into shards and a screen showed the exp he had got from killing it.

"Wow. This either that blonde guy sucks that bad or the other guy just that good." Mercury said with a grin.

"My god." He gasped with a shit eating grin on his face. "I've stumbled across the most powerful weapon in the game"

"Stop" The blonde whimper.

"The Mithril Pebble of pig smithing!"

"Please stop."

The white hair man takes a deep breath of air as the Blonde groans.

"My god, this sounds like something Whitely would do." Weiss said with an annoyed look.

"For you see, long ago, this pebble was forged in the fiery pits of tartarus,by the grand blacksmith of Lucifer himself. In a time before the world began…

The blonde facepalm as his party member continued. The sun had started to fall when the white haired man was finishing up.

"And thus, Mardoza, Guardian of the pebble, fell to his knees, and passed from this world, leaving behind the mighty weapon. For he knew... that one day, it's power would be required once more.

"Are you done?" The blonde asked.

"Yes." But then he whispered: The legacy of the pebble lives on.

"I have a feeling you get beat up a lot in real life." The blonde snarked.

"And he's using it as some kinda power fantasy cause he can't be that cool in real life." Yang added.

"Shut up! Here I have power!"

"Right, anyways, I've got a pizza coming, and I'm gonna meet up with some friends later.

So thanks for the quick tutorial on pig slaying and the not so quick tutorials on…. rocks…Shirou Yuki?" The blonde slowly wording out the other's username.

"Hey,no problem. I had fun taunting you." Shirou said with a grin. "Ballsdeep69"

"Yeah that's Sun." Blake said, shaking her head. "Only he would come up with such a dumb name."

Meanwhile Winter had a good idea who Shirou Yuuki was, but didn't want to say anything until she was 100% sure.

Ballsdeep69 laughs a bit. "Yeah it's uh, it's just a joke name. Just a character to dick around with while I get a hang of the game. I'm gonna make my real character later."

"Yeah yeah. No, I get it."

Shirou and balls look at each other awkwardly for a while when Shirou breaks the silence. "So uh...your pizza?"

"Right,right logging out." Balls swipes the air with his right hand and goes to log out but notices something odd.

"Hey,Shirou?" Balls called out. "Um, Totally noob question, but how do I log out?

"Are you serious, man?" Shirou asked exasperated.

"Yeah, Really dude? How hard is it to logout?" Jaune asked just as exasperated.

"Hey this Nervegear man. I can't Alt-F4 this sh*t.

Shirou sighs. "Alright fine. It's right…" He looked at his menu screen in confusion. "Here?"

"Oh thanks, player's guide." Balls deadpan.

"No it's here. But it's just blank."

Balls turns back to his menu and something catches his eye. "Oh wait, something scrolling Across mine. HahahahahahahaHAHAha"

"I get it." Shirou said with a frown.

"Wait, Wait, there's more. Ha."

"Riveting."

"Wait so they can't log out? What happened?" Ruby asked the rest of the confused viewers

"Eh no worries I'll just take the nervegear off like SO!" Balls reaches around his head and tries to take it off to no effect.

"Hey, dumbass, It doesn't work like that." Shirou sheerned. "The Nervegear disables your motor function so you don't move around in the game. Don't you remember all those videos of the beta testers?

The clip on Dustube plays, A man walking around in nerve gear is marlouving at the tech is shown. Someone, a friend of his walks up and offers a greeting to the man and he mistakes his friend for a troll and goes to pummel his friend into the ground.

It goes back to Shirou and Balls.

"So many lawsuits." Shirou muttered.

A few of the viewers had a good laugh at that.

"Uh, Do you feel tingly?" Balls asked before the two were transferred from mellow they were in a city square.

"No. Why?" Shirou asked casually. The two looked around and it seemed that other players were being teleported into the city square.

"What the hell is that?" Balls asked, looking at the sky going red.

"Well, I believe some people call it a Hexagon? Ain't 100% on that, gonna have to check my sources." Shirou snarked.

"Man f*ck off."

"I like this guy." Mercury said with a grin

The sky started to seem like it was starting to bleed.

"And The sky's bleeding" Shirou observed, not seeming to really care."

"Yeah, they are really pushing for that M rating." Balls repsoned on caring as much as Shirou.

"Wow the sky bleeds and they don't even care." Winter said.

"Probably because they know it's a video game, Ice Queen." Qrow reposned

A hooded figure appears flooding in the air. A wave of dangers fills most of the players in the area.

"Oh it's a person." Expect for one player.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I am Jaune Arc, Head programmer!"The figure greeted."

"Jaune made this game?" Ruby asked, looking towards the blond.

"Nice Vomit boy." Yang said slapping Jaune on the back. Jaune grunted a bit but smiled towards Yang.

"Welcome to the unparalleled online Sword art onli-" Jaune was interrupted by the player being to talk frantically among themselves. Jaune tried to get them to focus their attention on him by muting them, but ended up muting himself.

"He knows he muted himself right?" Balls asked.

"Give him a minute." Shirou mutters. Jaune unmuted himself.

A few laugh at Jaune's mistake as the Blonde himself facepalms at his mistake.

"Alright. Just realized what happened there. It's very funny. But right now, serious time. How many of you have seen Tron?" He was met with complete and utter silence. Jaune looked over the crowd and was met with blank stares, not counting Shirou. "W-what seriously?! None of you have seen Tron?! " Jaune asked, completely baffled. "I was really banking on that."

"Seriously?! No one had seen Tron?" Jaune all but screamed.

A few viewers didn't want to admit to not seeing Tron either.

Jaune cleared his throat, and proceeded to wing the entire thing. "Much like the world of warcraft, none of you are here by choice anymore. Unlike WoW, however, your being held here by me, not by a need to escape your empty f*cking lives. There is no longer any way to log out of Sword art online. If someone on the outside attempts to log you by removing your Nerve gear, well… Has anyone seen scanners?

Jaune once again looked and was once again met with silence.

"Uh Scanners. It's a movie…. Seriously?! He grumbles to himself about how the people here had no class and pulled up a clip of a man's head exploding. "Okay. That was from Scanners… and basically that.

"First Tron, now Scanners?!" Jaune facepalm.

"You just trapped god knows how many people in a video game, and you're worried about what movie they haven't seen?! Weiss retorted. Jaune flinched and wisely kept quiet.

The crowd gasped in shock.

"Finally seeing some gears turning, making progress."

"Why would you do such a thing?!" One player cried out.

"Stephen? Stephen is that you?" Jaune asked happily "How are you enjoying that advance copy?"

"I'm playing it with my family!" Stephen repiled.

"Oh, that's right!" The hooded figure laughed. "Happy birthday Timmy!"

Little Timmy began to cry.

"Aw, They grow up so fast." He said, sighing. " Cherish these moments Stephen. Cherish these moments. So as I was saying, the only way to keep the nervegear from going Gallager on your grey matter, is to make your way through castle Aincrad and beat Sword Art Online!"

"So you want us to beat a MMO?" A random player asked.

"Essentially."

"F*CK YOU!"

"That is the correct response when someone says to beat a MMO" Ren said.

"Is it really that bad?" Oscar asked and he receive a loud

"YES!"

"WOAH! Getting a lot of hostility here. Do not appreciate it."

"Well honestly!" The same player began,"When was the last time you heard of someone beating Everquest?"

"When was the last time you heard of someone playing Everquest?" Jaune fired back. There was a slight pause.

"That's fair."

"Everquest…. That's a deep cut." Qrow said, sighing thinking back.

"Anywho, for all you guys that wanted to play as girls, and you know who you are," Despite not seeing his face they could tell Jaune had a huge grin. "I've got a surprise for you!"

A mirror appeared in everyone's hands and a light filled the city.

A young boy, no older than 14 was where Shirou was. He still had the white hair and was wearing the same clothes but was more lankey and shorter than the man who was once there.

"Shirou Yuuki?" The boy turned and a familiar face was shown.

"Whitely?!" Weiss cried out at the sight of her brother.

"I knew it was him." Winter said. The username gave him away, Not only is it the username for when he goes on forums, Shirou Yuuki has the same meaning as his real name.

"How do you know what username he uses when he's online? Weiss asked her sister, a question that went unanswered.

"You're not a girl!" A fat player cried out.

"And you're not 17!" Another skinner one also cried out."

"I'm okay with this!"

"Me too!"

"LOVE KNOWS NO GENDER!" Someone shouted out.

"A wise seminent. Ozpin said sipping his coffee."

[scatterpatter]

Critical Role Characters by someone who knows next to nothing about CR

Under the cut because Aye

So context: I really wanna start watching Critical Role, albeit I'm intimidated by the sheer length of it, but I realized I've been spoiled to... Almost nothing about this series or the characters, so why not joke around and guess as much as I can about the Mighty Nein ;D

This is Caleb!!! I forgot his name earlier but I HAVE seen content of him before. He's the edgy one. He has some kind of tragic backstory and I think caused his parent's death or something? Definitely has to do with his fire magic. Cat person. Like seriously he's the token edgelord from what I've seen. Probably the "You look happy? Who are you and what have you done to Caleb" character. Probably needs a nap. And therapy. Definitely therapy if your fanarts are anything slightly accurate to the plot.

I thought it was Fyord but turns out it's Fjord. I'm good at spelling pls believe me. I think this one's the "I CAN kick your ass if I want to, but I have social anxiety" one. Like the big sweetheart trope. Big dork. If I'm wrong this'll be awkward but I'm sticking with it. Probably a fighter or barbarian? I want to hold his hand.

I have never seen this person before in my life but apparently she's one of the main characters? "Beauregard", according to the wiki. Well I can't recall any fan content so I'm gonna make assumptions from this image alone: looks like a monk from the art, and boy HOWDY radiates bisexual energy. Cocky, sometimes TOO cocky. Def has that "I can fend for myself" energy. Probably struggled to make ends meet growing up or something like that.

I forgot her name but "Nott"!!! I've seen fanart of her before, and I'm love. Big "I'm going to cause problems on purpose" energy. Often depicted with bandages so I think she had some kind of tragic back-story. Actually if I remember fanart right, didn't she used to look something more human-ish and was like? Cursed to be a goblin or something? Had something to do with drowning maybe??????? Don't hold me to this. I was gonna guess rogue but this gear looks more ranger-esque. "I cause problems but I DO adore my friends more than anything" energy

JESTER!!! One of the few whose names I didn't have to check the wiki for! Baby girl baby! WILL fuck you up if you deserve it but prefers to take a more peaceful route energy. Ray of sunshine. Probably a cleric. I want to protect her with my life. If I get into this series and find out she's secretly evil I WILL ragequit. I want to platonically date her so much oh my god she's so CUTE

"Yasha", I've seen her name before but didn't remember. HELLOOOOO LGBT COMMUNITY. This is the one that wlw's go feral over. And I can see why. Pretty lady. Strong lady. 11/10. Probably some type of warrior- maybe a barbarian or fighter?... Fjord is one of those two and she's the other, is my guess. Looks scary but probably a big softie. Probably has some kind of curse with those wings- probably necromancy related. Probably raised in a tribe or community with strong warrior-aspects, judging by how combat-expert she looks and her tattoos

"CADUCEUS"!!! Sorry I forgot your name. THE CONFIRMED ASEXUAL HI!!!! Beautiful boy, 11/10. I adore him with all my heart. Looks like a druid. Transition goals. Didn't show up in the very beginning I think. I actually know nothing about his personality. I mean c'mon there's no way you're NOT a big dork if you dress like that. Has big "I've known the Mighty Nein for 10 minutes but if anything happened to them I'd kill everyone in this room and myself" energy. Maybe. Idk he's just perfect.

WHO THE FUCK IS VETH AND WHY ARE THEY ON THE SAME WIKI PAGE AS NOTT-... Ohhh. Oh I was right about remembering something about Nott being cursed, wasnt I? This is pre-curse Nott isnt it? Welp! Still has that "im going to cause problems on purpose" energy andhdjanxnc- i was about to guess that Nott fell through a sheet of ice and that's how she drowned(?), but then I realized this art is specifically from a "winter" series oop.... Prediction: Veth took the name Nott after probably not wanting to show her face around her family(?) once she transformed into a goblin. I Just Think She's Neat

THIS IS THE TIEFLING THAT LIKE DIED OR SOMETHING BUT IN RECENT MONTHS CAME BACK... OR SOMETHING. IDK. ALSO DRIVES THE LBGT COMMUNITY WILD. YOU GO "MOLLYMAUK" I BELIEVE IN YOU. They are... So cute wtf. I don't even know what to say. I can see why the LGBTs love them. Heck.

Fun fact! I know NOTHING about the plot! Other than the fact that there was not once but TWICE that the Mighty Nein ploymorphed something into a turtle but that turtle was also v threatening so they had to change it into something else. Beautiful.

Why are they called the Mighty Nein? The heck if I know! Cuz there sure ain't 9 of em so that pun doesn't add up! Probably something plot related. Who knows. I've been told my haircut sometimes looks like Matt Mercer's and I'm not sure if that's a compliment but I'll take it as such.

[princessnijireiki]

everytime you post a yello wstone gifset im really filled with regret and rage not at you but at what the show could have been I truly don't care about that Kevin coaster family or anything at all the show should have been about the res, thomas rainwater, etc etc

Sorry for the late reply! And yeah, it feels bizarrely overdue to have any actual contentious land disputes & fleshed out Native characters— it seems* like the other main Native female role is Kelsey Chow being the tragic exemplification of tragic statistics around Native women, somehow isolated or exiled from the rez herself, married to the tragic outcast White Family's son who's been booted from the big house, and mother to a tragic biracial child. And Gil sits around looking real concerned while Mo drives him around so he has someone with whom to make meaningful ethnic eye contact.

*I say "seems" because I've actually gone pretty far out of my way NOT to watch the show, I know other Native actors have had cameos in the same way as Longmire was the last big "modern white western with a revolving door of one-guest-star-per-week Native talent" at the rodeo (similar to how 24 was the revolving door for Middle Eastern, North African, and South Asian actors to play terrorist and/or terrorist's victim of the week— and both these kinds of typecasting serve American nationalist mythmaking propaganda, warping even positive, but still 2 dimensional, ethnic caricatures in the service of a white hero/"complex" antihero).

All of which is a digression but Afghanistan looms large right now for obvious reasons and the parallels between Keifer Sutherland profiting off glorifying "the war on terror" while Kevin Costner grimly scowls his way into bank by promoting the same kind of bullshit heroes of the frontier American individualism Manifest Destiny nonsense (spoiler alert: Yellowstone's been greenlit for an 1800s era prequel series establishing the family's uninterrupted settlement of their ranch next to Yellowstone).

ANYWAY. My point being... maybe I'm wrong. Maybe, idk, Gil has secret depths or something. (Kelsey definitely doesn't lol, I'm not saying that to be a hater, I'm saying I watched the episodes I clipped at 5-10x speed and her plot was entirely trying to convince her sad husband to reconcile with his angry ass family, and then trying to investigate a murderer/being stalked and almost killed by that same man in an isolated field for a pithy MMIW plot moment.) But I doubt it!

And it seems like people involved on the show have good intentions. Even if Angela's relegated to being a sort of one-note vampy Wicked Indian Woman, the monologue they gave Q'orianka was slamming! Somebody put in some work on that, and I'm choosing to enjoy that before it inevitably gets shut down in a "LandBack evil, Kevin Costner good" moment, probably by Gil or Mo's own hand. And white audiences sure do seem to enjoy the white characters. But I don't trust the show (soon to be its own franchise with the upcoming spinoff series) as a whole, and I don't like or appreciate the way Indigenous & Black chars are relegated to background texture and Greek chorus mirroring the "proper" emotional reactions to Costner & co. if not literal property to be moved around the set until the writers need to set up a villain to mirror a real world political movement (remember how people called out the writing & design for the Flag Smashers in Falcons & Winter Soldier? same diff y'all) as pins to be knocked down by the face of Western Expansion macho white man with a gun might makes right bullshit, even if fans think it's groundbreaking because Blonde Woman Defies Patriarch in Dysfunctional Home.

[normal-thoughts-official]

With a little help from your friends (the help is praise kink and the friend is your boyfriend)

Who would have thought that fucking your boyfriend senseless cures dysphoria.

Alternatively: being a dom is actually something that can be so gender,

Fandom: It Lives (Visual Novels)

Pairing: Andy Kang/Tom Sato

Additional tags: let's see, mild mentions of transphobic and racist comments, Comfort Sex, the filthiest comfort sex uve ever seen but WHATEVER, dom andy kang, sub tom sato, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Dom/sub Play, Collars, Praise Kink, basically someone says transphobic shit and then tom rides him and talks about how wonderful andy is, except tom has also been in denial for a few days and he's super horny, and andy gets in domspace and everything is great and nothing hurts, Fluff and Smut, Humor, cuz u know these two are incapable of taking anything too seriously, Established Relationship, oh they're both in college and they go to the same college cuz i said so, set after the events of it lives beneath, that's it I think, trans author if that matters to you

Read it on Ao3

Andy isn't having a great day. It's not a terrible, clawing-at-his-chest-trying-to-deal-with-dysphoria kind of day, but he's been trying out this "not comparing everything to the worst possible scenario" thing his therapist has been talking about, so still, not a great day.

The thing is, he thought college would be easier. And it is, in a lot of ways. For starters, there is no evil monster spectre trying to kill him, which gives college at least 5 points over high school. And his uni has a pretty solid queer club, so he knows other trans people there. Some of them are even non-white. Some of them he even actually, truly likes. And most of the time, he feels like he has a place to turn to, and people to support him. He's not alone. He has people who get him. And that makes all the difference.

But basketball is still a nightmare, and his knee still hurts when it's cold, and winter is officially starting now.

People still hesitate to pass the ball to him, and it's frustrating, because Andy fought so hard to earn his old team's trust and now he's back at square zero. And well, Andy has been gaining this team's trust, because he's good, goddamn it, and his team owes at least the last three victories to him. He's not hesitant to say that, especially because otherwise no one will. And he can see that they look at him differently now - nod at him in the hallways, at least, talk to him in the locker room, pass him the fucking ball if his position is very, very open.

But if he weren't trans and Asian, he wouldn't have had to work so hard to get all of that - or well, just that, really. He has a full sports scholarship despite the fact that he had a broken leg, had to retake his last year of high school, and doesn't even have the body type for basketball. If he weren't Asian, if he weren't trans, his team would have assumed his greatness from day one. Instead, he has to show it to them time and time again only to get them to reluctantly admit maybe he's not bad. No one calls him "triple threat" anymore, but he still has to work three times harder than anyone else, and it's frustrating.

And usually Andy can deal with it, but right now his knee hurts, and he can't afford that because he'll lose everything he's worked for if his teammates know that his fucking knee hurts. So, he braved training and then he got the fuck out of there without even changing so no one would see him wince. Which means he's still in basketball shorts, which are short, in the cold, which means his leg hurts more.

At times like these, he's thankful he never got the chance to go through with his promise to break his other leg kicking Noah's ass. Because he would have, and then both his legs would be hurting right now, and two legs that hurt every time it's cold is just too many legs.

No comparing to the worst possible scenario, he tells himself. Therapy is so hard. If he had known there would be homework, he would have thought twice about going.

And that's, apparently, the cue for his phone to go off. Andy smiles, knowing who it is even before he opens the message, because only one person messages him during class, and it's the only person he wants to hear from right now.

Tom <3 sent you a message

Grinning like a fool, he opens it.

Tom <3: dude, im horny af rn. the fuck

Finally, good news, Andy thinks, smiling. Then he remembers why Tom is so horny, and suddenly this day is great, actually.

He quickly types a reply.

You: who wouldve thought that 3 days of denial would make this happen

Tom <3: ill have u kno i was very good at holding it together before today

You: yeah, dw. soon u wont have to hold it anymore ;)

Tom <3: that flirt was terrible, dude

You: said the guy whos calling me dude for the second time in this conversation

Tom <3: what else should i call u? 😩

Andy thinks for a second. Tom and him do longer-term denial every once in a while, but they aren't in a 24/7 relationship. Does Andy really want to go there right now? Yes. Well, that was fast. Okay then.

You: how about "sir"

Tom's reply comes fast as lightning.

Tom <3: Yes, Sir.

Andy smirks at himself.

You: uve been hoping that id say that, havent u?

Tom types for just a little longer this time.

Tom <3: Yes, Sir.

----

Many things are wrong with the world, and Andy doesn't mean to make light of the other things, but the fact that Andy can't simply go and fuck his boyfriend whenever he wants is definitely one of them. It should be, like, financial compensation or something. We're so sorry the school environment is transphobic, here, have a free sex pass. Sounds fair to him. But instead, he still has two hours of classes to go through, and Andy is a better guy than he wishes he was, so he tells Tom to pay attention to class instead of sexting him, because he doesn't want Tom to struggle even more with his course when he had already had to leave it once. God damn true love or whatever.

The point is, by the time classes are finally over, his day is back to not being that great; he's tired, and his leg hurts. He gets to their car after Tom does, and Tom takes one look at him, and says, "I'm driving".

Andy crosses his arms. "Why?"

"Because your leg hurts," Tom answers, rolling his eyes and taking Andy's bag from him and putting it in the trunk.

Andy looks down at his legs. He wasn't limping. There aren't any bruises. How the hell-

"It's cold and you're in shorts. I'm not an idiot, dude."

Right. Yeah. Right. Of course. Tom knows. It's… It's alright.

"Bad day at training?" Tom asks, slowly, sympathetically, and Andy feels himself settle in his skin a little bit.

"The usual," he answers, getting inside, and, as always, Tom gets the hint.

---

Their uni's dorms are gender-segregated because these guys have still not gotten the memo that people of the same gender fuck; and Andy wasn't willing to deal with cis college guys' bullshit, much less cis college girls' bullshit; and the uni wouldn't let him simply pick Tom as his roommate. So, they rented out a beat up apartment right next to it instead. It took a little longer to get there, but it wasn't a lot longer, and well, it was worth it.

Tom gets inside, still carrying Andy's bag because he's transphobic and unfair and had taken it and bolted up running so Andy wouldn't have a chance to argue with him. And Andy can't run after him with his leg hurting, which kind of proves Tom's point that he should carry Andy's bag. All in all, Tom is the worst, and he turns up the heat as soon as he gets inside and sits Andy down on the bed, kneeling in front of him to take a look at Andy's knee.

He's silent for a while, massaging his knee until Andy sighs and throws his head back, before Tom plants a little kiss on his knee and looks up at him. Andy's knee always stops hurting when Tom kisses it better. It's a little embarrassing, if Andy is being honest, but still- nice. Really nice.

They stay for a little longer like this, Tom humming and massaging his knee and Andy not meeting his eyes, until the question inevitably comes.

"What happened?" Tom asks, not letting up with the smooth movements of his hands, his eyes big and sincere with worry.

"Nothing. Just the cold. You know how my knee gets."

"I meant, for you to leave practice without putting some warmer clothes on."

Andy looks away. "It was nothing."

"Dude, are you expecting me to go, 'okay, yeah, that totally makes sense and I believe you', or…?"

Andy laughs, despite himself, and throws his good leg up in an almost-kick to pretend he's retaliating. "Don't be an ass."

"I'm not. Come on, Andy. You know you can tell me."

"It's nothing, it's just- Kyle-"

"Oh boy."

Andy laughs. "Yeah." But then he grows serious, "the thing is, he doesn't mean any harm, you know? I know he's not saying it to hurt me, and so that just means that, like... that it's true."

Tom's hands stop their movements, rubbing soothing circles around his knee instead. "What did he say?"

Andy doesn't look at him. "He asked me why I didn't stay on the women's team. Said that I could have an advantage, cuz Asian people are androgynous anyway, so no one would notice that I was taking hormones."

Tom just stares at him in shock for a moment.

"And I was like, 'dude, I've been on T for three years, I'm pretty sure they would notice the changes'. And he was like, 'yeah, but you still look like a lot of Asian girls with short hair, you could write it off if you wanted', and I just…" He trails off.

Tom waits in silence for a second, seeing if Andy finds his words, before asking, "Is Kyle, like, okay?"

Andy scoffs. "I didn't try and fight him, if that's what you're asking."

"No, I mean, does this dude have a screw loose or something?"

"He's very bad at figuring out what is or isn't offensive, yeah, but it's not like he really cares, he just won't go out of his way to antagonize me."

"No, I just- Andy, even when you were a little kid with huge pigtails, anyone would have to be crazy to see you as a girl."

Andy bites the inside of his lip. "You're just saying that."

"I'm not. It's just wrong, man. It was so obvious that it was wrong. Anyone could tell. There's nothing about you that says 'girl' to anyone who's looking."

Andy sighs, finally risking looking at Tom's eyes. There's overwhelming sincerity there, and Andy instinctively looks away. "I guess. Maybe. I don't know. It just got me thinking... Maybe T didn't change anything. Maybe I look exactly the same, maybe it was just hopeful thinking that had me thinking it would change anything, maybe it's just- pointless to even try-"

"No, no, come on," Tom says, and the interruption is so sudden it makes Andy look at him again, just in time to see Tom shaking his head vigorously. "There's no way you believe that. What about this bad boy over here?" He smiles, reaching out softly to caress Andy's neck. "You have more of an Adam's Apple than me, dude. And we both know you don't need T to be a guy, but thinking it made no difference is just crazy and you know it. What about those dry pecs? These broad shoulders of yours? Your voice, I mean, come on. You even smell different, man. How can it be pointless, if even your scent is different?"

Andy looks to the side again, but he can feel himself smile. "Well, when you put it like that..."

Tom gets up, but stays close, putting his hand on Andy's cheek, slowly, as if testing the waters, before turning him slightly to look at him. "Andy. Kyle is an idiot and a transphobic racist who's too damn lazy to realize how fucked up he is. And you shouldn't have to deal with that, and I'm sorry, and I will set him on fire."

Andy laughs. "You can't keep threatening to set every shitty teammate I have on fire."

"I can, because it keeps making you laugh," Tom says, smiling. Well. Andy can't argue with that. "My point is, you wouldn't listen to a word this dude says if it were about anyone else, so don't listen to him when he talks about you, okay? T or no T, you're no girl, and you don't look like a girl, and regardless of whether or not Kyle's dumb ass noticed it, your transition has been doing you good. Remember when your voice started to crack and get all weird? I've never seen anyone be that happy about it."

Andy laughs. "It was pretty awful."

"No, it was great, 'cause you loved it. Do you want me to pull out the 'before' pictures we took in case this happened? Look at yourself, dude. You fit so much better in your own skin, you know? And like, you've always been gorgeous, but-"

"Come here," Andy interrupts, pulling him down because Tom is standing and Andy is sitting and Andy is already height-challenged. And Tom goes willingly, carefully straddling Andy's lap and meeting him in a kiss. Finally, Andy thinks.

Tom kisses him softly, slowly, one hand resting on the back of Andy's head and the other draped lazily over his shoulder, as he usually does, all gentle and a little hesitant, and Andy is having none of that. So he grabs Tom's hair and deepens the kiss, bringing him closer until their chests are flushed together and he can feel Tom's hips mindlessly making little circles against Andy's belly.

They separate - or well, stop kissing, really, because Tom is still as close to Andy as physically possible, and Andy feels about ready to shoot anyone who tries to push him further away. Tom's a little breathless, and his hips are still making these almost imperceptible movements against Andy, and Andy realizes that he's still grabbing Tom's hair and that he's a little breathless, too.

Tom looks down at him for a second, as if debating something with himself, before saying, "and like, not to be horny during a serious moment, but since we're talking about the effects of T... Andy. Andy. Your clit. Fuck. It's so huge now, and it's got a visible head and you can fuck my face and everything, and I could sing it praises for a week and probably will if you don't stop me right now."

"Hmm, but I like it when you sing me praises," he smiles. "Keep going."

"God, I was hoping you'd say that. Do you have any idea how much I've been thinking about it today? I didn't hear a single word anyone said to me, all I could think about was you fucking my face, pulling my hair, making me worship you and beg to be allowed to suck you off, I wanna serve you like you're my God." Tom's hips start to jerk up, more visibly this time, shameless, and see, this is why Andy's been really, really liking this whole denial thing - Tom has only started to explore his subby side recently, a little ashamed of it to admit it to anyone, even himself. But when he's horny enough, he gets shameless and desperate about what he wants, and god, nothing is more beautiful than Tom when he asks for what he wants. He feels something growing inside of him, not sure if it's warmth or heat, but seeing Tom like that, wanting him, needing him, definitely makes him feel so much better.

"Yeah?" Andy asks, tracing a finger over Tom's shoulder, close to his neck, just to give him goosebumps.

"Fuck yes, I want it so bad, and you deserve it too, Andy… Sir. You're the best Sir I could ask for, I just want… Want you to use me, want you to cum on me, want to kiss you all over and worship you and pleasure you, you're so gorgeous..." He hides his face in Andy's shoulder for a bit, but his hips don't stop moving. He whines, "Andy..."

"Address me properly," Andy snaps, feeling the edges of worry clear from his mind and giving way to that wonderful feeling of clear-mindedness, of power, where nothing matters but his own pleasure. "And maybe I'll give you what you want, if you earn it."

Tom nods, hips full on thrusting now, and Andy snaps again. "Stay still."

And he does, immediately, without question, biting his lip and keeping his eyes shut with effort. Andy can feel his thighs clenching and spasming over his, trying to keep himself from moving, trying to be good. He hums in appreciation, but doesn't praise him for it, not yet.

"I'll get you ready," Andy explains, before reaching to Tom's hair, and starts to undo his bun, as slow as possible, just to watch him squirm. He gets so impatient when Andy undresses him, which is why Andy never misses a chance to drag it out.

He begins by removing Tom's jacket, sliding his hands slowly over his shoulders, then down his back, feeling the firm muscle there, digging his nails just a little bit so he can see Tom's eyes flutter in bliss. When the jacket falls to the floor, Andy begins circling the hem of his shirt, sliding until his hands are back on front, fingers just close enough to Tom's cock for him to feel Tom tense in his hands, so damn sensitive to his touch, so needy. God, he can't get enough of this, but he pretends that he doesn't notice, lets Tom try and keep himself together as Andy's hands slide over his belly, then chest, over the shirt, collarbone, wrapping and resting on Tom's throat just so he feels the threat of it, before Andy finally grabs the back of the shirt's collar and tugs, taking it off. Then he slides his hands back down, making sure to run a finger just over the sensitive spot where his pecs end, then lower, over his ribcage, belly, hips, next to the bruises where Andy had grabbed him the night before, then back to the middle, just over the bulge in his pants, and Tom finally breaks and jerks up slightly, letting out a little moan.

"Sir," he whines, "please, please, I-" Andy continues to circle the head of his cock with his finger, "please!"

"Patience," is all he says, before going back to his painfully light movements, imagining Tom's needy cock twitching under his fingers, imagining the effort Tom makes not to thrust up or keep begging for more, just because Andy told him not to. "You know how much I like playing with your pretty little cock. You said you wanted to serve me, didn't you?"

"Yes- yes, Sir."

He hums, noncommittally, not looking at him. "Good." He teases the tip of his clothed cock some more, enjoying the way his mind zeroes on that, the way he feels like he has all the power and the time in the world. Finally, he pats Tom's thigh once. "Get off, and take off the rest of your clothes. Get the lube and a condom."

Tom gets up, a little shaky, and does as instructed, while Andy reaches down to the drawer under the bed where he keeps his dick's spine and a few of their toys. He gets the spine, then adjusts his packer briefs so he can put it on - best purchase of his life, really, those briefs. So much easier to use than a regular strap-on and it makes the packer sit over his clit just right, making a little suction and pressure. Andy couldn't be happier that he was already wearing them.

Tom gets back with everything he asked right in time for Andy to finish making his dick hard, and goes on to put the condom on and cover Andy's cock in lube with the kind of attention that makes Andy hold his breath. Tom's so careful, yet eager, and adoring, about it. Andy feels like the hottest guy in the world.

Once he gets permission, Tom sits on his cock, slowly, getting adjusted to it - admittedly, Andy went a little overboard when he bought his first cock. Andy waits until Tom is fully seated, littering his neck with little kisses and praise for how well he's taking him, how pretty he looks, until Tom looks fully comfortable and ready to start complaining if Andy doesn't start fucking him in earnest soon. That's when Andy shows him the other item he pulled from the drawer - Tom's favorite collar.

Tom's reaction is instantaneous. He throws his head back, moving over Andy's cock as he lets out a breathless, almost choked moan; the hands he had resting on Andy's shoulders suddenly squeezing full force in his need.

"God, you're such a whore," Andy says, casually, and Tom nods, even as he flushes. The collar is just a simple black one, with a little hoop for the leash, but inside they had it engraved with the words Andy's whore, and it left visible marks that could be seen for a few hours after they took it off. It never failed to drive Tom crazy, so it always drove Andy crazy, too. "Stay still," he warns, and Tom nods, breathing heavily, gripping Andy's shoulder as tight as he can as he stays frozen in place. Andy slowly puts it around his neck, checking with his finger to make sure it's not too tight, and the second he clasps it in place, Tom's whole body relaxes, a content little sigh escaping his lips, his face slack and blissed out. He likes being owned, so much. Andy can't get enough of it. "Good?" he asks, just to make sure it's not too tight.

"Perfect," Tom answers, the words leaving him in a sigh. Andy then ties the leash to the headboard, making sure that they're just far enough from it that he'll be feeling its pull the whole time. Tom lets out a moan. "Thank you, Sir."

Andy smirks. "Now, here's what I want you to do," he says, "you're going to ride me, just like that, and you're not going to come until I tell you to. You're definitely not going to come before I do. If you come close, you'll have to tell me. I want to hear you scream, so make as much noise as you want. Do you understand?"

Tom nods again, almost dizzyingly quick. "Yes, Sir."

"Good, then get to it."

Tom doesn't need to be told twice. He starts riding him, slowly at first, trying to find the perfect angle for Andy - not himself, Andy notices, pleased. Once it's perfect, Andy orders, "faster, slut,” and Tom obeys, as always, working up speed as he tries to keep himself upright, feeling the tug of his leash with every movement, moaning the whole time. “Good boy,” Andy says, and Tom’s responding whine is high pitched, embarrassing, needy. He gets even faster then, starting to babble as he keeps on working, and Andy just stays casually in place, not having to do a single thing while Tom works to give him pleasure.

"Fuck, you're so perfect, did you know that?" Tom asks, quickly sliding down on Andy's cock, making sure he puts all this weight in the end so Andy's cock will press down against his clit just the way he likes, making sure to go as deep as possible, "I've been dreaming of your cock for days, god, Sir, nothing's better than this," he hides his face in Andy's shoulder, speeding up even more, thighs shaking with the effort, and Andy puts a fist in his hair and pulls, watching as Tom throws his head back and lets out a scream, working even faster on Andy's cock. "Sir!," he whines, "oh, thank you, thank you, feels so good, oh my god, please, I'm gonna-"

"No, you won't," Andy interrupts, "I'm not even close to coming yet. Keep working, slut."

"Y-yes, Sir," he whines, going faster, deeper, and Andy makes it harder for him, keeps pulling at his hair to expose his neck, litters kisses and bites on his exposed throat, grabs his thigh and squeezes hard enough to bruise so Tom remembers he's his, his whore, his toy.

"I love it when you get like this," Andy says, doing his best to keep his tone even, even as he's a little breathless from pleasure, from power, "I bet you want to come so bad, don't you? If I'd just give you the word, you'd be making a mess of yourself, coming on my cock right now-"

"Fuck! Yes, yes, Sir, please, I'm so close."

Andy smiles. "No."

Tom whines, so cute, adorable, and Andy is nice enough to leave a little kiss on his shoulder, grounding, calming him down. Before going right back to torturing him, "no, you don't get to come for a long time yet. I want you just like this, on edge, tasting it…" Andy grins. "Tell me how close you are, baby."

"I'm- I'm so close-"

Andy slaps him in the face. "You can do better than that."

"Fuck, I feel like I'm going to explode, I'm so close, I want it so bad, and you feel so good, God, you have no idea what you do to me, Sir, your cock is so perfect, it hurts, I need it- need to cum on your cock, Sir, please-"

"No."

Tom chokes on a moan, and starts to go even faster. He lets out a little whine, something Andy thinks was supposed to be a word, but doesn't come close.

"See," Andy says, "this is why I won't let you come. Look at you - every time I tell you no, you get so desperate, so obedient - it's what you want, isn't it? You want me to keep telling you no, you want to know your pleasure doesn't matter, that you're just here to serve me."

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes-"

"Good, then keep going. And beg all you want- I like telling you no, too."

Tom does. He begs, and he says thank you when Andy denies him, again and again and again. Thank you, Sir, thank you for using me, for putting me in my place, I'm yours, I'm yours. And he keeps on praising Andy, praising his cock, his body, the way he fucks him and uses him, no one else makes me feel like this, no one deserves to be worshipped and served like you, Sir, I want to make you feel good-... Until even the clear-minded state of domspace begins to crumble and Andy feels nothing but pleasure, and confidence, and power, and he cums to the sound of Tom praising him and begging, once, twice, three times, until his head is clear again and everything, even the need to chase his own pleasure, is gone, and he just feels perfect.

"Stop," he orders Tom, who's still babbling more and more incoherently, endless praise and worship, and Andy finds that he worships Tom right back. "I want you to get my cock as deep inside you as you can, and stay still. I'm going to play with your dick for a while, and when I tell you to, you can come. You did well today, baby."

Tom nods, suddenly struggling to use his words. "T-thank you, Sir," he says, already frozen in place, thighs clenching with the effort not to move and also shaking with all the effort he did before.

Andy coos. "Poor baby. You were so good to me today. Let me take care of you."

"You always- always do, Sir," Tom replies, and Andy smiles.

He gives Tom a long, slow handjob, making sure Tom stays still through it, enjoying the way his thighs shake on top of Andy's, the pressure of Tom sitting tight on his cock, the way his arms also shake with effort where they rest around Andy's neck; Tom's pretty, exposed throat all marked up around his collar, his breathless little whines as Andy makes sure to do it just the way he likes it, makes his cock turn red with need; watches Tom bite his lip, because when he has to keep still he becomes so quiet and needy, even as the little whines go through his lips… Until Andy finally says, "come for me, baby," and Tom screams through an orgasm that lasts almost a minute, hanging on to Andy as tightly as he can to keep himself anchored through the pleasure.

And then Andy holds him, and Tom holds him back, and they hold each other.

----

A while later, they've cleaned up Tom's cum so it doesn't get all sticky on Andy's chest, and Andy's finally taken off those damn briefs - they're great for sex, but get pretty tight when you wear them for a long time - and Andy holds Tom against his chest. He's humming, contently, and if anyone had told him at the beginning of the day that he'd be comfortable enough to have someone close to him while he's fully naked, he'd - well, probably assume they meant Tom, but still be skeptical.

"How do you feel?" Tom asks after a little while, finally opening up his eyes and saying hello to the world.

"That's supposed to be my line," Andy laughs.

"I feel great. Perfect. Next time, I wanna do it for longer. A week? Let's try a week. Or two weeks…?"

Andy laughs. "Let's not make too big of a leap yet."

"Fine. A week sounds good. Great. And now that we've established that denial is totally bomb for me, how are you feeling?"

"Honestly? I'm feeling great, too," Andy admits, playing with a little stray of Tom's hair, swirling it around his finger, "I think I needed that, a little bit. Who'd have thought that having you ride me and praise my cock cures dysphoria."

"Every trans top on every forum I've ever visited."

"Let me have my moment of realization," Andy mumbles, faux-annoyed. Tom just laughs, holding him closer.

"I'm just glad I could help," he says.

"Please tell me you didn't ride my cock just to help."

"Well, no, in case you hadn't noticed, I was horny as fuck. I just tried to, you know. Use that to give you a little push. Since you wanted to. Y'know. Also, it was all true. So..."

"Thanks, love," Andy says, earnestly. "I love you."

"I love you more."

They bicker about it, and Andy's smiling the rest of the day.

[dropoutparty]

ngc ramblings part 3- chapter 5

here we are at part 3!!! sorry this one took so long, i originally was gonna make this post include entropy and extus (along with finally talking about face in depth) but it was so fuckin long that im splitting it into 2 different posts! the next part isnt done yet but im like almost halfway done so it shouldnt be too much longer until its out! also before we get into this one:

tw for: death, animal death, and suicide. pls take care of urself and don't read this if those things are triggering for u <3

ok lets get on with the post

at the start of entropy zach doesnt waste any time getting right to the point. this place is bigger than the other planets so far, and zach says the music this time around is a melody that “started out normal but then got distorted” played by a violin sounding instrument. even tho i do sometimes forget that this is supposed to be a creepypasta im not surprised that he said it made him feel depressed and unnerved lmao. anyways, this planet has all new level types in it!! no reused ones!! ok now this is epic. the bosses this time around are megalon, battra, and mechagodzilla, but itll be a good while before we get to those guys because this chapter is long as hell holy shit?? buckle up babez <33 now, before i get into the meat of things as usual im gonna talk abt the planet name! entropy basically means “a lack of order/predictability or a gradual decline into disorder” and that's very accurate to this part of the story. at this point, red is pissed off and is getting desperate, which means from here on out things are going to be getting more intense and more unstable. this world is the turning point in the overall story, basically.

now with that out of the way, zach first goes to the worlds quiz level as usual! this time something was different. usually, in the quiz levels there would be goofy ass music playin in the bg (specifically the GH1D0RA cheat music, if you wanna like listen to it ig?) but from here on out its been replaced by the music from the games password screen, which zach called creepy earlier on in the pasta. im gonna glaze over the quiz again this time, but when we get to the next planet ill talk about all of the quizzes in depth all at once. basically all you need to know for now abt what happens here is face asks “do you like mothra?” and when zach picks no (after going on a tangent abt how mothra sucks lmao,, bro i swear im good at the game my controllers just messed up /s), face enters bastard mode and goes “TOO BAD!” and boom now zach cant play as anyone but mothra. zach is pissed for now but little does he know this is just going to become an even more epic gamer bc of this,, youll never get better at something if you never try and all that.

after that, zach moves on to the first level type- the forest. immediately zach gets an eerie feeling from this level bc he has some kinda fear involving forests at night (i can think of a reason why but ill have to talk abt that later just to be sure). hes also not feelin great about being forced to play as mothra, so the pressure of it all is def starting to get to him by now. the music in the forest is woodwinds followed by slow, rhythmic drums and chiming bells. must have been some ominous woodwinds and bells bc it made him feel like he was intruding somewhere he shouldnt be (oh rlly?? u dont say,, everything up until now has been fine /s). getting into the level itself, eventually zach comes across some weird deer-like monsters just vibing and scares them away when he gets close. later in the level he finds more of these weird deer along with a sloth-like creature on some of the trees and some raptor dudes killing some of the deer. zach shoots one of the raptors but thats about it. nothing really happened in this level but zach noted that he didnt feel like he was playing a video game, but instead it felt more like he was exploring a forest in another dimension. thats interesting for reasons ill ~get to later~ (yall must be so tired of hearing that by now omg,, i know im tired of saying it at least. i was gonna wait until after replay to talk about things but i severely underestimated how long this whole project would be, so i might make a post for the “more on that later” stuff before i get into replay. let me know what u think i should do).

anyways, the next thing zach checks out is the first tv screen level so far. these levels just play an animation with some music in the background, and theres a different animation per level. this time around the animation is of a kid with a beaver(?) head licking a lollipop and the music is the GH1D0RA music that the quiz levels used to use. the only thing of note here is that zach says he had a shirt that looked just like that when he was a kid. after that, were off to some of the weirdest fuckin levels in this whole thing imo- the hourglass levels. these levels have an entirely brown color palette, with grandfather clocks standing in the background (the level appears to be in like a hallway or something) and various time measuring things floating in the air. the music is the same as the board (ig cosby just didnt feel like thinking of what theme this place would have lol). after a little bit zach was rlly happy to see actual enemies from the normal game show up! these are basically like aircraft, tanks, etc. thats not the main attraction here tho, bc this level has its own unique mechanic! this mechanic is the colored hourglass items you can pick up. there are three of them, a blue one that slows time down and makes enemies from the past appear, a red one that speeds up time and makes enemies from the future appear, and a green one that made the time flow normally and spawned enemies from the normal game. zach found the blue one first, which caused a bunch of prehistoric enemies based on real animals to show up. after that he found a green one and fought normal enemies again, and then he found a red hourglass. the future enemies here look like aliens to me, and zach says that one enemy reminds him of something he saw in a book once. eventually, a special future creature showed up and zach was suddenly in a boss battle! or a mini boss battle? that description is probably more accurate. this guy doesnt have a face, and he can only attack by shooting a beam from his face, it sure does look cool! after zach beat it tho, he was off to the next level type, which is basically a toxic waste dump.

zach called it grungy and inhospitable, with the music being a synth ambient loop that made him feel dizzy while he listened to it. this is important because this is the first instance of the game making zach feel something *physically*, not just psychologically. all of the enemies here are mutated to some degree, with him first seeing green mummies with bird skulls coming out from vats of toxic slutch and a brownish cow skeleton monster with spider legs. later zach comes across a deer from the woods, drinking some toxic slutch (delinchous). zach got close to it to try making it stopped but suddenly some enemies came out of nowhere and scared it into running right off a ledge and into the slutch. rip :pensive:. after that zach found more mutated enemies (i.e some things with tentacles and some other deformed thing with human teeth) before he finally gets to the end of the level, where theres another miniboss waiting for him!! this ones a toxic sludge monster with a whale skull who attacks with a mouth projectile and by charging into you. the monster sank into the slutch and thats all for this level babeyy!

the next level is another forest, but this time its winter! its still at night, but this time zach doesnt feel off put, which he mostly attributes to the music. he describes it as a gentle, calm song that almost sounded romantic. the entire first segment of this level had no enemies in it, but dw this level is interesting i swear. the next segment starts out just as empty as the last one, but this time its silent. that is, until the music from “unforgiving cold” starts playing. yaa you remember that place!! i think i said it was less interesting than i remembered but its interesting again now bc it was foreshadowing these levels!! anyways soon after the music started up, zach started to come across tons of frozen bodies of the deer from earlier. some were mutilated, some werent, but they were all frozen and covered in snow. eventually zach does come across something living though, a sloth creature from earlier! its just vibing when suddenly the winter versions of the raptors from earlier rush in and fuckin obliterate the sloth thing. those things just blindly try killing everything in sight, and even start fighting themselves before zach finally gets to the last part of the level.

now this is where shit starts to get crayzay. this part opens up to a big empty field with a full moon and the nice music from earlier back. despite the nice music tho, zach immediately starts feeling dread and eventually he finds a lake. the lake comes down from the sky and starts to crack like an egg, a humanoid figure curled up in the fetus position dropping into the lake below and the moon halves disintegrated. this spawned the moon beast, the hardest challenge zachs had to deal with so far. after he finally defeats it, the screen goes to black and the name “melissa” is on screen, written in red. after that, the screen then says kys. the word kill then fills up the screen, layering over itself until it forms a picture of reds face. its now that we finally get to hear abt the whole melissa thing (which makes it sound like shes been mentioned in the pasta before this but thats not what i mean lmao). to summarize, zach had a middle school gf named melissa (also bro middle school?? wadda hell) who often went into “episodes” where she would stare off, expressionless, before trembling and putting her face in her hands. she and zach hung out in a field at night a lot but one night she just stared at the moon the whole time before running into traffic and dying.

NOW its finally later!!! were not done with entropy yet, but this is the end of part one of entropy so i wanna just take a little break to talk about things so far. this planet is FULL of symbolism and foreshadowing. to start off, i think a lot of the questions face asks at the beginning foreshadow things that happen. some examples are “is time slipping though your fingers?” which could allude to the time levels, “do you have any regrets?” which i think obviously foreshadows the whole melissa thing, “is it safe to go out at night?” and “do you find it hard to sleep at night?” both follow the same kinda theme, which i think relates to how the melissa incident happened at night, specifically out at night. i dont think the forest levels have anything too important in them, other than to introduce the presence of an innocent, harmless creature that doesnt deserve what happens to it later (aka the deer things) which might symbolize melissa. more evidence for this symbolizing melissa comes from the encounter with the deer in the toxic dump and the winter forest, where in the former zach tries to stop it from hurting itself but is too late, being forced to watch it die, and in the latter the same innocent thing from earlier is found dead close to where the real incident took place. the two big themes to keep in mind here are death and time, more specifically the past. most of the enemies here are either made from bones or kill other enemies, there's a dedicated time level referencing things that zach remembers seeing at one point (aka that one alien zach recognized), the beaver head had the same shirt as child zach did, it all connects to zachs past and the death of melissa. as for the moon beast, its the most obvious reference for reasons ive already explained. i dont really know what the moon cracking open and dropping a curled up human into the lake could mean other than some other thing melissa related, but i *do* think that the fact that the moon beast is the most difficult thing zach has faced so far is symbolic of the fact that the trauma from this event has followed him throughout his entire life, and its something he struggles with daily. it could even be the reason why he said no when face asked if he could sleep easily at night. the moon beast also has some black fur around its neck, which i think is meant to represent a tire track, referencing and/or mocking the way melissa died.

its so cool how this entire part of the story builds up to and foreshadows the bomb it drops at the end of the part, giving people something to look back on. a lot of ppl say that as soon as the melissa stuff gets introduced the story goes down in quality, and i do somewhat agree with that sentiment, especially if they want the story to actually be scary, but i think the direction the story goes from this point on is so unique and cool. it does follow the whole “theres a ghost in the game” troupe (even tho it was probably seen as a spin on that originally) but it doesnt do the same cliches as so many other gaming creepypastas do and it really takes the concept and makes it its own. i just think its neat,,,

anyways im done gushing abt this story, lets get on with part 2 of extus!! basically zach has a fuckin panic attack and, after taking a few minutes to calm himself down when its over, he decides that he has to finish the game now because if he doesnt its just going to haunt him for the rest of his life. zach has now realized that the game is “alive” and can somehow see his thoughts and memories, so understandably hes pretty freaked out by it at this point. when he keeps playing, the first thing he does is check out another tv screen level. this time, the animation is of a fish dude just kinda standing there with his mouth flapping open and closed and the music is the neptune board music from the original game. the only reason i can think of for why this is here is maybe the game is mocking zach for the panic attack he just had (bc when u have a panic attack you feel like you can barely breathe, if ur lucky enough to have never had one before and u dont know) but thats abt it. its probably just a random goofy thing cosby threw in there.

anyways, the next actual level is the first labyrinth level. this time around, its a gold labyrinth specifically. the music in these levels is a slow, ominous drum beat with female vocals occasionally coming in and (basically from here on out) the monster zach plays as is now half the size it used to be. i think this shows how zachs feeling at this point, like this whole thing isnt just being a big strong monster and beating up enemies any more, he feels small and scared and helpless in the face of something potentially dangerous that he doesnt understand maybe his confusion about the game is the reason *why* theres so many labyrinth levels here in the first place. anyways im getting ahead of myself. personally, i think the aesthetic of the gold labyrinth is very similar to the green temples back on trance. while trance had a more circular and soft theme to it's architecture and sculpture, entropys is much more square or rectangle oriented. despite this, i think that the golden mazes at least are another religious kind of building, and the architecture is just different because theyre two different cultures who just happen to worship the same spiritual figure (aka melissa. did i say that earlier? i think i did,, if i didnt well the religions worship melissa, not knowing she's a dead human or anything. probably).

moving on, zach notes how the gold labyrinth would probably have been impossible to navigate as any of the other monsters, so turns out face being an asshole was a blessing in disguise after all huh? anyways this place is full of weird gold monsters, lava/fire traps, and stone faces (both in more of an easter island head style and in the regular feminine headshot weve seen so far). zach comes across two feminine heads, one that is more adult looking and pure gold, and another one that looks much younger and whos eyes have red irises and blue scleras. this statue apparently looks a lot like melissa did on the night she died, so zach leaves it pretty quickly. i *think* this is the first time we see the color blue associated with melissa? if it isnt sorry abt that, its been a couple days since i worked on ngcr so ive forgotten some of the smaller or more subtle things by now. GOD i keep getting side tracked ANYWAYS eventually zach finds a non-gold enemy and sees it get picked up by like an arcade crane claw. hes curious so he follows the claw, only to see the monster be put in a big gold cauldron and walk out the side of it as a gold monster.

gonna be honest, no idea what the hell this could mean. like? theres been no themes of corruption or good things becoming evil so far so this just kinda. exists,, yea idk lol. im not part of like any discord servers or anything so all this theorizing and analysis has just been me, maybe getting some small ideas from like random youtube comments or something, so if something ive said so far has been unanimously disagreed with somewhere i dont know about it. thats also why this isnt really a definitive or comprehensive analysis (even tho im trying to be as comprehensive as i can).

anyways zach finds the exit soon after and hes on to the next level type (there's so fucking many of them ik dont worry weve almost gotten to all of them now), the indigo cliffs. the background of these levels is similar to the blue mountains from trance, but now the moon and clouds from the toxic dump background is also here (and colored indigo to match). the music here is just a deep rumbling noise. the first “enemies” he sees here are just a bunch of multicolored little guys coming out of a hole in the ground and jumping off a cliff. were continuing the death theme yall!! anyways zach continues, flying over some more weird creatures (tho some of them just look like dinosaurs lol) before he sees a bunch more of the multicolored guys out and about but this time theyre getting grabbed by birds!! wadda heel!!! zach comments on how the multicolored dudes seem eager to die and thinks maybe the moon has something to do with it (like melissa dude wat!!!! that's crazy /s). at the end of the level there were some more multicolored dudes just walking into a creatures mouth so zach attacked the thing and killed it and the levels over yay!

now its time for the bosses babeyy!!! first zach fights battra (basically an evil moth kaiju), the music is varans theme. battra starts off in his larvae form, where he basically just fought by running into you and shooting stuff at you. while fighting this form, zach noticed that the game buffed mothra because his gamer skillz were too cringe lmaoo. he beats the larvae form and battra goes into his second form, where hes basically a stronger clone of mothra (misogyny). zach fights battra and has fun doing it (for once,, good for him) and he wins yay! next hes fighting megalon (a big beetle/bug kaiju), whos music was gigans theme. im tired when im writing this so ill just give you zachs description of how he fought: “strong, persistent, but dumb”. after this, zach checks out the last tv screen of entropy. this time, it shows a big buff guy with a sack over his head hit a womans head with a sledgehammer while shes tied to a table or something. the music for it was the password theme. i think this is probably here because red is getting angrier? like this guy is still here after i triggered his ptsd?? what the hell!!!

anyways before we get to the last boss we have one last level type to get through- the shadow labyrinth. at this point, zach starts to feel drained because no shit sherlock you just had a panic attack and youve been playing this game for fuckin several hours at this point of course youre fuckin drained. anyways zach enters the shadow labyrinth, which is a black recolor of the gold labyrinth. the music is “evil ambience” similar to unforgiving colds music but distinctly different apparently. there werent any enemies so zach just kinda wandered for a while until the lights turned off, darkening the whole screen and (secretly) spawning tons of spooky enemies thatll chase and hit mothra in the dark. eventually the lights came back on and zach started scrambling to the exit. when the lights turned back off, zach was able to find one of the melissa looking statues and stood next to it. it warded off the monsters while the lights were off, so zach was safe. i think this shows 2 things: 1) its a little more validation for my “religion in this world worships melissa” theory and 2) it foreshadows the way melissa wants to protect zach at the end of the game. zach beat the shadow labyrinth a lot faster than the gold one so were done with all the stages now!! now theres only the last boss and red and were done with entropy!

the last boss is mechagodzilla, but when zach starts the level, normal godzilla is there instead!! its whatever tho bc soon the disguise is gone and its just pretty much the normal mechagodzilla fight (but now hes got a gay beam). at about half health tho, mechagodzillas sprite breaks into pieces like gezoras did way back on earth and reforms into not-mechagodzilla. even tho it looks uncanny (and the usage of the face statue on the front is probably there to further mock zach bc melissa) zach beats it p easily and now its time for the chase. ba dum ba dum thats the sound of a chase.

as usual tho, before i get to the red chase its time to talk about entropy as a planet!! i think the best way to describe the layout is “a big forest with a toxic waste dump in it takes up half the planet while the other half is a large religious temple/labyrinth with a dangerous underbelly”. there doesnt seem to be any intelligent life there now (its all dead by now probably) but there was at some point at least because imean the huge labyrinth is there dude!!! i dont have much to say for this section tbh bc i feel like i've already said everything i wanted to, so its time for the chase ig!!

basically the chase with red here takes place in a labyrinth level bc of course it does. this labyrinth, however, seems to be made of some kind of organic matter. is it flesh? organs? nondescript viscera? idk but it's pulsating and bloody. also this time red has wings too!! anyways, basically zach avoids red throughout the maze, red breaks through one of the walls with his big alien tongue, and zach gets to the end of the maze. nothing crazy happens at the end of this chapter (i think it was crazy enough as is) so thats the end of that and now its time for the penultimate planet- extus.